the book of exodus chapter 29 exodus 29 tonight we have part three of our instructions for worship for the children of israel moses has been up on the mountain uh receiving from god first of all receiving the ten commandments which we'll see tonight that he received those written by god's own will and he received those written by god's own will and he received those written by god's own will and he received those written by god's own will and he received those written by god's own finger on stone he received the instructions for the building of the tabernacle and what that's supposed to look like the outer courtyard of the tabernacle and then last week we looked at the

garments that the priest is supposed to wear and remember we said that all of these things pointed to jesus there are both lessons for us to learn about being the royal priesthood that god has intended for us to be but there's also lessons about jesus being our great high priest and all of the things of the tabernacle pointing to our relationship with him so as we pick up in chapter 29 this is what it says now this is what you shall do to consecrate to them to consecrate them to minister to me as priests take one young bull and two rams without blemish and unleavened bread and unleavened cakes mixed with oil and unleavened wafers spread with oil you shall make

them a fine wheat flour you shall put them in one basket and present them in the basket along with the bull and the lamb and the lamb and the lamb and the lamb and the lamb and the lamb and the lamb and the two rams then you shall bring aaron and his sons to the doorway of the tent of meeting and wash them with water you shall take the garments and put on aaron the tunic and the robe of the ephod and the ephod and the breastpiece and gird him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod you shall set the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban then you shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him you shall bring his son

and put tunics on them you shall gird them with sashes aaron and his sons and bind caps on them that they shall have the priesthood by a perpetual statute so you shall ordain aaron and his sons now the first thing that god tells moses at the beginning of this chapter is he lays out the fact that this is going to be the process for consecrating or devoting or sanctifying aaron and the sons in a process that would continue with every other high priest that was to follow now before we get into the process i want to point out to you again what it says in the beginning of chapter 29 verse 1 it says this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them to minister as priests to me last week a day or two after we talked about

the priesthood and the garments of the priest i was listening to a guy by the name of michael yusef on the radio michael yusef is a really fun bible teacher he has a great little egyptian accent and uh he was talking about the importance of being a minister to the lord first i point that out because that was the exact same point uh that was that was mentioned last week not only in our study but in the commentaries that i read when god called the priests he said i want them to be priests to minister to me and it's interesting because oftentimes we as believers in jesus christ see that we should have a ministry to each other and we should but our ministry must first be to the lord and what michael yusef pointed out was that

he said if i do not begin my day by ministering to the lord then i will never be fit to minister to god's people he said what does that look like he said that means i spend the first portion of my day ministering to the lord by spending time in prayer he said it means i spend the first portion of my day ministering to the lord by spending time in the word and this is the part that really got me he said i spend the first portion of my day ministering to the lord in praise. And I thought, isn't that exactly the way that we should be setting our days right when we get ready for whatever it is that God has for us for that day? Because what I can tell you is that I never know what a day holds for me. I never know what I'm going to be walking into

that day. I never know who I'm going to get a phone call from that's had an emergency come up in their life. And if I don't begin my day by ministering, first of all, to the Lord in prayer, in the word, and in praise, then my heart will not be prepared for everything that faces me throughout the day. And your life is no different. If you do not begin your day by, first of all,

ministering to the Lord and realizing that that is the first ministry that you have, then you will not be fit to do anything else that God has for you for that entire day. I tell you this because if there's any portion of our life that I think that we're willing to say that can wait till tomorrow, it's that time of ministering to the Lord. We say, it's okay. I don't have time for that today. I'll have time for that tomorrow.

Only you know what happens? We do the same thing in our life that we do to our cars and that we do to our phones. If I don't put gas in my car, if I don't charge my phone, then pretty soon that thing is no good to me because it can't perform the task necessary until it takes time to recharge. And your life is no different. And so he says, this is what you're to do to

consecrate your life. This is what you're to do to consecrate your life. And so he says, as they minister to me as priests, he then tells him the things that they're going to need in order to consecrate Aaron and his sons. He says, take a bowl and then take two rams without blemish. So those are the three sacrifices that we'll talk about in just a moment. But then there's

a fourth portion of the sacrifice. Take notice what it says in verse two, and then take unleavened bread and unleavened cakes mixed with oil and unleavened wafers spread with oil. So there was to be an aspect of a grain offering. We'll look at it later. It's called a wave offering that they're going to give to the Lord. These shall all be a fine wheat flour. And then as they put

them in a basket and bring the bowl and the two rams, they're going to come to the door of the tabernacle. Then notice what it says. You shall bring Aaron, verse four, and his sons to the doorway of the tent of meeting, and you shall wash them with water. Now, I hope you all have the exact same question I have. What exactly takes place with the washing of someone with water? Like,

is there like a scrub brush involved? Maybe you don't think this way about this kind of thing, but I do. Like, was there a scrub brush? How down to the skivvies did they get to have to do this washing? One of the commentators that I read pointed out, he said, this was a humbling experience for this priest. Here he was, someone that was going to minister to the Lord, someone who would be a spiritual authority among the people. And yet

in order for him to be consecrated, he must first be humbled before all of the people so that he can clean and prepared. It was a good reminder to me that in order to be fit to minister to God's people, you must also make sure that you humble yourself before the Lord so that he can lift you up. So first of all, they were to wash them with water, and then they were to take the garments, and they were to put on Aaron the tunic, and the robe, and the ephod, and the robe of the ephod, and the breastpiece, and all those things that we talked about last week that all point to Jesus as the high priest. And then you shall set the turban, and the turban, and the turban, and the turban, and the

