I greatly enjoy looking at pictures,
especially old pictures of family, especially family members that
I did not know. I enjoy looking at pictures of
things where we've been. I enjoy looking at pictures of
various people in history. I find some piece of paper written
by some man to try to find out who he is and try to look up
something about him. But I want to see his picture
if I can. I don't know why, just curiosity I suppose. I like looking
at pictures. I want us tonight to go back
and look at a picture of God's salvation. Numbers chapter 7. Numbers chapter 7. We begin reading in verse one. And it came to pass on the day
that Moses had fully set up the tabernacle and had anointed it
and sanctified it and all the instruments thereof. both the
altar and all the vessels thereof, and had anointed them and sanctified
them, that the princes of Israel, heads of the house of their fathers,
who were the princes of the tribes and were over them that were
numbered, offered. And they brought their offerings
before the Lord, six covered wagons, 12 oxen, a wagon for
two of the princes, and for each one an ox. And they brought them
before the tabernacle. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Take it of them, that they may be to do the service
of the tabernacle of the congregation. And thou shalt give them unto
the Levites, to every man according to his service. And Moses took
the wagons and the oxen and gave them unto the Levites. Verse
89. And when Moses was gone into
the tabernacle of the congregation to speak with him, then he heard
the voice of one speaking unto him from off the mercy seat that
was upon the ark of the testimony from between the two cherubims,
and he spake unto him. God spoke to Moses from the mercy
seat. Oh, may he be pleased to do that
for us this hour. Spirit of God, speak to us as
that one scent of our Savior. Speak to us from him and of him
and let us hear his voice and worship him. Moses made the tabernacle
in the wilderness exactly according to the pattern that God gave
him in Mount Sinai The pattern God gave him in Mount Sinai was
Jesus Christ crucified I don't know how to state this as emphatically
as I want to state it I don't know how to state it clearly
enough to be sure certain you understand what I'm saying Moses
was shown by God in these various instruments of worship exactly
how Christ, the incarnate God, would accomplish redemption and
save his people from their sins. The tabernacle is a picture of
God's salvation. The whole thing is a picture
of God's salvation. It's a picture of Christ. Yes,
it's a picture of Christ. But that picture of Christ includes
God's salvation. When you get to Exodus chapter
40, the end of the book of Exodus, Moses entered into the tabernacle
that was pitched, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
Because when the tabernacle was pitched, God had shown Moses
all his glory in the saving of sinners by Jesus Christ and him
crucified. Moses made the tabernacle in
the wilderness according to this pattern that God showed him in
the mountain. And when the tabernacle was set
up and sanctified, anointed, and everything was fixed exactly
as God would have it, the tabernacle had three compartments. There was the outer court, which
was slightly bigger than our building here, about 75 feet
by 150 feet. In that outer court, you had
the brazen altar and the lever. And then you came to the holy
place, approximately 15 by 45 feet. It contained the table
of showbread and the golden candlestick and the altar of incense. And
then you come into the holy of holies, the most holy place. It was separated from the holy
place by a thick veil. In that most holy place, there
was just one piece of furniture. There stood the Ark of the Covenant
covered with the mercy seat. with the cherubims looking down
from each end on the mercy seat. The tabernacle was a simple tent. Nothing about it was appealing.
It was a tent made of earthly material on the outside, crude
earthly material. Earthly material that had no
appeal to the flesh. But on the inside, everything was different. Everything was glorious. Everything
inside the tabernacle was gold, overlaid with gold, gold and
silver. The wood would not decay or rot,
overlaid with gold. I spoke of Christ Jesus, our
Lord. the meek one, the lowly one, who laid aside, that is,
he visibly laid aside. I mean by that, he did not show
his glory as God when he came into the world, but rather laid
it aside and he took on himself our humanity, our flesh. He walked on this earth as one
of us, but he remains still the great and glorious God. He never
gave up a thing. The whole purpose of the tabernacle
was to give God's saints of old a visible, prophetic, clear picture
of God's salvation in Christ Jesus. And let's look at this
tabernacle together again tonight. First, as you approach the tabernacle,
the first thing you see standing by the gate and the brazen altar
is a sacrificing priest. The sacrificing priest, of course,
represents Christ, our great high priest. You can turn to
a couple of passages of Scripture with me. Turn to Hebrews chapter
5, Hebrews 5. The apostle Paul in the book
of Hebrews is showing the Hebrew believers how that Christ and
his gospel are better than things before. Christ is a better priest
than Aaron and his sons. Hebrews five and verse one. Every
high priest taken from among men is ordained for men. The priest is taken from among
men, he's ordained for men in things pertaining to God that
he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. Who can have compassion
on the ignorant and on them they're out of the way For that he himself
also is compassed with infirmities Our Lord Jesus Christ taken from
among men He became a man And the Lord God laid help upon him,
the mighty man. But this man who is touched with
the feeling of our infirmities and has compassion on the ignorant. Verse three, and by reason hereof,
he ought as for the people, so also for himself to offer for
sins. And no man taketh this honor
unto himself, but he that is called of God as was Abraham.
