Exodus - Prepare the House - Exodus: 25-27

Well welcome. Like Pastor Jordan said, this is the roots

community church, where it's all about Jesus. We love God,

we love people, we reach the loss, and we make disciples.

That's what we're all about here. And that's yeah, that's

just our focus and our goal and our aim because

that's what we see God give us in scripture. So

I'm excited to be up here. We have a lot

of stuff to get through, so I don't want to

take too much time to get into it because it's

a lot to get through. But we've been in a

series taking a quick look through the whole Book of Exodus,

which is kind of a big moment in the biblical

historic narrative and the whole story. It's a big moment.

And in the Book of exist we actually see three

major movements or three major sections in the book. The

first section we see is God delivering his people from

captivity in Egypt, and it's not just captivity, but it's

severe oppression and harsh slavery. That's the first section. The

second movement or section of the book is after delivering them,

he may demands of his people. He leads them to

the mount, to Mount Sinai and makes demands of his people.

He gives them the law by which they are to

live as his people. And the last movement is God

finally dwelling among his people, fulfilling the promise that he

had made to them. And currently we're in that second movement.

We're in the second portion where God is making his

demands of his people. And Pastor Duncan I thought they

did a fantastic job. Last week. He took us through

texts and showed us how God expects us to come

to him on his terms. We don't approach God according

to our own terms. We approach God according to his

terms that he hass and conditions. I love that illustration

because it's just so relatable. God has terms and conditions

when we come to him, and those terms and conditions

they're not a secret. God's not keeping this a secret

from us. No, They're revealed to us. He's very upfront

with what hect, what he expects, or what his expectations are.

He tells his people exactly how he wants them to be.

This is what my people should look like, is what

God says. And this is going to be super important

for us to remember today and not just today, but

also next week when we're going through next week's message,

because that's at the very foundation of everything we're going

to be talking about. That God is specific about exactly

how he wants or what he wants and how he

wants it to be done. And guess what, he gets

to do that because he's God, he gets to be particular.

He gets to set the expectations, the standards. Because he's God,

He's the one who created everything. He created it, all

all things are made for his glory. Everything that exists

exists for his purposes. And the thought that came to

mind is when you create something, you get to do that,

you get to decide what it's intended per is. And

I think about my youngest Grayson. He loves to He

wanted me to play a Tiktak Joe. As I was

about to walk up here, he's starting to hand me

a pen. I was like, Buddy, I gotta go up there.

But no. He likes to build things out of legos

and he made something one time and I was like,

that is clearly a boat. I was like, buddy, this

is a great boat. And he's like, Dad, it's not

a boat. Like okay, He's like it's a plane. It's

an airplane. I'm like, okay, it really looks like a

boat to me. He's like, no, it's a plane. But

who gets to decide what it is? He made it.

He gets to decide what it is and it's intended

purpose because he's the one who created it. Well, God

created the world, He made you, and he made me.

And since he's the one who created it or us,

he gets to decide what our intended purpose is because

he's God. And that's okay. So I want you to

keep that in mind as we're going through this week's

text and as we go through next week's text. So

grab your bibles and start turning to Exodus chapter twenty five,

because that's where we're going to be. And if you

need a Bible, we have some awesome ones at the

resource desk and the lobby. Please grab it, keep it.

It's our gift to you. We want you to have

God's Word with you always. But we're going to be

covering a couple chapters in Exodus. Are few chapters in

Exodus today, and these chapters are just full of instructions,

just this is what you're supposed to do. These are

instructions from God to Moses for the people. And that's

pretty much all we're going to be talking about today.

A bunch of instructions, very specific instructions. But again, remember

that we're in the movement of Exodus, where God is

making demands of his people, so hopefully you're in Exodus

twenty five. But before we jump into it, I want

to pray and ask God to lead and guide our

time and his word. So let's pray. God, We thank

you for this moment. We thank you for your word. God,

as we go through it, Please do surgery on our hearts.

Let this word come off the pages and go directly

into our hearts. Us keep it with us. Let us

learn what you'd have us learn today, and apply well

you'd have us apply today. God. We just think you

that we have the freedom to do this. We love

your word. We love you. We're so grateful that we

get to do this together as your people. So God,

give us ears to hear you today and a heart

to receive it all. Thank you for this in Jesus name,

everybody said a men. So who's ever had relatives from

out of town come into town to stay with you?

