TABERNACLE – THE WASHBASIN
A young American engineer was sent to Ireland by his company to work in a new electronics plant. It was a two-year assignment that he had accepted because it would enable him to earn enough to marry his long-time girlfriend. She had a job near her home in Tennessee, and their plan was to pool their resources and put a down payment on a house when he returned. They corresponded often, but as the lonely weeks went by, she began expressing doubts that he was being faithful to her since he was constantly surrounded by pretty Irish ladies. The young man wrote back saying that he was paying absolutely no attention to the local girls. "I admit," he wrote, "that sometimes I’m tempted. But I fight it. I’m keeping myself for you." In the next mail, he received a package. It contained a harmonica and a note from his girl, "I’m sending this to you," she wrote, "so you can learn to play it and have something to take your mind off those girls." The engineer replied, "Thanks for the harmonica. I’m practicing on it every night and thinking of you." At the end of his two-year stint, the engineer was transferred back home. As soon as he arrived he rushed to his girlfriend’s home. Her whole family was with her, but as he moved forward to embrace her, she held up her hand and said sternly, "Just wait a minute. Before we get to any hugging and kissing, let me hear you play that harmonica" This young lady had faith in her boyfriend but she wanted the evidence of his faith, in other words she wanted to see the results of her faith.
The second piece of furniture in the tabernacle was the Laver. It was located just before entering the tent in the outer court. It was a bronze bowl of water that was used for washing hands and feet before entering the tent.
Ex. 30:18 "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. 19 Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet with water from it. 20 Whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die.
Salvation takes a moment, but sanctification a lifetime. The washing with water represented the importance of coming into God’s presence cleansed and pure. Even after we give our lives to Christ and are covered by the righteousness of Christ, sin still stands in the way of us entering into God’s presence. We need to deal with sin in our lives.
1Pe 1:14-16 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
Why does God want us to live holy lives? Let me give you four results of holiness:
1. It CONNECTS us with our SAVIOUR
Sin always separates us from God. Confessing and repenting our sins draws us back to him. God does not require a perfect, sinless life to have fellowship with Him, but He does require that we be serious about holiness. He wants us to take sin serious. We are to grieve over our sin instead of trying to justify it. We are to earnestly pursue holiness in our life.
Fellowship happens when two are in agreement. God hates sin and we should as well. It was our sin that put Jesus on the cross. He was willing to suffer and die for us. Sin is serious and has serious consequences.
God hates sin. We need to hate it as well. If we want to have true fellowship with God we need to be as serious about sin as He is.
Psa 15:1-2 LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? 2 He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart
Psa 24:3-5 Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. 5 He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Saviour.
The story is told that when Leonardo Da Vinci was painting The Last Supper, he had an intense and bitter argument with a fellow painter. Da Vinci was thinking of a way to get this guy back. He came up with a devious plan. He decided to paint the face of his enemy onto the face of Judas Iscariot so it would be captured for time immemorial. And that is exactly what he did. When people came to look at his work in progress, the immediately knew who ‘Judas’ was. Da Vinci thought, “This is pretty good. I showed him” As he continued his work on the great painting of Christ and his disciples, he finally came to the face he had saved for the very end—the face of Jesus. But he could not bring himself to paint it. He was greatly troubled knowing that he had painted the face of his enemy as the face of Judas Iscariot. He realized that his hatred and bitterness were keeping him from being able to face the face of Christ. So he went back to the image of Judas and painted some nebulous face instead. Then he was able to paint the face of Christ.
Holiness helps maintain a close relationship with our savior. The converse is also true. A close relationship with our savior helps us maintain holiness. The secret to holiness is not in trying to avoid sin but in embracing Christ.
The secret of true obedience is the clear and close personal relationship to God. All our attempts after full obedience will be failures until we get access to his abiding fellowship. It is God's holy presence consciously abiding with us that keeps us from disobeying Him. I must consciously include the Lord in every thought, activity, and conversation until the habit is established. -- Andrew Murray
2. It KEEPS us from getting SICK
Living a holy life does not mean you will never get sick. God does not guarantee us perfect health in this world. We are fallen people and we live in a fallen world. All of us will get sick from time to time. What I am trying to say here is that there is a sickness of the soul that happens as a result of sin and that can not only affect us spiritually and emotionally but also physically.
