I have a couple places that you
can study our lesson from. One is Hebrews chapter 13 and
verse 10. And that's where he tells us
what this brazen altar that we're going to study, that's where
he tells us what that altar is. He said, we have an altar. They
had an altar. We have an altar. But those who
serve the tabernacle, they have no right to eat at our tabernacle,
because our altar is the fulfillment of that old altar. And then the
other text is from Exodus 27, verses 1 through 8. The whole of the tabernacle typifies the person and work
of Jesus Christ, our great high priest, and Redeemer. Everything
in it, the little sockets that went into the ground, the linen
fence that went around the courtyard, the poles, and the poles in the
tent itself, and the hangings, and the furniture, and we've
gone over quite a few of those things in this study of the types. In Romans 3, 25, speaking of
the redemption that we have in Christ Jesus,
Paul said, whom God set forth. And he said he set forth Christ,
he set forth Christ to be, in typical language I'm talking
about, back in the Old Testament, he set him forth to be a propitiation
or mercy seed. through faith in his blood to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
past. Now, he's not talking about your
past sins, but he's talking about sins of Old Testament saints. Saints who lived before Christ
ever appeared on this earth. And he set him forth as a propitiation. And when they looked at that
lamb that they brought and laid on that altar, they understood. The priest told them what that
lamb represented. That lamb represented the coming
Redeemer. And through faith in its blood,
through the forbearance of God. And the whole of the priesthood
and the tabernacle was given, as Paul declares in Hebrews 9.9,
as a figure or a type or a pattern. He uses all those words for the
time then present And they would be maintained from that time
until the appearing of Christ or what he calls the time of
reformation. And that's the appearance of
our Savior and our Lord and the accomplishing of our redemption. Now this morning I want us to
look at this brazen altar. What was this altar? What was this altar? Well, the
word altar is a combination of two words. One meaning slaughter,
and the other meaning a place to slaughter. That's what the
word altar means. Maybe a better word might be
instrument, the instrument of slaughter. And this is where
all the burnt offerings and all the sin offerings were to be
offered. They had to bring them to the door of the courtyard,
and the priest would take whatever they brought, the lamb or the
goat or whatever, the two young turtle doves or pigeons, depending
on what they were able to bring. And he'd take those things, and
his first stop was that altar. He had to go to that brazen altar.
The Jews did not individually build a fire at their tent and
offer these sacrifices. These sacrifices had to be offered
by the priest, according to God's instruction, and they were to
be burnt upon this brazen altar. The altar was at the forefront
of all Jewish worship, even before the tabernacle. Abraham built
an altar. Noah built an altar. They all
built an altar. When Cain and Abel, the first
two sons of Adam and Eve, when they came to worship, they came
to an altar. And this altar is at the forefront
of all Jewish worship. It goes clear back to the beginning
of mankind. And it held a preeminent place
in the courtyard. It's the very first thing, when
you came through that gate into the courtyard, the very first
thing you run into was that brazen altar. First thing you see. And it's symbolic, this altar
is symbolic of the crucifixion of Christ and his shed blood
and his bearing the awful wrath of God and his own body on the
tree. This is what Christ did. Our
generation, unfortunately, religion has sunken to such a place of
ignorance that they look upon the cross of Christ, upon Christ
and his appearance on this earth as just a like a martyr or an example or
something to inspire you to do better. But he said to this end came
I into this world. He came into this world to die
on that cross. And the altar that we're studying,
it was about seven foot by seven foot and about four feet high.
