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On May 26, 2021: Numbers 19 Picture A Different Kind Of Offering · Teachings On This Day On FerventWord

• You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2021. Well, I've titled the message this evening here in Numbers chapter 19, Picture a Different Kind of Offering. Picture a different kind of offering. Of course, we've spent a lot of time talking about the various offerings as we worked our way through the book of Leviticus. You had the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, these different offerings that were the common and typical offerings that the children of Israel would sacrifice to the Lord in their relationship with God, in their walk with God, and in dealing with their issues of sin. But very interesting here in Numbers chapter 19, we have completely separated from the rest of the laws and instruction about offerings. We have a completely different offering. It's a completely different kind of offering. There's some similarities, but in many ways, it is a vast departure from the other sacrifices that we're so familiar with from Leviticus chapters 1 through 5. And so here in this offering, we get to consider some different aspects of offerings and sacrifices and some different things that the Lord wants to paint a picture for us. Now, of course, we look at the sacrifices in Leviticus and we see there the picture of Jesus over and over and over again and the different sacrifices and all of the different details. And And this time is no different, except for it's a little bit different. It's highlighting some different aspects of the sacrifice of Christ. And so we get to consider the sacrifice and the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf as we consider this chapter tonight. And so we're going to look at four points this evening, considering this different kind of offering and the picture that God wants to use this to paint in our minds and in our hearts. The first thing for us to consider here is in verses 1 through 10 is picture Jesus dying upon the cross. It's a different kind of offering. Here in verses 1 through 10, we see all of the details and instructions about it, and it helps us to picture Jesus and his death for us upon the cross. Now, you might think, well, wait a minute. Don't all the sacrifices do that? I thought this was going to be different. Well, the sacrifices all point to the work of the Lord, but again, it points to, each of them points to slightly different aspects of of his sacrifice and the work that he did for us. And so what we need to consider as we work our way through this passage is, what do we get here that's different? What do we get here in this passage? What is it emphasizing and highlighting for us that's different than the other sacrifices? And the first thing that stands out here in verse 2 is that it's a particular kind of animal that is to be sacrificed. In verse 2 again it says, this is the ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying, speak to the children of Israel that they bring you a red heifer without blemish, in which there is no defect, and on which a yoke has never come. And so the main thing First difference that we see here is that God highlights a particular kind of animal, not just a particular kind of animal, but a particular color animal. In the other sacrifices, there's particular types of animals named, but there's a lot of, you know, variety that could be had in the different animals that are sacrificed to the Lord. So, In this case, there is only one particular kind, and it has to meet certain criteria. Specifically, it has to be a red heifer. And so a red heifer would be a female cow that has never given birth and is, you know, probably fairly young, but is specifically red. Now, When you read through this today, or as I'm talking about the red heifer, that might be something that's familiar to your ears, that you might, like, oh yeah, I remember hearing about a red heifer, and you might have even heard about it in the news, if you've ever, you know, investigated and considered some of the prophetic things about the things that are to come and the temple that will be built, and you might have even heard about it in the news, if you've ever, you know, investigated and considered some of the prophetic things about the things that are to come and the temple that will be built, you will inevitably hear about and be considering the red heifer because the red heifer was something that was part of the, not the instigating, but the, what is that word? The inauguration of the temple and the tabernacle involved the use of a red heifer. And so in looking at, you know, the rebuilding of the temple and the temple that is to come, future events, you'll find a lot of things related to a red heifer. And sometimes it shows up in the news, Israel's found a red heifer. And, you know, there's been several that have been found over the years and then they're judged and disqualified or not disqualified and all of that. Those are kind of side notes that I'm not going to get into and into that kind of element of prophecy this evening. But the thing I would ask you to consider as we think about a red heifer is, And kind of the point of this sacrifice was it was a rare animal. As opposed to, you know, brown or black or white or spotted, it was to be a red heifer. And so it was not that it was impossible to find, but the idea was that it was a particular, you know, completely red cow that was rare to find. Right? Now, if you follow Jewish regulations, which I wonder how much they line up with what God originally intended, right? They might be taking it too far, like has been done