When I was about sixteen years of age, I first began to sell books. I had not done much selling before and knew very little about what I was doing. An older gentleman, who was a pastor and had a long experience as a literature evangelist, came to work with me one day. I was amazed at how things went. He was one of the most talented salesmen I ever worked with.

He told me that when he first became a literature evangelist, he was one of the most timid people there had ever been. He told me he called on house after house, telling them he was selling Christian books, but without any sales. He said, "One time I became so discouraged that I went out on a gravel road and I just laid down there in the middle of the road, and prayed, 'Lord please send a car to run over me.'" Unless you have done some kind of door to door selling and have gone for days without any success, you may not be able to appreciate how he felt.

He also told me this story. He became a very successful book salesman, a very successful literature evangelist. When he became successful, he began to experiment, and he told me of some of his experiments. He told me how you can appeal to people by more then just your speech. Now, anyone who has had even the most basic sales training, recognizes that you influence people by your speech. They memorize an approach and they memorize a sales talk, and they memorize a closing and they memorize answers to objections and all of these things; they are trying to influence people by their speech. Everyone recognizes that, but he said that there are other ways you can reach people through all of their senses. He said, "I decided to experiment with this. I went and got a bunch of violets and as I was talking to a lady about buying books I placed these violets where she could smell them." He said, "I noticed that violets helped me sell books. So, in addition to what they could smell, I decided one time to use taste, and I bought some candy. I would have the person I was talking to eat a piece of candy while I was talking to them. I found out that candy helped me to sell books." So, he experimented approaching people through all of their senses: what they could taste, what they could smell, what they could see, what they could feel, and, of course, what they could hear.

Now, God knows all about this, He knows how to reach people through all of their senses, too. So, if you have your Bible, I want you to open it to Exodus, chapter 30 and notice what it says here starting with verse 34, "And the LORD said to Moses: 'Take sweet spices (and then He names some spices that I really do not even know what they are) stacte and onycha and galbanum, and pure frankincense with these sweet spices; there shall be equal amounts of each. You shall make of these an incense, a compound according to the art of the perfumer, salted, pure, and holy. And you shall beat some of it very fine, and put some of it before the Testimony in the tabernacle of meeting where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you. But as for the incense which you shall make, you shall not make any for yourselves, according to its composition. It shall be to you holy for the LORD.'"

So, they made this incense. Now, when you take incense and you put it in a censer and you put coals of fire in the censer, then you begin to have a sweet smelling aroma or a fragrance, Usually just called smoke, but it is not ordinary smoke, it is a sweet smelling fragrance or an aroma. When they put this incense in the sanctuary, all the sanctuary was filled with the aroma. The aroma went beyond the sanctuary, it even went beyond the court. So, as you approach the sanctuary of the Lord, you could smell this incense as you got closer and closer to it. Now, according to Jewish tradition, you could smell the aroma of this incense approximately a quarter of a mile away from the sanctuary. Now, of course, it would depend on the wind condition, but as you approached God's sanctuary you could smell this fragrance. This was in the old covenant and this fragrance in the old covenant (everything in the old covenant) represents something real in the new covenant. Let us turn to Revelation and we will see what this incense is in the new covenant.

Turn to Revelation, the eighth chapter, starting with verse three, "Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel's hand."

So, here you have an angel who comes into the heavenly sanctuary, right into the presence of God. He has a censer with a lot of incense in it. This incense is offered before God with your prayer. When you pray, incense comes up before God with your prayer. What do you think about that? It says,(it makes it very specific) in verse 3, "with the prayers of all the saints." That is all the prayers of the saints. So, whenever you pray, with that prayer, incense comes up before God-- a sweet smelling aroma.

Now, we are into something that is going to have to stretch our minds a little bit to comprehend, isn't it? I can tell by the look on your face. It is going to have to stretch all of our minds to comprehend what we are talking about now. It must be perfectly obvious to you that this incense in the Old Testament, this sweet smelling fragrance or aroma, must represent something, and it is something that happens in heaven. There is an incense, and it comes up with prayers. Now, incense comes with or out of a censer. We are not going to take time tonight to look through in the Old Testament to find out all of what a censer represents.

