shall it be, and two cubits shall
be the height thereof, the horns thereof shall be the same, and
thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof and the
sides thereof round about and the horns thereof, and thou shalt
make unto it a crown of gold round about it, and two golden
rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it by the two corners
thereon, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it. And they
shall be for places for the staves to bear it with all. And thou
shalt make the staves of Shittem wood and overlay them with gold.
And thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of
the testimony. Before the mercy seat that is
over the testimony where I will meet with thee. And Aaron shall
burn thereon sweet incense every morning. When he dresseth the
lamps, he shall burn incense upon it, and when Aaron lighteth
the lamps at evening, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual
incense before the Lord throughout your generations. You shall offer
no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering,
neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon, and Aaron shall make
an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood
of the sin offering of atonement. Once in the year shall he make
atonement upon it throughout your generations. It is most
holy unto the Lord. I'm going to try to talk about
the altar of incense. Every part of the tabernacle
illustrates some aspect of the person and work of Christ. And
the altar of incense teaches us something about his intercession. And I hope by the end of this
message, with the Lord's blessing, we'll have some more understanding
of what that verse of scripture means, he ever liveth to make
intercession for us. Now, you notice that exact instructions
were given regarding the construction of this altar of incense. And
as a matter of fact, there were exact instructions given regarding
the actual incense that was burned upon this altar. Turn across
the page to Exodus chapter 30, verse 34. And the Lord said unto Moses,
take unto thee sweet spices of steak tea and onyeka. and galvanum, these sweet spices
with pure fragrance into each, shall there be like weight, and
thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of
the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy, and thou shalt
be some of it very small and put of it before the testimony
of the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee,
and it shall be most holy, and as for the perfume which thou
shalt make, You shall not make to yourselves according to the
composition thereof. It shall be unto thee holy for
the Lord. Whosoever shall make like unto
that to smell thereto shall even be cut off from his people. Now,
the incense was to be used only for the burning on this altar,
and if you used it for anything else or if you tried to make
something like it, The scripture says you were to be cut off from
the people and remember with God the punishment always fits
the crime. Now fire from off the altar where
the sacrifice was made for the morning and evening sacrifice
was used to burn this incense and it would fill the tabernacle
with its wonderful smell and it represents the Lord Jesus
Christ praying for and interceding for his people as their great
high priest. Now, before we get into looking
at what is taught in this passage of scripture regarding the intercession
of Christ, I want us to look at some scriptures in the New
Testament that speak of the intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
I think it will give us a greater appreciation of what is being
taught in this passage of scripture. Now, would you turn with me to
John chapter 17? John chapter 17. Now, if Christ
is interceding for me, you know what that means? That means he's
standing before God right now in my behalf. Isn't that a wonderful
thought? To think that Jesus Christ himself
is standing before God with you on his heart. Now look in John
chapter 17, verse 9. He says, I pray for them. That's the intercession of Christ. I pray. for them. I pray not
for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they
are thine." Now, if the Lord was praying for everybody, and
everybody wasn't saved, His prayers would be meaningless, wouldn't
they? He prays for His elect. He prays for those that the Father
gave Him. He makes intercession for them. What about when He prayed for
Peter? In Luke chapter 22, He said, Satan hath desired to have
you, that he may sit you as wheat, but I have prayed for you, that
your faith fail not." You know what? His faith didn't fail. You see, when the Lord prays
for people, the Father always hears Him. When He said from
the cross, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
Did the Father forgive the ones He was praying for? Every single
one of them. You see, the Father never says
no to the Son. Whatsoever His soul desires,
that He has. Now, understand, in intercession,
you either pray for someone or against someone. Now you read
in Psalm 69 where the Lord is praying against his enemies. What about in Romans chapter
11 verse 2 when it speaks of Elijah making intercession to
God against Israel? You can pray against somebody
or you can pray for somebody. Now if he prays for you, everything's
fine because of who he is. Turn with me to a very familiar
passage of scripture, Romans chapter 8, and I think it's I'm
just thinking about this. I quote this passage of Scripture
at least once a week, but I don't ever really put the emphasis
here as probably I should. Look in Romans, Chapter eight,
verse. Thirty two. He that spared not his own son. But delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely? Give us all things. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who
is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. He makes, even right now
while I'm speaking, He makes intercession for all of his people. Turn to Hebrews chapter 9. Verse 24. For Christ is not entered into the
