A few years ago, Hollywood produced
two or three films, I think, with regard to Raiders of the
Lost Ark. I never saw any of them. I don't
know how many there were. If I understood the advertisements
that I did see about them correctly, this fellow was looking for the
Ark of the Covenant, looking for the Lost Ark. That's the
title of my message tonight, Looking for the Lost Ark. The Ark of the Covenant that
God ordered to be made in Israel back in Exodus chapter 25 was
taken with the Babylonian captivity along with all the furnishings
of the Temple of the Lord and was never seen again, was never
seen again. Those high priests in Israel
faked All the ceremonies involving the Ark of the Covenant, that
includes the Passover, they faked it for hundreds of years. They
just faked it. That shouldn't be too shocking.
We see religious folks doing that all the time now. Just faking
it. And faked it with sincerity. Sincerity is all get out in appearance. And were willing to fight over
it because they were defending their position, their religion,
and their political religious power. But the Ark was gone. It was gone. And thank God nobody
ever found it. And they're not going to. If
some fool found it, bigger fools would make pilgrimages to the
Holy Land, and they would set it up as an idol, and they'd
worship it and pay homage to it. No, nobody's ever found it. Well, I have. I found that ark. Turn to Revelation
chapter 11 and I'll show you. That ark was typical of Christ. And Christ is everything that
ark represented. In fact, he's called the ark.
He's called the ark. Revelation chapter 11 verse 19. And the temple of God was opened
in heaven. And there was seen in the temple
the ark of his covenant, the ark of his testament. And there
were lightnings and voices and thunderings and an earthquake
and great hail. Turn over to chapter 21, verse
22. The tabernacle, the temple, all
the furnishings in the tabernacle and temple, were but pictures
of Christ, and Christ is the tabernacle. He is the temple. He is the ark. Look at chapter
21 of Revelation and verse 22. And I saw no temple therein,
for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. Now, let's look at this ark. Turn back to Hebrews, the ninth
chapter. Hebrews, the ninth chapter. When
God commanded Moses to make the tabernacle, and he commanded
him to make the ark, he showed him a pattern in heaven and said,
make it like this. Now, he didn't sit down and draw
out a computer drawing like Rex might with his, what is it, TAD
system he's got, and show him the dimensions of it. He told
him the dimensions. But what was the pattern? He
showed him Jesus Christ, our incarnate God and Savior, long
before ever our Savior took on himself human flesh and showed
him what Jesus Christ, our incarnate God and Savior would accomplish
as our substitute upon this earth. And he said, now make the ark
to tell that story. Make the ark to display what
I've showed you in the heavens. Now, this ninth chapter of the
book of Hebrews is designed by God's purpose to show us the
preeminence of our Lord Jesus Christ. As you read through the
book of Hebrews, one word keeps popping up almost on every page,
many times, several times on one page. And that word is better,
better. Sometimes you'll hear folks say,
I don't read the Old Testament because I can't understand Leviticus
and Numbers and those Old Testament books. Try reading Hebrews. It'll shed a lot of light. Christ
is better than all that came before. He's better than everything
under the law. Better than everything under
that age of tithes and shadows and ceremonies. Paul's purpose
here, the Spirit's purpose here is to show us that Christ is
preeminent above the tabernacle, preeminent above the temple,
all its furniture, its priesthood, and its sacrifices, because they
were all fulfilled in Him. They all pointed to Him, and
they were all fulfilled in Him. The purpose of this chapter is
to show us that all the ceremonies, All the services, all the rituals,
all the rites of the old Levitical covenant were fully fulfilled
by Jesus Christ the Lord. Those ceremonies, those rituals
never did anything insofar as the accomplishment of redemption
is concerned. They never put away one sin.
