Turn to Numbers chapter 18 and
19. Numbers chapter 18 and 19. This, of course, is my subject
for this morning. That is Numbers chapter 18 and
19. And in these two chapters, we
actually have four subjects that are dealt with. I'm not going
to, I'll mention each one separately, try to give a brief summary here
in a moment. But what I will do as we look at these four subjects,
I will skim one thought per subject, emphasizing this truth. This
is my subject for this morning. And of course, as I have already
let many of you know, this is my title. I want to emphasize
this, Christ alone. Christ alone. I will preface,
or I will follow that, rather, by saying this. And I'll give
you a quote of another fellow who basically said the same thing,
but said it many years ago. We cannot preach man too low.
Fallen, Adamic mankind, we cannot preach them too low. And that's
not just a free grace talking point. That's a fact. And you
cannot preach Jesus Christ too high. Now you may shave the edge
off of one of the other subjects, then you've messed up. But if
you're putting man as far down as you can get him, and you're
putting Christ as high as you can get him in your Language
and your ability the ability that God's given you whether
you're preaching like I do Standing behind a podium or whether you're
just witnessing to someone in the store somewhere If you could
put man as low as you can get him and put Christ as high as
you could get him You've at least made a noble spiritual attempt
to speak the truth of God in Christ and not lie And those
two subjects are the Touchstone of all true biblical truth Who
man is and where he really is and who Christ is and where he
really is Now before I give you these four subjects and skim
one thought per subject let me just give a couple words of or
thoughts of warning and There are words in these two chapters
and amidst these four subjects that some people use for their
own purposes. There are more than these two
I'm going to mention, so I'm not trying to pick on just two. But Rome will use these two chapters. I'm talking about the papacy.
I'm talking about what is commonly known as Roman Catholicism. And
they use these passages to teach a ecclesiastical hierarchy. You understand what I'm talking
about? You have a pope, and forgive me if I, and I'll even ask a
Roman Catholic, forgive me if I get this order wrong, but I
think I've got this right. You got the pope, then you got
cardinals, then you got bishops, then you got pastors or priests,
okay? I think that's, and it's a hierarchy. And you can look at this, and
you can see some of that, if that's what you're looking for.
You got Aaron, who is the high priest. You got Aaron's sons
who are priests. And of course, then once Aaron
died, then the oldest of Aaron's sons would then become the next
high priest. But you got your priest, your
high priest, you got your priest, Then you got the Levites, who
are the sons of Levi. They are cousins to Aaron and
his sons. But they're not actually doing
the priestly duties. They are there to take care of
the menial things of the tabernacle. But they're not to get touched,
messed with, the sacrificial part. Now, if you read that and
you understood the context to some degree, you understand that.
But that is not what this is about. You can make it say that. And you can use it as a type,
but it's nowhere else backed up in scripture. Now, do you
understand what I'm saying? I could look at this and say,
well, there's a hierarchy. And there is a hierarchy. It
is Christ alone, Christ the head, and then we're the body. That's
the hierarchy. Now, in this body, there may
be some that are considered, as God would see, eyes, and some
as mouths, and some as toes, and some as fingers. But we,
Paul makes it clear, we give the more honor to the less comely
parts, don't we? There's one more. There is another
ecclesiastical idea. It's a old practice. It's a tradition. There are those who would use
these passages and at least, especially another one in the
New Testament, to teach that pastors, preachers, pastor, teachers,
all pastors must be teachers. They must be able to teach. And
everyone who is a teacher, that is holding the public office
in a local assembly, every teacher must also preach, proclaim. He's not there to debate. He's
not there just to discuss, although there's nothing wrong sometimes
with a good debate, if it's done in compassion and love. There's
nothing wrong with those things. But the pastor-teacher, he is
to actually teach what this says, and he's to proclaim it with
no apology. We're not trying to, I'm not
trying to help you understand the scripture. I can't do that.
