He wants to meet you at the mercy seat
Key Passage: Exodus 25:8
Date: June 7, 2024
Turn your Bibles, if you would, to Exodus chapter 25. Exodus chapter 25. And I got a blessing out of that song. Thank you for that. And I enjoyed hearing Miss Grace. I love it when our young folk are participating, getting involved in church.
Grace playing the piano, that was a blessing. I heard they had come up here Friday night. They heard some noises around here. They thought maybe a voice, somebody, you know, around here talking. They thought, is it a radio or something? Well, what they didn’t know is that Friday, we had a special guest at our church, specifically at our Christian school.
He sprayed some stuff. It was called a skunk, you know. They sometimes get up underneath this trailer here, under the skirting and in the insulation and all that. You know, I come up with some crazy ideas. They usually many times don’t work. But I had a crazy idea. We were just trying anything to do. We’ve used mothballs and all that in the past. You get rid of the skunk, but then you have mothball smell for the next three months, you know? So it’s like, what do you do? I had this crazy idea. When we left Friday, I said, I’m going to put a radio on the floor, the table on top of it, so the noise would kind of get out, and I’m going to turn that baby as loud as I can get it. Maybe it’ll irritate that skunk to death, I don’t know.
And then what do you play? I thought, man, if I play a radio, half of them are playing demonic rock and roll music, you know? And somebody rides by the church and hears that, they’ll think, what do they play at that church? So I put on NPR radio news, you know. So now we have liberal skunks around here! So they weren’t dreaming. There were voices around here. That’s what it was on Friday night. I heard about that. Brother Patterson was telling me they heard it, and I said, yeah, they were really hearing voices. There really was. So anyway, I thought that was interesting. It has nothing to do with the message, but it’s a good story.
Exodus 25, and the title for today would be: He wants to meet you at the mercy seat. He wants to meet you at the mercy seat.
These chapters here, 25, 26, and 27, are really about the tabernacle and God giving Moses, and through him the children of Israel, instructions about the tabernacle. I want us just to read one verse to show God’s purpose in having them build the tabernacle. Then we’ll get into specifics, and we’ll get more to the mercy seat this morning here just a bit.
We’re in Exodus 25. If you’re there, would you say amen? Good deal. If you’re able, would you stand, please, just as we read the text? We try to show the Word of God respect; it’s worthy of that. In Exodus 25, just one verse to get us going here, verse number eight. It tells why God wanted them to build the tabernacle.
He says there, verse number eight: “And let them make me a sanctuary”—sometimes often called the tabernacle. Here’s the purpose of it: “that I may dwell among them.” Isn’t that amazing? God wants to dwell among you. That’s amazing. Does anybody agree that mankind’s messed up? If you don’t think so, I’ve got some stories to tell you! Just look at me; I’m a good illustration. It’s true. But God, as messed up as we are, God wants to dwell among us. I want you to think about you personally. Whether it be Ethan over there or James or Daniel or whoever, I want you to think about you. God wants to dwell with you. He wants to hang out with you, if you will. That’s amazing, that a perfect, almighty God of the universe wants to be with you. But that’s the truth. I want you to see the purpose of the tabernacle, or sanctuary. And then we’ll get to the mercy seat here just a minute.
Would you pray with me that God would just make it real? God wants to meet you at the mercy seat. Would you pray with me that God makes it real to us this morning? Father, thank you so much that you want to be with us. That’s just beyond me sometimes, Lord. I know how messed up I am, and still, you want to be with me. Lord, I know it’s not because we’re lovely; it’s because you’re loving. Thank you for being a loving God. Lord, would you make the truth you’ve led us to just real? And, Father, would you remind us throughout the week of this saying: that you want to meet with us at the mercy seat? Father, thank you for what you do. Bless your people through it. And it’s in Jesus’ name we ask these things, Father. Amen.
The sanctuary, or here called the tabernacle, it was basically a tent. It had an outer curtain. It would be a little bigger than this auditorium. Imagine the walls of this being curtains, very thick, very woven. They overlapped each other so you couldn’t see through. Imagine they had poles across the top and latches. Inside that was the tabernacle. When you stepped in the first entrance, you stepped inside the tabernacle. The first thing you see is what’s called the brazen altar. That was a large altar. So many animals were sacrificed there. Often they poured their blood out in these basins at the bottom. So much sacrifice was done there. By the way, all these sacrifices pictured Jesus, who was going to come and sacrifice himself on the cross. Remember what John the Baptist said? He said, “There is the Lamb of God,” the sacrifice of God, the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world. That brazen altar really pictures that, and they offered many sacrifices there. The priest would, morning and evening, actually all through the day, typically besides the Sabbath day, at that altar.
