G.W. North emphasizes the significance of the priestly offering in his sermon, explaining that the Old Testament sacrifices were merely shadows of the true offering that Jesus made. He highlights that true worship involves a life of offering oneself to God, free from the burdens of sin and guilt, and that believers are called to live as priests, offering spiritual sacrifices that are pleasing to God. North encourages the congregation to understand the importance of their priesthood and the need for genuine offerings that come from a heart of compassion and obedience to God's will.

In the Hebrews letter, we were thinking in this epistle this morning. I'm not particularly going to follow on from where we were then. We have two meetings tomorrow, and we may take up the theme again in the morning. I want to read in the tenth chapter of the book. Verse one. The law, having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never, with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered, because that the worshipers, once purged, should have had no more conscience of sins. I hope that has happened to you, that you have no more conscience of sins. If you've had a proper purging, you won't have. That the worshipers, once purged, should never have any more trouble with their conscience of sins. Precisely because the Old Testament could not do that, it was done away. Because, you see, you will remember in the fourth chapter, and third chapter anyway, but chiefly the fourth, God wanted his people to enter into rest. You can't have rest if your conscience isn't purged. That's common sense. Hallelujah. No more conscience of sins. What a glorious thing that is. You're well on the road to perfection. But, in those sacrifices, there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not. But a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. Above, when he said, Sacrifice and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering for sin, thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein, which are offered by the law. Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. And you may depend that when the second or new covenant is established in your heart, you will have no more conscience of sins. None at all. And another thing is, you must realize that when this has happened in you, you will be able to please God. You will be able to bring God pleasure. Now I should think that that's a great desire in every true heart that's been touched by the grace of God, that they want to bring God pleasure. Amen. And of course, another thing about it is that you can say that you've come to do God's will. No more conscience of sins. Doing God's will, bringing Him pleasure. What a life. Bless the Lord. And this whole position has to be established in you. It's not got to be something that's here today and gone tomorrow. It's not to be a shadow of some good thing to come. It is the good thing that has come. Some people only have fleeting shadows of it. They are really living in an old covenant condition. That's the only place to which the old covenant can bring anybody. It's a shadow. It hasn't got substance in it. And supposing I said to you, have you got a substantial experience? Something that's substantial, established. These great words that is here. Something that brings you pleasure as well as God. Something that at last has found establishment, listen, in your will. Not in your emotions, your fleshy emotions. But in your will. Praise God. And when this whole position is seen, and it's there, well, what a glorious change comes over a person. Now, the Lord said that God had, His Father had prepared Him a body. You remember, we read it together. Verse 5, a body. Jesus Christ had a body prepared Him. And then He goes on to say, in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. And again in verse 8, when He said sacrifice and offering, and burnt offerings and offering for sin, thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein. There comes the verse, the little praise that you need to hear. Are you reading it? That are offered by the law. In other words, God doesn't want any legal sacrifices or offerings. He doesn't want anything legalistic in this great new covenant. It's a covenant of perfect liberty of the believer. It's a marvellous covenant, of course. And you mustn't get into your head that God does not want sacrifices and offerings now. He does not want sacrifices and offerings that are by the law. He does want sacrifices and offerings. And I want to talk to you a little tonight about around this great theme, that God does want them. And He will have pleasure in them if they are the right kind of sacrifices and offerings. And you know, of course, too, that this Hebrews letter, as we were thinking just a little bit this morning, is the letter of the new priesthood. In fact, it's really not a new priesthood. It's the everlasting priesthood. It is the priesthood of Melchizedek. It's the Order of Melchizedek. A great, great priesthood. And everybody must know that this priesthood existed before the Aaronic priesthood did. And Melchizedek, you will remember, was the priest, the great priest that visited Abraham long before Moses and Aaron were ever thought of, except by God. He thought of them. But nobody else knew anything about Moses and Aaron. And God reveals this mighty thing to us, beloved. I wonder if it's got right deep down into your heart that you and I have been called into a priesthood. And it's a sacrificing priesthood, too. God does want sacrifices and offerings from every true child of God. Hallelujah. Now, you take that right deep down into your heart, for a start, and we'll spend the next hour or so looking into something of the greatness of these offerings that God wants. I want particularly to come onto the word offering. You will know, of course, immediately, because of the word, that it is different from sacrifice in its thought. Sacrifice and offering. You know what an offering is, don't you? You see, I could offer you all a chocolate if I had a box of chocolates here, tonight, and I haven't. And it wouldn't be big enough for all this lot, anyway. Not the sort of boxes of chocolates I get, occasionally. I could offer them to you, and you could say, no thank you, I don't want it. Or I could offer it to you, you say, oh, thank you very much. Very pleased, oh, here comes one of those big bugs again. Good. All right, I could offer you this chocolate, and you could say, yes, thank you very much. And then if the box is big enough, I could come and offer you another one. You say, thank you. I'm ever so pleased. Now do you see what an offering is? In other words, an offering is either accepted or refused. And you and I have to know the difference between what God accepts and what He doesn't. There are some things that God will not accept, even if you offer them to Him. There are other things that He will. And He's very pleased to do it. What a lovely thing this is. Now let it get established in our hearts. Let's get hold of truth, for remember this. God is wanting something from you, and He's wanting these things in the nature of an offering. He's not saying, now you've got to. In the Old Testament, there were sacrifices that they just had to