Holy To The Lord

[0:00] book of et cetera and today we'll be reading verses 31 through 43 beginning verse 31 you shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue it shall have an opening for the head in the middle of it with the woven binding around the opening like the opening in a garment so that it may not tear on its hem you shall make pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet yarns around its hem with bells of gold between them a golden bell and a pomegranate a golden bell and a pomegranate around the hem of the robe and it shall be on aaron when he ministers and it sounds shall be heard when he goes into the holy place before the lord and when he comes out so that he does not die you shall make a plate of gold of pure gold and engrave on it like the engraving of a sydney holy to the lord and you shall fasten it on the turban by a quarter blue it shall be on the front of the turban it shall be on aaron's forehead and aaron shall bear any guilt from the holy things that the people of israel consecrate as their holy gifts it shall regularly be on his forehead that they may be accepted before the lord you shall weave the coat and checker work of fine linen and you shall make a turban of fine linen and you shall make a sash embroidered with needlework for aaron's sons you shall make coats and sashes and caps you shall make them for glory and beauty and you shall put on them so you shall put them on aaron your brother and on his sons with him and shall anoint them and ordain them and consecrate them that they may serve me as priest you shall make for them linen undergarments to cover their naked flesh they shall reach from the hips to the thighs and they shall be on aaron and on his sons when they go into the tent of meeting or when they come near the altar to minister in the holy place lest they bear guilt and die this shall be a statute forever for him and for his offspring after him let's pray together dear heavenly father we thank you that you have given us your word lord again we are looking at minute details of the clothing of the priest and lord while that is far removed from us yet lord you've been gracious in past weeks to show us christ to show us how this relates to us how it speaks to us of heavenly realities we ask that you do that again lord work through the preaching of your word for your glory we pray this in christ's name amen and just a reminder what we've been looking at we've been going through the clothing of the high priest we've been going through the whole book of exodus but we've seen the tabernacle and the furnishings of it now we've looked at the high priest and the clothing that he wears and we've talked about how his clothing was connected to his priestly function it was symbolic it said something about what he was to do and we've talked about with the tabernacle and with the high priest that these hebrews tells us is speaking to us of heavenly realities

[4:01] it's showing us what's true in heaven and so as we've looked at the clothing of the high priest we've looked at our great high priest jesus christ and so so far we've seen the ephod and its purpose and meaning we've looked at the breast piece of judgment both of which had or both of those had the names of the tribes of israel that the high priest would carry into the holy of holies before god but this week we're going to look at really this crown or this plate of holiness to the lord so as we do so let me go ahead and cover the more interesting or humorous or whatever you want to say part there at the end and say that the priest had to be holy everywhere god was concerned for him to be holy everywhere that includes even holy underwear we see in verses 42 through 43 something like boxers but they had to wear this it was a covering for modesty sake but again we see the intricate detail that god has given for his priest even the underwear he tells them what to wear every bit of the garments mattered as they would go into god's holy place god dictated every detail that's all i'm going to say about that it's dealt with we'll move on okay but in terms of specifically holiness they were wearing a plate of pure gold now remember as we looked at the maybe we could say concentric i want to say circles but squares as we go outward we've seen pure gold in the holy of holies we've seen gold in the holy place or most sorry in the holy place and then as we've gone outward to the courtyard we've seen silver and bronze and so now we have here the high priest and he's wearing this plate across his forehead on the turban of pure gold and so it symbolizes again that holiness that cleanness as they would enter into the most holy place and it says on it holy to the lord we see in verse 36 you shall make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it like the engraving of a sydnet so this is again a type of jewelry work like we've seen with the jewels holy to the lord and i said it's kind of like a holy crown later in the book of ets it's actually called a holy crown you can even see this if you look down at verse 6 in the next chapter chapter 29 and you shall set the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban and so he's wearing a crown of holiness a holy crown before the lord and what's the reason or the purpose for this well we see that given to us in verse 38 it shall be on

[6:59] Aaron's forehead and Aaron shall bear any guilt from the holy things that the people of israel consecrate as their holy gifts it shall regularly be on his forehead that they may be accepted before the lord and so the reason he's wearing this plate is so that god's people and their sacrifice that the high priest is bringing before god may be accepted what does it have to do with them being accepted i think one this is a realization that the high priest himself isn't holy to the lord he's set apart to god he is set apart to be holy to the lord but he's a sinner like the people and the people he's representing are set apart as holy to the lord but in practice they're not holy and so he wears his plate he puts it on so that god looks upon it and remembers that they are to be considered as holy because of the sacrifice and then we see under the breastplate he wore a seamless robe look at verse 32 start verse 31 you shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue it shall have an opening for the head in the middle of it with the woven binding around the opening like the opening in a garment so that it may not tear and so he wears under the ephod a garment of blue without any seam but yet sewn around the top so that it would not tear and the word for blue here in the hebrew means bluish purple or violet

