If you have your Bible, then let's turn together to Exodus chapter 36. If you don't have a Bible, there may still be some extras there on the table. And we're going to be today in Exodus, basically chapter 36 through 39. And this is a big chunk of Scripture, and I have to tell you that we are actually not going to read every word of it today. Isn't that bizarre? So there are portions of the scripture that I'm preaching on today that I'm not going to read aloud to you today because there is so much of it. But part of the reason for that is because this is almost absolutely verbatim copied from verses that we have already read together and examined together in earlier parts of the book of Exodus. So these have to do with the construction of the tabernacle. And as before, God had given those thorough instructions, now it's going to show the people following those thorough instructions. And there's repetition here on purpose to show us the importance of following after God's instructions. So that's what we're thinking of today as we look at their following these instructions, is following God's instructions. And doing that in a way that is careful and thorough and for His glory. but also rejoicing that Jesus is the only one who perfectly followed the instructions so that we could have salvation and eternal life. We got a play set several months ago that we set up in the backyard. Now I have heard horror stories of play sets in the backyards of various people. I know that the larger ones, sometimes you try to put those together and you think it's going to take an hour and it takes 12. I've heard about that. This one is really small and it's plastic and it looks so simple. and yet it wasn't quite so simple. So you look at the picture on the box and the temptation, especially among us men, is to say, I see the picture, I see the parts, I know what to do, right? And yet, if you just start going at it and seeing, is this going to work? It's typically not going to work. Maybe you are in a position where you've done something so many times and you just got it down, but typically we're going to have to follow the instructions. If you want your play set to hold together and not to drop your children on the ground when they try to go down the slide, then it is best to actually get out the instructions, go step-by-step, read them, understand them, and follow what they actually say, right? Now, what God has done in the Scriptures is He has given us instructions. Now, I don't want to reduce the idea of the Bible to just an instruction book. Sometimes we call it that. I've heard a number of people say that before. We long for an instruction book for life. Well, we have it. That's true. Now, the Bible is not only an instruction book. When we're talking about the instructions that the Bible gives, that is what we call law. When we follow what God says to do, that's good. We need to long to follow that, but we need to also recognize that the instructions God gives us are law, and you're never going to be saved by following the instructions. And so the Bible is not just an instruction book, it is also a book of good news. It has God's good instructions, God's good rules, but it also has God's good news. So we've been called to thoroughly follow God's instructions, and we have failed at that, and we cannot expect to perfectly follow God's instructions until we die and go to heaven and are perfected in the presence of Christ, or if Jesus comes before that, that would be fantastic. But we can't expect to do that. We can have the gospel too. So as we go through and we think about the concept of following God's instructions, we want to do that thoroughly, but keep in mind that that is law, and we need the gospel. We don't just need God's good rules to follow, we need God's good news about what He has done for us, right? Now, when we look at this passage, we will see a beautiful example, though, of a people whose hearts had been far from the Lord, even as God had done many, many great things for them. He had made a covenant with them by way of making a covenant with their ancestor Abraham. And he had brought about all sorts of circumstances in their nation's history that brought them low so that he could then bring them high and show his glory. And he had brought them out of slavery in Egypt by his mighty right hand, and he had shown miracles in the 10 plagues as he had brought them out, and shown miracles in his parting the Red Sea and letting them walk through on dry land, and then crashing that sea back down on the Egyptian army as they tried to pass through. And God fighting their battles for them. God had shown them that He was with them. in His giving them water from the rock, in His giving them manna from heaven to eat. He had shown that He was with them as He revealed His presence in the pillar of cloud by day, the pillar of fire by night, and that mighty, booming voice of fire and smoke out of the top of Mount Sinai announcing the Ten Commandments. and then giving further instructions beyond the Ten Commandments to Moses in person. God had shown them many things and they had agreed to obey whatever He had said, to obey perfectly. That was their agreement. And we know that they very quickly broke that agreement. They very, very quickly went and made their own system of worship, made their own object of worship, declared that this was the God who had brought them out of Egypt. They made this golden calf. They made their own festival in celebration of this golden calf. They had strayed far from God. But through a series of God's acts of discipline, He has gotten at their hearts. We saw that already last week in how God had gotten at their hearts. He had brought about their sincere giving of their time in the Sabbath. He had brought about their sincere giving of their money and the materials for the tabernacle. He had brought about their sincere giving of their talents in