Man, Exodus chapter 28, we've been away from this for a couple weeks because of
the holiday, but now we're jumping back in and if you remember we had just
finished up in chapter 27 with the courtyard. We've been talking about the
tabernacle, how it was built, the furniture of the tabernacle, we talked
about the incense altar, we talked about the Ark of the Covenant itself, we talked
about the candlestick, the table for the showbread, and we talked about how
basically the whole tabernacle complex, including the courtyard around it, was
actually about maybe 80% of the size of this auditorium, and then the
tabernacle itself was even much smaller than that. But anyway, I don't want to
re-preach all that material, but I want to remind you of something that we
talked about a few weeks ago was sort of these concentric levels of holiness,
right? So the courtyard is not as holy as the holy place, and then there's the
most holy place. And if you remember in the most holy place, often called the
Holy of Holies, or the holiest of all, in that place where the Ark of the Covenant
was and the mercy seat was, only the holiest person would go there one time
to the most holy place on the most holy day of the year, the Day of Atonement, and
that's the only time that the high priest would enter there once per year,
and he would sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat, and so forth. Now, the
significance of that is that the high priest going in there once a year, the
high priest represents Jesus Christ. The Bible talks about how we have an high
priest, and it is Jesus. In the book of Hebrews, this is very clear, and it talks
about how back then they would go there once a year with the blood of others, but
how Jesus Christ entered in once with his own blood into the holy place. So
what's being pictured here, everything that's being pictured with
the tabernacle, the animal sacrifices, the high priest, the clothing, it's all to
point us to Jesus Christ. So the idea here is that there's only one Savior. You
know, the reason only one person goes in there is because there's one Savior, and
it's Jesus. He's the only way. He's the way, the truth, and the life. No man
cometh unto the Father but by him. So that's why there's only one guy, the high
priest. So the high priest represents Jesus. Well, look at verse number one of
chapter 28. And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother and his sons with him from
among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priests office,
even Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons. Now what's
interesting is that it's not just Aaron who's the priest, he's the high priest,
but it's Aaron's sons that are the priests, okay? And what is pictured
here is that we as Christians, we are the sons, okay? In the New Testament we are
considered the sons of God, and so we are the priesthood as believers. And this is
an important thing to understand, that in the New Testament we don't have a
certain class of people known as priests, we are all priests if we believe on
Jesus Christ. And this doctrine is referred to as the priesthood of the
believer. So the Bible tells us in the New Testament there's one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. In the Old Testament the high
priest and his sons that are acting as priests, they were mediators between God
and the people. But in the New Testament there's only one mediator and that's
Jesus Christ. So if Jesus Christ is the high priest, we're not under a
Levitical priesthood, we're not the priesthood after the order of Aaron, it's
the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek where Jesus is the high
priest. So then who are the priests? Well you know the Roman Catholic Church or
other false religions, they have their own priesthood set up, don't they? Where
they say this guy is the priest, Father so-and-so is our priest, the Pope is a
priest, the Archbishop is a priest, the Cardinals a priest, right? Is that
biblical? Does the Bible have a New Testament special class of priests? Well
in the Old Testament what made you a priest is that you're the son of Aaron.
Aaron's sons are the priests. Now the tribe of Levi were not all priests. The
tribe of Levi were ministers that would serve in the tabernacle and they would
do service in the house of God, all of them. But it's only Aaron's sons that are
the priests. So what is the New Testament equivalent of that? Well who is the New
Testament equivalent of Aaron? Jesus, right? So if Jesus is our high priest, who
are his sons? Every believer. All of us as believers. So you see how this
Catholic priesthood makes no sense. Because if being a priest means that
you're the son of the high priest, well guess what? We're all sons of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We are all his children and so in the New Testament there's only one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, because there's us as
priests and then there's our high priest and then there's God the Father and
that's it. So this Catholic priesthood has no scriptural basis. Now you don't
have to turn there but in Revelation chapter 1 the Bible talks about this. Of
course 1 Peter chapter 2 says that we are a holy nation, we're a royal
priesthood, we are a kingdom of priests. That's what the Bible teaches. But in the
New Testament in Revelation chapter 1 it says in verse 5, and from Jesus Christ
who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the
prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved us and washed us from our
sins in his own blood and have made us kings and priests unto God and his
father to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. So Jesus has made
us priests. Jesus has made us kings and priests. We are priests. Now you say well
no no no it's it's you know the guy down with the collar backwards and the the
funny hat and he dresses like mama and calls himself Papa and whatever. But
here's the thing about that. The Apostles are not called priests in the New
Testament. You don't see Peter, James, and John anywhere being referred to as
priests do you? So this whole idea of the Catholics with their apostolic
succession and saying well this guy is a priest because of apostolic succession,
where do you see any of the New Testament Apostles being called priests?
