All right, let's go back now
to Exodus 25. This is the giving of the pattern
of the tabernacle. And we see down there in verse
9, the Lord said, according to all that I show thee, after the
pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all the instruments
thereof, even so shall ye make it. God was He told Moses that
he had to make everything after the pattern that God showed him.
I've titled this message Christ the Pattern. The reason God told
Moses this is because everything about the tabernacle, everything
about the furniture, the services, the high priest, the sacrifices,
Everything about this tabernacle pictured our Lord Jesus Christ.
Everything. Everything. So much so that beginning
right here, all the way to chapter 40, with the exception of three
chapters, all the way to chapter 40, God's going to talk about
the tabernacle and the furniture and the offerings. And He's going
to tell us all about it until chapter 40. He's going to do
this. So for our divisions this morning,
I'm going to look first of all at Christ in the offering, secondly,
Christ in the materials, and thirdly, Christ in the tabernacle.
Christ is the pattern. Christ is the pattern. Now first
of all, let's look at Christ in the offering. 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. This is quite amazing
if you think about it, that God gives his people the privilege
of offering a gift to God. That's amazing. This was not
an offering for atonement. This was a heave offering, meaning
it was a thank offering. It was out of gratitude to God
that they gave it. Giving in the name of God is
not us giving something to God. When we give in the name of God,
that's God's gift to us. How so? Everything involved God
first gave to us. He gave us the new heart to be
willing to give. He gave us the substance to be
able to give. He gave us the opportunity to
give to. Everything about it God first
gave to us. You look at the children of Israel.
He's going to talk about gold and silver and silk and all these
expensive materials. Where'd they get that? God gave it to them. A man will
say, well, I just don't see how God's going to be able to give
me anything. Do you think the Israelites, you think they didn't
think that when they were slaves in Egypt? And yet God put it
in the heart of the Egyptians to give them all this stuff.
Just freely give it to them. God provided every gift that
they're going to offer. It came from God. And that's
the same with us. We don't offer God anything that He had first
given to us. Listen to this. Who hath first
given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again. There's
nobody that first gave to God. For of him, and through him,
and to him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. We don't have any reason to boast
in our giving. Everything came from God. And
when he gives, when a child of God gives for the cause of Christ,
gives to his poor brethren, gives toward his building, or any way
he gives in the cause of Christ, That poor believer is giving
to God himself. And for that reason, God will
not allow his people to go broke. Giving. He won't allow that.
Listen to this. Proverbs 19, 17. He that hath
pity upon the poor, lendeth unto the Lord. He that has pity on the poor,
he that gives to the poor, he's lending unto the Lord. And that
which he hath given will the Lord pay him again. You see that? The Lord's not
going to let his people go broke giving for his cause. He wouldn't
do that. But in his child, God requires
a willing heart. This is what God requires, a
willing heart. He says there, every man that
giveth it willingly with his heart. We can fool one another
because we can only see the outward. But God looks on the heart. God
can see the motive. He can see the secret motive
and the reason why we do a thing. And God says in this thing of
giving, it has to be from a giving, a willing heart. God requires
what no man has by nature. No man by nature has a willing
heart. But that's what God requires. He said, every man according
as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly
or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. That's a definition
of a willing heart. It's someone who purposes in
his heart. He plans it. It's somebody who has a willing
heart. He does nothing grudgingly. He
doesn't feel like it's of necessity that he has to give. He's giving
willingly. And he cheerfully gives. He wants
to do it. That's a willing heart. And this
willing heart comes from Christ Jesus. We don't have it by nature. God said, thy people, speaking
to Christ, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power.
That's how we're willing to believe on Christ, that's how we're willing
to commit to Christ, that's how we're willing to give to the
cause of Christ. It's all by the power of Christ.
He gave us everything, everything. But the main reason here that
this had to be a willing heart is because even this offering
up of this thank offering, is a picture of Christ. And everything
Christ did when He walked this earth, our Lord Jesus Christ
did willingly. He did it willingly. And the
scripture tells us this is all our salvation. Listen, this is
Hebrews 10, 7. Then said I, this is Christ speaking. Then said I, lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it's written of me, to do thy will, O God. And then it says, by the witch
will. By his will, we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all
time. It's salvation's not by my will. Salvation's not by your will.
