Scott, I never could find the
thing that goes on this, so I don't know if that's going to affect
it or not. Let's turn to 2 Chronicles chapter 4. Now for you who do not have a
heart to rejoice in Christ, you think that the gospel does not
relate to you. You think it doesn't relate to
your life, to what's going on with you on a daily basis. Emma
comes home with her algebra and she sits down and starts working
on her algebra. Almost every day she says, I
don't even know why I have to do this. This doesn't apply to
anything in my life. I'm never going to use it. And
that's how a lot of people feel about the gospel. How does this
relate to me? This doesn't relate to me. It's
not dealing with things I'm dealing with in my life. But everything
about the gospel relates to you. It relates to every one of us
here. You'll either be a vessel of mercy to glorify Christ or
a vessel of wrath to glorify Christ. But either way, we're
going to all glorify Christ. and even every smallest detail
of our life. Whether we're the friend of God
or the enemy of God, God's using every smallest detail of our
life to work it together to glorify His Son and for the good of His
people. That's what our God's doing.
And one of the ways we see that God uses every detail and every
thing that we might otherwise overlook and how he uses all
of this to glorify his son is by looking to Solomon's temple.
And we see there in the furniture, in the very furniture God set
forth the glory of his son. Now, in our text we're going
to see that thousands of years before Christ ever came, thousands
of years before he came, God used one piece of furniture in
Solomon's temple to declare the glory of Christ and the work
that Christ would accomplish on the cross for His people and
in the hearts of His people through the gospel. In one piece of furniture
God did this. God uses every detail. Every detail. That ought to make
us see that He's working in the details in history. He's working
in the details in our life. He's using everything. It ought
to make you pay attention to the Gospel. It ought to make
us want to seek Christ while He may be found. Because this
is so vitally important. Our subject tonight is Christ
in the Molten Sea. 2 Chronicles 4 verse 2. It says, Also He made a molten
sea. This molten sea was this immense,
round, semi-circular pool. you know, a pool. And every part of it was cast
of molten brass so that it was one solid piece. It's called
a sea because it held a vast amount of water. in this. Now
he's going to show us the measurements of it. Verse 2 says it was of
10 cubits from brim to brim, round in compass. So you picture
this big round pool and from one side of the brim to the other
side of the brim it was 10 cubits. That's 17 and a half feet from
one side to the other. It's a little over half of this
room right here. And it said five cubits the height
thereof. That's eight and three-fourths
feet deep. So it was a big piece of furniture. And it says in a line of thirty
cubits did come pass it round about. That means the circumference
of it was fifty-two and a half feet all the way around. right
now. And under it was the similitude
of oxen, which did come pass it round about. Just beneath
the brim of this pool, just under the brim of it, on the sides
of it, were carved oxen that were made into the side of this
thing. And they're described in another
place as knops. That is, they were shaped like
eggs like gourds and they had oxen heads on them and it went
all the way around. Verse 3 says there was 10 in
a cubit encompassing the sea round about. There was 10 of
these oxen every cubit. Now it was 30 cubits around so
10 times 30 is We're talking here 300 oxen all the way around
this thing. And then it says, verse 3, there
were two rows of oxen that were cast when it was cast. So there
was 600 oxen total going around, all the way around this thing.
Cast when it was cast. Formed when it was poured into
the mold. And the molten brass was poured
into the mold. They were formed into this piece of furniture. Verse 4 says, and it stood upon
12 oxen. This molten laver, it was connected,
it stood, it sat upon these 12 oxen. Can you imagine how strong
those oxen had to be? Can you imagine the size of the
legs of those oxen to hold this huge tank? It was what it was,
a big brass tank, like a pool. Verse 4 says, 3 of these oxen
looked toward the north, and 3 looked toward the west, and
3 looking toward the south, and 3 looking toward the east. And
the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were
inward. You get the picture. Three oxen
in a set. And they were facing four directions. North, south, west, and east. And their hinder parts were inward.
