It's found in Exodus 26. Exodus
26. The Lord is communing with Moses
on Mount Sinai, and he's giving him the Ten Commandments in a
few chapters. You know the account we heard
even Sunday about the golden calf that they had made unto,
and called his name Jehovah, didn't they? We heard about that
Sunday. But here the Lord is giving him information or the
requirements of building a tabernacle. And so you had the furniture
that was given in the previous chapter, And now he's telling
us, it's interesting because the Lord gives the interior before
he gives the exterior, and then he goes back to the interior
to give the holy place. I found that interesting how
the Lord did that. But here we find the covering of the tabernacle,
the covering in Exodus chapter 26. The tabernacle was for God's
worship. That was the main purpose. That
was the main reason for the Lord giving it to the children of
Israel. It was shown where God was to be seen. He said, if you
look back in chapter 25, he says in verse 21 of 25, and thou shalt
put the mercy seat above the ark and in the ark thou shalt
put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet
with thee. This is the place that God said
I will meet with you. This is the place that you can
worship me and it's above the mercy seat and we know the mercy
seat is Christ, don't we? We know that that's the only
place that only way that we can worship. The only way God can
be approached is by the mercy seat. The Lord Jesus Christ.
This tabernacle above all represents Christ himself in every detail
that is given. We can see that clearly here.
in Exodus 26, and let's look at verse number seven. Verse
number seven says, and thou shalt make curtains of goat's hair
to be a covering upon the tabernacle. 11 curtains shalt thou make. The length of one curtain shall
be 30 cubits, and the breadth of one curtain, four cubits.
And the 11 curtains shall be all of one measure. And thou
shalt couple five curtains by themselves and six curtains by
themselves. and shalt double the sixth curtain
in the forefront of the tabernacle. Thou shalt make 50 loops on the
edge of the one curtain that is outmost in the coupling and
50 loops in the edge of the curtain which coupleth the second. And
thou shalt make 50 tacks of brass and put the tacks into the loops
and couple the tent together that it may be one. And the remnant that remaineth
of the curtains of the tent and half curtains that remaineth
shall hang over the backside of the tabernacle, and a cubit
on the one side and a cubit on the other side of that which
remaineth in the length of the curtains of the tent, and it
shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle, on this side
and on that side, to cover it. Thou shalt make a covering for
the tent of ram's skins, dyed red, and a covering above of
badger's skin. First thing we notice is it was
made of goat's hair. It was overlaid on top of the
goat's hair with badger's skin. Now the goat is not an attractive
animal. My wife likes baby goats and
I'm sure baby animals are much cuter than the adults, but I
would not say that a goat is an attractive animal whatsoever.
And I would remind us that Isaiah chapter 53, that Christ was thus,
that there was no beauty in him that we should desire. Nothing
according to the flesh that would make us interested in him. But I find it interesting that
he mentions a ram here. You remember the ram that was
caught in the thicket when Abraham was gonna offer up his only son,
Isaac. The Lord tempted Abraham, the scripture says, and call
Abraham, He was told to go offer Isaac up on Mount Moriah, and
he does everything in his power to do so. But the Lord stayed
him, didn't he? And as they're traveling forth, we see Isaac
was going up with his father and he said, Father, we have
the wood, we have the fire. But where is the sacrifice? And
what was Abraham's answer to his son? This is our hope. The
only hope we have. God will provide himself a sacrifice. Not only will he provide it by
his own means, but he himself is the sacrifice, isn't he? I
find it interesting Abraham carried the fire and the knife. Isaac
carried the wood, didn't he? That's exactly what happened
on the day of Calvary when the Lord was offered up as the center
substitute for his people. He carried the wood, didn't he?
He carried the cross, but the father had the fire and the father
had the sword of justice and he unsheathed that sword of justice
and he satisfied his justice in his darling son. As Abraham
was about to kill his son, Angel of the Lord said, harm him not,
no harm shall come to him. And he turned and looked and
he saw a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. They crowned our
Lord with thorns, didn't they? Genesis chapter three, we know
that thorns are the curse of man. The curse, when the Lord
sold him, thorns and thistles shall it give forth. This was
the crown that they placed upon the Lord, him bearing our own
curse in his body. This is what this represents.
Our Ram, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is this covering. Abraham
believed God and offered up the Ram instead of his only son.
