Under the Mighty Hand of God

I do have a message I want to share with you today, of course. It's entitled, Under the Mighty Hand of God. Under the Mighty Hand of God.

If you open your Bibles, please, to 1 Peter, I want to begin a little bit differently than I normally do. I want to read a scripture, and it's in 1 Peter 5 verse 6.

Of course, that's where I get the title for the sermon from.

The scripture does bear very much meaning and power, not only in its words but its imagery as well. 1 Peter 5, 6. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.

And so we do indeed live under the mighty hand of our great Creator God. Most people in this world don't know that, but we're fortunate to have that understanding. And my thanks to Mr. Young, Mr. Crawford, he just happened here to choose an appropriate slide. He didn't know that. But we do have a great Creator God, don't we? We heard a lot about our Creator who deserves all glory and honor, and the sermon we heard yesterday from Mr. Crane. And so thank you, you probably made me remove about two pages of songs. But that's great because it's all in our mind, and it's wonderful. No problem there at all, actually. But the hand that is mighty, that hand we know made the universe. If you look at the slide, you'll see a picture there with the sunset and the evening sky, and you can see part of the Milky Way galaxy. I'm sure that's what it must be. And you can see those little specks of light actually represent just a few sprinkles of billions of galaxies. And each one of those galaxies have other, what they tell us now, they keep changing the number each year, I've noticed. But they claim now there are multiple and multiple trillions, upon trillions, of stars and other astral bodies out there, planets, asteroids, everything else out there. That mighty hand of God created the universe, what we see there, and of course everything in it. That hand made this planet we enjoy so much. It's waters and atmosphere and all its teeming myriads of life. That hand made all humanity, including you and me. Aren't we glad of that?

And it's the hand whose essence is holy, whose essence is spirit. That same spirit even now works with, and especially in, some few people called now in this age to be part of a new creation. God is still in the process of creating, even as we heard this morning. That same mighty hand has called you and me to be among his firstfruits, we know, we've learned. We're among his soon-to-be spirit-born sons and daughters in the kingdom of God.

We especially have a most awesome reason to revere God and to be humble before him, don't we? Because of his grace and mercy, the fathers called us now to be members of that family of his. And so we endeavor with the help of God's Holy Spirit to follow Jesus Christ, our Savior, to to walk according to the righteousness he defines for us through his law, the Ten Commandments. And always we strive to believe God and to do what he says, a very simple way of understanding what faith is about, to believe God and to do what he says. And so we're on our way. We're on our way to move from simply knowing to actively doing. I talked about that a bit with our teens yesterday in Bible study. We're moving. We need to keep moving from simply knowing to actively doing what we know, to doing his will. As you walk in faith with God, what then should we be doing to indeed humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, as Peter says? What should we be doing to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God? Today I want to address that by drawing attention to a doctrine, one of Christ's doctrines. Perhaps it's one we're familiar with, but perhaps we haven't delved into in recent date. And I think it's one that is definitely worth our time, very critical that we understand what this doctrine is. Today I'd like to review with us in answer to how to be humble under the mighty hand of God. I'd like to review through the doctrine called the laying on of hands. The doctrine of the laying on of hands.

Now, perhaps we think of the laying on of hands only in terms of receiving God's Holy Spirit, which on Pentecost that's prime focus of this Holy Day. We may only think of it in terms of receiving God's Holy Spirit or perhaps being anointed for healing when we're sick. But there's much more to this doctrine than those two applications alone. And by reviewing this doctrine today and reminding ourselves of the other ways that we need to be aware of the laying on of hands and applying it, my aim is to help us all to be better equipped to humble ourselves under that mighty hand of God so that we can indeed go on to perfection and be exalted by God in the day of Christ's return. We're going to begin our review where we need to begin, and that's in Hebrews 6, 1 through 2. Hebrews 6, 1 through 2.

