8. The Triangle of Sanctification - Pastor Stephen Bohr - His Way Is In The Sanctuary

[Music] shall we bow our heads for prayer our wonderful heavenly father as we follow jesus today into the holy place to discover how we can reflect his beautiful and glorious character we ask for the guidance of your holy spirit we ask father that you will help us understand how to grow in grace and in the knowledge of jesus christ as our wonderful savior we know that you will be with us because you have promised that when we come before your throne in faith you will answer our prayer and so we come boldly to the throne in the name of jesus asking for your presence amen today we are going to talk about the triangle of sanctification or in other words the three ways in which god develops in us a holy life now we need to understand that jesus at this moment is in the heavenly sanctuary in the holy place of the heavenly sanctuary and he is pouring out the benefits of his atonement or of his work on earth you remember that jesus first of all lived the life that we should live and then jesus died the death that we should all die and then at the labor jesus resurrected from the dead and then he entered into the holy place of the sanctuary to credit his life and his death to those individuals who come to him having confessed their sins and repented of sin and trusted in the merits of jesus christ but this is just the beginning of the christian life you know repenting of sin and confessing sin and trusting in the merits of jesus and being baptized are very important but these are things that take place at the beginning of our christian life but then after we have accepted jesus christ as our savior and as our lord we need to grow into jesus christ we need to come to reflect his holy character and this morning we're going to study the three ingredients of a holy walk with jesus christ and those three ingredients are found in the holy place of the heavenly sanctuary now you find an illustration here of the sanctuary in its proper order on the platform we don't have the camp uh we didn't have enough panels to go there but there should be one with a camp and then of course there is the altar of sacrifice then there is the laver and then as you go into the holy place of the sanctuary you have three pieces of furniture now the entrance to the sanctuary was on the east which means that as you go through the door into the holy place you're moving from west to east and as you look towards your left hand side in the holy place of the sanctuary that would be south you see the seven branched candlestick that you have here illustrated on the platform and then as you go in through the eastern door into the holy place into the tent on your right hand side which would be north you see the table of the showbread twelve loaves of bread in two stacks of six on a table overlaid with gold and then immediately in front of you which would be west you see the altar of incense the golden altar of incense where incense was burned morning and evening perpetually and continually in the sanctuary now these three pieces of furniture actually illustrate the secret of a balanced sanctified and holy life a life similar to the life of jesus christ we're going to find in our study this morning that the seven branched candlestick represents witnessing to others under the power of the holy spirit because the candlestick had oil and we're going to find that the oil represents the holy spirit and then the candlestick gives light so in other words the seven branch candlesticks represents witnessing for jesus christ under the power of the holy spirit the table of the showbread represents assimilating the life of jesus christ through the study of his holy word because bread represents the word of god in other words it means nourishing ourselves spiritually of jesus christ through a study of his holy word in other words the table of showbread represents the study of scripture and the assimilating of the life of christ through a study of the bible and then we're going to find that the altar of incense represents prayer it represents coming to jesus to offer him our praise offer him our thanks offer him our requests and also our penitence because of our sins so the altar of incense represents prayer so actually we have here a triangle you see in bible study god speaks to us in prayer we speak to god and in witnessing we speak to others about god and so these three persons of furniture show us how we speak with god how god speaks with us and the importance of speaking to other people about our experience with jesus christ now first of all we want to study about the seven branch candlestick that was found on the south side of the holy place of the sanctuary first of all i want to tell you a few things about the golden candlestick it had seven branches seven representing totality or completeness it was made of solid gold and it weighed one talent which is equivalent to 120 pounds now at a 1 400 an ounce which is ballpark these days that would be two million six hundred and eighty eight thousand dollars just for the golden candlestick that was in the holy place of the sanctuary the bible tells us that the wicks of these candlesticks were trimmed every day by the high priest and the high priest always made sure that there was sufficient oil for these candlesticks to continue burning in other words the seven branch candlestick never burned out it was continually perpetually giving its light which by the way was the only source of light for the hebrew sanctuary now the oil of these lamps represents the holy spirit let's turn in our bibles to zechariah chapter four and verse six zechariah chapter four and verse six this is the next to last book of the old testament it says here after referring to the candlesticks in the previous verses so he answered and said to me this is the word of the lord to zerubbabel not by might nor by power but by my spirit says the lord of hosts so we find the oil as a symbol of the holy spirit and of course the seven branches represent that the holy spirit gives complete or total light now what does this