The Altar of Incense

[0:00] Please open your Bibles to the book of Exodus in chapter 30. Exodus chapter 30.

[0:30] We'll be looking at verses 1 through 10. You shall make an altar on which to burn incense.

[0:42] You shall make it of acacia wood, and a cubit shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth. It shall be square, and two cubits shall be its height.

[0:56] Its horn shall be of one piece with it. You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and around its sides and its horns. And you shall make a molding of gold around its sides.

[1:09] I'm sorry, around it. And you shall make two golden rings for it. Under its molding, on two opposite sides of it, you shall make them. And they shall be holders for poles with which to carry it.

[1:22] You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. And you shall put in front of it, you shall put it in front of the veil that is above the ark of the testimony.

[1:35] In front of the mercy seat that is above the testimony where I will meet with you. And Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it. Every morning when he dresses the lamp, he shall burn it.

[1:47] And when Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it. A regular incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations. You shall not offer unauthorized incense on it, or a burnt offering, or a grain offering.

[2:02] And you shall not pour a drink offering on it. Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonement.

[2:13] He shall make atonement for it once in the year throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord. Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for the truth of your word.

[2:27] We pray that you would help us as we consider it. That you would show us the meaning. Help us to understand how the altar of incense relates to us today.

[2:38] Lord, show us Christ. In whose name we pray these things. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Now it's interesting as we come to this piece of furniture.

[2:49] This is the one piece of furniture that's not mentioned in connection with the other pieces of furniture we've already looked at. So remember we looked at the pieces of furniture in the tabernacle.

[2:59] And then we've looked at the priest and their clothing. And now here we come back to this one piece. Perhaps it's because it wasn't discussed until there were priests that were there to burn incense on it.

[3:18] On the other hand, we see also though that the other altars where there would be sacrifices were told before there were priests. So no real understanding of why, but for whatever reason it's placed after the priest.

[3:29] Now the description of it. It's a cubit in its width and its length. And remember a cubit is basically the tip of your fingernails or tip of your fingers to your elbow, which is roughly a foot and a half.

[3:43] So it's only a foot and a half square. And it's two cubits tall, which would be three feet. So almost what we would think of like the size of an end table you might have in your house.

[3:57] And like the table of showbread, it was made of acacia wood. It was covered with gold. And just like it had a gold rim to it or border around the edges. It's also interesting in this though that it had horns on the corner.

[4:15] So four horns on it. So as you think about that, where have we seen four horns on a square altar before? The closest connection probably is the brazen altar that we've seen out in the courtyard.

[4:27] And we'll talk a little bit more about that in a second. But it's perfectly square, just like the brazen altar. It has the horns. It has the rim and all that. It has two wings to carry it on.

[4:38] It's made of pure gold though instead of bronze because of its location. Where is it located? You may have caught that it said that it was set almost against the veil, almost touching the veil to the Holy of Holies.

[4:51] So it's in the Holy Place, not in the Holy of Holies or Most Holy Place, but it's right outside the veil and in the middle. So directly behind or directly past the altar of incense would have been what?

[5:05] It would have been the Ark of the Covenant or the mercy seat, the testimony. It would have been directly behind it. So this altar of incense stood in front of the veil in front of the Ark of the Covenant.

[5:23] And there was a daily routine for the priest. The priest would take burning coal from the sacrificial altar, from the brazen altar out in the courtyard. And they would fill a censer with that.

[5:35] And then they would sprinkle this recipe of incense on top of it and then carry it in and set it on the table there. And this happened every morning and every evening that they would do this.

[5:46] And on this table, on the corners, on the horns, blood would be placed once a year from the sacrifice of atonement, again, that took place out in the courtyard.

[6:00] Nothing was to be sacrificed on this, even though it's called an altar. Nothing could ever be burned on it. There could not be a grain offering placed on it. And no drink offering could be poured out on it.

[6:11] It only was for incense, again, except for the corners, that blood would be placed on the four corners or the horns of this table once a year. And the incense had to be only of a certain recipe.

[6:28] Maybe some of you in your home, you're very particular about your recipe. If it's not your wife's recipe or mom's recipe, then it's not really that food item. You know, it's got to be just this certain way.