So they were going out from this molten sea in all directions. Verse 5 says, and the thickness
of it was a hand breadth. You know what a hand breadth
is? That's four fingers wide. That's how thick the brass was
that made this laver. Four fingers thick. Verse 5 says,
and the brim of it was like the work of the brim of a cup. Like a cup that you drink from.
It went over like you could drink out of this thing if you wanted
to. And it said, verse 5 says, with flowers of lilies all around
the brim was engraved flowers, lilies. And it received and held
3,000 baths. That means 500 barrels of water
or 27,500 gallons of water this thing held. Verse 6. He made also ten lavers and put
five on the right hand and five on the left to wash in them.
Such things as they offered for the burnt offering, they washed
in them. But the sea, this molten brass
sea, was for the priests to wash in. These ten lavers were separate. There were five on one side,
five on the other. They were small little lavers, little pools,
and they were used to wash the animals that they brought for
burnt offering. We saw the burnt offering in Leviticus. This was
for the pigeons and the thing and the other animal parts. They
would wash in those lavers. But now this big, this big molten
sea, this was strictly for the priest. This was big enough,
deep enough, the priest could just totally dip themselves in
this pool and wash in it. Drop down to verse 10. And he
set the sea on the right side of the east end over against
the south. It was at the entrance where
you came in, where the priest entered in from the east. They were coming in from the
east. And when they entered the temple from the east, the first
thing that was seated there, like if you're looking out the
temple right there, on the right hand there's this giant molten
sea. And so when they're coming in
from the east, the first thing they come to is that molten sea.
They can't enter the temple until they wash in that sea. There's
no serving God in the priestly office until they've washed in
that sea. And it was the first thing you
saw when you entered and the last thing you saw when you went
out. It was there for everybody to see. Now let's see how God
glorified Christ, His Son, in this piece of furniture. And
when we see this, I want you to see now every detail of this
glorifies Christ. He put it in the heart of Solomon,
in the heart of the makers of this, to do this. on purpose
because every bit of it glorifies His Son. And this shows us everything
God's doing in detail in our life is glorifying His Son in
some way. Whether it's overruling our sin
or whether it's using us for good, He's doing it to glorify
His Son. First of all, we see Christ in
the builder of the molten sea. The builder here that was over
this whole operation is King Solomon. He's the builder of
it, King Solomon. Solomon is a type of Christ.
Solomon is the son of David. Christ Jesus is the son of David
according to the flesh. He came through the tribe of
David. Solomon was king over Israel. Christ is king over God's
spiritual Israel, over the spiritual nation, His holy nation. And
Solomon built God's earthly temple. And Christ is the one who builds
God's spiritual temple, His church. And then Solomon used a man to
build this, this molten sea. And this man's name was Hiram
or Hiram. He was of Tyre. So now you think
of this. You've got Solomon who is of
God. This great glorious king. And
then you've got this man who's from another place. And together
they're building this. And it made me think of Christ
who is both God and man together. God and man together. He's God
so that all His work is effectual for eternity. Because He's eternal
God. And He's man because only a man
could do the work that needed to be done in a place of His
people who were men. Who were human flesh. And so
He came in that form. And Hiram, His name means counselor. It means master. And that's Christ's
name. The scripture says he was filled
with wisdom and understanding and cunning to work all works
in brass. If you read on in the chapter
there, it tells you about everything else that this man made. In fact,
he was so filled with wisdom and understanding and cunning.
