Address—Tim Ruga
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Could we begin the meeting this afternoon by singing hymn #48?
Hymn #48.
High in the Father's house above our mansion is prepared.
There is a home, the rest we love, and there our bright reward.
High end.
Of everything else, I never had a manual call. I'm going to go.
Ahead and I'll have a lot of work. I don't know. I don't know why I'm in the bedroom. I don't know what I'm going to do.
Oh.
Let's pray. Our God and our Father, we look forward to that time that we've been singing about. We thank Thee that it will be so and that our place there has been won by the Lord Jesus Christ and His work at Calvary's cross. We thank you for giving us thy word. We thank Thee for this privilege that we have to.
Here this afternoon we pray that I will speak to us and that we would hear Thy word. We commit this time to Thee and ask for Thy health and Thy blessing in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
So we were singing.
About in the last verse, that all taint of sin shall be removed, all evil done away, and we shall dwell with God's beloved through God's eternal day. Wonderful time that is just ahead of us.
That we're just about to enjoy, but we're not there yet.
We're still in a place where there's evil and the taint of sin.
And what I have in my heart this afternoon is the subject that's deeply painful for me and for my family, but I have felt from the Lord that I should speak about it.
The subject is that of the assembly and evil in the assembly and putting away that evil.
And also.
Separation from evil.
This is not an encouraging subject, often thought of as negative, and it is, but it's important. So Word of God is what God desires for us. And over the years I have spoken to various ones, particularly young people, with some older ones as well, who said, well, we don't understand these things very well. They're often not taught so much at the conferences and other places. I know they have been. I've heard it.
But it's true, not often. And so that's what's on my heart this afternoon.
And I intend to take this up starting in First Corinthians 5.
Just looking at some of these things very simply if we can.
And then going on.
To Second Timothy 2 and then looking at some principles in the Old Testament.
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In particular.
Connected with being defiled by the dead.
These are the things in my heart. So First Corinthians chapter 5.
Please just read that chapter.
It is reported commonly that there is fornication among youth, and such fornication as is not so much as names.
Among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife.
And your pops up and have not rather mourned that he hath that hath done this seed might be taken away from among you. For I verily is absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already as though I were present concerning him that has so done this deed in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And you are gathered together, and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Who delivers such and wanted to Satan for the destruction?
Of the flesh, that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out there for the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, even as as you are. 11 For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.
Therefore let us keep the feast, not withhold leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
I wrote unto you in an epistle not to accompany with fornicators.
Yet not all together with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters. For then must he needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner.
With such an one no not to eat for what have I to do to judge them also that are without?
Do not ye judge them that are within, but them that are without? God judges.
Therefore, put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
This chapter is certainly the primary chapter in the Word of God that would describe putting someone away from the company of the Lord's people, not by any means the only one, but no doubt the primary one. And so as we look at this, it's important to understand the case. The case very simply was a man.
Who was guilty of fornication and as a result?
He had become defiled and unclean, and there was necessity to treat him and deal with him a certain way in the assembly. And the ones in Corinth had not done it. They were careless and they were indifferent. And so the apostle Paul had to write to them, and he writes this epistle telling them what they were to do.
And as you go all the way through this, we come right down to the end and he tells them.
He says that this wicked person, he says really two things in particular. One, they were not to eat with him.
Number two, they were to put away from among themselves that wicked person.
Certainly that one was put away from the Lord's Table. The language would require that it be self. And so He was put away from the Lord's people, and they were not to have Him in the midst of their company, and nor were they to go and eat with Him. And that is set down plainly as we have it right here. I am not aware of Scriptures that would overturn what we have here.
This is the word of God for us today. I am aware that there are other scriptures in the New Testament.
That take up other cases.
And we have to discern from the Lord what to do in such cases, cases such as dependence in a home or the marriage state, things like that. I'm not going to talk about that today. I want to keep it just simple on what it says here, that there were these ones, the case of the man here in Corinth who had committed fornication, he had not repented, and he then therefore had to be put away from the company of the Lord's people.
Now another thing I want to say in regard to this he was not put away.
