Again, if you'd turn with me
to Exodus chapter 28. While you're turning to Exodus,
I wanted to mention these verses in Hebrews 8, beginning in verse
four. We're told there that on earth,
there are priests that offer gifts according to the law, but
they serve, it says, unto us as an example and a shadow of
heavenly things. As Moses was admonished of God
that he was about to make the tabernacle, God commanded Moses
to make all things according to the pattern that he showed
him in the mount. I'm convinced that the Lord showed
him Christ. The tabernacle, the priest, as
we've said so many times now in the study of these things,
beautifully pictured the Lord Jesus. But it says here that,
but now Christ hath obtained a more excellent ministry. by
how much he is the mediator of a better covenant, much better
than the covenant of the oath, which was established upon better
promises. No doubt about it. The Hebrew
epistle confirms these things. Aaron, the high priest, and his
garments that we're looking at were a figure, a pattern, and
a picture of Christ, our heavenly high priest. So tonight we'll
consider the robe and the coat, the helm of the robe, and then
the miter, the headpiece, the headdress. And let me say this
in the beginning, I just love thinking about Aaron, the high
priest, representing our Lord and Savior as our great high
priest and only mediator, just one mediator. There's no one
else that can represent us before God, only he can. He bore the
names of God's elect upon his shoulders and upon his heart.
That's my only hope of being redeemed. And he entered into
that holy place, the scripture says here in Exodus 28, as a
memorial. What does God mean when he says
Aaron carries these names as a memorial? Well, he means as
a memorial to pray for them, no doubt. And he means as a memorial
to bring the Lord in remembrance of his covenant promises to them
when Aaron appeared before the mercy seat. God required certain
things of the high priest, things that only the high priest was
allowed to do. He was the only one allowed to
go into the holiest of holies before the Shekinah glory of
God, and boy, that picture's Christ. No one but the high priest
could fulfill these requirements on the part of the people of
Israel. So the high priest was a mediator, a go between the
people and God. Everything the high priest did
was to minister to what God demanded and it was all for the people
of God. Now in the 12 sons of Jacob,
those names that were written upon the onyx stones of the high
priest's shoulders and the names that were written upon the 12
stones upon the breastplate of judgment represented the whole
of Israel, the 12 tribes. But this was a picture and a
pattern, as Hebrews chapter eight says, of what God would do for
spiritual Israel, not the nation of Israel, When you get right
down to it, Jacob and his 12 sons are a symbol of God's eternal
and sovereign election of grace. That's why God's people are often
referred to as the sons of Jacob and the children of Israel. Rebecca
gave birth to twin boys, and from the beginning, God said
the elder shall serve the younger. The elder Esau, God hated, and
the younger Jacob, God loved. And the truth of the matter is,
as you well know, Jacob was probably the worst of the two. Why would
God single out that man, Jacob, before he was ever born? We know
that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand, not
of works, but of him, of God, they call it. So God makes it
very clear from the beginning of this book that He's the one
that chooses and He's the one that saves. Not by works of righteousness
we do. What does God's choosing of Jacob
have to do with our study here in Exodus? It has everything
to do with it, everything. Those 12 names written, as I
said, on the two onyx stones and found on the shoulder of
the high priest and the 12 stones on the breastplate represent
the elect of God. We can't preach the gospel and
ignore election. The effectual particular choosing
of God and the redemption Christ provided is the only reason there
is a gospel. It was God that purposed to save
a people. It was God that chose who they'd
be. It's God that gave them to Christ. It was God that sent
his son to redeem them. It was God that fulfilled his
own law for them. And it was God that satisfied
his own justice in their room instead. It was God that did
it all. And he did it all for his own
glory. And I grow tired of hearing some say that election takes
man's rights and free will away from them. Election takes nothing
away from man. Absolutely nothing. Man was born
condemned. The scripture says man was condemned
already. Sin is what took away everything
from man, not God in an election. Election is what gives it back
to some. Death and eternal condemnation
is what all men and women deserve. Election is what gives back to
some what none deserve. I heard someone recently say,
well, you know man is a free moral agent. The only man that
was ever free was Adam and Christ, and Adam blew it. Because of
that, man has never been free, not since Adam fell. And man,
since the fall of Adam, has never been moral. Do you know what
man is? He's dead and trespasses in sin. He's not a free moral agent.
