I'd like for you to turn with
me tonight to Exodus chapter 28. We're going to be looking at verses
31 through 35 in Exodus chapter 28. You found your place there,
just hold it. We've been looking at the high
priest of Israel. and His typical representation
of Jesus Christ, our great High Priest, and the one Mediator
between God and men. I just read that fulfillment
to you in Hebrews chapter 8. And last week we looked at the
Ephod, and we talked a little bit about the jewels of the High
Priest. And these jewels having the name
of God's elect representatively engraving into that red onyx
upon his shoulder and into those twelve separate jewels upon the
breastplate of judgment. And he did that. He said that
Aaron should bear their names upon his shoulders and upon his
heart when he goeth into the holy place. He didn't wear those
names all the time. But he must wear those names
when he entered into the holy place, and he was to do it for
a memorial before the Lord continually. Everything that the high priest
did, he did as a ministry to God and for God's elect. When we're talking about the
priest, he is a priest before God. God requires certain things. He requires certain things. And
only this priest could fulfill those things. And these things
were ordained of God and demanded of God on the part of the people. And so the priest was a mediator
between the people and God. Everything the high priest did,
he did as a ministry to God and for God's elect. Abraham's seed
speaks of Christ and His children as the children of faith. Children
of faith. We are not talking about the
literal children of Abraham. People get all upside down and
sideways today when you start talking about Israel. God having
a spiritual Israel. And old Israel is not that Israel. There were men in Israel. including our Savior, born of
a Jew, come out of the tribe of Judah, just as the Scriptures
foretold that He would. But in the New Testament, and
even in the Old Testament in the promises, Abraham's seed
speaks of Christ and His children. And it speaks of them as children
of faith. In Galatians 3, verse 26, It
says, for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. That's how you got to be children
of God. For as many as you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew
nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male
nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be
Christ, If you be, then are you Abraham's seed and ours according
to the promise. Jacob, or as God calls him, Israel,
had twelve sons. And in these twelve sons are
represented the whole house of Israel. When he talks about the
house of Israel, he is talking about the house of Jacob. God
changed His name from Jacob. He said, you'll no longer be
called Jacob. You remember the study back in
Genesis. But from now on, He said, I'm
going to call you Israel. And actually, if you want to
get right down to it in the New Testament, Jacob was a symbol
of God's eternal, sovereign election of grace. Jacob. And that's why He calls them
the sons of Jacob. and the children of Israel. It
says in Romans chapter 9, before Rebekah brought forth her two
boys into the world, talking there about Jacob and Esau, the
Lord told her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it's written,
Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. And this, Paul tells
us in Romans 9 and 11, took place that the purpose of God according
to election might stand. God singled out that man Jacob
before he was ever born. Picked one of a set of twins. And he said, here's why I'm doing
this. I'm telling you before they're born, the elder is going
to serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved. Have I loved. Not did I love
in time, but have I loved. And Esau hath I hated. And he
said, I said that, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. Pastor, you're losing me. What's
all this got to do with Exodus? It has to do with those twelve
names written on his chest. And those twelve names etched
in that red onyx upon his shoulder. Some people may think I preach
too much about election. One fellow said that not too
long ago. Well, let me tell you something.
You take away the names upon the shoulders and over the heart
of the high priest, his work was meaningless. Meaningless. He represented nobody. Nobody had an interest in his
sacrifice because he represented nobody. Take those names off
of his shoulders and over his heart. And I've just told you
in the scriptures what this was all about. And his work is meaningless. You can't preach the gospel and
ignore election. I'll just tell you that. There
is no way you can preach the gospel without preaching the
effectual, particular redemption of Christ. You are just wasting
your time. Ignorant, foolish, and deceived
men may make accusations that election takes away the opportunity
for people who want to be saved to be able to be saved. And they
say also that it violates the rights of humanity. And they
say it violates man's free will. And it takes away from him any
chance for him to be saved. Now let me tell you something.
