Address—Chuck Hendricks
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Turn with me to begin with tonight to 1St John chapter one, First Epistle of John chapter one, verse nine. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Chapter 2, verse one. My little children, these things write I unto you, that you sin not, and if any man sin.
We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And then some verses in Lukes Gospel chapter 22.
Verse 31 Luke 2231 And the Lord said Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you.
That he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.
And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee both into prison and to death. And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the **** shall not crow this day. Before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.
Verse 54.
And then took they him and let him, and brought him into the high priest's house, and Peter followed afar off.
And when they had killed, kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were set down together, Peter sat down among them. But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This man also was with him. And he denied him, saying, Woman, I know him not.
And after a little while another saw him, and said, Thou art also of them. And Peter said, Man, I am not.
And about the space of one hour after another confidently affirmed, saying of a truth, This fellow also was with him, for he is a Galilean. And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake the cock crew and the Lord turned and looked upon Peter.
And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him before the **** crow, Thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out and wept bitterly. And then in the 24th chapter of Luke, verse 30. And it came to pass, as he sat at meet with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and break, and gave to them, and their eyes were opened, and they knew him, and he vanished out of.
Sight, and they said one to another. Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us, by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the 11 gathered together, and then that were with them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon in First Corinthians 15.
A verse, verse 3 For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures.
And that he was seen of Cephas then of the 12 and so on. I read these scriptures in the New Testament to be the background for what we're going to look at in the Old Testament.
What I'd like to look at tonight with the Lords help.
Is the provision that God has made to restore us into communion should that have lapsed because of sin, because of allowing the flesh, because of indulging in the world and.
Losing communion with himself. We were looking yesterday at the desire of the Lord's heart that there might be fruit for God from each of us, that Christ might be reproduced in our lives, and that fruit which he's looking for, which is sweet to his taste. And when the clouds have come in and dimmed our sight, and when we have lost the sweet sense of communion because we've allowed.
The flesh to act in one way or another.
God has provided in restoration to bring us back and to have us back in that sweet fellowship with Himself. Now turn with me to Numbers 19. Numbers 19 is one passage I didn't read in the New Testament, and I'll just allude to it.
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And that's John 13 where the Lord Jesus washes the disciples feet. It's a picture of his advocacy.
To remove the defilements of this world as we pass through it, and that we might have part with Him, that we might have fellowship with Himself. He desires our fellowship. To me that is such a precious thought, that the Lord Jesus, the Lord of glory, has not only saved us to deliver us from hell, but He wants our fellowship. He wants us near to Himself.
And here we see in beautiful type from the Old Testament how he's made provision for it.
I want to make this comment too before we read Numbers 19. In each of the first four books of Moses, we have a central chapter which speaks of the death of Christ in Genesis. It's the 22nd of Genesis where you have the the Father giving the son, Abraham offering up Isaac. A beautiful type of the death of Christ, the Father giving his son for us in death.
In Exodus, the central chapter would be the Passover.
And the lamb that was slain and the precious blood that was shed to screen the Israelites from the destroying Angel as he passed through the land of Egypt that night. In Leviticus we have the central chapter would be the Leviticus 16 where you have the Day of Atonement that speaks of the provision that God is made to maintain.
And to secure relationship with his people, a sinful people, how can God?
Dwell in the midst of a sinful people. It's through the propitiate Tory work of Christ, through the atonement of Christ. And here are Numbers 19, which is the Wilderness book. We have this ordinance of the red heifer that speaks of Christ as the sin offering to maintain us in communion if we've lost it in our passage through the wilderness. Now, the way the Israelite became defiled, we'll see this as we read the.
Is by contact with death in one form or another. Death is the wages of sin, and so it speaks of for the Christian in type it speaks of contact with death would be to indulge in the world in one way or another.
The flesh has its attractions here, and we have that within us, the old nature that can be very much attracted and allured by the things of this world. We're passing through a scene which is a scene of death.
There is absolutely nothing here that can feed the new man. This world is a wilderness and we have nothing to seek nor to choose as we pass through it. We are going through it as strangers and pilgrims.
Well, just as an Israelite literally passed through the wilderness and there may be dead bodies that were lying around, they might contact death in one form or another, as we'll see as we read through the chapter. This meant that they were defiled. They had to be put outside the camp. A picture of a St. losing fellowship.
