WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.780 Well, good morning, church. Happy Fourth of July weekend to you all. 00:00:03.780 --> 00:00:10.640 We are continuing our series in Numbers today, so would you turn with me to Numbers chapter 19. 00:00:11.200 --> 00:00:16.800 ! Numbers 19. That's page 119 in the Pew Bibles or page 120 in the newer editions. 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:25.839 Well, as we approach our passage today, I wonder, have you ever considered how hard it is 00:00:25.839 --> 00:00:35.000 to keep things clean? No sooner have you cleaned all the dishes in the sink than yet another meal 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:40.700 rolls around and suddenly the kitchen is full once again of pots and pans and plates and silverware 00:00:40.700 --> 00:00:47.060 that need to be cleaned. It seems like an endless task, right? And it's not just the dishes. The 00:00:47.060 --> 00:00:54.100 laundry always piles up. The carpets always need to be vacuumed. And the garage, how is it that a space 00:00:54.100 --> 00:01:01.520 we don't even live in, is in constant need of cleaning, right? I ran across this quote while 00:01:01.520 --> 00:01:07.099 preparing this week. Apparently, when his wife was away from home, the novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne 00:01:07.099 --> 00:01:16.020 once wrote, the washing of dishes does seem to me the most absurd and unsatisfactory business that I 00:01:16.020 --> 00:01:21.359 ever undertook. Only someone who's a novelist could write that about doing dishes, right? He goes on, 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:27.680 he says, if when once washed, they would remain clean forever and ever, which they ought in all 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:31.579 reason to do, considering how much trouble it is, then there would be less occasion to grumble. 00:01:32.140 --> 00:01:38.219 But no sooner is it done than it requires to be done again. On the whole, I have come to the 00:01:38.219 --> 00:01:44.560 resolution not to use more than one dish at each meal. There you go. So if you hate doing dishes, 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:52.719 you're in good company with Nathaniel Hawthorne, it is hard to keep things clean. Now, if that's true in 00:01:52.719 --> 00:02:01.060 the simple and straightforward areas of our life, like household chores, how much more true is it in our 00:02:01.060 --> 00:02:10.319 moral and our spiritual lives? It's hard to get clean, isn't it? We make mistakes and we hurt one another, 00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:19.519 or we make intentional decisions that undermine our best principles. You know, we carry the stains of 00:02:19.519 --> 00:02:26.280 our being wronged and our wronging one another, and we realize that deep down there's a kind of 00:02:26.280 --> 00:02:35.579 selfishness in us that just wants to have its own way. And so we subtly bend and manipulate things to 00:02:35.580 --> 00:02:43.420 get our own way. All that's true horizontally, but it's even more so true vertically. 00:02:45.340 --> 00:02:51.520 The stains of sin really begin to show when we look at ourselves in relationship to God. 00:02:52.140 --> 00:02:57.880 It is in God that we live and move and have our being. Every good and perfect gift comes down from 00:02:57.880 --> 00:03:03.580 Him, the source of all good, the Father of lights, as James says. But how often do we fail to thank God 00:03:03.580 --> 00:03:11.560 and fail to love God? We live as if God were just there to meet my needs when I need Him to. 00:03:13.760 --> 00:03:21.380 And this means that we carry within us the burden of an unclean conscience. 00:03:23.780 --> 00:03:27.920 We try to ignore or minimize it, but it always seems to be there. 00:03:27.919 --> 00:03:37.000 It's hard to keep things clean. And this brings us to our passage today, Numbers 19, 00:03:37.779 --> 00:03:44.339 because Numbers 19 is all about purification. It's all about getting clean. 00:03:45.819 --> 00:03:52.479 And this chapter is going to point us to three things. It's first going to point us to our need 00:03:52.479 --> 00:03:57.479 for cleansing. Second, it's going to point us to God's provision for our cleansing. And then third, 00:03:57.539 --> 00:04:01.859 we're going to spend some time thinking about how to live as people who've been made clean. 00:04:02.539 --> 00:04:06.919 So our need for cleansing and God's provision for cleansing, and then how to live as those who've 00:04:06.919 --> 00:04:11.739 been made clean. So let's consider first our need for cleansing. I want to pick up in the middle 00:04:11.739 --> 00:04:17.920 of chapter 19 in verse 11. Verse 11 of chapter 19. Let's pick up there. God says to Moses and Aaron, 00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:26.060 whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days. He shall cleanse himself with 00:04:26.060 --> 00:04:30.480 the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean. But if he does not cleanse himself 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:35.680 on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not become clean. Whoever