What a great, great hymn. Thank
you. Several of our folks are sick, have been for a little
while. Of course, David Coleman doesn't
seem to be making a lot of progress. He has an early doctor's appointment
in Lexington tomorrow. And Jay Alita has to have surgery
a week from today, isn't it? Ain't that right? She'll have
some vertebrae replaced in her neck that part of the mauling
by that cow, part of it's a deterioration from things that had been there
previously and not known, but she'll be down for eight weeks. So you let them know you care
for them, pray for them as God enables you. Let's pray together. Our God, will you be pleased
to bless this gathering here tonight. These whom you have
gathered, bless them with your word. Forgive us of our sin. Teach my lips to preach as you
taught the hands of David to war and his fingers to fight
and cause the word to be effectual to those who hear it for the
glory of our savior. I wanna begin my message tonight
with a statement made by David, that one whom God describes as
a man after God's own heart. You'll find it in Psalm 138 and
verse two. Psalm 138 and verse two. The psalmist says, I will worship
toward thy holy temple. And praise thy name for thy lovingkindness
and for thy truth's sake. And then he gives the reason
for it. For thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. What a statement. Thou hast magnified
thy word above all thy name. For many, many years, as I read
that statement, I thought, how can that be? What does it mean? Surely, it doesn't mean what
it appears to mean. Matter of fact, Brother Henry
Mahan and I were coming back from a meeting and spent several
hours together studying this. He was driving and I'd read passages
and we discussed it back and forth. And our conclusion was,
it means exactly what it appears to mean. Thou hast magnified
thy word above all thy name. Now this is what that means.
Nothing is more important to God than his word. Nothing is more important to
God than his word. David did not have the whole
volume of scripture, but he speaks of only that which he had. He
refers to what you have in your hands right now. God says he
has magnified his word above all his name. That should not
really be surprising to us. What is more important to you
than your word? Your word really is nothing but
a reflection of you. Our Savior said, out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth speaketh. That means that every human being
reveals what he is by what he says. Out of the abundance of
the heart, the mouth speaketh. We reveal what we are by our
speech, and the same is true of God. His word reveals to us
who and what he is. There is no way for anyone to
know God except as He has revealed Himself in His Son by His Word. His Word makes His character
known. His Word declares His will. It is only by His Word that we
know Him. It is only by His Word that He
speaks to us, leads us, comforts us, and teaches us. Yes, only
by his word does he lead us, speak to us, comfort us, and
teach us. If we would honor God, we honor
his word. If we dishonor his word, we dishonor
him. Thou has magnified thy word above
all thy name. Because he is so greatly honored
his word, God has given special sanctions concerning it. You
don't need to turn to them, but in Deuteronomy and in Revelation,
he gives us very specific sanctions, teaching us plainly that we dare
not presume ever to take anything out of the book or add anything
to it. We dare not presume. to take
anything out of the word. We dare not presume to add anything
to it. Listen to the sanction he gives
in Deuteronomy chapter four. You shall not add to the word
which I command you, neither shall you diminish ought from
it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God, which I
command you. In chapter 12 of Deuteronomy,
he says, what thing soever I command you, observe to do it. Whatever
I command you, you be certain you observe to do it. Thou shalt
not add thereto, nor diminish from it. In Proverbs, the wise
man says, add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee,
and thou be found a liar. And then at the close of the
book in Revelation 22, listen to this word in Revelation 22,
18. I testify to every man that heareth
the words of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall add
unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that
are written in this book. And if any man shall take away
from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take
away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city
and from the things which are written in this book. Now, with
that as the background, I want you to look with me again at
Leviticus, the eighth chapter. Leviticus chapter eight. I have
a message tonight that I'm confident you need to hear and I need to
hear. In chapters one through seven,
God gave us his law concerning the sacrifices of worship. In
chapters eight and nine, he gave us his law concerning the consecration
of his priest. Now look at verse five. We don't
really have the whole chapter for our text, but let's just
begin at verse five. Moses said unto the congregation,
this is the thing which the Lord hath commanded to be done. Now that's my subject. The thing
which the Lord hath commanded to be done. I want us, as we
read the scriptures, as we read this chapter, to put ourselves
in the passage. Whenever you read the word of
God, and this particularly applies to the Old Testament scriptures
that men tend to push to one side as though somehow they don't
apply to us. Whenever you read the Word of
God, read the Word of God, asking God, the Holy Spirit, to put
yourself right here in the passage and apply the Word directly to
you. Apply the Word directly to me.
