We are all so naturally depraved
and so naturally given to idolatry that we naturally prefer material
things to spiritual things, even in worship. You remember when
our Lord met the Samaritan woman, she thought The issue to be settled
was where we're going to worship God. Our fathers say in this
mountain, your fathers say in Jerusalem. And our Lord Jesus
said, honey, you don't understand anything. He said, God is spirit. And they that worship God must
worship him in spirit and in truth. Paul said, we are the
circumcision. who worship God in the spirit. Spiritual worship is the only
worship that's true worship. Worship that goes on in the heart,
at the altar of God in heaven. Now from the beginning of time,
since the fall of our father Adam, men and women have been
required to worship God at one altar. Throughout the days of
the patriarchs from Adam's fall until the giving of the law,
men came and brought sacrifices to God at an altar. There was
an appointed place of worship. Even as early as Genesis chapter
4, we see this clearly. Abel and Cain learned to worship
God by their father Adam, and learned to worship Him at a specific
altar, and learned to worship Him through a sacrifice. Abel
learned something Cain didn't learn. He learned what his father
couldn't teach him. He learned that which God taught
him through his father, that the only way he could worship
God was through a blood sacrifice representing the Lamb of God
who must come. to take away the sins of his
people by the sacrifice of himself, so that even in those earliest
days, even in those earliest days, men and women who worshiped
God, those who believed God, understood that sin must be put
away, Justice must be satisfied, and the only way it can be done
is through a sacrifice God Almighty Himself would provide, God would
send, and God would accept. And that was what was represented
in the sacrifices on the altars. Then when God gave the law to
Moses, we'll look at it in a moment, but it's in Exodus 20 and in
Exodus 27. The Lord God required that the
children of Israel avoid idolatry, and the way He specifically instructs
them to avoid idolatry is to worship Him at one altar, just
one altar, an altar that would be made exactly according to
God's Word in every detail, and God gave the details. That altar
was first set up in the tabernacle, so that wherever Israel went,
they carried with them the tabernacle of God through the wilderness,
and they set up the altar of God and brought sacrifices to
God upon that one altar. Later, when David gathered the
materials and Solomon built the house of God in Jerusalem, the
Lord God set his altar in one place, in his holy hill of Zion,
in his temple, and there alone men and women could come and
offer sacrifice to God. He would not be worshipped at
any other altar. He would not be worshipped in
any other place. He would not receive a sacrifice
anywhere except at that altar in his holy hill of Zion at Jerusalem. But those things were typical.
They were typical of that which was to come and that which is
the reality of worship in our day. Turn with me, if you will,
to Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 10. In those days of ceremonial
legal religion, in those days of typical ceremonies and typical
sacrifices and a typical altar, any altar that was established
anywhere except that altar which God had set in Jerusalem, in
his house. Any sacrifice offered upon any
other altar, no matter what the reason for offering the sacrifice,
no matter who offered the sacrifice, no matter how sincere they may
have been in offering the sacrifice, no matter how they pretended
to worship the Lord God in the offering of the sacrifice, Any
altar and any sacrifice offered upon any other altar was set
up and the sacrifice was made and the worship was performed
as an act of idolatry in defiance of God Almighty. He said, you'll
worship me at my altar, nowhere else. Nowhere else. And it is
still true. God Almighty has one altar. One altar. That's the first thing
I want you to see. Just one altar. He will not be
worshipped at any other altar. God requires that we come to
Him. Sinners, guilty, depraved, corrupt,
vile sinners. He requires that we come to Him
at His altar. Not on this earth, but His altar
in heaven. That means you can't get to it
with your feet. And you can't get to it with
your mouth. And you can't get to it with your decision. And
you can't get to it with your works. You get to this altar
with your heart. With the heart men believeth
unto righteousness. He believes because of righteousness,
with reference to righteousness established, represented in that
altar. With the mouth confession is made with reference to salvation. Our confession in Christ does
not accomplish salvation, but the confession of faith that
we make as we confess our sins to God and come to God in the
