The Tabernacle - The Laver Of Brass

Q: What does the Bible say about sanctification?

The Bible teaches that sanctification involves being cleansed by the blood of Christ and is essential for believers to enter God's presence. Sanctification is a critical concept in Christian theology, representing the believer's process of being made holy and set apart for God's purposes. The labor of brass in the tabernacle symbolizes this process, emphasizing the necessity of being washed with water to approach God. Hebrews 10:19-22 highlights that we draw near to God with a pure heart, having our bodies washed with pure water, signifying that true cleansing must occur within before any external actions can be acceptable to God. It illustrates that sanctification is an internal work initiated by God, flowing from our justification, which is grounded in the blood of Christ. In essence, sanctification denotes the ongoing transformation of a believer's life, leading them closer to the image of Christ.

Q: How do we know salvation is through Christ alone?

Salvation is solely through Christ, who is both the altar and the sacrifice, as emphasized throughout Scripture. The doctrine of salvation in the historic Reformed tradition is firmly anchored in the belief that Jesus Christ is the exclusive means of redemption. As outlined in the tabernacle's design, Christ embodies every part, from the altar where sacrifices are made to the laver where washing occurs. Ephesians 2:8-9 clearly states that we are saved by grace through faith, not of works, underscoring that our salvation rests entirely in Christ's redemptive work. Furthermore, John 14:6 declares that Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, emphasizing that no one comes to the Father except through Him. This essential understanding affirms that salvation is not contingent on human effort but wholly reliant on the finished work of Christ.

Q: Why is the blood of Christ important for redemption?

The blood of Christ is crucial for redemption as it is the means through which sins are washed away, providing access to God. The significance of Christ's blood in the context of redemption cannot be overstated. According to Hebrews 9:22, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. This principle reflects the Old Testament sacrificial system where blood was required for atonement, culminating in the ultimate sacrifice of Christ. His blood not only purifies and cleanses believers from sin but also grants them bold access to the Holy of Holies, as seen in Hebrews 10:19. The blood signifies Christ's obedience unto death and serves as the foundational assurance for believers’ justification and acceptance before God. Therefore, the blood of Christ represents both the cost of redemption and the means by which believers can confidently approach God, knowing their sins are fully atoned for.

Q: What does the laver of brass represent in the tabernacle?

The laver of brass represents sanctification, emphasizing the need for believers to be cleansed before approaching God. In the context of the tabernacle, the laver of brass serves as a powerful symbol of sanctification within the believer's life. Positioned between the altar and the entrance to the tabernacle, it signifies the necessity of washing—both the hands and feet—symbolizing the outward purification required before worship. The priests had to wash here to avoid death in God's presence, representing the idea that sanctification prepares us for communion with God. The act of washing reflects the believer's continual need for cleansing from sin after justification has occurred. It parallels the washing of regeneration as described in Titus 3:5, underscoring that while our initial cleansing comes through Christ's sacrifice, ongoing sanctification involves our daily return to Him for renewal and restoration.

