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Paul Mahan

Moses, Aaron And His Sons

Leviticus 8
Paul Mahan June, 26 1994 Audio
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Leviticus

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I. Leviticus chapter 8 now. I believe if you took the time
to read this this afternoon, you probably got a blessing from
it. And I hope the Lord will open
it up to us. Time will not allow us to go
into great detail about each of these things here in Leviticus
8, but we will pick up some of the highlights, couldn't help
but be struck with the infinite wisdom and perfection of our
God in designing these Old Testament types to be such clear pictures
of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of the types, symbols and
ceremonies and ordinances and pictures and self-emblems in
the Old Testament are absolutely amazing, the way they point to
the Lord Jesus Christ. The intricacies of them. It took
God's infinite wisdom to contrive these things to be such pictures
of Christ. It just amazes me. Sacrifices
and ceremonies are pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are
shadows, though, and Christ is the person. They are pictures. They are just pictures. Christ
is the person. When you have the person, you
don't need to be all the time looking at the picture, do you?
There's no need for these things anymore, except as we see Christ
in them, as we go back and look at Christ in them. But what I'm
saying is there's no actual need for these laws. These laws have
been fulfilled. These ceremonies have been superseded. They've been, yes, abolished. These ceremonial laws have been
put away, and now we have the living person of Christ. We have a living, a great high
priest who ever lives to make intercession for us. All of these
priests are dead, all of these symbols are gone. The only emblems
that he gave us, the only symbols that the Lord Jesus Christ gave
us to use in worship services are these right here, bread and
wine. And those are to be used not
with any elaborate ceremony. No elaborate ceremony now, so
you take away from the plainness of the things in supper, and
before long you're taken away up with a ceremony and you forget
what it's all about. That's what's going on today.
It's not the ceremony that we're to be taken up with, but the
bread and wine is merely to bring us to remembrance of someone.
Today's religion is guilty of just that, aren't they? In the
same sense, people use bread and they use wine, some Kool-Aid,
but in the same sense that Paul said they worship the creature
more than the Creator, the same thing holds true. They're worshipping
the emblems, they're worshipping the ceremonies, and forgetting
about the One of whom it all speaks. A man will go through
an elaborate ceremony and won't preach the gospel, Henry. Really. And people will go away saying,
what a beautiful ceremony, instead of what a beautiful person and
what a glorious work that Christ did. Right? The worshiping symbols
are taken up with the performance and not the person. So we need
to make this as simple as possible, like Manoah's wife said, that
we need to make our worship services so simple and in such a way so
biblically correct that the apostles could come right in here and
say, This is the way the Lord ordained it. Right? This is the way it's supposed
to be. Just simple bread, simple wine, to remember a complex person. All right. Now, blessed are you
if you have Christ revealed to you in these things and in this
message tonight. Blessed are your ears, blessed
is your heart. Three principal people involved
here. There's Moses, there's Aaron,
and the sons. Sons of Aaron. That's the title
of this message, Moses, Aaron and his sons, three principal
people. These people are going to represent,
Moses is going to represent God, Aaron is going to represent Christ,
and the sons here are God's people, God's sons. We can also look
at this as the Lord who gave it being himself, God the Father,
Moses being the Holy Spirit. and Aaron being the Son of God
himself. So we're going to look at it
interchangeably like that. I hope you get some rest. And
I hope you're with me now. You're going to get a blessing
out of this if you ask the Lord to lighten your eyes and bless
your heart. Right now, while I'm preaching
it, while we're looking at it, you ask the Lord, Lord, give
me a blessing out of this. Break the bread of life to me.
I know one man I think is going to get one. He prayed that a
little while ago. Verses 1 and 2, let's read them.
The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take Aaron and his sons with
him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and the bullock
for the sin offering, two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread.
These are simple, earthly elements, aren't they? Concerning one man
and his sons. That's what this is about. The
consecration, setting apart of one man and his sons using simple,
earthly elements. Clothing, oil, three animals,
a basket of bread. These things speak of Christ,
our High Priest, and how we, like Revelation 1.6 says, you
need to write that in the margin of your Bible here. Revelation
1, 6. We are made kings and priests
unto our God. You remember the Old Testament?