turban on his head, and put the holy crown, remember that said, holy to the Lord, on the turban. And then you shall take the anointing oil, and you shall pour it on his head and anoint him. I enjoy the fact that what took place with Aaron was not that, you know, when we anoint with oil, we take a little doublet of it and put it right there on your forehead. That's not the idea that was given here. The idea that's given by the pouring out of the oil is literally they would

pour it on his head until it ran down into his beard, right? So later, if you want to be anointed, I'm just kidding, we can just anoint every single one of you. Oil flowing, we got some Bertoli in the back, I feel confident. We'll just anoint everybody with oil so that the Holy Spirit can be flowing. But that's the idea that was given because there was an overflow of this oil that ran all over them and all down them. And as they anointed them with

the oil, of course, you shall bring his sons and put their tunics on them, and you shall gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and bind caps on them, and they shall have the priesthood by a perpetual state. Now, I want to point out those three things that they were supposed to do to the high priest, because I think that there's an interesting New Testament application that's given to us here. They were first of all supposed to wash them with water. Second of all, they were to put on them the holy garments. And then third, they were to anoint them with oil. Now, I think

that this is interesting because what do we do when we come to Jesus to have our sins dealt with? We said that we are cleansed through justification, right? Our sins are washed away. In the same way, that this high priest humbled himself in order so that he could be washed in front of all of the people. In that same way, our sins are washed away from us. But then take note of what happens next.

Next, they put on them the priests or the garments of the priest. What are you and I as New Testament believers clothed with? We are clothed with the righteousness of Christ. Did you take note of the fact that Aaron and his sons didn't even put these robes on themselves? They had to be they had to have these garments put on them. There was no work that Aaron and his sons had to do.

They were all adorned. And so first of all, they were washed clean. Then they were clothed with the correct robes. And then they were anointed with oil. And what are we anointed with? The Holy Spirit. Because that's what the oil is representative of, the Holy Spirit. You see, 1 Peter calls us a kingdom of priests because we are all God's representatives to the people that

are around us. And so, we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ. And so, we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ. Therefore, if we want to be the representatives that God has called for us to be, we must first be washed clean by the blood of Jesus Christ. We must be clothed in the righteousness of Christ. And we must be anointed with the Holy Spirit, empowered to do the service

that he has called for us to do. Isn't that great? Isn't that a beautiful picture of what Jesus does in our own lives in order to make us fit for the ministry that he's called for us to? So, we go on from there because there's some sacraments. So, once all these things are done, there's three sacrifices that are going to be made. They're given to us starting in verse 10. Notice what it says,

Then you shall bring the bull before the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull. You shall slaughter the bull before the Lord at the doorway of the tent of meeting. You shall take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and you shall pour out all the blood at the base of the altar. And you shall take all the fat that covers the entrails and the legs of the altar, and you shall pour out all the blood from the lobe of the liver and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and offer them up in smoke on the altar. But the flesh of the bull and its hide and its refuse you shall burn with fire

outside the camp. It is a sin offering. Now, this first offering that's given to us is the offering of the bull. The bull is the sin offering that was offered for the sins of the high priest as well as his sons. Now, what takes place first is they would bring the young bull in front of the altar, and did you take note of what Aaron and his sons were supposed to do? They were supposed to take

their hands, and they were supposed to lay them on the head of the bull. Why were they supposed to do that? Because that bull would be a substitutionary sacrifice for Aaron and his sons. The laying of the hands on the head of the bull was figurative of the fact that they were then transferring all of their sin onto the head of that bull, and then that bull would be sacrificed. It would be

slaughtered. It would be slain right before their eyes. Now, as I was listening to Damian Kyle talk about this, he painted a beautiful word picture that I hadn't even thought about because he really talked about what would have taken place. He said, can you imagine what it would have been like for Aaron and his sons to put their hands on the head of the bull? And as they put

their hands on the head of the bull with the distinct understanding that that meant the transference of their sins onto the head of that bull, what did they then do? They then slit the throat of the bull, and you know what would have happened immediately? The bull would have crumpled to the ground. Can you imagine what that scene would have been like? Can you imagine

the shock on Aaron and his sons' faces when that bull just crumples to the ground, and they take their hands off and say, wow, because what does sin bring? Sin brings death. And that was exactly what they saw when that bull was sacrificed right in front of their eyes, is they had the immediate and distinct understanding of the consequences of sin, of the consequences of sin. Their sin. And as that bull was sacrificed, they would take some of the blood, and they would put

it on the horns of the altar. You remember the bronze altar had four horns on it. They would take the blood, and they would apply it to the horns of the altar, and then they would take the entrails, and the fat, and the fatty lobe around the kidney, and all those parts, and they would lay them up on top of the altar, and they would burn those portions as a sacrifice to the Lord. But then take note of what they would do with everything else that was a part of the bull.

