About 15 years ago, Brother Stanley
Borders, who pastored for a long time over close to Washington,
D.C., was preaching with me and several others up at Fairmont,
West Virginia. He and Brother Scott Richardson
went to school together over here at Lexington a long time
ago. Brother Stanley was preaching
to us about the great certain victory of God's church and kingdom
over all things by Christ Jesus, our Lord. And in the process
of his message, he said, I've never been on the winning side
of anything in my life. He's I've been a cubby stand
all my life. And he said, but this is one sure thing. We're
going to try. Well, the reality is we all want
to be part of something big. and important and significant. We like to be a part of something
that can't be possibly denied and identified with that which
is great and significant. I've often told you that the
highest honor we can or do give to our God is faith in Christ. God is not more highly honored
by anything than he is by you believing him, by us trusting
him, trusting his son, trusting his purpose, his providence,
his grace, trusting him. That honors God. That honors
God. Faith is God's gift to us. No question about that. And faith
is our gift to him as well. Now tonight, I want to show you
some people who are part of something great. The Lord God said, them
that honor me, I will honor. And the title of my message is
The High Honor God Puts on His People. The High Honor God Puts
on His People. Turn with me to Exodus chapter
35. Exodus 35, and just hold your
Bibles open there. If you pull down commentaries
and start to read commentaries on the book of Exodus, you will
find that the majority of the commentaries, even the good ones,
barely mention chapters 35, 36, 37, 38, and 39, because they
are virtually identical to chapters 25 through 31, virtually identical. And so people look at them just
as a recapitulation of those earlier chapters and ignore them
as if they were redundant, as if they were really unnecessary,
as if they were really meaningless, just a repetition of words. Nothing
written in the book of God is redundant. Nothing written in
this book is repeated just to fill up space. The fact is, everything
written in the book of God is written for a specific purpose,
to teach us something specific. And when it is repeated, it is
repeated with reason. In fact, we're plainly taught
by our God to repeatedly teach the same thing with regard to
the gospel doctrine of Christ. In the mornings, in the evenings,
when you go out, when you come in, we're told in Deuteronomy
6-7, teach my law to your children. Paul wrote to the Philippians
and he said, for me it is not grievous to write the same thing
to you, but for you it's safe. And we're taught that's how we're
to teach men and women the gospel and how we're to preach the gospel.
If you are sharpening your pocket knife, you men, you take the
whetstone out and you give it a couple of licks. No, you take
that whetstone out and the more strokes, the better. The more
you do that, the sharper the knife is, if you do it right.
Now, unfortunately, I'm not much good at doing it right. But if
you do it right, it's just going to make that thing just shaved
with it. The more you stroke the whetstone. And so we repeat
the things of God and repeat them deliberately, just as we
find here, just as we find often in the book of the Psalms. But
there's something else even more significant than that. In chapters
25 through 31, we're given a description of the tabernacle as God gave
it to Moses in the mount. It's given as God gave it to
Moses in secret in the mount. The pattern of things that were
to come. the pattern of how he would save
his people, the pattern of how he would accomplish redemption
through Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, set forth in all the furnishings
and the services and the priesthood and the sacrifices and all the
tabernacle itself. The Lord showed Moses a pattern
of these things. Now we come in chapters 35 through
39. And it's not that which was given
in secret. But that which was given in secret
is fully accomplished and the tabernacle is erected. There's
something to be said for that. The fact is everything concerning
our redemption was purposed of God secretly in eternity. It was accomplished by our God
in sovereign predestination. I don't mean just that God planned
it, I mean He accomplished it. For God to will it is for it
to be done. The scriptures speak of us being
justified, sanctified, and glorified in Christ the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. And that's the way it really
was. But that does not mean that it's not going to come to pass
in time. It means it certainly shall come to pass in time. And
in time, we see that redemption which God purposed in eternity,
secretly, actually accomplished openly in this world, in this
age called the age of humanity on this earth. All right, now
let's begin in Exodus chapter 35 at verse 1. This chapter is all about serving
