It should protect you when you start hearing strange doctrines. particularly coming from churchgoers. wherever it comes from. You have every right to say, I don't recall that being in the Bible. Be very careful.
Learn how to discern. To discern, you've got to connect dots, you've got to draw lines, you've got to be exposed to God's Word. If you're gonna put your big boy clothes on, in the faith. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville.
Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Leviticus. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Leviticus chapter 8 with today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. And once again, a reminder. We think about the Levitical priest, they have nothing in common.
with Roman Catholicism's priests or or anybody else. Closest To it is the royal priesthood of believers. Leviticus draws us, I think, because it is about the Jewish people drawing near to their God. Jeremiah said, Let him who glories. Glory in this that he understands and knows me.
I think about that verse a lot. to understand and to know the Lord, It fills a lifetime. The events in this chapter were actually introduced in the book of Exodus. But the tabernacle was not finished, so they could not implement What God gave them concerning the priest, you know, the garb that the priest would wear, and the actual taking the sacrifices to the temple. After chapter 40 in Exodus, the last chapter, Leviticus begins.
Now the temple is complete. Moses is receiving instructions and They're they're sort of uh All over, for instance, were given the burnt offering first, but when the priest actually made the offerings, the sin offering would go first.
So, not sticking to. Order in that sense in Leviticus. By the time we come to chapter eight through chapter ten, Now the priests are going to be ordained, And the sacrifices will begin.
So The first ordaining of the priest Along with the consecration, of the instruments used and what they were wearing too. That's what we're going to get.
So we look at verse 1. Leviticus. And for you younger Christians You go to a church where we go through the Bible verse by verse. Even if you don't count the comments of the pastor, you have the verses. This should arm you.
It should protect you. When you start hearing strange doctrines, particularly coming from church goers, wherever it comes from, You have every right to say, I don't recall that being in the Bible. Be very careful. Learn how to discern. To discern, you've got to connect dots, you've got to draw lines, you've got to be exposed to God's Word if you're going to put your big boy clothes on.
in the faith.
Well, that's just sort of a... That doesn't have anything to do with talking about other than Christianity overall. Verse 1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, Take Aaron, and his sons with him? And the garments The anointing oil, a bowl as a Sin offering, two rams. And a basket of unleavened bread.
Now, the specific instructions on how God. wanted these proceedings to take place. given to Moses, and then Moses would carry it out. God saw all of Aaron's sins, of course. Prior to this, Aaron was the one that told the people, Bring me your gold.
When they said, As for this Moses, we know not what. You think he would have said, Hey, that's my brother. Don't be talking about him like he's dead. But Aaron doesn't do that. Bring me your gold.
And of course, he fashions, he fashions, the Bible is very clear. The golden calf, when his brother comes down off the mountain with Joshua in back of him, He even lies, I just threw it in the fire and this came out.
Well, this is that Aaron. God saw beyond. His sin, his error, his moment of profound weakness As is the case with all of us, it's that way with Peter, it was that way with Paul. Luke chapter 19 says, When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, Zacchaeus. Make haste, come down, for I to day must stay.
at your house. There's a picture. For us, dealing with the very thing I'm talking about, God seeing beyond. our shortcomings, our error, The record shows that the Lord the Lord Jesus Saw A higher than natural Look at Zacchaeus. We catch that.
The natural that was Aaron sinning the spiritual That is God using him. Overcoming the shortcoming. Zacchaeus, he's up in a tree, and the Lord looks up at him. and the imagery as he saw beyond low levels Achaeus. He saw something else, and it's a beautiful story.
That's what Jesus says. The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. What a profound scripture verse. Anyway, the garments mentioned here in verse 2 are the priestly garments covered in Exodus 28. The anointing oil exclusive to the priesthood.
If you concocted Anointing oil Following this recipe, and you put it on, that was a capital crime. Exodus 30, 32 gives us that. A bull as the sin offering, two rams and a basket of unleavened bread.
Well, sin is dealt with first, because sin is the worst feature of all concerning man. It's what separates us from God. If it weren't for sin, we wouldn't be separated from God. Sin's worst feature, separation. Surprisingly, The altar's first use, which is coming up here in a moment, It's not true.
