Now let's take our Bibles and
turn back to Exodus chapter 31. Our lesson tonight is about the
ministry of God, those who are called of God to perform that
work. When we think of the work of
God, we think about creation, we think about God speaking this
universe into existence. We think about mighty works of
God. He split the sea through His
servant Moses. He held that staff out and that
great sea stood up as walls of water on each side and several
million people marched across that sea on dry land after that
wind of God prevailed and dried it all out. They went across
on dry land. They didn't have mud on their
shoes. when they stepped up on the shore on the other side.
I think about Him backing that river up, that Jordan River at
flood tide. Backed that river up, made it
stand still as Israel crossed across. Making the sun to stand
still in the sky. I think of mighty things when
I think of the work of God, but we seldom think about the work
of God in men. That same God who spoke this
universe into creation, Paul said, the same God who commanded
that light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts. That
same God who commanded things that weren't to be, who made
these things from nothing, he said, He spoke to us. He spoke to us. and shined in
our hearts. He commanded that gospel to be
preached and shined that light in our hearts, that light of
the glorious gospel of Christ. And God works in men. He works
in men unto salvation. Paul said, let every man work
out his own salvation in fear and trembling, for it is God
who worketh in you. both to will and to do of His
good pleasure. And like I told you Sunday, you
can't reason by yourself. But when the Lord says, come
let us reason together, then you can reason. You can reason. How come you can reason? Because
God works in you. He which hath begun a good work
in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ." So when
we think about the works of God, the mighty works of God, that's
okay to think about that, but let's not do it to the exclusion
of God working in men. And then God works in men unto
salvation, and God works in men, some men, to the ministry, and
gifts them to do certain things, and that's what this lesson is
all about. As Moses penned the words of
Exodus chapter 31, the Holy Ghost inspired him to mention two men
in his account of the building of the tabernacle. Bazaliel,
or Bazaliel, however you want to pronounce it, and Aholiab.
These two men, who were they? Nobody, really. Nobody. Until God gifted them. until
God gave them his gift. Bazaliel means to bear the name
of two. That's what his name means. It
means also in the shadow of God. And we might well think about
that when we're talking about a man here gifted to build the
tabernacle. And Paul tells us in Hebrews
chapter 10, the law having a shadow of good things to come. This
man walked in God's shadow. He walked in the light of that
revelation of God concerning that type. And then a holy ad
means the tabernacle of his father or his father's tent or a covering
from his father. Now, there can be little doubt
that the first application of these two men is to our Savior
Himself who built all things. He built all things. He tells
us over there in Hebrews 2, verse 3, that this great salvation
at the first began to be spoken by our Lord. That's the first
application. He first began. This gospel age
first began under the preaching of the gospel by our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ, and then confirmed unto us by those who
heard Him. And then in Hebrews chapter 3,
verse 3, he tells us that this man, Jesus Christ, was counted
worthy of more glory than Moses inasmuch as he who hath builted
the house hath more honor than the house. Moses was faithful,
he said, over all his house as a servant for a testimony of
those things which were to be spoken after, which is what we're
going to talk about tonight. And Moses was faithful in that.
God said, you see that you build this thing according to the pattern
that I showed you in the mount. And he was faithful in those
things, faithful over his house to do those things. But Christ,
as a son over his own house, whose house are we, if we hold
fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. So Basaliel and Aholiab first
pictured Christ, especially as they performed the work of building
the tabernacle of God. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, tabernacled among us. But also these two men picture
God's preachers as they set before men the tabernacle of our God. Now let me just stop here and
tell you something. Where was God in the days of
Moses? Where was He? He wasn't on the
earth. Jesus Christ wasn't on the earth.
Where was He? He was in the heavens. Where
is He at today? He's in the heavens, isn't He?