Only God can do that. I'm simply trying to emphasize
what the word of God says as it says it and leave it up to
God to give us the understanding. But there are those who think
that the pastor teacher is supposed to be salaried. I'm trying to
choose my words quite carefully. Salaried. And that is that the
pastor teacher, his new occupation is pastor teacher. This book
teaches that God's ministers are to be taken care of by God's
people to the best ability they have. And Paul uses the illustration
of the Levites in the New Testament to show that. And no pastor teacher
should have to pay his own way in the ministry of the gospel.
And local assemblies are to do what is within their power by
God Almighty's blessing to make sure that's as sound and as capable
as it can be. But the Apostle Paul, does anyone
who believes the book of God think that the Apostle Paul had
the apostleship of his own choosing? No. But I'll tell you this, it
never calls his occupation an apostle. As a matter of fact,
the scripture tells us what his occupation was. And it uses that
word. You know what his occupation
was? His occupation wasn't an apostle. It wasn't a preacher
of the gospel. That's what God sent him to do. You know what
his occupation was? A tent maker. And he used it
when necessary. Now, when we get to these passages,
I could get in here and I would start hammering on how you're
supposed to take care of me, Joe, and Paul. But that's about
half of us already. So then that would be a great
burden on the rest of you. And we would end up probably,
and don't get me wrong, I know some of you women work, but it
would, you know, Jack, you and Mac and Mason got to be stuck
with everything. You see, I'm not trying to be
picky, but you don't go to these passages and try to teach what
you want to teach from them. These two chapters and these
four subjects are about Jesus Christ alone. He's the high priest,
and he's the priest. He is the Levites. He is the
Levites. Now granted, the high priest
has a seed, a people in himself, and they reap the benefits of
these things, as God willing we will see. But I'm just trying
to point out, this is about Christ alone. Number one. Christ alone dealt with the sin
problem. Chapter 18, first three verses.
This is kind of the start, a summary, or not really a summary, but
gives us the gist of the first subject. And the Lord said unto
Aaron, thou and thy sons and thy father's house with thee
shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary. And thou and thy sons
with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood. And I could
preach on that for the next year or two. But look, and thy brethren
also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou
with thee, that they may be joined unto thee and minister unto thee,
but thou and thy sons with thee shall minister before the tabernacle
of witness. And they shall keep thy charge,
that is, your other Levite cousins. your brethren, okay, and they
shall keep thy charge and the charge of all the tabernacle,
only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary
and the altar, that neither they nor ye also die." What's he saying? Aaron and his sons dealt with
the sacrificial part of the tabernacle alone, even the implements. Their brethren, the Levites in
general, who were not of Aaron's loins, took care of the more
menial tasks. Christ alone purged our sins.
Christ alone purged our sins. Hebrews chapter one is quite
clear. When he had by himself purged our sins. And we know that was when he
died on Calvary because he said, it basically says, paraphrase,
then he went up to glory and was seated at the right hand
of God the Father. He purged our sins when he died on that
tree. Now my sins were very much real to me when I was born and
especially as I began to grow older. And it was very well manifest
to everybody else around me. But my sins did not exist before
God Almighty. Because Jesus Christ purged our
sins and he did it by himself. In other words, he wrought forgiveness
for us when he died on that tree. Now we didn't experience it until
later in regeneration and conversion. but he secured it. Sometimes
I think that's even a cop out. He accomplished it when he died
on that tree. He purged our sins. We can at
best mirror such forgiveness. And we are told to do so, Ephesians
4, verse 32. We are to forgive one another,
be tenderhearted toward one another, forgiving one another, even as
God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven us. But I cannot get you forgiveness
before God. I cannot give you forgiveness
before God. Do you understand what I'm saying?
