Exodus chapter 25, please begin reading with me in verse eight. And let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show thee after the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall you make it. So we've been studying the first article of the tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant. Continue reading in verse 10. And they shall make an ark of sheetum wood, two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And as we read through these things, there should be so many things, just so many alerts and flags. Remember the halves and the wood and the gold, just precious. And I shall overlay it with pure gold, within and without shall thou overlay it, and make upon it a crown of gold. gold round about. And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof, and two rings shall be in the side of it, in the one side of it, and two rings in the other side of it. And thou shalt make staves of sheetum wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them. The staves shall be in the rings of the ark, and they shall not be taken from it. And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. Today I'll be looking at or starting a mini series within a series on the Ark of the Covenant. And that'll be a five point or a five part rather message that the contents of the ark, the contents of the ark. So to give you an outline of weeks to come, you have the first contents, and it says there, in verse number 16, she put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. That's the law, they're gonna put the law in it. But also, there were other things that were gonna go in it. We know that the manna, the golden pot of manna was gonna go in it. And we know that the rod of Aaron that did bud and blossom and bring almonds, that it was going to go in it. And we know that they were not aware at the first of the golden manna being put in it. And we know that they were also not aware of the rod to be put in it. So then there's some mystery, the mysterious things that we've put in it. And we'll look at that in time. And also as we look at And when the ark was brought into the temple, that the only thing that was in the ark at that time was the testimony or the law itself. And we're going to examine the difference there, and all that's going to be in time. But today, we're looking specifically at the first contents, and that was the testimony itself, the testimony itself. So it's going again into the ark, which is made of wood and of gold, and the wood pictures Jesus Christ and His humanity, the gold pictures the Lord Jesus Christ and His deity. And as far as the testimony itself, if you would look, please, in Deuteronomy chapter number 10. And Deuteronomy is a book where Moses is rehearsing all the things that the Lord had done for and to Israel prior to them going in, to refresh them in the Lord prior to going into the promised land, to rehearse those things before them. In Deuteronomy chapter 10, verses one through five, Moses says, at that time the Lord said unto me, hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first. So remember in Exodus 32, Moses hears that there's the sound of the people down and he's going down and Joshua says hey look as it sounds like this and what's going on Moses sees what's happening and he breaks the tables. He smashes them into pieces So when the Lord told him to hew two tables of stone like unto the first this is the second testimony But it's the same, it's unchanging, right? He didn't write something different, he wrote the same thing. And come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood. And that's important. And I will write on tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou breakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark. And I made an ark of sheetum wood, and hewed two tables of stone, like unto the first. And went up into the mount, and having the two tables in my hand. And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the Ten Commandments, which the Lord spake unto you in the mount, out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. And the Lord gave them unto me." So you see how that's rehearsed. And we said this before, that Israel heard the audible voice of God when he gave the Ten Commandments. And now those 10 commandments are written on these two tables of stone. Love the Lord, love your neighbor. Summarized in the 10. And I turned myself and came down from the mount and put the tables in the ark which I had made. And there they be as the Lord commanded me. So those two tables, the second set of tables, were what was going to go inside that ark. So when we read in Exodus chapter 25, Moses hasn't broken the tables yet. So no matter what, the tables, the tables of stone, the 10 commandments are gonna be inside the Ark. And we're gonna see some things in that passage in Deuteronomy that are very important concerning the testimony. So it's written in stone, okay? So both in Exodus 25 and in Deuteronomy chapter 10, we see that these things are written in stone, and there's at least a couple different ways that these things should be impressed upon us. First, we should see that the Word of God, as He said in Deuteronomy 10, is unchanging no matter how man violates or does whatever, the word of God, the commands of God, the personality of