Exodus 25 (Part 3) Bible Study (The Table for Bread) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

To join with me, stand as we open up to the book of Exodus chapter 25 beginning in verse 23. Exodus twenty five twenty three. You shall make a table of acacia wood. Two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. You shall overlay it with pure gold and make a molding of gold around it.

You shall make a rim around it, a hand breadth wide, and a molding of gold around the rim. And you shall make for it four rings of gold and fasten the rings to the four corners at its four legs. Close to the frame, the rings shall lie as holders for the poles to carry the table. You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold, and the table shall be carried with these. And you shall make its plates and dishes for incense, and its flagons and bowls with which to pour drink offerings.

You shall make them of pure gold. Verse 30. And you shall set the bread of the presence on the table before me regularly. Let's pray. Lord, we come before you as we continue to journey through the tabernacle.

And, lord, we know that there is something here for us, but we need the help of your holy spirit. And so, lord, we come with hunger today. We come with a need and a desire to know you more, and we ask that you would grace us with the spirit of wisdom and revelation that we may see Christ. We wanna behold his beauty even in this. And so, Lord, we just pray that our minds would be free from anything that would hinder us from experiencing a touch from you through your word.

Lord, we pray that you would push back any birds of the air that would come and steal the seed of the word that would produce fruit in our lives. And so, Lord, would you, by the authority of the word of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, arrest every mind and heart for your glory in this place. We pray these things in the precious name of Jesus Christ. All of God's people say, amen. Last week, we discussed the ark of the covenant, and, really, there was so much more to explore, but we talked about how the ark is a picture of Christ, how the ark is something for the church in a sense.

There's a message there for the church, and there's a message there for the believer, symbolizing the presence of God, dwelling with men. And now it seems as though we're kind of stepping out from the inside out. We were in the holy of holies last week. Now we are in the holy place. And I don't know if we have that map up, of that, the tabernacle from that bird's eye view.

As it comes up, the holy place is what we saw in the video, and it's the room before the holy of holies, and there are three pieces of furniture in that room. Can you can you name them? Does anybody all know know all three of them? What are the three pieces in there?

The golden lampstand, the table of showbread, and the altar of my head.

That's right. So we have the the golden lampstand, which we're gonna speak of next week. We have the table of showbread. Some translations, the the bread of presence, and we have the altar of incense. And so perhaps we won't get it, but if if you look at it oh, there it is.

Okay. So here we are. We were here last week, and now we're here. And the table is found on the north side. And so we have the north, east, southwest right here.

We have the table of children on the north side. We have the the golden lampstand here on the south. We have the altar incense, which is closer. And so we're here right now, and we saw that in the video. But when we read this, unlike the ark of the covenant, we realize that the ark of the covenant and the instructions of its construction also reveals the purpose to some degree.

We see it here, what, in verse 22. What did what did God say to Moses? There I will meet with you from above the mercy seat. And then later on says, I will speak with you. And so I'm gonna meet you there.

I'm gonna speak to you from this place. And we realize later in Leviticus 16 how it plays a role for the day of atonement. But when we read of the table of bread here, we can't really find the purpose of this specific piece, do we? We can't really see anything concerning what its role is for the Israelites. That's why we need the whole counsel of God.

Does anybody know where in scripture we can find how this is supposed to be played out in the practice of the priests? Does anybody know? What book? Leviticus or closer? Why don't we just go there?

Leviticus 24. Leviticus chapter 24 beginning in verse five. Now we're gonna see what the purpose of this table is all about. Leviticus twenty four five and nine. Five to nine.

You shall take fine flour and bake 12 loaves from it. Two tenths of an ephah shall be in each loaf. So right there, we're gonna read these things slow sometimes. You're gonna make 12 pieces of bread. And what is that gonna look like?

Well, the next verse says, and you shall set them in two piles, six in a pile on the table of pure gold before the Lord. So here's the second instruction. You're gonna make bread, 12 pieces. Here's your second roll. You're gonna take these 12, divide them into rows of six, and pile them on the table.

Verse seven. And you shall put pure frankincense on each pile that it may go with the bread as a memorial portion as a food offering to the Lord. So here's the third thing. So you're gonna take some frankincense and you're gonna you're gonna put it on top of these piles so that there would be an aroma. There would be a fragrance unto the Lord.

Next verse. Every Sabbath day, every Sabbath day, Aaron shall arrange it before the Lord regularly. It is from the people of Israel as a covenant forever. And so what's the instruction here? You're gonna bake, and we're gonna see this in the next verse, you're gonna bake a fresh batch every single week.

Why? Because of verse nine. It shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place since it is for him a most holy portion out of the Lord's food offerings, a perpetual due. So this is what it looks like. Let's break it down together.

We have this table, and if we can have the picture of it so we can get an idea of what it looks like, it's good to kinda see these instructions and see the final product. And so this is what we're looking at here. Pretty simple. Kinda looks like the ark of the covenant, but the symbolism here is of utmost importance. So let's stay practical.

Let's stay surface level here for a moment. You're gonna bake 12 loaves of bread. You're gonna separate them in two piles. You're gonna put some frankincense on those piles. And this is supposed to be food for the priests.

And so they're gonna eat that every single week, and they're gonna make a fresh batch every week. But what does it mean? What's what's the purpose of it? Does anybody know based on the reading of Leviticus twenty four five to nine, what was the reason for this? What was it, expression of, I guess, is a better question.

