After the altar, there is the laver. What is dealt with at the laver? It is at the laver that the hands and the feet of the priests are washed. Our feet and hands are dirty from the earthly touch. This is worldliness. If we are going to be real priests and practice the priesthood, sin and sins must be dealt with, and all the worldliness from the earthly touch must be washed away. This washing is not by the blood, but by the spiritual water which is the Holy Spirit. The working of the Holy Spirit is the water in the laver.
Today, Christians are not only careless about sins, but they are also very careless about worldliness. They may not be so evil or bad, but they are quite worldly.
Do we come to the laver every day to be washed by the Holy Spirit from the earthly and worldly touch? How do you feel when you go to the department store? Do you feel so holy and heavenly after a certain period of shopping? The earthly touch dirties us, not by sinful things but by worldliness.
We must apply the blood to deal with our sin and sins, and we must apply the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit to get rid of all of the earthly touch so that we may be cleansed for the Lord’s service.
But this is not all. Eventually we come to the veil, which is the flesh. To practice the priesthood, these three things must be dealt with: sin and sins, the world, and the self. It is not so easy to understand what the self is. Do not think that the self is so bad. Many times the self is really good. The flesh mentioned in Hebrews 10:20 is the flesh of the Lord Jesus. There is nothing bad about Him, but even His flesh had to be rent and broken. Otherwise, His flesh would become a veil preventing anyone from getting into the Holy of Holies. We should not consider whether we are good or bad, right or wrong. Even if we are good and right, this good and right self must be broken.
Once a sister came and tried to persuade me that she was right and her husband was wrong. I would not say one word to confirm that she was right, nor would I say that her husband was wrong. She tried her best to persuade me that she was right. Finally, she challenged me: “Brother Lee, don’t you know what is right and what is wrong?” I said, “Sister, I do not like to talk with you about what is right and what is wrong. But I would ask one question, while you are arguing for yourself and trying your best to persuade me that you are right, do you have the sense that you are in the presence of the Lord? Do you sense that the Lord is standing with you and arguing for you? Tell me the truth. What is your relationship with the Lord while you are arguing in this way? Are you in light, or are you in darkness?”
She was honest and told me, “Brother Lee, I am in darkness. I am not in the light, neither am I in the presence of the Lord.” Then I said, “Sister, since you have told me that you are in darkness and not in the presence of the Lord, what use is it for you to argue?”
With Christians, it is not a matter of whether we are right or wrong. It is entirely a matter of whether we are in the presence of the Lord or not. It is a matter of whether we are in the Holy of Holies or outside it. The more we vindicate ourselves to prove that we are right, the more we are outside the Holy of Holies. Furthermore, we are even outside the outer court. We simply become someone in the street!
Our “right” self must be broken, for it is the veil that keeps us away from the presence of the Lord. To say this is quite easy, and this kind of teaching has been in the church for many years, but I am sorry to say that not many Christians practice it.
In all these chapters, we have seen that the church is not just a group of Christians meeting together. It is not simply a religious organization or a social group. The genuine church life is the very expression of Christ from within so many Christians. This expression comes out of these dealings: the dealings with sin and sins, the dealings with the world, and the dealings with the flesh, the self. It is not just to deal with the evil, wrong, and bad things; even the right, humble, and good self has to be dealt with. We ourselves have to go. Without all these dealings, it is impossible to have an expression of Christ and the church life.
The genuine church life comes out of the expression of Christ, and the expression of Christ comes out of these dealings. That is why we all must check ourselves. Unless we are willing to deal with all our sin and sins, our worldliness, and our fleshly self, we can never be in the Holy of Holies. Instead, we are outside the priesthood. We may be priests in name, but we are not priests in reality.
How do we know that we are in the priesthood? Because we have the sense within that we are in the Holy of Holies. Deep within us there is the sense that we are at the mercy seat touching the throne of grace. Many times we are kept away from the throne of grace and the mercy seat simply because we are vindicating ourselves. When we are for ourselves, immediately we are away from the Holy of Holies. I believe that all of us have had this experience! Whenever we are for ourselves, we are outside the Holy of Holies.
But on the contrary, the more we repudiate, renounce, and deny ourselves, the more we have the deep sense that we are touching the mercy seat. It is at this time that we obtain mercy and find grace. Mercy and grace become like a flow of living water to us. We must not only condemn our bad self, but even more our good self. When we do this, we have the sense that we are in the Holy of Holies.
I have never seen believers arguing, debating, and quarreling with one another, who were in the Holy of Holies. Never argue with your husband, your children, your parents, or the brothers and sisters in the church. The more we argue, the more we suffer. We may win the case, but I am sure that we will lose the mercy seat. For a Christian to lose the mercy seat is a real suffering. I am willing to lose all the cases, just as long as I can obtain mercy and find grace to meet my timely need—hallelujah, that is enough! Let others win the case, but give me the mercy seat.
Whenever there is an argument among us, the church life is gone. The church life is in the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is like a dove. In the Bible, He is not likened to a tiger, but to a gentle dove. When we argue, quarrel, or fight with others, the Dove is gone, the mercy seat is gone, and the presence of the Lord is gone. In the church life, the self must be put aside.
Why do I speak so much about arguing? It is simply because arguing is the appetite of the self. Even little children who are only two years old want to argue. To prove how much a person is in the self, see how much he argues. Everyone likes to argue because they are so much in the self. And in argument, some are very sharp.
Sometimes, the brothers and sisters in the meetings even pray in a way to fight one another. As they pray, you can sense that some take one side, and others take another side. When this is so, you can be sure that the church life is gone. They have no church life because there is too much self. The veil has never been broken.