Exodus 30-31 - 2011 - Skip Heitzig

[Music] welcome to expound our weekly worship and verse by verse study of the Bible our goal is to expand your knowledge of the truth of God by explaining the Word of God in a way that is interactive enjoyable and congregational we call this a textual community let's rejoice and learn God's Word in an interactive and enjoyable new way thank you Father thank you that your plan to redeem the world included choosing us we have been redeemed we have been given our freedom our exodus from the bondage of the past into a brand-new life Lord as we're praying now and we're smelling some of us the incense that is rising how typical that is of our prayers in your nostrils how sweet that is to you lord I thank you that you delight to hear your children you delight when we come to you whether it's one person or a group of us Lord you know our needs and you know what we need and where we're at on this Wednesday night in the middle of this week at this time in our lives you know what we're facing financially relationally emotionally spiritually Lord I believe you are present to meet that need I pray Lord that you would give that confirmation to each one of us as we seek you tonight in Jesus name Amen I've told you before that when my son was quite young we used to do devotions almost every night but a few times a week with Nate and it's something I called say play and pray we would say the scripture that is we would read a text we would then play or act out the scripture I mean putting towels on her heads if we were shepherds and putting on costumes and actually acting the biblical scene out and then we would pray we would pray about the lessons that emerge out of the story we read so say play and pray and I discovered as I watched my son grow up that acting it out formed a picture in his mind that he would never forget so I marvel today at his grasp of Scripture and and a lot of it I can trace back to those early Bible lessons as he saw something acted out in say play and pray I want you to think of the tabernacle as as God's picture of Jesus or acting out the Ministry of Jesus in the Old Testament it's a good way to picture that so we're not surprised when we get to the Gospel of John as we have been studying and we read in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God and the Word was God and we skipped down and we read in verse 14 and the word tabernacled literally pitched his tent among us and we beheld him so we come to the tabernacle and we approach the tabernacle this long narrow 150-foot courtyard that has one solitary entrance one gate and we remember that jesus said the way is narrow that leads to life and I am the door and as we get into the courtyard we see the first article of furniture is a an altar a brass or bronze altar of sacrifice that the only means to approach God is with a sacrifice and Jesus said I am the way the truth the life no man comes to the Father except by me we move a little closer and we come to the next article in that big courtyard a big tub bronze washbasin called a Laver as the priests would wash and we remember that Paul said they Jesus to the church washes us with the washing of the water by the word if we were a priest and we could penetrate the first curtain and go into the holy place on our right hand side we would see a little short altar with bread on top the showbread and we remember that jesus said i am the bread of life to the left we would see a candelabra we remember jesus said i am the light of the world also he said I am the vine and you are the branches so just like there was one main stem of that candelabra and three and then three on either side the vine and the branches directly in front of a veil that separated that room the holy place from the Holy of Holies this veil that separated the Ark of the Covenant and the mercy seat where atonement was made by the priests high priest once a year we remember that the veil was torn when Jesus died on the cross the veil in the temple was torn giving up till now there had been no access and now total and immediate access to God through the blood of Jesus Christ so we see that Jesus fulfills the meaning of the tabernacle Jesus fulfills all of the sacrifices that we have been and will be touching on and my mind goes to that study that I would have loved to have been there to listen to in Luke chapter 24 when Jesus comes alongside of the men on the way to Emmaus and it says beginning at Moses he expounded to them all things in the scripture concerning himself notice the word expound in that text wouldn't you have loved to hear Jesus Christ give an expositional sermon to expound the Old Testament beginning at Moses what would he have told them probably many of the things we just mentioned but a whole lot better than I explained him right from the lips of Jesus himself now tonight in chapter 30 the scene opens for us with this altar in the holy place was a golden altar made out of wood overlaid with gold called the altar of incense now remember there's two altars in the tabernacle the outer one in the courtyard is made out of bronze the inner one is made out of gold the one in the courtyard the bronze altar speaks of approaching God by sacrifice this altar speaks of approaching God and worship you can't get to the second altar till you go to the first altar you can't