Well, good evening, everyone.
If you would, open your Bibles with me to begin our service
to Isaiah chapter six. Isaiah chapter six, we'll read
the first five verses. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted
up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings. With
twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet,
and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and
said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth
is full of his glory. And the post of the door moved
at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with
smoke. Then said I, Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am
a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips. For mine eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of hosts. We'll end our reading there.
Okay, Sean. Okay, if you would, turn in your
hymnal to song number 216, look to the Lamb of God. 216. If you from sin are longing to
be free, look to the Lamb of God. He to redeem you died on
Calvary. Look to the Lamb of God. Look
to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. of God. For He alone is able
to save you, look to the Lamb of God. When Satan tempts and
doubts and fears assail, look to the Lamb of God. You in his strength shall over
all prevail. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For He alone is able to save
you. Look to the Lamb of God. Are you a weary? Does the way seem long? Look to the Lamb of God. His love will cheer and fill
your heart with song. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For He alone is able to save
you. Look to the Lamb of God. Fear not when shadows on your
pathway fall. Look to the Lamb of God. In joy or sorrow, Christ is all
in all. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For He alone is able to save
you. Look to the Lamb of God. OK, if you would now turn to
song number 209, Grace Greater Than Our Sin. Marvelous grace of our loving
Lord. Grace that exceeds our sin and
our guilt. Yonder on Calvary's mount outpoured. There where the blood of the
Lamb was spilled. Grace, grace, God's grace. Grace that will pardon and cleanse
within. Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater
than all our sin. Sin and despair like the sea
waves cold, threaten the soul with infinite loss. Grace that is greater, yes, grace
untold, points to the refuge, the mighty cross. Grace, grace, God's grace, grace
that will pardon and cleanse within. Grace, grace, God's grace, grace
that is greater than all our sin. Dark is the stain that we
cannot hide. What can avail to wash it away? Look, there is flowing a crimson
tide, Whiter than snow you may be today. Grace, grace, God's grace, grace
that will pardon and cleanse within. Grace, grace, God's grace,
grace that is greater than all our sin. Marvelous, infinite, matchless
grace, freely bestowed on all who believe. You that are longing
to see His face, will you this moment His grace receive? Grace, grace, God's grace, grace
that will pardon and cleanse within. Grace, grace, God's grace, grace
that is greater than all our sin. Let's open our Bibles now to
Exodus chapter 26. Exodus, the 26th chapter. We'll begin in verse 1. Moreover, thou shalt make the
tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue
and purple and scarlet, with cherubims of cunning works, shalt
thou make them. The length of one curtain shall
be eight and 20 cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits. And every one of the curtains
shall have one measure. The five curtains shall be coupled
together one to another, and the other five curtains shall
be coupled together one to another. And thou shalt make loops of
blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the south edge in
the coupling. And likewise, shalt thou make
in the uttermost edge of another curtain in the coupling of the
second. Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, and
fifty loops shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that
is in the coupling of the second, that the loops may take hold
one of another. And thou shalt make fifty taches
of gold, and couple the curtains together with the taches, and
it shall be one tabernacle. We'll end our reading there.
