I need a little help getting
up the steps anymore. I hope you folks have some idea
how very dear you are to me, how very dear this congregation
is to me. It's been 13 or 14 years since
we began this work together, I think, and then the Lord sent
you this faithful pastor. After laboring together, For
more than 10 years, last year he gave you this magnificent
house of worship. Every year, as I make plans to
come here, I seek a message from God for you. A message that I
hope will comfort and encourage you. Comfort, encourage, and
strengthen your posture. Honor our Savior. and that God
will use to bring sinners to life and faith in his dear son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. If you'll open your Bibles with
me to Exodus chapter 35, I'm confident that I have such a
message from God for you. Oh, may he be pleased to enable
me to deliver his message and enable you to receive it and
rejoice in it. The title of my message is this,
the high honor God puts on his people. The high honor God puts
on his people. The Lord God declares to you
who are his, to you who are saved by his free grace, to you believing
on his dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ, You who know yourselves
to be nothing but poor, wretched sinners, utterly vile, utterly
unfit for the company of other human beings, let alone fit for
the company of God. This is what God says to you.
Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable,
and I have loved thee. What a word. God said, you're
precious to me, you've been honorable, and I've loved you. What a word
from God. The highest honor we can give
to the triune God, to the Lord Jehovah, our God and Savior,
the highest honor we can give Him is faith in Him. You cannot honor God more than
by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot honor God
but by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Our faith in him
is God's gift to us. And Craig, our faith in him is
our gift to him. Our faith in him is God's gift
to us. And our faith in Him is God's
gift to God. Believing Him, we honor Him. And this is God's promise. Them
that honor me, I will honor. God gives us faith, faith by
which to honor Him. And believing Him, we give God
honor. And God says, them that honor
me, I will honor. Imagine that. Does the holy Lord God honor
us? Does the infinite Jehovah honor
you? Does the Almighty honor me? He says, them that honor me,
I will honor. How? How does God honor man? How does God honor you? How does God honor me? If you'll
open your Bibles to Exodus chapter 35, I'll show you, at least in
measure, how. I want to show you here from
the word of God what a great privilege and high honor, what
a great privilege and high honor it is for God Almighty to allow
such things as you and me, to use such things as we are, fallen,
depraved, fickle, unstable, stumbling, falling, sinful men and women. You admit, you admit. He uses
such things as we are to perform his work in this world. He uses such things as we are
to save his people for whom he was made sin. whom he redeemed. He uses such things as we are
to build his church and his kingdom in this world, in this generation. He uses such things as we are
to proclaim the gospel of his free grace to the four corners
of the world for the engathering of his elect as he says to the
north, the south, the east, and the west, keep not back, bring
my sons and daughters from afar. Now at first glance, Exodus chapters
35 through 39 seem to be nothing but a recapitulation of chapters
25 through 31. So most of the commentators have
very little to say about these final chapters of Exodus. They
treat them almost as if they were redundant. Redundant means
meaningless words. They treat them almost as if
they were redundant. What a pity. Nothing written
in this book is redundant. Nothing written in this book
is merely repetitive. At the very least, every repetition
given in scripture is a needful repetition. None are redundant. The Lord God teaches us in Deuteronomy
6 to teach the things he has done for us to our sons and daughters
when we rise up in the morning, when we sit in our house, when
we walk by the way, when we go out in the field, when we come
in at night, and when we lie down in our beds. Teach these
things day after day after day after day. Paul wrote to the
Philippians. He said, finally, my brethren, it's not grievous
for me to write these things to you again. I'm telling you
again, because you need to hear it again. So the scriptures here
give us good instruction, though repetitive instruction. Exodus
chapters 25 through 31 give a description of the tabernacle as God gave
that to Moses directly when he was in the mount. In chapters
35 through 39 we have a record of what actually of the tabernacle
actually being made according to the pattern that God showed
to Moses in the mount. Now typically, that fact itself
is significant, very significant. You see, that which was accomplished
by God in his purpose of grace, in sovereign predestination,
all things, were accomplished by God in his purpose of grace
in sovereign predestination. You got that, don't you? The
scriptures tells us that God, according to his purpose, justified
us, sanctified us, and glorified us in Christ before the world
was. God did it, and now he's doing
it. What God purposed in grace, He
brings to pass in time, and He accomplishes in our experience
of grace in time. So God gave Moses the pattern.
