Exodus 30 for today will be our
meditation. We're in a portion of Scripture
where the Lord God Almighty is teaching His people what it means
to worship God. And He has privileged them to
be able to draw near to God, which is the word of the Hebrew
writer in the 10th chapter, which word King David spoke of in his
own request before God in Psalm 42, verse 2, when David said,
When shall I appear before God? David is remarkable, isn't he?
You think about the life of David and you realize that David is
no different than you and I. very common man with all sorts
of challenges in his life and yet the one contemplation that
he had was this. When will I appear before God? When will I appear before God?
Do you know what kind of heart and mind you have to have to
be thinking like that? You have to actually have a renewed
mind. Your thoughts have to be thoughts that are very settled
on this reality, that you have a relationship with God of such
a nature that you want to be with Him. David is contemplating,
not if, but when, shall I appear before God? What a thought! Now David had his issues, didn't
he? But there was something about David in relationship to his
God, in spite of all that he went through, that continually
and perpetually drew him to this one desire. In fact, that's the
way he framed it in one of the Psalms. This one thing do I desire,
that I might dwell in the house of the Lord and be in his presence
forever. When will I appear before God? What a thought, child of God,
what a thought. For some people, I think that that's a fearful
contemplation, to have to stand before God. For other people,
it's the greatest anticipation their soul could ever think about
is appearing before God. I think he said it in Psalm 42.
My soul is panting to be with God. What a magnificent idea
for the people of God to be in the presence of God. Now, my
message today is Christ, our altar of incense, And I must
admit that what I am doing is actually jumping ahead a little
bit in the series in the book of Exodus where God has brought
his people out of Egypt and God has revealed himself to his people
in the law of God. He's laid down his Ten Commandments
and in this unique experience where the Ten Commandments have
been given to the people of God, annexed to the Ten Commandments,
the law of God is this Magnificent expose of God's will for his
people to dwell with him and worship him To worship God as
they make their way through the wilderness so connected to the
law of God Adjacent to the law of God is a whole system of how
you worship God this would be what we would call the Levitical
order the the priesthood ministry it has everything to do with
the The tabernacle in the wilderness. The tabernacle in the wilderness.
And in fact, at the heart of our discussion today is the concept
of the tabernacle in the wilderness. I don't know, you should have
it in your bulletin, a model or illustration of that. Do you
have it in there? You have a model there. This
is going to help you today. If you've never contemplated
that, I'll set this up now so that we can talk this through
just a little bit. I just want to run through some thoughts
with you and I today on this idea. And David obviously was
a prodigy or he was a product of this tutorial system where
God had a special people for which he has privileged them
to do what the Hebrew writer said, draw near to God. draw near to God. And David now in his 40s, maybe
his 50s now, is saying, when will I appear before God? And
I think if we take that thought and understand the privilege
of training children up in the fear and the nurture of the Lord,
which is what Israel was able to do with their children. David
grew up under his daddy Jesse, and like many of the children
of Israel, they grew up under the law, and they grew up going
to church, and they grew up in the worship of God. And when
David became a man, he loved him some God and he enjoyed God.
And as David got older and started going through trials and difficulties,
one of the things that satisfied David's soul was that one day
he was going to be with God. Now, what a way to regulate your
thoughts when you're in the midst of trouble. One day all this
trouble is going to be over with and I'm not going to be separated
from God anymore. One day i'm going to be free
of all of the hindrances that often block me from the vision
of god Remember what we're saying be thou my vision Oh lord of
my life And david is the product of a system of education that
was able to produce in his mind This one true. There's a day
coming in my life When i'm going to see god face to face Now stay
here for a moment And on that day, everything that in this
life, which does not satisfy me. Have you figured that out? We reach after this and we reach
after that and we want this thing and we go forward with all of
our gusto diluted. And once we get it, we come to
discover what Solomon said. It doesn't satisfy. And so we
come to understand as people of God, there's only one thing
that's gonna satisfy my soul. And that's when I'm in the presence
of God. I think that's the way David said it in the Psalm. I
will not be satisfied until I awake with your likeness. And see,
David had learned that through the system that you and I are
getting ready to deal with now. Today, we are going to partake
of the Lord's table, aren't we? And if we are children of the
living God, we understand partaking of the Lord's table is an enormous
privilege, isn't it? Because the table of the Lord
for us is a reminder of the one person, now watch this now, of
the one person, the one person who successfully made it all
the way into the presence of God. There was one man in the
universe who from the time he was born, to the time that he
died, successfully made it into the presence of God. Do you know
the joy of the table? Is this, that if you are in Christ,
you are in the presence of the Lord. because of your mediator
and high priest Jesus Christ. Listen to the way the hymn writer,
the writer to the Hebrew puts it in Hebrews chapter 10. I just
want you to see this. I'm meditating on this now. This
is so absolutely phenomenal. The Hebrew writer tells us that
we can be confident that we will be one day like David in the
presence of the Lord. Listen to what it says in chapter
9. This is chapter 9, verse 24. For Christ is not entered into
the holy place made with hands, which are a figure of the true,
but into heaven itself. Do you know there's a man in
glory? Right now there is a man in glory appearing before God. Now listen to the language. Now
to appear in the presence of God, mark these last two words,
for us. For us. And can I tell you one
of the tangible evidences that I know that that's true for sure? The bread and the wine. I'm sure that Christ is in glory
now. because the cup tells me that
he accomplished eternal redemption for me. And the bread tells me
that he took on a human nature so that as my mediator, where
he is, I am also. And so what I wanna do today
is actually call your attention to what it means to draw near
to God one more time before we partake of the table. Is that
all right? And I'm gonna use the tabernacle
as a model of it. Now the tabernacle was a system
that God set up in the wilderness, which was a tent. And inside
the tent of the tabernacle were articles. And every one of those
articles in the tabernacle actually Teacher teaches us something
about the redemption that's in Jesus Christ. In fact the word
tabernacle in the Old Testament Corresponds to the New Testament
term in John chapter 1 verse 14 and the word was made flesh
and what? Dwelled amongst us the word dwell
there means tabernacle So what we are understanding when we
read the Old Testament about the manner in which God had the
tabernacle constructed and all the articles in it, we are learning
something about our Lord Jesus Christ. Hence, the tabernacle
points to whom? Jesus Christ. Now, it's interesting
the way God got this set up because as you and I are learning about
the people that are making their way through the wilderness, they're
learning something about God they had never known before.
