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[0:00] Please take your Bibles and turn to the book of Exodus. If you're visiting with us, you can pull out that black Bible in the chair in front of you. Find Genesis, which is the first book, and then Exodus, second book, and then find page 68 in that black Bible, 68.

[0:20] Exodus chapter 35, Exodus 35. Exodus chapter 35. I'll start in verse one that will actually go all the way to chapter 36, verse seven.

[0:33] Again, 68 in that black. We're coming to the end of Exodus, believe it or not. Actually, we'll be done in two weeks. Wait, what? Yeah, two weeks.

[0:44] Not including today, excuse me. And then I'm gonna do a message from the book of Revelation, one message, and then we're gonna start probably a short series in the book of Joel.

[0:56] I need to do a prophetic book. I'd like to give you a good genre of scripture. So we've done Exodus, historical narrative. We're gonna do the book of Joel. And I think after that, I'll probably hit 2 Corinthians.

[1:12] I was trying to decide if I wanna do 2 Corinthians or Matthew. But I think I'll do 2 Corinthians. We'll do that. We'll do either one. We'll probably, I think we'll do 2 Corinthians and Matthew. I thought about doing Matthew and then 2 Corinthians, but I think we'll flip it.

[1:25] So that's kind of on the horizon. So, and then we'll be in 2 Corinthians for a while. But whatever one we start, we'll definitely do the other. 2 Corinthians and Matthew or Matthew. So it kind of gives you what you can look forward to.

[1:39] Two more weeks in Exodus, a message in Revelation. We'll do the book of Joel, which will probably be like three or four messages, maybe five. And then we'll hit, I think, like I'm 80% sure we'll go in the 2 Corinthians.

[1:54] But, rather, yeah. Exodus chapter 35. Starting in verse one. Then Moses assembled the congregation of the sons of Israel and said to them, These are the things that Yahweh has commanded you to do.

[2:07] For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a holy day, a Sabbath of complete rest to Yahweh. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. You shall not kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.

[2:20] And Moses said to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the Lord has commanded, saying, Take from among you an offering to Yahweh. Whoever is of a willing heart, then bring it as Yahweh's offering.

[2:33] Gold, silver, bronze, blue, purple, scarlet, linens, goats here, ramskins, tachish leather, acacia wood, oil for lighting, and spices for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense.

[2:48] Verse nine. And onyx stones and setting stones for the ephod and the breast piece. Verse 10. Let every skillful man among you come and make all that Yahweh's commanded, the tabernacle, its tent, and its covering, its hooks, and its frames, its crossbars, its pillars, and its bases, the ark and its poles, the atoning place, and the curtain of the screen, the table and its poles, and its utensils, and the bread of the presence, the lampstand also for the lights, and its utensils, and its lamps, and the oil for the light, and the altar of incense, and its poles, and the anointing oil, and the fragrant incense, and the screen for the doorway at the entrance of the tabernacle, the altar of burnt offering, with its bronze grating, its poles, its utensils, the basin, its stand, the hangings of the court, its pillars, its bases, and the screen for the gates of the court, the pegs of the tabernacle, the pegs of the court, and the courts, woven garments for ministering in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons to minister as priests.

[3:49] Then, verse 20, all the congregation of the sons of Israel departed from Moses' presence, and everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him, came and brought Yahweh's offering for the work of the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for all its holy garments.

[4:08] Then all whose hearts moved them, both men and women, came and brought brooches, and earrings, and signatories, and bracelets, all articles of gold. So did every man present an offering of gold to Yahweh, and every man who had in his possession blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goat's hairs, skins, tachyous leathers, brought them.

[4:29] Everyone who could make an offering of silver, and bronze, brought Yahweh's offering, and every man who had in his possession acacia wood, for any work of the service, they brought it.

[4:40] And all the skilled women, wise women, spun with their hands, and brought with it, spun blue, purple, scarlet, linen, and all the women whose hearts stirred with the skill, spun the goat's hair, and the rulers brought the onyx stones, and the stones for setting for the ephod, and for the breast piece, and the spice, and the oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense, the Israelites, all the men and women whose heart moved them to bring material for the work, for all the work which Yahweh commanded through Moses to be done, brought a free will offering to Yahweh.