[6:39] Well, God has a certain recipe for this. We're going to look at verses 34 through 38 of this same chapter where he describes the recipe for this.

[6:52] I felt bad for Charles. I always feel bad when people do the scripture reading and we get to some of the hard Hebrew names. And so bear with me here.

[7:02] The Lord said to Moses, take sweet spices. See, here we are. Stat and Onisha and Gabonim.

[7:16] Sweet spices with pure frankincense. Of each shall there be an equal part. And make an incense blended as by the perfumer. Seasoned with salt.

[7:27] Pure and holy. Holy. You shall beat some of it very small and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting where I shall meet with you.

[7:38] It shall be most holy for you. And the incense that you... I'm sorry. And then the incense that you shall make according to its composition, you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be for you holy to the Lord.

[7:51] Whoever makes any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from his people. So God gives a very specific recipe.

[8:01] At least the ingredients had to be put into it. And the perfumer was to make this. And it's interesting that this same recipe could not be used anywhere else in your life.

[8:14] So maybe you come into... Well, you'd have to be out in the courtyard. And maybe you catch a whiff of the incense. You go, oh, I really like that smell. Now I'm going to get the perfume and make some for my house.

[8:25] Or maybe I'm going to wear this. This is my new stylish cologne that I'm going to put on. And God says if you do that, you're cut off from his people. Cut off from the people would have been cast out of the community.

[8:37] But it also has that importance of the covenant people of God. To be cut off from the people of God is to be outside of God's salvation. He's saying you're going to be cast out if you use this for anything other than my holy purpose.

[8:52] Something similar happens in verse 9 of our text. Chapter 30, verse 9. It says you shall not offer unauthorized incense on it. Or a burnt offering or a grain offering. And you shall not pour a drink offering on it.

[9:05] So it's not just these other offerings. You cannot put any incense on it except for this one recipe. It's one thing could go on it and that's it. And to demonstrate perhaps the seriousness of God's command.

[9:23] We have the example that probably many of you are familiar with. But that of Nadab and Abihu. This is from Leviticus 10, verses 1 through 3. Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron.

[9:36] So let that sink in for a second. The sons of the high priest were only one generation removed. His sons each took his censer. And put fire in it. And laid incense on it.

[9:48] And offered unauthorized fire before the Lord. Which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord. And consumed them.

[9:59] And they died before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, This is what the Lord has said. Among those who are near me, I will be sanctified. And before all the people, I will be glorified.

[10:11] And Aaron held his peace. I can say a lot about that passage. But at the very least, we could say, And God's very serious about the recipe, isn't he?

[10:22] You're to do it as he commanded. And not to do so is a problem. Now we don't know exactly what Nadab and Abihu did. It says they offered unauthorized fire. It could be that they used the correct recipe at the wrong time.

[10:34] It wasn't time to put incense in. But they go, I really like that smell. I'm going to do it at lunchtime today. Or it may be that they wanted to tweak the recipe. Or offer something else. But whatever it was, It was not as God had prescribed it.

[10:49] And what happened? Fire came out from before the Lord. So it's got to be speaking of From the Ark of the Covenant. Or above the Ark of the Covenant, Fire came out and consumed them.

[11:03] And there's a bit of irony even in God's justice Because they offered strange fire to God And God consumed them with this strange fire. Coming out of apparently nowhere And consuming them altogether.

[11:17] And Moses said to Aaron, This is what the Lord has said. Among those who are near me, I will be sanctified. And before all the people, I will be glorified. And then did you catch the end? And Aaron held his peace.

[11:28] Both your children just got consumed by fire. And he's not upset with God about it Because God has done what's right. God warned them.

[11:39] God told them He was to be sanctified. And whatever Nadab and Abihu did, They did not revere God as holy. Think about what we've seen already In our worship service.

[11:51] We serve a holy God. And they approached God As though He was common. As though they could do what they wanted to. Maybe when they wanted to do it Or how they wanted to do it. But they approached God In a way that was not authorized.

[12:03] And God consumed them. So, let's talk a little bit about the altar And what its purpose was. I think there were at least two purposes For the altar of incense.

[12:19] Briefly, I want to touch on one And then we'll spend a little bit more time On the second one. But the first purpose is That it served as a cloud of protection For the people of God.

