Now would you turn with me please to that portion of God's word that we read? Book of Exodus and Exodus chapter 27. Exodus chapter 27 and we read again the words that we have in the opening verses of the chapter. And thou shalt make an altar of chitim wood, five cubits long, five cubits broad. The altar shall be four square, and the height thereof shall be three cubits. And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof. His horn shall be of the same, and thou shalt overlay it with brass. Now, friends, what we have here in the Old Testament is, of course, the making of the altar. And the making of the altar was not from the word of man. It was not by the design of Moses, nor was it according to the creation of Aaron. We read through this chapter and I was conscious that, as we were reading again, it has much by way of detail. And it could be quite easy for us to turn off from the detail and say, well, I accept that this is an altar that is going to be made. Why do we need to know the details? It is because God himself by his own solemn word, brings this to the people. You see, every cubit, every corner was so ordained by God himself to teach us something and to teach the children of Israel the need of a principle. And it is the very same basic principle that you and I are engaged in today in public worship. It is what God himself has regulated. So that is the first thing that we would say when we come to read these verses, that they are precise, they are detailed, because it is the very word of God himself. And I want us to consider, as the Lord would enable us this morning, these verses around the making of the altar. Now, of course, when Adam was so created before the fall, there was no need of a specific altar because there was no need of blood sacrifice. That only came after the fall. And you will remember there that after the fall, there was indeed the skins that were provided for Adam and for Eve to cover their nakedness, to cover, if you like, and this is what the nakedness means, their lack of fellowship with the Lord. Because that fellowship had now been broken. You remember before Adam had walked with God in the garden in the cool of the day. Two could walk together because they were agreed. Afterwards, there was a fragmentation in that fellowship. And when the Lord provided the skins, he was reminding Adam, of course he was reminding Adam, that death is the result of sin. That the sin that he had committed brought death upon that animal and so it would one day with him. You see, this is the consequence of the fall itself, the making of this altar. But you see, this altar here prefigured something greater. This altar here and the sacrifice that would be offered upon it prefigured the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This altar prefigured the one who was the lamb of God's own choosing. We are told in Hebrews chapter 13, that we have an altar whereof they have no right to eat, which serve the tabernacle. This morning, Christian friend, we are called to that altar of the New Testament. We are called to Christ himself. And the Old Testament altar had a purpose. It had the purpose of sanctifying the sacrifices. Christ himself has the purpose of sanctifying ourselves. And I want us to think as we look at this altar this morning, a few things that it teaches us. The first thing is this, it teaches us sanctification. It teaches us sanctification. Now, you know what sanctification is. You know what holiness is. Our catechism reminds us that sanctification is a work of God's free grace. And in that work of God's free grace, he gradually removes sin from the life of the believer. Now, we are, of course, well aware and we have been on that Christian path for any length of time at all. We know that the heart, even after conversion, is not perfect. It is not perfect within. We know that we have no sinless perfection this side of eternity. It's only at death when we cross the swellings of Jordan. that river, that great divide over which there is no bridge of return, that the saints are made perfect. We know that this side of eternity, there is that old nature that still remains in us. It's the old man. The old man, of course, we are told, has been crucified. But you see, we know, don't we, The crucifixion, as it was there displayed to us even in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, does not bring immediate death. The old man is still there. He's battling within the soul. And you know when there is a battle going on in your soul. You know when there is that unease in the soul, when there is a conflict in the soul. And what is that a reminder to you? Is it something that you should see as somehow a bad thing because there is a conflict? Friends, if there is no conflict in the soul today, there is no new life in the soul today. There is no you man in the soul today. Unless there is that battling going on in the life and in the heart of the believer, unless his heart is like a strewn battlefield, then I warn you, I warn you to consider your ways. But we know that there is indeed that