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Newington Three Angels Church

The Sanctuary

Eric Walsh

01 The Sanctuary: Designed for Eternity

We are gonna begin our three-part series on the sanctuary today.

And, lot to cover, so we're gonna get right into it.

Our scripture reading was already read, it's from Exodus chapter 25 and verse 8, it says, and let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.

Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.

Our message this Sabbath is entitled, Designed for Eternity.

Father God, we thank you for this opportunity to study your word.

We thank you, Lord, for your mercy and for your grace.

We thank you, Lord, for being better to us than we are to ourselves.

We thank you, Lord, for going to Calvary.

As we turn now, Lord, to study your word, I ask that you once again just make me a nail upon a wall.

Upon that nail now, Lord, I ask that you hang a portrait of Jesus Christ.

Let Eric Walsh not be seen or heard today.

Instead, Father, let us hear a word from the throne room of grace, especially as we study this very important topic.

All right, so we're going to give the first message a bit of an overview and start the discussion around the sanctuary.

We're going to start in Exodus chapter 24.

The Bible says, and Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount.

The glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai and the cloud covered it 6 days.

And the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud.

To give you some context, the children of Israel had been slaves in Egypt for hundreds of years.

They'd also been very strongly indoctrinated in the ways of Egypt.

The way that the Egyptians worshiped, the way that they saw God, or in the case of the Egyptians, the set of gods that they worshiped, all of this had now been ingrained in the minds of God's people.

God was now having to do the work through Moses and Aaron of having his people unlearn what they learned in Egypt.

This is where we find ourselves, where Moses now has gone up on top of Mount Sinai and a cloud covers the mount.

In Exodus chapter 25 and verse 1, the Scripture says, and the Lord spake unto Moses, as he was up in this mountain, saying, speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering of every man that giveth it willingly, with his heart shall ye take my offering.

And this is the offering which ye shall take of them, gold and silver and brass, and blue and purple and scarlet and fine linen and goat's hair, and ram skins dyed red, and badger skins and shittum wood, oil for the light, spices for anointing oil and for sweet incense, onyx stones and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate and let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.

When Moses went up into the mountain, he was given the instruction to make a place for God to dwell with his people.

God, 1 of the interesting things is God says, only take what people are willing to give.

In other words, you're not to force anyone.

It should not be compulsory that they give anything.

And all of what we just read are all parts of what would be made to build the sanctuary.

It was a fine structure that was going to be made, 1 of the most exquisite in all of history, and yet it was supposed to be portable.

They had to be able to walk with it as they had not yet rested in the promised land.

God gave Moses the direct instruction as we shall see and the people responded by giving.

And here in Exodus 25 and verse 9, According to all that I show thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.

God gives Moses the exact blueprint of how to make this sanctuary.

In fact, much of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy are dedicated, as well as the book of Hebrew, to the description, the study, the purpose of the sanctuary.

It makes sense that there's something special about this message, the sanctuary message, that we should all as Christians understand.

In fact, it is a unique doctrine in many ways to the Seventh-day Adventist Church that we have studied this and understand because in it are some very important secrets.

In fact in Exodus 25 and verse 40 God gives, says this, and look that thou make them after their pattern which was showed thee in the mount.

And when we get to the book of Hebrews a little later on, what we're gonna find is that Moses was tasked with replicating on earth a structure that exists in heaven.

And once you understand that, you start...

The sanctuary on earth begins to take a more significant role.

You begin to understand that if I can understand the sanctuary, I will better understand God's plan of salvation.

You'll better understand how he sees sin.

You'll better understand the sacrifice that Christ made when he went to Calvary.

This is what places of worship look like for them.

This is a 3D re-rendering of what 1 of this is I think the temple to Isis would have looked like.

The Egyptians were phenomenal architects and builders.

Of course, they had slave labor to help them to build all of this.

So interestingly enough, many of the children of Israel probably participated in building many of the very temples God now wanted them to forget.

There would have been all kinds of hieroglyphics on the sides and writings, stories being told on the sides of these things.

And as they come out of Egypt, they're now going to learn from God a new way.

1 of the most fascinating things about the sanctuary is that it literally is a three-dimensional participatory lesson book.

And so the children of Israel were put in a situation where they weren't just handed a book and say read and learn.

They were actually actively involved in the learning process by understanding the sanctuary.

When Moses was up in the mount, God appeared there.

To the children of Israel he appeared as a devouring fire, but to Moses he was just a cloud.

God began to reveal himself to them because their idea of God had already been distorted.

And I want to make some parallels to modern times.

Because in the Egyptian pantheon of gods, what you see as you look at this is many of them are half human, half animal.