He's in bondage to his own nature. He cannot come to Christ. He
will not come to Christ. What's free about that? There's
nothing free or moral about man. And that's why the high priest
holds this office. That's why it's so important.
That's why the high priest has the names of those whom God purposed
to save upon his shoulders and upon his heart. If he didn't,
none would be saved. None. He's ordained of God, this
high priest, for men and things, the scripture says, pertaining
to God. Hebrews 5 verse 1, for every
high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things
pertaining to God. that he may offer both gifts
and sacrifices for sins. Well, I want us to understand
why the high priest was ordained of God and it was to God that
he ministered. You know, it upsets some folks
when you tell them that Christ didn't, when you get right down
to it, Christ didn't shed his blood for sinners. He actually
shed his blood for God. Now you think about that. It
was God that was offended. It was God that must be satisfied. And without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sin. And it's God that gives the remission. So he's got to be satisfied.
And the blood of his son is the only thing that will satisfy
him. Now Christ shed his blood for God, but he did it in the
room, in the stead of his people. That's whose names are written
on these shoulders and upon the hearts of the high priest. So
tonight I want us to look at more of the high priest garments
and our subject tonight is the holiness of God. Christ is our
holiness. That's something that we need
to understand and that we must be holy to be accepted of God. We must be perfect to be accepted. Most in religion think and say
that holiness or sanctification, both the same thing, are accomplished
partly by Christ and partly by the believer. But that's offensive
to a believer. You want to know why it's offensive
to a true child of God? Because a child of God knows.
He's been taught. It's been revealed to him that
Christ is his holiness. He'll be the first to take sides
with God against himself and tell you, I didn't have anything
to do with it. Didn't participate in it. Christ
is both the believer's sanctifier and their sanctification. And
that's why there's no such thing as progressive sanctification,
because if I'm in Christ, then I'm as perfect as I can be. Can't
get more perfect. Hebrews 2, 11 says, for both
he that's sanctified and they who are sanctified are all of
one, for which cause he's not ashamed to call them brethren.
In 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30, we're told that Christ has made
unto us sanctification. And the very next verse says,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. So there's no room
for man to boast in their holiness or their sanctification. To do
so only attempts to steal Christ's glory. And God will not share
his glory with another. Christ is the sanctifier and
the sanctification of God's people. And we see what it took for Christ
to be both in the garments of the high priest. Now, first we
have the robe and the coat. Look at verse 31 with me. and
thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all of blue, and there
shall be a hole in the top of it, in the midst thereof, and
it shall have a binding of woven work "'round about the whole
of it, "'as it were the whole of a Habagon, "'that it be not
rent.'" Now look down at verse 39. "'And thou shalt embroider
the coat of fine linen, "'and thou shalt make the miter of
fine linen, "'and thou shalt make the girdle of needlework.'"
Now, you and I both know that in order for Christ to be sanctifier
and our sanctification, he himself had to be perfect. God won't
accept anything less than perfection. Christ is the perfect, sinless
God-man. That's what we see typified in
these two garments. The coat was worn next to the
body under the robe, and it was made here of fine linen. We've
seen through all our studies, a lot of the things in the tabernacle
and of the priest's clothing was made of fine linen. It pictures
righteousness. The robe over the coat was all
of blue and together the two garments picture and typify what
Christ had to be in order to be our holiness. He must be a
perfect God and he must be a perfect man, all in one person. The white linen of the coat speaks
of Christ being the perfect man, perfectly righteous. He knew
no sin. He was the only perfect man. And as our head, we are what
he is. Being found in him, we are as
perfect as he is. And that's why Revelation chapter
19 verse eight tells us that fine linen, clean and white is
the righteousness of the saints. And the white linen typifies
Christ's righteousness by which he sanctifies his people, making
them saints. Our first head, Adam, he sinned
and he plunged all men and women into sin. Paul describes it as
being sold under sin. Adam is mankind's federal head,
represented all men. But the head of God's elect is
Christ. That's good news. That's good
news. He's the only perfect man. from
conception to death. Christ was sinless in heart and
in nature. He was born of a virgin. And
when the angel of God appeared and told Mary, you remember what
he told her? He said, that holy thing which shall be born of
thee shall be called the son of God. He was conceived holy,
perfect before he was ever born. And then we had the robe of blue. It was worn by only the high
priest. The high priest was the only
one that wore this robe of blue. And it was blue like the heavens.
