as the chosen sinner came to
worship God in the days of Moses. He would approach the tabernacle
in the wilderness, and that tabernacle was nothing outward to look at. It was just a tent, looked very
common, unattractive, covered with badger skins. It must have
looked a little repulsive on the outside. But if a man would
worship God, he must come to the tabernacle. For within the
tabernacle, inside that tabernacle that looked so modest, to say
the least, on the outside, was all glorious within. Everything
inside that thing was pure gold. Everything inside that tabernacle
was light. Everything inside that tabernacle
representing God and his greatness, his glory, and his salvation.
But the sinner coming to worship God has got to come to that tabernacle. And the only way in the tabernacle
was by one gate right in the front, going into the courtyard. Not into the tabernacle itself,
but into the courtyard, the tabernacles on beyond there. And as he goes
through that one gate to God, he's going through that which
pictures Jesus Christ, the door by which we go in to God and
find acceptance with him. He goes in by that gate and as
he pulls back the curtain. He was just a man. smallish sort
of man by our standards, a Jew, probably not much over five,
five and a half feet tall, and he goes to worship God. And he pulls back the curtain. And when he pulled back that
curtain, I tried to picture the man going
there for the first time, for the first time. He'd never been
inside that place before. He pulled back that curtain.
And he just stands there, awed, astounded. He's heard all his
life what's behind that curtain. He's heard all his life about
this great brazen altar that the children of Israel carried
everywhere they went. And when the tabernacle was set
up, it's set up right behind this curtain. And he pulled back
that curtain. And he sees for the first time
that altar, seven and a half feet long, seven and a half feet
wide. That's huge. Four and a half
feet high. That square altar covered with
bronze, overlaid all over with brass called a brazen altar. This bronze altar stands before
him glistening in the light of the sun. The very first thing
he saw is this altar of brass. It's made of shittum wood, overlaid
and encased completely in brass. And at this altar, every sacrifice
is offered to God. Only By this altar could the
sinner get to the laver of brass and be washed. Only by this altar
could the sinner get past this altar onto the laver and then
be represented by the priest inside the Holy of Holies and
find God accepting him on the mercy seat. The very first thing
that met his eyes was this altar of brass. The very first thing
that confronted him is this altar, this place of sacrifice. The
very first thing he was taught in the worship of God, the very
first thing he learned, the very first thing he saw is that which
typified the accomplishment of redemption by Christ, our sacrifice. My subject tonight is this brazen
altar. Not really, not really. That's
not much of a subject. My subject tonight is Christ
Our Altar. Turn with me to Exodus chapter
27, and let's look at it. Christ Our Altar. Exodus 27, we'll begin reading
at verse 1. And thou shalt make an altar
of shiddim wood, five cubits long, About seven
and a half feet. Five cubits broad. The altar
shall be four square and the height thereof three cubits. About four and a half feet. Very
high altar for the average sized fella. Very high altar. And no
steps going up to it. About four and a half feet high.
That's pretty good height for me and I'm a good sized fella.
