Let's again ask our Lord's blessing. Father, thank you. Thank you for allowing us to
even continue in this word. Thank you for allowing us to
look at the next few verses. We realize that being able to
even consider them is a blessing of Your grace. Oh, but to teach
us of that which is set forth, what mercy, what kindness. Lord,
I pray, may Christ be honored. May Your people, Lord, be comforted
and edified. Thank You. Bless us, we pray. Help us to worship for Christ's
sake. Amen. Numbers chapter 19. We know, we know, as we just
considered, that Almighty God by the shedding of the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. No guilt. No guilt for God's
people. No guilt for His elect. But as we just Plainly considered,
we are still in this world. And being in constant contact
with sin, within, without, we need to be continually reminded
of what the Lord has done for us. And to have our consciences
purged from dead works And when I say dead works, this is what
it means. Works that have no life in them
or works that are deadly in nature. And believe me, we need our consciences
purged from that because we all have them. Having considered
the Lord Jesus Christ, our red effort and the purity of what
that red heifer was to set forth, the purity of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the holiness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what that
red heifer, this is the kind of red heifer that you'll bring.
Now we're going to consider those last two points, the reason that
we must be cleansed, we must be reminded, we must be taught
again. And lastly, how that cleansing
is applied. All right, let's look first of
all, the reason, the reason for that cleansing. We're going to
look. I won't read all the rest of
the chapter right now because I'd like to go through it verse
by verse and read it as we go. But for the rest of the chapter,
we are continually being reminded of the defilement, that we actually
possess the defilement in our conscience, in our minds. That's where you know it. I mean,
as you pray, as you think, as you consider, what is really
going on inside me? You know it. You know it in your
heart. That's what needs to be reminded. That's what needs to be cleansed. Verse 3, it says, And you shall
give her, that red heifer, without spot upon which never came a
yoke, give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her
forth without the camp. And one shall slay her before
his face. Eliezer, instead of Aaron, took
the heifer without the camp. Now, I want you to notice when
the Lord gave this ordinance of the red heifer. Back in verse
1, I want you to notice who he spoke to. And the Lord spake
unto Moses and unto Aaron. Aaron was a high priest. this sacrifice that was going
to be made. And here's something that will
help you, too. No one sacrifice ever set forth
the totality of the accomplishment of the Lord Jesus Christ for
His people. No one sacrifice. That's why there was a burnt
sacrifice. There was a meat offering. Peace offering. There was a sin
offering. Trespass. Red heifer. There were different sacrifices.
Why? Because it was not possible that
one would convey the totality of Him. Different sacrifices. This particular sacrifice right
here, Aaron, the high priest, was not allowed to officiate
in this sacrifice. We're going to read in just a
few minutes that Eleazar Along with the others that officiated,
all were made unclean. They were made unclean and had
to be cleansed. The Holy Spirit's guarding of
a character, the type, the picture of the Lord Jesus Christ never,
ever allowed even the type of Him to show Himself in Himself
to be impure. Oh, he was made sin, but he was
holy. Eleazar was the one that was
going to have to officiate. This red heifer was taken without
the camp. Two thoughts on that. Number
one, I know that the Levitical priesthood was the order by which
the sacrifices all were to be made. That was the priest. the
sons of Levi. Our Lord came without that camp. He was of the tribe of Judah.
The kingly tribe. King. But there is something
also that you have to be reminded of and I do too. Without the
camp, that was all considered impure. That was out. Outside. Outside. There was a picture
of our Lord made sin, who was numbered with the transgressors."
That's where they put all the undesirables. We don't deal with them in Jerusalem.
Those are dealt with outside. Buried outside. Crucified outside.
He was numbered with the transgressors. And we identify ourselves with
Him as the one rejected of men but accepted of God. Eleazar, bring her forth without
the camp and one shall slay her before His face. That heifer
was slain. Beautiful, beautiful picture. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sin. That heifer had to die. And Eleazar, I want you to notice
in verse 4, Eleazar the priest shall take her blood with his
finger and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle
of the congregation seven times. whenever Aaron would take the
blood of that slain, that burnt offering. He would take the blood
from that offering, and he would take that blood, and he'd go
in on the Day of Atonement, and he would sprinkle it before the
mercy seat. The sprinkling of that blood
set forth, number one, that God Almighty had been honored. Debt
had been paid. The law was honored. The soul
that sinned is going to die. Christ made sin. He put away
our guilt. But when He sprinkled it before
that mercy seat, that set forth that God accepted it. It was
accepted by God. So here in this sacrifice, Eleazar
was to take the blood of that red heifer and sprinkle that
blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation, setting
forth that this particular type was also accepted of God, accepted
by Him, and that it was effectual to its purpose. This is setting
forth that what God has demanded, Christ has paid, God accepts. His blood perfectly presented
before Jehovah as the only ground of meeting place between God
and our conscience. We're accepted in the Beloved.
