Leviticus 8:1-9

[0:00] Good evening. Good evening. In the Old Testament, this evening, in the much neglected book, the book of Leviticus.

[0:13] ! Leviticus chapter 8.! Leviticus, as I've already said, is a very neglected book by the church.

[0:30] We read through it, and if we even try to read through it, we might get through the first few chapters and say, well, this is nothing more than a bunch of laws, a bunch of sacrifices that are irrelevant today.

[0:47] And, you know, thank God the animal sacrifices are irrelevant today. All those sacrifices pointed toward Christ. And we know that from the New Testament scriptures.

[0:58] But, we look at stuff like that, and we just breeze by it, or don't even read it at all. But, something that is, especially in Leviticus, something that is made abundantly clear is that God is holy.

[1:18] From Leviticus 1 through the end of the book, it is made very plain, God is holy. Something else that is made plain in the book of Leviticus is that sinful man cannot approach God without a sacrifice.

[1:35] In any way, shape, form, or fashion. Even those you read, I'm sure you all have heard me bring up Leviticus chapters 1 through 7.

[1:46] This is where we find many of the sacrifices. And God ordained those sacrifices, and He done it for a reason. We have the burnt offering. We have the meat offering. We have the peace offering.

[1:57] We have the sin offering. All these offerings are found in the first seven chapters of Leviticus. In chapter 8, we come to a different section.

[2:11] This is where Moses, well, God, consecrates Aaron and his sons through His man Moses. So, God is the one actually doing the consecrating.

[2:23] But, again, what we need to remember when we read through Leviticus is that God is holy, and Leviticus makes that very plain, and that man cannot approach God in any way without sacrifice.

[2:39] And God has ordained that. God has instituted that. And it will ever be that way. It was like that in the Old Testament. And again, the Old Testament sacrifices, the Old Testament religion, the Old Testament rituals, and all these things that were ordained of God pointed forward to Jesus Christ.

[3:01] I've heard it said that the people of the Old Testament look toward the cross, and we of the New Testament church look back toward the cross, but folks, it all focuses on the cross of Christ.

[3:13] We have peace through the blood of His cross, as was brought up in Sunday school this morning. And it's all centered around that cross, and the man who hung on the cross for us.

[3:27] But, anyway, Leviticus 8, we'll begin in verse 1. Leviticus 8, beginning in verse 1, says, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and the bullet for the sin offering, and two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread, and gather thou all the congregation together unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

[3:54] And Moses did as the Lord commanded him, and the assembly was gathered together unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Moses said unto the congregation, This is the thing which the Lord commanded to be done.

[4:09] And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water. And he put upon him the coat, and girded him with the girdle, and clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod upon him.

[4:21] And he girded him with the curious girdle of the ephod, and bounded unto him therewith. And he put the breastplate upon him. Also he put in the breastplate, the urim and the tumim.

[4:35] And he put the mitre upon his head, also upon the mitre, even upon his forefront, did he put the golden plate, the holy crown, as the Lord commanded Moses.

[4:45] Back to verse 1. Chapter 8 says, And the Lord spake unto Moses, Now folks, we can read that, and just skip right on to the second verse here, but this is very important.

[4:59] It says, And the Lord said unto Moses, This was not something that Moses came up with, at his own whim. This was not some tradition, that he was purposely putting in place.

[5:12] This is something that God told Moses to do. Everything that we just read in these nine verses, as well as the rest of the chapter, are things that God ordained, things that God himself instituted, things that God wanted.

[5:26] And folks, if we worship God, it will be the way that God has prescribed to. If we come to God, we will come to God the way that he has prescribed that we can come.

[5:38] We can't come at our own whim. We can't come in our own way, or in our own fashion. We can come to God through Jesus Christ, and through him alone. And this is not my thoughts on the Scripture.

[5:50] This is what Scripture teaches, that man must have a sacrifice to approach God. And that sacrifice that we have is none other than Jesus Christ our Lord.

[6:01] Again, verse 1 says, And the Lord spake unto Moses. This is very significant. God himself spoke unto his man Moses, saying, These are the things that I want you to do.