touches a dead person, 00:04:35.740 --> 00:04:39.980 the body of anyone who has died, and does not cleanse himself defiles the tabernacle of the Lord, 00:04:40.200 --> 00:04:45.439 and that person shall be cut off from Israel because the water for impurity was not thrown on him. 00:04:45.439 --> 00:04:51.660 He shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him. This is the law. When someone dies in a tent, 00:04:51.819 --> 00:04:56.019 everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent shall be unclean seven days, 00:04:56.379 --> 00:05:01.879 and every open vessel that has no cover fastened on it is unclean. Whoever in the open field touches 00:05:01.879 --> 00:05:06.439 someone who was killed with a sword or who died naturally or touches a human bone or a grave shall 00:05:06.439 --> 00:05:11.920 be unclean seven days. For the unclean, they shall take some ashes of the burnt sin offering and fresh 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:16.680 water shall be added in a vessel. Then a clean person shall take hyssop, dip it in the water, 00:05:16.900 --> 00:05:21.220 and sprinkle it on the tent and all the furnishings and on the persons who were there, and on whoever 00:05:21.220 --> 00:05:25.860 touched the bone or the slain or the dead or the grave. And the clean person shall sprinkle it on the 00:05:25.860 --> 00:05:29.680 unclean on the third day and on the seventh day. Thus, on the seventh day, he shall cleanse him. 00:05:30.340 --> 00:05:33.800 He shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and at evening he shall be clean. 00:05:35.240 --> 00:05:40.060 If a man who is unclean does not cleanse himself, that person shall be cut off 00:05:40.060 --> 00:05:44.740 from the midst of the assembly, since he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord, 00:05:45.339 --> 00:05:51.220 because the water for impurity has not been thrown on him. He is unclean. And it shall be a statute 00:05:51.220 --> 00:05:55.939 forever for them. The one who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and the one who 00:05:55.939 --> 00:06:00.680 touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening. And whatever the unclean person 00:06:00.680 --> 00:06:09.420 touches shall be unclean, and whoever touches it shall be unclean until evening. Okay, so, 00:06:09.420 --> 00:06:19.460 under the Mosaic law, under the Old Covenant, contact with dead bodies made someone unclean. 00:06:20.580 --> 00:06:28.580 But in what sense were they rendered unclean? Well, in the Old Testament, clean and unclean 00:06:28.580 --> 00:06:36.319 were…you might think of them as sort of ritual statuses. They were sort of symbolic categories 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:44.560 that determined whether you were able to worship at the tabernacle or, in some instances, even able…even 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:50.800 to remain a member of the community. And certain things could render you symbolically or ritually 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:56.219 clean or unclean. Certain skin diseases, certain foods that you ate, some of these things would render 00:06:56.219 --> 00:07:01.480 you unclean for a certain amount of time. And one of those things, as we see here, 00:07:01.480 --> 00:07:09.360 that would render you unclean is contact with dead bodies. Now, why, right? That's the first question 00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:14.000 we ask is, why did that render someone ritually unclean? Why did that give them the status of 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:19.540 unclean that they had to sort of fix to become kind of clean again? Well, you know, a lot of 00:07:19.540 --> 00:07:23.879 commentators have sort of reflected on these clean and unclean laws. Some have pointed them to maybe 00:07:23.879 --> 00:07:29.640 their ways of distinguishing the Israelites from the pagan nations around them. Maybe they were just 00:07:29.639 --> 00:07:37.039 hygienic rules, and there's some truth in all of those. But I think here, with this contact with the 00:07:37.039 --> 00:07:44.439 dead, I think the deep underlying reason that it rendered you unclean in the Old Covenant was because 00:07:44.439 --> 00:07:55.680 in the Bible, death is connected with sin. Contact with the dead body was ritually defiling because it 00:07:55.680 --> 00:08:03.840 meant you had come into very explicit contact with the realm and power of sin. Now, that's not to say 00:08:03.840 --> 00:08:09.840 that people who accidentally walked across a grave or people who stayed at home caring for a dying loved 00:08:09.840 --> 00:08:15.240 one were breaking God's moral law. They weren't sinning in that case. They weren't doing something 00:08:15.240 --> 00:08:24.780 wrong. Rather, just exposure to death, coming into contact with death, meant coming into exposure to the 00:08:24.779 --> 00:08:32.699 ultimate manifestation of sin's power and reign in a fallen world. And that contact with sin and death 00:08:32.699 --> 00:08:44.779 needed to be appropriately acknowledged and addressed. Why? Because sin is serious. 