offer. They were compulsory. They just had to. He said, now I don't want anything that's offered according to the law. I don't want to say to you, my precious children, now that you are redeemed, and you are my children, and you're absolutely liberated, and you're free, I want you to learn to live in this covenant with me. I want you to learn how to behave yourselves. I want you to learn how to give things to me. All that you give to me, I first give to you. I give them to you, and you give them to me. Amen. You're not compelled to, but you may depend that nobody has begun to reach spiritual maturity until they've learned how to give to God. Now, please don't think I've got a bucket under this table, and I'm going to come round for your money at the end of the meeting. I'm not going to do that. This isn't a subtle approach. You're not being softened up or brainwashed. Money is about one of the least parts of all this. Money is only a means of exchange anyway. But the great tremendous thing for us to see is that God wants us to come here, and we cannot say or even think we've begun to achieve a place of spiritual maturity until we know how to offer to God what he will accept, what he will not accept. It's best we find out, isn't it? This epistle, as you know, is taken up, we danced a little at this this morning, about some of these things. For instance, as you come down to the end of chapter 5, you see here this. Verse 13. Every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness. He's a babe. He's a babe. Have you got this? Strong meat, verse 14, belongs to them that are of a full age. So you see, you can arrive at full age. You're not supposed to live your life as babies and think you can never grow up and be what the New Testament calls perfect. For the word perfection in the New Testament is used basically of the idea of full age. Growth to maturity. That's one of the great basic ideas, it's not the complete one. For those who don't like the idea of being fully delivered from sin, you must not try and make the Greek support error. It's one of the words that is used for perfection. And only when you've gone on to full age, and it says this, you've got your senses by reason of use. You've had your senses exercised to discern between good and evil. Obviously God will not accept evil things. He'll only accept good things. And you've got to come to full age before you are of independent judgment and ability to be able to discern. And this is the trouble. Blind leaders of the blind, talking things they don't know. Babes ruling. You remember that great word in the Proverbs about the tragedy of a people when babes rule. And obviously there's always great things here. Now listen. Nobody under the Aaronic order, and remember, God used the Aaronic order of priesthood to teach us things by type. The things we learn must be applied in the new covenant. And we're going to learn. Nobody under the Aaronic order, though they were born children of Aaron and therefore of the priestly family, was allowed to be a priest when he was a babe. He had to come to what God considered the age of maturity for priesthood. Anybody tell me what it was? Thirty. That's when Jesus started his public ministry. You've got this clear? He had to be thirty years of age because when he got into the ministry, he had to be able to eat strong meat. That is, he had to partake of God's meat at the altar. God's meat. Now this is a tremendous thing for us to understand and enter into this great ministry unto which God has called us. No milk shops ever become priests. That is, if they stay milk shops. They have to go on into this great life of offering to God. Supposing I said this, I'm going to say it, but I'm only saying it as a supposition, not as a proposition. Supposing I said, every one of us, every one of you that lives a life of offering to God, stand to your feet. It's not a proposition. It's a supposition. I want you to suppose that if you were called upon now to say openly before this company, and that's what the priests had to do, they served in front of the entire nation. You know that? As well as before God. They had to stand up there before everybody in their priestly duties. Could you stand up and say, yes, I do. I live a life of offering to God. Praise the name of the Lord. Now this has got to be understood very clearly. First of all, we are going to look into the Bible on things that are here for our learning. Let's look higher up that fifth chapter. Or, if you like, we can look up higher still into the end of the fourth. Verse 14. We have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens. It's Jesus, the Son of God. Let us hold fast our profession. Our profession is priesthood. That's our great calling, and priesthood. That's our profession. You are, if I may put it this way, a professional priest. You say, man, what if he makes a two thousand, a ten thousand a year at it? Oh no, no, you don't make any money at this one. No, no. But this is our profession. In other words, it's our calling. It's our work. It's our basic work. So you see what it's all about. Your basic work is not to be a missionary, or a pastor, or a leader, or an accountant, or an engineer, or an electrician. If I've left out your trade, artifice, ought I to say that? It has a double meaning there. Or anything like that. If I've left that out, I apologise to you. I couldn't know all the things in which every one of us is engaged. Those things are not your prime calling. My prime calling is not to be a preacher. All our, we're everyone called, first of all, to be a priest. That's why we don't have an earthly priesthood. With special clothes, garbs, positions, or anything like that. Because we're all called to be priests. And we don't have these lest by these we train ourselves to neglect this great salvation that we are warned about in chapter two. We are not to neglect this great salvation. It's so great, it's going to save you from being a lazy bones. Running about, grinding yourself into the earth and accomplishing nothing. And never getting on with your true calling of being a priest to God. You can work yourself to the bone. To the very marrow of your bone. Well have a look at this presently. And do nothing that counts for God. You may label it Christian with a capital C. It's being a priest is your basic calling. And if you're a priest, you and I have to offer up sacrifices. Let's have a look at him. We have not, verse fifteen, An high priest, which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. We were thinking about this morning and I must confess when I got to this part my heart melted in me. But our Jesus can be touched without stretching out a hand even of faith. He's touched just by the way you're feeling. That's what you do with your hand. You feel, don't you? How aptly this thing is brought to us. The way we feel. Another precious thing. He's touched by that. Let's go on though. He was in all points tempted, like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices. Now this is the great high priest and every priest under this great high priest has the same calling. He has to minister to God in things pertaining to men. And you and I are called for that great reason. And men and women aren't being