May I invite you to take your copy of God's word and turn with me to the book of Exodus. Continue our journey through this wonderful book of holy scripture. Exodus chapter 27. Exodus 27, verses one through 19. Hear now the word of the living God. You shall make an altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide. The altar shall be a square and its height shall be three cubits. You shall make its horns on its four corners. Its horns shall be of one piece with it and you shall overlay it with bronze. Also, you shall make its pans to receive its ashes and its shovels and its basins and its forks and its fire pans. You shall make all its utensils of bronze. You shall make a grate for it, a network of bronze, and on the network you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners. You shall put it under the rim of the altar beneath, that the network may be midway up the altar. And you shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. The poles shall be put in the rings, and the poles shall be on the two sides of the altar to bear it. You shall make it hollow with boards, as it was shown you on the mountain, so shall you make it. You shall also make the court of the tabernacle, for the south side there shall be hangings for the court made of fine woven linen, 100 cubits long for one side. and its 20 pillars and their 20 sockets shall be bronze. The hooks of the pillars and their bands shall be silver. Likewise, along the length of the north side, there shall be hangings 100 cubits long with its 20 pillars and their 20 sockets of bronze and the hooks of the pillars and their bands of silver. And along with the width of the court on the west side shall be hangings of 50 cubits with their 10 pillars and their 10 sockets. The width of the court on the east side shall be 50 cubits. The hangings on one side of the gate shall be 15 cubits with their three pillars and their three sockets. And on the other side shall be hangings of 15 cubits, with their three pillars and their three sockets. For the gate of the court, there shall be a screen 20 cubits long, woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen made by a weaver. It shall have four pillars and four sockets. All the pillars around the court shall have bands of silver. Their hooks shall be of silver, and their sockets bronze. The length of the court shall be 100 cubits, the width 50 throughout, and the height 5 cubits. made of fine woven linen and its sockets of bronze. All the utensils of the tabernacle for all its service and its pegs and all the pegs of the court shall be of bronze. This is the word of the living God and we say, thanks be to God. Amen. Please be seated. Let's pray. Now, living God, we pray that through the preaching of the word of Christ, Your people may hear Christ's word. We pray that we may rest. On the altar that is our Christ, that we may run to refuge this day and cling to the horns. Christ our Savior. We ask your blessing on the preached word in Jesus name. Amen. If you're just joining us, we are walking through the book of Exodus section by section. We continue our journey in this season, noticing the many connections between the tabernacle of old and the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Suffice it to say, every situation that you see, every item that you see, preaches of Christ. It sings of Christ. Perhaps, like me, you have been to places in your life where something just seemed different. You've traveled place to place, home to home, workplace to workplace, but there are times in our lives where sometimes certain places are noticeably different than anywhere else that you've been. Maybe it's the people there. Maybe it's the furniture there. Maybe it's the division there. I know there are times when I've traveled to foreign countries, and it was very clear walking through a literal fence, that where I was a few steps in was very different than any place I had been before. The tabernacle of old was such a place. It was different. The tabernacle which we've studied, this tent where God met with his people, was placed in a larger court. If you picture it, the tent that we've studied with its curtains, with all of its fabric and various metals, was placed in a larger court. And this court separated the tabernacle from the rest of the world. If you entered into the courts, which were still holy, you were entering into the place where God met, where God dwelled with man. This outer courtyard had two main elements in it leading up to the entrance of the tabernacle. One of them we'll see today. The two elements were the bronze altar where burnt offerings would be made regularly. The other implement in this outer court was a bronze laver for washing. Imagine that. You enter into the courts of the living God and the two things that you see are items for sacrifice with blood and the washing water. This entire courtyard made the place of God's abode, the tabernacle, a distinct place from the rest of the world. It was different than any other place. So let's walk through these verses and see this different place. By God's grace, we'll finish with a few lessons together. In Exodus 27, 1 through 8, we heard, read the instructions for the altar. Boys and girls, this was a large box, so