I'm so blessed to be here tonight.
I've been blessed to be here this past week to be with Rupert
and Betty, some very, very, very dear friends, and to visit with
your pastor. It's just been a real, real blessing. Remember, as we travel home tomorrow
and Like Joshua said about a group of folks, they're going to be
hearers of wood and drawers of water. That airplane pilot tomorrow
is a hearer of wood and drawer of water. He's going to be a
servant of God, trusting that he'll take us home safely. I think I've just about convinced
your pastor to come to Oregon and preach for us in June. It has come with concessions,
of course. The last concession that I've
had to make is this, that we will not serve him any
liver, heart, brains, or kidneys of any animal. So I think I'll
talk to the ladies and they'll be able to figure that out quite
well. They're going to be so happy.
We're looking forward to your pastor coming and being with
us in June and speaking five or six times. Our people are
going to love him just like you do. A gospel preacher who loves
God, loves Christ, loves the gospel, and loves preaching it. Now, Brother Gary's daughter
tonight asked me if I was her dad's twin. And I said, yes,
that's a great compliment. We both have a nice vest on tonight. Would you join me in the book
of Luke for two readings, the book of John for two readings,
and then we're going to go back to the book of Leviticus. My
grandmother rode in a covered wagon and saw on TV a man on
the moon. She saw so much change in her
life. And in her bedroom were some
boxes, candy boxes, the old style candy boxes. And she had all
those candy boxes filled with pictures. And in one of those
boxes was a box of those stereographs, where they had two pictures on
a cardboard card and a stereograph reader. And she had a lot of
stereographs of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. and the
results of that. And I think in later years, I
found out that whenever we became a nuisance, she'd open that box
up and give us those and let us look at them. I thought she
was just being nice to us, but I think it was because we were
being a nuisance. But we got to see those in stereo. Now,
pictures are one thing, but reality is so much different. I could
look at those pictures as a kid, and I doubt if I could find anybody
that has ever gone through that. I think they're probably, most
of them are all gone now. But if you really want to know
what it was like, you had to be there. Now, in the book of
Luke and in the book of John, there are some verses of scripture
that share a whole lot with me about the Old Testament, that
it is pictures. It is types, and it is shadows,
and we make a serious mistake when we build our faith on those
shadows. We need to have our faith built
on the person that those shadows represent. So if you'd look with
me in the book of Luke, chapter 24, and verse 27, the Lord Jesus
is sharing some words with those two on the road to Emmaus, and
it says in verse 27, at Moses, Luke chapter 24 verse 27, and
beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them
in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Now Moses is included in that.
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. And in chapter
24, verse 44 of that book, it says, and he said unto them,
these are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with
you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written
in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning
me. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures. It was truly the
revelation of Jesus Christ to his people that allows us to
see what the scriptures are about. I was visiting with your pastor,
and when the Lord showed him grace, the Bible became a new
book. And I just related to that. When the Lord showed me his son,
the Bible became a different book. It wasn't a book of do's
and don'ts, it was a book of declaration of Jesus Christ.
Now, going over to the book of John chapter 1, verse 45, these
words that were brought back, Philip find his brother, Philip
findeth Nathanael. John chapter 1 verse 45, And
Philip findeth Nathanael, and said unto him, We have found
him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write. Jesus of Nazareth, the son of
Joseph. We have found Him who all that
Old Testament, and at that time that's all they had, but it was
such a revelation to them to find out that the Old Testament
was about this one person, and He identified Him. He was led
by the Holy Spirit to identify the person that the Old Testament
was about, and that is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. And then
in John 5, 46 and 47, would you turn there with me? John chapter
5, verse 46. And these words are left for
us and for our consideration. For had ye believed Moses, ye
would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if you believe
not his writing, excuse me, his writings, how shall you believe
my words? They claim to believe all the
law, but the test was Jesus brought it to their attention. If you
don't believe me, you don't believe what was written in that because
Moses wrote of me. Now with that in mind, would
you travel back with me to the book of Leviticus? And there
in chapter eight, there are three or four verses of scripture I'd
like to read and make a few comments on. As we see these pictures,
There were a few in Israel. that did not depend on those
animal sacrifices. I'm convinced that many of them
did. Just like people depend on ordinances today, or worshiping
of days, or worshiping of things, or doing things for righteousness
sake, there were many in Israel that saw these things as the
absolute command of God in order for them to have righteousness. But there were a few the elect
according to the purpose of God, that saw that these were the
pictures just like God's people see today. They were the pictures
of the person that truly was their savior. We look at those
elements of the Lord's Supper and baptism the same way that
believers looked at these sacrifices. They are a picture, a reminder,
but they are not the reality. The reality sits at the right
hand of the Father making intercession for us. He is the Son that has
made intercession for His people. He died in their place. Now,
in Leviticus chapter 8, verses 22, 23, and 24, A very interesting
observance took place at the ordination of Aaron and his sons. They had been dressed in some
of the best clothes that could be bought, but they were handmade,
some without seam, decorated, gold, purple, scarlet, all of
them significant in the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And as they're dressed by Moses, it comes a time when there is
one of the rams is taken and some of the blood is caught.
