We've talked about the tabernacle
and all the furniture in the tabernacle. The priest and their
dress. The Lord Jesus Christ and all
these things and every one of them speaks of Him. Tonight I
want to look at God's appointed workers. God's appointed workers. The Lord had given to Moses all
the instructions for the tabernacle he told him see that thou make
it after the pattern which I showed you in the mountain and he gave
him every detail of it every single detail of it and but now
who in the world is going to build it Moses can't build it
Moses is not going to build it the law can't build a building
The law can't do anything for anybody. Moses of course represents
the law and represents the prophet. But who's going to build it?
Who's going to build this tabernacle? Who's going to make all the furniture
that goes in it? Who's going to make all the garments
and all the curtains and all the fine linen and all the intricate
work that goes in the inside of it? Who's going to make the
gold, the boards and all the gold and put the gold all around
it? Who's going to make the breastplate
for the priest? Who's going to make his garment?
Who's going to make his mitre? All of these things. Who's going
to do all this work? Who's going to do all this work?
Well, I'll tell you this. Nothing's left to chance. Nothing
left to chance. There's no place here for human
scheming, you know. All is of God in this business
of him appointing the workers to build this tabernacle. You
know, in this world today, if you go to get a great big job,
you've got to bid for it. You see things in the paper all
the time. Bid for this job, that job, another job. People are
competing all the time for work. Building buildings and doing
things. Well, there was no competing
in this. Put no contracts given out. No, God just said, these
are the men that I'm going to call to do this thing. And you
know, I said, make all things as to the pattern. And the Lord
shows him that he comes to Moses, said, I'm going to show you the
men that's going to do this work. I'm going to show you the men
that's going to do this work. And these are the men. And of course,
they had lots of people worked under them. But these are the
men that done the intricate work, the beautiful work, the glorious
work. And I tell you the choice was
God's of these workers. It wasn't Moses. Moses didn't
say, I'd like you to do this and I want you to do that. I
want you to do this other thing. You're good at this and you're
good at that. And you do, you're not good. You know, you take
care of this and I'll take care of that over there. He never
done that. God just come to him and says, Moses, these are the
men. These are the men that I'm going to appoint to build the
tabernacle. And this is God's work. He wasn't
human. These men never admitted this
in themselves. But we'll see in these two men.
There's two men here that God set apart. That God called them. And they foreshadowed. They were
a foreshadowment of our Lord Jesus Christ and His great work. Everything about Him. And they
were called to build the tabernacle. And I tell you, a tabernacle
is a place where God dwelt. And only Christ could build a
house that would honor God and do the work, complete the work. He said, I delight to do thy
will. Lo, I come, I delight to do thy will. Oh my God, thy law
is within my heart. And so here they're called to
build this house. And let me show you the first
thing. We've got three points tonight. The workman that's been
appointed by God, the way he equipped him, he had to equip
him to do the job. and then the workmen and the
job that he gave them and let's look at the first one here and
the Lord said in verse 1 and the Lord spake unto Moses saying
see I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uriah, the son of
Hur, the son of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him
with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in
knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cutting
of works, to work in gold, and silver, and brass, and cutting
of stones, to set them, and carving of timber, to work in all manner
of workmanship. So here's the things that God
sent this man about. And these men's names have great
meanings. That's the first thing I want
you to see. These men that have done this call to do this work,
Bezalel. He's the first one. Bezalel. You know what that means? His
name means in the shadow of God. It means the protection of God.
That's exactly what it means. I'm going to call a man that
his very name means in the shadow of God, being protected of God.
Now I've got three scriptures I want you to look at over in
Psalms to show you what I'm talking about. Psalm 17. Let's turn to
Psalm 17. And it's obvious, you know, that
God put the Spirit of Wisdom and gave the Spirit of God unto
him. But Psalm 17, verse 8, look what it says. Talking about here's protection
for us. Protection, intimacy, and fellowship.