[8:45] I kind of thought about sometimes let me if you'll allow me to use a stereotype that as guys sometimes we have about the primary colors and then degrees of darkness or lightness of them you know there's blue and there's dark blue and there's light blue and maybe we could say a purplish blue you know there's some nuances here I actually had to look up what is violet what color does that kind of look like a deep blue to purple and you look at it and there's I mean you can look at google images later on but the variety I mean it's broad from looking to me blue to looking purple somewhere in between the two but the hebrew word is kind of vague in that that it could mean either one but what's interesting I think is in John 19 23 we see that when the soldiers it says had crucified Jesus they took his garments and divided them into four parts one part for each soldier also his tunic but the tunic was seamless woven in one piece from top to bottom so as Jesus goes to the cross we read that he wears a seamless tunic and then in verse 2 of John 19 and the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe and again this very well may be a similar or shade of the same color that the high priest would wear in their mockery they put upon him a robe that matches with the high priest he's wearing a robe underneath that is without seam and they place a crown on him but not a crown that says holiness but a crown of thorns

[10:23] I think again this is just a reminder that Jesus went to the cross in his role as high priest for us and so I want to take some time to look specifically at Jesus and how he fulfills this purpose I said Jesus our holy savior I could have said our great high priest as I've done in past weeks but Jesus our holy savior so God provided a high priest who would cover their guilt with holiness God did that for Israel and that was a tie of the reality of the true priest that true great high priest whom God would provide listen to Hebrews 9 24-28 I think we've looked at this most weeks but listen to it again Hebrews 9 24-28 for Christ is entered not into holy places made with hands which are copies of the true things but into heaven itself now to appear before the presence of God on our behalf nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world but as it is he is prepared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself and just as it is appointed for man to die once and after that comes judgment so Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many will appear a second time not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him and so we see

[12:22] Christ as that high priest he's entered not into the copies but into the actual reality in heaven itself that great throne room of God that was only represented by the ark of the covenant and the holy of holies and he offered one time sacrifice it says in verse 25 of that passage as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own but Christ came in once for all with the blood that was his own so Jesus bore all our guilt and he gives us all his righteousness you may have noticed the reasoning behind why the high priest wore the holy we talked a little bit about it but I skipped over a part look at verse 38 with me again it shall be on Aaron's forehead and Aaron shall bear any guilt from the holy things that the people of Israel consecrate as their holy gifts let that sink in for a moment what is the guilt that he's to bear bear any guilt from the holy things that the people of Israel consecrate as their holy gifts he's responsible for the guilt of their holy things

[13:38] I think that's amazing I want to come back to that idea of that guilt that's there but as we think about understand that Jesus bore that guilt on our behalf and he gives us in place of the guilt of even our holy things his righteousness listen to 1 Peter 2 24 he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness by his wounds you have been healed and of course that's looking back to Exodus 53 where we see there that he Jesus was pierced for our transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we are healed all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one of us to our own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all so as we think about that title holy to the

[14:42] Lord that title belongs to Christ and to no one else any holiness that we have we may put on us or place upon us we're giving Christ righteousness we're clothed in his righteousness but it's not inherent in us he alone was truly holy to the Lord and without that sign of holiness Aaron could not minister before God he couldn't enter into the presence of God without first having that sign holy to the Lord I think so too Christ cannot minister in the heavenly reality of the holy of holies apart from true holiness he has to have holiness he has to be perfectly holy to minister before God the father and he is and therefore he's accepted as that high priest and we're reminded that we're we are accepted think of the people of Israel the high priest was to go before God wearing holy to the

[15:54] Lord representative of the people they're holy to you they're set apart their guilt's to be covered in holiness it wasn't anything in them it was the work of that mediator and so too we're reminded that we're not accepted because of anything in us are we there's nothing in us that makes us acceptable to God Ephesians 1 6-7 says to the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved who is Jesus in him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace Christian how are you accepted what is the basis of your acceptance he says to the praise of the glory of his grace by which by what by glory I'm sorry by his grace he made us accepted in the beloved

