shall we turn into God's Word to the hundred and thirty-third Psalm Psalm number one hundred and thirty-three the wonderful words of the psalmist three words or three verses rather only in this one of the shortest Psalms in the book and the psalmist writing by divine inspiration to say behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, that went down to the skirts of his garments as the dew of Heron, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion, For there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore. May God the Holy Spirit bless the reading, and give by the same blessed Spirit the ministry for our edification from these words. You may have noted as you look at the heading of this psalm, It belongs to a company of Psalms that begin at chapter one hundred and twenty and continue through chapters one hundred and thirty-four. And every Psalm is headed by the name of being a Song of Degris. The word literally means it is the Song of Ascent. The Psalms were greatly used by God's earthly people in the past. these particular ones, when the pilgrims wended their way to Jerusalem upon the occasions of the annual feast, as they wended up to the temple and to the house of the Lord, they sang these Psalms, one hundred and twenty through Psalm one hundred and thirty-four. Then also the Levites, When they gathered in the temple area to perform their ceremonies and ceremonial responsibilities, when they ascended the steps of the temple, they also sang the Songs of Ascent. Now when you read the Psalms carefully through, you will find that they are literally Psalms of Ascent in relation to the truth. and in relation to the purposes of God. Particularly will you notice their dispensational setting in relation to Israel. It brings in the consummation of these Psalms chapter one thirty-three chapter one hundred and thirty-four the blessed future day when Israel will be gathered together and the godly remnant will be united under the person and around the person of their blessed messiah the lord jesus christ in the day of his millennial glory what a day that will be when he shall be the gathering center of his people israel in all the fulfillment of the prophetic scriptures of god And then they will be dwelling together. They will be, as the psalmist flight, good and pleasant, brethren that will be dwelling together in unity. Then there is another application of this precious psalm. Someday in the eternal state, which you may read in Revelation chapter twenty-one, verses one through five. you will find that all the redeemed of the ages will be gathered together forever and God will be dwelling in their midst. He declares, I will be their God and they shall be my people and all of his redeemed gathered around him. But then there's another application that is very practical for our present day, of which we have been learning to some degree. You may remember that in chapter two of the book of the Acts, we have the beginning of the church, the inauguration of that body of Christ, when upon the earth the Spirit of God came in power descending from heaven above, sent by the Father, sent by the Son, to incorporate and inaugurate and to bring into an organism the members of the body of Christ upon the earth in that blessed unity. And with what power and effusion he was poured out when he came at Pentecost and bound the hearts, the lives, the testimony of God's people together in one blessed unity. And what joy and blessing and power was manifested when thus the assembly of God began upon the earth. Now let me make another application of the truth. It is a wonderful truth to recognize that every local assembly of believers wherever gathered together are thus to be encouraged to dwell together in unity. according to the mind of the Spirit of God. Our brother has been bringing out some of the truths regarding that unity, regarding that oneness, to be around the person of Christ, to be fulfilling his precious Word, and to be dwelling together in that unity as God has formed according to the Word of God. Would I like to speak to you in a practical way? concerning the fragrance of assembly fellowship the fragrance of Christian fellowship that needs to be known to be experienced to be enjoyed when we are together as believers and I want you to note what the psalmist declares what it will be like in that coming day of its final fulfillment for Israel what I believe it was like when the church began upon the earth. What I believe is God wants it to be like, even now, wherever you and I fellowship with God's beloved people in assembly, unity. Note verse two of our chapter. God says it's like the precious ointment, meaning the anointing oil that was poured out upon Aaron at the institution of the priesthood. at the commencement of the Levitical economy when Aaron and his sons were constituted the priests of God and Aaron, the high priest amongst the people of God to minister unto God. And on that occasion when he was anointed, Moses took the anointing oil and he poured it upon the head of Aaron. It ran down its beard. It ran down his garment, went down to the very skirts of his garment. It was one of the most