She's still sick. She started feeling better Monday
and then started feeling better again yesterday and today. She's
still fighting with it. It was good to see you all out. Remember those who requested
prayer. Teresa's sisters now got to see an oncologist because
of something wrong with her knee. They don't know what's going
on there. So remember her in your prayers. Randy Pearman,
Debbie's brother, my brother-in-law, has his cancer stage one, which
is, if you're gonna have cancer, that's the best one to have. And he's going for an operation
that will move part of his pancreas. Your pancreas has a long lobe
out to the left or right of it, and it's that part that's where
it's at. take that off and also take out his spleen. I'm not
sure why they're doing that, but they're gonna take it also.
And he's set up trying to get a date for a operation now. No more word on Dana James as
far as the chemotherapy, but she is gonna start chemotherapy.
And remember the other standing there family and the others who
requested prayer, seek the Lord's help for them. Any other names
I need? Okay, all right. Let's get our hymn in the loud
and sing hymn number 267, All Things Work Out for Good. You
know, when I sing out, I don't have to sing what I'm saying. Hymn number
267. All things work out for good, we know. Such is God's
great design. He orders all our steps below. For purpose is divine, for purpose
is divine. This is the faith that keeps
me still, no matter what the test, and lets me glory in His
will. For well I know tis best. For well I know tis best. So now the future holds no fear. God guards the work begun. And mortals are immortal here. until the work is done, until
the work is done. Someday the path he chose for
me will all be understood. In heaven's clearer light I'll
see all things work out for good, all things work out for good. Number 272, Solid Rock. 272. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand All other ground is sinking sand All other ground is sinking
sand When darkness veils his lovely face I rest on his unchanging
grace In every high and Stormy gale, my anchor holds within
the veil. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. His oath is covenant, not his
blood. Support me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives
way, he then is all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When he shall come with trumpet
sound, oh, may I then him be found, dressed in his righteousness
alone, faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground
is sinking sand. Turn in your Bibles, please,
to Exodus, the 30th chapter. I want to read verses 34 through
38. The title of my message tonight
is, Holy Perfume. Verse 34, And the Lord said unto
Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, onetia, and gabonim,
These sweet spices with pure frankincense, of each shall there
be a like weight. Now shall make a perfume, a confection,
after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy. Now shall beat some of its very
small and put it out before the testimony in the tabernacle of
the congregation, where I will meet with thee. It shall be unto
you most holy. And as for the perfume which
thou make, ye shall not make it to yourselves according to
the composition thereof. It shall be unto thee a holy
for the Lord. Whosoever shall make like unto
that to smell thereunto shall even be cut off from the people.
Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the mercy of
Jesus Christ, our Lord. who gave himself for our sins,
who died in the room instead of his people and fully redeemed
them by his blood. And they now stand in his righteousness,
accepted before thee, pure and holy. And we know it's all because
of your work and none of theirs. Father, we would remember those
who are sick, those who've lost loved ones, those who are going
through trials. We ask, Father, that you be merciful
to them. Help them. Those who've been
added to the list, Teresa's sister with her situation, also Randy
Perriman, Dana James, Roland, we ask, Lord, your help for them.
