All right, brethren, let's go
to Exodus 35. We're going to learn something about
that heavenly husbandman who cares for his vineyard. Everything that God purposed
in eternity for each of his children to do and collectively for his
church to do, God brings to pass in time by making his people
willing from the heart. Everything he purposed in eternity,
there's not one thing that God will not bring to pass. If you
see it coming to pass, it's because God willed it and he's bringing
it to pass, everything. Now, back in Exodus 25 through
31, those chapters, we've been hearing how God was in the mount,
Moses was in the mount with God, and God is declaring to him everything
about the tabernacle, the furniture, the clothing, the service, how
it's all going to be done. And that's a very good illustration
of God in eternity purposing everything that he would bring
to pass in time. And he said, everything must
be made according to the pattern in the mount. And Christ is that
pattern. Whom he foreknew, he also did
predestinate, conform to the image of his son. Christ is the
pattern. He's the pattern. And everything
is made after the pattern that was shown in the mount. That's
God's purpose. And then in Exodus 35 through 39, we're gonna see now God bringing
his purpose to pass. By God's power, by God's grace,
the children of Israel did everything God purposed. Look here in verse
one, Exodus 35, one, and Moses gathered all the congregation
of the children of Israel together and said unto them, these are
the words which the Lord hath commanded that you should do
them. And then go over to Exodus 39, and look at verse 42. According to
all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel made
all the work, and Moses did look upon all the work, and behold,
they had done it as the Lord had commanded, even so had they
done it, and Moses blessed them. Everything God purposed and told
Moses in the mount And Moses went down and declared it to
them, and God gave them the heart to do everything God commanded,
exactly as God commanded it. We can't go through these chapters
verse by verse, but we're going to go through and look at a few
things here to get the general gist of it. It's mainly a rehearsing
of what we've seen in those previous chapters. We'll go through it
again and see these things because they need to be repeated. I want
you to see here God's eternal purpose being brought to pass
in time. Now, first of all, every chosen
child of God, everybody that God elected, that he chose in
eternity, in Christ, they're going to begin in this service
to God by resting in Christ by faith according to God's eternal
purpose. That's God's purpose, is people
are going to glorify Christ, they're going to rest in Christ,
and before we can begin doing any work God would have us to
do, God's going to bring us to rest from all our works in Christ
by faith. It says in verse one, Moses gathered
all the congregation of the children of Israel together and said unto
them, these are the words which the Lord hath commanded that
you should do them. Six days shall work be done, but on the
seventh day there shall be to you a holy day, a Sabbath of
rest to the Lord. Whosoever doeth work therein
shall be put to death. You shall kindle no fire throughout
your habitations upon the Sabbath day. We know that Christ is our
Sabbath. And God's eternal purpose is
for his son to receive all preeminence, for all fullness comes from his
son, and he gets all the glory, he gets all the preeminence.
And so service to God begins by resting in Christ from all
our vain works. We're about to see the Chudnovites
do all these works to build God's tabernacle according to the pattern
that God purposed in the mount. It pictures God using those that
he's chosen, that he's redeemed, that he's regenerated, that he's
brought to rest in Christ. It pictures him using his people,
his church, to set forth the truth of the gospel through which
Christ assembles all the living stones and builds his church
together and continues to build his tabernacle, his temple, his
church. And he gets all the glory. He
uses us, but we're gonna see here We rest in Christ because
Christ is the one who has done all the works and is doing all
the works. And we trust him. We rest in him. God begins commanding
they rest on the Sabbath day. And because we can't serve God
until God brings us to rest in Christ from all our vain work.
