Look here in verse 18. The pens of the tabernacle, and
the pens of the court, and their cords. You remember last week
I used this in another verse of scripture. But you notice
it says, the pens of the court and their cords. The pens and
their cords, they're inseparable. They're inseparable. And when
we talked about the pens last week, the brass pens, we talked
about being a nail. And our Lord Jesus Christ, the
nail in the sure place, one who was tested, tested by Satan,
tested by man, tested by the priest, tested by us, tested
at the cross. But when we see the pins and
their cords, that tells us that you can't have one without the
other. And those pins represented the
blessed person of our Lord Jesus Christ, and showing us our Lord
Jesus. But the pins in and of themselves
are useless without the cords. It's the cords that ties the
tabernacle down, the pins and the cords together. And this,
when we talk about the pins and the cords, we're talking about
the person of our Lord Jesus Christ and the work of our Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what we're talking about.
That's why I hope I can bring that out of this, this evening. You know, they took those cords,
linen cords, and they used them to establish the boards, establish
the outer cord, establish the tent. And they had these nails,
pins that were driven into the ground and those cords were tied
to them. And by holding down the covering,
they held the tabernacle together and made it secure, made it complete. And our Lord Jesus Christ, the
only thing, and we're His tabernacle. The Spirit of God dwells in us.
The church is a tabernacle, you know, in the sense that He dwells
in us and holds us together, makes us secure, makes us complete. And bless His holy name, I'm
sure thankful that if He doesn't secure us, and hold us together
and save us by His blessed grace and makes us secure and makes
us complete in Him, our lives don't amount to anything. And
that's just the truth of it. And these cords, these cords
set forth the love of our Lord Jesus Christ in a wondrous way. Look in Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah
31. Let's look what it says here.
God said, I will love them freely. And oh, in Jeremiah 31, in verse
3, you know, the cords set forth the drawing and holding power
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and His mighty love for His elect
people, for His own. And this shows us, you know,
these cords, how He drawed us with His love. In verse 3, Jeremiah 31.3, the Lord hath
appeared of old unto me saying, yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn
thee. So His love draws us to Himself. Just like those corns that went
over that tabernacle. His corns He draws us with the
corns of His love. And then you know in 2 Corinthians
5.14 it says the love of Christ constrains us. And that word
constrains or constraineth means to hold together. And our Lord
Jesus Christ, our union with Him, our being one with Him,
it's not our love that constrains us to Christ. His love constrains
us to Him and binds us to Him. And our union, if our union with
Christ depended upon our love for Him, Then everything that
come along, ever wind, ever circumstance, ever trouble that came along
would just blow us away and the church would never hold together.
But he says the love of Christ constrains us, he holds us together,
he binds us together and he binds us to himself by his constraining
love. Most folks won't talk about how
much they love the Lord and we do. Oh how I love Jesus. I do, and I know you do. I love
the Lord Jesus Christ. But my love doesn't depend on... His love for me doesn't depend
on Him saving me. And if my love was what was dependent
on me being saved, I'd never be saved. But His love for us
is what constrains us and what keeps us. And that's what helps
us. And that's why these cords talk
about the blessed work of our Lord Jesus Christ. He holds us
together. He holds things down. And He
keeps us together and holds things together. Let me show you another
thing about the drawing, these cords that drew over that tabernacle. and fastened to those pins. Those
of our Lord Jesus being tested. But the drawing power, especially
the drawing power of our Lord is His death on the cross. His
death on the cross. Two places I want you to look.
John chapter 3 and John chapter 12. You know, Our Lord Jesus Christ. He sets
forth the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, people make
a big deal out of John 3.16. 3.16. That's not the gospel. The gospel
is in verse 14 of John chapter 3, verse 14. That's where the
gospel's at. And the reason for the gospel
is the reason John 3.16. That's the motive for the cross
of Christ. That's the motive. And I tell
you what, and he says, as Moses, John 3, 14, as Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish. And
beloved has to be lifted up. And our Lord said over here in
John 12, in verse 32, And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all unto me. Now what does he mean? The same thing as being lifted
up on the cross. If I be lifted up on that cross,
If I be lifted up to death, if I be lifted up to the justice
of God, if I be lifted up to the wrath of God, if I be lifted
up and made an offering for sin, if I be lifted up and made a
sacrifice for sin. He said, this is how all will
be drawn to me. And beloved, I know this without
a shadow of a doubt. If you ever see the Lord Jesus
Christ bearing your sin, bearing yours, Then that will change
your life, change your heart, change your nature. I mean, beloved,
you can see Christ and Him on a cross bearing your sin. And
that's what's so bad and so awful about people preaching that Jesus
died for all men. He said, draw all unto me. Now the all He's talking about
is all that the Father gave me. That's what he's talking about.
