Take your Bibles and turn with
me to Exodus chapter 38. What I have to say tonight is
based on everything that is said in chapters 38 through the final
chapter of Exodus chapter 40. And in these chapters, we have
the tabernacle described in great detail. We have its building
finished and the presence of God confirming its work with
the glory of His presence. And I have, over these past several
months, to the best of my ability, shown you in detail how these
things typified the Lord Jesus Christ in His priestly work and
in the work in them which were chosen of God to minister in
this tabernacle. And in kind of a summation of
what we've been studying, I want to talk to you a little while
about what these things mean. What do all these things mean
that we've been studying? Sometimes we get bogged down
in these books of Moses and he's going through all of these genealogies
and he's going through great detail with this and he's going
over and over and over these details, over telling you about
the brazen altar and the labor and how it was made from the
looking glasses of the women out of pure brass. All of these
things, telling you in great detail about the hangings, and
the doors, and the posts, and the sockets, and the cords, and
the nails, and all of these. What's all these things mean?
To the average person out there who listens to us on the internet,
what do these things mean? I got a call just a little bit
before church tonight from a lady up in Illinois. And she said
the place where she was going to church would begin to look
at the end time prophecies and talking about the rebuilding
of the temple and the reinstatement of the Jewish priesthood and
the sacrifices and all of these things. And I said, sweetheart,
that's garbage. And I'm telling you lightly what
I told her. It's just garbage. I said, let
me read you something in Romans chapter 9. I said, here's what
Paul said. He prayed for his kinsmen, the
Jews. He said, who are Israelites?
These are the Israelites that everybody's fussing about, talking
about, the priesthood, and all of those things. This is God's
elect. This generation won't hesitate
to tell you that the Jews are God's elect. And here's what
he said about them. He said, because they rejected
Christ. Does that make the Scriptures
vain? Because these are God's elect. These are the ones to whom the
promises were, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and
the Christ came from the Jews. So does that not make the Word
of God of none effect? He said no. No. Why? Because these natural born
sons of Abraham, and I don't know a clearer place in the Bible
where you can find this other than right there in Romans 9.
He said, these are not, are not the children of God. Are not
the children of God. And never will be. Never will
be. They are just another nation.
They're a peculiar nation. God separated them as a typical
people to teach us things and to lay down the foundation of
the church and all of these things. And within that nation of the
Jews, God has an elect people. He has an elect people. But He
also has an elect people out of every tongue, every tribe,
every kindred, every nation under heaven. And when all of these
are called in according to Romans chapter 11, then all Israel shall be saved. And what her pastor was telling
her there was going to come a time when Israel was going to be reinstated
and then all Israel. He tells you real quick there,
all Israel, he tells you that right there in Romans chapter
9 are not Israel. That's not Israel. God has an
Israel. And in that people, that typical
people, He had types and figures of Christ and the work that He
would accomplish. And that's what we've been looking
at here in Exodus. And I want to just kind of give
you a summation tonight. And everything about this tabernacle
was then and is now to be seen with eyes of faith. as it points
to Christ our blessed Redeemer, High Priest and Substitute. When King David gave instruction
to his son Solomon concerning the temple, which would replace
the tabernacle that we've been studying, this is important,
I want you to hear, all this, said David, The Lord made me
to understand in writing by His hand upon me," now listen, "...even
all the works of this pattern." God made him to understand what
that was. And He made every man who came
to Him by faith through that tabernacle to understand what
those patterns was about. That's what Moses taught the
people, the children of Israel. And that's what modern Israel
is totally blinded to. That's what the Israel in the
days of Christ were totally blinded to. They were going through the
ceremonies and going through the motions, just like religion
today. It's the same thing. Except today, instead of having
all the ordinances, we've just carried over a few. And it just
depends on where you go as to how much carryover that there
is. You can read about that over
in 1 Chronicles 28, 19. You can read what David said
there to his son. And even so, Moses was admonished
to see to it that every detail of this tabernacle would be fashioned
exactly as God showed him the pattern in the mount. God showed
him his glory. He showed him what this tabernacle
was all about. so that those of true faith were
coming to Christ as God set Him forth as the propitiation for
their sins. And you can read about this.