[12:30] Or specifically for the priests That would enter in And the high priests Who would go into the Holy of Holies. A cloud of protection. Now why is that? Well, the smoke You understand when the incense is burned I told somebody I really considered Going and buying some incense And burning it today So you could smell it But it's done in other services In ways that I think God doesn't authorize.

[12:53] And I don't want us to confuse Our worship service. But that you would see The smoke go up And how it penetrates the room. But a cloud would have filled In the area of the tent Probably even going through the veil Into the Holy of Holies Being smelled out in the courtyard.

[13:10] Listen to Leviticus 16.13 Put the incense on the fire Before the Lord That the cloud of the incense May cover the mercy seat That is over the testimony.

[13:26] So burn it in a way That it's going to end up The incense, the cloud Is going to fill The area above the mercy seat. The mercy seat, remember Is the top lid For the Ark of the Covenant.

[13:38] So that room is going to be filled The Holy of Holies Will be filled with smoke Twice a day. But I stop Before we finish the verse. That the cloud of the incense May cover the mercy seat That is over the testimony So that he does not die.

[13:57] And so one clear purpose That God has given us For the altar of incense Was to save the life Of the priest. Now not a lot is given to us About that.

[14:11] But it made a cloud In the Holy of Holies It made a cloud In the holy place. And I want to Take you back for a second And think about What we've seen in God's word Where we were told That this is to be made After the pattern For which you were shown On the mountain.

[14:28] Now if you're tracking With me in everything We've done We've said That God revealed To Moses On top of Mount Sinai What the tabernacle Was to look like And he was to follow That exact pattern Because that pattern Was a model Or a replica Of the reality Of what heaven is like.

[14:48] Now obviously It's imperfect replica. But we're getting A glimpse Into the throne room. But as we think About that Part of Moses' experience On Mount Sinai May well have related.

[15:00] In other words God may have been Revealing Some of the pattern In what Moses Experienced. Listen to Exodus 19 16-20 On the morning Of the third day There were thunders And lightnings And a thick cloud On the mountain.

[15:16] Now Mount Sinai Was wrapped in smoke Because the Lord Had descended on it In fire. The smoke of it Went up like the smoke Of a kiln. The Lord came down On Mount Sinai To the top of the mountain And the Lord called Moses to the top Of the mountain And Moses went up.

[15:33] And so when Moses meets With God He meets with God In the cloud. And going back To what we saw In Leviticus 16 For the priest It was for protection.

[15:47] And so it seems At least very likely That when God meets With Moses In the form of fire His shekinah glory There He still has to Shield his glory His holiness From him.

[16:01] We're going to see Another example Of that later on In Exodus. But he can't reveal Himself in all he is Or Like Isaiah He would have been Undone And probably literally This time Not in a vision He would have been There in the presence Of God And so God Clouds his glory With his smoke To protect Moses.

[16:20] That then becomes A pattern In the tabernacle When the high priest Would go in Even when Any of the priests Would approach Into the holy place There would be A cloud of smoke That would cover them For protection Against the glory Of the Lord.

[16:38] I think that just That ought to humble us. That ought to amaze us. God is so glorious We cannot look upon him. Cannot be in his presence Without some form Of protection.

[16:50] And we've already seen And we'll look A little bit more About this But the atonement That was necessary Before the high priest Could even go in there. So he's made atonement For his sin. He's sinless And he goes in there And what happens?

[17:04] He still needs covering. He still can't Appear before God. Even as Charles Shared earlier Which I thought Was such a great Illustration of The seraphim Who were without sin Still had to cover Their face And their feet.

[17:20] If we think about That pattern Of Mount Sinai And reproducing that In the tabernacle We've talked a little bit Already about If we think of The top of the mountain As the holy of holies And then we get A little further Removed Remember Aaron And the elders Came on to the mountain But not real close Like the holy place Where the priest Would be allowed later And then Outside the mountain Or off the mountain We might have What we'd say The courtyard Where God's people Stood far off They were still Relatively in the presence Of God But not too close Like the courtyard And so we see A pattern That Mount Sinai Is a pattern For the tabernacle And what happened In Mount Sinai Is a pattern Of the reality Of heaven itself And so the smoke's Given for protection From God's holiness We might even think of With the tabernacle There are three zones Of presence Of the Lord Three levels