As we come together in the house of God, as we come together tonight
to worship Him, to hear His Word, through the person and work of
the Lord Jesus, our great high priest, to call upon God, sing
his praise, hear him, and worship him. May God be pleased to make
his word particularly applicable to you and to me. Let me show
you four things from this chapter. First, like Israel of old, we
have come here tonight to the house of God. The children of
Israel came together on those days appointed of God every Sabbath
day to worship God. They came together for the morning
and evening sacrifice to worship God. They came together on their
special holy days to worship God. The believing people among
the children of Israel, most were not, but the believing people
among the children of Israel came indeed to worship God. looking beyond the pictures,
the types, and the shadows of the law through those things
to the revelation of God's Son, their Redeemer and our Redeemer,
worshipping God through the sacrifice, that one who is represented in
the sacrifice. As the children of Israel were
gathered together in one place at the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation, with Aaron, with the holy anointing oil,
with the sin offering and the rams and unleavened bread offerings
for thanksgiving, praise. With those symbols of consecration
to God, they came to God. And so too we now come to God. Here we are tonight in the house
of God. That's what the Holy Spirit calls
this assembly here. This is the house of God. the
church of the living God, not the physical building, but the
assembly of God's people. This is the house of God. We
meet together in the house of God. And as we do, we meet here
with one another, yes. But more importantly, we meet
here with the Lord Jesus Christ, our Aaron. our great high priest. We meet here with the sin atoning
sacrifice. We meet here at God's altar,
Christ Jesus, our Redeemer. We meet here having upon us the
holy anointing oil. God the Holy Ghost poured out
upon us. We meet here to bring our offerings
of praise, thanksgiving, and consecration to God. Now this
is not just something I'm saying. I want you to turn to this passage
in Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. There's a lot of debate, as you
know, particularly in our part of the country about folks get
all upset when you hear the term universal church. Now, sometimes
people accuse us of saying, well, we believe that all true churches
go together, or that all churches go together to make up the church.
That is not so. That is not so. But we do believe
that all true believers are the church of God, and that's clear
to the teaching of scripture. And we gather together as the
people of God spiritually, not just in this assembly here, but
as we gather in this assembly, in this house of God, as God
the Holy Spirit brings us together, where two or three are gathered
together in my name. Not where two or three come together. Where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. As we
come together by the grace and power of God's Spirit, we meet
with our Redeemer and with the assembly of his people in heaven
as well as on earth. Look here at Hebrews chapter
12 and verse 22. but ye are come unto Mount Zion, Jerusalem, which is above, unto
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. This is the
city of God. This is Mount Zion. You are come
to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly
and church of the firstborn. which are written in heaven,
and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men
made perfect, we come together tonight with Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, with Moses and Elijah, with Peter, James, and John,
with Paul, with all the spirits of the just made perfect, those
who have gone to glory before us, all worshiping our Redeemer
at His throne, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant,
and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than
that of Abel. Now, I don't know about you,
but that's astounding to me. We come together in this place
with Christ, his angels, his people at his throne to worship
him. How blessed we are to have this
great privilege. This is our Bethel. This is the
house of God. No wonder David said, I was glad
when they said unto me, let us go unto the house of the Lord. Oh, I am so glad. So glad God
brought me to his house to hear his word, to reveal his son in
me. And I am so glad God has brought
me here again to his house to see his son, to hear his son,
and to worship his son. How amiable are thy tabernacles,
O Lord of hosts. How amiable are thy tabernacles. David looked upon the worship
of God when he was banished, fleeing for his life from Saul.
And he said, he said, I can see, I can see the sparrows at God's house. Oh, wouldn't
God, I could just be like one of those sparrows and be in God's
house now. Envy the birds that nested there. How amiable are thy tabernacles,
O Lord of hosts. God make his church, his house,
amiable to me and to you. He said, one thing have I desired
of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the
house of the Lord all the days of my life. This man who's king
in Israel. This man whose business it is
to rule the people of God. This man who must carry on the
affairs of state. He says, I want every day, all
the days of my life to dwell in the house of God. To have
my mind and my heart wrapped up with those things involved
in the worship of God. To behold the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple. how different things are in the
house of God than in those places where Baal is adored. Here, the
whole assembly comes together as one. All upon the same footing. All of us here come to God as
blood-washed sinners saved by grace. That's all. Blood-washed
sinners saved by grace. In the house of God, there are
no big dogs and no little dogs, just dogs, just dogs. All in his house enjoy the same
privileges. All have the same responsibilities.