I read this to this lady a while ago, Romans 3, 24 and 25. It speaks in general of that
faith and worship of all those Old Testament saints who came
to Christ as God set Him forth in that tabernacle. That's what
that's talking about there. when he talks about sins that
are past. He's talking about that Old Testament
economy, those Old Testament saints. And these things are
described, as I read to you in Hebrews chapter 9 and 10, as
figures for the time then present, patterns of things in the heavens,
and shadows of good things to come. They were carnal ordinances,
Paul said, imposed on them until the time of reformation or the
appearing of Him of whom they figured. And throughout the Holy
Scriptures, faith is represented as coming to Christ. That's what
it's always been, and that's what it is right now. Faith is
represented in the Scriptures as coming to Christ. Our Lord
said, all that the Father giveth Me. All of it. Well, did the Father give Him
anybody in the Old Testament? Well, sure He did. Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, Joseph, go on and on and on. Caleb, there was a lot of
men of faith in the Old Testament. David, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and
on and on. And throughout the Holy Scriptures,
he said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Listen to
this. He said this on the feast day.
This is the Old Testament feast, not yet done away with. And Christ
went up to Jerusalem to that feast, on that feast day. And
He looked at those people on the last day, on the last day,
and He said, Come unto Me, all you that labor and heavy laden.
He said, I'll give you rest. I'll give you rest. He said,
if any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He that believeth
on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water. Faith is coming to Christ. And coming to Christ necessitates
certain things. How do you come to Christ? Do
you come down an aisle? What's he talking about when
he says, come to Christ, come to me? What's he talking about?
Is he talking about a physical act? What's he talking about?
Well, coming to Christ necessitates certain things. First of all,
this coming is an act of the will. This is something our generation
has got totally sideways or upside down. I can't tell which. I didn't
say free will. Man's bound in sin and lives
in a state of total depravity. But God's people shall be willing. That's what David said. They
shall be willing in the day of his power. They're not going
to come unwilling. One writer said he don't draft
soldiers into his army. They volunteer. They're willing. They're willing, but they're
not willing In that old nature, they've got to be made willing.
And I know that God must intervene. I know that man must be born
again, born of God. I know he must be sent a preacher
and showed some things and revealed some things. But when these things
all take place, God gives him ears to ear. He puts within him
a new heart. And he writes those laws, those
laws accomplished and fulfilled by Christ. He writes them in
his mind. In his mind. Gives him a new
heart and a new mind. Gives him that mind of Christ.
That man will purposefully choose to come to Christ. That's right. And he uses that over and over
and over. Our Lord wasn't afraid to use that word will. We're
scared to death of it. of how it's preached and the
way it's used. We're scared to death to use
that word, but he used it a lot. David said, blessed is the man
whom thou choosest and callsest to approach unto you. Coming
to Christ is an act of the will. He said, whosoever will, let
him take of the water of life freely. And then secondly, this
coming to Christ is an act of the heart. You cannot come to
Christ by walking down an aisle. That's not coming to Christ.
That's coming to the front. That's what that is. If you really
want to know what it is, it's coming to a lie. That's what
it is. And coming to a false prophet.
Thousands came to the tabernacle who never came to Christ. Is
that right? Here it is. Coming to Christ
is not a physical act. Coming to Christ is a heart work.
Listen to this here in Romans 10, verse 10. Paul said, With
the heart man believeth unto righteousness. With the heart.
He doesn't move. He doesn't necessarily move anywhere.
He doesn't walk anywhere. He doesn't go anywhere. With
the heart. With the heart. Listen to this
one. My son, give me thine heart. For out of it are the issues
of life. All of these physical acts that
false prophets had man to do, do not constitute coming to Christ. He said, you'll seek me and find
me when you shall search for me with all your heart. That's
when you're going to find him. And you will if he ever convicts
you of sin. and reveals Christ to you, oh
my soul, you'll search for Him then. You'll begin that search
and you'll search for Him with all your heart. And then thirdly, this coming
to Christ is a way of life, not an isolated act. Listen to how
Paul describes faith in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 2. Looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Looking to Him. Looking to Him. Now, I'm not
a linguist, but to tell me that word means looking, looking,
looking, looking. Not having looked. Looking. Looking. Not might look. Looking. Looking. Yeah. It's like a gaze. Like a continual gaze. Looking. Listen to how Peter talks about
it over in 1 Peter 2 verse 4. Peter says, as coming, To whom
coming as unto a living stone. We just keep coming. Keep coming
to Him. Listen to this one in Romans
chapter 10 again. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. And then John was very bold.
John said this. He said, they went out from us.
Well, I thought they came to Christ. They did, but they weren't
coming. They weren't coming. They came
for a while. But they didn't continue coming. They went out
from us, but they were not of us. For had they been of us,
they would no doubt have continued with us. And those who served
God in His tabernacle, they served Him continually. They didn't
do anything else. That's all they did. They served
Him. And they served Him continually.
