The Urim and Tummim

Christ Reformed Baptist Church

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Well, the last eight months have been a roller coaster combined with a whirlwind.

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And in just two days' time, Christ Reformed Baptist Church will have officially been meeting for seven months.

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I don't know about you guys, but it seems like only yesterday that we gathered that first Sunday at the

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Nolkers, worshiping together, lifting our voice, praising

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God. And although much has changed, much still remains the same, especially the foundational reason for which we gather.

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A foundational reason that not only has not changed, but must not change.

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If you were to go out to our website, hopefully you've all taken a look at it, and you read under the section that begins with the word or the question, who we are or the statement, you will find this statement as the first thing that greets you.

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Christ Reformed Baptist is a church rooted in historic biblical Christianity that is committed to reaching an ever -changing culture with a never -changing message.

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It is our deepest desire to honor and glorify

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God, remain true to his inerrant, infallible, sufficient, and authoritative word.

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It was this more than anything else that drew this body together, desiring to bring glory to God by being faithful to his word.

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You realize, of course, that the word of God was the first attack point of the enemy.

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It is still the attack point of the enemy. Satan does everything he can to undermine our faith and trust in not only the sufficiency, not only the infallibility, not only the inerrancy, but the fact that God's word is sufficient and authoritative in the lives of believers.

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Fairly on in our short history, we determined that each

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Sunday morning as we prepared to read the text for that Sunday, we would rise in honor of the reading of God's word.

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As we do so, each Sunday I repeat this statement in some form or fashion to please rise for the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, complete, authoritative, and sufficient word.

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Now, we do so not because we think that anyone sitting here doesn't believe or understand this statement, but because we as creatures need to be reminded, we need to hear.

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In all honesty, we need to hear this daily, but certainly we need to hear it weekly, that this word is not just some ancient text, not just some book that was put together over a span of centuries and just haphazardly thrown and we should obey it, but that it is the word of the living

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God. And as such, it is not subject to our whims, our desires, and our emotions.

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Earlier this week, I saw a clip of a person speaking from a podium and I want to qualify that statement because I refuse to call this person a pastor and I refuse to call the podium that they were behind a pulpit.

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Literally, this individual spoke about reinterpreting the story regarding the fall in the garden to such an end as to make the decision that Eve made one to be applauded for her wisdom.

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This is how far we have fallen. As we went through the

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London Baptist Confession of Faith, we talked much about the word of God.

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It opens speaking of the word of God. The first paragraph of the first chapter deals immediately with the reality of God's word.

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This is how it begins. It says, the holy scriptures are the only sufficient, certain, and infallible standard of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience.

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It goes on to say that the light and nature of everything around, the works of creation, the providence, so clearly demonstrate the goodness, wisdom, and power of God that we are left without excuse in the reality that God exists, but that the revelation that we see in nature is insufficient in itself to give knowledge that is needed and necessary for salvation.

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So it closes with these words, that first paragraph, therefore the Lord was pleased at different times and in various ways to reveal himself and to declare his will to his church, to preserve and propagate the truth better, and to establish and comfort the church with greater certainty against the corruption of the flesh and the malice of Satan and the world.

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The Lord put his revelation completely in writing.

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Therefore, the holy scriptures are absolutely necessary because God's former ways of revealing himself or his will to his people have now ceased.

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For the last couple of months, we have been working through Psalm 119 on Sunday morning.

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Every Sunday, we read an octet. Every Sunday, we hear the words, commands, judgments, statutes, laws that all refer back to holy scripture.

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In fact, as Daniel was reading this morning, I was counting, nine times, nine times in eight verses do we refer back to the word of God in some way, shape, or form.

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Now if you extrapolate, that's just eight of the 150 verses, but if you extrapolate it, that tells you how many times in the course of 150 verses,

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God points us back to his word. There is no greater set of scripture that gives us clarity regarding the centrality of the word in the life of a believer.

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We are pointed back to his word for truth, for understanding, for guidance, for direction.

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In the introduction or in the prelude of John's gospel, John records these words in John 1 .14,

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and the word became fresh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, glory as the one of the only begotten, from the father full of grace and truth.

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John introduces us to Jesus in those first verses, and he introduces him as the word, as the light, as the one through whom grace and truth came.

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This morning, as we sit here in 2025, we are the benefactors of the single greatest thing in all of history, and that is the completed word of the living

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God. You and I sitting here this morning have the luxury of opening up this library.

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We often refer to it as a book, but in reality, it is a library. It is a compilation of books.

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And as we open it, we can learn the truth. However, the

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Israelites were not quite as fortunate as we are.

