Exodus chapter 40 verses 1 through
16, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, On the first day of the
first month shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of
the congregation. And thou shalt put therein the
ark of the testimony, and cover the ark with the veil. And thou
shalt bring in the table, and set in order the things that
are to be set in order upon it. And thou shalt bring in the candlestick
and light the lamps thereof. And thou shalt set the altar
of gold for the incense before the ark of the testimony and
put the hanging of the door to the tabernacle. And thou shalt
set the altar of the burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle
of the tent of the congregation. And thou shalt set the laver
between the tent of the congregation and the altar, and shalt put
water therein. And thou shalt set up the court
round about, and hang up the hanging at the court gate. And
thou shalt take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle,
and all that is therein. And thou shalt hallow it and
all the vessels thereof, and it shall be holy. And thou shalt
anoint the altar of the burnt offering, and all his vessels,
and sanctify the altar, and it shall be an altar most holy. And thou shalt anoint the laver
and his foot, and sanctify it. And thou shalt bring Aaron and
his sons unto the door of the tabernacle, the congregation,
and wash them with water. And thou shalt put upon Aaron
the holy garments, and anoint him, and sanctify him, that he
may minister unto me in the priest's office. And thou shalt bring
his sons, and clothe them with coats, and thou shalt anoint
them, as thou didst anoint their father, that they may minister
unto me in the priest's office. For their anointing shall surely
be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.
Thus did Moses according to all that the Lord commanded him so
to do. So in chapter 39, we read in
verse 32, which is kind of telling us what's going on here. Thus
all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation
finished And the children of Israel did according to all that
the Lord commanded Moses, so did they." So before this, in
these wilderness wanderings and all this time, they did not have
the tabernacle. Now they do. It's finished. It's ready to go. So perhaps
it is fit at this time and at this month Firstly, set our thoughts upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. Though we are to set our affections
on things above all the live long year, And time has really
no meaning with God and His thoughts and His actions. Yet for us,
for us mere humans, we like to, I quit making resolutions a long
time ago, but we like to start things anew. We like to start
things afresh. You know, when I was in school,
scared to death when I was a freshman to go into a new school with
older kids. But then my sophomore year, I
was ready. And junior and then senior year,
So these are phases, if you will. You go through grade school,
kindergarten, all these different things. And I looked forward
to most of it because my friends were there. And so as we enter
this new year, we let us set aside so to speak, a time of
refreshing, a time of renewal, a time of reflection on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Because what I'm going to look
at is verse 2. On the first day of the first
month, thou shalt set up the tabernacle. Now, turn with me
to John chapter 1. John chapter 1. John chapter 1, and I believe
it's verse 14. Let's look at this as it's written
in the King James, and then I'll tell you a little bit more about
it. And the Word, that's Christ,
was made flesh, that's Christ, and dwelt among us. And we beheld
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth." Now let's go back over that and look
at it again. And the Word was made flesh and
that Word is tabernacled. That Word in the Greek is tabernacled. He tabernacled. He dwelt among us. Emmanuel, God with us. Tabernacling, God among us. Let's go back to our text in
Exodus. Let us, in this place, in this
building, every time we gather together, let us set up our tabernacle. and I'm not saying
we can do anything. I'm not saying we're going to
exalt Christ or we're going to put Him in His proper place.
No, He's already in His proper place. He's already seated at
the right hand of the Father, interceding for every one of
His chosen people. But as I look at this, Moses
said on the first day of the first month, the Lord spoke unto
Moses and said on the first day of the first month, January 1st,
whatever, the first month of the year, 2020. This is us here
this morning. Let us set up the tabernacle. Let us, we don't let Him do anything,
but may we, as Paul exhorts us many times in the Scriptures,
may we set Him up. May He be our primary thought
in 2021. May we be our primary the only intercessor between
God and man, the man Christ Jesus, may we go to Him quicker than
we did last year. May we ask God for grace to worship
Him as He allows. And so this is one of these things
that I saw this and it's the first day of the first month,
I thought, this is fine. We need to be exhorted in such
a way. So to use this phrase in chapter 40, may He have the
preeminence. May He have the first fruit. May He be our all in all. May
He be lifted up among us, sought early, sought often, and may
He be found of us through His free and sovereign grace. Turn with me to Zephaniah chapter
3. Zephaniah 3. Before Zechariah, they're both
there together. Zephaniah 3. May we hear at this
place, may this passage in Zephaniah, may it be said of us through
our tabernacle, through the Lord Jesus Christ. Zephaniah 3, verses
14, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O
Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all
the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord hath taken away thy
judgments. He hath cast out thine enemy.
