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Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We'll sing song 198 in your song books. We'll sing Joy Unspeakable. If you would stand, we'll sing song 198. I have found His grace is all complete. He supplyeth every need. While I sit and learn at Jesus' feet. I am free, yes, free indeed. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory. Full of glory, full of glory. Joy unspeakable and full of glory. All the half has never yet been told. I have found the pleasure I once craved. It is joy and peace within. What a wondrous blessing I am saved. From the awful gulf of sin. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory. Full of glory, full of glory. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory. All the half has never yet been told. I have found that hope so bright and clear. Living in the realm of grace. My presence is so near. I can see His smiling face. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory. Full of glory, full of glory. Joy unspeakable and full of glory. All the half has never yet been told. I have found the joy no tongue can tell. How its waves of glory roll. It is like a great overflowing well. Springing up within my soul. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory. Full of glory, full of glory. Joy unspeakable and full of glory. All the half has never yet been told. All right, let's pray. Heavenly Father Lord, once again we just want to thank you God just for the beautiful day that you've given us. Thank you for our church. Thank you for our pastor. I pray, Lord, now that you would just receive all the honor and glory out of everything that's said and done. For it's in Jesus' name we ask all, but amen. All right, you may be seated and turn in your psalm books to song 324. Song 324 in your psalm books will sing, Draw Me Near. Song 324. I am thine, O Lord, I have heard thy voice and atone thy love to me. But I long to rise in the arms of faith and be closer drawn to thee. Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord to the cross where thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord to thy precious bleeding side. Consecrate me now to thy service, Lord, by thy power of grace divine. Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope and my will be lost in thine. Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord to the cross where thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord to thy precious bleeding side. O the pure delight of a single love that before thy throne I spent. When I kneel in prayer and with thee my God, I commune as friend with friend. Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord to the cross where thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord to thy precious bleeding side. There are depths of love that I cannot know till I cross the narrow sea. There are heights of joy that I may not reach till I rest in peace with thee. Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord to the cross where thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord to thy precious bleeding side. Amen. So welcome to Mount Baptist Church on this Wednesday evening. And just some general church announcements here. Obviously welcome back all those that were from New York or came, went to the New York Soul and Marathon. So good job with all that. Great you got, I'm glad you guys had a safe trip and everything too. And as far as the service times, everything's normal this week. So this Sunday everything should be normal, soul winning times should be normal as far as the 1 p.m. soul winning time there. And then throughout the week we have the regional soul winning times. So we have the Monday, Brother Charles leads up, the Wednesday Brother Richie leads up. And then Thursday Brother Matt's starting to lead up one in the Salem area. And so just be on the WhatsApp there as far as if there's any changes in times or well specifically where you're going to be meeting up at and all that. And then we have the women's prayer meeting there this Saturday. And we have on the list here, so we're getting into September. So today's the last day of August, so getting into September here. And so we're going to have our soul winning marathon in Wheeling. And so we're going to be meeting up at the typical Panera Bread on Cabela Drive. And we'll be meeting around 930 the typical time. And then we'll be going out wherever we find a place. It could be Moundsville, it could be anywhere around that. And we're probably going to try to do the same thing where we do one big push where we go out for like four or five hours and then we kind of get a late lunch, early dinner type thing and then we'll be done for the day. So I don't know if we're going to do dinner and then go to Cold Stone after that because that Cabela's Drive has everything, right? It's got Panera, it's got Chipotle, it's got Cold Stone. So anyway, so it's got Cabela's, you know. But anyway, be in prayer for that even if you can't make it out to that soul winning marathon. Be in prayer for that. And then we're going to have our fifth year anniversary on that Sunday. And so this is kind of exciting. Should we say what we're planning on getting? So planning on getting a dunk tank and maybe a bounce house type of thing. But yeah, so I'm going to be bringing extra clothes because I have a feeling that Brother Dave and I are probably the two top people that people probably want to dunk. But MPE over here has a dunk tank so it's not far away. But we used to have one at Emanuel, right? Emanuel had one or they would get one anyway and that was a blast. So kids, you better get your throwing arms ready to go. I guess you could do it too but I'll be preaching against you later about touching God's anointed and doing his prophets no harm. But you know, do what you will at your own risk. So it should be a good time. It should be a good time of fellowship there. And then we're going to be doing, we're figuring out the food situation. We may be sending out a, well this Sunday we'll probably hit that up. But we're thinking about getting a whole bunch of chicken. Like 200 pieces of chicken or 150 pieces of chicken, getting some rolls and then just seeing if people want to bring sides or things to that. But if I just have butter, bread, and chicken, I'm good to go. But get some of that, what's that? Is it ichorn or bread, the stuff that doesn't have gluten and all that stuff? Einkorn. You've got to say it like you're German, Einkorn. No, but I've heard of that obviously that doesn't have gluten and everything. So maybe we can go find that. I don't know if we can do that. But anyway, so that's coming up on the calendar there. And then coming up into mid-October we have the Mountain Baptist Church retreat. And so you probably already signed up back there. But just remember, I want to say it's Friday evening we have that room rented out. We'll have to