fragrant anointing oils that was ever known in biblical history. And from top to bottom, Aaron must have been the sweetest smelling man that ever was on the earth, exceeding all the women. Amen. Thank you. Thank you. It's been recognized. There was a fragrance that covered him from top to bottom. And that fragrance was the delight of God's heart and the delight of his whole being. And when God sees manifested in practical expressions, the unity of the Spirit, the manifestation of assembly and Christian fellowship according to His Word, it is fragrant to the heart of God. I might ask, how do you smell? How do I smell? For after all, my brother and my sister We may have the truth intelligently, we may possess it theoretically, but God help us to express it practically. Now what was this anointing on life? To the heart of God, an anointing on spoke to him of the fragrance of Christ. In every detail, in relation to his person and his life upon the earth. And may I apply it very practically before we enter into the details of it. My beloved brother and sister, you and I are responsible in our assembly fellowship to manifest the fragrance of Christ in our personal and individual testimony. What pleased God with Christ when it is upon the earth was the fragrance of his life, the fragrance of his person, the fragrance of his testimony from the beginning and from and to the end. My beloved, the only thing that will please God in your life and in mine today will be when God can see and appreciate and enjoy the fragrance of his dear son in your heart, in my heart, in your life, and also in mine. Now will you turn with me in your Bible to the book of Exodus chapter thirty? Chapter thirty in the book of Exodus. I would like you to note with me the constituents of this anointing oil that God commanded to be used for the anointing of Aaron long ago in the institution of the priesthood and of the tabernacle and all the ceremonial requirements chapter thirty in the book of Exodus may I read from verse twenty two through verse twenty five I'm sure that most perhaps not all some young believers may not be but perhaps many of us are fully acquainted with this precious fact that when we go to the Old Testament and see the types and shadows of the Old Testament teachings and experiences in relation to the tabernacle, in relation to the furniture, in relation to all the details concerning the Levitical priesthood, the Levitical economy, the institution of the sacrifices, and all that pertain to the outward structure of it. Every part of it, to the heart of God, spoke of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was portrayed in shadows and in detail, in every one detail, that God gave his people Israel to fulfill under Moses. Christ in shadow was portrayed. And my beloved, listen, whenever you read your Bible, Old and New Testament, look for the glory of Christ. Paul writing to the Corinthians in second Corinthians three, eighteen, said, Beholding is in a mirror, the glory of the Lord. We are changed. We are transformed. we are transfigured into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. And wherever you read, the mirror of God's Word, the greatest doctrine in the Bible from beginning to the end is the doctrine of Christ. And he is portrayed whether in shadow as well as in reality in the New Testament. and you and I shall be looking for His glory. And by so seeing His glory we shall be changed. The Greek word is meromorphu. We shall go through the process of a change. And it's translated three times in your New Testament by the words either changed, transfigured and transformed. Why, I wish I was a more transformed Christian. I wish I was transfigured. I wish I was more changed. Changed into what? His likeness. His image. For what God desires to see in his people and through his people is the image of his son and the fragrance of his son in character. Now the anointing oil definitely speaks of the character of Christ in the days of his flesh. Do with me as we read the word. Moreover the Lord, verse twenty-two, a chapter thirty of Exodus. Moreover the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take thou also unto thee, principal, meaning cheese, spices, of pure myrrh, five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon, half so much. even two hundred and fifty shekels and a sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels and a cashier five hundred shekels after the shekel of the sanctuary and of oil olive or olive oil and him approximately one and one fifth gallon and thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary it shall be an holy anointing oil. Now this was the divine requirement. The specific ingredients God gave. No man originated this anointing oil. But God himself gave the divine prescription for the making of the oil. The four particular spices, pure merc, and then sweet cinnamon and sweet calamus and cashew mixed together with one and one fifth gallon of olive oil and by the apothecary to be compounded and thus made a liquefying precious ointment of fragrance for the anointing of Aaron and mark this was never to be used in any other way It was the holy