Take your Bibles and turn with
me to Exodus chapter 26. I want to talk to you for a little
while tonight about Christ the door. Christ the door. Exodus 26 verse 36. And thou shalt make a hanging
for the door of the tent of blue and purple and scarlet and fine
twine linen wrought with needlework, that is, embroidery. And thou
shalt make for the hanging five pillars of chitinwood, and overlay
them with gold, And their hooks shall be of gold, and thou shalt
cast five sockets of brass for them." And then, if you will,
flip over a few pages to Exodus 36. And let's read a couple verses
over there. Exodus 36, beginning with verse
37. And he made a hanging for the
tabernacle door of blue and purple and scarlet and fine twine linen
of needlework, and the five pillars of it with their hooks. And he
overlaid their chapiters and their fillets with gold,
but their five sockets were a branch. Now, the tabernacle proper, that
is the tabernacle building itself, is a picture of Christ. The whole
building, just the building. If you were to stand up on the
mountain and look down on that tabernacle, that tabernacle was
a picture, a pattern of Christ. The Word, John said, was made
flesh and tabernacled among us. It's a picture of Jesus Christ
coming into this world. And as a man, it pictures Him
as a man, as a representative man, Himself in union with our
flesh and our spirit, and yet very God of very God. And He is in union with men,
and as He came in union into this world, He came to redeem
His elect, to reveal to them the one true and living God,
and to reign over them, and bring them safely into the presence
and blessings of God. Christ is our tabernacle. And Christ is the door. He is
the tabernacle, and He is the door. There were three hangings mentioned
in the Scriptures. And he calls, you remember the
ceiling, he called curtains when he put them up. He called those
curtains. He calls these doors, these draperies that hung down,
he calls them hangings. But they're doors. They're doors. And you remember I told you about
that big high linen fence that went all around the courtyard
400 and some feet around, and it had about a 30-foot opening
in it. And over that opening was a hanging
that hung there. And you passed through that,
and as you passed through that hanging, the first thing you
seen when you passed through that door was the sacrifice.
That was the brazen altar right there staring you in the face
when you went past that into the courtyard. And past that
brazen altar where all the burnt offerings were slain and cast
there upon the fire, just past that was a big old laver, the
laver of cleansing. And then the next thing you came
to was the hanging that we are talking about tonight, the door
of the tabernacle. And then when you passed through
that, there was one more door. And that door led into the very
presence and Shekinah, glory of God. or three hangings. And it's very clear to me that
whether we're talking about the way of the altar or the way of
privileged service, that door into the tabernacle was the way
of privileged service. Those who have been set apart,
sanctified by God, that whole Levitical priesthood, alone had
the right to go in and out that door. And that was the door of
privileged service. And then when you passed through
that door, you saw the way into the holiest of all. And I know this is so, and I
read it to you a little while ago. I wanted to read a lot of
that chapter to you because I'm going to refer to it some tonight.
Christ said, I am the door. Now whatever these hangings mean,
and whatever all these little things that make up, and the
colors, and I'm sure they all have a meaning, but tonight I
just want to talk to you about Christ the door. He's the door. He's the door. He said, I am
the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. Now that's what I want to know
about. That's what I want to know about. I want an entrance
through this door that grants me salvation. Salvation. And being saved, he shall go
in and out. He can go just like that Levitical
priesthood. They came in and they served
God within that tabernacle. There was the table of the showbread
and the candlelight and they had all that altar, that golden
altar of worship, the altar of perfume. All of those things
inside, all that glory, all that beauty, they had all that. But
they could go in and they could go out. They could go in and
they could go out. What is this symbolism of the
door all about? Let me give you several things
to think about tonight. What is a door? What's a door
all about? He talks about doors. He uses
symbols all through the Bible when he talks to us. He just
takes common ordinary things and he uses those things to teach
us something about spiritual truth. Well, what's he talking
about when he's talking about a door? Well, first of all, a
door is one with the house. There's not a house and then
a door. There's a house with a door. The door is one with
the house. That's what I told you at the
beginning. Christ is the tabernacle, but He's also the door. He's
the door. He's the hangings. He's the ceiling.