Aaron is through Moses. And he's not even dressed like a priest, though he's of the same family as Aaron. He's the representative of God, and till this ceremony is completed, as far as offerings at the temple. The first man to offer at the temple was Moses. Aaron and his sons Have not yet been consecrated.
purified ritually For this act Moses is so close to God that in his anger when he threw the tablets down, Who would have done that? I think we think, I would never have thrown, I would have thrown Joshua down before I would have thrown the tablets, but Moses was like, well, I'll just get others because he's that close to God. Talks to him face to face. I think, you know, there's some of that going on there.
Well, verse 3, and gather all the congregation together at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.
So Moses, verse 4, did as Yahweh commanded him. And the congregation was gathered together at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, Well, it's a public event. Eyewitnesses are going to see this.
However, It would be impossible to bring all the people to the tabernacle. Two million people. Come on, it's not going to happen. You have the tabernacle in the center of the camp, and then you have all the tents of the people around surrounding it in order. But still, A couple of million people.
So, this is limited to the tribal leaders and the VIPs. Which is sufficient. It d I mean, it's just a practical part of the whole story. Even if everybody was to come, you you just couldn't see past the crowds. You wouldn't all you would see is smoke coming up from where the altar was, which really wouldn't be much more.
and the backs of whoever was in front of you. Verse 5, and Moses said to the congregation, This is what Yahweh commanded to be done.
So creativity is forbidden in certain places of our faith. And that's a good thing to know. The Mormon Church never they didn't figure that out. Nor did the Jehovah's Witnesses, nor did the Roman Catholics, and there's a whole list of others who think that they can just add thing, make things up and put it in. We should accept it.
Verse six Then Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water.
So appointed by God was Aaron, And his sons, they still needed cleansing for ministry. A perfect picture of justification and sanctification at work. Calling, the calling, and you know, being right with God, the justification. but then subsequent development. Subsequent Events It's not enough to be called.
It's not enough to be saved. Other things should be happening after that. As glorious as justification is. Hopefully that's not all you have. We get to the church in Ephesus, and Paul came across those believers.
They were believers, but it wasn't enough. And Paul sprang into action, and the Spirit fell upon them.
So This washing. In its metaphor, It's a powerful metaphor. Just because something's a metaphor doesn't mean it's insignificant with God. Go the other way very quickly. Be very significant with God.
The communion table is. Imagery But it's very powerful.
So much so. Paul says, because you're sick, some of you are dying. You're playing around with these things. Titus chapter 3, verse 5: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy. He saved us.
Through the washing of regeneration. That is. Conversion And renewing of the Holy Spirit. It's sanctification. This reminds me where it says again in verse 6: Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water.
Reminds me of John's Gospel chapter 13, when Jesus washed the apostles' feet in preparation for apostolic ministry. They had to be washed before they were really going to be turned loose. Right now, they lived in his shadow. He was just there for him. But once he's risen, they begin to carry.
The flag of Christianity And Of course, we don't have time to get into John 13. I was just reading it before I came out. I said, Boy, I need to preach on this right now, too.
So anyway, verse 7. And he Put the tunic on him, girded him with the sash, clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod on him, and girded him. With the intricately woven band of the ephod, And with it, tied the ephod on him. This is just incredible. You just think about what's going on here.
And I believe this is the proper order. Again, Leviticus doesn't stick to You know, order jumps around a little bit. But here I think it is strict to the meaning.
So here are two brothers. Moses and Aaron. Aaron's the older brother by a couple of years. But they're both in their eighties at this point. The associate priests, the sons of Aaron, They're there, but we're not getting to them until we get to verse 13.
Moses is going to first deal with Aaron, who's the high priest. He's anointing him as the high priest.
Now, the tunic. and put the tunic on him. A white, skilfully woven long garment, I almost like a gown, a long shirt with long tails. You go down to your ankles almost. And out of fine linen.
Worn beneath the outer robe. We haven't gotten to the robe yet. and Aaron and his sons, of course, wore linen undergarments, Britches Beneath that. You get that in Exodus 28. God says, you ain't coming in here.
I don't want to see any nudity.
So that's not mentioned in this section, but as I gave you Exodus 28, verses 42 and 43, if you want to look at that up after service. girded him With the sash.
Now that's a fancy belt. And this is going over the Uh The tunic, not the robe. You see a lot of the drawings of the priest, and they have it the other way around.
