I realize that many of you do
not see the program regularly. There are people who are viewing
this telecast this morning who did not see the program last
week. But I announced last week that
I was bringing a series of two messages on the person and work
of Christ. Last Sunday I spoke on the person
of Christ. who is Jesus of Nazareth. Now if you miss that message
and you want it, it'll be on the same tape as the message
this morning. So if you hear this message on
the work of Christ, and you order this message, you'll receive
both of them. Last week, the person of Christ, this week on
the work of Christ. Now, I'm going to picture the
work of Christ in the tabernacle of old. There's hardly a person
out there listening to me who hasn't heard of the tabernacle
in the wilderness. But so few people understand
anything about the tabernacle. Let me tell you this. The Old
Testament is the New Testament concealed. The Old Testament,
Genesis through Malachi, is the New Testament in promise, in
prophecy, in picture, in title. Everything in the New Testament
is pictured in the Old. prophesied and promised and typified
in the Old Testament. There are symbols back there
for everything in the New Testament. Now, the New Testament is the
gospel in person. It's the Old Testament revealed. You can't understand the types
and pictures and promises of the Old Testament without the
New Testament. And the New Testament is simply a revelation of what
God has promised and what God has prophesied. So I'm going
back to the Old Testament, pick up the tabernacle, and teach
you the work of Jesus Christ, the work of Christ, the redemptive
work of Christ, which is his chief glory. But I'm turning
to the New Testament to do it. I'm turning to Hebrews, the 10th
chapter. And that's, you ought to read
the 9th chapter and the 10th chapter of Hebrews. It says in
the 9th chapter there was a tabernacle. There was the holy place, and
there was the holy of holies. There was a candlestick, and
the showbread, and the incense, and the altar, the mercy seat,
all of those things. And these were pictures. These
were types. And the tenth chapter tells you
of whom they were pictures, of whom they are types. And the
tenth chapter of Hebrews, the writer declares that the Levitical
law, or the Mosaic law, which God gave to Moses in the mountains,
And when Moses went to the mountain, he didn't just come back with
ten commandments on tablets of stone. God also gave him all
the instructions concerning worship, the building of the tabernacle,
the sacrifices, the priesthood, the holy days, the feast of the
tabernacles, feast of the firstfruits. All of these Levitical laws were
given to Moses in the mountain, and he brought them back and
instituted that worship. But look at verse 4 of Hebrews
10. But it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats
should take away sin. In verse 1, he said these ceremonies
and sacrifices could not make the comers there unto perfect,
and the blood of bulls and goats and calves and heifers cannot
take away sin. As long as that tabernacle or
temple stood and these sacrifices were offered, They were not sacraments. They did not have any saving
effect or benefit. They simply served as pictures
and types of Christ, our great high priest, and our sin offering
and our atonement. Now look at verse 5, Hebrews
10. So when Christ came into the world, he said, Sacrifice
and offering for sin thou wouldest not. Have no pleasure therein. But a body hast thou prepared
me." In other words, in the body Christ is our tabernacle. That
old tabernacle back in the wilderness served its day as a picture and
as a type, and it was where God met men. That's where the Shekinah
glory of God was displayed and revealed. That's where God met
men, and that's where men met God. But now Christ, being the
fulfillment of that tabernacle and of that temple, Christ tabernacled
among us. And he is our tabernacle. He is our temple. Do you see
that? A body hast thou prepared me. Now look at verse 8. Above,
when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering
for sin, thou wouldest not, or neither had any pleasure, Neither
had any pleasure. These sacrifices and sin offerings
never pleased God. When Christ stood there in the
River Jordan, the Father said, this is my Son in whom I'm well
pleased. God's pleased with who He is,
God's pleased with what He did, God's pleased with His obedience,
His righteousness and His sacrifice, and only with Christ. In the
flesh, no other man can please God, but Christ pleased Him.
But these sacrifices, the writer said, never pleased God, never.
Then said he, Christ, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. I come
to do thy will. Christ is our sacrifice. Christ
is our tabernacle. Christ is our sacrifice. Christ
is our temple. Christ is our sin offering. So
verse 9 says, he taketh away the first. He taketh away the
first. and established it the second.
He takes away the first tabernacle and he establishes Christ. He
takes away the first sin offerings and atonements, sacrifices, burnt
offerings, and establishes Christ, who by one offering has perfected
forever them that are sanctified. So all of these types and ceremonies
and days, holy days and sacrifices, are put away. Why are they put
away? They've served their day, they've
served their purpose. Not only that, but they've been
fulfilled. So they're no longer needed.
They're no longer needed. They're fulfilled by Christ.
And therefore they're put away, and Christ is all and in all. Now let me draw you a picture.
Let's take our imagination. Let me see if I can help you.
