We have an altar where they have no right to eat,
which serve the tabernacle. Was he speaking of a material
altar? You know, marriage has been called
going down to the altar. You've heard that term and altar
calls, preachers giving altar calls. There's a song in our
hymn book and we never sing this and maybe you'll know why. But
we never can prove the delights of his love until all on the
altar we lay. For the favor he shows and the
joy he bestows are for them who will trust and obey. What altar is he talking about? If you put your sacrilegious
hand on that sacrilegious altar, it's not going to go well. Let
me assure you. We have an altar. An altar that will replace the
brazen altar and the that was there at the tabernacle
and the temple. Now you may remember that's what
Jeroboam did. He tried to replace that altar.
I'm going to read a passage of scripture from 1 Kings chapter
12. Now this was at the beginning
of the dividing of the two kingdoms. It's when Israel and Judah split
apart. And it was through this man Jeroboam,
he was the head of Israel. And the Passover was only to
be held in Jerusalem. And he said, they're gonna go
into Jerusalem and they're gonna see Rehoboam. That's the true
son of David. And they're gonna kill me. So
I've got a plan. I'm gonna make two new altars. And we're gonna have two new
Passovers. And we're even gonna put golden
cows upon those altars. And he said to the children of
Israel, it's too much for you. demanding of you to have to go
all the way to Jerusalem. So he set up an altar in Dan
and Beersheba or Bethel, it's one end of the country and the
other. But in 1 Kings chapter 12, we read these words. Verse 29, he set the one in Bethel
and the other put he in Dan. And this thing became a sin for
the people went to worship before the one even unto Dan. And he
made an house of high places and made priests of the lowest
of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi. And Jeroboam
ordained a feast in the eighth month on the 15th day of the
month, like unto the feast." That's in Judah. And he offered
upon the altar. He replaced the altar. And it's called the sin of Jeroboam. And it becomes the measuring
stick for all other sins. If you read in the book of Kings,
we always read about the sin of Jeroboam. He sinned after
the sin of Jeroboam or he didn't sin after the sin of Jeroboam. Now, as the writer talking about
trying to replace the altar with another altar or another material
altar the way Jeroboam did, No, he's not talking about a physical
altar at all. What other kind of altar is there?
We have an altar. I think of a material thing.
I think of a physical thing. We have an altar. Now, in the
Old Testament, this is so important, there were Three things absolutely
necessary for worship under the Levitical law. You had to have
an altar, you had to have a priest, and you had to have a sacrifice.
And somebody may think that seems so primitive. If you and I have any idea of
the holiness of God, and our own personal sinfulness. We see the necessity of having
a priest represent us with a sacrifice that God will accept on the altar
of his choosing. Now, an altar was used for sacrificial
animals. I think it's interesting that
there are five different sacrifices, five different offerings prescribed
in the Old Testament, the burn offering, the grain offering,
the peace offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering, five
being the number of grace. The brazen altar was Five cubits
by five cubits, a perfect square. And there were five different
utensils to go along with the brazen altar, the shovels and
pans and so on. There were five different pieces
of utensils that were used for that. And all the measurements
of the tabernacle are multiples of five. And that is why it's
thought to be five is the number of grace. Now, all of that has
been done away with, all of it. You see, Christ is the priest,
not some sinful man. Christ is the priest. Anybody else that claims to be
a priest is a phony, is a fraud. Christ is the priest. Christ is the sacrifice. He is the priest who offers up
himself as the sacrifice. And his body is the altar upon
which that sacrifice was performed. We have an altar. We have a priest. We have a sacrifice
that God accepts. Now you'll notice in our texts
back in Hebrews chapter 13, verse 10, we have an altar and
it's not a material altar. It's the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
What an altar he is. whereof they have no right to
eat which serve the tabernacle." Now he's talking about the Levitical
priests. They would eat of the sacrifices, there were some sacrifices
they could eat of and the writer of the Hebrews tells us they
have no right to eat that are under the law. Now what does
that mean? You have no right of the altar
of Christ or the sacrifice of Christ or the priesthood of Christ.
