 Amen. So all right, we're looking at Exodus chapter 28. Exodus chapter 28 is hot in here. It's about to get hotter. All right, so we're looking at Exodus chapter 28, and we're looking at the priests' garments for the next few weeks on Sunday evenings. And this morning we looked at the first part of the robe. So we're looking at the robe, which is basically verse number 31 through verse number 34. So we're going to look at, we looked at verse number 32 talking about the hole and the woven hole on the robe that is not supposed to be torn or rent. And we looked at the significance of the robe itself. We're looking at, tonight we're looking at the different characteristics though that are listed in the other verses other than verse number 32. But first of all, let's talk about this series just a little bit. Turn to Hebrews chapter 9. Why is this series important? Why are we looking at what the priest or the high priest in this case, what he wears? Why is it important? There's two reasons for that. The first reason I kind of mentioned this morning, in Revelation 1.6 the Bible says, you turn to Hebrews chapter 9, but in Revelation chapter 1 and verse 6 the Bible says, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. In 1 Peter chapter 2 the Bible talks about how we are a royal priesthood. So this all applies to us and we're going to see that these specific details that God puts in about the priest is kind of a shadow of things that we should be paying attention to. Look at Hebrews chapter 9. Look at Hebrews chapter 9. But we have now, Jesus is now our high priest, the Bible says. In Hebrews chapter 9, look at verse number 11. So we're reading about Aaron, the high priest, and in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 11 the Bible says, but Christ being come in high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building. Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. So one thing you have to understand is that, you know, it's a more perfect tabernacle, the Bible says, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building. The building that we're talking about, the building that we're looking at in Exodus 28 is an actual building. It's the temple, it's the veil is what we looked at this morning. The veil was split, the veil was torn from top to bottom. All those things were pictures of Christ being that perfect high priest, and that tabernacle, you know, of course now we are made temples of the Holy Spirit ourselves. So we believe in the priesthood of the believer, so anything that has applies to the high priest, especially being Jesus now, or the priesthood in the Old Testament has definite shadows on to what we can take from it. I'm going to show you that this evening. So first of all, you know, we are priests, and we have a new high priest, which is Jesus. Okay, so that's very important to understand. So don't just blow through all these things when you're reading the Old Testament, because they all have meaning for us. They were all just shadows, just pictures of things to come. Just like Leviticus chapter 16, the day of atonement was a picture of all of Christ. Okay, it's a picture, it's a complete picture of Christ. So let's look down at the characteristics of the robe this evening. Let's look at the characteristics of the robe. We looked at the purpose of the robe this morning, that it's a picture of Christ's righteousness put onto us. Look down at Exodus chapter 28, and look at verse number 31. There's some very specific details about the robe that we're going to look at this evening. Look at verse 31. The Bible says, And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all of blue. And there should be a hole in the top of it. We looked at verse 32. But first, in verse 31, how it just says that thou shalt make the robe of the ephod, the robe, it should be all blue. I mean, the Bible gives us a specific color that the robe is supposed to be. It's supposed to be blue. So you say, Why blue? What does that mean? That must mean something. Right? Turn to Numbers chapter 15. Let's look at what that means. Numbers chapter 15. And let's look at what that color blue means. Numbers chapter 15, the Bible says in verse number 38, it says, Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make fringes in the borders of their garment. So we're all going to be tailors by the time this series is done. So we know now from this morning that when we talk about fringes or weaving, we're talking about like the hem, the edge of the garment. You don't just cut it. You put something around it. You weave it so it doesn't tear. Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribbon of what? A ribbon of blue. So a ribbon of blue. In verse 39 it says, So basically along all the edges along all the borders, so you know the sleeves, I suppose the end of a coat would have this ribbon of blue. Look at verse 39. And it tells us why. It says, And it shall be unto you for a fringe, for an edge, that ye may look upon it. Why? Why have this blue ribbon there? And remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them. And that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go ahorring. So basically it's saying that, you know, it's to be a reminder of the commandments of God to you. So when you look and you see this blue ribbon on your garments, on the edges of your sleeves, on the edges of the bottom of your waistband or whatever it is, on a coat, it's to be a reminder of the commandments of God. So you