Turn to Leviticus 14. Leviticus 14. In the New Testament, there were
a number of times when the Lord is recorded, cleanse the leper. Every time He did this, there
were three recordings of it, He always told the people who
were cleansed to go show themselves to the priest and offer the sacrifices
There's a reason for that, obviously. And that reason is because that
sacrifice is a picture of Christ. And that's what we're going to
look at today. Leviticus chapter 14. You know, leprosy in the
Old Testament is a good picture of sin. It's a good picture of
sin. Back at that time, it was incurable.
You could, you got it in your blood and it was there and it
would disfigure you. And eventually it would kill
you unless God Almighty did something for you. And that, my friends,
is the case with everyone here. We're born into this world and
we're the product of a defiled fountain. You're not going to
get pure water out of a defiled fountain. Adam, we're basically
sewer water. We're totally depraved. The time
we're born, as I've said before, you don't have to teach a kid
how to lie. We're totally depraved. We come
to this world as sinners, and it disfigures us all our lives.
And if God Almighty doesn't do something for us, we're going
to die with it. We're going to die with it. And here in Leviticus
14, it says, verses 1 and 2, ìAnd the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his
cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest.î Now, when a leper
started seeing some improvement, if there was any sign of grace
in that man's life, it appeared that something was going on.
That man was to be brought to the priest. I love that because,
my friends, that's true of every one of us, all us sinners. We've
got to be brought to the priest. We've got to deal with a priest,
God's representative. There's a priest that stands
between us. We've got to be brought to Him. You know, we had in the
previous chapter, verse 46, if you look at it, it says, A leper,
all the days whereof his plague shall be in him, he shall be
defiled. He's unclean. He'll to dwell alone without
the camp shall be his habitation. He's got to live out there by
himself. If anybody gets near him, he's got to cover his mouth
and cry, unclean, unclean. Everything he touched in life
was dirty. If he touched a garment, they
had to do something with that garment. Everything, every place
he put his left wrist foot was dirty. And that's true of men.
That's true of men. Have you ever read the scripture
that said, Behold, to the moon it shineth not. The moon's not
even pure in his sight. You know why? We've been there. That's right. We've been there. This whole nation, the whole
nature fell with the fall of Adam. It groans and travails. Says there in verses 3 and 4,
"...and the priest shall go forth out of the camp, and the priest
shall look, and behold, the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper.
Then shall the priest command a take for him that is to be
cleansed, two birds alive, clean, and cedarwood, and scarlet, and
hyssop." The priest has got to go forth out of the camp. There
was one who left heaven and came down here, Emmanuel, God in the
flesh. came forth out of the camp to
look at the sinners, to deal with the sinners, the lepers,
to cleanse the lepers. This priest is a picture of Christ,
and not only is he a picture of Christ, these two birds here
are a picture of Christ, and you're going to see that in a
minute here. Two birds, alive, clean. If you look in your, a
lot of times on the side, you'll see a little description here
that says sparrows. Sparrows were the birds being
talked about here. How do two birds, how do they
prefigure the Lord? Well, they were free birds. Two
birds alive. Free birds. Sparrows. They were
not caged. They were common little birds.
Nothing of any great value in the eyes of human beings. You
know, I remember in the New Testament, the Lord said in Luke 12, 6,
you remember this? He says, Are not five sparrows
sold for two farthings? And not a one of them is forgotten
before God. Five sparrows of four cents. Now that's common. That's insignificant. That's of no value. He hath no form, no comeliness.
And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire
him. That's what Isaiah said about
this one who was coming. Such a common one, he would be
a root out of dry ground. The Pharisees would speak of
him and say, can any good thing come from Nazareth? Search the
Scripture and see if a prophet arises out of Galilee. Not much to look at, but he's
clean. Did you say that? He's clean.
Clean. Clean. Not much to look at. But
he's clean. You know, the Old Testament clean
animals were animals that were clean for sacrifice and they
were clean to eat because they were a picture of Christ. This
one who would be our sacrifice and this one whose flesh would
be meat indeed and whose blood would be drink indeed. It's a
picture, a picture of him. These insignificant little birds,
both of them are Christ. They represent his two natures.