I know there's a lot more I could say here, but like I said, I've
got to skim the surface on these four things. Christ's forgiveness
was judicial, but it was still real. Most people use the word
judicial, and they're talking about some ethereal thing that
ain't really even real. Until maybe then you believe,
and you repent, and you confess your sins. No, sir. Christ's
forgiveness was judicial, and it was real. Our forgiveness
of one another is an effect of that raw forgiveness Christ did
on that tree. That's what it at least ought
to be. The one problem is God forgave and God forgot. I can
forgive you, but I can't forget. You know? Don Fortner gave an
illustration. And he was talking with some
fella, said he was an elderly believer whom he loved and expected very
much. And that believer basically said, I just tell people like
it really is. That's just who I am. I tell
people like it really is. Sounds pretty noble, don't it? Well, Don said, I scooted over
close to him. Kind of go over close to him.
Brother, if you're so scalded. He said, I just tell them like
it is, and I let it go. That's what he said. I'm sorry.
I just tell it like it is, and I just let it go. Don said I
scooted over real close to him and got up close to him and said,
brother, you throw scalding water in my face, you might forget
about it, but I won't. I'll be left with the scars of
it every time I look in the mirror. Now, you understand what I'm
saying? You see, we are to forgive one another, even as God, for
Christ's sake, has forgiven us. That means freely. We're to forgive
even before. Truthfully, if truth be said,
we're to forgive even before a brother or sister who has offended
us asks for forgiveness. That's tough. That's tough. But God did it and satisfied
justice at the same time. Christ alone dealt with the sin
problem. It's not about me trying to get
you to confess your sins. We'll look at that in a moment.
But there are those who say, actually think if we confess
our sins, he's just and faithful to forgive us our sins. And they
actually teach unbelievers that if you'll just confess your sins,
God will forgive you. That's not true. That's only for believers. That's only for believers. Christ
alone purged our sins. We can at best and should mirror
such forgiveness. Number two, Christ alone partakes
of the choice parts. That's the second subject. We
see that, a portion of it, in chapter 18, verse 8. And the
Lord spake unto Aaron, Behold, I have given thee the charge
of mine heened offerings, of all the hallowed things of the
children of Israel. Unto thee have I given them by reason of
the anointing, and to thy sons by an ordinance forever. This
shall be thine of the most holy things reserved from the fire.
Every oblation of theirs," that is, there were certain parts
of meat of the animals, and it's a whole lot of stuff there because
Christ's person had to have more than one sacrifice to typify
it. But there are some portions of a beast mason that were burnt,
and burnt to a crisp. And other portions were there
for Aaron and his sons to partake of. And them only. Not all the
other Levites who still were ministering about the tabernacle,
but only for the high priest and the priest. Remember, not
all Levites were priests. Only Aaron and his sons were
high priest and priest. And it says, this shall be thine,
of the most holy things, reserved from the fire, every oblation
of theirs, every meat offering of theirs, every sin offering
of theirs, every trespass offering of theirs, which they shall render
unto me, shall be most holy for thee and for thy sons. In the
most holy place thou shalt eat it. Every male shall eat it. It shall be holy unto thee. You
see it? Again, I say, Christ alone partakes
of the choice parts. And we see this here typified.
Aaron and his sons alone had the right to eat of certain parts
of these sacrifices. But it's more than that. You
see, Christ alone was given the choice part. That's found in
Ephesians chapter one. Now let's look at it. Christ
alone was given the choice part. I should say the choice parts.
Where are we at? Ephesians chapter one. And let's
look at verse 20. which he wrought in Christ, I
know we're starting kind of in the middle, but which he wrought
in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at
his own right hand into heavenly places, far above all principality
and power and might and dominion and every name that is named,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. In
other words, this will never change. It's not Christ only
or Christ alone now. Then one day, it'll be different. No, it's gonna be like that forever.
Even in the new heavens and the new earth, the lamb is the light
thereof. And the lamb, I will say, although
it doesn't say it this way, the lamb is the delight thereof.
Heaven will not be heaven without Jesus Christ. The new heaven
and new earth will be just another bad start without Jesus Christ. He's all to that. But anyway,
look at it. Far above all principality, power,
and hath put all under his feet. Things doesn't destroy him, it's
all. And it put all things under his feet and gave him to be head
over all things to the church. Somebody says, who's in charge?