Our conscience is going to have to be purged. We're going to
have to be comforted. And Almighty God set forth in
that particular sacrifice for that one purpose, to set forth
what Almighty God has done for His people and shall forever
do. And He takes them out of this world. Look at the minuteness,
the straightness, the precision of God Himself providing a sacrifice
for that one purpose to show I'm never going to leave you. I will not leave you comforted.
Blessed, blessed sacrifice. One sacrifice. One sprinkling. He gave Himself. How totally did He give Himself?
Look at verse 5. And one shall burn the heifer
in His sight. Her skin, her flesh, and her
blood, and her dung shall He burn. He was obedient unto death. Even the death of the cross. He gave Himself. He gave Himself
totally. That's what that Scripture says
for us. What's it going to take for me to be comforted? What's
it going to take for my conscience to be purged and comforted? And
for God Almighty to remind me? It's going to take the memory
of what God demanded Christ totally made. He put away our guilt. Everything that was demanded,
nothing was held back. He gave Himself. And the priest, verse 6, shall
take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet and cast it into the
midst of the burning heifer. That heifer was slain. That blood
was taken and sprinkled seven times before the tabernacle of
the congregation. That heifer was then burned. And while that heifer was burning,
they took cedar wood, hyssop, scarlet wool is what it says. That's what it's set forth in
Hebrews 9, 19. It was scarlet wool. And they
took it and just threw it right on top of that burning heifer.
Why? Why? Turn with me to Leviticus
14. Hold your finger in numbers.
Turn back to Leviticus 14. Leviticus 14, verses 1-4. Here's the reason. Right here.
Leviticus 14, 1-4, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, This
shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing.
He shall be brought forth unto the priest, and the priest shall
go forth out of the camp, and the priest shall look And behold,
if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper, then
shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed,
two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood and scarlet and hyssop." Those three blessed things. Cedar, hyssop. and scarlet wool. Those three things were used
at the declaration. If there was a leper that was
made clean, this is what you do. You take that sacrifice,
that burden. You take hyssop and scarlet wool
and cedar wood and that right there, set forth, that leper
was clean. That leper. before Almighty God,
back in Numbers 19, they would take that red heifer and they
would take the slain heifer, burned, and they would put cedar
wood and hyssop and scarlet and cast it right on top of that
burning heifer, declaring in type, according to God's law,
God Almighty has cleansed you. He put away your guilt. There's
going to be a remembrance of that. The ashes from that heifer
in just a few minutes when we consider it, when those ashes
were sprinkled on those that were made unclean, there was
that savor of what God Almighty had set forth as being clean
in Christ. But I want you to look at what
happened. There was that slain red heifer. There was why Eleazar
had to do it. There was the one that took it
and slew it before him. Eleazar sprinkled the blood. That red heifer was burned. Cedar
wood and hyssop and scarlet wool was put on top of it. The savor
of Almighty God's declaration of life and cleanness and purity
all according to what was based on being in that red heifer.
It was all laid on the red heifer. Whatever merit the hyssop, and
I'll deal with what hyssop means in just a minute, whatever the
merit of that hyssop and that scarlet wool and those implements,
cedar wood, whatever effect they would have, it was all based
on being found on the red heifer. in the red heifer. The savor
of the red heifer. Let's read verses 7-10. Let me
show you what happened. Then, verse 7, the priest shall
wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water. And
afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall
be unclean until even. That priest, Eleazar, he couldn't
come back in. He was unclean. This was a reason
that Aaron couldn't do it. The Spirit of God guarded the
character of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not Aaron, Eleazar. And he that
burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, bathe his flesh in
water, shall be unclean until the evening. And a man that is
clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, lay them up without
the camp in a clean place, and he shall be kept for the congregation
of the children of Israel, for a water of separation. And then
the Spirit of God tells us what the water of separation means.