conflict where there is life. And it is because the soul itself has been energized of all of its graces. That's why there is a conflict with the old nature and with the old man. That's why Paul, at the end of Romans chapter seven, he cries out and he says, oh wretched man that I am. And that wasn't the wretchedness that he had when he was a non-believer. That wasn't the wretchedness that he had when he was looking in the law. That wretchedness was a wretchedness of being under condemnation. This wretchedness was a wretchedness because there was a frustration, because there was the warring, because there was the battling, because there was the work of sanctification in his life, that the new life, the new principle I think that's how Professor Murray describes that the new principle in his mind was there. See, when we come here to this chapter of Exodus chapter 27, we are to see that the sacrifice that that sacrifice would indeed be acceptable. You'll notice in Exodus chapter 29 and verse 37, whatsoever touch of the altar shall be holy. Whatsoever touch of the altar shall be holy. You see, the sacrifice was made acceptable in the sight of God because of the altar. Friends, you might be here this morning, and you're going through times of self-examination, and you look within your soul, and you peer into the recesses of your heart. And of course, if you do examination properly, two things will be evident. The first thing that will be evident is this, you will find sin. If you're engaged in self-examination and you find no sin, there is a fundamental and fatal flaw with that self-examination. But the second thing, and this is where we must be very careful, when we find the sin, what do we do? Do we merely conclude, oh, there's sin there, or do we look away with the eyes of faith to the Lamb of God that beareth away that sin? Well, that's exactly what happened in Leviticus chapter 16 on the Day of Atonement. You will remember that there were precise, almost as precise as this, maybe more precise, details of how the people were to engage in the Day of Atonement. They had to afflict their souls. They couldn't do any work at all. It was a holy day. It was a Sabbath day. And then at the very end, after they did all their work, at the very end, the high priest went in and he offered the sacrifice. And so you can imagine the people looking away from themselves and they were now looking to the high priest and they were saying, he is making a sacrifice for my sins. Well friends, that is what we have to do when we come and we see the work of sanctification. We see that it is something that is only permitted by God himself and that Christ himself is the one that is so permitted. We are not to come merely and look into our heart and stay there alone. We're not merely to come to our mind and see the sin and look at the outward marks and that alone. No, friends, we are to rest with confidence and we are to rest with faith upon that priest that has gone within the veil. And there he is now at the throne of God himself. And we are told that that work of a priest continues. Not the work of sacrifice, but the work of the priest. He continues to intercede for us. He continues to send forth his blessing. You will remember after the sacrifice was offered, the priest would come out and he would bless the people, while Christ continues to bless his people. And as he intercedes for them, and you can maybe think about what is the nature of that intercession? Is it a notable intercession? Or is it that by his presence and glory as the resurrected sacrifice for sin, that that sacrifice in glory is ever seen as being coextensive as the priest of God offering intercession for his people? So the altar here, And Christ is a sanctification for his people. But in the second place, the altar here speaks of sustentation. It speaks of sustentation. As well as sanctifying the sacrifice, the altar also supported the sacrifice. The altar also supported the sacrifice. Now, you will remember the details of the altar. You will remember that it was an altar that was made of brass. And the strength of the altar had to have endurance. It had to bear weight. We read something, don't we, in Deuteronomy chapter 28 and verse 33. The fruit of thy land and all thy labors shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up, and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed always. Now, Jeremiah chapter one and verse 18. For behold, I have made thee this day a defense city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land." Where was the defense of the people of God? why it was indeed in their state before God. And their state before God was only acceptable because of that sacrifice that had been offered up. You see, the strength of the people lay in the strength of God's ordained altar, the altar of acceptance. And you will remember here, we read that this altar was hollow in the middle. There was a grate halfway down. And that great halfway down, it was strong enough to endure the consuming fire. Now we are told, and apparently this is true, that wood