They never made one sinner accepted with God. They never made anyone
closer to God. They were only sacrifices of
a typical ceremonial kind. Men were required to cleanse
themselves before they came before God. Well, washing with water
won't cleanse your soul. It was only a ceremonial cleansing. They were required to purify
themselves. Well, washing yourself with water will not purify your
soul. It is only a ceremonial purification. They were required to sanctify
themselves going through ceremonies, but you cannot sanctify yourself
inside. That's God's doings. And all
the sacrifices of the Old Testament never accomplished one solitary
thing. Well, why were they given? Surely
nobody here asked that question. They were given to point to Jesus
Christ, our Redeemer. Turn over to Hebrews 10 before
we look at our text. The law having a shadow of good things
to come. The law cast a shadow of good
things to come. And not the very image of those
things. That is, it wasn't really the thing itself. And that law
can never, with those sacrifices which they offered, year by year
continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they
not have ceased to be offered? Well, it just stands to make
good sense, doesn't it? If a fellow has a sacrifice that makes him
perfect, he doesn't need another sacrifice. Did you get that? Did you get that? Mark Henson,
we have a sacrifice. that makes us perfect. We don't
need any other. That sacrifice is Jesus Christ
the Lord. We don't. Because that the worshipers
once purged should have had no more conscience of sin. But in
those sacrifices, there is a remembrance, a reminding again, made of sins
every year. For it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and of goats should take away sin. That's not going
to happen. Now the purpose of the apostle
again is to show us that these Levitical ceremonies, these Levitical
sacrifices, all the law of the first covenant were completely
done away forever by the obedience of Christ. Look at chapter 10
again, verse 9. Then said he, Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. Now watch this. He taketh away
the first. Well, the Lord didn't take it
away. He just fulfilled it. If he fulfilled it, what did it
say here? This is not my creed. This is what God says in his
word. He taketh away the first. He absolutely put it away that
he might establish the second. And there's no establishing of
the new covenant until the old covenant is taken away. What
does that mean? Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes. How far do you
carry that? Just as far as you get to the
end. As far as you can. Well, that's talking about ceremonial
law. It sure is. It sure is. If God ever accepts
sacrifices on the Jewish altar in a Jewish temple ever again,
we're yet in our sins and Christ is not our Redeemer. We have
worshipped a foe man. It's exactly right. Either he's
the end of it or he's not. Oh, but it's not talking just
about ceremonial law, is it? No, no, we don't keep a Sabbath
day. We don't keep one because Christ
is our Sabbath. Every day is a Sabbath day. We
live in a gospel Sabbath. We don't pay tithes because we're
not under the law. We're not constrained in any
way by the law. How can that be? Christ took
it away. He's the end of the law. I used to be a little reluctant
to say that because folks misunderstand. And I've decided the problem
wasn't that they misunderstood, they understood. That's the problem. Well, Brother God, if we don't
have a law to threaten us, and we don't have a law to promise
us reward, well, that means we can live like we want to. You
know what? I am living like I want to. I
am. Not to the measure I want to,
but I'm worshiping and serving the living God every day of my
life. Seeking His glory, serving His
people. Oh, how I want to. You mentioned
in your prayer, I'm here because I want to be, because I want
to be. Somebody asked me, sometime back, I was in a meeting somewhere,
asked me, well, if you don't preach on tithing, how do you
get folks to give? I tell them not to if they don't want to.
Don't give, I don't want it. And God won't have it. Or how
do you get folks to come to church? Don't come if you don't want
to. Stay at home, watch gun smoke, do whatever you want to. Oh,
but if you got a hunger in your soul to worship the living God,
you want to eat. It's just that simple. All right,
Hebrews chapter 9, verse 1. Then verily the first covenant
had also ordinances of divine services. and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made,
the first wherein was a candlestick, and the table, and the showbread,
which is called the sanctuary. If you haven't looked at it,
take a careful look at the scale model of the tabernacle back
there in my office, Brother Larry built for me several years ago,
about the size of a coffee table. And it's divided into two sections.
There's a veil here, and here's the outer court, And in that
outer court was the candlestick and the table and the showbread
called the sanctuary. And then there's another veil.
