I've been bringing messages to
us on Sunday evenings from 1 Peter, and will the Lord willing continue
to do so, but seeing that we are observing the Lord's table
tonight, I wanted to bring this message to us from Exodus chapter
29. Exodus chapter 29, and beginning with verse 38. Now, this is that which thou
shalt offer upon the altar. Two lambs of the first year,
day by day, continually. The one lamb thou shalt offer
in the morning, and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even. And with the one lamb, a tenth
deal of flour, mingled with the fourth part of a hen of beaten
oil, and the fourth part of a hen of wine for a drink offering.
And the other lamb thou shalt offer it even, and shalt do thereto
according to the meat offering of the morning, and according
to the drink offering thereof. For a sweet savor, an offering
made by fire unto the Lord. This shall be a continual burnt
offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation before the Lord. where I will meet you to
speak there unto thee. And there I will meet with the
children of Israel and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ
and his saving work was given in the Old Testament, given to
the nation of Israel by means of types and pictures. The gospel was set forth. The
gospel was preached through these types, shadows, and pictures
in the Old Testament. In Romans chapter 3, the Apostle
Paul asks this question, what advantage then hath the Jew? What advantage was it to have
been born a Jew, an Israelite, a literal son of Abraham. What advantage did that give? And then he answered that question.
He said, chiefly, chiefly, because that unto them were committed
the oracles of God. That is the word of God. The
chief blessing that was given to the nation of Israel was that
they had the gospel. They had the gospel given unto
them in types and pictures in the oracles of God. You remember
the Lord Jesus Christ, when he was here in the flesh, he spoke
to some religious rulers, leaders one day, and he told them, search
the scriptures. Well, the only scriptures they
had was the Old Testament. search the scriptures, for in
them you think you have eternal life. Now listen, but they are
they which testify of me, that is, of Christ. The scriptures
which were given, and that was the chief blessing the Apostle
Paul tells us that the Israelites had, the advantage they had over
all the nations of the earth, was that they had the oracles
of God, the word of God, And in that word was revealed the
living word, the Lord Jesus Christ, through these types and through
these pictures. Tonight, we're looking at these
scriptures which testify of Christ and of his saving work. First,
the giver, the giver of this type. If you begin reading here
and read back, as I did this past week, as we read these verses
here in chapter 29, if you begin reading here and go back to search
who's speaking here, who is it that gives this type out, this
picture out? Who is it that gave it to Moses
to give unto the children of Israel? And you've got to go
all the way back to chapter 25 and verse 1. And if you keep
going, you will go through chapter 31 and verse 18. So we have seven chapters. Seven chapters where the Lord
God gave unto Moses the instructions concerning the tabernacle, the
altar, the priest, and the offerings. Think about that. Seven chapters
to speak to us about the gospel. Two chapters, Genesis 1 and Genesis
2, to tell us all God saw that we need to know about creation. Two chapters telling us about
creation, how in the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth, and seven chapters telling Moses and the children of Israel
about the tabernacle and all that pertained unto that tabernacle. because there was type after
type after type, picture after picture after picture in that
tabernacle which spoke of Christ, which revealed the gospel of
God's saving grace. This reminds us again that salvation
is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. God
gave these instructions to Moses, and in the letter of Hebrews,
Paul tells us that he was faithful. Moses was faithful in his house
as a servant. That's all he was. He was a servant. The Lord Jesus Christ, he's the
Son, the Son of God, by whom God has spoken unto us in these
last days. When I think about the fact that
salvation is of the Lord, God gave these instructions to Moses. He didn't gather together the
elders of Israel, the most educated and the finest minds, and they
got together and put this all together and worked it all out
as beautiful as it is. Oh no, it's beyond man's ability. The wisdom of God. So that when
we read and we look in the Old Testament, we see these pictures
of Christ and how beautiful they are. And how precious they are. Because they tell us and remind
us of the saving work of our Savior. His person and work. Salvation, again, is of the Lord. He purposed it in what some called
Old Eternity. What do we mean by old eternity? Eternity is eternity, right? Eternity is now. No past, no
future, now, eternity. But we speak about old eternity
because we have a point of reference that is before the foundation
of the world. And God purposed salvation before
the foundation of the world. Before there ever was a star
to shine, before there ever was a sinner needing salvation, God,
God alone, purposed salvation. And then in the fullness of the
time, God came into this world as a man to purchase, to pay
redemption's price. And then, over the period of
this world, God the Holy Spirit is calling out and applying that
redemption that God purposed and God the Son purchased. God the Holy Spirit is applying
that to the hearts of His chosen people. So the giver of this
type is the Lord our God. Second, This particular type
concerned the daily offering of two lambs. Notice that in
verse 38. Now this is that which thou shalt
offer upon the altar, two lambs. Two lambs were to be offered
each day, every day of the week, seven days of the week, every
day of the month, every day of the year. every day of the year
of every decade and every century. How many lambs were slain over
that period of time? How much blood flowed? And yet
all the blood of lambs slain upon Jewish altars could not
take away one sin. But it did picture how God would
take away sin. Three things that we, as we look
at this, it came to my mind as far as offering these, these
lambs, one in the morning, one in the evening, every day. Number
one, it was to be a lamb of one year of age. One year of age. God's specific about this. One year of age. The same was
true of the Passover lamb. You read that in Exodus chapter
12. The Passover lamb was to be a lamb of one year. Now I believe, at least to me,
this pictures the strength, the strength of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the strength of our Savior, the lamb and the prime of its life,
one year of age. You know, when John the Baptist
pointed out the Lord Jesus when he was here in this world, in
the flesh, he said, behold, the Lamb of God which taketh, that
word taketh, I believe, better translated or better text have
beareth. Behold the Lamb of God which
beareth away the sins of the world. It takes strength to bear
something, doesn't it? One year of age. And the Lord
Jesus Christ is pictured here in all of his strength, because
he did bear our sins in his own body on the tree. To picture
the work of Christ, his being wounded for our transgressions,
bruised for our iniquities, chastened for our peace, that is, that
we might have peace with God, He had to be chastened, he had
to suffer to pay the penalty that we might have peace with
God, and aren't you thankful tonight to have peace with God?