[16:56] Jesus Christ so by grace we are accepted in Jesus Christ because we've been united to him it's nothing in us and I think about that high priest and how they put the turban on him and they put the sign on him holy to the Lord but as I said we all know he wasn't holy he may be clothed in holiness but he's not holy in and of himself but unlike the high priest and all of the people of Israel and can I say all of us as well Jesus doesn't put on holiness he doesn't wear holiness as an outward garment he is holy Hebrews 7 26 for it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest what kind of high priest do we have listen to the description given in Hebrews 7 holy innocent unstained separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens that's the high priest that we have remember remember that this earthly high priest was created was made this whole office exists to point us to who

[18:14] Christ is he is holy to God and therefore he is our holiness and righteousness we come to God not on the basis of how holy we are we could try to be the best people we could be and we would all fall short all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God but we come to God we approach God we come to his throne because of the holiness and righteousness of Jesus Christ our Savior listen to 1st Corinthians 1 30 and because of him you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God righteousness and sanctification and redemption Christ is those things for us wisdom righteousness sanctification redemption so we've seen some of the crown we looked at the holiness of our Savior Jesus Christ I want us to consider more in detail what I mentioned earlier our guilt I said earlier we see in verse 38

[19:24] Aaron shall bear any guilt from the holy things that the people of Israel consecrate as their holy gifts even their holy gifts would carry guilt we're not told exactly what that guilt is were they blemished sacrifices were they insufficient in some way probably more than anything it's the fact that the sinners who are bringing it it's insufficient it lacks the ability to do what they so desperately need but it's the thing about our guilt listen to 1st John 2 1 but if anyone does sin we have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteousness but if anyone does sin does anyone sin do you sin we're reminded that when we sin we have an advocate a mediator again a high priest who is righteous

[20:32] Jesus Christ the righteous and so we see that we need a high priest much like the Israelites did because we are not holy we can't go into the presence of God God sets this one man apart he sacrifices each time for himself he wears a crown on his head that says holy to the Lord all this he might enter to his presence but even then he's nothing but a man we know that because of our sin we cannot enter into God's presence and so we need a holy priest because we're not holy we need one who doesn't wear holiness but who is himself holy I have a longer quote from Spurgeon because I thought he did a good job in evaluating our guilt this is from Spurgeon C.H.

[21:26] Spurgeon he says did we ever do anything yet that did not have some spot of iniquity on it again think of the Israelites bringing that sacrifice as they bring the sacrifice even their sacrifices have guilt he says is not our repentance after all very poor stuff compared with what it ought to be is not unbelief midst with our faith has not our love a measure of lukewarmness in it did you ever seem to the Lord yet with pure reverent praise without these being some forgetfulness of the God to whom you sing I have never prayed a prayer yet with which I have felt content from my first prayer until now I have need of grace to cover my short comings at the mercy seat no act of consecration no act of self sacrifice no rapture of fellowship no height of spirituality has been without its imperfection if even the apostles on the mount of transfiguration feared as they entered into the cloud and wandered in their speech not knowing what they said is it not strange is it no strange thing that we are like them if we ourselves see much to regret what must the eye of God behold again a long quote but I hope it helps to drive home that even our worship is tainted there's nothing that we're doing that isn't without its fault

[23:10] I thought especially when he talked about singing as we sing hymns here in church do your mind sometimes wander do you sing the words knowing the words because you memorized them years ago with very little thought do you sing them maybe even thinking about them but not actually attributing them to God not giving him the worship that stood his name or our prayers he says and Spurgeon is a man who have great respect for he's never prayed a prayer that he was content with even our sacrifices our worship are tainted with guilt Phil Ryken says this if we look to Jesus in faith the way the Israelites look to their high priest we will be holy to the Lord so often we try to cover up our sin dressing ourselves up to be good enough for

[24:11] God what we ought to do instead is to confess our sin and look to Jesus for our salvation and so we're encouraged to look to that high priest that one who himself is truly holy to look to him for our justification it is only Jesus righteousness that enables us to stand before God now I want to take a little time to apply this more in depth to us I said before all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and so I can say you sinner whoever you are here today you need such a high priest you need such a savior we've talked about in previous sermons the beauty and glory but look at verse 40 because we see it repeated there for

[25:12] Aaron's son shall make coats and sashes and caps you shall make them for glory and beauty and I didn't spend much time looking at this but you may notice that these priests don't have the same garments not the ephod not the turban with the holy to the Lord on it but even what they wear is to be for glory and beauty we talked about in a previous sermon heavenly realities and how this is related their garments are to be glorious and beautiful because they represent Christ who is our savior so as we think about that to serve God to enter into his presence especially as we think about to enter into the holy of holies we have all these requirements set before us we have to be holy we have to be beautiful we have to be glorious filled with glory