God, the preference of God, the holiness of God, the righteousness of God, the goodness of God is unchanging. Man can rip up every Bible he wants and God's word stands. Heaven and earth shall pass away. His word shall not pass away. You see the finality and permanence of God's will and his person written in those by his own finger in those tables. There's stability there. There's duration. The Lord said, thou shall have no other gods before me. And that was true in the garden, wasn't it? They desired to be like gods. And God said, there shall be no other God before me. In the day you eat thereof, that will be sin, you will die. That law stood in the garden, and that law shall stand in that last day in Revelation chapter 20, when everyone by their works who tried to make themselves gods before God, they shall not be before him. He shall say, depart from me, right? There shall be no God before him. Those laws stand. They do. There's stability in that they are His law. As firm as you think the foundation of the earth, which is by symbolism here this rock, as much as you think those things are firm, yet God Himself is all the more firm being the creator of those things. It's His law. That law, you see stone, rock, It's never outdated, is it? You say, oh no, I can't use this rock. This rock's too old. I need an older rock. No, it's never outdated. A rock, it's firm, it's permanent. You know, you talk about someone being a rock of security or you get to the bedrock, you're thinking about firmness, aren't you? Well, the word of God is sure, it's firm. He is sure. He is firm. Again, never changing in nature or terms. The law of God is just as current today as it was then. For Israel, when he told them that they should not be ones that would kill or steal or seek after fornication or forsake the Sabbath, those things are just as sure today. as they were then. And the nature of God, in the law itself, it goes back to even the foundation, the creation. In the seventh day, he gave them a day of rest to admire the works of God. And the Lord Jesus Christ, in John chapter five, healing that lame man at the Pool of Bethesda, said, hey, my father works and so do I. Behold the wonderful works of God. the permanence, the finality, the nature, the terms of these things, that God demands holiness, that God demands perfection. And no man can satisfy that except the man, Jesus Christ. Never changing. At first, the law was broken in Exodus chapter number 32. At first, the law was broken, Exodus chapter 32. And you see here the vivid imagery as Moses, he was too long up in the mountain and everybody got up to play. What happened there in verses 15 through 19? And Moses turned and went down from the mount and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand. The tables were written on both their sides. On the one side, on the other were they written, and the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God graven upon the tables. And when Joshua heard the noise of the people, as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp, and he said, It is not the voice, it is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome, but the noise of them that sing do I hear," he says. Verse 19, and it came to pass as soon as he came nigh, as soon as he came near, close enough to see under the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing, and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands and break them beneath the mount. They're broken, shattered, Broken. What a vivid, again, image, that they had indeed broken, violated the very nature of God's law. Not the point, though they did break the points of the law, the nature of it, submission unto God. They had violated that. God's counsel was unthwarted by man's rejection. We read in Deuteronomy chapter 10 that he wrote just as it was at the first. as man rejects God's counsel, as man desires to rise up and play and have a good religious time, disobeying God, dishonoring God, mocking God even in his own mouth, that God's Word stands firm, that His will and His person, His nature, His features, His perfection remain sure. Careful reading of verses 3 and 4. Look at verses three and four. And I made an ark of sheet and wood, and he two tables of stone, like unto the first, when I went into the mount, having the two tables in my hand. And he wrote on the tables according into the first writing, 10 commandments, which the Lord spake to you in the mount, out of the assembly of the fire and the day of the assembly. And the Lord gave them unto me. And I turned myself and came down from the mountain, put the tables in the ark, which I had made. and there they be as the Lord commanded me." What did we notice there? That as man had violated God's law, this law that was to be put in inside the ark, but what was Moses careful to say or to not say? We'll read verse one, see if you catch it. And at that time the Lord said to me, hew the two tables of stone like at the first and come up unto me and the mount and make thee an ark of wood Both in verse number one and in verse number three, it's duly noted that the ark was made of wood. It's not mentioned of the gold. That doesn't mean that the gold wasn't put there. The stress of the wood is emphasized here. While man in his flesh cannot keep God's law, and still bound under the flesh