And then fourthly, coming to Christ is the commandment of
God. And here's another area that men get all sideways with. It's not an invitation. It's
a commandment. It's not an offer. I read a little
pamphlet over where I took Kathy over to get her MRI. And we were
sitting there. And this takes a long time. And
I was just reading everything. I get my hands on it. And I noticed
this little pamphlet. And I read it, just typical old
Armenian junk. In that thing, it talks about
the gospel as an offer, as an invitation. It's a command. It's a command. Listen to this,
1 John 3, verse 23, and this is His commandment. That's pretty
clear, isn't it? That we should believe on the
name of His Son, Jesus Christ. That's His commandment. Not an invitation, it's a commandment. And I'll tell you this, be careful
what you say to folks about coming to Christ. And here's where they
get sideways on this thing. The warrant of faith, the warrant
of faith is the commandment of God. It's not feelings, it's
not emotions, and it's not experience. And we tend to want to push people.
Do you have an experience? Well, sure you do. But mine may
not be as the same as yours. Yours may not have near the depth
that mine had. Or mine may not have near the
depth your had. And our tendency is to push men
until we see a similar experience to ours. That's not the warrant
of faith. The warrant of faith is the commandment
of God. You're commanded to believe.
Well, what if I don't feel anything? You're still commanded to believe. So be careful what you tell me.
I know there's feelings involved. I know there's emotions involved. And I know that this coming is
an experience. But these, along with a great
list of other things that men try to pin to this coming of
Christ, is not the warrant of faith. It's the commandment of
God. Come on. That's what He said.
We're commanded to believe, not to feel. or experience. Salvation is coming to Christ,
worshiping God in the Spirit, and worshiping God in truth,
which is what it means to dwell in the courts of our God. And
that's what this tabernacle was all about. What are these things
all about? That's what it's all about. Men and women coming to
God through Christ. That's what it's all about. Worshipping
God through Christ. You can't worship God without
a lamb. Can't do it. Can't do it. I remember I was telling this
lady that one time Henry Mahan preached, and the title of his
message, I'll never forget it, the title of his message was,
The True Jew. And when he was done, he had
no idea that this lady was a practicing Jew, visiting with her family. And boy, she met him by the back
door, and she began to argue with him over things, and he
just let her go and go and go. And finally, she kept telling
him, she said, I know you preach Jesus as the Christ, and I know
all of that. But she said, we don't believe
that Jesus was the Christ. We're still waiting on the Christ.
And she went on and on and on. He said, all right, let me just
push all of that aside. For right now, let's push Jesus
aside. Let's push this whole thing aside.
Where's your lamb? Because you can't worship God
without a lamb. Nobody in Israel can worship
God without a lamb. And if you don't bring one, you
better be looking to one. That's what he told her. And
it shut her mouth. She went home. Didn't have anything
else to say. Salvation is coming to Christ. And in that coming to Christ,
we worship God in spirit and truth. And this is what all of
these things are about. And here in Exodus chapters 38
through 40, there's three courts described and three curtains
marking the way into each court. The courtyard without, that huge
courtyard out there lined with that pure linen cloth, that linen
fence. And then within the tabernacle
proper, you had the holy place. And then after that, the holy
of holies. And these courts and figure represent
the courts of God. The outer court represents the
church and His people in this world. The holy place represents
heaven itself, the place of divine worship. And the Holy of Holies
represents the very throne of God. And I know this, and I preach
this to you every week, Jesus Christ Himself is the way. When I look at those hangings,
I don't have to go hunt up what the old writers say. I know what
that is. That's the door. That's Christ.
He's the way. He's the way. He's the only gate
by which we can enter into God's courts. Not any of His courts. You can't enter into the outer
court except through Him. And you sure can't enter into
that inner court without Him. And no man can see God and live. And that's what it is beyond
that veil. In this tabernacle and its courts and doors, we're
given five essential things for entering into the courts of God.
And the first thing is this, when you come through that first
door, and you come into that courtyard, right there just staring
you in the face is this huge brazen altar. That's the atonement. That's the first thing. You come
in and it's the atonement. And if any man desires to enter
into God's courts to approach Him, commune with Him, worship
Him, he must begin with the atonement. That's where you have to start.
If God ever convicts you of sin, you'll understand that. You can't
do anything save yourself. You've got nothing that God wants.