If you're under the law, well, what's meant by being under the
law? I can make this. I can't make it. The Lord makes
it real simple. In Galatians chapter four, Paul tells us Hagar
is Mount Sinai. The place of the giving of the
law. Now, you know the story. Hagar,
she was the bond slave of Sarah. Sarah couldn't have a child.
She says to Abraham, God's promise will not take place unless we
first do our part. Now let's do our part. Obviously
it's not working with me. Here's Hagar. You go into her
and we'll have a child. And his name ended up being Ishmael.
God never acknowledged him as a son. When he spoke of Abraham,
told Abraham to take Isaac and offer him up as a burnt offering,
he said, take now thy son, thy only son, Isaac, whom you love. Ishmael is not regarded by God
as a son. Ishmael represents you doing
your part. If your salvation is dependent
upon you doing your part, that's law. That's Mount Sinai. And anyone under law, and listen
to me, the Lord God will meet us on the ground we come. If
you come under law, he'll meet you on that ground. If you come
under grace, he'll meet you on that ground too. They who are
of the law have no right to eat of this sacrifice and this altar. What about the altars in the
scripture? I think we can learn something
about Christ, our altar from the altars in the scripture.
I would presume that the sacrifices of Cain and Abel were presented
on some kind of altar. although it's not stated explicitly,
but the first time the word altar is mentioned is in Genesis chapter
eight, when that flood, that ark had been floating on that
flood for a year. It finally hits ground. Noah
gets off the ark. What is the first thing he does?
He builds an altar. And he offers sacrifices of every
unclean beast and fowl. You know what the scripture says
about those sacrifices? I think this is so amazing. It
says, the Lord smelled. When those sacrifices were burning,
the Lord smelled. A sweet smelling savor. It smelled good to God. And my marginal reading says
a savor of rest. What that represents is God's
complete satisfaction with the sacrifice. You know what that means? If
Jesus Christ is my altar, if he's my priest, if he's my sacrifice,
God is completely satisfied with me. Was this actual odor that he smelled?
Maybe it was, I don't know, but I know what it represented. Satisfaction. God being satisfied with Christ
and satisfied with everybody that Christ died for. Now, if
somebody killed your son or your daughter, if you have a child
and somebody killed them and they apprehend the guy and he
goes into court and he says, if I give you $10 million, would
that satisfy you? No. What if I give you all the
money in the world? Would you actually get satisfaction
from that? No. The only thing that would give
me satisfaction is if justice was honored and my child was
raised from the dead. That's what happened with Christ.
He completely satisfied God's justice. God raised him from
the dead and every believer is complete in him. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and you are complete. You lack nothing. Everything God requires you have
because of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was a sweet
smelling savor to God. Now the next time we read of
an altar, and this is four or five times in the book of Genesis,
we read where Abraham erected an altar. And what did he do
when he erected the altar? The scripture says he called
upon the name of the Lord. That altar, which represents
the sacrifice of Christ. No, the blood of an animal never
put away sin. It's what it pointed to, the
sacrifice of Christ. Now, the sacrifice of Christ,
what took place on that altar, tells us what the name of the
Lord means. Every attribute of God is manifest
in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Isn't that glorious? I mean,
His holiness is seen. His purpose is seen. His power
is seen in putting away sin. His justice is seen in punishing
sin. His righteousness is seen in
the way He's made a way to be just and justify the ungodly.