Some of you have studied a little bit about the sanctuary service in the Old Testament. Who was it that had a censer in the Old Testament? The priest, especially the High priest. You can read in Leviticus 16 about him taking the censer and the smoke coming up out of this censer as he went into the second apartment or the most Holy Place of the sanctuary. So, the censer or the incense is associated with the work of a priest. Does that make sense? The incense is associated with the work of a priest.

Now, let us think this through a little bit. We use a lot of words in the English language and we don't even think about what we are talking about. When you use the word "priest", who and what is a priest? Have you thought that through? What is a priest, anyway? A minister is not necessarily, a priest. A minister can act in the role of a priest, but what is a priest? Now, in the Roman Catholic Church they have priests. In Protestant churches we do not have priests. There is a reason for that. But what is a priest? Just think it through, it is not a trick question. Howwould you, if you were going to explain to a child who knew nothing about it, what a priest is? A intercessor? A go between? An advocate? Okay, a priest intercedes or is a go between or is an advocate for somebody else.

Now, let us think this through a little bit more. In the old covenant, if you were not a priest could you go into the sanctuary? No, you could not. Remember now, we are talking about the old covenant; we are not talking about the new covenant. Things are different in the new covenant. In the old covenant, unless you were a priest you could not go into the sanctuary.

Now, here is the next question: Did you have to have the services of a priest in order for your sins to be forgiven? Yes, you did. By the way, that is something to always remember if someone should say to you, "Well everything was finished at the cross." Have you ever heard that argument? Everything was finished at the cross, that is not biblical. The cross represents the sacrifice and you have to have a sacrifice, but you cannot have your sins forgiven just by having a sacrifice. After the sacrifice was killed, the priest had to take either the blood or the flesh.

Now, you can read this in Leviticus, chapters 6 and 10. The priest had to take either the blood or the flesh into the sanctuary and administer it there in order for your sins to be forgiven. This is also made clear in Leviticus the fourth chapter. You have to have a priest in order for your sins to be forgiven, and it is the priest that has the censer with the incense. So the incense is always associated with the priest or an intercessor.

Now, in the New Testament, in the new covenant who is our High Priest? Almost the entire book of Hebrews is about this. In the old covenant it was Aaron and his sons. You had to be a son of Aaron to be a priest. Now, you could see after a few generations that could be a lot of people. But still, you had to be one of the descendants of Aaron in order to be a priest. So, in the new covenant, Jesus is our High Priest. What does this incense then represent? Remember, it is associated with the priest, somebody that is going to help you to have your sins forgiven.

So, a priest mediates or intercedes. The incense has to do with the intercession or the mediation of Christ. Now, when the blood was taken from an animal sacrifice into the sanctuary, what did that blood represent? If you do not know I will give you the text, it is Leviticus 17:11. What does the blood represent? It represents the life. The life of an innocent that was given on the behalf of somebody that was guilty. When Jesus comes into the presence of God to intercede for you and for me, what does He have that could take away our guilt? It is His life, His righteous life, which is represented by the blood. Without the shedding of blood there is what? No forgiveness or remission. Remission means forgiveness, that is found in Hebrews 9:22.

Okay, so, Jesus comes into the heavenly sanctuary with His life and His blood in order that we might receive forgiveness. Now, when I was talking to a group of Lutheran students one day, someone asked me this question. Let me see if you could answer it. They said, "Well, why does Christ have to come into the presence of the Father and intercede for us? Is the Father angry with us?" How would you explain that? By the way, a lot of people are mixed up on that. They think Adventists believe that the Father is angry with them, so Jesus has to go begging to save us. So, how would you explain it?

Let me, just to get you started, ask you this question. Is there anyone that is accusing you? There is. In Zechariah, chapter 3, it says that there is someone out to accuse you and to see that you are lost. Who is it? The devil--Satan. That is what it says in Zechariah, chapter 3. There is a court case going on right now in heaven and you and I are defendants and we cannot defend ourselves. We cannot defend ourselves because we have sinned and the wages of sin is death and unless someone else takes our case, we are lost.