Covenant. Yes. So is that bread initially, is that bread something that god is expressing to man or what man is expressing to God initially based on Leviticus 24?

And this bread. And this bread is

That's right. Why? Because it says that this bread will be placed from the people of Israel. And so the mediators, the priests are placing this bread in the presence of God as an expression of the people, which is an expression of covenant from the people towards god. Now there's 12 pieces of bread.

So what is that linking to? 12 tribes. And so this is what it is really. It's an expression of devotion from the nation of Israel towards god saying this, that we will ever live before your presence all the days of our lives. That's what it's it's an act of worship.

Remember, the the tabernacle is not just God's desire to dwell with man. It is also the place in which man expresses their worship to God. And this is one of those expressions of worship that this is what the priests are to do, to take a piece of bread representing each tribe and to come into the presence of God. You know, the Hebrew word for presence is the same word for face. They're to come before the face of god, and they are to say through this act of worship, we are going to live ever before you, oh god, all the days of our lives.

That's a beautiful thing. That's a powerful thing. And so initially, this is man worshiping God. And I'm sure many things come to mind concerning what are the three things that the tabernacle points to? What are the three major elements that the tabernacle foreshadows?

We talked about it last week. We talked about it the week before. This is just for the sake of exercising memory. What are the three things that the tabernacle points to? Jesus Christ, the church, individuals.

Right? We know this. This is not eisegesis. We're not putting our interpretation in this. We see that the church is called the temple of God.

We see that we are called the temple of God as individual believers. And Jesus himself in John one says that he tabernacled among us. He dwelt among us. That means he tabernacled. He set himself up.

He comes as the expression of God's desire to dwell amongst man. And so all these things point to that. And and all these things, what we're just talking about right now, there's a significant lesson for us to understand Christ. There's a significant lesson to understand how the church should operate, and there's something for the believer in relationship to this. And so I'm just gonna open it up right now.

What comes crashing to your mind when you think the table of showbread, the table or the presence of the bread in his very midst? Yes. Bread of life. Anybody else went there? Jesus, the bread of heaven.

That's a given. Yes. Absolutely. What else? Yes.

It's provided every week, so this is in this is, like, God's, you know, two offerings. So this is God providing for this is God providing for those who serve him. Okay. So we see here that there is an element of God providing for his people, specifically for his priest. Absolutely.

What else comes to mind? Yes. Communion. Communion with God. So we touch two pieces of furniture, the ark of the covenant and the table of showbread, and we're two for two for what?

God wanting to commune with us. God expressing his desire for us to commune with him. Two for two. You think God's trying to say something? Absolutely.

What else? What else comes to mind when you think of this? When you read these things? When you when you look at the symbolism and the and the reason behind this act of worship? It's it's the presence.

It's like and we're consuming it, so it's it's inside of us now. It's I mean, part of us is to be warm with us. So it's not just the bread being provided. It's the priest taking the bread and consuming the bread and becoming one with the bread. We saw that with the manna.

Yes. Absolutely. So we see another thing. You know, I just love how God loves to say similar things in different ways just so it can really get into our minds. You ate it in the wilderness, now I'm asking you to eat it in the tabernacle.

John chapter six, he comes along. He says, eat me. Eat my flesh. So so it's the same message. We see the harmony of the Bible with the same desire expressed by the god that we worship.

Absolutely. What else? What else comes to mind? What what what do you think of? Think of the act of worship.

Think about what they're doing here. Think about what that bread might mean to God. We think the bread represents Christ, and it does, and we'll get into that. But remember, this was an act of worship. Those pieces of bread were the expression of the Israelites through the priest to God that we will ever ever ever live before you.

We would live as though you are with us, that you walk with us, that you're in the car with us, that you're in the chariot with us, that you're in the meetings with us. We ever wanna live before your face, that your eyes are on us, that you hear us, God. This is our expression of covenant. Yes. With consistence.

Consistence. Oh, that's a good one. We can talk about consistency too. Yes. Alright.

And, in Levitic in Leviticus one that says what he or Frankenstein is on each pile. Yes. Incense is, or incense is like prayer. So it has to be pure work, pure, communion.

Okay. So there's something with a frankincense there, and we're gonna see what that symbolizes. You've touched on something very important. Now think about it. If this bread represents the heart of the people to say we will ever live before you, oh god, that's the same for us.

Not with a piece of bread though with your heart. That your heart and mind to God should ever be declaring, Lord, I will forever live before your presence. And I love how he says there is 12 pieces of bread because God didn't want 10. He didn't want nine. He wanted all.

He wanted every nation, and he wanted every part of that nation. He wanted every tribe to be dedicated to this purpose. And same for you and me. He wants all of us, not some of us. You know, you think about the different lands and how they're proportion differently in size.

No. No. No. He wants the complete you. But not only that, those tribes, if you think of them as as different backgrounds and different people, that says something about us as a diverse group of people as well, that this is, remember, the expression of the people of Israel, not just the priest.

So this isn't just the priest coming to God and saying, you have all of me. This isn't just the pastor saying, God, you have all my life. No. The people. No matter what your background, no matter how insignificant you might think, the same desire from God here for the people, whether you're from Dan or Gad or Reuben, doesn't matter what tribe you represent, doesn't matter how small you think you are.

God's one purpose from you is that you would say from your heart, I will ever live before you. This is an act of worship here, and it it's it's done in a way in which there's frankincense placed on top of it. Now that's important. So we look through the feast and we see these details, and we wonder why the detail. And these different sacrifices, especially in Leviticus, some of the sacrifices include frankincense.

