HBCSP Exodus 31

0:00Hello and welcome to the Harvest Baptist Church sermon podcast. We are honored that you would click on this and listen to God's word preached by one of our elders. At the same time, we strongly affirm the biblical mandate for Christians to be a faithfully active and in-person part of their local church. This sermon cannot and will not replace what a local church can provide to the life of the Christian. That being said, we hope that this sermon challenges and encourages you and your faith and that it builds upon the faithful ministry of your local church. We hope that you enjoy God bless. This morning we come to the end of a section in Scripture.

1:09God has been laying forth his plans and designs for the temple, place where he was to be worshiped. This morning we will finish Lord willing, the last two sections here of that. This morning as we consider these two sections, I want to encourage you to fight against the battle that I faced this week when I saw that chapter 31 was going to be where I was going to be. I thought originally I was going to be chapter 32 and was kind of already thinking in that direction and looking forward to that climactic moment where Moses comes off the mountain as we are going to see next week in the Golden Calf and the whole Nine Yards. I kind of joked with Chris when I found out that it was chapter 31. I was like, oh man, I was looking forward to that chapter. And I think at times we often do that. We look at Scripture and we see the high points and we forget that God has given us all Scripture and that all Scripture is God breathed and profitable for teaching and

2:12reproof. So this morning I would pray that you would pay all the more attention. This is an unfamiliar passage to many. We are going to see what seems to be an insignificant calling of two men to take place in the building of the temple. And we are going to see a repetition of something we have already talked about. And so it would be really easy for us this morning just to kind of take a step back and go, well, this isn't really that important. This isn't really worth that much of our attention. But this morning what I hope that we will see is that what happens in the first section where God calls these two men to build the temple is not commonplace. That what God does here is not something that we should just glance over. But rather it is something very, very significant. And then also as we move into the second part here we are talking about the Sabbath. That that is not something for us to look over either. So if you have your Bibles, if you will certainly make the Existory one, stay with me for the reading of God's Word.

3:15Chapter 31, we begin a new section here. The Lord said to Moses, see, I have called by my name, Bezalel, the son of Erie, son of her, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God and with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship. To devise artistic designs to work in gold, silver, and bronze, and cutting stones for setting and in carving wood to work in every craft. And behold, I have appointed with him a holiab, the son of Ish, Ish, Amak, the tribe of Dan. And I have given to all men ability that they may make all that I have commanded you. The tent of meeting the Ark of the testimony and the mercy seat that is on it. And all the furnishings of the tent, the table and its utensils, the pure lamp stand with

4:16all its utensils and the altar of incense and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils and the basin and its stand. And finally worked garments, the holy garments for Aaron, the priests and the garments for his sons, for their services priest and the anointing oil and the fragrance of the fragrance of the holy place. According to all that I have commanded you, they shall do. And the Lord said to Moses, you are to speak to the people of Israel and say above, all you should keep my Sabbaths for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I the Lord sanctify you. And you shall keep the Sabbath because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest.

5:19Holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as a covenant forever. It is a sign for ever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. Let's pray, Father, thank you for your word this morning. God, may we see it as an Aaron, may we see it as God breathed and profitable this morning for teaching, for correction, for proof, for your glory and through our lives. We pray this in your name. Amen. You may be seated. So very clearly here the passage this morning falls into two categories. We see first and foremost the calling of craftsmen to create and then we see a reminder of regular rest. And that's how the passage breaks down and we see in this first section of the calling

6:22of the craftsmen to create, like I pointed to in the introduction, something that would be very easy to gloss over. It's very easy for us in our day and age to gloss over what takes place in these verses but I think it's worth our time this morning to stop for a minute and think about what exactly it is that happens in these verses and why it is that that is so significant. Because what happens here in these verses as we see in verse number two, God says to Moses in verse one, see that I have called by my name Bezilell the son of Orie, son of Er, the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the spirit of God. Now I think it is a statement on our church today and of my heart and possibly of some of your hearts that as we read that this morning, we just glanced over that like it was nothing. Sadly the spirit is treated in one of two ways in our day. It is either neglected and the doctrine of the spirit is not taught or it is not honored

7:26and we don't think about the spirit as we worship, we don't think about the spirit as we pray. Or in some circles the spirit is overemphasized I think where the spirit is all that we talk about, all that we are concerned with. And this morning what I hope to do is to find the happy medium here between the two. But God starts out by telling Moses in verse two, see I have called by my name Bezilell. That phrase called by my name is a phrase of divine calling. God has a divine purpose for Bezilell. It is not just a common purpose. This is a unique calling for a unique job. Here God establishes that even the laborers that will complete this construction project are specifically and personally called by him to complete this work. Not one detail slips by God. God is the architect, he is design the project, he is the engineer, he is the decorator and