The veil that separates the outer court from the holy of holies. And after the second veil, in
that second section, the tabernacle which is called the holiest of
all. Why is that? Why is it called
the holiest of all? Because It had the golden censer
and the Ark of the Covenant overlaid round about with gold. Wherein was the golden pot that
had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the
covenant, and over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy
seat of which we cannot now speak particularly. Of all the furnishings,
and all the symbols of the Old Testament, that which stood at
the top of the list, that which was most sacred in Israel, that
which was most highly valued was the Ark of the Covenant.
Here, Paul describes the tabernacle, the Ark and those things that
were in it. He said, inside that Ark, inside that Ark, there was
a golden pot full of manna. Aaron's rod that but the tables
of the covenant, that is, the tables of God's law, the Ten
Commandments, the cherubs of glory and the mercy seat. Now, let's look at this arc together. In our text, the Holy Spirit
uses the tabernacle and the furniture that's in that tabernacle to
show us the excellence, the preeminence and the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Understand this, please understand
this. All the ordinances of the divine
service, all the rites and ceremonies of the worldly sanctuary, the
sanctuary itself, the tabernacle, were types of Christ. And apart
from him, apart from the person and work of Christ, they are
altogether meaningless. When you read this book, when
you read this book, and I urge you to read this book, If all
you see are religious facts and political declarations concerning
Israel and historic events, if that's all you see, if all you
see are moralisms, religious moralisms that make you live
a better life, if that's all you see, you may as well read
whatever magazine you ladies read or you men read. in our
day, whatever comes out, because this book is just meaningless.
It will be of no value to your soul. It will be of no value
to your soul until you see and understand that the Old Testament
scriptures speak of Christ throughout, from the beginning to the end,
just as do the New Testament scriptures. You will never understand
the book of God. You will never understand it.
The tabernacle is a picture of our Redeemer. If you were amongst
the people outside of Israel and their day when they were
walking in the wilderness, taking their direct route to the land
of Canaan, direct because it was the route God ordered for
them and God calls it the right way. And you watch those folks. If you were looking for a place
where you might find God, a place where you might worship God,
the last place on this earth you would look by carnal judgment
was the tabernacle. The last place on this earth.
That thing was just a tent covered with badger skins. And there
wasn't one thing on the outside of that tabernacle to attract
anybody to it. Nothing. Nothing. This scale
model back here, it's not covered over with badger skins. We kept
things pulled back so you can look at it. And the things that
represent badger skins are real pretty pieces of cloth. A badger
skin ain't pretty. Ain't nothing pretty about it.
And that's what Tabernacle was. Just a tent. Temporary thing. And you look at it outside and
say, well, I believe I'll go down here to the temple they
built out here. that reaches up to the sky and
they got stained glass windows and a $100,000 pipe organ and
just, oh, it's something else. Surely God's in that place. What
they couldn't see was inside that tabernacle. Everything inside
that tabernacle was made of incorruptible shit and wood and overlaid above
and beneath on the inside and out with pure gold. That's Christ our Redeemer. He
is a man, but He is a man who is God. He is incorruptible,
everlasting God of infinite worth and value. Though to all outward
appearance, there's nothing impressive about Him. Nothing impressive. If you get curious and you listen
to some of these documentaries on television, the religious
ones are the worst ones. But if you listen to the religious
documentaries trying to prove the historic real Jesus, or you
listen to the secular academic documentaries trying to discover
the historic real Jesus, everything that they point to as being impressive
are despicable. Just look at them. Just look
at them. Everything they point to about the Savior that they
think characterizes Him are the things they see in themselves
that they think makes them like God. They're despicable. There
was nothing about His outward being that was in the least bit
attractive to men as far as His divinity is concerned. He was
a man just like us. But this man is God Almighty,
the brazen altar. The altar of sacrifice. That
altar represents our Savior's suffering in our stead. The laver
is Christ the fountain, open for sin and uncleanness. The
candlestick is Christ, the light of the world. The table of showbread
is Christ, the bread of life. The altar of incense. Is it this time of the year or
is it during Easter? They'll start showing that old
fool in Rome dressed up in a Masonic order costume. the Holy Papa,
and he'll have his little incense. That's supposed to be what gives
him acceptance with God, his incense, his magic box. Oh, brother Don, don't you know
folks are going to be offended by that? It's time somebody got offended.