And being excluded from the fellowship of the congregation. Well, with that as a preface, the reason I read the New Testament scriptures is to show that there is that which answers in the New Testament to what we have here in Numbers 19 in type. We don't build our doctrine ever on the Old Testament. We build it upon the new. But the Old Testament enhances and fills in details that the new doesn't give us.
It fills out the picture in beautiful.
Arrangement, as we'll see pointed out here in Numbers 19. Now let's read the chapter. And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord hath commanded, saying, Speak under the children of Israel.
That they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke. And ye 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 should burn the heifer in his sight, Her skin and her flesh and her blood with her dung shall he burn.
And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer. Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward 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 even. And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and lay them up without the camp in a.
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Place, 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 touches the dead bone, 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 the third day, then the 7th day he shall not be clean. Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifies not himself, defileth 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. And every open vessel which hath no covering bound upon it is unclean. And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with the 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.
Of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification For sin. And running water shall be put thereto in the 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 that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave.
And the 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 cleaned even. But the man that shall be unclean and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation.
Because he had to file the sanctuary of the Lord, the water of separation has not been sprinkled upon him. He is unclean. And it shall be a perpetual statute unto them, that he that the water separation shall wash his clothes, and he that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean, until even. And what's the weather the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean.
And the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even.
We can say at the outset that what is written over this chapter very clearly is that association with evil defiles. To touch the unclean in one way or another renders 1 unclean. And that's because we all have a nature which responds to evil, and it has to be kept in the place of death and judgment.
Well, what defiles is partaking?
Of the things of this scene, which are the things of death, the results of sin. Before we look in detail at this chapter, turn back with me to numbers five and we'll see that there are three classes mentioned in numbers five that had to be put outside the camp.
Verse One. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and everyone that hath an issue. And whosoever is defiled by the dead, both male and female, shall ye put out without the camp? Shall ye put them that they defile not their camps in the midst whereof I dwell.
While leprosy is treated in Leviticus 13 and 14.
And the leper was to be put outside the camp. It speaks of an in a built in disposition and constitution for evil. The leprosy is a terrible thing and we can well understand that the leper would have to be put outside the camp. And then everyone that had an issue that's dealt with in Leviticus 15.
Some uncleanness flowing from within, outside.
To the outside, it might represent an I'll temper and uncontrolled temper, or you might think of some other things. The one that has an issue. But then it says and whosoever is defiled by the dead, well, that's numbers 19. Each one of those had to be put outside the camp.
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The one that was defiled by the dead was to be outside the camp and the water of separation was to be sprinkled on them on the third day and on the 7th day. Well, they want to remain there forever. Provision was made for their cleansing and to bring them back into the camp. It's a solemn thing to think that when one is outside.
He's outside with the leper.
And the one with the running issue.
Let's go back to numbers 19 and look at the details.
This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer that was a female. It speaks of course of Christ, and I believe especially of him in his affections.
To have us near to himself. He wants our fellowship. And so provision has been made in this ordinance of the red heifer. You don't find it in the offerings in Leviticus. It's here in the midst of the wilderness book. It has a special, unique character, and that is to restore communion when it has been broken.
Notice that it's a water of separation.
That he's used to restore the soul, never a reapplication of the blood.
The blood is applied once and never has to be reapplied because its efficacy is eternal.
And we only have to be under the blood once, and we are eternally safe and secure as to our salvation. But the water of purification may have to be applied over and over again. The Lord Jesus may have to wash our feet as our advocate with the Father many times.
If we get out of communion, Peter got out of communion and the Lord had to wash his feet. He had to restore him. He prayed for him. And we have that all beautifully depicted here in type.
Bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke. He was the one who was the spotless One. He was the one who was altogether without the blemish or stain of sin in any way. Not only did He never sin, but he had no sin in him. There was no sin. He knew no sin. He was that holy One of God.
And upon which never came yoke. The yoke of sin was never upon him.
And here is the perfect victim, the perfect sacrifice to provide for our restoration to communion should it have been interrupted by the indulgence of the flesh and going out after the trinkets of this world and the allurements and attractions of this defiling scene.
How little we realize that we are passing through a scene which is altogether defiling to the Newman, to the Christian, absolutely nothing here to feed us. It's a scene of death. And under the judgment of God. Verse three. And ye 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 notice now in verse 4.
Eliezer the priest shall take of her blood.
And with his finger and sprinkle of her blood directly before the Tabernacle of the congregation 7 times. The significance of that I believe is brought out in Exodus 29. Turn back with me to Exodus 29. Notice where the blood was sprinkled directly before the Tabernacle of the congregation.
