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Romans 13 and verse 11 And that knowing the time that now is high, time to awake out of sleep.
But now is our salvation nearer than when we believe. Let's look to the Lord, my gracious, loving God and Father, how we marvel at such grace and long-suffering that we are here once again.
To be over thy precious word.
And we thank thee that I precious word, can minister for each and everyone's need here Thou knowest our hearts, Thou knowest our weakness.
And we just cast ourselves on the Blessed Lord, we thank you for the land in which we live, that we can come here without any hindrances.
We realize, Lord, that there are so many of thy people.
Who are being persecuted and under such great trials.
Not only.
For their faith in thee, but as through poverty as well.
How rich we are, but we thank for the riches of the grace that we have in thee. Oh, what a marvelous prospect that we have to look forward to, to see the face to face, to hear that voice.
Blessed Lord, may our hearts be filled.
With thyself as we take up thy portion, we commend ourselves to Thee, Lord, and pray this and thy worthy and precious name, Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.
Best A somewhat unusual chapter for my brethren's consideration.
Over the past little while.
There have been a number of questions brought up, not just to me, but to others.
Concerning failure and restoration and how it all takes place.
And coupled with that.
How an assembly is to deal with?
Serious failure and restoration.
And we know that although we don't get our principles from the Old Testament.
We often find New Testament principles illustrated for us in the Old Testament.
I was wondering if the brethren would consider our taking up numbers 19.
It's a chapter that brings before us restoration.
After defilement and failure and.
I would suggest there is a very real message in it for our souls today.
Sometimes restoration is poorly understood, sometimes we don't carry it out very well individually.
Sometimes, sad to say, and I speak to my own heart, we don't carry it out very well collectively.
In seeking to restore others.
And I wonder if it would be profitable for us to consider that chapter.
The silence implied consent.
Numbers, Chapter 19.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, and unto Aaron, saying, This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord hath commanded, saying.
Speaking to the children of Israel, that they bring the a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke. And you shall give her unto Eliezer the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face. And Eliezer the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly before the Tabernacle of the congregation 7 times. And one shall burn the heifer in his sight, her skin, and her flesh, and her blood.
With her dung shall shall he burn, and the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop and scarlet cast it unto the midst of the burning of the heifer. Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh.
In water. And afterwards he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even. And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the evening. And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place.
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And it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel, for a water of separation. It is a purification for sin.
And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them For a statute forever. He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean 7 days he shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the 7th day he shall be clean. But if he purify not himself on the third day, then the 7th day he shall not be clean.
Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defile the Tabernacle of the Lord, and that soul shall be cut off from Israel. Because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is yet upon him. This is the law. When a man dieth in a tent, all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent shall be unclean. 7 days in every open vessel which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean.
And whosoever touches one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man or a grave, shall be unclean 7 days. And for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt Hartford. For purification for sin and running water shall be put there unto you in a vessel. And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him the touch of the bone, or one slain, or one dead, or grave.
And a clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day and on the 7th day, And on the 7th day he shall purify himself and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be unclean. And even but the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that shall shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water separation hath not been sprinkled upon him. He is unclean, and it shall be a perpetual statute under them.
That he that sprinkled the water of separation shall wash his clothes.
And he that touches the water separation shall be unclean until even, and whatsoever the unclean person touches shall be unclean, and the soul that touches it shall be unclean until even.
Perhaps we could make a few remarks just to set.
Shall we say this the the?
Scripture in its place here.
We read in the New Testament that.
The Lord Jesus in John 13.
Washed His disciples feet and showed them how that that would be necessary continually throughout their pathway through this world.
Inevitably, we contract defilement by walking through this world.
And also when we get to Ephesians, Paul reminds them of the.
Washing of water by the word.
We know, and at least I trust we know that.
The application of the blood to wash away our sins, if we could say judicially in the sight of God.
Is necessary only once We never read of more than one application of the blood of Christ.
But here the emphasis in this chapter.