8:26the contractor. But he has called and equipped two men to lead this project. God specifically and uniquely calls these two men to lead the project. I think it is important here for us to look at what God sees as primary. What God sees is most important about these men because they are certainly qualified. They are certainly skilled. But that is not what is primary when God identifies what it is about these men that is significant. Look with me again in verse three. Well back up to verse two, actually he says again, see I have called by my name Bezilell, the son of the Spirit of God with ability, I am sorry, I have called by my name Bezilell, the son of Erie, son of her, of the tribe, of Judah. You might expect, as we see elsewhere in Scripture, where God then lays forth various categories that qualify this person for the job. But that is not what God does here, well he does, but it is not the categories that necessarily we would expect. He says in verse three, I have filled him with the Spirit of God.

9:29Now again, this might seem commonplace to us. We live in a day and age where filling of the Spirit in our Baptist circles, the filling of the Spirit, it is just something that we kind of acknowledge that happens and then we move on past it and we don't really talk about what it is or why it is important. But what God does here is he identifies that he is uniquely and personally called this individual for this seemingly common task of building a project. But obviously we know it is a special project, right? It is his temple, it is where he will be worshiped. But God identifies that what is most important about this man is not that he is skilled, what God mentions first here and what the Hebrew points to is being most important is that he is filled with the Spirit. Now, I don't know about you. If I was going to build a house today, the first quality I am looking for to build here is not, are they filled with the Spirit? Right? I don't, and maybe we should, right? But if I was going to build a house and I wanted to build the best house possible, I don't

10:32know that I would go knock on a business door and say, hey, are you a Christian first and foremost? Well, what is the first thing we say? We say, well, I want to see your portfolio. I want to see another house you've built. We take recommendations from friends. We say, hey, I've heard that you build good quality houses, right? And that's the standard by which we judge builders. But God here identifies that his standard for this project is different. And his standard for this project is different because this is not just an ordinary project. What God is doing here is not an ordinary thing. And so what is primary? What is most important about Bezilell? It's not that he's the finest craftsman in all of Israel. No. God starts with, first and foremost, that he is filled with the Spirit. He says, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God. God has uniquely qualified Bezilell for this project. It's not that God has relied on Bezilell to go through the right internships and the right programs, to stumble into the right skills, to happen to be the best craftsman in all of Israel.

11:33No. God has uniquely filled him with the Spirit and then listen to what the Bible says. And it goes on to say that that filling of the Spirit, the Hebrew gives us the sense that that filling of the Spirit then leads to with all ability and intelligence and with all knowledge and craftsmanship. See what God says here to Moses is, I have filled Bezilell with my Spirit. Which again, that is a significant thing. And in just a second, we're going to talk about what that means and why that is so significant for this job. But then what he goes on to reveal to Moses is that because he's filled him with the Spirit, that influences all the other giftings that Bezilell has. That being filled by the Spirit doesn't just stop in the realm of the Spiritual. That when we are filled with the Spirit, that changes everything about us. It takes us from a good builder, in Bezilell's case, to a great and qualified builder for this project. This phrase, filling of the Spirit, is certainly worthy of some of our attention this morning.

12:36It's certainly a phrase, as I pointed to, that has diverse understandings and treatments within the church. I'm sure even in this room, if we asked what your opinion was or what your thought was on the meaning of being filled with the Spirit, I'm sure in a room this size, we'd have various different answers. Given, as is always the case, though, the Scripture is clear. And if we're simply humble enough to seek it and ask it, we will find. In Micah 3.8, we see another instance of being filled with the Spirit. In Micah 3.8, Micah reveals that he has been filled with the Spirit. And along with that filling, he ties that being filled with the Spirit to, therefore, having the ability to rightly speak for God and have a faithful ministry. In Luke 115, we see that God tells John the Baptist parents that he will be filled with the Spirit, that he won't be drunk with wine, but rather he will be filled with the Spirit. John the Baptist is not a crazy man, God reveals, but rather one that is going to be filled with the Spirit, and that means he goes on to say that he is going to have the ability

