Still Waters Family Camp: 2023
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Exodus 12:1-5
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So in light of the fact that we have the Tabernacle before us this week, the question came to me here just sitting here thinking in Exodus 12, where it says, And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean you by the service, that perhaps we could take up the Passover.
And what it entails as it leads up into the wilderness journey. But this is a very good question for children to ask what may need by the service and so the Lord would have us would have children diligently asked. We find that later on in the wilderness that the children were to ask of their parents.
What mean you buy this? And it's a good, it's a good thing for children to seek earnestly seek for themselves these things. And so it's interesting the Spirit of God would bring up.
You would assume that's that the children would ask.
Anyway, there's just a thought I had in light of the children that are before us.
Normally I call on my sons to read the chapter.
I will put you on the spot ready next time.
Steve, do you think maybe the 1St 27 verses?
Of Exodus 12 for this morning.
Exodus chapter 12, verse one. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be to unto you the beginning of months, and it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the 10th day of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their house.
Of their fathers a lamb foreign house.
And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls. Every man, according to his eating, shall make your account for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish a male of the first year. You shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats.
And you shall keep it up until the 14th day of the same month.
And the whole assembly of the Congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts, and on the upper door post of the houses wherein they shall eat it. They shall eat the flesh in that night. Roast with fire, with unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs. Shall they eat it, Eat not of it raw nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire his head, with his legs, and with the pertinence as thereof.
And he shall let nothing of it remain until the morning.
And that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the first born of the land of Egypt, both man and of beast. And against all the gods of Egypt will I execute judgment.
I am the Lord.
And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are.
And when I see the blood, I will Passover you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you.
When I smite the land of Egypt.
And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it a feast by ordinance forever. Seven days shall ye unleavened bread.
Even the first day shall you put away leaven out of your houses, For whosoever eateth leavened bread, from the first day until the 7th day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
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In the first day there shall be a holy convocation. In the seventh days there shall be a holy convocation to you. No manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For in this self same day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt.
Therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance forever.
In the first month, on the 14th day of the month that even he shall eat unleavened bread until the one and 20th day of the month, that even seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses for whosoever.
Whosoever eateth that which is leaven, even that soul shall be cut off in the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger or born in the land.
He shall eat nothing leavened in all your habitation shall ye unleavened bread. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb, according to your families, and kill the Passover, and you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood.
Which is in the basin and strike the lentil and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin.
And none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning, for the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians. When he seeth the blood up on the lentil and on the two side posts. The Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in into your houses to smite you.
He shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever.
And it shall come to pass, when you shall become to the land which the Lord giveth you accordingly, as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. And it shall come to pass, when your children say unto you, What meaneth thee by this service, that ye shall say It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he spoke the Egyptians, and delivered.
Houses and the people bowed the head and worshiped.
I.
So to add another question, God has it in Deuteronomy chapter 640 years later after their wilderness journey or near the completion of the wilderness journey of Deuteronomy 6, the same question.
Was written down again under the Spirit of God, it says in Deuteronomy 6.
Verse 17 Shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee. Verse 20 And when thy son asketh thee, and time to come, saying, what may need the testimonies?
And the statutes.
And the judgment which the Lord our God hath commanded you.
Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bondsman in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
So it's nice to see this question again show up roughly 40 years later.
And it's noted the fact that they were to keep these commandments. And because they keep these commandments, the children were to ask a question, Why do you do this?
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I think it might be nice for the children.
Understand or be reminded that these things that we're reading about the Passover and that we're going to be taking up about the Tabernacle.
Are important things that God has seen fit to put down, and it's something that he wants us to know a lot about.
We're going to be talking about types and shadows and illustrations and pictures all during camp as we take up the Tabernacle.
And this time about the Passover that we've just read about is important because it has to do with the deliverance of the children of Israel.
Likewise, we have been delivered from judgment to come by the act of God, just like they were here.
Unless we think these things are just to do with the children of Israel, it's just all old history and stuff that happened a long time ago and has nothing to do with us now.
I want to read again verse 14.
This day shall be unto you for a memorial.
And you shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever.
The beginning of the summer we have a day called Memorial Day.
And we think about others who have sacrificed for ourselves so that we can enjoy now the things that we do because of their sacrifice.
When the Lord sets up a memorial.
It's because it's a very important thing to him.
And He wants us to know about it, and He wants us to appreciate it because He appreciates it. So this memorial isn't something that children of Israel got together and decided to do. This is something that was instituted of God for specific purposes so that they would never forget.
But they were delivered from, but their condition once was.
And so as we read through here, it's good to remember that and I want to tie that together then.
With First Corinthians 11 That you may often hear read in the breaking of bread when the Lord says this, do Remember Me now. I don't know how many of you young people remember the Lord in your home assemblies.
I hope that that.
That.
Request from the Lord Jesus means something to you.
Because he went.
And provided the sacrifice for us to be delivered from judgment to come. And he says, this is another thing I want you to remember. And it's tied very closely with the Passover here. There was a deliverance for us, and he asked us to remember him. So these two things are tied together, and they're both very important to God.
And he's laid them all out for us so that we could be apprised of these things. And it's nice, like Mark has been saying, that there would be an exercise with the young ones. When you see why we do, when you see what we're doing and you wonder why we're doing it, that's why we're having these meetings. That's why we're taking up these things this week.
I just trust that gives a little bit of a depth and a purpose to what we're doing here.
Because these things are very important to God.
And they ought to be to us too.
Do that. Let's turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Read a verse there.
Is this really important, like a brother just brought up that we make the connection between what we're reading about here and the application that this has to our lives as Christians today. Now this verse in Hebrews chapter 10, verse one that I'm going to read here actually is speaking more along the Levitical.
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Offerings not so much this, but the same application applies.
Hebrews 10/1 for the law having a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers they're under perfect. And then a little bit further down it says.
In verse 4, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away 10s.
Wherefore when he that is the Lord Jesus, cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offerings Thou wouldest not, but a body has Thou prepared me, and burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, Thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come, and the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God.
Verse 10.
Verse 9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will of God, he taketh away the 1St, that he may establish the second, by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Verse 12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God. Verse 14 For by one offering hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.
So our brother used some language. Brother Walt used the word deliver. And that's important because this aspect of the Passover has to do with the deliverance of Israel from the ******* of.
Under Egypt.
Is not redemption not redemption? Redemption took place at the Red Sea and it was by a hand of power of God. But what this did was deliver them from that *******.
So in First Corinthians chapter 5 we read.
About.
The connection.
Between what we're reading in Exodus 12 and us.
1St Corinthians 5 verse 7 verge out there for the 11 That you may be a new lump as you're unloving for even Christ or Passover that sacrifice for us. And then if we were to turn back to Luke chapter 22, I believe it is.
I think we're all very familiar with these portions are often read during our breaking of bread meanings, and rightfully so.
I'm not going to read the whole chapter here but Luke 22 and verse one it says.
Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread you're not, which is called the Passover.
A little bit further down.
7.
Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed.
And we know that the Lord sent his disciples to make ready a room where they would celebrate the Passover together. And the Lord would say.
Verse 15 He said unto them, With desire, I have desired to eat.
That's Passover with you before I suffer where I say unto you, I will not.
Anymore either of until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God. And you took the cup and gave thanks and said, Take this and divide it among your souls, or I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God shall come. And then these next verses specifically. And he took bread and gave thanks and break it, and gave in to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you.
This do.
In remembrance of me likewise also the cup after supper saying this cup is the New Testament in my blood which is shed for you.
And so these things are intimately connected to that which we.
Have been given for us as Christians today and the more we enter into these things, the more we understand and the more we enter into.
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The fact that Jesus was our Passover.
To deliver us from the ******* of sin, and is instituted that feast.
Luke chapter 22. They had the Passover feast, but then he instituted something new.
That's what we were reading about in Hebrews, that he took away the 1St that he might establish the second or fulfilled the 1St that he might have salvage the 2nd. So as we consider Exodus 12, let's just keep that in mind that these things are very relevant to us and it was a purpose behind what took place in Exodus chapter 12.
We will remember that.
Barrel was holding.
The children of Israel and ******* and they had requested to be able to leave, and Pharaoh had said no and God had.
Not about a number of plagues upon Egypt to exercise Pharaoh, to release its people and to let them go. And it was.
That says that God hardened Pharaoh's heart and they didn't throw, didn't follow through, and he didn't let the people go. And so we come to this Exodus chapter 12, where God was going to pass through and judgment that night and all of the first born in the land of Egypt would be slain.
So I had the purpose of affecting the heart of Pharaoh where he would actually follow through and let God's people go. It wasn't that God just desired to come through and and judgment do this. There was a there was a specific purpose for what he had in mind and it's.
Was something that the children of Israel were to never forget and if we looked at the history of Israel.
There was a period of time during the Kings where the Passover was not celebrated for hundreds of years, right? I can't remember at what point it stopped, but Hezekiah brought it back in again and.
There are some remarkable things that are written about the effect that.
Celebrating that Passover feast, what it the effect that it had on the hearts of those that were that were present. And there's a reason also why the Feast of Unleavened Bread follows the Passover, because that should be the effect that the Passover would have on us, that we would be sanctified and set apart and not take up with that which is loving.
So in in light of the comments that have been made.
And perhaps for the sake of our young people and children here, it's good to be reminded that.
The things that we are reading today, as has already been pointed out, have their own relevance to us as Christians in the sense that God would have us to learn spiritual lessons from what was written in the Old Testament and, and it's been mentioned, we will touch in on types and shadows and figures and pictures.
And it's been said this way that.
The Old Testament is like the picture book.
That we can look back into through the lens of the New Testament and see in picture form.
Of the truth that is taught in the New Testament.
And let me read you a verse along these lines. Romans 15, verse 4.
For whatsoever things were written before time, so that would be the things in the Old Testament.
Were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort.
Of the scriptures might have hoped.
So that's just one verse 2.
So I guess layer over some of these comments that have been made already to show that.
We can benefit by.
The the Old Testament just as much as the new. We need them both, of course, but we need to.
Not ignore the Old Testament and and and what we see in it. I remember talking to a brother in Christ.
About the Tabernacle. In fact, this was a while back.
I realized we're not taking up the Tabernacle in this chapter, but we were talking about the Tabernacle in particular.
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And the Tabernacle is a beautiful layout of some wonderful truth as to the glories of Christ and, and our place in him and, and all of that. And the brother said to me, well, you know, I, I really, I kind of skip over those things in the Old Testament because I.
To him, they just simply were just.
I guess a bunch of instructions and didn't have any relevance. He thought to him as as a believer in Christ, and it just became kind of mundane kind of repetitious instructions that he couldn't really find any meaning in.
But the reality is, is when we, when we can take up these things in the Old Testament, and as we're looking at this chapter in Exodus chapter 12, we see and we can read it through the length of the New Testament. We see some beautiful pictures for us and for our souls and we can learn something that will be for our profit only.
So what I'm saying?
Is don't ignore the Old Testament scriptures. We do need them and and we need to take up with the study of them. We need to do so through the understanding of what we have in the New Testament and these things make sense.
So these things took place in history. They are historical facts.
They are historical facts.
But there's also a spiritual element to them that we need to consider. That's what we're doing here.
It's always good to get God's perspective first.
And that's often how it is presented to us in the Scriptures. God wants us to see things through His eyes first.
And then I believe when we can do that, we have a better appreciation of what he appreciates and and what is true of us. And in Exodus 12, I think that's what we have in the Passover. What is focused on is the blood. And so it was.
A judgment for God to see.
Right. And he looks upon the blood and he sees the blood and he values that blood. And then from there we can get a a good perspective on his assessment of the work.
If you go to chapter 14, it's a judgment for us to see. And that's when they go through the Red Sea and see all their enemies overtaken in, in the Red Sea. And and that's the death of Christ. That's what it's focusing on. So here is, is the blood of Christ in tight and it's a judgment for God to see.
Chapter 14. It's the death of Christ, and it's a judgment for us to see, but God's side comes first.
Because we need to appreciate it from his perspective to get it right.
And so it had to be a lamb without blemish.
You know, for the Lord to have been in a position in which that sacrifice could be.
Accepted.
I had to build them without blemish and without spot. We have that first, Peter. I think it, what is it, Chapter one or two.
Now again.
This doesn't have to do with redemption here specifically, but deliverance. So this person and First Peter take that in that context.
First, Peter.
Chapter One.
In verse 18, For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things of silver and gold from your vain conversations received by tradition from your Father's, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot, who fairly was, who barely was foreordained before the foundation of the world.
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But was manifest in these last times for you and so the Lord Jesus.
And as we take up the Tabernacle, we'll see this as well. With the fine twine linen. There was that perfection of this person.
His moral glory that was clearly evidenced.
That made it possible for him to be the sacrifice.
So I'd like to notice a couple points here in verse 3.
In the 10th day of the month they shall take unto them every man a lamb, according to their fathers a lamb for a house.
And notice verse four, Have the household be too little for the Lamb. Let him and his neighbor unto him and to his house. Take it according to the number of your souls according every man, according to his eating, shall make your account of the Lamb. We don't have the converse. There wasn't such a thing as a house too big for the Lamb.
And I think that's beautiful.
In this picture of Deliverance.
Our house may be too small for the Lamb, but our house cannot be too big for the Lamb. The Lamb is sufficient in and of himself. And I think that that is so wonderful to get a hold of in our souls that we have a deliverance, and that deliverance is greater than any of our problems. You might say so.
The children of Israel, they had a real problem. They were in ******* and they had no way of delivering themselves. They needed God's deliverance and God was going to come in and provide that deliverance.
But that deliverance was greater than them. And I think that that's important for us to remember that we may feel small, and that's good. And I'm sure that there was lots and lots of households in in Egypt among the children of Israel that felt that they were too little for the lamb.
But there was no household that was too big for the land.
The lamb was sufficient.
Tim mentioned that the lamb was to be without blemish, but I love the first part of that verse. Verse five it says their lamb.
No, it says your lamb.
And I, I want to tie this back together first, it's speaks of a lamb for a house. And, and we have this immense privilege of, of everyone here, I believe is part of a, a Christian household. And and that's an immense privilege, but it has to go beyond the house. It has to become immensely personal. And that's why in verse 5.
It says your lamb, everyone needs to have that applied so that they say it's my land. Your land shall be without blemish a male of the first year and you shall take it out of the sheep or from the goats. And then it says you shall keep it up until the 14th day of the same month. What did that mean?
I think this is so beautiful.
Physically, that meant that they took that lamb out of the clock or the.
The the group and they would bring it into their house and they watched that lamp.
For 14 days.
For two whole weeks they examined that lamb, they looked at that lamb, they were acquainted with that lamb. And for us to receive God's deliverance, we need to have our eyes on the Lamb of God. We need to be focused on the Lamb of God. We need to, as it were, bring that lamb into our into our household, into our dwelling. We need.
To examine him.
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And we're going to find that it's truly without blemish and without spot.
If we do that, and that's part of the reason we're taking up the Tabernacle, I know that there's maybe some that are saying.
What the world are we doing taking up the Tabernacle? It's it's in in a great deal our exercise that we would.
As it were, take that lamb and and really look deeply at that lamb.
So as we take up the Tabernacle, our desire is that each one of us would see the Excellency of Christ.
In the Tabernacle, in the different components of the Tabernacle, in the building, in the.
The fence that was around the court and each item we see Christ.
And that's our desire is that if, if we go away from this week with with just one thing, it's that we would have seen the Lord Jesus.
In some way, in some shape, in some form, who he is and what he's done.
We need to look at the lamb.
On that, the other effect that having that lab in their house for four days was.
They became acutely aware of the cost.
This was a living creature that was in their myths that they slew for the purpose of delivering them from that death Angel and.
Is what made it significant. If they just went out and took it from the clock and immediately slit, maybe not so much of A connection, maybe not so much of A relevance to them, but having it in their home for four days?
Well.
We mentioned that on the 14th day they slept. They pulled it out of the clock on the 10th day, right so.
So the, they had it there in their midst and they slew the lamb and they made it their own. And going back to what Steve said and again, where there's a lot of crossover here to the, to the Tabernacle, because we have in the Tabernacle.
The mercy seat officiation and that was the sacrifice sufficient?
For all but on the other side of it we have the brazen altar in which there was substitution, in which you had to take the sacrifice, and it had to be yours. And that's why in Hebrews Chapter 9 we read about.
There's other scriptures as well, but I'll just mention it in this reference. It says so. Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.
That's not all because not all have substituted of taking Christ as our substitute. And so there's an aspect of of this lamb that's brought out. They had to make it theirs. And you know, there was a significant amount of faith that was associated with this action. I think sometimes we look over that, but.
This was serious. The death Angel is coming through the land. If that blood wasn't on the door, people were dying in that home.
And the place of safety was inside the home.
Covered by the blood. If the children of Israel were to discount this, those in their homes would die, just like Egypt. This was serious, and it required action on their part in order to preserve them from this death Angel.
It's remarkable that it says that they were to eat of this with their staff in their hand, their feet shod. What? Why? Because they were to do that with the confidence that this was going to have the desired effect and that they were going to be sent out of the land.
So very much on display.
In this action that was taken, and especially probably from the standpoint of the first born, I am a first born in my family. Had my family been in Egypt as part of this group of the children of Israel, if this ordinance didn't happen and that blood wasn't applied to the doorposts and the lentil, I would be the one that would be dead.
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And so it would really acutely matter to me.
That this and.
So these these things are remarkable pictures to each of us. You know that the children invisible were not to leave the house during that time and again going back to the difference between deliverance and redemption, this action kept.
God out of the house. Redemption brings us into connection with Him, and so this is deliverance, but not redemption. What it did is it kept the death Angel out.
Delivered them, but the redemption took place at the Red Sea.
So spoiler alert.
We're going to be taking up the Tabernacle in the evenings throughout the week. I don't know if we actually made that explicit. Many of you know about that already. But for those of you who keep hearing us referencing the Tabernacle and you're saying to yourself, well, you're not taking up the Tabernacle right now. You're right. Later on we will, Lord willing.
But back to the chapter here.
It says in verse 3A lamb, verse four the Lamb and then in verse five your lamb.
So let's look at John One and see.
God's Lamb. Again, all of this pointed to Christ.
John, Chapter one.
Know these verses well, it's good to read them and verse 36.
And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God.
Actually backing up to verse 29, this is the next day John. See if Jesus coming unto him and say it, behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.
So.
What does this point to?
Points to none other than the Lord Jesus Christ doesn't and it shows us that God there was a distinct lamb that was to be selected. There was a lamb, there was VLAN.
And.
So applying this to the Lord Jesus.
He was foreordained by God to be the Lamb and and so there had to be a sacrifice to deal with our sins. There had to be a Lamb and it had to go through.
A distinct, exclusive person, the Lamb being the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone.
And as it's as it's already been said, then we need to apply.
We need to come to Him and receive Him in His work for ourselves, have our him as our land, so to speak. So the Lord didn't just give.
Yeah, he didn't just kind of leave it open and free for anybody just to decide how they wanted to go about this. You'll notice this is a very specific instructions as to how things were to be done and how it was to be followed through.
And and so is salvation through Christ. It is exclusive and exclusively through him and him alone. He is the Lamb of God. He is not just one of many lambs speak reverently. He is the Lamb. You know, the world thinks that, you know, we can just get to God through many different ways, and that's not true. It's through Christ and Christ alone. And so he is the Lamb of God.
As far as making this personal, like you were Speaking of, Tim, I think a connection with those three things, a lamb, D lamb and your lamb, you know, like you were saying, you just go out and take the lamb out of the clock. It's just a lamb. And we might know that there's a Savior. We might know about Jesus.
He's just a person in history. Whatever. Well, the time comes, you need to realize, and by faith the Lord can make that happen.
In your life that it becomes there's only one. It's the lamb.
That's nice, but it doesn't stop there.
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Because you need to make it your own.
It has to become your lamb.
Lord Jesus went through those things for you.
And each one of us can say that for ourselves. That's open to us because of propitiation. Like you said, the way has been made open. Now the sacrifice has been offered. Now you have the opportunity to be in the Father's house looking at the Lord Jesus face to face because of what he did.
And there's another aspect I want to add to what Steve was saying.
Connection with having that lamb there and watching the lamb. I happen to know that there's some hunters here.
In the group this morning and when you look at how they handled that lamb and the Levitical situation in numbers of Leviticus number, chapter one.
It goes into how they look at that lamb and prepare that lamb for the sacrifice.
So in Leviticus one and verse six it says And he shall play that means to skin.
Flay the burnt offering and cut it into his pieces. Just that one verse.
I used to hunt when I was a young person and when you killed an animal there were certain things that you looked for.
You look at the kidneys, maybe you look at the lungs and if there's a certain look to them or if you see white spots on them or something like that, there were things you looked for to make sure that that the animal was not diseased. You couldn't see that from the outside.
But when you take it apart, when you skin it, when you dress it out, you take all the insides out.
There are things that you look for. So they did this with these lambs and the other animals that they offered. And I want to submit to you that the Lord Jesus went through that process when He was here in this world. It was being exposed to everyone around, not to see if there was some flaw or difficulty or problem with this Lamb of God, but to prove that there was no problem.
He went through that process and to go there on the cross and say, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Just one little thing, one more evidence that this is a perfect person.
This was a perfect sacrifice.
You could look as far as you want to look and you'll never see anything but perfection. So I just wanted to add that in there because they're hunters here and Steve just got an elk the other day and they would been going through the process of cutting it all up. And they were probably looking for some of those things that you are taught to look for to make sure the animal is not diseased or as a problem so that it's unusable. But the Lord Jesus.
You will not find any problems ever with that perfect person.
Would you say that the blood kept?
Judge out on the Passover.
When we come to the Tabernacle, it gives us the right to go into the Holy.
So it's a different function.
In that sense.
And what's interesting too, is that in the book of.
Romans, you have blood mentioned only three times, and one of those times is whose feet are swift to shed blood.
In Hebrews you get blood mentioned 23 times, so it shows you the.
The emphasis on these things in the different.
Another thing too is that.
We haven't provided.
The Lamb.
We sing that hymn.
God who gave the blood to screen us. God looks down from heaven above.
Clouds may seem to pass between us.
There's no change in him above. It's because he sees.
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The value of that work of his son.
I want to said that it was 2000 years ago.
But that.
The efficient, the efficacy of that work stands good for everyone who puts their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I just had that.
Unfortunately, we've gone beyond the hour, as is often the case.
In other words, we're out of time.
Just like to read a verse before we pray Genesis.
Wanted to go.
Genesis 22.
Verse seven. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father. And he said, Here my, my son.
And he said, Behold the fire in the wood.
But where is the lamb? Where a burnt offering?
And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went, both of them together.
Verse 10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife just.
Lay his son. I believe that word slay should be rendered slaughter.
Can you imagine? He took the knife to slaughter his son, but his hand was stayed. Let's pray. God our Father, we thank Thee for providing for thyself a lamb or a burnt offering. Thank You that even Christ, our Passover has been sacrificed for us. We think of that blood that was on the outside of the houses.
The doorpost in the upper lentil, the eye of God. We think of the security inside of those that would feast upon the the lamb.
And so our God and Father, we thank thee for all thy good provision to learn thine attributes, our God and thy character, and in the deliverance thine earthly people, and to recognize that we are under the shelter of the blood of Christ. And so we commend the rest of these meetings to thine hand and ask for blessing.
We give thee our thanks, our God, our Father, in the worthy and precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
An Overview of God's Timeline
Address—M. Debu
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Let's look to the Lord, ask for his help.
Loving Godfather, we just thank thee for.
Bringing us here together for time apart with thy people.
To be over thy word, to encourage one another.
And to maybe.
Can it be refreshed? Lord, we all feel as we go through this world that there's.
Things that we pick up that are not profitable in our lives for thee. And so we thank you, Lord Jesus, for providing this venue. And this time we just pray for special help now as we open thy word that what is said would come from thee, Lord Jesus, that it would be according to thy word and that it would help us, all of us, maybe a little more to understand what that word doing, Lord.
And.
That we might maybe know a little bit more how we fit in today plans and how we are supposed to behave ourselves while we are down here on this earth. We pray for Thy help, Lord Jesus, and we thank Thee and Thy worthy name. Amen.
You know the subject I would like to take up.
Tonight briefly maybe might call it an introduction to God's timeline. It tells us and to him that there's a story and the word of God tells us a story. And as I said, what I would like to do is maybe take Canada 35,000 feet view and go from eternity to eternity and see what God is doing.
With mankind, what its purposes are.
How he has to deal with man and his failure, what's called central part in all of this and how do we fit in where do we fit in God's timeline? Because I think a lot of today and and the Christian world are confused as to what God is doing. What is the church, how does it fit in God's plans and so.
It will be going quick because there's a lot of ground to cover.
And any of those subjects or topics that will, you know, we kind of take up could be taken up in much more detail.
You know, there will be a little bit of history of what has already passed, there'll be a little bit of what is future, but it's certainly not, you know, my point here to do an outline of prophecy or anything like that has been taken up many times. There's many meetings out there that you can listen to that they get up in detail and they're very profitable. We'll touch on it a little bit.
But it's just going to be kind of a quick overview of what God is doing. But before we start with that, I want to read a few introductory verses and the first one.
Is in Isaiah 57.
You know, we talk about God's timeline and.
I think when we think of events and things, in a way we always correlate them to time because we're limited by that. That's all we know. But there's a verse in Isaiah 57, verse 15 that says this. For thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity.
God as an eternal God, He's in no way bound by time. We are, and we can only think along those lines. But when we take up God's counsels, we're dealing with eternity. We're dealing with something much bigger than time. But it's almost in God's grace that He has given us time so we could make sense of what is going on.
Let's turn now to Ephesians chapter one.
And we all know this verse. Very familiar with it. I'll read verses 9 and 10.
I think that the thought actually starts in verse 3 where it speaks of blessed be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and then.
Jump down to verse 9. Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to his good pleasure which He had purposed in himself that didn't dispensation of the fullness of times, He might gather together in one all things in the Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him. So it's been said that this is a very central verse, pivotal verse in the whole world of Word of God.
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It tells us about God's counsels, about God's will, and he has a purpose, and that purpose is to glorify one, his very Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, both in heaven and on earth. And it speaks of the fullness of times, and I think that speaks here of the Millennium. But we'll talk about that, about the Lord Jesus. It's a person that is central to all God's thoughts, to all God's counsels.
But I think if you look in the Derby translation, it speaks in the Christ. He might gather together into one all things in the Christ.
We'll see too.
That God has a very special place for a special companion for the Lord Jesus Christ for all eternity.
And so just going to keep this in mind as we start going through things. So we'll go back.
Maybe go first to John chapter one.
And we'll read the first couple of verses. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
So it's been said that there's several beginnings in the Word of God, and this is the one that goes back the furthest. It's a beginning that really is not a beginning because there's no beginning to it. God is eternal. He always was. He's the eternal I am. And it tells us here that from that, I mean moment on, that doesn't make sense if we talk outside of time, but we're limited.
There was the word of God, and the word was God and was with God.
And so here we get the introduction of that person, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is written here as an introduction of him coming into the world as as as the word, but it speaks of him always being there, being God. And now let's turn to Proverbs 8.
Read a few verses there.
And its poetic language will start in verse, maybe 22.
But it speaks of that same person. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His ways, before His works, of all that was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth. When there was no fountains abounding with water, before the mountains were settled before the hills, was I brought forth. Well as yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.
When He prepared the heavens, I was there. When He set a compass upon the face of the death, when He established the clouds above, when He strengthened the fountains of the deep, when He gave to the sea His decree that the water should not pass his commandment, when He appointed the foundations of the earth, then I was by Him as one brought up with Him, and almost daily His delight rejoicing always.
Before him, you know I'm reading these verses.
Because I think they give us a little bit of a glimpse into the atmosphere there was.
In past eternity, it was a scene of peace, it was a scene of harmony. It was a scene of love. And it tells us, or it teaches us something right away of the character of the God that we're going to talk about. He's a God of love. And we see that when we go back now to what we might call the beginning of time. So let's go to Genesis chapter one.
Genesis chapter one and verse one.
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, and God said, let there be light, and there was light.
So God is eternal. He was always there.
And then it passed eternity, if we can call it that. He had these councils, he had these plans, and here he starts putting these plans into motion.
I don't know if first one is exactly the beginning of time as we have at least measurable time, but when we get at least two verse three, God said let there be light. It's the beginning of creation as we know it now and we'll be about 6000 years ago. And the first thing that we read is that God said let there be light. And I find that very interesting because it's the character of God, isn't it? God is like, you know, something had.
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Happened that there was darkness and and it was void and darkness and that was not according to the character of God. And so the first thing he does.
When he's going to start preparing this earth to be the scene where his counsels will be played out?
It's he makes light. God is light. And so we go through the days of creation and then we learn a lot about God. We learn about God's incredible power. We learn about God's incredible wisdom in creation. We learn that God is a God of order. We learn to that God is a God that has a sense of beauty. You know, God is not.
Sterile. He, he, he.
Look, look around us. Look at the place we're at. We just drove over today from Seattle. We drove through the Cascade Mountains and so on. Beautiful. God created that God.
Is a God of beauty. So many things that we can learn about God.
In creation, but then we come to something in verse 26 that's very important and very special. It says in verse 26 God said let us make man in our image and our after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and so on. And when we get to that point and we look back, we realize.
That everything that God has done up to that point was in view of the creation of man.
Everything was created in such a way that it would be very suitable for men to live in.
God had something very special in mind for that part of His creation of nothing else. Everything he did was good, but of nothing else. Do we read that? It was after His own image and after His likeness. Man was made in the image of God, representation of God, and was made in the moral likeness of God. There was no sin in man when God created him and so we can we can see that God was able to enjoy communion with.
And to come down in the cool of the evening and have fellowship with man.
That we don't have to go very far till something comes in that is very drastically changes everything. And we go through chapter 3, and I'll just read the first verses. We know him, but I'll read them Now. The serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord had made. And he said unto the woman, Yeah, had God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the tree of the garden.
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God had said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die, For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took off the fruit thereof, and.
Eat, and gave also unto her husband with her. And he did he. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sowed leaves, fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
And so here we see.
That probably very soon after man was created. He failed. Man failed. You know, sin had been in this world before. Because here's the serpent.
But here's man that now fails.
He rebels against God. God had given him one thing or one commandment to not eat of this tree. And man fails. And sometimes people use the expression, you know, that nothing was the same after that. And that's really applied to what happened here. After men chose to go against the will of God, everything changed.
Everything changed, but what we see too is that God's.
Plans are not set aside. God is love and He still wants to bless men. And so even man immediately rebelled and failed.
God's plans do not change and now we are 6000 years later.
A man might be more rebellious than ever against God, and God still wants to bless man. God's heart of love never changes.
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The God is holy, remember, He's light. And so judgment has to come in. Man is now a sinful creature, and God cannot be in the presence of sin. And so right away what we see, the beginning here of man's history, there's this separation between God and man because of sin that has come in. But what we see too in this very chapter, and it's very beautiful.
Is that we are ready.
Get some glimpses of what God will do to fix what man has just done.
And he speaks of the woman's seed, referring to Christ. And we see the animal codes, the coats of skins that speak of a sacrifice of blood that will have to be made for there to be a covering for man in his sinful state.
But man continues in sin, and the result of sin is death. And we get that in chapter 5. It's just a series of and he died and he died and he died. That's man's history, the consequences of man's rebellion, of man's sin. And so when we look at the Old Testament.
Spans about 4000 years of time and I think in the Old Testament the whole book is really a test of mankind.
Is man going to be able to undo what he did in the Garden of Eden? Is man going to be able to do anything that would please God on the basis of which God could accept him? And I don't think he'll come as a surprise if I say that the answer to that is no.
He will not be able to do that. But what we do have in the Old Testament is all these types and pictures and events that point forward to the Lord Jesus Christ, to the one who will be that true sacrifice of God and will be the Redeemer of mankind.
And so.
We'll kind of go really briefly to some of through some of these things. The first period that we have takes up about 1600 years and it's from man's fall to the flood, 1600 years approximately. And what we know very little about it. I mean very little is written because the, you know, in in chapter 6 is when the story of the flood starts.
During that time, God seems to have been pretty hands off. Man has now chosen to do his own thing. He has a conscience because he's eaten of that tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He knows what's right. He knows what's wrong. Nobody has to teach him. There's a lot of younger kids in here. You know what's right, you know what's wrong.
What did man do in those 1600 years and what was the result? Well, first of all, they populated the earth. Man lived for a long time, had lots of kids, lots of generations, and so the earth was really populated during that time, 1600 years. But what was the result of man going according to his conscience, man doing his own thing? It was that the earth was filled with violence and corruption, and that the thoughts of man's heart were only.
Evil continually.
So what does God have to do? Just like in the Garden of Eden, he has to come into judgment. And we'll see that as a pattern throughout. God cannot deny himself. God is not mocked. He is holy. And so when man fails, there's judgment. But what we'll see always stood at in judgment, it's never total judgment. There's always grace mingled with that judgment. And so Noah finds grace in the eyes of God and he and his family get spared. And there's a new beginning. We might.
Say and God introduces something new on the other side of the flood. It's the beginnings of government.
And we have another time period. We have a time period of about 400 years between Noah after the flood and between the call of Abraham. It's another important time period.
What do we get in that time period? Does man better? Do men say look at what happened in the flood when we didn't do the will of God and judgment came? No, there's failure. Once again, Noah himself fails in his responsibility. We read of man wanting to be on the same level of God and building the Tower of Babel.
And Abraham himself, the one who is called by God, that tells us in Joshua that he and his father served other gods. They were idolaters. And so when God called Abraham, it was sovereign grace. Abraham couldn't say I was called because I was better than anybody else. No, he was in a far country and he was an idolater. And so you add those time periods together and we have a little over 2000 years now. Isn't that interesting? We're in Chapter 11 of Genesis.
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And we've gone halfway or a little over halfway through the whole time span of the Old Testament.
Let's turn to chapter 12 and read the first few verses there.
They said, God called Abraham in sovereign grace. And it says, Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house until land, that I will show thee, and I will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thee thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless the encourage them that curseth thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
God makes a covenant.
An agreement with Abraham and it's a one way covenant. God says I will.
Bless thee, I will bless thee, and it's the beginning of God starting to intervene more directly.
With man on earth, it's the beginning of God.
Having an earthly people.
We'll kind of have to go fast. Time is going fast, but we get another time period from the call of Abraham to the people of Israel coming out of Egypt. That's about 430 years.
Abraham's descendants become a great nation, go into Egypt, are oppressed there, and the Lord delivers them. Here's part of that pattern. God acts in sovereign grace, man fails, there's judgment, God delivers. And what we see too, and what we learn, and it's a, it's a constant too, is that the world hates God and the world hates God's people. Often times God will use nations of the world to bring judgment upon his.
Faithful people. But we see so often that those nations go way beyond what God wanted them to do because of their hatred for God's people. And so judgment has to come in.
Let's turn to Exodus 19, where we get another important change, we might say in God's ways. This is after the people of Israel have just come out of the land of Egypt, and right now we're about 2500 years into the history of mankind, 1500 BC.
Exodus 19 verse three. And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountains, saying, Thus shalt thou say unto the House of Jacob, and to the children of Israel, Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bury an eagle's wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine, and you shall be unto me a Kingdom of.
And an holy nation, these are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
And Moses does, and the people say in verse 8, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. Up till now the story of Israel has been a story of sovereign grace.
God delivered them out of the nation of Egypt.
It was grace that did it. Now the people say let us do something, we will do it. And so things change and the law is brought in and the law is not a one way covenant, it's a two way covenant. This do and you shall live. It required man to perform and that's what man thought he could do before a holy God.
And so at this time, the law comes in and I think from this time on, we can speak of the first real dispensation in God's ways. You know, dispensation means God's house order, a specific way that God deals with his people. You know, at that point there have been different ages and, and, and some instructions, some revelation of God, but this is the first time now that God really directly deals with the people.
And up till this point, maybe man could have said, well, we didn't know exactly what we should have done to please God. But now when the law comes in, there's no more question.
The law is not just 10 commandments, there's hundreds of different.
You know, rules, commandments, whatever you would call them, that pertain to the whole of life, how people are supposed to interact. What if something happens? All those things. And so God really spells it out clearly. This is what I want.
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The God is a good God. God wants man to succeed. God doesn't set men up for failure. So not only does he give him the law, but he gives him everything he could possibly give him to support them and to be successful. They have this beautiful religious system way of worshipping God, of accessing to God, bringing their sacrifices to him, having an approach and in a way for for getting instruction from God.
We'll actually learn a lot about that, I think, when we go through the Tabernacle here, how God revealed himself through these things.
He gave them judges, deliverers when they had failed and other nations overtook them.
When they asked for a king, he allowed it and even came in into blessing and overruled it. And some wonderful kings were raised up that were men of God, that were true rulers of the people.
He sent them profits so that when they failed, it could be brought back to the Word of God.
God wanted men to succeed, but what was the result of that? It's the same story. It's failure. And the more God did for man, the greater the failure became. The read of idolatry coming in and not just a little bit, just wholesale Dollar Tree. They, they brought in the gods of all the nation, the worst of them. So much so that the nations look down upon Israel, the nation that should have been representative of God and the light in the world.
And so judgment has to come in again.
The nation gets split up, there's a 10 northern tribes, there's a 2 tribes and a little later.
The 10 tribes get taken away by the Assyrians. That's about 750 BC about 150 years later. The two southern tribes then learn, then learn from the 10 tribes and they go down that same path and they too are judged by the Babylonians.
But what do we see again? And I hope it doesn't get old. It should just excite us more and more. God comes in in grace again. It's not a final judgment.
There's a seven-year period of captivity and then God raises up a Gentile king Cyrus, who allows them to go back.
And a portion of the people go back and God raises a faithful man like Ezra, Nehemiah, Zerubbabel. They build the temple, they build the walls. The word of God is red and the ears of the people and the sense is given of it beautiful. When there's a slacking, he sends prophets like Haggai and Zechariah to to tell him get with it, be occupied with the things of God. Give him his proper place and he will bless you.
But there's failure once again.
And we read the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, and it's a very, very sad state. And then we have about 400 years that there's kind of darkness. We don't read about it.
The man's time of testing is coming to an end. 4000 years is 40 centuries. 40 is God's number of testing. Let's turn to Galatians chapter 4.
Galatians chapter 4 and verse four. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, come of a woman, come under the law to redeem them, that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Man has proven himself.
Incapable of pleasing God. But it's as if God will give man an ultimate test and he sent his son. And we have the parable in the new and the gospel that say surely they will honor the son. And what do they say to wicked man? Here's the air. Let us kill him so that we might have the inheritance. And that's exactly what happened when the Lord Jesus came. He came doing good.
And men rejected him. We will not have this man rule over us.
What was the primary reason for the Lord to come into this world? In John 1227? It says, Now is my sole trouble. Then what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour?
Before this cause came out unto this hour, what is the hour he's talking about? It's the hour of his suffering. It's the hour of his atoning sufferings in which he would bear the judgment that man deserved and exhausted so that the work would be finished. What men could not do in those 4000 years? Make one step towards God. The Lord Jesus did in three dark hours upon the cross for all those who would have Him. And so.
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Testing is done. They failed and always. And so in Romans we read that there's no no one that can do a good. No, not one. All have failed and come short of the glory of God. And if we follow the pattern, what's supposed to come after man's failure, It's God's judgment. It's God's judgment. And sure enough, we read in the word of God of a time of judgment that's coming upon this world A7 year period that we call the Tribulation.
God will judge.
This world for what they have done to his Son. And when we think of God's judgment, it's a righteous judgment. It's according to man's deeds. And so we read, and again, this is not an outline of prophecy. We read of this time of judgment and we'll see that the worst, the most concentrated judgment falls upon that people. An area that has had the most light of God, Israel, the prophetic earth, the surrounding nation where the gospel has gone out.
For a long time.
And very clearly. But the judgment goes out through the whole world.
But what's so beautiful is even during that time, there's this remnant that we find throughout God in grace again, reaching out to have a people that they have their hearts by grace turned to himself. How does the this time end? Let's turn to Revelation 19. Read a few verses there.
Revelation 19 and um.
Let's see here where should I start.
Let's start in verse 11. And I saw heaven opened, and behold, the White Horse, and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true.
And in righteousness he don't judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood. And his name is called the Word of God. Remember reading in John one about the Word. It's the very same one. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
And out of his mouth go with a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron. And he treaded the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he had on his vesture and on his thigh a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
You know, the last we might say public view this world has had of the Lord Jesus was him hanging as the chief criminal on the cross.
His visage more, more than any man. That's what man had done.
This is the next glimpse, and it's going to be a glimpse that no one will be able to not see. It's going to be like a bright flash of lighting over this world when the Lord Jesus comes back.
The first time he came, came as a baby, born in a stable, laid in a Manger and said that light came into the world and the darkness comprehended it not.
This is a completely different character, isn't it? Here he's coming as the righteous 1 to take up his rights, to take up his Kingdom, and the first thing he'll do is put down his enemies, put down his enemies. The next thing that happens is we'll see it in chapter 20. Here Satan is bound 1000 years.
We read one of the first verses there in Ephesians 1 spoke of the fullness of time, the Millennium. This is the beginning of it. It's 1000 year period in which the Lord Jesus will reign in righteousness.
It'll be a tremendous time. You know, we started with the Garden of Eden.
This far surpasses it. The Lord will visibly reign. It tells us that righteousness will reign. That's a concept. Concept that's completely foreign to this world. Righteousness does not reign whatsoever.
But then righteousness will reign.
The curse will be reversed. You know when man sinned.
That whole first chapter where God made everything perfect and comfortable and suitable for men.
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Was affected by it. It tells us in Romans 8 that the whole creation groaneth because of sin that has come in. That will be reversed. We read verses where the sower will overtake the Reaper. That will be crops on the mountain tops. Unbelievable things that will happen during that Millennium. A tremendous time of blessing. But how does it end?
It's very solemn. The same chapter here, Revelation 20, it says verse seven. And when 1000 years are ended or expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison. Now Satan, remember, he's the one that started in Eden to destroy what God had set up and he's still working today. He's never stopped. But during those thousand years he's bound. He's not allowed to do his thing. But now at the end of 1000 years, he's loosed. And what does he do? He does exactly what he.
Done.
He shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle.
And you would hope you would read an unfollowed them because they had 1000 years of tremendous blessing. But what does it say? The number of whom is as the sand of the sea. Man's heart is incurable, desperately wicked. Who can know it? And they went up on the breath of the earth, and compass the camp of the Saints about and the beloved city.
And fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived the most cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are. And they shall be tormented day and night, forever and ever. That's the end of those opposers of those enemies. That's the end. And then the last verses here speak of the final judgment. It's the great white throne where God will.
Raise up all those that throughout man's history have rejected God in whatever way He has revealed himself at that time, but they've rejected Him.
And they all will be assigned to the lake of fire, the eternal judgment.
Very solemn.
And then there's one more.
Can't say time anymore. That comes in because from this moment on, time is no more. Time is no more. It's the eternal state and in the eternal state.
It doesn't say that righteousness.
Rains anymore, but righteousness dwells. That's in second Peter that we have, that it's a fixed state. Nothing will ever change that nothing of sin or the effects of sin will ever touch those new heavens and the new earth. And it tells us in first Corinthians 15 that God is all and in all beautiful.
And so let's recap God's timeline. We have God created man for blessing man's sins.
And death comes in.
You have this perfect time of testing the whole Old Testament God showing blessing and favor upon man, that man failing, man found absolutely hopeless and helpless and guilty.
The Lord Jesus Christ comes.
He accomplishes the work of the cross.
Which was what was necessary to to glorify God, to satisfy God as to the question of sin.
But it's also a tremendous testimony as to man's guilt and man's hatred of God. God's judgment follows that we just had in this tribulation time and the Millennium is set up. There's a final rebellion. God puts it down, and we have the eternal state. So you can see how God's timeline is a perfect logical timeline. But if we had, end the meeting now.
I think everybody would say, aren't we missing something?
Yes, we are. But what we're missing, what we're going to talk about a little bit does not in any way.
Affect or mess up the timeline we've had. What we've been following is God's dealings with the earth.
And it's a perfect.
Sequence of things. Nothing has been missing, nothing is out of order. It's perfect.
But obviously there is something that we haven't talked about that's very important.
And that's something that we're going to talk about is amazing because again, it testifies to God's Amazing Grace.
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What did he do after his son was rejected and crucified?
He didn't set aside judgment.
It's coming, but he says. I'm going to hold off a little bit and I'm going to bring in something very special.
When we read Ephesians 110 is spoke of on earth, but it's also in heaven.
God wants a heavenly people, God wants a special companion for his Son that's absolutely perfectly suitable for him for all eternity. And So what we're talking about now, the day of grace that we live in these 2000 years that we sometimes call the church period.
It's something separate, and it's something that's very little understood among Christians today. They try to fit it in in God's earthly timeline, and they say, well, if it has to fit in.
Israel has to be done with. No, we just saw Israel was not done with. When that tribulation time starts, God takes up with Israel again. He judges them for their guilt of, of of crucifying the Lord Jesus. But he works in a remnant to have Israel to have an earthly people for the Millennium, for all eternity.
But what he's doing now is he calling out a heavenly people, that special companion.
For his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it's called the church. And 1St Corinthians 10, it tells us that we have the Jew, the Gentile, and the church. And in Ephesians, Stuart tells us that he has broken down the middle wall of partition between the Jew and the Gentile to form that one heavenly company, the Church sometimes called the body of Christ.
This church is called the Bride of Christ too.
It speaks of extreme closeness of relationship. You know, Israel was God's people and they had a special favorite position, but nowhere are they addressed as His bride.
No, we are part now of something very special and we should keep it special. Don't bring it down to God's earthly timeline. If I can say it like that, where God's heavenly people, we're not an upgrade from Israel, we're something entirely new.
You know, when the Lord Jesus was on earth, it was something that he looked forward to. He says upon this rock will I build my church. He looked forward to that. He knew what was going to happen. He knew about his rejection, but he knew that he was going to make the special fashion. And the church is started in Acts 2IN Acts 2 we read about the day of Pentecost.
And how the Holy Spirit will support out. But first maybe I should read a verse in Colossians.
Colossians, Chapter One.
Verse 18.
And he that is the Lord Jesus Christ is the Head of the Body, the Church, who is the beginning, the first born from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Christ is the first born. It talks in First Corinthians about him being the first fruit.
There's a new race of people now that are according to his image, and he's the first one. And for this church to be able to exist and to come into existence, he had to die.
He had to go into death, He had to be raised, and he had to ascend. You know, we sometimes hear, and it's very true, that the day we live in is characterized by two things. It's a glorified man in heaven, and it's a heavenly person, the Holy Spirit dwelling on earth.
How can he dwell on earth? Because there's a clean place now, Because there are those that have been washed by the blood of Christ.
And the Spirit can indwell those people. It's a clean place. And so we see in the Acts how that special vessel is formed. In Acts two it was Jews. In Acts 8 we get the Samaritans being brought in. In Acts 10 and 11 we have the Gentiles brought in one church, one people, one body of Christ.
This time period or this dispensation, we got us definitely working in a very special way today towards his people is characterized by grace.
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Remember when we talked about Adam and it being a one way deal? How God says I will bless thee. That's the time that we live in now. But it goes beyond what Abraham was promised.
God blesses us, we are coming into blessing to the gospel. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in your part of that Church of Christ.
But now we just have a little bit of time left.
So, you know, kind of keeping in mind the timeline that we've had.
We should see now kind of where we fit in, in God's plans. He has plans for an earthly people. He has plans for a heavenly people.
This day of grace that we live in, the church period, is not an infinite period. It will come to an end. It tells us in First Thessalonians about a shout that we will hear one day, and we trust it's very soon.
And we will be called up. Why? Because we're a heavenly people. This is not our home. It tells us in first Peter Two that were pilgrims and strangers. Pilgrims are people that are passing through and we're just passing through on the way to our home or heavenly home. And strangers are people that are a little bit different and don't quite fit in. And since we're not of this world, we do not quite fit in.
It tells us in Colossians that our life is hidden. Christ.
What we do and why we do it, the world does not understand because they don't know the one that motivates us to live the way that we live. They have different goals than we do, and so we're strangers and pilgrims. But it tells us to. And let's turn to that in Second Corinthians chapter 5.
That God has left us here for a reason.
2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new.
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and had given to us the ministry of reconciliation. So God has given us something. It's a ministry, It's a service of reconciliation. And we haven't talked about that word yet, but it's being brought back in full favor to God. That's what God did. What the Lord Jesus did on the cross, we've seen throughout the whole Old Testament.
Man was far from God and couldn't come any closer.
The Lord Jesus did the work by which we might be brought back into full favor of God. That's the ministry of reconciliation. What should we do with it?
Well, we'll keep reading verse 19 to with that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and had committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Now then, we are ambassadors. That fits in again with the fact that we're pilgrims and strangers. This is not our home. We are ambassadors for Christ as though God that besieged by us, we pray in Christ stead be reconciled to God.
So this is one thing that God has given us to do here now is to go out with this ministry of reconciliation. It's to tell this world by our.
Not just by our words, by by the way that we live. You have to be reconciled with God. You have to be reconciled with God.
So isn't that interesting? What does an ambassador do? He promotes the interests of his home country. You know, we have ambassadors of the US all over the world and they promote the interests, be it business, whatever it is, of the home country in those places.
But one thing we're not supposed to do as ambassadors is to fix this world.
It's not our job and we can't do it. We've read in Revelation 19 of the Lord Jesus coming back as the King of King and Lord of Lords.
He will fix it and He can do it. We can't do it, and that's not our purpose, but we are here to promote God's interests in this world.
We should think about that because sometimes it's very easy to slip into a state where we spend maybe a little bit too much of our time and efforts with the things of this world instead of the things of heaven.
00:50:02
Another thing that we should be well aware of is that we are very close to this day of grace coming to an end. Very, very close. We've got lots of indications about that. And first of all, the Lord himself said, surely I come quickly and we can take God at His word. He's never failed His word. But what else do we see?
We see things like there being a nation of Israel.
That's tremendous.
Israel plays a very central role in what's going to come after the Church Age. Israel is there and we already see it kind of being a hotbed, a central part of the world.
The world is characterized by violence and corruption once again, just like in the days of Noah, Another thing that we see and it's sad and it speaks again to the pattern that we've had. The church is in ruin. The church testimony is in ruin and the Lord knows who those who are his and and none of them will will, you know, will be left behind or anything like that. But as a testimony, just like Israel failed, the church has failed tremendously. And then 2IN.
Lot of times it speaks of two days, two days, 2 days, and it tells us that with God, 1000 years is like a day. Now we think of the story of the Good Samaritan. What did he do? He left the wounded man in the end and he said that he would come again for him after two days. Well, we are there, we are there, the end of the two days.
And so as we are here at the end.
We are supposed to be ambassadors, but there's several little instructions that the Lord gives US1 That I'm thinking of is twice it speaks or it tells us to redeem the time, redeem the time. What does that mean? Well, redeem is another word that's very important and, and I think it was when we read in Galatians, it spoke of the Lord Jesus being the Redeemer. What does it mean to redeem? What's to buy back and to set free?
So if we have to redeem more time, it means that in a way your time is kind of captive and we have to do something about it. You know, the enemy is at work and he tries to fill up our thoughts and our time with all kinds of things that would distract us from what God has left us here in this world. And so we need to be diligent to set aside time for the things of God.
And the parable of the pounds in Luke's gospel.
God or the Master who gave the servants each a pound and we've all been given something to do. He says occupy till I come. We need to be busy. We need the Lord wants us to be busy.
And it tells us in Hebrews chapter 4 that there is a rest for the people of God.
You know we live in a place.
Where it's so tempting to take a rest down here, that's not what the Lord wants us to do.
Our rest is going to be when we're with Him. How can we be at rest in a world that's under judgment and that is rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ?
The Lord tells us another thing that we should do. Let's turn to Luke chapter 12.
Luke chapter 12, verse 34. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning, and eat yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh he may open, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find.
Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to me, and will come forth and serves them. So. The Lord wants us to be watching, and we will be watching.
If verse 34 is true for us, it says where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Your treasure is something that is very important to you.
And we all know that things that are important to us are things that we think about and are occupied with.
Is our treasure the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven? It should be. If that's our treasure, that's where our heart will be. And if our heart is occupied with Christ and His interest.
Daily will be longing for his return. We want to see our Savior face to face. We want to be with Him, so we should be watching.
And I'll read one more verse in Second Thessalonians.
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Chapter 3.
2nd Thessalonians chapter 3 three verse five. And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting, and it could read of Christ.
You know, sometimes we're impatient and we think, surely, behold, surely, I come quickly as taking a long time.
Well, there's one.
Who's waiting to? And that's the Lord Jesus Christ, And he's waiting with a lot more intensity, might we say, than we are. He wants to see of the fruit of the travel of a soul and be satisfied He died for us, and He wants us to be with him. But there's a patience of Christ. He is waiting, but he's doing it in a certain character his way, doing it in his character of love, not willing that any should perish.
And that's why we are still here. And so we should have that same character of patience, yes.
We should fervently want the Lord Jesus to come, but as he leaves us down here, maybe another day, another week, another year.
Our interest should be his interest. He's waiting with patience and with a desire that more would come to the saving knowledge. And so as we are down here as as ambassadors and lights, that's what we can do. But there's one more thing.
That we are left here to do and that's to encourage our fellow believers. Hugely important.
And so as we can at the beginning of this camp, maybe we'll have very little contact us with people in the world, people that are not saved, but we'll have plenty of contact with the Lords people and we can do very important work here and pleasing work to the Lord. And there's to be a help and an encouragement to one another because we all need it. We all need it. And so it's wonderful to be here. It's wonderful to, you know, have a little bit of.
Outline of what God is doing. Christ is central in the whole thing.
But it's the Christ. We are part of what God has in mind. We're that special vessel, the bride of Christ.
If God loves us so much that he was willing to send his Son to die. If God loves us so much that we were part of his counsels before the foundation of the earth to be the most blessed of people.
Let it stir our hearts.
To be closer to him, to live for him more. Let's pray.
Godfather we.
We can only kind of stand in awe and marvel when we consider.
Thy councils and.
How we are part of those councils.
You know it speaks of man as enemies of God, and yet thy love and thy grace is so tremendous.
That we are seeing as in Christ and Christ very position before God.
That we are the objects of thy favor here tonight, Lord. What a wonderful thing. We thank you for it on as we contemplate these things, Lord.
We pray that it might touch and warm our hearts, and if necessary, that it might help us to rededicate our lives to the Lord Jesus. We just pray that for each one, these things, maybe for younger ones, are a little hard to enter into and to understand, but we can all understand. Our Godfather, that thou lovest us. We can all understand that the Lord Jesus died for our sins, and we can all understand.
That soon we'll be with you for all eternity. We thank you and we bless Thee, Lord Jesus, and thy worthy name. Amen.
Strangers and Pilgrims
YP Sing Address—J. Csanyl
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Regarding your Father and our Lord Jesus, we come before thee now and we ask for help once again as we open thy word. Pray for help for the speaker, help for each one of us. That would be a message here from Lee for each of us that can apply to our lives. That is exactly what each one of us needs. We.
We ask for Thy help, and we commit ourselves to Thee. We pray this in Thy name. Amen.
OK.
I'm not as prepared as I like to be.
But I do feel the Lord has given me something, laid something on my heart. So you'll forgive me for stumbling over the references occasionally. Maybe we can find that together.
You probably know.
That our family is packing up to move across the country. If you didn't know, we're going from Vancouver to Nova Scotia, which is almost as far as you can go within Canada.
And so I've got a new appreciation for stuff because we've been trying to organize and sort and get rid of and pack and get rid of and organize some more and get rid of and discover some more stuff we didn't even know we still had and get rid of and.
Pack a lot of stuff.
Certain, Matthew.
Chapter 19 I believe it is.
Matthew 19, verse 16.
And behold, one came and said unto him, Good master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
And he said unto him, Why 'cause thou me good, there is none good, but one that is God.
But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments, He saith unto them, which Jesus saith, Thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness. Honor thy father and thy mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up. What lack I yet?
Jesus saith unto him, If thou wilt be perfect.
Go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of heaven.
And again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.
This man had a lot of stuff.
And he liked his stuff. He trusted in his stuff.
And everyone of you has heard this story before. Read it for yourself, probably.
And you've looked at it and said.
This man valued his stuff more than he valued the things of God.
Look at that. What a fool.
Then you kind of nod to yourself from satisfaction and go away to your home in your vehicle where you have all your stuff.
That you have.
Now stuff in itself isn't wrong.
But are you trusting in your stuff? Are you grasping onto your stuff as something that you're collecting that is yours?
Or is your stuff available for the Lord's use?
Are we building a treasure, a place, a home for ourselves in this world?
You know when you're looking at driving a 5000 miles across the country with all your stuff you can carry and.
An empty house ahead of you.
You start thinking about pilgrims.
Think about Abraham.
Let's turn to Hebrews Chapter 11.
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Verse 8. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and he went out, not knowing whether he went by faith. He soldiered in the land of promise, as in a strange country dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob. The heir is with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city which hath foundations, foundations whose builder and maker is God.
Jump ahead.
To verse 13.
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Strangers and pilgrims on the earth. And really, that should characterize each one of us.
We often look at Abraham.
How he left his country, he left most of his family behind, and he went out a Pilgrim. Someone who didn't, someone was just passing through, didn't belong, wasn't putting down roots.
And a stranger, someone that was different from those around him.
But you know, I really like to look at and Abraham is a great example, a great example for us, but I think there's some important lessons in other people around that time.
That had challenges with these things.
That could not or would not walk as strangers and pilgrims.
I think of a lot. Let's turn to that.
Genesis.
Let's see.
Let's go to Genesis 13.
We're kind of picking up in the middle of the story. You all know the story of Abraham. I'm going to pick and choose a couple different things here.
But Genesis 13 and Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him into the South.
Abraham here, he's coming out of Egypt, but he left.
The land of his father's originally to go into the land of promise, and he took lot with him.
Abram Abraham was called and he heard the call of God, and Lot was kind of his ward.
He took him along.
That's what you do with the younger ones that you're responsible for.
And you know, looking around the room, many, many of the ones here of you guys.
Have been brought to the meetings, brought to the camp, brought to the Lord by your parents.
You've been taken along to meetings before you knew anything about what they were.
But there comes a time.
When you need to make that decision for yourself.
And when that time came for a lot.
He looked.
At the plains, a little later in the same chapter, I think verse 10, Genesis 13, verse 10, Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that is, was well watered everywhere before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as our comerstone to Zoar.
He noticed the comforts. He noticed.
That was like Egypt.
Abraham had failed and taken him down into Egypt. And you know each one of us.
To varying degrees have been exposed to the world that we live in.
And that's not necessarily a failure of our parents. That's.
The reality of life is we live in this world we are in, but not of this world.
But are we guided? Are we drawn after what we see of the world?
Egypt, place of irrigation, a place of.
Comfort without the Lord.
00:10:06
And so Lot made these choices. It's not so bad. He chose these particular planes and still stuck not going back to Egypt.
But we see a progression in a lot and he pitches his tent towards autumn.
That he's in Sodom, That he's in the gate and the government of Sodom.
And, you know, sometimes we think that.
If the standards of the world are here, as long as we're, you know, above the standards of the world, then that's a good Christian position, good testimony, you might say.
But I'm I'm feeling my age a little bit here but.
Everyone of you have seen this to some degree or another.
But I'm in my 40s, looking back 2530 years that I've been aware of these types of things. I have seen the morals of the world.
Steep nosedive and those that are older would say far more, far worse probably. And those of you that are younger, I'm sure you're seeing parts of it.
So if our gauge is, yeah, high above the world.
Then there we go.
And here's a lot in the Gate of Sodom.
I'm not going to read the whole story of Lot.
But this is.
A man that we might say was saved. He had life. He vexed his righteous soul, we read. And yet here he is calling these people. Brethren, my brethren, I pray you do not so wickedly.
Here he is suggesting.
The things he suggests to these men.
Together at his door.
He offers him his daughters.
That a man of God.
Could do so low, could be so caught up in the world.
That that's their moral gauge.
Horrifying.
And yet it happens. It happened a lot and it happens.
To those around us.
Look at the Christian testimony.
I truly believe the Christian testimony has undergone the greatest attack, perhaps ever in the last three or four years.
By Christians themselves.
The things Christians associate themselves with, and I'm not talking one political party or another political party or all of it that they associate themselves with any of it.
The shame and dishonor that brings on the Lord, on his name.
So Abraham was described as a stranger in a Pilgrim.
Lot.
He had a lot of trouble with that stranger part.
He could not stay separate from the world. He became like one of them.
He was dragged from the city.
Did he learn his lesson?
Perhaps the saddest part of that whole story.
He couldn't stand even the thought of living outside of a city.
He wanted to go live in just a little one.
Because just a little bit of the world worked out so well for him before.
And yet he.
That's what he wanted. He never learned his lesson, as far as we see.
Sober, sobering thought.
And you know each one of us as we move through this world.
Like life.
We have to interact with the world.
But it's a challenge to each one of us.
A challenge for your own heart. I'm not asking you to answer out loud or to confess or anything like that, but inside my heart.
00:15:07
And by being acclimatized to the world.
To this world that crucified my Savior and would do it again in a heartbeat.
Am I that frog and the?
Pot of water that's getting boiled alive because I'm just getting so used to it. Just seems normal.
Do I have a testimony of being different from the world, a stranger here in this world?
I think each one of us.
Will find to some degree or another.
I know I find it in my life.
There are some ways which I've becoming acclimatized to this world.
And the only way.
To recognize and fix that is to be on our knees.
And talking to the Lord about it, reading His Word, and on her knees with Him.
Getting his perspective on this world.
We talked about lot, but I also find Jacob really interesting.
Jacob.
3rd generation Abraham's grandson.
If Lot had trouble being a stranger, I think Jacob had trouble being a Pilgrim.
A Pilgrim is one that is just passing through, not putting down roots.
Jacob.
He couldn't trust and he couldn't trust.
The Lord to honor his promises, he had to work some deal.
To make it happen.
And every time he worked some deal, he ended up putting down roots.
Seven years for this daughter and seven years for that daughter and then I need some cattle and then.
Now I've been here 30 years, I've got roots. This is my home.
He relied on his wits. He relied on himself rather than the Lord.
And you know.
As pilgrims.
The Lord wants us to be relying on Him.
And to be looking to him.
In submission and dependence.
Jacob would not give in to the Lord.
The Lord had to wrestle with him.
And finally.
He took some of Jacob's independence, he.
Partially crippled him.
And he finally gave in.
To the Lord.
The Lord is working with each one of us.
And you know, we've seen it. We see it in the stories in the Word of God. We see it in the people around us. The Lord is talking to each one of us. And if we don't listen, if we don't learn these lessons as children at home, as young people at home, we don't learn these lessons from the Lord when He speaks to us the first time or the second time.
The Lord has to speak louder and harsher.
And he will teach you that lesson, although you may be worshipping leaning upon your staff by the end of it like Jacob did.
His He was dependent.
Can it be self reliant anymore?
He built his whole life on being self reliant and now he can't even walk properly.
I find it really beautiful at the end of Jacob's life.
00:20:03
So we can find that chapter.
Genesis.
47.
When Joseph presents him to Pharaoh.
Genesis 47.
Verse seven. And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and sent him before Pharaoh, And Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said, Mr. Jacob, how old art thou?
And Jacob said after Pharaoh, the days of the years of my pilgrimage, 130 years, few and evil have the days of the years of my lifespan, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my father's in the days of their pilgrimage.
Jacob, who kept putting down roots.
Now speaks of his pilgrimage.
And we, I think it's a little bit later. I mentioned earlier that he worships leaning on his staff. He's learned dependence.
So it's a challenge. Another challenge for each one of us is.
You know what's our goal?
In the decisions we're making in these life, in this life.
Many of you are coming to the point in your lives.