He's the altar. He's everything in there. He's
one with the house. One with the house. He who is the tabernacle is also
the door. What would a house be without
a door, or a door without a house? What benefit would it be to have
a Savior with no one to save? A Redeemer with no one to redeem
or a mediator with just one side? You see, the house and the door
go together. Listen to what Paul says here
in Ephesians 2, verse 20. He said, you're built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself
being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly
framed together. That's what I wanted you to say.
It's fitly framed together. There's walls. There's a roof. There's a foundation. There's
a door. It's fitly framed together. We're not apostles. We're not
prophets. But we're built upon them. We're part of the house,
just the same. In whom all the building fitly
framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord. In whom ye also are builted together,
builted together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. So
the first thing I know about a door is that it's one with
the house. And then secondly, a door is
designed with reason and purpose. I bought some houses where there
wasn't much reason went into the door. You couldn't get anything
through it. It was too small. You had to
take the door off the hinges and take the hinges off just
to move furniture in. But somebody said this, when
you're talking about this spiritual door, it's fitted by the power
and wisdom of Him who designed the house. That's what this door... That's why he put the door where
he put it. That's why he had it to be a
door. And that's why he made it to
open. That's why he made it out of the material he designed. It was fitted by the power and
wisdom of him who designed the house. This tabernacle had one
door. One tabernacle, one door, one
direction on the east side. Why'd they put it on the east
side? Why not put it on the west side? Cause sun don't come up
in the west. Sun comes up in the east. And
Christ is liking unto that day star that arises in your heart.
That's that door. That's that door. Had one door. East receives the first light.
And the door of the tabernacle was not left to the builder's
imagination. It was designated to a specific
place. He didn't say, well, here's what
I'm going to do, guys. I'm going to give you, there
has to be a door, and there has to be two hangings, and there
has to be two sections, and you all just make up your mind. You
put them however big you want and wherever you want them. That
tabernacle wouldn't have meant anything, would it? You wouldn't
have got anything out of it. You just walked in there and
went through a bunch of ceremonies and went home. That is what religion
does with the gospel of Christ. It takes these things that are
designated for certain things and they just move them all around.
Just move them all around. The door of the tabernacle was
designated to a specific place. There was one door in three places
concerning the worship of Israel. One in the courtyard that gave
access to the sacrificial offering and the labor of cleansing. And
then a door into the tabernacle proper. This was the door into
the privileged service of God. And then there was a door into
the holiest of all, which none but the high priest could enter
through. It was a door of acceptance and
cleansing, a door of service and submission, and a door of
communion and fellowship with God, Christ, is our door. And then thirdly, a door is necessary
to gain lawful entry. I read that to you there where
he's talking about the door of the sheepfold. He said he came
to the door. He said, if you come in any other
way, you're a thief and a robber. When you come honorably to God
concerning His sheep, you come to the door. You come to the
door. And he said, I call. And the
porter answers. And he recognizes me. And my
sheep hear my voice. My sheep hear my voice. Now,
if you knock on my door, almost without exception, I'll give
you entry into my house. I'm going to tell you something.
If I see you're behind crawling through my window at 2 o'clock
in the morning, you're going to get both barrels. You're going to get both barrels.
I'm not going to ask you if you're there honorably or not. I've
got a door for honorable people. And you knock on my door, I'll
let you in. If you're hungry, I'll feed you. You're naked,
I'll clothe you. But you crawl through my window,
you're going to get both barrels. And any man with an honorable
intention will come to the door. He'll knock on the door and he'll
wait for someone to open it. You remember the story of Uzziah
the king? He was going to do that which
pertaineth to the priest only. And he reached and got hold of
the door. He was going to open the door himself. He was going
to go in himself. And God smote him with leprosy.
Smote him with leprosy. And then fourthly, a door has
a two-fold purpose. It keeps out as well as lets
in. This door gives no access to
strangers. He said, I am the door of the
sheep. That's what Christ said there in John chapter 10. I am
the door of the sheep, of the sheep. And then he told those
Jews, they said, well, he's mad. He's talking out of his head.
And then finally they just looked at him and said, away with this
nonsense. If that be the Christ, tell us
plainly. He said, I told you. I told you. And you believe not. You won't come through the door.
You won't come to the door. You won't go through the door.
You won't knock on the door. Because you're not my sheep.