worship God and pray to God unless your sins have been atoned for to have relationship to have worship there must first be a sacrifice the shedding of blood innocent blood on your behalf now for us here's the principle in the New Testament sometimes our sin even as Christians hinders our fellowship with God if we deliberately sin like it says in first John then we must confess our sin we confess our sin fellowship is restored we're always children of God it's not like we were a child of God 10 minutes ago then we sinned now I'm not you're always a child of God but we don't always enjoy the intimacy as children of God so there must be confession and I like to take my mornings and my evenings as I think we'll see this pattern here and talk to the Lord about areas of my life where I have failed as I meditate and I confess and I ask and claim for forgiveness again first John chapter 1 verse 9 if we confess our sin he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness so we begin chapter 30 verse 1 oh by the way these two altars and we're going to talk just about one we talked to the other last time these two alters I also believe speak of the work of Christ the bronze altar in the courtyard speaks of what Jesus did for us on the cross or did for us while he was on the earth the golden altar in the holy place speaks of what Jesus does for us in heaven did for us on earth does for us in heaven he ever lives to make intercession for us so both of those speak of his work verse 1 you shall make an altar to burn incense on you shall make it of acacia wood a cubit shall be its length the cubit its width it shall be square and two cubits shall be its height its horn shall be of one piece with it so you're looking at it 18 inches by 18 inches by 36 inches rings on either side poles on either side so that two priests like the ones you saw approach the stage a little bit ago could carry that through the wilderness go down to verse 7 Aaron shall burn on it sweet incense can you can you start smelling it by now is it filling the room is it okay for you you're not like having an anaphylactic shock or anything right Aaron shall burn on it sweet incense every morning when he tends the lamps he shall burn incense on it and when Aaron lights the lamps at Twilight he shall burn incense on it a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generation morning and evening devotion I love it the day began with God the day ends with God I love this pattern I love to wake up in the morning and spend time with the Lord I like my closing thoughts before I go to sleep some scripture some story in the word some thought that I can rest my head on the pillow and my devotion can be the beginning of my day and the end of my day and so in the Holy Place right before the veil I was asked this question two weeks ago somebody emailed me and said now where was where was this altar of incense placed it was in the room called the holy place right in front of a veil that nobody could go to the other side up except the high priest once a year on the day of atonement and that's that's where this altar stood so I love the fact that in the tabernacle all of your senses were engaged and certainly we're thinking now of our sense of smell first of all what would it be like to encamped around the tabernacle as they're roasting animals on that large spit man roasted lamb come on oh that smells so good and then the smell of the incense if you were close enough and certainly the priests could smell them verse 9 you shall offer no or not offer strange incense on it or a burnt offering or a grain offering nor shall you pour a drink offering on it get the picture only incense no animal sacrifices and only a certain type of incense and God will give the exact recipe for that incense beginning in verse 34 here's the lesson I don't want you to miss the worship that God accepts is the worship that God prescribes he doesn't let people wing it he doesn't let people say well I sort of picture God like this and I think it would be okay if we did that the worship that God accepts is not the worship that man invents but the worship that God prescribes when Jesus went to Samaria there was a temple in Samaria a rival temple to the temple in Jerusalem and the Samaritan woman was basically saying what's the big deal our fathers worship right here on this mountain you Jews say Jerusalem is the place to worship they made up their own approach they made up their own system they invented their own deal Jesus said true worshippers worship in spirit and in truth it has to be based upon God's revealed truth and yet it never ceases to amaze me how in the realm of spirituality anyway is okay that's the idea of most people anyway is okay you have your way I have my way all pasley to God I say I find this interesting because I don't find it in other areas of life if you were to go to your doctor and you had paralysis on your left side what would it be like if your doctor said oh just go home and follow your heart find your own path all paths lead to health it doesn't matter as long as you're sincere and it's your own deal and in so many other areas of life that is not tolerated but when it comes to God and spirituality it seems to be well tolerated in fact if you believe there is a single truth you are called intolerant and in our culture I've discovered that's the