Salvation is by Christ's will. It's by his will that we're sanctified. Because he went to the cross
and laid down his life for his people. We're holy in Christ
and righteous in Christ. Now secondly, let's look at Christ
in the materials. Exodus 25 verse 3, he says, 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,
that is silk, and goat's hair, and ram skins dyed red, and badger
skins, and shittum wood, oil for the light, spices for anointing
oil, and for sweet incense, onyx stones, and stones to be set
in the ephod and in the breastplate. That's what the high priests
wore. Now some of these materials are very expensive. They speak
of honor. and they're beautiful, gold,
silver, brass, blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen. Others are
plain. Other of these materials are
just plain. They're nothing to look upon, like goat's hair and
ram skins dyed red and badger skins. If you saw the outside
of that tabernacle, you wouldn't think it was anything, because
it's covered over in badger skins. Can you imagine? what it looked
like, it wasn't pretty to look at. But inside that tabernacle,
everything was gold. Gold everywhere. And silver and
purple and blue and all these things. When our Lord Jesus,
look at Isaiah 53. When our Lord Jesus came, Men
expected him to come in great pomp and circumstance and they
expected him to look like a mighty king and somebody to really be
attractive and look up to. That's not how he came. Look
here, Isaiah 53 too. He shall grow up before him as
a tender plant, as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form
nor comeliness. And when we shall see Him, there's
no beauty that we should desire Him. There was nothing outward
about Christ that was impressive. Nothing. And for that reason,
look, He's despised and rejected of men. A man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from
Him. He was despised and we esteemed Him not. But go to Hebrews 7
and look at this, Hebrews 7. So like that tabernacle, Christ
was nothing to look upon outwardly. There was nothing impressive
about our Lord Jesus outwardly. He had no form, no comeliness,
nothing to make us desire him. You know, that's why Christ tells
you and me not to use our almsgiving Not to use our prayers, not to
use our ministries to attract people. We don't want anything
other than Christ to attract people. And that's what most
churches are using. You go on their websites, they
talk about how many prayer services they have. Christ said don't
do your alms before, don't pray before men. They talk about all
their giving. Christ said don't do your alms
before men. Talk about all their ministries.
Why? To attract people to them. It's
marketing all that stuff rather than Christ. But Christ had nothing
outwardly that would appeal to us. But inwardly, He was just
like that tabernacle. Gold. Look here. Verse 26, Hebrews
7, 26. For such a high priest became
us, who is holy, Harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher
than the heavens. Inwardly, Christ is God. He's God. And we rejected God by nature. So that's what the tabernacle
is picturing, first of all. And then the Lord said, offer
me shittum wood. Shittum wood. This shittum wood
was used throughout the tabernacle. The ark was made out of it, the
table of showbread, the altars. It's called by men the imperishable
wood. This wood would not rot. This
wood couldn't be, it couldn't perish. Christ is the imperishable
savior. That's how this Shittim wood
pictures him. He's the imperishable savior. Shittim was a city also. It was in the valley of Shittim.
It was where these trees grew. And it was right on the bank
of the Jordan. And you remember, that's the last city that the
children of Israel, we haven't come to it yet, but that's the
last city they'll be brought to when God holds back the water
of the Jordan and they cross over into the land of Canaan
on dry ground. Well, Christ Jesus came and he's the one who made
it so that the flood of God's justice is held back for his
people and we cross over on dry ground. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
the fury of God's wrath poured out on him, but rather than making
Christ to perish, Christ made the wrath of God to perish against
his people because he satisfied divine justice. He's pictured
here in the Shiddomwood. He's the imperishable Savior. And then he told them, give oil
for light and spices for anointing oil. Both of these picture Christ. Christ is the light. They picture
the Holy Spirit. Christ sends the Holy Spirit.
