Furnished With Grace

Exodus chapter 37.

Exodus 37 · chapter mention

We're going to cover verses 1 through 29 in the text.

This is sermon number 93 through the book of Exodus.

And we are almost done.

I know you keep saying that, Pastor Josh.

I promise we are almost done.

We're uh we only go to chapter 40 and the book closes.

Uh, but we've been inching through verse by verse, chapter by chapter, in a series I've titled Leaving the Darkness, where we watch Moses lead the people of Egypt, uh, well, Israel, out of Egypt, into the promised land, or towards the promised land, into the wilderness, out of darkness, into light, out of slavery, into freedom, out of worshiping other gods, into worshiping the true God Yahweh.

And we're really enjoying the color and the pictures and the stories before us today.

Sermon number 93, the title of the sermon, if you're taking notes, is Furnished with Grace.

Heard of a story of a man.

He died and went to heaven, and he met Saint Peter there at the pearly gates.

And Peter says, Here's how it works.

You need a hundred points to get in through the gates.

You tell me all the good things you've done, and I'll give you a certain number of points for each one, depending on how good it was.

Okay?

When you reach a hundred points, you're gonna get in, all right?

Okay, the man said, he said, Well, um, I was married to the same woman for 50 years.

And Peter says, That's wonderful.

That's worth three points.

Three points.

Three points?

What are you talking about?

Well, I spent my I went to church my whole life and I supported the ministry with a tithe and my service.

Peter says, Terrific, that's amazing.

That's certainly worth one point.

One point for you.

One point, good grief.

How about this?

I started a soup kitchen in my city.

He worked, I worked in a shelter for the homeless veterans, and I blessed them.

He says, That's fantastic.

That's definitely worth two more points.

Two points.

He said, At this rate, the only way I'm getting into heaven is by the grace of God.

Peter smiled and said, That's it.

Come on in.

Furnished with grace.

Have you ever noticed you can walk into somebody's home and learn a great deal about them without saying a word?

It's kind of like the whole the forest scump, you know, quote.

You know, you can tell a lot about a person by their shoes, where they've been.

But when you walk into a person's home, you kind of notice the details of their home and where their furniture is positioned and you know what what they pay attention to.

Um a recliner aimed straight at the television says something, right?

A piano covered in family photos says something.

You know, a kitchen table with crayons uh uh marked all over it, and a high chair pulled close up will tell you something.

Uh the furniture tells you who lives there.

And we have been looking very closely, zooming in on God's house or the place that God is dwelling here in the Old Testament.

And if you could walk into God's house and look around at his furniture, what would it tell you about him?

And what would it tell you personally about your relationship with him?

Would you feel at home in God's house?

And that's exactly really what's happening again in Exodus chapter 37 as we unpack the furniture in God's tabernacle, the place, the tent where he dwells.

Exodus 37 · chapter mention

Now it's fun uh setting up the tent.

I don't know how long it's been since you've done that.

Uh Katie and I do it a lot less these days.

But before we had kids, uh we would go camping from time to time.

It was fun.

And uh it was a lot easier.

Now, you know, it's like uh who knows what's gonna happen, right?

Uh you set up the tent and the ants start showing up, and the kids are tracking dirt all in the tent, and you're trying to set the thing.

You know, we try to do the clamping thing, you know, make it real nice in there.

And it's like, not with children, okay?

It's not gonna work, right?

Uh there's all kinds of food somehow in the sleeping bags, and you name it, it starts to happen.

But nevertheless, uh, when you set up a tent, it's nice to put a couple things within there.

Well, in God's tent, in the place where he is dwelling, there are specific pieces of furniture that have been placed in this thing called the tabernacle.

Again, it is the tent amongst the tents of the people.

The people are dwelling on the outside, camping there in the wilderness, and God sets up his own tent in the center, and he's having this guy, Bezalel, build and furnish the whole thing or oversee the project.

We've been looking closely at it, and we've been working through it verse by verse, chapter by chapter, enjoying each of the details of this furniture.