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For them, as we have discussed, they had to specifically go to the priest and ask for intercession and get direction concerning the will of God.

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Last week, we began talking about the breastpiece of judgment. And during our conversation, we mentioned but did not discuss the

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Urim and the Thummim, the final two pieces of this breastpiece.

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This morning, our focus will narrow down to that final verse in verse 30.

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Now, we will read the entire text just as we did last week, beginning in verse 15 of chapter 28.

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But our focus, again, will be on verse 30, and we will take a look at these two mysterious objects, their purpose for the people of God, what they point us as the people of God forward to, and finally, how this really impacts us here this morning.

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So if you will, take a copy of God's word, make your way to Exodus chapter 28, and rise in honor of the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, complete, authoritative, and sufficient word.

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Beginning in the 15th verse of the 28th chapter of Exodus, we read the following.

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You shall make a breastpiece of judgment, the work of a skillful designer.

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Like the work of the ephod, you shall make it. Of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet material, and fine twisted linen, you shall make it.

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It shall be square, having been folded double, a span in length and a span in width.

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You shall mount on it four rows of stones. The first row shall be a row of ruby, topaz, and emerald.

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In the second row, a turquoise, a sapphire, and a diamond. In the third row, adjacent, an agate and an amethyst.

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In the fourth row, a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper. They shall be set in gold settings.

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The stones shall be according to the names of the sons of Israel, 12 according to their names. They shall be like the engravings of a signet, each according to his name, for the 12 tribes.

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You shall make on the breastpiece chains of twisted work of cords and pure gold. You shall make on the breastpiece two rings of gold, and you shall put two rings on the two ends of the breastpiece.

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You shall put the two cords of gold on the two rings at the ends of the breastpiece, and you shall put the two ends of the two cords on the two filigree settings.

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You shall put them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod at the front of it. You shall make two rings of gold and shall place them on the two ends of the breastpiece on the edge of it, which is toward the inner side of the ephod.

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You shall make two rings of gold and put them on the bottom of the two shoulder pieces of the ephod on the front of it close to the place where it is joined above the skillfully woven band of the ephod.

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They shall bind the breastpiece by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a blue cord so that it will be on the skillfully woven band of the ephod and that the breastpiece will not come loose from the ephod.

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Aaron shall carry the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment over his heart when he comes into the holy place for a remembrance before Yahweh continually.

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You shall put in the breastpiece of judgment the Urim and the Thummim and they shall be over Aaron's heart when he comes in before Yahweh and Aaron shall carry the judgment of the sons of Israel over his heart continually before Yahweh.

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Father, we thank you. We thank you that even though everything around us is continually in motion and is continually changing that you remain steadfast.

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Your word is truth and it is not shaken. Your son is a sure and steadfast foundation.

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Lord, that we would forsake all things and rest solely upon him, abide solely in him, be born up solely by him in all things.

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Father, all of our mercies come through Christ who has designed, purchased, promised, and affected them.

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How sweet it is when we draw near to him, filled with holy affections for him.

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Lord, we are forever thankful that you have given us your son. Christ is the mediator between us and you who has satisfied divine justice on Calvary's cross, who has spanned the chasm created by our sin.

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May we wholly trust in him as the object of our faith, acknowledging that it is by his righteousness alone that we are found worthy.

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Lord, may we be reminded through your word of how dear he is, that by the word we are one with him through faith, that in love we obey the word, that when we receive the word we receive our

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Lord and Savior. Father, who holds the hearts of all men in your hand, may our hearts be formed according to your word in the image of your son.

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May Christ the word and his word be our comfort and our strength, for it is in his precious name that we pray.

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Amen. So as we come to verse 30, we see the final instructions of God to Moses regarding the fabrication of the breast piece.

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And those final instructions are for him to insert the

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Urim and the Thummim into the pouch that was formed when the fabric was doubled over back in verse 16.

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Now when we speak about things within Scripture that remain a mystery, these two items, the

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Urim and the Thummim, certainly have to be counted in that list.

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The words themselves are actually not translations of the original language but are transliterations.

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And a transliteration is basically when we take the words of the Hebrew or the letters in the

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Hebrew language and we replace them with their English counterparts so that we have the ability to pronunciate the words.

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And if we were to go back to the original Hebrew, we would be left with a pronunciation that sounds like a growl and to meem.

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So the first word, er, and the second word, to meem, that would be the

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Hebrew pronunciation of these two. We'll stick with Urim and Thummim. It's a lot easier for this old southern boy to say.

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But as we come to these, if we were to translate versus transliterate, what we would end up with is something along the lines of lights and perfections.