Let's bow before our Lord together. Our Father, it is with grateful
and thankful hearts that we come together this evening to worship
your matchless name. And Father, we bow before your
throne together with one accord and with one heart, seeking a
blessing, Father. All that you might bless us tonight,
that you might bless us with your spirit, that you would enable
us to worship you in spirit and in truth. Father, I pray that
you would be our teacher as we look into your word. Father,
that you would teach our hearts, that you would reveal to each
heart here the glory of the holiness of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
beauty of his holiness. Father, enable us to truly see
and to stand in awe and wonder at such a savior who would come
to save vile, guilty, wretched sinners like we are. Father,
we cry out to you for your mercy and your grace. We beg that you'd
forgive our sins for Christ's sake, that you'd hear our pleas
for Christ's sake. that you'd be merciful to us
for the glory of your son. Bless us tonight, Father, we
pray. Oh, how I beg of you that you not leave us to ourselves
and to our own devices, but that you'd enable us to worship. Cause
your word to go forth in the power of your spirit. And what
we pray for ourselves, Father, we pray for all of your people,
wherever they're meeting together tonight. Father, bless your people
for your namesake. Glorify the name of our Savior
in the midst of your people. Father, we pray that you'd be
pleased to cause a revival to sweep across the land, that you'd
be pleased to move and empower and reveal yourself to your people
here and all across the world. Father, we're so thankful to
know that whatever happens, you've done all things well. You've
done all things right, that there won't be one of your sheep left
lost, but that you'll find them all and you'll bring them all
to thee. Father, we're thankful. Give us the grace and the faith
to rest in thee. And Father, there are many tonight
that we know of and those that we don't know of who are suffering
in times of trouble and trial. Father, we pray for them. We're
thankful to know that these things are not accidents that haven't
happened by happenstance, but according to your eternal will
and purpose. And father, we pray that you'd
comfort the hearts of your people, whatever the valley that you
brought them in, that you'd comfort their hearts, that you'd, that
you would provide whatever it is that is needed. And in your
time father, that you would be pleased to deliver all these
things we ask in that name, which is above every name. the name
of Christ our Savior, amen. Now I've titled the message tonight,
The White Linen, The Holiness of Christ. Now there are four
coverings over top of the tabernacle, and you put them all together,
we see the person of Christ, Christ the Redeemer. Now tonight,
we're only gonna have time to look at the first covering, There's
so much good here, I want us to just focus on this first covering,
a white linen covering. It formed the ceiling of the
tabernacle. It was white linen, and we don't
have it. I asked Jan if she could remember
why we didn't do it. She couldn't remember either.
But you'll see on the veils, they were embroidered the same
way, with the cherubim. want to try to make a cherubim,
but we put just the colors on here. So you can see these colors
were woven into, embroidered into these curtains. There's
red and purple and blue. Now this is, the white linen
is a stunning, stunning picture. The white linen with these embroidered
cherubims in there is a stunningly beautiful that garment, garment's
not what it is, but curtain, I guess you'd call it, is stunning.
And it's such a good picture of the holiness of Christ. This
thing was made with white linen. Verse one says, moreover, thou
shalt make the tabernacle with 10 curtains of fine twine linen. This is the best linen, pure
white, and blue and purple and scarlet, with cherubims of cunning
work shalt thou make them. Now this white linen, is grown
from flax. You get it from flax. The flax
grows from the ground, which is a picture of the humanity
of Christ, the rod of David, the stem of Jesse. There's a
man coming. That's what all this tabernacle
is just screaming to us. There's a man coming, but this
man is holy. There is no unrighteousness in
him. He's holy. He's harmless. He's
separate from sinners. And you know how people who are
holier than thou, how do they act? Don't come near me. You
might defile me. You're so bad, you might defile
me. Don't come near me. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is
actually holy, what does he tell sinners? Come to me. And boy,
they came, didn't they? Publicans and sinners flocked
to him. There were crowds just thronging him, just reaching
out and touching him. Remember when the woman with
the issue of blood touched the hem of his garment? And he said,
somebody touched me. And the disciples said, Lord,
everybody's touching you. They're just thronging you. He
wasn't afraid for sinners to be touching him like that. There
were times a sinner would fall at his feet and grab a hold of
his feet. The Apostle John leaned on the Savior's breast at the
supper. He wasn't afraid for sinners
to touch him. They never did defile him. Even though he was
around sinners, surrounded by them all the time, he ate with
publicans and sinners. He had fellowship with sinners
and was never defiled because he's holy. His nature is holy
and that nature cannot change. Now that is a glorious truth
to say about our Savior. And everybody here already knew
that, how our Savior, he's holy, he's harmless, there's no sin
in him, there's no guile found in his mouth. But you want to
talk about the grace of this one who's holy. His holiness
is the holiness of his people. His holiness is holiness that
he gives to his people freely. And it has to be. If we would
be saved, we have to be made holy. Holy and sinless. I mean, I hate to say as holy
as God because there's no degrees of holiness, right? You either
are or you're not. But this is what we say to try
to understand the magnitude of what we're saying. Salvation
is being made as holy as God himself. That's the only way
the holy God can accept the likes of us. And Christ came to make
his people holy I can show you that if you look at Revelation
chapter 19. One of the things I love about
the tabernacle is the depth of the many, many pictures of Christ
that you find in it. Turn all the way over to the
end of the book, we're still seeing pictures that we see back
from the tabernacle. Revelation 19 verse 8. And to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine
linen is the righteousness of saints. Now you notice that didn't
say the righteousness of Christ that they wore as a robe over
them, did it? It's the righteousness of saints. Well, why didn't it
say the righteousness of Christ? Well, it is the righteousness
of Christ, but it's hers because he gave it to her. It's the saints
because he gave it to them and it's theirs. Now this glorious
truth that Christ is coming, He's holy in His person, and
He's going to make His people holy. The only way that you could
ever see this white cover is if you're inside the tabernacle.
