And the Lord spake unto Moses,
Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of
brass, to wash with. And thou shalt put it between
the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt
put water therein. For Aaron and his sons shall
wash their hands and their feet therein, when they go into the
tabernacle of the congregation." That's when they go into the
holy place. For Aaron and his son shall wash
their hands and feet when they go into the tabernacle of the
congregation. They shall wash with water that
they die not, or when they come near to the altar to minister,
to burn offering made by fire unto the Lord. So they shall
wash their hands and their feet that they die not. And it shall
be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout
his generation. Now that laver, of course you
see it, it's round, got just one foot across it, full of water. I don't know how big it was,
it doesn't tell us that. But when they entered into the
tabernacle, when they entered into the outer court, between
the brazen altar and the holy place, there's that laver. And
the first thing you had to deal with when you went in there,
you had to deal with blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sins. And then the second thing you
see is that labor, were they washed? Were they washed? And the washing in the blood,
you know, At times they go together, at other times they're completely
separate. I know when our Lord Jesus Christ,
when the Roman soldier took that spear and hit him in the side
and cut him open, water and blood came out. Blood divorces from
our sins, water to sanctifies and cleans up our walk. And at
the brazen altar, sins were dealt with and put away. And at the
golden altar, where they put the incense on, that's where
worship was offered up before God. That incense, that sweet
savor that went up to God, that's where worship was. And midway
between the two, there stood this laver. And this talked about
us being purified while we're in the way. while we're in the
way, while we're going on in our lives. That's what it's talking
about. Practical purification while we're living in this world.
You know, we get defiled. That's one of the reasons why
we come to this meeting. That's why we come to the worship
service. It's so that the water, the Word of God, can wash us
and cleanse us. Now what does this labor picture?
Well, I'm going to show you. Look over here in Exodus 38.
We get an idea here of what it was like from the mirrors that
the women used. In Exodus 38.8, look what it
says here. Gives you an idea of what this
brazen altar was for. It says here in verse 8, and
he made the laver of brass. The laver we're talking about.
He made the laver of brass and the foot of it of brass. Of the
looking glasses of the women. And then you look in the margin,
it says brazen glasses. These things were polished so
bright, polished so finely, that the women used them for mirrors.
And he said, that's what he did with this golden laver. It was
a highly polished, beautiful piece of brass that was full
of water. And that's what he's talking
about. That's how it was highly polished. And these broken glasses
were made of highly polished brass. And I tell you, that looking
glass is what the Word of God tells us about. You know, over
in James, it said, Whosoever looketh into the Word of God,
and heareth the word of God. It's like looking into a mirror.
That's what he said, James 1, 23 and 24. He said, looking into
the word of God is like looking into a mirror. He that's a hearer
and not a doer is like unto a man looking into a mirror. And that
man who just hears and doesn't do, he looks in a mirror and
then goes away and straightway forgets what manner of man he
is. The word of God didn't do him any effect. And that's what
the Word of God is. It's a mirror that holds up to
us and shows us our imperfections and shows us all the needs that
we have in Christ. And we look in this thing and
hopefully we're doers of the Word of God. And I tell you what,
this figure is also used throughout the Scriptures. Wherewithal shall
a young man cleanse his way? How? By taking heed thereto according
to your word. Another verse of scripture our
Lord Jesus said in John 15 3 He says now you are clean How through
the word which I've spoken unto you? so this labor pictures the
Word of God and it washes us and cleanses us and as we meet
for worship the first place we goes to the brazen labor and
And I tell you, before we go into the rest of the tabernacle,
before the incense is ever burned on the altar, we have to burst
much worse at the labor. We got to be cleansed. And that's
this, this word, this word you read, you read tonight back there
in the, in the study about how that Timothy No descriptors from
the time he was a child that were able to make him wise unto
salvation. And beloved in this, James prayed,
Lord, save me. If there's anything, any way,
anything about us, please cleanse us from it. Save us from it.