That verse of scripture in one of the prophets said, let the
potsherds of the earth strive with the potsherds of the earth.
Let men strive with each other if they want to, but don't strive
with your maker. That's a battle you're not going
to win. Oh, to have peace with God. But the peace that we have tonight,
that I have, that you have, if you're one of his children, the
peace that you have tonight with God cost him the chastening of
his father's wrath. He had to bear our sins in his
own body, that by his stripes, by his suffering, We are healed. He must picture one able to bear
the wrath of God. The second thing about this lamb, of one year of age, it is to
be a lamb to picture food. Food. He is the true bread from
heaven. Just as a lamb gives its life
for others to eat its flesh, The Lord Jesus Christ is the
true bread from heaven. He said, for the bread of God
is he which cometh down from heaven, and listen, giveth life
unto the world. Now, you have life, you have
physical life tonight, and you know that you eat bread to sustain
that life. If you didn't have any food for
just a few weeks maybe, your life would be gone. You need
bread. But the bread we eat to sustain
our life, there is no bread that can give life. When a man dies,
a woman dies, you could stack a whole truckload of bread on
top of them. Wouldn't give them life, would
it? No. But the Lord Jesus Christ, he
is the bread which came down from heaven who gives life, eternal
life, everlasting life. He said, whosoever eateth my
flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life. You say, well,
preacher, is that what you're going to do here tonight? You're
going to pass out the bread, you're going to pass out the
cup. Is that what you mean when you say the Lord said, except
you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you?
No, no, no. We eat this bread, we drink this
cup physically. It pictures to us, it reminds
us, of our Savior's body which was broken for us, His blood
which was shed for us, but it's not turned into His body and
blood. It's bread right now. It's going
to be bread when you eat it. Right? How then do you eat His
flesh and drink His blood? By faith. By faith. That's the only way. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Not only
a lamb of one year, not only a lamb to pitch your food, but
a lamb to pitch your clothing. A lamb gives its wool, which
is then spun to make thread and to make cloth and to make clothes. He's the lamb of God, which gives
unto us the garment of salvation. That best robe, that righteousness,
of the Lord Jesus. The text here tells us one lamb
was to be offered in the morning and no other offering, no other
offering, and the Jews were very particular about this. From what
we read of those who know these things, who've studied these
things out, they were very particular about this. And the reason being,
no other offering could be offered until this lamb was offered early
in the morning, the break of day, when the sun was just coming
over the horizon. And they had men, priests, yes,
in the tabernacle, associated with the tabernacle and later
with the temple. And that was their job, to watch
and to give the news. It's day. The light is shining. Now we offer this sacrifice.
Some believe that is what David meant in Psalm 130 when he wrote,
my soul waited for the Lord more. My soul waited for the Lord more
than they that watch for the morning. Because that was their
job and it was very serious. Not to offer a lamb while it
was dark, but not to wait. Soon as it was light, early in
the morning, there was a lamb which was slain. And then the
other lamb we see in verse 41, in the evening. In the evening,
this was three o'clock in the afternoon. I would remind us
this evening that the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified at 9 a.m. At 12 a.m. there was darkness
which covered the face of the earth. At the even, at three
o'clock, he dismissed his spirit. The same time that this second
lamb was slain every day, the Lord Jesus Christ died. It's
interesting when Elijah confronted those false prophets on Mount
Carmel. You remember what he did, what
the scriptures tell us, when it was time for the evening sacrifice. What sacrifice? This sacrifice
that was offered every morning and every evening in Jerusalem. Here, I have some suggested pictures
from this type. The offering of a lamb in the
morning and at evening pictures that Christ's one sacrifice for
sins reaches from the morning of the world until the end of
the world. That over this period of time
now, however long it's been and until the Lord comes again, There's
never been, there never will be, but one sacrifice that effectually
puts away sin. As the writer of Hebrews said,
for about one offering, he hath sanctified forever, or he hath
cleansed forever those that are sanctified. Let me, I'm not quoting
that right. Let's look at that, Hebrews chapter
10. Verse 14, for by one offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. By one offering. Verse 12, but
this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever
sat down on the right hand of God. In the morning of this world,
man offered typical sacrifices, such as Abel. The scripture says
by faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than
Cain. Now he wasn't the first one to
offer sacrifice, we know that, but it was early on, it was in
the morning. And then the apostle tells us
in Hebrews 12, now once in the end of the world hath he appeared
to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. You say, well, the
end of the world, the world's still going on. The end of that
Jewish world, that old dispensation. Morning and evening. And this is also pictured unto
us. The saving, the saving efficacy,
the power. We sing that hymn sometimes.
