All right, so Exodus chapter 40. We'll be looking verses 1 to 33 in Exodus 40. This is message number 47 in this series through Exodus entitled, The Tabernacle Set Up, and I'll read verses 1 and 2 as we get started here. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, On the first day of the first month shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation. So chapter 39 that we looked at last time finishes up with the building and the making of everything for the tabernacle, the actual tent itself, the enclosing wall around the tabernacle, all of the furnishings, everything, the priestly garments, everything that was involved in that and particularly chapter 39 wraps up the priestly garments in particular. Now the priests and their service was obviously vital to a functioning tabernacle to accomplish the purpose that God set out of dwelling among his promised and chosen nation. And when everything was made, we find that Moses inspected all of the work that had been done and his primary criteria was not whether he thought it was beautiful. It was not whether he thought it to be quality craftsmanship. It was not whether he thought it to be a good expression of creativity and use of materials. It wasn't how they had accounted for everything that they had used and the financial report that they were able to give about all of the resources that had been received. That wasn't his criteria. His criteria was, has all of this been done according to what God commanded to be done. That was his motive for inspection. Now, after this section, this final section in the book of Exodus, we saw a lot of focus in the early part of it on the willingness of the people. The people being willing to give, the people being willing to work, willing to work with their skill, willing to learn, and all of those sort of things. But the emphasis here, really beginning with chapter 39 and going into chapter 40, the emphasis here was on the work being done according to what God commanded. In fact, that phrase is essentially used eight times in chapter 39. It becomes something of a refrain, like you might encounter in the Psalms. And that actually continues here into chapter 40. Chapter 40 is the last chapter of this final section. It's also the last chapter of the entire book. And chapter 40 serves as a conclusion. And it's actually a two-part conclusion. The first part of this chapter, down to verse 33, what we're looking at in this message, gives the conclusion of this final section of Exodus concerning the building of the tabernacle. And in the last part of this chapter that we'll look at in the next message is actually the conclusion of the entire book. And so we will consider those separately. So in verses 1 to 33, we are going to look at this in two parts. In verses 1 to 15, we're given the final instructions that God gave concerning this tabernacle and everything that had been made. And then in verses 16 to 33, the report of how that the work was finished. So we'll start with this first part. Let's go back to verses 1 and 2 again. Now this opening phrase, the Lord spake unto Moses saying, now that's obviously a very familiar phrase to us in this book. We've seen it many times already in the book of Exodus. The Lord, Yahweh, spoke to Moses. So we have previously noted how the Lord spoke to Moses, and He spoke to Moses in plain, audible speech, just like two people might get together, talk together, have a conversation about something. Now, it's easy. We've been all the way through the Exodus. We're in chapter 40 now. It's easy to get used to this as you read it and to forget actually how rare and unique this is in all of the Bible and human history. We noted earlier in the study of Exodus that the book itself is quite unique in the Scriptures just because of it having the the constant, obvious, evident involvement of God in all these things that are going on, and His continual speaking to Moses, talking about things that's going to happen before they happen, giving them commandments, all of these sort of things and explanations. And again, it's easy to get used to that as you go through Exodus, but every book of the Bible is not like this exactly. And really, the rest of Scripture written by the prophets and then later by the apostles didn't operate this way exactly. Now, we are given in this verse number two a time accounting, the first day of the first month that they will set up the tabernacle. What this means is that this time that we're reading about here was about a year after the exodus from Egypt, and it was about nine months from that exodus to when they reached Mount Sinai. So the building and the making of this tabernacle has all been done in this time since they have come to Mount Sinai. Now we're about a year later. And this also puts them about 14 days away from the first Passover observance since leaving Egypt. And obviously the tabernacle and priests and everything are ready for this first Passover in the wilderness. Let's look at verses 3 to 8. And thou shalt set the altar of the burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation. And thou shalt set the laver between the tent of the congregation and the altar and shalt put water. therein, and thou shalt set up the court round about, and hang up the hanging at the court gate." So here God is giving Moses the instructions, and these instructions are for setting up the tabernacle. Everything that's been built and made, now he's been given the instructions for actually putting it up in place. And these are the instructions again for that actual arrangement. And we've talked somewhat about the arrangement as we were going through the previous instructions. But here is actually where Moses is receiving the actual instructions of how all of these things are to be arranged, how they are to be So the tent itself was obviously first, and then the Ark of the Covenant was to be put into that innermost place in the back of the tabernacle, the most holy place, the holy of holies, that that is within the veil. The table for the showbread, the table of the presence was to be set outside of that veil in the holy place. You remember how that the tent of the tabernacle essentially consisted of two rooms. You had an outer