Especially if I'm gonna pick up a slaughtered calf and put
it on there That's that's pretty good-sized altar four and a half
feet high Verse two and thou shalt make the horns of it upon
the four corners thereof His horn shall be of the same and
thou shalt overlay it with brass and Thou shalt make his pans
to receive his ashes, and his shovels, shovels to take the
ashes and carry them away, his pans to receive his ashes, and
his shovels, and his basins, and his flesh hooks, and his
fire pans, all the vessels thereof thou shalt make abreast. And
thou shalt make for it a grate of net-work of brass, and upon
the net shalt thou make four brazen rings, and four corners
thereof, verse 5, and thou shalt put it under the compass of the
altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst of the altar. And thou shalt make staves for
the altar, staves of shittom wood, and overlay them with brass. And the staves shall be put into
the rings, and the staves shall be put upon the two sides of
the altar to bear it, that is, to carry it. Hollow with boards
shalt thou make it. It is as it was showed thee in
the mount, so shall they make it. Turn over to chapter 29,
verse 36. And thou shalt offer every day
a bullock for a sin offering for atonement. And thou shalt
cleanse the altar when thou hast made an atonement for it, and
thou shalt anoint it to sanctify it. Verse 37. Seven days thou
shalt make an atonement for the altar and sanctify it, and it
shall be an altar most holy, whatsoever toucheth the altar, whatsoever toucheth the altar. If I can just touch the hem of
his garment, I'll be made whole, she said. Whatsoever toucheth
the altar shall be holy. This brazen altar was the place
where blood was shed for the atonement every day. The blood
of the sin offering. You may recall, and if you don't
recall it, write it down right here and don't forget it. The
word translated sin offering is the very same word translated
throughout scripture sin. The blood of the sin offering
was offered every day on the altar for the atonement of the
sins of the people. The victim offered on this altar
was burned right here. His flesh with his entrails burned
on the altar, consumed by the continually burning fire on the
altar. This was the place that gave
meaning to everything else involved in the worship of the tabernacle.
And later on, this is the place, this brazen altar, that gave
meaning to everything involved in the worship of God in the
temple. This altar of brass stands out
preeminent in the scriptures, and there's a reason for that.
Without it, nothing else was accomplished. Nothing else. No cleansing. no bread to eat,
no light by which to see, no entrance into the holiest of
all, no acceptance with God, no revelation of the glory of
God, no Shekinah glory. First and foremost is the altar
of brass. The brazen altar is that which
was beheld and consumed the vision of the worshiper. as he came
to God every morning. And every night, he'd come back
to worship God and offer the evening sacrifice, and the brazen
altar consumed his vision. It's so large, so great, so massive,
that as he opens the tabernacle curtain and goes in, all he can
see is this altar of brass, and he's consumed with it. God made
Christ like that to me. So that with the opening of my
eyes every day, He consumes every thought and every affection in
my heart, and every evening as the day closes, He consumes every
thought and every affection. Christ is preeminent. He is first and foremost in the
scriptures. First and foremost in the worship
of God. First and foremost let him be
in our hearts, in all our doctrine, in all our worship, in all our
praise, in all our preaching. We have an altar, Paul says,
whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. Christ is our altar. We worship
God in spirit and in truth. We have no material altar. We
will not recognize a material altar. We will give no honor
to a material altar. Material altars are but pieces
of satanic delusion. Material altars are but pieces
of idolatry. We have an altar. And those who
eat at a physical altar, those who worship at a physical altar
cannot eat at this altar. They have no right to this altar.
Christ is our altar. I want us to seek of God by his
word some understanding of what's portrayed here in this altar.
Now that which was represented here in this brazen altar was
the sacrifice of Christ by which sinners are accepted with God. That's what's represented. I
was shocked today. I've read this before, but I
was shocked to read it at the source. I read it today. A fellow
was writing about the altar and said the altar symbolized the
cross. Celeste just spoke of us receiving
forgiveness at the cross. But when we speak of the cross,
when we sing of the cross and sing properly, as she just did,
we're not talking about a physical cross. We're talking about the
revelation of God's grace and mercy in Christ Jesus crucified. We're talking about the accomplishments
of our Redeemer at the cross. We don't have crosses as pieces
of religious worship, pieces of religious significance. Crosses
are in no way a representation of anything spiritual. The altar
was not representative of the cross. It was representative
of Jesus Christ crucified, the accomplishments, the doctrine
of the cross, the gospel of the grace of God. That which is represented
here is the heart of the gospel, the heart of all gospel preaching. The Lamb of God, our Lord Jesus,
died in our place as our substitute, and by His bloody sacrifice,
by His sacrifice of blood, He obtained eternal redemption for
us once and for all. Turn to Leviticus chapter 1. Learn this first. This brazen
altar The place of the sin offering
is called the altar of burnt offering in Exodus chapter 40. It was the place where sacrifice
was made. It stood in the court between
the gate of the court and the tabernacle itself. The burnt
offering, remember, offered on this altar was offered to God
as a sweet savor offering. A sweet savor offering. We can
hardly imagine it. We think about blood sacrifices
and our minds automatically run to barbarism. Our minds automatically
run to cruelty as we've been taught and it's been kind of
ingrained in us in this day. And as the religious sacrifices
of the heathen throughout history have been nothing but barbarism
and idolatry. But these sacrifices of innocent
victims were ordained by God and are beautiful pictures of
redeeming grace in Christ Jesus. And the sacrifice here was a
sweet savor offering. Imagine that. God looks at the
sacrifice of a turtle dove and another one dipped in the blood
of that one and flying away. Sacrifice of a lamb, the sacrifice
of an ox. He looks at the sacrifice and
he said, Oh, that's sweet. That's beautiful. That's magnificent. Leviticus chapter 1, verse 1.