worst sin one can commit but the worship that God accepts is the worship that God prescribes tuck this away in your mind proverbs 4 says there is a way that seems right unto every man but the end thereof is the way of death sure you can pick your own way you can pick your own Road it just ends up in death everlasting eternal death Jesus offers life verse 10 and Aaron shall make atonement stop atonement is a great word it's typically described in familiar terms to explain it we would say if you break the word apart you get the idea of it atonement at one ment if you want to be at one with God do you make atonement atonement makes you at one with God it's at one mint that's good it's a wonderful explanation but now let me tell you what it literally mean from the Hebrew the word atonement literally means to cover to cover something the Hebrew were here for atonement is Kippur and once a year was the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur the Day of covering where sins were covered because blood covered two places the horns of this altar and I'm sorry we didn't really make adequate horns but if you could just picture little Porte Rouge ins on all four corners and then blood sprinkled upon the mercy seat just on the other side of that veil that intersection where God met with man that you have that idea Aaron shall make atonement or covering upon its horns once a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonement and once a year he shall make atonement upon it throughout your generations it is most holy to the Lord now this altar of incense will come to symbolize as history moves on the prayers of God's people the prayers of God's people as God's people are praying to him it is like the smell of sweet incense in the nostrils and you go oh yeah when we pray to God when we come to him in the name of Jesus it's like God goes yeah he loves to hear from us and so in Psalm 141 David says let my prayer come before you as incense and the raising of my hands as the evening sacrifice in the New Testament you remember John the Baptist dad Zacharias he was a priest he was officiating in the temple in the evening and he was standing in front of this the altar of incense when the angel spoke to him and said your wife's pregnant man and he thought that's impossible she's an old lady and so he was unable to speak until the pregnancy was over John was born and it all took place here at the altar of incense something else I always like to tie dots or ends together and connect the dots I've told you before based on two passages in the book of Hebrews that the tabernacle is a picture of what else besides Christ Heaven it's a picture of heaven that in some manner what the tabernacle was like in approach in layout it is actually like that in reality in the courts of heaven so in the book of Revelation listen to what we read I'm quoting out of Revelation 8 then another angel having a golden censer came and stood at the altar and he was given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all of the Saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne of God and the smoke of the incense with the prayers of all the saints ascended before God from the Angels hands so that's the first article in the next few verses we get into the personal involvement when I was reading this it didn't seem to quite make sense in terms of flow but I kind of get a better handle on it now how do you involve a couple of million people in this process this covenant that God makes with them verse 11 the Lord spoke to Moses saying when you take the census of the children of Israel for their number then every man shall give a ransom for himself to the Lord when you number them that there may be no plague among them when you number them okay so when you number them when will they number them it's gonna be in the Book of Numbers you got it the Book of Numbers chapter 1 opens up by God saying take a census of the congregation of Israel now God says to do it but here's what I find interesting and I won't belabor this but it seems that counting people is a privilege for God and God doesn't want his people doing it unless it's by direct command like in numbers chapter 1 but later on David will number the people and get into trouble because of it it seems to be a prerogative for God so that instead of Kings taking a census so they know how much money they're gonna get for their budget or so they know how many army men they have to March that their trust would be in the Lord rather than in the numbers of the people but God is setting this up now when you take a census of the people when you number them verse 13 tells you how much a half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary half a shekel it equals to one-fifth of an ounce of silver in the modern economy that would be about eight dollars and 25 cents since silver goes for about 36 dollars an ounce would be every person has to pay $8.25 verse 14 tells you that it's from 20 years old and above that's the age you get into the military when you're 20 something else about the age of 20 it seems to be the age of accountability in the wilderness I know a lot of people ask well what is the age of accountability because a child is bar Mitzvahed at age 13 so he's brought into the adult community but in the wilderness March everyone who is 20 years old and above