blessed in the way they should be blessed because we are not carrying on our ministry in the way we should carry it on. Did you know this? That all the promises in the promised land all the blessings all the glorious things of grapes and figs and honey in the honeycomb and sheeps and flocks and houses and lands and inheritances all depended on the priesthood functioning properly. Did you know that? Whether those men were in their offering to God if not if these people didn't get on in that which pertained to God then men would all suffer. That was the great teaching of it. That's what it's all about. Now I hope we understand this right at the outset then that our blessed Lord Jesus first of all He's the great high priest. He was taken I like this word, don't you? Don't you? Taken. Who took Him? God took Him. He was taken from among men. Really. You say, yes He made the great sacrifice on the cross and after He laid down His life He was taken up from them into heaven. This same Jesus which is taken up from you listen to the precise language of the scripture This same Jesus which was taken up from Him into heaven shall so come in like manner as you've seen Him go into heaven. He was taken up. A cloud received Him out of the sky. And what was He taken up for? We all sing, to sit on His throne. I want to tell you it was to get on with His Melchizedek ministry. He was taken from among men for the ministry. The priesthood. Hallelujah. Now, if you're going to be a priest you have to be taken from among men. Hallelujah. Listen. This high priest he says he can have compassion on the ignorant. Hallelujah. This is the basis of all your sacrifice and offering a compassion at heart. It's no good unless you've got compassion. None at all. Say, I've got faith. I've got a gift. Have you got compassion? These are basic qualities for the priesthood. The first chief ministry. Compassion on the ignorant. And on them that are out of the way. For that he himself also is compassed with weakness. And by reason hereof he ought as for the people so also for himself to offer for sins. No man taketh this honour unto himself but he that's called of God. As was Aaron. And so also Christ glorified not himself to be made a high priest but he that said unto him Thou art my son. If you're going to be a priest you can't live to your own glory. You've got to glorify God. This is one of the qualities for practice of the priesthood. All this talk about every believer's a priest is a lot of nonsense. That's the old doctrine upon which I was brought up. It isn't true. Every believer can be a priest and has the potential but not many believers are. We deceived ourselves under that kind of jargon of old. It isn't true. You see we mistake possibility for necessity. That's what we do. Let me ask you a question. Are you functioning in your priesthood? Man? Woman? Are you? You say you're a believer. I say I'm a believer. That's the seriousness of this poison wherewith we dope ourselves into sleep in the night. Bible text. Sugar-coated. Not right. You've got to glorify God to be a priest. You don't glorify yourself. Nobody that believes in glorifying himself getting this, going places. It's all bound up with the thought of sacrifice and offering. Animals never glorified themselves. If I go back to the Old Testament situation they didn't glorify themselves. These were the offerings. They couldn't glorify themselves. The trouble is with Christians that they can. Or at least they can attempt to. A poor lamb or a bullock didn't know how to. And we can learn lessons from them. But here then is the wonder of it all. Oh, to be a priest, beloved. You've got to be humble. You've got to live for the glory of God. You've got to be able to say like that blessed one of whom we read, Lo, I come to do thy will, O my God. A body hast thou prepared me in sacrifices and offerings to sin and burnt offerings that are offered according to the law. Thou hast had no pleasure. I come voluntarily, Lord. I just love to do it. I want to do it, Father. Amen. Do you see the difference of this blessed one? God will lay no rod upon your back to force you to do it. But he will chasten you if you're not getting on with your priesthood. This is why so many people get chastenings. It's all in this book. Never divorce it from the idea of priesthood. When you're reading, say, far on into chapter 12, he's dealing with us as with sons to bring us into the correct life, the correct attitude to life, why we're in the world, to live a life of sacrifice and offering unto the Lord. Amen. Now, this should be deeply in everybody's heart if they say they are the sons of God. Let me go right back into the beginning, far before Moses and Aaron was thought of, or even Melchizedek is mentioned in the Bible, though he existed before that because he was prehistoric. This blessed Melchizedek. Now, you will know that the first and second and third chapters of Genesis tell the story of the creation and, unfortunately, the sin and the fall of man. Now, you will also know that when God turned man and woman out of the garden, this is what he said, 15 of chapter 3, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, he's talking to the serpent, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel. There are people who say there's no personal devil and no personal God. But God is very specific. Thy head, devil, is a person he's talking to, not a power. Amen. Thy head. Hallelujah. And the seed was promised. So, in chapter 4, when we read that Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bear Cain, she said, I have gotten, and it's the definite in the Hebrew, I have begotten the man from the Lord. That's what she said. Again, she bear his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of the sheep. Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the theft thereof, and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. But unto Cain and to his offering, I want you to notice the word sacrifice is not being introduced here. It's just the word offering. Something's going to be offered to God. Will he accept it? Oh God, will you accept it? Let's read on. Unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth. And his countenance fell. He was bent on mischief. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? Why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And so on. Now hear them. Right at the beginning, you see, it was in the heart of Cain and Abel to make an offering to God. Now Cain, so Eve thought, was the man, the seed, the promised seed, the Holy One. What we would say today in our terms, the Christian. You see? All right. He went wrong. He tried to offer to God something that God wouldn't accept. Abel, his brother, he brought, as we read here, I think we ought to read it very carefully because it's because of careless reading of the Bible often we don't really understand. You must have heard me say this before many times, some of you. But it's absolutely true. In the process of time, verse 3, it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstings of his flock. Also, that means as well as the fruit of the ground, he brought a lamb. And when he offered them both, they were both accepted. When Cain wanted to offer the fruit without the lamb, it was not accepted. There's a lesson laid in history. There are many who say, oh well God doesn't accept the fruit of the ground. That's another deception. Complete deception. Of course he does. He does not accept it unless it's offered with the lamb. Then he accepts both. Oh. Oh. Oh. You see how wrong reading of the Bible deceives you. Perhaps you've never seen it until now. That's right. And perhaps you've been taught regularly the wrong way about it. Years and years and years. This is what I mean, you see. We don't read the Bible properly. God has suffered through wrong reading. So have we. Like I was preaching last night about this good works. Oh we don't do this good works business. Utter self-deception. Here we have another simple illustration. Had Cain offered the lamb, God said, well look here, if you do well, he said, you'll be accepted too. Verse 7. He tells him. And he said, the sin lies at the door and you will know if you have an S Bible. I referred to it last night. I think it's in the margin here. It will tell you that it can be translated the sin offering crouches at the door. The lamb was there. He bypassed the lamb to bring the fruit of the ground. But not able. He brought the lamb and the fruit and God accepted it. He offered it. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. But really that's what Jesus offered to God, didn't he? He offered the lamb and the fruit. Didn't he? The fruit of the ground. Yeah. And to God. Hallelujah. Two things in connection with the sacrifice. Outstanding truths in the Gospels. Jesus was the lamb of God. Have you got that? John 1.29. Now what's this one in John 12? Who can tell me this one? Listen, here it is. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He offered the lamb and the fruit to God. He brought up the fruit of the ground. Both of them. So please start revising your preaching. And let's understand the truth as God has put it. And this is why in the Hebrews letter, Oh glory be to God. It's all here. You know this? Here it is. Listen. I'm reading in Hebrews chapter 13. I like this, don't you? It says, verse 15. Let us buy him. Therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips. See, he does want fruit. He wants the lamb and the fruit. Glory be to God. These are the wonderful things. And in ancient Israel, beloved, you will know that they not only had to bring the compulsory offerings, they must all bring them. The nation had to do it anyway once every year. Had to bring this great atonement. The blood of the goat of atonement. They had to bring that. That was compulsory. And it was compulsory that the priest had to offer the lamb morning and night, or night and morning really, because their day started at night time. They had to offer this. That was compulsory. But there were lots of other offerings called gift offerings. Hmm? And a man could bring his gifts or not? But if a man wanted to bring up the fruit, and you will find them, fruit. They could bring flour that comes from corn. They could bring these things to God. They offered things to God that did not go via the altar, by the way. I hope you know that. You say, really? Did God? You know, I've been seriously misled, you may be thinking. Either this man's wrong or I am. Well, if I'm wrong, the Bible's wrong, because I'm going to quote the Bible to you. They had to come and bring the first fruits of their land, all the lot. And they had to bring in the fruit of their grounds and give it to God, not just the first fruit. God said, I want my storehouses filled. God had great big storehouses. Give it to me, He said. And so He accepted the fruit. It didn't go via the altar either. How about that one? Out of shock, all the good people got brethren backgrounds like I had. They just had to. How seriously some of us have been misled. Because we don't read our Bibles properly. And He did. And He accepted all these things. Mind you, the constant altar sacrifice had to be going on all the time. The other was only accepted because of that. God didn't have everything burnt on the altar. He had great, He says, you bring in all the tithes, He said. I want my storehouses filled. They didn't have to go on the altar, they went into His barns. He stored them up. Glory be to God. And listen, have you ever thought that the only thing, now listen. The only thing you'll ever keep is what you offer to God, and He accepts it. And He stores it up for you. These are the only things you'll ever keep. Priestly man, priestly woman, you'll lose everything. Unless you offer it to God. And then don't take it back. And He'll keep and store. If He'll accept it, it's yours, it's stored up. For you. Listen. I know whom I have believed. I'm quoting the great Paul now. And am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him. Against that day. When God opens Paul's barn, his storehouse, his safe deposit. Against the day of opening when all these things are seen. Paul's all there. God's keeping it. A life offered to God. A priestly life. Life is precious. The things of life are precious. What are you doing with them? I came into the world, I was sold out to the devil from my mother's womb. Listen. There's been a man who's redeemed you back to God. From his mother's womb. Mary. He's redeemed you. Glory be to God. He came into the world, this is what He said. When He came into the world, He said, right from His mother's womb, see. Sacrifice and offering. Thou wouldst not. Body has thou prepared me. Hallelujah. Came into the world to redeem our lost souls tonight. To refurbish and restock them with wonderful things. Along the lines that we were talking about this morning. When we were dealing with the senses. You ought to have come this morning. Come tomorrow morning. Can't promise to preach on it, I might get switched off. But that's the sort of thing. And you see, they could bring their gift offerings. The little old woman could come along and say, I've got a handful of corn. I want to give a gift to God. She couldn't afford it. Of course you can always afford to offer things to God. Of course you can. You may not be able to put £50 in the plate for the preacher. That's not the point. Or five peas. A handful of corn. What's she offering? Bread of life. Are you beginning to get the thought? Are you beginning to get the truth? Is it sinking in? What can you offer to God? I'll tell you. We'll go back. Yes, we'll go just slightly back. In this Hebrews letter. I thought I'd still got my finger in Genesis. And in this Hebrews letter, it's all very beautiful. Are you looking now? Chapter 5. So we've been talking about the Lord. God said, right in the middle of the verse, to Jesus. Verse 5. Thou art my son. Today have I begotten thee. And he said also in another place. Thou art a priest. Sonship and priesthood go together. All the same thing. Thou art a priest. After all of Melchizedek. He said that to him. When he begot him. From the dead. Hallelujah. You're a priest forever. Isn't it wonderful? To be a priest forever. A priest forever, Lord. That's tomorrow. And the day after. And the day after. When we think forever, we go projecting our minds into aeons beyond. And our eternal security. Ever is the next minute. And the next day. And the next week. See, I thought that was