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By the individuals.
He says put away from among yourselves that wicked person. But that wasn't all the individuals doing it. It was the assembly who put this man away.
There is responsibility in this chapter for everyone of us as believers to act on individually. I'm not going to take that up today, but you can read it. It's very clearly written here where it says about in verse 11, any man that is called a brother. We all have individual responsibility with regard to that, that we're not to you with one who's called a brother and is guilty of these sins, fornication and so on.
But the case in First Corinthians Five, that is taken off as a man who is put away.
And he's put away by the assembly. And we see this because if we just go back up to verse four, it says in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when ye are gathered together.
And my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. So you see that they were to be gathered together in the name of the Lord Jesus. It wasn't individual, but it was collective. And this Scripture agrees precisely with what the Lord Jesus himself laid down in Matthew chapter 18, that verse.
That our brother read to us this morning in the prayer meeting, Matthew 18 and verse 20, which comes after Matthew 18 and verse 18 which says.
Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth is found in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth is loosed in heaven, and so there's an action there. It is bound.
Found on earth is found in heaven, and if it was to be unbound, that is, to be loosed, it was going to be loosed on earth and then loosed in heaven. And it wasn't done by individuals, because as the Lord went on to say in the 20th verse, four, or because where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them.
It was a collective action, both the binding and the losing, which you also get the losing in First Corinthians.
I'm sorry, in Second Corinthians that part of the case is taken up in the Second Epistle of Paul through the same assembly.
And So what we have here in First Corinthians 5 is an assembly action.
The assembly discerned that this man was guilty of this evil, and the assembly put him away from their midst and doubtless from the Lord's Table.
And all of the individuals in the assembly were responsible to act on that. They could not have their own individual and the judgment in the matter, but they were bound by that action because what was found on earth was found in heaven, as our Lord said.
They couldn't go on later on and say, well, I know that things have changed with this person, so I'm going to go and I'm going to eat with him. You don't find that it was an assembly action and before that man could be eaten, with which he was. Later on we find out from the 2nd epistle, not specifically that, but they were to forgive him there, which would lead to them bringing him back into full restoration of fellowship. Before that could happen, the assembly had to lose.
Individuals could not make up their own mind about that matter.
These are the principles they apply to us today. If you haven't read through this chapter and seen it yourself, I encourage you to go back again. There's another very important thing in this chapter, and I want to pass on quickly here, but I want to notice that before we do. And that is that allowing evil in the midst of the Lord's people brings in defilement.
And So what we have here, although maybe negative and not the encouraging things of trying to build one another up in Christ.
Yet to ignore these things is to tear down the assembly of God's people, the fellowship of God's people, and to shut out the Lord because he demands that there be holiness in his house. And so it says here.
In verse six, your glory is not good.
Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven.
That you may be a new lump, even as you are unleavened for Christ, our Passover sacrifice for us.
He's saying by going on with this you are allowing leaven there.
To allow this front end of your midst is to be leavened.
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He says you need to print it out and you need to go on a new lump unleavened. To allow evil in the midst of the Lord's people is to defile.
The Lord's people to bring defilement into the assembly. Let's go over to Second Timothy, chapter 2.
There it's applied individually. First Corinthians 5 is collective.
We all have individual responsibility in this Second Timothy, chapter 2.
Verse 19.
After having just taken off a case of Hymenaeus and Philetus, a man who had been guilty of profane and vain babbling, the apostle Paul then gives some teaching regarding.
The holiness that belongs to God's people, he says in verse 19. Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure. Having this seal, the Lord knoweth him that are his.
Whether or not those two men of the Lord he knows, but what is our?
Responsibility.
He says here.
And let everyone name it the name of Christ. There should be the Lord.
As He is the Lord to you and me, how we confess them, let everyone.
The name is the name of the Lord depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor, and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.
And so here he speaks about the fact that in a great house is, which is what Christendom has been.
We come today, I won't take the time to go into that, but you look in first and second Timothy, you see this whole subject of the house developed. And today we're in a time when the House of God on earth has become likened unto this great house. And in it there are many things. There's not just what is pure, but there's even we have the vessels of gold and silver, that which is valuable and precious, and then those which are common.
