This week we concluded the book of Exodus as we learned how to experience God’s glory. God’s purpose in delivering Israel out of the bondage of Egypt was not simply to get them to the promised land. God’s purpose was so that He could dwell with them. Early in the book He demonstrates His sovereignty and power as He plans and executes the delivery of the nation. As Israel meets at Mt. Sinai, they learn that God has a way that He desires them to live so that He can dwell with them. God’s desire has always been to have a relationship with His people and not just be distant. We see the fullness of God’s love for us in sending Jesus Christ to the world so that he could “tabernacle” among us. God still wants to dwell with us and live with us as we journey through life. May the conclusion of this series in Exodus help you walk out your relationship with Jesus Christ.
Sermon Transcript
Pastor Jeff:
Our Father in heaven, we give You all the glory, honor and praise for who You are and for all You're doing. And Lord, we thank You for all You're doing in and through BRAVE. Lord, we thank You for the 1,000 kids that are coming and all the families that they represent. Lord, we believe from the bottom of our hearts that You're going to save many. We believe that families are going to be impacted. We believe disciples are going to be made. We believe that the kingdom is going to be advanced. Father, do Your work in Your way. Father, I pray special protection over the volunteers and over those kids. I know that discouragement runs rampant right before we get started. And yet, Lord, we believe Your name is going to be high and lifted up. Do a great work this week.
Now Lord, we believe that every time Your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that You have a word for us. And so Lord, today what we're asking You to do is move mightily among us, and do a work that can only be attributed to You. Lord, we want to hear You and this is our prayer this morning. Speak Lord, for we are ready to hear what it is You have to say. And so now for all those who have gathered, who desire to hear the word of the Lord, who will believe what He tells you and who will by faith put into practice what He shows you, will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word Amen.
Congregation:
Amen.
Pastor Jeff:
Amen. I want to tell you, I've loved teaching through the Book of Exodus and today by God's grace, we are going to finish the Book of Exodus. If you're a regular attender of BRAVE, we've been in this book since September, and we've been walking through word by word, verse by verse, precept upon precept to see what God is doing. And if you're visiting with us today, let me just give you a quick overview of everything that we've been discussing.
God had such a love for his people in the nation of Israel, that after seeing them in for over 400 years, He decided to raise up a deliverer. At the time, Pharaoh said, "There's no way a deliverer is going to be raised up. I'm going to kill all the Hebrew males under the age of two." God is so good that God said, "Not only am I going to send the deliverer, but I'm going to have him grow up in your house. You're going to raise him." And that's exactly what happened with Moses.
Moses was raised in the Pharaoh's household. And then when he was about 40 years old, he murdered an Egyptian, knowing that he was a deliverer heart, just not knowing how to do it God's way. And when people saw what he did, he and up fleeing Egypt. He went back to Midi and he spent 40 years as a shepherd. So now, he's 80 years old and that's when he sees a very strange sight. He sees a bush that is burning, but the bush is not consumed. And as you know, in the desert, bushes burn all the time, but this one wasn't consumed. And not only that, but the bush began to speak to him and he recognized the voice of the Lord, and told him to take off his sandals because the place he stood was holy ground. And in that place, God called Moses to go back into Egypt to deliver his people Israel.
He gave him four words to tell Pharaoh, "Let my people go." That was His sermon and He said those words over and over. Moses didn't feel he was qualified, so God began to show him that He would be with him. He told him to throw down his staff. His staff became a snake. He was scared of all the power that God had for him. God said, "Pick it up by the tail." When he picked it up, it turned back into his staff and off he went to Pharaoh, met up with his brother Aaron. God sent him in there. Moses walked in and told the Pharaoh, "Let my people go."
He said, "Well, how do I know you're from God?" He said, "Well, watch this." He laid down his staff, it became a serpent. Two of the magicians did the same thing. They had two snakes, but Moses' snake ate their snake and Moses picked up that and it turned back into his staff again. He said, "Let my people go." He said, "I'm not going to do it." And because of that, what God did through Moses is, He sent a series of 10 plagues to the nation, beginning with the Nile turning to blood.
Everything that he did was showing that the gods that Egypt worshiped, that God was more powerful then, that God was more powerful than the life-giving water that they had. When it went dark, God was showing, "You worship the sun. I created the sun. I can turn off the lights. I can turn them back on. That's who I am." Pharaoh would eventually say, "You can go." But then he would harden his heart and say, "No, you're not going to go after all." Until the 10th plague.
The 10th plague was the death of the firstborn of everybody in Egypt that didn't follow specific instructions of the Passover, which was to kill a lamb, which was foreshadowing what Jesus would do on the cross. Then they were to eat the lamb. They were to take the blood and put the blood of the lamb on the doorposts. If they put blood on the doorpost, the angel of death would pass over. It was foreshadowing of what Christ was going to do when His blood would be put on a beam, that everyone who repented and believed that He was the Christ, death would also pass them over.
That very night about midnight, there was a huge cry in Egypt, because all of the firstborn of Egypt died. Pharaoh said, "Okay, get out of here. You can go now." Israel plundered Egypt. They took all their goods. They set off on this journey to the promised land that God had promised, but they didn't get very far before Pharaoh hardened his heart again. And Pharaoh said, "No, you can't go. We're going to come after you with our army and we're going to take you out." And that's what began to happen. But God in a pillar of fire and a cloud protected them from Egypt that came to attack them. The problem was they were hemmed in, because there was the Red Sea there.