that is overlaid with metal is stronger and more enduring than metal on its own. See friends, what God was saying was this. that in and of themselves, they had nothing. And that is the same with us today. In and of ourselves, we have nothing. What do you have to support this consuming fire, this consuming fire of God? It was, I can't recall who said it, but it was said well, It was said that in the Old Testament, that the fire consumed the sacrifice. In the New Testament, it was the sacrifice, Christ himself that consumed the fire, consumed the fire of God's wrath. Our friends, isn't that our hope? Even as the people of God, that is our hope. In all of the conflict of the ages, in all of the turmoil of the ages, that is our hope. That Christ himself, as our sacrifice, has consumed the fire of God's wrath. He was the propitiation. The altar, it bore An amazing fire. An amazing fire. Well, friends, we are told in Psalm 89, then thou speakest in vision to thy holy one and saidest, I have laid help upon one that is mighty. I have exalted one chosen out of the people. There is our altar. Yes, the great load was laid upon the altar in Exodus chapter 27. But look at what has been laid upon Christ. You know, there is something that I fear in these days. And so often in these days, we can be taken up so much with obscure and finer points of doctrine and theology that we almost delight in exhausting such things. And we have forgotten. We have forgotten the basics. We have forgotten the basics to such an extent that when trial and tribulation comes, that we can become perturbed. Ah, but friends, you know, the scriptures tell me that all has been laid upon Christ. You see, over these days of pandemic, if they have taught us anything, they have surely taught us this, that God is in control. And if it is so decreed from the council of eternity that we are to exit this life by a virus, then so it is decreed. That should not concern the Christian. That should not worry the Christian. What should be the focus of the Christian? I am going to be with my savior. And what will happen in heaven? Well, there will be no more There'll be no more death, there'll be no more crying, there'll be no more pain, there'll be no more virus. But Christ who is in the midst of the throne shall receive the honor and the praise and the worship of his worshiping people. We are to remember that he is the one who sustains. He is the one that reminds us that the bush burned but it was not consumed. There is a picture there of the sufferings of Christ. There's also a picture there of what his people will endure in persecution. And we are to remember this, that he is the one who has promised that he will build the church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And so this altar here, it speaks about sanctification, sustentation, it speaks about satisfaction. The Hebrew word for altar, it comes from the word to slay or to sacrifice. And so the altar, it means a sacrificing place. The English word altar comes from a meaning that suggests high, lofty, raised up. See, all of these things, it points us heavenward. It has our focus on glory. It has us with our eyes lifted up. Our friends, we know that when our eyes are lowered and they're here upon this scene of time, There is nothing good for the soul this side of eternity. We're thankful for the means of grace. We're thankful for the word. But you see, down here in this world, it is only a parched land. The question I ask you this morning is, is this world a dry place for you? Or do you see water? Well, you have to be careful that you're not settling for stagnant waters. This is a wilderness. Glory and heaven itself is the great place where his people will be brought beside the river. There is satisfaction. There was often a case in the Old Testament at the time of sacrifice and that the one who would bring the sacrifice had somehow offended against the Lord. That was so with the high priest as he would go in to the Holy of Holies once a year. The people waited outside for his reappearance, lest he had been consumed in the Holy of Holies by God himself. Our friends, our desire surely would be, even this morning, weak and frail that we be, would be to satisfy ourselves only in the Lord. Because all other satisfaction is an empty satisfaction. I'll finish with this and I'll truncate this as quickly as I can. The fourth thing that the altar brings before us is salvation itself. Salvation itself. More than anything else, it teaches salvation. It teaches, first of all, the importance of salvation. The altar itself, it dominated the tabernacle. We are given the dimensions of the altar. We're told it was 7 1⁄2 by 7 1⁄2 by 4 1⁄2 cubits. That is, it was three yards square. three yards square and five feet high. It dominated the tabernacle. You see, the altar went for the senses. As you approached it, you smelt the altar. If you were to peer within the curtains, you would see the blood. It was indeed everything that would impress upon the senses. And it's not by accident that the Lord himself instituted