You and I need a substitute just as Isaac did, don't we? We need
one that can please God to appease the wrath of God to be the propitiation. Be the propitiation for us. And
the Lord Jesus Christ is that propitiation. He is our scapegoat. The Scripture says. We also know
that this represents the Lord Jesus Christ, this ram, because
the skin was dyed red. Well, what does that represent?
The blood, doesn't it? The blood, without the shedding
of blood, there is no remission of sin. The Lord Jesus Christ
shed his blood and he put away the sin of his people once and
for all on the cross of Calvary. Isaiah 1.8 says, come now, let
us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like
crimson, they shall be as wool. The Lord Jesus Christ is this
covering of this tabernacle and this 11 curtains that's sewn
into one veil is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. The next thing
we notice is the badger skin was on top of that. So you had
one layer of goat skin and then you had another layer of badger
skin. Now there's many controversies over what the badger skin Was
actually was it actually badger skin was it not and I was reading
articles from Google in various places and different commentaries
and a lot of people they don't know because there was no badgers
in Palestine at this time So why would that be a badger skin?
Well, I guess it goes to show us that whatever the Lord requires
he provides and That's what that means. Says badger skin, so that's
what we're going to call it. That's exactly what it is, and
it represents nothing more and nothing less than the righteousness
of Christ. The righteousness of Christ.
It was a covering the same as the covering in Ezekiel 16. Do
you remember we mentioned this earlier? I believe Sunday, but
the covering that he gave into the one that he found, the Lord
said I passed by you and I saw you naked. I saw you polluted
in your own blood and no, I pitied you. and none had compassion
upon you, but when I saw you polluted, when I saw you naked,
I said unto thee live, and I clothed you. He says, I clothed thee
also with broided work. That's that covering that we're
talking about. Sewn together so intricately, I clothed you
with broidered work, and shod thee with badger skin, and I
girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.
Now, he mentioned shodding with badger skin there, and shod's
only mentioned four times in the scripture. One of them is
the one where Paul's talking about the armor of the Lord,
and it says, having your feet shod with the preparation of
the gospel of peace. So this shodding of the feet,
what is the Lord telling us in this? What is the Lord showing
us? Well, do you remember whenever
Moses went before the burning bush, what did God tell him?
Take thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon you stand
is holy ground. That's what he said, remember?
What does that mean? That means you're not going to
approach God on your merits. You're going to come before him
naked and he's going to do the shodding. And what does he shot
us with brethren? He shods us with his righteousness,
Christ's righteousness. That's what this badger skin
represents is shodding us. giving us shoes to walk with.
First of all, he gave us life. Then he gave us legs to walk
with. We were not only dead in trespasses and in sin, but we
were blind, we were lame, we were dumb, we were deaf. And
the Lord says, look, live, see, walk, gives us life eternal,
doesn't he? And he shods our feet. By what
means? The preparation of the gospel
of peace, the Lord's righteousness. That's what this badger skin
represents. Now the tabernacle in Isaiah
4. Chapter 4 verse 6 says that it's a place of refuge. And for
a covert. From storm and from rain, a place
of refuge in a covert from storm and from rain. Now last week
we looked at the number 10, didn't we? And we looked at Noah's Ark.
because God's judgment is represented from the number 10. It represents
the law, and it represents the 10 plagues of Egypt, the judgment
of God, the wrath of God that was poured out upon his son.
We saw that last week. Noah's ark is a perfect picture
of this tabernacle, and the tabernacle and the ark both are perfect
pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everyone that was in the Lord
Jesus Christ whenever he died was not harmed in any way, were
they? but they were brought safely
to the resting place. Safely to the resting place on
the ark. We mentioned this last week. There's no steering apparatus
whatsoever in the ark. So Noah didn't steer it. He wasn't
leading the show. He didn't make decisions. It
was the Lord that was doing the driving, the directing. It was
the Lord that had purposed that ark to find its resting place
and bring Noah and his wife, his three sons and their wives
out safely. Eight people, that was all. That was the elect of
God. And that's exactly what the Lord did. He brought his
people safely to himself. He said whom he predestinated.
He called and whom he called. He justified and whom he justified.
He what glorified. It's all past tense. We see that
it's all past tense. It's already done. He saved us
and then he called us. The Lord's not trying to do anything,
is he? The Lord's not trying to do anything. His people were
brought safely to him. Another place that we could Think
of this tabernacle, this covenanting, as whenever again with Moses,
the Lord, he desired to see the Lord. You desire to see the Lord.