Anybody had that before, Yeah, just had relatives from out

of town. They've got to stay somewhere. Well, how many

of you know that when someone comes to stay with you,

there's a lot of work sometimes to do to get

your house ready for them to stay. You know, you

got to get the guest room ready, or if you

don't have a guest room, you got to clean off

the good couch because you want to sleep on the

good couch. You got to go shopping to get extra food.

You want to make sure there's enough food for everybody

who stay in. You got to get out the spare towels,

the clean sheets and linens, and the good pillows. Sometimes

you're going to rearrange some of the furniture or maybe

even rearrange rooms. For some reason, I started thinking about

National Lampoon's vacation. Everyone came to stay and well, sometimes

siblings you got to share a room because you know,

aunto your uncle have to steal your bedroom for a while.

So sometimes you might be rearranging things. But often there's

a lot of stuff to do to get the house ready,

because that's what you do when people are coming to stay.

You get the house ready. Well, I think that's kind

of what God's sold the children of Israel to do.

In our text today, he has delivered as people from

the Egyptians, so he's rescued them, and now he's telling them,

I'm coming to dwell with you among you. So you

got to get the house ready. It's time to prepare

the house. To prepare the house. And in our text today,

God is making his demands of the people, specifically pertaining

to his dwelling place, his specific instructions for how he

wants it to be. He's a holy God, right, God

is holy. We all understand that. Yes, he's a holy God,

and people are very unholy. So God is making a

way for him to dwell with the people. He's making

it possible. But not only is he making it possible

for Holy God to dwell among unholy people, He's also

setting up a meeting place so everyone knows where to

go to meet with God. But I think the clear

thing that God wants us to understand from the text

today is that God wants to dwell among his people.

That God wants to dwell among his people. That's his desire.

He desires to be with his people, among them in

their midst And we'll see in verse eight of our

Texas says, and let them make me a sanctuary that

I may dwell in their midst. So he's not hiding

his intentions or his plans from anyone. Build me a

place to dwell in your midst. And this is exactly

how it should look. So let's take a look at

these instructions. Exodus chapter twenty five are going to start.

In verse one. God has told the people the law

he's already told in the law that they are to follow.

This is what my people should look like. This is

how you should behave. And then all the people what

they do? They said, all the Lord has said, we

will do, so they all the people agree to it.

Then Moses gets to sit down with the elders and God.

They have a meal together and God doesn't kill him.

That's kind of cool on holy people getting to sit

with the Holy God and they don't get wiped out.

But then God calls Moses up into the cloud on

the mountain, and Moses turns and tells the people. He says,

all right, elders, wait here, I'll be right back. He

goes up for forty days and forty nights. He goes

up there, so all the instructions we're about to talk

through for this week and for next week. Moses is

going to receive in that forty day period, that forty

day and forty night period when he's in the cloud

with God, and all the instructions start like this verse one.

The Lord said to Moses, speak to the people of Israel,

that they may, or that they take for me a

contribution from every man whose heart moves him. You shall

receive the contribution for me. So what's the first bit

of instructions that God gives Moses for the people. It's

take an offering, it says, take an offering, take a

contribution for him from the people, but only from those

whose heart moves them. So it's a voluntary contribution. And

this is the same way that God works with giving

even today. If you look at tewod Corinthians nine, I'll

put up on the screen here. The point is this,

whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows

bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give was

to say, there as he has decided in his heart,

not reluctantly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver.

So each one must give he has decided in his heart.

Our giving shouldn't be done under compulsion, but willingly, as

we have decided in our hearts. So even back when

he's asking for contributions from his own people in Exodus,

he says to take the contributions from everyone or every

man whose heart moves him. So it's still this voluntary thing.

But what kind of contributions is he asking for. Let's

look at Verse three says, and this is the contribution

that you shall receive from them, gold, silver, and bronze,

blue and purple and scarlet, yarns and fine twined linen

goat's hair, which I think seems kind of gross, but

maybe it's cool. Verse five tanned ramskins, goat skins, acacia

wood oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil

and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones and stones for

setting for the ephod and for the breastpiece. Where are

they going to get all this stuff? This sounds like

some pretty valuable stuff. I mean, they're wandering in the

wilderness right now, they're basically homeless. Where's all this stuff

supposed to come from? Well, here's the thing. They actually

already have all the stuff. I don't know if you

guys remember what God said he would do when they

left Egypt. But it's an Exodus three says, so I

will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all

the wonders that I will do in it. After that

he will let you go. He being Pharaoh, will let

you go, And I will give this people favor in

the sight of the Egyptians. And when you go, you

shall not go empty. But each woman shall ask of

her neighbor, in any woman who lives in her house,

for silver and gold, jewelry, and for clothing. You shall

put them on your sons and on your daughters. So

you shall plunder the Egyptians. And what happens on Exodus

day if you fast forward to chapter twelve. The people

of Israel also had done as Moses had told them,

for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold,

jewelry and for clothing. And the Lord had given the

people favor in the sight of the Egyptians that they

let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

So God makes a promise and they get to see

it happen right in front of their eyes. And what's

the result. The Israelites already had all of Egypt's wealth.