There's no service to God until you believe on Christ and trust
him, his person, and his finished work as all your salvation. There's
no labor that can be done in the cause of Christ until we
rest in Christ. He said in Romans 4, 4, to him
that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
It's not of grace, it's of debt if a man's trying to work his
way to heaven. but to him that worketh not, but believeth on
him that justifieth the ungodly. Through that faith, God imputes
the righteousness of Christ. And that's where he brings us,
Christ is our rest, because he brings you to behold that he
did the justifying, he justified. And who did he justify? Me, the
ungodly. All I am in me is ungodly. Can you say that? You're ungodly. That's all you are, ungodly. He justified us. And that's what
faith lays hold on. He fulfilled the law for us,
meaning he is the end. He's the terminating point of
the law. He's the reason the law was given. And when you've
been brought to Christ, behold, he is your righteousness. You've
come to the end purpose for which the law was given. Christ is
our righteousness. And it's all of Christ's works. when Romans 8 says the righteousness
of the law is fulfilled in us. It's not that he gives you the
ability to keep the law yourself. The righteousness of the law
is fulfilled in us whenever the spirit of Christ enters in and
the Christ our righteousness abides in us so that we have
a new spirit which is alive because of righteousness. He justified
us at Calvary and he entered into heaven, he made intercession
for us, and in time he enters into you and he is the fulfillment,
he is our righteousness. And when the spirit of Christ
is in you, the reason you are alive is because of Christ, our
righteousness. If you have life, if you have
spiritual life, if you believe on Christ, if you trust him alone,
there's only one way you have life. That is by the Christ being
our righteousness. What about holiness? Well, we're
sanctified in Christ at God's right hand in perfection. He's
perfected for ever them that are sanctified. He is our holiness
at God's right hand. And with the Holy One abiding
in us, he makes us holy by his presence within. Just like we
saw this morning. He's the purifier. He's the sanctifier. He's the
one that makes us holy within. It's His presence. When they
get this tabernacle built and that Shekinah glory enters that
tabernacle and that cloud fills that tabernacle, that's how the
whole place was sanctified, by His presence. And He's gonna
sanctify His people. Nothing is of our person, nothing
is of our works, all is of Christ by Him freely giving us all things
through faith in Him. And He works everything to bring
us to that faith. Now this is the seventh mention
of the Sabbath here in Exodus, and the first time here God forbids
they even build a fire. They can't kindle a fire. A fire
provides light for direction, so you can see, know where to
walk. A fire comforts you from the
cold, it's your comfort. A fire is protection from wild
beasts, and a fire is how you prepare
your food. These are all things we need
in this life. Christ is not only our rest in
that he's our righteousness and our sanctification and our redemption. Christ is our light who directs
our steps in this life. We can't take a step unless Christ
directs us. And here's the thing, wherever
he wants you to step, that's where you're stepping. And you
won't take a step in that direction unless he makes you take that
step. He's your light. When I say he's
your light, I don't mean he just shines a light and says, now
it's up to you to decide where to go. No, he's going to direct
your step. It's that sovereign and that
powerful. He's our comfort and our protection
in all trouble. He will let you be totally uncomforted
and totally unable to find any comfort anywhere and anybody
and anything in this world to show you he's your only comfort. You ever been there? He's your
only comfort. When we get too haughty and think
we're a little too full of ourselves, he'll bring you to see that. He provides all that we need
to live in this world. And every step we take, He's
directing it. He's the light. Look at Isaiah
50 and look at verse 10. And the reason I'm making this
point is because this is what we see here. We see a very practical
series of chapters here where our Lord is doing, they're doing
some very practical, menial things. And connected with that, the
Lord begins it by saying, you rest in Christ. And not only
does he do it, but this is the first time he says, and you can't
even kindle your own sparks. You can't even kindle your own
light. And all the things we need for fire are things we need
in this life. Now watch what he says here in
Isaiah 50, verse 10. Who is among you that feareth
the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh
in darkness and hath no light? Do you not know what to do? Do
you not know where to go? Let him trust in the name of
the Lord and stay upon his God. Because he's your light. He's
your direction. He's your guide. Behold all you
that kindle a fire. All you that kindle a fire, that
compass yourselves about with sparks, walk in the light of
your fire and in the sparks that you've kindled. This shall you
have of my hand. You shall lie down in sorrow. Our Lord is not gonna let his
child walk in our own light, our own way, with the sparks
we've kindled. He will make us walk by the light
of Christ. He will. He will. True rest,
go to Psalm 37. True rest, I mean really true
rest, is knowing that we live unto God by Christ our wisdom,
directing our steps by his Holy Spirit. He alone directs our
step. He alone gives the willing heart.
