It is so good to be back with
you again. Shelby and I always look forward to our trips out
here to the left coast, and we enjoy your company. Some of you
have already asked tonight about my exposition, John, you knew
it was coming out, and the two volumes, the publishers released
that in August. If you'd like to get it, you
can order it anywhere. You can get it at whatever it
costs us. I don't know what that is. It's pretty blunt. She can
take care of it for you if you'd like to get a copy of that. And
I just got word from the publisher last night that he's almost ready
to publish my next work, which will be just a very small book,
probably not more than 100, 150 pages. But I've been working
on it for 10, 12, 15 years. The title of the book
he's given is Going Home. And it's just a series of chapters
on heavens and its glory awaiting us. Good title for the book,
Going Home. Some of us are getting there.
And so if you want a copy of that, you see Shelby, and she'll
see to it you get word about it once it's released. And I
am presently working on wrapping up a commentary on Exodus, discovering
Christ in the book of Exodus. And I've been working on that
all week while I've been here. And so I would encourage you
to read at your leisure tonight, tomorrow, and Sunday. Try to
read it all three days, Exodus 28 and 29. That will be the passage
for which I will be preaching to you tonight, tomorrow, and
Sunday morning, if the Lord will allow me to finish preparing
the message for Sunday morning. Turn with me tonight to Exodus
chapter 28. Just hold your hands there. We will begin in the book
of Hebrews. Moses' brother, God's servant
Aaron, was appointed by God to be Israel's high priest. The Lord God told Moses that
you will be a God to him, and he'll be a prophet for you. He'll
be a spokesman for you. Aaron, the high priest of Israel,
was the one man who could go into the Holy of Holies once
a year, exactly as God prescribed, to make atonement for the sins
of the people by the sacrifice of the Paschal Lamb. And on the
basis of that sacrifice, this man Aaron would bless the children
of Israel in a ceremonial way. The sacrifice really accomplished
nothing. The blessing really conferred nothing, except in
a ceremonial way, except for those worshipers who came to
worship God, understanding what they were doing. You know, most
people go to church and have no idea what's going on. They
have no idea what's going on. But there are those who are called
of God and born of God who understand what's going on. We haven't just
come to this physical building. We've come together by the Spirit
of God to the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn whose
names are written in heaven. This is a heart we grasp. But
as we gather to worship our Redeemer, we gather with God's saints and
with the angels of God at the throne of God in heaven." Isn't
that amazing? They're amazing. Well, folks
who understood the writings of the Old Testament, those who
were taught of God, and those who believed God were taught
of God, they understood that Aaron represented another priest.
as Moses represented another prophet, and Aaron's sacrifice
represented another lamb. Jesus Christ, our prophet, our
priest, our sacrifice, and our king. Now, we see that Aaron
represents, typically, the Lord Jesus Christ, very plainly stated
here in Hebrews chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7, let's just
read a few verses, beginning of verse 24. This man, The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Because he is the everlasting,
eternal God, our Savior in human flesh. And because he sat down
at the right hand of the majesty on high, having accomplished
redemption for us. He has an unchangeable priesthood. Everything he did never changes. Everything he does never changes. He has an unchangeable priesthood.
