We'll take your Bible and turn
me again to Numbers chapter 18. Numbers chapter 18 will be looking
at verses one through six this morning. Numbers chapter 18. Verses one through six. The title of the message is the
priest of God. The priest. God verse 1 says and the Lord said
unto Aaron thou and thy sons and thy father's house with thee
shall bear the responsibility the iniquity of the sanctuary
and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the responsibility
of your priesthood At this time, the Lord giving out His law,
He had anointed this man, Aaron, to be His high priest. And although Aaron was of the
tribe of Levi, which was a large tribe, it was only out of that
tribe that Aaron and his sons were to bear the responsibility
of the priesthood. Now Levi, his tribe, they were
to help him in the office of the sanctuary. In other words,
they were to take care of the place. They were to take care
of the needs of Aaron and his sons. They were to be servants
to Aaron and his sons who were God's high priests. Aaron was chosen of God to be
a high priest of the nation of Israel. And here in this text, he is
nothing more than a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Friend, all Scripture points
to Christ. And I'll tell you, if you can't
find Christ in the text, move where you can. It'll be more
beneficial for you. Aaron is a picture of God's faithful
and eternal High Priest over a spiritual people, over a spiritual
Israel. Aaron was the High Priest of
God over that small nation. And he administered the worship
service for the nation of Israel only. But now we see that Jesus
Christ being God's High Priest, an eternal High Priest, He has
offered the sacrifices acceptable to God for all His spiritual
Israel. Aaron was just a type of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, before this time, before
this time, God had already anointed and set up Moses as His prophet
and Aaron as His high priest. He had already done this before. Something happened. Something
happened. There was a man by the name of
Korah who thought that it was not well that there be only one
High Priest. He thought that Aaron and Moses
had taken this office to themselves and he said, you know, you take
too much to yourself. We're all just as holy as you. And core in his family, look
at this in number 16, flip over just a couple of pages, number
16. And look at verses three. And they gathered themselves
against Moses and against Aaron and said unto them, you take
too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every
one of them and the Lord is among them. Wherefore, then, lift ye
up yourselves among the congregation of the Lord." In other words,
these men were saying, surely there's got to be more than just
one High Priest. Aren't we all Israelites? Aren't
we all of Abraham's seed? Isn't God among us all? Well,
surely you've taken this office for High Priest for yourselves.
And we could do this. I'm better than you. I can do
that. I can do that. These men were
saying, surely Aaron was not the only spokesman, the only
one who can sacrifice to God and be accepted. Well, notice
Moses' response to this. Look at that in verse 4. And
when Moses heard it, he fell on his face. Why? What would
cause Moses to fall down on his face? Because he knew Korah was
not speaking against him and Aaron, he was speaking against
God. It was God that put Moses and Aaron in that office. It
was God who anointed Aaron to be the high priest. And Korah
and his people were making accusations against the Lord God Himself. It seemed like Moses was falling
down because he thought lightning was going to come down immediately
and kill that man. And he didn't want to be hit,
so he went down and worshipped God. He went down and fell before
God's face. Fell on his face before God.
And he bowed himself before God. And so he rose up off the dirt
and he said, You, Korah, take your family
and all that's with you, and you take men that you think should
offer the sacrifices, and you offer your own incense to God.
And we will offer the incense, Aaron will offer the incense
for us. And then we will see who God
has chosen to be the priest. Well, they said that's a fair
deal. Sure. And so when these wicked men
came before God and they offered their incense, you know what
happened? The earth opened up and swallowed all them and their
family, their children, their wives, their possessions and
everything, and closed. Immediately. When they offered
that incense, immediately, the earth opened and crushed them. Swallowed them up. and those who actually put fire
to the incense. These were about 250 men who
put fire on the incense and they were struck by fire from heaven. They were consumed. Why? They tried to be their own high
priest. They thought that they could
offer to God just as well as God's high priest. But that's not all. Flip over again to chapter, verse
42 in chapter 16. After all this, I mean, you figure that would
be enough, don't you? I mean, if you saw that, wouldn't that
just be enough to say, yeah, that's right, he's it. He's it. That wasn't enough. Look at this
in verse 42. And it came to pass, when the congregation was gathered
against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the tabernacle
of the congregation, and behold, the cloud covered it, and the
glory of the Lord appeared, and Moses and Aaron came before the
tabernacle of the congregation. And Moses spake unto them, saying,
Get ye up from among this congregation, for I will consume them in a
moment, and they shall fall on their faces. I'm sorry. Verse
41. That kind of sets... I did the
end before I did the beginning. You know, you read the book at
the end. Look at that, what they did. Verse 41. On the morrow,
all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses,
saying, You kill these people. We kill these people. I didn't
open up the earth. I didn't send fire from heaven.