God required, first and foremost, a law, the Ten Commandments.
And what we would call that is a principle of relationship by
which God would dictate to his people how they are to conduct
themselves. These are the 10 words of God
that we learned a few weeks ago by which the king would instruct
his servants as to how they are to conduct themselves in the
presence of the king. It reveals that aspect of God's
glory and that aspects of God's response are called to us to
relate to God in terms of our conduct. You remember those 10
commandments, don't you? The ones that we don't quite
know how to quote because we don't really remember them. That
will of God by which God tells us, thou shalt not, thou shalt
not, thou shalt not. Let me see if I can remember
one of those. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not this, that, and the other. Ten of them, that's
all I need but ten. But they underscore the character of the
relationship that is to exist between God and his people. And
it demonstrates for us how holy God is. And the law of God is
designed to drive us because of the reality of our failure
to comply with it, to need God to find a means by which we can
have a relationship with God without having to perfectly obey
his commands because we can't. And so what he did in his mercy
was attach what we call the Levitical system or the priesthood over
against the 10 commandments. Essentially saying this, when
you mess up, this is what you do. The tabernacle then in the
wilderness is what is called in the book of Leviticus the
tabernacle of witness. What that means is the tabernacle
bears a testimony. It speaks for God. It testifies
to God's redemptive purposes in Christ. It shows the world
how a sinner can actually come to God. And as you and I are
talking right now and thinking through what it means to approach
God and what we will do here shortly in terms of the Lord's
table in your outline, there are seven things that I want
to call your attention to with respect to how we approach God,
how we come to God, how we successfully enter into the presence of this
holy God, and how you and I can be confident, and in fact more
than be confident, be stirred in our heart with the same desire
that David was, that one day, one day, I am going to appear
in the presence of God. So point number one in your outline
is the significance of the formation for the journey. In your outline,
you have this graph or this illustration of the tabernacle. And if you
look at your tabernacle, you'll notice up at the top right-hand
corner, a compass, don't you? You see that? Now I want to talk
to you a bit about that compass, because that compass was God's
direction for the people of God with regards to not only God's
law, but God's tabernacle of witness. The compass has the
West and the East and the South and the North, doesn't it? Now
if you were to read Numbers, don't do it now, but if you were
to read Numbers chapters 1 and 2, you would be taught in the
book of Numbers that the children of Israel were Commanded to make
their journey from Egypt to Canaan in a formation that was structured
like the compass in Chapter 2 to the east to the east in number
chapter 2 the leading tribe of three tribes was the tribe of
Judah The tribe of Judah would be in the east of the compass.
Do you guys see the east? And then there would also be
the other tribes on the North and on the South. And in fact,
on the South would be Reuben, on the West would be Ephraim,
and on the North would be Dan. On the East would be Judah, on
the South would be Reuben, on the West would be Ephraim, on
the North would be Dan. East is Judah because Judah is
what is called the tribe of military might. Their job was to go in
front of the people of God and do the battles of the Lord. They
would have been the first tribe to enter into the promised land.
The other tribes had a strategically positioned status as well, but
they encompass all four directions of the compass. You guys got
that so far? Now we have to ask a question. If we've got an east
side, a west side, a north side, and a south side, Where is the
tabernacle? Here's what you must know. God
required the tabernacle to be in the middle of the tribe, smack
dab in the center of the tribe. So if you were to separate the
compass, spread them out and make room for a tent somewhere
about 150 feet long and 60 feet wide, you would have the tabernacle
smack dab in the middle of the people of God. Now what's the
significance of that? It's this. God was teaching Israel
that their identity corresponded with who God was and as he was
revealed in the tabernacle. Let me say it like this as a
very practical piece of information. Had God said, you guys set yourselves
up in the four marks of the compass and let the tabernacle go behind
you, that the tabernacle be behind you. That would have indicated
that Israel had an advantage over the tabernacle. That the
tabernacle would have been behind them would have signified essentially
what you and I do in a realm of religion where we are, as
it were, comfortable with the traditional format of Christianity. Where we know who God is and
we got an idea of who God is and there is a sort of relative
relationship with God, but he's kind of behind me. You understand
what I'm getting at? That God is back there. I mean,
I grew up in church, I learned the hymns, I learned some Bible
verses, I know this, I know that. But because it's mere tradition,
watch this now, God is not really relevant in my life today. He's
just back there. And so Jesus taught in Matthew
chapter 15, around verse 8, Ye do teach for commandments the
traditions of men. And by your traditions, you make
the commandments of God of non effect. And see, when you and
I start to traditionalizing the scriptures and making traditional
the Lord's table and the things of the Lord, you know what we
have done? We've taken God out the middle and put him in the
back. Now, if God had told Israel to take the tabernacle and put
it in the front, of the compass in the front of uh of judah way
out in front what that would have signified is what goes on
in much of religion today too and that is we have a sort of
system of belief but it's so transcendent and it's so beyond
us that we really can't get a grasp on it this is what would be the
case with those who are wrapped up in futuristic things you meet
these people Some of these folks, all they can think about is what's
going to happen 10 years from now, or what's going to happen
at the end of time, or what's going to happen way out in the
future. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Now I've met these folks all my Christian life. These are
the people who are fascinated and fixated on tomorrow. When the Bible tells me tomorrow
is not promised to anyone, but they are enamored by when the
Lord's going to come. Now, when you buy into a theology
that has you completely futuristic, I want you to mark this. You
are also making the right now God of the present, who's supposed
to be in the middle of your life, irrelevant. And as a consequence,
it opens the door up for you to be presumptuous. I've seen
these folks. They make a big deal about the
future. And yet in the present, with
all the challenges you and I face every day, you know, the everyday
issues of life, they are immoral, unethical in their behavior,
unethical in their conduct, unethical in their choices. Can I tell
you why? Because they are presumptuous that all they need to know about
God is what's going to happen tomorrow. And so God still is
not relevant today. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Now, if we take the tabernacle and put it on the side of Ephraim
or on the side of the other mark of the compass, then God becomes
a partner, a sidekick, a buddy. Now, you know what happens when
you make God a buddy? You can pick and choose what
Bible verses you wanna use on a pragmatic level by which you
get your life done. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
So if you have him behind you like a lot of people do, and
this is the danger of growing old in the church, and I mean
even in a true church. I mean, even in that place where
in God's mercy we meet week in and week out, sometimes day in
and day out, month in and month out, year in and year out, the
enemy and your own carnal nature can codify the glory of God into
a set of traditions where you're just going through the form and
the motion and no substance at all. Am I telling the truth? No substance at all. No substance
at all. Where does God desire and will
and purpose to dwell in the life of his people? Smack dab in the
middle of your mess. Right in the middle of your life.
