Turn to Exodus 29 with me. And let's begin by looking at
the first part of verse one, Exodus 29. Speaking of Aaron, the high priest,
and his sons, the priest of God, God told Moses, and this is the
thing that thou shalt do unto them to hallow them, to minister
unto me in the priest office. Now that word hallow there in
verse one means to sanctify and to consecrate. So what do the
words sanctify and consecrate mean? Well, I'm going to give
you the simplest definitions of both. To sanctify simply means
to make holy. Sanctify means to make free from
sin. I'm interested in that. The word
consecrate here means to seclude or to set aside, to set apart. It means to make or declare. So then to hallow someone or
for someone to be hallowed is for them to be set aside, to
make and declare them holy. And verse one makes it very,
very clear that the act of being set aside and made holy is not
something that we do for ourselves. God told Moses, this is the thing
that thou shalt do unto them, to hallow them. That's speaking
to Aaron and his son. So we see that sanctification,
the act of being made holy, is not something that we do for
ourselves, but it's something that God does for us. Look at
Exodus 28, verse one. Here, God told Moses and take
thou unto thee Aaron, thy brother and his sons with him from among
the children of Israel. Take them from among the children
of Israel and set them aside that they may minister unto me
in the priest office. Now, if you and I are gonna be
set apart and made holy, if we're gonna be sanctified and consecrated,
If we are to be made hallow or holy, we must be made so the
same way that Aaron and his sons were. And we've clearly seen
that in Aaron, we have a picture of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ, who is hallowed, he's sanctified, consecrated to God
as the high priest of God's spiritual Israel. All the things that we
are seeing here concerning the high priest and the priest are
to teach us something of Christ, our great high priest. Remember,
all the Old Testament scriptures are concerning him, beginning
at Moses, the prophets, the Psalms, they're all concerning him. They're
about him. So, in Aaron's Sons, we have
a picture of how Christ sets apart and makes us holy so that
we might minister unto God in the priesthood. And that's why
to believe that there are men today who are set aside and specifically
designated to act as priest and to teach that men and women must
go through that man or that medium of a priest is not only ridiculous,
but really it's blasphemous. And the reason is, is because
Christ is our high priest. The Roman church has its priest.
The Episcopal church has its priest, and the Mormon church
has its priest, but the true church's high priest is Christ. That's the only priest we need.
All these so-called priests are in and of themselves, nothing
but sinful men to say that the Pope, and I'm not here to pick
on Catholics tonight, but to say that the Pope is infallible
is a lie. There was one perfect man that
lived and walked this earth, and that was the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we're specifically taught by the word of God that the priest
of God have to be set apart and consecrated and sanctified and
made holy unto God. And that can only be accomplished
one way. And that's through the sin atoning
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest. Now Hebrews
chapter 13, speaking of the Old Testament sacrifices, says this.
I won't turn, well, matter of fact, I am gonna turn you there.
Let's look at this. Hebrews chapter 13. Keep your
place in Exodus 29. Look at Hebrews chapter 13 with
me. Speaking of the Old Testament
sacrifices, you're familiar with these verses, but in verse 11, The writer says, for the bodies
of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by
the high priest for sin are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus
also that he may sanctify the people with his own blood suffered
without the gate. Now that simply means that the
sacrifice of sin was burnt without the camp, therefore Christ to
fulfill the type suffered on Mount Calvary outside the gates
of Jerusalem. That's what that's talking about
there when it mentions the outside the gate. But the point that
I'm making is this, there's only one true high priest and there's
only one mediator between God and man. That's very important.
No earthly man is a mediator between God and man. This one
true high priest and this one true mediator is none other than
Jesus Christ and all who come to God in the faith of the Lord
Jesus are themselves, as we looked at last time, made priest unto
God. We need no earthly priest for
we ourselves are made priest unto God. And we're made so by
the perfect righteousness wrought for us by the Lord Jesus Christ. I wish we could get through our
thick skulls that by the substitution of the Lord Jesus, we are as
perfect as He is. We are as righteous as He is. And we have difficulty with that
because we continue to look within instead of to Him. And when we
look within, we see what we really are, and we know that we don't
deserve any of His mercy and grace. Well, we've got to stop
doing that. We've got to look to Him. And it's by His perfect
sacrifice that we have continual access into God's presence, in
and by and through His merits and perfections done for us.
