Well, good morning once again,
and it is a pleasure to be with you this morning. We've looked
forward to this for some time. Nancy and I had a wonderful time
on our vacation, on our trip. We spent a lot of time eating
alone. We found tables that would sit
two, and we just enjoyed that. And then we did other things
in the meals too, but I asked you to Thank the Lord for those who
filled in for me. Those who filled the gap in my
absence. And things got changed around
just a little bit, but people filled in and we're just thankful
for that. And I'd ask you to remember our
daughter Jennifer and her two sons down there in Florida, if
you would. Turn with me, if you would, to the Book of Numbers
this morning. The Book of Numbers. I have in
my pocket something that is pretty valuable to me. It's a Leopold,
old Leopold compass. And it has four cardinal directions
on it. North, east, south, and west. I'd like to deal in our message
this morning with the four cardinal directions. north, east, south,
and west. And it may not be in that exact
order, but here in the book of Numbers chapter 2, we have the
Lord sharing with Moses, to share with the children of Israel,
an orderly, an orderly setup of the camp of Israel. It was to be an orderly set up
and there were specific places for everyone. Now, if you would
excuse me for just one second, I have a handout. I don't often use a handout in
my message, but I thought this morning it would be a practical
thing to show an artist's conception of the division of the children
of Israel there in the wilderness as God depicted it from the scriptures,
as God shared it from the scriptures. In this picture, you'll notice
the 12 tribes of Israel are scattered in appointed places, and in the
center are the Levites and Moses, and in the very center of that
is the tabernacle. There are four different verses
found in this second chapter of Numbers. If you turn there
with me, Numbers chapter 2, and I want to read just four verses
of scripture. You can fill in the rest, but
if you notice in the picture that I've shared with you, this
artist conception, there are going to be three tribes in each
of the cardinal directions. Three tribes. of each of the
cardinal directions and it shares with us here in the book of Numbers
chapter 2 verse 3. Numbers chapter 2 and verse 3
it says, and on the east side toward the rising of the sun
shall they of the standard of the camp of Judah pitch throughout
their armies and Nashan the son of Adamadab shall be captain
of the children of Judah. And if you drop down through
there you'll also find that there was Issachar and Zebulon that
was to be in the same direction as Judah was. If you'll turn
with me to verse 10 of this second chapter you'll notice in this
verse of scripture on the south side shall be the standard of
the captain. Camp of Reuben, and if you'll
notice also on that illustration that there was Simeon and Gad,
that's what the scriptures have to declare about that. Then in
verse 18 of the second chapter of the Book of Numbers, on the
west side shall be the standard of the camp of Ephraim, and along
with Ephraim was Manasseh and Benjamin. in verse 25 of that
book of chapter 2 of the book of numbers it says the standard
of the camp of dan shall be on the north side by their armies
and if you follow that through you'll find that asher and naphtali
was also with dan on the south side so all the cardinal directions
are taken care of by God as he illustrated and instituted how
the children of Israel would be situated around. Now, this
is going to save a lot of time. Can you imagine what it would
have been like if God said, okay, straighten up things and you
just move. Some of you move over here and some of you move over
here and some of you move over here and some of you move over
there. Henry Ford at that time did a great favor to everybody.
He only created black cars. That's a favor to us because
we don't have the necessity of choice. Choices make us, have
you ever gone to a restaurant and there's nine pages to the
menu? You just never get through it
all. That's what Nancy and I found out a number of times on our
trip. You just couldn't sample it all because there's too many
choices. Well, God, by the strict detailed instructions, it took
all the confusion out of setting up the camp. He said, these tribes
will be here, these tribes will be here, these tribes will be
here, and these tribes will be here. That's the way God instructed
them. Nancy and I would have loved
to have this kind of instruction when we had that emergency landing
and they told us we're going to have to go get new tickets
and then didn't tell us where to go, who to see, how to get
there, or anything else. They left it to us. Well, there
was a lot of confusion about that. And by the time we got
up to the front to get our tickets, nothing was left to get out on
that day. We had to wait another day. I
would have given anything to have someone on that plane say,
we've got it taken care of. We've already made the call.
