If you want to turn to a verse
of Scripture, you can be turning to Exodus chapter 27. Exodus chapter 27. You'd be praying
from silently right now for me as I try to bring this study
to you. I was greatly blessed in the
preparation of it, but it didn't always come out. in this place
like it does to me personally. It doesn't always. Sometimes
I believe it's just for me. But I've already been blessed
by this and I hope the Lord will help us look into these things
tonight. Now last week, last week we took
a little closer look at the tabernacle and we gave some general descriptions
of that tabernacle. And there were two things basically
that we dwelled upon. concerning it. Two things. First
thing that I wanted us to see in last week's study was that
this tabernacle was the only way to God Almighty. This was the only way to know
and to worship God Almighty. The only way. And secondly, The
reason that being, and secondly, is because God was the master
architect of it. He's the one that instituted,
that created this type of cry. Now in review, in short review,
let me go over a few things with you, so important. This tabernacle,
back then, was the only way to know and to worship God Almighty. No matter how plain this may
appear to the naked No matter how ordinary, no matter how exotic
or dogmatic that may sound, it was the only way to know and
worship God. The only way. There was no other
way. The only way to obtain the blessings,
the favors, and the presence of God Almighty was in that little
place there, that little sanctuary. The Jews knew that. The Jews
knew that. Why? Because God told them so. They wouldn't have known it had
it not been revealed to them. And he was the one that brought
this to them. Nobody else. He brought it to
them. And there were allowances made for some Gentiles, but it
all pertained to that. If there were any Gentiles who
sought to know and to worship the Lord, they still had to come
by this tabernacle. If they couldn't get to it in
person, they had to pray toward it. They had to think about it. They had to be looking in that
direction if they couldn't get to it personally. Now, this is
a perfect picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only
way to know and worship God Almighty. There is no other way. No other
way. Christ said, neither is there
salvation in any other. For there's none other name under
heaven, not Buddha, Not Krishna, not Mohammed, none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, but
the name of Jesus Christ, only through him. Christ said this,
he said, no man, I don't care how sincere he is, no man, no
woman, cometh unto the Father, but how? By me, Christ said. I'm the only way, I am the way,
the way. to God Almighty. He said, no
man knoweth the Father. Nobody could even know anything
about God, save through this tabernacle. And nobody can know
anything about this thrice-holy God, save the Son, who's in the
bosom of the Father, who comes down here to heaven and reveals
Him. Right? That's what Christ said. In Christ dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body. In Jesus Christ dwells all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge, all the fullness of God. Nobody
can know worship, come to God, except they know worship and
come to Jesus Christ. Such a clear picture right there.
And God can only be known by what Christ says and what Christ
reveals. The only way to obtain the blessings
and the favor and the presence of God is for Christ to come
down here and give us those blessings and those favors and be with
us. Immanuel. It means God with us. God had to come to us. He didn't
cry. The elect know that, just like
the Jews knew that. Why did the Jews know that? Because
God told them. How does anybody know that Christ
is the only way? Why are we not pursuing God in
some other way, by our prayers, by our works, by a Buddhist sitting
over there in a monastery or whatever? Why is that, that we
come to God by Christ alone? Why? How do we know this? God
tells us something through this right here, this right here.