He said, now, build the tabernacle like this. And now, he goes to
work. He goes to work. He's building
the tabernacle. Let me show you several things
in this chapter. First, the chapter begins a strange,
strange way. Moses is about to tell the children
of Israel to do some work. I'm talking about some work.
I'm talking about some work. They're fixing to make the tabernacle. All the furnishings, all the
trimmings, all the garments, all the breastplate, all the
marvelous pictures of our Lord Jesus. And Moses said, now, we're
going to do it. And he begins by telling them
to rest. What a strange way to talk. What a strange way to talk. Moses begins in chapter 35 in
verse 3 requiring rest. Rest. This chapter is all about
serving God. But now he begins by telling
the children of Israel to keep a Sabbath. 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 Ye shall
kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath
day. Now in this chapter, we see the
children of Israel serving God with a willing heart. Here are
God's children making sacrifices, great sacrifices, with joy and
laboring with gladness. But the chapter begins with a
commandment to rest. Now there's a reason for that.
I was looking over this congregation as you were coming in. I was
sitting up here studying, glanced back, and most of you young people,
I've known all your lives. You young men, I've known your
family since before you were born. And I think about you. I've got a grandson named Will.
I beg of God, give him grace, and make him
a preacher. All right, tickle me to death,
see God do that for you. Tickle me to death. But you can't
serve God till you quit working. You can't do anything for God
till you quit trying to appease God. You can't serve God till
you quit trying to please God. You can't serve God until you
give up your righteousness, your filthy rags, and rest in Christ
the Lord. That's where service begins.
It begins in faith. We who are God's begin to serve
Him when we rest Not until then. Remember the tabernacle was designed
of God and given by God to typify, to portray the Lord Jesus Christ
and the full accomplishment of redemption and salvation in him.
I'm going to tell you a little secret about that. Most people
don't know this. That tabernacle, when it was
finished, you go over to chapter 40, everything made, just like
God showed Moses in the mount. And the picture Moses had in
the mount wasn't a set of blueprints, it was a person. He showed him
Christ crucified and what Christ would accomplish. And then he
says, build this tabernacle. And when it was all fixed up,
everything ready to go, do you know how long it took one man
to pitch the whole thing? One day. In one day, Moses set up the
tabernacle. In one day, all the picture of
redemption and salvation was pitched in the camp of Israel.
Because in one day, one man, Jesus Christ the Lord, accomplished
redemption for us. And one day, took away the sins
of his people. In one day, accomplished redemption. Moses was commanded then to make
this tabernacle to be a pattern of our Lord Jesus and his redemption
and God gives this command 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 Now watch this The seventh day mentioned here is the last
mission of the Sabbath in the book of Exodus, the book of redemption
and grace and deliverance. Solomon, like the Sabbath day,
portrayed rest. He's called a man of rest. rest
which was given by God Almighty in commandment and in ceremony
throughout the ages of the Old Testament. It's called the Sabbath,
the Sabbath day. And here in verse 3, the Lord
adds something to the keeping of the Sabbath that had never
been mentioned before. Something else is prohibited.
He'll say, ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations
upon the Sabbath day. Why did he add that here? I'm
sure there may be other reasons, but I'm sure that it shows us
at least these two things. Faith in Christ is a complete
cessation from our works. It is a total dependence upon
the Son of God for our entire salvation. And faith in Christ
is the means by which God the Holy Ghost takes the fire of
Christ's sacrifice, symbolically that sacrifice and that fire,
purging our sins, putting away our sins. And he sprinkles the
conscience from guilt, just like he did to Enoch when Enoch had
this testimony that he pleased God. Oh, what a testimony that
he pleased God. I know religious world talks
in Bible college, everywhere I went in school, religious services.
Folks, I want to have a testimony before me and I please God. I'm as serious as I can be. I
want everybody who knows me to think honorably of me. I want
you who are my friends never to be ashamed of me. I want to
behave in such a way that you're never ashamed to call me your
pastor. And she's never ashamed to call me her wife, her husband.
But I don't give a hoot whether men think I please God or not.
Because men don't know who God is. And they don't have a clue
what pleases God. They think if you don't curse,
chew, or drink, you please God. God gave Enoch a testimony. He
said, Enoch, you please me, come home. That's the testimony, right?