You see, our salvation is fully and completely dependent on Jesus--fully and completely dependent on Him. We are to cooperate with Him, but as we cooperate with Him, we need to always recognize where the power comes from. The Bible says you have to overcome your sins but unless you receive the power from Jesus, you won't. You have to have His mediation, His righteousness, applied to your case. Friends, that is part of the fragrance of His character. He came and took your place and mine so that He could give to us His righteousness and take our guilt. That is fragrance, a divine fragrance, and that is what this incense represents.

Let me read to you now from the pen of Ellen White about this fragrance and how much we need it. In Selected Messages, vol. 1, page 344, it says, "The religious services, the prayers, the praise, the penitent confession of sin ascend from true believers as incense to the heavenly sanctuary, but passing through the corrupt channels of humanity, they are so defiled that unless purified by blood, they can never be of value with God. They ascend not in spotless purity, and unless the Intercessor, who is at God's right hand, presents and purifies all by His righteousness, it is not acceptable to God. All incense from earthly tabernacles [that is you and me] must be moist with the cleansing drops of the blood of Christ. He holds before the Father the censer of His own merits, in which there is no taint of earthly corruption. He gathers into this censer the prayers, the praise, and the confessions of His people, and with these He puts His own spotless righteousness. Then, perfumed with the merits of Christ's propitiation [that is a big word, that simply means that He paid the price for your sins], the incense comes up before God wholly [that is completely] and entirely acceptable. Then gracious answers are returned." [All emphasis supplied]

Isn't that beautiful? When we pray, does our petition to God ascend out of Holiness? No. It ascends out of corruption. Our prayers come from the corrupt channels of humanity. But, when Jesus puts with our prayers the incense of His righteousness and His merit, then something wonderful happens. We are going to receive a gracious answer from the God of heaven.

Now, this is a big subject. Turn in your Bible to Matthew, chapter 11, verse 12. We will start studying a hard text or two. "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force."

Have you ever wondered what that means? Who are the violent? Do you know who the violent are? Now, let us think back to the old covenant. In the old covenant, who only could go into the sanctuary? The priest. But now here is the good news. Ellen White says that John the Baptist was the dividing line between the old and the new covenant.

It was John the Baptist who first introduced God's people to the privileges of the new covenant, that was the dividing line. Jesus says that "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force." Matthew 11:12

What is this spiritual violence that Jesus is talking about? In the old covenant, you were dependent on a human priest to go into the sanctuary for you. But, in the new covenant, you can go in yourself. You do not need to wait for some preacher or priest or someone else to get salvation for you. You can go directly to God yourself and if you have spiritual violence you can get the answer to your prayer right now. That is spiritual violence. We need to understand this subject and we need to become spiritually violent. God has ordained that you could have spiritual power, divine power in your life. But you are going to have to be spiritually violent. You are going to have to go and take it. Let me read to you something about that.

This is in Ellen White's Diary found in the l888 Materials, page 868, "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.' Matthew 11:12. What an encouragement to every soul! When, armed with the promises of God, you come to the Father in the name of Jesus (notice you do not have to go through any other human being, you go directly yourself), the Great Intercessor is seen by faith, standing at the altar of incense and having in His hand the golden censer. You hear His voice saying, 'And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever. John 14:16. What hope will fill your poor discouraged heart! What shame and remorse will you feel for your cherished unbelief!"

When you get spiritually violent and come directly to the Father in heaven in Jesus name.

When you read the promises in the Bible and you say, "Lord I am willing to fulfill all the conditions and I want this to happen in my life," it will start happening in your life. That is spiritual violence. Friends, there are Christians that are just waiting(maybe you know some), they are just waiting for something good to happen. They are hoping and desiring that some way, some how they will be saved.

Friends, we are not going to be saved unless we become spiritually violent. I am using this term advisedly. I am not talking about rebellious violence, I am talking about spiritual violence. This is when a person says, "lam going to go to the Lord, accept what 1-le says, believing that what God says, He will make happen in my life. I am going to go to the Heavenly Father in Jesus name and I will say this is what it says in Your Word. I am going to do my part and I am depending on the intercession of Jesus to make this happen in my life." That is what the censer and the incense are for, so that His righteousness and intercession can be combined with your prayers, and miracles will happen in your life.