I'm as offended as I can be. I'm offended by the idolatry
and the superstition with which men are having their souls deceived. The incense that Aaron picked
up and walked with which he dared walk into that holy of holies
is not something that men carry around today. It is Christ intercession. His merit and his worth and only
by his merit and his worth dare any man draw near to God Almighty,
the veil. The veil. That veil that when
our Savior cried, Father into thy hands I commend my spirit
and cried it is finished and yielded up the ghost and God
ripped that thing smack dab in two from the top to the bottom.
That veil is Christ. The thing that separated men
from God. Try to get the picture. Out here
is this outer sanctuary. And here's this Holy of Holies,
inside of which is the Ark of the Covenant. And there God shows
His glory. There God dwells. There is the
place of God's throne. It's what Isaiah saw in Isaiah
6. It's what John saw in Revelation 4 and 5. That veil separates
men from God and says, no man, no man, no man dare enter in. Until the Lord Jesus cried, it
said. And God said, come on in, anybody who wants to. Come on
in, come on in, the way is open. That veil is Christ, the door
opened in heaven for us. And the ark, the ark of the covenant
is Christ, our reconciliation, our atonement, our propitiation. Now let's see what these things
represent. What can be found in the ark?
Six things, six things here described. Number one, by no means the most
important, but far more important than most people ever think,
God's preachers. If you could go behind the veil
with Aaron, the high priest on the Day of Atonement into the
Holy of Holies, the very first thing that would strike your
eyes would be the cherubims of glory overshadowing the mercy
seat. And these cherubims, these cherubs,
represent God's preachers, faithful gospel preachers. Turn back to
Exodus 25. You might want to put a piece
of paper or something there. We'll be looking at several passages.
Exodus 25, verse 18. And thou shalt make two cherubims
of gold, a beaten work shalt thou make them in the two ends
of the mercy seat. and make one cherub on the one
end and the other cherub on the other end. Even of the mercy
seat shall you make the cherubs on the two ends thereof. And
the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering
the mercy seat with their wings. And their faces shall look one
to another toward the mercy seat, shall the faces of the cherubims
be. The psalmist said, O shepherd
of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock, thou that
dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth. Isaiah saw these
same images. He calls them seraphim. But he
sees these same images. And our Lord Jesus in John 12
said, what Isaiah saw was me sitting on the throne high and
lifted up. So all of these things are designed
to teach us spiritual things. The cherubims represent God's
preachers. Here they are. Here they are.
They're made with pure gold, one piece with the mercy seat,
each one on one end of the arc of the mercy seat, and their
wings stretching out to one another. so that they face one another
as in complete agreement with one another. But did you notice
where their faces are? They're facing one another, but
their eyes are always on the mercy seat. Their eyes are always
on the sacrifice. Their eyes are always on Jesus
Christ the Lord. Now hear what I'm saying. It
is not possible. And the reason it is not possible
is because God has so ordained it. It is not possible for any
man or woman to know, to hear from, to understand, to be taught
of God except through the instrumentality of gospel preaching. Boy, aren't
you a proud somebody. No, no, I can't do anything for
you. I can do no more for you than
that garden hose over there hanging on that reel can do for my garden
out there. I can't do one thing for you. But just as surely as
the water goes through that hose to the garden, without which
the garden can't survive, if ever God speaks to your soul
in conversion, giving you faith, in edification, comforting you,
teaching you, If ever God speaks to your soul, it will be by the
mouth of a preacher. Well, I just couldn't understand. I studied Bible on my own. I
learned on my own. I'll tell you what you'll learn.