the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. You know, the Lord's Supper is a visual ordinance. When we see the elements, we are not to close our eyes to the elements, we're not to keep our heads down, we are to see. We are to see the breaking of the bread. We are to see the pouring out of the wine. We are to taste the bread. We are to sense the aroma of the wine. Why is that? It is to remind the senses in their weakness and in their frailty of the reality that we are to remember Christ in his death. That's exactly what this bronze altar was doing. It was to remind the people of salvation. The second thing is this. It is a reminder of the peculiarity of salvation. There is the uniqueness of salvation, the importance of salvation. Before the Lord Jesus Christ came, before the Great Commission was given, where was salvation confined to? It was confined to Israel. Yes, there was Ruth. Yes, there was Rahab. But they were signposts that there was going to be an ingathering of those outside the fold. But by and large, there was a passing by of all of the rest. You see, salvation is something that is peculiar. The altar reminds us that there is only one way, and it is by the way of sacrifice that that salvation can be found. That is the glorious truth of the gospel. And friends, it is the same gospel that has gone forth on the countless ages of eternity. That is to be an encouragement to us. Even as those who have been on the road, the Christian road for many years, we become discouraged. And when we become discouraged, we become dissatisfied. Wasn't that the problem with the children of Israel when they had come up out of the land of Egypt? you will remember that they began, in the book of Numbers, to cry out. Here they were, they were 70, 80 miles from the sea, and they were crying out for fish to eat. And we might say, well, that was ridiculous. There were no rivers, and the sea was 70 or 80 miles away. That's what happens when there becomes dissatisfaction. You see, they were dissatisfied with the manna, they were dissatisfied with the bread of God's own providing. See, friends, there is a power in salvation, and it is in being close to the Lord in communion. And when there is a fragmentation of that, when there is a lessening of that, then there becomes a dissatisfaction. And friends, I would say to you this, When you're close to the Lord, there will be no dissatisfaction because there will be a constant feeding upon him. There will be no discouragement for he is our encouragement. There will be no being cast down because he is the one who is our sovereign. There is indeed sanctification It's only through the altar. It's only through Christ himself. There is sustentation, there is support. Christ is the one who has borne our sins. And I'll say this in passing. There might be somebody here and you're having an issue, maybe a problem in your mind over the nature of sins forgiven. Maybe at the back of your mind, you are saying, well, I believe in salvation, I believe that my sins are forgiven. But you see, there was this sin that I committed or that sin that I committed. You see, I've got doubts or I've got a lack of assurance. Well, you see, friends, it is one thing applying the blood of Jesus Christ for justification. But you have also got to apply that blood of Jesus Christ to the conscience. To the conscience. And when you apply it to the conscience, has the blood of Jesus Christ, does it take away all sin? Including the sin of doubt. Including, does it deal with a lack of assurance? You see, very often when we look to ourselves, and this is a propensity for every one of us, when we look to ourselves, we tremble because we see our weakness. That's why we are to constantly lay our focus upon the Lord. Remember, many years ago, at a kisht in Skye, My elder saying this, and it's words that I've thought about many a time. He said, we might tremble with our feet upon the rock. But he says, we must remember that the rock never trembles. And friends, whenever your doubts this morning might be, your lack of assurance might be, you are to remember that your Savior, Jesus Christ, the one who was the rock, he never trembles. He is that rock that is higher than I. He's the sacrifice that was upon the altar, and that sacrifice was accepted. Now he is in heaven itself, continuing to intercede and continuing to bless. And from him, all blessings flow. May the Lord bless his word to us this morning. Let us pray. Our gracious and our eternal God, We come into the courts of thy presence afresh, looking on to thee afresh. And we ask thee that we would keep our eyes upon thee continually. Oh, let us not be concerned by the turbulence round about. Let us not be concerned by the turbulence within, for we pray that that is a good conflict in the soul. But let us, eternal one, continue to look and to gaze upon thyself. We thank thee for thy work, for that finished work. And we pray now that thou would continue with thy blessing, all that has been said and done in thy name. And all we ask is in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.