Because of that, wherefore he is able also to save them to
the uttermost that come to God by him. Come to God right now. Believe on the Lord Jesus right
now. Come to God by faith in Jesus
Christ through his blood, through his righteousness, through his
merit, through his efficacy, confessing your sin, trusting
him alone, and you have God's salvation to the utmost length
of God's deliverance. I give unto them eternal life,
and they shall never perish. He's able to save unto the uttermost
all who come to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them. For such an high priest was just
the kind of priest we had to have. Such an high priest became
us. What kind of high priest? One
who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens. Higher than the heavens, what
a statement. Who needeth not daily as those priests, those
high priests back in the Old Testament, he doesn't need daily
to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins and then for
the people's. For this he did one time, this
he did once, when he offered up himself. He made one sacrifice,
and because that one sacrifice was not only sufficient, but
altogether effectual for the putting away of sin for those
he represents, he has this ever-abiding priesthood. For the law maketh
men high priest, which have infirmity. But the word of the oath, which
was since the law, maketh the son. who is consecrated forevermore. Jesus Christ, God the Son in
our flesh, was made from everlasting before the world was, the high
priest over the house of God, and he continues forever, for
he is consecrated, set apart, devoted to this work of being
our high priest evermore. Now, turn back to Exodus 28. As Aaron was a priest chosen
and appointed by God himself, so the Lord Jesus Christ is the
priest of God's choice and God's appointment. as Aaron alone made
atonement in a ceremonial way for the sins of Israel on the
day that God appointed. So the Lord Jesus Christ, by
the sacrifice of himself, made atonement for all the Israel
of God. In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly exactly in the way, exactly on the day as God prescribed
from eternity. as Aaron ministered in the holy
place, representing God's chosen people, the chosen nation. The
Lord Jesus ministers in heaven itself, representing God's holy
nation, his church, his elect. Just in case you still haven't
gotten it, God's church is his Israel. God's church is his holy
nation. God's elect is the Israel of
God. as Aaron's priesthood, was ceremonially
effectual for all of Israel. He wore their names in his breastplate. He wore their names upon his
heart in everything he did before God. And that sacrifice was ceremonially
effectual for Israel. When the lamb was offered, Israel
was blessed, and their sins were ceremonially put away. So to
the Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest, in all that he has
done, and in all that he is doing, is really effectual for his people. He has taken away the sins of
his people. He makes intercession for his
people, and he rules the world for his people. Moses put the
special garments of the high priest upon Aaron by God's commandment. Those holy garments were made
specifically as God prescribed. Read this 28th chapter. You'll
see that God told Moses how the garments were to be made, with
what they were to be made, and how they were to be put upon
the priest, and how they were to be worn by him. the coat,
the girdle, the robe, the ephod, the breastplate, the miter, those
holy garments put on Aaron were put on him to symbolize what
the Lord Jesus Christ has done and is doing for us. Our Savior
did not wear the ceremonial garments of a priest. He wore the common
clothes of a common man like any other carpenter would dress.
Back in central Kentucky, that would mean he'd wear bibbed overalls
and maybe an undershirt and boots. Now, I'm not being facetious.
He dressed just like a common, ordinary man. There was nothing
about him that looked specially holy. There was nothing about
him you'd look, boy, he must be a special man. He was just
a common, ordinary man, just like you and me. Sin alone accepted. But our Savior, the Lord Jesus,
that one who is our high priest, made the garments of salvation
which he puts upon his people. He made the garments of salvation
which he puts upon his people. Moses, symbolizing the law of
God, put the golden plates, the holy crown upon Aaron's head.
Now, though there was never a priest in Israel who wore a crown as
a king, there was never a man who had both offices that wore
the crown as a king and as a priest. But our Lord Jesus Christ is
that one who is both our priest and our king. And the crown that
Moses put on Aaron's head with this golden mitre on it, The
priest garments, he was not completely dressed. He could not do the
work of a priest, except he had that crown as well as all the
other garments. Because our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is represented by Aaron, is both Zion's priest and Zion's
king. And he who is our priest. Now get it. You get this. Get this and you go home rejoicing.
He who is Zion's priest is Zion's king. That means he can effectually
apply all his work where he will, and he always does. Now, there
are many, many things about Aaron and his priestly garments that
are highly symbolic and instructive. Perhaps, however, that which
is given the least consideration by the commentators is what Moses
was required by God to call the Urim and the Thummim. Because
these two aspects of Aaron's priestly attire are commonly
ignored, and because they're so highly instructive, I want
to show you what I can of their meaning. And when I say show
you what I can, I mean just show you what I can. There'll be a
whole lot more to be said when I get done than I can say or
have knowledge of. So the subject tonight is the
Urim and the Thummim. Let's look at verses 29 and 30,
Exodus 28. Aaron shall bear the names of
the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon
his heart when he goeth in unto the holy place for the memorial
before the Lord continually. And thou shalt put in the breastplate
of judgment the Urim and the Thummim. And they shall be upon
Aaron's heart when he goeth in before the Lord. And Aaron shall
bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before
the Lord continually. The Urim and the Thummim are
mentioned five times in the Word of God. Here in Exodus 28, over
in Leviticus 28, or Leviticus chapter 8, Deuteronomy chapter
33, Ezra the second chapter, and Nehemiah the seventh chapter.
