out tonight. I remember those
who requested prayer seek the Lord's help for them. So Debra's
doing some better though since she's at UT. She's at UT? Okay. I remember her and your
prayers and remember this. Let's get that list here. I got Cliff. Anyway she started. Have
they done the And I'd run the test, yeah, okay.
I remember the Pender family, and Arlene and her family, and
I don't know how Patricia Tamper was doing, Tramper was doing,
she was making apple butter, so. So she must be doing better. Well, she had a pretty good lick
on her head when she fell. That showed a picture of it,
didn't it? Glad she's doing better. Let's begin our worship service,
hymn number 255, Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine. ? Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine
? Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine ? Heir of salvation, purchase
of God ? Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood This is my
story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my
song, praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission,
perfect delight. Visions of rapture now burst
on my sight. Angels descending ring from above. Echoes of mercy, whispers of
love. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior all the day
long. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my
Savior all the day long. Perfect submission, all is at
rest I in my Savior am happy and blessed Watching and waiting,
looking above Filled with His goodness, lost in His love This
is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day
long. This is my story, this is my
song, praising my Savior all the day long. Number 212, Nothing But the Blood. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. For my pardon this I seek. of Jesus. For my cleansing, this my plea,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Nothing can for sin atone. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Not of good that I have done. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
? Precious is the flow that makes
me white as snow ? ? No other fount I know ? ? Nothing but
the blood of Jesus ? ? This is all my hope and peace and joy
? Nothing but the blood of Jesus This is all my righteousness
Nothing but the blood of Jesus Oh, precious is the flow That
makes me white as snow No other fount I know Nothing but the
blood of Jesus. If you have your Bibles turn
with me to the 29th chapter, or excuse me, 28th chapter of,
no, the 29th chapter, I'm right. No, the 28th. Get right here
in a minute. I had a ribbon in the wrong place. 28th chapter of Exodus. I want to look at verses 36 through
38. And thou shalt make a plate of
pure gold, and engrave upon it like the engravings of a signet,
holiness to the Lord. And thou shalt put it on a blue
lace, that it may be upon the miter, upon the forefront of
the miter it shall be. And it shall be upon Aaron's
forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things,
which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy
gifts. And it shall be always upon his
forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord. Let us pray. We bless you and thank you for
your word, which is a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path,
the entrance of which gives understanding to the simple. It is light that discloses all
things, that dispels darkness. We thank you, Father, that you
have given us the gift of faith, that we can believe what you
have written and given us an unction from on high so we understand
all things, that we have the mind of Christ. What a thing
for a child of God to say. But we are your children. You
have birthed us into your kingdom through the preaching of the
word of God by your Holy Spirit, and have made us to know what
we are and who you are. and the manner by which you saved
four wretched sinners like us. We are thankful that it is set
forth so clearly in scripture that it cannot be misunderstood.
It can only be unbelieved and disapproved or believed. We thank you that you have given
us faith to believe. We know that we dwelt in darkness
before the light of the gospel shined upon us. We are thankful
that you have delivered us from the kingdom of darkness into
the very kingdom of your dear son, and made us suitable to
be inheritors of saints and light, not because something in us,
but because of your great work on Calvary's tree. We praise
you for that precious blood, and we love to sing of it, and
sing of the power of it, the effectual nature of it, and what
it has done for us. Father, we pray for those of
our company who are sick and going through trials and tribulation.