[5:12] Verse 30, Then Moses said to the sons of Israel, See, Yahweh has called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and he has filled him with the spirit of God and wisdom, and understanding, and knowledge, and all craftsmanship, to make designs for working in gold, and silver, and in bronze, and the cutting of stones for settings, and the carving of wood, so as to perform in every event of work.

[5:37] He also has put in his heart to teach both he and Aholiab, the son of Hesemach, of this tribe of Dan. He has filled them with wisdom to do every work of an engraver, and of a designer, and of an embroiderer, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and linens, and of a weaver, as performers, every work, and makers of designs.

[5:58] Now Bezalel, and Aholiab, and every wise person in whom Yahweh has put wisdom and understanding to know how to do all the work in the construction of the sanctuary shall perform in accordance with all that Yahweh has commanded.

[6:11] Verse 2 of chapter 36. Then Moses called Bezalel, and Aholiab, and every wise person in whom Yahweh has put wisdom, everyone whose heart stirred him to come to work to perform it.

[6:26] And they received from Moses all the offerings which the sons of Israel had brought to do the work in the construction of the sanctuary. And they still continue bringing to him free will offerings every morning.

[6:38] And all the wise men who were doing all the work of the sanctuary came, each from the work which he was doing, and they said to Moses, the people were bringing much more than enough for the construction work which Yahweh commanded us to do.

[6:50] Verse 6, Moses issued a command, and proclamation was circulated throughout the camp, saying, let neither man nor woman any longer perform work for the contributions or offerings of the sanctuary.

[7:02] Thus the people restrained from bringing more. From material that was sufficient and more than enough for all the work to do it. This past Thursday, this event took place a hundred years ago.

[7:18] There was an article in Euro News, it's titled like this, Your World War I Mission Quicken the Americans' Enthusiasm for the War. It recounts, this article recounts the story of a British Army officer sent to the U.S.

[7:35] to quicken the interest and enthusiasm of the American people for World War I. So that took place, he stepped on American soil a hundred years ago from this past Thursday.

[7:47] The cool part is the person who was telling the story in the article was the grandson of Major L. Gordon Sanford. He was an Australian who had fought with the British Army in France and Belgium, and he was injured.

[8:01] He duly sailed to New York. He was one of several officers sent to the United States to help raise money for World War I which America had joined the previous year. And he had to do that because enthusiasm for the war had waned.

[8:17] People were getting tired of it. He spoke about the horrors of those over there. He said, quote, if you want the most of your vast army to come home, the more you support them with your money and your sacrifices of food, the shorter will be this terrible war, end quote.

[8:39] And terrible it was. I mean, what is it? I think overall throughout the world, 18 million people died from World War I. In the U.S., not as much, 116,000 or so, lives were lost.

[8:53] Interesting. To get people enthusiastic about a war. If you can get people enthusiastic about a war, don't you think you can get people enthusiastic about love? You would think, right?

[9:05] What would you be more enthusiastic about, love or war? I kind of go for not war but love. That's kind of what I would do. And this is actually what you see here.

[9:17] You actually see people motivated because of love. And as Exodus, you see on the screen, Exodus is really the Christian life displayed through historical narrative.

[9:30] What kind of life is it? From this passage, we will see, it's a passionate, enthusiastic, Lord, you have my all life. That's the kind of life it is. The type of Christian life we're talking about here is an enthusiastic, passionate, Lord, you have my all kind of life.

[9:51] That's Christianity. Statements for you. When we rest in Christ and His faithful love, we're passionately and enthusiastically motivated to give Him our all and minister.

[10:07] Or another way to put it, when we trust, truly trust God, we will give ourselves to Him with passion and be ready to move to serve and minister in His work. So you have to, you have to take this passage in its context.

[10:26] The trajectory of Exodus. It started out that people were in slavery, right? And the Exodus takes place. God delivers them, redeems them.

[10:38] And they come into the wilderness and they have the law, they're given the law. This is the covenant. How they're supposed to live. The relationship that they have with God. Well then it mars it.

