All right. Well, good evening. Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad you're here tonight. And those who are watching online, we welcome you. Let's pray the Lord will bless our hearts tonight as we have this time together. Let's go before the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this opportunity to come together like this. And Lord, for the freedom we still have to come together and worship you in spirit and in truth.

Lord, we we love you. We pray you'd have your way tonight as we sing songs and worship you, Lord. And as we worship you through the word, too, and through prayer, just have your way tonight. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Let's worship together. Are the days of Elijah, are the days of your servant Moses, righteousness be restored. These are days of great trials, of famine and darkness.

Darkness and sores in the desert, crying prepared, shining like the sun at the trumpet call. So lift your voice, it's the year of jubilee, and out of Zion's hills salvation comes.

Dry bones be days of your servant, and these are the days. The fields are white in the hood, you're declaring like the sun at the trumpet call. It's the year of jubilee, and out of Zion's hills salvation comes. There's no God like Jehovah, there's no God like Jehovah, there's no God like Jehovah. There's no God like Jehovah, there's no God like Jehovah, there's no God like Jehovah, there's no God like Jehovah.

Behold, he comes, riding on the clouds, shining like the sun at the trumpet call. So lift your voice, it's the year of jubilee, and out of Zion's hills salvation comes. Riding on the clouds, shining like the sun at the trumpet call. So lift your voice, it's the year of jubilee, and out of Zion's hills salvation comes. What a day, what a time to be watching the clouds, watching the sky, because God's promises are true.

He's coming. We don't know today. Or they are, but we kind of know the season. Praise God. Wonderful, merciful Savior. Precious Redeemer and friend.

I've thought that I've rescued the soul. Rescued the souls of men.

Counselor, comforter, keep the sleep. Let's go back to verse 3 again.

Lord, we thank you that you do that. You give us what we need. Amen. We're hungry, we're thirsting for you. You fill us with your spirit. We thank you so much.

You know, we're in a time right now that things are kind of spooky. What an opportunity.

Things get dark, things get kind of rough around, but what a time for us to reach out and serve other people. Serve the Lord by helping other people too. Because I love you, you have given me all three. Yours is what I long for. Lord, we thank you for the life that we have in this body, and we thank you for the eternal life that you've given so freely to us, Lord.

Help us, Lord, to walk in the way that you want us to walk. Lord, to reach out to those that you want to reach out to through us, Lord. Just be exalted now. Have your way as Pastor Ryan comes up and shares the word. In Jesus' name, amen.

Good evening. Glad you could be here tonight. If you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of Exodus. It is chapter 36. Exodus 36. We'll be picking up in verse 8. Last time that we were together, the children of Israel began the preparation for the building of the tabernacle. And one of the big parts of that preparation was the gathering of the things that they needed.

And so Moses gave a plea to the people. He said, this is what we need. These are the things that are necessary for the building of the tabernacle. So if you would, go home, pray about this, and see what God would have you do. And so they come back, and they begin to bring. He implements treasures. All the things that are needed for the building of the tabernacle.

The making of the garments. All of those different kinds of things. And as they were bringing their goods to the Lord to be used, finally the guys in charge said, Hey, listen, you've got to tell the people to stop. There's too much. We have too much stuff now. We've got more than enough to take care of what we need to take care of. And so when we left off last time, they had brought this.

All of the materials was more than they needed to perform the work. And so tonight, as we go, we're going to go to the tabernacle, and we're going to go to the tabernacle, and we're going to go to the tabernacle. tonight as we get into this next section of chapter 36, we're going to cover some pretty significant territory tonight. We're actually going to probably make it all the way to about the middle to end of chapter 39 tonight. So I'm going to give you a fair warning as we get into

this, okay? Hold your eyelids open. This is not the most interesting reading you've ever done in your entire life, okay? Now, I will try to bring a little bit of personal application to these things, but it's not the most interesting reading we've ever done. But at the end, hopefully we can tie it all up into a sweet little bow and explain why God repeats himself in the way that he does.

And so as I said, tonight is building of the tabernacle. You know, it's kind of interesting. Moses had gone up on the mountain twice and received instructions from God about the building of this tabernacle. You can imagine what it was like for him to receive the instructions and just to hear directly from God exactly what these things were supposed to look like, exactly what it was supposed to be like, all of the things in the tabernacle, just what worship was supposed to be. He had an amazing experience with God. He received a beautiful message from God that he

then delivered to the people. But now the children of Israel had to do what all of us have to do at some point in time, and they have to act on the message. They have to act on the word that they have received from the Lord. Perhaps you can understand where they would have been coming from at this point in time. They'd seen the great experience of, you know, the great experience of, you know,

the cloud of God descending on the mountain. They had seen Moses' glowing face as he came down after that second time of spending time with the Lord up on the mountain, and they heard this amazing word from God that not only had he decided to go with them on the journey, but he was going to continue to be their God and was going to continue to follow them. But now the time had come where they had to take action, where they had to not only be hearers of the word, but they then also had to be doers of the word.