Christ in you the hope of glory and anoints his people with oil
and gives us light and sweet incense. You picture that incense. Every time they were praying
they had to offer this incense and that smoke rising up to God
is a picture of Christ's intercession for his people making it so that
God will receive our prayer to him. So everything in here is
picturing Christ. when Christ redeemed his people
and he entered into that true holy of holies, into God's presence. We're told here onyx stones and
stones to be set in the ephod in the breastplate. Every time
the high priest went into the holiest of holies, he went by
himself. Nobody went with him. And he went in once a year, picturing
Christ, one offering, picturing Christ doing it by himself. And he made atonement for the
children of Israel, picturing Christ making atonement for his
elect. And he, all the while he was
doing that work, he had these precious stones on his breastplate. What does that picture? Every
one of Christ's elect are precious stones. That's what we're called
in scripture, precious stones. And while Christ went about making
atonement for his people, we were on his heart. We were on
his breast. He was doing it for his people. And that's the picture we'll
see when we come to these high priests. Now, lastly, I want
you to see Christ in the tabernacle. This tabernacle typified Christ
because it was a sanctuary where God dwelt among men. That's how
it pictured Christ. It was a sanctuary where God
dwelt among men. Look at Exodus 25, 8. Let them
make me a sanctuary. That is a holy place. That's
what a sanctuary is. We don't call this room right
here a sanctuary. There's nothing holy about this
room. A holy place. That middle room in the tabernacle,
that was called the holiest of holies. And it pictured God's
presence. That's the holy place. Christ,
the sanctuary. He's the holy place. He's the
holy place. Set apart by God and all his
people set apart in him. He's the holy place. And God
said, make me a sanctuary, a holy place that I may dwell among
them. And he said, 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. Now
it's probable, it's probable. I don't have scriptural proof
of this, but I believe when Moses went up into that mountain, he
saw Christ, and he saw how God's gonna save his people by Christ.
Because God, Christ is the mediator between God and men. And that's
who was speaking to Moses in that mount, same one that was
in the burning bush. When Moses saw the burning bush,
that was the Lord Jesus, pre-incarnate sight of the Lord Jesus. And
so when the Lord told him to make this pattern, make it after
this pattern, Moses knew the importance of this pattern. I
believe these Old Testament saints knew a whole lot more than we
give them credit for. You think of everything Moses
saw. He saw more than you and I have seen. God called him up, put him in
the cleft of a rock. When's the last time God did
that for you? I know he's done it spiritually for us, but I
mean, he hasn't done it physically for us. He did it spiritually
and physically for Moses, and he made all his glory pass before
Moses. I think we're foolish to say
these Old Testament saints didn't know as much as we know. I think
they did. But at any rate, that pattern had to be made exact
because it pictured Christ. Go with me over to Hebrews chapter
8. We'll be turning to Hebrews a
lot as we study these next chapters, next 13 chapters or so, because
Hebrews is a commentary on the tabernacle and the priesthood
and the offerings and all of that. Now look here, he's going
to tell us plainly that all of this I've been telling you pictured
Christ. Look here, Hebrews 8 verse 1. Now of the things which we have
spoken, this is the sum. All the way up to this point
he's been speaking of the offerings and the tabernacle and the high
priest the sacrifices, and now he says, this is the sum of everything
I've been saying. We have such a high priest set
on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens,
a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle which
the Lord pitched and not man." This is the true sanctuary, the
true tabernacle that the Lord erected, not man. And he says,
for every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices.
That was the purpose of a priest. He says, wherefore it's of necessity
that this man, speaking of Christ, have somewhat also to offer. He came to make sacrifices and
offerings. That's what was pictured in the
priest. For if he were on the earth, he should not be a priest,
seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to
the law. And those priests serve unto the example and shadow of
heavenly things. That means just what I'm always
telling you, those priests are pictures of Christ. They're just
shadows of heavenly things. As Moses was admonished of God
when he was about to make the tabernacle, for see, saith God,
that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee
in the mount. That's our text, isn't it? God
said, you make everything just like I told you, but now hath
Christ obtained a more excellent ministry. We say he's a pitcher
of all those things, but don't make any mistake, he's far more
excellent than all those things, all the pitcher. He's obtained
a more excellent ministry by how much also he's the mediator
of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. Now look down at Hebrews 9 in
verse 1. It says, then, verily, The first covenant, the old covenant
of works, had also ordinances of divine service and a worldly
sanctuary. It had an earthy, holy place.