Why? Because frankincense did something. It produced an aroma. It there was a smell to it, but frankincense was not included in every sacrifice. There are some sacrifices ordained by God where he strictly tells the people, don't add frankincense.

Here's one of them, Leviticus five eleven. Leviticus five eleven. Look what the Lord says concerning the sin offering and one of the ways it could be done concerning those who have different economic standards. But if he cannot afford two turtledoves or two pigeons, this is a sin offering, then he shall bring as his offering for the sin that he has committed a tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering. So what offering is this?

Sin offering. He shall put no oil on it and shall put no frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering. So what what do we see here? That God does not want that fragrance to be associated with what? Sin.

So now you link that truth with the fact that he's asking for frankincense to be put on the bread was an expression of a heart that's totally devoted to God, and it tells us something about what it means to be devoted to God. It tells us this, that the smell of frankincense is linked and likened to the aroma of a holy life. The same way frankincense had no association with sin is the same way God is asking of you and me that we would, yes, say of our hearts, we are yours, but to produce an aroma that is experienced through a disassociation from sin, which would produce a fragrance that is pleasing unto him. That's where the fragrance comes from. That's what the fragrant the frankincense represents.

Frankincense is not associated with unholy things. And God, in the same manner, when he looks at your life as a living sacrifice, what will make your life a pleasing aroma to God is you living free, living away, living disassociated from anything that would be offensive to him, and that's what produces the aroma unto God. This is what the frankincense represents. And And so it's not just heart devoted to God. It's it's expressed, and it is fumed by frankincense.

There's something so beautiful about this bread, though. If this bread is an expression of our heart devotion to God declaring to him we will ever live before your presence, oh god. I read this and I noticed something and you noticed it too, I'm sure, is that that bread had to be baked again every week. That there is this continual renewing, continual refinement, continual resurfacing of fresh bread. Now what do you think that means in light of our worship, in light of our lives?

Why would he ask of them? Now we know that they're gonna be fed. They know we know that they're gonna eat. That's one of the reasons. But I read something like that, and you you know what I come to the conclusion of?

God does not want stale bread. He's he's not looking for still bread. He's not looking for that bread to just sit there and for it to become crusty and cold and unpleasant. What does that say about you and me? It says that the same way the bread had to be given to God think about fresh bread, soft and warm and tender is the same way that your heart and mind must continually be before him.

If you don't believe me, you have to turn to first Samuel 21 verse six. First Samuel 21 verse six. This is when we'll talk about this at the end. When David goes and asks for the holy bread and one of the priests does give it to him, and it's on a specific day, some believe, because of this verse. Look what it says about how this bread is to be practiced, if you will.

So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there is no bread there but the bread of the presence, which is removed from before the Lord to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away. That's what God wants. That's what he wants from us. He wants, yes, us to declare it, but he wants us to continually have that softness, that warmth towards him. He's not looking for stale bread.

And it's amazing. All it takes is a little bit of time. All it takes is a little bit of ignorance, And what was once fresh and hot can become so stale and crusty and really unpleasant to God. And so there was something required of the priest in order for that bread to remain in that state on a continual basis. What did it require of the priest?

Well, I would say that it requires him to be timely. It requires the priest to be attentive. The priest needed to know his time. He needed to know his schedule. He needed to know that I have to replace this bread every Sabbath, and I have to put fresh bread.

So if the priest was ignorant, that that bread could have failed to meet the standard in which God was asking for the bread. And as I said, I'll say I'll say it again. All it takes, believers in Christ in this house, is a little bit of time and a little bit of ignorance. And what was was your heart being so soft towards the Lord, tender to the Lord, sensitive to the Lord can become stiff and calloused and numb. The priest had to give his attention to this.

The priest had to be aware. The priest had to be diligent and disciplined to know that there's a specific quality of bread slash devotion that God is looking for from me. And we talk we talked about this last week at the end. How long does it take for your heart to get dull towards God? Anybody remember?

Twenty four hours. How do we know that? From what scripture? Hebrews three thirteen. But exhort one another every day as long as it is called today, That none of you may be hardened.

None of you may be hard. None of your hearts would be hardened, stiff and callous and crusty and and unattractive and displeasing by the deceitfulness of sin. All it takes is one day. All it takes is twenty four hours for your heart to go from soft to rock solid. Oh, that's why he says do it every day because sin and his attempt to deceive you is not on a weekly basis.

It's not on a weekly basis. Sin doesn't have a day off, and it's a desire to callus your heart. You and I can't afford a day off from allowing God's presence and his word to soften our hearts. If if if sin has an ambition to harden my heart, if Satan has an ambition to stiffen my spirit, I can't afford a moment apart from him, lest I begin to feel my nerves, I begin to feel my affections drawing away from the lover of my soul. So it required time and diligence from the priest, which is really in the second part.

It required his effort. Required his effort. He was to what? Bake it every week. He was he was to do something with the instruction.

God desired a specific type of bread, and God desires a specific type of heart. You need a hot or cold. You're neither hot or cold, but you're lukewarm. See, god has a specific temperature in mind when it comes to our devotion to him. And the worst thing that you and I can do, Christians, is compare ourselves to other Christians, especially in North America.

You do not compare yourself to other Christians. You compare yourself to Christ. And you open up the word of God and you see the standard. You know, sometimes you hear things like, oh, that person is just just like, woah. He's very spiritual.