Exodus 30. Let's read the beginning of verse 17. Exodus 30, verse 17, And the
Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Thou shalt also make a labour
of brass, and his foot, or the pedestal, or the basin, or the
bottom of it, also of brass, to wash with oil. And thou shalt put it between
the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt
put water therein. For Aaron and his sons shall
wash their hands and their feet thereat. When they go into the
tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water that
they die not. For when they come near to the
altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the Lord, so
shall they So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that
they die not. And it shall be a statute forever
to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generation. And I continue to be amazed at
the wisdom and the genius of God as I study this tabernacle. just absolutely amazed at the
design of this tabernacle and the picture and the type of Christ
that it is. As the writer put it, oh, the
depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God is how unsearchable
are his judgments and his ways of past finding out. There's
no way we can plumb the depths of this ocean of knowledge concerning
this tabernacle. Every symbol, every instrument
is a marvel of the master architect and the builder of this thing,
the tabernacle. Even the most simple objects
in this tabernacle, like the gate that we looked at before.
It's not there. The gate and the fence. and things
like that, even the simplest of things. And now the labor.
We're going to be looking at the labor, the brass labor this
evening. Every one of them have infinite
depth of meaning. Last week, we looked at the altar
where the sacrifice was made. The altar was where the blood
was shed, and now the labor is where the water is poured. and
water right as Christ hung there on the cross you remember when
the centurion came by the soldier came by with a spear pierced
his side what came out blood and water blood and water Christ
is both the altar and the sacrifice on the altar and the priest who
makes the sacrifice and who takes it into the tabernacle. He's
the tabernacle, and he's also the laser, and he's the water
in the laser. He's everything. He is blood. It's Christ's blood that redeems
our very soul for justification. It is his water, the water of
his Word, of himself, that sanctifies us. He said, I sanctify myself
that they also might be sanctified. I become poured out as water
that they might be sanctified. Now I want you to note as we
go along in this study. Not just tonight but throughout
the study of this tabernacle. I want you to note the progression
of the careful. Steps of the life of a believer
or the gospel the steps in this thing of the gospel and the life
of the believer. It's God ordained this thing
when you come in the gate and you come to the altar and you
come to the water and you go to the bread and you go to the
light and you go to the incense and you go in the Holy Ghost.
He didn't just randomly throw those things out there and say,
well, let's see what we're going to do first. No, it's a perfect picture
of how we are made to be glorified, come into God's very presence.
We come to the altar. We come to Christ, come to the
cross, come to the Christ. the cross and have our sins removed. That's one great need that we
have is to have our sins forgiven. We come to Christ as our substitute,
our redeemer, our savior, our sin offering. We must first come
to God with blood because without the shedding of blood there's
no remission. And without the shedding of blood
and without the washing of water there's no admission. Without
the shedding of blood, there's no remission. Without the washing
of water, there's no admission into the Holy of Holies. Without
redemption, we have our sins still, and God condemns it. Without
sanctification, we're dirty. We can't go into the holy place.
We have to be made like Christ. So the blood is what saves us.
The blood, the sacrifice at the Eastern Gate is what saves us. That settles our salvation once
and for all. That settles it. It starts right
there. Salvation begins at the cross
for everyone. Everyone must begin at the cross,
not the labor, not the table showbread, not the holy book.
You got to begin at the cross. You got to come sit at the foot
of the cross like we did last Wednesday and just behold, behold
the Lamb of God, which takes away your sin and be washed Sit
under that cross and let that blood cover you, OK? That's our first need. Before
we're sanctified, we have to be justified. Because when he
called, he justified. When he justified, he fortified. He sanctified. Sanctification. And this is the order. This is
the order of this thing. You don't wash and then come
to the altar. No. You come to the altar, and
then you come to be washed. You come to be washed. You don't
clean up your life and then come to Christ. No, you come to Christ
to be cleaned up. Christ said it. He said, cleanse
first that which is within the cup and platter. And we can't
do that, can we? God must do that. And the outside
will be clean also. The outside. I want you to stay with me tonight.
I'm going to give us several, several passages of Scripture. I've just filled this message
with passages of Scripture because everything is so pertinent, so
applicable to this labor and to this message. Now, you go
from the cross to the labor, from the labor to the table of
showbread, from the bread From the candle to the altar of incense,
and from the altar of incense into the Holy of Holies. And
this is a perfect picture of the life or salvation itself. We're justified. We're sanctified. We're given communion with God,
partakers of him. We're given discernment. He increases
our discernment. We're given a spirit of intercession.
to come into His very presence, and then finally, glorification. We go to be with Him. From altar