holy places made with hands, which are figures of the true,
but into heaven itself now. Now. to appear in the presence
of God. And what are those next two words? For us. For us. Oh, that just... The Lord is appearing in the
very presence of God for every one of His people. And that's
why this is so. These things write unto you that
you sin not. And if any man sin, We have an
Advocate with the Father. Now, we had this Advocate before
the sin. We had this Advocate during the
sin. And we had this Advocate after
the sin. There's nothing we do to make
Him our Advocate. We have, right now, an Advocate
with the Father. Jesus Christ the Righteous. And he is the propitiation for
our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the
whole world. Now go back to Exodus chapter
30, and I think those scriptures will give us more of an appreciation
of what is being taught regarding the intercession of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now there were some things in the law that were
to be done annually, only once a year. The great day of atonement,
once a year. Those three feasts that they
would have to leave Wherever their homes were and go to, they
only had to do each of those three feasts once a year. But there were some things that
were to be done daily. Last Wednesday, we considered
the morning and evening sacrifice that was to be done every single
day. And then there was the lighting
of the candlesticks and the tending of the candlesticks, putting
the oil in the lampstand every single day. And there was the
daily offering up of incense. Look in verses seven and eight
of Exodus, chapter 30. And Aaron shall burn there on
sweet incense every morning when he dressed at the lamps, he shall
burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighted the lamps
at Eden, He shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual, non-stop,
continual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. Now this demonstrates my perpetual
need of His sacrifice. It was done every day and every
night. My perpetual need of the light
of the Holy Spirit. And my perpetual need of the
intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look where it was
placed. Look in verse 6. This altar of incense, thou shalt
put it before the veil. Not inside of the veil, but before
the veil. That is by the arc of the testimony
before the mercy seated. Stood right before the mercy
seat with the veil in between it. over the testimony where
I will meet with thee. It was right before the veil,
and that lets us know that there's no way that we can come into
the presence of God, the Holy of Holies, without the intercession
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He brings us into the presence
of the Father. No man, our Lord said, no man
cometh to the Father but by me. And I think it's very interesting
that the burning of the incense was always in conjunction with
the lighting of the golden candlestick. They were done at the same time.
Look in verse 7 again. And Aaron shall burn thereon
sweet incense every morning, when he dresseth the lamps, he
shall burn the incense upon it. When Aaron lighteth the lamps
at evening, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense
before the Lord throughout your generations. Now here is the
light. as to how we can come into God's
presence and how the God of glory, the holy God, the mighty God
actually hears my prayers and accepts me. It is through the
intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have life here as
to how we are preserved. He said, I pray for you that
your faith They will not. Now I want you to think about
this, every believer. Christ says to you, I prayed for you. Isn't that wonderful? To have
the Lord interceding for you. Now this incense also represents
the prayers of the saints coming up before God by the intercession
of Christ. Turn with me to Revelation chapter
8. Revelation chapter 8. And when he had opened the seventh
seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
And I saw the seven angels which stood before God, and to them
were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood
at the altar having a golden censer. And this is talking about
the altar of incense. That's what the golden censer
was for. And there was given unto him much incense. that he
should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden
altar which was before the throne. This incense represents the prayers
of all of God's people. And the smoke of the incense
which came with the prayers of the saints ascended up before
God out of the angel's hand. That means that the Lord takes
my prayers. My monotonous asking the same thing,
mind-wandering, pitiful prayers. And he brings them before the
God of glory, and they smell good to God. And he hears them,
and he accepts me for Christ's sake. And he delights in the
prayers of his people. That's what the incense of the
Lord Jesus Christ does. Look in verse 5. And the angel
took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar and
cast it into the earth. And there were voices and thunderings
and lightnings and earthquakes. What that tells us is that God
acts through the prayers of his people. Don't. Give up on prayer. Don't become
slack in prayer. You have the intercession of
the Lord Jesus Christ presenting your prayer before the Father
and he hears prayer and he answers prayer for Christ's sake and
that's how he acts upon the earth. I read this scripture just this
week and it turned to Joshua chapter 10. Joshua chapter 10. Verse 14. This is after Joshua defeated
a bunch of kings, and this is when Joshua asked the Lord to
cause the sun to stand still. And you know what? The sun stood
still for 24 hours. And look in verse 14. And there
was no day like that before or after it that the Lord hearkened
unto the voice of a man. That's what happens in prayer.