So large in your life that God is the big elephant in the room.
He's the issue. He's the problem. He's the great
consciousness of the people of God. He is the center of their
life. He is the heart of their life.
He is the essence of their life. This is what he's telling Israel.
In fact, God is so in the middle of their life that they have
no identity apart from God. And when people on the outside
look at the nation, at the tribes, at these folks who are marching
in formation, what they notice conspicuously is that they are
bound by that thing that's in the center of them that keeps
them together. We call it the tabernacle of
witness. Now, when you use the term witness,
what we are talking about is something that may very well
be personal, but it is by no means private. You know what
that means? When you are the people of God,
everybody in the world ought to know you are the people of
God. As Israel makes its journey and
excursion through the wilderness, all of the other nations have
to reckon with this one fact, God is in the midst of them.
Now see, what I'm sharing with you are fundamentals that are
essential for you and I to be, once again, reminded of how you
and I are to walk with God. I quoted it earlier. I'm going
to quote it again. I'm going to make some application now.
Are you ready? And the Word was made flesh and dwelt in the midst
of us, and we beheld His glory. Can I stay right there for a
moment? That's what the tabernacle is about. God manifests his glory
in the midst of his people for them to behold it. 24 seven, seven days a week,
every week in the year, year in and year out, the people of
God had both the privilege and the responsibility of beholding
the glory of God manifested in the tabernacle. You know what
the essence of God's glory was by way of an imperative or a
command to the people of God? You know what God was saying
by manifesting his glory? Watch this. Draw near to God. Draw near to God. Come to God. Come worship and
bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord,
our maker. Let us worship the true and the
living God, for he is not a God that is far off. He's a God that's
very, very nigh. So there are seven things that
I wanna call your attention to relative to this before we partake
of the Lord's table so that you can have a little bit more appreciation
of the table. Seven aspects of the tabernacle
that I want to call your attention to these will be fairly brief.
They will be explicitly clear But they will remind you once
again of the privilege of what it means to be a child of the
Living God That tabernacle as we looked at it several years
ago Had so many different apparatuses and aspects to it by which you
and I could draw out its redemptive truth We don't have time for
it. Now. I just want to call your attention to seven seven
seven In the tabernacle that was in the wilderness, it was
first and foremost by nature a mobile worship center, mobile. In other words, it was intended
on God's part that that tabernacle dwelt with Israel in every encampment
that they engaged in until they made it to the promised land.
Do you understand what that means? That means God has intentionally
chosen to move about in the journeys with Israel and remain the center
of their identity no matter what they were going through. And
this is what we see in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. When
He came into this world and assumed our nature, He was the Word made
flesh and He dwelt amongst us, didn't He? And He wasn't stuck
in one place. Didn't He go here and there?
Capernaum, Tyre, Sidon, Israel, Galilee, about the regions. And
in fact, you never find Christ quite sitting in one place anytime.
He was moving all the time. And what that speaks to is the
mobility of the gospel in the life of the people of God. Wherever
you go, Christ is supposed to be there. Don't ever, child of
God, imagine that you have to go somewhere to get to God. You know how folks say, I got
to get to church. I got to get to church so we
can pray. Sorry, that's a wrong concept
of Christ. Because if you know him, you
are with him and you can start praying right where you are.
And when you get to church, then you can join with the members
in that prayer. But you ain't got to rush nowhere when he is
the word made flesh dwelling amongst us. Therefore, the mobility
of the presence of God is really for our benefit. I don't have
to get up out of my bed in the middle of the night and go find
a special place to pray. I don't even have to turn over
on my side. I can stay right where I am.
I don't have to open my eyes. I don't have to raise my hand.
We're getting ready to see that. When shall I appear before God?
The moment my conscious mind is aware of Jehovah Shema. The Lord is there. Now with this tabernacle, I just
want to go ahead and show you seven critical things. Seven
critical things first and foremost is this you will notice on that
tabernacle that there is one door Do you see it? I'm not gonna take the time to
go through the verses, but in your outline there is only one door
God made that clear when he taught Moses and taught the children
of Israel to construct the tabernacle He said now when you make the
tabernacle you make it with one door. Do you know what that means
only one way in and only one way out Are you hearing what
I'm saying? Now that door, we who are children
of God clearly know can only represent one person. Who is
that? I am the door. By me, the sheep
go in and out and find pasture for their soul. He makes it very
plain. He's the door. I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No one comes unto the Father
but by me. Now ladies and gentlemen, let
me say this right quick. What if there were multiple doors
to God? Can I tell you what we would
have to conclude? God is fickle. You'll get that
in a minute. See, if there are multiple ways
to God, as this culture would like to say, well, you know,
all ways lead to God. Have you heard that? Oh, now,
if God said you can come in through this way, but you can come in
through that way and you can come in through that. Oh, if
you want to, you can come in through that. You know what God would
be? He would be a double minded man and unstable in all his ways. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
But see, the Bible tells us that God is of one mind and no one
can change him and that his mind is immutable. It's impeccable.