You're not my sheep. Sheep have access into the holy
place, access to the light of the candlestick, access to the
bread, and access to the altar of worship. Listen to this. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein
we stand. We have access. Through the door. Through the door. Paul said in
Ephesians 3.12, in Christ we have boldness and access with
confidence by the faith of Him or by His faithfulness. And then
fifthly, the door is under the command of Him who owns the house.
It says He can open and no man can shut. You think about that. He said, I can open the door
and nobody can shut it. He opened that door for Noah,
didn't He? Now, you come in, and there was but one person.
That thing was first, second, and third stories high, made
out of old rough timber. Can you imagine a door big enough
for an elephant to walk in? Well, I tell you, the eight souls
in the Ark wasn't enough to shut it. It said God shut it. He who owns the house has control
of the door. He can open the door and no man
can shut it. Satan can't shut it and false
prophets can't shut it and nobody else can shut it. You can't shut
it. But He can shut that door and no man can open it. No man
can open it. You can't do it. You can't do
it. And this door is a door of mercy. This door is a door of grace.
This door is a door of pardon and redemption and justification. This door is a door of peace
and rest. But this door is the door of
a sovereign. Don't ever forget that. It's
the door of a sovereign. This door operates according
to his sovereign will. And this door is under the command
of him who owns the house. And then, sixthly, nobody puts
a door in a house who don't intend to use it. You put a door in a house, you
intend to use it. The whole purpose of the door
is to receive men and women into the house. That's why He designated
a door. That's why Christ became a man.
That's why He came into this world. To give lawful access
into the presence of God. We point men and women to Christ,
knowing that He'll receive all who come unto God by Him. Listen
to these two scriptures. He said, this is the Father's
will which has sent me, that of all which He hath given me,
I should lose nothing. Everything that the Father gave
to Christ, He said, I'll lose nothing. Now, I've heard preachers
stand in a pulpit and talk about God doing all He could do. All
He could do. You go to hell, it'll be your
fault, and on and on and on, talking to them about that. He said, this is the Father's
will, which has sent me, that of all which He hath given me,
He's not going to lose anything. But He said, I'll raise it up
at the last day. All of it. Every last one of
it. All God has left. But He said, this is the Father's
will that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth
on Him may have everlasting life, and I'll raise Him up at the
last day. It's the same thing, ain't it? It's the same thing. Sovereignty of God and His eternal
purpose to save a people for His glory is not a closed door. It's not a closed door. Election
and predestination do not constitute a closed door. No man, no woman,
no boy, no girl who sincerely comes to Christ you'll find Him to be a closed
door. He said, the Spirit and the Bride
say, Come. That's what they say. Come on.
They don't say, Stay put. They say, Come. Come on. The Spirit and the Bride say,
Come, and let Him that heareth, everybody that hears, the gospel
and perceives it, understands it, they say, come on. Come. And let him that is a thirst,
come. And whosoever will. Anybody willing? Anybody willing? Whosoever will. Let him take
of the water of life freely. He tells us in that same chapter,
in John chapter 6, He said, No man can come to Me except the
Father which sent Me draw him, and I will raise him up at the
last day. If any man is willing to come
to Christ, it is because Christ made him willing in the day of
his power. Nobody comes unwilling. They
are all willing. But they are made willing. If any man finds himself desperate
enough to seek the Lord of glory, it's because the Spirit of God
has convinced him of sin and gave him the ability to repent
and believe. The eternal election of God's
saints, it says, is unto salvation. It's unto salvation. Its purpose
is to save. It's not to suppress. It's not
to hold out. It's to save. It's to save. And it's to save through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. And so our Lord says again
in John 6, verse 37, All that the Father giveth me shall come
to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Christ the door is not what keeps
men from salvation. It's their sin and unbelief. The door is made to give entry.
Made to give entry. And then think about this. This
door is a peculiar door. Men talk about doors all the
time. They talk about the door to your heart and the Lord is
knocking on the door and you won't answer it and all that
foolishness. This is a peculiar door. This door gives passage
into all the blessed privileges of God. Through this door, we
discover the very glory of God. The glory of God. How God can
be just and justifier. We discover through this door
God's sovereign mercy. God's free and undeserved grace. God's eternal, unchangeable love. Through this door, our pitiful
gifts and service are acceptable. Entering into God's spiritual
house, we offer up spiritual sacrifices, Peter said, acceptable
to God by Jesus Christ. It's not just men and women who
go through the door, but they bring things through the door. If I bring things, what am I
going to bring? I'm going to bring my offerings.
