Numbers 19, Pitfalls to the Promised Land: Uncleanness

Covenant Reformed Baptist Church iconCovenant Reformed Baptist Church

0 views

Numbers 19 Pitfalls to the Promised Land: Uncleanness

0 comments

00:00
Statute numbers chapter 19 be reading in the entire chapter from verse 1. Here are the word of the
00:05
Lord Now the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron saying this is the statute of the law that the
00:11
Lord has commanded Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer without defect in which there is no blemish and on which a yoke has
00:19
Never come and you shall give it to Eliezer the priest and it shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered before him and Eliezer the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times and the heifer shall be burned in his sight its skin is flesh and its blood and his dung shall be burned and The priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet yarn and throw them into the fire burning the heifer
00:49
Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water and afterward he may come into the camp but the priest shall be unclean until evening the one who burns the heifer shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water and shall be unclean until evening and a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the
01:08
Heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place and they shall be kept for the water
01:13
It shall be kept for the water for impurity for the congregation of the people of Israel It is a sin offering and the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer
01:22
Shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening and this shall be a perpetual statute for the people of Israel and for the stranger
01:29
Who sojourns among them? Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days
01:36
He shall cleanse himself with the water for the on the third day and on the seventh day and so be clean
01:42
But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day He will not become clean whoever touches a dead person the body of any of anyone who has died and Does not cleanse himself defiles the tabernacle of the
01:56
Lord That and that person shall be cut off from Israel because the water for the impure water for impurity was not thrown in him
02:04
He shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him. This is the law when someone dies in a tent
02:12
Everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent shall be unclean seven days and Every open vessel that has no cover fastened on it is unclean whoever in the field touches someone who has killed but Who was killed with a sword or who has or who died naturally or touches a human bone or a grave?
02:32
Shall be unclean seven days for the unclean. They shall take some ashes of The burnt burnt sin offering and fresh water shall be added to it in a vessel then a clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water and Sprinkle it on the tent and on all the furnishings and on the persons who were there and on whoever touched the bone or the slain
02:53
Or the dead or the grave and the clean person shall be sprinkled Shall sprinkle it on the unclean on the seven on the third and on the seventh day
03:01
Thus on the seventh day He shall cleanse himself and he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and at evening.
03:08
He shall be clean If the man who is unclean does not cleanse himself That person shall be cut off from the midst of the congregate
03:15
I've been to the assembly since he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord because the water for impurity has not been thrown on him
03:22
He is unclean and it shall be a statute forever for them The one who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes and the one who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until Evening and whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean and anyone who touches it shall be unclean until evening
03:41
May the Lord add his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word What do you think you're clean
03:49
After all that maybe you took a shower this morning or washed up somehow you put on clean clothes,
03:55
I guess Not old sweaty ones. You've been wearing all week So do you think you're clean?
04:02
Wayne just looked at Ethan with that. I'm not sure what that means with the sweaty clothes comment Anyway clean compared to what an operating room is clean, but it's sterile
04:13
You know, it's dead really there's no bacteria or virus is living in it or they're not supposed to be but it's very it's not
04:20
Very comfortable. Is it you can't come and go and relax there you can't live there and Because if you did you would make it unclean everybody went his house
04:32
So they like to treat their living room like an operating room. Everything has to be so just it's kind of unnerving It's uncomfortable, isn't it?
04:38
But that's why doctors and nurses, you know That's why they wear their mask and their gowns and their nets over their hair trying if at all possible to keep the uncleanness
04:46
That is on them from getting out of them on to others. Now. Is that kind of cleanness?
04:52
Is that even desirable oh It may be for operating rooms and you know surgery but but is but what about for just for life for for your living room?
05:03
Would you want to live that way? You know, I doubt it a small percentage of people develop a disorder called obsessive compulsive disorder
05:10
Which often they take some precaution of cleanliness like washing their hands. They just take it too far
05:17
They can wash their hands so often in hot water with antibacterial soap that they get inflammation of the skin
05:24
Somewhere deep in their minds. They've gotten the idea that there is still some
05:31
Uncleanness that they need to get rid of they can't see it. Maybe they've already washed their hands, you know
05:38
Thoroughly dozens of times today, but they think that if they just do it just maybe one more time
05:45
They'll finally get clean. That's what's driving them like Lady Macbeth You know in the
05:51
Shakespeare's play washing her hands for a quarter of an hour in her sleep Actually cursing what she calls the damn spot in Shakespeare's words.
