Friend, if you are lacking, if you are struggling with provision
to provide for your family,
you want Christ to be of effect to you.
Just like Jesus was to the multitudes that were
lacking bread and fish.
At the mountainside, the Bible says:
“Jesus took the lack, the 5 loaves and 2 small fish”
“and He thanked the Father for it.”
And it multiplied to feed 5000 men.
Including women and children, it probably fed 15,000.
On that countryside, with 12 baskets full leftover.
Christ was of effect to them!
If you are struggling with depression or panic attacks, anxieties.
You don't even want to leave your house
because you're afraid to face the day.
You're afraid of the coming day. You're afraid of the night time.
You're afraid of the terrors of the night.
Whatever fears or anxiety you may have, whether it’s
a fear of losing your health,
of losing your income to be able to provide for your family.
Whatever fears you may have, you want Christ to be
of effect to your mind. And the effect is “shalom.”
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee.”
We all want Christ to be of effect to us.
But the question is this:
When Christ becomes of no effect, what is the reason?
And the reason given by Scripture is because:
“Christ is become of no effect unto you,”
“whosoever of you are justified by the law;”
“you are fallen from grace.”
Notice that Christ becomes of no effect to anyone
who is trying to be justified by the law.
Do you know what has happened to them?
“You are fallen from grace.”
“Fallen” means grace is high ground
for you to fall from.
If you fall from, it means grace is higher than the law.
When you go back to the law, the Bible says:
“You are actually fallen from grace.”
You are fallen from God's favor.
Notice that you were not trying to avoid sin and then you fall.
No, it is when you are trying to keep the law to be righteous
when you fall from grace.
So maybe you're waiting for Christ to become of effect in these areas.
You find that you do not know of any known sin in your life.
You're praying as much as you can and you’ve put your trust in God.
The way you think it is.
But perhaps,
in your heart of hearts, you are trying to earn your miracle.
You are trying to earn your healing.
You're trying to earn your deliverance.
As such, Christ has no effect.
Why?
Because you are trying to be justified by the law.
You see the law as a means to get through to reach Christ.
In other words, you are saying:
“I have to keep the law before Christ becomes of effect.”
That mentality is what causes you to fall from grace.
It causes Christ to become of no effect unto you.
Now, look at this illustration of the ark of the covenant.
Look at this picture of the ark.
Now, this is the ark of the covenant.
It is found in the Holy of Holies.
God said: “Build Me a tabernacle. Build me a ‘mishkan.’”
The Bible says:
“God named one place, the Holy of Holies.”
“Qodesh Ha-qadashim.”
It means it is the holiest of the holiest.
The Holy of Holies.
That means it’s the greatest holiness.
If you and I were living in the Old Testament times,
and I asked you:
“Where is the holiest nation in the world?”
You would say: “Israel.”
If I asked you: “In all Israel, where is the holiest city?”
You would say: “Jerusalem.”
“Well, in Jerusalem, which is the holiest spot?”
You would say: “The Temple Mount, where the temple is built.”
And I say: “In the Temple Mount, where is the holiest of the holiest?”
“The greatest, extreme holiness?”
You would say: “The Holy of Holies in the Temple Mount,”
“where the ark of the covenant was.”
And right in the center of the ark of the covenant,
is the “kapporet”, which is the mercy seat.
The mercy seat.
The place where the blood is sprinkled.
Show them where the blood is sprinkled on this mercy seat!
That's where the blood is sprinkled.
And that is why this becomes the Holy of Holies.
Holiest of the Holiest.
This spot right here.
It's a picture of the blood of Jesus shed and sprinkled
before the throne of God
that gives us all a righteous basis to come before God.
It is a picture of how the blood of Jesus has now been applied.
Therefore, the throne of judgment
has become the throne of grace for the believer.
Are you listening? Praise the Lord.
And that tells us that the holiest of all the holiest places,
the very center of holiness is actually mercy.
The mercy seat. It is mercy.
It is grace because grace is the greatest holiness there is.
Only grace can bring a Holy God and sinful man together.
You see, there's a story a long time ago, where Israel
actually had the ark come back from the Philistine lands.
The Philistines regretted having the ark with them
That's another sermon altogether.
So they sent the ark back to Israel and
the area where the two bullocks that brought the ark back on the
bullock cart, is actually called “Beth Shemesh.”
I've been there a number of times.
Beth Shemesh.
And what happened was that
the people of Beth Shemesh saw the ark.
And were so excited that they did something that was forbidden.
They did something that they should never have done.
They looked into the ark.
And this is what happened.
“God struck the men of Beth Shemesh because they had looked into”
“the ark of the Lord.”
“He struck 50,070 men of the people, and the people lamented because”
“the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter.”
“And the men of Beth Shemesh said:”
“‘Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God?’”
“‘And to whom shall it go up from us?’”
So here we see something very interesting.
“They looked into the ark of the Lord.”
Now, what's wrong with looking into the ark of the Lord?
Now, let me show you this picture of the ark again.
Do you know what’s inside the ark?
The three elements.
You have the two stones, the tablets of the law.
Let's have a closer look.
The tablets of the law, the 10 Commandments.
5 on each stone.
You have Aaron’s rod that budded, a picture of the resurrection.
And you have the golden pot of manna.
All these three elements actually came on the scene
because of man's sin.
The 10 commandments,
as you know, is God teaching man His standards, His holy standards.
Teaching sinful man His holy standards.
Aaron’s rod came about because they murmured against Aaron.
The murmurings of man.
And God says: “Put it in the ark that I would cause their murmurings”
“to cease against Aaron.”
The golden pot of manna fell because of, again,
man complaining in the wilderness.
“God has brought us out here to die.”
And God rained, not judgment, but manna.
So all these three elements represent man's rebellion.
and man's disobedience.
Now, to fall from grace, look at this, people.
If you fall from grace, if this is the mercy seat,
to fall from grace,
we know from Galatians, is to go back to the law,
Whoever that is trying to be justified by the law.
Notice that law is lower than grace, the mercy seat.
For you to go back to the law, you fall from grace.
Notice you fall from high ground.
So you're trying to keep the law, but by doing that,
you abandoned and deserted grace, your high position.
What happened at Beth Shemesh?
They looked into the ark.
Now, for them to look into the ark means?
They had to push away the mercy seat!
Friend, do you realize every time you try
to teach the 10 Commandments, you would have to push away
the mercy seat and take the 10 Commandments out?
God says: “Leave it there! I've covered it with the mercy seat!”
Amen.
The ark of the covenant is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The wood is His humanity.
The gold that covers it is His deity!
And only Christ can keep the law!
God says: “Don't look at the law!”
“The ministry of death written and engraved on stones.”
But they looked at the law!
And the moment they looked at the law, they died!
And I wonder, today.
When people try to bring back the law,
they would have to push away the mercy seat.
And the result is death!
And we are wondering why there's no results, godly results.
Why there’s no healthful effects. Why there’s no power.
Signs and wonders as there was in the book of Acts.
We see the early church— they walked in liberty,
they walked in power,
they walked in the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
There were signs and wonders and miracles.
Why is it? Because friend,
we have approached this whole thing the wrong way.
“Oh, it is because of sin in the camp.”
“Because of sin in the camp.”
“The revivals stopped because of sin.”
If a revival can stop because of sin, it would never have begun,
Christ becomes of no effect unto you
because we're trying to be justified by the law.
But what if we are justified by Christ?
What if we say:
“I am the righteousness of God in Christ!”
“It is not by my efforts and my performance.”
Then, you know what?
Christ becomes of effect!