anointing oil. And every ingredient spoke of the person of Christ of the heart of God in its character when he walked upon the earth. Now, beloved believer, you and I, and as the apothecary would indeed suggest, as he used the olive oil, the work of the Holy Spirit, The fragrance of Christ can only be developed and maintained and exuded by believers in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who takes the believers in every assembly and brings them together, molds them together, mixes them together. And you know, we are different, aren't we? But he mixes them together, and by his power he develops, and he alone can, the fragrance of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look carefully with me at each constituent ingredient. The first one, if you may notice, was pure man. As Moses is told, five hundred shekels were. Pure man. Now it's quite interesting how myrrh was derived and it was obtained from the myrrh tree. It was usually obtained by making a deep incision into the bark of the tree and the moment the incision was made the sap came out and it distilled in the shape of a tear from which it gets its name, myrrh, meaning tears. weepers. But it became one of the most valuable aromatic spices of biblical days. And it was the ingredient that God required for the anointing oil upon Aaron. Murs! But then there's an interesting fact here, if you note. It's called pure murs, which in the Hebrew idiom means, murs of freedom. By that, this is what God suggests. There's not to be, it's not to be made of mud that has to be produced by an incision in the tree. But a voluntary pouring out of the mud that came without any incision being made. Now, beloved, let's think of the Lord Jesus. You know as well as I do. that Mer was associated with the Lord Jesus in his life. And his birth, when the wise men came and worshipped him. And at his death, as they endeavored to give him vinegar to drink, mingle with Mer. And then when he was buried, he was buried with a hundred pound spices of Mer. And Mer symbolized the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ throughout his life. And those sufferings involve his devotion to do the will of God, whatever the cost, from the beginning to the end of his life. And my beloved, you and I will confess, he did the will of God perfectly. I delight to do thy will, O God, with the words of that blessed one as he came. My need is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work, and to begin to the end through a life of suffering unequal. His devotion to his father, to do his will, rose with fragrance to the heart of God. And God said, this is my beloved son, in whom is almighty life. Don't you wish you had some of that merit? Now bring it down to a practical fact. If the fragrance of Christ is going to be manifested in our assemblies, you and I must be in devotion doing the will of God, whatever the cost. Our brothers mentioned some of the cost that may be involved if we are to do His will and follow the words scripturally. But if you and I are going to manifest the fragrance of Christ in the assemblies, Every one of us should be devoted to do the will of God. Let me quote quickly, Romans twelve, one and two. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable serving. Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good? acceptable and perfect will of God. My brother, my sister, are you sure you're doing the will of God in the assembly? When you and I are, that's part of the fragrance of Christ. Blessed be his name. But look at the next ingredient quickly. The clock goes too fast. And you have, coming up next, sweet cinnamon. Sweet cinnamon. Now this spice was derived from the cinnamon tree and it had a strange derivation. The spice was derived from the inner rind of the bark. The bark was stripped from the tree and from the inside of the bark, the inner rind of the bark, the spice was derived. Now when you think of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, does not that this remind us of his inner life? The inner life of the Lord Jesus? The inward soul of that blessed Holy One? How many others have enjoyed the typical meaning of the sacrifices, and particularly of the burned offering in Leviticus chapter one, where the burned offering was slayed? and opened up to the gaze of God with the purity and the wholesomeness of that animal's sacrifice that must be without blemish and without spot. And if that animal was slain and the insides of the animal bear to the gaze of God, in the life and testimony of the Lord Jesus upon the earth, the Father could look upon that in the life of his dear Son, and commended as being without stops and being without blemish. Which of you convinced of me of sin he could say to his adversaries? And to the heart of God the Father, in the midst of a polluted earth, and sin burdened people around him, blackened sinners. Yet there was one who was walking in holy communion within his soul, his fellowship with God and the Father above. Oh, beloved, the inner life of the Lord Jesus, who but it can and must be said, No man knoweth the Son but the Father. Now my fellow believer, let's apply it. The