all who were skilled to be able to help with the construction of the tabernacle coming together. And now we're going to see their sincere following of the instructions. And so this is a beautiful thing, and it sets for us a good example. Can you imagine that? The people of Israel in the wilderness setting a good example for us? It's not going to happen very often. So let's celebrate it when we see it, and we see that right here, starting in Exodus 36, verse 8. What we have here is following God's instructions, first of all, with the building of the tabernacle and the objects that are inside it. It says in verse 8, Exodus 36 and all the craftsmen among the workmen made the tabernacle with ten curtains They were made of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns with cherubim skillfully worked This is saying that Bezalel and his helpers, Aholiab and others, that they got to work actually doing what God had said. And the first thing that they got to work on was the curtains that were going to make the inside walls of the tabernacle. And you may remember that these inside walls of the tabernacle, even though they were made of cloth, they were absolutely breathtaking and spectacular. Made of blue and purple and scarlet yarns, that those colors have something of a reflection of the colors of the heavens up above. It looks like a beautiful sunrise or a beautiful sunset, day turning into night, and you see that. And not just that, but those walls inside have skillfully worked into them these pictures of angels flying around. Just a picture that when you walk into the tabernacle, which not everybody could do, only the priests could do, But when they walked in, there was a sense of grandeur, and almost like you had just walked into heaven, in walking into this little tent that represented God's house, that represented God's dwelling place. So they made those curtains. Verse 14 tells us of making other curtains also, besides just the inner walls. It says, he also made curtains of goat's hair for a tent over the tabernacle. He made 11 curtains. So there were these additional curtains that were covering over that one, protecting it, layers of curtains up to the animal skins on the very top of the tabernacle. And then he makes the frames, chapter 36, verse 20. Then he made the upright frames for the tabernacle of Acacia wood. So you've got to have something to hang the curtains on, some sort of a structure. You can't just put cloth in the middle of a field and have it stand up as a tent. He made the frames. And then there's the veil, verse 35 of chapter 36. I'm already turning the page. Can you believe that? Verse 35. It says, he made the veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns of fine twined linen with cherubim skillfully worked into it. He made it. Now, do you remember this veil? Do you remember anything about it? It's this cloth, this curtain that separates these two rooms that are inside the tabernacle. The outer room is called the holy place, and the inner room is called the most holy place, or the holy of holies. So not everybody gets to even see this curtain. But it's up there all the time. And as the priests come in, as they do their ministry, as they tend the candles, as they tend the bread on the table, as they do the incense offering in that holy place, there's a curtain reminding them, there's a place we can't go. Only the high priest can go there. And he can only go there once a year. This is the same curtain that Jesus, by the power of his death, would split in two. so that access directly to God has come by way of being united to our great high priest Jesus by faith, and not by works, not by ordination, but by faith in Jesus Christ. But they made the curtain, they made it exactly as God had instructed. And then they made this screen, verse 37. He also made a screen for the entrance of the tent of blue and purple and scarlet yarns of fine twined linen embroidered with needlework. That was sort of the outside door of the tabernacle tent, and it reminded people, we don't get to go in there. Only the priests get to go in there. Now, we may feel that way a little bit right now, as we're having outside worship services, right? But, it's not that feeling at all. We could be worshipping inside, we could be worshipping outside, we could be worshipping at the beach, and we are ushered into the presence of God by faith in our great high priest, Jesus. into what that tabernacle represented. Not just the tent, but the holy places, the heavenly places, the very presence of God. And then they made the objects that went inside the tabernacle. Look at chapter 37, verse 1. Bezalel made the Ark of Acacia wood. Two cubits and a half was its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. This was that central object in that inner room in the tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant. And they made it exactly according to the design of God, exactly according to His instructions. This was the vessel that was going to hold the tablets of the Ten Commandments and was going to represent the presence of God among them. Not as an idol that they come and bow down to, that was never the intention of the Ark of the Covenant, but just as a reminder, God is with you And He has revealed Himself to you by His Word that is contained in this beautiful box, His Ten Commandments. And then they make not just the ark, but what goes on top of the ark. It says in verses 6-9 of chapter 37, and he made a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half was its length and a cubit and a half its breadth, and he made two cherubim of gold. He made them of hammered work on the two ends of the mercy seat, one cherub on the one end and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat, he made the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, with their faces toward one another. Toward the mercy seat were the faces of the