Seven times in Exodus 29, verse 42.
This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord, where I will meet you to speak there unto thee, and there I will meet with the children of Israel.
And the Tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory. So there the Lord said he would meet with Moses and with the children of Israel. The meeting place of God, with the people. The place of communion is the place where the blood was to be sprinkled 7 times.
So when an Israelite came to that place, they saw the sevenfold sprinkling of the blood, the testimony that their communion was based upon the precious blood of Christ, a perfect witness that they had title to fellowship with Him based upon the precious blood.
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Christ, but you don't read of that blood being re sprinkled. Should communion be interrupted. The restoration to fellowship is not by a reapplication of the blood. The blood is sprinkled once, seven times before the Tabernacle of the congregation, showing that the title to fellowship was established.
By the work of Christ, but should that be interrupted, the way to restoration is another means. And we'll see that as we go into the chapter verse five. And one shall burn the heifer in his sight, her skin and her flesh and her blood with her dung. Shall he burn now as we look upon that heifer being consumed by those flames. The heifer was a sin offering, charged with all our sins.
Sins were transferred to the victim, and as I see that heifer being consumed by the flames of God's judgment in tight, that tells me that my sins are gone. They're concerned in the judgment of God, which fell upon my blessed substitute at the cross.
And I go free. I have the right to see Christ on the cross as bearing my sins and the judgment of God that my sins deserve falling upon him. And in the consumption of that heifer, reducing it to ashes, I can say my sins have been reduced to ashes in the death of Christ. The judgment of God has exhausted itself against him, against my sins. It fell upon him. But there's more.
In the burning of the heifer, verse six And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer. What does the cedar wood, the hyssop and the scarlet speak of the burning of the heifer charged with our sins as the sin offering is the consumption of our sins in the death of Christ. Praise God, my sins are gone. We sing and that's.
Truth that we see as we look at that heifer being consumed under the judgment of God.
But then there was in those flames that consumed the heifer, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet, cast in, and also consumed in the judgment of God. Turn with me to 1St Kings, chapter four, First Kings 429 And God gave Solomon wisdom.
And understanding exceeding much and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore.
And Solomon's wisdom excel the wisdom of all the children of the E country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men, than Ethan the Ezra height, and human, and Calcolo and Darda the sons of Mahal. And his fame was in all nations roundabout. And he spake 3000 Proverbs. And his songs were 1005. Now notice especially verse 33. And he spake of trees from the cedar.
That is, in Lebanon, even under the hyssop that springeth out of the wall, he spake also of beasts, and a foul, and of creeping things, and of fishes. And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon from all kings of the earth which had heard of his wisdom.
He spake of trees from the cedar tree, the stately cedar, the loftiest, the greatest, the most majestic of trees, the cedar tree that is in Lebanon, even unto the lowly hyssop that springs out of the wall. What is the Cedar Rd. in the hyssop speak of? I believe it speaks of all the wisdom of this world.
Solomon spake of wisdom from the cedar tree to the lowly hyssop. And then what does the scarlet speak of? It speaks of the glory of this world. And we know that in the death of Christ, not only has he put our sins away, not only have our sins been consumed under the judgment of God, and we can say that gone forever, they'll never be thrown up against us.
But that God judged the world in the whole world system.
In the death of Christ, now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the Prince of this world be cast out.
Paul says, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is crucified to me, and I unto the world. And as we look at the world, we can see, as we look at the cross, we can see not only our sins consumed in the death of Christ, but all the glory, the splendor, the wisdom, the majesty, the greatness of this world reduced to ashes in the death of Christ.
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What folly for the Christian to seek his wisdom.
From the things of this world and from the from the man of this world.
No, we have Christ as our wisdom. Paul has to rebuke the Corinthians in the first chapter who they were seeking after wisdom, and he says, where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of the preaching to save them.
Believe. Where is the wisdom of this world, the wisdom of this world crucified, the Lord of glory?
What folly then to resort to man's wisdom, especially in assembly matters Now the wisdom of this world has come under the judgment of God, and we have all the wisdom that we need right here in this blessed book. And to turn to man's wisdom is the folly of those that call.
Themselves Christians, it's been judged in the cross, and all the glory, the greatness and the majesty of this world has come under the judgment of God. Well, this is essential to see that in the death of Christ, not only have our sins been judged, but the whole system, the whole world system through which we're passing everything that we see and have to do with.