00:08:46.459 --> 00:08:52.759 It's the problem, really, under all of our human problems. Sin is what separates us from God 00:08:52.759 --> 00:08:59.439 and from one another. As this passage says more than one time, right? Did you catch that? Someone who 00:08:59.439 --> 00:09:04.819 deliberately chooses to remain in an unclean state and not go through the purification rituals, 00:09:05.259 --> 00:09:10.059 someone who deliberately remains in an unclean state is cut off from the tabernacle. That is, 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:14.980 they can't go to worship God, and at the most extreme case, they're cut off from the people themselves. 00:09:14.980 --> 00:09:23.120 To say, to say to the people that sin is the biggest problem. It's what separates us from God and from 00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:34.060 one another. Okay, now, what do we do with these sorts of instructions from the Old Testament? What do we 00:09:34.060 --> 00:09:44.220 do with them today, right? Well, are we supposed to follow them every jot and tittle? Well, it's important to 00:09:44.220 --> 00:09:55.600 remember when reading anything in the Bible that the Bible is a narrative. It's a story. It's a true story, 00:09:55.600 --> 00:10:02.720 of course, but it is an unfolding narrative. So rather than read these Old Testament laws and 00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:08.040 instructions today and say, well, that seems pretty primitive and archaic. We've kind of grown beyond 00:10:08.039 --> 00:10:20.039 all that, I guess the Bible's irrelevant. Instead, we should ask this question. How does this episode, how does this 00:10:20.039 --> 00:10:32.039 connect to the story, how does this thread of being clean and unclean, where does that thread lead in the narrative? And when you read the 00:10:32.039 --> 00:10:43.419 Bible that way, you start to see that these rules about being clean and unclean, these ritual statuses, these symbolic categories that you can fall in and out of, 00:10:43.419 --> 00:10:58.039 these rules about being clean and unclean were meant to make a bigger point about our condition as human beings. You see, the ritual clean and unclean laws were there to teach God's people something. 00:10:58.039 --> 00:11:26.039 They were there to teach us about our need for an even deeper cleansing. They were there to teach us that our human problem wasn't really about avoiding certain diseases or even avoiding death, that that's not our biggest problem. No, they were there to teach us that there was a deeper cleansing that we need. 00:11:26.039 --> 00:11:42.039 At one point in His ministry, Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees because He doesn't force His disciples, Jesus doesn't force His disciples to follow all the clean and unclean traditions that had built up in the intertestamental period, 00:11:42.519 --> 00:11:52.259 in the period between the Old and the New Testament. All these traditions had grown up, kind of expanding these clean and unclean laws about hand washing and how to clean your plates and cobs. 00:11:52.259 --> 00:11:59.379 All of it was an attempt to avoid ritual uncleanness, right? And the Pharisees come to Jesus and say, 00:11:59.379 --> 00:12:06.419 why don't you follow those? And Jesus in Mark 7 says this, He says, 00:12:06.419 --> 00:12:19.519 Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach and is expelled? 00:12:21.039 --> 00:12:26.819 And then Mark adds, Jesus thus declared all foods clean. But then listen to what Jesus says. 00:12:26.820 --> 00:12:28.820 And Jesus said, 00:12:28.820 --> 00:12:47.820 What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 00:12:47.820 --> 00:13:03.760 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person. Do you see what Jesus is saying? He's saying that the cleanliness codes were meant to teach us a deeper lesson about our hearts. 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:15.659 If it was hard to stay clean in a fallen world, ritually and symbolically, how much harder to stay clean from the heart? 00:13:16.460 --> 00:13:25.759 Think about it. If mere exposure to death meant that we needed to be ritually cleansed, how much more the exposure in our own hearts to sin itself? 00:13:25.759 --> 00:13:55.740 Think about it. 00:13:55.759 --> 00:13:56.759 Think about it. 00:13:56.759 --> 00:14:01.819 That's what God's law was trying to teach the people. God in His kindness was teaching us. 00:14:03.960 --> 00:14:15.220 And friends, the truth is, is that all of our man-made codes about cleansing are nothing compared to the greater issue of being cleansed of sin before God. 00:14:16.679 --> 00:14:21.700 And just like our exposure to death is unavoidable, at some point we will all come into contact with it. 00:14:21.700 --> 00:14:27.640 So our need for heart cleansing, for soul cleansing is unavoidable. We all need it. 00:14:29.900 --> 00:14:31.080 But how do we get it? 00:14:32.560 --> 00:14:36.600 What will actually clean the spots on our souls? 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:43.400 What will cleanse our conscience and allow us to come to God unafraid and unashamed? 00:14:43.399 --> 00:14:49.100 Well, this brings us to the next thing that Numbers 19 points us to. 00:14:50.100 --> 00:14:53.919 It not only points us to our need for cleansing, but it also points us to God's provision. 