05:59
She is trying to get rid of that spot But she can't
06:05
Of course the spot comes from the fact that she murdered someone the ironic truth is that people like that Obsessed with cleanliness, you know ironic truth is they're partly right, aren't they?
06:16
I mean for generations people were completely unaware of how dirty they were That they were carrying germs even doctors
06:24
For long would just go from patient to patient without washing their hands carrying diseases from one to another without even knowing it
06:30
It wasn't until scientists found out about germs that they learned That they can be really dirty even when they think they're clean 1847
06:42
Ignaz Salem Weiss I guess that's how you pronounce that my guess is I guess it's probably as good as yours
06:49
I get but he's a doctor in Vienna, Austria He noticed that the women who had delivering babies in the hospital with the help of doctors
06:57
That they were getting sick and dying at a much higher rate than those who gave birth at home
07:03
With the help of midwives and he found that often the doctors would come from other patients
07:09
They had been with without washing their hands When he then made them wash their hands in chlorinated water
07:17
The fatality rate fell from 18 percent to 2 percent It still took about a generation until after the work of Louis Pasteur for the medical world to accept that diseases were being caused by the doctors themselves by the fact that they would go from patient to patient and Spread they were somehow they were spreading it
07:38
Something they couldn't see with a naked eye They had I'm sure they thought they were clean.
07:44
They didn't intentionally take something, you know, some germs or some Dirt from one patient to another they just couldn't see it
07:52
They thought they were clean, but they didn't realize how dirty they were People are often filthy with a filth
08:00
They can't see Now does that mean then well, I guess the obsessive -compulsive are right after all
08:07
We should all be constantly scrubbing our hands with hot water and the strongest soap we can get Well, no, because we were never really made to live in a sterile environment
08:18
Sure, if we're being opened up at surgery, we want it to be sterile but normally we're made to keep out, you know, this our skin and other parts of us do a pretty good job of keeping out the unhealthy germs and There are around us and and dealing with other germs that we take in pretty well.
08:37
We were made to live in a living environment Some people have forgotten this now in our generation
08:45
And so we have a generation of kids are raised on, you know Antiseptic soap and antiseptic wipes and disinfecting sprays and disinfecting everything
08:56
In the result something now is it all of that is causing
09:01
Something is it was not proven, but it's a theory that is causing a rise now that we have now in allergies immunity problems intestinal disorders
09:12
Because you have kids are just raised without any exposure to the germs so they don't develop any
09:18
Immunity toward it. We actually need some microorganisms probiotics we need some germs
09:25
The problem you see is that just as people used to not know how dirty they were
09:32
Now people don't know what it means to be clean Cleanliness is not sterility
09:41
Cleanliness is life Being unclean definitely a pitfall
09:48
It's something people used to Fall into and still often do when they when they don't know they're unclean
09:56
Often now though people have fallen into the other pitfall of of sterility
10:03
Because they don't know what true cleanliness is Here we see in numbers chapter 19 everybody's favorite chapter.
10:09
I'm sure how to how to be clean and So what it means? What does it mean to be really clean?
10:16
We see that in two major parts the regulations and the violations The Lord speaks to Moses and Aaron to tell them the regulations for a new kind of sin offering now first God gives the regulations for the offering and Then the reasons for it
10:34
That comes after the regulations are symbolic The book of Hebrews will refer to some of them.
10:40
We're used to hearing words preached right lessons taught with words but the priest in the
10:48
Old Testament proclaimed the gospel through the symbolism of their actions and Here the
10:54
Lord first gives them the regulations that shows us the gospel through three things
11:00
They could see blood fire and water
11:07
Well first blood The symbolism of blood is already suggested in the red heifer the cow that they were to take
11:15
And this is already unusual if you're if you're reading this red heifer what's going on with this?