And handle down here savers of this which is of man.
Vast system built around the first man. God has set aside and judged that man in the cross, and now we have a new man. And that new man is fed by manna from above the old corn of the land. An altogether different kind of food and fare that is served by the world.
Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even verse 8.
And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water.
And shall be unclean until the even. And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer.
Now what are those ashes? The ashes are the residue of the heifer, the seal wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet speaks of our sins, and the glory, wisdom, and majesty, and greatness of this world, all being reduced to ashes. And there we have the residue. There we have that which the Spirit of God can use to bring it to our consciences, when we have touched the world, when we have engaged.
Our affections in our will with the world, in one way or another, the Spirit of God brings in through to restore the soul. He brings back to our remembrance and gives us to see that it caused.
Our precious Savior, the infinite sufferings that he endured on the cross, to put those sins away and to deliver us from this present evil world. A man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and lay them up without the camp in a clean place.
And it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation.
It is a purification for sin. Now that might strike us as being strange. Why does he say? Why does it say water of separation? Because water hasn't even been mentioned. It's just the ashes.
Well.
In verse 17, let's read that here it says for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel. So here we have the ashes that which brings to our remembrance the sufferings of Christ.
To deliver us from our sins.
But more than that, not just to deliver us from hell, but to deliver us from the world.
And from the world system the Lord could say they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. What is the measure?
Of our deliverance from this world, how separate are we to be?
Well, the Lord answers that question. He says they are not of the world, even as I am not the world. That's the measure of our separation. He's the measure of our sanctification. But for Christ has been made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
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Christ is our wisdom. We don't need to go to the world for it. Christ is our righteousness.
Any efforts to obtain it on our own works and under law? Absolutely futile. He is our righteousness, going to the world for wisdom, going to the world for trying to establish our own righteousness.
And trying to live a holy life on the ground of our own works. No Christ is our sanctification and He shows how separate we are to be from this world. And then He is our redemption. He is the one that has clean delivered us out from this world and its system.
Of works, religion, philosophy, education, whatever it is, we've been delivered clean out of it. Well, everything here is defiling. Everything that is of this world system has come under the judgment of God.
It says in verse 10 And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the even and it shall be under the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them for a statute forever. Young people, when you go to school. I went to college and.
I got saved between my freshman and sophomore year in college, and after I got saved I foolishly thought I should take a course in religion and it was nothing but defilement. Nothing but defilement. It was modernistic blasphemous, ridiculing the Bible.
It was a terrible mistake, but I went through it and it was defiling. It was infidel, the very heart of it. And there were many times when I came home from that class that I had to be washed by the Lord Jesus, that I had to have those evil thoughts judged. And you're going to have to do the same when you're subjected to the wisdom of this world.
Many of you will be if you go through classes.
Some kind of a degree or whatever it might be, just remember that the wisdom of this world.
Has come under the judgment of God and that.
That's not to lead us or guide us. Let's always be on our guard.
Because it's defiling and it can rob us of sweet fellowship and communion with the Lord and Ratus. And so God has provided for our cleansing. He wants us clean. He wants us so that He can have fellowship with us, the desire of His heart.
Is to have us near to himself Well how are we defiled? Verse 11.
He that touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days. He shall purify himself with it. That's the water of purification. That's the ashes mixed with the running water. Running water, I believe, is typical of the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God who applies.
To the soul of one that has indulged the flesh and gone out after something that's in this world system. And there's so many things that are there that are defiling or going through a defiling scene and we need to have our feet in the saviours hands and he has to wash them.
And make us fit for fellowship with himself. Where? Where he is in the glory. He's not here. Christianity isn't an earthly religion. He wants fellowship with himself, with us. But where is he is in the glory of man and the glory. And in order to have that, he has to remove these things of this scene, these things of the world, these things of earth, that we might have fellowship with himself.
So the instruction is here. The water of separation has been laid up, I should say the ashes.
Have been laid up in a clean place outside the camp. It says in verse nine, A man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, laid them up and without the camp in a clean place, it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel. And then the Spirit of God is always there to apply to us when we have allowed these things in our lives to apply them to us.
That we might judge ourselves in the light of the Cross.
In the light of what He suffered to put these things away, to put our sins away, and to deliver us from this present evil world, verse 12 Says He shall purify himself with it on the third day.
