Well, it's good to see each of
you this evening, and it's great to finish off the year meeting
together for worship, isn't it? It's just good to be here. And
our speaker really needs no introduction, but I just want to say we're
delighted to have you, brother, and you come preach the gospel
to us, Brother Bill Parker. Open your Bibles with me to Ezekiel
chapter 44. And while you're turning, let
me just say how grateful and glad and thankful I am to be
back with you, especially in this special service. It's good
to be here. I think of you often and I pray
for you, pray for your pastor. I think I know why he's got this
big pulpit up here. And the first thing I thought
about when you said that taller and bigger and wider is that
it's easier to hide behind when you need to. Sometimes you need
to. But it's good to be with you. And
I cannot think of a better way tonight in a message to close
out this old year of 2014 and begin the new year of 2015 And to talk about what I've entitled
this message, the glory of our priesthood. The glory of our
priesthood. And of course, the glory of our
priesthood, the believers, the priesthood of the believer, as
many call it, is not a glory of our own making or our own
intrinsic value or anything like that. We don't have any glory
of our own. But the glory of our priesthood
is the glory of our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ,
for he is our glory. And I'll show you that tonight,
I hope. That's what I'll be able to communicate
to you as we go through these scriptures. I want to, as I said,
I'm going to be preaching from Ezekiel 44. I actually started
at verse 17, but I want to go to some passages in the New Testament
by way of introduction. Where in, for example, 1 Peter
chapter 2, listen how the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Peter
to describe the people of God. Sinners saved by grace. And he
says in 1 Peter 2 and verse 9, but you are a chosen generation. That's our election by the grace
of God in Christ. And then he says a royal priesthood. a kingdom of priests. We read
in the book of Revelation twice, I believe it is, that how in
Christ Jesus we are made unto God kings and priests. Christ
being our king, and that means we have the authority of the
king by preaching and witnessing and living in his word. But we're a royal priesthood. Now that is an amazing thing,
isn't it? that anything could be said of me or even you that
is royal and that is priestly. But a royal priesthood, he says,
and holy nation. That's a nation made holy in
Christ, a nation set apart by the sovereign grace of God in
Christ. He says here, a peculiar people. And as you know, that word peculiar
has the connotation, it means really purchased. You might have
that in your concordance. were bought and paid for by the
blood of Jesus Christ. We didn't redeem ourselves. He
redeemed us. As we read in the, as Brother
Joe read in the opening, we're redeemed with the precious blood
of Christ. And so we belong to Him. We are
His. We're not our own. We're not
people in and unto ourselves living for ourselves, but we
belong to Him. And then He says that you should
show forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness
into His marvelous light. We're here to show forth His
praise and His glory. And if you keep that in mind,
I believe you'll understand what God the Holy Spirit has for us
back here in this vision of Ezekiel chapter 44. As you know, these
last eight chapters of Ezekiel, the prophet, you remember he's
in captivity with the Jewish people in Babylon at this time. And he's given a vision that's
described in the last eight chapters of Ezekiel. And it's a vision
of a perfect temple. So much detail. I think I told
you one time when you read through all that, you kind of, it's sort
of hard for us being what we are and struggling to read and
understand the Word of God. Sometimes we get bogged down
in all that detail and we just kind of look up and say, why
is all that there? All those measurements. And the
reason that they're there is because what you're seeing here
is a perfect temple of God. I mean, this is the temple in
perfection. And many people will tell you
when they read these verses that this hasn't been fulfilled yet.
That this is a future millennial temple. But I put to you that
that's not true. This has been fulfilled. Because
what you have here is a picture of Jesus Christ himself who is
himself the perfect tabernacle. The perfect temple of God. The
word was made flesh and what? Tabernacled among us, John 1,
14. This is a vision of the perfection of Christ himself in the glory
of his person and in the power and completeness of his finished
work on the cross to redeem us from our sins. It's been fulfilled. I don't believe it would be possible.