cherubim. So he made the mercy seat that had the cherubim on top. Now if you have no idea what I'm talking about, let me just put it very plainly. The Ark of the Covenant is a box. It's a box that the Ten Commandments went into. On top of it, there was a covering. The covering is called the mercy seat. Now the mercy seat doesn't mean a seat as in the seat that you're sitting in right now. I wish that we would use a different term for it because it's confusing. It was confusing to me for a long time. It may be confusing to you. It doesn't mean seat in terms of where you sit. It means seat in terms of a place where something happens. So sometimes we talk about the seat of government, right? That's not talking about a place where the government sits. It's talking about a place where the government operates. And that's the idea of the mercy seat. It's not a place where God sits. It's not a place where mercy sits. It's a place where mercy operates. And what happened at the mercy seat is that it was this place of an in-between place. We'll put it that way. Above it were these two angels reaching out their wings toward the center. And between the wings of the angels, that was sort of the representative place of remembering God is here. God is God. The angels had their faces turned down to show that they were representing God is in that invisible place that you can't see right there. So there was God hovering above. There is God's law hovering below. The law by which He judges mankind. The law by which He judges you personally and judges the thoughts and intentions of your heart and not just the stuff that your pastor could see. That law is there and the Holy God is above, but in between is the mercy seat and is the place where the blood of the sacrifice of this day of atonement is sprinkled once a year. There is the blood on a yearly basis that goes on the mercy seat to show there is blood sacrifice coming between God and His judgment of you by His law. It is a representation of Jesus' propitiation for our sins. And in fact, in the New Testament, the word for propitiation and the word for mercy seat are literally the same word. It is the blood sacrifice that turns away the wrath of God that comes between the Holy God and His law by which He judges us. It points us to the grace of Jesus and His blood shed for us. As they were making that, you can imagine with that explanation, it's important to make that the way that God says to, and not just however you feel like is going to be creative and nice. So they followed God's instructions perfectly in how they made the mercy seat. And then, and then they made the table that went, not in the holy, of holies, but in the holy place. Look at chapter 37, verse 10. All right. There's not much wind, but my pages do keep turning. Chapter 37, 10, he also made the table of acacia wood. Two cubits was its length, a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. This was a table that was functioning as a table. It held bread, it held various utensils and plates and cups to go along, and the idea here was that there were these 12 pieces of bread that were going to be on this table at all times to represent God is fellowshipping with his people. That's basically what it got down to. And they made the table, they made it exactly according to God's design. They made the vessels for the table according to God's design. In verse 16, He made the vessels of pure gold that were to be on the table, its plates and dishes for incense, its bowls and flagons with which to pour drink offerings. That's interesting, isn't it? Inside the holy place, inside the tabernacle, even the plates are made out of gold. Even the silverware is not silver, it's gold. As you were approaching the courts of the tabernacle, you'd see a lot of bronze. And as you got inside the court, you'd see a lot of silver. And as you went into the tabernacle, everything was gold. It's just coming closer and closer to the beauty of the presence of God. When we get to heaven, the Bible describes even the streets of being gold, right? That'll be interesting. I don't know what that's going to look like. We don't have as many descriptions of heaven in the Bible as we often wish we did. But it's the very presence of God that's represented there. And then there's the lampstand, chapter 37, verse 17. He says, he also made the lampstand of pure gold. He made the lampstand of hammered work, its base, its stem, its cups, its calyxes, and its flowers were of one piece with it. So this was right next to the table. There was this candelabra. If you want to know what it looked like, it looked kind of like the ones that you see around Hanukkah all over the place with the seven different candles on this candlestick. And it was made out of 75 pounds of gold. That's pretty impressive, isn't it? Over a talent of gold, that's 75 pounds. And what it represented was two things. It represented the light of God, and it represented the life of God. It was constantly giving light, day and night. God never sleeps, the light in His house never goes out. God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. Jesus has come as our light shining in the dark place. And it represents the life of God. It's got these blooming sort of almond blossoms all over it. It's reminiscent there of the tree of life in the Garden of Eden. It's saying, you remember that tree that if you would have eaten of that tree instead of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you would have lived forever instead of dying? That's here. And that's going to show up in the New Jerusalem one day, Revelation chapter 22. The tree of life is there. Guys, if you trust in Jesus, you will eat of the tree of life. And it was represented there, in that place, by those blossoming candlesticks on the lampstand. And then, they also made the incense altar. Okay, so this was down in verse 25 of chapter 37. He made the altar of incense