Normally, these coverings all cover it up. If you just look
at the tabernacle, the only thing you ever saw was this badger
skin, which we'll get to next week. But the only way you could
see this white linen with the glorious embroidered cherubims
over it, if you were in the tabernacle. You had to be in it to see it.
Well, the only way that you can see the glory of Christ's holiness
is by faith. You got to be in Christ to see
it. And here's the amazing thing,
God makes some people to see it. I mean, a lot of people can't
see it. Many people who knew the Lord
Jesus, they saw Him in His bodily presence, they had no clue He
was God. They had no clue that He was
holy. They might have thought He was
a teacher, that He's somehow better than most, but they thought
He was just a common, ordinary man with sins just like they
had. They couldn't see His holiness. They couldn't see the glory of
it. But some people did, didn't they? God gave some people eyes
to see. The Apostle John said, he was
made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. We saw
it, we saw. Now I ask you, do you see? Do you see the holiness of Christ? Do you see the wonder of it? Do you see the grace of it, that
the only way you could ever be holy is in Christ's holiness,
that he gives it to you, that he makes you holy? Do you see
you have no hope of making yourself holy? If you're ever gonna be
holy and accepted of God, it's got to be in the holiness of
Christ given to you. Do you see that? Then blessed
are your eyes, for they see, they see. God gave you those
eyes to see. Then in that white, curtain that
formed the ceiling of the tabernacle, they were blue threads. Now blue
is the color of the sky, at least on a pretty day, blue's the color
of the sky. This blue is telling us this
man who's coming is God from heaven. This one who's coming
is the Sovereign. He's the Sovereign Savior. He's
the life giver. If there's going to be life given
to dead sinful men, it's got to come from above. It can't
come from beneath, can it? It can't come from us. It can't
come from the ground that's cursed because of Adam's fall. If there's
going to be life, it's got to come from us from above. And
that's what this blue is a picture of. There were, we just have
one curtain there, but there were ten curtains. And they were
connected with blue loops and gold patches. All of this is
connected and held together by God. The blue, a picture of God
from heaven. The gold, a picture of the deity
of Christ. Holiness can only come from heaven. And not only can it only come
from heaven, God's telling us in the tabernacle, he's coming.
He's coming to bring that to his people. He's coming to give
it as a gift to his people. Christ is coming to give the
gift of holiness to dead, defiled sinners and make them holy. He's going to do it by dying
the death that they deserve, by taking their sin away from
them and giving them His holiness and washing their sin away by
His precious blood. Now can you imagine a greater
gift than that? That's what's coming, this one
who's coming is coming to bring the gift of holiness. Isaiah
said, Isaiah 9 verse 6, unto us a child is born, unto us a
son is given. This son who's coming is given,
he's coming down from heaven as a gift of God. Romans 6 verse
23 says, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God
is eternal life, and how's that life come? through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. It's a gift. John 10, verse 28,
the Lord says, I give unto them eternal life. And since he gives
unto them eternal life, what's gonna happen? They shall never
perish, neither should any man pluck them out of my hand. That's
a gift, the gift of security in his holiness. In John 17,
our Savior prayed, as thou has given him power over all flesh,
that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given
them. Christ came to give eternal life to everyone that the Father
gave him to save, to all of God's elect. And after our Lord's death, burial,
resurrection, he was sent back to the Father. John wrote in
1 John 5 verse 11, this is the record, that God hath given to
us eternal life. Christ came to give eternal life
to his people, and he did it. And this life is in his son. Christ came from heaven to give
holiness to his people. So if you're holy, you can't
die. There's no reason that you would
ever die. That's how he gives eternal life to his people, by
making them holy. This is coming from heaven. This
is such good news. If you know you're a sinner,
this is good news. You don't have to produce this
holiness yourself. Christ came from heaven to give
it to his people. Then there were purple threads
through there, woven all throughout that white linen. Purple is the
color of kings, the color of royalty. This one who's coming
is the sovereign. One of his names in scripture
is the potentate. He's the sovereign. He is the
one that we've sinned against, and he's the king. Now, if he's
the king, and he is, one of the things that means is this, he
doesn't have to save us. He does not have to save us.
