Turn back with me now to Exodus
chapter 28. My subject tonight is the High
Priest of Israel. The High Priest of Israel. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world to save sinners. Paul said that was a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation. He told the Pharisees himself. He said, think not that I am
come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He came into this world to save
sinners. And to accomplish this salvation,
he was appointed three offices. He was appointed, first of all,
as God's prophet. Now, I said the prophet, not
a prophet. Because apart from Him, God has
nothing to say to sinful men. Not one word. Not one word. This world's religion teaches
that you can go back under the law, and the law says to do this,
and if you do this, you can win the favor of God. They say to
read the Scriptures. That's what the Jews did. They
read the Scriptures and our Lord commended them for it. He said,
you read the Scriptures. You search the Scriptures. For
in them, you think you have eternal life. Somebody told them that
they had eternal life if they read the Scriptures. That's what
they believed. That's what they taught. That's
what they taught others. But He said, you won't come to
Me that you might have life. Nobody told them the message
of God to sinners. The message of God to sinners
is Christ, whether you are in the Old Testament or whether
you are in the New Testament. He is God's prophet. To Him,
give all the prophets witness. Our Lord said this over in the
book of John. He said to the Jews, He said,
For had you believed Moses, Now listen to this. Listen carefully
to what he tells them. They said they believed Moses.
We have Moses as our father. Listen to what he tells them.
Had you believed Moses, you would have believed me, for he wrote
of me. Now that's what we're studying
tonight is the writings of Moses. Moses wasn't teaching these people
how to build a tabernacle. He wasn't teaching them what
animals to bring and how to build gowns and epods and miters. He wasn't teaching them that.
That's not what he was teaching them at all. He was teaching
them about Christ. He was teaching them about Christ.
And that's so important for me, for you to understand. Turn with
me to Romans chapter 3 and let me show you something here real
quick. Romans chapter 3. And verse 20, Therefore by the
deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his
sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the
righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being
witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness
of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon
all them that believe, for there is no difference, for all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus." Now watch this. This has a direct bearing on
what I'm going to teach you tonight. Whom God hath, that is in times
past, set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are
past." That is, with these Old Testament beliefs. That's what
he's talking about here. God set him forth in those animal
sacrifices, in that priesthood, through those prophets, and through
those old kings like David and Solomon. You see what he's saying
here? God set him forth. This is how
Christ, this is the foundation of how Christ is going to be
set forth. Now today's religion says you
can just believe pretty much anything you want to. That's
not true. It's just not true. God has set
him forth in a certain way, in a certain offices. And that's
what these Old Testament sacrifices teach. Jesus Christ is the prophet of
God. He said, No man knoweth the Father
save the Son, and He to whom He will reveal it. And then secondly,
our Lord holds the office of the King. In Psalm 2, verse 6,
He said, Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill in Zion. Zion
is the church, and Jesus Christ is God's mediatorial King. In his high priestly prayer in
John 17, he opened his prayer with these words, Father, the
hour has come. Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son
also may glorify Thee, as Thou hast given Him power over all
flesh. That is His kingship. That is
His mediatorial kingship. He has given Him power over all
flesh. that He should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given Him. His appointment to this
throne is to accomplish and secure the salvation of His elect and
glorify the name of God, and it is to accomplish the redemptive
will of God in the salvation of sinners. And then thirdly,
to save fallen sinners, God appointed His Son to be the High Priest
of Israel, the Israel of God. In Hebrews chapter 3, the Apostle
calls upon the Church to consider the Apostle and High Priest of
our profession, Christ Jesus. He is not only the Apostle, but
He is the High Priest of our profession. The profession of
the faith of God's elect calls for consideration of the priesthood
of Christ. Nobody ever told me that. Did
they ever tell you? Did you ever even hear anybody
mention that? All the time that you was in
religion. All the time that you was growing up. I never heard
anybody on the TV or the radio or anywhere ever talk about that. Personally, I don't see how a
man can have true saving faith without some knowledge of these
offices, but especially of his office as the priest. And what
I want you to see tonight as we look at the Old Testament
type of the high priest is that apart from this priesthood, there
could be nothing concerning God. Nothing. There could be no fellowship,
no coming to God, no favor with God, no forgiveness for sins. Everything came through the priesthood,
but especially the high priest. When the high priest did his
work, nobody else could be in the tabernacle. He put everybody
else out. Everybody else out. I purposely use the word priesthood
because in this chapter, both the high priest and the priesthood
are mentioned. Now I've got several things that
I want you to see here, but the first thing I want you to see
in this lesson tonight is that the high priest was first chosen,
and then the priesthood with him. It tells us that right off
the bat, doesn't it? Right there in verse 1. Exodus
28, verse 1, And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his
sons with him. With him. That he may minister unto me
in the priest's office. Now Peter said, we come unto
Him as lively stones, disallowed indeed among men, but chosen
of God and precious. And as lively stones, we are
built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. He says we are
