Richmond BC Conference: 1989, Walk in the Light (1:7)
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
First John, chapter one. First John, chapter 1. Verse 7. If we say that we But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him alive. And his word is not in US. My little children, these things right I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Now I'd like to turn back to Numbers Chapter 19. Numbers chapter 19. Beginning at the first verse. And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me a red heifer without spot, forin is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke. And he shall give her unto Eliezer the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face. Neleza the priest shall take of her blood with his finger and sprinkle of her blood directly before the Tabernacle of the congregation 7 times. One shall burn the flesh of the heifer, burn the heifer in his sight. Her skin and her flesh and her blood with her dung shall he burn. And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer. Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp. And the priest shall be unclean until even. He that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until even. And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, And it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation. It is the purification for sin. And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even. And it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them for a statute forever. He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean 7 days. He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the 7th day he shall be clean. But if he purify not himself the third day, then the 7th day he shall not be clean. Whosoever touches the dead body of any man that is dead, of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the Tabernacle of the Lord, and that soul shall be cut off from Israel. Because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him. He shall be unclean. His uncleanness is yet upon him. This is the law. When a man dieth in a tent, all that come into the tent and all that is in the tent shall be unclean. Seven days. And every open vessel which hath no covering bound upon it is unclean. And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open field, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean. 7 days. And for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification, for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel. And a clean person shall take his. It in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave. And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the 7th day. And on the 7th day he shall purify himself and wash his clothes, bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even. In the man that shall be unclean. And shall not purify himself, that shall soul shall be cut off from the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him. He is unclean, and it shall be a perpetual statute unto them, that he that sprinketh the water of separation shall wash his clothes. And he that touched the water of separation shall be unclean, until even and whatsoever the unclean person touched.
Shall be unclaimed, and the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even. This may seem like somewhat difficult chapter, but I believe with the Lord's help we can learn some very wonderful lessons from this portion of God's word. The reason I read in the first epistle of John because I believe it's very important for us to distinguish between what we often speak of as our standing and our state. Now that is when you accepted the Lord Jesus. Christ as your Savior, you're brought into a perfect standing before God. It never will be and never could be any more perfect than it is. And that's why it says in the seventh verse of first John one. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. That's where the believer is brought. He's brought into the light. This is not conditional. It's the contrast was saved and unsaved. The unsaved man, He's in the darkness and he's darkness itself. But you and I are children of light. We have been brought into the light. But wouldn't you be very uncomfortable in a bright light? If your clothes were filthy dirty, you would feel very unhappy, I'm sure, because it would show up everything. But God brings us into the unsullied light of His holy. And then he tells us that he has made us perfectly fit to be there. As someone has said, He's brought us into the light, and the light shows how perfect is our standing. And all that the light reveals has been cleansed in the blood. Oh, how wonderful it is to be brought into that standing. And I want to say at the very beginning of this meeting that how important it is that everyone who has received the Lord Jesus should be in the enjoyment. Of this should realize his perfect standing but you know, after we have been brought into this position and it can never be changed. It's permanent. It's forever by one offering you have perfected forever them that are sanctified. It is needful that we go on in fellowship with the Lord and particularly what I'd like to speak of is how God desires and surely our renewed hearts desire that we should have fellowship with. With Him and with one another. That's where we have been brought, mentioned in the third verse of this chapter, the end of the verse. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And then in the seventh verse, fellowship one with another. So we see then what? What is fellowship? Well, the word fellowship and communion in the original are the same. And it just simply means common thoughts oneness of mind. And so isn't it, blessed brethren, that you and I can have the very thoughts of God that we can enter into. And enjoy what's in the heart of God. He's made himself known, and he's fitted us to be in his presence. He's also fitted us so that we could enjoy, in common with other believers, those things that belong to us in Christ. And what a privilege this is. But it's possible for a real Christian, one who has been cleansed in the blood, to get out of fellowship with the Lord and out of fellowship with his brethren too. And so God desires that we should. Walk in the enjoyment of this. Fellowship, there might be somebody you love very much, but if there's a breach comes between, you may still think as much of that person as before, but there's something that is lacking. You don't enjoy their company just the same. And there's a way that you can be restored and go on happily together. And so I wish to say again that we need to start with this very important point that every believer has a perfect standing before God. God, we are made the righteousness of God, in him we are fitted for the light, and we won't have a better standing when we get to heaven than we have right now when we receive the Lord Jesus. But then it goes on in this eighth verse, it says, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in US. I want you to notice here that the word sin here is in the in the singular. And that is if I were to stand here tonight and say to you, I don't have any sinful fallen nature within, no tendency within me to do what was wrong. It says we deceive ourselves because if we're honest. With ourselves and with God, we know that even since we have been saved, we still have that fallen nature within. It's still there, and if we're not watchful, it may act in our lives, and it'll break fellowship with the Lord and with one another.