[26:15] I don't know how you're doing on that standard I think if you set that before me as anything else that I had to accomplish before I could do something I would never be able to do anything I think of the children sometimes and how they'll ask to do something and we may say once you get your room clean you can watch a movie what if God were to say to you once you are holy beautiful and glorious you may stand who could stand before him there's not one of us that can stand before God in his presence there's not one of us that meets that standard which is why God gave the high priest but it points us to Christ who is our high priest and let me rephrase that to stand in the presence of

[27:22] God we must be holy beautiful and glorious or be represented by one who is that's the difference that's the key none of us measure up to the standard but Christ has the high priest exists because Christ exists they were copies and shadows of the reality who is Jesus Christ if God's people could be represented in the throne of God by this high priest how much more so can we come to God because of a high priest we've seen God's standard of holiness we've seen also our guilt and so we need atonement for our guilt and for our sin but we have such a high priest who is holy and beautiful and glorious who stands ready to save who offers an atonement for us that

[28:28] God may look upon us and see us as holy as our high priest is listen to Hebrews 7 25 consequently he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them Jesus Christ died was resurrected and lives today and he's at the right hand of the father interceding for you interceding on your behalf pleading the atonement of his sacrifice that we would not be guilty that God would not look on us in our sin but see in us the holiness of our great high priest Jesus sins ready to remove our guilt and to cover us in his holiness 2nd Corinthians 5 21 for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of

[29:35] God I think of illustrations in revelation of our robes being removed and replaced with clean white robes or white robes washed in the blood of the lamb symbolizing Christ's righteousness but it's also part of me that thinks we're not wearing righteousness we don't put Christ's righteousness on us to cover our guilt and sin the reality is in union with Christ we are righteous that in him we might become the righteousness of God so Christ is our holiness he is our righteousness he is our beauty he is our glory I mentioned a few weeks ago Galatians 3 27 for as many of you as were baptized into

[30:38] Christ have put on Christ as we think about that putting on Christ being Christ being righteous in him declared righteous by God I think often we miss this because of English versus Greek but in the New Testament what we see over and over again is Christians are called saints and that isn't saints in the way that it's used probably in our culture around Hazleton it's not the idols that are in people's yards the word saints in Greek literally means holy ones and so Paul would write letters now think about again the church in Corinth to the holy ones in Corinth the church in Corinth had its problems didn't it there's probably not a lot of people look at them and saying those are holy people but Paul speaking of the realities that are theirs in Christ Jesus they are saints they are holy ones and so the

[31:40] New Testament recognizes Christians as holy ones that is who you are that is your identity in Jesus Christ if you are a Christian today and so we're encouraged to rest in Christ's holiness I mean what do we do when we look at the standard and say oh we have to be perfectly holy we have to be beautiful and glorious and we don't measure up well I think what we do is we rest in Christ's holiness we know that we are holy in Jesus Christ I think it leads us to love Christ more and more for providing for us that righteousness that we could not provide for ourselves for being our holiness even as I say that I think we are also encouraged to live as holy ones now want to be careful here because I've already said we're not holy we can't be holy we don't act holy we sin we all sin and it's not our being holy or acting holy that gets us into heaven we've seen that right it's the holiness of another one it's the holiness of our great high priest

[32:57] Jesus Christ but yet we ought to live out who we are in Christ our in him our identity we're to live like that here's a quote from Richard Baxter the Puritan he says remember your ultimate purpose and when you set yourself to your day's work or approach any activity in the world let holiness to the Lord be written upon your hearts in all that you do don't wear it as a sign but to be mindful of all that we do and all we go about that we're doing it with the ideal in our heart holiness to the Lord holiness to the Lord so out of love for Christ our desire ought to be to live like Christ to be like our Savior to live out who we are in him listen to

[34:02] Hebrews chapter 10 verses 19 through 23 therefore brothers since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain that is through his flesh and since we have a great high priest over the house of God let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful isn't that amazing since we have confidence to enter the holy places that's crazy I mean it really is you think about the high priest I don't know that

[35:02] I would have wanted Aaron's job I mean there's that part of it says how awesome would it be to be the person who got to be the closest to the presence of God on the face of the earth to enter into that holy place before God but will you also be mindful the fact that I know what I said this morning I know what I thought even a few minutes ago I know what I did to that person yesterday I mean I could recount list after list of how I would fall short and so I imagine well I think of even when the angels appeared to people you know their response what do the angels always say to them fear not do not fear why well whatever they saw made them afraid or Isaiah when he in a vision saw