God did. And you know what God said, Moses,
Aaron, stand back and I'll consume the whole lot of them. And a
plague broke out among the people, and Moses said, quick, Aaron,
get the incense. And he ran to the altar and he
grabbed the incense and he ran out to the people and he stood
and held the incense up between the dead and the living. What happened? The plague was
stayed. Why? God's mediator, God's high
priest stood between them and God's wrath. That day, 14,700 people died
because they would not see. They would not believe God concerning
His high priest. Now, let me ask you this. Do
you think this is important to God? Do you think this matter
of being a high priest and having a high priest is important? Obviously,
God thought it was so important He killed 14,700 people to display
how well He cares about this idea of a high priest. And the Lord said, I know that
that's not enough. There's more. In chapter 17, the Lord said,
I want you to do this, Moses, take all the sticks, all the
rods of the chief princes of every tribe, and you bring them
to the tabernacle before me. And then I want you to take Aaron's
rod, and I want you to bring that before me. Make sure everybody's
name's on it, so we know who it is. And whosever rod I choose,
he is my high priest, period. And you know he brought those
rods in there, dead sticks, And the only one that budded was
Aaron's rod. His rod budded with blossoms
and almonds. It was beautiful. There was no
mistaking it. Aaron's name was on it. Aaron
was the high priest. And he said, Moses, get that
thing inside the Ark of the Covenant that you do not die. That you do not die. And he put
that under the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant and that's
where it stayed. In this history, the first thing I notice is this,
the murmuring of natural man against God's high priest, Jesus
Christ. It is of our nature to be like
Korah. It is our nature to desire to
offer to God a sacrifice of our own making. It is our nature
to complain and to murmur against God's high priest saying, I can
do the job myself. I can do it myself. All men by nature. will not have
Christ to rule over them. By nature, we are very religious. But most men, all men by nature,
don't believe they need a high priest. They believe that their own righteousness
and works, their own will, their own power will be accepted of
God. And this is clearly seen in Korah.
Korah was no pagan, was he? He said, the Lord is among us. We are holy. You see, he knew
something about God. He knew something that he needed
an offering. You see, he wasn't kicking against
the offering. He knew he needed a sin offering. The problem was,
he thought he could offer it. He thought he could provide it.
Friends, God does not want our prayers, our religious exercise,
our devotion, our good works, or our best efforts. God's not
looking for your best. Our best is not good enough. We all by nature are of no value
and worth before the justice of God. Can you see that? That
we by nature are sinners of the lowest degree. I don't care if you're a moral
person or a religious person or you are living in the swallowing
of sin and open depravity. We are just as wicked as the
next person. There's no difference in us. We may have all different opinions
as to how God is pleased by our works, but the natural man is
always thinking how he can please God by his doing. Well, I gave
a little church. Surely God set me. I did this
for somebody. Surely God will accept that.
You know, I'm a good person. I'm faithful. I read my Bible. I study. I'm all into this. You
know, I'm always witnessing of Jesus. Surely God will accept
that. No. Not if you offer it. And not if that's your sacrifice.
See, God doesn't want that as a sacrifice, and God doesn't
want you to offer it. God demands blood, friends. Blood. Without the shedding of
what? Blood. There is no remission
of sins. There is no forgiveness without
blood. Your blood? No! My blood? No! Our blood is full of sin! It will not do! I can't die for my sins, much
less your sins. And you can't die for mine, because
our blood is worthless. God demands a specific sacrifice,
and God has chosen only one person to offer that sacrifice, and
His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He is God's high priest, and
He is God's offering. we're seeing in Exodus chapter 30 God tells
them you shall offer no strange fire what does that mean no strange
fire Well, that means when God made the incense and He made
the offering, it was very detailed and specific. Man, you can get
caught up in all these details of the law. They are just immense.