You'll learn heresy. I'll tell you what you'll learn.
You'll learn nonsense. I run across Preachers who think
they're their own pastors and their own, or people who think
they're their own pastors and their own preachers, and they
won't listen to anything, won't hear anything, that never have
any association with a congregation because they're independent.
I'll learn on my own. You go it on your own. You're
going to hell. I promise you. I promise you. Faith comes by
hearing and hearing by the word of God. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Philip had
been up to Jerusalem. I'm sorry, the eunuch had been
up to Jerusalem. And he went through their empty
religious ceremonies. And he's reading Isaiah 53, passage
we looked at this morning. And he read the same words I
read to you, read the very same words. And Philip, God put him
right there beside him. And he looked up, that fellow
must have been reading out loud. He was wounded for our transgression.
He would bruise for our iniquities, chastise us for our pieces, and
Philip heard him reading. He said, hey, bud, you understand
what you're reading? No, I've been reading this all my life.
My daddy and my mama read it to me, but I don't understand
it. How can I except some man show me? He says, scoot over. That's why I'm here. Gospel preaching
is essential in the kingdom of God. That's the reason I don't
hesitate to ask you to support missionaries around the world,
to give generously to any calls where the gospel is preached.
I'm talking about the gospel of God's grace. It's the reason
I hope to spend my life to my dying breath, proclaiming the
gospel of God's free grace. And I'll go anywhere to do it,
anywhere. Doesn't matter whether it's one
or two or one or two thousand. Doesn't matter. Immortal souls
must hear the word of life to live. We are born again, not
of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. These preachers are described
by the Apostle John and Revelation chapter 12, or chapter 4 rather,
as beast, one with a face like a man and one like a lion, bold,
but tender like a man. One bold as a lion, but full
of compassion because he's a man just like you. He's like an ox,
a young, strong calf, laboring in the cause of the gospel. like
an eagle soaring quickly to do the bidding of his God. And these
are the men by whom God leads his people in the worship of
God and in the instruction of Christ Jesus our Lord. But if
you could step into the Holy of Holies, you wouldn't look
long at the cherubs. Their eyes, their faces, their
wings always direct attention away from themselves. Some of
you have been caught numerous times. I played a little game
with the kids. And as they get older, I still
play a little game with them once in a while. I'll catch one
of them walking out the door and say, you dropped your ear.
And you know how many looked to see if they dropped their
ear? Everybody. Now, if they were walking out
the door and I just said, you dropped your ear, nobody would
look. You fool. My ear's right here
on my head. But when you point, you drop
the ear. They'll look every time. They'll
look every time. This is what gospel preachers
do. They point centers away from themselves to the Redeemer. You walk with Aaron and you see
those cherubs with their faces looking down on the mercy seat,
on the sacrifice. And that's God's propitiation.
The word mercy-seeked, in verse 5 of our text, is translated
in Romans 3 and in 1 John 4, propitiation. Propitiation. It's a word very similar to that
from which we get our word pacifier. You have your babies, and when
your babies start to pitch a fit because they're not getting their
way, Put a little pacifier in some honey or sugar water or
something, stick it in their mouth, get them to shut up and
spoil them rotten. Or you bust their behinds, but
generally we choose to pacify. And we pacify their anger. That's exactly what the sacrifice
of God's darling son does for us. It propitiates the justice
and the fury of God Almighty. The sacrifice is made in the
blood sprinkled on the mercy seat and God Almighty is propitiated. His justice is satisfied and
he declares fury is not in me. Thou shall make a mercy seat.
We read back in Exodus. You don't need to turn back there.
A pure gold, two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof and
a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. And the Lord God says,
there will I meet thee and I will commune with thee from above
the mercy seat and from between the two cherubims. Where does God meet sinners?