Verse 16 says, I'm sorry, yeah, verse 16 says, it refers to Hurem
as the father of King Solomon. It says, Hurem, his father, made
these things to King Solomon for the house of the Lord of
bright brass. You know, when Christ came, He's
King, He's our true Solomon. But when He came, you know what
He did? He became a servant and He submitted Himself. to men. And that's what you see pictured
here. And as he worked the work that he went about doing in this
earth, here's what he did. Look at verse 17. In the plain
of Jordan did the king cast them in the clay ground between Succoth
and Zeridathi. That's what Christ did. In the
plain of Jordan, as a man, our king made a molten sea for his
people. He made a molten sea for his
people in all the works he did when he walked this earth. So
this is the first thing we see. In the builder of this thing
we see Christ, a picture of Christ. Alright, now look at the molten
sea. What does this vast sea of water
typify? Here's this water, this open
before all. It's only the priests of God
can wash in this pool. What does this typify? This shows
us the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ which is
preached to us in the gospel. Turn over to Ephesians 5. I want
you to place there and look at Ephesians 5. I think it's remarkable how the
Lord used all of this to show forth His Son long before His
Son ever came. Ephesians 5.25 says, Christ also
loved the church and gave Himself for it. that he might sanctify
and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he
might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and
without blemish. Christ gave himself for the church. That is for all those that God
the Father gave Him. That is those He makes priests
under God. This laver was made out of molten
brass. It was brass heated up so hot
it was to the point that it was just molten and liquid in a liquid
form. Whenever Christ was on the cross
and He was bearing the sin of His people and He was satisfying
divine justice, He was cleansing us, He was sanctifying us, He
was separating us, before the law of God. And as he did that,
and he bore that fierce anger, that wrath, that fury, that heat
of God, he said in Psalm 22, my heart is like wax, it's melted
in the midst of my bowels. And that's how Christ made this
molten sea. Christ accomplished that work
that he might sanctify and cleanse the church. He set us apart and
washed us. We were defiled. We were polluted
by Adam's transgression so that we're guilty under the law and
by our birth so that we're polluted in our sin nature and our conscience
is defiled. Where did God cast Adam out?
He cast him out east of the garden, east of Eden. That's where he
cast him out. Where was this laver? Where was this molten
sea? He was at the east side of the temple. Come in from that
wilderness where you've been cast out to come into God's presence
in His temple. The only way you can come into
God's presence is come through this labor. Through this labor. Christ on the cross. That's what
was pictured. This needing to be washed in
Christ's blood so that we can be justified before the law of
God and so that our conscience is purged and we're made new
creatures within so that we can actually believe God and serve
God in newness of spirit. And that's what happened first
of all on the cross. Christ bore that judgment to
sanctify separate and cleanse his people before the law of
God. That's what he was doing on the cross. And then this sanctifying
and cleansing refers to Christ's work in us too when it says there
by the washing of water by the word. Because Christ accomplished
the work of washing his people on the cross in his own blood,
the fruit of that will be every one of his children are going
to be washed by the water of the word inwardly. Everyone shall. Everyone shall. It's the fruit
of the work he accomplished on the cross. They have to be because
they're justified. They're washed before the law.
Now they've got to be washed inwardly and brought to faith
in Christ. And they shall. And now this washing of water,
it's not baptism. Baptism doesn't wash us. Baptism
doesn't cleanse our sins. Baptism doesn't regenerate us.
This washing means the blood of Christ. It's the blood of
Christ that purges our conscience. It's the blood of Christ that
washes us inwardly. And it says by the word. That's
referring to the means God uses. The preaching of the word. It's
how he washes us and brings us. Christ brings you the message.
The message He brings is a message of peace, of atonement, of propitiation
being made, of justification being accomplished for His people.
And as you hear the Word, the Holy Spirit, by the Word, gives
you life and washes your conscience. He makes you a new creature within.
And through faith, God passes the sentence in the court of
your conscience and says, you're righteous, you're righteous.
Now, is it a true charge? Of course it's a true charge.
Because it's true because of what Christ has done for us on
the cross and what Christ has done within us. He's created
a new man in righteousness and true holiness. So that when God
says in the court of that conscience, you're righteous, He's charging
you with what Christ has made you fully. That's what He's doing. He's separated you and He's washed
you. Turn over to Revelation 1. Revelation
1. 2 Chronicles 4.6, our text, says that the sea was for the
priests to wash in. That's who this molten sea was
for, for the priests. Nobody else could wash in this.
