Why God saved us

I would like to pick up a few thoughts from Brandon and a few from William. It's a very enjoyable morning. What I'm thinking of is just very practical.

There is God's ideal intention, but that doesn't always get worked out, because you and I are free will agents. God is not going to make us live for him. I have to want to live for him.

He will certainly help me. He'll certainly come along, and there's all kinds of lovely truth there as well. But we're going to learn just a very simple lesson from the Old Testament, and then we're going to look at something in the New Testament where you and I would come into play.

I want you to notice what is said shortly after the children of Israel are out of the land of Egypt. We're going to look at God's initial intention for the nation of Israel. Look at Exodus 19, and let's start at verse number four.

Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bear you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice, indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye will be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine. Now notice, please, verse six.

And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. That was God's initial purpose for taking his people out of Egypt. He wanted the entire nation to function as priests.

So why did it get restricted down to just one tribe? What happened to the other eleven? Do you remember the golden calf? That's what changed everything from God's initial plans. There is Moses up the top of the mountain, he's receiving the instructions for the tabernacle, and the gold of the people, and the devil, he's got plans for your gold too. Gold, young man, young woman, is you.

Talent, ability, potential. We heard this morning from our brother Brandon, what happens when calamities come in. The initial purpose, no longer able to function in that initial way.

I felt our brother handled things very, very well. Things that can just take us away from God's initial purpose that he has for us. And there is Moses, and God says, there's a disturbance in the camp, go down into the camp, and Moses, you know the story, Moses comes down the mountain, and thank God he smashed the naked law.

Because if he didn't, when he walked into that camp with that naked law, it would have destroyed everybody in the camp. And he broke the law, and there they are, dancing naked around this golden calf, that just lo and behold, came out of the fire. It's amazing how convenient the devil can make things.

As a result, there's a man that stands up and he says, who's on the Lord's side? You know what the word of God records? The children of Levi, they all pulled out from the group, and they went over with this man. And from that point, that's where the change takes place. Then you start going, I'm not giving you all the details because I'm just going to be fairly short and leave lots of time, but it's just a fascinating thing to how God then reconfirms that.

And then he starts talking about an everlasting priesthood within the Aaronic family, Aaron being the head, of course. So my point is to keep in mind, do you know why God saved you? Do you have it clear? The Lord gives us the answer in John 4, the father seeketh such to worship him. That's why God saved you, to worship him.

He wants every one of God's children to be priests, functioning as priests. Now we understand when we come to the New Testament, we've got the private aspect, and then we got the corporate aspect in the assembly, and the sisters are to be silent publicly. But here in the individual aspect, you and I have the privilege, because of what the Lord Jesus has done, this new covenant, it's not a limited priesthood.

Should I say this right now? Brethren, why are we waiting so long to pray? Can we not stand up and thank God for something? An audience of like 300 people. What's with the dead air? It's why God saved us, to open our voices and praise him. What's going on in the mind? What's going on in your heart? There were problems back here, and I'm just thinking of it for a minute, from God's perspective.

I've got intentions for all 12 tribes to be moving in and out of that tabernacle system. Just representing me, me being able to speak to them. And now because of sin, God's got to cut it down.

Just one family, the Levites. And then God is going to take just Aaron. All the Levites are priests, but then there could only be one high priest.

And those high priests can only come from one man, Levi. Now at the time, Levi had four sons. So I want you to think of this for a minute.

God starts out with, he wants all 12 tribes to be functioning as priests. Sin comes into the camp, now it's cut down to one family, one tribe, the Levites. Now within that Levitical tribe, you've got one man, Aaron, and he's got four sons.

God is intending now for the high priests to be able to come from any one of those four boys. What happens in Leviticus chapter 10? Sin again. And these two boys, their lives are taken.

Ah, oh boy. Now we're just down to two. The thing is getting smaller all the time.

Brother, are you taking part in your assembly meeting? God intends it. Or maybe you're like me when I was a young Christian. I don't feel like praying tonight, but I could start to tell you who was going to pray because those men were consistent.