died but those 20 years and younger because they weren't part of that generation that complained were all spared God didn't hold them accountable for that so if you were 19 and a half you were spared but at 20 there was a different kind of accountability and God held that generation responsible verse 15 the rich shall not give more than the poor and Orange so not get more on the poor shall not give less than a half a shekel when you give an offering to the Lord to make atonement for yourselves and you shall take the atonement money of the children of Israel and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of meeting that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord to make a tone for yourselves now this will become the basis of something collected every single year half a shekel of silver every single year for the upkeep of the tabernacle that's the way everybody was involved personally they had to be counted in the census but not just counted they had to pay they had to have them their whole selves invested in the call and in the work of God so so today it's not looks just like we're counted I'm part of the number no we're called upon in discipleship to give our time our talent our treasure and to the Lord for his purpose okay so this temple tax let me just connect another dot this this temple tax that be good begins here is what we read about in Matthew chapter 17 I'll tell you the story and you'll remember a couple of people come up to Peter and they say in Capernaum does your master that is Jesus pay the temple tax or doesn't he Peter said oh yeah he pays the temple tax and so Peter said the IRS is here they're asking about the temple tax and so I love what Jesus said if Peter go down to the sea cast in a hook and the first fish you get you'll find enough money in its mouth to pay for both you and I I'm picking up your tab this year handy guy to have around that is the temple tax that begins right here where everybody among the people of Israel are involved beginning in verse 17 we have this labor this washbasin I told you about this bronze labor the Lord spoke to Moses saying you shall also make a labor of bronze picture of large basin with its base also a bronze for washing you shall put it between the tabernacle of meeting that is the tent and the altar that is the bronze altar so it's in the outer courtyard and you shall put water in it verse 19 it's for Aaron and his sons there to wash their hands and their feet so before these priests would offer a sacrifice and in between the sacrifices they had to wash it was a ceremonial washing that spoke of purification something about the labor no dimensions are given to it we know that this is 18 inches by 18 inches by 36 inches but not the labor there's no dimensions given to it so by the time we get to the temple being built under King Solomon first Kings chapter 7 he goes nuts he builds this huge several thousand gallon labor and it sits on a pedestal with twelve oxen three oxen facing in in one directions rain and other so it's facing in all four directions it's just massive this massive it's called the molten sea from a little labor to now a molten sea during the time of Solomon something else that you may find fascinating the bronze to make this labor guess where it came from by the time we get to chapter 38 we're told that the women were to gather at the door of the tabernacle and bring their bronze mirrors and their mirrors were taken away and they were melted down to make the Laver now I'm gonna refrain from making a sermon on that one but it would seem that God's more interested in purity than he is vanity would you agree because these were gonna be used for now a special purpose the priest then had to wash between each of the sacrifices even though they had already gone to ordination we saw that last week even though they had washed with water and sprinkled with anointing oil they still had to be regularly cleansed now do you find that you and I have to do the same I do I know that I'm a child of God I know that my sins are washed away but as I walk in this world I get polluted it's filthy it's dirty the things that are said the values that are espoused what people do what I see what I hear and by the end of every day I feel like many times I've just walked in the muck depending on where I've been and so that brings up a story when Jesus was in the upper room with his disciples and they were gathered around and he started to wash their feet and he got to Peter and Peter said no no Lord you're not gonna wash my feet I'm better than the rest of these guys and Jesus said Peter if I don't wash you will have no part with me and Peter said Lord just give me a bath shower just wash every part of me jesus said no Peter he that has cleansed doesn't need to take a bath but just to have his feet washed so this principle of your already clean but you need to get regularly daily confession and cleansing from the Lord to open up that channel of communication I say the Prophet put it this way here's God speaking through Isaiah my ear isn't heavy that it cannot hear my hand isn't short that it cannot say but your sins have separated between you and your God and so I find that daily need like here for cleansing okay we mentioned and I'm coming back to it again that the tabernacle is a picture of what you're gonna find in heaven we