He's not talking about the whole world. He's talking about everyone
that the Father gave him. And I tell you what, that's the
reason why we preach. You know, Paul said it like this.
I'm determined. I've got this determination.
I've got a determination. I mean, I'm determined to do
this. To preach Jesus Christ, that's
His person. That's His blessed person. Jesus
in His humanity, Christ in His office. But, oh listen, you start
out with a person. And then you go to what He did.
And our Lord Jesus Christ, He said, I'm determined to know
nothing among you save Jesus Christ. That's what I want to
know. I'm going to talk to you about
the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm going to talk to you about
Him as the foundation and no other foundation can be levied.
I'm going to talk to you about Him being the power and the wisdom
of God. I'm going to tell you that beloved
is by Him we live, move and have our being. And He said, and then
I'm going to tell you about Him, and then I'm going to tell you
about His death. I'm going to talk to you about His crucifixion. I'm going to talk to you about
who it was that was on that cross. You see, beloved, that's one
of the things. Here's how men and women can separate the work
from the person. And you hear this all the time.
People say, I'm trusting in the finished work of Christ. That's
not enough. That's not enough. You've got to trust in Christ
who finished the work. It's who did the work. Now, some
of you fellas do some great work. Steve does. Houston does. Gary
Williams does. I could call on these people.
Joe does. Tim Graham does. I could say,
listen, I want you to do this for me and I know what kind of
work they would do. They would do the best they possibly
can. And you could trust them because
you know who they are and the kind of work that they do. But beloved, it was who it was
that was on that cross and who did the work. I heard Henry say
one time, and I've mentioned it so many times before, it's
not It's not how much blood was shed on the cross, but it's whose
blood. It was not how long he was on the cross, but who was
on the cross. And if you separate Christ from
His Word, and I tell you that's why Paul starts out with the
person of Christ. And that's why we're talking
about His death. And I tell you what, the pens
without the cords won't do anything for the sinner. You've got to
have them both. You've got to have Christ in
His person and Christ in His work. Oh, I tell you, you've got to
have them. And notice that conjunction there when He said, I'm crucified
with Him to know that I'm determined not to know anything among you
besides Christ and His blessed work. Now the link, the thing
that makes Christ in his person and the work of Christ, our Lord
Jesus Christ, who is God, manifest in the flesh. That's the first
thing we need to know. That that man that was on this
earth was none other than God himself. Philip said to him, show us the
Father, and that about satisfies us. We'll not ask another thing.
He said, Philip, have I been with you such a long time, and
you've not seen me? For he that hath seen me hath
seen the Father. And it says then, they said,
the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in him in his body. Now, God
is spirit. He inhabits eternity. And all
the things that he read about God tonight. Oh, God made the
lights. God created the heavens. God
sustained the heavens. All the things that he said.
Then he said, mercy endureth forever. You cannot comprehend
God. It's impossible to. He's eternal. He's infinite. His wisdom creates the world
to oppose it. His power. His grace, how bottomless
is His grace? How bottomless is His mercy?
How wealthy is our God in heaven? And yet He came to this earth
and became a man and everything that God is in eternity was manifested
in His blessed Son. every single thing about him.
And I tell you what, and I tell you the person of Christ, he's
God manifested in the flesh, and his work is that he died
for our sins according to the scriptures. Look in 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Oh, listen. That His work was God manifest
in the flesh. I know I've told you this before,
but we was over at Cherokee one time, and you know, everybody
always sat around and visited for hours in the afternoon and
in the day, and sat around with all the preachers, and sometimes
we'd have the better meetings around these motels than we ever
did in the services. We'd have the most wonderful
meetings. And I remember asking Henry and
Scott, I said, what's the greatest mystery in the Bible? What's
the greatest mystery in the Bible? The Bible speaks so much of mysteries. So many mysteries. And immediately
both of them said, Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.
God being made manifest in the flesh is the greatest mystery
that's in this universe. Now that's right. How could God
who inhabits eternity come and dwell, inhabit the womb of a
virgin and still be God who inhabits eternity? How can that be? How can God, who measures the
waters in the hall of his hand, sit at a Jewish mother's breast
and draw his nourishment from her? How can God, who the scripture
said he stretched out the heavens like you stretch out a curtain,
and then embrace his mother? You can't And yet he came down
here for one reason, to identify with us. A man could die, but
a man could not satisfy God. And God cannot die, but only
God can satisfy God. So God made himself in the blessed
person of his son and as a man he is able to die and as God
he is able to satisfy and save sinners like us. Now that's a
mystery ain't it? Now he got over that, never get
over that. You just start thinking about God. You look up in the heavens and
He said, these are my throne. It's my throne. And we look around this earth
and see all the glory in this earth and all the beauty that's
in this earth. And He said, that's my footstool.