Just some fellow from off the street couldn't walk in there
and wash in there. This was for the priests to wash
in this. That's who it was for. The chosen
child of God. Every child Christ redeemed.
He has made a priest unto God. He's made us a priest unto God. And now, in order for us to serve
God, you know what we have to continually be doing? Washing
in the blood of Christ. Continually washing. He's washed
us and we have to continue to be washing in that blood. Look
here at Revelation 1.5. Peace from Jesus Christ who is the
faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the
prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood. And hath made us kings and priests
unto God and his father. To him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. There's no coming to God. Listen
to me. You that haven't believed on
Christ, there's no coming to God and being accepted of God
except you be washed in the blood of Christ. That's the only way.
You have to be washed in the blood of Christ. And it means you must believe
on Him. You must cast your care on Him.
You must go to this fountain and wash. Go to this fountain
for cleansing. But for us who have been cleansed,
for us who have been made priests in a God and washed in His blood,
He says now we have boldness by the blood of Jesus to enter
into the holiest of holies. by a new and a living way which
Christ has consecrated for us through the veil. It's His flesh. The new and living way is His
flesh. He's done this work in His flesh. And the scripture
says, Now then, having a high priest over the house of God,
let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith.
And here's the assurance of faith. Where do you get this assurance?
How do you have assurance of faith? Here it is. Having our
hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed
with pure water. This is the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the way that you come
into God's presence. That's what this molten sea represented.
Now thirdly, let's go back to our text. I tell you what, you
go to 1 Corinthians 9. 1 Corinthians 9. Now thirdly, we see a picture
in our text of how Christ gives this word into the heart of his
people through his gospel preachers. And that's how he washes us through
the word, through the preaching of the gospel by the Holy Spirit.
Now our text says this. It said, this big molten sea
sat upon twelve oxen. It's set on 12 oxen. Now, the
oxen picture Christ's 12 apostles. Now, the Holy Spirit speaking
through the Apostle Paul shows us right here in 1 Corinthians
that oxen were a metaphor for God's preachers, for his apostles
and his preachers. Look here, 1 Corinthians 9. Paul
said, It's written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle
the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Now Paul asks a
question. Does God say that because He's
taking care of oxen? Is God worried about oxen? Is
that why He made that statement? Or saith He it altogether for
our sakes, for His apostles and His preachers? For our sakes,
no doubt, that is written. that he that ploweth should plow
in hope. That's what an ox does. He plows.
That's what God's preachers do. See, for the Word to go into
your heart, your heart, the ground's got to be plowed. You've got
your sins got to be revealed. All the stones has got to be
dug up. This ground's got to be prepared
by God the Holy Spirit through the Word. He says, and he that
thresheth in hope should partake of his hope. You've got to be
threshed. You've got to be threshed by this Word. Now, that brass
molten seat, just try to picture it. Here it sits on top of 12
oxen. It sits on 12 oxen. Now, when
Christ came and He did this work, He sent forth His 12 apostles. He sent them forth preaching
the gospel so that this church right here and every true church
of God Every believer, we have our foundation. You know where
it is? It's on the apostles. The foundation. Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone. That's what Ephesians 2 said.
That's the picture you see there. The foundation that held up that
molten sea was the 12 oxen. The 12 apostles. And there's
a beautiful picture in the scriptures. You remember when the Ark of
the Covenant was taken by the Philistines. You got the Ark
of the Covenant and it's got the broken law in it. And the
Philistines, God began to strike the Philistines with a disease.
And they didn't want the Ark in their midst anymore. They
wanted it gone. And so what they were told was, they were told
to take two kine. K-I-N-E. A kine was a buffalo. It was almost like an ox. Take
two kine and take the Ark and put it on a cart. Take those
two kine and let them go. And wherever those two kine went,
that's where the ark belonged. And the scripture says this.
It says in 1 Samuel 6, the kine took the straight way to the
way of Beth Shema. That means the house of the son. These two kinds took off. They
went straight to the house of the Son. And it says, And they
went along the highway, lowing as they went. They're bellowing
as they go along. You know how a cow would do.