These two pieces in the breastplate of God's priest are significant. They're instructive. So I want
to show you what I can of them. The word Urim means lights. It is always in the plural. The
word Thummim means perfection. Again, it is always in the plural. That interests me because I need
light. Don't you? I need light every day to order
my steps. Light to understand this book. Light to know God's will. Light
to be of benefit to others. Light to help others through
their difficulties. I need light. Christ is the light
I need. And Christ alone can give me
the light I need. Not only do I need light, I need
perfection. I must have perfection. If the
man would enter into God's presence and be accepted of God, he must
be perfect. It must be perfect to be accepted. Perfect. Not the best you can
do. Not your most noble effort. Perfect. Perfect. If you would enter into
heaven's glory, you must have a perfect record. But that's
not all. You got to have a perfect nature. And no flaws. Christ is the only perfection
there is. And you have it only in union
with him. There is no attaining perfection
except in union with the Son of God. But there's no way for
us to know precisely what this Urim and Thummim were. We have
done a little studying on this, and you can read the commentators
and suggestions. But all the suggestions are just
conjecture. They're given only by Jewish
tradition and by human imagination. Some folks go so far as to suggest
the Urim and Thummim were little dolls. They were the headless
puppets on the breastplate. We don't have a clue what they
were because God didn't tell us. Now, John, I'll help you
out with preaching. When you're teaching and preaching,
when you're trying to understand God's word, if God didn't tell
it, we don't need to know it. If God didn't tell it, we don't
need to know it. Oh what stupid senseless trouble men and women
make for themselves trying to find out what God means by something
when he doesn't tell you what he means. Sometimes God just
doesn't tell you what he means. He just doesn't tell you. You
folks all around here, you're in that camping nonsense. When
1994 was approaching and the few years following, it was nonsense. I told him it was nonsense. It's
nonsense. Nobody knows when Christ is coming. God said you wouldn't know and
you're a fool to try to figure it out. You're a fool to try
to figure it out. All you can do is cause trouble
for yourself and others. We don't know what the Urim was.
And we don't know what the Thummim was. So we'll leave it alone.
But I know what it meant. And I know how it was used. And
I know its significance to us. This much we know from the word
of God. The Urim and Thummim were placed along with the names
of God's elect people. along with the names of the 12
tribes of the children of Israel in the breastplate that Aaron,
God's high priest, wore when he ministered in the holy place.
Specifically, they were born on the heart of God's high priest. And it was by these, through
the intercessory work of the high priest, that God gave direction
to the children of Israel and settled all important matters
of judgment and justice. Look at the text again. And thou
shalt put in the breastplate of the judgment the Urim, the
lights, and the Thummim, the perfections. And they shall be
upon Aaron's heart, when he goeth in before the Lord, and Aaron
shall bear the judgment. Now this is what that word means,
the verdict and the discernment. The verdict and the discernment. Aaron shall bear the verdict
and the discernment of the children of Israel upon his heart before
the Lord. The other day, I don't even know
where we were, Shelby and I were watching news as that judge passed
down a sentence on that animal that molested so many young ladies
during training for the Olympics. And I said to Shelby while we
were watching, we were home, we were still home, we had morning
coffee. And I said to Shelby, she's fixing to hang him out
to dry. And if you listen to her, the
judgment she gave was on her heart. It was on her heart. If she could have gotten by with
it legally, she would have strangled him with claws. It was on her
heart. Will you hear me? The Son of
God, our Savior, bears our judgment on his heart always. And the judgment is righteous. That's all. Holy. That's all. Perfect. That's all. That's how he sees us. And that's
how he sees us. That's how we really are. And the discernment. He bears
on his heart all the time the wisdom with which to direct our
steps through this world exactly according to his purpose from
eternity. Joshua, turn over to Numbers
chapter 27, Numbers 27. Joshua was required to follow
the direction of God's priest who sought God's counsel by the
Urim before the Lord. Look at verse 21. And he, that is Joshua, shall
stand before Eliezer the priest, who shall ask counsel for him
after the judgment of the Urim before the Lord. Joshua, you
go in and talk to God's priest. And you ask God's priest what
the lights declare. to be God's verdict concerning
you and his people. And what the lights declare to
be God's will concerning you and the people. Now read on what
it says. At his word, that is at the word
of the priest through whom God speaks by the lights God's given
him, by his word they shall go out and at his word they shall
come in. both he and all the children
of Israel with him, even all the congregation. Now look at
Ezra, Ezra chapter 6. These two things in the priest's
garment were just astounding. But the Urim and Thummim were
lost during the time of the Babylonian captivity, and they were never
recovered. I think I told you this a year
or two ago, just in case you've forgotten it. I'm sure your pastor
has told you as well many times. When Nebuchadnezzar came in and
they ransacked Jerusalem, destroyed everything there, and took Israel
in captivity, they took the altar They took the mercy seat, the
Ark of the Covenant, and there were furnishings in the tabernacle,
in the temple, that were never recovered after the Babylonian
captivity. You know, the Jews continued for 400 years. The Jewish priesthood Folks want
to say, do you think all these preachers are just fakes? Yeah,
they're fakes. They're as fake as a $3 bill.