He alone gives the ability. He alone makes the way clear.
He alone directs the steps. He comforts us in all our trouble.
He is our protection from all our dangers that we face. And
He's feeding us and making every provision for us all the way
through. When I say we're helpless, brother,
I mean we're helpless. Is God's judgment on this country
not showing us that? He can take it away like that,
and it ain't over yet. It's gonna get worse, because
God's gonna have his people pruned. Not only pruned, he's purging
his church. He's gonna have us looking to
him only. Now watch this, but here's the good news. This is
what's rest right here. Psalm 37, 23, the steps of a
good man are ordered by the Lord. This is a man he's made. He's
created anew. His goodness is of the Lord.
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth
in his way. Though he fall, he shall not
be utterly cast down. He'll let you fall, but he won't
let you be utterly cast down. For the Lord upholdeth him with
his hand. I've been young, and now I'm
old. Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed
begging bread. and you're not going to. He's
ever merciful and lendeth, and his seed is blessed. Depart from
evil and do good. What's he saying? Turn from this
world and trust him. Stay upon him. Listen, and dwell
forevermore. For the Lord loveth judgment,
and forsaketh not his saints. They are preserved forever, but
the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall
inherit the land and dwell therein forever. The mouth of the righteous
speaketh wisdom and his tongue talks of judgment. Why? Why does
he talk this way? Because the law of his God's
in his heart. None of his steps shall slide.
The wicked watcheth the righteous and seeks to slay him. The Lord's
gonna let that happen. He's gonna let wicked men stand
in judgment of you and try to slay you and condemn you. He's
gonna let that happen. Watch this. The wicked watcheth
the righteous and seeketh to slay him. The Lord will not leave
him in his hand, nor condemn him when he's judged. Wait on
the Lord and keep his way and he shall exalt thee to inherit
the land. Look at verse 39. But the salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. The salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. He is their strength in the time
of trouble. And the Lord shall help them
and deliver them. He shall deliver them from the
wicked and save them because they trust in him. Now that's,
when the Lord says rest in him, brethren, we're resting in him
for everything we need for heaven, for everything we need for acceptance
with God. And also we're resting in him
for everything we need in this life. And he's gonna provide. He's provided everything we need
for heaven and he's our full provision for everything we need
in this life. Now secondly, in this life Christ
gives all things to serve him. He gives all things we need to
serve him. Whatever he purposed in the mount
in eternity, he gives us everything we need to bring it to pass in
time. He does. Look here, verse four.
Moses spake to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying,
this is the thing which the Lord commanded, saying, take ye from
among you an offering unto the Lord, whosoever is of a willing
heart. Let him bring it. It's an offering
of the Lord, meaning it was the Lord's to begin with. and it's
being given to the Lord. But he wouldn't have anybody
come but who was of a willing heart. Now, there was a great number in Israel, and
what our Lord showed us here, not everybody came, but only
those that were of a willing heart came, and were the sovereign,
and watch this. He lists all these possessions
they were to bring. Then look down at verse 21. And
they came, everyone whose heart stirred him up, and everyone
whom his spirit made willing. And they brought the Lord's offering
to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for
all his service, and for the holy garments. In fact, they
gave too much. Look down at Exodus 36 in verse
5. They spake unto Moses, the builder,
saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service
of the work which the Lord commanded to make. And Moses gave commandment,
and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying,
Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering
of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained
from bringing, for the stuff they had was sufficient for all
the work to make it, and too much. He gave them such a willingness,
they not only brought what they needed, they brought over an
abundance of what they needed. And the Spirit of the Lord gave
them wisdom. He not only gave them willing
hearts, he gave them wisdom and he gave them skill so that the
workmen could make the items that need to be made. The tabernacle,
the furniture, the clothing, everything. He gave them, just
like he's the one that gave the willing heart, he gave them the
spirit of wisdom to work. Look at Exodus 35 in verse 10. And every wise-hearted among
you shall come and make all that the Lord hath commanded. The
tabernacle, his tent, his covering, his taches, his boards, he lists
all those things that God purposed in the mount should be made.