So if God is asking for this contribution, what is

he actually asking for. He's asking them to give him

some of what he already gave them. He's asking for

them to give some of what He has already provided

for them. But that's how giving always works. When have

we ever given to God something he didn't first give

to us? I'll give you the answer. Never. There's nothing

we've given to God that he did not first give

to us, because it's all his. Everything in this universe

was created by Him and was created for him. And

I love how David puts it in First Chronicles. She's

kicking at old school style today. First Chronicles, twenty nine.

Therefore David bless the Lord in the presence of all

the assembly, And David said, bless her you, o Lord,

the God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. Yours,

O Lord, is the greatness and the power, and the

glory and the victory and the majesty. For all that

is in the heavens and in the earth is whose yours?

Speaking of God, Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and

you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and

honor come from you, and you rule over all. In

your hand are power and might. And in your hand

it is to make great and to give strength to all.

And now we thank you, our God, and praise your

glorious name. But who am I and what is my people?

That we should be able thus to offer willingly? Here's

the kicker. For all things come from you, and of

your own have we given you? Everything is already God's

all of it. Everything we have came from him. Everything

we give to him, or everything we give to others.

Being generous, he gave to us. In fact, I think

that most of the time. That's the whole reason he

gave it to us in the first place. Just like

with the Israelites here, why did God bless the Israelites

with Egypt's wealth? He gave it to them for a purpose,

and that purpose with this contribution, it's through God's people

he gets his work done on earth. It's through God's

people that he gets his done work, or he gets

his work done on earth. So he blesses his people.

That's us too, right. If you put faith in Jesus

you're one of his people. He blesses us us with

wealth to use for his purposes. Because God gives you

everything you need to do what He's called you to do.

He provides it all. If he called you to do something,

he provides the means to do it. He gave the

Israelites everything needed to do what he called them to do.

And as a church here at the Roots, we don't

talk about giving very often. We pretty much only talk

about it when the text that we're going through addresses

it or talks about it, or if there's something specific

or raising money for, you know, holiday meals or you know,

mission stuff. But it's not very often. But I will

say this that God provides for his people, and it's

through his people that our needs as a church are

also meant. There's several reasons why God blesses us financially,

but meeting the needs we have as a church is

definitely one of those things. So we as believers, I

think not I think the Bible says we should be

giving generously, sacrificially, cheerfully, not reluctantly, not under compulsion, but

what we have decided in our hearts. So God does

give to us to meet our own needs, absolutely, but

he also gives to us for us to meet the

needs of those around us. Amen. So yeah, there's our

many little giving message in the middle of a message. No,

we decided a long time ago that if we were

going to give fifteen minutes every Sunday to a spiritual discipline,

we probably need to give fifteen minutes to every spiritual discipline.

And if we did that, then we wouldn't be able

to preach through anything else on a Sunday. But no,

giving is important. God blessed us to bless those around

us as how we care for the needs of the church.

But back to the Israelies, what are all these contributions for?

Let's go back to chapter twenty five, and now we're

picking up in verse eight, and let them make me

a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst, exactly

as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle

and of all its furniture, So you shall make it.

So it does seem that as God's giving these instructions

to Moses up on the mountain, He's actually showing him

what it looks like too. But what does God want here?

We talked about in the beginning. He wants them to

make him. They want the people to make him a

sacred place or a holy place, a sanctuary, because he

wants to dwell in their midst And that's what this

is all for. This is what all the contributions are for.

This is what all the instructions are for. God is

telling the people that he wants to dwell among them,

to live among them, or to abide among them. It's

what his desire is. But He's got to show them

exactly how it needs to be done. This is the

place of his presence. This is the place where Moses

and the people will go to meet with him. And

God starts with the most important part first, the ark

of the Covenant. And I think this is really cool

because God, the way he explains all these instructions is

he starts from the middle, the most holy of places

and the most important thing, and then kind of works

his way out to the things that are a little

bit less important. It's all important, but he starts with

the most important piece first. And then when you see

the Israelites execute these instructions, they build it in the

way that makes the most logical like sense in building something,

so it's kind of cool. You see that verse ten here,

though in chapter twenty five, they shall make an arc

of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half shall be

its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and

a cubit and a half its height. The arc is

just a box or a chest, that's what this is.