Or where do you see them ever ordaining priests? Why didn't Paul tell Titus oh
well I left you in Crete so that you could ordain priests in these different
cities so that you could set up confessional booths and so then you could
absolve people of their sins. You don't see anything like that. What you see is
elders being ordained, bishops being ordained, you see preachers, pastors being
ordained, leadership being ordained, but you don't see priests being appointed.
And you know the Bible says no man taketh this honor unto himself but he
this called of God as was Aaron. You have to be appointed by God to the priesthood.
And there's an Old Testament priesthood, Aaron and his sons, there's a new
testament priesthood, Jesus and his sons. That's what the Bible teaches. This
Catholic stuff is just a made-up fake title of priests. Now because of the idea
of the Catholic guy being called a priest, some people when they hear the
word priest they just immediately just think Catholic. You know like for example
we have a street just one mile away called Priest Road and somebody said hey
you know this streets Catholic but I'm thinking no this is my street. And you
know I walked into a hospital and I parked in the clergy parking spot and
they said hey are you a priest? I said yes I am. Because I am a priest and so
are you. After the order of Melchizedek buddy. What not after the order of
Babylon because they're not of Levi. They're not even, what order are they up?
Hey I'm a priest after the order of Melchizedek. I'm under Jesus my high priest but you
know they're of the order of Babylon. They're a bunch of Babylonian priests is
what they are. Mystery Babylon okay. Mother of harlots and abominations of
the earth and all this pagan mumbo-jumbo that they have it's not found in the
Bible. It's not found in Scripture. It's a bunch of hocus-pocus that they borrowed
from Eastern mysticism and borrowed from the devil. So anyway I just want to make
that clear. Now here's the thing when we read this chapter in Exodus 28 and we
read about the priests garments these are some pretty elaborate garments. You
know you've got a lot of colors, you've got a lot of embroidery, precious stones,
gold, you got a hat, you got all this stuff and here's the thing. This is what the
Catholics are trying to recreate with their funny hat, with all the the shiny
garments and all the bright colors and things. What they're trying to do is
simulate this. You understand that? The Greek Orthodox Church is trying to
simulate this. The Catholics are simulating this to try, hey look I'm
wearing the outfit ergo I'm a priest. Folks you're a priest if you're saved.
They're not saved. They're not a priest and they can wear the fanciest outfit
known to man and that doesn't make you a priest. Dressing up like a priest doesn't
make you a priest and no one should be wearing this outfit by the way because
we're in the New Testament and if you think about it dressing up guys and
calling them priests and putting them in elaborate rich garments like this in a
way it's kind of a Judaizing if you think about it because isn't it kind of
taking us back onto the Old Covenant or Judaizing us or saying you know oh we
need a priest and everything well what's the pattern oh oh let's turn to Exodus 28
wrong we're in the New Testament New Covenant you don't see John and Peter
and James putting on a bunch of gold and bright green and shiny silver and
and emeralds and pearls all these it's not relevant physically in 2019 no one
should dress like this in 2019 period the purpose of the high priest in the
Old Testament dressing this way was to point us to Jesus Christ it's sort of
like when we're reading the New Testament we come to the parables of
Jesus and you've probably often heard the term parable defined as an earthly
story with a heavenly meaning who's heard that definition before an earthly
story with a heavenly meaning it's something that we can physically relate
to fishing or farming or a woman who's in the kitchen and she's baking and
she's leavening dough you know these are the kind of things that God uses to
teach us things because they're things that we can understand we understand
dough and well we don't because we're men but the women you know they
understand the leaven and they understand what it's like to lose stuff
in the house and go searching for the lost coin and everything and we as men
we understand fishing and farming actually we don't because we've lived in
cities our whole life but some men understand those things but God uses
illustrations of things that we do every day or we've seen or we understand to
illustrate a spiritual truth and you can't take those illustrations too far
eventually they're gonna fall apart no illustration is perfect because the
illustration is a shadow and just as if you looked at my shadow it's not my
exact shape but it gives you the idea of what I'm shaped like but it's gonna be a
little bit skewed because that's the nature of what a shadow is well the
Bible says that the law of God the tabernacle the priesthood were a shadow
so they point us to Christ you know if you follow my shadow eventually you're
gonna end up at me right because the shadow emanates from me so if we follow
this shadow we're gonna end up at Christ but we cannot see exactly what Christ
looks like from a shadow right so that's where we get into the four Gospels then
we get a much clearer picture than the shadow we read the epistles of Paul we
read the book of Revelation we're getting a clearer picture than the
shadow of the Old Testament but the shadow still points us to Christ the
shadow still teaches us something about right we can learn about Christ from the
shadow okay and that's what this is it's like a parable in the sense that it's an
earthly thing that has a spiritual or heavenly meaning so you know when you
see there's a breastplate that has 12 precious stones on it you say what's
that for what's the point of that well what does the Bible say let's read this
it says in verse number two and thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy
brother for glory and for beauty so what is the purpose of Aaron's garment it's
for glory and for beauty the point of Aaron wearing this outfit is that nobody