of acacia wood. Its length was a cubit and its breadth was a cubit. It was square and two cubits was its height. Its horns were of one piece with it. So these were the three pieces of furniture that were in there. They had the lamp stand. They had the table. with the bread of the presence on it, and then they had the incense altar. And the incense altar represented the prayers of the people coming before God in a way that was pleasing. There were sacrifices that were made for the incense and for the incense altar. And as the people prayed, this is what it pointed to, is God receiving those prayers as a fragrant offering, as a fragrant aroma rising up to Him in heaven. And it's a reminder that when we trust in Jesus, our great high priest, it's through His sacrifice for our sins that our prayers come to God as pleasing. It is through the intercession of the Holy Spirit for us and the intercession of God the Son Jesus in heaven for us that our prayers, even though tainted by all the things that they're tainted by, they rise up to God perfectly and are pleasing before Him like a fragrant incense offering. And then they made not just the altar, not just the furniture, but they made the incense itself and they made the anointing oil. That's verse 29. He made the holy anointing oil also and put the pure fragrant incense blended as by the perfumer. So they made all of the things in the tabernacle. They made all the objects inside the tabernacle. And then they went outside. And they made the stuff that was outside. So let's look at that a little bit. We're outside right now. Remember that first Sunday that we got to meet together outdoors again? June 7th it was, I remember the date. And what God had us in in Exodus was that courtyard area. And just remembering what it must have been like to be out in the courtyards, the people of God. Only the priests got to go inside. But all of the Jewish people, all of the Israelites could come into the gates of that courtyard and offer their sacrifices through the priests who were ministering in that place. But they made it. And it wasn't just the inside that had God's instructions, it was that outside area, too. He had said exactly how to do it. They made the altar. He says, chapter 38, verse 1, He made the altar a burnt offering of acacia wood. Five cubits was its length, five cubits its breadth. It was square, and three cubits was its height. He made horns for it on its four corners. His horns were of one piece with it, and he overlaid it with bronze. This was the altar where the sacrifices for sin were made. This is the altar that reminds us of the cross. So we think of that acacia wood, we can think of that wood, that tree on which Jesus died. Where they were, essentially what they had then was a giant grill. And they would take a portion of the meat of the animals that the people brought and they would put it there and they would burn it up completely. and it would be a representation, there must be a blood sacrifice for sin. The wages of sin is death and you're not gonna have forgiveness of sins without death happening, whether your own or the death of something else in your place. Now was it those bulls and goats that were sacrificed on that altar? Were those the things that were taking away sin? No, never. The Bible tells us in Hebrews the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sin. but it was a type, it was a shadow that was pointing them forward to trust that God would give the perfect sacrifice of His own Son, Jesus, one day. The perfect Lamb of God. So it was very important to build that altar exactly as God had said, and they did. Bezalel and his helpers built it exactly as God had said. They built the utensils exactly as God had said. Verse three there, he made all the utensils of the altar, the pots, the shovels, the basins, the forks, and the firepans. He made all the utensils of bronze. They followed God's instructions in how to make the shovel to scoop the ash. They were following this in detail. And then they go down and they make the basin, this water basin for washing, verse 8 of chapter 38. He made the basin of bronze and its stand of bronze from the mirrors of the ministering women who ministered in the entrance of the tent of meeting. Now when we read that, we want to know more about these women. We want to know what were they doing? What was their ministering? What was their help? We don't know. The Bible just doesn't go into much detail about that. It seems to be a role that continued for generations because it's mentioned again in the days of Samuel and Eli. but they seem to have been helping with the preparations and sacrifices in some way. But these women were honored in having the privilege to donate their bronze mirrors. Now, we don't have bronze mirrors today, but they couldn't make mirrors quite like they did back then, or quite like we do today back then, and so what they had was just a piece of polished bronze, and they could look into it, and they could see their face, and they could do their hair and all the things that you need to do in a mirror, but they had the privilege of donating those in order to make that wash basin, that wash basin. It makes you kind of think that as people came, especially the priests, as they came to be washed clean, as they came to do their ritual washings, as they came to wash their hands and their feet before offering the sacrifices of the Lord, that there might have been a mirror-like quality to that basin itself, reflecting something on their very being, of who they are, and showing them their need to be clean. And it just reminds me so much of what James says about looking into the Word of God that it's like a mirror on our souls. And that the one who hears the Word and does not do the Word is one who looks into a mirror intently and walks away and forgets what he looks like. But the call for us instead is to look into the mirror that