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Now I don't know about you, but if I'm reading something and I'm reading a description of something and the only description that I am given of that something is lights and perfections,

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I don't really have a whole lot of information to go off of. The truth of the matter is we, these items, have baffled biblical scholars.

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And as we approach things such as this in Scripture, we must be careful that we observe the greatest of rules of interpretation, and that is that Scripture must interpret

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Scripture. We do this so that we ensure that we don't walk beyond what is given to us in the

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Word of God, else we begin to move away from His truth.

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We need to be recognizing that if God has not given us these things in His Word, if He has chosen not to reveal them to us, they are not at this present time for us.

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A .W. Pink is helpful regarding this truth as we read these words. Let us not attempt to be wise above that which is written.

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Let us seek grace to be kept humble from invading the prerogatives of the

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Most High and from endeavoring to handle things which are too wonderful for us.

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Now we know in part, let us be thankful for that part, but let us leave it with God to grant us a fuller revelation in the day to come.

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Now we need to be clear because Pink writes a little differently than most of us would talk nowadays.

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In today's language, if you said that last sentence, people will think that you're looking for a fresh revelation. That's not what

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Pink was referring to. Pink was talking about the day, specifically being the day when Christ returns and the knowledge that is granted to us on the other side of glory.

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To be clear, to be sure that we draw out this distinction is so that we understand that we are not talking about some type of special revelation.

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Chapter 2 of the London Baptist Confession, Chapter 1, Paragraph 2 of the London Baptist opens with these words, the whole counsel of God concerning everything essential for His own glory and man's salvation, faith and life is either explicitly stated or by necessary inference contained in the

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Holy Scriptures. Nothing is ever to be added to the

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Scriptures, either by new revelation of the Spirit or by human traditions. The Word of God, the canon of God is complete.

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We do not continue to add. So even when we approach something like the

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Urim and the Thummim, we cannot just go about adding to to determine what they are.

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It was for God's people. And we can see from Scripture what the purpose of the

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Urim and the Thummim was. The problem is, is we don't know the substance. In other words, there are those who would speculate, and we'll talk a bout this, that they are like a set of dice or like a set of coins that were flipped or a set of shiny stones that were used in a particular manner.

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But the reality is, is there is nothing in Scripture that teaches us these things.

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They were a type and a sign for us today.

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They served a purpose for God's people in the past, and how this impacts us are all revealed in Scripture.

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A couple of additional things that we need to note before we jump into the typology.

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First and foremost, the interesting fact of these two words,

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Urim and Thummim, is that they form a hendiodys.

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Now, that's a fancy term for saying two words that convey a specific truth or convey a specific idea.

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And so an example of that would be in Revelations 1 .8 when we read God describing himself as the

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Alpha and the Omega. We understand this is a truth that points back to the eternity of God.

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Similarly, when we read here in Exodus as the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet were used in Revelation, the first and last letters of the

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Hebrew alphabet are what begins the words Urim and Thummim, and they signify or speak to us the fullness or the completeness of God's guidance to his people.

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Just as today we stand and acknowledge that the 66 books of the

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Old and the New Testament are the full and complete word of God to his people, the church, the bride of Christ.

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Secondly, as we move towards understanding these words, it is also helpful for us to understand how we arrive at the translation of lights and perfections because these two

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Hebrew words are very difficult for us. They have been lost.

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And so the only way we can come to an understanding of any type regarding what they are describing is by looking at other places that they're used in Scripture, but then we also look at other translations.

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So we go back to what's called the Septuagint or the original Greek translation of the

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Hebrew Bible. Now this was done many years ago, and in that we run into two

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Greek words that roughly translate to clarity, manifestation, understanding as the first word.

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And interestingly enough, the second word is very clear, truth. From that, we translate them into English as light and perfections, and the reason is that even in the early

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English language, this will be confusing for us today, but in the early English language, if one talked about light, it didn't just talk about light that lit up a room, it talked about the idea of illuminating or clarifying or revealing something that was unseen.

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And the word perfection gets us closer to the concept of truth than how we define our word truth today, and that it is something that is witnessed and real and has not and will not change.

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Now, one last thing, before we dive headlong into how these items were used in Scripture, it would be very remiss of us if we did not take a moment and notice in verse 30 the reality of where these two items were to be placed and where they would rest on the chest of the high priest.

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So as we mentioned last week and again a few moments ago, the breast piece itself was fabricated of a piece of pouch, and on the outside of the breast piece, you may recall from our study last week, there were 12 stones, one for each one of the 12 tribes of Israel.