That person is in your standard. That person is not your standard. Christ is your standard. Oh, that person is just a little different and they're just a little bit more devoted and that person's not your standard. Jesus is your standard always.

Unless you can come to a place like Paul who was so confident, who said, follow me as I follow Christ. And so think that this required an effort to produce a specific type of bread as well. There were specific ingredients. Because you and I, in our desire to produce a specific type of devotion to God, can fall into the trap of not following his instructions clearly and present to God contaminated bread. So if if that bread is a representative of the heart of the people of Israel, in our hearts as well, we have to be careful lest we present something to God that he didn't even ask for or does not meet his standard.

Psalm sixty six eighteen. You don't have to turn there, but this is a famous verse. If I have cherished iniquity in my heart, if I cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened to me. So I can't say to God, here's my heart if there's iniquity cherished in it. I can't love my sin and just give my heart to God and say, here here's my devotion to ever live before your presence.

God says, that's not the kind of bread I'm looking for. I'm looking for a different kind of bread, and here's the instruction for it. And so you look and I look in this word and we see, lord, what are the ingredients for my devotion to you? What are you looking for from me? I'm not gonna compare myself to that person.

I'm not gonna say, oh, that person prays that much, or that person reads that much, or that no. No. No. No. My standard is Christ.

What's your recipe book for my life in order for me to be a pleasing aroma to you? So these priests needed to follow the instructions and put the effort into producing something in which that would meet the standard of god. Here's the awesome thing. This is where it gets really amazing. That as the priest obeyed the standard in which God called them, as they obeyed the directions and the instructions into producing in which with what God called them to produce for his pleasure, they ate it.

They also ate of it. That says something. As a result of their obedience, they were filled. Understand that. As a result of their obedience to God's word concerning what he asked of them, they as a result were fulfilled.

What did Jesus say? My food is to do the will of him. That's my food, John four thirty four. That's what sustains me. When I obey him, there is this satisfaction that comes.

There is this fulfillment. There is this joy. There is this pleasure from obedience, from the place of obedience. And see, we see that picture here. They made the bread to please God.

But a second consequence to that is that they ate of it, and they were satisfied. See, when you obey God, the consequence to that is not just to please God, which is a just that's alone amazing. But you you, in your obedience to God, will realize your true purpose in this life, will realize the thrill that comes from obeying the Lord Jesus Christ and his word. You will realize there is nothing in this life like walking in his ways. Do you know why so many Christians are miserable?

Because they're not obedient. See, obedience is the pathway to joy. And when you do not follow the ingredients of this word the same way that they did not follow the if they did not follow the ingredients of that bread, you, as a second perhaps you're not seeing it this way, but you will fail to eat of the fruit of your obedience. And you wonder why you're frustrated. This is why 90% Christians are so frustrated.

This is why those that are lukewarm and and backslidden every other week are miserable. Do you realize that? A true believer that goes back and forth, in some cases, they are miserable because they're stuck in this limbo. Because true joy comes when the heart is set on 100% obedience towards the Lord. And it's not a joy that comes from, oh, I'm on God's good side today.

That's not the joy. The joy is not like, oh, today I have a chance at heaven. That's not the joy. There is this purpose that possesses you. There is this sense of I have something greater to live for that possesses you.

There's this understanding in a healthy way that God is pleased with my life, and that possesses you, and it fills you. And guess what? You won't be interested in anything else. So they, as a byproduct of their obedience, were filled. When you choose to obey God in everything, not just in the big things but in the little things, you can guarantee for yourself a sense of fulfillment, a sense of great fulfillment that will come from that.

Jesus said it. Jesus said my food is to do the will of him who sent me. And so the bread here is an expression of Israel's heart devotion, but even ours. But remember, the priest points to us as well. Why?

What verse tells us that we're priests in the New Testament? But you are a priesthood? No. Not even a priesthood. You're a royal priesthood.

First something else. Peter, close. They're buddies so they're close enough. First Peter two nine, but you are what? Chosen race.

A royal priesthood. Not just a priesthood, a royal priesthood. And so now we see that there is an engagement here with the priest, that there is something to understand as priest in light of all of this. So think of yourself as a priest. Think of yourself as those in the holy place working with this bread.

What truths come to your mind when you think of that? We touched on a little bit of it, but there's more to it. Priests of God, what truth can you pull out? I'm a priest in the new covenant sense, but there's something in there for me practically. What does that mean for me if I'm in the holy place and I'm ministering with this bread?

What does that do to me as a new covenant? I put on my new covenant lens, and I'm I'm reading these verses. Well, we can come with this safe conclusion that as priests, we have a unique diet. As priests, you and I have access to something that is not available to other people. Oh, this is awesome about the Levitical priesthood.

Because when it comes to the promised land and God gives the specific inheritance to each tribe, says, you know, this land will be yours and that that border line, that'll be yours and and that's yours. And then he comes to the Levites. Comes to the Levites, and he says something more than once in one of the places in Deuteronomy eighteen one. This is fantastic. Deuteronomy eighteen one says something very specific about the priesthood and this specific instruction.

The Levitical priest, all the tribe of Levi shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. Oh, poor Levites. Poor Levites, they have no land. You know who their inheritance is? God himself.

Why? Why is the land not their inheritance? Because they have been given the privilege of being in the courts of the lord and ministering unto him. But look what it says specifically. They shall eat the lord's food offerings as their inheritance.