to speak, a square, about seven and a half feet. And this would be the place where sacrificial animals would be brought. The animals would not be killed on the altar, but killed elsewhere, perhaps close to it, and then the offering would be made on the altar. Offerings made. This place was marked with the constant aroma of sacrifice. It was very different than any other place. Moses, in this long instruction from God, chapters 25 all the way to The thirties is given instruction here on how to make this altar, how to have the people of God make this altar. Notice in verse two that this altar is to have horns. You shall make its horns on its four corners. Its horn shall be of one piece with it and you shall overlay it with bronze horns on the side of the altar. Now, this altar would be a place where blood would be spilt. And there would be certain things that would occur with these horns throughout the history of God's people to the Old Covenant. Just a couple of instances, for instance, Exodus 29 and verse 21. We read these words. This is now instructions for the priests. Verse 21. And you shall take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron and on his garments and his sons. And on the garments of his sons with him. And he and his garments shall be hallowed and his sons and his sons garments with him. Blood on the altar. Turn over to Leviticus chapter 4. Leviticus chapter 4 verse 25. There we read these words. The blood that is on the altar would then be used for several purposes. Notice one of them in Leviticus 4, 25. The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering. pour its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering. So not only would there be blood that would be poured out on this altar, sacrifice offered to the Lord, but the horns of the altar would be rubbed, as it were, with blood. Leviticus 16, 18, notice what we read there. this day of atonement instruction from Leviticus 16, and he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat and put it on the horns of the altar all around. What's interesting is in this initial instruction for this altar, horns were to be constructed Throughout the history of the Bible in the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, we read that these horns would eventually regularly be covered with blood. The bronze would be turned bloody as the priest regularly would put blood on the horns. These horns would not just be covered with blood. They would also be a place of refuge. There are several instances where we could read of this may give you one such instance. Turn over to First Kings. First Kings, chapter one. First Kings, chapter one and verse 50. We could pick up this entire story. The beginning. Or in the middle, in the middle of First Kings chapter one, we see that King David proclaims that Solomon will be king. Prior to that, we began to read in the first few verses of First Kings. Now, King David was old, advanced in years, and they put covers on him, but he could not get warm. David is dying, boys and girls. Therefore, his servant said to him, let a young woman, a virgin, be sought for our Lord, the king, and let her stand before the king and let her take care of him and let her lie in your bosom that our Lord, the king, may be warm. So they sought for a lovely woman throughout all the territory of Israel and found Abishag, the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. The young woman was very lovely and she cared for the king and served him. But the king did not know her. Look at verse five. Then Adonijah, the son of Hageeth, exalted himself, saying, I will be king. Later in this chapter, we read that David declares that Solomon will be king, and then at the end of this chapter, we read some very startling words, if we know our book of Exodus. Picking up then in first Kings one, verse forty nine, so all the guests who were with Adonijah were afraid and arose and each one went his way. Now, Adonijah was afraid of Solomon, so he arose and went and took hold of the horns of the altar. And it was told Solomon, saying, Indeed, Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon, for, look, he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, Let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not put his servant to death with the sword. See, Adonijah, boys and girls, had rebelled against the king. It was only one thing that he could do. He could plead for refuge and mercy at the place that throughout the Old Testament people could go to plead for refuge and mercy, and that would be the blood covered horns of the altar. What will Solomon do? I would submit to you that Solomon is like a Christ here. Verse 52, then Solomon said, If he proves himself a worthy man, not one hair of him shall fall to the earth, but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die. So King Solomon sent them to bring him down from the altar. And he came and fell down before King Solomon. And Solomon said to him, Go to your house. The horns were not only places that would be covered with blood, but they were a place of refuge for the people of God to flee to. An altar where the people of God could seek refuge under the blood. If you've been following our series, brothers and sisters, this should