And then again, he shows us Bezalel and Aholiab, and the workmen
that they taught. And these two typify the Lord
Jesus Christ first. who builds his church, everything's
of him. He's the one that gives the willing heart, the provision,
the skill, he does all of it. But they also represent Christ's
preachers in whom Christ abides. He gives, he calls certain men
to preach his word and teach his people. And then those that
are taught here picture Christ's people in whose heart Christ
rules. Now let's read all that, Exodus 35, 30. And Moses said
to the children of Israel, Now that's where the willing hearts
came. That's where the That's where the skill came.
He filled them with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding,
and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship. Look at
verse 34. And he's put in his heart that he may teach both
he and Aholiab, the son of Hashemak, of the tribe of Dan. Look at
Exodus 36. Then worked Bezalel and Aholiab and every wise-hearted
man in whom the Lord put wisdom and understanding to know how
to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary
according to all that the Lord had commanded. The Lord gave
them the wisdom and understanding. He gave it to them. He gave them
that spirit. Now look down at Exodus 39, verse
42. And so here's where we come to.
According to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the children
of Israel made all the work, and Moses did look upon all the
work, and behold, they had done it as the Lord had commanded.
Even so had they done it, and Moses blessed them. Now, remember
who all these people are. Remember who these people are.
A little before, these people were murmuring against God. They had seen God deliver them
out of Egypt by Passover lamb. They had seen God handle them
in where they could do nothing but stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord, and they watched him slay Pharaoh and his army
in the Red Sea. And it was no time. They came
out of there, and they're in the wilderness, and they got
hungry. Because their flesh was uneasy, they began to murmur
against God by murmuring against Moses. When they heard Moses give God's
covenant of works, when he brought them to Sinai, they heard that
covenant of works. These people boasted that everything
God commanded, they'd do it. And in a very little while, they
got tired of waiting, and they commanded Aaron You make us a
golden calf. You make us something we can
see, and he did it, and they all were dancing around it, worshiping
his golden calf. Now, a lot of those people were
slain, but not all of them. Some of these people, these were
the same people that were murmuring. These were the same people that
were sinning. These were the same people that were doubting
God. These were the same people that were just so full of unbelief. These are ruined sinners. Some of these people among them
are chosen children of God. Some of these among them are
those God everlastingly loved, those he put in Christ, those
he viewed in Christ, those that he would bring to glory with
him because of Christ's righteousness. That's why he didn't destroy
them. These were ruin-centered. They
could do nothing in themselves but sin. Do you see yourself? That's me. That's me. That's you. Whether you see it or not, it
is. But here we see them doing exactly what the Lord purposed,
what he purposed in the mount. We see him doing exactly what
he determined before to be done. Who made the difference? Who maketh thee to differ from
another? What do you have that you didn't
receive? If you know that you received
it, why would we glory as if we didn't receive it? Oh, well, I don't glory. That's
glory. If you don't glory, the only
reason you don't is because you received it. You can't even glory that you
don't glory. Neither can I. God uses sinners freely chosen
by grace, freely saved by grace, and whatever God purposed from
eternity for His elect to give or do in His service, God brings
it to pass by His Spirit in them. These are good works that all
God's people are going to do. That's what we're seeing here.