You reckon God will accept them? He'll accept them through Jesus
Christ. I had to bring my offering through the door. Through the
door. I had to bring my service through the door. I had to bring
those things which I prepared. I had to bring them through the
door. Through the door. Everything that constituted the
worship of God in the Old Testament came through the door. Came through
the door. Through this door. is fellowship
and communion with God. Light for the mind and the heart
and bread for the body and worship for the soul. And then lastly,
this door is an effectual door. There were five pillars upon
which this hanging was suspended. And I told you in the last study
that we had that those four pillars that suspended the veil and there
was four pillars that suspended the gate that came in through
the outside wall. Those things were cut off. They
didn't have chapters on top. They didn't have capitals. There's
probably another word, but it's the finished part of a column.
You look up there and you see that big great fancy top on there. Those chapters is what he calls
them here in Exodus. And those were cast out of pure
gold. But in there on that veil and
out on that, they didn't have them and that showed Christ being
cut off. being cut off. But on this door,
this door into the privileged service of God, in there where
you can have communion with God, this thing was finished. And
it speaks of the finished work of Christ. The finished work
of Christ. It's an effectual door. And finished
means effectual. Finished means finished. Finished. People say, well, yeah, I know
Christ finished His work, but... No, there ain't no but. Finished
means finished. It's done. It's done. Justice has been satisfied, righteousness
has been established, and the law has been honored and exalted.
It's finished. It's finished. And then there
was five pillars, poles, whatever you want to call them. that held
these up. And you remember I told you the
four in there on the veil. Somebody said that stood for
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. That's the four Gospels. Those
Gospel pillars suspended that veil. Gave us an understanding
of what that was. But here at this door, with the
finished work of Christ, you had five. Do you know how many
writers wrote the New Testament? You know, everything that they
taught was based on the finished work of Christ. Everything they
taught. They pointed back to that finished
work of Christ, just as that door did. All the epistles taught, they
taught based on the finished work of Christ. And the door
hinges on His representative character. This whole thing of
the door has to do with Christ our representative and substitute. If He's not our representative,
our federal head and substitute, then the door no longer hinges
on Him, but it hinges on man's will and man's ways and man's
works. Nor could it ever glorify God,
for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. It is only as His redemption
is particular that it is effectual to the saving of the soul. You can't find a hope in the
sacrifice of Christ in any other way except for His elect. Any other way, it leaves you
hanging, leaves a question mark. If His holy obedience was for
no one but Himself, then it accomplished nothing for me, and it leaves
me without any hope before God. If His death did not put away
all my sin, if He did not die as my substitute, if it were
not my sins He bore in His own body on the tree, then my sins
are still charged in my account. And the debt will be demanded
of me in that day. This door is made the door by His representative
character, and all that He did was for those given to Him of
the Father. And whosoever was not found,
the Scripture said, written in the Book of Life. They were all
judged. There were books open, and all these things. You can
read about it over in Revelation 20, 21, and 22. All the whole world was judged
out of those books according to their works. That's what they
wanted, that's what they got. And then he said this, there
was another book open, the Lamb's Book of Life. The Book of Life
of the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, that's
what he calls it. And everybody whose name was
not written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
You see what I'm talking about? There is no access apart from
that particular representative substitutionary character. You
take that away, there's nothing left for you. Take away his appointments
and offices as a representative and substitute of God's elect,
and nothing this book says will make any sense, let alone gain
an entry into fellowship with God. But as our representative,
as our representative. He lived for us. He died for
us. He rose for us. He was delivered
for our offences and raised again for our justification. You hath
He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin. He quickened
us together with Him and raised us up with Him, made us to sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And then He calls
us into union with Him. How do we get there? Through
the door. Through the door. And that's what I'm trying to
tell folks. That's what I'm trying to tell them. I point them to
Christ and try to tell them, He's the door. He's the door. What do you need? Do you need
forgiveness? Here's the door. Here's the door. There wasn't
forgiveness anywhere else except in that courtyard through that
sacrifice. Wasn't any cleansing anywhere
else except through that lake. And there was no access into
the glory of God and into communion with God except through the door
of that tabernacle.