God said, "Don't worry. Why are you standing here? Watch what I'm about ready to do. Moses, hold out your staff." Moses held out his staff. The Red Sea parts. All of Israel crosses while God protects them from Egypt. Once they get to the other side and God lets Egypt through, the Egyptian army comes through the Red Sea, and then God brings the sea on top of them all and they all die. On the banks of the river, Moses writes a worship song to celebrate all of God's goodness and all that He does, and the people are totally excited and love God for about three days.
Then they start complaining there's no water, so God provides water. Then they complain there's no food, so God provides manna. Then they complain, "Well, we want some meat." So God provides quail. Then they realize that they have enemies in the camp and God shows them, "Here's how you're going to defeat your enemies through me. As long as Moses' arms are raised in prayer, you will defeat the Amalekites. And God showed them that beating their enemies was through Him. And then God brings them to Mount Sinai, and at Mount Sinai they see the glory of God and they're afraid.
See, the whole time God has been delivering them, so that they can experience Him and know who He is and live His way. So God takes Moses up on the mountain for 40 days. Nobody else is able to come near. God gives Moses specific instructions, including the 10 commandments that we still have today. In addition to that, if you were here, you'll remember we even went over different kinds of case law, to talk about how God cares about each individual within a community and how justice matters to the Lord.
Moses is on the mountain. We learned about the tabernacle and how every piece of furniture in the tabernacle represents the coming Messiah of the Lord Jesus Christ. We took a look at the priestly garments that they were to wear, and how every bit of the priestly garments represented the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Moses comes down excited to show the people all that he's learned from God. He has only been gone about 40 days. God tells him, "You better get back down there. They're committing idolatry against me." And what had happened while they were gone, people had taken all their jewelry that they had and gold that they had taken from Egypt. They formed a molten calf and they began to worship and run around and wild living.
Moses symbolically throws down the commandments breaking them saying, "You broke God's law." But God was so merciful to them. He punished those who were unwilling to repent. And then God called Moses back up on the mountain. He said, "Listen, bring me two new stones. I'll write the commandments back down again, and then you can take him to the people." Moses said, "I'm going to need You to show me Your glory." So God says, "You can't see Me and live, but I'll put you in the cleft of the rock." That rock represented Christ and He hit him in Christ as he went by and he got a glimpse of His glory as he came by.
We know he got a glimpse of His glory, because when Moses comes back down off the mountain to give them the 10 commandments, the people are terrified of Moses this time. And the reason they're terrified is, he is glowing like a fire. I mean his face, he had to put a veil over his face, because the people couldn't even stand to be in his presence because he had been with the Lord. And isn't that interesting that the reflected glory on Moses terrified people? One day, every single person will stand in front of the unveiled glory of the Lord. And that's where we left off.
Now if you've been reading, how many people read Exodus 35-40? Okay. I've always wanted to be the teacher that asked that question, because I'm always, "Oh, I didn't read it. I didn't read." Even if you didn't read it, we're good. We're going to cover a lot of ground today. There's 214 verses. We will not read every verse and here's why. Because every part of what you're going to see in 35 to 40 is really a repeat of some of the things that we've done, but here's what you need to understand the purpose. God did not deliver the people out of Egypt so they could get to the promised land. God delivered the people out of Egypt so that He could dwell with his people.
There's a big difference by thinking, "I want to be delivered so I can go to heaven." Versus, "I want to be delivered from my sin so I can presently enjoy God." That's what this book is about, and God is going to reveal to them how they can experience His glory in an ongoing way, as this tabernacle is erected and as some of His presence comes to dwell with them. If you ever want to know, how can I experience His presence? We've been pleading for it. We've been talking about what His presence does to change us, but how do I experience God presently?
I believe God has a word for you and I'm going to encourage you today. Open your Bible up to Exodus 35. Exodus 35, and we're going to talk about experiencing God's glory, and really experiencing God's glory as predicated on four ideas, four notions that He tells us in his word that we need to do. It means, if we're going to experience God's glory, these are prerequisites to experiencing His glory. And the first is this, and I used alliteration for all of these, 'cause if you're going to follow me through six chapters, I want this to be exciting.
Experiencing God's glory was predicated on prioritizing preeminence perpetually. Liked that, don't you? Prioritizing preeminence perpetually. It means, as we've talked about priorities, there's really only one that you can prioritize. We think about priorities as several different things and we're going to put them in order. Priority really means, this is central. In other words, God doesn't belong at the top of your priority list. He belongs at the center of your universe. He wants you to prioritize His preeminence. That's His superiority, that's His greatness. There's nothing greater than God, and He wants to be central to all you do. And how often do you want to do that? All the time, perpetually, ongoing, regularly. That's what He begins to emphasize.
So as Moses has come down the mountain, he's shared some things with the men and all the people. He's put a veil on so he can talk to them. And then when he gets in the presence of God, he takes off the veil. Now he's going to give specific instructions, and here's what he says in chapter 35 verses one to three. "Then Moses assembled all the congregation of the sons of Israel and said to them, 'These are the things that the Lord has commanded you to do. For six days, work may be done, but on the seventh day, you shall have a holy day, a Sabbath of complete rest to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. You shall not kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day."
Now, we've talked about the Sabbath. And for Israel from sundown on Friday night till sundown on Saturday night, that was set aside as a Sabbath, a day of rest. Now let's clarify what rest means. For most of us, here's what we think. We think rest means laying on our couch and relaxing, watching a game or watching a movie or watching a TV show, or getting away up in the mountains. I got to rest. Rest means we get away, that's what it is. Now here's what he says first. He tells Israel, "For six days, you can work."