Is on purification.
Not in the sense of saving us from the penalty of our sins, but rather restoring us to communion. And so the emphasis here is on.
And we'll go into the details later, but the emphasis here is on the water.
Mixed with the ashes which were applied to the individual that was defiled in order.
That he might be clean.
We know, of course, that self judgment is a necessary thing in each one of our lives, and all of us can go to the Lord.
Hopefully as soon as possible after we sin and get right with him.
But here it anticipates, if we could say it, a more serious situation where the defilement was such that others needed to be involved.
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In applying that water of purification. And so we see here, I believe, the responsibility of others, and we can apply it to the local assembly and to pastors who have the gift from the Lord for that.
To be the ones to be a help in restoring one who has sinned. And so there is so much in this chapter I would suggest that bears on that subject and I believe it can be very profitable for us in going through it and seeing how the various types apply to the time in which you and I are living.
In 38 years, 600,000 people died, didn't they? So it was 40, about 40 deaths a day.
So this was something that needed to be applied every day, didn't it? Touching a dead body.
And the Word of God recognizes, doesn't it, that sometimes that was necessary.
They couldn't avoid it. A man touching a grave or touching a dead body or whatever it might be, even a bone, something that perhaps had been aged for years.
But the point is, wherever the defilement came from, it was there, and it had to be atoned for. I shouldn't say atoned for, but it had to be recognized before God.
And purification applied, didn't it?
But before we get into the details of purification.
What is noticeable at the beginning of the chapter is that they had to provide a red heifer.
And what is important to notice is that it was without spot.
Verse 2 Wherein is no blemish and upon which never came yoke.
What a picture of the Lord Jesus.
He was the only one who ever walked this earth, the only man that ever walked this earth.
Who was absolutely without spot, and wherein was number, blemish, and who was never under the yoke? You and I are under a yoke because of sin.
But here was one who never had to be under that yoke. And as we see the Lord Jesus going through this world, he was the one who could touch the leper without being defiled. He was the one who could touch the dead body without being defiled or touch a grave.
Or put his hand on those who were seriously diseased. If any other had done that, an Israelite had done that.
He would have had to go through this purification, but here was one who came in absolute perfection, who was never under that yoke of sin, and because of who he was, could touch the leper, and say, I will be thou clean.
But the leper typifies the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we find that that heifer had to go into death as the Lord Jesus did.
And I know what's going on here, but it's beautiful to see the type here of the Lord Jesus Christ in all his perfection, and that leper has to be brought out.
Without the camp, that was the place where the sin offering had to be burned. And that leper or that heifer, I should say, had to be brought out there and had to be killed. And it's bloodshed.
Before there could be water purification.
What a picture of the fact that first of all.
That blood had to be shed from a perfect victim, one who was without blemish, one who never came under the yoke, and then after that the water purification could be provided.
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Master, was Matthew 11? Is that a different yoke? Take my yoke upon you.
Yes, I believe so. Tell us the difference.
Well, here I believe the yoke is the result of sin.
With the Lord Jesus, you and I need a yoke to keep us in the pathway of faith. And the Lord Jesus says I have walked that pathway. I know if we could say it reverently, that is what the pathway is like. I know the difficulties of the way because he felt from without.
Every possible.
Effect of sin that a sinless man could feel going through this world and so.
We are in the yoke, as it were, with him, but it's not a yoke in that sense because of sin, although sin ultimately is the reason for the need of it. But rather we are in the yoke with him because he has been through all the difficulties of the pathway down here, and so we walk it with him.
But the yoke in this chapter, I believe, is that which is imposed upon us as a result of sin.
Would you agree with that, Don? Yes, I do. I agree with that.
All fellowship with God.
Has to be.
On the standard of his own nature and character, God can't have any fellowship with us on any standard which is less than what he is himself.
In holiness and in love as well.
And as a result, the matter of restoring has to be done in a manner which is consistent with the character of God.