There are many people, friends, that are just sitting waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting. It is time for them to do something and become spiritually violent, to say, "Lord, this is what it says." Jesus said that man should live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Do you believe that?

Well then, when you read the experience that the saints are suppose to have, whatever it is, you go to the Lord and say, "Well now Lord, this is what you said I am to be like. This is what You said my experience is to be, and I am depending on You to fulfill this word. I am going to do what you say and I am just depending on You to make it happen." That is spiritual violence when you do that, and miracles will happen in your life. There are so many people that are just WAITING for something to happen, and it can happen NOW, if we will do our part.

I remember meeting someone in Keene, Texas several years ago. I was visiting his home when he told me, "I would be a Seventh-day Adventist if I could overcome smoking." I thought to myself, what a lame excuse; I would be a Seventh-day Adventist if I could overcome smoking. Well listen, I want to tell you something, if smoking is your problem, you can overcome that right now. Now, I am not saying you will not have a fight, But you can.

Has God promised to deliver you from the shackles of sin in your life? Of course, He has. I met a man a few years ago who had been smoking for thirty or forty years and could not quit. I said, "I can show you how you can quit right now. You are going to have a fight, but if you choose to quit, I can show you how to quit right now." And he quit. The Lord helped him, and the Lord can help you to overcome any problem you have, any sin in your life. Jesus has the power and if you become spiritually violent and claim the power that Jesus has for you and do what the Bible says, you can have a miracle in your life. But you are going to have to become spiritually violent and actually do something.

By the way, you do not say, "Lord, help me to get to New York" and then start driving west. That does not work. That is what some people do. You do not say, "Lord help me to overcome smoking" and then go downtown and buy a whole carton. Does that make sense? Do you expect the Lord to answer your prayer when you are doing that kind of thing? No, you do not.

If it is a besetting sin you are going to have to take the initiative. And if it is a besetting sin, you are not going to overcome it without divine help. Now, which ones are the hardest, depends on who you are talking to. The ones that are hardest for me to overcome might not be the hardest for you to overcome, and the one that is hardest for you might not be the one that is hardest for me. Different people have different besetting sins. We do not have the same ones. Which ones are the hardest just depends on who you are talking to. Almost any sin that you can mention is the hardest for someone. Well, I could give you some examples but you can see how it could be so.

Let us read a text or two that shows us that in the New Testament we are all to be priests. We can all go in. Look in I Peter, chapter 2. Now, who is Peter talking to here? He is talking to all elect or the pilgrims as he talks about them in the very first chapter. Notice what he says to them. He is talking to Gods people, the pilgrims, the elect of God. He says in verse 5, "You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy [what?] a holy priesthood. . ."

In the new covenant we are all priests. By the way, this is one of the foundational doctrines of Protestantism. In the sixteenth century reformation, there were three principle doctrines that the Protestants disagreed with the Papacy about, and they are all issues today. It is the same situation today as it was then--exactly the same. The first one was that the Bible and the Bible only is the authority of faith. That is, inspired writings is the rule of faith and practice and not tradition. That was the first one. The second one was that we receive righteousness by the grace of Christ through faith, and that is the only way. You cannot get it by paying money, by indulgences, going through ceremonies, doing penances or anything else. You can receive righteousness only one way--that is through the grace of Christ by faith. That is the second principle. The third one is called the priesthood of all believers. Let me explain to you what that means. In the Roman Catholic religion when you go to the priest and you confess your sins, the priest says, "I give you absolution." Now, they may not use those words but that is what it means. Sometimes they use Latin words. I absolve you or give you absolution, and then you are forgiven. But Protestantism says, "No. Jesus is my Priest. I pray to God the Father in Jesus name, as it says in John, chapter 16. He forgives my sins and I do not need to go and confess my sins to a human priest."