Well, there's a lot of decisions to be made around schooling, careers, relationships.
All these decisions are you looking to set up.
The most comfortable routes that you can.
The American Dream.
Two children, white picket fence and a dog.
Or your version of that, whatever that might include. But is that your goal? Is that your only goal?
Abraham was called.
To leave.
The land where I'm sure he was comfortable and to go out and follow the Lord, he didn't even know the land into which he was going.
I've seen the house we're moving into, unlike Abraham.
Moses.
Was uprooted out of his comfortable life in Egypt.
Do you think he would have picked that life for himself?
Do you think he was the worse off?
For having followed.
The life that God had for him.
Moses, who talked with God face to face.
Whose faith?
We talk about.
That we know that God is all knowing. He knows everything, and he's a loving God. He's a powerful God.
Did you ever put those three things together in your mind and ask yourself, why would I ever?
Do anything that's not what he's leading me to do.
If he's loving all loving, all knowing and all powerful.
How can I hope to have a better plan than what he has for me?
And yet all too often.
We think we have a better plan.
We might not say it that way.
But if you really look at what's guided your decisions.
You might find.
There's a bit of yourself in there that just doesn't want what the Lord has for you.
So I challenge you, you know, yes, Abraham is an example with his tent and his altar, and he was a Pilgrim and a stranger in the land.
But think of these others as well.
And look for these tendencies in yourself. I think that's why I find these other people so.
So compelling it's like looking at Peter in the New Testament.
00:25:01
I find the stories of Peter so compelling because I see myself in his impetuousness and his speaking without thinking.
Look for these tendencies. We have the same nature as Locke. We have the same nature as Jacob.
And beg the Lord.
That he would show you.
The path that he would wake you up if he has to, if you're on the wrong path. Not the wrong path as in doing something wrong, but if you're not arranging your life in the way that he would have you to.
These decisions that may seem innocent and they don't have, they may not seem like their decisions between right and wrong, and maybe they're not.
But still, one of these paths is the way that Lord has for you to go.
And.
He's guiding you towards one of these paths in every decision.
Let's pray, ask for help and for the refreshments as well, OK?
Father and our Lord Jesus, we thank you for this.
The few minutes we could spend looking at these verses and looking at these people that lived so long ago and yet are so much like us in so many ways. We pray. Those help. Each one of us, myself included, prayers help us to.
Be LED of Thee to have our eyes turned to Thee and not be occupied with the things of this world. As we move through this world, help us to be strangers and pilgrims.
And to have our eyes set on the thing, on my things and the things of heaven.
Those wake us up if necessary.
And will show us, and guide us, and lead us with thy night.
We commit the rest of the week to the.
Continue to ask for the help as I word is open through the week and in our fellowship through the week that we'd be talking of thy things and building relationships over thy things.
And we commit the evening to thee as well. We thank you for the food that was provided, the refreshments. And we again pray that our fellowship and our conversation would not just be of the the activities, but would be of a little bit of thy things as well. We pray this in thy name, Amen.
Exodus 12:6-11
Reading
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Shall we look to the Lord?
God and our Father, we thank you this morning that we have an opportunity at the Word open before us again. Thank you as we start this second day of camp.
We can look forward to Thy blessing and I help. We do ask for protection and safety too, and all the activities, all the goings on. Thank you for all the hands that are pitching in to help that this would be a workable time together. If you all enjoy ourselves and enjoy being with our brethren and speaking about the Lord Jesus. Thank you that we could look into Exodus 12 yesterday.
Thank you for the overview last night. We had my dealings with man. We thank thee for a little better outline of sound words.
Afraid that it might continue today to inform us and educate us as to Thy ways that speak so much of thyself or Jesus. Thank Thee for thought of taking up the Tabernacle beginning tonight too, and ask that Thou it's order and direct and things that are spoken there might be blessing by Thy Spirit as we take up these types of shadows in the Old Testament. So we pray, give thanks, seek thy help, my precious name, Lord Jesus, Amen. Amen. Amen.
Should we continue in Exodus 12?
We start at verse six and go on.
Exodus 12/6 through 20.
7.
OK.
Exodus chapter 12.
Starting at verse six. And ye shall keep it up until the 14th day of the same month. And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts, and on the upper door post of the houses wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh. And that night roast with fire, and unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire his head, with his legs, and with the pertinence.
Thereof, and ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning, and that which remaineth of it until the morning, ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand, And ye shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the first born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord.
And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are. And when I see the blood, I will Passover you, And the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt.
And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever. Seven days shall ye unleavened bread. Even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses. For whosoever eateth leavened bread, from the first day until the 7th day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. And in the first day there shall be in holy convocation, and in the 7th day there shall be in holy convocation to you.
No manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done, that only may be done of you. And you shall observe the feast of unleavened Bread. For in this self same day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance forever in the first month, on the 14th day of the month at even ye shall eat unleavened bread until the one and 20th day of the month that even.
Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses.
For whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger or born in the land. Ye shall eat nothing leavened in all your habitations shall ye unleavened bread.
Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb, according to your families, and kill the Passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lentil and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians, and when he seeth the blood upon the lentil, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the.
00:05:08
And will not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you. And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever. And it shall come to pass, when ye become to the land which the Lord will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean you by this service, that ye shall say It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel and Egypt.
When he smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses, and the people bowed the head and worshipped.
I.
I wonder if it would be worth weighing the thought.
There was no in this part of the narrative we don't find anything of love or anything of commiseration for them. It was strictly business, if I could put it that way. I give an illustration in the fact that when England and France were at war.
The English Navy overtook the French Navy.
And when the surrender, what came the uh.
Frenchman. He had gone to the same Naval Academy as the Englishman had, and he reached out his hand to shake hands with the British high officer, and he retorted. Your sword first. In other words, it was a real matter of.
Acknowledging sin and surrendering, if I could put it that way.
I think you you see it in this chapter. It's not although behind the the whole thing, it was love that had provided.
For Israel.
But as far as they were concerned, they were to acknowledge sin and bring the lamp.
I.
Yeah.
Yesterday morning we spoke of the question that's in verse 26 that the children were to ask.
Verse 26 What mean you by the service?
And we have here in verses 789 and 10:11, we have a family's responsibility, particularly probably the head of the household.
00:10:11
He was to take the blood and to strike. On the upper door posts. It was mentioned. I think Tim, you mentioned you're the eldest in the family.
As I am as well as my family.
And if you and I were living in that day, we'd be particularly interested that our fathers were out, was out there applying blood on the vehicle because it affects us as the oldest. And it was also mentioned yesterday too, that this is also an individual matter. And that is today as an application. Every individual soul has to take this for themselves. They have to eat of the lamb of themselves.
Your parents can't eat the lamb for themselves.
Yourself, you have to eat of the Lamb of yourself. But there's also a preparation that goes on. We mentioned it yesterday in verse.
Verse.
Three, that there was to be a taking a lamb out of the fold and to watch it for four days. There is a preparation that must go on in anticipation of this, and there's a keeping it up until the 14th day, and then there's a preparation of the blood.
And the preparation of the meal, the Passover meal, there is a preparation, there's a purpose.
So it is for today, when I arrive on the first day of the week, the Lord's Day, oftentimes I'm smitten with the fact that I haven't prepared adequately.
For the day of the Lord, the Lord's Day, and I think we can all probably raise our hands and acknowledge the same thing. There is a preparation that must go on when I come into the presence of the Lord collectively, and this is a preparation period that his father is doing here for this family by taking the Lamb aside.
Slaying it, putting the blood in a basin and then taking a brush and and.
Wiping the lentil of the door on the outside. And as I said before, the oldest child would be very interested as to making sure that that blood is being applied. So there's a nice preparation principle here that applies for us today.
If I may, I'd like to spend a little bit connected, Mark, with what you just said in the end of verse six. It says the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening, and I don't want to.
Offend anybody?
This morning. But as some of you know.
A little over a week ago I I killed an elk and.
It's not something that most of us.
Are involved in in this day and age.
The slaughter of an animal. The killing of an animal. The shedding of the blood of an animal.
I'd like to turn over to Leviticus chapter 17.
There's a key verse in Leviticus chapter 17 and Tim mentioned that the Passover is deliverance from Egypt, deliverance from *******.
So it's not exactly the the redemption or the the covering of sin, but I want to read verse 11.
This is what the Lord told His people.
Verse 11 Says for the life of the flesh is in the blood.
And I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
It was vitally important that the whole congregation of Israel.
Was involved in the killing of that lamb.
And and I want to encourage everyone here.
To not be afraid of of this concept.
Of recognizing what sin is done in this world and the requirement that God has that blood is shed.
It was, I was reminded very vividly and I, I'll try to put this in a, in a, in a gentle way, I was reminded very vividly when I, when I shot the elk a little over a week ago.
00:15:14
And I had to, I had to butcher the elk, I had to clean it out, and I had to prepare it so that the meat was usable.
And in doing so, I had to.
Have my hands and my arms covered in blood.
And I believe that the same thing was true of this lamb, and it was the whole congregation of Israel that was involved in it. It wasn't just someone else in the day in which we live. I think one of the.
Great.
Employees of Satan has been to divorce us to separate us from ever seeing the shedding of blood. All of us get our Most of us get our meat in a cellophane white tray with a little bit of plastic wrap over the top and and it looks all nice and and pretty.
And we don't see the shedding of blood.
But God says the shedding of blood he had given.
The blood.
For a specific purpose.
It's for the atonement of the soul.
And the children of Israel that were in Egypt, they could not experience the deliverance of God without the shedding of blood, and they had to be involved in it later on as we get into the offerings.
The person that brought the offering, especially the sin offering, they had to put their head, their hand on the head of the animal that was being offered.
And they had to take part in that process.
Here, as Mark was saying.
The the blood was brought in a basin and it was put it was applied to the the two side posts in the in the upper door.
Lentil.
What I want to mention that many of you younger folks might not understand is as God has designed blood in a very specific way and so this collect collection of blood.
Blood has been designed by God to coagulate. That turns into a almost like Jelly.
In a very short amount of time, so for the to take the blood.
And apply it to the door. It had to be fresh.
It couldn't. There couldn't be a long period of time between when that lamb was killed and when the blood was applied to the door. And I think that going back to what Mark said, there needs to be a freshness in our hearts, in a, in our appreciation.
Of that of the blood that was shed and I I've so enjoyed and we won't take the time to turn there, but.
In Revelation when we read about the Lamb of God in a coming day, in the day of glory, it says that he was slain. The Lamb was slain and I understand it it if you look into the Greek, it means that it was freshly slain. It wasn't something that had you might say in the mind of God.
That something that happened 2000 years ago, it's something that is fresh in the sight of God and will forever be fresh in the sight of God.
And it should be something that is fresh in our site as well. It should be something that is real and something that that affects us. You know, as I, as I went to to take care of that elk. It's a solemn thing. It's not a when you look at your hands and your hands are covered in blood.
You recognize that the the life of that animal was surrendered so that we could eat. And in this case, the life of that lamb was surrendered so that the children of Israel could have deliverance. And I think that that's a vital point that we need to get a hold of in our souls.
00:20:08
God wants it to be fresh in our, in our appreciation, and in our view.
Want to go back and revisit that?
Word redemption. We talked a little bit about it, some of us.
Had a pretty in-depth conversation after meeting yesterday about that, and I think it probably would be well to add a little bit of clarification. I think it was appropriate to make the distinction between deliverance and redemption.
But there was a process. Israel wasn't completely delivered from Egypt until the Red Sea.
They were completely redeemed until the Red Sea. But there is redemption by blood and redemption by power. And in this chapter, we do have redemption by blood. And I think that's an important distinction to make. And I don't want to, I don't want people to come away necessarily based on the comments from that last meeting, that this chapter doesn't take up redemption at all. It's just not the fullness of the process.
We really have the subject of substitution brought out here because, as Steve said, the people would place their hands on the head of this lamb. Well, what did that do? It took and.
Associated myself with that Lamb. The Lamb was was slain.
And that Lamb was slain in the in the place of the first point.
What if the?
What if the head of that house had heard all of these things and known all this, and thought, you know, I.
It's laying a lamb. It's pretty significant. I'm just going to hang hiss up on the outside of the door and we'll call that good.
What would happen?
First born in the house would have been slain. The same thing that happened with pain, and Abel right at that. Pain brought the best.
Fruit and food that he had, but it did not include blood and therefore was not sufficient. And so thankfully we don't read of any in Israel that didn't obey this direction, because had they disobeyed it, there would have been.
The death of the first one within the house, the obedience was critical.
There wasn't room for.
And emotions of those that were in the house, there was a need for obedience.
But today, don't we deal with a finished work?
A work that was to.
2000 years ago, but its effect, its effectuality.
Extends to us today. We used to sing a hymn that says no blood, no altar, now the sacrifices or no flame. No smoke ascends on high. The lamb is lay no more, but richer blood has flowed from nobler veins to purge the Violet soul and cleanse the deepest stains.
So we look back, don't we? The thing that has been.
Effectual for us today, that's 2000 years ago.
It shows the eternal efficacy of that precious blood.
I'm I'm happy if somebody criticizes what I say, but I, I just.
I see that.
Yeah.
00:25:02
We've been speaking about this in connection with how it affects us personally.
Believers. And as the first born in that household, as we've been talking.
I want to look at a verse at the end of verse 6. This is the last few words in the evening.
We shall kill it in the evening. I'm thinking of the Lord Jesus at the end of his pathway here.
When he was taken in the garden.
Spent the night there and pilots Hall.
These different things that he went through.
It was the evening.
Of his time here in this world.
Go on in Exodus 12 and verse 42.
It says, It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord.
We're bringing them out from the land of Egypt.
So here was the Lord Jesus who had set his faces at Flint, and he would not stop.
Until that sacrifice was accomplished.
Work was done. Deliverance, redemption, substitution, all those things were accomplished.
So as we're considering our side of these things, let's not forget the Lord's side.
What he went through to make this all possible to us.
Is the night to be much remembered?
On that as well, you know we read lots yesterday.
On Luke 22. Then came the day of 11 bread, when the Passover must be killed.
And it says here at the end of verse six that the congregation of Israel shall fill it in the evening or between.
The two evenings or the afternoon? When did the Lord die on the cross in the afternoon? The Lord died on the exact day.
Of the Passover lamb, He, he was, as we read in First Corinthians five, He is our Passover. And as a Jew, if you were to look back at this, there's absolutely no way you could deny that the Lord Jesus completely fulfilled this entire type and his death. There's no way he could deny. They do deny it.
But you can't deny it, the timing is exact.
It's exactly.
So you probably would be remiss if we didn't read the verses in first Peter one regarding Christ and the blood it it is really the anti type of the Passover.
First Peter one verse 18.
For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, there's redemption.
Silver and gold from your main conversation, received by tradition from your Father's, but with the precious blood of Christ.
As of a lamb without blemish, without spot, verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.
That's the 4th day.
And the lamb was to be killed.
And.
And the bloodshed, and it was that blood that was applied in verse 7 on the side post in the upper doorpost of the house and inside the people ate that lamp. They partook a bit, they made it their own. I think about what the Lord Jesus said, that except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.
And so it's what that verse is telling us is that.
We need to appropriate the work of Christ to our own soul individually.
That's what that means, that's what he's teaching. And in picture form here we have something of that people being sheltered by the blood and again to.
Restate a comment yesterday about.
About this, this scene, it was on the outside. It kept the judge out of the house.
00:30:05
But it was the IT was God. It was God's perspective, his side of the work that he was viewing. There he was.
He saw the blood, the people applied it, he saw it and and it is, it is important for us to again get God's perspective of the work of Christ. And can I say how he feels about that work?
And and when we have that.
When we have his perspective on the work of Christ, that brings settled peace to us. Because it's not it's not my evaluation or estimation, which can fall far short of that work. And then I'm I'm going to be in trouble.
In my mind, because I may not have settled peace, but when God sees the blood, it says, when I see the blood I will pass over you. I can rest with confidence, knowing that I am judgment free.
God is satisfied with the work of Christ, and I can rest in that.
So we ought to take up with the sufferings of Christ.
Let me restate that we we should, when we consider the sufferings of Christ, it should bring.
Some solemnity to our thoughts, to our thinking. We we should, we should really approach the subject with unshod feet.
Because we are on holy ground and we shouldn't be casual about it. It's a very serious thing is you were bringing out Ernie. I appreciated that, that this was serious, serious business. And I think something of that might be seen in verse 8 where it says and they shall eat the flesh in that night roast with fire.
And unleavened bread and with bitter herbs.
They shall eat it. I suppose that maybe the bitter herbs might bring forward that thinking, that thought of of really it should be. We should we should consider the work of our Lord and when we do it should produce a spirit of self evaluation and judgment. I believe that it should have its own proper effect on our souls when we consider what the Lord Jesus.
Had to undergo for our sins and and it should be something that really affects me deeply if I'm taking up with it in the right spirit and according to God's mind and and the Lord would have us to.
He he would want it that way. He wants us again, not to be casual about about this subject, but to really grasp in our own finite way the seriousness of of what sin is.
And what it cost?
And you know, when we, when we come to that moment in our hearts that that that will change us, it really will.
I think it it will produce a spirit of devotion like none of none other.
Have we really repented it, or have we really repented him? Writer could say in his thoughtless souls distress. I have.
Guiltiness.
How vile. My lowest state since my ransom.
00:35:00
So great.
Who can weigh? Can we really weigh what our sins deserve?
In ourselves, I mean, right, there's pride in our souls. But but he had to go through.
To make us clean in his sight more than Kung Fu town.
As you say, there's no way for us to Plumb.
The depths of those things.
Excuse me, but as Josh said, God would have us to consider those things with solemnity. There's a reason that Psalms 22 and Psalm 69 and Psalms 88 are there so that we can enter into the sufferings of what the Lord went through.
When he at home percent and so.
We don't enter into the fullness of the depths of it, but it should have a significant impact on our thoughts and as we consider those things.
As Josh said, it really correlates with First Corinthians Chapter 11 That him had examined himself and so that it may. And so we should be found in a spirit of self judgment.
Consider those things as bitter herbs that we're reading about here, and as we consider the depth of it, it should cause our hearts to well up with Thanksgiving.
Response of praise and worship.
In verse eight it says.
You shall eat the flesh in that night. Roast with fire, verse 9 says eat not of it raw nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire. So we get that, that phrase roast with fire twice and I think in connection with what we've been saying.
It brings before us the judgment of God upon sin. It was.
That fire that that fell and there was number mitigation of that fire.
So if it was sodden with water, water boils at 212° and and that would have mitigated, you might say, the heat of the fire. It says not raw at all as well. The fire had to pass on that lamb.
And our Savior.
More the full weight.
Of God's wrath against sin.
There was number mitigation.
There was nothing that.
That tempered that fire.
And later on, we're going to talk about the brazen altar.
And we see there.
The fire of God's wrath that falls upon the sacrifice.
The sacrifice is consumed.
And our Lord, as we speak reverently.
He bore the unmitigated wrath of God against sin.
There was number tempering of that fire.
I think that's why it says it twice.
Roast with fire.
I.
The result of which was a cry from the cross.
My God, my God, why I still forsaken me?
Coming from the Son of God.
Possible to enter into the depth of that?
Do have the capacity in some sense understand this one maybe of it?
00:40:18
And again, it was the Lamb that was without blemish, Lord Jesus being, as we read in first Peter one, He was that land.
Perfect. Absolutely spotless, the holy Lamb of God.
Where it says at the end of verse 9.
Roasted fire his head.
With his legs, with the pertinence of that word, perdonance can be translated in words, and with the inwards thereof. So he knew no sin, He did no sin, and in Him was no sin.
New Testament speaks to those three things very clearly.
And directly.
So.
Again, this is one of the seven major types of the death of Christ in the Old Testament.
And you just see the beauty.
Of scripture how it just aligns and the Lord Jesus fulfilling these types of perfection.
I would like to connect with.
Read there about his head with his legs and the pertinence thereof.
The Song of Solomon, chapter 5 and.
This starting with the first night instead.
The future redeemed.
Remnant of Israel speaking.
And with verse 10.
Or sorry, verse 11, it starts with his head.
His most fine advance speaks of his belly and it ends down in verse 15, his legs. So from his head to his legs, it gives a beautiful description of the Lord Jesus. And we know in the coming day when that remnant of Israel is being restored, they're going to see this one that spend their Passover.
Or I was instituted thousands of years earlier. They're going to see the beauty of the Lord Jesus and had the bitter herbs, you know from Zachariah. They're going to weep when they see this one that has delivered them. I would also like to make the application with God the Father.
This is how he saw his son being the Passover and AS.
Abraham lifted up his his knife to slaughter his son.
God lifted up his night and his son had to be slaughtered, but he saw pure beauty in his son, all pure without, all pure within and and I think the order is is correct. That starts with the head to the legs. He was a heavenly man, which is similar to have there with John beginning of revelation. It goes from the head down.
I I saw him, enjoyed that.
Application there.
I.
Perhaps in the few minutes that we have left, perhaps verse 11, where the responsibility is that they were to eat it with their loins girded.
Your shoes on your feet.
And your staff in your hand, You shall eat it in haste. It is Lord's Passover. Perhaps some thoughts as to why.
The Lord God was giving these instructions to these Israelites, or they're rather known as Hebrews in the land here, while they're in their houses. They were to be eating it in this manner with their loins girded, shoes on their feet and the staff in the hand and eat it in haste.
00:45:07
Mark there to eat it, ready to travel.
Recognizing that God was going to do this work and it was going to cause fair to let His people go and they were to depart immediately. I'm sure there's more that can be applied to this, but it was a demonstration of their confidence that the work was going to take place and that they were.
The next day going to be traveling.
Probably three things here that should characterize us as believers now. That is, we ought to be outfitted for service or ready to serve of the loins girded, the Lord has given us something to do. Each one of us has, has, ought to be, ought to occupy till he comes. So that means that we we should be busy in the Lord's work.
We all have the service.
All have something to do for the Lord, but then we ought to have shoes on our feet. And what is critical in this service is that we should have a walk of separation from the world, shouldn't we?
Shoe sits between the soul, sits between the bottom of your foot and the ground. And it doesn't. I mean, we are in the world, but we're not of the world. We hear this often and we can't, can't we? We have to recognize that we have to live and and breathe and move here and rub shoulders with the world, but that doesn't mean that we become like them.
Or one of them. Because we are different. The Lord has separated us from this world, called us out, given us life, saved our souls and and made us His own. So we are here to represent the interests of Christ. That's only properly done when there's proper separation in our life from the world. So we need separation from the world in our life.
And then the staff in our hand would speak to our Pilgrim character.
You know, we ought not to forget that we are pilgrims here. We are, we do not belong to this world. We we are pilgrims in a wilderness. I.
That has nothing for us and so we need to have that Pilgrim character and not I think that we should take up with with.
You know, pounding our tent pegs too deep into this, into this earth. Realize that we're just passing through.
And and then you shall eat it in haste. The Lord is coming and he's coming soon. And our time for service and testimony is, is really at a premium now. It's it's coming to a close. We should realize that that that there is an urgency behind.
What we should be doing?
And whether it be in the Gospel or just getting busy with the Lords things, we don't have time to waste. You know, our time to serve the Lord is now and and we need to get at it. And because when we get home to glory, the time for service is done. Our Pilgrim.
Our pilgrimage, excuse me, is is is no more.
Were safe at home rest and So what an opportunity we all have right now as Christians is to get busy to get out to really take take take up with this with with these things seriously and and not waste our time because our time is short.
And Mark mentioned that verse last night, redeeming the time.
This was really a pivotal moment in their history here, right?
For all these people, all they had known their whole life was Egypt was their friend.
The moment they came under the shelter of that blood, everything changed. From that moment on, Egypt was not their home anymore. From now on, they're there.
Their gaze, their view would be that promised land that they would journey to. And so there's a complete change their attitude of their everything they did. And so tomorrow they wouldn't wake up and go make bricks to make Egypt the more beautiful place. That was all done. And so we can say for us too, you know, we're born into this world, but the moment we apply that blood.
00:50:18
To ourselves, it's a complete change. It's a pivotal moment. We're not here anymore. It's Josh just explaining.
To be part of the current of this world? No, it's different now. We have our home in heaven in view and everything we do should be in function of that.
So it's really a complete change of character for these people.
And I think that's why, just to jump back quickly to verse 2, the Lord says this month shall be unto you, the beginning of months. It's as though the Lord is saying you did not live in my sight before you got saved. And we know the scripture tells us we were dead and trespasses in sin. So the moment we get saved, it's like the the slate is wiped clean and now we have a new life, a new beginning.
God, and we should move forward in that, not backwards.
I know we're out of time, but I didn't want to skip over verse 10.
We have some unique language in verse 10, and I think that there's a.
A lesson there.
It says.
You shall let nothing of it remain until the morning.
And that which would remain until the morning, ye shall burn with fire.
I'll just suggest this as a thought and I'd like to hear others.
But they were to they were to eat the entire land.
And and my thought here is is you and I.
As we feed on Christ, we need, we need all of Christ.
We can't just have part of it.
We can't just have part of him.
We need all of him.
On that, why were they to eat the lamb? It was to prepare them for their journey.
We're in the wilderness. We're sustained by feeding on Christ while we're in this wilderness.
It was a it was a provision for them, for their journey and so it is with us.
Our gracious God loving Father, thank you for the word before us this morning.
And we have.
Being detected from the coming judgment, yet it is a night season and.
Judgment is certainly certain to fall on the scene. We pray that we would be separate from this world being shot, staff in hand, ready to be called out of this scene. And so we just prayed help practically enter into these things. My name is Graham. Lord Jesus, Amen. Amen.
Tabernacle Overview and Keys
Address
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Just as a little bit of an introduction.
To this meeting. Normally this would be an address and.
There's several of us that have had the Tabernacle on our thoughts and on our hearts.
For a little while.
I can remember as a child, probably around the age of 10, having a series of meetings in Tacoma where Norman Berry brought his model of the Tabernacle.
And gave a series of meetings that were really helpful at that point in time to me.
Fast forward.
Early 2000.
Two or three time frame I had the privilege of building a model of the Tabernacle with my Sunday school class.
And really enjoyed the subject at that point in time. So the character of this meeting is going to be slightly different. You've noticed that the there's a studio set up to the side and I will let Mark Rogers kind of explain the.
Where's and what fours and whys? But the character of this meeting is going to be kind of like an address, but it's going to be really three brothers.
Addressing the subject and that will continue for several nights through Saturday night.
So.
I'll turn it over to Mark and we'll go from there. So Josh called me like in January.
And said he had on his heart to teach the Tabernacle. And I think it's splendid because what Steve has said.
Those of us that are in our late 40s or even 50s hardly remember anybody coming by now and having us have a series of meetings on the Tabernacle. And so the thought is my heart is for those two that are out there searching for these truths and so doing a good solid recording to be able to put out.
There has been on my heart because there's many seeking for this. And then of course, we were supposed to do it this spring, but then.
This event came up and it was basically a good opportunity to do something like this at camp.
With that, I'll turn over Josh.
So before we pray, I think I think it's safe to say if I can speak for all of us who will be in that booth that we're not experts. And so many of you out there probably have enjoyed things that we haven't enjoyed. And we would definitely welcome any feedback, your thoughts, corrections, whatever it might be.
Please, you know, share with us and share with others and if anybody has any questions, I mean.
By all means.
Like ask around and you know we're here to enjoy.
This wonderful picture that God has put into the Bible in the Old Testament to speak of the glories of Christ and our association with him by virtue of his work and our standing in him. And, and hopefully with the Lords help, we're going to bring some of that stuff out. And on another note, you know, we're not the exercise here is not to get deep into the weeds, you know, of number combinations and all of that.
I mean that's I'm certainly not qualified for that.
But what we would like to do is skim the cream off the top, if we can enjoy the Lord Jesus together and hopefully learn something. And so we would definitely appreciate your prayers in this. It's a very different undertaking. We understand. And so we do appreciate your, your, your patience and your understanding and, and hopefully we can all profit by it. So with that, we'll just commend our time to the Lord.
Our God and Father, we just come to thee now, and we just do thank thee that.
We can come together like this and to consider such a vast and wonderful subject that speaks of thy beloved son, our Savior. We we ask thee for thy help as we undertake this these these few meetings over the next few nights and pray that there might be profit for the children to the young people to those of us who are a bit older and we looked at the that they'll just continue to deepen in our hearts the appreciation that we have for.
Lord Jesus and His work that has redeemed us and we are so thankful, our Father for the gift of thy dear beloved Son, and Lord Jesus for giving Thy life as a ransom for many, laying down thy life upon the altar for our sake and for our sins. We thank the Lord Jesus for all thou has done. We look to Thee for Thy help and we commend thee hour to Thee and we ask it in thy worthy and precious name. Amen.
00:05:29
Welcome to the Tabernacle table talk around the table. And it's nice to have a couple brothers with me this evening on something that's been dearly near on our hearts. And so I look at that. I like to make reductions here. And so let me swing it on over to Josh.
All right, Josh, good to see you. Hello. Good to see you. Josh. Came in 18 hour travel. Did you? I did very good. And you had it on your heart to do a little thing on the Tabernacle here. Yeah, definitely. I think it's a subject that probably isn't taken up as much as it probably should be. And as we've discussed in the past, it seems to be something that.
Has been enjoyed by others in in in the past.
Those who've traveled amongst us and who.
Had a model available to to display and to show and to teach from. So hopefully, you know, we can do something like this in a little bit of a, a unique way through this medium. Hopefully there's some profit by it. So it's good to revisit these truths and restate them.
Beautiful, thank you. Yes, there will be some lovely truths to be, to be shared as we go along. And then to your left we have.
8 get you an audio there good to see it you know the guy that we who just talked I do we spend a lot of time together very good very good yeah so it's good to have you on the desk here and look forward to enjoying these things with you as well so all right so let's swing it on over to Tim here and.
See.
Here.
All right, Tim, you there? Good to see you again. It's been a couple years.
And just for for those that are watching to the first two, Josh and Nate love working together and Tim and I like working together as well. So anyway, so let's start with you, Tim, and let's go over a little bit. Let me pop up on the screen here, The Tabernacle. OK, so let's go over the Tabernacle. We have the Tabernacle.
Sitting in front of us and a lot of people don't know what that is. And they're going to find out as we go along here what the what the Tabernacle is. But let's go over a little bit how they get to the to this place. OK, so let me just buzz some slides here. So take us back a little ways. This is a picture of, of Joseph, you know, reuniting with his father, right? Tell us, get us to where? What did, how did that work? How did this happen?
Timeline and such, yeah. You know, last night Mark debut and his address talked a little bit about God's timeline and he mentioned the fact that there were about 430 years between Abraham and the time that the children of Israel left Egypt in Exodus chapter 12, and that 430 years, you know, starts with Abraham leaving.
The land of Ur and going down into Canaan.
He has a son named Isaac.
Isaac has a son named Jacob. Jacob has twelve sons.
One of which is Joseph, who is taken into slavery and in Egypt there's a famine in the land. The rest of the brothers come to Egypt and they end up sojourning there for a period of time.
During that time, the children of Israel enjoyed a great deal of privilege for a while in that land. And then there was a king that knew not Joseph, there was a pharaoh that knew not Joseph, and the children of Israel were placed into ******* during that time. We don't, to my knowledge, necessarily know the exact duration of time, but we know that that was happening when Moses was born.
In Exodus chapter one and we know that.
Moses was 80 years old when he and Aaron went and approached Pharaoh to ask that Pharaoh would let the people go.
00:10:08
We know that there were a series of plagues that God brought into Egypt and that culminated with the Passover where the first born that were not sheltered by the blood were slain and fail. Let the people go, they left Egypt.
And entered into the wilderness.
They came to the Red Sea with, with Egypt pursuing them and the Lord provided for a miraculous escape for them through the Red Sea. And Egypt was destroyed and trying to pursue them through the Red Sea. Let's just let's stop right there. We got it on the screen here, we got Moses a picture of the children of Israel in the water and the water, a wall of water on both sides.
That was something else, wasn't it? When when they come rolling up on the Red Sea and they looked back and they could see Pharaoh's army coming right, or could hear him and they look forward and there's an ocean. And this was God's way of sending through on, as it says, dry land. Isn't that beautiful? And tell what happened, what happened to Pharaoh's army. So it's something that's been described as God's redemption of Israel by power as they passed through the Red.
And in the morning, Israel exited the Red Sea on the other side in Pharaoh's army, pursued the men, and Moses turned around and at God's command raised his rod, and the seas closed on Pharaoh's army, and they drowned in the sea. And as Israel was on the other side, they saw.
The armies of Israel, the bodies washing up on the shore of the sea, and they knew that they were delivered.
From from Egypt and so then as they journeyed into the wilderness, we know that God.
Called Moses up to Mount Sinai, and he delivered to him the Law, and he delivered to Moses the directions.
For the subject of the Tabernacle that we're going to take up, and I got a map on the on the screen there too, you can see the general path where.
That came on the left hand side, right. They came out of that part of Egypt was a beautiful, beautiful place. And they crossed the Red Sea and came on down into Mount Sinai, which is the bottom, apparently the bottom part, right. That's where God was going to give him the the law. And so while they're there, God gives Moses this direction and Moses comes down from the mount and.
And in obedience to God's command, they ask that the people of.
Of of Israel give a free will offering of the things that they had for the.
Construction of this this Tabernacle and over the course of about a year.
This work is completed and and the first day of the first month, I believe, of the second year.
They have the Tabernacles.
Bill and and the Wilderness.
Yeah. So you have that on the screen here. This is a general picture here of what the Tabernacle look like and so.
Josh, why don't you go over just a highlight of what we're seeing here on the screen in terms of just give us a brief high level overview of encampment, who's, who's near the, who's near the tent and just just a couple, just a high level viewpoint here real quick. We're not seeing that. We're not seeing that. Oh, my bad.
And that's good. And that's why we let's do this here. Second here.
There we go.
OK, so I'm sure everybody can see this and it probably is redundant for me to read it all out, but you could see that the children of Israel encamped around the Tabernacle, the court, and.
And the Lord had specific instructions about this, didn't He? And so you can see on on this slide the specific names, where they were positioned. There was a certain way in which they were to leave, get up and leave, and so on.
And I think this is this is a point that we will come to again and again in our study on the Tabernacle. And again, we're just doing an overview, but a salient point is, is that God is a God of order. And, and he gives very specific instructions as to how his people were to be gathered together, how are they, how they were to move about and all the way down to how this.
00:15:14
This ought to be constructed and put together and so on.
They're not to deviate from it at all. So, you know, this is a nice little visual, I think, to just give you an idea as to how things were maybe arranged. The Tabernacle wasn't just something way on the outside and the people were, you know, strewn about in a disorderly way. That wasn't the case at all. But it it's a beautiful thing to see just how the Lord took up residence in the midst of his people. And I think this this.
This.
Picture really shows us that and that is the desire of God is to dwell amongst his own and we will touch in on that I'm sure as we go through this. But that's the one thing when I look at this, I see the Lord dwelling amongst his people and the same is true for us today as Christians, isn't it in the sense that the Lord Jesus being in the midst of those gathered unto his precious name and and.
And wanting to unite his people around himself.
And all of that. So it's beautiful. Yeah. And just to reiterate there, Josh, to that cloud coming up off the 10th, that must have been beautiful. There was a million people out there, right? Million people. And they can look out there in the middle of that encampment with this Tabernacle. And out of the Tabernacle was this Shekinah Glory was inside, but was it a smoker? What was a cloud cloud going up? Yeah. And we're not going to take it up in the future sessions, but that cloud encompass.
The entire encampment during the day it was a shadow from the heat, and at the night it was warmth for them. God provisioned a pillar of fire by night. Beautiful, beautiful. All righty. So with that, Josh, what?
But where were you going to go from here? Well, I think we're going to read a few scriptures here and I'm going to kick it over to Nate to do so just to read the 1St 9 verses of Exodus 25. And then once Nate has completed that, I think what we'll, we'll, what we'll do is, is just introduce this subject.
And I think we've we've called them Tabernacle keys to help us unlock the.
The interpretation of some of these materials and numbers and and metals and so on. South Nate, I'll kick it over to you. We'll read Exodus 25 verses 1 to 9, and then we'll go from there.
Exodus 25 and verse one and.
The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart. You shall take my offering, and this is the offering which you shall take of them. Gold and silver, and brass, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goat's hair, and ram skin dyed red, and badger skins, and shittim wood.
Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil.
And for sweet incense, Onyx stones, and stones to be said in the ephod and in the breastplate, And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them, according to all that I show thee, after the pattern of the Tabernacle and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, Even so shall you make it.
All right, so I think as Mark's probably going to bring up some slides here for everyone to see, but.
What I find really sweet is that the Lord allows his people to participate in this work.
And it says that of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart shall take my offering. Think of what?
Was a David who said of thine own have we given thee, you know, I mean everything that comes through our hands, everything that we possess and own.
All that the Lord has afforded us by by virtue of of his goodness and touches in on our material goods comes from Him. And when we hold these things with an open hand, it's easier to give it back to Him for His service. And here we have these people.
You know, and it's interesting, it's not as though he's commanding them to bring it, but it's, it's of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart. I think there's a lesson for us as Christians in that.
00:20:07
Just that alone, you know the service of God should emanate from our hearts. It needs to start there, doesn't it needs to be an active of devotion. The Lord values that.
And wasn't there a time, Josh, was it in the wilderness or was it in one of the kingdoms where the abundance came in so great? I think those later on in the Kingdom, but the abundance of the giving was so great that they had to stop the, you know, tell the people to stop. But to your point, in the wilderness, they were giving to make all of this work, right? And if I could add to that too, it was prescribed what to bring.
They weren't giving of their own choice of what they brought. It was given to them of God what to bring. It was his choice, not theirs. Beautiful.
And, and just to make sure where they got it from, they got a lot of it from Egypt, right? They plundered Egypt as they left Egypt. Yeah, it actually says that.
That they were to borrow from the Egyptians in the King James Version, if my memory serves me right. But it's actually, I think it says something to the fact that they actually asked of them. They didn't ask to borrow it. They basically were asking to have it and the Egyptians were willing to give it up. Obviously they they were quite shaken up by all the happenings in in the land at the time and.
And the Lord moved the Egyptians to give Israel of these material goods.
Very good. And did you want to jump into the let's go to the slides here, All right, And give me a second here while we post up.
All right, so we have, we have these are let's let's just make sure Tabernacle keys. And I've, I've labeled this on the slide because if you're taking notes, if you're studying the Tabernacle, there's going to be some keys that are going to unlock the rest of the study. So take down these notes because of of the the fact is, is every, every single every single thing that comes along generally is going to have keys that you've got to get a hold of in order to continue to study and so.
These are keys that that are very prominent. We're not going to spend a lot of time on them, but as the sessions go on, we would like to refer back to them maybe in a little depth and where they are. So, so let's so there's the Tabernacle keys, the colors and the linen. Why don't you run these, run these down here? Sure. And and I think when we, you know, before we get into all of this, I mean there's going to be.
Things that we're going to bring forward here that we need to be careful about, being too dogmatic about.
And I mean, there's, these are pretty straightforward, these what we dub is keys and these will, will, will assist us in understanding the typical teaching of the Tabernacle itself. And they will be recurring themes throughout. And what I think we will notice is there's going to be is a lot of repetition.
But for good reason, the Spirit of God has He writes with method and and not haphazardly.
And so these things will continue to come up. So I think as an introductory meeting to the subject that we have before us, it's imperative that.
We start with some basic interpretation as to the colors and linens as we have here.
So blue, obviously, is heavenly grace. This will come up.
Time and time again.
I look up to the sky and what color is the sky wall is blue, right? So that, that's an easy one. It, it's the heavenly color. It's heavenly grace.
Purple, What we have here is Christ royalty in relation to the Gentiles or what you know. We could also see him as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and I understand that it was.
Normal for emperors who were was a king of kings to this was the imperial color that they would that they would wear and and so purple is is denotes that Christ is the king of kings and his relation to the Gentiles. Scarlett here is the royalty of Christ in relation to Israel as the king of Israel right and so he is looked at here as the.
Son of David now again, sometimes others who have written on the subject see.
Something of the blood of Christ in the scarlet. And that's, that's perfectly fine too. I think you can find.
00:25:01
Application for that, but I think you know primarily we probably see it more in connection with his royalty as the King of Israel.
Then the fine linen, of course, is the spotless purity and practical righteousness that we have in the person of Christ, His impeccable humanity, the spotlessness of his person. That's what we see there. And of course that then is transferred to his people, that same righteousness. We are clothed with that and we will bring that into the study as we as we go through.
Beautiful. Here's the Tabernacle. Keys of the metals. There's three metals in the Tabernacle. Yeah, 3 gold, silver, brass now.
On the gold, you'll, you'll find that there's usually gold spoken of two different ways we have it here, pure gold and then gold. And I think when you interpret the the types, what we have in the pure gold is really the divinity of Christ, his deity, and is exclusive to him and him alone, being that he is God.
But when gold is spoken of, it's more divine righteousness. And again, that being something that we partake in because of, of, of what Christ has done and, and we'll notice that, but his righteousness, he is our righteousness as the Bible tells us, silver, the, the, the word or the metal. Silver is redemption or I've enjoyed, as another has said, the blessings of.
And then you have brass and this is divine righteousness, but it's divine righteousness in judgment. And basically it it takes up man in his responsible position. And so we have divine righteousness and judgment. I also have a couple of the bullet points here. You can also see divine power in it or the price of atonement. So in the silver you get the blessings of atonement.
And the brass you get the price of atonement. Now what's interesting is that in our.
King James Version, if that's the version you're using, is that it's, it's translated as copper, but it actually should be brass. And I'm I'm no metal Smith or anything like that, but I think if I got it right, is copper not an alloy of brass or something like that. Anyways, the point is, is that copper has.
A is weaker, it's not as strong, it doesn't with withstand the heat like pure brass does and and so brass is actually the right.
Translation of what that metal is. Can you go back to silver just a second? Because in silver scripture.
When you're redeeming something was with silver, correct, 20 pieces of silver or something like that, Is that, is that correct? Is that what you see in the scriptures? That's that's a, that's a redemption. A redemption. There is, there is atonement money. There was redemption money, yeah. And it was, I believe it was silver, wasn't it?
All right, next key, I'll just pop this up here in a second here. Here we go.
So numbers you notice we don't have all the numbers listed out, but I think these are kind of primary numbers that we will encounter. I think when we had started in on this, we, we indicated that, you know, our desire here is not to get into the multiples of the different number combinations and all of that. I'm sure we will touch in on it here and there as we see it has relevance. But you know, we don't want to get too deep in the weeds on that.
But.
There is meaning behind numbers in Scripture and and so and and they are abundant in in the Tabernacle. So three, and we're probably well aware of this, but it's good to go over this ground. Three is abundant testimony. 4 is the universal number.
Five is human weakness and human responsibility.
Seven is spiritual completeness, others say it's the number of perfection. 10 is human responsibility toward God, and 12 is administrative completeness. So 5 and 10 you, you, you. You see human responsibility in both of them, but one is more geared towards men as we have in the five, and 10 is more geared towards God.
So that's just a quick overview of these keys. The other thing I don't think we have on the slide that we will encounter more often than not is the measurement and qubits are used and I think that generally.
Accepted measurement for a cubit is about 18 inches. I've heard that. I think an Egyptian cubit, if I remember right, is something like 21 inches, and there might be another.
00:30:11
Measurement for cubits. But I think generally, if you look at the writings of those who have taught this truth in the past, I think generally 18 inches is the general understanding as to how big a Cuban, right? So it's as I understood from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. That's a good, a good measurement. Measurement of a cubit. And and one of the quick things here too about the number three. Let's just this is an easy one. I love it.
Three is abundant in the Tabernacles.
Right. Yeah. So we're going to go over three distinct sections of the whole Tabernacle session, right? You just talked about 3 metals. What are the threes that we have?
Well, you tell me I enjoyed it. I had my notes somewhere else that I was so enjoyed it on the notes. But anyway, I just there's a there's a lot of threes related. I was just enjoying that. So yeah, I think you have the the court and then you have the the holies and the holiest of all.
That what you were thinking of Yeah. And then also inside the ark, when we get to the ark, there's three things inside the ark as well, right. Yeah. So anyway, these are beautiful things to to take out. All righty. Oh, so 7th, 7th, 7th pieces of furniture. We were talking about that earlier today. Sure. So perfection, completeness.
I think.
You know, with the study of the Tabernacle again, we had talked about it a little bit earlier, but I don't think we can under.
Our overstate rather the the importance of order that God has in in this in the construction of this incredible building and and everything that went into it and you know you get this.
The, you know, we read it in verse nine that the Lord was very specific in the materials in verses 1 to 9 and and onward. But in terms of what he wanted to see in that construction, as Nate pointed out, he was very specific with what he wanted. God is God of order and you know, God hasn't changed. You know, we were saying it tonight, Israel's God is ours dispensations.
Changed. God's method of dealing with man has, has has altered.
By God's principles don't change and nor does his character. It remains solid today as it ever has been. And we need to recognize that as Christians, don't we? Because I think this is something that, you know, the, the idea that we can get loosey goosey. Pardon my bad language, but you know what I mean. Get loosey goosey about.
Scriptural principles, scriptural teaching, we need to be very careful on that because God, you know, God doesn't leave us to our own imagination. He doesn't he doesn't as we have in the Tabernacle and as we go through it, we're we don't see him just leaving it up to the imagination of the people at all, right at all. And so he says at the end of verse 9, according to all that I show thee after the pattern of the.
And the pattern of all the instruments are of Even so shall you make it. And so that that was that was that was pretty important. And and this gets repeated I don't know how many times, but time and time again the Lord comes back to this statement. Listen, make it according to the way in which I have told you to make it. Don't deviate from it at all. And so we and I'm just, you know, we're looking for some practical applications to us as believers today.
How does that apply to me as a as a Christian? Well, I am to take the word of God at face value. I have no liberty as a Christian to start interjecting my thoughts into the scriptures and and and basically, you know, forming.
A man made doctrine out of things that because it just suits my fancy or or whatever. We need to be people of the book, don't we? People of the book and and I trust that we all are that we adhere to.
The instructions that God has given to us in the Scriptures and, and and cherish it and value it. So that would mean the the pattern is meaningful to God, doesn't it, That there's something more to it than just gold and and stones and boards. There's there's something more to it. So what would that be?
00:35:03
It was a pattern of the heavens, right? But had to help come from him and I just on that I wanted to read 2 verses in Exodus 39 where God commends Moses because he did exactly what he said.
That according to all, verse 42, according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel made all the work, and Moses did look upon all the work, and behold, they had done it as the Lord had commanded. Even so had they done it, and Moses blessed them. Obedience.
On that, on that note, Tim.
You have this all rehashed out.
Later on in Exodus, when Bezalel was employed to.
Make these things and in in the latter chapters of of Exodus. And so we have the Lord's commands, his word, what his instructions. And then there was obedience that followed from it. It wasn't well, but or you know, I'd like to tweet this a little bit because I think, Lord, you don't really have it quite right. No, no, it was the Lord had it right exactly the first time.
And there is no room for man's thinking in this.
Well, one of those examples, and we're not going to take it up during the sessions, is when Aaron's two sons brought in strange fire, right? We're going to talk about how they're, they're supposed to take fire off this brazen altar when you first enter into this court and take it all the way in the back. And yet somehow those two boys brought in fire from their own campfire in God's slum.
On on the importance of this, just one thing to point out that I've.
That was pointed out by one of the writers that I really enjoyed is how important this was to God is that the Spirit of God records that in three chapters, Exodus 2526 and 27, we have God's commandment for this building. And then in Exodus 3637 and 38, three chapters, we have the obedience and the exact pattern that they follow. There's 98 verses of commandment and 98 verses of obedience. That's not accidental.
That happened because God saw the value of that and He appreciated their obedience.
I think maybe it would be good to give us an overview just quickly of of these chapters that we're going to look at. So in Exodus 25 to 27, basically we have the vessels described in those chapters that manifest God. And then from 28 to 29 we have the dress and the consecration of the priests. And then in chapter 30, we have the priest garment or the vessels that are described that that are vessels of.
Approach to God, which would be the the the golden altar and the brazen labor and.
This is, you know, normally you would probably look at that and and think that that is a little bit odd because.
You know, we would naturally bend toward the, the, the, the position or perspective of looking at everything from, from how we see it. You know, we, we come into the through the gate into the court.
And there's the progression into the Tabernacle building. But God doesn't. God doesn't present it that way.
And and you know, it's not my method to go into all of that tonight because, you know, in the next meeting, we, Lord willing, hope to look at the the inside and look at the ark first. But God, God starts from the inside out. You know, there's something there that to be said. I think that the Lord wants to come out to man and meet him.
The the the one thing that is preventing that.
Is, is that's the heart of God, but the thing that stands between God and man is sin and that needs to be dealt with. And we'll get into that. But then after he he comes out and he manifests who he is in this typical teaching from going the from the inside out. Then he speaks to, you know, our our place in Christ, again, speaking from a typical standpoint, and then our our approach to him, which is the brazen labor and the.
Sensor, which we won't get into now.
But I think it's beautiful. You know, earlier we were having reading meetings on Exodus 12 Comment was made that it's the bloodshed that God sees and we get this time and time again in the Scriptures that that the Lord wants us to appreciate his perspective first because that that sets everything in order, I think.
00:40:11
You know, dealing with our peace, dealing with our having right thoughts, all of that. We, we need to get God's perspective 1St. And, and this is the order that we have, I think in these latter parts of Exodus as the Tabernacle is presented to us. So Josh, on that note, I have the Tabernacle back up on the screen for just a second here. Talk to us a little bit about that order that you're Speaking of there. Let me just pop this up here.
God has written down in his Word a specific order in which he's saying you approach me starts on the inside, right? Go. Can you go over that? Because this is how our meetings are going to follow.
Go into a little bit detail about that in terms of he starts with the inside and he works out, but then when they build the stuff, they start on the outside and they and they come in. Is that how that works? Yeah, I, I, I think that's right.
I guess maybe from from.
A I'm not sure if this is going to answer your question here, Mark, and I'm not sure I could give any more than what I've already given. However, what I have appreciated is the progression from the outside in from our perspective, right. And and now I'm, I'm coining this from AJ Pollock, who has a great book on the typical teaching of the Tabernacle. But you see at the start, you know, there's the gate.
Which would be the Sinner seeking? And then there's the brazen altar.
Which is the Sinner getting saved, then the brazen Laver, which is sanctification, and then we move in to the holy place or which would which would bring before a service and then into the holy of holies, which is the second compartment within where God's present presence was. And that's satisfaction beautiful and and I you know so the Lord.
Presents himself to us so that we can we can know him.
You know, He wants us to know Him, He wants us to know His heart, and then He presents it from the outside. We can see our place coming in, in this progression that He has laid out for us to come into His presence and totally be satisfied. And I love it, right? I mean, is there any greater joy? Is there any higher thing than to be found in the very presence of God with peace?
In relationship and enjoying His presence and that that is the heart of God. That's what He wants for us.
One of the central components of what we're going to be talking about, I know we're going to go into this in much further detail later, is atonement, right? And atonement is made-up of three things. It's made-up of propitiation, substitution, and reconciliation. And we're going to see all of those things. We'll, we'll talk more about this later, but propitiation relates to the mercy seat. It's God's side and his satisfaction with the work of Christ.
In regards to his holy nature.
And substitution has to do with the brazen altar and man's side of having a substitute for sin that would bear that judgment in Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ was both the substitute and the propitiation with the result of bringing us to God. We have that in first Peter 318, all three aspects of atonement.
Brought out there, I think it's a very familiar verse to all of us, but it says for Christ.
Hath once suffered for sense propitiation, that just for the unjust substitution that He might bring us to God. Reconciliations beautiful.
Yeah, and and there there's going to be these things that we appreciate as Christians are are are layered throughout the teaching of the Tabernacle. So you pointed out three things there that you know we.
We we spoke about sanctification.
Excuse me? So you know, that's another very relevant truth for the Christian as well. What is sanctification and and?
As you mentioned, Tim, propitiation and substitution and reconciliation and.
You know, these are for, you know, some of the in the audience that might be younger. These are big words, but you know, hopefully we can break them down into bite sized portions so that we understand, you know, God wants us to understand these things and, and he has layered them into this as a type. So I, I mentioned it earlier today that, you know, I had a discussion with a with a man who is a brother in Christ and.
00:45:04
He he didn't take up the Tabernacle at all because he thought it was for Israel.
It's just a bunch of, you know, repetitious instructions that really didn't he felt anyways had any relevance to him in his life. But we miss a great deal as believers that now we can view these things through the lens of the New Testament and as Christians and see what God had has for us in terms of spiritual truth. And there's it's, you know, so the Old Testament is like a picture book. The New Testament is like the instruction manual.
Right. And we need them both. And so I mean, it's that's that's an encouragement for all of us to take up with all of Scripture. But Josh, when we were kids, right? And there's nothing like getting yourself a picture book, right? It was a little bit of words and it was harder to read words, but you love the pictures. But both are necessary. Eventually as we grow older, we have to have the words to go with it. And that's where many people are missing.
Paul's doctrine of the doctrines of the apostles, particularly, Those are the words, but these are the pictures. We're going to go over some pictures here in in its type. It's a beautiful thing. Yeah, you mentioned the word type and you mentioned the word picture. Another word could be used as foreshadow.
Yeah, basically illustrations of something that there's there's more to it than what's on the surface. And I think what we'll see with the Tabernacle and all of the Word of God is that it points us to Christ. And on that note, I just want to read a verse in John chapter 5.
Read verse 39. This is the Lord speaking. Search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life.
And they are they which testify of me, and.
And drop down to verse 46 of John 5 for how do you believe Moses? He would have believed me, for he wrote of me. So here we are reading. The Tabernacle is in the book of Exodus, which was written by Moses. The Lord said Moses wrote about me.
And I'm sure Tim is flipping the Luke 24. Go ahead, Josh. No, you go forward.
Yeah, I was just thinking in the same thing. You know, when the Lord met the two on the road to Emmaus, what did he do? They were, they were leaving Jerusalem. They were discouraged. And he drew alongside them. And there's some key verses that he brings out there. It's Luke 24.
And verse 25.
Then said He that is the Lord Jesus said unto those two that were on the the road to Emmaus, O fools and slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken, ought not Christ?
To have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory, and beginning at Moses.
And the prophets he expounded unto them, and all the scriptures, the things concerning himself.
I have no doubt that that included this Tabernacle. And what was the result? The result was a little bit further down. He reveals himself to them in the breaking of bread, and they turn around and they return to Jerusalem and they share in verse 35 and they told what things were done in the way and how he was known of them and the breaking of bread. And then earlier it says.
That they said in verse 32.
They said one to another, did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened unto us the scriptures And you know, that's my hope for these discussions is that it would have that result in each of our hearts that the reason that God brought this out in the Old Testament is to display the glories of his beloved Son.
One of his masterpieces and as we consider these things.
It should cause our hearts to burn within us.
That's why the pattern mattered, because we can learn something of our Savior through it. Yeah. And so to reiterate this that you two brothers have have touched in on it that the Tabernacle.
Its primary focus is Christ. It brings before us the glories of Christ, the holiness of God. We come into the teaching, typical teaching as individuals and corporately.
By the way, but the foremost intention that God has here is to bring something.
To us to illustrate the glories of his beloved son. And I love that verse thing that you read. You know, did not our hearts burn within us as he talked with us, by the way?
00:50:08
I, I, I share that that sentiment that, that if there's any profit out of what we're doing here today and over the next few evenings is that it is going to cause us to burn.
For Christ.
More than it did. More than my heart burned yesterday.
And, and just to have up on the on the screen, another key, this is beautiful. We're not going to take up Hebrews 9, but I, we would say that there if, if those are listening have any doubt as to why this is turn to the book of Hebrews and look in Chapter 9 and even verse 10, first 10 verses of the 10th chapter, 15 verses. But there's three verses here that I think are extremely helpful.
And that is Hebrews 885.
The shadow of heavenly things. And maybe, Josh, you could just you have it there in front of you. Read the whole verse. Hebrews 85. Hebrews 85 says, Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the Tabernacle. For see saith He, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount.
Beautiful. And then the second one is in Hebrews 923, the pattern of things in the heavens.
You know, I was thinking as we were, as we were looking into this, God has created the entire universe. All the galaxies are out there showing the power of God. And here now in the Tabernacle, He's going to show us and manifest to us the glories of His beloved Son. That a beautiful thing. I mean just beautiful because we can look up our physical eyes and we can see all the glory of the Hubble telescopes and all that showing all that manifested glory of power.
But now we get to look and we're going to unfold the Tabernacle. The Lord leaves us here and helps us along the way to unfold this and see the these glories of the Lord Jesus Christ. So I think it'll be helpful. We should read these verses. So in 923 it says it was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
And then it's just, it's like clockwork. Hebrews 85, now Hebrews 923 now Hebrews 10/1. Shadow of good things to come.
Yeah, so it says for the law having a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the things can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. Those are just three verses amongst others that are in Hebrews, just Hebrews alone, that tell us that this is designed of God to illustrate spiritual, something spiritual for us.
It's just not. This was a historical fact.
Happened Children of Israel.
Went through the wilderness and they have this Tabernacle and all of that.
But we can see intelligently now what these things mean as Christians because we have it through the lens of the New Testament.
The only other thing real quick before we close here and just as we as we wrap up here, I'm going to go ahead and just pop this up here. There's a couple things here that we wanted to note. The Tabernacle is now showing the first time that God dwells with man. Isn't that beautiful in the Garden of Eden, The Garden of Eden, he walked with man, right? With Abraham, He visited with him in the tent shadow. But this is the first time that God dwells with man.
The beautiful thing.
And then we have.
Instructed by divine command. This is just in summary. So these are some of the notes here. Instructed by divine summary and then a heavenly divine pattern. I think we touched on that already too. It's a beautiful thing. And then the devotedness of people to God. We started that off with the fact that people were offering and free will giving of everything that they can. And also we're not going to get into sacrifices in this series, but there are some of the sacrifices that were of a, of a, of a free will offering, right?
Commandments and so people would give offerings out of their own heart as well. It's a sweet smelling savor unto God. Yeah. And can I share a quotation from Edward Dennett? I I put it down because I enjoyed it so much. And it goes to to what you had just pointed out, Mark. God never. So this is Edward Dennett quoting him. God never dwelt among his people.
00:55:01
Until after the crossing of the Red Sea, the Tabernacle was a proof of redemption.
God not only wants to save His people, but also to bring them near to Himself in relationship, He being their center around whom they gathered beautiful.
And then?
So those are just a couple points there along the way is that we we've taken along the way.
And then and just to as we wrap things up and just this is a complete overview. We see here that the tribes were were arranged in a certain way around the Tabernacle. And we saw that at the Tabernacle itself faced E as well. And the and as we saw before the the priests and the Levites were gathered were centered directly around the Tabernacle itself.
So that's.
Was there anything else that you were? That's what we have and so we would like to close every session with answering 2 questions.
Two questions and one of the first question is we're going to try to answer this question as we go through here. Where do we see the loveliness of Christ? Where do we see the glories of Christ in the topic of the of that we've taken up right? But more important and another aspect is how does that affect my walk with the Lord Jesus and as we go through here.
I believe we should see this. The different the details that are being brought up should affect my walk with the Lord Jesus along the way.
I don't think there's anything of that to answer today, but those, that's the, that's one of the mantras that I had going forward. I think it is important though. We kind of stated this earlier, but it's important to recognize that in the Tabernacle, the central theme is the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, his person and his work. Now there are other applications and things that can be taken and made from that, but that's the central thing. And you know, I used to think that atonement was.
The goal being reconciliation, but that's part of it. But there's.
God's purpose is to present the glories of his beloved son in this in this model. And so that's our goal is to be able to look at those things.
To draw out from them those things that would cause the hearts to burn. And then from a practical standpoint, you could see how the Lord prescribed all these.
Materials and gave them the pattern and so practically you can take that for yourselves as as believers today that he he's given us his word. It's not left to our own opinions or ideas about how we ought to meet for worship or ministry or service. Everything that we do for the Lord gives us instruction and direction for we don't have to come up with our own ideas.
It's going to come from a place of pride if it does.
Beautiful, All righty. Well, that was a lovely that's a is that a wrap for tonight? And so we'll step on outside.
Just commend ourselves. Our God and Father, we thank thee so much.
But that is desire to open and unfold the beauties, the glories, the majesty of thy beloved Son. I thank you for giving us this type that we can consider.
That would show my thoughts of my beloved son.
Father, we just ask for Thy blessing on the Word tonight. We seek Thy help for what's to come.
Thanks in the name of my beloved Son of Lord Jesus, Amen.
Both Hands Full
YP Sing Address—D. Blake
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Well, before we get started, let's go ahead and pray.
Our God and Father, we do thank Thee that we can sing these hymns and how we can look forward, Lord to.
They soon returned where we will see the fully glorified. And we do thank Thee that now we can have Thy word opened up and we can learn from it. Pray that what's shared from my word would be of Thee and before the benefit of all we do pray this now and Thy precious name, Lord Jesus, Amen.
Amen.
OK, I have a lot of questions so I'm going to need answers.
What did Jonathan Chaney talk about last night? There's two specific words that he talked about.
Who remembers what they were?
Talked about.
About possessions, possessions, OK, so he talked about who were two men that he he talked about several, but who were two specific men?
OK, so law and Abraham. Abraham is why I was thinking of. Then he talked Abraham was a starts with PA Pilgrim. Then later he talked about Jacob and who was he? A stranger Pilgrim and strangers so.
Keep that in mind. And what?
I would like to take up and I'm going to read a verse and there's a word in this verse that I'm going to talk about, but I want to see if anyone can give me a definition of this word. This will be an Exodus 29.
And it will be verse 9.
And this word will start with C.
And thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and put the bonnets on them.
And the priest office shall be theirs for perpetual statute. And thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons. What word in their service see.
Got it. Consecrate. Let's consecrate mean.
It's a big word.
Who knows what consecrate means?
OK, I'm going to, by the way, what is that game that your boys and some girls were playing out there in the Octagon and you're hitting the ball?
Why is it?
OK, I had never seen it, never heard it. Looks like a fun game. And what's the other game? I know you were playing, some of you were where you have the.
Spike ball.
What are the parts of the body that you're using playing those games?
Your arms? What's at the end of your arm? Your hands. OK, I don't know if you want the last game of Gaga.
Guys get OK, but I know you were on the last ones, so do you mind volunteering? I need someone else to stand up with me. I know your last name is Arlenson Jacob Day. Put your hands out. I was going to get bigger cups but.
Looks like you have steady hands.
He's consecrated.
Now.
Probably could have had a big basis since he has big hands but his hands are full or with fullness. Consecration is with hands full. What do you think his mind is on right now?
Not spilling the water. He's paying attention.
Your mind is probably on sitting back down, but he's paying attention to what's in his hands. He's consecrated and may use the word concentrated, but consecrated with hands full. And so I would like to go over two aspects of consecration. OK, thank you.
00:05:07
And those two aspects.
Our worship and service. Not worship, service worship and service. Those are two distinct parts of our pilgrimage and as being strangers here below so I want to take up worship first because.
I do believe that we don't have the worship aspect correct of who the Lord Jesus is.
Our service is going to be very confused, so first I want to look in Leviticus 16.
And again, this has to do with the priest.
But Leviticus.
16 And I'm just going to be taking little snippets out of a verse. This is verse 12 And he shall take a sensor full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the Lord, and his hands full of sweet incidents, beaten small, and bring it within the veil. Here the priest was to be consecrated with what?
What was he to be consecrated with? Does the word consecrate isn't in here? It just says hands full.
Sweet instance and where was he to go?
Inside the veil? Who is inside the veil?
I know we haven't had it yet in the.
Discussion on the Tabernacle, but who is inside the veil?
God.
The approach to God he was to have, and again, I'm only taking one aspect of this verse, but he was to have his hands full of sweet incense.