all part of time. That's right. That's ever. Starts right now. Ever. Ever a priest, Lord. What an approach to life. Ever a priest. What an approach to gifts. What an approach to material things. What an approach to the world. What an approach to your possessions. Ever a priest with this money. Ever a priest with this car. If I'm allowed to have one. Ever a priest with my wife. With my husband. Ever a priest with my children. Ever a priest with my food. Ever a priest with my clothes. I'm ever a priest. Ever a priest with my work. If you can't offer your work to God, it's time you got a different job. There's plenty of work you can offer to God. If it's right in His will. But before we get as far as that. Let's read down this great chapter. In the days of His flesh. Verse 7. He offered up prayers. And supplications. With strong crying. And tears. Under Him. Was able to save Him from death. And was heard. In that He feared. Though He were a son. Yet learned He obedience. By the things which He suffered. Oh. Here's the priest's life then. Prayers. Supplications. How many of you. See that. The true prayer life. Is only valid. In the priestly ministry. If it's sacrificial. You know. Let's pray. Thank you for this food Lord. Amen. That's why it's generally called grace. You wouldn't call that. Oh you're thankful. Please I'm not. Please don't. Don't misunderstand me. But you're not to get that mixed up. With priestly prayer. See. He offered up. Prayers. Supplications. Listen. With strong cries. And tears. There you are. God will accept those. And He was heard. How many of you. Offer up prayer to God. Prayers and supplications. Perhaps you say. Well please tell me what supplications are. I understand this word prayers. Well listen. Supplications. Deal with. Supplies. From the supplier. The suppliant. Makes supplication. For supplies. To the supplier. There it is. Supplier capital S. Now you know what supplication. Put it down if you've never heard it before. Write it down. What supplications. You're needing supplies. You supplicate. You're the suppliant. You're after the supplies. You ask the supplier. Hallelujah. Glory. And so you see. The priesthood. He's got hold of that great text. Of course when he says. All things are yours. Right Lord. What are we short of. Oh I've come to do thy will now. Only in God's will. You see. It's got to be right. Not your eyes flying around everywhere. Oh we'll pray for this. We'll pray for that. In the will of God. Listen. My God. Shall supply. He's the God of supply. That's what you make supplications for. The supply. And then. Oh Paul. As you know. When he wrote to the Philippians. He talked about. The further supply. Of the spirit. That one. Did you ever see that one. The further supply of the spirit. Through your prayer. He writes to the Philippians. I need a further supply of the spirit. Pray for me. That's an apostle asking. I never saw that. No. You won't if you don't keep reading and reading and reading. But if you do. You'll see it. And it's not even reading between the lines. It's on the line. What a tremendous truth it is then. Do you offer prayers to God? You know. Offering to God. There are sort of flash prayers. Emergency prayers. Momentary murmurings. God hears you. But this isn't what Jesus was talking about. Strong. Crying. Tears. How many of you have bathed your pleas in tears? And the word you say. It's you. With the bowels of compassion. With the hand of God on you. With the knowledge of your cold. With your strength given over to crying. And your emotions moved properly for God. For others. For the need. For the supply. Supplication. Do you see him? He's on a mountain. He's just made the sacrifice. The fire has come down from heaven. And he's down on his knees before God. Go and look you see it. Stand over there. Watch. Watch for the cloud to come. The cloud. Go on. Watch he says. This strong man. You know his name. I needn't tell you. If not, you read the Old Testament through. You'll find it. And. Get down. Pray. Pray. Pray. We're needing rain. I think I should talk about that. I didn't plan to. I swear before God if I need to that I didn't plan to. God brought it to my heart. I preach complete the extent for always. See. Go on. Go and look. That's right. I've seen it. Cloud. As big as a man's hand. Here. The man that was on the floor. Had his hand in the heavens. That's prayer. Strong crying tears. Listen. God. Gave you. To see. By his grace. That a man. Held rain in his hands. Listen. Have you ever heard. That name in the Old Testament. Keep reading it. And the name means. The hand on the throne. You should know this brother merchant. The man with the hand on the throne. What a name to bear. Hallelujah. Where have you got your hands? In your pockets? Put in the money in? Where have you got your hands? To what are you giving your strength? To what do you bow yourself? To what do you bend yourself? Do you know in the days of the great outpouring of the Holy Ghost in Wales. That great man of God that was used there. One of his great prayers was this. Bend me. Lower. Lower. At thy feet. That was his cry. God poured out. The rain. The spiritual rain on Wales. Bend me lower. Bend me lower. That's my cry. It is. I know I need to cry. I know. Lower. You see. That's it. And the servant said. I see the hand. Glory to God. You can offer to God. And then we'll leave this particular point. In verse 7. Let's reread it. In the days of his flesh. So he's showing you what you can do. In the days of your flesh. In the days of your flesh. He offered up prayers. And supplications. With strong crying. And tears. Under him. That was able to save him from death. And was heard. In that he feared. Though he were a son. Yet learned he obedience. By the things which he suffered. And being made perfect. He became the author. Of eternal salvation. And to all them that obey him. Called of God and high priest. I wonder if God had called you a priest. Told you. See I've called him a priest. Now I'll show you what I mean. This. Is what's called priesthood. Well how many of you. Who believe that we are believer priests. How many of you. Fulfilling your priesthood. You'd better. Check up and see. I said to a young man. That came to see me. Always last week. It was Saturday I came wasn't it. Weeks go by. I don't know whether it's Sunday or Thursday. Or what it is. And the young man came to see me. And we talked. And I said to him. Brother. I'm like Paul. And he looked at me in silence. Oh he got right down. Onto melted levels. You don't need to talk then. And he did me the honor of listening to me. Just like you are now. We were sitting together. I said brother. I'm like Paul. What do you mean. I said. I'm in a straight betwixt two. God always brings you into a straight betwixt two. He's always doing it. I said just think of Dover straights. On the left hand lies England. On the right hand lies the continent. And the straight betwixt the two. Should I go there. Or shall I go there. His eyes asked me what I meant. His tongue never spoke. I said I'll tell you. I don't know whether to give up preaching. And go back to the life of prayer. For once I lived. In a way that I can't do now. You say doesn't he pray. Ah there's praying praying. I said I don't know