He's got His feet propped up on this. But all He came God man, as a man, to do a work,
to finish a work, and that work was to save us from our sins
and to satisfy God himself. And look what it says here in
1 Corinthians 15 verse 1. I declare unto you the gospel
which I preached unto you." He told him, he said he was going
to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified and here he is doing
it again, Dirk. Which also you have received,
you believe this gospel. And watch what he said, you stand
in this gospel. By which also you are saved,
you are saved by this gospel. And then it says, if you keep
in memory, hold fast what I preached unto you, unless you believed
in vain. For first of all, I delivered
unto you, first of all, that which I also received." You see,
he's only giving back what he's already been taught, what he's
already received. I'm just telling you what I've
got and what God did for me. And here's how he said, I received
this, how that Christ died for our sins. Our sins. How? According to the Scriptures. You know the first place you
see Christ dying? is in Genesis chapter 3 when
God slew that animal shed the blood and clothed Adam and Eve's
nakedness the next time you see him you
see him in the ark saving his people from the wrath of God
in an ark the next time you see him you see him as a lamb as
a Passover lamb, a spotless lamb, a saving lamb, a redeeming lamb,
a blood-shedding lamb, and the blood's over the doors. Not on
the, you know, not on the threshold. That's why Paul says, you know,
they count the blood of the covenant unholy thing, count it as common. When you preach Christ died for
every man, you're counting the blood of Christ as common. So he died for our sins according
to the scriptures. Isaiah said he was wounded for
our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The Lord laid
on him the iniquity of us. He died for our sins according
to the scriptures. Look what else it says now. And
that he was buried. This is a mystery. God doesn't die. God does not
die. But the man, Christ Jesus, did. And I know, and I don't want
to be crude, I don't want to be profane, but when our Lord
Jesus Christ was taken off that cross, he was dead. He was cold,
his body was cold. His body was cold. Lifeless. Couldn't see out of his eyes,
couldn't hear through his ears. And they took him down and Mary's
got together and they got their linen clothes all together. And
then they took spices and they put them all around his body.
And they put all these spices and rubbed them on his body.
And then they wrapped him and wrapped him and wrapped him in
this linen clothes. And then they put a folded piece
of linen over his face. And they carried Him inside a
tomb, inside a hole in a rock, and they laid Him down in there. And they thought, this is it!
This is it! And then, because they were afraid
that His disciples would come steal Him away, they put a rock
up against it. But he died according to the
scriptures. He is led as a lamb to the slaughter,
as a sheep before his shearers. He was done. He cried, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Oh, you find through the scriptures
were so many things about our Savior said. concerning his death
and his burial. Thou will not suffer, thine holy
one, to see corruption. You know, look what it says.
So he was buried. Now listen to this now. And that
he rose again the third day. according to the Scriptures. God told us over in Isaiah, He
said, O grave, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? And they said, Our Lord Jesus
said Himself is brought to the dust of death. But on the third
morning, That rock was gone and Christ come out of there. So we're talking about His blessed,
blessed work. And all according to the scriptures.
And that work of that cord over that tabernacle. continually
sustained that tabernacle in the wilderness. And our Lord
Jesus Christ, I'm telling you, the work that he started, he's
going to finish it. Ain't that right? Oh, he's going
to, you know, he said, I'll never leave you and I'll never forsake
you. He which has begun a good work in you shall perform it
until the day of Jesus Christ. Now I don't know about you, every
once in a while I get really down. I get really in a dark
place every once in a while. And I can't even get my
soul up. And I certainly couldn't sustain
the work. but he sustains it no matter whether the sun's shining
or it's dark. Whether the heart's full of joy
or it's full of sadness. Whether the body's full of strength
or whether the body's so weak. He carries, he's going to perform
it and you know when he's going to quit performing it? In the
day of Jesus Christ when he comes. Listen, I can't see hardly any,
you're all just a blur to me now. And that's what Christ is. He's a blur so many times. But
one of these days, these eyes go see perfectly. And I'll be
able to see Him as He is. See Him as He is. So He's carrying
on His work. In fact, He sits in heaven right
now. Making intercession for us. And
all you can't separate His parts. Any part of His person and His
work. They go together. And if you
separate the two, you're dishonoring Him as His person and you're
certainly dishonoring Him as His work. And people do that. You know, people brag on Jesus.