Election took nothing away from humanity. Nothing. Humanity was already condemned. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. For God to elect a people out
of a mass of men and women who are already condemned takes nothing
away from those that He didn't choose. Now does it? It doesn't
take a thing from them. Not one thing. It didn't take
anything away from this world. Sin took it away. Sin destroyed
the very fabric of man's nature. He is by nature, the Scripture
said, a child of wrath. dead, spiritually dead in the
fall of Adam. Sin entered and death passed
upon all men. In Adam, all die. And as for
those hypothetical situations about people desiring to be saved
but not able to because they're not elect, there's no basis for
such a question. He said there's none that seeketh
after God. So you can just forget that. Well, what about all them people
who want to be saved? There is none. Well, what about
all them people who learn about Him and want? There's none that
understand Him. Election. Election is what set
those people apart from all the heavenly blessings of the Father. Election. He chose them in Christ. Blessed them with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. According as
He hath chosen us in Him. before the foundation of the
world. That's the basis of the blessing of faith and the blessing
of repentance and the blessing of His calling. All of those
things are based on that election. Sin destroyed the very fabric
of man's nature. He says, actually, destruction
and misery are in their way. It's in their way. And there's
no fear of God before their eyes. And I can tell you this, you're
not going to call on Him and you're not going to seek Him
until the fear of God comes in them eyes. I can tell you that.
But there's no fear of God in their eyes. Man's not a free moral agent.
He's not free and he's certainly not moral. Man's dead in trespasses
and sins and he's judged and bound in chains of darkness awaiting
his execution. Sin, the Scripture said, hath
reigned unto death. And the only reason that sin
does not reign in the hearts of all men unto death is because
our God has purposed to intervene in the hearts of some. and manifest
the glory of His mercy and grace. He takes nothing from the world,
nothing. But He gives something to His
elect, and He gives it not as the result
of something they did, but because He's merciful and gracious, and
His purpose is to show that glory to a people He chose in Christ
before the world began. That's why this priest holds
his office. That's why he holds this office.
That's why he puts on this holy dress. That's why he bears their
names upon his shoulders and over his heart. He's ordained
of God for men in things pertaining to God. Did you know God gave
His law twice to Israel? Have you ever even thought about
that? He gave it to them twice. The first time he gave it to
them, and before Moses could get down off the mountain, they
were dancing naked around a golden calf that God's high priest had
made for them. You think about that. That first time was to manifest
their total inability to keep the law of God. It was to manifest
their idolatrous ways and the unwillingness of their unconverted
heart. And the second time He gave it,
He gave it to them with a priesthood and with a sacrifice that they
might look by faith forward to the coming Redeemer and be enabled
thereby to find mercy and peace with God and walk with God and
worship God. I'm laboring hard on this point
because if you do not understand who and why the high priest was
ordained, who he was ordained for, why was he ordained, and
to whom he ministered, then everything else is of no consequence. I can sit here and describe it
to you and it would just be like telling you a story a fable. It would just be like
telling a fable. It would have no meaning, no consequence to
it. Now tonight I want us to consider
that great blue robe which surrounded our high priest. He was to put
on this It had a robe that attached to it. It went all the way around. And it was to be solid blue. No, it wasn't to have the scarlet
and all these other things in it. It was solid blue, this robe.
Exodus chapter 28 beginning with verse 31. Thou shalt make the robe of the
ephod all of blue. And there is going to be a hole.
There shall be a hole in the top of it. and in the midst thereof. And it shall have a binding of
woven work round about the whole of it, as it were the whole of
a Habergian." Anybody here knows what a Habergian is? I do. I looked it up. It's like a sleeveless coat of
mail that the old knights put on. It was made out of chains,
you know, and that top piece that went over their head, it
was made so it wouldn't unravel. And that's what he's saying about
this. This is that coat of mail. This thing was to have woven
work all around that hole of this thing, like unto a habergeon. Let it be not rent. Verse 33,
And beneath, upon the hem of it, thou shalt make pomegranates
of blue and of purple and of scarlet round about the hem thereof,
and bells of gold between them round about. A golden bell and
a pomegranate. A golden bell and a pomegranate
upon the hem of the road round about. And it shall be upon Aaron
to minister, and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto
the holy place before the Lord, and when he cometh out, that
he die not." Now just try to picture in your mind tonight
this long pleated rope stretching from the neck of the high priest
all the way down to the ground. exposing only his head. That's
all you could see of the priest was his head. You could see the miter up on
his head. And you could see that holy plate
declaring holiness unto the Lord. And this robe all of blue, designating
him as our heavenly priest. That's what that blue signifies. His heavenly nature, His heavenly
origin. Listen to these Scriptures and
just think about this for a little bit. You know, somebody, one
of the workers that I work with, and I know men are ignorant.