in other cases as well. But according to very strict Jewish regulations, a red heifer could only qualify to be a red heifer if no two black hairs were found together. So if there were two hairs that were black on the animal, that was okay. But if they were right next to each other, disqualified. It's not a red heifer anymore because two black hairs are next to each other. And it could not have more than three black hairs in total. And so, you know, you can imagine this great investigation, you know, combing through the hair of the animal, trying to make sure that there was not these hairs. Now, God doesn't go into that kind of detail here. And so that may or may not be, you know, something that God intended when he gave this instruction. But again, the point is to find an animal that is completely red, even in the general sense, if we're not talking about down to every last hair, It would be a rare find. It would be something unique. And I would suggest to you that, again, it's part of the picture that God wants to paint here for us this evening as we think about this sacrifice, this offering, and the rarity of the animal that was to be offered. Jesus was a rare kind of offering. I would encourage you to think about it in contrast to the rest of the sacrifices that All of the rest of the sacrifices, they had the standard that the animals had to be without blemish, but they were all regular animals that everybody could find. They were all, you know, everybody had them in their herds and flocks back home. And, you know, it was, didn't matter what color they were. It didn't matter, you know, this or that about them. There was not that much detail. It was just, you know, a few things. They had to be without blemish, without any defect in that way. They were not, this was not just a common animal. And Jesus, in a similar way, was a rare kind of offering, not a typical offering, not a typical dealing with sin or approach to God. He was something unique and rare, of course, the only one of his kind, the only begotten Son of God. And so the red heifer really points us to Jesus. And there's so many connections to the death of Jesus here in these first 10 verses. You'll see this as we go along. And I'm going to kind of hit some of the parallels that we can consider together. First of all, the animal was to be sacrificed outside the camp. In verse 3, it says, you shall give it to Eliezer the priest, that he may take it outside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him. And so this animal would not be sacrificed or killed at the tabernacle like the rest of the normal sacrifices, this one was different. It was to be led outside of the camp, still alive while it goes through the streets of Jerusalem, later on when they would move into Jerusalem, right? Still alive as it would move along past the tabernacle, past the temple later on, go outside of the camp or outside of the city, and then there the animal would be put to death. And of course, that is the same thing that we see happen with Jesus himself. Think about what the author of Hebrews says in Hebrews chapter 13. He says, Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. The place Golgotha, the place of the skull where Jesus was crucified, was just outside Jerusalem's walls. It was just outside the camp, just outside the city. And so the author of Hebrews is drawing this parallel here, just as the red heifer would be led outside and killed outside of the camp, And then he's picturing here the leading outside, right? The leading of Jesus outside as he bore the cross until he could no longer carry it. And then Simon of Cyrene was brought in to carry it for him, right? And there was the bearing of this shame, bearing the reproach as he was led out in front of everybody to be sacrificed, to be executed outside of the camp. And so this red heifer pictures that sacrifice of Jesus at Golgotha, the outside of the camp that he was killed there on the cross in Golgotha. Another really interesting thing and parallel as we consider these things is that the red heifer was slaughtered in view of a priest, but not by a priest. All the other sacrifices would be brought to the tabernacle, and the priest would be there while usually the offerer, the person offering the sacrifice, would slit the throat. But the priest was there to officiate and to help with that sacrifice and all that needed to be done. And then, of course, there were many sacrifices that the priests themselves offered. But in this case, the impression here is given that the priest is there to oversee, but he's not directly involved in the action. Verse 3, you shall give it to Eliezer the priest that he may take it outside the camp and it shall be slaughtered before him. And so the animal is killed, but not by a priest. There's a couple people with Eliezer the priest when this first occurs. And you'll see that there's three people involved in this whole process to sacrifice, to offer the red heifer. One of them is a priest, Eleazar. It's two other guys that are not named or specific. They're not necessarily priests. There's just two other guys. And one of them will slaughter the red heifer before him. It's interesting to consider that Jesus was killed, but not by a priest, but a priest himself. oversaw the execution of Jesus, right? Jesus was turned over to the Romans. The religious leaders didn't put him to death themselves. They turned him over to the Romans who took him outside the camp and killed him while the Jews and the Romans and others watched and watched the execution take place. It shall be slaughtered before him. In verse 4, it talks about the blood. It says, One of the unique things about the sacrifice