The Tabernacle Prayer: Brazen Laver
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Intro: Last week we began the process of entering into the Lords presence using the pattern given to us through the Tabernacle. We did this first by seeing it, and seeing the door and then entering into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise! Then after spending some time here, do you remember how we closed our eyes and we pictures hearing the crackling of the burning sacrifice, feeling the heat of the fire upon our face, the smell in our nostrils and smoke that burned our eyes and we gazed upon it in awe! It is here that we have access, and of course that access for us is not through the brazen altar but what the brazen altar pictured. Our access to God is through and by the shed blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Who laid Himself out as a sacrificial lamb and became that burnt offering for us! Now that I am saved, I still come into the presence of God by way of the brazen altar and in seeing the altar I am reminded of the obedience of Christ that made all of this possible! It is then, that I recognize my part in putting Him on that cross, and that it was His death that offered me life and that it is now through my obedience to Him, that my death is the means in which He now lives through me! I yield my members and present them before the Lord as a living sacrifice!
This morning we are going to continue our journey into the presence of God’s throne! Just think for a moment, how awesome and amazing that is! Today, we will begin by talking about the brazen laver.
And as...
The gate is the place of thanksgiving and praise!
The brazen altar is the place of yielding and presenting!
The brazen laver is the place of washing and cleansing!
This is a very significant place! Because of the truth that is here at the brazen laver my prayer is that each of us would open our heart to what God intends for us here. It is a place where prayerfully we will really come to grips with some truths that are taught in the Scriptures concerning out walk with the Lord!
The brazen laver is water basin and what it was intended to be was the place where the priest would wash their hands and their feet before entering into the tent of the Tabernacle. It was a ceremonial cleaning, purifying and sanctifying of themselves before they entered into the HOLY PLACE! Before entering into that place, it was required that the priest enter in which clean hands and feet, as well as a purified heart.
We are reminded through all of this, that although our sins were forgiven at the brazen altar and we were saved from our sins because of what Christ did on the cross! I still have flesh, and in not crucifying that flesh through the yielding and presenting it before the Lord in my time of prayer at the brazen altar. I sometimes give into it’s desires and lusts. The reality is that as Christians when we walk in our flesh, we find out very quickly that flesh is not yet saved and those sins that we talked about last week that put Christ on that cross, my flesh still desires to do those things, and sometimes I do them.
So to be clear positionally when we came to the cross of Calvary, we received forgiveness for our sins, and positionally when God looks at us, He sees the righteousness of Christ! We have what the Bible says in,
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
And listen from a positional standpoint we should praise God and thank Him for His grace and give much consideration to the blessing that it is to be where we are at because none of us deserve it!
And yet from a practical standpoint the fact is that a lot of our sins of the past that we commited before we were saved. Those sins have become the sins that we go back to and commit against the Lord in the present as saved people. And when we are not committing them, man we would sure like to at times but being a Christian and all… But oh, remember those good old days when we used to indulge in this or that? Can you fathom that?
On one hand, we’re rejoicing, and thanking, and praising Him for dying for our sins! On the other hand, we’re in a dog fight every day, not to go back and commit the very sins, that put Christ on the cross in the first place...
Here is why the laver is important, because it is the place where all of that gets sorted out and it needs to be sorted out! We are talking about personal holiness! The laver is the place where all of that gets reckoned. It brings us to,
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
I love 1 John 1:9 but when it comes to cleansing, can I encourage you to get into 2 Corinthians 7:1 and cleanse yourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. The laver brings us back to 2 Cor. 7:1 but also to,
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
But we notice that this sanctification and cleansing is not with His blood. The laver is here to remind us that we need to allow Him to cleanse us and sanctify us by the washing of water by His word!
Isn’t it great that we don’t have to go to that physical laver but it is through Christ and by His word that we are made clean!
What happens at the laver as we begin to apply the word of God those sins are exposed to us as we prepare to enter into the Holy Place and very presence of God’s throne! And the Spirit of God is bringing to our remembrance and reproves us through His word and the process of this is how we are cleansed and purified.
And through seeking to allow the word of God to help us… Got does just that! And what happens is this...
We see our sin the way that God sees it!!
