Wigg, C E: The Tabernacle-02 ~ God's Dwelling Place

Let us read again from the book of Exodus and chapter twenty seven and we shall read from verse nine. And thou shalt make an altar of acacia wood. I'm sorry, verse nine. and thou shalt make the court of the tabernacle for the south side southward. There shall be hangings for the court of fine twined linen of a hundred cubits long for one side, and the twenty pillars thereof and their twenty sockets shall be of bronze, and the hooks of the pillars and their bands or their rods shall be of silver. And likewise, for the north side in length, there shall be hangings of one hundred and hundred cubits long, and its twenty pillars, and their twenty sockets of bronze. The hooks of the pillars and their bands or rods of silver. And for the breadth of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits, their pillars ten and their sockets ten. And the breadth of the court on the east side shall be fifty cubits. The hangings on one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits, their pillars three, and their sockets three. and on the other side shall be hangings of fifteen cubits, their pillars three, and their sockets three. Shall we pray? O Lord, before we turn to thy word, we would turn to thee, its author and its subject. We love to offer to thee the thanksgiving and the praise of our hearts. We thank thee for the pleasure and joy it affords to thy great heart of love, as thy people gather to thy precious name with a hunger for thy word and thy truth. We have tasted of the things that this world has to offer, but they have given us no satisfaction, and with empty, unfilled hearts, we have turned away. But Lord Jesus, as we turn to thee, we thank thee that thou hast said, if any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. And so we desire this afternoon to drink of thee, to drink into those streams of refreshing, of enlightenment, of instruction, of correction, that will be for our spiritual upbuilding, and that will lead to a greater effectiveness in our lives, in thy testimony here, while we wait for thee to come. So we ask thee then to exercise thy right and authority, and to take control of this meeting now. Take control of the hearers, that what is said, that is of thyself, may find an entrance and a lodging place within their minds and hearts. Take control of the speaker, we would pray. Put thy thoughts in his mind and thy words in his mouth. Make him to prove thy divine power, we would pray. And grant that thy word will not be hindered in any way through the frailty of the human vessel which thou wilt use as the channel of thy word. And send us from this place, our Father, we pray, with our hearts subdued and yet rejoicing. Uh, subdued by the awesome nature of the responsibility that is committed to us, but rejoicing in the privilege granted to us and in the resources that thou hast made available to us in the person of Christ, in the blessed Holy Spirit, and in thy rich, eternal, unchanging word. We ask these things now for thy glory, as we give thee thanks and praise in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, last night we began the exposition of the subject of the tabernacle by comparing the different, uh, attitudes or approaches that are taken, uh, in relation to its teaching. And, uh, we are looking at it, the tabernacle as the dwelling place of God, which today is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth. We saw that the position of the tabernacle was in the wilderness, showing that it's the church in its present position that is in the mind of God, in the typical, typical teaching of the tabernacle. And we dwelt at length upon the fact that it was central, uh, to the whole relationships of Israel. Every tent of Israel was pitched in relationship to the tabernacle, and the doors, or the doors of each tent, were facing the tabernacle, so that the, the movements of the families of those whom God had called out of Egypt and was taking through to Canaan were all governed by that central view, that central thought, that God in very deed is amongst us of a truth. Then, uh, we saw that the tabernacle was portable, meaning that its place was not here, but though passing through the wilderness, which is what the world has become to the believer in Christ. Its ultimate goal is that place of rest and victory where our Lord Jesus is acknowledged as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So that as we journey through, we may expect our circumstances and conditions to change. But there is no change in God. There is no change in his holy word. There was no change in the tabernacle as such, because the tabernacle that was finally carried across the Jordan and set up in Shiloh was exactly the tabernacle that was constructed by Bezalel and Aholiab according to the pattern shown by God to Moses in the mountain. The fact that it was shown to God, to Moses by God in the mountain, indicates that the very concept, the thought of the tabernacle, did not originate it in the heart or mind of man. And the church as such, we read, was hidden throughout the ages in God, and in past generations had