Will you join me in the gospel
according to numbers? Gospel according to numbers and
in chapter nine of the gospel according to numbers. I'd like
to read the first eight verses of this chapter and then make
some comments with regard to some men that had touched a dead
body, probably in burial. They probably took care of some
people in burial, and that's why they make this remark. Now,
it's a remarkable remark that they made. They said, we are
defiled. Now, the question came to me,
how did they know that? How did they come up with that
conclusion that they were defiled and they would be prevented by
that defilement from participating in the Passover, the second Passover? I'm convinced that they probably
participated in the first one as they were in Egypt, And that
was when God let them go out of Egypt. And now it is a year
later and they're preparing for the second Passover. Read with
me here in the book of Numbers chapter 9 and I want to begin
with verse 1. Now bear with me this morning.
I'm going to do something that Mike has been doing. I have my
fire up here. I also have this as a spare,
just in case. Numbers chapter 9, verse 1. And
the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the
first month of the second year, after they were come out of the
land of Egypt, saying, let the children of Israel also keep
the Passover of his appointed season. In the 14th day of this
month, at even, ye shall keep it in its appointed season according
to all the rites of it, according to all the ceremonies thereof,
shall ye keep it. And Moses spake unto the children
of Israel, saying, excuse me, the children of Israel, that
they should keep the Passover. And they kept the Passover on
the fourteenth day of the first month, at even, in the wilderness
of Sinai, according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so
did the children of Israel. Now, I don't know what it's called
in literature, but something has happened. But before that
something happened, we go to the next two verses. Before they
participate in the Passover, but it's recorded in verses six
and seven. And there were certain men who
were defiled by the dead body of a man that they could not
keep the Passover. So that day, and they came before
Moses, the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and
before Aaron on that day. And those men said unto him,
we are defiled by the dead body of a man. Wherefore are we kept
back that we may not offer an offering of the Lord in his appointed
season among the children of Israel? Now, we've already gone
ahead in the past and looked at verse 8, and the answer to
that will be found in verses 10 and 11 and 12 and so forth. Lord willing, we'll look at that
next week. But we want to spend some time here on the question
that these men brought up with regard to them not being able
to participate in the Passover. They are defiled. Now, there
is a grace, a wonderful grace of God in being able to confess
that. It is not on our own that we
will do that. Can you imagine for just a moment
inviting Saul of Tarsus to come here and for him to give his
testimony? Now, I'm not talking about Saul
after the road to Damascus, I'm talking about Saul prior to the
road to Damascus. What would he say if he was given
the opportunity to speak? Now, number one, we'd not have
him come in and speak. But just in your mind's eye,
think of it for a moment. Lord, I'm so glad I studied at
the feet of Gamalia. He was a great legalist and I
am too. I'm really studying hard about
these people that are cropping up that I want to get rid of
because they are wrong. I will take every effort that
I possibly can Lord to avenge you and to be a good servant
of the law. Well, that's not what we read
about Paul, the apostle, testifying to the Lord Jesus Christ. And
that's not what we find about these men that defile themselves
by touching a dead body. We find that they come, they're
not complaining about the rules or the law about defilement. They are asking what can they
do because they are defiled and that they have touched a dead
body. and it was for the benefit of the whole group and the benefit
of themselves that they take care of that body. Well, in Numbers
chapter 19 and verse 11, which is jumping ahead a little, but
if we'll go over there, we find that this was no doubt the regulation
or the law that they were abiding by that was common among them. In Dumbers chapter 19 verse 11
it says, He that touches the dead body of any man shall be
unclean seven days. Now if you touched a dead carcass
you were unclean until the evening. But if you test a dead person,
you are unclean for seven days. So the Passover was going to
take place prior to those seven days being over with. So there's
a concern. Now, it is an interesting concern
that they face because they wanted to participate in something that
declared where their hope was. They wanted to participate in
