The Way to Godby
Glen Walker
Psalm 77:13 "Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary;" John 14:6 "Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
If God's way of salvation is in the sanctuary and if Jesus is "the way" then we need to go to the sanctuary to see Jesus and know God's way of salvation. In the Sanctuary service we see various offerings all pointing to Jesus. We see the fragrant incense rising with the prayers of God's people. The fragrant incense represented the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The offering of the blood of the lamb represented the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ in my place. By faith I see Him dying the death that I deserve so that I might have the life He deserves. The fragrant smell of the incense, the righteousness of Christ and the bright red blood, representing the substitionary life and death of Jesus Christ, sprinkled in front of the law and over the law make it possible for God to cover His law with the Mercy seat and give us His mercy.
The law speaks death but the blood of Jesus Christ and the righteousness of Jesus Christ speaks life. So bring your prayers to God's mercy seat sprinkled with the bright red drops of the blood of Jesus Christ and the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
The way men have come to God was through the blood and the incense and prayer. Prayer alone was never "good enough" At the sanctuary there were continual blood offering--the blood was sprinkled before the curtain - behind it was the ark of the covenant which had the ten commandments inside. The commandments spoke death to the transgressor, You and me, but the Mercy Seat sprinkled with blood spoke life. Jesus Christ, the lamb of God, died as my substitute. God on His Throne, the Mercy Seat, accepted the prayers that were combined with the blood and the incense, the life and death and righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ bore all the insults at the cross. He was stripped naked. His back was torn open with at least 78 whip lashes, possibly the Jewish number 40 minus one, applied twice. Two times thirty nine equals Seventy-eight stripes. "By His stripes we are healed" Isaiah 53:5.
The whip had strips of leather covered with metal and bone fragments. From his back the blood flowed freely. -- You and I are saved by that precious blood. While people were insulting Jesus and spitting at Jesus and driving 7 inch nails through His hands (or wrists) and feet, He was praying for His persecutors "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." Jesus loves you. He is offering you His blood, His forgiveness, His life, His death, His Holy Spirit. Won't you accept God's way and thank Him for His wonderful love today?
The big three cleaning household cleaning agents are bleach, vinegar, and ammonia. Most big name cleaning agents have one of these as their basis. But there is only one thing that will clean you spiritually. There is only one cleansing agent that will take away your guilt, your sin, your soiled past. There is only one cleaning agent that can make a whore a virgin again. There is only one cleaning agent that makes honest men out of dishonest men. That cleaning agent is the precious blood of Jesus. You can have this cleaning agent absolutely free and yet it is priceless-no amount of money or good deeds can buy it. It is offered to you " without money and without price."Isaiah 55:1. It is priceless, no amount of money can buy it. It is the most expensive item in the entire Universe and yet it is offered to you as a free gift. You get it when you ask Him for it and when you meditate on the closing scenes of the Life of Christ. Come to the cross often. Meditate on the blood of Christ flowing from His torn and bleeding back. They whipped and stripped His back of skin and left just bone and muscle and blood flowing down. They jammed and beat the crown of thorns, one to two inch's long, into His head in mockery, laughing as the blood trickled down His face and His beard.
We are saved by that blood! Praise the Lord you and I are saved by his precious blood. What an amazingly loving Saviour! "Were you there when they crucified my Lord..." are the words to a song. You can and you must go there in your mind if you want salvation at last because that is where the only cleansing agent exists that will take out the spots of sin and make you (spiritually) a virgin again, make you a righteous person. In your mind see Jesus taking your place on the cross. That cross was originally designed for a thief and a murderer named Barabbas. Barabbas deserved to die, not Jesus Christ; but the innocent lamb of God, Jesus Christ took His place. He died in place of Barabbas. He died in your place.
We all deserve to die. "The wages of sin is death" "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" Romans 3:23 & 6:23. We all deserve to die. But the precious lamb of God, your Saviour, and mine, bled and suffered and died covered in blood and spit and shame and abuse in your place, and in mine. THANK YOU Precious Lamb of God!!!!. THANK YOU Jesus!!!!