fragrance of Christian fellowship, not only doing the will of God, whatever the cost may be that is involved. But important is the fragrance of the inner life of the believer, my own conscience, and my own heart is spoken to at this very moment. More important than my preaching is the condition of my heart and soul before God. Let me not forget it. Be in the light. Be in the light. Communion with God. Fellowship with God. Oh, let me quote the words of the Savior from John seven. As in that last great day of the feast, he stood and said, If any man first led in common to me and drink, For as the Scripture has said, He that believeth on me, out of His inner being, out of His inner light shall flow rivers of living water, and this spake ye of the Spirit which should come. You know, let me tell you something. I cannot give you anything unless I got it in me. Amen. Amen. He never will come out until he gets in first. But I tell you it's great to get it in. The inner light. My beloved brother, sister, young and old. Let us give attention to the inner light. The communion of the heart and soul in fellowship with God over the scriptures of truth. I'm in communion with him in prayer. Sweet cinnamon. How sweet are you? Listen, you may look sweet on the outside, but please let me say the sweetness has got to be on the inside. Many years ago I wrote my wife from Chicago, I recall, and I said in the letter, I hope when I grow old I'll be a sweet old man. She wrote back and said, what in the world is getting into you? So I wrote back and said, well, I've been seeing so many old crabs around the country, I don't want to be like them. And sometimes she's saying to me, I hope when I'm old I'll be a sweet old lady. I said, well, you better start right now. Don't wait till you get old. Amen. Oh, beloved. It's only out of the inner condition. The fragrance of Christ will be manifested before others. But look at the third ingredient quickly. Sweet calamus. Now this was a strange thing. Calamus was nothing but a piss of a reed. A reed that grew in marshy places. Sometimes in Africa, in Egypt, and in Tibet. And even in this country it's been found. In Pennsylvania I know. It's a strange way that the spice was obtained. The reeds were taken out from their marshy places. The reed had to be dried. But when it was dried, the reed was pounded and pounded and pounded and pounded. And from the pounding of the reed, there was obtained the fragrant spice. Quite a rough way to get a spice, is it not? From the pounding of the reed, after it had dried up, Now let's look at the Lord Jesus. Let's think of his life. My brother and my sister, can you and I find a person who was more humiliated than that blessed son of God when he was here upon the earth, subjected to the indignities and to the reprisals of men's hatred again and again and again and again and again? Well, did the writers of the Philippians say, He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And as you and I look at that life of humility and that life of humiliation that has never been equaled, oh, how we realigned. was he suffered in humiliation. But do you know the humiliation of the Lord Jesus in his life is one of the sweetest fragrances to your heart as well as to mine? That lonely man let his mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who thus lowered himself and subjected himself to whatever circumstances came along with perfect submission humility may I say my brother and my sister as our brother is stated we must never take pride in our position no matter how scriptural and outwardly scriptural it may be one wrote would thou be chief then lowly sir which shall go up, then go down, but go down as low as you will. The highest has been lower still. God's way up is down. How do you get down? Well, may I tell you, God sometimes has to knock you down. Pride? What a terrible curse pride is. But what tremendous power there is in humility. Oh, my beloved brother and sister, if in the assemblies of the saints the precious fragrance of humility was manifested, how great would be the blessing. Did not Peter say, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he might exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him? Did not James write, he give us grace to the humble, And did not the Savior say, He that exalteth himself shall be obeyed, but He that humbeth himself shall be exalted? And my beloved from all of us, from the smallest to the greatest in the assembly, every one of us need to take that lowest place. You know, there's one thing. If you get down low enough, you won't bump your head. How precious the grace of humility. Humble. Trying to comfort a brother who had been humiliated, in my opinion. As I tried to comfort him, he said to me, He said, Brother Bramwell, don't worry about me. He said, The Lord took all pride out of my heart long ago. I thought, Lord, he's proud of his humility. I can't help him. Oh my brother, the wonderful fragrance of the humility of the Lord Jesus. That should be the fragrance of a believer in the assembly. Be willing to take the low place. Be willing to take the lowest place. On one occasion I once read concerning