do you pray if christopher wages
air force pilot in israel right now which is not a place i'd
want to be so remember him in your prayers begin our worship
service at hymn number four hundred and eighty five revive us again Praise thee, O God, for the Son
of thy love, for Jesus who died and is now gone above. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory. We praise thee, O God, for the
Spirit of light, who has shown us our Savior and scattered our
night. ♪ Hallelujah, thine the glory
♪ ♪ Hallelujah, amen ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, thine the glory ♪ ♪ Revive us
again ♪ ♪ All glory and praise to the Lamb that was slain ♪
♪ Who has borne all our sins and has redeemed us ♪ Hallelujah, thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Revive us again. Revive us again. Fill each heart with thy love. May it so be rekindled with fire
♪ Hallelujah, light the glory ♪
♪ Hallelujah, amen ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, light the glory ♪ ♪ Revive us
again ♪ Hymn number 475, Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it. Redeemed how I love to proclaim
it. Redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb. Redeemed through His infinite
mercy. His child and forever I am. Redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb, redeemed, redeemed. His child and forever I am. Redeemed and so happy in Jesus,
no language my rapture can tell. I know that the light of His
presence with me doth continue Redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb Redeemed Redeemed His child and forever I am I think of my
blessed Redeemer I think of Him all the day long I sing for I
cannot be silent His love is the theme of my song. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed, redeemed, His child
and forever I am. I know I shall see in His the
King in whose law I delight, who lovingly guardeth my footsteps
and giveth me songs in the night. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed, redeemed, His child
and forever I am. If you have your Bibles, turn to Exodus
chapter 30. We'll read verses 1 through 10. And thou shalt make an altar
to burn incense upon, a shed of wood shalt thou make it, A
cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof.
Four square shall it be, and two cubit shall be the height
thereof. The horns thereof shall be of the same. 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. And two gold rings shalt thou
make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof,
upon the two sides that shalt thou make it, and thou shalt
be for places for the staves, to bear it withal. Now shalt
make the staves of shed of wood, and overlay them with gold. Now
shalt put it before the veil, that is by the arc of the testimony,
before the mercy seat, that is over the testimony, where I will
meet with thee. And every shall burn their own
sweet incense every morning, When ye dresseth the lamps, he
shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps
at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense
before the Lord throughout your generations. Ye shall offer no
strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offerings,
neither shalt thou pour drink offerings thereupon. 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. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, most gracious, merciful, glorious,
slow to anger, plenteous in mercy, we thank you, Father, you are
who you are, that you have taken your power to yourself and have
reigned, and do reign in this world today. We thank you, Father,
for the shed blood of Jesus Christ, for his blessed intercession
for us. We're thankful that this book
reminds us of that over and over again, of his mediatorial work,
our daisman, our mediator, who stands between us and God and
mediates on our behalf because of his shed blood and perfect
sacrifice. Father, we pray for those who
are sick, those who are going through trials. We ask, Lord,
your help for them, for those who are suffering with sorrow
and anguish of heart. We ask you to be merciful to
them. Be close to them. Touch them in their hearts and
minds and know that you are with them always. Pray for this young
man who's a pilot over in Israel. We ask, Lord, you'd be with him.
Watch over our servicemen. Help them, Lord, and keep them
safe. Pray for ourselves tonight as we gather here that you might
be pleased to meet with us by the presence of your spirit.
For we know if you do, he will take the things of Christ and
show them unto us. Fix our hearts and mind upon
him who's the chiefest among 10,000, the bright and morning
star, the day star that springs up in our hearts. our blessed
Savior and Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Help us now, we
pray, to worship. You are worthy to be worshiped for who you are and what you
have done for us. We thank you in Christ's name.
Amen. Now this passage addresses the
final piece of furniture that is placed in the holy place It
is called the Golden Altar or the Altar of Incense. It stood
about three feet tall and was 18 inches square. It was made
of shirim wood, which is a rare and extremely durable wood. This
typified Christ and his humanity and his strength and his eternality.