room that you entered into and then you had an inner room that you could only enter in through the veil that separated the two. The lampstand then is placed by the table and the altar, the incense. These are all things that are inside of the tent itself. And then the door of the tent, which is another veil-like curtain hanging. And then you move to outside, right outside the tent. You have the altar, the burnt offering, that bronze altar that was near to the entry. And then the laver, the wash basin, which was between the altar and the actual entry into the tabernacle itself. And then the enclosure, that that surrounded the entire tabernacle, which is essentially made a courtyard for the tabernacle, and it had a gate for entering in. on the end as well. Verses 9 to 11. And thou shalt take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and all that is therein and shalt hallow it and all the vessels thereof and it shall be holy. And thou shalt anoint the altar of the burnt offering and all his vessels and sanctify the altar and it shall be an altar most holy. And thou shalt anoint the laver and his foot and sanctify it. So after all of this was set up, then Moses is given command that they were to take the anointing oil, which we saw the recipe for that previously. They were to take the anointing oil that was made, and that anointing oil was to be applied to the tabernacle, to all of the furnishings, everything inside it. It was to be applied to the altar and the labor that's outside of it as well. And this anointing of this tabernacle was to sanctify it to its intended use. This wasn't a place for Israel to use however they wanted to or for whatever purpose that they wanted to. God had very specific purposes and very specific instructions for how this was to be used. And this entire facility is being set apart for its intended use. It's made holy. In other words, it's separate. This isn't a common building. This isn't a common space. This is for the Lord to dwell and for his service. Verses 12 to 15, And thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and wash them with water. And thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments, and anoint him, and sanctify him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. And thou shalt bring his sons, and clothe them with coats. And thou shalt anoint them, as thou didst anoint their father, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office. For their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations. So then further, God gave the instructions concerning the washings of the priests and the anointing of the priests, Aaron and his son. Aaron, of course, being anointed as the high priest and his sons as priests for the service of the priesthood. And there's actually more detail given about this particular service in Leviticus chapter number eight. But note how it says at the end of verse number 15, that they were anointed to be an everlasting priesthood. Now that word everlasting that's used there essentially means continual. It means perpetual priesthood and it's said they're throughout their generations. So the old covenant established the line of Aaron as the priesthood. Aaron and his sons and then their sons after them down from generation to generation to generation to generation. They were to serve the priesthood and of course we also know that this Old Covenant priesthood was done away with in the fulfilling of the Old Covenant and there's things about that in the book of Hebrews that we're not going to get into just now. So then we look at the next part, and this is verses 16 to 33, which essentially, just like the pattern that we saw before, we had instructions for what was to be done, and then we have the fulfilling of those instructions, and so that's what we're given here, where the work itself was finished. Look at verse 16. Thus did Moses, according to all that the Lord commanded him, so did he. So this is giving reference to that obedience. You remember all the way back in Exodus chapter 19 when they first get to Mount Sinai, and essentially God stipulates that they are going to have to commit, they're going to have to covenant to obey every word of God. He hadn't even given his stipulations and his regulations and all these sort of, those things hadn't even been given. The tabernacle had not even been mentioned to this point. You're going to have to commit to obey every word of God, and of course they did commit to that, but they failed to keep it. But here we're getting that emphasis again. This is obedience, to do everything that the Lord commanded, and that's what verse 16 refers to. And from verse 16 down through verse 32, we're going to get eight total references to everything being done as the Lord commanded Moses. And, of course, this matches the eight times that it's referred to in chapter 39 concerning the priestly garments and so that emphasis continues but now it's given concerning setting everything up. Look at verses 17 to 19. And it came to pass in the first month and the second year on the first day of the month that the tabernacle was reared up. And Moses reared up the tabernacle, and fastened his sockets, and set up the boards thereof, and put in the bars thereof, and reared up his pillars. And he spread abroad the tent over the tabernacle, and put the covering of the tent above upon it, as the Lord commanded Moses." So again, we're getting that similar pattern, the instructions that were given And then nearly a year later, this tabernacle is being set up according to those commandments after everything was made. And essentially if you, I didn't try to count that time exactly, but you have in that timeframe from Sinai, you have twice that Moses was on the mount for 40 days and nights. You have another period of 40 days, essentially at that covenant sort of renewal that took place. And then you have probably, something over six months of actual construction and making of the tabernacle. So you got quite a bit of time there. Again, it comes out about a year. And so, again, this pattern is followed, but it is somewhat briefer here. Verse number 20. And he took and put the testimony into the ark, and set the staves upon the ark, and put the mercy seat above