God has on our souls, the Word of God, and rather than walking away and forgetting, to be washed. to confess our sin and to be forgiven and cleansed of all unrighteousness. But the role of that basin in the courtyard was for ritual washings. It was a reminder that even those priests who had been set aside and ordained to the priesthood, that they continually needed to be cleaned. That God had a standard of holiness that was represented even in the physical cleanliness as they came forward to offer their sacrifices. It reminds us, too, of baptism, doesn't it? It reminds us that as we come to faith in Jesus, that we go through those waters to represent that he has washed us clean. And it reminds us a little bit of the Lord's Supper, too, where Jesus says that he who has been washed, he whose body has been washed, does not need to wash again, but only his feet, just as the priests who had already been ordained didn't have to go through the whole ritual washing again, but they continually had to wash their hands and their feet. And you and I, you trusted in Jesus, you have been washed clean. You have been justified before God. And that's represented in baptism. And you keep on walking around in this dirty world and keep on needing forgiveness by the blood of Christ. And that's represented in the Lord's Supper that we take together too. And then they didn't stop there. They kept following the instructions. So the next thing that they made was the courtyard itself, verse 9 and 10 of chapter 38. He made the court. For the south side, the hangings of the court were fine twined linen, 100 cubits. Their 20 pillars and their 20 bases were of bronze, but the hooks in the pillars and their fillets were of silver. They had to make an actual barrier for the edge of the courtyard. One of the things that that reminds us of is that within God's kingdom there is an actual in and an actual out. There's an in and there's an out. Now God knows perfectly who are his children and who are not. And he knows perfectly who will be his children and who will not. Now we don't know that perfectly, but he has called us to reflect that in our best judgment as churches. as we have an in and we have an out. As Jesus gives instructions to forgive those who come and testify to their faith in Jesus and to their repentance of sins. And to those who won't, he says to treat them as Gentiles and tax collectors. Not meaning to be mean and rude, but saying there's an inside and there's an outside. And that's a reminder that we have there in those hangings marking the edges of the courtyard of you're in or you're out. Guys, be in, be in, be all in. Don't be on the edge, wondering if you're in or out. Come to Jesus. Go all in with the church too, okay? Love God, love His people. Be in. And then, not just the courtyard, but the screen at the edge of it, the gate. Chapter 38, verse 18. And the screen for the gate of the court was embroidered with needlework and blue and purple and scarlet yarns of fine twined linen. It was 20 cubits long, and it was five cubits high in its breadth, corresponding to the hangings of the court. This is just a reminder that there was an opening. There was a place that this curtain hanging there looked kind of like heaven, with the blue and the purple and the scarlet colors. And it opened up, and it invited in. And it just reminds me of the open invitation that Jesus has said, come to me, all you who are weak and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Come. Come in. Come in. All right, then what else did they make? The screen for the gate. Okay, so they made all the tabernacle and the objects inside. They made the courtyard and the objects outside. And then they made the priestly garments. All right, so let's look at that. Chapter 39, starting in verse 1. It says, from the blue and purple and scarlet yarns they made finely woven garments for ministering in the holy place. They made the holy garments for Aaron as the Lord had commanded Moses. This is a general statement. They were going to make the garments for the high priest as well as for the rest of the priests. They made the ephod, verse 2. He made the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet yarns of fine twined linen, and they hammered out the gold leaf, and he cut it into threads to work into the blue and purple and scarlet yarns and into the fine twined linen in skilled design. And then they made, so this was sort of like, almost like an apron that was part of the high priest's garments. And then they made the shoulder pieces, these onyx shoulder pieces in verses six and seven. They made onyx stones enclosed in settings of gold filigree and engraved like the engravings of a signet according to the names of the sons of Israel. And he set them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod to be stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel as the Lord had commanded. These stones on the priest's shoulders were one of the representations that the priest wore on his body that he was bringing the nation with him into the Holy of Holies when he went in there to minister. That he wasn't just representing himself, that he was bringing the nation before him and asking for the mercy of God to all the people. That was one of the ways he did that. The other way was with the breastpiece and the stones that were in it. And that's what it talks about next. It says in verses 8 and 9, he made the breastpiece in skilled work in the style of an ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen. It was square. They made the breastpiece doubled. A span was its length and a span its breadth when doubled. And then it talks about these stones that were put into it. It says that there were four rows of stones. There was sardus, topaz, carbuncle, and then emerald, sapphire, and diamond, and then jacinth, and agate, and amethyst, and beryl, and onyx, and jasper. And it says in verse 