Dwelling in the shadow of God, being protected of God. That's
what His name means. Verse 8, Psalm 17, keep me as
the apple of the eye. Hide me under the shadow of thy
wings. Hide me there. Protect me there.
Keep me there. Hide me. And not only that, but
keep me as the apple of your eye. Psalm 57. Psalm 57. You know, this is what
our Lord Jesus Christ, all these things point to our blessed master. And look in verse 1. Psalm 57. Oh, we have protection. Hide
me under the shadow of thy wing. Hide me there. Protect me there.
And then he says, Be merciful unto me. Oh God, be merciful
unto me. Listen to this. For my soul trusteth
in thee. My soul does. Listen to this. Now yea, in the shadow of thy
wings will I make my refuge. I want to hide right here. I
need a place to hide I need a refuge and he says Lord I'm going to
under the shadow of thy wings make my refuge and listen to
this till these calamities be overpassed that's where we're
living now that's where we're living now let me show you another
in Psalm 63 verse 7 listen to this one now This is our fellowship here Because
thou has been my help That's not thou has been my help
Therefore in the shadow of thy wings Will I rejoice? So there's these hiding place
and you know Psalm 91 said this I quote it to you he says he
that dwelleth under the shadow of of the wing of the Almighty
dwelleth in safety. And so you see we have protection
in Christ, intimacy in Christ, fellowship with Christ, a hiding
place in Christ. And so is this the shadow of
God and the protection of God. Now Lord Jesus Christ was in
the bosom of the Father. Him and the Father was one. And
He was in the bosom of the Father and because He was, we get to
come and dwell in God's bosom too. Just like our Lord Jesus
Christ did. Where Christ dwells, we dwell.
He's close to the Father's heart, we're close to the Father's heart.
He's in the Father's will, we're in the Father's will. God protects
Him and guards Him and kept Him all the days of His life and
even that His soul should not see corruption and so beloved
wherever Christ dwells that's where we do and Christ dwells
in God and we dwell in God just like he does and then not only
is his name mean bezel to the shadow of God and the protection
of God but then he says the son of Uri always tells who the men
are the son of now the son of Uri this word Uri means light
Means light. It means the light of Jehovah.
It's the same word as Urim. You know, who is the light? Who is the light? Who is the
light of this world? Who is our light? Who's the one
that brought us out of darkness? And our Lord Jesus Christ said,
I am the light of the world. If a man walketh and followeth
me, he won't even walk in darkness. He can't dwell in darkness. And
he said, while I'm in the world, I'm the light of the world. And
beloved, who in the world needs a light? But people that cannot
find them way by themselves. And our Lord Jesus Christ is
our light. We dwelt in darkness in him was
light and that light was the life of men And that don't you
know don't mean everybody that means that Christ turns on the
light Human and I've often said that in preaching and I know
you've talked about it. You know and when God turned
on the light You know what it is for you're sitting in the
darkness then the light comes on and Man, I ain't seen nothing. And the light comes on the scriptures.
I never saw that before. I never saw Christ like that
before. I never saw the word like that before. Never saw myself
like that before. Never saw God like that before.