For the Lord fought for Israel. The Lord harkens, the God of
glory harkens to the voice of a man. You see, God does what
He's going to do through the prayers of His people. Anytime
you pray for something inspired by the Holy Spirit, God put it
there in the first place and He's going to act through the
prayers of those people. Through the intercession of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 9 of Exodus chapter
30. And you shall offer no strange
incense thereon, only what he prescribed, nor burnt sacrifices,
nor meat offering, neither shall you pour your drink offering
thereon. Now let's see what happened to somebody when they did offer
up strange incense. They ran out of this kind of
incense that he prescribed and they said, well, Our hearts are
right. I mean, we got the right motive.
Our hearts are right. I mean, it seems kind of legalistic
to have to offer up that same kind of incense. Let's see what
happened when somebody had that kind of attitude. Turn to Leviticus
chapter 10. Leviticus chapter 10. Verse 1. And Nadab and Abihu The sons
of Aaron, Leviticus chapter 10 verse 1, took either of them
his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and
offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them
not. Now I can imagine what must have
been going through their minds. I'm sure they just ran out of
the right kind of incense. You know, you had to make it
up. And they ran out, and they said, well, We need to offer
up this incense and our hearts are right, our motives are right.
It doesn't really make any... What if it is a different kind
of incense? Does it really make that much difference? I mean,
our hearts are right. So, what happens? Verse 2, And
there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them. And they died before the LORD. And remember with God, The punishment
always fits the crime. Look what the Lord says to Moses
about this in verse 3. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This
is that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified, I will
be regarded as holy in them that come nigh unto me. And before
all the people, I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. You
see, they failed to sanctify. They failed to regard as holy
the God of glory. They thought, well, our hearts
are right, so any old incense will do. So they weren't coming
in by the Lord Jesus Christ. They were coming by their own
sincerity, by their own good motives and so on. And God killed
them for it. Because there's only one way
I can approach God. And that is through the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other way. If I bring
my sincerity, if I bring my good intentions, if I bring my good
motives, if I bring my efforts, fire will devour me and I'll
be sent to hell. The only way a sinner can come
into the presence of the Lord God is through the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other way. Look down in verse six. And Moses
said to Aaron, Leviticus 10 verse 6, And Moses said unto Aaron,
and to Eleazar, and to Ithamar his sons, Uncover not your heads,
neither wring your clothes, lest you die, and lest wrath come
upon all the people. He's saying don't even mourn
over this. Don't even mourn over this. If you're going to mourn
over something, mourn over that this great sin was committed.
But they got exactly what they had coming. They bypassed the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's why God killed them. They
bypassed the Lord Jesus Christ, tried to come into God's presence
on their own. Now, look back at our text. Exodus chapter 30. And this is
amplified by this. You shall offer no strange incense
thereon, nor burnt sacrifice. nor meat offering, neither shall
you pour drink offering thereon." Now, notice what he's telling.
He says, don't offer up a burnt offering. Now, a burnt offering
had something to do with, it wasn't a sin offering. Remember
the sin offering on the great day of atonement? A burnt offering
was something different. It was burnt wholly. It had something
to do with the participation of the one who brought it. He
was offering it all up and it was burnt wholly. It wasn't a
sin offering. And the meat offering, That's
talking about the work of the Holy Spirit, the bread and the
oil, the work of the Holy Spirit, the work of God the Spirit in
you. The meat offering. Don't bring that into God's presence.