[18:21] Of holiness As you go closer And closer to the Lord We've seen that Even in the metals Remember we talked about It goes from bronze To silver To gold To pure gold The closer we get To God And so it's part Of the pattern And God gives His cloud His protection When God comes down Rather than seeing Aaron in his sin What he sees Or what he beholds Is a fragrant smell A pleasant smell To remind him That they are Offering something To him Secondly though There's a connection With prayer I would be so bold To say that this was An altar prayer It's weird that it's Called an altar Because there's no Sacrifice It happens on it But they're offering To God a sacrifice Of prayer Now where do I Get that from Where do I see that Well first Remember its location It's directly in front Of the mercy seat So think about On earth

[19:21] The presence of God Rested over the mercy seat And the ark I'm sorry The altar of incense Is directly in front Of the presence of God And think about Even how the New Testament Would speak of prayer We are approaching God We're entering into The presence of God We are going before The throne of God Apart from once a year When the high priest Would go in This is as close As any man could come To approach God They would come to The altar of incense Before the presence of God Before his throne On earth We might say They are coming to The throne of grace Where God answers prayer Leviticus 16 18 It says Then he shall go out To the altar That is before the Lord And so the incense Is burned before the Lord Again much like prayer And in fact In the Bible We find Other places Where they make That same connection So I'm not just saying

[20:22] That because of location For example I think David Was clearly thinking Of the altar When he said In Psalm 141 Verse 2 Let my prayer Be counted As incense Before you And the lifting up Of my hands As the evening sacrifice The evening sacrifice Would have happened In the courtyard And at the same time In the evening Would have been The offering of incense So count my prayer As incense Coming before you Another example Is how God Speaks of Those who are saved The saints That are in heaven In the book of Revelation Revelation 5 8 And when he had Taken the scroll The four living creatures And the twenty-four elders Fell down before the lamb Each holding a harp And golden bowls Full of incense Which are the prayers Of the saints So with this vision Of what it's like In heaven They have basically A censer Filled with incense

[21:23] And that sweet Smelling incense Is the prayers Of God's people Again Revelation 8 3-4 And another angel Came and stood At the altar With a golden censer And he was given Much incense To offer With the prayers Of all the saints On the golden On the golden altar Before the throne And the smoke Of the incense With the prayers Of the saints Rose before God From the hand Of the angel Now this is probably The one that's most clear If we think about The tabernacle Being a pattern A copy Of what's in heaven And Revelation Gives us a little bit Of a picture Of what's going on There in heaven And here's this angel Bringing incense To a golden altar Before the throne Of God That sound familiar?

[22:14] And this is basically What's happening In the tabernacle And what do we find? What's the recipe In heaven? It's incense Mingled Or minced With the prayers Of God's people And so I believe that This altar of incense Was meant to be A time of prayer For God's people It was meant to Symbolize God's prayer Or excuse me Prayer to God Going up to him That God found To be a sweet Smelling aroma Another example Of this Is in the New Testament You may remember Early chapters Of Luke And we have The story of Zechariah In Luke chapter 1 Verses 8 through 11 Zechariah was a priest That was serving In the temple And at this time In the temple They would basically Draw lots To see who got To be the one To go Light the incense On the altar But listen Now while he was Serving as priest Before God When his division Was on duty According to the

[23:15] Custom of the priesthood He was chosen By lot To enter the temple Of the Lord And burn incense And the whole multitude Of the people Were praying outside At the hour of incense And there appeared To him an angel Of the Lord Standing On the right side Of the altar Of incense So Zechariah Goes in And it's called It says God's people Were outside praying During the Hour Of incense And so We know For a fact By the time Of Jesus' day In the temple That these two Went together That the time Of lighting the incense Was also a time Of God's prayer For his people Again I think Especially with the Connections we see In Revelation And David A time of prayer Right Going up before God So when incense Was offered The people of God Gathered to pray Could I use this As a shameless time To encourage you guys We don't have Altars of incense today But let me encourage you To gather together To pray