We know that tribulations are part of the appointments that
you make for your children necessary in order to keep us on track. We thank you, Father, for the
tribulations, though they are sometimes painful. Sometimes
they break us. But we know that when we fall,
you lift us up. And we praise you for that. Help
us, Lord, now tonight to worship you in spirit and in truth. And may it please you, Father,
to show us our Savior, high and lifted up, exalted for what he
has accomplished on Calvary Street. Therein we will rejoice. And
as best as we are able as poor, weak creatures, we will worship
you. We ask these things in Christ's name, amen. Now the last time we looked at the
garments of the high priest and saw that there was an emphasis
put on the breastplate worn over the heart of the priest. It had
12 stones attached to it and each stone was engraved with
the name of one of the tribes of Israel. And this was indicative
of who the high priest represented and for whom he made atonement
on the day of atonement. And we know they pictured the
work of the salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ that he accomplished
on Calvary. The engraved stone pictured the
names of those chosen to salvation, specifically those for whom Christ
died. Christ died for his people. Christ
died for his sheep. He said I lay down my life for
my sheep. No man takes my life. I lay it
down and I have power to take it up again. This I have received
from my Father. In Ephesians chapter 5 and verse
25 he said he gave himself his life for the church. For the
church and we know the church is his body. It is imperative
to understand that the election of grace involved the sanctification
of those who were chosen. Not only were they chosen, but
part of that choosing was they were set apart and sanctified
for the use of the Lord. That's how it's worded in 2 Thessalonians
2, 13-15 when Paul gives thanks. He said, I thank the Lord, brethren,
for you, beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit.
and belief in the truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to
the attaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is
imperative that those who are chosen to salvation, it is imperative,
it is absolutely necessary and required of God, that those who
are chosen to salvation be accounted as holy before Him. They must be accounted as holy
before Him in order for them to be accepted. And anything
they do to be accepted, they must be accounted by God as holy. As holy. None shall stand before
Him empty, saith the Scriptures. The robes we looked at last week,
the girdles, the ephod, and the breastplate were on the body
of the high priest. They were thus representative
of the church. called in scripture the body
of Jesus Christ. The body does not live however
without the head so in this passage that we just read we see the
head and its ornamentation and thus we see the body complete,
a head and a body. Nothing and no one is missing
On the Day of Atonement, all are present and accounted for.
All whom Christ died for were with Him upon His heart when
He entered the Holy of Holies, not made with hands, but with
His own blood, not that of bulls and goats. He obtained eternal
redemption for us in that activity. No one for whom Christ died will
ever perish. I know religion likes to scare
folks and play on their sentimentalities and talk about their mama and
daddy in heaven and don't you want to be with them and you
don't want to miss heaven. Listen, if you're a child of
God, if you were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world, if Christ were made to be your surety and assumed that
your sin net before the world was formed, if Christ died in
your room instead, in your place on Calvary's tree, you will come
to know him. in time according to God's plan
and you will live forever in perpetuity in eternal life our
Lord said my sheep whom he died for in the same chapter of John
10 the ones he died for and laid down his life for my sheep hear
my voice and they follow me and I give to them eternal life no
man is able to pluck them out of my hand My father which gave
them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them
out of my father's hand. I and my father are one." Now
the reason for all of this is found figuratively in this golden
plate that was attached to the turban. When you read the word
miter in scripture, it's not a miter. The priests did not
wear a miter, they wore a turban. people in the East, whether they
be emirs or just regular men, wore turbans around their head. They didn't wear miters. This
was because the Roman Church had influenced the writings of
the Evangelicals of the 1611 King James Version and the word
mitre was either that little round skull cap or it was the
fish head hat. It looked like a fish head. It
would come up like this and split down the middle which was taken
after Dagon because that god was pictured with a fish head
mitre. But it was a turban and it was wrapped around the head
of the high priest. And this placement of this plaque
or placard or plate was described in verse 36. It says this, and
thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, engrave upon it like the
engravings of a signet. That means the engravings around
the words were lowered and the engravings appeared to be lifted.