And that's the testimony, Kevin, God gives to every sinner when
he believes on his side. You please me. You please me. And now we rest. I like my work, but I like to
rest. When I go home at night, my wife just keeps on working.
But when I squeeze all the air out of that cushion, that blue
chair, that's the last work you're getting out of me. I'm done.
I'm done. 51 years ago, I entered into rest. I've been keeping a Sabbath day.
Oh, what a Sabbath day! His name is Jesus Christ the
Lord. I rest in Him. He is all my hope
before God. I offer God nothing to please
Him except the blood and righteousness of His Son. I have no works with
which to commend myself. I have no knowledge with which
to make myself acceptable. I have no good deeds by which
God might smile on me. But rather, I offer God what
God gave, what God is, His Son. And God says, that's enough.
And God says in my conscience, that's enough. And that'll give
you rest. Come then, come now to Christ
and rest. Come on. Right now. Right now. Right where you are. Without
saying a word. Without moving a muscle. Come rest in Christ. If you do, then you will find
Isaiah's prophecy fulfilled. You will begin to call the Sabbath
a delight. The only way on this earth anybody
ever called the Sabbath a delight was knowing what it is. I remember
when I met you. You may remember what I'm about
to tell. Janine was a conference up in Darlington, England. Her daddy called me over there
to preach. 1987, was it? I think, 87 or 88, somewhere
in there. And we were all sitting around
after lunch on Sunday afternoon. Services were over, and she and
the Jell-It boys were standing around like this. And I said, what y'all want to
do? And they looked at me like, dude, this is Sunday. We don't
do Sunday. I said, y'all want to play some
ball? You would have thought I asked if they wanted to go skinny dipping.
I mean, folks looked at me like, boy, did you say play ball? This
is the Sabbath. We don't keep a Sabbath day.
Christ is our Sabbath day. We rest in Him. We rest in Him. Do you understand the difference?
We're not law observers, we're Christ worshipers. We worship
God in the spirit and rest in Christ the Lord. All right now,
look at verses 4 through 19. Here we see the Lord God bestowing
a great honor upon the children of Israel. He so highly honored
them that he allowed every man and woman in the nation of Israel
to have a hand in making the tabernacle. Everybody, everybody,
everybody. Without question, God didn't
need their assistance. Everything the children of Israel
brought to Him is what God had given them. And yet the Lord
God condescended to use the people He brought out of Egypt to establish
His place of worship and all things connected with His worship
while they were in this wilderness. Look at verse 4. And Moses spake
unto 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, an offering of the Lord. Verse 10. And every
wise hearted among you, shall come and make all that the Lord
hath commanded, the tabernacle, his tent, and his covering, his
touches, and his boards, his bars, his pillars, and his sockets. I was reading that over again
just a few minutes ago, before services, I thought, that's wonderful.
God used personal pronouns of the masculine gender referring
to these things. He said, his taxes, his bars,
because the tabernacle is all about person, him, the Lord Jesus. The ark and the stays thereof
with the mercy seat and the veil of the covering, verse 18. the
pins of the tabernacle, and the pins of the court and their cords,
the claws of service to do service in the holy place, the holy garments
for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons to minister
in the priest office. Now, that's a great, great privilege. God said to the children of Israel,
Moses, you tell them to bring anything they want to. You tell
them to bring whatever gifts they want to bring and let's
do this thing. Oh, what a privilege. Would you
like to have been there? Here Lord, take some gold. I
don't need that watch. Silver, I've got a piece of silver
here somewhere. You're going to use that? I can have a hand in this? Most
folks wouldn't speak to me. I can have a hand in this? I
can be an instrument in your hands to build for you a house
of worship where your son is honored, where your law goes
forth, where your sacrifices are made, where you worship,
where your glory is revealed. Oh, great as those privileges
were, they're nothing compared. to the high, high honor and extraordinary
privileges the Lord God has placed upon you and me, upon this assembly,
upon these preachers, upon every believing sinner in this world. You see, God Almighty has chosen us as his witnesses. His servants in this world. What a word. Just listen to the
scriptures while you turn into 2 Corinthians. Just listen while
you turn. Please listen. God says, ye are
my witnesses, my servant whom I have chosen, that ye may know
and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me there
was no God formed. Neither shall there be after
me. I, even I, am the Lord, and beside
me there is no Savior. I have declared, and I have saved,
and I have showed, when there was no strange God among you.