11:21
This is the only offering where the color of the animal is mentioned Yeah before it never talks about the color of the bull or the goat or the sheep or any of that Red of course is the color of blood
11:32
The priest is to watch this blood colored cow be slaughtered and then sprinkle some of its blood just a representative fingertips worth
11:42
Toward the tabernacle, which would actually be some distance away, but toward the tent of meeting here It's called a verse for blood is sprinkled a symbolic full whole
11:53
Thorough seven times you notice there's a lot of sevens a lot of threes in this chapter symbolic numbers
12:00
Representing wholeness completion blood must be between the sinner It's us and God For us to be seen as clean
12:10
Right. Remember this the symbol of God's presence was in that tabernacle. And so he takes the blood
12:15
He sprinkles it toward the tabernacle blood is between God and the sinner so we can be clean
12:23
Then there's the fire now fire symbolic of a judgment fire consumed destroys that which is Just fleshly it's merely human it leaves only what is from God here the fire completely consumes this this cow
12:35
Notice verse 5 that the heifer is entirely burned with its skin its meat its innards even as blood
12:41
So this is unlike the the sacrifices that were offered in the temple None of its left to be eaten by the priest or anybody.
12:48
The blood is not drained out the blood Yeah, the blood is not drained out. It's not poured out before the
12:54
Lord. It's burned up with all the rest So nothing is left Except the ashes and it's those ashes that are used with water
13:04
It says it says Fresh water, but literally the word there is living water in Hebrew Is that what it's used with water for cleansing showing that cleansing comes through?
13:16
fire the fire of God's Judgment, but fortunately here, you know
13:22
It's not the people not the sinners that have to be exposed to the fire like today We don't have to do that.
13:27
We don't have to be exposed to fire It's not that we're cleansed by fire, but that the offering for us
13:34
Goes through the fire of God's judgment through the beatings at his trial through the crucifixion
13:40
Through looking up into heaven and crying out my god my god. Why have you forsaken me?
13:46
He went through that fire So we wouldn't have to so we can be clean before God Now on to that literal fire the priest adds three things in verse 6 cedar wood
14:01
Hyssop and in scarlet yarn all very representative The the same three things were used by the priest to cleanse someone who had been recovered from leprosy and Leviticus 14
14:12
I'm sure everybody knew that I just had to mention that everyone's very familiar with Leviticus 14, right? But don't say three things are mentioned.
14:19
They're cleansing from leprosy They are symbolically cleansing because cedar adds to the fire and it makes a pleasing aroma
14:26
What you know like those sacrifices they made pleasing aromas and that reminds us of the true sacrifice
14:32
It makes a pleasing aroma to the Lord that pleases the Lord that appeases him. Hyssop was a plant plant.
14:38
They often use like Paint brush here and you notice later. They use it to also to sprinkle water on the person
14:45
They use it at the Passover to mark the doorways of their of the house with the blood of the
14:50
Passover lamb David prayed in Psalm 51 verse 7 purged me with hyssop and I will be clean
14:58
Scarlet yarn read again Was likely another reminder of blood the life is in the blood all all the blood is burned up and the blood like yarn
15:08
Is added to the fire showing that the wrath of God is satisfied with blood
15:14
All of those go into the fire all burned up in the judgment That makes us clean
15:21
Finally, there's water now Water is pretty obvious water is symbolic for cleansing because it's literally cleansing right here
15:30
There is a lot of water is a lot of washing You notice how many times people have to wash themselves or their clothes the priest who presides over this offering must washes
15:37
His clothes and himself the man who burns the heifer and the man who gathers of the ashes have to do the same thing and then in verse 17 fresh
15:45
Water, the term is literally in Hebrew literally the phrase is living water fresh flowing clean
15:52
Water is later combined with the ashes and sprinkled on the unclean person To cleanse them the water symbolizes the spirit in John chapter 7 verse 39.
16:02
Jesus said that anyone who believes in him would have Living water same phrase is here from numbers 19 living water flow in him
16:11
Which which it says he says is the Holy Spirit is given to us Paul in 1st
16:16
Corinthians chapter 12 says that we were all Baptized that means immersed into one spirit given one spirit to drink like water
16:28
Now here maybe here may be the original Source of our baptism you wonder where baptism comes from.
16:35
It probably comes from this right here when Gentile you notice it's one place that says
16:41
If I think at the end of versal 10, this is not not only for you in Israel It's for the foreigner who sojourns among you who lives among you and so when a
16:51
Gentile Converted he wanted to join Judaism. I want to become actually a part not just to live among the
16:57
Israelites But actually to be one of them They were expected to be cleansed from all the unclean things that they had been in touch with before Cleansed of their whole
17:05
Gentile way of life. And so they would go through this including the washing their clothes and themselves.