We know that you are God. and we do thank you that you
have taken your power to yourself and have reigned. And do this
hour reign and rule in this world. Give us grace to believe it and
to rest in it, knowing that the judge of all the earth shall
do what's right. Help us, Lord, to recognize that and appreciate
that fact. And help us tonight as we gather
here that you might be pleased to give us worship as we consider
this thing, this last bit of instruction that you give to
Moses on the mountain. Help us, Lord, we pray in Christ's
name, amen. Now this perfume, this incense,
is the final item described to Moses that is to be employed
in the tabernacle. It is the fragrant compound that
will be burnt on the altar of incense or the golden altar that
sits by the veil that separates the holy place from the most
holy place. Now this altar stood outside
the veil behind which was the Ark of the Covenant, which is
also called the testimony here and also called the Ark of Testimony
in Scripture. And this aromatic perfume made
of a mixture of sweet spices representing the intercession
of the Lord Jesus Christ, his prayers for his people and his
substitutionary sacrifice offered to God, which interceded for
his elect with his death. And it was from this altar with
the incense that the high priest filled the censer that he waved
under the veil on the day of the holy, holy as was entered
on the day of atonement. And this act filled the holy
place with smoke, and a sweet smelling smoke. So the high priest
was kept from fully viewing the Shekinah glory of God that dwelt
between the wings of the cherubim that faced each other off the
mercy seat. He did that because no man can
see God and live. The Shekinah glory of God was
so bright that men could not look upon it. So before he entered
under that veil, and he crawled under that veil, it didn't have
a or a curtain where you could open it up. It was four layers
thick and he crawled under that bill. First he took that censer
and took coals off the golden altar with this spicy perfume
on it, this incense, and put it only in that censer on top
of the coals and then put that underneath and shook it back
and forth and filled that whole place with smoke, sweet-smelling
smoke before the Lord. This act filled the most holy
place with smoke. This declared the absolute necessity
of something between men and God. Something that had to be
between men and God for God to deal with men. So it represented
the necessity of a mediator between men and God and we know according
to scripture there is one mediator between men and God, the man
Jesus Christ according to 2 Timothy. Now some have said that the high
priestly prayer in John 17 where Christ prayed not for the
world but for them that God had given him is represented by this
censer full of smoke under this. This preceded the cross when
our Lord interceded for his people on behalf of his people, interceded
to God for his people. There he said he has revealed
the Father, he's finished the work that God has given him to
do and he said he prayed not for the world but for them that
God had given him, that they were thine And he was with God
and God was with them and they were all together one in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now some have said that this
is what this represents. It's the fulfillment of the type
of the censer and the smoke. Everything in the Old Testament
points to something about the Lord Jesus Christ and his work. As the priest drew nigh to do
their business in the holy place. where this golden altar sat.
The aromatic savor of this concoction permeated the atmosphere of that
area. Now the permeating character
of this perfume reminded me of the harlot that broke open the
alabaster box of precious ointment, which was valued at a year's
earnings to anoint the oil for his burial. Now when she opened
up that perfume, that alabaster box of spikenard ointment, it
filled the room with the aroma of it. It filled the room. That's
what it is to preach the gospel. We open up the alabaster box
of ointment and it fills the room with the aroma of the Lord
Jesus Christ. it was symbolic of the faith
of this woman that she had in the Lord Jesus Christ and the
fragrance of grace that had been given to her. The disciples who
yet did not comprehend the crucifixion to come, they didn't get it yet.
This woman got it for she anointed the Lord for his burial. That's
a wondrous thing. The disciples thought this was
extravagant. They thought it was a waste.
They thought the money could have been used. They could have
sold this for the price of a year's wages and fed the poor. And the
Lord said, to poor you'll always be. If you want to feed the poor,
you can feed the poor. This woman has done this to anoint
me for my burial. And this was offered by a sinner
who had been given grace to believe that she would have part or be a part of what
Christ was going to do that she believed that he was going to
the cross that they believed that he was going to be buried
she believed that he was going to be raised from the dead and
by grace through the annals of biblical history she is the only
person to whom the Lord personally accounted as having done a good
work the only person in all the scriptures And he told the disciples,
what you do, you take care of the poor and so forth. This woman's
name is going to be a memorial forever in the word of God. That perfume was for the glory
of God. It was for the glory of God in
his death and the resurrection. The fragrance that was offered
up in the room that day was the gospel of grace. The gospel of
grace. And so it is with the incense
burned on this golden altar. The final thing given Moses.
This is the final thing given Moses. Now he's been on this
mount forty days and forty nights, been given instructions. All
this we've seen since Exodus chapter 20 all the way through
chapter 30 is Moses on the mount receiving instructions as to
the priesthood and the tabernacle, the elements of the tabernacle.
This is the very last thing. This serves as a kind of capstone
to it all. These instructions began, we
know, with the Ark of the Covenant. That was the first thing that
was taught, how it was to be made. Then instead of messing
around or dealing with those elements near the ark of the
covenant which is under the holy of holies he went all the way
back to the front of the tabernacle to the brazen altar because the
ark of the covenant where God sits can only be reached through
the blood of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ which is represented
by the brazen altar then the other elements were added to
show forth some aspect of the Lord Jesus Christ in his work
one can almost hear the resounding voice of Zerubbabel shouting
grace, grace unto it as this thing is described here, this
perfume. And what the triune God did in
the salvation of Elech, it was entirely for one thing. It was
all for one thing. All for the praise of the glory
of His grace. That's what it says in Ephesians
chapter 1. whether it was the election of his people, whether
it was that predestinated them to be holy, whether it was in
love predestinated them to the adoption of sons, whether it
was cleansing them, whether it was forgiving their sins, whether
it was abounding with them in wisdom and understanding, whether
it was giving them the spirit as a down payment for all the
salvation that they would receive no matter what it was. It was
all for one reason. And you were saved and I was
saved for one reason. We weren't saved because we were
special. We weren't saved because we wanted
to be saved. We didn't want to be saved. God
had to put the want in us to be saved. He had to create a
need in us, a thirst and a hunger for righteousness. When all is
said and done, one thing will be praised in eternity, the glory
of God's grace. And that's what this incense
has to do with, the praise of His grace because of the intercession
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This holy perfume, this is holy
perfume and its permeating power pictures the holy grace that
fills the world, the earth, the universe with the glory of God.