God. It's all about serving God. It's
about people bringing gifts to God. Women spinning, making things
on their spinning looms for God. Men breaking things off with
hammers and molding them for God and beating out plates of
gold for God. Serving God. It's all about serving
God. It's about intense labor. It's
about great sacrifice. And it begins with a command
to stop working. It begins with a command to keep
the Sabbath. In fact, this is the seventh
and the last time in the book of Exodus God mentions the Sabbath. Let's read it. Exodus chapter
3, or 35, verse 1. 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 ye should do
them. Six days shall work be done. But on the seventh day there
shall be unto you a holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord. Whosoever doeth work therein
shall be put to death. You mean preacher God would actually
kill a man for breaking the Sabbath? Absolutely. He still does. He still does. Not for breaking
a carnal Sabbath that men would impose, pretending to keep the
Sabbath given in the law. But God still destroys folks
who work on the Sabbath day. That is, men and women who attempt
in some way to put their hand to God's salvation. That's what
the Sabbath portrays. It pictures Jesus Christ, who
is our Sabbath, who brings us at last into an everlasting,
eternal Sabbath of rest in glory. Hebrews chapter 4 is so plain,
there's no mistaking that. Christ is our Sabbath. Until
we come to faith in Christ, there's no rest for our souls. Until
God gives us faith in his son, trusting Christ alone for all
righteousness, for all acceptance with God, for all redemption,
trusting Christ alone for our complete salvation, there's no
rest for our souls. And until you come to Christ,
until you come to rest in him, until you quit trying to work
your way to heaven, until you quit trying to do something to
appease God, you can never do anything for God. Word to God,
I could get the ear of this generation. People forever call them men
and women to start serving the Lord. You need to quit sinning
and start serving the Lord. God won't have your service.
He won't have your service. He won't have my service. You
can't do anything for God. He won't allow it. He won't receive
anything from you. Not one thing. The very plowing
of the wicked is an abomination to God. Is that the language
of this book? The very plowing of the wicked. The prayers of
the wicked are an abomination to God. God won't have anything
from you. Nothing. Until you cease from
your works Until you come to Christ Trusting Christ alone
as Savior and Lord and then you enter into this blessed Sabbath
But now there's something added here The Lord not only requires
us to keep this blessed Sabbath, but he adds another thing in
verse 3 Something that hasn't been mentioned before This wasn't
mentioned on Mount Sinai This wasn't mentioned anywhere prior
to this. You shall kindle no fire throughout
your habitations on the Sabbath day. Why did God add that? Why did God add that? And I'm
sure it's intended to show other things, perhaps, but it certainly
shows these things. Faith in Christ. Is a complete
cessation of works. a total dependence upon God. You don't even build a fire for
yourself. Don't even build a fire for yourself.
Nothing. Well, I wasn't intending to cook,
I just thought maybe I'd build a fire and have it here for the Lord
to work with. Faith in Christ is a complete ceasing of works. You do something, you do something
by which you hope to win God's favor, improve your standing
in God's favor, keep God's favor, you miss Christ altogether. Christ
shall profit you nothing. Not only that, faith in Christ
is the means by which God, the Holy Spirit, purges the guilty
conscience of guilt, of dead works, purges our consciences
of the tormenting fire of God's holy wrath. until Christ comes
and gives you faith, until you believe on the Son of God. You're
tormented day and night with the fear of judgment, with the
fire of God's wrath. But when you look away from self
to Christ, when you look away from your work to his work, when
you look away from your doings to his doings, there's no more
terror. No more dread. No more condemnation. But now, as God caused Abraham,
who believed him, to have righteousness imputed to him, so he imputed
the righteousness to everyone that believeth. And now, having
faith in Christ, we fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah, when he said,
Then shall you call the Sabbath a delight. Then shall you call
the Sabbath a delight. I recall my first trip to England. I was up there preaching when
I was 87, 1987. And we were out at a farm, had
lunch that day. And all the kids, all the young
people, I'm talking about little shavers, teenagers, they're standing
around like this all afternoon. And the theologians were aggravating
me to death. I was tired of it. I just, I said, y'all want to
play some ball? I think you would have thought
I'd gone to cussing. I mean, those fellows were shocked.