[6:13] Folks, you think about for a moment. You think about over in Genesis 6, when God told Noah he was going to flood the world, he was going to kill everything, he gave Noah instructions, he told him how to build the ark, he told him how long, he told him how broad, he told him how high, he told him to build it out of gopher wood, he gave him all these things.

[6:33] To do what? To deliver Noah and his family. Really, Noah and anyone else that would get on that ark with him, which turned out to be Noah and seven other people. But had Noah not followed that, salvation would not have happened for Noah.

[6:48] I am convinced of that, folks. Salvation is of God's design. If Noah had built that ark, there's no doubt in my mind, if it had ever floated, it wouldn't have stayed afloat for very long.

[7:00] But God designed the ark, and it took obedience through the man Noah to do what God said. And here the Bible is telling us, and the Lord spake unto Moses.

[7:12] How often does God speak to us from His Scripture? And how often do we obey what God says from His Scripture? Shame on us, the church. Shame on me, a preacher.

[7:24] Shame on all of us for not being more obedient to what thus saith the Word of God. But God is the one who regulates this. God is the one who set this thing in motion.

[7:35] And God is the one that expects these things from His people. Again, God said unto Moses. He wasn't speaking to some heathen king. He wasn't speaking to some pagan in the surrounding nations.

[7:47] He was speaking to His man. His man, who by Himself had been mediator between three and three and a half million people and God Himself. And He was telling Moses these things.

[8:01] Telling Moses these things. Verse 2, He says, Take Aaron and his son with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and the bullet for a sin offering, and two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread.

[8:12] Again, this is what God has prescribed. This is what God has demanded in His Word. And we read this, and we say, why all these things?

[8:23] Why the garments? Why the bullet for a sin offering? Why the two rams? Why the two rams when there's already a sin offering in the bullet? Why do we have all these things? Why a basket of unleavened bread?

[8:34] I'll tell you why. Because God said that's the way it was to be done. And no other reason. We question things like this. We say, why must it be this way? Why must it be that way?

[8:46] Because God ordains it. It's because God says so. It's because it's God's will. If God left it up to us, could you imagine how messy salvation would be?

[8:56] But God, with the simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ, has managed to save soul after soul after soul. If God had left that to man, if He had left it up to man's creativity as to how we were to be redeemed, how we were to be reconciled back to Him, there would not be a single soul in right relationship with Almighty God.

[9:19] But God made the way through Jesus Christ, through the good news, that although man be wicked, a wretched sinner, they can be brought back into right relationship with Almighty God through the perfect sacrifice that we have in Jesus Christ.

[9:34] So if for no other reason, if for no other reason, all these things are listed here in verse 2, it is simply because God said so. It is simply because He said so.

[9:46] Had He included two grains of sand in that, it would be because God said so. If He had included two turtle doves in this, it would be because He said so. If He had included anything else, or excluded any of these things that He listed here, it would be because He said so.

[10:02] He is sovereign. He is King. He is Lord. And what He says goes! But when we look at this in detail, take Aaron and his sons with Him.

[10:13] And the garments. What garments? The priestly garments. Aaron and his sons were the only ones that were to do the true priestly work. Now, we call the tribe of Levi the priestly tribe, and they were.

[10:27] But folks, only Aaron and his sons were to do certain things. Not every Levi could do that. You think about the parable of the Good Samaritan. You had a priest that passed by, and you had a Levi that passed by.

[10:40] Two different people. Aaron's father could not be a priest. Why? Because he wasn't descended from Aaron. God specified Aaron and his descendants were to be priests.

[10:55] Aaron and his descendants. We know from the Scriptures that Aaron had at least four sons. There's four of them that are listed in the Scripture. In fact, you flip over two chapters from where we're at right now to Leviticus 10, you'll see where two of them get killed because they offered strange fire before the Lord.

[11:09] So that reduced it to Aaron and two of his sons that were doing the priestly service. Now the Levites, they were the priestly tribe. They had certain duties. Being Levites, yes.

[11:20] But only Aaron and his direct descendants were to be priests. And the garments that are stipulated in Exodus 28, beginning in Exodus 28, those were the priestly garments.