[10:48] How? The golden calf. So God's about to cut them off. They've broken the covenant. But what does Moses do? He intercedes for them.

[10:59] Moses is a picture of Jesus interceding for us. And your God listens to Moses. The Father listens to Jesus who intercedes for us. And He shows us grace, mercy, forgiveness, and love.

[11:16] So the covenant is renewed. So people, there's repentance from the people. They're broken over their sin and then they're, wow, they're responding to God. Wow, He shows us such amazing grace and mercy. Oh, here.

[11:27] You have everything from me. Here. That's the whole flow of context. That's when we come to this part in Exodus. This is why this passage is not just about serving or give money.

[11:42] That's not what it's about. It goes deeper than that. We should want the presence of Christ to focus on Christ, to center on Christ. See, when we do, there's passion.

[11:54] And friends, if there's no passion, then you're not focusing on Christ. This means that focusing on Christ and His love for us is key to us being passionate to serve, to minister, to care, to give.

[12:09] The prosperity, preachers take this and they twist it to do their own thing and yet they rip it out of context to try and make it so that this is about you gotta give money.

[12:22] No, no. You missed the whole point of the passage. You give your life. You're so because you're so struck by God's mercy towards you.

[12:34] That was in chapter 34. Remember? That was just a couple weeks ago that we looked at that. Giving and working were both important to build and maintain the place of Yahweh's dwelling.

[12:45] But here you see the people, they were enthusiastically excited to give towards the project and work to build it because God has been so gracious to them. passion, ministry, serving takes its place, begins down here, starts here with focusing on Christ.

[13:08] If the focus is not on Christ then that's why there's no passion. That's why there's no enthusiasm. That's why there's no excitement. So I got three points for you. This is kind of the order that I've been putting it for you.

[13:19] rest, give, move. Rest, give, move. First point, rest. This is weird.

[13:32] The first thing that needs to happen, we rest or trust in Christ. He's our focus. It's weird because they bring up the Sabbath. Why does he do this?

[13:43] That's odd. The weirdest, most peculiar part of this whole section is remembering the Sabbath. Verse 1 through 3. For six days work may be done. Verse 2. On the seventh day you shall have a holy day.

[13:56] Why repeat this? And the consequences. If you're working on a Sabbath, you're going to die. Well, that's kind of serious. Why?

[14:09] It's worth noting something. The command to keep the Sabbath happened just before and just after the golden calf.

[14:26] Chapter 32 of Exodus. Chapter 31 verse 12 through 17. I was about to remember the Sabbath. Golden calf, 32. God's mercy, grace.

[14:37] And then here again, it's recounted, restated. Remember the Sabbath. Why? It's because the Sabbath is a key to understanding Exodus chapters 32 to 34.

[14:49] As a matter of fact, excuse me, the Sabbath is key to understanding the whole book of Exodus. You might say, what do you mean? Sabbath pointed to obtaining rest in Yahweh's presence.

[15:04] And that's why their Sabbath. It's about trusting Yahweh to provide and that he'll be faithful to provide for his people exactly what they need. That's why you would celebrate Sabbath.

[15:18] And this idea, that idea that I have right here before you, that statement, that was challenged when the garden goes all the way back to Genesis chapter 3.

[15:35] The fact that God's presence is with his people and we trust him to provide, he'll be faithful to give us everything we need, that was challenged by the evil one.

[15:47] You're not gonna die. God knows in the day you eat of it, you'll be just like him. Durr. I mean, come on. He's holding out on you.

[15:58] He's not providing for you. God's a jerk. Take that fruit, girlfriend. Come on. He's holding out on you.

[16:09] That was challenged in Genesis chapter 3. But see, Exodus marks, well, actually, Genesis chapter 4. But Exodus is really the beginning of God regaining paradise.

[16:26] Exodus is the beginning of that really, really happening because here you have these people, he's gonna build this sanctuary, God's gonna dwell with his people. Why? What's the whole point of this?

[16:37] Because there's gonna be a regaining of paradise. That's what Exodus is all about. Exodus, Exodus was the beginning of God's plan to restore humanity to its place where they can enjoy and delight in their creator with total pleasure and satisfaction.