They're working on your tickets right now, but that didn't happen. Can you imagine the confusion?
Now, we find in the scripture that God is not the God of confusion. He is not the God that illustrates
confusion in anything, and particularly in the gospel. The gospel is
not a gospel of confusion. It is straightforward. Christ
is the issue. You have Christ, you have it
all. If you don't have Christ, you don't have anything. There
cannot be anything more simple than that. We stepped into cathedral
after cathedral, after cathedral, after cathedral, after cathedral. There was all kinds of trips
for us to go see these cathedrals. I admired greatly the architecture,
and the ability of people to get up 300 feet and lay stones. I could never get up that high
and do that kind of work. I admired it. But when they tell
me that in those cathedrals the message was preached that you
have to be in this group or you don't have any hope, but when
it comes tie to die, you don't have any hope either unless you
pay enough money to help us get out of your place. And then we
don't know whether we can make it or not. The security in that
is So the gospel is so much greater than all the religions of the
world. This camp that was here, we also
see the strict details and instructions that God is a God of order and
that God has all the directions of the compass covered. Nothing
is out of his sight. He has everything under his control,
whatever it looks like. Now, when it came time to set
up all of these camps, it may have looked like mayhem, it may
have looked like confusion, but it was an orderly setup because
everybody in that camp knew exactly where they were going to go.
These three tribes are going to be over here. These three
tribes are going to be over there. These three tribes are going
to be down there, and these three tribes are going to be over there.
Go set up the camp. Now, there was no discussion
where the tabernacle would be, and there was no discussion about
where the Levites would be. They would be in the center of
that camp. When the Lord commanded a tabernacle
to be built, he also shares with us the four cardinal directions. Turn with me if you would to
the book of Exodus for just a moment, Exodus chapter 26. Now, the tabernacle
was built upon a pattern given to Moses in the mount. Now Moses
didn't see a pattern in the mount of a physical building. When
God showed him the pattern in the mount, he was sharing with
him the Lord Jesus Christ in all of the capacities that he
would fulfill while he was on the earth. And here is a picture
of it. The tabernacle, the coverings,
the sacrifices, the altars, the candlestick, and the mercy seat
were all pictures and types and shadows of the Lord Jesus Christ. But when it was built out there
in the wilderness and placed in the center of these 12 tribes,
the Lord was sharing with us that even in that, he is a God
of order. In the book of Exodus chapter
26, and there in verse 18, it says, Let me get to the right
chapter, chapter 26 and verse 18. It says, thou shalt make
the boards of the tabernacle 20 boards on the south side southward. All right, we got the south located
and there's gonna be 20 boards in there and we can find exactly
the size of those boards as it's declared here in the scripture.
Now, we may not be able to replicate that and that's a good thing.
If we were able to replicate it, you know what people would
do? They'd worship the boards instead of Christ. They'd worship
the tabernacle instead of Christ. It has been proven time and time
again. Nancy and I went into a cathedral
there, and here in the middle of a very important place is
a probably a $10 million gold and jeweled cross, and it had
a little hinge on it. Guess what was inside of there
according to them? A sliver of the cross. What difference
does that make? It's the person of the cross
that makes a difference. It is the Christ of the cross
that makes the difference. It's not having some relic, it
is to have Christ. So here we find in this passage
of scripture in the book of Exodus in chapter 26 and verse 20 that
covers the other side. The second side of the tabernacle
on the north shall be of 20 boards. Here's the side. Here's how big
it's going to be. And then if you look with me
in chapter 26 and verse 20, excuse me, in this. There's going to be six boards
on the on the west side. On the east side was the entrance
and it had no boards but curtains. A place of entrance was going
to be on the east side. Now that's going to be important
because many other scriptures point to things about the east
side and we'll not have time to cover them all this morning.
But we find out that there was no entrance on the west side.