Those that are of wood and of earth.
I believe beyond unbelievers included in that house. But he goes on to speak about another division there that is some to honor and some to dishonor.
And that which professes the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the House of God today, there is that which is to honor, and there is that which is to dishonor. And I'm not talking about doctrines, I'm talking about people, because that's what this chapter is talking about when it says vessels.
Here it means people, not things, not doctrines, because it says in verse 22, If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel. He's talking about persons.
Now if there are a vessel to honor and vessel to dishonor.
How can one be a vessel to honor?
Well, it's very plain. Only by purging himself from the vessels to dishonor. Obviously he's not talking about separating or purging from vessels to honor. The next verse talks about continuing on with him and Brother Jonathan quoted that this morning.
He's talking about separating oneself from vessels to dishonor, and if we will do that, then we can be a clean vessel for the Lord and useful to Him.
Conversely, if we won't do that, we can't be a clean vessel and useful to him now. Why?
Because association with evil defiles. The Scripture teaches this. It teaches it here very plainly and these very verses. It taught it collectively in First Corinthians chapter 5. We have it taught to us in other places and the New Testament as well. We're not going to take them all up. Instead, I want to go and just a moment and look.
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That's a case of being defiled for the dead, because I think it's a very important case. It's perhaps the primary case that God has given in the Old Testament to illustrate this principle. Remember, looking into it for the first time a number of years ago now. I'm being very surprised at how often that one subject came up in the Old Testament.
And so I think it would be very useful to look at it, but first of all, I want to go on and establish one of the principle.
You know, we need to be very careful when it comes to the Old Testament.
We have to be careful how we apply it.
All of the word of God is written for us, but it is not all written to us, and we have to understand that it is most important. The Old Testament is written for us. The New Testament is written largely but not completely to us, and we have to.
Learn to understand the difference between those things.
The Old Testament aside, is inferior. I hope not. It isn't inferior. Just look over.
Next chapter Second Timothy 3, verse 16. All Scripture, Old Testament and New Testament is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness, every word of it.
We don't want to say one word aside, however, having said that.
It's important that we also understand that we can't take scripture any way we want to.
It was given in a certain way and we need to understand that. Just turn back, for instance, to the chapter we're just in. Second Timothy 2 and verse 15 says study to show thyself approved unto God, a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
If there's a right way to divide the word of truth, then that necessarily means that there's a wrong way to divide it. And we can take up the word of God and we can divide it in a way that is wrong. And if we use the Old Testament indiscriminately and not understand it in the light of the New Testament, then we're surely going to get into error and make a lot of mistakes.
Why? Because, like I said, that which we have in the New Testament, much of it.
At least has written to us. Now I've said that and I just want to go and see it. Let's just go back to Romans chapter 15.
Just to establish this principle.
Romans 15.
Verse four, after having just quoted from the Psalms, the apostle Paul is led by the Spirit, says in verse four, for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. You see what he says here. They're written for our learning. Now let's go to 1St Corinthians chapter 10.
1St Corinthians 10.
The beginning of that chapter we find 5 examples taken from the Old Testament.
That the apostle Paul is using to illustrate a point he wants to make to the Corinthians. And then he says in verse 11, Now all these things happen unto them for examples, and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. And so we have the Old Testament given to us.
For our prophet, all of it. It's written for us so that we might learn things that God wants us to know.
We ignore it to our peril, but we take it up wrongly to our peril as well. Let's go to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3, verse 19. Now we know that whatsoever things the law said, it says to them who are under the law. You see that difference now?
We have Old Testament presented to us.
And this previous two verses, and we're told those things are for us. Now he gets here and he's talking about these things in the law. He's saying whatever those things were, they're written to them directly applying to them.
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Can we benefit from the things that are there You go back and read with the Apostle Paul's quoting? Of course we can. We can all learn from those things.
But they're not written to us. And so we have to understand that difference and we have to discern how.