Don't say, well, look what the Lord's done in me. Look at my
faith now. Look at my repentance now. Look
at my love now. The drink offering has to do with our consecration,
poured out holy before the Lord. You don't bring anything of yours
into the presence of God. I don't bring anything that has
me in it. Here's the only thing that made this censure this ultra
acceptable, verse 10, and Aaron shall make an atonement upon
the horns of it once a year with the blood of the sin offering
of atonement. Once in a year shall he make
atonement upon it throughout your generations. It is most
holy unto the Lord. Now here is what made this incense
altar, holy to the Lord, the great day of atonement, the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the blood of Christ. And that's how
I come into God's presence. And I tell you what, I can come
into God's presence boldly in the blood of Christ. I really
do. I'm conscious of my sin to some
extent. I don't know much about it, but
I know something about it. All that being said, I come into
the very holy of holies into the presence of God through my
great intercessor the Lord Jesus Christ and I expect to be accepted
because I am accepted through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I hope this sheds some light
on Hebrews chapter 7 verse 25 when it says wherefore he is
able to save them to the uttermost that come to God. by Him, seeing
He ever liveth to make intercession for them. Now, who will be saved? Those who come to God by Him. Wherefore, He is able to save
them to the uttermost, those that come to God by Him. Our Lord said, No man cometh
to the Father, but by me. And that is the only way I come
into the presence of God. There's no access to the Father,
but by Him. This verse of scripture has become
more powerful to me. I can't wait to preach on it
in a couple of weeks as we're going through John 14. But no
man cometh to the Father but by me. I'm the way, the truth,
and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. That doesn't mean I come pleading his name, although I
do. It means when he comes into the Father's presence, as I'm
in him, I come into the Father's presence. I actually come into
the presence of God by him. He brings me in. And why do we come to the Father
by Him? We come to the Father by Him
to be saved. I want to be saved. Now if you came to a man on death
row and it was his execution day, And he was to be put to
death that very day. I just read in the paper where
someone in one of the states, I can't remember which one it
was yesterday, was put to death by a lethal injection. If you
came up to a man that was on death row and said, I've got
something for you. I've got a fine new set of clothes,
$800 suit. And I've got a million dollars
to put in your bank account. And I'm going to give you a fine
new home and a brand new car. Would that mean a thing to that
guy? He'd say, that's not what I need. I need to be delivered. I need to be pardoned. I need
something to be done for me. I don't need those things. You
know, people come to the Lord, all they think about is material
things and help out of their troubles and so on. That's not
why I come to Christ. Now, He helps me, no doubt about
that, but I come to Christ to be saved. To be saved from my
sin. That's what I need. I need to
be saved from my sin. I need to be clean before God.
That's what folks do who come to God. By Him they come to be
saved. Now look at His ability to save. Hebrews chapter 7 verse 25 says,
Wherefore He is able. He is able. I love thinking about that. He's
able. to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him. Turn with me to Jude chapter
24, or Jude verse 24. It's only got one chapter. Right
before the book of Revelation. Now, unto him that is able. to keep you from falling. Oh, I've got His hands underneath
me right now. And the reason I'm not falling is because He's
not going to let me. He is able to keep you from falling
and to present you. How? Faultless. before the presence of His glory
with exceeding joy. Now that's what He is able to
do. He's able to keep you from falling and He's able to present
you haltless before the very throne of God. What ability! He is able to save
them to the uttermost. I like that word. I'm not real
sure what it means. to the uttermost, to the utter extent of our guilt. Did you know you can't be too
bad or too sinful to be saved? You know, none of us see how
sinful we really are. I know I don't. I don't even
have a clue. None of us see how weak we really
are. We're a whole lot weaker than
we imagine ourselves to be. But I'll tell you when I'm going
to understand something about salvation to the uttermost. When
this sinful, weak, helpless man is perfectly
conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. At that time, I'm going
to understand a little bit about salvation from the guttermost
to the uttermost. Now, why is he able? Wherefore,
he is able to save them to the uttermost that come to God by
him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession. for them. He ever lived it, he did die. And he did die for a purpose.
He died to save his people from their sins. And he was successful
in his death. In dying, he put away the sins
of everybody he died for. Listen to this scripture. But
this man, this priest, This God, this man. Oh, this man! But this
man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat
down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected
forever. that are sanctified. Now, he
did what it was he intended on doing when he died, but he didn't
stay dead. He was raised from the dead,
and he ever lives to make sure his will is carried out. Now,
how many people die and leave a will and people contest it?
