Thank you, Dr. Kearns, for those words of welcome. It has been a pleasure to be visiting in Greenville. It's the first time, as your minister said, we've been in this area. My wife and I were married three weeks when we left Belfast in Northern Ireland to go to Milwaukee. That was in 1969 to take up missionary study. We were three years in the States, a year and a half up in Canada. I remember being in the States so about at least a year and a half and going to a lady's house, an elderly lady and I was trying to speak to her and she couldn't understand a word I was saying and I remember trying to explain to her that I was a foreign student from Northern Ireland studying to be a missionary, you know, trying to put the right emphasis in the right syllable, or the right emphasis in the right syllable, as we'd say, and emphasized, I am from Northern Ireland studying in the missionary institute. And she smiled at me and she understood and she said, oh, I understand now. I used to work in a university and I've met a lot of foreign students and I must say you speak English very well. How many years have you been studying it? Well, there's George Bernard Shaw, the great playwright, who said that the British and Americans are a people divided by a common language. But I trust you can understand the accent this evening. I've had a cold and sore throat all week, but your minister said the only way I can get out of preaching is if my head falls off. So we trust that doesn't happen tonight as we're preaching, but it is a joy. to be here tonight and to share in the ministry of God's precious word. And tonight I want to draw your attention to the tabernacle. I love to preach on the tabernacle building because I believe it's one of the greatest studies in God's precious word. If you've never taken time to study the tabernacle building, well then, you're in for a great blessing. If you've studied it before, I believe every time you come back to study the teaching of the tabernacle, there are new and wonderful blessings for the child of God in the study of the tabernacle. You may say, but why is that portion of Scripture so precious? Well, because of the prominence given to it in Scripture. When God created this world, It's only described in a few chapters. But when God designed the tabernacle building in which the children of Israel worshipped for almost 500 years, 40 years in the wilderness and then hundreds of years more when they went into the land of Israel until the temple was built, God gave between 40 and 50 chapters of God's Word to describe in detail its measurements, the material, the meaning, the ministry carried on in it. When you come to the New Testament you cannot understand the book of Hebrews unless you have a knowledge of the tabernacle and the plan of it and the ministry that was carried on in the tabernacle. It's interesting in the book of Exodus that you have whole chapters where God told Moses the dimensions of the tabernacle and what to build it with and then you have the same words repeated again as Moses told it to the people. So because of the prominence given to it in scripture, you ought to study the tabernacle building. You ought to study it because the pattern came from God. When tourists come to countries on vacation, they love to look at great buildings and they look at the beauty of the building and they'll say, for instance, if you come to London St. Paul's Cathedral, people will see the genius of Sir Christopher Wren, the architect. And when you study the tabernacle, you see the wisdom and glory and majesty of God. For the building of the tabernacle was not designed by Moses. God himself designed the tabernacle, the exact measurements, every detail of it. God is the great architect of it. Moses was told, see that you make it according to the pattern. And then, of course, it's worth studying the tabernacle because it is a picture. The New Testament and the book of Hebrews tells us that it is a blueprint, it's a figure. In other words, when you look at the tabernacle building, yes, even if you draw a plan of it on a sheet of paper and look at it, you can learn spiritual truth. It is, of course, a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember when Christ rose again from the dead in Luke 24? He opened the eyes of the disciples, and in all the Old Testament Scriptures, He revealed to them things concerning Himself, how that Messiah must suffer and die, the third day rise again from the dead, and that repentance and remission would be preached among all nations. And I've no doubt that he referred to the tabernacle, for right through those chapters of details on the tabernacle, you see a wonderful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see in picture form, in symbol, in type, in illustration, the great work of atonement. You see in the high priest, Aaron and his sons after him, a great picture of our great high priest. And just as Aaron in the Old Testament went into the holiest of all, where there was the ark, upon which was the