And so it tells us here, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You know, forgiveness in the Bible spoken of in different ways. When we are saved, we receive what might be called judicial forgiveness before we're saved. We have the thought before us, and properly too, of meeting God as a judge. And it's a solemn thing. There's anyone here that's not saved. You're going to have to meet God as a judge. And how solemn that will be to hear those awful words depart from the curse it into everlasting fire prepared for. The devil and his angels, how solemn. But when we are saved and we don't have to do with God as a judge anymore, we have to do with God as our Father and, and in that relationship we can lose the enjoyment of the relationship. So God has made provision for our restoration. I want you to notice too that the verse doesn't say if we ask forgiveness. Some Christians say, well when I fail, I ask the Lord to forgive me. But you notice what the verse says. It says if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Confession is different from asking forgiveness. Let me put it very simply. If I were to do something wrong to you, and I come and say, will you forgive me? I'm raising the question about whether you're going to say yes or no. But if I come to you and say I'm sorry for what I did, you say, well, if had forgiveness in my heart long before, and I'm glad to forgive you, why, that's a different thing, isn't it? And you know, through the work of Christ, God has laid a righteous basis for forgiveness. But it isn't until we confess our sins that we are restored to fellowship. Just like with that, when I do something wrong and I come and tell you, I'm sorry and immediately there's a relationship, restore the enjoyment, I should say, of a relationship restored. And so this is the place in which we stand before God in Christ. But the fellowship? The enjoyment of it can be spoiled by failure, and if we don't confess our sins, why we can be out of communion. Jacob was out of communion for 20 years. The sun set on him, He schemed his own life and it wasn't till 20 years later that he had it out with the Lord and then the sun rose upon him. He was a believer all the time, but he was out of fellowship and he didn't attempt. To make it right with the Lord until he had it out that night with him. And then too, I just want you to notice also that says he's faithful and just he's faithful because as we see in the 2nd chapter, he lives above as our advocate with the Father. And he's just because the sin was paid for at the cross of Calvary. And so it says. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The 10th verse. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar. I've met Christians and I believe they perhaps were real Christians who might tell you that they hadn't sinned since they were saved. But that's not true. The Bible says in many things we all offend. But it's best to keep short accounts with the Lord. And if we learn, brethren, to judge the little things, they don't grow into the great things. Just like in our garden, if we pull out the little weeds, we'll never have great weeds in our garden. But if we don't fly, then the little things grow into great things, and they can lead to the ruination of our Christian testimony because. Because we haven't judged the little things that creep in the little foxes. That spoil the vines. But now just to mention here about this second chapter and the first verse. My little children, these things write down to you that ye sin not. The Bible never makes excuse for our sin. It makes provision, for God never says to us as a believer it's all right, for he doesn't occasionally, but not too often. No, never. He's made provisions. The help is available, all that we need from the one who is our great high priest there at the right hand of God. But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father.