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The urn and the thumb, however, were placed into the pockets of the breast piece, and when they were properly placed into the pocket, they would rest over the heart of the high priest, but under the 12 stones of Israel.

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This should speak to us of two very important truths.

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First of all, it demonstrates for us that they literally form the foundation of the people of Israel, that they are what supports the people as they are secondly brought into the very presence of the

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Almighty God, that they form the foundation. As you look a few weeks back, we were talking about the tabernacle.

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We talked about the foundation upon which the tabernacle stood and how that pointed us towards a foundation of Christ, and this is no different.

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These two stones, these two items, whatever they were, placed in the pouch beneath the stones served as a foundation, much like the foundation of Christ, the solid rock on which we stand, as we acknowledge that all other ground is sinking sand.

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And so as we look at this, we note that there are some biblical scholars who taught the urn and thumb up to being nothing more than dice that were tossed or coins that were flipped and would grant the user a yes or no answer regarding the will of God.

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However, as we study the ways in which the urn and the thumb are used throughout the

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Old Testament, what should become clear to us is that there is something much different than this interpretation, that they were something else that happened.

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Now, we do know from Scripture that they were used in a manner similar to what is described as the casting of lots, that basically the idea was in the casting of lots that whatever they were using, they would shake it up kind of like we would do dice today and roll it and whatever turns up, that's the game they play, and whoever got the highest lot or the lowest lot, whatever the game was, they would be the winner.

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And there is some similarities in the way it is used between that and the casting of lots, but there is something much different behind it.

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In 1 Samuel 28, verse 6, we read these words. It says, So Saul asked of Yahweh, but Yahweh did not answer him, either by dreams or by urn or by prophets.

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And so this is where the mystery remains. Exactly how God used these two items to direct the people of Israel is not clear other than we know that they were used to provide some type of counsel, some type of guidance in some type of way.

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Now, when we go into Numbers in the 27th chapter, God is instructing

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Moses. He tells Moses to go up on the side of a mountain. This is at the point they have returned back to the edge of the promised land, and there's a period of time in there where God gives some instructions to Moses before Moses dies and passes over leadership of the people to Joshua.

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And one of the things that God commands Moses to do is go up on the mountainside and overlook the land that will be given to them.

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And we read these words in Numbers 27, beginning in the 12th verse.

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It says, Then Yahweh said to Moses, Go up to this mountain of Eberim and see the land which

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I have given to the sons of Israel. So when you see it, you too will be gathered to your people as Aaron your brother was.

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In other words, when you see the land, you'll die. When you approach this point, that'll be the end for you.

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For in the wilderness of Zin, during the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against my command to treat me as holy before their eyes at the water.

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So if you remember, as we were walking through the book of Exodus, or we walked through to this point, there was that moment when

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Moses struck the rock and produced the water. Well, there's going to be another moment in time where he's going to strike a rock and produce water against the command of God.

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These are the waters of Meribah, Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin. Then Moses spoke to Yahweh, saying,

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May Yahweh, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation who will go out and come in before them and who will lead them out and bring them in so that the congregation of Yahweh will not be like a sheep with no shepherd.

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So Yahweh said to Moses, Take Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand on him and have him stand before Eleazar the priest and stand before all the congregation and commission him in their sight.

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And you shall put some of your splendor on him in order that all the congregation of the sons of Israel may know him.

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Moreover, he shall stand before Eleazar the priest who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the

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Urim before Yahweh. At his command, they shall go out, and at his command, they shall come in, both he and the sons of Israel with him, even all the congregation.

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So Moses did just as Yahweh commanded him, and he took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation.

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Now, I want you to notice especially verse 21 where it mentions the Urim as the item which was used by the high priest.

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By this time, it would be Eleazar as Aaron has passed. You may recall that Eleazar is one of the sons of Aaron.

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And it specifically says that Eleazar would use the Urim to inquire for him by the judgment of the

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Urim. In other words, Joshua would go to Eleazar, Eleazar would inquire by whatever means the

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Urim and Thummim was used of God as to what God's judgment was.

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Now, what they're specifically speaking of at this moment is when the people of Israel would enter the promised land, and the land would then be divided.

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In Numbers 34, 17, a little bit later on, we read, these are the names of the men who shall apportion the land to you for inheritance,

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Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun. Now, the actual division will not be seen until you read the book of Joshua.

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And in the book of Joshua, as we read regarding the division of the land, the words

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Urim and Thummim are never mentioned, but Eleazar the priest is the one who determines. And note that each time the lot comes up, comes forth, comes out, which all references them coming out of the bag of the ephod.

