Would you turn to Exodus chapter
35? I have entitled this message, Stirred
and Willing. Stirred and Willing. Now, it was time to get the materials
together for the tabernacle, and it was very costly. God could
have simply created what was needed. He's God. He's not worshipped with men's
hands as though He needed anything or needs anything, but He gave
men the privilege to give toward this. Giving is a privilege,
a blessing of grace. Truly, it's more blessed to give
than to receive." Those are the words of the Lord Jesus. There
was a specific type of person who was called upon to give.
Let's read the description in the Word of God. Look in verses
4 and 5. 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, Now here's who's called upon to give,
whosoever is of a willing heart. Let him bring it, an offering
of the Lord, gold and silver and brass. Look in verse 21. And they came, everyone whose
heart sturdy month. and everyone whom his spirit
made willing. And they brought the Lord's offering
to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation. Verse 22.
And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted,
and brought bracelets and so on. Look in verse 29. The children of Israel brought
a offering unto the Lord, every man and woman whose heart made
them willing. Look in chapter 36, beginning
in verse 2, and Moses called Bezalel and Eloab and every wise-hearted
man in whose heart the Lord hath put wisdom, even everyone whose
heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it. And they
received of Moses all the offering which the children of Israel
had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary to make
it with all. And they brought yet unto him free offerings.
Willing offerings is the word every morning. And all the wise
men that wrought all the work of the sanctuary came every man
from his work, which they made. And they spake unto Moses, saying,
The people bring much more than enough for the service of the
work which the Lord commanded to make. And Moses gave commandment,
and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying,
Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering
of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained. from bringing
for the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it and
too much. Now we see in this passage of
scripture who it was that was called upon to give to this glorious,
blessed task. Everybody who was willing hearted. Everybody whose heart stirred
them up. Now. Not everybody's heart stirred
them up. And not everybody was willing.
Everybody who was, gave. Those who were not, didn't. Now,
what was the difference? Why were some willing and some
unwilling? Because some were willing and
some were unwilling. Do you know that people do exactly
what they want to do? Now, you can just write that
down. People do exactly what they want to do. There were some whose hearts
were stirred, overcome with thanksgiving and a zeal for the glory of God,
how gracious He had been, and they wanted to give. Now, in
these willings in our text, I think this is very interesting, three
different Hebrew words are used that are translated willing,
and they all come out of the same root word. One word means
magnanimous, generous, liberal. The other word means voluntary. The other word means spontaneous,
and these three words describe what willingness is. It's first
of all, voluntary. If you're willing, it's because
you want to be willing. That's your desire. You volunteer
to be willing. It was spontaneous. It wasn't
crafted. It was spontaneous. It came from
the heart. And it was magnanimous and generous. And there were others who obviously
did not have this attitude. They did not give in this matter
because they didn't want to. Their heart didn't stir them
up. Their heart was not made willing. You can't make yourself
willing if you're not willing, can you? The spontaneous motion
of their heart was to not be willing. And I got to thinking
about this. If I am not willing to give,
you know what I shouldn't give. The Lord doesn't want it. You think the Lord wants an unwilling
gift? It's not like he needs anything and he doesn't want
anything that's unwilling. If you're unwilling to give,
don't give. That's a scary thought, isn't
it? To be unwilling. Now, you can write this down,
people do, let me repeat that, you can write this down, people
do what they want to do. You do what you want to do. I
do what I want to do. Now, I know there are other factors,
there are other variables, pressure, guilt, hope for reward, there
are different variables that influence our decision, but it's
still true in the final analysis, we do what we want to do. These people who gave for this
did so because they wanted to. But why is that? Let's take it
a step further. Why is that? Why these two different
responses? And if you're a believer, you
know the answer to this question. If you want to, you know why
you want to. If you're willing, you know why you're willing.
You don't have any problem with this. You understand this. Psalm
110.3 says, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy
power." Now, there's where my willingness comes from. The day
of His power. Thy people shall be volunteers
in the day of thy power. Now, this concept blows my mind. It's glorious to think about.