I mean, families get into arguments, people become enemies, I want
this, you want... I mean, that happens so often. It's so sad
when something like that happens. But you know what? That's not
going to happen with the Lord. He ever lives to make sure His
will is done. Father, I will. You know, the Lord's the
only one who can say this. You wouldn't say, Father, I will
that you do this. You'd be scared to death to say
something like that. Here's the only one who can say it. Father,
I will. That they whom thou hast given
me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory. Here
we have the power of the intercession of our great high priest. He
says, Father, I will. Now in light of the present intercession
of Christ, He is now in the presence of God making
intercession for us. Yes, for us. But I like this
for me. For me. Just like the great high
priest had the names of his elect engraved upon his breast before
the Father. He makes intercession for me.
He makes intercession for us. You see, we're truly fellows
in the same ship. Don't you? Don't you love people
who see Christ as their intercessor and their only hope? Is it your
heart that's drawn to him? It's in us. It's in us, but it's
also in me. He makes it. He said, Peter,
I pray for you that your faith fail not. Now, in light of that,
would you turn within Hebrews chapter 10? I've already quoted these verses,
but let me read them again, verse 12. But this man. We have these other priests described
in verse 11, they stand, this man sits daily ministering, offering
oftentimes the same sacrifices, which could never take away sin.
But this man. After he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool, for by one
offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, whereof
the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us." He bears witness to this. For after that he had said before,
this is the covenant that I'll make with them after those days,
saith the Lord, I'll put my laws in their hearts, and in their
minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities will
I remember no more." Now, where remission of these is, where
the canceling of these is, where the non-remembrance of these
is, where the putting away of these is, There's no more offering
for sin. Don't dare try to bring one.
Don't you bring an offering to God. The offering's already been
made. Having, therefore, reverence,
boldness, confidence to enter into the holiest by the blood
of Jesus. by a new and living way which
he had consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his
flesh, and having an high priest over the house of God, our great
intercessor, let us draw near with a true heart in what kind
of assurance? full assurance. Being fully assured that His
blood gives you every reason to be in His presence and be
accepted. Having full assurance of faith. Having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience. You know the only thing that
satisfies my conscience? The blood of Christ. Nothing else
does. The blood of Christ satisfies my conscience, though. I can
draw near into God's presence right now through the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That satisfies my conscience.
Nothing else. I walk around with a guilty conscience
all the time. Always feel guilty, always feel bad about something.
But the only thing that speaks peace to my conscience is the
blood of Christ. Nothing else will do. Let us
draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies
washed with pure water, let us hold fast the confession of our
faith without wavering, without going back and forth, for He
is faithful to the promised. And let us consider one another
to provoke unto love and to good works. Provoke one another not to irritation
and anger, but to love and to good works. Not forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but
exhorting one another. And so much the more as you see
the day approaching. Now, can I really come with this
boldness? Me. Can I really come with this
boldness? Well, I can answer that question
by asking this question, and I want you to answer it. Is His
intercession effectual? Is it? You know it is. I love what the Father must hear
Him. The Father must accept Him. And
his intercession, understand this, his intercession is not
me sinning. And he says, oh, he sinned. Forgive
him this time. And then I sin again. And he
says, oh, forgive him again. And I sin again. And he says,
oh, forgive him again. That's not the intercession of
Christ. The intercession of Christ is this. He stands before the
Father and I'm in Him. And I'm always holy and lovely
and beautiful and perfect to God. That's the intercession
of Christ. Isn't the intercession of Christ
wonderful? There is a man, a real man, with
flesh and bones and blood pumping through his veins. There's a
real man in glory, the man, Christ Jesus. And he is now in the presence
of God appearing for me. And when God sees me, he sees
his son. And when he sees his son, he
sees me. And that is the real me. You, y'all don't really know
the real me. The real me. And I don't, yeah
you do. If you know Christ, you know
the real me. Seated at the right hand of the Father. And His intercession
is perpetual, non-stop, the incense continually smelling good to
God. He is the light. I think it's
really glorious how the Light and the incense were lit at the
same time. He is the light as to how I can
come into God's presence and be faultless. Let's pray together.