It doesn't vary. God is fixed on his purpose.
Now watch this now. What if, ladies, I want to make
this come home to you. You had a man who chose you to
be his wife. He says, I want you to be my
wife. And you get all excited about
that. But then he said, but I want her and I want her and I want
her and I want her to. See, you would call him a fool,
wouldn't you? The principle of one way teaches us that God knows
what he wants. And you and I need a God who
knows what he wants. Watch this now. And all the promises of
God are yes and amen in Jesus Christ to the glory of God by
us. In other words, they are not
yes and no. God has known what he wanted before the world began. He said, you guys make it with
one door. Now I could talk about the size of the door, I'm not.
I simply want to say you enter into the door from the east.
Do you see it on your marking? You're entering from the east.
It was designed specifically to be a door to enter in from
the east. And we've been learning that
in biblical theology, haven't we? The Bible teaches us we must
go east. Since the fall of mankind, we
must go east. Go east, young man. Go east,
young woman. Go east of Eden, because east
leads us toward the rising of the sun. And the rising of the
sun speaks to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And the resurrection
is the hope of all God's people, both Old Testament and New. And
the resurrection is God's promise that one day your darkness will
be over, your night will be over. And in fact, the angle of the
east, when you follow the tabernacle all the way to the other end,
you come into the Holy of Holies. And in the Holy of Holies is
where the king, the sovereign God sits. The picture is that
of God looking out from the Holy of Holies through the holy place
into the tabernacle proper and out the front door to the resurrection. Even God himself is fixed on
that great day of the resurrection. Now, let me talk to you about
ending through this door, which is critically important before
we get to the second apparatus, which is also critical here.
Why would a man or a woman come to the door of the tabernacle?
For two reasons. They are worshipers of God and
they come to worship God because they know they need him. You
guys got that? They are worshipers of God and
they come to the tabernacle because they know they need God. They
have been taught that to need God and to want God is the reason
for which we are made. Now, let me help you with this.
Not everybody is coming to the tabernacle. Are you with me?
Not everybody in the world wants God. Haven't you figured that
out yet? Haven't you figured out that
most people are too busy for God? Haven't you figured out
also that most people are looking for another way to God other
than the front door? Have you figured that out? Can
I share something with you then with regards to this before we
get to our second article? For a man or woman to find the
front door, which is Christ, is the grace of God. Do you know
what the Bible plainly teaches? There's none that seeketh after
God. No, not one. There's none that understand.
There's none that do it good. There's none that's righteous.
There's none that's profitable before God. Let me ask you a
question. How did you find the front door?
By the mercy of God. Because God found you in your
darkness, put his hands on you and led you to the front door.
Is that the truth? You know what the Bible plainly
teaches? Watch this. No man can come to me except
my father which sent me draw him. If a man or woman find themselves
at the front door, the straight gate, the narrow way, it's because
the father by his spirit drew you out of darkness into his
marvelous light and led you to the front door. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. People don't find
the front door. People don't find the front door.
The front door is just as much a mystery to each one of us as
God is. God has to manifest that front
door, reveal that front door, open the curtains up, show you
the way, lead you in the way, bring you in the way. And you
know why he did that? Because Christ said in John chapter
14, I go to prepare a place for you. that where I am you may
be also. The only reason I came to recognize
the glory of God in Christ is because Christ died for me. He died for me. He brought me
to the door. Now he taught me something about
how you come to God the right way and that's what the first
apparatus in the tabernacle teaches you. Do you notice in your outline
In their illustration it says that the first thing that you
see as the worshipper when you come into the tabernacle is what
is called the brazen altar. Do you see that? Do you see that?
When the door is open and that door is Christ, he's the revelation
of the invisible God. No man can see God at any time. Only he who is in the bosom of
the father, he has revealed him. And when God reveals to you the
glory of God, the first thing that God shows you, you ready?
Is you got to come to God with a sacrifice. You've got to come
to God with a sacrifice. Pastor what does that mean? It
means that you have no right no ability to come to God by
yourself In fact, the Levitical code said it like this don't
come to God empty-handed Your men are to appear before God
three times a year and they better not come empty-handed You know
what? That means when you come you
come already having been advised that you are a sinner and That
the only way that you can worship God is It's through a blood sacrifice
Are you following me so far? I'm gonna show you because it's
in your outline now watch this when men and women are taught
the gospel correctly The thing that you and I come to understand
is we are hell-bound sinners And when you come to god, right,
you must come Confessing your sins He that cometh unto God
must believe that he is and a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him. And when you come to God, this is how you come. Are you
ready? You come to God confessing your sins. You confess your sin
because God has made it known to you that you are a sinner.