else wears this outfit the word holy if you actually go to the root of what that
means and you look up mentions of holy throughout the Bible holy means set
apart and you'll see scriptures where God uses those interchangeably holiness
and being set apart what does it mean to be set apart it means unlike anything
else different set apart not just common or everyday holy the holy garments for
the priest is basically to distinguish him he is dressed unlike anyone else no
one else is wearing what he is wearing and the idea behind that is that Jesus
Christ is without equal there's no other Jesus there's no one else there's one
Savior one high priest one mediator between God and men so all these bunch
of costume party Catholics you know they're posers there's only one folks
Jesus now Jesus he doesn't have to wear a breastplate with 12 stones and these
different things because here's the thing he already just inherently
possesses glory and beauty he already inherently possesses holy he doesn't
need a sign on his head that says holiness to the Lord because he has that
holiness intrinsically as who he is it's his being the priest though does not
inherently possess these qualities of holiness glory beauty he is a human
being his righteousnesses are as filthy rags so he has to dress up basically to
picture Jesus so he has to put on an outfit that makes him look different
than anyone else because Jesus is different than anyone else he has to
have a sign on his forehead says holiness the Lord because Jesus Christ
is holy because it's only through Christ's holiness and God's
righteousness that we can be saved we can be brought nigh to God and he has to
put on these breastplate of righteousness because he's not righteous
in and of himself Jesus is righteous in and of himself that's why he didn't die
on the cross wearing all this stuff he is all this stuff this stuff is a shadow
of the real thing and the real thing is the person Jesus Christ that's the real
thing so we see here the holy garments are for Aaron for glory and for beauty
and thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted whom I have filled with the
spirit of wisdom that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him that
he may minister unto me in the priests office and let me emphasize again that
when God gave the plans for the tabernacle he does not give you all the
information you need to build one he says you must build it according to the
pattern that I showed you in the mountain and here with the clothing he
says that he put wisdom into the hearts of specific people that they would make
this clothing so reading Exodus 28 you cannot recreate this outfit and believe
me many people have tried and people have recreated this they've done
drawings of it paintings of it or even a physical replica and wore it and they
preached a sermon hey this is what it looked like it's impossible to know
exactly what it looked like from this description you cannot read this
description and recreate this you you could get close you could get in the
ballpark but God specifically called certain people you think of bezel eel
and how God put in him the knowledge of exactly how he wanted this stuff to look
and then Moses has shown a model here's what it's supposed to look like Moses
here's what the tabernacle is gonna look like here's what the courtyards gonna
look at he saw the real one in heaven make it according to the pattern the
purpose of this book is not an instruction manual on how to make the
priests garment for us today in 2019 it is only so that we can take away the
spiritual picture the spiritual application because you cannot recreate
it from this text even if you look at the the name well it's got the 12 stones
listed okay but here's the thing those 12 stones is that the same stone that we
think of today with that a lot of times stones kind of change names you know do
we really know exactly what a chrysapras is and a chalcedony and these
different you know that there are theories about these things but it's
hard to know for sure because it didn't come with a picture there's no pattern
so don't get too caught up in trying to recreate this stuff or or get too caught
up in the physical of what's being described it's better to go for what's
at the end of the shadow Jesus that's what we're looking for when we study the
book of Exodus and we read this now Jesus Christ is a perfect picture or is
pictured perfectly by Aaron the priest in the sense that Aaron was the
mouthpiece of Moses now go back if you would to chapter 7 because remember
we're talking about the high priest tonight and his garment and Jesus is the
high priest so let's look at why the high priest is a great picture of Jesus
in Exodus chapter 7 the Bible says in Exodus chapter 7 verse 1 and the Lord
said unto Moses see I have made thee a God to Pharaoh and Aaron thy brother
shall be thy prophet thou shalt speak all that I command thee and Aaron thy
brother shall speak unto Pharaoh that he send the children of Israel out of his
land and if you remember the what was the whole purpose of Aaron even coming
along on this whole venture was that Moses said I'm not a good speaker I
can't speak well and then God said to Moses well I know that your brother Aaron
can speak well so take him with you and he'll speak and I'm gonna talk to you
and then you're gonna talk to him and so he says here in Exodus 7 you know I made
you as a god unto Pharaoh and Aaron's your prophet well stop and think about
this if Moses pictures God if Moses representing God Aaron is his
mouthpiece well where does Jesus Christ fit Jesus Christ is God's mouthpiece
think about that Jesus Christ is God spokesman because what is the Bible say
in Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1 God who at sundry times and divers manners spake in
time past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his son God spoke to us by his son Jesus Jesus is the spokesman
just as Aaron was the spokesman for Moses so why did I mean why did Moses
need a spokesman I don't think Moses needed a spokesman I think he's just
saying that because the Bible tells us in Acts chapter 7 that Moses was mighty
in word and indeed in the land of Egypt so according to Acts chapter 7 Moses was
already a great speaker in Egypt he was mighty in word indeed he was brought up