of the red heifer was that it was not to be bled. There was going to be blood, of course, with the killing of the animal. That was normal. But normally, they would drain the blood out of the animal. But the red heifer didn't have that same experience. In verse 5, It was to be completely burned. Now you have the burnt offering back in Leviticus, which was completely burned, but not with its blood. This one was different, highlighting for us the blood and causes us to think about perhaps the blood of Jesus, right? That the blood of Christ, this sacrifice was not a normal sacrifice that was bled out, but the whole animal, the whole offering was executed in that place completely and entirely. But it really gets interesting in verse 6, where you have now it says in verse 6, And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet and cast them into the midst of the fire, burning the heifer. So you're seeing this picture develop, right? The animal is led outside of the camp. It's killed in front of the priest who's overseeing everything, making sure it's happening correctly. Some of the blood is sprinkled, but the whole animal is then placed onto the fire. And as it begins to burn, now some other ingredients are added to this offering. Some scarlet, some hyssop, and some cedar wood. Now, scarlet, of course... There's what's known as the scarlet thread in the scriptures, right? You can follow that scarlet thread, which is a reference to, it's a way to communicate that the blood of Jesus Christ and the shedding of his blood on our behalf is woven through the scriptures. There's a scarlet thread that as you work your way through the scriptures, you get to see, you know, the hints and previews and foreshadowings of Jesus all the way through. And this is no different. We have a scarlet thread here as the scarlet is cast into the fire while the red heifer is being offered. It's interesting that Matthew chapter 27 records for us the Roman soldiers before they crucified Jesus, says the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the praetorium, gathered the whole garrison around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. Jesus, as he is about to be crucified, as he's about to be executed, now they introduce this scarlet thread, this scarlet cloth, which would be this red like blood robe that they would place upon him. And so scarlet connects us directly to the crucifixion of Jesus here with the Roman soldiers putting that robe upon him. We can also think about hyssop. Hyssop was this branch that they would use a lot of times to sprinkle things, right? It was like a little kind of a brush. And so it was a branch, you know, full of different kinds of leaves. And so they would dip it in the blood. You might remember them, you know, on the doorpost with the Passover lamb and putting the blood. There was hyssop involved in the cleansing of the leper. We looked at that a little bit as well in Leviticus. And so hyssop here was another kind of plant. tree, a branch from a bush, and this was to be placed into the fire that was burning the red heifer. It's very interesting because in John chapter 19, we have this connection of hyssop to Jesus. John chapter 19, verse 28, after this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there, and they filled the sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, And put it to his mouth. And so this branch, this hyssop that would be thrown in the fire for the red heifer as it was burning, this branch was now used to reach up to Jesus and produce a sponge with sour wine on this hyssop as he says, I thirst. Now it says that scripture might be fulfilled. What scripture might be fulfilled? Well, There's some passages in Isaiah that consider talking about him thirsting, the Messiah thirsting. But also perhaps the passage here in Numbers chapter 19, so that at this sacrifice of the animal that there would be these elements, the scarlet thread, the hyssop branch. And finally, the cedar wood. Now, I don't have a scripture to turn there for you on that one. But many scholars, as a result of this, many Bible teachers, as a result of these other connections, many people believe that Jesus would have been crucified on a cross made of cedar wood. Now, we can't say that biblically. We can't say that for sure. But we can speculate and imagine and come to our own conclusions about that. Whichever way you look at it, though, there is a red theme to this whole sacrifice, right? It's a red heifer. Not a brown one, not a black one, not a spotted one. It's a red heifer. Cedarwood is involved, which has a reddish tint to it. The scarlet thread is involved, and depending on which... The person you're studying with, hyssop, might be a reddish type of bush as well. And so there's this picture of the blood all the way through the sacrifice, which causes us to think about Jesus, causes us to think about what he did for us upon the cross, that work that was accomplished. And what that means for us as we continue on in the chapter, how that is applied to us is important to consider. Now, I'm not going to get into the details, but again, I mentioned earlier, there's three people involved. In verse 7, verse 8, and verse 10, you can check that out. There's a watcher, the priest who watches. There's the burner, the one who kills the animal and places it on the fire. And then there's the gatherer. That is, after the whole animal has been burned down to there's nothing left but ashes, the It's the ashes of the animal, as well as it's, you know, combined with the ashes of the cedar, the scarlet, and the hyssop. And all of these ashes are gathered together by this third person. So a watcher, a burner, a gatherer, and