I see the camp of Israel. I don't know exactly how the
camp was laid out, but that's not terribly important on a 28-minute
broadcast. But here's the camp of Israel,
and right in the middle of the camp, there's a tabernacle. Now, that tabernacle stood on
a lot that was 150 feet long and 75 feet wide. 150 feet long
and 75 feet wide. And around that lot was a white
linen fence. Seven and a half feet high. Now
all of this means something. Every post, every socket, the
white linen fence speaks of the holiness of God. And the people
were outside that fence, they were not allowed in that courtyard.
Only the priest, only the designated priest were allowed in that courtyard.
The people stayed on the outside. And that white linen fence shows
the holiness, the righteousness of God, and no admittance. Men
kept on the outside because they weren't able to come into the
holy presence of God. And the cloud of God's presence
stood over it. Now there was one gate, one gate
in that whole fence around that courtyard. It was called the
Eastern Gate. And that one gate was towards
the rising of the sun. And on the Day of Atonement,
now know that the priest, there were many priests, And they served
about the courtyard, and they served in the holy place, and
had the morning sacrifice, and the noon sacrifice, and the evening
sacrifice, and all the sacrifices. But on one day a year, on the
Day of Atonement, the high priest would approach that eastern gate
with a lamb. And he would come inside, and
the first thing he would meet—now listen to me, and see if you
can draw in your mind a picture of this—there's that white linen
fence circling that courtyard. In the middle of the courtyard
was the tabernacle. And here one gate, and all the
people on the outside, because all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And God's picturing something
here now. And that great high priest, one man designated, and
a man didn't volunteer for this job, they were selected and ordained
and anointed of God. And that one high priest would
come, and the first thing he would encounter when he walked
through that eastern gate, was an altar. That altar was seven and a half
feet long and seven and a half feet wide and four and a half
feet high. And he would slay that lamb. It wasn't a pretty
sight. It was a gruesome sight. Blood
would be shed. That victim, the lamb, would
be slain. And he'd catch the blood in a
basin. And then he'd take the body of that lamb and lay it
on that altar and roast it with fire. Roast it with fire. It would burn there the body
of the Lamb, and he'd take the blood, and then he'd walk across
the courtyard. And the next thing he would come
to before he entered the tabernacle was a laver, and that laver contained
clear, clean water. And the priest would wash his
hands and wash his feet before he entered into the tabernacle
with the blood on the Day of Atonement. Now stay with me.
Now this tabernacle that stood there was only 45 feet long,
only 15 feet wide. Some of you have got houses longer
than 45 feet long and much wider than 15 feet. You might take
a trailer, a large trailer or mobile home 15 feet wide and
45 feet long. That was the tabernacle. And
he would go inside that tabernacle. Now listen to me. As he got inside
the tabernacle and looked up, The first covering on the tabernacle
was white linen, pure, beautiful white linen on the inside. And
then above that was goat's hair, cloth made out of goat's hair.
And then above that, ram's skin dyed red. And then above that,
badger's skin. Now badger's skin was just a
drab, gray, rough finish, old, weather-beaten and weather-resistant
badger's skin. And it came all the way to the
ground. That was the tabernacle. On the outside, it was so ordinary. It looked like just any other
old tent sitting out there in the wilderness, except being
encased by that white linen fence. But there stood that tabernacle
with the gray, drab, weather-beaten, badger skin. On the outside,
it appeared just like any other tent, but on the inside, oh,
the whiteness of it and the glory of it and the beauty of it. But
when that high priest came in there on the Day of Atonement
with the blood, Over here on one side, the only light in the
whole tabernacle was seven-pronged candlestick. You've seen pictures
of that candlestick, you know, especially among Israel, one
in the middle and in three, seven-pronged candlestick. And it sat over
here, it gave light to that tabernacle. You can see it flickering on
the wall. It burned day in, day out, 365 days a year. Over on this side is the bread,
the show bread. 12 loaves of bread, one loaf
for every tribe of Israel over here on the right. And then as
he walked on, 30 feet across this first sanctuary was 30 feet
long and 15 feet wide. And as the priest walked across
the sanctuary, there was an incense altar. And on that altar, incense
was kept burning. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,
365 days a year, decades, centuries, millenniums, never went out.
Never went out. That incense would burn and the
smoke would go up in front of the second veil. Now, the tabernacle
of old had two sanctuaries. It had a sanctuary here called
the holy place. And then that veil, and that
veil, and you run into the veil. You remember when Christ died,
the veil was rent in two? Well, that was the veil. There
was no opening in the veil. It was a solid veil from top
to bottom, from wall to wall, about five inches thick. But
on this day, and no one was allowed within that veil in the holy
place ever, no one, except the high priest, once a year, not
without blood, on this day of atonement. This is the day. So
he would go under the veil, but he would take with him a censer
of incense burning. and that blood of that lamb that
was slain out there on the altar and his body roasted, he'd bring
that blood under the veil and he would see a piece of furniture
in that Holy of Holies, in that awesome place, the glory of God
was there. It was called the Ark of the
Covenant, just a chest, I think two and a half feet long, about
two and a half feet high. And I forget how deep it was,
but inside that chest was the tables of stone on which the
Ten Commandments were written, which had been broken. And there
was Alan's rod that budded, and there was a cup of manna, the
bread which God gave the people of Israel to eat in the wilderness.
