[0:00] We are studying the precious things of God. It's a book by Octavius Winslow from the 19th century.! And I'm going to ask you to turn to Psalm 133.
[0:13] The next precious thing that we find in the Word of God is mentioned here in Psalm 133. And it's such a short psalm, I'm going to read it in its entirety.
[0:30] Psalm 133, a song of a sense of David. How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity. It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his robes.
[0:50] It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion, for there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore. So this psalm is a celebration.
[1:02] And what is being celebrated here in this psalm? Not a trick question. Unity. Unity among the brethren.
[1:15] And how good and pleasant it is that it's the place of blessing, where God commands his blessing. Now, to what does he compare this good and pleasant unity?
[1:30] What is he comparing it to? Precious oil, something else. Dew of Hermon. Okay? We've had dew this morning. And it revives and refreshes the earth, doesn't it?
[1:43] And so with the oil as well. It's these two pictures. Now, our study is on the precious things of God. So here in verse 2, the next precious thing that Winslow's pointing us to is the precious oil.
[1:59] The precious oil that's poured on the head. Now, what is this precious oil of which David speaks?
[2:10] The clue is found in whose head it's being poured out on. Aaron's head. And who is he? And why is this oil being poured on his head?
[2:23] He's the high priest. And why is the oil being poured on his head? His anointing. He was the high priest who represented the people in coming before God and bringing their sacrifices to him and pleading blessings for them.
[2:44] And it was one of the highest and holiest offices in the old covenant people of God, right along with the office of prophet and of king. And what did all three of these offices have in common?
[2:57] Prophet, priest, and king. What was true of them in the old covenant? When you became such, what was part?
[3:09] Pardon? They were anointed. They were anointed. And so we find that. And that's what we're looking at here. The high priest is being anointed to his office.
[3:22] And of course, all of these offices are fulfilled in their ultimate sense in the Lord Jesus Christ, as we'll come to see in a moment. Well, this precious oil to anoint and to consecrate Aaron, the high priest, and all his sons as priests, was carefully spelled out by the Lord in Exodus chapter 30, verses 23 to 33.
[3:45] Let me just read a portion from Exodus 30 about this precious oil. Very specific instructions about it were given by the Lord.
[3:56] Take the following fine spices. 500 shekels of liquid myrrh, 500 shekels of casia, 250 shekels of fragrant cinnamon, 250 shekels of fragrant cane, and a hen of olive oil.
[4:14] Make these into a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer. It will be the sacred anointing oil.
[4:26] Now this precise blend of rare and costly fragrant spices was not to be used for any other purpose than the consecration of Aaron and his sons and the holy things of the temple and the priesthood.
[4:42] It was to be considered sacred, set apart for holy use and to use it for any other purpose, even to make it for any other purpose, carry the capital offense in Israel.
[5:00] You would be cut off from among your people. So this is important. This anointing oil was to consecrate the priests. Now that's what David here in our psalm calls precious oil.
[5:15] The precious oil. Now of course all of these things were types and symbols for us. Teaching us, they're the shadow teaching us about the coming reality in Christ.
[5:31] Spiritual realities in our Lord Jesus and his church. So what does this precious anointing with oil point toward? Well, it points toward the anointing of the Holy Spirit of which Jesus Christ, our great high priest, partakes.
[5:50] And in Christ, all his royal priesthood. Just as it was for Aaron and his sons, so it is for the Lord Jesus and all his children in the new covenant.
[6:05] Now, the book of Hebrews clearly identifies Jesus Christ as the great high priest of his church. There's no question about that. And all who are united to him by faith become priests as well.
[6:21] Turn to 1 Peter chapter 2 as we come to the New Testament application of this precious oil, this anointing for the priesthood.
[6:33] Jesus is the great high priest. But so are all who are united to him by faith. They become priests as well. 1 Peter 2 verses 4 and 5.