Take note of what it says down here in verse 14. It says, But the flesh of the bull and its hide and its refuse, in other words, its dung, you shall burn with fire outside the camp. It is a sin offering. Now, if you enjoy writing in your Bible, I would write there in the side margin, Hebrews 13, verses 11 and 12. Because in Hebrews 13, verses 11 and 12, the writer to the Hebrews referenced the fact that the bull for the sin

offering was burned outside the camp. So, if you enjoy writing in your Bible, I would write there in the side margin, Hebrews 13, verses 11 and 12. Because in Hebrews 13, verses 11 and 12. Because in the same way, Jesus bore our sins on the cross outside the camp. Therefore, let us go to him so that we can receive mercy and grace. Because that's where he bore our sins. Because sin was

not supposed to be in the camp. Therefore, every representation of it had to be taken outside of the camp and completely consumed. You see, this sin offering that was offered, would have done two things for the priest. Number one, it would have shown them the absolute cost of sin. Because they would have had the distinct understanding that sin brings death.

That's what the book of Romans tells us that the wages of sin is. But do you know what else they would have realized as they were standing there? That sin offering having been made for themselves, they would have realized that they were sinners serving among sinners. You see, that makes them what we call merciful high priests. Because they had the distinct understanding of the weakness of man. And so they had that humble understanding,

I am simply a sinner that is serving amongst sinners. And if God's people ever stop believing that I am simply a sinner saved by grace, serving amongst other sinners, then we're never really fit to minister the gospel to anybody. Because that humility of heart, fail, we cannot. And so we've asked that question, and we've asked that question, I'm so sorry that we can't answer it and so sooner or later, we come to this point where we're really afraid to even ask one thing. And

we're we're all are we ought to get up and we're not afraid to just face our death and leave it because I since powerful will of God's debt we shall forbid, but let us for line leap until right. That humility of heart, that humility of mind is what causes us to be passionate about the sharing of the truth of Jesus Christ with the people that are around us. The moment we stop believing that we are simply sinners saved by grace, we no longer have a desire to see other people saved by grace. That's when we become judgmental.

That's when we begin holding people's sins over them instead of holding out forgiveness to them. And so the first sacrifice that was made was the sacrifice of the sin offering. The second sacrifice that was made was the first of the rams. Notice what it says in verse 15. You shall also take the one ram and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram.

And you shall slaughter the lamb and shall take its blood and sprinkle it all around the altar. Then you shall cut the ram into its pieces and wash its entrails and its legs and put them with its pieces and its head. You shall offer up in smoke the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord. It is a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the Lord.

Now the first ram that's offered to the Lord was called the whole burnt offering or we would call it the offering of devotion. The idea is this. Once again, the hands of Aaron and his sons were laid on the head of the goat. Not on the high priest. That would be bad. They were laid on the head of this ram because of the transference once again of sin because this was a substitutionary sacrifice.

And so they laid their hands on the head and once again this ram was slaughtered and they took some of the blood and they sprinkled it on the altar to make sacrifice for Aaron and his sons. But then notice that they would cut this ram up. They would wash it and then take the entire thing and they would put it up on the altar and cut it up. And then they would put it up on the altar.

And then they would consume the whole thing. Why would they burn the entire offering to the Lord? Because it was an offering of devotion to the Lord. You see, it is symbolic of the fact that there was no part of the high priest that did not belong to God. It was symbolic of the fact that the high priest's entire life was devoted to the Lord. We talked about this last week with the altar.

Do you remember? We said that the altar not only spoke of death and atonement, but it also spoke of, of consecration and devotion because that's what our lives are supposed to be. The exact same verbiage is being used in the book of Romans chapter 12, verse one, when he says that we are to submit our lives a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is a reasonable service. Why?

Because there's no portion of our lives that God doesn't want. There's no portion of us that should not be completely and totally consumed in our pursuit of God. But as I've pointed out, we, as Western culture Christians are what we call multitaskers in our relationship with God. You see, I want to say, Lord, I can serve you with my Sunday and my Monday and maybe even my Wednesday, but I'm going to keep the rest of the week and most of the weekend for myself so that I can live however I want to.

You see, I find this especially in small town church USA. In small town church USA, here's what happens. As we say, Lord, you can have most of my week, but Friday night I'm getting drunk because that one belongs to me. And after all, we've all got to have a little bit of fun on the weekend, right? The entire rest of the week is yours, Lord, but you know what?

Saturday mornings, that's for me. And for me only, I get to do what I want to do. Lord, you can have every other day of the week, but you can't have Friday afternoon because that's when I watch those movies because nobody else is in the house. And I'm going to make sure that that portion belongs to me instead of realizing that my mind and my mouth, and my eyes, and my heart, and my hands, and everything, they all belong to God.

And if I'm not willing to devote it all to him, then listen up, friends, he doesn't want any of it. I know that's harsh statements. I know that's a hard saying, but that's kind of what God told to the lukewarm church is he said, I wish that you were either hot or cold, but because you're neither one, I'm going to vomit you out of my mouth. Because God wants wholehearted devotion to him.

And in our multitasking culture and in our easily distracted world, God says, I just wish you would give me your everything. I just wish you could give me all of you. Now, lest that sound too hard, I want to remind you of this book that I'm reading called Absolute Surrender. And there's an amazing portion of this book where Andrew Murray starts talking about the importance of surrender.