a chosen generation, I Peter 2, a royal priesthood. and holy nation of peculiar people,
that you should show forth the praises of Him who hath called
you out of darkness into His marvelous light." So God chose
Aaron first, and then His sons with Him. And I tell you this,
God chose Christ first. He is before all things. Isn't
that what that says? He is the firstborn of every
creature. He is before all things, and
by Him all things consist. God chose Him first, and then
He chose us in Him. And then, secondly, I want you
to see in this lesson that everyone chosen with Aaron had a part
in the worship of God and the ministry to Israel. Nobody was
left in the tent or left to sit idle by the fire. Everybody that was related to
Aaron, not just Aaron and his sons, but his sons' sons, the
entire Levitical priesthood had something to do. And he goes
into great detail. saying which ones was to do what. Some of them packed up the tabernacle. They tore it down and they packed
it up and they put the coverings on it and they did this and did
that. Some of them carried it. They bore it there on those staves
and they carried it from place to place. Some of them put it
back up. Somebody had to take all those intros and dung and
all the stuff from those sacrifices and take it outside to camp.
And there were special instructions on how to do away with it and
all this kind of stuff. Things had to be cleaned. Things
had to be kept clean. Bread had to be baked, put on
that table. Oil had to be put in that light.
Nobody was left without something to do. Nobody sat idle by the
fire. Everyone in the Levitical priesthood
had a job. And some had jobs that caught
the eye of men, and some had jobs that were not even mentioned
in the Scripture. But they all had jobs. And their
jobs, no matter what they were, were a great honor and privilege
to them. Now if you'll skip down there
in Exodus 28 down to verse 40, you'll find out that God designates
a special dress even for His sons. Not just for Aaron, but
also for His sons. I don't care how menial the task
was, they had the same dress as the guy that bore it on the
stage. They had the same glory. And
their jobs, no matter what they were, were a great honor and
privilege. And I know that the office of
a bishop is an honorable thing. He said, he that desireth the
office of a bishop desireth a good thing. That's a good thing to
desire it. But there's a lot more to it
than simply desiring the office. God has to separate men unto
the ministry. I've got no part in that. I don't
do that. He does that. He does that. And I know this, that from time
to time, I'm the one who stands up here every week and I preach
to you. I'm the one who goes out and
greets visitors and meets you by the door. I'm the one that
when somebody calls and we need a preacher over here or an open
door arises, I go over there and represent this church over
there and preach to them over there. But I couldn't do that
without the least person in here and their support. I couldn't
do it. I couldn't do any of these things. There was a purpose and
a high privilege given to every one of those who ministered in
the Levitical priesthood. And because he wasn't the one
with that mitre on, and going in under that veil, doesn't mean
that he was without honor. He had honor. I couldn't do this without the
faithful support of men and women in this church. Don't ever think
that what you're doing is not important. Don't ever think that. Not for a minute. He said, no
matter what we do, to do it with both hands. Do it with both hands. And do it with purpose. And honor
our Lord in the doing of it. There are men and women right
here in this church who continued their support when there was
hardly anything left here to support. They kept right on supporting. And if it wasn't for them and
their faithful support and their faithfulness to this congregation,
I wouldn't be here today. This church would have folded
up, locked the doors. That would have been the end
of it. So don't ever think that what you're doing is unimportant. The first thing every priest
came to know in Israel is that God has separated him to the
high privilege of ministering to his elect. You think, what
a privilege. If I just had one of God's elect
in this place, what a privilege it would be to me to minister
to Him. And then thirdly, I want you
to see that becoming a priest was not a vocation. This wasn't
a vocation that men chose to do, but it was an honor bestowed
upon them by the living God. God said, take Aaron and his
sons with him. Nobody else. His sons wasn't
over there doing this, take me, take me. They wasn't over there. That's not how it went. God said,
separate me, Aaron, and his sons with him. Turn with me to Hebrews
chapter 5. Let me read you something over
here. You can't join the priesthood. You can't take a vow of celibacy
and join the priesthood and join the ministry. You can't go to school and come
out a priest. And I'll tell you this, Israel,
back here in the beginning when Moses gave them the Word of God
and established this Levitical priesthood and this thing in
its very beginning, Israel did not manufacture for themselves
priests. They did later on. They did later
on. Boy, they had these chosen teachers
like Gamaliel and that, and they put men under them, and they'd
come out, and then, oh, they manufactured them then. Listen
to this here in Hebrews chapter 5 verse 1. Every high priest taken from
among men is ordained for men and things pertaining to God,
that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins, who
can have compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the
way, for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. And by reason hereof he ought,
as for the people, so also for himself to offer for sins." Talking
about these Old Testament priests. Now watch this. And no man taketh
this honor unto himself." Isn't that something? That goes
against the grain of every church in this country. Totally opposite. No man taketh this honor unto
himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also, now watch this, Christ
glorified not himself to be made in high priest, But he that said
unto him, Thou art my son, today have I begotten thee. You can
read that over in Psalm chapter 2, and he's not just talking
about his office as the king, but all his offices he took when
God said, This day have I begotten thee. And again, he says in verse
6, Thou art a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.