They represent him as a person. The body of Christ, the man,
Christ Jesus, was clean. He was born of a virgin. He was
made in the likeness of sinful flesh, but he had no sin upon
him. He was clean. Absolutely, the only clean man
that's ever walked this earth. And that other clean bird you're
going to see in a minute represents his divine nature. And that was
clean. His divine nature. You see here, you're going to
see his humiliation. You're going to see his exaltation
here. And look at verse 5. And the
priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an
earthen vessel over running water." Now, does that picture sound
familiar to you? Think about that. Look over at John 19. Mark
this place. John 19. The Apostle John thought an awful
lot of this. Look at verse 32. Then came the soldiers and broke
the legs of the first, and then of the other which was crucified
with him. And when they came to Jesus, they saw he was dead
already, and they broke not his legs. And one of the soldiers
with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there blood
and water." He repeats this in 1 John 5. Look over at the epistle,
1 John 5, verses 5 and 6. John was apparently very shaken
by this. Verse 5, "...who is he that overcometh the world,
but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he
that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ, not by water
only, but by water and blood. It is the Spirit that beareth
witness, because the Spirit is true." Now, think about that.
How is the leper cleansed? Well, that little clean bird
was taken. And they put an earthen vessel
down here and they had water flowing into that vessel and
they would cut that bird and squeeze his blood out into that
vessel. And water and blood flowed out
of an earthen vessel. My friends, that's my Lord. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels. And our Lord came here and suffered,
bled and died in an earthen vessel. And you see in the cleansing
of the leper, blood and water flowing out of an earthen vessel.
Blood to atone for the sin. Water to wash clean. You sang
that song. May the blood, the water from
thy rib and side which flowed be a sin, the double cure. Save
from wrath and make me pure. Make me pure. Blood and water
running. It had to be an overflowing vessel.
Why? Because the blood of Jesus Christ
cleanseth us from all sin. It's a continuing cleansing.
It's a picture of His continuing cleansing of His people. Back in our text, look at this.
Verses 5 and 6. As for the living bird, he shall
take it and the cedar wood and the hyssop and shall dip them
in the living bird and the blood of the bird that was killed over
the running water. And he shall sprinkle upon him
that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and he shall
pronounce him clean, and he shall let the living bird loose in
the open field." Now, I want you to picture this. There's
a stick, there's hyssop, there's a bird. What's this all about?
Let me show you one place in the Old Testament, 1 Kings 4,
where hyssop and cedar are mentioned together. It's the only place
in the Bible, and this may sound like a First Kings chapter four,
I want you to get the it's talking about Solomon is talking about
his great wealth. It's talking about all the things
he had and his intelligence. And it says in verse thirty three.
First Kings four. Four thirty three. Listen to this. Look at verse 32. He spake three
thousand proverbs, and his songs were a thousand and five. You
realize we have the Song of Solomon in the New Testament. There's
a thousand and four more songs that man wrote. And he spake of trees, from the
cedar tree that's in Lebanon, way up yonder in the mountains
of Lebanon, the cedar tree, the highest thing out there. He spoke
of the trees, the cedar trees in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop
that springeth out among the wall. He spake of beasts and
fowl and creeping things and fish." What this is is a contrast
between the greatest things in nature, this cedar that's on
a mountaintop, this incorruptible wood. To this day, people make
cedar closets. It's an incorruptible wood, way
up yonder, being joined together with a little hyssop that's way
down here. It's the uniting of these two things. That's talking
about the incorruptible Son of God. coming from way up yonder
to way down here. And that cedar stick and that
little bird and that hyssop were joined together. That bird was
alive and the priest would put him at the end of that stick
and he would take the scarlet thread and wrap it around that
bird with the hyssop, the bird's tail and its feathers, and he
would take that stick and he would put it in that bloody water
and he would pull that out and he would sprinkle that leper
seven times. Clean in soul, clean in spirit,
clean in flesh, clean. You are cleansed seven times.
Perfectly clean. Perfectly clean. Oh, my goodness. We'll sing some
songs this morning. Listen, I quote, crowning the
Lord of love, behold His hands and side, rich wounds yet visible
above, in beauty glorified. Lord, now indeed I find my power
and thine alone can change a leper's spots and melt the heart of stone."
Jesus paid it all. And just as soon as he had sprinkled
that leper, did you read that? Look at that verse back there,
verse 7. Sprinkling, that's to be cleansed
from the leprosy seven times. Pronounce in plain. Pronounce
in plain. And you shall let that living
bird loose. into the open field, back to where he came from, that
living bird. The divine Son of God, robed
in flesh, died on a cross, died in an earthen vessel, blood and
water. And that little bird, covered
with blood and water, was let loose back into the field from
whence he came, rich wounds yet visible above in glory. That's the exaltation and the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm here to tell
you, the day that happened, I was pronounced clean. I was pronounced clean. Pronouncing
clean. I'm telling you, there's a man
in glory and those for whom he died have been sprinkled and
they've been pronounced clean. Now you know that leper that
day might not have seen all that. Now we preach these things, we
look back with New Testament eyes, it's easy to see these
things. But that leper probably didn't
see that. You know that day that that happened and that priest
took that little critter on the end of that stick and sprinkled
him with bloody water and looked at him and said, you are clean.