mercy seat covering the law, that was a picture, an illustration of the throne of God, so our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, he went into the true tabernacle. He went into heaven itself, not with the blood of calves and of goats and of bullocks, but our great High Priest went to the throne of God itself and has sprinkled that throne with His precious blood. And of course in the details of the tabernacle you see not only a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ in His person, but you see a wonderful picture of all the doctrines of our faith. You see the doctrine of salvation, of sanctification, of service, of satisfaction in Christ. Tonight we're going to look at some lessons on supplication. I believe that all the great doctrines of our faith are there in illustration. God in the Old Testament gave us, if you like, the ABCs. You know when you're a child you learn A is for apple and B for ball and so on. A picture book. God has given a picture book of salvation. Maybe let's just take the time to turn back for a moment to chapter 27, verse 16. I'll just take time to show you, if you've never studied the tabernacle, I'm sure many of you have, but just to give you an illustration of what I mean of the pictures, the illustration, the types. Look at chapter 27, verse 16. And remember, let me just quickly say, the tabernacle proper was the holy place and the holiest of all. Around it was a court made by a white linen fence with one gateway, a veil that led into that. Remember I've said the New Testament tells us it's a picture. Hebrew says it's a picture of heaven. It's a picture of heaven. And here in chapter 27 verse 16 you read, And for the gate of the court shall be a hanging of twenty cubits, of blue and purple and scarlet and fine twine linen wrought with needlework and their pillars shall be four and their sockets four." And there you have one of the greatest evangelistic gospel verses about Christ in the Old Testament. That verse is clearly speaking about Christ. The whole Bible is about Christ. Isn't it sad that there are some people today think that it's only the Gospels? that tell about Christ. The whole Bible has one subject, the Lord Jesus Christ and how He saves His people. If you were an Israelite living in the wilderness, you would know that in the holiest of all there was what represented the throne of God. The Shekinah glory was visible for those 40 years. You knew you were a sinner. You wanted to come to meet a holy God. You're told that in the tabernacle, the courts of the Lord, That's a picture of heaven. You can fellowship with God there. But how can I, a sinner, come and fellowship with a holy God? That's the great question. Or to put it the reverse, how can a holy God accept me, the sinner? How can I come to Him? If you picture yourself an Israelite in the tabernacle there, you came and there was a white linen fence, five cubits high. White linen in Scripture speaks of righteousness. Revelation 19 and 8 tells us that. And that fence was saying there's no admittance. You can't get into the presence of God by your righteousness. It says keep out, not that the Philo can enter in. But in chapter 27 and verse 16 we're told there was one way, one door and only one, yet its sides are two. Inside and outside, and which side are you? Inside that tabernacle, that's where David worshipped. David often wrote in the Psalms about rejoicing to go into the courts of the Lord. Inside that tabernacle was a picture of heaven, of peace, of pardon. And there's one way in. There's only one doorway to heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ said in John 10 and 9, I am the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved. How does Christ become the door? Well, there are four colors listed in that verse. Now, why did God not say make it brown or black or green? Well, I believe those four colors, you have the gospel in color. Blue, surely when you go out on a summer's day, and we don't have many of those days in Ireland, You go out and you see the blue sky. It reminds us that our Saviour is very God of very God. He's the Lord from heaven. The linen which is white, because in the Hebrew the word translated linen actually is a word for whiteness. Linen comes from the earth. The Lord Jesus Christ is not only very God of very God, but He's very man of very man. He's the perfect man. He's without sin. He's God. He's the perfect sinless man. The purple speaks of king. Royalty. Do you remember how, before the crucifixion, the soldiers in mockery, they put a purple robe upon him? They put a reed in his hand? They put the crown of thorns upon his head? You say, why did they do that? Because if you go into a museum and look at the Roman coin of that period, you'll see inscribed upon it, the emperor, who would wear the laurel wreath around his head, who would hold a scepter, who would have depicted the royal robes, and they did, in mockery upon Christ, they put a reed in mockery of the scepter, a crown of thorns in place of