Now I know God can do anything, that's not the question. I don't
believe it would be possible to build a temple like this on
earth. And one of the reasons why I
don't believe that it's a future earthly temple made out of physical
materials is because if you'll notice in all the types and pictures
of the Old Testament, there were none of them that were in and
of themselves perfect. They always fell short of the
anti-type, which is Christ. Like you take Noah's ark. That
ark was a type of Christ, but that ark in and of itself wasn't
perfect. But our ark, Jesus Christ in
whom we reside, He's perfect. He was always perfect, wasn't
He? He was that holy thing from His birth. And He walked in perfection
of the law, every jot and every tittle. I believe that's why
you see so much detail in the description of this perfect temple,
because it's talking about every jot, every tittle of the law.
Not one, not one punctuation mark of that law was broken by
Jesus Christ. He's the fulfillment of the law.
But he is perfect. And so we have that here, but
we also have here within this perfect vision, that is fulfilled
in our perfect Lord and Savior, we have the perfect priesthood.
Because in this temple we have the people of God. We reside
in Christ. We are a kingdom of priests.
We're a royal priesthood. And this priesthood is described
here in Ezekiel 44. It begins actually back in verse
15 when he talks about the priest of the Levites, the sons of Zadok. And if you'll recall, that Zadok
was one of the priests who resided in the temple or in the tabernacle
or with the tabernacle under King David. And I won't go into
all the history there because I've got that in another message
and I don't have time tonight. But Zadok was the one priest
who remained loyal to King David and he remained loyal by the
grace of God to King David. When all the people and all the
other priests fled to Absalom, Zadok remained faithful. And
so the sons of Zadok are a better, a more perfect picture of the
people of God, for they are all who by the grace of God remain
faithful and loyal to Christ. Our David. And it says in verse
15, but the priest, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, they kept
the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray
from me. See, Zadok and his people, they
kept the charge of that sanctuary. All the others went astray. And
he says, they shall come near to me to minister unto me. They're ministers of the living
God. Ministers of Christ. That's what we as the people
of God are. We're ministers of Christ. That
means we're servants. We're not reverends. We're not
the clergy. We're ministers. We're servants.
Bond servants is a better term, isn't it? Willing, loving bond
slaves of Christ. Having been redeemed, bought
and paid for, we don't owe a debt to God's law and justice. Christ
paid it. Jesus paid it all. Did he pay it all? He paid it
all. That's one of the things we're
going to commemorate and remember when we take the Lord's Supper.
He paid it all. He left nothing unpaid. And it
says, they shall come near to me. To come near to God is an
awesome thing. To come near to God is an awesome
thing. You remember when the law was
given on Sinai, the message of that law was stay away. Remember
he said even if an animal came close he was to be thrust through
with a spear or a sword. Stay away. There is no access
to God by the works of man. That is what that is teaching.
The law was not given to save us. The law was given to expose
our condemnation and our sin. And it is stay away. But here
he says they shall come near. Now that's what that priesthood
of the believer is all about. We've got access to God. Now how do we have access to
God? Well hold your finger there and turn over to Hebrews chapter
10. Now everything that is going
to be said, I'm going to look at verse 19, begin at verse 19.
Now everything that is said here is based on what Christ alone
as the substitute and surety of his people, God's elect, accomplished
on the cross. By one offering, he hath perfected
them that are sanctified forever. And here it is, verse 19, having
therefore, brethren, boldness. You may have in your concordance
liberty. That means free access. To enter
into what? The holiest. That's the holy
of holies. Now how can I, a sinner, have
boldness to enter the holiest? What in the world could give
me free access to come into the holy of holies? You know how
it was back in the old covenant. Only the high priest could enter
in there one time a year with the blood of an animal, with
the blood of a lamb, a spotless lamb. Well, he says it, by the
blood of Jesus. That's it. And that's all you
need. I read an article years ago a
fellow wrote called the blood is not enough. Not according
to this. The blood's enough. You don't need anything else.
You don't need your works. You don't need your experiences,
your dreams, your vision. Nothing we do can add to what
Christ has already done. Aren't you glad of that? He says,
by the blood of Jesus. He says, verse 20, by a new and
living way. Not a dead way. That old covenant
was death. Paul called it the ministration
of death, didn't he? In 2 Corinthians 3, I believe
it is. Well, this is a new and living way. It's not new in the
purpose of God. It's an eternal message. before
the foundation of the world. But it's newly made, he says
in verse 20, which he hath consecrated, newly made, what that literally
means, for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh. The
Lord said, told you, this is my body which is broken for you.