And that's why Numbers 19 isn't in the beginning of Leviticus. Because in Leviticus it has more to do with the the offerings, our attempt to do with approach to God and war with what we would call atonement. But here it has to do with maintaining the relationship into which God has brought us as His children, applying it to us as believers.
And.
It has to be maintained on the very nature of what God's own holiness and character is. It's important to see that because the world in which we live.
Constantly is adjusting. Its what it expects for fellowship among people downward to accommodate man wanting to have his own will and nature and character.
And so governments constantly give up the practice of maintaining righteousness and truth to accommodate.
Man's will to do what he wants to do, when he wants to do it, and have everybody else accept him on those terms but in.
Very direct and important contrast to that we lose everything really in our fellowship with God if.
We attempt.
To deal with sin on any other foundation than His own holiness and His character of maintaining His love with righteousness and holiness. And so immediately here the red heifer is brought in. Because the work of the Lord Jesus not only is important for atonement, but it is also has aspects to it that are important for maintaining the relationship between our self and God.
Is this a more serious thing than?
Getting your feet dirty. You know, like in in John 13 with just the washing of the feet.
This is it talks about a third day and a 7th day. Is it something more serious?
Than just normal being defiled by walking through the world.
I would suggest that it's the same principle.
But it contemplates a more serious situation.
As I said earlier, and I think we all understand it, self judgment is absolutely necessary, isn't it? If we are going, as Dawn has said, to have fellowship with the Lord in our Christian walk, I constantly must be judging evil thoughts that keep coming to my mind.
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Uh, even if I haven't sinned in the strict sense of the word.
As Dawn was mentioning a moment ago, when we walk through this world and we have to live and move in this world, we're constantly rubbing shoulders with those who are adjusting their standards of right and wrong and adjusting their ideas of morality, which is the same thing, right and wrong, And then pretending that instead of there being absolutes of right and wrong, well, everything's relative.
And times have changed and so on.
And so we get our feet dirty, even if there isn't what we might call over sin.
But here I believe it goes further than that because, as I said a moment ago, they are.
The the situation involves others here who are involved in applying the water of purification which I would suggest is it helps us to understand the process.
Of restoration as it occurs when serious sin has been committed. It may not go that far, but it shows us how it can be dealt with if it does. And so I would suggest that it has a voice not only to the one who has sinned, who has become defiled, but it has a voice to those who are.
Perhaps being used of the Lord in the process of restoration.
And that's an important thing. Very, very important thing.
I hope I don't say this with any degree of.
Pride. I hope it isn't taken the wrong way.
But.
Allow me to say that I have had the privilege, and I do say a privilege of visiting a number of assemblies.
Practically all of them in North America at one time or another, and a good number in different parts of the world.
And I hope I don't go around or any of us that travel and kind of make an assessment of assemblies as to the level of spirituality and all the rest of it. But if I want to know how an assembly is going on before the Lord.
There are two criteria which in my own soul, our spirit, are Scriptural #1. I want to be at the remembrance of the Lord in that Assembly #2, and it applies to what we're taking up. What's their track record in restoring someone who has failed and perhaps has had to be put away from fellowship?
That means far far it chokes me up, but it means far far more.
Then how well the scriptures can be expounded, or even how well the gospel can be preached, important as that is.
How well?
Does the.
Worship ascend to the Lord on Lord's day morning when we remember the Lord.
And how well do we do in seeking to restore one who has urged seriously?
And I just suggest to my own heart and to all of us, we need to take that to heart.
In our daily lives, yes, the holiness of the Lord must be maintained. As Don said, God doesn't.
Consider a fellowship with him on any standard other than his own standard of holiness.
Do we reach it in our personal walk? I don't think any of us would want to stand up and say we do. But God never holds out any other standards short of his beloved Son, And that's why the red heifer is mentioned here. No spot, no blemish. And so on. But then it shows us how God not only.
Brings us into a position.
Where we are without spot before him because of the blood of Christ, but how He maintains us in that fellowship in our Christian pathway through this world?
