Good evening. Let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 272. 272. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood
and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweet ?
But wholly lean on Jesus' name ? ? On Christ the solid rock
I stand ? ? All other ground is sinking sand ? ? All other
ground is sinking sand ? ? When darkness fills his lovely face
? I rest on his unchanging grace in every high and stormy gale
my anchor holds within the veil on Christ the solid Rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand. His oath is covenant, his blood
Support me in the whelming flood When all around my soul gives
way He then is all my hope and stay On Christ the solid rock
I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When he shall come with trumpet
sound, O may I then in him be found, Dressed in his righteousness
alone, Faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid
rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. Baselated, we'll sing hymn number
464. 464. On the second line in the first
verse, we'll write in, I obeyed the Spirit's calling when He
said, believe on me. 464, the second line of the first
verse, I obeyed the Spirit's calling when He said, believe
on me. When I saw the cleansing fountain
open wide for all my sin, I obeyed the Spirit's calling. When he said, believe on. I've got the wrong tune, don't
I? I will praise him. I will praise him. ? Praise the Lamb for sinners slain
? ? Give Him glory all ye people ? ? For His blood can wash away
each stain ? ? Though the way seems straight and narrow ? All
I claimed was swept away. My ambitions, plans, and wishes
at my feet in ashes lay. I will praise him. I will praise him. Praise the Lamb for sinners slain. Give Him glory, all ye people,
for His blood can wash away each stain. Then God's fire upon the
altar of my heart was set aflame. I shall never cease to praise
him. Glory, glory to his name. I will praise him. I will praise him. Praise the Lamb for sinners slain. Give Him glory, all ye people,
for His blood can wash away each stain. Blessed be the name of
Jesus. I'm so glad he took me in. He's forgiven my transgressions. He has cleansed my heart from
sin. I will praise him. I will praise
him. Praise the lamb for sinners slain. Give him glory all ye people. For His blood can wash away each
stain. Glory, glory to the Father. Glory, glory to the Son. Glory, glory to the Spirit. Glory to the three in one. I will praise him. I will praise him. Praise the Lamb for sinners slain. Give Him glory, all ye people,
for His blood can wash away each stain. Good evening, let's turn together
to the book of John, John chapter 6. I'd like us to read the words of our Lord and what
he says about himself. Beginning in verse 26, John 6
verse 26. Jesus answered them and said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me not because you saw
the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were
filled. Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that
meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall
give unto you. For him hath God the Father sealed. Then said they unto him, what
shall we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered
and said unto them, this is the work of God, that you believe
on him whom he hath sent. They said therefore unto him,
what signs showest thou then that we may see and believe thee?
What dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in
the desert. As it is written, he gave them
bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from
heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth
life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord
evermore, give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am
the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you that ye also
have seen me, and believe not. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which
he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on
him may have everlasting life. and I will raise him up at the
last day. The Jews then murmured at him
because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
And they said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father
and mother we know? How is it then that he saith,
I came down from heaven? Jesus therefore answered and
said unto them, murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to
me except the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I will
raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that
hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. Not that any man hath seen the
Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting
life. I am that bread of life. Your
fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This
is the bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat
thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Let's
pray. Our kind and gracious and merciful
Heavenly Father, we bow before you with such thankful hearts
and that the words we just read, It thrills our souls to consider
who Jesus Christ is. And he tells us plainly who he
is. He is that bread of life sent
down from heaven. And he that believeth on him
hath everlasting life. Oh, how that floods our souls
with joy. Help us to believe him fully,
wholly, wholeheartedly. And flood our souls with the
joy that comes in believing and trusting Christ. Lord, as our
pastor said this morning, we have none else to trust but you
and your word. We see nothing in us to trust. We see nothing in this world