And they turned not a side to the right hand or to the left
hand. And the cart came into the field
of Joshua. And it stopped right there. It
stopped right there. That showed us, brethren, that
this molten sea and all the furniture and all the ceremonies and all
the sacrifices, even that moral law that was broken that was
in that ark, it all led to one place. It led to Christ, our
Joshua. Joshua means Savior. It led to
Christ, Joshua, Jesus, Savior. That's what it led to. That's
what it led to. But when it got to Christ, Christ
having fulfilled all the law for His people, Christ then put
His gospel on the shoulders of His 12 apostles, His 12 oxen,
and He said, now you take it to their place. And they go forth
into the world preaching this gospel and they bring it to the
house of the Son. to the tabernacle of the sun.
You remember Psalm 19? Psalm 19 said, you look and you
see the sun. God has set a tabernacle for
the sun. That is the house of Beth Shammah. And that house is a picture of
the believer. And so, just like that, those
kind took the law and everything straight to Christ. Christ having
fulfilled it, He put the gospel in the hands of His preachers
and He sends it straight to His house, His tabernacle, His people,
where the Son dwells in His people. So now when you look and you
see the Son come up in the morning, you see Christ risen and you
see Christ going on His course and sending His gospel to His
house, to His people. That's what we see in the apostles. Notice here that the oxen were
set in threes. Go back now to our text. The
oxen were set in threes. And this signifies communion
with the Holy Trinity. God the Father, God the Son and
God the Holy Spirit in Christ Jesus. They accompany God's preachers
in this world and they make this gospel effectual. The Holy God. Remember when the Lord sent forth
his apostles? It says, Jesus came and spake
to them saying, all powers given unto me in heaven and earth.
Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo,
I am with you always, even to the end of the world. So here
you have these 12 apostles. They're faced like these oxen.
They're faced north, south, east, and west. And they go. And they're
in threes. They've got the Holy Trinity
with them. Christ said, He said, you go forth and you preach God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit baptizing
them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
And I'm with you the whole way. And so Christ makes his preachers
strong and his witnesses strong like oxen. Not because we have
strength in us but because all power is given to him and he
therefore is our strength. And he makes the word effectual
in the heart of his people. Brethren, that's our assurance
that the word is going to accomplish that which Christ sends it to.
You see those oxen, they got all their hinder parts in towards
that molten sea. That means they're being sent.
They're being sent from that one central location, from Christ,
who is the builder and the molten sea. It's His blood and His person
that saved us. He sends His preachers from there.
And so, He says His word is going to accomplish the thing where
unto He sent it. And they're being sent. And it's
being sent right to His people. right to his people. And there's
something else about Christ's preachers that's set forth in
this piece of furniture. Look back at 2 Chronicles 4 and
verse 3. It says that under it, under
the brim, near the top, first you start at the bottom. At the
very beginning, that was the apostles. And then you go on
further, on up, and you get to these other oxen. And there was
a similitude of oxen which did compass it round about ten and
a cubic compassing the sea round about. Two rows of oxen were
cast when it was cast. There was six hundred oxen shaped
just like knobs, like fertile eggs. And we see in that Christ
continues to give His preachers. He continues to send forth oxen,
His preachers, to preach His Word. They're lesser than the
apostles, but they're still His ambassadors. Paul said, I've
planted. He was an apostle. Apollos watered.
He wasn't an apostle. God gave the increase. And these
egg-shaped knops with heads like oxen. That shows you, brethren,
that the word we preach is the incorruptible seed. It's the
fertility. It's the life whereby We're going
to have eternal life by Christ, our life and our light being
formed in us. And then in the number of these oxen, 600, 600
of these, all the way around this thing, we're reminded Christ
will continue to provide his preachers till we all come in
the unity of the faith. The Lord said, I didn't come
to do my will, I came to do my Father's will. And this is his
will, that of all that he's given me, I should lose nothing. And
He said, and every one the Father has given me shall come to me.