Priests who ministered about the outer court of the sanctuary? Remember that? They were some
common priests, and in this case it was Aaron's sons. They ministered
in the outer court. There was only one person who
could go on the inside. Remember that? Only one person. The great high priest could go
into the Holy of Holies. And this is representative of
how we are made. We minister about the things
of God on the outside here, in this lower court, the earth. About the things of God. We must
be about the things of God. What we're doing right now, we're
ministering about the tabernacle, about the things of Christ, are
we not? There's only one great high priest who is in the Holy
of Holies right now, with his own precious blood. Now, this
is real. There's a man in glory right
now offering up blood. You know that? This is real. And as we go about
these types, he is really there before in the holy of holies
for us. He ever lives to make intercession
for us with his own precious blood. What exactly is going
on, I don't know. But I know there's blood, and
I know there's a high priest, and there's a mercy seat, and
we're accepted. And there's incense, prayers,
and so forth. Simple elements concerning one
man and his sons, and that's talking about Christ and us.
We're made kings and priests under our God. Verse 3, the Lord
spoke unto Moses and said, Now gather all the congregation together
unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. What's that? Well, that's God
bringing all his people to Christ's door. You see, all the congregation,
here's a picture, all the congregation, Moses and Aaron and his sons
were all about this thing, this great work. God instituted and
gave these things concerning this great work, and he said,
Now bring everybody up to the door. And everybody brought up
to the door, and everybody was looking at him. Wow! At this great work
that God had ordained, these marvelous pictures and ceremonies
that God Almighty had instituted, all the people got to look in,
look in the door, the eastern gate. They got to look in and
look in. And we're brought to Christ's
door to behold wondrous things out of his love. You're brought
to the door tonight, and I hope you're looking in with me. to
the door, to witness so great salvation through Christ the
door. I'm already having fun. How about
you? Oh, this is glorious. Give me somebody, just one, that's
with me, that's going to enter in today. Verses 4 through 6,
And Moses did as the Lord commanded him. The Lord commanded Moses,
and the assembly was gathered together under the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation. And Moses said unto the congregation,
This is the thing which the Lord commanded to be done. And Moses
brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water." Now,
like I said, the Lord here is God the Father. He's the one
that designed and commanded this thing of salvation. God the Father
thought it. And then you have Moses. He's representing the Holy Spirit,
and Moses is the one who revealed it to the people, wasn't he?
Wasn't he the one who revealed it to them and taught them concerning
it and gathered the people? Moses gathered the people to
the door, and he's the one who anointed Aaron, right? He picked
out Aaron and all the people chosen One chosen out of all
the people, Aaron by Moses, and his sons, and he washed them
right there in front of the people. Verse 10 says Moses took the
anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was therein
and sanctified them. So this all speaks of the work
of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one who
exalted Christ in our presence, who exalts Christ in our presence
as one chosen of the people and anoints him without measure. 1 Timothy 3 says he was justified
in the Spirit. Justified in the Spirit, seen
of angels, justified in the Spirit. In other words, the Holy Spirit
is the one who gathers the people, who washes the people, sanctifies,
who sprinkles, who anoints the sun and reveals the great high
priest, reveals Sanctifies, gathers, anoints, teaches, gathers and
anoints and reveals the great high priest. That's the Holy
Spirit, whom Moses represents here. And then, of course, Aaron
is Christ himself, our great high priest. Verse 6, now, And
Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water. Washed them with water. Ephesians
5.26 says, We are washed with the water of God's word. We are
washed with the water of God's word. We are purified with the
water of God's word. Christ is the word. He is the word. He is the one
that purifies us, who washes us in his own blood. And Christ
is called the word because he is . . . Listen. Have you ever
thought about this? Christ is called the Word, not
only because he is the revelation of God, he is the Word made flesh. In other words, he is the manifestation
of God himself, his Spirit, and whatever God did, he did with
a spoken word. He created all things, he upholds
all things, and the Word is power. And God was made flesh, so this
Word is power. God's power was made flesh, revealed. to reveal the Father. He came
to reveal the Father. But also, Christ is called the
Word because the Word is called the whole Word of God, which
purifies, sanctifies, and cleanses us. Do you know if we had the
Word abiding in us like Christ did, we'd be holy as he was? Why was Christ holy? Because
he is the Word personified. He is totally immersed. He is
the Word. He is the Word. The Word, the
living and abiding in him. The Word. You see what I'm trying
to say? He is the Word of God. If we
were perfectly conformed to and immersed in and had the Word
of God indelibly imprinted on every facet of our being, we'd
be just like Jesus Christ. And so what is it that will purify
and conform us to Christ's image? The water of his Word. See that? Who does that? The Holy Spirit. Moses is the one that washed
the people, or the sons. So the Word purifies our hearts
and minds and conforms us to the image of Christ as we believe
and walk in it. Now, have a look at these coverings.