to trust. And that's why we come together
at these times to open your word and look to your word, to hear
your word preached, the eternal true word of God that can be
trusted and believed. How we do thank you for this
time of worship, this time when we can gather as a body to to
hear your word preached. Help our pastor as he preaches,
and we thank you for him. Thank you for his labor in the
word. Speak through him, we pray, to our hearts. Our needs are
greater. We see more of our need as we
go through this life. We're more needy than we've ever
been. And we have no ability, we have no strength, and we find
our comfort and our peace and our assurance in your word and
your promises and who Christ is and what he's done. Thank you for him. Show us him
again tonight. May we see more of his beauty
and be more in love with him. He's worthy of our love. He's
worthy of glory. All glory and all honor belongs
to him. We ask Lord that you'd be with
those of our fellowship that can't gather. It would desire
to be here. But they're providentially hindered
and. There's those that come to mind
that are. Sick unto death. Only you can help Lord. We bring
him and lame at your feet. speak to their hearts, give them
grace. Go and visit our children that
don't know you, Lord, and intervene in their lives. Show them Christ,
their need of Christ. Give them a glimpse of his beauty
and his grace. And ask, Lord, in your time that
you'd save them. Go with us through this service,
come and meet with us, send thy spirit to allow us to preach,
allow our pastor to preach for the hearers to hear, or we meet in vain. We look to
you alone to supply our every need. Thank you for all thy grace
and mercy. Continue to help us, and leave
us not to ourselves. In Christ's dear name, amen.
Amen. Thank you, sir. Hymn number 233. Depths of mercy, can there be? Mercy still reserved for me? Can my God His wrath forbear? Me, the chief of sinners, spare? I have long withstood his grace,
long provoked him to his face, would not hearken to his calls,
grieved him by a thousand falls. Now incline me to repent. Let me now my sin lament. Now my foul revolt deplore. We believe and sin no more. There for me my Savior stands,
Holding forth his wounded hands. God is love, I know, I feel. Jesus keeps and loves me still. Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13. Starting verse 7 down through
verse 15. Remember them which have the
rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose
faith follow, considering the end of their turn without the
camp. Wherefore, Jesus also, that he
might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without
the gate. LET US GO FORTH THEREFORE UNTO
HIM WITHOUT THE CAMP BEARING HIS REPROACH. FOR HERE WE HAVE
NO CONTINUING CITY, BUT WE SEEK ONE TO COME. BY HIM THEREFORE
LET US OFFER THE SACRIFICE OF PRAISE TO GOD CONTINUALLY, THAT
IS, THE FRUIT OF OUR LIPS, GIVING THANKS TO HIS NAME. I GET MY SUBJECT THERE IN VERSE
10, WE HAVE AN ALTAR. We have an altar, Christ our
altar, Christ our altar. Everything that was under the
law, everything that was under the law, under Moses, was just
shadows and types of our Lord Jesus Christ, but He Himself
is the substance. It's like having a picture of
somebody and then having them both. And the Old Testament's
full of pictures. When Christ come, he was the
substance of the picture. You actually see him as he read
so ably tonight. You know, and he's the fulfillment
of all that was typical. So many types and pictures in
the Old Testament. I preached it last, Sunday before
last on Sunday night on Christ, our ark. How he was our ark. And here He called our altar,
the law, the tabernacle, the entire system of worship appointed
for Israel was just nothing but typical. The reality, the substance,
is found in our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, when you talk about
having a high priest, they had a great high priest. There was
a high priest that condemned Christ to be crucified. Well,
He's the great high priest. He is one. They were many, but
He's one. He's our great high priest. They
operate on this earth. He's passed into the heavens.
His body, think about His body. He is the greater and more perfect
tabernacle made without hands. That tabernacle that was in the
wilderness, everything about it was a picture of our Lord
Jesus Christ. And I tell you what, He's the
tabernacle come down among men. And His one sacrifice, His one
sacrifice, fully and forever accomplished, accomplished, which
all the offerings made under the law could never do, never
made one soul acceptable to God, never put away one sin, never
done anything to make them, but every one of them was pointing
to Him who had put away sin once and for all by the sacrifice
of Himself. Look over in Hebrews 10, let
me show you what I'm talking about. Look what it says in verse 11, And every priest standeth daily,
ministering, and oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never
take away sins. You know, every morning, every
morning the priest went up, got up, and they offered a lamb,
morning lamb, and every evening they offered another lamb. And
Todd told me last week how many millions of lambs that was offered
just in the morning and in the evening. That don't count the
lambs and the bullocks and the heifers that other people bought,
and the doves and the sparrows. So here he says, you know, they
stand daily offering the same sacrifice. Never ever can take
away sins. That's why works is so awful.