the laurel wreath of honor, and they put a purple robe and they said, Hail King of the Jews. But thank God he is King of Kings, and he is Lord of Lords. He is King of Saints, he is King of Israel, The blue, he's God from heaven. He's perfect man, the white linen. He's king of kings. And you have the lovely scarlet color. Scarlet speaks of precious blood. And you know that verse, I'm not turning to it tonight for time, but that word scarlet is translated over in Psalm 22, which you I'm sure know is a messianic psalm. In verse 6, Christ is pictured as saying, I am a worm. You say, why would Christ say that in Calvary? Because the color scarlet comes from a little grub. That to this day it's still made the same way, where the grub is taken and it's crushed and it gives forth a scarlet dye. Back in Britain it's called the cochineal dye. Still made the same way today in Middle Eastern countries. In other words, that little grub of the larvae of the beetle, the particular beetle, it gives forth a scarlet dye. And the very word in Hebrew for the color was the same name for the worm. And Christ in Calvary is pictured as saying, I am a scarlet one, I am a worm. Because there in Calvary, God, perfect man, the King of kings, shed His precious blood. Why? So that we could have eternal life. That's the door in. We sing back home in the children's meetings, one door and only one, yet a side or two. Inside or outside? On which side are you? There are people here tonight and they can say we're in Christ. Because there's been a time in our life when we've been led by His grace to accept Christ as our God, as our friend that's thicker, closer than a brother, as King of our life. and the one who shed his precious blood, and we say our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I'm saying that the tabernacle, it pictures every doctrine that's important in our faith. That's why it's worth studying. It's worth studying because of what it produced in Moses. Do you know when Moses was up on the mount with God for 40 days and 40 nights, God, of course, wrote the Ten Commandments on the two tables of stone. But he also gave Moses the plan of the tabernacle. And for 40 days, Moses fasted from normal food. But he feasted on the Word of God. And God revealed to him the plan of the tabernacle. And Moses talked with God face to face, as friend to friend. And when Moses came down from the mountain, his face shone. I know if we'd only study, I believe, the tabernacle, Spiritually speaking, our faces will shine with the blessing of God. Well, there's so much we could say about the tabernacle and the wonderful blessing it could be, but if we turn to this chapter, Exodus 30, I want to draw your attention to some lessons on supplication, some lessons on prayer. You see, we're told in chapter 30 and verse 1, they shall make an altar to burn incense. Incense. Now, incense is a picture of prayer. Incense was a liquid perfume that would be put upon the hot coals. It was on an altar, something like a reading desk here, and it was made of gold, with wood overlaid with gold. Hot coals would be there. The liquid perfume would be taken, put on the hot coals, and it would form a smoke that would arise. That's a picture of prayer. Psalm 141, verse 2. The psalmist said, Let my prayers ascend as incense. In Luke chapter 1, Zacharias was in the temple offering incense and the people were outside praying. Revelation 5 and 8, Revelation 8 and 9, you can read about it there in the New Testament. It clearly states incense is a picture of prayer. So tonight in this chapter there are lessons about prayer. Next week Sorry, not this incoming week, the following week. It's the week of prayer for ministers. Here are lessons about prayer. I was just thinking this week, visiting with Dr. and Mrs. Kearns, that the first time that I remember meeting Mrs. Kearns was at an afternoon of prayer. Mrs. Kearns, for some years, was Secretary of the Missionary Council of our churches in Northern Ireland. That's where representatives from each congregation would come together, pray for missionaries, take back news, would meet every month. And on times in the 60s, I remember, there were special Saturday afternoons of prayer. And I remember being at one of those meetings, and Mrs. Kearns, Secretary of the Missionary Council, that special prayer time. I remember because she called upon myself to mention about my sister. My sister at that time still is a missionary in Bogota, Colombia. And I remember Mrs. Kearns asking me at any prayer requests for my sister. And, you know, thinking of the missionary work of our church, what's the greatest need? Well, if I was to ask you tonight, what's the greatest need for our church, our missionary work? Well, some would answer, we need personnel. We need men and women to go. Well, that's very true. Someone else may say, well, we need provisions. We need the wherewithal to send them and support them. Someone else may say, ah well, you can have men and you can have money, but we need the might of