And we've mentioned several times that blue is the color of the
heavenly. It speaks of Christ being God
from heaven. Jesus Christ is God and man. He's the God man. Unique in every
way. The only one there ever was.
Only one there'll ever be. And that's what Paul told Timothy.
He said, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifested in the flesh. Who was? God was. He was justified
in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed
on in the world, and then received up into glory. He went back where
he came from. He's God. And what an amazing
thought. God so loves His people that
He Himself, He Himself came down to work out our redemption for
us. That's who Christ is. He's the
God-man. He's the one mediator, as I said,
between God and man. Child of God, God died for you. God Himself died for the elect
sinner. That's why I know it's sure and
certain. That's why this effort could not be rent into. Our Lord's
work as both God and man is eternal. We cannot be lost by any sin
that we have committed or will commit because Christ has put
them all away, past, present, and future. Christ accomplished
our salvation so that every believing child of God right now has eternal
redemption. As I said Sunday, it's wonderful
to think about being saved, but it's even more wonderful to think
about being saved forever. The fact that I cannot lose that
which God has given me. Can't do it. We're not waiting
to have such a high priest. We, right now, we have, the scripture
says, we have such a high priest who's set on the right hand of
the throne of the majesty in the heavens. Hebrews 8.1. And our redemption can never
be changed or lost because right now, right now, by His own blood,
He, Christ our high priest, entered in once into the holy place with
those names on His shoulder and upon His heart, having obtained. It's accomplished. He has obtained,
not hoping to, not wanting to, not trying to. He has obtained
eternal redemption for us, his people. Hebrews 9, 12. And when
the saved sinner is born again, Christ is formed in us. I can't
explain that. And he may be in Christ, he's
a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things
have become new. born again, a new creation. We've obtained eternal redemption. And Christ is that holiness of
our new man. It's then that God has made unto
us righteousness and sanctification, wisdom and redemption. It's ours. How so? Well, let me show you
this one. Hold your place here and turn
to Hebrews chapter 10 with me. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 10. I told you Sunday that there's
no epistle that reveals the Old Testament any more beautifully
than the book of Hebrews. I'm seeing that more and more
all the time. Hebrews 10, we'll come back to
Exodus, so be sure to stick your marker there. Hebrews 10 verse
10. By the witch will, we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every high priest stand daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. But this man, the God man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever said, down on
the right hand of God. Why? Because his work's finished.