And the fact that he left earth, left heaven and came to earth
was to be overlaid with gold. This signified Christ's deity
and his royalty. as King of Kings. We know he
was the final altar. Every altar represents him. It had a horn on each corner
and a crown about it and two golden rings which the golden
staves were inserted to transport it from place to place as they
moved across the wilderness. It was an altar. It was an altar
and therefore what was placed upon it was an offering to God.
That's what you do with an altar. offering to God upon it, and
being that, what was offered upon it involved coals of fire,
so that connected it to the burnt offering, or one of the two burnt
offerings, which was the burnt offering itself and the sin offering. The burnt offering
was consumed on the brazen altar, which was right at the entrance
of the tabernacle. And the golden altar was placed
just outside the veil which made the Holy of Holies where the
mercy seat was and the Ark of the Covenant was. The burnt offering
pointed to the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ that satisfied
the justice of God. and put away the sins of the
elect, and the sin offering pointed to imputation, for on the sin
offering the men who made the offering laid their hands upon
the head of the altar, or rather the sacrifice, and confessed
their sins on the sin offering. The golden altar was placed over
against the veil that separated between the holy and the most
holy place, or the holy of holies. Now if you were to face the veil,
the lampstand was on the left, The table of showbread was on
the right and the altar of incense was in the center of that veil, near the veil. Now being in this central position,
it suggested its prominence and one could draw a straight line
between the brazen altar and this altar, a straight line. This is significant in that the
offering on the altar of incense is entirely dependent upon the
offering on the brazen altar. infinitely connected. Incense
is used in scripture as picturing prayer or intercession. It primarily speaks to the intercession
of our Lord Jesus Christ for his people on behalf of his elect.
For intercession always involves three parties. It involves God.
It involves the intercessor and the one who is interceded for.
And our Christ is the one who intercedes to God for God for
us. But it's also pictured as prayer
in scripture. David even used that kind of
language in Psalm 141. In verse 2 he said, Let my prayer
be set forth thee as incense before thee as incense, and the
lifting of my hands as the evening sacrifice. The evening sacrifice,
remember, was when The lamps were lit, and when incense was
put on this golden altar, this was done every day, twice a day,
in the morning and the evening. incense was to be burned there
that way in the morning and evening when the lamps were trimmed it
says in verses 7 and 8 when Aaron went in the morning to fix the
lamps and ready to light them then in the evening when he lit
them and when it was dark that's when he laid incense on this
altar this golden altar and he burned incense for the Lord this
was a task for Aaron he's the one mentioned as the one who
does this he was the high priest and it was to be burned continually
continued or in perpetuity or perpetually as our Lord said.
This symbolizes the eternity of Christ's intercession for
his people. Christ intercedes for us even today. Let's look
at a few passages of scriptures in a few places. Hebrews chapter
7. It speaks of Christ saving to the uttermost, that is completely
saving. verse 25 of chapter 7 says, wherefore
he is able to save to the uttermost them that come to God by him,
seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for his people,
to intercession for them. In Romans chapter 8, in Romans chapter 8 verse 34 it
says, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died yea rather
that is risen again who even is even at the right hand of
God who also maketh intercession for us. He is our advocate. Why do we need an advocate? Because
we sin. We sin. Over in 1st John chapter 2. 1st John chapter 2 verses 1 and
2 it says this. My little children these things
I write unto you that you sin not and if And if any man sin,
he have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous,
who is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours,
but also for the sins of the whole world. And here he speaks
of the Gentiles as the whole world there. This is the manner
in which our Father remembers our sins no more. This is the
scheme or the manner in which this is done. Though we sin,
Though we sin, between the Father and our sin is our advocate with
the Father. That too is a blessedness. We
do not see this situation as a court situation where we are
standing before a judge and being judged by our sin because we've
already been judged by our sins in Jesus Christ. Now He's an
advocate with our Father. He's an advocate with our Father.
