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Listen to messages from God's word that can be applied to your everyday life. Check us out at www.forbraggchurch.com!
Episodes
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Nov 23, 2016
13 min
The Dawn of Blessing, a Thanksgiving Monologue
The Psalmist encouraged us:
Psalm 50:14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:
The history of our own country has often been likened to the conquest of Canaan, and the likeness, while certainly less than perfect, is not without its merits.
Take, for instance, the description of the promised land in Deuteronomy:
Deuteronomy 8:7 For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;
8 A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees,
and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;
9 A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness,
thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron,
and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.
It does sound a lot like America, doesn’t it?
Let’s go back to the beginning.
Almost 400 years ago the sun of God’s blessing arose upon our forefathers on this American continent.
But it was not, at first, the full-faced warmth of a midday sunlight.
As a matter of fact the story begins long before dawn ever lightened the skies of that cold dark night.
The ocean voyage on that small rickety ship had been characterized by misery and mishap.
The Mayflower was tossed and broken for 2 months before the sick and weakened crew caught sight of land.
They surely thought then that dawn was near, but the darkest part of their night was yet to come.
During the winter of 1621 they spent most of their evening on the Mayflower.
They had tried to build a shelter, but it was destroyed by fire.
Half of their number perished that winter due to cold, disease and starvation.
March opened upon a torn and broken cluster of inexperienced farmers.
It was planting season, but they knew nothing of how to make this cold hard land produce food.
Little hope of dawn still existed in the hearts of those few survivors, but then the faintest hint of light began to show in the darkness of their tragedy.
Samoset and Squanto stepped out of the woods and extended their offers of assistance.
They made a peace treaty with Massasoit, chief of the local natives.
It was only the first few rays, but the dawn had come.
The first harvest yielded just enough food to keep the little ragtag handful of pilgrims alive.
It has been said “that feast was not so much a celebration as it was the last meal of condemned men.”
But it is their response to those few rays of hope that coaxed the sun of God’s blessing into fullness.
They did not build a monument to their own accomplishments.
They did not horde the fruits of their labors or push away those who were different than themselves.
They set aside a period in which they would acknowledge the One Who makes the sun rise.
They determined to give thanks to God.
They invited the natives to join them, and the first Thanksgiving took place in the fall of 1621.
Some would say that the blessings that shone down upon the settlers and their descendants in the ensuing years was due to blind luck and the wisdom of the decisions that they made on this continent.
However, what characterized their decisions in those early years was not always wisdom, and fortune did not always rest with them.
Over the ensuing years they made the same blunder that many make who seek a utopian society, and do not understand the reality of economics.
For several years and in several different colonies over the years, the pilgrims and settlers attempted to make, what we now call, “socialism” work.
William Bradford chronicles this in his diary and says that it produced “corruption, confusion and discontent.”
Despite their failures and the consequences thereof, they regularly stopped to give thanks to God for every little ray of blessing, and God responded by giving them the full warmth of the sun.
Over the next hundred and fifty years the settlers in America made many mistakes, but one thing they did not fail to do was give thanks to the God who made the sunlight of His blessing to shine upon their brave new world.
And God responded by continuing to smile warmly upon them.
During that early time colonies celebrated what they called Forefathers day.
It was not a celebration of the Pilgrims though, so much as it was a remembrance of what caused the sun of God’s blessing to shine so brightly upon them.
It was the fact that they gave God the glory for their blessings.
Thomas Jefferson intimated this in His own Thanksgiving Proclamation:
“…it becomes us humbly to approach the throne of Almighty God,
with gratitude and praise, for the wonders which his goodness
has wrought in conducting our forefathers to this western world…”
He went on:
“…to appoint THURSDAY the 9th of December next, to be a day of publick and solemn THANKSGIVING to Almighty God, for his mercies, and of PRAYER, for the continuance of his favour and protection to these United States; to beseech him that he would be graciously pleased to influence our publick Councils,
and bless them with wisdom from on high, with unanimity, firmness and success;
that he would go forth with our hosts and crown our arms with victory;
that he would grant to his church, the plentiful effusions of divine grace,
and pour out his holy spirit on all Ministers of the gospel;
that he would bless and prosper the means of education, and spread the light of christian knowledge through the remotest corners of the earth; that he would smile upon the labours of his people, and cause the earth to bring forth her fruits in abundance, [and] that we may with gratitude and gladness enjoy them…”
The people of America followed the recommendation of their leaders and were grateful, and God rewarded them with an extended period of blessing.