Here in Hebrews 6, 1 through 2, we find laying on of hands listed as one of six fundamental doctrines of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 6, verse 1, and the author of Hebrews writes, therefore leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works. And here he starts talking about some of these six. Repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection from the dead, and of eternal judgment. So under the inspiration of God, the author of Hebrews exhorts the followers of Christ to go on to perfection. And so that's what we are about in our lives as well today. But to do that, we need to understand and to live according to these six doctrines we're told. These doctrines are vital. And although many Bible translations refer to these doctrines as elementary principles of Christ, they are by no means easy or simple. That's not what elementary means here. It's not like elementary school. That's tough if you're five years old. But when you're 20, it's not necessarily... we shouldn't be looking at God's principles in the same light. It's something easy and simple. It is something we must keep doing. Instead of elementary, perhaps a better word of choice would be first or primary. These six doctrines of Christ are among the first things, we might say, among the first things of our walk with Christ in the process of conversion. They are foundational and necessary for us to be well-founded in, to be practicing as we go on to perfection. And as we go on to perfection, of course, we understand that the whole effort on our part with the help of God's Spirit with us and in us is to become more like our Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. That means if we fail to understand and if we fail to practice any of these six fundamental doctrines listed here, we'll find it much more challenging to grow and to mature spiritually. So let's learn a little bit more now specifically about this one doctrine, the laying on of hands. When we do our Bible study, you look at your Bible, if you're technologically advanced, you can do... there's all sorts of software out there, you can do a word search of laying on of hands, for example. When you do that, you'll quickly see that laying on of hands often occurs with a slight variation of wording. Sometimes the phrase will also appear as laid hands on or lay hands on or put hands on. These variations all mean the same thing, though, to place hands on. Depending on the context of the sentence, though, laying on of hands can refer to actions that are either hostile or friendly. Either hostile or friendly. And the way I kind of understood it is we can equate these two ways of laying on of hands as either the carnal way of laying on hands, like, I can't wait to lay hands on you, or, preferably, God's approach of laying hands on you. For example, let's make sure we're clear on that. It's fundamental, but it gives us the mindset, the differences of laying on of hands. The get way, the world's way, God's way, the give way. Let's look at Matthew 18.28, please. And I will have you flipping back and forth today. It's a good way to stay alert. Burn off a few calories, huh? Matthew 18.28.

We find this phrase used in Christ's parable of the unforgiving servant. And what I'm mainly doing, I'm just going to look at the sentences where we find the phrase. We're just looking at how it's being used. Matthew 18.28, jumping into the middle of the parable, that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owned him a hundred denarii. I'm sure you remember the story. And he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, pay me what you owe. Yes, he laid hands on him. He laid hands on him, but it means to seize or to grab. He's rather hostile, isn't he? He grabs and chokes the other servant. And notice that he also is making demands. He's very forceful and he dominates. He makes commands. I think we're safe to say this could be a rather carnal, human way of laying on of hands. Let's also look at Luke 21 verse 12.

Luke 21.12, in this verse, Jesus is speaking to his disciples about future events. Luke 21.12. I'll get there.

He's speaking to his disciples about future events, and then Jesus tells them, but before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You'll be brought before kings and rulers for my namesake. Once again, we are aware that this is a rather hostile use of laying on of hands. Christ's followers will be seized. And again, we should notice the way they will be treated with hate, with they'll be dominated, they'll be controlled, they'll be forced.

But now let's look in Luke 4. We're here still in the book of Luke. Luke 4 verse 40. Here, notice the stark contrast with what we've read about man's more hostile way. Man can act that way, not all the time, thankfully, but they can. But here we're going to notice the contrast with God's way of laying on hands. In this case, the healing hands of Jesus Christ. We're in Luke 4 verse 40. And when the Son was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Jesus, brought them to Him. And He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them.

Here, when Jesus simply placed His hands upon the sick, they were healed. There's no grabbing, no forcing, no demanding. His touch was gentle but never dominating. He was carrying a generous. He was so carrying a generous that He healed every one of them. And we get the sense that there are very many there that day. Now let's turn to Mark 10. Mark 10 verse 14 through 16.

Perhaps this is one of our favorite images of Christ.

I got that wrong again. Mark 10 verse 14 through 16. Sorry about that. Here we find Jesus blessing the little children. This is a beautiful image that comes to our minds here. In breaking into verse 14 of Mark 10, Jesus said to His disciples, Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them, for such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it. And then He took them up in His arms, and He laid hands on them, and He blessed them. Once again, we see Christ's way, God's way, of laying on of hands. His hands rested gently upon the little children as He held them in His arms, and He blessed them. He entrusted them into His Father's loving care.

Now these scriptures provide a rather easy and vivid contrast between these two ways of laying on of hands. The friendly way and the not so friendly way, the hostile way. And I think we are all in agreement that a hostile laying on of hands is not what Christ's doctrine of laying on of hands is all about. That's not what we practice, and that's not what Christ meant. Selfishness, dominating others, and hatefulness are not the foundation that God expects His firstfruits to be building their lives upon. That is not God's way of life at all. And such attitudes will never move us on to perfection. Instead, we must be more like Jesus Christ. That's why the doctrine of laying on of hands is critical for us to understand, and more than just understand, critical for us to be applying in our lives.