And I want to bring this up because I think there's an interesting point to be made for us. Perhaps in your own time with the Lord, or perhaps in the time that you spend in church on Sunday or Wednesday, or perhaps even listening to Bible studies throughout the week on the radio or podcast, you feel like you receive a message from the Lord. God begins to speak to you. You have an amazing experience with the Lord. And in your own devotional time, perhaps you hear, what a beautiful piece of instruction that God has given to me. But that instruction is only as a

good as what I then do with the instruction that had been given. The same is true with our prayer life. I remember Chuck Smith saying, you can do nothing but pray until you've prayed, but once you've prayed, you can do anything. But eventually we have to take that action. As a matter of fact, hold your finger here and go over to the book of James, chapter one. I'm sure you know the section, but I think it's important for us to pay attention to because of the place where the children of Israel are right now.

James, chapter one. And if we look at verse 22, it says this,

See, there was a danger for the nation of Israel at this point in time to rest on the fact that they had received the law, to rest on the fact that they had received the instruction, and to rest on the fact that they had had an experience. But until they actually put all of those things into action and built the tabernacle, no true worship of God could take place. And the same is true in our own lives. Sometimes we can rest on the experience. We can

rest on the instruction. We can rest on what we've received from God. But until we begin to put that into action in our lives, no true worship of God takes place. Because God is not just pleased with us hearing the word. God is pleased with us acting on the word. And that's what we see starting in chapter three. 36, verse eight, as we see them become doers of the word. And so this is what it says. It says,

All the skillful men among those who were performing the work made the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twisted linen and blue and purple and scarlet material, with cherubim, the work of a skillful workman. Bezalel made them. The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits. All the curtains had the same measurements.

He joined five curtains to one another, and the other five curtains he joined to one another. He made loops of blue, on the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set. He did likewise on the edge of the curtain that was outermost in the second set. He made fifty loops in the one curtain, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was on the second set. The loops were

opposite each other. He made fifty clasps of gold and joined the curtains to one another with the clasps, so the tabernacle was one unit. Then he made curtains of goat hair for a tent over the tabernacle. He made eleven curtains in all. The length of each curtain was 30 cubits and four cubits the width of each curtain. The 11 curtains had the same measurements. He joined five curtains by themselves, the other six curtains by

themselves. Moreover, he made 50 loops on the edge of the curtain that was outermost in the first set and he made 50 loops on the edge of the curtain that was outermost in the second set. He made 50 clasps of bronze to join the tent together that it might be a unit. He made a covering for the tent of ram skins dyed red and a covering of porpoise skins above. Now, if you're

like me, the first time you read through this, you think to yourself, haven't we read this before? And the answer is yes, we did earlier in the book of Exodus. This is almost word for word except for one main difference and that's that he goes backwards this time. If you remember, he started with the Ark of the Covenant the first time and now he starts with the coverings of ram skins.

Or the coverings that go over the tabernacle. Now, when we get to the end, I'm going to explain to you why I think it's important that we go through this word by word in the way that God wrote it out for a second time word by word. But in the in-between time, let's just talk about what this means for us because we know that the tabernacle represents Jesus. And so the first thing that he reiterates to them, that he reminds them of in this building of the tabernacle, the next thing that God points out in the writing and the builders do in the building is the covering.

Well, what does the covering represent for us? The covering represents for us, as we've pointed out before, the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Because after all, what allows you to be in the presence of God but the fact that you have been covered with the righteousness of Christ? We've been talking about it on Sunday mornings. God does not just desire perfection. God requires

perfection. And you and I can't give perfection. And so we must have something outside of ourselves in order to see perfection. And so when God looks at us, he has to see perfection. So where does that come from? Well, it comes from the covering of Jesus Christ over our lives. Because you see, you and I are now covered in the blood of Jesus Christ. And so when God looks at us, he does not

see all of our sins. He simply sees the covering of Jesus Christ over our lives. And the minute he would be angry with Jesus is the minute that he would show his wrath to you as a believer because you have been covered in the righteousness of Christ. And so when God looks at us, he has to see the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And so the first thing he tells us about is he tells us about

the building of these coverings. Verse 20, Then he made the boards for the tabernacle of acacia wood, standing upright. Ten cubits was the length of each board, and one and a half cubits the width of the board. There were ten tenons for each board, fitted to one another. Thus he did for all the boards of the tabernacle. He made the boards for the tabernacle,

for the south side. He made forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards, two sockets under one board for its two tenons, and two sockets under another board for its two tenons. Then for the second side of the tabernacle on the north side, he made twenty boards, and there forty sockets of silver, two sockets under one board, two sockets under another board. For the rear of the tabernacle to the west, he made six boards. He made two boards for the corners of the tabernacles at the rear.

They were double. beneath, and together they were complete, to its top, to the first ring. Thus he did with both of them for the two corners. There were eight boards with their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets, two under every board. Then he made boards of acacia wood, five for the boards of one side of the tabernacle, five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle,

five bars for the boards of the tabernacle, for the rear side to the west. And he made the middle bar to pass through in the center of the boards from end to end. He overlaid the boards with gold, and he made the rings of gold as holders for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold. And of course, the next thing he tells us about is essentially the framework for the tabernacle.

What would these covers go over? Well, they had to be held up by something, and they were held up by all of these different boards. Now, what I find to be kind of interesting about these boards is, what do these boards provide for the tabernacle? They provide stability. They provide the stable standing for the covering of the tabernacle. And you know what I thought about as I was thinking about this?