Poor Levites. Or if we just realize as priests what our inheritance is. Do you know how many Christians are living like they're not Levites? They're living like they're other tribes and they're so consumed with land and possessions and and flock and there's something greater than all of that. Put it all together does not compare to the inheritance that the Levites had.

God himself, There was a specific access to specific food that was restricted and was only for the Levitical priests. And part of that diet was the bread of the presence. That was something that was only available to them. And so when we think of the bread as we talked about being Christ himself, Christ himself, brothers and sisters, priests, royal priesthood, he's your inheritance. And he is the thing that you sustain yourself with and satisfy yourself with.

We talked in Exodus 16 how Christ is a picture of the manna, but now we see Christ as a picture of the bread of the presence. And so there are different qualities with the expression of bread in this context that might not be so with the manna, but still the same truth, not contradictory truths. What are the qualities of this bread that speak of Christ? Think. Meditate.

Look. Explore. This is where Bible study gets fun. In your personal so you have to ask the text questions. What is about Christ with the bread of presence?

And you take other verses and you line them up and and and it and it flows. What can you find about this bread and Christ? One, the priests were what? Depended on this bread. They were sustained by this bread.

That was their source of living, the bread. Jesus Christ is the same way. You and I are sustained. You and I are filled by him alone, but there's more than that. What is the availability of this bread?

Yes. It is available to those who are in the holy place, but the the access to it, how many days out of the week is this bread available? Twenty four seven. The bread was to be regularly before the Lord, meaning that there should always be bread, but that speaks of Christ, that he's always available. You can access him at any time.

You you he's there, which goes to the next truth. There is an abundance of Christ expressed through his word specifically. That there is more than enough of Christ in his word. There's more than enough to feast on in the scriptures. So we talk about how they're dependent on this bread, the availability of this bread, the presentation of this bread, and its abundance.

What else can we say of this bread? Yes? The biggest it says

the most holy and perfect offerings since the most holy offering.

Yeah. The most holy portion out of the offerings. They were to take this with the utmost sacredness and reverence because it represented something so precious. Looking at the qualities of this bread, how does it point to Jesus? How does it point to our relationship with the bread of heaven?

Look at verse nine of Leviticus 24. Somebody read it out loud. And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, since it is for him, in most holy Stop there again for a second. Read the first part again. And it shall be for Aaron and his sons.

Okay. Who's supposed to eat it? One person and his sons. So the bread was supposed to be eaten in the community. The bread of heaven, the presence, the bread of the presence was supposed to be eaten amongst one another.

Guess what? That's hap that's happening right now. That when you come to Christ, when you are transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his son, you become this royal priesthood. You know what that means though? It doesn't mean that you feast on Christ alone, though that is of so much importance.

You also feast on Christ with other believers in Christ. That's what's happening right now. We're feasting on the word of God. We are delighting and fulfilling ourselves in him in community. Hebrews ten twenty four and twenty five.

Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. And he says what? Not neglecting to meet with one another. And so this bread is supposed to be eaten amongst the other priests. So there is that element, yes, where we feast on him alone in our devotion, but there's another element that we cannot forfeit and it's this moment right here.

And there are plenty of examples of that. See, I can't understand when a Christian says, I believe in Jesus, I walk with Jesus, I have a relationship with Jesus, but the church, man, it doesn't make sense in light with not just this, but so many other scriptures. It's actually one of the amazing things that happens in our lives that when you, before Christ, maybe even had a church background, you had no desire to be amongst God's people. You had no desire to be with the people of the Lord. You had no desire.

And if you did come to church, it was social. Right? What happened to the man who was crippled at the gate called Beautiful? We talked about this one Sunday. He was crippled.

Right? And he was begging for money. And Peter and John come alongside, and he says he's expecting them to give money, and they look and they say, listen. We don't have silver. We don't have gold, but what we have, we give to you.

In the name of Jesus, get up. And he gets up. And that's a picture there that there are people outside of the church, and we need to go out to them and and give them Christ. And they're in their crippled state of sin. But when they receive Christ, though that's a physical picture of healing, we understand that there's a spiritual truth to it.

They get up and they walk. But where did that man walk to? That man didn't just, oh, thank you so much, Peter and John, and just went on their way. It says that he latched onto Peter and John, and he went into the temple praising God. See, when God touches your life and you truly have a new walk with him, you will find yourself in the house of God.

Do you understand that? And it says he was with Peter and John. You got some new friends when you come to Christ. And you have a new purpose. You know, before Christ, you were hanging outside the temple.

Right? You were just in the fringes, and you would make an appearance here and there. But when god touches you, you can't help but go into the house of God and praise. It's even leaping and praising God. So we see it all over the scriptures.

Here's another example. Go to Exodus 18. Exodus 18. We talked about this, so this might be a reminder for many. But this is when Jethro meets with Moses, and he hears about what God had done through Moses and what God has done for the people of Israel.

Verse 10 of Exodus 18. The response to Moses' testimony was this. Jethro said, blessed be the Lord who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know. These are pagan priests.

Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods because in this affair, they dealt arrogantly with the people. And so what does he do after he knows that this is the true and living God? And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God. It didn't stop there. He had his devotion to God.

He expressed his worship. But look, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God. Now where did they get that bread? Remember, this is the wilderness journey. What kind of bread are we talking about here?

The manna. Manna? Christ. So when Jethro comes to faith, he gives a burnt offering. What is a burnt offering a picture of?

Out of all the sacrifices, why the burnt offering? What's special about the burnt offering? Everything. It's everything. Every piece.

