Alright, brethren, let's go in
our Bibles to John chapter 11. John chapter 11. And the Jews... I'm sorry, verse
55. John 11, 55. And the Jews' Passover
was nigh at hand. And many went out of the country
up to Jerusalem, before the Passover to purify themselves. Then sought
they for Jesus, and spake among themselves as they stood in the
temple, What think ye, that he will not come to the feast? Now
both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment
that if any man knew where he were, he should show it, that
they might take him. Now at this time, the Jews' religion
was a vain, outward form. It was a vain, outward form.
Once again, the Spirit, we've seen this before in John, and
once again the Spirit moved John to call it, in verse 55, the
Jews' Passover. When God gave the ordinance,
He said, it is the Lord's Passover, in Exodus 12, 11. when their
children asked what they meant by this ordinance God commanded
in Exodus 12, 27, that you shall say it is the sacrifice of the
Lord's Passover. Who passed over the houses of
the children of Israel and Egypt when He smoked the Egyptian and
delivered our houses. Now Christ said, Moses wrote
of me. That means in all the law All
the ceremonies, every word of the Old Covenant was written
concerning Christ. God gave the ordinance of the
Passover to typify, to foreshadow the Lord Jesus Christ. He is
the Lamb of God. He is the Lamb God has provided. He is the Lamb who took away
the sin of His people by the sacrifice of Himself. John the
Baptist pointed to the Lord and declared this. before all the
Pharisees and all the people. Behold the Lamb of God which
taketh away the sin of the world. But the Pharisees and the Sadducees
had convened this council. And scriptures were filled that
said, our Lord said, if a man, though a man rose from the dead,
they won't believe. And he raised Lazarus from the
dead, and without the Spirit of God giving a new heart, they
did not believe. And they convened this council
and they determined they were going to put him to death. The
Passover lamb had come. Christ the lamb had come. The
Paschal lamb had come and they rejected the lamb. for the picture. They rejected Christ for the
shadow. For the shadow. Why did they
do that? Because they thought it was their
outward act of observing the Passover ordinance for which
God viewed them as righteous and passed over them. That's
what all men do who don't have spiritual discernment to see
Christ is the Lamb. to seek Christ in the Scriptures
and believe on Christ and trust Christ. Well, likewise, God commanded
in the Old Covenant Law that if any were unclean, if any were
unclean, then before they could partake of the Passover, they
must be purified by the water of separation. And that water
was made from a sacrifice of a red heifer and ashes mingled
with water that made this water of purification. The Lord said
before any can partake of this ordinance of the Passover, any
that's unclean, they can't come into the tabernacle, they have
to be cleansed, they have to be purified with this water of
separation. Now that was a ceremony and everything
about it Everything about it pictured the Lord Jesus Christ,
who through the Spirit purifies His people and continues this
work of cleansing us and keeping us pure and keeping our conscience
purged to serve Him alone. It all pictured the Lord Jesus
Christ. But now I want you to see something
in the way the Spirit of God moved John to record this. We
see here carnal man's backward order of purification. We see
carnal man's backward order of sanctification. This is man's
upside down thinking right here. Now, understand what I'm saying.
The Lord did say that they had to purify themselves before they
came into the tabernacle and observed the Passover. But in
the way John records this, We see here carnal man's understanding,
and we see why it was they were rejecting Christ. Listen to this,
verse 55. The Jews' Passover was nigh at
hand, and many went out of the country. This is what men do. They go out of something outwardly. They depart from something outwardly.
This is what they do first. And they go up and they went
up to Jerusalem. Men are joined in religion. They're
going to turn over a new leaf, they'll put away something, they'll
go out from something, and they'll go into religion. And they do
this before the Passover, before coming to Christ the Lamb, before
coming to Christ who is the Passover. And they do this to purify themselves
by their outward acts of religion. And then sought they for Jesus. You see the picture there? You
see what I'm saying? In the law, God commanded that
the unclean must be purified before observing the Passover.
But everything about that law of purification pictured Christ.