And a cubit is about eighteen inches. So the size

of this chest is about three and three quarter feet

long and two and a quarter wide and two and

a quarter tall. That's like the size of it. I

think of it as like kind of a mediumish bench,

like you took two of the chairs you guys are

sitting and put them together, made a little deeper. It's

roughly the size of the top of this thing. Not huge,

also not small. It's not like a tiny little thing.

But I want you to look at how beautiful this

arc or this chest is going to be. Verse eleven,

you shall overlay it with pure gold inside and outside.

Shall you overlay it, And you shall make on it

a molding of gold around it, so this thing is

covered in gold. Verse twelve, you shall cast four rings

of gold for it, and put them on its four feet,

two rings on the one side of it, and two

rings on the other side of it. You shall make

poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold, and

you shall put the poles into the rings on the

sides of the ark to carry the ark by them.

The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark.

They shall not be taken from him. So you've got

to remember that this entire tabernacle setup was meant to

be mobile, to be picked up, packed up, and moved on.

I mean, that's why he had the rings and the

poles and everything was crazy to me, is leaven the poles?

Like you figure, something so insignificant as poles. Those were

even covered in gold. So God's showing this value of

this thing by covering every even the mundane things in gold.

But what goes in at verse sixteen You shall put

the arc if you put into the ark the testimony

that I shall give you. So God wants this very

important ten commandments put inside of the ark, the same

ten commandments that he spoke to the people, the ones

that they all agreed to, the same ten commandments that

are put on the stone tablets that God with his

own finger rights on, showing the covenant that he made

with his people. That's what's going inside this arc. You

shall make a mercy seat of pure gold Verse seventeen.

Two cubits and a half shall be its length, and

a cubit in half its breadth. And you shall make

two cherubim of gold of hammered work. Shall you make

them on the two ends of the mercy seat, Make

one cherub on the one end and one cherub on

the other end. From one piece with the mercy seat,

shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The

cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat.

With their wings, their faces one two and another toward

the mercy seat. Shall the faces of the cherubim be.

And you shall put the mercy seat on the top

of the ark. And in the ark you shall put

the testimony that I shall give you. There I will

meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from

between the two cherubim that are on the ark of

the testimony, I will speak with you about all that

I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.

So God basically tells Moses to make a lid for

the ark. It's a very beautiful elaborate covered in gold lid,

but it is a lid with cherubim on, and a

cherubim is just a depiction of an angelic being or

a messenger of the Lord. But calls this lid the

ark of the lid for the ark, he calls it

a mercy seat, which makes sense because he tells Moses

that this is where he's basically gonna sit when Moses

comes to talk to him, or Moses or Aaron and

his sons come to talk to him, to meet with

the Lord. And this is where God will extend mercy

to his people, So where he gives the instructions and

commandments for the people. So this is a really important

part of the Tabernacle, for the sacred place the Lord

wants to build for him to dwell in. It's a

very important piece of furniture for the Tabernacle. But I

don't know, like when I was reading this, I don't

know if you noticed, like the amount of detail that

God goes into for this. You cannot tell me. God

does not care about the details of our lives. Look

at the care he puts into making this. Just we've

only talked about one piece of the tabernacle. The detail.

He's going into it, and the details don't stop with this.

Look at the table for the Bread of the Presence.

Verse twenty three. You shall make a table of acacia wood.

Two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its breadth,

and a cubit and a half its height. You shall

overlay it with pure gold, and make a molding of

gold around it. And you shall make a rim around it,

a handbreadth with yeah, I said that right, and a

molding of gold around the rim. And you shall make

for it four rings of gold, and fasten the rings

to the four corners at its four legs, close to

the frame. The rings shall lie as holders for the

poles to carry the table. Again, we're going mobile. Verse

twenty eight. You shall make the poles of acacia wood

and overlay them with gold, and the table shall be

carried with these. And you shall make its plates and

dishes for incense, and its flagons and bowls with which

to pour drink offerings. You shall make them of pure gold.