the Holy Spirit on the missionary work. But I believe the greatest need for our congregations as regards missionary work and you and I as believers, the greatest need that we need to keep before us is not even the personnel, the provision, the power, but it's the need for prayer. Because when we get a burden for prayer, God will send forth laborers into his harvest field. When we learn to pray as George Muller prayed, then the finances will be supplied. Surely it's only by prayer that we'll know the power of God upon the work of God. And so it's so important to learn lessons about prayer. And if you know anything about the tabernacle and the work of the Savior, you'll know that this chapter reminds us that we have a great high priest who is praying for us in glory. Yes, the Great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, at the brazen altar, He sacrificed His own precious blood. That work is finished. But today Christ has ascended into heaven, and in John 17 you have a description of what He is praying at this moment. Do you know at this moment our Great High Priest is offering incense in the true tabernacle in heaven, even as we meet here in Greenville? Our Great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, is praying for every believer. He's praying for you at this moment. And He's praying because of the victory and the value of His work on Calvary. And His prayers are always answered. His prayers are always effectual. Thank God for the prayers of our great High Priest. But when you study the tabernacle, I believe they're not only lessons in thinking of the work of Christ for us, but they're lessons to us as believers on how to pray. You see, who can offer prayer? Verse 7 speaks about Aaron. Who was Aaron? Aaron was a priest. If you know the background of the tabernacle, you'll know that the Israelite could go to the brazen altar, but only the priest could go into the holy place where there was the table of showbread, speaking of strengthening through the word, where there was the lampstand. There were no windows in the tabernacle. The only light came from the lampstand and there was the altar of incense. Only the priest could go in. Only the priest. Aaron and his sons after him. No one else was allowed in to that building. Now someone, if you don't know the story in Exodus, may say to yourself, well Aaron and his sons must have been very good people. They must have been wonderful men for God to choose them to such a wonderful privilege of coming into that holy place that so wonderfully pictured heaven. You'd be completely wrong. Do you know what Aaron was doing at that very moment when God said to his brother Moses, Moses, when you come down from the mount, I want you to take your brother Aaron and make him a priest. Do you know what Aaron was doing at that moment? Aaron was making a golden calf and leading the children of Israel in idolatry. And yet God in His sovereign choice said, you take Aaron. Look at chapter 28 in verse 1, it brings that out. It's interesting of course that the The altar of incense comes after two chapters here that speak about the high priest. In chapter 28, And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. And then chapter 29 verse 1, And this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hallow them, to minister unto me in the priest's office. Take one young bullock and two rams without blemish." And I'll not go down the chapter, but I'll just say this. There's a whole chapter of what happened to Aaron and his sons. You see, if Aaron is a sinner, an idolater, and yet God says, I want him to be my priest, something has to happen. And you not only in chapter 28 and 29 have God's sovereign choice and God's sovereign call, but you have the cleansing of Aaron, how the blood of the animals were shed as a sacrifice for sin. How Aaron and his sons were not only cleansed, but how they were washed all over and their old clothes were taken off and they were given new clothes. White, speaking of purity. And they were crowned, and they were clothed. In fact, they were anointed. Blood was put upon their ear, right ear, upon their right thumb, upon their right toe, because they became blood-marked men. And they were anointed with oil. Why? For the work of the ministry. Now, why am I going into all that about Aaron? Here's what point I'm making. Listen carefully. Only Aaron and his sons were allowed into that ministry of offering incense that represents prayer. Only they could go into the holy place which was gold all around them. And everything in it was of gold. And above them was beautiful embroidery. In front of them was beautiful embroidery. The building that they went into, the holy place, it was in sockets of pure silver. What a rich, wonderful building. Only a priest was allowed in. But I come to the New Testament and what do I read? 1 Peter chapter 2, Revelation 1 and 5, that every child of God has become a priest unto God. One of the great doctrines of the Reformation is the priesthood of every believer. Thank