Well, there's room for that if this is not strict. To the order of the garments he's wearing, but I think it is strict to the order. because everything falls in place that way. Exodus 39. A sash of fine woven linen with blue, purple, scarlet thread made by a weaver.
Aaron was looking good when he was done. This wasn't cheap stuff. There's no polyester here. Anyway. Cloth him with the robe.
Now that robe is worn over the tunic. The tunic goes to the ground and almost the ankles, and so does the robe. Exodus 28, verse 31: You shall make. The robe of the ephodes. All blue of all blue.
So the tunic is white, the robe that goes over that just doesn't button up. Uh that's blue, God's favorite color and mine too. And it should be yours, and if not. The pastors will be up Sunday morning. You'll have to wait until then.
Exodus 2833 And upon its hem, you shall make pomegranates of blue. Purple and scarlet all around its hem and bells. Of gold between them all around.
Well, we're not told explicitly what those bells were for, but you knew when the priest was coming, the high priest, you better get out of the way, you know. When you see me coming better, step aside a lot of men didn't, a lot of men died. That's right. Shoveling coal number nine. Anyway, coming back to this, you heard the high priest coming, and when he would minister behind the veil, you could hear.
Some speculate that if you heard the bell stop long enough, if he was in the Holy of Holies, he was probably smitten dead. But we have no evidence of anything like that. But the hem of the garment, it's not the same as in the Gospels when the woman. who reached through the crowd and grabbed the hem of his garment, What Christ was wearing is a different Greek word to a garment. A garment was just folded around him and wrapped over his shoulder, and part of the corner of it dangling over the back, and that's what she grabbed hold of.
More than likely, that's the part of the garment she could get.
So it's not as Jesus was walking, she grabbed The hem of his garment, because we think of the hem, we think it's hanging down by the ankles. That's not the case, but it is here. The bells are at the hem of the garment by the ankles. And then it continues. And he girded him with the intricately woven band.
band of the ephod. Moses again addressing Aaron for ministry. It had to be a beautiful moment to see this, these two brothers there ordained by God, and Israel's getting her first high priest. This is more powerful than her getting her first king. But Exodus thirty-nine.
Speaking of the ephod, which is like a vest, A tactical vest, a molly jacket kind of thing. Anyway, uh, Exodus 39. And they beat the gold into thin strips and cut it into threads to work it. With the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine linen into artistic designs. They made the shoulder straps For it.
To couple it together, it was coupled together at its two edges. What's being stressed is the craftsmanship. Going into this The garb of the priest.
Now, this had straps, like it would look like suspenders, but it was, you know, shoulder straps. And it was sort of Join together. And that's not the only thing that had Was tied together other than the sash, you had the ephob, but still we get to we gotta get to the breastplate, which is coming up too.
So, this is that vest on the outside of the robe.
So you have the white tunic. And then you have the blue robe over that, and the blue and white's already a nice look. And then you put this robe on it. It's probably got sort of a reddish-orange kind of thing going on. with the blue and the gold in it and the reflection that it would make Long before Norwick's, God was mixing metals with materials and putting them on people.
So anyway, he's got this vest on with the shoulder straps. On the top of the shoulders are those onyx stones with the tribal names inscribed, six on each shoulder. This is just a lot of. You couldn't go down to the Army Surplus Store and find this. And with it, tied the ephod on him.
Well, the straps, and there's a waistband, not a cumber bun, but there's a waistband nonetheless. Exodus 28:8. And the intricately woven band of the ephod, which is on it. shall be of the same workmanship. No shabby work here.
I just love this section. Verse 8. Then He put the breastplate on him. And he put the Urim And Thummen in the breastplate.
So the breastplate is worn over. The ephod, which is that tactical looking vest. It's beautiful though. It's not in camo or black or anything. It's just a beautiful thing.
Well, the breastplate has the stones of each tribe, twelve stones on it, and a pouch. And in that pouch with the urim and the thumen. That were used to discern the will of God. We don't really know much more about them. A lot of speculation, but that's all it is, and I'm not going to.
waste of time Getting into that because again, it's speculation, but this is not speculation. Deuteronomy 33, verse 8 says that these belong to God. He singles those out. The priest, what the priest is carrying on his heart. And not only The emblems of the tribes, the people.