Now, the first thing that we see about this consecration,
this holiness set before us in the Scriptures is that it begins
with God's election. with God before the foundation
of the world, setting His affection and love upon a peculiar people,
a particular people. And He gave them to Christ. And
the Lord Jesus said, all that the Father gave me shall come
to me. Simply meaning that He's gonna
bring every one of those sheep into His fold. So it begins with
election. The Lord said to Moses, take
Aaron and his sons. This was God's choice. Aaron
didn't wake up one day and say, hey Moses, I've been thinking
about this. I think I'm gonna be a high priest. No sir, God
chose him. God told Moses to take Aaron
and his sons. The priesthood was not something
that man decided upon. It's not something that men voted
upon or chose for themselves. It's the same with salvation.
This world and the religion of this world would like to convince
you and make you think that it was by your choice and by your
free will that you're saved. But I'm telling you, that's not
so, and this book is very clear about it. Will folks ever learn
that men and women are not saved because they willed themselves
to be so? We are saved because God from
eternity willed to save us. And only those chosen and elected
and ordained by God were allowed to serve as priest. That's what
we see here in the very beginning of this book. Now you're in Hebrews,
Hebrews chapter five makes that very clear. Turn back a few pages. Hebrews chapter five. Look at the verse one. for every
high priest taken, see that? Taken from among men is ordained
for men and things pertaining to God that he may offer both
gifts and sacrifices for sins. Who can have compassion on the
ignorant and on them that are out of the way for that he himself
also is compassed with infirmity. Listen, Aaron was no different
than you and I. He was a sinner just like you
and I are. Matter of fact, you know, when they came to him to
make the golden calf, he did it. And then when Moses confronted
him with it, he said, well, I just threw the gold in and out popped
his calf. He was a liar just like we are
by nature. Nothing special about Aaron.
Verse three, and by reason hereof, he ought as for the people, so
also for himself to offer for sins. Aaron had to offer a sacrifice
unto God for his own sins, the same as he did the people. Why?
Because he was a sinner. Verse four, no man taketh this
honor unto himself. There you go, right there. It's
not something that man decides for himself, but he that is called
of God, as was Aaron, so also Christ." That's what this is
about. Also Christ glorified, not himself to be made a high
priest, but he that said unto him, thou art my son, today have
I begotten thee. This was God's choice for Christ
to be our high priest. And in the Old Testament, the
priest's duty was to offer sacrifices for himself and for the people.
But When Christ came into the world, the office of an earthly
priest ceased. Turn over a few pages to Hebrews
chapter 10. Look at verse four. For it is
not possible, it's impossible, nor was it ever possible, I might
add, that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when he, Christ, cometh
into the world, he, Christ said, sacrifice an offering thou wouldest
not. Now let me ask you, wouldest
not what? Would not be the means to put
away sin forever? Not by the blood of bulls and
goats. Well, what would be then? He tells us right here, but a
body thou hast prepared me. Verse six, and burn offerings
and sacrifices for sin. Thou hast had no pleasure. Speaking
of God, God wasn't pleased with those sacrifices. And then he
says, then said I, lo, I come in the volume of the book, it's
written to me. That's what this book is about. To do thy will,
O God. Above, when he said sacrifice
and offering and burn offerings and offering for sin, thou wouldest
not, neither hadst pleasure therein, which are offered by the law.
"'Then said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. "'And he
taketh away the first, "'that he may establish the second.'"
He did away with that old priesthood, that he himself, Christ himself,
might become our great high priest. And by substitution in him, that
you and I become priests unto God. And that's a wonderful thought
because of that, we have continual access to God. And because of
that, we can come boldly into the throne of grace to find help
when we need help and mercy when we need mercy and grace when
we need grace. Verse 10, by the which will we
are sanctified. There's that word again, set
apart. Set apart to be made holy, consecrated. That's what sanctified
means. How are we sanctified? Tells
us, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. Now look at those last three
words, once for all. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. But this man, Christ Jesus, our
great high priest, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins
forever, sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool, for by,"
look at this, one offering, He, Christ, hath perfected forever,
them that are sanctified. Child of God, you are perfected
forever. Forever. Those who are chosen,
elected, set apart to be made holy, them that are sanctified
are so for one reason and one reason only. And that is the
one sacrifice and that one offering that Christ offered to God that
perfected them, His elect, His chosen, His people, forever. So now let me ask you, do you
believe in once saved, always saved? Says forever, that's always. And that's what our Lord said
so plainly in the gospel of John. Well, where did he say that in
John? He said, no man can come unto me except, no man can come
unto the father except the father which hath sent me draw him. Same thing. We're made nigh by
the blood of Jesus and brought nigh by the drawings of the Holy
Spirit. What did the lost sheep? I've
thought about this so much lately. What did that lost sheep contribute
in being brought home to the folk? Oh, that's right, I forgot. He laid on the shepherd's shoulder
all the way home. That's what he contributed. And
again, back in Exodus 29, verse one, and this is the thing that
thou shalt do unto them to hallow them. to set them apart, to make
them holy, to minister unto me in the priest office. Take one
young bullock and two rams without blemish and unleavened bread
and cakes unleavened, tempered with oil and wafers unleavened,
anointed with oil of wheat and flour that thou shalt thou make
them and thou shalt put them into one basket and bring them
in the basket with the bullock and the two rams. Now, there
are many objects mentioned here in these three verses. I was
thinking today, it takes many things to accurately picture
the Lord Jesus. And it's in these things combined
that typify the Lord, who is our sanctifier and our sanctification. He's both. We have the unleavened
bread in one basket, and it's brought with the bullock and
two rams. And I think that's a good picture of the gospel
they preach. There's one gospel, but in the
gospel, Christ is brought as our unleavened bread, unleavened. And the gospel message also declares
Christ as our sin atoning, sin offering, and our burn offering.