God the hymn says, He maketh the rebel a priest and a king. And everyone who's a believer tonight can say, like Aaron and his sons, I was away far from God, but God in His sovereign choice chose me, and called me, and cleansed me, and He's crowned me, and He's consecrated me, and He's given me a wonderful privilege. And tonight, if you're saved, you've been saved to be a priest. Now, of course, we're not talking about Roman Catholic priests who are usurpers. We don't make sacrifices for sins. It's only Christ that sacrificed for sins in that sense of a priest. But when the New Testament talks about priest, it means we have the right of access into God's presence. You have the right and responsibility, the privilege to come right into the holy place You have the privilege. You know, back home there's controversy about women priests in the Anglican Communion, the Episcopal Church. I sometimes tell our congregation, when you meet your Episcopal friends, tell them we sorted that out years ago, we already have women priests in the Free Presbyterian Church. Now, I didn't say women elders or women ministers. But in the New Testament spiritual sense, every woman and every man who's born again is a priest unto God. You have a right to come into God's presence and to fellowship with Him. You see, think of what the priest was doing when he went into the holy place. His feet were upon the ground, the soil, the sand, but all around him was a wall, wood overlaid with pure gold. all that spoke of the beauty of Christ. And you and I who are saved, we have the right and the privilege to come into the holy place and fellowship with God and see His beauty and see His wonder. Who can offer prayer? Well, why can't we pray? Well, verses 1 to 5, and I'll just be very quick. Verses 1 to 5 said they prayed upon an altar. They said this altar was made of wood in verse 1. The dimensions are given. It was overlaid with gold. It had horns upon it, verse 3 says it was overlaid with gold. So you imagine this altar, that's where, that's why they could offer prayer. That's why they could offer the incense that was that particular altar. Do you know that altar speaks of Christ? Just very quickly here's how. It was made of wood overlaid with gold. Every commentator that I've ever read would agree that the wood, sometimes incorruptible wood would be the meaning. That that hard, hard wood is a picture of Christ in His humanity. The gold, of course, is a picture of Christ in His deity. Two substances, but one. One. Oh, we know that Christ is perfect God and perfect man, but He's one Savior. He's our Lord. He's our Savior. We can offer prayer in Him. This altar is a picture of Christ. Just as the priests came in and put the incense upon that altar, We come to God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. That is how we can pray, through Christ. He is our altar. It's in His name. We have no right to pray apart from Christ. It's through Christ our prayers are offered, and through Christ alone It's interesting it speaks of horns upon the altar. Horns in scripture is a symbol of power. If you know in the book of Daniel, there was a creature, a beast, and its horn was broken, it lost its power. And there's horns upon this altar. As a young Christian, I would hear older Christians pray in their prayer meeting that say this, Lord, we're holding on to the horns of the altar. And I'd wonder what are they talking about? Well, holding on to the horns of the altar in prayer, it doesn't necessarily mean that you're shouting louder in your prayer, although you may raise your voice in prayer. It doesn't mean that you're working up some emotion. No, verse 10 gives you the key what it means. It says in verse 10, an errand shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering. Oh, that expression that some would use in prayer, Lord, we're holding on to the horns of the altar. Remember, the horns speak of power. It means that you're seeking, with all your mind, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to hold on in prayer to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was Dr. Paisley's father who used to talk about standing in to the victory of Christ. You see, the power doesn't come from the incense. The incense is picturing the prayers that are offered. That's not what the power is. The power is not in my eloquence. The power is not in how I string the sentences together when I come to pray. No. The power is in the altar. In other words, the power of prayer is in Christ and His work on Calvary. And the more you can get hold of the fact that God is pleased with what Christ did in Calvary and there's power in the finished work of Christ is to that extent you will know power in prayer. And so you have, and we're only touching these thoughts You have why we can offer prayer. But then verse 6 tells you where it is. They shall put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee. Here we have pictured for us where you can offer prayer. Where? In the holy place. What does that