This is good. Verse 7. It says that Moses put
upon Aaron the coat and girded him with a girdle,"
seven things here, if you take a note. A coat, girded him with
a girdle, clothed him with the robe, put the ephod upon that
over top of the robe, then girded him with the curious girdle of
the ephod and bound it unto him therewith. Then he put the breastplate
on him, and he put in the breastplate Urim and Thummim. Verse 9, he
put miter, or this crown, this head covering upon his head,
and upon the miter, or on the miter itself, there was a plate,
a golden plate, a holy crown, as the Lord commanded Moses. Now, let's look at these seven
things here and see what it's talking about. These are Christ's
garments. Christ is our great high priest.
He wears all of these. He wears them still. He still
has them all. Oh, not these literal garments,
but greater than these, much greater than these. See, this
is a shadow. The garments, like I said this
morning, we're going to be like Sheba when we see him. Oh, those
garments of the old priest paled in comparison. Revelation 1 will
tell you what his garments looked like, won't they? His face shined
as the countenance of the sun, and his garments were whiter
than the pure driven snow, whiter than the water, and so forth.
His feet like brass burning in a furnace. He was a coach. They said they put upon him a
coat. Now, this was the first. I wish I had passed out. I have
a picture. If you still have those pictures
in our study of the tabernacle, I went back and looked at it,
and you'd do well to do the same. you to bring that or made some
new ones. At any rate, this is the first
thing that was put upon the great high priest, a long coat that
covered him from here to his feet. There was nothing showing.
Everything was covered with this coat. What's that? That's the
divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's his Godhead, his Godhood. This robe, this coat that he
had on, was covered with other things. So that coat was partially
hidden from view. Do you understand what they are
saying? Christ, when he came down here,
his divinity was veiled in flesh, was it not? He was robed with
flesh. He was perfect man, covered. He was man, head to toe, he was
a man. But he never stopped being God. He never put off that coat
of his divinity. But it was veiled. It was covered.
Number two, it said it girded him with the girdle. Now, this
was a thing that tied. You ladies know what a girdle
is, don't you? Or do you? They still wear those things?
At any rate, they did back then. They wore, they would tie this
thing. that would hold up their robe,
kind of like a belt, kind of like we wear a belt. This is
our girdle. They would tie this thing about
them to hold up whatever they needed holding up, clothing or
whatever tools or whatever they used, weapons and so forth. This
girdle that is tied about our Lord's bowels, is just what Paul
said in Ephesians 6, it's the girdle of truth. We're girded
with the girdle of truth, or it's the law. This was a very
wide thing that covered the whole midsection of a man. This is the word of God, the
truth of God, the law of God written upon his very heart,
undergirding The law of God, listen to me, the word of God
is what undergirded. It was underneath everything
else, over top of his divinity. It was what undergirded everything
he did. He said, I must be about my Father's
business. Everything was done, why? That
the scriptures might be fulfilled. You see, he had this here. in
his very bowels, in his very being, he had the word of God
there. He said, It behooves me to fulfill
all righteousness, every jot and tittle. Not one jot and tittle
shall pass away from the Lord till all be fulfilled. Why? He
was girded with it. There's a constant reminder to
it. Are you with me? This robe, then, was placed over
top of the coat and then the girdle. This robe was placed
over top. What's that? That's the righteousness
of Christ. It was a curiously wrought robe,
a beautiful robe without seam in it, without flaw. That's that
robe of righteousness as a man Christ weaved. See, he is in
himself righteous and holy. He did not have to come down
here and fulfill this righteousness, or to make this righteousness
as a man. He came to do it. He made this
robe for us, he said. Isn't it significant, John, that
when he was crucified, it took that robe off of him? When he
was crucified, he took that righteousness and imputed it to his people,
didn't he? Covered us in it. That's the
robe, his righteousness. Then they put the ephod on him.