We're gonna zoom in on a couple pieces of furniture today in Exodus chapter 37.

Exodus 37 · chapter mention

Can we stand for the reading of God's word?

We always stand for the reading of God's word to pay honor to him, remember whose word we're reading.

Not my words.

They really do belong to God.

Uh, this is his story, this is his book, uh, this is this is all his, and I am the delivery boy just trying to deliver the message.

Exodus chapter 37, take a look at verse one.

Exodus 37 · chapter mention

We'll read to verse 29.

What do you say?

And Beazelel made the ark of acacia wood.

Its length was two and a half cubits, and its width one and a half cubits, and its heights one and a half cubits, and he overlaid it with pure gold inside and out, and made gold moulding for it all around it.

He cast four rings of gold for it, and it's four feet, and even two rings on the one side of it, the two rings on the other side of it.

He made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold.

He put the poles into the rings on the sides of the Ark to carry it, and he made a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long, and one and a half cubits wide.

He made two cherubim of gold.

He made them hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat, one cherubim at one end and one cherubim at the other end.

From one piece he made the mercy seat with the cherubim at its two ends.

The cherubim had their wings spread upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings.

Beautiful.

With their faces towards each other, the faces of cherubim were toward the mercy seat.

Look at verse ten.

Then he made the table of acacia wood, two cubits long and a cubit wide, and one and a half cubits hide.

He overlaid it with pure gold and made gold moulding for it all around.

He made a rim for it of a hambreath all around, and made a gold moulding for its rim all around.

He cast four rings for it, and put the rings on the four corners that were on its four feet.

Close to the rim were the rings, the holders for the poles to carry the table.

He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold to carry the table.

He made the lampstand of hammered work, its base and its shaft, its cups, its bulbs, and its flowers were of the same piece.

There were six branches going out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand from one side of it, the three branches of the lampstand from the other side of it, three cups shaped like almond blossoms, a bulb and flower in one branch, and three cups shaped like almond blossoms, a bulb and a flower in the other branch, for the six branches coming out of the lampstand.

In the lampstand there were four cups shaped like almond blossoms, its bulbs and its flowers.

And a bulb was under the first pair of branches coming out of it, and the bulb under the second pair of branches coming out of it, and a bulb under the third pair of branches coming out of it.

And for the six branches coming out of the lampstand, their bulbs and their branches were of one piece with it, the whole of it was a single hammered work of pure gold.

He made its seven lamps with its tongs and its trays of pure gold.

He made it all in its utensils from a talent of pure gold.

The talent's the amount of gold he used.

Then he made the altar of incense of acacia wood, a cubit long and a cubit wide, a square, two cubits high, its horns were of one piece with it.

He overlaid it with pure gold, its tops and its side all around, and its horns, and he made gold moulding for it all around.

He made the two golden rings for it under its mouldings, on its sides, opposite sides, a holder for poles which were to carry it.

He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold, and he made an holy anointing oil, the pure fragrant incense of spices, the work of a perfumer.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for the details.

You do not lack in the details.

Giving these blueprints to the craftsmen of that day to build the furniture for the tabernacle.

And God, we pray now as we look closely at this furniture that we would not just see measurements, but we would see the images, we would see the meaning behind these pieces of furniture, the story behind each piece of furniture, the sermon behind each piece of furniture, and we'd be able to apply it to our lives that we'd see your goodness and grace over and over again.

Bless us as we zoom in on the details of the tabernacle.

We ask it in Jesus' name.

Amen.

You guys okay?

Man, Josh, story time.

Putting us to sleep already.

So back in chapter 25 through 31, God gave Moses blueprints on the mountain of what to build for the tabernacle.

And then came chapter 32 while God was designing a house so he could live with his people.

His people were down at the bottom of the mountain, remember, dancing around a golden calf.

And you'd think the whole project would be canceled at that point.

I mean, God was ready to do it.

He's talking with Moses about it, basically ready to wipe the people out and wipe this whole project away.