Jesus Christ the Righteous. And notice the way this is worded. An advocate Jesus Christ the righteous first with the Father, because we're still children in the family, but disobedient children. And then Jesus Christ the righteous, if I were to break one of the laws of this province and I was brought up and charged in court, if I'm really guilty, how could it be possible for me to get off? I might be able to get an advocate who could in some way get me declared innocent, but in the heart I know I'm still guilty and what my advocate, he doesn't pass over the sin at all. My advocate, when I sin, he has paid for that sin. He himself paid for it. So he's faithful. He lives there as our advocate and he's just God never passes over sin. But I'd like to thank that when the believers sin, it's as. The Lord Jesus in the presence of God could say I paid for that sin. It was paid for at Calvary. So he's faithful and he's just to forgive us our sins. And we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ. The righteous God, I say, never looks upon sin lightly, even in the life of a believer. I just mentioned one more thing before we go on with numbers, and that is to notice this little expression. It doesn't say if any man confesses sin, but if any man sin. And this is very beautiful, because before you have confessed the sin, there's one at the right hand of God on your behalf to maintain you there in that perfect standing which is the result of the work that He accomplished, if I can illustrate. Like this, supposing you had a very good lawyer who's looking after all your affairs and you make some slip in your business, that may cause a great deal of problem. And a week later you find out about it and you go to him and say, I've made a very serious mistake that may create a problem. Well, he said, I saw that when you did it, and I've already corrected it. But I'm very glad that you came and told me about it. Now your mind is at ease. But he acted on your behalf before. Oh, isn't it wonderful? Brethren, we have a Savior who paid for our sin. We have an advocate before the Father, the relationship. Is there, but we don't enjoy this fellowship. We are not restored until we have come and owned it before the Lord. And I believe if we look at the portion in numbers, we'll see how this in a picture way is brought before us because. Sometimes when we get careless in our lives, why there needs to be not only the sin itself that is judged, but the root. You could take the top off a weed, but it will grow again if you root it out by then. The thing won't come up again, and God has provided a way whereby we be judged the root. I'm not saying that we'll never sin again, but I say there is such a thing as getting before God about the call. What led us into that sin? Maybe some careless thing in our lives, something we're going on with. That's a temptation to us that is leading us into paths of temptation. Remember the Lord said in the prayer that He taught that disciples lead us not. Into temptation, and we can. As we people sometimes say, we can live dangerously, we can live so close to temptation that we're not careful. And so there there are mornings in the word of God, but there is provision for our restoration. Now let's turn back to numbers. And I believe, with the Lord's help, perhaps we can see. Something of the provision that God has made. Let me say again that on the Day of Atonement the whole question of sin was taken up and settled. We have that in the 16th of Leviticus. And although it was repeated every year because it wasn't possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sin, nevertheless it was a picture of that wonderful work the Lord Jesus did once for all upon the cross. But in this 19th chapter, it's not the thought of a person being brought under the shelter of the blood, but it's a person being restored when he has been defiled, and in the antitype why it's defiled by sin.
And so we find here that it speaks of the a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke. Knowing the Lord Jesus died upon the cross, it tells us that he bore our sins in his own body on the tree. But it also tells us that our old man was crucified with him. It tells us that he died unto sin once, but in he liveth, he liveth unto God. The Lord Jesus not only bore my sins, but his death was the end of my old standing as a child of Adam. And that's what took place at the cross. And so that when one is saved, he is brought into an entirely new position. He's brought into the position that's spoken of in the 5th of Romans as justification of life. And it's because the Lord Jesus, the one who never was under the yoke of sin. The one who is perfect before God. His Father came down into this world, and He offered himself a sacrifice to glorify God and to meet our need in the fullest possible way. And so I say again, my sins were placed upon him, and he bore them all. He cried at his finish. He exhausted all the judgment for my sins. But his death was the end before God. That old nature that produced the sin, and while it's still within us, we are going to have in that coming day a body of glory, and our sins will be remembered no more, but we won't have a sinful fallen nature with him. And it's all founded upon the work the Lord Jesus accomplished on the cross of Calvary. And so the believer, as I've often said, is like a house with two tenants. He has within him that fallen nature with which we were born into the world. And then he also has a new life, the life of Christ. It says when Christ, who is our life. And if you're a believer, you have in you the very life of Christ. But you also have, and I also have an every believer has he still has that old man. And God says, Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. He says that in the death of Christ, God put an end as to our standing before God to that old man. And he says. You're to reckon it in the place of death. If I can illustrate it like this, if you have a house and you have two tenants, one's a bad person and the other one is one who delights to please God. Why? Which one are you going to have control in your house? Are you going to let the bad one or you're going to let the other one? Well, suppose new tenant says, your landlord, I should say, says to you now I just want you to consider that man that's there, which is so bad, incurably bad. Never let him answer the door, because you'll always do the wrong thing if he answers the door. Never let him just reckon as if he was dead. That's what God is telling us. We're to reckon ourselves dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. It's because we allow that old man that we, the believer sins. So here we have a picture then of the Lord Jesus, the one who is never under the oak of sin, the only one who could do that work, that before God would put an end, He was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And you and I as believers, stand before God in a life that never sinned and that cannot sin. Well, they were to take this, it says here in the third verse, She shall give her unto Eliezer the priest, that he may bring her forth without the Cam. Doesn't that make you think of the Lord Jesus? It says. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. And the Lord Jesus was crucified outside the gate of Jerusalem on Calvary's Hill. That's where he was crucified. And so this red heifer was taken. And one shall slay her before his face, that is. Because he could look on and see that animal die. And so I come, as it were, to Calvary, and I not only see my sins placed upon the Lord Jesus, but I see also that His death is the end, and I have been brought into a new standing before God.