Don't you think they're sincere? No, they're not sincere. How
could you think that? Those Jewish priests, for 400
years, pretended to keep the Passover. They just went back there behind
the veil and pretended there was sprinkled blood on the mercy
seat. There wasn't a mercy seat there. I would like to have seen
the look on that high priest's face when that veil in the temple
went in twain and there he sat smoking his pipe in his underwear
and played solitaire. He wasn't doing anything. He
was faking it all to maintain his power and his position in
religion. And the Urim and Thummim were
lost as well. Look here in Ezra 2, verse 63. And the Tershethah,
that is the governor, Nehemiah, said unto them that they should
not eat of the most holy things till there stood up a priest
with Urim and with Thummim. You men, you're in the line of
the priesthood, but you're not to eat the holy things until
God sends us a priest with the lights and perfections, the Urim
and the Thummim. With those words, the Holy Spirit
showed the deficiency and the imperfection of the Levitical
priesthood. He showed the great need of another priest, not another
Aaron, but another order of priest. a priest after the order of Melchizedek,
a great high priest over the house of God with whom would
be the true Urim and Thummim, the lights and perfections. Look
at it in Deuteronomy 33. Deuteronomy 33 verse 8. This
is exactly what Moses prophesied. Of Levi, he said, let thy Thumbim
and thy Urim be with thy Holy One. Now listen to how he describes
thy Holy One, whom thou didst prove back in chapter 17 at Mesa,
and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah. You
remember what happened? Moses led the children of Israel
out of Egypt and they came to this place next to 17 where there
was a place called Marah. And they had water. Man, they
were thirsty. But they couldn't drink the water
because it was bitter. And Moses spotted a tree. And
by the command of God he threw that tree into the waters. And
the bitter thing was made sweet and Israel was refreshed. So
it is with Jesus Christ crucified. When God puts him into your life
and into your experience, he makes every bitter thing sweet. He makes every bitter thing sweet. That which is your great purse
and your great trouble, your sin and your fault in our father
Adam, even that itself becomes sweetness in the experience of
forgiveness and redemption and grace by Christ the last Adam. You could never have known God's
grace had you not known your fall in Adam. You could never
have known forgiveness had you not known sweet. Oh, how wise,
how gracious, how sweet is the work of our God in all things. The Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior
and Redeemer, is Jehovah's Holy One. He is the holy God and the
holy man. In fact, Moses' words here in
Deuteronomy might be translated better this way. The man, thy
holy one, Christ is that man. Christ is that Holy One. In all
His holy being as the God our Savior, in all His holy being
as the God-man our mediator, in His conception and in His
birth, in His life of obedience, in all He did, in all He thought,
in all He said, He is God, the Holy One, and the man who is
God's Holy One. and in the death he accomplished
at Calvary, he is the man, God's Holy One. Not only is Christ
is the Holy One spoken of here, he is the one that Israel proved
at Mesa, with whom Israel strove at Meribah in the wilderness.
That one that we have proved over and over again. We like
to think that one we have proved by our faith and proved by our
dependence on him, and there's a sense in which that's true.
