We should turn back to Acts chapter
seven. Tonight, we're going to observe the Lord's table and
we're going to have a get together to honor the graduating seniors. There are six of them. We'll
do that after the service. I'm going to preach on this subject. Have I been called? Have I been
called? I want to say some things about
The death of Henry Mahan, he was a very special man. By the way, before I forget to
say it, there will be a visitation in Ashland tomorrow at 9.30.
We put it, it's been changed since then, so at 9.30 in the
morning there'll be a visitation. Henry Mahan was my pastor, he
was my mentor, he was my friend, and there just wasn't anybody
like him. There just wasn't anybody like him. He was a very special
man, specially blessed by the Lord to preach the gospel. The Lord used him more than any
other man I know. Annie Sharon said this, two things. Annie Sharon said this Friday
night, she said, you know, he's been deaf for years, stone deaf,
can't hear. And she said, first thing he's
going to hear is the Lord say, well done, thou good and faithful
servant. And let me say every believer
is going to hear that because if Christ did well, we did well. I don't want to say that in such
a way as, well, some people will hear it and some won't. No, everyone
will. But to hear those words. And I remember I grew up under
Brother Mahan and didn't have an improper appreciation of it.
And back in the late 80s, I got very sick and I laid down in
a hospital bed for eight weeks. Couldn't read, had double vision.
All I could do was think. That's a good thing to do sometimes.
But I remember there were two things that were just outstanding
to me during that time when the Lord brought me through that
sickness. Number one is I could look at death with joy and anticipation
because of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I could look
at death and look forward to it because I knew that Christ
was my righteousness. I didn't have anything to fear.
And I was so thankful that the Lord had given me a pastor that
had taught me that and that was more concerned about me knowing
the Lord's name than his own. What a blessing that was and
what a special man. I'm thankful he died. I'm thankful
he's in the Lord's presence right now. And what a blessing to have
him as my pastor. And if you listen to me preach,
you've been influenced by him, whether you know him or not,
because I learned the gospel through this man. And every month
when I'd write him, I'd always sign with this, your son in the
gospel. And what a blessing he's been
to all of us. Oh, also after the service can
some men stay and set up the tables for the get together tonight
for the graduating seniors. Look at verse 44 again of Acts
chapter seven. Our fathers had the tabernacle
of witness in the wilderness, as he'd appointed, speaking unto
Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that
he had seen. Now I've entitled this message,
The Tabernacle of Witness. And this is talking about the
Old Testament tabernacle. It bears witness. to the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The word, John 1.14, the word
was made flesh and tabernacled among us. That's the word, tabernacled
among us. Speaking of the Old Testament
tabernacle, Revelation 21.3 says the tabernacle of God is with
men. And Hebrews 8 too speaks of the
tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. Now it's my prayer
that God will bear witness to us through the preaching of the
tabernacle. Moses was told, you build it
exactly according to the specifications which I give. Now we would profit
if we spent the rest of our life studying the tabernacle. Now, the tabernacle was a courtyard,
first of all, about 150 by 75. All the measurements in the tabernacle
are divisible by five. That's why people say five is
the number of grace. And in this courtyard, there
was a fence surrounding it that was seven and a half feet high.
And what that tells me is you couldn't see in the tabernacle
unless you were in the tabernacle. And you and I really can't see
in Christ and see Christ unless we're in the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's meaningless to anybody else. The only way I can see Christ
is if I am in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where I want to
be found. How about you? In Him. I want
to be in him so that all God sees is Jesus Christ when he
sees me. And if I'm in him, I can see
something of his glory. Now outside of him, I'm not going
to understand, but oh, to be found in him. Now there was a
building inside this courtyard, which was about 15 by 45 and
it had two rooms. holy place and the holy of holies. In the courtyard, in order to
enter that building, you had a brazen altar for sacrifice. That was the first thing that
was there, a brazen altar for sacrifice. And after that, before
you could enter into the building, you had to go and wash your hands
in a laver filled with water before you could enter into the
Holy Place. And like I said, this building
had two rooms, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. It was
15 by 45. The Holy of Holies was a perfect
cube, 15 by 15 by 15. And the Holy Place was 15 by
30. Now, once you entered in to this
building, There were three pieces of furniture. And let me tell
you one that was not there as a chair because the work was
never done. It pictured the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. But the priest's work was never
done. It was only the Lord Jesus that
sat down. So there was not a chair in there.