That doctrine itself helps us to be humble and helps us to develop that Christ-like attitude we so desperately need of self-sacrifice, of giving towards others. Let's move a little more deeper now to God's Word and our study of this doctrine. When we study the Bible, we list all the times—the way I approached it—I list all the times, list all the scriptures out, we see this phrase or variations of that phrase appearing. And then, once you do that, it becomes rather easy to group them together in categories, different ways it was used. So I want to share with you some of those categories to help us grasp and make sure we got most of it all covered. I'm sure I've left something out. I hope it's something we'll find later. I don't want to leave anything out. But we have about five different categories we can view with regards to laying on of hands. Let's look at those five now. One of the first categories we've already seen reference to here is that laying on of hands is used for imparting blessings.

In Genesis 48, I'm just going to look at an early example here. Genesis 48, verse 14 through 16. Here we find an early example of laying on of hands to impart a blessing. Let's give you a minute to find that place. Genesis 48, verse 14.

Here we find Israel, or Jacob, is asking God to bless the sons of Joseph. Israel does this through prayer and the placing of his hands upon the two sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim. In verse 14, we read what he did. Then Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on, laid it on, Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, his left hand on Manasseh's head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn. And he blessed Joseph and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, let my name be named upon them, in the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

Now, it's worth noting here that Israel did not impart a blessing from himself, per se. He did not give them a personal blessing of his very own. He asked God instead to impart to them the blessing that God had originally imparted to Abraham, and then that same blessing that had been transferred down to himself. In essence, he asked God to transfer the blessing to them. Israel had no power or authority to grant a blessing on his own. You could say the words, but it's hard to have that authority once you're gone to make the words happen when you're only a human being. This helps to remind us here that only God has the ultimate authority to bless. We also find an example of this imparting a blessing in the New Testament, Matthew 19, verses 13-14. As we saw in Mark, in this case, I want to read again the example of the blessing of little children. Of course, we follow this example, Christ's example, in our own ceremony, about two weeks after the Feast of Tabernacles in the fall. We have our blessing of little children ceremony. Matthew 19, verses 13-14, we read, then little children were brought to him that he might put his hands on them and pray. But the disciples rebuked them. They thought they were bothering Christ and Christ said, they are no bother. They're beautiful children. Let them come to me. And he said, Let the little children come. Do not forbid them, for such is the kingdom of heaven. Again, we find the example of combining prayer with the laying on of hands. In the prayer for blessing from God, in this case of the little children, the child, as well as the parents and family, are committed to God's oversight and care. When parents bring their child to be blessed of God, those parents are recognizing God's authority over their lives. They're recognizing that God has the authority and the ability to give blessing. They're also recognizing, much like we heard in the sermon yesterday, they are all recognizing the authority of God's representative, that being the elder of God, the minister, who offers a prayer and places his hands on the child. These actions reflect humility, and they reflect faith in God by all those involved, even those who may be observing, as we often do in joining in on the prayer, as we watch the ceremony every fall. So that was imparting a blessing. Another category, laying on of hands is used in healing. Let's look at Luke 4 again, but this time, verse 40. Luke 4, verse 40.

Again, we find an account that shows the compassion of Jesus Christ in healing those who came to Him.

Luke 4, verse 40 through 41. When the Son was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him, and He healed them, every one of them. But notice what else. And Jesus also healed those reflected by demons. It's very important to notice here. Verse 41. It also came out of the many. Many came out crying out and saying, many demons that is, you are the Christ, the Son of God. And He, Christ, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ. He wasn't ready for everybody to know that. And so in this case, Jesus laid His hands on all. Once again, as we saw earlier, all were healed. And it's comforting to know that there was not one person whom Jesus Christ could not heal. He had that authority. And if we turn to Mark 7, verse 32, we'll learn that sometimes Jesus healed people by placing His hands on them. And what might strike us today is being rather unusual ways. Mark 7, verse 32, and we're going to read through 32 through 35. At least I think this is a little unusual. I've never done this yet in anointing anyone. Perhaps some of the elder elders here have. Matthew 7, verse 32.

And He took Him aside from the multitude and put His fingers in His ears. It's a little bit different way of putting hands on someone. He put His fingers in His ears, and He spat and touched the man's tongue, His tongue. Then, looking up to heaven, Jesus sighed and said to them, Ephatha, Ephatha, Ephatha. That is, be opened. Immediately His ears were opened, and the impediment of His tongue was loosed, and He spoke plainly.