double check on that. So that being said, men, if you want to get a 10-minute sermon together. Even if you don't have a sermon, men, if you want to get up and give a testimony, maybe what the Lord has done for you, giving thanks to the Lord kind of thing. Obviously we don't want to be showy or anything like that, but obviously you can give praise to the Lord or kind of give a testimony of what God has done for you and stuff like that. And then back there we're still in August, so we still are on 2 John. We'll get a new chapter coming up this week. But 2 John, if you haven't got that memorized, go ahead and do it this week. It's not that long, but it's a good book to have memorized. And in Proverbs 22-28, remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set up. I'm sorry, which thy fathers have set. There's actually another verse in Proverbs dealing with the same thing. But anyway, we have the birthday of the anniversaries. I think we should go ahead and sing Happy Birthday to Denzel since we missed him on Sunday. I don't want to forget about it because it's in August and then we're having a new birthday list there. And so we'll get you, brother. So before we sing the next song, we'll sing to you. And then pregnancy is there, we're in prayer for my wife on the pregnancy list. Offering boxes in the back, mother-baby rooms for the mothers and babies only. Who's reading tonight? Brother Wade's going to be reading Exodus chapter 30 for us. And so brother Dave's going to come and sing another song. Let's get started. All right, take your song books and turn to song 355. Song 355, we'll sing What a Friend We Have in Jesus. And before we do that, we need to sing to brother Denzel. Denzel, when was your birthday? 27th? What was that, Friday? Saturday. That's our anniversary. Oops. All right, so how old are you, brother? 48. All right. We'll get you to stand up. There you go. Okay, everybody turn around and look at Denzel. New and improved with the haircut, brother. Here we go. We're singing happy birthday. Ready? Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, God bless you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, brother. All right, we'll sing song 355. What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer. Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear. Oh, because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer. Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful? Who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Are we weak and heavy laden? Cumbered with a load of care. Precious Savior, still our refuge. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Do thy friends despise forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer. In his arms he'll take and shield thee. Thou will find us soulless there. Thou will find us soulless there. All right, take your Bibles and turn to Exodus chapter number 30. Exodus chapter number 30. And we'll have Brother Wade come and read that for us. Exodus chapter 30, when you've found your place, say amen. All shall make an altar to burn incense upon, of shid and wood shall thou make it. A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof. Four squares shall it be, and two cubits shall be the height thereof. The horns thereof shall be the same. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold on the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about. And the horns thereof thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about. And two golden rings shall thou make it under the crown by the two corners thereof, upon the two sides of it shall thou make, and that shall be for the places for the staves to bear it withal. And thou shalt make the staves of shid and wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet thee with thee. And Aaron shall burn there on sweet incense every morning. When he dressed his lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering, neither shall you pour drink offering thereon. And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonement, for once in a year shall make an atonement upon it throughout your generations. It is most holy unto the Lord. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord when thou numberest them, that there be no plague among them when thou numberest them. Then they shall give every one that passes among them that are numbered, have a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary. A shekel is twenty giros. And half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. Every one that passeth among them that are numbered from twenty years old and above shall give an offering of the Lord. The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than have a shekel when they give an offering unto the Lord to make an atonement for your souls. And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the Lord to make an atonement for your souls. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Thou shalt also make a layer of brass and his foot also of brass to wash withal, and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein. And Aaron his son shall wash their hands and their feet thereat. When they shall go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water that they die not, or when they come near to the altar to minister to burn offering made by fire unto the Lord. So they shall wash their hands and their feet, and they shall die not, and it shall be a statue forever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations. Moreover, the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take thou also unto the principal spices of pure myrrh, five hundred shekels of sweet cinnamon, half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus, two hundred and fifty shekels, and of the caesha, five hundred shekels after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive and hen. And thou shalt make an oil of holy ointment and ointment compound after the art of the apothecary. It shall be in holy anointing oil. And thou shalt anoint the tabernacle of the congregation therewith and the ark of the testimony, and the table, and all his vessels, and the candlestick, and his vessels, and the altar of the incense, and the altar of the burnt offering, with all his vessels, and the laver, and his foot. And thou shalt sanctify them, that they may be most holy whatsoever toucheth them, shall be holy. And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office. And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Thou shalt be a holy anointing oil unto me throughout your generations. Upon man's flesh shall it not be poured, neither shall you make any other like it after the composition of it. It is holy, and it shall be holy unto you. Whosoever compoundeth any like it, or whosoever putteth any of it upon a stranger, shall even be cut off from his people. And the Lord said unto Moses, Take unto the sweet spices, stacked in an anika, and the galbanum, these sweet spices with pure frankincense, of each shall there be like a like weight. And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection, after the art of the apothecary, tempered together pure and holy. And thou shalt beat some of it, very small, and put of it before the testimony of the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee, it shall be unto you most holy. And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, you shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof. It shall be unto thee holy for the Lord. Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people. Let us pray. Dear Lord, please let us give you something for your message today and be with the pastor and the church this evening. And Jesus now pray. Amen. So you're there in Exodus chapter 30, and we are continuing our study through the book of Exodus. And we still have Moses. He's on the mount for 40 days and 40 nights. And he's still seeing basically what the Lord has to show him when it comes to the tabernacle, all the vessels in the tabernacle. Actually, in this chapter, we saw the garments of the priests, we saw the consecration of the priests. But it's interesting because in this chapter, we actually see where we're going to have this altar of incense and the anointing oil and this labor of brass that they're going to wash before they even do any of that. And so we're going to see that in here. And then chapter 31 is the last chapter of what God has to say to Moses while he's there for 40 days and 40 nights. And then he's going to come off the mountain. He's going to have the two tables of stone written with the finger of God. And then we get into the stories with the golden calf and all that. So just to give you an idea here that if you remember in chapter 25 going on, we're in the mount. He's in that thick darkness. He's up there whether it's on a smoke, it's lightning, it's thundering, and God is showing him all of this. But we're going to see this altar of incense, this golden altar, if you will. Anna, what are you doing? Sit down. In verse 1 here it says, Thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon, of shittim wood shalt thou make it. A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof. Four squares shall it be, and two cubits shall be the height thereof. The horns thereof shall be of the same, and thou shalt overlay it with pure gold. The top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof, and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about, and two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it by the two corners thereof. Upon the two sides of it, it shall thou make it, and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal, and thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. So this is very similar to the table of showbread, the Ark of the Covenant, and the fact that this is actually inside the tabernacle. And it's going to show us where it's at exactly. Look at verse 6 there. It says, Thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the Ark of the Testimony, before the mercy seat, that is over the testimony where I will meet with thee. Remember that little chart that I gave you about the sanctuary? You're walking into the tabernacle. If you're looking straight ahead, you're going to see this altar of incense, and you're going to see a veil there. So it's in front of the veil, altar of incense, and then past the veil you have the Ark of the Covenant. But if you were to look to your left, you'd have the candlestick with the seven lamps, and then over on your right you have the showbread, the table with the showbread and all that. Everything's made of gold, though. You notice that? Everything outside is made of brass. Because when we get to the laver and the foot, that's made of brass. That's outside the tabernacle. So I don't believe it's coincidental that everything outside is brass and everything inside is gold. But we see here this altar of incense, and I'll probably be getting into a little more detail as far as what this represents spiritually because Revelation hits on the golden altar and the horns of the altar and everything in Revelation, the actual altar that's in heaven. So this altar of incense is actually talked about in Revelation, the actual altar of incense that's up in heaven and the significance of the incense and everything. But this sermon is going to be more so dealing with the physical aspect of what's going on with this and dealing with the Old Covenant and all that. So going on from that, in verse 7, I thought this was very interesting. And again, if I'm not going into detail with the dimensions of this, forgive me. I think we've kind of already hit where a cubit is 18 inches. So it's 18 inches by 18 inches. It's two cubits high. As far as trying to picture how big, it's not that big. But it's this box. It's kind of like this square thing that has this incense on it. But in verse 7 here, this is interesting. Notice what it says in verse 7. It says, "'And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning. When he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.'" Now what's interesting about this is that I'm going to do a whole sermon when we get to the idea of, we get to the chapters where they're making this candlestick as far as what the lamps represent and all that. But what's interesting about this is that I believe the lamps were there on during the night. Let me prove that to you because it talks about him lighting the lamps at even. It talks about him dressing the lamps in the morning. And notice what it says. Go to Leviticus chapter 24. Leviticus chapter 24 is something that I never really noticed. But it's a detail dealing with this office as far as this candlestick and when it's lit and all that. Okay, so Leviticus chapter 24. And again, these sermons where we're kind of seeing it all on the mount, we just want to kind of really just understand this is what's going on, this is what they're doing, these are the physical things that are going on. We can get into the spiritual aspects in another sermon because a lot of the stuff is repeated later on and we can get into the spiritual meaning behind all of this. But in Leviticus chapter 24 and verse 1 it says, The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil, olive-beaten, for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually. And so if you read that in isolation, it would seem to me be that the lamps are always burning. Now, there's something, and this is where sometimes when you're reading through Leviticus and Exodus, things will kind of merge together because there's a place where it talks about how the fire should never go out. It's talking about the altar. Okay, so there's a verse where it talks about the altar, the brazen altar, the fire is never to go out in that altar. And you can kind of conflate that to the lamps because at least I have in the past where I've looked at this and been like, well, the lamps aren't to go out. And I've always looked at that story, if you think about the story with Eli and his sons and how the lamp went out, but when did it go out, right? And that's the question, right? As far as when are these lamps supposed to be lit, are they always lit? And I think it's actually going to show us here that actually it's at night that they're to be lit. Okay, notice what it says here in verse 3. It says, without the veil of the testimony, so it's talking about where it's at, obviously. That's where the candlestick's at. shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning before the Lord continually. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the Lord continually. So that continually doesn't necessarily mean that the lamps are lit continually, but more so that continually from the evening to the morning these lamps are to be lit and they're not to go out, okay? And I believe when you have Hophni and Phinehas, you know, and obviously that whole story with Eli and Aaron the lamp of God went out, you know, going into that aspect of, but when did that happen? So I believe actually it's showing here that Aaron's lighting the lamps at evening. So at evening he's lighting the lamp and then it's supposed to stay lit all the way through the morning. So in the morning he's dressing it and making sure it stays lit. And there's snuff dishes and stuff like that that it talks about with this candlestick. So I always kind of look at that like, well, they have to move it. You know, like let's say the cloud moves and they have to move the whole tabernacle, they're going to put the lamps out, they're going to do this and that. But I more so believe that you're dealing with that this lamp is lit during the night from evening to morning and obviously everything in between. So throughout the night this is lit. Just a little detail there that I noticed in this chapter where it says in verse 8 of Exodus chapter 30, when Aaron lighted the lamps at evening. Okay. And just something that I just kind of noticed there. Again, I'm not really trying to get into the spiritual aspect of, you know, the lamp being burning at night, but the idea there that the lamp is to give light at night. If you think about it, what's the point of a candle but to give light? Okay. If it's daytime, maybe the door is open and the tabernacle and there's enough light in there from the sun, you know, from daylight to get in, but when it's night obviously they need light in there. Okay. So the purpose of the lamp is to give light in darkness. I'll leave it at that, but it's just a little detail that I noticed that sometimes you can conflate things where it says the fire shall never go out. That's specifically talking about the altar. That's not necessarily talking about the lamp. Okay. And to me the fact that he's lighting it at evening really does show you that, hey, I don't think he's just dressing it. I don't think he's just like making sure it's still lit. I think he's actually lighting it at evening, dressing it through the night, making sure it doesn't go out during the night and all that. Okay. Go back to Exodus chapter 30 and verse 9, Exodus chapter 30 and verse 9. Again, I just kind of want you to see, you know, at least what I'm trying to do going through this study, is I want to know the details of what they were doing. Because before you can get to the spiritual aspect and you go all spiritual on it, just get the nitty-gritty like what were they doing? What exactly were they doing? What did this ministration even look like? Because I feel like some people go deep into the spiritual before they ever even understand the physical. But notice what it says here in Exodus chapter 30 and verse 9. So we're talking about this altar of incense that says, Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor burnt offering, neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon. And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year, with the blood of the sin offering of atonement, once in a year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generation. It is most holy unto the Lord. So when you're dealing with this altar of incense, once a year he'll bring blood in and he'll put it on the horns of that altar. Now, we already saw where he puts blood on the horns of the altar, that's the altar of brass. But there's going to be blood put on this altar and then he takes that blood and takes it within the veil and then he sprinkles it upon the mercy seat. And obviously this picture is what Jesus is going to do with his own blood, but the thing that sticks out to me with this is where it says, Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon. Go to Leviticus chapter 10. Leviticus chapter 10. You're like, you're skipping ahead. We're not going through Leviticus right now. So it's not like we're going from Exodus straight into Leviticus. I'm not going to do that to you guys. We're going to take a little break from the Pentateuch, if you will, from the first five books and go off to some other subject for a little bit. We'll do Leviticus eventually. But this story in Exodus chapter 30, Aaron has four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. Notice what happens here in Leviticus chapter 10 verse 1. And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them, his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. Where did we see this before? What did he say in Exodus chapter 30? Not to offer any strange incense, right? It says in there, went out fire from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. And so we see the commandment, and it's always good to obviously know the commandment before you get to that story, because you can look at a story like, man, he's strict. But what did he say? He said, don't offer any strange incense. And they were offering this strange fire with this incense and this censer. And you know what it comes down to is that God told you to do it a specific way. You do it that way. This isn't a game, right? This office of the priesthood is not a game where you can just play around and do whatever you want. No, you're going to do it to the T, the way God said it. You're going to make the incense the way he said to make it. You're going to make the oil the way he said to make it. And you're going to do the office the way he said to do it. Because there's too many people out there that will look at the Bible and they'll say, well, I'm just going to kind of go my own way with it. And no, you need to go God's way. God says to do it this way. We need to do it that way. And this idea of just that we have liberty in Christ, but don't take that too far. We have liberty in Christ where the Bible doesn't explicitly tell us what to do. But if the Bible explicitly tells you, thus saith the Lord, guess what? You don't have liberty to go anywhere else with that. You