No question about that. Oh my, how I proved him o'er
and o'er. But there is something more true
than that. I proved him. All of my life, especially since
God saved me 50 years ago. God, my Savior, who alone is
my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, in spite of all
I am, in spite of all my sin, in spite of all my unbelief,
in spite of all my faithlessness, He is still the faithful God,
my Savior. Oh, bless his name, he abideth
faithful. We proved it and proved it and
proved it, just like Israel, by our rebellion and unbelief
and striving against it. The true Urim lights and the
true Thummim perfections belong to and are found only in our
Lord Jesus Christ. Let me show you two things and
I'll wrap this up. First, Christ is the true Urim
and Thummim, the true lights and perfections of his people. Our Lord Jesus Christ is that
one who is called the Urim. the true light, that one who
lights every man that comes into the world. You can read about
it in John chapter 1. He is that one who is light. Not just who has light, who is
light. God is light. And in him is no darkness at
all. He is that true light that lighteth every man that cometh
into the world. And let me tell you exactly what
John means by that statement. Christ is clearly the light of
creation. In the first four days, there
was no light in God's creation except the light of the sun.
That's all it was. All the light in the world was
but the reflection of the sun. And in the new creation, all
the light there is in us, God's church and people, is Christ
the son of righteousness. He's all the light there is in
this new world of grace. And whatever light we may have
is but the reflection of his light in us. Not only that, but
Christ is the light of all men and women by nature. I mean that
God, by Christ, gives light to men by nature. Now that natural
light man has, we call it the light of conscience, the light
of nature, but it's not sufficient to save anyone. But it is sufficient
to make men and women to be without excuse. That's the message of
Romans chapters 1 and 2. So that every human being knows
that God is. Every human being knows that
God is holy. Every human being knows his own
sin to some measure. There's no denying that. There's
no such thing as an atheist. I know we live in this world
and have atheist clubs and atheist laws and atheist lawyers and
atheists, lots of atheists. Let me tell you what I would
say to every atheist, if there's any here, and I'll say it to
your face standing outside or in the alley, I don't care. You're
a liar. You're a liar. You're lying to
yourself and lying to God and lying to me. There's no such
thing as an atheist. God stamped his voice in you
and you can't silence it. They hold down the truth in unrighteousness. That's what Paul said in Romans
1. They hold the truth. They suppress it. They hold it
down. Did you ever try to hold lead on a boiling pot? They keep
holding it down, but it's there. So they know that God is. They
know that God's holding it. And they, by nature, do things
contained in the law, though they don't even read the law.
They punish men for adultery and murder and stealing. because
the law of God's written on their hearts by nature. They know that
they're going to meet God in judgment because God requires
atonement. Therefore, men throughout history
had devised some way by which they sought to make up to God,
to make redemption for themselves, and that even sacrificed their
own children to do it. That's the light of nature, the
light of conscience. And the Lord God Almighty gives
us by Christ light and understanding spiritually in His grace as well. The light of grace He doesn't
give to all men. He doesn't even give the light
of the gospel to all men. but those who are redeemed by
his blood, chosen in everlasting love. In time of love, he comes
and sheds forth his light, causing every chosen, redeemed sinner
to see, to believe, and to rejoice in the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So that the
sinner, saved by God's grace, when God turns the light on.
I can't tell you how many times I've had folks tell me, they're
listening to a sermon, they come to church, and they're sitting
there, and it just, you know, it was just boredom to them.
And then one day, just like God turned the lights on, and I said,
that's just what he did. He turned the lights on. And
you know, God turns the lights on, this book, is to every man
just a sealed book. And it's full of paradoxes and
contradictions and riddles they can't figure out. They just can't
figure them out. And we have a tough time learning
this. We want to argue with folks and
fuss at them. I remember when I was a young
man, I still have it in my library, I had a hardback wide margin
Bible, pretty heavy. And a friend of mine recovered
it like one of the old books with ridges on it, covered it
in leather. Somebody asked me, why do you carry a hardback Bible?
I said, because he's stinking hard, meaning I beat him in the
head with it anyway. And I tried, but it didn't work. You can't
turn the lights on. No point in fussing with them.
No point in arguing with them. What do you do? You tell them
the truth and wait on God. Just preach the word and wait
on God. Don't try to perform tricks. Don't try to force folks
to believe what they don't believe, to say what they don't believe.