But it it didn't happen.

In chapters 33 and 34, Moses intercedes and God renews his covenant with his people.

And in verse, in chapters 35 and 36, the people give so generously their response to God's grace and mercy that Moses has to tell them to stop giving.

And the tent finally goes up.

Now in chapter 37, Bezalel is, again, the man chosen by God, this craftsman that God anoints with his spirit to do incredible work and incredible construction, incredible detail.

Bezalel starts to move in the furniture.

And if you've been with us through this entire series, all the reading that we just did sounds very familiar because it's nearly word for word again what we read in chapter 25.

Why repeat it?

We've talked about this.

But the God who planned grace before the golden calf still is finishing his work of grace through the details.

So he gives the blueprint, but then he he keeps his covenant commitment by actually bringing it to fruition.

So that's what's being shown here is that every word that God said in detail of the blueprint is actually being mapped out by Bezalel in real time, and they're building the furniture exactly as God had said it.

And this is very important.

We've talked about this extensively because when God gives the blueprint, we should follow it exactly.

We should not waver from any detail.

He's really trying to tell us something.

Their sin, though, praise God, did not cancel his blueprint.

And we got to understand that your sin doesn't do it either.

God has a planted blueprint for your life, and he wants to use you regardless of the sin of the past.

He is ready at any time to reenact that blueprint in your life and to watch him be brought maximum glory in your life.

There's four pieces of furniture in this chapter.

We're gonna uh take the tour and uh in three stops here.

We'll smash two into one point so we get a nice clean three points.

What do you say?

Point number one, if you're taking notes, focus on the mercy seat.

Focus on the mercy seat.

This is verses one through nine.

Verse one says, Bezalel made the ark.

This is the Ark of the Covenant.

Yes, Indiana Jones.

Um, this is not an apprentice making it, this is the master craftsman making the Ark of the Covenant.

He did it with his own hands.

The general contractor is building the Ark of the Covenant by himself.

It's really incredible.

Um, it was a box of acacia wood, roughly uh 45 inches long, 27 inches wide and high, overlaid with pure gold inside and out.

It's one thing I kept noticing even as I read through it.

You hear the term gold, gold, gold, gold overlaid, overlaid with gold, gold.

All of the furniture looked like pure flash of gold.

Bang! Hits your eyes when you walk in.

The rings and the poles, uh, because God's throne was portable, he had them also build these, and they were able to pick this thing up and walk uh with it around on their shoulders.

Um, wherever God went, Israel went, and wherever God went, Israel went with the tabernacle.

They literally packed up the tent, the Ariai tent, they put it on their backs, and they carried this thing to the next location.

Remember, inside the Ark of the Covenant was the testimony, the tablets of the law, the Ten Commandments.

Remember, these were the second pair of tablets.

The first set of tablets he smashed at the foot of Mount Sinai.

And then we will see in the Ark of the Covenant a jar of manna, which God provided for them one day at a time.

Remember, if you stored up manna and kept it for the next day, there were worms in it.

It would go bad.

He he rained bread down from heaven, this stuff called manna.

Uh that's the word manna means what is it?

Um, they didn't know it was like this bread from heaven.

Just this raining bread would just rain down every day, and they would collect it.

So they put a bowl of manna in there.

Interesting, the bowl of manna in the Ark of the Covenant, in the presence, did not go bad.

No worms.

And then the final thing was Aaron's budding rod, budding almonds, uh, would show up there.

This is all also found in Hebrews chapter 9.

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

But verse 6 says he made a mercy seat of pure gold.

The Hebrew word is kaporet, it means covering.

The covering.

William Tyndale, when he translated uh into English in 1530, he gave us this beautiful phrase, mercy seat.

But the Hebrew word is the covering.

We see the word mercy seat.

Why?

Well, there's a lot sitting there on that cover.

Hammered from the same piece of gold were two cherubim, widespread wings.

Verse 9 says their faces were turned toward the mercy seat.