Then beyond that, a little further in, is what’s called the laver. The laver would be like a big, huge bath, if you will—don’t take me too technical here—but almost like a huge bird bath. It had much water in it and was made of brass. The priest, before entering the holy place, would wash there. They are all a picture of Jesus, but I think the laver is a wonderful picture of this thing I hold in my hand: the Word of God. The Bible calls it water. In the Bible, it’s often compared to water—“water by the word” in Ephesians 5.
By the way, someone gets saved through the blood of Jesus. If you get in that book, it’ll begin to wash you and clean you up. Just yesterday, the Holy Spirit spoke to me: “Man, how I need to be in the book! I need to be memorizing verses. I need to be saturated with the word if I’m going to have what I need for my life, what my wife and my children need, and what the church needs for a pastor.” Man, I need to be in the book! You’re not going to stay clean in this dirty world unless you get washed by the water. That’s the laver; it’s so important.
Now, beyond the laver, there’s a smaller inner tabernacle, which is called the holy place. It has curtains around it, but also has curtains over the top of it. That’s the holy place.
It’s divided into two halves. In the middle of it is what’s called the veil. That veil is very, very thick—some will say it’s up to six inches thick. If you took two semis and hooked them to each end, it’d be hard to tear that thing apart. The veil was there. In the first half of the holy place, over here on the right side is the table of showbread. On top of the table of showbread, there are two stacks of six pieces of bread. It’s unleavened bread because leavened represents sin. Why six and six? Why twelve? For the twelve tribes of Israel.
Now, let me say a word here about that. If you are a born-again Christian, you are born into the family of God spiritually through Jesus Christ; you are grafted in, and spiritually you are Jewish. You ever heard somebody talk to a Jewish person and they say, “Well, I’m a Jew,” or “I’m Hebrew”? They’re talking about their spiritual birth, as mentioned in the last verse of Romans 2. So here’s the thing: you have those tribes over there on the table of showbread. If you’re a born-again Christian, he has your name recorded. My name’s written down in the Lamb’s Book of Life, amen. And if you’re a born-again Christian, he has you. Jesus is the bread of life, and through him we have life. It’s a wonderful thing. So we walk into the holy place, on the right, the table of showbread. Over on the left is the seven golden candlesticks, made of one piece. The Jewish people often call it the menorah. They would have oil there to keep the lamps burning. That all represents the Holy Ghost.
When you got saved—Ethan, do you remember when you got saved? Was it a year ago, two years ago? About a year ago? Was it here at church? Okay, when Ethan, about a year ago at church, asked Jesus Christ to save him and pay for his sins, the Holy Spirit moved inside his heart. Can we take a pocket and see if we can see him inside? No, of course you can’t see it. But the Holy Ghost is the one that brings light, direction, fire, and heat. Before you’re saved, he’s on the outside, knocking, convicting, trying to draw you to Jesus. But once you get saved, he moves inside. He can bring the desire, the fire, the passion you need for your whole Christian life. Even through eternity, the Holy Spirit will be indwelling. You’ll be fueled and powered by the Spirit. That’s the Holy Spirit, and that’s the golden seven candlesticks, the menorah, in the holy place. So we came to the holy place, this inner tabernacle, and we see the table of showbread, the candlesticks, and then right before the veil is called the altar of incense.
It was special incense, a special mixture, pure. God had told them not to use that anywhere else. It’s a special mixture of incense I want you to use right here. It represents the prayers and the praises, pure praises, of God’s people. This incense gives off an odor to God. It was to be burning continually. When a Christian prays to God and begins to thank God and praise God—not for glory, not for anybody else to know about it, but just a sincere praise before the Lord—God says, “That smells good.” God likes that. I wonder how my room smells to God, by the way. There’s just something about the praises of God: “You enter into his gates with thanksgiving, into his courts with praise.”