And so. This a person watched as that animal died. And then it says an Eleazar, the priest shall take of her blood with his fingers and sprinkle up her blood directly before the Tabernacle of the congregation. 7 times, you know, 7 is the perfect number. And so we see in this that the groundwork has been laid through the precious blood of Christ, and so there was no approach to God apart from the blood. And it through that precious blood. That I have been cleansed and fitted to be in His presence, but you notice the blood was not sprinkled on the man. It was the ashes of the heifer of the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop. I say this because in the Scripture there is no such thing as a second application of the blood. A believer is claimed it isn't a continual cleansing of the blood once for all. You and I, as believers have been made perfectly fit for the presence of a holy God. And so for the restoration of this man. He didn't have to be sprinkled with blood, but he didn't need the ashes of the heifer. If he had to be sprinkled with blood again, it would look as if he had to renew his standing before God, because it's the blood that gives the believer a perfect standing before God. And then it says in the fifth verse, And one shall burn the heifer in his sight, her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with with her done shall he burn. This is very instructive what we see in this verse. You know, sometimes people talk about good self and bad self. So here was her skin. She was a beautiful animal. She was red. The flesh and her blood and her down, Well, you know, before God there's no such thing as good flesh and bad flesh. Before God, we read, the flesh profiteth nothing. Before God, there's no place for the flesh. In me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Sometimes part of our failure, brethren, is because we think there's good flesh in us. We say, oh, I wouldn't do that. I would never do a thing like that. We're saying that there's. Some good in the natural man. That old man within me and within you is capable of anything if God doesn't keep us. And so here we see the whole animal. Everything. What seemed beautiful and what seemed horrible, all burned. And it's good for us, brethren, to see the end of the first man before God. It has no place before God at all. Everything connected with the first man came to an end in the death of Christ. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And then in with this was the cedar wood, and the hyssop and the scarlet. And I believe these things bring before us to burn the heifer in his sight. Her skin and her flesh and her blood with her dung shall he burn. This is very instructive what we see in this verse. You know, sometimes people talk about good self and bad self. So here was her skin. She was a beautiful animal. She was red. Her flesh and her blood and her dung, Well, you know, before God there's no such thing as good flesh and bad flesh. Before God, we read, the flesh profiteth nothing. Before God there's no place for the flesh in me. That is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Sometimes part of our failure, brethren, is because we think there's good flesh in us. We say, Oh, I wouldn't do that. I would never do a thing like that. We're saying that there's some good in the natural man. That old man within me and within you is capable of anything if God doesn't keep us. And so here we see the whole animal. Everything. What seemed beautiful and what seemed horrible, all burned. And it's good for us, brethren, to see the end of the first man before God. It has no place before God at all. Everything connected with the first man came to an end in the death of Christ. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And then in with this was the cedar wood and the hyssop and the scarlet. And I believe these things bring before us those things that perhaps I could speak of them as the real causes why we fail as believers. And I think this is important to notice, for there was, as I say, the burning of the heifer.