The wings spread out, and both cherubim, these angel-like creatures, are on top of the lid, pure gold, and they're looking down where?

At the lid.

They're looking at the mercy seat, they're focused on the mercy seat.

Now picture it.

Inside the box is the law of Israel, the Ten Commandments that they had already broken.

Above the box is the throne of a holy God, and in between the lid, once a year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would sprinkle blood on that lid.

The high priest would come in with the blood of the lamb, and he would sprinkle the middle of the lid with the blood of the lamb.

And the cherubim would watch, focused on the mercy, on the atonement.

So when God looked down, he didn't see a broken law, he saw blood.

And the angels' faces were fixed on that spot as if heaven itself couldn't stop staring at mercy and the atonement made for the people of God.

Is that beautiful or what?

The focus is on the mercy.

Romans chapter 3, verse 25, Paul says that God displayed Christ publicly as a propitiation in his blood.

Romans 3:25

The Greek word here is Hilaserion, the very word used in Hebrews chapter 9, verse 5 for the mercy seat.

Hebrews 9:5

The word propitiation is used interchangeable with the word mercy seat in the New Testament.

Paul is telling us that Jesus is the mercy seat.

Everything that Lyd picture that Lyd was picturing, the cross ultimately accomplished.

The Lord did it.

No wonder Peter says these are things into which angels long to look at and understand.

It's in 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 12.

1 Peter 1:12

The angels, the cherubim, looking, longing to understand what is going on.

What a picture.

It says in verse 12 of 1 Peter 1, it was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves, but you, and the things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

They want to know.

Why are angels perplexed by mercy and grace?

Do you know?

Because it wasn't offered to them when they fell.

When Lucifer, the head angel, took one third of the angels with him, became demons, the spiritual world fell, one third of them.

Notice there was no good news, no gospel message offered to them for rescue.

There is no mercy.

There is no grace for them.

They'll be condemned for all of eternity just like that.

But we why do we get the mercy of God?

Why do we get the mercy seat?

We've broken the Ten Commandments in that box.

And the high priest would walk in with blood and atone for the sins of God's people.

That piece of furniture in God's house, this Ark of the Covenant, tells us to focus on God's mercy and forgiveness above our own sin.

The angels are not looking at the broken tablets.

The cherubim are focused on the mercy seat of God.

Some of you might still be trying to stand before God on your record based on what you have done.

Allow me to be clear and straight with you.

If you open up your box, your Ark of the Covenants, you'll find broken commandments.

Me too.

You need a covering.

You need a covering of mercy, and praise God, it has been provided for you.

Hebrews chapter 4, verse 16 says, Let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy.

Hebrews 4:16

You can draw close to him in confidence, knowing you're going to receive mercy.

The cherubim are looking at the mercy seat, the atonement, not your sin.

Isn't that amazing?

You think the angels would be wanting to study all of our sin and point out all of our wrongs.

Oh, there is one angel who does that, one fallen one who does that.

Lou Sifer, our great foe.

The accuser of the brethren, the father of lies.

That angel is always just looking at your sin.

That demon is just always looking at your sin, trying to condemn you.

But the cherubim, that piece of furniture, that sculpture in God's house is looking at his mercy, reminding us forever.

Reminding the priest when he walks in.

They're focused on the atonement on the mercy seat forever.

But let me ask you, where are you looking?

Where are your eyes?

In surfing, there is this idea that wherever you look on the wave, that's where you're gonna go.

So wherever you look, that's ultimately where you're going.

So if you want to go up, you look up.

If you want to go down, you look down.

If you want to do a turn, you gotta look up and come all the way back around.

Wherever you look, that's where you're going to go.

I had the coolest opportunity to surf at Kelly Slater's surf ranch this last year, and Raymana was there.

Raymana is the legend, the godfather of Chopu, the barrel in Tahiti, that massive wave barrel that you see.

And he was there with us, and he was telling me that when I get into the barrel of this wave, he said, You look down and your body will go down.