Now, right beyond the altar of incense is the veil. Nobody really walked past that, except once a year—we’ll talk about it a little bit here—but you are walking into what the Bible calls the Most Holy Place. You want to talk about sacred territory! They would actually have bells on the high priest’s garment, in case something happened. If he wasn’t moving, well, he was probably some kind of hypocrite there. Things aren’t going well right there. You might have to drag him out by that rope. It is very sacred. That’s where God’s presence, His glory, was. In the middle of that was the Ark of the Covenant. By the way, they make movies about it, but God’s not going to let them find that sacred thing. It’s so sacred that one time the Philistines captured it for a bit, and before the Philistines got it, a bunch of them looked upon it, and thousands of people who looked on it died. You’re talking about sacred! They never actually looked at it. Even the priests and the Kohathite families that carried it never looked on it. They would cover it with these curtains, and it had rings on the four corners. They would put posts through those rings—which were covered by gold—and put it on their shoulder to carry it. They never actually saw it because it was covered. Very, very sacred. Inside this ark was the testament, or the covenant, or the commandments. It was God’s covenant with the children of Israel. In heaven there is a covenant, and it’s called Jesus, our Lawgiver. He came to give law and grace. He fulfilled the law; now he gives grace, and that’s our salvation. Very sacred to God. This ark is very holy, very sacred.
From the ark, in the daytime, a cloud would come out. I think about this: years ago, we were over in California. At nighttime, in what we would call the desert, it would get cold. Daytime was burning up, 100-something degrees. The cloud would give them shade in the daytime. And at night, when the desert gets cold, that fire that would come out would give them heat. If you study it out, the tabernacle was right in the middle of the tribes of Israel. They say the children of Israel would form a cross shape—north, east, west, and south—and right in the middle of it all was the tabernacle, the place where God wanted to dwell among them. The center of all that was the ark. If that cloud would pick up and move, the children would have said, “The cloud’s moving! Better pack your clothes. We’re moving, Granny! Time to move out.” If the fire and the cloud didn’t move, we’re staying. We aren’t going anywhere. The center of it all was the ark. Now here’s the thing we’re getting to today: On top of the ark was what’s called the mercy seat.
Look up here. On top of the ark is this mercy seat. What is mercy? Mercy is when you deserve that $400 ticket because you really were speeding, but the cop says, “I give you mercy.” Praise the Lord for mercy! Seeing those blue lights behind you always increases my prayer life greatly: “Lord, please, mercy.” It’s us not getting the judgment we deserve—mercy. God says on top of this ark, I want there to be a mercy seat, kind of like a piece of plywood, but it was made of gold. On each end, on the corners, there were these animals called cherubim. They were often used to protect or give praise. It’s like leaders across the world who have their special guard, their bodyguards, the elite. God’s special elite, if you will, is often the cherubim, and they praise him. These golden cherubim have wings spread out, covering the ark. They are part of the mercy seat. That is very, very sacred. I want you to look back at chapter 25. Thank you for sticking with me; I thought it would be good for us to cover all that. Now let’s try to get something more particular. You’re in chapter 25. Would you look at verse number 21, please? Exodus 25:21. Now watch this. Here he says: “And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark. And in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.” Watch it. Here it is. Don’t miss this part right here: “And I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat.” I’m glad he didn’t call it justice because we’d all be condemned.
He said, “I’ll meet with you; I’ll commune with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.” Now you say, Pastor, okay, what does that mean to you and me? I’m going to talk to you for just a little bit as a born-again Christian. If you’re not careful, you’ll think that I have to be perfect to have good fellowship with the Lord. If you met with him somewhere else, that would be true, because he is a perfect, righteous, holy God. He never misses anything—anything you think wrong, say wrong, even look at the wrong thing, anything. If something is wrong in your heart, you have ill feelings toward someone—all of that, he never misses anything. If I had to meet with him anywhere else, you’d be right; you’d have to be perfect to meet with him. Friend, we are all far from that. But the wonderful thing about it is God says, “I want to meet with you at the mercy seat.” That’s how sinners like you and I can be close to God. You say, “How can I have a good prayer life? I’m messed up.” You are messed up, but you meet with him at the mercy seat.