And everything, the end, so to speak, of that which. Might seem good, and that which might seem bad, the flesh coming to its end, and the death of Christ. But you know, I believe also with the cedar wood and the hyssop and the scarlet, that we learn some things. That really are the basic causes of failure in the Christian's life. I believe that the cedar represents man in his greatness, and I think the scarlet represents human glory, and the hyssop man perhaps in his littleness. And if you if you really look back on your own life, I believe you could say that every failure has come from perhaps one or more of those things. Now, I'll just take, for example, the case of Peter. Why did Peter deny the Lord? Well, Peter thought he was better than the rest of the disciples. Peter said, though all should deny thee, yet will not I? He actually was saying to the Lord, Lord, I'm the best disciple you have. Now the rest of these people here might deny thee, but not me. Hasn't that often come in our lives? We thought there's something I'd never do, and the Lord had to show us that the flesh had to be burned. Even those things we thought we might never do, our fallen natures are capable of doing. And I don't believe until we get to that, in judging them before the Lord, that we'll ever really become clear of them. And it wasn't until. Peter was sorry when the Lord turned and looked on him, and he went out and went bitterly. But that wasn't his full restoration, brethren. When was it? When the Lord met him and said, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? To me it's as though the Lord said right at that time, Peter. You think you love me more than the rest. Now all that grieve the heart of Peter. He had in some measure discovered what self is. And so the cedar had to be burned. I often think of it as I go through the redwoods and I see those great trees because the Cedars of Lebanon were the glory of Israel. And I think of what it means to bring down one of those trees. And you know, as some of us takes an awful lot to bring us down. We're so proud. We think we're better than our brethren. And God has to allow something to show us that the flesh profits nothing. The cedar had to be burned and then the scarlet. Well, I believe that sometimes is a cause of failure in our lives, perhaps many of us. We get with a group and the group wants to do something. And we know that as a believer walking in the fear of God, we shouldn't do it. But we yield to what is called in the world peer pressure. Peer pressure. And we don't want the crowd to look down on us and call us names or something. And so we give in. We know that what we're doing is wrong, but we still do it because we want human glory. We want everybody to accept us. And so we fall. Oh, how sad. That's one of the things that often causes failure in the believer's life. And if you're out with a group and the group wants to do something. Something wrong? May I say you should burn the scarlet. Never mind what they think of you. What does really count? What the crowd thinks, or what the Lord thinks? I believe even Pilate wanted to release the Lord, but he was afraid of the crowd and so how we can easily be caught in a snare through that. So the cedar wood had to be burned, Miss Carl had to be burned, and hyssop man in his littleness. Sometimes I think of it as kind of inferiority complex. You know, we say I think of a young person that I know right now, he says nobody cares about me, nobody's interested in me, nobody likes me. And he gets discouraged. And he gets this so discouraged he stops coming to the meeting, stops reading his Bible. And that leads to. Breakdown in our Christian life too, I remember. No matter what other people might say or think, don't allow yourself to get discouraged Satan. That's Satans greatest enemy tool I should say, to try and get us discouraged. And we often do get discouraged and then the enemy comes in and we say I don't care, nobody likes me anyway. And that leads to failure in our lives. So the hyssop had to be burned.
You're not, You're not, shall I say, the hyssop in God's sight? When the Lord Jesus speaks of his own, he speaks of them as the excellent of the earth. And isn't it wonderful that we as believers can think, well, if other people don't like me, I know the Lord does, and he's going to see the trivial of his soul and be satisfied. That will lift you up. That'll encourage you. And so here we find those things had to be burned. Then it tells us, and this expression is repeated quite often in the. In the chapter that is, that the man who did these services, he was unclean until even the man who sprinkled the water of separation, the man who had any part in it. And this is important for us, for I believe it shows us one thing, any contact with evil defiles. You know. Sometimes even talking about the bad in others can defile our own minds. A lot of things. Other things that I've heard I wish I never heard because it wasn't that I was particularly doing them, but they got a place in my mind by just talking to them, talking about them and letting other people relate instances in their lives that defile the mind. Now, sometimes it's necessary to help a person who has got astray, but you know, our fallen nature can actually get pleasure out of listening to bad stories and mixing up with things. Find a lodging place in our minds. And so every person who had any contact with this water of separation or with a defiled man had to wash his clothes like an illustrated. Very simply, you'll understand what I'm saying. If I were a farmer, I might have to work in the stable and I might get some bad smells on my clothes. But I don't have to carry those bad smells everywhere I go. I can set those clothes aside before I come into the house and then. It doesn't. It doesn't defile me and everybody else. And so it's necessary at times to deal with evil. The assembly is responsible to deal with evil personally. We're responsible to deal with evil in our lives, but not to carry it around, not to be occupied with it. So we find these