No man presumes to be a priest, So also the Lord Jesus Christ
glorified not himself to be made an high priest, but he that said
unto him, thou art my son, today have I begotten thee. He said,
thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Our
Savior was taken from among men. He was a man, but a man without
blemish, holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. One
who had no sin, knew no sin, and did no sin. A merciful and
faithful, compassionate high priest. The priest chosen and
ordained of God. And all the garments of the priest
spoke of him, our blessed Savior. He had a mitre, a golden plate
that read, holiness to the Lord, holiness and perfection of Christ's
nature is that which gives us merit before God. The holiness
and perfection of his nature as the God-man, our mediator.
His white linen garments speak of righteousness, his righteousness,
the garments of salvation. His girdle speaks of Christ as
our strength. The breastplate the priest wore
had inscribed on it the names of the 12 tribes of the children
of Israel, because our Lord Jesus, our representative before God,
our great high priest, has our names inscribed upon his heart.
Always our names are engraved upon his heart. His effort, the
apron that held the breastplates, that apron with 12 souls bearing
the names of the 12 tribes of Israel, speaks of Christ who
bears God's elect upon his shoulders. He assumed all responsibility
for us before the world began, and he did the work of redemption
on our behalf, a work done for God's elect and God's elect alone.
But a priest without a sacrifice is useless. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
as every priest of old ordained of God, had a sacrifice. A sacrifice
that brings us to God. Those priests of old brought
sacrifices, offered them in the tabernacle upon God's altar.
All of them spoke of Christ. They were strong beasts, oxen,
males of the first year. They were tame beasts. They were
led to the altar, not driven to the altar. They were beasts
without blemish, innocent as Christ our Lord is holy, harmless,
undefiled, and separate from sinners. And yet these strong,
strong beasts were gentle, gentle as doves. Our Lord Jesus is such
an offering. He's the offering we bring to
God. Every offering of the Old Testament,
Every one of them, the burnt offering, the meat offering,
the peace offering, the trespass offering, the sin offering, all
of them spoke of Jesus Christ, our sacrifice. He's the sacrifice
in whom sinners have access to God. He's the sacrifice by whom
sinners come to God and find acceptance with God. If we come
to God, we must come to God by faith in Jesus Christ. You can't
come to God but by faith in Jesus Christ. We draw near to God and
have acceptance with God by faith in Jesus Christ alone. The next
thing we see as we approach the tabernacle is the brazen altar.