[16:57] That idea was challenged in the garden by the serpent. Israel's hope to enter the sanctuary of the promised land was God's step to making things right in the world.

[17:13] In God's presence, they enjoyed his rest. But this promise was put in jeopardy. Why? Because they worshiped this golden calf thing. Exodus chapter 32. Yet, because of Moses' intercession, the possibility of adjoining his presence was open to Israel once again.

[17:33] The covenant was renewed and he says, I'm gonna go with you, I'm gonna be with you, you'll enter my rest. So, it was pertinent for them to understand that ceasing from labor and depending upon Yahweh was essential for them to truly comprehend the true meaning of having Yahweh's presence.

[17:54] Yahweh would provide. He would be faithful. That's the reason why you sang that song, right? Great is my faithfulness. They were called to rest in him, to trust in him, to believe him, take him at his word that he truly loves his people.

[18:13] He says, I do. And the temptation, the temptation today, even today, is to find our enjoyment or satisfaction elsewhere.

[18:26] Is that not the heart of addictions? Is that not the heart of alcoholism? Or drunkenness? Is that not the heart of drug abuse? Is it not? It's looking for satisfaction and enjoyment in something else or someone else.

[18:43] Is that not the heart of idolatry? It is. No. Enjoyment and satisfaction is found in God alone. So what about us?

[18:54] Do we trust God will provide? Do we rest in him? Do we trust he'll be faithful? He calls us to rest in him, to trust in him, to take him at his word. Do you enjoy your creator or are you looking elsewhere?

[19:07] You can only do it through the Lord Jesus Christ. You can only do it through the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the catalyst because we're sinners and we deserve his judgment and yet he sends Jesus who's the fulfillment of the promise of God being faithful who died for sinners.

[19:27] He died in the place of all those that repent and put their trust in him alone. Do you see? Do you see the gospel here? Yahweh commanded them this whole thing as a way to call Israel to join him in the Sabbath rest so much so that's why he even says in verse 3 you shall not candle a fire in any of your dwellings.

[19:47] As I rested after creation so I want you to rest because you should know that your rest should be found in me says the Lord. I'm your rest. I'm your joy.

[19:59] It's a reminder that their relationship with Yahweh was not because of the tabernacle but because they trusted and obeyed him. It wasn't about the thing and yet Israel could not get that through their heads because what did they do?

[20:16] 1 Samuel chapter 3 Oh I know we can beat the Philistines if we bring the Ark of the Covenant let's bring the Ark of the Covenant and they won right? No they lost and then what did the Philistines do?

[20:31] They took the Ark haha because Israel could not get through their heads they think it's the thing Oh we're not like that though are we?

[20:44] No no no we don't do that we do we think it's stuff we think it's things it's not about the stuff being holy it's about showing their commitment to Yahweh by how they live their lives rest in him in spite of all the work they needed to do no construction was to be done on the Sabbath don't do construction I'm doing the Lord's work brother no you ain't actually they get a stone Yahweh wanted them to love him the Sabbath reminded them of the covenant relationship they had with Yahweh so they were called to be holy and to trust him to provide for their needs this is a big deal I mean you know you had to work seven days a week you didn't get a weekend there was no saying it's weekends in the ancient near east there wasn't a weekend you worked all the time because you don't work some of you farmers right you don't take the day off from milking the cow you don't do that you don't take the day off you go milk the cow you had to work this is how

[22:02] Sabbath was how they showed they trusted God they trusted excuse me they trusted God they trusted his provision and they were distinct from the other nations well that's weird that country they don't work on that day I wonder why that's weird and see this is so important this theme of Sabbath and what it means is so important because people like yesterday at certain facilities think that Saturday or even Sunday that's now the Sabbath Sunday's now Sabbath or you're supposed to keep the Sabbath right Sabbath was not about setting aside a day to attend worship services Israel was called to worship Yahweh every day not just Saturday so that blows up that idea their relationship with Yahweh wasn't affirmed by building the tabernacle it was trusting and obeying