candlestick really represent we know the oil represents the holy spirit but what does the candlestick itself represent in order to understand that we must go to the book of revelation so go with me to revelation chapter 1 revelation chapter 1 and i want you to notice that in revelation 1 we have seven churches that are mentioned seven churches of asia minor revelation chapter 1 and verses 10 and 11. here it says and john is speaking i was in the spirit on the lord's day and i heard behind me a loud voice as of a trumpet saying i am the alpha and the omega the first and the last and what you see write in a book and send it now notice send it to the seven churches which are in asia to ephesus to smyrna to pergamos to thyatira to sardis to philadelphia and to laodicea so we have in asia minor seven churches now i want you to notice that also in this vision that john receives in revelation chapter one there are seven candlesticks mentioned seven churches we've just read their names but there are also seven candlesticks notice revelation chapter 1 and verse 12. it says then i turned to see the voice that spoke with me and having turned i saw what i saw seven golden lampstands and so you have seven churches mentioned by name and you have seven golden lamp stands now the question is what do the seven golden lamp stands stand for what do they represent we don't have to guess because in revelation chapter 1 and verse 20 we find an explanation of what is represented by the seven candlesticks it says here in revelation 1 and verse 20 the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands which you saw are what are the seven churches so what do the seven lampstands stand for they stand for the seven churches they are an illustration of the seven churches so in other words the seven lampstands represent god's church these seven churches in asia minor now we come up with a very important question there were many other churches in europe and in asia minor at this time john is writing around the year 95 a.d this is long after jesus resurrected and went to heaven for example just in asia we have churches like troas asos miletus colosse hieropolis magnesia among others and there were many churches also in europe so why these specific seven churches chosen in asia minor in one of the sheets that you received this morning you see the reason why if you take patmos as the base of a candlestick you'll notice that the candlestick would project a shadow into asia minor having the churches in the exact order in which they appear in the book of revelation that's no coincidence in other words the seven churches form a candelabrum that's the reason why these seven churches were chosen specifically because they formed a candelabrum and of course the candelabrum represents the seven churches of course the question still remains why were these seven chosen over and above the fact that you have a candelabrum formed by the location of the churches why were seven specifically chosen well allow me to read you first of all a statement from the book acts of the apostles this is the book by ellen white where she comments about the book the bible book acts of the apostles page 585 where she explains why seven churches were chosen this is what she says the names of the seven churches are symbolic of the church in different periods of the christian era so the names are what symbolic of different periods of the church in uh of the christian era she continues saying the number seven indicates completeness and is symbolic of the fact that the messages extend to the end of time while the symbols used reveal the condition of the church at different periods in the history of the world so you notice that she says that the seven churches represent seven periods seven represents totality in other words the seven churches represent the totality of the history of the christian church from apostolic times till the end of time now i want to read you a statement i normally wouldn't read a statement from this author but i will read this statement because he agrees with ellen white hal lindsey i disagree with almost everything else that he ever wrote but he's right on this point yeah i wanted to read this because you might say well that's what ellen white says actually most conservative scholars believe that the seven churches represent seven periods of church history most not not only adventists but also non-adventists notice what he had to say this is in his book vanished into thin air page 276 he says i believe along with many scholars that these seven letters were not only written to seven literal churches with real problems but also that they have a prophetic application to church history i believe that these seven churches were selected and arranged by our omniscient lord because they had problems and characteristics that would prophesy seven stages of history through which the church universal would pass so very clearly seven were chosen because it represents totality these seven churches represent the totality of the history of the christian church and the reason why you have these specific churches in asia minor is because they form a candelabrum and the candelabrum represents the seven churches now let's put all of the symbols together the candelabrum represents what the church all throughout the course of history now what is needed in order for the candelabrum to give light you have to have oil in the candelabrum to give light let me ask you what must the church need in all of the stages of its history in order to shed light it needs the presence of what it needs the presence of god's holy spirit in order to give light to the world in all stages of church history now let's notice how the bible portrays jesus in this picture go with me to revelation chapter 1 and verse 13. you see the oil is not in the lamps automatically in other words just by some type of strange osmosis the oil is there no the high priest had to be in the holy place and he had to be continually filling the lamps with oil notice revelation chapter 1 and verse 13. it says and in the midst of the seven lamp stands and what do the seven