This is my blood. And having a high priest over
the house of God, that's the house of God there is the family
of God. The household. That's his church. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ? Is he your hope, your savior? Is he your hope of salvation
and everything? Well, you're part of his household
then. You're part of his generation. You're his seed. And having a
high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a
true heart, an honest heart, a broken heart, a sincere heart,
a contrite heart, In full assurance of faith. What's the full assurance
in? Not in our faith, but in Christ,
whom we look to by faith. Having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience, that guilty conscience. That legal conscience. And our bodies washed with pure
water, cleansed by the blood of Christ. That's the priesthood
of the believer right there. Our free access to come near
to God. I've heard preachers say in the
past, they'd say something like, well, I can't pray because I'm
just not worthy enough. My friend, if you ever think
you're worthy enough in yourself, don't pray. Do anything else
but pray. Because that's not what gives
us free access to God. It's the blood of Jesus Christ.
Now go back to Ezekiel 44. Let me just give you some thoughts
as I read down through these scriptures. And here's what he's doing, he's
showing the perfection of the kingdom of Christ. The perfection
of the temple which is Christ himself. The perfection of the
priesthood in Christ himself, our perfect high priest. We have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. The
perfect, the perfect spotless Lamb of God who gave Himself
for us and brought forth an everlasting righteousness of infinite value
whereby God could be just and justify the ungodly. Aren't you glad? That's a blessing,
isn't it? That's happiness that can't be
taken away. And then He gives us also the
perfection of the priesthood of His people. And that's what
this is talking about. Look at verse 17. He says in
this, he says, and it shall come to pass that when they enter
into the gates of the inner court, now you know the high priest
alone could go into the holiest of all. That high priest was
a perfect picture of Christ, is a perfect picture of Christ
here. The high priest himself and the old covenant was not
perfect. You remember the book of Hebrews chapter 5 says that
when he went in with the blood, He had to atone for his own sins
as well as the people. But now Christ didn't have to
do that. Don't let any preacher tell you that he did. He didn't
have to atone for himself. He didn't have to redeem himself.
He didn't have to do anything for himself. In fact, you read
it, Aaron, back in the study in Daniel chapter 9. He was cut
off, but not for himself. He's a substitute. He's a surety. You see, he's a representative
of a people. But that high priest alone went
into the holiest of all. The other priest, which represents
the people of God, believers, sinners saved by grace, they
ministered in the holy place, not the very inner chamber. Now
we, as priests under God, have access to the holy of holies
by the blood of Jesus under the new covenant. But here he's setting
up that temple as a perfect picture. And he says, they enter into
the gates of the inner court, and it says, they shall be clothed
with linen garments, and no wool shall come upon them while they
minister in the gates of the inner court and within. Now what
they have, they are clothed in white linen garments. Well, what does that picture?
Well, that picture is the righteousness which we as believers in Christ
have by virtue of our union with him. It's his righteousness imputed
to us. That's what it is. It's his righteousness,
the merits of his obedience unto death that God charges to the
account of his people. Our sins were charged to Christ. And he drank damnation dry on
the cross of Calvary to pay the sin debt. And he paid it in full. And in the out of that payment
comes righteousness for his people. He was made sin, Christ who knew
no sin, for us that we might be made the righteousness of
God. Is that where we stop? What does it say? In him. I have
righteousness and it's mine because He gave it to me. But it's in
Him. I didn't have anything to do.
I read a quote from somebody, I can't remember which old preacher
said it, but he said, if we have one thread of our works in this
linen garment, it's destroyed. Mark it down. We didn't have
anything to do with this. All we do is get the benefits
of it. You understand that? It's all conditioned on Christ.
It's all fulfilled by Christ. He did it all. That's why we
say He's our all and in all. Look over at the book of Revelation,
chapter 19. Now, the righteousness of God
in Christ imputed to us is often in the scripture, even back in
the very beginning, symbolized and typified as a garment. Now
that doesn't mean that it is a literal coat that I put on
or take off. It doesn't mean that it's outside
of me or something like that in some kind of a physical way.
No, no. All that's simply saying is that
in Christ, God counts me righteous. In his law books, he holds nothing
against me. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Now are you a sinner? Am I a
sinner? Yes. There's no question about
that. But I'll tell you what, if we're washed in His blood
and clothed in His righteousness, I can tell you right now, God
does not charge you. God cannot condemn you. There
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ.