Therefore, ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am your
God. Fear ye not. Neither be afraid,
have not I told thee from that time and have declared it? Ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? Yea,
there is no God, I know not any. Our Lord Jesus came to his disciples
and showed them his hands and his side. Then were his disciples glad
when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again,
peace be unto you. As my father hath sent me, even
so send I you. Brother Gabe Starnaker, the Son
of God has sent you and your wife, you men and women here
who know God. He sent you and me into this
world on exactly the same mission His Father sent Him into this
world. Paul calls us laborers together
with God. Laborers together with God. He shall be witness unto me in
Jerusalem, in Judea, In Samaria, under the uttermost part of the
earth. Now, look at the witness he tells us to declare. Witnesses. That word witness, the word that's
translated witness throughout the New Testament. Anybody know
what that word is? Anybody know what it is? If you
were to write it out, just transliterate it. To translate a word from
one language to another, you give another word. When you transliterate
it, you will just simply take the word from that language and
spell it out in the language you're translating. In our King
James Bibles, the word baptize is not a translation. It's a
transliteration. It is just written out. The Greek
letter is written out in English letters. It means to immerse,
to dip, to plunge. This word witness. Got a pencil
handy? Let me tell you how you spell
it. M-Y, or M-A-R-T-Y-R. Martyr. Martyr. Martyr. The Lord didn't say,
you made me! He said, you are my martyrs. Martyr. A martyr is a man or
a woman. who lays down his life in a cause,
willingly. He lays down his life in a cause,
willingly. And our Savior tells us the cause.
Look here at 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17. We're sent as God's
messengers, his witnesses, to declare to the world the gospel
of his grace that you've just heard. for the building of his
church and kingdom. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
that's where salvation is. He's a new creature. A new creature. We use the word regeneration.
That's not really a good word. He's a new creature. The old
man not been regenerated. It's a new man been put in. The
new man created in righteousness and true holiness, made partakers
of the divine nature. Now this man who's a new creature,
this woman who's a new creature, old things are passed away. Forget
it. Forget it. It's gone. God forgot
it. God help you too. Behold, all
things have become new. And all this is God's work. All things are of God. This salvation
is God's doing, not man's. All things of God, who hath reconciled
us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry
of reconciliation, the service of calling sinners to be reconciled
to God. To wit, God was in Christ, reconciling
the world. Read that this way, because that's
what it means, the world of his elect. Reconciling his elect,
wherever they're found in all the world, calling the world
to be reconciled unto himself. not, God was in Christ rather,
reconciling the war of his life to himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of
reconciliation. Now then, we're ambassadors for
Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's
stead, quit fighting God. Be you reconciled to God. Trust His Son! Trust His Son! For He, the Son of God, the Lord
Jesus Christ, God the Father, hath made Him to be sin for us. An awful, horrid, obnoxious,
filthy, vile, God-opposing, God-raping, God-hating, God despising things
sin. God made Him to be sin for us,
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. Now what is it you're upset with? Why are you fighting God? What
are you holding back there? We then, as workers together
with Him, beg you also that you receive not the grace of God
in vain. Oh, may God have mercy on you
and don't let you walk out of this building tonight having
heard these messages for no good to your soul. Receive not the message of God's
free grace in vain, but take it to your heart and kiss the
sword in sweet repentance and faith. Now look at verses 20
through 29 in Exodus 35. And let's think for a minute
about the people God uses and the gifts we bring to him by
which he's honored and served. But before looking at these verses,
let's apply the passage as personally as possible. Take a minute and
look around you. Kim, look at that husband of
yours. Look at her. Look beside yourself. And behold the people God uses
to build his kingdom in this world. God uses to build his kingdom
in this world. The people God uses to spread
the gospel to the four corners of the earth. The people God
uses to call out his elect in every generation. He said, the foolish, the weak. the base, the things that are
despised, things which are not, not, things
that are just as good as if they didn't exist, things that are
not, despised. You know the folks that you go
to school with and nobody pays any attention to them, just hope
they stay out of their way. You know, the folks in your neighborhood
you grew up with, and mom and dad used to say, stay with me.
You stay with me. You know, the folks in your family
that you just don't want to have around much. Things are despised. The nothings, the nobodies, the
weak, the dirty, the vile, the insignificant of this world.