That's why you're here, isn't it? You desire to worship God. That's what we desire to do.
Moses said, Lord, show me your glory. The Lord said, no man
can look upon my face and live, but there is a place nigh unto
me. It was on his right hand, wasn't
it? It's the Lord Jesus Christ himself, a place nigh unto me,
a place where you can hide A place where you can have rest upon
the rock of ages, in the cleft of the rock. And when I pass
by, I'll show you my glory. What was his glory? His hinder
parts. Just as David said, surely goodness and mercy shall follow
me all the days of my life. I will dwell in the house of
the Lord forever. That's the Lord's hinder parts, isn't it? It's
what he did on the cross of Calvary. From the foundation of the world,
Christ was a lamb slain. The scripture said, the Lord,
did not try to save His people. He saved them. He gave them a
cleft. He put them in that cleft. You and I couldn't get in there
if we wanted to. The Lord made the place, put us in the place,
and brought us safely to Him, didn't He? That's what this covering
represents, this tabernacle. This is what the number 11 is,
brethren, our covering, our covering. Notice that it was five curtains.
It was 11 curtains total in verse nine, 11 curtains total. But he coupled five together
by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and thou shalt
double the sixth curtain in the forefront of the tabernacle.
That was the entryway into the tabernacle, wasn't it? The sixth
curtain. And it was doubled. Well, we
know that number five is the number of grace, as we've already
mentioned, and we know the number six is the number of man. So
what is the Lord showing us in his tabernacle? Within this covering,
what is he showing us? He's showing us, according to
Galatians 4.4, When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth
his son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them
that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons, the God-man. We have grace and we have man
as the covering of this tabernacle. We have the number five and we
have the number six. And that number six is the Lord
Jesus Christ becoming a man for his people. And what did they
do with that curtain? They folded it, didn't they?
You remember whenever the Lord met with the disciples the last
time we take communion and every time we take communion just about
I quote this to us. What do you tell him? This is
my body broken for you. That 6 curtain had to be folded
for you and I to have entrance into the tabernacle of God in
order for us to worship and it was all by grace, wasn't it by
grace? Isaiah 53 tells us surely he
hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrow. Yet we esteemed him
stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. He was broken for
his people. It's what he told his disciples.
That's what he told his disciples. This is my body broken for you.
He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquity.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him. With his stripes
we are healed. The Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord
Jesus Christ was broken for his people, and he successfully redeemed
them. As the substitute lamb, the fury
of God being poured out upon him, the wrath of God, the eternal
judgment of God that should have been ours, should have been ours,
the Lord Jesus Christ endured. And as the fire of God's wrath
fell, the Lord Jesus Christ absorbed it into himself, putting away
our sin at the exact same time. There is now therefore no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. Now I love that right now. No condemnation. God made his
soul an offering for sin and broke his body for his people.
The Lord Jesus Christ satisfied the father, didn't he? How do
we know? Because he seated his works finished. There's something
missing in the temple or the tabernacle. Do you know that
it's a chair? You won't find a chair in the tabernacle because
there's no rest for the priest. He's continually making sacrifice.
But this man, after he had made one sacrifice for sin forever,
sat down on the right hand of the father. He sat down. His
work's finished. It is finished. Now notice verse 10 with me.
Thou shalt make 50 loops on the edge of the one curtain that
is the outmost in the coupling and 50 loops in the edge of the
curtain which coupled the second and thou shalt make 50 T texts
of brass and put the text into the loops and couple the tent
together that it may be one. God demands perfection, doesn't
he? God demands perfection. That means that if there is one
sin. One sin that Christ did not put away. I am damned to
an eternal hell forever. But Christ Jesus put away every
sin being that perfect lamb for his people. We see the number
five right here and the number 10 multiplied together equals
50. And you have 50 loops that are coupling these together.
And you have 50 buttons that are fastening them together that
they become one. What is the Lord telling us?
He fulfilled the law's demand, and by grace you are saved. Five
and 10. That's what this covering is,
this curtain. The Lord's done this for his
people. Because of this in the tabernacle,
the elect are covered by the blood, the goat that we just
saw. They've been given the robe of righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ because he satisfied God's law, his demands, and the
Lord Jesus Christ himself Give us His grace. By grace are you
saved through faith. We can also see that these loops,
these 50 loops represent the church being knit together. Verse
11 tells us very clearly at the end, and couple the tent together. Now that word tent, very important.