Just keep looking down and the barrel will cover you.

You just look down.

And Raymond is on the jet ski.

I drop into this wave and I grab the rail and I'm going and I'm looking down, and he is yelling.

You can't hear it, you can't see it on the video, but he is yelling.

Yelling down, down, down, down, down.

And I held that barrel for so long, but guess what he did at the end?

I looked up at the lip, and I literally, you watch it just go up and over the lip.

It's amazing.

He's yelling down, down, down, down, down.

And for one second, I look up and boom, I go right up into the lip.

The eyes look first, then the head, then the shoulders follow, the body follows.

It was magical for me.

But the same is true with sin, you know?

And mercy.

Cherubim's eyes are on the mercy seat of God.

Where are your eyes?

Stop focusing on your own sin and focus on God.

Look to the mercy seat, be in awe of God and watch how sin falls off of your life.

If you walk in the spirit, you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

If you just walk in the spirit, what am I gonna do today?

I'm not gonna sin.

Guess what you're gonna do?

What am I gonna do today?

I'm gonna walk in the spirit.

I'm gonna walk with the Lord.

Walk humbly with your God.

That's it.

Seek him, look at him, follow him, walk with him, look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

Lock eyes with him.

Stop locking eyes with your own sin, or you're going down.

The lip's gonna hit you.

The story is told of a mother who came to Napoleon pleading for the life of her son, a soldier contempt to death.

The emperor said, Madam, your son does not deserve mercy.

She answered, Sir, if you deserved it, it would have not been it would not be mercy.

Napoleon paused and he said, Well then, I will have mercy.

That's the mercy seat.

It was never built for people who deserve it.

It's simply a king who wants to be merciful.

And that is the question: why is God being merciful and gracious to us?

And my answer is, I don't know.

I think he loves us or something.

First John 2.2, he himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins, the propitiation for our sins, and not only our sins, but the sins of the whole world.

Jesus is the mercy seat.

John Stott wrote, The essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man.

Tim Keller in The Meaning of Marriage, he said, We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared to believe.

Yet at the very same time, we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared to hope.

Love that.

Martin Luther in 1516 said, Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, I am your sin.

You have taken upon yourself what is mine, and I and given to me what is yours.

You have taken upon yourself what is mine, and given to me what is yours.

Beautiful.

The mercy seat.

Point number two, God feeds and leads his people.

Next we see in our text, verses 10 to 24, Bezalel made the table of showbread.

About three feet long, eighteen inches wide, twenty-seven inches high, overlaid in gold, with a rim of a handbreadth all around.

Then came the dishes, pans, bowls, jars, all of pure gold.

Every Sabbath twelve fresh loaves of bread were made, one for each tribe, and they were set out before Yahweh.

And then the priests ate them.

This is the Leviticus chapter 24, verse 5 to 9.

Leviticus 24:5–9

And it was called the bread of the presence.

In the ancient world, sharing a meal sealed a covenant with someone.

And remember in Exodus 24, we see the elders come before God, and they beheld God, and they ate and they drank with him.

This table was God's way of saying, I'm not only your king, I'm hosting you today.

And we're making a covenant together.

Across the room from the table of showbread, provision, we see the lampstand, the menorah.

Verses 17 to 24, one talent of pure gold.

This is 75 pounds of gold.

Could you imagine?

75 pounds of gold.

All hammered from a single piece.

75 pound dumbbell.

Yeah, 325 plates stacked together.

Hammered from a single piece, cups shaped like almond blossoms, beautiful, with bulbs and flowers, and a golden tree in full bloom.

That's what the sing looked like.

The almond is the first tree to wake up and bloom in Israel while it's still winter.

Did you know that?

Beautiful picture.

The almond tree.

It's the first to wake up and bloom in Israel when it's still winter time.

In Hebrew, the word almond shaked sounds like watching, shoked.

God makes this very word play.

You find it in Jeremiah chapter 1, verse 11 and 12.

Jeremiah 1:11

I am watching over my word to perform it.