lampstands represent the seven churches and the seven churches represent what the history of the church when all throughout the history of the church from apostolic times till the end of time and in the midst of the seven lamp stands one like the son of man clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band now that's an interesting description he has according to this a garment down to his feet and he has also across his chest a golden band now if you go back to exodus 28 and verse 4 i'm not going to read that text but you might want to write it down exodus 28 and verse 4 tells us that these were the garments of the high priest in other words jesus is walking among the seven candlesticks as the high priest now where did the high priest go according to what we studied in our last lecture where did he go he went to the most holy place right no no no he went into the what he went into the holy place to intercede for his people but now we notice that he went in for another reason you see the high priest is jesus christ and jesus walks among the seven candlesticks why does jesus walk among the seven candlesticks because he wants to make sure that the candlesticks have sufficient oil so that they can give light in fact let's notice that let's go back to the book of leviticus the book of leviticus chapter 24 and verses 1 to 4 to see what the role of the high priest was in the holy place of the sanctuary at least one of his rules in the holy place of the sanctuary leviticus 24 and verses 1 through 4. let me ask you what was aaron what was the function of aaron aaron was the high priest and this passage is talking about aaron notice what it says there leviticus 24 and verse 1. then the lord spoke to moses saying command the children of israel that they bring to you pure oil of pressed olives for the light to make the lamps what burn continually so they were to bring oil so that the lamps would burn continually and never go out continue saying now notice where this takes place where aaron is performing this particular task it says outside the what the veil of the testimony in other words outside the veil that divided the holy from the most holy place this is taking place in what apartment it's taking place in the holy place of the sanctuary because that's where the candlestick is so it says in verse 3 outside the veil of the testimony in the tabernacle of meeting now notice aaron shall be in charge of it from evening until morning before the lord how continually it shall be a statute forever in your generations he shall be in charge of the what of the lamps on the pure gold lamp stand before the lord continually what was the role of aaron the high priest in walking among the candlesticks it was to make sure that the candlesticks always had oil and the wicks were trimmed so that the candlestick never ceased giving what never ceased giving its light it was to perpetually give its light now let me ask you this question were there periods in church history where the light flickered and it looked like it was going to go out have any of you ever heard of the dark ages why do you suppose they're called the dark ages because there was a scarcity of what there's a scarcity of light but listen up even though this period was dark it was not totally dark the light of the church never went out because jesus was walking throughout the history of the christian church illustrated by the fact that he's walking among the seven candlesticks he was always walking in the midst of the history of the church to make sure that the light of the church never went out let me ask you on the day of pentecost what was it that gave the disciples the power to preach the message to the world the holy spirit was poured out and so here you have illustrated the disciples would be like the candlesticks this would be the first candlestick because it's the apostolic church and they needed what they needed the oil now who poured out the oil upon them jesus christ through the power of what through the power of the holy spirit so the seventh branch candlestick simply represents god's church in all ages giving the light of jesus christ through the power of the holy spirit and who is in the midst of the church making sure that the light never goes out jesus christ the high priest is in the holy place making sure now go with me to matthew chapter 5 and verses 14 through 16. matthew chapter 5 and verses 14 through 16. here jesus is speaking about his followers and one of the roles of his followers he says here you are the light of the world what are we the light of the world a city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a what there it is on a lamp stand and it gives what light to all who are in the house and then jesus explains what he means by this by saying that we are light and we're like a lamp stand that needs to be put on a place where everyone can see it notice verse 16 let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven folks anyone who has the holy spirit in his or her life will shed light to the world if we don't have any light to give it's because we are not connected with the source of light notice in the book christian service page 21 ellen white had this awesome statement everyone who is connected with god will impart light to others if there are any who have no light to give it is because they have no connection with the source of light that's an awesome statement which means that if we're not witnessing if we're not telling others we don't have the oil we are not connected with the source of light and by the way when jesus said you are the light of the world actually jesus is the light of the world isn't he jesus said i am the light of the world so how can he say to the church you are the light of the world well let me give you an illustration let's take the sun does the sun have its own light does it have its own original light absolutely now at night the sun shines on what it shines on the moon is the light of the moon light of course it is but is it original light or is it derived light it's derived light so when you go out at night and you see the beautiful moon uh you