And sure enough, you just start going through the good old faithfuls. I remember one night sitting in the Bible study and I remember the thought hit me. What's going to happen, Scott, when these men aren't here? What would happen? What impress would it have on somebody visiting, watching a so-called New Testament church function and they sit there for 15 minutes with dead air? What's going to happen? We're not too sure.

You know, brother, what might have to happen sometimes, I'll tell you a story from back home. Maybe this is just Canadians this happens to, but if you ever get a chance to go to Labrador, Lancelot, Labrador, they have a tremendous conference. You go to everybody's home to eat dinner.

You don't eat dinners in the hall. Everybody invites you and you're just these big, big, it's beautiful, beautiful. So Christmas time, there was a relative of someone in the assembly was visiting.

She happened to be a female priest from a particular denomination. So of course, they asked her to sit in the seat of the unlearned Sunday morning. And someone gave out a hymn and there was just this long pause.

Guess what? The dear woman stood up and started to pray. Right in the back seat. The brethren didn't know what to do.

Well, I guess we better let her finish. As soon as she finished, do you know the effect it had on the brethren? Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. They were afraid to give her even one second.

They all, they never had so many people pray on a Sunday morning. Never. Is that what needs to happen to us? To get us to get a hold of where we are? Dear wife, can you do this? Nudge them.

What? Or maybe the two of you were fighting too bad in the car on the way to the meeting. And I got the old heart just, I can't pray when I'm fighting with my wife. I'm in no spirit.

Coming back to my brother, Brandon. What do you do Saturday night? Huh? Gaming like crazy, man. And he comes Sunday morning and your brain is still going.

And you can't even enter into what someone else is saying to warm you. Dear young child of God, middle-aged, older, the pinnacle of your Christian life and my Christian life is to worship God. That's it.

If you're unable to do any activity with your legs, I can't pass out one gospel paper, you can still worship. You can be laying flat on your back in a hospital bed, eyes looking up to heaven, and you can still worship. That's what it's all about.

But we are so focused on activity. Go, go, go. Is worshiping God your priority? It's what he wants.

Now you start to look at those four sons, two of them get eliminated. Then you start to look at son number, I'm going to skip three for a minute. I'm going to go to number four.

There's a man that comes from this son. Do you know what his name is? Eli. You can read about it in first Samuel.

Not going to take time. You want to know what Eli did? Eli was the high priest, legitimate high priest, and he did something, sin again. And do you know what? I want all my brethren to listen.

The consequences of his actions affected his entire family to the point where God would say to Eli by a man of God, because you preferred your boys over my word, you haven't been hard enough on them in discipline. I am going to tear the priesthood from your line. That's sad.

There will not be one priest, high priest that will come from your line anymore. Do you remember the time when Saul was hunting David and Doag? Oh, I saw David. He was down there at the high priest and the high priest gave him Goliath's sword.

Remember what Saul did? Put your swords on boys. We're going down to see the high priest. Do you remember 80 of them standing in front of Saul? 80.

What did Saul say? Fall on them, take their lives. Guess what? That was all tied back to the judgment upon Eli. It's all part of it.

Then you go further from that event. There was just one man of Emelech that made it out of that terrible mutiny that day, that terrible slaughter. And David says, you stay with me.

And then you start to follow this man. This man was faithful to David until Absalom come on the scene. Prior to Absalom, there was a man called Adonijah.

No, Absalom Adonijah. Sorry, got that backwards. He was faithful to David during the rebellion of Absalom.

But then when Adonijah tried to be king instead of Solomon, do you know what this man did of Emelech? He went and he sided with the wrong king. Do you know what happened when Solomon finally came to the throne? He thrust him out of the priesthood forever. Now you're down to just the third son of Aaron, and then you start to follow that lovely line.

Do you remember the name Phinehas in the Bible? That's where he's traced back to. Does this name mean anything to you? The sons of Zadok. Oh, what a lovely line that is.