[6:49] As you come to him, that is to Christ, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
[7:16] So Jesus is the great high priest and all who are united to him by that union to him, the high priest, become priests ourselves.
[7:30] A holy priesthood and we're offering not blood sacrifices but what kind of sacrifices does it say? Spiritual sacrifices made acceptable to God through our high priest Jesus Christ.
[7:50] Look down to verse 9. Again, speaking to the people of God. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
[8:14] So you are a holy priesthood. You are a royal priesthood. The book of Revelation opens with that same title given to us that through Christ's blood we have been made kings and priests to serve our God.
[8:34] So, I don't know if you felt like a priest this morning when you came into the church but are you ready to serve God as a priest today? There is no order of Aaron anymore to slaughter sacrifices.
[8:51] No, there is the order of Jesus Christ and all who are in him and you have come to sacrifice spiritual sacrifices, the sacrifice of praise, the sacrifice of the fruit of your lips and the offering of yourself up to God.
[9:08] Now, this service of God as priests so it speaks of the priesthood of all believers. That's something that Martin Luther really hammered home in the Reformation when the Roman church was saying, no, all blessings must come through this group of Roman Catholic priests and all spiritual blessings must come from their hands so you must confess to them and receive absolution of sin from them.
[9:36] You see, it must be funneled through these priests and Luther saw such passages as this and said, no, no, all of us have direct recourse to the great high priest Jesus and we're forgiven by him and we have this interaction with God ourselves directly.
[9:55] We have become priests to serve our God. God. So, this serving God as priests then, it's not just something that we do here on Sundays.
[10:07] It includes that but you serve him with all your life, with all you do. Peter says in chapter 1 that you're to be holy in all you do.
[10:23] Serving the Lord all day, every day. Turn over to Romans chapter 12. You're familiar with this passage but I wonder if you've connected it to your job as a priest to serve your God.
[10:40] Romans 12 and verse 1 Therefore, in light of all of God's mercies that have just been covered, therefore I urge you brothers, in view of God's mercies, to offer your bodies as living sacrifice.
[10:57] Now that's something that priests do. They offer sacrifices and you are being called now to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.
[11:08] This is your spiritual act of worship. You see, that's not just something you do here in church. That's something you do every day. You say, here's my body, Lord.
[11:19] Here I am. Take and use me to serve you today where you've put me. In the home, in the job, in the neighborhood where I am. And you serve the Lord as his priest in that place.
[11:33] offering up your bodies as a living sacrifice, which is your spiritual act of worship as a priest. So, so, priests of God, everything you do is to be a sacrifice of praise to him.
[11:48] And so we need this priestly mindset that goes into our day. This is for you, God. This is unto you. I'm, I'm doing this to you just as a priest offered sacrifices to God.
[12:00] There ought to be that Godward direction to our work and our, our recreation, our, our enjoyment of all his gifts and all of our duties. Well, we're priests and we need an anointing if we're to serve effectively as priests.
[12:20] So what's the meaning of this precious oil that anoints and consecrates Jesus Christ, the man of Jesus and his royal priesthood to serve our God?
[12:31] Winslow says, this precious anointing consists in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the soul. The precious anointing is the Holy Spirit living within, who, who is referred to in scripture under the symbol of oil.
[12:49] So if the Old Testament type is called precious oil by David, it's like the precious oil that flows down on Aaron's head. What should we say of the preciousness of the reality in the new covenant?
[13:03] The preciousness of the anointing of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Who can even begin to estimate the value and preciousness of this anointing? Precious oil indeed.
[13:17] So let's consider the preciousness, the true worth of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Considering first his essence and then secondly his work. first his essence.
[13:27] Who is he? Who is the Holy Spirit? Well he's not a force. He's not an influence. He's not an impersonal power. He is very God, the third person in the Godhead.
[13:42] Indeed a person, not an it. Now we will speak of the anointing of the Spirit as an it, as a thing, but the Spirit is not an it. The Spirit is a person.