This was a smaller thing that went about the shoulder, kind
of like a tunic sort of thing that went about that, went over
top of the robe, and it was beautiful. It was multicolored in all its
beauty, multifaceted. This was the distinguishing garment
that the high priest wore. The common priest didn't wear
this. And this was what the priest among wore. You remember when
David was going to sacrifice and he said, Go get the ephod?
Remember that? Remember when they brought the
ark in and David said, Go fetch the ephod, right before he went
down to Ziklag? This was something that the priest
wore, a distinguishing mark of the high priest, what set him
apart. What's that? What's the ephod? Well, it's
the testimony. It's the gospel. Christ is the
gospel. He is the gospel. He wears the
garments of praise unto our God for us. He is accepted in everything
he does for us. He goes to the Father for us.
His praise, his work, his person alone is accepted for us. He wears this distinguishing
robe from us. The high priest was always seen
with this garment of praise, this ephod on him. Christ said,
I do always those things which please my Heavenly Father. And
he did them for us. He did them for us. Then it says
that they girded him with a curious girdle of the ephod. Curious
girdle of the ephod. It's what held the ephod together. What is that? Well, it can be
a number of things, but I believe this speaks of that tie that
binds him to us, which is faith. Do you know Christ lived by faith
as a man? Blessed be the tie that binds
us. What is it that binds our heart in Christian life? Faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. What was it that bound him to
us, John? We have a high priest who is
touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He lived, though
a son, yet learned he obedience by the things he suffered. Christ
himself lived as a man by faith. He did not do anything, perform
any miracles for his own relief. He lived by faith. He lived dependent
upon the Father. And now he is touched with the
feeling of our infirmities. This tie that binds him to earth,
the flesh, the flesh, and living by faith. Also, and maybe principally,
I think this is that covenant, that binding covenant that Christ
always wears to remind him, to remind him he is bound to us
with this tie, this cord of love, this covenant of his. Alright,
verse 8 says, And then Moses put on Aaron the breastplate,
the breastplate upon him. And in that breastplate was inscribed
the Urim and the Thummim. And what that is, I don't rightly
know, and no man does. And these words mean light. imperfections. And you could
say some things about that, couldn't you? I believe this breastplate
has to be the heart of Christ, doesn't it? This golden breastplate,
the heart of Christ. What was on the breastplate?
Not only Urim and Thummim, what else? It doesn't say it right
here, or does it? No, it doesn't say it. Do you
know what was on the breastplate? What? Somebody say it. Names. Names. Twelve tribes of Israel. And what that high priest was
doing, what he was doing, offering up that blood, that sacrifice,
making that atonement, was for these names. Everybody that was
written on the breastplate was in on the sacrifice. and their
sins were forgiven. Christ, he said, your names are
inscribed on my heart, and they're printed on my hands. They're
inscribed on his heart, Christ. He still wears that baseball
cap. He still has us in his heart and on his mind. The last thing
he wore was a miter. Put upon his head, verse 9, put
the miter upon his head, also upon the miter, upon his forefront,
or the browband of the miter, did they put the golden plate,
the holy crown?" And that explains it doesn't. Crown him with many
crowns. He alone. We're not going to
wear crowns. Scripture says, if they gave us one, we'd cast
him at his feet. Get that off my head. If these priests and
Pope and all these If the imposters had any sense, they'd dash them
on the ground with these silly things they wear. Only one deserves
a crown, the Lord himself. He wears the crown. Crown him
with many crowns, all our little crowns. Well done, now, good
and faithful. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, not unto us. No, put that on his head. See, it's his work. We'll make perfect through his
work. Good job, my son John. The Lord says, here's a crown.