not been made known to the sons of men. This is something that is little understood, I believe, today. And so much of the confusion that has crept in to Christendom, and sad to say, even these days, amongst some of the assemblies of God's people, in relation to the church passing through the tribulation, it all comes about through our failure to recognize that the church is not merely a continuation of the testimony committed to Israel, but the church is an entirely new concept, an entirely new departure in the ways and purposes of God. And the blessings that God has committed to you and I, who are born of God's spirit and baptized by that spirit into the body of Christ, our calling, our blessings are so far in excess of the blessings and privileges of even the greatest of the Old Testament saints. So much so that the Lord Jesus could say of John the Baptist, who he described as the greatest prophet born of women, which makes him, in the estimate of Christ, to be greater than Abraham, to be greater than Moses, to be greater than Isaiah. Yet he went on to say that he who is a little one in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he, that is, than John the Baptist. Not greater personally, of course we would understand that, but certainly greater positionally, and, uh, greater in the terms of our privilege and blessing. John himself recognized this. He said, he that has the bride is the bridegroom, referring to the Lord Jesus himself, and referring to the church, his bride. But then he speaks of himself as the friend of the bridegroom. And he said, the friend of the bridegroom stands and rejoices. This then, my joy is fulfilled. John did not quarrel with his place or his blessing, and none of the Old Testament saints would ever do so. And yet he recognized the unique privilege and blessing that God has vouchsafed to such as you and I. We little realize the wonder of what the church really is, and the fact that it has its origin in the mind and heart of God even before the world was. The tem- the temple, on the other hand, came into David's mind and heart, and later Solomon was shown the plan of it by the Spirit, but it differed in that sense from the tabernacle. Well, we saw how that approaching the tabernacle, we are looking at it from the point of view of an inquirer, one who is seeking to draw near to God. And we noticed how that the first thing that the inquirer would see would be the court of the tabernacle, this linen fence that you see on our illustration here. And we remarked yesterday that the first thing that a, an inquirer in the world may see of the truth of God or of God's dwelling place is what he sees in the lives of professing Christian believers. This makes our responsibility in the testimony of God to be very great. Where our lives are unholy or inconsistent, we may be guilty of turning people away. Whereas the purpose of the court of the tabernacle, of that beautiful linen tent, its one object was not to keep people out, but to direct the inquirer to the gate where he could find an entrance. We commented how that Paul could write to the Corinthians and say that they were his letter, letter written in their hearts, known and read of all men, but then he added being manifested to be the epistle of Christ. In other words, the believer's life is of all importance as far as commending the gospel to others is concerned. And we must realize the awesome responsibility, but also the wondrous privilege that is ours, as having been called into the testimony of Christ. We commented on the size of the court being so large in comparison with the tabernacle itself, and from it we drew the inference that it indicates the largeness of God's heart. How that such provision has been made in his wondrous grace that all men could be saved, were they minded to repent and to put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, whom God has provided to be our Savior. We saw how that the sacrifice of Christ is such that he is the propitiation for our sins, and not of ours only, but also for the whole world. Now, the next thing that I want you to see is the height of the linen fence that made the court of the tabernacle. As we began to read, we discovered that the... Where are we? I'm not sure that we did read in this passage about the height, but, uh, the height of it was about two and a half meters. That's roughly about eight feet. Um, the details are there somewhere, but I think it's in a, a later passage. Now, we might wonder why it was so high. It simply means that because of its height, none could see over. And, uh, because of its fragile construction, none could climb over, because it was made of linen sheets attached to silver rods and brazen pillars. We learn from this that none can come to Christ or into the presence of God through his people. There is only one way that any individual may come, and that is through the Lord Jesus Christ. And the purpose of the believer's testimony in fellowship together is not to draw attention to ourselves, but rather to point people to he who is the gate, he who is the door, who could say of himself, I am the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved. So