The day he said that and released that bird. I'm going to tell
you what that leper was thinking. That's me. Thank God Almighty,
I'm free at last. I'm free to go back to the temple.
I'm free to come back into the town, to be with my family, to
be with the people I know and love. I'm free. And I'm going
to tell you something. He was right. He was right. You know
why? Because that little bird represented Him and that little
bird represented Christ. They're one. We have been made
to, raised up, we set together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. They're one. That man was right
to think that way. Pronounced clean, for whom this
one died are all clean. And I'll tell you, we're just
all a bunch of little birds. I was telling some folks the
other day, down here on this earth, I've watched sparrows.
They'll come down and hop around long enough to get something
to eat, and then they're back up there where it's safe. And that's the way
a believer is. He comes down on this earth and
hops around a little bit to get what he needs. He's got heavenly
things to think about. He's got his mind and affection
set on things above as he's been told. He just gets right back
up there in the branches as quick as he can. Look into Christ. Look into Christ. What I want
you to see here as I speak to you this morning is I want you
to see salvation objectively and I want you to see it subjectively.
You're going to see that here as we go on down here. Look here
at verses 8 and 9. And he that is to be cleansed.
Now this is interesting. He that is to be cleansed. shall
wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and wash himself
in water, that he may be clean. And after that, he shall come
to the camp and shall tarry abroad out of his tent seven days. And
it shall be on the seventh day that he shall shave all the hair
off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair
shall he shave off. He shall wash his clothes, he
shall wash his flesh in water and he shall be clean. He was
pronounced clean, yet he is the one to be cleansed and he shall
be clean. As you read down through here,
it keeps using these things. They're interchangeable. Why?
Because you see, the three senses of salvation, we were saved in
Christ Jesus. We were His people before the
world began. He pronounced us clean at Calvary. But there's
something that's going on in our lives, too. And here in this
text, it talks about shaving and washing. Some of us are hairier
than others. I've slowed down a little bit.
You know, I grew my mustache back. The last week of July,
when I was at the beach, I started growing my mustache back. And
about two weeks ago, my wife looks over at me in the car and
goes, when did you grow your mustache back? I said, you are not paying
attention, woman. And I know other folks that can
grow a beard in three or four days. And what you have here
being described is what grows out of your flesh by nature.
And that's the picture. Believers are to mortify the
deeds of their body. They're to wash in this world.
The washing of the Word does that. They're to mortify the
deeds of their body. They are to put off the old man,
put on the new, as the Scripture says. We're to deal with these
things. That's the picture being here.
It's been pronounced clean, but we've got to deal with some things
here. We've got to deal with some things. But I want to tell you something,
all that means nothing if you don't go on to the next
step. You know, most of the world is full of people that are religious
that don't go here and don't go there and don't do this and
don't do that. I grew up that way. And I want
you to know if that's all you have, that you haven't finished
this. You haven't finished this. First seven verses, you see salvation
as a forensic matter. That's the word people like to
use today. Forensic. A legal matter. Over here is
a leper. What's he doing? He's just standing
there and they're sprinkling things on him. Somebody's offering
birds and sprinkling blood water on him, pronouncing him clean.
That's forensic. He was pronounced clean. I'll
fight you over there. He was pronounced clean. But look here at verses 10 through
20, and I'm going to read through them. On the eighth day, he shall
take two he-lambs without a blemish, one you-lamb in the first year
without a blemish, and three-tenths deals of fine flour for a meat
offering, mingled with oil, and one log of oil. And the priest
that maketh him clean shall present the man that is to be made clean,
and those things before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation. The priest shall take one of
the he-lambs and offer it for a trespass offering. and the
log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before the Lord.
He shall slay the lamb in the place where he shall kill the
sin offering, and the burnt offering in the holy place. For as the
sin offering is the priest, so is the trespass offering, its
most holy. And the priest shall take some of the blood of the
trespass offering, and the priest shall put it upon the tip of
the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and on the thumb
of the right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot.
And the priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it
into the palm of his own left hand. And the priest shall dip
his right finger in the oil that is in the left hand, and shall
sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before the
Lord. And the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the
priest put upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be
cleansed, and upon the thumb of the right hand, and upon the
great toe of the right foot, and the blood of the trespass
offering. And the remnant of the oil that is in the priest's
hand shall he pour out on the head of him that is to be cleansed.
