Let's look here in Numbers 19 and verse 11. This is the application now of what we have been studying about the red heifer being sacrificed, the ashes being gathered, and remember we looked last time at the fact that you really can't get anything purer form of substance than ashes. When you've burnt something down all the way to ashes, all the impurities, everything is taken out of it. Ashes, I don't know how long they can last, but you could have a pile of ashes for a long time. It just doesn't decompose because it's already been taken down to its lowest element. And we saw how those ashes represent the finished work of Christ. If sin has been put away, it's been put away. There is no more corruption that remains to the account of those for whom Christ died. Christ put away the sin, you see. But now what we're seeing is the application, because the ashes were to be taken, because we know that even though before God in our legal standing that sin has been put away, yet in our experience it's something we live with daily. So that's really what this water of separation is about, as we looked at last time. Work of the Spirit, but not apart from the ashes, not apart from the work of Christ. And we saw last time that the work of the Spirit, when the Spirit reveals Christ in you, it's to purge your conscience from dead works. In other words, to get you to look away from anything in yourself. as far as your sanctification, your justification, your redemption. Christ is all. When a spirit, you say, well, how do I know the Spirit's done a work in me? You're looking to Christ. You're looking to His cross. You're looking to His finished work. And the reason you do is because the Spirit, that's His work to do. Draw, draw, give us eyes to see and cause us to look to Christ. And so this is symbolism here, particularly as these ashes, remember the heifer was only to be offered one time. I don't read anywhere in the history of Israel where this was a repeated thing. It was offered one time. Those ashes were carried with the children of Israel through the wilderness on into Canaan. And actually a certain amount of them was left in every city where there were people of the people of God and where there was need for cleansing. I don't know a pinch of that ash was put with water according to what we're going to read right here. And it was it was used to ceremonially sanctify purify any that that may have contradicted the law as a result. And that's really what we see here in verse 11 and numbers 19 in verse 11. He that touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days, and he shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean. But if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean. Whosoever touches the dead body of any man that is dead and purified not himself defileth the tabernacle of the Lord, And that soul shall be cut off from Israel. You say, well, why wouldn't a man want to purify himself? Well, it would be out of rebellion. It would be out of not of thinking or some other way to come to God, but in the way that he has ordained. And it says here in verse 13, this is important 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 fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, say you're digging out there in a field one day and you come across a bone, touch it, pick it up and throw it, bone of a man or a grave, you're digging and all of a sudden you find, oh, this is a grave, shall be unclean seven days. And for an unclean person, they shall take the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin and running water, that's interesting, in the Hebrew it's literally living waters shall be given. What is that? Spring water. It wasn't supposed to even be just any old water. It was supposed to be a spring water, running water, you see, shall be put there too in a vessel 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. And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day And on the seventh day, he shall purify himself and wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and shall be clean and even. But the man that shall be unclean and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the Lord." That's a reminder too and a warning. We just don't come any way we want to. Let's say someone says, well, this isn't important, ashes of a heifer. For cleansing? I'll just take a bath and put on some perfume and go in the presence of the Lord. No, you won't. No, you won't. You see how the work of the Spirit, which is typified by the water, and the ashes of the heifer, which is typifying the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, is the way that God draws us unto himself. It says in verse 21, it shall be a perpetual statute unto them that he that sprinkleth the water of separation shall wash his clothes, and he that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean until even. And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean, and the soul that toucheth it, it shall be unclean until even. Let's just jump in here and let me just give you a couple of things to remember from this portion of scripture. First of all, we see here a specific case given in which cleansing is needed. Now, it's interesting to me in reading this that no other case is mentioned in all of scripture where the ashes were needed for a ceremonial uncleanness than that which was contracted by touching a dead body. It just wasn't for anything. This is the only thing. If a person touched a dead body, it required these ashes. So we're not just talking about anything that happened. Someone asked me that last week. How would the ashes last down through the generations? Well, it wasn't just for any incident. It was particularly if a person touched a dead body. All right? And as we read there, it could be, you know, a bone or a grave of a dead man, something out in the open or even in the tent or house where a dead body lay. These were the two conditions that were found in the law. There's a reason for it that we're going to look at here in a little bit. But basically, Other portions of the law, if anybody touched the carcass of an unclean beast, for example, if it was an animal, then they were made ceremonially unclean, but they could be cleansed by water if it was an animal. And again, I think these things are given or revealed. The law was given that we might stand guilty before God. Everything in this earth is under God's curse because of Adam's sin. even the animals. But here, what we see is that when someone came near the dead