by the law man not keeping God's law yet Jesus Christ as a man here pictured in this sheet of wood the perfect law put into the perfect ark resting in that perfect picture of the Lord Jesus Christ the the the law itself is in the heart or in the bowels of Jesus Christ. Only the wood, picturing the perfect man here is mentioned. And with all perfections, it's realized what the psalmist said in Psalm number 40. Again, the ark being a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the law, a picture of the perfections of God. In Psalm number 40, verses 7 and 8, Psalm number 40, verses seven and eight. Then said I, lo, I come, and the volume of the book, it is written of me. We've read that quoted many times out of Hebrews. Look at the next verse. I delight to do thy will. Oh my God, yea, thy law is within my heart. It speaks of the person of Jesus Christ. While man is incapable of keeping the law of God, the law of God literally is in the heart of Jesus Christ. And he delights to do the will of God as so symbolized by this Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant, again, is that place where God would dwell between the cherubim to meet with his people. He would tabernacle among his people. Only by the perfect man can one, by the law, approach unto God, by Jesus Christ. There is no other perfect man that can do that. There is no other one. All else would break the law. We're lawbreakers. By nature, we are not prepared as a body that is fit before the Lord. We must be intervened upon. Even children of God in the resurrection will be intervened upon, that our bodies will be fit for the kingdom of God. But Jesus Christ in his person is fit of himself. being perfect under the law, having the law in himself as that perfect man, still yet being God. He, the Almighty in the flesh, God with us. Emmanuel, man rejects God's law. Jesus Christ kept it. The law is never made void. Even by the gospel, it's never made void. You understand that? The Lord Jesus Christ didn't come to do away with the law, but to fulfill it. He doesn't do away with the law. It exposes. Sin must be exposed. If someone is going to be saved, saved from what? How would someone dare approach under the idea of repentance except they first be exposed that they are a sinner and that by God's law? We know, we've read, Galatians chapter 3, that the law is a schoolmaster to bring one to Christ. It will not deliver to oneself. The law never brings someone to any other solution but to the Lord Jesus Christ. By the law, think about this, by the law, those that had broken the law would come unto the ark, and where that perfect, complete, whole law was, and by blood, they would find acceptance under the law before God. What a perfect picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sinners, those that are a rebel against God may approach unto God by the perfect Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who was fit under the law. Perfect according to the law. By the law, no man can be justified. Romans chapter three says this plainly. Romans chapter three in verses 19 and 20. It says, now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God, unapproachable before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. No man can keep the law, but Jesus Christ did. That is why he is fit as a Savior. He was examined by the law, and the law found him guiltless. Yet, because of the sins of the people, he came under the curse of the law. So when you see that the law was written in stones, again, you can see the finality and the permanence of God's will and God's person, that God is holy, that God is right, that God is just, that He's perfect in all things, that He's stable, and He's stable throughout all eternity from everlasting to everlasting. He is God. He is never outdated. He's never changed. His nature never changes, his terms of engagement never change. Only someone who is holy, sin will not be present in his sight. In Revelation chapter 21, And verse number 26, and they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it, speaking of that new Jerusalem, and they shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie. Nothing that's sinful can enter into the presence and eternal dwelling place of God. It's not because of the city of Jerusalem or the foundations of gold or whatever. It's because God is there. and sin is not permitted in the presence of God, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." Well, what does that mean? Those who the Father has chosen unto salvation, those that Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ, who had lived a perfect life and then died for under the law, No man can come unto Him, yet by Him those that are saved by His grace can dwell in the presence of God. Nothing can enter into the presence of God but they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. By the Lord Jesus Christ, sinners saved by grace may enter in. Again, the terms and the nature of God are the same. For the same reason that Adam and Eve were expelled, Jesus Christ died. And because he died, sinners under Adam can come now by Jesus Christ. Romans chapter five. You see that under the headship of Jesus Christ, they may enter in, but his terms never change. Only. In perfection can someone dwell among God, and that's what this item here that's placed