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And on the 7th day he shall be clean. But if he purify not himself the third day, then the 7th day he shall not be clean. There were two sprinklings. There was the third day sprinkling, and there was the 7th day sprinkling. And they speak of something. Each one has its own significance and notice This is so important.
That it says over again, verse 19 And the 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 clean it even.
That is, after he has had the third day sprinkling and the 7th day sprinkling, then he goes through a ceremony, which is the same ceremony that is done at the consecration of the priests, symbolical of the new birth. In other words, I restored. What I learned from this verse 19 is that when a soul is restored back into communion.
He's just as clean as a newborn soul.
He is brought back into the same position of favor and blessedness, no strings attached, it says, And on the 7th day shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean it. Even a restored soul is brought back into a place of usefulness and service.
Just as though he had never sinned. That's the restoring grace of God. I know there are some that teach otherwise, but I don't think that's a teaching of the Word. I believe the Word of God teaches that when God restores a soul, that soul is restored and is fit for service.
As the Lord said to Peter, when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. And one who has fallen and has been restored, like a bone that's been broken and has been set properly and has healed, it'll never break at the same place again. It'll break somewhere else maybe, but it's stronger at the place of healing than any other place, and I believe that.
I know my own heart and I think if every one of us will confess honestly.
And look at their own hearts. They look at these pictures in the word of God, of Saints of God who have failed. I remember Brother Ch Brown used to say, thank God that God has recorded the failures of the Saints. If he hadn't, I would have given up a long time ago.
But he's recorded them very faithfully in his word. But his grace, His grace which picks up a Wretch like me and saves him, can restore a Wretch like me and put him back into fellowship with himself and make him useful who was absolutely useless.
Yes, he can. Oh, let's never, let's never accept anything that would, that would make, that would limit the infinite grace of God to bring back into blessing as well as to save those who were absolutely worse than not.
Well, what's the third day sprinkling?
I believe it speaks of self judgment and I thought, I think that when the Lord Jesus in Luke 22 he turned and he looked at Peter and Peter remembered the word of the Lord. There you have the Spirit of God bringing to Peters conscience the word of the Lord.
It's the third day sprinkling and bringing before him. Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. And Peter, when he thought thereon, he went out, and he wept bitterly. And, brethren, if one has been dealt with in discipline, and has been put away.
Necessarily so we do no service to bring them back.
Until the third day sprinkling has taken place in their soul, until there has been a thorough judgment of and abhorrence of sin, until they have seen it in the light of the cross, until the Spirit of God has applied the ashes.
The water of purification. And I realize I have sinned against the love that put my sins away. I have, I have entertained that which caused my blessed Savior such infinite sufferings on the cross. That's the application of the water of purification and the power of the Spirit of God applying the ashes, the memory of the sufferings of Christ, to put my sins away and to deliver me from this present.
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Evil world. And then I have allowed that I have gone out after that. That's the third day sprinkling. But you know, I've met souls that have been very hesitant to take their place at the Lords Table. And if you talk to them, they say, oh, I'm such a Sinner, I'm so bad, I'm not worthy, I don't deserve a place there. And they're so occupied with their wretchedness and their sinfulness.
That that's not good. It's good to judge ourselves, to judge ourselves thoroughly. Absolutely essential. If we've sinned, if any man's sin, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Notice it doesn't say if we ask for forgiveness. A little boy came to me and said, Daddy, I've been naughty today, please forgive me.
What did you do?
Oh, daddy, I'm sorry I've been naughty today. Please forgive me. What did you do, son? Well, I was bad. Well, what did you do? Tell me. Oh, that's so hard. That's so hard. The word of God says, don't say Lord, I'm sorry I was bad today, forgive me. That's not self judgment. If we confess our sins, if we put the finger right on them and name them and say, Lord, I did this.
I did this. He is faithful and justice to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. In the New Testament we have the forgiveness of sins. We don't have to ask for the forgiveness of sins, but we confess our sins and then we have the conscious enjoyment of the precious truth that our sins are forgiven. He gives us to enjoy that.
So the third day sprinkling is sin.
In the presence of grace, I sinned against the grace that is put by sin away. I've sinned against the love that spent itself for me on the cross, that suffered such inscrutable agony on the cross to put my sins away. I've allowed it.
And now to judge that absolutely essential for the soul to be brought back into fellowship before that has taken place is to do.
Irreparable damage sometimes to that person because he's been restored to fellowship and has not really restored in his soul. What is the 7th day sprinkling? Well, that's grace in the presence of sin and I like to think that when.