find it certainly in Revelation chapter 4 or 5 8 etc so by the time we get to Revelation we see the throne of God not the Ark of the Covenant that God dwelt in between the cherubim we see the actual throne of God and God seated on it and we see instead of two fake cherubim we see four living creatures in heaven we also see an altar of incense that I mentioned in chapter 8 we also see in chapter four and five seven lighted lamps before the throne of God which are the seven spirits of God we also find in heaven a labor a molten sea like in Solomon's day except it's not liquid John said I saw I looked and I saw a sea like glass clear as crystal and you could walk on that sea in heaven now why is it that it was liquid in the old testament and the new testament temple but in heaven it's solid it's clear because in heaven there's no need for cleansing from sin we stand upon the finished work completed so only a replica of past cleansing clear crystal hardened finished work of Jesus Christ do we see in heaven verse 22 the anointing oil moreover the Lord spoke to Moses saying also take for yourself quality spices 500 shekels of liquid and myrrh did you know that myrrh is a little bit of sap that exudes from a tiny shrub that was prevalent and in that Sinai desert half as much sweet-smelling cinnamon hmm two hundred and fifty shekels two hundred fifty shekels of sweet-smelling cane five hundred shekels of cassia according to the shekel of the sanctuary and a hen of olive oil about a gallon of olive oil a little bit more than a gallon now it mentions cassia cassia was a green tree with yellow flowers and an aromatic bark and it's funny I did a lot of research on this and there's some discrepancy but one expert says that the aromatic bark the cassia smells like ready buttered popcorn come on roasted lamb incensed buttered popcorn I want to be a priest now they take this mixture and they'll sprinkle it on the tent they'll sprinkle it on the articles the furniture they'll sprinkle it on the utensils but it was forbidden for personal use down in verse 33 whoever compounds any like it or whoever puts any of it on an outsider that is somebody who's not a priest you're just gonna make some cool cologne for yourself shall be cut off from his people this is the anointing oil for the spirits work there's to be no counterfeit anointing no imitation of the spirits worth no imitation anointing it's God's anointing as the priests were anointed by God I believe that I have seen counterfeit anointing where people will it'll be a self-imposed anointing it's not really a clear evident gift or anointing from God but they'll make up for the lack of real anointing by an imitation of knowing adult Doug yell or they'll suck a lot of air and a lot of wind instead of just the the pure simplicity the ease the supernatural naturalness that comes with the anointing of God my mind goes to Acts chapter eight there was a man in Samaria called Sychar doing and when he saw that the laying on of hands brought the Holy Spirit's power he offered the Apostles money hey here's some money because I'd like to have this special power - that's when Peter said your money perish with you because you think the gift of God can be bought off now this was real anointing and God didn't want any counterfeit verse 34 is the recipe I told you about the recipe for the incense the Lord said to Moses take sweet spices now here they are stacked a which is little droplets of a resin now all of these that you're going to read about that make the the incense all of these are our exa Dacians or emissions from plants and because they're oil base there's a vegetable oil in each one they will burn quite readily that's why they could make incense out of it they could grind it up it would harden even like you know a little rock form but it would always burn because of that oil in it and annika which is a mollusk that gives a musky kind of a smell and galbanum which is an aromatic gum or resin and pure frankincense now frankincense is actually sap from a tree called a boswellia tree I I don't have a boss Wally a tree at my house in or do we have any around the church otherwise I'd point to that tree but in that part of the world again in Arabia in the desert parts of Sinai then you'd find it verse 36 and you shall beat some of it very fine and put some of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of meeting where I will meet with you it will be most holy to you we've been texted a question and so we'll put it up on the screen and we'll look at it says skip was the water in the labor holy water well yes it was but not holy water in the sense like some of you or the one perhaps writing the question might think of it like in my Roman Catholic upbringing we had holy water when we would enter the church and we would dip ourselves in it and cross ourselves but this water was only to be used for the priests the people had no part of it it was for the daily ablutions or the cleansing between and before the sacrifices that the priest would make it was symbolic that even God's own servants had to be cleansed they weren't perfect they had to be cleansed not only by sacrifice animals but also these this this water that was especially used for them and them only now when you when you see the word holy don't get too tripped up by it it simply means set apart or different