As part of the church building,
there's an altar. There's an altar in this building. Men, I've heard it many times,
men were exhorted to go to the altar. Come to the altar. Come
to the altar and pray. Seek the Lord. Rededicate your
life. Go down to the altar. Have you
heard that? I've heard it many times. I was
raised in that kind of situation. Those of you who have never been
in an Armenian type situation, you're so blessed if you've been
raised under the preaching of the sovereign grace of God, because
you don't have a lot to unlearn. But many of us did have and maybe
still do have some things to unlearn. I was speaking to a
couple of men in our congregation recently, and I mentioned the
term grave clothes. Grave clothes. And one, I believe,
told me this. He said, I've never heard that
term before. And I said that because when
the Lord Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he appeared, he
was alive. He walked out of that grave.
But at the same time, the scripture tells us that he appeared bound
hand and foot with grave clothes. And the Lord Jesus Christ commanded
that he be loosed. Now that took some time. He was
alive when he came out of that grave. He was alive, but he was
bound in grave clothes. The Lord said, loose him. It
took a little time. to loose him from those grave
clothes. And that's part of the work of
a pastor, that we loose man from grave clothes, things that we
brought with us when the Lord saved us. Error, false teaching,
false doctrine that we were raised under and we heard. And one of
the things that we heard many of us did is come to the front,
come down to the altar. Now I want to say just as emphatically
as I possibly can, there is no altar in this building. There's
no physical altar in this building. There's nothing special about
down at the front. Not at all. That needs to be clear. We're hoping to build a new church
building. And one thing for sure that will
not be in that new building is an altar. We don't have an altar
in this church building. Now, having said that, I want
to speak to us from this word here in verse 10. where the apostle said, well,
let me read also verse nine, be not carried about with divers
and strange doctrines, for it is a good thing that the heart
be established with grace, not with mates, which have not profited
them that have been occupied therein. We have an altar where
they have no right to eat, which serve the tabernacle. I have
two parts to the message this morning, and the first part is,
God's people, we do have an altar. We do. We do have an altar. That's what the scripture says,
isn't it? Verse 10, we have an altar. We don't have a physical altar
down here at the front of the building. I've already stated
that. Even so, God's people, we do
have an altar. And our altar is Christ. Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ,
God's eternal Son who came into this world, was made flesh. Christ
is our altar. In Colossians chapter 3 and verse
11, Paul makes this statement, these three words, ever so important,
Christ is all. Christ is all. When it comes to a man or a woman,
a boy or a girl, someone like you and I, when it comes to us
approaching the thrice holy Lord God of heaven and earth and being
accepted by Him, we must understand that Christ is all. Christ is all. Christ is the
one altar. He's the one altar by which we
may approach God. Christ is the one sacrifice by
which our sins are atoned. And Christ is the one priest
who brings us unto God. Christ is all. Now if you get
nothing else out of the service, and I know most of you already
know this, but just remember, and let me remind us all again,
Christ is all. He's all. We have God's people,
we do have an altar. If you notice our text, it says,
We have an altar where they have no right to eat, which served
the tabernacle. Now the mention of the tabernacle
reminds us that God gave the instructions to Moses. Everything
in the tabernacle, God taught him, showed him in the mount
how everything was to be laid out, how everything was to be
made. This was God's instruction, and
we know that that tabernacle pictured the Lord Jesus Christ,
and it revealed the gospel in that old dispensation. And I
realize that we've been blessed so greatly because we live in
this dispensation, this gospel dispensation, when all of those
types and shadows which were pictured in the Old Testament
are now made clear and made plain by the coming and the doing of
the Lord Jesus Christ. But that tabernacle pictured
the Lord Jesus Christ, our altar. And so I want to say four things
about the altar that was connected with that tabernacle. Now there
were two altars, that's true, but there was only one altar
of burnt offerings. The other offering, and I'll
mention it more in a minute, the other offering was a golden
altar of incense and a sacrifice was never offered on that altar.