The lampstand was like a tree of light that said, I am awake and I'm watching.

This menorah, this thing glowing in the tent.

I'm awake and I'm watching.

I'm here.

The tabernacle had no windows.

You have to understand, without that lamp, without this thing lit, these candles burning, the tabernacle had no light.

The priest would stumble in the dark.

The table stood on the north side and the lamp on the south side.

So the light fell right across on the bread.

Beautiful.

And that piece of furniture in God's house tells us that God wanted his people fed, taken care of, and he wanted them to see in the dark.

He's going to light the way.

Jesus said in John 6, 35, I am the bread of life.

He who comes to me will not hunger.

That amazing.

Two chapters later, in John 8, verse 12, he says, I am the light of the world.

John 8:12

He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

Our series called Leaving the Darkness.

It's very simple.

All you have to do to leave the darkness is follow the light.

And he doesn't just light the way he calls us to pull up a chair at his table.

Revelation 3 20, I will come into him and he will dine with me, and he with me.

He says, Come down, come sit, come eat, come recognize provision, come recognize the light, come recognize that I am in all of this.

God hosts us in his home, he prepares a meal before us in the presence of our enemies.

He is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

These pieces of furniture are shouting so much at us.

The table of showbread, God is your provision.

He's always going to take care of you, he's always going to provide for you.

There are twelve new pieces of bread brought fresh every single week.

The light is going to be continually going up.

That tent is never going dark.

Praise God.

The light of Christ will always be in you.

Even in your darkest days, He's going to shine.

He will lead you on the path for righteousness' sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

For you art with me.

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

I want to ask you today, how do you view God?

You know, the same way, how do you view the ark and the mercy seat?

You're staring at the commandments you've broken.

How do you view God?

How do you view God's home?

I hope you see it as a table of abundance.

More bread than you could eat.

And the menorah shining so bright, even if one little light tries to go out, don't worry, there's plenty more.

Let me ask you this question.

Are you living on crumbs?

A verse on Sunday, and then nothing until next Sunday.

The priest got fresh bread all the time.

You got to understand, church, we are being invited over and over to the table every single day to come to the Lord, come hungry to the Lord and come often to eat at his table.

Three times a day.

Plenty of food.

You can sit at his table every single day.

What a beautiful picture.

I don't know if there is a more beautiful picture.

A warm home, candles lit, food on the table, sitting down, enjoying time together.

Commune with me.

Come to the table.

And praise God.

When life gets dark and it will, we don't have to sit in the dark waiting for morning.

The light is there.

First John 1 7, if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.

Bread and light are meant to be shared.

Share the bread with the hungry world around us.

Share the light.

Shine it into this dark world around us.

The pictures are beautiful.

They're clear.

It's all sitting right there.

A wild story after World War II, two thousand or thousands of orphaned children were gathered into a refugee camp, and many of them couldn't sleep because they were hungry.

So long that they lay awake afraid.

Someone finally had the idea at bedtime to give each child a piece of bread to hold, not to eat, just to hold.

And the children slept because the bread in their minds said, Today I ate, and tomorrow I will eat again.

And that's what the table in God's house was saying.

And it says over and over and over to us when you walk into God's home, you see a table full of bread, and it says, I've forever bread for you.

I'm the bread of life.

He who eats of me will never go hungry.

Praise God.

In Christ, there is always bread tomorrow.

You do not need to worry about that.

Jesus told us very clearly, don't worry about that.

Today has enough worries of its own.

That's all you get.

And there will always be lights.

There will always be a way to shine.

And you gotta remember that in dark times, you know, I kind of I don't like that.

You know, when the I think uh fool me once, right?

It it happens so many times in our culture.

And when I look back over the last two decades, I just see all of the you know kind of propaganda of fear and the constant like news that just won't stop.

Oh no, the sky's falling, oh no, the sky's falling, oh no, the sky's falling.

Like it just it just never stops.

And some days it falls and others it doesn't.

