Defiant individuals that pop up. Like weeds. but they always get struck down. Or Wherever they pop up, Capitulates and surrenders to them. It's sad to see Christians demand politicians who won't cave when they get to Washington, but demand their pastor caves to them when they come up with some bright idea.
Well, my other church did it. It's sad. You shouldn't be. Become a new wineskin. Lest you burst and make a mess of everything.
It's not too much to ask. We're not going to shave your head and send you off to Okinawa. Yeah. 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. And now, here's Pastor Rick in the book of Leviticus, chapter 8, with today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. 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 ephar, 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 Thuman 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 And a pouch, and in that pouch with a urim nethumin. 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 has How so many of them in their apostasy just trampled these wonderful things. No Christianity has experienced.
Similar. Verse nine 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 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, 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 of 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 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 out Phineas, you know, that grandson of Aaron, 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. 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. And so you know the words, so you can pick up on these things. What's happening right now, we gathered in this room.
in the presence of God Almighty, is hated by hell. Hell would like to destroy these kind of assemblies. That's why Paul said savage wolves will rise up. not sparing the flock, but Satan's counterattack.
So don't take these things lightly. What are you going to do with this, you learning the scripture like this? What are you going to do? Are you going to crumble when you get around a bunch of cronies who don't agree with what the Bible has to say, but you want to stay friends with them, so you throw Christ out the window so you can stay friends with them? If you do that.
then you will reap what you sow. Remember, you have heard it at home, and you've heard it here. Verse 10: Also, Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it, and consecrated them. Verse 11. He sprinkled some of it.
On the altar seven times, anointed the altar and all its utensils. and the lava and its base, to consecrate them. Verse twelve, then he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head, and anointed him to consecrate him.
So the them there are the articles. And of course, the hymn there is not a Bible song, but it is Aaron.
So even the utensils, the articles, consecrated, For this ceremony. Seven, of course, symbolizes completion, perfection. We should get that. The Laver spoke of cleansing. You're never going to get away from the need for cleansing.
Moses anointed with oil all the objects and the person using the objects. We should be saying that you know what, serving God is not a casual thing. regardless of what capacity you serve him in. Aaron was not smeared with oil. It was poured on him.
Mother's nice. If I came out in a suit and you poured oil on my head and rolled it all over my suit, I'd be pretty upset. But this was too glorious for something like that. Psalm 133, and this had to have survived the ages. By the time David comes along, this.
Had to be an eyewitness account. that made it even into the days of David in our time. It is like the precious oil upon the head. Running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron running down. on the edge of his garment, So it made it from his head all the way down.
That's how much. It says he poured it on him. That was the anointing, not a smear of oil. Not a sprinkle of oil. The high priest.
was doused. In oil. And oil speaks of the Holy Spirit and his interaction with men. As seen in anointings, in selection. Samuel took his horn of oil, and went to the sons of Jesse, and of those sons he poured oil on David.
The man after the heart of God 2 Chronicles 1. Chapter one verse twenty one Draws us into this experience, the church, the New Testament individual believer.
Now, he who establishes us with you in Christ has anointed us. is God. He who has established you in Christ and has anointed us. Is God? Paul constantly having to defend his ministry, As Aaron had to do with Cora and Abiraman, And uh Nathan and on.
This is an unpleasant part. of the faith that there are these defiant individuals that pop up. like weeds, but they always get struck down. Or Wherever they pop up, capitulates and surrenders to them. It's sad to see Christians demand politicians who won't cave when they get to Washington, but demand their pastor caves to them when they come up with some bright idea.
Well, my other church did it. It's sad. It shouldn't be. become a new wineskin. Lest you burst and make a mess of everything.
It's not too much to ask. We're not going to shave your head and send you off to Okinawa. Most of you might not know what that means, but the jarheads and the sailors will know that it means. Anyway. Verse 13.
Then Moses brought Aaron's sons to the and put tunics on them. girded them with sashes. and put hats on them As Yahweh had commanded Moses.
Now I could almost say, boy, I'd like a sash, but some wise guy will then put one on my desk.
So I'm not going to say that. But I mean this is These guys were outstanding. You could not confuse A priest with a Levite. Or or someone from Judah. They were outstanding.
They of course The tunic, the white robe, the sash, and the hat. They didn't have the ephod and the breastplate and the blue robe. But they still were distinct. In eight days two of these sons of Aaron will be slain in an act of bauched ministry.
Well, when James says in chapter three of his letter, verse one, Don't rush off to be pastors. You have a higher judgment to come. You could put as a reference there Leviticus ten, verse one. Strange fire Verse fourteen, And he brought the bull for the sin offering. Then Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull for the sin offering.
Well, as mentioned in verse 2, they were to bring a bull and the two rams and a basket of unleavened bread.
Well, this is the bull being slain as a sin offering. They were still sinners, even though they were. appointed to high service, and they would stay sinners. In high service, thus, the continuation of offerings of sacrifices every day. I guess when you say you put the hand on the beast, you know, when someone takes an oath, we in our country, you know, raise your right hand.
Well it's a very Clear moment. This is the person. giving you their word. Binding themselves to their word. That's the ideal.
And, you know, if you join the military, I don't recall too much. I recall the room, but I don't recall actually, I know I did. A lot of I don't recall a lot of meals I had in life. But anyway. It's a defined moment.
And if I were an older man back then when I was a younger man, I would remember more clearly. I would have held my hand up higher. because I would have understand the significance of these things. things can have great significance without being worship. They just stand by themselves.
Verse 15, and Moses killed it. Then he took the blood. And put some on the horns of the altar all around with his finger and purified the altar, and he poured the blood. At the base of the altar, and consecrated it to the to make atonement for it. I love how this is being written.