it's too high for a man to see over. The Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. We might wonder how that sometimes inquirers come, and yet the simplicity of the truth of the gospel seems somehow to them to be a mystery. I remember working for one man in Burney on one occasion, a very intelligent man and a successful businessman as well. He'd been a journalist in his day, an old man, and I began to speak to him about the Lord Jesus Christ. He had a great respect for me because of my life and principles, but when I began to speak to him about his soul, he just said, oh, it's all too wonderful for me. I could never understand anything like that. Now, how ridiculous such an attitude is. But it just showed that the simple truth of the gospel to him was a mystery. If that man had have been willing to come to Christ, then the mystery would have been unfolded. Except a man be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God. It all remains a mystery. And even the great intellectuals of the world, they balk at the principles of the gospel and reject it from them. The Lord Jesus said, except you're converted and become as little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. And so the height of the linen fence is to ob- obscure from the eyes of the merely curious the truth connected with the dwelling place of God. And it's to show to all men that if they would come into his presence, they can only come not through the fence, but through the gate, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and we'll talk about that tonight. So it was too high for a man to see over. He couldn't see what was taking place inside. It was always a mystery to him, and it was too fragile for one to climb over. Now the fold, uh, of which the Lord Jesus spoke in John chapter ten was such that a person could climb over. And he spoke of those who climbed up by some other way. But none can come into the true assembly, into the local church of God, according to the thoughts of God, apart from coming through the Lord Jesus Christ and resting in his finished work alone. Well then, we'll look now at the construction of the court of the tabernacle. As you can see, it's constructed of linen sheets and of brazen pillars. These brazen pillars were connected by silver rods, and they were anchored to bronze pegs or pins that were driven into the desert and anchored by cord so as to be able to withstand the pressure of the howling wind. You'll remember when Moses spoke to Israel about their wilderness experience, he re- described the wilderness as being a waste, howling wilderness. And the southern part of Sinai, I'm told, is subjected to very severe, strong winds. So much so that in one place, Solomon constructed a copper smelter, a blast furnace that was not, uh, driven by any invention of man, but purely by the, the winds of the desert channeled to, uh, blast the flame of the fire to melt the copper. And so the linen fence, so weak and fragile in itself, had to withstand enormous pressures. But it didn't lean or fall, but stood upright because of its nature and construction. Now, the brazen pillars that were the uprights of the fence which made the court of the tabernacle, what do they speak of? When we come to the New Testament and to the Epistle to the Galatians, Paul speaks about going up to Jerusalem, to certain men, he said, who were, it would seem, pillars in the church. That was, they were men of strength, men of character, men who would not lean or bend or bow to the, uh, pressures of the time. To the overcomer in the church at Philadelphia, he made this promise, that I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more at all out. We live in a day of compromise, in a day when there are great pressures for change, and I believe we need today, perhaps more than ever before, men who will stand upright, who will not bow to the pressures of the time, who will stand, uh, for truth and for righteousness. But before we talk in detail about the pillars, we need to look at the, that in which they stood, because the pillars of brass, they stood in sockets of brass. Now, brass was used quite extensively in the construction of the tabernacle, and we need to understand what it signifies, what its typical meaning is. I believe the brazen sockets represent to us that in which we stand. And if we are to stand for Christ, we must be rooted and grounded in Him. We must stand alone on the finished work of Christ. That alone is our standing before God, and that alone will enable us to stand in our testimony to men. The brass or copper is the metal that has the ability both to sustain and to absorb the power of fire. It can absorb the heat of fire and also retain it. And it speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ as the one who has borne the judgment of God. There on the cross of Calvary, he took the sinner's place. He suffered for sins, Peter says, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. There he did all that needed to be done. John tells us that as the darkness passed and the judgment of God was exhausted, the Lord Jesus cried, it is finished. How