Exodus 25, Exodus 25. Now let me say this and the book
of Exodus from the beginning of chapter 25 here until the
end of chapter 40. With the exception of three chapters,
chapters 32, 33, and 34, the Holy Spirit gives us a detailed
description of the tabernacle. Tells us all about its structure,
all about its furniture, all about the priesthood. An interesting
tidbit about the tabernacle is the fact that there is more space
in scripture devoted to the subject of the tabernacle than any other
single subject. Very interesting that only two
chapters in the book of Genesis suffice for Moses to make a record
of God's work in creation, and yet Moses here requires ten chapters
in Exodus to tell us about the tabernacle. And you'd be amazed
at how many folks neglect to study or preach from these chapters
that were coming up before us here. Many scholars agree that
these chapters simply record Jewish manners and customs that
have long passed and are of little significance and importance,
but that's not so. We know that it's not so because
first of all, we know that all scripture is given by inspiration
of God and it's profitable, all scripture. We also know that
whatever things were written before time, written in the Old
Testament, were written for our learning. So we know that it's
more than just that. Everything about the tabernacle,
from how the materials were gathered to build it, to the type of the
materials themselves, how this tabernacle was structured, all
its furnishings, all the furniture in the tabernacle, the priesthood,
and the sacrifices, and how they were sacrificed. All of it typifies
and points to and pictures the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're
not surprised at that, are we? This is a hymn book. It's all
about hymn. And it points and pictures the
Lord and the salvation that He accomplished Himself for His
elect people. Now, I'm interested in that.
And that's what makes the tabernacle such an important and instructive
type. It gives us, so to speak, a visual
illustration of that heavenly place in which God has His dwelling. And the tabernacle is also a
type of Christ in that it typifies and pictures the communion that
Christ has provided for all believers with God. We talk often about
Christ being our one and only mediator between God and man.
We see that very clearly in the tabernacle. This is the place
where God meets his people, and rightly picturing the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look down at verse nine here.
We'll come back to verse one, but I wanna lay a little foundation
here. In verse nine, the Lord says,
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 said, I'm going to show you
the pattern of the tabernacle. Now the word pattern here means
this, and this is a blessing. The word pattern means a resemblance,
it means a model, it means a figure, a form, a likeness of something. God told Moses, see you and the
people of Israel, you shall make a tabernacle and I'm going to
show you the pattern of it. What God is really saying to
Moses is, I'm going to show you who. I'm going to show you who
the tabernacle resembles. I'm going to show you whose likeness
it shall be erected in. And I'm going to show you the
pattern of not only the tabernacle which pictures Christ, but also
the pattern, the likeness, the resemblance of Him found in everything
that I'm gonna have you put in that tabernacle. Both the tabernacle
and its furnishings shall be a pattern, God says, of all that
I shall show thee. Now that word show in the Hebrew,
these words mean something. It's the word raah, and it means
to reveal. It means to provide. You can
write it down, God says, I'm gonna reveal this to you. And when God shows you what you
need, God will provide for you who you need. He never reveals
your need without revealing to you the remedy. If God shows
you your need of Christ, he'll provide for you all you need
in Christ. The true tabernacle of God is
Jesus Christ. And in Christ, our tabernacle,
that's where God meets and communes with his people. Now, it's in
Christ, our tabernacle, that God meets with us. Paul in Ephesians
1, I won't turn you there, you're familiar with those scriptures,
but in verse 11 he said, we've obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated according to the purpose of Him, God Almighty. It's God that does the saving.
He says, we've been predestinated according to the purpose of Him
who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.
And then He said that we should be to the praise of His glory
who first trusted in Christ. Now that's where salvation is.
Trusting in Christ. Salvation is trusting in Him. And if God doesn't give a dead
sinner life, they'll never trust in Christ because God's got to
give that dead person that dead sinner life before He can ever
give them pain. It's just hand in hand. Paul
goes on to say there in Ephesians chapter 1 that it took the power
of God to give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of Him. Who? The Lord Jesus. Jesus Christ
is the wisdom and revelation of God. Then Paul says the eyes
of your understanding being enlightened. Who enlightened them? God did. God shed His light in our hearts
and revealed the Gospel too. God enlightening your blind eyes. He says, to the hope of His calling
and what is the riches of His glory. When God gives His people
eyes to see, there are at least three things revealed to them
according to Ephesians chapter 1. First, the hope of God's calling
is revealed to the believer. What hope is there in Christ's
calling? A great hope in Christ's calling
because whom he calls, then he also justifies. And whom he justifies,
he also glorifies. So there's great hope in Christ's
calling. Secondly, the believer sees the
riches of God's glory. Have you seen the riches of God's
glory? If you're one of His people, you have. And it's revealed to
the believer, God's glory is seen in the saving of His people
and the inheritance that He gives them by the work of righteousness
that Christ has done. And then thirdly, God's people
see the exceeding greatness of God's power. Don't we see that
so clearly, that power revealed to all who believe? And it's
not what is revealed, but it's who is revealed. It's the hope
of His calling. His calling. It's Christ's calling. It's the riches of God's glory
in Christ. It's the exceeding greatness
of God the Son that saves us. It's all about healing. Our salvation
is according to God's mighty power, which He wrought where?