Different way of laying on hands. Like I said, I haven't done it. I don't know if any of you others have, but no. Now, I don't know why Jesus took the man aside and healed him this way. I don't know because Scripture doesn't tell me. It doesn't say. I could speculate maybe it had something to do with helping this man to believe somehow that Jesus could really heal him. Because what we find out, and there are other examples here, is that there is an important connection between belief and faith in order for healing to occur. Belief and faith is a critical part of healing. That's a whole month's worth of sermons there alone. Let's look here at least at Mark 6, verse 4. Here we find that due to the people, their lack of faith, or their unbelief, we find a situation here, an account, where Jesus could not heal everybody. Twice we've read how Jesus healed everyone. But in this particular situation, Mark 6, verse 4 through 6, we find that he could not heal everybody. Verse 4, but Jesus said to them, here's the reason, a prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house. Now he could do no mighty work there, the mighty hand of God. He could do no mighty work there except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he, Jesus, marveled because of their unbelief. And then he went about the villages in his circuit teaching. It seems that people who were most familiar with Jesus, who had seen him grow up from man to child, who thought they knew him, they did not believe, apparently, that he could heal them. Perhaps the attitude was like, you know, it's just that local kid. It's just that kid. What can he do for us? Who does he think he is? That kid. It seems they couldn't believe that Jesus could or would heal them. Perhaps also, it means they did not believe in the authority of God by whom Christ healed. Perhaps they didn't believe that authority. Of course, God's church today follows the example of Jesus Christ in praying and laying hands on the sick for healing. In fact, back in James 5, verse 14 through 15, I'm sure these are familiar scriptures to many of you, James 5, 14 through 15, James gives us some added instruction from what we've already seen when we pray and lay hands for healing. His instruction added that we include an anointing of oil. We read James 5, 14. James writes, Is anyone among you sick? Well, let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. We do practice anointing for sickness in God's church. But I realize some of you here may never have been anointed before. Perhaps you're hesitant, you didn't know about it. Perhaps you're hesitant to do it. And some of us are. But the question is, why postpone being anointed? There are various reasons. I have my reasons. Maybe they're like some of yours. And of course, as I've grown older, I realize how, well, they're really not good reasons. Some of the reasons we hesitate to be anointed. For some of us, it's a fear of the unknown. We've never really done it before. We've never been anointed. Some may believe that they have to get really, really sick, knocking at death's door, before they get anointed. That's not how I read Scripture. If you're sick, you decide when you're sick enough to be anointed, I guess. Others may not want to bother the minister or elder. I've heard people tell me that. Oh, I didn't feel well, but I didn't want to bother you.

Bother me. No, I'm probably asking for trouble, aren't I? But that's okay. That's what is supposed to happen, you see. And there are other elders out here, by the way.

You can call them, too. Right here. All right. We should be careful of thinking, well, I don't want to bother the elder. I don't want to bother the minister. Now, if he's unable to meet with you for an anointing, you know, we'll call up somebody else to do it. Or if it's really impossible, we do something called an anointing cloth.

And just your act of asking an elder to be anointed, that is going to pretty sure it's going to get the ball rolling with God. And he's going to honor that. He's going to honor your desire, even though it may not be factually occurring yet. That is your intent. So we do have some reasons for not wanting to be anointed or bothering people.

And I understand those reasons, but like I said, I don't know if they're very good ones. And well, no, they're not good ones at all. Those are not good reasons. When we call for the elder for anointing, we need to remember that what we're doing is that we're humbly recognizing the authority of God over us when we do that. We're also recognizing, again, God's representative. And the authority God bestows to that office, to that elder.

The elder praying for us, just kind of give you a hint of what happens when you're anointed with oil, the elder praying for us, anointing us with that dab of olive oil on the forehead, and then placing his hands on our head and also humbly recognizing God in prayer, that elder himself is recognizing God's authority. He has no ability to heal me or you, but we turn to our great God with his mighty hand who can and who will according to his own will and time.

And so I just want to emphasize that laying on of hands for anointing is not a scary thing and shouldn't be seen as an uncomfortable thing, you understand. And when you really understand what's occurring here, I find it's a very beautiful thing, actually. It's a very touching thing. You see, together that elder and you, that elder and me, because I need anointing from an elder too from time to time, together that elder and we, his spiritual brother or sister, we come before God and by the authority of Jesus Christ, we're committed to God's attention and care.

Both that person giving the anointing and the one receiving the anointing, both believe that God will heal when God will and according to his will. But both trust and know that God will do what's best. God can only do what's best. That's part of that belief and faith. And so it's humbling coming before God together like that.

Of course, once again, I'm going to repeat this because we have strange ideas. We hear growing up, the elder, that man, has no special power of his own. The power he does have, however, is a very great power in its own. That man, like many of you, in fact all of us, we have the power to be compassionate.

We have the power to lend an ear, to hold a hand. It's amazing what can be accomplished just by holding somebody's hand when they need help. We have the ability to comfort. That's part of our power that God gives us with his Holy Spirit, of course. But we do what God tells us to do when we practice the anointing, laying off hands for anointing. We do what God tells us to do. We show God our living faith, and that we do and trust him to heal us, to do what's best for us. We then are humbling ourselves, you see. When we do this, we are humbling ourselves under that mighty hand of love and mercy.