I don't know if it's this bad in all the world, but I know
it's this bad in America. We've got our rights. We've got
our rights. Long time ago, we started giving
everybody in Little League a trophy. Whether you didn't win a game
or not, everybody gets a trophy. So we think, I got my rights. I deserve my chance. I deserve
my trophy. God does not owe you and me a
chance at all. And you better be thankful. Because
if God left salvation, gave us a chance to be saved, you know
how many of us would be saved? None. There's none that doeth
good. There's none that seeketh after
God. We would never come to Christ
unless he drew us to him. The sovereign saves whom he will,
when he will. And people can get mad about
that, but you know what God said about it? God said, that's my
greatest glory. Remember when Moses asked God,
show me your glory. You know, you'd think after Moses
saw all the miracles in Egypt, he saw the Red Sea parted. I
mean, the things that Moses had seen God do. And then he prays,
Lord, show me your glory. God said, all right, Moses, I'll
show you my glory. Here it is. I'll be merciful
to whom I will be merciful. I have mercy on whom I will have
mercy. I'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious. There's going to be some undeserving
sinners. and I'm gonna save them. That's my greatest glory. They
don't deserve it. They have sinned against me.
They're never gonna ask for it, but I'm gonna save them anyway.
I'm gonna save them by my grace anyway. Moses, that's my greatest
glory. The glory of the king choosing
to save whom he will. Now that's a fact of scripture.
You can go all through scripture. I mean, you cannot hide from
it. unless you just wanna absolutely
close your eyes so you don't see it, you can't miss it. God
is king. Christ is king. He's the sovereign
savior who'll save whom he will. And whoever it is he saves is
gonna be plumb saved. Now, rather than fight against
that and say, I deserve my chance, tell you what we'd be wise to
do. Seek the king and follow his feet and beg him, Lord, save
me. Lord, if you will, you can save
me. Lord, would you get glory to
your name for saving somebody as rotten as me? If you save
me, surely you're gonna get so much glory for this because I'm
so rotten, I'm so sinful, I'm so hopeless. Lord, get glory
to yourself by saving me. Would you do that? The Lord answers
that kind of prayer, doesn't he? You come seeking the king, if
you ever find Christ, that's where you're gonna find him.
You're gonna find him enthroned as king. I mean, when the child
Jesus was, I guess, still a babe in arms, I don't know, maybe
he was a little fella, people don't exactly know the timeline
for sure. But remember when the wise men
came asking for him, they were seeking him. Who did they say
they were seeking? Where is he who's born king of
the Jews? Now there's that Jewish baby
born to dirt poor parents, parents who got nothing. They got no
pedigree. They got no money. They got,
I mean, they got nothing and nothing. And there's this baby
they got wrapped in rags. He was born in a barn for goodness
sakes. How did they see he's king? They
bowed and worshiped him. How did they see he's king? God
gave them eyes to see. He put them in the tabernacle,
didn't he? and let them see that the glory of his holiness, his
kingship, they bowed before him as king. David said in Psalm
115, wherefore should the heathen say, where is now their God?
I mean, why should anybody say that? This is obvious, David
says, our God's in the heavens. And you want me to tell you what
he's doing there? Whatever he's pleased to do.
Whatever it is he had done, whatsoever he is pleased. You know why he's
done whatever he's pleased? Because he's king. He's king. And the tabernacle tells us this
king is coming to earth. He's coming to earth to save
his people from their sin. I read it to open the scripture,
open the service this evening. When Isaiah saw the Lord, how
did he see him? I lifted up on the throne. Now Isaiah's got something to
say. You know, before Isaiah saw the Lord, this guy was tough
to live with. I mean, wasn't he? He was woeing
everybody. I mean, woe is you for this, and woe is you for
this, and woe is you for this. He probably wasn't wrong, but
my goodness, I got enough trouble looking at my own self and just
beating up my own self for all my sin and for all my shortcomings.