And they would not come to Christ. The antitype had come, who was
the very image of the shadow in the picture. And because they
hadn't been purified in heart, consecrated from, or purified
from dead works, from these dead works, they wouldn't come to
Christ. and partake of Him. It's to Christ first. It's to
Christ continually that the Spirit of God brings His child. It's to Him that we're brought.
And when He gives us faith, He makes us willing to wash. He
makes us purify our hearts by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the fountain open for cleansing. Christ sends the Spirit and through
the Word He brings God's child to Christ for all. Not just for purification. He's
the Lamb in whom we made righteous. He brings us to Him for all. Christ is the sanctifier and
the sanctification of His people the same as He is the righteousness
of His people. His blood applied by the Spirit
purifies us within, washes the conscience within, creates a
new man within. It makes us willing to believe
on Christ and plunge into the fountain for cleansing. Trusting
Him, believing on Him, casting it all on Him and His substitutionary
death. by which He justified His people. He makes us trust His righteousness
alone for our justification. That's what He does when He has
purified us within, sanctified us within. We look out of ourselves
and trust Christ justifying righteousness. That's the purpose of Him purifying
us is to bring us to trust Christ alone. Now go with me real quickly. You can leave John 11. We're
not coming back there. Go with me to Hebrews 9. Let
me show you a couple of Scriptures first. Hebrews 9 and look at
verse 13. Here the Spirit of our God is
talking about this law of purification. And He says in Hebrews 9 and
verse 13, He says, If the blood of bulls and of goats, now watch
this, and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies
to the purifying of the flesh. If that ceremony ceremonially
sanctified so as to purify the flesh only ceremonially, how
much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
Spirit offered Himself without spark to God, purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God. You see that? That's talking about this red
heifer, this law of purification. Now, mark Hebrews 9 because I'm
going to come back here in a little bit. But let's go back to Numbers
19 now. Numbers 19. We're going to camp
out right here for a while. Numbers 19. Numbers 19. Now here is this
law of purification. What's the purpose of this? God's
holy. God is absolutely holy. We aren't even able to enter
into what that means because it means He's nothing like us.
He is nothing like us. God is holy. He is perfect. He is holy. And a sinner cannot
approach God unless we are made holy. be accepted of God and
have any communion with God unless we are made holy. And we have
to be made holy by the Lord Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit. And
this purifying work is entirely the work of God. Now listen to
me, it is entirely the work of God. And I want to show you this. Scripture says Christ is our
sanctifier and He is our sanctification. Scripture says, both he that
sanctifyeth and they who are sanctified are all of one. He is the sanctifier and the
sanctification of His people. And it's of God that He's made
unto us sanctification. God has to make us, and He does
this by purging and purifying and making a new man within.
But it's to Christ first that He brings us. You get what I'm
saying? It's to Him first. That's who He brings us to. It's
to Him continually He brings us to. This is how He purifies
us continually, is bringing us to Christ. Now, first of all,
what I want you to see here, and I'm just going to take it
verse by verse, It goes through towards the end. Let's look here. This red heifer pictures the
Lord Jesus Christ. It pictures Christ. Numbers 19
verse 1, And the Lord spake unto Moses, and unto Aaron, saying,
This is the ordinance of the law, which the Lord hath commanded,
saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee
a red heifer, without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which
never came a yoke. Why red? Why did the Lord command
they bring a red heifer? Why red? Well, there could be
several reasons, but God made the first Adam out of the red
earth. That's actually what Adam means,
red earth, red earth. And Christ is the last Adam,
who took flesh like unto his brethren, that through death
he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the
devil, and deliver his children, who through all our lifetime
have been subject to bondage. That's why he came. Well, this
is the only offering that had to be a heifer. Why? A female. Why? Why this offering a heifer? Why not a bull? Why is this a
female? Well, this purifying and this
sanctifying work is accomplished or was accomplished and is accomplished
by Christ taking flesh like His people. Hebrews tells us that. The whole Hebrew letter is telling
us Christ is the fulfillment of everything the law was teaching.