His immutability is seen. Every attribute of God is displayed
through the altar. It's only through the knowledge
of what that altar means that someone truly calls upon the
name of the Lord. There's no calling upon his name
without an understanding of that altar. In Genesis chapter 33,
verse 20, we read of Jacob erecting an altar and he called it El
Elohi Israel, God the God of Israel. God is known through
this sacrifice. Now, if you think, well, isn't
that sacrifice primitive? Yeah, I guess you can call it
that, but God is only known through this sacrifice. God, the God
of Israel. And then in Exodus chapter 17,
verse 15, after the Amalekites were defeated by Israel in the
first battle, Moses erected an altar, and he
called the name of that altar Jehovah Nisi, the Lord our Ensign,
the Lord our Banner, and he called that altar that. The sacrifice
of Christ, the perfection of that sacrifice, the accomplishments
of that sacrifice, the glory of that sacrifice is our message. Paul said, I determined not to
know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's the whole counsel of God.
That is the message. And that's what Moses called
that altar, Jehovah Nisi, the Lord, our banner, the Lord, our
inside, and this is our message. And then in Exodus 20, I think
this is so interesting. Do you remember what took place
in Exodus 20? That's where we get the Ten Commandments. That's
the giving of the law. I love to think of the Ten Commandments,
knowing Christ kept them for me. I love the glory of them,
the holiness of them. Don't put anything before God.
No idolatry. Don't take His name in vain.
Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness.
Thou shalt not covet, honor your father and your mother. Now,
as soon as he gave that glorious law, what did he do next? He
told them to build an altar. And he mentions two altars, an
altar of earth and an altar of stone. Now, he knew they would
break that law. That's why he told them to build
that altar. And that's the only way his justice
can be satisfied. The altar of earth, the humanity
of Christ, Adam, made of earth. The altar of stone, the stone
of Israel, the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, our rock. And there are two very particular
things about that stone. He said, the altar of stone,
if you put a tool to it, you've polluted it. It's no good. I won't accept it. I won't accept
the sacrifice. If you put your works with the sacrifice of Christ,
you've polluted it. God will not have it. And the
next thing that he said about this altar of stone, he said,
they're not steps to that stone. If you take steps to that stone,
your nakedness will be exposed, he said. And that's not talking
about their clothing not being long enough and covering their
physical flesh. What that's saying is, is there's
not steps to Christ. There's nothing I must do first
before I can be a believer. There's not steps to Christ.
We come to Him as we are, not taking steps, not trying to improve
ourselves, not trying to make ourselves better. I come to Him
right now just as I am. I do not take steps to Christ. the giving of the law in that
passage after Exodus chapter 20, there were instructions given
concerning the building of the tabernacle. And
what was the biggest piece of furniture in the tabernacle by
far? The altar. You'll remember it was five by
five. Five cubits, probably 7 1/2 feet long, 7 1/2 feet wide, a
perfect square, 3 1/2 feet high. And it was brazen, big. You could put a lot of weight
on it. But it was the first thing you saw when you entered the
tabernacle. First thing. I tell you what,
when we preach, the first thing people better see is Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. the sacrifice of Christ. And
then there was a laver to wash in that signifies the continual
cleansing of that blood. Some people have thought, well,
the sacrifice is how to get your sins put away, but then you've
got to wash yourself up. No, that water has to do with the
blood of Christ and the cleansing of that blood. And listen to
this. That altar was on the inside of the tabernacle. He wasn't
on the outside. He was on the inside of the tabernacle. It's only those who are in Christ
that this sacrifice is good for. Everybody in Christ must be saved. Everyone he represented must
be saved. That altar had four horns. Horns representing power, the
power of that sacrifice. That's what horns represent.
But I love the way they were pointed to the north, the south,
the east, and the west. Now, while the sacrifice is not
for everybody, it's for anybody who will come. Do you hear that? All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, him that cometh to me. I will in no wise cast
out. Yes, we have an exclusive gospel. It excludes everybody who attempts
to come into God's presence on the footing of their own works.