Nowhere except on the mercy seat. Nowhere. God doesn't meet sinners
in a confessional booth. Never has, never will, not going
to happen. God does not meet sinners at
a mourner's bench in a Baptist church. Never has, never will. God does not meet sinners at
a altar in a church. Never has, never will. God meets
sinners on the mercy seat. And he's yonder. I read it to
you, didn't I? John said, I saw the ark, the
ark of the testimony. It's yonder in glory. His name
is Jesus Christ, the Lord. That ark and the mercy seat represents
particularly the accomplished redemption of Jesus Christ, our
Lord and our Redeemer. When Isaiah saw that ark and
saw what that ark represented. And he saw the Lord lifted up
on that ark just as John did in Revelation 5, like the lamb
that had been slain ascending up out of the midst of the throne.
Isaiah cried, woe is me. I'm a man of unclean lips and
I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Aaron on the
day of atonement would take two goats. And he cast lots on the
goats. One would be set aside as the
Lord's goat and the other the scapegoat. And Avon would place
his hands on the head of the Lord's goat. And over that goat,
he would confess all the sins of Israel. Never once did he
confess Ishmael's sins. Never once did he confess the
sins of the Canaanites. Never once did he confess the
sins of the Amorites or the Hittites. Well, you mean this was all just
for Israel? You got it. He confessed all
the sins of Israel, and as he did, he'd reach into his waistband
and pull out his knife and slit that goat's throat and catch
his blood in a basin. carry the blood in, sprinkle
it on the mercy seat. He'd come back out, put on his
gorgeous apparel as God's priest, and he would take the other goat,
and he would confess all the sins of Israel over the head
of that goat. And he would have a fit man on
the ready. What a good term, a fit man. a man who was able, a man who
was willing, a man who was worthy to take the scapegoat. And he
put a lead in his hand and kissed him goodbye. And off he'd go,
walking away across the horizon until he'd just see two dots
going out of sight. In a little while, before sunset,
he's looking over there again Here comes one dot back over
the horizon. That scapegoat is Christ who
took our sins away. He's the fit man by whom God
Almighty is satisfied and justice is satisfied and now sin is gone. How thoroughly, how thoroughly
did He put away our sins? Listen to me a minute. I'll hurry. I want you to hear me. I owe
God my Savior everything. I'm a debtor to his sovereign
mercy like no man has ever been. I'm head over heels in debt to
the God of all grace. Everything. Everything. Everything. Whatever he does
with me or mine, I have no complaint. I'm debtor to him totally. Everything, lock, stock and barrel
as he is. Because he saved me by his free
grace. But now you listen to me. You listen to me. Oscar Bailey,
I don't owe God anything. I don't owe God anything. I have no debt. I don't owe any
righteousness. I don't owe any satisfaction. I don't owe any punishment. My Savior paid my debt, and I
am clear before God in heaven He's the goat and the scapegoat
by whom sin had been put away. And if ever you come to experience
God's propitiation by Jesus Christ, you won't have to have anybody
to explain to you what it means to have peace with God. To have the peace of God keeping
your heart. All right, here's the third thing.
If you walked into the Holy of Holies with Aaron on the Day
of Atonement, and you see God's propitiation, you would suddenly
and immediately recognize that you're in God's presence. In
God's presence. Isaiah said, when I saw this,
his train filled the temple. Smoke filled the room. The door
shook. And I was trembling. I was in
the presence of God. Trembling until one of those
seraphs reached yonder on the burning altar and took a live,
white, hot coal with tongs from off the altar. And he brought
it over and laid it on my lips. And he said, your iniquity is
taken away. That's what I'm doing tonight.
I'm taking coals from the altar. Oh, spirit of God, let me lay
them right on your lips. and God speak to you and declare
your iniquities taken away. And from that day forward, Isaiah
was a different man. Read his prophecy. It reads entirely
differently from chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 till you get to
chapter 6 and move on. Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, Isaiah
said, woe is you, woe is you, woe is you. Chapter 6, he said,
woe is me. Chapter 7 and on, he said, oh,
bless God. Because God's presence is not
a temporary thing. He's with you. With you as a
wall of fire. Round about you to protect you.