What Satan did in Egypt and was doing in most of the world is actually quite profound.

What he did was he brought man down, he brought God down to man's level.

So they were worshiping beings that were more dishonest, more crooked, more hateful and jealous, more vindictive than they were.

And then he, instead of having them, Satan did not want anyone focusing on the Creator, he had them worship the created.

And you can see, I was reading some of these blends.

1 of them has the head of 1 of the dogs of Africa.

And it was because that animal would be seen going in and eating from out of graves.

So if the graves were shallow, this kind of dog would go and eat.

So in order to protect yourself from going to death, they took the head of that dog and put it on a person.

And that god became the god of death and hell.

This superstition created in the minds of the children of Israel a very distorted picture of God.

I have friends and even some people very close to me who have gone back to this way of worship that are now into Egyptology, all in the name of blackness and culture.

These gods have not been completely forgotten, they're back and people are looking at them.

But I want to submit to you that 1 of the reasons we must understand the sanctuary is so that we get the right view of God.

Because even in our day God is still being distorted.

Just this week they said they found another skull.

I forget where in the world they said they found it.

And they said this is a new species of human being.

02 The Sanctuary: Salvation in Motion

I have a different script reading here, but it's part of the 1 that was already read.

Psalm 32, 5 through 7, I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid.

I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.

Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.

A message this Sabbath, salvation in motion.

Salvation in motion, the sanctuary, part 2.

We thank you, Lord, that you are better to us than we are to ourselves.

Now Lord, once again I ask that you make me just a nail upon the wall, a rusty, sorry nail, Lord.

But upon that nail, Lord, I ask that you hang a portrait of Jesus Christ.

It does us no good if people see me today, Lord.

So we're asking for an extra outpouring of your Holy Spirit.

I ask now Lord that you bind the devil, that you vanquish his minions and fill this place with your Holy Ghost.

This is our prayer in Jesus's precious and holy name.

All right, we're gonna jump into a story.

I wish I had time to give the whole story, but I feel the sanctuary comes alive better as you tell it inside the stories of the scripture.

This is 1 of the most interesting stories of the entire Bible, definitely of the Old Testament.

We jump into a space here where the prophet Nathan has approached King David.

2 Samuel 12, verse 1 says, and the Lord sent Nathan unto David.

He came unto him and said unto him, there were 2 men in 1 city, the 1 rich and the other poor.

The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds.

The poor man had nothing, save 1 little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up, and it grew up together with him and with his children.

It did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.

And there came a traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him, but took the poor man's lamb and dressed it for the man that was come to him.

The Bible says, and David's anger was greatly kindled against the man.

And he said to Nathan, As the Lord lives, the man that has done this thing shall surely die.

And he shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity.

1 of the most poignant verses concerning King David is found in 2 Samuel 12 7.

Nathan looks at him and Nathan says to David, you are the man.

To give you the context of this parable and the interaction between the prophet and the king.

David should have gone to war, but instead he stayed back in his palace.

1 night he goes wandering up onto the roof of the palace and sees a woman bathing, according to the scripture, an incredibly beautiful woman.

David is overtaken by his lust and calls for her to be brought to him.

And long story short, he lays with her and she winds up pregnant.

Instead he sets her husband up, who is 1 of his most loyal soldiers, to go to the hottest part of the battle and then instructs the armies of Israel to withdraw.

So that as they withdraw, he is killed by the enemy.

In 1 failed swoop, David, who was called a man after God's own heart.

David, who went to a sword fight with a sling and stones and slew a giant.

David, who had fought wars for the kingdom of Israel and had brought great glory to God in so doing David not only commits adultery he commits murder.

Nathan goes on to say in 2 Samuel chapter 12, 7, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.

And I gave you thy master's house and thy master's wives into your bosom and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah.

God says and if it had been too little I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things.

David if you wanted more all you had to do was ask.

You didn't have to steal somebody else's wife and put her husband to death.

Verse 9, wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight.

You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword and you've taken his wife to be your wife and have slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.

Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house because you have despised me and has taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.

Thus saith the Lord, behold, I will raise up evil against thee of thine own house.

I'll take your wives from before your eyes and give them unto your neighbor and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of the Son.

For you did it secretly God says but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the Son.

Verse 13, and David said to Nathan, ha, I have sinned against the Lord.

I want you to understand that 1 of the reasons this story is so important as we are about to get into the sanctuary, is not just Nathan's approach.

A lot of folk when they see someone doing wrong, they wanna come in and knock over tables and kick over chairs.

They want to announce your sin as loud as they can and berate you with your actions.

But it's not just Nathan's approach, it's David's response here in verse 13.

David says, I have sinned against the Lord.