say oh what a beautiful full moon that's only partially true what you should really say is say oh the sun is sure beautiful tonight isn't it because the glory of the moon is the glory of the sun and so it is with us when we are connected with the sun we are like the moon and we project the light of jesus christ to the world if we are not projecting light it is because we have no connection with the source of light now let's talk about the table of the shogren do you understand what the candlestick represents it represents the church doing what witnessing through the power of the holy spirit one of the ingredients of a holy life is that what jesus did was jesus constantly doing missionary work was he constantly shedding light to other people absolutely now let's talk about the table of the showbread what does bread represent in scripture let's read three verses or three passages matthew chapter 4 and verses 3 and 4 tells us explicitly what bread represents matthew chapter 4 verses 3 and 4. now when the tempter came to him he said speaking to jesus if you are the son of god command that these stones become bread but he answered and said it is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every what by every word that proceeds from the mouth of god so what does bread represent it represents god's word notice isaiah chapter 55 and verse 2. another text that speaks about the meaning of the bread isaiah 55 and verse 2. here god says why do you spend money for what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy and then he explains listen carefully to me how do we listen carefully to god through his what through his word listen carefully to me and eat what is what good so listening to god's word is eating according to this and then it says and let your soul delight itself in abundance notice also in the same chapter isaiah 55 and verses 10 and 11 isaiah 55 verses 10 and 11. it says there for as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven and do not return there but water the earth and make it bring forth and bud then it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater so shall my word be that cut goes forth from my mouth notice that bread is being compared to what to the word of god it shall not return to me void but it shall accomplish what i please and it shall prosper in the thing for which it is sent so the showbread represents god's word now let's read a passage that describes the showbread go with me to leviticus chapter 24 and verses 6 through 8. leviticus chapter 24 and verses 6 through 8. it's speaking about the show brand it says there you shall set them in two rows six in a row in other words how many loaves on the table of show bread there were twelve is there sufficient bread for all of god's people 12 is the symbol of god's people we studied last night right so is there sufficient bread for everyone absolutely for all of israel so it says you shall set them in two rows six in a row on the pure gold table before the lord and you shall put now notice this pure frankincense on each row that it may be on the bread for a memorial an offering made by fire to the lord and now notice when the fresh bread was put it says in verse 8 every sabbath he shall set it in order before the lord continually being taken from the children of israel by an everlasting covenant now let's notice some several details from this passage as well as some details that are found in other passages of scripture first of all the bread was there every day right it was changed on sabbath but the bread was there every day and when was the bread placed on the table it was placed there the fresh bread was placed when on sabbath let me ask you when is it that you get your fresh bread you're getting it right now on sabbah that's the reason why the bread was changed on god's holy sabbath notice also that frankincense was placed on top of the bread frankincense represents praying through the merits of jesus christ we come to that when we talk about the altar should we ever partake of god's word without prayer absolutely not the prayer the frankincense is on top of the bread it's connected with the bread also and i'll give you the reference leviticus 2 verse 5 says that this bread had to be unleavened what does leaven represent it represents sin let me ask you is the bible free from sin it most certainly is it's free from sin does the bible rebuke sin does the bible rebuke darkness it most certainly does because it's holy it's undefiled by sin it tells the truth and so the bread was supposed to be unleavened furthermore the bible tells us that this bread had to be salted leviticus 2 and verse 13 says that the showbread had to be salted you know salt performs several uh functions first of all it's seasons let me ask you does the bible season our life oh it most certainly does the the salt also preserves does the bible preserve us it most certainly does and the salt purifies and cleanses doesn't it does the bible purify and cleanse it most certainly does and so the table of showbread represents god's holy word undefiled by human bias by human sin it is salty because it gives flavor to our lives it cleanses our lives it seasons our lives every sabbath it's to be given fresh that's why we come to church on the sabbath unfortunately some people prefer other kinds of food you remember in john chapter 6 and let's go there john chapter 6 the bible tells us there that many people followed jesus because of the miracles that he performed in fact if you read john 6 you'll find that people follow jesus for three main reasons number one they followed him because they loved his miracles number two they followed him because they got a free lunch in other words for the loaves and the fishes and in the third place they had the hopes that jesus would establish his earthly kingdom here in other words they had political aspirations they had material aspirations and they loved the sensational and they loved miracles let's read john chapter 6 and verse 1 and verse 2. it says after these things jesus went over the sea of galilee which isn't which is the sea of tiberias then now notice this