Nothing you can do can ever take away a sin. And look what he
said, but this man, He had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever. Oh my. Sat down on the right
hand of God. Why? Didn't have to make another
offering. Didn't need another. Well, you
got a perfect one, you don't need another offering. And watch
what he says now. For his forth expecting is till
his enemies be made his footstool. Now listen to this. For by one
offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Oh, the Lord Jesus' fulfillment,
not only of the sacrifices and the priesthood and the tabernacle,
but He's the fulfillment of all the VESSELS that was in the tabernacle. When you walked into the tabernacle
and you walked into that altar court, there was a brazen altar,
there was a laver, there was a golden altar of incense up
before the veil. there was a candlestick, there
was a table of showbread that they had to change every day,
there s a mercy seat over behind the veil, and there was an Ark
of Covenant, and then there was a veil that kept people from
seeing that mercy seat. Now, there s three things, and
I ve got some Jewish friends, and And they just celebrated
the Passover, and today they had some kind of special Sabbath. They called it Shabbat, Shabbat,
the Sabbath day. And I'm going to get an opportunity,
and soon, and I'm going to ask all of them, I'm going to ask
them, you know, what did it take in the Old Testament that God
required for a person to worship? Three things that God required. Three things were necessary.
First of all, you had to have a place. And God set up a place,
a tabernacle. A tabernacle. He told Moses,
He says, you make this after the pattern that I showed you.
You make it exactly like I showed you to make it. I want everything
just like I told you to make it. And then, not only then,
but you've got to have a priest. And that priest has to be the
one anointed of God, set apart by God, and blessed of God. And then you've got to sacrifice,
and only that priest could offer that sacrifice. So you've got
to have a place, God appointed, you've got to have a priest,
anointed of God, and you've got to have a sacrifice that God
requires. And our Lord Jesus Christ is
all of them. He's every single one of them.
Oh my, oh my. He's the tabernacle come among
men. He's our great high priest, and
He Himself is our sacrifice. And that Christ, and I've told
you that Christ is our altar, that the Lord Jesus Christ is
the fulfillment, is the fulfillment of the altar, and that He Himself
is the altar. You remember our Lord Jesus Christ,
He says, you know, when you bring an offering, a gift to the altar. Is your gift sanctify the altar? Does the altar sanctify the gift?
Well, naturally, it s the altar that sanctifies the gift. The
gift don t do anything to the altar. It s the ALTAR that makes
the gift acceptable. It s the OFFERING, the SACRIFICE
of the altar, excuse me, that makes the gift acceptable. And
that s what our Lord and He sanctified the people back here in Hebrews
chapter 13 where we re at. It says down there in verse 11
and 12, he said, for the bodies of those beasts that they offered
on the brazen altar, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary
by the high priest for sin, he brought that blood in, and then
after they done that, they took the body, what was left of it
that was not offered, and the skin and everything else, they
took it outside the camp and they burned it, burned it. Well,
our Lord Jesus Christ, they took Him outside of Jerusalem, outside
the camp, took Him outside of Jerusalem, and there, beloved,
He offered Himself a sacrifice, and by that blood, He sanctified
us, sanctified us, made us holy and acceptable to God. And then
He goes on to say, so by Him, if we offer anything to God,
if we make an offering to God, Everything that we give has to
be an offer, the sacrifice, and listen to this, praise. He said
praise is a sacrifice. Praise is a sacrifice. And he
goes on to say this, the sacrifice of praise to God continually.