To read that and how to understand the things that are written there in the light of the New Testament.
Now, what about the passage that we had in First Corinthians 5? Let's go back and and justice look there again.
First Corinthians, chapter 5.
Verse 9.
I wrote unto you in.
In an epistle not to company fornicators, I understand that should be. I have written unto you in the epistle.
Mr. Kelly says that that would be this epistle.
But I've written to you. He's saying verse 11. But now I have written unto you, not to keep company any men. It's called a brother. So on. Written directly to who? Well, the Corinthians, certainly the Corinthians, these things are written to them. They were told what they had to do. But was it only them?
No, it wasn't only them. Go back to see how this.
Letter is addressed first Corinthians chapter one verse one. Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes our brother unto the Church of God which is at Corinth to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints. So certainly written to the Corinthians, but was that all?
Let's continue.
With all that, in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. And so these things that we had presented to us in First Corinthians chapter 5.
Were written to the believers who are sitting in this room this afternoon.
Directly to us.
And we need to be very careful before setting aside one word of it. We better have a very good reason as to why actually we're not setting it aside. But there's some other scripture that the Lord is actually presenting to us as to why we should act in a way that would seem different from what we have plainly presented here.
I just want to make that point because now we're going to go to the Old Testament and I want to look at types and I trust with the Lord's help, we'll look at them.
In a way that is consistent with the New Testament. And so I want to go to Leviticus chapter 21.
And I want to just start there and talk about this case of being defiled for the dead.
And as I do that, I want to say I am conscious.
That there is a teaching among us that takes this stuff in a different way.
And I'm going to explain that.
Quickly here before I go on to what I believe these verses do teach us.
The thought is.
That when one is put away from the Lord's table.
That there are certain ones you can eat with them, and these verses are used to support that idea.
And let's read the verses, and I'll just explain that briefly in verse one. And the Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto the priest, the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people, but for his kin that is, near unto him, that is.
For his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother, and for his sister. A virgin that is nice with him, which hath no husband for her. He may be defiled, but he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people to profane himself.
Now the.
Explanation I have heard is that.
This is speaking about the priests, and today in the New Testament we're all priests. Therefore this applies to us. And it shows that when it comes to someone who's put away from the Lord's Table that those who are close to them.
As we have laid out here.
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Are free to eat with them. And yet I don't believe that's the teaching here at all. I don't believe it because first of all.
As I already said, we have direct, clear New Testament instruction.
And I don't believe there's anything in the New Testament that would give us warrant to come and take an Old Testament type and set that aside and say that's not what we are to do in certain cases such as we have here, father, mother, so on.
I don't even believe that the dead here is talking about someone put away from the Lord's Table.
It's talking about another case altogether. If you want to consider one put away from the Lord's table, you need to go back.
About 7 chapters in Leviticus and get to Leviticus chapters 13 and 14. And there you can see the law of the leper. And the law of the leper you find that here is one who had leprosy on him so bad that that one could no longer be among the Lord's people. And so that one was put outside the camp and there was no fellowship until that one was cleansed and brought back in. And it wasn't a matter of certain individuals going and having communion.
That one during that period of time, but the priest who would look in on that one to see if the leprosy was still active or not.
An entirely different case, and we don't have time to take that out, but I believe that's what corresponds with First Corinthians chapter 5. Here we have the case of someone who had died.
And what does that mean? It means that we're no longer in the land of the living. And necessarily someone had to come and bury the body, no question about it. Otherwise it would just sit there and rot and spread defilement everywhere. We understand this very well. There's also no thought that there would be ongoing communion in the case with the dead. That's preposterous.
The dead body is buried. It's gone. They weren't going to dig it up a week later or a month later. That has no part of the thought here. But of necessity, someone had to go and bury that body, and so there was provision made for it. But what does this passage really teach us? God is taking off a principle that's very important, and that is that there are things that are dead or persons that are dead.
Is a thought here, and he doesn't even say what that would correspond to for us today.
I'll tell you more of what I think that may be in a moment, but the thing that's clear from this passage is that when one comes into contact with the dead person, what happens to them?