And you shall set the Bread of the Presence on

the table before me. Regularly detailed instructions. Everything covered in

gold or made purely out of gold. But what exactly

is this table, this table that's for the bread of

the presence? What's it? Four? Why does God want the bread,

like he says in that last verse, to be put

before him regularly? Because this bread, if you read and Leviticus,

you're going to see that there's supposed to be twelve

loaves of bread, and it's not like a loaf of bread,

like we know, they're flat style loaves like cakes. But

there's twelve of them and they're supposed to be put

in two stacks of six on this table. And this

was a food offering to the Lord, one loaf of

bread for each of the tribes of Israel. In this

food offering, it was meant to be a constant reminder

for the people of God's provision for them. The bread

on the table would be swapped out every Sabbath day.

Aaron and his sons would do that, and when they'd

swap it out for new bread before the Lord, they

would actually get to eat the bread that was removed.

It's kind of a cool special benefit. But God wants

to remind the people of how he provides for them.

But even the table of it itself was God inviting

his people to the table to eat with them. It's

this invitation to come and eat and fellowship with him

because God wants to dwell with his people. God wants

to dwell with his people. He wants to meet with Moses,

who's the mediator of the people. He wants to communicate

at the arc of the Covenant, and he even wants

to set the table and invite his people to eat

with him. And the next thing we see God tell

them or give them instructions on how to build is

the Golden lamp stand. And for the sake of time,

I'm not going to read through. I wanted to read

through a lot of the details for the first two

pieces so that we know how much detail God puts

into these things and how much Carry puts into it.

So we're going to kind of go a little bit

quicker through these other ones. But look at verse thirty

seven of chapter twenty five, in reference to this lamp,

you shall make seven lamps for it, and the lamps

shall be set up so as to give light on

the space in front of it. This is the Jewish manora,

that middle lamp with three branching lamps coming out of it,

So seven lamps in total. Well the tabernacle's dark. It's

a tent with no windows, there's no light in there.

So from a practical standpoint, this beautiful golden lamp with

a seven flame going day and night is to give

light inside the tent so you could see. But it's

also believed to be the symbol of God as the

divine light for man. And there's all kinds of studies

out there about seven being the number of perfection, or

even the seven lamps being tied to the seven churches

mentioned in Revelation. These are all super fun things to study.

I highly encourage that. But the most important thing I

want us to understand and grab from this today is

that this lamp brought light to the tabernacle, but represents

that God is the divine light that brings illumination to darkness,

specifically for man. This is that lamp, and the next

chapter that it goes into the whole thing is the

actual tabernacle part. See instructions for how to build the

tent part, the designs of the curtains which linen to

twine together, when to use the goat hair, how to

make the rings and poles for framing the tent, where

to lay the ramskins and the goat's skin. But then

it talks about this veil, and I want to talk

about that for a second, So let's pick it up

an Exodus chapter twenty six, looking at verse thirty one.

And you shall make a veil of blue and purple

and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. It shall be

made with a chair of them skillfully worked into it.

And you shall hang it on four pillars of acacia,

overlaid with gold, with hooks of gold on four bases

of silver. And you shall hang the veil from the clasps,

and bring the arc of the testimony in there within

the veil, and the veil shall separate for you the

Holy Place from the most Holy You shall put the

mercy seat on the ark of the testimony in the

most Holy Place, and you shall set the table outside

the veil, and the lamp stand on the south side

of the tabernacle, opposite the table, and you shall put

the table on the north side. I saw a bunch

of cool pictures of how this was all laid out.