This altar and his burnt sacrifices that were offered upon it represent
Christ our altar over Hebrews chapter 13 Hebrews 13 verse 10 We have no material altars in
the worship of God We have no altar in God's house. We don't
have an altar at the front of the church building. We don't
have an altar in our homes. Christ is our altar and he's
in heaven. And those who worship at a physical
altar cannot worship at Christ our altar. You gotta take your
choice. You can either have a physical,
tangible altar, or you can worship God in spirit and in truth. You
can't have both. Hebrews 13, verse 10. We have
an altar whereof they have no right, no power to eat which
serve the tabernacle. Dying upon the cross, our Lord
Jesus was our burnt offering to God. The fire of God's wrath
fell upon him there. As all the excrement and filthy
parts of the slain beast were burned upon the altar, so our
sin, all our sins. were burned upon the altar when
Christ was made sin for us and he bare the wrath of God, the
burning of God's wrath in his soul unto the full satisfaction
of divine justice and quenched the fire. Standing between the
brazen altar and the holy place is the labor of brass. Every
priest, turn to Titus chapter 3, Titus 3. Every priest, before
entering the holy place to do service for the Lord, had to
wash his hands and his feet. Every time he started to go into
the tabernacle, he stopped by this laver of brass and washed
his hands and his feet. This represents our sanctification,
our regeneration by God the Holy Ghost, making us new creatures
in Christ, creating in us that holiness without which no man
shall see the Lord. We are those washed from our
sins in the blood of Christ, washed in Christ's blood by the
washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. Titus
3 verse 3. We ourselves also were sometime
foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers' lust and pleasures,
living in malice and in hateful and hating one another. But after
that, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared. not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by
the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which
he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, that
being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according
to the hope of eternal life. Before you can worship and serve
God, Before you can come to God and find acceptance with God,
you must be personally washed. You must personally wash and
bathe yourself in the precious blood of Christ. Yes, it is God
the Holy Ghost who washes us. It is God, the Holy Ghost, who
opens the fountain. It is God, the Holy Ghost, who
plunges us into the fountain. But we must personally bathe
ourselves by faith in the blood of Christ. There is a fountain
filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners
plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. This
washing involves personal faith. All who wash in the labor are
holy before God. And as the priest washed in this
labor daily, so you and I must bathe daily, continually in the
word of God, applying the blood of Christ to ourselves, asking
the Savior to wash us again that we may be cleansed from the defilements
of sin. Fourth, let's go with God's priest
into the holy place. In Moses' day, none but the priest
could go into that sanctuary. We, you and I who trust Christ,
are priests. So let's lift up the veil and
go in. What do you see in that holy
place? There are three things. First in the holy place is the
golden candlestick. with its seven lamps burning.
You have a shaft and seven lamps on the shaft. That's Christ Jesus,
the light of the world. The lights burn only to show
forth the glory of him who is the lampstand and to show his
glory to those who come into the holy place. There were seven
lamps on the candlestick. Seven, the number of perfection,
shows us that Christ is the perfect revelation of God. The only light
in the holy place was the candlestick. And the only light any man has
into the things of God is the light that Christ gives by his
Spirit. The natural man understandeth
not the things of the Spirit of God, their foolishness to
it, Neither can he know them because they're spiritually disturbed
discerned. We understand this book Only
as God the Holy Ghost Gives us understanding We understand each
portion of the book only as God the Holy Ghost gives us understanding
Shelby came in the other day, I think I mentioned this Sunday,
asking me about a passage of scripture. And she said, Hawker
didn't say anything about it, Spurgeon didn't say anything
about it, Matthew Henry didn't say anything about it. I said,
there's a good reason for that. They didn't understand it. I
don't either. I don't either. Maybe God will
give me some understanding. But we recognize there are things
in the book we don't understand. And we don't understand them
only because God hasn't given us light to understand them.
We should not guess what they mean. Let us rather wait for
God to show us what they mean. These seven golden candlesticks
also represent the churches of Christ. The churches of Christ
holding forth the word of life, the light of life in this dark
world. And we see that in Revelation
1. God's church is in this candlestick, those seven churches. And we
hold forth the light of life in a dark world. Bidding sinners
look to Christ. On the north side of the sanctuary,
standing on your right as you come up, is the table of sure
bread. That's Christ, the bread of life.
There were 12 loaves on the table, bread provided for all the tribes
of Israel. As God's manner was given alone
to Israel, so his grace is given alone to his elect. And the bread
was always on the table. It was always on the table. Always
on the table. Food for your soul. Always ready
at the hands of Christ, the bread of life. His grace, always ready. His mercy, always ready. His compassion, always ready. All you need do is come to the
table and feast upon him. I called a friend of mine today.
Some of you may know Steve and Wanda Jones. Steve and Wanda
are in the church in Newcastle. I've known them for many, many
years. Steve dropped dead with a heart attack yesterday. He
was just out working the yard in one of their houses and dropped
dead. He'd been dead a couple hours
by the time Wanda found him. And I tried to speak to her just
a little bit and let her know the hurt is real. No need to
pretend you don't hurt. But I promise you, God's grace
you will find sufficient today and tonight and tomorrow. As
you need it, you'll find it sufficient because His bread is always on
the table. Always. Never have I gone to
the throne of grace seeking grace. I didn't find grace. Never have
I gone to the throne of grace seeking mercy. I didn't find
mercy. Never have I gone to the throne
of grace seeking help in time of need. I didn't find the help.