mean? It means the priest had to come to what was called a laver and wash his hands and feet and then pull back a veil and shut the world out. And that's where you and I come to pray. It doesn't have to be a particular building, a particular place, but consciously we're shutting the world out and we're stepping in with God alone with Him in the holy place. Of course, inside was the lampstand. The lampstand speaks of the light of the Holy Spirit. Do you know it says in the study of the tabernacle that they would offer incense twice a day at the same time that they tended the lamp? And of course the Word of God was there, the showbread, they all blend together. In other words, when you and I come to pray we need the help of God, the Holy Spirit. And it's in the holy place that the Holy Spirit comes and helps us. But the priest had to go to a laver first and wash his hands and feet. You say, well what's that about? Well, that's teaching us that when you come to Christ as Savior, you're a believer, you need to examine your life by this book. You're cleansed from the guilt of your sin by the blood. But you are to cleanse your life of the filthiness of the flesh. 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 1. It says, let us cleanse ourselves That's not a contradiction. We can't cleanse ourselves from the guilt of our sin. We have to cry, Lord, save me and cleanse me. But Paul said to the church, cleanse yourself. What did he mean? Well, he meant quite simply, if there's some sin in your life, something you read in God's Word and you find it's wrong, you're to put it away. The Word of God comes, the Word of God. It says in Ephesians 5, the washing of water by the Word. And it's the Word of God that cleanses away the filthiness of the sins of the flesh and of the spirit. It means, let's say for instance, there's something on the television and we're watching, we say, we should not be watching that program. There's no use praying for an angel to come and turn it off. God expects you to turn it off. Or something we shouldn't be reading, God expects us to put it away. were to have done with those things. I was in Bob Jones University just during the week with Reverend Stanley Barnes. We were looking around some of the buildings and I noticed a photograph of Dr. Bob Jones Jr. laying a wreath on the grave of the great Dr. Harry Ironside. What a great preacher he was. Dr. Ironside is especially tremendous in his illustrations. His book of illustrations, not very large, but oh how appropriate they are. You know, there's a powerful illustration in his book that I believe sums up what it means for a Christian to be at the laver. He describes a preacher in a particular church was preaching to Christians on the need to keep short accounts with God and the need to guard or walk with the Lord. And he spoke that sometimes there's need for restitution if others are involved in sin. And after the service, a young man came up to him and he said, you know, I'm saved, I'm coming to this church. But tonight as you preached, God the Holy Spirit convicted me that I'm a thief. I've been working in the boat builders. And at night, I would put a few copper nails in my pocket to bring home because I'm building a boat at home and the copper nails don't rust. Well, I've always argued, well, surely he doesn't pay me enough, the boss. and he won't miss a few nails, and it's not really stealing, but tonight as you preached, I realize I'm a thief, but I could never go to my boss. He makes fun of Christians. He won't accept a gospel tract from me. He laughs at Christians. I could never go and tell him what I've done. Dr. Harry Aronside describes in his book of illustrations how That week as the preacher preached, that man, yes a believer, but not dwelling in the holy place. A believer out of fellowship with God. He was miserable. You could tell it by his face. Until one night the preacher stood up to preach and there was that man and he's beaming. His face was shining. And afterwards he came and said to the preacher, you'll never guess what happened. Let me tell you the story. He said, I went in to work and I was determined I was going to make matters right. And I asked to see my employer and I told him that I was ashamed as a Christian that I had let my Savior down and that I had been stealing copper nails. And I told my employer that if he wanted to sack me, it's what I deserved. I was willing to make restitution and I wanted to apologize to him for what I had done. But most of all, I told him, I was ashamed that I'd let my Savior die. And this is what Dr. Ironside wrote. He said that the man went on to say, you'll never guess what happened. The employer just looked at me and said, George, I used to think that you were just another of the religious hypocrites that I meet day to day. But there must be something real in what they're preaching at your church. Can I come with you some Sunday and hear what they're preaching in your church? You see, when that man went to the laver and realized that