your holy the Bible calls you Saints in the New Testament you are a saint if your name is Mary you're Saint Mary if your name is Joe you're Saint Joe Saint skip I know it doesn't quite have a ring to it but from a biblical perspective you I wear God's holy people were set apart we're to be different were to be different but God regards us already as different wholly special set apart for his purpose just like the water was set apart for the purpose of the priests so back to the recipe for the incense in verse 37 38 you shall not make any for yourselves it is to be holy for the Lord now now why couldn't they take some of this incense and bring it home in fact why couldn't they sell it outside the tabernacle is have a little taste of the tavern out take some home with you for 4 shekels burn it at home and you'll get what the priests smell when they go inside I believe God did not want to lower the worship of God or put it this way relegated to merely pleasure for personal use God's worship was not meant for personal pleasure or to appeal to the natural man and I think there's a very important lesson in that because in many places of worship in many houses of God in many churches the goal becomes by the leadership team let's make church more exciting less boring let's figure out the ways that we can we can keep it from becoming dull so let's let's resort to some gimmicks let's bring a car onstage guys we'll dig that let's bring an army tank on stage or if you're teaching about the Song of Solomon bring a bed on stage and teach from a bed all sorts of gimmicks because what they're saying is that church has become too dull we have to give people what they want if the unchurched they say don't like biblical preaching then let's not give them biblical preaching let's give them whatever they want in fact true stories here many churches will do a market analysis to find out what people who don't go to church would want if they came to church and you know what they'd want well we don't want the Bible we don't want much preaching what a whole like a whole lot of talk about Jesus we'd like some secular songs okay we'll give that to you so now the worship of God has been lowered to a marketing strategy oh but where were we're meeting felt needs know you're meeting what people say their need is that's what it felt need is I feel like I need this that's a felt need that may not be what they really do need I see God knows what we need and God gives us what we need and what he knows we need is better than what we want and so he gives it to us in his word and God says don't tamper with it Paul said I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ I'm afraid many churches are I'm not down on different styles I think styles are great but when you when you take God off his throne and he becomes our puppet which art in heaven you've got a problem so God says this is to be special you don't take this home for personal pleasure that's Exodus chapter 30 now chapter 31 and look you'll see it's a short chapter we can make it through no problem and I dedicate this to all my artist friends I love this chapter I really do let me tell you why up to this point the main characters have been Moses Pharaoh Moses and Pharaoh are highlighted in the beginning of the book Aaron comes on the scene Moses and Aaron are highlighted Miriam comes on the scene she's mentioned and highlighted seventy elders they have their part Miriam I mentioned her but now we come to a guy who's highlighted that aren't any of those previous people he's an artist his name is Bezalel and God ordains and anoints him naturally because he's already been gifted in the work of art but also supernaturally to do it for his glory in the tabernacle now before we begin reading let me ask you a question what do you like to do I don't want you to answer that out loud like shout it out but I want you to think about that what do you like to do what do you want to do for God's glory I asked you that question because we often have a wrong idea of what real ministry is begin with this what do I want to do what would I like to do for God's glory what does God equip me to do and and start with your desire it may not be the place you end but it's a good place to begin here's why Psalm 37 says delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart I don't believe that means he'll give you every little thing your heart desires I think it actually means he will give you the desire itself he'll give you the desire so that you will want what he wants I remember having a desire to read the Bible when I came to Christ I never had that desire in my whole life before that I had a desire to come to church all the time I never had that desire before I came to Christ I had a desire to pray into fellowship in the witness I'm thinking this is Mike why do I like this I mean I used to run from that stuff God placed new desires in me have you found that to be true so that that's a good place to start what do you want to do for God's glory what would you like to do verse 1 then the Lord spoke to Moses saying see I have called by name Bezalel the son of uri the son of hor of the tribe of Judah notice that the personal calling called by name and then here's a question why does he say I've called by name Bezalel the son of this guy whose grandpa is this guy it wasn't just to be exact