No, no, no, no, no. Put it on his head. Crown him
with many crowns. Everybody's going to want their
crown to go on his head. The Lord dashes his feet. Verse
10-12. Now, Moses took the anointing
oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was therein and
sanctified them. And he sprinkled thereof upon
the altar seven times, anointed the altar and all his vessels,
both the labor and his foot, or the foot of the labor, and
to sanctify them. And he poured of the anointing
oil upon Aaron's head, and anointed him to sanctify him." The Holy
Spirit. You see, Aaron was set apart
above the rest of these priests, wasn't he? Aaron was the important
one here. Couldn't do without Aaron. He
could do without the other ones. So Aaron could perform all the
work. if he had to. He could do without the common
prayer. He couldn't do without Aaron.
When he had by himself went into that Holy of Holies, offered
up that blood and came out, that's what the Lord paid attention
to. Aaron was set apart, he was sanctified, he was set apart
above the rest of them. The Holy Spirit reveals Christ,
doesn't it? He reveals Christ to all of God's Son and sets
him apart, sanctifies him above all the rest. Verse 13 says Moses brought Aaron's
sons also. Now, this is talking about us. He brought his sons and put coats
on them. Coats on them. Behold what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called
sons of God, divinity. Turn a worm, what a metamorphosis. What a regeneration to turn a
worm into a son of God. He put this coat of divinity
on us, too. Think of it. He had bestowed
upon us this coat. Did he put coats on them? That's
also the holiness of Christ, his righteousness, and so many
things. Then it says he girded them about with girdles. That's
that truth that Paul talked about in Ephesians 6, verse 14. Then
it says he put bonnets upon them. Monarchs, as the Lord commanded
Moses. That's that helmet of salvation
Paul said in Ephesians 6, verse 17, that we wear, that helmet
of salvation. That's the crown we receive in
heaven, isn't it? Isn't that the only crown you want to wear?
The crown of salvation? Huh? Sonship? Read verses 14 through 17 now,
and look at this sacrifice. for the sin offering. And Aaron
and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the bullet for
the sin offering. And Moses slew it, and Moses
took the blood and put it upon the horns of the altar round
about with his finger, and purified the altar, poured the blood, and the two kidneys and their
fat, and Moses burned it upon the altar. But the bullock and
his hide, his flesh and his dung, he burnt with fire without the
camp, as the Lord commanded Moses." Where was Christ crucified? Inside
the gates of Jerusalem? No. The orders were given, Don't
crucify him here. take him outside the gate, take
him out of the camp. Oh, God's provident to fulfill this
task. Christ here is this bullock who's
offered up. Christ is the suffering servant.
You know, a bullock, do you ever have an old ox on your farm? Henry or anybody, Charles, some
of you old You ever have a bullock or an ox that you plowed with
or did some work for you? They're beasts of burden, aren't
they? Do you know what an oxy is, a bullock? A beast of burden. Strong. See, they alone are strong
enough to carry the burdens and do the work that's required of
them. Do you see the picture? Christ alone is able and strong
enough to bear the weight of the sin of the world. He alone
could be made sin for us. And we lay our hands upon him. You see that? Moses and Aaron
and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the bullet of
the sin offering. Take our sins, Christ. Take them,
Lord. Take them away. And he was burnt
with fire. The cross suffered the wrath of the Holy God without
the camp. When he hung on that cross, he
suffered hell. That's when he hollered, My God,
Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken? God turned his back on him. That's
hell. Hell is being separated from
God Almighty. Christ went through that hell
on Calvary's cross for us. He was burned under the wrath
of Almighty God. Then there were two rams, read
on, verse 18. He bought one ram for the burnt
offering. It says that the bullet was for
the sin offering, doesn't it? The bullet, strong, big bull,
he could take all these hands on his head. A little ram would
have fell under the weight of it. But a bullet could go through
it. That represents Christ who was
able to take away the sin. And this first ram, Sid, was
for a burnt offering. The first ram. And his sons laid
their hands upon the head of that ram, too. And he killed
it, and Moses sprinkled the blood. Sprinkled the blood upon the
altar around the bar, and he cut the ram into pieces, and
Moses burnt the head and the pieces in the fire, and he washed
the inwards and the legs in water, and Moses burnt the whole ram
upon the altar. It was a burnt sacrifice for
a sweet savor, an offering made by fire unto the Lord, as the
Lord commanded Moses." It smelled good. God enjoyed the smell of
this ram. This first ram, the burnt offering,
is Christ being made sin for us, his soul being made an offering
for sin. He was separated from God. He went through hell for us.