What is Jesus Christ? I know what he is in my life, and I hope he is the same in your life. He is my one place of stability. He is the one thing that remains stable in a world that seems to constantly be falling apart. He is the one thing that remains stable in a world that is continually shifting and changing. I love that. Every conversation I have with anybody right now has to do with the fact that everything is changing in the world,

and everything is different, and nothing feels very stable in the world right now. But if I'm talking to another believer, do you know how we always end up every conversation? It's a good thing Jesus is in charge. In other words, it's a good thing Jesus is our stability. Because if he wasn't, there would be no stability at all. And do you know what it is about Jesus that provides so much stability?

Did you take note of how much silver is used? Particularly at the base of all of these boards? You may remember the last time that we talked about this, what silver represented. Silver represents redemption. And so what is at the foundation of the stability of our lives? The redemption that we have in Christ. And so he tells about the building of these boards, the building of the stability of the tabernacle,

the stability that we find in Jesus Christ. Verse 35. He says, Moreover, he made the veil of blue and purple and scarlet material, fine twisted linen. He made it with cherubim, the work of a skillful workman. He made four pillars of acacia wood for it and overlaid them with gold, with their hooks of gold, and he cast four sockets of silver for them. He made a screen for the doorway of the tent of blue and purple and scarlet material,

and fine twisted linen, the work of the weaver. He made its five pillars with their hooks, and he overlaid their tops, and their bands with gold, but their five sockets were of silver. The next thing he tells us about is the veil. And you may remember this veil. This was the veil that separated the two compartments of the tabernacle. The compartment that was the holy place that had the table of showbread,

the lampstand, and the altar of incense, and then the most holy place, which is where the Ark of the Covenant was. The veil is what separated the place of worship from the place of the presence of God. What does that veil represent for us? It represents the very flesh of Jesus Christ and his humanity. Because what was torn in order for us to have fellowship and be in the presence of God?

Well, the flesh of Jesus was torn. In his humanity, he suffered death so that we could stand in the presence of God. And so we move on from there to chapter 37, and this is what it says. Now, Bezalel made the Ark of Acacia wood. Its length was 2 1⁄2 cubits, and its width 1 1⁄2 cubits, and its height 1 1⁄2 cubits, and he overlaid it with pure gold inside and out.

He made a gold molding for it all around. He cast four rings of gold for it on its four feet, even two rings on one side of it, two rings on the other side of it. He made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. He put the poles into the rings on the sides of the Ark to carry it. He made a mercy seat of pure gold, 2 1⁄2 cubits long and 1 1⁄2 cubits wide.

He made the two cherubim of gold. He made them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat, one cherub at the one end and one cherub at the other end. He made the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat at the two ends. The cherubim had their wings spread upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings, with their faces towards each other. The faces of the cherubim were covered with their wings,

and the faces of the cherubim were toward the mercy seat. Of course, the next thing he tells us about is the Ark of God, the Ark of the Covenant, which, as I just mentioned, represents the very presence of God among the people. But what was it that sat on top of the Ark of the Covenant? Did you take note of that? The Ark was a separate piece, and it had a lid that sat on top of it.

The lid's what we call the mercy seat. That's a really interesting piece of furniture that sits on top of this. But the thing that's really interesting about it, is what we're told about in the book of Romans. Because we're told in the book of Romans that Jesus himself is our propitiation, which is a really fun word, and it's really fun to say, and it's really easy to screw up when you say it.

But when you look at the meaning of that word, that's what we want to pay attention to. Because the meaning of the word propitiation is literally mercy seat. That's what sat on top of the Ark. Because Jesus is not only our access to the presence of God, but he is our entry to the presence of God. Because Jesus, as our mercy seat, stands between the righteousness of God,

which is the law, and us, and our sinfulness. And he provides for us that mercy. And so it represents the very presence of God, which is what Jesus ushers us into. Because we're told that because of the blood of Jesus Christ, we can now come boldly before the throne of grace. And so he tells us about this building of the Ark, of the covenant. You may take note of the fact that all of these things that are being done,

again, are very specific and almost word for word of what God gave of the instructions earlier in the book of Exodus, because they were building them exactly as God had told them to build them. So we pick up in verse 10 of chapter 37, and it says this. Then he made the table of acacia wood, two cubits long and a cubit wide and one and a half cubits high. He overlaid it with pure gold, and he made a gold molding for it all around.

He made a rim for it of a hand breadth all around, and he made a gold molding for its rim all around. He cast four gold rings for it, and he put the rings on the four corners that were on its four feet. Close by the rim were the rings, the holders for the poles to carry the table. He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold to carry the table.

He made the utensils which were on the table, its dishes, its pans, its bowls, and its jars, which were to pour out drink offerings of pure gold. The next thing that we come to is what's called the table of showbread, or the bread of the presence. It's pretty easy for us to come up with how this represents Jesus, because perhaps you've thought about that section in the Gospel of John where he refers to himself as the very bread of life. Remember, Jesus had fed the 5,000 people, and they came back the next day, and he said, you're not really here for me, you're here for bread, and I'm not going to give you any bread.

And they said, hey, listen, Moses gave us bread in the wilderness. And Jesus said, I am the bread of life. He who eats of me will never hunger again. And so this table of the bread of the presence represents the fact that Jesus is our one place of sustenance. He is the very bread of life. And so we read about this building of the table of showbread. And then we pick up.

It's in verse 17, and it says this. Then he made the lampstand of pure gold. He made the lampstand of hammered work, its base and its shaft, its cups, its bulbs, and its flowers were of one piece with it. Excuse me. There were six branches going out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand from the one side of it, and three branches of the lampstand from the other side of it.