but also to show that God's calling predated his birth just like you and I were chosen in Christ from before the foundations of the world this is God's choice of Bezalel and I have filled him with the Spirit of God and wisdom and understanding and knowledge and an all manner of workmanship according to Jewish tradition and I'm quoting now God never gives gifts unless he has already given natural endowments in that skill I believe that Bezalel was already a skilled craftsman there was a natural ability and he probably really dug making stuff with his hands now comes a supernatural calling an empowering enablement because here's the principle God's callings are his enablings if God calls you to do something he'll enable you to do it he'll give you a desire to do it and the enabling to do it hi I've talked to people who said yeah you know I told God I'd never wanted to do that or I better be careful saying I don't want to do that because that's exactly what God will make me do like God's some sort of an ogre yeah I never want to go to Africa ever boy God will probably end up sending me to Africa I think God will give you a desire and an aptitude I think it will be supernatural but I think it operates very very naturally now notice the words wisdom and understanding I filled them with the Spirit of God in wisdom and understanding I am amazed at the maturity I have seen that accompanies the gift of God young and old alike I've seen very young physically speaking believers who exude a wisdom and a depth far beyond their years because it's a gift of God he gives them wisdom he gives them understanding God's calling is it his enabling makes sense doesn't it if you were to join the armed services let's say the Marines would they say well we're glad that you've joined the Marines but you have to buy your own gun your own bullets and your own tank now I think they would supply you with the equipment don't you or if you were to join the airforce would they say we have f-18s on sale for 20 million this week they would supply what you're being trained and called by them to do so it is in the body of Christ if God calls you to be a pastor he'll give you the gift of teaching if God calls you to be an evangelist I'll give you the ability to hang out with people the gift of gab and the ability to reach inside of a heart by your words and lead them to Christ verse 4 to design artistic work work in gold and silver in bronze and cutting jewels for setting in carving wood to work in all manner of workmanship notice the words art jewel or jewelry and then carpentry is described art jewelry carpentry by now you're wondering well where's his ministry that is it art jewelry carpentry that's his ministry we get the ministry so wrong I want to be in ministry we say you are in ministry well no I'm not I'm an executive by the grace and calling of God perhaps well I'm a doctor by the grace and falling and gifting of God God has you able to speak to people hey listen it's I know a doctor I see her sitting she works in the emergency room what a strategic place to minister to people I have a friend who's an executive he owns 35 restaurants in California also ran one of the largest Christian organizations aside from that on top of these restaurants and is involved on boards of other large Christian ministries and he's effective at all of them God's gifting God's calling God's ministry when I was going to school and radiology and I was working at hospitals in Orange County remember one person she saw I had a Bible she said hey have you ever thought about going into the ministry and I said with all due respect I am in the ministry right here talking to you so I just kept talking to her and told her about the Lord and she was convinced that diet was called into ministry and she didn't want to hear anything about it after that verse 6 and I indeed I have appointed with him a holy Abbe the son of a hiss amaq of the tribe of Dan and I put wisdom in the hearts of all who are gifted artisans that they may make all that I have commanded there's something I just don't want you to miss because it's repeated four times and then it's emphasized in this last time you notice in verse 2 God says see I have called by name verse 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God and verse 6 and I indeed I have appointed with him this other one the repetition of I God is saying my calling comes with my anointing or my enabling so he's emphasizing this comes from God it's not nothing you have to manufacture it's something that God is doing verse 7 the tabernacle of meeting the Ark of the testimony the mercy seat that is on it and all the furniture of the tabernacle and those furnishings are listed in the next few verses so we have so far Moses Aaron míriam seventy elders and an artist named Bezalel all working together in different ministries different callings all performing the work of the glory of God that's a team I hope you don't get the idea that Exodus is all about Moses because Moses would say not about me I'm sure glad Aaron is here because I'm a chicken didn't even want to talk to Pharaoh and then his father-in-law Jethro would say blam glad he got those seventy elders because I saw him being overworked he needed a team and now the team is enlarged with artisans I love this concept when you fly somewhere how do you get there