perhaps there's some things to reflect on there. I don't have, you know, specific insights to declare, but some interesting things to consider perhaps. But the ashes were to be kept. And that was the whole point of this. All of this was leading up to verse 9. Check out verse 9. Now again, we have the sin offering. We have the trespass offering. And we have the picture of Christ found in those, but here we have this other type of offering. It's completely different, whole different set of instructions, whole different, you know, pictures being painted here, but clearly declared it is for purifying from sin. And so these ashes were to be gathered up and preserved. They would be, you know, kept in this clean place so that they could be accessed continually as needed for the children of Israel. Perhaps you could think about it a little bit like dehydrated soap. They would bring out these ashes, mix in a little bit of water, and then they would use that to be part of this ceremony of cleansing someone who had been defiled. And we'll see that in the coming verses. And so there was this preserving of these ashes for the use of purifying from sin in an ongoing way for the nation of Israel. This pictures for us, again, the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. Hebrews 9, verse 13 and 14, if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? The author of Hebrews brings it right here to Jesus and says, look, this is the point. If the blood of bulls and goats, now typically I look at this verse, I think of the sacrifices in Leviticus one through five. If the blood of bulls and goats, We're instituted of God to bring about the purifying of the flesh. How much more shall the blood of Christ purify us, cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God? But here he also adds on this extra sacrifice, this whole different sacrifice in a different place, the ashes of the heifer. This was part of the picture that God was painting for us to consider about Jesus. And so picture Jesus dying upon the cross. You have the hyssop, you have the scarlet thread, you have the cedar wood, you have him outside the camp, you have this rare sacrifice, not this, you know, normal kind of run-of-the-mill humdrum type of sacrifice. You have the only begotten Son of God dying upon the cross for us so that we can might have our conscience cleansed. Well, as we continue on in the chapter, the picture continues to develop. And we're picturing Jesus upon the cross, but we're also picturing why he's upon the cross. And so point number two this evening is picture uncleanness spreading. As God paints this picture for us, we need to understand the whole picture. Part of the picture is the work of Jesus Christ, the blood of Christ, and the cleansing that he brings. But again, part of the picture is why the blood of Christ was necessary to begin with. Verse 11, it says, Whoever touches the body of anyone who has died and does not purify himself defiles the tabernacle of the Lord. That person shall be cut off from Israel. He shall be unclean because of the water of purification was not sprinkled on him. His uncleanness is still on him. Here in these verses, we get introduced to this idea of an uncleanness that spreads. The reason why this red heifer would be sacrificed and these ashes preserved is for these kinds of situations. Notice verse 11. There was a spreading of uncleanness that would happen transmitting from the dead body to the person who came in contact with the dead body. Now, of course, back in those days, it was not like today. There was not, you know, a mortuary and a mortician, you know, who would handle the dead body for you. When someone in your family died, the family handled the matter. And so it was not like some rare thing where there would be this contact with a dead body. In fact... We just went through, right, the Lord announcing to them that this whole generation who refused to enter into the promised land, they were going to die out in the wilderness. And so over the next 38 years or 40 years, they're going to have to deal with at least 600,000 deaths, right? They're going to have to deal with this a lot. This was going to be a commonplace thing for them, dealing with a body of someone who died. But the problem with that was not that they were having to deal with it, but that there was this uncleanness then that was associated with the dead body that would be communicated or transmitted to the person who came in contact with the body. And the Lord said, he who touches the dead body of anyone shall be unclean for seven days. Now, Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, no doubt there were hygienic purposes behind this law. But it also reminded the people to avoid sin because of the defilement it brings. God dwelt in the camp and no one was to defile it. This whole law that we're considering, of course, there's probably some practical things. And God is very good at weaving together practical things that illustrate, that picture for us some really important spiritual principles. And so there was probably a preserving effect just practically physically for the people in practicing this instruction here. But there's also the spiritual elements because death and sin are permanently associated with each other. There was no death before sin. Back in the Garden of Eden, there was no death until the fall, until Genesis chapter 3. And at that time, then death was introduced. Sin brought death into the world. When God warned Adam about the tree of knowledge of good and evil in Genesis chapter 2, he says, in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Death was introduced, and now as descendants of Adam, we