That's the first work of God Almighty, saving work in everybody's
heart, whom he reveals himself to, is to show us, you can't
get to me, but one way, one way. Christ said in John 6, 45, they
shall all be taught of the Father, of God. And everyone that hath
heard and learned of the Father, what do they hear? Cometh to
the Son. They hear that Christ, the Son,
has revealed the Father. And you don't get to God but
by the Son revealing Him to you. Okay. Now, that's the only way. Because God said so. I ain't
going to argue it. I love it. I love the Word of
God. That's the first sign and evidence of the true child of
God. They bow to the Word of God. Whatever it says, they bow
to it. Whether it says God's sovereign, they bow to it. Whether
it says God elected a people before the foundation of the
world, they bow to it. They clearly see that if he hadn't, nobody
would have been saved anyway. Everything, they agree with God,
okay? Secondly, God was the master
architect of this thing. The master architect. He was
the planner. He's the one that thought this
thing up. And it wasn't an afterthought. It wasn't an afterthought. Christ
is called the lamb slain before when? Before the foundation of
the world. Before there was a sinner. Before
man fell, there was a slaver. He didn't search for the halls
of glory after Adam fell, and God thought, oh no, what am I
going to do now? Tried the law, or tried his own personal righteousness,
and that wouldn't do. What am I going to do now? What
am I going to do? And then the law, he sent the
law, we'll live by that, and then you'll make it. And that
didn't work. They couldn't keep the law. Oh, what am I going
to do now? Search, search. There's a song out there somewhere
that says that. He searched the halls of heaven
looking for a Savior, and he found one. No. He was already the Savior, the
Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, already prepared.
Why? According to His good pleasure, according to His wisdom, according
to His glory, according to that infinitely wise and eternal plan,
Christ was the Lamb slain. Okay? But God was the master
architect of it. He was the one that decided to
visit man. He was the one. He that is our
God is the God of salvation, and to God the Lord belong the
issues from death," Psalm 68 said. Not us. We didn't decide. We didn't up inside and say,
hey, we need God. No, God decided, hey, you need me. Right? We didn't call upon him first.
He called upon us. We didn't choose him first. He
chose us. And he sent his Son down here, too. Okay? Salvation
is of the Lord. The gospel was planned by God
in the beginning. Christ was the land slain before
the foundation of the world. God loved the people, God chose
the people, God planned the way of salvation, and God sent Christ
to tabernacle among us, as Scripture says. Go down there and be a
man, and live according to my holy law, to perfection as a
man. and be approved, be accepted by me, become the tabernacle
of God among men, that holy, righteous way to the Father.
And then go to that cross and take all the sins and the punishment
of those people that I chose, because I'm a just God, but I'm
a Savior too. And take those sins upon yourself
and bear them for my people and give them that righteousness
that you established. Then come back to me and then
I'll bring them all home someday. and they'll worship you. God,
like God was in that little tabernacle in the wilderness, that little
brown tent. God was in Christ, reconciling the world. Not just
Jews. That means not just Jews. It doesn't mean every single
human being. It means not only Jews, but people out of every
tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue under heaven. The world, reconciling
the world unto himself. Okay? That was God's plan, wasn't
it? God was the planner, the master
architect. All right, now let's get into
today's study. That was leading into this. Because
God was the master architect and the planner of this thing,
because God did this thing, everything in it had to be perfect. I mean perfect. Like Leviticus
22 says, it must, it shall be perfect to be accepted. That's
the reason to offend in one point of the law is to be guilty of
it all. That's the reason the law must be kept in thought even. Not just word and deed, but in
thought. To perfection. To perfection. But all have sinned and come
short of that joy. Short of that perfection. Because
God was the architect, the planner, everything in that tabernacle
right there had to be absolutely perfect. And it was. It was. It's a beautiful and a functional
arise type of the Lord Jesus Christ to show God's glory, to
show, and it was heard as the place of worship to lead his
people all the way to the promised land. This tabernacle was with
them all the way to the promised land. And then a permanent temple
was built. That's a picture of Christ. All
right. There's a couple of things I want you to notice before we
get into tonight's, to the main part of this, the courts, the
courts. As I said, everything in this
tabernacle is significant, everything in it. The number of the pillars
all the way around it, the number of the pillars, the weight, the
size of each one of them, the material used in them. But time
wouldn't allow, it wouldn't suffice for us to go into the weights
and measures and so forth. But I'm going to give you a brief
mention of some of these things. But there were three places.