There was no entrance on the north side. There was no entrance
on the south side. there was only one way to enter
into this place. Now, I can't help but think that
the Lord had a little bit of this in mind when he shares with
us over in the book of John Chapter 1, that unless you go through
the door, everyone else that tries to go in another way. Have
you ever seen pictures at a circus tent where little boys and girls
are trying to crawl in there and look at inside to see what's
going on without paying the price? You know, we think that's kind
of funny. Well, here, these boards are so situated that nobody's
going to look under, nobody's going to look through, and nobody's
going to look over. They are hidden because God wants
us to know that there is only one way to approach the mercy
seat, and that is through the door, and the door is on the
east side. So we have Judah there looking
towards the door, and we have Moses and the Levites there looking
towards the door, and in fact, the entire nation of Israel has
one entrance into that tabernacle, and that is through the door
on the east side, and they cannot go in by themselves. It tells us in scripture that
if anybody tries to approach it that are not supposed to,
they are to be slain on the spot. There is no room for this. There
is no way for this. So we have the entrance here.
Jesus says, he that climbeth up some other way, the same as
a thief and a robber. And we, I don't know, but nature
tells me that there are probably other people that says, you know,
That's probably just not quite right. We should have it another
way. We have Korah demonstrating that, we have Miriam demonstrating
that, we have other people demonstrating that, that God doesn't have the
right to make this kind of choice. Well, the camp of Israel was
always set up the same, each tribe in their place with the
tabernacle in the center. This camp was Christ-centric. If it was a wheel, he is the
hub in the middle in this camp. All that is declared there about
that tabernacle shares with us that Christ is the center of
the church. He is the center of all the children
of Israel. He was the center physically
there in that day and for the church since the time of beginning. The Christ has been the center. He has been the middle. He has
been the important. He has the preeminence. in every
direction. There is nowhere else for those
in the south, the west, the east, or the north to look but towards
the center where the tabernacle was. The camp was Christocentric. The center of the church is Christ.
He is the true high priest. He is the true lamb. He is the
true tabernacle. He's the true altar. He's the
true sacrifice. He is the truth personified. Our Lord Jesus Christ did nothing
in the atonement by picture. Think about this. All of those
pictures in the Old Testament, they're pictures of Christ. But
Jesus Christ never did anything in the atonement for a picture's
sake. He is the reality of it all. He is not the acting a part. He is Him in the atonement. He is the hymn of the word. He
is the hymn of time. He is the hymn of the sinner.
He is the H-I-M. Turn with me if you would for
just a moment over to the book of Hebrews because it is brought
out here so clearly in the book of Hebrews chapter 9. verse 23,
Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 23, a short reading here that summates
what the tabernacle was all about, summates what the law was all
about, summates the Old Testament, what it was all about, and all
the types, the shadows in the pictures, even the cardinal directions,
north, east, south, and west. Here in the book of Hebrews chapter
9 verse 23, We have the Holy Spirit giving a writer, an apostle,
these words to write for us to enjoy today. I'm so thankful
that we can carry the word in our hands. We walked by a place
at Wycliffe, Gutenberg. People who were used of God,
whether they knew anything or not, they were used of God to
develop the means that more people could have the Bible. Gutenberg
developed a printing press, and the printing press changed the
way that people could have the Bible. It could be printed, and
it could be much cheaper. We're so thankful, I can go down
to places today, and they'll give me a Bible. I'm thankful that in this Bible,
we can find out what things are about, and it's about Jesus Christ
the righteous. Hebrews chapter nine, verse 23,
Let's read here for just a moment, verse 23. It is therefore necessary
that the patterns of things in heaven should be purified with
these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices
than these. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands. Now here's a picture of him going
in was. We have a high priest going in
with blood once a year. We'll talk about that in just
a moment. Which are the figures of the true, but in heaven itself,
who to appear in the presence of God for us. When that high
priest went into the Holy of Holies with blood, he was appearing
on the behalf of people. People, general people, you and
I could not go in there. There was only one person that
could enter in, and everyone else was left out from entering
in. We needed a representative. Those
people needed a representative. Those people on the north needed
a representative. Those people on the south needed
a representative. Those people on the east, they
needed a representative, and those people on the west, they
needed a representative, and God provided that representative