The sin offering was this big bullock able to bear the weight
of our sin. That's Christ. The ram, the first
one, the burnt offering, was Christ being separated from God
and being burnt for us, going through the fires of hell for
us. And in this third ram, verse 22, he brought the other ram,
the ram of consecration. Aaron and his sons laid their
hands on that ram, too. They ate of that ram, and Moses
slew it and took the blood of that and applied it accordingly. Now, that's Christ who is our
blood sacrifice to cleanse us from all our sins. consecrate us, make us holy unto
God the Father." Did you notice how many animals? I want to make
somebody answer this out loud. How many animals were in this
sacrifice? How many animals were involved?
Somebody say it. How many? Three. They were all
for one thing, they weren't they? He's three of one. These three
are involved in one work, the consecration of Aaron and his
sons. Our God is three, yet one. And all three are involved in
this one work. What's that? The exaltation of
Christ and the salvation of his sons. God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit. These three are one. Choosing,
sanctifying, and equipping the high priest and his Salvation
is the work of the triune God. And all the blood came from all
three animals, didn't it? Over in Acts, he said to the
preachers, he said, Pastor, you feed the Church of God which
you purchased with, what does it say, his own blood. God's blood? That tells me right away that
Christ is divine, doesn't it? That he is God. But wait a minute.
God was in heaven. You can't kill God. God's a spirit. That's the Holy Spirit. You can't
kill him either. God was made flesh. They killed him, his blood
was shed. But you know, it's the same as
shedding God's blood. These three are one. You shed
my wife's blood. You've done something to me.
That's my blood. We're one. Right? These two become
one flesh. We're one. You shed my daughter's
blood. She came out of me. You shed my blood. Right? If I sacrifice my daughter for
you, Henry, for some reason, I've sacrificed myself. Right? So it is the blood of God himself.
God himself. All right, read on, verses 22
through 24. Here's how he applied this blood,
and I'll quit with these things. And this is good and necessary. Moses brought the ram, a ram
of consecration, and Aaron and his sons. See, this is God's
ram. I told you that There's a sense in which Moses
represents God the Father. God brought Christ down here,
didn't he? He sent the Son. He's God's ram. Moses brought the other ram,
the ram of consecration, and Aaron and his sons laid their
hands upon the head of the ram, and he slew it, and Moses took
the blood of that ram and put it upon the tip of Aaron's right
ear. earlobe, put it upon the thumb
of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot."
Now, what's that talking about? Notice it's talking about Aaron
here. Aaron is the one here that has
been anointed with this blood, on his earlobe, on his thumb,
and on his toe. What's that talking about? Well,
Aaron is Christ, and Christ's ear is anointed. You'll always
hear the prayers of his people. Always. He always hears us. Always. Because he bought us
with a price, where he is. And he hears his son. I'll always
hear my daughter when she asks me, when she comes to me. I'll
always hear her. There's not a time I'll turn her away. Never.
Never. You get that, child of God? That's
good news now. There's never a time when he
says, I don't have time for you. Oh, no. There's a sense, and
that's what he's for. Here he lives for his people.
You see? Isn't that good news? Never a
time he turns us away. He'll hear us in his faithfulness. He'll hear us. And righteousness.
Because his ear is touched with the blood. And his thumb. Now, you know, I've seen men
with fingers missing off their hands, and you can still do just
about everything. You can do just about anything,
except you couldn't play a very mean banjo without some fingers
on either hand. You can do about anything, though,
without fingers. There's one member of your hand
that you cannot do without. I've seen people without thumbs.