Where the other offerings, you might hold some things back, some organs back, some pieces back. No. The burnt offering, everything went on the altar. And so he says, I know that this is the living God. And as a response, he says, here's everything.

And guess what? You commune with the brethren. You feast on Christ with others who feast on Christ. That's a great mark of a person who's truly tasted this bread. They eat with others who have also tasted of this bread.

So Jethro here is an example. We have so many examples to touch on. But there's another lesson here for the priests when they eat this bread. They were supposed to eat it once a week. We understand that.

They were supposed to eat it regularly, but they were also supposed to eat it in a specific context, in a specific setting. What is that setting? This is in Leviticus 24. He says eat it in a certain place. What what is that place?

If you find it, just let it let us know. In a holy place. King James says, in the holy place. Other translations say, in a holy place. And I believe, and you can disagree with me if you'd like, the holy place when he's speaking about eating it in a holy place is within the parameters of the tabernacle.

That they were to eat that bread within the parameters of the tabernacle because it's holy. And you can't go in an environment that's not holy and eat that bread. But when I when I think about why eating it in the tabernacle, remember, it's called the bread of presence. It's this idea of communing and fellowshipping with God. Yes.

And it's eating the bread in a holy place because I believe that God wanted them to have a conscious awareness of his presence while they're eating. So that they're eating it. Yes. But it's not just eating it. Eating it with the awareness of his person.

Oh, that says something to you and me, does it not? At least it does to me. When I read something like that, that God wanted to eat that bread with a mindset that is set on God is here. You know, you and I can feast on the word of God outside of the awareness that he is a person, that you and I can even we can devote ourselves to this. We can give ourselves to this, but our mindset has not been set on.

The same mindset that they were to develop, that I am to eat this with an awareness of his person in the midst. You know, we can like I said, we can open this word and do everything except discover him. We can open this word and do everything. We can do everything except realize and explore the heart of God. That's possible.

And so the same way God asked them to have a specific perspective when they were eating that bread, you and I must develop an awareness of his person when we feast on the word of God given to you and me, lest you be left with cold principles and ideas that have nothing to do with your heart being warmed and worshiped towards him. That happens a lot. You can hear people talk about the word of God like it's a textbook. You can you can hear people talking about the word of God like they're reading a newspaper. And you fail to relate to the person in the midst of the practice of feasting on the scriptures.

So when you and I look at the word, here's a very practical thing to pray. Lord, show me your heart. As I read Leviticus, what's your heart behind these things? Lord, show me what I am to do in light of these things. Show me how I am to live in light of numbers.

Lord, I I wanna see you. I wanna understand that this is you. This is your heart towards me, so show me yourself. And what will happen is you will begin to say things like this after your private reading of the scriptures. Even if it's a story that has no relationship to you in a new covenant sense and you feel like, I don't understand how that relates to me.

You realize his heart. You realize his power. You realize his holiness. You realize his mercy. And it does something too because you're reading it with a perspective, and you're reading it with a desire to know him.

You understand? This is what they were to do, to to eat the bread in a holy place with a mindset framed on I'm eating knowing that he is a person, Or else you can eat and just become ritualistic and turn it to formality. And you're just eating and you don't realize why you're even eating anymore. And the Bible becomes a checklist. Here we are, another week, another loaf of bread.

God's like, no. No. No. No. It's a very holy thing what you're doing.

And I want you to do that with a revelation of my person. That'll change your bible reading. That'll change your devotional time. That will bring things even in these types of texts to life when you do it in such a way. What else can we say here?

Is there any other observations that come to mind? There's one thing that we can take out of the table of showbread. It is this, that that bread is an expression of the heart of the people saying we desire to live before your presence. That God wants a specific type of bread at a specific type of temperature regularly. Your heart and mind must be the same.

How often do you check the pulse of your devotion? If your heart were to be translated physically into bread, what would it look like right now? How would it look? How would it feel? Oftentimes, you and I have to do that.

Do we not? Just check the pulse of your devotion. What temperature am I at with god? And again, here's the warning. We can look at other people and say, compared to that person, I'm burning hot.

But when you line up your heart to the thermometer of the word of God, you say, oh God. You look at Psalms one nineteen. I think Psalms one nineteen convicts me every time. I love your law. I meditate on your law on my bed.

Do you meditate on God's law on your bed? And I don't look at that and go, legalist. Lord, do that work in me. I want that to be my language. And so check the pulse of your devotion even tonight.

All it takes is one day for it to get stale. All it takes is one day. And God's standard is this, hot, white hot for him. And if that's his standard, he gives the power to make it happen. Praise God.

That I can ask him to do it in me and he's willing to do it in me. But I just gotta be humble up to say, Lord, I'm stale. I'm stale. Lord, there's no frankincense on my bread. And I love it.

He says, I want pure frankincense. He says that specifically. See, there's a form of holiness that's not really holiness. There's There's a form of godliness that's not really godliness. It's like, no.

No. No. I want the pure. I want the right one. You know, like the holiness that says I don't care what other people think.

The holiness that says if people I don't care as long as God is pleased with my life. That pure holiness, that's what God is looking for. There's a lot of form of holiness that's actually despicable to God. Don't believe me? You never see Christ running around to prostitutes saying, get it together, prostitute.

Come on. Or the tax collectors. You know who he yelled at the most? You know who I really, really gave a good whipping the most? The Pharisees.