Never saw the things of Christ like that before. Why? Because
the light's been turned on. And I tell you he's the brightness
of God's glory and the express image of his person And thank
God we got somebody what this world John said it like this
the world lies in darkness And you all know that some of you
have to work out in the world And you have to deal with people
and I tell you, you know, the whole world out here lies in
darkness Lies in darkness and God called
us out of that darkness into what is marvelous light and into
the kingdom of his dear son and not only was the son of Uriah
but look what else it says there in verse 2 Uriah was the son
of Ur so Ur was his granddaddy you know Joshua was of the son
of Hur and oh my the son of Hur and you know what the word Hur
means Free means freedom, to be at liberty. If you're talking about whom
the Son sets free, is free indeed. You know the truth and the truth
will set you free. And then our Lord said, you know,
Paul, he dealt all the time with people going back under the law,
going back under Reformation, going back under some kind of
a rule, some kind of a government. And Paul always had to deal with
them and tell them. He said, stand fast in the liberty
wherewith Christ has made you free. And He said whom the Son
sets free. How free is He? He'll never be
freer than when Christ sets you free. And I'll tell you something
about this business of the law and trying to be saved by anything
we do. I'm not going back to anything
one to the Son except Christ. You know, people ask you, you
know people that believe in the laws or rule of life? Where in
the world would you get that in the Bible? How can you equate
the laws or rule of life when the scripture says faith? Abraham didn't keep the law,
he believed God. Noah never kept the law, he got
in the ark. I'm going to stand yet, and that's
another thing, you notice out of all the years I've been preaching
to you, all the years I've been preaching to you, I've never
ever once named any particular sins, Told you where you couldn't go,
how you could dress, or anything else. I've never ever tried to
govern your life by my own personal opinions and what I thought a
person ought to do or not to do. If the gospel can't keep
you, and Christ can't keep you, and Christ can't teach you, then
there's no use of me trying to do it. I can't even keep myself. You know, that's just so contrary
to grace. We are free, we are liberty.
Oh my, there's a message Tim James got about a, we listened
to it here the other day, and he was talking about the servant,
the slave, that had a hard taskmaster and he ran away from it. And he said, let him go. And
so he ran away. And if you took him into your
house, you're supposed to give him refuge. And he didn't have
to return to his master. And I'll tell you what, that's
what the law done. It made us run to a refuge. If we run to Christ, and we're
going to hide in Christ, and we're going to stay in Christ,
where's a better place to hide and be at liberty at than in
the gospel? Huh? And oh my, then look what
else he says here about him. Of the tribe of Judah. Of the
tribe of Judah. Now Judah was the tribe where
all the kings came from. Judah. The royal tribe. And you know Judah, whenever
they broke camp and they went to marching, Judah was the one
that was always in the forefront. They led the way. They led the
way. And you know in when Israel journeyed,
you know what Judah means? I brought that message here just
recently on Judah. His name means praise. And who
do believers praise? the Lord Jesus Christ who is
the king of kings the Lord Jesus Christ he was made a high priest
after the Lord of Melchizedek because he was not of the tribe
of Levi he was of the tribe of Judah and that's why they couldn't
understand it the way of being lauded him and our Lord beloved
who's worthy of praise more than our Lord Jesus Christ Who's worthy
of worship? Who's worthy of His name being
magnified and honored than our Lord Jesus Christ? And you know
when our King, when the King, our Lord Jesus Christ, when He
was King, His born King, His born King, He had the throne
of David forever and ever and ever. And when he was born, Herod
said, well listen, there's a king. They said, there's a king been
born in Israel. Let's go find him. I want to
worship him. They went looking for him. Couldn't find him. And
they went and slew every child, man child, that was under two
years old. So he could protect his throne.
Protect his throne. But when our Lord Jesus Christ,
when he came into Jerusalem as the king, He came just exactly
the way the scripture said he would. Meek and lowly, riding
on a colt. All other kings you know, they
come riding on big white horses. Great big chariots, gold chariots. But our Lord Jesus came in on
a colt, the foal of an ass. And I tell you, he's the tribe
of Judah. Now look at how God equipped
these workmen. Look how he equipped them. You
know, some men are very capable of doing lots and lots and lots
of things. Gary Williams, excellent, excellent
carpenter, builder, excellent. Excellent. Steve Vincent, Houston. Men that
can do wonderful things. Joe McSherry. I tried to build
a table one time. We lived in a trailer, you know,
and we didn't have water. And I was going to build a table
and set the washbowl on, you know. We had those porcelain
wash heads, you know. I was going to build a table
and set that on, you know, set it outside so we could go outside
and wash our hands. First time we set that thing on, it just... It's a good thing the Lord called
me to preach because I can't do anything. I don't mean to
be funny. I put that on there and just
go... I know a preacher, his wife told
him, he said, Just don't do nothing anymore,
because you can't do nothing. Just quit trying. You know, that's
not the way I am. But I tell you, here to get the
workmen, God equipped them. And listen to how He equipped
them. In verse 3, And I have filled him with the Spirit of
God. Filled him with God's Spirit. Oh my! I filled him with wisdom
and understanding and knowledge and all manner of workmanship. Now I want to show you what God
said about Christ over here in Isaiah 11. Isaiah 11. Look what God said about our
Master, our Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 11. You know, that's the thing. God done this. God gave this
to this man. And God gives it thanks to his
people. Christ is to us the wisdom of
God. And look what the Lord said here
now. And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse. Jesse was David's father. And a branch shall grow out of
his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon him. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding. The Spirit of counsel and might. The Spirit of knowledge and the
fear of the Lord. He's our wisdom. And oh God gave
him understanding of all things. Gave him the spirit of counsel
where he can counsel and instruct us in might, power to uphold
us, knowledge to know all things about God and to teach us. And
our Lord Jesus was even given the spirit of the fear of the
Lord. And he said, I'll make him of a quick understanding.