You got three preachers, who's in charge? Jesus Christ is. Jesus
Christ is. And God help us, men, you two
men right there, God help us to never begin to argue over
the doctrine of the gospel of Christ. You understand what I'm
saying? God help us. But it surprises
me that for these many years you had a man up in his 60s or
70s, y'all could correct that later, to hand me a wet behind
the ears 23-year-old step behind the pulpit with him. I don't
know if I'd do that today. Do you understand what I'm saying? Above all, Christ Christ alone
partakes of the choice parts. Christ alone is given the choice
part, right? He alone. And we are allowed
to partake in him. Chapter 18, verse 11. And this is thine, talking about
this meat that you and your sons eat in the most holy place. And
this is thine, the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave
offerings of the children of Israel, I have given them unto
thee and to thy sons and to thy daughters. Isn't that amazing? How do we partake? Only in Christ. Only in, only! in Christ. It is Christ alone. Bad English,
but I ain't got nothing. I ain't got nothing apart from
Jesus Christ. And look back at Ephesians 1,
look at it, verse 22, and have put all things under his feet.
Now you know who he is. That's Christ. And it's given
him to be head over all things to the church. I'm not the head.
No pastor teacher is the head of his church. Leaders, yes. To be loved and supported and
respected, yes. But they are not God. And they
do not speak ex cathedra unless they speak directly from this
book. Then God is speaking, not them. But look at what it goes on to
say. I put all things under his feet, giving him to be head over
all things to the church, which is his body. And then this last
phrase, the fullness of him Now if I'd have been writing this,
I'd have put it differently. But this is Paul being moved
by the Spirit of God to write, the fullness of him that filleth
all in all. That is a mouthful. I could spend weeks and I don't
believe I would really have the ability to preach it in a way
that that preaching would help you understand it. But let me
try to give you these things. Maybe God will be pleased to
use this. Four things. Christ filleth all who are filled. Is that not what this is saying?
Christ filleth all who are filled. Secondly, the filled partake
of His fullness. Right? There is no other fullness
other than His fullness. The passage teaches this as well,
does it not? But here's the third thing. Christ
was never empty since He is the fullness. Right? Christ is or was, and I could
say is, never empty since He is the fullness. But yet it says
this too. The fourth thing. Yet our fullness
is essential to his fullness. Did you read it? The fullness,
talk about the church, of him who filleth all in all. Not just those who are filled
by him, but the fullness of him who filleth all in all. So all
these are true at the same time. And somebody says, explain it.
Don't have to. I'm here to preach it. Christ
gained nothing by us. But yet without us, he would
have been nothing. Because folks, this was the sovereign
purpose of God. This is why the second person
of the Trinity, as we would sometimes say, became flesh. Forever. You understand that Jesus Christ,
the Son, Jesus of Nazareth, will remain in a body, a human body,
glorified, granted. A body that we don't understand
right now. We can't comprehend it right now. Forever, though. Forever. That's pretty profound,
is it not? Christ alone partakes of the
choice parts, but bless God, if you're in the end, you can
eat of it, too. You are filled. Not could be
filled. You are filled. The sad part
is we usually just don't feel it. Any hunger we have, any lack
we have, it's the flesh. Do you understand that your new
nature, your new man is not going to be better one day whatever
you're raised in his likeness? Do you understand that we already
have the full perfection that we were ever had? It'll just
be outside of this old body and old nature. And it'll be with
a new body and the old nature gone. and will just then be the
new man. That boggles my mind. Number
three, Christ alone earned, that is merited, was rewarded, received
payment for his wrought service. That is in chapter 18, verse
31. And ye shall eat It in every place, ye and your
households, for it is your reward for your service in the tabernacle
of the congregation. Christ earned all the glory he
had as a man. You understand? Now he had glory
with the Father before the world was. But he, Mason I can't even
explain this, but he prayed, Father glorify thy son. Not because
he didn't have any glory, although much of that glory was hidden
at that time, but he still had full glory, Joe. But yet he prayed,
Father, glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. Christ alone earned, as merited,
was rewarded, received payment for his raw service. Aaron and
his sons earned the right to eat of that meat. You know they
earned the right to eat of that because this was God's commandment
in that dispensation Christ alone earned glory and he did it chiefly
in this one way He was obedient unto death even And I will say
only the death of the cross Because he to get this glory Mason he
could not just die death in his bed. I He had to die the death
of the cross. Wherefore, Paul writes, God hath
highly exalted him. Isn't that glorious? Christ alone
earned the glory, but we partake of that glory, but only in Christ. Colossians chapter two. Somebody
said, well, preacher, this ain't nothing new. Well, if I start
preaching something new, I hope Paul and Joe take me to the side
somewhere and say, all right, Walter, your newness is heresy. Because anything new is not gonna
be true. We preach the old past, the old
ways. Look at what Paul wrote in Colossians.