don't just like go and like do whatever you want to do because that's what people do. It's saying this is to be a reminder for you. In 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 16 the Bible says, Be ye holy for I am holy. So God is basically reminding them, He's giving them this ribbon, this piece of blue in their garment to help them remind, to help remind them of His commandments, of His will. So we're always going to have our will in our lives. Being saved is not going to take away, you know, the fleshly desires that you have. So God gave, God's, I mean think about this, God's trying to manage us. He's trying to manage us. So I mean He's trying to think about all the things He tried in the Old Testament that we fail that. And this is just another management technique. He's giving them a reminder of His law. Look at verse 40. It says that ye may remember and do all my commandments and what? And be holy unto your God. So look, the blue, the blue fringe is a reminder for them to be holy. Is a reminder for them and what does it mean to be holy? It's to follow the commandments of God. That's what it means to be holy. Turn to Exodus chapter 24. Turn to Exodus chapter 24. Exodus chapter 24 and verse number 10. I think we get it at this point, but we see that the blue means something here. Okay, so Exodus chapter 24. Look at verse number 10. The Bible says here, it says, And they saw the God of Israel, and there was under his feet as it were paved, it were a paved work of sapphire stone as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. This is when they were given the law, and they actually saw God, and it says underneath his feet was this, it was like a stone underneath his feet, and sapphire is blue. So underneath God's feet here was this blue stone as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. So look, here's the point. Turn to Matthew chapter 14. Here's the point. The blue means holiness. The blue represents in the Bible, the blue represents being holy. You know, the people had the fringe, the people had the fringe, and then the priest's robe was all blue. And we'll get into that in just a second. Let me show you something interesting though in Matthew chapter 14. Something interesting about people, what they did with Jesus in Matthew chapter 14. So the blue represents holiness. It was put in the people's garments as a ribbon so they could remember to follow the commandments of God, and they wouldn't just do whatever they want because that's what we will end up doing. We'll talk about that later. But the priest's robe was all blue. Okay? It represents holiness. Now look at Matthew chapter 14. Now look, this is just, this is kind of like Pastor's opinion land here, but look, I just find this interesting. Obviously, I don't know exactly what Jesus's garment was made of here, but I find it interesting that in Matthew chapter 14 and Luke chapter 8, look at what it says in verse 35. This is when people were coming to Jesus, they wanted to be healed and they wanted to be, they wanted Him to heal them. And it says when men, and when men of that place had knowledge of Him, verse 35, they sent out into all the country round about and brought unto Him all that were diseased. So here's this guy, you know, these people, they hear this guy's healing people, he's raising people from the dead, and they're just like sending like, you know, if you had a sick relative or something, you'd probably want to get them to this guy. You know, if you heard stories like this. So what they're doing is they're bringing these people to Jesus, look at verse 36, and besought Him that they might only touch the what? What part? The hem of His garment. So look, I don't know what Jesus's garment looked like, but I can tell you this, the hem of the garment was there and it was made for Old Testament Israel so they could remember what? They could remember their holiness. So they were trying to touch the hem of Jesus's garment, which would have represented holiness to them. See what I'm saying? In Luke chapter 8, I'll just read for you. The Bible says a similar thing. In a woman having an issue of blood in verse 43, 12 years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any. She had this problem, she couldn't be fixed, nothing was helping. She spent all this money, and she just like, I mean, she literally spent all her living on physicians. Going to doctor after doctor after doctor after doctor. Look at verse 44, it says she came behind Him and touched the what? The border of His garment. So I was trying to grab the border of Jesus's garment here, because that was the part of the garment that was representative of holiness in the Old Testament. And immediately her issue of blood stanched so she was healed right away. So look, the Bible here is saying is that blue represents holiness, all that to say that much. Okay, now go to 1 Timothy chapter 3. Go to 1 Timothy chapter 3. Now let's address the idea that the people had this fringe. The people had a ribbon. And the priest was all blue. His robe was completely blue. And this this can show us like this shows us that spiritual leaders, God holds to a higher standard. I mean, that is very clear in the Bible. Spiritual leaders are held to a higher standard. 