That word means covering. That word means covering. It's
the same exact word as covering. So couple the covering together
that it may be one. What does that mean, brethren?
You and I are coupled under the same covering, aren't we? The
Lord Jesus Christ and His righteousness. We don't confess anything as
our righteousness except the Lord Jesus Christ's righteousness. That's what he's saying here.
Isn't this covering incredible? I've heard about the temple my
entire life, and I've never heard anything about it having to do
with the righteousness of the Lord. But it's the Lord's righteousness,
isn't it? That covers his people, that
gives us a place to worship. It's the only hope that we have. It's the Lord knitting his people
together because of his fulfillment of the law by grace. Knitting
our hearts together unto him. We have the same confession,
don't we? We have the exact same confession. Christ is all. We
have the same plea, don't we? Lord, save me. Lord, save me. I'm the sinner. I'm the chief
of sinners. Lord save me. We have the same
confession, don't we brethren? Further inside we see another
veil. But this bill is not for covering. It's not a covering,
it's for separation. It separates the holy place where
the priest could only enter in one time per year to offer a
blood sacrifice. This veil was in intricate detail
just as the other veil, and it represents the Lord Jesus Christ
himself, the veil that had to be rent in order for you and
I to be redeemed, in order for you and I to be set free. This
veil separates us from the holiest, holy place of God. I meant to
mention this whenever we were talking about the priest rogues.
We went through that a little bit, and I completely forgot.
I guess it was purpose for me to say this tonight then. But
the priest had to have bells sewn on them. Did you know that
their garments had to have bells? What is that? Why would they
need bells? Because this priest you remember
all the sacrifice that had to be made before he could even
enter into the holy place. If there was one sin unconfessed. One sin that was not paid for,
God would kill him instantly. You remember Uzzah, Uzzah was
trying to help. He was trying to stabilize the
ark from falling. And yet even in his best deed,
God killed him on the spot for it. That's exactly what he would
do to you and I. If we try to approach him on
our own merits, if we try to come to him because of a prayer
we've prayed or some life that we've lived, something that we
have done to please him, He'll kill us. He'll say, depart from
me, you that work iniquity. But Lord, I've cast out demons
in your name. Didn't Judas cast out demons
with the other 12? Doesn't matter what you think
about yourself. What think ye of Christ? What
think ye of Christ? Is he your righteousness? Is
he your only confession before the Lord? Because that's what
God demands is perfection. This is what the Lord requires. Now, in the holy place, we see
the mercy seat, as I mentioned earlier, the place where God
said, I'll meet with you here. This is the one place that we
can commune. And it's the Lord Jesus Christ,
isn't it? In the mercy seat, in the ark,
the mercy seat on top of the ark, we have the law, the law
of God that Jesus Christ successfully satisfied in our redemption.
We also have the manna. The scripture says they put the
manna inside there as well. What is the manna? Well, that's
Christ himself, isn't it? He told the Pharisees plainly,
I am that manna that came down from heaven. I am the bread of
life. They hated him for it, didn't they? They hated him for
it. We also see Aaron's rod. We see Aaron's rod in that ark
as well. I haven't spoke on Aaron's rod,
I don't believe, since I've been with you, but Aaron's rod that
budded Remember the sons of Korah, we did talk about that. The sons
of Korah that came up, the ones, or Korah himself came up in order
to say to Moses and Aaron, you've made yourself kings over us.
We can offer up incense and do sacrifice the same as you can.
There's no difference between you and me. And the Lord told
him to go ahead and have those men light the incense. And the
one that the Lord had respect to, they would find out. The
Lord opened up the earth, swallowed up 250 of those priests of Korah,
didn't he? You know why? Because the Lord
did not ordain them to burn incense. See, Christ was ordained of God.
Aaron was ordained of God first, but his priesthood could not
bring salvation to us. As we saw, it took the order
of Melchizedek, didn't it? The high priest, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and he successfully redeemed his people. After that took place
with the destruction of those unbelieving men, the Lord Heard
the murmuring still of the children of Israel. And he said, I want
every tribe to bring forth a rod. And the one that buds, that's
the one that'll be the priest. And the scripture says, not only
did Aaron's rod bud, it brought forth fruit. Ain't that glorious?
Lord said, this is my priest. This is the one that will stand
before me. And it was a type and picture of what the Lord
does for his people, isn't it? He brings us from dead works.