body of a man or a woman or a child, they had to bear the reproach of that uncleanness for seven days. You notice as we read there, it kept coming up, seven days, seven days. Seven days is the symbol, again, in scripture of perfection, of completeness. We're not just talking about something that required you know, partially, partial cleansing, but entire, complete. And so the number seven is used. But it had to be obtained with the water of separation. And so there was a particular source to which one who was so defiled would go. Now you stop and think about in our culture, you know, death, death, we have ways of at least easing the difficulty of it. Because if somebody dies, you can commit them to somebody else to come take the body and embalm it and take care of it for you. But in many cultures, that's not the case. I remember for myself, one of the first funerals I ever did in Africa, I hadn't been there long, was a delegation showed up at my front door in the town where I was working. And it was an elderly man and woman and some of the family. And they indicated to me that one of my members, the members of the congregation, passed away. And so I was responsible for the funeral. Would I take charge? Of course, I thought, well, yeah, I could do that. But I didn't realize that what they were asking me to do was actually go over and get the body, because it was a tree had fallen on a young man while he was out in the field and killed him. And they brought him into the dispensary, and he was laying. in the dispensary on the floor. And they had no way of getting him from there to the burial ground. Vehicle out there, if a person has a vehicle and transports a dead body, they're going to charge in through the nose. And so one thing led to another, where I actually had to go get the body, had to wash it, had to prepare it, had to get it ready for the casket, and bury it. And so it was an unusual situation for me. I just wasn't used to this sort of dealing with with death. But the thing is, as far as this goes, death is a daily process. We live with death. That's an unusual way of putting it, but we live with death. So we can imagine how daily the children of Israel stood in need of this water of separation. It would have been something that, not a day went by, but somebody was in need of it. And so that's the point, I believe, of this lesson here. It points out the reality of death in our experience and the impossibility of the law to bring any kind of relief. Here was a law that required a cleansing, even for touching a dead body. That's how severe the law is. That's how severe God's justice is, God's holiness. And, you know, someone might even conclude that burying the dead is a very honorable and decent thing, which it is. To offer a proper burial, even in times of war, there have been ceasefires that have been established on both sides for both sides to go and get their dead and come bury them. It's just, It's an honorable thing to do, considered an act of kindness, and yet we read in scripture that even in so doing, the person touching the dead body was considered to be unclean. I believe that here's a reminder that our best works of righteousness, even our best intentions, before God and his law, stand in need of cleansing, and that only by the blood of Christ. Let's don't forget that this water of separation, what made it significant was what? The ashes. Where did those ashes come from? The heifer. So what it is, it's connected. It's the work of the Spirit pointing to us our need of cleansing. But what is that Spirit's work based upon? It's always in connection with the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. John, look over in 1 John 1. I believe John used this sort of language here in 1 John 1. In verse 7 it says, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, and I believe the light there has to do with the gospel light as revealed by the Spirit. We walk in that light. looking to Christ. We have fellowship one with another. Now what does the gospel teach us? The gospel teaches us that when Christ died, He actually put away our sin. By His, there at the cross, there was an imputing of the sin of His people to His account. That's why He died. But at the same time, there was an establishing of righteousness. He was obedient unto death. There was an imputing of that righteousness to the spiritual account of every one of the elect, those that God had purposed to save through His death. That's what those ashes represent, the work finished, the work complete. When God had poured out His wrath on His Son, there was no more wrath to be poured. It was done. He cried, it is finished. You see, now when the spirit comes, so that's the truth of the gospel. And it's on that basis that we have fellowship with those who have been so called to Christ through the light of the gospel, the work of the spirit. But notice here in verse seven, it says, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanses us. from all sin continues to cleanse. In my daily experience, I stand in need daily. Why? Because I dwell in a body of death, of flesh. I touch death every day. So I stand in need of that cleansing every day. But that's why the ashes are there. And that's why the water is there. The water representing the spirit. A living, it had to be a living stream, living waters of the spirit. He's alive, but constantly pointing me back to Christ. Not for anything in myself, but all in Him. All right? So that's the language that John uses. In verse 9, if we confess our sins, I had a brother ask me that this past week. I was talking to him on the phone. He said, you know, the truth of forgiveness at the cross is such a blessing. And yet, he said, I wonder what then in our prayers do we, why ask for forgiveness if we know they've already been forgiven? Well, and I said, well, this is the thing about scripture where we have to be brought into submission to what the word says. If we confess, what is it? What is it to confess your sins? The word confess means to say the same thing about them that God does. So that's what, when you're confessing your sin, you're saying, there's nothing good in me. You're saying that in my flesh dwells no good thing. You're saying the same thing about your sin. And we're often reminded of that when we're conscious that we've fallen. But in reality, we sin daily. We sin hourly. Whether we recognize it or not, you say, well, what is it that keeps God's wrath from falling upon me? It fell on his son. That's the only thing. It fell