An example. and all the good works that we
do, God before ordained that we would do them. And God brought
it to pass. Every one of them. Every one
of them. All sin comes from you and me. All of it. It comes from us. If God's purposed for his child
to give from a willing heart, that willing heart's coming from
God. Because you and I are not willing
by nature. We don't have a willing heart
by nature. And you have an unwilling sin
nature in you, and I have one in me. And even right now as
saints of God, if we do anything from a willing heart, God is
the one who gave it. Thy people should be willing
in the day of thy power, Christ said. in the beauties of holiness
from the womb of the morning. He's the one who continually
renews us as the morning. The preparations of the heart
in man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. Now,
think about that. The preparations of the heart
in man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. Now,
our Lord Jesus said out of the heart. Now, he's talking about
the sinful nature. He said, precedes all these evils,
these thoughts and imaginations that deceive us, that defile
us, they come from our heart. But now, Solomon said the preparations
of the heart, when it's something God would have you to do, when
it's something God would have you to say, when it's of God,
the preparations of the heart in man and the answer of the
tongues from the Lord. By nature, we're full of covetousness. By nature, we are full of unbelief
in our heart of flesh, and so every willing heart is God's
gift. It's God's gift. All preparations
of the heart, whenever we're going to obey God in His service,
all the preparations of the heart, whether we're praying, whether
we're preaching in truth, whether we're laboring, or whatever God
has purposed from eternity that you shall do, whatever it is,
It's of God who's worked it in us both to will and to do his
good pleasure. That's why Paul told the church
at Philippi, he said, you do everything you do, working out
your daily affairs with fear and trembling, because God's
working in your midst. If I try to decide I'm gonna
raise up and rail on somebody because I better be careful,
Because he's doing just exactly what my Lord's working in him.
And I gotta wait. Whatever material thing God purposed
from eternity that we give, not only the will and heart, but
any material thing he's gonna make us to give, God first gives
it to us. These folks were slaves. These
folks were in bondage in Israel for 430 years. Where'd they get
all this stuff? They've been out in the desert,
wandering in a desert. They ain't been going to a factory
every day. They've been out in the desert. They ain't been mining,
digging in the ground. They've been wandering in the
desert. Where'd they get all this stuff? Go back to Exodus
3. Look at verse 20. God said, I will
stretch out my hand and smite Egypt with all my wonders, which
I will do in the midst thereof, and after that, he will let you
go. Pharaoh will let you go. And I will give this people favor
in the sight of the Egyptians, and it shall come to pass that
when you go, you shall not go empty. But every woman shall
borrow of her neighbor and of her that sojourneth in her house,
jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and raiment, and you shall put
them upon your sons and upon your daughters, and you shall
spoil the Egyptians." God provided everything they had. God gave
them everything they had. Now, here's my point. The heart God gives is willing
and cheerful. to serve God because we believe
God. By His grace, by giving us faith,
we believe God, that He's provided everything in Christ. He's provided
His only begotten Son, His unspeakable gift, made us righteous, holy,
accepted of God. He's provided everything we need
for eternal life. We have it, brethren. We have
eternal life. This is not our end right here. This is just a carnal journey
we're on, just like they were going through that wilderness.
But as they went through that wilderness, everything he would
have them to do so that they could worship him above, God
provided it below. The heart, and the materials,
and the wisdom, and the direction, and everything. A bunch of sinful
people who, when God took his hand off of them, They sinned
from the day they, they sinned in Egypt before they even came
out. They told Moses, just leave us alone, you're making it harder
on us. And then every step of the way, when God permitted it,
they sinned. And when God put his hand on
them, they did exactly what God commanded be done. We can't give willingly. We can't
give cheerfully, we can't do anything unless God gives us
a heart to believe that God has first given all to us. And he'll continue to provide
all for us. And I say that because of this.
Otherwise, whatever we do, we do grudgingly. Now we'll try
to put on a good show out where they make it look like we're
willingly doing what we're doing. But in our heart, we're doing
it grudgingly. Why? Because covetousness is ideology. And that's what our sin nature
is. You know what that is? That's thinking that what I possess,
I earned it by my hand, by my work, by my sweat, it's mine
and that's my salvation. And that's worshiping yourself.
That's covetousness and that's idolatry. That's what we, that's
all we are by nature. That's what we think. So how
is somebody like this gonna be made to do any service to God
with a willing heart and a desire for Christ only to receive the
glory? God's gonna have to make you know he's given everything
in his son, for his son, by his son, and shall do so. And when
he's working in you that, and those, and those, And he works
this in his people all the time, but there's season when he works
it more in his people so that you're just thoroughly convinced
everything's fine. And there's seasons where he
takes his presence from you a little bit and all you start seeing
is, hearing is the COVID news and all the stuff that's going
on and all that. And you can't have any contentment
and assurance in your heart for nothing and can't find it and
can't get any. Why does he do that? To make
you know, he's the one that's got to give to you first. And
if he don't give it to you first, you ain't gonna have it. That
keeps you at his feet. That keeps you begging him. That
keeps you pleading for his mercy. That keeps you looking to him
and him only. He permits you to overcome, be
overcome with unbelief just to show us that he alone makes the
difference, not us. When God renews us to have a
willing, cheerful heart, He reminds us that God has and He shall
provide everything because He's already provided salvation by
His unspeakable gift, His only begotten Son. Look over at 2
Corinthians 9 and look at verse 7. And what I want you to get from
this is what it's saying here is everything comes from God.