Why is He telling them that? Because work is noble. In everything you do, work hard is under the Lord and not under the man. Work before the fall. He put Adam in the garden to do what? Work. "For six days, work." Do what you need to do. Work hard at what you do. If you're a student, work. If you have a job, work. If you're a boss, work. If you're at home, work. Whatever you do, work. Work about the things that you need to work to get done. "But one day a week." He tells them, "Set aside all that, 'cause for 24 hours, I get it all." Rest is not taking time off. Rest is going and pursuing the Lord and honoring Him and serving His people. That's what rest looks like to the Lord.
Now if you know anything about the New Testament, the Sabbath day is the one that's not specifically said over in the New Testament. The Sabbath is not the one that says, "Well, you have to do it from Friday night at dusk till Saturday night at dusk." It doesn't command that we do that, but the principles are all the same. See, here's what we tend to think, "Well, that's Old Testament. That's Law, Sabbath. Thank goodness I'm a New Testament Christian. I live under grace, which means I don't have to do any of that stuff." But what we see in the Old Testament, and we've talked about this before, in the Old Testament, "Do not murder." In the New Testament, "Don't think your brother's even an idiot." Old Testament, "Don't commit adultery." New Testament, "Don't lust." Old Testament, "Tithe." New Testament, "I own it all." Old Testament, "Sabbath day for worshiping the Lord." New Testament, "Make God central to everything in your life and worship Him at all times only." That's New Testament.
Now I'm about ready to start meddling here just a little bit. So get comfortable, okay? Now what does that mean? It means God wants you to prioritize His worship on an ongoing basis. For Israel to this day, thousands of years later, what do they do? They still rest from Friday night till Saturday night. Even those that aren't Orthodox do that. They're prioritizing based upon what the command says, even though some of them are just religious. How much more do we who know the risen Christ, how much more should we prioritize the worship of God?
Now for those of you that say, "Well, I prioritize the worship of God." Here's the question, how many Sundays a year do you make it? There's 52 a year. How many do you make it? Because I find that for many people that love the Lord, they have other priorities. They have priorities for their kids. They have priorities for sports. They have priorities for vacations. They have priorities for all these other things. And I'm not saying that there's not a time and a place for that every now and again. But what I find is even people that genuinely love the Lord, still will put sports above worship, still will put vacation above worship, still will put work around the house above worship, still will do all that.
Now, I'm preaching to the choir, because y'all are here and saying, "Thank God I came this week." Right? If you don't come all the time, I still love you. I'm not mad at you. I'm not venting to you. I don't have any ax to grind. I'm just telling you, God considers the worship of Himself a primary importance. For instance, if you knew that this afternoon you were going to meet the Lord face to face, you wouldn't even had a question today as whether you come to Church or not. You would say, "I got to get ready."
Friends, I'm telling you on the authority, you will meet Him face to face even though you don't know the time. And the more that you act like you're getting ready to meet Him, the more prepared you'll be when you do. I don't have to look at your schedule to tell you this. There's nothing more important on your schedule than the public worship of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's just not. I got the same golf clap in the first service.
Because we say, "Yeah, I believe that and I love the Lord and I'm doing all." Come on man, you can't really tell me that gathering with the saints, and here's what I'll tell you. Yes I will and I'll tell you this, because I meet people all the time that I believe are genuinely born again, who genuinely love the Lord, who I believe are genuinely going to heaven if they die, that don't attend Church on a regular basis. And here's what I can tell you about every single person that falls into that category. They are not the fullness of everything God has designed them to be. You cannot be apart from the public worship of the Lord.
For Israel, it was paramount. For the Church, it's paramount. "So I don't want to come to BRAVE anymore." Then pick another Church and prioritize that Church, and be there every single week in glorifying Him. And demonstrate by your behavior, not your lips, that worship is a primary importance to you. Okay? That's what he's telling the people. He goes, "If you want to experience My glory, if you want to experience what I'm like, then this is what I'm asking you to do. I'm asking you to prioritize my preeminence perpetually."
Notice what he tells Israel later in Isaiah 58. He tells them, "You go through the religious motions of fasting, but you don't really fast because you want what I want." And then he tells him this about keeping the Sabbath in Isaiah 58:13-14. "If because of the Sabbath you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord, honorable and honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word, then you will take delight in the Lord and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth, and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob, your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken."
He said, "Work for six days. Do everything you need to do. Get your house in order. I mean, work hard at it. But one day a week, I'm telling you, if you'll devote all that to Me, you'll set aside your sports, you'll set aside your leisure activities, you'll set aside your hobbies, you'll set aside getting ready for the next day, and you'll give that whole day to Me. Just watch and see if I don't fill you."
Now we live in a culture that's very anxious. We live in a culture that has all sorts of insecurities with it. It's because they don't prioritize the worship of the Lord. If you want rest, then prioritize the worship of the Lord. And I can tell you, I mean unless something happens that is unforeseeable, we will meet next Sunday at the exact same time. So you're welcome to set your calendar according to it. We meet on the first Tuesday of every month. You can set your calendar according to it. We meet in Cadres. You can set your calendar according to it. Make Sundays, Tuesdays and Cadres your primary form of worship. If BRAVE is your home Church, let nothing get in the way of that. Make that central to all that you do and you watch if God doesn't bless you.
Now it's interesting that when Jesus came on the earth, they had a problem with Jesus, because He was doing most of His miracles of not all of them on the Sabbath. He was healing people's hands. He was restoring people's sight. "That's wrong. That goes against the Sabbath. You're doing work." Jesus said, "What's the Sabbath for? It's to do good. If I'm honoring my Father and serving God's people, I'm doing good." Sabbath rest doesn't mean if somebody has a heart attack, you're like, "Well, I'd love to help you. I know CPR, but it's the Sabbath. Say hi to Jesus for me." That's not what the Sabbath is for. The Sabbath is for honoring God and serving. And we'll talk about serving here in a minute, but it means it's prioritize.