Why is sweet to God?
I think, remember I'm going to bring out the aspect of worship, what is sweet to God that we can bring right into his presence.
What's that? OK, pray. Prayers are sweet. I'm thinking of what's the most sweetest thing that we can ever bring to God, and we may bring it in prayer. You're correct.
Christ, is that what you said? Sorry, I said praise, praise. Well, so I'm thinking of, I'm still thinking of worship, but I guess I gave it out.
So the Lord Jesus, that is the sweetest thing that we can bring to God. And again, it's both hands full. Just like Jacob here, he had both hands. There's nothing sweeter that we can bring to God than the Lord Jesus and.
I I think of the apostle Paul.
Sometimes he in his epistles, he's riding along and there's something that he just burst out into who the he's talking about the Lord Jesus and he just burst out into. Sometimes the word doxology is used by worship, and so worship is when we take up with who the Lord Jesus is.
And may say well.
What is a sweet incense beaten small?
And I was like to make an application that.
We can read our Bible every day and there may be a verse that we come across that brings out something of the beauties of the Lord Jesus and we can pray like you said, just pray to God and and repeat that verse. You know God knows infinitely more about the Lord Jesus than we ever will.
But he still likes to hear us.
Tell him about his son.
And.
That is, there's nothing greater that we can bring to God than bring sweet incense of the Lord Jesus.
00:10:02
Now.
There's another side of constant creation in regards to worship. I want to bring out this consecration. Always good.
OK, you're shaking your head no. Does anyone else agree that consecration is always good?
OK, it's not. There is a time that consecration was done that wasn't good. And this is in First Kings.
And remember, consecration just means hands full.
So Jeroboam he's.
Taking the 10 tribes of Israel.
And going to take a verse first. Kings 12, verse 26.
And Jeroboam said in his heart, and then I'm going to jump down to verse 31, and he made in House of high places and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi. The word consecration is and out first. But if we turn over to chapter 13 and verse 33, we'll get the verse.
After this thing jeroboam return not.
From his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people, priests of the high places. Whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.
That first verse I read.
Where did Jeroboam's thoughts come from?
His heart.
What's the Bible say about the heart? The heart is.
Deceitful and desperately wicked.
We cannot.
Come up out of our hearts, or bring up out of our hearts proper thoughts of who Christ is.
We have to guard against that.
We have to guard against our mind coming up with who we think Christ is. We always have to come from the word of God on who Christ is. You know you may find a catchy phrase on YouTube or or in some song.
If it's according to scripture, then it's according to scripture. But we have to guard.
At letting those be in our heart. And then.
I say this carefully, saying this is the offering to God because what Jeroboam did here, it was idolatry, and we can come up with who God is and who the Lord Jesus is in our mind and in our heart.
And and that's idolatry. We come up with our own God.
So that's something to be warned about, to always come from the Word of God as to who the Lord Jesus is.
OK, so that was worship. What was the next word I was going to talk about?
Who remembers service?
Let's turn and I believe Josh mentioned his name.
And the meeting on the Tabernacle, This would be Exodus.
31.
And I'll read verse two. See, I have called by name Bezaleal, the son of Uri, the son of her of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God and wisdom and an understanding and knowledge and in all manner of workmanship to devise cunning works to work in gold and in silver and in brass. And it goes on. And it speaks of oh, holy up and.
Get down to verse 10 and the close of service and the holy garments for Aaron.
The priests and the garments of his sons to minister in the priests office, and the anointing oil and sweet incense for the holy place, according to all that have commanded thee. Shall they do so? These two men? And then there are many others that were wise hearted that God had raised up to put together the Tabernacle. Now some of the items, they were visible, they could be seen.
00:15:00
Some of the items they were It might have been the sewing of the.
Yeah, the ram skins, the badger skins, those men have been as seen.
And I would like to make a simple application.
In the assembly, the men.
The things that are done in assembly meeting the men are seen as far as the publicly seen.
There are things that are unseen that the sisters.
Do does one have a higher importance over the other?
That's correct, there isn't. It's all for the service of the Lord.
To glorify the Lord Jesus, to bring out the beauties of the Lord Jesus and.
So these, these ones, they were raised up of God, each of you, and I trust each of you have put your faith in the Lord Jesus, have been raised up of God to do his service.
Now, could there be things that we do with our hands that are not of God and service?
My girls can't answer this question because we often refer to this at home.
Who is someone that put both hands in something? His hands were full.
And he went along, eating out of his hands.
OK, my daughter did answer OK at home sometimes if.
My girls grab a cookie in each hand will say don't be a Samson.
Samson was a man of mixed principles.
Where did he so he he got that? What was it that he could got out?
Honey, could you imagine? He's a grown man. He's. Sometimes you see young kids grab.
Things off the table and they're trying to figure out which to eat. Samson was a grown man and he had his hands full of honey and he's walking along and the Bible doesn't give a strong description and want to be careful with the imaginations, but you can see, imagine the honey, it's just falling off and he's just eating it.
Was Honey speak of Indiana a scripture?
Pleasure. Pleasure. OK, yes, this. Were you the one that answered it yet or whoever did? It's along that line.
I think by the T there was a thing of honey. What was the honey for?
Sweetener, Sweetener.
This honey manufactured no.
So it's natural, natural sweetness.
Here there's a lot of natural sweetness that we're enjoying.
I'm probably going to get messed up goo goo ball Gaga OK Gaga ball. There is hikes can enjoy seeing things of nature.
And some of you were doing the climbing wall. Those are things that that we can enjoy natural sweetness. And there's nothing wrong with natural sweetness. If I want to look at a verse.
And this verse came to me this morning.
Visiting with Tim, this is Ecclesiastes.
I believe it's chapter 4.
Chapter 4 and verse 6.
Better is a handful with quietness than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit. I think that was Samson.
He lost his discernment. His eyes had been put out.
Samson's life was full and you read the Samson's life and there was a lot of activity going on in Samson's life.
I would say the other thing is it was unclear you took out of Alliance carcass. You're you're true, you have.
00:20:03
Probably wouldn't have been very sanitary.
And so here this is. And who wrote Ecclesiastes?
Solomon.
How many wives does Solomon have?
700 too many. Yeah, too many. It might have been 700 and 300 concubines. He had two hands full. He, he should have known better. He wrote this handful of quietness. So there are those things that we have to do while living on this earth. There's the verse that in Luke 19 that says.
Occupy till I come.
And the Lord Jesus even said, I pray this is John 17, not to take them out of the world, but that we would be kept while we're in this world. A lot of you are in school. You have to do school.
Some of us as fathers, but all of us as fathers, we have to provide for our family.
The mothers are at home mostly and provide for what's needed for the household so.
And then there's the natural sweetness. We talked about the things that we can enjoy. God has given those things for us to enjoy.
But when we put both hands into those things.
We can lose our discernment like solemn or well, Solomon and Samson.
Who, though, was someone?
That took up handfuls of purpose.
Ruth. And what was it that she was picking up?
I believe it is barley. That's right, the poorer man's food.
And that can also speak of Christ she was or the Lord Jesus Christ. She was picking those things up and so.
While May say that she wasn't getting much grain.
But she was doing it with purpose, and so in our service for the Lord.
We do it with purpose for the Lord.
And.
There's something that struck with recently.
I have some wounds in my hands and well, I should say scars.
Not wounds. And sometimes, especially in my girls who are younger, they would like to hear the stories of where those wounds came from.
Often those wounds happened. I should say scars because.
Their their clothes, stuff, they're no longer open. They happen because I wasn't being careful.
Such as I didn't put on a glove or I was cutting on a saw and I wasn't being careful as I was coming around and would cut my finger. There's some that have lost their fingers.
And I'm making an application here.
There are things that we may do in our life that are going to be scars for the rest of your life.
Just like on my hand, I have certain scars that are going to be there until my body's changed and resurrection. There are things that you may take up with things that you do.
Those are going to be scars.
Some you make it over quickly, but some may last the rest of your life.
Be very mindful of what you take up with.
Now I'm going to pick on loop debut because I saw you win that spike ball, so I want you to come up. I have one more.
Illustration.
So watch what going to put this on his head because he won at.
Spike ball.
OK, I want you to cast that down.
OK, what did he use?
His hands. OK, you can go sit. Thank you.
00:25:05
Sometimes illustration as they look kind of funny, but they stick with us a little bit better. Revelation.
Chapter 2.
Sorry, this would be Revelation 4.
And verse 10.
The four and 20 elders fall down before him that sat on the throne and worshipped him, that liveth forever and ever, and listened to this part and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
I believe this is the last reference.
It doesn't say hands here, but as Luke illustrated, hands were used. I want to be clear, this is most likely figurative. I don't, and someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe this is saying that we're going to actually be given a crown like a king would wear when we're in heaven. I suggest that's more figurative and I would like to make the application that.
For what we do.
On this earth, God is going to give us something.
Specifically to each of us.
And that's why we occupy till I come. There are rewards also that he'll give us. But.
What are we going to do with them?
Cast them at His feet. We are going to acknowledge that He gave us the ability, He gave us the desire, He gave us the opportunity.
To do.
To be consecrated to him. And so with our hands and again, I, I believe this is figurative. We are going to say, Lord, it's all you, you did it all.
And we'll take the Olympics, for example, when they win.
A trophy or an Olympics, It'd be a medal. What do they do with it? Do they stick in their back pocket?
Well, sometimes when the pitchers are being taken, what they'll yeah, they'll hold it above their head.
Let's be careful that we don't go walking around saying look at my service, look what I'm doing.
Because in heaven.
We should acknowledge it now in heaven. We will fully acknowledge that it was all Him. He has just chosen us, but it's still all Him. All our service is based off of Him. Now. I'm not going to take much longer and it's a full study in itself, but the hands of the Lord Jesus.
Can anyone tell me what something is that the Lord Jesus had in his hands?
Go ahead.
Nails very good.
With some in his life here.
Scars are wounds, yeah, he'll have that for all eternity. You'll have those wounds, and we'll come back to that.
In his life here, who can name me something I had in his hands?
Little children, and I believe that's the only thing that we read of that he had in his hands.
I could be wrong there if I couldn't find anything else.
That's what he values.
His little children and each of us can take that place as little children. Even the money, when they asked is it lawful to give to Caesar or not, he says show me a coin. I don't know that he handled that coin, I think as they showed him.
And that's an example for us. His hands were occupied with his Father's business and his Father has chosen us. And that's who the Lord Jesus handled that first song that we sang this evening.
00:30:14
What did say they did with his hands in the garden?
They bound his hands.
I think it's 56. And that thing about Jesus, those hands that did such good, they nailed them to a.
Cross of wood.
That's what they did to his hands.
And.
Those wounds he'll have for all eternity, and we're going to see those wounds for all eternity because you know what he's going to be doing for all eternity.
Someone whispered it, serving his talks about how he'll he'll have us sit down and he will serve us. As in Luke 12.
That's what the Lord Jesus will be doing for all eternity. That's very humbling where he's the creator and psalms that talks about the handiwork.
And and now those hands, they've been pierced, and for all eternity he'll be serving us so.
Again, we're pilgrims and strangers that had last night.
And As for pilgrims and strangers, first comes worship and then it comes service where we can be consecrated. Was consecration mean?
Hands full.
For the Lord.
Let's just commend ourselves.
Our God and Father, we do.
Thank you for this time to consider what our occupation is to be and how.
Wonderful. It is Lord Jesus, that we will be with thee and.
Is beyond human thought what it will be to have our Creator have our Savior to serve us. We pray that in the time that we have left here on this earth that.
We would worship thee and serve thee as thou hast desired. We pray this now and thy precious name, Lord Jesus.
Amen.
Sure.
Ergon and Father, we do thank thee for the.
Hands that have provided the refreshments to eat and the much labor of love that's been done with the hands of those that prepared it. Pray this and thy precious name, Lord Jesus, Amen.
Exodus 12:12-17
Reading
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Our God and our Father, we're thankful for Your Word that we have opened before us.
Thankful for the many types that we have in it. Think of all the innocent victims that were slaughtered and bloodless **** and how they all point to our Lord Jesus and sacrifice on the cross.
We're thankful that.
That we have a life to understand these things and we just pray that there would be something here for each one of us. There may be many needs or encouragement or exhortation or comfort. We just pray that there would be something for each one and that the Lord uses would be glorified. Pray for a blessing as we open up thy word and in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Should we continue?
1St 12:00.
Verse 27.
OK, Exodus chapter 12 starting at verse 12.
For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the first born of the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord, and the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout all your generations. You shall keep it a feast by an ordinance.
Forever 7 days shall you eat unleavened bread. Even the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses. For whosoever eateth leaven bread. From the first day until the 7th day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel, and in the first day there shall be in holy convocation, and in the 7th day there shall be in holy convocation to you. No manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.
And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
For in this self same day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore shall you observe this day in your generations by an ordinance forever.
In the first month, on the 14th day of the month, that even ye shall eat unleavened bread. Until the one and 20th day of the month, that even seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses. For whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger or born in the land. Ye shall eat nothing leavened in all your habitations shall ye unleavened bread.
Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them.
Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the Passover. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lentil and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians. And when he seeth the blood upon the lentil and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in onto your houses.
To smite you, and you shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever. And it shall come to pass, when you become into the land which the Lord will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. And it shall come to pass when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service, that ye shall say It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel and Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses.
And the people bowed the head and worshiped.
Verse 12.
And I'd like to read the verse in Chapter 11 to get some context and it says in verse.
Verse. Well, I'll start at verse 4. Moses said thus saith the Lord, about midnight I will will I go out into the midst of Egypt, and all the first born in the land of Egypt shall die from the first born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the first born of the maidservant, that is behind the mill, and all the first born of beasts.
And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it anymore, but against any of the children of Israel. Shall not a dog move his tongue against man or beast? This is where I was thinking about, that you may know that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.
And then jump down to the 29th verse of the chapter that we've been reading.
We haven't read this verse, but to give the context and it says, well, I'd like to read verse 28. And the children of Israel went away and did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. And it came to pass it at midnight. The Lord smote all the first born in the land of Egypt, from the first born of Pharaoh that sat up on his throne, and the first born of the captive that was in the dungeon, and all the first born of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all the servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt where there was not a house.
But there was not one dead. So this is the context of what's going on with his death Angel passing over the entire land.
And that statement in Chapter 11, verse seven says that you may know that the Lord death put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. That's an important, important thing to know, that Israel, the 12 tribes were living in Egypt and God saw them as a distinct nation and that he was going to segregate them. And it came down to one thing. It came down to verse 28 of our chapter. It says the children of Israel went away.
Did as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. Yes, we spoke yesterday of the fathers going out and laying the blood on the lentil. If a Hebrew father did not do that, the same then would have have happened. The first born in that house would have died. But scripture clearly tells us that every single household in the land of in the amongst the Israelites or the Hebrews obeyed.
And that's a key thing, that there was complete 100% obedience from the Hebrews and there was complete 100% disobedience from the Egyptians. There's not one Egyptian family or one Egyptian household was spared.
That's important thing to note is there is a distinction God will draw in the land. A distinction.
And it's important to see that obedience is a key factor. When God says something, he means something and there's a reason for it. We don't have to know the reason.
But there's blessing that comes from it. The blessing is is there was not a great cry coming out of the Israelites homes at night. There was a great cry was it stay there. It says in verse six of Chapter 11, there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt such as there was none like it nor shall be like anymore to hear wailing of households throughout the land at midnight. I believe this is when the death angels coming across.
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To hear wailing of households.
Of first borns being smitten that night, what must have been something else and yet not A1 amongst all the Hebrew families.
Is it not a theme in Scripture that God always provides one way of escape from a judgment that is to come?
Whether it's from the from the flood, provided the art, it could be a type of price.
And of course, there's a judgment to come in the future here.
The Lord Jesus Christ and the close here. It's from the Passover lamb. I'd just like to.
Make one distinction from the.
The type and the anti type and that is the Passover lamb is just the land that had no intelligence.
And the Lord Jesus, he had perfect intelligence of what was to come when he was on his pathway on earth as a child, He said I must be about my Father's business and then his ministry. How many times he said he mentioned the things that he would suffer. And so he had total intelligence of what he was going to go through on the cross, and he went through it.
For us.
The type here, no intelligence, just the land, just the type. But there's a way. That's a theme in Scripture that there's that there's one way of escape from a coming judgment.
What Mark was just commenting on, you know, with what was said in Chapter 11.
The Lord, when He laid these things out for Israel, assumed their obedience. And you know when the Lord speaks in regards to His provision, His protection.
He assumes our obedience and in regards to that, and sadly.
Often that isn't the case and there is an obedience and there is a lack of blessing and and there is such a thing as as a.
The government of God that is associated with lack of obedience, but thankfully, as Mark said here.
In this portion we see absolute obedience on the part of Israel and not one first born from the homes of Israel that that died. But I think it's important to see that when the Lord laid this out in Chapter 11, He assumed their obedience.
We have a much greater capability.
Having been delivered.
Power of sin.
To walk in a way that's pleasing to the Lord and it's.
It's sad that that isn't always the case for us.
I think there were about 10 judgments that.
Came up that fell upon Egypt, went there.
And as we've been looking at this chapter and its typical teaching, when you, when you look at those judgments and their their typical form, what they picture to us, we have really God exposing the world for what it really is. It's emptiness and, and all of that. And the final judgment ends in death.
And and that's.
That's solemn to think about, as Steve was pointing out that the Lord has provided.
This world with escape.
But it's only through one way, that is through Christ to escape the judgment to come and judgment that will fall upon each individual that refuses God's offer of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's a very solemn thing that.
00:15:19
That this is the end.
Is death and judgment for one who does not come to Christ God's?
Lamb Acceptance of God's lamb is the only way to to escape the judgment.
You know, I was looking at that recently, Josh, and when Moses first went in the Pharaoh and.
And describe these various judgments that were going to come to pass. The magicians came out from Egypt and they weren't able to reverse them. They duplicated them. They duplicated them, making the problem twice as bad as it was to begin with. They had no power to, actually.
Provide deliverance from it. The only deliverance that Steve brought out was from the land was from the Lord.
I think it's good if we emphasize that.
To the young people, we need to emphasize that that we're talking about.
God dealing with man here in the day of superheroes and Superman, and I don't know, all these things that are going on. It's almost portrayed like there's this struggle between good and evil and they're both just about equal and in the end good is just going to overcome. But that's not the case at all.
We're talking about deity and created beings.
In the story.
There is no contest that God is going about things in a certain way, and it might seem that way to us that, well, where is the Lord? How come he didn't come in sooner? Why did he allow this to happen if if he's really the Supreme being? Well, He is, but He has plans and purposes that go beyond our thoughts. And so it's good to remember that there is no contest. And like you were Speaking of the magicians, there are supernatural beings too.
There are people that have a touch in with supernatural beings, but these are all created beings and there is a creator that is going to win in the end. He's going to have his way and it's good to get that solid in our minds that there's no question, no contest.
With this obedience we we see just simple faith.
On the part of Israel, they just took God at his work and that's really what faith boils down to. I think it's Acts chapter 25, verse 27. It's often been said that the definition of faith is captured there in that statement that Paul made. For I believe God that it shall be even as it was told me. The children of Israel believe God that it would be even as it was told them. They obeyed and they were preserved.
It's that simple, not a complicated concept.
Faith is taking God at His word and obeying.
00:20:59
So again, it's it's God's estimation of the work.
We've been talking about should give us.
Absolute solid peace in our souls to know that when.
That he's accepted the work of his beloved Son is satisfied and for the soul that places their trust in Christ.
There are then sheltered by that precious blood and spared from eternal damnation and promised life, everlasting life in Christ and.
We have here in verse 13, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. That's a definitive statement. There's no question about it. I will pass over you and the plague shall not be upon you.
Destroy it when I smite the land of Egypt.
Many believers today wrestle with eternal security and you know, we need to be solid on this. And, and the Lord has gone to great lengths and his word to assure us that once we're saved, we're saved forever. And it's, it's, it doesn't depend upon us at all. It's what he sees in in the work of Christ that matters and it's not.
My what I can do to maintain my salvation I it was left up to me.
Or you? Well, we would have no hope.
But the work is done, it's complete, it's final, and God promises us.
Assurance that.
Once saved, we are saved forever.
And so let's not let anyone ever try to convince us that that you can be saved or lost or lost and then saved and then lost again. And it's this ongoing cyclical battle.
That's that's not scriptural, that's not what God says. I was just thinking of his verse in in Romans 8 verse one. And again, there are many many. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
It's final. In fact, the latter end of that verse is not in the manuscript. It was added by the translators. That's where the verse should end.
He gives unto them eternal life, gives unto us eternal life, and they shall never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand, for my father, which gave them me, is greater than all. No man is able.
To pluck them from my Father's hand, the Lord Jesus said.
We are doubly secured, you might say, in his hand and, and our father's hand and.
I believe that for those who wrestle with the question of their salvation, whether it is sure or not, I.
It becomes a.
I believe it stunts the growth of any believer because we're we're never able to get past the first step.
You know.
So it's sad, you know, there's many people who believe that, but.
That's not what Scripture tells us.
Yeah. As you say, Josh, I don't believe that there's any possibility of growth spiritually if you're still stuck in that that place because you haven't gotten past square one and.
We can thank God for His Word that gives us absolute assurance. I think I've mentioned this before in these meetings here, but I work with a man named Brian who's a Catholic, and I believe, I honestly believe that he has life.
00:25:03
But he does absolutely not have eternal security at all, and we've had numerous conversations and as a Catholic, he believes that to assume that he has salvation is a sin of presumption. And so I read to him these verses and 1St John chapter 5.
First John chapter 5 and verse 10. He that believeth on the Son of God, not the witness in himself.
He that believeth not God made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave his Son, and then these verses. And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life. This life is in his Son, either half the Son, half life. And he that hath not the Son hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know.
That you have eternal life.
And that you may believe in the name of the Son of God. He had never heard that before. He was speechless and.
It's a sad thing, as you say, that he was completely stunted in his ability to move forward.
And his Christian life by the system for sure, but also just by his lack of resting in the finished work of Christ and having that conscious assurance that it was it was spinning.
I think that.
And sometimes the.
Anyway, sometimes it's not just a doctrinal issue I remember as a young person.
I got finally knew that I was saved and I could never be lost. But my experience was such that.
Yeah, did that work?
The blood apparently was applied outside the door, not on the inside.
So don't look in here to get your assurance. Look to the Lord Jesus.
Look to the word of God. There you can have assurance you can't have it looking inside.
To that I was actually trying to find the verse and I can't put my finger on it, but there's another verse in first John that says if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart can't can't put my finger on the verse. But I was thinking that same thing and that regard saying because as a young person I wrestled with the same thing and I think it's probably a fairly common experience even amongst thoughts that.
We don't necessarily rest in the settled assurance of our eternal life.
And, and it hinders us, I can for sure say that there was absolutely no growth in my life spiritually while I wrestled with those things.
It's first John chapter 3.
Verse 20.
If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things.
Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then we have confidence towards God.
It's OK.
Ask about these things, how was the kind of what came up?
00:30:04
In the beginning was the question of this what we need?
Thanks.
What we need by this service?
It's OK to ask. I think the spirit in which we ask these things means a lot, too. Mark and I had that discussion the other day.
About the spirit in which we ask questions but if we're honestly seeking, it's okay to ask questions about why we do things the way we do something just a tradition or.
Struggling with things like even eternal salvation or eternal security.
To go to dad, mom, brother, sister and.
And point like you said.
Point to Scripture. That's the final authority. That's what speaks to.
Our heart and can guide us in the way but you know it's not wrong to ask questions I think sometimes we get shy about asking questions because we might.
Think we'll be looked down upon or something like that or?
But it but it's always good to be asking and it's always good to be going to work.
To find those answers or to get help from other people.
To guide us in those things, to find those those answers. But I like that the kids.
Children ask what we need by their service and so I I think that the the Lord would want us to be seeking, asking, looking through His word.
You know a lot of what we're talking about now, the, the Old Testament Scriptures and, and the Passover and the Tabernacle and.
You know, it's, it's hard to get a hold of these things sometimes. And what's, what's the purpose, what's the meaning? Well, I think what's been being brought out in these meetings?
Has been, you know, extremely helpful in showing that all these things point to Christ. It's not just stories in the Old Testament.
Types, shadows and.
So I just wanted to bring that up. It's it's OK to ask questions.
It's evidence of engagement, isn't it? When we're having our reading meetings at home, I am thankful when my kids ask questions because it means they're paying attention. If if we don't have questions, maybe I missed the mark, maybe they're not engaged, maybe have lost them. And I believe that that's probably what happened in Israel at some point in time as there was a loss of engagement.
The children no longer asked their parents these questions and these things fell away.
To the point where there was a period of hundreds of years in Israel where the Passover was no longer celebrated. Hezekiah brought it back in. And so why was that? Maybe it would have been assisted by the children asking their parents, hey, why do we, why do we do this and that matter? Maybe encourage them, hey?
We've missed the mark. We we need to get back to doing what the Lord has asked us. So couldn't agree more Drew. It's important for questions to be asked.
But there's also to Drew to Stifel and on the very next verse, verse 27, that ye shall say.
So this is a two way St. There are those that should ask questions sincerely, right? But then there should be those that would give an answer. But that is a that is a tricky thing. So growing up I'll never forget.
Going to another camp in Northern California and seeing young people from other assemblies where things weren't necessarily followed as much. And so questions were asked and this answer was given. That's how the meeting does it.
That's the wrong answer. That's the wrong answer.
And I'll relate a time when I was.
When I was 20 years old and I was working through college at UPS early in the morning at 3:00 in the morning it will be having eating some breakfast before I went to work at UPS. My dad was in cancer at the time and.
He was wrought with radiation on the head, so he had no hair.
And he come in the kitchen while, I mean while I'm having pancakes. And I had a little Bible study with the young people at college and he'd say, say Mark, he says.
00:35:09
What are you taking up? What questions are being asked?
I remember this quite, I remember this statement, he said, He said.
I may not know the answer, but we're going to go find it.
I've taken heart on that just because you're being asked the question.
Doesn't mean you don't have to have the answer right now the scriptures, you just have to go look for it as it said there.
We have been tested with major things here worldwide in the pandemic that really should have made a search into the Scriptures as to answers for ourselves. There are things that come up that we can't look at at a point verse and say, well, it says here because of that. No, there's there's questions that are being asked that won't have a definitive answer, but there's going to be principles.
To be searched out in the scriptures that will make it make the way plain.
So I so enjoy that just because you're being asked the question, you may not have the answer right then. Know the fact. Take some time, ask the Lord, find out where in the scriptures would principles lay themselves out to help give that answer.
You might add to this that.
There's probably a couple things I think that we as parents can get from this, and that is that we ought not to take for granted that our children are established in some of the most basic truths and avoid bringing them before them because we think, well, it's just common knowledge. It's important that we go over the basics.
And #2.
That teaching should begin at home.
Should be found in the assembly, absolutely yes.
But I don't think we should be relying on the assembly to be teaching our children, although we we want it to be. So that would be a healthy assembly, but it should begin in our homes. Is that right?
Along those lines, Josh, the verse that we started with today, just like to touch on this real briefly because it's a critical point.
The last phrase of the verse says, Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment.
I am the Lord like to read a verse couple verses over in second Peter.
Because this is pertinent to us in our day as well. Because there is coming judgment.
I'd like to read from first and second Peter chapter 3.
And we'll start at verse 3, knowing this first that there's shall come in the last days. Those are the days that we're living in scoffers walking after their own less saying where is the promise of his coming?
For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they are willingly ignorant.
Of that by the word of God, the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water, and in the water, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. But now, but the heavens and the earth, which are now by the same word, are kept in store.
Reserved unto fire.
Against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
We're living in a day.
That is not unlike.
What we're reading about in.
In Exodus 12, there's a coming judgment and and that judgment is coming very, very soon.
God is going to judge.
In, in Exodus 12, God executed judgment on Egypt, and it came about exactly how he determined. And it was a very, very solemn judgment. But this world that we're living in.
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Is destined to judgment, not by water, not by an Angel of death that is going to come through.
Although there will be an amazing amount of death and suffering during the Great Tribulation, but this world that we're living in is going to be judged by fire.
And I, I mentioned that because there's a lot of people around this and the portion that I read here in, in second Peter is, is incredibly relevant to the day in which we live. And I know that all your children have been told or exposed in one way or another. Even if you've been homeschooled, there's still information out there that says that there was no flood.
As a professional, I work in a.
In a part of science that would love to ignore the fact that there was a flood, that there was judgment that God executed on this earth and that there is a coming judgement, but it's going to be a judgement by fire. And we need to acknowledge that and recognize that.
And the relevance to our lives now is that we should have a care for those that are around us that are destined.
That are heading down that broad Rd. that leads.
To the Lake of Fire.
It leads to judgment.
And so often it's it's easy for us to coast along.
And to not.
Let our light shine.
I'm pointing the finger 4 fingers back at myself.
I'm not pointing the finger at anybody else.
Because I I'm guilty of this. We don't have a heart for the souls that are around this.
I'm thankful that Moses testimony to the children of Israel was such that they listened and they obeyed.
The question is what is our testimony to those around us that there is coming judgment and that that judgment is going to come in the most awful way, judgment by fire.
Sadly, we see in Pharaoh.
Something that we see in relation to what you're saying, Steve. In this world we see one who hardened his heart against the Lord, and the Lord hardened his heart in return.
Verse that says in Genesis, My spirit shall not always strive with men. And that happened with Pharaoh. Right as they were going through these flags, Moses was speaking to him, and Moses was cast out from the presence of Pharaoh. Chapter 10. Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself.
See my face no more.
And that is a real thing. There are those that absolutely reject anything and everything that has to do with God and.
They may be passed out from their presence, but we're responsible for being ambassadors for Christ. Mark talked about that a little bit on Monday night. And you know there's a verse that says that he that being often reproved pardoneth his neck so suddenly be cut off and not without remedy.
Song but.
We that know the terror of the Lord.
If I may, I'd like to just go back to guess what you're talking about respect to our homes. And this verse came to me back in chapter 10. In fact, there we have Pharaoh hardening his heart. Verse 20, Lord harden Pharaoh's heart.
And Pharaoh's heart in this case, after Pharaoh pardon his, so that he would not let the children of Israel go.
This is in the word said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven.
But there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.
And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt. Three days he saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days. But this is what I was thinking of. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. I think that's a beautiful thing, you know.
00:45:13
We've been speaking a lot about Egypt and in particular in chapter 12, the the Judgment of death.
But again, all these plagues as they are exposing the world for what it is and what it means typically, excuse me, we should be very cognizant, very aware.
Of what this world system is, what it's characterized by, we should be very careful about how insidious.
This world is and how it can creep into our homes.
It's been said that, you know, the television takes us out into the world. Now we've got the computer and the Internet. Which are we? The television brings the world into our homes.
Computer and the Internet brings us out into the world.
And.
And there's many different mediums of, of information exchange that, you know, we partake in today just as a part of normal life. But if we let that get out of hand, we can be bringing, we should have light in our dwellings, is what I'm trying to say. And and not allow the darkness of Egypt to creep in.
And a healthy Christian home should be, should be one where the Lord is honored and where we speak about the scriptures and and teach these things to our children.
And we need to be very careful about what we're allowing into our homes. And in this case, all the children of Israel have light in their dwellings, and that should be what characterizes us, too.
There's an interesting order in what we've been talking about with these questions of the children.
It's because they had the remembrance that the questions came so the Lord is talking to Moses and Aaron in the 1St 20 verses that Moses calls the elders and says this is what the Lord wants you to do. You keep it, you're responsible. You're responsible once. So as parents are responsible to bring the things of the Lord in the home to their kids can be occupied with that. We don't have to wait for questions to bring things out the.
The opposite, it's us bringing the things of the Lord into the house and then questions come, thankfully, by which we can explain things more and so on. But that's the order. It's the elders that were responsible to have this remembrance, to have this, you know, gathering together to talk about what the Lord had done for the people of Israel because of that, the children.
Would see it, they would think about it, they would come up with questions.
If we don't bring the things of the Lord in our home, they'll be occupied with things, will be other things, and they won't bring questions about the Lord's things. So let that be the order that we as the responsible ones make sure that there's plenty of Christ in the home that our kids can be occupied with and then have questions which are wonderful to go into things further. And that's the order we have in this chat.
Mark, I think that's excellent and just want to make a notice. Verse 15 Seven days shall ye eat?
Unleavened bread? I'd like to ask the kids a question. What's unleavened bread?
This morning.
Most of us dads got together and and we met in the kitchen and we followed a recipe to make the pancakes we all enjoyed for breakfast. Can somebody tell me what the recipe is for unleavened bread?
I'll give you a simple.
Suggestion. I believe that unleavened bread had either two or possibly I believe three ingredients.
Can anybody, any of the kids, tell me what the the ingredients of unleavened bread are?
It's OK, you can speak up.
There's flour. That's one.
There's water.
What's the third one?
00:50:01
I'll give you a hint. We used it this morning.
Oil.
Those are the ingredients of unleavened bread.
And the reason I I point that out is is there some significance to that?
As we get into the Tabernacle a little bit, I don't know if we'll get to this, but the flower, especially fine flower, speaks to us of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus himself said I am the bread of life.
And so flower, throughout Scripture, especially fine flowers, speaks to us of the Lord Jesus, His evenness of character, but he's also food for our souls.
The water speaks of the word of God and the oil speaks of the Spirit of God and those three things combined. And you might add salt in there as a fourth ingredient, but that's what created unleavened bread.
I want to ask you.
We don't generally eat unleavened bread. Has anybody ever tried to eat unleavened bread?
It's the closest that we get to it is probably crackers.
It's it's a little bit hard.
The most of the bread that we eat is leavened bread, and the difference is is that you add one more ingredient to that mixture before you cook it, and that's yeast.
So bread is very simple as really four ingredients, but the difference is the yeast and sometimes some sugar to activate the yeast.
There's a lesson here.
And what Mark was saying prompted me to ask about this and, and for us to think about this because the unleavened bread was something that, number one, the children of Israel wouldn't have eaten on a regular basis.
That was something special and it speaks to us of the Lord Jesus and I believe that the the picture.
And the type is what are we feeding on in our in our households?
Are we feeding on Christ? Are we feeding on that which is the word of God?
The person of the Lord Jesus.
And the Spirit of God, it's going to have an effect and it will, I believe, bring out those questions that we would like to like our children to ask if we are feeding on unleavened bread.
The leaven speaks to us of sin.
Or that principle that that expands and it when you take a little bit of leaven and you put it in that recipe, that same recipe of oil and water and and flour.
That that dough is going to be leavened. It only takes a small amount of yeast and that spreads throughout the entire lump of of dough and it causes it to rise and.
And it causes it to be soft, and that's why we use it in our and the bread that we eat.
On a regular basis. But it's something that is very personal. It spreads, it doesn't stay in one one part of that, that lump of bread or a lump of dough. The cooking process kills the yeast, stops its action, but it's still there.
And so.
I believe the and somebody else can help me with this, but feeding on that unleavened bread would have been something that would have been unique.
In in the Israel households, and I think it would change the tenor of things in that household during these this feast of unleavened bread, these seven days that they were to eat unleavened bread.
Right.
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The open Scriptures it's time we could enjoy in the Word we give thanks for the light of God that shined in our hearts that allows us to see the Lord Jesus in these Old Testament passages. Thank you too for the light that we have in our homes and may that shine brightly Lord, as things are getting increasingly dark, you just pray that our hearts would be enlarged for the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we thank thee that we can press toward the mark.
And have that hope of heaven, that hope of.
That face to face look at the Lord Jesus Christ. So we asked for the mercy of God over us today as we look forward to some fellowships and activities today, we would pray for safety as we're together. Lord Jesus, we ask for help with the the meeting that's planned later today in the evening. Pay it all in thy name, Lord Jesus, and for thy glory, Amen. Amen.
Tabernacle The Inside Furniture
Address
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Wanted to mention a couple of things again before the meeting tonight.
There are some here that probably weren't here last night and just wanted to kind of explain the exercise of the the booth in the back here as we consider the the Tabernacle. Our desire was to.
Have a round table discussion about the Tabernacle and.
Mark's exercise has been to capture that in a video so that it can go out to a broad audience. There's a lot of need out there for these truths to be brought forth. So that is the reason for the booth. There's a need to try and prevent sound, bounce and things like that. I would also like to just.
Re express that none of us that are involved in this exercise are experts on the subject of the Tabernacle.
It's something that the Lord has laid on our hearts and and as we consider these things, we've been overwhelmed by the level of of detail that's there that present our Lord Jesus and all of his beauty and majesty and we feel very inadequate.
And so we appreciate your prayers and we welcome feedback if we say something that's amiss.
There was some feedback given that was helpful last night after the meeting. And so we we would ask that you would approach us with those things. With that, let's look to the Lord for his help before we begin the meeting.
Again, Father, we thank thee so much for this opportunity to consider.
The Tabernacle again tonight. And Father, we feel our weakness.
Our need of Thy help as we consider that which Thou has given to us, that display the majesty, the glory of Thy beloved Son.
Father, we feel keenly that we are on holy ground.
And we just look to the for the help tonight that they spirit would have the liberty to direct our hearts and our words that I will be honored and glorified as we.
Seek to bring out.
The beauties of thy beloved Son, but just count on thee, our God and Father, for thy help.
They asked us in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Welcome to another Tabernacle talk on the table around the A table here with four guys and it's good to have.
Three others with us here. I'm just going to quickly roll through. Got Josh.
And Nate, thanks for coming back.
Good to have you back. And of course, Tim and we've got a beautiful topic here to talk up, talk about and that is is coming into the holiest of all and we're going to start there. I'd like to go ahead and just go ahead and put up a solo shot of of the Tabernacle. We saw this last.
Time where we see the Tabernacle laid out there with a fence around it. There's a gate out in front and for this session we're going to go ahead and go inside of the actual Tabernacle and start from the holiest of all coming back. But I came across this picture. I thought that was beautiful here where this is a night scene of what it could have been depicted as where the Shekinah glory is shining down and.
The the Cloud of Fire.
Was above the Israelites. That's his grace towards them. The desert can be very, very frigid out there, and He and he and his mercies and grace towards them. He gives a fire above them to keep them warm at night.
Last time we also talked about some Tabernacle keys which are going to become very important. Today. We talked about blue, we talked about purple, we talked about scarlet and fine linen. And so those are going to be very key to as we move into today's talk.
We also have 3 metals in the Tabernacle, pure gold and gold, deity of right Christ and a divine righteousness, Silver being, redemption, the blessings of atonement, and then brass, divine righteousness and judgment, Divine power, the price of atonement. We're going to find out tonight that some metals are being used inside and some metals are being used outside.
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And so let's go ahead and.
Roll this out. I'm going to roll it over to you. Josh here. Second here.
And.
Well, Josh, we have the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies here.
Mike there too and explain a little bit too as we go into this here, explain a little bit of a priest coming through.
What would they find 1St as they come through, right? And maybe before I do that, if I could have the liberty to just correct myself from yesterday. I am thankful for a discussion that we had with a brother that pointed out some very helpful things for us, and one of which.
That he brought to my attention was that I had the copper in the brass backwards. So I I wanted to correct that. I thought I had it right on the slides, but I didn't. So I just want to correct that. The brass is what we have in the King James Version and in the new translation of Jane Darby, it's actually copper and I think I stated that backwards. So I just wanted to point that out.
And copper.
Being meaningful because it has a, it has a higher threshold of, of, of being able to withstand the heat and brass is, is an alloy of copper. So hopefully I, I, I got that right now.
The other thing he he pointed out too and I, I just want to bring this out. It might sound like it's splitting hairs, but it it is important to delineate these things and and and see the distinction in scripture.
And I'm not, we don't have time to go into it right now, but I think I'm probably the first offender.
In using the the phrase the the righteousness of Christ being applied to us as believers, but he helpfully pointed out that it's actually the righteousness of God and the righteousness of Christ is never spoken of as being in connection with the believer. It's the righteousness of God. So there's that verse that he have made him to be sin for us.
Who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So we can't, we don't have time to go into that. And hopefully maybe when we talk about the actual Tabernacle itself, the the building, we can touch in on that 'cause I think there's some really nice thoughts there. But so to your question Mark as the priest would go into the Tabernacle. I think it's good to get that perspective.
But before we do, Tim had mentioned this in his prayer.
That we are treading on holy ground here and we can't help but feel.
Our our lack in in the ability really to.
Properly present these things.
I mean, we are talking about divine subjects here, which are very deep. And I think this hymn that we sang together tonight is going to read the first stanza, the holiest we enter.
Peace with God through whom we found our center in Jesus and his blood. Though great may be our dullness and thought and word and deed I I feel that's very relevant here. We glory in the fullness of him that meets our need. So with the Lord's help, we will hopefully bring some of these things out.
As best as we can. But as you enter the Tabernacle itself, there's two compartments, isn't there?
Inside, baby, unless I'm going to open up the camera on the on the bottle that you have in front of you here.
So the first compartment here is is what held, I guess, if that's the way to put it, the table of showbread on the right hand side, the golden Candlestick on the left hand side, and then right before the veil which separated the holy place.
From the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was and the mercy seat was the golden altar of incense. So, as I say, in that second compartment which the priest only entered once a year on the Day of Atonement, which we read about in Leviticus 16, there is where the mercy seat and the Ark resided, and where God's presence was.
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So it's our desire tonight to.
Take up the furniture within. It might be good to start off with, I guess reading the scriptures and I think what we'll do here is we'll just kind of.
Read the scriptures that are are relevant to the first piece and then we'll we'll make some comments and then go forward on on that basis. And I think we we pointed it out last night too, is that God starts from his own perspective to come out to man.
And that's, that's where we're starting. We're going to start in the holy place, the Holy of Holies. Excuse me.
Where the Ark is and so we can read Exodus 25.
And we can read verses 10 down to.
Verse 22, Nate and and just for introduction, I have up on the slide. This is what we're going to be reading about, right? The that's the arc of the covenant and the mercy seat. That's what we're going to be reading about here.
Five, sorry I'm not sure if you heard that. Exodus 25 verse 10.
And they shall make an arc of shittimwood 2 cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold within, and without shalt thou overlay it, and shall make upon it a crown of gold roundabout. And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof, And two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings in.
The other side of it. And thou shalt make staves of Shittimwood and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be born with them. The stave shall be in the rings of the ark, they shall not be taken from it. And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold. 2 cubits and a half shall be the length thereof.
Cubit and a half the breadth thereof.
And thou shalt make 2 Cherubims of gold a beaten work. Thou shalt make them in the two ends of the mercy seat, and make one cherub on the one end and the other cherub on the other end. Even of the mercy seat shall you make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another.
Toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.
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. And there I will meet with thee. And I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark, of the testimony of all things which I give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
All right. Thanks, Nate.
So I guess the question is, is what does this speak to us of are the obvious question right? And we pointed it out yesterday that the Tabernacle is is a type of the glory of Christ, the glories of Christ and the holiness of God and.
We can see in it something that God would seek to illustrate to us.
Regarding his character, the person of his son, the work that he has done and so on.
And in this first piece we see in the Ark a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ, and Mark had touched in on the Tabernacle keys how important they are to the the interpretation of of what we have before us. And what we have here is.
A vessel that is made of wood and overlaid with gold.
Now we notice that in our keys. That pure gold really speaks to the deity of Christ, doesn't it?
And would would speak of his humanity. These are two vital things in connection with our Lord that we need to hold near dear and protect guard as God does, that is.
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His humanity, that he was holy man, and that he was holy God.
And this is a wonderful thing that we see in the in this wonderful vessel. It says that there is a, a border or a crown of gold roundabout. And I think it kind of speaks to to that point that God would guard the the truth.
Of his beloved son concerning his person and it's a vital to our faith.
Isn't it?
There are some verses in John that speak to those truths. John chapter one might read those real quick.
As to the deity and humanity of Christ, it speaks in John chapter one.
That first one in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Is divinity and then a little bit later it says.
That.
Put my finger back on the verse here, and the Word was made flesh, verse 14. Yeah, the Word was made flesh, verse 14, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So these aren't just types that are seen in the Old Testament. They're truths that are borne out in the New Testament as well. It's important to see that.
Would you say that?
We know the Lord has many different titles. Would we see in this the title of the Son of God and also the Son of Man? Definitely.
So there were rings of gold in the four corners of this vessel in verse 12.
And there were staves of Chittim wood that were put through those rings. Now I might mention too, while I'm thinking of it, that apparently Schittam wood, if I understand it right, is also known as Acacia wood. Now I'm not up to speed on all the details of the wood itself, but I understand from the writers that this was.
Basically an incorruptible wood and you could see the the beautiful type in.
What we have here concerning the humanity of Christ, that He had an impeccable humanity, perfect, holy, spotless, and He was the perfect man, wasn't He?
And with respect to the staves as they went through these rings, it would really speak to us, I think, of, of the wilderness journeys of, of the people of God. They were to carry this ark as they were to carry these other vessels through the wilderness with them. And I think we, we see something here that is so beautiful to to bring before us the fact that.
The Lord Jesus.
Is with us wherever we go, isn't he personally? And he's promised that at the end of Matthew. I believe it is. He says, lo, I am with you even unto the end of the age. Amen. And what a comfort that is that it's it's not.
Let me restate this. The staves were through the rings and I think there's there's probably a couple thoughts there with the rings, but.
A ring doesn't have a beginning, nor does it have an end.
And I like to think of it in a couple of ways. And that is the Lord Jesus.
Is not only with us, we take him with us, he is with us where we go, but it is the eternal God, the Person of Christ that goes with us and and what a comfort that should be for his people. And some have suggested too, that the ring speaks of eternal love. And so here we are in the Holy of holies.
That you and I now enter in freely and we will get into that truth at a later date.
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But it is true that while the high priest could only enter into that room once a year, we as believers have access, free access 24/7. And the Lord Jesus is with us where we go. The eternal God himself goes with us. So there is some wilderness truth here, isn't there?
Just to jump in on that, in First Kings 8 where the the ark is put into the temple, the staves are removed at that point.
And why is that? The wilderness journey is over, right?
And then to further that too is is when the Lord Jesus hung on the cross.
The veil was rent from top to bottom, giving us that free access. You're Speaking of Josh? Exactly.
It might be good to make the distinction of why. What's the difference between the Tabernacle and the temple is. I'm not sure if we've done that yet, but the temple speaks of the millennial glories of Christ. And that ties in with what you just brought out me, that the staves were removed because it was at a place of rest at that point. So.
There are a lot of similarities.
But they have a completely different meaning because they're looking at the millennial glories.
Going to talk about the mercy, I think so that's the that's pretty important, isn't it? Maybe give us a few words on that, Tim. So this this is one that just really.
As I considered these things.
I mean, every aspect of the Tabernacle really brings before us Christ but a mercy seat.
Maybe it's truest and deepest sense and it is truly holy ground and.
The holiest of holiest really speaks of heaven, of heavens, right? And God's throne. They're in that place and he.
Was to meet with the children of Israel.
At the mercy seat between the chair of us and.
As you pointed out at the beginning, Scripture gives us the perspective of God's approach to man.
And the only way that that could happen was there at the mercy seat with blood on the gold. And the Lord Jesus was both the sacrifice priest and he's the one that that signifies that atoning sacrifice on the mercy seat and often.
Mercy seat is in the New Testament rendered in place of propitiation and we kind of mentioned that a little bit yesterday that.
The mercies the mercy seat really does bring before us. Propitiation. What is propitiation? Propitiation, the big word. But it really brings before us God's satisfaction with the sacrifice that was provided.
You know, I think of the worst in Isaiah chapter 53 that says he shall see of the travel of his soul and be satisfied. There's more to it than that. And I'll have I'll ask you brothers to chime in. But really what it speaks to us of is.
God's satisfaction as to his holy claims against sin and.
That could only happen through blood on the mercy seat.
We could read one of the verses I think you're referring to in Romans chapter 3.
And we'll start with verse 24.
We could start with verse 23. Really you could read the whole chapter, but verse 23 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation. I think this is one of the verses you mentioned that propitiation could be translated mercy seat.
Through faith in his blood to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed.
Through the forbearance of God.
The thing that makes it a mercy seat is the fact that there's blood on it.
If there was number blood on the mercy seat, it would be sure and instant judgment for the people of God of Israel in the wilderness.
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And you can just get in your mind's eye that picture of this slab of gold.
That speaks to us of the character of God, of his righteous claims.
And overshadowing it.
Were two cherubs.
The cherubs in scripture, I believe, ring before us Gods executors.
Or executors really of His righteous judgment, and those wings outstretched, ready to act rapidity instant.
Judgment was awaiting and their faces looking down.
Which the faces, I think would speak to us of intelligence. And so God's executors of his judgment do it in an intelligent way. But and as they are looking down, what do they see? Blood.
And that is a picture of what we have read here.
He is the mercy seat through faith in his blood. God's righteous holy claims against sin have been totally, totally satisfied through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ and through his shed blood. And again, as Tim said, propitiation is something that I believe is His heart has been little understood and has been.
Has been confused.
And I think it's good that we restate these these truths that have come to light in the New Testament, and we trust we have.
Gotten ahold of it, at least in part.
But Simply put, and I think Tim, not to repeat what he has said, but.
Propitiation has to do with the offense that sin has brought to God.
The offense, right? And that's what propitiation is. And so that's why God can go out to the world.
With the gospel and say come, all things are ready.
You can go to the highways and to the byways, to the rich and to the poor, and he can say come.
And it's because of the propitiatory work of Christ, because God has been satisfied.
The other side to this is man's responsibility in terms of substitution and side of the cross. I should say that that he has to accept that as his own and and to receive the good of of of it so that he might have his sins forgiven and washed away. But that deals with the guilt side of things, that substitution substitution deals with the guilt of our sins. And that's.
But sin as it has come into God's creation, sin as the root, sins as the fruit. God has been offended by this.
And the offense of sin had to be dealt with in the Lord. Jesus answered for that, didn't He at the cross?
A very good picture of that because.
If you could connect the the arc with the mercy seat because there are two pieces of of the same thing, is that right? The the mercy seat was like a lid to the ark. What was inside the ark?
The 10 commandments, right, Right. The 10 commandments were God's standard for His people. And what happened when those 10 commandments were first given? They had failed so bad that those tables had to be broken before they could be brought into the camp. Otherwise judgment had to come. So they were broken.
And you might ask the question, why didn't judgement come?
And Moses went back up. He got two new tables of stone.
Were they diluted because of what happened? Were they toned down? Did God lower his standard?
Not a bit. It's the same, the same 10 commandments, the difference.
Leading up to this is that when those tables of stone were put into the ark, that lid, the mercy seat was put on top and the bloodshed, as you mentioned and applied to the mercy seat once a year. There was a remembrance of sins every year and the.
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This, God's moral standard in the Ark, could only be accessed by going through the lid.
Mercy seat.
Yeah, that.
That throne of God is a throne of holiness, of righteousness, and of grace.
But grace because of the blood and like Josh was pointing out, the other side of propitiation is substitution. Well, where was the brazen altar was on the east? And this is a thought I shared with Josh earlier that I enjoyed from one of the writers in regards to this thing that we have before us. We have the brazen altar on the east, which was substitution and the sacrifice for sin, the cross on the left side.
We have the mercy seat God's.
Holy claims satisfied, and it brings before us that verse and Psalms 103, verse 12. Let's read that real quick.
Phones 103 and verse 12. As far as the east is from the West, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. So from the east we have substitution, from the West we have propitiation, and that in the middle is reconciliation, because of that work of atonement. So this vessel being, you might say, the throne of God.
In the midst of His people.
I think of this verse in Psalm 89, verse 14, Justice and judgment.
Are the habitation of thy throne, and that has been satisfied that it doesn't change the fact that God still is a God of justice and judgment and and holiness, but his holy claims have been satisfied through the work of our Lord.
I'd like to just go back to what Nate was talking about and just take it real simple. The the the Moses came down with the tablets. This is just to re emphasize Nate, what you're saying. Moses came down with the first set of tablets that God had written on. And the reason why Moses had to break the tablets was because the camp was sitting.
And the implications of that right, they were in idolatry. They're in idolatry and so that's important to to get a hold of because it goes to show how how much God's law impacts me how much man fails they're immediately they are not even able to.
Live up to anything of the law as it's just coming down from the mountain and the people are sitting. And what is that called? When when Moses breaks the tablets, is that mercy, right? I mean, they're not going to be consumed because the law is being broken.
Like you said, Nate, he goes back up and gets the commandments again and brings them down. And what's being said here is puts them into the ark and a covering is put on top the mercy seat. And there were three things in the in the in the arc, weren't there? And you read that in Hebrews Chapter 9 and verse 4, verse three. And after the second veil, the Tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all, which had the golden sensor.
And the Ark of the Covenant overlaid roundabout with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna and Aaron's rod that butted and the tables of the covenant. Not sure we have a lot of time to get into those three things, but just as a reference point.
It's good to to notice those things. I think you know you have the Lord Jesus.
In Psalm 40, he is he's the one that fulfilled the the law of God, didn't he in his life perfectly? He was the the perfect man.
And Aaron's raw that butted. I think we have a little picture of resurrection, don't we and fruitfulness to God because of the resurrection of Christ. And then the pot of manna was was wilderness food for the people and and that manna spoke of Christ, the bread of heaven. And that's what we have in the ark. Did we talk about the Shekinah glory dwelling on the on the mercy seat? No, but it did and give us a few words on that brother. All I'm saying is is.
All I want to take it to when the priest came in once a year, right?
Right once a year he came in to my what I understand it was dark in there, this little room, the Holy of Holies, and there unless.
Dark because it wasn't dark because of the Chicano. Right, Right. Right. But there's no, there's no, no windows and no windows, no windows in this, in the Holy of Holies, no windows. And so the priest is bringing in blood to sprinkle on the mercy seat alone. Right. That's the beautiful thing about this. Yeah. And what I enjoyed too, and just this is my Moses and Aaron were the only two that could go into that holy of Holies.
00:35:16
Right, that beautiful. Yeah, now Moses had free access.
It seems like.
Out of grace, the Lord allowed him free access for communication purposes. Aaron could only go in once a year, on the day of until Leviticus 16.
I probably should get moving along here. We're we're losing time, but I think to maybe tie the ark and the mercy seat off. I think it's beautiful because because of the bloodshed, God satisfied. Verse 22 Says and there I will meet with thee.
Wonderful, Now there's communion.
Restored, if you will, there, there's, there's the ability now to commune with God, the Holy God, And I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony of all things, which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
Beautiful.
Go ahead. And that's what he was looking for the whole time, to commune with them, right? But it had to be on a righteous basis, you know, and that.
That being the the basis of the work of his son.
To just maybe tie that up.
I turn to Hebrews chapter 10 real quick because.
For Israel, they had access to that place once a year, though the priests daily were in the holy place.
They only had access to that throne of God once a year. We have free access. Free access. These are well known verses.
Hebrews, chapter 10.
Verse 18 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way.
Which she hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. And having a high priest over the House of God, let us draw near.
With true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience in our bodies, washed with pure water, let us hold fast the profession of our faith and so on. Full access without fear, boldness. That was not something that Israel enjoyed. We were. Josh and I were talking about this earlier. I can't wrap my mind around what it must have been for, for Aaron to go into that place. He didn't have the knowledge.
God that we have, and I cannot imagine walking into God's throne room with a sacrifice for sin, recognizing fully that if that was not accepted as a dead man.
We don't have that.
Onto the table of Showbread. Yeah, go ahead and read verses 23 to 29, Eight or thirty. Sorry, Exodus 25.
And verse 23 Thou shalt also make a table of shittimwood, 2 cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold roundabout. And thou shalt make unto it a border of a handbread thrown about. And thou shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof roundabout.
And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet thereof. Over against the border shall the rings be for places, places of the staves to bear the table. And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them. And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers thereof, and bulls thereof to cover with all.
Of pure gold shalt thou make them.
And thou shalt set upon the table showbread before me alway.
So what does that speak to us of?
Oh, is that Josh?
Can you give us a few words on the table of Showbread? What? What do we have in in in in that in general?
So again.
The table is constructed of **** and wood overlaid with pure gold. Vanity and deity of Christ again.
It was also carried with staves as was mentioned before. It also had a crown roundabout on the top. It had a hands width border and.
00:40:11
You know, so again it brings before us the humanity indeed of Christ.
But a little bit different perspective this time having to do with communion, right? Right. So.
Yeah, there's something here of the thought of fellowship communion with God and that and again, we we mentioned this, let's it's good to restate it, but that that we can't be too dogmatic on, you know, one way of looking at this because there are multiple applications of the type I believe. And I do think that, you know, we do see here Christ as the basis of our fellowship.
And he sustains his people.
And and and keeps them in order, you might say, you know, we're talking a little bit about the.
Of eternal security this morning and I like to think of kind of that crown and that border that went around this table as.
As as it kind of secured those loaves on that table that we might see in it in that a little bit of a thought of of of God's.
Glory in the protecting.
Securing of His people and and their eternal security.
And of course, I think that we do get something of Christ himself again as the food and nourishment of his people. But but also, you know, the people themselves, us, we can see, I think in the in these lobes, can we not?
Yeah, there were 12 loaves, Is that right? Right. So there's 12 tribes of Israel, a loaf for each tribe. You have the the unity of the nation there. And then to apply that to today, we have there is one body you have when we remember the Lord, there's one loaf. And that strikes a chord with me, Nate, because because of the fact that.
Unity is everything, and this is one of God's principles throughout time and with these Israelites out there.
He wants to dwell in the center and he's going to have all 12 loaves representing the 12 tribes. And later on when Israel is divided, he still sees it as 1212 stones up on Elijah's altar, etcetera. Right. And like you said, I just want to reiterate this. It's a beautiful thing when we have the loaf before us on a weekly basis to speak of the entire body of Christ. He sees the body of Christ, despite all the factions, as one.
Amen.
And these loaves were eaten by the priest. Is that right? So, you know, today all believers are priests and you're mentioning how the loaves could be a picture of Christ as as the people's food or here Christ is the food of the priests.
As priests, we feed on Christ.
Yeah, it's interesting. I was kind of mulling over this this afternoon and I can't say I have a perfect thought on it, but I I just enjoying.
Yeah, the thought that, you know, in the in the pot of manna that was in the Ark.
And for anybody who hasn't done a study on the manna, I would encourage you to do so. It does speak of our Lord Jesus.
As the bread of heaven coming down its wilderness food, the people were to gather it every day.
And and and feed on it and you know the Lord Jesus.
We should consider him in his in his all his beauty, but as as a holy man going through this world as the Son of God, all of that, that you know, we we can partake of that, that that wilderness food, if you will. But but then we also have him. I, I believe seen here as food for the priests where it's in it's in the holy place now and I I don't know again, I don't have a perfect thought on it, but.
I just wonder if there's if there's a little bit different aspect of of this nourishment that he's providing to his people, not only through.
The wilderness and his life and who he is, but also in terms of of heavenly truth and things that we can enjoy.
On the heavenly side of things, because this is where the priests served, and they were in and out in this first compartment.
And, you know, caring for the the Candlestick and, and making, you know, the high priest making sure it was lit and the trim, the the Wicks were trimmed and changing out the bread and.
00:45:01
High priest offering on the golden altar of incense and And so it was a place of activity and, and and yet it was a place where.
Where their food was and I really think that.
There's something here for us as believers as to, you know, what are we feeding on? Are we feeding on the junk food of this world or are we feasting on heavenly things?
It's a real challenge and, and you know, we made some comments this morning on on how the world is so insidious through technology and, and the like that, you know, before you know it, we are feeding on things that are just feeding the flesh and it comes upon us slowly and creeps in. It's a slow creep and we need to be very careful about that. But but really God's ideal and, and, and what is going to feed the, the new nature?
And keep us spiritually healthy is heaven's food.
Christ and, and, and, and all the truth that we have in the word of God. It's been pointed out that there was only one ingredient in this, and that was the fine flour. There was no leaven. There was no honey, which speaks of natural sweetness. It was just a fine flower which again brings before us Christ. And there was anointed with frankincense, which.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe frankincense brings before us the the moral glories of Christ in his life.
Here and so that's what the priests were to feed on him. To your point, Josh, again, not fully developed on my side either by sinking kind of the same thing. What was the purpose of this show? But it wasn't just basics sustenance like the mana. This was a place of communion and blessing and it was, you know, think of that version, Ephesians, that we've been blessed with all heavenly blessings and spiritual places.
This these loaves of showbread were.
Two homers, right? The daily provision of mana for an Israelite was one. So it was double portion for the priests. I I wonder if that might speak of the the the blessings that we have as priests in the heavenly places and all the the fragrance and beauty of Christ rests upon his people.
Beautiful. And so in Leviticus 24, I believe it is, is where we read of the the showbread being the food for the priests. Again, we don't have time to go into it, unfortunately. I wish we did, but our time is we might have to go a little bit longer here, but we got to pick it up. Yeah.
Yeah, let's go to the Candlestick. And before we do, again, we have communion with the Lord through the wilderness. The stage we they were to carry this table with them through the wilderness.
We can have fellowship with God throughout our wilderness journey here.
As believers. So Nate, why don't you read up on the On the Candlestick, Chapter 20, Exodus 2531?
39 to 39.
And thou shalt make a Candlestick of pure gold. Of beaten work shall the Candlestick be made. His shaft and his branches, his bowls, his knobs, and his flowers shall be of the same. And six branches shall come out of the sides of it, three branches of the Candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the Candlestick out of the other side. Three bulls made like unto almonds, with a knob and a flower in one branch, and three bowls made like almonds, and the other branch with an op and a flower.
So when the six branches that come out of the Candlestick, and in the Candlestick shall be 4 bowls made like unto almonds, with their knobs and their flowers. And there shall be a knob under two branches of the same, and a knob under two branches of the same, and a knopf under two branches of the same. According to the six branches that proceed out of the Candlestick, their knobs and their branches shall be of the same. All it shall be one beaten work of pure gold. And thou shalt make the seven lamps.
And they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it, And the tongs thereof, and the snuff dishes thereof shall be of pure gold, of a talent of pure gold. Shall he make it with all these vessels.
Maybe read verse 40 as well and look that thou make them after their pattern which was showed thee in the mount. It's a verse that we have over and over again.
There's something missing.
Oil wood, wood, there's there's no wood in this vessel. And as we know, the wood speaks to us of the humanity of our Lord Jesus. But here we don't have his humanity brought in. It's pure gold. And and the Candlestick, while its purpose was what it was to give light, wasn't it right.
00:50:15
And so it was that which lit up the the holy place.
The first compartment, and it's shone upon the loaves, it's shone upon that table of showbread, it's shone upon the golden altar.
Of incense, and it enlightened that compartment.
And so, you know, there there's, there's some beautiful thoughts here.
Can I, can I just, I want to jump in and just reiterate exactly what you just said, Josh, because it's important. When they walked in, when the priest walked into the holy place here, you would have on the, he would have on the right hand side the table of showbread, which we just saw, right. And then on the left side would be this Candlestick, right? And then I believe there's a gold gold wall. If I'm not mistaken. It was gold.
In there on that wall, what I believe is happening and we're going to get to the other going straight ahead, going straight ahead into the holy of holies. There's going to be another piece of furniture we're going to talk about here in a little bit, but that's I just from a visual standpoint, when you walked in the the table, showbread was on the right, the Candlestick was on the left, right, and then the golden altar of incense straight ahead, front of the veil, correct before it went.
In Before the Holy of Holies, what the article is right.
So there's there's a number of thoughts here, I think and.
Again, I don't think we have time to.
Yes, bring them all forward, but.
This is Christ as the light of his people, generally speaking, Christ as the light of his people. And, and So what we have here is we've got oil. And this really was a lamp stand, right? And it was fed oil to the lamps that sat on top of their seven lamps.
And really, that oil is a picture of the Spirit of God. And and what I enjoy about this so much is that.
The light it says in verse 37, And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof, and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it, it being the Candlestick or the lampstand so.