And I wonder—this is for myself, to myself—perhaps I need to do that more often. Perhaps I. Perhaps you, too. Maybe we all need to seek out anointing more often. A third category, laying on of hands, applies to the giving of the Holy Spirit. It applies to the giving of the Holy Spirit.

Baptism reflects our choice. After we've been called from God, we've come to understand God, and he's been working with us. Baptism reflects our choice to put to death our old carnal existence and to accept a new life in Christ being dumped in the water, all the way under, coming back up.

And then through the indwelling of God's Holy Spirit, we do begin that new creation, that new life we've been learning about this weekend. God gives us this Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands by his ministers. Let's turn to Acts 8, verses 14 through 20. Now, what we've talked about today, the original Pentecost in 31 A.D., that very first pouring out of God's Holy Spirit upon the twelve disciples, that was a truly great and wonderful anointing of the Spirit.

Pouring out of the Spirit. And we saw it again, as Dr. Ward mentioned, this morning, the first time the Gentiles received God's Holy Spirit. But if we continue reading in Acts, we find that not every single time is the Spirit given that way. That's not what happens. And we look at this as our practice today. Let's look at Acts 8, verses 14 through 20. I'm in the wrong book. Okay, that makes a big difference, doesn't it?

And some of you, if you drowsily got to the wrong place, it gives you a chance to get in the right place too. Acts 8, verses 14 through 20. There we go. Here we read, Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, up to Samaria, who when they had come down, I guess down from the mountain to Samaria, sorry about that, when they had come down from Jerusalem to Samaria, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. Verse 16, For as yet he had fallen, it had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Verse 17, They, then, then they, Peter and John, laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Here these Samaritans had only been baptized in Christ's name. Somehow they didn't have hands laid on them or received the Spirit. But they needed to. They needed God's Holy Spirit. So, as it simply states here, Peter and John laid hands on them, and they received the Spirit. God gave his Holy Spirit to them with the laying on of hands.

Now, some may jump to the conclusion that Peter and John did it on their own. There are people out there who don't quite understand. They think that. In fact, there's somebody right here in Scripture that thought the same thing. There's a man here. We know him as Simon Magus. We look down to verse 18. He thought he could get that same ability because they gave it. He wanted to give God's Spirit this way. But that's a totally wrong idea, and they had to correct him on that. Let's look at verse 18. When Simon saw that through the laying on of the Apostle's hands, the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money. He offered them money, saying, Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit. He didn't understand the concept, did he? But Peter said to him, Your money perish with you because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money. Well, that's a very stern warning for us. To know and to remember that God's essence, His eternal life, is much more than something that can be bought. It's not a commodity to be bought or sold. Let's also turn to Acts 19. Acts 19. This account, Acts 19, verse 1 through 6, we see that God requires, again, a rather particular sequence of events to occur before He gives His Holy Spirit, with the lane through the lane on of hands. In this case, we see some men that needed to be rebaptized. Acts 19, verse 1. And it happened while Apollos was at Corinth that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples, he said to them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? So they said to him, We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit. And he said to them, And to what then were you baptized? And so they said, Well, into John's baptism. Reference to John the Baptist. Verse 4. Then Paul said, John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on him who would come after him. And that is on Jesus Christ. That's who Paul baptized in his name. Verse 5. When they heard this, then they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid tongues on them, the Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. So rather special giving of the Spirit here, the Holy Spirit, prophesied, meaning they spoke inspired teachings. Again, this happened after they had to be rebaptized. There's a sequence of events. God's Church, we follow the example set in Scripture. We follow the Bible as best we understand it, as humbly and best as we grasp. Baptism in the name of Jesus Christ is followed rather immediately by prayer and laying on of hands by God's ministers. God uses the placement of hands on the newly baptized. That's his approach. And following the example set forth in God's Word, again, shows our respect for God's authority and for his representatives, as well as it represents our own humble commitment to obey him. We do what Scripture says.

Fourth category. Laying on of hands occurs in ordination or in the conferring of offices of the Church. Let's go back to Acts 6, 1-6, and I believe this was mentioned recently. I'm losing track of when exactly. Acts 6, verses 1-6. We're going to find this familiar. We've read it. I know recently. In Acts 6, 1-6, we find here a familiar example of laying on of hands and setting men apart for serving in the office. In this case, the office of the role of deacons in the Church. Here, the 12 apostles are trying to resolve a challenge they've been having. There's been many more people joining their group of believers, and it's becoming very hard for those 12 to take care of all their needs and pray and study and preach as well. Instead, resolve the need for help in serving those daily needs, these needs of a growing church. They had to come up with a way of taking care of those needs, and yet there's more spiritual needs as well. Let's look in verse 5, and here's what they did. And God blessed what they did. Verse 5, Acts 6-5, they explained what I've just said, and the saying pleased the whole multitude. Everybody agreed. This sounded wonderful. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith in the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, and the canner Timmon, Pomenus, and Nicholas, a proselyte from Antioch, whom they set before the apostles. And when they had prayed, here it is, they laid hands on them.