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In other words, the use of the Urim and the Thummim to determine

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God's will. Even though it's not specifically mentioned, we've got to remember that God gives specific directions to Joshua, gives specific directions to Moses.

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And we should understand by now that given who Joshua is, he, just like Moses, is going to obey the commands of God.

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And so for him to be obedient to the commands of God, he has to go through Eleazar who would acquire of him the

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Urim. A little bit later, in 1

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Samuel, we will see David interact with Urim. In 1

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Samuel 30, 7 and 8, David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, please bring the ephod near to me.

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So Abiathar brought the ephod near to David, and David asked of Yahweh, saying, shall I pursue this band, shall

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I overtake them? And he said to him, pursue, for you will surely overtake them, and you will surely deliver all.

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Now again, note the Urim and the Thummim are not specifically mentioned. However, the ephod is specifically mentioned.

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And as we talked about in the conversation about the ephod the week before last, and the breast piece last week, in most cases in scripture, these two items are mentioned as one unit.

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And if they're mentioned as one unit, then we should assume that the Urim and Thummim are also part of that union.

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Now, you remember, we talk about by necessary inference from scripture.

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So we can infer, meaning we can collect the data, we can collect the facts in scripture, and we can be assured that this was present because it was present here, and that the ephod is not complete without the breast piece and the

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Urim and the Thummim. Later, after the Israelites have been held in captivity in Babylon, we read of the return in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

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Now, in Ezra, and this story is repeated in Nehemiah as well, but in Ezra 2, verses 61 through 63, we read this.

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Of the sons of the priest, the sons of Hobaiah, the sons of Hakaz, the sons of Barzillia, who took a wife from the daughters of Barzillia, the

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Gileadite, and he was called by their name. These searched in their genealogical records, but they could not be found.

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Therefore, they were considered unclean and excluded from the priesthood. The governor said to them that they should not eat from the most holy things until the priest stood with Urim and Thummim.

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Now, we could spend a whole day on this particular thing, especially how it relates to today, but what

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I want you to understand that's going on here is that there were a group of people who returned from captivity in Babylon who were the result of an

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Israelite mixed marriage with an outsider. And what that caused was for the person to be unclean because they did not become a person of...

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they didn't become, by circumcision, a Jew and an Israelite. And so, they would be unclean.

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And so, anyone of unclean blood would not have been permitted to be priest. Well, these people wanted to be priest, but it was determined that because after tracing their genealogies, they did not descend from Aaron, they did not descend from the tribe of Levi, especially in a pure sense that they could not be priest.

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Now, simply what is done is they were told that they could not partake of holy works until a priest stood before them with the

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Urim and the Thummim in order to pass judgment, in order to acquire, inquire of God his will regarding the specific people.

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The judgment could not occur to the high priest who was there. Now, obviously, this speaks a lot to us in current circumstances about people who want to be pastors and leaders that are not qualified, but that's a different topic for another day.

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All of these things that we see regarding the Urim and Thummim are summed up for us very well by Heinrich Bullinger, who was a

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Swiss reformer and theologian who worked closely with Calvin, and he wrote this.

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The Urim and the Thummim were probably two precious stones, again, he doesn't know, we're guessing, which were drawn out as a lot to give

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Jehovah's judgment. The lot is cast into the lap, or bosom, but the whole judgment thereof is of the

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Lord. That's from Proverbs 16, 33. Bosom here is put for the clothing or covering over it.

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Thus, these two items would be placed in the bag. One drawn out would give the judicial system decision, which would be of the

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Lord. Hence, the breastpiece itself was known as the breastpiece of judgment, because by that,

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Jehovah's judgment was obtained whenever it was needed. Hence, when the land was divided by lot, in Numbers 26, 55,

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Eliezer, the high priest, must be present. When he would decide it, the lot came up, came forth, came out.

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That is, out or forth from the bag of the ephod. And again, in Ezra 21, 61 through 63, no judgment could be given unless the high priest were present with the breastpiece, with its bag, and with the lots of Urim and Thummim, which gave

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Jehovah's decision. Now, as we look at these texts, what becomes crystal clear to us is that the items were of great importance and of great necessity to the people of Israel for the purpose of understanding and determining the will of God.

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As important as that is, we need to understand that this is two items that were for a specific group of people at a specific point in time.

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If you turn to the New Testament, we find no mention of the Urim and the Thummim. There is also no mention of the

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Urim and the Thummim in the works of the prophets. They served the purpose and now have faded into distant memory.

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Pastor and theologian, J. Vernon McGee, correctly points out the reason why God has kept these items so shrouded in mystery when he writes these words.