He's both. Now tonight, I want us to consider
three things by which Christ hallows, sanctifies, and sets
apart His people as priests unto God. And it'll be easy for us,
I think, to see how and why He gets all the glory in doing so.
It's Christ alone that makes His people holy, and it's Christ
alone, God alone, who makes His people pure. And the first way
to be hallowed is by washing. Verse four, look at it. And Aaron
and his sons, thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation and shalt wash them with water. Now the door of the tabernacle
stood between God and those of Israel who came into the courtyard. Only the priest could enter in
through the door of the holy place, and only the high priest
could enter behind the veil into the holy of holy. I think it's
pretty obvious that Christ is that door. Christ is that veil. We know very well that the Lord
Jesus is the only mediator. I've already said it several
times tonight, but he's the only mediator between God and man.
And Christ is the door of the sheep. He said so himself in
John chapter 10. He said, I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall
be saved. So the only way that anyone can
get to God is through Christ the door. That's the only way,
but by me, but by me. The only way to approach God
is through Christ the door. No man comes to the Father, but
by Him. No sinner can come to God except
through Christ, the only door to God. He's the only door to
God, the only access we have to God. The pure and holy God
cannot, And I repeat, cannot be served by men with unclean
hands and an impure heart. God demands, be ye clean that
bear the vessels of the Lord, Isaiah 52, 11. Our Lord said
numerous times, be ye holy for I am holy. In order for God to
accept something, it has to be what? Perfect, perfect. And these are, inflexible, and
these are unbending precepts. God will not accept that which
is unclean. God will not accept that which
is unholy. We must be washed. Again, verse
four, Aaron and his sons, thou shalt bring unto the door of
the tabernacle of the congregation and shalt wash them with water.
I'm reminded of what Job 14.4 says, who can bring a clean thing
out of an unclean? And he answered his own question.
He said, not one, not one among men, not one among men. No, sir, only God can make us
holy and only God can sanctify us and make us clean. We're washed
in redemption. Zechariah 13.1 says, in that
day, there shall be a fountain open to the house of David. and
the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness."
Fountain. Christ is that fountain. He is
that river that never shall run dry. We're washed in regeneration
by the Holy Spirit. Let me read you a few verses
in Titus. Listen to these words. Beginning in verse three of chapter
three, Paul wrote, for we ourselves also were sometimes foolish.
disobedient, deceived, serving divers lust and pleasures, living
in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after
that, the kindness and love of God, our Savior toward man appeared,
not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according
to his mercy, he saved us." How? He tells us, by the washing of
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. That's how. And
God did it. You didn't have anything to do
with it. Well, I accepted it. No, you were accepted in the
beloved. God accepted you. It didn't have
anything to do with you accepting anything. And it says, which
he shed on us abundantly. Who did? God did. Salvation is
not what we do for God, it's what God does for us. which He
shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, that
being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according
to the hope of eternal life. It is only through Christ that
we are washed. And it's the Spirit of God that
renews us. God's people are saved, it says
here, by the washing of regeneration. That word regeneration in the
original Greek means spiritual rebirth. That's what the Lord's
talking to Nicodemus about in John chapter three, when he's
talking about being born again. And Nicodemus, the learned man
of the Pharisees, didn't understand. He said, how can a man enter
into his mother's womb again? The Lord said, I'm not talking
about that. I'm talking about spiritual rebirth. That word
regeneration, I found this very interesting. In the Greek means
messianic restoration. Well, that's what salvation is.