So in order to set forth the salvation of God, this gospel
of God, a tabernacle must be constructed. Is that right? That tabernacle was constructed,
and I'm going to show you that here in just a little bit. That
tabernacle was constructed in just such a manner as to furnish
men a figure of this one who would come in time and accomplish
all the things that it pictured. It was set before them as the
basis and foundation of their faith. That tabernacle, that
priesthood, those sacrifices, all of those things. And I'll
show you that in the scriptures here in just a minute. So let me tonight just give you
three things about the ministry. And here's my point in all of
this. Here's what I'm going to be trying
to show you tonight. that just as that tabernacle
had to be set before Israel in order for them to believe, this
picture of this one who was to come, I look back at his coming
and I have to sit before God's Israel today. I have to do the
same thing, except I look back to the one who's already come,
and I have to take that That vision, take that revelation
and set it before men in order for them to believe. It is the
same thing. I am trying to draw a line here
in order for you to see what took place then is what is taking
place now. Now the first thing I want to
talk to you about is this tabernacle of God. This tabernacle of God
was necessary to the life and fellowship of Israel with God. Without this tabernacle, God
could not bless, He could not dwell with, or communicate any
blessings to His chosen people. He couldn't do it. Couldn't do
it. The fact that they could not
keep the law of God had already been established. Moses went
up on the mount to receive the law of God. Just a few chapters
back here in the book of Exodus. Went up on that mountain to receive
that law of God. While he was up there communicating
with God, Abram was down here taking the gold from these people
here that God had given to them by the Egyptians and molding
a golden calf and they were dancing naked around a fire while he
is up here receiving the holy law of God. And he come down
from the mountain and there they are. Can you imagine what he
felt in his heart when he looked down and saw them? I'm talking
about millions. I'm one of these old original
hippies. I used to go to rock festivals and there'd be thousands
of people at these big rock festivals. And he comes down from this mountain. You talk about Woodstock. He was looking out there on Israel.
better than two million people. I mean, they stretched out as
far as the eye could see. And he's looking out here, and
here they all are, dancing naked around fire. No telling what
they were smoking. This thing of keeping the law,
not being able to keep the law of God, had already been established. That's a given. They're not going
to keep this law. It's not going to happen. They
don't have the ability to do it. And the law, And then when
Moses went up the second time, God gave him the law and the
pattern for the tabernacle and the sacrifices and the priesthood. The law apart from this tabernacle
is nothing but a curse. Only by way of this tabernacle
could Israel serve God, be blessed of God, and continue in His favor. Their lives would be lived in
its court. In its court. I tell you, if
a single thing from that tabernacle is missing, God's curse fell
on Israel. You remember the Ark of the Testament.
The Philistines got it. What happened? The curse of God
on Israel the whole time. Their lives would be lived within
its courts. Their service would be in connection
with its purpose and design. Their cleansing must be before
its door. Their clothing must be put on
in view of it. And their anointing was to be
given as they stood before God's holy tabernacle. And indeed,
all of its furniture, its utensils, its incense, and its sacrifices
were absolutely necessary to the saving of their soul and
to the establishing of the faith of God's elect. God did not separate
to Himself a people and then leave them to their own vain
imaginations to devise a way to worship Him and serve Him.
And that is exactly what is going on in this age. Exactly what
is going on. And every time God withdrew His
presence from Israel, what did they do? They ran out according
to their own vain imaginations and they included all of the
worship of Baal and all the worship of these strange gods and they
began to go up on the mountains and make groves and beautiful
springs and built all these things. That reminds me of that crystal
cathedral out there. I don't even remember the guy's
name anymore. But anyhow, this is what men... Men look at these
big things. They look at these big cathedrals
and things and they think they worship God. God gave them instruction
on how to worship Him in this tabernacle. He did not make them priests
and then allow them to minister any way they wanted to and by
whatever means that they could think up. There wasn't any bus
ministries in history. Wasn't any bus ministry. Wasn't
any camp ministry. Wasn't any sports ministry. Wasn't
any music ministry in Israel. There was just one ministry,
and that was concerning the tabernacle of God. Turn with me to Hebrews
chapter 9. The only ministry ever set forth
in the Word of God is the ministry of the tabernacle. That's the
only one you're going to find. When the temple was constructed,
the ministry did not change. It remained exactly the same.
Now watch this here in Hebrews 9, verse 1. This is what we're
studying tonight. We're studying that old covenant
as it was given in type. And I want you to see it here
in the Scriptures. Ben Verily, the first covenant, had also
ordinances of divine service. and a worldly sanctuary. For
there was a tabernacle made, the first wherein was the candlestick,
and the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary.
And after the second veil, the tabernacle, which is called the
holiest of all, which had the golden censer and the Ark of
the Covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden
pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables
of the covenant, that is, the Ten Commandments. And over it
the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy seat of which we cannot
now speak particularly." And then he tells us about the service
accomplished by the priesthood and the service accomplished
by the high priest alone. And then he tells us in verse
8, The Holy Ghost, this signifying that the way into the holiest
of all was not yet made manifest while as the first was yet standing. They were a figure for the time
then present. You see that? A figure for what? A figure for faith. A figure
pointing to Christ. If you sought forgiveness for
sins, If you sought favor with God, you must by faith see these
figures as figures. To see these figures as only
ceremonies brought the curse of God on Israel every time they
did it. Read Isaiah chapter 1. He calls,
they were offering to God the very things that God commanded
them to offer. But they weren't offering them
looking in faith to Christ. Offering lambs. And then after
a while, they didn't just offer that unblemished lamb, but they
said, it's just a lamb. We're going to kill it anyway.