something that declared where their trust was, and that was
in a lamb, a substitutionary lamb. Now, the Passover pictured
that, but they did not get any salvation, they didn't get any
sanctification, they got nothing out of participating in it, but
it was by their declaration of what they had had that was in
this Passover. Now, Moses waited for an answer,
but let's look at a few things that these people share with
us with regard to what it is to say, I am defiled. It is not
common for anybody to say that. It is uncommon for someone to
say that I am so defiled that I cannot participate in this
that was required by all the Jews at that time. Now, if you
know the Lord, he has revealed that we are unclean and seven
days is not enough time to clean us up. In fact, it is not the
amount of time, but who does the cleansing that we are dependent
upon. He hasn't given us a month to
clean up our act. He hasn't given us seven days
to clean up our act. He hasn't given us a day to clean
up our act, because there is no amount of time that we can
go through that will take care of the responsibility of cleaning
up a defiled person. Now, pictorially, in the Old
Testament, if you touch this person and you buried that person,
you were defiled for seven days. But because of our birth, we're
defiled forever unless the Lord should intervene in our defilement
and clean us up. Now, turn with me, if you would,
over to the New Testament. to the New Testament over in
the book of 1st John. 1st John. In the book of 1st
John chapter 2, beginning with verse 1. My little
children, 1 John 2, verse 1 and 2. My little children, these
things write I unto you, that ye sin not. Now, nobody, nobody
in any position would ever encourage anybody to ever sin. The Lord
never encouraged anybody to sin. Paul, after his salvation, never
encouraged anybody to sin. James or John did not encourage
anybody to sin. But they knew themselves that
they were sinners. But we don't go around encouraging
people to do that. In fact, we pray. I pray every
morning, Lord, keep me from sinning. But here we have a person who's
been down the roadways saying, my little children, these things
I write into you that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Now,
what did those men come to Moses and Aaron about? We have an advocate. Would you take this up with God
for us? And then we read in verse two,
and he is the propitiation for our sins and not for our sins
only, but for the sins of the whole world. Now, recently I
got into a discussion with a person about this very verse. He wanted
to bring up the word world. in this verse of scripture as
it says but also for the sins of the whole world he wanted
to talk about the world and the extent of the world and how much
the world includes everybody and i said we need to come back
to the first word in that passage of scripture that needs some
definition and that is the word propitiation The word propitiation
does never mean all-inclusive because it simply puts it into
a context that says, I am paying for, I am appeasing, I am taking
care of all the sin. Well, if Jesus Christ appeased,
took care of all the sin of everybody and Many go on the left hand side
into eternal perdition, then his appeasing is useless. There is no value to it. I can't
go into the store here and use euros and buy groceries. They are, it's a useless piece
of paper or coin. And the blood of Jesus Christ
is never declared useless because His appeasement, His propitiation
was on purpose for some people and when He appeased for them
or He propitiated for them or He paid their sin debt, He paid
it completely and they will not ever stand in judgment. So it's
not the definition of the world that we need. We need to know
what propitiation means, and if God should reveal that definition
unto us, we will not have an argument about him propitiating
for a group of people that will never be sinners in his presence
again. Now, if he died for people that
are gone into an eternal hell, then his propitiation is absolutely
valueless. And what does it boil down to?
We are the valuable ones, and we're the ones that are doing
the work. Well, we know that's not true. What we want to see
here, though, is... that he is the propitiation for
our sins or our defilement. Now turn with me just a little
further here in 1 John chapter 4. We find that John was quite
interested in the subject of how do we take care of defilement.
How is defilement taken care of? Can you take care of it yourself?
But we hope that as we grow older, we'll not be as faulty before
people as we once were. And you know how we do that,
we just hide it better. We don't bring it up as much.
We learn something. That's an offensive thing, so
I won't do it. I get along better. But it didn't
change the heart one itty bitty. There's nothing that changes
the heart from our side. It must be done from God's side.