That's a pretty good size pit. All right, secondly, let's consider
the makeup of the altar. In Exodus 27, verses one and
two, Moses tells us that the altar was made of shittum wood
overlaid with brass. And again, this speaks of Christ's
dual natures. He had this incorruptible wood
was a picture of his incorruptible humanity, and that brass Several times when you see him,
it talks about him having feet of brass and so on. This brass
had to do with strength, durability. Paul tells us in Hebrews 12,
verse two, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. He endured the cross, despised
the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne
of God. Now this is what we need to take
away from this. The wrath of God for our sins
is eternal wrath. That fire on that altar was never
quenched. That fire burnt continued. And
even so, the wrath of God, it's eternal wrath. Everything about
God is eternal. People wanna argue about eternal
justification. He said, it's God who justifies. Is he eternal? Then so is his
justification. It's just that simple. But his
wrath is eternal wrath. And if you die without the sacrifice,
If you die without him who's pictured on this altar, you'll
bear the wrath of God and you'll bear it forever and ever. Now
he uses that, I didn't make that up, he uses that almost every
time that he talks about those who suffer in hell. The fire
that's not quenched. They shall go away into everlasting
punishment. This brazen altar was built to
endure these symbolic flames which consumed the burnt offerings,
setting our substitute before us, who alone was able to satisfy
God. And then thirdly, this altar,
I want you to look at this in the worship of God, it was just
one altar. There was just one altar. One
brazen altar in all of Jewish worship. One altar. And Christ is our altar. And the altar was not erected
and set before the people to use as they saw fit or used as
they might interpret it or used like they wanted to use it. or even to use at their discretion. The altar was the responsibility
of the priest and no one else observed its offerings or interpreted
its symbolism or partook of its meat. Turn with me to Hebrews
chapter 13. Though it was used by God for
the well-being of all Israel, yet it was tended by the priesthood. Now watch this, Hebrews 13, verse
seven. He said, remember them which
have the rule over you, who has spoken unto you the word of God,
whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation,
that is, the end of their faith and behavior, Jesus Christ. the same yesterday and today
and forever. Be not carried about with divers
and strange doctrines, for it's a good thing that the heart be
established with grace, not with meats which have not profited
them who've been occupied. Therein. And that's where this
text of scripture that I gave you at the beginning follows
these two verses. And he says, we have an altar
whereof they have no right to eat, which continue to serve
the tabernacle. The gospel of Christ is not left
up to the vain imaginations of fallen men. Moses, when he gave
direction for these things to be built, he gave directions
based on the pattern that God showed him in the map. God gave
it to him directly And he gave it to the people, and the people
built these things as God told them to. And the gospel of Christ
is not left up to the vain imaginations of fallen men. It's given to
those whose lives have been consecrated by God to serve and protect and
instruct and defend this gospel. You see, the Jews didn't enter
into the courtyard and do this work. They just brought what
the law demanded. They brought a lamb, they brought
a goat, they brought the pigeons and they handed them to the priest
and the priest went through the door and he took care of it. But they were taught. They were
taught what that lamb was. They were taught what that priest
was going to do with that lamb. They were taught what that high
priest would do. They were taught all these things.
There was just one altar, and time after time, the great sin
of Israel was to be drawn away and make groves. They made groves. In Deuteronomy 16, 21, the Lord
said, thou shalt not plant thee groves of any trees near unto
the altar of the Lord thy God. You're not going to decorate
it up. You're not going to make a pretty little garden around
my altar. That's not what this altar symbolizes. That's not what this altar teaches. Neither shalt thou set up any
image which the Lord thy God hateth. And the building of groves
was the attempt of wicked and ignorant men to draw attention
away from the bloody death of the sacrifice to this beautiful
and appealing garden. And I could just go on and on
and on with the Crystal Cathedral out in California and on. and
on with these what men do. We got one right over in Taylor.
They spent I don't know how many thousands of dollars making a
garden that you walk through outside the church. In 2 Kings 17, 9 it says, and
the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right
against the Lord their God, and they built them high places in
all the cities. from the Tower of the Watchman
to the Fence City. And they set up images and groves
in every high hill and under every green tree. And then they
went there and they didn't slay a sacrifice, they burnt incense. They burnt incense in all the
high places as did the heathen whom the Lord carried away before
them and wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger.
And I see these things, I see them in the building of church
buildings and mosques and temples and all that stuff in our day,
but even more, I see it in the gospel they preach. They decorate that gospel with
flowery terms and with music that has nothing to do with the
gospel of Christ. And in doing so, they're building
a grove. They're drawing attention away
from that bloody sacrifice and putting your mind over on this.
A fella told me one time, he said,
you know, that guy preached two or three days. He was talking
about Scott Richardson. And he said, I went home feeling
bad every night. He said, I always thought when
you went to church, you ought to come away feeling better about
yourself. not really not really he said
we are the circumcision which worship god in the spirit and
what do you say lastly have no confidence in the place uh... we rejoice in christ jesus and
we have no confidence in the place i want you when you leave
here today i don't want you to have it if you had some when
you come in i hope you lose it before you go on No confidence
in the flesh. All your confidence will be in
Christ. So there is in the worship of
God but one altar and that altar is Christ. And that altar is
made to show the wrath of God upon our substitute that God
might be righteous in the remission of our sins. And then fourthly,
the altar was designed with a great in the midst of it. I think he
calls it a screen. But a grate is what he's talking
about. And he built this grate in the midst of it that the ashes
might pass through. And then he also built pans to
catch the ashes. Now I was raised with wood and
coal heat. And it was my job, even as a
little fella, it was my job in the morning and in the evening
go in there and I'd shake him, I'd shake that grate in that
thing and all them used up ashes would fall into the ash pan,
excuse me, and I'd carry them out and dispose of them. And I don't know what everybody
else sees in this, they may not see anything in it, but I tell
you what ashes always says to me, the fire's gone out. Ah, the fire's gone out. Ashes speak to me of the wrath
of God burning itself out on the Lamb of God. Satisfied. Satisfied. And I know that the
fire in this old altar was never quenched. And I know why. Because the blood of bulls and
goats, it's impossible for those things to take away sin. They
had to be offered over and over and over and over again. And
untold thousands of sacrifices burn upon this altar, not to
take away sins, but to point us to Christ our lamb and our
scapegoat and our atonement, who did put
away our sins. So this speaks As the fire burnt,
so the ashes fell, testifying continually to me of the satisfaction
of God in the sacrifice of Christ. And then fifthly, this was a
sanctified altar. God said it is most holy. He
sanctified it. He anointed it with the holy
oil. He set it apart. He said this
is most holy, he said. Well, what do I get from that?