17:11
They were baptized Immersed the word baptized means immersed means you can take a bath go get it go under you
17:19
You had to be washed you had to be baptized to join the people of God It was baptism is the entryway into the people of God at least symbolically then along comes
17:29
John remember that so that's the background like from here in numbers 19 of This and which is used for by the
17:37
Jews for including Gentiles who are converting Now so in with that along comes
17:44
John the Baptist who tells the Israelites He's preaching almost entirely to Jews and he says in effect to them
17:52
You know, you need to repent and be baptized Because you're not you're not really a true
18:01
Israelite at all Until you're converted until you repent and that's shown by you being baptized
18:09
And he told them God can make you're so confident in your ancestry You think you're one of God's people because you're born in this nation
18:16
You know God can make sons of Abraham out of stones if he wants to No, your your ancestry doesn't make you one of his people you need to be converted and washed just like those
18:27
Gentiles needed to be so They thought they were clean acceptable for God because of the nation they were born into because of their ethnicity
18:35
They thought they were one of God's people because they were Israelites. They were just born into it They believe we have some like that today.
18:41
They're born into a Christian family they think they're Christians, but John the Baptist says you need to be converted to and Just like so just like the
18:49
Gentiles being converted you need to be baptized. You need to be immersed in water Repent of your sins.
18:55
You need to be cleansed just like here in numbers 19 No one else and no one else can do that for you
19:02
You think of that John saying that to the Israelites? Here's here in this chapter everyone who wants to be cleansed has to do this themselves you can't
19:12
Have someone else do it in your place or just you can't just blow it off. I don't need to do that You can't choose to have someone to baptize
19:20
Yeah, you can't choose for someone else to be cleansed you must for yourself
19:26
Repent of your sins and you choose to be baptized choose to be cleansed symbolized by baptism
19:33
So when the Lord Jesus gave us our Great Commission You think of this right? He told us to baptize
19:41
Who it's a great debate in the Christian Church, but it shouldn't be It's clear in the past Matthew 28 go make disciples of all nations and baptize who
19:52
He just said so didn't he just said it did he say baptize our babies who haven't made any decision yet? No, he said, you know baptize our little kids that we manipulated, you know
20:03
They get four or five six we manipulate them to say what we want them to say and then we baptize them No, he said exactly who are you supposed to baptize?
20:12
Disciples go make disciples followers of Jesus from all nations and baptize them the disciples
20:22
Our mandate is only to baptize disciples. You know, we have no authority. We have no call from the
20:27
Lord We have no right to baptize anyone other than a disciple and The light of numbers 19 that makes sense
20:35
What sense would it be here to do this ritual for someone who might not want it? In fact here clearly if someone doesn't want it they have to bear the responsibility of that themselves
20:45
This is for someone here in numbers 19 who was unclean before God and who wants to become clean to be acceptable to him
20:53
But they have to choose it themselves It's not chosen for them. It's not just inherited in their family if they don't choose it
21:00
They are it says here in numbers 19. They are cut off. It can't be done for them without their choice They're cleansing can't be done for them cleansing has to be something you choose to do.
21:09
And so the symbol for cleansing Which for us is baptism Should be something you choose to do too
21:17
So to be clean before God we need blood fire and water
21:22
We need the blood of Christ our offering Christ himself going through the fire of God's judgment
21:28
We need the Holy Spirit flowing in us giving us life that living water and Remember cleanliness is not sterility but life
21:41
There's two other elements of this picture of the gospel here showing us how to make unclean sinners acceptable in God's sight two other things
21:49
First there's the distance. Do you notice that and the deposit? Remember this offering as red heifer is taken it says out of the camp and Again, that's also unusual.
22:02
That's different from all the other sacrifices Other sacrifices were offered at the temple back to you know, remember earlier just last week
22:10
I'm getting confused but the priest had the right to do all the other sacrifices that had to be done under he had to do it right there at Tabernacle the temple on that altar very specific but here there to go out of the camp.
22:24
There's no no altar Not not only just out of the tabernacle itself
22:29
But out of the whole campground away from the people away from the tabernacle That's in the middle of the people and instead it's be separate.