These things God has chosen to bring to naught the things that
are. to save his elect. Why on earth would God use such
things as we are, Mike? I'm looking in any direction
to find something better to use. In any direction. Why would God
use such things as you and me for the spread of the gospel
of his grace to build his kingdom? That no flesh should glory in
his presence. What you got to brag about? Paul
said, we have this treasure. He's talking about the treasure
of the gospel of God's grace. This treasure. This treasure. What a treasure. In earthen vessels. Earthen vessels. Those are clay
pots. clay pots that aren't worth anything.
You dig these up in an archaeological dig, they won't be worth anything.
They're just smashed to crumbs. We have this vessel, the treasure
of God, in these earthen vessels. And carry the treasure everywhere
God put it. Look at this treasure. Let's
take a look. How does God have this treasure?
It's free. It's free? Come, take the treasure! Come, take the treasure! It's
Jesus Christ crucified. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels that the excellency, the power may be of God and not
of us. And this treasure of redemption
and righteousness and sanctification in Jesus Christ, our crucified
Redeemer, is what's portrayed in all the sacrifices of this
tabernacle. Who are the people God uses to
honor himself? Who are those people used to
make this tabernacle? Well, in verse 20 we're told
that they were a chosen covenant people. The congregation of the
children of Israel. And the offering they brought,
verse 21, was the Lord's offering. Only what God had given them.
That which really was the Lord's. And that which they acknowledged
to be the Lord's. And then in verses 22 through 25, we'll see
that both men and women, rich and poor, the rulers and the
laborers worked together and brought their offering to the
Lord. Each one serving God with what God had given him in the
capacity God had given to him in the place where God had put
him. Your pastor talked about when
I first called him about coming up here. I'm sure he's told you
this before. If he didn't, he won't mind me
telling you. If he does, that's too bad. He first moved down to Nashville,
Tennessee. I first met Clay when he was
about 16, 17 years old. And he wasn't near as interested
in me as he was in my daughter. I knew that. But we got to be
friends anyway. And he wrote a book. paper, I forgot where, I've got
it somewhere, I follow those things, usually keep them, and
I kept this one. He wrote an article about something
about theology or religion or something, I don't know what
it was, I've forgotten, and I sat on it for a while, but he's a
friend, and I thought he needs some help. His grandfather was
a dear friend of mine, pastored down in Arkansas for 40, what,
44 years, and after a few weeks I wrote to him. I said, Clay,
Thank you for the article. And I probably said it pretty
good. It probably was. But I said, you need to find, need to recognize
something. Nobody's interested in hearing
you. Nobody's interested in the opinion you've got about anything.
Nobody. I said, what you need to do is
go over to the church there and get in Marvin Stoniker's hip
pocket and follow him around and just do whatever you can
to serve God in his church and maybe you'll learn to serve him
and God might just use you. And he did. And he did. Where do you serve God? Where
he puts you. Where he puts you. In the capacity with which he
gives you. With what he puts in your hand.
You can't serve God like Henry Mahan or Scott Richardson. You're
not Henry Mahan or Scott Richardson. You can't serve God like Clay
Curtis, your pastor, or even as his wife. You're neither the
pastor nor his wife. But you can sure enough serve
God if you want to. You can do anything you have
the opportunity and the ability to do for the cause of Christ.
That's what you can do. That's what it is to serve God.
What did you have in mind? Just exactly what was it you
had in mind? The children of Israel came with what God gave
them, in the capacity God gave them, in the place where God
put them. And we're told that the men and
women, as many as were willing-hearted, and every man, and all the women
that were wise-hearted, did spin with their hands. And those whose
hearts the Lord stirred up wisdom as spun goat's hair. And the
offerings were offerings of willing hearts. Willing hearts. Some of our congregations
here, and they will verify what I'm telling you, I don't put
folks under pressure to do anything, ever. Ever. All you've got to do to keep
me from asking is say no one time. That's all you've got to
do. That's all you've got to do. I understand. I understand.
I understand. If the thirst be a willing mind,
it is a sect that according to that a man hath, and not according
to that he hath not. God Almighty is only served by
volunteers. He won't have any other kind
of servants. He won't have any other kind. Somebody says, well,
I ran from the Lord for 10 years before I surrendered to preach
hogwash. He didn't do any such thing.
God Almighty is only served by volunteers, folks who want to
serve Him. I remember the first time I was
asked to stand before some folks and do something called preaching.