It was never offered on that altar. Now the blood from the
sacrifice on the burnt offering was applied at certain times
to that golden altar. But the altar of burnt offerings,
there was one altar. And I want to mention four things
about it today. And all of them speak to us and
show us the Lord Jesus Christ. We have an altar, and Christ
is our altar. He's our altar, He's our sacrifice,
and He's our priest. Christ is all. The first thing
about that altar, and remember, as I said, God gave the instructions
how it was to be constructed. There was one altar, but it was
made of two different materials. Now there was the altar, the
burn offering, the laver, there was the table of showbread, the
golden candlestick, the altar of incense, and then behind the
curtain there in the most holy place, which was the throne of
God, it pictured the presence of God There was that Ark of
the Covenant over which was a mercy seat. Now, the altar of burnt
offering, the table of showbread, and the altar of incense, and
the Ark of the Covenant, all four of these pieces were made
of two substances, but they were only one. The table of showbread
was made of incorruptible wood, overlaid with gold. The altar
of incense, it too, was made of incorruptible wood, overlaid
with pure gold. The Ark of the Covenant, in which
the Ten Commandments were placed, it too, was made of incorruptible
wood and covered over with gold. altar of the burnt offering,
it too was made of two substances, but these two substances was
incorruptible wood, yes, and brass. Could not be made of gold. Those other articles were made
of gold. Now we know the incorruptible wood pictured the sinless humanity
of Christ. He came into this world, he knew
no sin, he did no sin. He was never guilty of sin. He
was born of the Virgin Mary, sinless, that he might be our
substitute, that incorruptible, where Wood pictured his humanity. sinless, overlaid with gold,
pictured his deity, that he is one person, and yet he is made
of two natures, that is, human, he was man, but he was also God,
but he was one person. Now, the altar of burnt offerings,
it could not be made of incorruptible wood and gold like those other
pieces. And I've thought about that this
past week and I say for two reasons. Two reasons this altar of burnt
offerings could not be made of incorruptible wood and gold.
It was made of incorruptible wood, yes, sinless humanity,
but overlaid with brass and the great which was part of it, it
was made of brass. Two reasons I thought of that
it could not be made of gold. It had to be made of brass. And the two reasons concern,
first of all, fire. F-I-R-E, fire. And second, weight. Weight. The brass pictured his
deity, just as the gold did. The brass pictured his deity,
and had Christ not been God, if he had only been man, He would
have been consumed by the fire of God's wrath, by the fire of
God's justice. Just like every other sacrifice
under that old covenant in the tabernacle days of Moses, every
other sacrifice, if it was a small bird or if it was a calf, a large
animal placed on that altar, the fire that was put to it consumed
the sacrifice. It was a burnt offering. Consumed
the sacrifice. But now here's the beauty of
this. Listen to me now. The Lord Jesus Christ, as our
sacrifice, He consumed the fire. He consumed the fire. Every other
sacrifice, the fire consumed. But the Lord Jesus Christ, he
consumed the fire. What are you saying, preacher?