I mean, you look at your own life and nobody can tell you what to do. Nobody's making you. And if you come to Church, because, "My pastor's going to get mad, 'cause he notices if I'm not there." I don't notice. We're big enough now, I don't see. I'm just telling you that the Word of God wants you to know, God wants you to know that he wants you to prioritize Him not with your lips, but with your actions. And that worship is central, absolutely central to your ongoing experience of the Lord. And it's hard to do, because you have to tell your coach, "Sorry, we're not doing Sunday mornings." You have to tell your friends, "Sorry, we're not doing Sunday. We already have Sunday morning. As for me and my house, we'll worship the Lord." That's what it looks like.
So experiencing God's glory was predicated on prioritizing preeminence perpetually, regularly every single week. Number two, it's this, experiencing God's glory was predicated upon releasing resources readily. If you're bothered by point number one, you're going to love this point. Releasing resources readily. Notice what he says in four through nine, "Moses spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel saying, 'This is the thing which the Lord has commanded."
So who's commanding this? Not Moses. It's the Lord commanding this. "Take from among you a contribution to the Lord. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as the Lord's contribution, gold, silver, and bronze and blue, purple and scarlet material, fine linen, goats' hair and ram skins dyed red and porpoise's skins and acacia wood and oil for lighting, and spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense and onyx stones and setting stones for the ephod and for the breastpiece."
What was He saying? He's like, "Here's what I want. I want you to release resources to me. I want your gold. I want your silver. I want your bronze. I want the strong acacia wood. I want you to give me everything I need to build what I need built." Is this because God needs our resources? Friends, if you're a multi-billionaire and you gave God everything you have, He's no better off than He is right now. He doesn't need you to give to Him as if He's in poverty and like, "I need you. We can't get it done without you." That's not our God. God knows this, that where your treasure is, there will your heart be also, and what God wants is your heart.
So notice what he asked for. He asked for those who are willing and those who are generous. What does willing mean? Willing means not only I want to, but I'm demonstrating I want to by giving what God is requiring of me. Because some people say, "Well, I'm willing and I just can't right now." Willing means no matter what, I'm going to give something because I'm willing to do this. Generous means not calculated. Generous means lavish.
You remember the woman that broke the alabaster jar of perfume over Jesus right before he was crucified, and the disciples were saying, "What a waste. That was like a year's worth of wage for that perfume. We could have sold it and we could have helped the poor." And Jesus's like, "No, you don't understand. She's generous, she's lavish. She was giving to me her best. And this story will be told about her for generations to come." Lavish, generous, giving is what the Lord requires. And it looks different for everybody, doesn't it?
I mean for some, it's a large amount. For others it's a small amount, that's a large amount. Remember, one of the greatest New Testament givers was the widow that didn't even have a penny. She had two small copper coins worth less than a penny. And when she put in those two small copper coins and they went clinking in the jar, Jesus stood up and told his disciples, "That's what I'm talking about. This woman put in out of her poverty more than all the others combined. She gave everything she had to live on. She's trusting me. That was a lavish gift." So again, it's not a mount that's generous. It's percentage that's generous. What does it look like for you to be lavish to the Lord, that's crazy sacrificially, that's what He was asking for. He said, "Give that way."
Now, some people when it comes to Church, they'll say, "Well, I'm just serving the Lord." We're going to talk about that in a second. But releasing resources is one way of worshiping the Lord. And if you're not releasing resources, you're not worshiping in the fullness of what God requires. Young people, let me talk to you for a second. And some of you're in high school, so I don't have a job yet, "I don't have to do that." You have money. You have more net disposable income than anybody. Meaning this, you don't have any bills. You don't have any kids. You don't have anything. Every bit of money you have is for you and what you want. And if you can't get in the habit now of being generous with God, you'll never get in the habit later.
Again, it's not amount, it's heart. Lord, what does it look like for me to be generous to You? If you babysit, be generous with the Lord. If you have a job, be generous with the Lord. That's what it means. Why? Because God was generous with us. God was lavish with us. What did God give us? Well, He sent His only-begotten Son to be slaughtered for us. He gave it all for us. He gave His life for us. There's nothing you could give back to God and have equality. "Well, you gave me your life and I gave you $10,000." You can give God $2 billion and that's not enough for what He's given to you. Amen?
Congregation:
Amen.
Pastor Jeff:
But notice this, in 2 Corinthians 9:6, and there's a lot of verses that speak the same way. Paul says, "Now I say this. He who sows sparingly." That means, if you give sparingly. "Will also reap sparingly. And he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed." Here's what He says, "If you're generous with me, I'll be generous with you."
Now, he's not teaching this. You give Me $10, I'll give you 100. You give Me a $100, I'll give you a 1,000. You give Me a 1,000, I'll give you 10,000." He's not saying that. He's saying, "When you're generous with me, I'll be generous with you. Because I not only control your resources, I control your health. I control your job. I control your family. You're generous with me, I'll take care of you and I will meet all of your needs according to my glorious riches in Christ Jesus. If you sow sparingly, you're going to receive from Me sparingly." That's what He's saying, not talking about monetary give so that you get back.
Here's what He said, "What kind of giver does God like? Not begrudgingly, not under compulsion." He says, "I don't want those kind of givers." And some of you might say, "Oh good, 'cause I'm not giving, 'cause that's where I'm at right now." No, God loves a cheerful giver. It means change your heart. Get excited to give because of all that God's given to you. Be willing to give, 'cause look what He gave you. He gave you eternal life. 10 billion years from now, you're still going to be living in perfect fellowship with Jesus in a perfect life with Him.