But let me tell you what was in this building. that they carried
around through the wilderness for 40 years. And when they entered
into the promised land, going through Jordan, they brought
this building with them. And the furniture of this building
was used in Solomon's temple, which took the place of the tabernacle.
Now, if you went into this first room, there were three pieces
of furniture. There was a golden candlestick
that you could see by, and it was continually lit. all the
time that light was burning. The only way you could see in
this was through this golden candlestick. And there was what's
called the table of showbread. And on this table, there were
12 loaves of bread, and they kept those 12 loaves on, and
they'd change them every week. The priests would eat them, representing
the 12 tribes of Israel. And there was an altar of incense
that the incense was burning continually. That's what the
priest's job was to keep this incense burning continually,
which represents the intercession of Christ. And then there was
a thick veil that separated you from the holy place and the Holy
of Holies. Now in the Holy of Holies, there
was the Ark of the Covenant. And in that ark, it was two by
four, made of gold and chitin wood, which represents the, wood
represents the humanity of Christ. The gold represents the deity
of Christ. And within that ark, there was
a copy of the law that God had written. There was the, um, rod
that budded of itself and had life in it, Aaron's rod that
budded, Christ our life. And there was a pot of manna,
Christ our food. And over that ark, there's what's
called the mercy seat, the lid of propitiation, the lid of this
is where the high priest would come in once a year and sprinkle
blood. No other time could they come
at that time of the day of atonement. when the priests would come in
once a year with the blood of the lamb that was slain on the
day of atonement. And there was a thick veil of
separation and over the building, there were seven curtains. There
was a curtain made of goat's hair and actually cashmere. That's talking about the comfort
of the gospel. And there were white, blue, purple, scarlet, white, yeah, white, blue, purple,
scarlet, linen. And these all describe some aspect
of the Lord, blue, heavenly, white, absolutely pure and righteous. And then there was ramskins dyed
red, That obviously represents the Lamb of God. And over it
all were badger skins. A big curtain made out of badger
skins. When was the last time you looked
at a badger? There wasn't anything impressive looking about it.
I mean, this inside was the glory of God, the presence of God.
But if you looked at it from the outside, all you saw was
badger skins. Do you realize that there's nothing
about the gospel that is appealing to the flesh. Nothing. But inside, I love to think of
the Jebusites and the Amorites. Maybe they'd be up on a mountain
looking down at the tabernacle and they think, what's the deal?
I mean, what's the attraction? Badger skins? I mean, why are
they so? But they didn't know that inside that room was the
very presence, the glory of God. Tabernacle of Witness. Now, this building also, it had
boards that were all held together by what's called the silver sockets. And the silver came from the
silver atonement money. Now, if you know anything about
Old Testament, how they operated, every man had to give atonement
money. Rich, poor, the exact same amount. That lets us know how we're all
saved the same way, by the blood of Christ. And this atonement
money was given to make these silver sockets to hold the boards
in of the tabernacle. And that lets us know that the
atonement of Christ holds everything together. The reason you're kept,
the reason you're preserved, is because of the atonement.
And I like this definition of the atonement, at-one-ment. the blood of Jesus Christ made
everybody that he died for one with himself. Now, as I said, we could profitably
spend the rest of our lives studying this tabernacle, but I want us
to just consider the furniture of the tabernacle, this tabernacle
of witness. And I pray that the Lord uses
this to bear witness to us of who he is and how he saves sinners
by Christ. Wouldn't it be something if he
bears witness to us? I pray that he speaks to each
person here. Now, When you entered the courtyard,
here's what came first. The brazen altar. The sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, you couldn't come in until
there was a sacrifice offered. You weren't welcomed apart from
that sacrifice being offered. And the only way God can accept
us or allow us to approach him is through the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the sacrifice that he provided. Now, I wish I could
say this the way it ought to be said. But me and you, we're
sinners. We didn't used to be sinners.