lessons brought before us in a very simple way. So it tells us here in this ninth verse. A man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and lay them out. Out the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation. It is a purification for sin. So here are these ashes with the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop mixed with water. They're all taken, and it says here, without the camp in a clean place. Well, you know that's where the Lord wants us to be, isn't it? Let us go forth, therefore unto Him without the camp bearing His reproach, and you'll see what is brought before us here is not only our own personal restoration, but how. Failure in our lives effects others too, and you'll see how. Even when there was death in a tent, everything that came into the tent was defiled. That's a very important principle in the Word of God. Any association with evil defiles, some people say. I remember a man asked for his place at the Lord's table. And he was known to be associated with a group where there was evil doctrine and it was said to him, are you aware that the group where you go is associated with evil doctrine about the person of Christ? He said, don't ask me what the group believed, ask me what I believe myself. He was saying that he could be associated with a group where evil was known and yet not be defiled. But you could read this carefully and you'll see the man was defiled. The things that he touched were defiled. The tent where he was was defiled. We understand this in natural things. If I stood here tonight and told you I was a member of a communist society, but I didn't believe in communism myself, I think anyone would say I don't understand what you're talking about. Why? Just stay there if you don't believe in it. And so we're taught very clearly here a little love them loving us the whole lung. So God requires that we should not only individually in our lives, but in our worship, in our associations association with evil defiles.
Well, we find then that this was laid up outside the camp in a clean place kept for the congregation of the children of Israel. That's the ninth verse. Can we find the man who gathered this up? He washed his clothes. And then you come to the 11TH verse. He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean 7 days. He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the 7th day he shall be clean. But if he purify not himself the third day, then the 7th day he shall not be cleaned. I believe this is a very important truth that is brought before us here. The man who had touched the dead body of any man, that is, he had become defiled, for that's the figure used here. He had come befiled by contact with sin. Now he's unclean, and it says he was to purify himself on the third day, if I can put it very practically, supposing I sin and I sin grievously. And I say, well, everybody fails sometimes. I don't think I'm much worse than other people. I know other people that are as bad as myself. Have I really got to the third day? Well, I've just compared myself with other people, but what does a third day mean? Oh, I see the Lord Jesus there on the cross of Calvary bearing my sins. I see his death, as we have been saying, as the end of all that I was as a child of Adam, and I have acted like a child of Adam. I've acted like a man who doesn't know the Lord Jesus. And so in confessing sin, we need to not just compare ourselves with other people and say, well, I know it was wrong, but I don't know that it's that serious. It's just as if I stood by the cross and I saw the Lord Jesus there and I saw my sin, that very sin placed upon it, upon him, and the agony that he went through to put it away. You think I would look lightly on that sin? Would I say, Oh, that's just a little thing? Oh, I'm sure that if I was standing there at the cross and saw what the Lord had to go through. I will not look lightly upon it and I believe then. Something of the thought in the third day. Then too, in his death, as we have been saying, we see the end of that old man that I allowed. I didn't reckon it dead. I let it have a place in my life, if I can use my illustration. I let it answer the door and we see what happened. And so there on the third day. But in this, in this water of separation, was also the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop. And I say again. And when we see what the Lord Jesus went through to put it away, we need to look at ourselves. What did I allow in my life that caused that? Was IA kind of a proud Christian who thought I was better than other people? Was I walking with the wrong crowd? And so I got into the pressure and I yielded because I wanted them to accept me. You can do that, brethren. That's the scarlet. Or perhaps I've been discouraged and I've got my eyes off the Lord, and I'm walking and I lose all interest because I haven't been in the enjoyment of the Lord's love. And so in my discouragement, Satan comes along with a temptation. We need to get the root of things. So in the water of separation there were the ashes of the heifer, but also the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and the water, which is the word of God. God brings these things home to my soul, the word of God tells me. And that in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, and I allowed something of the flesh in my life. The Word of God tells me that pride is hateful to God. And so mixing this water with the ashes of the heifer, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet and the hyssop, and why I make a proper judgment. And so it says here, if the man was not sprinkled on the third day, then he wasn't clean on the 7th. And the 7th day brings in the thought of a perfect or a full restoration. Have you ever heard the expression? I'm sure we all have. Well, he said he's sorry, but I'm not sure that he has really judged the thing in the presence of the Lord. That's why it's said, brethren, because it says unless he was sprinkled on the third day, he would not be clean on the 7th. There wouldn't be a real.