a complaint of a brother in the assembly. He demanded that the elders would give him his rights. And his complaint was brought before them as they met together to consider the matter. And he was given permission to state his case, which he did fully, and his demands. Amongst those elders was an old brother, very deaf. And the old fella couldn't understand all that it was about. And he leaned over to his friend near his tomb and said, Brother, what is it all about? Oh, he answered, this young man is demanding his rights in the assembly. Oh, said the old brother, is that all? Why, he said, the only person that ever lived upon the earth who had any rights never demanded them. And he settled them? Problem. Don't you go around demanding your rights. We live in an age where men and women are doing this. That should never appear in the assembly. It's not the spirit of Christ. It's not the fragrance of his character. When he suffered, he threatened not. And when he was not threatened, he never spoke against those who were against him. You know, it's not easy. One of the conferences in the East, many, many years ago, in a conversation of Bible reading, of swapping young fellow, a believer, he said, I'd like to ask a question. The lesson was along this line of humility. He said, one day a man came up to me, and without any provocation, he smacked me in the face. Then he said, I turned the other cheek. And he smacked me again. Then he said, I beat him up. Was I right? One of the brethren sitting there, for there was a real silence of breath for a moment, one of the brethren spoke and quoted, Who when he was reviled, reviled not again? Who when he was threatened? when he was when he suffered threatened not but committed himself to him the judge of righteousness my beloved the Lord give us the fragrance of Christ in his humility last of all the fourth ingredient is cashier and cashier well it was obtained from the cashier tree from the from the from the bark as well as the buds of the tree and was one of the great spices as we well know in the Bible I would like to mention the meaning of the word cashier, which is in the Hebrew meaning, means to cleave, to cleave, to cleave. In Psalm chapter forty-five, cashier is one of the fragrant spices relating to the coming of our Lord again in power and glory when he comes as king of kings. But the meaning of the word is to cleave, faithfulness, faithfulness, faithfulness. My beloved, when you and I look at the life of our blessed Lord, He only could say and did say, I am the truth and the faithful witness. Faithfulness will be the girdle of His reign. Faithfulness was the character of the Lord, faithful even unto death. And my beloved brother and sister, may I say, if there's one characteristic of Christ's person, that you and I should emulate this to be faithful. Be thou faithful unto death, and I'll give thee a crown of life. And the ingredient of faithfulness to the assembly, faithfulness to the Lord Jesus, faithfulness to the truth of the Word of God. Put it all together. As you see the ingredient of love, the devotion to do the will of God, whatever the cost, then the ingredient in the sweet cinnamon, the inner life of the believer, being holy in communion and fellowship with God. And then the sweet cinnamon, calamus rather, manifesting the humility of our Savior's person in our own hearts and lives. And then the faithfulness of the believer to all the truth and the responsibilities of God. The Holy Spirit. Now some may be, some may have more quality of one kind than another. But you know the Holy Spirit takes us all. And that's the beautiful thing about an assembly. You've got people from all kinds of sources and temperament and different dispositions. But when the Spirit of God puts them together in the assembly, He mixes them together and out of them all he can bring the fragrance of Christ. Now back to the psalm quickly. One hundred and thirty-three. And I want you to note not only the fragrance of Christian fellowship but its truthfulness. Let me read the whole psalm and close. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard. even Aaron's beard that went down to the skirts of his garment as the dew of Hermon and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord commanded the blessing even life forevermore. And my beloved brother and sister Neon say, If you and I will manifest these fragrances of Christ in our lives, the assembly will be blessed. God will command the blessing. God will manifest his life. One word in closing is admonition. In Ecclesiastes chapter ten, verse one, the wise man writes, a dead fly in the ointment of the apothecary causes it to send forth a stinking savor. my beloved brother and sister let none of us be a dead fly keep the ointment sweet the fragrance of Christ may it be manifested not only here while together but in our assemblies as we go back for his namesake amen I'm not going to ask you, are you thrilled? Your faces are speaking very loudly. Isn't it wonderful together and hear these things about our blessed redeeming of the Lord Jesus? I wonder if we couldn't just sing that little chorus, His name is wonderful.