He tells us, in Christ. Right here in Ephesians chapter
1. This is what the writer of Hebrews is talking about in Hebrews
chapter 9. Now I need to show you this,
so turn with me there. Hold your place in Exodus 25. This is so good. Hebrews chapter
9. I want you to find verse 19.
Hebrews 9 verse 19. Verse 19, for when Moses had
spoken every precept to all the people according to the law,
he took the blood of calves and of goats with water and scarlet
wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book and all the people,
saying, this is the blood of the Testament which God hath
enjoined unto you. Moreover he sprinkled with blood
both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry and almost
all things are by the law purged with blood and without shedding
of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary, pay
attention to these words, it was therefore necessary that
the patterns Patterns of things in the heavens should be purified
with these, speaking of the blood of the sacrifices. But look what
he says here, but the heavenly things themselves with better
sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself. Now to appear in the presence
of God for us. You see, he's our one mediator.
Only he could go into the presence of God to represent us. Verse 25, nor yet that he should
offer himself often as the high priest entereth into the holy
place every year with blood of others. For then must he often
have suffered since the foundation of the world, but now once in
the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself." Now this tabernacle was a symbol of God's
dwelling place. There is a sanctuary wherein
resides the presence of God. And Jesus Christ is that sanctuary. Jesus Christ is that tabernacle. Not the tabernacle made with
men's hands, or by men's efforts, or by men's work. When Solomon
finished the temple that he built in Jerusalem, he said, the heavens
can't contain God. How much less this house which
I have built. God can't be contained in what
men build with their hands. Look up at verse 11 here in Hebrews
chapter 9. Verse 11, But 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. So once again, we see
that the tabernacle in the wilderness, the tabernacle in the Old Testament,
pictures the Lord Jesus Christ. In the tabernacle, we see Christ
in the offering, We see Christ in the materials that made the
tabernacle. And we see that Christ is the
true tabernacle of God. So let's consider these three
things, at least tonight. Christ is the offering. Now back
in Exodus chapter 25, and I won't turn you, well, maybe at the
end I will, but chapter 25, Exodus verse one. 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, ye shall take mine. Now, this religious world
has made a mockery, really, out of giving to God, giving unto
God. No wonder people are leery of
going to church and giving to churches. All they see anymore
on television, online, all they hear on radio and in personal
and private conversation is pretty much preachers begging for money
or people talking about preachers begging for money. And it's no
wonder that they do. Their little G-God is just that.
He's a beggar. He wants, He needs, He tries
to do, but our God needs nothing from no one. He said that, didn't
He? He said if He needed something, but He doesn't. If He did. He said, if I needed something,
He wouldn't even tell us. Have you ever thought about why
God wouldn't tell us if He needed something? Because He knows we
don't have anything. We don't have anything to give.
We can't even help ourselves. This is so foreign to so many
folks, but it's nonetheless true. God gives His people the privilege
of offering a gift to God. And I said that deliberately
that way. God gives us the privilege of
giving. And what a privilege it is to
give. Now God here is not speaking of an offering for the atonement
of sin. God here is talking about an
offering of thanks. An offering of thanksgiving.
This offering, as we read, was to be made willingly. The man
and the woman that gives willingly with his heart, he said. shall
take or partake of God's offering." Well, what does that mean? Well,
that doesn't mean that God offers something for you to accept or
to reject. Doesn't mean that at all. That
means that Christ is God's offering for sin. The sinner that has
Christ has life. And the sinner that don't have
Christ doesn't have life. The question is, have you partaken
of God's offering? Christ is that offering. Not
His offer to you, but His offering for you. And we're right back
to the same thing. God provides the offering that
He requires. I think we see that clearly here.
Giving in the name of God is a gift of God to us, really.