whether I ought still to be going around preaching. God will show me. Or whether I ought to withdraw. I don't know whether to ask to depart. Or to be with you. To be with you is better. I don't know what to do. This is Paul's great quandary. He's in the straight betwixt two. What should I do. God constantly brings men of God into straights. Betwixt two. So you must expect it. I know. I know. At any present day ministry I have been preaching came from that. And if you young men in this room. Think you're going to get ministry. Or this that or the other. You're greatly deceived. If you don't get down. To your priesthood. Priesthood was carried on. Inside. The enclave. Always. The hidden life. Others were out picking the fruit. They were in their. Offering. That's it. The evangelist picks the fruit. The apostle picks the fruit. Or who you will. The pastor. Thank God you can be a pastor and a priest too. I approve that. That's it. Strong crying tears. You're building on sand. You're talking about the promised land. And carriage march and all the lot in vain. It all depends. Upon the priesthood. Never you be turned off that brother. For younger elder male or female. I charge you. That's where it comes. And God knows. Amen. You offer these things. Let's go on. Is there another offering that I can make? Are there any other things? Yes. There are other things. But chiefly. This one. Chapter 9. Verse 11. Christ. Being come. And high priest. Of good things to come. By a greater and more perfect tabernacle. Not made with hands. That is to say. Not of this building. Neither by the blood of goats. And cows. But by his own blood. Oh. He had to enter by his own blood. Keep that very clear. And if you're going to enter into these great things of God. I want to say. If I can use the term figuratively. You'll do it by your own blood. You say. No. I'll always do it by Jesus blood. That's right. You've got that right. But I want to tell you. Whilst you're in the flesh. If your blood isn't in it. As well as your cries. And as well as your tears. Let's go on shall we. He entered in once. For all. Into the holy place. Having obtained eternal redemption. For us it's not there in the original. He just obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls. And of goats. And the ashes of an apple. Sprinkling the unclean. Sanctify us. To the purifying of the flesh. How much more. Shall the blood of Christ. This is unique now. Let's dissociate ourselves from it now. He's in it. Who through the eternal spirit. Offered himself. This is where we come. There's an offering. You've got to offer. Your. Self. You can offer. Prayers. Supplications. Tears. Cries. Your blood's got to be in it though. And you've got to offer. Yourself. And listen. Without spot. To God. Oh God. Is this possible? Absolutely possible. The priests had to be spotless. Although. They were in type. They. They were never without sin in their conscience. They had conscience of their sins. Because. The blood of bulls and of goats. Couldn't purge. The conscience. But we have the blood. Of he who is neither a bull or a goat. We have the blood. Of the unique man. The unique. Hallelujah. And it purges. And we can offer ourselves. Without spot. To God. Hallelujah. Without spot. Lord. If ever. People long for anything. Surely they long for this. Don't they? Without spot. Offer yourself. Have you ever offered yourself to God? Now. I'm not preaching in Romans 12. One and two terms. Offer. Your. Bodies. A living sacrifice. To God. That's using the word. I'm sorry. Present your bodies. That's using your word sacrifice. This is offering. We're on the word offering. Will. God. Accept. Me. If I offer. Myself. To God. No. I don't mean. For service. Or. I'm not issuing a missionary call. That could be involved. In it. Is. My. Self. Acceptable to God. As you are. Beloved. Are you. You better. Ask yourself. The question. My dear. Brother. And sister. Ask yourself. The question. Is your. Self. Acceptable to God. Or is it. True. That the way you behave. Sometimes. You aren't even acceptable. To your wife. Or the way you behave. You're not acceptable. To your husband. They change you. If they could. I'm not saying. They don't love you. That's why they change you. Because they love you. If they didn't. They'd turn their back. And say. I'll leave. I don't mean. Leave them in the flesh. Either. But leave them. Never bother them. Anymore. Listen. Beloved. You can offer. Yourself. Without. Support. From God. What a. Priesthood. What a. Priesthood. Blessed. Be the name. Of the Lord. This is. The priesthood. To which. You're called. You've. Got to know. What's acceptable. To God. And what isn't. It's no good. You bringing. Spotty. Things. You read. The Old Testament. List. About. The offerings. There to be. Without. Blemish. Without. Spot. If you read. Through. The list. Of the offerings. You will see. That not. So much. Was demanded. Of the animal. As thought. The priest. That was. To offer them. Did you realize this. The state. Of the priest. The state. Of life. And health. In his. Body. Had to be. Before. He dare. Touch. The inferior. Thing. That only. Had to be. Without. Spot. Or blemish. Or certain. Things. According. To an animal. But you and I. Have got to. Handle. The offering. That came. Spotless. Through. You from. God. Not. From a cow. Or. You. Blessed. Be. The name. Of the Lord. Who. Has brought. Us. Under this. Mighty. Ministry. Beloved. A. Body. Prepare. A. Self. Offer. A. Life. Given. Blood. In it. Sweat. In it. Tears. In it. Strength. In it. Cries. In it. Compassions. In it. In the midst. Of temptations. He. Was. Tempted. In all. Points. Just. As. We. Are. Yet. Without. Sin. Wonderful. To go. Through a temptation. Yet. Without. Can. The. Priests. Do. That. Oh. Grace. Divine. Yes. The. Priests. May. Hallelujah. Don't. You. Want. To. Be. A. And. Get. In. These. Things. That. Pertain. To. God. What. Things. That. Pertain. To. God. Money. Positions. Huts. Clothes. The. Things. That. Pertain. To. God. Beloved. A. Human. Persons. That's right. Human. Characters. Human. Lives. Human. Beings. Your. Friends. Your. Neighbors. Your. Fellow. Members. They. Pertain. To. God. The. Devil. Never. Made. A. Man. He. Usurped. A. Serpent's. Body. But. He. Never. Made. Man. Pertains. To. God. A. Man. A. Pointer. To. God. That's. Right. Man. Is. The. Pointer. To. God. Isn't. He. The. Very. Fact. That. Man. Is. Is. The. Pointer. To. God. An. Intelligent. Moral. Can. Be. Amoral. Sadly. Enough. Ethical. Upright. Man. Of. Course. Woman. Both. Included. Is. The. Pointer. To. God. Where. Do. You. Go. From. God. Just. Little. Higher. Than. The. Man. Angels. That's. What. The. Bible. Said. Man. Was. Made. A. Little. Lower. Than. The. Angels. That's. Why. He. Can. Get. Off. And. Intrude. Into. Angelic. Realms. Or. Spirit. Realms. Men. Mostly. Intrude. Into. The. Fallen. Angels. Realms. And. Demons. But. They. Can. Puff. Up. And. Try. To. Get. Into. Other. Angelic. Realms. Especially. These. That. Have. High. Emotional. Experiences. Or. Say. They. Have. Great. Spiritual. Experiences. They. Can. Go. Off. Into. Wrong. Realms. Above. The. Angels. God. Man. Man. Man. Man. Man. Man. Man. Man. Man. Re. Generate. Me. Lord. Put. Your. Holy Spirit. Within. Me. Now. You're. Ready. You. Can