And then he says the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his
name, praise and thanksgiving, praise and thanksgiving. God
said that's a sacrifice. And the only way He'll accept
it, even our praise and our thanksgiving, is by the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the only way He'll accept it. Only way He'll accept it.
And I tell you what, those who keep the law and keep the ceremonies
and Moses and the tabernacle, he said, here they have no right
to receive nothing from God. They have no right to eat of
the tabernacle, no right to eat of this altar. Now under the
Old Testament, the priest and the priest, they got their food
and their offering and the meat that they took home, they'd offer
some and then they'd take some home with them. And that would
be their meat, what was offered on the altar. they'd take it
home, some of it they would, and that was the way they lived.
But he says now that you know this altar right here, you can't
take of this, you can't do that, you can't do that. And he said,
Paul said this, If you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. YOU GO AHEAD AND TRY TO GO UNDER
THE LAW, GO UNDER MOSES, GO TO WORKS, GO TO RITUALS, GO ANYTHING
YOU WANT. HE SAID, CHRIST SHALL PROFIT
YOU NOTHING. NOW THAT'S SERIOUS BUSINESS.
CHRIST DON'T PROFIT YOU NOTHING. AND I TELL YOU WHAT, GOD'S PEOPLE,
LET ME TELL YOU THIS NOW, HERE'S MY FIRST POINT, THAT'S MY INTRODUCTION.
MY FIRST POINT, GOD'S PEOPLE HAVE ALWAYS HAD AN ALTAR. Every
altar that they had pictured our Lord Jesus Christ Now I want
to look at a few altars tonight and show you how every one of
them pictures our Lord look in Genesis first of all chapter
8 Look in Genesis chapter 8 And down in verse 20 God's people's always had an
altar Everywhere you find the LORD's people, they're going
to have an altar. They're going to have a place that they can
go. Now you remember Noah, when he got off the ark, sent that
dove, and the dove came back, and then he came back with just
a, and he had a place to land his feet, and look what it said
here in verse 20. As quick as Noah got off that
ark, he didn't build him a house, didn't want someplace to stay,
the first thing he did as he came forth out of the ark, and
Noah built an altar unto the Lord. That's the first thing
he did. Now watch this, and took of every
clean beast, every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on
the altar. So the first thing he did when he got off that,
hey, I gotta have an altar. I need to worship God. I've got
to have a sacrifice. Now look what happens now. Well,
look how God reacted to it. And the Lord smelled a sweet
savor. Christ is a sweet saver unto
God. And the Lord said in his heart,
oh, I smell that sacrifice. He said, I'm not a never gonna
curse the ground anymore for man's sake. And then he said
in verse 22, while the earth remains, seed time, harvest,
cold and heat, summer, winter, day and night. And then the beginning
of verse nine, he said, and God blessed Noah and his sons. But
the first thing he did, was He built Him an altar, and I tell
you, God s people always have an altar, and they ve got the
right sacrifice. You know, He offered, that s
why He had all them clean animals, and He had those clean animals,
and one of every clean animal, He offered it, He offered it.
Now, let me show you another one in Genesis 12, 7, Genesis
12, 7. Now, this is about Abraham, this
is about Now he had left there the Chaldees, and he had got
into Canaan now, and he had arrived into Canaan, and the LORD said
in verse 7, And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and you know what
he said? Unto thy seed will I give this
land. And what did Abraham do? And there builded he an altar
unto the LORD, who appeared unto him. I'm going to worship that
God who appeared unto me. He didn't have to appear. When
the God of glory Appeared under our father Abraham and what he
said when God appeared to him You know what the first thing
he did he offered build an altar He said I want to worship that
God that God who made me a promise that God who told me gonna give
me everything that I set my foot on that God who said I'm gonna
have a seed and that seeds gonna be my Savior my Redeemer my mediator
oh my God only appears to men, I'll tell you this much, God
only appears to men in Christ, and Cana is that promised land,
and all of God's promises are in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
I tell you what, there's only an altar, and we can only go
to it in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let me show you another,
and there's Noah got off the ark the first thing he did. Most
folks the first thing they'd say, Boy, I'm so glad to be off
that ark, I'm so glad that water's gone. And the first thing he'd
have done, he'd have went and took some of that ark and tore
it all to pieces and built him a house out of it. But that's
not what he wanted. I want to worship God. I want
to have a sacrifice and God accepted and God smelled that offering.