For there was a tabernacle made. The first, he's saying the first
tabernacle, or the first room in the tabernacle wherein was
the candlestick and the table and the showbread, which is called
the sanctuary. We're gonna talk about that next
time. You walked in when you walked into the tabernacle I
had a fence around it and when you walked into the tabernacle
The first place you walked into the first room you walked into
Was called the holy place was called a shank sanctuary and
in that first room It's called here a tabernacle and that first
tabernacle was the candlestick and the table and the showbread
verse 3 and after That is, after you pass through that room and
go into the next room, the second veil, the tabernacle which is
called the holiest of all, this was the holiest of all, which
had the golden censer and the Ark of the Covenant overlaid
round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna
and Aaron's rod that budded in the tables of the Covenant. and
over at the cherubims of glory, shadowing the mercy seat. And
he says, I can't go into detail about that right now, I don't
have time. But verse 6, now when these things were thus ordained,
when God called Moses up and told him to make all these things,
the priests went always into the first tabernacle. You notice
he didn't say the high priest, he said the priests. There was
two kinds of priests, there was priests, And then there was her
priest. God has made his people priests
under God, not her priest. He's made us priests under God
that we may be able to offer sacrifices to God through the
blood of Christ. That's what was pictured in the
priest. They could just go into that first tabernacle and it
says, But into the second, into the holiest of holies, went the
high priest, alone, once every year, not without blood, which
he offered for himself and for the errors of the people." The
Holy Ghost, this signifying. That means, here's what the Holy
Spirit was picturing right here. That the way into the true holiest
of all, that is into God's presence, was not yet made manifest, while
as the first tabernacle was yet standing. Children of Israel,
remember, they look through a veil. They couldn't see clearly. Christ
came down out of that mount. He had to put a veil over his
face because his face was shining from being in the presence of
God. And so the children of Israel looked through the veil and they
couldn't see things clearly, as clearly. And it says, which
was a figure for the time then present. in which were offered
both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the
service perfect as pertaining to the conscience. They stood
only in meats and drinks and different kinds of washings and
carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation.
But, now look here, Christ being come a 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. It all pictured Christ, but Christ
didn't come of that building. This was a greater, more perfect
tabernacle. Christ came in human flesh. He's
the God-man. Look, neither by the blood of
bulls and goats, of goats and calves, but by his own blood,
He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and
of goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctify
to the purifying of the flesh, if those things God received
men because their flesh was sanctified ceremonially, how much more shall
the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God. And when your conscience is purged,
when you know that there's therefore now no condemnation, now you
can serve God without fear. Now you can serve God because
you want to. Now you can serve God not worrying
about The preacher bringing you under condemnation or the people
bringing you under condemnation, now you can serve God knowing
there is therefore now no condemnation. Look at Hebrews 10. He says, verse one, for the law
having a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of
the things, can never, with those sacrifices which they offered
year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect.
That couldn't make the people perfect, and he said as pertaining
to conscience, the inward man. But look here, for then would
they not have ceased to be offered, If the conscience was purged,
if these offerings had purged their conscience, they wouldn't
offer it anymore. They'd have stopped offering.
Because that the worshippers once purged should have no more
conscience of sin. And that's what I'm saying when
Christ has entered in and the Holy Spirit has entered in and
he's purged our conscience. It's been purged from dead works
in the sense that now we know we don't have to keep offering
things to try to please God. He's pleased. Christ has pleased
him for his people. And so now, like Paul said in
Galatians 2, we've been crucified with Christ, nevertheless we
live so that now we might serve God. Now we can serve God. Now the law's been taken out
of the way, nailed to Christ's cross, so that we can actually
serve God without fear. Isn't that good news? Isn't that
good news? Listen, let me tell you something
about what righteousness is. When you've been made the righteousness
of God in Christ, that means I can't ever break the law of
God at all. past, present, or future. Before God's court, before His
judgment seat, I'm in Christ and I can't break the law because
I'm eternally righteous. If you ever get that, if you
ever get that, you won't sit under preaching anymore. That
brings you into legalism. It brings you into law. and tells
you, you must do this or you can't be saved. Peter, remember
what Peter said when those Pharisees came down there and they started
saying, they didn't have a problem with the people believing on
Christ. But they said, but now you must be circumcised or you
can't enter into heaven. They were saying you must keep
the law or you can't enter into heaven. Peter said, why are you
tempting God? That's what it is. Why are you
tempting God? Why are you bringing a yoke upon
us, Peter said, which neither we nor our fathers could bear? He's saying we could never keep
that law, and our fathers couldn't keep that law. Why are you bringing
it upon these Gentiles? They've never even been under
that law. Do you get the absurdity of what
those men were doing? Here was some men who Christ
had made perfect, had sanctified, justified, made them the righteousness
of God in Him. And here comes these little wheel
workers down there saying, oh but except you do something else,
you can't be saved. You see why that's tempting God?