And since our Father remembers our sins no more, this is how
it is. The one mediator between men and God, ever interceding
for us with His blood and righteousness, stands between us and God. God
sees that blood. God sees that advocacy, and He
doesn't see our sin. That's how He remembers our sin
no more. He doesn't see them. He doesn't see them. If we sin,
we have an advocate. with the Father, Jesus Christ
the Righteous, the Righteous One. He abdicates by His blood
and His righteousness. Now only the design, only the
designated sweet incense was to be offered on this altar.
In verse 9 it says, You shall offer no strange incense thereupon,
no burnt sacrifice, no meat offering, neither shall you pour drink
off me thereon. So on this particular altar, only one thing was ever
put, and that was the incense. That was the incense and that
incense was burned and the smoke rose and it represented Christ's
intercession and also the intercession of his people. No other kind
of offering was made on this altar. It was specific by God's
ordination. If any other thing was offered
on this altar, it would indicate that a creature had decided that
he had a better way than God's way and that would smack of human
merit and works which have no part in Christ's mediatorial
intercession. Human beings are not involved
in the intercession of Christ except as recipients. They're
not involved in the act of Him interceding for us. In Leviticus
chapter 10, we find some who decided that they could go another
way, that they could offer incense. In Leviticus 10, verse 1 and
2 it says, And Nadab at a bayou, the sons of Aaron took either
of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense therein,
and offered strange fire before the Lord, which came into nothing.
And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them,
and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This
is that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them,
that come nigh unto me before all people, I will be glorified."
And Aaron held his peace. Aaron didn't say anything, though
God had killed his two sons because they had offered strange fire
unto God. They had offered incense unto
God. It was in their business to do
so. Who did it? Aaron was to do it. Aaron was to do it. Human merit or works have no
part in any aspect of the salvation of God's elect. when he had purged
our sins it says in Hebrews chapter 1 in verse 3 when he had by himself
alone with nobody else purged our sins he sat down on the right
hand of the father on high and the child of God relies on Christ's
intercession we've always relied on it in truth, the fact that
he came to this world and died in the room instead of his people
was part of that intercession. He was interceding for us. He
was standing, as it were, between God and us to save us from our
sins. So the child of God relies wholly
upon Christ's intercession alone and does so with confidence that
his Savior's prayers are always effectual. We know that. You say, well, sometimes I feel
like my prayers are nothing. You ever feel that way? feel
like you're talking to the ceiling, but it ain't about our feelings.
But our Lord addresses that fact. And sometimes we don't even know
what we ought to pray. We don't know how to pray. It
just doesn't come to us in the way we think it should. But in
Romans 8, verse 26, it says, Likewise the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray as we
are. But the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings
which cannot be uttered. And he that searches the heart
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. So it is Christ
who is interceding for us by his spirit he is interceding
for us with God so verse 10 reveals the connection between these
two altars it says and Aaron shall make an atonement upon
the horns of the altar once a year with the blood of the sin offering
sin offering of atonements once in a year shall he make atonement
upon it through our generation it is most holy unto the Lord
now this atonement was made on the day of atonement this atonement
for this altar on the day of atonement when blood was eventually
sprinkled on the mercy seat first the blood of the sin offering
was sprinkled on this altar and the blood offering was for the
atonement of the altar itself for the altar itself it speaks
of that in scripture look over at Leviticus chapter sixteen In Leviticus Chapter 16, verse
19, it says, He shall sprinkle the blood upon it with his fingers
seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness
of the children of Israel. So this altar itself was atoned
for in a sense. It was cleansed so it would be
holy for the use of God. says the same thing about the
burnt offering or the brazen offer back in Exodus chapter
29 verse 36 and 37 it says this and thou shalt offer every day
a bullock for a sin offering for atonement thou shalt cleanse
the altar when thou hast made an atonement for it thou shalt
anoint it and sanctify it seven days shall thou make an atonement
for the altar and sanctified, and it shall be an altar most
holy, whatsoever touches the altar shall be holy." So this
blood of the atonement, which was used for the mercy seat,
was first used for this altar, this altar that represents the
intercession of Christ. That is what this represents.