The psalmist said it like this. He said, Lord, search me. Search me. Try me. And if there
be any wicked way in me, save me from it. And that's what this
labor picture, we're going through this life. And we need to be
washed, we need to be cleansed from our defilement while we
go through this life. Our feet, our hands, all of those
things, what has to be done. And that's why he said, when
they go in before they do anything else, they wash their hands and
they wash their feet. How come they do that? Dirty. Dirty. They couldn't go no farther till
those were washed. And Aaron and his son, the second
thing is, Aaron and his sons slew the sacrifice at the brazen
altars. And if their hands were unclean,
and the desert dust had sold their feet, before they could
enter into the dwelling place of God. And that's what he says
there, you know, in verse 19, he says, For Aaron and his sons
shall wash their hands and feet thereat. They're at. And now I'll tell you, beloved,
in Revelation 27, 19-27, that nothing unclean or defiled shall
enter in, shall enter in. You know, we walk and we live
in this world and we get defiled and we're in continual needing
and cleaning of the Word of God, the water of the Word. I want
you to see something over here with me in John 13. Look in John
13, talking about this labor. And all like we walk in this
old defiled world, we need continual cleansing in the water of the
word. We do. And I, you know, some of you
all say, come and you say, boy, I said, I really need something
from the Lord. I need some from the Lord. Because you know you
feel. You feel the need. We don't know
even what we've said or done until the Holy Ghost and the
Spirit of God comes along and tells us, and bless His Holy
Name, He takes the very Word of God and washes us and cleanses
us and makes us understand where we're wrong. Well, you know,
we look in a mirror and it can't fix us, but this Word right here
can fix us. This is one mirror that can fix
us. You know, when you look in this
word, it'll fix you. It'll wash you, it'll cleanse
you, get the blemishes off of you. And look over here in John
13, and look down here in verse 4, talking about our Master now.
And now he's dealing with his disciples here. He rises from
supper and laid aside his garments and took a towel and girded himself. After that, he pours water into
a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them
with the towel wherewith he was girded. Oh my. Then cometh he to Simon Peter.
And Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? What
he's saying is, no. Sarcastically, he says, no, you're
not gonna wash my feet. Our Lord answered and said unto
him, what I do now, thou knowest not. What I do, thou knowest
not now, but you'll know later what I'm doing. Peter saith unto
him, thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him and
listen to this now if I wash thee not thou has no part with
me Lord look what he says next He go from one extreme to the
other Simon Peter saith unto him Lord not my feet only but
almost to my hands and wash my head just wash me And our Lord said, oh my. So that's what we're talking
about. You see, we, and I'm going to tell you something. Though
our hands get soiled and our feet get dirty, that does not
change our perfect standing before God. He has perfected forever
them that are sanctified. But I tell you what it will do.
It will affect our communion with God. It will affect our
fellowship with God. It will not change our standing,
but it will affect our worship, it will affect our communion,
it will affect our fellowship with God. When we are defiled
and our hands are dirty and our feet are dirty, we feel like
we have to stand up our own. And really we don't because God
gave us ways to deal with this. And I tell you what, you know,
when we're not washed, we can't Peter said it like this, he says,
you know, we offer spiritual sacrifices made acceptable to
God through Jesus Christ. That's what a priest does. And
if we're defiled and we're dirty hands and dirty feet, we can't
even offer spiritual sacrifices. And so until we've been at the
labor, at the word of God, until we've been at this blessed labor
right here, And I tell you what, is hearing the Word of God important?
Oh my! I had that article in the bulletin
this morning of Greg Amquist put in there said, hearing is
more important than preaching. Hearing is more important than
preaching. That hearing is where faith comes to. Hearing is how
God takes the Word of God and gives life. Hearing is how God
takes the Word and teaches us and instructs us. So even though
I'm a preacher, the hearing is the most important part. Listening and learning and grasping
and understanding and delighting in and enjoying and understanding
and being blessed to your heart and soul. That's the most important
thing that happens in these services. is how it affects you. And that's,
you know, that's why I say, you know, and a sinner, a sinner
must have daily cleansing by the labor and that pours to the
Lord Jesus Christ who fits and meets our every need. Lord, cleanse me and I shall
be whiter than snow. That's what David said. Create
in me a right spirit. And he said, wash me. That's
what he said and so I said, wash me. And I shall be whiter than
snow. That's where that song comes
from. And oh, beloved, for us to go in, try to go into the
presence of God Almighty with dirty hands and dirty feet, that
would be like Aaron and his sons going into the tabernacle and
going in there dirty, to go into the presence of God unwashed,
not washed, in their hands dirty, in their feet dirty, and try
to go into the presence of God in worship? And people think that they can
cleanse themselves. Listen, I'm telling you, we can't
cleanse ourselves. No. We're talking about Christ
cleanses us. This labor cleansing us. And
this Word of God is this labor that points to Christ who washed
us. Revelations 1.5 said, Unto him that loved us. And that word
washed us means lathed us. It's like the labor. Unto him
that loved us and lathed us in his own blood. And our beloved
to come into the holy place with soiled hands and soiled feet.