Now, is that real? Well, you bet it is. He's not
up there just pretending that you're something you're not.
It's real. Look at Revelation chapter 19. Look down at verse
8. He's talking about the marriage
of the lamb and his bride. And his bride, it says in verse
8, to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen,
clean and white. That word white means not just
white, it means bright. It means glistering. And it says,
for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. Years and years ago,
I was watching, what's that program? The 700 Club. You may have watched
that. And the fella had a call-in program,
and a lady called in and asked about this verse. He said, the
fine linen is the righteousness of saints, and she asked him,
she said, What is that righteousness of saints? And his answer was
this. He said, that's the works of the saints here on earth that
appear before God by which he rewards us. No, that is not what
it is. No. You see, it is the righteousness
of saints. What is a saint? a sinner who
by nature and by practice has no righteousness, a sinner saved
by grace, a sinner washed in the blood of Christ and clothed
in His righteousness. It is ours because He gave it
to us, not because we work it here on earth. His name is Jehovah
Sid Canu, the Lord our righteousness. That's our name too because He's
our husband and we take His name. But that's what this fine linen
is. This robe of Christ's righteousness, the garments of salvation, that
fine linen, clean and white, no sin. If you want to talk about
anything that cannot sin and is uncontaminated, this is it,
right here. Not us, but this is it. We have
a righteousness that cannot be contaminated. We have a righteousness
that cannot be diminished. We have a righteousness that
cannot be taken away. It's the righteousness of God
in Christ. And it covers us. It protects
us. It protects us from all injuries. It keeps us warm and comfortable
in the spirit of God. It beautifies and adorns us.
And it's compared to linen here because of its whiteness and
its purity. And several times in scripture
you'll see that. But notice something else. Remember
he said there, no wool shall come upon them. Look at verse
18. Now why is it there's no wool
that comes upon them? Well, look at this. It says,
they shall have linen bonnets. That's a turban. upon their heads,
that's what these priests, as they ministered in the holy place.
You remember the holy place, that was where the table of showbread
was, and the candlestick, and the basin. And it says, they
ministered there with this white linen, and shall have linen breeches,
that's their undergarments, upon their loins, and they shall not
gird themselves with anything that causeth sweat. Now what
do you think of when you think of sweat? Think of work, don't
you? Why no wool? Why no sweat? Because sweat, number one, symbolizes
the curse that fell upon man because of the fall. Remember
back in Genesis 3 and verse 19, he said that I will cause you
to work in the sweat of your brow. That was part of the curse. Well, see, in Christ, we're not
cursed. We're not cursed. Christ was
made a curse for us. He took the curse away when he
paid our debt, when he satisfied God's justice. There's no curse
upon God's people now. No curse at all. And then sweat
represents the works of men. You work and you sweat. Well,
my friend, let me tell you something. This garment, this access into
the holiest of all, has absolutely nothing to do with our blood,
our sweat, or our tears. It's all the blood, sweat, and
tears of Christ. When he was in the Garden of
Gethsemane, he sweat great drops of blood. When He was on the
cross of Calvary, He shed His precious blood. It was all the
work of our Savior. None of it has anything to do
with the work that we do. The works of believers that are
called good works are those which are the fruit of the glory and
power and grace of God. And even they have to be washed
in the blood, don't they? To be presented before a holy
God, to be accepted. Salvation is not by our works,
it's not by our blood, it's not by our tears. Christ redeemed
us from this curse by His work, by His blood, as He was made
a curse for us. But now look at verse 19. He
says, now when they go forth into the utter court, that's
the outer court, even unto the outer court to the people, it
says they shall put off their garments wherein they ministered,
wherein they served. and lay them in the holy chambers,
and they shall put on other garments, and they shall not sanctify the
people with their garments." Now what does that mean? Well,
that doesn't mean that believers can take off and put on the righteousness
of Christ that's imputed to them, as if it were a code, like I
can take off this coat. God put it on us. The Bible says
it's God who justifies, and once God justifies, it's a done deal.