When you go off and start to study the millennial temple in Ezekiel chapter 40 and 48, do you know what you're going to find as a result of good decisions that were made, keeping true to the word of God, keeping their lives out of sin? Do you know what God does with that line? When the temple is built, the sons of Zadok are going to have their dwelling right around the temple. And then all the other Levites, they're way out here. Dear father, what are you teaching your children? Are you a dumb priest in God's assembly? Has your children heard you pray? Do they hear you pray in the home? Oh, you say, this is old-fashioned.

I'm going to mention something called the family altar. No, we're not sacrificing children, okay? Nothing to do with sacrificing children. Do you take time every day just after eating the supper, you open up the word of God? Read a short passage and just bow your head and pray.

It's the way I was brought up. It's a wonderful thing. I didn't appreciate it at the time.

Wonderful thing to be able to witness your father functioning as a priest before God. I hope fathers, I hope you encourage your wife to do that too. I think it's a wonderful thing for the children to hear the mother pray, function as a priest.

I don't do all the praying at home. I say, why don't you pray tonight? I get tired of praying for my food. Let her pray for the food.

Sometimes the kids used to tease me, oh, form A, form B. You know when that stopped? Rachel, tonight you're giving thanks for the food. Oh, dad, it's okay. Go ahead, dad.

Sometimes praying can become just a form, can it? Let's get a hold of the fact why God saved us. Let's not let sin come into our lives, which ends up giving us a wrong heart, a wrong mind, and therefore I come into God's presence, be it individually or be it collectively, and I just can't get up. Anyone here harboring bitterness, bad spirit, jealousy? I mean, my brother picked on a number of very obvious things.

We know how easy it is to be defiled with a smartphone, with a computer, with an internet connection. That's simple. Do you know what's even simpler? Just the way I think about you, the way I look at you, and then I'm going to stand before God with bitterness in here, jealousy, malice.

You don't think it happens? It happens. We were recently at a conference. You can't hide these things.

A man that I have great respect for, David Gilliland, he was there, and a young brother got up. He wasn't asked to get up on the platform, but he got up on the platform, and he gave his little 25-minute message, and after he was done, dinner time, David Gilliland turned to David Herlihy, another preacher, and he said, what just happened there? And David knew some of the history. He didn't want to let on.

He said, why would you say that? Listen to what he said. I detect a very vindictive man in that message. You can't hide your heart, brother, for too long.

Number one, it's very obvious to the God of heaven. Everything is open and naked before him. Everything.

How grieving it must be to God when we are double-faced. Now, this is coming back to William. A lot on pride in that chapter.

Brother, why do you pray in the assembly meeting? Is it because you want to pray better than your other friends in the meeting? Or maybe it's sometimes like, I call it preacher problem. I'm a preacher. I have to pray.

I better not let them down. I better get up and pray. And I just, I can fill it in.

I have no trouble talking. You can tell that. Like, it's easy.

I can make it sound like, whoa, that fellow's really in touch with God. And I'm just flat. Flat.

I wish we could all get a hold of this. We are actually able to move into the very presence of the God of eternity. And he's looking at me, God that knows everything.

Well, you say, what in the world can I give him? Oh, every one of us here, we got the same resource, the word of God, but every one of us are a very different personality. And when you take the resource of the word of God and your unique personality, and you put them together, and then you start to express to God some, just the way you're appreciating his son, that's worship. That's unique.

I can only do it for me. You can only do it for you. That's why God saved you.

It's wonderful to think of that. How many people here today think, I'm off on a tangent now, but that's okay. How many people think, we pray in this building.

Is that where we pray? Read the book of Hebrews. We actually spiritually enter into the third heavens. Christ doesn't come from there to here.

We go from here to there. Now you're all stunned going like, wow, what's that you're talking about? Go to Hebrews and read it. We're not like the tabernacle system where there was something on this earthly plane and we go into the holies of holies.

We are transported up into the third heavens, right before the throne of God. You and I have boldness to enter into the third heavens. Think of it.