The Lord Jesus rose from the dead, says he appeared to Simon. He was the first one. He appeared to Peter. And I think that what he said to Peter was Peter, you've judged yourself thoroughly. Now I want you to be occupied with my love and grace that has put that sin away. And I want you to be occupied with your sin any longer. I want you to be occupied with the grace that has brought you into fellowship. And until we come to that, we don't enjoy.
As long as we're occupied with how bad we are, we're not in the enjoyment of Christ, but when we occupied with the grace that has put the sin away, Brother Darby said in Romans 7, the apostle says, I know that in me and my that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. He says, well, when we've come to that, we've thought enough of ourselves. Now we can think about him that is worthy of all our thoughts.
True humility does not so much consist in thinking badly of ourselves.
But in not thinking of ourselves at all, we're not worthy to be thought about. He is worthy of all our thoughts. He is worthy of all our thoughts. And so there's the third day sprinkling self judgment. But we don't remain there. We don't remain constantly occupied with how bad we are or were or continue to be. But we're occupied with the grace that is saved a Wretch like me and restored.
A Wretch like me and brought me into blessing. And so there's the 7th day sprinkling as well.
What if we neglect that third day sprinkling? What if we neglect the self judgment? Verse 12. 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. Whoso toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, that is, he doesn't avail himself of the provision which God has made.
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To restore him into fellowship. You know, it's a solemn thing to remain out of communion, Dreadful thing. It's dangerous to remain out of communion when he has provided for my restoration, for your restoration, he said. It says here, whoso toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, verse 13, and purifieth not himself.
Defileth 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, a very solemn thing. And it's wonderful to realize that God has provided for our cleansing. He's provided for our restoration.
Let's immediately, if we have allowed the flesh, if we've indulged it, if we've gone out after the trinkets of this world, let's judge it in the light of the cross and the power of the Spirit, and then committed the joy of the grace that has brought us, unworthy sinners as we were, into such blessing.
Now, what are the details as to how we are defiled?
Verse 14. 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, and every open vessel which hath no covering upon it, upon it shall be is unclean.
What's the tent? Well, that's where they lived. That was their home. That was their dwelling place. There were pilgrims in the wilderness. They didn't have houses. They had tents. And that's where they lived. And here you have death in the tent. When a man dies in a tent, all that come into the tent and all that is in the tent shall be unclean. Seven days. That's solemn. If there's death in my tent, then everyone that comes into my tent is.
Filed by it is unclean. Has to be put outside the camp. They may never have touched anything That's death, but there's death in the tent. Someone died in the tent. All that come into the tent and all that is in the tent shall be unclean. 7 days.
And notice the specifics of verse 15. And every open vessel which hath no covering bound upon it is unclean. Why does that? Why is that stated? What's the open vessel? Now I speak to you, fathers and mothers, everyone that has a child.
You have an open vessel because that's what the open vessel is. I believe with children in our families which have no covering bound upon it is unclean. The open vessel says that everything in the tent is unclean in verse 14, but then he singles out the open vessel and our children are open vessels. They take in everything that we allow in the tent, everything.
They are especially susceptible to defilement.
Because they're open vessels, they don't have discernment. They rely upon us to discern for them what we allow. Their reasoning is Daddy. Mommy would never allow anything for me to see or to look at or to handle.
Or to play with that will be defiling to me. I trust them. They have the discernment. But if they don't have the discernment, or they don't have that purpose of heart to keep out of the tent those things which defile, then the open vessel which hath no covering bound upon it shall be.
Unclean.
Very solemn. It's a word to all of us.
Is there death in the tent? Magazines. Pictures?
I remember when I was working at Sure Brothers just short of 30 years when I left and I remember when they when they had the celebration of the the anniversary of the advent of the invention of radio.
They had a newspaper article on the bulletin board and this is what it said. Radio was invented, and that was only radio. It wasn't television and the things that we have today. But it said now you can bring the world into your home. That's what it said. That was the testimony of the world.
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A man came to a brothers home recently and was trying to sell him one of these modern commutative devices and he says we can bring the world into your home, Brother said. That's the last thing I want. That's the last thing I want. Thank you, Sir. And he closed the door. That's the very thing I want to keep out of my home, brethren.
How can we? How can I as a Christian Father?
I can't. I can't put this on my wife. No, I'm the head of the house, and so are you Christian fathers. How can you allow, how can we allow in our homes that which brings the world right there when we have open vessels that can be defiled by these things?