[13:53] Tonight we're going to be baptizing two people Lord willing and I will recite the baptismal formula of our Lord's command in Matthew 28 and verse 19.
[14:10] That we're to make disciples and then baptize them into the name, singular, of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[14:22] One name, three persons. One God, three persons. The Holy Spirit is as much God as the Son is God.
[14:35] The Holy Spirit is as much God as the Father is God. And if we had no other verse in the Bible that one would be sufficient to show us the essence of the Holy Spirit. Who is he?
[14:46] He's God. He is God. Well, I trust you see what that does to the preciousness of this anointing when we think what are we anointed with?
[14:59] With God. That benediction in 2 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 14 names the three persons of the Trinity and also speaks of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
[15:18] The fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Do you fellowship with the Holy Spirit? You fellowship with Jesus? You fellowship with the Father? Do you fellowship with the Holy Spirit?
[15:32] 2 Corinthians 13 14 says that's that's given to us that we might fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Well, every believer in Jesus then receives this anointing, receives this gift of the indwelling Spirit of God by which we are set apart and equipped to serve God as priests in his family.
[15:56] I don't think we need to belabor the point many verses that talk about God putting his Spirit into the hearts of his people. Galatians 4 6 because you are sons God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts the Spirit who calls out Abba Father and the verses could be multiplied that speak of the Holy Spirit being given to us the Spirit who is in you whom you have received of God.
[16:30] So this anointing oil then is none other than God the Spirit given to us. It's not something that was found from rare spices on some exotic mountain mixed into this precise formula but rather it was purchased for us by the blood of Jesus on Mount Calvary and he is the one who gives to all his priests this precious oil the gift of the Holy Spirit.
[16:57] So that's his essence he's precious because of who he is he is God but he's also this anointing is also precious because of the work that he does in his priests.
[17:08] the work of the Holy Spirit. Now when we reckon up our debt of love for salvation we run to the cross and we run to Jesus Christ and we marvel at the debt we owe to the Son of God for shedding his blood to save us but Wenslow says your debt of love to the Holy Spirit is no less than what you owe to Christ or to the Father who gave Christ just as you could not be saved without the blood shedding of the Son of God so you could not be saved without the regeneration and sanctifying work of God the Spirit.
[17:56] I tell you the truth Jesus said no one can see the kingdom of God or enter it unless he's born again born of the Spirit you see we have a debt of love to the Spirit for regenerating us making us new creatures or we would have walked by Jesus Christ all the way through our lives going our own way not not seeking Christ so his work makes this anointing so precious his work is carried on from within us he's the resident agent of the triune God to carry out the work of God and the soul of his people he's the one who gives us new life and then sanctifies that new life progressively throughout our lifetime and enables us to serve God as his priests on the earth so whatever progress there is in your spiritual life you owe it to the powerful work of this
[18:57] Holy Spirit your broken heart for sin your trembling faith in Christ every bit of thirst for holiness all breathings after God and hungering for righteousness a spirit of prayer wanting to draw near to God all genuine love for God and our fellow man all true worship that we've ever offered to God Philippians 3 3 for it is we who worship by the spirit of God how do we offer up worship that's acceptable by the spirit of God through Christ but by the power of the Holy Spirit so we owe all this to him his work in us and Winslow says if this is so and it is then whenever our graces are declining and our faith is faltering and our love is chilling and our peace is shaken and our assurance is drooping and our obedience is suffering and our prayers are languishing we should seek at once the quickening reviving restoring work of the spirit of God he glorifies