[24:15] This happened Twice A day For God's people We ask of you Apart from Sunday We'd love for you To come out on Wednesday And pray together Once a week Not asking 14 times Once a week But we can argue From the same passage That Zechariah Was also praying In verse 13 Of Luke 1 It says But the angel Said to him Do not be afraid Zechariah For your prayer Has been heard And your wife Elizabeth Will bear you a son And you shall Call his name John And so Here's Zechariah Bringing the The offering And when he Offers up the incense An angel appears to him And says I've heard your prayer Well what prayer was that Well it could be That he's been praying This for some time No doubt that he has But if he's the priest That's bringing the incense And this is the hour Of prayer Then he's come before the Lord And he's praying

[25:15] As he offers up the incense And it's at that moment The angel appears to him And says I've heard your prayer And we'll answer it She's going to have a son And his name will be John This is of course The parents of John the Baptist So it symbolized Their prayers As sending before God And note that It was a sweet aroma To God God delighted To smell this There's The family sometimes Jokes with me Because I feel like My nose is super sensitive And there's some smells That are not a delight To me I can pick them up And some smells That are a delight To other people Aren't a delight To me either Colognes, perfumes But God is offering up A sacrifice Excuse me We are offering up A sacrifice to God Our prayer That is a pleasant aroma To God God delights To smell it I don't know What's a pleasant aroma For you But you can imagine

[26:16] When you smell that Maybe a steak on the grill Start salivating You're excited To smell that I don't know That's maybe not What everyone Delights in to smell I remember Being in Canada One time And you always have Those air fresheners Here that are Like balsam Or fir You know I love how it smells And maybe when you Put the Christmas tree In you get a glimpse Of it But we were there In the woods And like Everything smelled Like that I go wow This isn't just An air freshener This is nice Our prayer Is a pleasant Aroma to God Something that He delights in To smell Thirdly I want you to see That there had to be Atonement Before there could be Prayer Atonement Before prayer Atonement was necessary Before the offering Of incense When they brought The incense They had to sprinkle Or place blood On the four corners Of the horns Of the altar

[27:16] And it tells us Where that had to come from Verse 10 And shall make Atonement on its horns Once a year With the blood Of the sin offering Of atonement He shall make Atonement for it Once in a year Throughout your generations It is most holy To the Lord So again Back in the courtyard The brazen altar So without Atonement For our sins Even our prayers Are not acceptable Before God Let that sink in For us to approach The throne of God There has to be Atonement There is a sense In which we could say That because God Is sovereign And omniscient He knows all things That even the prayers Of an unbeliever God hears But there is also A way we could say That God hears The prayers of his people In a special way They come before him On the basis Of the atonement

[28:16] Of Jesus Christ And God hears And answers Those prayers And so there is A distinction I think being made Even here With that same idea The atonement Had to be made Before they could approach I would also say That every time Morning and evening Was also the time Of the sacrifice In the courtyard So either At the same time Or shortly thereafter The offering Of incense Would happen At the same time Or after The sacrifice That was going on In the courtyard And so we are Encouraged as well That we have Access to God In prayer Through the Atoning sacrifice Of Jesus Christ That is what gives us Access to the throne Of God Now I mentioned already This is called An altar And I said It is a similar Shape to The brazen altar Out in the courtyard Though much smaller And I had seen that And realized that And as I was reading Through some commentaries I was just struck by Ian Campbell Makes this comparison

[29:16] That I think is spot on And really quite amazing He didn't go on two slides So you may not be able To read it But I will read it slowly He says The golden altar Of incense Was much smaller Than the altar Of brass Almost three feet high By foot and a half square However They are in the same Proportion to the place Where they are housed The brass altar Of burnt offering Is five cubits square Within the courtyard Which is fifty cubits wide The gold altar Of incense Is one cubit square Within the holy place Which is ten cubits wide The width of each altar Therefore is proportionately A tenth of the width Of the part Of the construction In which it is placed This proportion highlights The connection between them Now obviously There is a connection They're the same shape They have the horns But I thought It even becomes more powerful We understand They're to scale

[30:17] With each other We might say Maybe you guys Have seen this Even if you think Of a television You put a television In a small bedroom Which probably is not A good idea But just for comparison You put a TV In a small bedroom You don't need A very big TV It fills up the room You have to sit close to it If it's too big You get whiplash Trying to watch things Right?