upon the ark. And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the veil of the covering, and covered the ark of the testimony as the Lord commanded Moses. And he put the table in the tent of the congregation upon the side of the tabernacle northward without the veil. And he set the bread in order upon it before the Lord as the Lord commanded Moses. And he put the candlestick in the tent of the congregation over against the table on the side of the tabernacle southward. And he lighted the lamps before the Lord as the Lord commanded Moses. And he put the golden altar in the tent of the congregation before the veil. And he burnt sweet incense thereon, as the Lord commanded Moses. And he set up the hanging at the door of the tabernacle. And he put the altar of burnt offering by the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation, and offered upon it the burnt offering and the meat offering as the Lord commanded Moses." So here we get just a brief and rather quick description of just setting everything up. And again, compare it to the instructions that were given. And we see those things being followed out, even to the point of setting the bread up on the table, lighting the lamps and offering up on the altar. And then verses 30 to 33. And he set the laver between the tent of the congregation and the altar, and put water there to wash withal. And Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet thereat. When they went into the tent of the congregation, and when they came near unto the altar, they washed as the Lord commanded Moses. And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the hanging of the court gate. So Moses finished the work." So the laver, the wash basin, was set up with the water that was put into it for the washing. This was a ceremonial washing. Moses and Aaron and his sons then all washed for purification, for consecration. And then finally the fence was set up to enclose the tabernacle and the courtyard. And the conclusion of this section is given in that final note in verse 33. So Moses finished the work. He oversaw the fulfilling of every command that God gave him for Israel concerning the tabernacle and the priests and finish the work. And again, that brings this final section of Exodus to a close. And then we have the grand conclusion of the entire book in the next part that we'll look at in the next message. So once again, we do want to consider some of the lessons that we learn from the conclusion of this section. Now, one of the challenges over the last several chapters that we have looked at is just the amount of repetition from the previous chapters. And so the repetition over the past couple of chapters in particular has been punctuated by this descriptive refrain that everything was done as the Lord commanded Moses for it to be done. Now that's obviously significant, obviously attention is being drawn to that fact and it contributes to the lessons that we learn that don't only apply to the building of a tabernacle. So this chapter returned us to that phrase that we saw so often previously of God speaking to Moses, that God is speaking directly to Moses. So this is God's Self-revelation. For what purpose? That we may know Him. Now obviously there's specific instructions that were given in that time for Israel to follow in that time to build that tabernacle. Now that doesn't mean we're being commanded to build a tabernacle. We're not. But this is God's self-revelation, and just as Paul told the church at Corinth, it's been written down for our learning. It has been written down so that we might know God. In fact, if you remember, very early in the book of Exodus, God's purpose was to make Himself known. First, it was going to be through His judgments on Egypt, His deliverance of Israel. In the latter part of the book, we saw how it was going to be with His presence being with Israel, His tabernacle. and his priests and all of these things bringing them into the land. And again, God's purpose was that he would be known through all of this. So this is God's self-revelation that we may know Him. Now that doesn't, again, that doesn't mean we try to build a tabernacle, but it does teach us about God's revelation. And so that's a few things we just want to focus on. It gives us a particular view, a particular understanding of what inspiration of scripture means. Now Moses was unique. We've talked about that. God talked to him face to face is the phrase that's used, not in dreams, Not in visions, not in signs, not in cloudy things. He spoke very plainly. He didn't talk in parables to Moses. He spoke very plainly to Moses. And again, audibly. But God's Word that was later revealed to the prophets, as the writer of Hebrews talks about, in dreams and in different parts and sundry times and all these sort of things. So it was somewhat different, but it's still God's words. In other words, Moses received these words and then he turned around and he gave them to Israel. And you know what? Israel was responsible to obey them. It didn't matter that it came from the mouth of Moses. And so just likewise, this is how inspiration of Scripture works. God has chosen instruments. at various times, beginning with Moses and the writings from the creation that come forward, and ending with the apostles who were taught by Jesus Christ and some of those that had been instructed and oversaw by those apostles. The 66 books, this is inspired by God, meaning these are God's words. And it doesn't matter that they've been written down by men, that men were the instruments that He used. These are God's words and we are responsible to obey them. And just as Israel, we will be judged by them. So it is authoritative. God gave a command and they were responsible to obey it just like he gave that command to Pharaoh. And he was responsible to obey it. And Pharaoh was judged for rebelling against that word even though it came through Moses through Aaron to Pharaoh. But still yet, it's God's words. That's what we have to recognize about Scripture. Scripture is God's words. Nothing is lost or changed by the fact that He used men at different times and different ways to write these words down for us. Nothing about that changes the fact these are God's words