[11:34] Namely for the high priest. But all the priests had their garments. But it says the garments and the anointing oil. What's the significance of this anointing oil? Folks, we know from the Scriptural accounts that the oil is symbolic of the power of the Spirit of God.

[11:49] It is symbolic of the leading of Almighty God. So we bring garments. He brings anointing oil. The bullet for the sin offering. Folks, this is where a line is drawn between the Old Testament priesthood and the New Testament.

[12:06] Aaron, in fact, it's later on in this same chapter. You can read it in Leviticus 8. Aaron has to make an offering for His own sins before He can do anything else. He has to make an offering for His own transgressions, for His own iniquities.

[12:20] Our Lord Jesus Christ never had to do that. He was never touched with sin. He was never influenced by sin. He never sinned in thought, word, or deed at all. Period.

[12:30] He was perfect. He was blameless. He is spotless. He is the perfect sacrifice to be offered for your sin and for my sin. Hallelujah. And that's what makes Him Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

[12:42] That's what makes Him Savior. That's what qualifies Him. He is sinless. And He is the One that God sent into this world to redeem us. So we have the garments, the anointing oil, the bullet for the sin offering, and two rams.

[12:56] What is this two rams when the sin offering has already been brought up in a bullet? Folks, you read about this in the book of Exodus as well. The two rams are a sign of a life completely and totally devoted to God.

[13:10] Kind of reminiscent of the sermon we heard this morning, ain't it? The two rams are symbolic of that. But who are we talking about here? Who is all this for?

[13:21] It's for God, yes, His offerings. But it's for the priests. It's for the priests. It's for the ones that God has called. It's for not the tribe of Levi, but for Aaron and his sons.

[13:33] That's whom we are talking about here. And folks, we know from the Scripture from 1 Peter 2 that we are a chosen generation. We are a royal what? Priesthood.

[13:44] We are a royal priesthood. That is everyone. Men and women alike. Boys and girls alike. Black and white alike. It doesn't matter what color you are, what gender you are, how old you are, how young you are.

[13:55] We are a royal priesthood. Those of us that have been born again, those of us that have been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ are considered a royal priesthood. Hallelujah.

[14:07] And we can serve God. Those out in the world, those that have not been redeemed, do not have the privilege of serving God. We have the privilege and what do we do with that privilege?

[14:17] Many times we throw it out the window. Shame on us. But it is a privilege and it is an honor to serve the Most High God. To serve that one which the Bible refers to as the Ancient of Days.

[14:30] to serve our Creator. To serve our Redeemer. It is a privilege to do that. And we should act upon that privilege a whole lot more often than what we do.

[14:40] And I'm as guilty as anyone else is for it. But we have, again, the garments, the anointing gold, the bullet for the sin offering, the two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread. What does the unleavened bread symbolize?

[14:53] Well, the unleavenedness of that bread symbolizes purity. You can read about that over in Exodus chapter 12 at the Passover that God commands. He says, there's no leaven to be found in that bread.

[15:05] In fact, He says, there's no leaven to be found in your house. Period. Why? A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump according to what Paul wrote. Just a little bit of leaven gets in there.

[15:16] A little bit of sin and it will expand. And before you know it, it's infiltrated. Everything else in your life, it's infiltrated things in other people's lives. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump so the unleavenedness of the bread symbolizes purity.

[15:29] But what does the bread symbolize? More often than not in Scripture, bread symbolizes communion and fellowship. And that's exactly what we're talking about here. These priests are going to have communion and fellowship with God, but not only with God.

[15:43] Remember, their job is to stand between the Israelites and God. And not only that, but to stand between God and the Israelites. That's the priest's duty.

[15:55] They are to minister unto God. Yes. But folks, you read in Deuteronomy chapter 33, it's not only sacrifices that they offer. In fact, in Deuteronomy 33, when you're reading about the priestly duties, teaching them and counseling them comes before the sacrifices in the list.

[16:13] It's a priest's job. Or it was a priest's job to teach and to counsel to guide, to help. Somebody comes to them and says, what does the Word say about this? What does the Torah say about this?