The Lord is able to make people willing. Only the Lord can do
that. I can't make you willing. You
can't make me willing. But the Lord can make people
to where they're actually willing. Isn't that awesome and glorious? Notice it said, Thy people shall
be willing. Psalm 110.3 says, Thy people shall be willing in
the day of Thy power. What power it takes to make somebody
willing. Let me show you what power it
takes. Turn to Ephesians chapter 1. The same power that was exerted
in raising Christ from the dead is the power that's exerted in
making someone willing. Look here in Ephesians 1 verse
18, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened. that you may
know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches
of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the
exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe according to
the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when
He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right
hand in the heavenly places." Now, in this thing of the Lord
making somebody willing, The same power that was exerted in
raising Christ from the dead is that which makes His people
willing in the day of His power. Only God has this power. Philippians
2.13 says, For it is God which worketh in you, both to will,
did you catch that? Both to will and to do. is good pleasure. This is the
work of God. Would you turn with me for a
moment to Luke chapter 10? It's a very interesting passage
of scripture, beginning in verse 10. He says to his disciples, into
whatsoever city you enter and they receive you not, They are
unwilling to receive you or your message, go your way out into
the streets of the same and say, even the very dust of your city,
which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you in your rejection,
your willing rejection of the truth. Notwithstanding, be sure
of this, that the kingdom of God has come nigh unto you. But
I say unto you, these are the words of the Lord Jesus, I say
unto you that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom. Sodom, that city of great wickedness
whom the Lord destroyed with fire and brimstone from heaven,
those sinners of Sodom will have it better on the Day of Judgment
than these people who willingly reject the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Woe unto thee, verse 13, forraison.
Woe unto thee, best Satan, for if the mighty works had been
done in Tyre and Sidon, which had been done in you, they had
a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes, but it
should be more tolerant. For Tyre and Sidon on the judgment
thin for you, and thou Capernaum, that's where the Lord did most
of his miracles, which are exalted to heaven, shall be thrust down
to hell. Now he says to his disciples, he that heareth you, heareth
me. And he that despiseth you, despiseth me, and he that despiseth
me, despiseth him that sent me. Now the 70 return again with
joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy
name. And he said unto them, I beheld
Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you
power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power
of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding
in this, rejoice not that the spirits are subject to you, but
rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven."
That's talking about the Lamb's Book of Life, God's elect. Now
in that hour, Jesus rejoiced in spirit, seeing these people
who rejected, seeing these people who received. In that hour, Jesus
rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, that you have hid these things from the
wise and prudent and have revealed them unto babes, even so, Father,
for so it seemed good in thy sight." Now, these people in
our text, in Exodus 35, without coercion, without compulsion,
without being manipulated, freely and voluntarily, out of the spontaneity
of a loving and stirred-up heart, gave magnanimously to the construction
of the temple, and that is because God in His omnipotence made them
willing in the day of His power." Now, isn't that a great blessing
of His free grace, to be made David understood this as the
work of God. Turn to 1 Chronicles 29 for a moment. Something very similar took place
in 1 Chronicles 29. This was when the people gave
for the temple, verse 9. Then the people, 1 Chronicles
29, verse 9, then the people rejoiced for that they offered
willingly Because with perfect heart, they offered willingly
to the Lord, not manipulated, not guilt ridden, but they did
what they wanted to do. And David, the king, also rejoiced
with great joy. Wherefore, David blessed the
Lord before all the congregation, and David said, Blessed be thou,
Lord God of Israel, our father forever and ever. Thine, O Lord,
is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory
and the majesty, for all that is in the heaven and the earth
is thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted
as head above all, both riches and honor come of thee. And thou
reignest over all, and in thy hand is power and might, and
in thy hand it is to make great and give strength unto all. Now
therefore, our God, we thank thee and praise thy glorious
name. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should
be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things
come of thee and of thine own hand. Have we given thee? You
see, David recognized this is of the Lord, this ability to
offer so willingly, this is the gift of God's grace. Now, what
I want to spend the remainder of our time doing is see what
the Bible has to say about this subject of willingness. Willingness. You know, many have debated over
whether everything's just fixed. Everything's fixed. There's no
will involved. Everything is just you're just
going through this motion of fate. Fate has fixed everything.
And some say, no, people determine what they're going to do. What's
the Bible have to say about this subject? And the only way we
can get a true answer is from the word of God. What does the
word of God have to say about this thing of willingness? According to Genesis chapter
one, verse twenty seven, Man was created in the image of God. Now, what does that mean? Man
was created in the image of God. Genesis 1, 27 says, So God created
man in his own image. After the image of God created
he him. That means man in his original
creation bore the likeness of his creator. That's all that
means. Man looked something like God. Man was made something like God. That's what that means. Man,
he said, we created in our own image. He was made a living soul
with consciousness, the power to think and the power to reason,
which is the intellect. God has an intellect, a vast,
infinite intellect, but man has an intellect too. He's able to
think and he's able to reason. Adam was given affections, the
ability to feel, the ability to feel love, the ability to
feel peace, the ability to feel anger, the ability to hate something,
feelings, affections. God has affections. He loves. He hates. And man was created
in the image of God, in the original creation. God has a will. He doeth according to his will.