And the priest shall make an atonement before the Lord. And
the priest shall offer a sin offering and make an atonement
for him that is to be cleansed from his uncleanness. And afterwards
he shall kill the burnt offering. And the priest shall offer the
burnt offering and the meat offering upon the altar. And the priest
shall make an atonement for him and he shall be cleansed. He
shall be cleansed. Verses one through
seven, you see an objective view. of salvation. The Son of God dying for our
sins, raising for our justification. And in these verses you see the
Holy Spirit's work in the life of the leper. This One who has
been pronounced clean, who is to be clean, who is to be made
clean, who shall be clean. It's a picture of the Holy Spirit
working in our day. What's the significance of the
eighth day? Well, all I know is this man shaved himself the
day before, and he wasn't to have two hairs on his body. If
he had two hairs on his body, he wasn't shaved. This was so
the priest could look at him and make sure the leprosy was
departing. But on the eighth day, he would show up there.
And what's the significance of the number eight? Well, all I
can tell you is it was the appointed day. It was the appointed day. And he would go to the priest
and meet him at the door of the congregation, somewhere he'd
never been before. And I'll tell you, this aspect
is just too big to miss. And I mentioned a moment ago,
you can spend your life shaving and washing But you can't miss
this. This man would walk down to the
temple door on the appointed day. I was thinking about that. You know the number eight there.
If nothing else, to me it speaks of the beginning of a new week.
The beginning of a new week. The beginning of a new life.
And this guy would walk down there and he'd bring three lambs
with him. And he'd present the lambs to
the priest with a log of oil that's eight ounces, half pint.
And the priest would take up this first lamb and the log of
oil and he would hold it and he would wave it to the north,
wave it to the west, wave it to the east, wave it to the south. All four corners. So everybody
was certain. The glory of God was seen in
what was going to happen to that lamb. And he would take that
lamb and that log of oil and he would walk over to the door
of the congregation. And that leper couldn't come
in. But you know what that leper did? He stood just outside the
door and he took his two hands and stuck them in and put them
on the head of that lamb. You can clean up and shave until
the day you die. But you've got to lay your hands
on the Lamb of God. You've got to lay your hands
on the Lamb of God. And they would take that Lamb,
that trespass offering, it's called there, the trespass offering. And they would burn Him. They
would burn Him so totally that they would take His dung and
everything outside the camp. It was an offering that was obnoxious
to God. God wanted it outside the camp.
And my friends, that's a picture of my sins being laid on the
Son of God. What I am by nature is obnoxious. Obnoxious. He was burnt. All our sins were laid on Him,
the Scripture says. And then He would take this next
lamb, and He would take that lamb and He'd wave to the north
and the south and the east and the west, and He'd bring that
lamb over there to that door. And that leper had to walk up
and lay his hands on that lamb again. A burnt offering, we talk about
a sweet-smelling savor, the brother mentioned that this morning,
a sweet-smelling savor for the Lord. In the burnt offering,
they would actually remove the innards of the animal completely,
wash all the innards and put the innards and everything on
the altar. And it was a sweet-smelling savor. It was a picture of the purity
of Christ inside and out. You see, it's not just enough
for Him to deal with my sins. I've got to be acceptable to
Him. I've got to be acceptable to Him. I've got to smell of
His Son. That's why there was that sacrifice.
It's not just sin, but acceptance. And I lay my hands on Him for
acceptance. He's my only acceptance before
God Almighty. Without Him, I still stink. I'm
just telling you, I still stink without the Lamb of God. You know, if you don't lay hands
on Christ for your acceptance, you can end up a legalist. You
can end up spending your life trying to find some way to be
acceptable before God. I'm just telling you, lay hands
on Him for your sin. Lay hands on him for your acceptance.
And the third offering there, again, it was waved before the
Lord. It was an offering, a meat offering,
peace offering. It's called an exodus. Priest
got a part. The leper got a part. And part
was burnt on the altar. It speaks of communion. Everybody
involved partook of that lamb. Communion with God. Peace with
God. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Communion. The Father said, this
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, and I'm telling
you, I lay my hands on Him. This is His beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. I'm well pleased with Him. And
then that priest would take that blood, and he'd call that leper
over, and that leper would come to the door, stick his head inside
the door, and that priest would put blood on his ear. He'd stick
his hand in there, and that priest would put blood on his thumb.