in the ark pictures. No one can keep the law. Man broke the law. Moses smashed it as man had broken the law. Jesus Christ kept the law. And he kept it, as we read in Deuteronomy 10, he kept it in his person. The sheet of wood that the ark is made of, he kept it in his person. And because he kept it in his person, the people of Israel were permitted that God would dwell among them, the person of Jesus Christ. What that stone also shows us is the hardness of man's heart, yet by grace, Written by the Lord himself written in 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 So sometimes you can have a dual image or a double image and 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 3 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 3 For as much as you're manifestly declared to be an epistle or a letter of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. So man requires by birth a heart transplant. So we have these hard-hearted tables of stone, dead, dead, And the Lord, by His grace, manifests Himself by His Spirit, writing the law of God in our hearts. And as Paul said in the book of Romans, chapter eight, the first five verses, paraphrasing, that the law is weak through the flesh, but by the Spirit of God, a child of God keeps it by Jesus Christ, following after Him. Following after Him. These tables that were broken. See under the law, a heart that must be broken for Christ's sake. The hardness of the heart without life or without motion. A dead man can do no thing. A dead man will do no thing. A rock is stubborn. A rock is inflexible. It's only impressionable by a stronger force. So think about that. If you were going to etch something in a rock, could you do it with your finger? Probably not. Excuse me. A rock is only impressionable by a stronger force applied to it. So if you're going to write your name in something, you want to choose something hard or equally as hard, harder than that. Well, what can apply to the heart of man, that stony heart? What can apply its will to it? Can man apply its own will to it? No, it needs a stronger force to apply. If you try to apply force with a weaker thing, it'll buckle under the pressure. It can't do it. It can't make that impression. Have you ever tried to whittle on something and a knife slip and it hits your thumb or your finger or something? That stronger force will go straight through that weaker thing. And it'll go until it hits something that stops it or the momentum stops it or something. A lot of times it's bone that stops that blade. But what can apply force? What can write upon the heart of man but the Spirit of God, that stronger force? The heart of stone impressed by God's finger by grace. In Exodus chapter 31, Exodus chapter 31 and verse number 18, And God gave unto Moses when he had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God. In Hebrews chapter 10, again, the contents of that ark, the first, the testimony there, we see vividly the perfection of Jesus Christ in keeping the law, we also see the absolute need and wonder of God Almighty applying by His own power and by His own strength the law of God unto sinners. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse number 16, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts and their minds will I write them. That God Almighty himself makes the impression by the Spirit of God unto life. And unless that has happened, Again, approaching unto the Ark of the Covenant by the sacrifice that those men, and we'll get to the sacrifice that those men had to make to have fellowship with God. One cannot do it of themselves. That's the need of Jesus Christ. But because of the Lord Jesus Christ, the law of God, which is in the Lord Jesus Christ, will also be on the hearts of those who seek Him. What's that mean? The child of God will want to follow after him, will seek after his person, but will also want to be like him, and that according to the law. And what we just read in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 16, that is what Paul, the apostle Paul is saying to the church of Rome there in chapter eight, being conformed to the image of his son. How so? After the pattern of the law, not the law unto salvation, but because of grace, the law being fulfilled unto righteousness by the spirit of God in Jesus Christ, the law. Bring up the law. People call you a legalist. No, that's just the Lord Jesus Christ being himself and saving people and conforming them to his image. To which, when they heard, they agreed. Israel agreed to it. And Exodus chapter 24, verses three through eight. Look at this again. They had heard the law. They they heard the Lord speak the Ten Commandments. Verses three through eight. It says in chapter 24, And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments, and all the people answered with one voice and said, All the words which the Lord hath said will we do. And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord and rose up early in the morning and built an altar under the hill and the twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men to the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings and of oxen unto the Lord. And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins and half of the blood and he sprinkled on the altar. They took the book of the covenant, which