When the United States of America was founded, its first president constantly affirmed the God of Heaven to be the source of all blessings upon this new country:
“It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God,
to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits,
and humbly to implore His protection and favor.”
As American leadership recognized the source of the sunlight of God’s blessing God made that sun to shine all the brighter.
As Governor of Massachusetts, John Hancock proclaimed:
“I HAVE therefore thought fit to appoint, THURSDAY, the seventeenth of November next, to be observed as a Day of Public THANKSGIVING and PRAISE, throughout this Commonwealth:—Hereby calling upon Ministers and People of every denomination, to assemble—and in the name of the Great Mediator, devoutly and sincerely offer to Almighty God,
the gratitude of our Hearts, for all his goodness towards us;”
In 1863 Abraham Lincoln spoke of the need to remember the One who makes the sun to shine upon this country as he began his presidential proclamation:
The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come,
others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature,
that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.
Then every year for 75 years every president proclaimed a day of thanksgiving to God for His blessings and the favor that He has shined upon us.
In 1941 congress finally made formal what had, over the years, become a full-fledged American tradition, to give thanks to God for sun light of His blessings upon our land.
From then until now the holiday of Thanksgiving has continued, but it is not now what it has been in the past.
A day that has always been recognized as a time when our ancestors gave God thanks for His blessings has changed over the years.
The historical story is clear, but often it is told differently now.
As I search annually for unique presentations of Historical fact, I run across teaching materials that claim the Pilgrims dedicated a day to thanking the Natives for their help, that today we gather to celebrate family and give thanks to each other.
These are good principles, but they are not the gratitude to a benevolent God to which He has responded with blessing for 400 years.
The sunlight of His blessing that has warmed our land for centuries has begun to wane.
I would argue that the cooling of His favor toward us is directly proportional to the decline of America’s gratitude to God.
But this story is not one that needs to end with the sad decline of a nation that used to be thankful to God.
It does not have to end with the sunset of His blessing.
We can revive the gratefulness that once coaxed the sun of His blessing to shine upon us.
It is our rightful place, to raise our hands in grateful praise to that One Whose rays of blessing have caressed our land.
We may succeed in extending the day of blessing if we are willing to revive the spirit of thankfulness to God in America.
As you enjoy the plenty with which God has blessed you tomorrow, make sure to genuinely thank Him for it, not because it is all you want, for the Pilgrims could certainly have asked for more, but because it is more than we deserve.
God has been good to us.
He is always good, and He is glorified when we acknowledge His goodness.
Nov 20, 2016
Nov 15, 2016
Nov 15, 2016
43 min
Exodus 27:1-8, November 13, 2016
Audio failed - Sermon Notes Attached
The Furniture – The Brazen Altar of Sacrifice
Exodus 27:1-8
My family is in Sacramento, visiting Dan and Robin, and I have been receiving some text updates from them as they enjoy the things that the big city has to offer.
One of the texts I received from my wife was a series of pictures from Ikea, a furniture store.
Seven pictures were attached, in which everything from kitchen counters to fireplaces and couches were depicted.
Three words accompanied the series of expensive looking furniture, “stuff I like.”
In my typical expressive fashion I responded, “that’s a lot of stuff.”
That was the end of our conversation about furniture.
Furniture is important though, isn’t it?
It makes up the room.
It gives us a sense of the inhabitants of the house and their tastes.
Such is the case with the furniture of the Tabernacle.
It is not haphazard, but purposeful.
Each piece is meaningful and representative as well as functional.
So, that is where we are going over the next several weeks and leading up to Christmas.
I intend to transition this series into a final Christmas message on Sunday, December 25th.
I hope you will be able to join me for this journey and the destination as well.
We have for about 16 weeks followed the children of Israel through the wilderness, focusing primarily on the different ways that God revealed Himself to them.
That series we titled, “The God of the Wilderness,” and we took a 10 week window in the midst of that to address each of the 10 commandments that were given to them.
Last week we saw the blood of the covenant that was sprinkled upon a stone altar and then upon the people.
We noticed there the demand for justice to be done, and the symbolizing of that justice in the sacrifice that was made and the blood that was sprinkled upon the altar.