He said, but here's the funny thing. God not only gives you the desire to surrender, he gives you the strength to surrender. He shows you what to surrender. And he's the one that does the work of surrender. All he needs from us is the willingness. All of the rest of the work belongs to him. And so if you're finding that there's part of your life that you're still holding back from God,

there's that one area that you're holding back from God. It's time to come to him with a willing heart. And say, Lord, I want you to have it all. I want you to have this problem that I have with my mouth. I'm like Isaiah. Lord, I'm a man of unclean lips. Lord, I want you to have this problem that I have with gossip because I destroy other people's character

with the words that come out of my mouth. Lord, I want you to have this problem that I have with lying and replace it with truth because I don't want to hold that back from you anymore. Whatever it is, God wants it all. And all he desires from us is the willingness to surrender to him. Amen. So the second sacrifice was the sacrifice of devotion, complete devotion,

the whole burnt offering. The second ram or the third sacrifice, all depending on how you're taking notes, is the second of the rams. Notice what it says in verse 19. Then you shall take the other ram and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram and you shall slaughter the ram and take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron's right ear and on the lobe of his right ear and on the lobes of his son's right ears and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet and sprinkle the rest of the blood around the altar.

Then you shall take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron and on his garments and on his sons and on his son's garments with him and his garments shall be consecrated as well as his sons and his son's garments with him. We'll get to the rest of the sacrifice here in just a moment. So again, one more of the rams, so we've gone through the bull, the first ram, and now the second one. Once again, hope you're picking up the pattern here.

They lay their hands on the head of the ram, substitutionary sacrifice. They would slaughter the ram. But this time what they would do is they were to take some of the blood of the ram. And did you take note of the things they were supposed to apply it to? First of all, they were supposed to apply it to the lobe of the right ear. Why the lobe of the right ear?

Because they wanted everything that they heard from God to be sanctified. You see, this is the offering of sanctification. They wanted everything that they took in from God to be sanctified. So they sanctified the right ear so that everything that they would take in would be holy. But then they would sanctify the thumb or they would apply the blood to the thumb of the right hand.

Why? Because the right hand is the place of power. It was the place of strength. In other words, he wanted God to sanctify everything that his hands would do. All of the work that his hands would do would be dedicated or sanctified by God, set apart unto him. But then they would take some of the blood and they would apply it to the big tongue. Toe of the right foot.

Why? Because everywhere that they went was supposed to be set apart unto the Lord. Every direction that they went, every path that they were to take was to be set apart unto the God. So everything that they would hear, everything that they would do, and everywhere that they would go was set apart unto the Lord because this is an offering of sanctification. But it didn't stop there.

They would take some of the blood and they would mix it with some of the anointing oil, the anointing oil that we'll talk about in just a moment, that there was a special, a special mixture for. They would mix this together and take note of the fact they would sprinkle it on the garments that they would wear. Why? Because the garments were to be sanctified, set apart unto God.

And so they would sprinkle some of that on the garments. But the sacrifice isn't done yet. Notice what it says in verse 22. You shall also take the fat from the ram and the fat tail and the fat that covers the entrails and the lobe of the liver and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them and the right thigh for it's a ram of ordination. And one cake of bread

and one cake of bread mixed with oil and one wafer from the basket of unleavened bread which is set before the Lord. Did you get the shopping list? And you shall put all these in the hands of Aaron and his sons and they and shall wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. You shall take them from their hands and offer them up in smoke on the altar of burnt offering for a soothing aroma before the Lord.

It is an offering by fire to the Lord. Then you shall take the breast of Aaron's ram of ordination and wave it as a wave offering before the Lord and it shall be your portion. You shall consecrate the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering which was waved and which was offered from the ram of ordination from the one which was for Aaron and from the one which was for his sons. It shall be for Aaron and his sons as their portion forever from the sons of Israel for it is a heave offering and it shall be a heave offering from the sons of Israel.

sons of Israel, from the sacrifices of their peace offerings, even their heave offering to the Lord. So as they would put the shopping list together, you picked up on some of the things that they were supposed to do, portions of the animal, as well as the cakes of unleavened bread. They were to put all of that in a basket, hand it to Aaron and his sons, and they were supposed to wave that before the Lord. The idea is a presentation to God. This was something that Aaron and his sons

were supposed to do, because while this is an offering of ordination or sanctification, if you will, there was also an aspect of fellowship involved here. And so after they waved those things before the Lord, they would place them on the altar, and they would burn them. And then there was a portion of the meat that was to be given to Aaron and his sons, because this was to belong to them. And from then on, when an offering of sanctification or an offering of ordination or a wave offering was offered, this was the portion that Aaron and his sons were supposed to get, a portion of meat that they were supposed to eat.

It was only to be eaten in the temple, or in the tabernacle, and it was only to be eaten on the day in which the offering was made. And so this third offering that sanctifies was one that they took part in as well. In other words, it said, this isn't just for God, this is also for me, because I am set apart unto the Lord. Then notice what it says in verse 29, the holy garments of Aaron shall be for his sons after him, that in them they may be anointed and ordained.