And it's never taken away, never taken off. We live our lives
in Christ, don't we? And we can't be taken out of
Christ. We were in Christ before the
foundation of the world. The scripture says, you read
that the other night in Ephesians 1. And even when we fell in Adam,
we fell into sin and death, and we were born dead in trespasses
and sins. But as the one old writer said,
we didn't fall out of Christ. We were still viewed by God in
Christ. But see, this is a picture. It's
a picture of our life here on earth as we do reside in Christ
and it teaches us several things. Let me give you some things I
believe what's being taught here. Now he tells us there right at
the end of the verse, he says, and they shall not sanctify the
people with their garments. Well, the first thing I would
have you notice is this. There is a marked difference
between what God sees when He looks at us in Christ, as to
our standing before Him in Christ, and what men see when they look
at us. Isn't there? I mean, I'm a justified
person. Now, can you tell that by looking
at me? If you say you can, you're lying. I've heard people say,
well, I can see it in your eyes. Well, I don't even know, you
can't even see my eyes from there, but I wear glasses. You can't
see what God sees. The only way you know it is by
God's word. That's why we walk by faith and
not by sight. God said it, that settles it.
But what people see in us You can't see what God sees. God
sees, listen, God looks at his people in Christ and sees no
sin in a legal way so as to condemn us. Now he sees what we do and
what we don't do. Even David prayed that. He said,
when he was talking about his, in his penitent prayer, talking
about the sin he committed with Bathsheba, he said, he said,
against thee and thee only have I done this evil. And he did
it in your sight. God will not behold iniquity
in His people. He does not charge us. He beholds
us as righteous, as holy in Christ. But the world sees us differently.
The world will look at you and say, you call yourself a Christian?
You ever had anybody do that? I have. You might be wondering
what I was doing when they said that. I don't know. But the thing
about it is, the world doesn't know us, the scripture says.
John said that. The world didn't know ourselves. Here's a person who is perfection,
love incarnate, and the world called him a devil, a blasphemer,
a criminal. They don't know us. So understand
that first, that the world doesn't see us as God sees us. But secondly,
What I believe this is teaching is that we cannot make sinners
righteous because we are. The fact that God has chosen
us and redeemed us and regenerated us does not rub off on other
people. Now we pray for the salvation
of people. We pray for the salvation. We
pray that God would reveal himself to other people. But we can't
justify them. We can't sanctify them with our
garments. We cannot cleanse them with our
religion. We cannot make them holy by anything
that we are in Christ. But another thing that this shows
us is this picture teaches us that we're not to defile our
garment with the world. We're to keep ourselves undefiled.
We're not to be conformed to the world. So when they go out
to the people, they take off these linen garments. Now, false
priests, when they go out in the world, they want to put on
garments, don't they? They want to put on collars. They want
to put on bumper stickers that say clergy. They want you to
know who they are. But not this. You see, the righteousness
that we reside in is not of this world. and cannot be seen by
this world. It's only seen with the eye of
faith as God reveals it to his people. And that's what this
is all about. Look at verse 20. He says, neither
shall they shave their heads nor suffer their locks to grow
long. They shall only pull their heads. That means keep their
hair trimmed. That's what it means. You know what he's talking
about there, the shaving of the head or the growing of the locks
long and all of that. That was always things in the
heathen world back then that was associated with idolatry.
And what he's simply saying is that this priesthood is not to
be defiled with idolatry. When we come to know Christ,
what do we do? What does the God of the Holy
Spirit bring us to do? He brings us to repent of our dead works
and our idolatry. We turn to the living God. And
we worship and serve him alone. We're not involved with the religions
of this world. We're not involved with the ceremonies
of this world. We're not involved with that
because we serve the living God as he reveals himself in his
word through Christ and not in any way else. Look at verse 21. He says, neither shall any priest
drink wine when they enter into the inner court. Now, wine in
the Bible sometimes is a symbol of the blood of Christ. We're
going to deal with that tonight in the Lord's Supper, which we
partake by faith in Him. Sometimes wine is a symbol of
the joy of the Holy Spirit as He turns us to Christ. But here
wine is a symbol of intoxication. The judgment is clouded. And
what he is saying here is that when we enter into the inner
court, when we serve the Lord, all of that, we are not to have
our judgment, we are to be of sound mind. completely centered
upon Christ, the author and finisher of our faith, having a clear
view of Him. We're not to be cluttered up
with the works of men, the ceremonies of men. We're not to be cluttered
up with the judgments of men. We're to be centered, focused
on Christ and what He is, His glory, His person, His work. nothing else verse 22 he says
neither shall they take for their wives a widow nor her that is
put away but they shall take maidens of the seed of the house
of Israel or a widow that had a priest before now here he's
not setting down rules for divorce and remarriage by showing the
purity of the priesthood before the Lord. What he's simply saying
here is that this kingdom, this household, this temple is made
up of only one kind of people. And that is God's people, the
elect, chosen of God, redeemed by the blood and regenerated
by the Holy Spirit. And no one else will get in.