Sometimes we get caught up in this performance-based Christianity, thinking that if I have everything all together, then I can get close to God. Friends, you’ll never get everything all together until you get to heaven one day. God says, “I want to meet with you just like you are because we meet at the mercy seat.” I’m glad to have a God that says, “Hey, come on over and reason with me because you and I meet at the mercy seat.” This whole world demands perfection of you, and you’ll never get there. If you’re not careful, you’ll demand that of yourself, and you’ll never get there. But he says, “I want to meet at the mercy seat.” That gives me hope because I know I’ve got problems. Sometimes it seems like the harder I try to live the life, the more I see my flaws. The devil will just kick you when you’re down. He’ll make you seem so worthless, so good for nothing. “God doesn’t want to be close to you. God doesn’t care about you. How can you be close to a holy, righteous God when you’re so messed up?” We know ourselves. God says right there as clear as day, “I’ll meet with you. I’ll commune with you at the mercy seat.” I’m glad my God says, “Hey, our meeting place is the mercy seat.” I like that.
You ever go to a theme park somewhere, and how many like to ride all the roller coasters? You’re crazy! I don’t mind twisting turns, but I’m a wimp when it comes to the high heights. Don’t take me up there ten million high. There are people who want the miracles, people want the shows, people don’t want the food—give me the smoked turkey legs and everything’s going to be okay! You say, “We’re going to rendezvous at such and such a point.” God says, “I want a rendezvous with you at the mercy seat.” I’m glad for that. If Brother Patterson said, “I’ll meet with you if you get everything right,” I’d be so defeated. The closer you really get to him, the more you realize you’ve got problems. Isaiah, this man in the Bible, saw the Lord in Isaiah 6. The first thing out of his mouth was, “Woe is me!” You get close to God, you won’t think you have it all together. You’ll see his light is like sunlight compared to my light, like a flashlight. No comparison. Okay, somebody corrected me—I said “fleshlight.” It’s flashlight. I’m working at it; I’m a hillbilly trying to get it right. Ms. Barber said she doesn’t think I said it wrong. I appreciate that. He says, “I want to meet with my people. I want to commune with them at the mercy seat.” Oh, praise the Lord for that.
I want to be honest with you. It’s a little embarrassing for me because yesterday morning I woke up fairly early. I got up, read my Bible, prayed. And you know what I did? Come on now, you do it every once in a while. Don’t look at me like that. I snuck another little nap in there. Anybody like naps? My wife messed up—she’s not here so I can say all that. A couple of months ago, she and Sarah were on a trip out of town, and she got me this easy chair in the living room. It folds out. Oh, friend, that is not always a good thing. You get up early, planning to read your Bible and pray, and the devil says, “Hey, that easy chair is right over there.” I thought, “I can push it back, I can set the alarm.” You know how that goes. I got in the easy chair, pushed it back. Those naps are pretty nice, aren’t they? When is the best sleep in the world? The last minute of it—that’s always the best. If I can get another minute of that best sleep… How much did I sleep in? Shame on you, Pastor! I woke up when the alarm went off again. The devil was on me: “Man, I should have been up reading my Bible! How can you preach to everybody else about getting in the Bible when you’re not in the Bible?” Anybody ever been there?
I don’t have as much time as I should, but I still had a little time. That’s when confession time is going on. It had been a while since I just read, and what I read was so special. God really spoke to my heart wonderfully. The thing is, I didn’t deserve it. I didn’t get up when I should have—well, I did, but I went back to sleep. But God still met with me in a wonderful way, and it wasn’t me; it was just His grace. I’m glad he meets with us at the mercy seat. What I read in the Bible yesterday morning spoke to me like it hadn’t in a while. I loved it, and I was so undeserving of it, but he meets with us at the mercy seat. Preacher, you say, “I can’t get close to God.” Hey, your rendezvous station is the mercy seat. You don’t have to be perfect because we’re not.
What does it mean? He wants to meet with you at the mercy seat. First of all, it means we don’t have to be perfect. I’m thankful for that. Let’s get another thought real quickly. What does that mean? We’ll look over in Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 4. I want you to see verse number 14. Hebrews 4 and verse 14. When you find it, would you say praise the Lord? You lied; you’re still turning. I can hear the pages being turned. Hebrews 4, look at verse number 14, please. The Bible there says, “Seeing then that we have a great high priest that has passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.”