We are, present tense, right now, sinners. People who deserve
to be sent to hell. That's us. God is just. God is holy. God is other. And He cannot accept something
from me and you because He's holy. And the only way He can
is through the precious blood of His Son. And that's what this
altar is all about. This is for sacrifice. The morning
and evening sacrifice. A continual sacrifice. Every
morning, every evening, when the priest would come in, it
would always be through this sacrifice. The blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, without the shedding of
blood, Scripture says, there is no remission of sin. And listen
to the Scripture for Hebrews 1-3, and this is what the altar
bears witness to. He by Himself purged, put away,
made not to be our sins. And I'm so thankful for that
phrase, by Himself. That lets us know that, I mean,
you don't have anything to do with this. This is what He did
by Himself. Now, the altar represents the
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And let me say this concerning
the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful. Successful. You see, when he
died. Unlike so many so-called preachers
presented. When he died, he wasn't making
salvation available if you do your part. Oh, no. When He died
on Calvary's tree, everybody He died for, their sins were
purged and put away, and they were made perfectly holy and
clean. That's what this sacrifice does. The reason God can accept me,
the reason God can embrace me, the reason God can love me has
absolutely nothing to do with anything I've done or will do,
It has to do with the blood of his dear son. And that sacrifice
was every morning and every evening. You can't come into God's presence
apart from the blood of his dear son. Now, his atonement was successful. You know what that means? It
means everybody he died for was saved. Well, are you implying
that he didn't die for everybody? No, I'm not implying it, I'm
saying it. And here's why. His blood is successful. He doesn't
make an attempt at saving. He saves. He said, I lay down
my life for the sheep. And every one of them are saved. That's what this altar tells
me. Oh, the only way I... I plead the blood of His Son
all the time. Nothing else. Nothing else. I
don't talk about me or what I've done or what I intend to do or
what I'm stopping doing. Only one way God will have anything
to do with me. It's through the blood of His
Son, but thank God He embraces me and sees me as perfect and
beautiful through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the power of His blood. That's the altar. That's the
first piece of furniture. In order to get in, the altar, the
brazen altar. And then the next thing you had
was a laver filled with water that the Priest, before he'd
come in, he'd have to wash up. He couldn't come in dirty, he'd
have to wash up. And he would have to clean his
hands, whatever he had to clean, in that labor of water. Now,
most people, erroneously, let me say, erroneously, but most
people think, well, The altar represents the blood sacrifice,
justification, and the labor has to do with our washing and
being made clean, that's sanctification. You wash, make yourself clean
in that water. That's sanctification. And this
is the sanctification of the believer. You ask somebody what
sanctification means, your average religious person will say, well,
it means you're made holy. This is how you get holy. You wash
yourself, you read the Bible, you pray, you seek to deny yourself
and do all the things you're supposed to do, and you become
gradually more and more holy and less and less sinful. That's
what that water represents, washing yourself. Now, I don't believe
that for a second. I know that's not what it means,
because for one thing, that's separating the blood of Christ
and sanctification. I remember one time I got a letter
from a guy, and he said, what does the particularity of the
atonement have to do with sanctification? Everything. Everything. by the which will we are sanctified
once for all through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ.