preach, this should sing. The melody playing in your ears and in your heart should be of Christ right now. For are there not moments where you recognize deeply and grievously your own sin. Sins against the king. Are there not moments where you know that you are undone? There is nothing for you to do but to fly for refuge to the altar of God and plead with God that the king would have mercy on your soul. Blood covered horns. Of course, the materials here we saw last week are important. Bronze is mentioned in this text. There is the beginning of the movement from east to God's presence. We said last week that the entrance of the tabernacle was set up to the east. There would be a movement. Bronze would be the metal used here. What metal, boys and girls, would be used in the tabernacle in the innermost place? Gold. moving in the direction of the living God, as it were. This altar then makes access to God's presence possible. There would be another altar, the inside, and it would be an altar of incense. But this altar would be there for all to see. No one would have access to God's presence without seeing and going through this altar. The Baptist theologian of the 1700s, John Gill, writes this on our text. But of Christ himself, who by his office as a priest, his human nature is the sacrifice and his divine nature, the altar. And he is that altar believers in him have a right to eat of. Hebrews 13 10. His divine nature is greater than the human is the support of it, which sanctifies and gives it virtue as a sacrifice and which makes the sacrifices of all his people acceptable to God. Now, brothers and sisters, do we not want to see all of Scripture and how it preaches Christ to us? But I would submit to you. That it's important that we understand that this is not just our tradition that takes Old Testament pictures and says that preaches Jesus to us. It's what the Bible does with passages like Exodus 27. Turn over, as John Gill has done, to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. There we read these words. The concluding words of the preacher of the book of Hebrews says this, he uses the words altar and tabernacle. Hebrews 13.10, we, that is we Christians, Jews and Gentiles alike, we have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. The writer of Hebrews here is saying, we don't need to return as it were. to the old covenant types and shadows. We, Christ's people, have an altar to feast from. We're priests. We eat of the sacrifice of this altar. Verse 11. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned outside the camp. Therefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach, borrowing on the language of what is discussed in Leviticus 16. Before we get to Leviticus and the day of atonement, we get to Moses's instructions on a place where there would be an altar. Listen, if you were among the old covenant people of God encamped around the tabernacle. The entire aroma of your world would be the aroma of sacrifice and smoke to God. When you entered into the courts of the living God to bring your sacrifices, your offerings to be offered to God, when you came into these courts to sing the praise of God. The altar would be central. The New Testament preacher then in Hebrews 13 says, We have an altar. Our altar is Christ. Boys and girls, the reason why we don't need to build a big box. And start a fire. And kill animals that their blood may cover our sins and offer that to God. It's because Christ has come. He is the tabernacle of God. He has come to dwell with us. He is the altar. He is the sacrifice. He is the priest. And here, we fly for refuge to this one. I would submit to you, brothers and sisters, that this very week, when you saw sin in your life, and you went to the living God, and you fled to Him for refuge, the only thing that you could do was hold to the horns that are Christ. Say, Lord, You have given me a refuge. that I may not be utterly wiped out. My sins are deserving of death. But here I am, by faith that you've given to me, holding on to the horn that is Christ. See, all of these pictures, boys and girls, are pictures. Like we said last week and the week before, they're buildings and tents and pieces of furniture to help prepare for Christ. Well, there's an altar to be built with horns Oh, for the refuge that we have, clinging to Christ. But there was also a courtyard. Moses was given instruction to make a courtyard. Now, you might be reading through your Bible and think, well, this is part of an interesting design. Certainly, there needed to be a gate of some sort. And so we read of these instructions in verses nine through 19. The tabernacle was there. Outside the tabernacle would be several things. The chief thing would be this altar. But then there would be a large fence, a tent fence, if you will, around this tabernacle. But in these instructions, we find some interesting things. This courtyard marks the sacred from the rest of the world. Even though this would not be the Holy of Holies, this courtyard, these courts would be holy. They would be the location where sacrifices brought by the people would be given to the priests. They would do their work. Regular offerings to the Lord would be brought here into his courts. This would also be the place where God's people would sing. And this helps us to understand something, doesn't it? Year after year after year, we read the Psalms. And if you're in a church like ours that sings Psalms. You hear these phrases and you just think that it's it's kind of flowery language to talk about how wonderful it is to be in God's presence, but turn with me to the Psalter, the hymn book. Of God's people in the Old Covenant, just a couple of examples, Psalm 96. Psalm 96. Verse. Eight. Now, the Hebrews of old, the old covenant people would sing these songs, we still sing them today as new covenant people. Listen to the kinds of things that they would sing, Psalm 96, verse eight, give to the Lord the glory, do his name, bring an offering and come where into his courts. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Tremble before Him, all the earth. Or how about Psalm 100, verse 4? Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into where? His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him and bless His name. Why? For the Lord is good. See, the Psalm writers, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, are saying, bring your worship into the courts. They're using the imagery of the old covenant system to come into his courts, bring your offering, bring your praise. And it would be in these courts where singing would occur. Imagine that God's people's lives are marked by the centrality of God among them as they enter in and out of his courts, singing and offering sacrifices to God. wonder if there would ever be another people like this. Isaiah chapter 1 verses 11 and 12. Here, not a song of praise, but a word of correction. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me, says the Lord. I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or goats. When you come to appear before me, who has trampled this from your hand to trample my courts? You're coming into my ordained courts with the sacrifices that I've asked you to bring, but you're not coming with the right heart. You see, this courtyard would become an image all throughout the pages of the Bible. This is where God's people gather. This is where they. Bring their sacrifices and offerings as a new covenant people were told in Romans 12, one and two, that we our very lives are what living sacrifices. Do not we gather in the courts? The living God on the Lord's Day and sing his praise, do we not live lives serving God and serving one another, is that not our calling? Now, the courtyard begins an entire Bible long image that God dwells with his people, and there is a place marked out for his people to be his worshipers. What is the courtyard of God today with the Church of Jesus Christ? Well, what lessons do we learn as we consider the altar, as we consider this court Let me just suggest four to us and we're finished. Hopefully by now it has become clear, particularly if you've been with us for any length of time, that access, number one, to God requires the shedding of blood. Think about this. If you were encamped around the tabernacle, or you were one of those few people that we read of in the Old Testament that was not Hebrew, But you became a follower of Yahweh. You embraced the old covenant. You came to the outer courts. The thing that you would see. The thing that would be central. Would be this altar. No matter where you were, you would regularly be confronted with the reality that blood is required. To come into the presence of God. Sacrifices, yes, which also picture the sacrifices of God's people, the church now in the new covenant. But sacrifices would be made. Blood would be spilt. Inside the innermost place, the mercy seat would be covered with blood. The outward court would have horns or blood covered where people would seek refuge. Friend, The Bible tells us that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. There is no doing away with. There is no atonement. Maybe you're here today. Someone invited you. They said, hey, it's it's the Christmas season. Come to church with me. Or maybe they just invited you and you're here and you need to understand that even though we no longer have a tent. and a courtyard and an altar, sacrifices are no longer needed to be made. There still is required the shedding of blood for you to have access to God, because you are defiled with your sins. You've done things that God has commanded you not to do, and you've not done things that God has commanded you to do. And so you cannot, in your own record, come into the presence of God. There is no access to God for you unless there is blood, for blood points to death, which is the wages, the penalty of sin. And in this old covenant system, God indeed set up an altar. There was perpetual sacrifice, which pointed to Christ to come. Let me encourage you, perhaps this week, read the first few chapters of the book of John. Jesus is born, and he comes on the scene, and one of the final prophets of old, John, his cousin, says to him, and well, those around him, says of him, there is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Christ Jesus would come, he would tabernacle among his people. He would live a perfect life. And then he would die on the cross and his blood would be shed. His blood is the final blood required that all who