How so? Because everything that's involved
in our giving is God's gift to us. If you really think about
it, it is. God gave us the heart to give. God gave us the substance
to give. God gives us the opportunity
to give. And God gives us the willingness,
the willingness to give. Everything God requires, God
provides. And God requires all that God
requires, He gives to us as a gift. And it's through the blood and
the righteousness of Christ. Paul asked this question, he
said, who hath first given unto God? Good question. You hear people
talk today, it sounds like a lot of folks are giving to God. Sounds
like, they make it sound like God needs them to give to Him. But the question of Scripture
is, where were we when God made the heavens? And that's exactly
what Paul's asking in Romans 11. Have we first given to God? Does God owe us any recompense? Is what he asks. No, God owes
us nothing. He says, for of Him and through
Him and to Him are all things to whom be glory forever. When
a believer gives for the cause of Christ, they're giving to
God Himself. That's why you can't go broke. meeting the needs of the gospel
and the needs of God's people. Solomon wrote, he that hath pity
upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord. And that which he hath given
will he, God, pay him again. You've all heard the saying,
and so have I, that you can't out-give God. And I know that
that's the spiel that religious hucksters use to try, who are
out for money. I know it's, they say, oh, you
can't out-give God, you can't out-give God, and you give God
this, God'll give you 30, 60, 100 fold. That's not what this
is talking about. But it's true, you can't out-give
God. They say give until it hurts,
but we know that's not correct because it doesn't say, the Bible
doesn't say that God loves a hurting giver. It says that God loves
a cheerful giver. And I can't cheerfully give if
it hurts to give. And I'm not trying to be funny,
I'm trying to be serious. God makes giving a privilege. And God makes it a cheerful thing
to give. And this giving is done with
a willing heart. A willing heart is something
that God has to give. Isn't that right? None of us
have it by nature. You will not come to Christ.
By nature, we're only concerned with what concerns us. By nature,
we're unwilling. Unwilling to believe God. Unwilling
to come to Christ. Unwilling to bow to Him. Unwilling to give. But God makes
His people willing, when in the day of His power. It took the
power of God to make us willing. Every man or woman that willingly
brings God an offering here, we're told, with his heart. With
God, all things are a matter of the heart. And that's the
kind of heart that God gives in the day of His power. He gives
a willing heart. God looks on the heart. He knows
our hearts. You know, when Jeremiah said
in chapter 17, verse 9, that the heart within us, all of us,
every one of us, is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked. But after he said that, he asked
this question. He said, speaking of the heart,
who can know it? I wonder why he asked that. Cuz he wants us to know that
we certainly can. and that only God can. We can't know our hearts. No, Jeremiah's letting us know
that only God can. We can't know the depths of our
evil. We can't know the depths of our
depravity unless God reveals it to us. And even when he does
reveal it to us, we're so, as I said Sunday, infected and affected
by sin that we can't even fathom the depths. of what God shows
us. So only God can know, truly know
our hearts. All men and women fool one another.
But they can't fool God and a believer doesn't want to because we know
that God looks on the heart and that God knows the heart. You're
not going to pull anything over God's eyes. All things are naked
and open unto Him with whom we have to do. Isn't that what we're
taught? God loves that which no man or
woman has by nature, and that's a willing heart. Oh, Lord, give
me a willing heart. Make me willing in the day of
your power. Now, here's a very good definition
of what a willing heart is. Let me read it to you. It's found
in 2 Corinthians 9, verse 7. It says, every man according
as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly,
or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver." Now, a willing
heart does not give grudgingly, and a willing heart doesn't do
anything grudgingly. A willing heart gives cheerfully. Now listen to this. It's here
that Paul tells us what God will do for a cheerful giver. I should have probably turned
you here, but listen. He said, God is able Speaking
of a cheerful giver, what God will do for a cheerful giver.
He said God is able to make all grace abound toward you. That
you always having all sufficiency. That simply means everything
you need. God provides for you everything
you need, a cheerful giver. and all things may abound unto
every good work." God will make all grace abound unto you. Boy,
I like the sound of that. God will cause us to have sufficiency
in our life. Christ promised us that if we
seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, Which, by the
way, is the Lord Jesus Christ. Seeking God's righteousness is
seeking Christ. But those who seek Christ will
have every need provided in this life. Need, not greed, but need. The Lord said, that which we
eat and that which we drink and that which we shall be clothed
with, our Heavenly Father knows that we have these needs. And
He provides for them. He said, look at the lilies of
the field. What about the sparrows? Not
one falls to the ground. How much more so you, whom He
loved and chose and gave to Christ before the foundation of the
world? How much more will He do for you? God supplies all
our needs. Everything Christ did for His
elect, He did willingly. And in providing our needs, singular,
which is Christ, In Him, God provides all our needs. All our
physical and all our spiritual needs. And Christ did it all
willingly, and He did it all voluntarily. First for God, and
then for His people. He said this, He said, Lo, I
come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy
will, O God. Did the Lord Jesus do God's will? Oh, you better believe He did.