In the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest thou?
God does his will. God's got a will. He's got the
power to perform His will, and He always does His will. His will is always done. He does
what He wants to do. Isn't that who God is? He hath
done whatsoever He hath pleased. That's who God is. And men have
a will, the ability to choose. That's how Adam was placed in
the garden, made in the image of God. Adam was created upright,
and he lived in fellowship with God, but he was only given one
rule. Turn with me to Genesis, Chapter
2. Genesis, Chapter 2. Now, in the garden, here's what...
I believe that Adam had an upright nature, he had an innocent nature,
but he didn't have a holy nature. Now, the reason I believe that
true holiness is immutable. If you're truly holy, you can't
become unholy. It can't be. God can't become
sinful in that sense. He's got a holy nature. So Adam
in the garden, he was made upright. That's what the scripture says.
He was made upright. But as far as a holy nature, I don't believe
so. An innocent nature. of righteous nature, but not
a holy nature. But he was given this one rule
here in Genesis chapter 2, verse 15. And the Lord God took the
man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep
it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying of every tree
of the garden, thou mayest freely eat, have whatever you want,
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt
not eat of it, for in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt
surely die." Now notice, he didn't say, if you eat of it, you'll
die. He didn't say anything like that,
did he? He said, in the day you do eat, you shall surely die. Could God have prevented Adam
from eating that fruit? Everybody here knows he could.
Of course he could have, but he didn't. It was all a part
of his glorious purpose of grace. You see, it's a good thing that
Adam failed. Because God has manifested His
mercy, His love, His forgiveness. We wouldn't know anything about
forgiveness if Adam never fell. We wouldn't know anything about
the grace of God if Adam never fell. We wouldn't know anything
about mercy if Adam never fell. What a glorious thing it is to
be saved by the grace of God. What a glorious thing it is to
be accepted in the Beloved. We'd know nothing of that if
Adam didn't fail. If Adam didn't fall, so this
was all part of God's plan. It was all part of God's purpose.
But I want us to understand this. When Adam ate of that fruit,
it's not because God caused him to do it. It's because he did
what he wanted to do. Now, let's look at the temptation.
Look in Genesis chapter three. He freely, as an act of his will,
uncoerced, Eight of that group. God didn't cause him to do it.
He did what he wanted to do. Now, let's look at what took
place in the temptation of Adam in chapter three. Now, the serpent
was more subtle, deceitful than any beast of the field which
the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, yea,
hath God said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Now, right off the bat, he changes what God said. He changes it. The Lord didn't say you can't
eat of any of these trees. He said there's one tree, but he
already changes it. Let's go on reading. Verse 2.
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the
trees of the garden. No, he didn't say that. But of
the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God
has said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it,
lest ye die. Now, I think this is interesting.
I believe this is where touch not, taste not, handle not started.
God never said anything about touching it. Adds this to the
equation. We're not even to touch it. Oh,
don't add anything to what God has said. Let's go on reading. Verse 4, And the serpent said
unto the woman, You shall not surely die, for God doth know
that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes will be opened
and you shall be as God's, knowing good and evil. Now, let's think
about this temptation he's presenting. He says, Eve, There's no moral virtue in your
obedience. You're just doing what you're
programmed to do. You have an innocent nature. It's natural
for you to obey God. There's really no moral virtue
in your obedience. But if you eat of this tree,
All of a sudden you'll know good and evil, and you'll be able
to make the choice between good over evil, and that will put
moral virtue in what you're doing. You'll be like God. You see,
God knows the difference between good and evil, and He chooses
the good, and that's what makes Him glorious. If you do this,
you'll be like Him. And you know, Eve thought, that
sounds plausible. You know, it does seem like there
would be moral virtue in choosing the good over the evil. You know
what he was tempting Eve with? You'll have a free will. And
that's where your virtue will come from. You'll have a will.
You'll choose the good over the evil. This is what's going to
make you like God. That was the temptation. This
is what's going to make you like God. Your will will control your
goodness. And that's going to make you
like God. So what did she do? She said, it sounds good to me.
She ate of the fruit. She gave her husband to eat.