in all the learning of the Egyptians and he was a sophisticated educated
well-spoken man now he said oh I'm not a good speaker but you know what he was
coming with a lot of excuses wasn't he but I think the reason why God allowed
it to play out that way so that Aaron would be his spokesman is to show us a
picture of how Jesus Christ is the Word of God right he's the word made flesh
he is the spokesman so if you stop and think about it when we look at Genesis
chapter 1 for example and we see that the the world is spoken into existence
right the Bible says that by God's Word he framed the world right and here's the
thing by the Word of God he made the world but then it also says in the New
Testament that he made all things by Jesus Christ and in Colossians chapter 1
the Bible couldn't really be any clearer that Jesus Christ is the creator why
because he's the one who says let there be light he's the spokesman he has
spoken unto us the Word of God which is why his name is called the Word of God
and so Aaron pictures Jesus because Aaron's the spokesman Jesus is our high
priest so that's a parallel right there now back to Exodus chapter 28 it says in
verse number three and thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted whom I've
filled with the spirit of wisdom so again these are special people that are
being given an ability to know how to make these garments exactly the way God
wants them made that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him that
he may minister unto me in the priests office now what's the purpose of being a
priest it's to do what to minister what does minister mean to serve well what is
our purpose of being a priest we're to serve so God didn't save us to just sit
around and just talk about how great it is to be saved and it isn't this great
we're saved we're supposed to serve God being a priest you say oh cool I just
found out I'm a priest well the good news is you're a priest but you have to
work now you know if you're gonna claim that oh I'm a priest well okay are you
serving are you ministering there's a ministry that's a you say no no that's
where the pastor is the one who serves a deacon he's the sir that's what deacon
means servant okay but hold on a second I thought we establish the priesthood of
the believer you know what that also means every believer has work to do
because every if every believer has the position of a priest that's not just a
title that goes above your door or something that you know the Bible says
he that desire at the office of a bishop desire with a good work and if you are
gonna be a priest right as every saved person is automatically a priest
according to the New Testament then that means there's a job associated with that
so you need to spend your life serving God so we often talk about the
priesthood of the believer as hey isn't it great we have direct access to God
right we don't have to go through the confessional booth or go through a man
you know priesthood of the believer means there's one mediator between God
men the man Christ Jesus Jesus said in that day you shall ask me nothing he
said you'll ask in my name and you'll receive you'll pray to the father I'm
not gonna pray the father for you he said you're gonna pray to the five
paraphrasing but he says you're gonna pray to the father and so we pray to
God the father directly in the name of Jesus we boldly approach God the father
okay that's what we emphasize with the priests of the believer but the flip
side of the priests of the believer is we have a responsibility with privilege
with rights come responsibilities well we have the right as a priest to boldly
approach the throne of grace and prayer but we also have the responsibility to
be a part of the ministry of God's house and to get to work for the Lord right to
be preaching the gospel and to be laboring in prayer and in the ministry
of the word and to serve God to praise God so don't just go living your life
for yourself this year in 2020 all the things that you want to do and you got
your goals and your ambitions and your plans hey seek first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness in 2020 and all these things shall be added unto you
why because the most important thing about you is that you're a priest you
say I'm a plumber you're a priest I'm an electrician I'm a priest you're a
priest we're all I'm just so excited about being when I put myself in there
the point is you know what what is our identity we're here on this earth to
serve Christ number one number two everything else is number two number one
is serving Christ and so that's part of being a priest is we are not our own
we're bought with a price and we need to glorify God in our body and in our
spirit which are gods so we need to minister in the priest's office now in
order to minister in the priest's office the essential thing is the garment right
I mean that's what this whole chapter is about you've got to wear the garment and
in fact the garment is so important if you don't wear the garment and then you
do the work of the priest you die now look what the Bible says it says this in
multiple places but we could jump down for example to verse number 42 it says
thou shalt make them linen breeches breeches our pants britches to cover
their nakedness from the loins even under the thighs they shall reach and
they shall be upon Aaron and upon his sons when they come in under the
tabernacle of the congregation or when they come near unto the altar to
minister in the holy place that they bear not iniquity and die so he's saying
look wear these clothes or die everybody see that or you die it shall
be a statute forever unto him and a seat after him so what's the Bible teaching
here here's the thing salvation is like a garment okay the Bible uses this
illustration over and over again or this parable of the garment representing
salvation you know the Bible talks about how when the people get to heaven in
Revelation they're all issued white robes okay there that's important and
then we have of course the idea of being clothed in God's righteousness or God's
righteousness being a covering for our sin nakedness represents our sinful
condition and then clothing represents covering up our sin with God's
righteousness now when did clothing become a thing well if you remember in