Like Israel of old, we've come here to one place, at the altar
of God, Christ Jesus, to behold him, our divinely appointed mediator
and priest, who has been entrusted with the everlasting care of
our souls. We've come here to worship him
into whose hands the triune Jehovah has entrusted all the care of
our souls. Each one, the lowest and the
highest, the richest and the poorest, the most learned and
the most unlearned, the strongest and the weakest, the oldest and
the youngest, the most pure and the most polluted, come together,
men, women, and babes in the house of God, as one body, people
fitly joined together by His grace, standing upon the holy
ground of blood atonement. All have come for the same reason,
to gaze upon our glorious High Priest. to gaze upon the garments
he wore as he performed his work for us as our high priest. And
we come here each with our own specific needs. The God of Israel
would have us to see and see clearly that each of our individual
needs are supplied by our high priest. All of us come with specific
needs. Backgrounds, family, neighbors,
personal, specific needs. Most of us really don't know
one another's personal needs because our deepest needs we
rarely share with anyone except God, even when we can share them
with him. Look yonder, my needy soul, seated
in glory, to Him who is my great sin-atoning priest. What need
do I have that is not fully supplied in Him who stands in the holy
place as my representative? His blood is my atonement. His
perfection is our righteousness. His shoulders are strength. His
wisdom directs our lives and orders our affairs. His heart
is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. His bounty is
our supply. His power is omnipotent. His faithfulness is sure. His
grace is abundant. His acceptance is indisputable. Every aspect of his attire was
designed by God to tell us and assure us that he is both qualified
and able to meet our soul's needs. He wears a coat of blue, purple,
and scarlet interwoven with beaten gold. The blue speaks of heaven. The purple speaks of his royalty. The scarlet represents his precious
blood. The beaten gold speaks of God
in our flesh. His golden girdle is faithfulness.
Upon his very heart, he carries our name. He is our light and
perfection. Upon his miter is the golden
crown, holiness to the Lord. And as he goes about his work,
we can hear the bells. Oh, the sound of sweet gospel
bells ringing in our ears, proclaiming redemption and salvation and
grace because he, our high priest, has accomplished salvation for
us. Here's the second thing. Like
those worshipers of old, we do come here with great need. What many needs must have been
represented in the congregation in the wilderness anytime they
gathered at the house of God. Some, no doubt, were so needy
that they were insensible of their needs. Others came to the
house of God with heavy, heavy hearts, grieving with bereavement. I've preached the gospel now
for enough years that I often meet with friends grieving with
bereavement. Just this past week, I met with
a friend of mine who had lost his wife since I saw him last,
still grieving with bereavement. And grieving is all right. We sorrow. We don't sorrow as
others who have no hope. I said to Brother Sid, I said,
the grief It's not something to be ashamed of. If I lost this
finger or this hand or this arm, I'd learn to get along without
it. And I'd learn to get along without it, I hope, without complaining.
But I'd still miss the arm. I can't do anything with my left
hand except move it. That's about it. I can't write
with it, can't eat with it. It's just there. But if I lost
my right hand, I got a feeling I'd learn to live with just my
left hand. But I would miss my right hand. I still have feelings
with regard to that. And that's a very light illustration. But the fact is, you lose someone
you love, you miss them, you grieve for them. And the grieving,
you carry. An older widow lady said to me,
said, I was helped by the message tonight. And I can't tell you
how that helped me. Helped by the message in the
light of loss. Some come broken with sorrow.
some heavy with care, some tortured with grief. I'm sure some came
as they gathered at God's house in those ancient times with hunger,
with thirst, weary, and heavy laden. Yes, thank God, it's true,
we who are the Lord's are one with Christ, one with that man
who is at God's right hand. As Israel of old was symbolically
one in the holy place with Aaron, We are really and truly one with
Christ. Members of his flesh and of his
blood. Members of his body. One with him. One with him from
everlasting. Never to be separated from him.