00:14:53.919 --> 00:15:06.919 It is a sin offering. 00:15:06.919 --> 00:15:20.259 It is a sin offering. 00:15:20.259 --> 00:15:21.259 Okay. 00:15:21.259 --> 00:15:27.059 And the one who gathers the ashes of the hether shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. 00:15:27.860 --> 00:15:34.480 And this shall be a perpetual statute for the people of Israel and for the stranger who sojourns among them. 00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:35.480 Okay. 00:15:35.480 --> 00:15:36.080 Okay. 00:15:36.600 --> 00:15:42.800 So God commands the priests to perform a special sacrifice outside the camp. 00:15:43.500 --> 00:15:46.120 And this sacrifice is meant to be burned up. 00:15:46.200 --> 00:15:48.480 They're supposed to burn it all up completely. 00:15:49.000 --> 00:15:57.960 And then those ashes can be gathered and they can be used then for the ritual cleansing that we already read about in verses 17 and 18. 00:15:58.080 --> 00:15:58.560 Remember those? 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:04.439 It says, for the unclean, they shall take some of the ashes of the burnt sin offering, fresh water shall be added in a vessel, 00:16:04.939 --> 00:16:10.859 and a clean person shall take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent and all the furnishings on the persons who were there 00:16:10.859 --> 00:16:13.139 and on whoever touched the bone or the slain or the dead of the grave. 00:16:14.579 --> 00:16:16.219 So that was the kind of process. 00:16:16.339 --> 00:16:16.979 That was the ritual. 00:16:19.179 --> 00:16:26.359 Now, I want to make three observations about this sacrifice and about this cleansing that God provides here. 00:16:26.360 --> 00:16:28.340 First observation. 00:16:29.480 --> 00:16:35.519 Notice in the instructions and in the practice how the color red is emphasized again and again, right? 00:16:35.860 --> 00:16:36.940 It's a red heifer. 00:16:37.080 --> 00:16:39.680 That is, it's that reddish-brown hue of a cow, right? 00:16:40.779 --> 00:16:41.879 And it's meant to be what? 00:16:41.940 --> 00:16:43.740 This red heifer is meant to be burned up with what? 00:16:43.820 --> 00:16:44.639 With cedar wood. 00:16:45.480 --> 00:16:49.019 And, you know, if you've ever seen cedar, it has a sort of reddish hue to it, doesn't it? 00:16:49.560 --> 00:16:51.300 And what else are they supposed to throw into the fire? 00:16:51.379 --> 00:16:54.320 They're also supposed to throw in scarlet cloth, which is also red. 00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:56.500 And they're also supposed to throw in hyssop. 00:16:56.620 --> 00:16:57.700 Well, hyssop wasn't red, actually. 00:16:58.260 --> 00:17:00.480 But that was the instrument to do the ritual cleansing. 00:17:00.600 --> 00:17:04.340 They would take a stalk of hyssop, which had this sort of flowery, leafy end that could hold moisture, 00:17:04.440 --> 00:17:05.480 and they would dip it in the water. 00:17:05.860 --> 00:17:08.539 Sometimes they would even dip it in blood, and they would sprinkle it as part of the ritual. 00:17:08.600 --> 00:17:10.299 So all that goes into the fire. 00:17:11.220 --> 00:17:15.420 This red thing with hyssop that's meant to be applied to other people, right? 00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:20.220 Now, why that kind of threefold redness? 00:17:21.340 --> 00:17:21.700 Interesting. 00:17:21.700 --> 00:17:21.799 Interesting. 00:17:22.559 --> 00:17:32.539 Most Jewish and Christian scholars of numbers agree that this was a way to emphasize the blood of the sacrifice. 00:17:34.160 --> 00:17:39.019 In other words, it was to say it's the blood that affected the cleansing. 00:17:39.019 --> 00:17:45.019 The resulting ashes, of course, from the fire would all be black, right? 00:17:46.039 --> 00:17:51.799 But there was this threefold reminder going into it that it was the blood of the sacrifice that God wanted to highlight. 00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:53.480 Why? 00:17:55.680 --> 00:18:01.720 Well, because the shedding of blood meant that the penalty of death was being paid. 00:18:01.720 --> 00:18:07.059 Remember, the wages of sin, the just penalty for sin, is death. 00:18:08.900 --> 00:18:17.799 And the sacrifice, the sacrifice that just shed its blood in death, would then be a substitute for the worshiper, 00:18:17.880 --> 00:18:19.319 for the one to whom it was applied. 00:18:19.819 --> 00:18:27.559 In other words, that sacrifice died, shed its blood in penalty, so that the worshiper did not have to. 00:18:27.559 --> 00:18:38.220 Which is all to say that this cleansing that God provides is through a substitutionary sacrifice. 00:18:38.960 --> 00:18:48.659 That the sacrifice is bearing something and paying something so that, and in the place of, the worshiper, so that they don't have to. 00:18:48.660 --> 00:18:51.680 That's the first observation. 00:18:52.080 --> 00:18:53.480 Second observation is this. 00:18:55.060 --> 00:19:02.440 The priests who go about the job of making these ashes for cleansing, and then administering the ashes for cleansing, 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:04.140 what happens to them? 00:19:05.240 --> 00:19:05.820 Did you notice? 