on his son. And if we confess our sin, if we are among those who confess our sins, which we will be by the Spirit of God, we never, ever get to a point where we start saying, well, I've gained victory over sin now. You won't hear one that's taught of the Spirit talking like that. We recognize daily, just like these dead bodies, touching it daily, and yet it says if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just. You ever think about who He's faithful and just to? He's faithful and just to His Son, to forgive us our sins. Not based on our confessing them, but based on Christ having died for them. He's faithful and just to his son to forgive, to continue to forgive. See, back before I learned, the Lord taught me the gospel, I was always under the impression that every time I sinned, if I didn't confess it, that thing was on my account. And little did I know that Christ had already put it away. But that's what we're talking about, to forgive us our sins and what? To cleanse us. How? It's by that work of Christ from all unrighteousness. All right? So coming back here to Numbers 19, in verses 14 through 16, the implications of this law are far-reaching when you stop and think about it. Why do we need the blood of Christ? Why do we need the work of the Spirit to constantly purge our consciences from dead works? Because that's really what it is. We have to be purged, cleansed from dead works Any thought of looking to the flesh for any kind of forgiveness or sanctification, only looking to Christ. Well, it's because even in our best efforts, we're still staying condemned by the law. The implications here in verses 14 through 16 are far reaching, not only touching what may be done in private, but also inadvertently. This is what might be known as sins of omission. You talk about sins of omission, sins of commission. It's still sin, but a sin of omission is something you did and you didn't even know about. You didn't even realize that it was sin. All right? Even that is condemnable apart from the work of Christ. As it says here in verse 16, whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword. Someone died and you're thinking we can't leave the body laying out here. We're going to pick it up and we're going to carry it back into the city. You're unclean. See, the law cannot approve anything that we do as being good before God. Now, Solomon wrote about it in Ecclesiastes 7.20. He said, There's not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not in doing that good. That's what it means. Without a doubt, the point here is that the law can do nothing but condemn. Don't look to the law as a friend. There's no peace. Even if you were to start today and say, OK, I'm starting over a new leaf. I'm going to pick up this Bible and I'm going to try to to obey its precepts from here forward. How long is that going to last? How long before you stumble on a dead body? Just that very thought is deadness. You're already unclean, even thinking it. You see, that's That's what this is designed to do. And that's why it took the Lord Jesus Christ coming, not just to look the other way. God couldn't just look the other way, but Christ had to fulfill this law. He had to abolish death. He had to remove its curse, but that's what he did. And that's the importance of that heifer and what the spirit reveals. All right, well, let's just take a look at this. What were some of the specific uses of the ashes? Look in verse 17 of Numbers 19. You know, we've talked about the situation now in verse 17. It says, for an unclean person, they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer. Now, my understanding from that word is probably a pinch. You know, it's not talking about much. It's not, it's not the quantity. You know, a lot of people get caught up with this. How much blood is necessary in order to cleanse me? He had to die once. That's all. It was, it was an obedience unto death. He would not, if there were another sinner to be cleansed in God's purpose, he would not have to come back and die again. We see here the glory of Christ's death represented here in these ashes. But a small quantity of the ash was to be put into a cup of spring water, a vessel of spring water, and therefore it became known as a water of separation. and it was to be sprinkled on those who were separated, that's why it's called that, separated or removed from the sanctuary because of their uncleanness. Just as the ashes of the heifer signified the death of Christ, completed for justification here in verse 17, the running water. That's what I want, if you'd like to mark in your Bible, it's got both parts here. It's got the ashes of the burnt heifer That was for our justification. That was the work of Christ for our forgiveness. And then the running water, what's that? The work of the Spirit. The work of the Spirit, living water. It's the Spirit's work to reveal to the heart the very righteousness of God that was imputed there in Christ's death. That's the connection between whatever Christ reveals to the heart of a sinner, the work of Christ, is because Christ has already accomplished that work for him. I had someone challenge me on this. They said, well, if you're saying we're justified at the cross, then you're just going around telling everybody they're justified. No. Those that are justified are those that God the Father gave to the Son and for whom Christ died. Now, I go around telling everybody they're elect. I don't go around telling everybody they're redeemed. I don't go around telling everybody they're justified. What's the evidence that I've been justified? Well, the Spirit. The Spirit of God causing me to see my sinfulness. See, there's that recognition that I'm a sinner, that I've done nothing but dead works. But when that water is applied, when the Spirit reveals Christ, It causes me, it's connected to what? The ashes. It's connected to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Brother David again here in Acts chapter 13. If you come back there, we read it in the first hour, but in Acts chapter 13, there's an interesting way that it's put here in verses 38 and 39 that again is connected to the gospel. You see what he says, be it known unto you, Acts 13, 38, be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. Notice, it's not preached unto you the potential for forgiveness, it's preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, accomplished fact. Where were sins dealt with? In the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's what we declare to