is the Ten Commandments, and read in the audience of the people. And they said, all that the Lord hath said will we do. and be obedient. And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said, Behold, the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words. So when they heard these things, they said, We will do it. And they were liars. And every man tries to do it, and we're liars. It's an inconvenient truth, but a truth nonetheless, that every one of us is a sinner. And even when we know that God's Word before us is right, and we know we ought to do it, and we know it would be acceptable before the Lord to do it, and we know there'll be consequences if we don't do it, we're sinners, fallen, depraved. The testimony itself, it was agreeable, though, to Israel. It was agreeable to them. The testimony itself is the will of God declared. The will of God. Holiness unto the Lord. If the ark is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, then the law is in His being. Holiness. There is never a point. that the Lord Jesus Christ violated the law. While He was tempted in all points, yet He was without sin. He was examined by the law, Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 15. He was examined by the law, and it was right. When the Lord Jesus Christ, it says in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1, He saw the joy that was set before him. He endured the cross. And that cross was that burden under which he suffered the wrath, the penalty of sin before God, not of man, but before God. But it was a joy for him to continue in the law of God. And it was a joy for him to suffer for his people. And that he brought forth his people from their sins. Being himself, the Lord could do nothing but keep the law and keep it with pleasure. It was his delight. We read in Psalm 40 just a moment ago that the law was his delight. He had pleasure and enjoyment in keeping it. The commandments, 1 John chapter 5, are grievous to a sinner. They're grievous to a sinner. Oh, you mean I got to do this? You mean I can't do that? But it was not grievous. The law was not burdensome at all to the Lord, but it was his delight. He came to do his father's will, and his father's will is consistent. The father's will is consistent with the law. One cannot separate the Lord Jesus Christ from the law. You can't do it. You cannot. Again, the Lord Jesus Christ was examined under the law, by the law, in Hebrews chapter four and verse 15. In Galatians chapter four, In Galatians 4, it says, was come, God sent forth his son made of a woman, made under the law, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. That perfect man with the perfect law in his heart was examined by the law. He was made under the law, but by his perfections, those that were under the law and cursed under the law, he was made a curse for them. The Lord Jesus Christ. Turn back to Galatians chapter three and verse number 10. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written, cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. Cursed away. Damnation at hand. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God. How then could any approach unto God? It is evident for that the just shall live by faith. And the law is not a faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them. If you live by the law, you'll die by it. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. He is perfect man, fulfilling every part of the law. being made a curse for us. So he was born under the law. He was examined by the law. He was made a curse from the law, being made a curse for us. For it was written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. The law is brutal towards sinners. The law is a delight toward God. Jesus Christ became sin, a curse under the law. to satisfy the wrath of God, that man could dwell in the presence of God, to the glory of God. That's what the tabernacle is all about. How can God and man dwell together? But by the perfect picture of Jesus Christ. He is the fulfillment of the law. In Matthew chapter five, Matthew chapter five, verses 17 and 18, Matthew chapter 5, 17 and 18. Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I come not to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, not one jot or tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Well, what's the fulfillment of the law? Man broke the law. Man cannot approach unto God. The perfect man, Jesus Christ, who is God, kept the law. And because he kept the law, he was a fit sacrifice under the law to bring sinners unto God as pictured right there at the Ark of the Covenant. The Lord Jesus Christ is the heart of the matter. He really is. He really is. By His obedience unto the law, He makes others righteous. In Romans chapter 5 and verse number 19, how wonderful it is to see the law of God there rested in the heart of Jesus Christ as pictured in the Ark of the Covenant. In Romans chapter 5 and verse 19, look here, Romans chapter 5 and verse 19, For as by one man's disobedience, Adam, many were made sinners, they were cast out. They were cast away, they were away from God. So by the obedience under the law of one, the Lord Jesus Christ, shall many be made righteous. And being made righteous, they're brought into the fellowship of God, right there in the holiest of all. that sinners in