to ark, it all speaks of Christ. A-X. It all speaks of Christ.
From the altar to the ark, from the sacrifice glory to the Shekinah
glory, it's all speaking of Christ. All of it. Salvation is of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
2. Ephesians chapter 2. Salvation. Salvation is of the Lord Jesus
Christ. As I said before, the last couple
of times I mentioned this, a stranger, a mere stranger or a common person
could not enter into that tabernacle. Not even into the outer court
of that tabernacle. You remember the courtyard is
surrounded by the fence that's called the outer court. A stranger
and not even the common people could go in there. Only the priests. Except like old, oh I forgot
his name already. But that fellow that ran in out
of desperation and grabbed ahold of the horns of the altar. It
was his last ditch effort to be said. He had to. He had to
get in there. Then he couldn't stay. They drug
him out of there real fast. He said, we'll save you, but
you can't stay here. You can't stay in there. So a stranger,
a mere common person, couldn't go in that tabernacle. Couldn't
be in there. Only a priest, right? And yet
we being strangers. Scripture calls us strangers.
Yet we being strangers, as Scripture says, are made nigh by the blood
of Christ. Made nigh. Listen to this verse,
Revelation 5 says, this is what we are going to sing to Christ
when we get up there, thanksgiving to him for bringing us so close
in that. Thou wast flame, and hast redeemed
us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, tongue, and people,
and nation, stranger, Gentile, and hast made us unto our God
kings and Priest. Priest. And then Paul said over
in Hebrews 10, he says now, having therefore brethren boldness,
liberty, the freedom to enter into the holiest of holies, the
holiest by the blood of Christ, we are actually granted access. This is what Paul says here in
Exodus 2 verse 18. Look at it. For through him,
that is Christ, Through Christ, we both, that is, Jew and Gentile,
stranger or promised people, we both have access by his Holy
Spirit unto the Father. Now, therefore, verse 19, now,
therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens
with the saints and of the household of God. God lets you in the very
courtyard. like a priest he's made them
were made under him kings and priests and the only way that
we have access is through the blood of Christ through his blood
through him and we have access we have entrance we've been granted
entrance into this this holy of holy the people. The Holy Spirit will have to
give us an understanding of what this means But if you could,
if you could talk to one of those people back then about this tabernacle,
they were wholly taken up with this place. And they long, don't
you know they long to get in there and look at this thing?
They didn't know much about it. It was a mystery to them. Even
the inside, nobody got in there. If you could ask them, would
you like to go in? Oh, would I? Come on. What if a high priest himself
came up and said, Terry, listen, come on, I'll take you in and
show you around. Really? They would have been
thrilled. And I wish this thrilled me more.
I wish this thrilled us more. The fact that we have access,
we have entrance into the deep mysteries of God and able to
fellowship fellow citizens with the saints of the household of
God, we're made partakers of that heavenly calling. We're
on the inside. We're on the inside. Well, look
back at Exodus chapter 30 again with me now. Exodus chapter 30.
Now, what I've been talking about to begin with is salvation being
totally in the Lord Jesus Christ himself. That he is the altar,
he is the labor, and true understanding of the gospel. is just that. That salvation is all in Christ. This is what you would call the
doctrine of Christ. If any man transgresses and abides
not in the doctrine of Christ, that is that salvation is totally,
100%, completely in and of and by and through and in the hands
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not within us, it's in him,
totally. That's the doctrine of Christ.
That's the principle, theme, and story of this whole book.
Salvation in the hands of our high priest. And that's what
this tabernacle speaks of. Now, Paul said this. Paul said
over in Hebrews, he said, now, leaving the principles of the
doctrine of Christ. Remember when he said that? Let
us go on, therefore. Let's go on unto perfection. He's not talking about going
on to something better. He's talking about, let's see
the whole picture. We see how the salvation is in Christ from
start to finish. It's in Him. It's totally in
Him. He is our salvation. He's the blood. He's the water.
He's the bread. He's the light. He's our high priest who prays. He's the ark. Now, having that
established, firmly established in our mind and in our hearts,
not wavering, but firmly settled in our mind. Paul said, now let's
go on and see the whole picture of how this thing is wrought
in us, through us, to us, in us. Established in our hearts
and mind, Christ is all in all, in justification and sanctification. Now let's talk about the work
of Christ and His Spirit in this thing of sanctification. Now,
I started to, I wanted to to ground us, to start us out on
the right foot here. Every message should start with
Christ and end with Christ, just like the tabernacle did. So we
started right there. I hope there's no doubt in your
mind. I'm not leaving any room for doubt here that this thing
of salvation has anything to do with us. OK? That's settled. All right? I hope so. Now, it's
providential. To me, it's very clearly Providential
that we've been studying through the book of James. I didn't plan
this thing. Well, I did. I did tell you that
we were going to do this, didn't I? But I felt led to do this,
go through Hebrews and Tabernacle and James. But I really, before
I started studying the book of James, I didn't really understand
just how closely that book fits in with everything else. We've been studying James, which