The Candlestick held the light, the oil fed the light. The Spirit of God gives testimony to Christ, doesn't he? That's his, his, his can I say his job? And we don't read about it here, but other than by inference that there's tongs and snuff dishes. So obviously there were Wicks and, and, and so that oil would feed.
Feed those Wicks.
And and and those Wicks, basically.
Issued the light, if you will not being the light themselves, but but kind of held that light forward so.
And I think those Wicks would be a picture of us as believers, isn't it?
So just on this note, and this is the the salient point here is that that the Spirit of God gives testimony to Christ it and let's read about that just quickly. I think in John 16, right? I think it speaks of it there. This is in verse 13.
How be it when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come? He will guide you into all truth. For you shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He will show you things to come.
He shall glorify me. That was lighting it. How does it go giving light?
Over against it.
He shall glorify me, for he shall receive a mind, and shall show it unto you. Now how does the Spirit of God?
Enlighten his people. It was shown over onto the the the the table of showbread over against that as well. He does it through the scriptures. The scriptures that we're reading tonight really reveal to us Christ and the Spirit of God takes the word of God and he makes these things good to him to our souls as Christians and he reveals.
Christ to us and these heavenly truths, doesn't He?
This this implement the Candlestick was only.
Serviced by Aaron and.
00:55:02
I wonder if that doesn't speak to us a little bit as you says, you know the the Wicks if if you will, of these candles.
Being a type of a Christian giving light to this world.
As testimony to Christ, Lord Jesus, as our great high priest maintains that testimony, he comes in and there was a time where maybe there was drops on the candlesticks that didn't shine as bright, so the high priest had to scoop it out and clean it and.
And so there's a work there that's applicable as well. Yeah, yeah. And so it's through his priestly care that you and I, his priestly care and intercession, that you and I are able to shine unhindered for his glory in this world and that. And so there is corrective ministry that that the Lord uses others to help adjust us or adjust our thinking.
And and and all of this comes.
Through his his care for his people on high as our high priest to make sure that we continue to burn.
And and shine brightly for him because we are called to be lights in this world. So we are we you know, it's it's but again, it's the Spirit of God that that is giving testimony to Christ. And he gives that clear testimony, doesn't he?
So when those Wicks are trimmed and kept up looking at them as a as a picture of us as believers.
If you could just imagine being one of those Wicks, it might hurt a little bit when when it's trimmed, but it's for the maintenance of the light to go forth. And you know, if that didn't happen, you could say that the oil would be would quench the light, the spirit would be quenched.
So in meet you're touching on it right now, how what's a practical point for a believer in trimming the Wick, right. There's a there there is that we have to do in our own life to maintain testimony. Maybe the Lord's doing it. Josh, I think you mentioned kind of mentioned that Lord can come through and trim things in our lives. But then there can be also a personal exercise too. We can trim as well. There would be self judgment. Is that what you're getting at? Yes, yeah, no, it's it's a it's a practical truth, right.
Here in this, in this portion, I believe, would you also say that that priest coming in and doing that work might pertain a little bit to Hebrews chapter 12?
Now no chastening, for the President seemeth to be joyous, but grievous nevertheless. Afterward it yielded the peaceful fruits of righteousness unto them which are exercise thereby, and not righteousness. Giving display of his testimony, Yeah.
I maybe I missed it here in our chapter, but what came to mind in Numbers 8, where we have this again? And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron, and say unto him, When thou lightest the lamps, 7 lamps shall give light over against the Candlestick. And Aaron did so. He lighted the lamps thereof over against the Candlestick, as the Lord commanded Moses.
In this work of the Candlestick was of beaten gold.
I don't believe there's a member. There's no measurement of this thing, is there? There's no measurement on this, Yeah. And there's a nice scripture to go along with that, that God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him and so.
There's perhaps there's a thought there, but beaten gold, you know, the reason why the Spirit of God can render a testimony in this world is by virtue of the death of Christ. We cannot separate his sufferings, which perhaps we might see in the beaten gold.
From from this now this testimony that's able to go forth and and and be held forth by his people. So it says, beaten gold unto the Shafter of unto the flowers thereof was beaten work again. Here's that expression according.
Unto the pattern which the Lord had showed Moses. So he made the Candlestick. So if the beaten gold would speak of Christ's death, but would the buds, the flowers, and the almonds speak of resurrection and fruit for God? Because of that work, did you say?
So the Lord Jesus has produced fruit for God through his work and and we're in a room full of, of, of of just that. We are, we are his, his.
His workmanship and and what he has produced for God and more than that to just.
Infinitely more than that.
01:00:03
We should probably move on to the final one in Exodus 30 being the.
The altar of incense. Exodus 31. And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon. Of Shittimwood shalt thou make it. A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof. Foursquare shall it be, And two cubits shall be the height thereof. The horns thereof shall be of the same. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold. The top thereof and the sides thereof roundabout. And the horns thereof. And thou shalt make untuit a crown of gold roundabout.
And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof. Upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it, and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal. And thou shalt make the staves of Shittimwood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put it before the veil, that is, by the ark of the testimony before the mercy seat, that is over the testimony where I will meet with thee.
And Aaron shall burn their own sweet incense every morning.
When he dresses the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it, and when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord. Throughout your generations. Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering, neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon. And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year, with the blood of the sin offering of atonements once in the year shall he make atonement.
Throughout your generations it is most holy unto the Lord.
So I think what we have here is Christ.
The power and the way of our worship to God. He is our.
He, I guess, provides us that ability to come with worship. And really what does God give us? He gives us Christ and we we present Christ back to God. And this is what we have, I think with the this golden altar of, of incense and that sweet incense going up is really the fragrance of Christ, isn't it? That God delights in as do we as as his people.
And I also like to bring forth to the fact is, is.
The coals came off of the brazen altar, which we have yet to cover, which is on the outside. And so the priest was to bring coals from that brazen altar, bring it in, and apply those coals onto this altar of incense. And there's beauty in there because God is a God of order. And the coals have to come from a specific place, the brazen altar, not anywhere else.
You might say that the fire from the sacrifice.
Forth the aroma, right? Yes.
And just to go back, and I think we talked about this last time, was that the two priests of Aaron that brought in Kohl's from another place, right? Or slain because of that, right? God is a God of order. But this is beauty. The sweetness and the incense going up in that, in that holy place there is absolutely beautiful to walk in there. The golden Candlestick on the left and the incense rising right before the veil.
I wonder if I could just read.
A couple of verses in Revelation 8 that sort of relate to this a little bit.
A Revelation 8 and verse three. And another Angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden sensor, and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of All Saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the Saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.
So I think we sung tonight to all our prayers and praises. Christ adds a sweet perfume. I think these verses would go along with that thought. So I think there's a couple of thoughts here. And, and again, because of time, I don't think we can develop it much, but I think there's there's definitely worship and there probably is something of intercession here.
And so God has has brought us in.
As purged worshippers able to OfferUp.
Sacrifices, spiritual sacrifices. And, and we can offer him praise, Thanksgiving, worship. And, and I think this is really what what we have here in this, this, this piece of furniture. Is that right? Yeah. There's the thing that's interesting too about this is this altar had four horns. And on that day of atonement, the high priest would sprinkle blood on those four horns. That's the only other time anything, any other offering was made on this altar.
01:05:09
There's no meat offerings that clearly said that, and so sacrifice and worship are inseparable, right?
Mm-hmm.
So the the warning here in verse nine, you shall offer no strange incense thereon.
Which it was Nate ABBA he right that that did that is really to offer up to God anything else but the work of Christ is is that right? And and and so I guess what I'm saying is that the only thing that God accepts is is is the work of his son and the person of his son and and we can't bring him anything else.
Otherwise that would be considered strange fire.
And that's relevant to our day, right? There are things that are brought out.
Stated as worship that in no way follow God's order for worship. And not only are they not pleasing to Him, but they positively dishonor His name because they don't bring His Son before Him and his and his glory. And we don't have time to go into it either. But you have the the anointing oil and the sweet spices later on in the chapter described.
I think part of it too is not to.
Make it yourself and make it a common thing. It was reserved for one purpose.
So I think as we round out this this little talk tonight, it's interesting to me and I think it just really dawned on me lately that that there were no windows. And maybe Tim, you mentioned this already, I can't remember, but forgive me if you did. But there were no windows in the Tabernacle. So there was no natural light that was allowed into that.
That sanctified place and when we take up with the things of God.
Again, and I think we mentioned this yesterday, that the mind of man has no place. Everything should emanate from the mind of God and his perspective, his valuation, everything to do with with what concerns himself should be something that.
That we cherish and and and really guard, you know, and not allow the the world and its ideas to penetrate in because there was no natural light that was allowed into.
Into these places it was all. It was all divine. It was all divine.
The other thing that might be worth mentioning here is that that holy place was a place that was a normal place for the for the priests to be.
The court.
People came with their sacrifice and there was a there was a work that was done out there from the sacrificial perspective, but the holy place, Speaking of the heavenlies, was the normal place of operation.
For priests, and as you said, Josh, it was, it was lit by the Lord. There was no natural light. There was, there was a Candlestick reflecting off the gold walls. I'm sure there was no dimness in that, in that room. I was fully, fully lit. And one other thing is that, Mark, you mentioned that there was a certain metal that sat outside and there was and that metal was, was brass or copper.
It wasn't found inside, but it was just gold.
And because the copper dealt with.
Bands responsibility in judgment according to His divine righteousness. But that was had outside. This is the place for those who are initiated. You might say it was for those who have been saved. If we can speak in typical terms, those who are now priests and have free access to God, there is no judgement connected to them.
But it's all God's righteousness, divine righteousness, and the splendor of it that illuminated that wonderful sanctuary inside. And they got to see, they got to see all the beauty of it. The world didn't see it from the outside. We'll get into the coverings and I think it's the next meeting. The world didn't see the beauty. And they have no appreciation for Christ or divine things and.
The natural man understands not the things of the Spirit of God because they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned, First Corinthians tells us, but it is for those who are his that can come in. And now behold His beauty. And the priests were limited, because this was just types and shadows. We have the real thing.
01:10:18
Those verses to connect that Josh are the those verses from Isaiah 53. From the natural perspective, there's no beauty that we should desire him but for those that are His own.
His altogether lovely and that's reserved for those that have been sheltered by the blood and that appreciate it because that appreciation is so important to God.
Well, we're wrapping things up, but we had mentioned early on in our planning of this is to really look at two questions at the end of every session and those that are listening perhaps can think about and contemplate it. Question number one is So what glory or beauty of Christ did I see today in the Tabernacle We've had we've gone over quite a few glories and beauties, whether it's the the beat and gold of the Candlestick and and the no measurements of the Candlestick or the bread.
This table of showbread or the altar of incense, so many glories and beauties there. And as as, as as Josh was just mentioning here too is the idea too that there's although there was only gold inside of of of the Tabernacle as well for that purpose. The second question is also more of a practical question. What might these glories of Christ impact my walk for for him today, right. And so and we just mentioned here in the last few minutes.
That the priest was the only one to get in to be able to see this. And you and I, if we have known, if we know the Lord Jesus as our Savior, we're going to get into this as we go, go further, we will have access if we know the Lord Jesus as our Savior. And yet, while we have access, there's a certain kind of walk that the Lord Jesus would want us to have as well. And so we're going to talk later in the week about the priests, the garments that the way they would walk in there.
But the priest would enter into this holy place and I just want to wrap this up with the fact that they, they smelled the incense burning. They saw the light shining on the golden wall. We didn't mention the veil itself was, I think it was linen or something with the cherubims on it, right? And the bread was there. The priest would eat of the bread. Just a beautiful thing. But these glories do can and should impact my walk today as well. And there's, and God is a God of order and he loves us.
And yet at the same time, there's absolute light that He, he wants. His love constraints us, right as we consider these things, as we consider the sacrifices, we see this throne of grace that's only approachable because of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. The response should be devotion and worship.
With a sense of our privilege. What's up with a sense of our privilege? Yeah, Absolutely. Yeah. And responsibility. Responsibilities.
So with that, I think we have the quite a bit of of meditation for the time here and we appreciate the time that we spent and may, May God richly bless each and every soul that comes in and digs into this for themselves because it is an eternal wealth of, of measurements.
And I'm going to close with this one thought. This is a beautiful thing. Is there that the level of the mercy seat was the exact same height as the height of the table of Showbread?
And it's going to be the exact same height of another article that we cover next time. And we're going to talk about that future as to how beautiful this is, to see God lay things out in accordance with these pieces of furniture here.
I would just like to say as well in closing, we've talked about this often as we didn't even come close to scratching the surface of these things. And I would just like to encourage everyone to take these things up for themselves because I, I would say that there's an infinite level of, of consideration to be had in these things and.
If we would have had one meaning on each of these articles, we still would not have covered every single aspect of it.
And so the only way anyone can really get the fullness of what is here is to take this up for themselves. Very good. All right. Well, now, close it for right now and we'll see you next session.
01:15:02
Our God and Father, we just thank Thee that we've been able to have Thy word open tonight for a short time, and we would just pray that each one would benefit from being under the sound of it. We pray that we might have an interest in Thy things for ourselves and just to think of these types and shadows and all that we have.
Knowing thy Son is our Savior, we just thank you that we have a boldness to enter in.
To the holiest by the blood of Jesus.
We just commit our evening to the.
In Jesus name, Amen.
Privilege and Responsibility
YP Sing Address—E. Erlandson
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Let's pray our God and Father, we thank you for the privilege of this place and the privilege of lifting our voices up to the the privilege that belongs to those that are redeemed. We thank you for this. We thank you for each one in the room when we commit the next few minutes to the and the message that.
Thou hast for us.
We pray for help in bringing it forward in a simple way that can be understandable to each one. Just pray for help in this and for understanding for each one. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
The last two.
1St A bit of a story. The 1St.
The first night of the Singh.
We close the sing with Steve telling us that, you know, we needed to go and tell everybody what they had missed. And I promptly walked back to the other hall there and the first person I bumped into, I'm telling him that he ought to have been at the sink because he missed the sink. Well, turns out he was the one tasked with asking people to speak at the same. So that kind of backfired on me and the room is now fuller.
I'm speaking at the same. Thanks, Steve. You're welcome.
But the last two songs that we sang reminded me.
Of something that I wanted to say at the beginning of this little talk that I probably would have forgot.
What the Lord's put on my heart is a message to believers.
And if you're not one of them?
It's not going to resonate in your heart.
It may not make sense, and it may not Draw Something up if you're not.
Washing the blood if you've not taken Christ as your personal savior.
Soon thy heart left cold and silent, and the Savior's pleading cease.
Don't leave this room without answering the pleading of your Savior.
And the second last one.
The course went turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the life of his glory and grace. That course means a lot to me.
The things of this earth have an attraction to me, and I don't think I'm alone in that. But turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful, wonderful face, and the things of this earth will grow strangely down. And the light.
Of his glory and grace. And I think that maybe is a good way to lead into.
Where is the Lord? Put on my heart, I trust.
On the way here I had a something I was thinking about.
And that's not what we're going to talk about.
There was a comment and one of the first meetings.
And I don't remember it exactly, I probably didn't write it down exactly right.
It's written on a different paper. The moments they came under the shelter of the blood, there was a complete change. I was Speaking of the.
Hebrews in Egypt, when they applied the blood to the doorpost, when they applied that blood to the doorpost, their lives were changed.
And that for some reason that phrase brought to my mind 2 words, position, privilege and responsibility.
And.
As our meetings have gone on, those two words have just resurfaced and resurfaced. And and so that's what's on my heart to just speak a little bit about privilege and responsibility and how they're different for each one of us.
The privileges and responsibilities of a young man.
Different from those of an old man.
00:05:04
The privileges and responsibilities of the.
A single person are different than those of a married person.
There are certain.
Privileges that a single man or woman has, that those of us that are married, we don't have anymore.
And you can be thankful for those, be thankful for both of them in whatever.
Place you are in your life.
So my desire is just to bring those two words before you, to make you consider them.
And how they apply in your life and.
I went looking for some verses and now we could turn to verses all night.
That, that, that bring out privilege and responsibility. And I and I, I remember as a child, my dad would tell me about privilege and responsibility and he likened them to the, the rails of a train track and how they ran. They never left each other. They always went together. And so it is what regardless of what stage of life we're at.
Those two tracks.
Together and then.
So the comment was made in another meeting. Faith is taking God at his word. It's that simple. And that was a help to me because as humans we tend to overthink things and we overcomplicate things.
And it really is that simple. Faith is taking God at His word. And so my, my hope is to just keep this as simple as possible. I've thought of three things where we can see the privilege and the responsibility, three things that we all have.
And I just want hopefully to.
Stir up some thoughts in your hearts and your minds about what your privilege and the corresponding responsibility is in those three things, and maybe that will be.
Carry on and into the rest of your life and it'll maybe come before you. As we go through the, the meetings that we're having. It's just in the the talks about the, the Tabernacle, everything we see there, privilege and responsibility. And it's beautiful to see it and to be reminded of it. So the first thing I thought of was this book. We've all got it. We've all probably got.
Multiple.
Bodies that belong to us.
And so the obvious privilege there is, it's God's word and it's it's the the blueprint for our lives. If we choose to apply it to ourselves, it's the blueprint for our lives and will keep us from untold trials and sorrow.
If we apply it to our lives so that I would say that the spiritual.
A privilege is having this God's Word as the blueprint for our lives.
But then there's the practical aspect of the privilege that this is never before.
In history, has there ever been a time or a people that have had this book so accessible? Never.
We're so privileged to live in that time.
What are we doing with that?
So on the responsibility side.
Make the time to read it. Ask. Make the time. Ask the Lord for His help as you read it.
And when I say make the time, you have the time, but you have to make it.
And in in considering this and the privilege that's ours to have this word, to have God's word, I was just struck with how.
Accessible it is, and probably all of us have numerous Bibles and.
There's something that that I want to draw out of that.
00:10:04
I want to encourage you to use your Bible now. Great to have our phones with the Bible app on it and and that's super handy through the day and it's been a help to me and conversations and work.
At work because I'm good at remembering two or three words of a verse and then I need help to find the rest of the verse and the and the the where it's used and and how it's used in in the context of it.
Use that. Use the technology, but pick it up and hold it in your hand.
John talks about.
Whom we handled with our hands.
There's something perhaps handled. There's something important about picking it up, feeling the weight of it and and getting to know where on the page a certain verse is.
In our assembly at home, we're fortunate to have a an old brother that.
He won't remember the the.
The number of the verse, but he knows where it is in the page. And that's from handling his Bible and and being familiar with it. And I'm thankful and I have, I have.
I've benefited from the fact that he knows where the verse is.
In the page or on the page.
And not to believe at this point, but.
The point was brought home to me the most recently I I've had the privilege to.
Inherit, I guess both of my grandfather's Bibles and.
I don't have a word for the privilege that it is to hold their Bibles and see their Marks and their little notes.
I I don't have a word for that.
There's evidence of a God in the heritage, there's privilege and there's responsibility associated with it. But I just want to encourage you to make use of the technology. Use it in the day. Use it when you're moving about and you might not have your Bible close by, but when you have your Bible close by, pick it up and read it.
The second thing I thought of was what in.
In my opinion is a close second to God's Word as far as truth and comfort. And that's this book right here. A little flock.
Like I say, in my opinion it's a close second to God's word.
As far as the truth that it holds and the comfort and encouragement that it can be.
And.
So that, and that's one part of the that's the spiritual privilege and the, the, the practical aspect of, of this book and the privilege of it collective worship and praise.
That's about as close to heaven as we're going to get on this scene.
To be familiar with this and and the more familiar you get with it, the more you're going to appreciate it.
I have a habit of just turning the pages over when when I find a dog, you're in the page because I like to there's comfort in in finding that later and and writing that him out. And so I just randomly went looking for dog ears and there's four or five of them.
Will sing of the shepherd that died, that died for the sake of the flock. His love to the utmost was tried, but firmly endured as a rock of him, and his love will be sing his praises our tongues shall employ, till heavenly anthems we bring, And Yonder bright regions of joy.
While we tell the wonder story of the Savior's cross and chain sing, we everlasting glory be to God and to the Lamb. Hallelujah, give you glory to his name so.
00:15:06
God's Word and the little flock are two things that I think we all share as.
Privileges that are of the highest order.
And we all have a responsibility associated with those privileges and those responsibilities look different for each one of us. I'm not going to tell you what they are, but I think that you each know what it looks like for you or, or give some thought to that. I'd encourage you to do that. And then the third one and the last one was is Christian fellowship. So a time like this.
And this one, as I thought on it and I wanted to write down a spiritual aspect.
Of the privilege and a practical aspect of the privilege, I couldn't break it apart.
There it's so intertwined. We have, we have our meanings where we're we're built up spiritually and and we, we, we get spiritual growth, grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior if we're paying attention.
And outside of the meetings we have, we have our activities and our our interaction one with another and that that's where the relationships are built one with another.
And those things are just completely intertwined, or they ought to be. And I thought of I thought of the person.
Hebrews were all writes about not forsaking the assembling the results as a matter of some is.
See, there I go, I can start it.
We're going to read it because there's something there.
He was 10/25. Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as a matter of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching.
I couldn't help but think of the Apostle Paul if he were here today.
And got a glimpse of the world that we're living in.
How he would stress the second part of that verse, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. This could well be the last opportunity we have of this sort. And are we making the most of it, the privilege of it?
And what's our responsibility? And there again, your responsibility is different than mine, but it's to.
Exhort one another to encourage one another to lift one another up.
To be established in these things that were.
I think Josh, a couple times you mentioned we're restating something and we cannot and should not apologize. And I'm not saying you are, but for restating these things, they're they're heavenly things and we need to encourage it to one another in them. So.
We started on Monday night. Jonathan spoke about pilgrims and strangers.
And then David last night worship and service.
And tonight, privilege and responsibility. And I would challenge each of you in the next few hours to write down a privilege and the responsibility associated with it.
For your own consideration and enjoyment. I have learned that.
If I write something down, there's a better chance I'm going to think about it and get it done.
And enjoy. So maybe do that for yourselves if you.
Make the time.
The privileges and the responsibility, just one of them. We have so many it's.
When you really start thinking about it, it just.
Makes you give thanks.
But write write one down for yourself and if you want share it with with a friend. That adds A level of accountability there but.
Yeah, think about it and, and how it applies to you in your life. And, and I encourage you to do that because we are some of the most privileged people in this world and the responsibility that comes along with it is something we need to own and the Lord will reward us in it.
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So with that, give thanks for the food as well. OK, that's great.
Our God and Father, we thank you for this time and we just pray that each one of us might consider that which Thou hast done for us and brought us into and our portion in it, both in the privileges and in the responsibilities and how these things apply to our our lives and our walk.
And we pray that these considerations might be used for the encouragement of our own hearts and and those around us. And now we just thank you for the food that will partake of. And we thank you for that provisions for our needs so abundantly.
We pray too for the little guy that was hurt this afternoon. Just pray for healing and comfort for him. In Jesus name, Amen.
Exodus 12:18-51
Reading
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Our loving God and our Father, we thank Thee for the lines of this hymn that speak of the love of the Lord Jesus, human and divine. His glories not only God's Son and manhood. He had His full part and the union of both joined in one form, the fountain of love in His heart. We just pray now as we have Thy word open before us.
This lamp for our feet. This light.
Onto our pathway that we would be built up in our most holy faith to consider those things which are most surely believed amongst us. We thank Thee, our God and Father, for our Lord Jesus Christ, and Lord Jesus, we thank Thee for that wondrous love, that healthy to Calvary's cross, and we pray for a blessing now so we have Thy word open before us to guide in all that is said and to direct.
Our thoughts.
Our Father, to thy well beloved Son, we ask this with confidence and dependence, in the worthy and precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.
Sorry.
Should we continue in Exodus 12?
I think we've kind of to some extent covered what Mark had expressed.
As an exercise, there's obviously much here that we could continue with.
Or should we consider another portion?
Maybe it would be nice to at least cover the Feast of Unleavened Bread that falls right upon the Passover. They're so connected.
We spent some time on that.
So maybe verse 18 to then?
Work.
All right, Exodus Chapter 12.
Starting at verse 18.
In the first month, on the 14th day of the month that even ye shall eat unleavened bread. Until the one and 20th day of the month, at even seven days shall there be no leaven and found in your houses. For whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger or born in the land. Ye shall eat nothing leavened, and all your habitations shall ye unleavened bread.
Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them.
Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the Passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lentil on the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians. And when he seeth the blood upon the lentil and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in onto your houses to smite you.
And you shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever, and that shall come to pass, when you become into the land which the Lord will give you, according as He hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service, that ye shall say? It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel and Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses.
And the people bowed the head and worshipped, and the children of Israel went away and did. As the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.
And it came to pass that at midnight the Lord smote all the first born in the land of Egypt, from the first born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne.
Unto the first born of the captive that was in the dungeon, and all the first born of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants, and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel, and go serve the Lord, as you have said.
00:05:05
Also take your flops and your herds as you have said and be gone and bless me also.
And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste, for they said, We be all dead men. And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses, and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold and raiment. And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required, and they.
Foiled the Egyptians and the children of Israel journeyed from Ramses to Sukkoth about 600,000 on foot that were men beside children, and a mixed multitude went up also with them, and flocks and herds, even very much cattle. And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought forth out of Egypt. For it was not leavened because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual.
Now the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt, was 430 years, and it came to pass at the end of the 430 years, even the self same day it came to pass that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the hand of Egypt, land of Egypt. It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel and their generations.
And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the Passover.
There shall no stranger eat thereof, but every man's servant that is bought for money. When thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof.
A foreigner and a hired servant shall not eat thereof, and one house shall it be eaten. Thou shalt not carry forth out of the flesh abroad out of the house, neither shall ye break a bone thereof, and all the congregation of Israel shall keep it.
And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it. And he shall be as one that is born in the land, for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof. One law shall be to him that is home born, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you. Thus did all the children of Israel. As the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. And it came to pass the self same day that the Lord did bring the children of Israel out of the land of.
Egypt by their armies.
I think what this?
Feast of Unleavened Bread might speak to us of is that we as believers have a new standard of living that the Lord expects of us, and that is to live out a holy life before Him.
It's interesting that.
Verse 37, to jump ahead of it says that the children of Israel journeyed from Ramses to 2nd.
And I understand it right. I understand that Ramsey's actually means evil is the standard.
And and so this here we have the people that have been sheltered by the blood and have been spared from the judgment.
And now they're on their way out of what would speak to us of the world, Egypt being a type picture of this world and its independence of God.
00:10:07
And so.
That is normal Christianity is to leave the world behind us and and the the past sins of our life that that that once characterized our, you might say standard of living is now something that we should leave behind us entirely being being delivered really from it and and we should go forward in a on a new path.
And our lives, again, should be characterized by what?
Would be considered holy living.
Not sinful living.
It's very interesting. If you look at the Feast and Leviticus 23, most of them can stand by themselves. There will be a period of sometimes weeks or months between the feasts, between the Passover, the Feast of Netherland bred, there's no time the 14th day to 15th day. So we've talked quite a bit about what the Passover means. It was there the basis of deliverance for the children of of Israel.
And price being our Passover, when we're sheltered by the blood we are delivered to, but then there's no break right away. It goes into that period, perfect period, seven days of unleavened bread. And so, you know, as you said, as soon as we might say belong to the Lord, everything changes. And right away we should go into that seven days, which speaks of our whole life down here.
That should be characterized.
As you said, by a holy living, but it's just interesting to me how how they're so connected.
Person, it's not normal for a person to get saved and then to say I'm going to keep going a little bit, you know, give me a few days before the 11Th feast of unleavened bread starts. Scripture doesn't make allowance for that. You're you're a new creation in Christ. You should be characterized and not having 11 evil connected with that path now.
So it's very practical. Christ has done the word. We've seen in the Passover God's estimation of that, of that blood will pass over. They were delivered in that sense by the blood, but now it was very practical for them. Seven days.
No leavened bread to be eaten, no leavened bread to be found in their houses. It was, you know, individual, but also in a larger sphere. They have to be separated from that which speaks of evil. So that's what God requires from us. This is more has to do with more responsibility.
Josh mentioned this early on in our our meetings that.
When this Passover was instituted back at the beginning of chapter 12 and verse two, it says this month shall be unto you. The beginning of month shall be the first month of the year to you. For the Lord established that this was a new beginning for Israel. And so as Mark was just saying, Passover was instituted as that which would.
Redeem them by blood. And so in verse 18 it says in the first month.
The 14th day of month even he shall eat unleavened bread until the one and 20th day of the month. And Even so, in accordance with that new beginning, after their redemption by blood there was.
There there was a path for them that was acceptable or appropriate.
Were being bought back and set free. Set free to do what their own will.
No thought which was pleasing to the Lord and that relates to Romans chapter 12 verse one. It says I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies in the living sacrifice fully acceptable into God, which is your reasonable service. Those that were sheltered by the blood. It was a reasonable expectation that they would now.
Not eat leavened bread for seven days, which 11 obviously has been brought out, speaks to us of sin. There was.
They were to go forth with the Lord's help, in a path that was.
Set apart not which had characterized them before Drive mentioned Ramseys being a picture of the world Earthly splendor, and now they were going to suck it, which speaks of Booth, which has to do with their characters Hogan strangers.
00:15:03
So the the manner of life needed to reflect that.
Like the Passover originally was something that was passed by individual household.
But then once they came into the land.
Their destination after the wilderness.
Didn't seem to find their skin is right that the Passover became more blackness training.
A piece for the congregation in Israel, and I was just noticing a couple of verses in Deuteronomy 16.
Deuteronomy 16 verses one and two says Observe the month of a Bib and keep the Passover unto the Lord.
Thy God. For in the month of abit worthy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. Thou shalt therefore offer, excuse me. Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the Passover unto the Lord, thy God of the flock and the herd, and in the place which the Lord shall choose to place His name there. So first it was more of a household thing, but then it became more of a collective thing. And I just enjoyed the thought that.
The death of Christ should have.
A very special place, both in our homes as well as collectively in the assembly. There should be regular mentions of the death of Christ in our homes through reading the scriptures. And it just amazes me how there are literally hundreds of references to the death of Christ as we go through the scriptures, either directly in the New Testament or through types and illustrations like we've had in the Old Testament.
Or course in prayer. We want to thank the Lord and his families for what He's done at the cross.
Or singing hymns like Brother Evan mentioned last night at the hymn, saying we have a beautiful heritage in, in the hundreds of hymns that we have, many of which really bring out the the death of Christ and glorify him for what he's done on the cross. But then in the assembly we have the Lord's Supper, which someone has said is, is, you might say, our version of the redemption remembrance. We remember the one in whom we have redemption through.
Blood, the forgiveness of sin.
When the death of Christ has that special place in our homes and in the assembly seems like it, it really sets the tone for having that that lifestyle of holiness. Like Mark was saying that that unleavened walk. And it's interesting too that the feast of unleavened bread was was seven days. The only thought I I've heard on that is that 7 is a complete number as we know and.
In this case, seven would represent kind of the whole cycle of someone's life. The whole cycle of our lives as believers. Post conversion should really be characterized by holiness.
Might be helpful too to.
Just to read a few verses in chapter 13. Not sure we'll be able to get that far, but it is interesting to me on that note, Caleb.
Where, you know, we're speaking about yesterday, just our households and, and what we allow in our homes and, and, and of course there's some great instruction here as we've had it. And I'm just looking at chapter 13, verse six in regards to this unleavened bread. It's in seven days.
Thou shalt eat unleavened bread.
And in the 7th day shall be a feast of the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days, and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters. So it's incumbent upon us, especially as parents again.
To make sure our homes are a sanctified place that we don't allow the the the standard of Egypt to.
Or the things of Egypt to flood our homes to taint our homes to.
To to corrupt it, if you will. It's so important. I mean, I think this lesson, the Lord is really pressing something home to us here on us, not only as individuals, but as families. And interesting enough that you know, when Mark had this exercise to take up chapter 12, just to reread that verse in verse 26, the children come with questions. What does this service mean?
And as you say, Caleb, which is so good.
And we need to be reminded of this, that to speak often about the death of Christ in our to our kids and, and speak about his work within our four walls and, and, and speak about it often. It is the basis for everything, isn't it? But interestingly enough, in chapter 13, we have something that that we have in verse eight. Again, there's this inter this, this exchange with the with the child again.
00:20:28
And thou shalt show thy son in that day, saying, This is done.
Because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt.
And so we need to live out this standard of holiness before our children too. We speak about the death of Christ, but it should be seen, the effects of it should be seen in my life as a parent so that I might communicate this, this wonderful work that God has done to my children and to show it out, to live it out before them.
Because that's what it says, and thou shalt show thy son in that day. Just doesn't say that you should tell him about it.
He says you need to live it out before your kids and show them and, and and live it out in reality before them and that's there. There's great weight in that.
As you mentioned in that Caleb and Josh versus in Malachi Chapter 3 that we often read in our assembly meetings.
And before me, because, yeah, it's wonderful. And we accomplished these verses in our assembly meetings about how much more are called.
Chapter 3, verse 16 made appeared the Lord speak often one to another, and the Lord hearkened. Invert it in the book of remembrance.
Written before them feared the Lord and that thought upon His name. You know how wonderful it is.
If there's open and and often discourse about the Lords things in our homes and it just becomes the normal that that is what our children go up.
Experiencing that's going to set them in a position for continuing and not heritage.
If we get if we provide that example.
So we've had the individual and then had the house. Speaking of Phoenix.
Deuteronomy 16 I suggest that it goes the next step, Deuteronomy 16 for the following verse after what Caleb read, and there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days. And it suggests that's the next step being the assembly that you have the individual, you have our own home. So now you have the assembly and from.
13 We have about the Kingdom of heaven, where a woman took leaven and hid in the meal, and it spread, and the main apostles that wrote.
Yeah, Paul in Second Timothy, Speaking of a great house, how there were those that were putting out on sound doctor and then you had the hearers that wanted to hear on sound doctrine.
And then Peter, he warns of false teachers, John warns the false prophets, and Jude speaks of certain men, corrupt and unawares. So there's holiness also required in the House of God.
So we read in First Corinthians chapter 5 at the very first day, but I'd like to read the verses there again. First Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 7 is this directly relates to what we're reading about here says push out there for the old leaven that you may be a new lump even as you are loving Christ for Passover sacrifice for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast not with old leaven.
Neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. And so last week get the impression that these are just Old Testament things. They're very, very direct.
Reference that in this case the Apostle Paul uses back to the that type that we see here from our chapter in Exodus that relates directly to our Christian life.
00:25:11
And again, what's 11? It's it's that which is speaks of corruption and sin, and that which was characterized of this world or characteristic of this world that we have now been set free from and should not characterize us in our life. And if you were to read further in First Corinthians, it would actually list out a number of those things that are characteristic of 11 That should not be.
As not be once named among us.
One again Speaking of the connection between the Passover and the unleavened bread. The power to lead that life lies in the fact that they had just partaken that land that had been slipped.
And so you can't disconnect them either way. And the Passover should have its natural response in a life live for Christ. But then that life of holiness cannot be lived without having to pass over all the time before us. So if we want to, you know, live a morally upright life without.
Spending time feeding on Christ, it's going to be something we do in our own strength and it's not going to be successful.
So again, just showing the connection between both of them, the life of holiness should be the natural response. As you you know, the verse you read in Romans 12 Says, therefore it's because of what he's been explaining in the first eight chapters of Romans, that our life should be dedicated and consecrated to Christ.
And so here to that seven Days of Unleavened Bread is in response to what they had just had before, in the blood and feeding on the land that was.
There's a principle that's brought out with this, not maybe as directly as other things, but it's sanctification that's being set apart. But there's set apart from 11:00, but it's set apart to the Lord. And those things go together and you can't say one is greater than the other. They're both important, but there is a reality to the Christian life needing to be.
Set apart from.
To 11 and seven Part 2, the Lord. The other thing that I was thinking of in regards to this.
We turn over to John, Gospel of John.
Chapter 19, before I read the verse, just give a little bit of context. So then my thought is here, Mark just mentioned that this needs to be something that is the natural response of the heart and not a legal thing. The problem with legality or trying to do this in my own power is that.
There comes in a separation between what we are taking up with and what draws our hearts out to do that thing.
We see that picture so vividly expressed in the Jews in John chapter 19.
They just slew the Passover lamb. Verse 31 of John chapter 19. The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation.
That the body should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath day, for the Sabbath day was in hi. David sought Pilate. That the legs might be broken, that they might be taken away. And a little earlier it actually makes reference. The preparation is talking about the Passover, but really the Passover had already happened. And so they were actually in what you would say would be the time of the Feast of Unleavened Bread where they should be.
Have separated from all of them. That was evil and here they are.
Concerned about the view of the body of the Lucy that's hanging on the cross during that time. And they had no concept that they were deeply involved with the evil that was associated with crucified the Son of God. That is a real danger that we can lose sight if we're trying to do these things and they're not based in reality, we lose sight of what they mean.
And we're doing them for simply.
00:30:02
An expression of of holiness that's not based in reality. And it can take us so far away from the basis that they were established in to the point where, like the Jews, they're concerned about the image of this one hanging on the cross. Let's get it down. And they're supposed to be separated from all of that.
I.
Take a moment.
Sing for all the anointing.
Sinners, Friend.
Here we hear us in.
Wonderfully.
If I see me.
See.
Me. Not within the world.
And to me.
God's mind is turning.
To our land for wisdom.
Where do you unders daily?
Mercy.
00:35:08
As a checkpoint in our reading here, perhaps it'd be good just to look at what's going on. We have the children of Israel.
Leaving in verse 31 They rise up and they go forth, their flocks, their herds, and they were spoiling the Egyptians down. In verse 35 they borrow the Egyptians jewels and silver and gold and raiment. We have spoken tonight or this morning here about leaving Egypt and we find they are heading out now and we see here in verse.
Verse 37.
There's 600,000 foot that were men. So we know there are 600,000 men and then it says besides children. So there were children in addition to that. So they're very well could have been a million company heading out. But the question is we've been talking about leaving Egypt and what were they leaving behind is the question because here in the days and weeks earlier.
We saw God lay down plagues upon them.
And I asked the question, was there anything in Egypt of any value at this point?
Right, so the lice had gone in. There was piles of frogs stinking. Blood had gone through the rivers.
Boils on the animals.
There was just now we really read yesterday, we read that not one household was was saved in the Egyptian nation of death. So the first born were dying and it was, you know, someone asked me yesterday, there have been two first borns in a house. Absolutely. And I said first born of cattle as well. So in a household you may have two or three or four if you had cows in there too.
Death is everywhere. The locust had eaten everything. That hail had destroyed everything.
Was there anything left in Egypt to stay for?
And I asked the question, is there anything of this world to go back to? But our hearts are just like the Israelites because no sooner had they been out in the wilderness, what was it, a couple, a month or a week or two, it was like four or five weeks. And what were their hearts lusting for? The leaks in the garlic or leeks in the onions, Right. Let me ask a question. Were there any leeks and onions in Egypt at that point?
No, I would say that land was completely ravaged. There was no crops that were popping up at this point.
But our hearts still yearn for the leeks and the garlic.
And so today as we talk about this leaving behind of Egypt and taking on and we've been mentioning about the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which was to be a feast that they were to take up with.
That had a specific principle to it.
Yet their hearts still yearned for the for heading back to Egypt. In fact, they get all the way to the doorstep of Canaan, right as they traveled all the way up there. I don't know. It took a month or two before they got to to the front door of Canaan, right? They sent in the the spies. What's the first thing they do when they come back? This is too big. 10 of the 10 of the 12 spies give this bad report and they want to rise up. And what?
Go back to Egypt.
Is there anything left in Egypt to go back to?
And why was God pulling him out of Egypt? Because he wanted, and we took this up in the Tabernacle expressed very importantly, He wants to dwell with them by himself and all of them around him. And that's where he could do it, out in the wilderness.
So the question is.
Where does he want to dwell with me? If I head back into Egypt, can he dwell with me? We know that Abraham, we Abraham, prior to this, he went down into Egypt. Isaac went down into Egypt. Do we ever learn about God speaking to them when they're in Egypt? No, they had an altar. We see people. There's a clear delineation when God speaking to them as they come to and from Canaan. The question is, yet our hearts still yearn to go back to Egypt. Is there anything in Egypt to to?
Actually, there. No. It's all under curse. This whole world is going to burn up.
Is there anything here that my heart satisfies for? But my heart is naturally attracted to things in Egypt. But at the essence of it all, it's all burned up here very soon. And the Egyptians are the Israelites. The Hebrews could look back and there wasn't a flake of green grass left. It's important to get perspective of of these things. When we talk about separation. There is a there is an importance of the separation because what you're separated unto is greater what you're separated from, if you can say it that.
00:40:13
Right. Timmy just brought that up.
Jehovah wanted to separate them unto himself out in the wilderness.
It's not that the Lord didn't have.
Better things for them.
You know, they wanted that leeks and onions. What characterized the leeks and onions they grew in the earth?
That isn't what the Lord had for them. We had the corn, he had the the the fruit of the vine. That speaks of heavenly things that they grew from above the earth and and so sometimes we might get the wrong impression that when we're called to be.
Set apart from these things when we're called to leave those things behind that.
That we're losing something. No, we're not losing anything. The Lord has offered us something so much better. The problem is when we take up with those things, it displaces that which would be better and heavenly, and it robs us. It robs us of our heavenly blessing.
And to compare that, Tim, it's beautiful. You brought that up. And those 10 spies came out, They had grapes on their shoulders that were so big, they had to take two men to carry those out, right? And they, they is a land flowing with milk and honey. God had so much more for them in that new place that he was trying to bring them to. But no, they were wanting to go back to, to Egypt, right Then at that point, they wanted to go back to Egypt.
The diffusion supply.
Agents 583 were sometimes darkness, but now are you light and the Lord?
Walk as children of light.
That's really He has not called us to something he hasn't given us the power to do. And so from the very beginning, the first day in creation, God divided. He created the light, He called it good, and he divided the light from the darkness and so.
God has called us out of darkness into light and darkness.
Interrupts communion, says what Communion hath light with darkness, and so if there is any darkness.
It interrupts communion. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.
The problem is appetite.
What's our appetite for Remember? I can't remember which brother.
Read earlier about the children of Israel saying we loathe this light bread.
The loaf that's light bread. What?
So.
Chapter 70. Psalm 78.
Speaking of this.
Manna.
So they did eat and were well filled where he gave them their own desire. I'm sorry back up verse 25. Man did eat angels food. He sent them meat to the full. They were provided heavenly food.
But they loved that light bread because their appetite was still in Egypt. And so it really depends on what we're feeding on. That's what develops our appetite.
If we.
If just to use a very practical example.
If if I eat.
Sugary sweet stuff.
And then I go eat a carrot.
The cut does not taste very good, right in comparison to that sugary sweet stuff, because the sugary sweet stuff overwhelms the flavor that we find in the hair. But if I'm not eating any of that sugary sweet stuff and I eat a carrot, it actually tastes sweet.
And then we want to eat more of that, right? So.
00:45:03
There's a ton of practical.
Benefit considering these things, but that which we feed on is what is going to give us the appetite for more of that. If we are feeding on the things of this world and we have those desires, that's what we're going to want more of. If we're feeding on the things of Christ, we're going to see his beauty, we're going to be attracted to Him, and we're going to desire more of those things.
So what's a way that the Lord can put us on a diet from the things of this world?
A very common diet is to lay you on your back.
In a health problem.
You can't be going everywhere, you can't be doing everything. Your energy is down and you find yourself with your own self and the Lord Lord speaking clearly. So the Lord does want to put us on a diet, so to speak, if we can't do it ourselves. And one way to do it is to have a health problem that you find your communion growing greater because the things of this world aren't so the people or whatever the events are, whatever it may be going on, you just don't have the energy.
To leave your bed.
Or he provides signs like that. Yeah, where?
This is nothing more than an alarm clock because it doesn't work for anything else.
Maybe our appetites get refocused a little bit because of the opportunity to be set apart and the thing for this world, hopefully.
Get a reset what is valuable.
Sunday school class.
And I don't know if you've experienced where you didn't have an appetite to read the word of God.
But he told us, if you don't have an appetite to read the word of God, read it.
Been thinking of an illustration for the children.
Of what we're talking about, I suppose there's probably not a child in the room that doesn't know what cotton candy is. Can anybody tell me what what the ingredients are in cotton candy?
Sugar and air, right? Little food gathering.
It looks like it has some substance to it, but there's really nothing there.
And if you eat a bunch of cotton candy, what, what's going to happen to you?
You're going to feel sick, right? You might have a little bit of energy for just a short amount of time, but you're going to crash and burn, right? And.
Where do you normally find cotton candy?
At the fair right? What else is at the fair T?
Elephant ears and all kinds of stuff that's really horrible for you.
And and then there's all these rides, right? You kids know what I'm talking about, that they're going to make you sick to your stomach. That's what this world offers. To think back to a book that I read as a child, and it's a good book to go back to Pilgrim's Progress, guys, remember that book?
And pilgrims going on his journey and he and he comes to a place called Vanity Fair.
And they try to entice him into that. And this world would like to try to entice us into it. And sometimes it's our hearts that.
Are are enticed by that because it it has an appearance, it has a temporary pleasure, but there's consequences associated with that. If you go to the fair and you eat all that cotton candy and all that greasy stuff, you're going to fill rotten, you're going to feel awful.
And that's what this world does. If we feed on this world, it's nothing but cotton candy and greasy food, and we're going to feel terrible.
On the flip side of that coin, I love the verse.
That says the blessing of the Lord. It maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.
Children. Young people.
I can tell you by experience that if you feed on this world, you're going to feel sick.
00:50:06
But if we feed on Christ is what the the unleavened bread is speaking to us of. It's feeding on Christ. It's feeding on those things that pertain to Christ. It's his, it's that.
Fine flower and that oil and the water, the mixture of which creates that unleavened bread and it it's food for our souls.
Any adds no sorrow with it.
It's only pure blessing.
And I desire that for myself. I desire for each one of you in this room that we would recognize what the world offers for what it is. It's garbage.
It's absolute garbage. There are pleasures of sin for a momentary season.
But there's consequences associated with it. But when we feed on Christ.
There's no consequences with it, it's only blessing.
Solomon figured that out, didn't he?
He took up with everything that there could be taken up with from this world in his summation of it was vanity of vanity. All is vanity and vexation of spirit. That's the thing. It's not just empty, but it has a consequence of vexation to our soul. You look at Lot, it says that that righteous man vexed his soul daily because he was taken up with the things of this world.
The opposite of that Psalm 37. Four.
Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thy heart.
The God and Father, we thank you so much for these very practical truths that Thou hast brought before us this morning. We thank Thee for Thy work of weaning and willingness.
Away from the things of this world and.
To divine things help us, Father, by their grace, to have an appetite.
For that which is of thyself.
The boys of my beloved son.
All the fullness that thou hast for us, Father, we rob ourselves so often.
Of these things, the goodness.
And the satisfaction of them.
And we just.
Seek Thy grace to help us as we go from this place where it's so easy to appreciate these things.
Back into a world where?
The vanity.
Once again, cast this attraction before us. Preserve us. Help us father the assets in the name of a beloved son of Jesus, Amen.
Tabernacle The Boards, Coverings, and Door
Address
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Tonight we're going to be taking up the coverings.
The bars.
The boards.
And.
We appreciate feedback as it comes in too, because it kind of helps.
Position so, but let's be very dependent upon the Lord.
I'm very thankful we've gotten this far.
And I give all the honor and glory to Him because I know this can be a big thing with the technology and the Lord has seen fit thus far.
To bring it through and may we pray to that the Lord the Holy Spirit would give us help.
As we take up this particular matter, my prayer is to to make it simple.
Enough.
For children as well, let's pray.
Our Father, our God, we're thankful.
For again this topic in the series Father where we can look at this magnificent structure.
That the Israelite of old had to undertake for and we can look back.
And see our blessed Lord Jesus and all his glory, and we think of the purpose Father, for us to be with him.
Our Lord Jesus.
So we asked for help.
In the time ahead of us here.
For thy undertaking, father, along the way.
Again, we pray for the children to.
They would take away something from these precious truths as we go along, whether new to terms that they would take.
We also to pray for those that would see this recording afterwards as well, Father.
We know we have these truths. 1000 trusted to us.
And we pray that we can.
Share these truths.
With those that are seeking out there on the Internet as well and for those that we have would come in contact with afterwards.
And so, Lord Jesus, we give you thanks and we pray, and we ask for help. My name we pray. Amen.
Hi, welcome back to another Tabernacle talk around a table with four brothers that are here. And I'd like to swing over to say hi to the guys again. We got Tim. Go ahead and wave. Nate, thanks for coming back. And Josh is there too. Good. And you can see, you'll see yourselves in the monitor there too. So you'll see what I'm trying to get an angle here.
That'll have the three of you in there as well. I would like to go ahead and.
Do a brief little review of what we've had thus far. I also have up on the screen, I have a nice cut out of what we've taken up so far. But I thought what we would do is Nate and I would go ahead and kind of walk through what an Israelite would have to do and what the priest would do real briefly on the Tabernacle shot we have above.
And so there's a Tabernacle shot. So Nate, let's talk. You get your little pointer there. Are you ready? OK.
And then Tim, if I could have you, you can see the on the screen there. Let's get the front gate. Can we slide it, I guess, Tim, to your right, slide the model to your right, just a hair to get a new camera angle there just so we can get them through the front gate here. There we go. Beautiful right there. OK, so Nate, let's walk. Let's walk. This this man comes through the gate here, right? Yeah. So he comes in through the gate.
Then he's in the court.
Then we have the brazen altar, which is next. Yes, get past that and you have the labor.
Then you have the door of the Tabernacle, but the man has to stay behind at the brazen altar, right? Right after here is is the priest. Yes, the priest goes from here. So you're entering the door here. There's some hangings there.
Just move this model.
And now we get to the inside here, the first room we have.
The Candlestick. We have the table of showbread and we have the altar, Vincent.
After that you have the veil, which only the High Priest would pass through.
Once a year, once a year, and on the inside of that you'd have the Ark of the Covenant, sometimes called the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God and Mercy Seat on top. Beautiful. What we haven't mentioned is there's a whole set of things on the outside and something going on top, which I think is what we're going to cover today. That's beautiful and we'll just bring it to you just a little bit there.
00:05:10
There you go. So you have and and. Can you quickly count how many you got there?
1234 beautiful and that's what we're going to take up today in part is is that as well. And then we would also be remiss we would not in the model is a little small. We don't have a camera anger on it, but there are some bars that go down the wall and there's there's wooden wooden boards that are coming directly up and we're going to talk about those as well.
Beautiful and real quick. We talked last time about the the.
Five pieces of furniture inside. We talked about the three that are directly inside there, the the Candlestick, the alternative incense. There you go, Candlestick. And then you have the the 12 loaves on the table of showbread. Now the priest went in there and once it once a week. Was that what we were talking about last time, to eat the showbread?
And, and, and then the priest would trim the lamps every night as well, twice a night, two times a day, two times a day. Thank you. And then, like you said, Nate, once a year the high priest would pass into the holy of holies. That's right, beautiful. Okay, so here we go. So so we're going to talk about Josh. We're going to talk about.
Really, we're going to talk a little, talk a little bit about.
Camera there.
Give me a second.
So we're going to talk about the.
The anti tape of the curtains and coverings, is there something you want to take up before we went into the slide set? Well, that's a good slide to start with Mark. And I think over the last couple nights since we've started in on this subject, I think I speak for us all to.
Only to say that that.
This is a vast subject and you know, we, we, we get in on to holy ground, as we've said.
As we've considered the furniture inside and all of this, as we've said before, but it's good to restate it is that we get something of the glory of Christ pictured in in this whole Tabernacle outlined in discussion. We get his person, his work, his glories and it's something really to to think about and, and, and the deeper we get into the study.
And I'm speaking on a on a personal level.
The more I realize how not only wonderful it is, but just how vast the subject is. So it's, it is quite something. But maybe to bring that slide back up, Mark, if you don't mind. And I think this is a good I I enjoyed this kind of these two statements that kind of give us a general feel for what do the coverings speak to us of and the curtains, which is the first covering which you'll notice in in the.
In your in your Bible it is called the Tabernacle.
In Exodus 26, and by the way, what we're taking up tonight is, is largely all coming from Exodus 26. But you'll notice that the, the, the curtains, which is the first covering is called the Tabernacle itself. The the next covering being the, the goat's hair is called the tent. And then the last two are called the coverings. So just kind of an interesting note as you as you move through it, but all of these sat on top of the structure.
And all of these speak of Christ. Now the curtains, which is the first covering speaks to us of Christ personally. And and then the rest of the curtains or the the rest of the coverings really are his qualities that we will notice. And so going back for those who weren't here for the first meeting, we went through a number of Tabernacle keys, which kind of.
Gave us some general outlines in terms of.
Of interpretation of the types when it relates to the colors and the metals and the fabrics and so on. And we're going to see that coming to life here again. And in this this Tabernacle curtain, it was composed of of as it says in Exodus 26 verse one that there is 10 curtains of and there was there was four things fine twine, linen, blue, purple and scarlet. And I guess there's the fifth thing that cherubims were worked into.
00:10:01
These coverings and and these ten were all joined together and they formed the first covering again called the Tabernacle so.
Again, this, this speaks of of Christ personally. We we get in the the fine twine linen, His spotless purity, His holy life. We see the blue and that speaks of His heavenly character. We see the purple which speaks to us of his of him as Lord of Lord and King of kings.
Which is his one of his glories, and scarlet, which is his?
Laurie is the king of Israel. So son of man and son of David, son of man being the purple son of David being the scarlet beautiful. So it's it's beautiful to me to see that this overlays the boards and we will get there. But the boards do speak of us and but but all the the beauty of Christ, can I say.
As a man, as a man really, he associates us with himself.
And we are, we are tied together with him in, in so many of these things, which we could speak to later. It's it's really beautiful. And of these four different coverings that we've talked about or that we will talk about, this is the one on the bottom that that you see when you on when you're on the inside, right? Yeah. So this wasn't seen by anybody from the outside. So again, looking at the the typical picture of this, the world is sitting on the outside of the court and they're looking in and and this building is quite high.
15 feet high, right? I mean, it was tall, yeah, and, and but all they saw was the outermost covering which which was the the badger skins. But only those who were priests that went into the sanctuary, the holy place witnessed the beauty of of what this these curtains speak to us of. And we touched in on it the other night. But really.
To me.
The overriding thought here is that for the from the priests perspective, which speaks of you and me as Christians by the way, is that only those who are on the inside can appreciate the person of Christ beautiful. The world looks on and they don't have they don't see any beauty in him. They do not appreciate his person and.
And but and they do not behold what what we behold now in the person of Christ and and and what a privilege place we have as believers now He's opened our eyes to see all.
His beauty and glory.
There was a verse that was there on one of the slides.
In reference to the cherubims, Josh, you mentioned that this first curtain speaks of Christ personally. Maybe we should read that verse in John 5.
John 5 and verse 22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, until we know that the cherubims were often often representative of the executioners of the judgment of God and the government of God. And what we see in that verse in John is that.
The Lord will be the judge.
Right, that's also brought out Knox. What is it, 17 Yeah, but it says that he, at the point of the day in which he will judge the rule the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So Josh, where is the loops of blue and caches the clasp the goal where where we find that in the Tabernacle? Well, these are what joined these curtains together, right? So if you read in verse five, it says 50 loops shall thou make?
In the one curtain in 50 loop shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that is in the coupling of the 2nd that the loops may take hold one of another. So in other words, the loops brought 5 curtains together OK And then another set of five were brought together were tied together by the loops. And then there was these patches or hooks right that that brought those two sets of curtains together which we read in verse 6. And thou shalt make 50 touches of gold and couple the.
Together with attaches and it shall be one Tabernacle so we have in the slide here it you know just a quick bite size thought that Christ in his heavenly grace and divine energy both united and his person meeting man's fullest responsibility man word and God word. Where do you get that? Well, that's in the five again the numbers have meanings and so five is human responsibility man word 10.
00:15:01
5 + 5 is 10.
Is human responsibility Godward he is he has met them both in perfection, brought together by his heavenly grace and divine righteousness and and we see it all in in him. And so I think this is kind of a general outline of what we see in the curtains in in picture form. And man, I just want to be clear, man, man's responsibility has to do with the fact he's got five fingers, 5 toes. Is that is that the idea?
Yeah, and you get that in the law, right? The 10 commandments, there's men's and half of which were manward and the other half, if I remember right, were God word. And the combination of the two was a total of 10. So yeah, man is responsible. We can't get away from our responsibility. There's a there's noted last night that we are responsible as human beings, period.
Both to our fellow man, but also ultimately to God.
And we can't get away from it. And where we have failed in that as human beings, being that we are a fallen people, as natural human beings born into this world in sin.
Christ has had to answer for those things in the house and perfection, hasn't he? Where the 1St man failed, the 2nd man triumphed.
Beautiful.
Then Josh, you had that we we went over. So we've already gone over the fine twin, the blue and the purple and scarlet, correct, correct. So we could probably move on to the goats here. OK, that's in verse seven of our chapter and.
Just bring up the next one, why don't you and, and just explain a little bit about the goats here, right? Is it was it just goats that were slain and they were skinned out and this was going to be the top covering? Is that correct? Well, I think so. I, I, I'm not.
Totally not the top. It's, it's right above what we had before. OK. But it's not the the very, it's not the very top. OK, yes, correct. So it's the second covering. Yeah. And really, this, this speaks to us of Christ and his prophetic character. It's his separation from evil. You know, we're all familiar with John the Baptist and, and the severity of his character, the holiness of his character.
In terms of separating himself from sin and, and all of that and acting as a voice piece for God and the Lord Jesus was just that. He was God's voice, if you will, as the word of God and, and he came to reveal the mind of God as as any prophet did in the Old Testament. And the Lord Jesus was referenced as such, I believe in Deuteronomy 18 as quoted in Acts chapter 3.
You know a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me him shall you hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you and and and so on the the people knew about this Old Testament Scripture and and you go into the Gospel of John and and they ask is you know John the Baptist says I'm not that prophet. Well, who is he referencing the the prophet promised in the Old Testament.
And the Lord Jesus being that very prophet, is that right, Tim?
Yeah, the interesting thing that sets the load apart from all other profits is not only was he.
The prophet depicted in this in this goat skin covering, but he was the fulfiller of those prophecies, right? He did these things that the scripture might be fulfilled and so.
Sets him apart from all others. Obviously we see that, but it's, it's just a point that none of the other prophets were doing those things, seeking their fulfillment except for the Lord. Very good. So the book of Hebrews has a lot of references to the Tabernacle.
And it starts out verse one God, who has sundry times, and in diverse manner spake and time passed unto the Father's by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son.
So we should probably move on to the next covering, which would be in verse fourteen of our chapter.
And it's actually there's the two coverings here, but the first one being the ram skins dyed red. And so this verse says and thou shalt make a covering for the 10 of ram skins dyed red, and then the next one and a covering above a badger skins.
So maybe somebody can give us a word on that?
So the Ramskins died, right? If I understand, it have to do with Christ's absolute consecration to God, and the dyed red speaks specifically to his devotedness to God, even unto death. Is that correct? Yeah, Yeah.
00:20:09
Yeah, it's a, it's a something really to think about because.
Someone has said this and it's it's a powerful statement and it's true that he would rather die than disobey. And he went all the way in full total obedience to his father to accomplish his will. It cost him his life. This is what we see in his consecration to God. And so the the ram right was the consecration sacrifice. We we have that, I think.
In Leviticus 8, also in Is it?
Chapter 29, I believe two is it not of Exodus if I have it right, right. And so that was the the the animal that was used to consecrate the priests and we see the full absolute fulfillment in the Lord himself have these four layers. This is the one that's not visible from any perspective, is that right, right, right. And So what does that mean? Well, I think.
Just a thought, but would it not suggest that?
This consecration could only be appreciated by God and God alone.
This is something you and I cannot enter into at all, but it's only shared between between him and his his father.
So we got the badger skins next.
Yeah. So the badger skins was the outermost covering which was witnessed by the world, which by the way, there is another aspect of the coverings that were that was witnessed by the world, a bit of the goats here, because it was doubled at the front and back. And so that was seen in the front and the back a little bit. But predominantly it was the badger skins that that sat over top.
There's been some question as to whether or not this was actually Badgers.
Right. Some of the writers have pointed out others because apparently, if I understand things right, that's not a common animal in that area of the world, but it could have been seal skins or dolphin skins, which is quite readily available.
Being where it is where where this is stationed so but we don't know but it's called badger skin. So we'll stick to that as the scriptures as we have it here in our version but.
That this covering was something that was obviously very weather resistant. It didn't let the rain in, it kept the heat off and it was able to withstand the elements.
And.
You know, our slide says this Christ in his absolute holiness and his person in life, his holy determination and steadfastness. So there's this holy vigilance that characterized his life. So he was he, he could not be touched by sin.
At all, you know, the Lord said, which of you convinced me of sin? The Lord said, I think in John 14, if I remember right, that the Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me. And so the Lord was absolutely perfect, absolutely holy, could not be tainted or touched by sin at all. Nothing could breakthrough that breakthrough his his, the, the holiness of his person.
I think that's the idea here. Is that right? It's resistant to the elements naturally, and would speak of resistant to the temptation from without.
Right. And and what's interesting too is that again, this is what the world would see. And I think of that verse that says that there's no beauty that we should behold him. And Isaiah 53, that's the natural perspective, that's the natural eye looking at the person of Christ. And they don't see anything that would be commendable to them, nothing of attraction. Oh, but you know, we go inside and we see exactly who he is and, and we appreciate his beauty now.
All glorious within, all glorious without the Lord Jesus is, is is just beautiful, isn't he? And and as this is a protective coating, it would show that there's everything inside is worth protecting, right? Yeah, very good. Yeah. It's interesting to consider that like you were talking, Josh, that this covering from the outside perspective, there was no no glory, no beauty from that perspective.
Which is the exact opposite of what this world does right? Everything that they create creates an outward display of glory. The Lord did not do that.
00:25:02
His his his glory was veiled from all that were without an only witness from those that were with that right and you know, the natural man likes to put himself on display. He likes to display his own glory. That's natural, but the Lord Jesus.
He he was so unassuming.
That even when Judas came to take to lead the soldiers into apprehend our Lord, he said he had to give them a sign so that they might know who he was. Think about that. Here's the one that that healed multitudes of people, never sought the 1St place, never put himself in the open but and never tried to garner attention, but it just followed him because of who he is.
And he never sought the spotlight. But.
But when they came to get him, in fact, it said that Judas smothered him with kisses if I remember right. I think in in I think in another translation. Amazing. Not only is it?
You know, just really heartbreaking to think of of, of Judas's betrayal and, and, and what he would do to the Lord in that respect. But the fact that he smothered him with kisses to just make it very obvious who it was.
I mean, so this is this is the person of Christ. He didn't walk through this world displaying himself. He was the lowly Son of man. Yeah, Philippians 2 verses that we are well familiar with.
Speak to our own hearts about this Christ being this example to us. It says, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ. She's a souvenir in the form of God. Thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made of himself, of no reputation, and took upon him the form of the servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Complete humility, right? Yeah.
So we should probably move on then to the the boards, rings and bars. So here now we have the the actual building itself.
Now the boards, I think we touched in on it that the boards would speak to us of believers, right, right. And just just real quick refresher, Josh, let's go over the the scale of the boards. These were how many boards were laid out and I was just kind of snapshot and this is a top down view give it give us some indication there were there were 48 boards. So there's 20 on the North and South side pointing to and then six in the back, OK.
Which you see there on the West, and then two in the corners where the rings are. And they were secured by rings at the top and at the bottom. So there's 48 in total. And they were 15 feet high, 15 feet high. And you can see barely. I don't know if I could zoom in on that a little bit, but there's also a little metal rods that went on the side right there was. Explain that a little bit. Yeah. So there were five metal rods that were secured by rings.