14, there were 12 stones with their 12 names according to the names of the sons of Israel. They were like signets, and each engraved with its name for the 12 tribes. All right. This is just a reminder, guys. Jesus, our great high priest, he has our names written on his heart. The Bible even says that our names are written on the palms of his hands, of our God. God remembers us. Jesus, even though he has died and risen from the dead and then departed the earth and ascended into heaven and is seated in the heavenly places, even though there are better things to think about than me in heaven, he's thinking of me. And believer, He's thinking of you, and your name is written on His heart. And as He is your great High Priest in heaven right now, He is specifically, by name, interceding for you, just as the High Priest brought in the names of those twelve tribes of Israel with Him on His shoulders, and on His chest, on His breast piece. It's a reminder that Jesus is our High Priest. There's the robe, verse 22, that goes on the top of the ephod. It says, He also made the robe of the ephod woven all of blue. This is sort of a heavenly look to this. I just got to say, the High Priest would look bizarre. This is not the way everybody dressed, but there was something about that, even in his appearance. This is a man who is going to represent us before the Heavenly One, God Himself. And then it says, verses 27 through 29, they also made the coats woven of fine linen for Aaron and his sons, and the turban of fine linen, and the caps of fine linen, and the linen undergarments, even down to their underwear of fine twined linen, and the sash of fine twined linen, and the blue and purple and scarlet yards embroidered with the needlework as the Lord had commanded Moses. So not just the high priests, but they followed the instructions for the garments of all of those priests who were also playing a representative role for the people before this God whose mercy they were asking for on a continual basis. And then verses 30 and 31, they made this gold plate that will go on the forehead of the high priest on his turban. It says, they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold and wrote on it an inscription like the engraving of the signet, holy to the Lord. And they tied to it a cord of blue to fasten it on the turban above as the Lord had commanded Moses. The role that the Bible has told us already in Exodus that this plate on the priest's forehead played, where this gold plate said in Hebrew lettering, it said, holy to the Lord. The role there was that the high priest was to offer sacrifices, not just the sacrifices that were all laid out, but also sacrifices to cover the faults in the sacrifices. that the high priest was interceding for the people even to the point where their attempts at doing worship according to the instructions of God, as those attempts were tainted by their sin, that God would cover and forgive even those sins of attempted worship. And that was represented in that plate that said, holy to the Lord. Those guys have a regular Sunday morning ride, don't they? Alright, they're having a blast out there. Alright. Holy to the Lord. And it's just a reminder that even as we seek to worship God, even as we are convicted, I'm not worshiping well enough today. I took the Lord's name in vain as I was singing that psalm this morning because I just kept saying the name of God while my mind was wandering off to lunch. Even as we say to ourselves, what if this other branch of Christianity that does baptism differently, what if they're right? I don't think they are, but I have good news that our attempts at following God in the worship that He has prescribed in the Scripture, our attempts when they are flawed, they are covered by the blood of Jesus, and that's represented. in that plate on the priest's forehead, holy to the Lord, bringing these sacrifices in a way that the Lord makes holy. So all of that just reminds us that it is Christ, our High Priest, who is the one who carries us into the inner sanctuary of God. Romans 8, 34 says, who is to condemn? Jesus Christ is the one who died, more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who is interceding for us. So when you think of all of those things that went into the tabernacle, all of those things that went into the courtyard, all of those things that went into the priest's garments and the careful nature that they had to, the careful attention they had to pay to how they made them and how they used them, That points us to Jesus. Jesus is perfect. Even with their careful attention to all those things, they were still going to have it imperfect. Jesus didn't. Those were shadows. Jesus is the substance. Trust in Jesus. He has gone into the heavenly places. He is your great High Priest. He has offered Himself perfectly for us, and He is interceding for us. Hebrews 10, 19-22. Therefore brothers since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus By the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain that is through his flesh And since we have a great high priest over the house of God Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith With our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. I I say, Jesus, it all points to Jesus. Trust in Jesus. Let Him cover your sins. And as we trust in Jesus, let's seek to obey. Just keep in mind throughout all of this, what was happening? Well, there was an obedience that they were following. There was a careful effort to do exactly what God had said. That hasn't stopped today. There is much that's different today as Jesus has come and has fulfilled those parts of the law that had to do with the operation of theocratic Israel and fulfilled those parts of the law that had to do with the operation of the old animal sacrifice system. There's much that's different, but we are still called to thoroughly obey this God who has saved us, to