[30:40] But you come in a room Like this And even the screen I cannot make the font Sometimes large enough For you to read it Right? And I forget What we measured that At eight feet Diadently or something So there's a proportion To it Where it doesn't seem Especially large But it's compared To the size of the room So too This is almost like As you walk in the holy place It's like being in the courtyard Proportionate in size And this points to The atonement of Jesus This is Imar Dehan He wrote a book On the tabernacle And here's what he said At the brazen altar Christ died for us Shed his blood And reconciled us to God And made us forever secure in him But at the golden altar He lives in heaven To intercede for those For whom he has already died And who are already saved The brazen altar Speaks of the death of Christ The golden altar Speaks of the living Resurrected

[31:41] Ascended Lord Jesus Christ The two altars therefore Speak of the death And the resurrection And constitute the full message Of the gospel So the connection between the two Again One is of sacrifice And the other is Of intercession Us to God But also Of the atonement of Jesus Christ With that blood being placed On the altar God's Jesus is offering himself up In prayer For us He's interceding for us Think about where Jesus is He's seated at the right hand Of the Father On the throne of God As we come before In the place of prayer He's interceding for us So how does this all apply to us?

[32:31] Well one I want to make sure That we understand That For us to pray For us to speak to God Requires that there be Atonement made for our sins We need To be made right with God That we can appear before him In his presence The holiness that we spoke of Even the cloud of incense And how it protected them We need atonement One more quote If you'll bear with me Phil Riken says We cannot have fellowship With the holy God In prayer Unless something is done About the penalty We deserve for our sin We need forgiveness Through the blood Of the sacrifice There's no fellowship With God There's no entering Into the presence of God Apart from there being Atonement made for our sins Now in light of that We've seen some of this Already in our worship service And even the pastoral prayer If you prayed along with me

[33:31] But in light of that We're encouraged That we now pray to God In confidence We pray to God in confidence Hebrews 10 19 through 20 Therefore brothers We have confidence To enter the holy places By the blood of Jesus By the new And living way That he opened for us Through the curtain That is through his flesh So Hebrews 10 With reference to The temple And the tabernacle The veil He's given us Access into the holy place That we can approach With confidence And I've said this In other sermons So I won't belabor it But it is just amazing To me That it speaks of us Coming to God In confidence Before his throne That is an experience I don't believe Anyone ever had Probably not Moses When he went on top Of the mountain Not Aaron Or the high priest When he entered The holy of holies Not Isaiah

[34:32] When he sees God Even in a vision And we are told That because Of the sacrifice Of Jesus Christ In Christ We come before The throne of God Confident In boldness This is also Why we come To God In the name Of Jesus Christ In prayer Now When you pray Two things One is You don't have to Always say In Christ's name I often will finish My prayers In some way Acknowledging that I'm praying this Because of Christ Who's given me Access to you And that being said When people In that way It's not just Some Religious Maybe Motto Or phrase That we use To somehow Give more power To our prayer We shouldn't do it Thoughtlessly But we come Before the throne Of God In prayer Because of the Work of Jesus Christ So I said

[35:35] Atonement must be made Basically I could say Atonement has been made Therefore we pray In confidence Point two Point three What we saw there At the end Of our last Major point But Jesus Intercedes for us Before the father Hebrews 725 Consequently He is able To save To the uttermost Those who draw near To God Through him Since he always Lives to make Intercession for them And then in Hebrews 924 For Christ Is entered Not into holy Places made With hands Which are copies Of the true Things But into heaven Itself Now to appear In the presence Of God On our behalf So God Jesus is our high Priest He is there Before the throne Of God He is offering Or interceding For us On our behalf Fourthly I want us to Consider In light of These truths The neglect To prayer In our own Lives The neglect To prayer So I have

[36:36] Said earlier Morning And evening Over and over Would be a time Of prayer For God's People As the incense Is offered up Before God And I wonder Do you have A time Set aside For prayer It doesn't Necessarily have To be morning And evening We're not Following Specifically Those patterns But twice a day God set a time Aside for his People To come and Pray And I wonder How much time Are we setting Aside in our Life To pray And I can Think about This That In some ways How difficult It was For the Israelites For them To go to God in Prayer Required There to be An animal Brought And killed And sacrificed There on the Altar And burned And then From the Coals of That Placed into A censer And incense And then to be Brought before Him And then they