That was the king priest. King of Salem. King of peace. And as was the high priest, so
also the priests who were chosen with him. And then fourthly,
both Aaron and his sons were washed with water. You can read
about that when you read that section over there in Leviticus
chapter 8 and verse 6. And this washing was done here
to distinguish the type from the anti-type. Our Lord
was pure and holy and He needed no such washing. He didn't need
to be washed. But Aaron did. Aaron did. And all His priestly sons need
washing. They must be washed in the water
of the Word and washed in the waters of regeneration. They
are tainted and stained by the ways of this world and by the
fallen nature of sin and by a hostile mind. They must undergo a thorough
cleansing in order to minister to God's Israel. And then fifthly,
God commanded His high priest and His sons to be clothed in
a special dress. The Lord God ordained a special
dress for His high priest to manifest His office and work
and to enlighten those who looked to Him who would represent them
before God. Their names was on His shoulders
to bear them up before God. And their names was over His
heart. I read it to you a while ago
in Exodus 28. To bear them up before the Lord. Over His heart. were their names. To enlighten them, they looked
on Him who was the king priest with the mitre on His head in
bold letters saying, Holiness unto the Lord. And He gives us
five reasons here in Exodus 28 why His priest must be clothed
in this work. First of all, He tells us that
this special dress was for his glory and beauty. You remember
reading that a while ago? His glory and his beauty. This dress speaks of the high
station of his office and of the character of him who is called
to it, and of the glory associated with his person and work. The
high priest wore a mitre on his head. His dress was like no other. He was easily, easily distinguished
from all the other priests. You take one look in that courtyard,
boy, there's Abram. There's Abram right there. Glitter of gold from head to
foot. The color of purple, the royal color, all through his
robes. And the mitre and the breastplate,
the ethbid and the robe are a picture of the glory of God in the person
and work of Jesus Christ. His name, it says in the Scripture,
shall be called Beautiful. Beautiful. And this dress spoke
of the character and glory manifested in His office as our great High
Priest. Exodus 28 verse 2 and also verse
40 speak of the special dress of both Him and His sons to minister
to God in the holy place. There was only one man I want
you to think about this. In all the world, who could take
the blood atonement and go beyond the veil and sprinkle that blood
upon the mercy seat over the ark of the covenant and make
atonement for their sins? One man. One man. And only Israel was allowed to
see Him in His glory. Only Israel. What a privilege! Christ being come a high priest
of good things to come, it says, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, that is, not of this body, neither by the blood of
goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once
into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Hebrews 10 verse 11, every priest
standeth daily ministering and offering of times the same sacrifice,
which can never take away sins. But this man, after he offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. God's word of atonement and propitiation
to the high priest of Israel was his final say on the matter.