the Holy Spirit has shown him there was something in his life that needed to be got rid of, and more and more his life conformed to the Word, then God used him. in that moment. Dr. Aronside actually went on in that book to say he got permission to use this story from the man. And he went to another church and a lady came up and said, the copper needles are in my conscience. He said, well, you're not a book builder. She says, no, but I'm a bookkeeper. She says, I've got a lot of books at home I have to return. He said he used it many a time. What I'm saying is this, the holy place is the place where the Christian were obeying the word. And in that holy place, where do you pray? In front of the holy place, there was a veil. And that priest, as he offered this perfume, he knew that on the other side of that veil was what represented the throne of God, the mercy seat with the blood upon it. But do you know what happened when Christ died on Calvary? Dr. Kearns referred to it this morning in his message. When Christ cried, it is finished, and gave up the ghost. From the top to the bottom, the veil was rent. And the way into the holiest was open. And today, you and I, where is the place we can pray? It's the place where you're looking down at the blood-sprinkled mercy seat. Where you're consciously coming and saying, I can come to God the Father because Christ has made atonement. That's where we come to pray. Very quickly notice from verse 7, it tells us about the prayers itself, the way in which you should pray. It says in verse 7, Sweet incense. If you compare that with verse 35, it speaks of pure and holy. Now, this is speaking about the actual prayer, the actual incense. This is telling us when we come to a prayer meeting or at home, what we pray for. Pure, sweet, holy. I think it was Thomas Manton in reference to one of the verses in Revelation that speaks of incense. He said, too often God's people's prayers are not incense that are sweet. but they're like sulphur. What he meant was we have to be conscious when we do say words in God's presence that they're pure and sweet and holy. You know that means that sometimes Christians prayers would be a lot shorter because there's things we wouldn't dare ask for. If that petition is not sweet and pure and holy we ought not to pray it. Of course, it means sometimes our prayers will be longer because we'll think of Christ who is pure and sweet and holy. One of the saddest experiences in Christian work that I believe can happen is to be in prayer meetings where people use the time of prayer to get at others. It's happened. I've had the privilege of living in different countries and I've had the misfortune on a few occasions, I'm glad it's only a few occasions, where God's people have used a prayer meeting. to preach at somebody else. I remember in one congregation a man joined our church and he told how he had gone to what we call a mission hall in Ireland and he wasn't long saved and there were two supposedly mature believers and they had debated something in a committee meeting first and then they got down to prayer and he said one Christian began to pray and pray, Lord open this other believer's eyes to see that I'm right and that this is the way we ought to go, and he finished praying, the other man started. That's not pure and sweet and holy. I remember one prayer meeting. I wasn't at it. I was in a different location that day. There were times of prayer, and one of our ministers had the courage and grace to get up and stop in the middle of a prayer meeting, because some people were getting out of hand, and instead of praying for the young people, it seemed as if they were praying against them. And the congregation was reminded Look, we're here to pray for people. You see, sometimes God's people, sadly, they think the time of prayer is to preach at others. It's not. It's the time when we come to offer pure, sweet prayers. Our prayers are to be sweet and pure and holy. Our prayers do have passion, because this incense burnt. It burnt upon the hot coals. They were put there, and surely that speaks of the fervor, the passion of our prayer. In verse 7 and 8 it speaks it was to be every morning. And then it was to be at evening again in verse 8, it was to be perpetual. There surely you have the persistency of prayer. Prayers to be offered again and again. Most preachers loved or agreed of the great C. H. Spurgeon. Do you know what C. H. Spurgeon wrote at one time? He said that he very rarely prayed for more than 15 minutes at a time. That may surprise you, the great C. H. Spurgeon. I very rarely pray for more than 15 minutes at a time. Do you know what he went on to say? I very rarely go 15 minutes without praying. I very rarely go 15 minutes without praying. Dr. Theo Collier, a great American preacher, was visiting with Spurgeon in his house on a Saturday afternoon and they were out in the gardens and Theo Collier said that just they were walking along and they were laughing with each other. One of them had told a joke and