00:19:07.360 --> 00:19:11.180 They themselves become unclean in the process. 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:13.900 After doing all this stuff that God tells them to do, 00:19:13.900 --> 00:19:18.300 they have to then go wash their clothes and bathe themselves and wait outside the camp until evening. 00:19:18.299 --> 00:19:21.220 They have sort of this one-day uncleanness that sticks to them. 00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:25.279 And so you see what's happening in this ritual. 00:19:27.740 --> 00:19:29.220 There's an exchange happening. 00:19:30.279 --> 00:19:33.680 There's an exchange happening in the cleansing that God provides. 00:19:34.599 --> 00:19:41.339 In order for the person to become clean, the priest has to become unclean. 00:19:42.240 --> 00:19:45.419 They have to exchange places, as it were, for a time being. 00:19:45.420 --> 00:19:52.660 The priest takes on some of that uncleanness and goes outside the camp so that the person can become clean and go back inside the camp. 00:19:54.060 --> 00:19:54.980 There's an exchange. 00:19:57.060 --> 00:19:58.200 Here's the third observation. 00:19:59.720 --> 00:20:04.440 This cleansing that God provides is very generously offered. 00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:08.340 Do you remember the context of Numbers 19? 00:20:08.339 --> 00:20:11.579 What has just happened in the story of Numbers? 00:20:13.699 --> 00:20:15.699 It was Korah's rebellion, right? 00:20:16.740 --> 00:20:18.439 And what happened in Korah's rebellion? 00:20:19.439 --> 00:20:20.939 Thousands of people died. 00:20:22.059 --> 00:20:27.500 That meant that thousands of families in the Israelite camp had suddenly been rendered unclean. 00:20:27.500 --> 00:20:34.099 Now, how could cleansing be provided for so many people all at once? 00:20:34.819 --> 00:20:38.460 Would they all have to bring a kind of costly sacrifice to the tabernacle? 00:20:38.720 --> 00:20:40.000 How long would that take? 00:20:40.359 --> 00:20:41.900 How many of them could even afford it? 00:20:42.680 --> 00:20:44.099 They're wandering through the wilderness. 00:20:44.099 --> 00:20:54.980 But the cleansing, you see, you see the cleansing that God provides, it's not just for the rich and for the affluent and the haves. 00:20:56.980 --> 00:21:02.259 It's not something, this cleansing that God provides, it's not something that's scarce or limited to just a few. 00:21:02.519 --> 00:21:04.899 It's not something that expires or might run out. 00:21:04.900 --> 00:21:13.920 No, God actually makes a way to provide cleansing, to provide a cleansing that's available to all who need it. 00:21:16.560 --> 00:21:28.320 Those ashes can be taken out and mixed with water, and the priest can perform the necessary ritual anywhere, with anyone, even in the middle of the wilderness. 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:35.220 So, you see, this cleansing that God provides is generously offered. 00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:43.679 But again, the Bible is a story. 00:21:45.399 --> 00:21:54.419 How does this sacrifice of a red heifer for ritual purification, how does that theme begin to unfold in the ongoing story of Scripture? 00:21:55.859 --> 00:21:57.339 Well, it becomes clear, doesn't it? 00:21:57.339 --> 00:22:16.079 Just as the cleansing that we need is deeper than outward physical cleansing, outward ritual cleansing, so the cleansing that God provides for our need is more permanent and more powerful than this outward ritual sacrifice. 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:28.799 In fact, God Himself would come and be the sacrifice that cleansed not just our bodies but our souls. 00:22:29.500 --> 00:22:34.339 He would come and provide a cleansing for our conscience, you see. 00:22:34.339 --> 00:22:42.959 In Jesus Christ, God took human flesh and became the perfect sacrifice and the perfect priest. 00:22:44.339 --> 00:22:46.879 As Hebrews 9 said that we read earlier, 00:22:46.880 --> 00:23:16.860 You see, friends, Jesus provides. 00:23:16.859 --> 00:23:18.859 God provides the true and the greater cleansing. 00:23:18.859 --> 00:23:24.859 Everything that we see in this provision of cleansing in Numbers 19 is fulfilled in Jesus. 00:23:24.859 --> 00:23:30.859 He was, after all, the ultimate substitute, was He not? 00:23:30.859 --> 00:23:31.859 Why? 00:23:31.859 --> 00:23:35.859 Because He was fully human and fully God, He could be that substitute. 00:23:35.859 --> 00:23:40.740 As true human, as true man, He could stand in our place. 00:23:41.939 --> 00:23:45.799 And as true God, He could render a perfect sacrifice without spot or blemish. 00:23:46.819 --> 00:23:52.219 His blood shed on the cross, His substitutionary death for us in our place is completely sufficient. 00:23:52.220 --> 00:23:58.559 All the penalty for sin, all the stain of sin has been completely washed away for those who trust in Him. 00:24:00.220 --> 00:24:02.319 And His sacrifice, it wasn't just a substitute. 00:24:03.900 --> 00:24:06.220 It was the ultimate exchange, you see. 00:24:06.220 --> 00:24:10.100 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, 00:24:10.220 --> 00:24:18.779 For our sake, God made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. 