all inherit this sinful nature. And so there is this permanent attachment between of death and sin that are bound to us. And all the way since Adam, these have been bound together. Paul tells us in Romans chapter 6, verse 23, the wages of sin is death. And so as we think about the dead body and the corruption that is there, it pictures for us our sinful nature. It pictures for us the issue of sin and the corruption that is there. And here the picture that God wants us to understand, that issue of sin, that picture of corruption that is there is not a corruption that is isolated, controlled, quarantined, but it's a corruption that spreads. So that anyone who comes in contact with that dead body will be unclean for seven days. That there is a quarantine necessary because that corruption spreads and there has to be a time of testing to determine whether or not the corruption has spread when someone has come in contact with the dead body. Now God elaborates on this further in verses 14 through 16. Here's what it says. This is the law when a man dies in a tent. All who come into the tent and all who are in the tent shall be unclean seven days. So God continues to expand this out and apply it. It's not just if you come in contact, but if you're in the same room as a dead body. If you come into the presence of anybody who is in the room during the time of the death or afterwards, any kind of that close association, then there was this uncleanness. Now, it was a ceremonial uncleanness. It was not necessarily an issue of sin at this point in their terms, right, for them. It was an opportunity for them to separate and again to quarantine, to make sure that physically corruption had not spread to them. But again, it pictures how easy it is for that corruption to pass along from the body itself. to anybody who's around it. And if there's any, you know, open vessels, any open containers, whether it's in the field or casual, you know, exposure, it attaches to the person who is nearby and there is this transmission of uncleanness. It spreads so easily. Paul kind of hints at this as well in Romans 5, verse 12. He says, just as through one man, sin entered the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because all sin. There is this transmission, this spreading of sin to all men as a result of our fallen nature, our sinful nature. Well, jumping down to verse 21 and 22, it says, it shall be a perpetual statute for them. He who sprinkles the water of purification shall wash his clothes, and he who touches the water of purification shall be unclean till evening. Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean, and the person who touches it shall be unclean until evening. Here God goes on to further illustrate and declare how much this corruption spreads. There is to be this washing that happens, and we'll get into the washing in just a moment. But before the washing happens, he is unclean, and anything he touches now becomes unclean. So you come in contact, then there's this transmission of uncleanness. Now, anything that he touches is unclean. And then anybody else who comes along and touches that thing is unclean. The picture here is how easily it spreads. Now, it's not, you know, a crazy unfamiliar concept to us living, you know, in the pandemic era and surviving that, right? Like, we understand, like, it's those similar kinds of concepts of how easily something is passed along, right? How easily something is contaminated. The Lord challenged his people in Haggai chapter 2 with this same concept. In Haggai chapter 2, he says, look, if I have something that's clean, cleansed in my robe, and then my robe comes into contact with something, does the thing that I have that's clean make something else unclean? And the question is for the priest. And the priest said, no, you can't transmit cleanness in that way. Then God says, okay, but if I have something unclean and then I bump into it, does it now become unclean? Yeah, it becomes unclean because uncleanness transmits so easily and God really, you know, brings down the hammer. In Haggai chapter 2 verse 13 and 14, he says, that's how it is with you guys because you're doing all of this sacrifice, you're doing all of this so-called worship, but you're doing it contaminated. That there is this sin that's going on, there's these issues, and you're thinking that you're doing okay, you're kind of making up for it by doing these good things, but instead what you're doing is you're taking your sinful corruption and you're contaminating the good things because you are engaging with them and in contact with them. This sacrifice of the red heifer, the Lord wants us to picture uncleanness spreading. He wants us to understand that sin spreads. It brings corruption. It brings death. And it gets worse and worse. And it affects everything that it touches. We need to understand the reality of sin. Well, moving on now, verses 12 through 19 is what we'll consider for point number three. And that is picture a cleansing with water. In verse 12, it says, he shall purify himself with water on the third day and on the seventh day. Then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and the seventh day, he will not be clean. God says he shall purify himself with water. And so picture being washed with water. There is this uncleanness, this situation that happened, and I'm in a condition of uncleanness now. Now I'm to take the water of purification from verse 9, that is water, that is a fresh water, a living water, running water, something from a spring, not from a stale, stagnant water. And then I'm going to take the ashes of the heifer just a little bit and sprinkle them in the water. And now it