We partake of that glory, but only in Christ. But we do partake
of that glory in Christ. Colossians 2, briefly. Verse
6, as ye therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, then you're
supposed to walk the same way. So walk ye in him. Now some people
like to separate salvation and service. It can't be done. You're
not saved because of service, but you are saved to serve. rooted and built up in him, and
established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding
therein with thanksgiving. Beware, lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after
the rudiments of the world." And somebody says, what is that?
It's everything that's not this, and not after Christ. That's
what it pulls down. Everything that's not after him
is the other things. Now that is simple enough, but
that includes a whole lot of stuff that we gotta be wary of.
Now don't it? But the glory is, there's only
one person, if we're really concerned about, we're on the right track.
Right? And not after Christ, for in
Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Even, I will say, bodily. Bodily. And ye are complete in
him. Isn't that good? Isn't that good? Number four. No, wait a minute. Colossians, go back. Let me get,
I know it's, go back to Colossians or stay there if you're still
there. Colossians, chapter two, verse 18 and 19.
Let no man beguile you of your, what? Reward. But I didn't earn
it. Christ earned it for me. Christ
earned it for me. Let no man beguile you of your
reward in a voluntary humility of worshiping of angels, intruding
into those things which you have not seen, vainly pluffed up by
his fleshly mind, and not holding the head. He's basically saying
the same thing in a different way as he said over here in verse
eight. and not holding the head, from
which all the body, by joints and bands, having nourishment
ministered, and knit together, increaseth, and thank God it
says it this way, whether I see it or not, whether I can perceive
it or not, it is this way, and knit together, increaseth, with
the increase of God. You and I have in Christ, even
in our experience. Everything we need in Christ,
right now for right now. As an illustration, some say,
well, I'm concerned about dying. I understand. Here lately, death
has been on my mind a whole lot more than it's ever been on my
mind before. And I have to admit, just from
a personal perspective, I don't relish The thought of how I might
die, Mason. It might be a horrible death.
It may be in my bed at sleep, in my sleep at night. I don't
know. But I will tell you this. Jesus
Christ has the key of death and hell. And death is but the end
of this veil of sorrows. if we believe God. No matter
how horrible that death may be when it comes. Some of us may
get sick. We've seen this. May get sick
and go through a horrible death. A long dying death. And some of us may just sit down
in our recliner and within a few minutes or moments, gone. Gone. But either way, once you're gone,
You're gone. And this is all over with when
you're gone. When you're gone. Christ alone,
not only that, number four, Christ alone is our constant purification,
the red heifer. He is the only purification for
any and for all. Even the priest, chapter 19,
verse seven. Even the person who burnt the red heifer, and
you burned it all. All of it, burnt, even the person
who burnt the red heifer, chapter 19, verse eight. Even the gatherer
who gathered up the ashes after the heifer was burned and carried
into a clean place without the cap, even the gatherer, even
those who had contact with death or a dead thing, chapter 19,
verse 11, chapter 19, verses 14 through 19. In other words,
there is no constant purification apart from Christ. apart from
Christ. Christ alone is that. Christ
alone is our constant purification. Turn to 1 John. 1 John. 1 John chapter one. Christ alone is our constant
purification. Verse six, if we say we have
fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not
the truth. Here's the question, does that
mean if we sin, if we commit a sin, if that's true, all of
us are goners? Because look at what he goes
on to say. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves
the truth's not innocent, even when you're walking in the light.