That does not mean you hold on and keep yourself saved. He says your profession. Since you have such a great high priest and he’s given you salvation, don’t walk away from it to live with the devil. Hold on to living with the Lord—your profession. Often when someone gets baptized, we say it is in obedience to the command of our Lord and Master, and upon your public profession of faith in him. Don’t walk away from that profession. I’m living for the Lord; I’m God’s child. Don’t walk away. That’s what we’re talking about. Let me talk for a minute about this. He calls Jesus a great high priest. What does that mean? Back in the days of the tabernacle, one time out of the year, they called it the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur to the Jewish people. The high priest would go into the holy place, that front half. He’d do some things there, but then he would go past the veil only once a year. The only person allowed to do it was the high priest. He would go into the Most Holy Place, take blood that was shed from a lamb, dip his fingers in that blood, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat seven times.
Why is Hebrews calling Jesus our great high priest? When God told Moses how to build the tabernacle, he showed him what the Bible calls the pattern. He let Moses get a glimpse up into heaven to the real tabernacle, the real temple. That was the pattern, and they made something down here as a resemblance, probably a poor resemblance to the real deal in heaven. So Jesus, when he shed his blood on the cross about 2,000 years ago, took his very own blood. He is our sacrifice and our high priest. Remember, he is the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world. He took his very own blood. That’s why he said, “Mary, don’t touch me,” because once the high priest was cleansed, somebody could touch him. He took his very own blood and went into the real Holy of Holies in heaven. He sprinkled that blood on the real mercy seat. That’s why Hebrews says you don’t have to do this every day or once a year with sheep and rams and blood. No, once for all, Jesus is the Lamb, and he applied his very own blood. Because Jesus is our high priest and he is in heaven, remember what happened when he died on the cross? The veil was rent from top to bottom. Jesus says, “I’m giving you access; now you are a priest through me, and you have access into the Holy of Holies.”
Let’s go back and read Hebrews 4:14: “Seeing then that we have a great high priest that has passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession, for we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities.” It’s not just your infirmities, your weakness; it’s even the feeling. Jesus lived down here for 33 years; he understands. He’s been through it all. “For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” That’s why his blood was sinless blood that could pay for your sin, my sin. He could offer. Now here’s what we’re getting to, verse number 16. Here it is: “Let us, therefore, come boldly”—even if we are messed up, problem people—“to the throne of grace.” Praise the Lord, it’s the throne of grace! Watch what he says: “that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Here’s what I’m getting at. He wants to meet us at the mercy seat. It means you can go to God, a holy, righteous God, and you can get what you need. First of all, you obtain mercy; we all need that. And you can find grace. Grace comes in about a million different forms. It may be grace financially, it may be grace emotionally, it may be grace in your relationships, it may be grace for you to overcome sin, it may be grace for you just to have sanity of mind, it may be grace for you to handle a difficult person. But God says, because you have such a great high priest, he’s paved the way. You can come on into the Most Holy Place, and a holy, righteous God knows you’re deserving of judgment, but he sees you through the mercy seat. The high priest has already paid the debt. God says, “Hey, let me give you what you need.” That’s amazing.
That’s where boldness in prayer comes from, not by you being perfect. We are not about performance-based Christianity. It’s not about me performing; it’s about Jesus performing. I rely not on self, but I rely on Jesus. That’s why we pray in Jesus’ name. We don’t go to a holy, righteous God that knows everything—he is just and right in every single way—and demand, “I want this,” and twist his arm. We go to him and say, “Hey, Father, my high priest, your Son shed his blood and made a way. I’m coming because you told me to come.” God says, “My throne is the throne of grace.” The devil, if you’re not careful, will keep you away from that throne of grace, and that’s where you’ll get the strength to overcome those problems and become what you’d like to become for him. He wants to meet at the mercy seat. It means imperfect people can meet with him. It means you can get what you need—that saving grace. It may take a while; you’ve got to look around sometimes to find grace. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. But those people are continually coming: “Lord, I messed up again. The thing I said I would never do again, I did it again. Am I out?” All of us. God says, “Keep coming, because you’ll find the grace you need to overcome that thing.”