We then saw the need for covering that was symbolically met by the sprinkling of blood upon the people.
From this we learned about the efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ and, to some extent, we will delve deeper into that concept today.
Today I would like to embark with you on a new series.
I am excited about this, and I hope that it is a blessing for you.
Our setting is not far from where we left off last week.
We are still in the wilderness.
One thing that we discussed at length is the fact that the people of the nation of Israel have an identity crisis, having been recently delivered from slavery.
We have spoken of it to some extent as we saw how God revealed Himself to His people during their wilderness travels.
A very important part of how God transformed His people in the wilderness was the portable temple that He designed for them.
Think of the significance of that tabernacle to a nation of people who were trying to figure out who they were and what made them different than the other nations of the world.
The land from which they had come had been full of religion, but it was a very Egyptian religion.
The Pharaoh was the personification or offspring of Egypt’s primary deity.
Other lesser gods were widespread throughout Egypt and represented by animal shapes graven in stone or wood or metal of some sort.
This was what Israel knew of religious ritual and formality.
They had their own God, but had not experienced any religious ritual or worship of Him.
While the religion of their slave-masters was gilded in the trappings of idolatry and temples, the nation of Israel could not point at anything that represented their religion.
They had no meeting place.
They had no central structure that housed the instruments of worship or the rituals of their religion.
God remedied this in a beautiful way and without resorting to the same idolatry that so characterized the religion of Egypt and that of the nations through which Israel traveled.
He gave instruction for the design and assembly of one of the most deeply meaningful and beautiful structures ever intended for religious worship.
We know this structure as the tabernacle.
Our new sermon series will focus on the furniture that was designed for that portable temple, but let us get situated and understand more fully the context of that furniture.
It begins with the layout of the camp.
An overhead view of the camp of Israel would immediately show that there was a very clear focal point.
The tribes were organized evenly surrounding the central space and the tents were positioned in such a way that their doors would face that same location.
As your eyes are drawn then, to the center of the camp, it becomes clear what that focal point is.
An area about 150’ long by 75’ wide is cordoned off by a 7 ½’ white linen fence, supported by 60 pillars evenly spaced around the perimeter.
On one side of that white linen enclosure is the entrance, an elaborately embroidered curtain set forward from the border to allow for the worshipper to walk through the opening into the courtyard of the tabernacle.
As we walk through that opening we come to the very first piece of furniture in the courtyard, and it stands out as the largest and most prominent piece of furniture in the whole enclosure.
Our text describes this great bronze obstruction as an altar of sacrifice.
READ TEXT - Exodus 27:1-8
PRAY
Our text this morning is literally a description of a piece of furniture.
No commands are given to us therein.
No moral rules or regulations are communicated to us.
There is just painted for us a picture of a great altar.
I would like to start there, and firmly impress upon you the details as God gave the instructions.
Let us begin with The Appearance of the Altar:
The design parameters that we have just read describe a large piece of furniture, as I mentioned, the largest of all the furniture in the tabernacle and surrounding courtyard.
Its dimensions are 7 ½’ by 7 ½’ and 4 ½’ tall.
Each corner is adorned with a great brazen horn, giving the altar an intimidating and dangerous appearance.
The surface gleams with polished brass and the instruments are fashioned of the same.
There is a fire raging below the altar, and the flames leap between the horns, ready to consume anything that is thrown into the furnace.
The heat can be felt almost immediately as we approach the altar.
However, as we move closer, we realize that the ground is covered in blood.
It has puddled around the great altar and seeped into the ground below until the soil itself is stained a deep crimson red.
The color is reflected in the bronze sides of the altar and lends a fierceness to its appearance.
The altar is not a pretty piece of furniture.
It is powerful.
It is serious.
It is deadly.
Everything about the appearance of the altar inspires the viewer with awe, and I think that the impression that it would bring first is that it is not just for decoration.
It is the most used piece of furniture in the tabernacle.
This brings us to The Use of the Altar.
The Altar of Burned offerings was a place of sacrifice.
We spoke of this last week as we noticed the 12 pillars and the stone altar that Moses built at the foot of Sinai.
This one is different in that it was meant for more than a symbol.
It was built for function.
This Altar was used daily for the sacrifice of animals.
On the day of Atonement, it is upon this altar that the sacrifice was laid, to be consumed by its flames.