desire to have access to God to come into his courts, to come into the very holy of holies as his priests might be covered with the blood. Of the eternal son of God. Access to God requires the shedding of blood. Which then takes us to another point. A second lesson as we look at this altar in this court. The fact that there was an altar. Means. That the people of God needed refuge in something outside of themselves. The fact that Christ is our altar means that we need refuge in something outside of ourselves. We are that wicked one. That disregards the word of the king. We are that wicked one that says he is not to be king, I will be king, we crown ourselves as king. And we take refuge in ourselves. But there is a true king. And some of us, by the work of the Holy Spirit, come to understand that we have gravely sinned against this king. We've rebelled against his ways, we blasphemed his name, we've lived lives that are not in keeping with who he is. And the vast majority of the world stays outside the courts of God, resting, taking refuge in themselves, their own religion, their own works. But by God's grace, Many of us hear the sweet sound of the gospel come into my courts. There is a refuge for you. Take hold by faith of the horn that is Christ, plead for mercy. And there, because of the wooing of the Holy Spirit inwardly and the preaching of the gospel outwardly, we come to understand that it is in God's courts where our refuge may be found, that the king against whom we have rebelled will receive us. And take us, and the true and better Solomon, who is his son, will say to us, go in peace to your house. You have to have refuge in something outside of yourself. Friend, listen, works will not save you. Religion will not save you. Attempting to say it's almost January 1, let me make some resolutions for a better life in 2025. That will not save you. The governments of this world will not save you. Your children, your grandchildren, they will not save you. Your faithfulness to your spouse, it will not save you. Your own inward kind of morality will not save you. You must flee to the horns that are Christ. You must hold there. You must plead with nothing else in your hands and nothing else in your voice. Lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner. Do you remember in the New Testament that story where two people were in the courts of God and one of them looked over at this dirty sinner and said what? Lord, I thank you. I thank you that I'm not like this one. And the other, who was undone in the face of his sinfulness before the great King, simply had nothing else to say but what? Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. Are you at the horns of the altar of Christ? Or are you seeking refuge in altars of your own making? Because they will collapse. And there will be no blood covering for you. But why would you stay away from God Why would you stay away from the God who provides a blood covering for you, who places his horns right in your presence, who in the preaching of the word of Christ today calls you to come into his courts and by faith to take hold of his Christ and find refuge there. Friend, your feet must be tired. from running to and fro, finding refuge everywhere else. Why don't you fall on your knees and cling to the horn that is Christ, the blood-covered horn? There's a third lesson, and that is that in this court of God, the central thing was an altar of blood. Now, I know that that may sound like the previous two points, but what I want us to understand is this. As God's dwelling place on earth was marked as special and separate from the rest of the world, as God's, if you'll allow me to use it, church in the old covenant was marked, the place where his people came and dwelt with him in his courts, as it was distinct. The central thing there in the courts was this altar. So today we must understand that the work of Christ and the cross and the gospel must be the central thing in his church. We live in a day, beloved, where churches, courts of God are filled with all manner of things which draw people's attention away from the very thing that is to be central in God's courts. The work of his son, the great altar of God. Maybe you're here and you're looking for a church. We certainly would love to encourage you in the things of this church by God's grace. But you need to understand that the church of God, the church of Jesus Christ is to be marked centrally with the gospel. Listen, if you're visiting churches and you hardly ever hear the gospel, the courtyards of God are cluttered. Listen, if you're sitting under the preaching of the word and you don't regularly hear the gospel in all of its glorious, beautiful harmony throughout sermons week in and week out, the courtyard of God has become cluttered. Listen, if you're looking for churches and the programs that they all offer have cluttered the preaching of Christ and him crucified, it doesn't mean that it's not a true church necessarily, but it does mean the courtyard of God is cluttered The altar was the central thing in this court. The blood and sacrifices offered there was central. You couldn't miss it. And how many churches today are courtyards where people are straining to see? Is there blood here? Is there