I mean, I mean, he just grasped it just like that. Noted all.
understanding in the fear of the Lord, and he shall not judge
after the sight of the eyes, nor reprove after the hearing
of his ears, but with righteousness Shall he judge the poor and reprove
with equity? And he'll do it for the meek
of the earth. And he'll smite the earth with the rod of his
mouth and the breath of his lips. Shall he slay the wicked? Oh,
that's what God gave him. He made Christ to be all these
things. And he was Jehovah's righteous
servant. And then look what it says that
they gave him the ability to do. Look at all the things that
God gave this one man here the ability to do. To devise cunning
works. And that workmanship, that workmanship
cunning means intricate. Intricate. Intricate. And there's
he going to work in gold. Work in gold. And you know what
gold means? Gold always speaks of the deity
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Speaks of His Godhead. And the
glory of gold, the preciousness of gold, the worth of gold. And our Lord Jesus Christ. You
know you hear people say worth their weight in gold. Listen,
our Lord Jesus Christ He shines like gold and He's beautiful
in all of His glory He's manifested in His word and His glory is
manifested there His Godhead and His deity and the gold of
His Godhead and I tell you only our Lord Jesus Christ is competent
to work in gold and you know what He said about our faith?
Our faith being Let me see if I can get it here. If needs be,
if necessary, your faith being tried, that it might be found
as gold, precious as gold, that it might be found to the praise
of His glory when He comes. Now He says our faith would be
precious as gold. He'd make it refined like gold.
And I was reading a story the other day where a man was a silversmith
and then a goldsmith. You know when they purify gold
they just got to put it under extreme heat. under extreme heat
and if it needs be you are in heaviness through manifold temptations
that the trying of your faith being much more precious than
gold though it be tried with fire and that's what fire does
it takes the impurities out of the gold takes all the impurities
out of it and when it's done and you talked about the streets
of gold God said they shine like glass shine like glass And our Lord
Jesus Christ, you're talking about working in gold. And you're
talking about being put in the fire. Our Lord Jesus Christ was
put in the fire of God's wrath. And when He come out of it, pure,
blessed, glorious gold. And when He gets through with
us, He just keeps trying us and trying us and trying us and trying
us. And beloved, when He's through
in His blessed time, We're going to go. Huh? Oh, listen. And only Christ is competent
to work in gold. And I tell you, He finished the
work that God gave Him to do. God gave Him to do. And then
not only that, but He says He's able to work in silver. Silver. And our silver always talks about
redemption. You know that silver that they
made the sockets out of. Every man gave a half a shekel
of silver. And I tell you, you know the
work of redemption, the work of redemption by our Lord Jesus
Christ. There was greater work in the
salvation of our souls than there was in the creation of the world. God just spake and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast.
But when it come to saving us and redeeming us, it took blood,
it took death, it took suffering, it took dying. And our Lord Jesus
Christ, our Redeemer, and I tell you, and it's beyond any son
of Adam's power to redeem their soul. A man says that man trusts
in his wealth, Trust in his riches God said he I don't care how
much money he's got He can't redeem his soul of his brother. He can't redeem the soul of his
son Not in the sight of God he can't You know why because the
soul is so precious The soul, it takes something to buy a soul.