1 Timothy chapter 3 talks about the what we call the qualifications of someone who would be a pastor or a bishop, or even you could say a priest. Look at verse number one of 1 Timothy chapter 3. So we see that the people had the fringe, but the high priest had all blue. So look at 1 Timothy chapter 3 in verse number one, the Bible says this is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desire a good work. So I mean, this is right there saying, like, how do you know if you should go into the ministry? Well, if you have a desire to go into the ministry, you know, that's what the Bible says is we have a desire for it. Then, you know, you know, there's no like, God didn't speak to me audibly. God didn't talk to me and say, go be a pastor now. Okay, just there was the desire there. There was a, you know, to serve more and to do more. And then, you know, so it's not it's nothing magical. Just if there's a desire, then if you find you meet these qualifications, you know, go for it. The Bible says, look at verse number two. Now it talks about just a bishop or a pastor, you know, these these two words are used interchangeably. It says what, you know, how holy he must be or the qualifications, the specifications that God lays forth for someone that would lead spiritually his church. I'll give verse number two. It says a bishop must then be blameless. The husband of one wife, I mean, it's quite a huge list here. The husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach. Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous. One that ruleeth well his own house, having his children a subjection with all gravity. For a man know not, for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Not a novice. Verse six, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into the reproach and the snare of the devil. So this this huge list is listed out of what God wants of a pastor of a church of a bishop of this church. And first of all, I pointed this out before. I'll point it out again. These are standards we should all follow. These aren't just like only a pastor has to do these things. It's just that God holds the pastor accountable for these things to be qualified to pastor at church. That's that's all the Bible is saying. But everybody should should live to these standards. Everybody should every saved Bible believing Christian should read this list and say that's what I want. That's what I want to be in my life. No, look, I mean, here's the thing. Here's the thing. Most of these standards are most of these standards are subjective. They're subjective standards. I mean, think about it, like a novice. You know, one person may may define a novice different than another person defines a novice. Maybe one person thinks that if, you know, you've read the Bible, you try to quantify things like every pastor that sends out other pastors has a quantification for these things like how many times you have to read through the Bible, how many times how many years you have to serve underneath that pastor before he can get to know you well enough for he knows that you're not a novice and then he also can, you know, look at these other things. But most of these things that just all this is say this, most of these things are subjective, meaning they're open to one person's interpretation over another person's interpretation. One person may say read the Bible 10 times, one may say 20. Okay. Some are objective, meaning they're just defined like the husband of one wife. I mean, that's pretty clear right there. Right. So if a pastor, you know, if I would end up, you know, I would end up divorced, you know, I would clearly not be qualified to pastor a church. Okay, but the point is, is that the priest, the pastor, the bishop is held, he's held to a higher standard. I mean, other people don't pastor a church, they should follow these standards. And if they, you know, they go into sin in their life, and they break one of these standards, that's still a bad thing. But it doesn't just qualify them from, you know, being a plumber or whatever it is that they do for a living. So these are standards that we should all adhere to. But the blue robe is a picture that God holds the priest to a higher standard. Okay, now let me just say this. And look, I'm not on social media, but people tell me stuff. Okay, so I do hear things, but there's this weird phenomenon out there about the qualifications for a pastor. It's this weird phenomenon. It's mostly on social media, which I'm completely oblivious to most of the time, because I don't really go into all that stuff. But there's this weird phenomenon where there's these people out there that, and it's really strange. I don't understand it that feel like they they want to look at the patients of like their pastor. It's really weird stuff. Okay, it's people they just are they're looking at all these other pastors. And most of the time, I think it's people they probably just don't like in the first place, because of social media or whatever. But I mean, don't fall into this. It's not it's not your job. It's not my job. And I'm thankful for this. It's not my job to qualify some other pastor. Thank goodness. I mean, that's not that's not up to me. Okay, the only person that had to decide like if I was qualified to be a pastor was pastor when he laid hands on me and sent me out. And now obviously, if a pastor falls into like some grievous sin or something, that's going to be obvious to any Bible believing Christian any Bible believing church body. So you know, that's going to be an obvious thing. But I mean, people are just like they're on this like, it's almost like this phenomenon of people on the hunt to like disqualify people they don't