start. Into. The. Life. Of offering. The. Other. Has. To be. Destroyed. And. What. You. Offer. To. God and he accepts like Abel. He came he put his lamb on the altar. Oh it wasn't elaborately sorted out and itemized as in when God constructed the Mosaic ritual. He brought it. He put the lamb and the fruit together. It all went to God. It was accepted and because it was accepted you should see his face. Cain brings just the fruit. Not accepted. The fire didn't fall. You don't read of Abel kindling fire under the sacrifice. Fire didn't fall. Look at Cain's face. See where it all comes from. The acceptability of the set of the offering. When a man's life or a woman's life is acceptable to God. Oh he glows with the radiance of it. The confidence of it. He's accepted with God. You won't be acceptable to God unless you purge yourself from all uncleanness. Unless you separate yourself from all sin. More and more you and I have to learn the glorious ways of perfection. We start on milk. We don't expect much of babies and if babies can't bring all sorts of outward things they can if I may go out of this epistle into the first epistle of Peter. Do this. Verse 2 of chapter 2 first epistle as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby if so be you have tasted that the Lord is gracious to whom coming as unto a living stone disallowed indeed of men but chosen of God and precious you also as living stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ baby little baby you've been born this week as God ministered to you and it's happened to you listen let God come and build you up into his spiritual house to make a real priest of you so that you can offer up spiritual sacrifices which are acceptable to God now they'll only be acceptable for God to God by Jesus Christ by Jesus Christ's life by Jesus Christ's standards the kind of life he offers to God you can see it you can read it in the Gospels you can see this marvelous thing and then we say Oh God send the latter rain Oh God send the fire but where's the offering the fire comes down from there we have an altar let's go to it Hebrews chapter 13 we have an altar beloved we ready didn't we we have an altar let's start shall we verse 10 we have an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle for the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin a burn without the cap wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered without the gates let us go forth therefore unto him without the cap bearing his reproach for here have we no continuing city it's no good building for anything down here nothing here have we no continuing city we seek one to come we haven't got a build that one it's already built you can ask John you can read his revelation he saw it by him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually now this must be the continually ascending burnt offering praise that should be the fruit of your ground for that's what fruit is isn't it so no well I never thought of that of course isn't it farmer goes out sows his seed and what if nothing comes up does he praise that field the fruit is the praise isn't it praise God what a marvelous harvest you have an apple tree or you have an orchard of fruit no fruit you don't say oh yeah you say oh where's the fruit it's the fruit that's the praise isn't it the fruit of your lips and that's got to be offered continually to God quitting why is it what we got to do you can't offer it if it's not there fruit grows you don't pluck it out of a text of the Bible and say come on let's praise God that's the way to do it God save us from insanity it's fruit fruit the result of labors the result of a winter and snow and clouds and rain and warmth and gales fruit oh something has come out of the seasons through which you passed seasons of of heaviness really yeah Peter says this he tells the young babes are going to be priestesses well of course he said for a season if need be you are in heaven you can read it in first Peter first chapter you've got to go through a season of happiness you receive my wife on rare occasions she comes to a conference where I am she's here tonight she said oh I've had a bit of a head today love that you are you in no reason this great overcast over the top this great big thick cloud haven't you felt a bit heavy how about when heaviness comes in onto your soul that's just a physical thing and a nerve reaction yes heaviness that's right but in all heaviness you have seasons lightness glory to God yeah sunshine rain it's all necessary that's you should read the Hebrews letter and you'll find that out and God brings it all forth into fruit bless his wonderful name and that's got to be continuous Oh always fruit from something always something to offer to God always hallelujah well we'll go down into the fields the mandrakes are giving a pleasant smell but they're not quite ready to be picked but we'll go somewhere oh there's something here we'll pluck this we'll give this hallelujah you see and well we'll have the mandrakes when they're ripe when they've had their season this is what we love constant offering to God there's bound to be fruit something for something that's the offering it's got to go with the lamb hallelujah are you tired I'm not finished yet I mean and tomorrow's the last day you didn't say you were tired you may be bored but he's rubbing his throat for me look thank you for sympathizing with me I've waited an extra minute for that Hebrews chapter 4 and in this marvelous chapter because you do agree with me that every chapter is marvelous don't you see if you find something marvelous in every chapter that's what you say and in this glorious verse it says this we looked at it this morning now we've got to labor to enter into rest verse 11 we looked at that lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief now do you see this if you keep on falling you'll never never get into rest the one of the best things to keep you from falling and unbelief is to get into rest if you've never perhaps read it that way but that's what it says you get into this rest so that you don't fall if you don't get into rest you'll wear yourself out you'll be tired and you'll say I said to somebody the other day I said I'm known as since she was as big as this you see and now she sorry I knew her mother since she was as big as that and her grandpa is 80 and I said to her how's grandpa up oh she says he keeps on falling he keeps on falling I made some inquiries is he falling backwards or forward that's the worst thing a little medical knowledge she said forward he keeps on falling over you see you get you're tired you fall hmm well of course that's physical but in the spiritual you mustn't if you don't come to rest you'll rush around you'll wear yourself out you're going to fall over you'll be tired you'll be weary well it says come unto me oh you look weary that's it then but listen he says I'll give you rest you know you keep weary yeah anybody think it's a virtue to keep weary hallelujah blessed be his lovely name and you're to enter into rest now when you're in rest what's now now you're ready for the sacrifice and the offering here it is the Word of God is quick that's living and powerful sharper than any two-edged sword piercing you