Somebody else woeing me. Join the chorus, buddy. I mean,
that's hard to live with. When Isaiah saw the Lord, he
saw him as king, he said, hear my sin me. And after that, he
wrote that great epistle, what we call the gospel, according
to Isaiah. That's such a clear picture of
Christ who's coming. But Isaiah had nothing to say
until he saw Christ high and lifted up, did he? John, I mean,
that's how it is on all on earth. How is it in heaven? Well, when
John got a glimpse of glory, what did he see? He saw the lamb
in the midst of the throne. He saw Christ on the throne. Now, brother, if words mean anything,
Christ is king. He's king. Bow down. Let's bow down before him. David
said, kiss the son, lest he be angry when his wrath is kindled
but a little. Kiss the son. Bow down before him because he's
king. And I promise you this, you and
I are in his hands to do with as he pleases. Whatever he does
is right. If he's found a way to make it
right to save me, I'm going to beg him to do it. How about you? He's king, he can. But you know
what else purple is? It's the mixture of blue and
red. Blue is the color of heaven. Red is the color of man, the
color of Adam. And when you mix the color of
God, blue, and the color of man, red, you get purple. You get purple. Two colors make
one color. And this is the mystery that's
told all throughout the tabernacle. Every detail of the tabernacle
tells us this. The God man is coming. The one
who's coming, there's two natures, one man. That's what we saw in
the incorruptible wood and the gold, over and over and over.
We're gonna see it in a little while, the incorruptible wood
covered with the brass. Two elements, one piece of furniture. There's two natures, but one
man coming. That's the theme of the tabernacle. The God-man is coming. The God-man
is coming. He is as much God as if he were
not man. And as much man as if he were
not God, 100% God and 100% man. Now that's heavenly arithmetic.
That won't work, Landry, on any test you got in school. 100 and
100 makes 100. But that's the God man. He's
100% God and 100% man. And he's coming. The first time I ever taught
the tabernacle was to children in vacation Bible school. My
daughter, Holly, was in that class. And after a couple days,
she came home and told her mama that Janet taught the little
ones in Sunday school, and she always told them that the Old
Testament says, someone's coming, someone's coming, someone's coming,
someone's coming. And Holly told her mama, I know
the Old Testament says someone's coming, someone's coming. She
said the tabernacle screams Someone's coming. Someone's coming. And he's coming to do something
so marvelous, something only the God man can do. Save his
people from their sins. If God's going to save sinners
like you and me, he's got to be God. So he's got the holiness,
the sinlessness, the righteousness to save. But he's also got to
be a man so he can be our representative. And that's who's coming. You
think what king on earth would go live in the slums for the
good of his subjects? I bet there's never been one.
None but Christ our Savior, the king, made himself what we are
so he could save his people from their sins. And that's where
the scarlet threads come in. And you know what scarlet is
a picture of. It's a picture of the blood.
But now we're not talking about just any blood here, not the
blood of bulls and goats and calves. This is the blood of
the God-man when he made himself a sacrifice for our sin. I'll
show you something so wonderful. Look at Psalm 22. The word translated
scarlet there in Exodus chapter 26, the Hebrew word is a scarlet
worm. That's what it means, a scarlet
worm. And here that word is again in Psalm 22 verse 6. This is our Savior speaking,
the Psalm of the cross. He says, but I am a worm and
no man of reproach of men and despised of the people. Now this
is what the Savior says after he's been made sin for his people. He despised his own self when
he was made sin for his people. so that he called himself a worm. And that word worm is the exact
same word translated scarlet in our text. It's a scarlet worm. And I'll tell you what I read
about that worm. The female, when she is ready to give birth
to her larva, I guess is what they are, you know what she does?
She goes and attaches herself to a tree. And once she attaches
herself to that tree, she'll never leave it. She'll die there,
giving birth to her children, her larvae. And when her larvae
are born, out from that worm comes this scarlet color, dye,
whatever it is, and it stains the tree. And it's always there,
forevermore, and her larvae go off and live their little worm
life, you know. But that's what this scarlet
worm is, and they would go and they'd scrape that scarlet off
the tree, And that's what they used to dye linen in to make
these scarlet threads. Did you ever imagine such a picture?
