I hope when we walk out this
door tonight that his precious name will be more precious to
us than it was when we walked in here. Wouldn't that be a blessing? Now, you noticed in reading Hebrews
chapter 9, verse 13, we read of the blood of goats and calves
and the ashes of a heifer. And this is a reference to the
red heifer. And I want you to turn back to
Numbers chapter 19. And I don't recall preaching
on this or. I've been thrilled by what this
passage of scripture has taught me concerning the ashes of a
red heifer. Now look at verse 10 of Numbers
chapter 19. And he that gathereth the ashes
of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean unto the
evening. and it shall be unto the children
of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, for
a statute for ever." Now, this chapter is about purification
for sin. Look in verse 11, "...he that
toucheth the body of any man shall be unclean seven days."
He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the
seventh day he shall be clean. But if you purify not himself
the third day with the ashes of this heifer, then the seventh
day he shall not be clean. Whosoever toucheth the dead body
of any man that is dead and purifies not himself, defileth the tabernacle
of the Lord, that soul shall be cut off from Israel, because
the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him. He shall
be unclean, his uncleanness is yet upon him. This is the law
when a man dieth in a tent. All that come into the tent and
all that's in the tent shall be unclean. Seven days. Just
like when a leper was unclean. He couldn't come into the camp
of Israel. Someone who had some contact
with death was not allowed in. They were unclean. Verse 15. And every open vessel which hath
no covering bound upon it is unclean. And whosoever toucheth
anyone that slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead
body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, he shall be unclean
for seven days." Now, these verses speak of touching death, coming
into contact with death, and because of that, becoming unclean. Now, if you touched a dead body,
or if you were in the tent of somebody who died, or you touched
a bone, or even a grave, you were called unclean. And you were shut out of the
camp of Israel until these ashes of a red heifer were applied
to you. You were no different than the
leper, unclean by touching death. Now, we're around death a lot,
aren't we? You know, I don't spend as much time around unbelievers
as you all do, I realize that. But when I do, I come away feeling
dirty and unclean, impure. We're in something called a body
of death. The body of sin. We're in continual contact with
death. and defilement, so much so that
Paul said regarding his body, O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from this body of what? Death. I feel that I'm continually coming
into contact with death because I'm around. And I feel dirty. And I feel defiled. And I feel unclean. You walk through this world and
your feet get dirty. Now, this passage of scripture
speaks of purification for that defilement. I get dirty every
day by my sin and I need to be purified. I need to be washed. I need to be made clean. And
this beautiful picture of the gospel in the Red heifer and
its ashes tells us how this is done. Now look in chapter 19
verses 1 through 3. And the Lord spake unto Moses
and unto Aaron, saying, This is the ordinance of the law which
the Lord hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel,
that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish,
and upon which never came yoke. And you shall give her unto Eliezer
the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and
one shall slay her before his face. Now, the red heifer was
to be without spot. A yoke could never come on it.
This speaks of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ without spot
and without blemish. And it was to be slain as a substitutionary
sacrifice. Now, there is only one reason
And what is that? Sin. Sin. This red heifer without
blemish was to be slain. Now let's go on reading. And
Eliezer, the priest, shall take of her blood with his finger
and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the
congregation seven times. And one shall burn the heifer
in his sight, her skin and her flesh and her blood, and her
dung shall he burn. And the priest shall take cedarwood,
and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the
burning of the heifer. Then the priest shall wash his
clothes. You see, he has become unclean and come in contact with
this heifer. And he shall bathe his flesh
in water, and afterwards he shall come into the camp, and the priest
shall be unclean until the evening. And he that burneth her shall
wash his clothes in water. You see, he came in contact with
her, and he became unclean. And he shall bathe his flesh
in water and shall be unclean unto the even. And a man that
is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and lay them
up without the camp in a clean place, and shall be kept for
the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation.