when you fly somewhere you take an airplane who's responsible for getting you there okay I heard the word pilot that's not the full picture yes the pilot and a stewardess and people in the tower air traffic control and the ground crew and those in security etc it's it takes a team to get you there and when you're blasting your minister to it's because not just there's a pastor but there's assistant pastors and counselors disciple errs worship leaders people that work up in the video booth and in the sound and Usher's and security all working together like here to do ministry it's a team and I love the team concept and I thank God for the team members that I have here at this fellowship verse twelve and the Lord spoke to Moses saying speak also to the children of Israel saying surely my Sabbath's you shall keep for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I am the lord who sanctifies you what was the sign of the noahic covenant the Covenant God made with Noah was a rainbow and what was the sign of the Abrahamic covenant circumcision and what is the sign of the Mosaic Covenant the Sabbath these are all outward signs of this people group under that covenant that's why under the new covenant we are not bound by that same outward restriction of the Sabbath and that's why Paul slackens on his use of that in the new covenant as do all of the early church leaders seen in the book of Acts and in the epistles and we've covered that at length but go down to verse 17 after the sabbath is described and specified it is a sign between me and everybody else who believes know me and the children of israel those are Jewish people forever for in six days the Lord made the heavens in the earth on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed I have a question God already addressed the Sabbath in chapter 16 and in chapter 20 of the Ten Commandments why does he do it here again I don't know I'm gonna guess though I'm gonna conjecture notice in verse 13 it says speak to the children of Israel saying surely a better translation a more literal translation would be nevertheless my Sabbath's you shall keep perhaps I'm just guessing the artists thought they were exempt since they're working on the tabernacle and this job has to get done and they're doing it for the Lord that they as ministers in the tabernacle that they're somehow exempt as artists from keeping the Sabbath God would say you are not exempt nevertheless keep my Sabbath's it could be I mean I can just picture the artist you know Friday nights dude I'm just up really late you know and I just like I do my best thinking and creative energy is you know midnight Friday well that's the Sabbath has started can't do that nobody's exempt from it just as none of God's servants pastors lay leaders counselors are exempt from the moral biblical standards that we teach others verse 18 and when he made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai he gave Moses two tablets of the testimony tablets of stone written with the finger of God Wow God touched stone and wrote Commandments the law they won't last long Moses has an anger issue we'll see that next week chapter 32 is the OTO chapter as he throws them down breaks them and it's actually a pretty fun chapter and we'll see ourselves in it this concludes the 40 days of Moses on Mount Sinai he's gotten the law from God the Ten Commandments and the blueprints to the tabernacle all of its recipes all of its specifications all of its measurements and now he descends on Mount Sinai I'm gonna close with a promise from the New Testament in Romans 15 it says for whatever things were written before were written for our learning that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope if your faith has at all been uplifted during this series on the book of Exodus it's a direct result of the promise that God made in Romans chapter 15 I just love to bring that out those were written for our edification let's pray together Lord we do have hope as we as Paul said see the patience exemplified in the scripture the patience that you had for your people who promised to keep the covenant that they broke patience for a leader named Moses whose anger got the best of him on a few occasions a man it was imperfect as was his brother Aaron and sister Miriam Lord thank you too that our view of ministry has hopefully been expanded to include an unlimited variety of men and women with natural abilities along with supernatural capabilities that woven together blend a beautiful garment called the body of Christ one that we love as imperfect as we are each one here tonight as well as those who are listening are gifted called with specific gifts enabled supernaturally now Lord I pray that you'd give us the measure of faith that Paul said is required to enact to those gifts and to see them live in our lives I pray this week Lord we might step out with perhaps a desire you have placed within our heart an inclination an idea that you have put there as we step out we see it blossom we discover Wow God was in that nothing more exciting Lord than than that in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig

Views: 5,268

Rating: 4.6500001 out of 5

Keywords: Calvary, Albuquerque, Skip, Heitzig, Jesus, Exodus, Sermon

Id: JLIPePUxjPs

Length: 56min 33sec (3393 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 19 2018