The Healing Word

Guest (Male): The healing word ministry on one place is brought to you by the generous donations of people like you. At any time during today's message, feel free to send a prayer request or make a donation using the links provided. Now, I pray you will be blessed as Pastor Jack Morris delivers a message from the word of God that will encourage and strengthen your faith in him.

Pastor Jack Morris: Today we come to the Lord to be cleansed, to be renewed. And in so doing, we can now enter into his presence with joy, with thanksgiving, and truly know the presence of the Lord.

Guest (Male): Welcome to the healing word, a ministry dedicated to offering strength and encouragement through God's word for anyone facing life's challenges. As believers, we want to serve God and walk in his will. Though the path isn't always easy, today's message is here to meet you at your point of need, bringing hope and renewing your faith. Now, here's Pastor Jack Morris.

Pastor Jack Morris: The communion washing. Someone long time ago trying I'm trying to learn how to be a preacher. I said, how do you preach a sermon? And basically this is what they said. They said, first you tell the people what you're going to tell them. Then you tell them. And then you tell them what you told them. Three points in every sermon. So first that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to tell you what I'm going to tell you. Today we're going to be talking about the cleansing of our hearts, the renewal of our spirit. Why do we need our hearts cleansed?

Why do we need our spirits renewed? So we can come into the presence of a holy God, a clean God, a pure God. I can't come dirty to God. I've got to have my heart cleansed because of the defilement of the world and the soiling of the world, the influence of the world. You've been out there. And some of that out there is still clinging. It's holding on. It it it's on your garment. You know, you have the the odor of the world there. But today we come to the Lord to be cleansed, to be renewed.

And in so doing, we can now enter into his presence with joy, with thanksgiving, and truly know the presence of the Lord. Now listen, friend. This is so important what I'm going to be talking to you about today. God will not fellowship sin. God is a holy God. His holiness is a pristine holiness. God comes today to sanctify us, to cleanse us. It's a renewing, it's a progressive, it's an ongoing experience in the Lord. Salvation is once and for all. But the cleansing is a renewing that goes on and on and on forever in this life.

Because we as long as we live in the world, the world wants to put its its taint, its influence, its smell on us, and it will do it. So we come to the house of God, we come into the presence of God, and we're cleansed and renewed. Hallelujah. And that's what the Lord is going to do this morning for our hearts. Let's look at the word today. You have an outline in your bulletin. Let's follow along. And I thank Dr. Blanding for this pointer. I left mine at home. Have you ever forgotten something and you didn't miss it until you needed it?

Well, that happened to me this morning. It happens to me often here recently. Okay. Well, I've got so many gadgets up here to work with today. Here's my man. Oh. All right. There we are. We've been looking at the tabernacle and and doing a study of this that represented God, that brought God and man together. God desires to be with us. He yearns to be with us. Do you know God wants to be with you and he wants to be with me more than you and I want to be with him. We are ever on his mind.

He ever thinks of us. He's concerned about us. But again, because of his holiness, he wants us to know that he cannot enter into fellowship with us while we are in our sin. So he has to come up with the means, and he does come up with the means to cleanse us so that we can enter into fellowship with him. Two things God wants us to know. Number one, he wants to fellowship with us. The second thing he wants us to know, he cannot as long as there's sin. Even the sin, the influence that the world puts on us after we have been born again and brought into the kingdom of God.

We have to have that cleansing in order for God to look upon us and to accept us. So many many years ago, he spoke to Moses and gave him the outline and the design and the dimensions in detail of the tabernacle. God wanted to come and dwell, but God says you have to get rid of your sin and be cleansed first. So in the weeks past, we have seen that the donkey is brought an unclean animal. This man is bringing a donkey. Some people just brought got goods or money to exchange for a lamb that has been examined thoroughly and is spotless.