On the outside of the building and there's various interpretations as to how those rods were actually assembled on the outside of the boards. But all through this, I think we see.
This recurring theme of stability and and and strength all the way through.
And you'll notice this is.
A. A man made interpretation of what we have in the scriptures so.
No perfect model, but just to give us an idea at the very least.
Very good. So the boards really bring before us, I think our acceptance in Christ, does it not? So these boards were overlaid with gold and and it really is a picture of us not only as individuals, but also as us being builded together as a habitation of God through the Spirit as we have in Ephesians 2.
And there were silver sockets that were under each of these boards and and again, silver being the, the metal that speaks to us of the, the blessings of atonement or redemption as we commonly know it as. So all our standing is on the basis of what on the redemption of Christ on his blood. And, and that's how we are.
That's what we stand on. That's the basis of our.
On that, you know.
00:30:00
Often we talk about internal security that's brought out in this. There were a hundred of those sockets. Is that correct? Total. Yeah. And we were looking at the way about 114 lbs apiece. Those things aren't moving, though. They're not going anywhere. What? What? What, what? Weighing 114 lbs apiece. Each silver socket. Each one of. Yeah, each one. And there's two in each port. Wow. The thing is, you, you could blow on this with a Gale. It's not going anywhere. Right. So we were talking the other day about.
Security again, God has gone to great lengths not only in the New Testament to assure his his people of of their not only their standing in Christ, but their eternal security in him. But we also see it very vividly in in the pictures of of the Old Testament here, particularly in the Tabernacle. And it's just wonderful you know, and and also the there were two tenants. It says in verse 17 that.
We're in one board and they were to go down into the sockets right says in verse 17210 and shall there be in one board set in order one against another. Thus shalt thou make for all the boards of the Tabernacle and these tenons. If your Bible is similar to mine. I have a a note in the margin that says in Hebrew that it's translated his hands. And so if we can make an application there again back to our security and standing in Christ. We need to lay hold on.
These things with our hands, if you will.
And and realize what we have in him and, and all the security that we possess in in our Lord Jesus. Just to to add to that too, it makes a point in verse 15.
They also make the boards for the Tabernacle of **** and wood standing up. These boards had no power in themselves to stand up on their own. They needed those sockets.
In fact, those boards, before they were assembled and put there, they were lying flat on the ground.
Picture of being dead in trespasses and sins someone needed to pick them up and put them in that foundation and then were they Josh go back to those those rods that went through is that speak of the Holy Spirit coming in and joining believers in in the early part right. So now there's again various interpretations of this, but I I like the the thought that the the middle bar ran actually directly through the interior of the board so.
It was unseen and and it went right through the middle and and that would be a picture of the Spirit of God uniting his people together.
Right, and and and so the the other bars that sit on the outside. Well, you know, Ephesians 4I I do like this. It's been likened to and I think on one of our slides we indicated that it was the gift, the gifts that the Lord has given to establish his people.
In the House of God, but if we could just.
Ephesians 4 and I I do like this thought.
That in Ephesians 4 verse two it says wherewith or with all loneliness and meekness, lowliness being the lowest bar, meekness being the second highest, with long-suffering being the third bar, and the topmost bar being forbearing one another in love. It's Ephesians 4, he says Ephesians 4 verse two, and then the the bar that goes through the middle is 3.
Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit.
In the in the bond of peace. And then those rings perhaps speak of eternal love. And those are those things that should that that characteristic should be seen in all his Saints, that that love should be something that is.
Obvious and evident and a natural thing if I can use the word natural.
Amongst those of his own.
And and sharing that one with another.
So these are again there, there's a security that that we see in all this in the structure that that it's a solid building, isn't it in the corners, there's the rings on our model that needed pointed out earlier that again that add additional strength to the corners and again using the the figure of of.
Eternal love being in the the the corners of that building.
Something that that holds us all together, isn't it through Christ?
So in this picture, would you say that each board represents individual believers, right. And the fact that there are one building would be the collective aspect? Yep, Yep, that's I think what we see. Beautiful. And this is what I'll throw up the slide here is this the the pillars that would be at the is that the those at the front? Well, the the pillars here, I think are what would be on this slide in particular would be in.
00:35:25
What's upholding the veil outside, Right. So there are four pillars there. OK. And maybe just go back to that slide mark, if you don't mind. OK, here.
Let's do this.
OK, OK, so we have Christ, both human and divine, and the one upon whom everything depends for the blessings of atonement and access to God. And then there's there's really a dual type in this where we can see a, you know, believers standing on redemption ground upholding Christ. You remember these pillars would would hold up the veil, but also that the they are socketed in silver, right. Again, the thought of redemption.
There once again.
So it's, it's beautiful to see how closely linked we are to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then, and then we have, of course, the veil, which is a paramount importance, isn't it? So maybe somebody could maybe give us a word on that.
You want to point that out there Nate where that I was put that up solo there? Yeah, the veil was right there as you walk as the priest would go in once a year, right. And they would have to pass by the altar of incense to go inside the holy of holies. That's the veil that that that we're referring to and I believe it had in the picture is right. There's cherubims on that and we spoke last night of the.
The Candlestick being the sole light there and I believe it cast a beautiful, beautiful glow upon these cherubims that were embroidered.
On that lid in there.
Yeah. So as the slide said.
The veil speaks of his flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ flesh we we see that very evidently brought out and Hebrews chapter 10. We read this yesterday, but because of the significance of this. Let's read this again Hebrews chapter 10. I think it's verse 19.
Having therefore, brethren, boldness centered it into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh.
So that gives it to us very clearly and.
Again, the veil was made from that same fine twine linen and then embroidered with those same three colors.
And cherubims and.
Those all speak of the various aspects of the glory of of our Lord Jesus Christ. Again, the the fine twine linen Speaking of His perfect righteousness and humanity, His moral glories, the blue, his heavenly glories, the purple speaks of his position as the Son of man, the Lord of Lords, King of kings. Also maybe speaks a little bit as to his suffering.
Talks about the brazen altar being covered with purple over the ashes and and then also the scarlet, which again speaks of the Lord Jesus as the Son of David and and again the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The interesting thing purple is a combination of blue and scarlet. And so the combination of those two things and then of course the cherubims again is judicial.
Power and they found rest in the Lord Jesus.
Beautiful.
So that verse you referenced in Hebrews would go back to what happened at the cross. Yeah. And we know that we can read in the Gospels the veil of the temple was rent and twain from top to the bottom at that time. And there's significance to that, isn't there? Because.
It's been said that the the veil of this temple of this Tabernacle was designed to be rent from the very inception. It was created with that in mind.
That from the point that we're reading about it here, and it was rent from the top to the bottom, from heaven to earth, from God to man.
And that's what gave entry into that heaven of heavens, the holy, so holiest, the throne room of God.
So just getting back to our slides for a moment. So I understand now, Josh, how how you kind of were working through this is that we're inside, look at the pillars and the veil. But then the very next slide, you speak of the door and the pillars, which would be more on the outside of. So let me just drop that down. So go ahead and move that model up there. There you go. So we're now we're coming through the door.
00:40:12
And there's.
4/4 pillars there, 55 pillars, five. OK, again, numbers have significance and.
We don't want to be too imaginative in, in the application of them, but there, there is a place for the interpretation of them. And I, I think that there is an aspect here of, of the five pillars which speak to us of man's responsibility and, and again, as we mentioned before.
Or that that responsibility was fully and perfectly picked up and and and satisfied, if you will.
By Christ, he he fully answered to that in perfection, and it's it's not.
It's not on the inside, right? You know, the the veil was upheld by 4 pillars which which tells us of something interesting. That's the universal number. OK, you know, I, I think again you get hints of grace all the way through this.
And that is that God's desire is that he wants to come out to man and reveal himself to him and, and have fellowship with him. And, and for being the universal number is as if God is saying, I want to come out. And this is I want you to come in, but I want to come out to you. And it's available to all, but it has to be done on a righteous basis, right?
And and you can't get in there.
Unless you pass through the brazen altar as we apply to ourselves in typical form. So these are cast in five sockets of brass, exactly which would relate back to the brazen altar. You don't get through that door if you haven't passed the brazen altar, right? And so there's an element, an aspect of these five pillars being socketed in brass of man's responsibility and judgment. And the Lord is reminding us that if you're going to get on the.
Don't forget that it is on the basis and on the ground of judgment that has been accomplished in the person of the Son of God. So as an aspect of remembrance, Yeah, that's good. I like that. Yeah. And what's very interesting too, is that the the door that we read about here in verse 36 and thou shalt make in hanging for the door of the tent.
Of blue and purple and scarlet and fine twine. Linen rot with needlework.
You'll notice something missing.
Cherubims.
They were on the veil inside inside, but that's judgment has passed. They're on the veil and the ceiling. But judgment when you get inside, judgment has passed and now we see who the judge really is. It's the person of of Christ. All judgments been committed under the sun. John 5 tells us, but again, hints of grace that God.
Is presenting Christ to man on the outside, not in in the the spirit of judgment, if you will. He's He's presenting his person, but not him as a judge.
And so God wants again, wants to save sinners, doesn't he? Yeah. Goes back to that verse in John that says that he came not into the world to condemn the world, but that the world to him. I And the Lord leaves us here another night. We will take up the outermost court.
And the vessel, the, the brazen altar and brazen Laver. And we got a beautiful gospel picture in that and speaking to us about that very thing that God is, is wanting to bring man in. He wants to bring men in, but again, only on the grounds of the work and sacrifice of Christ. That's the only way, right? That's the only way.
So here we have the the cut out and just to just to kind of start tying things together here is.
There as you walk past that labor, that the pre, we're going to take that up next time. They walk past labor, then they go into the doors. We just got done Speaking of going from left to right. And then they have that and then the veil is beyond the altar of incense there. And to the right of that is the holy of Holies. And then you can see the fabrics stretched across the top as well.
It's remarkable that as you consider these things, we haven't talked about it yet, but you have the gate into the court and it's made of the same materials, the fine twine linen, and it's seen with those same colors, the blue and the purple and the scarlet. Again, from that point, there's no, there's no cherubims, but they all are in alignment from the gate to the door to the veil. They're all in a perfect line, beautiful and, and they all are made-up of those.
00:45:17
Things because they all speak of Christ and those various aspects, right?
Well, does that kind of make a wrap for what we have this evening here? I did have we sang a hymn earlier today here at this camp that we're recording this at and I thought this.
Second verse of Little flock #61 was very beautiful. His glory, not only God's Son and manhood. He had his full part and the union of boy both joined in one form of the foundation of love in his heart. And that's really what what we're trying to enjoy around this table is the aspect of having.
Having the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Brought forth in the pictures, in the types, in the and seeing His glory, and in the expressed in the colors expressed in.
In the numbers, the materials, et cetera, it's just a beautiful thing. And we, if I could just go back to the him we sang tonight together.
And it's #309 in the little flock. And, and this for me is, is, if you haven't noticed, these hymns are kind of tying into the subject matter that we, we've been taking up each evening.
But in particular at the end of verse, well, I'll read verses one and two. Jesus before thy face we fall, our Lord, our life, our hope, our all, for we have nowhere else to flee, no sanctuary, Lord but thee. That's the inside right in thee we every glory view. That's what we see in in what we've been talking about on the inside. All his glory is represented there.
Of safety, strength and beauty too. So we appreciate his beauty.
But again, the security that we have in Christ is is is incredible safety, strength, beauty, all of that is seen in in what we we've considered tonight tis all our rest and peace to see our sanctuary Lord in thee.
So Christ is everything, isn't he?
Well, beautiful. So there we have it, another beautiful session together around the table and.
Again, just so much notes to take and I hope you've enjoyed it by taking notes. And we're going to share in an upcoming episode, we'll share where some additional resources could be found as well for further meditation of these things. But we look forward to next time taking up the two articles, the two pieces of furniture out in the court. And, and so I can't wait for that session as well. So with that, we'll see you next time.
Ourselves.
Our God and Father, we do thank You for this time to consider the beauties of Thy beloved Son, and how humbling it is that Thou has chosen us and has set us in the place of ISON and we stand accepted, fully accepted, and be Lord Jesus we do.
Return and thank you for it. We do ask that we would want in that place.
Saying, Pray this and thy precious name, Lord Jesus, Amen.
Amen.
Healing the Brokenhearted
YP Sing Address—M. Steika
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We're wonderful to hear the voices of the Saints singing to the Lord Jesus.
And I was wondering here, I was wondering how many of us here are enjoying Camp Alcania?
Wonderful. Good. Who can tell me a little bit about Al Qaeda?
Who was Al Qaeda in the Scriptures?
Anybody.
Yes.
Well, Cana was the father of Samuel, a husband of Hannah, right? Very good.
And I was just wondering, before I get started, before we pray, I've got a few questions for Brother Steve here.
Steve, have you ever been to the Vestal, NY meetings?
The meeting room? Yes, I have. All right. And your family was with you. And I think Jed was about this high, right? Yeah. Yeah. Now, you took a Sunday school there. Do you remember what you took up?
I go.
How old are you? I'm almost 70 and I can remember.
Let me give you a hint.
Do you know what this is?
Yeah. All right. We both have one. All right. Now, does that ring any bells?
Well, I'll just mention it. He took up the function of the multi tool and how diverse it is and how many things can be accomplished with it. And then he contrasted it with the wedding ring and he says as far as he knows, this has one purpose, to show his love for his dear wife. And I thought that was very good. You know, the multi tool, very useful tool.
But the wedding ring surpasses it so.
Thanks. That's that's all I had. I told, I told him I was going to have some rapport with him and I think he was let down a little bit.
But after one of the things, what I've been enjoying about the camp is the starry heavens, because there's very little light pollution. And after one of those things I went out to the bridge and and looked up.
And there it was, the Big Dipper, and I could hear the brook babbling below. And I thought, isn't that marvelous? If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.
Right there in the starry heavens, declaring the glory of God. Let's pray. Let's look to the Lord for help. God our Father, now we thank You for this time that we have over thy word. Thank Thee for privilege to sing the songs and to exalt the name of the Lord Jesus. So we pray for help as we open Thy precious word.
We know that thy word is exceeding broad, and pray for each soul in the air that there would be.
Refreshment from the pages of the Scriptures. So we ask these things with confidence and with Thanksgiving. And the worthy and precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
I'd like to turn first to Psalm 78.
And I'm sure many of us find comfort in the Psalms. I found comforting verses throughout the Psalms.
The very last verse in Psalm 78.
Verse 72 So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands. I know it's referring mostly to David, but it's Jehovah's care over his people. And by the way, just as a side note, when we think of King David and we think of Saul, the first king after the People's Choice.
You know, it says of Saul that he was goodly to look to, and there was none in Israel that could compare to him. He was head and shoulders.
Above all the rest in Israel, not the very next verse is.
00:05:03
And the ***** of Kish, Saul's father, were lost.
When you come to David, he says thy servant kept his father's sheep, and none of them is lost, or I'm sorry thy serving captain's father sheep. And there came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock, And I went out after him, and I smote him and slew him, and delivered it out of its mouth. And when he rose up against me, I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew him. Thy servants slew both the lion and the bear.
And this uncircumcised philistine shall be as one of them.
Seeing hath defied the armies of a living God, and so David is one who kept the sheep. Saul lost his father's ***** and that is a picture of how these men would.
Be over the people of God and what their characteristic would be. And so Saul was just a man after the people's heart, a man after the flesh. And David was God's choice.
And you know it said it says of David that he was a man after God's own heart. And we might say why is that David failed? Yes he did, but he always responded to the discipline of God and that is why he is a man after God's own heart. So someone has suggested that the Lord Jesus Ministry could be put into 3 categories.
He fed the people. He healed the people.
And He instructed the people, and we have two of those in this verse 72. We fed them according to the integrity of His heart, guided them by the skillfulness of His hands with direction. So what about the healing? I'm so glad that Savior of the world was suggested to sing because that's exactly what I have on my heart is He healed at the broken hearted. So in Psalm 147.
Psalm 147.
Verse 3.
He healeth the broken in heart and binded up their wounds.
He telleth the number of the stars and calleth them all by their names. Why are those two verses so closely related? I think it's because neither one man can accomplish neither one. He cannot Number the Stars and he cannot heal a broken heart. The Lord Jesus can do both. And I understand from Bob Tony that in the.
The.
Hills in South America and the mountains and so forth that you can see with the naked eye galaxies beyond the Milky Way.
So clear and so bright, we could never Number the Stars, let alone call them by name.
You know that the scripture says can't nothing to Job can't stop buying the sweet influences of Pleiades. I believe it's just fairly recently that that 7 clustered star has been determined to be gravitationally bound and God knew that all along and he put it in his word. But men are just discovering that there are the binding influences that play these. So how great he is. I just want to look at the woman of the city in Luke Chapter 7.
That came to the Lord Jesus.
Just a few comments about her.
Verse 36, Luke 7, you know, the Gospel of Luke is really the power of Jehovah working amongst men in grace through the Lord Jesus. It's the power of Jehovah. And you know when we read verses about he shall come forth and serve them, He shall gird himself and so forth. We need to remember one thing.
The Lord Jesus is not our servant. He's Jehovah's servant. He comes forth and serves us, but he is Jehovah's servant.
And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisees house and said down to me, You know, you never find the Lord.
Crossing the threshold of a Sadducees home. Why? Because the Sadducees denied the fundamentals of Judaism. They denied the existence of angels. They denied a future state of resurrection. And for that cause the Lord never graced the House of one of the Sadducees, but he was in several homes of the Pharisees. And that's what I enjoy about the Gospel of Luke is.
00:10:29
Accessibility because in Luke you have the man himself, Christ himself. In Matthew there may be the dignity of the Son of David and Mark, there's the unswerving service of the Lord Jesus and John it's a deity, the Son of God from heaven. But in Luke it's the man himself, and that's what attracts.
Our hearts, it's what attracted this woman. You know this woman.
Verse 37 and behold a woman in the city which was a Sinner when she knew that Jesus sat at need in the Pharisees house.
Brought an Alabaster box appointment.
Why does she stand unique out of all the different ones that came to the Lord?
She stands unique in this fact. She didn't come because her mother was sick with a fever. She didn't come because a friend had the palsy.
She came because she was a Sinner. And I just want to say here, you know, there was a Sunday school before the Sing talk and every one of those children went through that blood marked door that you see over there by the entranceway.
And I trust that everyone here is under the shelter of the blood. And if you're not, I want you to act like the house is on fire, because it is. You need to accept the Lord Jesus. Now is the day of salvation. Behold, now is the accepted time. Flee from the wrath to come. There is one who's willing to accept the violence defender. And the gates of heaven are open.
As wide as the heart of God could open it this evening.
All you have to do is come and be saved. God has given His Son.
He's born us, born our sins on the cross of Calvary. The blood has been shed. The blood is on the mercy seat that we've had.
In the meetings here on the Tabernacle, come and be saved is the word that God says.
To each one of us and justice. Finally, you know the Lord Jesus said if you die in your sins, whither I go, you cannot come. Isn't that a solemn verse? If you die in your sins, if you believe not that I need, if you die in your sins, whither I go, you cannot come.
Solemn verse. But this woman was a product of the city. You might say she was a Sinner. She had lost every integrity that she had.
Except for two things.
She still had her long hair, symbol of the glory of the woman, and she had this alabaster box appointment.
She slips into Simon's home and stands behind the Lord Jesus. Reclining at table, she sees the dishonor of the Lord. He's the only one there with unwashed feet, those feet that were travel stained by the dusty roads of Palestine.
She saw that dishonor. Yes, her heart was repentant for her own pathway, but she washes the Lord's feet with her tears, wipes when, wipes them with the hairs of her head, and then kisses them and anoints them with the ointment.
What does the ointment speak of that which was her best? And you know, I just want to say to you younger ones, it's worth it to invest your energies in the assembly.
It's worth it and and get to know your older brethren and spend time with them. They're very encouraged in their younger brethren going on for the Lord. So don't neglect the assembly function. She stood at his feet behind him weeping and began to wash his feet with tears anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisees saw this, he said this man, if he were a prophet.
Would have known what manner of willingness is that toucheth him, for she is a Sinner.
00:15:04
Simon wouldn't be touched by such a woman.
And you know, that makes me think of the rich man and Lazarus.
In hell, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and he said to father Abraham with Lazarus in his bosom. That's just a picture of blessing.
Send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I'm tormented in this flame, something he would have recoiled at in life.
You have Lazarus.
Touch him in that way so under the pressures of torments of hell, it changes the person's attitude.
And he remembers, Abraham said. Son remember. And.
The lake of fire there will be perfect recall. There will be conscious agony for rejecting the Lord Jesus. But I don't want to dwell on that. But it has to be said that there is a place called outer darkness. Bind them hand and foot, No possibility of moving out from it. Cast them into outer darkness. Not one ray of light ever from God. How solemn that is.
So Simon, the Lord Jesus, you know.
I say it respectfully.
He has somewhat to say to Simon, He has somewhat to say to you and to me.
But you know, I'm going to say it respectfully. He's going to give Simon a slow pitch.
One creditor.
To debtors, 500 pence, 50 pence. Nothing to pay. Frankly forgives them both.
Which of them will love him most? And Simon rightly judge and said, I suppose that he who was forgiven the most, And the Lord Jesus said yes.
It's true, this woman, he points to the woman now speaks to her. See us now, this woman.
Verse 44 I entered into thine house, Thou gave us me no water for my feet. You know, when the woman came in, she didn't have a basin through water. She didn't have a towel to dry the feet of the Lord. So she used what she had and we need to refer back to the ointment. She kept that which was best.
For the Lord Jesus, you know, she could have distinguished herself among the company by using the ointment. But you know, most probably.
Her company?
Was certain certain lewd fellows of the baser sort no prospect of marriage? Perhaps she kept this, hoping for marriage, but then she saw hope is lost. But she wanted to give that which was best.
To the Lord Jesus, and she uses the ointment in that way. The ointment was costly, the ointment was rare, and the ointment was fragrant.
You know, I was in my working days, I was near the vending machines and I was peeling an orange. These two men come around the corner and they, the only guy said, I have to tell you, that's the most fragrant orange I've ever smelled. You know, how would you peel an orange? It just, well, the ointment had that effect, I'm sure in the house.
She shows repentance and tears for his dishonor.
That Simon afforded him. Think of it.
Simon had this opportunity. The Lord of glory is in his home and he doesn't take advantage of it. He doesn't see that this is the Messiah of Israel. I entered into thine house in verse 44.
Thou gavest me no water for my feet, but she hath washed my feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss. There was no affection there from Simon. He invited the Lord, maybe out of curiosity, into his home. How different from the fellowship that he enjoyed in the House of Bethany with Mary and Martha and Lazarus. How, how different.
But this woman, since the time I came in, have not ceased to kiss my feet.
My head with oil doubt it's not annoying, but this woman hath anointed my feet with the ointment.
Wherefore I say unto thee, your sins, which are many.
You know, imagine the frowns when she came through the threshold of Simon's house. The frowns that she met with.
00:20:02
They knew she was a Sinner, she knew she was a Sinner, the Lord knew she was a Sinner, and Simon himself knew she was a Sinner. Her sins, which are many, are forgiven her, for she loved much. You know she bestowed more abundant honor on the Lord Jesus than if Simon's servants had washed his feet, or if Simon himself.
Had washed the Savior's feet. She bestowed more abundant honor on the Lord. Jesus she loved much. The Lord let her weep out her repentance in tears. He didn't interrupt that.
See, the human sympathies that He had at the grave of Lazarus were free to run their course. Jesus wept. He had the power of life. He was the resurrection and the life, but He wept with those that were sorrowing, and so His divine nature did not hinder human sympathies from running their full course. What a person we have.
God and man in one Christ.
Her sins are forgiven. Verse 48 they that sat at me within with him, began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgive us sins also?
And he said to the woman, Thy faith that saved thee, go in peace.
Think of it.
Such such a one as this from the city able to go in peace. And so these accounts get our attention. Don't think they grab our affections because there's a Savior and there's a Sinner and there's peace, there's blessing. And you know she has a new opportunity. She has an opportunity now to walk to please the Lord Jesus. She had lived a life of sin.
She had dishonored the Lord. Simon had lived a life of religious.
Hypocrisy, perhaps?
But he did not receive the Lord of glory like this woman did.
And so.
I I like these accounts in the Gospel of Luke. How accessible the Lord was. Perhaps she had heard the Lord Jesus himself say, Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I'm meek and lowly of hearts, and you should find rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy.
And my burden is light. You know, when we think of a yoke, we think of, yeah, we're gonna get some real work done, labor, striving. But no, he says, I will give you rest. He never had the yoke of sin. His yoke was the yoke of obedience. And how perfect he was in in obedience to his God and Father. It was his delight to do the will of him that sent him.
So I just wanted to bring this this account.
Before us, because those feet were beautiful. They were the feet that were preaching the gospel upon the mountains of Israel. And when she saw them travel, stained as they were, you know the Lord Jesus. One time he traveled all night to sit on the well of Saikar to speak to one of Jacob's erring daughters.
So great was his love, he must needs go through Samaria and that she was the reason why and he dealt with her with such tact.
That she forsook the life of sin and became an evangelist to the city of the Samaritans. And I think we're going to close soon when when the Lord said lift up your eyes and look for the fields are white ready to harvest. I understand the Samaritans were known for their white garments and as they're sweeping across the fields to see the Lord Jesus and hear him himself, he says lift up your eyes.
Look, the fields are white.
To the harvest and they had to say now we believe on him not because of thy word. We have heard him himself himself and believe that this is the Christ the Savior of the world. Let's pray God our Father, we thank thee for a precious Savior. We pray about the balance of the meetings here at the camp and for safety we give thee our thanks for.
That wonderful work on the Cross of Calvary.
Regarding our loss estate, shutting thine own blood for our souls, and commit us unto Thee with confidence and with dependence. We give Thee our thanks for the opportunity to sing these hymns, these songs of praise, and to have Thy word open before us. We pray for thy soon return. Lord Jesus. Perhaps this very night we'll hear a glorious assembling shout and be caught away.
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Because they are thanks our God and our Father, and the worthy and precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
I.
Romans 12:1-2
Reading
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Gracious other thank you for this time again, that we can be over Thy word.
Thank you for the resource thy word is. We just pray for wisdom and direction this morning. Thank you for what we've had that accomplished work. Thank thee that.
The Lord Jesus could say it is finished and that thy grace and love to go out, and yet we see thee still unchanged. An accomplished work that forever stands.
Though we may change our feelings.
And love yet thou abide us faithful, Thou art the same. So we just pray for help this morning. Thy name we pray, Lord Jesus, Amen.
But few of us were talking after the reading meeting yesterday morning and.
There was a lot of exercise to kind of switch over to first part of Romans chapter 12, which seems to fit really well with what we've had before us in Exodus 12 and.
I think it it's well too with what we've had in some of the evening talks.
It talks about consecration. Can I have that process in?
Beginning part of Romans 12 from thankfulness for what the Lord has done for us, to alive dedication and consecration to the Lord. So if that's something that I think will be profitable, we have suggest reading the 1St 8 verses of Romans 12.
All right, Romans chapter 12.
1St 8 verses.
I beseech you, therefore, resident by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For I say, through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God has.
Hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office, so we being many, are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another, Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophecy according to the proportion of faith or ministry. Let us wait on our ministering, or he that teacheth on teaching, or he that exhorteth on exhortation.
He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity. He that ruleth with diligence. He that showeth mercy with cheerfulness.
Maybe it would be helpful before we start going into the courses to just give a little setting of what we act here in this epistle. You know, in, in the first eight chapters of of Romans, what Paul is doing is he's really teaching the gospel. He's showing God's righteousness and how God could reconcile sinful man, holy God, and yet man coming into blessing, you know, he.
Kind of puts men to the test and has to come up with the conclusion that all ascending comes short of the glory of God and up till that point.
There's really not much hope, but then the righteousness of God comes in. God has been able to provide a way in which men could be justified and reconciled to God without God having to compromise His Holiness. And that's obviously to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he explains the gospel and the blessing and the grossness that it has brought us in.
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And then?
And chapters 9 through 11.
He kind of answers a question that the Jews would have if this the Gentiles have been brought into blessing. What about all the promises that were made to Israel? So in those chapters he again shows the righteousness of God, but now in his dispensational ways. And he shows how all fits together and how, you know, the promises made to Israel. Not one of them has been set aside or lost. And in the future they they will.
Be fulfilled. So he ends in Chapter 11 as he contemplates all these things with an outburst of praise as to the wisdom of God's ways. And then we can get here to the beginning of chapter 12 where I think it fits really well with what we have in Exodus. Well, we talked about the Passover and then how the unleavened bread that that that holy walk that the Israelites were supposed to have.
Supposed to be a reaction of their affections of their heart as to what God had provided for them in the lamb and the blood. And here's the same you know, we, we contemplate these first eight chapters of Romans and the incredible work that God has done to bring us into blessing.
He says I beseech you therefore in view of what has gone before, now he talks about us and how it should affect us and how it should completely change us. You know, we we said that that pass overnight everything changed for the Israelites the next morning. Nothing would be ever the same and it should be the same with us too. And then in these first verses we kind of have that process of a person being occupied.
With the immenseness of what God has done.
The mercies or the compassions of God, what he has really gone through it and what the work of the Lord Jesus for our blessing that there should be that process in our lives from, you know, living for ourselves and sin to being fully consecrated through the Lord to have our hands full in service for the Lord and that's what these portion that we just read speaks about.
So the Feast of Unleavened bread was to be kept for seven days and I think it was noticed that that really speaks to us of the entirety or the duration of the life of the believer down here. We we ought to carry on in holy living that should characterize us and be normal Christianity and in his verse I think it ties in wells. Mark has been saying that.
It tells us that I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God.
That you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is a reasonable or.
Could be translated intelligent service.
I was looking at that word present and I understand that the tense in which that that that word is written is in a once and for all kind of tense. It's called the heiress tents. So it's it's a once and for all thing. That's the idea behind the tents of of that word in the original. And I think that goes along with the Feast of Unleavened bread. It it again.
It's something that should be an abiding thing through the duration of the life of any believer that that that we go forward in service for the Lord in holy living in a new way. It you know, the the ups and downs and peaks and valleys, We all experience them. But I would say that, you know, normal Christianity.
Doesn't contemplate a life of sin or failure necessarily, albeit it is there. We can't deny it, but the Lord has given us a.
A power within and a life power being the Spirit of God and a life that the Spirit of God can act upon to go forward and and do those things that please the Lord. So that would be normal to what the Lord would expect from us as believers.
This chopper takes up.
Spiritual gift a little bit.
Farther down into the versions that we read three times in Scripture in the New Testament, we have the spiritual gifts given once in Corinthians and.
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In that chapter, like it's First Corinthians chapter 12, it presents the diversity of death and Ephesians 4 we have the necessity of gift, and then here in our chapter we have the motivation.
Forget and so like Mark and Josh were just saying, I beseech you therefore, so inside of all of that has been done the mercies of God being bestowed upon us.
The normal response, the normal motive for that, would be to devote ourselves and serve it to the world.
Parallel with Ephesians 4.
And of Ephesians 3, I believe is another doxology of praise.
Now on to him that is able to do exceeding abundantly, and so forth. But he starts out, I beseech you, that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called not a command, it's a beseeching. And I think you had that at the beginning of the first Tabernacle meeting was a willing heart, not of a command.
And so the difference between the law and grace. He wants our hearts. He wanted the Israelites hearts in doing what they did too, but He gave them a command to test them. But He wants our hearts. Not just a commanded service, but our hearts. I beseechly.
Before we get too far, I want to take off what Mark just mentioned about the 1St 8 chapters of the book of Romans. And this is a challenge to the young people because I wish as as I've now in my early 50s that I would have taken up this exercise and the exercise is this understand and appreciate the 1St 8 chapters of Romans. Now, when you go through it, it will, it may seem a little confusing, but do this.
Do a portion every single part of the month, every day of the month for 30 days.
Keep going over each chapter repetitively work your way through. Start back over the 1St 8 chapters. I did this here some years ago. It's very, very helpful because there are winds of doctrine that float around and having a solid understanding of those first eight chapters of Romans but help solidify you as a believer. And it's important because.
Now what we have here in Chapter 12, it builds off of what's in the first eight chapters, but to have a fundamental understanding.
Take it up exclusively for 30 days. There's my challenge. As I look back, I wish I would have done it.
Jonathan, you touched on the doxology of.
In Ephesians, I think it it would be good for us to just briefly.
Look at this doxology that happens at the end of Chapter 11, as we've been saying.
The Apostle Paul has laid out the gospel, and then he is laid out a dispensational.
Understanding of the portion, the future portion for Israel.
And he concludes all of that by.
These following verses I'll read from verse 32.
Of Chapter 11. For God hath concluded the mall in unbelief.
That he might have mercy upon all.
Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out.
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counselor, or who hath given first given to him? And it shall be recompensed unto him again.
Four of him.
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And through him and to him.
Are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen.
I think it's beautiful.
And it sets really the stage for this beseeching that we have in chapter.
12 and it's it's vital that we get a hold of.
The principle that everything that we have and everything that we are.
As those that have come under.
Grace and mercy that have been saved by the blood. We owe it all to the Lord. There is absolutely nothing that we have.
That we have provided ourselves.
Our salvation. Every aspect of our salvation.
Has been provided by our Lord and our Savior and everything that we are.
As those that are saved by grace and those that have been brought into a relationship, a wonderful relationship with not only the God that made the world, but as His bride. Everything that we have and everything that will ever be, we owe it to our blessed Lord and our Savior and as a result.
That's what we have in the verse, first verse.
They beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice.
Wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
It flows from the fact that everything that we have and everything that we are and everything that will ever become, we owe it to our Savior.
We owe it to his blood.
There's nothing that I have, no resource, no ability, nothing that I have is mine. It's all His. It belongs to Him, and it therefore needs to be used for His honor and His glory in His service. And it should be our pleasure. It should be our joy.
Several have come up and thanked me for our portion, our part in the camp here and and my response is it's the least I can do.
In light of what God has done for us.
For me.
Individually, it's the least I can do and I don't have any resource that I have.
That is mine. Apart from the Lord, there's nothing that I have. Absolutely nothing. No possession.
No intelligence, No. There's absolutely nothing that we have that hasn't come from his good hand.
Just to go along with that, Uncle Steve, what you mentioned about this one calls us to be a live.
Sacrificed the one who's beseeching us to be a living sacrifice.
But notice in the new translation it says that he, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the compassion of God. And it reminded me of those verses that we know so well in Matthew 11, where he says, Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy.
My burden is light, and so the one that calls us to and beseeches us to be living sacrifice is doing it in compassion to us. And I think sometimes to the natural mind, the thought of a yoke and a burden and a sacrifice is daunting. But I think we do well to remember who it is that's calling us, and that their only place that we can truly find rest is bearing the burden that the Lord faces upon us.
Bearing the yoke that he places on us. And only when we've presented our bodies as a living sacrifice, we can truly find rest in Him in in full consecration, doing his will. That's the only place where we can find peace in our souls. And that's so contrary to what we think. We think of rest as living for ourselves naturally, but that's not where we're told to find rest. And so the one that calls us, He calls us in compassion because he knows that's where we'll find true happiness.
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For us there are two uses in this first verse 2 words that begin with us. One of them first one is sacrifice and the second one's service and.
This is a challenge that I would.
Thus, first to my own heart, is this work that we're being called to.
Should be.
A sacrifice that means it should pass us something. And I guess my challenge is in your, in my life and in your life, is there anything that we are giving up?
For the Lord sacrifice.
Or am I satisfied to just live under myself and not willing to let things that the Lord has so mercifully provided to me?
Be used for him. Sacrifice has an element of self denial associated with it and personal loss associated with it. But as Danny was saying, the Lord doesn't ask us.
My knowledge nobody in this.
Room is at their life.
Called into question as having had to potentially lay down their life for the Lord.
So what he's asked us to do is a little tiny bit it's it's a small giving of ourselves to himself. And then the second thing is service. And David brought this up in regards to consecration.
Proper service cannot be accomplished without worship first.
Because that sets the motivation for the service if we have our hearts focused on our Lord Jesus, and we are.
Reveling, if it were, as it were, in His love and His goodness and His heart towards us.
The service that we carry out for him.
Doesn't seem like a burden.
The motivation is should be love. We're constrained his love. Often we get those backwards and David mentioned that that.
We get it backwards and like Mary, we remember Mary and Martha.
Martha was covered about with with much serving and she complained about it.
Because her sister Mary was found at Jesus feet and the Lord had to gently rebuke Martha.
And then in John chapter 12, after the resurrection of Lazarus, we see those same sisters in similar positions, Martha serving.
Mary again at Jesus feet, anointing Jesus feet, but no complaint that time.
Why? Because there had been a transformation in the perspective of Martha, and the service was in its proper order then, and it could be carried out in the way that it was intended.
Might be good to refer to. Read that verse and refer to in 2nd Corinthians 5.
5 Five, and verse 14. For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead, and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves.
But unto him which died for them, and rose again. And so it says, if one died for all, then we're all dead.
And that He died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves. That we were dead in trespasses and sins, and He died for us, and we owe our entire life to Him. And going back to that first verse in our chapter.
As it's been mentioned at the end, which is your reasonable service or I think it was mentioned too, that could be translated, which is your intelligence service.
This is the the only response that actually makes sense based on what's gone before in Romans. Any other response is unreasonable.
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I've been struck in scripture to see how.
The heart is is paramount in in these things. Your brothers have been bringing it out that it all begins. It starts there. And you know what we've had here back at the end of Romans 11? You have this appreciation.
That just flows out in a doxology of praise and then from there flows this dedication in verse one and onto all the way on to consecration and.
And brother Jonathan mentioned it. It's, it's, it's the heart. And you know, we live in a culture today where.
There's so much.
Unthankfulness, you know, and, and that is that is a dangerous thing for any believer. I I've been struck in Scripture to see how.
Thankfulness really should characterize us and and there's good reason for it because it it really.
Umm, sets my heart in in a certain direction, doesn't it? So I just bear with me. I just want to read a couple scriptures here, just in light of what's been said in Ephesians 5.
Verse two it says, And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, and offering, and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. But fornication, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, has become a Saints, neither filthiness nor foolish talking or jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks.
And further on into the chapter it says in verse 20.
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then you contrast that with Second Timothy 3 you know we're talking about.
Holy living and the like, what should characterize the believers life now? And it says in Second Timothy 3 notices, it says this. Know also that in the last days perilous times shall come, where men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters proud.
Blasphemers. Disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy.
And I just wonder if there's a moral order there. So we're talking about holy living.
And, and the the heart being willing and appreciative of, of what the Lord Jesus has done for us. And, and this is not the only place I can't put my finger on on the other places, but you'll find that unthankfulness leads to unholiness in the life because we're not appreciating what God has done for us. We become complainers and we become worldly.
As a result, and we're not appreciating all that he has done. And and it's that appreciation factor that that drives me to want to lay my life down on the altar of sacrifice.
It goes back to what we've had in Exodus, right? Because the children of Israel were freed from hard ******* and they quickly forget what they had been under those extraordinarily difficult pathmasters they brought out from that, and they immediately start complaining.
A little bit into the desert, into the wilderness, and they're complaining. They want to go back to Egypt. They just think about the things that they had there. We've already talked about this. I don't think we need to go back, and we have to. But it just brings out your point that unthankfulness leads to unfolding.
And it really impacted their relationship with God, didn't it? It was a grievous sin because it demonstrated a lack of appreciation for what God had provided to.
It's interesting, I've been talking a bit about service.
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Really in this passage that we have, God doesn't give something to do till we get to verse 6.
Up to that point, it's preparation for service and so.
Seems like sometimes we jump to that. First of all, want to do something.
God wants us first before He can give us something to do that would be intelligence or that would be profitable service. So all this, all these things that we read in the first few verses have to do with us being ready for service. And you know, we have to give ourselves to Him before He can give us something to do.
My brother and I were talking earlier this morning and and I.
He said, my son, you know that he's referencing that verse in Proverbs. My son, give me thine heart and and the tendency sometimes we might have is to reserve a section of my heart for the Lord and then and and let the rest of it be filled up with whatever I I, I, I choose and the things that.
I might want and lust after or or or whatever.
But that's the key to this.
This service aspect, I think of our life that our whole heart needs to be given over to the Lord. The Lord wants the whole thing, but you know, he, he doesn't, he doesn't twist our arms. He doesn't, he does not force us into submission to, to, to do these things right.
Albeit he may bring in things in our life to discipline us to wreck our ways, but.
But the Lord is gracious, isn't he? And I just think of.
See here if we can find it first. John just thinking of that verse.
First, John.
Chapter 5.
There's two.
By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous.
Now you might say, well, are we then under law? No, we're not. But I think the idea here, number one is the commandment really is the expression of the Lord's mind and heart for his people. But I've, I've often taken it this way, that if the Lord has given me a certain line of instruction.
Or or expressed his mind to me, which he has done very clearly in the word of God that his desire should have the effect upon my heart as if it were a commandment, as if it was something that I ought to do. That should be the the normal response. Why? Because it's it's a response of love. So if my aunt, my wife asked me to do something.
It's not grievous because I love her and I want to please her.
You know, and, and, and that should be the same with us as Christians. The Lord has has expressed his mind to us and he has done so much for us. What is our response?
There's the example of that Josh and Old Testament when David.
Yearn for the water from the well of Bethlehem. He didn't command anyone to go get him a lot.
Those that were standing by, whose hearts were knit to David, they went in jeopardy of their own lives and they drew water from that well after breaking through the Garrison of the Philistines, and they brought it back to David. And the thing that's so beautiful about that is what was David's response?
Touched his heart, he poured it out as a sacrifice for their blood that was in jeopardy. And so again, this motive that we have before us should be a motive of love and and when it is a motive of love, when it does, the service is.
Coming from our heart to do.
To return the love again to our Lord Jesus. It impacts it's impact, it's impactful to Him.
Means something that's extraordinarily.
It touches his heart.
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I've enjoyed the thought how the 1St 5 verses are as a doorway. We look back and we have the 1St 8 chapters as already been laid out and then looking forward to the path in front of us we have.
What our service is to be as.
Has been mentioned and then thirteen chapter 13 we have what our behavior is to be to those without and chapter 14 of the first part of 15 is what our behaviors to be with one another within and so it gives a groundwork these first five verses.
On our path ahead.
There's two little phrases here.
That we haven't spoken much about.
One is holy.
The other is acceptable unto God.
When we present our bodies a living sacrifice.
And I appreciate what you mentioned. I I would take it maybe a little bit further.
The sacrifice.
Especially in the context of the Old Testament was the laying down of a life.
And think of that verse over in Galatians chapter two. Well known verse. I'll just read it. Relations 2.
Verse 20.
I am crucified with Christ. That's the living sacrifice.
I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live.
Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. I believe that's the Holy.
Portion of that verse that we have before us.
Christ liveth in me, in the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. That's the acceptable.
Part.
When we're willing to.
Surrender.
Completely.
And be a living sacrifice.
The result is is it's going to be holy.
Because it's not ours.
Our lives now are his.
And because they're his.
Because the life that we now live, it's acceptable unto God.
Because it carries with it all the efficacy.
All the value of of the person of the Lord Jesus.
That's acceptable unto God.
Spoken.
Oven bread being seven days and like in that to the rest of our life, our whole life, but we could also think of it as every part of our life. 7 is a the perfect number, isn't it? And so not only from now until the end of my life, but every part of my life.
In the old system that we've been talking about, a certain class of men were priests.
And that was something they became by birth.
And then they were brought into that position by.
A rite of passage. They were anointed and washed and clothed.
00:40:00
But in our day.
The believer on the Lord Jesus Christ is a priest.
And our priesthood.
What does the priest do?
A priest makes sacrifices.
And so our priesthood as a Christian, as a believer involves sacrifices. And if you turn to first Peter chapter 2.
You can see what some of those sacrifices are.
First Peter chapter 2 and verse 5.
Says Ye also as lively stones are built up.
And holy priesthood.
To OfferUp spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
So as a holy priesthood.
As a holy priest, I will be offering sacrifices to God.
What are those sacrifices? The fruit of our lips Praise.
Worship.
Drop down in this chapter 2 of I Peter says in verse 9, But ye are a chosen generation.
A royal priesthood.
A holy nation, a peculiar people that you should show forth.
The praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. As a royal priest, what will my, what will my priesthood be involved in? It's to show forth that involves my neighbor. If as a holy priest I'm offering sacrifices to God, as a royal priest I am reaching out, showing forth to my neighbor.
So what are those sacrifices look like? Hebrews 13 as a maximum examples.
Just turn back a few pages to Hebrews 13.
Verse 15 By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name, a holy priest. Verse 16 But to do good and to communicate, forget not.
For with such sacrifices, God is well pleased. That's the royal priest. He's doing good.
Doing good and communicating well, that involves maybe my time or my money. But here's another sacrifice in chapter 12 of Romans that we've been talking about. Present your bodies a living sacrifice. That's the number seven. That's the whole thing.
You know, some of us were talking last night out of After the Tabernacle discussion, and Brother Walt mentioned something that really struck a chord with me.
So at the very beginning of the Tabernacle talks we were discussing, there was a free will offering that was was presented. Moses presented that. Let's just read that really quick in Exodus chapter 35, Exodus chapter 35.
And verse four, And Moses spake, and all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the Lord commanded, saying, take you from among you, and offering under the Lord whatsoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it an offering of the of the Lord. Gold and silver and brass and blue and purple and scarlet and fine linen, and goat's hair, and ram skins dyed red, and badger skins, and chittim, wood and oil for the light, spices for.
Oil, and for the sweet incense and oak. Stones and stones to be set in the ephod, and for the breastplate.
And.
We could keep reading.
But there was a request made for a sacrifice from the children of Israel to bring that which they had for the service and construction of the Tabernacle, all those things that we've just been talking about.
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One of those things that was requested was gold.
Chapter 32.
Couple of idolatrous calves were constructed from gold.
The people.
Some of the people of Israel had given their gold, the gold that they had taken with them out of Egypt, and they gave that gold to construct those two paths.
Because of that.
They had no gold offer. Moses, the Lord really, and the construction of the Tabernacle.
Which was meaningful to the Lord?
Man.
Have I done that? I absolutely have done that in my life. I've taken that which the Lord has given me.
Devoted it to myself or to something else, and it has been a loss and an opportunity.
To use that for the Lord. That is a very pointed example.
So we need separation from the world.
This is what we have in verse 2.
Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and purposeful.
Now that word conformed really strikes me because it means to change.
To something else and so as.
Those that have been brought into this place of blessing and now our spiritual creatures.
To be conformed to the world means to change out of that that.
Condition that God has put me into now be conformed to something else.
That's pretty soon to think about it and.
Says in Colossians 3 verse one, If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth now.
My margin says set your mind on things above. I think that's the proper translation.
And what happens to us is that our heart follows what our mind is taken up with. So as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he, as the proverb says it.
And we need to have right thoughts. We need to have God's thoughts. And he's revealed his thoughts to us. And we need to think and breathe and move and act and serve in, in, in according to.
The mind of God and and we find it in this wonderful book, the Bible.
So we need, if we're going to serve right, we need to think right, we're going to act right. We need to think right. It all starts with the thoughts. Of course, the heart is engaged, right? But it, it flows from right thinking. And, and that's so important. So we're speaking about acceptable sacrifices.
And and that.
We can only do that which is acceptable when it is in accordance with the mind of God.
For the kids, I'd like to just expand a little bit on what.
Tim said confirmation being conformed.
Now you can take a piece of metal and you can put it in under pressure and it is going to be conformed, it's going to be changed and it's going to bear the image of what it was pressed up against.
And that's what.
This first part is be not conformed to this world. As we pass through this world, we're going to pass through some pressure.
00:50:02
And that pressure is going to try to conform us to this world.
We talk about peer pressure and that's one part of it.
And that.
That in a practical way might might be that we walk and we talked and we dress like this world.
That's that's being conformed to this world.
The next part of the verse says being but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Josh was just talking about.
That process that starts with the mind and this word transformed is we. We know a little bit about it. It means to change into something completely different.
Transformation.
The what was is not recognizable.
Under the.
Effective transformation. You think of a Caterpillar.
Goes through metamorphosis and it's transformed into something completely different.
You look at a Caterpillar and there's nothing left of the Caterpillar when it becomes a butterfly.
That's transformation, and it happens through the Word of God being applied to the mind.
That's why it says by the renewing of our mind, it's a the application of the Word of God and the principles of God to our minds. And through that the Lord is going to transform us. He's going to change us. What is that change?
We have it elsewhere.
That were changed into the image of our savior.
And that is going to have an effect.
On those around us.
Think of Moses in that way. He he went up on the mount and he spent time with God and what happened to him.
Any of the kids know what happened to Moses when he came down out of the mountain?
Somebody tell me.
Yeah, I'm talking about Moses, though. What happened to Moses? There was something that happened to Moses.
Specifically, does anybody know go ahead back there.
Let's call it out all right.
What?
He was shining. His face shone.
There was a transformation in Moses.
It was so remarkable that the children of Israel were afraid of him.
They asked him to put a veil over his face because his face was shining.
I think that's a beautiful illustration of transformation.
When we're in the presence of God.
Just another couple of comments about the conform. Sometimes maybe it's easier to understand these things and we consider it with a little bit of an illustration, you know, and back in Romans chapter 8 it says.
In verse 14, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
There's a specific dignity that's associated with that position of being a son of God. Think about that.
Son that we know of as the prodigal son, the father's son, he's in the father's house. He has all the dignity of a son in his father's house, and he leaves all that behind and goes out into the world.
The waste, his father's substance on Riot that's living. And the end of that he ends up in Pigpen feeding swine, starving to death.
No dignity of the position that he had.
00:55:01
As his father's son can do the same thing.
As sons of God, behold what manner of love.
Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. We squander that by going on into the world.
And forfeiting that dignity of possession and blessing.
Take up with that which is going to starve us to death.
Bless the Godfather they pray, for this time we've had with thy word.
Minds being renewed.
Song of dedication to the Lord Jesus.
What's with that?
Renewed mind and power of the Spirit, the new nature life we have in thee.
Walk in it.
We think thy Son, our God and Father.
What a living sacrifice unto thee.
Perfection.
It's complete giving of himself.
In life.
Thou could say this is my loving son.
Whom I am well pleased.
We thank you for giving one our Father who we can look unto.
Who has walked this path down here and we?
Following his steps.
She was a living sacrifice.
Pray for help in being living sacrifices also.
We give you all the praise and glory for all Thy goodness, our Father.
Everything from faith to new life to the Holy Spirit we own.
Has been said all these good things, Anything that's good enough that would be to thy praise and glory is of Thee.
So we thank thee for the grace to continue on.
Pray for this the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Tabernacle The Court
Address
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Just commend ourselves, our God and our gracious Father. We do thank Thee today that we can.
Come together again to be over the sound of Thy word and to consider the Tabernacle, and we ask you for thy help. Thank thee for our Lord Jesus, and his work at the cross has redeemed us, Set us free, and all that thou hast accomplished for the glory of God. Lord Jesus, in that work of redemption, we thank you for it and for the blessings that thou hast bestowed upon us now.
I know and brought us from darkness and delight from the power Satan of God we bless thy holy name Lord Jesus. We look to be for help now praying for thy help with this current technology problem. I pray that they'll fix it and we committed to the asking this in thy name we pray Lord Jesus Amen.
So I guess it would be there's some display problems that guys are having and hopefully they can get it.
Figured out in the next couple minutes, but.
The mark, maybe he said maybe we just do a quick Q&A, which makes me a bit nervous because I keep stating that I'm not an expert on the Tabernacle. So I mean what we can give it a wing, we'll see, give it a go. And there's other brothers here who probably could chime in if me or somebody else doesn't know the answer, so.
We'll put it out to all of you and.
Kids, if you have questions, feel free to ask. Raise your hand so we know who you are. But.
Does anybody have any questions that Tim can answer on the Tabernacle?
I'll gladly relay it to him.
And listen, there is no silly question here, you know, we're all in it to learn something, right? And.
Oh yes, and Steve has these booklets, one per household. If you haven't received one yet, it's called The House of Gold.
Steve, there's some up here too.
So again, we, we're, we're all in it together, as we sometimes say, we this has been a wonderful subject that we've been taking up.
And I'll be honest, but you got a question.
No, go ahead.
So we talked a little bit about some aspects as well.
Question is, you've mentioned aspects of the temple in the discussion because there are similarities, but if someone wants to ask you, that's what I'm doing now.
How would you explain the difference between them not, not in terms of so much their physical structure, but their meanings? Yeah, that's a really good question. And I think the most high level answer I could give on that is that the temple points to.
Millennial truth when the Kingdom of Christ is is set up on this earth and and that for any younger one who's not familiar with what the Millennium is, it's when the Lord Jesus comes back to this earth with his bride. We come with him and he sets up his thousand year Kingdom reign on earth. And so I think I think there is some truth with respect to the Millennium that's seen there in picture.
Is that right guys?
Yeah, one of the interesting differences.
Is that, you know, we've talked about the structure of the Tabernacle and all of those things. We talked about the ceiling. We never talked about the floor. The floor of the Tabernacle was the sand of the wilderness. The floor of the temple is gold. And it just again speaks of Christ and his established Kingdom rather than the wilderness journey.
And I think, you know, we're talking about the arc a little bit. And those staves were pulled out of the ark, were they not? And put in that they're, they're kept in the temple. But the wilderness journey was done. And but with the Tabernacle, those staves, as I understand it, stayed in the ark. They were not to be removed because again, the Tabernacle was for the wilderness and they were journeying along and carrying these things with them.
00:05:05
And and it would again speak to us.
Of our wilderness journey, but the Lord being right there with us all the way through.
So that was a good question, unless Nate, do you have more to add to that or no? Does any other brother have anything to add to this?
I was just curious and the tribulation isn't there going to be a temple set up and destroyed?
Yeah, so when the.
When the Jews come back at the start of the Tribulation period, they're going to build a temple in unbelief and they're going to carry on with their worship in an outward form, in an outward way, and sacrifices. The whole sacrificial system, as I understand it, will come back into play.
Mixed within this this this assembly, if you will, of of of the Jewish system will be a mixture of both real and unbelieving.
Jews and some will have faith, some will not.
And what will happen is when the Antichrist rises up in the middle of Daniel 70th week or the tribulation as we know it in the middle of that week, he will, he will set up an idolatrous image of the beast and he will force the, the worship of the beast upon all his subjects in, in, in the land of Israel. But also it'll spread out into the.
Western prophetic Earth.
We don't have really time to, I think, start getting into all of that, but.
But that temple will be there and rebuilt in unbelief. Now. Did you ask if it was going to be destroyed? Is that right?
Before. Before the Millennium? Does somebody have a answer on that?
No.
That temple that they built will be destroyed by the Assyrian army, is that right?
Yeah, yeah, I believe that's right. And so there will be another temple built during the Millennium, and you can read about it in the last few chapters of Ezekiel.
I've got a chart in my Bible of some of the dimensions from the one end to the other. It was 500 reeds, which I understand is a mile long.
So there's there's coming glory. We can't even.
Begin to think of.
So just on the note of the Jewish remnant, there's going to be those amongst those Jews who will have to flee from their system of worship. That was because what will happen is they'll, the, the Antichrist will, will put an end to that. And those with faith, you read about it in Matthew 24 that they, the Lord warns them saying that, you know, when you see the abomination of desolation set up in the temple, you're to flee. Don't look back.
Don't go back to grab your clothes or anything like that. You got to make make haste and get out and flee. And so they will, they'll run and hide in the mountains and in in various areas. So just to finish the thought on that.
Yeah, and I think if you go into the Psalms, you'll see that if I remember right, I can and don't ask me to pinpoint where it is, but I if I remember right, you see the the temple, I think coming under destruction there by the Assyrian army, which is a 10 nation confederacy of Muslim nations coming through that the Lord allows to come through the land of Israel and devastated, totally wipe it out.
But the Lord will protect his his remnant from that, and roughly 2/3 of the Jews will die in the land, 2/3 of which will won't have faith.
So it'll be a judgment upon them.
OK, so with regards to the Ark of the Covenant, I've heard a little bit about this but I'm not entirely clear. But I understand that if someone was to look into the Ark of the of the Ark of the Covenant it they would mean death for them. Could you explain why that would be?
00:10:00
Good.
Well, I might need help help on this, but we know that all the aspects of the the Tabernacle and the furniture speaks of Christ and I've heard it suggested that looking into the yard is like trying to.
Understand the details of who he is as God and man and trying to wrap their mind around it. And that's something that's just too far for us to to go. We can't take that in. Would that be right?
Yeah, there's a good verse in Matthew 1127 that we know very well, but let's read. It says all things are delivered unto me of my father, and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father neither knoweth any man. The Father saved the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. So it's beyond our, as Nate says, beyond our our natural mind to contemplate the mystery of the person of Christ.
God and man and the same person and many people have gotten into serious errors.
And and have really.
I don't know how else to put it. They just other than incredible error and and and stumbled themselves really when they have tried to delineate the and and pick apart, if I can say it that way, the person of Christ.
We cannot do that. It's beyond us. He's 100% God and he's 100% holy man. He is the God man and.
It's not for us to look into that ark and, and, and understand that. I mean, think of it. Think, think of this. Here was the lowly Son of man who is the Son of God who came into the world. And there he lay in Bethlehem's Manger and he was upholding all things by the word of his power at the same time. And yet he was dependent upon his earthly mother.
Mary, and yet he was giving to her.
The very breath that she breathed and the strength that she needed to pick him up at the same time so he was sustaining her life while being dependent upon her for his natural life.
Can you understand that?
But it's the truth, and we need to leave those things with God because we cannot mind the depths of that.
It is beautiful and we need to leave it there.
David, I think, might have a thought. So one thing that was helpful to me is John, Chapter one and the ark had four sides to it and there's four walls that we could see here in John one, one and two.
Two in the beginning was the word. That's one wall or one side of the ark.
And the Word was with God, another side. And the Word was God and another side. The same was in the beginning with God, the last side. And as has been mentioned, if we try to dissect and break down those things.
As it will ruin our spiritual life.
We're I'm going to make a confession here. I really have.
A hard time remembering chapter verse references.
And probably not unique. So where is that?
That that situation where the man put his hand to the ark, right?
This is this is a picture of it. What chapter? Where is that first?
Salmon No.
Samuel for Samuel.
Second Samuel 6. Second Samuel 6. All right.
Verse seven Yeah, so let's just read this second Samuel 6 again. David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel. 30,000 And David arose and went with all the people that were with him from Bayali of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims. And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the House of Abinadab that was in Gibeah and Uza in Ohio, the sons of.
00:15:09
The new cart. And they brought it out of the House of Abinadab, which was at Gibeah accompanying the ark of God. And Ohio went before the ark. And David and all the House of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of firwood, even on harps, and on on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals. And when they came to Nakin's threshing floor, Uza put forth his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it.
And the anger of the Lord was kindled against us, and God smote him there for his error, and there he died by the ark of God. And David was displeased because the Lord had made a breach upon us. A and he called the name of the place Parazuza to this day. And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and said, How shall the ark of the Lord come to me?
So I think this is a little bit of a picture of, of just what we're talking about. It's it's a man trying to put his hand on the ark. He's trying to trying to stabilize it, if you will, and, and, and, and.
Trying to lay hold on it can't do it, can't do it and and as a result of it, you know.
He lost his life. And that's a little bit of a picture of someone trying to look into the person of Christ, trying to make sense of it and.
And in a in a sense, they they they fall into some sort of failure.
Deep failure.
To do so.
It's in First Samuel 619 where you have the men of Beth Shemesh were 53,000 or 56,000 but I'll just read it and he smote the men of Beth Shemesh because they have looked into the ark of the Lord. Even he smote of the people 50,000 and three scoring 10 men and the people lamented because the Lord has smitten many.
The people with great slaughter. The person of Christ is not for our curiosity.
I think it's also interesting to see in that passage in Second Samuel 6 how David had good intentions, but it wasn't according to the Lord's mind. And so again, how careful we might have the best of intentions, but there's a way to handle.
God's things and.
Certainly the person of Christ.
On that as well, you would note that the Phyllis signs also transported the Ark on a cart and they weren't smitten. They had to have handled it when they set it up on the Ark. They weren't smitten. Why? Because they were not responsible. Because they hadn't been given the Word of God.
And I think there's a lesson there too, right? Where?
The ark needs to be carried. Let me back up. The ark can only be properly carried by the people of God.
And what I mean by that is, is that it is only the people of God who can appreciate the person of Christ. I mean, applying some sort of worldly way of transporting the ark through the world, as the Philistines did and doesn't work right. And we didn't mention it the other night, but I thought about this after that, you know, when the priest would, I believe it was the priest that carried the ark, was it not?
And what's that? The Levi? The Levi's?
Yeah, OK, well, that that Levites for sure, Yes, but I heard too that maybe it's the priest. But anyhow, I digress. The.
The Levites who carried the Ark.
Where would when they put that those staves on their shoulders, the ark was above their heads, right? The ark was above their heads. And again, going to back to what we're saying the, the the person of Christ, it's, it's above us. He is above us.
The other thing about that is when they went to carry it, it had already been covered with a covering of blue and then a badger skins on top of that. So they were they were specifically directed not to enter in and and assume control of the ark until the priests.
I covered it, right. Let's brace coverings. And so it's that heavenly character, but then completely shrouded from outside observation because it has no place. And that might be what I'm thinking of. Tim with the priest had to go in and cover it and then the Levites could pick up with it and and carry it out. Yeah.
00:20:16
Maybe you could clarify that covering Tim when when they're journeying just looking at numbers for. I had taken it the other way around so maybe I could be corrected.
Numbers four and.
Verse five. And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the covering veil, and cover the ark of Testimony with it. And she'll put there on the covering of badger skins, and she'll spread over it a cloth wholly of blue, and she'll put in the staves thereof. So I had taken that as the blue is what was visible. Is that right?
Welcome to another session of the Tabernacle talks around the table, where we sit and enjoy thoughts of our Lord Jesus Christ, the beauties of what he has given us in this beautiful structure. Tonight we're going to take up the.
I outside, that's it. The outside is what we're going to take up tonight. And so with that, I'd like to go over just a brief review of what we have here. We've covered a few points that would be worth reviewing again, and that is this Tabernacle, as we discussed several sessions ago, was the first time that God could dwell with man.
And we saw earlier that.
The patriarchs did not get to dwell with God. They spoke with God, they walked with God. But to dwell with man was a was a new thing. And God wanted to do that with Israel and he wanted to dwell in the midst of them as well. And that's why the Tabernacle is ludicrated in the middle of the children of Israel, which is numbering well over a million people.
We read in Exodus 2 and in the other Pentateuch books. There the ones that follow.
That it was instructed by divine command. Moses was to follow everything that God gave him.
The pattern, we've been going over the pattern in various aspects. We're going to go over further pattern tonight as well. And so it is a divine pattern that if you read later on in Hebrews, Hebrews 9 and 10, why, we'll find out that this is a pattern of heavenly things.
And then also there's a devotedness to God as well that the people had the opportunity to come and show their appreciation and their and their ability to come before him in a variety of ways. They're devotedness and we'll talk more about that. Here is an illustration that I think is beautiful here that I came across.
That is worth looking at a little closer.
And basically this is showing the overall scene as we see here and we see.
The Tabernacle itself faces east, and so this session here we're going to be going through the gate, we're going to be going into inside the gate and going up into.
The brazen altar and all into the labor as well.
Here's a top down view as well. And with my mouse, I can think I can show a little bit about what this might be. So people would come in through the gate. We're going to talk about how wide the gate was, and they would come and the priest would help them sacrifice. And then beyond that, the priest would be working with cleaning themselves in the labor and moving on into what we've spoken to already, the priests themselves being able to go into the holy place.
And the high priest of the Aaron particularly would go into the Holy of Holies. So this is a top down view of the idea is that the general public would be able to come inside the gate and be able to offer their sacrifices at this large brazen altar which we're going to take up.