like, or something like that. And we just shouldn't even be part of that. Okay, and like, people have even done this to me. They didn't even done it to me. And like, we're to the point where like, they'll just make stuff up. They'll just make things up. I mean, my favorite will always be my favorite will always be that I was a oneness Pentecostal. And I was a false prophet because of that. That's that's always going to stick close in my heart just because like, I'm way over the top on Pentecostals in the first place. There was one time when I we were just talking about this yesterday. But there's one time when I like I don't know if I preach the sermon, or if it was a soul winning tip or what it was, but I like I went a little overboard on the Pentecostals because I was just having you know, I've had some hard times with Pentecostals out soul winning where they just like, I think I said something like you better off preaching to a rock than a Pentecostal that's over 60 years old or something like that. And then like Miss Lucy just like got like just choose getting Pentecostal saved for like the next month. So like God was like showing me like, Hey, right. But anyway, the point is the point is back to the back to the qualifications of a pastor. It's not our responsibility to like, try to figure out all these qualifications like that's that's up to God. Okay, and it'll be obvious if some if some pastor falls into some grievous in which has happened, okay, and it's never good and it's always bad. You know, just it will be obvious. All right, but until then, you know, we should always just give the man of God the benefit of the doubt. And you know, because here's the thing, folks. And here's one thing that you know, I'm not even a year into this and you don't know what these pastors go through. You do not know what pastors go through. And I'm not even say, I'm not even saying I know. I mean, I've seen some things as the pastor, but it's it's a they go through some horrible situations. And if you know, pastors, you know, they get up and they preach 150 times a year. And it's like, you can you can nitpick anybody apart, you can nitpick me apart, you know, you could clip things that I say, or whatever, and then, you know, twist them around and all that it's just, it's not a road that we should go down. Okay, it's it's God that holds the pastor accountable. It is God that has these standards. So all that to say this, the priest is held to a higher standard. That is the point of the blue. Okay, the blue means holiness. The blue means holiness. And the priest is held to a higher standard. Go back to Exodus chapter 28. And look at verse number 33. Exodus chapter 28. And look at verse number 33. Now it gets really interesting. All right, so we see that's the color blue. That's what that represents. It represents holiness. Now look at verse number 33. It says beneath the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and round about the hem thereof, and bells of gold between them round about, and a golden bell and a pomegranate, and a golden bell and a pomegranate upon the hem of the robe round about. So here, turn to 1 Kings chapter 7. So here we see around the hem of the robe is to be pomegranates. That's one of the things. So let's look at the pomegranates first, and look at, you know, what the point, why pomegranates? I mean, why, I mean, there's a reason for it. Okay, look at verse number 20 of 1 Kings chapter 7. 1 Kings chapter 7, and verse number 20. The pomegranates everywhere in the Bible represent something very specific. Look at verse number 20 of 1 Kings chapter 7. We're talking about in 1 Kings chapter 7, we're talking about the details here of the temple. So not only does God detail out what the priest is supposed to wear, he details out how the temple was supposed to look as well. In verse number 19, 1 Kings chapter 7, the Bible says, and the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily work in the porch for cubits. And the chapiters upon the two pillars had pomegranates also above over against the belly, which was by the network, and the pomegranates were 200 in rows round about the other chapitur. Look at verse 21. And he set up pillars in the porch of the temple, and he set up the right pillar and called the name thereof Jacob, and he set up the left pillar and called the name thereof Boaz. So these are pillars that are at the porch of the temple. And around the pillars are these hundreds of what? Pomegranates. So it's decorated these two pillars with pomegranates. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 52. And the pillars are called Boaz and one is called Jacob, which is interesting enough. You don't hear too much about Jacob, but he's actually a son of Simeon in the Bible. You just heard a sermon on Simeon. Jacob is a son of Simeon in Genesis chapter 46. Look at Jeremiah chapter 52. Jeremiah chapter 52. So again, we see pomegranates not only around the priest's robe, but around these pillars that are in the porch of the temple. Look at Jeremiah chapter 52. And look at verse 21. Jeremiah chapter 52 and verse number 21. And the Bible says concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was 18 cubits. So a cubit is about a foot and a half. They say a cubit is from your elbow to the tip of your finger about 18 inches and a fillet of 12 cubits did compass it. And the thickness thereof was four fingers and it was hollow. And a chapter of brass was upon it. And the height of one chapter