talks about the believer's walk. Talks about the believers, well,
now look at verse nineteen with me. Now he says that this labor
of brass are for Aaron and his sons to wash their hands and
their feet thereat. Aaron and his sons shall wash
their hands and their feet thereat. When they go into the tabernacle
of the congregation, they shall wash with water. that they die
not. That's speaking of being washed
in the blood of Christ. You can't come to God except
by Christ, except you're washed in the blood of Christ, washed
from your sins, your sins washed from you by the blood of Christ,
or else you'll die in the white, hot, holy presence of God Almighty. You can't come to Him except
you be washed. But you notice these priests, Aaron and his
sons, the high priest and his son were to wash their hands
and their feet in this pedestal. Now they are in this labor of
brass. You'll notice if you have this
with you, I'm not sure that this is an accurate rendition or a
portrait of what the labor really looked like, but it'll serve
the purpose. I believe this thing was removable
right here, and this was big enough to where a man could stand
in this put his feet in this pedestal or this basin here and
so wash his feet and his hands at the same time he removed his
top be washing his hand while he's washing his feet down there
stood in there because. If he stood out on the ground
he no way to get his feet completely clean so it stand in this this
water but it was his hands first of all. Now I want you to turn
over to Hebrews chapter 10 with me. Hebrews chapter 10. Does sanctification, now we're
talking about sanctification, this labor and the water is a
picture of sanctification. Does sanctification start with
our hands? I mean these actual, our hands
with the outer man, does that word sanctification start? No. No, not at all. Look at Hebrews
10, verse 22, or look at verse 19. Hebrews 10, verse 19. Now, he says, having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Christ. There he starts at the altar.
By a new and living way, how's that? Himself, Christ himself,
the living sacrifice, which he hath consecrated for us through
the veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having an high priest
Who takes us in there? We are in him. We go in in him. He takes us in to the house of
God. Let us draw near with a true
heart. See that? A heart in full assurance
of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our
bodies washed with pure Well, heart, it starts in the heart. Remember I quoted back there,
Christ said, cleanse first that which is within. Because why? Because God doesn't look to see
his man seed on the outward countenance. God is not first looking at the
outward countenance. God looks on the heart. That's
where he looks first of all. He looks at the heart. And then,
who must give us a new heart? God himself must give up, take
away the stony heart and give us a heart of flesh, a heart
that beats for him. And the hands here in the text
in Exodus 30, our hands, I believe, are symbolic of the heart, the
heart. The Jews asked Christ this. The
Jews were confused about this thing. And they asked Christ
and said, what must we do to do the works of God? We want
to do something for God, and isn't that the religious Jew
of our day? What must we do to get to God, to work the works
of God? We want to do something for Jesus, you know. We'll do
something for God. We'll serve the Lord, brother,
you know. What did Christ say? Oh, this
is the work of God. It starts right here. The work
of God starts right here. Not here. Not here. It starts
right here. Because, listen to these verses,
with the heart. Man believeth under righteousness,
and then with the mouth, or the life, the walk, confession is
made. Out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaks, the foot moves, the hand works. It starts right
here. Out of the heart, because out of the heart proceeds evil
thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, theft. So this thing
of sanctification has to start in the heart, not in the hand.
heart. Okay, so we'll put our hand over
our heart when we talk about this. David said this, David
said this, I will run the way of your commandments. It doesn't
matter where my feet, I'll walk, I'll work, I'll serve. I'll run
the way of your commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart. Isn't that good? Who shall stand
in his holy place? Who's going to walk with Christ?
Who's going to walk with God? Who's going to be in God's holy
presence? Who shall stand in his holy place? Well, it says, he that hath clean
hands and a pure heart. A pure heart. Who's that? That's
Christ alone. Christ. And us in him. And we're
considered by God in Christ. We have clean hands. Our works.
Even though our own works are filthy rags, in Christ they're
acceptable to God Almighty. Even though we've got the blood
of God's Son on our hands that renders us guilty before God,
yet the blood of God's Son on our hands renders us acceptable
to God. Let his blood be on us and our
children. That was a cry of evil intent, but now it's our cry
of praise. So by him, by Christ, we are
inwardly washed first, inwardly and outwardly. We come to Christ
for our sanctification, the same as our justification. He's the
altar and the laver. So keep that in mind. Keep that
in mind. We come to Christ for both our
sanctification and our justification. Now, secondly, turn to John 13
with me. He commanded that those priests, the high priests and
the common priests, he commanded that they wash their feet as
well. Their feet. Now the feet is,
as you already know, is the lower part of the body, the lowest
part of the body. And even so, the feet denote
the life and the walk of a believer. That the highest part of our
being is our soul, our spirit, the inward man, the new creature
that's been created in the image of Christ. That's the highest
part of our being. The lowest part is this body