[20:08] Christ by taking the things of Christ and making them real to us gives us a sense of God's presence and nearness in our lives Winslow says do not live as a priest of God without the sensible indwelling of the Holy Spirit live in conscious union and communion with him and if you grieve the Holy Spirit confess it and turn from the grieving sin let nothing interrupt your fellowship with him don't be satisfied to live without his powerful increasingly powerful influence in your life this is your precious anointing priest and you cannot do without it it's precious this anointing because it's indestructible which simply means it can't be lost with all of our ups and downs of our Christian experience with all of our sinful failures and our repentances and coming back and recovering through all these things though those things may interrupt our joy and sense of the spirit's presence yet
[21:13] Winslow says nothing shall ever prevail to destroy the work of the spirit in the heart of the regenerate Romans 11 29 for God's gifts and his calling are irrevocable God's no Indian giver he doesn't give you the gift of the Holy Spirit oh you know I'm going to take that back no his gifts are irrevocable and one of his gifts one of his best gifts is the gift of his Holy Spirit this divine anointing is never totally removed and it's that anointing oil of the spirit in your life that imparts fragrance to all you do as a priest of God and makes it a sweet smelling savor a sacrifice acceptable well pleasing to God it's the high priest anointing that makes your service so precious to God again
[22:14] Winslow your prayers are precious your praises are precious your labors are precious your every lowly act of love is precious your every lowly act of obedience and service is inconceivably precious to God touched with this divine and holy oil of the spirit it's got the touch the mark of the holy spirit on it and so it's precious to God it's acceptable it's well pleasing it's fragrance like those sweet smelling that sweet smelling aroma that came up from the altars of the old covenant and God smelled it and was satisfied that's that's your service to God not just in here but bringing up children and punching the clock at work and whatever it is that you do as you're doing it unto the Lord by the spirit it's inconceivably precious to God because touched with this oil of the spirit and so though the
[23:16] Holy Spirit's work can never be completely removed its vigor may be seriously impaired its beauty may be obscured and its fragrance lessened there is such a thing in the Bible as grieving the Holy Spirit as quenching the Holy Spirit Winslow goes to Ecclesiastes 10 1 at this point here's what it says as dead flies give perfume a bad smell so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor so you can have the most exquisite perfume the mixture of spices that's just right and yet the wise man says a dead fly will make it stink and he's drawing application then the fragrance of the Holy Spirit in your life it's a wonderful thing the nostrils of God he takes pleasure in it but there are dead flies that can give the perfume a bad smell he says beware of the dead fly in the ointment worldliness of living covetousness of heart an unforgiving temper an earthly groveling mind an unloving censorious spirit hypercritical spirit a lack of integrity in your dealings with men a secret rebellion against the will of
[24:40] God may be just that dead fly that causes all to stink that lessens your heavenliness of mind impairs your spiritual vigor shades your divine light veils your precious anointing and renders your moral influence as a laborer for Christ so little useful to man and your walk as a believer in Jesus so little honoring to God he's saying we can't lose this anointing we can't lose the spirit of God totally but we can lose something of the sweetness of the fellowship with him something of the power of his touch upon our lives and ministries in the world so so your anointing of the spirit is precious don't spoil it with these dead flies that grieve him now Winslow wants us to see then this precious anointing of the holy spirit as coming to us through the lord jesus he is the type of of aaron the high priest he is the great high priest and so he wants us to see that if we have any anointing of the spirit it comes to us because of our relationship to the great high priest jesus so he wants us to see jesus first as the priest with this anointing oil remember how david put it it was the precious oil that flowed!