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The difficulty.
Is.
I think expressed in verse 9 where it says a man that is clean.
If there's defilement of a character that it becomes known. It's not a secret fault in the heart of the individual where there's self judgment that can be applied. But if if we keep using the expression of a more serious character, that requires, as according to this chapter, the involvement of others.
Be it in the home with the parents, with the children perhaps.
Or a husband and a wife relationship?
Or if it be associated in some way with the character of the assembly.
Then the necessity for the work falls on a clean person.
And very often, if my own personal communion and fellowship with the Lord has something in it, that in my heart I know is not clean.
Whether I think about it or not.
There is. You might call it a disqualification of oneself to be involved in the process.
And very often a weakness in an assembly.
Manifests itself because there is not that liberty before the Lord.
Of others to participate in the process of restoration.
The moment something is going on in one's own soul, there is some measure of fear.
And that fear is connected with exposure, and consequently it's a serious matter to maintain God's holiness.
And participating in the maintenance of it in a public way, because often there's a sense in one's own soul of something that I use the expression one feels disqualified from participating. How can I help here when I know I need to judge myself in some way?
And that's why this chapter is.
Very challenging really to try to apply.
But it has to be applied according to God's word.
Would Galatians 6 What would that Would that apply here It says, you, which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, lest thou also be tempted. Wouldn't the man know that he was capable of the very same thing?
It's not so much a sense of self occupation with being capable.
As it is.
With not having something on one's own conscience, that is a hindrance.
If one doesn't have a something on one's own conscience, then there's liberty to be not thinking about self, but being occupied on what's due to the Lord.
And to be occupied with what's the good of another individual. And restoration is always for the good.
Of the individual.
So it isn't that we're taught to examine ourselves before we become involved.
That isn't really the idea, but rather if there's something on my conscience then I don't have liberty before the Lord to be involved with the need that's perceived in the life of another.
I would only say though, Vern and I know Don would agree with this too, and that is the attitude and spirit in which we seek to restore.
Always ought to be that in Galatians 6 and one that is there ought to be the recognition, as you say, that my own heart is capable of just as much or worse, and in that sense.
Just to carry on the thought that Don was bringing out If there's sin on my own conscience.
I may not feel very capable of restoring someone else, but we all know this. But it bears repeating the sad character of the human heart. Naturally, if it knows the sin on its own conscience, is to be able to go on the attack and judge someone else in order to palliate the fact that I'm guilty too, and how many there are who have.
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Sad to say, and I speak, I trust, with tears who have been.
Disqualified from seeking to help restore someone.
But are all too ready to step forward and be quite forthright and vocal in administering discipline because.
It gives my heart somewhat of a sense of satisfaction that someone else.
Possibly is a little worse than I am.
The only other comment too to be made, and this is not original with me. It dates a long way back.
But I remember our brother Harry Hayhoe laying it on to us very forcefully that.
If one is in a sin, such as is named in First Corinthians 5.
That requires the assembly to act in putting him or her away.
It is not the case of one being overtaken in a fault, as it mentions in Galatians 6 and one he made this comment. He said any one of us can be overtaken in a fault. Let's use an example. Supposing I'm out in the world or wherever and someone says something to me or does something to me, and I could speak very sharply to that one and perhaps even.
Use some very rough language because my temper was suddenly aroused.
It would be a good thing if my brethren helped restore me.
But if I get to the point where I do something such as is named in First Corinthians 5, I've had to run a lot of red lights to get there. Not because I'm not capable of it, but I believe the Lord would keep us. But if I fail to judge thoughts, then thoughts translate into actions if I fail to judge.
Sinful actions that perhaps are not so serious than one by one they'll get more serious until I do something that needs assembly intervention. And so I just make that remark. I I think it's important to recognize that.
I've heard that one Gray hair disqualifies this animal.
It has to be read.
But what does red mean?
And that it was a female.
I was hoping someone else could have a thought on that, because I don't.