So this one over here is diseased. Let's take it. We'll kill two
birds with one stone. We'll take that old sick lamb
down there, and we'll offer him up, because he's going to die
anyway. They had no vision. They had no spiritual vision
to what that thing figured. And apart from that, you don't
have faith. And if you don't have faith,
it's impossible to please God. And he said, who commanded you
to come into my court? Who told you to offer up these
vain oblations and hold your hands up? And he said, in these
holy days and new moons and all these things that you're doing,
who told you to do that? No faith. No faith. Just ceremonies. Just ceremonies. And that's what
I'm seeing. I'm seeing it everywhere right
now in our day. I'm seeing it everywhere. Just
ceremony. Just come to the front. Come
to the synagogue. Come to the pool. Fulfill this. We're going to give you a job.
About the second day you join the church, you got a job of
some kind. Big title, whatever it is. Just ceremony. Just empty, hollow,
dead letter ceremony. Through the ministry of God's
priesthood and the tabernacle of God, chosen sinners were reconciled
to God. Look with me over to Romans chapter
3. Let me read a couple of verses
over here to you. What's the point I'm trying to
make? I'm trying to show you that these
figures in the Old Testament were not just figures for people
in the New Testament. I'm telling you they were figures
for the time then present. That's what he says in Hebrews
9. Not for this time, but for that time then present they were
figures. These men were to look at them,
recognize the fact that they were figures, and look ahead
to the one whom they figured. Now watch this here in Romans
3. Verse 24, being justified freely by His grace, Through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth
to be a propitiation, a mercy seat. Through faith in His blood
to declare His righteousness, now watch this, for the remission
of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. What
in the world is he talking about? Is he saying there God only forgives
your past sins? No, sir. He's telling you this
is how those Old Testament saints were justified before God, through
the forbearance of God. They looked forward. They looked. God sent the sacrifice of His
Son. He said it before them in figure. that propitiation, that one way
that God could be approached. He said it before then in figure,
in the tabernacle, the sacrifices, the mercy seat, all of those
things. He said it before. And through
faith in His blood, not that blood of that goat or that sheep
or that calf, but through His blood that would come in time.
And through faith in that, they were justified before God. And
God declared Himself righteous. because he is both just and justifier
of that man who believed that. That's Old Testament. That's
clear back in the days of Moses that this was done. The tabernacle
was absolutely necessary to the salvation of their souls and
to the knowledge of it upon which
their faith was established so that God's righteousness could
be seen And he could be declared as just and justifier. Well,
preacher, you saying that Moses preached Christ? That's exactly
what I'm telling you. And I'm not the first one to
say it. Christ said it first. Listen to what he tells those
Jews. He said in John 5, verse 46, he said, for had you believed
Moses... What Moses got to do with all
this? He died a long time ago. Thousands of years back. Had
you believed Moses, you would have believed me, for he wrote
of me. I can't find anywhere in there
where he wrote about Jesus and David. Yeah, he wrote about it. Now listen to this. But if you
believe not his writings, how shall you believe my words? How
are you going to do it? Because way back yonder is where
the foundation was established. Way back there. If you don't
believe him, you ain't going to believe me. Because we're
saying the same thing. We're pointing to the same person.
The same person. Here's my second point. God gave Moses this vision. This is God's prophet. He gave him this vision in the
mount. I'm persuaded, Brother Don's
persuaded, Brother Henry's persuaded, every gospel preacher I've ever
talked to is persuaded that that vision that he gave Moses on
that mount was the Lord Jesus Christ. And I believe that's
what Moses was doing on that mount of transfiguration. They
were talking about his exodus. They were talking about his death. And that's what this book, Exodus,
is all about. God gave Moses this vision. Now,
somebody has to take the vision that God gave to His prophet
Moses and set it in a seeable fashion before Israel. Something has to be made. Something
has to be set before the people that they can see and understand
and know what it is that salvation is all about. It has to be set
before them. The vision must become practical. It had to be built. It had to
be fashioned. It had to be set up before the
people so that they might see and believe. And surely, surely
by now those of you who have been studying with me in these
books of Genesis and Exodus know something of the minute detail
of the tabernacle and its furnishings. My soul of the intricate needlework
involved in this thing and the setting of stones in that garment
of the priesthood and the beating down of gold into fine threads
and weaving that thread into that material and all those things. I'm going to tell you what, the
average Joe can't do that. He can't do that. He just can't
do that. Not just anybody could accomplish
this work. There was extraordinary detail
in the pattern God gave to Moses on the map. And so God gives
two men in particular and some others along with them to take
what is in word only and make it a reality in Israel. And of
these men mentioned here in Exodus 31, we're told three things.