and that means they are authoritative and we are responsible to obey them. So God's revelation has been mediated to us through His chosen human instruments like Moses and Isaiah and Paul. God didn't speak in this time to every individual Israelite. He didn't. He didn't show up to every individual Israelite and show up in a dream to them or give them a vision or speak to them audibly. He did not. He spoke to them through Moses and through Moses alone. It's the only way that he spoke to them. Likewise, he speaks to us through his written word, all written down in the 66 books of the scripture. It's God's word. We are responsible to obey it. Now, as we consider these instructions for the tabernacle, and really that takes up the second half of the book of Exodus, and we learn some important lessons from that. All of these detailed and very precise instructions show us something extremely important, and that is that man does not naturally know God nor how to approach Him. Human beings can have incredible natural talents. Whether they're believers or not, they can have just incredible natural talents. They can have abilities. They can have surprising instincts. But there is no natural knowledge of God as such within man. No natural service of God as such within man. No natural worship of God. In other words, it's not an instinct. It's not a talent that we are born with. We have to come to know Him through His Word. And this is a reason why Christian gatherings, when we assemble together as a church, should focus on and center around the teaching of the Bible. Because these are God's words. If we're going to know God, If we're going to worship Him, if we're going to serve Him, if we're going to live our lives right in a way to honor Him, then we must know His Word. We must know what He has said. So as a church, we should be very concerned to study and to teach every word that God has given us in the Bible. That has certainly been a goal of mine. I want to preach every word of the Bible. I don't know whether I'll meet that goal or not. It is just what I'm striving for, and it's really what a church should strive for. We want to know every word that God has said. We want to understand it as far as we possibly humanly can through the aid of the Spirit. So a church could gather together for those precious few hours every week and talk about the current events of the day, talk about a number of the latest news headlines. We could all sit around sharing our feelings and thoughts or any number of different things. But none of that will give us knowledge of God. None of that will save our souls. None of that will teach us how we are to serve Him acceptably. So again, it's why we focus so much on the Word of God when we come together, that we all may know Him, know Him better, understand His Word that He has given us, and understand, therefore, how we are to live. And I realize that that focus can seem rather boring. especially in our digital age and such. It certainly is not a proven way of packing people in a building and attracting large crowds. But we should rather be concerned that we do as God said first. It should be our first priority. So that everyone that comes here will hear the truth of God's words. not just some of our opinions about some of the latest goings-ons here and there. We should be concerned that the lost who hear will hear the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. That the saved will hear the words that will increase their knowledge and faith so that we're all equipped for this life. Well, even with all of these detailed instructions, the golden calf incident shows that we're still prone to mess it up, just as Israel did. And if you go back to that chapter, they thought they were actually serving the Lord in what they were doing with that idol. It was abominable. It justified their wholesale destruction, but they thought they were serving the Lord. So it's only by God's grace that that nation wasn't destroyed and because he gave his name in promise to Abraham. So let's just end with some quick encouragement. Everyone here, every one of us is a sinner and it's easy to look at some person over here or some person over there, maybe look at a husband and wife and their marriage, maybe look at a family. It's easy sometimes to look at that and to think, boy, they're just all put together. They just have it all going on. And we can feel discouraged. I could never measure up to that. I could never be like that. And don't think that that doesn't enter into the mind of people. I remember several years ago, talking with a woman that used to attend here, had many conversations. And it became apparent to me very quickly, this woman does not understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. And one of the things she kept saying was, well, I just can't live up to that church. I can't live up to that standard, as if everybody else here was better than her. Of course, I spent a lot of time trying to explain the gospel to her. Hopefully, some seed was sown that the Lord will bless there. But don't think that that doesn't enter into people's minds. It's very easy to look like you've got it all together for, again, just a precious few hours a week. Well, it may look that way. And sometimes maybe we feel that way, or maybe others will feel that way, but we need to understand that that's not the case. The members of this church are all sinners who have completely given up all hope of being righteous in ourselves, have completely given up all hope of being able to do enough good works to be accepted by God. We've given up that thought so much that we have entrusted entirely in one man, Jesus Christ, for forgiveness of sins and salvation from judgment and the inheritance of the righteous. And that's good news, and that's good news that we have. That's good news that we have for everyone, and everyone who hears, and everyone that we come in contact with, and everyone that we have the opportunity to minister to. That is good news, and that is God's word. We haven't saved ourselves. Jesus Christ alone has saved us. And his promise is to all that call upon him, all that come to him, he will not cast you out, but will lift you up. And again, that's God's word.