do what the Lord says. You do his commandment and follow it to the T. And obviously Nadab and Abihu don't do that. Now what's interesting about that story, which I'm not going to get into the whole story there, is that basically Aaron and his other sons are not allowed to touch their bodies or anything like that because they were going to be made unclean and basically they couldn't even mourn for them. You just like go do the sacrifice, do what you have to do. They basically had to just, they died and they just had to go back to work. And it's just very interesting too, there's a whole sermon just right there, right in the half. And when you think of like people, you think about church and you think about being in the work and people falling out, people dying, spiritually speaking as far as like getting out of the work and falling away, if you will, from things. And how you don't just mourn over that person and get out of the work because you're just so distraught over that person. You just keep going. Obviously you want to get that person back if they're able to come back and all that. But at the same time, you think about Samuel mourning over Saul and the Lord's like, how long, Samuel, are you going to, and I'm paraphrasing, but you basically ask him, how long are you going to mourn over him? Go get your horn of War and go anoint David, you know, and get back to work. And so there's a whole sermon there with that. But immediately when I see that commandment there, not to offer any strange incense, I'm like, Nate, I'm going to buy you. That's what happened. And when you're going through the book of Leviticus, it's pretty much just like commandments, here's how to do it, and there's like one story in there. And that's the story, right? Because you have places where it's just kind of telling you things, and then there's like, all right, we're back to the storyline, right? Because you kind of have a historical storyline that's going through Exodus, but it's kind of broken up where he's giving these judgments, because right now we're not really going through a storyline, right? He's just kind of telling you like, here's the altar of incense, here's the Ark of the Covenant, here's the priest's garments, right? And then when you get the chapter, at the end of chapter 31, it's the tables of stone, you're seeing, okay, it's progressing. Chapter 32, they make the golden calf, it's progressing, it's progressing. But when you get to Leviticus, it's kind of like, here's how you do the burnt offering, here's how you do the sin offering, here's how you do the offering for the sin of ignorance, here's all the laws about leprosy. It goes down these different laws and stuff like that. Chapter 10, now we get into a story about Nadab and Abihu. And then after that, it's like, all right, here's the law about this, here's the law about that, right? And these numbers kind of have the same thing where you have the fact that they're numbering all these people and kind of giving these offerings based off the tribes, and then you go through these stories, right? As far as how they don't go into the Promised Land, you have the stories of Balaam and all that. So I don't know how I'm getting off on that. I'm trying to give you an overview of what's going on there. But I'm just trying to give you an understanding that when you're reading through these books, you're going to have times where you're kind of going through a story and then it's kind of taking a break from the story and you get all this information that's given to you, okay? Now, here's something that's interesting that's in here. It's basically about numbering the people or taking a census, if you will. Go to verse 11. So Exodus chapter 30 and verse 11. Anna, sit up. Exodus chapter 30 and verse 11. Notice what it says here. It says, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord. When thou numberest them, that there be no plague among them. When thou numberest them. Notice it says win, win, win, win. It's not saying, like, don't do this or if you do this. It's saying, when you do this, this is what you need to do, okay? Notice what it says in verse 13 there. It says, This they shall give. Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary. A shekel is twenty geras, and half a shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. So it's basically ten geras, whatever that is, okay? Whatever that form of money is, it's ten geras, half a shekel, whatever. It says, Every one that passeth among them that are numbered from twenty years old and above shall give an offering unto the Lord. The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel. It says, When they give an offering unto the Lord to make an atonement for their souls, and now shall take the atonement money of the children of Israel and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the Lord to make an atonement for your souls. So who are they numbering here? Okay, are they numbering everybody? No, they're numbering those that are able to go forth to war, okay? Now, this is not saying don't do this, but it's saying when you do this, you have to take half a shekel from every single person, okay? And what's interesting about this is the fact that it's not based off percentage, right? It's not based off income. Because if you think of tithing, right, tithing is based off income, right? So if you have a really low income, then your tithe is going to be really small. If you have a really high income, your tithe is going to be really big because it's based off of percentage, right? But it's stating here that no matter if they're poor or rich, they have to give a half a shekel, okay? And so it's very interesting on how this works. Now, when it talks about to give an atonement for their soul or ransom for their soul, this isn't talking about so they don't go to hell, okay? Ransom for their soul is that they don't die of a plague is what's really going on here, right? I mean, what's the consequence if they don't give the shekel, right, or half a shekel, a plague? So the ransom for their soul is that they don't die of a plague, right? So it's a physical punishment or a physical ransom, if you will, because, I mean, if you think of James 5, it says, Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth and want to convert him, let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the heir of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins. So saving a soul from death isn't necessarily, it's not that passage in James that's not talking about eternal salvation. It's talking about a brother, right? And it's talking about physical salvation, right, because there is a sin unto death. I do not say that he shall pray for it. All one righteousness is sin, and there is a sin not unto death. So there's obviously sins that can cause you to die physically. And here it's interesting that to take a census of the army, if you will, they have to pay