[16:25] What does the Pentateuch say about this? What does God have to say about this? And the priest should be able to answer them. The priest should be able to answer them and he should be able to counsel them with that. You've been preaching for any amount of time and you've had somebody seek biblical counsel and you tell them what the Bible says and they can't stand it.

[16:47] It's happened to me. I'm sure it's happened to you men. They can't stand it. They say, what does the Bible say about this? You tell them what the Bible says about it? What the Bible says about it is what God thinks about it?

[16:57] And they go running off, puffed up, angry, mad. Folks, it ain't my Word. It's God's Word. And it's my job to abide by it just like it is everyone else's job to abide by it.

[17:13] But, again, the garments, the anointing oil, the bullet for the sin offering, the two rams, and the basket of unliving bread. All of them have their own symbolic purposes.

[17:26] All of them have a religious purpose and all of them are ordained by God. Again, if God had excluded or included anything else in this list, it would simply be because that's the way God wanted it.

[17:37] That's the way He wanted it. Verse 3, And gather thou all the congregation together under the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. Now, folks, this was a public thing. God wanted these people to know that these priests were being ordained by Him for His service and for their help to present sacrifices unto Him on their behalf.

[17:59] God wanted it made public. You think about Jesus Christ when John the Baptist saw Him walking down the riverbank and John the Baptist said, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.

[18:10] Next thing you know, John the Baptist is baptizing Jesus Christ. He dumps Him in the water and when He comes up, there was a voice from the heavens saying, This is my Son in whom I am well pleased.

[18:21] Hey, folks, that was a public profession from Almighty God at the priestly service of Jesus Christ that His ministry had officially begun. And all the world heard that.

[18:33] Anybody that was around there heard that proclamation from God. It was very public. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ was very public. Anybody in Jerusalem could have walked out there to that hillside and saw Jesus Christ hanging there between the two malefactors.

[18:50] And anyone could have read the sign there because it was written in three different languages. It was a universal sacrifice for a sinful people. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.

[19:02] Jesus' sacrifice was once and for all who would repent of their ways and believe on Him. And I praise God that it's that simple. I praise God that we don't have to follow through all this stuff in Leviticus.

[19:15] I praise God for that. You read just a few chapters over and you start reading about lepers. You start reading about the regulations concerning lepers.

[19:30] Read about what they do when they're diagnosed with the leprosy. What they're supposed to do afterward. How long it takes. Who they're supposed to see. What's supposed to be burned.

[19:40] What's supposed to be destroyed. But Jesus saw ten of them. They didn't have to go through any of that. Jesus just said go show yourselves to the priest.

[19:53] That's all it took was for Jesus. And folks, leprosy is ever a picture of sin in the Bible. And Jesus takes away sin out of a person that has repented of their ways believing His gospel just as quickly as He saved those ten lepers from their leprosy.

[20:14] Praise God for that. I'm glad we don't have to follow by all these regulations that are in here. Could you imagine? Could you imagine? I should say the priest is Brother Mike over here.

[20:25] Could you imagine coming in here? Brother Mike's got on the ephod. He's got on the breastplate of judgment. He's got the stones all over him. He's got the urim and the tumben tucked up underneath the breastplate.

[20:37] He's got the girdle on. Could you imagine that? But folks we don't do that. Christ has taken that aspect out of the picture and I'll tell you why because all of this points forward to Him.

[20:51] To the ultimate priest. To the ultimate high priest that we have in Him. He is not only the priest but He was the sacrifice. He was not only the sacrifice He was the altar that the sacrifice was offered on.

[21:04] He is everything. Hallelujah. Christ is all. Gather all the congregation. Gather all the congregation. Everybody needs to see this. This needs to be a public thing because these people need to know that this came from me.

[21:17] I spoke these things to you and this is what I am ordaining. This is the words of God that gather all the congregation together under the door of the tabernacle of the congregation and Moses did as the Lord commanded him.

[21:29] We can stop right there. I don't read where Moses slept on it. I don't read where he chewed on it. I don't read where he thought about it. I don't read where he consulted somebody else about it.

[21:42] I read it says Moses did as the Lord commanded. And folks too many times us Christians us who are saved we know what God has commanded and yet we go against it.

[21:57] Yet we don't do it or we do something that we know that we're not supposed to do. Why can't we just simply do like Moses did here? Folks I ain't saying Moses was a perfect man.

[22:07] He had sin just like the rest of us did. Folks this is a wonderful example. God gives commandment to Moses. You get all these items together. You gather the congregation of Israel at the door of the tabernacle.

[22:21] And it says Moses did as God commanded. Period. You think about Abraham over in Genesis. Genesis chapter 22. God told him take your son up yonder on the mountain.

[22:32] You offer him as a sacrifice. Abraham didn't hesitate. It says he rose early the next morning and he got his son. He got his animal. He took a couple of servants with him.

[22:43] Got everything that he needed and headed toward the mountain to do as God commanded. God help us to be that obedient. Now folks obedience has never been the basis for salvation.

[22:58] Never. It has never been the basis for salvation. It is fruit of salvation. If obedience was the basis for it folks there's plenty of lost folks out there right now that have never committed adultery.

[23:13] They've never walked into a bank and robbed it. They've never murdered. They've never done any number of things. And all those things are in line with what they'll say at the Word of God but that does not save them.

[23:27] Amen. But our obedience to the Word of God is evidence and fruit of the salvation that we have received. It's evidence of our faith in God.

[23:38] If we truly trust God and He tells us like He did Abram get out of the land of Ur and go to a land that I promised you not knowing where He's going not knowing quite what direction not knowing what to expect when He got there.

[23:52] but Abram went. Abram went folks. That was trust. That was faith in God. God would not call me out of this land of idolatry to send me into another land of idolatry.

[24:06] God would not call me out of this land where my family is where my home is this place where this is the only place that I've ever known. He would not call me out of this to send me into harm's way or to send me into something that is no good for me.

[24:19] That is trust. That is faith in God. God help me to have that kind of faith in Him. And Moses did as the Lord commanded him.

[24:29] And the assembly was gathered together under the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. So Moses did exactly as God said. And all the people were gathered under the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

[24:40] Verse 5 And Moses said under the congregation this is the thing which the Lord commanded to be done. Again, we read in verse 1 and the Lord spake unto Moses.

[24:53] And He spoke all those other verses there unto Moses. We get to verse 5 and Moses said unto the congregation this is the thing which the Lord commanded to be done. Telling the Israelites.

[25:04] Telling all these people. Telling this congregation. This is not my doing. This is not something that I come up with in my own head. This is not Aaron's aspiration to step into an office of some kind.

[25:15] This was ordained by the Lord God. He is making that very plain. He is clarifying that to the congregation of the Israelites. And folks, when we proclaim the Word of God, whether you're a preacher, whether you're a lay member, you have authority with that.

[25:34] You have authority regardless of who you are or whether you're male or female. It doesn't matter. This book is authoritative. Jesus Christ is authoritative.

[25:44] The Word of God is authoritative. When the world comes against you, when your job comes against you, when all these things happen and they say, you can't do this, you can't pray over your food at lunchtime, you can't do that, you can't help someone that's in need like that.

[26:01] Folks, the Word of God has more authority than any man or woman walking this earth right now. God does not have to ask the United Nations for permission to do anything.

[26:12] He does not have to ask the Supreme Court for permission to do anything. God is God. He is sovereign over this universe and His Word carries authority.

[26:23] So when you're presenting the Gospel to someone, you remember that is the authority of God. That is the way of God. It is the only way of salvation of God.

[26:34] And you are trying to get someone to see that they are a sinner but that they can be saved by the God of this universe, by His marvelous grace and by the blood of Jesus Christ.

[26:44] All of those things are authoritative and hold a lot more authority than any man, woman, boy, or girl, or child on this earth. You remember that. Moses is making it plain here that he did not come up with this.

[26:59] He did not come up with this. He's making it plain to the people. These are the things that the Lord commanded. Verse 6, And Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water. He brought Aaron and his sons.

[27:11] Again, Aaron and his sons were the only ones qualified per God to be priests, to mediate. Now, Aaron was the high priest, yes, but his sons were priests as well.

[27:24] And when Aaron died, somebody needed to step into his place. Praise God. That's another plus of the New Testament. Folks, we have a high priest who ain't never going to die. He ain't never going to die.

[27:35] He said, I'm he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I'm alive forevermore. Amen. And hold the keys of hell and of death. He will never die. We have a priest in heaven.

[27:46] We have a high priest that forever mediates on our behalf. Forever intercesses on behalf of all of those that have repented of their ways, believing the gospel. Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water.

[27:59] Now, we brought up the bullet to the sin offering a few verses ago. Here, we have Moses bringing Aaron and it says he washed him with water. And there's people who make a big deal over this.

[28:09] How did he go about washing him? Was Aaron naked before the congregation? That's the question. That's the big theological debate. Who cares? That doesn't matter.

[28:21] There's people out there that say all kinds of things about this. But folks, the Scripture says, and Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water. Again, there was a sin offering that had to be made on behalf of Aaron on behalf of all his sons because they all had sin.

[28:36] Folks, Aaron had to be cleansed. He had to be cleansed and his sons had to be cleansed. Not only was the offering made necessary, again, you can read about that further in this same chapter.

[28:48] We didn't get that far nor will we. But, they had to be cleansed with water. Folks, Christ needed no cleansing. Christ needs. Present tense.

[28:59] No cleansing. He didn't need it while he was here. He doesn't need it now. Again, he is spotless. He is blameless. He is perfect in everything, in every way.

[29:10] There is no cleansing that he ever needed because there was no sin to wash away. But Aaron and his sons, they needed cleansing. They needed to be washed. Washed and cleansed before what?

[29:21] Before they could serve God. And folks, we must be cleansed. We must be cleansed before we could serve God. The world out here, the lost world I'm talking about, a lot of them in these church houses that Brother Mike calls entertainment centers, they try to serve God.

[29:41] They think that they're serving God. Folks, a lot of them haven't even reached the state of being cleansed yet. And you tell that in their lives outside of that place that they call a church.

[29:53] You've got to be cleansed first. Once we are cleansed, once we are cleansed, then we're made ready for service toward God. But there's other things that must come too.

[30:04] And we read about that here. And Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water. Verse 7, And he put on him the coat and girded him with the girdle and clothed him with the robe and put the ephod upon him.

[30:16] And he girded him with the curious girdle of the ephod and bound it unto him therewith. We've been clothed. Folks, God ain't going to leave you naked. Praise God.

[30:28] Here, Moses washed Aaron and his sons with water. Now I understand, later on, later on, all they were required to wash was their hands and their feet. The folks, the initial washing was a complete washing.

[30:42] And God told Moses to wash them and He did. But after the washing, God don't leave you naked. God clothes you. He clothes you with what?

[30:53] With His righteousness. That's right. He clothes you with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He clothes you with righteousness and with holiness.

[31:05] You have been cleansed. You have been set apart. You've been sanctified by Almighty God. And He has clothed you with something all His own. For we have no righteousness of our own.

[31:17] It had to be something of God. It had to be of God. Now, I said not long ago, I don't remember whether it was here or somewhere else that I preached. But when Adam and Eve were in the garden and they sinned and it says that they hid themselves among the trees and they sowed the fig leaves we all know the account.

[31:36] But it took God killing an innocent animal, at least one, and shedding innocent blood. That animal never committed sin to make skins for Adam and Eve because their efforts were not enough to cover their own sin.

[31:53] It took something that God did. It took something that God did. And folks, salvation in 2026 is no different. I'm not saying it's by lambs and bulls and goats and turtle doves and all these other things that we read about in the Scriptures.

[32:07] But folks, salvation is by the way that God says. It is by Jesus Christ. It is by His finished work on a cross on a hill called Calvary. It is by His righteous work. His work is the only work that God will see as fit for the kingdom of Almighty God.

[32:23] And all that is required of mankind is to repent of their unbelief and their sin and to believe on Him. Christ lived a perfect life. Kept the law to a T.

[32:36] Every jot and every tittle. Precept upon precept and line upon line. Jesus Christ kept it all. You and I can't do it. But our belief on Him and His perfect life is what makes salvation available to us.

[32:54] Because we couldn't do it. Even now, with the entirety of this Scripture, even now, knowing absolutely everything that God wants, we still could not do it.

[33:05] Not for one second of our lives. but Christ could. And Christ is the one that I'm depending on. I can't depend on myself.

[33:15] I can't depend upon my own righteousness. Again, He talks about the coat and the girdle and the robe and the ephod. And He girds them with the curious girdle of the ephod and bounded unto Him therewith.

[33:29] Moses clothed Aaron after he was cleansed. But that's not even it. We've got another verse. And He put the breastplate upon Him.

[33:40] Also, He put in the breastplate the urim and the tuming. So He puts on the breastplate. What is this breastplate called? Again, you can read over in the book of Exodus. Again, chapter 28.

[33:51] It's actually called the breastplate of judgment. It had the twelve tribes of Israel upon it. It had the stones on the shoulders with the twelve tribes of Israel.

[34:03] It had the urim and the tuming that were tucked on the inside of it. There's some mystery that surrounds those things. The Bible isn't very plain on exactly what that was.

[34:18] But we do read where it was basically used. Those two things were basically used to see what God's will was in a certain situation. And that's all we'll get into as far as that goes.

[34:29] But He puts the breastplate on him. Notice, this is the last part on the torso of Aaron that's brought up here. The breastplate on him and also under the breastplate the urim and the tuming.

[34:44] This breastplate Aaron wore before God. He had the names of the twelve tribes of Israel over his heart.

[34:55] Aaron, the high priest carried the tribes of Israel before God wearing this breastplate of judgment.

[35:08] And he was to bear and you read about it in the book of Exodus. It was to bear the judgment against Israel. To bear the judgment of God on Israel.

[35:19] This was all placed on one man. My goodness, don't you see the comparison here? Jesus Christ, praise God for Isaiah 53, says, all we like sheep have gone astray.

[35:35] We've all gone our own ways. Hey, that condemns us right there. But praise God, that verse continues. It says, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all, just as Aaron had to wear the breastplate of judgment with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel before the Lord.

[35:53] And he had to bear that before God. Jesus Christ bore your sin. He bore my sin. He bore all of our transgressions. Why? To bring us into the right relationship with Almighty God.

[36:06] And it was done God's way. This was done God's way. And that was done God's way. Christ did it God's way. And no other way.

[36:17] It was His meat. To do the Father's will. According to what He said in John chapter 4. That's why Christ came was to do the Father's will. I understand He came to seek and to save that which was lost.

[36:29] I understand that He came not to condemn us but to save us. I understand all of that. But folks, all of that was the Father's will. And is the Father's will. Present tense.

[36:40] It's still the Father's will. The Bible says Peter wrote that the Lord is not slight concerning His promises as some men count slagness. not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

[36:53] It is God's will for people to come to repentance. But they won't. But they won't. He put on the breastplate upon Him and He put in the breastplate the Urim and the Tumen.

[37:05] Verse 9. This is no pun intended. This is the crown of the whole thing. And He put the matter upon His head. Also upon the matter even upon His forefront did He put the golden plate the holy crown as the Lord commanded Moses.

[37:24] Again, as the Lord commanded Moses. Everything that's been done here is as God commanded. But again we read and He put the matter upon His head. Who put the matter upon whose head?

[37:35] Moses put the matter. That is again Exodus 28 you read about all this in Exodus 28 and 29. This matter this crown this deity that was placed upon the head of the high priest.

[37:48] He places it there. Folks when we get cleansed when we get cleansed and God clothes us and we live our lives in obedient service to God not perfect obedient service you haven't done it neither have I.

[38:04] But we live our lives in obedient service to God. There are crowns for us to win. You read in Revelation 4 the elders they have crowns but those crowns are not for their keeping.

[38:16] Those crowns are not their bragging rights in heaven. Those crowns are to cast at the feet of their Savior. Those crowns are to cast at the feet of Almighty God be cast at the feet of Jesus Christ as He sits upon the throne.

[38:30] But God crowns us. Why would God do that? I'm talking about here in the now. I don't have a crown on right now. But folks God is claiming us as His own.

[38:46] By adoption we were grafted in from the wild. God claims us as His own. You know how I know that from this verse? Again and He put the matter upon His head and upon the matter even upon His forefront did He put the golden plate the holy crown.

[39:05] What is this golden plate? This is also brought up in Exodus chapter 28. This golden plate had four words on it. Holiness to the Lord is what this plate had on it.

[39:20] Holiness to the Lord. Now Christ Christ is holiness to the Lord. We can live holy lives. In fact the Bible tells us in the Old Testament and it's reiterated in the New Testament.

[39:34] Be ye holy for I am holy. And God would not command His people to do anything they were incapable of doing. It is possible to live a holy life. Not a perfect life but a holy life.

[39:47] And we are commanded to do so. Are we not commanded to come out from the world and be a separate people? Does Peter not write that we're a peculiar people? We're a holy nation.

[39:58] Again a royal priesthood. A chosen generation. But we're peculiar. But you remember now. You remember now that God is who makes us peculiar.

[40:11] We don't make ourselves peculiar. I've had that discussion with some charismatic folks. We don't make ourselves that way. And we don't worship God any old way that we want to.

[40:23] We worship God as He says. But this golden plate. The miner was fine enough. The miner was pretty enough on Aaron's head. But that golden plate that was placed there it says holiness to the Lord.

[40:36] Folks when God saves us and God redeems us God has sanctified us He has consecrated us we are set aside for His service. We are set aside for His glory.

[40:47] We are set aside for His will. No matter what that might be. And that is holiness to the Lord. We are considered holy at that point.

[40:58] Now don't let your head get big in that holiness because it's all of God. It is not because I come seeking God again Adam and Eve fled God.

[41:10] They fled from God. They ran from Him went and hid themselves. But praise God He came seeking them. He came seeking them. You think about Samuel and his calling when he was trying to sleep at night.

[41:24] He heard the call Samuel Samuel three times or twice he got up the third time he realized who it was that was calling. God came seeking Samuel. Folks when God came seeking you some of you that was a long time ago some of you may not have been so long ago but when God came seeking you it was personal and it was so that He could cleanse you.

[41:49] It was so that He could clothe you in His righteousness and it was so that He could make you holy. We were unholy before God regardless of how great you think that you might have been regardless of how many people you think that you might have helped before Jesus Christ saved our soul we were unholy we were filthy we were rotten we were black we were empty and deep down inside we hated God.

[42:17] And that ain't me that's Scripture. And the wrath of God abode upon us. Is Jesus not saying John 3 the very last verse of John 3 that he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life that he that believeth not hath not seen life and the wrath of God abideth on him.

[42:36] If you're not saved the wrath of God abides upon you. If you're not saved the wrath of God abides it lives upon you. There is no getting out from underneath it except through Jesus Christ.

[42:51] the question is the question is have you been cleansed? Has God sought?

[43:02] Have you denied that? Have you rejected that? Have you rejected the Gospel? Have you rejected God? Or have you been cleansed? Once you're cleansed God clothes you with the righteousness of Jesus Christ y'all have heard me say it before in our own righteousness before God will be consumed with the holiness of God but in the righteousness of Christ we are safe we are safe because Christ is holiness.

[43:30] Christ is not only holy he is holiness. Get that. We have no holiness we have no righteousness of our own. Have you been born again? Have you received this righteousness?

[43:42] Have you been cleansed? Have you been clothed? And have you had the matter placed upon your head? Have you been made holy to the Lord? If not if not I pray the Holy Spirit deals with your heart I pray he deals with your soul I pray that he he takes away your appetite and your sleep and everything else whatever it takes to get a hold of you I hope that God does that and I hope that you repent and you believe the Gospel.

[44:08] God bless y'all that's this evening's message I appreciate your attention.