we should bless God for the sufficiency of the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. How terrible the fire of judgment which he underwent, we will never be able to understand. None could follow there, Lord Jesus, when thou didst for sins atone, for those suffering deeps unfathomed were, Lord Jesus, thine alone. You see, there is a depth and a mystery about the atoning sufferings of Christ that we never ever will be able to understand. Even in eternity, I believe the horror of the atoning sufferings of Christ will never be understood by us fully then. He alone could understand what it meant to be separated from God and to endure the fire of God's holy wrath against sin. But I rejoiced to know that he not only endured the fire, but he exhausted it. And all that God could possibly demand of me because of my sin, the Lord Jesus paid in its totality. That's why he cried, it is finished. As the darkness began, and as he tasted the loneliness, the bitterness of our eternal hell, he cried out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? There he endured the absolute unmitigated wrath of God, his divine and holy fury against sin. But not only did he endure that wrath, he exhausted it. That is that everything that a righteous and holy God could justly demand in respect of our sin, the Lord Jesus paid it all. That's why he could cry, it is finished. When alone in the darkness of those horrible three hours, he cried, my God, my God. Why did he cry thus? Because he was there as man, taking man's place, enduring the punishment of man's sin. It is man who sinned, and man who must pay the penalty, and that the Lord Jesus, sinless, perfect, holy man, that he paid. But before he died, he lifted his eyes to his father's face, and he said, Father, into thy hand I commit my spirit. What does this mean? He's not crying now, my God, my God, but he is now speaking to his father. The answer to that question is that God's judgment had been exhausted. The price had been paid, and communion between the father and his son had been restored. A beautiful picture is given to it in the twenty second Psalm, because as the Psalm draws towards its close, the because as the Psalm draws towards its close, the Lord Jesus speaking prophetically says, from the horns of the unicorns or the buffaloes hast thou answered me. Now, the simile that is used is not merely someone sitting on the horns of a buffalo, but someone who is impaled, who'd been gored by the horns of a wild ox, inflicting agony and suffering such as we cannot understand. But in that place of agony, suffering, and shame, the wrath of God had been exhausted, and the Lord Jesus had the answer before he died. He died in the full blaze and joy of a restored communion with his Father. From the horns of the buffaloes hast thou answered me. Now, brothers and sisters, he alone is the one in whom we can stand. You see, the socket of brass was buried in the desert, and the pillar of brass never had any contact with the desert because it was slotted into the socket of brass. And that reminds me that the death of Christ, it cuts me off from this wicked world. It forever brings a separation between me and the world that has crucified him, just as the Red Sea did between the children of Israel and the slavery and bondage of Egypt. And though I am in the world now, the world that has crucified my savior, I am no longer a part of it. The Lord Jesus prayed in John chapter seventeen, not that the Father would take us out of the world, but rather that we might be kept from the evil. And he said, they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. The doctrine of separation is not popular today. It never has been. But the scriptural doctrine of separation is absolutely essential to the powerful maintenance of the testimony of God in a wicked world. And while ever we compromise the principles of separation from evil, we will never have the power to stand. But thank God the basis of our standing is there in the person of Christ. The pillars went down, and their tenons went into the socket of brass, and thus they stood. We read in Second Corinthians and chapter five and verse seventeen that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. That is the basis of our standing before God. We are told in Ephesians chapter four and verse fifteen that we are to be in him, and we are to grow up into him in all things, who is the head, even Christ. And Paul in Philippians chapter three and verse nine could say, express his heart's deep longing that I might be in him, found in him, having not my own righteousness, but that is on the principle of works, but the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ. I heard a story once. I don't know about its truth, but it illustrates what I mean. I think it must have been true. In Sydney on Parramatta Road, uh, where the Fort, uh, Street School stands, was one of the few high schools in Sydney in my boyhood days. There's a very steep hill called Tavender's Hill, and across the bottom of that steep hill runs a very busy road. A young man was going down that hill on his, uh, bicycle one day. It got out of control, and