The kids were shocked to death. They'd be like, can we? But they didn't dare. They didn't
dare. Because they were keeping the
Sabbath. They were keeping the Sabbath, and there wasn't a frazzling
thing delightful about it. Nothing but torture, nothing
but torment, nothing but misery. God did not so ordain the Sabbath. The Sabbath of the Old Testament
was ordained for one reason, to teach sinners to rest in Jesus
Christ the Lord. Understand that, and rest in
Him. Oh, blessed, blessed rest. Now, When God does something
for you, God will let you do something for Him. When God gives
you something, God allows you to give something for Him. In
verses 4 through 19, we see the Lord God bestowing a great honor
upon the children of Israel. He so highly honors these people. Just stop and imagine. we got
before us. God Almighty is about to establish
publicly His worship in this world. God Almighty is about
to show the world how He saved sinners. God Almighty is about
to show the world not only the necessity of Christ's coming,
but how Christ shall come and fulfill all righteousness and
satisfy all justice by all the services and sacrifices and ceremonies
and priesthood and garments, everything involved in the tabernacle.
And he said, I wouldn't let you build this thing. I'm going to
let you build this thing. I'm going to let you build it.
He gave the pattern. He said, this is how it's going
to be made. This is how it's going to be done. He didn't need
them. He didn't need them. He could
easily have done it without them. There was no necessity for them
whatsoever. But God Almighty allows these
men and women whom he had brought out of Egypt to bring that which
they held in their hands by his gift and he used it for his glory
and the everlasting good of his people. Oh, what a high honor. Everything they brought to God,
God gave them. Everything they brought him.
There wasn't one thing they had that they had earned. Not one
thing. Everything they had, they had in their possession because
God caused the Egyptians to so want to get rid of them. They
said, here, take our diamonds and our rubies and our jewels
and our gold and our silver. Take it all. And then it destroyed
Pharaoh's armies. You read about it, the Song of
Moses. And they went back and gathered up the weapons off the
dead man on the seashore. He put all their heads and he
said, now, what you got in your hand? Well, I brought some blue,
I reckon something like blue wool. I brought some scarlet. I got a silver tray here my Egyptian
mistress gave to me. I've got a gold armband here
my Egyptian mistress gave me. Just bring whatever you want
to. Just bring it and we'll build this thing. We'll do this thing. Look at verses 4 and 5. And Moses
spake unto the congregation, all the congregation of the children
of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded,
saying, Take ye from among you an offering unto the Lord. Now
watch this. Whosoever is of a willing heart,
let him bring it an offering to the Lord. Oh, wait a minute,
this is a command. What a great command. If you
want to, you can obey it. What a great commandment. Oh,
I don't want to do it. Keep it. Keep it. God don't want it. He won't take
it. It'll just be a waste. You'd
be better off to spend it buying you some lottery tickets. God
won't have it. But God commanded. He commanded
Moses to take an offering. But watch this. Whosoever is
of a willing heart, let him bring it offering of the Lord. Look at verse 10. We can't read
this whole thing up, we'll never get it done. Verse 10, and every
wise-hearted among you, those who serve God willingly, they're
wise-hearted folks. Every wise-hearted among you
shall come and make all that the Lord hath commanded. The
tabernacle of his tent and his covering, his taches and his
boards, his bars, his pillars and his sockets, the ark and
the staves 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 and
the priest and the garments of his sons to minister in the priest
office. Oh, great is that privilege was. High as that honor is. Oh, my. Can you imagine? Wouldn't you like to be a part
of that, Bill? I'd like to be a part of that.
I gotta tell you, I'd like to be a part of that. Build that
tabernacle. The Ark of the Covenant. That's just about my most precious
possession next to the one who gave it to me. I'd sure like
to have given that. Make that mercy seat, wouldn't
you? Wouldn't you? Oh, what a great honor. If you
could pick up a mirror, child of God, I'm going to show you
somebody more highly honored than that. God Almighty takes
such things as you and me, such wretched, worthless, dirty, useless
pieces of sinful, fickle, unstable, frail human flesh and has put
in our hands the gospel of his grace and said, now carry it
to the world. Paul said, we have this treasure
in earthen vessels. God's put this treasure of his
grace in broken pieces of dirty pottery. like you and me, that
the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. Over
and over, he says, you shall be my witnesses. You shall be
my witnesses. You shall be my witnesses. And
cease to it we are. Turn to 1 Corinthians. Make it 2 Corinthians, chapter
5. 2 Corinthians 5. And listen to this. In John 20,
the Lord Jesus speaks to his disciples. And he said, he showed
them his hands and his side. And then were the 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. Bob Duff, God Almighty, put you
in this world for the same reason his son became human flesh. The saving of his people and
the glory of his name. For that reason, Just as my father
sent me, I've sent you. We have no other purpose for
existence except to serve him. Oh, what an honor. Look at 2
Corinthians 5. Look through this so many times,
it'll bear repetition. Verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. And all things are of God. This
is God's work altogether. Who hath reconciled us to himself
by Jesus Christ, and watch this, and hath given to us the ministry,
the service of reconciliation. To wit, that is, this is the
message of reconciliation. that God was in Christ reconciling
the world, the world of his elect, to himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them, and hath committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ.