All men are ignorant. Religious men are ignorant. But
one of them told me one day, some of these other religious
guys was arguing about something or trying to get them to do something,
and the way that The natural man, the worldly man that gets
religious men off of him is to say something that shocks him
down to his shoes. But anyway, he turned around
and he told this guy, well he said Jesus Christ wasn't perfect.
He got angry. He got angry. That's how ignorant
men are. Paul tells us Christ is not entered
into holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself. He entered into heaven. We talk
about heaven. He entered into it. We talk about
heaven. Heaven is His origin. That's
where He came from. He came down. Isn't that what
Paul says? He said, I come down. That's
what the Lord said. Where did He come down from?
Heaven. Not to do my will, but the will
of Him that sent me. This heavenly High Priest, He
came down from Heaven, and He did what God sent Him here to
do, and He ascended back into Heaven. Into Heaven itself, now to appear
in the presence of God for us. That's Hebrews 9.24. And then
in Hebrews 4, verse 14, he says this, seeing then that we have
a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the
Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. And then in Hebrews
10, verse 19, having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into
the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which
he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his
flesh. And having a high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." Our priest
is of heavenly origin. He came down to this world to
accomplish the salvation of his elect. And they now minister
for us in the heavenlies, seated at the right hand of God. We
see His holy head as our surety and representative, and His priestly
miter declaring the difference between Him and all the other
priests. There was a lot of priests among
the Levites. All the Levites were priests.
They all had a special dress, but none of them wore a miter.
Just the high priest. Just the high priest. All of
Christ's church are a royal priesthood, Peter said. But none of us wear
the mitre. He wears the mitre. And when
we look at this one who wears this heavenly robe, we see upon
his head the mitre, and we recognize him as the great high priest. We see His holy head as our surety
and representative, and His priestly miter declaring the difference
between Him and all the other priests. And we see these things
in the light of His heavenly glory. And then down at the very
bottom of this heavenly robe was a hymn. And upon this hymn
were staggered these multicolored pomegranates, and between each
one a golden bell. Now very quickly tonight, I want
to give you four things about the part of this heavenly robe
that stretched all the way down to the earth. That's what I want
you to see. This heavenly garment went from
the neck of our high priest and extended all the way down to
the ground. Here's the first thing. By way of this heavenly robe,
the ministry of our great high priest was not left to speculation
or presumption. On the part of this robe which
touched the earth, there was golden bells all around. Every step the high priest took
gave forth a testimony. Every step. Take a step, you
can hear them bells. Now you remember, all Israel
wasn't in that compound. Israel was outside that seven
foot high linen fence. And they couldn't see a thing,
but they could hear their bells. They could hear them bells on
the high priest. Every step the high priest took
gave forth a testimony that he was ministering on their behalf. Interceding on their behalf.
