Temple Baptist Church - 3-2-2014
Exodus 30:17-21; 38:8
Introduction:
A. This morning, we come to the Laver. As you entered in through the door, which is Christ the Way, you came to the Brazen Altar, which is Christ the Lamb of Calvary.
1. Jesus is the only Way to heaven and when you come through the Door you find the Brazen Altar. Here, we find the propitiation for our sin, the Lord Jesus Christ. That propitiation was for the sins of the whole world according to 1 John 2:2.
2. In the propitiation of Jesus Christ, we find Positional Sanctification which involves eternal forgiveness of sin. The Old Testament priests offered here daily as an atonement or covering for sin until the Lamb of God came to Calvary and made final payment forever.
3. The child of God never has to enter through the Door of salvation again: it is once forever through the eternal blood of Christ.
B. The next article that we find after the Brazen Altar is the Laver.
1. As Jesus Christ is found in every aspect of the Tabernacle, the Laver of brass was no exception. The Laver was a place of daily cleansing by the priests before entering the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies for the service of God and communion with God.
2. Its typology is a thing of both importance and beauty as the believer walks in sinful world.
C. At the Laver of Brass, we find Practical Sanctification and temporal forgiveness of sin.
1. As the priest approaches the Laver, he is already redeemed through atonement but the Laver is a place of washing or cleansing for service and communion. We that are saved are all priests before God: the theological term is the “individual priesthood of the believer.”
2. In the New Testament, following the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, we find the passing of the Prophets (fore-tellers) and Priests. God gave to the New Testament Church apostles, evangelists, and pastor-teachers.
3. We need no prophets to see into the future as we now have the completed canon of scripture. The Book of James declares that no man knows what lies on tomorrow. Yes, Jeane Dixon was a fake and so are the charlatan money hungry TV evangelists! Your Horror Scope don’t work and fortune cookies are both fake and dry.
4. We need no priest to represent us to God as we have access through the shedding and application of the eternal blood of Christ. The Old Testament Priest represented man to God while the New Testament Apostle represented God to man. Jesus Christ is our Intercessor and Advocate.
5. As individual priests, we do need the cleansing offered at the Laver, which is Christ, because we abide in a sinful flesh and live in a sinful world. In John’s Gospel, this truth is fully set forth as our Lord Jesus Christ used the example of foot washing. Foot washing is not a command given to the church but an example of the Lord Jesus Christ taking the place of the lowest servant in the house who washed the feet of the visitors who came into the home. We are to serve each other with love and humility as our Lord gave example.
John 13:8-10 Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. (9) Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. (10) Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. (We do not need the “all over bath” of salvation but we do get out spiritual “feet” dirty as we walk through this world and need to cleanse them.)
3. The Laver has no dimension. This is because there is no limit to the amount of sin that God will cleanse and there is no limit to the power of God’s forgiveness. No matter who you are or what you have done, your sin can be forgiven through the blood of Christ.
D. The believer is eternally forgiven and will never have to be saved again. Nothing can separate him or her from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:35-39) Though positionally pure through the blood of Christ, the child of God still has a sinful flesh in this temporal state and needs perpetual cleansing as long as he or she lives.
E. With these truths in mind, let us look at the importance of the Laver in relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. We are saved eternally and nothing can undo our wonderful salvation which is based upon what Christ did and not what we do! Too many think that, once saved, that they can live on such a holy plane as to merit their salvation. Romans chapter 10 deals with such effort and claims that such is ignorance of “the righteousness of God!” The righteousness that saves and keeps is the perfectly holy righteousness of Christ!
1. There must be a willingness to approach the Laver of Brass! Far too many of God’s children will not approach the Laver of Brass, which is essential to service and communion, because they know the requirement of such. The Laver was made of brass which typifies judgment and, in this case, self-judgment!
Psalms 24:3-5 Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? (4) He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. (5) He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
John 12:25-26 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. (26) If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
2. There must be honesty when looking into the Laver of Brass! The Laver was made of the looking glasses of the women. The most important judgment is self-judgment and that involves total honesty.
Exodus 38:8 And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the lookingglasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
James 1:23-25 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: (24) For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. (25) But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
1 John 1:8-10 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (9) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (10) If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
3. There must be a cleansing by washing at the Laver of Brass! The water of the Laver is a type of the Word of God.
Psalms 119:9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
John 15:3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
a. When speaking of cleansing the church in Ephesians 5:26, the bible says, “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.” The word of God is the cleansing agent.
b. When witnessing to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:10, our Lord said, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.”
c. Here, at the Laver, we find practical sanctification with its end result explained in the New Testament. 2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
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