And he said, Oh, what a sweet smelling savor that is. And that
satisfies me. And Abram, when he had God appeared
unto him and when God appears to men in Christ, the first thing
you do, you don't need to never worship God till God appears
to you. And when God appears to you,
that's when you really start worshiping. Then look what happened
over here in Genesis 26. Genesis 26. In verse 25. Let's look at verse 24 first. And the Lord appeared unto him
the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father. Fear not, for I am with thee,
and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's
sake. Now watch what happens. And he
built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord. And
where he appeared to him, you know what he done? Pitched his
tent right there. He said, I will stay right here where God appeared
to me. He pitched his tent right there. And I tell you what, and
that's where he dug a well. And he built an altar there and
called upon the name of the Lord. And I'll tell you what, and I'll
tell you this was the altar, a place of prayer. He began to
call on the name of the Lord. And God only hears us. God only
hears our prayers. God only accept our prayers.
God only accepts our worship. God only accepts anything that
we do because of our altar, the Lord Jesus Christ. And when God
made us a promise in Christ, and Christ is our blessed promise. Let me show you another now over
here Genesis 32, excuse me, 33, Genesis 33. This is Jacob, this
is Jacob, and you know when he had Esau had 400 men coming to meet
him, and he started sending people out in front of him, you know,
to see what he was going to do and how he was going to react.
And I tell you, look what it said here in verse 20, chapter
33 and verse 20, And he erected there an altar, and listen to
what he called it, Elo, Elo, O Israel. You know what that
says? God is the God of Israel. He erected an altar, and do you
know who He erected to? God. God, the God of Israel. God, oh God, the God of Israel. This was after He was saved from
Esau for a hundred men. This shows how secure He was,
eternally so in Christ. And I tell you, He was secure
because God, He was one of God's elect. And I tell you, we're
secure in our Lord Jesus Christ and all the enemies that come
against us. He was so afraid of Esau and
what Esau would do to him, but he was as safe as if Esau never
existed. I tell you, when he erected that
altar, he said, oh, Esau, he never touched me because God
is my God. He erected an altar and said,
this is my God and I'm gonna worship this God. And I tell
you, we're eternally, eternally secure in the Lord. He was just
secure there from Esau. We're eternally secure in Christ. And Moses, Moses built an altar
after they had the battle with Bimelech. And you know what he
called his altar? The Lord Our Banner. The Lord
Our Banner. After his victory over the Malachites. And only through Christ, only
through our Lord Jesus Christ, our altar, do we overcome our
spiritual enemies. Now, let me tell you about Christ
being our altar. Israel had a material altar.
Their altar was a material altar, a physical altar, a place they
could go. Our altar is a spiritual altar,
a spiritual altar. And there were two two altars
in the tabernacle, two altars. There was the brazen altar, and
then there was the altar of incense, and our Lord Jesus Christ is
the fulfillment of them both, the fulfillment of them both.
Now, let s deal with the brazen altar first, talking about Christ
our You know, the brazen order had two uses, had two reasons,
had two purposes. First of all, it was to sanctify
that which was put upon it, sanctify it, make it acceptable to God
Almighty. And then when that sacrifice was put upon it, it
being brass, it was able to sustain and bear up that sacrifice and
not be destroyed because it consumed the sacrifice being made out
of brass. And I tell you what, He is our
altar, the Lord Jesus Christ. He sanctifies us, He sanctifies
us. And He is the altar. He's the
sacrifice on that altar. And it's by Him that whatever's
offered to God is made acceptable. And as God, He is able to sanctify
and sustain us Because, you know, He bore our sins, just like that
sacrifice on that brazen altar, that would have sins upon it,
it was offered for sin. And that fire consumed that sacrifice,
but because of the altar, and the altar made it acceptable.