He brings us completely decrepit, dead, trespasses it in sin, brings
us forth with new life, and we bring forth fruit. Isn't that
incredible? How dead do you think a rod is, a staff? It's dead,
isn't it? And yet it budded, and it brings
forth fruit. That's our hope, isn't it? That's
our hope. To further look at this, let's
turn to Hebrews chapter nine. Hebrews chapter 9. I'm still talking to us about the
number 11. Our covering the number of our
covering. Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 6. Says now when these things were
thus ordained everything we just mentioned, the priest went always
into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into
the second 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 the way into the holiest
of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle
was yet standing. He had to make daily sacrifices,
but yet only once a year could he enter into this holy place.
This was significant because the Lord Jesus Christ himself
was the only one that could be the end of the law for righteousness
sake. He's the only one that could enter in because he is
the veil. He is the one that had to satisfy the eternal wrath
of God. Christ is the tabernacle. Christ
is the veil and Christ had to be rent. and all those that were
in Christ in his tabernacle, in his person, when he was rent,
they were rent with him. When he died, they died. When
he was resurrected, we were resurrected in him. Scripture says. Matthew 27. When the Lord cried
upon the cross of Calvary, our greatest hope in any words that's
ever been spoken, it is finished. He cried with a loud voice and
yielded up the ghost and the veil in the temple was rent in
twain from top to bottom. You and I can now enter in boldly
to the throne of grace, having obtained mercy to find grace
to help us in the time of need. You and I do not need a man any
longer to offer sacrifice. Christ is that sacrifice. He
entered in once into the holy place. Why? Having, past tense,
having obtained eternal redemption for us all. This is why it's foolish. So
foolish to think that the Lord tries to save people. He tries
to win people that he's pacing the floor that he's playing a
game of chess. He sat down. It's finished. All those that Christ died for
have been presented unto the father as perfectly righteous. Aren't you glad you can't get
out of it? Who shall separate us from the love of God that's
in Christ Jesus? We can't separate ourself. That's the best news
you could tell me, because if I had left to myself, oh, my
heart just grows cold. My mind just wanders away. How
often do I need to be reminded again and again, and the Lord
says, seek ye my face, seek ye my face. I need to hear it over
and over. I'm so prone to wonder. I would
leave the God that I love if he left me to myself, and yet,
It's goodness and mercy that follows me all the days of our
life. Isn't that our hope? Why would he do this this? Gruesome,
brutal death, the physical aspect of his death. Men make movies
about and they try to explain it and they try to make people
feel sorry for Jesus like he's really done. He done all of this. What are you going to do for
him? And that's the mentality of men. There's no way we can
understand the agony he went through, because his soul was
what was offered up unto the Father. His blood was shed physically,
but it was his soul. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, thou shalt be satisfied. The Lord Jesus
Christ endured. We'll never have to know what
it means. All we get to do is just rejoice in it. Isn't that
good news? When we get to glory, we'll just
sing worthy is the lamb, redeemed, redeemed, holy, holy, holy. That's
what the four and 20 elders keep saying, why? Because the lamb
was worthy to loose the seals and open the book thereof. And
he sat down, he sat down, he finished the work. All that was
given to him by the father, he opened the book, he drank of
the cup, all the bitter dregs of that cup, and he laid down
his life for his people. And the father was pleased with
his sacrifice and resurrected his son from the dead. And he
sat down and all those that died with him are seated in him. Therefore, he says, you're precious
in my sight, you're precious in my precious means. Of great
value, we know what the cost was for you and I to have redemption
in word in the Scripture. We don't understand the depths
of it, but we do understand that the Lord had to execute his darling
son upon the cross of Calvary, whom he loved, whom he loved,
and yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. Why? Because you're
precious in his sight. You're of great value. You are
the object of his affection in the Lord Jesus Christ. You have
been given the everlasting love of the Father. That's the only
love the Lord has is everlasting. He's immutable. He changes not.
It never had a beginning and it's never gonna have an end.
That's why we can never be separated from it. The Lord Jesus Christ,
being in Him, allows us to have the full benefits of being the
Son of God. The Lord Jesus Christ satisfied
His Father. Now hold your place here in Hebrews
and turn with me to Isaiah 43. We're gonna come right back to
Hebrews. Isaiah 43 verse one, but now
thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob. Now, every time
you see O Jacob in the scripture in Israel, you can understand
that's the elect of the Lord. The church didn't replace Israel,
the church is Israel. I wanna be very clear on that.