in the high priest. and everyone every place that
the people are scattered that belong to almighty God they are
scattered there on purpose but they need a representative and
the representative is the Lord Jesus Christ he has purpose to
represent them before the throne room of God and by his own blood
offered before the father goes on to tell us here Verse 25,
nor yet that he should offer himself often as the high priest
entered into the holy place every year with blood of others. It
is recorded in the scriptures that Aaron did this at least
39 times. Whether he did it that 40th year,
I don't know, but he did it year after year after year, and he
is the only one that did it year after year after year until he
was taken up on a mount, his life was taken from him by Almighty
God, and his son was given the right and privilege of doing
that. That was the way it had to be because those people could
not endure forever. They were human beings like you
and I are. But our heavenly high priest endureth forever, as it
says here, endureth into the holy place every year with the
blood of others. For then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world. But now once, in the end of the
world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. what Aaron could not do in 40
trips, what his son could not do in another 40 trips, and what
his grandson could not do in another 40 trips was taken care
of by the Lord Jesus Christ in one time as he entered into heaven
with his own blood, and he purchased his church, and sanctified his
church, and made his church presentable before the Father. by the sacrifice
of himself, and as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after
that the judgment. So Christ has once offered to
bear the sins of many and took them, and unto them that look
for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. As we look at the order of the
camp, it is truly instructs us that the gospel will be preached
in all the directions of the globe. Here we have, I don't
think, maybe they did. Maybe those out, well, maybe
Gad said, why are we out here? We should have been in there
where Reuben is. I don't know whether that happened or not.
But I know this, that the gospel will be preached in every cardinal
direction of the compass. If there are lost sheep there,
I know this too, that one of the great preachers of the Bible,
Paul the Apostle, was hindered from going in one direction.
He was so drawn to go into that direction, but it tells us the
Holy Spirit hindered him, and then he decided he'd go in another
direction, and the Holy Spirit hindered him, and then he got
a dream. God appeared to him in a dream,
and there was a man from Macedonia. He says, come over here. Come to Europe." And that's where
Paul went. He took the gospel, and everyone
here is a direct descendant of that preaching the gospel. We
are the recipients of that great thing. Now, it doesn't mean that
the gospel didn't go down in the South by an Ethiopian eunuch. It doesn't mean that those three
wise men did not return. They knew something. I shouldn't
even say three wise men. I was up to hear about three
wise men because the Bible doesn't tell us how many there are. But
those wise men from the East, the only way we can really understand
it is, Daniel preached the gospel and somebody in the East heard
him preach the gospel and they went and saw the Christ child
just after his birth and returned another way and went back to
the East. So we know the gospel was in the East. We know it was
taken to the North, it was taken to the West, it's been taken
all over the world. The gospel of God's good grace
has been preached the globe over, and the gospel always points
in one direction. Just as those tribes were assembled
around the tabernacle, every one of them looked to the center
of things, just like the gospel always points people to Christ. I love what John did in John
Chapter 1, when he had two disciples and he, by the grace of God,
knew who this man was. Now, he in the flesh, he was
his cousin. But in the spirit, he's his savior. John with his
two disciples says, ''Behold, the Lamb of God.'' What happened
to those disciples? They went and joined themselves
to Jesus. The gospel is the true tabernacle
preached, and it is him, Jesus Christ. Nothing preached in the
gospel would substitute for a look to the center. Religion would
have us look in many directions. Most of the time, it's into our
belly button. But the gospel never asked us
to look anywhere but to the center of the camp where the Lord Jesus
Christ is. He crossed the distance of the
holy place as the high priest entered in the east side through
the door of the east side into the tabernacle and he's heading
west. We just see the darkness of things
when Jesus went to the cross. because this high priest entering
the East and traveling to the West is going to where the darkness
is. This is where sin is. This is
where sin must be taken care of. It must be taken care of
by the Lord Jesus Christ in such a capacity that it would be taken
care of in time and forever. But this high priest entered
into the East. He went into a curtain. All the rest of the tribes are
gathered around northeast, south, and west. I think I mentioned
that one person felt like there's probably 15 square miles of people
here just to have the capacity to fill up for these tribes.
Doesn't matter how big it is. There's a big controversy right
now whether the world is flat or not. I'm not going to go there.