I mean, there's no amount of money you could pay it forward with. Just be generous, be lavish with Him. And God says this, "And I'll make sure all grace abound to you. I'll make sure you have everything that you need. The more you lean on Me, the more I'll take care of you. The more you lean on Me, the more I'll take care of you." Why is that important? Because people in Christ Church need to know that you cannot out-give God. You can't. When you say, I can't afford to give, here's why, 'cause you're not giving.
Every time I hear somebody say, "I can't afford to give." I'm like, "That's 'cause you're not giving." Rarely, I don't know many stories where there comes a time in your life where no matter how much you make, you're like, "My goodness, I've never given before, but I have so much excess here, I just want to give it to Jesus now." It won't happen. No matter how much your income grows, you'll spend it the same way you're spending it now. If you don't begin to prioritize the worship of God through your giving now, you won't prioritize it later. Start small. If you're faithful with little, you can be faithful with much. So releasing resources readily.
Now how did they do, 'cause God called them to do this. Check out chapter 36 verses five, six and seven. After they started doing this collection and they said to Moses, 'The people are bringing much more than enough for the construction work which the Lord commanded us to perform. So Moses issued a command." Check out this command. "And a proclamation was circulated throughout the camp saying, 'Let no man or woman any longer perform work for the contributions of the sanctuary.' Thus, the people were restrained from bringing any more for the material that they had was sufficient and more than enough for all the work to perform it."
So what do you have Moses saying? "Stop bringing your resources and money to Church. We have way too much. Keep it." That's what was going on. Because why? 'Cause they brought it all. See, do you remember when they brought it for the golden calf? They gave it to him. They made this golden calf, they worshiped him. And after it, God said, "Strip all your jewelry off. I don't want you wearing jewelry anymore." They had to take it all off. They were in mourning. Now they've now taken all of that and they've brought it to the Lord, and they've given it all to the Lord, and now they have more than enough.
Here's what I believe. God arranges all the parts of the body just the way He wants it. It means everything God calls BRAVE Church to do, He already has all the right people in the body to do. We already have everything that we need. If everybody just does their part, we always have what we need. That's the way that God works. That was what was going on with them. Now notice what happens. If you flip forward just a little bit. We won't read through all this material, I'll just read a couple verses. But in chapter 38 verses 24, 25 and 26, here's what it says, "All the gold that was used for working in all the work of the sanctuary, even the gold of the wave offering was 29 talents and 730 shekels according to the shekel of the sanctuary."
Now, if you do the calculations, that's tens of millions of dollars just for the gold alone for the furniture. And then it says this, "The silver of those of the congregation who were numbered was a hundred talents and 1,775 shekels according to the shekel of the sanctuary, a beka a head, that is half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for each one who passed over to those who were numbered from 20 years old and upward for." Notice this number, "603,550 men." Now when they take the census in numbers, it's going to be the exact same number. Why? Because every single man over the age of 20 was accounted for, and every single man over the age of 20 gave. That's why they had more than enough, 'cause everybody was all in.
Now you think about this. I mean, if just for the furniture for this movable tent costs tens of millions of dollars, maybe $60 million just for the gold, I mean we're talking about a $300 million tent. I got online at REI last night just to check out what their most expensive tent was. You can get their most expensive tent for under five grand. I mean, you talk about a tent. This is a tent and a half. I mean, I'm not a big camper. I mean, I thought about this last night. God likes clamping more than camping like I do. I mean He wanted everything just right in this movable tent.
Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey. They got nothing on this tent. Why? Because God wanted it just the way He wanted it. And all the people, why were they giving so much? Why were they doing all this? They weren't complaining, "That's a lot for a tent. Why do we really need to do this for a tent? Do we really need a tent? Can't we just make it out of wood?" They weren't doing that. They were saying, "If this is what God wants, and this is what our leadership is telling us, we want to do it His way, 'cause here's what we want. We want His glory experienced among us. And if that's what God wants, we'll give Him everything God wants."
So that's what they were doing. So they were prioritizing His preeminence perpetually. They were releasing resources readily, so much so, they were holding it back. And then they were doing number three. They were showcasing skills specifically. Experiencing God's glory was predicated upon showcasing skills specifically. Before I get into this, let me just tell you. Because I know the Word of the Lord in Psalm 139 says that every single one of you is fearfully and wonderfully made, I know that God created you uniquely.
Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "Therefore you were saved by grace through faith. It's not your own doing. It's a gift of God, so that no one should boast." And verse 10 tells me this of Ephesians 2, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that you would walk in them." Here's what He was saying. "Not only did I make you unique, I made you for a purpose. And that purpose is the worship of Me."
Notice what He says in verse 10. "Let every skillful man among you come and make all that the Lord has commanded. The tabernacle, its tent, its covering, its hooks, its board, its bars, its pillars, its sockets." And so on and so forth. All the things that we went through. What's He asking people to do? "Serve Me with your gifts." Now, I've heard it said, choose a job you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life." Confucius said that. Okay, you can choose a job you love and it's more enjoyable to choose a job you love, but that's not what Jesus says. He says this, "I created you in such a way that I get the most honor and glory from your life. Figure out how I get the most honor and glory, and serve Me in that way."
See, it's not just giving money and resources, it's giving of your time and serving. Now you'll notice in the last couple of weeks, we've had announcements at BRAVE. Our Kids Ministry is exploding, by the way. Do you know why? 'Cause we're getting more families here. We're getting more kids here. And because we don't do babysitting, we do ministry. We're raising up kids in the knowledge of the Lord, which means, we need more people to help disciple kids. So we've said, "Hey, would some of you consider that?" And I know what happens. It falls on deaf ears, 'cause here's what you think. You think like me, "I'm not great with kids. That's not my thing." And that is why most kids in Church never see a man until they hit middle school or high school.