Being one with him. We're accepted with him. Accepted
in him. Accepted because of him. All
our sins are blotted out and we have all the beauty and glory
of Christ made ours. So that his beauty he puts upon
us, blotting out all our transgressions, forgiving us all our sins, giving
us his perfect righteousness so that we stand before God without
one spot of sin. without one wrinkle of infirmity,
without one blemish of any kind, perfect before God. One of the
old writers put it this way, God's saints are all that is
fair and lovely beneath the eye of God. God's saints are all that is
fair and lovely beneath the eye of God. God looks on his son
and says, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And he looks on us in his son
and says, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
As he is, so are we in this world. Brother Lindsey finished reading
back in the office, the second chapter of First Corinthians,
and the concluding statement in that chapter, we have the
mind of Christ. I said to him when he finished,
said to the man, this book is full of astounding statements. Statements that no man would be foolish enough
to dream of making if they weren't written right here. If we're
in Christ, we have the mind of Christ. If we are one with Christ,
here is another astounding statement. As he is, so are we right now
in this world. As he is, so are we in this world. Yet as long as we're in this
wilderness, we're in a place of need. And needy souls, Don't
have to be convinced that they're in need. Our need is great and
we know it. We acknowledge it. We come to
the house of God because we need God our Savior. We know our weakness
and our weakness needs his strength. We know our trials and our tried
souls need his grace. We know our temptations and our
tempted hearts need the grip of his mighty hand. Our wandering
affections we're very familiar with. We need his correction. Our falls, our many, many falls
need his restoration. Our countless sins need his forgiveness. Our filth needs his cleansing. Our coldness needs the fire of
his grace. Our deadness needs his life.
Oh, my needy soul, look away to Christ. My needy brother,
my needy sister, whatever you need, whatever you need at any
time, whatever you need, look away to Christ. Christ is our
supply for all we need. His blood meets the demands of
a troubled conscience. His life meets the demands of
our souls. Let me show you a third thing.
Like those worshipers back here in Leviticus, we have come here tonight, I
hope, we have come here tonight to see, worship, and hear from
our God through the person of our one representative man, the
man Christ Jesus. We understand. I know we do here. I know everybody here has got
this fixed in their minds. Oh, God make us constantly aware
of it in our hearts. God will not speak to, nor will
he be spoken to by any man. God will not approach, nor will
he approach any man. but by a mediator, and that only
mediator, by whom God will speak to men and approach men, by whom
God will be spoken to by man, and by whom God will be approached
by man, is Jesus Christ his Son, the God-man, he who is our priest,
who is our priest at God's right hand. His obedience in humiliation,
as the last Adam, is that by which he brought in everlasting
righteousness for us. His death as the Lamb of God,
our sin atoning substitute, satisfied all the demands of justice for
us and put away our sins. But turn to Romans chapter five,
Romans five. It is our Savior's life in heaven
above as our great high priest which secures our souls in life.
Christ's priestly work was done on earth and accomplished. His
priestly work now is in heaven, and we have no priest on this
earth. Those who pretend to be priests on earth are only anti-Christ. Christ, our priest, is in heaven,
in the holy place, not made with hands. Look here in Romans chapter
five, begin reading in verse six. When we were yet without
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely
for a righteous man will one die. Yet peradventure for a good
man, some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love
toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Much more than being now justified by his blood, we
shall be saved from wrath through him. Now watch this. For if when
we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son,
much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. It is our Savior's presence in
the sanctuary above that gives us hope and assurance and confidence
before God. It is his presence in heaven
that causes us to rejoice. We could not stand here. for
a second that He not stand there and we stand there in Him. It
is our Savior's life in Heaven. The life of Him who died for
and was buried and rose again, who ascended and took his seat
at the right hand of the majesty on high." Yonder is our life. Yonder is our hope. Yonder is
our confidence. He is our immutable salvation
and acceptance with God. We live in Him, we're accepted
in Him, and He lives for us and intercedes for us at the right
hand of God. One last thing. If we would truly
worship the Lord our God, if we would see and hear from the
God of heaven, if we would see the glory of God as we come together
in the house of God, we must worship Him according to the
revelation He has given us right here in His Word. If you carefully read this 8th
chapter of Leviticus again, you will see that everything in the
worship of God was here directed and dictated by the Word of God. Now here, Would to God I could
get the ear of the world. We will either come to God in
the way He requires in His Word, or we will not come to Him at
all. We will either worship God in the way He prescribes in this
book, or we will not worship Him at all. If we do not worship
God as He prescribes in this book, worship is nothing but
beating the air and making a lot of noise. Look at Leviticus chapter
8 verse 5. Leviticus 8 verse 5, This is
the thing which the Lord commanded to be done. You remember when David was bringing
the ark of God up to Jerusalem. He wanted to build a house for
God. That's a good desire. That's a good ambition. But they
didn't bring the ark of God up as God required. They didn't
observe God's word at all. They simply went and got the
ark and started up to Jerusalem. and the ark was about to fall
off a cart and Uzzah reached out to touch it. And when he
did, God killed him. And David got mad. David got
mad. He was angry with God. Angry
with God, he killed Uzzah. He wouldn't accept what David
was doing. And then he said in chapter 15
of 1 Chronicles, the Lord our God made a breach upon us for
that we sought him not after the due order. Read verse 5 again. The thing, this is the thing
which the Lord commanded to be done. Get over to chapter 9,
verse 6, you'll see exactly the same thing. And Moses said, this
is the thing which the Lord commanded that ye should do, and the glory
of the Lord shall appear unto you. Let those words sink down
in your minds and in your heart. And then read this chapter carefully.