Three cups shaped like almond blossoms, a bulb and a flower, a bulb and a flower in the other branch. So for the six branches going out of the lampstand. In the lampstand there was four cups shaped like almond blossoms, its bulbs and its flowers, and a bulb was under the first pair of branches coming out of it, and a bulb under the second pair of branches coming out of it, and a bulb under the third pair of branches coming out of it. For the six branches coming out of the lampstand, their bulbs and their branches were of one piece with it.

The whole of it was a single hammered work of pure gold. He made its seven lamps with its snuffers and its trays of pure gold, and he made it and all its utensils from a talent of pure gold. So the next implement that we read about is this lampstand. Now there's two things I want to point out to you about the lampstand. Number one is what it represents of Jesus.

Because what it represents of Jesus is the fact, that Jesus is the light of the world. We discussed this a few weeks ago when we talked about the fact that we are the lesser light, and all we can simply do is reflect the light of who he is. But it was the only source of light within the tabernacle. As a matter of fact, without the lampstand, with as many coverings as were over the tabernacle and the heavy veils that were over it, if you would have walked in, it would have been completely pitch dark.

Much like the world that we live in today, that apart from any kind of light, it would be completely black and dark. And may we also say, it was completely hopeless. But with that lampstand in there, it provided light that would have illuminated the whole place. Because remember, not only was there the light of the lampstand, but what was everything covered in within the tabernacle?

It was all completely covered in gold. Which would have reflected all of that beautiful light, to make it a very well illuminated place. Because that's what Jesus does. He provides light in the midst of the darkness. But the other thing that I want to point out to you is this. I think as we read about the building of these things, we can forget where they are right now.

They're not in some wonderful shop that's got all of the tools that you can imagine, all of the things that you can imagine, that we would see today, partly because they didn't have the technology at that point in time that we did today. But not only that, they're on the biggest camping trip anyone could have ever taken. If you will, they're on a camping trip and they're like, hey, while we're on this camping trip, let's make some of the most ornate things we can possibly make while we're camping. And it's always amazing to me, to think that while they're camping in the middle of the wilderness with no electricity, with no modern conveniences, they make all of the things that they're able to make.

May I say, the fact that it tells us that Bezalel and Aholiab were filled with the Spirit of God becomes incredibly apparent when you think about the things that they built in the middle of the desert with what were probably very crude tools at that point in time. Yes, it was actually, truly, the work of the Spirit of God that gave them what they needed to build all of the things for the tabernacle that they were able to build. And so the next thing that we see in verse 25 is the altar of incense. Notice what it says.

Then he made the altar of incense of acacia wood, a cubit long and a cubit wide, square and two cubits high. Its horns were of one piece with it. He overlaid it with pure gold, its top and its sides, all around, and its horns he made a gold molding for it all around. He made two golden rings for its molding on its two sides, on opposite sides as holders for poles with which to carry it.

He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. And he made the holy anointing oil, pure fragrant incense of spices, the work of a perfumer. And of course, as we come to this altar of incense, we're reminded of what this altar of incense represents. Because we know from the book of Revelation, it tells us that as God is in heaven, it says there was sweet incense that he smelled.

And what was the sweet incense that he smelled? It was the prayers of the saints. And so what's represented by this altar of incense is kind of a two-fold thing. First of all, what's represented is the fact that Jesus is our great intercessor. It represents the intercessory prayer of Jesus for us. The fact that he is ever before the Father making intercession for us.

Because friends, I was reminded this week, there's only one mediator between God and man. And that's Jesus Christ. There's no saint that you can pray to. There's no patron saint of something that can go before God and make intercession for you. You can pray to any human being you want to and it won't do you one lick of good. All you'll be doing is just talking into the air.

Because there's only one who is before the Father making intercession for us. And that's Jesus. And that's exactly what that altar represents. But not only that, that altar represents the very act of prayer itself. Because where are we the most intimately acquainted with the person of who Jesus Christ is when we are interceding on behalf of another? When that sweet incense of prayer comes up

into the nostrils of God and he breathes so deeply with such great joy in his heart to have his people come before him in prayer. And so the making of the altar of incense. And now in chapter 38, look at us go. We're rolling. Then he made the altar a burnt offering. Of acacia wood, five cubits long, five cubits wide, square, and three cubits high. He made its horns on its four corners,

its horns being of one piece with it, and he overlaid it with bronze. And he made all the utensils of the altar, the pails and the shovels and the basins, the flesh hooks and the fire pans. He made all his utensils of bronze. He made for the altar a grating of bronze networked beneath, underneath its ledge reaching halfway up. He cast four rings on the four ends of the bronze grating

as holders for the poles. He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze. He inserted the poles into the rings on the sides of the altar with which to carry it. And he made it hollow with planks. This next thing that we see is we see the burnt altar, the brazen altar. This was the place where sacrifice for sin was made. You may notice that all of a sudden

now that we've moved outside of the tabernacle, no longer is it made of pure gold. This is made of bronze because bronze speaks of judgment. Because this was the place where atonement for sin was made. This is the place where judgment for sin was truly to be shown because those sin offerings were made on that bronze altar. And so this altar represents not only the judgment for sin

but the redemption that comes because of the judgment for sin. And so this bronze altar is made and as this bronze altar is placed in the courtyard, you cannot get into the tabernacle without first going by the bronze altar because you cannot get into the presence of God if your sins have not been dealt with. And so the next thing that he tells us about is the laver. One short little verse.