Seven days, the one of his sons who is priest in his stead shall put them on when he enters the tent of meeting to minister in the holy place. In other words, this will carry on to the sons after they're done. Now, verse 31, you shall take the ram of ordination and boil its flesh in a holy place. Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the bread that is in the basket at the doorway of the tent of meeting. Thus, they shall eat those things by which atonement was

made for their ordination and consecration. But a layman shall not eat them because they are holy. If any of the flesh of the ordination or any of the bread remains until morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire. It shall not be eaten because it is holy. And so this offering we see was to be also consumed by Aaron. And then we go on from there in verse 35. It says, thus you shall do to Aaron and his sons, according to all that I

have commanded you, you shall ordain them through seven days. Each day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement, and you shall purify the altar when you make atonement for it, and you shall anoint it to consecrate it. For seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it. Then the altar shall be most holy, and whatever touches the altar shall be holy. So there was a process that was to continue for seven days after this. And the process for seven

days after this was every day another bull was offered so that the altar could be consecrated. So this process would take seven days. Can you imagine we start today, and a week from now we continue offering an animal every single day? What I always think about this is, can you imagine how good a shape the high priest had to have been in? Like, he could not be some out-of-shape guy because that

kind of work is pretty intense. If you're manhandling a bull all the time, slaughtering it, putting it up on the altar. So anyway, a lot of work to be done by Aaron and the priests. Now the next part that we get to is offering a bull as a sin offering for atonement for atonement for atonement for atonement for atonement for

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one lamb the other lamb you shall offer at twilight and shall offer it with the same grain offering and with the same drink offering in the morning for a soothing aroma an offering made by fire to the lord it shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the doorway of the tent of meeting before the lord where i will meet with you to speak to you there now we move into a little bit of a different portion here we've moved past the time of the consecration of the priest and we're given instructions on what was to take place in the temple every day continually from here on did you take note of what these sacrifices were supposed to be they were first of all supposed to take place in the morning and then in the evening

a lamb was supposed to be offered in the morning along with a grain offering and a drink offering and then again in the evening a lamb was supposed to be offered with a grain offering and a drink offering so there's some some some A symbolism here is to be a continual burnt offering for your generation it is supposed to be something that is fellowship that is pictured both in the morning and in the evening by the people of israel they are saying if you will that you should start off your day by fellowshipping with the lord and you should end off your evening by fellowshipping with the lord and so these two sacrifices were to be offered on a continual basis why because notice what he says because at

the door of the tabernacle is where i will meet with you i will meet there verse forty three excuse me verse uh forty two it shall be a continual burn offering throughout your generations at the doorway of the tent of meeting before the lord where i will meet with you to speak you speak to you there.

A in the altar i will consecrate aaron and his sons to minister as priests to me. I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God. They shall know that I am the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God. So why were they supposed to offer these sacrifices on a daily basis? Because this is where God would meet with them.

Because this is where God would dwell with them. Because if you remember, this is why God brought them out of the land of Egypt. God brought them out so that he could be their God, so they could be his people, and so that he could meet with them. And that's what these sacrifices were supposed to be, the daily meeting of the people with God, which is why they were supposed to take place in the morning and in the evening.

And so as we move on from here, there's another altar in chapter 30 that the Lord tells them about. He said, Moreover, you shall make an altar as a place for burning incense. You shall make it of acacia wood. Its length shall be, a cubit and its width a cubit. It shall be square and its height shall be two cubits. Its horns shall be of one piece. You shall overlay it with pure gold,

its top and its sides all around and its horns. And you shall make a gold molding all around for it. You shall make two gold rings for it under its moldings. You shall make them on its two sidewalls on opposite sides, and they should be holders for poles with which to carry it. You shall make a gold ring for it under its moldings. You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.

You shall put this altar in the front of the veil that is near the ark of the testimony in front of the mercy seat that is over the ark of the testimony where I will meet with you. Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it. He shall burn it every morning when he trims the lamps. When Aaron trims the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense. There shall be perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.

You shall not offer strange incense on this altar or on any of the other altars. or burn offering or meal offering, and you shall not pour out a drink offering on it. Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year, and you shall make atonement on it with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once a year throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.

Now this next altar, interestingly enough, we go back to the inside of the tabernacle. This next altar, unlike the altar for burnt offering, is to be made of acacia wood, only this time overlaid with gold. You may remember that the altar of burnt offering was overlaid with bronze because that stood for judgment, which is what took place on the altar of burnt offering. But this altar was to be made of gold.

It was to be overlaid with gold and once again have poles that were made for the carrying of it, and it was to be placed just inside of the tabernacle by the veil that separated the holy place from the most holy place. And it was to be burned, there was to be incense burned continually in this place. Aaron was to make sure in the morning that there was enough incense in there that it would continually remain burning. Now I hope that you've asked yourself, Ryan, why do I care about an altar of incense that continues to stay burning all the time?

Because the incense is symbolic. The incense is symbolic of prayer. That's why it was to be kept continually burning. Did you take note of where this altar was to be placed? It was to be placed as close to the presence of God as possible. It was to be placed as close to the Ark of the Covenant as it possibly could be without actually getting into the presence of God.

Why? Because we are never nearer to the heart of God than when we are spending time in prayer. We are never nearer to the heart of God than when we spend time in communication with Him. And may I say, we never access the power of God to a greater degree than we do when we spend time in prayer. The second thing I take note of is that this incense was to be burned continually.

John Corson in his commentary pointed out something very interesting about it. He said this also gives for us a perfect picture of the work that Jesus is doing for us right now. If we were to look at the book of Hebrews, we would see that Jesus is ever living to make intercession for us. In other words, Jesus is continually praying for us. Jesus is continually interceding before the Father for us.