of death, this lowly, looks like a big foot, big foot. Now, John 13, the priest, the
priest, before he went into that Holy of Holy, before he went
into the courtyard, before he went into the gate he was given
a bath a complete bath before his induction into the priesthood
before he could become a priest he had to be given a bath all
over and you know what they practically bathed him in blood blood the
high priest took his sons and I practically gave them a blood
bath, literally. If you'd have been there, you'd
have thought, this is the glorious, awfulest, grossest thing I've
ever seen. They were covered in blood. They
were sprinkled with it. Big blood in your eye, you know.
Blood all over them. Blood sprinkled all over them.
But especially, I will not turn over there, but especially the
blood was applied to the ear. Remember us reading that? The
blood was applied to the ear, and what does that imply? The hearing ear. We have to have
a hearing ear, discernment. Christ has to anoint our ear,
doesn't he, to hear the gospel. To hear, that's where the gospel
enters in, the ear gate. And then the blood was applied
to the thumb, to the right thumb. works or service were made servants
of Christ. And it's applied to the toe of
the right foot. And that's our walk and our way
and our character were made like Christ, were conformed to his
image. But after they got this blood bath, covered all over
with blood and certain parts of their bodies specifically
applied with blood, then they got a good water washing. Got
a real good, it wasn't a spit bath, they really cleaned up. with water, pure water, running
water. And this is what admitted them
into the tabernacle. That's what got them in. They
had to go through this ceremony to get in. And Paul said this
about us. He said, you used to be dirty,
no count, low down, no good, worthless, sinful, scoundrels,
but you've been washed. You're washed. You're justified. And John said this even. He said
the blood of God's Son cleanses us from all sin, cleanses us. Now, here in John 13, 10, now
we've been cleansed. Now, make no mistake about it,
the believer, every believer that comes to God by Christ,
who comes to Christ, to Him, to Christ and Him crucified,
gets bathed in that blood, and his sins are washed away, and
God considers him holy, righteous, spotless. just, lovely, holy,
unblameable, unapprovable to God Almighty. Washed! We've got
that blood back. We've been immersed in the blood
of Christ. OK? But we need a good foot washing.
Christ said here in John 13, 10. Christ said, now he that
is washed doesn't need to be washed all over again. He that
is washed needeth not be washed save to wash his feet. He's clean
ever wit, but your feet get dirty. Your feet get dirty. We need
a daily foot washing. Now, like I said, I tried to
make it very clear, the washing of regeneration of salvation
is forever. It's forever. You cannot dirty
your soul. As much as you feel dirty, you're
considered holy to God Almighty. Now, that's good news, my soul.
Now, we had no part in that whatsoever, no part at all. We'd been washed
by the high priest in the very blood of God's Son. But we must
come daily to the fountain. We must come daily to the throne
of grace, the Scripture says, to obtain grace, to find help,
to obtain grace and help in time of need. Now, what time is that? Every day, every hour. We sing
the song every hour of every day. I'm leaning, I'm trusting,
I'm looking to, I need to be washed in the blood of Christ.
Every day, we must come daily to the fountain, the throne of
God's grace to be washed. Now listen, the tabernacle, these high priests,
these priests in the high walked around on a dirt floor. We asked,
somebody asked me this, what the floor of the tabernacle was
made out of. Nothing. It was dirt. There was
no floor in the tabernacle. It had no floor in it. And the
priest's feet were constantly in need of washing. Constantly
in need. Every step they took was defiled.
Every step they took became defiled. And they were constantly in need
of washing. constantly. They must have kept coming back
to this labor time and time again. Whenever they'd go over here,
they'd wash, and they'd go over and do this, and then they'd
go back over and wash again, and they'd go over here and do this,
and they'd go back and wash again. Feet getting dirty. Feet getting
dirty. And did you notice over in Exodus
how that God gave no dimensions for the labor? No dimensions. He didn't say
make it so big. Make it so bad you didn't say
that. Why? Well, because it illustrates the Word of God itself. It's
too big, it's too vast. You can't put any limitations
on the Word of God. You can come as often as you
like, you can put as much water in there as you like. Those fellas
could have made that thing as big as they'd like to. Just get
in there, clean up. Just stay in there as much as
you want to. And the word of God is like a
vast ocean, and there's no dimensions to it. There's no limit as to
what we can get from the word of God. And we're to daily resort
to it. Now, that's what this labor and
this water is a type of now, the word of God. The believer,
like these priests, We're not walking on the streets of gold
yet. We're not walking on the streets of gold. We're walking
through this earthly house of this tabernacle and it's defiled.

The Tabernacle - The Laver Of Brass

What does the Bible say about sanctification?

How do we know salvation is through Christ alone?

Why is the blood of Christ important for redemption?

What does the laver of brass represent in the tabernacle?

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The Tabernacle - The Laver Of Brass

What does the Bible say about sanctification?

How do we know salvation is through Christ alone?

Why is the blood of Christ important for redemption?

What does the laver of brass represent in the tabernacle?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

Comments

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