[26:08] on! who knows what the word Christ means in the Greek the anointed one what does the word messiah mean in Hebrew Hebrew is a little harder than Greek means the same thing anointed one so the messiah meant God's anointed the Christ was the anointed and so Christ is not a name so much as it's a title it becomes part of the name of Jesus but it's a title the anointed one so again we're being told this is the anointed prophet that was to come and speak and bring God's truth and if anyone does not believe him they will be cut off this is the anointed priest who would come and make a sacrifice that would do away with sin for his people in a single sacrifice this is the anointed king who will rule on
[27:21] David's throne forever and ever so the very word Christ means the anointed one he's the fulfillment of Psalm 31 33 2 of the Aaronic anointing the human nature of the Lord Jesus was anointed and filled with the Holy Spirit I say his human nature remember Jesus had two natures God the Son is one at the same time has a divine nature and he has a human nature one person two natures and as to his human nature that nature was filled and anointed with the Holy Spirit to equip him for his work on earth it was promised in the Old Testament listen to Psalm 89 verse 20 where God says I have found David my servant and my sacred oil and with my sacred oil I have anointed him that was true of
[28:24] King David but it was true of David's greater son Jesus Christ I found him remember how Samuel finally found David after seeing all his older brothers and the Lord said no no it's not him it's him rise and anoint him well God says I have found David with my anointing oil and I have anointed him this greater son of David is being spoken of in Psalm 89 Psalm 45 7 says you love righteousness and hate wickedness therefore God your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows you know what book of the Bible applies that to Jesus book of Hebrews that's that's again showing us Jesus is this high priest this anointed high priest and here is quoted this passage from Psalm 45 in Hebrews 1 9 it's quoted of Jesus that God has anointed you
[29:24] Jesus with the oil of gladness above your fellows and so it was promised and foretold in the Old Testament and then it was fulfilled in the New Testament Acts 10 in verse 38 we saw it a few weeks back as we were preaching through Acts it says God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power he was anointed you see with the Holy Spirit and power and in that anointing he carried out his earthly ministry!
[29:57] at his baptism what form did the Holy Spirit take at his baptism? a dove and it came down from heaven and landed upon him to equip him to furnish him for his public ministry that he was just then beginning after his baptism and God gave to him the spirit without measure without limit John 3 34 says so his humanity owed all that special wisdom and power and holiness to the indwelling fullness of the Holy Spirit his human nature owed all that wisdom and power to the Holy Spirit's anointing upon him you see he's in his human nature he's showing us how man was meant to live and be a priest to God never meant to do so independently just from within us and what we have always meant to be dependent upon
[31:03] God and his Holy Spirit in our lives so if we'd be more Christ like we must be more richly replenished with the Holy Spirit look to Luke chapter 11 in verse 13 this is something that the Lord Jesus was teaching his disciples in Luke 11 Jesus was praying and his disciples heard him pray and they said oh Lord teach us to pray so he gives them the Lord's prayer as a model for them as to how they are to pray and then he would encourage them to pray and so he gives two stories two parables if you will on prayer and the first one is about a friend or someone that has a friend coming to him at midnight and you remember that parable but then the second is the parable that starts at verse nine so I say to you ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and the door will be open to you for everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks the door will be open here's the second parable which of you fathers!
[32:15] if your son asks for a fish will give him a snake instead or if he asks for an egg will give him a scorpion if you then though you are evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him so ask ask for more of the Spirit's anointing in your life more of his wisdom more of his understanding more of his power more of his counsel more of his fear of the Lord in your life Winslow says beloved you cannot besiege the throne of grace for a more needed and a greater blessing than the fullness of the Holy Spirit we have a hymn in our hymnal number 246 in which Paul Gerhart says come thou!