The King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee.
Thou shalt not see evil any more." Every time we gather together,
He says we're two or three are gathered together. What does
He say? I'm in your midst. This is what he's talking about.
We're here, not Old Testament, but we're tabernacle. We come together in this place.
But who's in this place? It's like Bruce said this morning.
We don't have any choir robes. We don't have any choir up here.
We're not vying for attention. We're simply preaching about
our tabernacle. So read on, verse 16, "...in
that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, to His chosen people,
fear Thou not, and to Zion, let not Thine hands be slack." In
2021, if we see something that needs to be done, let us do it
with all of our might and our strength. If our neighbor needs
help, let us help them. All we do is, if they don't know
the Gospel, it doesn't matter to show kindness, to let our
hands not be slack. The Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice
over thee with joy. He will rest in His love. He
will joy over thee with singing. I will gather them that are sorrowful
for the solemn assembly. Every time we gather together
in this solemn assembly, He will be with us. who are of thee to
whom the reproach of it was a burden. Behold, at that time I will undo
all that afflict thee, and I will save her that halteth and gather
her that was driven out, and I will get them praise and fame
in every land where they have been put to shame. At that time
will I bring you again even in the time that I gather you, for
I will make you a name and a praise among all the people of the earth
when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord."
Oh, to have our captivity, our children's captivity, turned.
To have it turned. Our neighbors, our family, to
have them, to speak them the truth, come here. Come hear the
Word. Come hear the Gospel. The salvation
that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. So to reiterate, every time these
doors are opened, may Christ be set up, set up the tabernacle
among us. May He be exalted, worshipped,
and reverenced by us. I would say, as we start the
year, and the day and the month, rightly. Now in the context of this, I
got to thinking, can you imagine the Jews, can you imagine the
Hebrews at this time Moses did look upon the work,
and behold, they had done it as the Lord commanded, even so
they had done it, and Moses blessed them." Can you imagine, you're
out in the wilderness, you don't really have a permanent place
to stay. Can you imagine the excitement of the tabernacle
being set up in their midst? That would be a day worth remembering.
in the mind of the Hebrews and the mind of the Hebrew children,
every time we gather together, as the Lord allows, may this
be a time of rejoicing, may be a special time. The tabernacle is finished. It's
now to be set up in their midst. Oh, what a day that was. Oh, what a day that was! In the
same chapter, chapter 40, look at what's starting in verse 33. And he reared up the court, round
about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the hangings
of the court gates, so Moses finished the work. Then a cloud
covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled
the tabernacle. And when the cloud was taken
up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward
on their journeys. But if the cloud were not taken
up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up.
For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and
fire was on it, the tabernacle by night, in the sight of all
the house of Israel throughout all their journeys. He, because
He tabernacled, was made flesh of our flesh and bone of our
bone, lived, suffered, bled and died, a substitutes life, a sacrificial
lamb, the holy, harmless, pure lamb of God for our sins. He did for us what we could never
do for ourselves. Throughout all our journeys,
we have a promise. that our tabernacle will not
leave us, nor will He forsake us." The anticipation of these Hebrews,
of worship, the anticipation of seeing us, our sins taken
away, placed upon our substitute, and abolished, gone, never to
be heard from again, because this was all typified, and it
was done in the tabernacle, the sacrifices. the anointing oil,
everything, and you brought your sacrifice, if you were rich,
or if you had money, you brought a lamb, if you didn't, you brought
a turtle dove, you brought it, it was taken, and you knew, at
least typically, that your sins were covered. We know of a, surely,
certainly, absolutely, God speaks in absolutes, we know that our
tabernacle has separated our sins as far as east from the
west. He's cast them behind His back.