becomes this water of purification to wash, to cleanse, to wash away the uncleanness, to wash away the sin. Again, Hebrews chapter 9, the blood of bulls and goats, the ashes of a heifer, if that was instituted of God to deal with the issue of sin, how much more will the blood of Christ cleanse us from dead works to serve the living God? there is this cleansing that comes from Christ. That even though we have sin and we have this contamination from sin and these issues of sin, even though that is true, we have the opportunity to be cleansed, to be washed, to have that uncleanness removed from us. Again, picture washing with water, just as if you were to get dirty, right? Get mud on you or to get, you know, some type of gunk on you and you take a shower, right? Or you go to the sink and you wash up and there's the cleansing, the washing away, and it works so well, you'll even go sit down at the table and eat after that, right? Because you're washed, you're cleansed. In a similar way, the Lord is able to cleanse and God washes away our uncleanness by the blood of Jesus, right? He is the offering of the red heifer that is for that purpose, for that cleansing, for that washing of our sins. Now, of course, we have the other sacrifices in Leviticus, right? The sin offering, the burnt offering. And that pictures the substitution of Jesus on our behalf, receiving the penalty of sin on our behalf. This picture is slightly different. This is the ongoing cleansing of Not the justification, but the sanctification, right? Justification, that's pictured in the Levitical offerings. Here, Numbers chapter 19 pictures our sanctification. That is our ongoing cleansing. That as we continue to live this life, we bump into issues. We have sin spring up. We get involved with uncleanness, and there is the need for that washing. In John chapter 13, Jesus in the upper room with his disciples says, girded himself and washed his disciples feet but he got to peter and peter said oh no no no you're not going to wash my feet and jesus said well if i don't wash you then you have no part of me that's john chapter 13 verse 8 and so peter says lord well not just my feet but my head my hands everything wash everything and jesus said he who is bathed needs only to wash his feet but is completely clean and you are clean but not all of you referencing judas iscariot you're clean you're You've received the Levitical offerings, right? The Levitical sacrifice for sin. You're clean. You've believed in Jesus. But there is also the need, as a believer in Jesus, to be cleansed in the ongoing issues of sin, to be washed. It's just your feet. It's just a little uncleanness, right? Now, if we don't deal with it, the point here of Numbers chapter 19, if we don't address it, then it will spread and it will become a bigger issue. But listen, you're justified. You stand before God as if you had never sinned. And so, although there is this uncleanness, you have the opportunity in Christ to be washed, to be cleansed, to have our feet washed by the Lord. The picture here of the red heifer shows us the need for us to come to the Lord and with our issues of sin. Now, another picture that's contained in here, verses 17 through 19, is interesting to consider. Verse 17, it says, for an unclean person, they shall take some of the ashes of the heifer burnt for purification from sin, and running water shall be put on them in a vessel. A clean person shall take hyssop Again, here we are introduced to another party. And it's not a priest. It's not someone specific. It's just a clean person. So here's someone who is unclean as a result of some kind of contact with uncleanness, with a dead body. And in order for them to be cleansed, there's this seven-day period that happens. And this clean person, they have to involve someone else and say, hey, hey friend who's clean, you weren't in contact with a dead body. Can you come help me? And this person had to be involved on the third day, on the seventh day, had to be part of the week of restoration, you might say. involved in the cleansing and be the one to sprinkle this water on the person who is unclean. And so the need for us to be cleansed, we can see that clearly, that sanctification. But it's interesting that there's also this picture here of not all of these things can we do just on our own. It's not just me and Jesus. But as I shared on Sunday, there is the body of Christ that is a necessary part of our relationship with God. The body of Christ is a necessary part of our walk with Him. And we need someone else alongside of us, sometimes in these situations, to help bring an end to the uncleanness, to help us in that restitution. Paul tells us in Galatians 6, James 5, verse 16 tells us to confess our trespasses to one another and pray for one another that we might be healed. There is to be this interaction. Picture a cleansing with water interaction. That comes from us confessing our sin to the Lord, but also sometimes involves us interacting with one another, praying for one another, asking for help from each other, and coming alongside of each other to wash us, to bring us to the Lord in a way that we are cleansed from our sin. Well, finally, I want to consider one last thing here in Numbers chapter 19, point number four, picture uncleanness separating. And for this, we're going to look at verse 13 and verse 20. Verse 13 says, Here, the Lord considers and has us to consider someone who has become unclean, knows the process to become clean, but says, you know, I'm not going to bother with that. And the Lord says, a person who is unclean and refuses to be cleansed by the water of purification, they have defiled themselves. They've defiled