thoroughly study the scriptures and to follow what they've said, both in our personal lives But also, as is reflected especially in these instructions, as a church together, the building of the tabernacle is significant. And what is the tabernacle in the New Testament? Well, it's the church. What is the temple of the New Testament? Well, it says, you, you church of God, you are God's temple. And we need to seek to obey God, not just in our personal lives, but in how God has said that the church needs to be made. How the church needs to operate. When we do this, there's a high cost. There was a high cost to building the tabernacle. There continues to be a high cost to following God today and to following after His instructions. Look back in chapter 38. We skipped over this portion before, but at the end of chapter 38, it lists out some of the things that had to do with the costs. In verse 22, it says, Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord commanded Moses And with him was Aholiab, the son of Ahissamak, with the tribe of Dan, an engraver and designer, an embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen." One of the things you have there is that there's the cost of the builders. I mean, these guys, I would imagine that they were probably very generous in spirit, but I would guess they probably also got paid for this. And there was a cost to having those skilled workers that were involved in that. And even if they didn't, there was a cost to their doing the work. Work is valuable. And there was a high cost of a lot of work that went into this careful crafting of the tabernacle. There's a high cost of a lot of work that goes into following after God faithfully as an individual and as a church. There was a high cost of the actual money that they had to contribute. Verse 24 of Exodus 38, all the gold that was used for the work and the construction of the sanctuary, the gold from the offerings was 29 talents and 730 shekels. Guys a talent is 75 pounds Multiply that by 29 and it's pure gold and that's a lot of gold. That's a lot of money. That's a high cost And then there's the silver verse 25 the silver from the congregation who were recorded was a hundred talents 7,500 pounds of gold I can do that math on the spot and 1775 shekels by the shekel of the sanctuary and then it says down in Down in verse 28 and in the 1700 excuse me verse 29 the bronze That was offered with 70 talents and 2,400 shekels. There is a lot to this There is a high cost and then of course in addition to that. Also, we had those precious stones that were listed out That were on the high priest shoulders and on his breast piece. It would have been extremely expensive You say well, why would God ask for something that cost the people so much? Well, he always does He owns you. He already has all of you. What He's asking us to do is to recognize that we belong to Him, and to enjoy Him, and to express that enjoyment through the high cost of following after Him. Here's what it says in 1 Corinthians 3, verses 9 through 16. This is Paul writing to the church at Corinth. He says, We, meaning Paul who had planted the church, and Apollos who came and pastored the church after that, and others who were elders of that church. He says, we are God's fellow workers, and you, church, are God's field. You are God's building. The church is God's building. It says, according to the grace of God given me, like a skilled master builder. You know who that reminds me of? Reminds me of Bezalel. Paul is saying, I was like Bezalel in building up the church, just like Bezalel built up the tabernacle. He says, like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care of how he builds upon it, for no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." This is talking not about your personal life, this is talking about the church. Saying the foundation of the church is Jesus Christ, and that's the only foundation we can build on as we build up the church. Now if anyone builds on that foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, does that sound familiar? These are tabernacle temple building materials, and he is directly saying here, it is worth pouring high cost into the building up of the church. Now, am I saying does that... I mean, I don't have like a building program to raise money for right now or something. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm just saying, this is valuable. This group of people that you see in the parking lot right now, this is really valuable to God. And it is worth, just like we talked about last week, it is worth pouring your money and your time and your effort into doing the work of God through the people that God has said He's going to do it through, who is the church. And we want to pour into the church with our time, with our money, with our efforts, not with wood, hay, and straw, but with gold, silver, and precious stones. Each one's work will become manifest, for the day will disclose it because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built in the foundation survives, he will receive a reward." That's good to look forward to. The Bible says, seek a reward for yourself. Do that. Do that by serving and valuing the church. And if anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. Do you not know that you, you guys, plural, y'all, you are God's temple, and God's spirit dwells in you? So God values the church, just as he gave these thorough instructions for the tabernacle, he gives us instructions in the Bible for the church, and it matters that we follow after him. It matters that we follow after him in our personal lives, where there is high cost. Jesus said, whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Which of you desiring to build a tower does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Guys, coming to Jesus is not going to mean an easy life. It's going to mean a life of denying yourself