If I got a hold of that, that would help me to remove preaching from my prayer. Little sermonettes. I'd be getting a hold of this, that I'm actually speaking to my God.

There's no point in me trying to lie to him. There's no point in me trying to impress him. Just give him what's on your heart.

Can't do that if you're not in the word of God. I was listening carefully to my brother Brandon, looking at all these young people that were sitting here, and I'm just thinking, what a miserable world we're growing up in. It's so defiling.

The devil knows that you have the potential to worship God. It's not going to be easy. William mentioned about the flesh within.

There's something inside of me that does not want to see Scott McLeod worshiping God. It doesn't want to see Scott McLeod preparing, trying to find something to worship God. This is where the other side of William comes in.

Pride, right in the middle of worshiping, right in the middle of being used of God, doing God's service, pride is always rare in his head. Get down to the bottom line of why do I do what I do. Why? I just love God's son.

That's all. I just want to tell God a little something about what I enjoyed about his son. Dear brother, I want to encourage you.

You talked about a challenge, William. Here's a challenge. We're going to have the breaking of bread here tomorrow after the Bible study.

Are we going to have long pauses? Now, don't be getting up to show how you can pray. I don't want that. That's old pride.

And some of you young pups, you know, I'll just show these older fellas how to pray. No. No.

That's all wrong, too. Just get focused on Christ. And if all you're enjoying is 10 seconds, you give it to me.

Because your 10 seconds will be better than my 10 minutes. Do you get my point? I often like to think of an assembly. God is watching it.

Just like the children of Israel, God intended all 12 tribes to function as priests. He's looking at an assembly. Let's say it's an assembly of 80 people and there's 40 men in there.

Do you know what God wants? I'd love to hear all 40. I'd love to hear them. I was going to read Hebrews chapter 13, the fruit of our lips.

Not the seed, but the fruit of our lips. What's the difference? Well, a seed is something that has been germinated and it's growing. Do you remember Mr. Robert McFeet? William would know him well.

And when he first came to the assembly, he ended up becoming a preacher. I remember listening to him as a young believer. I loved his preaching style.

And he used to be so wowed by these older men praying. Oh my man, he says, that's like a bullock of the Old Testament. It's a big, big, how could I ever pray like that? And then as he kept coming to the local assembly, he started realizing that, hey, that sounds very similar to what he prayed last week.

He said, it's a frozen bullock. He's taking it home and he's putting it right back in the deep freeze. And then he picks it up next week and he takes it to me.

Oh, brother, and I can go to denominational church and they'll open up a prayer book and they'll go, the prayer for today is, and near put you to sleep. Could we bring some freshness into our assembly meetings? Get a hold of Christ. Don't let all of these distractions pull you from the greatest pursuit in life is to fall in love with your savior and the privilege to come Sunday morning.

Father, here's why I love your son. And just give me that. It'll throw my heart.

You'll hear more. Amen. And I better, I better touch this before I sit down.

I feel like going one, two, three, let's all say amen. What I have been, I was recently in a place and it near knocked me off the seat. Almost the entire assembly said amen.

After everybody prayed, I was like, wow, what just happened that I die and go to heaven. Brethren, sisters, what is wrong with saying amen? No, let's not get charismatic. Amen.

No, no, no, no. Don't do that. We're not going to go hallelujah.

No, no. Don't jump up and wave your hand. No, no, no.

We're not going down that road. What is wrong with saying amen? I enjoyed that. Sometimes it's very encouraging to the person that's speaking.

It's a terrible feeling to sit down and not hear a word. And you're there, you're sitting there going, did I just say something wrong? Brethren, sisters, sisters, I hope you don't come just to listen to the brethren. You can silently worship God and it's just as important as the audible worship of brethren.

And God enjoys it just as much. So you just offer silently your worship. You know what you'll find? That'll just help to increase the temperature of the meeting.

It's a wonderful thing to be able to serve and worship the God of heaven.