was five cubits with a network and pomegranates upon the chapters round about all of the brass. The second pillar also and the pomegranates were like onto these. And Jeremiah 52 is talking about how these were taken away. These were taken away by the invasion of Babylon. Go to Deuteronomy chapter 8. Deuteronomy chapter 8. So these pillars and these pomegranates, they were taken away when Babylon came in and took Judah into captivity. These were some of the things that were taken away by the Babylonians. You say, why were they taken away? And why are they pomegranates? Look at Deuteronomy chapter 8. Look at verse number 7. Deuteronomy chapter 8. Look at verse number 7. The Bible says Deuteronomy 8.7. It says, for the Lord thy God bringeth thee into good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills, a land of wheat, barley and vines and fig trees and what? And pomegranates, a land of olive, oil, olive and honey. A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness. Thou shalt not lack anything in it. A land whose stones are iron and out of those hills thou may as dig brass. So why pomegranates? In the Bible you will see that pomegranates, even in song of Solomon, Solomon describes his wife as, you know, her skin as being that skin of a pomegranate. You know, just talking about, look, pomegranates, first of all, if you look at the actual fruit itself, it's just, it's full of seeds. If you look at a pomegranate, it's just full, it's like hundreds of seeds and they're all just, they're not just seeds, they're edible seeds. They're edible and they're like super healthy for you. I actually take like, my wife's going to laugh, but I actually take like pomegranate extract as like a supplement. Because like a pomegranate, if you go look up a pomegranate, like it's so healthy for you. It's ridiculous. It's like, I mean, it's got antioxidants, it's got fiber, it's got fatty acids, it boosts your immunity, it helps your blood pressure, it's good for your skin color, you know, your skin tone and your skin color. That's why, you know, Solomon was talking about his wife. It's just, there's so many good things about pomegranates and it's used in the Bible to talk about just like a land of blessings and prosperity is what it's talking about. So whenever you see pomegranates in the Bible, it's used to just like show like prosperity, blessings upon a land, just like in Deuteronomy chapter 8. It's like the land is just as good land and there's just pomegranates everywhere is what the Bible's talking about. All right, it's a symbol, look, it's a symbol of prosperity. Turn to Joel chapter 1. It's a symbol of God's blessing and good will towards a nation. In Song of Solomon, I'll just read for you. It says, thy lips are like a thread of scarlet and thy speech is comely, thy temples are like a piece of pomegranate within thy locks. So he's just saying like you're just, her skin is so beautiful and it's so healthy and it's just, he's just talking about how great it is and he compares her to a pomegranate. Look at Joel chapter 1, look at verse number 12. Joel chapter 1 in verse number 12. So a pomegranate's a symbol of God's blessing, but look at Joel chapter 1 in verse 12. It says what? Now we're talking about God's blessing being removed. God's blessing going away in Joel chapter 1. The minor prophets are some of the most brutal books in the whole Bible. Okay, when you look at God removing his blessing, some of the language used in those books is the most extreme in the Bible. Look at verse number 12. It says, the vine has dried up and the fig tree languishes. The pomegranate tree, the palm tree also and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field are withered. Now those blessings are going away. Now we're talking about the judgment of God. Once again, he puts in a pomegranate in there. Okay, they're withered because why? Because joy is withered away from the sons of man. So we see that the pomegranate's a picture of joy, prosperity, God's blessing on a nation. And when it goes away, he talks about the pomegranate withering away as well. Okay, so look, it's kind of equated with everything good upon a nation. Prosperity, blessings. All right, now let's go back to Exodus chapter 28. So we know what the color blue means. We know what the pomegranate means. We know that it's a symbol of God's good will towards a nation and the blessings and prosperities of a nation. What about the bells? What about the bells? Look at verse 33. Once again, it says, and beneath the hem of it shall make pomegranates of blue and purple and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof. And, the last part, it says, and bells of gold between them round about. Now this is where it gets really interesting. So the Bible here says that in between, so and then he gets specific. He's not like pomegranate bell. He's like bell, pomegranate bell. This is how detailed God is. Look at the next verse. Look at verse 34. He says, a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate upon the hem of the robe round about. God doesn't want any excuses here about not putting, He doesn't want you, because like man would be, He's like, okay, golden bell and a pomegranate. If you just said it once, you know what man would do? We would put in one bell and we would put pomegranates the rest of the way around. But you know, God says, a pomegranate, a bell, a pomegranate, a bell, just so we understand that he wants a bell for every pomegranate on the