Last thing, we’re going to be done. Number one: It means you don’t have to be perfect. Number two: It means you can obtain mercy and find grace. By the way, how in the world did Paul get from a demented Christian killer to an Apostle? Let’s go back a bit. Brother Jim, I have to circle the airport several times before I land the plane. You ever think about Apostle Paul? He was leading a mob to throw big rocks on this godly man Stephen, and while the blood was squirting out of him, he said, “Go ahead, do it!” That’s a demented man leading a mob to do that. He made havoc of the church. He was always throwing Christians in jail and being part of killing them. How could a demented man like that end up being one of the greatest Christians in the Bible? Can I read for you what he says? He says, “But by the grace of God I am what I am. And his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain”—not just past grace, but the grace to help him grow and become with him. He said, “But I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” You just keep coming and getting grace at the throne of grace; you find it.
Number three: The fact that he wants to meet with us at the mercy seat means you can have daily fellowship, his presence in your life. Would you look over in 1 John chapter 1? It was a great day for me when I stumbled on this truth; it’s encouraging me. The Bible has all the answers, and sometimes people twist it. When you get the Bible, it is straight inside. First John, chapter 1, he’s talking to God’s people, the family of God. He says this in verse 5: “This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” He is righteous, he is holy, he is just to the nth degree; he is perfection.
If we’re not careful, we’ll think that to have daily presence, we must be perfect. Actually, the next verse seems to suggest that if we don’t look closely. “If we say that we have fellowship”—that closeness with him, his presence in your life, you meeting with him—“and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.” Wait a second. Did he say right there that if we say we fellowship with him, but we don’t do everything right, we are lying? It says, “If we walk in darkness.” Look at the next verse; it explains. This is what blessed me when I noticed it. He said, “But if we walk in the light…” I just have to walk in the light. That doesn’t mean I get everything right, because we can’t. But I walk in the light. Sometimes the light shows me I’m wrong, and I have to say, “I’m sorry, Lord.” But I can obtain mercy and find grace. If I try to justify myself, what am I doing wrong? God says, “No, I’m going to stay away from me.” You might be my child, but you won’t be close. But if I just walk in the light—I’m trying. I’m not perfect; nobody’s perfect. He knows that, but I walk in the light. I’m trying to get in the light of the Word. I’m trying to get in the light of preaching. I’m not perfect in any of it yet, but I’m trying, and I’m honest about it. I’m walking in the light. That’s all I have to do. Notice how he finishes it: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light…” Jesus always did the will of the Father. “We have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from…” What are the next two words? All sin! Friend, you can be close to him. By being perfect, you’re never going to get there. Just walk in the light. Just walk in the light—nothing between my soul and the Savior. Every time the light and the Holy Spirit points out, “Hey, you have some sin,” or “Your attitude’s not right,” don’t run from him. Don’t avoid him; that’s not walking in the light. Walk in the light. That’s all you have to do, and you have fellowship. He’s the one who gives you the strength to be what you would like to be for him. That’s why? Because we meet at the mercy seat. That’s the rendezvous.
He can commune; he speaks to you. I thought about this while studying for this. I thought about one of our men in our church years ago. He was at a place that had a bunch of horses. He said he wasn’t an expert on horses or anything, but he was petting his horse and kept saying, “Man, this is a beautiful horse. For some reason, I just like this horse. It’s beautiful.” He kept saying, “Lord, that’s a beautiful horse.” It seemed like the Lord said, “Hey, you’re beautiful to me.” It was a sweet moment when God spoke to his heart. You don’t have to be perfect to have that, because you’re not perfect, but he meets with you at the mercy seat.
There was a man who bought a sheep farm in Australia. He said they literally had thousands of sheep, and he bought it at the time when they were shearing sheep—that’s when they make the money. He said they had sheep in one enclosure, maybe as big as this auditorium, I’m not sure. He said there were thousands of sheep in this enclosure. It was loud; the shears were coming in, getting sheep to be sheared, and they were yelling. He said there was a lamb, a baby sheep, in a separate container. He watched them let the lamb out at one end. The lamb came in and saw thousands of sheep, the loud noise, the yelling shearers. He watched that little lamb freeze. The lamb suddenly started crying—bad crying. He said he was amazed as he watched it: thousands of sheep yelling and screaming. On the other end, the mother heard that and started back. He said he was amazed: thousands of sheep, all the noise, yelling. That mother sheep started walking right toward that lamb, and they met. God says, “I want to meet with you.” In a messed-up world, if you listen, you will hear the Father’s voice saying, “I want to meet with you at the mercy seat.”
Original File: He wants to meet you at the mercy seat - Pastor Paul Chisgar - Sunday AM 2192022