The glory of God. And the incense was made of four
elements, four sweet spices. That's how it's described in
verse 34. The Lord said unto Moses, Take unto these sweet
spices, stactite, and oetia, and galbenum, and these spices
with pure frankincense of each shall there be a like weight.
What were these spices? These spices were most likely
resins. They were resins from various
trees and shrubs. They are likely resins because
they are often referred to in the writings of the Hebrews as
sweat from the plants. Sweat from the plants. The resins
were allowed to harden. Then they were pulverized. Each
sweet spice was of the same weight. That's important. the same weight
of each spice. Each operation of grace is equal
to the value necessary for the grace offered or grace given. It is always sufficient grace
for every situation and that's always in the present tense.
No matter what the situation, God says, My grace is now, present,
whether living grace or dying grace or grace for sorrow or
grace for joy, what is it? It is all the same grace. It
all has the same weight. It all comes from God, and it
is always successful. It is always successful where
sin abounded, Scripture says, and it did abound in all of us.
Grace did much more abound. We sing the song, Grace has brought
us safe thus far. And grace will bring us home. Grace. Grace unto it. The concoction is referred to
in two ways in verse 35. It says, And thou shalt make
a perfume, a confection, after the art of the apothecary, tempered
together pure and holy. First, it is called a perfume.
It is called a perfume. This refers to the aroma produced
when it was burned. One of the meanings of the word,
perfume, in the original is the sweet smoke of sacrifice, and
that's what it was. This incense was burned on this
altar, and cold, taken off the brazen altar, where the sacrifice
that represented Christ's cross was made. It was brought to the
golden altar, and then the incense was put on top of it. So that's
one of the meanings of it, a sweet smoke of sacrifice, like the
sacrifice offered on the brazen altar, picturing the sacrifice
of Christ, and that also pictures the preaching of the gospel.
This is said to be like perfume unto God, to smell to God, a
sweet-smelling savor to God in the preaching of the gospel.
Over in 2 Corinthians chapter 2, when Paul talks about preaching
the gospel, he says that they're always victorious in doing so,
and the gospel is something toward God. We know it's to honor and
glorify God's praise. In 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14,
he says, Now, thanks be unto God, which always causes us to
triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge
in every place. Now, the savor of his knowledge
is the gospel. We are unto God. We who preach the gospel and
the gospel we preach are unto God, a sweet savor of Christ. That's that perfume. The gospel
is perfume to God in them that are saved and in them that are
perished. It always smells the same to
God regardless. To some it's a savor of life,
to others it's a savor of death. Secondly, it's called a confection.
This means that it was a mixture of spices. That's what the apothecary
means. The art of the apothecary was
the art of mixing these spices together to reach this consistency
of perfume. And it says that they were tempered. They were tempered. All of it
was tempered. What does that mean? It means it was salted.
I didn't know this. Salt was used in all the sacrifices.
in some form or another and pictures that everything god does for
his people and all that his people do is salted with the grace of
god. It is grace that taught my heart
to fear and grace my fears relieved. Same grace. It's pure and holy,
it says here, according to God's ordination. This is a heavenly
perfume for the believer who struggles daily with the weakness
and frailty of his own impotence. How can what we do be holy and
pure and smell good to God? How can we? In Christ it's just
so. And over in Ecclesiastes chapter
9 the preacher said this in verse 7, Go thy way, go thy way, eat
thy bread with joy, drink thy wine with a merry heart, for
God now accepteth thy works. accept it that way. I don't even
know what they are. How can they be acceptable? Because
they come from me. They are because this is done
by grace. If you do anything for God that
would honor Him, it is by the grace of God. Only by the grace
of God. The word some in verse 36 that shall beat some in a verse
beavis be some very small and put it before the testimony the
tabernacle congregation where I will meet with thee it shall
be in the most holy beat some the word some is italicized if
you notice in your scripture this means it was added by the
translators but here it does not help the translation because
in looking at the history of these things in the apothecary
not some of them was crushed all the spices were crushed They
were all crushed or pulverized. Actually, all the spices were.