the camp are brought to the Savior, that sinners are brought before God, that I may dwell among them." Exodus 25 and verse 8, all pictured by the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, His obedience under the law makes those who were otherwise disobedient righteous under the law. I'll read you a couple passages quickly here, Isaiah chapter 45. And verse 24, Isaiah 45, and verse number 24. Surely shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength. Even to him shall men come, and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. Those that have righteousness in Jesus Christ in that day, in that last day, in eternal days shall be in the presence of God. He shall dwell among them and he shall be our sanctuary. He who is upon the throne and of the lamb. The sanctuary of God. Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men. Revelation chapter 22. Verses one through four. Oh, what wonder, what beauty that the law of God is kept unto salvation, that those who otherwise were bruised and dead under the law are made alive and brought near by the finished work, by the person, the perfect person, God Almighty in the flesh, Jesus Christ. Jeremiah chapter 23, along the same lines, and verse six, Jeremiah chapter 23 and verse six. In his days, Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness, Jehovah Tzadkanu. I think I'm saying that right, I don't know. the Lord our righteousness. If one does not have the inscription, the Lord our righteousness, they have no righteousness. He is the righteousness of his people. If Israel were to approach the Lord, they had to do it in righteousness, in keeping the law, and they could not, but there is the sacrifice in Jesus Christ only fit by his person. The law within him, taking delight in it. By this, those that are offensive to God under the law are kept in Jesus Christ before God. How wonderful. How wonderful. as dear as we find that passage. With that in mind, we who were under the law, broken under the law, are kept in Jesus Christ before God. Now read the precious passage in Ephesians chapter one. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Well, how do we get to heavenly places? As a sinner, how do I get there? in Christ, made under the law, scrutinized by the law, cursed, made a curse under the law, satisfying and fulfilling the law. according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. How in the world could I be holy and without blame? Because Christ kept the law, and He makes those whom He died for righteous for His sake. Having predestined in us the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of His glory, to the praise of the glory of His grace, when He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. How could I be accepted before God? How can a sinner be acceptable before the Holy God, whose law is unchanging? It's holy, it's good. How could I do that? In the person of Jesus Christ. And that's it. That's it. Remember, in Deuteronomy, it only mentioned the sheet of wood. The gold was still there. He was never not deity. But the wood is emphasized, I believe, in Deuteronomy, picturing the perfection of the man, Jesus Christ, who is God, but the perfection of the man who kept the law so that those of the camp could dwell in the presence of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, in the flesh, right now, in all perfection, is in the presence of God the Father. And because of that, those for whom He died shall likewise be soon enough. There's complete inability of man to service such things. There was nothing else. When it was in the hands of men to keep the law, it was quickly broken, wasn't it? Quickly broken. When it's in the hands of Jesus Christ to keep the law, it is forever preserved. And that in his person, forever preserved. Hidden in the ark, the picture of the Lord Jesus Christ made one abide in the presence of God. Forever, forever. The law summarized, here, listen, the law summarized by the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 22 is love God and love your neighbor, and we are offensive unto God on every point. By the law, sinners would bring a sacrifice by the ark. unto God, and we read part of Galatians chapter 3. Look further in Galatians chapter 3. By the law, in Galatians chapter 3, verse 23. By the law, but before faith we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith, which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after the faith has come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. And that for salvation, not in all its practicality, but under salvation, we're saying. But the law. By the law, the sinners would bring their sacrifices unto God. In the Old Testament, the law exposed sinners that they were sinners. Read the book of Leviticus. A sacrifice for this, a sacrifice for that, a sacrifice for ignorance, a sacrifice for everything. And according to the law, they were continually exposed sinners and those that were unfit for the presence of God. By the law they were continually exposed to the idea that a needed perfect sacrifice would be at hand to preserve them before God. And those sacrifices could never fully take away sin because they had to keep doing it. It fully pointed them directly to the perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ. That He would keep the