As the enemy comes against us, the Lord is praying for us. Let me give you a little illustration of this. You may remember in the Gospels, right before Peter denied Jesus three times, Jesus told Peter something interesting. He said, Peter, Satan has asked for you that he may sift you like wheat. Do you remember what Jesus said after that? He said, Peter, I have prayed for you.

And when you return, feed my lambs. You see, that is the perfect picture of what Jesus is doing for us. Because the enemy is constantly coming against us. The enemy is constantly seeking to devour us. The enemy is constantly seeking to accuse us before the Father. The problem is, he's usually right. And so, what do we do with all of these accusations? What do we do with all of this attack?

Well, we go before Jesus and say, Jesus! And he makes intercession for us. He makes intercession for us. He makes intercession for us. He is ever living to make intercession for us. Therefore, that continual burning that took place in the tabernacle of that incense is a picture of that continual, ongoing intercession that Jesus makes for us before the Father.

But you see, it also represents the prayers of the saints. In the book of Psalms, and I forgot to write down which one it was, David said, may my prayer come before you like incense, like the burning of the evening sacrifice. And in the book of Revelation, it says that in the throne room of heaven, there was incense that was burning, and it was coming in the nostrils of God. It was the prayers of the saints.

You see, this altar of incense that was to be constantly kept burning was representative of the fact that we are to pray without ceasing. That we are to continually be offering up our requests to the Lord. That we should have a prayer life that is continual, active, and often. Because it is in our prayer life. That we can truly get in touch with the heart of God.

May I say, one of the weakest points of my life, I believe as a believer, is the struggle that I have to truly stop and pray. I throw up arrow prayers to God when things are getting a little bit funky. This morning I had a tight schedule and I had to get some things moving and I said, Lord, make it go fast so that I can get to the other things that I need to do. Because I had a funeral I had to get to this morning.

I throw up arrow prayers like that. But do you know where I struggle the most? Where I struggle the most? Where I struggle the most? Where I struggle the most? Where I struggle the most? Where I struggle the most? Really taking time to go sit down at that altar of incense. To really get close to the heart of God. To stop all of the things in the world. And just truly offer up that incense to the Lord.

That incense that is such a sweet smelling aroma to Him. When I do it, it's the sweetest time I have. It's the most amazing time that I have. And yet, do you know what? Sometimes I can often put on the proverbial back burner. Really taking time to offer up those prayers. To the Lord. And God is so faithful. That when I get to that point. When I get to that point of saying,

Lord, I don't have time for this right now. He says, if you don't have time for this. Then you'll never have time for anything else. So we see this altar of incense. That pictures that prayer of the saints going up before the Lord. And it was of course set just inside the tabernacle. Or just to where it was right next to the altar. The veil next to the. Come on brain.

You've got this thing. Most holy place. Now verse 11. I was trying to read and think at the same time. It didn't work very well. Verse 11. The Lord also spoke to Moses saying. When you take a census of the sons of Israel to number them. Then each one of them shall give a ransom for himself to the Lord. When you number them. So that there will be no plague among them.

When you number them. This is what everyone who is numbered shall give. Half a shekel. According to the shekel. Of the sanctuary. The shekel is 20 geras. Half a shekel. As a contribution to the Lord. Everyone who is numbered from 20 years old and over. Shall give the contribution to the Lord. The rich shall not pay more. The poor shall not pay less. That's an interesting thought isn't it?

Then half the shekel. It's neither here nor there. When you give the contribution to the Lord. To make atonement for yourselves. You shall take the atonement money from the sons of Israel. And give it to the service of the tent of meeting. That it may be a memorial. For the saints. And the sons of Israel before the Lord. To make atonement for yourselves. God was not big on the children of Israel taking a census.

You know why he wasn't big on the children of Israel taking a census? Because it usually involved one problem. The one problem that they would run into. Is they would take a census. Not for the proper reasons. But they would take a census for the purpose of pride. How big is my army? How big is my kingdom? And so in order for the Lord to keep them in check.

When they would take the census. He would remind them that there was a cost. He would remind them that there was a cost. A cost that went into this. Because he did not want them to give their hearts over to pride. And so in order to keep their hearts humble before the Lord. They had to give this sacrifice of a half a shekel. No matter who they were. It didn't matter how rich they were.

And they couldn't say oh I'm so rich this doesn't affect me. No they still had to give their shekel. It didn't matter how poor they were. They still had to give the half shekel. In order to keep their hearts right before the Lord. We go on from there and it says. The Lord spoke to Moses verse 17 saying. You shall also make a laver. Of bronze with its base of bronze for washing.

And you shall put it between the tent of meeting. And the altar. And you shall put water in it. Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet from it. When they enter the tent of meeting. They shall wash with water so that they will not die. Or when they approach the altar to minister. By offering up in smoke a fire sacrifice to the Lord. So they shall wash their hands and their feet.

So that they will not die. And it shall be a perpetual statue. For them and Aaron and his descendants throughout their generations. The next thing. The last thing that we see of an implement for the temple. Was supposed to be put in between the altar and the tent. It was a bronze laver or a bronze basin. This bronze basin was to be filled with water. And this bronze basin that was filled with water.