Then he'd stick his foot in there, and that priest would put blood
on that toe. You can shave till the cows come
home, but you'll never do a good thing until God Almighty's put
blood on your ear, toe, and thumb. These ears will never hear right
until they've been sanctified and set apart by the blood of
the Son of God. These hands will never do right.
There's none good, no not one. No hands have ever done a good
deed on this earth but through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you're never going to walk right. Your course and conversation
in this life will never be right until you've stuck your foot
inside that tabernacle and had that blood put on your toe. Oil in the Scripture is a symbol
of the Holy Spirit. There is one who has received
the Spirit without measure, the Bible says. We know who he is.
The Lord Jesus Christ received the Spirit without measure. There
is no comprehending his possession of the Holy Spirit. He received
the oil of gladness above his fellows, the psalmist wrote.
And I'll tell you, every one of these lepers receives it too.
They come to that door with eight ounces, and that priest takes
it and pours it in his hand. I'm telling you, the best man
you ever met is a spiritual half-pint, okay? That's what he is. Eight
ounces of oil. And that priest would take his
finger, fling it towards the tabernacle. Praise to God for
what's happened in this temple. Then he would take that oil and
that leopard would come back over there and stick his head
in it. He'd put that oil on that ear, that oil on that thumb,
and that oil on that toe. You know why? Because the Spirit
of God answers to the blood. His Spirit answers to the blood
and tells me I am born of God. And it's particular. The Holy
Spirit's not out there trying to convert this world. I'm telling
you, if he was, the world would be converted. The Holy Spirit
is going where the blood's going. Blood on the ear, blood on the
thumb, blood on the foot, oil on the ear, the thumb, the foot. I'm telling you everything. The
Spirit of God is involved in every aspect of our salvation.
We stand, we walk, We run whatever our paths are in this life. The
Spirit of God is there. We have been blood-bought and
Spirit-led. That's what this is a picture
of here. Blood is the foundation of all
the Lord accomplishes in time in the lives of His believers,
His saints. In this application of grace,
always follows redemption by the blood. If any man hath not
the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Do you see that? And
then at the end of this thing. Now this is what I want you to
see. You see objective salvation with the two birds. And here
at the end of this thing, you see the priest taking whatever
is left in his hand and pulling it over the head of that leper. A sanctified head. Look at Romans 12, 2. Romans 12, 2. Verse 1, I beseech you, therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, present your bodies. Come on
down to the door of the congregation. Present your bodies a living
sacrifice. Holy and acceptable unto God, that's your reasonable
service. And don't be conformed to this world, but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God. This is the pouring
of the oil on our heads. Ephesians. Look at Ephesians
4. The pouring of the oil on our
heads. He's talking about in verse 18,
having the understanding darkened, what we were by nature, being
alienated from the life of God. There was a time when the life
of God was alien to us. That's no longer true. Through
the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their
heart, who being past feeling, have given themselves over to
lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have
not so learned, Christ, if so be that you've heard of Him.
and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, you
put off concerning your former conversations the old man, which
is corrupt according to deceitful lust, and be renewed in the spirit
of your mind." You shave, you have the priest pour the oil
over your head. That you put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
There is a life of God in a believer. It's something God has created
in him. It's not something he had when he came here originally.
It's God created in him in righteousness and in holiness, putting away
lying, speaking every man truth to his neighbor. You see that?
It's a picture of the Spirit's work being poured on our heads. These ones who have been set
apart by God. These lepers who have been cleansed. And look
over real quick at Exodus 29. I want to show you something.
Then I'll quit. Now this is when Aaron and his
sons were made priests. Look at verse 19. You shall take
the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands
upon the head of the ram. Then he shall kill the ram and
take his blood, put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron,
the tip of the right ear of his sons, and the thumb of the right
ear, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle
the blood round about the altar." Round about. Why is it that the priest and
these lepers had such a similar ceremony? Do you know why? We've been made kings and priests
unto God. That's why. That's why. The cleansing of the leper. That's
the way it was. That's the law of the leper.
That's the way it was then. And I'm telling you, that's the
way it's always going to be. Every leper that God Almighty
ever cleanses is going to come down and lay his hands on the
Son of God. Pronounced clean? Yes, sir. Going to be cleansed? Yes, sir. Going to lay his hands
on the Lamb of God? Yes, sir. God Almighty is going
to see it done, my friends, in the lives of every one of His
people. And He's going to make them new creatures. He's going
to anoint their hands and their feet and their ears with blood
and oil, and their whole lives are going to change by His grace. Thank you.