He's the only one that can give the new heart. He's the only
one that can give the new birth. He's the only one that can give
what God has intended to give, and we are not the participants
in it. Here in the book of 1 John chapter 4, and there in verse
10 it says here in his love not that he we love god but that
he loved us and sent his son to be a propitiation for our
sins he's the one that takes care of the defilement he's the
one that makes us ready or able to participate in feasting on
the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one. Now back up if you would to 1st
John chapter 1. 1st John chapter 1, John brings
this subject up again In verse 7, 1 John chapter 1 and verse
7, here is the means by which God and God alone can take care
of our defilement. This is what we need, absolutely
need. In fact, this is the only thing
that God recognizes as the propitiation or the appeasing for our sin.
In 1 John chapter 1, And verse seven, but if we walk in the
light as he is in the light, and that word if should have
been translated since, believers do this because God gives them
the ability of doing that. It's not us that does it, it's
God that does it in us. My goodness, it's not our faith. Talk about little faith, big
faith, medium faith, whatever faith. You know, we look at it
that way. God says faith. I have granted,
given you faith. It isn't measured, it's God's
faith for us. Now we may look at it as little
faith, medium faith, big faith, depends on the minute of the
day, doesn't it? But God's faith is always steady. It's a gift
to us by which we live and move and have our being. So here,
if, since we walk in the light and he is the light, as he is
in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And notice
this, this is how we have that defilement taken care of. Now
the picture and shadow and type over in the book of Numbers chapter
nine is that they're going to have to wait seven days for this.
What does the number seven mean? It's completeness, and it is
also the day that the Lord symbolized to us by the Sabbath that we
don't work. It's not our work. It's His work. Sabbath means we rest in Him.
He is our Sabbath of rest. We have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all
sin. Now, that's all-inclusive, every
bit. Everything is taken care of. The defilement is absolutely
taken away. It is washed off, taken away. In the book of Zechariah, we've
been in the book of Zechariah, but we haven't quite got to this
passage of scripture yet. In the book of Zechariah, There
in chapter 13, verse 1, a hymn writer ran into this one time
and he said, wow, I think I can put some of this to poetry. And
we sing, there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from
Emmanuel's veins. And everyone plunged beneath
is washed of their guilty stains. Now he grasped that in a way
I want to grasp it. What does it say here in the
book of Zechariah chapter 13 and verse 1? In that day. In that day, in that gospel day,
when God brings us to the fountain, when God brings us out of the
horrible pit, in that day when he comes to us with grace and
mercy, in that day when he acquaints us with the new birth, He says,
in that day there should be a fountain open to the house of David and
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanliness. So this blood of Christ is the
only thing that will truly cleanse us from all our sin. It's the
blood of Christ. We preach the only way to do
away with uncleanliness is the blood of Christ by no works. Nothing like that can accomplish
anything in the presence of God. God's word is very plain about
our natural condition and it is also very plain about our
natural condition that we will not by nature admit to it. You
know, I read over there, we're going to read about one of those
persons in just a moment. But we read in the New Testament
about two men went down to the temple to pray. And one of those
men had never been unclean. He had never been defiled. He
never realized it. And he goes on and on and on
about all the important things that he had done for God. In
fact, to the point of counting out dill seed, and paying a tithe
on the dill seed. Now you know what dill is. You've
seen it in pickle jars. Dill pickle jars. It's about
that big. Can you imagine sitting down
or having someone to count out one for God and nine for me? That was the extent of this man's
state before his religion. He was so caught up in it. But
it's natural. We do it by nature. We have no
other variance about that. We may count a little bit different,
but we're going to be in the same plight. Now the other man...
would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but cried, God, be
merciful to me, a sinner. Now, what makes the difference
between the two? The same thing that we find over
in Numbers chapter 9, and there with regard to those men that
buried or touched that dead man, we are defiled. What is able
to make us understand our defilement? God says that there is a cleansing
that must take place, but we cannot cleanse ourselves. There
is no amount of time. There's nothing that we can do
that will cleanse us. There was no amount of time that
was going to prepare these men in time for the Passover. They
couldn't get there from here. So they came and requested of
Moses to take it to the Lord and find out what the Lord will
do. Well, we're going to find out that the Lord said, for you
folks, we're going to have a second Passover in the second month
at the 14th day of the month. The biblical record for unclean
is Not how we are born, declaration. We just can't admit by nature
that we are born unclean. David said, I came forth my mother's
womb speaking lies. The only ones that truly know
the fact of the scripture are those who have been made clean. Then we see that we are truly
unclean. When we're made clean, we're
really conscious of how unclean we were, what price it took to
purchase our redemption. Christ dying for our sins. How unclean were we? How do we
know that we're defiled? It is by grace and grace alone.