But contact with God. And this was a layered garment, so that by the time we get to Kings and we see the defilement of the priesthood. We have a better understanding of how abominable it was, and how the people who were entrusted with the scriptures and the miracles. The light of God. How so many of them in their apostasy just trampled.
these wonderful things. No Christianity has experienced Similar. Verse 9. and he put the turban on his head. He's not done yet.
It's the final piece, it's the crown. Also On the turbine On its front he put the golden plate The Holy Crown. As Yahweh had commanded Moses.
Well, we get that in Exodus 39, verse 30, and what it says: holiness to the Lord. the turban of our high priest, Jesus was the twisted crown. of thorns, And the engraving on that on his crown of thorns was the Holy One. As Simeon said when he gave his blessing there in the temple, the Holy One. continuing in verse 9 as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
Now, this phrase, we've already had it several times. It occurs at intervals through chapter nine. And what it is doing, it is upholding the Aaronic priesthood, Aaron's priesthood. No one but Aaron and his descendants could be in This Office was an ordained system. You'd think that'd be enough.
God has this showdown, you know, where he has to take the rod of Aaron and Bud's ripe almonds. It's like going to a store and buying a walking stick made from a Piece of dead wood that's been dead for years, and then it bears fruit. That was a miracle. And this is when Cora and Dathan and Abiram and On Defiled The people themselves, really, in their defiance of what God ordained. God said, This is my system.
And they said, Moses, you and Aaron, you think you're just big shots. You take too much. Who made you the boss?
Well, Yahweh. And they found out. And they paid with their lives. And yet we see this constant in born-again Christians. Defying, you know, God's system.
Well, I don't take time talking about that. You probably have just as much knowledge about it as I do. Aaron, here he is in full dress now. He's got the hat, the vest, the ephod, the blue robes. In contrast to the white, It's a striking figure.
He's distinct. When you see him dressed like this, he's distinct from every other man on earth. Nobody's got this. Nobody can duplicate. God bless these artisans with building the temple and putting together these clothing of the high priest.
So when you looked at Aaron now, You no longer saw Aaron the man. You saw the high priest of Israel. See, that's what I started out with. That Aaron, you know, in spite of his sins, God saw beyond that. saw what he would use.
On behalf of the people. God was not a better God because of this. But the people Many of them were. Then we get, of course, later on, we find Alphineas, you know, that grandson of Aaron. He just, you know, he's a fierce dude.
I can't wait to get to Phineas. But uh anyway. Here is this man, the striking figure, ministering amongst the people as. The outstanding one. Nobody came close.
Jesus is the outstanding one. who ministers amongst His own people. And we pick that up in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 16. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. The people knew Aaron.
He was one of them. Not anymore. It's a prefigure of Christ. When Christ came, He dined with the apostles, he talked with them, traveled with them, but after the resurrection, things got a little different, did they not? In Revelation, John fell down dead, as if dead, at his feet.
And the Lord lifted him up. Things change. The priest is the mediator. Between man and God. For there is one God.
1 Timothy 2, verse 5, and one mediator between God and men. The man Christ Jesus. That's what the Bible says.
Now, I mentioned you get to know these things.
So, when you go out in the world and they start hitting you with lies and heresies and man-made Teachings, you'll say, wait a minute. You you pray to Mary to get to God? My Bible says there's one mediator and she ain't it. It's no offense. intended except at the heresy.
We certainly do take our swords to the heresy, that you should not be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. And yet, there are Christians out there who tell you they love the Lord and they gobble that kind of stuff up. And if it isn't coming out of the Roman church, it's coming out of some other free church or some other thing. Yeah.
Okay. Thanks for tuning in to today's edition of Cross Reference Radio. Pastor Rick Gaston is currently going through the book of Leviticus. We're glad you joined us. We trust that you're gaining some valuable insights into God's Word as we go through this Old Testament book.
Cross-Reference Radio comes to you from Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Virginia. If you'd like to subscribe to our podcast, you can do so by going to your favorite app store and downloading from there. For any additional information about this ministry, we invite you to visit our website, crossreference radio.com. Make sure to come back again for the upcoming edition in the book of Leviticus, as Pastor Rick has much more to share. We thank you for being with us right here on Cross Reference Radio.
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