The work of the spirit of God, that primary initial work is
to convince us of what? Sin. And when I'm taught that
I'm a sinner, then that means that when I come to God, I've
got to come with the required sacrifice. The brazen altar corresponds
to 1 John 1, verse 9. If we confess our sins, He is
just and faithful to have already forgiven us. and have already
justified us on the merits of the one who has already died
for us, the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness if we confess our sins. See, the
first stage in walking with God and worshiping God, and this
is how our churches used to do it long ago, you come in confessing. Man, that's big, that's much
different than we do it today. Do you know today everybody that
comes to church is all right with God? Did you get that? See people don't come today to
church today under the clear and biblical impression that
they're not right with God. So they'll come and they'll go
through the outward form of worship and not once say to God, God,
I am jacked up. I just want to get my young people
today. And so long as they are not admitting,
see the word confess means to be wide open. It's a Hebrew term
which means to open the mouth wide. You guys see the analogy? Let me help you with it though
just in case you don't get it. It's like when you have an opportunity
to tell the judicial system everything you know about something for
which a case completely hangs on all your testimony, you tell
them everything. The verb yada means to open the
hands wide. Let me help you with that. What
that means is the people of God come to God by being totally
honest, completely honest. completely open, completely candid
about all of the heinous sin that goes on in their heart,
in their mind, in their thoughts, in their mouth, in their deeds,
everywhere. And in fact, they are so plain
with God. Here's what they say, I come
to you admitting that I am jacked up. In fact, I know I'm worse
than I really am because you see me perfectly. Even the darkness
is light with you. And the areas in which I think
I'm good, according to your word, that's bad also. Father, I am
a hell-bound sinner by nature. There is no good in me at all. me dwelleth no good thing I am
vile and corrupt by nature from the soles of my feet to the crown
of my head according to your holiness I am putrefying sores
I have no reason to be in your presence but you told me if I would confess my sins I
would prosper He that confesses his sins shall prosper. The one
that hides them shall not prosper. Proverbs 28, 13. So true worshipers
don't play this religious, self-righteous, pharisaical game trying to pull
a wool over God's eyes that somehow you are worthy to worship God
today because you didn't think a bad thought. You thought a
bad thought on your way in. God says, bring a lamb without
spot and without blemish. Because in order for you to have
communion with me, I must see the blood. For without the shedding
of blood, there is no remission of sins. You are not holy enough
in yourself to have communion with God. You and I must bring
something that in God's eyes, representatively, is innocent
enough for God to exercise his justice on to let you move to
the next stage. Can I keep going? So after I
come through the one door and after I offer the one sacrifice,
which constitutes legitimate confession, don't play games
with God. If you regard iniquity in your heart as if you're going
to hide it in your bosom from God, it means you have not come
to know who God is. And if you have come to know
God in his holiness, you have not come to know God in his mercy,
because if you come to know him in his mercy, you can tell God
everything. because the blood of Jesus Christ
cleanses us from all sin. Now the next stage that we come
to as we grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord, our
text actually calls this the gospel way to come to God. That's
in your outline. The gospel way to come to God.
The next stage is we come to this big old bowl. Do you see
that bowl in there? Now it's little in your outline
because it was Undefined in the Exodus account where God in the
tabernacle told Aaron and told Moses to make what was called
a labor You guys see that it's called a labor. Now if you don't
understand what the word labor is just use the word bathtub It's used the word bathtub now
this thing was a bowl a And this bowl probably was somewhere around
five and a half feet in diameter. For you mathematicians, you know
how to do the circumference on that, right? And so this bowl
was large enough for the priest to wash in, to wash in. Because the role of the priest
is to represent the people. So as the priest draws near to
God, the people are drawing near to God through the priest. Now
what this particular article in the temple teaches you and
I is not what the brazen altar teaches us. The brazen altar
teaches us justification. The labor teaches us sanctification. Are you with me so far? Justification
is what God did for us outside of ourselves, having nothing
to do with our person, our feeling, our thoughts in the Lord Jesus
Christ when he punished Christ for our sins, which means you
cannot feel justification. When you meet people and say,
you know, I feel justified. Sorry, you can't feel justified. Justification ain't a feeling,
it's a position. You got that? Now you can feel
sanctification. because sanctification is a subjective
dynamic, subjective. In this particular article in
the temple, the priests were to go up to a big brazen, it
was a brass bowl, brass bowl. And in fact, Solomon, because
he was the richest man in the world, he did everything large,
you know that? He magnified everything. In fact,
in the temple, in Solomon's day, he had 10 labors. He just magnified
things by 10. The number 10 represents the
completion in the scripture. And the labor in Solomon's day
were big, 10 big labors around a big, big central labor that
was somewhere around 15 feet wide and 45 feet round, six and
a half feet high. And it had thousands of gallons
of water in it. with all the 10 other labors
running around in the courtyard. You know what Solomon was teaching?
He was teaching that there is enough sanctification in God
to wash any sinner that would come to him. Now the labor itself
had on it certain images, which when you washed, you had the
privilege of seeing the image in the labor. But at the same
time, because the labor was brass, the labor served as a mirror.
So that as you wash, you saw yourself too. Am I beginning
to make some sense? So we've got two reflections
in this image or in this mirror, which is brazen by nature for
us to deal with. In the sanctifying process that
the people of God go through, the first thing we see is ourselves. Am I telling the truth? The first
thing we see is ourselves. This is what James says in James
chapter 2, that we have what is called a mirror, a looking
glass, the perfect law of liberty, wherein we look and we behold
our natural face. This is the difficulty about
reading scripture. If you read scripture honestly,
you know what it will do? It'll show you who you really
are. I'm sorry, Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12, which says the word
of God is alive, and it is quick and it is powerful and it is
sharper than any two-edged sword. And what the Word of God is able
to do is expose you and I in areas in which your own conscious
and your own mind won't do. Now watch this, ladies and gentlemen.
That's why people don't read their Bibles. That's why they
just go to church and hope the preacher is not an expository
Bible preacher. So the Holy Ghost won't have
nothing to work with to get down inside that heart Just entertain
me on my road to hell And tell me I'm all right with God you
all right with God. We all all right with God when
nothing could be further from the truth Am I telling the truth? So here's what the Bible teaches
even my master prayed this in John 17 17 when he says Lord
Sanctify them in thy truth Thy word is true. So the goal of
the labor is to be a means by which the people of God interact
with the revelation of God in the scripture by which we can
see who we really are. Now, what I'm talking about also,
Saints, is transformation. Because the work of sanctification
is the work of transformation. Now, this is the hard work. Am
I telling the truth? This is the hard work. It seems
like after 500 years in Christ, I'm married better than I was
when I first was saved. Can I get a witness? See, nobody wanna agree with
me, but see, I'm confessing my sin. See, I know you think you
are way better than you was when you first got saved, but if you
are better, It's only by a little bit. Am I telling the truth? Can I
keep talking for a minute? See, I tell you, an honest person
won't go to hell, but some of y'all going to hell because you
actually think you are better than you really are. Now watch
this. So long as somebody has lied
to you and told you you all right, God's all right, we all right,
you won't wash sincerely. See, some psychologists, some
wizard, some magician, some mystic, some pagan, some religionists
who are seeking to target your felt needs are telling you, you
all right. But the word of God doesn't tell
us we're all right. The word of God never tells us
that in ourselves, we're all right. Am I telling the truth?