Didn't once cross my mind to bring the picture to

show you, guys, So you should look that up sometimes

because I'm a visual guy, It was really helpful to

see this stuff. But in here you see table from

your perspective, table on one side, you see the lamp

on the other. In this area in front of the

veil that they're talking about. But the purpose of this

veil is to separate the Holy Place, and this holy

place is right outside the most Holy Place. In the

Holy Place had the table like we just talked about,

the table for the bread of the presence, the golden

lamp stand, it has the alter of incense. We'll talk

about the alter of incense next week more. But this

veil would separate the Holy Place from the most Holy Place,

and the only thing in the most Holy Place was

the ark of the Covenant. This is a separation, made

a boundary that showed where the people were not allowed

to go. This veil represented that separation, and the chief priest,

so the high priests would only go in there once

a year to make atonement for the sins of the people. Again,

because God is holy and an unholy people can't be

in his presence and live. But this holy God wants

to dwell among his people, and so he's showing them

how to make that possible. You got to remember that

God has already made the covenant with the people. They're

already his people. They've been rescued, they've been delivered from Egypt,

they are redeemed, and he's showing them how to get

the house ready. That's what he's doing with all these

instructions because he wants to dwell with his people. And

the last three parts that we're going to talk about

in our text today are the bronze altar, the courtyard,

and the oil for the lamp. That's all going to

be found in chapter twenty seven. So let's look at

this bronze altar. Chapter twenty seven, Verse one says, you

shall make the altar of Acacia would five cubits long

and five cubits broad. The altar shall be square, and

its height shall be three cubits. And you shall make

horns for it on its four corners. Its horns shall

be of one piece with it, and you shall overlay

it with bronze. Bronze not gold, because bronze can last

through fire at a higher melting point. You shall make

pots for it to receive it receive its ashes, and

shovels and basins and forks and fire pans. You shall

make all its utensils of bronze. You shall also make

for it a grating, a network of bronze. And on

the net you shall make four bronze rings at its

four corners. And you shall set it under the ledge

of the altar, so that the net extends halfway down

the altar. And you shall make poles for the altar,

poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. And

the poles shall be put through the rings, so that

the poles are on the two sides of the altar.

When it is carried, you shall make it hollow with boards,

as it has been shown to you on the mountain.

So shall it be made. This is a barbecue pit,

that's what's being made. And I'm not trying to be irreverent,

but it's for burning sacrifice to God. But why burn

the sacrifices. It's because an unholy people cannot stand before

a holy God. And I love what Hebrews nine twenty

two says because it reminds us. Indeed, under the law,

almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding

of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. Without the

shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness of sins. So this

bronze altar is where the shedding of blood would take place,

where animals were sacrificed for the forgiveness of the sins

of the people. And the thing I think is most

cool about this is the bronze altar is the first

thing you'd see when you'd walk into the Tabernacle into

the courts. You'd walk through that first set of curtains,

and you walk right into the bronze altar. Because God's

people enter his presence by way of sacrifice. Chapter twenty

seven continues with instructions on making the actual court where

this altar would be, the court of the tabernacle, which

is basically just a fence of fabric fence that's surrounding

the whole area made out of more curtains hung from pillars,

and the tabernacle was what was inside with the bronze altar.

And the other thing that's in there is the bronze

basin for cleansing, and we'll talk about that more next

week as well, but that's what's inside the tabernacle, excuse me,

the courtyard of the Tabernacle. And the last thing in

our text for today is the oil for the lamp.

So you look at verses twenty and twenty one says

you shall command the people of Israel that they bring

to you pure beaten olive oil for the light, that

a lamp may regularly be set up to burn in

the tent of meeting outside the veil, that is, before

the testimony. Aaron and his sons shall tend it from

evening to morning before the Lord. It shall be a

statute forever to be observed throughout their generation by the

people of Israel. So this is the oil for the

lamp of the Holy Place that we were talking about earlier.

And this lamp meant to burn continually, and you know

who's got to keep it lit. Erin and his sons

keep it lit. That sounds ridiculous. Aaron and his sons

make sure it's burning at all times. So that's our

text for today. You understand why a hard time is

studying it this week. What do I do with this?

What I'm I supposed to tell you, guys? Do this

is a bunch of instructions given to Moses for the

people of Israel to follow. But remember what we said.

The whole point was it was back in verse eight,

that God wants to dwell with his redeemed people. That's

why God is giving all these instructions. That's why there's

so much particularity in what he's doing. He tells the

people to make him a sanctuary or a sacred place

that he may dwell in their midst. In every single

part of this tabernacle, I think screams a very consistent message.

There's some distance between a holy God and unholy people,

and we need some help. That unholy man needs a

lot of help to be among a holy God. Even

for God to dwell among his redeemed people, there's a

lot of work that needs to happen for it to work. Sacrifices, blood, bread, light, incense, veils,

all this stuff. But just like darkness cannot exist when

you turn the lights on, you understand what that means.

If it's dark in here, you turn on one light

and what happens to darkness gone? It doesn't exist anymore.

Just in that same way, sinful man cannot exist in

the presence of a holy God. We are that the

Lord walks into the room, Holy God walks in the

room full of sinful people. Sinful people just you know,

kiss yourself. Goodbye. We're viscerated. God sets this perfect holy

standard for humanity to live by, and the reason run

holy is because we can't keep that standard. We're born

in Adam in sin, and we all willingly sin. That's

so I love the beginning of the book Mere Christianity,

even without even opening the Bible yet, which I should

never amnover recommending not opening your Bible. But I'm just saying,

there's things we know we ought to do and we

choose not to do them, or there's things that we

ought not do and we still choose to do them.