I was 17 years old, hadn't been saved long, and I didn't know
how to read, let alone write, and I'm not stretching that at
all. I just, I'd bluffed my way through school, hadn't learned
anything. And folks, want me to tell folks what the Lord's
done for me. Me, and you know what I couldn't
find a way to do? Mike, I couldn't find any way
on this earth to say no. I just couldn't find a way to
say it. How can I not tell what I know? How can I not speak for
God? How can I hold back what God's
given me opportunity to do? God's people are folks who willingly
serve Him. God's servants are folks who
willingly serve Him. They go to church because they
want to. They give because they want to. They go to mission because
they want to. They go preach the gospel because
they want to. They give up much because they want to. They surrender
much because they want to. Help us! The love of Christ constrains
us. The love of Christ constrains
us. Constrains us. You know what
that word means, really? It leaves us no choice. It just gives us no choice. It
gives us no choice. I recall when Shelby and I were
dating, I asked her to marry me. Some of you heard me joke
about it with Will a little bit ago. I really was just 17 years
old. And she looked at me and said,
you don't know what you want. You're crazy. So I proceeded
to court her. And I courted her. I mean, I'd
drive five miles across town to carry her books a half a block
every day. Every time I could get her to
go out with me, every night of the week, we'd go to McDonald's
and ask her what flavor milkshake she wanted. That's the best I
could do. And I'd buy her a milkshake and courted her. I even one time
decided to take her, first time we dated, I took her out to the
steakhouse. Oh, man, that was a tear. I'd never been to a steakhouse
before. I didn't know there were such
things until Ponderosa Steakhouse came to Western Southern North
Carolina. And it was a steak house, so I went and picked her
up and she got all gussied up. Only time I've ever seen her
with long ear bobs on. Had her hair up and one of them beehive
things up. Had on a long blue dress with
a white, whatever you call that stuff in the front. Oh, man,
she looked pretty. Boy, did she look pretty. And
I put on the best suit I had. And everybody else at Ponderosa
had on big overalls and cowboy boots. But I did the best I could
do. And kept courtin' her, and kept
courtin' her. And finally, before I was 18 years old, we were in
Mountains, North Carolina at my aunt's house, and uncle's
house, and everybody else was goin' to bed, and I got down
on my knees beside the couch, and I said, Shelby, would you
marry me? And you know, she about jumped
off the couch to say yes. You know how come? Because I didn't
give her any choice. I had loved her so she just couldn't
resist anymore. Oh, hear me. Quit laughing and
hear me. The love of Christ constrains
us. He died for me. And he died for
us that we for whom he died should no longer live to ourselves. but to him who loved us and gave
himself for us. Oh, what a privilege. What a
privilege. Now, let me show you one more
thing. I'll wrap this up. Verses 30 to 35. Bezalel and
Aholam certainly typify our Lord Jesus Christ, who builds his
church. As is often the case in scripture,
the names given to these two men and their ancestors are highly
significant. Bezalel means in the shadow of
God or the protection of God. Let me tell you that's Christ.
He is himself the protection of his people. He is the revealer
of God who is the image of God. His name means the tent of the
Father. And the word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. But just briefly, I want you to see that these two
men were also representative of those men who are called and
gifted of God to lead his people, building his house, his church,
and his kingdom. Bezalel and Aholahab clearly
represent faithful pastors, gospel preachers, men appointed as overseers
in his house. I just found out recently, I'd
always been mistaken about my family tree. I don't know much
about it, but I found this much out. Fortner, those were fellows
who were doorkeepers. Both in Germany and in Scotland.
Doorkeepers. Doorkeepers in the king's palace
particularly. Doorkeepers of royalty. My name
is Pastor Doorkeeper. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in
the house of God than anything on this earth. Oh, my soul. God's given me the
privilege of preaching the gospel of his grace. What a privilege. What an honor. 68 now. In whatever years God
has appointed me, I hope to squeeze more into those remaining years
of service to my Redeemer and His cause and His people than
I have ever done in the past 51 years. Oh, what a privilege. What a privilege to serve God
Almighty. to call out his elect, to build
his kingdom, to build the church for his dear son, of which his
son is the head, the Lord, and the king. See, the Lord hath
called me by name, Ezekiel, the son of Uriah, the son of Her,
of the tribe of Judah. He hath filled him with the Spirit
of God. and wisdom, and understanding,
and knowledge. Verse 34, he hath put in his
heart that he may teach both he and Aholam, the son of Ahishamac
of the tribe of Dan. Them hath he filled with wisdom
of heart to work. Like Bezalel and Aholam, God's
servants are divinely called. They're filled with the spirit
of God. They're gifted with wisdom, understanding,
and knowledge to perform the work to which they're called.