And our Lord Jesus Christ, He bore our sins, He is able to
bear our sins. And as a man, as God, He is able
to bear our sins. As a man, He was able to be a
sacrifice for our sins. And as that brazen altar was
able to sustain that fire and burn up that sacrifice, our Lord
Jesus Christ, He sustained our sins. He sustained our guilt. He sustained our shame. as God's
holy fire of wrath fell upon His holy head. And I tell you
what, He sustained it all. And His men die and face their
judgment. Our Lord Jesus Christ faced the
judgment, then He died. And this is how He perfected
forever them that are sanctified. There's no other way. And let
me tell you something else about that brazen altar. That brazen
altar was only for Israel, nobody else. And this altar is for God's
people and nobody else. Huh? This altar, Christ's our
altar, He's our altar and nobody else's. He's God's elect's altar. We got to have some place to
worship. We got to have some place to offer the sacrifice
of praise. Got to have some place to come
into his holy presence. And he had, and then because
of that brazen serpent, because that brazen altar, he was able
to sustain, sustain it. Oh my. And let me tell you where
the place of that altar was. Oh, I'm so thankful he sustained
our sins. Oh, I don't know what you think
about sin, but I think it's an awful, awful, awful, awful, awful,
horrible thing. Oh, my. My sins would absolutely
destroy me if I didn't know Christ had sustained them for me. My
guilt would have caused me to go under long ago had Christ
not sustained my guilt. My shame over my sin. I'd been
embarrassed to show my face, but God in His holy wrath and
His fire of judgment fell on Christ, and He is able to stain
everything that God put on Him because of our sin. Huh? Oh my. And that's why He said,
I perfected forever them that are sanctified. And the place
of this altar, you know where it was? When you went into that
tabernacle, when you went into the tabernacle, the first thing
you saw when you looked in that tabernacle, those four posts
up there, and you went in there and through those curtains, you
walked in there and the first thing you saw was a brazen altar.
That's the first thing you saw. Then once you got in there, you
saw a laver. Then you saw a candlestick. And the first thing you notice,
thus, is that brazen altar, that tabernacle, that altar. And you went past these two before
you got to the holy place where that veil separated between the
holiest of holies. And at the very beginning, the
moment you walk in there, the moment you walk in that tabernacle,
at the very beginning you learn there's no approach to God apart
from a sacrifice. There's no approach from God
apart from a sacrifice. And there's no approach from
God apart from the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. You
said that he's that bread that came down from heaven. He said
that bread that I'll give for the life of the world. They died
when they ate that bread that God gave them in the wilderness.
But this bread, you eat it and you live forever. And I tell
you, at the first, when you walk in there, the first thing you
realize that you can't go any further until you have an altar
offering on that brazen altar. And we can't approach God. We
can't go any further unless we've got a sacrifice and we got an
altar to put it on. And I, Lord Jesus Christ, the
altar and the sacrifice boat and the cleansing blood of Christ.