then a great multitude followed him why because they saw his signs which he performed on those who were diseased is that the right reason for following jesus ah you know people will go to a church where there's all kinds of signs and wonders and jumping and tongues and all kinds of things but when it comes to preaching the word it's a different story we're going to see in a few moments now let's go down to verse 14. then see they're impressed by the miracles of jesus then these men when they had seen the sign that jesus did because he fed five thousand with five loaves and two fishes they said what this is truly what the prophet who has come into the world see they they said this is the prophet because he does signs and wonders he feeds five thousand people with five loaves and two fishes this guy would make a great king but then jesus started preaching notice john chapter 6 verse 53 to 56 he says some revolutionary words then jesus said to them most assuredly i say to you unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood you have no life in you whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and i will raise him up at the last day my flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and i in him and when they when the people heard jesus say this they said this guy's teaching us cannibalism how can anyone eat his flesh and drink his blood and jesus made it very clear what he meant notice john chapter 6 and verse 63 what he was saying is we eat the flesh and drink the blood of jesus through a study of his holy word in other words it's not by eating jesus physically like it's taught by the roman catholic church that in the mass you're actually eating the literal flesh and you're drinking the blood of jesus even though it appears like bread and it appears like grape juice it's still the flesh and blood of jesus that's not what jesus was saying notice what we find in john 6 63 jesus explained what he did not mean and what he meant he says here it is the spirit who gives life the flesh profits nothing in other words the spirit gives life eating my flesh doesn't profit anything and then he explains the words that i speak to you are spirit and they are life so what does it mean to eat the flesh and drink the blood of jesus it means to listen to his what to his word the words that i speak to you they are spirit in their life and you know when jesus said that almost everybody that was present there's a multitude left they said we love miracles and we'd love to have an earthly king and we we love it when we have the material things but forget it if it comes to following this guy's words not interested and so it says in john 6 66 it's coincidence but you're going to always remember this verse it says in john 6 66 from that time many of his disciples went back and walked with him no more but you know peter in spite of the fact that many times he put his tongue in fourth gear before putting his brain in first gear he caught the point that jesus was trying to teach because jesus says to disciples are you going to leave too let's notice john chapter 6 and verse 67 begin with verse 67 then jesus said to the 12 do you also want to go away but simon peter answered him lord to whom shall we go you have the what you have the words of eternal life did peter understand what it meant to eat the flesh and drink the blood of jesus he said yes you have the what you have the words of eternal life physically we eat through our mouth spiritually we eat primarily through our eyes and through our ears and what we eat makes us either healthy or makes us sick is that true absolutely the question is are we speedy feeding on spiritual junk food television novels worldly music that make us totally unlike jesus christ spiritually we become what we eat just like physically we become what we eat in other words this is a principle of scripture that we are composed of spiritually what we eat and that's the reason why we must guard our senses primarily our sight and our hearing and not allow anything to come through the avenue of our senses that would defile our spiritual health allow me to read you a statement from messages to young people page 271 and 272. listen to this solemn statement satan knows that to a great degree the mind is affected by that upon which it feeds he is seeking to lead both the youth and those of mature age to read story books tales and other literature and i think today she would add going to the show and she would add watching certain things on television and she would add music and many other things as well but at that time these things did not exist at least ipods where you can put your music and so on she continues saying the readers of such literature become unfitted for the duties lying before them they live an unreal life and have no desire to search the scriptures to feed upon the heavenly manner the mind that needs strengthening is enfeebled and loses its power to study the great truths that relate to the mission and work of christ truths that would fortify the mind awaken the imagination and kindle a strong earnest desire to overcome as christ overcame let me ask you if if you've accustomed a child to eating cookies and cake and ice cream and that is the child's diet and then one day you come and you have a plate of ice cream butter pecan and you have a bag of carrots and you say to the child choose which of the two you want the child says give me the carrots no way the child says give me the ice cream why because that is how you have trained your physical habits well spiritually it's the same thing we are spiritually composed of what we eat and when we train ourselves to eat junk junk food spiritually speaking that is what we are going to crave what god wants us to do is he wants us to contemplate jesus christ as found in his word so that we can receive spiritual nourishment and jesus can become part of us through a study of his holy word do you know as we behold jesus in his word a spiritual metamorphosis takes place go with me to second corinthians chapter 3 and verse 18. ii corinthians chapter 3 and verse 18. here we find the apostle paul giving