It cuts you off. Oh, but if you come for mercy, I don't care
who you are. The sacrifice is for you, that
glorious, brazen altar. Exodus chapter 29 verse 37 declares
that the altar is most holy. I don't know how holy that is,
but it's most holy. That's what the sacrifice of
Christ does. And anyone who came into contact with that altar
was holy. Now that lets us know what the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ actually does. This altar we
have, all these representations of the altar point to Christ,
our altar. And if he's my altar, because
of his blood, Colossians 1, 20 says, and having made peace through
the blood of his cross. He made peace through the blood
of His cross by Him to reconcile all things to Himself. By Him
I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven
and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through
death to present you holy. Unblameable. and unreprovable
in his sight." What power there is in the sacrifice of Christ
that would make every believer holy and unblameable and unreprovable. Now, in Leviticus chapter 6,
verses 12 and 13, we read that the fire on the altar of the
sacrifice was never to go out throughout the centuries. While
it was, I guess it went out, I don't guess it even went out
when they were transported. Somehow they kept the fire going. And
during the time when it was turned into the temple, the priests
were to keep that fire going nonstop. The sacrifice of Christ never
loses its power. It is continual. You know, we
sing that song, dear dying lamb, thy precious blood shall never
lose its power. Might be better to just stop
there. Because the writer says, until all the ransomed church
of God be saved to sin no more, No, the power is eternal. And when I'm in heaven, even
then I'm only kept by the blood of Christ and I will look upon
the wounds of my Redeemer and I'll know that He's the only
reason I'm there. The fire goes continually. It's what the writer to the Hebrews
called a new and living way. New, freshly slaughtered is the
word. Living as opposed to a dead sacrifice. And the fire is continual. There's
never a time when the Lord is looking me independently of the
blood of His dear Son. And there's nothing I plea but
the blood of His dear Son. where Gideon sneaks in at night and tears
down the altar of Baal that had been set up. He didn't want to
do it in daylight. I guess he thought he'd get killed
if he did it, but he did it at night. And he gave that altar
a name, an altar. Now don't forget, the altar for
the sacrifice. What was the name of that altar?
He called it Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our peace. The only peace that we have is
the sacrifice of Christ and what it accomplished. Any other ground of peace is
a false ground. If you get peace by something
that took place in the past, it's a false ground to peace.
If you get peace about something you intend to do in the future,
it's a false ground to peace. Old people love to hide in the
past and in the future. But right now, the only ground
of assurance is what the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished. When he, as my great high priest,
offered up the sacrifice of himself on the altar of his humanity,
that is everything in my salvation. And I love it that way. You'll remember Elijah. He says to the children
of Israel, how long halt ye between two opinions? If God be God, if the Lord be
God, serve Him. You know, Elijah means Jehovah
is God. That's what a name means. And
I'm sure that just irritated the priests of Baal every time
they saw him, but he confronts the people. If God be God, serve
Him. If Baal be God, serve Him. And
here's what we're gonna do. The priests of Baal, they're
gonna build an altar, have a sacrifice, and I'm gonna put, build an altar
or repair the altar of the Lord and put the sacrifices on it.
And the God that answers by fire, He's God. And the people said,
well said. So the prophets of Baal begin. And they leap in all kinds of
weird pagan rituals on the altar, crying out to God, cutting themselves.
Old Baal hears, and then Elijah started making fun of them. It
was humorous, the things he said to them, using biting sarcasm. And then he begins to repair
the altar that had gone broken down through disuse. But he begins
to repair the altar, to put the sacrifice on it. And you know,
when things go bad, this is where they always begin, the sacrifice
of Christ. That's where things go bad. That's
where error creeps in first, the sacrifice of Christ. So Elijah
builds up the altar, puts the sacrifice on it, the slain bullock,
waters it down, prays for the Lord and fire comes down from
heaven and consumes the sacrifice and the altar and the dust and
the watery. He was all gone. That fire came
down from heaven and there was nothing left showing God's complete
acceptance of the sacrifice. Satisfaction. When Isaiah saw the Lord high
and lifted up in Isaiah chapter 6. You remember that? He said, in the year the king
Uzziah died, that king who had been a good king, but he went
bad. His heart was lifted up within
him, and he presumed to burn incense to the Lord, which only
the priest could do. He thought, I don't need a priest.