Here's another cutaway here as well from the side and we're going to go over the particular gate of the the particular fencing, the court itself and we're going to cover the gate as well momentarily.
00:25:07
I guess, Josh, I would bring you in on this here as well.
Let's bring you, Let's bring you in.
You and I have been having conversations over the last couple months about about this, and we're going to talk about particulars of the posts here as well as which side of the fencing it is. But this fence, this Tabernacle fabric of the court fabric was 7 1/2 feet high, Is that correct? Right.
So that's that's something that no one be able to look over. They would not be able to see what's going on inside.
Anybody that was within any range that they probably couldn't look over that and see see anything, right. Correct. So why don't you take it, take it from there in terms of where we're going to be covering. I'll just back up a slide here. This is the court gate and pillars. That was our first topic for this evening then. Was that correct? Right. Yeah, Yeah. There's something very beautiful about this and.
Course. I mean, the whole topic of the Tabernacle is just laden with beauty.
But as it relates in particular to the gospel, we see a lot of gospel truth, I think in the outer court and in the gate that leads then into the court. And the first thing that someone sees is the brazen altar, which we'll speak about in a few minutes. But what we have in the court itself is there's 60 pillars. It's about, it's a, you know, about 150 feet.
Long by 70 feet wide, 75 feet wide.
And we have in this depiction here a a the curtain that went around it was all of white. And again, this would speak to us of our Lord Jesus and his spotless purity, his holy humanity. And maybe we'll just read in Exodus 27, verse 9. This is where we find it. And it says, and thou shalt make the court of the Tabernacle.
For the South side, southward, there shall be hangings for the court of fine twined linen of 100 cubits long for one side, and the 20 pillars thereof, and their 20 sockets shall be of brass. The hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver.
And likewise for the Northside and length there shall be hangings of 100 cubits long and his 20 pillars and their 20 sockets of brass, the hooks of the pillars, and there's fillets of silver. And for the breath of the court on the West side, she'll be hangings of 50 cubits or pillars 10, in their sockets 10. And the breadth of the cord on the east side eastward shall be 50 cubits of hangings of the one side of the gate shall be 15 cubits, their pillars 3, in their sockets 3.
And on the other side should be hanging 15 cubits or pillars 3 in their sockets 3.
Let's just stop there. So this is really Christ in his holy, spotless humanity. He is the faithful and true witness. And what does the world see? What does the world see when it comes to the gospel? We present Christ, right? We hold him forth and and the world sees the Lord Jesus Christ in his holy, spotless humanity. This was something.
Very evident in His own life as He walked amongst men for 3 1/2 years and they witnessed His moral glory and His beauty in that respect. They had no appreciation of it aside from those who were His true disciples. Disciples indeed.
But what is interesting is that.
The pillars, which I don't want to jump ahead too far here because I think it's important that we get to the gate, which also speaks of Christ. But this this covering was around the the outside, obviously, and there was pillars that that that went all around the court to provide the structure and the pillars, I believe, would speak again of you and I right, go ahead.
Wasn't this the only thing that was wood that was not covered?
Leave a medal. So again, I agree. I think it speaks to speaks of us, right. And you know, you and I were talking about this a little bit earlier today and it was interesting that that even the wood itself, as far as I am aware, is not, we're not told what kind of wood it is. You know, we, when we were in looking at the Tabernacle building, it was very clear on what the boards were to be made out of, right? The Shittim wood or as we understand it, Acacia wood.
00:30:05
But that is not, we're not told that. And I it's interesting and you know, we were talking about this and I just wonder, and this is just a thought, but you know, we, we really need to get out of the way when it comes to the gospel because it's not about us. We hold it forth. We, we present Christ to the world, but it's not about us. It's not about you or me.
We have no glory in it. We should just be.
Be basically we I think of that verse we preach not ourselves the Christ Jesus the Lord and I think we we might see that here a little bit. The apostle Paul said that he would bring nothing to them save Christ and him crucified. And those posts were capped with silver. So those that were on the outside could see the silver above the white, which speakers of redemption as we've already talked about and they were set.
Brats, which is a reminder of Christ's work and securing their their salvation. So for those who know the value of what's on the inside, there's a responsibility in a certain sense to hold that out as available for others. You have you mentioned there's 60 pillars and that's 5 * 12.
In five being the man's responsibility.
To hold out God's truth, his divine things, and and to bring in the people through that gate that you were talking about. Yeah. And you know, these pillars were socketed in brass and as you pointed out, Tim, they were capped with silver. And so as applying it to ourselves here, we.
We see that the groundwork.
For us is is a work that has been completed by the Lord Jesus Christ, founded in in divine judgment that he is answered to men and his responsibility and perfection. That groundwork is is on the basis of judgment. But he is now the captain of our salvation. And that chapter that stood on top was made of silver Speaking of that redemption.
Beauty. And so we are under the the claims of redemption now.
And it it, and I think, you know, we read about it of in Ephesians 6 about the helmet of salvation, right? We now wear that, if you will. It's a wonderful thing. Now there's there's something that that joined each pillar and now there there's various thoughts on this. But if it's if it's correct, there are these fillets.
Or connecting rods that went between the pillars. Some people think it actually wrapped around the pillar. I don't know, but I do like the thought that if these connecting rods would.
Sit between each pillar there, there they were silver as well. And again, they're called fillets here. That would That's a nice thought. You know what? What joins us together? It's redemption. It's beautiful, isn't it?
Those of like, precious faith. Yeah. Yeah.
So, so Josh, is that what we see on the screen, the cords and the pins, is that what you're referring to? Well, no, those so there were cords and pins which were made of brass.
And and so those were there to to provide additional stability to the pillars as well.
But there are also like on this model here.
It's not sure if you're able to bring it up, bring a screen, but you can see there's these rods that went between each pillar. I'm not sure if you can see that very well, but that provided additional stability to those rods at the top.
But you know, now that you bring up the cords and the pins, I mean, I think what we can get from that is, is that again there it provided additional stability.
And I think what we can apply this to is the divine principles of the Word of God that help us to stand.
I've enjoyed that thought. And Josh, this is your thought and I'm going to kick it back to you. But just as a reminder, you were talking about how many knots there was work involved in in putting this together. 950, is that right? Yeah. Well, and I, I haven't gone through to actually count this or figure it out. And I'm, I'm not too sure I know who I got this from, but it was quoted third hand from I think a reliable source, but.
The, the mirror rights as I understand it, I think we're involved with this work. And yeah, 950 knots. I mean that's, that's a lot of knots to tie. But there is a nice thought there because we need people to bind up the testimony and to help with with.
00:35:18
That that practical shepherding help, if you will, of of keeping the Saints tied down secure, standing upright and grounded. That's that's probably the best word, grounded.
And and that's on the basis of the word of God, right? So just to recap on that, Josh. So a couple things that notes I was just taking away from what you're saying is, and I have it up on the screen here where there's there's the tie insurance between the posts, right? OK. And then there's the tie downs down in the thing. And and so it speaks of again, recap again, for those of us just catching on to this, those, those things that are tying us together and then grounding this as well, right? So the we read of the fillets, right?
And those are the connecting rods that went between the posts. And then there's the cords that came down from the from the top of the post down. And there were the pins that they tied them to basically 10 pegs what they were.
Thank you.
So then we, we have to come through the gate, right, Right. So what does, what does that speak to yourself? The world sees Christ in his Father's humanity. They see what? And before we answer that, what keeps man away from God is really the principle of his his righteousness. And there's an element of this in the white.
Of purity of holy, The holiness of God, of of the the holy.
Humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, but it's interesting that man cannot come through that without going through the gate. And often what keeps man at a distance is his sin and and and the holy righteousness of God, right. There's a barrier. There's a barrier there. Yeah. Your sins have separated you between you and your God. The verses is that.
So the the gate was made again, a fine twine linen, but it was.
There was the same three colors woven in that had been there that we talked about already for the door and the veil. There was the blue suddenly character and the purple.
His character is Son of Man, and then the red. His character is the Son of David. And so we have his moral glory, his heavenly glory. His glory is the Son of Man, and then the glorious, the Son of David. And there's no cherubim's on the door.
More about that in a minute.
But it's interesting to note that as you consider this, this gate, I think I said door because that's what Scripture actually calls it, but it's actually just to keep things clear.
The gate, the door of the Veil.
When when you look at this gate, it was made-up of the same amount of material as the door in the veil.
But it was half as tall and twice as wide, which really speaks of the fact that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And and so then there was also a lack of cherubim in the gate, which speaks of that judicial character. And so I think it's John 317 says that God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world to him might be saved.
So the gate was wide, is what you're saying. There's room to enter, and there were four pillars, 4 being a universal number. And so the gospel goes out, whosoever will.
7075 feet wide. Correct. It would have been 15 feet times 2. So 30 feet approximately. Yeah. The gate. The gate. Yeah. And help us out just a little bit. So people would stand on the outside was the gate. We don't know if the gate was always open or or shut. It was close. It was close. It had to go through it. OK. And And then and then people were coming and bringing their sacrifices to the brazen altar right inside the gate. Right.
And it just speaks again of Christ as the Way, OK, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me there had to be entry through that gate.
Yeah. So the gate though, so the Sinner, the seeking sinners on the outside, they have to come through the gate. So as it relates to the Gospels, what we're talking about here is, is that there is no other way. So Tim, you quoted that verse in John 14 and.
00:40:02
Verse 6 Jesus said I am the way, so He is the way to the Father. He is the truth about the Father and He gives life to bring us into relationship with the Father, right?
No other way to God and into his presence. I mean, the ultimate goal here is to get from the gate, through the door and into the through the veil, which is to say his flesh has been rent in twain. That veil of the temple has been split, as we talked about last night, and right into the presence of God. That is what God wants for men. So, Josh, I'll ask you a question.
Someone goes through that gate typically. Are they saved yet? No, no, and I wasn't going to say that. Actually. You need the gate and the door for salvation.
But the door, you can't have the door without the gate, right? So you enter through the gate, and that is someone coming through.
Through Christ. But they need the sacrificial work of Christ to have their sins dealt with on a righteous basis. So that leads us then right to the brazen altar, right?
Beautiful. So the brazen altar is found in Exodus 27.
Yeah, might be good to read those verses. Nate, do you want to read verses 1 to not? It's one to 8. Exodus 27 verse one. And thou shalt make an altar of shittimwood, 5 cubits long and five cubits broad. The altar shall be 4 square, and the height thereof shall be 3 cubits, and thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof.
His horns shall be of the same, and thou shalt overlay it with brass, and thou shalt make his pans to receive his ashes, and his shovels, and his basins, and his flesh hooks, and his fire pans. All the vessels thereof show thou shalt make of brass, and thou shalt make for it a great of network of brass.
And upon the net shalt thou make 4 brazen rings in the four corners thereof, and thou shalt put it under the compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst of the altar.
And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittimwood, and overlay them with brass. And the staves shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar, to bear it hollow with board shalt thou make it. As it was showed thee in the mount, so shall they make it.
So again, we we see this expression Foursquare and you guys were commenting on God's desire for man that the gate is wide.
And, and it's available for all. And here the, the brazen altar is really what the cross is to Christianity. It's the cross and it's Foursquare. It goes out.
To all, to any any who will come.
Can come and receive of that work of Christ goes out to all, so it blocks access any further. For those that are entering that gate, the first thing they see is that brazen altar signifying that the only way you can proceed further there has to be a sacrifice.
I praise an altar. We've already talked a little bit about propitiation, which relates to the mercy seat, but the brazen altar, its substitution, it's that sacrificial work.
Just thinking of a verse in regards to that in Isaiah chapter 53. Again, very familiar verse to everyone.
But Isaiah chapter 53.
And verse 10.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. This is the part when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. It's the substitutionary work of Christ taking the guilt of our sins upon Himself and.
It's him for us. It goes back again to that first Peter 318 verse that we referenced before, the just for the unjust right. So the substitutionary work that was accomplished there.
Can we go over a little bit about the measurements of the of the brazen altar?
It was. I'm going to put a picture up on the screen here. It was quite high, correct?
Yeah. And I wonder if that, I mean if what was it here? It was 5 cubits long and five cubits broad, and the height thereof shall be 3 cubits. So yeah, I guess 4 1/2 feet. There you go, 4 1/2 feet.
00:45:14
Yeah. So it was a big, it was a big structure if if that's what we want to call it. And to recognize the great where the sacrificial animals were being put on was halfway down, halfway down a cubit and a half high. You know, I think of that and and I think of our Lord when he was suffered on the cross, that there was no eye that could see that the Lord blanketed.
The the scene in Night and.
He dealt with.
With sin, and you know, I think of that in relation to this, where that net that great was halfway down. Nobody could look and see that. And again, we were speaking earlier about just things that we just do not understand.
Whether it's the person of Christ beyond our thoughts and our understanding or the work of Christ, which also exceeds our natural finite minds to even comprehend what those three hours of darkness really meant those those internal sufferings, right. So that which characterizes soul. And you know, we read about that in Psalms 22 and Psalm 69 and.
Nothing that we can enter into there in the garden.
Well, actually before that in John chapter 12, he said, now is my soul trouble. And when he was in those three hours of darkness, there was that which impacted him, body, soul and spirit. That this I think that internal great has to do with this internal sufferings that, like you say, we could have no ability to conceive or enter into and why, why we're on the height of that great. This is the beautiful thing I've enjoyed about the Tabernacle over the years.
Is the height of that great? Was the exact same height as the table of Showbread.
Which is the exact same height as the mercy seat back in the Holy of Holies. Isn't that beautiful?
Just to rough thought it out, like you said, Josh, the sacrifice was hidden down there and all the judgment, if you could say it was being taken out on that sacrifice on that grade which was hidden based on this what we see. But then you and I can come in as priests and enjoy communion with one another, with God as with the table of showbread, but then back in the holy to holies.
That mercy seat was the exact same height where that blood is being put on there for atonement.
Very nice, I'm so enjoyed that. Maybe one of you could help me with this. There's various sacrifices that took place on that brazen altar. There were some daily ones, is that right? And and a yearly 1.
Any significance to that?
I only I've only considered two and that was that the burnt offering has to do with our acceptance before God, whereas the sin offering has to do with our forgiveness.
I'd love to hear more.
Good thoughts. I can't add to that. That's very good. Well, just we do know, we do know the Leviticus 123 and four.
There were, we've mentioned this before, there are free will offerings, offerings that were being voluntarily brought into that gate that the priests were going to offer, right? Could be an animal, could be meal.
And and that's what I mean when I say daily yes.
And then there's the sin offering, which is mandatory or trespass offering as well. True. Yeah. I'm from a Levitical standpoint. If you go to Leviticus, it starts with the burnt offering, right? It goes to the meal offering and then it has the peace offering, then the sin and trespass offerings. That's pretty interesting order of things. I was struck by that when I was considering that because like I said at the very beginning, I used to kind of think of all of these things having to do with.
Where our atonement?
That's part of it, but essentially has to do with the Lord Jesus Christ and when we talk about the burnt offering in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 2.
I believe it gives to us the the burnt offering in regards to the work of Christ.
And and what it meant to God. And Ephesians 5 and verse two it says as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us in offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour, so there was acceptance in that work, but it was a sweet savour to God because of the work of His Son and.
00:50:13
So that's God's satisfaction and and enjoyment.
Regarding the work of Christ in death and then the meal offering is dissatisfaction regarding the perfect.
Lock the evenness of character, the moral glories of the Lord Jesus Christ in his life. And the peace offering really has to do with communion, right? It's not peace with God, it's the peace of God. And the peace with God comes with the sin offering. And but it has to do with our community and it needed to be fresh, I don't think.
You didn't carry it forward beyond three days, so where was the sin offering? What's up? Where was the sin offering? Burn?
Where? Yeah, it wasn't on this altar, right? I mean, there was. It was taken without the camp and burned. Oh, yeah, That's a good point. Yeah. Yeah.
And you get that in Leviticus 4, right?
There were not to get off on a tangent here because I realized this subject, but I think there was, if you go through this chapter, you'll see the relation of the sin offering as as what the priest was to do. And I think there were certain elements of it that was was put on the burnt offering. But the carcass, it's flesh, its head, the legs inwards, it's done. It was carried forth onto a clean place, burnt without outside the camp, and there it was dealt with right. But the burnt offering.
This is where it was. It was had. It was on. On this altar, this brazen altar.
And it's so it's God's portion, right? Yeah, it's God's side of the cross. But it also says in Leviticus one that it shall be in verse four, it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. So atonement is attached to that God's side of the cross, but also it shall be accepted for an atonement for the offer, right? And sorry, just. And just to make mention, in both the burnt offering and the sin offering, the man was to lay his head.
Hand, hand on the head of the animal. Both, but with different meanings. And he had to kill it. And he had to kill it. Wow, that wasn't the priest killing the offering.
I know we've often been referring a little bit over to the book of Hebrews, especially chapters 9:00 and 10:00, but maybe we could read just a couple verses from chapter 10 in relation to the sacrifices. Verse one for the law having a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the commerce there unto perfect.
For then would they not have ceased to be offered?
Because that the worshippers once purged, should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. And we could read further, but it goes on to compare those those offerings with the offering of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself on the cross, and how much greater value He has.
And what all these offerings were pointing to.
What brazen altar points to.
You need you need Christ as your sacrifice if you want any access to God.
There's a couple of other things regarding the brazen altar, I think, before we move on from it again.
The this altar being made of brass and wood.
Would really point out to us that.
This would structure this wood alter was overlaid with brass. Again, brass would would be able to withstand the, the, the fire, right? And and this is the predominant metal that that is on the outside. It's it's brass and silver, gold is on the inside and it would be that which could withstand the fire. So what we have here is judgment.
Right judgment is predominantly the thought here, but there's horns on the four corners, there's rings on the sides for the staves. And I'll just offer a couple quick thoughts on that. The, the, the horns would speak. I think of, of perhaps the, the strength of his devotedness and of his will to, to do the will of God. And, and you know, you think of, of the ram caught in a thicket by his horns.
Right in Genesis. And it's the strength of his love that held him to the cross, not the nails.
00:55:02
And I think we see something of his love again last night, and I wish we we had more time to develop these thoughts and chew on this a little bit more together.
But you remember there were rings on the sides which speak about the love of God, but those rings in the corner of the building. I was thinking about this a little bit more today, just how that speaks of the love of God and it's his eternal love. And, and, and where was the the pivotal point in that structure and the strongest place?
Was in the corners, and it was secured on the bottom and on the top by a ring. Beautiful thought. And we see the love of God here too on the sides of this ark. So we have the strength of His will and devotedness to His Father. To, to to do His will and be that sacrifice, but also His love that caused Him to do it.
Isn't that borne out? I'm correct me if I'm wrong, Aren't the rings at the same level as the great, which is where the sacrificing place very nice.
Yeah, very nice. Yeah.
The other thing about this raise an altar.
Was that the fire was never quenched. It just speaks of the thought. I believe that the remembrance of Calvary will it will be eternal.
So for anybody who's listening to this and wondering, well, how does this apply to me and if you're not a Christian?
What we're saying to you tonight is that you need to come in through the way that is Christ, and you need His work done on the cross.
And you need to accept that work because it is only that work, and that work alone, through the person of our Lord Jesus Christ and through the work of the cross, the work of redemption, you need that to be saved. You cannot get in to the building here, which is the place of Christian privilege, where we say you're saved and on your way to heaven and you can enjoy heavenly things. You can't go in until you pass by.
The brazen altar, which is the cross.
Every Sinner has to pass through the cross, pass by it, and it is the cross that is the great divider in the world today. You're either on one side or you're on the other. You, you are either saved or you're lost. You're either going to heaven or you're going to hell. And that's the truth of it. But God is a God of grace, isn't He? And he wants to save us and bring us into his presence. And this is what we've been saying in the gate is wide open and the gate and the gate is wide and it's wide.
It's why he wants you to come in. He he's he's not putting up any any barriers for you to come in. It's wide open, but it has to come through the Lord Jesus Christ and the Foursquare measurement of this altar is the the gospel goes out to all and he wants to save anybody who might be listening to this tonight who's not saved. The gospel is for you. God loves you. And if you have doubts about whether you will be accepted if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Just know that the blood from this altar was brought into the and put on the mercy seat. God accepted that work. So it's good enough for you as well. The thing that as we consider this from the gospel standpoint, we've already talked about this, we can see the heart of God manward through this. His desire was to go and meet men and and so everything that we've been talking about has been God's provision, everything.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the is the gate, He's the altar, He's the sacrifice, he's the high priest that then takes that blood, his blood to the mercy seat. Every provision has been made. There's nothing that the person that comes to that gate brings.
It's all provided by God.
Are we ready to move on past the brazen altar? But before we do, I did have one slide I think was appropriate. I'll throw it up here just before.
Where you put this together here, Josh, Christ crucified in weakness and meeting man's responsibility in full, answering to God's righteous judgment as a sacrifice for sinners.
So before we move on to the labor to wrap things up, we have the gate, John 14, The Lord Jesus said I'm the way, the truth and the life. John chapter 10.
We have the door, I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall go in and out and find pastor. He is the door into Christian privileges. And then we go through the veil which brings us into his immediate presence as believers today.
01:00:02
And just to, I just want to stop really just to make sure this, I'm putting up this on the slide. The gate is sitting around here in front the door. We've covered this in last session here. This is the door in the Tabernacle. And then beyond in there is the veil. And we've mentioned this before and I'll mention again, the veil is rent and our souls can draw near because of what has happened out here at the brazen altar.
So once you get to the other side of the brazen altar.
That's the priest domain, is that right? Right. The priest would go back and forth from the brazen altar, past the labor into the the door and dealing with the furniture in there. But there's a difference in Christianity once you.
See the value of the brazen altar and see the value of the cross and what happened there.
And the blood is applied to your heart. You are now a priest.
And you now have the privilege to pro ceed as we go through these.
The next piece of furniture the the labour. It's something for the priests.
So moving on, we have the labor here, which we find in Exodus 3017 through 21. Does you want to read just a couple verses of that, Nate?
Exodus 30, verse 17.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Thou shalt also make a Laver of brass, and his foot also a brass to wash with all, And thou shalt put it between the Tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein for Aaron. And the sun shall wash their hands and their feet thereat. When they go into the Tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water that they die not, or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the Lord.
So they shall wash their hands, and their feet that they dine not.
And it shall be a statute forever to them, even to him, and to his seed throughout their generations.
So this labor was made out of the looking glasses of the women? And is that in Chapter 38? I think that's where we get that, if I remember right.
Verse 8 And he made the labor of brass in the foot of it, of brass of the looking glasses. So these were mirrors, right? They would shine this this metal up, and it would reflect their image of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation.
So this.
Vessel was something for the cleansing of the priests.
So Nate, you've reminded us that after being saved, we are now constituted as priests before God. We had it today. We're a royal priesthood. We're a holy priesthood and we can OfferUp sacrifices of praise to God and our lives as a living sacrifices as we have in Romans chapter 12 and so on. And and so we we have a priestly work toward God and toward this world, right?
But I need this. I need this vessel.
For my daily cleansing for or at least what it speaks to us of and I look into it and I find water and I think again, this was made of solid brass and I don't think there were any measurements here, right? No measurements, no. And so my need of cleansing, can we say it cannot be really measured? That is practical cleansing each day and and the way in which I cleanse myself is through self judgment.
By the word of God, the water of the Word, that's what we have here in, in the brass and, and, and the the water within it. Is that right?
Right.
And just for a reference point, I will just put a quick slide up here. There's a picture of the priest washing his hands out. Again, as you said, we know that there's no measurements. And so there's various renditions of the labor, whether it had a foot of foot washing or or or not, but it doesn't matter. The need for cleansing was still there for the priests. And I believe Scripture says that it did have a foot. I can't remember the the exact reference for that, but it does have a foot.
The other thing just to did you find, did you get to Ephesians 5? Do you want to read that? When, when while Nate's turned into that, it's made of brass, which still speaks of divine righteousness, right and judgment. And you referred to it, it has to do with self judgment and in that regard, and it's still it's not for the center that was the the brazen altar, but it's for the priests.
01:05:16
So Ephesians 5 and start at the middle of verse 25.
Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word.
So there you have the washing of water connected with the word of God. So there's an element here of practical sanctification, right? And.
And Nate, maybe you can, you had some thoughts here which you can share. But it's interesting, it does say that they needed to wash there because if they didn't and they entered in unwashed, they would die. And there's a, a moral application to that, is there not where if we are coming into the presence of the Lord.
Death really is it brings before a separation, right and and and there would there it speaks to us, I believe, of of a separation of communion with the Lord. If I'm getting all dirty with the world's things as a Christian now because I'm I'm a priest here I am in my standing. I'm a priest, but I may not be priestly.
And and I don't wash and I go in.
But I, I'm, I'm out of communion, there's, there's death there in a sense, correct?
So when we're going to do priestly work, as you're referring to it, we know worship is, is one of those things the the priests would want to go into the, the holy place and the most holy and, and offer their incense and, and.
Partake of of those the furniture there, but what I see in in this phrase that they die not that.
It's not necessarily typically for us that we would die if we're not cleansed physically like what you're saying, Josh, but as a priest, we may die.
While we're unclean, we may not be in the state where we're able to worship. We may be, you know, coming in to remember the Lord, and we can feel within our own heart that there's nothing there.
And in that sense, it's because we haven't washed with the water of the Word, and for that time we're dead as priests.
When there's a couple of words that have just been used, Josh used the word standing and they you use the word state and it probably be good to clarify with that. Our standing has to do with the work on the brazen altar. The labor speaks to a state right? The washer and water by the word does not cleanse us from sin from the standpoint of making us accepted to God only the blood without the shedding of blood there is no remission, but it has to do with the.
Of our state of soul, we don't ever lose our salvation, but there's a need for practical righteousness through the cleansing of self judgment and washing of water by the word is this also brought out in the Lord Jesus in the upper room when the Passover was complete? You got it there too. I'll brush it over and we'll throw some thoughts but it's so beautiful. The Lord Jesus has had the Passover and he he.
Steps aside and guards himself with a linen towel.
Gets on his hands and knees and goes down the disciples and washes their feet right. He comes to Peter. Peter says, Oh no, not me, Lord.
Lord says if you don't want, If I don't, how how's it go? Well, Peter asked the Lord to wash him from his head to his feet.
The Lord said that's not necessary for your cleanse, but not all Speaking of Judah and he was referring to this principle that we're talking about that has to do with.
That, yeah, that the daily cleansing that's necessary to maintain our state because communion is associated with that. Beautiful. Anyway, I just want to bring that in. It's a beautiful, beautiful application. So maybe to wrap this up.
Nate, you had some thoughts on sanctification. So we have practical sanctification at the labor, maybe define what sanctification is, but there's other aspects of sanctification, right? That's right. So sanctification.
Way you could understand it is it means set apart. Oftentimes it's interchangeable with the word holiness. Not always, but generally it's set apart for a holy purpose.
01:10:14
But sanctification is spoken of in different ways in Scripture, and with the three things that we've talked about tonight, I think you see sanctification in three different aspects. So I wonder, Mark, if you could use this camera and I could make.
I'm going to actually.
Yeah, good company. Hang on a second here. All right, here we go.
OK, here we go. There it is on the screen. You're going to have to pull it out.
A little bit.
It's honed in on there you go, there you go.
All right, so I'll start from the, the outside and work my way in. So on the outside, outside of the, the linen hangings that we were talking about, you have, you could say the, the mass of humanity. There's nothing sanctified about it. They're just, you know, the common, common man. They're they're out there in the wilderness, out there in the world.
But when they come through the gate, they're now surrounded by those hangings. They're now in a sanctified place. They're in a set apart place. That is, it has a border all the way around it. They're not out there in the in the wilderness like they were before.
There's an aspect of sanctification with that.
We know that there's there's a verse in First Corinthians that speaks of the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the believing wife. And so that's not Speaking of.
A standing or a position necessarily, but just the fact that by association and by proximity there is a sanctifying element to to that person. And so they go in the gate. They are you could say externally sanctified or.
Relatively sanctified relative to all the people out there in the wilderness there in a sanctified place, but they're not saved. Where you get salvation is that the brazen altar? That's where we get our our standing. That's where we get positional sanctification. That's where it's something that can never change once we're positionally sanctified, once we know the Lord is our Savior.
Our standing is secure. We can't lose that. But then you go on to the labor. And Josh, you've already mentioned that this is practical sanctification. This is something for our daily lives as priests, as we live for the glory of the Lord.
It's it's a practical daily thing as we are washed and in that verse in Ephesians even says sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word.
And so there's I see three aspects of sanctification. First one is relative to everyone else out there. The second one at the brazen altar is positional. The third one at the laborers practical and daily.
And just to carry that thought forward with the brazen altar, at least just read in Hebrews 10 again.
Umm, verse 10 by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, And then verse 14 for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. That's positional sanctification. That's our standing in Christ that we cannot lose.
Well, if that's a wrap for this evening, I would just tell the listener that we have taken up a heavy topic that we have been much looking forward to, particularly with the brazen altar and the labor. And if has been said, and I'll say it again, if you don't know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you do know that the Lord Jesus died on the cross for you as your sacrifice and His blood would cleanse you from his from your sins.
And as we've talked on before, you will have peace with God.
Through the work of His son. So that's the hope and prayer of those of us here at the table and elsewhere too, that.
By seeing these little types in the Old Testament know the fact that the work has been accomplished through the through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. And so with that, we will turn next time into the priest garments and we look forward to seeing you again.
01:15:18
I know that we're very very very much overtime, but I'd like to just read.
A couple stanzas of him that I think really.
Applied this evening. This is 64 in the appendix. Though all the beasts that live and feed upon 1000 hills should bleed, though all their blood should flow, the sacrifice would be in vain.
The stain of sin would still remain. Sin is not canceled. So a better sacrifice than these. It needs the conscience to appease or satisfy the Lord.
No blood hath virtue to atone for men's offense, but his alone whose title is the word.
His who could say himself, the Son, my father and myself are one.
Who made the world around his who Jehovah's fellow stood.
And claimed equality with God, whose glory knows no bounds. Jesus the Christ on earth, His name. He came and loved to sinners, came and bowed his head and died.
A full atonement now is made.
The ransom by his death is paid and justice satisfied.
You know, there's one major difference.
We've been talking about the brazen altar and every single offer, every single sacrifice that was offered on the Brazen altar was fully consumed on that altar.
It was burnt up.
But there's one sacrifice that consumed the fire, and that's the Lord Jesus.
Because he was the perfect sacrifice. Let's give him thanks, our gracious God and our Father.
We thank thee for this time that we've had.
To be reminded of thy Holiness.
Of sanctification.
But most of all.
The cross.
And the sacrifice that was made on Calvary's cross.
Where the Lord Jesus?
The Lamb of God.
Laid down his life.
So that a fall.
Payment was made for our sin.
We thank the Lord Jesus that we have boldness to come into the presence of God because of Thy perfect work.
We thank thee for these pictures, these shadows.
That we see in the Tabernacle. We pray our God and our Father that it would affect our lives.
We ask this in the worthy and precious name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.
Pilgrims in the Wilderness
YP Sing Address—S. Howat
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Our God and our Father, we're thankful.
For these songs that we can sing about our Lord.
We're thankful for his work on the cross, how He endured the cross despising the shame and is now set in the right hand of God.
How wonderful you are, Lord Jesus, and how worthy you are of our praise.
We just ask a blessing on the evening for everyone here. It would go away encouraged. Pray for everyone here that that they would all truly know the Lord Jesus as their Savior. Have a home reserved for them in heaven. We just ask for a blessing on the Thy word tonight and in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
You know, those were, there's a lot of beautiful songs that we've been singing.
And.
You know, it's nice to have Christian fellowship throughout the whole week.
But you know.
Next week I have to go back to work, and I suspect I'm not the only one.
And.
I'm thankful that there's there's one person at my work who's a fellow believer and he's in this room.
Been but.
But you know, for the most part, I'm going to be surrounded by people who are unbelievers. I have no thoughts of God, hate God, really hate the thought of God.
So we need each other. We need each other. But when we're out there and our daily things, school, when the fall comes around, work.
Going to the grocery store, you know the Lord's presence never leaves us and we can always have a song of Thanksgiving for Him.
And have his word before us.
But you know, I was thinking about.
We had a few nights ago how this is a pilgrimage journey.
And what I've thought is that there is nothing in this world.
That feeds the Newman.
This world system hates God and there's nothing to feed the new man.
And we are pilgrims.
I hope it's OK if I just read.
A couple of verses out of a hymn in a little flock. I'm sure no one else here has a little flock handy. I'm just going to read a couple of verses. It's #231.
We're pilgrims in the wilderness. Our dwelling is a camp.
Created things, though pleasant, now bear to us death stamp. But onward we are speeding, though often let and tried. The Holy Ghost is leading home to the Lamb, his bride. That's beautiful to me.
Because you know, there's another hymn that says, and it's true, that heaven is our home. I like how it's put right here that our home is with the Lamb, the one who gave himself for us. That's home to be with him.
His presence is with us down here, but to be with him?
That'll be home with fellow pilgrims meeting as through the waste we roam.
To sweet to sing together. We are not far from home. Think about that, we are not far from home. This very night could see him face to face.
But you know, I read that it said as through the waste we roam and that's where we find ourselves. And what I have before me this evening for just a short time is to just skim over 4 chapters in Daniel briefly.
To show that this world is a.
A God hating place, Nothing for us so.
So if it's OK, I'm just going to turn to the book of Daniel.
You can.
Follow along or listen in.
And really Daniel takes up with the times of the Gentiles, which is a period of time from the captivity when Nebuchadnezzar took them captive, all the way till the day of the Lord, when the Lord comes back.
And sets up his Kingdom.
If I could find Daniel that would help. There it is.
So Daniel chapter 3, just going to read just a couple few verses from these 4 chapters.
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And I'm going to just get a few things from each chapter and we because we know these stories, Daniel three and verse, the second part of verse five, he's talking about when you hear all the music.
Hear all kinds of music. Ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up. And whoso falleth not down in worship shall not shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
And So what you have in Daniel three is idolatry. And this is a world of idolatry. Idolatry separating people from the true God and putting something in his place.
And I don't think that anyone in this room has ever had a idol, an image of gold set before them. But everyone in this room, the enemy has something for everyone in this room to set before you. In the place of God it might be.
Sports, exercise, Music.
Could be any number of things that's put in the place of God.
And that would be an idol if it takes precedence over God. Someone was saying the other night, I can't remember who it was. Putting the things of the assembly first, it's very important.
Idolatry. But of course we know that the three faithful men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they went.
Into that furnace because they refused to bow down. And we're going to read verse 17.
This is very nice. If it be so, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us.
From the burning fiery furnace. And he will deliver us out of thy hand, O King, I think of those three men.
And they went into that furnace with something that we might call the shield of faith.
When I think of the shield of faith, I think of a verse in Romans 8 that says if God before us, who can be against us?
Whatever we have before us in life, however negative it might seem, that God has a purpose behind it and all things work together for good. The shield of faith.
So idolatry in chapter 3, Chapter 4.
Going to read the first maybe 4 verses of chapter 4 because another thing about this world.
Is that it loves.
A party. And this is what I think of Indiana, the first few verses of chapter 4. The big party, Nebuchadnezzar, the king unto all people, nations, and languages. I'm sorry, that's chapter 5.
Chapter chapter 5 is where you have the big party in Belshazzar. Chapter 4 is something else.
I'm going to read verse 14.
He cried aloud, and said Thus hew down the tree and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves and scatter his fruit. Let the beast get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches. Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and grass, and the tender grass of the field, and let it be wet with the dew of heaven. This is the part I was thinking of. And let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth.
And let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be given unto him.
And let seven times Passover him and what I get from that.
Is a loss of God consciousness?
A beast.
Would be one that never looks up. No thoughts of heaven, no thoughts of God, a loss of God consciousness.
The four empires, major empires are listed in Daniel 7.
The Babylonian, the Gabito Persian, the Grecian and the Roman Empire, and they're under the figure of beasts. No thoughts of God, no time for him. And that's God's estimation of those empires. They're beasts. Man's estimation is they're valuable, the gold, silver, so you get in chapter 2.
That beasts no thought of God and then towards the end of the chapter in verse 30.
Verse 30 The king spake and said.
These words is not this great Babylon that I have built for the House of the Kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty.
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What I get from this is self exaltation.
The great men of this world are filled with themselves. Selfish. Be careful who you look up to.
Christ is our example, we follow in his footsteps, but we have, we have many others who have walked the path of faith and yes, they have had failures also that we follow in their faith. Whose faith follow?
The great men of this world no thought of God all about themselves.
Chapter 5.
Here's where I'll read the 1St 4 verses.
Belshazzar the king made a great feast to 1000 of his Lords and drank wine before the 1000.
Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, that the king and his Princess, his wives, and his concubines might drink therein. Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the House of God, which was at Jerusalem. And the king and his Princess and his wives and his concubines drank in them. They drank wine.
And praise the gods of gold and silver, of a brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
This party Belshazzar had.
To me makes a mockery of God. The vessels that were in the House of God in Jerusalem, they took and they drank wine out of them, praised their own false gods.
I was going to turn to Psalm 73 and read a few things, but I think I'm supposed to keep it short.
But in Psalm 73 that you know, I'm just going to do it because I.
73rd Psalm.
Just read a few verses out of there.
Because the faithful are looking at the wicked and they're wondering what's going on. Verse three, I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They are well off. Verse five. They are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like other men.
Verse 6 They're proud, therefore pride encompassed them about as a chain. Violence covered them as a garment. Verse eight, they are boastful, the wicked they they are corrupt and speak wickedly concerning oppression. They speak loftily. Verse nine, they set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. Verse 11 And they say, How doth God know, and is there knowledge?
They mock God just as Belshazzar, but there's another thing in the 73rd Psalm and it's this 17th verse or the 16th and the 17th. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end, and they have an end just as Belshazzar.
And in this, the very end of Chapter 5, Belshazzar is overthrown, so there's a coming judgment.
This world is headed straight for judgment. Let's not be a part of it. Chapter 6.
I'll read verse seven. Start at verse 7. All the presidents of the Kingdom, the governors, Princess, counselors, and the captains have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for 30 days save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.
Now, O King, establish the decree and sign the writing.
That it be not changed according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not. Wherefore King Darius signed the writing and the decree.
Self exaltation, setting himself up as God.
So we've had idolatry.
We've had.
Self exaltation, loss of God consciousness.
In piety atheism in chapter 5, chapter 6, self exaltation, setting himself up as God and you know that full blown is going to happen.
00:15:09
At the abomination of desolations there will be a man who sets himself up as God. That's in 2nd Thessalonians 2 and in 2nd Thessalonians 2 it's called.
That return to it.
Verse 3. Second Thessalonians 2 Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, or the apostasy.
And the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. But it says in verse seven, For the mystery of iniquity doth already work. Things are building to that.
Men have put themselves as #1 The only important thing.
And my point tonight is the great men of this world.
They're nothing.
There's nothing in this world to feed the Newman. Just what's in here, just what's in this book.
Maybe I can just close with one more verse or a few verses in first John chapter 2.
And verse 15 Love not the world.
Neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
Is not of the Father, but is of the world.
We are not of this world.
Heavenly citizens.
Pray.
Our God and our Father, just pray that you.
Just bless this simple message, bless your word, pray that we would go away tonight. Go away from this camp encouraged and.
Seeking to honor you in this dark scene.
Being a light for you in this world. Praying for those who are unsaved.
But we're just thankful for your word and the light that you've given us, that we have been called out of darkness and into your marvelous light we give thanks, our God and Father, for all that you've done for us and sending thy Son. And in Jesus precious name we pray, Amen.
Romans 12:2-8
Reading
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Other other opportunity to have that open.
Application.
Need to.
Present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, and the service that's associated.
With.
Providing for the body of Christ. And so our God and Father, we just looked at you this morning for a blessing as we consider these things, and we just count on thee for thy help. In the name of my beloved Son, our Lord Jesus, Amen. Amen.
We thought it might be nice to start at verse two in Romans 12 and maybe go back to verse 8.
Romans chapter 12, starting at verse 2.
And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
For I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office, so we being many, are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another, having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy let us.
Prophecy according to the proportion of faith or ministry. Let us wait on our ministering. Or he that teacheth on teaching, Or that he or he that exhorteth on exhortation. He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity. He that ruleth with diligence, he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness.
We spent quite a bit of time on verse one yesterday, but after meeting the question was asked.
Can you give some practical examples of giving her bodies a?
Living sacrifice unto the Lord, and might be good to do give some very.
Real life practical examples. Sometimes we, you know, talk about these things in a little bit of an abstract way, but maybe that would be helpful, especially for the younger ones.
Which one of the keys to that answer be found in the understanding of what sacrifice really is? Sacrifice costs us something.
And so.
If we were to lay our lives down on the altar of sacrifice, that means ultimately that.
There's going to be some sort of cost that I'm going to incur.
As a result of that.
Might be my time, could be my money, could be a whole number of things in my life that I have to maybe part with for the benefit of the Lord and His people, His service, whatever it might be.
And lastly, lest we consider that all of these examples are just.
Focused directly on what we would maybe consider to be spiritual things. One of the greatest sacrifices that I can think of that would fall under this would be motherhood. Mothers that take their children under their wing and seek to raise them in the nurture and ammunition of the Lord. I don't, I can't think.
Just purely practical level of many more sacrifices for an individual gives up about which would be for their own.
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You know, enjoyment or whatever for the sake of another.
Others give up a lot to sacrifice a lot for the sake of their children.
You know, we we have the.
Reading meetings and it's it's not just the US brothers that ought to be taking heart to what is said.
Young sister should also because if the Lord blesses and there's motherhood, they're the ones that teach mostly at home, especially in the younger and the younger years. And being grounded in the foundations of Christianity is not just a brother thing.
Sisters play a big part and in motherhood especially so while not teaching vocally, there is teaching at home and.
Older sisters teaching younger sisters, maybe even sister to sister ministry where you're encouraging, seeking to to draw where a brother couldn't, or a more public sphere. It couldn't be. Things can't be brought out, so that's important. I was thinking of the sacrifices in the Old Testament, and they were to be without spot and blemish.
And we can think of perhaps there's heredity. Maybe our old nature has spots.
But could it be also what the animal is feeding on? I'm not much of A shepherd guy, but could it be what the animal is feeding on could affect how they appear on the outward, which of course comes from the inward. And so how do we apply it to ourselves? Now? What are we feeding on really?
The inputs that we have in our minds.
Whether it's in our years or our eyes or what we are, allow ourselves to experience.
If it's the things of this world, if it's the things of the eyes, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life, if it's those things, can it be a sacrifice acceptable to the Lord? No.
We we need to, as it says in first John, confess those things to the Lord and he is the one that cleanses us from that unrighteousness and we can be acceptable unto him. All that old, old man stuff and the things that please have have pleasure to the old man. That's that doesn't make the living sacrifice that's acceptable to the Lord.
And he deserves a living sacrifice.
He deserves us to be.
For us to take the time and consider.
Is the thing I'm seeing, Is the thing I'm listening to acceptable to the Lord? Does it please Him? Does it honor Him? And if it doesn't, it's bad food.
And I should seek before the Lord to put in good food, which is ministry.
Of hymns.
And just a the wholesome things, not the things of this world.
To consider again another practical example, as Mark was just mentioning.
The other one I can think of.
Very distinctly as spiritual fathers.
The apostle Paul said, though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ, you have not many fathers. Why don't we have many spiritual fathers? Because it costs a great deal. It requires an enormous amount of investment. Thankfully I can count a number of the brothers that are here with us in this room is spiritual fathers have taken the time and invested and.
Cultivate in a relationship with me because it's not possible.
Really to be effectual and shepherding, maybe there's a necessity to come alongside and offer a bit of excitation on some things that there may be in my life that need adjustment if there's not previously a relationship and in order to develop that relationship, there has time and energy associated with that.
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A tremendous sacrifice and I speak this to myself, but there are a lot of younger.
Kind of middle-aged brothers in here that have the potential to be great. Greatly used of the Lord as spiritual fathers to a lot of the younger ones here and I would just encourage you that the sacrifice is worthwhile.
I'll give another practical example that we.
So Beth and I have been enjoyed having some of the young couples in our home on a monthly basis and a little over a month ago we took up the topic of.
Of hospitality and hospitality is a very practical.
Example of what we have here, A living sacrifice, so as we all know.
Us guys are it's a little bit easier for us. We we invite somebody over to the the house.
To spend some time together and.
You know, we might need to.
Do a little extra digging so that we have something to share.
From Scripture. But it's a real sacrifice on the parts of our spouses, our wives.
Especially if we haven't really planned ahead and.
There's been lots of times that I've been the recipient of someone. In fact, we were just talking about it.
Earlier in this camp.
They've left now but the Arlington's were we were talking over a meal and they were planning to reach out to one of the families in Aberdeen and the last time we were in Aberdeen we showed up for breaking of bread and Sunday school a relatively unannounced we were headed to.
Morningstar.
And between the breaking of bread and Sunday school?
We had several invites to go to lunch.
At somebody else's home.
And that means a lot.
And in the the case that that we experienced they completely changed what they were serving because they heard a little mention that we enjoy halibut and they had some in their freezer and so they completely changed the menu and and invited us over for a lovely meal on our way up to Morningstar.
That's a sacrifice.
That is well pleasing. We are commanded.
To be hospitable, and the blessing flows both ways when we do that.
And I think that's the beautiful thing of sacrifice, if I might put it this way, that we may look at it and we may recognize that there is a cost.
To us, and I'm not minimizing that cost, but I will guarantee that the blessing will far out far outweigh the cost in every single situation.
Perhaps I'll just mention too that yesterday a young brother and I were visiting.
And a particular older brother came up in the conversation and he, this younger brother said to me, I hope that that young older brother keeps on going on because he's been a lot of help to a lot of the younger ones.
So may that encourage each of us that are older.
And all of us are older than somebody.
So there are younger ones looking up to you and are they learning from you and from each of us a life of self sacrifice?
Because we make choices every day, all day long. What are we going to do with our time and our other resources?
00:15:03
And if we're just going to live for ourselves, it's going to manifest itself in certain ways. But if we're in the habit, because we know the Lord delights in that, of using what we have, our time and the abilities we have, like there's a pipe leaking over in the main bathroom over there. And maybe there's a plumber here that'd be interested in looking into that, for example.
There are a million other things, ways that we can deny ourselves.
Taking time that we want to do something else and spend it for others and there will be blessing in that. And from the standpoint of sacrifice, I just want to give an example.
And most of you know that I like ice cream, and if I gave myself to eating a lot of ice cream, I could become overweight pretty easily.
Now, if I got myself 40 or 50 lbs overweight and I went into the doctor because I was having issues, he might tell me you have to lose some weight and quit eating ice cream. Now, if I give it up at that point, there's not much sacrifice in that. But if along the way I can see, you know what, I really shouldn't be eating this much, it isn't honoring to the Lord. And so I give it up. That's a sacrifice and there is benefit. The Lord appreciates that if we're doing.
Others appreciate it if we do it for them. So yeah, I was going to go here, but I'll take you to the store. A million things we could be that way, where we're thinking of others and esteeming others better than ourselves so that we give whatever we can to help them out in their situation. It's a very simple thing, really.
I'd like to give a couple examples, more relevant in particular to the young people.
We know that as as you grow up, you become a little more independent and able to make your own decisions, has been mentioned.
And a decision that is worth making is making sure that you attend the assembly meetings. There's entertainment options out there, there's work that can get in the way. All sorts of things can cause you to.
Have some other thing to do than to to be at the meetings. And so in that sense, attending the meetings when you have other options in your life can be a sacrifice, but it's a worthwhile sacrifice. And then also as you're a young person.
You're normally thinking ahead what you might do in your life and perhaps schooling, things like that.
I know there's been more than one young person who has been offered a free ride through university or college scholarships and things like that. But what came with it was a time commitment that was going to take them away from the meetings. And I know that there have been those that have turned that down so that they could make sure that they were at the meetings.
It's been said that you can kind of.
Capture those things that we're talking about as far as sacrifices and time, talent and treasure, and at different stages of our life we have more of those.
Resources than others, right? I mean, as a young person maybe don't have a whole lot of treasure. They have time and talent. I know a young lady that's here with us that tries to make it a point. I can't remember the exact how how often she does this, but she goes to a nursing home to play piano.
The nursing home for the older folks there and.
The some time and some talent, right, maybe not treasure, but there's a sacrifice. She could have been doing something else. And the cool thing is it's not only is she doing that, but she bring somebody else with her which extends that and so but then maybe we get a little bit older in our life and.
Have less time, maybe a little bit of monetary resources. And so maybe there's there's always that opportunity, regardless of where we are in our lives, where one or two, maybe those resources would be available to be sacrificed to the Lord.
00:20:13
Nathan that's attending the assembly meetings.
It's not a a form.
It's not something to do.
Just because you're encouraged to, it gives an opportunity for the Spirit of God to bring one more thing before you.
I don't know how it is with anybody else, but for me, I haven't regretted going to an assembly meeting. There's always something more the Spirit of God wants to draw our thoughts and our hearts and affections to. And it can be.
And we're missing out.
It could be that needed thing in our lives to as it were, you're at a fork in the road and could be that extra word that is needed the Spirit of God wants to bring before you. And as our our brother brought out, you know, even when you don't feel like reading the word of God, read it.
What? What more could God give?
That's a treasure.
He's given us everything that would pertain to life and godliness.
And the We're not asked to do anymore than what the Lord Jesus did.
He walked the walk perfectly.
And he wants us to be in the spirit, walking in the spirit, be in his word, be in prayer to the Father and, and all those things. So it's just an extra I, I look at it.
Source of blessing to be at the assembly meetings.
It's interesting if you read in Luke chapter 12.
With respect to servants.
Just reading verse 36 and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord.
And then verse 37 blessed.
Are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching.
Then verse 43 bless it.
That servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing.
All to be waiting, watching and doing. And there's a blessing that is associated with it.
And that's what has been brought out here generally that.
There is a joy, Steve was saying, that far exceeds the loss that we might experience ourselves by giving up time, resources, I.
Whatever it is in our life for the benefit of the service of God.
We the Lord turns around and he pours a blessing into our lives by by giving up whatever little we choose to give up, and we become the.
We benefit far more I guess, but as what I'm trying to say.
In the end, there's a blessing attached.
A sinking of an example in.
Of this brought out very practically.
And my dad, There probably isn't very many people that are older in this room that didn't experience my dad working on some of their equipment in some form or another.
Back 20 years ago or more and.
That's a talent that was distinct to my dad, that he understood mechanical things probably better than anybody that I've ever known.
Unfortunately it's not genetic and the the good thing was I was talking to a couple of the brothers about this. I spent a lot of time with at the home of another family growing up as my dad went over there to work on equipment and things like that. I was joking with one of the brothers that.
I think my dad and the other brother that would ask him for assistance.
00:25:01
Maybe we're making up.
More problems than they they're actually we're just because they enjoyed being together and we talk about the large things together. I spent a lot of time over at that home because of that. And then so there was a huge amount of blessing that was associated with that sacrifice and you know what the Lord.
There's no man's better.
My dad very rarely.
Would take money for those things.
You know now mom and dad are not extremely well to do and the Lord has provided them medical insurance through.
The assembly.
Paying for that the Lord is no man is better.
That sacrifice back then the Lord took notice of, and he's been taking.
Very good care of my mom and dad about sucking.
Yeah.
There was alluded to that they had many teachers, but not many fathers and the apostles.
Paul in that second epistle would say, I would very gladly spend and be spent for you. And so he is quite the example of a living sacrifice at the end of his life in Second Timothy.
Chapter 3 and verse 6.
The new translation says for I am already being poured out and the time of my release is come.
So the end of his life he could look back and see, I believe this is a thought of the drink offering being poured out. There is no reserve left. Everything had been spent in his life for the care of the Saints.
So the Lord has outfitted each Christian with a certain line of service.
This chapter goes into.
Into the gifts.
This is not an exhaustive list of gifts that he's committed to the church, but.
Just a few that are listed.
But you know, we've been speaking about, in general, our lives should be put on the altar of sacrifice. It's our intelligence service. It only makes good sense, given what the Lord has given up for us, that we now turn our lives over to Him and let him use us as He sees fit. And it's been said this morning that there's many facets to that in our life and we need to be willing to.
Our our our bodies, our minds, our time to what whatever that might take in, but but in particular, the Lord has given us each one something to do very specifically, and that is something that we need to.
Be before Him about and exercised about, so that we might prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will God.
For our lives, you know. Matthew 25.
It says.
That.
Speaking about the talents.
We might liken this to suppose the spiritual gift, verse 15. It says, And unto one he gave 5 talents, to another two, and to another one, to every man, according to his several ability. We find that what happened is that these ones who received the talents, and again some had left, some had more.
But they traded with it, and they exercised.
And they produce more than what they have received.
And I think.
What this tells us is that we need to exercise the exercise about what the Lord would have us to do and.
And to trade with that gift, if you will.
But you know, to do so, we need to be in the right frame of mind, right state of soul. And we've been considering some of these things where it starts out with an appreciative part that would then.
00:30:16
Work in in our in our lives to want to give ourselves over to the Lord.
But then we also need that separation from the world. We need a change of thinking that we've had in verse two. And then we then we're prepared and and you might say to to be ready for his service, but maybe somebody could.
Explain to us then.
At the end of verse 2, how do you prove?
What is that? Good and acceptable and perfect, full of God? How do we do that?
I'll just point out something in in the portion that you just turned us to in in Matthew 25. I'd just like to note verse 21.
His Lord said unto him, Well, well done, thou good and faithful servant, Thou hast been faithful over a few things.
I will, I will make the ruler over many things. Now into the joy of thy Lord.
In learning the what the Lord has given us to do, I believe that there's a principle that starts with whatsoever thy hand findeth, do it with thy might. And so it may be something little and I want to encourage especially those of you that are maybe.
In your late teens, early 20s.
Be willing to.
To take up the exercise of of teaching a Sunday school class.
And and pour yourself.
Into something like that, there's immense blessing there and it's it's something you might say that it's relatively small.
You know, maybe it, it's the the toddlers are, are just, you know, the very young and you're you're teaching them the basic principles of the word of God.
It's it's sad and and interesting to me that often times.
I In the different assemblies that I've been in, it's hard to find Sunday school teachers.
I be faithful in that which is least and that little thing and the Lord is going to give you something.
More something greater to do it may be something as simple as recognizing that there's some service that needs to be done there is an immense amount of joy in service and it's one of the reasons why we we run camp the way we do we could rent A camp that.
Has staff and and the meals are all provided and we just.
Wake up in the morning and we come down and sit down to a nice meal.
But if we did that.
All of us would be the the losers because we would be trading money.
Instead of the joy of service and, and I hope that each one of you young people have experienced a little bit of the joy of service of, of lending your efforts to the to the good of of the rest.
And.
If I can say from experience Josh and your the answer to your question.
That you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God, as we do those things that the Lord has asked us to do, whether it's something small.
We find out.
Later on generally.
That it was that good and that perfect will of God and and we find out the Lord.
Is so gracious to give us a little glimpse.
Of the blessing of the benefit.
That comes from our little efforts.
00:35:02
And we won't know the the full tally, you might say the full blessing until the coming day. But often times the Lord gives us a little insight into some some blessing that has resulted when we have been willing to sacrifice and to do what He's asked us to do. And I can tell you from experience.
It's far beyond what we can imagine.
There's a principle in scripture, and I know I've mentioned this multiple times to multiple people, but.
Couple years ago.
Dave Mertens had a had a meeting that was really impactful in my life and he titled that meeting Faith Anticipates Blessing.
And the beauty of it if you trace it through scripture.
Each individual that had faith and and obeyed whatever the Lord gave them to do.
The blessing that resulted is far, far greater than what they anticipated. I'll just give you a little example, Ruth.
Ruth left her family, her kindred.
And she said Naomi.
I want to serve your God.
I want to go with you to your land.
And where you live, I'll live. And where you die, I'm going to die.
That was faith anticipating a blessing.
She had no no comprehension.
That she was going to be in the line of Christ.
That she was going to be married to Boaz.
No comprehension. And the same thing is true with us.
If we step out in faith and we're willing.
To be obedient to the word of God and and to do whatever He asked us to do.
There will be blessing that's far beyond what we can imagine.
I've proved that over and over over again in my life.
And young people.
Prove it yourself. I believe that.
This verse that we're looking at.
Is just that that ye may prove.
What is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God?
I think it helps to to answer that question to see that.
Verse two is one whole. It all goes together sometimes and we get the question. I want to do something for the Lord. That's first one. That's dedication. I don't know what it is. We talked yesterday about verse two a little bit where it speaks of not being conformed. That's being separate from the world and then being transformed.
And that's by being occupied with the Lord Jesus. Now, the more we do that, the more clearer we'll see the path that the Lord asked for us.
The more we're conformed to the world, the more we lose spiritual discernment and we think of Abraham.
When the famine came, he went to Egypt.
And he became conformed to the world for that part of his life, and he started thinking things that didn't make any sense at all in the sight of the Lord.
That when he went back, he regained spiritual discernment, there was a transformation going on. And we talked about sometimes that needs to happen over and over in our lives. And so God has a will for us and it's perfect and it's acceptable.
For us to see what the world wants us to do, there needs to be that separation from the Lord and transformation from the inside out to see that. And so every step we take, we might say that is with the Lord, our path to what He wants us specifically to do in our lives will become more clear. And so it's an active thing. It's proving it. It's not sitting and waiting until you hear a voice saying this is what you need to do. It's not going to happen.
But if you are occupied with the Lord, you will, he will give you delight for that Dave, for that week, for what he wants you to do. And so, you know, it's good to go through the three sections of the verse, but they all work together. Separation from the world, transformation by occupation with the word will lead to him revealing to us His will for our lives. And then like we said.
00:40:15
Too, We're getting close to the end of the meeting here when we do all these things.
Were prepared for service. Consecration comes next. We have one more thing in verse 3, which is humiliation. We need to do all this with lowly thoughts of self. But then and only then the Lord is ready to give us something to do, which is consecration. But then we'll find out too that we're not alone in that we're part of this greater whole. In verse four and five that speaks of being members of one body. So wouldn't it be beautiful if in that body all the members have gone through these first.
Verses now prepared now for service of the Lord that body will be strong and be like an Ephesians for where all the members they add to it. They compact it together, they build it up for us to be a helping dad or or you know, we can only be a little help, but we want to be more of a help. We want to be doing more in the Lord's service. We have to go through these first three verses. It's individual preparation for service.
That then will lead to us being able to work together with other members of the body.
You know, sometimes speak of lack of power. Well, maybe that's this might be part of it. There's very little dedication to the world. There's very little separation from the world. So there's very little power. But if we all went through that.
In dependence upon the Lord will all be very valuable members within the bond. It will be to the blessing for the whole.
So I think the, as you say Mark, kind of occupation of Christ is key and maybe get a little bit of this in John 21 where we have Peter in verse 21 Saying Peter say seeing him.
That is John, sayeth Jesus Lord, and what shall this man do?
Jesus said that to him, if I will that he tarry till I come. What is that to thee? Follow thou me.
Peter was occupied with.
Somebody else's service. What shall this man do? The Lord saying Peter.
Get your eyes on me. Got something for you to do? Follow me.
So I think this injected just practically speaking, Simply put, we need to be following Christ. And I think it was Mary, was it not? And said, whatsoever he shall say unto you, do it.
It's obedience, so it's not.
I think young people struggle with what is it that the Lord wants me to do? Well, we do need to know it's we need to prove it by knowing it, but we need to be doing it and it's I would just, it's always been a help to me.
When it comes to this this question as to the will of God and especially with respect to services, we're talking about it here and an exercise of gift is that we just need to follow the Lord be obedient to what he has asked us to do and whatever if he's placed something on your heart, just do it. You don't need to worry about I'm well, what is my gift? Don't worry about that. Just if the Lord has laid something on your heart.
Do it.
And if he's done that, you'll be.
Your gift will manifest itself overtime. The Lord has outfitted us with with what we need for His service. We just need to be obedient, follow, and the rest can I say, will take care of Himself.
Another Canadian put it this way, Gordon Hayhoe. You don't know what your gift is. Devotedness will tell you.
Just go on with the Lord.
And it will become manifest to you, but you have to go to the Lord about it. Your brethren might be a little help to you, but just go and be yourself before the Lord and you'll find things for your hands to do and maybe your other talents like we've been speaking to. And I just want to add this at the end.
The only one who was ever in the world who deserved to be served came here to serve.
I am among you as he that serveth the Lord, Jesus said. Let's imitate that.
The second of those verses in Philippians that say, For does God that worketh in you both the will and to do his good pleasure? And like has already been said, we may not know what that is, but we do know one thing. There isn't any description of idleness here. Think of that vineyard.
00:45:14
The The Parable of the Vineyard in Matthew chapter 20 and.
Verse six that says, in about the 11Th hour he went out and found other standing idol, and said unto them, Life standing here all the day idol.
We know for sure that that isn't what we're asked to do. And when we talk about proving, maybe. Maybe.
Maybe it's going to take a process of kind of figuring out, but it isn't. But we're not like you guys will never hear me start a hymn. I figured out the hard way that that's not my gift. And so maybe it's a process of elimination sometimes, but be doing that which.
The Lord would call us to do put on our heart will the Lord will direct our hearts as to what specifically He has for us to do, and it may be more than one thing.
That's another thing when we talk about these gifts, I think we, like Josh, brought out the talents. There was some that had one talent, some that had three and some that had five. That isn't what matters. What matters is that we're actually exercising those talents and not standing all the day idle.
Spread the God and Father, we just thank you for what's been before us this morning, and we pray that we might be exercised to occupy until that has come, Lord Jesus.
Pray that for our young people here, and the younger ones especially, that they might.
Have taken away something this morning. Their hearts and things might have been made clear to them as we know they're in times in their life where they're trying to figure a lot of this these things out. And we just pray that they'll just leave them alone. Help them and all of us too, Lord Jesus, to follow after thee and to be consumed with what would concern thyself.
And that all of us, Lord Jesus, might be willing to lay down our lives for the benefit of others and for thy glory in this world, until thou just take us home. Thank Thee that thou has committed unto every one of us something to to do, and we pray that we might do it faithfully. Lord Jesus, independence upon thyself, and in humility as well, that we might.
Seek to honor Thee in our lives and bring glory to Thyself. So we look to Thee for Thy rich, rich blessing upon Thy word.
And we ask you for thy help for the day going forward, asking this in thy name, Lord Jesus.
Tabernacle The Priest's Garments
Address
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Let's look to the Lord for His help.
Our God and Father.
Come before thee again this evening and dependence upon thy help as we consider this blessed subject.
This we consider my beloved Son as our great High Priest, as we consider the priests garments, the privileges and responsibilities associated with them, the glories and beauties of our Lord Jesus Christ spied out in them.
Father, we recognize that there is much here, much that we have to learn and just pray that.
That will bless Thy word and that thou will use this as an opportunity to draw our hearts out after our Lord Jesus Christ. They count on me for Thy help. This evening we ask us in the blessed and precious name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.
Welcome to another Tabernacle talk around a table where we've been taking up precious truths of the Tabernacle I've seen in Exodus and also referenced in other scriptures. We have been taking up our Lord Jesus and his glories. And with that, I'd like to go ahead and do a brief recap of what we have been looking at here over the last.
Four sessions. The first session that we took up was the overview and the.
Keys to the Tabernacle and so we established some keys of colors, metals, fabrics, numbers. These keys we were to take and take with us as we went into the rest of the study of the Tabernacle. And it's to be very important for tonight for the topic we take up in terms of those those keys. We also then in the second session looked at the furniture inside of the Tabernacle. We saw the.
Mercy Seat and the Ark of the Covenant and also moving into the Holy Place.
The table of showbread, the Candlestick, and the altar of incense.
We also then turned in our next session to the boards that went around the Tabernacle. We talked about the coverings, what they mean as well. And we also talked about both the door and the veil that is in the Tabernacle. The door being on the outside to come into the Tabernacle and the veil to be entering into the Holy of Holies.