sinners, that If one is to have forgiveness of sins, it would have had to have been when Christ died there at the cross. And it says, and by Him all that believe are justified. Now here's where men misinterpret Scripture. It's not saying that when you believe, you're justified. It says all that believe are justified. In other words, that faith is an indication and an evidence that you've been justified. Because when were we justified? When sin was put away. How do I know I've been justified? God caused me to believe. He caused me to rest in that work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the work of the Spirit to do. That's that running water mixed with ashes. The connection with the death of Christ. And it says all that believe are justified. Actually in the original it's being justified. It implies that you've been justified and you're continuing in that state of justification. And you're believing that it's just an evidence of being in that state. My sins have been put away already by the death of Christ. And it says, from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses. All the more reason to, you know, someone says, well, I appreciate the fact that Christ died for me, but I'm still going to give my effort at this thing. Oh boy. You're just like that person right there that's cut off because you've not come in the way that God has ordained. That's what's being described there. When applied, when God teaches you as a sinner of the work of the Lord Christ and what he accomplished, there is an applying to your conscience. Your conscience is being purged from dead works. What's the conscience do? We all live with a conscience. Some of us grew up having been taught certain things were wrong just because somebody said so. So we just kind of, you know, watch our step because of certain things when in reality it wasn't necessarily against the word, but we were just taught that's the way it is. And so your conscience is affected. You had to have your conscience purged. Particularly with the gospel, how many of us grew up believing the do's and don'ts was what gave us acceptance with God. Our conscience had to be purged to where we left all of that and we continue to leave it. In reality, every time your mind goes back there thinking that something you do, you're touching a dead body. It's just like touching a dead body and your mind has to be purged once again. Your heart has to be purged once again. with the water of separation by the Spirit of God, causing you to look to the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that's what's being described here. Now, there are those who profess themselves to be beneficiaries of the righteousness of God, and yet they continue to deceive themselves because they're not submitted to the righteousness imputed by Christ alone. Paul spoke of that in Romans 10.3. I mention it so often that we won't turn there for now. Such rebellion is really an evidence that they're not submitted to the grace and influence of the Spirit of God. And without knowing it, they're actually trampling underfoot the blood of the Lord Jesus. All right? Look at verse 18, and then we'll stop here. This is interesting. It says, And a clean person shall take hyssop. This was how it was applied. Take hyssop. I had to look up what hyssop is. I've used the word for so long, but some of you that work with flowers, Pat, you might know what hyssop is. I don't know. It's a pretty herb. It's got little blue flowers on it, and it's got a fragrance to it. It was first mentioned in Scripture in connection with the Passover. The Passover. So it doesn't surprise me that here, with regard to the heifer, we find it again. Even in the death of Christ, remember, they took vinegar and put it on hyssop and gave him to drink hyssop. It has some sort of medicinal remedy to it, but it's just a small blue herb, or the flowers are blue, that grew throughout that part of the land. David, in Psalm 51-7, said, purge me with hyssop. Purge me. It has to do with the cleansing. It has to do with, it's a symbol of that cleansing that is brought when the Spirit of God turns our heart and mind away from any self-works or self-righteousness and causes us to look to Christ alone. I wish we had some more time to look at that. In conclusion here, you can read some of these portions, how we must see the imperfections. This is a conclusion I drew as I finished studying this, the imperfections of our services to God. How easily, if it depended upon us, we would be cut off, were it not for this remedy, were it not for the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God continually revealing Christ's person and work to our heart. It's that which cleanses the conscience. Again, look over in Hebrews 9 and verse 14. I mentioned this in our last message, This is the sum of it, right here. You say, what verse best describes what you've just been talking about, Ken? Well, here it is, Hebrews 9 and verse 14. It says, how much more shall the blood of Christ, so there's the heifer offered, it was killed, it was slain, and its ashes, it was burned until there was nothing left but ashes. That's the work of Christ. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, do what? Purge your conscience from dead works. When you're regenerated, that's not when you're justified. You were justified at the cross, but it being justified, the ashes already being there in the hand of the Spirit is what purges our conscience from dead works, causes us to look to Christ in repentance. We repent of every Everything we ever did is being a dead work. That's what it is. It's like touching a dead body. It's a dead work. Put no confidence in it. That's not our hope in standing before God. It's the work of Christ. The spirit of God by whom he offered himself without spot to God is the one who indeed purges our consciences daily from dead works. And we need it daily. Otherwise we'd fall right back into the same old Self-confidence, self-righteousness, trying to work this thing out ourselves. And dear friends, there's nothing but death there. We need to look to Christ. All right, let's pray. Gracious Father, I do ask that indeed you would bring light to this word that we've heard and instruction to our souls. And Lord, may we be of those that you have so taught that we put no confidence in this flesh. And we look to you and to your blessed son-in-law for all of our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption. Bless us as we go from here. I pray in Christ's blessed name. Amen.