And I'm not going to lose a one. And He's going to send them all
this Word. Now sinner, you sit here and you hear my gospel and
you say, I don't think that applies to me. I don't think it deals
with anything in my life. You don't have a life. You need the Word to have life. That means you ought to heed
this word. That means you ought to give yourself to hear this
word because this is how God's going to give life through this
word. Notice verse 3. There were two rows of oxen.
It says two rows of oxen were cast when it was cast and it
stood upon the twelve oxen. That means these oxen were all
one with the labor and with each other. They were all one with
the molten sea and with each other. And that's a picture of
Christ's preachers and his people. We're all one with Christ. All
one with Christ and one with each other in Christ. And they
were set when this thing was cast. When this thing was cast,
each of these oxen were set in that molten sea. When God chose
His people before the foundation of the world, He chose how they
would be saved, the means by which they would be saved. And
when He set the appointed hour that He would send forth the
spirit of adoption into their hearts and make them to cry,
Abba, Father, He also foreordained the preacher. He would send to
preach the word to them, how He would get the word to them.
They were all one. when the whole thing was cast.
And that's so. God determined it from the beginning,
from the foundation of the world. So when we see false prophets
arising, you see the world so full of them everywhere. Don't worry. Don't worry. Christ
is going to send his preacher. He's going to send them. He's
not going to let his word go without being declared. He's
going to send forth his preacher. Now here's the last thing. We
see the importance of heeding this gospel. Look at verse 5,
2 Chronicles 4, 5. And the thickness of it was a
handbreadth, and the brim of it like the work of the brim
of a cup, with flowers of lilies, and it received and held three
thousand baths. The thickness was as a handbreadth.
Now if you take brass, molten brass, and you make something
four fingers thick, it's stable. It's something you can trust.
It's stable. It's stable. Brethren, Christ's blood is the
stability of our acceptance with God. Outside of His blood, outside
of the molten laver, outside of this water that we must wash
in, the blood of Christ, outside of His blood, we're unstable
as water. But in Him, washed by His blood,
we're as stable as molten brass four fingers thick. It's stable. But then this word hand-breath
also reminds you of the brevity of our life. And that lets you
know our life is as a hand-breath, the scripture says. When you
consider it in light of eternity, that's not very long. That means
we got a very short time to avail ourselves of this gospel. Just imagine, just imagine You who want to hang on to your
will and want to say, well, death just offends my dignity, my will.
Think how bad death's going to offend you. Death's going to
take you whether you like it or not. And you're going to stand
before God. It's going to offend your dignity
like never before. That's right. And the only way
you can come into God's presence is washed in His blood. And knowing
your life's like a hand breath, That means get in the fountain.
Get in the fountain now. Christ said, seek ye the Lord
while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is
near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man
his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have
mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon.
You see the brim of this thing was shaped like a cup. A cup
you drink from. You remember what Christ said
when He walked this earth? He said, except you eat my flesh
and drink my blood, you don't have any life in you. That conjured
up bad images to drink blood. It means except we're living
on Christ alone. Except we're believing Christ
and trusting Him for life and acceptance with God alone. We
don't have any life. We don't have any life. We drink
His blood by believing on Him. And anybody that believes on
Christ, Scripture says you have the Son, and he that has the
Son has eternal life. Eternal life. When you have eternal
life, you can look forward to death and it won't offend your
will. That's right. You'd be willing to die. Remember
when I went to, in January, I went to Gray Falls, Montana, and I
had such a good visit with our pastor, John Mitchell. He's had
Alzheimer's real, real bad and was in the bed. And we went up
there and we sang and we read scriptures and he preached practically. Preached the message. We prayed
together and we left. We had a service there in his
living room. Me and him and his wife and another gentleman that
I went up there with and his daughter. Well, he got what he
wanted. He got what he wanted. Brother
John got what he wanted Tuesday. He went to be with the Lord.