Now, this was done yearly because sin was not put away. We know
that, that these offerings were made continually according to
Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 3 because in those offerings
was a remembrance of sin every year, not a forgetting of sin.
Remember in Christ's perfect offering in the latter part of
Hebrews chapter 10 it says God will remember their sins no more. But in these offerings there
was a remembrance of sin every year because none of these offerings
ever put away sin. The sin offering was used here
and that pictured what? We know the sin offering pictured
imputation an expiation that is putting away of sins. It represents our sins being
laid on Christ and put away by Him. That's why the priest when
he offered the offering put his hands on the head of the sacrifice
and confessed his sins. Now he put his hands on the head
of the burnt offering also but he didn't confess his sins because
that was about substitution not imputation. One was about imputation,
sin offering. The brazen altar, or the burnt
offering, was about substitution. It was identification. When he
put his hands on the head of the burnt offering, he was saying,
this is me. Christ is dying in my stead.
This lamb being offered is suffering my sin, as if I was suffering
it myself. that's imputation, or not imputation,
but substitution. Now this was accomplished only
one way. It was accomplished by the blood death of the Lord
Jesus Christ. So the intercession pictured
by burning incense at the altar was irrevocably tied to and based
on the blood of the sacrifice. There ain't no intercession on
this altar until this altar's atoned for. until the blood sacrifice
is made. So the intercession of Christ
is what? He intercedes for His people. Why? Because He's died
for His people. His intercession is based on
and dependent upon His shed blood. That's how He intercedes, based
on His blood. Intercession is for the elect.
Those sins have been put away by the blood of Jesus Christ.
So you could say this in John 17 verse 9, I pray not for the
world, I pray for them that thou hast given me, because they are
thine. This blood was shed for the elect, and the intercession
is made for the elect. He doesn't intercede for anybody
else. I intercede not for the world. I pray not for the world,
but for them that thou hast given me. And as this incense offered
represents intercession in the form of prayer, the prayers of
the saints are centered in the mediatorial intercession of Christ.
Why do we pray? We pray because God has told
us to pray, but how do we pray? We pray in the name of Jesus
Christ. we pray, we intercede for our brother, we pray, we
are told to pray and not to faint, we intercede for our brothers
and sisters making prayer and supplications on their behalf.
Why do we do that? As I said, God says, does it
have anything to do with anything? Yes, it does. God has ordained
it. I don't fully understand the
power that prayer exerts, but it says, the effectual prayer
of a righteous man availeth much, but that's in the book of James
and it has to do with praying for our brothers and sisters
who are going through trials and tribulations. It's not just
a thing to say, you know, if I pray real hard, something's
gonna happen. How does God use prayer? He's ordained it, so
somehow, in the marvelous way, in the scheme of these things,
He puts it in our heart to pray. He knows what we ought to pray,
puts it in our heart to pray, and when we pray, He does it. It's all Him. I don't know how
it works. Don't know how it works. My mama
used to say, I prayed for you like you was one of the elect,
whether you was or not. She didn't know whether I was.
She said, I prayed. I used to ask the Lord, ain't it about
time you saved him? Ain't it about time you revealed
yourself to him? Did that have anything to do
with my salvation? No, but God put it in her heart
to pray about it. David said this, when God put
it in my heart to pray, I prayed. I said that in one of the Psalms.
so we pray in his name we're told to pray we intercede for
our brothers and sisters so we find in the word of god that
when the high priest made his daily offering in the new testament
in luke chapter one we find also the people are involved in that
prayer now and remember he's making intercession the high
priest is offering up this incense on the altar that's symbolic
of christ's intercession and outside the people are praying
also look over at luke chapter one talking about zacharias the father of John the Baptist who was a priest Luke chapter one verse nine and ten it says according
to the custom of the priest's office his lot that is Zechariah's
lot was was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the
Lord. Now these priests, they had a course of service. A course
of service. If you look at verse 5, it says,
There was in those days of Herod the king of Judea a certain priest
named Zacharias of the course of Abii. That's a specific amount
of time. And his wife was the daughter
of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth. She was the daughter of Aaron.