Was to be for the washing of Aaron and his sons. Before they did the work of the Lord. Now I want you to take note of something. And I hadn't thought about it until one of the commentators that I read pointed it out. He said. Notice that. They were not supposed to put themselves in the wash basin. They were supposed to take from the wash basin to wash themselves.

Why is that important? Because this washing of water. Represents what the word of God does in our life. It's not the sacrifice for sin. Because that's already taken care of at the altar. And so after the sin is taken care of. They must continually cleanse themselves for the working of the Lord. But they were not supposed to put themselves into the basin. They were supposed to take from the basin.

To wash themselves. You know what that reminds me of? We can't put ourselves into the word. We can't add our own spin to what God's word has to say. We can't add our own interpretation to what God's word has to say. We can't decide what we do and do not want from God's word. We must take from God's word. And wash ourselves. And that's the idea that's given to us here with this wash basin.

Is it was supposed to be the cleansing of the word of God. For the people in order to continue the service of the Lord. And so. So they were to build this wash basin. Now he gives the recipe if you will. For the making of the anointing oil. Notice what it says in verse 22. Moreover the Lord spoke to Moses saying. Take also for yourself the finest of spices.

Of flowing myrrh. 500 shekels. And of fragrant cinnamon half as much 250. And of fragrant cane 250. And of cassia 500. According to the shekel of the sanctuary. And of olive oil. A hen you shall make of these a holy anointing oil a perfume mixture the work of a perfumer it shall be a holy anointing oil with it you shall anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony and the table and all its utensils and the lampstand and its utensils and the altar of incense the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils and the labor and its stand you shall also consecrate them that they may be most holy whatever touches them shall be holy.

You shall anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them that they may minister as priests to me you shall speak to the sons of Israel saying this shall be a holy anointing oil to me throughout your generations it shall not be poured on anyone's body nor shall you make any like it in the same proportions it is holy and it shall be holy to you whoever shall mix any like it or whoever puts any of it on a layman shall be cut off from his people. So he gives what the oil is supposed to be. You like the the oil for the anointing and the oil for the consecration.

Here's the two things that I'll point out about this oil in scripture is always representative of the Holy Spirit and the two things that I'll point out are this number one there could be no substitutes. In other words it had to be made exactly as God intended for it to be made. Why is that important to the application of the Holy Spirit because there can be no substitutes for the working of the Holy Spirit. That's what the world wants to continue to do.

That's what the church wants to continue. We want to substitute other things for the working of the Holy Spirit but there can be no substitute for the working of the Holy Spirit. The second thing I'll point out to you is that it could not be counterfeited. The work of the spirit cannot be counterfeited. You say Ryan what are you talking about. I fear that there is a movement in the church today that is counterfeiting the work of the Holy Spirit.

They're trying to work up the work of the Holy Spirit. They're over sensationalizing the work of the Holy Spirit. Or sometimes. They're just completely doing away with the work of the Holy Spirit. And it cannot be counterfeited when the Holy Spirit is at work. There can be no substitute for it and there can be no counterfeit for it. Now the next thing that we see is the incense.

I don't know if I have as many good things on the incense. Then the Lord said to Moses take for yourself spices. I have no idea how you say those things. Frankincense. There shall be an equal part of each with it. You shall make incense a perfume the work of a perfumer salted. Pure and holy you shall beat some of it very fine and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting where I will meet with you it shall be most holy to you the incense which you shall make you shall not make in the same proportions for yourselves it shall be holy to you for the Lord whoever shall make any of it any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from his people so the same rules were instituted for the incense that were instituted for the oil.

Now we're going to get bold. And cover chapter thirty one so everybody do this now the Lord spoke to Moses saying see I have called by name Bezalel the son of Yuri the son of her of the tribe of Judah I have filled him with the spirit of God in wisdom and understanding in knowledge and in all kinds of craftsmanship to make artistic designs for work in gold and silver and in bronze and then the cutting of stones for setting and in the

carving of wood that he may work in all kinds of craftsmanship and behold I myself have appointed with him a holy ab great name the son of his a Mac that's a great name of the tribe of Dan and in the hearts of all who are skillful I have put skill that they may make all that I have commanded you the tent of meeting the ark of the testimony in the mercy seat upon it in all the furniture of the tent the table also in its utensils and the pure gold lamps for storage and related for its place in the altar of incense we'll looking at this one we'll see it we'll see the altar of burnt offering also with all that you did so and a labor and a stand the woven garments as well

and the whole the garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons with which to carry on there three stood the anointing oil also in the fragrant incense for the holy place they're to make them according to all that I have commanded you now I find this particular section fascinating here's why I find the section fascinating I find it fascinating first of all the gods God called out the men who were supposed to make the implements for the temple and the garments for the priests and all of those things. He called them out by name. The second thing I find interesting is that he said he filled them with his spirit in order to do these things. Now, this tells me a couple of things.

Number one, it tells me that God has a specific work for every single person to do. You may think that you are insignificant in the economy of God. You may think that the work that you do is insignificant as far as the entire rest of the world is concerned. But the fact of the matter is, the work that you do has been called out by God. The second thing that I'll point out to you is that there is no such thing

as a job that's not sacred. Every work that God gives for us to do is a sacred work. Can you imagine being a holy ab or a hazamak or the other guy, Uri, the son of Hur and Bezalel? They're like, dude, I wish I was the high priest. Why does Aaron get to be the high priest? Why has he got to be his sons? Why is Moses in that place? Why do all I get to do is build a table?