And as far as the idea of progressively becoming holier and less sinful,
well, number one, that's a denial of two natures. That's a denial
of two natures. A believer has two separate natures,
the new nature given in the new birth that's holy, the old nature
that's nothing but sin. And the second problem with that,
not only is it not true and it denies the two natures, it also
denies total depravity. It's saying that grace works
on the old man and makes him better. No, it doesn't. No, it
doesn't. Now what this water has to do
with is the continual cleansing of the blood of Jesus Christ. The scripture says in 1 John
1, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us. Present tense. Cleanseth us. from all sin. Do you need cleanse
right now? I need cleanse right now. I get
dirty, I get filthy, I get stained, I get besmeared with sin, and
I need continual cleansing. And that is what the blood of
Christ does for every believer. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
son, cleanseth present tense, us, everybody he cleanses, everybody
he died for, from all sin, if we confess our sin. Now, let
me remind you, to confess your sin doesn't just mean articulate
it and audibly tell, I committed this sin, I confess. Do that
with regard to all your sins. But the thing that is, most of
them, you don't know what they are anyway. You don't have enough time in
a day. To confess means to take sides with God against yourself,
to agree with what God says regarding your sins. If we confess our
sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us. from all unrighteousness. And I love the way he says he's
faithful to do it. He's faithful to do it because he's determined
to do it. You were given to Christ as the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. And he's just to do it. His blood makes God just
and justifier. So that Labor of water represents
the continual cleansing of that sacrifice. Thank God for the
blood of Christ. His blood is everything. Coming
into his presence only through the blood. Now, the priest is
ready to enter in to that building. And in that building, The holy
place, not the holy of holies yet, but the holy place. In the
holy place, there are three pieces of furniture. Now, remember,
this is the tabernacle of witness. And this is going to tell me
and you how God can accept us and how we can come into God's
presence. This is the tabernacle of witness. This is God's testimony
to me and you concerning how we can approach his presence. Now, the first piece of furniture
that I think of is the golden candlestick. You know that those
candles were burning continually and this represents Christ our
light. You cannot see, I cannot see
apart from Christ our light. Now, In John 8, verse 12, he
said, I am the light of the world. That's what these candlesticks
represent. Christ being the light of the world. Now let me tell
you what took place before he made this statement. You can
read about it in John 8. Some Pharisees found a woman. Why they didn't find the man,
who knows? I guess they didn't want to, but they found a woman.
who was taken in adultery in the very act. They witnessed
this. I guess they had planted spies
and came in while this was going on. Oh, you're guilty. They saw
her in the very act and they bring her to the Lord and set
her before the Lord and said, this woman was taken in adultery
in the very act. There's no doubt about her guilt.
Now Moses in the law commanded that such should be stoned. What sayeth that? Now they thought
they had the Lord trapped. If he says stoner, why all his
talk of mercy and grace is not even real. If he says let her
go, where's your respect for the law? The law says stone. Are you saying the law has nothing
to say? They thought they had the Lord. And I always think these these
idiots think they have omniscience entrapped. So what takes place? The Lord
stoops down and writes in the dirt. And they kept urging him, come on, give us
an answer. What sayest thou? And he stood
back up and he said, he that's without sin among you, let him
cast the first stone. And then he stooped back down
and started writing again. Now nobody knows what he was
writing, but I do know it was the finger of God writing at
that time. And I do know the finger of God wrote twice in
the Old Testament. Once the law, thou shalt not
commit adultery. And the other time, the writing
on the wall in Daniel chapter five, thou art weighed in the
balances and found wanting. And I believe when he was speaking
to these Pharisees, he was talking about this particular sin. He wasn't talking about sin in
general. He's talking about this particular sin. Anybody here
not guilty of this? Well, the Lord did say, whosoever
looketh upon a woman to lust after in his heart, he hath committed
adultery already. Yes, everybody in this room and
outside of this room is guilty of this particular sin. And the
scripture says, beginning at the eldest, being convicted by
their own conscience. They knew they were guilty of
this sin. They knew they were hypocrites, but they didn't do
what they needed to do. They needed to come to Christ,
but instead they went away. See, they were convicted by their
own conscience, not the Holy Spirit. And they left one by
one. And all of a sudden there, that
woman was with the Lord. And he said, woman? Where are
those thine accusers? Hath none condemned thee? And
she said, no man, Lord. He said, neither do I. Go and
sin no more. Now how is it that he could say,
I don't condemn you? Because through his work, typified
by those two stoops, he stooped once, the incarnation. He stooped
again, the cross. Putting away that sin. He's now
speaking to her on resurrection ground. And here is the truth. Here's the light. There's nothing
to condemn you for. Every believer right now, listen
to me. There's nothing to condemn you
for. You're justified. You stand without guilt. Without
sin before thrice holy God. through the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And Christ says, I'm the light
as to how that can be. I'm the light as to how that
can be. And then you had the altar of
incense. And that incense was contingent.