Many others, remember when Saul was caught sinning?

Oh, actually, it was the children of Israel why you hear the bleeding of the sheep and it was their fault when Adam and Eve got caught he said Adam said it was the woman you gave me, Lord.

It's partially your fault, you shouldn't have gave her to me.

And she said, it was not my fault, it was the serpent.

You shouldn't have made the serpent talk.

All through the Bible, people find excuses.

David simply says, I have sinned against the Lord.

And you have to understand, when David says this, he accepts a death penalty.

According to the law of Moses, what David is guilty of is worthy of death.

He understands that he now, by admitting his sin, should be put to death, as the law says.

So if there's a reason to try and hide, or lie, or find an excuse, he could have done it.

He doesn't say, what was she doing on the roof?

He doesn't say, I tried to get this man to go back with his wife, if you know the story.

Part of the problem for us, as many of us as Christians, is we're not willing to say, I sinned.

We want to find some other reason, some other way, some other explanation.

But there's power in confessing and admitting we have done wrong.

Spirit of Prophecy says in Patriarchs and Prophets, page 723, she says, the prophet's rebuke touched the heart of David.

His soul was bowed in penitence before God.

With trembling lips he said, I have sinned against the Lord.

All wrong done to others reaches back from the injured 1 to God.

David had committed a grievous sin toward both Uriah and Bathsheba, and he keenly felt this.

But infinitely greater was his sin against God." The reason the sanctuary message is so important is exactly encapsulated in that.

When we sin, we sin against the God of heaven.

David now, to make the story come to life, When Uriah said, God has put away your sin, you're not going to die, David would have had to go to the sanctuary and deal with his sin.

03 The Sanctuary: The Path to Holiness

And good to be in the house of the Lord with you all again today as we do our the third part in our series on the sanctuary and this has been very rich for me, but I'm realizing that I'm I don't go fast enough through the sanctuary.

So we'll talk about that as we go into it.

I praise God that we are all here and that even as for us at least, some of the restrictions of the pandemic are loosening, we're still praying for other parts of the world where it is still quite severe.

We watched in the last 2 weeks a building collapse on its own in South Florida 1 spotlight of hope was they did get a cat out alive in the last 24 hours and reunite the cat with their owner.

We watched the president of Haiti assassinated.

I think 1 of the things that's most shocking is the trends of weather.

As we see the droughts continue in the west, unprecedented temperatures, all of which are putting the world on alarm.

And even here, we are dealing with tropical storms in a place that is antithetical to the tropics.

I believe that God is giving us the signs and helping us to see that time is short.

Our scripture reading today will be taken from the book of John, the 17th chapter.

John chapter 17, we'll read verses 15 through 17 John 17 15 says I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world but thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

It says, sanctify them through thy truth.

Our message this Sabbath, the the sanctuary part 3, the path to holiness, The path to holiness.

As we dive even deeper into your holy sanctuary and the message attached to it Lord.

I pray for the outpouring of your Holy Spirit.

Lord once again I ask only to be a nail on the wall.

Instead we need to hear a word from Christ.

This is our prayer in Jesus' precious and holy name.

We were here a couple weeks ago and and go through this initial inauguration of the sanctuary.

Leviticus chapter 9 and verse 1 it says, And it came to pass on the eighth day that Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel.

He said unto Aaron, Take thee a young calf for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering, without blemish, and offer them before the Lord.

The first thing as they go to kick off the sanctuary is that there are sacrifices that have to be made.

Verse 3 the Bible says, And unto the children of Israel thou shalt speak, saying, Take ye a kid of the goats for a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both of the first year without blemish, for a burnt offering.

Also a bullock and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the Lord, and a meat offering mingled with oil for today the Lord will appear unto you can you imagine they get a given this instruction to go and get these things they're about to start the sanctuary service Moses tells the people that do these things because today God is going to appear to you.

The last time they saw God, we talked about a couple of weeks ago, he was like a consuming fire on the top of Mount Sinai.

The people were sore afraid but Moses was able to go up into the cloud.

I'm sure the people were anxious as they began to prepare and put things together knowing that God was going to show up among them again.

Verse 5, they brought that which Moses commanded before the tabernacle of the congregation.

And All the congregation drew and stood before the Lord.

And Moses said, this is the thing which the Lord commanded that you should do.

And the glory of the Lord shall appear unto you.

In Leviticus 9 it goes through all of the offerings the way that the certain organs had to be removed and laid on the brazen altar, which we talked about last week.

All of these things had to be set up just right.

And once everything was put in its place in Leviticus 9 and verse 23 the Bible says, and Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation.

So they went into the holy place, they come back out, the Bible says, came out and they blessed the people.

And the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people.

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