You know what they're doing? You know what they're talking
about now? They got what they call the Advent season. And the
Advent season is there so many days, because you know, Christ,
December 25th is supposed to be Christ's birthday. Christ's
birthday. I don't remember any birthdays
being celebrated except Herod's. And when Herod celebrated his
birthday, you know what had happened? They beheaded John. That's the
only birthday you find celebrated in the Bible. But anyway, they
got this advent, you know, Christ's advent from heaven to here. That's
the most ridiculous, God-dishonoring thing that could ever happen.
Our Lord Jesus Christ did not come to this earth on December
the 25th. It had been impossible for Him to
come. He either died in April or He died in October. And you
can cherish the Jewish calendar and see that that's so. But anyway,
people will brag on Jesus. Oh, they'll brag on Jesus. They'll
brag on Him, brag on Him, and yet they'll discredit His work
on the cross. They'll say it's for everybody.
Christ died for you, everyone. They'll stand up and tell a mixed
congregation, Christ died for you. And we could never, I could never
stand up in a mixed congregation of all the people, and we always
have a mixed congregation, and tell everybody in that building
that Christ died for you. The only way we can say it is
that Christ died for His people. I lay down my life for the sheep. And you separate His work from
who He is and you dishonor both of them. You're not magnifying
His blessed person if you can't magnify His work. And oh my,
they'll say, oh yes, he is a holy man. Yes, he is holy. He is holy. I tell you what,
he was the greatest manifestation of God on the earth. Oh my, he
was really, really something. But they refuse to accept His
death on the cross as substitutionary, as accomplishing something, as
actually doing what it was intended to do. If Christ died for you,
I'm telling you what's the truth, that death is going to profit
you. If He shed His blood for you, that
blood is going to cleanse you from your sin. If He died for your sins, you
ain't got Him anymore. Christ took Him away. That's
what I'm talking about. And they go on and on about how
much He loves men. Oh, He loves you. One fellow
says all the time on the radio, and I get so aggravated every
time he hears it. He said, God loved to know this, that I, Heavenly
Father, love you. For the Bible said, God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth on Him should not perish. And he said, the Father loves
you and we do too. They forgot all those verses
that said God hates the workers of iniquity. God is angry with
the wicked every day. And listen, you know in our experience,
we understand that our Lord Jesus Christ died as a lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. We've learned that through the
gospel. We've been taught that. But in our experience when it
says, he that believeth not on the Son of God, the wrath of
God abideth on him. Now there was never any danger
of God's wrath abiding on His people whom He died. But in our
experience, before we learned that, we felt God's judgment
on us, and the wrath of God, and it scared us. Made us just
start seeking Him. Right? And then when you learn
different, you know what you do? It makes you praise the Lord,
give Him all the glory, and just love Him that much more, and
honor Him that much more. One fellow said, boy, God took
me right off the gates of hell. Listen, if Christ died for you,
you might have, in your experience, might have thought you was there,
but you wasn't even close because of what He did. Ain't that right? Oh, they emphasize His love for
men and His compassion and His denial of self. Denial of self. And you know how they say to
deny yourself? Don't buy some pepsis for a week. Don't go out and eat for a week.
Do something like that. Deny yourself. And they say,
oh, if Ben would just follow his example and be Christ-like,
it'd be an end of trouble, end of war, end of suffering. But I tell you what, they never
saw Jesus in Jesus. And they didn't, did they? But
I tell you, People who do not have the slightest notion when
they treat the Lord Jesus Christ as death as a moral accomplishment. And what I mean by that, that
all He done was just a moral accomplishment. Now because He
died for you and you do the best you can and you trust Him when
you get ready to die because He done such a good moral thing
that He'll save you. But it was a death that was a
death of punishment. It was a punishment. God punished
us in Him. Ain't that right? Alright. But I know this, if our Lord
Jesus Christ, death didn't secure the salvation for all that He
died for, all is lost. And the tabernacle will just
blow away into that desert. And that's what will happen to
us if he's not who he said he was. Huh? Oh, listen. Drive those pins, drive those
nails into the ground firmly. But without something to connect
them to, we're through them cords. And they're going to hold that
tent down. But boy, if you got the pins and the cords, you got
Christ in His work, you're going to be, you're going to stand
the test. There's storms to come and you ain't going to get blown
away. Huh? Well, what are we going to do?