like a relief carving. You know how relief carvings
made you carve off everything that ain't the thing and leave
the thing standing out. The engravings of a signet was
like this. It wasn't engraving into the
metal. The metal around it was engraved and it stood out. These
four words, holiness unto the Lord. Its placement is described
in verse 36 and verse 37 and its consequence is described
in verse 38. And it was a plate of gold, a
little over an inch and a half wide, and according to historians,
stretched around the head of the high priest from ear to ear,
like a pair of glasses. That type, it stretched from
ear to ear. And it was graved upon the plate
with four words, all in uppercase, holiness to the Lord. The word Lord here is in the
uppercase, as you can see in verse 36. And the name, when
you see that word L-O-R-D in the uppercase or capital letters,
it means the name Jehovah. That name designates God as the
Existing One or the Being. He is the Being. And that means
all that is, is His because He's Being. He is the Being. He is the I Am of the burning
bush. and that name and concept is
attached to salvation for scripture says if you come to God you must
believe that he is and that's the third person singular of
I am he is and is the rewarder of them that diligently seek
him the name Joshua which is in the Greek is Jesus means Jehovah
is salvation that's what it means. Now it was attached to the turban
with blue lace it was on the forefront and it says it was
always on the forefront as always read verse 36 and verse 37. Now
shall make a plate of pure gold upon it like the engravings of
a signet holiness to the Lord and thou shalt put it on the
blue lace that it may be upon the miter and upon the forefront
of the miter it shall be and then in verse 38 and shall be
upon Aaron's forehead and in two lines down it says says uh
and it shall always be upon his forehead it shall always be upon
his forehead now what this means is this always refers to when
Aaron was doing the business of the high priest before the
Lord, specifically on the Day of Atonement. Though men could
see this shiny signet, and men could see it as the priest wore
it, it was primarily to signify that this was always before the
Lord. It was always before Jehovah
in His view. He was looking at this. This
is what was seen. In all probability, if you saw
the priest walking down the road and it was a sunny day and he
was wearing his priestly garb, you'd see that gold signet. Your
eyes would probably fix a moment because it was a beautiful thing.
But it was primarily set forth, it's always before the Lord that
this was seen. It was the primary and preeminent
consideration of Jehovah to see this. So the high priest was
always before the Lord with the words holiness to the Lord squarely
upon his forehead. Now on his breastplate and shoulder
altars were the name of the people, names of the people he represented,
which is the church, the sheep, the elect. But the eyes of God
were not upon the breastplate. It does not say anywhere that
God looked at the breastplate. The names were there on the breastplate
and they were on those stones on the shoulders of the old ephod
together. But it does not say anywhere that God looked at those
names. It says that this was before the Lord. This holiness
unto the Lord. This was always before the Lord.
The eyes of the Lord were upon this plate of gold on the priest's
head. What was before his eyes? Always
before his eyes were the words engraved on his plate. What God
saw And this is what the implication in the teaching of this passage
is that God saw this on the high priest, holiness unto the Lord,
or holiness to the Lord. This is what he saw. This is
what his eyes were fixed upon. And according to this passage,
the reason for its preeminent placement was that so Aaron could
bear the iniquity of the holy things. What a strange phrase
that is, to bear the iniquity of the holy things. one does
not usually attach the word iniquity to things that are holy but here
it is right before us in this passage of scripture and it shall
be upon Aaron's forehead in verse thirty-eight that Aaron may bear
the iniquity of the holy things of the holy things the word holy
here means hallowed And it refers to the gifts and
the offerings designated for use in the worship of the Lord
by particular individuals of the tribes of Israel. Now though
the elect are saved by grace and accepted in the beloved,
their spiritual efforts are what? They are always tainted by the
flesh, no matter what it is. We come here to worship God in
spirit and in truth. And we give it our best shot.
We try in our minds to give glory to God, but so much is in our
head that is of no value. We bring our baggage to this
place when we worship God. And no matter how we try, and
try we will to worship him and think on him and dwell on him
our flesh will fight against that tooth and nail always always
Paul said when I would do good evil is present with me and that's
what this is talking about when it talks about bearing the iniquity
of the holy things Paul said in the Galatians the flesh and
the spirit are always contrary to each other so we cannot do
what we would in the highest state of a saint's spirituality
the Saints worship that which he hallows for God sets aside
designates for God prayer giving reading the scriptures worshipping
him that which he sets aside for that he hallows that is yet
corrupted with his own iniquity the priest must bear the iniquity
of the holy things he must bear the iniquity nothing The saint
does, and I mean nothing, will ever stand on its own merit.
Nothing. Our worship, our singing, my
preaching, your hearing, the deeds you try to do, good deeds
for your friends and your family and for the household of faith,
all those things, they have iniquity. But thank God the priest bears
the iniquity. This is what this is teaching. The great high priest
must bear that iniquity and so he did on Calvary's tree when
he was made sin for his people. The saint brings his iniquitous
holy things before the Lord and because the high priest has borne
the iniquity and because the Lord is not looking on their
gifts but on the words on the plate. He's not looking at your worship.