Congregation:
That's right.
Pastor Jeff:
So men, here's what I'm telling you, you're invited to serve too.
Congregation:
Amen.
Pastor Jeff:
In a way that's really uncomfortable for you. And even if all you know how to do is pray, it will increase your prayer life if you go down there. But what will also happen is, kids will see men that think that they're special enough, that they would be there and be around kids. We're not doing women's ministry that babysits kids. We're doing children's ministry to raise kids up in the ways of the Lord.
See, here's what happens in Church. We tend to pick a side. We tend to say, "Well, I release resources readily. I wish more people wrote checks like I did. If everybody contributed to the Church like me, we'd be fine." And you may be right. And then there's other people on this side that say, "My service is my gift to the Lord. I'm here every Sunday and I serve and I greet or I usher. I work in kids or I serve in [inaudible 00:34:13]. That is my giving. That's what I'm doing. If everybody served like me, you know what? We wouldn't need all these other people saying, 'Write a check." I mean writing a check is so easy compared to serving. That's because you haven't written the check. And other people would say, "You know what? Serving so much easier than writing a check." That's 'cause you haven't served well, which one does God want us to do? Ready, ready, ready? Both, serve and give.
Congregation:
Amen.
Pastor Jeff:
And then your heart will be right with the Lord. So pick how He wants to use you. And here's the thing. How can you align all your gifts for His glory? And you might say, "I don't even know what my gift is." And the reason for that is it's so natural to you, that you don't even see it as a gift. Other people have to tell you, "I can't really do what you do." Some people have gifts in communication. Some people have gifts in music, and some people have gifts with numbers. And some people have gifts with strategy, and some people have gifts with art. And some people have gifts with encouragement. And some people have gifts with compassion, and some people have gifts with serving. And some people have gifts with shepherding.
Here's how you may know what your gift is. When you get upset that the Church is not doing more of what you think the Church needs to do, that's probably because it's your gift. "How come the Church isn't doing more prayer walks? And how come we're not evangelizing more?" It's because you're an evangelist and you think everybody's just like you, and they're not. "How come we're not doing more hospital visitations than, going in among the sick and shepherding them and helping them?" Because you're a shepherd and you're a caretaker, and that's what God's calling you to do. "How come we don't have a food chain for moms that are home with their baby?" Because that's your gift. And we want everybody to highlight our gift and then start ministries around your gift, rather than just do the gift that you have and find others that want to do it with you and serve.
Congregation:
Amen.
Pastor Jeff:
That's how you know what your gift is. And then in your job, in your career, in your life, if you're at home, use all your gifts for the glory of God. If you can say at the end of the day, "Lord, everything You've given me to the best of my knowledge, I'm just doing what I'm doing to worship and serve You." Do everything you did, word or in deed, all to the glory of the Lord. That doesn't mean you have to become a pastor. It doesn't mean you have to work in a local Church. It means you're going to serve the Lord. You're prioritizing worship. You're serving His Church, you're giving to His Church. But maybe during the rest of the week, you're doing something distinctly different, but you're doing it in a way that brings glory and honor to the Lord.
That's what it means to honor Him. That's how we experiencing God's best among us. And this is what He does. I mean, I love how he calls these guys in chapter 36. It says now, "Bezalel and Oholiab and every skillful person in whom the Lord has put skill and understanding to know how to perform all the work in the construction of the sanctuary, shall perform it in accordance with all that the Lord has commanded. Then Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every scope of person in whom the Lord had put skill, everyone whose heart was stirred to come to him to perform it." So He calls these two guys. And what you see later is as these two guys were doing what they were doing. He gave them specific gifts not only to do this, but to teach, to teach what they were doing, to help people do what they were doing.
Some people have ability in the Church to do certain things. Some people have the ability in the Church to do certain things and to teach people how to do certain things. Whatever your gift is in the Church, that's what the Lord wants you to do. That's what the Lord wants you to do. At the end of chapter 35, verses 33 and 34, I'm sorry, verses 31 to 34, 30 through 34, "Moses said to the sons of Israel, 'See the Lord is called by the name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur from the tribe of Judah." So it's not just one specific tribe. He's calling people from every tribe. "And he has filled them with the Spirit of God and wisdom and understanding and in knowledge and in all craftsmanship to make designs for working in gold and in silver and bronze."
I did not receive any of those gifts. "And in cutting stones for setting and in the carving of wood so as to perform every inventive work. He also put in his heart to teach both he and Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan." So he's from a different tribe. Skill to do and skill to teach are both skills that the Lord gives. Some are called with skills to do. Some are called with skills to teach. Some are called with skills to do and to teach. Whatever skill you have, serve the Lord with it. Help other people grow with it.
I mean, we're seeing God erect this tabernacle in the wilderness so His presence can be there and who's involved? Everybody's involved. Everybody wants to be a part of what God's doing. Everybody wants to see His glory. And what I find in Churches all over our country, everybody wants to be part of a Church where God is being experienced. Everybody's looking for that, everybody wants that. But we falsely believe that we can just walk into an environment where other people are doing this kind of work, and then we can just kind of feel the vibe flowing off of it.
When God's saying, "No, here's how you're going to experience it. You individually and you corporately put Me first. You individually and corporately give generously to Me with everything you have. You generously and corporately use all your skills for My glory. And then you'll see Me show up. Then you'll see Me show out. Then you'll see me do great things." And that's what He was telling the people. He was telling them to prioritize Him perpetually, release resources readily, showcasing skills specifically. And then they did this fourth one, which really takes us through the rest of this book.