There's power, power, wonder-working power in the blood of Jesus. The saving efficacy in the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ will continue to the end of this world. It will continue to cleanse His
people from their sins. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to cleanse us, to forgive us of our sins. His blood never loses its power. That hymn that we sing sometimes,
there's a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. shall never lose its power until
all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more. Until we're all gathered home
with our Father, the blood of Jesus Christ will continue to
cleanse His people. And there are none of God's children
who live without sin. We don't brag about that, we're
ashamed of that, but it's the truth. John said, if any man
sin, someone said it should be when any man sin. We have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who is
the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for
the whole world. There's only one propitiation
that satisfies God, and that is His offering. The fact that these sacrifices
were to be repeated two times, day after day after day after
day after day, only served to show that they really couldn't
remove sin. They didn't have that power,
but they could picture the way the Lord would remove sin. And
they were to cease, they were to cease when the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Lamb of God, when he died, and all of these Old
Testament sacrifices, offerings were to come to an end. And God made sure they did. God made sure they did, didn't
he? In 70 AD, the Roman Soldiers
came to Jerusalem and leveled it to the ground. And now there's
a mosque built there on that temple mount. And the Jews know
that's the only place that they could offer a sacrifice. And
so now they tell those who are Jewish believers, well, we can't
offer sacrifice now because It's only there that the sacrifice
can be offered and there's a mosque there. God brought it to an end,
didn't he? Sure he did. He brought it to
an end to testify to this world once and forever that there's
only one sacrifice which will put away your sin. Third, this ordinance consisted
of three offerings. The two lambs were burnt. They
were a burnt offering. Notice that in verse 41. The
two lambs were offered, and then we read in verse 41, and the
other lamb thou shalt offer it even, and shalt do thereto according
to the meat offering of the morning, and according to the drink offering
for a sweet savor, an offering made by fire unto the Lord. They were burnt. Offerings verse
42. This shall be a continual burnt
offering throughout your generations the burn offering There's five
major offerings There was a burn offering and that was the one
that was given first in Leviticus chapter 1 there's a burn offering
the meat offering the the sin offering the peace offering the
trespass offering five major offerings And with these two
lambs every day, that was an offering unto the Lord. And I
look there in Leviticus chapter one, where the instructions for
the burn offering are given, and 17 verses in that chapter,
the way it is divided, and seven times we read unto the Lord,
before the Lord, to the Lord. In other words, this burn offering
was to God. It was an offering to God. The Lord Jesus Christ, remember
this, he had to do something for God before he could do something
for us. God first had to be propitiated. He had to be pleased. There was
also, we read here with this offering, the meat offering.
That used to confuse me, the meat offering. It was actually
a meal, M-E-A-L, a meal offering. It was the only bloodless offering
of those five offerings. It was the only bloodless offering. Fine flour with oil poured upon
it. It was flour that had been ground
fine and then oil poured upon it. There was no unevenness. Like you ladies, when you're,
you used to, I don't know if you still have to do this, sift
flour to get all the lumps out. It's very fine. There's no unevenness
in the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, some people are, they
have this, they're very good at this and Outstanding in this
particular thing, maybe in long-suffering and patience, but maybe not so
much in love and gratitude. No, in the Lord Jesus Christ,
this offering pictured the evenness, the perfection of the Savior. Perfect, without any fault, without
any flaw. And then there was also the drink
offering. Now, the drink offering was not
one of the five major offerings, and it was offered along with
several of the other offerings. The wine was poured out upon
the altar. The lambs were burned upon the
altar, and the flower was put upon the altar. The wine was
poured out on the altar, no doubt picturing to you and I. The blood
of Jesus Christ that was poured out at Calvary. The blood of
Jesus Christ that was poured out at Calvary that still cleanses
from all sin. Let me close with this, John
Gill's comment on this type. And I quote, this may teach us
that the sacrifices of prayer and praise should be morning
and evening. In the morning, we should express
our thankfulness for the mercies of the night and pray for the
continuance of them the day following. And at the evening, we should
offer up the sacrifices of praise for the mercies of the day and
pray for the mercies of the night. One lamb in the morning, one
lamb in the evening. And the sacrifices that we now
offer are praise and thanksgiving and we should offer them in the
morning and in the evening and actually all through the day.
Amen? Pray the Lord will bless this
message to all of us tonight.