us one of the secret ingredients of a sanctified and holy life the first ingredient of course is receiving the holy spirit so that we can give the life of jesus to the world and his message to the world the second is the table of the showbread now notice second corinthians chapter 3 and verse 18. but we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the lord what are we beholding we're beholding the glory of the lord what happens when we behold the glory of the lord it says are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as by the spirit of the lord what happens as we continue to behold jesus we are being what we are being changed if you don't believe that what you watch changes you i'll give you an example when i was teaching in south america one saturday night they decided that they would project this movie i don't know why they did it at our school but it was a bruce lee movie and you know bruce lee bruce lee's movies are kicking out you know after the movie was over you would have thought that you were in a training school of karate because all of the kids went outside and they said yeah let me ask you where did they learn to do that they learned that by what they saw and what what they heard this is only a small example but it happens every day we are changed into the image of what we behold and and incidentally that word that is used here are being transformed the word transformed is the word metamorphosis do you know what a metamorphosis is you know when i was a kid i collected butterflies sometimes i'll tell you the whole story we don't have time right now but i i became a very proficient and professional collector of butterflies classifying them and being careful about the way that they were dissected and so on now i can't kill them anymore you know they're more beautiful flying in the air the way god made them but you know i was able to observe what happens when the caterpillar attaches itself to a tree or to a wall or whatever and then buries itself inside the chrysalis or inside the cocoon inside the cocoon a process of transformation takes place one of the most miraculous things in nature called a metamorphosis and after several days the cocoon starts shaking violently and all of a sudden the cocoon breaks and lo and behold out of the cocoon comes a what a butterfly notice that even the name has changed before it was a caterpillar now it's a butterfly the the the caterpillar you know drags himself along the ground can be stepped on but a butterfly flies that's what jesus meant that those who are in christ are a new creation all things have passed and everything is made new but we must feed that new spiritual nature notice what desire of ages page 390 has to say as our physical life is sustained by food so our spiritual life is sustained by the word of god and every soul is to receive life from god's word for himself as we must eat for ourselves in order to receive nourishment so we must receive the word for ourselves we are not to obtain it merely through the medium of another's mind which is happening this morning we should carefully study the bible asking god for the aid of the holy spirit that we may understand his word we should take it one verse we should take one verse and concentrate the mind on the task of ascertaining the thought which god has put in that verse for us we should dwell upon the thought until it becomes our own and we know what saith the lord this is what jesus meant when he said that we should pray give us this week our daily bread thank you very much my mind is still working it says give us this day our daily bread let me ask you do you eat once a week i doubt it i don't see anyone here who eats once a week i can see your robust faces see we're all well fed what would happen if you only ate once a week you'd get sick and died and yet many people their only diet is the sabbath morning sermon now i'm into meddling but it's true what happens spiritually when you only partake of the showbread on sabbath morning our spiritual life shrivels up and dies now let's talk about the third piece of furniture are we learning anything from what we have in the holy place it's the triangle of sanctification now let's notice the altar of incense the golden altar of incense this piece of furniture was immediately before the veil that divided the holy from the most holy place its orientation even though it was in the holy place its orientation was towards the most holy place in fact uh if you read a couple of verses from scripture exodus chapter 30 and verse 6 it tells us that this altar was immediately before the veil that divided the holy from the most holy you see what happened is when the incense was placed upon this altar with the fire the smoke would ascend the veil and it would go over the veil into the presence of god where the ark of the covenant was notice exodus chapter 30 and verse 6 and you shall put it before the veil that is before the ark of the testimony before the mercy seat that is over the testimony where i will meet with you do you notice the orientation it says the veil that leads into the most holy place the veil behind which the mercy is and i will meet with you there in other words even though it was in the holy place its orientation was towards the most holy place perhaps this is the reason why in the book of hebrews the altar of incense is actually placed inside the most holy place notice for example hebrews chapter nine and verses two through four it says for a tabernacle was prepared the first part in which was the lamp stand the table and the showbread which is called the sanctuary and now notice and behind the second veil the part of the tabernacle which is called the holiest of all what does it say which had the golden sensor and what else the ark of the covenant and so notice that that the a sensor is placed in the context of the most holy place now let's talk a little bit about the altar of incense the altar of incense was so important that only holy fire could be placed upon that altar and what does fire represent the fire represents the holy spirit the oil gives light the holy spirit gives light