As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's
dead, be you reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. We then, you see this? Verse
six, chapter six, verse one. We then, as workers together
with the triune God. I'm talking honor, high honor. incompatible honor as workers
together with the triune God beseech you also that you receive
not the grace of our God in vain. All right, back in our text.
Verses 20 through 29. Here we see the people God uses. And the gifts they bring to them. But looking at these verses before
we do, let's apply the passage personally. personally as possible. God uses the nothings and nobodies
of this world. You and me. You see your calling
brethren. Not many wise, not many mighty,
not many noble are called. God's chosen the foolish things
of the world. I don't know why particularly
preachers, particularly preachers, like to come off as brilliant
academics. I don't understand why. I don't understand why.
God never uses them. He never uses such. Never. God
uses simplicity. God uses simplicity. God uses
the foolish things of the world. Man alive, that fellow's a fisherman. I know him. I went to school
with him down in Galilee. His daddy and my daddy, they
were in the fishing business together. What does he know? He knows God. He knows the way of life because
God taught him. Well, how'd he learn that? God
taught him. How'd he do that? God taught him. Well, how'd God
teach him? God taught him. God taught him. These whom God uses are the most
unlikely of instruments. It's always been that way. It's
that way now, and it'll be that way tomorrow. Brother Don, I
don't think you ought to talk to us like that all the time.
I'm going to keep talking to you like that until you get the
lesson. And when you get the lesson,
I'm going to keep talking to you while you're rejoicing the lesson.
God uses nobody. to save anybody he's pleased
to save. God uses nothing to accomplish
anything he's pleased to accomplish. Oh, thank God for the honor. Thank God for the privilege.
Who are these people that God uses to honor himself? Who were those people he used
to make the tabernacle? In verse 20, he calls them all
the congregation of the children of Israel. That means they were
a chosen covenant people. Chosen of God to be His. Chosen of God to serve Him. Chosen of God to be an instrument
in His hands. Chosen of God to bring His work
to His people. They're offering. They're offering
that they brought in verse 21 is called the Lord's offering. Reckon why? Because it's His.
He has rightful claim to it. The only reason you've got it
is because He put it in your hands. And He requires that you acknowledge
that constantly. It's that which the Lord placed
there so that you could take that and use it for the benefit
of his people, his kingdom. Then we read that both men and
women, rich and poor, laborers and rulers in Israel, were designated
of God to serve him with what God put in their hands and in
the capacity where God put them. So that all the people labor
together to perform this work. It's not just the work of Moses.
In fact, Moses now just sort of steps aside. Don't hear much
more about Moses. He just he just steps aside.
He has given the commission that God gave him. And God appointed
men to oversee the work. And they did the work. And all
the children of Israel, old men and the young men, the old women,
young women, folks who could do great things that men saw,
and folks who did things nobody saw. God used them to build together
the tabernacle. Look at verse 22. And they came,
both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted.
Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, and brought
bracelets and earrings and rings and tablets and all jewels of
gold and every man that offered an offering of gold unto the
Lord. I read today someone calculated that when they finished the work
there was one and one quarter tons of gold in the tabernacle. Four and one quarter tons of
silver in the tabernacle. How'd they get that? God gave
it to them. That's what it took to do the
work. Why, these were just poor shepherds. These were folks who
tended sheep, who were slaves down in Egypt just yesterday.