Well, there's some homework for us, but the important thing is to see here that in verse 4.
The blood had to be shed and sprinkled before the Tabernacle.
Seven times.
How beautiful that is the perfection, 7 being the number of perfection.
The perfection of the work of Christ in bringing us into the position we are in now. This is a type Israel had to repeat that sacrifice.
Not this particular one, but they had to repeat that sacrifice of the shedding of blood over and over and over again. Why?
Because there was only a covering of sin, never a cleansing of sin once and for all, the word atone simply means to cover and properly.
Translated, that word never occurs in the New Testament.
The only time I think it does occur is in Romans 5, and there the Darby reads reconciliation instead of atonement. Atonement means to cover, but it doesn't cleanse and so that blood atoned for sin in the Old Testament. But there came a time when the true sacrifice came in the person of Christ, and that's typified by this blood that is sprinkled 7 times.
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So that that blood never needs to be repeated. How beautiful that is.
And again we emphasize it. May you and I never doubt the perfection of the work that Christ did on Calvary Cross, and the value of the blood of Christ in the sight of God the Father, which has forever cleansed us from all sin, what a place we have been brought into.
And so that comes first.
Because when it comes to you and to me, it was the from the Lord's side there flowed blood and water.
The blood had to be applied first in order that we be cleansed. And then there is that moral cleansing which maintains us before God in a walk that is suitable for him and suitable for fellowship with him and with his beloved Son. But first of all that blood is shed and sprinkled before the Tabernacle seven times.
There always has to be a dealing with God before there can be a dealing with man.
And so we have that principle in this chapter when there's a matter of restoring.
The first activities that are involved have to do with.
Those things that are presented in the presence and sight of God, and in connection with His tent of meeting where man comes into His presence.
And so it is when there is this work to be done.
One involved in it has to be in the presence of God, and brought in one's own soul into the sense of the seriousness to God.
What has taken place and what needs to be made right before him, and of course, the only ground on which anything can ever be made right.
The foundation of it always, even in fellowship, is based on the work of Christ at the cross.
Which provides the foundation on which our fellowship with God.
Can be established.
But also can be maintained, but Even so when it comes to the activity itself.
The first activities before the water of separation is applied to the individual in separation.
There's first those things that are done in the first verses that have to do with bringing the matter before God.
It's not how do I see it, It's not how do you see it. But we have to say, how does God see it?
It's not whether it's good or bad or a little bit bad or something like that in our eyes, but rather God has established in His word the differences we were talking about, differences of things as to their seriousness, seriousness, and so on. And the desire of the heart should be How does God see this? How does He view this, and what does it mean in His sight?
And that's so important, isn't it? Because.
It's anticipating, I know, but when we get down to restoration.
It is important that the sin be viewed.
In the light of God's holiness.
Man, as we know, measures sin.
By comparison with his fellow man, and by its effect on his fellow man.
And so man measures sin by himself.
First Corinthians tells us that those who compare themselves with themselves are not wise.
And so it's important to to recognize that but.
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When it comes down to restoration.
It's important that that sin be repented of not in the sight of man so much, although that enters into it, but in the sight of God. We hasten to say, of course, that.
I don't believe anyone of us this side of the glory will ever have a perfect sense of sin according to God's holiness with an old, sinful, fallen nature. I don't believe that we will ever have a sense of sin in keeping with God's presence down here.
But because we have a new life in Christ, I believe that God would have us to enter into what it was.
For his beloved Son to go to Calvary's cross to shed his blood, to bring us into that position. And we will see a little more of that later on, because the true sense of sin comes when I realize that I have sinned.
In the presence, not only of the holiness of God, but in the presence of the grace and love of God.
There's a difference. It's one thing to sin in the presence of a holy God, and that's important.
But more than that, I have sinned as a believer in the presence of the grace and love of God. And so we will get to that when we talk about purification. But I need to recognize first of all.
What it was for that sinless, spotless one, never under the yoke.