You know, we heard that passage read over there in the book of
Job chapter 42. Job is 42 chapters long. How
many have skimmed it? Okay. How many have skimmed the
book of Job? Boy, what he went through. Where he started life, way up
here, very rich, great family. It wasn't very long, he lost
everything including his health. Then we find some friends came
to advise him. These friends are like most of
our friends. I don't know how many times recently
people have heard of someone having an illness and you know
what their first reaction is? What did they do? We ran into that in the Bible
class this morning, that blind man. The disciple said, who did
sin, this man or his parents? Well, the Lord Jesus answered
that question. Not that they weren't sinners,
both of the parents, and he too. But that was not the reason that
this man was born blind. He was born blind for the glory
of God, for that very moment when God would heal him, when
Christ would heal him. That's why he was born in that
condition. Well, as we go through the scriptures,
we find Job, He was in a terrible plight, and he had terrible friends
that had terrible words to say to him. And one man came along,
and he just stood it as long as he possibly could. In fact,
he shares that he is like a wineskin about ready to burst. Well, when
they finally were quiet and he got to say something, you know
what he preached? The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He preached about a God that
created the world in all men. And then we have the Lord appears.
You know that's how the gospel goes. He went as far as he could
and then the Lord appeared unto Job. And those final words in chapter
42 before it's told that Job was given everything back double. I have heard of you by the hearing
of the ear, but mine eye now seeth you." Now what was the
next verse? I abhor myself. When do we learn about defilement? When the Lord appears to us and
we're able to say, I've heard of you, but now my eye seeth you. I abhor
myself. I am defiled. The only people
that are truly, truly defiled are those who God has appeared
to and taken away their defilement in the blood of Christ. Psalm
51. What a terrible thing David did. He's a man after God's own heart,
but in Psalm 51, this is mentioned about David. Psalm 51. You know the passage of scripture.
Psalm 51 verses 1 through 5. The scriptures share this. David's
writing about that great crime against his country, against
his people, and against his God. And only God can take a wrong
thing and turn it into a right thing. Don't try to do that on
your own. It will never work. I've wronged,
therefore I won't make it right. No, we're not going to get that
job. God does it. All right. Verse
one. A psalm of David, when Nathan
the prophet came to him after he had gone into Bathsheba. Have
mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according
to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. wash me thoroughly from my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin. My little children, I would that
you sin not. But if you sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. For I acknowledge
my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Against thee
and thee only have I sinned and done this evil. That's the thing
about having Christ revealed to us in regeneration. This is
when we can make that confession. Before that, we never can make
that confession. We never confess that we've sinned
against God. We've sinned against our mother.
We've sinned against our father. We've sinned against our children.
We've sinned against somebody else. We've sinned against our
neighbor. But when it comes to God, He's not part of the equation. Now, we might say at the moment,
He's part of the equation, but we don't understand what it is.
When we find out that we've sinned against God, we're taking responsibility
for Christ going to the cross on our behalf. We need someone
so great and so grand to take care of the problem. And it is
the first time in our life that we can see the problem that Jesus
Christ had to take care of. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil. I am defiled. that thou mightest
be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin, did my mother conceive
me. Upon conception, the very nature
of my dad was passed on to me, and I passed it on to my children.