And the word of God never tells us we get so good, so healthy,
so clean, so pure, so washed that we don't need to wash every
day. It never says that. It never
says that. That's why I like Solomon. You
know, we already know that Solomon was black. We know that, right?
Because all the gold he had running around the kingdom. We already
know that. And I already told you, Escalades and Denali's,
he was rolling large. Gold chains, he just was just
telling you. The text said gold was running
in the streets. You know how black folks enamored
with gold. My Latinos like silver. All right, I'm messing with you.
But then also because we ain't never had nothing in our life,
when we get it, we make it large. So Solomon, you know, when it
was his turn, he said, Lord, I'm going to make a big old,
it's called a molten sea. In Solomon's day, it was a sea.
That's how big that bowl was. And then, you know what? I got
a whole bunch of bronze left over. Just make 10 labors everywhere.
And it does signify the eternality of God's grace to sanctify us
to the uttermost that come unto God. That there will never be
a time that you can come to God for cleansing and for washing
and for purification and the water run dry. He is the living
water, which gushes up out of him into not only a waterfall,
but a river and an ocean for every sinner from every nation,
kindred, tribe and tongue by which you and I can wash and
wash and wash and wash and wash and wash again and again and
again and again. Am I making some sense? So let me help you a little bit
on a practical level. There are, as Proverbs 30 puts it, a generation
that actually is pure in their own eyes. That's Proverbs 30.
There's a generation that's pure in their own eyes, but they have
not been washed from their filthiness. You know who they are? Religious
folk who don't come to God right. They play church and don't take
God's word seriously. I'm telling the truth. They are
not serious about what it means to come to God. See, you and
I today are talking about coming to God, right? Don't you want
to come to God? When God calls you, come unto
me, all you that labor and heavy laden. I'll give you rest. I'll
rest your soul. But you got to follow my prescription.
Don't you want to come to God? If God shows you the door, shouldn't
we enter into that door? If God gives us an altar, shouldn't
we bring the right sacrifice to the altar? If God sets up
a bathtub for you to wash your nasty soul, in the truth of God's
word, shouldn't we take a swan dive, a jackknife in, back stroke,
breast stroke, frog stroke, dog paddle until we get clean in
our soul and stay in till the water get lukewarm from all my
body heat and my skin is shriveling up because I don't want to get
out Because if I get out, I got to do it all over again. Can
I get a witness? So what I'm talking about, listen,
I'm talking about the utilitarian nature of the Word of God. See,
people are not studying their Bibles. They're not praying for
God to give them revelation. They're not seeking to know Christ
in a more profound way. And the Bible tells us we all,
who are true believers, are on this process and journey of coming
to God. We all, with open faiths, do
behold constantly, in the present indicative verb form, as in a
mirror. What is that mirror? The Word
of God. We behold, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord. When the
last time you read your Bible and the Holy Spirit showed you
the beauty and splendor and majesty of Jesus Christ face to face,
as it were the Spirit of Christ wooing you with overtures of
love saying, listen, look, look, do you see my glory? This is
what you will be so long as you continue to look to me. When
was the last time you had that profound impact of biblical revelation
where you read the word and the Holy Ghost says, one day you're
going to look just like that. And every man that had this hope
in him purifies himself even as he is pure. Are y'all hearing
what I'm saying? This is the sanctifying work
of the Spirit of God in the Word of God. The generation I am in
is pretending to walk with God. They got God on the backside
as a tradition. They got him in the front as
some mystic that they can't get a handle on. They got him on
the side as a buddy to run to when they get in trouble. Instead
of God being in the midst, in the midst of you, as your identity,
as the essence of who you are. A person can't even get to you
unless they come to Christ. All that sister always talking
about Jesus. They see you coming and they
want to go the other way. And that's because you found
Christ to be so precious to your soul, to whom coming as unto
a living stone and indeed to us precious. Christ is precious. He's sweet. He tastes good. He looks good. He feels good. He wears well. He dignifies your
soul. He strengthens the heart. He
stabilizes the mind. He gives you a purpose. He is
my vision. Am I making some sense? Now I
have, by the grace of God, come to the door. And by the grace
of God, I've been moved over into further relating to God
in terms of justification. And by his grace, he has moved
me to his bathtub so I can wash. I see myself and I see his glory,
but now I have to move further. What is the next article in the
temple? The altar of incense. You guys see it? The altar of
incense. You see it in your outline? No, I'm sorry. We gotta go inside
the entrance of the veil. We gotta deal with the golden menorah
and the table and showbread. Thank you, Lord. When you go
into this first veil, it's called the holy place. In this place, only the priest
get to go. And the outer veil is what was
called the court proper. Now, what you and I have been
talking about thus far is a place where the worshiper and the priest
get to engage in the revelation of God in terms of justification
and sanctification. But when the priests go inside
the holy place, there's an article on the left called the menorah.
You guys see that? That's called the menorah. Now,
the menorah was a light that was necessary to light up the
whole room in that that square called the holy place. The menorah
was the only light in there. Now the Bible tells us that Jesus
Christ is what? The light of the world. And what
this means is this, light in the scripture is a metaphor for
several things. One is a metaphor for knowledge.