That was the ark. It was closed. Many a man had
died. looking at that ark, touching
that ark, or lifting the lid on that ark, it was closed, and
on top of the ark was the mercy seat, the mercy seat, beaten
gold, the gold mercy seat, and above the mercy seat were the
cherubim, and right in the middle, the Shekinah glory of God. And that high priest would bring
that blood on the Day of Atonement, and he would put the blood on
the mercy seat, covering the broken lock. And that was repeated
every year, every year for decades, millenniums, centuries. It was
repeated over and over. Now, what does all that mean?
What is God saying in that? Well, here's what he's saying.
Christ said, A body thou hast prepared me. Now, in all of these
sacrifices and ceremonies and sin offerings, God never had
any pleasure. Only as they were types and only
as they were offered in faith, And only as they pictured Christ.
Now the fulfillment of it is Christ, a body thou hast prepared
me. He's our tabernacle. And let
me show you. I said when you stood on a hill
and looked at that tabernacle down in the camp of Israel, it
looked like any other tent. Any other tent. That's right.
Except for that cloud over it, you wouldn't recognize it in
any other tent. And when Jesus Christ walked on this earth,
the scripture says, born of a woman, There was no beauty that we should
desire him. He had no comeliness. He was
despised and rejected of men. They called him a carpenter.
They said, he can't be God. He's just a carpenter. Why? He
came from Nazareth. We know his mother and father.
We know his brothers and sisters. He's just a man. On the outside,
he looked just like any other man, just like that tabernacle.
But I'll tell you, inside, the glory of God. And that badger
skin represents his humanity. That ram skin dyed red, of course,
his blood. And the goat hair's cloth represents
Christ our scapegoat. And the white linen on the inside,
his holiness, his perfect holiness. And he is where God meets men
and where men meet God. We come to God in Christ. He
said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and the glory of
God revealed in Christ, and the character of God revealed in
Christ, and the redemption of God's in Christ. Everything is
there. If you're going to meet God,
you've got to come to Christ. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. And I'll tell you this, let's go back outside and come
in the Eastern Gate. What did we come to first? We
came to an altar where a lamb was slain, where its blood was
shed, and where its body was roasted. You ought to preach
the sermon now. Can you preach the sermon? That's
the cross. That's the cross. Christ, the
Lamb of God, the spotless Lamb of God, without sin, the innocent
Lamb of God, was slain on the cross of Calvary and shed his
blood, and his body was roasted in the heat of God's wrath and
judgment for our sin. He died for us. And then you
come to the labor of clear, clean water. That's our sanctification. Christ washed the disciples'
feet. And there the priest would wash his feet and his hands before
he went into the tabernacle. Christ is our sanctification.
He cleanses by water and blood. What did the writer of Rock of
Ages say? Let the water and the blood from
thy riven side which flowed, be of sin the double cure, save
me from its wrath. and power. And then you go inside
that tabernacle and you see the light, the candlestick. Christ
said, I'm the light of the world. I'm the light of the world. He
is our light. There is no light. Outside of
Christ, there's nothing but darkness. The darkness of ignorance, the
darkness of tradition, the darkness of false peace, the darkness
of death. Outside of Christ, there's no
light. He's our light. And over there, that bread? What
is that table of showbread? That's Christ. He is the bread.
He said, I am the bread of life. I am the bread from heaven. Moses
gave you not that bread, but I am the bread of life. And he
that eateth of me will never hunger. And then we go there
and we come to that altar of incense. And there continually,
all the time, that incense, that sweet fragrance, that sweet fragrance
goes up in front of the veil. That's the prayers of Christ,
always ascending to the Father on behalf of his people, I pray
for you. He ever liveth to make intercession,
ever liveth to make intercession. That's the prayers of Christ.
But let me tell you this, that's where the typology almost has
to stop. Because Christ, our great high
priest, you know that high priest Aaron, the sons of Levi, Whoever
they were, they went into this under the veil and into this
holy of holies on earth with the blood of an animal. But our
great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, they're not a very good
type of him because they were men. He's the God man. There
were many of them. He was one. They lived and died. He lives forever. They sacrificed
the blood of animals. He brought his own blood. And
they went into an earthly place made with hands, and the scripture
said he went into heaven itself with his own blood, now to appear
in the presence of God to obtain eternal, eternal redemption for
us. And their sacrifices couldn't
put away sin. His put it away effectually and
eternally. But he went into the Holy of
Holies. And our Lord Jesus Christ gave
his precious blood to put away our sin. And you know what happened?