Then in the last session we talked about.
The court in general, we looked at particular instances of the so-called fencing or the court, the fabric, the metals, the way it was construction constructed and what that means for those of us today that.
Are looking for our Lord Jesus and how our walk might be. The brazen altar particularly is very important. We took that up last session as well, as well as the labor. And so for this session, the final session, we are taking up the priest garments.
And with that, I would like to bring in the panel here. Give me a second here and I want to say hi to Tim across the table. We've talked about this before, the priest garments several years ago, five years ago, and you've enjoyed this tremendously. So that's why you're in the hot seat under the side.
And of course we got Nate keeps coming back. Thank you, Nate and of course, Josh look forward to having closed down down by me here. So so with that, that is what we're taking up tonight is the priests garments. I will show. I thought this would be nice too to just briefly look at it. You guys can see everything on the screen over here just fine.
The priest When it comes to the priest, the priest were specifically aligned around the Tabernacle.
Specific order and we noticed time before that the whole entire Tabernacle faces east and so on the coming into the entryway we have the tribe of Judah tribe of Zebulun and the tribe of Issachar and their encampments and so the rest of the priests families align directly around the Tabernacle as well. We're going to speak about priests tonight and that's why it's good to know where the priests were living in in.
To the Tabernacle itself because we we noticed all the way throughout the God wants to dwell with his people and in dwelling with his people, he had the priests come directly around the Tabernacle. I think I'd like to stop just a second and this is a question that I was looking up and this would be something interesting to just briefly talk about because I don't know if that's going to this is going to be on the.
00:05:07
Power The tribe of Levi, the priest chosen initially by God.
It was related to Aaron, right, Right. And, and Aaron had the special place of being the, the high priest, which we'll talk a little bit about in a little bit.
But I'd love to hear what some of these, what Nate or Josh has to say about it.
I don't have a specific thought. Well, I just do just to jog our memories when they came out of Egypt, right, The Jehovah God says the first born are mine and because of that the tribe of Levi is going to be mine right. He he was calling out that particular tribe for himself. Is that is that sure OK and just and just to follow on.
They they when they get in the land, they don't own any particular piece of land other than they own.
The six cities of refuge, they manage those six cities of refuge when they're in the land. Go ahead, Tim, on that. So one other thing that would probably be helpful to make the distinction is they have priests and we have Levites, right? And the priests were the sons of Aaron, Aaron and his sons and the Levites, and they had to do with the priestly services and worship, whereas the Levites were.
There to to serve to help Aaron and his sons in their service. And there was we've talked a little bit about this that.
They were the ones that bore the articles that we've been talking about, the furniture articles, but they were not to go in and correct, pick them up until after the priests had covered them. And so there's a very real distinction there and we.
Would be both pretty sound Levites. We have responsibilities of a priestly order as well as a service order. Yeah. And so just to make sure we clarify the tribal Levi was sitting there and then a subset of class was was the actual priest.
Inside of the entire tribe of Levi, just to make sure that that is clear. Good.
All right, moving on. So this is the this is the Aaron is a type of Christ, our great high priest. This is what a high priest? There's various images. In fact, I'll just go ahead and just for purposes of doing a quick overview here we are talking about the priest garments tonight. And so here we have a priest arrayed in two different garments, right? We would have the ornament. Go ahead.
Yeah, we'll get into this. So just a highlight. Take a snapshot of this in your mind because we're going to talk specifically about the distinctions between the.
The person shown on the right and the one on the left, the priest on the right and the priest on the left. Got it, got it, got it.
Tim, can you just swivel your mic that way? Take your mic. Yeah, perfect.
OK.
And so another, another one is the priest garment. So we're going to die. This is what we're going to dive in tonight is we're going to go into the various items on, on the, on the high priest, the elements of the high priest. So we'll, we'll just leave it there. So where do you want to go from here, Tim? Let's lunch into the launch into this. But based on your introduction, I think it would be good to say that yes, I have appreciated these things and enjoyed these things, but that does not make me an expert on these things.
So with that.
Yeah, we we would like to consider the priests garments and.
And I'd like to start by reading a couple of verses in Exodus chapter 28 and.
Exodus chapter 28. We're just going to read the 1St 2 verses for right now.
And take thou unto thee. So this is Exodus 28 verse one. And take thou unto thee air, and thy brother and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priests office, even Aaron Nabab, Abayu Eliezer, and Ethamar Aaron's sons.
And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother. And this is the key phrase for glory and for beauty.
So they're going to be a lot of the colors that we've already spoken of specifically having to do with the gate, the door and the veil, the ceiling curtains. Just recap those colors again for those. Yeah, well, we're going to get into OK more when we get into this, but.
I wanted to make a distinction at the very beginning because, as we've said from the start, everything that has to do with this.
Tabernacle and its order point to Christ everything, every single thing and Aaron fulfilled that role as the high priest. He's the type of Christ. His sons are a type of Christians and their garments were different from the standpoint that.
00:10:17
Aaron, the picture that you put up there of the of the high priest was dressed only in white on the Day of Atonement. He wore only the the fine twin linen and a girdle on that. That's it. He didn't have.
Any of those other garments for glory and for beauty and we're going to talk a little bit about that, but I wanted to.
Going to speak to Aaron and his type of Christ and relate that back to some scripture that we have in Hebrews.
So on the Day of Atonement, Aaron the high priest, and he alone went in. There was an there was a sacrifice offered. Blood from that sacrifice was taken into the holy place.
He had a sensor that he carried with him, and he went once a year on the Day of Atonement into the holiest of holies, not without blood, and he sprinkled blood.
On the ground before the mercy seat and then actually sprinkled blood on the mercy seat itself while he was also carrying that sensor with him and that.
That was the Day of Atonement, and he applied the blood there on the mercy seat and then left. And that gave the other priests the ability to do what they did. And, you know, just thought it would be nice to talk just a little bit about.
The Lord Jesus as our great high priest, because that's really the type that we see in Aaron. He is a priest after a heavenly order. He couldn't be a priest after an earthly order because he was the tribe of Judah and.
So while he was on earth, he was a sacrifice. When he finished that work, he is now a heavenly high priest for us. And so we have some verses in Hebrews that speak to those things.
Let's turn there next.
And I would just say again, and Josh and Nate and I have been talking about this through this past week, that we would highly recommend everyone go back through and read Hebrews again after these this study, because it changes your perspective on what is brought out in the book of Hebrews.
So.
First, we'll start in chapter 8 of Hebrews.
And I know we've read some of these verses before and.
It's repetitive for a reason that we keep kind of returning to some of the same principles and thoughts. So Hebrews chapter 8, verse one. Now the things which we have spoken, now of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum.
We have such an High priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty and the heavens.
A minister of the sanctuary and of the true Tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.
For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices. Wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. For if when he were on earth he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the Law, they serve unto you the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the Tabernacle. For see us sayeth he foresee.
That thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mouth. But now hath he ordained a more excellent ministry.
By how much? Also he is the mediator of a better covenant.
Which was established upon better promises and then in Chapter 9.
Verse 11.
That Christ being come and High priest of good things to come.
By a greater and more perfect Tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
And then to drop down.
Verse 22. Now almost all things by the law, purged with blood and without.
Without shedding of blood is no remission.
00:15:00
Verse 24 For Christ is not entered into the holy place, is made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.
And then we know if we were to go into Chapter 10 again, we would read about his sacrifice that's associated with that offering. So we can clearly see here that these were foreshadows, as we've spoken of before, of a better sacrifice and a better.
A new way, if you will. And so Aaron did that on the Day of Atonement, and that opened the door for the other police to garments to be worn.
And I'm going to turn this over to Nate for a thought that he had shared with us that I really enjoyed regarding why Aaron didn't go into the Holy Hope Holies wearing those garments of of glory and beauty. Go ahead.
Yeah, so this is not an original thought, but I've heard it myself and enjoyed it. We know that in Leviticus 16, Aaron didn't enter with those garments of glory and beauty, the one that we saw with the blue and the purple and the red and all the colors and the gemstones.
He didn't do that because what we see in those garments really is the effect of redemption.
Which in the Old Testament hadn't occurred yet, the Lord Jesus.
Was able to offer himself on the cross to allow that redemption to take place and we see a lot of the fruits of that redemption coming out in in some of these garments that he he enters into the holy place as as we read.
In Hebrews 9 and verse 12, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Now he's there presently in heaven, representing us before God, bearing us our names on his heart, on his shoulders, and interceding for us. And so those garments of glory and beauty couldn't be worn by Aaron because redemption hadn't taken place.
It's a beautiful thought, I really enjoyed it.
So to just kind of sum up the.
The service of the high priest, not only was the Day of Atonement part of that, and we see that in our Lord Jesus, Nate mentioned he's also interceding for us. So there's some other verses to that service that the Lord Jesus is doing on our behalf is our great high priest.
Hebrews, Chapter 7, verse 25.
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God, by him, seeing he ever liveth, to make intercession for them. And then if we go back to chapter 4, verse 14.
Seeing then that we have a great high Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession, for we have not an high Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was at all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help.
In time of need.
And so there's an additional work that is being done by our Lord Jesus on our behalf there in heaven. And maybe Josh and Nate could have some additional thoughts to that. I'd like to add one more verse to what you've already read in Romans 8, verse 34.
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yeah, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
This salvation in Hebrews 7 is not our eternal salvation. That is Speaking of right. This is a daily salvation that that we experience when we come to Christ as our high priest. We can come to him 24/7. There's.
There's no limit and no no limit on our access to His high priestly work on our behalf before God. It's beautiful, isn't it, to think that the Lord Jesus is living for us.
They're representing us on high, before God.
00:20:01
For our our can I say our success down here spiritually that we might make it without failing. And when we do fail, well, that's a different aspect of his of his work as not as a high priest, but as an advocate to restore us when we do fail as we have in first John one. But but his high priestly work is there to help his people along the way in the wilderness.
Is that right?
Do we want to take a look at some of the pieces of these garments? Yeah. Before we do that, I'd like to just read one stanza from him #114 I couldn't get this out of my head this week as we were considering these things. It's such a beautiful depiction of exactly what we're talking about. Hymn #114.
We we actually sang this earlier in the week. I can't remember which day. I think I had to do the day that we had.
The the Ark and the Mercy seat I believe but.
The verse that I specifically.
Have in mind is the third verse, but I'm just going to read the whole thing real quick. The holiest we enter in perfect peace with God, through whom we found our center in Jesus and his blood. The great may be our dullness, and thought and word and deed be glory in the fullness of him that meets our need. Much incense is ascending before the eternal throne. God graciously is bending to hear each feeble groan to all our prayers and praises Christ adds.
Sweet perfume and love, the sensor raises these odors to consume. Oh God, we come with singing, because thy great high priest our names to these bringing nor ere forgets the least for us He wears the mitre where holiness shines bright for us His robes are wider than heavens and solely life.
It's kind of a bit of a down, even though these other garments are familiar for beauty. It's kind of a little bit of a step down when we start considering these things, but we wanted to make sure that we we brought out first.
The specific character of our Lord Jesus Christ as our great high Priest before we went into the rest of this. So turn back to Exodus chapter 28 and we'll look at some of these garments that have been described here for us.
These priests.
Umm.
Did you you were thinking of some verses towards the end? I don't know how much we need to read.
Verse 4 might be a good summary. Verse four, Yeah, go ahead.
And these are the garments which they shall make, a breastplate and an ephod, and a robe, and embroidered coat, a miter and a girdle. And they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. One more verse.
And they shall take gold and blue and purple and scarlet and fine linen. Yeah.
So.
There was an order that the priests were clothed with these garments, and maybe we'll just start with the.
At the at the bottom, if you will, there was a a pair of breeches that were worn at the very bottom.
On top of that was a fine twine linen robe that They were bound around the waist with a girdle. Then on top of that was a blue robe that.
Had no other colors on it was strictly blue but along the hem of it there were pomegranates and bells and brothers. If I speak out of turn or a mess please correct me on this so.
On top of that was almost like a a combination of a breastplate, an apron and a girdle that had the breastplate in the E5.
Ephod, the word means to gird on. So it held the breastplate in place, and the breastplate was of gold. The ephod was of gold, of blue, of purple, of scarlet and fine twine linen. Same thing that we've been considering in these other articles. So the difference, though this time there's gold, and we talked a little bit about that before, but gold speaks of.
00:25:09
Unrighteousness. The blue speaks of the Lord Jesus's heavenly glory.
His glory is the Son of God.
Is kind of relates to the Gospel of John.
The purple.
Has has to do with His glory as the Son of Man.
Speaking of, the day when he will be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords may be more focused on the nations.
And that relates to the gospel of Luke, right? And then after that the scarlet, which is his.
His glorious, the Son of David, the King of Israel, and again looking forward to a future day in which he will have his rightful place as the King of kings and Lord of Lords with Israel as well. And then, then that fine Twine linen, Speaking of the Lord Jesus in his moral glory. And again, I forgot to say this. Pardon me for going back to say this.
You know, when the Lord Jesus came down here, Speaking of Aaron, when he went in on the Day of Atonement, the Lord Jesus's other glories, those glories that are depicted in these garments, most of them were veiled largely, right. Besides having the Gloria and the Mount of Transfiguration, they were. He was arrayed with that purple robe at his crucifixion and there was a sign put on the cross. This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. So.
And in Matthew he was with scarlet robe. But largely all of those beauties were.
Bail, but not his moral glory. It was impossible to veil his moral glory, and that was what gave him the ability to do that work. So sorry for that deviation, but I forgot to mention that earlier. And you're referring to the Day of Atonement when Aaron went in with the whites, right? Yeah, exactly. That's what I'm. That's what I was referring to. So.
With the breastplate, it was made of gold. On the shoulders there were two stones. There were two oak stones, Onyx stones. On each of those stones were inscribed six. Yeah, good. So on the shoulders to Onyx stones that each had six of the tribes of Israel.
Inscribed upon them and it's interesting that the words that are used.
And scripture? Really.
Are very important, I think chapter 28 and verse 10 six of their names on one stone, and the other six names on the rest of the other stone, according to their birth. But the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet. Shall thou engrave the two stones of the names of the children of Israel? Thou shalt make them to be set. And ouchers of gold. Those names were unerasable. They were in those stones, and no one could have ever.
Move them and being set on the shoulders of the priests that speaks of being set in a position of security and power on the priest and kind of have more of a collective sense to it, right, Because there's six and six now down on the on the chest or the breast of the priest. The breastplate was and there were 12 Stones and and 12 precious stones.
And laid in that breastplate each of them.
Having a name of the children of Israel, of a tribe of the children of Israel as three rows of four. Am I getting that backwards? That's exactly how it's on the picture. OK, three rows of four. And each of those stones again had the names. Same exact language is used. They're engraved in the same way, but more of an individual character this time with the stones rather than the collective. And what was the position of the stones? They were on the?
And it says specifically, I think it's four rows of 3-4 rows of three. Yeah, yeah, if I set it backwards, my apologies.
Let's see where the if you guys should help me put my finger on a verse. It talks about the breastplate's position over the heart.
15.
Which number verse 15 is over here talking about?
So that describes it, but.
There's actually a verse that says that where their names over their heart.
00:30:01
2929, Thank you, Nate.
And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place. So.
Speaks of the place of, of God's affection and, and you know, kind of, I didn't, I hadn't thought of this before, but Josh was Speaking of the rings when we were talking about the various pieces of furniture and we're talking about the construction of the Tabernacle building itself. The rings speak of.
Of love, eternal love. And in this case it's wonderful to see that that ephod was bound to the the breastplate which had golden rings. Verse 28 And they shall bind the breastplate by the rings thereof of unto the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue divine love.
Eternal divine love.
So.
In that sense, could you say his priestly work for us is eternally linked to bearing us on his heart? Yeah. And there's nothing. The ephod bound the breastplate there. There was no the the breastplate did not move. It was secured in that position with those stones on his shoulders and with the stones on his heart. And the ephod secured it in that position.
So just to summarize, I guess what you're saying, Tim, is we've got.
The stones on the shoulders, which were embedded in gold.
Which would represent the the people of God.
In the place of of where it's the strongest in the body, it's the shoulder speaks of strength, right? Luke 15, five, right. The shepherd went out and took the sheep that he found and carried at home on his shoulders. Nobody was going to displace that sheep. So there's strength there. There's love that we see in connection with the breastplate and the 12 tribes represented.
With all these different types of stones in the breastplate really bringing before us the individuality of the Saint of God.
And the various cues and colors and characteristics that are unique to that stone and that stone alone. So we're all different, but we're precious to the Lord. So we find ourselves not only in a place of strength, not our strength, but his strength, but also in a place of, of affection and love and care.
By the Lord Himself bearing us on his heart.
There's that eternal love that we see in the rings. We see his character coming through with the ribbon of blue, his heavenly character linked up with with all the beauty of his personal and official glories as as the son of of David and the Son of man and and his holy humanity is tied into that.
And He is there on our behalf in all the beauty and virtue of His person representing us before God. And the 12 names would show all His people are represented there. I put that up on the slide here. I've got a slide here with the 12 Stones here with the various colors. And I don't know that it's an exact match, but these stones are also spoken of.
Revelation chapter 20 in regards to that holy city, the new Jerusalem, again representing the believer and, and the beauty of the Lord as the light of that city shining through them. And so, but like Josh said, I think it's, it really does bring before us the individuality of each believer.
And there's recent chains of gold too that attach the shoulder pieces to the top of the breastplate, as I understand it as well. So again, these.
These keys, as Mark had put it, continued to feed into the interpretation of the type. But we just see the the wonderful character of Christ coming through here on our behalf. It's it's, it's not us, it's him. It's all about him and, and.
You know, further to that, you're probably going to touch in on it, but there is something else that was hidden I think in the ephod as well, correct? Yeah. So tuck behind the breastplate was the umum and the thumam. Is that what you were talking about, the urum and thumbum? Yes, I've just mispronouncing it. So and that speaks of lights and perfections that the provision of God.
00:35:11
In directing his people, right, right. Yeah, no, it. So I'm just trying to think of this in a simple way.
And seeing what characterizes our great eyed priests Strength, love and affection, wisdom and guidance in the Urim and Thummim.
And that's all available to us as believers today, correct?
And so when we read that verse in Hebrews, that he is able to save them unto the uttermost that come unto God by him, another translation I think says that he's able to save them completely.
So we really have no reason to fail in our life because he is there on our behalf, interceding for us and we can access him for help, for guidance.
You know, his love is there to to to help us along the way. He cares for us and and his strength is, is there for us. He can give us strength and, and so everything that we need in our times of need, he is there to minister those very things to us, isn't he? Yeah.
So there's absolutely no reason that we should ever doubt our security and our salvation or His love for us, His eternal divine love. It was a love of choice and.
These things bear that out. So on that as we consider all of these beauties.
That characterize our Lord Jesus Christ.
The priests puts these garments on.
Tremendous privilege.
Tremendous responsibility.
My brother took that up the other night and wanted to sing messages. Privilege and responsibility going together. So there's character that is associated with each of these things that should there's there's characteristics of each of these things that really.
Should define us as priests that.
Find twine linen that was closest to the person speaks of our walk.
Our moral uprightness in our manner of life, right?
The blue that went on next speaks of our heavenly character. There's a dignity and bearing that's associated with that that we need to bear in mind and make sure that.
We're walking in accordance to. Hey, Tim. And I've just got it up on the picture here. You just mentioned those two things. The fine toy and linen. Linen tunic was underneath everything. Correct. And then it went to this blue robe, which we see the blue robe right, Right here. Yeah. And then we haven't gotten to this, but it was that where the bells and pomegranates were hanging on there, bottom of the blue. OK. What was the purpose of having bells and pomegranates on the bottom of the rope? So testimony and fruit and the priest.
That going in so that the people could hear them in their service before the Lord. And you know, I think there's many applications that can be made from this, but has to do with the gospel. The gospel bells are ringing. And if the if that is effectual through our service and the work of the Lord, there would be fruit associated with that work. But I'm sure there's many other considerations to be brought out with that.
They go together, right?
But if you don't have fruit, then the gospel bells ringing may ring hollow from the the messenger. So just so we're we're not mixing things up and we're, we're clear here there there's I think Tim, you were touching in on the characteristics that should be seen in us as the people of God.
That are similar to what is characteristic of Christ as our great High Priest. We are priests now. He, though, is our great high priest. He is our great high priest and speaks of Christ. Aaron's sons are priests as well, which speaks of the Church, right?
But the foremost?
I guess meaning behind what we see in the priest garments of glory and beauty speaks to us of our Lord, correct. Yeah. My whole point with it is that we put we, we carry that and there's responsibility associated with carrying that, that testimony, if you will, of of the Lord. Yeah, I just want to characterize that because I yeah, thank you.
00:40:03
So there is that.
Robot blue, right? Yeah.
Verse 31. And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all of blue, and there shall be a hole in the top of it. In the midst thereof it shall have a binding of woven work round about the whole of it, as it were the whole of a hebridge, in that it be not rent. And beneath upon the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and a purple and of scarlet round about the hem thereof.
And bells of gold between them roundabout.
A golden bell and a pomegranate, A golden bell and a pomegranate upon the hem of the robe roundabout. And it shall be upon Aaron to minister, and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the Lord, and when he cometh out that he die not so again, Blue, Speaking of his heavenly character, and you've already mentioned it, but bells would be his testimony.
For God and pomegranates would be fruit for God. I think that's another application and probably has even more. Probably has even more.
Relation to what we're talking about here as believers, I mean the gospel is certainly there. We see that as you brought out yesterday with the with the court, we see that there. But ultimately it is.
Consecration for the Lord, right it's having.
Our hands full service for him that would that would bear fruit for him.
So then underneath that then there is this.
Robe of.
And so that really what we have here in verse 39, thou shalt embroidery the code of fine linen, and thou shalt make the miter of fine linen, and thou shalt make the girdle of needlework. So.
That garment would really speak of the his. His holy humanity is spotless purity.
Which we in no way have the ability to live up to ourselves. And so that's where that type may be fall short, but we see that in Christ, right? But we do have his nature. Yeah, that's right. And that miter then was there as he would represent his people again in all of his purity and holiness.
He represents us there in in.
In that character, that's a form of intercession, isn't it? That that miter with the plate of pure gold in verse 36?
And grave upon it like the engravings of a signet. Holiness to the Lord. We know we could look within ourselves and see elements that are not holy. And the Lord bears the iniquity of that as we read a little bit further down. And he puts a sign on it all and says holiness to the Lord. He's he's dealt with all the imperfections and unholiness in our lives.
When he represents us there.
And the mitre is something that he wore on his head, correct, Right. Yeah, it was on the mitre, the the plate in front with a lace of blue.
That tied it to the miter itself as I understand it, which was a gold was made of gold, and like Nate Red, it said holiness unto the Lord.
And it was on the forehead, right, right, frontal, front and center.
Maybe just read verse 38 as well. And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hollow in all their holy gifts, and it shall be always upon his forehead that they may be accepted before the Lord. So here you have the children of Israel offering gifts, and there's iniquity in those gifts.
And yet the high priest handles it.
He bears the iniquity of those things, that they may be accepted before the Lord.
So our worship and our praise may fall far short a lot of times. Most times all the time, maybe, And it might be.
Not totally acceptable. There might be things in that, that maybe of the flesh or not quite accurate or or what have you. But the Lord handles all of that, filters it all out and presents what is acceptable to God on our behalf. And it is through Him that I guess Hebrews says it. Maybe we can read that verse. Hebrews 13, right?
00:45:20
So Hebrews 13 says that verse 15 by him. Therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. So it it it goes through him to God. While we're on that topic, we should read first Peter two and verse five as well.
He also is lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to OfferUp spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
There you go. So there's actually, since we're here, Grade 9 and Grade 9 as well. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people that you should show forth the praises of him who have called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
I think that's the thought that the hymn writer brought out in 114 says to all our prayers and praises, Christ adds his sweet perfume and love. The sense of raises these odors to consume.
So then maybe kind of wrapping this up, what?
We read at the end of Exodus 28 about Aaron's sons and it says in verses 40 to 43 little description about what they should be wearing, right?
Aaron's sons thou shalt make coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles and bonnets shalt thou make for them for glory and for beauty, and thou shalt put them upon air, and thy brother and his sons with him, and shalt anoint them, consecrate them and sanctify them, that they may minister unto me in the priest office, And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness.
From the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach, and they shall be upon Aaron and upon his sons, when they come in unto the Tabernacle of the congregation.
Or when they come near unto the halt, or to minister in the holy place, that they bear not iniquity and die, it shall be a statue forever unto him, and his seat after him. So as you pointed out, Tim, that.
This is what they wore in their priestly service on a regular basis, right? So what? What does this speak to us of then?
So.
That's what they wore when they went into the holy place, right? And that's where the priests lived. That's where they did their work was in that holy place where it was the Candlestick and the showbread and that golden altar of incense. That's where their priestly work took place. And that, as we've already talked about, brings up, brings out the the thought of communion at the table of showbread and praise and worship at the altar of incense and.
Burying those beauties of Christ before them as they were in that service. What an incredible privilege. I mean in the last, the last.
Several days I've come to a whole different appreciation for.
The.
Immensity of the privilege that we have of bringing.
Bring in our offering, our sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
The priest I think Nate mentioned this earlier about.
No one but a priest had any access past that brazen altar. None. There was a great deal of privilege that was associated with that priestly office. Then there was the labor which required the washing of the hands and the feet, the sanctification, in order to move forward into that place of great privilege where they were in the heavenlies. And.
Communion with God.
And we actually have, you can take it even further because now we have a rent veil. And so we're not just in the holy place. We have access like we've read multiple times in Hebrews chapter 10 into the holiest of holies. We have boldness to enter into that place through the veil, that is to say his flesh.
What we have in Christianity is one room, not 2.
The veil is still there because it still represents Christ, but there's no impediment, there's no barrier, right?
So Christ should be seen in our walk, in our ways, in our service.
00:50:04
As representing him in this world as priests, We're a holy priesthood, we're a royal priesthood.
Holy priesthood is is toward God, right? And our royal priesthood is toward the world. And that's the dignity piece. We are a royal priesthood. Yeah, it's beautiful. It is.
So He represents us in all the beauty of his character and person, in all his perfection, bears us up, helps us along the way, gives us strength. His love is there that just surrounds us, right? He gives us light and wisdom as we need it. And He has called us to a service to go represent Him before a lost world.
And so we we really have everything. He's outfitted us with every advantage.
To live for His glory in this world.
So there's a character to their service and I think is what you're bringing out, right. But there's also the position that they've been placed into which is unchanging. You have these, these garments and in verse 4041 and so on, verse 41 Says and shall to anoint them and consecrate them and sanctify them, that they may minister unto me in the priest office.
And then if you go to chapter 29 and verse 8, Speaking of the same garment.
Thou shalt bring his sons and put coats upon them, and thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and put the bonnets on them. And the priest office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute, and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons. So there's the positional aspect of that as well, that once we're saved, we are priests. We ought to be priestly, but even if we're not, we still are priests.
So when we look at this.
Picture again with the two priests garments with one is the fine twin linen white and the other one is with all the beauty we've discussed with the stones and the everything. The one on the right is the one that the that the priest, the daily priest would be wearing, is that correct? The white. So the priests that were out there working with the sacrifices in Washington Labor and even going to eat the showbread once a week, they would be wearing their white linens, is that correct?
Yeah. And then the priests, then the high priest would be wearing the colorful that we've discussed heavily here. Is he wearing that on a daily basis out there or is he only wearing that when he, I mean, when is he, when does he wear that specifically?
All the time.
Do we read that he ever wore it?
I don't know. I don't know the answer to that mark. OK.
It's just trying to get a handle on this, and we know this. We know that when the high priest went into the Holy of Holies, he did not wear that. He wore the white linens at that point.
So going back to practical for a believer to have our to have our garments unspotted, if you will, and certainly stop by the labor and wash is an important thing for a believer and to have that communion with him through washing our our garments and such is very, very important for today.
Well, we had these slides and I think it's just worthy of just doing quickly. So you have the E fod. We just to do as a recap, we have the E fod for the high priest Christ. High priestly work has been established in righteousness bearing the heavenly character. Blue, golden blue, royal glory, purple and scarlet spotless perfection as man, fine twin Leonard, just kind of in layers.
In the girdle, we talked about Christ and his faithful service of high priestly work. Girdles that belt feature that means you're working towards His people.
And then we have the shoulder plates. We talked about those. Those are the ones that have the stones, correct, the stones of the six tribes on each, each shoulder. And then we have the breastplate where again, those were the the 12 Stones were sitting there in those rows with those beautiful colors, individual people of God represented by Christ in his love and affection.
And then they had the robe on the outside. The heavenly character blew of our great high priest.
In Christ fruitfulness. That was the pomegranates and the bells. That was a beautiful thought there too. Nate. I appreciate that in terms of you have in order to have the bells to ring, you got to have the pomegranates there as well. And then the embroidered coat, spotless perfection of Christ, the plate of pure gold on the mitre again on the on the forehead was that gold plate. The worship of the believer fully accepted before God, born before God and all the righteousness of Christ filtering out the imperfections.
00:55:14
And then lastly, the mitre Christ in all his perfection represent his people before God. That was the that was the hat.
Correct. And then we talked about Aaron's sons with what they had as well. The coats, the girls, the bonnets and the linen breeches.
Where are we at with time, Mark? We are at what? We're 730 right now.
Time for that poem still or do you want to don't hold off on that sure we can do that we can do the poem is OK with that sure I brought the book over because there's a poem you know we one of the other things that we would like to do is just mention all of the.
The various resources that are available through BTP for typical teachings on the Tabernacle, there's there's a lot on.
STEM Publishing. But why don't you just scoot the Tabernacle away for a second and then, Nate, maybe you can take a couple of these. Nate You could you could just I'll, I'll zero in on the camera.
Above.
There you go. Turn, face them your way. There you go. And let's just go through these real quickly here.
Nate, you have enjoyed the foreshadows, correct? This is the first Tabernacle book I read and it's left an impression on me.
Very good. And so let's make sure and later on in the recording, I'll go ahead and drop in specific thing that's that's foreshadows by Pressland. Yeah, OK.
And then next we have the typical, typical teachings, typical Tabernacle teachings by scooting up, go towards there you go allergen Pollock, which actually has been very helpful as well, very easy to read.
And Times new favorite.
The Tabernacle, Its Structure and Symbolism by Walter Scott.
And then this is Mr. Arnett. It's a little hard to read. A little older book by Mr. Arnett. Was that say, Notes on the Tabernacle? JT Armand, have you gone through that one? Yeah, it's, it's very good. It's easy, very easy to read.
And I, I think kind of the go to for me on the Tabernacle has been Preston Pollock and Scott. They've they're very easy to read. And the nice part, sorry, I'm kind of hijacking.
Good, not done with your books.
I think the point here is that there's a lot of ministry on the Tabernacle and avail yourself of it. And listen, this is been an exercise here of us that I mean, we felt our weakness in it. It just because there's so much like we honestly, honestly, we just scratched the surface. We didn't have time to go into all of it, nor do I even feel qualified to go into all the finer details.
I mean, you can have a little bit of a Bible conference at home, just pull like four or five 6-7 writers who've all written stuff on the on the Tabernacle and they might be saying the same thing, but they might say differently. That is kind of the aha moment for you. Or they present different things. And like, like we've been saying through these these meetings that there's a duality in the types where.
Where there's beautiful thoughts there, there's not just maybe one solid application. We can't be too dogmatic on this.
I've read a number of these books, and sometimes I get to three different thoughts that are not They're all correct. They're all all beautifully right.
And it's just it's impossible for us to bring all of this out.
So sorry. There's another one here by Ride Out Lectures on the Tabernacle. Henry Salto is, you know.
I think popular but probably less easy to read. Yeah I agree Saltal is kind of hard to read so I would I would.
And he's got two of them. I wouldn't really recommend him, although I wouldn't persuade you not to read him. But I think there's there's probably better writings on him. Dennis, another one. OK, typical teachings on Exodus. Yes, a fantastic book. And Macintosh has Macintosh CGM is good. Of course, Mr. Darby in the synopsis, he'll give you the little Nuggets here and there. I mean, the list is long. You, you can, I mean, there is a lot written.
01:00:02
On on this subject and so I would just encourage.
Everyone here to immerse themselves in it it is beautiful it is so so beautiful So what happened over the course of the preparation for this week is that I figured out how much I didn't know and I have about five of these different books already I have five more or so that are in my my queue to order I didn't want to order them before this because.
I didn't want them to arrive at my house while we were up here.
And my, my goal is to go home and just get even more into this because I'm, I just realized how much I don't know. And so on the other note of resources, Norman Berry, there's recordings of his meetings chapter Brown, I believe.
There's you. You put in the Tabernacle. I did this the other day, on Whose Faith follow, Whose Faith follow or Bible conference recordings. And there's a long list, a long, long list of various.
Ones that have spoken on this and so maybe if you don't necessarily have time to open the book yet, listen to it on your way home from work or something and it's I I know you got Michael Bryan listening to Norman Barry's 1985 It's a Beautiful thing series of four meetings Norman Berry.
So kind of wrapping this up for the evening I was one of the things that I enjoyed from Walter Scott book is a poem that he didn't write but is listed in the last part of his book. And considering this is Saturday evening, I believe that this poem is very relevant to us tonight because it's called a meditation.
At the Lord's Supper. It's a little bit long, so bear with me.
Agony of agony Oh, listen to that awful cry. Fishing through a mysterious night When cloudless sun gives out no light, Hark, it beats against black brass sky. Eli Lama Sabachthani. Agony of agony. But the pain of Calvary. Not the mocking taunt, nor blow, not the thorn that tears the brow, not the great indignity of sinners. Striking Deity.
Not the rod that furrows plowed. Not the rye bald soldier crowd blinding first, then even hitting.
The violence on his features spitting Jew as well as Gentile spitting on the face so greatly scarred.
Soon by deeper sorrow mar was not these that forced the cry Eli Lama Sabachthani.
Agony of agony, let the pain of Calvary never moan, nor grief fraught whale follows the nerve tearing nail. True he speaks, he is but pleading for his slayers interceding.
Mika slammed to slaughter come cheap before her shears. Dumb.
Tis not shame, his spirit grieves as he hangs betwixt the thieves.
Tis not shame, the spirit grieves as he hangs betwixt the thieves, not the guide of passers by.
Nor more cruel priests that cry Savior he of others save self he cannot from the grave.
Even not the cruel smart added to that gentle heart, when he, with true human pain looks for pity, looks in vain.
It needs still deeper agony.
In and E to Wake the cry Eli Lama Sabachthani.
Agony of agonies this the pain of Calvary thou my soul in Solomon from the foot, the sandals, jaw. This is truly holy ground. Here is mystery profound. View the words, but let thy thought be with deep emotion, fraught tremble. False truth speaks to guilt.
Telling why that blood was spilled. Weep meanwhile Mercy's voice.
Bids thy broken heart rejoice, praise, whilst love and truth unite, flooding heart with heavenly light, trembling, weeping, praising. Learn, let it be, let it in thy spirit burn thy sins. Thyself has caused that cry. Eli Lama, so back then I.
01:05:05
Pause nor shame, escape a sigh or tear. Thine eye be dues melting soul and brimming eye fits the scene on which she amused Zion here speaks not of grief. Gentle tears are Love's relief. Yeah, for since I've learned my part, and that solemn scene I ponder memories of a broken heart tenderly must linger Yonder.
Whilst he makes such visions clear.
No lens like a contrite tear.
But in whilst the city walls these sad echoes back are flinging, golden sunlight once more falls, and the birds resume their singing. That dreadstorm has passed, forever past to be repeated, never this. His voice again is heard in the calm of Conqueror, sending forth his spirit with a word to his Father, all commanding.
Speaks but with no breath. Breath of sign does, but with no sign.
Dying thus he's numbered with the dead, for by man no broke, his bone is broken.
God alone may bruise this, This bread man may lose loves. Mightiest token one last blow. The soldiers spear fills our cup with wine to cheer. Never more shall unbelief put its cruel mark upon him. Nevermore shall pain or grief leave as their scarring traces on him. Henceforth love alone shall pour on his feet.
Her richest store, seeing the angels see whose eyes long to scan redemption story see your crate.
Arise but now robed and other glory. Hail your Lord your God again as a lamb that hath been slain. Seeing ye Saints who know the bliss of thy word. Thou art forgiven. Know the rapture of God's kiss. Be not out. Praise by heaven, which think ye should love him most Sinner saved or Angel host.
Sing my soul. Each saved one cries as we sit around his table.
Mind the song whose notes shall rise, if I were able St. And Angel, Angel I doubt vie. None can know so much as I.
Though my fullest song is faint though my fires but smoldering ember, Though my praise often turns to plain Lord, I can at least remember this. I do now as we sub, break the bread and drink the cup.
Well, that is comes our conclusion to the Tabernacle Talks around the table. It has been a joy to be with you and we hope that you have taken away.
Specific little Nuggets along the way.
Of our Lord Jesus Christ as seen in the Tabernacle. And may this be an opportunity for you to dig deeper, Dig deeper and find Him sweeter. And we'll be here as a resource and an event you want to reach out.
And so with that, we'll sign off and we'll.
See you here, there, or hopefully in the air when the Lord comes back.
Our God and Father.
We thank you so much.
For giving us these things from my word.
To bring before our hearts the glories and beauties of thy beloved Son.
How little we enter into these things, but as we consider this.
Type in the Tabernacle we see again, Father, one of Thy masterpieces and presenting our Lord Jesus Christ and His Person and His work.
But a place of privilege that has brought us into Father.
As priests, how far short we come, Father of offering appropriate sacrifices of the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. Help us, Father, as we consider these things to draw our hearts more fully.
To burn and our desire to know more of our Lord Jesus and to follow after Him.
01:10:02
We thank the Father.
For giving these things to us for these past few nights, and we just ask for thy blessing on their word.
Lord Jesus.
As we consider this, what can we say?
Thank you.
The decisive and thy precious and low worthy name. Amen.
Doubts
YP Sing Address—D. Nicoara
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Verse said be strong and very courageous, almost like someone knew exactly what I needed to see when I walked into this building tonight. But.
We can go ahead and open with a word of prayer. Our God and our Father, we thank you for the hymns that we've been able to sing and to lift up our hearts together and what beautiful lines we've been able to consider. And we thank you for this day and for this week that we've been able to be here and to be under the sound of the Word and to enjoy fellowship with.
Each other and we just thank you for this and.
Now we ask for your blessing as we open the scriptures and pray for help for the speaker as well. In your name we pray, Lord Jesus.
Amen.
Turn with me first to Psalm 133.
This doesn't really have anything to do with the topic I wanted to talk about tonight, but the verse came to me as I was thinking yesterday and today about this first verse. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to delve together.
In unity. I've been thinking about this verse a lot recently as we left an assembly and Grand Rapids.
Michigan that we've come to really love, and a lot of folks there, brothers and sisters in that assembly that we loved, gotten to know and move across the country. This verse came to me then as well. And I think if we can all agree, we've had a pleasant time this week. We've been among the Lord's people and under the sound of the word and away from this world and away from its cares.
It's been pleasant.
But as our brother mentioned last night, and I hate to be a downer, but we have to go back to our regular lives, don't we? Some of us have gone back already. Some of us are going back tomorrow, some on Monday. And if you're like me, nothing's probably changed about what your life was like a week ago.
Versus when you go home.
And one thing that.
Effects all of us. Maybe all of us, but something that affects many of us.
Is doubt.
And I was in much turmoil about whether I should even tell you this story. And if you've heard this story before, I apologize and bear with me.
Because I don't want the focus to be on myself here tonight.
But the last time I was at this camp, I wasn't called Camp Volcano. It was called Brooks Memorial. And it's hard to believe for me when I thought this out, but it's been 11 years. I don't really feel that old, but eleven years seems like it went by way too fast. And that was the summer that I I the same camp that I asked my wife.
To come with me to a sing and gave our parents a heart attack.
And a lot has happened since then, but I want to think back to the spring after that camp. And, you know, I came to this camp and I sat in these seats like so many of you did. And I'd grown up in a Christian home with parents that love me. Well, first of all, they love the Lord. And we had Bible readings in our home and the Word expounded to us. I had a lot of Christian friends.
In the assembly brothers that I still look up to today still have close friendships with.
And despite all of that.
That spring.
Of 2015, it would have been 2012. It's been a while. That spring I struggled with some serious doubt in my life.
And I got into.
Some forums on the Internet, some things that various professors said in class and what different ones it said and I started to question different aspects of my faith and I and it grew into a full blown crisis of faith.
To the point where I felt like I stood on a knife's edge and that all it would have taken would have been one push and I wouldn't have been here in front of you tonight.
So the subject matters that we take up tonight and we've taken up all week.
00:05:01
Is things that have to do with life and death.
It was only by God's grace that any of us is kept.
Don't take it for granted. Don't take the treasure, the heritage that you've been given for granted.
I'm not going to go into the details of how God and his grace drew me back. And you wouldn't have been able to tell because I was still at the assembly meetings. I still went to Bible studies. I still hung out with my friends.
But no one could see the darkness that had grown in my own soul.
And the reason I tell you this story tonight?
Because I'm not standing here in front of you. Because I figured it out.
Because I have all the answers, because I've arrived. But I'm like a brand plucked out of the fire.
And so the subject I have on my night and my heart tonight is to talk about doubt because doubt and you know, if you don't struggle with doubt, this meeting is not for you. But if you've struggled with doubt before in your lives, if you've had questions, then I hope that I can maybe shed some light a little bit on the subject and most importantly, to talk about some things that.
We can do When those thoughts come, when those questions arise in our hearts, where can we turn for help?
You know, doubt is uncertainty about various aspects of our faith. And I want to be careful here because we'll talk about two aspects of doubt, and the first one is is questioning.
You know, we're frail humans. And in Psalm 104 and 1/03/14, he says.
He knoweth our frame, He remembers that we are made of dust, and we've taken up, as has been pointed out so many times this week, very lofty truths.
And our human minds are frail and they have a hard time grasping these things. In fact, they don't just have a hard time, they can't grasp some of these things. We talk about concepts like eternity, like God's omniscience and omnipotence.
What is pure holiness? What was divine suffering?
What is the Trinity?
What is Incarnation?
What are miracles? What is heaven like?
Does the Rapture? What is that going to be like?
What about someone mentioned eternal security in the meeting And some of these topics like eternity, they're beyond us, the hymn writer says. The higher mysteries of thy fame, the creatures grasp, transcend, and so it's natural.
That if we lay hold of these things by faith as humans, as frail humans, questions will arise in our hearts. That's inevitable. Questions will arise in our hearts. But I want to differentiate that from doubt of another kind. There's two portions I want to turn to. First, turn with me to Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 7.
Again, He limiteth a certain day, saying in David to day, after so long a time as it is said today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day there? If may not therefore rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into His rest, He also hath ceased from His own works, as God did from his.
Let us labor, therefore, brethren, 1/3 for to enter into that rest.
Lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
For the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword. So here we have the ones in the in the wilderness that harden their heart and set us an example of unbelief. You know, if you're not saved, you've heard the scriptures, you've heard the gospel, you've been born and raised up surrounded by light. I know you've heard the gospel. I know you've heard the scriptures because we've had them before us, at least this week.
In doubt if we doubt the goodness of God.
If we doubt his free offer of salvation and we harden our hearts in unbelief, then we'll be like these ones that are hardened in unbelief and there's no hope for that sort of person. That sort of person is an apostate. But what if we're a believer and we have doubts and questions that creep into our mind?
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And these questions come in instead of going to the source where we can find peace and find answers.
We let them fester and we cultivate them. What can happen to that person? Let's turn to James, chapter one.
In verse five, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him, but let him ask in faith. Nothing. It says wavering, but the new translation says nothing doubting. For he that doubteth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. And so if we let these things build up and fester in our lives, these doubts can start to grow.
Into something more and more and more and tell that it can rob us about the joy of our salvation. It can rob us of our joy in Christ. It can rob us of our testimony. It can cause us to be tossed to and fro and drift off into the nothingness that is this world. And so it can rob us of our testimony in that way. And so very critical that we know where to turn and how we can prevent that from happening.
I'd also want to turn to one of the most famous examples of doubting in our scriptures.
In John chapter 20.
And just very briefly, I don't want to dwell on here too long.
John, Chapter 20.
And verse 24.
But Thomas, one of the 12 called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore say unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his disciples were with him, and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the doors being shut.
And still in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
Then saith he to Thomas, reach, hit her thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach, hit her thy hand, and thrust it into my hand, and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. And so Thomas here, you know he wasn't with the assembly of disciples when the Lord appeared to them the first time. And then when he hears that the Lord had been resurrected, he doubts that.
And we can understand that from a natural perspective, can't we? It's something that's something that's difficult to get your mind around.
Thomas wanted to believe that, but he was having a block here. He couldn't. He couldn't believe that something that amazing had happened. And we see that our Lord Jesus rebukes him and he says in verse 29, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed, because he that cometh to God must believe that he is.
We have to take God at His Word.
We don't need to put our hands into those nail prints. We don't need to see where the spear pierced his side to believe that's not what he says in his scripture. So he rebukes Thomas on that point.
But at the same time we see the Lord's gentleness with him. He knew Thomas's frame. He knew that Thomas was made of dust, and so in his love.
He still let him put his fingers in those nail prints and let him thrust his hand into his side so that he would not be not faithless, but believing. So how are we to prevent?
Falling into doubts. And so these are just some person. There's so many things that we could say on this subject, but these are just some of my own personal meditations, things that we can do when doubts arise. And it's going to sound a little bit cliche, but the first thing.
Is to continue in the Christian disciplines. We often hear about reading and prayer and meditation and reading is important because as I've already said in Hebrews 11 and verse six, he said He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. The Christian pathway requires diligence.
Our human flesh and our frailty we're stuck with as long as we're in this scene. But the way to overcome that is to be in the Scriptures.
00:15:03
To be on our knees, to be in meditation, and we have to be careful what we're feeding on. In Psalm 119, we see, we read through Thy precepts. I get understanding. We're not going to get understanding by hopping on Internet forums or reading books that people hand to us at school or listening to our professors.
That's not going to give us understanding in spiritual matters, is it? And so we need to be careful what we feed on if we feed on those things.
If we expose ourselves to those things, it will lead to doubts entering in because we are made of dust.
And then there's prayer we read in James one if any man lack wisdom, let a mask of God. And I love that part of that verse where he says he upbraideth not. Again, just as with Thomas, he's not going to. He knows he understands who we are and he upbraideth not let him ask of God. So pray, be on your knees, be diligent on your knees and pray if you have questions, because that's the ultimate source of where you will get answers when you.
Have those questions and then meditation and there's so many things that we can meditate on. We'll never exhaust the scriptures for meditation. But when it comes, particularly to doubts, particularly if it's something existential like I mentioned earlier.
I've enjoyed meditating on the sayings of three of the apostles.
Where Paul says, I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day.
And Peter says we have not followed cunningly devised fables.
For eyewitnesses of His Majesty and John said that which we have seen and heard declare unto you. And when I read those words written many 2000 years ago, those men signed those words with their own blood.
Because they didn't follow cunningly devised fables, and those words that they wrote then are as true today as they were when they wrote them.
So we can be persuaded.
The other thing is to seek help. I think I really appreciated the comment our brother made in one of the reading meetings.
Don't be afraid to ask questions, to ask for prayer and guidance. You know, when I had questions about my faith, I was ashamed to ask them because in my pride I was unwilling to be looked at by my brother and be seen as weak. And that's ridiculous. That's ridiculous because I am weak. And we need our brethren and we should not be afraid to ask for guidance, to ask for prayer.
We know in Hebrews chapter 13 it says whose faith follow knowing the end of their conversation.
And so there's those that are further along in the faith, many that have probably had the same questions that you have. They've had the same concerns and difficulties that you've had. Reach out to them, reach out to them. And I'd appreciated the comment that someone made also that if we don't have the answers and someone comes and asks us, we can say, well, I don't have the answer, but let's go look together. Let's find out together. Let's pray about it together.
And that's the role of a father, as we had earlier.
And the other thing I want to talk about is that we should be prepared and underestimate the enemy of our souls. You know, there's a lot of things that go on in, I don't know how to call it, popular Christendom. You know, I've heard of movies and documentaries of, you know, where, where certain somebody is arguing with a professor and puts them in their place, etcetera. It's not that simple.
It's not that simple.
You know, in my line of work we have a variation of a saying overconfidence kills people.
And I think if you'd ask Uncle Tim in his line of work, they probably say a very similar line to their trainees.
And so you wouldn't go and fight fires without being prepared and you wouldn't walk into an operating room without knowing what you're doing because that would kill somebody. And so you should not go.
Out into this world and try to face the subtlety of the devil, that he's going to attack you through your classmates, through your professors, through your own flesh, and think that you can face that in your own strength, that it's some kind of easy thing.
We wouldn't do that with those natural things. Don't do it with your spiritual things. We read that verse often.
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To be ready to give an answer of everyone that asks of us. And oftentimes our focus is on the last part of that verse where it says give an answer to every man that asks of you. But I'm telling you tonight that your focus should be on the first part of that verse that says be ready. There's a lot of preparation. We don't want to be unlearned men because unlearned and unstable men rest the Scriptures as we read elsewhere. And so we have to be.
Be prepared. And this is where inevitably, I feel like the aside is well, what about apologetics? What about apologetics when I faced out?
And I'm going to try to draw a line through the middle here, and I'm open to correction from my brethren, but they can be, they can be useful in providing answers to certain difficulties. But it's important to use well vetted resources. And it's important that we realize this, that ultimately apologetics as a branch of philosophy.
Is man's wisdom and we're going to fight the attacks of the devil.
And the attacks of men with man's wisdom. And I'm trying to be careful here because I've been very much helped by certain resources. But again, if you have questions, don't just go to your library. Don't just go on Amazon and pull off the first apologetic book that comes up to you. Ask someone who's older, someone who's more wise than you in in the assembly, your parents, somebody they may have a resource they can guide you to and it can be helpful to answer.
You know, sometimes I've had questions about about things like, well, you know, we read about there being 3 days and three nights that the Lord Jesus was in the tomb, but that doesn't line up with our American understanding of time. And it fits perfectly well with the understanding of time in ancient Israel. And, and having someone to be able to point that out to you can be helpful to resolve difficulties, but it's not man's arguments and man's reasonings that are ultimately going to give you rest.
And I never found rest in my soul reading apologetics. I found rest in my soul praying and reading the scriptures, because in them you think you have eternal life. And so let us read in Colossians chapter 2.
Colossians chapter 2 and verse 2.
That their hearts might be might be comforted being knit together in love unto all riches, of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ, and whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. And then over in verse 8.
Be aware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit.
After the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him which is the head of all principality and power. There we'll find our rest. There we'll find the answers to our questions.
There will find the fullness is in the Godhead and in holding Christ as our head, not in the philosophies and the vain deceit, the traditions of men.
And then just a couple more points. Bear with me here and First Timothy chapter one.
First Timothy chapter one and verse 18. Holding faith and a good conscience.
Which some, having put away concerning faith, have made shipwreck.
I can't emphasize this enough, that we cannot have peace in our souls and be free of doubts and rest in the salvation that God has provided us if we don't have a clean conscience. A clean conscience, an unclean conscience, will cause us to make shipwreck because when sin enters, it breaks off our communion with Christ.
And if we don't have that free line of communication and of communion with the Lord Jesus because of sin in our lives, that is unjudged.
And we have an unclean conscience. We will never have peace. And you can search for answers all day. You can read all the books of apologetics. You can even read the scriptures.
00:25:07
But if you have an unclean conscience, you will not have peace.
And then finally, one last thing, and it was brought out already, and that's kind of one of the benefits of speaking at the end of camp time is I feel like half of the things that I was going to bring up tonight, I've already come up. But let us be content with not understanding everything. I especially enjoyed what was brought out last night about the Ark and trying to understand.
And explain what is beyond us. Some things.
Are put beyond our grasp for a reason because God and His sovereignty has chosen to do so. And so let us be content. I was trying to think of a word for this, and I came up with to be reverentially perplexed.
And to be content with not having all the answers. And it's hard because humans are curious. We are curious, we want answers, and some of us especially love to have answers. But to be able to just bask in not knowing and knowing that it's beyond me because God is so much bigger than I am. And as the brother mentioned the other night, you know, I've done the same thing while I'm here at camp. It's just just walk out on the bridge and look up at the stars and wonder how.
The one who created such vastness, we could say that all things were created by him, and then in that same portion dropped down a few verses and says the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. I am never going to grasp that while I'm here on this earth. And I'm OK with that. And I'm OK with that. And I'm asking you to be OK with that too. Not every question has to have an answer.
Let's turn to 1St Corinthians in closing.
Chapter 13.
These are some of my favorite verses. I've been such a help to me.
In this regard, for we know in part in verse 9, for we know in part.
And we prophesied in part. And then that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part.
Shall we be done away?
And verse 12 for now we see through a glass darkly, but then.
Face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know?
Even as I am known and now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three. But the greatest of these is love.
And so there's coming a day.
When as the mists of this world fall away and we're called up to be in heaven. And I look on that face for the first time, and I see those nail prints in his hands and in his feet, and I see that same wound in his side that Thomas saw. And I look at his face then.
Then I will know, even as I am known. Let's close in prayer.
For God and our Father.
We thank you for the many promises that we have in the Scriptures, the many words of encouragement that we read in these pages. I pray that these words might be made true to our souls.
Pray that we would go away from this place with renewed strength and renewed zeal and a renewed testimony to those around us and with more peace in our souls. And so we just thank you.
For this opportunity tonight to have opened the scriptures and we just ask for a blessing on the remainder of our time together. We thank you too for the refreshments to follow the hands that prepared them, and we thank you for these things in your name, Lord Jesus, Amen.
Listening and Ready
Children—M. Sorensen
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Good morning. All right, so first thing this morning, we just want to open with the word of prayer.
Our God and our Father, we're just so thankful to be here today. Lord, we just pray today that while we're here reading your word, that there would be a message for the children. And Lord, more than anything today, we pray that if there's someone here that doesn't know you as their Savior, that today would be the day that they accept you. We just pray that you'd bless and pray that you'd work today and bless the meaning to follow. And you can pray these things, Amen.
OK, so the songs that we're going to be singing today, if you go to the very, I think it's the second to the last page of the books.
In the appendix there, that's where we're going to be. This, that song list is what we're going to be singing from. So you can pick from that list.
Does everybody have hymn books or is able to share? Is everybody good? So Eugene swore he's going to help me with singing today because I can't carry a tune in a bucket with a handle on it.
So that's number one. And for those of you who don't know who I am, I married the beautiful and wonderful Daniela Brimlow. And you might ask how that happened. I tricked her.
So anyway, does anyone have a song to start out this morning?
Let's start with number six.
Number six.
I sang out the door.
My voice.
And every voice in the right voice and will open, open.
#18 Thank you.
This I know.
Yes, she's also.
Yeah, she's also me.
Yes, she's also.
Watch me wherever I like. Yeah, she's lost me.
Yeah, she's like me.
Yeah, she's not so sweet.
The light goes down to me so.
He will stay close beside me all the way.
If I trust him, should I die, he will make me hold on our eyes.
00:05:11
Yes, she's also speaking.
Yes, she's lost, loves me.
Thank you. That's one of my favorite songs and it's a song that in our in our assembly in Vancouver, we sing every single Sunday and it's so important. Why is it so important?
Does anybody know why it's so important to remember that Jesus loves you?
I know that Jesus loves me. Do you know that Jesus loves you?
Good, All right. Does anyone have another song?
32 Thank you.
When he coming, when he coming to make up his shoes, all the shoes.
His love and get his own like the stars of the morning.
His life brown and the morning the face will shine.
All the bright ones is a badism, like the size of the morning.
It is right round my glory.
They shall shining bright and swords.
Little children, little children.
True love everything I let you go. Precious shrimp.
And it's all.
Like the size of the boy.
It is right?
And soreness ground.
OK, one of the kids. You guys haven't have a song?
27 #27.
The white man built his house on the rock, Wise and mountains house upon the rock. The wild sand built in South upon the rock, and the rain came down. The rain fell.
The rains came down as the floods came up. The rains came down and the fires came up. The rains came down and the bugs came up, and the house on the rocks and.
Came down and the floods came up. Rain came down and the floods came up. The rains came down and the floods came up. And the house on the sand fell back.
If you build on Christ during the rock, So if you build on Christ, who is the rock? So when you build on Christ who is the rock, you'll be saved when the judgment comes.
00:10:18
You will be safe when the judgment comes. You will be safe when the judgment comes. You will be safe from the judgment comes if you build on Christ the Rock.
Now that also is a great song. One of my favorite things about that song is I actually what I do for a job is I get to build houses and I've I have built a house on rock and I have seen a house that was built on the sand and it's it didn't turn out so good for the people who built it on the sand. What number?
#20.
Thank you, that was a great song. So before we go any further, I would really love to hear what you guys, what's been your most fun, the fun thing that you've enjoyed the most about camp?
All right, I know that this is some of you might be nervous, but.
Testing.
Making sure this is on tell me.
Going ziplining, yes.
Anybody else?
Go ahead. What's your favorite part about camp?
At the Creek. Oh yeah, I bet the Creek was fun.
The big swing.
You did the big swing zip lining. You guys have more guts than I do. I don't think I try either one of those things.
All right, does anybody else want a chance?
Slip and slide.
I figured that would be a favorite. Is there anybody, anybody, any kids in the audience that would like to say what their favorite part was?
Oh, sorry.
Zip lining? Wow, that's a popular one.
Anybody on this side?
All right, Well, good. I'm glad to hear. Is there anybody that didn't have fun at camp?
That's that's good. OK, we got one.
That makes sense.
That kid. All right, so all right, let's go ahead and sing another song.
#8 All right.
When you was a man of daily.
Praying praise.
No one day God slimmed down in the end of the world.
Yeah.
And some God.
00:15:15
I'm scared.
Sword and shield to the same.
Wrong.
How many of you guys know the story of Daniel and Weinstein? OK, good. Can you imagine if they had something you could do at camp where you could get into a den of lions? Is there any of you guys that would do that?
You would do that? Well, I wouldn't. I definitely wouldn't. Oh my goodness. There's multiple of you. OK, well, some of us are crazier than others, but I definitely wouldn't.
But it's pretty cool to think that God shut those lions mouths and protected Daniel.
All right, who has another song?
There once was a wild little donkey. Does anyone know what number that is?
28 all right.
Donkey he had to recite to the tree, and Jesus was thinking about him.
He said go and bring him to the beach and when they are brought into Jesus.
Thank God.
That restless donkey.
Once by an obedient tanker.
When Jesus was riding upon him.
He went just up the way down his shirt.
I find some missing freedom made so my love was son of God.
And Jesus is able to make you.
Whatever he wants you to think.
Forgive you and make you happy every.
Thank you. That's a good one.
All right, does anybody have we can do a couple more songs 31 Thank you.
What?
Jesus.
So that not one star remains nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh, gracious and stuff, all that makes me wine at the sun.
No, no.
No, nothing like the.
Jesus.
Jesus. Nothing good that I have done nothing but the blood. Jesus.
All graciousness of the world that makes me wild and so.
No, I know nothing, but she's us.
00:20:08
This is all my hope and peace, nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Through it all, my righteousness, nothing but the love of Jesus.
OK, So what can wash away my sins?
That's right. Good work. All right, we have time for a couple more. Anybody else have a song?
13 Thank you.
I think for my own.
The maker of singing feel strongly so my whoever is going to love and get her for me.
Why am I going to see your ocean I as I can talk about the.
Lord is where teachers made that and some preachers make.
Everywhere.
I.
All our hands were continuous, meaning that is a preacher speak.
To my life.
Is our chair but often enough snack his hand is where pleasures are so close to the inside of the river of life or same thing.
And.
I feel someone where everything.
Still at my childhood when scared.
Or is my intentions me? That is a preacher's nickname.
Everywhere.
Good job guys, I love seeing you guys get into it and some of the adults too. It's actually kind of fun. So did anybody have another song?
Yes.
Do you know which one?
00:25:08
All right, Sam wants to sing Jesus loves me again, so we're going to sing it again.
B plus in the sign on the Bible tells me so let's hear me in love. Let me know. But he is strong.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
You have to sleep. Just want me to swam speak.
The Bible tells me so.
She does something to die. Now let's get too old. And why he will wash away my sin.
The loving souls are coming.
Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes.
Jesus loves me.
Yes.
Me. The Bible tells me so.
Jesus loves me, loves himself when I bury a ring. Adele from his shining O one night in real life she's great. I like.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
The Bible tells me so.
Jesus loves me, he will say, will sit inside me all the way.
And I just, And should I die here, I'll take me over my eye.
Yes, please start slow screen.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
The Bible tells me so.
OK, so we're going to sing one more song and then we're going to move on to our memory verse.
We have one more song.
We got.
#5.
Children.
Children, the sins are all for you and will end the screaming, singing glory.
Glory.
Glory to God.
What brings you to that world of heaven so bright?
Singing Glory.
Glory.
Glory is to God.
'S little Saviour's greatest son and everything love this name.
00:30:03
So.
I said face and pray before the land saving glory.
Glory.
Glory.
OK, so.
Does anybody remember where the verse is found this morning? Anybody remember the reference?
What was that?
Good job. That's great. All right, so I'm going to read that verse and then we're going to read it together. I'm just going to read the half of the verse that memorized. So first John 3.
1.
Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.
First, John 31. All right, let's read it together. Behold what manner of love the Father hath be sowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. First, John 31.
All right, do I have a volunteer to go first? Awesome.
Make sure this is on good.
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. First, from three one.
Great job.
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God first, John 31. Good job.
Beholden of love, the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God first, John 31.
When he found a Pearl great price when and sold all that he had and bought it Matthew 1546.
You hold up there.
I love the father has to stop that we should be called.
First on three. Good job.
Be hot, but Nana.
I love my father.
Has bestowed upon us.
That we should be clawed.
The sounds of God.
Was done feeling good job.
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God first. John 31. Great job, hold on.
Of the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God first. John 31.
Manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us.
That we should be called the sons of God first. John 31. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us. That we should be called the sons of God first. John 31. Who, when he found one Pearl of great price with all that he had, and bought it. Matthew.
1436.
Behold what manner of love that God has to be stowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God first. John 31. Great job.
Behold, behold them.
What matter of love?
That God has bestened upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.
Verse John 31 Good job.
Behold what manner of love the Father had bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God for strong through one.
What manner of God?
Father.
Has bestowed. Has bestowed.
00:35:02
Upon us that we should be called, we should be called the sons of God, The sons of God. First John, first John, do you want good job?
Welcome.
Behold, the Mama of God.
The father happy though.
That we should be hard. That sounds like God first, John. Good job.
Behold what manner of love the Father has to be sewed on us, that we should be called the sons of God.
First on three one, great job. Thank you everybody for for saying their verse so clearly.
OK, so.
I'm going to talk for a few minutes.
I had AI was thinking about last night what I would talk about and I was just thinking about.
About.
Children in scripture that were used of God and I specifically thought about a couple of different stories that I really enjoy and.
Each story kind of has a different meaning, so I wanted to talk about it first. But one story, there's a young man that he's called of God.
And he has a work to do, and it's a good work and it's in the Old Testament. But I want you to kind of pay attention as we're going through this because.
Just the fact that God called this young man, God could call you as well and you're never too young for him to use.
So, and then the second story that we're going to go through is about a young man who had something to offer to God and he gave it willingly and.
Each one of us here, no matter how young or how old, we have something that we can offer to God.
And I kind of want to talk about that. And then I'm going to wrap it up with a story about my brother that it's just very, it's very special to me because it's the story about God proving himself to my family. And God wants to prove himself to you even at a very, very young age. And so if you have your Bibles with you this morning, I want you to turn over and we're going to talk about the first person is in.
First Samuel.
Chapter 3.
And all kind, I'm sure you guys have heard this story a couple of times, but I'll kind of refresh your memories before we read. So this story's about Samuel.