Every day as well this altar consumed a sacrifice.
Its flame was to be kept burning perpetually, so as to be a constant reminder to the nation of the need for sacrifice and the consuming nature of the justice of God.
When the people of Israel spoke of the Tabernacle, they spoke primarily of this altar.
It was the extent of their experience with the tabernacle.
They were not allowed further into the courtyard.
They would enter through the gate with their sacrifice or offering.
They would be greeted by the temple priests, who would take their offering.
They would come with their arms filled and leave with them empty.
They would never walk past the altar of burnt offering.
It was a great bronze barrier, burning with the fires of judgment and stained with the blood of sacrifice.
Regarding the use of the altar the Psalmist mentions how a sacrifice would be brought to the altar and prepared for slaughter:
Psalm 118:27 God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light:
bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.
Can you picture now, that lamb or goat or bullock, tied to the great corner horn of the altar, hearing the crackling of the flames beyond, and smelling the blood of the sacrifices that had preceded it?
The sacrificial animal would not wait long in that place, for soon it would be slaughtered and divided up to be laid upon that great altar.
The book of Leviticus gives us some description of the use of the altar and the process of the sacrifices that were offered thereupon.
Leviticus 4:24 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the goat,
and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the LORD:
it is a sin offering.
25 And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger,
and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering,
and shall pour out his blood at the bottom of the altar of burnt offering.
The altar of burnt offering was a place of judgement, where sin was symbolically transferred to an animal and then judged by the flames of justice.
This brings us to our next and last point:
The Meaning of the Altar
As we have noticed, this altar is not a pleasant place.
It isn’t necessarily beautiful, and it isn’t a piece of furniture that is designed to make the worshipper feel good.
Its use is as severe as its appearance, and may cause you to recoil at the bloodiness of it.
None of this is by accident.
It is intended to impress upon the viewer a certain gravity and sadness, for it is a necessary piece of furniture.
The brazen altar of sacrifice is a symbol of justice.
It houses a devouring flame and cries for the application of blood.
It calls for death and requires atonement.
It was the primary impression that God wanted to leave upon the Israelites, that their sin demanded a sacrifice, that a price must be paid.
We understand from our reading in the New Testament that these pieces of Tabernacle furniture were shadows of things to come.
Hebrews 8:5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things,
as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle:
for, See, saith he, that thou make all things
according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.
The devouring altar of sacrifice that presided so dominantly at the entrance of the tabernacle communicated this truth: that sin has a price, and that price is severe.
Paul reiterated this in his letter to the Hebrew Christians:
Hebrews 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood;
and without shedding of blood is no remission.
One impression that I get as I try to place myself in the sandals of the Israelite worshipper is the overwhelming sense of insufficiency in the sacrifices that are placed on that altar.
Think of it.
The presence of God was just yards away, but no Israelite ever made it past the altar.
They came with their sacrifice, but after it was placed on that altar, they were turned away, knowing that on another day they would be back with another sacrifice.
The fire never went out.
It was always hungry.
The blood that was applied was never enough.
The ground was soaked with it, but tomorrow it would need more.
Paul writes of this in his letter to the Christian Hebrews:
Hebrews 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come,
and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices
which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith,
Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
This was evident to all who offered their sacrifices at the altar, that what the altar demanded could not be fulfilled in the sacrifice of a lamb or a goat or a bullock.
While the ceremonies were meaningful, they were never finished.
We read here of shadows, and that is the significance of the altar.
The altar is a great wooden symbol of judgment, and if its shadow could foretell its fulfillment it would be in the shape of a cross.
The Altar is to the tabernacle what the cross is to the presence of God.
The difference between the cross and the altar is not just its shape.
It is the sacrifice that was placed on it.
Every day and every year, sacrifices were placed on that great altar that were not enough.
Every sacrifice represented the best that man had to offer, and every time the altar was left wanting more.
Then one day another altar was built.
It was shaped differently, but served the same purpose.
It too struck fear and dread into the hearts of the worshipper.
It was a place of suffering.
It was a place of dying.
A sacrifice was placed on that altar, unlike any sacrifice ever offered at the tabernacle.
Then, when the sacrifice had been made, when the ritual was complete, there were words spoken that were never uttered in the tabernacle.
“It is finished,” the sacrifice cried, and the altar was satisfied.