The Pharisees. The ones who have that form of godliness. The ones who prayed and they tithed and the ones that had the long oh, they they sat there. Oh, God says, you guys are a bunch of dead bones. You know that?

I wonder how many conferences Jesus would get invited to in this day. Christian conferences. Because I can tell you this, that he would preach, I'm sure, a lot of sermons that he preached the same way he did to these Pharisees. You guys are clean on the outside but you're filthy on the inside. Do you realize that?

Look at this one. Here's the crazy thing about the Pharisees. I mean, we think that it's like, oh, they're obviously listen. The Pharisees were missionaries. Do you understand that?

The Pharisees would travel far and wide to make disciples. That's effort. That's work. Right? I mean, they're doing missions trips.

And Jesus says, you know those disciples that you made? They are twice the sons of hell as you are. Come back next year to our conference, Jesus. We we love your sermons. You guys make you guys make converts that are twice of as worthy of hell as you are.

You know that? So we don't want just a form of holiness. We want pure frankincense to come out of our lives. From pure motives that the inward is clean, not just the outward. I want it from the inside out.

Pure frankincense. I'm tempted to go into this next part, but I'm not sure. It's completely not related to the spiritualization of these things. It's it's a reference that Jesus makes. You know, let's go there because I think it's important.

Jesus makes reference to the showbread. He actually makes reference. Does anybody know where he makes reference to this?

When the Pharisees, were accusing his disciples of not washing their hands.

Perfect segue. Pharisees, Matthew chapter 12 verse one. Matthew chapter 12 verse one. We see Jesus making reference to this. And I think, like I said, there's gonna be a different type of tone here with this portion, but it's important nonetheless.

Matthew chapter 12 verse one. And I'll tell you why I think it's important to go through this because many people use this as a proof text to defend a certain type of thought process. At that time, Jesus went through the grain fields of the Sabbath, and his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it oh, the Pharisees, they loved to look at stuff. They loved to observe.

Well, Christ is gonna observe something about them in a moment. They said to him, look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath. He said to them, have you not read what David did when he was hungry and those who were with him, how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Yeah. Now stop there.

He makes reference to the showbread. And he goes on, says, or have you not read in the law, on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you something greater than the temple is here. If you had known what this means, I desire mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless for the Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath. In Mark and in Luke, Jesus does the same thing here, but he excludes the reference of the priest and just leaves the example of David and the showbread.

So what is he referencing there? You don't have to turn there. But in in first Samuel 21, we see David on the run from Saul, and he's hungry. He's starving. And he comes to the priest, and he says, do you have any bread?

He goes, listen. I don't have common bread. I only have holy bread. Now what do we understand about the holy bread? Who is to eat that bread?

The priest. It's reserved for the priest. Is David a priest? He's not a priest. So he says, I only have holy bread.

And he understands that he wants it, so he says, listen. Have you been pure from any sexual interaction? He goes, listen. Whenever I'm on Endeavor on a mission, me and my soldiers, we don't we don't mess around with our wives or anything like that. No.

We we stay consecrated and focused. That's an important text in light of Uriah. Remember? When David brings in Uriah from war, and he wants to get him to sleep with his wife so that he can make the pregnancy look like and Uriah wouldn't. Why?

Based on that principle. He was a faithful soldier. He says, I'm not gonna sleep with my wife when everybody else is at war. That's the mentality behind Uriah. Coming back to this, he gives the bread and they eat the bread.

And now we come to this text and we see that there the disciples are eating grain. The Pharisees are saying, hey. You guys can't be laboring on on the Sabbath. And Jesus, hold on. Have you not read what David did?

What do you guys make of this text? Why would he use that as an argument to defend the disciples?

It shows that God's mercy over, I mean, if someone's life is in, jeopardy, then it shows mercy over, commands.

Okay. This is where I I was hoping the discussion would happen because who would agree with that? Who would agree with the idea that Christ is advocating for mercy over even what is commanded for the sake of a specific situation? What do we call that? There's a title for that.

Anybody know? It's a term given to this type of idea. Situational ethics. What is that? Does anybody know what situation ethics are?

When you lie to defend someone's life.

That's an example of situational ethics, but what's the principle of situational ethics?

Same with the ethics. I'm still done. I'm still done.

Okay. Almost there, but there's an element missing. What's the principle of situational ethics? Is that the depending on the situation, I have the license to override the commands of God to fulfill a specific good. That's situational ethics.

So we talked about this with Exodus. Remember? With who? Shipper and Pua. They came and they said, listen.

They just gave those babies out so quickly. And essentially, they kind of lied to cover themselves up to why they didn't destroy those babies' lives. And some would look at that and say, well, that's a case of situational ethics that in order to defend the lives of those children, they lied. They covered a greater evil with a lesser evil. And guess what?

This is a proof text for many to defend that philosophy. Is that what's happening here? Is Jesus saying, hey. Don't bug my disciples for breaking the law. David broke the law too, and God didn't do anything about it when David was running around.

That's how many read this text. And and they would argue, listen. It's because there's a need, and that need sometimes has to dismiss the law in order for that need to be met. It's not a continual thing. It's a situational thing.

Anybody agree with that? Why? Dear Ham, I'm defending situational ethics. I'm saying this is a proof text. Prove to me why this is not true.

Jesus said this. Okay? Okay. We're we're there's something there about Pharisees. There's something there about the Pharisees specifically.

And the disciples didn't break the law.

Bingo. Did the disciples break the law by doing this? Did they? No. Who says yes?