Psa 32:2-5 Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. 3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. 5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"-- and you forgave the guilt of my sin.
When David had un-confessed sin in his life he felt the weight of guilt upon him. Living that way can destroy your joy and over time can, as David discovered, make you sick. Have you ever experienced a time like that in your life?
I remember a time when I was in high school working as a delivery driver for a pharmacy. As I was leaving work one day I accidently backed into my boss’ car and put a dent in the side. I didn’t want to face an angry boss so I quickly drove away. I felt all the way home as if God was telling me to go back and confess. The voice in my head got louder and louder the further I drove until it was a shout. I was feeling physically sick to my stomach. I finally gave it and drove all the way back and confessed. I had to pay for the damages but at least I felt good again.
It is hard to live with sin. I have seen so many people who make one bad mistake and, instead of dealing with it, they allow it to fester and it leads to other sins until eventually their life is a complete mess. Sin always has consequences.
There was a boy who was rebelling against his dad constantly. This boy was destroying his own life by his rebellion, but he refuse to heed his father’s words. One day, the dad said to the boy, "I want to show you what you’re doing to your life. I’m going to put a wooden post in our front yard. Every time you rebel, I will put a nail in this post. Every time you obey, I will pull out one nail."
The first thought from the boy was, "I’m going to do everything I can to fill that post with nails." And he did. In two months’ time, he filled that post with nails. But he also began to feel the damage he was doing to his own life and to his parents’ lives. With true remorse, the boy began to obey his father. One by one, the nails came out. When the last nail came out of the post, the boy broke down in tears. The dad asked, "Son, why are you crying?" And the boy replied, "I got rid of the nails, but I can’t get rid of the holes."
3. It EQUIPS us for SERVICE
In order for God to use us effectively for His kingdom we need to be sensitive to His Spirit and His leading. To use a plumbing analogy, to let His power flow through us we need to have ‘clear pipes’. Sin clogs the pipes of our effectiveness and limits God’s power from flowing through us. Holiness and usefulness are linked together.
2Ti 2:20 In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. 21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. 22 Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
We cannot be an effective servant of Jesus if we are an unclean vessel. How many of you wash your dishes? All of you! None of us like eating on dirty plates. None of us like drinking out of a dirty glass. None of us like using a dirty fork. God wants clean vessels too. Clean vessels are important for effective service to God.
Jonah understood this principle. God told him to go and preach to Nineveh but he ran the other way. His sin put him in a very difficult place. Not only did he put himself in danger but he also put the people around him and the people he was sent to in danger. It was not until he confessed his sin and repented that God was able to use him to save the people of Nineveh from destruction.
Psa 51:7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. 10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. 13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.
Notice in this verse the fruit of David’s repentance. It includes joy and gladness, rejoicing and a steadfast spirit. Repentance led to God not withdrawing His Spirit so that David could continue to be used to point others to God.
Samson was given a powerful gift from God through his Nazirite vow. Because he put himself in a position of compromise he broke that vow and lost that power. What a sad verse when it says that Samson:
Judges 16:20 … awoke from his sleep and thought, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the LORD had left him.
In the Old Testament God would send His Spirit to dwell on believers for a specific purpose and time. In the New Testament the Holy Spirit comes to live within us. Even so we can still limit the work of the Spirit in our lives through sin.
4. It ASSURES us of SALVATION
God does not expect us to be perfect but he does expect to see progress in our faith. I know that none of us are perfect but let me ask you a question this morning, are you closer to the Lord now than you were a year ago? Are you seeing progress in your life? This is spiritual fruit and it is an assurance to each of us of our salvation.
Mat 3:5-10 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
How do you know if you are an apple tree? It is hard to tell in the winter when the branches are bare. You know for sure when the fall comes around and your branches are filled with apples. Then you know for sure. Are you seeing the fruit of the spirit in your life? Is there evidence of your faith?
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.
The laver was made of polished bronze. As the priest would dip his hands into the water I am sure that his reflection would have been clearly seen. As we end the service today I want you to look deeply at your life as reflected by God’s word. How are you doing in terms of loving others? Is there joy in your life? Would others call you a patient person? Are you kind to others? How about goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control?
I am sure all of us this morning looked into a mirror at least once before coming to church. We did it to check how we looked and make sure there was nothing that needed to be changed. As we look to the laver this morning, what in your life needs to be changed? Not just the surface but in your heart?