And there in that outer court, STOOD THAT BRAZEN ALTAR, AND
LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING IT DID. YOU KNOW, YOU READ ABOUT
THESE PRIESTS WEARING THIS WHITE LINEN. THEY'D GET UP EVERY MORNING,
PUT ON THEIR WHITE LINEN, AND THEY'D GO OUT AND START OFFERING
SACRIFICES. AND DO YOU IMAGINE HOW BLOODY
THEY WAS? I MEAN, THEY WAS COVERED IN BLOOD. EVERYBODY WANTS TO THINK ABOUT
THEM GOING UP THERE PRISTINE AND ALL THAT. LISTEN, THEY WAS
WHEN THEY GOT THERE. But I tell you, after they offered
some sacrifices, there was blood on their arms, blood on their,
and that's why they had to have a labor, to worse it off. But
oh my, look what it says now. In that outer court, at that
brazen altar, it perpetually, perpetually was smoking and smelling
with sacrifice. And I'll tell you something,
beloved, we perpetually, Look at the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
that sweet smell and savor unto God. And I tell you what, he's
a sweet smell and savor unto me too. Ain't he, you? Oh, I
hear somebody preach the gospel. I say, oh, no, I smell so good. Oh, I love that gospel. And I
tell you, the way into the most holy place was by this brazen
altar. Our Lord Jesus Christ. says no
man, no man can come unto me except by the Father. And I tell
you what, we can't go where God dwells, we can't go behind that
holiest of holies unless we've got a sacrifice, unless we've
got an altar. And the only place we can learn
of God is at that altar by our Lord Jesus Christ teaching us,
teaching us. Let me tell you another thing
about this altar, this brazen altar. It was four square. Four square. There's some churches
up north, they used to call them four square. That meant that
they was supposed to really be something. But four square, that
means it was this way, four square. Four square, it was a perfect,
perfect square. You go, it's perfect. It was as tall this way, four
square in every way. Four square on every side, on
the top and on the bottom. You know what that tells us?
That it's perfect all around. Measurement was just exactly
right. And everything about our Lord
ordered. It s perfect. Oh my, I said, Make that order
four square. Well, it s perfect. Oh, everything
s even. The measurement s just everything
about our Lord Jesus Christ is ordered. ARRANGED BY INFINITE
WISDOM, NO IMPERFECTIONS IN HIM, NO IMBALANCES IN HIM, THERE'S
NO EXCESS IN HIM, BUT THERE'S NO LACK IN HIM, AND I'LL TELL
YOU THAT BRAZEN ALTAR MEANT STABILITY, IT MEANT ENDURANCE, THERE'S A
BALANCE IN HIM THAT NO ONE ELSE IN THIS UNIVERSE HAS EVER HAD
LIKE HE DOES, AND THAT'S WHY HE SAID JESUS CHRIST THE SAVIOR,
yesterday, the same today, and he'll be the same tomorrow. Huh? Oh, I don't know how long, how
long I've been preaching, but, and then let me tell you the
material, this, this, this, this brazen, this altar is made out,
talking about Christ, our altar, the material, material of that
brazen altar. First of all, it was made out
of sheet of wood and sheet of wood would not rot, would not
rot. And that is emblematic of our
Lord Jesus Christ's sinless humanity. He is holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate for sinners, sinless in his humanity. And then it
was that wood that would not rot, they covered it with brass. They took brass and molded it
and covered all that wood, that wood that would not rot, covered
it with brass. Brass. Oh my. And that material, that material,
this kept the wood from being consumed by the fire. Huh? And that wood, that fire, it
endured day in and day out, the fire did on that altar. And our
Lord Jesus Christ in His humanity was sinless. And in His Godhead,
beloved, He endured the fire and fire and fire day in and
day out. And our Lord endured the cross,
He endured the shame, He endured sin, He endured God's forsaken
Him, He endured God's wrath, He endured the curse of the law. Death, death, death. And then there's this altar.
The second altar is the altar of incense. Now this altar of
incense, it was made out of gold. It sat on a little stand, and
they would go in there every morning, and they had a special
thing that they put on that. They had the apothecary, had
certain spices that they put together, and they would take
that, and they kept a little fire on there, and they would
sprinkle that on there, and smoke would ascend up. Right before
that veil, right before you get into that holiest of holies,
that fragrance went up. And it made that tabernacle smell
good. It was a sweet smelling savor
to God. And it was made like the brazen
altar. It was made out of wood and covered
in gold. And you know what that spoke
of? After the offering, Christ makes the intercession for us.
Now, you know what makes our prayers acceptable? He does.