Well, I'll tell you what, we're going to preach the Lordship
of Jesus Christ. Preach Him as Lord. I'll tell
you something that happened one time, it's a true story. When
I talk about preaching Christ as Lord, you know Barnard, that's
one of his... Oh, he could preach the Lordship of Christ like nobody
I ever heard. But anyway, he got up one time
and preached from Romans 14, 6. To this end, Christ both died,
rose, and revived again, that he might be Lord both of the
dead and the living. And he preached from there, and
he sat down. Henry said, You stole my message. You stole my
message. That's what I was going to preach.
That was my message today. I was going to preach Romans
14.6. But that's what happens. You
see, that's what we're talking about. Christ is Lord. People put up it on billboards.
Christ is Lord in Fairmont, West Virginia. Christ is Lord in Crossville,
Tennessee. Christ was Lord before this earth
was ever made. He was Lord before the sun was
ever put in the stars in the sky and the stars were ever put
in the heavens. He was Lord. He was Lord. And I tell you we preach the
Lordship of Christ and the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter
was preaching on the day of Pentecost, and know therefore brethren,
that this Jesus, whom you crucified, God hath made him both Lord and
Christ. And you know what they said?
Sirs, sirs, what must we do? We're dealing with a sovereign
Lord. We're not dealing with a man that was on a cross. We're
dealing with a man that rose from the dead. He's got all power
in heaven and earth. that can save or damn, got life
to give or life to withhold. The Lord is sitting on the throne
with all power and authority vested in Him. We say don't put
all your eggs in one basket. God did. He put every one of
them in His blessed Son. And I'm going to just jump right
in head first. I'm going to jump in head first. Oh, the sacrifice of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Atoned to God. God satisfying
God. God meeting and sustaining His
own claims of righteousness and holiness. Satisfying the own
demands of His own essential nature and being. And again, I quote Scott, Scott,
first time I ever heard this, and I tell you, it just, you
know, you hear something and it just jars you. He said, God must do something
for himself before he can ever do anything for us. And that's
why two words, two words constitutes the gospel. If you learn these
two words, satisfaction. Who satisfied God? Who upheld
His righteousness and His holiness and His wisdom and His power
and His grace? Who upheld it? Who satisfied
justice? Who satisfied God? And when God
gets satisfied, then He can do something for
us. So Christ satisfied God by bearing our sins and made an
end of all of our sins by the sacrifice of Himself. And then
God was satisfied with him. And how we know He raised Him
from the dead, sent Him in His right hand, made Him both Lord
and Christ. And now God can justly, righteously
save sinners the way that honors Him like nothing else could possibly
do it because of Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. Huh? Oh, if you take away the Lordship
of the Lord Jesus Christ, His sacrifice, His sacrificial, sin-atoning
death, you know what happens then? He'd be exposed as a deceiver. But oh my! And that's why we
continue, and we'll continue, to preach the Lord Jesus Christ
at His person. His blessed, blessed person as
very God. And the sacrifice he made was for all whom his sacrifice was
made or else he failed. And you know what? The pins and
those cords, those nails in the ground and those cords, they
didn't just try to hold that tabernacle down and together.
They held it down and held it together. Oh, the storm would come! But
that thing never moved. That thing never moved. And oh
my! And I tell you this, everyone
who trusts the Lord Jesus Christ and His blessed work, you know
what cannot happen to them? They cannot perish. Our Lord
says, no man is able to pluck them out of My hands. And no
man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. And I give
unto them eternal life. And listen to what else he said.
They shall never perish. Pins and cords. Who ever thought
pins and cords would have so much? Oh, blessed Savior. Blessed Master. Oh, blessed Lord, we come to
praise you, thank you, bless you for your great and abundant
mercy as we sung tonight. Oh, how merciful. As Brother
Dirk read, His mercy endures forever. The God of gods and
His mercy endures forever. The God that made the heavens
and His mercy endures forever. The God who made the light, His
mercy endures forever. And Lord, we thank you for that. Oh, thank you for being merciful
to us, being gracious to us, condescending to speak with us,
and allowing us to worship, allowing our hearts to enter in to the
blessed Lord Jesus Christ and His person and His glorious work. Oh, thank you for allowing us
to see Him again. Speak of Him again and rejoice in Him again
this side of eternity. God bless these dear saints,
all the ones that we've already mentioned. Please be merciful
and be gracious to them for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away. Your sins are pardoned and you
are free. They're all taken away. They're all taken away, away. They're all taken away, away. And amen, they're gone. See you
Wednesday, God willing.