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God has kept the details obscure for a very good reason. Some nut would try to produce a

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Urim and Thummim today and would claim that it would give us all the answers. We have a lot of people around today trying to give us the answers without the

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Urim and the Thummim. God wants us to go to him for the answers.

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Now, as much of a truth as all of this is, we also need to remember that the answers are contained within the word of God and as such are profitable for the people of God.

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Now, certainly, this is not for us to have our own set of Urim and Thummim to consult, but rather to study what they point us forward to.

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These items are in the word of God for a reason, not just for the people of God at that specific time and in that specific place, but for God's people today.

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For the church. And so what we've got to understand is exactly what is it or who is it in which they find their fulfillment.

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Now, the one thing that you may have noticed that as we have worked through the tabernacle that all of these things have in common and the easy answer to give for all of these things is that they all find their fulfillment, everything within the tabernacle, everything regarding the priesthood point us towards Christ.

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And so we could quite simply make the response that, well, they point us towards Christ. They're a type of Christ.

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And while this is certainly a very true statement and we could stop there and rest confidently that we have arrived at the correct answer, if we did so, if we did not study, if we did not work to see the full picture, and we would miss the display of God's glory that is revealed to us in his word.

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Here's the reality of what these two objects foreshadow.

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And this is a list. And so I want you to understand we're not going to go through everything on this list today.

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In fact, we're not going to really dive deep into any of these on this list, and you'll understand why in just a moment.

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But this is a list of seven things, seven truths that these two stones point us towards.

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First, that Christ is the light and perfection of God, that he is the brightness of his glory.

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Study Hebrews 1 .3 for more information. Secondly, that in Christ, the light and the life, the righteousness and grace of God meet together and their balance is perfectly maintained.

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Thirdly, Christ is the one in whom all the counsels of God find their center.

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Every law, every judgment, every statement, every statute finds its fulfillment and its center in Christ.

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Fourthly, the counsels of God which center in Christ are inseparably connected with his people.

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Let me make sure we all understand what that statement says. The word of God cannot be separated from the people of God, or the people of God cannot be separated from the word of God.

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Fifthly, to Christ and by Christ is made fully known the mind of God, for in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

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Colossians 2 verse 3. Sixth, from Christ by his spirit directions may be obtained for every step of our pilgrim journey.

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Every direction that we need in life is obtained. Seventh and finally, by Christ, the promise and purchase inheritance will ultimately be administered.

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Now, why am I not going to dig deep into any of these specific ideas?

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And that is because I think that there is an eighth thing that is foreshadowed, that is referred to in some ways by these first seven.

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But I think it's a truth that is most necessary for the church today.

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As we mentioned, these items remind us that in Christ, the revealed word, and in scriptures, the written and inspired word, do we find the truths of God.

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But not only that, we find all that we need to guide us in every area of our life.

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If you go back and you note the way that the people of Israel used the Urim and the Thummim, they used it to make decisions in life.

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David is using it to make a decision around the battle. Joshua and Eleazar used it to decide which places of land the people of Israel would use.

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Now, I want to make sure that we are very clear and are all on the same page.

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We clarify a couple of things. First, the instructions that we find contained within the word of God are for the people of God.

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Apart from the statement, repent and believe, which we could argue is also for the people of God because you can't repent and believe until you've been regenerated.

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That's, again, another topic for another day. The word of God is for the people of God, those who have professed faith in Christ, those who have been regenerated by the work of the

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Holy Spirit, enabling them to have that faith given to them through the grace of God, allowing them to fully and finally rest on the finished work of Christ alone for their salvation.

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And while God's word does provide us with the knowledge of Christ so that we can have faith, the word by itself does not say.

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Listen, it absolutely reveals to us the truth, not only of Christ, but of God, of who

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God is, the work that He has done in our lives. Secondly, these instructions for the people of God must be acknowledged in truth and in totality.

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We cannot affirm parts of the Bible and disassociate ourselves with other parts of the

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Bible. We do not, as we are not the author, have the right to change this word to suit our whims, our desires, our thoughts, our wants, our emotions.

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Who we are and who the world around us is must be interpreted through Scripture, not the other way around.

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And finally, we need to properly approach the word of God, using the word of God to interpret itself.

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The clear passages reveal to us the obscure. When we can study, we can understand, we can see the knowledge.

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But even after we have diligently studied and we come to a mystery that is simply not for us, for example, the depths of the

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Urim and the Thummim in regards to exactly the matter of it, we are okay.

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We accept. It's the word of God. We believe the word.

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This is what the word proclaims. It is with this understanding that we read the inspired words of the

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Apostle Peter, who writes in 2 Peter 1, beginning in the second verse, grace and peace be multiplied to you in the full knowledge of God and of our

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Lord Jesus Christ, seeing that his divine power has granted us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the full knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence.