And so it is in this gospel age. He has spoken to us, he tells
us in Hebrew chapter 1, by His Son, by whom He made the world,
who is the brightness of His glory, an express image of His
person, who by Himself purged us from our sin and sat down
on the right hand of God. And then thirdly, the high priest
of Israel wore this special dress and was appointed to this office
to bear the names of God's elect upon His shoulders and over His
heart. I want you to listen to me. There's
no way under the sun to teach a universal love, atonement,
and priestly ministry from the types of the Old Testament. You
can't do it. You can't do it. It's a particular
It's a particular representation. It's a particular atonement all
the way through. Nobody else's names was on the
heart of the high priest except for Israel. The Israel of God. That's who He represented. He
didn't go in there to make salvation possible. He went in there to
secure the forgiveness of sins. That's what atonement is. God
chose Israel out of all the world and to them. He gave the high
priest, and he bore their names in his dress. And his dress marked
him out as the representative of God's elect. There was not
a single stranger's name on his dress. And the idea that the
high priest's offering somehow made the world redeemable is
just absolute madness. You can't find it in here. And
the insinuation that the sin offering made it possible for
everyone to be saved, you are not going to find that in the
Word of God. His work was particular. He was
to bear their names before the Lord. I am trying to preach to
a whole generation of so-called Christians who know nothing about
the foundation set forth in the Word of God concerning the priestly
work of Christ. They know nothing of it. If I
were to start talking to them about the average preacher out
here, if I was to start talking to him about that priestly dress
and those names and what that meant and that atonement, I guarantee
you it would go right over their head. If the blood of Christ did not
put away our sins once for all, As I read to you from Hebrews
chapter 10, that makes God a liar. Because He said it did. He said
it did. And it makes the sacrifice and
office of Christ in vain. What kind of a priesthood would
it have been if their work was not effectual? I bet you nobody
would have brought a sacrifice. You would have had to beg them
to come because it was an affection.
And the universalists would have you to believe that the blood
of Christ opened the door, and that is all up to you. The religion
of our day would have you believe that your faith justifies you
and not the high priest of God, when in fact the Scriptures tell
us that we are justified in the resurrection of Christ. He was
delivered, Paul said, for our offenses and raised again for
our justification. I've heard people preach this.
And they want folks to think that the blood atonement of Christ
makes salvation possible, but it's only made effectual if you
believe. It was effectual when He offered
it. I wasn't even born yet, let alone believed or repented. I
wasn't even thought about. That's 2,000 years ago. You won't
get right down to it. He justified us in Christ when
He gave Him the office as a priest before the world was. Isn't that
what I just read to you? Christ said He went as our high
priest into there and obtained what kind of redemption for us?
Eternal redemption. I tell you this, no man will
ever believe who is not justified in Christ. Our Lord said, you
believe not because you are not of My seed. And then fourthly,
the high priest of Israel wore this special dress to represent
Israel and to minister to Israel according to the will of God.
In one of those little pouches, he had these two things called
the Urim and the Thummim. You know what those two things
did? They determined the will of God. They determined the will
of God. Used by the high priest alone
and discerned by him alone. And then he himself would convey
the will of God to Israel. And then last of all, he wore
this special dress to represent all Israel that he might bear
the iniquity of the holy things and them be accepted, and thine
own. If Christ was not everything
appointed Him to be, if His character was not in every detail pleasing
to God, if He did not make intercession for us and represent us before
God, our best prayers would send us to hell. Can you hear what
I'm telling you? Your best prayers have enough
sin to send you to hell. The high priest of Israel put
on this special dress, and it was part of his job, part of
his job, to bear the iniquity of the holy things. We think about forgiveness of
sins. We think about things we stole and lies we told and all
that kind of nonsense. There's more sin and greater
sins in our religious actions than in all those other things
put together. I'll tell you what our Lord said.
This shocked the socks off some people. He said it was going
to be better off in the day of judgment for the sodomites than
it was going to be for the Pharisees. And the Pharisees, you couldn't
even get them to talk about sodomy. You couldn't get them to utter
the Word. The Word was filthy. They wouldn't utter it in their
mouth. They were so self-righteous. And he said it would be better
for the Sodomites than it will be for them in that day. That's the kind of sin in the
holy things. Paul, he cried in in Romans chapter
7, O wretched man that I am, because the good that he would,
he couldn't do, and the evil that he wouldn't do, that's what
he did. And he cried out before God, O wretched man that I am,
who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And then
he lived a few more years, and he cried out again, and this
time he said, O that I might be found not having my own righteousness. but the righteousness of Him,
His righteousness. Let me be found in that, not
in mine, not in mine. And we need to walk, live, think,
and reason as Christians and understand that our righteousness
is the righteousness of Christ. It's the righteousness of Christ.
And when we see it that way and see ourselves for what we are,
We won't be up here looking down our noses at people. We'll be
right down there on their level thanking God who chose us out,
opened our eyes, called us out of darkness. May the Lord bless
this lesson to your hearts.