Just preach the word and wait on God. Ah, but when God turns
the light on, you will see something of the darkness of your dead
heart. Something of the sin and corruption
that's in you. Something of the necessity of
a Redeemer and the blessedness of one. It's called conviction
of sin. of righteousness and of judgment. God the Holy Spirit comes and
causes the sinner who was darkness to have light shining in his
heart so that now he confesses his sin. Now he rejoices to know
that righteousness is finished. He doesn't have to do anything.
Christ is his righteousness. His blood, his atonement and
judgment is over because Christ has satisfied the justice of
the holy Lord God. Awake, now the sleepest. Arise
from the dead and Christ shall give thee light. That's the promise
of God. Jesus Christ is light. More than anything else, we see
the light of the glory of God shining in the face of our crucified
Redeemer. In Christ, all the attributes
of God, all the attributes of divine perfection shine forth
splendorously with no contradiction. I always like to read what God
told Moses Back in Exodus, over in Exodus 32, 33, 34, Moses said,
Lord, show me your glory. And God said, all right, stand
right here in the cleft of the rock. I'll pass by and I'll tell
you who I am. He said, I am the Lord, the Lord
God. I will by no means clear the
guilty. That didn't sound good. I will
by no means clear the guilty. And then he said, forgiving iniquity
and transgression is sin. You go back and read it again,
that's just what he said. Well, those two things are contradictory.
Both of them can't be so. You're right, they can't be,
except by the crucified Christ. God Almighty punished his son. to the full satisfaction of divine
justice when he made him to be sin for us so that he did not
clear the guilt. And he would not forgive sin. When he found it on his son,
he said, awake, O sword, against the man that is my fellow. Smite
and slay the shepherd. And he punished his son in the
fury of his holy justice until he wore out the sword of his
wrath in his son. And now, looking on us in his
son, The Lord God Almighty refuses to charge us with sin, forgiving
iniquity and transgression and sin. In Him, mercy and truth
are met together. In Him, righteousness and peace
have kissed each other. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
the light of glory as well. Listen to this. The city had
no need of the sun. Neither of the moon to shine
in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the
light thereof. Do you ever feel like, Brother
Rick, when you're studying the Word, you're just groping about
in darkness? I've got just enough lights for us, I've got that
much light. It's just, oh, this book, it gets bigger and bigger
and bigger all the time. It gets bigger all the time.
And every time I think I see a little something, I see 10
things I don't see. I've got that, uh-oh. What does
that mean? And you recognize it. So little
we understand. Once in a while we get a little
light with God's providence. Why he does things the way he
does. I've got a very dear friend up in Northeast, up in New Jersey.
There's a little girl. They just found out the day before
yesterday she has leukemia. Did a bone marrow test and operated
on her today. Start treatments tomorrow. I look for ways to try to be
of help to them. How's this going to be good?
I don't know. I just don't know. I just don't
know. But I know it is. I know it is. I know it is. Matt, I know a
little something about your life. It's all been good for you. It's
all been good for you. And soon, in heaven's clearer
light, we'll see all things worked out for good. In heaven's glory,
brother Jim, we will not become gods knowing all things. But we will know things perfectly. I'm just guessing now. You don't
have to put this. If you disagree, be all right. You don't have
to fuss with me afterwards. But this is my notion. This is my
notion. Part of the bliss of heaven's
glory is we will spend eternity learning about God our Savior. Oh, that's what you were doing. Isn't that wonderful? That's
what you meant by that. Oh, thank you, Lord. That's wonderful. He does everything well. And in heaven's glory, we will
see things clearly. Oh, what lights we shall have
with him who is the light of creation, and the light of nature,
and the light of grace, and at last the light of glory. And our Lord Jesus Christ is
the thumb of them too. Perfections. Perfections. In him dwelleth All the fullness
of the Godhead in a body. There it is. I've already said
more than I can crash about that, but it means this much, Brother
Gene. All the perfection of God is
in Him. all the perfection of God in
his eternality, infinity, omniscience, omnipresence. He's God. He's God. God over all, blessed
forever. He's God. God is omnipotent. He says, I am the mighty God.
God is omniscient to the self-righteous Pharisee, the religious hypocrite,
to the unbelieving, that's horrible. That's horrible. God will get
you. He knows everything. To the believer,
most wonderful thing in the world. Lord, thou knowest all things.