name of His Son is a confession made with reference to what Christ
has accomplished for us, He who is our altar in heaven. Look
here at Hebrews chapter 13, verse 10. We have an altar, whereof
they have no right to eat, which serve the tabernacle. Now look
carefully at what the Holy Spirit here tells us. The altar of sacrifice
in the tabernacle and that which was later in the temple was typical
of our Lord Jesus Christ in his person, in his work, and in his
worth, in his merit as our Savior, our substitute before God. And
this is what Paul teaches us in this text. I say Paul, but
don't ever forget, Paul is writing by divine inspiration. This is
what God the Holy Spirit tells us. The only access sinners have
to the Holy Lord God and the only acceptance we can ever find
with Him is through Christ our altar. Our altar is in heaven. We recognize no altar upon the
earth of any kind set up by any man. To do so is to deny Christ
as our altar in heaven. Those who have an altar on earth
do not have an altar in heaven. They have no right to eat at
this altar who serve in the material realm, who eat and serve in the
tabernacle. They can't do it. They can't
do it. Those who have an altar in heaven don't need one on earth
and won't have one. Christ is our altar. We cannot
come to God without Him. Our acceptance with God is altogether
in Him. Our services, our sacrifices,
our prayers, our devotion, our worship, all those things are
offered by our polluted hands. And they could never be accepted
with God except through the merit of Him who offered Himself a
sacrifice unto God upon His own holy altar and who is now our
altar of acceptance. All right, now let's look at
this first thing carefully. I want you to see that God Almighty
will allow men to come to Him and worship Him only on this
one altar. In the Old Testament, the sacrifices
were given on an altar, and there alone were they ceremonially
worshipped. And it finds its fulfillment in the Lord Jesus.
All physical, ceremonial, carnal altars are but instruments of
idolatry in this day of spirit worship. Now hear me. All physical, carnal, material
altars of any kind are but instruments of idolatry raised up in defiance
to God Almighty and the gospel of His grace. We worship God
in the spirit. There are many who imagine that
the cross upon which our Lord died is somehow made to be an
altar. I've heard it said that the cross
was the altar upon which the Lord Jesus offered himself as
a sacrifice unto God. Nothing could be further from
the truth. The cross, the physical, material piece of wood upon which
the Lord Jesus Christ died was but the instrument of his torture.
There was nothing holy about it. When we talk about the cross
in the context of the New Testament, we're just saying, at the cross,
at the cross where I first saw the light, we're not talking
about that physical cross. We're not talking about that
material cross. And those songs, I won't call them hymns, those
religious songs of blasphemy that speak of the material cross
are just blasphemous works of idolatry. When the scripture
talks about the cross, it's talking about the doctrine of the cross,
the gospel of Christ, redemption by his blood. If I could find
that material cross, if I could actually find that material cross
on which the Son of God died, I could not do the world a better
favor than to burn it. Do you understand that? You young people, don't make
a light thing of this thing. It seems to me like the more
ungodly folks are in their behavior, I see these rock stars and other
folks on television wearing big crosses around them, the bigger
their cross is. Don't wear pieces of idolatry. The cross of Christ
is not a piece of jewelry. Our Lord Jesus Christ died upon
a piece of wood that is itself nothing but an instrument of
torture. It is not the altar. Our Lord Jesus offered himself
upon himself. His humanity offered upon his
divinity, and that's what gave merit to the work of his death
as our substitute. He being a man is fully God of
infinite worth and infinite value. There are others who imagine
somehow that you have an altar in your heart. That sure sounds
sweet, doesn't it? Have an altar in my heart to
the Lord. Do you really think that what's in your heart can
give you acceptance with God? No, no, no. The heart of man
is no altar. People talk about having a family
altar. There used to be a program on
the radio called Family Altar Time. It's good to have a time
and place where you worship God with your family. You men lead
your families to the throne of God. When you sit at your table,
don't just say words. Pray with your family. Give thanks
to God. Worship God. Bring them here
to hear the gospel of God's grace and instruct them in the things
of God. But we don't have any altars. We don't have any altars. Our houses are devoted to our
God, but there's nothing holy about any place in the house.
And then there are some who think this table here where we sit
to bread and wine at the Lord's table is an altar. We rented
a church building over across town with faith, and Doug got
married and started to put the cake and punch on there for reception. And Janet, she said, OK, do that.
That's the holy altar. I said, I believe I'll defile
it. At $1,000 for three hours, I'll
do what I want to with that whole altar. Nothing but idolatry. No. The bread and the wine, not
even an altar. It's not even the sacrifice of
Christ. It's just a remembrance of our Redeemer. But without
question, the most destructive, the most damning, the most deceptive
piece of religious, idolatrous trickery ever to be hatched in
the minds of men. is the notion that somehow there's
an altar down here at the front of the church building, or if
you happen to have a big football stadium and you have it around
there, an altar at the front of that football stadium. So
that if many women will get up from where they are sitting and
move from one location to another and come kneel at an altar, this
is the place of God's salvation. Now let me tell you something.
Nobody has ever been saved walking a church aisle, kneeling at a
morning's bench, calling in an altar, and saying the sinner's
prayer. God does not save folks by such
nonsense. You're just as likely to find
salvation in a Roman Catholic confessional booth or in a Buddhist
temple on a Mohammedan's mat as you are to find it at the
front of a Baptist church. There is no such thing as an
altar physically. Have I got that clear now? No
such thing as an altar physically. There is but one altar, and that
altar is Christ. Turn over to Exodus 20. Exodus
20. Christ alone is the place of
salvation. Christ alone is the altar of
God. Christ alone gives us acceptance
with God. Exodus 20, verse 23. God has just given what men call
the Ten Commandments, that portion of His law that's commonly referred
to as the moral law. But it can't be separated from
what follows. The moral and ceremonial laws all one. It's showing us
we must worship God through Christ the Lord and Him alone. Look
at verse 23. You shall not make with me gods
of silver, neither shall you make unto you gods of gold, an
altar of earth, thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice
their own, thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy
sheep, and thine oxen, in all places where I record my name,
I will come unto thee, and will bless thee." Christ is the altar
of earth. That's an altar God has made.
He came down here, Bobby, and took on Himself the same kind
of earth that you and I are made out of called human flesh. Look
at the next line. And if thou wilt make me an altar
of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone. Christ is an
altar of stone. He is that rock of foundation
laid by God Almighty. And that foundation that has
been laid does not need to be laid again. And there's nothing
you can do to contribute to it. Read the next word. For if thou
lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. Oh, but wouldn't
it be nice to take that stone and make a big statue of Peter
or Zeus or Thor or some other imaginary god? Wouldn't it be
wonderful to make you a nice statue, hire Michelangelo or
somebody to paint a beautiful picture and adorn it with gold?
Oh, now look at that. That's impressive. Not to God. Not to God. Take the plain, the
ordinary, what God has made. and worship God by Him whom He
has made, Him whom He has sent, Him whom He has accepted. And
don't add so much as your prayer or your will to Him. You see
that? Don't lift up your tool on it,
because if you touch it, you've defiled it. You've said Christ
is not enough. His blood is not enough. His
righteousness is not enough. Read on. Neither shalt thou go
up by steps unto mine altar." Christ is that altar with no
stairs of ascent. He's an altar who must be received
and by whom we come to God all at once, not in degrees. I hear
folks all the time go, but well, this fellow, he's beginning to
see, he's beginning to learn, he's beginning to study things
out, and he's almost got this figured out as if somehow man
by his brilliance learns the things of God rather than by
revelation. Or as if somehow man by his continual
searching finds out God rather than by revelation. Or is it
somehow men and women gradually learn obedience to Christ? Nothing
could be further from the truth. Believers bow to and receive
Christ as Lord and King in the totality of His being, in the
totality of His revelation, all at one time. We bow to Him as
He's revealed. If you go up by degrees... How
many times have you heard folks say, now I'm going to talk to
you today about the steps of salvation. You take the first step, your
nakedness is exposed. And the higher you climb, the
more nakedness you show. What does he say here? That thy
nakedness be not discovered thereof. And the nakedness, he's not talking
about a carnal nakedness. He's talking about the exposure
of your sin. Ham came in and uncovered Noah's
nakedness. He exposed his daddy's sin. Now,
when men and women attempt by their works to bring themselves
up to God, they bring themselves in nothing but the stark nakedness
of their corruption, and by that, hope for God to accept them.
All forms of carnal worship. All forms of physical things
that men make and call holy, all attempts to place any merit
of any kind or any reverence of any kind on any material thing
is base idolatry. Let me show you what I'm talking
about. Turn over to 2 Kings. 2 Kings. I'll preach on this one of these
days. 2 Kings chapter 18. Hezekiah, 20 years old, takes
the throne. And you know what the Israelites
have been doing? You know what they've been doing for years?
Now this strikes me as almost unbelievable. Through the days
of Moses and Joshua and David and Solomon and Elijah and Elisha,
They had been burning incense to that brazen serpent that Moses
lifted up in the wilderness. What are we going to do with
that? God told Moses to make it. What are we going to do with
it? Oh, that serpent of brass. Multitudes
looked on that serpent of brass and were healed. Nobody was healed
looking on that serpent of brass. They were healed looking on Him
He represented. You understand that? Now let
me tell you how worthless it was. Here in 2 Kings 18, verse
4, Hezekiah removed the high places where men worshiped Baal,
and broke the images by which men claimed to worship God, and
cut down the groves folks made to the honor of God and other
gods, and broke in pieces, look at it, the brazen serpent that
Moses had made For unto those days the children of Israel did
burn incense unto it." And this is what he called it, nehushtan,
a worthless piece of brass. A worthless piece of brass. And
that's what all carnal religion is. That's all it is, just a
worthless piece of brass, no count. All religious symbols. All religious icons, all religious
images, all religious pictures, just a worthless piece of brass. That's all. Some years ago, I
had a congregation ask me to consider pastoring. And they've
had a picture, one of those suddenly effeminate-looking, limp-wristed
pictures It's supposed to represent Christ hanging on a wall right
in front of the pulpit. I preached down there one time.
First time I preached there, I never will forget it. Had a sign right
here on the pulpit that said, Sir, we would see Jesus. And
I looked up and said, well, that ain't much of one. And somebody
asked me, what would you do if you went there? That's been hanging
there for 40 years. First day I went in there, Pastor,
it'd come off the wall if the wall had to come down. It'd come
off the wall. How come? Because it is a worthless
Idolatry! And I don't care if your mama
cut off her right arm to give it to the church. It's still
idolatry. All right? Here's the second
point. Christ is our altar. Turn over to Exodus 27. We won't read just the first
two verses, but in the first eight verses here, Moses describes
the altar of sacrifice and everything about that altar. signified something
concerning our Lord Jesus and His sacrifice. It finds its fulfillment
in Him. Let's look at verses 1 and 2,
Exodus 27. The Lord said, Thou shalt make
an altar of shittum wood. That's just base wood. Five cubits
long and five cubits broad. The altar shall be four square.