The issue is not whether it's flat, triangular, hexagonal,
or anything. The issue is Christ is the answer. Christ is the gospel. That's
the thing. It was through the curtains on
the east side of the tabernacle that the high priest entered
into the holy place on his way to the mercy seat once a year. He crossed the distance of the
holy place, not without blood, of an innocent towards the veil
of the holy of holies. He carried the blood through
the veil and it entered into the holy of holies. Now, there
was no candlesticks in there as there was in the holy place.
There was light in there and that was the Shekinah glory of
God. Traveling from east to west, he carried the blood to the mercy
seat on the day of the atonement. With a successful trip taken,
he carried the empty vessel east through the veil, through the
curtains, out into public view once again. Now turn with me,
if you would, to the book of Malachi. The book of Malachi
chapter 4. Malachi chapter 4. As this high priest came out,
What is the description that is shared with us about where
Judah would be set up is the east towards the rising of the
sun. The camp would be east towards
the rising of the sun. In the book of Malachi, Malachi
chapter 4, Malachi chapter 4 and there in
verse 2. As that priest, high priest,
came out from the curtains, he went through the veil. The blood's
been applied on the mercy seat. He comes out with an empty vessel.
All the blood has been applied. In picture, he's taking care
of all those guys that are on the outside. Now we know, just
like us, there was some real ragamuffins in there. Sinners,
sinners. He came out, he parted the veil,
he parted the curtains that were on the east side and stepped
out. What was he looking at? I have some pictures of sunrise
over Prague yesterday. Nancy could see the clouds glistening,
starting to get bright as we're there in the airport. So I said,
I'm going to take some pictures of the last day in Prague, the
sunrise. What was this high priest looking
at when he came out of that holy of holies, into the holy place,
and stepped out among the people? Tells us right here. But unto
you that fear my name shall the son of righteousness arise with
healing in his wings. And ye shall go forth and grow
up as calves of the stall." Going to be well-fed, in other words.
Going to have all the requirements, in other words. So, the fear,
they that fear my name shall the son of righteousness. Who
is this? Now, I may not have been facing
east or north or west or south. I don't know what direction it
was. Because you know the mystery of the new birth? God just works
a work of grace and you don't care where you are, what direction
you are. You don't have to be towards
some direction. It's just God working a work of grace. But
that work of grace will take everyone in every direction and
point them to one person. To the center. To Christ. He is in the center. He is always
in the center. It doesn't matter what religion
says about Him. He's always in the center of
His church. Healing in his wings. Notice
with me a passage in the book of Luke again, would you? Luke
chapter 13. Luke chapter 13, as we think
about the cardinal directions, all those directions, God has
had his gospel preached wherever there have been lost sheep. And
we notice here in the book of Luke chapter 13, These cardinal
directions are mentioned here, just as they are with all those
12 tribes. Three here, three here, three
here, three here. Just as we look at the tabernacle,
we got these boards on this side, these boards on this side, these
boards on the end, curtains on the other end. Holy place, holy
of holies. Priest brings in that blood once
a year, sprinkles it on the mercy seat. The blood of an innocent
comes out and looks in the direction of the sun, just like he brings
us out and lets us look at the sun of righteousness. He that
hath eyes, look. He that hath ears, hear. The
son of righteousness. And here in the book of Luke
chapter 13, and there in verse 22, the scriptures tell us this.
And he went through the cities and villages teaching and journeying
towards Jerusalem. That's where he's going. That's
where he's going to end up is in Jerusalem. And then said one
unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved You know, I didn't
ever notice that verse of scripture till I was reading for this message.