[33:15] God can give or we implore the Holy Spirit is the best donation gift that God can give and that we can implore can ask for and so Winslow gives us this prayer to the Holy Spirit O Divine and Holy Spirit enter us unworthy though we are make your home in our hearts vile though they be breathe life and love peace and joy into our souls quicken us seal us teach us sanctify us and make us divine by making us Christ like make us happy by making us holy and so fill and occupy us with yourself that there may be no room for the reign of sin the power of the world and the love of self so fullness is the goal to be so full of the spirit full of his power and influence that there's not room for sin to make to wreak its havoc fullness is what we pray for and seek
[34:26] Stephen is said in Acts 6 to be a man full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit Barnabas as well in Acts 11 24 we saw it last week is noted to be a good man full of the Holy Spirit these men were characterized by the inward influence of the Holy Spirit in their lives the fruit of the Spirit was spilling out of their lives they were so full of it so full of the Spirit's anointing that out came love joy peace kindness gentleness patience self control all the fruit of the Spirit this was not a special privilege for Philip or for Barnabas alone in fact Ephesians 5 exhorts all believers to be filled with the Spirit and so Winslow says don't be satisfied with a bare minimum of the
[35:26] Spirit's influence in your life seek fullness open your mouth wide and I will fill it God says in Psalm 81 the limiting is not in God but in us he delights to give the Holy Spirit to those that ask so Jesus is the great high priest and he was anointed with the oil of the Holy Spirit but his anointing was not for himself but for us and Winslow draws from the picture again he says that oil that was poured down on Aaron's head it spilled down onto his beard and dripped down onto his clothing down to the lowest part of the hem of his garment that's a picture he says of the spirit that was given to Christ also flowing from Christ to us to enable us to be priests Isaiah 61 speaks of
[36:29] Jesus anointing and notice how it wasn't for himself but for us! Jesus preached this text in the gospel of Luke and he took up the scroll of Isaiah and turned to the place where it was written the spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor he's anointed me but now notice how it's it's not for himself but for others to preach the good news to the poor he sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaim freedom for the captives release from darkness for the prisoners to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn to provide for all who grieve in Zion to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes the oil despair so we are the beneficiaries you see of his anointing he's anointed that we might share in that blessed anointing it was for the meek for the broken hearted the mourners in
[37:46] Zion those with a spirit of heaviness bowed down it was for poor empty sinners souls that hunger and thirst for righteousness who feel their vileness their need their nothingness and who come to him as empty sinners to a full savior here is a precious meditation of Winslow who lowers a full bucket into the well do you know anybody that would go to a well and go to the trouble of lowering his full bucket down into the well he doesn't need to go there does he if he's got a full bucket who lowers a full bucket into the well who carries a full pitcher to the spring no it is emptiness that travels to fullness and so must you come to deal with and live upon and receive from Jesus Christ a full Christ and an empty sinner travel the same road side by side step by step hand in hand all the way to glory with no other will
[38:57] Christ walk the proud the self sufficient he knows from afar but the spiritual mourner the broken hearted the poor in spirit these are they upon whom Jesus delights to pour the oil of joy and gladness which causes their hearts to glow and their faces to shine and their lips to praise Jesus delights to pour out the holy spirit on those who are poor and lowly he gives grace to the humble you see that's the method of the kingdom of Christ to them he gives the oil of gladness the oil of joy the work of the indwelling spirit as a royal priest then anointed by God you possess this indwelling spirit who's pledged to instruct you to sanctify and comfort and help you until the master comes and takes you home first
[39:58] John 2 20 but you have an anointing from the holy one and all of you know the truth you see the spirit teaches us the things of God the natural man without the spirit can't understand the things of the spirit of God but you with this anointing you have an anointing from the holy one and all of you have this anointing therefore all of you know the truth and so what a privilege it is to sit under the preaching of the word to open our Bibles in our homes and to read and to have this blessed anointing of the spirit to teach us and why is he doing this why is he doing all that he's doing he's doing it to equip us as priests to serve our God so priests prepare yourself for service today and may today prepare you for service tomorrow and every tomorrow that he gives us let's count the anointing of the spirit as indeed precious oil and enjoy his presence and fellowship his help this week well let's pray and commit ourselves to the
[41:10] Lord well we're so glad Lord that it's emptiness that you delight to pour your fullness into for we are poor and needy and we are empty but we keep coming to you who have the fullness of grace and the fullness of the spirit to pour into our neediness and into our weakness and thank you then that it's just our neediness and the awareness and confession of it that qualifies us for this fullness meet us today and further prepare us by your spirit for works of service this week that we might serve you our great God and King we ask in Jesus name amen as