And it says, I just said this too, both he that sanctifies
And those that are sanctified are all of one, for which cause
He is not ashamed to call us brethren. It goes on to say in
Hebrews 2 that it behooved Him in all things to be made like
unto His brethren. Why? So He could put away our
sin, justify us before the law of God, and also so that as He's
touched with all the feeling of our infirmities, He has experienced
it so He can succor us and comfort us, knowing the weakness of our
flesh. And so our Lord Jesus Christ
became one, He became flesh like His bride, the weaker vessel.
that He might be touched with all our infirmities. And so the
Lord here, speaking of this red heifer that's going to be the
one who ceremonially purifies, says it must be a female. You get the picture there? Christ
being made like His bride, made like His children, His people,
that He might know our infirmities, be touched with them yet without
sin. And then the red heifer here had to be without spot. Our Lord Jesus Christ knew no
sin. We just read in Hebrews 9.13,
If the ashes of a red heifer are ceremonially cleansed, 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. He had to be without
spot. substitutes got to be sinless. And it had to be a heifer here,
it says, upon which never came a yoke. Never came a yoke. Our Lord Jesus Christ came here
willingly. He came here voluntarily. He
entered in the covenant voluntarily. And everything our Lord did,
He did it willingly, voluntarily, in perfect faith and fidelity
to the Lord. That was required if he's going
to be the sanctifier and the sanctification of his people.
Christ said, no man takes my life from me, I let down of myself. He didn't have to be yoked. He
didn't have to be turned by bit and brought. He did what he did
willingly. Now, so he's the red heifer. Christ is pictured in the red
heifer. Now secondly, the red heifer had to be slain. First
he says here in verse 3, ìAnd you shall give her unto Eleazar
the priest, that he may bring her forth without the count,
and one shall slay her before his face.î Now where did the
Lord Jesus suffer? And why did He suffer where He
suffered? Where did He suffer, and why
did He suffer where He suffered? Remember, this is for purification. This is what it's for. This is
a type and a picture of sanctification. That's what this is about. And
Hebrews 13.12 says, Lord Jesus, that He might sanctify the people
with His own blood, suffered without the gate. That's where
he suffered. This heifer had to be taken without
the camp. Now what's significant about
that place without the camp, outside of the camp? That's where
the lepers had to be. That's where the lepers had to
dwell. Because they were unclean. They were unclean. In order to
make his people clean, our spotless substitute bore the sin of his
people and was numbered with the transgressors without the
count. Everywhere you find the substitutionary
death of Christ spoken of, it speaks of him being without sin
and it speaks of him being made sin. And this one who is without
sin was made to bear the sin of his people and suffered without
the camp and was numbered with the transgressors. So the scripture
says, let us go forth therefore unto him without the count, bearing
his reproach. Isn't that a good example of
what sanctification is? Let us go forth therefore unto
him without the count, bearing his reproach. We see how self-made
religious men rejected and reproached Christ in John, in John 11. Here he had done all these good
works, he had raised the dead, he had done all these works,
but they rejected him and he bore reproach. And even in John
11, he left them and went out into the wilderness to Ephraim,
away from them. And not only that, He ends up,
by God's purpose, he's going to be on the cross suffering
without the count. Why did that happen? Sinners
hate for Christ to have all the glory. Sinners who want to have
some of the glory for doing some of the work of making themselves
either holy or righteous hate to hear that Christ gets all
the glory and man gets none. And that's why Christ was a man
of sorrows, acquainted with grief, and suffered reproach. And if
we preach the message that gives Him all the glory, if you have
any part in any part of this thing of salvation, you've got
room to glory. God's not having that. He's not
having that. I don't care what anybody says
or what tradition says or anything else. It's what this book says.