No one else will serve God. Only sinners saved by grace. That's why we often call the
church a hospital for what? Sinners. Any real sinner is welcome. Now you know what we mean by
that. People by nature don't know what sin really is. I used
to think I did. But I didn't really understand
anything about sin until the Holy Spirit showed me, myself,
And now I've only seen the top of it. The depths of it we haven't
seen. But that's what he's saying here,
that this household, this family, this priesthood is to be kept
pure. It's only for the people of God. It's only for the people who
know, trust, love, rest in Christ and for nobody else. That's why
we don't build a fence around the Lord's table. and try to
make men subject to our judgments. The Bible says, let a man examine
himself and so let him eat and drink. Isn't that right? This
ordinance that we're going to take, I'll tell you who it's
for. It's for any sinner saved by grace. It's for any sinner
who approaches God by the blood of Christ. It's for any sinner
who sees that he has no righteousness but Christ and him crucified
and raised. Verse 23 says, they shall teach
my people the difference between the holy and profane. Calls them
to discern or to judge between the clean and the unclean. What
he's talking about, he's not talking about setting ourselves
up as judges of men's hearts. We can't do that. I had a man
tell me one time, he said, I don't believe you preach from your
heart. And I asked him, I said, well, how in the world can you
know my heart? I told him, I said, you must have a special gift.
I can't judge your heart. You can't judge my heart. But
here's what we can know by the word of God. We can know the
difference between good and evil. We can know the difference between
the truth and the lie. Because we have God's word. We
can know the difference between a gospel of salvation that conditions
salvation upon the works of men in some way to some degree at
some stage and that which puts it all on Christ. You can know
the difference there. if God the Holy Spirit has given
you eyes to see and ears to hear, and heart and mind to understand.
And that's what he's talking about. Verse 24 he says, And
in controversy they shall stand in judgment, and they shall judge
it according to my judgments, and they shall keep my laws and
my statutes and all mine assemblies, and they shall hallow my Sabbaths. You know what he's saying there?
All judgment in controversy. And there will be controversy.
Am I right? Has there been controversy here? All over the place, hasn't there?
That's just the way the world is. There must need be heresies. But all controversies are to
be settled by the word of God. That's what he said. Not by who
your dad or mother or grandmother or grandfather is. Not by your
preacher and how many years he's been there. It's to be settled
by one thing, the Word of God. Right here. And it will always
bring you to do one thing. When the controversy is settled
by the Word of God, you know where you're going to end up?
Hallowing God's Sabbath. Now what does that mean for us
today? Does that mean we're going to start meeting on Saturday?
No. Does that mean we're going to call Sunday the Sabbath? No.
It means we're going to rest in the glory of Jesus Christ. That's where we'll end up. When
controversies between, now let's put it this way, when there are
controversies between brethren, if those controversies are settled
by men without the word of God, you know where it's going to
end up? Division and looking to men. But when it's settled by the
word of God, it's going to end up in unity resting in Christ. That's what that means. Verse
25, they shall come at no dead person to defile themselves.
This is all the old covenant language, the old covenant law,
the ceremonial law for the priest. No dead person to defile themselves,
but for father, for mother, for son, or for daughter, for brother,
for sister that had no husband, they may defile themselves. Talking
about preparing dead bodies. That's what he's talking about.
Funerals. He says in verse 26, after he is cleansed, they shall
reckon unto him seven days. In other words, a priest that
has to deal with the dead body of a relative. He's to go away
seven days, and in the day that he goeth, verse 27, into the
sanctuary, into the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary,
he shall offer his sin offering, saith the Lord. That's a ceremonial
cleansing. And he says, and all this cleansing. Now what is that talking about?