the Garden of Eden they're naked right Adam and Eve are totally naked they're
not ashamed they don't think anything of it the man and his wife they're both
naked and not ashamed is how Genesis chapter 2 ends well once they eat of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil and they realize they're naked they hide
themselves and then they so themselves big leaf aprons okay this is a plant
based garment right a vegan garment and they sew together fig leaves into an
apron God rejects that garment and he outfits them with coats of skins skin
comes from an animal skin comes from an animal that you killed the animal dies
and then the skin makes the clothing well here's what that pictures that
pictures the fact that Jesus Christ the Lamb of God died in order to provide our
clothing a lamb was killed to provide Adam and Eve's clothing coats of skins
and the idea is that Jesus Christ dies and provides us with the robe of
righteousness with the garment of salvation now there's a parable in the
book of Matthew where there's a great wedding feast and he's got the wedding
for his son and people are invited there are a couple of parables they're similar
to this you know where people are invited and they don't come they make
excuses and that represents the Jews you know the Jews are invited and they don't
come he came into his own his own received him not so then of course he
says go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that my house
may be filled go get the poor the maim the blind but there's a great statement
in the book of Matthew in this parable of the wedding feast where he says bring
them in and he says good and bad so he didn't say hey only invite the good
people he said no bring good and bad people so that my wedding could be
furnished with guests and and the wedding is salvation I mean the wedding
is going to heaven the Jews are offered the kingdom of God the Jews are offered
salvation the Jews are offered eternal life they rejected it now obviously many
of them accepted it but as a nation as a whole the majority rejected it okay
those are the people who didn't show up at the wedding the people who do show up
at the wedding that are accepting the invitation the Bible is clear to tell us
that it's both good and bad people why because bad people are invited to why
because you don't earn your way to heaven by being good you earn your way
to heaven by accepting the invitation of a free gift which is not earning it
at all how do you get into heaven you accept the invitation what's the
invitation whosoever will let him take the water of life freely that's the
invitation you accept the invitation you show up you're saved good or bad then
there's a guy in the wedding who doesn't have a wedding garment on and if you
remember the master comes up to him and says friend how cameest thou in hither
not having a wedding garment and the Bible says he was speechless and he says
hey bind him hand and foot cast him into outer darkness there shall be weeping
and ashing of teeth okay what does that represent that represents the guy who's
not saved he's not been washed in the blood he's not wearing the robe of
righteousness he's not wearing the garment that Christ's death on the cross
provided everybody understand Jesus Christ died on the cross and there's a
spiritual garment obviously it's not literal we're talking a parable here the
clothing is the difference between salvation and being cast in outer
darkness you got the garment on in that parable you represent the guy who's
saved right the guy who doesn't have the garment is not saved he gets thrown
into outer darkness now did it say oh it just turned out all the bad people
didn't have a garment on no the wedding was filled with people good and bad one
guy didn't have a garment it doesn't matter whether he was good or bad that's
not the point the point is he didn't have a garment
everybody understand that guy thought he was saved he thought this is cool I'm
here right you know he's wearing I I guarantee you that guy was not in the
nude he didn't say hey how'd you get in here naked there's kids around what are
you doing you're nude no no the guy wasn't nude you know what he's wearing
he's wearing his own thing hey I'm gonna do my own thing I'm gonna wear my own
clothes I'm he's like whoa buddy where's the wedding garment you better have the
robe that God provides and you don't try to provide your own outfit of oh well I
got I got nice clothes too you know he his little tuxedo or whatever he wore
wasn't nice enough and so he's cast out and that's a picture of look if you're
not saved through Jesus if you don't have your faith and trust in Christ if
you're not wearing his righteousness you're cast out the Apostle Paul said
not having my own righteousness which is of the law but that which is through the
faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith so the righteousness
has to be Jesus's righteousness that we put it on we wear it so the priest's
garment you know you could say hey in order to be a priest you got to have a
certain garment on well you know that's the way salvation is right there's a
garment of putting on Jesus's righteousness now what's interesting
though is that the high priest's garment is not an animal-based garment it is a
plant-based garment okay now why is that why is it that as we read this we see in
Exodus chapter 28 the material that is mentioned what you could say there in
verse 42 we could look anywhere but verse 42 is where we just looked thou
shall make them linen britches to cover their negatives linen is not an
animal-based garment this is not coats of skins this is not pants of skins
these pants are made out of linen the efod is made out of linen linen is a
plant-based garment now what do plants represent plants represent works okay
the animal skin represents the substitutionary death of an animal
representing Christ substitutionary death to provide us with the covering
for our sin the plant-based garment is works okay so for example like we talked
about Adam and Eve they sought to cover their nakedness with a plant-based
garment that's them trying to do works and God says that's not gonna work we
need the lamb and then he gives him that okay then that's the first that's like