They are cunning. That word doesn't mean deceitful.
That means skillful. They're skillful men. They're
workmen, workmen, workmen, workmen, workmen. I want to tell you something
about faithful pastors. They work. They work. I had somebody bragging on you
recently. They were really bragging on
you. They knew to whom they were bragging to. They were what I
expect. They said, Brother Don, he's
in his office every day from early morning to supper time.
I said, great, that's where he needs to be. That's where he
needs to be. What? What? God's servants are
workers. We beseech you, brethren, to
know them which labor among you and are over you in the Lord
and admonish you. And esteem them very highly in
love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves.
Little did Bezalel and Aholam know. that while they were making
bricks in Egypt, while they were making bricks
in Egypt, little did they know, little
did I know, when I was working 16 hours a day, seven days a
week, spinning cotton at Wrister Mills in Winston-Salem, North
Carolina, little did they know that under the lash of cruel
taskmasters, the God of glory, was preparing them to be skilled
artisans by whom he would erect a tabernacle in the wilderness
for his worship. This is God's work. This is God's
work. What a high honor God has given
us. Let us be found faithful in the
work to our dying breath for Christ's sake. I got word this
morning, earlier this morning, one of our men, Brother Bobby
Estes, had gone home. The Lord called him home. Frankly,
I expected him to call him home sometime in the next week or
two, but not quite so soon. He fell and broke some ribs several
weeks ago, ripped his spleen up before he got to the hospital.
He lost a lot of blood. He's waited a long time to go,
but that's all right. This is God's time. This is God's
time. And God called him home. Let me tell you about Bobby.
Let me tell you about him. God saved Bobby Estes 32 years
ago. He's married to Judy Estes. Some
of you remember Judy Montgomery. She's our pianist for 23 years.
And when Judy and Bobby were about to get married, she came
asking if I'd marry him. I said, of course I will. I said, just
one thing, you realize who you're marrying. I said, he has no interest
in God or the things of God. He goes to church. He was a member
of church out at Heights. Well, back to church. I said,
yeah, that's why I said he doesn't know God or anything about the
things of God. I said, don't expect him to change. And don't browbeat him. Don't
do it. Be a good wife to him. Love him.
Don't let him keep worshiping God. Come worship God. But this
is what you're getting. And she did. He came, worshiped,
probably stayed at home. Once in a while he'd come on
a Sunday morning, just once in a blue moon. And one Sunday morning
I announced, starting on Tuesday night that week, I'm going to
be preaching a series of messages of what's called the Doctrines
of Grace, being called Five Points of Calvinism. He was on that
Tuesday night. And he'd been sitting, gave one
seat behind you, every service since. Hadn't missed a one. I
mean, hadn't missed a one, except when he'd go down to visit his
brother Maurice, who was a pastor down in Madisonville. And always
there. Always there. About 29, 30 years
ago, He saw that grass out in our
large lots there never needed mowing. He bought him a lawnmower. At first with a tractor, and
then he bought him a lawnmower. And he mowed the yard 10 acres
of ground. He mowed about seven of it every
week. Never called me. Never asked
about it. Just did it. Just did it. And I never called on Bobby
to speak. He couldn't do that. He would
read scripture and lead us in prayer. He was nervous doing
that. That's all. I never heard him give an opinion
about how things ought to be done at church. Not one time.
Did you, Mark? Never heard. Never heard him
offer advice to how things ought to be done. That's a rare churchgoer. Never heard any advice. He was
just there. Always there. Always faithful.
Last few years, nobody knows this except me and Shelby sometimes. Nobody else. I guess it's all
right for me to tell it now. Almost every time I left town to go
somewhere and preach, Bobby would meet me at the door, shake hands,
put a little phone money in my hand. Almost every time. Almost
every time. He's gone now. He was called of God. to serve him
in his generation and he served him faithfully. God give me grace to faithfully serve you in my
generation unto my dying breath for the glory of your son and
the building of your kingdom. and grant that grace to this
congregation and these pastors for Christ's sake. Amen.