Exactly the help that was needed. Sitting in the back against the
veil is the altar of incense. This too is Christ. Christ our
intercessor. Christ our mediator. Christ,
that one who constantly, constantly makes us accepted before God
with all our services, all our songs of praise, all our gifts,
and all our sacrifices. The incense burned perpetually
upon this altar because Christ's intercession for us is perpetual. Our advocate in heaven, always
pleads our cause. Our advocate in heaven always
pleads our cause, and he prays for us exactly as we need, for
exactly what we need, and bestows it to us, seeking our constant
acceptance with the triune God and assuring us of it. standing
between the holy place and the most holy place is this thick,
thick veil, a heavy, heavy curtain. This thick veil, we're told in
Hebrews 10, 20, speaks of our Lord's humanity. This veil was
the only way of access to God. Before man could come to God,
He had to enter in to this thick veil, behind this thick veil,
and find acceptance with God. And the only one who could do
that was the high priest. And he just once a year, and
he would come in with blood, the blood that God had ordered,
the blood of God's paschal lamb, the blood God provided. But when
Christ Jesus cried, it is finished. The veil of the temple was rent
entwined from top to bottom. Scriptures are so minute, from
top to bottom. Why do you say that? Because
people might otherwise think, well, after so many years usage,
it just wore thin and ripped in two. It ripped in two from
top to bottom, this thick veil. declaring to us that justice
is satisfied. Righteousness is established. Sin is gone. There's no cause
now for separation. God's law has been fulfilled.
Reconciliation is made. The way to God is open. Sinners
are welcome. Me too. Me too. The veil rent in two says to
you and me, Let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that
we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Come to God. Come to God now, my brother,
my sister. Come to God now. If never you've
come before, come now. Trust in Christ Jesus. The way
is open. Come into God by faith in Christ.
You come to God with full assurance of faith. Don't you see this
Hebrews 10 I've read it to you many times But we tend to overlook
things that ought to speak peace to us and look for things to
cause us trouble I don't know why that is we have a morbid
way of doing that Especially with regard to spiritual things
Hebrews 10 verse 18 Now where remission of these
is there is no more often for sin You can't offer anything
else to God for sin Having therefore, brethren, boldness, the word
is confidence, to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. I have confidence. Confidence. Anytime I come to
God, when I'm looking to Christ. Don't you? Now when you look
into your feelings, and your experiences, and your knowledge,
and your righteousness, and your goodness, and your works, and
all those things that Satan would have you look to, you don't have
any confidence. You got lots of doubt, and you
ought to have. Can't have any shirts, look what I am. I can't
have any shirts, look what I've done. How can a man be saved
and be like I am? Oh, look away from yourself. Look to Christ. We've come by
the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he, the
Lord Jesus, God our Savior, hath consecrated for us through the
veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having a high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full
assurance of faith. Let us draw near with a true
heart in full assurance of faith. There's that man, Nathanael,
Philip's brother, an Israelite indeed in whom is no God. A man
with a true heart. What's a true heart? A believing
heart. looking nowhere but to Christ,
with full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Now,
entering into the Holy of Holies, we see one glorious, magnificent
piece of furniture. It's called the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant was a
magnificent picture of our Redeemer. It was made of Shinem wood, a
lasting wood, overlaid with gold, representing both the humanity
and the deity of our Savior. The Ark was the symbol of God's
holiness, of God's power, of God's glory. It was carried from
place to place upon the shoulders of the Levites, the high priests,
or the priests, carried by stains laid on their bare shoulders.
Uzzah didn't dare reach out and touch the ark lest he die, but
he did and he died. Only the Levite appointed by
God could carry the ark. They carried the ark on those
days appointed by God. So it is that Christ Jesus is
carried through this world upon the shoulders of faithful men,
chosen and ordained of God by the preaching of the gospel.
And there are three things inside this ark. Inside the ark is the
golden pot that had manna. This is God's provision for sinners
in Christ Jesus. God's provision of life and grace. It was a golden pot, rich. It was a big pot holding an omer
of manna. It had manna, the bread of life. And there was Aaron's rod that
butted. This rod represents God's power, the gospel of God's grace. Christ was smitten by Moses'
rod, you'll remember. That's the rod of the law. The
water of life flows out to sinners by Aaron's rod, the gospel of
God's grace. The gospel of Christ is the power
of God to salvation. This ark, when it was brought
into Dagon's house, you remember, Dagon fell over and fell over
and fell over and fell over because this ark represents the power
of God, the power of God before which the gates of hell must
and shall fall. Inside the ark were the two tables
of law, two tables of stone representing the law, representing God's purpose. The law was written on tables
of stone, both because of the hardness of our hearts and because
of the inflexibility of divine justice. God will not bend. God will not bow. God will not
bow. God will not shake his law to
you. It will not bend. It will not
be broken by him. He won't violate his law. If
he saves, he must save in justice. If he's merciful, he must be
merciful and just. If he's faithful, he must be
faithful and true. The law represents our curse, our condemnation by
reason of sin. The law was always kept in the
ark. Oh, what a good place for the
law. Can any of y'all see down here?