and taking up this cross, this instrument of execution, and following after the footsteps of a Savior who died because we know that He purchased our eternal life. There's high costs, but there's blessing. There is blessing to obedience. Look at the very end of chapter 39. So there is a survey here of all of the work that was done, starting in verse 32. It says thus, all the work of the tabernacle and the tent of the meeting was finished, and all the people of Israel did according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so they did. And it talks about them bringing all the things that they had built before Moses. And then down in verse 42, it says, according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the people of Israel had done all the work. And Moses saw all the work and behold, they had done it as the Lord had commanded. So they had done it. Then Moses blessed them. Guys, do you know the feeling of having a really hard project to do and getting it done? And it feels good. If you don't know that feeling, then there's probably some other issues to deal with in your life. But guys, as we see what God has told us in the Bible, as we see how He's told us to go about church and as we see how He's told us to go about our personal lives, do you have this nagging feeling like, I know what I'm supposed to do and I'm not doing it and I feel convicted? Start doing it. If you have a nagging feeling, I need to start getting up 30 minutes earlier every day so that I can spend time with God in the Word and prayer, and I'm not doing it, and I'm unsettled in my heart, start doing it. Do the work, and there is blessing in completing the work that God has called us to do. Do you have a nagging feeling, I'm not doing evangelism? Doesn't mean that it's the only thing you should be doing all the time, but do some evangelism. Go tell some people about Jesus. And it's good. Do we have a nagging feeling as a church? We need to get this thing done that we've been talking about for seven years of having multiple elders. It's going to be super hard and let's do it. And let's be really satisfied when we get done doing that and God has put elders in place who can be an example to the flock. Oh, I really look forward to that. But guys, there's a blessing in doing this. I want to get to the point where I can say what Paul says in 2 Timothy 4, 7, and 8. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day. And not only to me, but to all who have loved his appearing. Let's look forward to that, to that blessing for the finished work. There's a reflection here in that blessing for the finished work, some of the same wording that's used in the opening chapters of Genesis, as God made for six days and He looked at all that He had done and it was good, and then on the seventh day He looked and saw that all was good, and He blessed the Sabbath day and He rested in it. There's a reflection of that in what Moses is doing and looking and saying, They did as the Lord commanded in this way, and in this way, and in this way. They did it, they did it, they did it. And now, let's enjoy it. Let's be blessed. And we want to look forward to that blessing from God in having labored according to His instructions. But, we also have to recognize, we will not do it perfectly. If we could do it perfectly, there would be absolutely no reason for Jesus to come. If you were able to perfectly obey God's instructions, you wouldn't need Jesus to come. You wouldn't need him to die. That would be silly for him to die when he didn't have to. But he did have to, because regardless of how much we seek to obey, we're going to fail. We're going to sin. We're going to get the instructions wrong in some way or another, whether intentionally or unintentionally, or some combination of both. So we need the good news that all of these things that we do on Earth, They're a reflection of how it is in heaven, but they're not heaven. Keep your eyes on the reality, not on the earthly things that are the vague shadow, but on the reality that is heavenly, that is Christ. Hebrews 9, 11 through 12, when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, than through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands. That is not of this creation. He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood. thus securing an eternal redemption. It says in Hebrews 9.24, For Christ has entered not into holy places made with hands. This was the making of those places with hands, but Jesus has gone into a place that is not made with hands, into heaven itself. Those places made with hands are copies of the true things. but he has gone into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf." Guys, let's labor to obey God thoroughly, but let's also trust in the obedience and the finished sacrifice of Christ and not in what we can offer to God. Let's pray. Lord, I thank you that the people of Israel finished the tabernacle according to that design. I thank you for what it points toward in so many ways, showing us the reality of heavenly things and of our great high priest and savior, Jesus, our prophet, our priest, our king. And God, I pray that you would grant us to obey thoroughly and from the heart But Lord, we also know that there is no level of obedience that can justify us before You, that can satisfy Your righteous wrath against our sin. And so I pray that Christ's obedience and His perfect sacrifice would be our righteousness and our forgiveness and our peace. God, I pray that if there are any people here, any people here who would seek to try to cover up their faults by doing good, I pray that You would forgive them of that sin of self-righteousness. And I pray that You would grant them repentance and faith in Jesus. God, I pray for us who know Christ, grant us to enjoy Him, to love Him, and to worship because He is our High Priest. And it's in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.