And some of that blood that was caught, we read about here in
these three verses in Leviticus 8, verse 22. The scriptures share
this. And he brought the other ram,
the ram of consecration, and Aaron and his sons laid their
hands upon the head of the ram. And he slew it, and Moses took
the blood of it and put it upon the tip of Aaron's right ear
and upon the thumb of his right hand. and upon the great toe
of his right foot. And he brought Aaron's sons,
and Moses put the blood upon the tip of their right ear, and
upon the thumbs of their right hands, and upon the great toes
of their right feet, and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the
altar round about. Now, I'm convinced because we
have those verses in the New Testament and they share with
us in the book of Hebrews several times it shares, these things
were a type of, these things were a picture of, but they're
not the true. If they had been able to bring
righteousness to the people, there would have been no need
of the Redeemer. That's brought out several times
in the book of Hebrews. But they could not produce righteousness. They might have produced self-righteousness,
but they could not produce Christ's righteousness. So they are only
a picture. They're to lead us. They're to
show us that Christ is our righteousness. And in this picture, I had to
ask this question about it in a solemn ceremony as Moses took
some of the blood and put it upon the right ear, the right
thumb, and the right big toe. This was a very dramatic presentation
to the children of Israel, no doubt. But I have to ask this
question. What does this have to do with
Christ? How can I see something here
that is of Christ? I want to say this, before we
go any further, that the only thing that Aaron provided in
this was his ear, his thumb, and his toe. He did not participate
in this. He did not go get the blood himself.
He did not put it on himself. Someone else did that for him.
All he did, as our first father, in the outside of the Garden
of Eden, when he was covered with the skins of animals, all
he did was stood silent. And I'm convinced that that's
what Aaron did when Moses brought that blood and dipped his finger
in that blood and put it on his ear and put it on his thumb and
put it on his great toe, that all he did was stand there and
wait for this to happen to him. He did not participate. He was
a recipient. We find that picture so often
throughout the Old Testament that they were not participants,
but they were recipients. Now, as we look at this, we find... I'm going to share some of the
things and no one, I'm never going to say this is just what
it is because there's so much more to it. But I see this here
and I just want to share that, that the blood on the right ear
was to teach him as a mediator between God and his people, it
was his duty to listen to every word of the Lord. Now he is already
failing before he gets started, because he's a man. He can do
no more hearing of the word of God than we can, even though
he's got this miter on his head and all of these fine clothes
on him, and he has some blood on his ear. He cannot do any
more hearing than we can. And if we look into the other
passages in the Old Testament, it tells us that we must listen
to all the word of God. My goodness, have you ever done
that? I can't even read it right. But here it is, blood, and it's
a symbol to Aaron that he must listen to every word of God. The blood on his right thumb
to remind him that he was to execute all God's will. And as
a man, he was unable to execute all God's will. Boy, we find
ourselves at times, and I'm sure that Aaron did at times, find
himself, what is God's will? I know not how to pray as I ought.
I'm thankful for the intercessor that is able to take care of
that, but I don't know how to pray as I ought. I wish, as Brother
Gary mentioned tonight, I wish you'd pray for my brother, my
youngest brother. I love him. He had hip surgery. He's gone through it quite well.
I've had a couple of opportunities to talk to him about the gospel.
He has been convinced three or four or five times to make a
decision for Jesus, and he has told me one time I was visiting
with him, Norm, there is nothing to religion. I said, you're right
on that count. There is nothing to religion.
But he's given me an opportunity to talk to him, and the last,
well, the next to the last time, he said, Norm, is there anywhere
around here where I live that preaches what you just talked
about? I says, no, there's not. It's a gracious thing when God
raises up a place when people can hear something. It's all
of grace. All of grace. And then he touched
his big toe with a little blood. The blood to the right big toe
was to remind him to walk in all the word and way of God. And as a man, he was unable to
fulfill this requirement. He was sunk before he got started.