Christ our Savior was made sin for his people so that he called
himself a worm. A scarlet worm who affixed himself
to the tree. Don't you ever think that Roman
nails held him to that tree. It was his love for his people
that held him to that tree. He didn't stay in that tree in
weakness. It was his power that held him
to the tree, his power to save his people, his power to glorify
his father. And he died on that tree. And
the blood that he shed put away all of the sin of all of his
people that was laid on him and washed him white as snow. the
scarlet worm. Now the tabernacle was a very,
very bloody place. All the sacrifices that were
offered there, I mean they were offering sacrifices constantly. This courtyard around the brazen
altar was just, there's blood everywhere. And how often do
you read about the priest catching the blood in the basin and going
sprinkling the blood on the different pieces in the tabernacle? There's
blood everywhere and they're doing it over and over and over
and over and again telling us there's someone coming who's
got blood that will actually put away sin. This blood won't
do it. This blood can only be a picture. This blood is a picture
of one is coming that will atone for sin. Look over to Hebrews
chapter 10. I think sometimes, what a sight
it would have been to see this tabernacle in use. What a sight
it would have been on the Day of Atonement when Aaron's offering
these sacrifices and bringing the blood into the tabernacle
and behind the veil. I mean, that would have been
a sight. But I have to tell you, I am so thankful I did not live
under that administration. Because now we see. I mean, Aaron and everybody did. But somebody had some idea. This
is telling me someone's coming. You and I are blessed to be told
who it is. Look here at Hebrews 10 verse one. For the law, having
a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things,
can never with those sacrifices, which they offered year by year
continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would
they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshipers,
once purged, should have no more conscience of sins, If those
animal sacrifices could have put away sin, they wouldn't have
ever felt they had to offer another one. But in those sacrifices,
there's a remembrance, again, made of sins every year, for
it's not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should
take away sins. Now look over at verse nine.
See, that animal blood was just a picture telling us someone's
coming. Now here he is, verse nine. Then said he, lo, I come,
to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that
he may establish the second, by the which will we're sanctified,
we're made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. And every priest ended daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. But this man, after he'd offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down. on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting to his enemies be made his footstool,
for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Well, the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us, for after that he had said before, this is the
covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith
the Lord. I'll put my laws into their hearts
and in their minds while I write them, and their sins and their
iniquities will I remember no more. Now the blood of goats
and calves and bullocks was just a remembrance again, constantly
reminding us of our sin. Once the blood of Christ was
offered, the father said, I'll remember their sins no more. And you know why the father won't
remember him anymore? Because they're gone. They're
gone under the blood of Christ. This one who's coming is coming
to redeem his people from their sins. Look at Colossians chapter
one. How precious is this blood? Oh, how precious. Colossians one verse 14. In whom we have redemption, through
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. This is why Peter called
the blood of Christ precious. The blood of bulls and goats
can't do it, but the precious blood of Christ can. The blood
of Christ is so precious. Maybe it's offensive to some
people. I've heard preachers say all
my life, people are offended by hearing all this bloody gospel,
this blood and this gore. Probably so, I mean, I have to
tell you, Sean, I've never met anybody that said that, maybe
so. But this bloody gospel is precious to me. Oh, I love to
think about the blood. I love to think about what scripture
says about the blood. You know what the father says
about the blood of Christ? It's precious to him. It's precious
enough. to pay the redemption price for
all of his people. It's precious to the Father.
Buddy, that makes it precious to me too. It's my only hope
of forgiveness. It's my only hope of redemption.
And the blood of Christ is sweet. It's a sweet thing to talk about
and think about and trust in and rest in, sweet to rest in
the blood of Christ, because scripture says the blood of Christ
is a sweet savor to the Father. Now if it's sweet to the Father,
boy, it's sweet to us too. the blood of Christ. There's
nothing more precious than the blood of Christ. And this tabernacle
tells us he's coming to shed that blood willingly as a sacrifice
to put away the sin of his people. My, my, my. I don't ever want to get over
that. I reckon I never tried to keep, kept stats on this,
but I just reckon we say that in every message we preach. About
the blood of Christ, how he willingly shed his blood to put away the
sin of a people, rebellious, sinful people like we are. That's
the most glorious thing anybody's ever heard. I hope we never become
so familiar with that that we lose the awe and the wonder the
worship that there is, the thanksgiving that there is in that, the precious
blood of Christ. Then the Lord told Moses, he
gave somebody, women, the ability to do this cunning work. They
took these colors and wove them through this fine linen and made
cherubim. They embroidered, I guess is
what you'd say, cherubim. Now cherubim are not, What we
think of, I bet, what went through everybody's mind when you heard
about a cherub or a cherubim is this cute kind of chubby child,
you know, with the wings that's on birthday cards and these kinds
of things, you know. That's not a cherubim at all.