half a shekel. Each person has to pay half a shekel. Now, this happens in numbers, right? So when the numbers starts off, you wonder why it's called numbers. It starts off with numbering everybody and numbering all the offerings and all that. So the first ten chapters of numbers is pretty much numbers. So you can henceforth see why it's called that. But if you remember in chapter, you know, 13 and 14, you get the fact that they take the 12 spies in, they come back with a bad report except for Joshua and Caleb, and they don't go into the promised land. So the number of the people, which is like 603,000 or something like that, but it's just over 600,000 as far as those that were ready to go forth the war, was a number that was given for that first generation, that generation that went into the wilderness from Egypt. They all died though. Everybody from 20 years old and upward died. So you know what happens in number 26? They do it again, okay? So this actually happens. What it's saying here with as far as numbering the people happens twice in the book of Numbers, hence why it's an appropriate name for the book. So I say all that because let's look at a story here that this is very important to know. If you were reading through Exodus and you're reading through Numbers, you'd be like, boom, I know why this happened. Go to 2 Samuel 24. This is one of those so-called contradictions in the Bible. It's funny because they're just like, you know, God told them, or basically why were they allowed to number people in numbers? They're not over here. It's like, did you even read numbers? Did you read what they did when they numbered them? You know the law when it comes to numbering the people, okay? I want you to read the story with that in mind. What's the punishment if they don't take a half a shekel from everybody, from every single soul? A plague, right? In 2 Samuel 24 and verse 1 it says, And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah. Now, the so-called contradiction out there too with this passage is that in 1 Chronicles it says that Satan basically tempted David. And what it comes down to is that Satan was trying to take out Job, but God obviously allowed him to be tempted to prove Job. So just because God allows Satan to basically cause David to do this, it all comes down to the fact that God obviously had something against Israel, some kind of anger kindled against Israel, and he allowed Satan to tempt David to number these people and all that, okay? And notice what it says in verse 2 here. It says, For the king said to Joab, the captain of the host, which was with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people. Okay, so he's saying number all the people. Now, at first glance you can look at this and be like, okay, what's wrong with this? And notice what Joab said. It says, Joab said unto the king, Now the Lord thy God add unto the people how many soever they be, and hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see it, but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing? Notwithstanding the king's word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the host, and Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel. So you may wonder, like, why is Joab apprehensive about this, right? Because when they do this census, they have to take a half a shekel from every single person they count, okay? Let me ask you a question. If that was the case, and they're like, hey, we got to do a census, but when we do a census, we got to take some money from you, right? And you're like, go take your census somewhere else, right? You're just kind of like, no, well, why are you doing this? Keep reading there. It says in verse 5, it says, And they passed over Jordan and pitched in a rower on the right side of the city that lieth in the midst of the river of Gad and toward Jezre. Then they came to Gilead and to the land of, man, Tatham Hoshai, good night. Is that right that you're sitting there? And I was like, man, I feel like I've never seen that word before. Tatham Hoshai, okay, after the service, tell me how you think that's pronounced, okay? It says, And they came to Danjaen and about to Zidon and came to the stronghold of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and of the Canaanites, and they came and they went out to the south of Judah, even to Beersheba. So they're basically going through all the coast, basically from Danja and to Beersheba. So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and 20 days. So this took them a little while. It says, And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king, and there were in Israel 800,000 valiant men that drew the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000 men. That's a lot, right? Think about that. That's over a million. I know you can count, but, I mean, you can add. But, I mean, that is a lot. I mean, think about back then, right, as far as the population of the world. Right now you may think that's not that much, but, I mean, having like 1.3 million people in your army is huge, okay? It says, And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people, and David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that I have done, and now I beseech thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done very foolishly. For when David was up in the morning, the word of the Lord came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, Go and say unto David, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things, choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee. So Gad came to David and told him and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land, or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies? while they pursue thee, or that there be three days pestilence in thy land, now advise and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me. And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait, let us fall now into the hand of the Lord, for his mercies are great, and let me not fall into the hand of man. So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed, and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men. So that's a huge number of people, I mean, that died from this pestilence, or this plague, if you will. So you may read that story and be like, What in the world? Was it just wrong for him to know the number? Or is it the fact that he didn't do it according to the law? You say, Well, didn't he know the law? Well, let me ask you a question. Why does it say in the Bible, in Ezra or Nehemiah, I think it's in Nehemiah actually, Nehemiah where it says that they hadn't kept the Feast of Tabernacles since Joshua. And you have Josiah renting his clothes because they found the book of the Lord. And you're like, Hey, we found this book here. And then you realize that they weren't doing anything they should be doing. So is it any marvel to you that when he numbered these people, he