He had no capacity to do any of this. The best he could do
was going to fall short. He was unable to keep all of
God's word, do all of God's will, and to follow God in every capacity. He's unable. My goodness, he's
a man. He falls into the category of
fallen in Adam. He is a sinner by nature. He
is in that great host of people that are the children of Adam
that have inherited from Him the nature of sin, and we have
no capability. We are unable, and we cannot
come to God on our own, just like He couldn't. He has the
blood on His ear, the blood on His thumb, and the blood on His
large toe, and it is a symbol and a type and a shadow of someone
who can do all that. Our great High Priest, the Lord
Jesus Christ, The demand from God is holiness, and there is
only one that meets that demand. The demand of God is to do all
his word. The demand of God is to do all
his will. And the demand of God is to go
all his way. And we find that we're incapable
of doing that. We fall so far short that we
can't even dot the I in the word righteousness. We're unable. We just can't even get to that
point. Aaron needed help before he got started. And I believe
Aaron knew it. There were a few in Israel that
understood they needed help before they could get started. Not all
Israel is of Israel, but there were a few in Israel that understood
The 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews shares some of those
guys. We say, my goodness, I wish there
were more in our day and time. I wish I could go to Portland
and go to church. I wish I could go to Medford
and go to church. This is in Oregon. I wish I could go all
over the state of Oregon and go to church. Well, you can go,
but you're not going to hear anything. Very limited. Like here, very
limited. But where you find it, I believe
Aaron had found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Aaron needed
help before he got started. Aaron as high priest was lost
before he started. But there is one, there is one
that has heard every word of God and did it. that did all
the work of God perfectly, and walked in all the ways of God
perfectly, and he is called Jesus Christ the righteous. Turn with
me, if you would, to 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2. We have this name given, and
the church of the living God, saints of God, the sheep of his
pasture rejoice in this name. of the Lord Jesus Christ, this
declaration about his very nature. He is without sin. That's the
problem with Aaron as high priest. He was a sinner. But this one
is without sin. This one was impeccable. He came to this sin-cursed earth
without sin, had no sin, incapable of sinning. I've had people say,
oh, he could have sinned. No, he could not have been the
Savior. He could not have that nature. It is so necessary that
the virgin birth take place. It is absolutely essential. Without that, we do not have
a Savior. One of the chapters we're going
to be looking at at the Dalles is about childbirth and those
babies, male and female, that were born in their birth. in their conception. They've
been passed on that seed of Adam, their sinners, in conception. They pass it on to their children.
They pass it on to their children. They pass it on to their children.
But this one came by the Virgin Mary and by
the Heavenly Father He was perfect. One of those chapters in the
book of Leviticus says, I know this is to be the truth. Has
anyone here had a runny nose? Your body betrays us that we're
sinners. We can say in our mind, the heart
is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. We can
say in our mind, oh, I'm doing well. You got a pimple, you got
a scab, you got a bruise, you got a runny nose, You got a cancer,
you got a leprosy, your body's betraying you right in front
of you. All those things are pointed
out in one of those chapters. It's either 11, 12, 13, or 14. Leprosy is brought out. Oh, and
our houses have leprosy. You ever had dry rot? Our houses
are betraying the fact that we're sinners. All these things point
to the fact that we fell in Adam. We need help. We need Christ. We need the perfect
ransom. We need the perfect Savior. So
here in 1 John 2 and verse 1, it shares with us something so
valuable to the church. It is so necessary. We're so dependent upon it. We relish, we worship Him because
of it. that He's Jesus Christ the righteous. We bow before Him. We'll sing
to Him. We'll adore Him. We'll call Him
Lord because that's who He is. 1 John 2, verse 1, My little
children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.
And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous. Now, he is so rich in his righteousness. He is so rich in his righteousness.
He is so rich that he can take his rich righteousness and credit
it to our account. Now, I'm far from understanding
it, but I'm the one that's going to stand in line to get it. We
need that credit of His righteousness. Our righteousness is as filthy
rags. We can have the blood on our
ear, the blood on our thumb, and the blood on our toe, and
walk away and say, that's enough. And we're still undone sinners,
just as Aaron was, the high priest. But this one, he has done, he's
heard the word of God perfectly. He has done the word of God perfectly.
He has gone the way of God perfectly. And that put him on the cross.