00:24:20.220 --> 00:24:22.500 There's the ultimate exchange, friends. 00:24:22.500 --> 00:24:33.019 Jesus became sin for us, our sin, so that in Him we might become righteousness, His righteousness, God's righteousness. 00:24:35.019 --> 00:24:39.460 You see, the exchange is our sin for His righteousness. 00:24:39.940 --> 00:24:45.720 He became unclean with all of our sin so that we can become clean with all of His righteousness. 00:24:45.720 --> 00:24:52.140 And this cleansing that Jesus provides is also generously given. 00:24:53.799 --> 00:24:56.940 It's generously offered to all who repent and believe. 00:24:57.720 --> 00:25:00.500 The truth is, friends, we can't make ourselves clean. 00:25:00.819 --> 00:25:01.400 We can't. 00:25:01.740 --> 00:25:06.380 We can't ease our guilty consciences on our own, but Jesus can. 00:25:06.380 --> 00:25:18.700 And His cleansing is given to all who stop trying to cleanse themselves and trust in His cleansing blood, His cleansing work. 00:25:20.340 --> 00:25:21.700 That old hymn says it well. 00:25:21.820 --> 00:25:22.040 It says, 00:25:22.820 --> 00:25:26.860 Not the labors of my hands can fulfill thy law's demands. 00:25:27.800 --> 00:25:28.900 Could my zeal? 00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:30.240 No respite, no. 00:25:30.340 --> 00:25:32.020 Could my tears forever flow? 00:25:32.340 --> 00:25:34.980 All that for sin could not atone. 00:25:34.980 --> 00:25:36.420 It couldn't cleanse. 00:25:37.539 --> 00:25:38.860 Then what does the hymn say? 00:25:39.779 --> 00:25:41.740 Thou must save, and thou alone. 00:25:44.059 --> 00:25:45.400 And friends, here's the good news. 00:25:46.640 --> 00:25:52.980 Jesus delights to save and to cleanse all who come to Him. 00:25:54.380 --> 00:25:56.839 This cleansing is not limited to the rich and the famous. 00:25:57.099 --> 00:25:59.960 It's not scarce or in danger of running out. 00:26:00.059 --> 00:26:02.759 It's sufficient for all and everyone who comes in faith. 00:26:02.759 --> 00:26:17.640 And just think, if the ashes of the heifer provided a temporary external cleansing, just think of how deep and how lasting, how eternally lasting is the work of Christ's own blood shed for you. 00:26:17.640 --> 00:26:22.180 One writer I ran across this week said, 00:26:22.320 --> 00:26:25.660 It's sort of like the difference between instant coffee and the real thing. 00:26:26.620 --> 00:26:29.100 You know, the ashes of a heifer could be mixed with water, right? 00:26:29.120 --> 00:26:30.040 Like instant coffee. 00:26:30.200 --> 00:26:32.240 And then it could provide some temporary relief. 00:26:33.120 --> 00:26:36.900 And now if you've ever had instant coffee, you know how temporary that relief is. 00:26:36.940 --> 00:26:38.380 It's very dissatisfying, right? 00:26:38.380 --> 00:26:43.540 Even the supposedly good stuff from Starbucks, you still pour it in the hot water and you're like, this is gross, right? 00:26:45.800 --> 00:26:46.240 Ah. 00:26:47.420 --> 00:26:56.040 But once you hold a real cup of coffee in your hands, maybe iced coffee, right, on a morning like this, that's the stuff. 00:26:56.039 --> 00:27:04.700 You know, most of us try instant coffee to try to ease our burdened souls. 00:27:06.240 --> 00:27:07.659 We want to erase the spots. 00:27:07.859 --> 00:27:08.960 We want to cleanse our conscience. 00:27:10.480 --> 00:27:11.440 But it doesn't work. 00:27:12.019 --> 00:27:14.720 We try to minimize the things that we've done. 00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:16.000 We try to say it's not that bad. 00:27:16.500 --> 00:27:17.759 We try to just forget about it. 00:27:17.899 --> 00:27:19.200 We try to distract ourselves. 00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:28.940 You know, but those temporary instant coffee-like strategies, they can't really make us clean. 00:27:30.920 --> 00:27:34.140 But Jesus can, and He does. 00:27:35.400 --> 00:27:36.779 So you can come to Him. 00:27:38.580 --> 00:27:42.279 Listen to how Paul describes this cleansing in Titus 3, 3 through 7. 00:27:42.920 --> 00:27:43.299 He says, 00:27:43.299 --> 00:28:13.279 He says, 00:28:13.299 --> 00:28:42.980 You see, friends, the cleansing work of His justifying grace, of His 00:28:42.980 --> 00:28:47.299 Holy Spirit, regenerating you, giving you new spiritual life. 00:28:47.400 --> 00:28:49.640 That is open for all who believe. 00:28:51.420 --> 00:28:53.220 Look at the list that Paul says. 00:28:53.900 --> 00:28:55.740 Who qualifies for this cleansing? 00:28:55.860 --> 00:28:57.599 I'll tell you who qualifies for this cleansing. 00:28:57.700 --> 00:28:59.400 The foolish, the disobedient, 00:29:00.680 --> 00:29:02.900 the ones who are slaves to passions and pleasures, 00:29:03.059 --> 00:29:04.759 who pass our days in malice and envy, 00:29:05.059 --> 00:29:06.599 hated by others and hating one another. 00:29:06.599 --> 00:29:09.740 If that's you, and I think that's all of us, friends, 00:29:10.559 --> 00:29:11.959 then this cleansing is for you. 00:29:13.799 --> 00:29:15.439 It's open for all who believe. 