I mean, the person is writing this down. has got to be pretty serious with the whole thing. Moses officiating as the high priest. God using Moses, a man who once slew a man. In a clumsy attempt to help God's people.
Boom! Another lesson! How many times Christians have tried to help A brother or sister in the faith. but it was something very clumsy. and turned into a disaster.
Cause it wasn't thought out. It was impetuous. I got this God, I don't really need. your help or to pray about it. I don't know nobody would say that, I hope, but we sometimes behave that way.
Here in verse 15, a touch of the finger is all we need under God's instruction. Thunderous thing. It's just this little. all around with his finger, and purified the altar. Is this power in the blood?
How much more potent is the blood of Christ?
Well, I'm not going to take the time to read that, but you can reference Hebrews 9:14, where he makes the direct contrast between the blood of animals and the blood of Jesus Christ. It says, How much more precious is the blood of Jesus Christ? The ancient altars in that Middle Eastern world were often constructed with horns on the corners of the altar. And of course it symbolized its its spiritual power. Which would then mean its military power, its power for its economy, its power for its government.
and placing blood on the horns, Here Purifying the altar. And the elders are watching this. And the elders had a lot of power and influence over their people. This is why they're summons to see this. That it would influence them, that it would impact them, that they'd think about this when they were walking back to their tent and then would wake up the next day.
And then, when the priests began to implement these things at the temple, all of this was supposed to mean something to the people, and it did to this second generation out of. Egypt. This is early. And the Time. They've still they've got decades to go.
Many of those Who will march into the promised land did not see this with their eyes, but they read it with their eyes. They heard their parents and Elders talk about these things with excitement, And it transferred. Cutting off the horns of an altar made the altar unusable. That's in Amos chapter 3, verse 14 explicitly talks about that.
So without purification and anointing, Everything in the temple was unusable. It wasn't until God said, Now it's usable. Through this ritual. Those are very important. We Christians We have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.
And I'll come back to that towards the end. That alone makes up for all the ritual we don't have. We don't have the Jewish ritual. We have the Holy Spirit. And that is quite a powerful thing.
Especially when it's accompanied by Wisdom and discipline And S strict adherence. Or desire to strictly adhere, because who of us can be blameless? None of us can be blameless, but we can pursue blamelessness, and that is quite powerful. In Christ, whatever his blood touches is made pure. That is one of the takeaways for the church.
In verse 17, But the bull, its hide, its flesh, It's awful awful. He burned with fire outside the camp. As Yahweh had commanded Moses. You know, sometimes I read that word awful as a foul. Because it's hard to say awful when it looks like it says awful.
But But here's a big lesson about that. You can go and listen to a sermon by somebody who mispronounces a word here or there. Maybe they pronounce a lot of words wrong. But what they are imparting is quite powerful. And it overrules.
whatever grammatical errors they may be guilty of. This was the case with the Apostle Paul. But arrogance kicks in. And won't tolerate that. Arrogance will flag that.
You can't even pronounce the w And won't listen to all of the anointed language from heaven. And I think God allows us on purpose. Years ago, we were looking for a nice leather chair for the church, well, actually, for my office. And we really didn't find the one. But anyway, we went to this office furniture store and the salesman He was uh probably in his late forties, early fifties, somewhere like that.
But he's a bigger guy, you know what I mean? Just kind of you could tell he was athletic in his younger days. and he actually made some mention that he was a football player. And so I asked, Do you have anything genuine leather? And he looks at the tag of this one chair and he says, well, this is fox leather.
What is fault? And we're not going to embarrass him. We knew right away, and we just, well. That's not what we want. But the arrogance would judge him.
Arrogance would clobber that guy. And wasn't too big to clobber. That wasn't so. But I think about that sometime. That's not the whole man.
Not everything there is to him. He might make a better friend than than ten other people put together.
So we have to watch ourselves. And all of that from the word awful. Why does it have to be, it's not awful, it's awful. Anyway, verse 18. Then he brought the ram as the burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram.
Well, these are the animals from verse 2, verse 21 now. Then he washed the entrails and their legs in water, and Moses burned the whole ram on the altar. It was a burnt sacrifice. for a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to Yahweh, as Yahweh had commanded Moses. to single out this is God's system.
But this is poetic. The sweet aroma Anthropomorphic, yes. But Poetic, singling out God's delight at what's going on. Paul, when you know, he's going around starting churches and being chased from town to town. The church at Philippi that did not have many men when it started, not enough to make a synagogue, but they were all Jewish.
Until Paul and Luke, a Gentile, and his party came and there started that church.
Well, they would send money to Paul. They would support him. in ministry, in the work of the Lord. And when he writes from jail to them, He brings it up. Philippians 4 says, Indeed, I have all and abound.
I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you.
So he's kind of slowing them down. He's okay, don't keep sending me. You know, you're just flooding me with stuff. I know you love me, but it's quite humbling. But I have I'm good But then he adds this: I'll go back and back it up a little bit.
I am full, having received from Aphroditus. The things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice well pleasing to God.
Now, I mentioned that the church was largely Jewish, all Jewish pretty much, when it started, with the exception of those with Paul. A few with him. They would have understood that right away. They would have linked that to the Levitical offerings. And it would have been a blessing.
And that's what Paul is doing. And that's what is happening here in Leviticus. God sees it, and He's delighted. Paul was delighted, and he knew God would be delighted because the Holy Spirit was at work in the people at Philippi. To sacrifice some of their belongings so he could do better in ministry.
Yeah. But you 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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