Law and His sacrifice would be final. It would be good. It would forever perfect them who are justified, who are sanctified by God. By the Law, sinners are brought to the Lord Jesus Christ. By the Law. That's what the Law does. If someone studies the law and they keep striving unto the law, it's a terrible existence. It really is. Always trying to maintain their perfection, and always trying to see it, and pushing toward that mark of perfection. I suppose there are some, as the Pharisees do, and many others do today, that they convince themselves that under the law, they're good people. Lord, Lord, didn't I do this? Didn't I do that? But the law can never satisfy. The law never satisfies. It can never satisfy. But Jesus Christ, who performed the law in all perfection, of Him the Father said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. God Almighty there at the Mount, thundering from the Mount, says, I will be pleased to dwell among you. But the first thing at hand is this Ark of the Covenant, and the first thing about that Ark you need to know is the law is in it, that no one can approach it by broken law, that the law intact. You know, sometimes we can get things mixed up in our mind. For the longest time, I thought that the broken law was in the Ark of the Covenant. No, there was a whole law that was in the Ark of the Covenant. Only a kept law is presentable before God. And no man could do it but the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank God. Thank God that the Lord says Let them make me a sanctuary that I might dwell among them. It is the desire of God to dwell among His people. That blows my mind. I mean, I know people that don't want to hang out with me and, you know, they're pretty rotten themselves. There's times I don't like spending time with myself either. Why would a holy God want to spend eternity with me, for Christ's sake? That's the only reason. You take away the Lord Jesus Christ from me and there's nothing about me that is appealing unto God. He has made me the righteousness of God in Him. As we see this first item that is in the ark, the first contents that is, first of the contents in the ark, we see that God is inseparably holy and righteous. And the Lord Jesus Christ being God, in his person, pictured in that wood, cannot be separated from holiness, being made under the law, made in a curse under the law, scrutinized by the law, keeping the law. The just for the unjust, he died, that perfect sacrifice. Thank God for the righteousness of God and Jesus Christ towards sinful man. Thank God. Such a holy God says, come unto me. Such a holy God, such a holy God, separate, distinct, yet condescends here and tells the people that in all his holiness, yet sinners may dwell in his presence. See the Lord Jesus Christ here plainly. You take away the Ark of the Covenant specifically, and for today's study, you take away the Ark of the Covenant with the kept law and the person of Jesus Christ, there is no man dwelling with God here. There is no that I may tabernacle or dwell among them. Revelation chapter 22, you take away the perfect person, the Lamb, Jesus Christ, There is no people dwelling with God. According to the law, His perfection, only He could do it. Only He is worthy, Revelation 5. Only He is worthy. No man in heaven, no collection of men in heaven is worthy. He is worthy. See the worthiness of Jesus Christ right there, central feature in the tabernacle. Sinner, you cannot dare approach unto God by the broken law. You can't approach unto God by the broken law. How in the world? How could one? How could one? I mean, if in Revelation chapter five, if people couldn't even look on the book, how are they gonna keep it? How are they gonna open it and keep it? How could one dare think that they are contemporary with God and holiness? What audacity! It should bring one to a startling realization that before God, literally, there is no place for them. Revelation chapter 20, all these people, are running here and there and there was no place found for them. Nowhere to hide. There's no place found for them. They'll depart out of the presence of God. Why? Because all their works, they'll be judged according to their works and their works are literally broken law. They're sinfulness. No man can keep the works of God. No man can be justified by the works of God. But the Lord Jesus Christ, in his person, again, kept the law, and by keeping it, was a perfect sacrifice. In his person, he is fit to save his people from their sins. In his keeping the law, he makes his people his righteousness. Sinner, I would encourage you to see yourself broken. And distasteful, we'll say it that way, distasteful, abhorrent for the living God. There is nothing about you that would make you pleasing unto God. Nothing. There's nothing, no thing, nothing about you to make you pleasing unto God. So then your desperate need of Jesus Christ and his perfections under the law, by the law, are ever real in this very moment. May God grant you grace to see you're in need of him. And that by his perfection of the law and his perfect sacrifice, that he would grant you faith and repentance toward Jesus Christ, that he would save you from your sins, that in his keeping of the law, he would save you from your breaking up. May the Lord bless the preaching of his word.