God said, I will not share my glory with another. And He's
not. He's not. So we're going to have to go
to Christ without the count, bearing the reproach of men that
want to steal that glory. That's just what we're going
to have to do. That's what we shall do if He works this work
in our heart. Now next we see the necessity
of the blood. Look at verse 4. Verse 4, And
Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood, they took her out
there to slay her, he shall take of her blood with his finger
and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the
congregation seven times. Now our Lord said, without the
shedding of blood is no remission of sin. Blood is always necessary
to justify and put away the sin of God's people. Now I know that
justification and sanctification are two different things. I know
that that's so. But I also know this, what you're
seeing here in Eleazar the priest, as well as in the red heifer,
as well as in everybody involved here, is a picture of Christ,
what He does through the Spirit. And so for Christ to justify
us, Christ had to do everything perfectly from a holy heart in
perfect faith and fidelity to our Lord. And it is Christ who
justified His people by His blood who also is the one who through
the Spirit applies the blood to each one He died for to sanctify
us and purge our conscience. Are you with me on that? The same one who justified is
the one who is going to apply the blood and get the glory for
sanctifying and making pure. And so it says here, he takes
the blood with his finger and sprinkles over blood directly
before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times. Not
only must the blood be shed for his people, the blood must be
applied in his people. The blood must be applied to
us to sanctify us. And here the tabernacle of the
congregation represents all the elect of God, the whole congregation,
each and every one in particular, Christ our high priest. Our great
High Priest, through the Holy Spirit, shall apply His precious
blood to His people, and He shall sprinkle this blood in each and
every one for whom He died. You mean He's going to literally
sprinkle His blood in us? No, I mean He's going to apply
this gospel in our hearts, and we're going to see what He did
by the blood, and it's going to purge us within. It's going
to create a new spirit within us. But in order to cleanse us
and to make us pure within, the Spirit of God, He says He's going
to sprinkle that blood seven times. And the Spirit of God,
when He turns you to Christ, is going to bring you to Christ
first. What's he doing? He's bringing you to Jesus, the
mediator of the new covenant. That means he's got to apply
it. He's got to apply the blood. He's the mediator of the new
covenant. He brings you to the blood of
sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. That
means it speaks better things than that of Abel and of all
that sprinkling of that old covenant. What does it speak? He sprinkled
the blood seven times. Seven is the number of completion.
It's the number of perfection. And when the Spirit purges our
conscience with Christ's blood and makes you see Him by faith,
and then He continues to renew you, He continues to grow you
in the knowledge of Christ, what's He making you behold when He
makes you see Christ and what He accomplished? Go back over
to Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10. I know this is what true sanctification really
is. It's being purged in our heart
to behold that Christ really and truly sanctified us and is
our sanctification. Look here in Hebrews 10 and verse
14. By one offering, He hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Everybody the Father sanctified,
but choosing us in Christ. Christ came forth, and by His
one offering, He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. But it has to be applied in our
heart. We have to experience this sanctification. And so He
says, whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us. This
is what He was speaking about back there when He said, Ashes
of that red hair for picture this how much more with the blood
of Christ do it? It's by the Holy Ghost bearing
witness to us for he said before this is a covenant I'll make
with them after those days I put my laws into their hearts and
in their minds while I write them This this writing of the
law in our mind this covenant our hearts in our mind It's it's
all It's all symbolical of what He does when He purges our conscience. He's writing this new covenant.
He's making us understand Christ is the mediator of the new covenant.
That it's written in His blood. That it's ordered and sure in
all things by what Christ has done. And this He's applying
to our heart. He's making us behold Him and
see Him as He really is. And He says, And when He makes
you know this, He makes you know your sin and iniquity will I
remember no more. Now where remission of these
is, where sins are put away by the blood, there is no more offering
for sin. He says earlier there in that
chapter, if those sacrifices had purged the conscience, they
would cease to be offered. Because the offers once purged,
once the sins are put away, they got no reason to give another
offering. But when He purges your conscience from dead works,
He makes you see that Christ has indeed perfected His people
forever. Your sins are put away and there
is no more offering for sin. No more. No more. And this same
is true brethren. Now the whole point of this is
talking about when you're unclean. When you're unclean. And He's
going to make you see this the first hour and He's going to
keep on. The Spirit of God renews us,
renews us. He keeps on showing you Christ. He keeps on growing you in Christ. He keeps on showing you how true
this is. That's what it is to grow in
the knowledge of Him. It's just how fully you are complete
in Christ. He's going to keep showing you
this. Keep showing you this. Go back now with me to Numbers
19. The Spirit makes us behold Christ, and this is how He continues
to cleanse us within, by making us see Christ bearing the fire
of God's justice in place of His people that we deserve. He
says there in verse 5, One shall burn the heifer in His sight,
And her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung
shall he burn. And the priest shall take cedar
wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of
the burning heifer." This red heifer had to be burned entirely.