It's a purification for sin. And he that gathered the ashes
of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until
the even. And it shall be unto the children of Israel and unto
the stranger that sojourneth among them for a statute forever. Everybody that officiated in
the sacrifice, in the burning, in the gathering, in the depositing
of the ashes of the red heifer became unclean until the evening. Unclean. Though that sacrifice absolutely
given and set forth as the means of then ceremonial cleansing
and for us today, absolute cleansing, but everybody that took part
in that absolute sacrifice. Everybody was defiled by touching
it, having anything to do with it. Though that red heifer, perfect
type picture of our blessed Savior, what happened was they came in
contact with a dead animal and therefore became unclean and
in need of cleansing. What does that mean for me today? The Scripture sets forth that
our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 5.21, we deal with
this Scripture often. He hath made Him to be sin who
knew no sin. He hath made Him to be sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. You mean to tell me that they
were made unclean in actually dealing with this sacrifice that
set forth the purity of God's Lamb? Him who alone is the subject,
the object, the one of comfort to my conscience? They became
unclean? Dealing with Him? Yes. My friend, as you and I sit here
right now and consider He who was made sin, and even think
upon what He has done for us, are defiled because of our inability
to be able to consider Him as we ought. We are sitting here
right now listening to the glorious gospel of God's grace and God's
mercy for His people. And while we sit and while we
contemplate, how many different places has our minds been? Where
all have we all been right now? Even the very contact, even the
very officiating of that glorious picture of our blessed Savior
defiled. Defiled. Just like that man the Scripture
sets forth that led into the wilderness a scapegoat. Remember
there were two goats. One of them was for the Lord.
The other one was a scapegoat. One of them had to die The other
one, the priest laid his hands on that goat, and it says a man
took him out. When that man came back from
taking the goat, which was a picture of Christ that has taken our
sins as far as the east is from the west, who has cast them behind
the back of God, cast them into the sea. I will remember them
no more. He led that scapegoat into the
wilderness, and when he came back, He had to be cleansed. Let me
read it to you. Leviticus 16, 26, And he that
let go the goat for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes and bathe
his flesh in water and afterward come into the camp. My friend,
we don't have any idea how defiled we find ourselves every moment. The sacrifice of our dear Savior
totally put away our guilt before God. But our absolute sinful
and disrespectful thoughts and lack of appreciation for that
sacrifice requires that my conscience be cleansed afresh. I can't even
think of Him like I ought to. These that dealt with that, every
one of them was made impure, dealing with it. Verses 11 to 16. He that toucheth
the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days. He shall
purify himself with it on the third day. On the seventh day,
he shall be clean. But if he purify not himself
on the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean. Whosoever
touches the dead body of any man that is dead and purifies
not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the Lord. And that soul shall
be cut off from Israel, because the water of separation was not
sprinkled upon him. He shall be unclean. His uncleanness
is yet upon him." This is the law. When a man dies in a tent,
all that come into the tent, all that's in the tent shall
be unclean seven days. Every open vessel which has no
covering bound upon it unclean, and whosoever toucheth one that
is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body,
or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days." It didn't take much for them
to be defiled. It did not take if they just touched a bone,
if they even touched a grave, coming in contact with anything
that was dead. We are defiled in our thoughts,
in our minds. When I talk about being defiled,
I'm talking about the heart. I'm talking about the mind. We're
defiled coming in contact with others. Believers and unbelievers. Believers
and unbelievers? Yes, sir. There's a nature in
every believer that is the old man. And that old man raises
his head all the time. And every time we come in contact
with others, any time we hear, any time we see, any time we
think anything that is not absolutely, perfectly
honoring to our Lord, which is never, which is never, never,
we are defiled. Defiled. Our Lord Jesus Christ
could walk among sinners. He could touch lepers, and it
had absolutely no effect upon Him. He who is holy and harmless and
undefiled and separate from sinners, but not me and you. Not us. We being in this world, being
in the presence of others that are just like us, by their actions,
by my actions toward you, by my conversation that is not becoming,
I'm not able to control my mind. I can come around people. You
can come around people. We come around each other. And
I'm telling you, we're not able to control what we think. It's
just there so fast. Man, where did that come from?
I'm glad nobody saw that. Somebody did. Our thoughts, our intents, we're
vexed just like Lot was every day by the evil that is within
us and around us. We're vexed with it. You can't
walk in, you can't go to Wal-Mart and your mind not be just taken
off. Commission or omission? We are
vexed and defiled. Verse 13, we just read, Whosoever
toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth
not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the Lord. And that soul shall
be cut off from Israel, because the water of separation was not
sprinkled upon him. He shall be unclean, and his
uncleanness is yet upon him. If anyone came in contact, knowingly
or unknowingly, If they stepped on a grave and didn't know it, defiled. Defiled. How much have
we done today, thought today, that we didn't think anything
about? We didn't think it was that bad. It wasn't that bad.
I'm not like those sinners out there that's driving up and down
the road right there. They don't even want to come in here, sinners.