It is a purification for sin. And this is what this is all
about, a purification for sin, a cleansing, a washing of sin. Now, what I thought, what a thing. What I know is glorious about
this. Before the defilement took place, this red heifer was put
to death. That's greatly significant. Before I had anything to feel
dirty about, this red heifer had been slain. And remember,
its ashes were to be put up. And when someone became defiled,
when someone became dirty, when someone became unclean, this
heifer had already been slain. Now, first thing I want to point
out is this. Believer, you feel dirty because of your sin. It's
a horrible feeling. Dirty, filthy, defiled. But do you know that the sacrifice
for that sin has already been made? It's already been taken
care of. You've already been made clean. Before you feel anything or not,
this ashes of a heifer was already there. Christ is called the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. The sacrifice came
before the contact with death. The sacrifice came before the
defilement. The sacrifice comes first. Before
there was ever a sinner, there was a Savior. Isn't that wonderful? Verses 5 and 6. One shall burn
the heifer in his sight, her skin and her flesh and her blood
with her dung shall he burn. And the priest shall take cedar
wood and hyssop and scarlet and cast it into the midst of the
burning fire. Now, after this heifer was put to death, they
would burn it and they would put three things in the fire. Cedar. What cedar? It's the hardest
wood. It's the wood that was used for
the great construction projects because it was so durable. And
this cedar speaks of the duration of the sacrifice of Christ. It
never loses its power. It never becomes old or ineffectual. You may commit the same sin a
hundred thousand times. And indeed, there are sins you
and I have committed a hundred thousand times, but the blood
still has all power to wash away and put away that sin. It never
becomes ineffectual. It's always fresh and powerful
before God. Now we sing that hymn. There's
a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel's veins.
I love that hymn. Sinners plunge beneath that blood,
lose all their guilty stains. The dying thief rejoiced to see
that fountain in his day, and there may I, though vile as he,
wash all my sins away. Now, here's the one verse of
that that I wish it could change. Dear dying lamb, thy precious
blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed church
of God be saved to sin no more. No, it'll never lose its power. Period. Period. Before the foundation of the
world, when I had no existence or conscious existence, the blood
of Christ was my standing before God. And in heaven, when I've
been saved to sin no more, and I don't sin anymore, and I stand
perfect before God, perfectly conformed to the image of Christ,
I'm going to be just as dependent upon the blood of Christ then
as I am right now. It's the blood that keeps us.
This blood was shed before there was any defilement, and it's
always powerful. It'll never lose its power. Now,
then the next thing thrown in was hyssop. What was hyssop for?
Well, you remember the Passover, hyssop was put in the blood to
put over the doorpost. Hyssop was used to apply the
blood. Now, here's one thing that, here's
something else that thrills me. I can't apply the blood. He does. I can't apply this blood to myself.
Only God can apply the blood, the hyssop. David said, purge
me with hyssop. And I shall be clean. Look at
verse 18 of Numbers 19. And a clean person shall take
hyssop. Notice it's a clean person. You
know, you couldn't apply the blood. If you were unclean, you
couldn't do it. It had to be a clean person who applied that
hyssop. Now, I can't apply the blood
to myself. It's God that does it. It's Christ. It's the Holy Spirit who does
it. He's the clean person who applies the blood to my conscience. A clean person shall take hyssop,
and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and
upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there,
and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, and dead in the
grave. The clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on
the third day, and on the seventh day, and on the seventh day he
shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself
with water, and he shall be clean and even." You see, it's a clean
person who applies this blood. Only God can apply the blood,
and thank God He does apply it. He's the one who applies it to
my conscience. And then Scarlet was thrown in to this burning
red heifer, a grub worm. This is what Scarlet was. A grub
worm was crushed and it was used to die. Now, my washing, my purification
for sin comes from Christ being crushed. And that's what washes
away my sin. Purification for sin. This is
what this red heifer is all about. It's for purification for sin. Now look in verses seven and
eight of this passage scripture. Then the priest shall wash his
clothes and he shall bathe his flesh in water and afterwards
he shall come into the camp and the priest shall be unclean.
Did you hear that? The priest shall be unclean.
Coming into contact with this red heifer, the priest himself
is unclean and he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in
water and bathe his flesh in water. For he shall be unclean
unto the evening. Now, those who came into contact
with this heifer during this time became unclean because this
spotless heifer became unclean. This spotless heifer became unclean,
and what that tells me is Christ. This is so mysterious, I'm scared
even when I tell you. Every time I talk about this,
I get nervous. But on the cross, I read just this week where somebody
said Christ became accountable for our sins. Oh, no, he didn't
become accountable for our sins. My sin was made his and he was
made sin, something far more horrible than some of it was. Was Christ sitting on the cross?