And God repeats Himself several times over and over again to
make sure they understood. It was very specific spices,
very specific measures of these spices. And if you were to alter
one of these spices, God says it's strange fire and I'll kill
you if you offer anything else. That's how serious it was. These
offerings were serious. If they didn't offer the right
thing at the right time, God would kill them. You know, this resulted in Aaron's
son's death. Nadab and Abihu, they offered
strange fire, the scripture says. They offered their own incense.
They said, well, man, this smells so much better than what God
wanted. I'm just going to offer this. Surely He'll love this.
I'm giving Him a gift of my incense. And God killed them. God killed them. And I'll tell you, anyone who
offers their own works to God in any fashion, God will kill
you. God will send you to an eternal
place called hell. This is real. This is not a mythology. This is not a fantasy. There
is a place called hell. And it is for all those who offer
strange fire, which are your works and your self-righteousness.
God doesn't want your works. God doesn't want mine. And I'll tell you, anyone who
teaches that man can please God by their works, or that God will
accept their sacrifice of their will, our offering of strange
fire, and God will swallow them up in death. So I see the murmuring
of the natural man against this idea of one high priest and one
offering, don't you? Not only do I see it in the Scriptures,
I see it in my own nature. I see it in me. Second of all, I see that there
is truly only one high priest anointed of God, and that is
Jesus Christ. Let me ask you this again. What
is the purpose of a high priest? Why do we need one? You need
a high priest because we need someone to mediate between us
and God. That's what a high priest was.
He was a mediator. He was one anointed of God that
come from one of us, come from a man, And he could offer gifts
to God for us in our stead, in our place. That's what a high
priest did. They couldn't go into the tabernacle,
but he could. They couldn't offer sacrifices,
but he could. And he did it for them. That's what a high priest does. Go over to Hebrews chapter 7.
Flip over to Hebrews chapter 7. Look at verse 15. Let's go back to verse 14 and
start there. Verse 14, it says, For it is
evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah which of the tribe
of Moses spake nothing concerning the priesthood. And it is yet
far more evident, for that after the similitude of Melchizedek
there ariseth another priest, who is made not after the law
of carnal commandments, but after the power of an endless life. For he testified, this is God
testifying, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Aaron was only a picture of the
great high priest Jesus Christ, who was made a high priest when? When was he made a high priest?
Forever. When was that? Forever. How far
back was that? Forever. I don't know how far. It's just forever! God anointed
Him to be the High Priest over His people forever! After the order of this guy Melchizedek. Now, who's this Melchizedek?
Well, he's a priest that came on the scene and offered sacrifices
and received tithes of Abraham. Who was his father? I don't know.
Doesn't say. Who was his mother? I don't know.
Doesn't say. What was his order? Doesn't say. You see, Jesus Christ is at the
similitude of that. He's very similar to that in
that he had no beginning of his priesthood. We don't know the
beginning of Melchizedek's priesthood or his birth or where he came
from. We don't know that. Because it's supposed to be a
picture of Christ's eternal priesthood. and how he was made an high priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek, not after Aaron. Aaron was after
the tribe of who? Levi. It was not after the tribe
of Judah. Christ came of the tribe of Judah.
So God spoke of a priesthood that's not of Aaron's line, but
of an eternal line. You see, Aaron's line of priesthood
made nothing perfect. That was the problem with Aaron's
priesthood. You see, Aaron, how many sacrifices did Aaron and
his sons offer over the centuries? How many? Thousands upon thousands. At least two a day. At least
two a day they offered. But we know it's more than that.
How much blood was shed on those altars? How much of a bloody
mess was that altar and the tabernacle? It was filled with blood and
dung and guts and it was a mess. It was gross. It was like a slaughterhouse. See these pictures of the high
priest and how neat he is clean and he's raising his hands and
the little smoke's coming up from the altar and everything.
No. You needed blood squirted all
over that man. He was bloody from his head to
his toes. But Aaron's priesthood made nothing
perfect. There was no forgiveness of sins
with his priesthood. But God swore with an oath concerning
another priest. And this high priest, Jesus Christ,
was made a better high priest of a better covenant than that
of the law. What was the covenant of law?
Do all of this and live. Break one thing and you die eternally. That's not a pretty good thing,
is it? For us who are sinners, that's really not a good thing.