God looks for holiness, for cleanliness, for spotlessness without spot, wrinkle, or blemish. And so he trades the unclean for the clean. They enter the door, they go over to this area, and the lamb is slain. Its throat is cut. Uh the uh worshiper puts his hands on the head of the lamb, confesses his sins, and as he confesses his sins with his hands on the head of the lamb, he transfers his sin, his uncleanness, his defilement over on to that lamb. The lamb is innocent, and the lamb transfers back his innocency. God cleanses the worshiper at that time.

Now the priest will now go over to the altar and put the the the corpse, the dead body of the lamb on that altar and set fire to it. It's cremated, and the smoke ascends to God. Because the wages of sin is death. Somebody's got to die. And God doesn't want you to die, so he takes the lamb. The lamb is innocent, but the lamb transfers its innocency to you, and you transfer your sin to the lamb. Can you see the relationship between you and Jesus and God, what God is doing? When we come to Jesus and confess our sins, we transfer those sins over onto him, and he bears those sins on the cross.

The this is the altar. The cross is the altar on which Jesus died for us and took our sins and our uncleanness. We we would be consumed just like the lamb, but God doesn't want us to be consumed. He wants us to live live, so he substitutes the lamb. That 's when John the Baptist said to pointed to Jesus, behold the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. We would have never endured the cross. The altar speaks of the endurance. It's made of bronze. It's made of bronze, so the hardest of metal, so that it could endure the fire.

So the lamb is taken. So after the lamb is consumed on the altar, the body is burned, the body no longer exists. It's been a substitute offering. Now the priest will take the blood and go to the second piece of furniture in the courtyard. There's only two pieces of furniture, the the altar and the laver. And there at the laver, he washes his hands and his feet as being directed by God. Now the only the only an individual, only the worshiper can go here. This laver is only for the priest because the priest now is about to take the blood of that lamb that was slain here, body consumed there.

The priest is about to go into the holy place, and then on the high priest on into the holy of holies. The priest is now going to go into the presence of God. The common people could not do that. But today because you're a child of God, God has made you a priest, and in just a few weeks I'm going to be talking. We're going to open this part up and look down, and we're going to see where the veil is. The veil being rent in twain. Now because of your priesthood, you can go into the very presence of God.

But this was denied you many years ago. But after the cross, the veil was rent, and now you and I are kings and priests under the Lord, and we can go into the presence of God, provided we're clean. People say, Pastor, I prayed and prayed, and my prayers aren't answered. Stop sinning, repent, confess, and get clean. I mean, we're not in the presence of God when there is the presence of sin in our hearts, in our minds, in our attitudes, in our eyes, on our tongue, in our behavior, by our habits. Listen, friends. God cannot be phoned, and you and I cannot act religious enough to fool him and go into his presence.

God will not accept you. The prayer that he wants you and me to pray is the prayer, God forgive me, I have sinned. And until you and I are that honest before him, we have no part with him. So here goes the priest now to repent for the worshiper and now to wash his hands and feet so that he can go into the presence of God. Now he's going into the presence of God for you and me. But today you and I can go into the presence of God for ourselves. Now I'm going to give you we're going to get up above it and look right down on it.

Here is the the door. Here's where the donkey was. Here's where the lamb was. Over here is where the the where the animal is slain. Here's the altar of burnt offering. After the consuming of the body, the blood is taken. But first the priest has to go to the laver, wash his hands and feet, and now he goes into the holy place. Here's the veil, and here is the presence of almighty Jehovah. Now if a priest goes in there without cleansing, God immediately kills him. Now what God was doing was getting you and me ready for the coming of Jesus and for the worship in spirit and in truth.

And step by step, he didn't he did this in order to keep from jumping on ahead to Jesus, to step by step because he knows we're slow learners. And he's been trying to tell us all along that we need him. And we need him, but we cannot have him if there is uncleanness in our hearts. So here is the is is looking down on the tabernacle. The whole purpose of the tabernacle, the the the the whole outline here, the whole thing, and all of this inside, this was God's idea, God's dimensions, God planned it all.