From His first recorded words in the Scriptures, which said,
I must be about my Father's business, all the way to His last words
on the cross, it's finished. Meaning that He'd done everything
that God gave Him to do. He finished it. Christ willingly
and voluntarily did it all. that did all that God requested
and all that His people required. And that's the main reason that
this offering had to be from a willing heart. It typifies
the willing heart found in the Lord Jesus. Our Lord's whole
life, even until His death, was a thank offering unto God His
Father. Now, we also see Christ in the
materials of the tabernacle, and I'm not going to go into
great detail tonight, kind of just laying the foundation here,
but I think you'll enjoy these studies. I'm sure enjoying studying
for them. I believe you will too. But we
see Christ in the materials here of the tabernacle. Look at verse
3 in Exodus 25. And this is the offering which
ye shall take of them, gold, and silver, and brass, and blue,
and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goat's hair,
and ram's skins dyed red, and badger's 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. Now did you notice here that
some of these materials were expensive things. They were beautiful
things. Gold, silver, brass, blue, purple,
scarlet, fine linen. Other of these materials were
nothing special to look upon, just plain common thing. Goat's
hair, ram skin dyed red, badger skin. If you saw the outside
of the tabernacle in the wilderness, you would see that it was covered
with badger skin. There was nothing at all fancy
on the outside concerning the tabernacle. But inside, oh, that
tabernacle was full of gold and silver and brass, purple, scarlet,
fine linen. What a picture of Christ. Well,
how so, you might ask? Well, like the tabernacle in
the wilderness. Outwardly, there was nothing
about the Lord Jesus that would impress men and women. The scripture
says there was no outward beauty that we should desire Him. But
like that tabernacle within the Lord Jesus, we see Christ is
God. For such a high priest became
us who's holy and harmless and undefiled, separate from sinners
and made higher than the heavens. Jesus Christ is God. Oh my. What about the Shittum wood,
Acacia wood? It was extensively used in the
building of the Tabernacle, the building of the Ark of the Covenant,
the Table of Showbread, and the altars. And it's called by many
an imperishable wood. When Theresa and I shopped for
new flooring, we were recommended acacia wood by the floor dealer
because of how hard and how durable it was said to be. And what a
pitcher shittum wood is of Christ, our imperishable Savior. What about the oil for light
and spices for anointing oil spoken of in verse six? Well,
both of them picture God the Holy Spirit. Sweet incense, that
pictures Christ, our sweet-smelling savor of life and delight. Onyx
stones and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate,
these represent the elect of God. Each time that priest went
into the holiest of holies to make atonement for the children
of Israel, he had these precious stones near his heart on the
breastplate. And when Christ redeemed His
people from their sin and entered into the true holy of holies,
in God's presence, He had each of His elect in and on His heart,
and having loved His own that were in the world, He loved them
unto the end. These things all picture and
represent something. Jesus Christ is the tabernacle. Jesus Christ is our sanctuary. Look at verse eight, and let
them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. I was
thinking today about Moses being in the mountain with God for
40 days and 40 nights. My, can you imagine the glory
of God came down on that mountain and Moses went up and he was
with the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights. Now let me ask you,
is it not probable that God showed Moses how He would save His people
from their sin? That it would be in and that
it would be by and through His Son? Don't you just know that
God said, this tabernacle, Moses, it pictures My beloved Son. He's
your sanctuary. He's where God and men commune
together. Is it not probable that God showed
Moses how this tabernacle pictured Christ, and that it must be made
after the pattern of all that He had shown? I know I'm about
out of time, but I do want to show you this. Turn back with
me to Hebrews chapter 8, and I'll finish up. I'm not just gonna wear you out
on this tonight, but look at Hebrews chapter eight with me.
Verse one. Hebrews eight, verse one. The writer of Hebrews writes,
now of the things which we have spoken, This is the sum. We have such a high priest who
is 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. 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 he were on
earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests
that offer gifts according to the law, 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. That's talking about what we're
talking about in Exodus 25, verse six. But now hath he obtained
a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator
of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had
been faultless, then should no place have been sought. for the
second. The first covenant of works was
not faultless. It was weak through the flesh
and that was our flesh as we've said so many times. And again
we see here that Christ in the second covenant, the covenant
of grace, He provided for us the perfection that God required
from us because He is a surety of this better testament. That
simply means that salvation is of the Lord. If God saves you,
you're going to be saved and forever saved. And there's just
no other message. Jesus Christ is our sanctuary. It's in Him that God dwells with
us. God said, let them make me a
sanctuary that I may dwell among them. But Christ is that sanctuary,
but He was given to us. We didn't make Him Lord, we didn't
make Him this sanctuary, God did. And God gave Him to us. Those who cheerfully give to
God, what did He say? I'll give unto them an offering. And that offering is Christ. God gives to the believer, to
the elect of God, Christ, for their offering, salvations of
the Lord. I love saying that. Salvation
of the Lord and Jesus Christ is Lord, so salvation's in Him. He is the Lord. He is our Savior. He is the gospel. He's what we
preach. He's our message. Paul said, woe unto me if I preach
not the gospel. Woe unto me if I preach not Christ. Oh, may God enable us. to trust
in him who is our sanctuary and our tabernacle. And like I said,
I encourage you to come hear these studies. I believe they'll
be profitable to you.