It takes something to pay for a soul. It takes something to
pay for somebody's sin. And our Lord Jesus Christ's payment
price was His blood. His blood. Huh? And you know,
you know what the outcome of His redemption was? Look in Revelations
chapter 5. You know what the outcome of
that work in silver ended up in? Redemption the outcome of that
silver and I was telling you about reading about silver the
other day Silver Smith, but look here in verse 9 This is the this
is the outcome of his work in silver Not redeemed with such
a corruptible thing as silver and gold with the precious blood
of Christ look what it says in verse 9 and they sung a new song
and God has taken my feet out of the miry clay and set them
on a rock, established my going, put a new song in my mouth. They sung a new song saying,
God worthy to take the book. I mean they're singing this.
And to open the seals thereof. what made you worthy for thou
wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of
every kindred and tongue and people and nation now that's
something to sing about that's something to sing about that's
something to sing about but that man that works in silver When he gets done, how do you
know when the silver is refined and perfect? He said, when I
can see my reflection in it. And Christ's redemption is so
glorious and so blessed that even we bear his reflection. You know, he said, we look at
him, behold his glory and changed into the same glory. And one
of these days is going to be final. One of these days is going
to be final. And then look what else is said
here in verse 4. To devise cunning works in gold
and in silver and in brass. Brass is the symbol of judgment.
You remember the brass, the brazen altar. That's where the sacrifices
were offered. there on that brazen altar that
brass altar of brass that's where the sacrifice was all that's
where the fire could be they could endure the fire and not
hurt that brass that brass couldn't be hurt it couldn't be it could
endure the fire endure any kind of fire that was put on it and
brass is the symbol of judgment and no creature no creature no
man but our Lord Jesus Christ could bear the weight of the
judgment of the sins of those who are guilty and all of his
people that were guilty. And there was a time, and I'll
tell you one thing, you'll come to the place where you know you're
guilty and you'll throw up your hands and say, Lord, I'm guilty.
And I throw myself on your mercy. Your mercy. I asked a policeman
one time, I said, would you have mercy on me? He said, no! But old Fred Wood got out of
one one time and got out of his car and said, oh would you have
mercy on me? He said, get back in your car.
That didn't work for me. He just got out his book and cost
me $175. That was the second one that
day I needed mercy. That was in two different states. I just happened to be in the
wrong place at the wrong time or else they was in the right
place at the right time. Oh my, that's just taking money
and throwing it out the window. But it's a symbol of judgment
and I tell you what, no one could bear our judgment but the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. No one could bear the fire of
God's wrath but the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. You know when
men suffer eternally in the lake of fire, they will never perish,
never, never perish. But I tell you what, God's Christ
already bore God's judgment for us. The fire's already fell on
us. And that blessed sacrifice on that brazen altar, the fire
consumed the sacrifice. When our Lord Jesus Christ was
on the cross, He consumed the wrath of God. He consumed the
fire. And there's no more wrath, no
more fire for us. God said, I've laid hell upon
one who is mighty. And all he became sacrificially
what we were personally. God Christ said, as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. What did he lift up in this wilderness?
A brass serpent. A brass serpent. And our Lord
Jesus Christ, He was lifted up. And he said, whosoever looked
at that brass serpent would live after theirs bitten by them serpents
and all that poison was in their system. And every man that looks
to Christ, he'll live. Look and live, my brother, look
and live. Oh, the work in brass was completed. You know that work in that brass
was completed when he cried out, it is finished. And then look here in verse 4
5 in cutting your stones Not only how to cut them, but how
to set them To set them. Oh my To set stones a cutter
of stones You know and when he's talking about these stones, there
was 12 stones Very valuable stones And they was the six on this shoulder, six on
this shoulder and they were set in gold the ones they set in
gold and then the ones on his breastplate and they all had
to be cut and set in there, set in there, set in there and every
one of them represented something else all those beautiful colors
emeralds, rubies, diamonds, topaz garnet oh my And all he had these
jewels and he made these jewels to put upon the breastplate.