As I said last week, there's three places. There was this
outer court, that is, within the fence itself. There was this
outer court, and then on the inside of the tabernacle itself
there was an inner court, right in the first part there. And
then the last little room, a perfect cubicle, 15 by 15 by 15, was
the Holy of Holies. It's called the Holy of Holies,
where the Ark of the Covenant was. These things typify, and
we'll get into these things later on, I just want to give you a
brief description. These three things typify many things. They
typify God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Three.
They typify us the three in one. This whole thing is considered
the tabernacle, the way to God. It's the three in one. These
three bear witness of the way to God. All of it prefigures
Christ. All of these things prefigure
Christ. God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit are
all revealed in one person. Right? One person. This also
typifies the church. This can be believers. The church. Body, soul, and spirit. Believers. And the different
works and the ordinances that took place in each court, whether
it be the outer, the inner, or the holy of holy, there's just
too many to describe right now, but you can you can call these
three works and different court justification, sanctification,
glorification. It's just so it's just so deep
all the way through there. OK, there's the three court.
Now. Surrounding this place. This
is what we're going to dwell on. Surrounding this whole tabernacle
in the courtyard and so forth was a fence. See it there, white
fence. Let's read about it. Look at
Exodus 27, beginning with verse 9. Exodus 27, verse 9. He describes his court and his
fence. God says, God shall make the court of the tabernacle.
For the south side, southward, there shall be hangings for the
cord of fine twine linen of a hundred cubits lines for one side, and
the 20 pillars thereof and their 20 sockets shall be of brass."
That's these posts that these hangings were attached to. These pillars, 20 pillars, and
20 sockets shall be of brass. And the hooks, which ropes and
things were attached to, which the linen was attached and their
fillets or their rings or their rods shall be of silver. And
likewise for the north side in the length there shall be hangings
of a hundred cubits, that's I think a hundred and fifty feet long,
and twenty pillars and twenty sockets of brass and the hooks
of the pillar and their fillets of silver. And for the breadth
of the court on the west side, that's behind the tabernacle
there on the west side, shall be hangings of fifty cubits,
seventy-five feet wide, and their pillars ten, ten of these posts
and their sockets ten. And the breadth of the court
on the east side, okay that's this side right here that you're
facing, this east side, the breadth of the court on the east side,
eastward, shall be fifty cubits, seventy-five feet. The hangings
of one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits, this is fifteen,
and over here fifteen, and the gate itself The gate itself of
the court shall be twenty cubits. Verse sixteen. For the gate of
the court there shall be a hanging of twenty cubits of blue and
purple and scarlet and fine twine linen wrought with needlework
and their pillar shall be four. Four posts that this gate is
attached to and sockets four. Verse seventeen. All the pillars
round about the court shall be filleted with silver, and their
hooks shall be of silver, and their sockets of brass." Okay? He describes this fence that
goes all the way around this thing. Now surrounding this whole
thing, like he says here, is this fence. What this fence served
to do was to bar entrance into this place. That's what fences
are for. You know, fences keep people out. That's what it's
for. It barred the way into the outer The inner and the holy
place. It was a fence. It was a high,
white fence. And it was well fortified. That is, well attached. Now stay
with me. This is going to be a blessing
to you. Stay with me. It was high. It was seven and
a half feet high. It was about as high as the bottom
of that casing, that top casing right there. Seven and a half
feet high. Huge fence. It was out of white
linen. It's a beautifully wrought, beautifully
wrought or skillfully made. And it was fastened and it was
fortified with hooks, rods, pins, fillets. It was bolted down. It was attached. You couldn't
move this thing. What this represents is the law
of God Almighty. The law of God that separates
us from God Almighty. We can't get to God by the law. It's too high. You can't climb
Mount Sinai. It's too high. You can't get
up there. You can't reach perfection. It's too holy. The law of God
is too great. It's too holy. We can't get to
God by keeping the law. Can't do it. By the deeds of
the law shall no flesh be justified or accepted or granted interest
in the God. It's too high, right? It's too
white. It's too pure. It's too spotless. No imperfections allowed. None
whatsoever. It must be perfect. It shall
be perfect to be accepted. And it's fortified. It's fortified. It's fastened down with various
things. It's unmoved. It's eternal. The
law of God is eternal. Christ didn't do away with the
law when he came to this earth. He fulfilled it. The law of God
is an expression and revelation of His person. It can't be done
away with. Forever, O Lord, thy word is
settled in heaven. But Christ fulfilled it. He didn't
do away with it. He did away with it as a means
of us getting to God. But He fulfilled it. He fulfilled
it. He said, you can't keep that
law to get to God. It's too high. It's too holy. It's too perfect. You can't get there. But I did.