Because we have broken God's law. We have sinned against God. And we need an offering that
we cannot provide for ourselves. Behold, that God has made Jesus
Christ a high priest and surety of a better covenant. His priesthood
is an eternal priesthood. The priests of Aaron were uncertain. Aaron lived, served, and died. What happened to his sons? They
lived, they served, and they died. You see, there was no continual
priesthood. There was no certainty you were
going to get a good priest the next time. I mean, you could
have got a really rotten priest. You could have got one that hated
you, that wouldn't take your sacrifices. You could have got
one that would charge you to offer sacrifices for your sin.
You didn't know what you was going to get next. It was uncertain. Oh, but Christ's priesthood is
not like that. His priesthood is certain. It's
sure. Friends, I don't preach a maybe
gospel. I preach a sure gospel. I have a sure hope because I
know this, my high priest is an eternal high priest. And his
offering is an eternal offering for my sins. This covenant unto Christ is
better because His offering actually satisfied sin. Satisfied God's
justice. See when He killed that goat
and He put His head on that other goat and shipped it off? You
know how many sins were actually forgiven after that? Zero. None. They did all that work, but no
sins were forgiven because of those goats and bulls. None. While you're in Hebrew, slip
over to chapter 10. Chapter 10 in verse 4. For it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. Wherefore, when
he cometh, Christ, into the world, he saith, Sacrifice an offering
thou wouldest not. But a body hast thou prepared
me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will. O God. These sacrifices only gave the
people a small picture of Christ who was to come. And as they
saw that lamb being killed, as they saw that heifer being slaughtered
and burnt, when they saw that, those who believed saw Christ. They looked forward to His coming
and taking away their sin. They looked forward to Him. But
now, what do we do? We look back at Him. We look back and see how He has
fulfilled all those shadows. Lo! In the volume of the book. How much of this book is written
of Christ? The volume? The volume of the book is written
of me to do Thy will, O God. And what was His will? To offer
sacrifice. to be a high priest, to offer
a sacrifice acceptable to God, not of bulls, not of goats, but
of His own body, of His own blood. That's the sacrifice that Christ
offered. A body thou hast prepared me.
Friends, if Jesus was to be our high priest and to offer an acceptable
sacrifice, He must be a mediator. Now again, I told you a mediator
is one that stands between us and God. Job said this, Would
to God I had a daisman. Now that word means a man that
touches, a person that touches God and man. One who can bridge the gap that
separated God and man is a mediator. One that stands between. Therefore Jesus Christ said,
Lo, a body thou hast prepared. He became a man for us. A high priest is not a high priest
unless he's a man. He must be taken from among us. And he was! God prepared him
a holy body, and he came and united himself with that human
nature, so that he became the only God-man. There's no other man like him.
He is the God-man. He is both God and man. Truly
God, truly man. Yet one. One man. for the purpose of being a high
priest for you and me, to stand between us and God. He took our
infirmities. He suffered as a man. And He
was clearly manifest, being from among men, to be our high priest.
Let me ask you, friends, do you need this high priest? Do you need this high priest?
Do you need somebody to stand between you and God? Are you
going to offer up your own thing? Are you going to do your own
will? Are you going to continue to believe
the lie that everything is going to be okay? If Christ is not your mediator,
stand between you and God, it's not going to be okay. It's not going to all work out
just fine. Jesus being the only sinless
man was chosen of God to offer an acceptable sacrifice. And what was the sacrifice? If
He was to be a high priest and He was to offer sacrifice, what
then was the sacrifice? It was Himself. Could you think of a better sacrifice? There is no better sacrifice. The sinless Son of God was made
sin for us. He was made a curse to remove the curse. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. If God killed his son and he
suffered hell on the cross for our sins, what do you think God's
going to do to you if he finds sin in you? You need a high priest. You need an offering. And it's not one I can give you.
It's not one I can provide for you. All I can do is point it
to Him. I can point you to Him. I can
show you Him. He's altogether glorious. He's
altogether wonderful. He's altogether been accepted
of God. His offering has been accepted. Scripture says that He entered
into that veil In that holy place where Aaron was to minister,
there was a room there. It was filled with the furniture.
And then there was a veil that separated him from the Holy of
Holies, where God's presence was. And he couldn't go in there
but once a year. And when he went in there, he
couldn't go in there without blood. Friends, Jesus Christ has entered
into the presence of Almighty God with His own blood. And God
ripped that veil in two. Signifying what? that the way
to God was made open. For who? Everyone in the congregation
of the righteous. Under the law, only they were
allowed in there. But now that Christ has entered
into there once. They entered in how many times?