The Lord called unto Moses and spake unto him out of the tabernacle
of the congregation, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel
and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto
the Lord, you shall bring your offering of the cattle, even
of the herd or of the flock. If his offering be a burnt sacrifice,
of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish. He shall offer
it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation before the Lord. He shall put his hand upon
the head of the burnt offering." Put his hand on it, just like
Aaron, the high priest on the Day of Atonement. puts his hand
on the head of the paschal lamb, and puts his hand on the head
of the scapegoat, and thereby symbolically confesses the sins
of the people over the victim, and confesses the sins of the
people upon the head of the scapegoat, and thereby shows a transfer
of sin that no man could make but God alone. And this transfer
of sin is the transfer of our sins to God's Son, our substitute,
And we put our hands of faith where God put his hand of justice
on the head of Christ to sacrifice and come to worship God. That's
what faith in Christ is. It is recognizing what God has
done and trusting him. Read on. Verse four, he shall
put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering and it shall
be accepted for him, accepted for the man who comes to worship
God. excepted for him to make atonement for him. Brother Bob
just read in the back back there, Romans chapter 5, beginning in
chapter 4, talking about Abraham's faith imputed to him for righteousness. And a lot of folks read that
and they think, well, by believing God, Abraham justified himself.
And they presume that sinners, by believing God, justified themselves
and their act of faith is imputed to them for righteousness. No,
no. You're believing God. doesn't
satisfy God's justice. Your believing God doesn't fulfill
righteousness. Your believing God doesn't sacrifice
for sin. Your believing God doesn't put
away sin. But believing God, just as this
man comes and puts his hand on this lamb, and it's accepted
for him for atonement. Not his act of putting his hand
on the lamb, but the lamb on which he puts his hand. Not his
act of laying his hand on the calf, but the calf on which he
lays his hand. And his sacrifice is accepted
for him for atonement. Read on. Verse 5. And he shall
kill the bullock before the Lord. And the priest, Aaron's sons,
shall bring the blood and sprinkle the blood round about upon the
altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
And he shall flay the burnt offering. and cut it into his pieces. That
is, divide the offering, divide the sacrifice in pieces exactly
as God prescribed in the law. Verse 7, And the sons of Aaron
the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in
order upon the fire. And the priest Aaron's son shall
lay the parts of the head and the fat in order upon the wood
that is on the fire which is upon the altar. But his inwards
and his legs shall he wash in water, and the priest shall burn
all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by
fire of a sweet savour unto the Lord. In Hebrews 3 and Ephesians
chapter 5, our Lord Jesus Christ's sacrifice is described exactly
that way. A sweet smelling savor to God. God Almighty continually, constantly,
perpetually accepts Christ and accepts us by Christ, by the
merit of His blood as that which pleases Him. Relentlessly. Turn to Acts chapter 2. This
brazen altar was made by the hands of men. God required Moses
to make it. He required Moses to ordain and
select the men who would make this particular thing. It was
made by the hands of men, but it was made according to the
pattern showed to Moses in heaven, made according to the picture
God drew and gave to Moses when he was in the Holy Mount. Even
so, our Lord Jesus was put to death by the hands of wicked
men. but he was put to death exactly according to the decree
and purpose of God. His eternal decree and his unalterable
purpose made before the world began. Acts chapter 2 verse 22. Now I'm not talking to you about