[23:08] Yahweh as their God you gotta get this this is key to understanding the book of Exodus key to understanding the whole meta-narrative of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation because what does it say in Revelation in me they find their rest this whole point regaining paradise and you see this happening through real historical events by people building something God's trying to get them to think about the future it was about displaying they were holy distinct separate they were called to be pure they were called to be different you're my distinct different people and you must trust me Yahweh to provide for your needs that's why he mentioned that in Exodus chapter 19 you're my distinct holy separate people from the other nations so the theme of

[24:16] Sabbath is key to Exodus and when we come to this we always think oh there's such a burden that's horrible the Sabbath it wasn't a burden don't read it like that take those glasses off and put on New Testament glasses it was not a burden it was a reminder that they were God's chosen people they would be the ones God chose to have his presence it was always always God's intention for us to know worship enjoy and love him and this was the way he was going to do it it's always been God's intention and this would be seen by just simple ordinary daily acts or act of keeping the Sabbath and resting it's not about having some spectacular event with God it wasn't about that God wants to focus on him even in simple ordinary things of life daily moment by moment rest and when you rest you give that's the next part 35 4 through 29 and 36 4 through 7 and here's a statement we have to keep keeping this in context when we repent and look to or focus on

[25:37] Christ the father promises his unceasing never ending gracious merciful love and his son and it's at this point where we rest in him we give to him what is most valuable to us and we're ready to serve work and minister this is the context of this whole of them giving or their offering to God Moses lists it out from verse 4 and lists it all the way to verse 19 there's three different categories currency which is precious metals fabric clothing second things made by Israel themselves and third things that could spoil they were hard to carry because they were large quantities but all of this notice was of high value I mean you didn't give chump change type stuff you don't build this from cheap stuff guys that's what Yahweh was saying but notice also verse 5 take from among you an offering to Yahweh whoever is of a willing heart you see that now jump to verse 21 everyone whose heart stirred him everyone whose spirit moved him verse 22 then all whose hearts moved them they were stirred they were excited they departed and they got busy notice they gave with eagerness and excitement the tent of meeting would be well built versus the whole throwing stuff together for the golden calf remember that they kind of just threw something together that's it it would be well built by the people who knew what they were doing and cared about it they were excited they were like yeah there's passion in short the people were enthusiastic and giving look when we're broken over our sin which brings confession and repentance

[27:34] God grants us his gracious merciful forgiveness then he renews us to make us into a loving enthusiastically giving people that's what you see here that's the trajectory that's this passage in context they're so struck by God's gracious mercy to them they're so struck that he renewed the covenant with them they're so struck and overwhelmed that God was going to be with them his presence rest remember that point his presence is rest they were so struck by that so that's why they're like yeah we want to be a part of this which is why I mentioned earlier that's why this passage is not just about serving it's about giving it goes deeper than that we need to see it in a larger context we want the presence of Christ to focus on Christ to center on Christ and when we do there's passion for instance there's no passion then maybe you're not focusing on Christ because when we repent and look to Christ we see the father promises his unceasing never ending gracious merciful love and his eternal son and we're overwhelmed by that so then we say God you have my all you have my all when God in his grace moves hearts it brings about this kind of giving generous enthusiastic excited giving our mindset is this how can I serve in what capacity not with a spiteful attitude but with obedience with love enthusiasm passion

[29:08] God you have my all thus the title passionate enthusiastic Lord you have my all life that's the Christian life it's not dreary as one person says in their song the God I know is into having fun what God is that so you can spend on your pleasures well then you don't know the God that I know when we see our sinfulness our rebellion our idolatry our proneness to wander our defiance our true wretchedness we plead for mercy we embrace the fact that we have it in Christ and we live our lives with a whole new identity God loves me and his son I'm resting in him I'm gonna give I'm gonna move that's the principle of the gospel that's the gospel principle is it not when a person comes to a place where I see my wretchedness I see

[30:08] I should be condemned and yet I see the grace of God and the Lord Jesus Christ I repent and I rest in you so I'm giving you my life right and then I'm gonna move I'm gonna serve I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm part of this that's the gospel principle that's why if you're here you don't know Christ you need to understand that's the gospel principle where you see your sin and you have to rest in the Lord Jesus Christ and you give him your all you have me and notice jump into chapter 36 verse 4 through 7 you know Moses lists all out and then verse excuse me 20 through 29 you know all this is happening right everybody's doing this they're giving they're giving and then look at 36 verse 4 the wise men they're doing all the work they come to Moses verse 5 the people are bringing too much stuff time out time out tell them to stop so Moses issues a proclamation verse 6 stop it no more that's the paraphrased version right so people were strained what does that tell you the people were so excited and enthusiastically willing they had to be told to stop giving the people weren't conjoled they weren't browbeaten as they do the prosperity gospel preachers they didn't have a three part sermon series on giving

[31:42] I was criticized when I first came here 12 years ago you should do a sermon series on giving I said I am not going to do a sermon series on giving if it comes up in the passage then I'll deal with it I'm not going to do that that's ridiculous but they weren't lazy either they weren't lazy to do the work they gave and they worked that's the next part we'll see that in just a moment notice how exodus celebrates this response from Israel we like to look at the negative oh look at exodus chapter 32 the golden calf oh look at this part though isn't this cool a response from enthusiastic excited passionate giving people excited enthusiastic passionate people because of what God has called them to do because of what God has given to them he gave them grace mercy compassion it's a response to the gospel because of the gospel because a sinner is just so overwhelmed by God's merciful grace that's the gospel principle a response of trusting

[32:53] God you're enthusiastic there's passion giving and then of course right move move or work or serve or minister whatever you want to put that I like the word move as you see in chapter 35 verse 30 all the way to chapter 36 verse 3 these skilled men basilel oholiub there were just two of them it wasn't just them because if you look in verses 10 through 29 you have the women they were spinning stuff from the threads right from the linens they were putting things together they were involved everybody's working now we're going to see that more next week and that's going to be the aspect of obedience but notice that God he chose these men who were highly skilled but they were also empowered by God from verse 30 excuse me verse 31 he filled them with the spirit of God and wisdom and understanding and knowledge and all craftsmanship that tells us Yahweh did not choose unskilled workers and then supernaturally empower them on the flip side though they were skilled these men needed to be empowered by God see both aspects guys that were skilled wisdom those abilities that they had but then second just as well

[34:14] God empowered them to do the work that he wanted them to do he empowered them so God uses the abilities we have for his own glory and we're so in need of him to empower us to do what he's called us to do which I want to see that more next week true but we got to see this here now we use what we have for God's glory and mission once we come to the place where we rest in God or trust in God we'll give to him and then we'll get to work we'll be ready to minister we want to minister we want to serve but see it doesn't start there it starts here rest in Christ you're awestruck you're dumbfounded you're overwhelmed by God's mercy and grace to you it starts there the focus the central aspect is Jesus Christ and who he is so you can say Lord I gave you my whole life that's where it begins that's where it begins here not there here so to repeat when we rest in

[35:20] Christ and his faithful love we're passionately enthusiastically motivated to give him our all to minister when we truly trust God we will give ourselves to him with passion and be ready to move to serve and minister in his work that's the truth that's what you see as we see this through New Testament glosses let's take a moment let's pray father we do thank you we praise your name for your mercy and your grace that you give to us we know how much we need you to give us your grace we know how much we need you to give us your goodness because we're people who lack grace we're people who lack goodness big time and yet we see it at the cross we see it in Christ but we want to be Christians we want to be a people who are different distinct separate who rest in you Lord Jesus we give you our lives everything our time resources whatever and we begin to serve minister care for each other help us to make first things first which is you

[36:39]  Jesus being our first love you Jesus being our focus you Jesus being our all if you would take some time next few minutes to ponder to think what we've seen from the book of exodus and after a few moments where we can have silence for you to ponder we'll do our time of giving where you can give and we'll do our time singing where you can sing from your heart and your soul and we'll pray we can pray in your spirit and then we'll eat asking you father to bless our food we'll eat enjoy company and conversations to encourage each other but let this few moments be a time for you to ponder