Everything about her had to be burned up in that fire. And our
Lord Jesus Christ suffered entirely. He had to suffer perfectly. Within
and without, all the hell that His people would have suffered
for eternity, that's what Christ suffered on Calvary's cross in
place of His people. The cedar wood is fragrant wood,
and this was all a sweet smell, a fragrant smell to God the Father
as Christ was satisfying justice, and establishing righteousness.
The hyssop, it's used to sprinkle the blood upon the lepers and
to cleanse the lepers. And later we're going to see
it was used to apply this water purification. And where you have
the hyssop sprinkling, it always is a representation of faith.
But here, because the cedar wood and the hyssop was all put in
the fire with everything about the heifer, it's a picture of
Christ, perfect, faithfulness as he suffered the fire of God's
justice. For him to sanctify us, you and
I have got to be holy, really holy. You've got to have perfect
faith toward God, perfect love to your brethren, with no impurity
whatsoever. And that's what this cedar wood
and this hyssop is typifying here. The perfect faithfulness,
the perfect love to God and love to His people with a total absence
of sin in Himself as He bore the sin and wrath and fire of
God's justice while God forsook Him on the cross. That's faithfulness. That's what it took. from a holy
heart to perfect his people. Now, here's the next thing we
see. Why is all this having to happen?
We see the defiling that our sin is and our sin causes. This
is why Christ alone must make us clean. This is why he must
continue to cleanse and keep our hearts pure. Even the men
who did this, doing what God commanded, became unclean by
doing this work God commanded, and they had to be made clean
even when they were doing the work God told them to do to make
this sacrifice, this water of separation. Verse 7, Then 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 the evening.
And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, and
bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the evening.
And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer,
and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall
be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for
a water of separation. It is a purification for sin."
That was the purpose of this whole offering. This was done
before anybody needed to be cleansed. And it was laid up without the
count so they could go to this fountain, this water of purification
where they could be cleansed. But now there's three different
men missing here that did this work. There was Eliezer, he's
going to have to wash his clothes, he's been made unclean as he
made this offering to provide this water. Then you've got the
one that burned her. He's got to wash his clothes
now because he's been made unclean as he did the work. And then
you've got the one who was the clean man who gathered up the
ashes. He's got to be clean now because
he got defiled as he was doing this work. Verse 10. And he that
gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be
unclean until the evening. And it shall be unto the children
of Israel and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them for
a statute forever. So these three men who did this
service that God commanded were all made unclean and had to be
washed and made clean before they could come back into the
camp. You see, our very best works, works that we're doing
for God, our very best works have got to be cleansed and made
clean by the Lord Jesus Christ. They were defiled because they
touched death. That's why they were defiled.
And even gathering up the ashes, they were defiled because they
touched death. And Christ alone has got to be
our sanctifier, our continual sanctifier and sanctification,
because there is a sin nature in all God's people that defiles
us constantly. Constantly. You can't come to
God by your works. You are defiled constantly. Constantly. And all about us
are sinners and death. And we come into contact with
sin and death daily. Momentarily. Moment by moment. He shows us how easily we are
defiled. So that we see we have to have
Christ to be our cleanser, our sanctifier, and our sanctification. That's what he's showing. Look
here now. Watch. Verse 11. He that toucheth the dead body
of any man shall be unclean seven days. That's why all three of
these men were unclean as they're preparing this water of separation. Because when that red heifer
died, they became unclean. Because they touched the dead
body. Now watch this. If you touch a dead body of any
man, he shall be unclean seven days. He shall purify himself
with this water of separation without the count on the third
day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean. But if he purified
not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not
be clean. Whosoever touches 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, 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 is in the tent shall
be unclean seven days. They don't even have to touch
him if they just come in the room where he's at. They're defiled. Every open vessel which has no
covering up on it is unclean. Why? There could be a tiny, tiny
unseen dead gnat in that open vessel of drinking water that
you drank and don't even know you drank it and you're defiled.