22:36
So it's like it's saying That this is something that must be outside It's like you put your trash
22:46
It's at a distance It's just too unclean To be in the tabernacle.
22:52
It's too unclean even to be in the camp with the people. It's something to be separated from Because of the uncleanness it represents
23:02
You put it at a distance and you put something away from you when you when it's dirty So Hebrews chapter 13 verse 12 says so Jesus also suffered outside The gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood
23:19
Because Jesus absorbed our unrighteousness our dirtiness in God's sight
23:24
Because God made him to be sin who knew no sin so that we could be right with God so that we could be seen as clean because Jesus was seen by the
23:33
Father as dressed in our filthy rags He had to be taken outside the city
23:42
And he was Well second is the deposit notice in verse 9 that the ashes of the offering are gathered up and they're deposited in a clean place
23:52
This is again unusual. There's nothing like this for any of the other sacrifices. The implication is
23:57
That this offering isn't made for every every time someone is unclean
24:03
Or else they had to be doing it constantly. They know they do it Day in and day out like they had to do the other sacrifices
24:10
But the implication is the the ashes this heifer is burned up ashes then are deposited and then they're used
24:18
For probably just a little smidgen worth mixed with fresh water They're just the use for whoever needs cleansing in the future
24:28
Could be who knows how many hundreds thousands of people until the ashes finally run out now the offering was limited
24:34
So I assume they'd have to make a new offering after finally the ashes ran out but until then the deposited ashes would be used for Symbolically cleansing anyone who needed it for as many people as they could take now
24:50
The offering of Jesus is not limited. It is enough for all the people who will ever need it
24:55
Jesus does not have to die again and again for every individual Or again and again for us and the
25:01
Lord's Supper every time we take it the cleansing power of his offering is Deposited in a clean place in heaven and has been credited to any filthy sinner who knows he needs it
25:14
Well, those are the regulations a sin offering for cleansing Here's the gospel in numbers 19 of all places
25:21
Portrayed in images of a red heifer outside the camp blood and fire and water with ashes
25:27
Deposited for us now. What are the violations? Who are the violators?
25:35
Who needs it in other words, well the rest of the chapter starting in verse 11 is about that Who is unclean?
25:43
Is it only for a few? Outrageously filthy people who have committed some vile lewd nasty acts
25:51
They need it No Oddly enough is for anyone who touches a dead person in verse 11 or anyone who is an intent.
26:00
I suppose then for us a house where someone dies in verse 14 or For anyone who touches a grave in verse 16 and it goes on and on You know from there unclean person touches something that comes unclean and if you touch something he touched you become unclean so it just spreads
26:19
Like a virus it's uncleanness In other words anyone who comes in contact with death human death is unclean
26:25
Anyone who was near death needs that red heifer with the blood and the fire and the water Outside the camp killed for them.
26:32
They they're gonna need that they need to use those ashes deposited for them since here
26:37
Think of this context here in numbers 19 Everyone Now nearly everyone all the adults except for two are going to die in the next 40 years
26:47
Since 250 leading men have were just burned up near the tabernacle not long before this and 14 ,700 died in the plague.
26:58
It was also just before this and then immediately after this The very beginning of chapter 20 you read this the next few verses
27:07
Miriam dies So that's the context of this there's death everywhere around this chapter
27:13
It's telling us everyone is to be unclean everyone needs the cleansing of this offering well for us
27:24
Everyone needs the cleansing offering because everyone comes from the realm of death Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1 in Colossians chapter 2 verse 13 say that we were dead in our sins.
27:35
We come from death and To be right with God. We must first be cleansed as long as we are dead in our sins
27:42
There's there's nothing we can do to make ourselves clean You're caked in mud. Everything you touch is gonna be muddy
27:49
That's what happens to us. We're unclean because of our death everything we touch becomes unclean and notice here
27:55
How contagious the uncleanness is it just says like a virus we we catch the uncleanness But just by touching a dead body if we come into the tabernacle into the presence of the
28:03
Lord We defile it and we are rejected we're cut off The uncleanness of death is spread through anything in a house with death and that and then in that last verse verse 22
28:14
It's spread to whatever the unclean person touches and then to you if you touch what the unclean person touches
28:19
I think how unclean that makes us even if we think you know, like those doctors before they discovered germs
28:26
It's kind of like the way we are with our sin and our death pure spiritual death. We think we're clean
28:32
This is something we can't see But we just we're wrong. We just can't see it.