The very nature of Adam was passed on, the very death of Adam was
passed on. We can't help it, it just is
the consequence of the fall, and we do it, we did it, whether
we wanted to or not. Isaiah said in the sixth chapter
of the book of Isaiah, after he had seen the Lord, woe is
me, for I am undone. He knew what defilement was after
he'd seen the Lord. In the book of Luke, the book
of Luke chapter five, there's an incident here that mentions
Peter. Now Peter is kind of the representative
for the church there in that time. In Luke chapter 5 and verse
8, we find him representing us so well when he said, I don't
know that man. I think you do. I don't know
him. I think you do. Your speech betrays
you. I don't. And when the Lord saw him the
first time after the resurrection, you know what he said? Peace
be unto you. I've taken care of your defilement. Alright? Now, prior to that,
the Lord mentions here about fishing, and Simon answering
in verse 5, said unto him, Master, we have toiled all night, and
have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, we
let down the net. And when he had this done, they
enclosed a great multitude of fishes, and their net break. And they beckoned unto their
partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and
help them. And they came and filled both
ships, so that they began to sink. What is Peter's response
to this, when he has just said we fished all night and haven't
caught a thing? And what are you telling us to do? Peter said,
when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying,
depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. Only after we have been cleansed
do we understand what defilement is. And Peter recognizes it and
he says, Lord, Lord, as I look at this, God be merciful to me,
a sinner was the words of the publican. There, as we've already
heard what the Pharisee has to say, that's just religion, religion,
and religion. That's just our natural state.
We brag on God, no, on ourselves. And that man said, God be merciful
to me, a sinner. What made him know the difference?
Why wasn't he over in that camp? It tells us in Luke chapter 7.
Would you turn with me to Luke chapter 7 for just a moment? In Luke chapter 7 and verse 37,
we have a woman here and it calls, the Bible calls her a sinner.
Luke chapter 7, verse 37. Those men that came that day
to Moses and said, we are defiled, were just as well admitting as
this woman is recorded, we are sinners before God. We are not
able to participate, but we want to. All right. And behold, a woman in the city,
which was a sinner, When she knew that Jesus sat at meat in
the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment. When she knew that Jesus was
in that house. A sinner, what a difference we
have here. A woman who is identified as
a sinner brings an alabaster box of ointment into the house
and breaks it over the Lord. What a scent is left in the house
and what a scent is left on the body of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In Matthew, back up to the book of Matthew if you would, we find
a group of people here that are mentioned in Numbers chapter
9, those men that came, says we are defiled. The Lord brings
up that same subject here in Matthew chapter 9 verse 10. Matthew
chapter 9 verse 10, and it came to pass as Jesus said it meet. In the house, behold, many publicans
and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it,
verse 11, when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples,
why eateth your master with publicans and sinners? Now, what does that
say about them? We would never do this. We would
never have lunch with them. We'd never have a meal with them.
We'd never invite them. Why does your master do this? And Jesus heard it. Verse 12,
and he said unto them, they that behold need not a physician,
but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that
meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice, for I am not come
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. What did those
men do? Moses were defiled. How did they
know that? It had been shown them. Now the
rules are thus, yes. Can you imagine if they hadn't
had that information given to them by the Lord? They would
have come and had their hands washed and said, you know, we're
just as good as everybody else. I wonder how many actually did
that. How many came to participate in that Passover and they had
no cognizant idea. They had touched dead bodies
or they had done this or they had done that. They'd already
excluded themselves from it. But we're going to sit down and
have this meal And these men came and said, we can't. We cannot. What a difference. He called sinners to repentance. Only because of grace did these
men in Numbers chapter 9 verses 6 and 7 know they were defiled
and unfit to take the Passover at the appointed time. There
is an account, and we've read it a number of times in the past,
about 10 lepers. Came and says have mercy on us
have mercy on us And you know the Lord had mercy on he has
mercy On people that he never saves Last night we got rain. Did you get rain in your house?
We got rain Rain on the just as well as the unjust I don't
know whether the Sun shining out there today or not right
now But the Sun shines on the just as well as the unjust God
has mercy We sin before we're ever saved,
and he had the right to just... But he had mercy. He'll have
mercy upon people, let them live their life out. Give them great
wealth or poverty. But he'll have mercy on his people
in a very different way. I'll have mercy. And he had mercy
on ten, but he had mercy on one. You know why we know that? Because
the one came back. The one said, I am defiled, and
I've been cleansed, and that's how I know I was defiled. One
came back. And you know what? Well, just
turn with me, if you would, over to the book of Luke chapter 17.