I'm saying that the fire, the judgment of God that the sins
of his people deserved, he swallowed it up. He consumed the fire. He suffered the just for the
unjust that he might bring us to God. Christ is all. And a second thing, not only
the fire, but if Christ had not been God as well as man, he could
not have bore the weight of the sacrifice. Now that bird, a small
pigeon, didn't weigh much, but when you put a bullock on that,
there's some weight involved. And the Lord Jesus Christ, the
scriptures tell us, that he bore our sins in his own body on the
tree. Have you ever been convicted
of one sin? Have you? Have you ever felt
the weight, the guilt of one sin? Have you? If you're one
of God's children, I know you have. And how it pushed you down,
the weight of that sin, the guilt of that sin, how it oppressed
you? What if the Lord Jesus Christ
had just borne the guilt of all of your sins? You, just one individual. How many sins would that encompass? How much guilt, how much weight
would that be if he had just borne the guilt, the weight of
your sins? But oh no, the scriptures tell
us John said he saw a multitude which no man could number. And Peter says his own self bear
our sins in his own body. The weight, the weight of the
sins that were laid upon the sacrifice. Every man that brought
an animal to the temple, to the tabernacle, For a sacrifice,
you know, one of the first things he did when he led that animal
to the tavern I call, what did he do? He put his hands on the
head. Put his hands, leaned heavily, that scripture tells us, that
word means. He leaned heavily, and it is
a picture of how the sins of God's people were transferred
to the substitute, to Christ. in his own body bear the sins
of all of his people on the tree. All the mighty angels, and in
our lesson this morning, Brother Schrader brought out to us the
millions of angels there may be. We don't know. But I'm here
to tell you this morning, my friends, that all the mighty
angels of God would have sunk into hell, all of them, if the
weight of the sins of God's people had been laying upon those mighty
angels. No one other than God himself
in flesh could bear the weight of the sin, the guilt of the
sins of his people. Christ, who is both our altar
and sacrifice, is God and man. The altar was made of two materials,
incorruptible wood, picturing his sinless humanity, and brass,
picturing his deity, his power. Now here's the second thing about
this altar. The altar sanctified all that
touched it. This is what we read in Exodus
chapter 29 and verse 37. Listen. toucheth the altar shall be holy. Whatsoever toucheth the altar
shall be holy. When the altar sanctified everything
that touched it. The altar did. The altar sanctified
everything that touched it. When our Lord was here in the
flesh, He rebuked some religious leaders over this truth, calling
them fools and blind, because they were more concerned about
the gift than the altar. And he asked them, which is greater,
the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? The Lord Jesus Christ
is our altar that sanctifies all of his You say, well, that object had
to touch the altar. How do we touch the altar? The
same way we eat, by faith. We touch Him by faith, by trusting
in Him. And He is our sanctification. He sanctifies our services, our
praise. We were singing a little while
ago, praising the Lord, and I've learned. maybe just recently,
but I've learned that many of these hymns, as I sing the words,
I think, that's me, that's me, that's me. Make those words personal
as you sing the hymns. Make those words personal and
praise him, thank him, but even our praise and our prayers, Any
work that we would do for Christ, it all must be sanctified through
his precious blood, through his sacrifice. He is our sanctification, as
well as our righteousness and redemption and wisdom. The third
thing, this altar, it was a large, It's probably the largest piece
of furniture connected with the tabernacle, actually. It was
7 1/2 feet by 7 1/2 feet, more or less. It was square. But on
this altar, there were four horns, one horn in each corner. Now,
you know in the Old Testament that the horns represent power. The animals had horns that represents
power. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
the one who has the power to save. I couldn't save a flea,
and neither could you, and neither could any other preacher, or
all the preachers together, all the churches together. We couldn't
save a flea. We don't have the power. Remember
what that King Darius asked Daniel when he looked down into that
lion's den and asked him, is your God able? Is your God able,
Daniel, to save you from the mouth of the lions? Our God is
able. He has the power, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He alone has the power. And you know, those horns, they
also pictured refuge. Now we read of two men in the
Old Testament who went to the temple, a tabernacle, and they laid hold
on one of those horns and King Solomon said, kill him, kill
him. And both of them were executed
because they were traitors. The Lord Jesus Christ is a refuge,
and all who flee to him find refuge. Just as those men laid
a hold of one of the horns on that altar, and they were slain. They didn't find a refuge. That's
not the way this altar is. You lay hold of Christ by faith,
and he's a refuge to you, a refuge for your soul. And the four horns also speak
of the four corners. That's a common saying, isn't
it? The four corners of the earth, of the world. Reminds us that there's only
one savior. There's only one savior. No matter
if a person is born in the far east or the far north or far
south, far west, there's only one savior. There's none other name under
heaven, Peter said, given among men, whereby we must be saved. No, there's one Savior. And then the last thing about
that altar, it had two staves, two poles that were also made
of incorruptible wood, covered over with brass, and there was
round things on the altar, the poles would go through, and those
poles were to carry the altar. Remember, they were going through
the wilderness on their way to the land of Canaan. And that
altar had to be moved, it had to be carried. And I would just
say unto us, the gospel, the message of Christ, it's to be
carried. It's to be carried into all the
world. The Lord Jesus said, go ye therefore
and make disciples of all nations. The gospel is to be carried.