every aspect of the consecration of these priests, with everything
God told Moses to do, with everything He told him to do, Moses said,
this is the thing God commanded, this is the thing God commanded,
this is the thing God commanded, this is the thing God commanded,
eight times in this chapter. Eight times in this chapter.
He says, this is what God commanded. I'm doing this to Aaron. I'm
doing this to his sons. I'm putting this coat on them.
I'm putting this miter on Aaron. I'm putting this girdle on him.
I'm putting this blood on their ears and their hands and their
toes. I'm doing this because God commanded it. God commanded
it. You can't do it any other way.
Oh, my soul, God teach us. If we would worship him, we'll
worship him as he has prescribed. Moses did not say this is the
thing that's expedient or agreeable or suitable. He did not say this
is the thing that people want. He did not say this is the thing
people expect. He didn't say this is what the
fathers and the elders and our creed requires. He didn't say
this is what history and custom demand. The man of God recognized
no such authority. He said, this is the thing which
the Lord hath commanded. Now, if you don't think that's
important, go ask Nadab and Abihu about it. Go ask Nadab and Abihu
about it. You can ask them in chapter 10.
I recall Jim and Susan Grant telling me shortly after they
came here, they'd visited about every Baptist church in the county.
The one right down the road here, lighting candles. That's sweet. It's papacy is what it is. It's
idolatry is what it is. Well, people like that. They're
impressed with that. Who cares? Since when did what
I like or you like become important in the house of God? Since when
did something that's appealing to people, well the children
like that, since when did that become important in the house
of God? The only thing important where God is worshipped is what
God commands, nothing else. And as men and women, churches
and preachers, add Stuff. Stuff. I'll be real polite. If you want
to know what I'm talking about, I'm talking about stuff you find
in barnyards. They just add their stuff. The more their stuff they
dump in here, the more of God's things are pushed out. It's pushed
out. In Moses' estimation, there was
but one solitary authoritative voice by which the kingdom of
God must be governed. And that solitary voice is what
God commands. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness. that the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished unto all good works. And that means that
our only source of doctrine is what God says. Our only source
of doctrine. Our only rule of faith is what
God says. In this place, I have refused
with stoutness and stubbornness The suggestions of many that
we write a creed or adopt a creed. Now I'll tell you why. I'll tell
you why. I don't care who writes the creed. I don't care who writes
it. I've read some pretty good creeds. But I don't care who
writes the creed. Once you adopt a creed, then
you will bend the Word of God to the creed. You will never
bend the creed to the Word of God. I was sitting in a church
service, it wasn't a church service, it was one of the Baptist business
meetings. I had been asked to attend because the preachers
were fixing to get kicked out here locally. And after folks come
in for those things, that place was packed. I was sitting about
where Lindsay is tonight, and it was packed out. And about
45 minutes after the fussing and cussing carried on, one of
the deacons got up and had a whole bundle of papers. He said, this
is what this church believes. I don't care what that book says. That's exactly what you do with
a creed. Always, always. I've never seen it fail, not
once. Our only creed is what God has
written. Our only guide for worship is
what we find in this book. That means in the house of God,
in the house of God, there's only room for praise, prayer,
and preaching. That's all. Just praise, prayer,
and preaching. No room for anything else. No
room for plays, and skits, and entertainment. Just praise, prayer,
and preaching. That's all. And I promise you,
I promise you, as long as God gives me breath and I stand as
pastor in this congregation, there won't be anything else. Just praise, prayer, and preaching. Well, that's not popular, that's
obvious. That's not what people want, that's obvious. Don't you
know what the days require? Yes, I do, and I refuse to bow
to it. This is what God commanded. We observe the ordinances that
God prescribed just to baptism, the immersion of believers in