First of all, in verse 3, we're told that they were filled with
the Spirit of God. Now, I've told you this before,
and I'm going to tell you again. And next week, I'm going to tell
you again. And the week after that, Lord willing, I'm going
to tell you again because we're so quick to forget. But I want
you to look there in verse 3 and notice that this Spirit of which
they were filled is not the Holy Spirit. That's a small s. Do you see that? That's a small
s. Do you remember what I've told
you about the word spirit when you see the small s on it? It
means spiritual revelation. It means the teaching of the
Holy Spirit. God filled them with a knowledge
and understanding of the Holy Spirit. He made them to understand
what this Christ was all about, this coming Redeemer. These men
were gifted with a spiritual discernment. They heard Moses
speak to them about these things, and they knew what he was talking
about. These men are pictures of gospel preachers, but no man
can preach what he don't understand. You have to be given a gift of
discernment, a gift to understand. We're taught in John 6 that a
man has to be taught of God to come to Christ. That coming is
faith. That's what he's talking about
there. That is the act or the principle of faith. When we come
to Christ, we believe on Him and so on. And this coming, as
it's called in in this verse is talking about faith. You can't
call on or believe in an unknown God, and so you must be taught
of God. And so it is with preaching.
You can't preach what you don't know anymore, and you can come
back from somewhere you haven't been. A man said, well, I believe,
I believe, I believe, and then he stands up and preaches something
totally out in the middle of nowhere. Well, they only leave
me with one conclusion. He don't know what he's talking
about. Is that right? I don't tell you he's lost or
saved or whatever. I'm going to tell you he ain't
called of God. God don't have eight or ten different messages
that he reveals to his preachers. He just has one message. They
all preach the same thing. Here's all these men involved
in building this ark. Basaliel didn't do everything
on there. He didn't do all the gold and
the inlay and the overlay and building tables and hewing wood
and cutting down. He didn't do it all. And the
holy head didn't do it all. And then there was many who were
wise hearted that God gave to them this wisdom too. And they
were over there working it. They built one tabernacle. One
tabernacle. They built that thing exactly
as Moses was given the vision on the mount. If it wasn't exactly
according to that pattern, God would never have blessed him.
Now you think about that. And what I'm saying is God's
preachers all say the same thing. They're working in unison. They're
not butting heads and arguing all the time. They're working
in unison. We're preaching the same message.
They're just one spirit. Spirit of God don't tell me something
and then tell you something different. He tells us the same thing. These
men are pictures of gospel preachers, but no man can preach what he
don't understand. God gifted these two men and
others with them with spiritual discernment. And then secondly,
what's this? God gave them wisdom. God gave
them wisdom. Everybody in this place tonight
ought to know by now that Christ is our wisdom. That's our wisdom. He gave them Christ. He gave
them an understanding of Christ. And that's why they could Well,
who in the world would even have known what a cherubim was? Who
ever seen a cherubim? But they put that cherubim right
on that veil that hung down and they put those cherubims on different
things in the tabernacle. Well, how would they know to
do that? God gave them wisdom. He gave them wisdom. And I don't
care how smart or how successful or how prudent a man is, if he
doesn't have Christ, he's not a wise-hearted man. He's just
not. Take Christ out of the tabernacle
and all you've got is a tent. And then thirdly, he gave them
knowledge. Knowledge comes by the Word of
God. These men listened to God's prophet. They listened to it. They listened
to what Moses said. I'd like to have a nickel for
everybody that's come in here who sat back there like this,
did that all through the service and didn't hear a word I said
went out the door. I could fill up a five-gallon
bucket with nickels. He gave them knowledge. How'd
they get it? They listened to God's prophet. They listened to him. Listened
to what he was saying and understood it. And his words were the foundation
for all that they did. And God's preachers in verse
6 are pictures of wise-hearted men, gifted of God to make all
that He commanded them to make. God's preachers who are gifted
of God take that which the Holy Ghost reveals to them and sets
it in all of its glory before God's elect. They were cutting
works of gold and silver and brass and cutting of stones and
carving of timber, coverings with fine embroidery and castings
and utensils to be formed and timbers to be hewn, fasteners
to be made, boards to be cut. And some of these were like Paul
who called himself an apostle of Christ and as an apostle of
Christ called himself a wise master builder. These apostles,
I can't say that of myself, but Paul could. It could be said
of him, he was a wise master builder. He wasn't one whit behind
the chiefest of the apostles. And this wood must be properly
joined by pins and castings and coverings must be hung in their
proper order. Everything must be done a certain
way, in a certain shape, in a certain color, and of a certain number. Now, those of you who have been
here in these studies, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
There was this many coverings, and there was that many of this,
and this many boards, and so many castings, and all of these
things, exactly in number, exactly in color. It was to be this color
and that color and another color. And this building of the tabernacle
is an exacting business. God telling Moses to see that
he did it exactly as he was shown in the mount. And then notice
this, that Bezalel and Aholiab were not alone involved in the
business, but God gifted a lot of people, a lot of people to
help. And there was a lot of hands
involved in the work with Vesaliel and Aholiac. But the details
and the actual producing of the piece was done by them. God gifted
them in a certain manner. He could take those now. I tell
you, I love woodworking. And I used to love reading woodworking
books. And I got one one time on wood
carving. And I saw some of the most gorgeous
cabinet doors I ever looked at in my life, just carved out in
detail. And I ran right down to the little
hobby shop and bought me some carving tools and went home.