the first Bible story right I mean Adam and Eve what's the second Bible story
Cain and Abel what do we have Cain brings a plant-based offering of the
increase of the ground his works he tilled the field that was his job and he
produced fruits and vegetables God rejected his plant-based offering why
because that can't make an atonement for sin our own works are not good enough
you can't work your way to heaven okay Abel brings what the lamb he brings the
fat of the lamb the blood of the lamb the firstlings of the flock he brings
the animal-based offering and his offerings accepted why because his
offering represents Jesus Cain's offering represents our own works now
if you stop and think about it the high priest represents Jesus Christ okay he
he's not a substitute for himself you know he what you know what he's clothed
in there with linen there that's his works because the only one whose works
are worth a hill of beans are Jesus I mean think about it because like our
our righteousnesses are as filthy rags what about his righteousness his
righteousness is on point and so Jesus Christ if you think about it you know he
didn't just die on the cross for us before he died on the cross he lived a
perfect life the Bible says he went about doing good the Bible says we shall
be saved by his life okay he lived the perfect life that none of us could live
and when Jesus died on the cross it's not just that our sins were imputed
unto Jesus but it's that Jesus is righteousness is imputed unto us that's
why Jesus didn't just come down from heaven and just die on the cross the
next day I mean we could have right I mean God could have just said okay I'm
sinning my son and then Jesus Christ comes down and he dies on the cross you
know a week after getting he could have just done the Passion Week right show up
for Palm Sunday curse the fig tree do a few that you know what I mean do a few
things do a miracle whatever and then die on the cross no he is born and lived
the complete experience and he lived a perfect life and he went through
everything you know also so that he could feel what we feel we have not a
high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was
in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin so we have Jesus Christ born
as a baby living a perfect life and he did good works not only did he abstain
from sin he didn't just not sin he also did good things and those good things
are his righteousness his works and that's represented by his linen garment
here the high priest wearing a linen garment meaning his works now the other
priests are wearing a linen garment as well because we're clothed in Christ's
works so I'm not against you wearing a plant-based garment today okay you know
we're we're plant-based we're animal based but what's one of the laws in the
Bible that's one of the most made fun of laws isn't it don't the atheists love
are you wearing a mixed fabric garment who's heard atheists bring that up fools
idiots because you know what and hey don't be offended by that the Bible says
the fool has said in his heart there is no God I pity the fool who says there's
no God but the point is look God had that rule don't mix and he did by the
way he didn't just say don't mix any fabric that's how the atheists quote it
you know what the Bible actually says don't make a garment of linen and woolen
together that's what he said he didn't just say don't wear cotton poly blend he
said because help me out what's polyester isn't polyester like synthetic
like plastic or something I mean and then cotton is plant-based so wouldn't
it be fair to correct me if I'm wrong Oh Dow textile expert wouldn't be wouldn't
it be safe to say that both cotton and polyester are both non animal based
materials so if I'm wearing a cotton poly blend there's nothing animal based
about that everybody understand he didn't want them to mix linen and woolen
together because you don't mix Christ substitutionary atonement on the cross
with your own works it's not faith plus works its faith okay so look if you wear
a linen garment or if you wear a cotton garment or a hemp garment or whatever
you're into you hippie you know if you wear a plant-based garment you know one
way you could look at that is a picture of well it's works but I'm putting on
his works my works are no good my works are like a fig leaf apron that's not a
durable garment okay his works are what the linen garment represents putting on
Jesus works so the high priest wears it because he's wearing his own works in a
sense now obviously the high priest is just a human being like us but he
pictures the real high priest Jesus who had his own works so there you go with
the linen and if we were an animal based material then the picture would be being
clothed in the substitutionary death of cry we're saved by his death so
basically if you're wearing the animal based we're saved by his death if you're
wearing the linen based you're saved by his life plant-based were saved you know
it's all pointing us to Christ but there's no mixing is there we don't want
to mix because we don't want to misunderstand and think oh it's my works
it's my rights no no it's Christ's work that gets us safe not our own deeds that
we've done so that's the significance of linen in the Bible is it's a
plant-based fabric and so it has to do with works and then the animal base has
to do with the substitutionary atonement of Christ and you say well I found some
holes in in these parallel you're gonna find holes in it all day long why
because every parable has holes in it if you take every parable to its to its
most radical conclusion they're all gonna stop making sense at some point
you know I mean you can't just say like oh well we're supposed to be fishers of
men what's the hook represent you know what does that what's the net what do I
do you know you can't go too crazy with that you know he's using it to make
certain points about so hey you know the parable of the sower so I'm just gonna
go to helicopter and dump gospel tracks because it's a lot like sowing seeds the
sower sows the word so I'm gonna just paper the city eventually any parable is
gonna make no sense like for example you know the kingdom of Heaven's like a
pearl of great price a man finds it he sells all that he has to find it you