You you can't get to heaven some other way. You've got to get to heaven God's way. And this was God saying, I want to be with you. I desire to be with you. I love you. I will do anything but become involved in your sin to be with you. God says that's the limit. That's the limit. Get rid of your sin. You can do it. It's easy. Anybody can do it. I'll enter into life, and you'll enter into life with me. All right. Here's the laver. Okay. That's this part here. That's this right here. Okay.

There it is. There's the laver. Now I'm going to start my sermon. The construction of this laver, look at it with its its shiningness. This is the artist's conception of the laver. On your outline, I want you to online point A right down the word construction. And I want you ladies to listen because I have something so important to say to you. The Bible has something so important to say to you at this time. It says in Exodus 38 verse 8, they made the bronze basin and its bronze stand from the mirrors of the woman who women who serve at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

This was made out of your looking glass, ladies. This was made because the women gave their mirrors. Now it's not the kind of mirror like you take out of your purse a compact and you powder your nose, you know, as you look at it and you powder your nose. Not that kind of a mirror. But it was indeed a mirror that the women used. It was highly polished polished brass. That's what it was. And they can look at it and they can see themselves. It was just highly polished. And when God spoke it said, we have to have a laver for the washing of the priest's hands and feet.

The women volunteered to give their highly polished brass looking glasses to the Lord for this to be done. Now this is a picture of Jesus Christ surrendering himself. And we read of the surrendering of Jesus in Philippians chapter 2 where Jesus surrendered heaven. He surrendered the glory of heaven. He surrendered the worship of angels to come down here to become one like us in order to take our place and die on the cross. This is the surrender. The women did this. They surrendered what they have. But notice what else they did. They said, who serve at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

The the tent of meeting is the the is this. This is the tent of meeting right here. And they would serve and they would But it doesn't say what they did, what their service was. Now that's a very interesting thing. You know, most people most people want to say, hey, look at me, how humble I am. I'm I'm humble. But the women served, but it didn't say or tell us what their role was. It just says they served. Isn't that interesting? Isn't that beautiful? They just served. You see, they gave priority to God. God was the focus of their attention.

It was indeed service to the Lord. Now these people these women never got their name in the bulletin. And they didn't get upset when they didn't get their name in the bulletin. Matter of fact, they didn't want their name in the bulletin because their name and what they did is not in this bulletin, the Bible, the book of life. They just served. Isn't that wonderful? What an attitude. Now look at point B in your outline and write down the word position. And I 'm going to read from Exodus chapter 30 verse 17 and 18. Then the Lord said to Moses, now remember, it's God saying.

It's God doing all the talking. This is not Jewish worshiper, Hebrew worshiper, Moses worship. This is how God said it should be done. Then the Lord said to Moses, make a bronze basin with its bronze stand for washing. Place it between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it. It was to be between the altar and where they pulled the curtain back and entered in to the very presence of God. It had to happen before entering the holy place. Now friend, I want you to get the most out of this communion service.

I want you to actually I want you to get the most out of your Christian life and your Christian experience. And God wants you to have the most, the very best. But you can't enter into his presence. Whether you're in your bedroom praying, or you're at this altar praying, or you're praying behind the wheel of your car, you cannot enter into his presence. Your prayers do not ascend. God looks for a washed heart, a cleansed heart. And that's what he's looking for today. I have to come before him with confession and repentance before the Lord will hear my prayer and accept me into his presence.

I came to this altar for the washing of blood, the born again experience, becoming a Christian. Now I have to go to the next step to that I'll call that that's not an altar, that's the laver. I need washing. Through the years from age about 14 when I accepted Jesus, through the years there have been times that I have gotten angry. I have been smeared by the world. I have felt dirty, and even though I didn't feel dirty, I was dirty. I had a an angry thought. I I felt ill towards somebody, and I could go on and name and name Anybody else in here like me?

Okay. All right. Thank you for your honesty and your openness. I felt all alone. I thought I'm the worst sinner around. Woo. Come to the Lord today and let him do some he wants to answer your prayers. Someone said, Pastor, why are my prayers answered? Friend, if you don't know now, I don't know when you will know. We need to come with an examination of our own hearts before the Lord. Now the scripture says in Psalm 119 9, how can a young man keep his way pure? And that's a rhetorical question. He goes on to answer it in the same verse by living according to your word.