00:29:15.440 --> 00:29:20.200 So if you haven't come to Christ for cleansing, 00:29:20.700 --> 00:29:22.100 what holds you back? 00:29:24.100 --> 00:29:28.779 Believe in Him today and know the cleansing that only He can provide. 00:29:28.779 --> 00:29:32.899 Now this brings us to our last point. 00:29:32.980 --> 00:29:33.639 What does it look like? 00:29:33.639 --> 00:29:37.839 What does it look like to live as people who've been cleansed? 00:29:38.019 --> 00:29:40.139 What difference does this start to make in our lives? 00:29:40.539 --> 00:29:42.559 Well, Numbers 19 doesn't have much to say about this, 00:29:42.639 --> 00:29:44.960 but remember, the Bible is a narrative. 00:29:45.099 --> 00:29:45.700 It's a story. 00:29:45.779 --> 00:29:46.720 It's going somewhere. 00:29:47.079 --> 00:29:49.920 So where does this story of God's cleansing take us? 00:29:49.940 --> 00:29:51.160 How does it shape how we live? 00:29:51.559 --> 00:29:53.079 Well, let me briefly mention three things. 00:29:53.079 --> 00:29:58.139 First, it means that we have freedom to confess our sins. 00:29:58.579 --> 00:29:59.759 1 John 1, 8 and 9 says, 00:29:59.879 --> 00:30:02.960 if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, 00:30:03.019 --> 00:30:04.059 and the truth is not in us. 00:30:04.480 --> 00:30:06.079 If we confess our sins, 00:30:06.740 --> 00:30:09.399 He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins 00:30:09.399 --> 00:30:12.659 and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 00:30:13.500 --> 00:30:18.480 You see, if you know this deep soul cleansing that Jesus provides, 00:30:18.960 --> 00:30:21.199 then that means you aren't afraid anymore 00:30:21.200 --> 00:30:24.580 of honestly facing up to your own sins. 00:30:25.819 --> 00:30:29.120 When God shows you more and more of your indwelling sin, 00:30:29.160 --> 00:30:30.559 and by the Holy Spirit He will, 00:30:31.160 --> 00:30:33.220 then because of the cleansing of Christ, 00:30:33.340 --> 00:30:35.640 you have the freedom and the confidence 00:30:35.640 --> 00:30:38.779 to take those things to God in confession, 00:30:39.380 --> 00:30:42.279 confident that God will, on the basis of Christ, 00:30:42.380 --> 00:30:46.600 be faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse. 00:30:46.599 --> 00:30:52.359 This is why we make a practice each Sunday 00:30:52.359 --> 00:30:54.559 of confessing our sins together 00:30:54.559 --> 00:30:58.579 and of hearing again a word of gospel assurance. 00:30:59.959 --> 00:31:02.939 This is the great privilege and joy 00:31:02.939 --> 00:31:05.279 of the cleansing that we've received in Christ. 00:31:05.359 --> 00:31:07.119 We no longer need to hide or minimize 00:31:07.119 --> 00:31:09.299 or distract ourselves from our sin and our guilt. 00:31:09.500 --> 00:31:13.379 We can actually face it and deal with it without fear, 00:31:13.380 --> 00:31:17.020 and we can experience God's forgiving and cleansing grace 00:31:17.020 --> 00:31:19.040 for whatever He reveals in our lives. 00:31:22.180 --> 00:31:25.660 Second, how do we live as those who've been made clean? 00:31:26.520 --> 00:31:28.980 Well, the New Testament is very clear 00:31:28.980 --> 00:31:34.520 that we no longer stay in our uncleanness. 00:31:34.519 --> 00:31:39.639 Because our identity is now those who are in Christ, 00:31:39.740 --> 00:31:41.440 who have been cleansed, 00:31:41.579 --> 00:31:44.099 because His Holy Spirit now dwells in us, 00:31:44.619 --> 00:31:48.460 we have the ability and the call to live differently. 00:31:49.259 --> 00:31:52.319 We don't want to go back to our old paths of uncleanness, 00:31:53.059 --> 00:31:56.180 whether it was sexual immorality or addiction 00:31:56.180 --> 00:31:58.980 or greeting covetousness or lying and manipulating 00:31:58.980 --> 00:32:00.500 or pride in self-righteousness. 00:32:00.500 --> 00:32:04.660 All those things describe who we used to be. 00:32:06.359 --> 00:32:08.500 But Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6.11, 00:32:08.640 --> 00:32:09.119 he says, 00:32:09.339 --> 00:32:13.220 and such were some of you, 00:32:14.559 --> 00:32:16.599 but you were washed, 00:32:17.240 --> 00:32:18.359 you were sanctified, 00:32:18.619 --> 00:32:21.160 you're justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ 00:32:21.160 --> 00:32:22.920 and by the Spirit of our God. 00:32:24.019 --> 00:32:25.940 You see, you're someone different now, 00:32:25.940 --> 00:32:29.960 and we can walk in paths of holiness 00:32:29.960 --> 00:32:32.240 now that we've been made clean. 00:32:34.360 --> 00:32:35.360 And the last thing, 00:32:36.580 --> 00:32:38.519 how do we live as those who've been made clean? 00:32:39.360 --> 00:32:42.799 Well, in the community of the gospel, 00:32:43.440 --> 00:32:45.100 in the church of Jesus Christ, 00:32:45.799 --> 00:32:48.480 we do not call unclean 00:32:48.480 --> 00:32:51.279 what God has called clean. 00:32:51.279 --> 00:32:55.559 This was a lesson that the early church learned powerfully 00:32:55.559 --> 00:32:58.759 when God began calling Gentiles into the family of God 00:32:58.759 --> 00:33:00.379 on the same footing as the Jews, 00:33:00.579 --> 00:33:02.559 simply by grace through faith in Christ. 