She was a Levite. And his course was during this time called Abii.
And so this was his course. And during this course, it says,
it was his lot to burn incense when he went into the temple
of the Lord. So it was his job, morning and evening, to light
incense to put on this golden altar. And it said, and the whole
multitude of the people were praying without at the time of
incense. So he was offering intercession.
which pictured Christ's intercession, still, though even Christ was
about to be born six months down the road, or nine months down
the road. He was doing this, and outside,
you rarely see the people of God praying, except when they're
in real trouble. But here, they're joining in.
while the incense was being burned, maybe the smell rose from the
tabernacle of the temple. And they felt it in their hearts
to pray to the Lord, but it was a community thing for them. So
when the sealed book was opened in the Lamb of God, incense was
burned and described. Revelation chapter 5, we find out what the incense
represented in that case. In Revelation Chapter 5 verse
8 it says, And when he had taken the book, that is Christ, the
Lamb of God, had taken the book, and opened the seals thereof,
the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before
the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full
of odors, or incense. What is that? Which are the prayers
of the saints. The incense are said to be the
prayers of the saints, and the song they sang was about what?
His effectual blood. After they offered up the incense,
speaking of his intercession, the prayers of the saints, relying
upon in his intercession, they sang a new song, saying, Worthy
is the Lamb that was slain, that is redeemed us by his blood out
of every kindred, nation, tongue, and people, and made us kings
and priests unto our God. Then again in Revelation chapter
8, verses 3 and 4, the incense is described as the prayers of
the saints that ascend up to God. that ascend up to God. Revelation chapter 8, verses
3 and 4 says, And another angel came and stood at the altar,
having a golden censer. And there was given to him much
incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints
upon the golden altar, which was before the throne. Now this
is all the heavenly stuff. And the smoke of the incense,
which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before
God out of the angels' hands. so this matter this golden altar
represents not only the intercession of Christ but the intercession
of his people we pray for one another I think it was Paris
Reedhead who was a missionary somewhere out in the jungles
of some place and he had his bearer would bear
his backpack or whatever his duffel with him as they were
going out and When he was out there, he heard someone crying
far off, and it just was a noise. It sounded like a beast. But he heard it, and he wondered
what it was. So him and his bear started going
toward it, toward the sound. And when they got into the midst
of the forest, they found a man in a cleared circle who was a
leper. He was missing fingers. His nose
was gone. His eyelids were gone. He was
crying, help me. that's what they heard. Somebody
help me. And Paris Rehead said, if I really
wanted to intercede for him, I would have to take his illness
and give him my health. That's what Christ's intercession
did, wasn't it? Take his disease and give him
my health. That's what intercession is. Christ was made to be sin
for us. He knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. I wonder sometimes
if I ever intercede for anybody in prayer. I wonder. Intercession is based on the
blood of Jesus Christ. Because Christ has satisfied
God, because Christ has died in our room and is dead, He therefore
continues as a risen Savior to intercede for us. One man said,
ìThe brazen altar is the cross. The golden altar is the resurrection.î
golden altars of resurrection. This according to the words we
just read in our text. This is most holy unto the Lord
God. Most holy unto the Lord God.
I want you to read one passage of scripture which you're very
familiar with and then we'll go home. Isaiah chapter 53. Speaking of the blood of Jesus
Christ and His efficaciousness, the fact that it was effectual
and accomplished salvation. It says in verse 10, Yet it pleased
that it satisfied, propitiated the Lord to bruise Christ. He
hath put him to grief, and thou shalt make his soul an offering
for sin. He shall see his seed. The Lord
shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper
in his hand. It is just said in Isaiah chapter 52 and verse
10 that he shall prosper. He shall see all the travail
of his soul. those he had whom he had birth pains for on that
cross, and he shall be satisfied. For by his knowledge my righteous
servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall
divide the small with the strong. Because he hath poured out his
soul unto death, he was numbered with the transgressions, he bared
the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. this is
what the meaning of the Golden Altar. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name. Amen.