Scripture says, we drink iniquity like water, and He is showing
us here when we don't even know it. When we don't even know it. You are a lot worse than you
think you are. So am I. Now look at verse 16. And whosoever
toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open field, or
a dead body, or a bone of a man, or he just walks over a grave
that he don't even know is there. He'll be unclean seven days.
Here's the point. We have no comprehension of how
holy God is and how defiled in sin. You and I are right where
we sit if it ain't for Christ. That's the point. You can't take
a breath without defiling yourself. They did all this work God commanded
them to do exactly like He told them to do it, and God said,
and they're unclean and they've got to be sanctified. As they're
making the water of purification, they've got to be sanctified.
We are all, as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses,
are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities,
like the wind, have taken us away. That's true of the best
man. Man at his best state is altogether
vanity. Christ alone is the purifier. He's laid up for the children
of Israel in a clean place at God's right hand. These ashes
were put in water. And verse 9 said, A man that
is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and lay them
up without the count in a clean place, and it shall be kept for
the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation. It is a purification for sin. Whether it's an elect amongst
Israel, an elect Jew, or it's an elect Gentile who's a stranger,
it's kept for them, this water of purification. Scripture says,
Hebrews 9.12 says, With His own blood He entered in once into
the holy place. This water was kept in a clean
place. He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Now in John
11, they went up to purify themselves. And this is the ceremony they
were doing, right here. They went up there to purify
themselves. Then they looked for the Lord Jesus. They looked
for Him. They thought, these folks who
didn't know the Lord, hadn't been born of Him, they thought
that they were pure by the act of going through that ceremony.
They thought they were purified by the act of observing that
ceremony being sprinkled by that literal water. That's what they
thought. There's multitudes right now today who think the exact
same thing. Oh, they're not killing red heifers
and they're not sprinkling water, but they think by the act of
doing something outwardly they're purifying themselves. If you do something outwardly,
And the Lord's worked it. It's going to be because He did
the purifying within. And He gets the glory. But that
outward thing is not what made you holy. That ain't what made
you pure. It's Christ. He works in the heart. And he
looks on the heart. He looks on the heart. And God's
people a lot of times don't outwardly look like they're doing things
up to snuff that the Pharisees and the Sadducees look like they're
doing outwardly. But our Lord said to the Pharisees
and Sadducees, you look beautiful outwardly. You look like a whited
sepulcher. But that's what you are. A whited
sepulcher outside and you're dead inside. You're dead inside. He shall sit as a purifier and
shall purify the sons of Levi that they may offer an offering
to God in righteousness. That's Christ. That's Christ.
Now Christ sends the Spirit and He turns us to Him. That's what
He does. He sends the Gospel just like
this. He sends the Spirit into the
heart in power. He turns us to Him in the heart. sprinkling the water of separation,
purging our conscience, and He keeps on renewing us by bringing
us to Christ who cleanseth us of all our sin. Look at verse
17. And for an unclean person they
shall take of the ashes of the burnt pepper 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, and upon all the vessels, and upon the person
that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one that
was slain, or one that was dead, or a grave, and the clean person
shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the
seventh day and on the third day and on the seventh day. And
on the seventh day he shall purify himself and wash his clothes
and bathe himself in water and shall be clean at evening. 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
has not been sprinkled upon him, he is unclean, and it shall be
a perpetual statue unto them, that he that sprinkleth the water
of separation shall wash his clothes." Now get that, it's
he that sprinkleth the water of separation, he has to wash
his clothes. And he that toucheth the water
separation shall be unclean until evening, and whatsoever the unclean
person toucheth shall be unclean, and the soul that toucheth it
shall be unclean until the evening. The clean man applying the ashes
with the running water They took these ashes and they put running
water with it, and that's how He applied it. The ashes and
the running water, that's how He applied it to an unclean person.