Who says no? Deuteronomy twenty three twenty five tells us whether they broke the law or not. Deuteronomy twenty three twenty five. But the lord your god would not listen to Balaam. Sorry.

That's five twenty five. If you go into your neighborhood's standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand. You may pluck, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor's standing grain. So the idea there is that if you go through your neighbor's field and you're hungry, you can use your hand and break it and eat it. Now it would be a different story if you come with a sickle and you start cutting through everything and feasting on the grain, but they're not doing that.

They're breaking it and they're eating it. And guess what the Pharisees are thinking? That motion of breaking the grain is work. So we've established this. Jesus is not defending the disciples who broke the law.

So that's important, which leads to the next point. So he is not advocating that there are some things that you can dismiss depending on a situation. And two, we can argue this. The disciples are not in the same situation as David. They're not starving and running away from somebody trying to kill them.

They're hungry, and they want a snack. So even the the the situations and the scenarios don't match up. And so why is he bringing up the David story? What's the relationship? Think of it in light of the Pharisees condemning the disciples.

Here's the idea. This is what Jesus is essentially saying. You're condemning my disciples for doing something which isn't even illegal, yet you esteemed David so much and you have not even found it within yourselves to condemn your hero who actually did break the law. Hypocrites. He's pointing out their hypocrisy.

He's pointing out their inconsistency in their observation of other people's lives and their obedience. That's what he's doing here. I believe that. I believe that Jesus here is pointing out and using this story to say, hey, you esteemed David so much. And look what David did.

How do we know that? Look at verse four. What did he say here? How he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the presents, which it was not lawful for him to eat. So he's saying it's not lawful.

What David did wasn't right. But you don't condemn David. You condemn my disciples who are not even doing anything wrong. So what is he doing? He's he's pointing out their hypocrisy.

He's showing them they're inconsistent. He does this on so many levels, especially on the Sabbath. He heals somebody to go, hey. What are you doing on the Sabbath? He goes, listen.

If your donkey fell in the well, wouldn't you get up and get the donkey? And so Christ never broke the law. Matthew five seventeen, I have not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law. I have not come to abolish the law. And so listen, warning, situational ethics can get very dangerous if you hold to that principle so tightly.

Because then it becomes so subjective and you begin to determine what situations determine you to obey or not obey certain commands. Right? I have this need, so I'm gonna break this command. Why? Well, because Jesus did it with the other disciples and hold on.

Jesus did not do that. He was pointing out their hypocrisy. He was pointing out their inconsistent logic. He was showing them that the disciples were doing nothing wrong. I don't wanna end on that note, though.

I want us to end with that beautiful thought that Christ is that precious bread and that we have the privilege of eating and feasting on him. Not only that, but that we as an expression of our devotion to him saying, lord, not a piece of bread, but here's my heart with frankincense on it. Lord, here's my life. And, god, help me check the pulse of my devotion to be regularly attentive to where where I'm at with you, Lord, and that I would continually let that bread and first Samuel present something that is hot and warm and soft towards you. You deserve that tenderness in my heart.

You deserve that softness, Lord. Think about it this way. That bread was from the people. Prior to that though, God was faithful and he would be faithful with the rest of the journey to provide bread for them every single day through the manna. Right?

So what is he saying there? I believe it's to some degree. Hey, nation of Israel. I have been giving you bread every single day. And we know that's a picture of Christ, but it's also an expression of God's faithfulness.

Hey. The hey. Listen, nation of Israel. I've been faithful to you every single day. Now as a response, not me giving you bread, but you giving me your bread, would you in response be faithful to me?

What a picture. He gives himself over to us daily, and he asks the nation, would you give yourself to me? There's an exchange there. I wanna be found faithful. I wanna be found faithful as a response to his faithfulness.

Pray with me. Lord, if that bread was an expression of the covenant Israel was to keep with you, Lord, hear our hearts in the same manner we give you our desire to ever live before you. But, lord, we don't want this heart to grow stale towards you. You deserve much more. And so, Lord, we choose even in this bible study to check the temperature of our hearts and help us continually give attention to it, to realize that you are asking something particular from us, specific.

But not only that, when we give you what you ask for, we in return are filled. We are satisfied. And so, Lord, in this moment, in this Friday night Bible study, if there's anybody in here who's not who's not convinced that you can fill them or who seems to be filling themselves with something else other than a life of total obedience to you. May they realize that what you have to offer cannot compare to anything else. And, Lord, would you help us trust that that total abandonment to you is really a life worth living?

Because sometimes we can be convinced otherwise. But, Lord, we trust we trust that when we commit ourselves to what you've asked of us, you in return will fill us in a way that we cannot even imagine. What a promise. What a joy. Help us not just on Friday nights, Lord.

Help us whenever we crack open this word and feast on it, that we would be aware of your person and that we would desire to know the person behind the words, the person expressing the words, the person explained in these words, and to not eat it in any other way, the same way they priests were not supposed to eat outside of a holy place, outside of the parameters of your presence. So lord, even change the way we indulge in what you've given us so freely. That we may every single day, when we remove ourselves from this and walk throughout our day, we would be able to testify something about you because we've discovered you in a fresh way. And so, Lord, we sing to you tonight. We sing to you in response to how the tabernacle speaks of Christ and speaks of us and speaks of our inheritance, speaks of all the things that pertain to the Christian walk.

Thank you that, lord, you shout you shout through the tabernacle, I wanna be with you. And, Lord, we shout back in song. In your name we pray. Amen.