Take note of what it says. Moreover, he made the laver of bronze with its base of bronze from the mirrors of the serving women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting. One small little verse about this laver. The laver was a great big bronze bowl that was filled with water. And in between the bronze altar where the sacrifices for the judgment of sin were made,

in the entrance to the tabernacle sat this giant bronze bowl full of water. That of course represents for us the cleansing that can only come through the word of God. Remember what Jesus did for the disciples on that last night, the great night of the feast when he washed their feet for them? And Peter said, Oh, I should be washing your feet, not the other way around.

And Jesus said, No, if I don't wash you, you don't have any part in me. And Peter goes, Well, then not just my feet, Lord. Give me a whole bath. Just dunk me right now in the water. And he says, No, those who have been clean only need to wash their feet. That's the idea of this bronze laver. To enter the holy place, to go into the tabernacle, your sins had already been dealt with.

That didn't need to be atoned for. But you did need to wash, to be cleansed. And that's what the word of God now does for us. There is one difference in the making of the laver between this chapter and the original instructions that were given. I don't know if you took note of it, but it says in the middle of the verse, it says, From the mirrors of the serving women

who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting. In other words, this metal would have had a certain mirror-like reflection to it. Not a mirror like what you see or what you and I would think of, where it's a glass mirror that gives us the exact image of who we are. It would have been a very shiny piece of metal that would have been buffed down to where you could at least see a reflection in it.

Now, I found this to be kind of interesting, not only me, but the other commentators that I read. I'm not smart enough to come up with this stuff on my own. But the other commentators that I read thought the same thing. They said, You know, it's almost like, since this represents the cleansing of the word, it takes us back to that section in James chapter one, which is why I wanted you to go over and read it when we did, because remember what it said it's like when we read the word of God?

It's like looking into a mirror, because what does it do for us? It shows us the reflection of what we truly look like, which is why we then must become doers of the word. We must take that word and allow it to cleanse us and our actions, because otherwise, we would look into that bronze bowl that's reflecting all of the things in us that need cleansed. And if we don't deal with it, if we don't allow it then to cleanse us, then it's actually done us no good.

And so he tells us about this bronze laver that's now made of mirrors on the inside that will reflect the people. And that was where they were to wash before they went into the tabernacle. And then verse nine, he made the court for the south side of the hangings of the court were fine twisted linen, 100 cubits. Their 20 pillars and their 20 sockets made of bronze.

The hooks of the pillars and their bands were of silver. For the north side, there were 100 cubits. Their 20 pillars and their 20 sockets were of bronze. The hooks, the pillars, and their bands were of silver. For the west side, there were hangings of 50 cubits with their 10 pillars and their 10 sockets. The hooks of the pillars and their bands were of silver.

For the east side, 50 cubits. The hangings for the one side of the gate were 15 cubits with their three pillars and their three sockets. And so for the other side, on both sides of the gate of the court were hangings of 15 cubits with their three pillars and their three sockets. All the hangings of the court were all around a fine twisted linen. Their sockets for the pillars were of bronze.

The hooks of the pillars and their bands of silver and the overlaying of their tops of silver and all the pillars of the court were finished with silver bands. The screen of the gate of the court was of the work of the weaver of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen. The length was 20 cubits. The height was five cubits corresponding to the hanging of the court.

Their four pillars and their four sockets were of bronze. Their hooks were of silver and the overlaying of their tops and their bands were of silver. All the pegs of the tabernacle, and of the court all around were of bronze. And so the last thing that he tells us about, of course, is the court which only had one entrance, and that was at the gate. The fence stood all around it,

representing the fact that not just anyone could come in. You had to come through the one way and the one way only. There were not many ways to come into the court because it was a place that was very secure, just like we're secure in Christ. But you have to enter through the gate. All others are thieves. And so, he tells us about this fence that goes all around the court.

Now in verse 21, he sums up all of the materials that were used. And this is the number of the things for the tabernacle. The tabernacle of the testimony. As they were numbered according to the command of Moses for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron, the priest. Now Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah,

made all that the Lord had commanded Moses. With him was Aholiab, the son of Ahissamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver and a skillful worker, and a weaver in blue and purple and in scarlet material and fine linen. All the gold that was used for the work and all the work of the sanctuary, even the gold of the wave offerings, was 29 talents and 30 shekels, or 730 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. The silver of the congregation who were numbered was 100 talents and 130 shekels.

1,775 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. A beca, a head, that is half a shekel, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for each one who passed over to those who were numbered from 20 years old and upward, for 603,550 men. The 100 talents of silver were casting for the casting of the sockets of the sanctuary and the sockets of the veil. 100 sockets for the 100 talents, a talent for a socket, of the 1,775 shekels.

He made hooks for the pillars and overlaid their tops and bands for them. The bronze of the wave offering was 70 talents and 2,400 shekels. With it, he made the sockets to the doorway of the tent of meeting, and the bronze altar and its bronze grating and all the utensils of the altar and the sockets of the court all around and the sockets of the gate of the court and all the pegs of the tabernacle and all the pegs of the altar. He made the sockets of the court all around.

So he gives us this sum of all the materials. Now, if you're like me, you don't know how much a talent and a shekel is unless you read some really smart guy who knows how to figure those things out. So that's what I did. Now, I'm gonna look like a really smart guy because I'm gonna tell you how much this actually was. So for gold, you're looking at about around a ton.