Where did they get that money? God put it in their hands when
the time came to build the tabernacle. Read on. And every man with whom
was found blue and purple and scarlet and fine linen and goat's
hair, and red skins of rams, and badger skins. Why, that's
nothing. And Bobby brings his gold, and
Bob brings his silver, and all I've got is some goat's hair. Some ram skins. That's nothing. Whatever God put in your hands
is what God expects you to use. Whatever God put in your hands
is what God expects you to use. Whatever God gives you the ability
to do is what God expects you to do. Read on. Everyone, verse
24, everyone that did offer an offering of silver and brass
brought the Lord's offering and every man with whom was found
should have would for any work of the service brought it. And
all the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands and
brought back which they had spun, both a blue and a purple and
a scarlet and fine linen. And all the women whose hearts
stirred them up in wisdom spun goat's hair. I can't tell you how many times
I've heard Folks said, well, I believe I'll let somebody else
do that. I'm getting tired. I used to do this. It's time
for somebody else to go. Time for the young folks to take over now.
Give it up if you want to. God, give me grace, not me. Not
till the last breath is gone. God, give me grace, not me. Uh-uh.
Uh-uh. And the rulers, the rulers, they
served just like the women who spun on their loom. No greater,
no more noble, no more significant. The gold, no more honored of
God than the goats have. The silver, no more honored of
God than the Shittim would. All in whose heart God put it
to serve him, serve to him with a willing heart with what God
put in their hands. The offerings we're told were
of willing hearts. You remember what Paul said to
the Corinthians, if there be first a willing mind, if there
be first a willing heart, it is accepted according to that
a man hath, and not according to that which he hath not. Turn back to Exodus 25 for just
a minute. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak unto the children of Israel that they bring. We're looking at verse 2. that
they bring an offering of every man that giveth it willingly
with his heart, you shall take my offering. The materials with
which this tabernacle were made were all given voluntarily by
men and women motivated by nothing but their own heart devotion
to the God of glory. That's all. The love of Christ
constraineth us. Not fear of the law, not promise
of reward, the love of Christ. Gratitude. The God of glory,
who appeared to Moses in the bush, who had brought them out
of Egypt and across the Red Sea, who had provided for them, who
had overthrown all their enemies, the God of glory, said, now if
you want to, if you want to, You can bring whatever you want
to, to build my house. Just bring whatever you want
to. No specification, whatever's
in your hand, bring it. Whatever's in your hand. And
I'll accept it, if you're willing. If you're willing. If you're
willing. Nothing is more certain to ruin
any work any missionary enterprise, any evangelical or evangelistic
effort, any local church, any denomination, nothing is more
certain to ruin it than the employment of carnal, fleshly means to secure
financial security. Nothing else. Nothing else. One of our men shortly after
God saved him said to me, he said, well, I'm a fundraiser. I can do that. And I said, not
here, not here. Oh, but don't y'all need funds?
Nah, not that kind, not that kind. Teach folks tithing. No, not here. Well, let's have
faith promise giving. No, not here. Well, what are
you willing to pledge to the Lord this year? Not here. Not
here. Well, Brother Don, I've got some
things at the house, and this lady's been talking, and we think
it'd be a good idea to have a churchyard sale. I don't care if you've
got gold and silver to bring. Not here. Not here. Bank sales. Let's put the children out at
the stoplight and put a can in their hand, because we're going
to build a Sunday school addition. Get them to get folks to give.
Not here. Brother Don, I believe the Lord's
called me to be a missionary. How about sending me out on deputation?
Not here. Not here. Not here. Well, how
on earth is anything going to be done? Just sit back and watch. Just sit back and watch. I'll take you to record. If God Almighty has put something
in our hands for us to do, God will provide for it. with us
providing nothing except by the free, voluntary generosity of
his people. That's all. That's all. Well,
that's not working for us, then shut the doors. God's not in
it. I'm not as serious as I can be.
I'm as serious as I can be. God's not in it. Well, I believe
the Lord called me to go to Mission Field, but the money's not coming
in. Well, God didn't call you then.