28:38
We don't know it We live under the sentence of death now and before being born again, we are dead in sin
28:44
That's why religion without the gospel without the life of the Spirit is Deadly twice deadening.
28:52
It can't make us clean before God Even if we strictly follow its morality, even if we do its rituals, we can keep the
29:00
Ten Commandments We can go to church. We can give lots of money We can get baptized But if we're not born again, if we don't have new life if the blood of Christ doesn't purify us from dead works
29:12
That's works that make us dead if we're not purified from that to serve the living God Then we're still defiled
29:20
About all the morality the rituals. We're still unclean Our environment of death means that we are then
29:29
Without that blood without the that offering filthy before God Now people may deny this they do deny this they think they they can clean themselves
29:40
Maybe they think they can cover up the stench of death with enough perfume
29:46
You know fragrance some kind The perfume of religion or morality that'll that'll
29:57
Cover up the smell of death put enough virtues What mean what they think our virtues or put enough rituals enough religion over death and maybe we can ignore it
30:07
Or maybe we can make death appear clean. Just redefine what clean is make it appear acceptable
30:14
If we can get rid of the reeking stink of death, or if we can't get rid of it I should say we can't get rid of it.
30:21
Maybe we can Give in convince people that it really is after all a nice fragrance.
30:26
We can make it acceptable You know a new perfume odor. Oh Death, I don't know what you call it a sterility lifelessness is clean
30:37
Right and our culture is doing this also all kinds of different cultures are doing this
30:42
So we have Halloween celebrations that are really about celebrating all things dealing with death, you know the macabre
30:50
Skeletons pumpkins carved to look like skulls ghosts graves the undead Anything that's gruesome and deadly
30:57
So it's all about isn't it making peace with death the Mexicans Oh, they've taken this to another level with their day of the dead, which is actually three days
31:05
The people gather with the family to pray for the dead to give food to the dead They visit and decorate the graves of the dead.
31:11
They have a lavish parade in which people dress as if dead death is just fun
31:18
In Chinese culture, they have a hungry ghost festival, which is coming in just a couple of weeks on September 5th in case you want to celebrate they believe the spirits of the deceased ancestors make what may come to visit us the living and The round so the realm of the dead is opened up for us
31:34
Opened up actually for the dead to come visit us and said, you know, if you're gonna have guests, what do you do? Make sure you get you're gonna host them.
31:41
You're gonna have food for them So you make extra food for the hungry ghosts that are coming. They're hungry.
31:46
They've been traveling here Food is provided for the visiting dead. Sometimes an empty seat left for them
31:54
Welcome dead people into my house. It's as though we're trying to make peace with death that it's really not so bad
32:02
That we can welcome it into our home. We can celebrate it We can have a fun time with it that the kids play with it
32:09
That on some level we're recognizing that we're we really are living in Death right now that we are already soiled with it and we can't get ourselves clean of it
32:21
And so we might as well just get used to it Maybe we can make the sterility of death
32:28
Maybe we can make that be the new clean but here God wants us cleansed of Death of anything that smacks of death any association we have with death is defiling makes us
32:42
Unclean death was the wages of sin. It was not God's intention for us That's why
32:47
Jesus wept at Lazarus's tomb. This death was not supposed to happen. It's not the way
32:52
God Created the world. That's why we never really adjust to death It's why people have a death in their family of someone they love because someone young is just it can be traumatizing
33:03
It can maybe never recover from it You know despite our twisted attempts to tame it to make it in something.
33:09
That's cute like a Halloween party It's still it's it's we still know deep down Something wrong.
33:17
That's why we're still traumatized by it It's the definition of something that's unclean.
33:23
It's out of place. That's disorderly this filthy But we're in a quandary aren't we?
33:31
We're covered in this muck and this mire of death like we've been trudging through a swamp and come out caked in mud
33:38
Everything we touch then even our religion our morality Bears our muddy fingerprints yet We must be accepted by the
33:47
God who demands that we be clean of even the taint of death What are we to do?
33:55
Well, he's already told us what that's the good news of the offering. He's provided cleansing himself
34:02
He's revealed to us the offering the red heifer for our uncleanness the blood the fire the water offered outside the camp
34:09
Giving us a deposit that we can call on that we can draw from for our uncleanness to become clean
34:18
Hebrews chapter 9 says speaking of that that red heifer slaughtered outside the camp Then about Christ's sacrifice how much more?