they were just laughing together. And Theo Collier said it impressed him that Spurgeon just stopped and said, Theo, let's get down on our knees and thank the Lord for the gift of laughter. And he said right then Spurgeon began to pour out his heart to the Lord and the presence of the Lord was so real. The passage goes on to speak of the perversion of prayer, but let me very quickly say who you should pray for. Who you should pray for. Do you see it in Exodus 28? Exodus 28 verse 29, it says this. Exodus 28 verse 29. It says, Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart. when he goeth in to the holy place." Who are you to pray for? You're to pray for those the Lord lays upon your heart. You're to pray for the Israel of God, all the people of God. You're to pray for the nation. But those whom the Lord lays upon your heart, you're to bring them in as a priest. We have a ministry as a priest. That ministry is to bring those whom the Lord lays upon our heart into the holy place and there to pray before the Lord and to intercede on their behalf. There's a lovely point in verse 10 of the chapter that tells you why you should pray. It says, because it is most holy unto the Lord. Preachers can encourage, cajole God's people to pray. But you know, it doesn't work. You can't force Christians to pray. But if we as God's people can get hold of the fact that when you and I come and offer prayer through Christ, God says it is most holy. We're pleasing Him. Oh yes, it encourages missionaries when they come home for someone to come up and say, brother, sister, we've been praying for you. And that's good. Our missionaries need prayer. The work of God needs prayer. But the greatest impetus to prayer is this. God is pleased when you pray. When you come along to the prayer meeting week by week, when you set aside time at home, you are pleasing the Lord. God says it's holy unto Him. Bear with me because I just want to finish with this. What happened to the priest as he prayed? Something happened. Something happened. When that priest went into the holy place, yes, his feet were upon earth, but around him was all that spoke of heaven, all that spoke of the beauty of Christ. And you know, that priest, as he offered incense, the light of the lamps reflected and showed him all the beauty and glory of all the typified Christ. And when you and I really learn to pray, we see Christ. We see the beauty of Christ. I understand that hymn, Sweet Hour of Prayer, Sweet Hour of Prayer, was written by a man who was blind. But though he didn't have the natural eyesight, he had the spiritual eyesight to see the beauty of Christ in prayer. One day, talking to my father many years ago, he pointed something out from this passage that I believe is right. You see, that priest was in a holy place, it was just a small room, no windows. This perfume, incense that was put upon the hot coals, it was a smoke that would fill the whole room. There was not to be made a perfume like it for any other use, but for offering incense. Now let me digress a moment and tell you, when I was a teenager, coming home in Belfast, we had the double-decker buses in Britain. Still have them. Now in those days, people were allowed to smoke on the upper deck. Downstairs, you weren't allowed to smoke. Now, when after a hard day's work, when I come home, I used to sit upstairs. Now I didn't smoke. I sat upstairs, but if you sat downstairs, you had to give up your seat, you see, but if ladies get on, you have to be a gentleman and give up your seat. So if you went upstairs, there was no standing room upstairs, so you got to keep your seat. Well that was part of the reason you could see out and so on better upstairs. But people would smoke around you upstairs on the double-decker bus. I would come home from work and was younger from school, get off the bus, walk oh I suppose about three or four hundred yards or maybe further home. I'd open the back door and go in and had an older sister, you boys know what older sisters are like, and she would go You've been sitting upstairs on the bus. How did you know? I wasn't smoking. But you see, the cigarette smoke was in the jacket. She could tell. She could tell that I had been sitting in smoke. But oh, in a wonderful sense, is it not true that when that priest was in offering incense that speaks of prayer in the holy place. And he came out to make his way home. He wasn't conscious of it. He didn't have to go around trying to advertise where he had been. His family, his friends, those he came in contact with said to themselves, there's a fragrance about that man. He's been in the holy place with the Lord. You know, that's what true prayer ought to do for us. I trust when the ministers meet during the week of prayer, that they will know what it is to be in the holy place with the Lord. And that as they go back to their individual congregations, that they'll go back with the fragrance of the Savior upon them. And that like the disciples, you and I would each of us say, Lord, teach us to pray.