[37:36] Could pray Twice a day Over And over And over Again And I think We struggle To find Two or three Minutes To set Aside They probably Had to walk The animal Into the Courtyard In that Amount Time Plus the Sacrifice And everything Else that Would have Been Required As hard As it Was for Them And then On top Of it All this Atonement Had to be Made Because The atonement Of jesus christ Had not yet Been made They didn't Have that Confidence That we Spoke of From hebrews Seven I'm sorry Hebrews Ten We come To god In confidence Now We have Access to God And we Take it For granted We don't Make use Of it I would Venture to Say there's Probably not One of us That makes Use of it The way We could Or should And then

[38:38] Couple that With the Idea that God loves To hear Our prayers I know Sometimes We can get The impression That as we Pray It's just Like bouncing Off the ceiling God's not Hearing it We can even Say well God's not Answering my Prayer And what we Usually mean Is god's not Answering my Prayer the Way i Told him To answer It Or wanted Him to Answer It But it Can seem Like God's not Responding To us But i Think we're Encouraged From this Passage That god Delights To hear Our prayer It is Something that Is a pleasant Aroma to God Something he Enjoys And wants Partly because It's a proper Acknowledgement That we Come to God As those Who are Needy We come To the One who Alone Can supply For our Needs We come As penitents We come As those Seeking And in Doing so We rightly Represent our

[39:38] Relationship to God and That's glorifying To him I think about Like the Parents that The child Comes to Them and Asks Them to Do Something And because Of our Sins Sometimes we Might get Aggravated They asked Me to Do that Again But when We really Think about It What a Blessing That we Get to Do this For them We're Sad when The day Comes we Don't Get to Tie that Shoe Anymore Or they Don't Want the Cuddle Before bed Right It's a Blessing Something we Delight in We're Coming to Him In need God's Word Calls us In 1 Thessalonians 5 16 18 Rejoice Always Pray Without Ceasing Give Thanks In all Circumstances For this Is the Will of God In Christ Jesus For you So With the Authority of God's Word I Can Declare To you The Will of God For you Right People are Always Asking What's God's Will For my Life Here's Your Answer Pray Without Ceasing This is What God's Will Is For Your Life He Desires That You Would

[40:38] Pray It's Pleasing To Him And Then Finally I Want to Encourage You Fifthly The Father Joyfully Hears Our Prayers When We Come To Him On Jesus Sacrifice When We Come To Him In The Name Of Jesus By The Atoning Work Of Christ By The Blood Of Jesus The Father Joyfully Hears Our Prayers And In Christ Our Prayers Are Pleasing A Roman Hymn Let's Pray Together Dear Heavenly Father We Thank You That You Delight To Hear Our Prayers Lord The President Doesn't Delight To Hear My Voice On The Fallen If I Tried To Call But Lord You Delight To Hear Our Prayers And We Come Before You Now As Those Who Are Needy Lord Asking That You Would Work Among Us Lord Give Give Give Us A

[41:39] Appreciate The Sacrifice The Atoning Work Of Jesus Christ Lord Give Us A Heart Of Prayer Lord We Pray That This Wednesday Night We Would Have More People In Prayer Than We Have Here In Worship As Both Services Joined Together Lord That We Would Be A People Committed To Pray Lord Maybe There's Few Things In Our Life That We Do That We Think Or That We Know That This Is Delightful For You That We Are Pleasing You In What We Do Lord We Seek To Do All For Your Glory But Lord You Have Called Us To Pray Without Ceasing And We Are Told It's A Sweet Aroma To You Lord May Our Pray Today Rise Like Incense Before Who Cannot Come To You In Prayer By The Atoning Work Of Jesus Christ That They Would Place Their Faith And Trust In

[42:39] Christ Today That They Would Know They Have No Ability No Access To You That One Day When They Do Stand Before You In Judgment You Will Cast Them Out Eternally If They Are Not Coming In The Atoning Work The Blood of The Lamb Jesus Christ We Pray They Place Their Trust And Faith In Him Today And Lord That They Would Know The Pleasure And The Joy Of Your Delight In Their Prayer We Ask This All In Christ Name Amen