I fulfilled that law perfectly. Now, you've got to come to me,
and we'll get to that in a minute. You know this thing, look at
verse 19. He says, "...all of the vessels
of the tabernacle, and all the service thereof, and all the
pins thereof." There's a little layer, I don't think you can
see them, but there's little pins or stakes driven into ropes
that fortified these pillars, and there were pins holding this
thing together, brass, everything made out of brass. Now, that's
getting down to what you call brass tacks. God, concerning
his law, everything in it, got down to brass tacks. You can't
even pick up sticks on a stick. Anybody want to go—anybody want
to get—try to get to God by the law? Be my guest, but you ain't
going to get there. If you would—Paul said, tell
me you that desire to be under the law. Don't you hear it? He
said, evidently, these people who desire to get to God by the
law, they don't hear it. It's too holy. It's too high. You can't even pick up sticks
on the side of it to light you a fire. Ah, it's perfect. Brass tacks.
Every point. Cursed is every man that continues
not in all points, which is not the best he can do, every single
jot and tittle to perfection. You want to go that route? Not
me, buddy. Not me. Brass pillars, these
brass pillars all the way around that it was attached to, that
represents the judgment of God. The white linen, that represents
the righteousness, the holiness of God. These things bar us,
the justice of God. They bar the way to God Almighty.
Can't get there by that. And brass tacks, fine particular
details concerning God's law. Now anybody, listen, anybody
trying to get in, say somebody did come along. And they tried,
they wanted to get in there, and they tried to get in over
that fence. Now it's seven and a half feet
high, and it's well-routed. I don't see how they're going
to get over it anyway. But say they did try. You know what they'd
be considered? A thief and a robber. Isn't that what Christ said?
Any man try to get in any other way is a thief and a robber.
Isn't it? There in John 10. Any other way.
Why? If they try to get over the fence
or under the fence or sneak, evidently they're trying to steal
something. They don't want to be seen, right? They don't want
to be seen. And anybody trying to get around
over or under the law of God is a robber of God's glory. A
robber. I don't care how holy and how
righteous and how pious you think you are and how religious. You've
broken God's holy law, and you rob him of his glory. If you
think you can get there any other way than what he has provided,
you rob him of his glory. You say, his law is not that
holy. I can do it. That's exactly what men are saying
by trying to get to God by the law. It's not that hard. I can
do it. It costs the blood of God's Son.
It took the Son of God thirty-three and a third years to fulfill
the law of God. Every joy, every move, every
gesture, every word, fulfill every jot and tell of the script,
thirty-three and a half years for Him to do it. That's robbing
God of His glory. You say, if Christ can do it,
I can do it too. No, no, no. It's too high. There's only one way to get in
this place. Only one way. You'll get to it
in a minute. Now some people say that this
fence, it was made out of linen. Now linen, if you ever had any
linen clothing, you know that linen's real lightweight. And
it's, this is linen, and you can see through it a little bit.