things that men gradually learn a little by little as they come
to worship God. No, no, no, no. No, no. You learn lots of things. You
get past this brazen altar, James, and you find out something about
the light of the world. But you'll never understand the
light of the world until you understand this. You'll understand something
about the bread on the table of showbread, but you'll never
understand the manna until you understand this. You'll understand
something about what it is to be washed by the Spirit and sanctified
by the Spirit, but you'll never understand that until you understand
this. What I'm saying is what you're hearing. You cannot understand
anything about the worship of God, and you cannot and will
not worship God until you understand H-O-W, how that Christ died for
our sins according to the Scriptures. How'd he do it? He died according
to the will and purpose of God Almighty. Acts chapter 2, verse
22. You men of Israel, Hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth,
a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs,
which God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also
know, God approved of it. I keep going back in my mind
that text we read Sunday, the Lord Jesus said in Matthew nine,
to those Jews standing there, he said, which is easier, to
say take up your bed and walk or to say your sins are forgiven
you? But that you may know that the
son of man has power on earth to forgive sins. He said to the
man of Palsy, take up your bed and walk. He said, Peter says,
now you fellas know, you fellas know God approved him among you.
God showed you plainly that this Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ
Israel's been expecting. Verse 23, Him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, Him being
delivered to the Romans and nailed to the cursed tree, was delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have
taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. You killed
him, you're responsible for it, but you couldn't touch him if
God hadn't ordained it. God Almighty is the one who gave
you breath while you were crucifying his son. It is God who taught
you the words, crucify him, crucify him, and you couldn't speak them
but by God's direction. These things weren't done Contrary
to God's will, but in the fulfillment of God's will. Oh, well, then
then men aren't responsible. Read this text again. You've
taken and you slay. It's your doing. You're guilty
before the law. But this is God's work. Look
at the next line. Whom God has raised up, having
loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should
be holding of it. The Lord Jesus submitted to men
that he might offer himself a burnt offering, a sin offering for
atonement, sweet smelling to God Almighty. Look at Hebrews
chapter 9, verse 26. I want you to turn there and
look at it. Hebrews chapter 9, verse 26. I repeat, the brazen altar was
not a type or an emblem or a picture of the cross. The cross is not
our altar. It's not our altar. If you've
got crosses at home, I don't care if they're made of gold
and diamonds, melt them down, do something with them, sell
them, get rid of them, quit worshiping, peace of idol, idolatry. Just
quit it. Don't do it. Don't do it. So brother Don,
you shouldn't call it idolatry. Wherever I go, I call it idolatry. And if I see one, I still call
it idolatry. And if you've got it on your
neck, it's still idolatry. And if your mama wears it, it's
still idolatry. That's all it is. Hebrews chapter
9, the cross as it's used in scripture speaks of the accomplishment
of redemption. Hebrews 9 verse 26, then must
he often have suffered since the foundation of the world.
But now, once in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ
was once offered to bear the sins not of all but of many. And unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. How
come? Because he put away sin. He who
bore our sins bore them away. He who has made sin for us put
away our sins by the sacrifice of himself. That's redemption.