Many times. And the veil? Nothing happened
to the veil. But He entered in one time. And when He entered in one time,
the veil was rent, the sacrifice was accepted, and all who believe
on Christ are welcomed before God's presence. Is that not great? When I stand before God, I won't
die. I won't die. Why? I didn't offer my own sacrifice.
He offered his for me. And I am accepted of God. That's the greatest thing in
all the world. Are you accepted of God? If he offered your sacrifice,
yes. If he is your sacrifice, yes,
you are accepted with God. Scripture says he entered in
once. Flip back your text just for
a second. I'm going to close with this. Go back to your text
here just for a second. Look at verse three. Speaking of the tribe of Levi,
he says they shall keep by charge and the charge of all the tabernacle,
only they shall not come nine to the vessels of the sanctuary.
You see, they were separated. But when Christ opened that gate,
When Christ came in with His blood, He separated the veil. He rent the veil and twain so
that we could have access to God. Not like this. We were separated
and we're not. Because we're under a better
covenant and a better high priest. That's the old covenant and the
old high priest. And look at verse 5. Verse 4, and they shall be joined
unto thee, and keep the charge of the tabernacle, the congregation,
for all the service of the tabernacle, and the stranger shall not come
nigh unto thee. I thought of this, they were
joined with him. When Aaron went in, he went in as a representative,
didn't he? So they were joined to him. When our High Priest came and
provided righteousness, guess where we were? Joined with Him. When He went in with His own
blood, guess where we were? We were joined with Him. Scripture says He is our Head
and we are His Body. Sometimes I believe that I leave
my head at home, but that doesn't actually happen. Wherever the
head goes, the body goes. Wherever Christ is, so are we. Where is he? He's on the throne
of God. Where are we with him? Will he
ever be removed? No. And neither will we. Is that not comfort? Is that
not assurance? In Jesus Christ is a better high
priest over his church. Verse 5 and 6, And they shall
keep the charge of the sanctuary and the charge of the altar,
that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel.
And behold, I And I behold, I have taken your brethren, the Levites
from among the children of Israel. To you, they are a gift. For
the Lord to do the service of the tabernacle and the congregation.
We who believe on Jesus Christ. We have this promise that we
have the forgiveness of our sins. And we know this because God
says we are a gift to His high priest. Is that not something? God thinks of you and me as a
gift to His son. Is that not the most amazing
thing that you ever heard, that you are a gift? We are a gift. Because God has
set His love on us from eternity. And He has given us to Christ.
Therefore, what should we be about? Service. How many times did He say, give
them charge of the tabernacle? Give them charge of the high
priest. In other words, they were to
attend to the tabernacle and the high priest. Guess what we're
to be doing? to the high priest and the tabernacle. What's a tabernacle? A place
where God dwells, wherever there's wherever God dwells, there's
a tabernacle. That's what it was. Wherever there was a tabernacle,
God dwelt. And wherever God dwelt, there
was a tabernacle. Well, guess what you are. If you believe
in Christ, you are a tabernacle. Closing. Look at this. I want
you to see it. I want you to see it. First Corinthians six. First Corinthians six. Verse 19. What? He's as a question, what
you mean, what? You don't know, know you not,
that the body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and you
are not your own, for ye are bought with a price. Therefore,
glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. Believer, God, the Holy Spirit,
no longer dwells in tents and tabernacles, he dwells in your
body. Right now. I don't think I even begin to
understand the fullness of that. If we really believe that, how
different would we be? What would we be doing with this
body if we really truly could see that? Some people claim to worship
God in their spirit, but their body is always absent. How can you do that? How is that
possible? Where the spirit is, the body
is, and where the body is, the spirit is. And you can't worship God
in spirit if your body is not doing it. We don't believe in transcendental
meditation. We don't believe that you can
float your spirit above anything and go somewhere. That's witchcraft.
We don't believe in that. But when we worship God, we worship
God both body and spirit. Consider our high priest. Consider his offering. Consider his great salvation.
And consider that God dwells in you if you believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ as all your hope. Maybe we should act accordingly.
Is that not just reasonable? If God dwells in this body, is
it not reasonable to give our lives in service to God? If you're a believer, you know
it is. You know it. I'm just reminding
you. I love you and I pray God bless
this to you. I pray that you'd see Christ exalt him and lift
him up as he is worthy of all our life and praise. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed in prayer.