You know what would happen to Aaron and his sons? God said,
then die. He said, then die. And all people
think they got to do is go to church and You know, do the best
they can and quit their sinning and all that. But I tell you,
God Almighty won't meet anyone in worship till they go to that
labor first. Gotta go over that washing. That
washing. Let me show you something over
here in Ephesians 5. Look in Ephesians 5. Here's what I'm
talking about. I hope I can make this understandable. But we... I don't know about
you, but I tell you what, I feel so unclean sometimes. I feel
so... And you know where I go to get
cleansing? I go to the Word. I go to Christ. You know? Our hands get dirty. Our feet
get dirty. And that's why, you know, when
our Lord Jesus washed the disciples' feet, He washed them to show
them that, listen, As I do this for you and take care of you
and I meet your needs of your daily life, you watch out for
one another and you come to me for your cleansing every day.
He's not talking about us washing one another's feet. He's teaching
us something spiritual. Oh, listen, I'm like Simon Peter.
Wash my head, wash my hands, wash me all over. Wash me all
over. But look here in Ephesians 5
and verse 25. Husbands love your wives even
as Christ also loved the church and gave his for you gave himself
for it Now listen to this that he might sanctify it and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word You know, we talked about him
being the living water this morning now we're talking about him being
the water to wash us cleanse us And so when we talk about
this labor, having to go to the labor, gotta, you know, blood
and the washing. And I tell you, this labor speaks
of believers taking the Word of God and making it real to
them and applying it to themselves. And the water in this labor tells
us that believers must judge themselves unsparingly by the
Word of God. You know, if I've ever told you how to do
something, if I've ever put you to work to do or anything to
do, please tell me. If I fail to point you to Christ
for your washing, for your cleansing, If I ever gave you, if I ever
told you how to dress or how to, how often you got to attend
services, you know, if you don't, if a person don't want to be
here, they won't be here. If a person wants to be here,
they will be here. I'm not, we're not going to call
them. We're not going to beg them. We're not going to plead
with them. And I'm not going to, hopefully I'm not going to
tell people how to thank, how to walk, how to talk. What to
give and I nothing like that. I hope I point everybody to Christ
always to Christ, but one thing I know That when we look into
this Word of God when you do it at home or wherever you're
at You look at this thing like looking into the labor and being
watched by the labor. You have to judge yourself unsparingly
by this word if it condemns you you're condemned and If it tells
you you're wrong, you're wrong. If it points out something about
your character, points out something about your walk, points out something
about your understanding, points out something about what you
believe and what you've done or what you've said or who you've
done it to. If it comes and you look at that
and it points to you about something, you've got to say, well, guilty.
Well, what am I going to do about it? Go to Christ? Where else
are you going to go? Where else are you going to go?
How many times have you done something and said, Lord, I am
so sorry. But here's something else you
say, I'll try not to do that again if you'll give me grace.
You don't make no promises. You're afraid to make any promises.
You know why? Because you know yourself. But
you know why? That's why we just keep coming
back to that labor. Keep coming back to that labor.
Keep coming back to that labor. And I tell you, the importance
of reading and hearing the Word of God can't be overemphasized. You know, he said, David, it
keeps us from falling into sin. David said it like this. He says,
Thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not, do what? Sin against you. Sin against
you. I don't want sin against you.
I got out of the car this morning and I told Shirley, you know,
I got out of the car and she said, she told me this morning
before we left, she said, I'm praying that the Lord bless you
and uses you and speaks to his sheep. And I said, well, I'm like old
Scott Richardson said, I don't want to embarrass myself, but
I certainly, certainly don't want to embarrass God. not when
we get up. But I tell you what, when we
do sin, when we do sin, John said it like this, sin, we have
an advocate with the Father. And the same thing it says here,
if any man sin, we got a laver. We got a place where we can wash.
We can wash our hands and we can wash our feet. Our hands
can be clean and our feet can be clean and we can worship God
and we can walk in the presence of God without any condemnation
or guilt whatsoever. And I tell you, let me give you
another thing about this laver. This labor is also, this word,
this labor is also used for refreshment. Used for refreshment. Refreshes
you. Believers come to worship sometimes with tired and feet
that hurt. Tired, weary feet. And what in
the world can bless your feet more than to have them washed?