The altar was the place of sacrifice. It was there that every animal
offered to God was brought. Every victim brought to this
altar and their sacrifice to God. But what altar must this
be? When you picture in your mind
a turtle dove split and laid out on that altar, seven and a half feet by seven
and a half feet, four feet high, it looks huge. But picture in
your mind a year old calf, perfect, laid out on that altar. Now you've
got substance there. You've got weight there. And
the altar appears now to be just sufficient to bear the weight
of the sacrifice that is offered on it, because now it carries
the weight of this calf. And both sacrifices were offered
to God on this altar. Both sacrifices, the blood was
sprinkled on this altar. Both sacrifices consumed on this
altar. Well, what altar can bear the
weight of the sacrifice of the Son of God? What altar? What altar can it be? We can't
begin to conceive or to think in any way of the weights of
the sacrifice He made. He bore our sins in His body
on the tree. When He was made sin for us, And could there be 10,000 worlds,
the weight of that sacrifice would crush them all to dust. No, no. This altar doesn't picture
anything physical or material. This altar pictures Him who is
our sacrifice. For you see, in this thing of
our salvation, Christ isn't a part. He's everything. He is the altar
and the priest and the sacrifice. The Lord Jesus Christ stood here
sacrificing as the fire applying priest. He came as the lamb burned
in the fire. He stood there bearing all the
fire of God's furious wrath against sin. And he died, consumed by the
fire, and yet doing what no other sacrifice could do, consuming
the fire. So that God Almighty, God Almighty drowned the fires
of his justice in the sacrifice of his son. One time, one time, listen to
this. The Lord Jesus says, I've trodden
the winepress alone. Of the people there was none
with me, for I will tread them in mine anger. I'll trample them
in my fury. And their blood shall be sprinkled
upon my garments. And I will stay in all my arraignment. And he's talking about the day
of God's, Bob, he's talking about the day God redeemed you. The
day God saved you. Listen to how he describes it.
For the day of vengeance is in my heart. Oh, this is day of
grace. Yeah. It comes by justice. This is the day of mercy. It
is indeed. It comes by justice. This is
the day of God's salvation. Yes, it comes by God slaying
his son. The day of vengeance, he says,
is in my heart. And the year of my redeemed is
come. I looked and there was none to help. I wondered and
there was none to uphold. Therefore, mine own arm brought
salvation unto me. And my own fury it upheld, it
sustained me. Oh, blessed be his name. Christ
is our altar. He is all in our salvation. Every divine attribute is magnified
in his sacrifice. Every sin of the whole family
of God was expiated by his blood. He bore the whole because he's
our altar. the altar of God's making, the
altar who is himself God, and he's the priest who made the
sacrifice. Now look briefly at the components
of the altar. Look back at our text. Exodus 27. The altar is made of shittum
wood. I don't really know exactly what
that is. I'm told that it is a very rare wood. A very durable wood. A wood that would last and last
and last and last. A wood that didn't naturally
corrupt. But the Shittum wood would soon
have been consumed by the fire. The priest would lay the wood
in order and lay the parts in order and bring the fire and
burn the sacrifice. Before the meat of the sacrifice
would burn, the altar would have been burned up. The wood must
be there, but it's overlaid and completely encased in brass. You remember the serpent that
lifted up in the wilderness? That serpent of brass representing
Christ Jesus, our Redeemer. It's encased in brass. But this
altar is made of hollow boards of wood. encased in brass with
rings on the corners and staves, hollow staves of wood encased
in brass so that they could carry it from here to there through
the wilderness. It couldn't be all brass. It couldn't be all brass. If
it were made all of brass, it couldn't be carried from one
place to the other. It's made of wood. encased in
brass, thus made capable of meeting every use for which it was designed. What a picture of our Redeemer,
God in human flesh. God couldn't die. God couldn't
die. It's not possible. God didn't
change. God couldn't die. He's alive. God couldn't die.
And man could never satisfy the justice of God. But Christ comes,
the God-man, all God and all man, our altar, our sacrifice,
our priest. And he's able, because he's fit,
to meet every intention for which he came into this world. His
name is called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their
sins. This altar was square, four square,
solid, strong, able to bear up all the weight of all the sacrifices
made continually every morning, every evening, every holy day,
every year, all the sacrifices. It bore the weight of all and
was never worn down and never shaken by any. Christ is the
rock of our salvation. Strong and mighty, you see. A
refuge for our souls. The altar had horns. I read today
about Adonijah, Solomon's brother, and Joab, David's betraying friend. They both fled to the horns of
the altar. They laid hold on the horns of
the altar. But as they laid hold on the
horns of the altar, Solomon said, if they won't let go, kill them.