blood here? Let us be a church. Let us plead with God that there would be churches all across this globe whose courts are uncluttered and no one ever has to leave the courts without seeing the blood of Christ. Which reminds us, doesn't it? That the old covenant system was a system in which there was a clear separation. Brothers and sisters, we ought to be salt and light in the world. We ought to be going out. We're not to be cloistered monks who retreat. There's a world that needs to hear of the gospel. Our Mondays through our Saturdays ought to be peppered and seasoned with evangelism. But there is a separation between the church and the world. And that separation is marked by the aroma of sacrifice. Well, a final lesson for us relates to this, and that is that God's house requires proper boundaries. God's house requires proper boundaries. You know, as you entered into this court, there was a marking, if you will. This outer court was marked. Didn't mean that once you offered sacrifice and worshiped God and left, that you suddenly were no longer belonging to God. But it does mean that in the old covenant system, there was a very special location that marked God's presence. Now his church marks his presence in the world and we no longer need a tent and an outer court and an altar and a laver and a lampstand and priests lighting oil, as we'll see next week. But there are boundaries. Listen, Friend, you're not a Christian. You're not a Christian if you haven't come to see your sin and embraced Christ by faith. And then when you come into His house, His church, you're marked for the waters of baptism. You've publicly said to the world, While I live in the world, I'm not of the world. I belong in the courts of the living God. My Savior has shed his blood for me, and I want to be a part of his church. And churches, even though we're made up of sinners who live and work in the world, just like non-Christians, churches are marked as being the courts of God. And there are boundaries. There are boundaries. While anyone is welcome to come into this room. It is those that are Christ's that ought to be marked by baptism. That ought to come to this table, you will see us in just a few moments do what we call the fencing of the table. We're not going to build a curtain here, but this table is not for the world, in a sense. This table is for Christ's people. Local churches dot this globe. And certain people come in and out of them. Time does not permit me to get into a discussion of church membership. But in one sense, every believer is camped around the courts of God. We ought to be regularly coming into the courts of God. You need the church. You need a body of people who can do what the New Testament calls you to do. You need to know who your elders are. They need to know who you are. You need to actually be marked in some way. This is my church. I'm committed to this place. And when the Lord moves me somewhere else, I'm committed there. One of the most precious things about coming into the court of God Aside from the face of Christ that we see there in his word and in his sacraments. So we come in with other people. You have a regular court courtroom that you're a part of, Fred. If not. Take up the New Testament and consider. I need to regularly come into the courts of God, Christ's people doesn't mean that I'm a Christian by joining a church. I want this place to be the place where I worship and I serve, where I bring my sacrifices, as it were, and I sing his praise. There are places in this world that are unlike any other place. The tabernacle and its courts. Replace. Imagine. In pages to come, the surrounding nations, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Amorites, all of the ites As they catch wind, there's this people over here, and they're moving around. One of the first things they do is they put this big tent in the middle of their encampment. Smoke starts filling the sky. The refrain of voices is heard singing. The aroma of sacrifice is there. Isn't that what it's like when the Church of Jesus Christ, generation after generation, moves throughout this world? This is a people. They're peculiar. Everywhere they go, the first thing that floods their mind is, where are the courts of God? Where are the blood-covered people? I want to bring my living sacrifice in with them, and I want to sing His praise. And by the spirit of God, the Canaanites of this world, some of them become curious that they peer in. What is it that you all do behind those courts? Some of them are cut to the heart by the reality that they are sinners and they've offended the great and mighty king. Because of the spirit and perhaps humanly speaking, the witness of his church, They run in our midst, take refuge of the horns and cry for mercy. Let's pray. Living God, we ask that you would encourage our hearts, helping us to see this tent and courtyard and altar and furniture of the old covenant system, which would give way all of it to Christ. Help us to fly to Christ. You've put him out for the world that any who trust in him may have the right to be called sons and daughters of God. Encourage your people today. Remind us again that we are not a courtless people. You brought us in. So help us, we pray in Jesus name. Amen.