The church didn't replace Israel, the church is Israel. The Lord
Jesus Christ was promised to redeem spiritually, not physically. It wasn't a bloodline, but the
Lord chose to call a nation Israel for Christ to come through that
lineage. And he used the very means that would make men think
it's foolishness, the smallest nation, right? So the church
is Israel. But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear
not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. When thou passeth through the
waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. Do you know why when we pass
through the waters or through the rivers or through the fire
we can't be harmed? Because Christ Jesus endured
the river of death for you and I, the fire of God's wrath for
his people. The Lord Jesus Christ passed
through and he drank of the bitter dregs, enduring the wrath of
God, went to the lowest hell for his people, And the Lord
says, I formed thee, I redeemed thee, I called thee, I bought
thee thou art mine. The Lord has sole possession
of his people. Do you love being possessed by
the Lord? He owns, he owns everything, but we're bought with a price.
We're the only thing that the Lord ever bought with his own
blood. Think about that. How much do you think he loves
his people being bought by his own blood? We have a covering. We have a
covering. That's why he said I will be
with thee. You're covered. That's why the rivers can't overtake
thee. You have a covering. That's why the flame cannot kindle
upon you because you have a covering. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
covering. Verse three tells us for I am
the Lord thy God, the Holy One, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Ethiopia for thy ransom.
I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. It's
God's sovereign right to choose whomsoever he will and pass by
others. It's not amazing to me that he hated Esau. I understand
why he would hate me. I don't understand why he would
love me. It's not by works of righteousness that we have done.
It's not according to our merits, but it's all of grace so that
he gets all the glory. Why didn't he choose Egypt? Because
he's God. and he had the sovereign right not to. He had the sovereign
right not to show grace and mercy, but yet it pleases the Lord. It pleased the Lord to bruise
his son to show grace and to show mercy unto his people. He
tells us the reason why in verse four, since thou was precious
in my sight, thou has been honorable and I have loved thee. I've been
honorable? Me? No, but if I'm in Christ, I'm
honorable. If you're in Christ, you're as
holy as Christ is. Now, I don't understand that,
but that's our only hope, isn't it? That is our only rest. Lord,
I wanna be as holy as you are. Put me in Christ. I have no righteousness
of my own. I see myself as the unclean,
wretched, vile, dead dog sinner. I need Christ a covering. I need
Christ this these 11 these 11. Curtains, it's Christ himself
covering his people. I need a covering. Christ is
that covering? Election brethren, I wrote an
article on this for Sunday. But election is not selection.
I want to be clear on this. When you go to the supermarket,
you go to the vegetables and the fruits, you're going to probably
pick the best looking vegetables and the best looking fruit, right?
Most of the time you're not going to get the bruised up, molded,
banged up, ugliest looking things that you can get. You're going
to get the best value for your dollar. Is that not right? That's
not what the Lord did. The Lord saw a bunch of maggots.
a bunch of dead dogs, and he said, I'm gonna have mercy on
you. I'm going to redeem you by my own blood. I'm gonna do
everything. I'm gonna clothe you in my righteousness. I'm gonna put a ring on your
finger. I'm gonna put you at the king's table, just like Mephibosheth,
and you're gonna feast on the lamb for eternity. That's what
God did. That's why it's foolish to think
that the Lord would try to make an offer to man. Christ offered
himself once unto the Father, and God said, I'm satisfied. His people were redeemed. Selection
is looking at something based upon its value, based upon its
merits and choosing that because it has worth, but election is
totally different. Election is all by grace. It's
all by grace and mercy. It has nothing to do with selecting.
And you know, there's only one letter that separates selection
and election. Every church, most churches are preaching selection,
that it's man's choice. to choose God, God appeals to
them, so they choose God, or God chose to try to save someone. But that's totally the opposite,
isn't it? We come to the Lord because he saved us, and then
he calls us in time. We come unto the Lord not because
we found Him attractive, there's no beauty in Him, but because
we've been made to. We've been made mercy beggars,
haven't we? We've been given the repentance of God. We don't
think of God like we used to. We see Him high and holy. We
see ourself as nothing. We see ourself as destitute,
desolate, dismayed. We see ourself as utterly sinful.