Linen is, some people say it was made out of a kind of a mesh
material, linen. Strong, but transparent. You can see through it. That's
because it was so high, The people all stood—nobody was allowed
inside there except the priest. Okay? And the people stood all
the way around this place watching what was going on. Well, how
are they going to see what's going on with this fence in front
of them? It's clear. They could see through
it. They could see through it. They could at least see the sacrifice
right there, see the washing. And what does that tell us? That
tells me that even the law points to Christ. Even the law shows
us Christ. All the types, the pictures,
all of the ceremonies, they all show us Christ. The sacrifices,
they show us Christ, but they won't let you in. You can see
Christ, but you can't get in by the law. The law won't let
you in by the deeds of it. No flesh will be justified. Okay? You can see a man looking, a
man near, all a man has to do, really and truthfully, God's
given us this work. As you look all the way through
the Old Testament Scriptures, you'll see sacrifices, you'll
see blood, you'll see that without shedding of blood there's no
remission. You'll see that nobody can come to God except by blood,
right? You can see that. But they can't understand it.
They can't enter into it by faith unless what? Unless they go in. Right? Okay. Alright, now we
need to get a close-up view. We need to get a close-up view.
If you came up to this place, if you looked at this thing from
a distance, remember when I had it way back here and looked at
it from a distance? If you looked at it, you might have thought,
oh, that's fancy. That doesn't look so high. Right? Just a casual glance at
it, and this little model, you know, it's not as high as you
think. I can jump that. But the closer
you get to it, The higher it gets, you know? The closer you
get up there and take a look, the more impossible it seems
to get in by that. Now listen, suppose you went
up this, suppose you were interested in getting in this place. Like
I said, I don't want to make this like we're one of the old
Jews or Gentile or whatever, trying to worship God by this
tabernacle. Suppose you went up on this north
side. No. South side. The south side, okay? You walked up real close. What
would you say? You see some things going on
in there, you're interested, you're trying to get a closer
look and you want to know what's going on in there, you're really
interested in it. But you see a fence. You see
this, the law, you see it, you can't get in. And you look down,
say you start at this corner, you look down the road, what
do you see? Line upon line upon line. Precept upon precept. Here a pillar, there a pillar.
Here a pillar, there a pillar. Okay, you walk your way down
there. I'll try another way. And you go around to the west
side. That's that far behind. I'll go and sneak in the back
way. You go back there. What do you see? A fence. Another fence. Can't get in.
The western, same thing. Line upon line. Precept upon
precept. This is a picture of a man trying
to get to God by the law. If he takes a close look, no
matter how hard he tries to get there by the law, he'll see it's
too much for him. Okay? No way in. You go to the
west side, there's no way in. Can't get in. Okay, you work
your way around to the north side. All right? And by
this time, you're getting frustrated. Okay, so you're a Gentile, and
now you come sneaking out of the mountain. You know you're
not going to get in there. Only Jews are allowed. But you've
got to know, you won't get in there. Right? You come sneaking
down there, all you see is this south side. You can't get in. Go to the west side. You can't
get in. And you're getting frustrated.
I've got to get in. Surely there's a way in this place. You go around
here to the north side, okay? And by then you think, it's hopeless. You look down through and it
looks even worse and even harder, right? And that's the north side, that's
where the cold wind starts blowing. And it's getting cold and more
and more hopeless and helpless. You think, I'll never get in
there. But if you diligently, if you really want to, if you
seek with all your heart a way in there, If you're seeking me, searching
for me, you'll find me. You search for me with all your
heart. You suppose God gives you the grace to walk all the
way down this fence line, another 150 feet, and you turn this corner. What do you see? A gate. A way in. A way in. It's called the Eastern
Gate. It faces east. Why? It's where
the sun comes in. You want to read another scripture
over there? It's where the sun, the prince, comes in, in and
out, in and out. The eastern gate, a way in, and
Christ is the only way to God. The only way. The only door to
eternal life. The only gate to glory. Now look
back there at Luke chapter 13. Keep your place there in Exodus.
Look back at Luke 13 that we looked at a while ago for a scripture
reading. Luke 13. Christ said, I am the door. By
me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved. Only through faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ can anybody come to God. Only coming
to Christ, by coming to Christ, by seeing Him as the way to God.