When this happens, rather than our sins being an enticement to us, or a temptation for us to get snared into. We see them as Prov. 14:34 says,
Righteousness exalteth a nation:
But sin is a reproach to any people.
and as Proverbs 6:16 as God does!
These six things doth the Lord hate:
Yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
And see see it as 1 John 2:11 sees it as! We see it as darkness.
But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
We see it as 1 John 5:17 does.
All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.
And we see it as Genesis 18:20 describes it as,
And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
And through all of this we see our sin the way that God sees it!
2. We say about our sin what God says about it!!
But in order to do that, do you know what we have to do? We have to get into the water of the word and allow God to show us the things that His word says about the specific sins that we are dealing with.
I believe that one of the reasons we struggle so much with the sins of our past, and we struggle with having victory is because we don’t see our sin as God sees our sin, and we don’t say about our sin, what God says about our sin.
Let’s talk practically about what this looks like.
Maybe for some of us here today, that as we look into the laver and we see this reflection back at us, and the reflection is me, but not as I usually see me, but I see me as God sees me. And in seeing me as God sees me, I realize that I have a major problem with lust.
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Lust is part of the filthiness of the spirit, but now when I act on that lust, it becomes the filthiness of the flesh. When the water of the word gets applied to that lust, I see it as God sees it and call it for what God calls it. And I am brought to the book of Matthew
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
and we are brought to Colossians...
Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Listen this all stems here from the fruit of fornication and Paul brings us through these things which are all true of that fruit but the root of if stems from covetousness. Us never being satisfied and always wanting more… Which is idolatry...
Let’s apply this now practically...
Here is where my prayer is that we open our hearts to His word and just allow Him to show us what He intends for us here.
How many times have we gone before the Lord and think that we are doing Him a service. And we say, Lord, you know I have that problem with lust, and we go to Him 1000 times just like that expecting it to change but it never does...
Now, let’s consider the laver in all of this. What if we came to the Lord like this.
Lord, here at the laver of your word, I see my sin through your eyes, and I am going to say about my sin what you say. Lord, my sin of lust, means that I am an adulterer and Lord, you even see further than just that, but Lord not only am I an adulterer, but I am an idolater.
Do you see, how seeing it as God does, and saying about it what God does, changes the urgency and the necessity of being washed and cleansed from that filthiness.
Let’s talk about worry… I think most people don’t even see worry as a problem… How many times have we come to the Lord...
Lord, it’s me again, you know me, oh Lord, I just a worrier....
At the laver here is the result...
Lord, I have a problem believing what you say...
If one of friends came up to you and said, you know, I have a problem believing what you say… Would you have a problem with that?
That is what worry is, it is us coming to God and saying Lord, I don’t believe you are trust worthy, or Lord, I don’t trust you in my circumstances, or maybe its this, Lord, I don’t have faith in your word…
At the Laver Because your word tells me that you know everything, and that nothing happens to me without you either allowing it or appointing it. And I understand that because you love me, that you use my circumstances not matter how hard or how difficult they may seem for my good and your glory!
So it is at the laver that we see it as God sees it and we say about it what He says about it.
3. We do with our sin what God says to do with it!
1 Cor. 7:1 Tells us to cleanse ourselves of it!
Col. 3:8-9 Tells us to put it off!
Romans 6:1 Tells us no longer to continue in it!
Romans 6:2,11 Tells us to Die to it!
Romans 6:12 Tells us to no longer allow it to reign!
Romans 6:13 Tells us to no longer yield ourselves to it.
Romans 6:16, 20 Tells us to no longer serve it!
Romans 8:2 Tells us to apply the law of the Spirit of life in Christ to free us from it!
1 Cor. 15:34 Tells us to awake to righteousness so we sin not!
1 John 2:12 Tells us to accept His forgiveness for it!
That’s what God says that we are to do with it! And so in coming to the laver, what happens to us is we begin to get as serious about our sin as God is! And listen to me please… Be truthful with yourself here. Because we don’t often see ourselves the way that God does… And we will all find out as we stand before Him that the judgement seat of Christ, isn’t about our position, but our practice.
The Bible tells us,
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
That is done at the laver. Listen because we have to understand this...
“let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness...”
The laver is more than just looking in and seeing the filth, that is part of it, but in seeing the filth, we respond to it, by taking the water of that word, applying it to the filth and allowing it to cleanse us!