Luke chapter 17. Verse 19. Well, let's back up here just
a little bit. Verse 17, Luke 17, 17. Jesus'
entry said, were there not ten cleansed, where are the nine?
There are not found that return to give glory to God, save this
stranger. In verse 15, And one of them,
when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud
voice glorified God, and fell down on his face and his feet,
giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. And Jesus
answering said, Were there not ten clans, where are the nine?
There are not found that return to give glory to God, save the
stranger. And he said unto him, arise,
go thy way. Faith hath made thee whole. What
a statement is made. Over in the book of Hebrews,
in the book of Hebrews, there is a comment about the Passover.
And we want to keep this in mind as we go back to the book of
Numbers in the future. In the book of Hebrews chapter
11, there's a verse of scripture about the Passover. In the book
of Hebrews, and it's on your bulletin, chapter 11 verse 28. Now this is talking about Moses,
and it says, through faith he, Moses, kept the Passover, and
the sprinkling of blood. Think about this for a moment.
These men come. They have defiled themselves. They want to participate. They want to know what will the
Lord say about this. And why? Why is it so important? Did you read the rest of this
verse? Lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. Now there were people over in
the book of Exodus chapter 12 that did not have blood over
the doorpost. They were not covered by blood
and guess what? You know the answer. The Lord
took the firstborn. Moses said, by faith he kept
the Passover in the sprinkling of blood lest he that destroyed
the firstborn should touch them. That's the only difference. is
the blood of Christ. It's the only difference. It's
the only difference that we have is the blood of Christ. He's
the one that shed his blood and gave it to the father as the
propitiation for our sins, the appeasement for the payment price
of our sin. That's the only difference. It's
nothing we did. It's everything he did. Those
people had no contract with that lamb, except they had taken it
out of the flock. The blood was what made the difference
for them. And so it was. They came and
said, we know that the blood is so important. The blood is
so valuable. The blood of this substitute
is necessary. Without that blood, he will not
pass over me. Well, turn with me in closing
to the book of Jeremiah chapter nine. Jeremiah chapter 9. The prophet Jeremiah brings up
these words with regard to our subject. Jeremiah chapter 9 verse
23. Jeremiah chapter 9 verse 23. Thus saith the Lord, let not
the wise man glory in his wisdom. Jeremiah chapter 9 verse 23.
Let thus saith the Lord, let not the wise men glory in his
wisdom. Neither let the mighty man glory
in his might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches. That's what would happen if those
men says, you know, we have the right to do this. It doesn't
matter. Or those people who came and
said, you know, we are defiled, but I'm not going to tell anybody.
I'm going to go participate. Verse 24 But let him that glorieth
glory in this, that he understandeth, and knoweth me, that I am the
LORD, which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in
the earth. Glory in this, judgment, lovingkindness,
righteousness in the earth. For in these things, now this
is the Lord's words, I delight. In these things, I delight, saith
the Lord. He delights in what he has written
here. He delights in the Passover. He delights in his son. He delights
in his shed blood. He delights in making people
know that they are defiled. He delights in his salvation. He delights in all parts of it. Nothing we did. Nothing we performed. We didn't even put the blood
out there. It's the head of the household that put the blood
out there. It's Christ that shed his blood. It's Christ that covers
our sin. It's Christ that makes propitiation
for us. And so in the end, everyone that
he ever saves, everyone he gives the new birth to says, Lord,
I'm defiled. I'm defiled. Woe is me. Depart from me, for I'm a sinner.
Oh, and the Apostle Paul, oh, wretched man that I am. And what
does he delight in? The blood of Christ, the righteousness
of Christ, the peace of Christ. That's where it is. Now, Lord
willing, next week we'll look at those verses about the question
answered. Moses went to the Lord, the Lord
answered him and said, we're going to have a second Passover
for these that didn't or were not able to take the first. And
we'll look at that and see again, Christ in the Old Testament.
Brother Mike.