But oh, there was a real restoration with Peter Beautiful to see how the Lord restores him and that he can be used for him in the place that the Lord had for him. And so how good it is for us to see that God has made provision for restoration. And the 7th day. And then it says in the 13th verse, Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man, of the of any man that is dead, and purif not himself. Notice something more here defileth the Tabernacle of the Lord, and that soul shall be cut off from Israel, because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him. He shall be unclean. His uncleanness is yet upon him. Now we find a little further thought here, not only that he personally is not restored. But he defiles the Tabernacle of the Lord, and so. Scripture shows us that if a person comes to that point, then the assembly has a responsibility. The assembly, as we have in First Corinthians 5, put away from among yourselves that wicked person. We don't put people away because we think we're better, but it's because holiness become a fine house, O God forever. When anyone has dealt with it, the Lord's table, I'm no better than that person. I'm capable of doing exactly. What he did but God demands that we're not only saved and cleansed once for all in the blood, but there isn't allowed sin in our lives that breaks fellowship with the Lord, breaks fellowship with one another, and brings the Lord's name was in the midst of his own into dishonor. So you can see how this is all set before us and how the assembly then waits to see the evidence. A real restoration before God. And then a person can be received back into happy fellowship with his brethren again to have part in the Tabernacle of the congregation of the Lord. The thought of being cut off is not the thought of being lost, it's being deprived of the privileges that belong to a child of God. Brother illustrated it very nicely in connection with the Lord's Supper, I thought. He said, supposing that I were invited to the to the home of the, we'll say, the Prime Minister of England. And or the Prime Minister of this country or the Queen, and I wonder if my clothes are acceptable to come and sit down at his table. But he sends me a suit of clothes and says, now you can be sure that you're acceptable if you come in this suit of clothes because this will be acceptable to me. Well, that's that's my mind to these, doesn't it? And it says we have boldness to enter into the holiest. By the blood of Jesus, he also sends me a letter, says When you come to the door, present this letter and be wearing that suit of clothes and you'll be accepted. But on the way I've fallen some mud. And I come and I present myself and I show the letter and I say this is the suit of clothes that he asked. He told me that I was to wear. I think the person at the door would say I can't deny the suit of clothes and I can't say that your letter isn't acceptable, but that is an unworthy way for you to come into the presence of the queen or the president. Well, so God never gives a new title. He doesn't. Now you're going to have to get a difference to the clothes and a new letter. No, that's still all right. But that's what it means when it says eating and drinking unworthily or in an unworthy manner. And so we find these things set before us in tight and in shadow in the Old Testament. And now it tells us here in the 14th verse, This is the law. When a man dieth in a tent, all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent shall be unclean 7 days, and every open vessel which hath no covering bound upon it is unclean. No, we're living in a world that's full of defilement. But you know, it's possible for us to have a covering bound. Let's put it this way. Work in a place where there's all kinds of things going on that tend to defile your mind. But.