Beloved, if we can't speak plainly.
And these solemn issues.
Where are we?
Where are we, verse 16? And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, the open field, that's the world. That's when we're out there in the world. The tent is our home. That ought to be a little sanctuary. That ought to be the place where the children can retire from the world, where there's a shield, where they can be shielded from those evil defilements that are out there.
But now we're out in the open field, we're out in the world. And it says whosoever toucheth, one that is slain with a sword that speaks of violence in the open fields or a dead body, one that just died out there, wasn't killed by violence, but he just died.
That speaks of corruption. The world is filled with violence.
And corruption on the bone of a man. What does that speak of? I pondered that for a long time.
And I'd like to give you this suggestion. Turn with me to Job 20. Job 20, the bone of the man.
Verse.
11 He's talking about the wicked. His bones are full of the sin of his youth.
Which shall lie down with him in the dust now in the margin of the new translation. This is the way it reads.
His bones are full of his secret sins. Well.
I'd like to make this suggestion going back to numbers 19.
Here's an Israelite walking through the wilderness, and he stumbles upon a body, and he notices that that body had been slain with a sword. That's that's violence, and this world is just filled with violence.
You know I want to make this comment.
Forgive me for making it, but I'm going to make it anyway.
When the tragedy happened in our family.
Many Saints, I'd say most, were horrified.
At the thought that the murderer got into a Christian home.
And kill the whole family. And yet some of those, some of us, I'll include, I'll include myself. I'm no different, no better. For any moment, I wouldn't want to give the thought that I was. We might be horrified at that thought. And yet we might have something there that brings that very thing, violence and corruption, into the whole all the time it's there. Violence, corruption.
It's filled with it.
Can't pick up a newspaper without being defiled.
There isn't anything the world serves that isn't defiling. Nothing. Nothing. The bone of a man. Our secret sins. You know, we don't usually think that we're defiled because we think evil. Thoughts.
No one sees what I'm thinking. No one knows. I don't know what you're thinking. And.
And you might think a wicked thought, You might have a lustful thought. You might have a thought of revenge, You might think of cheating in a test you might think of.
Various evil things, and you might think you're not defiled by that.
A bone. You don't see my bones. They're all hidden by flesh, bone and muscle tissue. You don't see my bones, but they're there. So it might speak of our secret sins, something that no one can see. But God, he sees them. The bone of a man, Israelite going through the wilderness. He might even be tempted to pick up the bone. All the flesh has been eaten off by the animals and the birds, and it's just a bowl.
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Surely that's not defiling. It is.
The bone of a man or a grave? What does the grave speak of? And I'll close shortly. Luke 11. Luke 11.
Verse 44.
Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them, while you could be out there walking, and someone's buried there in the wilderness.
And you can walk right over the grave and not even be aware of it. You're defiled by it, though. You have to be put outside the camp seven days just as much as if you touched a dead body. It says a grave. What is that? That's religious evil.
The religion, the hypocrisy of the Pharisee.
And he says, well, unto you Pharisees, you are as graves which appear not. And I don't believe there's an area where we are where we let our guard down more than when we deal with others that call themselves Christians because they are Christians and therefore everything has to be all right. How many times you have heard it said when someone is engaged in a business practice or a medical practice, but he's a Christian?
That sanctifies it, that all of a sudden that makes it OK because he's a Christian.
Does it? Should we not rather judge what we're engaged in by the Word of God and not the fact that I'm engaged in it, therefore that has to make it right because I'm a Christian?
Well, we can be defiled by a lot of things which are in this world that are religious, and I don't know anything more defiling than religious evil.
So I suggest that one slain with the sword speaks of violence, the dead body speaks of corruption, the bone of a man might speak of our hidden secret sins that only God knows about. How is our thought life? As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.
What do you think about all day long? Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.
Thou God, seest me, bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
And then the grave religious hypocrisy. How many times we can put on a religious air and a religious show and pretend to be something that we're not and be defiled there thereby shall be unclean 7 days. And then we've looked at the way of cleansing well beloved Saints of God.
If there was ever a day, and if the Lord has ever been speaking to us.
In loud, clear tones. It's today. He's been speaking to us. He's been speaking to me.
We're living in days of Second Timothy when they shall heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. They want to hear what they want to hear, and God preserve us from that. God give us to have our ears open to hear the word of God, no matter how much it hurts.