With you to guard and keep you in all your ways. With you every
day of your life. Now, you remember back in 1 Samuel
chapter 6. The Mere Debeshemesh had the
Ark of the Covenant. And they lifted up the lid. Look inside that ark. And when
they did, God killed 50,670 of them like that. Why would God
do that? Why would God do that? God kill
a man for touching a piece of wood? Even if it is overlaid
with gold? Oh, yeah. Because that ark is
God's salvation. And when you put your hand on
it, you corrupt it and defile it. Let's do now what no man
dared do. Don't even read that it was ever
done by Aaron himself. Let's lift up the lid and look
under the mercy seat and don't have any reason to be afraid.
What do you see? Two tables of stone. That's God's
purpose. The tables of the law written
on stone. The stones suggesting the hardness of our hearts and
suggesting the inflexibility of God's justice. But those tables
of the law are put inside that ark. They're put inside the mercy
seat. They're put under the blood.
Because those tables of the law represent God's purpose, his
purpose of grace. The law is our schoolmaster unto
Christ. That's the purpose of the law,
to bring us to Christ. And now that law stands in the
ark under the mercy seat, declaring to us the redemption is done
and the law and justice of God demands The law and the justice
of God demands that every sinner for whom Christ shed his blood
at Calvary must go free. There's something else in the
ark. Look in there again and you see a rod. Not Moses' rod, but Aaron's rod. Aaron's rod that budded, that
brought forth life. Moses was commanded of God to
take his rod and smite the rock, and waters flowed out to Israel. Then Moses was commanded to take
Aaron's rod and speak to the rock. And when he took Aaron's
rod, he spoke the rock again. And God said, you've not sanctified
me in the eyes of my people. And for this, God's hand of judgment
fell upon him to show his actions were evil before God. Christ
can only be smitten once. You see, it is by Aaron's rod,
our high priest, budding with power, that the water of life
flows out to sinners. That's the gospel of God's free
grace, the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. And there's one more thing. In
Exodus 16, God told Moses and Aaron, he said, y'all take a
pot, a pot of pure gold. Somehow, in my mind, that still
represents wealth, doesn't it, you? Pure gold. Now, this stuff
I got on, that's fake. You can buy them at a dime store
anywhere. But pure gold, that's wealth. And it's a big pot. It holds
an omer of manna. It's a pot full of manna. What's that talking about? God's
provision. God's provision in Christ Jesus
the Lord. Abraham takes his son Isaac up
to the mount. carrying a pack of wood on his
back, got a torch in his hand, and he and his daddy are talking
to one another. And he said, he said, Daddy, we got the fire,
we got the wood. Where's the lamb? He had been
well instructed. He knew he couldn't come to God
without a lamb. He couldn't come to God without
a sacrifice. And his daddy looked at him and he said, You don't
need to worry, son. God will provide us a sacrifice.
That's not what he said. He said, God, will provide himself
a lamb for a burnt offering. And he strapped Isaac down on
the altar that he had built, and he drew back his knife to
slit his boy's throat. And as he did, the angel of the
Lord called him and said, don't touch the boy, you've already
killed him. And he looked over yonder and saw a ram caught in
a thicket. And he brought that ram over, put it in Isaac's place,
and killed that ram, sacrificed it to God, God smelled it and
said, that's great. That's great. And Aaron said,
let's go back home, son. And now we'll tell your mama
what we've been doing. And we'll call the name of this place Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord shall see. And seeing, the Lord shall provide. And providing, the Lord shall
be seen. That's our Redeemer, Lindsay. His name is God's provision. Rich provision. Bountiful provision. Provision for life. So that whatever
you need, He is. For time and for eternity. Often told you about the old
gal, all the time talking about the Savior. Poor woman. Didn't
have two pennies rubbed together. All the time talking about the
Lord Jesus. Finally, some fella looked at
her and said, is Christ enough? And she said, if he's all you
have, he is. He's all I have and all I want. God make him yours. Amen.