And we know from the scripture that at that time they both died. God said, in the day you eat
thereof, you shall surely die. They ate and they died. Now,
we know they did not physically. We know that. But they died spiritually. What is death? When you're dead,
you can't perform the functions of life. You can't see. You can't
hear. You can't smell. You can't feel. You can't taste. You're dead.
A spiritually dead person cannot perform the functions of spiritual
life. They see no glory in the gospel.
They can't really hear the gospel. They can't hear the glorious
sound. They can't feel the glories of God's grace. They can't taste
His grace. They lack the ability. They can't
even come to Christ. Now, here's what spiritual death
means. Listen real carefully. This is
so important that you and I understand this. Ephesians 2 says, And you
hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Dead. You know what that means? That
means I'm totally unable, totally unable to do that which has something
to do with spiritual life. And here's the verse of Scripture
that nails this down. John chapter 6, verse 44 says,
No man can come to me. Except the Father which has sent
me, draw him. I lack the ability. It doesn't
say no man may come. It says no man can come. He lacks the ability. I have
no spiritual ability. That's what dead and sins mean.
There's nothing I can do to save myself. I'm totally dependent
upon the grace of God. Totally depraved. That's what
spiritual death means. Totally depraved. Now that doesn't
mean everybody's out committing crimes all the time. Although,
if God took his hand off of you, there's no crime you and I wouldn't
commit. You believe that? There's no... You and I would
be as bad as the devil himself, apart from the... restraining
grace of God. I realize that, but that's not
what total depravity really means. It's just not talking about everybody
going out and doing all these wicked crimes. I'm thankful that
we do have order in our society and so on. I'm thankful for the
laws of the land that will keep us in line. But what that means
is man in the totality of his being, his intellect that he
had in the garden, his darkened, his spiritually stupid, his affections,
have gone wrong. He hates what he ought to love,
and he loves what he ought to hate. His will has become under
the dominion of sin, under the control of sin, and under the
power of sin. Now, men do what they want to
do, but that want to is dictated by an evil nature. The will is
enslaved. to sin. The Lord said, who so
committed sin is the servant, is the slave of sin. The essence of man's depravity,
the essence of man's sinful nature is seen in his will. He will
not because he cannot, and he cannot because he will not. All
men by nature, by choice, by choice, And by practice are alienated
from God and enemies of God. That's what the scripture teaches.
And you had be quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Now, obviously, the teaching
that man's will is free is ridiculous. It's not taught in the scripture,
your will is controlled by your nature. God doesn't have a free
will. He can't choose to sin. His will
is controlled by nature. He cannot lie. Scripture says,
God who cannot lie, he doesn't have a free will. His will is
controlled by his nature. And man's will is controlled
by a sinful, evil nature. He can't choose against his nature. It's not going to happen. If
there ever was a time when man did have a free will, it would
have been in the garden. If there ever was a time, that's
what it would have been. And man went the direction of
his free will, and you see what happened. And now there's no
such thing as free will. And you cannot have been taught
of God if you believe free will in this sense, because if God
has taught you, he's taught you that you're a sinful, evil person
unable to do anything good. Has God taught you that? Has
God taught you that? Do you really believe that? Do
you really believe the Lord Jesus Christ is your only hope? You
know salvation doesn't come by man's will. Turn with me to John
chapter 1. John chapter 1. This is a familiar scripture.