You know, it's said over in Revelations, when I went through Revelations,
he says, you know, he said, what's all this smoke coming up out
of that altar? That's the prayers of the saints coming up before
God. He said he put our tears in a
bottle, and he said, what's all this coming up out? He said,
that's the prayer, that's the sacrifice, that's the prayers
of the saints. And our Lord Jesus Christ, bless
his holy name, right now, right now, right now, he makes intercession
for us continually and constantly. I mean, they kept that thing
going 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And our Lord Jesus Christ,
his ascending prayers go up seven days a week, 365 days a year,
it has been. And always will be. And you know
when they'll stop? When we get there. And I'm certainly grateful. I'll
be glad when he don't, you know, I get to go there. But I'm sure thankful that he's,
let me ask you some questions. Let me ask you some questions. Do you have this spiritual altar?
Do you have this spiritual altar, Christ our altar? You reckon a person thinks they
can approach God by any means or any way but Christ? Do you think that there's any
place, any building, any pulpit that's holy? This place ain't
holy. Where I'm standing is not holy.
This building's not holy, only he's holy. And you know how we're made holy?
In him, by him. You know, listen, there ain't
no altar here. There's not an altar in here
that you can see, but there's an altar you can go to all the
time. You get ready to go to the altar,
hey, I'm going to the altar. I'm going to Him. I'm going to
Him. I'm going to go to Christ, my
altar. I had the paper the other day up here. I heard a guy on
the radio talking about it. He said, Boy, we're an old-fashioned,
Bible-even, fundamental church. We only use the King James Version. And he said, And I tell you what,
we have united prayer when we all get together. That means
they all come down to the front and they all pray. I am so thankful that I found
out that you don't go here to pray. We got an altar in heaven. Jesus Christ is righteous. Huh? Ain't we thankful you learned
that? Oh my. You don't think it isn't. Do
you think certain postures, having them any kind of holiness or
humility that make you more acceptable? Every time you see somebody pray
on TV or see somebody pray in some place, the first thing they
do is put their hands together. They put their hands together
like this. What in the world does that do? What can that do? And then you got other fellas
that get on their knees and go down like this and go down like
this. You can, right where you're sitting,
you go to God in prayer, right where you're sitting. You go
to God to give thanksgiving, right where you're sitting. You
go to God and give you praise, right where you're sitting. Now
ain't that something? That's something. And you know
what? All of us can go at the same
time, and every one of us be like we're the only one there. Oh, my. If we ever get away from
the spiritual and go to the physical or material in any way or any
degree, we've left Christ altogether, robbed God of His glory. And
I'll tell you what, we dare not offer to God anything without
an altar. And we dare not come to God without
Christ, and He's our altar. Oh, we ain't gonna bring our
duties, we ain't gonna bring our work, we ain't gonna bring
our morality, not gonna bring our good character. And I tell
you what, I'm gonna bring me, my old sorry
self, I'm gonna bring me, bring my old sorry self, go to that
altar and say, Lord, it's me, it's me. And I ain't got nothing
to offer but thanksgiving, and I am so thankful, oh, so thankful. I ain't got nothing to offer
to you but thanks. There's so much to be thankful
for. So much, so much, so much. And all I've got to offer, Lord,
is not only thanks, But I'd like to praise you. I'd like to glorify
you. I'd like to offer you. I'd like to say, Lord, there's
no one like you. I'd like to tell you, oh God,
you've got all the glory and you're worthy of all of it. You've
got all the power and you're worthy of all of it. And Lord,
I got nothing to bring but thanksgiving and praise. Would you please
accept it for Christ's sake? It's all of God. It's all of
God. That's what I want to bring. Oh, our blessed Savior. Oh, our
master, our Lord Jesus. Oh, I'm so thankful we have an
altar to come to this evening. Altar not made with hands. Eternal in the heavens. An altar that's already bore
our sins away. An altar that's already been offered, been accepted,
just passed into the heavens. God bless us. Lord, meet the
needs of our hearts, needs of our home, needs of our family,
needs of our lost loved ones. Oh, God. And please be merciful
and gracious, kind and tender, and pitiful towards them that
are not with us because they're not able. We bless your holy
name in Christ for his sake. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Lord, for saving my
soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to
me thy great salvation. So rich and free. See you Wednesday, God willing,
Lord bless you. See you, Stanley.