robe. Okay, why? Why is this? Turn to Hebrews chapter four. These bells were pretty important. If he didn't have the bells, he would literally die, is what it says here in verse 34. You turn to Hebrews chapter four. You turn to Hebrews chapter four and I'm gonna read verse 35 of Exodus 28. It says, it shall be upon Aaron to minister in his sound from the bells, shall be heard when he goeth into the holy place before the Lord. And when he cometh out, why? That he die not. So he better put the bells on there so God can hear the sound, otherwise you're gonna die. So the bells are pretty important. He said, you know, well, how would he die? I mean, I guess you would just assume that God would kill him. You'd have to assume that if he didn't have the bells there that God would kill him. So he had to announce, he had to announce himself going in and announce himself coming out. Look at Hebrews chapter four. Hebrews chapter four. But this is interesting because this is something that we no longer have to do. We don't have to walk around with bells on right now but they still have a spiritual meaning for us. Look at Hebrews four in verse 14. Seeing then that we have a great high priest, who's that? That's Jesus. That is passed into the heavens. Jesus the son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest which can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like we are yet without sin. That's a great soul winning verse by the way. You should definitely mention that Jesus while he was God and man at the same time, he did not sin in his life. He was tempted like we are. That's why it's important that Jesus was man by the way. There's all these, there's heresies that Jesus wasn't God but there's also heresies that Jesus wasn't really a man. No, Jesus was a man and he was God. And the point is is that the reason that Jesus had to be a man because he was tempted, he went through all the temptations that you or I do except he didn't fail. He didn't give in to sin. Okay, so but on all points he was tempted like as we are yet without sin. That's the only way he could be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Otherwise we could all just die for each other since because if sin didn't matter that's how that would work but the point is I'm trying to get at is verse number 16. It says let us therefore because now Jesus is the high priest. It's no longer Aaron. It says let us therefore what? Come boldly unto the throne of grace. You see the veil was torn. The veil was destroyed. There's no more I have to go into the veil with a bunch of bells on in my life. It says now, now that the veil is torn now that Jesus is the high priest I can now come boldly. Aaron couldn't go boldly. Aaron had to wear bells. He had to wear bells or he would die. It says let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So look there was to be there was great care and formality to be taken in approaching the holy place of God before Jesus came. With the holy the fact that there was a holy place I mean why why wasn't God just in the temple? Why didn't you just open the door of the temple and there was God? There was the ark. No, it was a special place. It was separated by the veil and Aaron had to have this specific garment on. He had to have the bells on so he wouldn't die. But we don't have to do that anymore because Jesus with the high priest now we can come boldly to him. OK, so we don't need a priest and we don't need bells in our life. OK, now, so that's what the bells were for. They were to kind of be a warning kind of be a warning that the priest was coming in. So God could hear him come but now we can come boldly. But now what's interesting it's interesting when Bible repeats things we should always pay attention. In verse number 34 of Exodus chapter 28 the Bible says a golden bell and a pomegranate. A golden bell and a pomegranate upon the hem of the robe round about. So it alternates these. So the robe we see what the point of the bells was. We see what the point of the pomegranates the symbolism of the pomegranates was. But why were they alternating all the way around his robe and why don't you just have one bell around his neck or something like that. Why I mean think about it. I mean if the point is just to make noise why not just give him one bell. But it was to alternate there's to be a bell in between every single pomegranate and God was very specific about that. OK, so one was a warning to him from death and one is a reminder of the symbol of blessing. So think about it this way and maybe it'll be a little bit clear. If you think about it, you know, don't don't think about it as a as a bell and a pomegranate and a bell and a pomegranate. Think about it this way. A blessing, a warning, a blessing, a warning, a blessing, a warning, a blessing, a warning all the way about the robe of the priest. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 11. What you are seeing here with the bells in the pomegranates is you are seeing a symbol. It is a picture of all of God's covenants. It's brilliant. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 26 and verse number 28. Deuteronomy chapter 11 and verse number 26 through 28 is the bells and pomegranates. Deuteronomy chapter 11 verse number 26. Go to Deuteronomy chapter 11 and verse number 26. Here's what we are seeing with the hem of the priest's robe. The Bible says in verse 26 of Deuteronomy chapter 11 it says, Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse. I set before you this day a pomegranate and a bell. Think about it that way. A blessing, verse 27, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, does it sound familiar? As we look at the holiness of the blue, the holiness of the robe itself, a blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day. And a curse. If you will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day to go after other gods which you have not known. What you are seeing with the pomegranates and the bells is a picture of the blessings and curses of God's covenants. And the blessings and curses of God's covenant to us. Like if we do these things, pomegranates, if we don't, bell. That's what we need to remember in our life. I mean, look, I mean, here's the thing. It reminds me of Luke chapter 14. Turn to Luke chapter 14. Turn to Luke chapter 14. You better remember, I mean, so what do we take from this? What we take from this is this, okay? Look, pomegranates are the problem in this country today. I mean, the problem is, that's the problem with every single church in the United States of America today. This country is a dumpster fire of evil, of murder, of perversion. And every single church that you go to, it's nothing but pomegranates. That's all anybody talks about. All pomegranates everywhere. But we better start paying attention to some bells. We better start hanging some bells in our lives. I mean, who would want to go to a church? I mean, how many times have you gone up to somebody's door? How many times have you gone up to somebody's door? Like every single time you go soul-winning. And I always say this, and I might stop saying this, by the way, because I don't feel this way. I shouldn't say things that I don't feel. I always say, oh, do you go to church anywhere? And they say, yeah, I go to church at, you know, the bread or whatever, you know, the ceiling fan, the carpet, the door. You know, most of those are church names actually. Maybe not the ceiling fan, but the point is you go to church anywhere. And they're like, yeah, you know, every now and then you actually find somebody that goes to church. Shocking, but you do. So you find somebody that goes to church, and you say to go, oh, we're not trying to steal you from church. You know what though? I am trying to steal them from their church. They're just going to some stupid church. They have no idea where they're not going to heaven. And guess what? If you don't know you're going to heaven, you're not going. They don't know if they're going to heaven. They've been going to this church for years, years. And I mean, I'll say this a lot of times to people, I'll be like, you know, you get, especially it gets somebody to the gospel, they get saved, and be like, you know what? Does it bother you a little bit? You've been going to, you know, the carpet for like five years, and they didn't even tell you how to get to heaven. You had no idea how to go to heaven. Like your kids are running around this house. You have no idea if they're going to go to heaven. Nothing, and just, it's because it's nothing but pomegranates there. And most of them is fake pomegranates. But even if they have the right gospel, which most of them don't, even if they have the right gospel, it's just nothing but, I mean, this country's a dumpster fire. It's just a disaster. I mean, the ship is going down. And they're just like, pomegranates, pomegranates, pomegranates. That's all it is. And 90% of the people sitting in the church, I mean, that pastor doesn't care about them. All those people sitting in the church, they're all going to hell. What kind of churches are these? Now you wonder like, how do we get to where we are in this country? That's how. That's how, because, you know, the men of God, they realized that it's people like pomegranates better. People don't like when you shake a bell in their face. They want to eat pomegranates. That's what they want. So that's what they gave the people. And here we are. Here we are. We're drowning in a country where we celebrate murder. We literally celebrate unnatural perversion that destroys children. This is where we are. Because there's no bells. There's no bells. That's why God's like, after every pomegranate you put a bell. After every single one. Don't you go put four pomegranates in a row before you put a bell? Because that's what churches did. That's what saved pastors did. And it must have, you know, it probably started 50 years ago, 60 years ago, 70 years ago. They just started having to put two pomegranates. Because it's easier preaching pomegranate sermons. Nobody gets mad at you when you get up and tell people how great they are. Nobody gets upset at anything like that. But you know what? Sin, you start ripping people's faces off about garbage that they're involved in and things that they need to get out of their lives and things that they have to, you know, to get up and tell people, look you can't have your kids in public school. There's no success there. People don't wanna hear that. Because like that's a life changing thing. You're gonna have to rearrange some stuff. You're probably gonna have less money. It's probably easier to be like, oh just pomegranates. Everything's fine. Go be a witness to everyone. Love, love, love. Have another pomegranate. You know, God's like put a bell in every single, after every single pomegranate. Better keep the bells in our life. I mean, this is the problem. This is the problem. I mean, this is the problem with our country. It's