right there holding on to the altar. Oh, but there will never
be a sinner who lays hold on the horns of this altar, Christ
our Redeemer, but what lives forever before God. For the horns
represent something. Horns suggest power. There are four of them. Four
horns pointing north, south, east, and west. Four horns pointing
to the four corners of the earth, four horns pointing in every
direction, as if to say this altar is designed for sinners
everywhere, not just sinners in the nation of Israel. This
altar is pointing to one who is the savior of the world, the
savior of God's elect throughout the world. But the horns represent
more than that. The horns represent power, power. The best I can gather, when Solomon
and David speak of the unicorn in scripture, they're not talking
about the mythical Greek flying horse with a horn in his head.
They're talking about something else, talking about something
of great power. Job said, canst thou bind the
unicorn? Can you bind the unicorn, make
the unicorn plow your field? Can you put a harness on the
unicorn? Can you control the unicorn? No. What's he talking
about? He's talking about a rhinoceros.
He's talking about a powerful horned beast who just pushes
his way through anything and pushes anybody in his way out
of the way. And if you don't get out of the
way, you get the horn. Just that simple. Christ is our
mighty savior. His sacrifice offered on God's
altar is a sacrifice of infinite worth and effectual, irresistible,
omnipotent power. What's that mean? That means
that that sacrifice offered on that altar, Christ Jesus, our
Redeemer, fully accomplished everything he intended to accomplish. And the results of his sacrifice
are not failure, but success. And by the horns of this altar,
he has prevailed over death, hell, and the grave, and he shall
yet prevail and all things shall be subdued under him. Now, look
at this again. Every sacrifice offered up to
God on this altar, was accepted. Every sacrifice. The Israelite
come and bring a sacrifice. And every Israelite bringing
his sacrifice to the altar was accepted. For this altar was
sanctified and hallowed. And God said whatsoever toucheth
the altar shall be holy." We have an altar where they have
no right to eat who serve at the tabernacle. By him, therefore,
let us offer to God sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, acceptable
and well-pleasing to God. Wow! You mean You mean that Bob and Sally Ponce,
if they come to God, they trust in Christ, believing on the Son
of God. And they open the doors of their
house and offer a cup of cold water to Bruce Crabtree when
he comes down and preaches. You mean God will accept that?
Listen to me. Now listen to me. Don't fail
to hear me. God Almighty accepts it. exactly
as he accepts the sacrifice of his son. You mean God will accept me?
Exactly as he accepts his son. You mean God will accept that with his two mates? Exactly
as he accepts his son. You mean God will accept my groans and sighs that I call
prayer exactly as He accepts His Son. You mean God will accept
my praise? Exactly as He accepts His Son. If it touches the altar, it's
holy. That includes me. That includes
you, my brother, my sister. There's only one altar. And this
altar is the one to which you must come if you would come to
God. But I want to tell you a little
secret not many folks know. You will never come to this altar
until God brings the altar to you. Isaiah, in Isaiah chapter
5, was full of indignation because of
the sins of other people. Kind of like we are most of the
time, Joe. It's full of indignation because
of the bad stuff other folks do. And then, in the year that
his idol died, he saw the Lord high and lifted up, trained and
filled the temple. Pillars shook. As the seraphim
cried, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. And Isaiah
had a seventh woe. He cried, oh, woe is me. And
he confessed his sin, I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips and
I'm helpless. I live amongst folks who are just like me. And
he said, about the time I said that, an angel came and took
those brass togs picked up a live coal from off the altar, reached
down there under the grate of that altar, picked up a live
coal and brought that burning white hot coal and stuck it on
my lips. And he said, by this, your iniquity
is taken away and your sins are purged. And Isaiah couldn't be taken
away from that altar again. Now, with the hand of faith,
he takes the flesh hook like the priest of old and just grabbed
the sacrifice for himself and lived upon it. Oh, God give you
grace now with the flesh hook of faith to feed upon Christ
the sacrifice at the altar of God, Christ Jesus the Lord. Amen.