They were beaten very small. They were put in a container
and mixed together. Then they were put on the golden
altar. Here it says, before the testimony. That's what it means.
What was the one thing that sat right in front of the curtain?
It was the golden altar. To the right was the table of
sure bread. To the left was the candlestick. Right before the
or the veil was the golden altar which represented the intercession
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the place God says, speaking
of the testimony, this is the place where God meets with His
people. This is where God meets with His people. Where is that?
He meets with them over the mercy seat. And we know the mercy seat
is used four times in the New Testament or the word for mercy
seat, and it's interpreted to mean the propitiation or the
satisfaction of God for sin. Our Lord meets with people, with
people where propitiation has been made, where He's satisfied
with them because His law and His justice has been satisfied.
Old Scott Richard used to say, God will not speak to, nor will
He be spoken to by anyone without a mediator and Christ our mediator
is our propitiation. It says that back in Exodus 25
that God will meet with his people in Exodus 25, 21 and 22. It says and thou shalt put the mercy
seat above the ark and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony
which I shall give thee and I will meet with thee and I will commune
with thee above the mercy seat from between the two cherubim
which are upon the ark of the testimony of all things which
I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel."
This is an interesting statement because Moses was not a priest. He was the leader and a picture
of the Savior. But here God says, I'll meet
with you over the mercy seat and I'll tell you what He's talking
about. So you wonder if the lightning and the thunder that was going
on in the mountain might have been the Shekinah glory of God.
and Moses was meeting with God and hearing all these things
from Him. Then in Exodus chapter 30 and verse 6 it says the same
thing. It says, And thou shalt put before
the veil, that is the ark of the testimony, before the mercy
seat, that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee.
You want to meet with God, something's got to happen. Your sins have
to be propitiated for. Your sins have to be put away.
But if they are, then God bids you with a welcome to come into
his presence to make your desires known. Then in verse 36 and 37, verse 37-38 rather. It says,
and as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not
make it of yourselves according to the composition thereof. It
shall be unto thee holy for the Lord. Whosoever shall make like
unto that to smell thereunto shall even be cut off from his
people. This is a prohibition. Our Lord gives prohibitions for
all these things. For all these things. But here's
a prohibition concerning the manufacture of this incense.
You're not to make it. You're not to use this formula
to make perfume for your house or to make your house smell nice
or make yourself smell nice. It's not to be done. It's prohibited
to make the confection with these ingredients for personal use.
What does this mean? This is a simple statement that
grace belongs to God. Grace belongs to God, to the
Lord. No one can make grace effectual but God Himself. Now, we know
that false religion teaches that God's grace is available. God's
grace is out there. God's grace is... He wants to
show grace. That's what religion is teaching
and it's all up to you to make that work with your free will
or your decision. God said, you can't make this
up. This is holy unto the Lord. You
can't use this that way. No one can make grace effectual
but God Himself. One cannot manufacture grace
and cannot cause grace to be bestowed. Grace is pure and it's
holy. And thus it is singularly for
God's use and employment. God set this for His use. Religion
tells men and women that if they pray the right prayer, like the
sinner's prayer, or they say, I'm sorry to God, or they sufficiently
repent or believe something, that such activities will obligate
God to show them grace. That's simply a lie. it's simply
a lie. Grace is bestowed on those who
do nothing and know nothing and are nothing else and are nothing. Elsewise, grace
is not grace. Anyone who thinks he has ought
to do with the administration of grace will be cut off. That's
what our Lord is saying. You don't have anything to do
with this. This is for the Lord. This is
holy and pure and for the Lord alone. It's a holy thing. pure
perfume of grace is holy for the Lord. That's what this is
teaching. And that's what we teach as we
teach the sovereign grace of God. God does it all. And whatever
these things represent in the Old Testament, these types and
these pictures, they have to do with the grace of God being
solely and completely His. To His name be glory. Father,
bless us to understand and pray in Christ's name. Amen. All right.