These folks out here, they don't see me like you do. Mike Loveless, he knows stuff
that I don't want to tell anybody, but you know all things. You
know that I love you, in spite of everything that seems to be
contrary. Our granddaughter is leaving in just a couple of weeks.
Going to go to London to study for a semester. School requires
her to go over there for a semester. And she's sitting beside Nana
right there, Sunday morning, a week or so ago. And I looked
at her, and I said, honey, God goes everywhere. And I don't
say that to scare her or anything, I say that to her for delight
to my soul and hers. Lo, I'm with you always, wherever
you go, even to the end of the world. He's God in whom are all
the perfections of divinity and all the perfections of manhood.
That one who is God our Savior is nothing but light, and perfection,
nothing but perfection. Perfect righteousness, perfect
obedience, perfect atonement, but more than that, perfect manhood. He knows us as the God-man. and intercedes for us as the
God-man continually in all the perfection of his being, pouring
out upon us continually all the perfect blessings of grace here
and of glory hereafter. Now, let me show you the second
thing. As Aaron, the typical high priest,
carried the Urim and Thummim upon his heart, So Christ, God's
true high priest, carries his people upon his heart in all
his priestly functions. He carries the judgment. I love the way God put it. On
his heart. On his heart. On his heart right
now. is all the judgment of God for
our sins, which he satisfied by his obedience unto death. And he deals with us accordingly.
He carries the discernment on his heart, all the wisdom of
God. and the wisdom of man, the perfect
mediator of God, man, he is. And with his heart, so he guides
and rules and governs and disposes of all things in this world. And let me tell you what that
means, just three things. God's elect are ever upon the
heart of Jesus Christ, our God and Savior. always on our hearts,
or on his heart. I don't know how to say that
except to illustrate it. Shelby and I have been married
for nearly 49 years. We dated two years before that.
For 51 years. No matter where I have been,
no matter what has separated us physically, for 51 years,
every waking moment of every day and night, that lady's been
on my heart. I don't ever not think of her.
I don't even have to remind myself to think of her. She's on my
heart. And that's nothing. You see,
lots of other things are on my heart and crowd into my heart. Hear me, my brother. Hear me,
my sister. Hear me, child of God. You're
on his heart always with such infinite perfection as if he
had nothing else on his heart. All this got on his heart, you.
That's all. That's all. It's all that got
on his heart, all the time. All the time. Second, everything
our Savior has done, is doing, or shall hereafter do, as our
great high priest, he does with the Urim and Thummim as our representative,
our mediator, and our substitute. and all that he did from eternity,
and all that he did while he walked on this earth, and all
that he did when he bare our sins in his body on the tree,
and all that he did since he was raised from the dead and
enthroned on high, and all that he does today, and all that he
will do tomorrow, he has us on his heart. And third, Christ,
the true Urim, and the truth among them, is that one by whom
we are guided and instructed every day. Joshua, you go and
consult with Eleazar, the priest. And you tell him to consult with
God by the Urim and Thummim. And ask him, do we go out or
do we stay here? Do we go out to war or do we
stay here? Do we go this way or that way? And as He gives word, so shall
you do. He guides us all the time. All the time. Lord, open my eyes,
that may see wondrous things out of your law. And Lord, teach
me. Oh God, teach me. not only that I'm with you, but
that you're with me all the time. Never a circumstance, never a
condition in which he is not Jehovah Shema, God my Savior
who's there. Brother Eric Lutter, a member
of the church up in New Jersey. I've known him now for, oh, I
don't know how long. I'm sure I've known everybody
for a long time. But I've known him a long time, since he and
his wife, she was pregnant with her first child. And folks down
in Nixon, Missouri called him to be their pastor. And I talked
to him today. And I said, Brother Eric, remember, I'm here for
you all the time. Anytime, for anything, I'm here
for you. And I'm sincere when I say that,
but ain't much I can do for him. And he appreciates me letting
him know that, but he knows there's not much I can do for him. Will
you hear me? God's here for you all the time,
wherever you are. And there's nothing he's not
doing just for you. Because you're always on his
heart through the lights and perfections of the infinite God
man, our savior, our high priest who is able, are you listening?
He's able to plumb save everybody who comes to God by him.