But only man approved. Only by seeing Christ as the
only accepted or acceptable man, that God won't accept the best
you do, that he'll only accept the best he did, which was the
best, perfect righteousness. And how that we are only accepted
or allowed into the presence of God in the Beloved, in Him. Right? Only as seeing Christ
our righteousness. Let me say it over, and I say,
sure there's someone saying to me, in the Lord. Or is that 45? Surely somebody will say, in
the Lord I have righteousness. Christ is my way. And see Him,
Christ, as the blood sacrifice you need. Jesus Christ the Lord. The only way. The only one. Paul said they'll come preaching
another Jesus who wants to let you in. He's knocking at your
door. There ain't no handle on it.
Poor Jesus. That sickens me. That's my stomach. You know, somebody said, you
know what the hand of God would do to your heart's door if he
knocked on it? My, so he breaks hearts,
doesn't he? He doesn't knock on it. He breaks
them. I'm coming in. Thank God he did
that to me. My heart's hard as a rock. He
breaks them and comes on in. Not another Jesus, but this one
who is Lord of salvation and comes in. All right? Luke 13. But man is responsible. Man is
responsible. He doesn't have the ability.
He doesn't have the strength. He doesn't have the power within
himself. God must give it. Nevertheless,
he's accountable. He's responsible. God gives means. It means faith. It means hearing
the Word. It means preaching the gospel.
It means prayer, study, and so forth. He gives means. And we're
not to deny these means. This is what Christ himself said.
Look at verse 24. He says, "...strive to enter
in at the straight gate." Nobody is going to come to Christ
except those that come to Him with all the heart, that seek
Him with all the heart. You know, you'll be standing
there popping your gun and say, well, if I get in, I get in,
you know. If I'm elect, I'm elect. That ain't the way it works. It's not the way God ordained
it, like the so-called primitive Baptists would like for us to
believe. If you're going to be saved, you're going to be saved.
God elects. No, God is pleased God by the fruit of His preaching
to save and to believe. Paul said, I thank God, when
you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
you received it. It came to you not in word only,
but with power. Power. The Holy Ghost and much
assurance. And you followed. You became
followers of me, Paul said, the Thessalonians. Now suppose, he
says, scribe to enter in at this straight gate. Suppose, now listen,
turn yourself back to that old fellow coming out of the mountain.
Somebody told you. Somebody told me the gospel,
right? A preacher, a faithful man. Suppose you were a poor,
ragged, miserable stranger, a Gentile dog. Like I said, somebody told
you, hey, there's a way to God. And the Jews got it over there.
Little Brown Ten, I don't believe it though. They say it's a little
Brown Ten over in the wilderness. It's the only way you can worship
God in there. Aren't they a bunch of prejudiced,
dogmatic Jews? What do they think? They think
they've got the only way to God. But this man, somebody, that
spirit of the Lord arrested his attention. He thought, maybe
there's something to this. I've tried every other way and
I can't get to it. I'll try this. And you come down there. You're
poor, you're miserable, you're ragged. You make the journey
and you come to this tabernacle. And somehow, you know this is
the only way you're going to get in. The only way you're going
to be safe. And you come up close. Like I
said, and you can't get in. Couldn't get in here. Couldn't
get in over there. Couldn't get in here. And you
come around, and you want in. By God's mercy and grace, you
want in, and you see a gate! Oh, well, yeah. What you gonna
do? Huh? What you gonna do? What? Right? Come in! Right? You want to what? Call!
It don't mean nothing! Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. Gentile, dog, poor, ragged, miserable,
naked sinner. Sinner to the uttermost, he's
able to say. Call upon that. Knock! He said,
whoever knocks, be up. And Christ himself is the one
that answered. Christ himself is the one that
answered. Every one of God's people that
he saved called upon him. This is the means that he's ordained. I'll say that right in the face
of these people. He's faithless and so forth. Lord, save me or
I'll perish. Lord, if you will, you can make
me whole. Lord, open my understanding. If anybody in here don't understand
the gospel, you don't have to ask God to give you understanding.