When he said that, he's saying, I don't need Christ. He presumed
to be a priest, and the priest tried to stop him. And they said,
this appertaineth not to thee, Uzziah, don't do this. But, oh,
King Uzziah, he was king, nobody's gonna tell him what to do. And
God smites him with leprosy, and he dies in a leper house. Why? He presumed. come into God's
presence apart from Jesus Christ. They decided to burn incense
with fire that didn't come from the altar. What happened? Fire came down
from heaven and consumed them. God will not be approached apart
from the sacrifice, but oh, my dear friends, let us come boldly
through the sacrifice. Let us come boldly to the throne
of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time
of need. Well, when Isaiah saw the Lord
high and lifted up, you remember what he cried? Woe is me. I'm undone. I am a man of unclean lips. I dwell
in the midst of the people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have
seen the King, the Lord of hosts. And when he was saying, I'm undone,
he said, I'm cut off. And then a seraphim, he tells
us. You can read about this in Isaiah
chapter six. A seraphim, one of those living creatures with
six wings that flew around the throne crying, holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty, the whole earth is filled with your glory.
He had tongs in his hand and he had a live coal from off the
altar, that altar that was always burning. And he touched those
unclean lips. And he said, after he laid this
on his mouth, lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity
is taken away, and thy sin is purged. That is what our altar accomplished.
Turn with me to Malachi chapter one, last book in the Old Testament. Malachi chapter one, verse seven. You offer polluted bread upon
mine altar. Malachi chapter one, verse seven.
You offer polluted bread upon mine altar. And you say, wherein
have we belittled thee? In that you say, the table of
the Lord is contemptible. And if you offer the blind for
sacrifice, is it not evil? Now remember on the Passover,
that lamb, they had to watch it 14 days. Two times seven. looking at the
perfect humanity, the perfect deity of the Lord Jesus Christ
without blemish, without spot. Well, here they offer the blind. If you offer the blind for sacrifice,
is it not evil? And if you offer the lame and
sick, is it not evil? Offer it now unto thy governor,
will he be pleased with thee or accept thy persons, saith
the Lord of hosts? Now, does that mean that Say
Cain, if he would offer, maybe he offered kind of rotten fruit
and it wasn't all that good and he's keeping the best for himself.
If he would have went ahead and offered better fruit, the best,
God would have accepted it? No, no. When you offer the lame
and the blind, you're offering your own works. And that's what
they are, lame, blind, and polluted. All God will accept is the sacrifice
of his son. Now, we have an altar. We have an altar. And our altar
is a person. And he is the priest who offers
himself as the sacrifice on the altar of his humanity, He satisfied
God with his sacrifice. And right now, God is satisfied with me and every
believer. God is so satisfied with you
that he's not looking for anything else. Perfection in Christ Jesus. It's an altar that there's no
steps to. You're right there, coming to
Christ. There's no steps to get to this
altar. It's an effectual altar that makes all who have him as
their altar holy, and this fire never goes out. Never goes out. The only place of peace, it takes
away iniquity. and purges sin. We have an altar. Oh, what an altar he is. And he's not some physical material
altar, but he's the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he
is my altar. He's my priest. He's my sacrifice. I am complete in him. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for our
altar, thy blessed son. How we thank you for his sacrifice
and what it accomplished. How we thank you for the broken
body. and shed blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, where this sacrifice was performed in the altar of
his body. And it was, Lord, you said it had to be perfect to
be accepted, and truly this is perfect. He is perfect, and we
are perfect in him. He has by his one offering perfected
forever them that are sanctified. How? We thank you for our altar. And Lord, enable us to Preach to this generation this
message that Christ is the priest. He is the sacrifice. He is the altar. And all for
whom he died are holy in your presence. Bless this message
for Christ's sake. In his name we pray, amen.