That's the most important member on your hand. Why is that? Try
grabbing something without your thumb. You can't hold it. Right? You can't hold on to anything
without your thumb. Try it. You can't do it. It's that which grasps and holds
on to. We're in his hand. We're in his hand. Know what
he said? Huh? In John 8, he said, they're
in my hand. The Father which gave them me
is greater than all. And we're in the Father's hand
and we're in Christ's hand. Now, what is it that keeps us
there? Without a thumb, you can't hold
on to anything. Apparently this Jesus they're
talking about today is thumbless. Ours has thumb. And it's marked
with blood, and it's wrapped around us. See what I mean? That thumb is what gives strength
to the grasp. That blood is what gives efficacy
to the hold. He said, I'll not let you go.
Why? You're not young. You're bought.
With what? Blood. It's right there. I've
got it right there, blood. Blood. I'm not letting you go.
I've got too much invested in you. And what about the toe? Well, Christ is the head. Christ
is the head. But what is his lower part? What's
his body? What's his body? Church! That's
right. Church is his lower part, his
body. The head, his crown, the head's in heaven, right? Christ's
not on the earth anymore. Christ's in heaven. His toe is
on the earth. his toes on the air. Back in
the old days, they wore sandals, and their toes were exposed. They were exposed to dirt and
being stomped and being stepped on, and they were exposed to
all manner of problems, all manner of trials and difficulties. Your
toes? Thank God for steel-toe shoes. Right, Steve? I wear them all
year round when I'm out working, the chainsaw and all that. Back
then, their toes were exposed. Well, we are Christ's lower part,
we are in effect his feet, and we are exposed to sin, subject
to trauma, trials, tribulations. What's this anointing? We need
a fresh dose of blood every chance we get. And once again, that toe is something,
that big toe, is something you can't do without. You can't do
without. And that's the gospel, isn't
it? We can't do without it. We need a fresh, we need to feel
the blood applied whenever we come in this place. Right? Our
toes are exposed. All right. And it says also,
though, it says, verse 24, they bought Aaron's sons and did the
same thing to them. Blood on the ear, blood on the
thumb, blood on the right toe. What's that? That's the gospel
and everything. We hear his voice, the blood,
the blood. We hear his gospel. We do. We are doers of his word, not
hearers only. We're doers of the word. And
those deeds must be sanctified by the blood. Right? All things
by the law of what, Deborah? Purged by blood. Purged by blood. The toad, we walk out by faith
in his blood. We're justified by faith in his
blood. And now, after all of this, and
this is beautiful, after all of this is over, you see, old
little lad, we could spend hours and days and Sunday after Wednesday
on all of this. We could take one thing. and
deal with it. That bulk, Christ's sufficiency,
his strength, Christ our strength, our sin-bearer. Couldn't we take
that and spend a whole Sunday night, four or five or more,
talking about that? Christ's an eternity. But after
all of this saying, and I hope you read it and I hope you go
back and look at it again. But after all of this, after
all this elaborate ceremony and all that, all these works, all
this blood shedding, sprinkling, applying this and that and the
other, verse 26, it says that Moses, now out of the basket
of unleavened, he took bread. It says he waved it before the
Lord and before the people. Then down in verse 31, after
the meat was cooked, Moses said unto Aaron, His sons, now boil
the flesh at the door of the tabernacle, and let's eat. Nothing was wasted. It all had
a purpose. Get that bullock, boys, and those
two fine lambs that have been cooking in a sweet-smelling savor. God smelled it. It smells good. Sins are forgiven. Blood is applied.
And the people smelled it, too. It smells good to me. Sounds
like it smells good to me, sweet-smelling savor to me. Let's eat. Get out
the lamb, the rams, and bring out the bread. You need a little
something to wash it down with. Henry didn't say it, but I guarantee
you they brought it. Wine. Bring out the wine. Let's
have a feast. Remembering now what this is
all about. As Aaron and Moses and his sons
sat around that table and ate, people looked in. They passed
out that food after they got their portion. As they all sat
around and ate that That good lamb? Oh, I love lamb. Leg of
lamb. And bullet? Nothing better than
roast beef, is it? Huh? And homemade bread? And
they thought about what they'd just done. And as we eat this,
you think about what was just said. Rather, you think about
him, about who this is talking about. All right. Brother Henry,
come up, please, and pass out some bread.
Paul Mahan
About Paul Mahan
Paul Mahan has been pastor of Central Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, Virginia since 1989; preaching the Gospel of God's Sovereign Grace.
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