[36:05] God holy holy holy is the Lord God almighty the whole earth is filled with his glory and then what was his response to that woe is me for I'm undone obliterated vaporized before God woe is a proclamation of judgment upon me I deserve to be judged before because I'm standing before a holy God and I'm a person of unclean lips I live amongst a people of unclean lips he knew his sin therefore brothers we have confidence in the holy places how can we confidently enter not not the shadow not the tabernacle or the holy of holies but how can we with confidence enter into the throne room of God one day I think daily in prayer but I think he's speaking also of there will come a day in that day of judgment we will stand before God do you have confidence to enter into

[37:05] God's presence I was talking with a friend recently we were discussing the gospel and faith and he has a different understanding of things and because of that there's no confidence there's always that possibility that if I did the wrong sin at the wrong time and I died before I made repentance for that I'm a goner there's no hope for me brothers here's the hope since we have confidence in the holy places by the blood of Jesus that's our confidence it's not who we are it's not our holiness it's the blood of Jesus that makes atonement for that which is unholy by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain the veil that is through his flesh and since we have a great priest over the house of God again what's our confidence it's the blood of

[38:06] Jesus it's that we have a great priest over the house of God he then moves on and says let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith let us draw near to God with our your water let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promises is faithful how can we have confidence to enter to God's most holy place into his presence into his throne room what hope is there for us it's the blood of Jesus is that he's continually interceding for us as our high priest we have a greater high priest but also notice it says hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for here's the reason why he who promises faithful and so it ultimately becomes a question of trusting

[39:08] God is God faithful to what he's promised well yeah he is and so as crazy as it sounds for us knowing our own hearts we can enter with confidence in the presence of God both in prayer but ultimately when we die and what is the basis what's the foundation for that it's not that I was such a good person again may we live lives with holiness to the Lord written in our hearts may that be our motivation in all that we do but at the same time knowing we're not going to heaven based but when I do I'm covered by the blood of Jesus Christ and I have him as my high priest who intercedes on my behalf who proclaims to God this one is holy to the Lord and therefore we hold fast to that confession of faith we know that we're going to stand there because he who promises faithful let me ask all of you here is that true for you what is the basis for your confidence do you even have confidence to stand before

[40:27] God earlier in the worship leading we talked about the righteous judge and judgment there will come a day when we will all stand before a righteous judge what's the basis or foundation for you standing before that judge Hebrews 10 gives us the basis for hope and confidence to enter into the holy places it's the blood of Jesus Christ it's our great high priest and it's his faithful promise that we will be saved through him that's your only hope none of us are perfectly holy I don't care how good looking you are we are tainted by sin and we are not beautiful in the sight of God we are not glorious all glory that we might ever possess is but reflected glory of the glorious one himself and so I want to encourage you plead with you put your confidence in that high priest put your confidence in that blood that you may be washed clean that you may be holy to the

[41:39] Lord let's pray together dearly father we thank you that though we have sinned and fallen short of your glory that yet Lord in Christ you have called us and made us holy Lord that you have bestowed upon us beauty and glory not in an outward garment but in the person of your son that you have washed our filthy righteousness our robes that are tainted by even our good deeds even our worship Lord that you have washed them in the blood of the lamb we pray Lord for all who are here today that they would place their hope and trust in that blood and in that high priest in whose name we pray all these things amen let's reflect on those things by singing hymn 248 holy

[42:50] Jesus 248 people Wheat Holy JesusIN 53 As thou offended, that man to judge thee, and in faith pretended, thy clothes derided, by thine own rejected, O most afflicted.

[43:37] Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon me? God, that's my treason, Jesus hath undone thee.

[43:57] Was I, Lord Jesus, thy aim was behind thee. I crucify thee.

[44:12] O the good shepherd, for the sheep is offered. God's name hath stilled, and the Son hath suffered.

[44:31] For our atonement, thou be not thee beeth, not interceded.

[44:46] For me, my Jesus, was thy incarnation.

[44:56] Thy mortal sorrow, and thy life's oblation. Thy death of anguish, and thy bitter passion.

[45:16] For my salvation. Therefore, my Jesus, since I cannot pay thee, I do adore thee, and will ever pray thee.

[45:42] May God thy pity, and thy love unswurning. God, my eternity.

[45:57] Now know that you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession.

[46:09] Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Amen. Amen.