A ton of gold is what it took to make this tabernacle. That's a lot of gold. For the silver, it was four, four tons. Four tons of silver went into the making of the tabernacle. And as far as bronze, it was two and a half tons of bronze. That is an amazing amount of wealth. That is an amazing amount of things that went into the building of the tabernacle. Now, this has nothing to do with the price of tea in China,

but I did find it kind of interesting to think about. You ever thought about how much more they would have had if they hadn't wasted all of that stuff on the golden calf that they built? You just kind of go, man, how much did God give these people when they left Egypt, right? And so a couple of things that I do think you should pay attention to are important here.

The first thing is this. It was a huge cost, but it showed the heart of the people. It showed that their heart was turned away from their sin of idolatry, and it was completely turned toward the Lord, blue gold. hearts turned toward the Lord, they turned toward him 100%. And they were willing to even do something that cost them so much that they brought that much gold and bronze and silver. You see, their hearts

were completely for the Lord now because that's what repentance does. When we truly repent of the areas of sin in our lives and God truly brings about restoration, then all of a sudden our hearts become very extravagant in the way that we serve the Lord. I was listening this week to Chuck Swindoll, I oftentimes have a few minutes to listen to him on my way to school in the mornings, and he was talking about the woman who washed Jesus' feet with the expensive perfume. And he was talking about how amazing it is when our hearts are so poured out to the Lord that our service for him is almost just elaborate as far as the world is concerned. And maybe it's

elaborate in the amount of money that it costs, maybe it's elaborate in the amount of time that it took, maybe it's elaborate in the amount of sacrifice that it took. that it that uh that went into it but the fact that she did this thing that the rest of the disciples were like what a waste i can't believe she could have sold that and fed so many poor people with it and yet jesus said everywhere the story of this gospel is told that story will be told too and that's kind of how it is with what these people brought to the lord is man they they brought so much because their hearts were so turned to him and now we sit back and we go because that's what god does when god does a work in our hearts is all of a sudden now we go lord it really isn't

even a sacrifice anymore because i just want to give to you and i don't care what way it is whether it's the sacrifice of our time the sacrifice of our praise the sacrifice of our lives god loves to see it be wholehearted for him the second thing i'll point out to you that i think should pay attention to is this this was 100 percent the work of the lord in the lives of these people. Have you thought about that? How did a bunch of slaves that just escaped from slavery have anything to give to the Lord? Well, it was because God had told Moses initially, when you leave the land of Egypt, you need to say, hey, how about a couple of hundies on the way out?

Because that's how you're going to end up looting and plundering the people. That will be your back wages for everything that they gave you. And so God not only moved on the people to set them free, but he moved on the Egyptians to elaborately give to the people. So all of the means that they had to give anything to the work of the tabernacle, while it's amazing that their heart was so turned towards the Lord, they wouldn't have had anything to give if God hadn't given it to them first.

It reminds me of that amazing story that C.S. Lewis tells in his book, Mere Christianity. He says, it's like a father whose son comes to him and says, dad, I want to buy you a gift, but I don't have any money. And so the father gives the son six pence, and the son goes out and he buys his father a gift. And when he brings his father the gift, though the father is six pence, none the richer,

his heart is full because it was the love of his son. He said, that's the way it is for us. We'd say, Lord, we want to do something for you, but I don't have anything to give. And so he gives us everything that we need so that we can give it back to him. You see, this sacrifice of this great wealth was completely provided by God. He provided them the means. But not only did he provide them the means,

but he provided them the motivation. Think about this. When Moses told them all of the things that were necessary for the work of the tabernacle, Moses didn't work them up into an emotional frenzy and then pass the KFC bucket around so that they would all make sure that they gave all of their golden money. No, he said, now you go back to your tent. And then God put within the

heart the motivation for the people. And he motivated them to give so extravagantly, that eventually they had to say, stop. And so God not only provided the means for them to bring the gift, he provided the motivation for them to bring the gift, but God also provided them the opportunity. He provided them the opportunity, the place to give. Lord, I want to give to you. I don't

know how I'm supposed to. And he says, let's build a tabernacle so that you can worship me. And he provided them with the opportunity. As amazing as it is that their hearts were wholeheartedly turned towards the Lord, it was completely and totally the work of the Lord. It reminds me of what we're told in the book of Philippians chapter two. If you can turn there, Philippians chapter two, if not, write it in the margin of

your Bible. Philippians chapter two, verse 13. And this is what he says. For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Isn't that amazing? That's what God does for us. You see, as I see the work of God take place in my life, I have such a desperate desire to serve him. Why? Because God's changed my heart. Because God has completely

redeemed me, and he has taken a very broken man, and he has turned me into what he wants for me to be. Still a pretty broken man, but a broken man with a direction in his life. And so as I look at what God's done in my life, I think, Lord, all I want to do is just serve you. But why don't you serve me? Why do I want to serve God? Because it was him who has been at work in me to will. He's at

work in me to will because he's the one that saved me. He's at work in me to will because he's the one who gives me the desire. He's at work in me to will because he was the one that gave me the direction. God is at work in me both to will, but not just to have the will, but he's at work in me to do the work. Sometimes when I think about the things that God allows me to do, I just sit back

and go, Lord, I'm not deserving. I'm not deserving of this. I'm not deserving of the opportunities that you give to me, to be able to serve you in the ways that you've given me to serve you. Because I know me, and I know how far I am from where I want to be. And yet, it is God who has been at work in me, both to will and to work of his good pleasure. Back to the book of Exodus, because there's one more thing we have to talk

about, and that's the garments for the priests. Verse one, moreover, from the blue and the purple and the scarlet material, they made finely woven garments for ministering in the holy places, as well as the holy garments, which were for Aaron, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. He made the ephod of gold and of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen. Then they hammered out gold sheets and cut them into threads.