And mine didn't look nothing like that. You know why? I'm not gifted
to carve. That's why. But he gifted them. And they could do those things.
And you wonder sometimes, Preacher, how did you see that? I've read
that a thousand times. Because God gave it to me. It
doesn't have anything to do with me. It has to do with Him. His
gifts. He gifts His preachers. He gives
them the spirit of discernment and understanding. And they're
able to dig in the mind and go through the treasures and set
pieces before you. God gifts them to do that. And
we receive them. We look at them. We benefit from
them. There wasn't anybody in Israel
that didn't benefit from that tabernacle. And then last of all, let me
show you this. Christ is our tabernacle. We take the things that the Holy
Spirit reveals to us about Christ, His atoning blood and all those
things, the mercy seat, what that is, going beyond the veil,
what that is. We take all of those things and
we declare those things to the people. But first and foremost,
here's what we tell the people. Christ is our tabernacle. That's
the tabernacle. That's the one. That old tabernacle
was just a figure for the time then present. That's all it was.
But this one is forever. This one is forever. Listen to
this here in Hebrews 9 verse 11. But Christ being come a high
priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of that building,
that first building, neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us." Now, if Christ be our tabernacle,
should we not serve God in Him? Isn't that what they did? They
served God in the tabernacle. And if Christ be our tabernacle,
should not we serve God in Him to minister the things of God
to His elect? If Christ be our tabernacle,
should we not come before Him for our cleansing, for our clothing,
and for our anointing? Isn't that where we ought to
come? Isn't that where they were commanded to come even for their
consecration? to come before Him. If Christ
be our tabernacle, should we not worship Him by the substitutionary
offering of Himself to God? Is it not in this tabernacle
that sin is put away, atonement is accomplished, and intercession
is made? And indeed, if Christ is our
tabernacle, then let us forsake, not forsake these solemn assemblies. Do you know that all the solemn
assemblies had to do with the tabernacle? Every last one. And those assemblies were just
pictures of this assembly. That's all they were. That's
all they were. And they were commanded so many
times a year to all of them assemble together and come to this tabernacle
and do this and do that and this sacrifice and that sacrifice
and wave offerings. As we go through, we'll look
at all those things and see how they work and what they do, what
they picture in our day. Israel was commanded throughout
the year to assemble themselves and come to this tabernacle and
worship their God. And this is what He said, this
is where I'll meet with you in this tabernacle, in Christ. Now
where is Christ? Where is Christ set forth? Where was He set forth in Israel?
In the tabernacle. Wasn't any doubt about it. You
didn't go to the mountain. You didn't go to town, you didn't
go to city, you didn't go to Jerusalem, you went to the tabernacle. Because that's where God set
forth his son, in the tabernacle. Where is he set forth today?
In the preaching of the gospel, in the solemn assemblies of the
saints. So let's don't forsake that. The tabernacle is where God met
and blessed His people Israel. And in that tent given by God's
prophet and set before the people by God's servants, God saved
chosen sinners and justified them freely by His grace. That's how it works. We don't sit around and devise
up things. You do that, I'm telling you,
you'll be so upside down and backward you won't know which
end's up. Wouldn't it be a lot better just to do what God tells
us to do? Come where God tells us to come.
Bow before Him. Worship Him. There's nothing
in Him not to worship. My soul, this is God. Come into
the flesh. Why would we want to go anywhere
else? This is where we want to be.