Well, all of this, I'm not going to go into every little detail
here, but under the old covenant and the priestly laws, they had
strict laws dealing with dead bodies. And every bit of that
was to show in some way or another that death is a punishment for
sin and a defilement. And you have to deal with it
because everyone's going to come to that point. And it was given
to show them that there's no salvation from death in that
law. And so when they were defiled, they had to do what? They had
to be cleansed, ceremonial cleansed. And what did that cleansing represent?
It symbolized salvation from death by the grace of God in
Christ. And that's what it's talking
about. Now the point that's being made here in this picture is
simply this. In Christ, that perfect high
priest, that perfect tabernacle, that perfect sacrifice there
is no death there's only life there's only life in Christ not
death in Christ we are and we we are in him and we dwell as
the Bible calls it the land of the living not the land of the
dead death is not our goal death is not our home death is not
the end of all things for God's people Death is only a Passover,
a passage into eternal life and eternal glory. And look at verse
28. He says, it shall be unto them
for an inheritance. I am their inheritance and you
shall give them no possession in Israel. I am their possession. You remember under the old covenant,
the Levitical priest could own no land. Whenever they would
go into a place and they'd set up their camp, the Levitical
priests, they would be in the center, but they wouldn't own
any land. They were to be provided for by the people in other ways. Well, that's a picture of the
true Israel of God, the church. We have no land in this world.
Christ's kingdom is not of this world. Christ is our inheritance. And Christ is our possession
and we are his possession. And we're not connected. We're
not earth dwellers, as the scripture says. We're in the world, but
we're not of the world. And so our possession is the
inheritance that we have by virtue of our union with Christ. Verse
29, they shall eat the meat offering or the meal offering and the
sin offering and the trespass offering. And every dedicated
thing in Israel shall be theirs. That's a picture of how Christ
not only saves us, but he sustains us. He's the bread of our life. We feed upon him as the bread
of life by faith in him. Not only does he save us, but
he keeps us, he sustains us, he's our health, he's our medicine,
he's our growth, he's everything to us. And then look at the last
two verses. He says, and the first of all the firstfruits
of all things and every oblation, an oblation is an offering remember,
of all and every sort of your oblation shall be the priest.
You shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough,
that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine house. The priest
shall not eat of anything that is dead of itself or torn whether
it be fowl or beast. Now that's just simply saying,
that's the spiritual lesson is this, Christ provides everything
for his people. And I'm telling you, we don't
work for it. We don't. We don't earn it. Again, it's
not our sweat. He provides all things necessary
for our spiritual and eternal health and well-being. No sustenance
will come from the dead things of this world, but it only comes
from what He gives us because of what He accomplished on Calvary.
We gain nothing from dead works. We gain nothing from the ceremonies
of false religion. We have Christ. That means we
have it all. We have His righteousness to
justify us. We have His blood to cleanse
us. We have His life that we might look to Him, rest in Him,
follow Him. He sustains that life. He keeps
us. You know why we won't fall? Because
He won't let go. Isn't that right? If He'd let
go, we'd fall. That's why we can look forward
to the coming. That's why we can thank God for the years past
and why we can thank God for the years to come. I don't know
what's going to happen tomorrow's January 1. I have no idea. I might not make it through the
night. I don't know. You might not either.
But does it really matter if you think about it? He won't
let go of you. He'll never leave you nor forsake
you. That's our hope in Christ. And that's what this perfection
that Ezekiel sings is meant to show the people in captivity.
There is a bright future now. I know it looks bad today. We're
hurting today. We're in captivity today. And
it's because of our sins and our idolatry and our rebellion.
But there's a bright hope for the future. Not because God's
going to raise up a better class of people in America or anywhere
else or in Palestine. But because Christ is coming,
the perfect temple, the perfect tabernacle, the perfect high
priest, the perfect sacrament. He's coming. He's going to do
a great work. One that has never been done
before on earth. A new thing. That's why Ezekiel
called it another place. It's a new thing. It's not new
to God. It's always been in him. But
it's new on this earth. And he's going to put it all,
he's going to set it all right. And you'll be fine in him. May
the Lord bless his word to our hearts.