God didn't call you. Well, I believe that I'm going
to have us to engage in this. And I tell you what, I can't
do it unless you know God would. God's not in it because God's
servants, I tell you what, they'll never do. They'll never be found
baking. You will find it. You will find
it. I promise you, I make this promise
to you, to myself and to my God before I will beg or even ask
anything of any man except you who are God's people willing
to do what you wish. I'll shut these doors and go
find me a job and quit preaching. Ain't gonna happen. Ain't gonna
happen. Moses simply told the people that God Almighty, who
brought them out of the land of Egypt, destroyed all their
enemies, was willing to receive a gift from them. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, how that though he was rich, yet for your sakes
he became poor, that you through his poverty might be made rich. He's willing to accept anything
you want to give him or do for him. He's willing. God, let that grab my heart and
yours. And you know what we'll do? We'll do the very same thing
we'll read about in a couple of weeks over in chapter 36.
The fellows who were building the tabernacle said, Moses, Tell
the people to quit bringing anything. We've got more, much more than
enough to do everything God said for us to do. Surely, read it. Much more than
is required to do what God requires of us. If the God of glory calls
us to do a work, the God of glory will supply the work. Now, just
briefly, I, very briefly, look at the last verses, 30 through
35. Lord willing, I'll come back to this and show you how the
Bezalel and Aholiab are types of our Lord Jesus. But for now,
let me briefly show you that these two men also represent
those men who are called and gifted of God to lead his people
in building his house and the spread of his gospel. for the
gathering of his sheep, for the building of his kingdom. In verse 30, God tells us that
these two men are divinely called. What does it take to make a preacher?
God's call. That's all. God's call. I'm often asked, you know, some
of the older fellows are, Getting older, including me, well, I
don't see any younger men coming on. When they're needed, God'll raise
them up. God'll raise them up. Pray the Lord of the harvest,
send forth laborers into the field, but he will, he will.
And they don't have to be young, he might call you. It just takes
God's call. It's God's call. Verse 31, these
men were filled with the Spirit of God. Be not
drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be ye filled with the Holy
Spirit. Filled with the Holy Spirit.
What's that talking about? Oh, they prayed and prayed and prayed
until they finally prayed through and they fell out on the floor
and fell into the mouth and shake and speak gibberish. No. That's
stupidity. Religious, demonic stuff. No, that's not filled with the
Spirit. What happens to a man who's drunk
with wine? The wine controls him. And a man who's filled with the
Spirit of God is a man whose life is ruled from within by
God the Holy Spirit. Every man called of God. Those
who are called of God, verse 31, are gifted of God with wisdom
and understanding and knowledge. wisdom and understanding and
knowledge to perform exactly what God called them to perform. I'm as certain of this as I am
that I'm standing here. God Almighty made me for this
place and made this place for me. and I could not function
somewhere else. This is where God put me, the
place for which God prepared me. I said, well, are you looking
to make a move? Not on your life. No. Right here till I start pushing
up daisies, or you have to start pushing me around, one of the
two. No, no. How can you say that? God gives
the man knowledge and wisdom and understanding to serve him
where he puts him, for the purpose for which he's ordained him.
And they are all of them cunning workmen. Verse 35. Skillful,
skillful workmen. Not cunning in an evil sense,
skillful. They had the ability to do the
work. I sat back when I finished this
message, writing it out this afternoon, and I tried to picture
Bezalel and Holeb, those two fellows, in Egypt. Can't you imagine them making
bricks down in Egypt without straw, knowing that the bricks
are being used to build tombs for pagan Egyptian monarchs who
hate God. Tombs that men and women will
just almost worship for the rest of the world's history. They're
building bricks, the same kind of bricks, those white bricks
that men use to build a tower, the Tower of Babel by which they
hope to reach into heaven. These men who worship God, they've
got to build these bricks. go out and gather up mud and
straw and make bricks while a harsh taskmaster is beating the fool
out of them. Making bricks. I can picture
those fellas mad. Mad at God. Mad at God's providence. What on earth is happening? God Almighty is making cunning
workmen to make his tabernacle. Men capable in all kinds of artistry. Men who can handle jewels and
gold and silver and engravings in stone and engravings in wood. Men skilled in every kind of
skill to do the work. God gave him to do. That's called wondrous providence
and wondrous grace. Oh, what an honor God has put
on us to put in our hands, in these vessels of clay, in such
broken pieces of pottery, the treasure of the gospel to carry
to this world. God give us grace to make us
faithful for Christ's sake. Amen.