Nothing that God needs. It takes an atonement, and that
atonement must be prescribed by God Himself. God tells Israel that if they
come to Him, they must by faith come by way of an altar of sacrifice,
and with the sacrifice He has commanded. Now, I wrote an article
on this. I'm not sure if I'm going to
get it in this week's bulletin or not. But the very first time
sin is mentioned in the Bible, do you know where it is? Anybody
here tonight remember where that is? The very first mention of
sin in the Bible. When Cain and Abel came to approach
God. And Cain, God rejected his sacrifice. He just spiritually spit on that
sacrifice. He didn't give it any acknowledgment
at all. And Cain, he looked up before
God and God said, well, why are you upset? He said, if you do
well, you've got no problem. But he said, if you don't sin,
lieth at the door. Huh? That's the very first time
sin is mentioned. It's mentioned where a man tried
to approach God on the basis of his works and rejected God's
sacrifice. That's the epitome of sin, and
it's carried all the way through the Bible, the man's sin. God tells Israel that if they
come to Him, they must by faith come by way of an altar of sacrifice,
and with the sacrifice He has commanded. And in the outer court,
there was both an altar and a sacrifice. And Jesus Christ is the fulfillment
of both. He is both our altar and our
sacrifice. In Hebrews 13, verse 10, it says,
We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat, which serve
the tabernacle. Those old Levites don't have
any right to eat this because Christ is the fulfillment of
that altar. He's our altar. And Christ is
our sacrifice. There's four horns on that old
brazen altar to which the sacrifice according to the law of Moses
must be bound. And I'm told these four horns
represent the four corners of the earth from which God's elect
must be redeemed. And His sacrifice is bound to
each one, each one, all the way around. And then secondly, that
sacrifice must be bound to the horns which speaks of the justice
and righteousness of God, which bound our Lord to the altar.
In 1 Peter 3, verse 18, he said, For Christ also hath suffered
for sins the just for the unjust. Now listen, that He might bring
us to God. He might bring us to God, being
put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. It is what God tells in Israel.
Just what He said about Cain over there in Isaiah chapter
1. He said, Who required these things that you are having? You
run in here into My courts and lift up your hands, And you celebrate
these new moons and Sabbath days. He said, who told you to do that?
Who told you? Who told you to enter my courts
this way? Come now, he said, let us reason
together. Though your sin be as scarlet,
I'll make them white as snow. That's how you have to come.
By faith, looking to Christ. And then the second thing he
tells us here in these things is the way in the way of figure
is that before we can enter into heaven, we must be cleansed. Before you can enter into heavenly
worship and spiritual things, you're going to have to be cleansed
because you're filthy. You're filthy. Between the altar
of burnt offering and the door into the holy place was a brazen
labor. The ceremonial cleansing performed
at this labor typified the gospel of Christ as it's applied to
the hearts of His elect by the Holy Ghost. That's what that
old labor was all about. Listen to Titus chapter 3 verse
3. For we ourselves also were sometimes
foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures,
living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after
that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to His mercy, that is, based on that sacrifice, He saved us. What was the result of that salvation?
By the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy
Ghost. That's how you cleanse. That's
how you clean. It's through regeneration that
men are led to repent and believe, to love one another, to know
the true and living God. And we're washed of all our outward
righteousnesses. Our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags. When that priest came to that
labor, he had to undress. He had to take all of his clothes
off, stand before the door of that tabernacle, before heaven
itself, and be stripped. And then he had to be washed.
from the labor. He had to be washed head to toe.
And then he had to put on new garments. Had to put on new garments. Isn't that what salvation is?
Cleansed through the water of regeneration. And then we are
clothed with the righteousness of Christ. Now we are ready to
enter into heaven itself. Enter into that heavenly worship.
1 John 1, verse 9. He said, if we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. The cleansing of the mind and
heart is as necessary to the saving of the soul as the atonement
itself. You can't worship God and cling
to those old ceremonies and those old sacrifices and that old concept
you had of God. You've got to be washed from
those things. You've got to be purified from those things. You can forget about talking
about those things. You're still clinging to those
things, still taking part in them things. You don't know God.
You've not been washed yet. This cleanses us. This regeneration
cleanses us. It makes us meet to be able to
be partakers of the saints in light, that heavenly inheritance. You know, we talk about that
the way it's worded over there in Colossians. I think I mentioned
this in the Sunday school lesson, or maybe it's the one I didn't
get to give you Sunday that's going to come up this Sunday,
Lord willing. But anyhow, in that it talks about the saints
in light. What that's talking about is
enlightened saints. That's what it's talking about.