Can I just say that's the most amazing thought I can imagine in my life, in the desert, hammering out gold. Fine enough that you can cut it into thread. I won't even charge you for that one. Then they hammered out gold sheets and cut them into threads to be woven in the blue and purple and scarlet material and fine linen, the work of a skillful workman. They made attaching shoulder pieces for

the ephod. It was attached to its two upper ends. The skillfully woven band which was on it was like its workmanship of the same material of gold and of blue and scarlet material, or excuse me, purple. Scarlet material. Fine twisted linen, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. They made the onyx stones set in gold filigree settings. They were engraved like the engravings of a signet, according to the

names of the sons of Israel. And he placed them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. He made the breast piece, the work of a skillful workman, like the workmanship of an ephod, of gold and blue and purple and scarlet material. It was square. They made the breast piece folded double, a span long and a span wide when folded

double. And they mounted four rows of stones on it. The first row was a row of ruby, topaz, and emerald. And the second row, a row of turquoise, sapphire, and diamond. The third row, adjacent and a gate and an amethyst. The fourth row, a barrel and onyx and jasper. They were set in gold filigree settings when they were mounted on it. They were set in gold filigree settings when they were mounted on it.

The stones were corresponding to the names of the sons of Israel. They were twelve corresponding to their names, engraved with the engravings of a signet, each with its name of the twelve tribes of Israel. They made on the breast piece chains like cords of twisted cordage work in pure gold. They made two gold filigree settings and two gold rings. They put the two rings on the two ends of the

breast piece. Then they put the two gold cords and the two rings at the ends of the breast piece. They put the other two ends of the two cords on the two filigree settings. They put them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod at the front of it. They made two gold rings and placed them on the two ends of the breast piece and its inner edge, which was next to the ephod. Furthermore, they made two gold rings

and placed them on the bottom of the two shoulder pieces of the ephod on the front of it, close to the place where it joined above the woven band of the ephod. They bound the breast piece by its rings and the rings of the ephod with a blue cord, that it might be on the woven band of the ephod, that the breast piece might not come loose from the ephod, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Then he made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all of blue, and the opening of the robe was at the top in the center, as the opening of a coat of mail with a binding all around its opening, that it might not be torn. They made pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet material, twisted linen on the hem of the robe. They also made the bells of pure,

gold, and they put the bells between the pomegranates all around on the hem of the robe, alternating a bell and a pomegranate all around on the hem of the robe, for the service, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. They made the tunics of finely woven linen for Aaron and his sons, and the turban of fine linen, and the decorated caps of fine linen, and the linen britches of fine twisted linen, and the sash of fine twisted linen, and blue and purple and scarlet material, the work of the weaver, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Of course, the two things I'll point out to you about the high priest garments are where the names of the children of Israel are placed on the breast piece

and the names of the children of Israel are placed on the shoulder pieces because just like the high priest who held the nation of Israel close to his heart and bared them up on his shoulders, so Jesus does with us. We're always close to his heart and he always bears us up on his shoulders. And so thus ends what is not the most interesting reading you'll ever do in your entire life because it basically reiterated everything that was already said once. And if I was God and I was giving Moses the book of Exodus to write, this is how I would have summed up these chapters.

And then they built the tabernacle and all of the implements and the garments for the priest, just like God said. That's how I would have done it. But that's not how God did it. Now, I'm going to be real honest with you. Until I read one particular commentary, that's exactly what I was going to do. And you're probably like, gosh, I wish you hadn't read that one commentary.

But anyway, that's what I was going to do. I was like, man, can we just say they built the tabernacle and they built all of the things and then they made all of the garments? But when I was reading, when I was reading R. Kent Hughes on this, he made an incredibly interesting point. And this is what we'll close with tonight, because this is why I think this section was important to read all the way through.

Why does God repeat himself? Have you ever asked that? Why does God repeat himself? Because this is not the only time you'll find that God literally, word for word, takes up his precious word by repeating himself almost verbatim from other chapters. But in this particular section, why does God repeat himself? Well, I think there's a couple of reasons why. Number one, repetition is because we are so forgetful.

Repetition is because we are so forgetful. We are the most distractible people in the world. We are the most distractible. It's amazing what happens. I've always used this illustration. When my youngest, when my oldest daughter was just starting to eat this nasty rice cereal, like I have no idea why we have to do that, but apparently that's a step you're supposed to take,

or at least it was 13 years ago. And so I don't know. You're just like training them to eat food or something like that. And so we'd be feeding her this rice cereal, only you could not feed her fast enough. If you didn't just keep doing this, she'd find something else to stick in her mouth. Knowing what I know about my daughter now, it doesn't, not surprising at all,

because that kid can snack better than anyone I've ever seen in my entire life. Sometimes I'm like, are you ever not eating, right? But it takes me back to when we were trying to feed her rice cereal, because this is what she would do. Once you, once the spoon would leave her mouth, she would see her hand and she would go and stick her hand in her mouth, because surely that's going to taste pretty good too.