when he reached the bottom, he was involved in an accident with a car that was crossing that road. He was very, very badly injured, and he was in a state of semi-consciousness. And so the ambulance was called, a doctor and a nurse came, he was taken to hospital, and there he died. Later, there was a coroner's inquiry, and the nurse who attended the accident was called to the witness box. She told of what she had seen and how she found this young man in a shockingly injured state, lying on the road, and what they did. But for some strange reason, the coroner said to her, Miss, did the deceased say anything? And she was obviously shocked by that question. She didn't answer for a moment, but then she said, no, sir. But the coroner was not satisfied, and he said to her, Miss, let me ask you again, did the deceased say anything? Are you sure that he said nothing? Then she began to weep, and she said, well, sir, he did say something. And, uh, he said, what did he say? She said, he said, I am resting in the finished work of Christ. And that nurse was saved through the testimony of that dying boy. The doctor was then called. He gave his medical evidence, but the magistrate, the coroner, asked him the same question, and at first he said that the dying boy said nothing. But as the judge persisted, the doctor was compelled to confess that the dying words on the lips of the dying boy was that wonderful testimony, I'm resting in the finished work of Christ. What, what a ground, what a basis for our faith, and what strength and character it gives to enable us to stand, not in our own strength, but as rooted and grounded in him. Well, so much for the sockets of copper. But then the pillars themselves were of the same metal, the same material. Now, you will say to me, well, you've told us that the sockets represent the finished work of Christ, and the pillars represent the stable and upright believer. How can you reconcile the two? Well, I reconcile it in this way, that if you and I are going to be true to our Lord Jesus Christ, we will have to accept that we will be treated the same way that he was. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we must not expect any better treatment from the world that has rejected and crucified him than what he received. And just as surely as one is prepared to stand in Christ and not to be moved about by every wind of doctrine in the slight of men and unprincipled cunning, so surely will we have to suffer. It is inevitable. The Apostle Paul said this to Timothy. He said, they that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer or will suffer persecution. It's inescapable. When Paul wrote to the Colossian believers, he said, I fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ for his body's sake, which is the church. Now, suffering is something that we do not like or enjoy, but it's inevitable that if I am to be faithful to Christ, I will have to endure persecution. I will have to share the fellowship of Christ's suffering. Thank God for such, who are willing to stand and not to bend nor to bow, who become the strength of the Christian testimony in the local church. Are you a pillar? That's a challenge, isn't it? May God give us grace to be prepared, as Timothy was exhorted to in second Timothy chapter two. Paul said to him, though a young man, take your share in suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Now, in the wilderness, as we have said, there were very fierce, strong, prevailing winds, howling winds, and the desert was of sand and dust and grit. And in those fierce prevailing winds, there must have been particles of grit and sand that would be hurled against these pillars. But as I thought about it, it seems to me to be very attractive. Because the force of the wind and the stinging of the particles of grit and sand, which correspond perhaps with the bitter criticism of others who don't agree with the stand that we take. It only made the pillar to shine the brighter. Some of us have had to do with industry, and there is a machine that's called a sandblasting machine, and great, uh, compressed air is used under great pressure. There is grit and sand that is in the air stream, and you can put a piece of metal that is dull and perhaps rusty into that machine, but as the result of the experience through which it passes and the abrasion that the grit and the compressed air bring, when you take it out, it shines like. Now, I believe criticism, opposition, and the bitter and stinging words that may come, even from the lips of unspiritual believers, are intended by God to make us to shine like gold here in this wilderness situation. Well now, around the neck of each of these, uh, pillars of brass and around the base, there were beautiful bands of silver, reminding us of the redemptive work of Christ, of the price that has been paid. Peter says, you have been redeemed, not with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, the blood of Christ. Every individual soul in the hosts of Israel had to be redeemed. When they were numbered, they had to take the atonement money of half a shekel for each individual, and it reminds us of