Whether it's allowed or not, what happens to them?
Says they're defiled. That's the point that God is making here. The point of this passage is until allow.
Contact, but it's to explain something about defilement. And I want to say too, this is not a matter of talking about somebody becoming dirty. That's not the idea here.
Look at what it says in verse four. But he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, too profane himself.
Now I was not just talking about the file, this is explaining it here. What is profane?
You know, for saying this, it's the opposite of being holy. It's to be unholy. It's not a thing of being dirty. It's a moral thought that God is giving to us here.
He didn't set this example out among his people for their help. No doubt it would be helpful to their health. But he set this out and he takes it up over and over again in the Old Testament. As we're going to see some of the verses in a moment, I won't go to the mall. There's many.
So that we might understand that there's such a thing as to filement. And as we go on, we're going to see that the one who becomes the file is themselves to file it of others. And the need to put away that defilement is the point that God is trying to get at and what we have brought before us here. Let's go to Numbers chapter 5.
Numbers chapter 5, verse one, The Lord spake unto Moses, saying.
Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper and everyone that had an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead.
OK, now there we have the leper and justice like we have presented in Leviticus 13 and 14. If we were to turn there, that leper had to be put out of the camp. And it makes sense. And then there's one who's got an issue. That is the file that's coming out of that person. They had to be put out of the camp. God does not want defilement among His people.
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Now notice the next one.
It doesn't say put out of the camp the dead. That's not the thought here.
The dead was buried, he says. You put out of the camp whosoever is defiled by the dead. Now here's one who had gotten defiled, gotten dirty by this dead body.
Anything that one has to be put out of the camp, he can't be among the Lord's people. Why? Because association with evil defiled.
Verse three. Both male and female shall ye put out without the camp? Shall you put them that they defile not their camps in the midst where us I dwell. If they were to be left in there, they would defile the camp. And why is that important? Because the Lord is there.
That principle is clear, isn't it? It's the same for us today. The Lord dwells in the midst of his people, and He wants his people to be holy. He does not want to file me brought in among them. And if there is defilement, it is to be put out. I say this because I'm not going to go through right now and try to make it a precise application to every way we might handle this in the New Testament. Instead, I want to.
Before, so that we can think about the importance of what God is saying here about defilement in the midst of His people. In the Old Testament, before the perfect work of Christ, God laid out this picture that the one who was defiled by a dead body had to be put outside of God's people, outside of the company of God's people.
If we were to practice that today, it would be as the man in First Corinthians chapter 5. I don't say that we should.
But it's a serious thing at that time. That's where the person was put outside of the company of God's people. Now let's go over a chapter to Numbers chapter 6.
Numbers Chapter 6. This is the law of the Nazarites.
Takes up this issue again.
And the Lord spake. Verse one. The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves, to vow a vow of a Nazarite to separate themselves into the Lord, he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. And she'll drink no vinegar of wine or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grape.
Nor eat moist grapes are dried. All the days of his separation shall he nothing.
That is made of the vine tree, then the kernels even to the husk. All the days of the vow of his separation. There shall no razor come upon his head until the days be fulfilled in the which he separated himself unto the Lord. He shall be holy, and shall let the lock to the hair of his head grow. Now we could spend much time going into the law of the leper. I'm sorry, into the law of the Nazarite that we have.
Presented here, but the key point that we have is this one with holy, devoted or consecrated to the Lord, which we can certainly say from Leviticus 21. We're all priests. That's true. But are we not all Nazarites as well? And isn't it interesting that the Lord had this case of a Nazarite, if there was going to be one totally devoted to the Lord and have the days of his separation?
What would that speak to us of today? Should not that be the entire life of the believer? Doesn't First Corinthians, I'm sorry, Romans chapter 12.
Teach us that the believer today should be a Nazarite to the Lord. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice.
Holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Isn't that what we're called to?
And God said among his people there for those so devoted that day.
Were to be holy to himself. And what else did he say? Read on here.
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Verse 6. All the days that he separated himself unto the Lord, he shall come at no dead body. He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, or for his brother, or for his sister when they die, because the consecration of his God is upon his head. All the days of his separation he is holy.