So you pull her hand out of her mouth. Well, then she'd see her bib. And so she'd stick her bib in her mouth. You pull her bib out of her mouth. After you pull the bib out of her mouth, guess what there was? The other hand. And so she'd stick the other hand in her mouth. And so finally you're like, and you finally get the spoon back in there again. And I thought, that's how I am.

That's how I am in my spiritual life. God's like, I'm trying to get the food to you, but you're so stinking distractible. With things that don't do you any good, because the hand wasn't going to sustain her. The bib wasn't going to sustain her. That was just going to distract her. God has to repeat himself a lot throughout the word, because we are so distractible and we are so forgetful.

How many times in God's word does he say, fear not, for I am with you. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he'll direct your path. I bet if we just took how many verses, repeat those two themes alone, you'd have almost half the Bible. And yet, what do we do? Oh Lord, I don't know what I'm going to do.

I don't know where to turn. I don't know where I'm supposed to go. I'm so stressed out. And God's like, fear not, for I am with you. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he'll direct your paths. And he just keeps saying it over and over again. Why? Because we forget. So easily. We forget so quickly.

Think about what happened to the children of Israel. 40 days after they saw the cloud descend upon the mountain, what did they do? They built an idol. Why? Because they forgot really quickly. And so why does he take this time to repeat himself? Number one, because we forget and we need to be reminded. But number two, and this is what really stuck out to me.

What really stuck out to me was this, because I thought, man, this is something that not only is incredibly important for me to hear, but I think it's incredibly important for all of us. It's incredibly important for all of us to hear. He repeats himself because it shows God's faithfulness in spite of failure. It shows God's faithfulness in spite of failure.

You see, this was 40 days after, 40 days after they had committed that great sin with the idol. They'd committed the great sin with the golden calf. And so why does God repeat himself in the building of the tabernacle? Because he reminds them of his faithfulness. God had not revoked his promised presence. It was touch and go there for a minute, remember? God was like, I don't know if I can go with y'all.

We may not make it. I'll make it. I'm not sure if you'll make it. I don't know if I can go with you guys. And yet here we are again with God repeating verbatim the building of the tabernacle and the way that he had given the instruction of the tabernacle. Why? Because what was the tabernacle? The tabernacle was the visible presence of God among the people. That's why the tabernacle was erected in the center of the camp.

It was put up in the center of the camp because God was at the heart of the nation. And this was God reassuring the people. I am going to keep my promise and I'm going to go with you. Listen, even though you failed. Even though you sinned. Now, I don't know about you, but sometimes I stumble. And sometimes I do things I shouldn't do. Sometimes I say things I shouldn't say.

Sometimes I think things that I should not think. And in the midst of that, I can go, oh, Lord, I'm so sorry. Are you still faithful? And when I read this, I thought, isn't it wonderful that God repeats himself so much throughout Scripture? Because he reminds me that you are faithful. Even though I am really forgetful. Listen, he is really faithful. And I can't imagine living my life without the knowledge of God's over and over and over again faithfulness.

Not only does it show his faithfulness in that he did not revoke his promised presence, but he shows his faithfulness because he had not revoked the calling and the mission. He had not revoked the calling and the mission. You see, at any point in time, God could have said, I'll go with you guys, but somebody else is going to be the blessing to the entire world because you can't do what I called you to do any longer because you failed too greatly. But the wonderful thing about God is that he takes broken people and he gives them a calling and a mission.

And those broken people prove themselves to be broken people along the way of the calling and the mission. And when they prove themselves to be broken people and they come to God and they say, Lord, I sinned. God doesn't say that I can never use you again. No, what does he say? Get back up because I'm not done with you yet. I still have a calling on your life and I still have a mission for your life.

Your failure has not negated the calling and the mission. I'm blessed to be taking my high school Bible class through the book of Genesis. And we're talking about Asia. We're talking about Abraham right now. And we're talking about Abraham when he was still Abraham and that very first time he screwed up and went down to Egypt and lied about his wife the first time.

And I got to tell them the other day, guys, just because you fail doesn't mean God is finished. It doesn't mean God can't use you again. And I promise there's going to come points in time in your life where you fail. But it doesn't mean that God's done. Because God's calling and his mission for you are because of his grace and his mercy, not because you're so good at it.

And so as we see God repeat himself in the building of the tabernacle, almost word for word, why didn't God just say? And they built the tabernacle and all the things in the tabernacle and they made the garments for the priests and they moved on because he wanted to remind them of his faithfulness. He wanted to remind them, I'm not done with you yet. And perhaps if you're here tonight, you need to be reminded.

He's not done with you yet. He's still with you. And his calling and his mission haven't changed. God's still at work. Amen. Father, we come before you. Lord, I thank you for that faithfulness. That faithfulness that I have seen you show over and over again in my life. That faithfulness that is so undeserved that it can only be called grace. And so Lord, I just pray that as we can at times become impatient

with the monotony of your word, may we remind ourselves that it is the greatest proof of your faithfulness. And so Lord, do your work in the hearts of each of us for the rest of this week. Continue to prove yourself faithful on our behalf. And open our eyes to how faithful you are on our behalf. Open our eyes to Jesus. And may we meet with him much more often.

May we continue to see your glory. We thank you, Father. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.