Salvation's of the Lord. That's what that means. That's
what one who is spiritually dead needs in order to have eternal
life. He's got to have spiritual rebirth. He's got to have messianic restoration. And God's elect are saved by
the renewing of the Holy Ghost. Now that word renewing simply
means to make new. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. Old things are passed away, and
behold, all things are become what? New. And all things are
of God, who hath reconciled us unto himself by Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5, 17 and 18. God
shall wash every chosen child of God in regeneration because
Christ satisfied God's holy justice for us. Therefore, justice demands
that everyone that Christ died for be brought to faith in Christ. How do I know I'm one of God's
children? How do I know if I'm one of God's
elect? You're gonna believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the simplest answer I can give you. You're gonna be brought
into the fold, and you're gonna believe, and you're gonna say,
he's my shepherd. He takes care of me. That's right. Hebrews 9, 14 says, 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? That's what happens
in the new birth. By purging our conscience with
Christ's blood, we, through the preaching of the gospel, that's
God's ordained means, by which sinners believe, we're made willing
to plunge into that fountain. The Lord Jesus was gonna wash
his disciples' feet, and Peter said, you ain't washing my feet.
The Lord said, if I don't wash your feet, you're not gonna be
clean. He said, then wash me all over. Oh, God makes us willing
to plunge into that fountain. Make me clean, created me a clean
heart, oh God. Believing on Christ is to wash
us as we sing, whiter than snow, whiter than snow. Oh, God reveals
to us that all our sin and all our uncleanness is washed away
before Him who is our judge. And when God now looks at the
sinner, He sees nothing but whiteness, whiter than snow. And it's by
Christ shedding His blood and fulfilling the pain, the dead
and fool that His righteous law had against us. Unto Him that
loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood and had
made us kings and priests unto God and His Father. To Him, to
Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. In 1 Corinthians chapter
6, Paul talks about those that shall not inherit the kingdom
of God. And he lists a pretty good list
there. He talks about fornicators, idolaters,
adulterers, thieves, extortioners, drunkards, among others. And
then he said this, and such were some of you But, boy, that's
become one of my favorite words in all the Bible. But, but you
were washed, but you were sanctified, but you are justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. There
is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins.
And we, the child of God, we wash in that blood. Beloved being made free from
sin, you were washed and you became the true servants of righteousness
and God has made you priest in his house. You need no earthly
man to mediate for you. You can yourself come boldly
to God. Okay, verse five of our text,
Exodus 29. And thou shalt take the garments,
and put upon Aaron the coat and the robe of the ephod, and the
ephod and the breastplate, and gird him with the curious girdle
of the ephod. And thou shalt put the mitre
upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the mitre. And then
shalt thou take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head,
and anoint him. And thou shalt bring his sons,
and put coats upon them. and thou should gird them with
girdles, Aaron and his sons, and put the bonnets and the miters
on them, and the priest office shall be theirs for a perpetual
state, and thou shall consecrate Aaron and his sons." So the second
thing we see that the priest of God have been made holy or
hallowed by clothing. First they have to be washed
and then they have to be clothed. The priests of God were wondrously
clothed, wondrously clothed. We see that after they were washed
by Moses, the priests were also clothed by him. They were not
allowed to wear one of those garments until they were washed.
And what a beautiful picture we have in that. Christ makes
us holy by clothing us in his beautiful garments. We talked
about that some last time about putting on Christ, about the
robe of righteousness, the coat, the robe of the ephod, the breastplate.
They typify Christ as the perfect God-man. He's the only mediator. He's the only great high priest,
high priest of righteousness and holiness of the people. I
told you that there's nothing new I was telling you tonight,
more of the same. And a child of God says, tell
me more. The girdle, as you know, typifies his strength and his
faithfulness. The miter, that holy crown, which
read holiness to the Lord. It declares Christ as our holy
King and our great high priest, who alone is our advocate with
the Father and the holiest of holies. Who went into the holiest
of holies? The high priest did. And we're
told here that Moses, who represents the law and the prophets really,
put these garments upon the high priest. Just as we see that the
law and the prophets bear witness in the Old Testament Scriptures
that Christ is the righteousness of God. That's what this is telling
us. Child of God, Christ is your
high priest. He's your righteousness that
you must put on. That's what these things are
teaching us. That's what the Old Testament Scriptures witness
and testify to. And that's exactly what Romans
chapter 3 tells us, verses 21 and 22. But now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ. How do we receive this perfect
righteousness? By the faith of Jesus Christ,
by His faithfulness, not ours. by the faith of Jesus Christ
unto all, upon all them that believe, for there's no difference.
This coat of righteousness was put on us as it was Aaron and
his sons. And we're all clothed with the
same garments, inner and outer. We're all clothed equally in
Christ. We had nothing to do with making
them. We had nothing to do with putting
them on. We had nothing to do with it. Boasting is excluded. Pride abased. All we are sinners
saved by grace. Christ is our righteousness.