A cherubim is a mighty living creature. Ezekiel described them,
you can read about that. Ezekiel talked more about cherubims
than anybody. But these are mighty living creatures. I mean, I would kind of think
they're kind of frightening to look at. I mean, they're mighty. And I do know what cherubims
are a picture of. They're a picture of God's judicial
authority over man. When Adam sinned and God cast
Adam out of the garden, what did he do? He put a cherubim
there with a flaming sword that turned every which way. so that
Adam couldn't come back to the tree of life. These are pictures
of God's judicial authority. And this is what the tabernacle's
telling us. Christ the God-man, he's coming. And he's coming
with all authority. He's coming in grace, he's coming
in mercy, he's coming in love for his people. The grace and
mercy and love of Christ, his pity for sinners, that he's the
friend of sinners, But don't you ever forget this, he got
the keys of hell and death too. Now this one has all authority
in heaven and earth, and he's to be worshipped. He's to be
worshipped, he's to be bowed to, he's to be begged. It's not,
oh, won't you let Jesus into your heart now? No, this is the
one with all authority. If he wants in, he's coming in.
I mean, he's going to kick the door down. He's coming in, and
when he comes into your heart, he's going to sit on the throne
of it. I mean, he rules and reigns. He has all power. Now, that certainly does mean
he has power to destroy us, you and me, if we don't bow to him.
He's absolutely got that power, and one day he'll use it. But he also has power to save. to save the worst of sinners
and he delights to do it. He delights to do it. Now this
just can't, this is, you see how clear this is? He's got the
power to save and he delights to do it. Don't you reckon it
would be a mighty good idea for you and me to beg him to use
that power to save us. Ask him to do what he delights
to do to save a guilty sinner that can't do anything save himself.
Good idea. And I want to close with this.
When they put this ceiling over top of the tabernacle, the priests
went there and did their work. They're keeping oil in the lamp
stand. They're putting the bread on
the table of show bread. They're putting the coals and
the incense on the altar of incense. They're doing their work, the
things that they're supposed to be doing in there. And all
the time, they're doing it. They're doing it under the shadow
of the wings of those cherubim. That's a picture of hiding in
Christ, being safe in him, being covered with his feathers, being
covered with the feathers of his wings. David said in Psalm
91 verse four, he shall cover thee with his feathers and under
his wings shalt thou trust. If you're hiding in Christ, you're
hiding under His power. You're hiding under His holiness. You're hiding under His precious
blood. You're hiding under His authority
as God and King. I want to tell you, you're safe
from all wrath. If you're wrapped in the holiness
of Christ, there is nothing for you to fear. No charge against
you can ever stick. You can never be condemned if
you're wrapped in the holiness of Christ. The tabernacle told
us he's coming. The New Testament told us he's
come. And I pray God will give each
of us the faith to believe him, trust him. All right, let's bow
together. Our Father, I thank you that
you've given us this time that we might open your word and read
and study it and seek Christ in it. And Father, I pray now
that you would bless your word as it's been preached, that you
would take your word and powerfully and effectively apply it to each
heart here, that each one of us can leave here tonight trusting
in Christ, finding such peace and joy and comfort in resting
in him, wrapped in his holiness, wrapped in his power, wrapped
in who he is, safe and protected under his wings. Father, it's a great, great blessing,
great undeserved blessing to ask for your mercy, to ask for
your salvation. But Father, for the glory of
your son, we beg of you that you be pleased. to save us here
tonight. It's in Christ's name, for his
sake and his glory we pray, amen. All right, Sean. Okay, if you
would turn in your hymnals to song number 310 and stand as
we sing Wider Than Snow. 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 Whiter than snow, yes, whiter than snow Now wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. Lord Jesus, look down from thy
throne in the skies, and help me to make a complete sacrifice. I give up myself and whatever
I know. Now wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow. Whiter than snow, yes, whiter
than snow. Now wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow. Lord Jesus, for this I most humbly
entreat, I wait, blessed Lord, at Thy crucified feet. By faith for my cleansing, I
see thy blood flow. Now wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. Whiter than snow, yes, whiter
than snow. Now wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. Lord Jesus, thou seest I patiently
wait. Come now, and within me a new
heart create. To those who have sought thee,
thou never said no. Now wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. Whiter than snow, yes, whiter
than snow. Now wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow.