Are we on now back there? Are
we good? All right. It is a joy to be
with you. My wife and I were able to escape
our eight children for a season and come out to be with you folks,
and that's always a delight for us, and especially for her. She works so hard with them,
and we don't like to convey the idea that we are trying to escape.
When we get on the plane, there's a sigh of relief. But we've been here and we've
enjoyed so much good fellowship with several of you, and it's
just a joy and an honor to be here. I understand that Todd
and you guys haven't held these kinds of conferences in a long
time, and I'm so thankful that you have honored me to be here
with you to preach the gospel. It was good last night, wasn't
it? It was good. Would you turn with me in your
Bibles to the book of Ezra? Ezra chapter three. If you will,
just open up to the third chapter. And you can set it on your lap. There are three or four passages
in that text of scripture that I would love to. Well, I hope
that God will speak to you as he's spoken to me out of it.
I was thinking as our brother read John chapter 20, I don't
know why we call Thomas Doubting Thomas. We should be calling
him Believing Thomas. Because everything that he desired,
Christ granted. Everything he wanted, the Savior
gave. I will not believe, I cannot
believe until I thrust my hand in his side and see the nail
prints. And everything that he desired,
our Savior granted. And everything our Savior granted
is what he requires. Faith does just that. What was remarkable, it said,
and thrust your hand in the side. Thrust it inside of Christ. It's
the crucified Christ by which we see the true and the living
God, is it not? It's the crucified Christ by which you and I are
comforted that we have a relationship with the true and the living
God. And faith has no life apart from the crucified Christ. I
think from now on I'm going to rebuke everybody that calls him
Doubting Thomas. Believing Thomas is his name. Believing Thomas. Well, I'm in
the third chapter of the book of Ezra, and we are dealing with
a very unique and interesting period of time in the history
of Israel, ancient Israel. We are about the year 537 B.C.
539 BC is when Israel was called out of Babylon to return home
after 70 awful, awful years in Babylonian captivity of which
God in His covenant promise said that He would do if Israel continued
to rebel against the truth of the living God and Consequently,
Israel found themselves in Babylon 70 years, and you have read some
of the Psalms concerning the sadness and the burden of being
in a strange land when you should be in your own promised land,
worshiping the true and the living God and serving Him according
to the favor and goodness of God in your life. Seventy years
Israel dwelled in Babylon. It's actually 75 years at this
time in Israel, that is, Judah and parts of Benjamin have begun
to make their way back to Palestine. 800 miles from Babylon north,
down to Palestine, did they have to walk or ride camels or perhaps
some rode horses. And if you think about that journey
from Babylon back to Palestine, to Jerusalem under the call of
God in the mouth of a pagan king, King Cyrus. You guys know King
Cyrus. He was prophesied by God Almighty
in the mouth of Isaiah 200 years before the man even existed.
Called by name. And he was a great type of Jesus
Christ as the King of God Almighty over all the nations. The language
in Isaiah chapter 44 and 45 is explicit and exquisite concerning
the sovereignty of Jesus Christ and the call of his people out
of Babylon into the gospel and into the grace of God. I think
that if you know the Lord Jesus Christ, you know something about
that call. The people of God are making their way back home.
And I'm thinking in my mind, what are they thinking now that
they have heard the jubilee call, now that they are on their way
home? What are they thinking? What
would you be thinking as you experience the release, the liberation,
the freedom from having to deal with the the scorn and ridicule
of a nation that has been given liberty to rule over you for
70 years. What would you be thinking as
you make your way back home into that identity for which God has
called you? What would be in your mind as
you make your way back home? Would you be thinking, thank
God I'm free? Would you be thinking, Well,
I can't wait to get back to start my business and get things back
to normal the way I had it before we were brought into bondage.
Or would you be thinking, you know, God was faithful in sending
us into Babylon, and he sent us there because of our sins. And God has been gracious to
bring us back home in the way that he's doing, of which he
has never done with any nation before. They are the people of
God. And they are making their way,
traversing through all of the different lands and regions and
countries, and people are watching them go back to Palestine. What are the mamas and the daddies
and the children thinking as now they are no longer, as it
were, immersed into the Babylonian culture and having become part
of that culture and living and working and doing everything
all the Babylonians do? Now they are a set-apart people.
They are separate people. God has once again separated
his people from the world and has set them out on display as
they make their way back home in obedience. Listen to me now.
Their removal, their return from Babylon to Jerusalem was an act
of obedience. And it was an act of faith. But
as they made their way back to Jerusalem, what are they thinking? What are they thinking in terms
of the truth of the living God? Because they know what they've
got to do when they get back. They've got to worship the true
and the living God. They've got to serve Him according to His
word. They've got to try to do this thing right this time. What were they thinking? I'll
give you a thought as we begin to look into our text. Here's
what they weren't thinking. They weren't thinking, we can't
wait to get back to the land so that we can ask God to give
us another king. Remember, that was the reason
for which God began to destroy Israel. Give us a king like all
the other nations of the land. We want a king who will go out
and in and out and fight our battles for us. And God said
through his servant Samuel, Samuel, listen, don't get upset. These
folk didn't reject you. They rejected me. I guarantee
you, they weren't thinking, when we get back, we're going to set
up a magistrate. We're going to set up a senate.
We're going to get us a congress. And we're going to get us a new
king. I guarantee you they weren't thinking that. In fact, our checks
will show us that in a moment. What were they thinking? Here's
what Ezra chapter 3 begins to reveal to you and me concerning
what God would have us most to be conscious of in our relationship
to Him. They were thinking, yes, we are
the sons and daughters of God. Yes, we are the people of God.
Yes, we are the set-apart children of God. Yes, we are Israel. But
this is undoubtedly what we are. Sinners. Sinners. What we are are sinners. Sinners. And do you know what
a sinner needs? A sinner doesn't need a king. A sinner doesn't need a governor.
A sinner doesn't need an army. No man is saved by the multitude
of an army. Not even a king is saved by a
multitude of an army. Do you guys know what a sinner
needs? A sinner needs a high priest. Would you hear me? He needs a high priest. A sinner
needs a high priest. He needs an altar. Are you hearing? And he needs a foundation. That's
the title of our message. Ezra chapter 3. A high priest,
an altar, and a foundation. A high priest is what we need,
children of God. Do you believe that? A high priest
is what real sinners need. Do you ever hear folk talking
about having a relationship with the true and the living God?
where they talk as if somehow they can come into the presence
of God all by themselves without any kind of mediation whatsoever. Have you heard them? Oh, I've
just entered into the presence of God. Oh, really? You You know
what that conveys when a man or woman talks like that? I just
felt the presence. I was in the presence of God.
I was in the shaitan. You know what they're saying
when they say that. Are you ready? I'm not a sinner. I'm not a sinner. And they are talking as if they
have the right to unmediated fellowship with the true and
the living God. Can I tell you something? When you know you
are a sinner, here's what you know you need. You need a mediator. You need a substitute. You need
a surety. You need a go-between. You need
someone to stand in your gap. You need somebody who's right
with God and right with you and can make you right with God through
them. Am I making some sense? That's what they came to understand.
I want you to see that as they came back into Israel, the first
thing they did was to establish the priesthood. Do you guys remember
Joshua the High Priest? He's spoken about in Zechariah
chapter 3, around verses 1-8, that glorious portion of scripture
where Zechariah has received these revelations of God's purpose
for Israel, both in the Old Testament and the Israel of God, mind you,
in our present time. And that full manifestation of
God's glory in Christ called the New Jerusalem coming down.
And he saw in Zechariah chapter 3, Zechariah saw Joshua, the
son of Josedat, the high priest, standing before God and Satan
at his right hand. Remember that. And he was dressed
in filthy garments. Filthy, filthy garments. And
the devil was seeking to accuse him before God. And God said
to him, the Lord rebukes you. The Lord rebukes you. Is this
not a brand plucked out of the fire? Zechariah was amazed at
how God had called this servant of his and raised him up and
prepared him to be the mediator between the true and the living
God and the people of Israel. But you see, God knew that Israel
needed a mediator. And Joshua was that mediator.
Joshua stands in the gap between Israel and God. And the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Bible says in the book of Timothy, is the
one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ. Is
that not so? You know, the more that I learn
about the gospel, the more I appreciate the fact that God has provided
for me a mediator. The more I understand about the
person of Christ, the more I understand the essentiality of that mediatorial
work of my high priest Jesus Christ. The more I understand
about the truth of the Word of God concerning God's holiness
and my sinfulness, a high priest sounds good, doesn't it? A high
priest sounds real good to me, and I want to share a couple
of things about this. Please let this sink deep down
into your soul concerning the high priest. The high priest
is our representative. The high priest is our go-between. The high priest is our substitute,
and the high priest is our surety. What that means is all of my
worth, all of my value, Everything that
I have any hope for with God is based upon the person of my
high priest. Is based upon the value and quality
of the person and work of my high priest. And I have come
to learn, Saints, this. That the gospel is none other
than the proclamation of the high priest of God's people,
Jesus Christ. I've come to learn that the joy
of God's saints is seeing Him who stands before God as our
representative. That's where I get my peace from.
How about you? That's where I get my joy from. See, this is why,
as our brother was reading John chapter 20, I'm sitting there
saying, amazing. Amazing! We have been told that
Thomas was this sort of blind, doubting, fearful individual
when all he was saying is, I want to be one with Him who is one
with God for me. I want to stick my hand in His
side. I want to feel the nail press.
I want to know Christ crucified. That's the mediatorial work of
our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, for sinners. Is that
not so? I was thinking as we were talking, me and my dear
pastor brother, about the glorious gospel of God's sovereign mercy
and grace. And you here know the gospel.
I've heard it for many years. I hope the gospel never bores
you. But here, understand something as we contemplate the glories
of this high priest. Everything about the doctrine
of the gospel that you and I believe only has its worth as it points
to and finds its culmination in the person of Jesus. I'm thinking
about the glorious doctrine of total depravity. Last night you
guys heard in a very plain and honest way from both of these
preachers what it means to be a sinner. Weren't you rejoicing? Weren't you rejoicing when Brother
Donnie talked about sin and talked about his own weakness and his
own infirmity? Weren't you rejoicing in that?
Weren't you rejoicing? Listen, the doctrine of total
depravity is true, isn't it? But I find no real comfort in
the doctrine of total depravity. I know it's true, but I find
no comfort in it. You know what I find more comfort
in? In the fact that Christ is my righteousness. See, I'm totally
depraved, but he's totally holy. Am I making some sense? And I
understand now that my total depravity is what he must take
care of in order for me to be right with God. So tell me I'm
totally depraved, but then point me to the one who can fix that.
I believe in the doctrine of total depravity, but I believe
in the spotless, impeccable righteousness of my substitute in surety, Jesus
Christ. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
I believe in irresistible grace, don't you? I believe in irresistible
grace, but I'm going to share a little something with you.
Don't think this is heresy. Well, I really don't care if
you do, but just listen to this. Listen to me. All of us Successfully
resist God all the time. That's what we do by nature.
We resist God. I like the way the first martyr
of the New Testament church put it as he spoke to his Jewish,
legal, self-righteous brethren. You know what he said? Ye do
always resist the Holy God. So when I think about irresistible
grace, you know what I think of? I said, maybe grace is irresistible. Maybe grace is irresistible,
but here's what I know. The Bible says that men and women
resist God all the time. They resist Him all the time. But this is what I know is also
true. There's a person that God can never resist. Do you know
who that is? my substitute, and my surety,
and my high priest. Now watch this now, that's irresistible
praise. God must receive me, no matter
how much I reject Him, because if I'm in Christ, God loves His
Son. And if I'm in Christ, God loves
me too. Am I making a little bit of sense
here? See, the doctrine of irresistible grace is a wonderful truth, and
it tells us that God is going to accomplish His purpose to
save. He's going to draw His elect. He's going to save His
elect. That's true, but listen to me. The comfort of God's infallibility
to save us is that He has placed us before the world began in
a person who is irresistible to Him. Am I making some sense? I believe in limited atonement,
or what we call in our circles, particular redemption. I believe
it with all my heart, don't you? I don't believe there's one drop
of blood that God will have spilled for a soul that will spend eternity
in hell. But you know what the Bible tells
me that brings me great comfort? Now watch this. The Bible says,
if any man confess his sin. Isn't that what David just did?
God is faithful and just to forgive them of their sin and to cleanse
them from all unrighteousness. Why? Because we have a propitiation. Jesus Christ the righteous. He
advocates with the Father on my behalf. Listen to me, I believe
in particular redemption, but this is what I believe more,
that I have an advocate with the Father. I have someone standing
in my gap, pleading successfully for my redemption. I like Hebrews
where it says that he ever liveth to make intercession for those
who come to God by him. Now that brings comfort to me.
That brings comfort to me. I believe in limited atonement,
but I also believe in the infinite mercies of a sovereign God who
has designated to make a people for himself. I just want a high
priest. That's all I'm saying. I just want a high priest. I also believe in the perseverance of the saints.
I do. I believe in the perseverance
of the saints, but I don't believe in my own perseverance. Am I helping somebody? I don't
believe in my own perseverance. I get up in the morning and I
say I'm going to persevere. By noon, I have failed. But you know what I believe?
I believe in a God who cannot fail, He cannot lie, and He cannot
change. You know what I also believe?
I believe the Bible when it says this, All that the Father giveth
me shall come to me, and he that cometh to me I will in no wise
what? Cast out. Now, there's perseverance. I believe in the perseverance
of God for His saints. See, it's subtle, isn't it? Isn't
it subtle? Total depravity. Unconditional
election. That's great. But really, things,
listen to me. There's no such thing as unconditional
nothing. You hear about unconditional
love. Have you heard about that? Oh, He loves you unconditionally.
Not the God of the Bible. Not the God of salvation. Love
by itself is a law. It cannot be unconditional. It
must be predicated upon principles, infallible principles of righteousness. You know what that means, that
God had to love me in a very qualified, in a very conditional
way. How is that? I'll keep it simple
for us who grew up in government schools. In Christ! In Christ. Am I making some sense? Outside of Christ, God can't
love me. I'm obnoxious to Him. I'm vile before His eyes. I've
been told by His Word and by His Spirit that He's holy and
He cannot look upon sin. And that if God's going to have
a relationship with me, something must be done on an infinitely,
infinitely wise and powerful level in order to bring me into
union with himself. Now, it's predicated upon what
we learned last night, the love of God. Is that not so? Why does
God save a sinner? Because of his abounding and
infinite love. But that love sets out to establish
qualifications by which the lovable God can love an unloving people. I really just don't like the
term unconditional election. The Bible says He chose us in
Him for the foundation of the world that we might be holy and
blameless before Him in love. See, what I understand the apostles
saying by inspiration of the Spirit of God is that all the
promises of God which He gives to us are only yes. Yes and amen in Him. Am I making sense? See, and this
is where we see in our text the beauty and the wisdom of what
God taught Israel over 75 years. If you're going to worship me
successfully, you need a high priest. and the high priest was
risen up looking after chapter three with me verse eight I want
you to see this ever chapter three verse eight ever chapter
three verse nine and every chapter three verse two there's a couple
other things I want to say about your high priest and my high
priest I want to talk about him just a little bit more and I
want you to draw this home as we consider it now we are in
the second year of their return to the land. It tells us in verse
8 now, in the second year of their coming to the house of
God at Jerusalem. Now the house of God was not
built. There's no house of God there. But there will be. Listen
to the language. Coming to the house of God at
Jerusalem. In the second month began Zerubbabel, the governor,
the son of Sheltiel, and Joshua, the son of Josedat, here's the
high priest, and the remnant of their brethren, the priest
and the Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity
unto Jerusalem, and they appointed the Levites from twenty years
old upward to set forward the work of the house. of the Lord. You know what the people of God
had learned? We need a high priest for God to accept us in order
to get the work done. Go back to verse two. Listen
to what it says over in verse. I'm sorry. Look at verse nine
and then verse two. Then stood Joshua with his sons and his
brethren, Cadmeo, and his sons, the sons of Judah, together,
to set forward the workmen in the house of God, the sons of
Pinnadad, with their sons and their brethren, the Levite."
The Spirit of God wants us to understand this work does not
get done without the high priest. Go back to verse 2. Chapter 3,
verse 2, Then stood up Joshua the son of Josedach and his brethren,
the priest, and Zerubbabel the son of Sheltiel and his brethren,
and they built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt
offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man
of God. And they set the altar upon his
bases, for fear was upon them, because of the people of those
countries, And they offered burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord,
even burnt offerings morning and evening. Look at the context
at which the people of God begin to do the work. They begin to
do the work on the basis of a mediator going ahead of them and a priesthood
offering sacrifices before God because they feared the people.
They feared the people and rightly so. They had enemies all around
about them. And Joshua is working with his
servants to offer sacrifices. And do you know what's remarkable
about this, Saints? In verse 1, it uses a phrase
that is seldom used in the Bible, but wherever you see it, it's
used in Nehemiah chapter 8, I think one time in the book of Job,
and maybe one time in the book of the Chronicles in the Old
Testament, but wherever you see it, this phrase underscores what
I'm getting at about the necessity of God's people understanding
that everything they are, and everything they have, and everything
they will be, is only found in one man, and that man is Christ.
Look at verse 1. Please look at it. Notice how
it opens up. It says, And when the seventh
month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities,
they had made it back now, the people gathered themselves together
as one man. Do you see it? As one man. They gathered together as one
man. Do you see the unity of the people
of God in that statement? Do you see the oneness of the
people of God in that statement? Do you see the idea that you
and I are made one with God through Christ? Do you understand that
our unity as brethren is only true and real and genuine insofar
as we are one with Christ? Do you realize then that God
sees the whole of the people of God everywhere from the beginning
of time to the end of the world as one man. As one man. You know our unity is based upon
Christ, right? And nothing else. Our unity is
predicated upon the person by whom you and I are tied to God.
We enjoy fellowship with one another. That's wonderful. We
love to talk and we love to hang out. But our unity is not based
upon our commonalities. It's not based upon our ethnicity. It's certainly not based upon
our socioeconomic strategies. We don't all equally make the
same amount of... We don't even like the same things.
Isn't that true? Here's where our unity is. It's
in Christ. It's in Christ. And when you
hear your pastor say, when you hear your pastor say, what matters
to God is what I think about his son. This is the way for
which God's people must continually view the scriptures. It doesn't
matter what we think. The only thing that matters is
what God thinks about Christ and what we think about God through
Christ. And your unity in mine is based upon this one man theory. The New Testament talks about
the one man, doesn't it? God, through Christ, by his shed blood,
has made of the two one new man, so making what? Peace. You and
I have peace because of Christ, isn't that right? We have unity
because of Christ. We have fellowship because of
Christ. And when you and I don't look
to the same Christ and rejoice in the same Christ and preach
the same Christ, ain't no unity. That's why I can't have fellowship
with men who don't know this gospel. You try out of all humanness
to get along with folk, don't we? But when I come to understand
that they don't know Him, immediately I realize there's no fellowship.
Because unity is based on the work of the Spirit of God taking
sinners from every part of the world and placing them into Christ. And when he does that, guess
what? We see the same things. We say the same things. We desire
the same things. We communicate the same things.
We long for the same things. Is that true? We long for Christ.
And I can never get enough of the Christ of God. Can you? Can
you? I love the way David said it.
Bear with me a few more minutes. I love the way David said it.
He said it in Psalm 133. You remember that Psalm? How
good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. We know that fellowship, don't
we? I've been part of lots of churches, and I've been part
of lots of communities. I've been part of reformed communities,
non-reformed communities, independent communities, evangelical communities. Listen to me. There's only one
community God has, and it's the community of those who know and
love the gospel of God's sovereign grace and the God of that gospel.
and the God of that gospel. I really want to press it home
tonight to you. Listen to me, Saints. Listen very carefully.
You and I are privileged to know Christ. You're privileged to know Christ. There are folks who know tons
of religion, but do they know the Savior? And it doesn't take
but five minutes for me to find out. You know what David says? The unity of the brethren It's
like the anointing oil that poured down on the top of the head of
our great, typical high priest, Aaron. And it ran down his head,
down his beard, down his holy garments, all the way down to
his feet. He's talking about the Spirit
of God anointing Christ, our high priest, the basis of our
unity and our fellowship. And you know how he ends that
song? There shall God command the blessing forevermore. That's why we want our Savior
to show up in the worship. Isn't that right? Because it's
only in Him that you and I find joy, and fellowship, and comfort,
and peace. Let me bring you to the next
subject. I'm so glad God taught Israel,
because that gives hope for me. Because, you know, I'm slow.
I like the way Maurice Montgomery put it. He said, you know, Jesse,
we were on the golf course about 10 years ago, playing golf. And
you know how Maurice is. I have a little bit of a hard
time with you southern folk, especially when you put on your
pauses. We're talking and you go and... I'm going to swing, Maurice,
if you don't come. I'm going to swing. He said, Jesse, there's one problem
with us. And I would say in my mind, only
one. He says, there's one problem
with us. We're so slow. We take a long time to get it.
And he's absolutely right. We're so slow. We take a long
time to get it, don't we? He says, and by the time we're
about to leave this world, it just dawns on us what we should
be doing. Don't we need grace? Alright,
I want to call your attention to the second thing in our outline.
And I think I'm going to just deal with this tonight and call
it an evening. The high priest of God's people
understand that in order for God's people to have fellowship
with God, there must be an altar. There must be an altar. That's what David said at the
end of Psalm 51. Lord, if you restore your spirit,
If you wash me, if you cleanse me, if you purge me, if you bring
the joy back, I'll worship at your altar. I'll worship at your
altar. So my second point is this. Not
only do the people of God need a high priest, whoever lives
to make intercession for them, but they need an altar. Look at what the text says over
in verse three. Are we there? I think I said it over in verse
2, Joshua stood with his sons, and they gathered together, and
they builded the altar of God, of the God of Israel, to offer
burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses,
the man of God. Verse 3 says something quite
interesting, and they set the altar upon his bases. You know the next lesson that
we learn here? If we're careful to go back to the original design,
this happened at in approximately 487 B.C. when Moses brought the
children of Israel out of Egypt into the wilderness and God began
to teach his people how to worship him. That was the reason why
he called them out of Egypt. You know that, right? Let my
people go into the wilderness, three days journey, that they
may worship me. And God began to teach Israel
how to worship the true and the living God. He sent Moses up
into the mount, and Moses received the revelation of the temple
of God. And you guys know that the temple, the tabernacle, is
the gospel. Everything about that tabernacle
speaks to Christ. Everything. And what God was
teaching his children, Israel, in the wilderness, is in order
to have fellowship with me in worship, you must know my son
Jesus Christ in the mystery of the tabernacle. In the mystery
of the temple. In the mystery of the altar.
In the mystery of the basin, that large labored basin. In the mystery of the altar of
incense. In the mystery of the table of
the show braid. In the mystery of the menorah
or the candlestick. In the mystery of the Ark of
the Covenant. In the mystery of a great high
priest who executes all of those offices as our representative,
bringing us to God. Bringing us to God. What Israel
learned was God required his people to worship him at the
altar. And I want to say a few things
about the altar that's significant. Getting back to this idea of
unmediated worship. You're an absolute fool if you
think that you can stand before God apart from Christ. Furthermore, God, being a holy
and just God, requires a sacrifice. More than that, that sacrifice
must be perfect, without spot and without blemish. And that
sacrifice must be of such a nature that it has eternal efficacy. That's the reason in the Old
Testament the high priest was commanded to burn the sacrifices
in the morning and in the evening. In the morning and in the evening.
In the morning and in the evening. Those sacrifices must continue
to be offered up in order for God to accept Israel. The people
of God realized that the sin that they had committed that
had brought them back into Babylon in the first place was that they
despised God's offspring. They despise God's worship. They
open the door to false religion and idolatry. They open the door
to syncretism. Have you ever heard that word?
Or the ecumenical mindset? God had told Israel, when you
go into the land, not only are you not to worship at other altars,
but destroy them. There's only one altar wherewith
I will accept you. And you know what God called
that altar? The altar of God. I like the way David said it
in Psalm 43. You don't have to go there. You know David loved
him some God, didn't he? David loved him some God. And
David loved the worship of God. And David loved the glory of
God. And you know David saw Christ. David said, Lord, Lord, I want
to be in your presence. Psalm 43. He says, Lord, lead
me by your light and lead me by your truth. Bring me into
your sanctuary. Let me worship at your altar. And then this is what he said,
God is our altar. God himself is our altar. See, the Bible tells us in Hebrews
chapter 13, verse 10, we have an altar. Are you hearing me?
Whereof they have no right to eat who serve the tabernacle. As I was admiring the great work
that you guys have done here, in restoring and expanding on
this worship hall. And we pray for you in San Leandro
every week. We love our brethren. We love
our brethren who preach the gospel. Me and Todd, we were two peas
in a pod. I mean, we really get along.
We think alike. That's scary, but it's true.
And so I prayed for him a whole lot. When we get together and
we share notes, it's remarkable how God has brought us to some
of the same understanding and the things that impress us. But
I was thinking, as you guys have expanded, and I'm praying that
God would expand. Grace Church here in Lexington
ten times over, over the next ten years. May God cause you
guys to continue to receive sinners, hell-bound sinners, needy sinners,
to hear the gospel of His sovereign, free, immutable, unchangeable
grace. I hope you think the same way
too. But here's what I'm praying for, that as He would extend
your walls and extend your walls, don't you ever put an altar down
here in front. Probably weekly, if not every
other week, because God has been gracious to us in San Leandro
as well. People come to me, Pastor, how
come you don't have an altar? And I said, we do. We do. You just don't see them. We have
an altar in glory. We have an altar in glory. And
that altar, listen to me ladies and gentlemen, is Christ is crucified. See, the altar of God is the
cross of Jesus Christ. The sacrifice of God is God's
darling son. And the blood shed on that cross
is the reason why God's people, all of God's people, are always
accepted before Him. They offered those sacrifices
because they were afraid of the enemies round about them. That's
good, isn't it? When you come to church on Sunday, you guys
have a lot of enemies. Tell the truth now. I know y'all
looking all holy and happy and everything, but you got a lot
of enemies. You got enemies on the left hand and you got enemies
on the right hand. You got enemies without and you
got enemies within. The biggest enemy is the enemy
with enemy. Isn't that true? And Cody, as a consequence, I
need to see Christ crucified again and again and again and
again and again. Don't you? I need to be reminded
of what God accomplished in Christ for me to destroy all my enemies. I need to see the crucified Christ
as the grounds of my justification, as the basis of God's satisfaction,
as the standard of God's righteousness, as the end of sin. I was at the gym today. My wife
tricked me into going to the gym today and working out with
her, and we went into one of those thing classes. Never did
it in my life, but I was trying to impress my wife. And you're
riding these bikes, right? And you're riding the bike for
an hour. It's boring, but you're riding the bike for an hour.
And the one thing that the lady kept saying that just kept ticking
me off is we're halfway finished. We're halfway finished. We're
halfway finished is not finished. That's not an honest way to put
it. Just saying we're not done yet. But the gospel we preach, and
the cross we look to, and the altar we eat at, is not halfway
finished. It's all together accomplished. It's completely perfected. One time, for all eternity, for
all whom God has set apart in Christ, by Himself have He purged
our sins. and sat down at the right hand
of God the Father. He himself offered himself up
without spot to God. Purged our conscience from dead
worship that we might serve the true and the living God. I love
the finished work of Jesus Christ. Don't you? And the preaching
of the cross reminds us week in and week out, it's done. And
it will vanquish every foe. the full of self-doubt, the full
of fear, the full of weakness, the full of failure, the full
of sin, the full of self-righteousness. All of that is completely demolished
in the person of Christ, our great sacrifice. Isn't that good? All of that is completely demolished.
I'm here to tell you, those folks that came out of Babylon learned
something about what God required. And isn't it interesting, I'll
close it here, Isn't it interesting that the Spirit of God is speaking
to your heart right now, that the way they worship the true
and the living God is precisely and exactly how we worship Him
right now, without any variation. All of God's elect, from Adam
to the last man, worships God the same way all the time, every
day. And that's in Christ, our crucified
high priest, altar, and Savior. Amen.