Look here, 2 Corinthians 9, 7. Every man according as he purposeth
in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity,
for God loves a cheerful giver. Where's that gonna come from?
Where's that heart gonna come from? We're seeing it in Exodus
35. God gave them that heart. They
didn't have it before. God gave it. And look what he
said, and God is able to make all grace abound towards you,
he gives you the heart, the willingness, that you always having all sufficiency
in all things, he gives you the heart, he gives you the materials,
he gives you the occasion, the cause, he gives you the person
or work to give toward, he gives you everything, everything's
a gift from God. that you may abound to every good work. As
it's written, he hath dispersed abroad, he hath given to the
poor, his righteousness remaineth forever. Now he that ministers
seed to the sower, both minister bread for your food and multiplies
your seed sown and increases the fruits of your righteousness.
Being enriched in everything to all bountifulness which causes
through us glory to God. We give God the glory. And here's
where we end up at verse 15. Thanks be to God for his unspeakable
gift. Everything is to bring us to
behold Christ first and foremost. He's the unspeakable gift. If
God gave his only begotten son, isn't that what Paul said in
Romans 8? If he spared not his only son,
if he delivered him up for all his people, will he not with
him freely give us all things? He freely gives us justification.
He freely gives us forgiveness. He freely gives us righteousness,
holiness, redemption. He freely gives us everything
we need for heaven, a new heart, a new nature, faith, love, all
the fruit of the spirit. He freely gives all of that to
you. And in this world, we can't kindle our own sparks either,
because he's freely giving every provision here. When we read
of his fullness have we all received, that means of him alone. Every
step, every breath, every batting of your eye, he's given it. It's
that detailed and minute, everything, everything. This is what God
teaches His child. When a child of God sins, and
this is the wisdom of God, you look at this group that he put
together and took through the wilderness. This is just a picture
of his church today. He puts a bunch of sinners together. He could take you out of your
flesh or he could just command it and will it and turn your
water into wine and make you do everything he commands you
to do. He could do that, but he doesn't. Why? Because we learn everything
about grace, and love, and mercy in the face of failure. That's
why. In the face of our failure, and
our sins, and our shortcomings, and the sins and shortcomings
of our brethren. And God tries, and the trying
of your faith's more precious than gold. There must needs be
heresies that they which are approved may be made manifest.
And God's gonna make them approved. I can tell you this. God is going
to, he's gonna work in the heart of each of his children and keep
us at the feet of Christ and keep us looking to Christ and
keep us following Christ and keep us glorifying Christ. That's
where he's gonna keep us. And if I can turn from him and
I can go away from him and I can leave him and leave his gospel
and leave his people and I don't wanna have anything else to do
with it, There's only one reason I was able to do that. God let
me. And you do the same thing, and
I do the same thing. God just won't let you. But he lets you sin, and it's your own sinful flesh
that sins. There's no way around that. When
I sin, it's just me that did it. That's all there is to it.
It's me. is sin. God doesn't make you
sin. Sin's of us. And when a child
of God serves God as God commands, it's all God. It's all to his
glory. It's God working his full provision
in us. Now we're never without sin.