As you come to work, you come there enjoying the Lord when your mind is free, you turn to verses of Scripture and you're saying you're right in the place where there's defilement, there's a covering bound. You don't you don't want all those things to get into your mind. And so perhaps when you're. In a position like that, you're humming a little him to yourself, or you're repeating some verses of scripture so that the covering will be bound so that the befilement all around you won't get in. When I was working, I found that a great help to me just to sing him to myself. Often, if it was a place where I could, I would sing out loud, but otherwise just to myself. Whenever my mind was free and it kept from all that was going on, be following my minds. At the end of the day, you don't go home with all the things that you see and hear in your mind. You have is the little hymn says. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know. Bill is my every line. Singing as I go. This is the covering bound upon it. Don't pick up all the deformers. Don't pick up all the magazines and read them, because that's removing the covering, and the covering bound upon it keeps those things from getting into your mind and defiling. And then there's another thought here in this 16 verse. Whosoever toucheth, one that is slain with a sword in the open field, or a dead body, or a bone of a man or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. What does it mention these these different things? Well, you know, you might say, Oh well, it happened long ago. Doesn't matter how long ago if you haven't got before the Lord about it. It was 20 years before when Jacob had deceived his poor old father, but it had to be dealt with 20 years later because he had never made it right with the Lord. And so you can see the thought here, I'm sure. The dead body would be a person that's just killed. We'll say that's something in the present. And then a bone of a man. Well, it's something in the past. Then you say it's dead and buried long ago, but the grave made you unclean. And so you can see here that until we've got right with the Lord, it doesn't matter how long ago it was. God requires that which is past. We're not to allow things to remain in our lives that would hinder fellowship with the Lord. But thank God, once we have made it right with Him, then we can say, here is Dorothy, my soul. He doesn't want it to be pressing on us as though the Lord hadn't met us and restored us. After the Lord had. Had that dealing with Jacob in that place which is called paneo, which means the face of God. Then the Lord said, now Jacob, change your garments and arise and go to Bethel. Isn't that lovely? You see his restoration. Bethel Peniel means the face of God. Bethel means the House of God. Well, we see this brought before us. Very beautifully. And so you see how it affects other people too. The 18th birth. And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave. Isn't it interesting to see here that sometimes, when these things get into our lives? They affect our friends, they affect the way our homes are set up. They just affect every part of our lives. So when a person is restored, you find going back to Jacob when he was restored, then there were some idols in his house too that he had to get clear of. There may be things that creep in when we're away from the Lord that they need to get straightened out because anything that hinders communion and fellowship with the Lord is not worthwhile. Let's not allow it in our lives. And if we have something that we've brought in in some careless time in our lives, why we need to have this water of separation sprinkled so that we don't go on with those things? That had taken place in our lives in the past. So we find then the clean person he when he sprinkled the unclean person, then he had to wash his clothes. Well, I mentioned this before. That is, he was not to carry the defilement.
If you've been a help to some brother or some sister and you've sought to talk to them, maybe you had to deal with the situation that wasn't very pleasant. But don't carry it with you every place you go. Don't go around talking about it. If the Lord has used you for the restoration of that person, why? You can be very thankful. And if it happens in one assembly, don't carry it into the next assembly. Just have it settled. So just like we understand this in our. If you get a boil on your body, you certainly don't spread all all defilement from the boil all over the rest of your body. You try and keep it as localized as possible, don't you? And God would have us to remember this in the body of Christ. That wild sin affects the whole body in dealing with it. It's very important that we seek to deal with it and have it settled so that it doesn't spread. Because as it speaks about things happening and then says thereby many be defiled, it goes out, defiles others too. So it says in the 21St verse, and it shall be our perpetual statue unto them, that he that sprinkles the water of separation shall wash his clothes. He that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean until Even so that we can see here so clearly brought out, brethren, that contact with evil defiles. But I think it's very precious if we just look at this chapter as I believe God is teaching. Us through the type, He shows us how now that we are saved, now that we have been brought to know the Lord Jesus, that our personal Savior, He wants us to walk in fellowship with Him and with one another. And anything that comes in and a happy marriage, anything that comes in to spoil that happy relationship, we know if we really love one another, we want the thing to get settled so it doesn't go on. And how important it is in our relationship with the Lord. I want to make this clear before I close our standing before God is perfect from the very day that we get saved. The very day we receive the Lord Jesus were brought into a perfect standing were pronounced clean every whip. We're new creatures in Christ Jesus. But these things that we've been talking about tonight have to do with our fellowship with the Lord and with one another. And it's very easy, even though we are real Christians. To allow things to creep into our lives that spoil that fellowship with the Lord, that spoils fellowship with one another. And God has made provision for them in His Word because he wants us to be happy. Christians, what is going to make heaven eternally happy, or to be in the full enjoyment of the presence of our blessed Savior, never to have a cloud passed between US and Him. There's a little hymn says to hear thy. Voice and see thy face and grieve thy heart no more, and never to meet a Christian in the glory or a believer in the glory that you can't have full fellowship with. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Well, that's the that's what the Lord desires. That's what heaven is going to be. And he wants us in some measure to experience it down here. And he's made provision so that if we do get away, we can be restored and walk in fellowship with the Lord and with one another, may the Lord. Brethren, especially as we think of how near the Lord's coming is, it might be tonight, we'll hear the shout. Oh, how important that we should go on.