To have been made sin for me, his blood shed, and then what happens to the body of that heifer?
Burned says.
In verse 5.
The heifer burned in his sight, burned there, completely Speaking of the sufferings of Christ at Calvary's Cross. Everything burned there.
Everything burned up the awful fires of the judgment of God.
Felt by our blessed Lord and Savior in a way that you and I, I say it reverently, I don't believe will ever be able to understand what it was for Him to go through that awful judgment at Calvary's cross in those hours of darkness.
We can, in a small measure, understand the sufferings of the hands of man.
And other men have been crucified. Other men have had.
Scourgings done, and mockings and various things that the Lord Jesus had. But in those hours of darkness there was a judgment typified by the burning here that no man I don't believe will ever be able to enter into.
Does that apply?
The question was for those that may have not heard it. Does this have a reference to the first chapter of John's first epistle? Does does that apply here?
I would suggest it does.
In verse six it could read since.
We say we that we have fellowship with him or or rather verse seven could say but I did, I'm wrong verse.
Verse seven could read, but since we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin. That's Christian position.
But then the maintenance of it is in verse 9, isn't it? If we confess our sins?
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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An unbeliever could read that ninth verse and be saved through it. It's a general statement, but I believe it also applies.
To restoration.
Verse 7 is Christian position every believer.
Comes to the Lord Jesus and accepts him.
Is under the shelter of the blood and walks in the light, but then.
What happens? We lose fellowship by sin, and then there's the need to confess it and be restored to communion, isn't it?
Verse four of the chapter.
The first thing that's done after the red heifer is.
Put to death.
And we've already had that before us, the picture of Christ and his death.
And his perfection and his death without spot and blemish. The very first action in the next verse is.
Eliezer the priest takes the blood and sprinkles it directly before the Tabernacle.
Of the congregation or in the new translation, the tent of meeting.
That is, it establishes the principle that holiness becometh thy household Lord forever. This was the place where the children of Israel came to meet the Lord and to come into His presence and come before him.
And so the very first thing was to establish.
That that blood.
Was applied before the tent of meeting.
So that the people would have the consciousness of the one whose presence they were approaching.
And to approach on the ground of the work of Christ and the holiness of God connected with that work. And so if one approaches on any other terms than that.
It is not consistent with what is due to God's honor, God's glory. And so it's the very first thing, even before the individual's case is taken up, that that which is due to God be established and be established, you might say at the door.
The very reason why?
Sometimes.
Someone has to be put away from the Lord's presence, collective presence.
When is for the sin that has come in and the defilement that's come in?
But when it's a matter of restoration and coming back into his presence, there's the need to be reminded of the grounds on which we come into his presence.
And that's first.
Then takes up the matter of the people who do it, and then the individual himself.
And it's noteworthy that one other thing is done.
In connection with the burning of the heifer.
Verse 6 The priest is to take cedar wood.
And hisset and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer.
I hope it's OK to speak this way, but this has been.
A real voice, if I could say it to my own soul, because throughout the Old Testament cedar, the Cedars of Lebanon, for example, are always a type of man in his greatness.
Man in his greatness.
But Hyssop was a little plant that grew out beside the wall, very, very small.
A very, very little significance.
Man in his weakness.
And Scarlet is always a type of human glory.
And we might ask, why would the priest have to take all those things and throw them into the fire there, Speaking of the cross?
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I believe it would show us.
That if you and I, as Don has been saying.
Recognize the holiness of God, and the character of the one with whom we have to do into whose presence we have been brought.
Into relationship with whom we have been brought.
If we were to go back to Calvary's cross.
And we were to judge ourselves in the light of what went on there.
All human glory, all occupation with self.
Would be dealt with in our own minds and it would be the best preventative from failure that there could be.
You might say, well, I can understand why cedar would have to be thrown in, because after all, man in his greatness, that's nothing but pride. But why Hyssop? Hyssop, you'll remember, was used later in the chapter to apply the water of purification.