Well, the sanctified altar sanctified everything that was put on it. That pigeon, you know, I don't
even remember who I was talking to now. I was talking to somebody
here recently who was talking about the clean animals and the
unclean animals. You know why one animal's clean
and one was unclean? Because God said this one's going
to be clean. And not that one. That's why.
And this altar was sanctified because God said it was going
to be sanctified. This is the purpose that he had
in that altar when he put it there and he sanctified this
altar. And everything that was laid
on this altar was sanctified. In Hebrews 10.10 he writes, by
the witch will we're sanctified. Now listen to this. through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Once for
all. Christ is our sanctification. God has made him to be unto us
wisdom, righteousness, and what? Sanctification. Sanctified once
for all in him. In Matthew 23, 19, our Lord plainly
tells us that the altar sanctifies the gift and not the reverse.
That's what he told those Jews. He said, it's not your gift that
you're praising each other about that sanctifies the altar, but
the altar that sanctifies the gift. So this sanctified altar,
it sanctifies everything laid on it. Everything laid on it. And then, sixthly, this altar
was four square. It was seven foot by seven foot. As a builder, this speaks to
me of equality or harmony. Harmony, I think, is the better
word. And it is in Christ alone that all the attributes of God
are in harmony. There's nothing out of sync.
Nothing out of sync. When he talks about calling upon
the name of the Lord, this is exactly what he's talking about.
He's talking about all God's attributes in harmony as they're
being manifested. Cannot save men at the expense
of his justice or by overlooking his wrath or by lowering his
standard of righteousness. God is just and justifier. There's a harmony in this altar. He's righteous in the remission
of our sins. His love is consistent with His
righteousness, and His mercy is consistent with His wrath,
and His grace is consistent with His justice, and His kindness
with His hatred for sin. I think there's a big misunderstanding
in our day, and I hear preachers a lot of times refer to this,
and maybe I've missed something. But everything I've ever read
that spoke to my heart about the holiness of God has to do
with the wholeness of God. It's all his attributes in harmony. That's God's holiness. That's
his holiness. In 1 Corinthians 9, verse 13,
Paul said, Do you know that they which minister about the holy
things live of the things of the temple? And they which wait
or serve at the altar are partakers with the altar. And this is the last thing that
I want you to see here. This altar was the source of
the priestly food. Priests ate this. They ate the
sacrifice. Is that not what we do? Huh? That's exactly what we do. That
which God offered on that altar and sanctified on that altar,
we eat that. That's our food, that's our portion.
Our portion. And even so hath the Lord ordained
that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. And
as they had an altar and waited upon that altar, they had the
right and privilege to eat their portion. But we have a right
to eat at this altar, and they have no right to still serve
that tabernacle. Those who insist on maintaining
a priesthood, incorporating the law into their worship, they
have no right to the altar of Christ. So looking back on what we've
studied, what have we learned? Well, we've learned that this
court is where God meets the sinner. This is where God meets
the sinner. Those coming up out of the world,
so to speak, and out of their worldly ideas and customs, they
come to the place where sins are forgiven and where sinners
are bidden to draw nigh unto God. That's what this tabernacle
was all about. This is where chosen sinners
were made to draw nigh, and as the sinner approaches, he discovers
an enclosure. There's an enclosure there. It's
a place where God is seen only by those whom he has called out
and separated to the work. So he comes to that door, and
I told you once before, to see that priest, This is a, he tells
us in 1 Peter 2, I think it is, that we're a holy priesthood.
How did we get to be a holy priesthood? Well, he told us back up there
in chapter one, being born again. That's how we got to be. Being
born again, being separated by God, being sanctified by God,
being called into this work. At the door of the court, their
sacrifices, which they were instructed to bring by God, by God's prophet,
was accepted by the priest. They were prepared and laid upon
this burning altar whose fire continually burns. put sinners into a proper relationship
with God, Christ was lifted up. He wasn't, he was lifted up into
heaven, but he was first lifted up and laid on this altar. And he tells us what this lifting
up is, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so Christ must be lifted up. He's gonna be lifted up on this
altar of God. That's where he's manifested.
The gospel is Christ crucified, lifted up on a pole, hanged on
a tree, manifesting the very name of God upon which all who
call shall be saved. That's what this altar was all
about that they came to in the courtyard. All right, thank you.