The law is wonderful and the law is God's precious law but the law offers no life. The law only offers death to the transgressor and that is why the sinner must approach that divine law with the blood of Jesus Christ and the incense, His righteousness. Won't you invite Jesus Christ into your heart today and won't you invite Him often! Jesus says "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." Revelation 3:20 Pray for a new vision "without vision the people perish."
Pray with me. "Dear Father we come to your Mercy Seat, your throne, in heaven. I see Your law condemning me inside the Ark of the covenant and I plead the precious blood of Jesus. I have nothing else to offer. I need the incense, I need Christ's perfect life-His righteousness. I thank you for the gifts of Christ's blood and Christ's righteousness. I confess my sins and my sinfulness and ask for your forgiveness and for your Holy Spirit. You have promised "If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9. I claim this promise and thank you for forgiving me and cleansing me and giving me Your Righteousness. In Jesus name Amen."
If you prayed that prayer you have just become clean through the blood of the lamb of God. You have made use of the only cleansing agent in the universe that will remove the spots of sins in your life. Jesus promises you that you are now perfectly clean, that you now have His perfect character, His perfect life. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." "For God so loved" you the reader, the one who prayed this prayer "that He gave His only begotten Son, that" you the reader, the one who prayed this prayer, believing "in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Do you believe His promise? Do you believe you have Christ's Righteousness right now? Do you believe God has done what He says He will do? Do you believe that He has exchanged Christ's righteousness for your filthy rags? If you have claimed His promise, if you have claimed Christ's blood and His righteousness then at this moment you have Christ's character of love. Keep coming back to receive again of the precious blood of Jesus, the only cleansing agent for the spots of sin available anywhere in the Universe. Come in prayer and in humility with the blood of Jesus Christ you will never be turned away.
Matthew 11:28 "All you who work hard! All you who carry heavy loads! Come to me! I will give you rest." The heaviest load we carry is the load of sin. God will forgive us. He will give us His rest for our heavy load of sin if we are willing to exchange it with Him.
What will be the result? Jesus says "To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne." Can you imagine that? You will actually sit with the King of Kings and Lord of lords, the creator of heaven and earth, the creature of the billions of stars, the creator of the entire universe. It is He, the creator, who bled and died in your place!! You will sit down next to Him!!
Look at the word FORGIVE. What does it mean? It is a combination of two words-for and give. This involves two individuals, God and me. I bring God a life of sin, impurity, unholiness and wickedness God takes and exchanges my life of sin, impurity, unholiness and wickedness for the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The righteousness of Jesus Christ is a gift that God the Father and Jesus Christ have purchased for me. It was the most expensive purchase anywhere in the entire universe at any time in all of history. It cost God everything! It cost God agony, His blood, His suffering in my place. Jesus offered Himself as the bleeding lamb of God dying in my place. And now He offers Himself daily, hourly and moment by moment working to save you twenty four hours a day. Today He offers to work for you twenty four hours of every day, day and night. See Him by faith, standing in front of the Mercy Seat, the covering of the Ark, above the law. See Him offering His own blood, sprinkling His own blood above the ten commandments exchanging your sins for His life, forgiving and cleansing you!
1 John 1:7,9 "But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
1 Peter 1:18,19 "For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect."
In the garden of Gethsemane Christ could have, even then, refused to die in place of you and me. It was not yet too late. He could have wiped the great "drops of blood" from His forehead, and left us to die. He could have gone free. He could have said, "Let the guilty sinners receive the penalty of their own sin, and I will go back to My Father." He had that choice. He was innocent. He was sinless. He did not have to die. It was entirely His choice. Aren't you thankful that He chose to take the curse of sin to save the guilty--you and me. He makes His decision. He will save man at any cost to Himself. He accepts his baptism of blood, that through Him millions may gain everlasting life. In submission he trembles and prays: "If this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Your will be done." He accepts to be baptized in blood and spit and shame and to suffer separation from His Father out of love for you and me. He pleads His blood for you now. Won't you thank Him today?
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