secondly the incense was of a very special kind which means that it could not be duplicated the bible says that anyone who tried to duplicate or to replicate this the formula that was used for the incense was to be put to death it was so serious you can read that in exodus chapter 30 and uh verses 34 through 38. now you say why in the world would god pronounce such a dire sentence against people for trying to replicate or duplicate this incense the reason is that the incense represented the merits of the righteousness of jesus christ and that cannot be replicated that cannot be reproduced the righteousness of christ is a one-of-a-kind righteousness in fact i want you to notice that the altar of incense is connected with prayer notice psalm 141 and verse 2 psalm 141 and verse 2. it says here let my prayer be set before you as incense the lifting up of my hands at the evening sacrifice so notice what is connected with the incense with the incense is connect connected prayer according to this text you can also read revelation chapter 8 and verses 3 through 5 where it speaks about the prayers of the saints ascending to the sanctuary through the incense that is offered on the altar now i want to read you a statement that we find in the youth's instructor april 16 1903 where we find these very significant words the prayer and praise and confession of god's people ascend as sacrifices to the heavenly sanctuary now listen carefully but they ascend not in spotless purity passing through the corrupt channels of humanity they are so defiled that unless purified by the righteousness of the great high priest they are not acceptable by god your prayers if they go to the heavenly sanctuary without the incense they would be rejected by god because they're going from sinful human channels she continues saying listen carefully christ gathers into the censer the prayers the praise and the sacrifices of his people and with these he puts the merits of his spotless righteousness then perfumed with the incense of christ's propitiation our prayers holy and entirely acceptable rise before god and gracious answers are returned and so the altar of incense represents prayer intermingled with the righteousness of jesus christ now do you know the bible tells us that it's the angels who take our prayers to heaven and our ange the angels bring the answers from god back to us you say what does the bible say that do you remember that i'm the veil that divided the holy and most holy place there were what there were cherubim we studied this last sabbath cherubim embroidered on the veil ascending and descending on the veil so when the smoke of the incense went over the veil into the presence of god it represents the fact that the angels actually bore the prayers to heaven and brought answers back to human beings who prayed incidentally you remember the story of the latter the misnomered jacob's ladder it wasn't jacob's letter it was the lord's letter see we speak of noah's ark that was noah's ark solomon's temple you know really it wasn't solomon's temple it was the temple of the lord that was built by whom that was built by solomon but you remember the latter the bible tells us that the latter represents christ the top of the ladder represents his divinity or his deity the bottom of the letter represents his humanity but ascending and descending upon the latter what was there angels were ascending and descending upon the son of man in other words the holy spirit works through the ministration of the angels when we pray the angel takes our plea to to jesus in the sanctuary he presents it before his father and then jesus pleads with his father and his father gives us answers back through the administration of the angels in other words the angels are very very important in the economy of salvation now let me read you just one more passage as we draw this to a close about the altar of incense luke chapter 1 verses 8 through 10. this is a very important passage because it gives us the symbol and what the symbol represents notice luke chapter 1 and verses 8 through 10. it says here so it was that while he that is zacharias the father of john the baptist while he was serving as priest before god in the order of his division according to the custom of the priesthood his lot fell to do what to burn incense when he went into the temple of the lord and the whole multitude of the people was what praying outside at the hour of incense isn't that interesting you have the symbol and what the symbol means because you have zacharias offering what incense but what are the people doing outside while the incense is ascending the people are what praying so in other words the altar of incense represents our praises and our thankfulness and our petitions and our praises to god for how wonderful he is with us steps to christ page 91 uh excuse me 93 we find this very significant statement prayer is the opening of the heart to god as to a friend some people say well how do i pray well let me ask you how do you talk to your friends that's how we should pray prayer is the opening of the heart to god as to a friend not that it is necessary in order to make known to god what we are but in order to enable us to receive him prayer does not bring god down to us but brings us up to him we're all acquainted with that very short verse in first thessalonians chapter 5 verse 17 where the apostle paul says pray without ceasing so my question is this what is the secret of a holy balanced spiritual life it is being in the holy place with jesus christ number one receiving the oil of his holy spirit to give his light to the world number two assimilating jesus christ as our life through a study of his holy word and number three raising on a regular basis our prayers to god with our praises our thanks our penitence and our requests and when we have these three ingredients in perfect balance not one predominating over the other we have a balanced spiritual life and we are in the holy place with jesus christ our savior and our lord [Music] [Music] [Music] so you

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Published: Thu Apr 08 2021