It had been used prior to this and most of the children here could tell us this. It was used to apply the blood on the door way back in Egypt.
Speaks of man's weakness.
But the point is this. Satan does not care whether you and I are occupied with ourselves in pride in our greatness or pride in our weakness.
They are. They are flip sides of the same coin.
We sometimes, when I was young, used to speak of people who had an inferiority complex.
Nowadays the term is low self esteem.
What's the difference between low self esteem and high self esteem?
Pride in its flipped form.
Man can be occupied in himself for what he is, in his greatness or what he thinks he is, or can he? He can be occupied with himself in pride, because he isn't what he'd like to be.
And Satan does not care if I'm occupied with myself in my weakness or my greatness, as long as I'm occupied with myself.
And true Christianity is not to be occupied with myself, either in a positive or negative way.
But rather not to be occupied with self at all.
The only time the Spirit of God occupies you and me as believers with ourselves is to judge sin, to judge self, and then to go on and be occupied with an object outside of ourselves, with Christ.
And so the cedar and the hyssop both had to be thrown into the fire, and so did the scarlet. And I just suggest, and I speak to my own heart, that if I did that, if my heart really saw what happened at Calvary's cross.
I would judge those things when my own soul before I needed to have the water.
Excuse me, before I needed to have the water of purification.
Now, does anyone of us do perfectly? No, but I believe that's why these things are mentioned here.
True holiness entails my going back to the cross of Calvary first and foremost, and recognizing not only what.
I am, which is important, but recognizing the awful judgement that was necessary to put that sin away.
And that is the, shall I say, the greatest, if I could use the word stimulus to self judgment that there is to get back to Calvary's cross.
So in Hebrews 13 the verses.
11.
Bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the High Priest for sin, are burned without the camp.
Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp bearing his reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
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How does that connect with our portion?
I've had enough to say for a minute.
You have a thought on that, Don.
I don't think it applies to our chapter.
It's a different thing. That's my simple answer. It it applies to a different it's it's put in Hebrews 13 for a different reason.
To take on a different subject.
And it's it's, I don't think it's intended to be part of the subject of repentance and restoration.
It's setting aside of Judaism.
As a means of approach to God and the Lord Jesus.
Himself.
Within the context of the Jewish system was not accepted.
He was rejected.
In that way, and so in the matter of atonement, it's recognized that.
What he did, even though he was perfect in his life as a Jew, what he did, had to go outside of the system itself. And the Hebrews of to which this book was written, if they were to be identified with him, had to be identified with the place he had been put in, which was outside the camp.
And here, outside the camp, is where the defilement is it.
Where the defiled were outside the camp.
I should say.
And so in that sense, we do see this red heifer taken outside the camp to be burned.
And in that sense, I believe.
You could tie it into the sin offering, but the emphasis here, while it brings in the precious blood of Christ in tight and the terrible judgement that was there, you might say that is brought in and we don't mean in any way to.
I don't like to use the word belittle but the whole.
Thrust of the passage is restoration to communion, and so that is brought in simply to show what was necessary for the approach to God and what was necessary to bring a man into relationship with the Lord in the 1St place. But then the main body of the chapter is connected with.
Purification.
Which was, of course, necessary to keep an Israelite.
In communion with the Lord. And as Don pointed out, that's why this chapter is not in Leviticus. In Leviticus, the thought is approached to God, whereas Numbers is the wilderness book, isn't it? It brings us through the wilderness. And so the wilderness is the place where the temptations occur, where the sin occurs.
Where the difficulties and problems come in and where it's necessary to have that water purification applied, no type is perfect, of course, because here we are talking about Israel, and those sacrifices for the shedding of blood had to be repeated in the wilderness as well, or should have been repeated. How many times they were is open to question, but they should have been repeated. So the type isn't perfect.
But it's in a wilderness book where you get the instruction as to purification along the way to restore to communion.
At a good breaking point.
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166.
166.
Free.