Making the atonement on their behalf. Accomplishing their salvation
according to the commandment of the everlasting God. Standing
outside that great high linen wall, no man could visibly see
the priest. But within the tabernacle, beyond
the door, and beyond the second veil, nobody could see that priest. But you could hear him. You could
hear him. They were not left to wonder
or speculate about His success, but they were given these golden
bells to ring out every step of their mediator. And from the
brazen altar to the door and through the heavenly candlelight
and past the table of showbread and that golden altar into the
very presence and glory of God upon the mercy seat, you could
hear those bells. Let me tell you something. There
were witnesses inside the compound. There were witnesses who saw
the goat's throat cut and its blood poured out beneath the
altar. And there were witnesses that saw him enter the door of
the tabernacle. But after he entered through
the door, no man's eye except by way of heavenly vision was
permitted to see that high priest. But there was a token. of that
accomplished redemption given to all who had an interest in
the work, the sound of the golden bells of our great High Priest. Now turn with me to Psalm 133. In the Old Testament figures,
the oil, when you're talking about an anointing oil, or that
oil that the High Priest was anointed with, is a figure of
the Holy Ghost. I want you to listen to this
psalm with these bells and that hymn of that robe in mind. David said, Behold how good and
how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It
is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon
the beard, even Aaron's beard. that went down to the skirts
of his garments. The gospel of Jesus Christ and
his accomplished redemption by the revelation of God's Holy
Spirit is the sound of our great high priest in glory accomplishing
the salvation of his elect. Can you hear it? How sweet it is if you have an
interest If you have an interest in that priest, to stand out
there, you took that goat, you took what God commanded to be
brought, and you brought it there, and the priest took it from you,
and that little cloth door closed back up, and you stood out there,
and you couldn't see anything, but you could hear those bells
on the high priest coming to that burnt altar, taking that
sacrifice, going into that tabernacle, going in beneath that bell. You
could hear it. You could hear it. And all those
who have an interest in his work were gathered where they could
hear these bells. The gospel preached in the power
of God's Holy Spirit is the sound of our high priest in the presence
of God. There'd be no preaching. Can
you hear me? There'd be no preaching. There'd
be no effectual calling. There'd be nothing in this world,
no sound, no sound of that accomplished redemption, no sound of that
priest actively engaged to save your soul if he was not effectual
in what he offered. If that high priest for any reason
did anything that God did not command of him, he'd be a dead
man and the bells wouldn't ring. Is that true? That's exactly
right. And that's why we have the gospel
preached to us today. The gospel is the sound of that
accomplished redemption of our great high priest. And then the
second thing I want you to see is that the sound of these bells
never change. Never change. His sound shall be heard, God
said, when he goeth in to the holy place and when he cometh
out. Never changes. Never changes. And so it is to this day that
these golden bells still ring out testifying to the person
and work of our great High Priest. There is no dispensational message. The message will be the same.
It will be the same at His second coming as it was after the fall
of Adam. And the sound of the golden bells
never change. To hear a different sound is
to hear a different priest. And to hear a different priest
is not to hear the testimony of God. And then thirdly, on
the hem of this heavenly robe, there was these multicolored
pomegranates. A blue pomegranate, and a golden
bell, and a purple pomegranate, and a golden bell, and a scarlet
pomegranate, and a golden bell. And then he repeats that order
again. On the heavenly robe of the ephod
there was tassels in the form of a desirable fruit. Pomegranates
are a heavenly fruit. He uses pomegranates over in
the Song of Solomon describing his bride, doesn't he? He uses
pomegranates. And he uses those pomegranates
and many other things concerning the elect of God. The pomegranate,
now I want you to listen to me, It's a fruit. Kathy and I eat
these things when they're in season, and I didn't realize
they was out of season. I was actually gonna buy one
and cut it open, bring it in here so I could show you. But
a pomegranate is a fruit whose seed floats in a crimson liquid. If you cut it open, that inside
is scarlet red, and those seeds float around in that liquid.
Now you think about what that says about this high priest.
I don't think that requires a definition, do you? This heavenly fruit is here in
symbol to show us that the gospel bells are the fruit of our high
priest's ministry for his elect. And it's a sweet savor to both
God and those who hear it. It's sweet. sweet to the taste. And then, fourthly, this heavenly
robe laid upon the high priest alone was to be worn to minister
to his people. The gospel of Christ, which is
the fruit of his accomplished redemption, is the means whereby
his person and work is made known to all men. Somehow my generation
has been sold on the idea that men are born of God without any
rhyme or reason. They're just born. They're just
going about their business, doing their business, and all of a
sudden they're born of God. Just born of God. And then somewhere
down the road, the Holy Spirit leads him to hear the Gospel.