In the tabernacle, no chairs, but in heaven, there's a throne
and Christ is sitting on it. After he'd offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, he sat down on the right hand of God, from
henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
Now look at verse 14, for by one offering, he hath perfected
forever them. There's that word again. You
wanna know who them are? Look at John 17 again. He has
perfected forever them that are sanctified, that are made holy. And we are by Christ alone made
holy through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth, according to 2 Thessalonians 2.13. Let's consider for a few
minutes the hymn of the robe. Back in Exodus 28, look at verse
33. Exodus 28, 33. And beneath, upon
the hem of it, that being the robe, thou shalt make pomegranates
of blue and of purple and of scarlet round about the hem thereof,
and bells of gold between them round about. and a golden bell
and a pomegranate, and a golden bell and a pomegranate upon the
hem of the robe round about, and it shall be upon Aaron to
minister, and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto
the holy place before the Lord, and when he cometh out that he
die not." Now we've established that in order for us to be made
holy, Christ had to be the perfect God-man, and he had to substitute
himself in our place as our perfect sacrifice through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. And that's what we see
here in the hem of this robe. The pomegranate is a fruit. All
fruitfulness in a believer comes from Christ. Christ said, you've
not chosen me, but I've chosen you that you should go and bring
forth fruit and that your fruit should remain, John 15, 16. And
speaking of Christ as the Blessed man, the psalmist wrote in Psalm
1, and he, speaking of Christ, shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither,
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. God calls Christ's church
in Song of Solomon, chapter four, verses 12 and 13, a garden whose
plants are an orchard of pomegranates. with pleasant fruits. And no
doubt that it's Christ that makes his people fruitful. No question
about it. Being filled with the fruits
of righteousness, we are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise
of God. Philippians 111. Now the golden
bell, the golden bell shows us how this work is accomplished. Did you notice that verse 35
said, and it shall be upon Aaron to minister. That's a key statement. It's Christ, our great high priest
that accomplishes this work for his people. And the gospel we
preach is concerning Christ's work. We're not here talking
about what we do for God. And men and women that do aren't
preaching the gospel. The son of man came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister and give his life a ransom for
many, Matthew 20, 28. Sitting at the right hand of
God, Christ is still ministering to us and for us through the
preaching of this gospel. Why, it's His Spirit that He
sends, that teaches us and shows us the things of Christ. It's
all about Him. The gospel is all about Him.
Speaking of those bells, it says, and His sound shall be heard.
The gospel is the sound of Christ. The gospel shall be heard. What
good news that is. The sound of that bell was to
the people of Israel. Oh, I'm telling you. When they
heard that, every step the high priest took there in the holy
of holiest gave forth testimony that he was ministering on their
behalf. Every step sounded that he was
making atonement for them, that he was going between them and
God and mediating on their behalf. Standing outside that seven foot
high linen wall, no man could visibly see the high priest.
They couldn't look behind the door of the tabernacle, and they
definitely couldn't look behind the second veil of the Holy of
Holies, but they could hear that bell ringing. They weren't left
to wonder or to speculate They were assured by the sound of
that bell his success as their mediator. God didn't kill him. The bell was still ringing. God
must have accepted the sacrifice because the bell still rang.
That was the sound of their accomplished redemption given to all who had
an interest in the work. Are you interested? Well, I think
you are. You wouldn't be here. I hope
you are. You see, the gospel of Christ
and His accomplished redemption, that's what we preach. How sweet
is the ringing of the gospel bell. It rings only one note. Christ, Christ, Christ. It's one note. You and I can't
see into the holy place of heaven, but I'm gonna tell you something.
We can hear the single note of the bell of the gospel preached.
And it pleases the Lord by the foolishness of preaching to save
them that believe. The gospel preached in the power
of God's Spirit is the sound of the high priest in the presence
of God. Without Christ, our high priest, there'd be no preaching.
There wouldn't be any gospel to preach. There'd be no effectual
calling. Without Christ, there'd be no
sound of accomplished redemption. No sound of that priest actively
engaged in the saving of your soul. If God didn't accept his
sacrifice, there would be no ringing. If God didn't accept
that high priest's sacrifice, you wouldn't have heard that
bell ring. The gospel is the sound of accomplished redemption,
the redemption of our great high priest. Do you still hear the
bell ringing? That's a good, good sign. When
Christ went into the holy place, there was no doubt that he would
be accepted for God's sin. In verse 35, look at it. It says,
and when he goeth in unto the holy place before the Lord, and
when he cometh out, he's coming out, that he die not. Now I heard
men say and heard commentators, read commentators that said,
that the bell was so the priest would know that the high priest
had not died in the presence of a holy, a thrice holy God
and the holiest of the holies. In other words, that was like
a sign for him. But there's absolutely no way
that the high priest would have died. First, because God said,
when he cometh out. Now God said that. When he cometh
out, that he die not. But here's even more of a reason
why. Because the high priest, Aaron
here, is typical of our successful, sin-atoning high priest, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who cannot fail. The bells made it impossible
for the priest or the people to forget the high priest. It's
the same with the gospel. It reveals to us how God would
not allow Christ to die in our minds and in our hearts, the
hearts of His people. Peter said, I will not be negligent
to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know
them and be established in the truth. He said, I'm gonna just
keep right on preaching. I know you know these things,
but I'm still gonna preach them. That's why Paul said, Christ
sent me not to baptize, but he sent me to preach the gospel,
not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ be made of
non-effect. That's what we preach, Christ
and Him crucified, who He is and what He did. That's why Paul
was determined not to know anything among any, save or except Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. what God did for his people.