Of course not. He didn't sit on the cross, but something worse
took place. He was made sin. He was made a curse, the scripture
says, made sin. And so when the priest touched
and came into contact with this red heifer, he became unclean
because of the uncleanness of the victim, the heifer. That's so mysterious. It's so... Look in verses 9 and 10. and
a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and
lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall
be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for
water separation. It is a purification for sin,
and he that gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his
clothes and be unclean unto the evening, even that person who
came into contact with the ashes. It shall be unto the children
of Israel and to the stranger that sojourneth among them for
a statute forever." And the ashes of this heifer were gathered
up. The sacrifice has already been done. And we see the ashes. We see our sins purged away. They are no more. Now I've already
read verses 11 through 16 about what happens when you come into
contact with death in some way. Now let's pick up verse 17. And
for an unclean person, this person who's come into contact with
death, who's become dirty, who's become defiled, For an unclean
person, they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer, purification
for sin, and running water shall be put into a vessel." You take
these ashes and water from a spring, running water, it will be put
into a vessel. And a clean person shall take
his And dip it in the water, that water mixed up with the
ashes, and sprinkle it upon the tent, upon all the vessels, and
upon the persons that were there, whoever came into contact with
death, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one
dead, or in a grave. And the clean person shall sprinkle
upon the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day."
Now remember, this process took seven days. There were two different
sprinklings. One on the third day. Now what's
that referring to? I bet everybody here knows. When
our Lord was raised from the dead on the third day, I was
clean. I was clean. I was justified. I was made clean
on the third day when our Lord rose from the dead. Well, what's
this Sabbath day all about? The Sabbath day, the seven Spirits
of God we read of. The seven Spirits of God. Let's
talk about the God, the Holy Spirit. Remember where it says
the seven Spirits of God that proceed from the throne? God,
the Holy Spirit. takes this and applies it to
me, applies it to my conscience, and he reveals this to me. Now,
I was cleansed when Christ was risen from the dead. I was cleansed
when I believed, when God the Holy Spirit gave me the grace
to see. He applied the ashes and the
water to my conscience and to my heart. Hence, I am clean and purified. Now, turn back to Hebrews chapter
9. Hebrews chapter 9. For the blood of bulls and of
goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifyeth
to the purifying of the flesh. Now here's what this ashes of
the red heifer did. Two things. It sanctified and
it purified. Sanctified. That means it made
me whole. That's what the application of
this does. It makes me holy. What's holiness? Well, there's
a lot of things I can say about holiness, but one thing you call
holiness is without sin. Without sin. It made me without
sin. It purified me. It washed away
my sin. It's all about the death of Christ. That's in those ashes. I walk
through this world. I get dirty. I come under influences
that make me even dirtier. I just feel dirty. I'm defiled. And the only thing that cleanses
me and washes away my sin and purifies me is the application
of the blood of Christ by the Spirit of God to my heart. Now,
I was cleansed on that third day, but I become aware of it
when God, the Holy Spirit, applies it to my heart. These ashes,
the sin put away, that sacrifice that took place. The blood of
Christ actually purifies and sanctifies. The ashes of the
red heifer pictures what the blood of Christ actually has
done. Now, his blood signifies his
death. His death. You know, I think
it's Easter. It's kind of weird in a way,
if you think about it. I mean, I want to say this right. One day, A year to celebrate
something that we're rejoicing in constantly? I think it's kind
of strange. Easter? You know, Easter? This one? No! Oh, the resurrection
of Christ, the blood of Christ, the death of Christ. That's something
that is always before our eyes by the grace of God. It's not
something we acknowledge one day a year or 364 days a year.