The saints who have light. The saints who have light, enlightened
saints. And that's what that making you
meet to be able to do that, to be able to do that. And there's
a cleansing of the mind and heart, and it's necessary. Nobody entered
the tabernacle proper without first visiting the labor. And
then the third thing typified in the courts of the old tabernacle
is communion. And I'm not going to read through
all this, but you can read Exodus 38, 9 through 18. That's where
it kind of talks about this a little bit. But communion means common
union. All God's elect have a common
union in Christ. Everything in this court meant
the same thing to everybody who was there. All those ones called
of God and taught of God, it meant the same thing. Everything
in that courtyard had a common union. It all pictured Christ. It all typified Christ. Everything
here was in harmony. Paul describes the Christian
walk in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 2 as a walk with lowliness and
meekness, one of long-suffering, forbearing one another in love. Now listen to this. Endeavoring
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. That's
that common union. Why? Because there's one body. There's only one. Only one body. One Spirit. You're called in
one hope of your calling. One Lord. One faith. One baptism. One God. who is the Father of
all, who is above all and through you all. You see what I'm talking
about? There's a common union described
here in the courts of God. Everything there pictured Christ. Everything. And believers, what
are they? They're one with Him. They're
one with Him. There's a harmony in the courts
of God, a harmony of spirit and mind and hope. In the world,
there's divisions, separations, irreconcilable differences, but
not in Christ. Our union in Him is a common
union. And then here's the fourth thing
taught in the courts of God as they're given here in type. He teaches us something about
the security, the security of God in His courts. And this,
you might recall from our earlier studies in Exodus, is pictured
in the pillars and pins and posts and bars given to secure all
things together. But in particular, they were
given in these brass pins. Now, that word's a little deceptive.
You go through the scriptures, you'll find where that same thing,
that word for pin, is used to describe stakes. And then in
another place, it's used and it's described as a nail. But
what these things were, were brazen stakes, big brass stakes. I don't know exactly how high
they were, but they were pretty good size. And they were driven
deep into that sand. And then those lines were pulled
down, pumped. and tied to those stakes. And
that's what secured that fence and all that desert wind and
sand and blowing sand. That's what secured that tabernacle.
That's what secured all those things, is those pins. In Isaiah 22, verse 23, the prophet
said of the coming Redeemer, he said, I'll fashion Him as
a nail in a sure place. And he shall be for a glorious
throne to his father's house. And they shall hang upon him
all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the
issue and all vessels of small quantity from the vessels of
cups even to vessels of flagons. And in that day, saith the Lord
of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in a sure place be
removed and cut down and fall, and the burden that was upon
it shall be cut off for the Lord. I've spoken it. What in the world
does all that mean? Here's what it means. He'll be
cut off to secure everything that's tied to him. Christ is our security. And God's
people look in vain for assurance when they look to themselves.
Assurance is not confidence in your competence, it's confidence
in Christ. That's where you're going to
find it. Paul didn't say, well, I know one thing. I know that I really believe.
No, that ain't what he said. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. And I'm persuaded that He is
able to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that
day. And then over in Romans chapter
8, he said, I'm persuaded that neither life nor death nor angels
nor principalities powers, things present, things to come, height,
depth, any other creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus the Lord. The sole security
of the tabernacle and of its outer courts, 100% dependent
on those brazen pens, and so it is with our hope. Christ is
our security. And then the last thing I see
pictured in these earthen courts is sacrifice. Now, this sacrifice
is twofold. First of all, it has to do with
the giving of ourselves. The giving of ourselves to God.
God chose the tribe of Levi to be his priest, and each man gave
himself willingly. He gave himself. The man who
will not give himself limits what he will give. He'll just
give so much he sets limits. I'll just give so much. That's
all I can do. Let me tell you something. These
people gave so generously that they had to be constrained in
their giving. You can read about it over in
Exodus 36, verses 5 through 7. Those God chose to dwell in His
courts devoted themselves completely to the service in God's house.
But more so than that is the sacrifice of Christ, His atoning
blood, which gave us the right and privilege to be made sons
of God. All of the silver sockets, all
those silver sockets that held up those posts, every one of
them cast from what? From the ransom silver. That's
what it was. That's the foundation. And in
this sacrifice, we learn four things. And I wind this up. None but Israelites were ransomed. There wasn't a Gentile Levite
in the place, was there? None but Israelites were ransomed.
I know this secondly, a specific number was ransomed. There was
a specific number of I know this, the ransom price
for everybody who came was the same. It didn't matter if you
owned 500 acres or didn't own any acres. The ransom price was
the same. And I do know this, fourthly,
that all who brought this ransom were promised that no plague
of God would come upon them. Christ was made a curse for us.
Made a curse for us. Christ has redeemed us, He said,
from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. God give
us some understanding of these things.