And as I reflect back on some of the darkest days in my life, I think I am shocked that I stand here today, okay.

I'm okay.

That was crazy.

You went through that.

I know, and I'm I'm okay today.

I might.

It's wild.

I can even process that story and and actually be okay.

I'm I'm what I'm I'm so what that tells me is that I will face dark times in the future, but there is light, and I will be okay.

And all you gotta do is look into the eyes of old people and they'll tell you, it's gonna be okay.

It's gonna be okay.

You have to remember that.

No one wants to go through the darkness, not me.

I know you don't want to either, but praise God, I have the lamp.

The lamp into my feet and the light into my path.

We are going to navigate these waters.

We're going into the storm no matter what.

I need a good captain, I need somebody who knows the way, and I need somebody who has the light.

And that is the promise that you have, church.

The menorah is not going out ever.

And the beautiful picture of all, most beautiful picture of all, do you know that heaven is illuminated by God Himself?

There is no sun nor moon.

God is light, and he is going to light your path forever.

You do not have to worry.

C.S.

Lewis said, I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.

It helps us process the world around us.

William Williams said, Guide me, O thou great Jehovah, bread of heaven, bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more.

Feed me till I want no more.

I love it.

Point number three, and finally, the altar of incense, God hears our prayers.

The last piece in a furniture in our text here is the altar of incense, just 18 inches square, three feet tall, uh, but with horns at its corners, overlaid with gold and carried with poles.

It's verse 25 to 29, uh, 28.

But we aren't to judge it by its size.

This thing is small, but it's a very powerful picture.

Uh look at where it stood.

It stood right in front of the veil of the Holy of Holies.

The little altar sat nearest to God.

Amazing, huh?

Every morning and every evening the per priests burned incense on it.

Verse 29 says, Bezalel also made the pure fragrant incense of spices the work of a perfumer.

And remember, it was a special recipe never to be copied for personal use.

This is in Exodus 30, verses 37 to 38.

Exodus 30:37–38

That fragrance belonged to God alone.

What did it mean?

David tells us in Psalm 141, verse 2 May my prayer be counted as incense before you.

Psalms 141:2

Prayer is always connected to incense.

Incense is always connected to prayer.

Luke chapter 1, verse 10.

Luke 1:10

While Zechariah burned incense inside, the whole multitude was praying outside.

Revelation chapter 8, verse 4.

Revelation 8:4

The smoke of the incense rises with the prayers of the saints.

Here's the part people miss.

Once a year, the horns of this altar of incense were touched with blood of the atonement as well.

Exodus chapter 30, verse 10.

Exodus 30:10

The prayers of Israel rose from a blood-stained altar.

The prayers rise because of the sacrifice.

Praise God.

This piece of furniture in God's house tells us that we can talk to him because of the Lamb of God who made a way for us.

Jesus is not only the one who died for us, he's the one who prays for us.

Hebrews chapter 7, verse 25 says he always lives to make intercession for them.

Hebrews 7:25

Romans chapter 8, verse 34 says that Christ is at the right hand of God who also intercedes for us.

Romans 8:34

Right now, today, while you sit in your seat, the Lord Jesus is praying for you.

Praise God.

I need his prayers.

Don't worry, Peter.

Well, Satan is asked to sift you like we, but don't worry, Peter.

I have prayed for you.

Your prayers matter, not ultimately because they are eloquent, but because they rise through Christ.

In Jesus' name, at the end of our prayers isn't a sign-off like sincerely yours, right?

No, it's the reason you're heard.

Hear my prayer because of Jesus and his sacrifice.

Notice the rhythm, morning and evening, the incense would go up, not just in emergencies.

Listen, church, we should start your day with him and end it with him, morning and evening.

Let the instruments of your life smell like prayer.

Be a man of prayer, be a woman of prayer.

Don't hesitate to pray for people, okay?

If you ever feel like I should pray for them, pray for them now.

Make your prayers in public short, please, okay?

Let me pray for your brother ten minutes later.