You know what happened when our Lord died on that cross? It says
the veil in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. No
more earthly priesthood. No more earthly sacrifice, no
more earthly masses, no more earthly sacraments, no more earthly
holy days, no more earthly doings and processionals and uniforms
and all these things. He taketh away the first. He
taketh it away. and establishes a second. That's
right. I'm telling you the truth. Christ
is our sin offering. Christ is our Savior. Listen
to Hebrews 9 verse 11. Christ being come, a high priest
of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle,
not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood,
he entered in once into heaven itself. and obtain eternal redemption
for us. And having done that, he ended
all types, temples, sacrifices, ceremonies by fulfilling them. And when that veil was went in
two, God is saying this, the way is open into the Holy of
Holies for every believer. Let us therefore come boldly
into the presence of God. Let us therefore come boldly
into the presence of God. My friend, he taketh away the
first and establishes the second. Why? Because in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and we're complete in
Christ. Nothing is added to Christ. Anything
added only takes away. It's Christ plus nothing. But
now this principle is applied throughout the whole Scripture.
There was a first covenant given to Adam, this do and live. And
it lay in ashes when Adam fell. And there's a new covenant, the
covenant of grace in Christ Jesus. There was the first man, Adam.
He fell and brought death. There's the second Adam, who
did not fail and who did not fall, but who brought life. There's the first paradise. Our
parents were thrown out of paradise and the gate closed. But there
is a new paradise, of which our Lord said to the thief, Today
shalt thou be with me in paradise. He taketh away the first and
establishes the second. There was the first son of Abraham,
who was Ishmael. He was sent away. The second
son is Isaac. In Isaac shalt thy seed be caught.
The first priesthood, Aaron, and the second priest is Christ.
The first king was Saul. selected by the people, the second
King David, anointed by God. This is the first earth and the
first heaven. And our Lord said, heaven and
earth shall pass away. Behold, I make all things new.
There'll be a new heaven and a new earth. Let me tell you
this. You won't find a more important scripture in the Bible than this.
He taketh away the first and establisheth the second. God
takes nothing of our natural self, nothing of our natural
doing, nothing of our natural making, nothing of our natural
form or ceremony, and adds one thing to our salvation. It's all in Christ. Now let me
show you this in closing. This principle is applied in
redemption. He taketh away the first and
establishes the second. For example, my first birth.
I was born the first time. I was born of human parents.
Christ said you've got to be born again. Born of God. I was born the first time of
flesh. I've got to be born of the Spirit. I was born the first
time in sin. That's right, David said in sin.
My mother conceived me, I was shaped in an iniquity. I got
to be born the second time in holiness. He that's born of God
sinneth not. That holy nature that's born
of God does not sin. And that flesh born of men can't
do right, can't do anything good. I was born the first time of
corruptible semen, seed. I'm born the second time of incorruptible
seed, the Word of God. I was born the first time to
die. It's appointed unto me and wants to die. I was born the
second time never to die again. He that's born of God will never
die. So you see, he taketh away the
first, this flesh, and everything about it. My birth, gone, in
order to establish the new life. All right? What about my righteousness? Every one of us think we have
a little. Well, God says it's filthy rags, only fit to be burned. He taketh it away and establisheth
the righteousness of Christ. And then what about my first
family? the family of flesh, the family of which blood flows
through my veins. Well, he takes away that first
family and establishes a new family, the spiritual family,
the family of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ was preaching
one time to a whole crowd of people, and someone came to him
and said, Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside.
And he said, Who is my mother? Who are my brothers? Who are
my sisters? These who do the will of God.
This is my family. That's right. He takes away that
first family and establishes a second. What about my first
peace? All of us, we're born in a natural religion. We lay
hold of it. We lay hold of the traditions
handed down by our fathers, and that's all got to go in order
that we might enter Christ's peace. that peace that passes
understanding, that peace that's revealed to the heart. It's not
in the mechanics of religion or not in the traditions of religion
or not in something that was handed down, but I've seen him
and heard him and laid hold of him by faith. And it's a peace
that passes all understanding. Then last of all, my body. Well, he said it's going to be
buried in corruption and raised in incorruption. God's got to
do away. As you look at my body before you, it's going to rot
and decay, go back to the dust from whence it came, and the
spirit to God who gave it. So I'm going to have a new body.
I make all things new. And it starts back there with
that tabernacle and services and sanctuary and all these things.
He said he takes them away. Takes away the first and establishes
the second Christ. And that's a principle throughout
the Word and that's a principle that's true in the redemption
of any sinner. Takes away the first and establishes
the second.