But it's only by God's restraining hand that we do not sin more. Don't you see that? That's why God permits his child
to fall. Now he's not going to let you
fall away like we read in the psalm. He's going to withhold
his, uphold his child. He's not going to let you fall
away. But why will he not just take you out of sin? Why will
he not take it all away? Why does he let you fall? Why
does he let you rise up in self-righteous judgment against somebody when
you're doing the exact same thing they're doing? Why does he let
you do that? And there's not one thing we
condemn anybody else for that we're not guilty of. Read Romans
2. That is so, brethren. We're guilty
of everything we condemn others for doing. And you and I both
know that when somebody is sitting there just blaming, blaming,
blaming, blaming, blaming, blaming, blaming, If I'm doing that to you, I'm
guilty of everything I'm blaming you for. Everything. What's the person to do? If I'm
sitting there blaming you, blaming you, blaming you, blaming you,
what are you to do? Well, if God works grace in your heart
and gives you a willing heart and provides you with everything
you need, here's what you'll do. You'll say, that's me. I've been right where that brother's
at so many times. That's me. And I can't answer with judgment.
I can't answer with condemnation. If God's working in us at that
moment, that's what he's going to make you know. And he's going
to make you answer with love and mercy and grace. Now if he
doesn't have his hand on you, or he let you, gonna let you
see what you are, you'll answer right back. But he works this
in us to keep us seeing. When I see my brother seeing
whatever it is, that's me. And I'll tell you what he does,
and I know this from experience, I've had this happen to me, and
I've done this to others. A brother calls you up and he
tells you some awful thing he's done or some trouble he's in. And a brother's sister's gonna
answer like this, oh, my brother, I am so sorry. I've been there. The only reason
I'm not there right this minute is God's hand. But brother, God
will keep you. Remember what he's done for us.
Remember what he's done. He's laid down his life for us. Look to him. Turn from this. Put it behind you. Turn from
it. Go to him. Cast your care on him. Cast yourself
entirely upon him. And brother, I'm going to pray
with you. I'm going to pray with you that God will help you and
he'll lift you up and he'll uphold you and he'll keep you in this.
There's where God will keep you. But sometimes God lets you answer
the other way. Why does he do that? To keep
us reminding, remembering he's the only one that makes the difference.
We need Him every hour. We need Him constantly. We need
His mercy. We need His grace. We need His
constant abiding presence. We need His hand upon us. We can't take a step without
Him, lest we take it in the wrong direction. We need Him guiding
us. Now when He gives us willingness,
it's of you. It's your willingness. You're
willing to do it. It's as right as rain to you. But it's all
of Him. And you know that. And when you
sin, there's not a sin you and I commit that we don't commit
willingly, except for ones we don't know about. And there's
a bunch of those, too. But every sin we know about, we do it with
a willing heart, because we want to. There's just no other way
around it. Now, the only way we're saved from that is by Him.
But when a child of God hears a brother that's done good, that's
done something right, that's answered as he ought, you know
what he does? To God be the glory. And he thanks
God. He says, Lord, I thank you for
my brother and I thank you for your grace working in him. My
point is he keeps us knowing what we are in ourselves and
knowing he's the only one that makes the difference. The only
one. Our righteousness, our sanctification,
our direction, our protection, our comfort, our chastening,
every provision in this life, for this life and for heaven,
was all purposed in eternity. Every detail, every minute detail,
the hairs of your head, and he's bringing it to pass exactly as
he would have it done. And in the end, Christ Jesus,
just like Moses looked at all they had done and they had done
everything they were supposed to do, Christ Jesus is gonna
look at his church and he's gonna say, did everything I commanded
to be done. Not one thing was out of order.
Everything was done correctly. All the sin will be gone. It'll
be put away. It'll be covered by His righteousness.
And only thing we will have done, just like when you go read Hebrews
11, none of the sins mentioned of all those brethren. All you
hear is what they did right. And God will say, well done,
my good and faithful servant. And it'll all be to the praise
and honor and glory of Christ our Lord. I pray God help us
to remember that's God's way of building His church. Go back
and listen to those messages from Ephesians 4 about the amazing
body and just how wise it is for God to do it this way. Because
this is how he's not only teaching us in the letter, in doctrine,
he's teaching us in newness of spirit and by experience that
grace and love and mercy and forgiveness and long-suffering
and all the fruit of the spirit is real and our salvation's real. And I pray God keep us remembering
that, amen.