And that's a picture of Christ, through the Holy Spirit, applying
His merits to us within. The washing of regeneration.
The ongoing renewing of the Holy Spirit. The washing of water
by the Word. The ashes, if they weren't mixed
with the water, this running water, and applied, they weren't
efficacious at all. And neither does the righteousness
of Christ operate upon our heart unless it's applied by the Holy
Ghost. He has to apply it, the Holy
Spirit does. It shows how we need the Spirit
of God to take the things of God and to show them to us. And
He gives us the glory for this. And when He does it, He brings
us to Christ. In the first hour, when He's
teaching you something of your sin, and if there's some outward
thing He's purging you from, or anything that He's working
to show you more, that He is your holiness, and your sanctification,
and your purification, and the One who's getting the glory for
doing this work in you. When He's doing that, And He's
going to do it by sending the Spirit of Truth. And He said
He will guide you into all truth. and He shall glorify me, for
He shall receive of mine, Christ said, and shall show it to you."
That's what's pictured in this running water together with the
ashes. It's Christ's shed blood, shed
at Calvary, the red heifer, together with the Spirit of God guiding
you into all truth. He does this from the first hour
and He keeps on teaching you and growing you. And when He
does this, Christ purifies us through the Spirit, making us
behold Christ crucified for us. This is how He purifies you.
He makes you behold Christ crucified. The blood of the red heifer of
Christ shed for us will purge the conscience. Where do you
get this? Listen to Zechariah 12.10. Christ said, I will pour
upon you on the house of David, on his people, and upon the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication. I'll pour
the Spirit out upon you, just like that running water poured
out. I'll pour out the Spirit on you.
And they shall look upon Me whom they've pierced. This is how
He is going to purify us and our hearts. He is going to pour
out the Spirit and make you see Him on the cross. Well He just
does that one time. No, He keeps doing this for all
the days of our life on this earth as His people. And they
are going to look on me whom they pierced and they are going
to mourn for Him. See, this is what sanctification
really is. It's making you seek Christ,
bearing what you deserve, so that you mourn for Him. You're
brought down and humbled, and brought down and broken, and
brought down, and this is what makes the light come on, and
you say, There's a lie in my right hand and you cast it away.
And this is what makes you cling to Him. But this thing that men
call sanctification, where you're doing this work yourself and
you're getting better and better and you're helping God out doing
this thing, that doesn't do a thing but lift you up in pride and
make you think that you get some kind of glory for this. That's
a lie that will land you in hell. You are going to have to go out
to the camp and bear his reproach. Christ is getting the glory for
this. Now if we want Christ to have the glory, honestly answer,
who is getting the glory here? Christ is. And if you want Him
to have the glory, you are going to have to go to Him and trust
Him now. Now listen to this. There'll be in bitterness for
him, he said, as one bitterness for its firstborn. That bitterness
is what we feel about ourselves. That bitterness is what we feel
about, well, I went out and made the water of separation. I did
just what God told me to do and made the water of separation.
And then he applied the blood to me and did what that pictured
and made me see Christ. And I see that even doing what
God told me to do and making the water of separation, if He
don't cleanse me, I am defiled. The bitterness is what we are.
And we see it in light of what Christ had to bear to make us
righteous and holy by what He did. Now listen to this. That
clean man, he purged the unclean by sprinkling this water on him
using hyssop. And this hyssop is a picture
now, we talked about it being Christ's faith, now here he is
applying it to us and this is a picture of him giving us faith
and a picture of him renewing us in faith as believers and
growing us in faith and strengthening us in faith. Now listen to this,
when a believer beholds our sin, Because He's sanctified, He's
purifying you, cleansing you and making you see Him and see
what you've done, see what you are, see what you've been thinking.