Experiencing God's glory was predicated on imitating instructions intentionally. Imitating instructions intentionally. Now, I don't know about you, but as I was reading through this again this week, I had to ask the question. I've asked it several times, why would God put all these six chapters in the Bible? I mean, there's several places even in the Book of Exodus where Moses comes down and tells his brother Aaron, "Here's what God wants." And it says something to the effect of, "And they went and did it." I mean, we could have saved a lot of ink, had the Holy Spirit could say to that group of Israelites at the end of chapter 35, "And they went and did it and God showed up." And that's it.
Why would God spend all the time? Because there's certain places in the Bible. If you're like me, don't you wish God gave us more detail on certain things? You wish that the guys that were walking to a Emmaus as Jesus unfolded all the scripture, knew everything He talked about? Don't you wish you knew what Jesus' prayer was for His 12 apostles, the night that he stayed up all night in prayer and picked them? Don't you wish you knew it was on Jesus' mind when He was walking out on the water and what He was thinking about?
I mean, there's all sorts of things. I'm like, "I wish I had five more chapters on that." This I don't need so much, but I believe everything in the Bible is the Holy Spirit saying, "We need to see this." And let me tell you who this was written to. This was written to Israel. I'll give you three reasons why I believe it's in your Bible. Number one is this, because establishing the worship of God in God's way is of the utmost importance. Establishing the worship of God in the way that God wants to be worshiped is of the utmost importance.
It's not how we want to worship God or what we like or what we think worship needs to be. It's here's what God says worship needs to look like, and here's what I want you to do. He showed exactly how worship was to happen. He's going through pains, taking time to show them every piece of furniture which is going to represent the coming Messiah. Every curtain, every screen, every socket, every bracket, everything is representative of who Christ is. Even the garments that the priests are going to wear. Everything represents who Christ is, which did this. It demonstrated how idolatry was different.
I mean, to worship a calf, you could just throw that together and go worship it. Idolatry is easy. You can give your heart to anything quickly, but to worship in God's way, it takes time. It's prescribed. You have to do it a certain way. And it also validated the importance of the priestly ministry. God had a way of calling out leaders to lead for His people. He still has a way of calling out leaders to lead for His people. It doesn't mean that the priests like Aaron were better than the other men. I mean, it doesn't take a more than a quick read through the Book of Exodus to realize Aaron wasn't all that great. But God called him to do this, which is why he did it. It establishes the worship of God in God's way.
Number two, because establishing the tabernacle was clear and objective and it could be validated, God put all this in, whereas the entirety of the Mosaic Law could only be known by God. In other words, when God gave the 10 Commandments, "You should not commit adultery." How do you know if every Israelite followed through on that? I mean, "Worship your Lord God and serve Him only." How do you know if every Israelite did that or not? I mean, you'd have to be with every single person in private to get all that. But the establishment of the tabernacle, that's objective. We can see, here's what God required, here's what they did. We can see all of that.
Number three, I would say this, because this showed the first generation of Israel and the next generation and the next generation, the first generation of Israel did exactly what God asked. Did exactly what God asked. I mean, we've been through all of this. I mean, you can read how the construction proceeds in chapter 36 and verse eight, and you can read through in chapter 37. 37:1 says now, "Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood. Its length was two and a half cubits and its width, one and a half cubits and its height, one and a half cubits." Why? Because that's exactly what God said that the ark needed to be. And if you read through this whole chapter like I did, everything that they're doing is exactly like God said it was to be.
Chapter 38, "Then he made an altar of burnt offering of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide square and three cubits high." Why? Because that's what God told them to make the altar like. And you walk through all of this and you see what it is, and you see the cost and how they're willing to do everything. And then you get down to chapter 39 with the priestly garments. It says, "Moreover, from the blue and the purple and the scarlet material, they made finely woven garments for ministering in the holy place, as well as holy garments, which were for Aaron, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. He made the ephod of gold and a blue and a purple and a scarlet and fine twisted linen."
Remember we talked about all this. We talked about how the blue represented deity and the purple represented royalty, and the red represented humanity and the blood, and gold represented glory and white represented purity, and everything was about the coming Messiah. And you read through all of chapter 39, you see, they did it just the way God wanted them to do. Now, I talked to a general contractor after I preached on all the sockets and boards and veils and all that stuff. I'm like, "Did you understand anything I was talking about?" And he said, "I understood it all. I could see it in my mind."
Here's what the tabernacle was to look like. And if I didn't have a picture, I wouldn't know. I taught on this for three chapters and in my head, I never saw that if I hadn't have seen the picture first, because I can't put together something for Ikea. But this is what they were building and this is the way they were going to build it, and this is what they were going to do. And even when it came to the garments of the priest, we went through that extensively and talked about that. And I had a friend that sent me a new slide for the priest and what he would look like. So I want to put that up, so you can get a picture of what the priest would look like if it were me. See that? Don't you like that? But what you see in all these chapters is as they're walking through this, they're walking through saying, "We want to do everything the way God wants."
So notice at the end of chapter 39, verses 42 and 43, it says this, "So the sons of Israel did all the work according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses." So they did everything the way the Lord commanded it. And notice this verse 43, "And Moses examined all the work and behold, they had done it just as the Lord commanded this they had done, so Moses blessed them." They said, "We did it. We did it just the way you wanted." So why are they calling on Moses to check the work? Because God communicated to Moses exactly what needed to be done. And they weren't afraid of asking Moses at this point, "Hey, come tell us. Make sure we get it right."