Another example of ordination with laying on of hands is found in Acts 13. Acts 13, verse 1-3. Just a brief vignette here, a little episode.

Acts 13, verse 1-3. Another instance of ordination. Now in the church that was in Antioch, there were certain prophets and teachers. Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Minneon, who had been brought up with Herod, the Tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, inspired them, Now separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away. Having fasted and prayed, they laid hands on them and sent them away.

In this case, we find, interestingly, that God had already chosen Barnabas and Saul, it seems, for this special task, this special office that he wanted them to do. And of course, we should read 1 Timothy 4.14. In 1 Timothy 4.14, again, we're understanding that laying on of hands is connected to ordination or sitting apart for office. In 1 Timothy 4.14, Paul exhorts Timothy to use the gifts he received, apparently at ordination. Here, Paul tells Timothy 1 Timothy 4.14. He says, Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. Here we get the idea of more than just one altar. There can be multiple elders at a time laying hands on people. And again, we do that. We do that as we have that opportunity. Again, the church follows this practice when we ordain men in the ministry. And also with deacons and deaconesses. This is an exciting moment for the congregation, isn't it? Our prayers join with the pastor or the elder as they lay hands upon perhaps a new elder to commit him in serving a willing service to God. Now, speaking from my own experience, which has been not that many years ago and now to think of it, speaking my own experience, ordination is a very humbling thing. You can talk to some of the men at our elders. They may be willing to tell you about it. It's a very and truly humbling experience. What I remember about is the weight of the hands of all those men on my head and shoulders. They were kind of warm and maybe damp, too. But it was a weighty experience. It kind of pressed upon me in that way, that weight on my head and shoulders, it presses even further for me that weight of responsibility that was entering my heart and mind at that moment. It's a weight of responsibility that an office in God's church bears. But again, that office is bestowed on God's authority, by God's authority, through men who represent God. In that authority, that office is for the service of God's people. Not the elders' people, but God's people. It's His flock. Category 5. This is our last category. Laying on of hands is used to hold sinners accountable. It's used to hold sinners accountable. Let's turn back in the Old Testament. In this case, something we're reminded of at atonement. Leviticus 24, verses 11-15, we find... Actually, I got ahead of myself, didn't I? I'm going to get to that one about atonement next. I forgot I switched the order around. Let's look at Leviticus 24, verses 11-15. First, I want us to look at this sobering account. It is very sobering. It's a sobering account of what happened to a man who blasphemed. This man blasphemed or cursed, he swore, apparently violently using God's name as he did so. Leviticus 24, verses 11-15. I'm going to break into that. We'll just read the first half. Verse 11, Now, verse 12, I guess you could say they took him. They put hands on him, maybe a little bit rougher way.

Moses, saying, Take outside the camp him who has cursed. Then let all who heard him, heard what he said, lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him. Then you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. His sin shall be upon him. He will bear his own guilt. The blasphemer was held accountable for his sin against God. There's a sin against God. God, in God's law, found the man guilty of sin. He broke the law. By placing their hands upon his head, all those who had heard it, placed that guilt back on the blasphemer, and provided a public witness that he bore responsibility for his sin and that the punishment was just. Now, Leviticus 16, the second example. Leviticus 16. A similar thing is done here on the Day of Atonement. With the symbolism, it's long. We've heard whole sermons on this aspect of Atonement. I just want to focus on a few scriptures here to make the point that laying on of hands is used to assign accountability. And so, here we find Leviticus 16. On the Day of Atonement, we have this symbolism of assigning the sins of the children of Israel unto the head of a live goat. In verse 8, we read, "...then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats." He has two live goats. One lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat. That's an English word. And we often have heard it called the Azazel goat. And we understand it represents Satan. Now, down in verse 21-22, here's the part of the hands part. "...Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land, and he shall release the goat in the wilderness." Aaron laid his hands on the head of that goat to transfer, figuratively, to transfer, symbolizing all the sins of the children of Israel, representing, we understand, representing Satan as being held ultimately accountable for all sin. He's responsible for sin. And, of course, one of the things that's going to happen after Christ returns and before the coming of the new Jerusalem is He is going to be seized and put away. He's going to be seized and put away.