Put them in some good cold water. Let them sit there in that good
cold water and let them rest. And all beloved, when we come,
Into the worship service we can worship and have our feet washed
and rest under the tree of life. Let me show you something in
Genesis 18. Turn over to Genesis 18. Look
at this with me. This is what I'm talking about.
We can come to worship and wash our feet and rest under the tree
of life. Genesis 18. Let me set this up here now. And
while we're resting, maybe we can have a morsel of bread. Comfort ourselves before we pass
on. The Lord appeared unto him, to
Abraham in the plains of Mamre. And he sat in the tent door in
the heat of the day. And he lifted up his eyes and
looked, and lo, three men stood by him. And when he saw them,
he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself toward
the ground. Now listen, here's the first
thing he said. It says, My Lord, if I have now found favor in
thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee from thy servant. Now listen,
let a little water, I pray you, be fetched and wash your feet
and rest yourselves under the tree. Let a little water be fetched
and let's wash your feet, and then you sit down under this
tree. When we're washed, we sit down, our fellowship is around
the cross, and because of the cross, Christ meets us at the
cross, God meets us at the cross, the Holy Spirit meets us at the
cross. And he said, let me get some water and wash your feet.
Oh my, and then look what else he says, and then I'm gonna get
you a morsel of bread, I'm gonna feed you. That's what our Master
does. Here, wash your feet when you
come in here. Oh, rest here at the cross. Rest in the Christ
of the cross. And I'll fetch you a morsel of
bread and comfort your hearts. Oh, let your hearts be comforted.
And then you know what you can do? Then you can carry on. You can just keep on going. You
can keep on going. That's what we do. We rest in
our Lord Jesus Christ. And we come in here and get our
feet washed. We come in here and He gives
us a morsel of bread. And we come here and He comforts
our heart before we can pass on out of here and go on about
our lives. And God's children come to death,
come together because they were fixed to go down to Sodom and
there ain't no cleansing in Sodom. There ain't no cleansing in this
world. None whatsoever. and thanks be unto God's blessed
lamb that one day one one glad day will never again be defiled
no longer need to wash you know he says in the revelation that
the streets are as a sea of glass that's how shiny the gold is
there And oh my, we'll stand on that sea, a transparent glass
reminding us of the labor and the altar. And the labor testifies
of two things. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission. And with the wealth of holiness,
no man shall see the Lord. Where's that holiness gonna come
at? Through Christ washing us and using the Word of God. And
in our perfection, when we get to glory, We're going to sing
the song of the Lamb. Nothing then will ever hinder
our worship and praise Him who loved us and gave Himself for
us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. We sing that
old hymn, Are you washed? Are you washed? In the blood
of the Lamb. Are your garments made spotless?
Are your garments made white? Are you washed in the blood of
the Lamb? Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly
whole. I want thee forever to live in
my soul. Break down every idol, cast out
every foe. Now wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. Did we get washed tonight? Oh my, we come here tired. We
come here weary. We come here with bad feelings
sometimes. We come here with ill feelings.
We come here worried. And the Lord Jesus comes and
washes us, comforts us, feeds us, and meets our needs. Bless
His holy name. What a blessed, wonderful Savior.
Hallelujah, what a Savior is Jesus our Lord. Our Father, oh gracious, gracious
God in heaven, thank you for allowing us to gather here tonight.
Lord, I'm glad and thankful that you put it in our hearts together
to worship, to meet with the people of God. And Lord, we're
going to pass on away from here. But Lord, we've come in here,
we've had our feet washed, we've been fed, we've been comforted
in our hearts, and now we can go on. Oh, we can go on until
we gather again. Lord, help us always to set our
heart, set our affection, set our souls and hearts on You.
And Lord Jesus, create in us a greater love for you, create
in us a greater regard for you, a greater need for you. Cause us, oh Lord Jesus, always
more and more and more to look to you until one day, one day
we'll see you, bless your holy name, we'll see you face to face. Oh, to see you. We see you here
by faith. We worship you here by faith.
We make an effort looking at you and seeing you in your word.
But oh Lord, someday, face to face with Christ my Lord. God
bless these dear saints as they go. Thank you for them. Blessed be your holy name. Amen. Amen. Let's sing that power in
the blood. You want to?