When it comes to our worship, we should not be afraid of going back to the Word of God and saying, "Are we getting it right? Are we doing it the way God wants? Are we doing what we do out of convenience? Are we doing what we do because it's comfortable, or all those things?" Moses said, "You're doing it just the way God said. I'm blessing that. I'm blessing you." And then in chapter 40, what you get on this very last chapter is, God is going to have Moses be the one that actually erects this tabernacle. Notice chapter 40 verse one, "Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, 'On the first day of the first month, you shall set up the tabernacle in the tent of meetings." So about a year to the date that they've been delivered from Egypt, they're now setting up where God's presence is going to be housed.
If you walk through chapter 40 all the way down through 33, you're going to see this, "Thus Moses finished the work." He did it all. Now, I'm not skipping this. I mean for those of you that read it's almost identical to chapters 25 to 31. It's almost identical showing that they did it exactly the way He wants. But for what purpose? For this purpose, these last verses here. So that the glory of God would be revealed. I mean we go all the way back to the first point, prioritizing the preeminence perpetually, permanently.
Notice this, "Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle." When? When they worshiped the way God wanted them to worship, they experienced His presence. Moses, now keep in mind who Moses was. He was the one that got called up by God, the consuming fire that got to speak to Him face to face that was hidden in the cleft of the rock, that got to see His glory. Notice this, "Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting, because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle." God's glory was so great, Moses couldn't get in. That's how present God was with His people.
"Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up. For Throughout all their journeys, the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel." Cloud by day fire at night. That's how God has worked with this nation forever.
When the cloud raised and it was time to move, then they would move. How did they know it was time to move? Because God was going before them. How did they know it was time to go to a new city? How did they know it was time to take a new job? They know it was time to go this? Because God was moving. They were looking at God. They were seeking God. They wanted to do what God wanted to do. And if God was resting, what were they doing? "Now we're going to sit still, 'cause God, if You don't go before us, we're not going to be distinct. If You're not going, we're not going. If You're going, we're going." Wherever God was moving, that's where they went. That's what it means to prioritize God's presence regularly, permanently, perpetually. That's what it looks like, and here's the whole point of this.
Most Christians think that the reason that Jesus came was to die on the cross and rise from the dead, so that you wouldn't go to hell and you could go to heaven. But in this life, you can continue to live your same self-centered, sin-styled life because you have fire insurance now, so you're different than everybody else. That's a false gospel. It's a false gospel. It wasn't true for Israel and it's certainly not true for Christians. See, the purpose of God delivering you from sin is to spend time with you now. If you don't want Jesus now, you won't want Him in heaven. Do you want Him now? Do you want Him presently in your life now? And most people are taught, "Well, you can't experience Him now. Just wait till you die and then you'll get Him." What a horrible thing to say. God delivered you so you could experience Him now.
I mean, just think about this book for a second. I'm going to summarize the whole thing. God sent a deliverer to deliver His people. God redeemed His people. He bought them and brought them out of slavery. God showed mercy to His people. God directed His people. God dwelled with His people. What does He do in the New Testament? God sent His Son Jesus Christ. Christ redeemed His people. Christ showed mercy to His people. Christ still directs His people, and Christ still dwells with all of His people through the Holy Spirit. This is a foreshadowing of what Jesus was going to do. And God's purpose and deliverance is not to get you to the promised land. God's purpose and deliverance is so that He can dwell with you presently.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and he tabernacled among us." He dwelled with us. God wants to dwell with you, and God wants to dwell with us. That's salvation. Salvation is we get God. Amen, we get Him now. Because I'll hear people say things like, "Well, I don't know. I think I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. I don't know if she's a Christian. I think she's a Christian." Here's a question. Do you want God presently in your life right now? Are you pursuing God now? Do you really want the things of God now? "No." Then you're not a Christian.
A Christian is pursuing the presence of the Lord. They want God. And the more you experience God here, the more you're going to yearn for Him there, because the more you experience His presence here, the darker the world is going to appear to you, and the more you're looking for His return. I got even better news. He's still coming back to deliver us. Amen. He's coming soon, and that's really what this book was about, that God wants to dwell with His people. God wants to dwell with his people.
When Jesus came, that's why He came. He came and He lived the perfect life. He came and fulfilled the law. He came and He died on the cross in your place. He was buried in the grave. Three days later, He arose for all who recognized that they were in sin and bondage and death and wanted to live, who wanted to turn from that life of sin and death and turned to the life of Christ through repentance in faith, and believe on Jesus Christ alone. And if you've done that, here's what the Bible says, "It's Christ in you, the hope of glory." God dwells with you now. God walks with you now. God cares for you now.
It's His mercy that elects us. It's his statutes that direct us, and it's his presence that protects us. That's why I thought of no better way to end our service today than take communion, and be reminded of the fact that it's the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ that gives us the very life that we need. He's the one that's offering life to you. Do you want the life? If you're here today and you're just religious, or you would call yourself irreligious, God wants to have a relationship with you, and it's not by anything you've done. It's because of His great mercy in sending His Son Jesus Christ, so that you can have life in His name. And simply by wanting to turn from your sin and trusting Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you can have life in His name.
As you hold these elements in your hand, I want you to think and remember about all that Christ has done for you and all the sin that He's forgiven, and all that He's willing to forgive. And then I'll come back up here in Englewood. Pastor Justin will come back up in Westminster. We will take these elements together as a family of God, being reminded that this is central as to who we are in Christ and our relationship with God.
Would you pray with me? Father in heaven, we give You all the glory and praise and honor for who You are. We pray, Lord, that we would be mindful of all that You've done, that it's not about our good efforts or our good works. It's about Your mercy in our life. We give You praise, glory and honor in Jesus' name. Amen and amen.