know does that mean we buy our way into heaven no so you don't want to take
parables and just make them mean whatever you want the Bible says as a
thorn goes up into the hand of a drunkard so is a parable in the mouth of
fools so a parable can be twisted to teach all kinds of crazy stuff so we
have to use the clear statements in the Bible to tell us how to understand the
parable you say well how do you know Pastor Anderson that you know that
you're right about the linen and everything here's how I know because the
Bible has clear statements that say we're saved by faith not by works clear
statement then I take that concept that I got from the clear statement it's all
faith it's not works then I take that back to Adam even I'm like oh okay you
guys made something a lamb died over here it's a no-brainer at that point see
what I'm saying so we don't just make up a meaning to parables or symbols or
types what we do is we use clear statements in the Bible and that is what
interprets the parable for us now you say well what's the point of the parable
what do we need a parable for we got all these clear statements hang parables
just tell me what's going on and you know the Apostles they thought the same
thing you remember when they said that to Jesus you know why speak to him in
parables you know or or why don't you just tell us plainly that's what a lot
of people said right now obviously in the New Testament one of the purposes
for the parables was so that some people would understand and some people wouldn't
you know it was like a code in a sense but here's a big reason for all this
symbolism I mean look why do we even have the book of Exodus in our Bible you
know why do we have all this stuff why all the parables why all the symbols
because the thing about symbols and parallel or parables or parallels
figures shadows is that they don't just tell you what the facts are they do it
with style and what it what a parable does for you or what typology or
symbolism does for you is it's more for your heart than your brain see all my
brain needs is Ephesians 2 8 & 9 as far as just what's the doctrine you know
all I need is Hebrews 1 1 to tell me that Jesus is a spokesman for God I got
it done move on but parables illustrations symbols they help us
understand the truth on a visceral level everybody understand what I'm saying
where we feel it emotionally so you go to church right and a preacher gets up
and uses an illustration to do what to reach you emotionally he could just
stand up here and just give you the facts hey we're saved by faith we're not
saved by work you know but when you see an animal who's ever been present when
an animal was slaughtered in your presence okay isn't that a little
different than just hearing about it look I was an adult the first time I
ever saw an animal slaughter I was in my 20s I believe I was what was it 2008 I
think so I was like 27 or something and I saw a pig slaughtered in Hungary with
my father-in-law who's Hungarian very proud of being Hungarian believes that
Adam and Eve were Hungarian as well and they spoke Hungarian in the Garden of
Eden but anyway and so does every other Hungarian think that by the way
because Hungarians are really into being Hungarian but anyway I was there and you
know he's really excited to show me this because this was a traditional thing
that they do and and and I'm telling you it was intense if you're if you're not
used to it and you're standing next to this 300 pound animal or whatever
getting just killed and bloods coming out like a garden hose I mean it's
intense now if somebody just told me oh yeah this is how they slaughter animals
they slit the throat blood comes out you're just kind of like okay all right
but when you're when you see that it's it you you actually are being reached on
a different level now does everybody understand what I'm saying so here's the
thing God could just tell us I'm holy I'm glorious I'm beautiful okay but what
does he do he shows us something that can give us a shadow of understanding
you know by building a tabernacle by building a courtyard by having the
priests garments and by massacring animal after animal and just killing and
blood and the liver and the kidneys and the fat and the burnt offering and
everything hey you know what those people back then when they saw that
stuff in the tabernacle they're seeing something that can help them appreciate
the gospel on a different level so when we read about being a fisher of men or
the parable of the sower we understand those truths now on a different level
does everybody understand what I'm saying so so you know when we read about
illustrations and stories they reach us in our heart and we feel things instead
of just knowing facts we actually understand it on a deeper level I mean
how many times has somebody explained a biblical parable to you or so and they
just clicked with you and you're just like wow now I really you know I always
knew that but now I get it now it really clicked with me you know sometimes people
call this an epiphany where you're just like oh now I get it and you know when
you got saved yeah you understood that it's by believing you understood that
Jesus died on the cross that he rose again but here's the thing look I got
saved when I was six years old don't you think over the years I've come to
greater levels of understanding of like wow this is what Jesus did for me or
this is what it means to be saved or this you know where things just clicked
or you had an epiphany you're reading the Bible and it's just like oh wow well
here's the thing when I had that moment of just wow it's it's usually not when
you're just reading a clear statement like for God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son that whosoever believed in him you know now I'm
sure a lot of people have had a lot of emotional experiences with that verse
and had a lot of epiphanies with that verse but you know when you grow up in
church you get saved when you're six years old you know you read Ephesians
2 8 9 it's like okay yeah I mean that's that's a great proof text to show
someone look here's something that's plain for you to see but when you're
really experiencing the mountain peaks of Bible study after being saved for 20