They're saying that Christ's blood's not enough. And that's
what men are saying when they say, oh, but you must keep the
law. Now understand when you're considering
will workers, understand this. In Romans 14, Paul said, there
are weak brethren who are true believers who think they should
keep this law or that law or what have you. But they don't,
here's the difference in them. They're not going to judge God's
people who know they're free. They're not going to judge the
stronger believer who knows he's free from the law. Unto the Lord
they do what they do, just as the stronger believer does what
he does unto the Lord. And Paul says, so don't judge
one another, because Christ is our master, and unto our own
master we stand or fall, and Christ is able to make us stand.
Christ will teach the weak brother. You be kind to him, and you set
Christ before him, and Christ will teach him that he's free.
But now here's what makes the difference. But if you say to
a man, Christ is our Sabbath, Christ is our rest. Everything
pictured in the law pictured Christ. And Christ is our rest. We're saved. Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. And
that man says, oh no. No, you gotta keep a Sabbath
day. You must do it. You must do it. Now, that man is saying, I believe
this is necessary for my salvation. That's the difference. That is
heresy. That is blasphemy. That's saying
Christ's blood's not enough. That man is in danger of condemnation
because he's willfully rejecting Christ. You see, if you believe
that Christ's blood's not enough, you're not just in error. You've missed the mark completely. That's why Paul said in Galatians,
that if a man preached Will Work's religion, let him be accursed. And he repeated it twice. Why? Because he's preaching another
gospel, which is not another. Do you get that? Christ has redeemed
his people from the curse of the law being made a curse for
us, and he's the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believes. You're saying I can just go out and commit
adultery and I can just go out and get drunk? Why is it that
when we preach this message, why is it that the will worker
always speaks of outward sins when they ask us that question?
They never say, do you mean I can think about adultery and I've
committed sin? Why do they do? Because they
really do think it's just in the outward. You see, you think
about getting drunk and you've gotten drunk with God. You think about committing adultery
and you've committed adultery with God. That's why we can't
keep the law. That's why we can't keep the
law. But thank God Christ Jesus has purged us of our sins by
himself so that God says, I've totally blotted your sins out. There is no record of your sin. That's justification. There's
no more record of your sin. It's gone forever so that it'll
never, ever be brought up again. Cast into the depth of the sea.
cast into Davy Jones' locker. It won't ever be brought up again.
That's the good news of the gospel. That's why we don't bring sinners
back under the law. Well, then how are you made to
do what you ought to do? How are you made to serve God?
How are you made to have a willing heart to come and offer unto
God? Christ. Christ Jesus is working in the
hearts of his people just as real right now, this morning,
as he did when he walked this earth. Just like Christ stood
at that tomb and said, Lazarus, come forth, and Lazarus came
forth. Whatever it is Christ commands
you to do, he speaks into your heart, and that's why you're
gonna do it. You get that? Now, if a man makes
you do something because of law and guilts you into it, here's
the bad news. You hadn't really done it. He
hadn't really done it. God said they must have a willing
heart. You understand that? And that
only comes from Christ. So here's the good news, brethren.
All his people have a willing heart. All his true people. And
we know Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. So
we're controlled by Christ. We know He is the Spirit of God.
The fruits of righteousness are by Jesus Christ. Philippians
1.11. The fruits of righteousness.
What we do is by Jesus Christ unto the praise and glory of
God. He gets all the glory. Whatever
good works God ordained us to, God works in us to make us do
those good works. And that's who gets the glory
and the praise. Do you get that? I pray God will
bless that message. This is going to be a good study
as we go through these next 13 chapters. Let's stand together. Father, we thank you for your
word. Pray your blessings upon it now. Help us to enter into
these things and see how truly Christ is all. all our righteousness,
all our sanctification, all our redemption, all our wisdom, our
all. It's in His precious name we
pray. Amen.