Worship is something you do for God, not something you get something
out of. It's something you do for God.
It's toward God to honor and glorify Him. The Lord's not looking
at that. He's looking at that plate. He's
looking at that plate, that holiness unto the Lord. When the priest
came in and offered the blood of the sacrifice unto the holy
of holies, the Lord was looking at that plate. Holiness to the
Lord. That priest had to put blood
on himself for his own sake. He had to sprinkle blood on himself
because he was a sinner. And he went before the Lord as
a sinner, sprinkled with the blood of Christ, but the Lord
looked at that plate. Holiness to the Lord. Holiness to the Lord. They are accepted because of
that, is what it says. it says, and it shall be upon
Aaron's forehead that Aaron may bear the iniquity of holy things
which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy
gifts, and it shall always be upon his forehead that that they
may be accepted before the Lord. That's why it's there. Why am
I accepted before the Lord? Because holiness to the Lord
is before the Lord. That's why I'm accepted. Not
because of the gifts I've hallowed, There's iniquity in them and
they must be born by my high priest on Calvary's tree. Why
am I accepting? I'm accepting because that priest
has a plate on his head that says everything is about this. Always on his forehead. That
means if you look him in the face, that's what you see. That's
what you see. Holiness to the Lord. Their acceptance
is that holiness. What is the holiness of the Lord? The holiness of the Lord is Jesus
Christ. The holiness of the Lord is Jesus
Christ, and therefore it says over in 1 Peter chapter 2 when
it describes the children of God as the priesthood, 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 5,
it says, Ye also as lively stones or living stones built up in
a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. That's how we're accepted. What
we hallow to God is acceptable to God and accepted by God because
of Jesus Christ. He's that signet. He's that gold
plate. He's that gold plate. Over in
Ecclesiastes chapter 9, It says to the child of God,
go thy way, go thy way. Eat thy bread with joy. Drink
thy wine with a merry heart. For God now accepteth thy works. Hope we can live like that with
joy in our hearts and realize that going our way is okay. because we all belong to the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what that old Catholic
bishop years ago, I can't think of his name, said, love God and
do as you please. Go your way. Eat your food with
joy. Drink your wine and be merry.
Because your works are accepted to God. God's accepted to wine. because the high priest is before
God. Where is the high priest now?
He sits at the right hand of the Father ever living to make
intercession for us. This is the beauty of the salvation
that God has wrought. He sees His elect. Where? Does
He see their works? No, He sees their Savior. He
sees their Savior. His eyes are upon His Son, the
Son of His love. Scripture says He has put all
things in the hands of Christ because He loves Christ. And
Christ is holiness to the Lord. He is our holiness. He is our holiness. How am I
holy? Am I holy because I'm good? I'm
not good. You can never attach that word
to me. I am not good. Why am I holy? Is it because I live a righteous
existence? No. Why am I holy? I am holy
because I am in Jesus Christ and He stands before God with
that signet upon His forehead that says everything involved
with me is holiness to the Lord. Holiness to the Lord. This is
the beauty. Remember what it says, Of God.
In 1 Corinthians 1.30, Of God. That's how it happens. Are you in Christ? How did you
get in Christ? God put you in Christ before
the world began. You are in Christ in eternity.
You are in Christ in time. You are in Christ on the cross. You are in Christ in the grave.
You are in Christ when He was resurrected. You are in Christ
sitting in heavenly places with Him right now sitting at the
right hand of the Father. In Christ. You are in Christ
when God looks at His Son. All consideration of you is accepted. is accepted. Who of God are you
in Christ? Who of God is made unto us? Who Christ is made unto us? Wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, holiness, holiness. Christ is our holiness. And thou
shalt make a plate of pure gold and engrave upon it like the
engravings of a signet, holiness to the Lord. Now shall put it
upon blue lace, that it may be upon the miter, upon the forefront
of the miter it shall be. It shall be upon Aaron's forehead,
that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the
children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy years. And
it shall always be upon his forehead, that they, the children, may
be accepted before the Lord. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name. Amen.