God, we're reminded here, has all the authority to establish and to maintain justice and His righteousness. The laying out of hands here should remind us that God holds accountable all who sin, and yes, that includes each of us. But thankfully, Jesus Christ shed His precious blood so that we might receive God's mercy, so that we might receive salvation, that we might be reconciled with God, made right with God, and that we also might be reconciled with neighbor, because we don't always treat each other right either. And so these are five ways, then, five ways that the Bible reveals laying on of hands how it can be practiced. Now, believe me, there's much more that can be said, and it needs to be said, about the laying on of hands. There's much more. And as often happens when we study God's Word, it seems like we're a little bit in shallow waters, and before you know it, we're in the deep end, and we can't feel the bottom anymore. Maybe there's something there, and we just can't understand it yet. I think that's the way it is of laying on of hands in some ways. I am confident in saying, though, that we have only scratched the surface here today. Now, you know at this point in the sermon, I should be asking you what lessons or insights might we take from what we've learned today?

And I'm going to do that in just a little bit, actually. But based on what was going on in my head as I did this study, perhaps we all need time to consider some questions first. Perhaps some questions may have arisen in your mind while I'm speaking here today, and while we're reading these things, based upon what we've studied and read and learned and talked about. Again, I would say to you, I've had my share of questions, and questions are good things. Questions are good things. As long as when you go to the Bible as your source, as your foundation of answer, and when you get the question, if you figure out the answer, you got the answer. Quit going back and rehashing it over and over again. I used to have students that did that years ago when I talked, and I've done that to myself when it comes to God's truth. When you know its truth, keep it. Cling to it. But there may be some questions that have formed as we've been studying laying on of hands. Your questions may have gone something like this. Now here's the first big question. Why laying on of hands? Why laying on of hands? I mean, why does God want us to lay these physical hands, these physical human hands, on people to receive them from others and for some of us to put them on others? Why?

Why doesn't God just always bless us or heal us without a man of God laying his hands on us? He can. He did it. We see it in Scripture many times. Peter, his shadow fell upon people and they were healed. Jesus Christ, the man with the withered hand and the sin of God, the man stretched his hand out and it was healed. I studied it. It didn't say Christ touched him. Why doesn't God just do that all the time to heal us? Why do we have to have a man of God laying his hands on us? And why doesn't God just give us his Holy Spirit without a man of God, a servant of God, again, needing to lay hands on us? Why can't he just give it to us? And why don't we simply ordain leaders in the church without the laying on of hands by men who have already been ordained? Why do we have to only use ordained elders? And finally, is doing this simple thing called laying on of hands all that important? I mean, it's just there. It's just such a simple thing. Is it really that important?

Well, I hope those questions don't make you uncomfortable, but I think those questions we have. Now I'm going to say, here are some lessons and insights I think we might take away from what we've been talking about today. And I've tried hard to, in my takeaway points here, to address some of the answers to some of these questions. And I'm not sure if my answers are all that great, I admit it, but I think it helps us to understand a part of why God requires that we practice the laying on of hands. This is a requirement. That takes care of one question or two, doesn't it?

Well, here's some of my thoughts on this. First, as physical human beings, I believe we need, and by the way, God knows we're physical and limited, right? As physical human beings, we need the memorable impact of all of our senses to impress upon us at times the significance of some very important spiritual events in our lives.

We need to remember things, don't we? Have you ever tried counting how many times God tells us to remember something? Why do you suppose that is?

Yeah. God's always telling us to remember. And I wonder if this physical component of laying on of hands to do something very important spiritually is part of it. He wants us to remember. So perhaps we do need to remember the weight of the hands upon our head, the comforting presence of a brother in Christ standing right there near us, or the words of that prayer of faith spoken close in our ears and just for us in our time of need. Like when we're being anointed, right? Perhaps we need to remember that smell of olive oil. It has a smell, especially if it's starting to turn a little bit, but it still works. It still works. And then there's also that warmth of the human touch. It's very comforting. All these things, all these senses, all these stimuli impressing upon our senses, I think it works to engrave into our hearts and our minds the significance of what's going on. It impresses upon our hearts and minds the significance of the spiritual thing God is doing with us. It can otherwise be hard to grasp the significance of that blessing on our children, or perhaps a blessing when we have a wedding ceremony. What's going on with that anointing and asking God to heal us, the gifting of God's Holy Spirit, the setting apart into God's office of service of certain men and elders. God knows we are physical. He knows we are easily distracted. So I wonder if laying on of hands helps to focus our mind upon that event, and as we focus on that event, our mind is also drawn back to God. That is where our focus is supposed to be. Back to God.

Direct contact through laying on of hands, that human touch I mentioned. I also believe it strengthens the bond between the elder and his fellow brother or sister in Christ. And, of course, vice versa, doesn't it? It helps God's elder to become an even better and more compassionate servant to God's flock.