Unto the Lord. And so we have a case here where this one goes beyond even what God allowed for His people, even a priest in the Old Testament economy and the Nazarite could not be defiled. Even if it was one so close to him. God did not permit it. He was to be absolutely holy to the Lord. That's what we have presented here. Now, in case you think that I was pushing it too far.
To.
To say we are talking about moral things here.
I want you to notice what it says next.
Verse nine And if any man die very suddenly, I think Mr. Darby translates that if anyone died unexpectedly by him, then he got to file the head of his consecration.
Andy has to file the head of his consecration, then he shall shave his head, and the day of his cleansing on the 7th day shall he shave it, and to see more about that 7th day in a minute.
And on the eighth day he shall bring 2 turtles to her, two young pigeons to the priest, to the door of the Tabernacle, the congregation and the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, and make atonement for him for that. Now notice these words, for that he sinned.
By the dead, and shall hallow his head that same day. And he shall consecrate unto the Lord the days of his separation, and shall bring a lamb of the first year for a trespass offering. But the days that were before shall be lost, because his separation was defiled.
We see something of how God views defilement here.
This Nazarene had gone on, he had done so well, and now someone died unexpectedly and what does God call it? Says he sinned by it. How did he sin? He didn't even know it was going to happen. I can't fully answer that, but I do see in these verses.
How God is viewing it and the point that he's making about it that.
The fact that the man was defiled with the dead brought sin on him, and God saw his touch. It was suffilement there, and it cost this Nazarite all the days of the separation that went before he lost, that he'd just start over. And so it would be.
It's really something to see how God looks at this, to try to get an idea of how that might apply to us today. At the very least, I hope, brothers and sisters, we can understand that God does not look at the filament lightly. It's a very serious issue with Him, and if we take it lightly, then we're sliding Him in His very holiness.
Let's continue on to numbers Chapter 9, numbers nine and.
Here we have at the beginning of the chapter the children visit. We're going to keep it the Passover they went to do it first text. It says there were certain men who were defiled by the dead body of a man, that they could not keep the Passover on that day. And they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day. And those men said unto him, We are defiled by the dead body of a man.
Wherefore.
Are we kept back that we may not offer an offering of the Lord in His appointed season?
Among the children of Israel. And Moses said unto them, Stand still, and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you.
Or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or being a journey far off. Yet he shall keep the Passover unto the Lord the 14th day of the second month. And even they shall keep it and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Now we see that this one, or these ones who have been defiled by the dead body of a man, they couldn't take the Passover. That was the memorial piece of the Jews.
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Again, if we're gonna try to apply this, we might think of the Lord's Supper.
I don't know that we should make a direct comparison.
But this is a case where they could not have the Passover, their memorial feast, until a month later. They were not only put out from the camp, but they also could and partake of the memorial feast that God had given to His people at that time. They had to wait. It's a very serious thing to be defiled in the midst of.
God's people in that camp where he dwelt.
Let's go on to Numbers chapter 19.
I'm sure instantly many in this room will grasp that we've gone on now to a well known passage.
We have the case of the red heifer in Numbers chapter 19 and the beginning of this chapter we learned some very.
Wonderful things about the provision of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ for that defilement that comes in in the wilderness, which is what Numbers is. It's a wilderness book. And we ourselves, what we're here in this world we're seeing is going through the wilderness and there's a need for cleansing from defilement. But have you ever noticed?
That numbers 19 takes up almost exclusively this issue of being defiled.
For the dead.
Let's look at that verse 11. He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean 7.
Days he shall purify himself with it, with it, talking about the water of purification that was explained before verse 11.
Speaking about the application of the word of God and the death of Christ to that one who's been defiled, and it brings in repentance as a result. And so it says in verse 12, He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the 7th day he shall be clean.
But if you purify not himself the third day, then the 7th day he shall not be clean.