By our own admission, we can't even hold to that

standard that we think is generally acceptable. God's standard is

so much higher than ours, and none of us keep it.

He set the standard for all of humanity to live by,

and every single person falls short of that standard. That's sin.

And just like we read earlier in Hebrews, without the

shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. So

that's what God is setting up this entire tabernacle. Four,

He's starting the sacrificial system. Remember how long Moses was

in the cloud? Say it, somebody, forty days and forty nights.

That's how long Moses has gone. And in that time,

the people of Israel will already break the covenant that

they made with God at first, something like well, forty days.

I just watched the latest season of Alone, and people

are out there for like over eighty days. I'm like,

dad's a long time. So I'm sitting there thinking, like, man,

forty days over a month up in the cloud, that's

a long time. Forty days is not a long time.

And you just promised a god of the universe, you

would do something only forty days and forty nights. And

in that time, the people of Israel are already going

to break the covenant. They start worshiping a golden calf.

You remember what, They agreed to have no other gods

before God, they will not bow down to any carved images,

and they literally just did that. God knows that his

people will go astray. My favorite hymn says, prone to wander, Lord,

I feel it prone to leave the God I love.

We all have this tension in us, this flesh that

wants to wander. God knows people, he knows that they're

going to go astray, And in the tabernacle he's setting

up a way to deal with that, a way for

the people to receive forgiveness for their sins, a way

to be made right with Him and to be able

to enter into His presence. But this is not only

an Israelite problem, is it. No, this is not just

a problem for them, Because every single one of us

has sin, every single person has sin and stands guilty

before God and has to deal with their sin. And

the Israelites, the answer for them was to keep coming

back and keep making sacrifices over and over and over

again to deal with their sin. That's not how God

does it anymore. He has made a better way. God

has made a better way to deal with it our

sin forever, forever. Forgiveness of sin still comes through the

shedding of blood. But it isn't the blood of animals.

It isn't the blood of animals. It's through the blood

of God's own son, Jesus Christ, the perfect and sinless sacrifice.

Where we should be shedding our own blood for our sin,

Jesus stood in our place and shed his own innocent

blood for us. And if you think about it, and this,

I am a little bit of a nerd when it

comes to Bible stuff. But this got me geeked. If

you think about it, Jesus is every single part of

the Tabernacle. So I don't you know, like go there

with me in your mind visualize as we walk to

the tabernacle. So think about the bronze altar where the

sacrifices for sin were made. Jesus is the final sacrifice

for the forgiveness of sins, Hebrews ten says, and every

priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices,

which can never take away sins. But when Christ had

offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he

sat down at the right hand of God. He is

our final sacrifice, the bronze basin where Aaron and his

sons would come to clean themselves before doing all of

their priestly tasks. Jesus is how we are cleansed to

enter the presence of God first John one seven. But

if we walk in the light as He is in

the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the

blood of Jesus his son, cleanses us from all sin.

The table for the bread of the presence. Jesus himself

said he was the bread of life and John six,

Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life.

See he said it, I'm not lying. Whoever comes to

me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall

never thirst. What about the golden lampstand, the light that

provided light in the Holy Place that was meant to

burn forever? Who's the light of the world? John eight. Again,

Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of

the world. Whoever falls me will not walk in darkness,

but will have the light of light life. What about

the altar of incense, this pleasing aroma that would fill

the tabernacle for the Lord Jesus is the flagrant offering

to the Lord. That's Aphesians five. And walk in love

as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us,

a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Moses stood before

the ark of the Covenant. He stood as a mediator

between the people and God. Who's our mediator? One Timothy

twenty five. For there is one God, and there is

one mediator between God and men, the man Christ, Jesus,

the mercy seat, the lid of the ark where the

people would go to meet with God. It's through Jesus

we have access to God. He's where we go to

meet with him. Ephesians two eighteen says, for through him Jesus,

we both have access in one spirit to the Father.

What about the ark of the covenant itself, the chest

that held what the covenant between God and man? The

new covenant is in the blood of Jesus. That's Luke

twenty two twenty. And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying,

this cup which has poured out for you, is the

new covenant in my blood. Jesus is every single part

of the Tabernacle, the dwelling place the Lord set up

to deal with Israel's sin, to meet with the people,

to be among the people. Jesus is every single piece

of the Tabernacle. He's the better version of it all.