So when we lay hands on, or when we receive the laying on of hands, we're reminded that together we are brethren together in the body of Christ. Let's read a scripture here. 2 Corinthians 1. 2 Corinthians 1. 2 Corinthians 1.

And I think this scripture addresses what I'm trying to say. 2 Corinthians 1, verses 3-5. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. We have a shared moment when we lay hands, or when we receive the laying hands upon us, such as in healing for healing, that set comfort. And God wants us to experience that together.

Second takeaway, these aren't very short, are they? I'm sorry.

Sometimes you need a big suitcase to take things away. A second takeaway then. Laying on of hands establishes the fact, and with God's own direct and personal emphasis, that He sets authority and leadership in the church. God defines the authority in the church. God defines how leadership is to work in His church. God transfers His authority through the laying on of hands. God chooses men to be elders and pastors in the church. That's the biblical example and principle. In the church of God, that body of Christ, there are no self-appointed elders or ministers. There are no self-appointed elders or ministers in the body of Christ, in the church of God. That is not what we see occurring in Scripture. Let's look at Hebrews 5.1-5. I mention that because I'm always aware I'm meeting people all the time that are not members of all the time. Members of our fellowship that are ministers. I had a student who was 17 years old once in college, and he was a minister, and he had his own church. I thought, oh, okay, that wasn't my experience. That was not my experience, and it's not what I see here. But I'm just saying that's what I've come across. But that's not what we see God talking about in Scripture. Let's read Hebrews 5.1-5 on this point. Hebrews 5 verse 1, For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins, speaking of authority and office. He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness. Because of this, he is required as for the people, so also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sins. And no man takes this honor, this office, to himself. But he who is called by God, just as Aaron was. God appoints authority. And so also, just to make the point here, Christ did not glorify himself to become high priest. But it was he who said to him, the father who said to him, You are my son. Today I have begotten you. Christ didn't appoint himself high priest. That's not what we read here. Neither can we appoint ourselves authority, leaders in the Church of God. Of course, this means, at the same time, we must respect authority that God has established in his Church. And Mr. Crane yesterday expounded that point very well, thoroughly in his sermon yesterday. When we respect the people in our congregation who have been set apart into the offices of deaconess and deacon and elder, we are respecting God who grants his authority to those offices. These are God-given roles that we all must respect, and at the same time, without ever disrespecting our brethren who have not received an office from God. Respect is respect. It goes all the way around. A third takeaway, it's brief, but no less important. Maybe it's the most important one. I'm not sure. A third takeaway, laying on of hands challenges us to place greater trust and faith in God. Laying on of hands challenges us to place greater trust and faith in God. Faith requires that we believe God and do what he tells us to do. Do what he says. That's how I started the sermon mentioning that. But having fallible men lay hands upon us, again, do we really need to be doing that? Such a little thing. Do we need to do that?

The answer to that question ultimately comes down to a better question. Here's the question, and then we should ask. Will we do what God says or not? Is that what it comes down to? Am I going to do what God says to do, or am I not? And if I don't do what God says to do, then where am I with God?

I got the knowing, but I don't do. It will not work. That cannot work. Will we do what God says or not? Will we humble ourselves as an act of belief and obedience to God?

We should. We should. Let's turn to John 14.23. Dr. Ward read this this morning in his sermon. John 14 verse 23.

John 14 verse 23. Jesus answered, maybe he's answering our question in a sense, Jesus answered, said to him, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him, in him, the incoming of his Holy Spirit.

So if we love God, we will keep his word. We'll do what he said. We will practice what we learned in the Bible about laying on of hands.

And that was my last takeaway point.

So, what do we know? We know that humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God means that we have placed ourselves in all of our hope for salvation in God alone. And when we allow God's elders to lay their hands upon us according to God's direction, as we find in his word, we are in essence humbly placing ourselves under the authority of God. Laying on of hands provides a means by which we can quite literally humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. You see how that works? We are literally, we allow ourselves to have hands laid on. We are, through the authority of God, vested in those men, we are literally placing ourselves under the authority, under the mighty hand of God. That's just one way we humble ourselves under God's hand.

And so, when Jesus Christ returns to earth, if we remain humble under God's hand, if we continue in all the six doctrines of Christ and move onward to perfection, God will then truly exalt us as he promises. With his almighty hands, he will raise up his first fruits. He will give to them immortality and what I believe are going to be stunningly beautiful spirit bodies. And those first fruits shall reign as kings and priests under Christ in the kingdom of God. Will we be and remain among God's first fruits, brethren? It's sure where I want to be, and I want you all to be there, too.

Will we be and remain among God's first fruits? Will we go on to perfection? Well then, because I know your answer is yes, well then I exhort all of us to humble ourselves before God and let us all be applying Christ's doctrine of the laying on of hands.