the tabernacle of the Lord. It was not a sin issue before, but now it's a sin issue. This person, he says, shall be cut off from Israel. God says, look, you have a responsibility to purify yourself. And if you will not purify yourself in these manners and in these issues, then you need to be put out of the company of Israel. If you don't deal with that issue, if you don't deal with that uncleanness, you must be put away. You must be separated from God. He says at the end of verse 13 there, his uncleanness is still on him because of how easily uncleanness spreads, how much it contaminates everything that it comes in contact with. There is a need for, if I'm not going to deal with this uncleanness, well, then I need to be pushed away, cut off from, removed from the camp of God's people. John tells us in 1 John 1, if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. The person who is involved with uncleanness, but doesn't turn from it, doesn't become cleansed, doesn't become washed, doesn't turn away from it, that person is a liar. They say they walk with God, but they walk in darkness. John says they lie. They don't practice the truth. And so they are removed from the fellowship. They need to be removed from the fellowship. They are removed from the fellowship whether or not church discipline is enacted, right? 1 Corinthians chapter 5 talks about the situation of sin. And Paul says, you need to put that out of the church. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. It spreads so easily. You got to deal with that sin and keep it out of the church. You got to remove that. Verse 20 says, Put out from the assembly. Kept away. Pushed away. Cut off is the terminology that the Lord uses. for the protection of the rest of the congregation, because that uncleanness will contaminate and spread and corruption will grow and grow and grow. And here in Numbers chapter 19, the Lord says, I want you to picture uncleanness and understand how serious it is. And that first contact, that first uncleanness, it's not a sin issue. But that refusal to deal with it, now it's a serious sin issue and it must be dealt with. It must be put out of the camp. The reality is, when we are living in uncleanness, we are separated whether church discipline is happening or not. We are separated. We're cut off. Our sin separates us from God. And although we might see each other, we might physically have contact, we're separated. Right? We're not experiencing the relationship that we should have, that we could have. And so sometimes we can be deceived, thinking, well, I did okay. You know, I went to church, so I'm good. But there is an uncleanness that separates us from God. Do you feel separated? Do you feel disconnected? J. Vernon McGee says, if church services seem dead and the sermon is boring, perhaps Jerry's just teaching for too long. No, perhaps it's because you need a bath. Maybe you need to be cleansed. Maybe you need to be washed. Maybe you need to deal with that uncleanness and stop walking in the darkness and declaring yourself to be a child of God. Maybe you need to come out of the darkness and walk in the light as he is in the light. And so picture uncleanness separating. Here in Numbers chapter 19, we get a different kind of offering. Pictures for us some different aspects of the ministry of the Lord. Him dying upon the cross for us. Not just the once and for all. By the way, the red heifer was like a once and for all kind of sacrifice, just like Christ, right? It was once for the whole congregation. Jesus died once for the whole congregation for our justification. But he also died so that ongoing, as we have issues of sin, we could be washed and cleansed. If we don't deal with that uncleanness, picture it spreading. That's what it does. It'll, in fact, it'll affect your whole life. But you can be cleansed. Picture a cleansing with water. The Lord washing you, renewing you as you come to him with confession. And perhaps it's one of those situations where you need to bring in somebody else and say, hey, would you pray with me and pray for me? I want to be cleansed from this uncleanness in my life. One final quote to share from Warren Wiersbe. The church today doesn't worry about external ritual uncleanness, but we should take to heart the lesson of this chapter, that God wants us to be a holy people. We should cleanse ourselves of all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Let's pray. Lord, I pray that you would help us. as your children, Lord, to put these things into practice, to really be able to picture this sacrifice that you provide for us, Lord, that we might be instructed by it, that we might take it to heart. Lord, thank you for what you've done for us and that cleansing that you've provided, Lord, that once and for all justification, Lord, that ongoing sanctification where you work in us, washing us, and progressing us to become more and more like you. I pray, God, that you would help us to submit to that process, to be involved, Lord, in that cleansing, Lord, as we become unclean, Lord, as we deal with and have issues of sin pop up in our lives. Help us, Lord, to not ignore it, to not just leave it, to not pretend it's not there, to not just hide it and continue to walk as if we were walking in the light and in the truth, Lord. But help us, Lord, to address the sin. Lord, that it would not spread, that it would not contaminate the rest of our lives, the people around us. Lord, would you wash us and cleanse us as we confess our sin to you. Lord, that we might be pure and holy, your children, in right fellowship with you and in right fellowship with one another. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.