You're like, please stop.

Let your prayers in public be short.

Let your prayers in private be long.

For years, Augustine, the great Augustine, the church father, lived as a brilliant, restless young man running from God, chasing pleasure, prestige, false religion.

His mother, Monica, never stopped praying for him.

She wept so often that she finally went to a local bishop and begged him to talk sense into her son.

He told her to leave Augustine to God.

And as she kept pleading in tears, he said, It is not possible that the son of these tears should perish.

In the year 386, in a garden in Milan, Augustine came to Christ, and he became one of the most influential theologians in church history.

If a mother's prayers carry that much weight, think about the prayers of the son at the Father's right hand right now.

Jesus always lives to make intercession for you, Hebrews chapter 7.

Hebrews 7 · chapter mention

John Bunyan defined prayer as a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God through Christ in the strength and assistance of the Spirit.

Beautiful.

Richard Trench said, We must not conceive of prayer as an overcoming of God's reluctance, but as a laying hold of his highest willingness.

Joseph Scriven wrote, What a friend we have in Jesus, 1855.

Oh, what peace we often forfeit.

Oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything in prayer.

Corey Tim Boom.

Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?

The emergency?

Or what we drive in every single day.

You know, you can walk out of a coffee shop, a bakery, or a fresh in and out carrying the smell with you.

You know what I mean?

You get in the car and your family says, I know where you've been.

You know, the priests who tended the altar also had this incense upon them, and it was the incense of the altar, the prayers going up to God.

You couldn't hide the time they had spent with God.

And I want to encourage you to know that a way has been made for you to talk to God any day, anytime that you want.

Do you have to do a certain thing, Josh?

Is there some formula when you pray?

Thus thee, thou, Almighty God, do you hear me?

No.

He actually knows all language.

He actually can interpret your moans and groans and everything that you think and everything that you're trying to say.

And the thus these thou's of religion trying to make it sound extra holy doesn't do anything extra.

God's just like, what are you doing down there?

Just are you okay?

Talk to me.

If you have genuine reverence, then say it.

But if you don't, stop faking it.

Give me your life.

Hand it over.

The priest could only go inside once a year.

Did you know that?

To go seek God and give atonement.

Pretty amazing.

Into the Holy of Holies.

And the only reason they were able to make it into the presence of God was because of the work that Jesus did.

And I want to remind you as we close today, the Lord Jesus is our mercy seat.

He is our bread of life.

He is the light of the world.

Jesus is our intercessor.

God's house was furnished with grace.

Every single piece of it points to him and is trying to bring us closer to him.

So come on in.

Stop standing outside the door.

Go into his presence with singing.

Spurgeon said, if thou stayest away, it is not because he shuts the door, it is because thou wilt not come.

Come, filthy, naked, ragged, poor, lost, ruined.

Come just as you are.

Come and welcome, Spurgeon says, Come and welcome.

Christ is more ready to receive you than you are to come to him.

Pretty amazing.

I want to pray for us today that we'd be reminded of God's home, reminded of all of his furniture.

He's got it in there for a reason.

I hope that you would remember who he is and that you would enter into his home often.

Let me pray for us.

Father, we turn to you now.

We thank you for zooming in on this furniture, the details, what you're up to, what the story, what the meaning is behind all of it.

We thank you, Jesus, that by your blood, we have infinite provision at the table of showbread, the bread of the presence.

We have infinite light at the lampstand.

We have infinite prayers being lifted up for us.

And we have infinite forgiveness and grace, unbelievable.

Father, we pray that you'd bless us and use us for your glory.

Thank you for your church.

Thank you for the work of the cross, your death, burial, and resurrection.

Thank you that you've taken our punishment.

Thank you for forgiving us of our sin.

We offer you ourselves again today.

We turn away from sinning and running away from you.

And we choose to lock eyes with you and your mercy seat and run into your presence with singing.

Bless your church.

Fill us with your joy and peace today.

We ask it now in Jesus' name.

Amen.