00:33:04.180 --> 00:33:07.500 God had to send Peter a vision three times 00:33:07.500 --> 00:33:13.500 to show him that what God calls clean is clean. 00:33:13.500 --> 00:33:17.880 And that means that today 00:33:17.880 --> 00:33:20.859 we don't divide the church 00:33:20.859 --> 00:33:23.599 on the basis of Jew and Gentile, do we? 00:33:24.180 --> 00:33:25.440 We don't divide the church 00:33:25.440 --> 00:33:26.859 on the basis of race or ethnicity. 00:33:27.700 --> 00:33:28.859 We don't divide the church 00:33:28.859 --> 00:33:30.539 on the basis of married or single 00:33:30.539 --> 00:33:32.039 or young or old. 00:33:32.980 --> 00:33:33.759 In other words, 00:33:33.920 --> 00:33:36.339 there are no second-class citizens 00:33:36.339 --> 00:33:37.579 in the household of faith. 00:33:38.279 --> 00:33:41.000 We are all made clean by the blood of Christ, 00:33:41.599 --> 00:33:42.680 and that makes us one. 00:33:43.500 --> 00:33:46.359 And this fact is demonstrated 00:33:46.359 --> 00:33:47.259 in the Lord's Supper. 00:33:47.740 --> 00:33:49.039 Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10, 00:33:50.160 --> 00:33:51.619 this cup of blessing that we bless, 00:33:51.680 --> 00:33:52.720 is it not a participation 00:33:52.720 --> 00:33:53.960 in the blood of Christ? 00:33:54.720 --> 00:33:55.960 And this bread that we break, 00:33:56.039 --> 00:33:57.079 is it not a participation 00:33:57.079 --> 00:33:58.259 in the body of Christ? 00:33:58.380 --> 00:33:58.960 And then he says this, 00:33:59.019 --> 00:34:00.740 because there's one bread, 00:34:01.359 --> 00:34:04.299 we who are many are one body, 00:34:05.299 --> 00:34:08.099 for we all partake of the one bread. 00:34:09.219 --> 00:34:11.420 You see, that's what unifies us. 00:34:11.420 --> 00:34:14.460 The work of Christ, 00:34:14.579 --> 00:34:15.480 the blood of Christ, 00:34:15.579 --> 00:34:17.139 the body of Christ shed for us 00:34:17.139 --> 00:34:17.780 for our cleansing. 00:34:19.680 --> 00:34:21.599 We aren't cleansed and justified 00:34:21.599 --> 00:34:22.440 by our culture, 00:34:22.619 --> 00:34:23.740 our educational background, 00:34:23.860 --> 00:34:24.880 our social status. 00:34:26.180 --> 00:34:27.300 We're all equals 00:34:27.300 --> 00:34:29.480 before the cleansing work of Christ. 00:34:30.960 --> 00:34:33.220 And that means the church is a place 00:34:33.219 --> 00:34:37.059 where, maybe out in the world, 00:34:37.419 --> 00:34:39.379 people who seem to be natural enemies 00:34:39.379 --> 00:34:41.959 become friends, 00:34:42.459 --> 00:34:45.159 where our differences 00:34:45.159 --> 00:34:47.879 are all submitted to Christ 00:34:47.879 --> 00:34:48.779 and to His kingdom, 00:34:48.779 --> 00:34:51.279 and we begin to value 00:34:51.279 --> 00:34:53.539 what each brings 00:34:53.539 --> 00:34:54.779 to the body of Christ. 00:34:54.780 --> 00:34:57.900 That's what it looks like 00:34:57.900 --> 00:34:59.460 to live as those 00:34:59.460 --> 00:35:00.420 who've been cleansed. 00:35:01.500 --> 00:35:02.560 So, brothers and sisters, 00:35:03.280 --> 00:35:04.260 as we come again 00:35:04.260 --> 00:35:05.019 to the Lord's Supper, 00:35:05.820 --> 00:35:07.600 let's rejoice again 00:35:07.600 --> 00:35:09.340 in the great and wonderful news 00:35:09.340 --> 00:35:11.920 that Christ has cleansed us. 00:35:12.920 --> 00:35:13.940 And at the table, 00:35:14.480 --> 00:35:16.380 let's renew our commitment 00:35:16.380 --> 00:35:18.840 to confess our sins, 00:35:19.380 --> 00:35:20.680 to walk in holiness, 00:35:20.679 --> 00:35:23.379 and to love our brothers 00:35:23.379 --> 00:35:24.440 and sisters in Christ. 00:35:25.639 --> 00:35:26.619 Let's pray together. 00:35:28.960 --> 00:35:30.960 Father, how very grateful we are 00:35:30.960 --> 00:35:32.799 for Your cleansing work. 00:35:34.799 --> 00:35:36.759 Jesus, we praise You for this. 00:35:39.699 --> 00:35:42.519 Lord, perhaps there are some here, 00:35:42.619 --> 00:35:43.259 even this morning, 00:35:43.339 --> 00:35:44.440 who carry the burden 00:35:44.440 --> 00:35:49.480 of a stained conscience. 00:35:50.679 --> 00:35:53.440 Lord, would You grant 00:35:53.440 --> 00:35:54.619 by Your Holy Spirit 00:35:54.619 --> 00:35:55.879 eyes of faith 00:35:55.879 --> 00:35:57.919 to see Christ 00:35:57.919 --> 00:35:59.799 as Savior, 00:36:01.519 --> 00:36:03.179 as purifier, 00:36:03.339 --> 00:36:04.079 as cleanser 00:36:04.079 --> 00:36:05.000 through His blood. 00:36:09.019 --> 00:36:10.079 And we ask 00:36:10.079 --> 00:36:11.119 for the Holy Spirit 00:36:11.119 --> 00:36:12.639 to do His work now 00:36:12.639 --> 00:36:13.719 as we come to the table. 00:36:14.819 --> 00:36:16.500 Fan the flames of our faith, 00:36:16.619 --> 00:36:17.039 we pray. 00:36:18.019 --> 00:36:18.779 Renew us. 00:36:19.739 --> 00:36:20.639 Renew our confidence 00:36:20.639 --> 00:36:21.639 in Your cleansing power. 00:36:21.799 --> 00:36:23.239 Renew our joy 00:36:23.239 --> 00:36:24.139 and sins forgiven. 00:36:24.719 --> 00:36:25.519 Renew our commitment 00:36:25.519 --> 00:36:27.239 to love and serve one another 00:36:27.239 --> 00:36:28.539 having been cleansed. 00:36:29.940 --> 00:36:31.440 In Your name we pray, Jesus. 00:36:32.500 --> 00:36:32.779 Amen. 00:36:33.460 --> 00:36:33.799 Amen. 00:36:33.799 --> 00:36:33.900 Amen.