years 25 years 30 years when you have these just moments of revelation I'm not
talking about something extra biblical I'm talking about when you read the
Bible it's usually something that's more of an illustration or a parable or a
story and it just clicks with you how Joseph is like Jesus and now you
appreciate Jesus more you realize David is like Jesus and then you appreciate
Jesus for you Aaron pictures Jesus now you have a greater appreciation and some
of the greatest moments in my life have been just reading the Bible and just
receiving that illumination of reading something and just being like wow you
know discoveries in the Bible right you know and while some of you are screaming
and cheering and getting the most excited in life about a ball being
thrown around like the guy today when we were out soul winning and he said hey
I'm sorry I don't have time to listen to gospel because I'm watching a game right
now it's a really close game oh well if it's a close game then by all means you
know let's just forgo hearing the gospel and getting out of hell and going to
heaven right but here's the people get excited about things they get you know
they go backstage at a rock concert you know they're just because they get to
meet their star or their hero right but man I've had some pretty exciting
experiences just reading my Bible and and when you learn something and you
see something and something clicks and you're reading a Bible story that you
maybe heard like 20 times before a hundred times before and then all of a
sudden you you realize I get it and I'm not talking about just on a mental level
but on a visceral level like standing there watching the animal be slaughtered
right you know where you're like whoa now I get it you know you have those
moments when you're reading the Bible and usually it's in a more obscure
passage it's in a more darker saying or a parable or an illustration right so we
don't want to get this idea oh forget all this stuff you know what this stuff
helps us appreciate Christ in a new way I mean I can get up and tell you hey
here's what the Trinity is here's what the doctrine of justification is here's
what it means to have eternal life here but when you read about these garments
and tabernacle animal sacrifices you know what different things are gonna
click for you at different times and I think you could walk out of here even
though you already saved maybe five years ago ten years ago twenty years
ago you could walk out of here saying wow I have a whole new appreciation for
salvation now I understand salvation from a new angle or now I have a greater
appreciation for who Jesus Christ is okay because it's something that is on a
visceral level of something that we can connect with not just hear about it in
its most abstract forms but actually have something that's more tangible to
our actual lives you know like things like clothing food drink work that we
perform whatever so these passages are great passages they're important and
they all point to Jesus now this is why the Jews they miss it if you're not
looking for Jesus it's all gonna go right over your head now a lot of people
and I'll close on this thought you know a lot of people think that the Jews
believe in the Old Testament don't they oh the Jews believe the Torah I mean if
I had a nickel for every time I heard that I'd be a wealthy man but you know
what Jesus said he said well if you believe Moses you would have believed me
but if you believe not his writings how she believed my words and you say well I
don't know if that's I meant okay well case in point what's the book of Exodus
about why is it called Exodus what does Exodus mean you're leaving Egypt right
what's it about it's about how they were what what were they in Egypt slaves
they're in the house of bondage right okay so what did the Jews say to Jesus
in John chapter 8 we be Abraham seed and we were never in bondage to any man how
say ye then you shall be made free you know what they're doing there they're
letting it slip out that they don't actually believe Exodus isn't that what
they're doing they're letting that slip out by saying well we were never in
bondage it really because your entire Torah that you proclaim as your most
exalted scripture are called the books of Moses and they're all about Moses
leading you out of Egypt we were never in bondage to any man you know what
they're saying we don't believe the Bible and you know what if you talk to
today's Christ rejecting Jews you know what they'll tell you they don't believe
that the Hebrews were ever slaves in Egypt they don't ask them go to your
Jewish scholar go to your rabbit hey we've done it we talked to the rabbis we
asked him about Bible stories we asked about Genesis we asked about creation
evolution big bang we were making our marching design film folks they don't
believe the Torah at all and that's that's the book that they claim is the
most inspired by God is is Genesis through Deuteronomy they don't believe
in it even to the point where they don't even believe that they were even in
bondage to any man and they have all these theories about how you know well
we just think maybe you know the Jews spend some time in Egypt not the Jews of
course they back then they're called the Israelites or the Hebrews but
they'll say you know we just believe that you know they migrated from Egypt
into Canaan you know around like you know 1300 BC or you know they they have
just this watered down they don't believe in the ten plagues they don't
but what did they say we're never in bondage to any man they miss it folks
so don't don't go to the Jews to figure out what Exodus means go to the New
Testament to figure out what Exodus means Jesus is on every page the spires
have order prayer father we thank you so much for this chapter Lord we thank you
for this book and we thank you for our identity in Christ as priests Lord help
us to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith were called and help us to walk
worthy and do the works do the ministry of the priesthood we don't have to work
to be saved we're already saved we can't lose our salvation we're secure and
sealed under the day of redemption but Lord help us to please you by being good
priests and doing the work that you've given us to do and in Jesus name we pray
amen