34:28
If that red heifer made clean from kind of ceremonial defilement, then how much more there's the true offering
34:36
The one the red heifer number nine numbers 19 represents how much more does he cleanse us?
34:45
And now here he tells us that we all need it. We're all violators We're all unclean as Isaiah realized seeing the three times.
34:53
Holy God He realized I'm a man of unclean lips among the people of unclean lips
35:01
He realized how filthy he was We see here in numbers 19 that the separation between people
35:09
Two kinds of people the separation is not between not really between the clean and the unclean but between the cleansed and the uncleansed between those who were unclean and then availed themselves of God's cleansing offering on the one hand and on the other the unclean who would not use that cleansing offering in Numbers chapter here in numbers 19 verse 13 the unclean person and that's all of us
35:42
The unclean person who does not cleanse himself and that's some of us He defiles he contaminates dirties pollutes sullies
35:51
Here the tabernacle the symbol for God's presence on earth the church It says that person shall be cut off either excommunicated expelled or executed
36:05
He has no place before God The unclean person has no place.
36:11
He's unacceptable among God's people. He cannot enter God's presence heaven the kingdom of God He's like the guest at the
36:19
King's wedding feast and Jesus is parable in Matthew 22 there Jesus said the kingdom of heaven
36:25
Is is like a king who gave a great wedding feast for his son The guest he invited first.
36:33
They just blew him off. They made excuses They wouldn't come and so the the King sent out his servants out to the roads to just to gather in invite anybody out there who
36:44
Invite them all to become guests to come to the reception And so the wedding hall was filled
36:49
With such people such guests and then the King comes in to see this lavish party
36:55
He's put in for his son's wedding and they saw one man there Who had no wedding garments?
37:02
Who thought he could come? acceptably Just as he was
37:08
That he was clean on his own terms He didn't need new clothes and so the
37:16
King told his servants to bind him and cast him into outer darkness one of Jesus's terms for hell
37:25
In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Jesus said he wouldn't be this guest wouldn't be
37:32
Cleansed like in Numbers 19. He wouldn't be dressed in the wedding garments in Jesus's parable.
37:37
And so he is unacceptable He's expelled there's no other way of being accepted by God Other than the cleansing he has provided other than the robes washed in the blood of the
37:50
Lamb that he gives Well back here in Numbers 19 from verse 20 if someone who was unclean as we all are
37:59
Does not cleanse himself He doesn't seek the Lord To make him clean doesn't seek the cleansing that the
38:07
Lord has made available in that deposit of ashes in the clean place Maybe he thinks that he can cleanse himself another way
38:14
Why do I need to do what the Lord provided I can do I can think of my own way By being a moral family member that'll do it
38:21
God will accept that instead of his way. God will accept my morality my family. I'm a good man I provide for my
38:27
I do my thing or maybe by going to church That'll do it instead of what the
38:32
Lord provided. I can do that Getting baptized that'll do it by giving enough money or maybe he thinks he can just define
38:39
What makes for cleanliness himself that he really isn't tainted with death. He's not really
38:45
I'm not really dead in sin. What's that? So he doesn't need cleansing he or she thinks
38:51
Here she is like those doctors Remember them who thought they were clean who thought they were helping their patients when they were actually killing them going from patient to patient Spreading diseases with their contamination all because they were unaware of how filthy they were
39:06
If anyone who was unclean and that's everyone Doesn't get cleansed if he doesn't use that cleansing agents the cleansing agents the way of cleansing that's kept outside the camp then
39:22
Says here in numbers 19 that person shall be cut off in the midst of the assembly The person who won't be cleansed is cleaned out of God's people
39:32
There's no place for him or her Among God's people the assembly the church in heaven and the kingdom of God He or she is thrown out into that place where Jesus said there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth he gets hell because at the end of verse 20 you know not not just because he
39:52
He stayed defiled but because he stayed defiled and thought
39:59
He could still have a place among God's people He was okay as he was he could cleanse himself how he want and so it says here yet He defiled the sanctuary of the
40:09
Lord God's Holy Presence in 2nd Kings chapter 5 Naaman the general with the
40:15
Syrian army He's highly respected by his king Because you know, he's a must have been a very skilled general military leader, but he has leprosy