Now, where did Protestants get this doctrine? Well, this is one of the texts; I Peter, chapter 2, verses 5 and 6. You are a holy priesthood. Also, look at I Timothy, chapter 2, verse 5, it says, "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." How many mediators between God and man? Just one.

So, in the new covenant it makes it very clear in Hebrews the seventh chapter. In the old covenant the priest died and so they had many priests and they were prevented from continuing because of death. But Paul says this Priest, talking about Jesus, has an unchangeable priesthood--He lives forever. And so, we only have one High Priest in the new covenant, He is the ONE Mediator between God and man. You go to God directly, through faith in Him, and you can have forgiveness of sins--answers to your prayers.

What we are talking about, friends, is very, very powerful, if you understand it. Because through prayer, trusting in the righteousness of Christ, you can have INSTANT access to the Creator of the universe--INSTANT. When I say "instant" I do not just mean going up, I mean "instant" coming back. You can have instant help! We do not value our privileges as Christians like we should, we do not realize what we have. You see, even though I might be vile, degraded, abominable, and have committed all kinds of sins, when I come to God in Jesus name He puts my petition with His own merits, His own righteousness, and because of His merits I can receive divine power and help for anything that I ask. Exciting isn't it? And it is instant!

You pray, instantly there is communication both ways. That should not be too hard to understand in our age when we have computer messages that we shoot up to a satellite, thousands of miles away, and in half a second it is clear over on the other side of the world. Someone is receiving the message. Well, if we can do that as human beings, is it any wonder that when you pray, instantly God knows and answers come back? It talks about this in symbolic language in the book of Revelation.

Look in Revelation the fourth chapter, the fifth verse. This is talking about the throne of God, it says, "And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices." What are the lightnings, thunderings, and voices? Well, I want to tell you, friends, God is in instantaneous communication with all parts of the universe, and this part of the universe right here is a focal point of His operations right now. Are you aware of that? When you pray, INSTANTLY there is divine cognizance of your prayer and there is a response. If we could comprehend this, I want to tell you, we would do a lot more praying than we do, because prayer is powerful.

I have several other interesting statements on this subject. I would like to readjust one more and then we are going to take time to pray. We need to do more then talk; we need to practice what we are talking about.

This statement was found in the Youth Instructor, January 16, 1896, and it says concerning Jesus that He is ". . . .standing within the veil, having in His hand the golden censer, from which the holy incense of the merits of His righteousness ascends to God in behalf of those who pray to Him. Could they thus behold Him, they would feel an assurance that they have a powerful, influential Advocate in the heavenly courts, and that their suit is gained at the throne of God. [You have someone that is powerful and is influential there.] What an experience may be attained at the footstool of mercy, which is the only place of sure refuge! You may discern the fact that God is back of His promises, and not dread the issue of your prayers, or doubt that Jesus is standing as your surety and Substitute. As you confess your sins, as you repent of your iniquity, Christ takes your guilt upon Himself, and imputes to you His own righteousness and power. To those who are contrite in spirit, He gives the golden oil of love, and the rich treasures of His grace. It is then that you may see that the sacrifice of self to God through the merits of Christ, makes you of infinite value; for clothed in the robe of Christs righteousness, you become the sons and daughters of God. Those who approach the Father, recognizing the bow of promise, and ask forgiveness in the name of Jesus, will receive their request. At the very first expression of penitence, Christ presents the humble suppliants petition before the throne as His own desire in the sinners behalf. He says, 'I will pray the Father for you.

Isn't that good news? If you are the worst sinner around, if you will come to your heavenly Father in Jesus name and confess and repent, divine power will come into your life. Not just forgiveness but divine power will come into your life enabling you to live a new life. The incense, the fragrance that represents Christs mediation, His merits, His righteousness--the fragrance of His life, and He wants to put that fragrance of His life into your life. I want to receive that fragrance into my life, do you? We have a wonderful privilege, and if we are going to be ready for what is coming, (we talk about the time of trouble, all the great trials, not being able to buy and sell and all the things that are going to happen in the last days) we are going to have to know how to pray. We want to spend a little time before we pray; is there anyone here that has a special prayer request? Now, lets get together in little prayer groups to pray.