That's the message. In Galatians chapter three, verse
two, Paul asked, receive you the spirit by the works of the
law or by the hearing of faith? Are you saved by what you did
or are you saved by what you've heard? Abraham believed God and
it was counted to him for righteousness. Our sanctification and holiness
is through the hearing of Christ's faithfulness. I don't have any
confidence at all in my faithfulness. I know men that have preached
the gospel faithfully and one day they were gone. I mean gone. Stopped preaching and nobody
knew where they went. I don't put any confidence in
my faithfulness, but I put all my confidence in Christ's faithfulness.
All of it. That's a good place to put it.
My, my, may God be pleased to keep the bell ringing in this
place. For in doing so, we're constantly
reminded that our great high priest ever lives to make the
intercession for us. Hearing the gospel just gives
us that confidence, doesn't it? Well, lastly tonight, and I'll
only spend a few minutes here, we'll consider the miter. Look
at verse 36. And thou shalt make a plate of
pure gold "'engrave upon it,' or engrave upon it, "'like the
engravings of a signet, "'holiness to the Lord. "'And thou shall
put it on a blue lace "'that it may be upon the miter, "'upon
the forefront of the miter it shall be.'" Now upon this miter,
this headpiece that the high priest wore was a signet, a gold
plate that had engraved upon it the words, holiness to the
Lord. that typified that Christ is
our holiness. Verse 38 says, and it shall be
upon Aaron's forehead that Aaron, now look at this, that Aaron
may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children
of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts. And it shall
be always upon his forehead that they may be accepted before the
Lord. Now don't miss this. Christ has
made every believer a priest unto God. Scripture's clear about
that. Christ has created a new holy
being, a new creature within every child of God. We're new
creatures. We've talked about that already.
And God here claims that our sin-tainted gifts are still holy
things to God. How can that be? Well, I know
this much. It has to do with the cross.
It has to do with substitution. Christ our high priest bore the
iniquity of the holy things that they may be accepted before the
Lord. And for that reason, all our
service to God is fully accepted by Him through Christ. Therefore, we are a holy priesthood,
the scripture said, that offers up spiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God by Jesus Christ, 1 Peter 2.5. Therefore being sanctified
unto God through the substitution and the sacrifice of Christ,
we are sanctified forever through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. And upon the forehead of Christ,
our great high priest is written, holiness to the Lord. It's not
our righteousness that saves us, but Christ's perfect righteousness
that does. And the so-called holy things
that we offer God, well, they're full of iniquity. Best prayer
we've ever prayed, the best message a man ever preached, full of
iniquity. But Christ bore all of our iniquity,
even our so-called good and righteous works, and He made them holy. He sanctified them and made them
perfect, that they may be forever accepted of the Lord. I pray
the Lord teaches something here. So in closing, I'm gonna take
the words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes chapter nine, for myself and
I want you to take them for you too. Because of these things,
who Christ is and what he's done is our great high priest, Solomon
said this, he said, go thy way, eat thy bread with joy and drink
thy wine with a merry heart for God now accepted thy works because
Christ's works are my works, that's why. It's a certain and
sure thing with Christ as our perfect high priest. God now
accepts our works, for our works are the work that Christ did.
Our works, filthy rags. Our works, works of iniquity. But Christ bore the iniquity,
that iniquity, all iniquity of his elect in his own body on
the tree, and he put them away forever. And that's why it's
called substitution. And that's why it's called the
gospel, because it's the best news a true bonafide sinner ever
heard. Christ is doing for us what he
did for us, what we could not and would not do for ourselves.
Aren't you glad that he did? Thank you, Lord, for putting
our sin away.