Can anybody see inside there? The things that are in here are
covered up. You can't see them. You can't see them. They're covered
up. The ark was always inside the ark under the mercy seat. The word atonement basically
means covering. Some folks object to using it.
Well, that's a good word. If it can cover from God's eyes,
that's a good covering. It covers our sins, covers our
violation of God's law. The law represents perfect redemption
by Christ as it sits in the ark under the mercy seat. And then
we see the mercy seat. sitting on top of the ark, completely
covering the ark, is the mercy seat. The mercy seat where God
said, I will meet you at the mercy seat. I'll commune with
you from between the cherubim. The word mercy seat means propitiation,
or propitiatory recovery. That's what Christ is to us.
Let's look at two texts of scripture. First John chapter two. First
John chapter 2. My little children, these things
write I unto you that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. I find it wonderful that scripture
is written exactly as it is. John says, I'm writing to you
that you don't see. I preach to you three times a week, two
times these days. I preach to you and urge you,
don't see it. Don't behave like I know you naturally want to
behave. Don't behave like you're naturally
inclined to behave. Don't do the things Satan would
have you do, that your flesh would have you do. Don't see
it. But if you see it, oh, I'm so glad John didn't say that.
He said, and if you see it. And if you see it. And when you see it. We have
an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. And
he, this advocate, the righteous one, Jesus who is the Christ,
he is the propitiation. the justice, satisfying, sin-atoning
sacrifice, the propitiation, the sin-covering sacrifice, the
sin-covering atonement for our sins. Back up to Romans chapter
3, Romans 3. Paul tells us in verse 24 that
we are justified freely by God's grace through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus. Verse 25, whom God has sent forth
to be a propitiation, a atonement covering, a justice
satisfaction, a propitiation through faith in his blood, To
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at
this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth. This mercy seat speaks of God's
sovereign death. He who sits on the mercy seat
is God our Savior. It's a throne of grace. It represents
substitution. Christ died in our room and in
our stead as our substitute. It speaks of sacrifice. This
is where sin is atoned. It speaks of satisfaction. Justice
is satisfied. Christ is our propitiation. The propitiation for our sins. When I was a boy, I raised hell
everywhere I went. And I caused trouble everywhere
I went. I made things in our family miserable for everybody
in the family. and I ashamed everybody I was associated with.
And after God saved me, I tried my best to make up with my mom
and dad particularly, as well as with my sisters. Tried to
make up for all the shame and all the evil and all the heartache
and all the pain. And I realized there's nothing
I could do to make up. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. They didn't look at
it that way. I did. Nothing. Nothing. And before God saved
me, I tried my best when I brought myself to such shame that I was
scared to death of living and scared to death of dying and
scared to death of God. I tried my best to make up with
God. Do good. Read. Read the Bible. Memorize scripture.
Go to church and pray. Do good and read. Read the Bible.
Memorize scripture. Go to church and pray. And pray.
And pray. And pray. And I found out there's
nothing I can do to make up to God. But Christ did. He's our propitiation. The Lord
God looks on him and is satisfied even for me. For me and for any
sinner who looks away from self to Christ. publicans all this
he said God be merciful be propitious to me the sinner he lifted his
eyes bowed his head bowed his heart lifted his eyes to the
ark of God to the mercy seat looking on Christ he said God
be propitious to me the sinner and the Lord God said he went
down to his house justified Isaiah saw this. Isaiah is describing
this mercy seat. In the year the king Uzziah died,
he saw the Lord high and lifted up, seated upon God's throne
between the cherubs. And God spoke and said, lo, your
iniquity is purged. The mercy seat was a symbol of
God's presence where men came to God And God came to men in
mercy. Christ is that one in whom men
come to God and by whom God comes to men in mercy. Come to God
by him and go home tonight justified. Amen.