We often have talked about these verses and they have been applied to the process that goes on in repentance, and I believe rightly so. The Spirit of God is teaching us that when a person comes into defilement, we get away and we sin before the Lord. There's a need for repentance. And the first part of that is that the word of God should be brought to bear upon us and we should come to see that that very.
That I committed cost the Lord Jesus Christ his very life on the cross of Calvary, and that he went down into all the bitterness of death to pay for that sin. And the third day brings in the realization of that of the souls to that the one who is thus before the Lord is now brought to that place of repentance, to say, as David said in Psalm 51, against thee, and against thee only.
Have I sinned?
And then the 7th day comes in which brings the end to the matter, as David says there in Psalm 51, Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. And he says here, if you purify himself not the third day, then the 7th day he shall not be clean. There's no way to get by the cross and the penance and restoration. We need to be brought right down to that point where we see what it cost him. That's the teaching that has so often been given.
This subject and it's right. I believe that's what the Spirit of God would teach in these words.
But have you noticed?
In what connection is taken up?
Verse 11 Again, He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean. 7 days.
And then it talks about what happens in those seven days and what is it talking about here?
Being defiled.
Now I wanna say what I think. The filament is being defiled for the dead. I don't believe it. I'm going and eating with someone put away from the Lord's table.
When it's talking about dead, it's talking about one who has taken in moral and spiritual death, and we take up with that person, that thing that's to be put away. We're gonna have nothing to do with that.
And that death is something that comes in and effects a believer, and we can now take it ourselves and we can pass it on to others. I don't know all of what it means. There's examples given, as we're going to see going down this chapter here. But one thing is absolutely crystal clear. Whatever the debt is in type, it brings in a most awful form of defilement. I hope you've seen by now in the verses we've gone over.
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That the Spirit of God is showing.
That that's a filement is something.
And that requires real attention among God's people. It's filthy, and God's holiness demands that it not just be left unaddressed.
Look at verse 13, whosoever toucheth a dead body of any man that is dead.
And purifieth not himself defileth the Tabernacle of the Lord.
And that soul shall be cut off from Israel, because the water of preparation.
Was not sprinkled upon him. He shall be unclean. His uncleanness is yet upon him. That strong language. Do we have that in the New Testament? I don't know the number of verses that are very similar. You go to 1St Corinthians chapter 3 and you see there presented about a Workman and his work and that which is built on a foundation, and you see one who builds.
There, perhaps, I take it, to be one building on a foundation that he himself isn't even on. It's an apostate.
But the language of the Spirit of God in First Corinthians chapter 3 is startling. He says, if any man.
Destroy the temple of God. Him shall God destroy, for the temple of God is holy. Which temple ye are collected the Lord's people. We are his temple. And that temple of God is holy. He demands it because he dwells there.
Very similar language, verse 14.
This is the law when a man dies in a tent, all that come into the tent.
And all that is in the tent shall be unclean. 7 days.
Now it's just somebody dying in the tent. This is sort of like the Nazarite. It wasn't their fault, you might say. They're unclean.
Defilement, however we come into contact with it, it brings uncleanness in and there needs to be cleansing because of it.
Verse 15. Every open vessel which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean.
I don't know all of what this means. We just read in Two Timothy chapter 2 about a man who is a vessel.
And maybe it's just another picture similar to that, that when we don't have a covering upon our vessels, then there's a communication of evil and we're to have a covering bound upon us so that there's not that free entry of defilement going into our vessels. At least I understand that from this portion. It goes on in chapter 17 and verse 17. I'm sorry.
Verse 16 and whosoever touches one that is plain with a sword in the open field or a dead body.
Or a bone of a man or a grave shall be unclean. 7 days.
Not going to take up all of that, but the first two are violence and corruption. The world is filled with it. The bone is that which doesn't even look like death anymore. It's been there for so long, washed over. Someone put it the grave. The Lord spoke about that with the Pharisees here. Why did sepulchre outside but inside full of dead men's bones?
Such as the character of the fileman. It comes in so easy.
And if we were to go to the rest of this chapter, we'd find it all the way through to the end.
He talks about this subject about the need for purification. You can read that yourself. Because our time is almost gone. I want to go on to the future and just see briefly how God considers this in the future. Ezekiel chapter 44, which takes up prophetically the condition of things in the Millennium.
We see this very subject is raised again by the Spirit of God.
Ezekiel Chapter.
44.
And verse.
23 talking about the priests that will be in those days, and it says they shall teach my people the difference between.
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Now the two opposites we've been talking about the holy and the profane. Remember I said profane is the opposite of holy. This verse shows us that they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. And in controversy they shall stand in judgment, and they shall judge it according to my judgment, since they shall keep my laws.
And my statutes and all my assemblies, and they shall howl my Sabbath. God is gonna have these.
Priests in that coming day do that because he is holy and he demands holiness in his presence.
And I'm sorry, brethren, if we have to take off a somewhat negative subject today, but God is holy and these things belong to us today, and we need to teach them not only by the words we say, but by our example. The things that we're talking about here belong to all of us, not just to the people, our brethren in the early days of the church or to the ones.
Albeit and type in the Old Testament or the ones in the future, but they belong to us and now.
Look at what he says next, Verse 25. And they shall come at no dead person to defile themselves, but for father, or for mother, or for son or daughter, for brother or sister that have had no husband, they defile themselves. And after he is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him, Seven days never changes.
Here again, there's the practical need that certain of these ones should go and bury the dead. But even then, God doesn't want the picture spoiled. There has to be that seven day cleansing period. We're the one takes off those waters of purification, just as we had presented in Numbers chapter 19. And they go through that process in their plans. Now let's go to my last verse, Hagee I, chapter 2.
Haggai chapter two and 1St.
And in the 4th and 20th day of the ninth month and the second year of Darius came the word of the Lord by Hagia the Prophet saying.
I think we know these first as well. They're often used to explain about the fact that association with evil defiles.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Ask now the priest concerning the law of things. If one bare holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt he touched bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy?
And the priest answered and said no, because they knew the answer to that. They knew that something holy couldn't make something else holy.
And then, said Haggai.
If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean?
And the priest answered and said it shall be unclean association with evil defiles. And what is he talking about here? He's talking about being defiled by the dead, the same type. There's many other verses too. You can go through and trace it through the Word of God, the Old Testament, New Testament, many more verses taking up the same subject.
The sad thing is it 'cause people ignore that they cared nothing for His Holiness and they went on and got more and more careless and indifferent.
And So what does the Lord say to them? Verse 14 then answered Haggy, I said, so is this people in this nation before me, saith the Lord. And so is every work of their hands, and that which they offer there is unclean. That's where they got to in that day. The Lord could no longer dwell among them.
I'm not suggesting that that would happen to those gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus. I believe with all my heart the Spirit of God.
Maintains his testimony on Earth.
But we can get careless and indifferent, and we can teach the wrong thing, and we can come into defilement and think that it's nothing, and forget all about the holiness of God and go about among the Lord's peoples if it doesn't matter.
And what are we doing?
While we're teaching a terrible lesson, of course, to others, but there's something far more serious than that. That is, we're just honoring the Lord.
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God is holy. He looks for that holiness among his people, the apostle John said in second. In 3rd John he says I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.
There's a Father that we have in heaven who also has no greater joy. These things are painful to act on them or is painful. Believe me, I know.
And yet it's what the Lord wants from us before any other thing. Does He want obedience?
And He wants us to have a sense of His Holiness, and He wants us to act on that and go on in the right way before Him. So I'm sorry I couldn't speak on something more uplifting today, but this is the burden that the Lord put on my heart. And I trust, if in any part this word is from the Lord, that you'll consider it in your own heart and mind.
Let's close with prayer.
Our God and their Father, we have a sense of Thy holiness and yet sown perfectly.
We so often say, oh, we pray that that would help us to understand that.
We thank Thee for all that is, Thy nature, Thy love, Thy grace, those things that we enjoy so very much. We thank Thee that we will always enjoy that.
But we pray that that would help us never to forget all that thou art, and thy nature of light is fall as love. And so we commit this time to thee, and we ask for thy help in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.