That's part of the priest's job. When that tabernacle was up,
that incense was to stay lit and always going up before the
Lord. And that represents the intercession
of the Lord Jesus Christ. What do you mean by intercession?
Well, that means Christ continually represents His people, nonstop,
continually. Wherefore, He is able to save
them to the uttermost. That's pretty good, isn't it?
Pretty good. I shouldn't even say it. That's
perfect. Save them to the uttermost that come to God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. This intercession began
before the foundation of the world, when he agreed to be surety
for those the father gave him. And he took complete and full
responsibility for the salvation of all of his elect. I think
when he said to Peter, Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to
have you that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for
you. If the Lord Jesus Christ prays
for you, everything's all right, isn't it? He said, I prayed for
you that your faith fail not. Peter failed, didn't he? He failed
miserably. And he thought he wasn't even
saved. I love the way the Lord said, you go tell the disciples
and Peter that I go before you into Galilee. Peter would have
thought, well, I'm not one of them. Peter lost all assurance
of his salvation. But you know what? His faith
never failed. Now, what do you mean by that?
He never quit believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
And that's what faith is. Let me remind you, faith doesn't
have anything to do with what you believe about yourself. It
has wholly to do with what you believe concerning Him. He never
quit believing that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, the
God-man, the Christ. He always believed that. He was
a coward. He failed to confess his relationship
with him, but he never quit believing. And you know why? Because the
Lord said, I pray for you that your faith fail not. When the
Lord said from the cross, Father, forgive them. That wasn't a request. Everybody he prayed for was forgiven. Why? The intercession of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Right now, There's a man in glory
who is God, representing and interceding for all of God's
elect. And let me tell you this, it's
not like he's up there, well, he committed that sin again,
forgive him again. No, he just stands before the
Father with his scars and nothing else needs to be said. I'm accepted
in the beloved, that altar of incense. And then there was the table of showbread. Now this
table had 12 loaves of bread on it, representing the 12 tribes
of Israel. Remember when the high priest
would come in, he had the names of the 12 tribes of Israel on
his ephod and on his breastplate when he'd come in to show who
he's representing. You know, the Bible doesn't give
any example of universal salvation,
it just doesn't do it. He represents Israel, he represents
his people. But on this table of showbread,
there were 12 loaves of bread. And showbread means presence. Presence, the presence of the
Lord. And when the word is used in
the New Testament, it's also translated purpose. purpose,
the purpose of God. And we know that all things work
together for good to them who love God, to them where they're
called according to his purpose, that the purpose of God, according
to the election might stand not of works, but of him that calleth.
Now here's my bread. Here's what I have to have. Here's
my necessary food. And this is the food of every
believer. I have to have his presence. I have to have his presence as
my surety before time began. I have to have his presence on
the cross. I have to have his presence as my interceder, making
intercession for me. And I have to have his presence.
I can't be left to myself. I have to have his presence.
I have to have his presence. That's my necessary food, the
gospel. And I have to have his purpose.
I can't, that's my necessary food. His purpose, the purpose
of God according to election might stand not of works, but
of him that calleth. I gotta have that, not of works.
I need to hear that every time I hear the gospel. I need to,
it's not of works. It's of him that calleth. That's
what I feed on, his presence. his purpose. That's what that
showbread represents, his presence and his purpose. And this word
purpose is also translated propitiation. Propitiation, his presence, his
propitiation, they can't, his sin atoning sacrifice, they cannot
be separated. Now, after these three pieces
of furniture, you have that veil separating the holy place from
the holy of holies. And in the holy of holies, you
have the Ark of the Covenant. You know, when that movie Raiders
of the Lost Ark came out, that's what they were talking about.