didn't do what he was supposed to do when he numbered these people? He just wanted to know the number. He didn't want to have to take a half a shekel from every single person. And he paid the penalty for it. Because you could look at this and be like, Well, it's because he didn't trust in the Lord and he was trusting in numbers and not in the Lord. He shouldn't have to know what the number of people are because he can say with few or many, right? And that is true, okay, as the day is long and the fact that you shouldn't be worried about the numbers as much as is the Lord on your side. Well, let's just get the facts straight. What did the Bible say that if you take the number of those that go forth to war from 20 years old and older, what do you have to do according to the law to give a ransom for their soul? A half a shekel. Did you see anything in there about him taking a half a shekel, a joy of taking half a shekel from anybody? So it's always good to obviously know the law before you start saying, Well, what in the world is wrong with this passage? And then you over spiritualize it and you start going down these rabbit holes like, Well, this is why it was wrong. Here's why they died in a plague because they didn't do it according to the law. And obviously, Satan will cause people to do things that don't look inherently wrong. But they don't do it the way God says it, and they're punished for it. Right? I mean, it's always easier, it's always going to be easier to get a Christian to do something that they think the Bible even teaches, but they don't know what the Bible maybe teaches holistically on that subject. And so you always have to be knowing that the devil is very crafty, he's very subtle, and he's going to try to cause, you know, like that looks, you know, well, the Bible does say they numbered the people. Right? There's a whole book called Numbers. What's wrong with that? And then you miss the whole point of like what they had to do to number the people. Okay? So I just wanted to kind of park it there for a second. Park it there and let it rev. You know? No. It's such a great point, you know, like, no. No, but this is why it's important to know these passages. You know, when you're reading through, like, you would never maybe think that in 2 Samuel you need to know what it says in Exodus chapter 30 to really kind of get a grasp on what's going on there. But go back to Exodus chapter 30 and verse 17. Exodus chapter 30 and verse 17. Exodus chapter 30 and verse 17, we're going to see this labor in this foot. Okay? This brass, labor, and foot. And in verse 17 it says, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Thou shalt also make a labor of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal. And thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein. For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat when they go into the tabernacle of the congregation. They shall wash with water that they die not. Or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the Lord, so they shall wash their hands and their feet that they die not. And it shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations. So this gives us a little more clarity. If you remember, when they were consecrating themselves and putting on these garments that says they were to wash their flesh with water, they didn't just strip down stark naked in front of everybody in front of the tabernacle and just take a bath and take a shower. Okay? When they're talking about washing their flesh with water, they're talking about washing their hands and washing their feet. Okay? And then they put these garments on them. Okay? That means they had some garment on before they put this on. Okay? So this labor and foot, meaning the labor is where you're washing your hands. Okay? Kind of like a sink. And then where the feet are at, there's obviously something there, some kind of like basin or something. It doesn't really tell us exactly what's there as far as how they'd wash their feet off. Okay? And there's a whole spiritual application to what this would represent, but the idea here is that they're washing their hands and their feet, cleansing themselves as they're going in. This is where, you know, obviously they're getting anointed, they're putting on the clothing, and they're going into the sanctuary. This is located between the altar and the tabernacle. So if you remember, you had the tabernacle, and then outside of the tabernacle, from the door you had the altar of brass where they're doing all these sacrifices. But before you get up to the door of the tabernacle, there's this laver and foot, if you will, for the priest to wash themselves. And notice, what is it made out of? Brass. If you remember around the court, what were all the sockets of the court made out of? Brass. The altar is made out of brass. If you remember the pins and everything that we're holding, you know, the covering, the bagger skins and all that stuff, brass. So if you look outside, if you're outside of the tabernacle, what are you going to see? Brass, brass, brass, brass, brass. Even the sockets to the columns that are going for the door of the tabernacle, brass. Inside, silver. And everything's gold inside. And so, say, what's the point of that? I want you to know that, okay? Meaning this is that you may not know what that significance is right now. Maybe I don't know the great significance. Besides, obviously, I've taught on the fact that Jesus' feet was, as brass, polished in a furnace of fire, and it's an altar of fire and the sacrifice to save us. And obviously you have the gold that's within the tabernacle, which is holy and just, and obviously getting into God's throne and all that, okay? But the brass is representing what God had to do to save us through fire, okay? So, go down to verse 34. Verse 34 here, so we see that there's an altar of incense, and this altar is also, you're making this ointment as well, this holy ointment. And this tells you what's in it, okay? So, you know, this is kind of interesting. Just kind of think about the spices and stuff that's in this incense, if you will. That's what it says in verse 34. It says, the Lord said unto Moses, take unto these sweet spices, stack tea and anukah and galbanam, these sweet spices with pure frankincense of each, shall there be a light weight, and they shall make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy. And thou shalt be some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee, it shall be unto you most holy, and as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof, it shall be unto thee holy for the Lord, whosoever shall make it, make like unto that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people. So it's basically stating that what they're making here with this stack tea and anukah and these spices, the frankincense, they're like, no one is to be using this throughout their house, this isn't