He's the ultimate fulfillment of it all. Everything else shadows

of things that come in Christ. We look to Jesus

for everything. The children of Israel look to the Tabernacle

for and this is a good thing. Jesus is how

we have direct access to God, the Father. He's our

meeting place with the Lord. Why because he is the Lord.

Jesus is the Lord kind of the worship team. Come on, please.

God wanted to dwell among his people back then, as

we're reading here in Exodus, saved his people from slavery

in Egypt, and he wants to dwell among them. So

why he gave all these instructions. That's why he gave

all of the particularities of building the tabernacle. But God

still wants to dwell this people now. He wants to

dwell among his people now so much that he came

to earth as the God man Jesus. Look at John

one says, in the beginning, this will be familiar verses.

We talked to these verses a lot. But in the

beginning was the Word, and the word was with God,

and the Word was God. He was in the beginning

with God. All things were made through him, and without

him was not anything made. That was made in him

was life, and the life was the light of men.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has

not overcome it. This word that was with God, that

was God, also did something amazing. If you skip a

few verses down to John way On fourteen says, and

the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we've

seen his glory, glory as of the only son from

the Father, full of grace and truth. So the word

that was with God, and the word that was God,

he became flesh and he what is it still there?

The word became flesh, and you know that word is tabernacled.

The word became flesh and tabernacled among us. It's the

same word, and we've seen him this word. It's Jesus,

the only Son from the Father. But here's the cool thing.

It doesn't stop there, because for everyone has put faith

in Jesus, who believes that he lived the perfect life,

died on the cross in our place, and rose from

the dead. He doesn't just dwell a He dwells in you.

That God, the Holy Spirit. For all of put faith

in Christ, God, the Holy Spirit dwells in you. One

Corinthians three sixteen says, do you not know that you

are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells within you.

You are God's temple, and His spirit dwells within you. Temple, tabernacle,

same thing. Tabernacle is the temporary mobile version of the temple,

which is the stationary version. You are the temple or

the Tabernacle for God, God's spirit dwells in us. But

if you keep reading here in First Corinthians, we get

some instructions. Verse seventeen says if anyone destroys God's temple,

God will destroy him. For God's temples holy, and you

are that temple. So it sounds like we have some

work to do. We have something that we need to do.

We need to protect the temple. We need to take

care of the temple. We need to care for God's

dwelling place. And if he dwells in us, that means

we need to take care of ourselves. We need to

prepare the house. But how how do we do that?

And this isn't an eat healthy and exercise message, by

the way, though you should do those things. Those are

good things to do, That's not what this is. But

how do we prepare the house? How do we prepare

the place where God dwells? And I think we should

just take some notes from the tabernacle. Take some notes

from the tabernacle. It was covered in gold, It was beautiful,

it was a value. It required purity, so it was

holy and pure. It was ordered, There was a structure,

There was intentionality behind every aspect of it? And is

that what our lives are like? Is that what our

own body temple is like? Covered in gold? Valuable? Do

we believe or do we understand the value of our

own life? Is it beautiful in God's eyes? And no,

I don't mean you address nice? No, I mean is

it pleasing to his eyes? Does my life look the

way he demands that it looks? When God looks at

my life at my temple? Does he see something beautiful

by his standards? Not my standards? His standards? What about

the tabernacle requiring purity? Is my temple pure? Am I

killing the sin in my life? Am I trying to

remove it and eradicate the sin in my lives? Am

I remembering that God is holy? Therefore I should be holy?

Do I consider what I let in my temple, the

things that I watch, the things that I listen to,

the things that I consume? Am I letting the profane

into spaces that are meant to be holy? The Tabernacle

was ordered? Does my life have order and structure or

is it only full of the chaos of life? Our

lives need to be ordered around God and nothing else.

And this takes intentionality a lot of intentionality. Are the

priorities of my life ordered around God? Or are they

ordered around something or someone else? They ordered around myself,

my spouse, my kids, my job, my hobbies, my passions.

The bottom line is this that everything that was in

the Tabernacle was for God's purposes, all of it. It's

all for God's purposes. So is this how I live

my life? Life? Is this what my life is all about?

The purposes of God? Because if it's not, it's time

to get to work. We've got to prepare the house.

God desires to dwell among his people, and he always has.

God desires to dwell among his people. But he has

also showed us what that looks like. So let's prepare

his house. Amen, All right, Can you guys stand on

your feet please,