This is how he's going to renew a believer in faith and repentance.
That's what the hyssop and the blood and the sprinkling and
the applying, that's what it all pictures. When a believer
beholds our sin, you start crying out to God to cleanse you, it's
because He's cleansed you. He's cleansed you. Because you
wouldn't cry out to Him to cleanse you if He ain't cleansed you
already. And I can prove that. When the Lord did this work in
David's heart, after his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah, and
brought him to repentance, David prayed, Purge me with hyssop,
and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. Why did he do that? Because the
Lord already brought him to repentance. That was the fruit of it right
there. That didn't make him holy. That
wasn't making him That wasn't purifying, that was the fruit
of it. He calling out to God saying,
confessing, Lord you're just, I'm the sinner, you're the only
one that can make me pure. That's the work, that's the fruit
this accomplishes. And the Lord said when that happens,
He said in that day there should be a fountain open to the house
of David and to the habitats of Jerusalem for sin and for
uncleanness. That headwater separation laid
up for His people is Christ our Lord. It's Christ our Lord. A sure mark of true sanctification
is a man sees his boasting that he contributed and gives Christ
all the glory. He gives the triune God in Christ
all the glory. David couldn't make himself repent.
David couldn't purify himself through the spirit that is working
in his heart. When they told him that some
rich man took the poor man's lamb, all David could do was
be puffed up in pride and just want to pour out the full extent
of the law on him. That's all he could do. And when
Nathan said, you're the man, David, that's when Christ sent
the Spirit, guided him in all truth, sprinkled the hyssop,
sprinkled the water of separation on him, and he quit crying out
for justice. And he saw justice satisfied
for him in Christ and he started begging for mercy. That's when
a man will beg for mercy. That's when he'll be brought
down. That's when he'll give mercy. That's when he'll give
mercy. That's why David wrote some of
the sweetest psalms because he experienced this. He experienced
this. We can't glory in regeneration. The Spirit of God makes us behold
Christ. That's how we're cleansed. He
creates a new man in righteousness and true holiness, born of God,
that does not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him and
he cannot sin because he's born of God. That's the new man that
he's made in his people by his incorruptible seed. He made us
meet to be partakers of the inheritance with the saints in light when
He birthed you again. It's Christ who made that new
man and He's holy. And you know that when you look
at that thief on the cross, that hour the Lord had made him holy
and he was fit to enter in. Now if that's not how the Lord
takes you in that fast and He leaves you here, He's going to
grow you by this work right here. But He's going to grow you in
that state of holiness. He's going to grow you in the
grace and knowledge of Him. When you were born, you were
a human, as much a human as you're ever going to be. You grew up
as a human, but you didn't get more of a human. And when He
makes you holy, that's His work. That's what He's done. And you're
holy. You're going to grow in that
state of holiness, but you ain't getting more holy. Now I know
men say that and I know that was, but I'll tell you some men
in the past that said that understood the scriptures by what they said
that. Men today that are saying that, they're going up to the
temple, they're going out, going up to the temple and purifying
themselves and then mixing a little bit of the Lord with it. And
it ain't faith, it ain't grace anymore. The only place in scripture
where holier is mentioned in a relative position between a
sinner and another sinner is when they said, stand over there,
come not near me, I'm holier than you are. And God said, that
stinks in my nose like a burning dump. His people are humbled by this
work so that we can't point a finger. A worm wrestling with a worm? A maggot trying to exalt ourselves
over another maggot? This is what this work does.
It humbles you and it makes you want Christ to have all the glory. And He's getting it. He's getting
it in His people. Christ is the purifier. He's
the one that does it. I pray He brings you to Him first. He brings you to Him continually.
He keeps showing you Him. He keeps showing you Him. The
cure for our pride, the cure for everything we need. It's
Him. It's Him. It's Him. It's what
He meant when He said, He must have the preeminence. Seek ye
first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. It don't mean
just put Him above others and then second and then third and
then fourth. No, it means He's got to be first
all the time. That's how we're going to be
purified. Amen.