23 hours a day. He's all, it's everything. He is everything at all times. And so you got to admit, Easter's
kind of weird, isn't it? All the stuff they do. It's funny, my neighbor's an
atheist. He says he is. And I see him
get up this morning, him and his wife and kid, and going to
church. His blood sets us apart to be
holy. The priest, by the eternal spirit,
offered himself without spot to God. That makes me think of what the
Lord does for us. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might
cleanse it and wash it with the washing of the water by the word,
that he might present it to himself in glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing. That's what the blood of Christ
does. It purifies it. sanctifies. Now, the writer says,
purge your conscience. From dead works. To serve the
living God. Now, there's no serving God unless
my conscience is purged from these dead works. Now, the conscience. I preached
the message on this two or three weeks ago. There's an accusing
conscience. There's a feared conscience.
There's a good conscience. Well, it's a good conscience.
A good conscience is a conscience that has nothing to feel guilty
about. If I have a good conscience,
that means there's... I don't even feel guilty about it. Now,
accusing conscience, you have something to feel guilty about.
A seared conscience, you may not feel guilty, but you still
have something to feel guilty about. But a good conscience... is a conscience that has absolutely,
positively nothing to feel guilty about. I've never done wrong.
I've never sinned. There's nothing for me to feel
guilty about. Now, it's true. I feel guilty
continually. There's always, I've always got
a reason to feel guilty. As far as my life, that being
said, I have nothing to feel guilty about. That's what the
blood of Christ does. It makes me to where I really
do not have anything to feel guilty about. I'm justified.
You know what justification means? Not guilty. If I'm justified,
that means I stand before God without guilt. Christ washed away my sins. There's no sin for me to be condemned
for. It's gone. I stand with perfect righteousness
before God. I have nothing to feel guilty
about. Now, you purge your conscience
of these dead works. What are these dead works? Dead
works are any works that you do that contribute to your salvation
in any way. That's a dead work. If you begin
with letting God save you or whatever it is, that's a dead
work. If you think there's something that you can do, That makes you
holier, makes you more like Christ. That's a dead work. If you think
you're going to be rewarded some higher position in heaven because
of something you've done, that's a dead work. Purge your conscience
from dead works. Believe the gospel. Believe that
you really are righteous before God, perfect before God, without
sin. That's what justification is
all about. And you really can't serve God until your conscience
is purged from dead works. Now, I realize that as long as
we're in this flesh, we're going to have to do some purging. I wish it wasn't that way, but
that's the way it is. Purge your conscience continually from these
dead works to serve the living God. Now, here's a scripture
I believe that will illustrate this. Turn with me to John, chapter
three. John, chapter three, you know,
the Bible says the same thing. in a whole lot of different ways.
But it's always the same. John, chapter three, let's begin
in verse 18. Our Lord says he that believeth
on him. Is not condemned. Why? Because there's nothing
to condemn me for. In Christ, I am not condemned. There's nothing to condemn me
for. My sin's been washed away. I stand perfect before God. He
that believeth is not condemned. I love when our Lord said to
that woman who was taken in adultery in the very act. He said, Woman,
where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She
said, No man, Lord. He said, Neither do I condemn
thee. Go. And sin no more. The reason he didn't condemn
is because it wasn't because he's washing that horrible sin
she committed under the rug. He put it away. It's gone. His
blood paid for it. There's no condemnation to them
that are in Christ Jesus. You know, we couldn't even respect
God if he would let sin go unpunished, could we? Not really. Not deep
down. We couldn't respect him. It would be taking away from
his moral governance. But no, he's always going to
punish sin. And the reason somebody's not condemned is because there's
nothing to be condemned for. Sin's been washed away. Now let's
go on reading. But he that believeth not is condemned already, because
he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. That one who doesn't believe
is condemned. Look in verse 35 of this same
chapter. The Father loveth the Son, and
hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth on the
Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son
shall not see life. But the wrath of God abides on
him. It continues on him. It's there
to stay. It's not going to leave. Now,
that one who does not believe is condemned. Verse 19. And this is the condemnation,
that light is come into the world. And what wonderful life this
is. The light that's come into the world is the light of how
God can save me, be just, and yet justify me. Even when I am
in myself, I'm unjust. That's the light he's speaking
of. Light has come into the world, the light of how God can accept
a sinner for Christ's sake. Now, here's the condemnation.
Light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather
than light. because their deeds were evil. Now, here's the condemnation.
Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were
evil. And they don't want to come around
that light because of what that light's exposed. This is the
condemnation that light has come into the world and men love darkness
rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone
that doeth evil hates the light. Neither comes to the light, lest
his deeds should be reproved. The reason a natural man has
no love for the gospel and no love for the light of the gospel
is because all the gospel does is expose all of his deeds to
be nothing but sin. That's it. All the things that
he's resting in, all the things that he's trusting, all the things
he has confidence in, it's exposed as nothing but sin. That's what
the gospel says. You know, the gospel says that every time I
breathe, I sin. I sure can't be saved by anything
I do. Now, if you're hoping in your works in any way, this messes
all that up, doesn't it? And that's why the natural man
hates the gospel. Now, let's go on reading. For
everyone that doeth evil hates the light, neither comes to the
light lest his deeds should be reproved, but he that doeth truth. And this is what believing the
gospel is. It's a doing of the truth. I love that phrase. He
that doeth the truth. The truth is something you do.
It's not just something you give adherence to. It's something
you do. It's something you practice.
It has something to do with faith. He that doeth truth, he comes
to the light that his deeds may be made manifest. Now, are you
willing to come to the light and have all your deeds exposed?
and made manifest. How does that sound? Does that
sound attractive to you? To come to the light that all your deeds
may be made manifest. Now, that one who does the truth,
he comes to the light that all his deeds may be made manifest,
that they are wrought in God, that they are worked in God,
that they are worked by God. Now, here's why I can come to
the light. Because I know. that when Jesus Christ kept God's
holy law, you know who else did? I did. Every single one of His
people. When He worked out a perfect
righteousness, you know who else did? I did. Literally? Literally. Actually? Actually. Whatever
He did, I did. His deeds are my deeds. What about when He came to John
the Baptist? And he said he wanted to be baptized.
John the Baptist said, I need to be baptized with thee. He
comes down to me. I can understand that. I don't feel very hesitant.
If the Lord wanted me to baptize him, can you imagine how you'd
feel? And the Lord said, Suffer it thus to be so, for thus it
becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. You see, when Jesus Christ fulfilled
all righteousness, he did it as an us. He did it as a representative
for every single one of his people. And the reason I can come into
the light and not be afraid, actually enjoy coming into the
light. My deeds work by God, wrought
by God, wrought in God, so that all I have done is nothing but
good. Isn't that wonderful? And that defilement that you
feel, It feels bad, doesn't it? It's a horrible feeling. What
is it that takes care of that horrible feeling? Having the
blood of Christ applied once again to your heart, to your
mind, to your conscience, where you purge your conscience from
those dead works. You know, whenever we present
our works to God in any way, you know what it is? It's presenting
filth to him. It's presenting dirty rags to
him. That's not good. How would you feel if somebody
presented you dirty rags to appease you? No, we present, we purge
our conscience of those dead works to serve the living God,
believing on Christ. It's believing the gospel. We purge our conscience from
dead works to serve the living God. Now, here's what I want
to ask myself, and I know we can't do it unless God enables
us. I realize that. I realize that. But I, you know, I want
to be somebody who believes what God says, don't you? I want to
trust him. Now, he says to every believer, you're not
condemned. He that believes is not condemned. Nothing to condemn
him for. Believe it. Believe it. You're the hardest
thing you're ever called on to do. Is to simply believe what
God says. To believe that I'm without sin. And I know I commit sin. daily. You know, this this red heifer
is kind of like a foot washing. You know, you it's the Old Testament
version of foot washing. You know how our Lord said he
that's washed need not to be washed save his feet. But it's
clean everywhere. But you get your your feet dirty
and you walk through this world. This is the same thing. You get
your feet dirty. This is to the Israelite. Contact
with death. But what is it that purifies
me? What's that? Red heifer. being
spotless, yet sacrificed the death of Christ, burnt up, accepted
my sin, burnt up, taking that ashes, mixing with the water
of the Holy Spirit, taking that and applying the same gospel
to me once again. Here's another reason why we
have to continually hear the gospel. I'm so thankful for the
ashes of a red heifer, what it pictures, the blood of Christ
being applied to me. once again. Let's pray.