water, buried in water and raised up out of the water by which
we confess our faith in Christ symbolically as our Lord commanded
us for the fulfillment of all righteousness. By that ordinance,
Death, burial, and resurrection, showing how righteousness has
been brought in by the doing and dying and resurrection of
the Son of God. And we come together here every
Sunday evening and observe the Lord's Supper. We take the bread
and wine in remembrance of Christ. I've told you this before, but
just in case you've forgotten, I was up in Fairmont, Sheb and
I were a couple of years ago, Brother Marvin and I were having
lunch together, and he said, right before he died, Brother
Scott came in and reached in his pocket and pulled out a pocket
knife and handed it to me. He said, I'll give you something
to remember me by. And I looked up at him, I said, Brother Scott,
I don't need a pocket knife to remember you. Scott said, take
the knife, put it in your pocket, and you'll remember me. And Marvin
said, Brother Don, you know, every time I pick that knife
up, I don't care if it was picking up clean my fingernails, or cut
a wire, or open an envelope, or take it out of my pocket and
lay it on my chest of drawers at night, or pick it up and put
it in my pocket in the morning. Every time I touch that knife,
I think about Brother Scott. I said, Marvin, you just answered
a theological problem for me. I have wondered all my life,
why did our Lord, in this age of spirit worship, give us a
carnal ordinance with bread and wine, and tell us to observe
this thing regularly? He told his cause to do it in
remembrance of him. In remembrance of him. Preachers
and theologians and churches will figure out a way to make
the simplest things on this earth, mysterious, profound, hard. Now be sure you do this in remembrance
of me. Yes, be sure you remember him,
but I'm gonna give you a challenge. I'm gonna give you a challenge,
you believers here. You try to pick up that unleavened
bread and that wine and not remember him. Try not to. He fixed it so that
we come together and take the bread and the wine. And, Lindsay, if no other time
in the whole week, we remember him. Oh, thank God for his commandment
and his simplicity. Well, what did he say would be
the result of this strict adherence to the word of God? So Aaron and his sons did all
things which the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses. He said
in chapter nine in verse six, and the glory of the Lord will
appear. And look at chapter nine in verse 23. And Moses and Aaron
went into the tabernacle of the congregation and came out and
blessed the people. And the glory of the Lord appeared
unto the people. And there came a fire out from
before the Lord and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering
and the fat, which when all the people saw, they shouted and
fell on their faces. Moses and Aaron, truth and mercy
went in before the Lord. Moses and Aaron, truth and mercy,
justice and grace, came out from the holy place and blessed the
people on the basis of atonement made by a sacrifice. And when
they did, A fire came out from the Lord and consumed the sacrifice. The glory of the Lord appeared
to them. What they saw in type and picture
before them was the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
our crucified Redeemer. And as we come and worship God, We pray constantly, Lord God,
show us your son. And God promises, as we come
together and worship him as he commanded, the glory of the Lord
will appear. Now that's not some whoopee,
jump up and down, wave your handkerchief and wave your hand and shake
and clap and carry on and stuff. That's the revelation. of the
accomplished salvation of our souls by the doing and dying
of Jesus Christ our Redeemer, the glory of God shining forth
in our hearts in the face of Jesus Christ crucified. If ever we see His glory, what
these people saw in type and in picture, If ever we see him
revealed afresh to our hearts, we'll do just what they did.
We'll give him praise and fall on our faces before him. That's
what happened to Job. He said, I've heard of you by
the hearing of the ear, but now, oh God, now my eye sees you. I repent and sackcloth and ashes.
That's what happened to Isaiah when he saw the Lord in his glory.
He bowed and confessed his sin and walked home with the fresh
revelation of grace in his soul, with the forgiveness of sin.
burned into him by the Spirit of God. Oh, may God do that for
you and for me. Every time we come together in
his house to worship him. Amen.