God have mercy to me, discern it. What if that old publican
hadn't asked for mercy? He wouldn't have got it, would he? Now, we
know that God ordained him from the foundation of the world,
that he was going to receive mercy. Well, what was in that ordaining
will and purpose of God? That he come, go, come, go, and
ask for it. Come and hear the gospel and
see himself. See the Word of God. Hear the
Word of God. Prick his heart, and he calls
on God. And the Scripture says, Whosoever
shall call shall be saved. And like I said, Christ himself
answers the door he says. The high priest comes to that
door and he said. May I help you. Yes I want in. Come unto me. Oh you little laver. I'm a heavy lady. You want to
know God? I'm right on in. Come right on
in. Come on in, sonner, and behold
the glory and the beauty of his tabernacle. Isn't that what David
said? I'll be satisfied. One thing of our desire is the
Lord, and that's what I'm going to seek after, to dwell in the
courts, the tabernacle of the Lord, to inquire into his temple,
and to behold the beauty of the Lord. David said it. Whenever David was out somewhere,
he said, Oh, my soul has longed for that beautiful tabernacle.
That's what he said. See, the temple wasn't built.
Solomon built the temple. Wherever David was, his thought
went back to that tabernacle. Oh, I'd like to be in there right
now instead of fighting these battles. Isn't that what you
say out on the job and so forth? Ah, boy. Now, look at this. Look
back at Exodus 27 with me. Look at the materials, and I'll
hurry. I forget when I started, but I'll hurry. Exodus 27, verse
16. Look at the materials and the
colors of this gate. This is what we're going to dwell
on right now, the gate. Verse 16. And for the gate of
the courts, that eastern gate, shall be in hanging of twenty
cubits. It was thirty feet wide. Like I said once before, Christ
was how old when he started his earthly ministry? Thirty years
old. Thirty feet wide, and it was
a blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen. Now you couldn't
see all that on the outside. All you could see was white.
It was made out of white linen. White linen. Fine. See what he said there? Fine
twined linen. Joe Christ is fine, isn't he? Finally twined, curiously wrought,
gloriously made, in the expressed image of God himself. None like
him. Never been. No man spake like
this man. No man acted like this man. Finely
twined, right? Wasn't it? Finely made. White,
fine, white, and then the righteous one, the holy one of Israel.
That's what he was, white. You know what Solomon said? My
beloved, he's white. He's white. Blue. Look at this. It's made of blue,
purple, and scarlet. Blue. Blue is a color that prefigures
God. God. Deity. Christ is God himself. Deity. Purple. This is not what it looked like
necessarily, but there were finely embroidered and so forth all
over this, needlework all over this. And this is the works of
Christ, his works of divinity, his works of humanity, his works
of redemption, finely twined, wrought by him and him alone.
He personally is the one that did this needlework, him personally. Blue, that's deity, God. Christ was none other than God
in human flesh. Purple is royalty. Royalty. He's the king. He's the king
on the throne. Open these gates, the everlasting
doors, and the king of glory, the prince we read about, will
come in. Scarlet, that represents sacrifice,
blood, of course, blood. And that's Christ's perfect redemption,
the purchase of blood. And then there were, see, these
four pillars that the gate was attached to. That drawing I gave
you is wrong. The way it's drawn in there is
wrong. There's four pillars. There's ten on each. There's
sixty pillars all together. Anyway, there's four pillars
of brass. Four pillars of solid brass that
held up this gate. You want to guess what
those are? Those four pillars? What tells
the story of the coming one? Four Gospels. Pillars. The Word is that pillar of truth,
right? That holds up everything concerning
Christ. Oh, you're going to love this.
I shouted just about. We're not Pentecostal around
here, but just about. Daniel chapter 10. Look at this.
This thrilled me when I saw this. Look over at Daniel chapter 10.