Why is all I got to do is put some stones on a piece of metal? Why is it that my job is just to mix a bunch of junk together? My job's not important. I'm not the high priest. But their job was still incredibly important. So important that God called them by name to do it because their job was sacred. So important that in order for them to do it properly, they had to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

You may think that whatever job you do is not being a pastor of a church. It's not being a youth pastor. It's not being a Sunday school teacher. I'm not in ministry at all. How can my job be sacred? I'd like to tell you a story about a lady that I did a funeral for today. Many of you probably don't even know her. She always sat right back there, right behind where Joy's sitting right now.

Her name was Barbara Green. Barbara Green worked a job that many of us might consider menial. She served meals at Cali College. And it would be easy for her to sit back and say, I'm not some teacher. I'm not this and I'm not that. Therefore, my job's not sacred and my job's not important. But you see, here's the thing about Barbara. She did view her job as sacred.

And she did view her job as a ministry. I learned something about her over the past few days. And that's that there was not a kid that walked on that campus that did not know Barbara. Only that's not what they called her. They called her Grandma. And every kid that came through there, she hugged. And every kid that came through there, she learned their name.

And she made sure that they had something to eat. One young lady who was an alumni from the college got up and told me, told a story. She said, I have dietary restrictions and everything that they served didn't fit the dietary restrictions, so I couldn't eat. She said, Grandma gave me a $20 bill and said, go get something to eat because you need to eat. There was a video that was made of a bunch of college kids

talking about what a wonderful lady that she was and the impact that she had on their lives. Half the softball team was there because they all wanted to talk about the impact that she had. And I mean, it broke my heart to watch those girls in tears because they loved her so much. You see, my friends, your job may not feel very sacred, but you have been called by God, by name, to do that job.

And it is sacred. And it takes the power of the Holy Spirit to do it because God has a ministry for you, even in what you might consider to be a job that's not a ministry, if you're willing to view it as something that God can use. And so God calls out these specific craftsmen to do a specific job for him. And we close up once again, kind of where we started this section on the rules for worship, on the instructions for worship, and that's with the Sabbath.

The Lord spoke to Moses saying, verse 12, but as for you, speak to the sons of Israel saying, you shall surely observe my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations. That you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. Therefore, you are to observe the Sabbath for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.

For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day, there is a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death. So the sons of Israel shall observe the Sabbath, to celebrate the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It's a sign between me and the sons of Israel forever.

For in six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth, but on the seventh day he ceased from labor and was refreshed. And when he finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, he gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone written by the finger of God. I love that this is how God finishes off his time with Moses on the mountain, is reminding him of the importance of rest, reminding him of the importance of the importance of the Sabbath, and that God takes him back to the very beginning. God says, listen, I realize I've just given you a lot of tasks to do.

I've given you a lot of work to do. There's a lot to be done for the construction of the tabernacle, for the making of the garments, for the making of the oil and the incense and all these different kinds of things. But in the making of all of these things and the doing of all of these things and the serving of the Lord, don't forget about the Sabbath. Don't forget about the Sabbath.

Because that's the point of it all. The point of it all is that you take a day to rest. Why were they supposed to take a day to rest? Because they were supposed to take a day, yes, physically to rest, but they were supposed to take a day spiritually where everything of themselves was dedicated to nothing but seeking the Lord. They were supposed to take that day

because why did God create us? To know Him. Why did God take them out of the land of Egypt? So that they could know Him. Therefore, if they miss the Sabbath day in all of their serving of the Lord, if in all of their service, in all of their serving and in all of their work, they missed the point, then why did they even do it? Then why did God even call them?

Now, you and I as New Testament believers, we're not bound to the Sabbath day like they were. But the Sabbath day still speaks to us because of all of the Ten Commandments, the only one that's not affirmed to us in the New Testament is the one about the Sabbath. But maybe it is because who, is our Sabbath rest? It's Jesus. You see, I think that when God said that God worked for six days

and on the seventh day, He ceased from His labor, I think that on the seventh day, in God's mind, salvation was complete. He ceased from His labor. We're told in Scripture that He was crucified before the foundations of the earth. That God's labor truly ceased that day. And you and I and all of our striving that sometimes we can do and all of our work sometimes that we can do,

God is saying, would you get off the treadmill of works and rest in what Jesus has done for you? Rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Because if we miss that, we've missed the whole thing. If we miss resting in Christ, then we've missed the point of everything that God's done for us. And then as Moses finishes his time on the mountain, God hands Moses the two tablets of the testimony.

How he did that, I don't know. How God's finger actually wrote these things on the tablet, I don't know. But again, if there's DVR in heaven, I want to watch that, both the first time and the second time. And so God was done giving His rules to Moses. And unfortunately, next week, things are going to go south. But for now, let's pray. Let's rest in Christ. Father, we come before you

and just thank you for the time that we've had in your word. Lord, I thank you that even the minute details of Scripture point to Jesus, point to the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross or in our relationship with you. And Lord, I pray that we would view every aspect of our lives as sacred, something that you want to use for your glory and for our benefit and for the building up of the body of Jesus Christ. Lord, be with us as we go out.

And please, Lord, keep our eyes focused on you. In Jesus' name, amen. Be blessed.