40:26
Which is the disease in that in Israel? They were people who had it were supposed to yell unclean unclean as they walked around so people could get away
40:36
When he hears that there's a great name and when he hears that there's a great prophet in Israel Elisha He gathers great gifts enormous amounts of gifts is silver and gold lots of money to take to the prophet to cure him of leprosy
40:49
That he was willing to give so much so we could be Cleansed shows us how desperate he was how serious he was
40:58
But when he arrived at Elisha's house Elisha wouldn't even bother to come out and see him He just relayed the message, you know, go to the
41:04
Jordan River and dip yourself seven times Name is kind of miffed, you know that he's respected by his own king
41:11
But here the prophet won't even come out and talk to him and then he thought what's so special about the Jordan River We have rivers better than that in Syria and so we turned away and left in a rage
41:22
His pride offended but outrage, you know Why should he have to go to the one specific place that the
41:30
Lord provided? Why? He was probably expecting some magical You know mystical right the life
41:35
Elisha would come out and wave his hands and chant or whatever Or maybe he thought the prophet would would require him to do some great feat
41:43
Climb a high mountain and fast for 40 days something arduous and religious
41:49
But you know, there's none of that dip yourself in this one River here here why He thought he was angry storms away.
41:57
And finally one of his servants says to him, you know Name it if the prophet had asked you to do a great thing when you have done it
42:05
All he asked is wash in his place and be clean So Naaman went he sought the means for cleansing the
42:16
Lord provided and He was cleansed The Lord has given us one means for cleansing
42:25
We have to use it and no other Notice unclean.
42:30
This is not only contagious It also it doesn't expire You know the contamination of sin
42:38
Doesn't just wear off after a while if you ignore it He says there if if he doesn't seek the cleansing
42:45
The uncleanness stays on him. It just stays and stays. It's not something to just go away
42:51
After a while like radioactivity slowly dissipates over time or like maybe the mud on your car. Why wash it eventually wear off the rain
42:58
I'll wash it off Sin, does it just go away if you ignore it? You must be intentionally cleansed of it the one who doesn't do that Here doesn't have the water for impurity
43:11
Sprinkle in him or her It's still unclean no matter how long
43:18
Ago, the sin was this is in verse 21. The Lord says a statute Forever.
43:25
It's a principle that is always true Still today the person who has not been cleansed of his sin is still unclean and Will not be accepted by God Now many around us
43:40
No, they think they're clean Even if they had even if they've been touched, okay, they'll admit they've been touched a little bit by by death or by sin now and then
43:50
But they seem as clean they think to themselves as the next person Even if they've gotten a touch of dirt now and then it'll wear off without them having to do anything about it
44:01
Okay, if they must Maybe they'll make a resolution You know Do something different maybe give some money maybe do a good deed.
44:10
Maybe go through a ritual like baptism That'll do the trick that'll get the stain out. They think they're not so perturbed
44:16
By their uncleanness not like Lady Macbeth. They're confident That they're clean enough
44:23
But no one No one is clean enough You were either cleansed or still unclean
44:34
If you've not sought the cleansing provided by the Lord you can't be accepted to serve the Living God Hebrews chapter 9 verse 13 says that the blood of Christ purifies
44:43
Like hyssop our conscience from dead works Christ offered himself like that heifer.
44:49
He was without blemish and He offered himself to God to cleanse us so that now we can serve the
44:56
Living God So we can be accepted by God but if we've not been cleansed of Of our own
45:06
Deserved wrath If we if if we've not had Christ himself
45:13
Cleanse us. I like that heifer did of Of their dead works
45:20
If we've not been cleansed of our own deserved judgment by having Christ Suffer the fiery judgment for us if we've not had him give us the
45:29
Holy Spirit who wells up in us like a spring of fresh flowing living water
45:34
Then we're still Polluted by dead works our attempts to cleanse ourself
45:40
Will at best produce lifeless sterility deadness what we need is
45:48
What he has already provided There is there is one deposited means of Cleanness that he's made for us
46:02
The ashes of an offering made once for all to make us clean. All we have to do is
46:09
Use it seek what's been provided for us Admit that we have been filthy that we have been violators and believe in What the
46:20
Lord has done to make us clean You are either unclean or cleansed