In John chapter 15 verse 3, Jesus speaks to Peter and says, you are already clean because of the word that I have spoken unto you. And then he goes on to say Jesus to Peter, a person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet. His whole body is clean. This is your cleansing. This is bringing you into the presence of God. Now you've been cleansed by the word he has spoken to you. And if I preach anything else other than the word of God, then get rid of me. But it's the word, his word.

You must hear it. I prayed today before I came. And I pray all the time before I come. I close my eyes and I look at the congregation. I see you in my imagination from Sunday to Sunday. Actually, I can close my eyes and pick you out. I know where you sit now. Really, I can. And I pray not just for any individual, but for the congregation. Let the cleansing come. Let the cleansing come. Give them ears to hear what I'm going to say. Give them ears. Give them hearts to receive what I 'm going to say.

Lord, that they won't be distracted by something else or somebody else or or or or this any distraction that but the devil will try, you know, he'll try to get you distracted in any way he can. Sometimes I may do something that will even distract you. I don't think I've ever done that, have I? But I don't want to. I want this to be the holiest moment of all because we're in the courtyard. We're in the courtyard. We're going in. Did you hear me? We're going in. We're going in to the presence of the almighty God with our petitions and our prayers and our intercessions.

Is everything okay with you? Well then, intercession is a priestly work. That means praying and interceding for somebody else. You're going in to the presence of the Lord. Now I I must close here. Jesus said to Peter, a person who has had has been bathed these only saved to wash his feet. His whole body is clean. You see, our feet means our walk, our walk with God. We walk in dirty places. Tomorrow you're you're going to maybe go no, you don't go back to work. You have a holiday tomorrow, don't you? No, some of you don't.

But we we do in the shopping centers, where we work, even in our home. Our television just pumps dirt into us all the time. Just dirt. We walk in dirty places. We need to get our feet clean. Our hands, the priest had to wash his hands. Hands always speaks of activities. Hey, we've been acting and doing and behaving and reaching and touching. They our activities need cleansing. This tabernacle is a picture of Jesus. And that's why I thought, Lord, the tabernacle messages perhaps will help us all to sing Jesus and what he did for us more clearly.

Perhaps if we could see it, we'll be able to better understand and enter in and receive his blessing more so. Jesus is the altar. Jesus is the laver. Jesus is the high priest, and he has made all of us who have accepted him kings and priests. Now friends, we walk in dirty places and we touch things. You have to go wash your hands every so often, don't you? You have to wash your spiritual activity also. And we're going to come to the altar and we're going to celebrate. We're going to celebrate. I I I was thinking how many just recently saved just maybe a week or a few weeks ago.

Just celebrate that. It was his body and blood. Some of you have been saved 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years, I don't know. Just go back and remember and celebrate this do in remembrance of me. Never forget. Always this is a thanksgiving. But before you come up here, we're going to have the family prayer where we're going to pray it in unison. But we're going to have time to pray. And you'll notice when Korean and I sometimes kneel, I'll wait for just a little bit before I put it in my mouth. What I what's going on?

I'm washing at the laver, my hands and my feet. Friend, this is holy holy holy thrice holy. God make us holy. And when he does and he will, you can pray for any and every situation. He becomes involved. Come clean with Jesus today.

Guest (Male): Prayer is such a vital part of our journey as Christians. It helps us keep connected to God, our source of power and peace. Through prayer, we find guidance, overcome temptation, discover our purpose, and draw closer to God by expressing our gratitude and our need for him. With the pray now app available at the healingword.com, you can choose a topic that speaks to what you're facing. Pray with Pastor Jack Morris and receive an uplifting message grounded in God's word and strength. Visit the healingword.com today and find the encouragement you need to walk forward in faith. Join us tomorrow for another healing word message.

Until then, blessings on you.