Are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, strive
to enter at the straight gate. For many, I say unto you, we
seek to enter in and shall not be able when once the master
of the house has risen up and has shut the door, and ye begin
to stand without and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord,
open unto us. And he shall answer and say unto
you, I know you not which yard. And they shall begin to say,
we have eaten and drunk in thy presence. Thou has taught us
in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you,
I know you not whence ye are. Depart from me, all ye workers
of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the
prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves thrust out. And they shall come. from the
east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the
south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. It tells
us in the end, Matthew chapter 24, just back up one book there
if you would, Matthew chapter 24, as we think about that setting
up of that camp, the Lord is dealing with the cardinal directions,
and here in the book of Matthew chapter 24 and verse 37, but
as the days Verse 31, excuse me. And he shall
send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they
shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one
end of heaven to the other. All of his people will be gathered
together and placed in their place, and the center will always
be Christ. There is one passage that certainly
shares with me one of the blessings of one of two of the cardinal
directions. So if you would, turn with me
to the book of Psalms. The book of the Psalms. This
passage has the most glorious statement about the cardinal
directions. It tells us something about our
sin. Now God only saves sinners. Christ
only saves sinners. God only loved people in Christ
Jesus who are sinners. We heard this morning about names
written down in the Lamb's Book of Life. You know, a lot of people
would like to think that God so loved people that it wasn't
really necessary for him to send his son. And when his son came,
he made it possible for a bunch of people to be saved. But he
didn't save them. Well, God Loving his people and
having his people's names written down in the Lamb's Book of Life
required his son to come. There was no way in all of creation,
all of time, all of eternity that they could come into the
kingdom of heaven without their sins being taken care of. They
were not able to approach God. There's only one way to be able
to approach God, and that is through the blood of a sacrifice,
the blood of Christ. We cannot approach God without
Christ. Here in the book of Psalm 103,
we have these glorious words written about God's people. that
God has taken care of the problem. The picture of it was taken care
of by Aaron as he came out with an empty bowl of blood, an empty
vessel of blood. He used all that blood to sprinkle
it on the mercy seat. That was in picture. But Christ
presented His blood before the Father. You know what He actually
presented before Him? His life. He gave His life a
ransom. He gave His life a ransom for
many. He gave His life. He gave His
life and soul a ransom for many. depicted by blood, you lose all
your blood, you're dead. What he wants us to know is that
Jesus Christ was required to lay down his life, to give his
life a ransom. Well, what does that procure
for us? Is it a possibility of being saved? Is it only the possibility
of a created word by religion? We're going to go to purgatory
or someplace just like it, and we're going to have to wait to
find out whether we're actually been saved or not? That's not
any hope whatsoever, but the gospel gives his people all the
hope. Here in the book of Psalms 103
and verse 11, the scriptures share with us, for as the heaven
is high above the earth, so great is his mercy towards them that
fear him. Now notice this verse, as far
as the east, as far as the east, is from the west. As far as the east is from the
west. So far. Now that's a great distance. It's an immeasurable distance.
We're so thankful he said these words. Now, this is just one
place out of hundreds of places that tells us about the successfulness
of God in Christ Jesus on the cross, to put away sin, to make
us acceptable before him. So far as the East is from the
West, so far have he removed our transgressions from us. I cannot comprehend that yet. Someday I will be able to comprehend
it in its totality. But today, it's just wonderful
to be able to have the knowledge that Jesus Christ has taken care
of our sins, of our iniquities, of all our transgressions, and
they're so far apart from us and God. as far as the east is from the
west. Four cardinal directions. Judah,
get over there on the east. And these other tribes are going
to be out from you. Next tribe, you're over there
on the north. Next tribe, you're over there on the south. Next
tribe, you're over there on the east. And I'll make this very
plain, he shares with us, I'll make sure that every one of you
hear the gospel. The gospel will go out, and I
will gather all mine from the four winds. And those in the
north and the east and the south and the west shall sit down in
my kingdom with me. And I will do that only by taking
your iniquities as far as the east is from the west. And so
he allows all his people to see the sun of righteousness rising. As far as the east is from the
west, so far hath he removed. He doesn't have to do it yearly.
One of those One of those places we visited, there were places
all along the walls on both sides that you can have special services
if you have the money to help you get out of a place. How sad. The world is filled
with that religion. I grew up in the same kind of
religion. I am so thankful that God would be pleased to send
the gospel by a preacher who knew something to preach the
gospel and God would use it to save a wretched sinner by His
grace. And now we have the privilege
of looking to Him who loved us and gave Himself for us, the
Son of Righteousness rising with healing in His wings. with a mic.