Now some say, let me tell you this, some people say that the
four Gospels make up these four colors. Listen, this is good
too. Matthew, and if you'll do a careful study of the book of
Matthew, Matthew talks more about the king of Israel than anything.
That's the blue gospel. He talks about Christ as the
Messiah, the king, who rides in, the story of Christ riding
in on a pole of an ass is Matthew, as the king. Hail to the king!
Mark is the red gospel. It talks about the suffering
servant. He deals with the crucifixion of Christ and so forth. Luke
is the white gospel. He talks more about the perfect,
righteous, spotless Lamb of God, the man, his humanity, his spotless
perfection, humanity. John is, of course, the blue
gospel. He talks about the deity of Christ
more than the other three. Four pillars of brass. pillars
of brass, the gospel. But look at this, this could
be this too. Look at it. Phew, man. Daniel 10, look at
verse 5. I lifted up my eyes, and looked,
and behold, a certain man, clothed in linen, whose loins were girded
with fine gold, and his body was like that of a bell, and
his face as appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire,
and his arms and his feet like polished grass, and the voice of his word
like the voice of a multitude." His arms and his feet. You're
not going to get in. but by the nail-scarred hands
and feet of the crucified one." John said that over in Revelation,
that his feet were as fine brass that burned in the furnace. You're
not going to get in except by the four pillars. Christ picks
you up in his arms and takes you in by his legs. His strength
carries you. Oh, boy. Only through the crucified one. And look, once you come to this
gate, once you come to the gate, as
soon as you go through, what do you see? What's the first
thing you see? Everybody see that? What is that? The first thing you see when
you come to Christ is this crucified Savior, your substitute. Right? Rick, you're not going
to come to God unless you see you need a substitute, unless
you see you need a Savior, unless you see you need the blood. Right? You see the altar. The first
thing you see is Christ, your sacrifice and substitute, because
without the shedding of blood there's no one. Isaac said that,
didn't he? Isaac knows more than... Isaac,
when he was walking, a little boy, well, some say he was as
old as 20 years old or so, but anyway, a young man walking up
that mountain with his father Abraham, he knew this much. He knew more than most so-called
gospel preachers today, didn't he? He said, Father, he's starting
to, wait a minute. He said, Father, here's the fire.
He had fire. in a bucket of coal or on a stick
or whatever, I don't know. Now here's the fire. And I got
the wood here. Where's the lamb? You gotta have the lamb. The
door should go. You got to have blood, don't
you, Joe? Without sweating the blood, we know that from the
beginning, without sweating the blood, there's no remission of
sin. And ain't that what this generation of preachers are saying? They got
the fire, got the Holy Spirit, don't they? You got the Holy
Spirit, whoo! You know. And they got the spirit
of hurt, and they're preaching like it hurt. They got the spirit,
they say. They got a spirit, all right. It's another spirit. The Holy Spirit takes the things
of Christ and shows them to people. And they got the wood. They got
them a cross, right? And they got dead wood in the
pews. They got the fire and the wood, but where's the lamb? Who's
talking about Christ? They got the laws, the rules,
the regulations, the spirit and this and that. Where's Christ? You can't worship God without
Christ, can you? That's the reason Paul, the chief
apostle, and God used more than anybody else, said, I'm determined
to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Paul said, every time you hear me, I'm going to preach about
Christ. I'm going to tell you how to get over the fence. I'm
going to tell you that's right. You've got to get in the gate.
And you've got to see the blood. When he sees the blood, he'll
pass over. Right? Paul said, woe is unto me if
I preach not the gospel. Right? And woe is unto that high
priest who didn't go in there without blood, or with blood.
Right? And next week, by God's mercy,
you know what we're going to do? We're going to walk right
in there. and take hold on the horns of
that officer. There's some people who did that
in the Old Testament. And we went in and took hold
of those horns, the four horns on that officer. I grabbed the
horns and said, you're just about to kill me. You're just about
to kill me. Get me away from here.