He's cast them into the sea, never to be brought up again.
Oh, let us in this place set up the tabernacle every time
we gather together. Christ hath fulfilled all things
against us, and to Him be glory and honor. He is accomplished,
He's satisfied, and He is now accepted, is heard, in these
courts in Jackson, Missouri. You come here, this is what you
hear. God is satisfied. God is accepted. God has accomplished
that which he went forth to do through his Son. But another
thing I noticed in the verses 4 through the end of the section
I read is that everything was done in order and set up exactly
as God had prepared to. Everything was done, predestined
you could say, as God had prepared and told Moses and Aaron to do.
We don't need to reinvent how God is to be worshipped, no.
He has set up His tabernacle before us to serve Christ, to
adore the Anointed One, not through will-worship as we saw this morning
in Bible class, not through will-worship, but through the singing of hymns
and the reading of the Word, prayer and preaching. As Paul
says in 1 Corinthians 14, things should be done in order. And
we've been doing it this way. And if there's a better way,
let me know. But I think once we get man's input, we start
to muddy the water. So we just keep it simple. We
talk about our tabernacle. Our tabernacle. Our God is not
the God of chaos. He's the God of order. Order. He will be worshipped, and He
will be had in reverence His way, not our way. Turn with me
back to John chapter 1. John chapter 1. We'll start in
verse 11. Christ came unto His own, and
His own received Him not. But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name, which were born not of blood, nor of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
But of God. The word was made flesh and dwelt. tabernacled among us. And every
time we gather together, we behold His glory. Because the glory
of the Father is the glory of the Son. The glory is the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. You will
hear the truth and you will hear of grace. And they are not opposed,
they are mutually together. Not works and grace, not what
you've done for God and what He can do for you, not your cooperation,
not your walking in an aisle, not anything. It's Christ and
Christ alone. There was only one tabernacle.
One tabernacle. There's one faith, one Lord,
one baptism. And I do not apologize. I'm thankful
and humble that this tabernacle, this gospel is here in this place. And you can see how popular it
is. But that's okay. I'm not going to make any New
Year's resolutions. And I'm not going to ask you.
I'm only saying this. Let us ask for more grace. More
of a sight of Christ. to be more like Christ, to seek
Him early, if we'd never have Sodom yet, in 2021. People say 2020 was a horrible
year, and this and that. It was just a year. It was just
a year. Good things and bad things happen
every year. We like to, I've heard all these
different news, I always get it, you know, this and that,
it's horrible, horrible. Well, you're saying God didn't
know what He was doing. No, God knew exactly what He was doing.
He knew exactly what He was doing. But let us seek Him early. Let
us speak of Him and His saving grace and simply ask to primarily
seek Him and His Kingdom first, which is what Matthew says. knowing
that our God is good to His word and His word of promise towards
His dear people. Put on the armor, put on the
breastplate, shod your feet with the gospel of peace, bring at
the sword, and go to work. You have a job, you got to pay
bills, got to pay Uncle Sam, do these things. But let us be
more aware. that our tabernacle is set up,
God has done so graciously, and we do not deserve the least of
His mercies, not at all. Come what may in 2021, and if
you're, you know, some of us are skeptics, some of us are critical, some of us are negative,
yes, yes, yes, I don't know what 2021 is going
to bring, but I'm not going to fear. I'm going to trust in Him
and have peace in this world. Trust in Him and have peace in
this world until He comes and takes us home. May it be in 2021.
So, may the Lord bless this word to your hearts as it did to mine. God does not figure time. It's
nothing to Him. But it is to us. And we struggle.
These are real things, real fights, real struggles. But oh, to seek
Him early, often, and frequently. Nathan, would you close us please?