Verse 12. But as many as received him,
To them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood," verse
13, "'not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man,
but of God.'" Turn to Romans 9. This is talking about the elect,
verse 11, for the children, Jacob and Esau being not yet born,
neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of
God, according to election, might stand not of works, but of him
that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger, as it's written. Jacob have a love, but
Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? Is God unfair in loving one and
hating the other? God forbid. For he saith to Moses,
I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I'll have compassion
on whom I will have compassion, so then it's not of him that
willeth. Do you read that? It's not of
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. Now, because God is gracious,
and we've been talking about man and the depravities of his
will and so on, but because God is gracious, he wills to be gracious. And he has of his own will chosen
a people to be saved. Aren't you thankful for that? He willingly gave His Son to
save His people, and the Son came willingly to live for them
and to die for them. Our Lord wasn't forced to do
this. He was doing what He wanted to. When He kept the law for
me, He did it because He wanted to. When He laid down His life
for me, nobody took it for Him, from Him. He did what He did
willingly. He came there to do His Father's
will and to save every one of His people willingly. And of
those people that he willed to save and willingly gave his son
for, he makes them willing in the day of his power. Now, it's true, I don't make
myself willing, but it's equally true, he's made me willing. He's made me willing. What power
is involved in actually making somebody who was unwilling, willing? Isn't that glorious? Only God
can do that. This is what the Bible calls
grace. Willingness. You know, the word
is actually volunteer. Who wants to be saved by pure,
free grace? I volunteer. Who wants to be made just like
Christ? I volunteer. Who wants to be made my servant
so much so that you'll not have your own will, but you're only
going to be doing my will, whatever my will is? I volunteer. Thy
people shall be volunteers in the day of thy Who is willing
to be saved in such a way to where Christ gets all of the
glory and none goes to them? Right here, I'm raising my hand. I volunteer. Like John Newton said, if God
commissioned two angels for two different works, one to rule
an empire and one to sweep the streets, they both volunteer
and they wouldn't care which task they got. Now let's close by looking at
2 Corinthians, chapters 8 and 9. I'm not going to make much comment, I
just want to see the issue of willingness and grace. Verse
1. Moreover, brethren, we do you
to wit, or we want you to know, of the grace of God bestowed
on the churches of Macedonia. how that in a great prowl of
affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty
abounded under the riches of their liberality. For to their
power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power, they were
willing of themselves, praying us with much entreaty that we
should receive the gift." Hey, you preachers try to cajole and manipulate and guilt people into
giving it. He said, they begged us to do
it. Willing of themselves, they begged
us to receive the gift. Paul felt bad about it. He said,
Ben, you're all too poor for this. No, you take it. We want
to do this. They were doing this out of the
deep poverty. For to their power, verse 3, beyond record, they
were willing of themselves, praying with us with much entreaty that
we would receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship of
the ministry of the saints. And this they did not as we hoped,
but they first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us
by the will of God." Isn't it wonderful to just belong to the
Lord? I love that, just belonging to the Lord. In so much that
we desire Titus as he had begun, so he would also finish in you
the same grace also. Therefore, as you abound in everything,
in faith, in utterance, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your
love to us, see that you abound in this grace also, and I speak
not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness, that's the
willingness, same word, of others, and to prove the sincerity of
your love, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
though he was rich Yet for your sakes he became poor that you
through his poverty might be rich. And herein I give my advice,
for this is expedient for you, who have begun before not only
to do, but also to be forward or willing a year ago. Now therefore
perform the doing of it. What you're willing to do, do
it, as there's a readiness to will, so there may be a performance
also out of that which you have. For there be first a willing
mind. It's accepted according to what
a man hath. And not according to that he hath not. I mean not
that other be eased, and ye burdened, but by an equality, that now,
in the time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that
their abundance also may be a supply for your want, that there may
be an equality, as it is written, He that gathered much had nothing
over, and he that gathered little had no lack. But thanks be to
God which put the same earnest care in the heart of Titus for
you. For as touching the ministering to the saints is superfluous
for me to write to you, for I know the forwardness, the willingness
of your mind, for which I boasted you to them of Macedonia and
Achaia, which were ready a year ago, and your zeal hath provoked
many. Yet if I said to brethren, lest our boasting of you should
be in vain in this behalf, that as I said, you may be ready.
Lest, happily, if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared,
we, that we say not ye, should be ashamed in this same confident
boasting. Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren
that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your
bounty, whereof ye had noticed before that the same might be
ready as a matter of bounty, and not of covetousness. But
this I say, he which sows sparingly shall reap sparingly. He which
sows bountifully shall we reap also bountifully. Every man according
as he purposes in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly
or of necessity, because it's a duty. For God loveth a cheerful
giver, a hilarious giver. That's what the word means. You
enjoy it. You're laughing. You enjoy it so much. And God
is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you always,
having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good
work. Now, is this not a great part
of Christian liberty? You do what you want to do. That's
what Christian liberty is. It's doing what you want to do. You know, most people's religion
is a very unhappy thing. It's people doing what they really
do not want to do. It's bondage to them. And not
getting to do what they really want to do. Bill Clark, missionary for so
many years to England, been dead about ten years, but he had this
statement that I think is wonderful if it's understood correctly.
Here's the rule of the Christian life. Trust Christ and do what
you want. But, well here's the Here's the
issue. If you really trust Christ, he's
changed your want to. He's changed your willer. And
I know what you want to do. I can say that anybody and everybody
trust Christ and do what you want to do. I know what I want
to do. Well, let's pray.