They even had to make the breastplate. And these gems, these gems are
the people of God presented in all the merits and beauty of
our great high priest the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter says you're
living stones. What kind of stones? Well, they
say that, I've heard this, I don't know if it's true or not, but
they say a lump of coal, if it can be pressed enough, it turns
into a diamond. That's just how diamonds are
made, for coal, being just compressed and compressed and compressed.
And you know how they tell if a diamond's any good or not?
They say it'll cut glass. I've never had one, so I wouldn't
know. But let me show you something
about jewels. these jewels you know Christ
bore us these jewels these gems on his heart and he bore them
on his shoulders and look in Malachi Malachi is the last book
in the Old Testament right before the book of Matthew and look
here talking about gems and jewels look what it says here Malachi
chapter 3. Talking about jewels and gems. Oh, Christ has us. And I tell you, I don't feel
like a jewel to you. But God says that's what we are.
We're precious in His sight. And look what He says here. In
verse 16. Malachi 3.16. Then they that feared the Lord
spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened, and heard
it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them
that feared the Lord, and thought upon his name. And they shall
be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my
jewels. Oh my, I don't feel like a Jewel
at all do you? But I say people, I talk people,
me and Shirley, I'll be talking to Shirley and other people and
you know what I always say about a lot of people? I say boy they're
a real Jewel. They're a real Jewel. Talk about
a couple, they're a real Jewel. Do you ever say that about anybody? Boy they're a real Jewel. Y'all are real jewels. I'm just
a lump of coal in the midst of you. But oh my, didn't look what
he said over here in chapter 31 again about it. Not cutting
stones but in carving timber. Carving timber. And I tell you
what, to work in all manner of workmanship. and you know what
the scripture says where his workmanship created in Christ
Jesus unto good works it's God which worketh in you both to
will and to do of his good pleasure God which hath begun a good work
in you he has this workmanship and all his workmanship and then
let me hurry I'm taking way too long here look what else it says
here down in verse 6 now and behold I have given with him
a holy ab the son of Ahasumac the tribe of Dan and in the hearts
of all that a wise heart of a put wisdom that they may make all
that I have commanded thee you know a holy ab it took lots and
lots of characters to typify our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ
Abel Christ is a lamb Noah, Christ the Comforter and also the Ark. Moses, a prophet. Aaron, a high priest. David,
a king. And every one of these and all
their different personalities and different aspects of who
they were, they were typical of our Lord Jesus Christ and
His purpose and His person, His office and His work. And let
me tell you what Let me see if I, a holy, a holy ab. A holy ab, that means the tent
of the Father. That's where the Father dwelt
in. You know where the word God dwelt? He dwelt in Christ. God was in Christ. He was the
tabernacle of God among men. God dwelt in Christ. And I, he
says, oh if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. And then he
said, the son of Elimelech. The son of Ahazemac. Ahazemac. And Ahazemac, his name means
brother of support. And our Lord Jesus Christ. What
a brother. A brother that sticks closer
than a brother. He sticks closer than a brother.
He's a brother born for adversity. And he supports us, his blessed
brethren. And then it says he's from the
tribe of Dan. Judah was the tribe that led
them when they went out on the journey. When they took down
the tabernacle and went to Jericho. And Dan was the one who took
up the rear. And that tells us Christ led
us and Christ follows us. Goodness goes before us and mercy
goes behind us and I'll tell you our Lord heads us up leads
us and is behind us to protect us and care for the feeble and
Then look what he says in verse 6 the last part of verse 6 and
the last part of verse 11 That they may make all that I
have commanded thee and according to all that I have commanded
thee shall they do and Every detail, they did exactly
what God commanded. Every detail was appointed before
God. No self-will was involved here
whatsoever. And that's the way our Lord said,
I came down from heaven not to do my will but the will of