And there he died a ransom for many. In Psalm 145, would you
turn there with me? Psalm 145. Psalm 145. Knowing just a little bit about
human nature, I'm convinced that many of those people that saw
that happen to Aaron that day, Moses come with some of that
ram's blood, put it on his ear and on his thumb and on his foot,
says, oh boy, it was good for us to be here to see that. That's
quite a man. He's been ordained. And Aaron
knew more about it immediately. I'm a sinner by nature. I'm a
sinner by practice. I'm a sinner by choice. Some
saw the picture. We have a restaurant out in Oregon.
Do you have Denny's here? Oh, they have some of the finest
menus in the world. Boy, they have the prettiest
menus. But I've never sat down once to eat a menu. I want what
that menu represents. It's a fool that would take the
menu. It's a fool that would take the
picture. And the Bible says, the fool hath said in his heart,
there is no God. God looked down from heaven to
see if there were any that sought after him, if any, and he found
none. That's pretty good commentary
on the fall, God's words. All right, here in the Psalm
145 and verse 17, we have these wonderful words about the Lord. Psalm 145 and verse 17 says,
the Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works." Hallelujah. Someone is able to do what Aaron
pictured. Someone is able to do it. His
name is Jesus of Nazareth. He's the one that was identified.
We have found him who Moses and the scriptures have declared
Jesus of Christ of Nazareth. You know, their hearts were made
warm. So of the Lord is righteous in all his ways. The Lord has
such good credit with the father that he can impute that credit
to sinners. And he does. Turn with me one
more time to the book of Romans. Romans chapter four. Romans chapter
four. Now, most of the New Testament
is a quote of the Old Testament. They picked out a passage of
scripture or were given a passage of scripture and brought a message
on it, just like we do. Much of the book of Romans is
a quote from the Old Testament. Much of the book of Hebrews is
a quote from the Old Testament. And throughout the Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John, the Lord Jesus pulled in passages from the Old
Testament and brought a message on it. Much of the New Testament
is just the Old Testament, and they had a message about it.
Well, here in the book of Romans chapter four, the Holy Spirit
gave the Apostle Paul some words to share with the brothers and
sisters at Rome about the Lord Jesus Christ. In Romans chapter
four, verse one, what shall we say then that Abraham, our father,
as pertaining to the flesh has found? For if Abraham were justified
by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. For what saith the scripture?
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
It wasn't his belief, because that's from the Lord. I read a, I think it was Dr.
Hawker, mentioned in one of his writings, Robert Hawker, said,
you know, talking about faith, if you're going down a river
and you're about to drown, and somebody comes up with a rope
and throws it to you and gets it around you and pulls you to
shore and you're just tuckered out. Do you worship the rope
or do you worship the person who pulled you in? And he said
that rope is like faith. Don't worship faith. Worship
the Lord who provided the faith. That's what God's people do.
He says in verse 4, now, to him that worketh is a reward not
reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. Even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man. Now we're going to another passage
of scripture, another proof text. The Psalms. Go on to the Psalms,
and it says, even David also describeth the blessedness of
the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works. And I can just see some of those
folks down there at Rome saying, hallelujah. Hallelujah. My righteousness is as filthy
rags. And this one, born of a virgin,
perfect in every capacity, he didn't have a pimple. You know what? If I spit on somebody,
I can make them so sick they could die, but he spit and put
it on people's eyes and healed them. When I was teaching High
school wood shop, I had to go through blood-borne pathogen
instructions. Wear gloves. Be sure you're covered
and all this stuff because there's going to be somebody injured
in my shop. His blood cleanseth us from all unrighteousness.
He's got everything about him is perfect. His tears are perfect. His saliva is perfect. His blood
is perfect. Everything about Him is perfect.
He's the perfect Son of God. So He provides, He gives all
that we need. God demands serious. Follow Him
in every way and we fail. He demands serious. God provides
in Christ Jesus all that he required of us. And then it goes on to
say here, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose
sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. I don't know how it's capable.
But my Bible tells me that you and I stand before the Lord as
if we had never sinned. You and I stand before the Lord
without spot or wrinkle. You and I stand before the Lord
without sin. I don't understand it all. But the scriptures are so plain
of the capacity of the Lord's salvation that nobody that stands
before Him will be accounted as a sinner. They will be found
in Christ, in His righteousness, in His perfection, in His presentation. And so, that blood was only a
picture. But the Savior has all of those
requirements fulfilled. Now, it was interesting to me.
if we went another place, but I won't. But in the book of Leviticus
chapter 14, when the leper was cleansed, do you know what they
did with him? Put blood on his ear, blood on
his thumb, and blood on his big toe. We have the blood of Christ. We're able to do his requirements
in Christ.