the price that has been paid. The rich could not pay more, and the poor could not pay less. To me, there's something beautiful in that. It means that whether I be prince or pauper, I'm just as precious to the Lord Jesus Christ. He paid the same price for me as he paid for some great and important person. We were equally precious in the sight of God. Now, the court of the tabernacle, it was linked together by rods of silver attached to hooks of silver that were on these bands of silver that encircled the head and base of the pillar. And it reminds us that our fellowship together is not really based on individual faithfulness, but is based alone on the redemptive work of Christ. That is the bond of our fellowship. The fact that you have been bought with the same precious blood as myself is the basis upon which we participate in fellowship together. Now, if the court was only pillars, it would never work. The pillars are an upright member, reminding us again of the w- words of the Lord Jesus, that men may behold your upright work and glorify your Father who is in the heaven. But between those pillars of brass, there were rods of silver. Now the pillars stood up, but the rods laid down. And in order for the local assembly to function, both is necessary. If it was all pillars, it wouldn't work. God has tempered the body together so that there should be no lack in his wondrous grace. There comes a time when it may be necessary for me not only to stand for the Lord Jesus, but also to lay down my rights. In fact, John says that this is obligatory, that if the Lord Jesus laid down his life for me, then I ought to be willing to lay down my life for the brethren. It doesn't necessarily mean that I should be, uh, willing to die, but that I should be willing to forego and to give up the insistence upon my personal right. Paul wrote to the Philippians, and, uh, he said to them that their yieldingness, their moderation should be known to all men. That is their willingness to yield, to give up the insistence upon their own rights in order that fellowship and harmony might be maintained in the assembly of God's people, in the testimony that they seek to bear to his name. Sometimes division is caused, where brethren, out of personal importance, and in their unwillingness to lose faith. I was discussing with another brother a case of this just last night. How that some men, in order not to lose face, were not prepared to acknowledge to the mistake that they had made, and the result was disrupt- disruption and division within an assembly. Thank God for the pillars, but thank God also for the rods. Those who are prepared, out of love for Christ and love for God's people, to give up their own life rights and to lay down their lives for the brethren. Now these were the link that bound the pillars together. Now they're rods of silver, uh, which indicate that such people often have cost a great deal. You see, where a person is saved from a life of sin, they have a deeper sense of indebtedness to God. The Lord Jesus said, unto whom much is forgiven, the same loveth much, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And often you will find that those who are prepared to yield and to lay down their lives are those who have been bought at such a price from a history of sin. They love the believers and seek by grace to hold them together. Now, once the rods were attached to the pillars, then these linen sheets were hung upon the rods. The linen had no strength in itself. It was floppy, it was useless as far as the fence was concerned. But when once it was bound to the rods and the pillars, then it had strength. Even the howling winds of the desert could not get it to yield, but it stood through forty years of wilderness experience. You see, these things are all necessary in the life of the local church. We need those upright in character who are prepared to stand, and if necessary, to suffer for the sake of Christ. And we need those who are prepared to forego their rights and to lay down their lives for the brethren. But as long as the church is here, we will always have people who need to be carried, who cannot stand in their own strength. Paul said to the Galatians, bear ye one another's burden and so fulfill the law of Christ. How often within a local assembly there is always that element of weakness and immaturity. People that have to be carried, almost wheeled in a pram, as it were, most of their life. People who have got to be continually upheld. How it calls for patience and for grace in the sight of God. But you know that the linen sheets, once attached to the silver rods, they were able to withstand all the howling winds of the desert. And thus it is that the local church testimony not only endures, but prospers as a testimony to God and to his grace. Now, the linen sheets themselves, they speak to us again of righteousness. Now, the linen was used in the garments of the high priest and of the sons of the high priest. It was the garment, the cloth of service. We've got some Irish people in the congregation, and the Irish are recognized the world over as the experts in linen. I can remember my boyhood days