That's what's meant by five cubits long, five cubits wide. Four
square. like the city above, four square,
like everything about the purpose of God, perfect in symmetry,
absolutely perfect. Read on. The height thereof shall
be three cubits, and thou shalt make the horns of it upon the
four corners thereof. His horns shall be of the same,
and thou shalt overlay it with brass. Now let me show you five
things about Christ as he fulfills the type of the altar. First,
the altar of sacrifice typified our Lord in the use for which
it was given. You remember what our Lord said
in Matthew chapter 23, speaking to the scribes and Pharisees
who were so meticulous about their services? He said, you
fools and blind, which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies
the gift? Now that's the use of the altar.
It sanctifies the gift. And Ron Wood, what we bring to
God, what we bring to God, our faith, our prayers, our persons,
our gifts, our services, what we bring to God, our holy sins, You ever talk
like that? What we call our holy deeds,
just the sins, the iniquity of our holy things. How on this
earth can God Almighty receive something you and I give Him?
When we come through this altar that sanctifies the gift, 1 Peter
2.5. The altar was just one altar
for all the people. One altar for all their sins.
One altar for all their sacrifices. There is one altar for sinners,
and that altar is Christ. Same one. The altar bore all
the violent heat of the wrath of God. There the fire burned,
and there the sacrifice was consumed. And the altar bore the heat.
The Lord Jesus Christ, as our altar and our sacrifice, bore
the heat of God's holy wrath for us. And while the fire of God's wrath
consumed him, he consumed the fire of God's
wrath for us. And there is therefore now no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." The altar stood
as a place of refuge for guilty sinners. You remember when Solomon
came to the throne, David gave him some instructions. He said,
son, you'll be smart to take care
of Adonijah and Joab. set out to kill him, and word
got out. Adonijah ran and took hold on
the horns of the altar. Joab ran and took hold on the
horns of the altar, thinking, there will be a place of refuge
for me. Well, they gave them no refuge
from Solomon, but let me tell you something. Christ Jesus is
indeed refuge for guilty sinners. Joab knew his only possibility
of hope was to lay hold of the horns of the altar. Solomon just
might not come in here and kill me. Adonijah thought, Solomon,
he just might not come in here and kill me. I know I deserve
His wrath, but if I lay hold on the horns of the altar, maybe
He'll spare me. Will you hear me? God Almighty
in His holy justice will not and cannot come where the altar
is and the sacrifice is made and slay a sinner. Come, lay
hold on the horns of this altar and find mercy with God." The
horns were four. I like that. These four horns
represented the universality of Christ's redemption. Universal
in the sense that it reaches to the four corners of the earth.
And to all nations the gospel goes. And the Lord Jesus speaks
to sinners of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. And He bids
sinners everywhere come to Him. And He declares, whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. He declares,
whosoever believeth in Me hath everlasting life. You'll be wise
to lay hold of the horns of the altar. and plead God's mercy,
the grace of God, the merits of Christ, the promises of God.
Plead with Him and find mercy. Turn to Isaiah chapter 43. Isaiah 43. I recall years ago,
I was sitting in my study one night late, and for the first
time, I think I heard God speak out of this passage. And I'd
like to have jumped out of my seat. This is astounding. Isaiah
43. Listen to what God says. Listen
to what God says. Oh, may God cause you to hear
Him speak to you now. Verse 25. I, even I am He that
blotteth out thy transgressions. Don't just cover them up. Blott
him out. Blott him out, your transgression.
Now watch this. Why should God pardon my sin?
For mine own sake. You remember how David prayed
for mercy? These are his words. Pardon my
iniquity, O Lord, for it is great. It is God's great mercy and God's
great glory to pardon sin. Oh, Lord, did you have reason
to pardon my sin? Pardon my iniquity, for it's
great. Now read on, read on. Here's
what God says. And will not remember thy sins. I won't do it. And he says, he
says, David Burge, put me in remembrance. Did you hear what
I said? I blot out your transgressions.