And Samuel, he's a pretty special character in the Bible, and he does a pretty big work for God, but this is kind of at the very beginning stages of God using him.
And the thing I love about this story too is, and we're not going to touch much on this, but.
Samuel's mother, Hannah, she, she couldn't have children. And so she asked God and she made a promise to God that if, if he granted her a child, that she would give her child to serve him for the rest of his life. And that's pretty special as a mom to, to give up their child for whatever, whatever God would have them to do. That's a pretty big deal.
And so we kind of know that the the.
Foundation of the story before we get into it, but in this story specifically, what we're going to read is about God calling Samuel. So if you want to start there with me, if you have your Bibles first Samuel chapter 3 and we'll start there in verse one.
Says, And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli, and the word of the Lord was precious. In those days there was no open vision, and it came to pass at the time when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see.
And the And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple.
Of the Lord where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep.
That the Lord called Samuel.
00:40:01
And he answered, Here am I.
And he ran to Eli and said, here am I, for thou calls me.
And he said I called not lie down, and he went to lie down.
And the Lord called yet again, and Samuel, Samuel and Samuel arose and went to Eli.
And said, Here am I, for thou didst call me. And he answered, I called not my son, lie down again.
Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him.
And the Lord called Samuel again the third time, and he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I, for thou didst call me.
And the Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child.
Therefore, Eli said to Samuel.
Go lie down, and it shall be, if he call thee that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went to lay down in the in his place. And the Lord came and stood, and called, as he had at other times. Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered.
Speak for thy servant heareth.
Now seeing those very young at this age at this time and and he's being called of the Lord.
And I love this story because he didn't. He hadn't talked to the Lord before. He had never. He didn't understand what what that the Lord would call him.
But he did.
And Eli was using this story too, to tell Samuel to answer the Lord.
And Samuel goes on to do very great things for the Lord. But I want you to kind of focus on the point here that that Samuel.
In this story.
He's maybe not much older than you guys, maybe around the same age.
But he was called by God.
And God used him in years to come, for the rest of his life, to do very, very big things.
But he he starts right here.
And I want to ask you guys the question, are you able and are you willing to listen to the Lord? What are ways now that we can listen to the Lord, what are ways that we can prepare to hear what God has to say to us?
Does anybody have an answer for that?
Any ways that we can prepare?
To listen to the Lord.
To hear his voice.
It's through reading his word.
Be good, be good, yeah?
Children, obey your parents, right?
That's right. That's that's a great way to prepare for listening to the Lord.
You have you have one.
Anybody.
Any other ways that we can prepare to listen to the Lord even while we're young?
We can pray. Thank you. That's that's the best way to listen to the Lord. You can train yourself while you're young that that prayer is so powerful and so important.
Anybody else? Anything?
All right, so now I want you to turn over to.
John, in the New Testament, we're going to talk about this John Chapter 6.
And this is about another boy.
And this boy wasn't necessarily called, but this boy is very important.
Because he was ready and willing to sacrifice something.
John chapter 6 starting in verse one.
Says There after these things Jesus went over to the Sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias, and a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles, which he did on them that were deceased. And Jesus went up, went up into a mountain, and there he sat with the disciples, and the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was 9.
00:45:09
And when Jesus lifted up his eyes, he saw a great company.
Come with him. And he saith unto Philip, When shall we buy bread, that these may eat?
And this he said to prove him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, 200 penny worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.
One of the disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said unto him.
There's a lad.
Here which hath 5 barley loaves and two small fishes.
But what are they among so many? And Jesus said, make the men sit down.
Now there was much grass in the place, so the men sat down and the number about 5000.
And Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given things, he distributed to the disciples.
And to them that were set down, and likewise of the fishes.
As much as they would.
And when they had filled, and when they were filled, he said unto the disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing may be lost. Therefore he gathered together and filled 12 baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.
So this young man is really important here because.
And I was just thinking about this last night.
This young man, he, he had a lunch and I don't know if maybe his his mom helped impact that lunch.
I don't know if he packed it himself.
But he was ready and willing to give that lunch up to see what Jesus would do with it.
He was, he was content and there there may have been other people there that had something to give, maybe even adults that had some lunch that they were, that they had, but they weren't willing to give it to others or to share. But this young man, he was willing to see what Jesus could do with it. He had something to give.
And Jesus used it, and each one of you here today, each one of you, have something that you can give to the Lord.
Everyone of you is so incredibly important and valuable, and you may say that, well, I'm too young.
What can I do but you're not?
In this story, we know that this young man, it doesn't say much more about him, but we just know that he had a lunch.
And Jesus used that. And not only that, he took that lunch. And what did Jesus do with it?
What did he do with it?
Yeah. And so he took this lunch that basically was enough for one person, maybe two people to eat, and he fed 5000 people with it.
And they were all full.
Do you guys know how many 5000 people is?
Well, in here there's probably.
100 and 10120 people maybe? So 5000 people wouldn't fit in this room.
And Jesus fed all of those people.
By blessing that food and doing a miracle. And that boy got to see that miracle because he was willing to give Jesus those loaves and fishes.
And so I want to kind of talk about one one other story. This story is very special to me, but.
My my parents were very young Christians at the time. My older brother was.
He, he had just accepted the Lord in his life and, and he didn't really know a lot about God at this time and, or really much about being a believer. And I don't think that he had grown up at that point. He hadn't memorized Bible verses like you guys have. He didn't really know much of the story.
00:50:14
But my older brother really, really, really wanted a pair of skates.
You guys know what skates are?
Does anybody have rollerblades? Rollerblades.
Good roller blades are a lot of fun as long as you don't do jumps and stuff with them.
So skates are very similar to rollerblades, but he he didn't have the money to buy skates.
And he really wanted a pair of skates. And so my mom.
She, she told him she's like, well, what we'll do is we'll pray for him and we'll just see what happens. And so my brother would have been maybe, maybe six at the time. And so my mom prayed with him and they prayed for a pair of skates.
And, and maybe you'd say, well, why didn't you just go buy them?
Well, he could, I guess if they, you know, he saved up money and he bought them, but I think that he really wanted to see.
If God would bring him some skates.
And.
So what's very interesting about the stories of my My dad worked as a garbage man at the time, and everybody knows what the garbage man does, right? OK, good. So.
My dad was doing his route in the garbage truck and he came across this this trash can and on top there was there was a box.
And he, for some reason, it looked, you know, like a box. Yeah, big. And he took that box and, and he still doesn't know why he did this, but he took him and he's tossed him in the truck on the front seat and he threw the garbage in the back. And he just went about his day.
And they came home that night. James was so excited my dad was home so he ran out to meet him and on the seat of the truck where some skates.
And the skates were Genesis size.
And they were just exactly what he prayed for.
And that might be a simple story, but for my brother James, that was such a big deal.
Because he prayed and God answered.
And God gave him what he was asking for, and God wants to do the same for you.
He wants you guys. He wants you guys to prove him.
He wants you guys to to be listening for his call.
He wants you to be memorizing those verses.
He wants you to be praying.
It's so it's so important.
That we learn to do these things while we're young.
And maybe today.
Maybe today you, you don't know.
Who it is we're talking about?
Maybe you haven't accepted the Lord in your life, but you would like to know Him.
And if that's the case.
Whether you're young or old, please don't leave here today without accepting Christ.
I want to read a verse here.
Hebrews 11/6.
Says, But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is.
And that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Just because you're young doesn't mean you can't practice faith.
It doesn't mean you can't ask God for what you would you would like to see him do.
And it may not be the answer that you're looking for every time, but he wants to prove himself to you, even while you're young.
If you're here today and you don't know the Lord as your Savior.
Please don't leave here without talking to someone about Jesus.
And becoming a child of God.
Let's go ahead and close in prayer.
00:55:01
Our God and our Father, we're just so thankful for your your blessings and we're just so thankful for this time, for the singing and for everything that you've done. Lord, we just pray today that you would continue to bless. We pray that you would bless the breaking of bread to follow this. And we just thank you for this camp and thank you for this time. Pray the Lord again that if there's someone here that has not accepted you.
That today would be the day that they find you.
Thank you again for what you've done and what you're going to do. Your name. We pray these things. Amen.
Strangers and Pilgrims - Things That Pertain to Life and Godliness
Open—E. Soare
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Father, we do thank Thee this afternoon, and once again we can come before Thee Thy word.
Open pray this.
Guide and direct by thy Spirit and that which is set forth. Thank you for the thoughts of this hymn that morning star that as soon to arise and we'll see the Lord Jesus face to face and what glory that will be to be with thee and like thee Lord Jesus, pray that the thoughts of this would.
Comfort us as we.
Go about these last few footsteps and we just pray that we'd walk.
In a way that shows that we are truly strangers and pilgrims here. So we just pray for help. With this. My name we pray, Lord Jesus, Amen.
Strangers and pilgrims.
Been enjoying a booklet.
By our brother Bruce Anstey. It's called All Things that Pertain.
To life and godliness and I trust a word in season for us.
I've been struck by it because it tells us who we are according to Scripture. You know, we had the Tabernacle and the priests and they had specific things to to do and they were born into the priesthood.
And we are born, born again if we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. We had him here before us this morning on the cross.
And a question for each soul's heart is, are you saved? Have you put your trust in the Savior of the world?
You know there is no other way. God has provided the way, the truth and life. Jesus Christ his Son, and we can be made right with God.
Pilgrims and strangers.
A verse in first Peter chapter 2.
You can take a look there.
When I was about 12 or 13.
I went over to work for somebody on their house.
And I thought that was pretty cool. Get a little job, you know?
Make a little bit of money. I was invited over with a couple of other young, young men and I was given a breaker bar. You kids know what a breaker bar is.
A breaker bar is stands around here when you're younger, right? It's it's up pretty high about 6 feet and it's solid iron, I believe, and has a pointy end and then it has kind of a another end that's pointy, but it's flat. It's like a blade, but very solid. It won't break.
And the man, he wanted us to get into a hole.
And use this breaker bar.
And chip away at some concrete.
That was there. He didn't want it there before he filled up the hole.
And being a young person not knowing how to work, we kind of hemmed and hawed and tried to figure things out. One of us has some ear plugs in. We were trying to encourage the other person to start working right.
About an hour later, the man came over.
Fully expected it to be done.
Not much had been done.
And he said something, and this is the important part.
He said.
I wouldn't ask you to do anything that I wouldn't do myself.
00:05:01
And he got in the hole.
And he started chipping away at that concrete.
He wasn't going to ask me or my friends to do anything that he wouldn't do himself.
And he got in the hole, started chipping away.
Now.
Let's read first Peter chapter 2.
And verse 21.
For even here unto were he called, because Christ also suffered for us.
Leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps.
Isn't that wonderful?
The Lord Jesus Christ came down here.
From the heights of glory.
On this earth.
And he walked upon it.
He's shown us the way. He's not asking us. God is not asking us to do anything that he hasn't done himself.
And we have here the example of the Lord.
And what are we to do? You should follow his steps.
Verse 22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. Who when he was reviled, reviled not. Again, when he suffered, he threatened not.
But committed himself to him that judgeth righteously, who his own self bear our sins, and his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes we are healed.
For ye were as she going astray, but are now returned unto the Shepherd.
And Bishop of your souls.
Now.
The Lord Jesus has shown us the way how to walk here.
And he has also given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.
So let's look at some of these points here.
1St is in First John chapter 5.
Pilgrims and strangers.
In this world.
Another.
Um, another verse.
Speaks of us being aliens in this world.
We're not. I know Alien has a different.
Meaning now. But truly we are a new creation in Christ Jesus. There's something completely different once we're saved compared to what we were before.
First John 5, verse 4.
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
We must be born of water and of the Spirit, our Lord said in John chapter 3.
The Word of God and the Spirit of God.
We are born again, so we have a spiritual capacity.
Through the new birth.
We have heard and believe because it's in the word of God that.
What we are in nature cannot please God.
All of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Anything that can be accomplished through the old man, through our own strength.
This is a key point.
00:10:02
It's worthless to God.
My old nature was at the cross.
It said I will not have this man rule over me.
It yelled out. Crucify him. Crucify him.
But.
God in his grace.
As it were, breathe new life. We were born again by the Word and by the Spirit, so we have a new nature. It is expressed also as the life of Christ.
That is one of the things that.
Pertain unto life and godliness. Romans chapter 8.
Verse 2.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
In the meetings on the Tabernacle.
Could man keep the law? Did the children of Israel keep the law at all? No. They had to yet bring sacrifices.
To atone for their sins.
But in the Spirit.
We're able, we have the power to live a life that is pleasing to God.
John chapter 14 and verse 26.
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
So we see that we're taught of the Spirit of God and the Word of God.
A You know these these great truths in the in the word of God. We can't understand it by our our natural minds.
As we've had, we have to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
In Romans chapter 12, verse 2.
1St Corinthians 2.
Um, well, First Corinthians.
Yeah, First Corinthians chapter 2.
Verse 9.
But as it is written, I have not seen, nor year heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all things, yeah, the deep things of God.
Isn't it wonderful?
You and I have the Spirit of God in US.
And the Spirit would bring before us the deep things of God.
And when we.
As it were, judge ourselves.
Perhaps there's something in my life that is not right. I need to confess it to the Lord.
And be restored in righteousness. I can walk in that power.
Of the Spirit.
So again, the old man, the old nature we have can't please God but.
The life of Christ, being born again and walking in the Spirit, living in the Spirit that pleases God.
Because what? What is that?
The Lord Jesus Christ.
His life, the Spirit indwelt Him walking perfectly before the Father.
God was well pleased.
And and we can understand the deep things of God.
00:15:04
Hebrews.
Chapter 4. Verse 16.
Be the next point.
The next provision of God.
These are.
Things that God has provided for us.
Hebrews 416 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy.
And find grace and help to help in time of need.
Oh God, he wants us close.
He doesn't want us far away.
God wanted to have fellowship with man in the garden.
And he still thus.
And he's made a way for us to to have that fellowship.
But I'm exhorted in my own soul.
How much fellowship?
Do I have with the Lord?
Is it enough?
Or am I getting by?
Sometimes being raised in a Christian family, being saved at a young age.
We may not think we're as bad as we really are.
That'll nature.
As you get older.
It's bad.
How is it that the Apostle Paul.
What was it that?
Struck his heart.
He was struck that he had persecuted believers.
He had persecuted the Lord.
He knew how bad he was.
And so he knew the grace.
That it took, you might say, in one sense.
How much grace for him to be saved?
It's been expressed this way.
Our nature, our old nature, my old nature, you can.
Put it into the personal pronoun yourself.
My old nature is just as bad as the worst person that ever lived.
You've heard in history of some of the atrocities.
Of Stalin, Lenin, Hitler.
Mild nature is just as bad as their old nature.
We need to come to that realization, I believe.
It is not good.
And unless the Lord worked in me. And unless the Lord worked in you.
At a young age.
Where would we be?
His love has covered a multitude of sins.
And so the Apostle Paul.
Could express it best the word of God, the Son of God.
Who loved me?
And gave himself for me.
You know.
It's an individual thing.
The love of the Lord for us.
So we have the throne of grace.
We have in Hebrews 725.
Perhaps 24 But this man Christ Jesus, because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost, to come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
00:20:12
First John, chapter 2.
Verse one my little children, these things write I unto you, that you send not.
And if any man's sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
And He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
The high priestly intercession of Christ.
Is to save us from spiritual dangers in the path.
So.
You might be.
Going down a path.
And God knows the end from the beginning.
As humans, we try to figure things out, and it's best if we figure it out from the Word of God.
But if we're going down a path and we're trying to figure out what to do, the Lord sees ahead.
And he intercedes for us to save us from a pitfall.
He wants us to be preserved in this life from falling.
But if we.
If we send, we have an advocate.
And that is to restore us to Communion if we have failed.
The next those were two more. The next is in Ephesians chapter 6.
Verses 10 through 18.
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the Wiles of the devil.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Stand, therefore, having your loins gird about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness.
And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.
In watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for All Saints.
As the next provision.
That is a huge subject, The Armor of God. Bruce Anstey has a pamphlet on that.
If you want to learn more.
Is provided for us. Are we going to put it on?
There's a.
You know.
Beloved young people. Older ones, too.
If we don't take what God has provided and use it, what good is it?
If a soldier goes out into battle in this world, he's provided with things that will protect him.
And if he doesn't put it on?
When the battle comes to him or he goes into the battle.
What good is it?
He'll be slain.
He will fall.
If we don't take up with the things that God has provided for us to live a life.
To, as it were, survive this life.
00:25:02
To be found watching and waiting.
For our Lord.
We, of course, only have ourselves to blame.
Let's use these things. God loves us. He wants us to take these things up.
The next is in Hebrews chapter one.
I.
Verses 13 and 14 But to which of the angels, said he, at any time Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies? Thy festivals thy footstool.
Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them? Who shall be heirs of salvation?
Next provision is angels.
And they are to minister to those that is us, who shall be errors of salvation.
In this world, there's much activity and much looking into things.
Of the spiritual realm, but.
Not according to God's Word.
That is a dangerous place to be. There is the demonic spiritual realm.
But we are not to be looking into that.
We are to be fighting spiritual warfare. What does that look like?
I don't know if I have an answer for you.
But whenever you have an attack of a moral kind, maybe something comes into your mind, something at school, something somewhere else.
It's a spiritual battle to be fighting against that right? It's not something physical that we fight.
The temptation to our Lord was to cast himself from the height.
Where the verse said.
That the angels would not allow him to.
I don't like paraphrasing scripture that.
He, his foot, will not.
So I won't.
But he wouldn't be hurt. The angels were going to protect him from that. So perhaps this of being protected by angelic agencies to give us deliverance from temporal dangers is what our brother has here.
And you know.
You know, you think of our.
There's many examples. Our brother Richard Sagan.
Saved from a burning car by a man, a believer.
Who didn't have a strength, naturally speaking, to pull him out.
But the Lord provided salvation, temporal salvation there.
Second Timothy 222 Another provision that God has for us.
Probably already read it already.
Flee also youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Fellowship of Brethren.
To give us encouragement in the path.
I don't know about you, but I've been very much encouraged by coming here.
The amount of effort.
Made to host these this whole week here.
Why did our brother do it that we had been encouraged in the Lord?
That we be lifted up, given a little Oasis to hear the word of God day after day.
That we would have fellowship one with another as well have formed these bonds as young people, friendships as young people.
00:30:06
Believers carrying on so you'd be encouraged to continue on in the path of faith.
If you have dear ones.
A friend that is an unbeliever.
Unless you're ministering to their salvation.
It's it's a dangerous place.
I've heard it time and again. I'm 44. I've heard it since I was probably 12. I started going to conferences and.
The friends are like buttons on an elevator. They either take you up or down.
And believe me.
Leave the word of God.
Evil communications corrupt good manners. Where does evil communications come from? Well, there's our heart, which we need a judge. But there's also people in this world. Maybe there's friends. That's people at school.
Do they talk of righteous things, things of the Lord, things to encourage to life and godliness?
Well, you can't do that if you're not saved dead in trespasses and sins is not possible.
And at last.
Is in Ephesians 411.
I.
And he gave some apostles and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.
Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
The gifts of an ascended Christ to give us teaching, shepherding and spiritual help.
If you're struggling with something, dear young people.
We heard from our brother.
Last night at the young people's meeting, he was struggling with some things. He was afraid to talk to his brethren about stuff.
Don't be afraid.
I trust that there are ones in your assembly that care for you and your soul.
That care about your pathway.
And will seek to help you out.
They would, as the Apostle Paul, be spent for you. They will spend time with you, to help you and guide you, to pray for you.
They love you.
Christ loves you.
And I believe.
We have the love of Christ to us and we show it.
To others, and especially to you young people.
And younger, too.
God's Desire to Be in Our Midst
Open—M. Rogers
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
With the pilgrims and strangers, particularly looking at two individuals who faced a time of difficulty.
As relates to the time of the Tabernacle.
I think it should be important for us, particularly for young people, because of the fact that who I'm going to read about.
Are young men, but this would apply to young women as well. Let's turn 3 portions. Exodus 33 is the first one, Exodus 33.
This is the story about the sin that the Israel had done and we find.
They we find in verse.
Seven of Exodus 33, verse seven. And Moses took the Tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle, the congregation. It came to pass that everyone which sought the Lord went out unto the Tabernacle, the congregation watch, which was without the camp. And it came to pass, when Moses went out into the Tabernacle, that all the people rose up and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses until he was gone into the.
And it came to pass, as Moses entered in the Tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended and stood at the door of the Tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses.
And all the people saw the cloudy pillars stand at the Tabernacle door, And all the people rose up and worshiped every man in his tent door.
And here's the verse, the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned to get into the camp, but his servant Joshua.
The son of Nun.
A young man departed, not out of the Tabernacle.
Now this man, these young man Joshua is a unique because we see as a servant or he's a sitting with Moses. But it says here with all the sin that that had gone on the camp.
He followed that Tabernacle out till is outside the camp.
I think it's striking to see. In fact, I just want to get to the next portion here because it's going to flavor this a little better. Turn over to the first chapter of Deuteronomy.
1St chapter of deuteronomy to continue to see what this man is and introduced to his.
Friend Deuteronomy, chapter one.
Deuteronomy chapter one.
I can read the whole thing but the.
Where it says here.
Of course this is Moses recounting this verse 20. And I said it to you, You are come up in the mountain of Amorites, which the Lord your God doth give unto us. Behold, the Lord thy God has set the land before they go up and possess it, as the Lord go out of. Thy Father has said of the fear not, neither be discouraged. And you came near unto me, every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they will search out the land, and bring us word again, by what way he must go up, and under what cities we will come.
And the same plays me well. And I took 12 men of you, one of a tribe, and they turned and went up into the mountain and came into the valley of Eshkol and searched it out.
And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down to us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land, which the Lord our God doth give us, notwithstanding.
You would not go up the rebelled against the commander of the Lord your God, but ye murmur in your tents, and said, Because the Lord hate us, He hath brought us and forth out of the land of Egypt to deliver us in the hand. The Amorites destroy us. Whether shall we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our hearts, saying, The people is greater and taller than we, the cities are great and walled up to heaven, and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims. There. Then I said to you, Dreadnought neither be afraid of them. The Lord your God which goeth before you, He shall fight for you according to.
He did with you in Egypt before your eyes. And then come down to verse 34. And the Lord heard the voice of your words. It was Roth and swear, saying, Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see the good land which I swear to give unto your father's, save Caleb the son of Jethuna. He shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon it to the children, because he hath holy followed the Lord.
Also the Lord is anger with me for your sake, saying Thou shalt not go thither.
Joshua, the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. Moreover, your little ones, which ye have said to be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither into them. I will give it, they will possess it. Well, this is the end of the 40 years, and they're faced with in, in Jehovah's saying very clearly here. Now it's time to go up.
00:05:14
Man has his ideas about things and he says oh.
We need to send in some folks to spy it out. So he sends in 12, they send, they pick out twice 12 men to spy it out and sending them in, they send in. Two of them was Joshua and Caleb.
I was just considering these two, Joshua and Caleb.
Joshua, as we know, was near the Tabernacle, out in the wilderness, and other times he was wholly following Moses, wholly following the Lord were introduced to Caleb here, I believe.
And now they have to turn around with their brethren and go back out in the wilderness for 40 years.
He knew he was right.
Joshua knew he was right.
They're in the wrong to begin with because God clearly says back here in verse.
21 Go up and possess it. God does not say anything about sending in spies.
God says go in and possess it.
And they were part of an initiative, as we say, they were part of an initiative to go to put their feelers out.
And I was enjoying in terms of the Tabernacle talk we had earlier when the camp moved. Jehovah God says you're going to move out in order in a specific order. And it says that I think you can pick this over Numbers 10. Moses says I need my father-in-law to go out ahead. You're the eyes of the wilderness. You go check it out. Check it out.
Moses himself did not quite feel comfortable enough letting God lead the children of Israel out by that pillar. But he says I need to have you horeb, my father-in-law go out Hobe. You need to you need to go out and and, and scout it out. So Moses didn't quite have enough. But then think about Caleb and Joshua as they come back to this million strong and they say we can go up and they're faced with a million people.
Plus.
We can go up and what's it say right here and I thought this was interesting here that he's the God is wroth in verse 34 and then he's mentioning Caleb and verse 36 and and verse 38 he mentions Joshua, but it's interesting here. It says in verse 37 also Lord is angry with me for your sakes. God was angry with Moses too. You will not go in. I think it's interesting to see Joshua and Caleb.
Bore with their brethren.
And that can be a difficult thing.
Even when you know you feel like you're in the right, you're going to take God for his counsel. God says go up in the land. They go up in the land and they go spy it out. Even though that was not part of God's plan that we can read in Scripture. They come back and say, yes, we can do it. And they obediently went out with their brethren, all million plus back out of the wilderness to grind it out for 40 years.
That's a striking, striking thing to think about, Caleb and Joshua.
Submitting themselves to their brethren. And what does it say there? I don't know. We didn't read it here. We see. We know the story well Where we see that?
The certain party says up. Well, no, we can go up and they go up and they get killed, right? There's factions that splinter off. Oh, let's, let's get a cert. Let's get a leader and take us back to Egypt.
Caleb and Joshua dutifully turn around and bear with their brethren as they go back in the wilderness. Now here and let's go take a look at Caleb. Now, I've enjoyed this portion here, so let's turn over to Joshua. Joshua chapter 15.
So let's get a glimpse into Joshua's life. I'm sorry, Caleb's life. Joshua 15.
And verse 13.
And unto Caleb the son of Jefuna, he gave a part among the children of his Judah, according to the command of the Lord Joshua, Even the city of Arba, the father of Anak, which city is Hebron. And Caleb drave fence the three sons of Anak, Sheshai, and Anaheim, and Tommy the children of Anak. And he went up a fence to the inhabitants of Deber. And the name of Deber before was Kyrgyzstifer.
And Caleb said he that smile the Kerja seifer, and taketh it to him. Will I give AXA my daughter to wife?
And off Neil, the son of Kena is the brother of Caleb, took it, and he gave him AXA his daughter to wife. And it came to pass, as she came unto him, that she moved him to ask of her father afield. And she lied off her ***. And Caleb said to her, What? What is thou who answered? Give me a blessing, for thou hast given me a Southland. Give me also springs of water. And he gave her the upper springs and the nether springs, or the lower springs.
00:10:18
So now we get a glimpse into Caleb.
Caleb was faithful and turning around with the people with all million of the camp. And he turns around and he goes out there with his friend Joshua for 40 years and he comes back in and we see some telltale signs here. That's the what the is what the wilderness bore here as he comes back in. Now, remember he's going to be quite older than the rest of the company, right? Quite older because everybody else had died off. And so he's going to be quite older. But it says very clearly here.
That.
Verse 14 and Caleb drove fence the three sons of Anna mighty men. Somehow Caleb in all of his oldness, so to speak, went in and took the land for himself. He's going to take his portion now. Now that it was God's timing he bore with his brethren. He's now going to take the he's now dead and he does the work of driving those men off. But I've also enjoyed this. He impacted two of their lives out in the desert.
He impacts.
Verse 17 off Neil.
Which was must have been a nephew.
Somehow, Osteo got an appreciation of the land as well.
Out in the desert.
And so when Caleb says I'll give my daughter to wife, whoever can take such and such a land, right, it says he went out and did it.
He too appreciated the land as well. But then we also have his own daughter and his own daughter. She comes up to Caleb and verse 18 and verse 19. Give me a blessing, give me more.
And so it is that as Caleb and Joshua bore with a disobedient people.
During that time of 40 years where they had to wander around, they were faithful to God. They wandered around. During that time. We can see that Caleb was faithful his own family.
And set and gave the appreciation, transferred the appreciation down if you will. Or his children took the appreciation of the land and went full full bore when they finally get in the land.
That's important.
Because as we have had the Tabernacle before us.
God would want to be in the midst of His people.
So too, today we have.
An assembly where collectively the Lord has desired to be in the midst.
And the Lord would have us to.
Bear with one another.
But we can see at times there may be times when our brother and have a different bent on things.
And they may be wrong.
But Caleb and Joshua particularly bore with their brother and went back out in the wilderness.
That during that time took us very special keen interest for 40 years of making sure that that glimpse of the promised land ahead of them that their children are particularly Caleb situation, particularly the they too would get an appreciation of it.
And there are things that we can do, certainly as parents, to hinder that appreciation.
There are things that we can confess to as parents that would hinder our children from getting appreciation of what God would lay before us.
And so I've so been encouraged by Caleb particularly, and then in taking up with the Tabernacle, so encouraged by Joshua that says that when the Tabernacle was set outside the camp, where would you find Joshua? Apparently he was out there in the Tabernacle.
And the faithful ones that we can hop, skip, and jump all the way down into early Matthew and early Luke. You can see the darkest of days. And the Lord Jesus was coming in as a little baby. You can see there those ones that were still waiting for the Messiah. And you and I are in a day right now.
We are waiting for the Lord Jesus to come back.
And in the mean time.
We have to walk with the Lord faithfully and also bear with our brethren and also impact and make sure that the young ones coming along have an appreciation for what's coming, the blessings that are coming to us as we go down the pathway. And also the Lord is around the midst to be to be seeing the Lord here in a little bit.
00:15:22
There's Joshua and Caleb Dice so have enjoyed.
Because apparent God and her Father, thank you for the reminders we've had this afternoon that you've provided us all things that pertain to life and godliness and that you've made provision Pilgrim pathway here. And we thank you too, for the example of these ones, Caleb and Joshua, who are faithful even and surrounded by unfaithfulness. And we thank you for this reminder.
And we just asked for a blessing on the rest of our time here together.
To follow.
Thank you for your mercies to us this far and for providing things for us both for spiritual needs and for physical as well. So we just thank you for this. Let the rest of this afternoon into your hands or Jesus. Amen.
I Have Sinned
Gospel—M. Hayes
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Father, we certainly are dependent upon Thee this evening for a word from Thyself, and we pray that Thou mightest provide it a word which would speak to every heart and the ears here, that the ears might be unstopped, and that they might receive a word from Thy soul at the hearts might be tender, and that the consciences might remain sensitive. We would ask for help then, and pray in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Let's read that verse again in Second Corinthians. It was read this morning, Second Corinthians chapter 5.
And verse 21.
For he God.
Hath made him Christ.
To be a sin or to be sin for us, literally.
A sin offering for us.
Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
And read a verse in Leviticus chapter 6.
Leviticus, chapter 6.
And read in verse 25.
Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, saying, This is the law of the sin offering. In the place where the burnt offering is killed. Shall the sin offering be killed before the Lord? It is most holy, literally the Holy of Holies.
We've had before us over the last several days the Tabernacle and its types, what it speaks to us of and how it presents Christ and his glories and how it speaks to us of his humanity and the work which he did on Calvary's cross.
A work which brings one thing to us.
And that is salvation.
And seeing that offering there on that brazen altar, we can proceed forward, as it were, to that labor and consider the cleansing from the dust, from the contaminants of this world. And proceeding forward from there, we go into the holies, and we have there the altar of incense.
And there we find that intercession is made for the people of God, for one who committed a sin of ignorance.
We find there also that that incense continues going upward towards God.
And we considered and proceeded from there in reverse order, pass that veil into the Holy of Holies, and there to find that ark with the mercy seat above it, and the cherubims overspread over that mercy seat.
It's a lot to consider.
So I thought this evening what we would do is take up a little bit of what we considered with the Tabernacle as well as with Romans 12.
From perhaps a little bit of a practical perspective.
Perhaps we could consider some examples in the scripture of how this worked out.
And as we begin, it's important to consider that sin offering.
Christ himself.
Became that sin offering for us?
And he there was laid upon that burnt offering himself also two different aspects of the same sacrifice 1.
We consider very much in the Gospel of John the presentation of the Son of God.
And there the Son of God offered up is that sweet smelling incense to his Father. Perfect obedience and path and walk, and saw it indeed.
As well as him becoming that servant as we had this morning.
That would take his place there in obedience to do a work, the sin offering.
00:05:07
We were considering Exodus beginning around chapter 25. I would like to turn us a little bit before that. Let's look at Exodus Chapter 9.
And a verse there.
Exodus Chapter 9 and verse 27.
And Pharaoh sent.
And called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked, and treat the Lord for it is enough.
In chapter 10.
And reading in verse 16.
Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste, and he said, I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you.
Turn a little bit forward in the Scriptures. We're going to look at the Book of Numbers, Numbers in chapter 22.
Seven specific individuals before me that would portray, I believe the.
Raise an altar and what takes place there?
And as well the altar of incense and what takes place there. Numbers chapter 22 and reading in verse 34.
And Balaam said unto the Angel of the Lord.
I have sinned, for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me now. Therefore, if it displeased thee, I will get me back again.
Turn a few books forward into the book of Joshua. Joshua Chapter 7.
Joshua Chapter 7 and verse 20.
And Aiken answered Joshua, and said, Indeed, I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done. When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and 200 shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of 50 shekels weight, then I coveted them and took them.
And behold their head in the earth, in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.
The Book of First Samuel.
First Samuel, chapter 15.
First Samuel chapter 15 and verse 24.
And soul said unto Samuel.
I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and thy words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.
Let's look at an example from David's life, Second Samuel, chapter 12.
Second Samuel chapter 12 and we'll read verse 13.
And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord.
And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die.
Turning to the New Testament, to the book of Luke. Luke in chapter 15.
The well known story of the Prodigal son.
Luke chapter 15 and we'll read verse 18 and a few verses.
After.
The prodigal speaking, I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants.
00:10:18
Let's also look at the Gospel of Matthew in chapter 27.
Matthew chapter 27. We'll read a few verses, beginning with verse one.
When the morning was come, and all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death, and when they had bound him, they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate, the governor.
Than Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw he that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned.
In that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, what is that to us? See thou to that.
And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.
And the chief priests took the silver pieces and said it is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.
And they took counsel and bought with them the Potter's field to bury strangers. End.
Wherefore that field was called the field of blood unto this day.
There is a need in each person's life.
To be concerned with the consequences of sin.
And to recognize it.
But there is a difference in these individuals, and maybe some of you picked up on it. Some of these individuals were more concerned with the results of sin and the consequences of it than the horror of the sin itself.
I'd send.
And I've done things that I deeply regret doing, and I've had to bear the consequences of that.
What impressed me was the horror of the sin itself and the ugliness of that sin.
And we look at the example of Pharaoh.
His land was being stripped and destroyed. He saw the consequences of his ways and he would say I have sinned.
But did he come before God?
From an honest heart, recognizing the horror of what he'd done.
And seeking, as it were, to bring in that offering, and to lay his hand on it, so that the priest could slay that offering, and so that it could be presented there and type upon that brazen altar.
A picture of Christ suffering and dying there on Calvary's cross. Indeed not. He wanted no part with the God of Israel. We saw that in Exodus chapter 10 when he would say thy God.
No desire to own God as his God.
He would not come to God on God's terms, and God's terms, as we know, is that offering which was presented there on Calvary's tree, foreshadowed there in the Tabernacle, foreshadowed there somewhat in the temple of thinking of the future.
And definitely seen in person in the life.
And the sufferings and the death of Christ on Calvary when he was lifted up.
Where all men could look upon him.
And Pharaoh bore the consequences of that.
I believe if you read carefully in the account.
Of Moses crossing through the Red Sea, that Pharaoh got to watch and observe his armies be absolutely destroyed.
It does not appear was with his army, but observing likely from one of the two mountains where the children of Israel would go down into that valley, and from there the waters would be parted and the armies would cross after them. Pharaoh watched not only his land be destroyed, but his very source of strength itself.
00:15:21
In his armies, the protection for his people gone.
In a moment I have sinned. He would not own the horror of what he had done in offending God. He owned the consequences of it.
We look at Balaam next and Balaam example there in the book of Numbers as we read Balaam had inquired of God, shall I go up? He was asked to go and prophecy against the children of Israel and God spoke to him as it were and he said do not go up.
He met with Balaam at night.
We read that account in Numbers chapter 22. I'm sorry for paraphrasing it more accurately. I'll read it there in verse 9. Numbers chapter 22, verse nine. And God came unto Balaam and said, What men are these with thee? And Balaam said unto God, Balak, the son of Zipporah, king of Moab, has sent unto me, saying, Behold, there is a people come out of Egypt which covers the face of the earth. Come now.
Me them peradventure I shall be able to overcome them and drive them out.
And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them. Thou shalt not curse this people, for they are blessed.
Balaam had his answer from God himself. Don't.
Go, don't curse this people, they are blessed.
Verse 19.
Balak sent some more people to come to Balaam, interceding and saying please come up and curse his people. Verse 19 Balaam is speaking to the messengers that are sent again by Balak the the king and the Princess of Moab.
And he says, Now, therefore I pray you, tarry ye also here this night, that I may know what the Lord will say unto me.
And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, If the men come to call thee, rise up and go with them. But yet the word which I shall say unto thee, thou shalt, that shalt thou do.
And Balaam rose up in the morning and saddled his *** and went with the Princess of Moab.
An Angel of God met Balaam on the way with a sword to destroy him, and if not for the patient service of his donkey, his ***.
Balaam would have been slain on the road on that path.
When he recognized what he had done, he recognized that he was in a position where he was ready to be slain. Any moment a wrong word comes out of his mouth and that judgment comes and falls upon him.
And he would say I have sinned.
Did he recognize the horror of what he'd done and hearing directly a word from God, God coming to him and saying don't do this, do not go with these ones?
And instead waiting and coming to God again and saying, have you changed your mind? God had made it very clear, do not.
And yet God allowed Balaam to go on that path.
Balaam would say I have sinned.
The results of that sin were stirring him in the face, but again, he was one who was not struck with the horror of what he had done before, a just and a righteous God who would appear to him personally and speak with him clearly in a way that he would hear and understand. He knew a word from God.
And he rejected that word from God.
The consequences of that were before him, and he shuddered to think of death itself.
But he did not repent for the horror of sinning against a righteous and a holy God.
We look at Aiken and the example of Aiken there in the book of Joshua, and the story is well known. I believe most everyone here in this room has grown up either coming to meetings or hearing the sound of the gospel many times over. So these stories are ones that many of us have grown up with and know well. So I won't repeat the story of what Aiken had done, except to say the other day the children were watching the walls of Jericho fall down. I don't know whether it was Tuesday.
00:20:13
School, Wednesday school, Thursday school, Friday school or Saturday school. But one of those nights, the children of Israel had a little skit play out in front of them with a trumpet or maybe a trombone plane, and the walls of Jericho come tumbling down. Once that takes place, the children of Israel, part of them, are going up to go war against this little town, just a small town of AI.
And they lose badly. And then the inquiry is made of God. Why?
God said in effect there is sin in the midst, there is sin in the midst of the people. Who is it?
Aiken had every opportunity from that moment and even before, to come forward before his brethren.
Including the families of those that had been deeply affected by what he had done, who lost a dad or a brother, perhaps a son.
But rather than standing there and acknowledging the horror of what his son had done for the people and for himself.
He remained quiet.
And the numbering of the people takes place and we can read that account in Joshua Chapter 7 and finally is brought down to that very family. And we read in verse 18 and he brought his household.
That's Zabdi, man by man, and Aiken, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zahra of the tribe of Judah, was taken.
And Joshua sat under Akin. My son, give, I pray thee glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him. And tell me now what thou hast done. Hide it not from me.
Aiken came clean.
It was too late. The consequences of his sin and what that would do for himself and the entire family were there before him, and the people had to watch Aiken face that judgment with his family and be stoned to death.
We might ask ourselves, pausing here. Well, if that's the case, what is to be done?
How do we come into the presence of God, as it were? And I'm not speaking for a moment looking at the Tabernacle, but I'm just speaking on a very personal level.
I'm thinking of the example in Luke chapter 18.
And if you will, you could see this coming into the presence of God, not knowing perhaps exactly what to do.
But finding the horror of what you'd done?
And God recognizing that work that had been done on the behalf of one and the person and work of his Son, and salvation being brought to this man, that little word, salvation. And Luke chapter 18, just reading one verse, verse 13 and the publican.
The tax gatherer. A tax collector.
Standing afar off would not so much, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a Sinner. God be merciful to me a Sinner.
He was recognizing that he had sinned against God.
And he owned it personally and came into the presence of God.
Humbly.
Pleading with God for mercy.
Do we not see that as we were considering the Tabernacle when one would take?
Perhaps one of the flock?
Or another of the animals, as the Lord had instructed.
Particularly, I'm thinking of one of the flaw for the sin offering.
And bring that there to that Tabernacle and have to pass through that gate.
And there see the representation of Christ himself and his many glories as king, as servant, as a Son of man, and as a Son of God. And they're recognizing the error of his way to come to that priest and to take his hand and to put it there on the head of that offering.
00:25:14
And to recognize his son has taken there in that offering.
The literal wording I believe there in verse 13 of Matthew of Luke 18 is be propitious to me on the ground of reconciliation made, be propitious to me on the ground of reconciliation made. Doesn't that bring before us Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 17? And if we think about what this center is doing, He is coming and appealing on the behalf of.
Some himself.
Someone and he's coming before God. And if you read with me in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 17, we read this. Wherefore in all things it behooved him, that is Jesus Christ the Son of God. It behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest.
Pertaining to God to make reconciliation, propitiation or expiation for the sins of the people.
That center there that publican attacks gatherer owned that for himself, and God was merciful.
He had come, as it were, to that brazen altar, and that offering was given there for him and the person and work of Christ.
I won't go into how that works out with Romans, but there's a thought there that that blood was shed for him.
Have you owned that that blood was shed for you?
Our song, the one that we just sang, said, All who in his name believe everlasting life, receive, Lord of all is Jesus. Now every knee to him must bow. That blood was shed. And this morning we had that verse from Psalms and here we find it a little different. But God is light and God is love.
Coming before this one who shed his blood and owning that work and binding the knee before him.
Allows us to move forward and own something further.
David, there was the next example I believe we had before us. And no, we had Saul. I'm sorry.
Saul was pretty simple. He had been given specific instructions and he decided to offer a sacrifice of his own own will, and he'd also save back.
Part of the the spoils, if you will, from the war and had not completely destroyed them and tried to paint a good picture on it and then tried to pass blame off on other people and saying I've sent.
But it's really the people that caused me to send.
Doesn't work that way. The soul was severely judged for it.
We could read a little later in Saul's life as well, of where he would own his sin again, and this time with regards to David, and we read that account.
In the book there of first Samuel in chapter 26 Saul is speaking with David and he says this.
First Samuel chapter 26 and verse 21.
Then, Saul said.
I have sinned. Return my son David, for I will no more do thee harm. Because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day. Because I have played the fool and have erred exceedingly. He recognized that he had sinned, but it wasn't a work of the heart. He didn't own the horror of what he had done.
Instead, he recognized that his life was on the line, had been spared by this one, and would acknowledge the error of his way.
How different from David. Saul would not come on the grounds of that offering. There was no thought there that he was one that needed to lay his head, hand on the the head of that that one from the flock.
Rather, he would acknowledge, thank you for sparing my life. I didn't do the right thing there, did I? So come back and spend time at my table and in my house once again.
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He would not own the horror of what he'd almost done and having David's life.
Taken by his men or by himself, he was seeking David's life.
David, though, he sent with Bashir and was a horrible sin, and he sent even more with regards to Uriah. He was a murderer and he was an adulterer, a fornicator. He had sent before God and there were consequences for that. He lost a little child in the process of that.
He paid a steep price for his sin.
But when confronted with that sin, he would speak there to Nathan the prophet, and say, I have sinned.
Did he need to bring that one once again to that brazen altar to have that offering offer there again? No, no, not this time. He's speaking with Nathan, and Nathan made intercession for him. Or as it were, Nathan as a mouthpiece of God could say there is forgiveness there. Only in two of these accounts do you find forgiveness of these seven different ones that we read.
And this is one of them.
If you will, that altar of incense is used here, that altar of intercession.
In a sense, the priest would take the blood of that offering, that one who was the Lord's own David who served as king and priest, that one who is so special, the sweet psalmist of Israel who knew the Lord personally.
And would own the horror of what he had done. That priest, in a sense, would take the blood of that offering and apply it there to the four horns of that altar of incense. Intercession is made for this one. And God was merciful to David.
God was merciful to David.
We find a similar thought, don't we, with the prodigal son?
He recognized he's no longer worthy to be called his father's son.
He had sent grievously, and it was more than squandering everything that he had, his inheritance ruining his life. In many ways, it was more than that.
He came to that place where he recognized that he was no more worthy to be called the son of his father.
He didn't come on the basis of sonship. He didn't come on the basis of worthiness. He came simply appealing to his father for mercy.
He owned the horror of what he had done.
And mercy was extended to him.
How gracious God is.
We also read the account there of Judas, and Judas would come back before the priests, and he would say, I have sinned.
But how would he speak of the Lord? Here He is coming back before the priest, the chief priests, and the elders of the people.
And would he say I have betrayed my Lord and my Savior?
I have sinned against this righteous one, against the Son of God, against the Son of man.
Now he would simply say, I have sinned. I have betrayed the innocent blood.
He was struck with the consequences of his sin. The results of that. I don't believe there's any indication that Judas believed that it would go this far. The Lord previously would take himself from the midst and and not allow himself to be taken when when ones caught to seek his life. But here Judas is confronted that this time the Lord had been taken and the Lord had been held before that secretive council at night. The Lord had been sent now and and condemned to death, as it were by.
Council of the elders and the chief priests there in that first council of daylight, when they would ask him that question, that question that was so poignant. Art thou the Christ?
And he would respond to them. We find the account in Luke's gospel that I am the Son of Man.
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And they would condemn him because they would say He made himself the Son of God, complete rejection there in that council of him as Christ, a Son of man and Son of God. And now Judas sees that, observes that his.
One that he had been following for so long has been taken.
And yet he would have betrayed the innocent blood.
He was not horrified at what he had done before God. Humbling himself before God, He sought to undo the consequences of what he had done, but not go back to that place of departure. And that was sin against God himself.
Judas went out and hanged himself.
He was horrified with the consequences that not horrified with his sin against God.
Much different a few verses earlier with Peter.
Here is Peter and when the Lord looks at Peter, we read that also in in Matthew chapter 26 and verse 75 we read the last part it says and he went out. Judas went out as well. He went out, Peter did and wept bitterly.
There Peter, in a sense, found mercy at the altar of incense.
Recognized the horror of what he had done and denying his Lord and cursing if you will. And we considered it recently.
Some of the thoughts there in that night in which the Lord was betrayed. While the Lord was praying, Peter was sleeping. While the Lord was submitting himself to the will of his father and his God, Peter would take up a sword and seek in the flesh to fight, to resist that which would be done by man.
Either operating in the flesh rather than in the spirit.
Instead of recognizing his own weakness and owning the dependency upon God would act out in the flesh and then a little bit later when.
Christ would be suffering.
Is a lamb.
As the one who is being offered.
In our place, and the one who would bear our iniquities upon himself, Peter would be out there cursing and swearing. Peter's steps were downward progressively, and there, when he went out and wept bitterly, he owned that.
He had started out with sleeping.
He'd moved on to smiting, striking with a sword, cutting off.
A man's ear.
He proceeded to following afar off rather than at the side of his Lord. He had moved on to sitting.
Among Christ's persecutors, taking his place in the company of those who are persecuting Christ that night.
And finally, denying Christ himself.
And when confronted with that, he owned the horror of his way.
We talk sometimes, and we talk about salvation in three tenses. Salvation from the.
Penalty of sin.
That publican found that that brazen altar.
We talk about salvation from the presence of sin. We had that brought out before us last night. I believe in Hebrews Chapter 7 where it's really the, the I'm, I'm sorry, the power of sin in Hebrews Chapter 7 where there is a a priest that is making intercession for us.
He's desiring that we not go on in a pathway of sin and He is the one that is making that intercession. We also had that just a few moments ago from first John chapter 2. But if any man send, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is that one who would take that blood and apply it to the four horns of the altar of incense, that golden altar.
In a sense drawing us back to the place where He is presented in his glories, with that gold in front of us and us designing to worship Him and fall in our faces.
Horrified by what we have done, we find there again His blood, and the mercy of that extended to us an intercession, the intercessory work of Christ for his own.
Yet we stuck just the tiniest bit further.
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And we think of one more example.
And that salvation from the presence of sin and the Tabernacle doesn't really take this up, does it? Because it's what's yet to come. What happens at the end of the wilderness journey? Where to from there? And I was contemplating this more recently, and I was struck with the example there in Acts, the book of Acts Chapter 7 here is a servant of God who is serving God faithfully.
Who is bearing witness for God? And he would speak of the person and work of Jesus Christ.
And there ones would take him and pick up those stones to stone him to death. And in Acts Chapter 7 we read of Stephen in verse 54. When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens open, and the Son of Man standing.
On the right hand of God. And they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him. And the witnesses lay down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit. And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice. Lordly not the sin to their charge.
When he had said this, he fell asleep.
Here Steven was faithfully serving God, and at the end of his life, when he fell asleep, he was saved from the presence of these sinners and from the presence of sin itself, now in the presence of God.
We anticipate that salvation yet to come.
And my question to you tonight is, where are you in your life?
You may be a Pilgrim and stranger through this world, in a sense proceeding with your parents or others in the company, but not have ever bowed the knee before that one.
Not have ever owned the work of Christ there on Calvary's cross for you.
Not have had, as it were, that lamb laid there on that brazen altar on your behalf. Not have recognized the work that Christ did for you.
And in that day to come, very soon you will come to the end of the wilderness journey, and you will pass away from this scene and death.
And not let Caleb and Joshua be able to proceed forward into a land yet to come.
That's a horrifying thought for me.
Come to know this one who laid down his life for you.
Don't look at the consequences of sin and say I'm saying I did wrong and now I need to be punished for it, but coming to the presence of God.
As it were, David, appealing after the sin of Bathsheba, would plead with God, remove not thy Holy Spirit from me, if you will. I believe it's more correctly said, remove not the Spirit of thy holiness from me. He recognized that he had sent in the presence of God and that spirit of holiness was to be removed, and that was horrifying for him.
He needed God above anything else.
We've had a lot before us this week and I certainly hope, if we understand one thing, is that there is salvation extended to every person here.
Salvation at that brazen altar.
Salvation at that altar of incense.
From the power of sin in your life. And that power can be very strong indeed.
And salvation to be found for you soon to come, when the Lord gives that shout, and we rise to meet him in the air.
Perhaps in the Tabernacle, the only insight we have of the ascending is seen there in that cloud that descends during the day.
And there we think of how God would come down and reside there upon that Tabernacle. And there's different examples of where things were when that cloud would move. I think there's a very particular thought there. And here God would come down in that cloud, and therein the data come soon to be saved from that presence of sin. We will take that cloud, and we will ascend up into his presence.
00:45:02
A beautiful picture of what's to come.
If you do not have this salvation, do not hesitate.
Hall last verse.
First Timothy, Chapter One.
And I hope when you consider the horror of sin before God and the offense sinning against Him.
That you could say the same thing that Paul says here. This is about him and what he would own.
First Timothy chapter one and verse 16. I'm sorry, verse 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief, of whom I am chief, if you're that publican.
Recognize that.
If you've been saved by the grace of God.
And you have sinned again.
On this verse I am chief.
And recognize, come back into the presence of God on your face, as it were, having the blood put on the horns of the altar of incense, all four of them, and then poured out at the base of the brazen altar. That's for you.
And someday soon, no more to worry about sin itself in the presence of the Lord Himself.
Father, we certainly are grateful that Thou did send thy Son, and we're grateful that it is of Him that we could speak this evening, that He is the one that we could consider in the Tabernacle and in the wilderness journey, that we could consider ourselves in light of Him.
Once.
That are in need of salvation daily.
Ones that are in need of salvation.
Or eternity and ones that are so desirous of being in His presence, where there will be no more sin or sorrow.
We long for that day that is to come, when we will see this one coming down as a conqueror, our Lord, and for those that are there at His side, His own, to be able to rejoice, and seeing Him and His presentation before man in that day, the Lord Himself.
We recognize the soberness of that day for those that have not bowed to me now and are not saved now, we pray that there would not be a person here that would reject that message and even tonight that they might pause and consider their way and make sure.
Before thyself and in thy presence.
That they know thee is our Father.
Because they know thy son.
And not just the work that was done, but that they owned the work that was done on their behalf, and that they would come before him with those words. Lord, be merciful to me, a Sinner.
Father, tonight we have much to rejoice in. We've had the blessings of being here for this week. We've had the blessings of sitting under the teaching from Thy Word. We've had the blessing of being in company of others that we just enjoy and that we can get to know.
We pray that the thoughts that express this afternoon would continue on and that we would consider our walk.
And where it's taking us. And that we would own thee.
Father as the one who has supplied his only begotten Son.
Our Father, this evening we pray these things in the precious and worthy name of Thy Son, even our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
If Any Man's Work Abide
YP Address—N. Brown
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Our God and Father, we just thank Thee for another opportunity to have that word open for a few minutes and we just ask you for help. I pray that there would be something that each one can benefit from. And we thank the two that we've been able to sing these songs to that remind us of Thee and of thy Son. And I love for us. And we thank Thee that the glory of Thy Son has brought us into blessing as well.
And so we just commit our time to thee in Jesus name, Amen.
I'm going to move this if that's all right.
While I get this hooked up again, I'm going to talk about David.
Can anyone tell me anything about David?
Shepherd.
King Good. Anything else?
His name is David, that's right.
Is there anyone here that doesn't know anything about David?
I see no hands, so that's good. You're all experts.
So tell me some more about him.
The man after God's own heart.
He tried to kill somebody.
He was Jesse's son.
He was haunted. Haunted.
He did kill somebody.
Was David.
Good.
I see some nods and some not sure. Was David bad?
At times, yeah.
So I like David because there's a lot written about him and you can learn a lot from his life. You can also learn not only just about David himself, but he he sometimes a picture of the Lord himself. And we know of course, that David was not always good. He did some bad things too.
And so in that sense, he could be a picture of you and I.
In responsibility, failing and needing help. And so I want to read just to start out with actually, I'll ask one more question.
There were some words of David that were read in the Gospel meeting.
What were they?
I've sinned against the Lord, that's right.
I want to read about that account.
But what we're going to do, we're going to read it from God's perspective.
In First Chronicles chapter 20.
First Chronicles chapter 20 and there's only 8 verses so we'll just read the whole chapter.
And it came to pass that after the year was expired, at the time that kings go out to battle, Joab LED forth the power of the army, and wasted the country of the children of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried at Jerusalem, and Joab smote Rabba and destroyed it. And David took the crown of their king from off his head, and found it to weigh a talent of gold, and there were precious stones in it, and it was set upon David's head, and he brought also.
Much spoil out of the city, and he brought out the people that were in it, and cut them with saws, and with harrows of iron, and with axes. Even so doubt David with all the cities of the children of Ammon and David and all the people returned to Jerusalem. And it came to pass after this that there arose war at Geezer with the Philistines, at which time Sibika the Husha fight slew Sippai.
That was of the children of the giant, and they were subdued.
And there was war again with the Philistines and O'hane, and the son of Jerry slew Lamy, the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear staff was like a weavers beam. And yet again there was war at Gath, where was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes were four and 26 on each hand, and six on each foot. And he also was the son of the giant.
00:05:01
But when he defied Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shamia, David's brother, slew him. These were born unto the giant in gas.
And they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.
So in First Samuel 12 That was read to us in the gospel meeting, David said I have sinned against the Lord.
And now I said we were going to read about that, but from God's perspective.
We didn't read that, did we?
No, we didn't.
Keep your place in this chapter and just remember verses 1-2 and three just to start with and let's turn back to.
Second Samuel, Chapter 11.
In verse one. And it came to pass after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel, and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabba, But David tarried at tarried still at Jerusalem.
And verse two. And it came to pass in an evening tide that David arose from off his bed and walked upon the roof of the King's house. And we could stop there because the the account continues on and we don't have time to read it all. But let's now go to the end of chapter 12.
Of Second Samuel.
And verse 30, keeping in mind what we read in in First Chronicles. And he took their King's crown from off his head, the weight whereof was a talent of gold with the precious stones, and it was set on David's head. And he brought forth the spoil of the city in great abundance. And he brought forth the people that were there in, and put them under saws and under heroes of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick kiln.
And thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon. So David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem.
Does that sound familiar?
We just read that in First Chronicles 20 verses 2:00 and 3:00.
So what we have in First Chronicles 20 verse one is the very beginning of Second Samuel 11.
Verses two and three is the very end of Second Samuel 12.
What happened in between?
David said I have sinned against the Lord.
He committed adultery. He masterminded a murder.
There were multiple births during that time.
And if I had to guess, there was probably maybe up to two years covered in those two chapters, just with the time it takes for a baby to be born and then another baby to be born, and time in between perhaps.
But all of that is passed over in First Chronicles chapter 20.
Now let's go to the verse four. We have a series of.
Philistines that were slain.
But there's something missing here as well.
Can anyone tell me what's missing here?
Maybe it might be easier to count how many how many people were slain here.
Verse 4.
Who should I slew Sippai in verse 50? Hainan, the son of Jairus, slew Lamy.
Verse six. A man of great stature whose fingers and toes were four and 26 on each hand, 6 on each foot.
And Jonathan, the son of Shamia, David's brother, slew him. So there's three giants that are slain here.
Let's go to Second Samuel 21.
And just to save time, I'll I'll say that all these three are mentioned in this chapter, but there's another one mentioned as well. And so we'll read about that and Second Samuel 21 and verse 15.
Moreover, the Philistines had yet war again with Israel, and David went down and his servants with him and fought against the Philistines. And David waxed faint. And Ishbabinob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed 300 shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David. But Abishai the son of Zerowaya, suckered him and smote the Philistine and killed him.
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Then the men of David swear unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle.
That thou quench, not the light of Israel.
So this account is also missing from First Chronicles chapter 20 and you notice in this account David is waxing faint.
And he needed suckering. He needed help. And.
Umm, then he's he's looked upon as as old and weak and unable to to go to battle. He says thou shalt not go no more out with us to battle.
And so there's a lot of things about David that you might say were negative things or things that didn't really put him in a good light that are left out of First Chronicles 20. And I think it's.
It's nice to see that because there's a lot of stories about David that are repeated. You have some in in Second Samuel, and then they're repeated in large part in First Chronicles. And I know as a kid growing up, I always wondered, why do we need to read the story twice?
I think this is this chapter is a good example of why we need to read the story twice sometimes because.
David can be seen in two two different aspects, and maybe there's more, but.
On in one aspect, he's a picture of a failing servant of God, a failing man who is capable of sin and doesn't regularly. And we see a lot of that in Second Samuel, David. He has a good chapter and then a bad chapter and a good chapter and a bad chapter, and he seems to go up and down, up and down.
Kind of the way that we are sometimes we.
Do something that's not right and we get in a rut and then the Lord restores us and we go on for him for a while and then we stumble on something else and and.
I'm sure we've all felt those ups and downs in the life of a believer, and David had those ups and downs.
But.
A lot of those downs are left out in First Chronicles because not only do we see David as a poor, failing man.
Who was a Sinner no different than you and I. But he's also many times a picture of the Lord Jesus himself.
He was the anointed king, and there's many of the things that he did that are prophetic in nature that point to the Lord Jesus when he sets up his Kingdom and so.
We have to see certain aspects of David as pointing us to Christ and there's.
Things in our life that.
Can point to Christ as well.
We know that in Ephesians it says we're accepted in the Beloved.
And that we're in Christ. And so I understand those terms to mean that when God looks at us, he sees us as if he was looking at his own Son, as if he was looking at the perfection of his Son and seeing that in you and I.
And so that's why I say in First Chronicles 20, it's kind of looking at Davide life through God's viewpoint, a little picture of him seeing somebody in Christ, seeing somebody accepted in the beloved. That's not to say that.
He didn't sin. Of course he did. We read about it, but.
God doesn't see that in you and I. He doesn't see us as sinners. He sees us as in Christ, accepted in the Beloved, and that's our standing before God, and that's something that can't be taken away from us. And so, as I said in First Chronicles.
00:15:16
In general you have.
In in picture form.
The way it describes David and and some of the others around him as well.
It really brings out the counsels of God in grace, whereas in First Samuel you see more of man's responsibility and a failure at it. And so by grace are you saved. And we are in Christ. We're accepted in the beloved.
And so that's our standing, David.
This this chapter.
Chapter 20 of First Chronicles covers several years, and yet it's only 8 verses long.
I just want to turn over now to.
First Corinthians.
Just want to look at that same chapter in First Chronicles, but look at it in a similar light but maybe from a different perspective. First Chronicles.
Our First Corinthians. Sorry, chapter 3.
And.
I'll just start with verse 9.
For we are laborers together with God. Ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building according to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master Builder. I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon, but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay. Then that is laid which is Jesus Christ.
Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones.
Wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built, thereupon he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire.
And then one more verse in the next chapter.
First Corinthians, chapter 4.
And.
I'll read from verse 4.
For I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified. But he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then shall every man have praise of God.
I just want to apply these verses to the account with David. I believe that these verses that we've read in First Corinthians have reference to the judgment seat of Christ. When we're called home, the Lord will take up with our life and review it and there will be reward for the things done for him. But it says here that.
If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss.
But he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire. And so there's things that we do in our lives that are not for the Lord.
Sometimes the the motive is wrong, sometimes the the action is wrong, sometimes our thoughts are wrong, sometimes we just plain out sin. But here we have at the judgment seat of Christ that our works will be tried, and it says in verse.
14 If any man's work abide which he hath built, thereupon he shall receive a reward. So there is a reward for the things done for Christ.
And he's the judge of what is done for Christ. We know that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart. I try the reins. And so sometimes we can even.
Deceive ourselves in thinking that we're doing something for the Lord, and yet deep in our heart there's something of ourselves in it. The Lord sees that and He can. He can judge that and bring it out.
00:20:05
But he wants to reward, and so we have in the next verse, in the next chapter.
Says he will make manifest the counsels of the hearts and then shall every man have praise of God. If you know the Lord as your Savior, that alone is enough to get a reward. And if you know the Lord as your Savior, you're indwelt by the Spirit of God, who only can please the Lord.
And that is able to come out in our lives. It may show up very faintly, but I believe this verse five tells us that even if it comes out very faintly.
Says Then shall every man have praise of God? God is going to scour the depths of your heart until he can find something to praise you for.
Something that he can reward.
And we know that it's nothing that.
We produce on our own and so we can't claim any credit.
And so really what we see in in David, that account in First Chronicles 20.
Where the Lord strips out at least two years of his life and yet records some things that he did. That's the grace of God.
Looking for something to reward?
And he wants to do that with you and I as well.
He wants each one of us to have a First Chronicles Chapter 20 for ourselves, that he can strip out all the bad things and have a whole chapter devoted to things that are worthy of reward that he produces in US.
And I just want to end with one last thought.
This chapter first Chronicles 20.
It's pretty short. There's only 8 verses long.
And I just want to encourage each one of us and myself.
Too.
Can we have a chapter written about us?
It's a little bit longer.
Is there anything that we can do for the Lord that He can write down and maybe give us a ninth verse? And it's not to put ourselves out there as being better than David or anything like that, but we know that we're going to cast our crowns at His feet.
Wouldn't we want to have many crowns to cast at his feet?
He's the one that.
Wore a crown of thorns for.
Us, he gave his life.
So that we can have life.
Surely there's something we can.
Returned to him.
Let's just close in prayer.
Our God and Father, we just thank thee again for this time. We could have that word open. And we thank you too for the time this past week at the camp, and we pray that each one would have a renewed interest in thy things.
And a desire to walk in communion with the Lord Jesus.
We pray that we might represent thee in this world, and that's not so much that people would see us doing good things, but that they would see something.
Of Thee in our lives, that they might come to Thee for themselves. And so we would just thank the two for any refreshments that might be provided tonight. We just would ask Thee for Thy care over the rest of our time too, and pray for all those who would be traveling soon and those who are traveling already.
We just commit ourselves to the Thy name of Jesus, Amen.