And if we think of one of those staves might represent the death
of Christ, which is the heart of the gospel, isn't it? The
heart of the gospel is the death, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's no gospel preached where
his death is not proclaimed as that which satisfied God. There's
no gospel preached where He's not preached as a one substitute
for His people, and by His one sacrifice, He satisfied Almighty
God. And the other day might well
represent His resurrection, because by His resurrection, God testified that He had finished the work
that Christ is of, that God had accepted the work for all His
people. We have an altar. And the writer
here of Hebrews declares that those have no right to eat of
this altar who continue with the tabernacle. We know this
was especially written to the Jews, the Hebrews at that time.
But the picture, the point is to us, Christ must be all your
salvation. He must be all. He must be The
one priest who brings you to God. There's no human man called
a priest that can represent you and take you to God. And he must
be the one altar, the one sacrifice that God accepts. So that's my first point. We
have an altar, Christ. Number two, briefly. God's people, we do have a communion
table. I want you to turn with me to
1 Corinthians chapter 10, because I say this because I think many
times in these, in false religion, what they, or what people assume
they mean by the altar is this communion table. we have a communion
table. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 15. I speak as to wise
men, judge you what I say. The cup of blessing which we
bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread
which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we are many, For we being
many are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that
one bread. Why do we call this a communion
table? Well, we call this a communion
table not because it has those words, this do and remembrance
of me, etched into the front of it. That's not the reason
we call this a communion table. We call this a communion table
because when we observe the Lord's table, the deacons, what do they
put on this table? They put the bread and they put
the wine. These are emblems. These are
symbols, right, of Christ's broken body and his shed blood. And we make a point of that.
There's no hocus pocus. There's no way some magical formula
that the priest goes around this thing with incense and bows and
kisses it and does all of that stuff that turns the bread into
the actual body of Christ or the wine into the actual blood
of Christ. No! You don't find that anywhere
in the Word of God. And they who do that, claim that
they're offering a sacrifice, and yes, in their so-called religious
buildings, they do have altars, and they do offer another sacrifice,
a unbloody sacrifice, they say, but still a sacrifice, which
flies in the face of the scriptures which tell us that Christ, by
one offering, by one offering, by one sacrifice, on one day,
One day, and it was the day that the Savior was hanging upon that
tree, He took away the sins of His people. Now, we call this a communion
table, and it doesn't have to be a fancy table like we have
here. When I was a missionary in Mexico, we had a table, usually,
and it was just a wooden table, sometimes pretty wobbly. I'm
sure, Lance, you've had the same thing. Wasn't nothing fancy about
it, but I'll tell you what it did. It had the bread and the
wine upon it, which represent his broken body and his blood
that was shed for us. And as we eat the bread and drink
the wine, we have communion with Christ. Yes, we have communion
with Christ. And yes, we have communion with
one another, our brothers and sisters, because we are one bread
for one body. Christ is the head of that body. Well, I pray the Lord would bless
this word, all of us here today, make it a blessing. I'm so thankful
today that we have an altar, aren't you? And we have a sacrifice
that God has accepted. And we have a priest there at
his right hand today. Whoever lives to make intercession
for all of us who come unto God by him. We're going to sing a
final hymn, number 124, Lead Me to Calvary. And remember,
no service tonight, no service this evening, 124.