It's a metaphor for knowledge. God has shined the light, second
Corinthians 4.4, the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ in my heart And what that means is you and I
prior to coming to God through Christ. We sought light in all
kinds of places Some folks sought light in education Some folks
sought light in birth businesses some sought light in entertainment
some sought light in relationships some sought light in in drugs. Some saw it in sex. They were
looking for a revelation, a knowledge of something to satisfy their
soul. But when God draws you to Christ, here's what you come
to understand. Christ is the only true light that lights every
man that comes into the world. He is the true light. In other
words, all these other lights we're talking about is really
darkness. Am I making some sense? We didn't
know it was darkness until we saw the true light. When once
we saw the true light, we looked back and said, man, I was in
darkness all the time. Didn't know it because you can't
see darkness until the true light shines. Now, actually, what we
are talking about in the progression of moving forward to what I want
you to actually see is what happens as we grow in grace and in the
knowledge of the Lord and we begin to develop in our walk
with God and exclusivity. You know what exclusivity means?
It means that you abandon everything else and put your whole trust
in this one entity. This is what happens as we grow
in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. Isn't it true that
the older we get and the more we come to learn the truth as
it is in Christ, that everything else in our present generation
is a lie? And it appears even more a lie
every day. See, when we were younger in
Christ, I want to help you now, you young people, watch this.
When you're younger in Christ, you actually think you can negotiate
both Jesus and the world. Can I get a witness, old people?
See, because young people glory in their strength. They really
do. Lord, I love you, but... And so we try to negotiate, you
know, having a career that we know is questionable, because
we're seeking our own glory. and at the same time holding
on to Jesus. This is what is called also being a double-minded
man. But here's what you will learn, young child of God, like
us old folk have learned. Jesus is enough. And once you
find that Jesus is enough, you can let that other stuff go and
come to find out that Christ will keep you and provide for
you and is sufficient for all your needs. Now that's gonna
be hard, but you'll get there. And see, to be honest with you,
you young people, some of my old brothers and sisters still
doing what y'all doing. Can I get a witness? These old
folks still trying to have the light of the world in the light
of Christ too. But see, you got to enter into
that dominion. You got to step through that
curtain into that holy sanctum. And this is the area in which
in your outline it may have said, This is what distinguishes people
who are serious about serving God from the ones who are not.
Are you with me so far? The people that are serious about
serving God learn the principle of exclusivity. Remember earlier
I said, ladies, if you got a man who says, I want to marry you,
but then he kicking it with four other chicks too, then you know
he's not serious about you. And God knows that about people
as well. You're not serious about me. Because if you were, you
would enter in through that veil into the place where I am the
only light that you know. And from that light, now watch
this now, I wish I had time, I don't. But from that light,
you are now cast upon a table of showbread, which becomes for
the priest their meat. It was for them to eat the bread.
and be nourished by the bread. Now that bread we are told in
the Bible is whom? Jesus Christ. I am the bread
of life. If any man eat of me, he shall
never hunger again. Are you with me so far? Now I'm
gonna sum it up here in a moment, but I want you to get this now.
If one becomes serious about God, you will discover that the
true light is exclusively Jesus Christ and everything else is
a lie. At the end of the day, it's going to prove itself that
way. If one is serious about Christ, the light will lead you
to the place where you will find that the Word of God is your
sufficiency for soul nourishment. Stay with me now, because I know
you're going. I can see you're running. But what I'm talking about is
what it means to truly come to God. And I've asked the Lord
to help me keep this thing simple so that I don't go into deep
metaphorical thoughts. I want to keep it very simple.
The Word of God is our necessary meat. It is our food. It is our
life. This is exactly what Jeremiah said and Job said it as well.
He says, I desire your Word, Job, more than my daily meat. Now, if that statement is true,
what Job is saying is, by faith, I can live on God's word, and
I don't need the other doctrines of men. You know what Jeremiah
said in Jeremiah chapter 15, verse 16? Thy words were found,
and I did eat them, and they became the joy and rejoicing
of my heart. Can I say something else about
that before we move to the altar of incense? Now watch this. Remember
our Lord Jesus saying in the gospel of John chapter 4 when
the disciples have went to go get some sandwiches Because our
Lord had to go through Samaria and meet somebody who was chosen
in him before the world began a sister from Samaria Remember
that sister he had to meet her He had a special appointment
with that sister and the brothers went off and when they came back
They saw him chatting with her and they they say master. We
went and got some food. You still hungry. I Want you
to hear this? You know what he said to his
disciples? He says, my meat is to do the will of him that sent
me. Now watch this. You know what
he was saying? He was saying, just as food nurtures
the body and strengthens the body and invigorates the body
to be able to do what it wants to do, God's Word strengthens
and nurtures and invigorates to do what God wants us to do.
When the Word of God becomes so important to you, it becomes
your meat. It actually energizes you. It
actually strengthens you. It actually vitalizes you. It
gives you the vigor to do what God wants you to do. That is
a dimension, I'm here to tell you, most people don't know.
Because most people got to have a cup of coffee or some tea.
For those of y'all who the health nut kicks y'all, whatever special
little thing that gets y'all juiced up, it's not the Word
of God. See, when we say the bread of
life, what we are talking about is all that is necessary to keep
me alive, to strengthen me, to make me strong, to give me the
capacity to do what God wants me to do. Now, children of God,
does the Word of God do that for you? Don't answer that. I'm
just sharing with you what it means to come to God. What it
means to come to God. So we've made it in through this
covering. We have seen that there's only one light. We've seen that
there's only one bread. All this represents Christ, right?
And what this light, which points to Christ, which is the bread,
is supposed to do, are you ready? I want you to hear me now. It's
supposed to strengthen you in your walk with God in such a
way as to lead you to the realization that the glory of God is so absolutely
magnificent that I need to pray for it. Strategically set up over against
the Holy of Holies is the altar of incense. Is that true? Strategically set up over against
the Holy of Holies is the golden altar of incense. Ladies and
gentlemen, we are at the door. We're at the door. You got it?