And then he hears that Gospel, and then somewhere on down the
road a little bit, he experiences repentance. And on down the road
a little bit more, he becomes sanctified. And on and on and
on with the foolish notions of men. That's not what the Scriptures
teach. Will you submit yourself to the
Word of God? That's what has to be done. We
can sit around all night. Somebody said opinions like noses. Everybody has one. But will you
submit yourself? Will you submit your faith? Will
you submit that which you trust to the Word of God? Listen to this. James chapter
1 and verse 17. He said, every good gift and
every perfect gift is from above, and it cometh down from the Father
of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Your
situation has no bearing on how God saves sinners. has no bearing
on how God saves sinners at all. A man gave me a hypothetical
situation in here one day, and when we was all done, I asked
him this, does God save men on purpose or by accident? They're not a shadow of turning. They're not even a shadow of
God turning. And our situation has no bearing
on how God saves sinners. Whether you were stranded on
an island in the middle of the ocean or raised in a grace church,
it has no bearing on how God saves sinners. He still saves
sinners the same way. God cannot and will not alter
the way He gives His gifts to men. That's what that verse is
talking about here in James. These gifts come down from the
Father of lights with whom is no variableness. Well, surely
God will bend. No, God won't bend. Period. End of story. Not even a shadow
of turning with Him. Now watch this. Of His own will,
verse 18, this God who cannot change, who will not alter, who
will not bend, of His own will begat He us with the Word of
truth. Well, you reckon He's going to
change that? Depending on somebody's situation, God ain't going to
change. God ain't going to change. He begat us with the word of
truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures.
Wherefore, because this is how men and women are born of God,
let men be swift to hear. Ain't that what He says? Swift
to hear. Slow to speak. Oh, Isaiah, he had a lot to say
in Isaiah chapter 5, didn't he? Until he saw the priest. He saw his train fill the temple. He saw that great blue robe with
those pomegranates and those bells. He saw the priest and
his train fill the temple. His glory. All about his glory. Isaiah put his hand on his mouth.
He said, I'm a man of unclean lips. That's what James said,
be slow to speak and be real slow to wrath. And then look
one book over here at 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1. He tells us first in
verse 3 that we're begotten unto a lively hope, a living hope. Now if a man is begotten unto
a hope, then his begatting has something to do with understanding,
don't it? Has something to do with his
understanding. How can you have a hope without
an understanding? You see that? We are begotten,
he said, unto a living hope, a lively hope. A hope in a person. And this person is in glory. A living hope. which we know
and understand and reason of. One which is the result of God
the Father in eternal election through sanctification of the
Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling or applying of the blood of Christ and the receiving of grace and
peace. Which leads us and involves the knowledge of the person and
work of Christ who was foreordained, verse 20, before the foundation
of the world and manifested in these last times for you who
by Him do believe in God that raised Him from the dead and
gave Him glory that our faith and hope might rest in God. Verse 22, purifying our souls
and obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love
of the brethren, being born again Not of corruptible seed, but
incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever. For all flesh is grass, and all
the glory of man is the flower of the grass, and the grass withereth,
and the flower fadeth. But the Word of the Lord, that
incorruptible Word of the Lord, endureth forever. And this is
the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you." That's
how men are born. That's how they're born. Paul
said to the Corinthians over in 1 Corinthians 4, verse 15,
in Christ Jesus, he said, I have begotten you through the Gospel. That's pretty plain, ain't it? Through the Gospel. Aaron could
not minister the person and work of the high priest, but by the
fruit of accomplished redemption and the golden bells of the gospel. He must have these things on,
God said, lest he die nought. He better have them on when he
goes in there. Now listen to me. Where there
is no sound of the bell, there is no redemption being accomplished. You know, Brother Mahan used
to say when he'd talk about speakers, he'd have a guest speaker, especially
somebody new that he'd never had before. And if he preached
the gospel, here's what he'd say. Boy, he rang the bell, didn't
he? He rang the bell. These are the bells he's talking
about. And where there is no bell, there is no redemption. There is no gospel being preached.
Where there is no sound of the bell, there is no intercession
being made on your behalf. And these golden bells shall
continue to sound until our great High Priest comes again." They
are to begin ringing on His way into the tabernacle. And they
ring going in. And He said they are toward the
end of that chapter there in Exodus. And they ring when He
comes out. And they are going to keep right
on ringing until our High Priest comes. Hebrews chapter 9, the
very end of that chapter. unto those who look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Until that
time comes, these golden bells are going to keep on ringing.
Keep on ringing. Then he shall bless. When that
high priest came out and his work was done, he came out in
that great gown and he stood still and he raised up those
hands and he blessed the people. and bless the people. And our
Lord ascended up into the heavens now to appear in the presence
of God for us. But one day He is coming back.
And when He does, there is going to be one foot on the land and
one on the sea. And He is going to say, time
shall be no more. And we will receive the eternal
blessings of that accomplished redemption forever. May God give you an understanding
of what I preached here tonight.