You know, we found the Ark, you know, and they thought that had some kind
of supernatural power to defeat Hitler and all that kind of stuff
in that movie. But there really was the Ark
of the Covenant. And I love the way the Bible
calls it the Ark of the Covenant. Now this Ark was a box, two feet
by four feet, made of shidom wood and gold, picturing the
deity, the gold, the wood, the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's the God-man, this box, two before. The Ark of the Covenant,
the Ark of the Covenant, God made with Christ before time
began and everybody in Him. Don't you love salvation by the
covenant that God made with Christ? I love that. The ark of the covenant. And what was in that ark? In
that ark was Aaron's rod that budded. Just a rod, but it budded
and flowered and it had life in it. You know what that means?
Christ, our life. In that ark, Christ our life. Now, when we say Christ our life,
somebody says, well, his life is his job or her life is her
children. That's not what we mean by that.
That's not what the Bible means by that. The life of Christ is
the life of every believer. That's my life before God. If
you wanna know the skinny on me, if you wanna know all my
history, read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. That's me, because
Christ is my life. His life is my life before God. Also in that ark was the law. Christ magnified the law and
made it honorable. Christ, our righteousness. You
say, what's the difference between Christ in our life and Christ
our righteousness? I don't know. But same thing. Christ our righteousness. He
is my righteousness before God. That's why I can look with boldness
to judgment. Christ is my righteousness. And
then you had that pot with the manna in it. Christ our food. We feed off Christ. And over that ark, there was
what's called the lid of propitiation, the mercy seat, the mercy seat,
the lid of propitiation. And what does that word propitiation
mean? Propitiation means a sin removing
sacrifice. Now, when Christ died, listen
to me, When Christ died, if you're somebody who believes on him,
I can't give you any hope if you don't look to him only, but
if you're somebody that looks to him only, your sin was removed
when he died. This lid of propitiation, the
high priest would come in this one day a year, and he'd sprinkle
blood. on that lid of propitiation. And what it said, it said, sin
has been removed. Propitiation. Now, the publican in the temple, when
he said, God be merciful to me, the sinner. That word merciful
is propitious. Do something about my sin. Now, when I come into God's presence,
through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, I have the same
prayer. Do something about my sin. I can't do anything about
it, cause it to be removed, cause it to be gone. And that's exactly
what the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished. Propitiation,
the removing of sin. Now, when the Lord said, is finished
and bowed his head and died. What took place? The veil in the temple was rent,
torn in half from the top, showing us this is God's work, to the
bottom. You know what that means? No more separation. That means
everybody who looks to Christ only has full access into the
Father's presence. And there's nothing you need
to do. Don't think about what you need to do. Get that thinking
out of your mind by the grace of God. Don't think, well, I
need to do this and I need to get this done. No, no! Come and
welcome. The veil of separation has been
rent Come and welcome. There's nothing that keeps you
back from God. Now, the only thing that would
keep you back is you trust in your own works. If you get rid
of that, then you won't do that unless the Lord enables you to.
Don't try to do anything. It's done. It's finished. It's finished. God's completely
satisfied. Christ is completely satisfied.
Are you? It's finished. Come and welcome. Nothing holding
you back. You don't need to wait for anything. The separation has taken place. There is no separation. The ripping
of the veil has taken place. Come and welcome. Now that is
the tabernacle of testimony. And we see the gospel clearly
from this tabernacle of testimony. This is God's testimony to me
and you as to how we can come into his presence. Let's pray. Before we pray, turn to Exodus
25. Got this in my notes and forgot to... Exodus 25, verse 21. And thou shalt put the mercy
seat above the ark, and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony
that I shall give thee, and there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above
the mercy seat. Now this is to every believer.
This is where God says, I'll meet with you. And I will have
communion with you. Do you know through the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we're fit for communion with the living
God? Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
ark of testimony, the Lord Jesus Christ. How we thank you for
his sacrifice that cleanses us from all sin, that puts away
sin. How we thank you for his light.
How we thank you for his intercession. How we thank you for him being
our showbread. How we thank you for him as the
ark and him as the mercy seat. How we thank you that the veil
of separation has been rent by you, and that everybody that
comes only in thy Son is completely accepted for Christ's sake. Lord,
bless this message according to your will and for your glory.
In Christ's name we pray. Amen.