We see Him as perfect and precious. And you know what He gives us
when He gives us repentance? Faith. Not a faith that we produce,
but the faith of Christ. And faith just looks to Christ,
doesn't it? When Moses would read, and you
can find this in 2 Corinthians, but for the sake of time, I'm
just going to tell you this. Moses in the Old Testament, when he
would read unto them of the Lord's words, Veil his face. What was that signifying? It
was a separation from God. It was Christ, right? But they
took that ordinance and they thought, OK, well, all we need
to do is veil our face as well. And even it says it even says,
but even until this day when Moses is read, the veil is upon
their heart. The veil is upon their heart.
They're not physically veiling their face, but this is a blinding
of the heart that these individuals do. So what is the Lord telling
us of this veil that men have over their heart? If we believe
there's one thing we can do that pleases God one thing. Now I
don't. I want to be very clear on this.
If the Lord is pleased with my prayer, I don't need Christ.
Do we see that? If the Lord is pleased with my
preaching, we don't need Christ. We need the Lord to take our
prayer The best prayer, the best thought, the best. Every message
that goes forth, we need it to be washed in the blood of the
Lamb and made perfect. Or it's utterly sinful, utterly
sinful. Men believe that they could do
something to please God and what they're doing is they're putting
a veil over their own heart. They're taking the place of Christ.
They're veiling themselves. They're saying, I don't need
a high priest. That's putting a veil over your heart. They're saying,
I can make a choice. That's putting a veil over, that's
literally separating yourself from God. That's what that is.
But the believer confesses Christ is all. He is the veil. Christ
is all. Do we see that? If we come unto the Lord, He
shows us that the veil has been rent. He shows us that it is
finished and he gets all the glory. And if we don't come to
Christ, if you don't come to Christ and I don't come to Christ,
we're guilty. We're guilty of not coming to
Christ and we're the ones to blame for it. He gets all the
glory and salvation and we get all the blame if we're not saved.
He didn't try to save anyone. Men will not come to God that
they may have eternal life because Christ is the sovereign I am
and he takes away all of their righteousness. Men want to hang
on to something, something they've prayed, something they've done,
something they've thought, something they haven't done. But the only
way you can be saved is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And
the only way you can believe is if he's given you the faith
to do so. He gets all the glory. I turn over one page in closing
to Hebrews 10. Knowing that this veil has been
rent, knowing that we have this covering. These 11 curtains of
grace. Hebrews 1017 tells us. Verse
16 rather. This is the covenant that I will
make with them after these after those days, sayeth the Lord,
I will put my laws in their heart and their minds. Will I write
them and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." How
is it that the sovereign God that doesn't change can forget
something? Because it doesn't exist. It
doesn't exist. He put away our sin. He's the
only one that's ever made something really disappear. It wasn't a
magic trick, brethren, it was real. Christ Jesus, enduring
the wrath of God, put away, gone, disappeared, put away the sin
of his people. Verse 18 aware that the remission
of these is there is no more offering for sin. That's why
Christ sat down is because it's not necessary to have any more
offering. The blood of Christ satisfied
the father. And here is our hope in verse 19. Having therefore
brethren boldness. Now don't misunderstand that
word boldness. Men would constantly talk in
religion about being bold in the spirit. Boldness is not arrogance. Boldness is not boisterous speaking
and loud and being dominant and proud. That's the opposite of
boldness. Boldness is liberty. Boldness
is looking to Christ. Boldness is complete confidence
in his finished work. That's what he's saying. Have
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the
veil, that is to say his flesh, and having a high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. We have boldness,
don't we? We have confidence in the Lord
Jesus Christ that what he set out to do, he did it. He did
it. He did it by being the veil.
He did it by being everything that the Father requires. Do
you find comfort in knowing that everything God requires for your
salvation, he provides? I don't have to provide anything.
I'm so thankful for that. There's rest in that. There's
one thing I have to do. I would fail. I would fail. We
now have a true heart in full assurance. When he sees us, he
sees the true heart of Christ, don't he? He sees the faith of
Christ and he's pleased with that. We have our hearts sprinkled
with the blood. We have been washed with pure
water, his word. And we have a covering. We have
a covering. The 11 curtains of his grace.
We have a covering. Father, bless your word according
as you promised you would. Thank you for our covering the
Lord Jesus Christ calls us to look to him and not ourselves.
Calls us to renounce ourself. And confess Christ is all. You
get all the glory in these things. In Christ name, Amen.