can't keep it out it's in for you know it's in you try to sit there and nothing could happen but it's in it's too quick for you your brain doesn't work quick enough no no no it's in God's got wonderful brains a word of God's quick powerful sharper than any two-edged sword pierces even the dividing of thunder soul marrow soul and spirit of the joints marrow discerns thoughts and the tears of the heart no creature is hidden from him everything's naked and open to him in other words you've got something here that has to do with Leviticus chapter 1 now if you're familiar with the offerings and the law of the offerings under Aaron you will know that in Leviticus 1 we have the story of listen let's start at verse 1 shall we now you said you weren't tired so it's up to you and the Lord called under Moses and spoke unto them him out of the tabernacle of the congregation say speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them if any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord ye shall bring your offering of the cattle even of the herd and of the flock if his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd let him offer a male without blemish he shall offer it of his own voluntary will you see this is the free will offering this is not obligatory but once you want to get offering there are obligatory rules that govern it now that's the thing not only are there offerings but in the business you have the law that governs the offering if you're going to give anything God to God it's got to be done this way oh you're not forced to do it but if you come say so good to me what's the first thing to think about the whole burnt offering offering yourself without spot to God complete here it is he's got to put his hand he's got to present himself of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle before the Lord and he shall put his hand birth for upon the head of the burnt offering and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him and he shall kill the bullet before the Lord and the priests you notice who kills it I always thought that the priest did it all the Levites he shall do it himself and the priests heir and sons shall bring the blood and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation everything is naked and open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do and he shall flay that is skin the animal naked you have to skin it it was naked no skin no covering he shall skin the burnt offering cut it into his pieces the Word of God is quick and powerful sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder cut it into his pieces divided asunder hadn't to be butchered it was to be cut into his pieces that go with the bones of course the legs legs forelegs front legs all this bones never had to be broken in the offerings never and the sons of Aaron the priests shall put fire upon the altar lay the wood in order upon the fire before you can have the fire you've got to have the wood before you can have Pentecost you've got to have the cross amen and he shall lay in a word in order upon the fire and the priests Aaron's sons shall lay the parts the head and the fat in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar and his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water and the priests shall burn all on the altar to be a burnt suffering sacrifice an offering made by fire of a sweet savour under the Lord so Hebrews 412 is the severing of the burnt offering the human sacrifice pierces for the dividing asunder it's the man now he's coming a willing glorious burnt offering to God the sword goes in divide so spirit joints marrow thoughts intense even to the heart of it because it's going to be a voluntary sacrifice that's Hebrews 412 it's all based on the offerings and the priesthood all along all right you can make this offering listen the law it was only a shadow of the good things to come the good thing to come is this you could have a mighty baptism in the spirit that applies the sword of the cross the wood of the cross the fire of Pentecost the utter cleansing of the whole lot top to bottom head haunches body heart thoughts mind spirit soul glory be to God all your exercise senses exercised by God offered to God these are the offerings this is the priest oh but you didn't have to offer the burnt of it that was purely voluntary yeah so all right then purely voluntarily Lord I don't give it to you see you're not forced to but purely voluntarily Lord I can give it to you and I did I think I'm going to stop are you a priest are you a function whether you're a male or female are you and you babes now you can be built up into this God will build you up to offer these spiritual sacrifices and I want to tell you that even if you say I will go to my bank and throw out ten thousand pounds always assume you have it and I will give it to Aurora to finish building their second project or something like that you see I want to tell you that that won't be an offering to God it'll be a windfall for Aurora but it won't be an offering to God it isn't that that's offered it's your spirit with which you offer it it's the spiritual sacrifice you say how can you have spirit in money it's amoral yes that's right in other words it can be made to me what the person that gives it or receives it makes it me same with singing a hymn it's what you mean it's all got to be spiritual it's the spiritual offering by this money I give myself Lord well I haven't got any money you're in a very safe position I mean that of the choice of the two give me no money Lord of the two say really I've never heard anybody say that before haven't you perhaps you ought to have done say what I need it yes that's right God knows I need it but that's not the point it's a safe position Lord self have you ever offered yourself to God I'm not asking for volunteer workers or anything like that have you offered yourself to God well there I am Lord you can do it well that's presenting your body a living sacrifice that's reasonable service I'm not talking about service now I'm talking about offering it means the riddance of all sin even the skin that contacted it with the outer world had to be ripped off naked nothing that was the contact with everything by which it may have picked up a bit of dirt in the past isn't it oh blissful freedom Lord yours glory be to God did you know you can offer yourself to God with a strong fires that kindled on the altar did you know that and did you know that there comes a place of the supreme sacrifice and the place of supreme sacrifice the altar of supreme sacrifice never is built until you know the cross Jesus turned the cross into an altar finally you won't be asked perhaps for that at the moment he only reached that because when he came into the world with that glorious birth by the Holy Ghost he said sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not but a body has thou prepared me about when he said sacrifices and offerings for sin burnt offerings which are offered by the law thou hadst no pleasure in then said I know I have come to do thy will oh my God and the way of offering you can't offer to God unless you're walking in the will of God and doing his will and every step you'll find an offering amen and amen hallelujah