just nothing but comfort. It's nothing but comfort. This is why people won't get saved. This is why people won't get saved because you go to a rich neighborhood and like there's no problems there. There's no problem. It's just nothing but pomegranates. There's no problems there at all. But look folks, don't forget the bells. And look, for us as safe people, we need to hang some bells too in our lives. I mean look, you got things going well in your life. You got your families going well. Maybe you meet a girl and you're gonna get married or whatever. You better start hanging some bells. You know, I got everything's going well for me. You got this great job. You better put a bell on your desk at your job. Oh, I just got a nice new car. You better hang a bell in the mirror because these are the things that ruin us even as saved people. We talked about like the new man this morning and not having this old garment and this trying to modify the old man but becoming the new man. Well, you know, become a new man but hang some bells in your life because that is what this is talking about. God is giving us a symbol here of be careful. A covenant has two sides. A covenant is an agreement between two parties. And look, God tells us that we will have some blessings if we follow his word. You know, as a nation we'd be wise to follow this as well. We're not, but we'd be wise to. God tells us we'll have some blessings but if we don't, you know, there's the bell. So look, the robe is super symbolic for us today in our lives with these, with the colors, the pomegranates, the bells, the righteousness. Think about that. It pictures our righteousness. It pictures Christ's righteousness on top of us covering, you know, the substitutes for our unrighteousness. It pictures that. I mean, it pictures this new man that's not gonna have any tears. That's not gonna have any need for patches in his life. And you see, you know, I was thinking, maybe I should have said this. How do I know? You say, how do I know if I did put on the new man or if I was just patting the old man? How do I know? Here's how you know. You know, if you're, that's how you know. You say, when you got saved, did you just start kind of like kicking out some sin here and there that you're just installing patches in that case? I just preached a sermon on the midlife crisis and it's kind of the same theory. But look, when you get saved, if you wanna put on the new man or the new woman or the new person, then look, the purpose of your life needs to change. I think that a good starting purpose for a newly saved person is to just get one person in their life saved. Imagine if every Christian just got one person in their life saved. Most Christians will get no one saved in their life and it's because they're not putting on a new man. They're not repurposing their life. You know, their life goals, they're still the same. They're still looking at all these worldly things like their career and just worldly goals that they're after in their life. They've not put on, they've not changed the purpose of their life. That's putting on the new man. It's changing that purpose. You know what? I'm gonna get as many, because guess what? If you figure out, you know what you have to do to get one person saved? You gotta go out soul winning, like I don't know, dozens of times with people that know how to go soul winning. You gotta learn Bible verses. You gotta practice. You gotta talk to several different people before you could go through the gospel successfully one time. It's a lot of work. It's a lot of work to get to the point where you get one person saved. And then guess what? Why it's such a good goal to just get one person saved as a Christian to repurpose your life for that? Because after you get one person saved, it's pretty easy to get many more saved. Once you repurpose your life that. And guess what? Then you put on the new man. Then you put on the new man. And once you have that new garment on you, there's no need for patches. You don't have to put old patches on a new garment. So look, we see, turn to Romans chapter eight. Turn to Romans chapter eight. Really, like, really the bells and the pomegranates and the blue, it pictures God's covenant. God wants you to be holy. He wants you to have this new garment, this new man. He wants you to be holy. And he's showing you, he's showing you, look, there's pomegranates, but keep some bells in there. Look at Romans chapter eight and verse number six. Look what the Bible says. It says, for to be carnally minded is death. There's the bells. For to be carnally minded is death. Those are the bells. To be spiritually minded is life and peace. Those are the pomegranates, right there. Now all we have to do is knowing that we just need to hang some bells in our lives, even as saved believers. We need to hang bells all over our lives. Wherever you have pomegranates, you say, where do I put bells? Where are your pomegranates? Where are your blessings in your life? Go sit down tonight and write down all the blessings in your life, and then hang some bells in those areas. Bell, pomegranate, bell, pomegranate. That's how God wants you to do it. That way you won't forget the covenant. And that way, look, you'll be more profitable in your life that way. Isn't that interesting? All of that from just the robe that the priest wears. Imagine what we'll learn when we look at the other garments that he's wearing. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.