My friend, the problem is not out there. It's right here. If anyone touched the dead body
of any man, it was dead. And I'm telling you, we all come
in contact, but not only unbelievers, but believers. Remember, that
old nature that's still in us is still in us. Man, I've said
things to you and you've said things to me, and I'm telling
you, It has caused us to think or say things that we wish we
would have never said. If one wasn't cleansed, the Scripture
says they defiled the tabernacle of the Lord. And Almighty God
is not going to let me or you or anybody. When we talk about
entering into the presence of God, into the Holy of Holies
with boldness that we may receive, I'm not going to be able to enter
into the very place, Carl, of God's presence defiled. The Spirit
of God is going to have to cleanse and purge my conscience. I'm
not going into His presence without being cleansed. I don't even
realize what the Lord is doing for me. I have no idea. But I can tell you this. I can
tell you that He cleanses His people. As the Lord washed the
feet of His disciples, He said, You don't know what I'm doing
right now, but you will. You will. One day I will. One
day I'm going to know, Neil, what He's done for me. I don't
know right now, but I can tell you this. I need some help. I need help. If one wasn't cleansed,
they defiled the tabernacle. We could not Even pray. Truly pray. If He didn't cleanse
us, wash us. It's not possible to look upon
another sinner without that sin having an evil effect upon us. We just can't do it. I don't detest sin as I ought
to defile. I don't detest it as I should.
Our failure to resist sin is in itself rebellion against God. You may think that evil contact
has no effect on you, but you're wrong. We're defiled with the
slightest sin, the lack of watchfulness. Jesus just touched a bone. All
it did was just kind of graze the bone out in the field. I
just barely touched it. Just a fleeting thought. A glancing eye just out of the
peripheral vision. I saw it. I just saw that car
go by. I was looking at David. I saw that car. Defiled. You see what I'm saying? How
easily you think, how inconsistent have we been since this service
started? Truly, the Apostle Paul spoke
on the inspiration of the Spirit of God. Oh, wretched man that
I am. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? But our
dear Savior, Almighty God, who is rich in mercy, has absolutely
revealed the remedy, the provision of this plight. Just like those
Israelites, they needed comfort from the fear of daily defilements. They had seen what God had done.
They knew what God did to the Egyptians. They knew what God
had done to Korah and his followers. They saw what happened. They
knew something of God's resentment, hatred of sin. We know, even now, that we struggle
with the presence of sin and the defilements of this world
And we see ourselves acting just like those that we know love
not our Lord. Can I deem myself a child? Here's our last point. How is
this cleansing applied? How? Remember the basis, in closing,
remember the basis or the foundation of our cleansing. Here is the
foundation of our cleansing, verse 4. And Eleazar the priest
shall take of her blood with his finger and sprinkle her blood
directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times. Just like when Aaron came into
the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, sprinkled the blood
accepted of Almighty God. The blood of that red heifer
set forth as a beautiful type of our blessed Savior, presented
before God Almighty and accepted, that blood absolutely put away
our guilt. But that same blood absolutely
purges us from our daily defilements. 1 John 1. 1 John 1. I'll just read this for you if
you want me to, if you want to turn. 1 John 1. But if we walk
in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one
with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth
us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our
sins, or let me say it like this, if we confess what we are, If
we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I know that the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ absolutely cleanses. But I need to be reminded
of that. Look at verses 17 to 18. And for an unclean person, They
shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification
for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel. And
a clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water and sprinkle
it upon the tent, upon all the vessels, upon the persons that
were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain,
or one dead, grave or a grave. There was a provision, the ashes
from that burnt heifer, the red heifer that was burnt. That actual
evidence that that heifer was actually burnt, the ashes, was
taken and it was mixed with running water, living water, and it was
sprinkled on the unclean person. Hyssop. That's what they do. They take hyssop. Hyssop is a
very humble-looking, lowly... I don't see that there would
be any use for that. Hyssop, just like a little weed. Hyssop. A beautiful picture of
our blessed Savior who had in Himself concerning the world
no beauty, that we should behold Him, desire Him. Listen, those
ashes were taken and they were mixed in running water, living
water. What was going on? Let me just
read it for you. John 7. What is that running
water? What is that living water? The
ashes were mixed. with running water, living, not
stagnant, not in a pool, not in a cesspool, a stream, living
water, moving water. John 7, 38, 39. The Lord Jesus
Christ, on that last day of the feast, that great day, and Jesus
stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto
Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the
Scriptures hath said, out of his belly out of his heart shall
flow rivers of living water, verse 39, but this spake he of
the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. For the
Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet
glorified." Running water. Take the ashes and you'll mix
it with running water, living water. A picture. There's the
ashes of that red heifer. The evidence of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Of that red heifer that was without
blemish, without spot, no yolk. You burn Him. Put away our guilt. Sprinkle that blood. You take
the evidence of that. And you mix it with that living
water, that running water. And you dip it in hyssop. Dip
hyssop in it. A picture of Christ. Who to the
world? No desire. No beauty. You dip it in there. And you sprinkle it on those
that were unclean. The Spirit of God takes the glorious
remembrance of the sacrifice of Christ. The Spirit of God
Himself that makes it effectual. And He sprinkles it. on our conscience. And they're clean. Before I end, I want us to look
at just a couple of things and I'll be done. In verses 19 through
22, and the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on
the third day and on the seventh day. And on the seventh day,
he shall purify himself and wash his clothes and bathe him in
water, and shall be clean it even. But the man that shall
be unclean and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut
off from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary
of the Lord. The water of separation hath
not been sprinkled upon him. He is unclean. And it shall be
a perpetual statute unto them that he that sprinkleth the water
of separation shall wash his clothes, He that toucheth the
water of separation shall be unclean until even. And whatsoever
the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean, and the soul that
toucheth it shall be unclean until even." You know what, as
far as dealing with those that dealt with it, we've already
dealt with that on why. But I want to say something about
He was sprinkled at the third day and sprinkled at the seventh
day. You remember that the sprinkling
from the time that they were defiled, on the third day from
that defilement, on the third day, they were to be sprinkled
with that water. Now, they were going to be unclean
until the seventh day. Until the seventh day. And on the seventh day, they
were sprinkled. And then they were clean. What is the significance? Now,
let me just be the first to admit that I will admit that I'm sure
I don't see the totality of what's set forth in that third day and
that seventh day. But I have something that I feel
sets forth the honor of our Lord in this third day sprinkling
and the seventh day sprinkling, and I pray Let it be honoring
to our Lord. I don't want to rest, as I've
said before, the Scriptures. But this seems to me to be absolutely
consistent with this. From the time that they were
defiled until the third day, they were sprinkled the first
time. Then on the seventh day. You remember that the sprinkling
is a type of the Holy Spirit's application to the heart for
remembrance of our guilt that's been put away. The Spirit of
God, the sprinkling of the ashes mixed with the running water,
with the hyssop sprinkled, what that is, it is a type of the
remembrance that the Spirit of God brings back to our hearts
and conscience that our guilt has been put away. They were
sprinkled on the third day. On that third day, what is the
most the only thing that you ever think about when it talks
about the third day. It was on that day that our Lord
was raised from the dead and Almighty God accepted and set
forth in His resurrection that that blood that was shed was
accepted by Him. He was raised, He died and buried
and rose from the dead. God accepted it and entered into
the Holy of Holies and applied His blood. And on that seventh
day, that glorious application, the day of rest on the seventh
day, there is a rest for the people of God, a rest. Almighty God set forth in this
precious, precious passage that the ones that did not have that
blood applied to them, the water or the ashes, and in reality
the blood, if that was not applied, then they were defiled. They
were unclean. They would not. They would be
cast off. Oh, but all those that had been
cleaned on that seventh day, they entered into the realization
of what the Lord had done for them. We know it right now. We know that there is a rest
for the people of God. But oh, in that day, in that
glorious day, to know it by sight, to know it in reality, cleansed. We're not being sprinkled again. Sprinkled one time. The blood
applied one time. But how many times do I need
to be reminded of it? How many times do we need to
be caused to remember, are my sins truly put away? Lord, when
I can't even speak to You with any consistency, Lord, when my
mind goes so far and I'm so embarrassed and I'm thinking to myself, nobody
else knows what I just thought, but Lord, You do. Lord, remind
me again. Remind me that the blood of Christ
has put away my guilt. David said in Psalm 51 7, Purge
me with hyssop. Purge me with the knowledge of
Christ and I shall be clean. Wash me and I'll be whiter than
snow. Lord, for this constantly failing
sinner, Teach me afresh of your glorious redemption. Apply the
blood to my conscience that I might approach you with assuredness." This is the passage of Scripture
in Hebrews that I read a couple of Wednesday nights ago. And
when I got to the part about the ashes, If you remember, I
said I'm not going to deal with this right now. It's just too
much. Lord willing, I'll deal with
it again. Well, I tried this morning. But this is the passage
that I read. Now listen to it. For if the
blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling
the unclean sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh, how much
more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit
offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God. May the Lord bless
these words to our hearts. For Christ's sake, amen.