And that didn't offend his will. You know what the last thing
he said to me was? I won't see you again here. But maybe I'll
see you there. He wanted to go. He was ready
to go. That's what you can do when you're
washed in the blood. Now look here. Around the brim
are flowers of lilies. Flowers of lilies. Christ is
the lily of the valley. He's the beauty. He's the fragrance. He's the gospel. We don't preach
a Christ-centered gospel. We preach Christ who is the gospel.
He's the fragrance of it, and he's the fragrance of his people,
the lily of the valley. There's everything pleasant about
this. You know, it's kind of like if you have something that
you, a food that you just, you know, when you're young, you
eat with your eyes, and you drink with your eyes, and if it don't
look good to your eye, you don't want it. You don't have anything
to do with it. And sometimes, I can't tell you how many foods
I ate on the back doorstep of my house, because my mother said,
just take one bite and spit it out if you don't like it. And
I'd taste it and go, hmm, that doesn't taste like anything like
it looked like. That's good. Well, that's what this gospel
is. He's saying here, when you drink of this, you're going to
find it's like a fragrant lily. It's pleasant. And it's good. And it's good. And look, it received
and held three thousand baths. In the abundance of this water
we see the abounding sufficiency of Christ's blood to cleanse
all his people. This labor was bigger than all
the other labors. It was before all the other labors
in the temple. You know what that signifies?
This labor did what those labors couldn't do. And Christ justifies
us from all our sins from which you could not be justified by
the law of Moses. And when you went on in that
temple, now you're getting in there to the Law of Moses. You
couldn't be justified and washed in there. You've got to be justified
and washed in this labor, in this fount. By Him, all that
believe are justified from all things for which could not be
justified by the Law of Moses. And you think about 3,000 baths.
27,000 gallons of water. Somebody said
this molten sea, which pictures redemption in Christ's blood,
weighed around 25 to 30 tons. Redemption is heavy. The weight
of redemption is heavy. It weighed heavy on Christ. It
weighs heavy on His people to preach it. And if you meet Christ
refusing this fountain of living water, refusing this fountain
of cleansing blood, I can promise you for all eternity it will
weigh heavy on you. But I love the way it's worded.
It received and held three thousand. on the day of Pentecost, this
molten brazen sea received and held three thousand that He washed
in His blood. He received them and He held
them. And He is still receiving sinners. And when He receives
you, He holds you and He don't ever let you go. That second
temple, when after they destroyed this first temple, that second
temple didn't have this molten sea until Christ entered. When Christ walked in, the molten
sea came to that temple. And right now, there is no molten
sea anywhere in this earth. There's no temple in this earth.
There's one temple. It's the holy place not made
with hands. And right there at the right side, at the entrance
of that temple is Christ, the molten sea. And the only way
to come to God is through faith in Him. That's the only way.
There's a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins
and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilt and
shame. Now think of this. All those thousands of years
before Christ came, in a simple piece of furniture, Most people probably never even
looked at it and knew what it meant. God declared everything
His Son would do. I wonder how many times in your
life from morning to evening you pass by things where God
declares His glory and you don't ever even see it. You don't ever
even understand it. I'm telling you this gospel applies
to your life. Every aspect of it. Every detail
of it. And I pray that you'll be one
who glorifies His grace and mercy rather than His wrath and His
justice. Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. And
though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. I pray
He'll make that so. Amen. Let's stand together, brethren. Our great Father, we thank You
that You're in every detail from the least little, insignificant,
unnoticed to the greatest. And in everything, You're glorifying
Your Son. Lord, make us come to Him. Make
Your people come to Him and wash. Make us come to Him knowing that
we can't serve You, we can't honor You, we can't be accepted
of You until we've washed in His blood. Bring us to believe
him and bring us to keep washing. Keep washing in that sin-cleansing
blood. Lord, thank you for Christ. Thank
you for forgiveness of sins. Thank you for bringing this gospel
to us and regenerating us and giving us faith to believe you.
Thank you for your gospel preachers. Thank you for the word. Lord,
thank you. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.