just like some common incense here that people are using. This is for the tabernacle alone. It's specific for the tabernacle, and you're not to just be using this and like everybody's like, well here's what it smells like in the sanctuary, here's the incense they're using, no it's for the tabernacle itself, and nowhere else, okay? The same thing happens with the oil. Look at verse 22. It says, Moreover, the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take thou also unto thee principal spices of pure myrrh, of five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much. Cinnamon. I just love cinnamon. But it's in the oil, okay? So we have the myrrh, the cinnamon, half as much as what's the myrrh, and it says two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus, two hundred and fifty shekels, and of cassia, five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil, olive, and hen. So basically here's the oil, it's olive oil, but it's got these spices in it, okay? So this anointing oil is not just typical oil that you maybe cook with, you know, an olive oil, but it's got all these different spices, so it's going to obviously have a scent to it. It says in verse 25, it says, Thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the arctic apothecary, it shall be in holy anointing oil, and thou shalt anoint the tabernacle of the congregation therewith, and the ark of the testimony, and the table and all his vessels, and the candlestick and his vessels, and the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt offering with all his vessels, and the laver and his foot, and thou shalt sanctify them, and they shall be most holy, whatsoever touches them shall be holy, and thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office, and thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, This shall be in holy anointing oil unto me, throughout your generations, upon man's flesh shall it not be poured, neither shall ye make any other like it after the composition of it, it is holy, and it shall be holy unto you, whosoever compoundeth any like it, or whosoever putteth any of it upon a stranger, shall even be cut off from his people. So same thing with the incense, with the oil, they weren't to just be making this en masse and it'd be common around Israel, this is only for the priest, this is only for the tabernacle, and I always read this and I'm like, I wonder what it smells like, but I'm almost afraid to make it. Have you ever read that and you're just like, I don't know if I should make it. You know, and maybe that's silly, because we're in the New Testament and I know the Old Testament has been done away with, but I'm almost, I've read this and I'm like, I don't know if I want to even try making that, you know, but it seems like that was supposed to just be for the tabernacle and I don't want to like even tempt the Lord in that. And you may think I'm silly for that, but you know what, I'd rather be safe than sorry when it comes to it. So, you know, part of me is kind of curious what it smelled like, right? Get these spices and put it in olive oil and be like, all right, here's what it smelled like when they were there, but I'm probably not going to do it, so. Unless I'm convinced otherwise, but you know what, right now, you know, I'm doubting. You know what the Bible says about that. He is damned if you eat, you know. If you eat a doubt, it's damned if you eat, so. Not that I'm eating the oil, but the thing that's interesting about this, though, that the altar of incense is made of what? Gold. Go to Matthew chapter 2. Do you remember what was in the incense? There's different things, but there was frankincense. Do you remember what was in the oil? The main component of the oil? Myrrh. So I know it's not Christmas yet, but look at what it says here in Matthew chapter 2 and verse 11. I thought this is just an interesting correlation as I was kind of looking at the composition of these things and where it's located. It says in verse 11 here, Matthew chapter 2 and verse 11, it says, and when they were coming to the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother and fell down and worshiped him, and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. It's just a coincidence, though. I'm sure there's no, like, correlation there as far as the fact that he's going to be the high priest forever at the Oramel-Kizedek, that he's going to be the one that goes through the veil past that altar of incense that has the frankincense and the myrrh, and that he's anointed above his fellows. So I just think that's interesting. It even goes in order in the chapter, right? The golden altar, the oil, or the incense that's made with frankincense and the oil that's made with myrrh, and that's exactly how it says it in the New Testament. So an interesting chapter. Again, I don't want to get too super spiritual, you know, when it comes to those things. I just want you to see, here's what it is. This is what you see. This is what you're dealing with. It's interesting, though, that this chapter comes after the anointing of the priest because that's what it basically is stating there, that this is what he anointed him. When he anointed Aaron and it came down upon his head, over his beard, down to the skirts of his garment, that was the oil they used. And the incense is obviously, you know, in there as well, dealing with the Ark of Covenant. But I've been learning a lot. I don't know about you, but there's just like little things that I've been seeing going through Exodus that I'm just like, I never really noticed that little detail. I never noticed that detail over here. And so whether you guys get anything out of this or not, I am. So I enjoy it. But all joking aside, we'll be continuing through this study and we'll be getting to the golden calf here soon. But just continue on with us through this and hopefully it'll be a blessing. And Lord, we thank you for today. Thank you for the Book of Exodus. And just pray that you'd help us to understand it, help us to obviously apply it to our lives, but just to know it is cool and just to know these details and then to know just how everything fits together. It's just awesome to see. It's awesome to picture what was going on back then, but also how it pictures what's in heaven. And Lord, just pray that you'll be able to go back to work, pray that you give us safety. And Lord, we love you and pray also in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. But today we'll come and sing one more song and then we'll be dismissed. All right, song 191 in your songbooks. Song 191, we'll sing In My Heart There Rings a Melody. If you would stand. We'll sing song 191. I have a song that Jesus gave me It was sent from heaven above There never was a sweeter melody Tis a melody of love In my heart there rings a melody There rings a melody with heaven's harmony In my heart there rings a melody There rings a melody