when we had tea towels that were used day after day, week after week, and stamped on them was the word pure Irish linen. You don't see so much of it today. And those tea towels never seem to wear out. I remember my mother had a linen tablecloth, and we were very poor, but that tablecloth would be on the table every Sunday, week after week. And when once washed and starched, it would come up with its original beauty. Linen is the cloth of Sabbath. I was teaching on this subject in the north of India on one occasion, and there was an old couple there, and they had just celebrated their sixtieth we- wedding anniversary. And this old sister came to me, and she says, I have a linen tablecloth amongst my things that was used by my grandmother. Well, that's a testimony, isn't it? It's enduring righteousness, the ability to continue. Of course, the garments of the high priest and his sons, it represents the righteousness of Christ, the imputed righteousness of Christ. But when we come to the nineteenth chapter of Revelation, there we are told that it was given to the bride to be clothed in fine linen, pure and white. And there it is said to be the righteousnesses of the saints. So that not only am I expected to stand and to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ, but that is expected by God to be displayed in my life and character from day to day. In fact, John, in his epistle, I think it's in chapter three, I've got it written down here somewhere. Um... We are told, yes, not to be deceived, one John three verse seven, that he who does righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous, and that is the principle. Now, unless our lives are clean, unless there is the practical righteousness of a clean and holy life shown to the world that surrounds us, people would not be attracted to, but rather turned away from the person of Christ. This often happens. I think of a case of a young man who was an apprentice working for a builder who was an assembly man, a professing Christian. But though an assembly man, he was a rogue, he was a crook, and everybody knew it. He was a man who went broke more times than you could count, and if you saw him driving around in a new car, you knew that he was getting very shaky. Well, he had a godly foreman, a man who's the same age as my father. He's almost ninety two years of age, and he was a man who was a pillar if ever there was one, a man who would not bend, who has stood for God and his glory through his long life. And this foreman was trying to witness to one of the apprentices, to tell him the gospel. But to his sorrow, the apprentice turned to him, and he says, does old Herbert, does he belong to Christ? Is he going to be in heaven? Old Herbert happened to be the boss, the builder. And very sadly, the foreman had to say, well, yes, he is. Then he said, if he's going to be in heaven, I don't want to be there. You see the detriment that the inconsistent, dishonest, unholy life of that man had brought to the testimony of God. That young fellow was almost driven to hell because of the inconsistencies he saw in the life of his boss. But I'm glad to be able to say that at a later period in his life, he came to see the truth. And what he had seen in the life of his foreman, that godly brother who lived and witnessed for Christ, is the thing that spoke most powerfully to him. And I remember how that when once he came to Christ, he was now a builder himself, and he wrote a letter to our local newspaper, bearing testimony to the wonder of his experience and inviting others. And in that testimony, I remember him using these words, that during his lifetime he met some men of great faith and godly character and others of very little. But though for a while he was turned away by the inconsistent life of his boss, yet the example of his foreman, it finally weighed more heavily in his conviction, and that man is probably today in heaven. But this story illustrates to us the absolute necessity for there to be maintained in your life and mine, in our testimony to the world, a clean, a separate, and a holy life. That is the true power of personal testimony. Now, attached also to hooks on the silver collars that were on the, uh, top of the brass pillars were cords, as you can see, that are going down into, uh, not into the desert, but they were attached to pins, bronze pins that were driven into the desert. And I believe that cord represents faith. Peter says that you're kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. And though I stand in the finished work of Christ, just as I could not save myself, so I am not able to keep myself. But thank God for our Lord Jesus Christ, he who gives stability to the Christian life, he who is the nail in a sure place, he who is the brass pin in the desert, and as my faith lays hold of him, come what may, blow as the wind may do, howl as it may, I will never be moved while I hold on to him by faith. Kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. Today we find that there are many who are leaning either in one direction or another, according to the prevailing wind of change and doctrine. But God give us grace.