Christ is our holiness, both made by Christ, both put on us
by Christ. And here's another interesting
thought, though we can't know for certain. There's nothing
mentioned in the book of Exodus or Leviticus, which both speak
in detail about the priest's garments and all, but there's
nothing concerning the covering for the feet. All the other garments
are mentioned in great detail, but nothing is said about shoes
or sandals. And that just makes me believe
that they didn't wear foot coverings, especially in the Holy of Holies,
in God's presence. Why? Because they're standing
on holy ground. That's what the Lord told Moses,
wasn't it? Take off your sandals. You're
standing on holy ground. This is holy ground. And again,
I mentioned that these garments were provided at no cost to the
priest. That's very important. The priest
contributed nothing in the expense of these garments. The priest
contributed nothing in the labor of them and making them. They
contributed nothing in the skill of them being made, nothing.
And that shows us that we contribute nothing in our salvation, absolutely
nothing. And that brings us to the third
thing. These priests were hallowed, they were made holy by the anointing
of God. They were divinely anointed.
Again, verse seven. Then shalt thou take the anointing
oil and pour it upon his head, talking about Aaron, and anoint
him. You see, the high priest with
all his priestly garments on had this anointing oil poured
upon his head, being anointed of God. In Leviticus chapter
eight, which very well coincides with these verses in Exodus 29,
we're told that the priest at this time were also anointed
with oil, but first they watched as that oil was poured upon Aaron,
their high priest on their behalf. Now that's significant for this
reason. You remember, In Psalm 133, David
is talking about our unity with Christ and with one another.
And in verses one and two of Psalm 133, David wrote, behold,
how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together
in unity. That's what this is a picture
of, our unity with Christ and with one another. He said, it's
like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the
beard, even Aaron's beard that went down to the skirts of his
garments. And you know that the name Messiah
actually means anointed. So by faith we see Christ our
head was anointed with the oil of the Holy Spirit without measure. Of Christ it is said in Psalm
45, thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness, therefore
God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above
thy fellows. And all thy garments smell of
myrrh and aloes and cassia and out of the ivory palaces whereby
they've made thee glad. The anointing pictures our precious
unity with one another in Christ. and that unity that comes from
being in Christ. The priest Aaron's sons watched
as that oil flowed from his head to his beard and his garments
and all his members. And beloved, we be members of
Christ's body. The Holy Spirit comes down upon
us through Christ and we as believers are the branches and Christ is
divine from which that sap of life comes to. And it just runs
all over us. Knowing this, what a blessing
it is to read in 1 John 2, verse 27. But the anointing which you
have received of Him abideth in you, and you need not that
any man teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you of
all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath
taught you, you shall abide in Him. You see, the anointing that
we receive from the Holy One, being Christ, through the Holy
Spirit, who quickens us, the Holy Spirit convicts us, He teaches
us, He takes the things of Christ and shows them to us, He abides
in us. None of that can ever be taken
away. When we learn through preaching and teaching We have great confidence
that it was the Spirit of God Himself that taught us and revealed
the Gospel to our hearts. So every true priest is hallowed,
sanctified, set apart into holiness by God the Father, through Christ
our High Priest, through the Spirit of God. That's how we're
made holy. God gives all the credit. God
gives all the glory, because God did it all. And it was in
an election. It was in an election that we
were by God determined and purposed to be sanctified and set apart
and separated unto God for His holy purpose. This wasn't by
accident or chance. No, sir. This was all in the
will and in the purpose of God and determined before time ever
was. That's what makes election so
beautiful. Not just that God is sovereign
and chose, but that God sovereignly chose and called the people and
they're all gonna come and they're all gonna be saved. And they
didn't have a thing to do with it. They were totally undeserving
of it. That's what's beautiful about election. Now that word
consecrate, if you have a margin in your Bible, it means to feel
the hand of or fill up the hands. It was only after being set apart
and made holy, consecrated, that the priest's hands were filled
with the sacrifices of God and his service in the tabernacle.
All this had to be done before they offered the first sacrifice.
But the picture is this, God, by making his elect holy, sanctified,
priest unto God, God has filled our hands with one sacrifice,
just one. And that being Jesus Christ,
who we worship and serve as his priest and his spiritual house
forever. First Peter chapter two, verse
five says this, ye also is lively stones are built up a spiritual
house. and holy priesthood to offer
up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. You know what that tells me?
That tells me that God's gonna accept it. He's gonna accept
it. Thank God that Christ has made
us kings and priests unto God and his father to him be glory
forever and ever. And again, I rejoice to say that
Christ has done for us that which we could never do for ourselves.