As a matter of fact, the only people who really see they have
sin are those who are walking in the light. Those who are walking
in the darkness love the sin that is the darkness, but don't
know that it's darkness. If we say we have no fellowship
with him and walk in darkness, I was taught years ago, not here
by any pastor that's been a part of this group, but years ago
I was actually taught that means you deserve the Lord. Maybe you
don't get rid of sin altogether, but you sure put a good whooping
on it. Well it goes on to say if we,
verse 10, if we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and
his word is not in us. Walking in the light is not to
walk sinlessly, it's not even to walk with less sin. It's to
walk knowing the sin that's in ya. And knowing the sin that
you are. And knowing that he is, verse,
chapter two, verse one, Jesus Christ is the righteous. Do you see it? He is the righteous. As a matter of fact, he's even
my righteousness. Look, if we say we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship one with another. And here, let's me know, it's
not about being sinlessly perfect or doing better. There's some
things I wish I could just get rid of. But sometimes it seems
like the harder I try, the worse it raises its ugly head. You
ever stomp a snake and miss the head? All you've done is angered the
beast then. You've angered the beast then.
The problem is our sin's like this. And it's very hard to whack
the head. Because that beast is a wily
beast. The problem is we never can crush
the head. Who's the one person alone that
God Almighty promised would crush the serpent's head? Jesus Christ,
the seed of the woman. But if we walk in the light as
he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and look, and
the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin. So walking in the light and having
fellowship with God, having fellowship with one another, ain't about
not having sin or not sinning. Is it? It's about knowing who
I am as me to some degree, by nature and by grace. And it is
knowing to some degree who God is, that he is light. And in him is no darkness. He does not walk in darkness.
He ain't got no darkness. You got it? And then he goes
on. My little children, these things
right under you, that you sin not. This is not excuse. This is not license. That's the
word, people. You know, you excuse me and you
give people license. I don't have to give you a license. I
could tell you, you're gonna go to hell tomorrow if you don't
quit sinning. And you know what you're gonna go out and do this
evening? You're gonna go out and sin. I don't have to give you a license. My little children, these things
write unto you that ye sin not, and if any man sin, not confess. Now confess, we
should. If we confess our sins, he's
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from
all unrighteousness. And I remember what Art Nuenswander
said right here in this place many years ago. He said there's
one thing we do in this passage, that's confess your sins. God
does everything else. I like that. And it's true. That's
true. So they say, well that's works.
Of course it is. It's good works. See, it's a good work to confess
your sin. It's a bad work to hide them and act like you don't
have them. And sin not, and if any man sin,
we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And he goes on to say in verse
two, there ain't no other place to get it. Christ alone. And he is the perpetuation for
our sins and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. Black, white, Jew, Gentile, bond,
free, rich, poor, ugly, beautiful. If you're going to have forgiveness,
it will be in Jesus Christ alone. Christ alone. Only Christ, this
is what James Smith lived 1802 to 1862, that's what, 60 years
at best, wasn't it? He did, he pastored, I am told,
I read that he actually pastored at the Metropolitan Tabernacle,
which later, of course, we know, most people know for Charles
Adams Spurgeon, but he was there before Spurgeon was. He wrote
this, my object is to lead the mind. from self to Jesus, from
sin to salvation, from the troubles of life to the comforts of the
gospel. My aim is to humble the sinner
and exalt the savior, to strip the creature and to place the
crown on the head of God's free grace. I cannot ascribe too much
to Jesus or too little to man. Amen.