We're at the door. We're at the veil. the veil between
God and man, the veil between heaven and earth, the veil between
the real dimension of spiritual reality, where the Shekinah glory
is, and this physical dimension where you and I are. It is not
an accident that the grace of God leads you through the front
door, which is Christ. It is no accident that the grace
of God teaches you the necessity of a blood sacrifice to justify
you from your sins. It is no accident that the grace
of God teaches you that you and I must be washed by the washing
of the water of the word every day. And it is no accident that
if we grow in grace by the light and bread of God Almighty, that
it is going to compel us to the deep and profound awareness that
I must be a man or a woman of profound and committed prayer. Because I'm a mess. And I want to see His glory.
I want to behold His glory. Don't you? Now stay with me for
a moment. Secretly, you know that this
is the one weak area in your life. Are you hearing me? You know that the area of prayer
is where you are the most impotent. And you are asking, how come
I don't pray more? Can I get a witness? Just get
one. Just get one. Good. Half the house. The rest of y'all,
y'all in trouble. The ones who raised their hand, pray for them.
Now stay with me now. I just, I'm almost done. It's
fascinating how the excursion leads to the last altar before
we go through the veil. Are you with me so far? It's
fascinating, isn't it? But if you have been a Christian
at least as long as I have, here's what you come to learn. That
had I been a man or woman of sincere and earnest biblical
God-glorifying Christ-exalting prayer from the beginning, I'd
be far advanced in my walk with God than I am today. I'm a mess
today because I've done a lot of Christianity out of my own
strength, out of my own vigor, through my own intellect, using
this and using that and not getting on my knees and calling on God
because I really wasn't wanting to draw nigh to God. Because
you can't get into the presence of our God standing up you got to go down. Am I telling
the truth? You got to go down. See, see,
see, and God, isn't God good to us? He ain't got no business
being as good as he is to us. He's so good we can't even understand
it. Why would he let hard-headed,
knucklehead people like us draw near to God? through the front
door, past the sacrifice, swimming through the labor, not even praying
to God, just doing our thing, going about our business, day
in and day out, year in and year out, barely tipping our hat to
God. Now, am I telling the truth?
We ain't got time to pray. We don't have time to call on
God. We don't have sincere time to bow the knee before the true
and the living God and seek his mercy in our life or for other
people. We don't even pray for other people. Man, this is a
good message. Because I'm telling the truth. And you know what's so bad about
what I'm saying? We're supposed to be the priesthood. We're supposed
to be standing in the gap for hell bound sinners. And we can't
even call on God ourselves. This is how we can, can I tell
you how you know how close or far you are from God? By the
capacity, by the nature, by the quality of your prayer life.
Sorry is just true. Now let me share the good news
with you. The only reason you and I made it to the door, the
only reason you and I made it to the altar, the only reason
you and I made it to the labor, the only reason you and I made
it through that first covering to the light and then ate on
the bread, the only reason you and I are now at the altar of
incense is because there was one man who was a root out of dry ground
in this wilderness just like you and me. in whom there was
no beauty that we should desire Him. He had no comeliness for
us at all. And yet He loved His Father,
and His Father loved Him, and He loved sinners. And He chose
to walk this walk from the front door, through the altar, past
the labor, into the light, and the bread, and to the altar of
incense. You know who His name is. Jesus
Christ, the way, the truth, and the life. He is our way. He is our truth. He is our life.
And I see him there. How do I know what I'm saying
is so true? This man was holy, harmless,
undefiled. He was separate from sinners.
He knew no sin, did no sin, in him was no sin at all. He asked
everyone, convince me of sin. Everybody's mouth shut. And yet,
and yet, As he makes his way to God, I find my Savior telling
his disciples, I need you to pray with me for three hours. For one hour, I'm sorry. I need
you to pray with me for one hour. Where is he headed? He's headed
to God. The closer he gets to God, the more he's compelled
to what? Pray. And I see him in the garden,
don't you? Agonizing. Agonizing. Calling on his God now if Christ
Had to do it and He was holy Intrinsically ontologically by
nature and he knew he was about to go into the presence of his
God don't you and I ought to know that to get the God is going
to require petitioning him and This is why David said in Psalm
141, let my prayer ascend unto you like the morning incense. This is why our elders said out
of Revelation 8.3, as the angel took the incense, the coals off
the altar of the incense, coupled with the prayers of the saints,
scattered them abroad upon the earth. This is why we read in
Leviticus 16 that Aaron, was to take that altar of incense
and take the incense and the censer and pour the incense on
the censer. This is called the Day of Yom
Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Are you ready? Now watch this.
God said, Aaron, you represent the people. Now when you come
in to visit with me, and you only get to do it once a year,
I want you causing that sensor to emanate with incense and smoke
so profusely that the whole of the Holy of Holies is covered
in smoke. That's Leviticus chapter 16 verses
12 through 14. You know when Aaron entered into
the Holy of Holies, you know what entered first? That sensor. You know what it was doing? Emanating
smoke! You know what it represented?
Aaron praying so that when he stepped inside the veil, the
whole room was covered in incense. What does it typify? Profuse
prayer to God, which is what our Lord Jesus Christ had to
do. before he laid down his life for our sin. You know what Leviticus
says? It says the same thing that Exodus
says. Have Aaron to pray before he come in, because if he don't
pray, I will what? Kill him. That's how holy God
is. That's how holy God is. And the
good news for you and I is the only reason you and I can be
confident that we are not only going into the presence of God,
Are you ready for this? We are already in the presence
of God because we have a mediator and a high priest who has already
entered into the true tabernacle. Here's the two words for us so
that I am accepted in the beloved so that right now I am in God's
presence in Christ because he is my high priest. and my intercessor,
and I am forever accepted before God, not based on my own weak
prayers and flawed life and sinful thoughts. My hope is in the righteousness
of Jesus Christ and the grace of my mediator who stands before
God right now, having accomplished it all, having accomplished it
all. And watch this. And here's how
I know. Because I'm getting ready to
partake of an element called the cup and the bread that lets
me know I'm all right with God because of Him. Isn't that good? I'm all right with God because
of a high priest who made it in. He made it in. Y'all got that? The table of
the Lord is the security that we are in. by faith in Jesus
Christ alone, apart from all our works. Amen. Amen.