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For by these he has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

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Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence in your faith, supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self -control, and in your self -control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

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For these things are yours and are increasing. They render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our

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Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Peter opens this little passage with the request that grace and peace be multiplied to the people of God, but I want you to note that Peter doesn't just say grace and peace be multiplied to you and leave it at that.

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Peter gives you specific instructions regarding how that grace and peace is multiplied.

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You see, a lot of times in churches today we want to grant people grace and peace, and we want to give them all of these things, but what we don't do is, or what we don't want to do is point them back to scripture, but that's exactly what

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Peter does. He says, listen, I want grace and peace to grow in you. I want it to abound in you, but for it to do so, it has to come through the full knowledge of God, and our

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Savior, Jesus Christ. Listen, I spoke about this earlier. We are more fortunate than the people of Israel because we now have the complete word of the living

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God. We no longer need to go to an earthly priest to seek

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God's will. We can directly turn to his words. What is amazing about this passage is the way in which the

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Holy Spirit uses Peter to flesh this truth out. First clue for us, the first clue for you, that this is a divinely inspired word of God is actually found in the four gospels.

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Now you go, huh? Well, let me explain. So hopefully in the four gospels you will recall that it is there where we really learn about who

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Peter is and was. You remember Peter. I can honestly say this is

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Peter is the one apostle whom I can most closely associate with.

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He's the gruff guy who speaks a little too quickly. He believes wholeheartedly, but yet he gets distracted so easily he falters along the way.

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The one who said he would go to the cross and die with Christ, yet before the next morning had denied him three times.

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The transition we see in Peter is nothing short of remarkable, but it is a reminder to us that the

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Holy Spirit is continually at work in each of our lives. Peter, enabled and entrusted to record these words inspired by the

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Holy Spirit to remind generations to come of the remarkable reliability and truth found in God's word.

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He goes on in verse 3 to proclaim the overall things that we have received from God.

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Look at verse 3 for just a minute. If you didn't turn there before, you ought to turn to 2 Peter because we're going to be there pretty much for the rest of this morning.

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In 2 Peter in the third verse, chapter 1 verse 3, he says, seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to two things.

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But what's interesting about these two things is that these two things sum up everything.

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That we have received from God in his word, everything pertaining to life and godliness.

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Unfortunately, there are many so -called believers who profess that they are believers, but refuse to submit to the word of God.

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Again, it is necessary to clarify these things. This is not saying, this scripture is not saying,

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I'm not saying, Peter's not saying, God's not saying that through the obedience to the word, we find salvation.

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Because the word of God is clear that salvation is by faith alone in Christ. What this is saying, what

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God is saying, what is being taught here, again, is through the Holy Spirit, is that as a result of our salvation, we desire obedience.

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Jesus is acknowledged as our Lord. If you go back up to verse 2, our Lord Jesus, meaning that this is to believers as a result of your salvation.

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You understand that everything that pertains to your life in its totality and godliness, which should be demonstrated through your life, also in its totality is contained within the full knowledge of him.

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You understand that what he's saying here to you is that everything you need for life,

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I'm not talking about church life, brothers and sisters, I'm talking about life life. Everything that you need for life is contained within the word of God.

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Then he deals with your church life, the godliness, the way that you should be pertained to the world because of your diligent study of the word of God, because of the effect that the word of God has on you.

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You should be portraying more and more and more this behavior, and everything you need for that is also contained within the word of God.

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As you move forward in this passage, the framework that is fleshed out and how all of this framework finds its way back to this knowledge.

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A lot of times, as believers talking to other believers, we hear people refer to their

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Christian walk or their Christian life as if it is somehow separated from the rest of their lives.

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It's not. It's not.

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When we say that God's word is absolutely full, absolutely complete, absolutely sufficient, absolutely authoritative, then we submit to it in all aspects of who we are.

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To do anything less than this, to separate it from other parts of our life, we remove the authority.

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We doubt the sufficiency. We say that God's word is absolutely wonderful as it pertains to my faith life, and it stays out of my personal life.

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When we make this statement, we deny lordship of Christ. We deny any authority that scripture has over our lives.

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We deny the sovereignty of God in all things, specifically as they pertain to us.

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It denies the sufficiency of the word. But listen, if you just read the passage, just read what

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Peter wrote, and you understand that all of this... Listen, from verse 4 to verse 8,

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Peter describes everything that makes up you, but every bit of it finds its foundation in one place,

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God's word. And apart from his word, none of this stuff, none of it is right.