For my own sake, I will not remember your sins. I've said it. I've
sworn it. I've declared it. Now, put me
in remembrance. Let us plead together. Let us plead together. Declare
thou. Declare what? Behold, I am thou. There's no
soundness in me. Just corruption and sin. Declare
thou! Declare what? That thou mayest
be justified. I bid you then come, put God
in remembrance of His own Word, of His own character, of His
own grace, of His own sacrifice. Declare what you are before Him
and go home justified. All right? was typical of Christ,
not only in its uses, but also in its position. If you were
a sinner in Israel and you came into the tabernacle or into the
temple, the first thing you'd see is that altar, that altar
of brass. And you stayed there. do the
various works and ceremonies and services of the day, worshiping
God, and you start to go home, the very last thing to catch
your eyes, you leave that holy place of worship, is the altar
of God. So it is with Jesus Christ, our
Lord. He is the preeminent one. In all things, as we come to
God, our eyes must be fixed on Him. And as we go about our day-by-day
business, living for our God in this world for His honor,
set your eyes on Him, ever fixed on Christ the sacrifice. And
the altar, as I mentioned a moment ago, was four square. So it was
typical of our Lord Jesus in its form as well, in perfect
symmetry. Because in Christ is all fullness. all the fullness of God, all
the fullness of God's love, all the fullness of God's grace,
all the fullness of God's approval, all the fullness of God's revelation,
all fullness of all things in Him. This altar was an altar
with no steps. And so the altar could not be
ascending, but it was an altar covered with blood. Blood everywhere. Because without the shedding
of blood, there's no remission. See yonder, seated at the right
hand of the Majesty on high, is that man represented in the
Shinem wood. That man who is God, represented
in the brass, of everlasting character, of everlasting perpetual
value, he, with his own blood, entered in once into the holy
place, and by his blood obtained eternal redemption for us. This
altar was typical of Christ as well. And the materials by which
it was made, that shidom wood representing his humanity, the
brass representing his deity, the shidom wood overlaid with
brass representing the everlasting merit and everlasting virtue
of his sacrifice. And then the fire, the fire continually
burning on the altar. as the heart of God burned in love for my soul from everlasting? And how long
shall the heart of God burn in love for my soul to everlasting? How ancient is the merit of Christ's
blood, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the And how long
will his merit endure? Forever and forever. How ancient
is he looked upon as the Lord our righteousness from before
the world began? And how long will he be the Lord
our righteousness when time shall be no more? Now let me wrap this
up. See if I can't have the Spirit
of God speak to your heart. and persuade you, every one of
you, to come to the altar of God. There ain't but one. Come to Him. He is an altar that God has appointed
and accepted. He's an altar by whom sin has
been atoned and fury has been put away. And he's an altar that God Almighty
says is so near you, he's even in your heart and in your mouth. Now when he said Romans 10, the
word is neither in thy heart nor in thy mouth. What word? Christ the Lord. How near is he? He's so near. so accessible, the only way,
the only way not to come to Him, the only way not to, is by willful,
deliberate choice. That's it. He's right here. He's
the altar. So accessible that anybody who
wants Him can have Him. Only one condition. You got to
take Him alone. Can't have any other altar. Got
to give up all your goodness, all your righteousness, all your
works, all your merit, all your worth, come to Him. All children of God, come continually
to this altar. Somebody called me a while back, real troubled, wanted to know
if he needed to tell me what was bothering him. I said, oh,
no. I don't need to hear it. Nobody else does. But you're
going to have to tell it to God. Going to have to tell it to God.
Come to this altar. and confess your sin. Oh, I don't
feel like I'm worthy to come to God. You're just the candidate. But I'm so sinful. That's what
I was talking about. You're just the candidate. The
only thing that qualifies you to come to this altar, buddy,
is what you really are. That's the only thing. Sin. Sin. Come, confess your sin, and He
is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from
all unrighteousness. Oh, what an altar. Feast at this altar and this
sacrifice forever. We have an altar. whereof they
have no right to eat, whoever they are who serve the tabernacle. Amen. All right, men, you can
leave us now.