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Because left to our own devices, we falter and we fail time and again.

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As we bring this morning's conversation to a close,

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I want to draw your attention back once again to the theme that has been woven throughout the very short history of our church.

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That is the absolute necessity of God's word in every aspect of our lives.

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From the very beginning, we have stood firm on the principle that the Bible is our inerrant, infallible, and sufficient guide.

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It has been the attack point of the enemy since the garden, and it remains the battlefield today.

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If we pause and we consider a moment, the significance of the Urim, the Thummim in Israel's history.

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Though the articles themselves were shrouded in mystery, their function was clear. They were the means by which

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God's people sought his will, but they were not an end in themselves.

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They pointed forward to something greater, or rather someone greater.

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The perfect revelation of God in Jesus Christ, the living word.

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Today, we no longer depend on stones or whatever these items were made of, hidden in a breastpiece.

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We no longer depend on earthly priests seeking God's will on our behalf.

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We have been given something far greater, and that is the full and complete revelation of God through his holy word.

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I think sometimes we underestimate the trust that has been placed in us regarding God's word.

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It is not a small thing to have been entrusted with his word, with his great truth.

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More and more and more and more we see professing

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Christians in our day and time that treat scripture as a mere collection of ancient writings subject to personal interpretation and cultural revision.

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We see pulpits being abandoned for platforms.

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We see men and women attempt to reshape the truth to fit their desires.

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The authority of scripture is attacked. The sufficiency of scripture is questioned.

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Its commands are reinterpreted. Yet as we have seen just in our brief time this morning, and we could continue on, just as we have seen in our brief study today,

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God has not left us to grope in the darkness. He has spoken.

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His word is sufficient. One of my favorite little memes of all times is a group of people crying out to a certain pastor saying, we want a fresh revelation.

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And that certain pastor looking back at them and say, I didn't read your Bible. Now that's roughly paraphrased.

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But the point is this. There is no fresh revelation. It is contained within the complete, authoritative, sufficient, inerrant, infallible word of the living

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God. All that is necessary for life and godliness. So the question that's kind of before each of us, literally that should be placed before the entire

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Christian world, and I want a Christian in quotation marks there. Everyone who professes to be a

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Christian, and that question simply is, do you believe that the word of God is sufficient, not only in word, but in practice?

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Do you live as if God's word is the final authority in all things in your life?

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Do you turn to the word of God for guidance, for correction, for instruction and righteousness? Do you submit yourself fully to its commands, even those commands that confront us?

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Yeah, the ones that we don't like, right? That call us out quickly, or have we perhaps subtly begin to allow the shifting tides of culture determine what we will and will not accept.

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The urgency of this matter absolutely cannot be understated.

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It cannot be overstated. The enemy strategy hasn't changed.

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Listen, you understand that there's nothing new under the sun according to the word of God, and the enemy's strategy certainly falls under that realm because it's the same strategy he had in the beginning.

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He seeks to undermine the authority of God's word. He whispers the same question to people today he posed to Eve, did

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God actually say? And the moment, the moment we begin to entertain that question in a way that leads us to doubt rather than trust, we begin to drift.

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We begin to fall away. We have not made any bones about our stance.

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We will not make any bones about our stance. We will be clear.

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We will be concise. We must hold fast.

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We must stand unwaveringly upon the foundation that has been laid before us.

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Christ, the living word, our foundation, and his written word. We do not seek, again, new revelations.

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We don't need to conform to the patterns of this world. What we need is a steadfast, unyielding commitment to the truth that God has given us.

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And so this is the final question that demands a response. And I don't need the response.

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This is one of those conversations you respond to God. But here's the question.

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Will you live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God?

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Will you take up this word daily? Will you allow it to shape your thoughts, your actions, your desires?

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Will you, by the grace of God, be one who does not merely hear the word, but who does the word?

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May we be and continue to be a people who cherish the word of God. Who submit to its authority, who proclaim its truth with boldness, and who finds in it our deepest delight.

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May our church continue to be a beacon of light in a world that so desperately needs the unchanging, unshakable truth of God's word.

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Let us pray. Father, we thank you for the gift of your word.

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You yourself have defined it as the lamp unto our feet and the light unto our path.

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Father, we confess before you that we are often weak, that we are often easily swayed, that sometimes we fail to treasure your word as we should.

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Strengthen us, Father. Give us hearts that delight in your law, minds that are renewed by your truth, lives that bear fruit in obedience to your commands.

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May we stand firm, unwavering in the face of opposition, and may we ever be found faithfully clinging to Christ, the word made flesh, in whose name we pray.