13:38to have a faithful, obedient ministry. In Luke 1.41, the Bible tells us that Elizabeth was filled with the Spirit. And what happens after that? She's not out of her mind, she's not crazy, she's not babbling. But rather, she is all the more able to speak true and right things. She has a right prophecy to marry about Jesus when John the Baptist leaps in her womb. In Luke 167, Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist is filled with the Spirit, and that leads to him. Again, not speaking out of his mind, but speaking rightly and doing what God would have him to do. In Luke 3, Jesus is baptized, and what happens when Jesus is baptized? The Spirit descends. This is the approval of God before the public ministry of Christ. It's all pointing to the Spirit, the filling of the Spirit, this relationship with the Spirit, is all enabling faithful and right ministry. Luke 4. We see Jesus quote, size A61, and says that he has been filled with the Spirit, that he's

14:40walking in the Spirit, and that points to the fact that he is able then to teach rightly. In Acts 2, we see the believers gathered in the room there are filled with the Spirit Pentecost. What does that do? It doesn't lead to chaos and mass confusion. It leads to them being equipped and able to go out to the ends of the earth as Jesus had commanded them in the Great Commission, and do what God had commanded them to. You see, the filling of the Spirit throughout Scripture is always linked to faithful ministry. What God does when he fills us with His Spirit is he doesn't just set us out into the world and say, good luck. When God fills His people with His Spirit, He enables us to do the very things He's called us to do and to do them faithfully. To see a counterpoint here, we see in Acts chapter 5 where Ananias is not filled with the Spirit, but rather He's filled with Satan. And what does He do? He doesn't tell the truth. He lies. Right? And not only does He lie, He lies against the Spirit the Scriptures say. We see also all throughout the book of Acts, we're time and time again. The people who are speaking are filled with the Spirit, and again it's always tied to

15:43their ministry. And then finally in Ephesians chapter 5 we see Paul instruct them to not be drunk, but to be filled with the Spirit, and then what comes right after that? Sing songs, hymns and spiritual songs to one another, right? It's again connected to the ministry of the believer. And so what we have in this verse, in Exodus, back in Exodus 31, is the first time in Scripture where we see this language, someone being filled with the Spirit. And it's important to take note of its significance. What happens as a result of Bezileu being filled with the Spirit? What happens as a result? Do they begin, does Bezileu begin blabbering incoherently about this elaborate construction project and then miraculously everyone around him understands? No, that's not what happens. Does Bezileu begin following around all over the place when he's filled with the Spirit, and you know, turn into a crazy person? No, that's not what happens. He abandoned the burden of rationalism and chased the allure of what can only be described

16:49in many churches today as emotional upheaval. No, that's not what happens either. You see, in the Bible, when people are filled with the Spirit, what always happens next is faithful ministry. What always happens next is a sound mind. What always happens next is excellence in what God has called them to. And so what happens next, as we'll see in the coming weeks, if we skip ahead to chapter 35, Moses takes the collection after everything that happens between now and then, but we won't spoil that. And then in chapter 36, we see Bezileu and Ahiahab begin the process of faithfully executing all that we've spent the last several laborious weeks laying out weekend and week out. All the details, all the things will be rehashed again. Guess what? We're going to do it, right? We're going to make it through again. Why? Ahiahab and Bezileu were faithful to do it, right? They did what the Lord had command over and over again in chapter 36. We'll see. And he made. And he made. And he made.

17:49And he made as the Lord had commanded. You see, what God did in Bezileu's life was he called him to a task. Divinely, he called him to a specific job, but then he didn't just leave it to chance that it would take place. God gave him his spirit, enabled him, readyed him to do the work, and then sent him to be obedient. What a testimony of obedience and what a testimony of grace. Look with me in Exodus 39, if you will. It's the kind of the end of the section of the fulfillment of all of the things that are to be built. And in verse 32, it says, thus, all the work of the tabernacle of the Ten of Meeting was finished, and the people of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so they did. And then down in 42, according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the people of Israel had done all the work. And Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it as the Lord had commanded, so

18:50they had done it. Then Moses blessed them. See God gave them a plan. He equipped them for the plan, and then he led them into faithful execution of the plan. Dear friend, let us not forget this morning that the same spirit that filled Bezzaleel in dwells you and I today, that the same spirit that equipped Bezzaleel for the building of the temple is the same spirit that we read in the New Testament that has in dwelled you and I as believers today. God has not just given you gifts and passions and puts you in a field of work and has filled you with his spirit to enable your, I'm sorry, he has not just given you gifts and passions and thrown you into a field of work. He has filled you with a spirit that enables your obedience so that you, so that as you work as a teacher or a doctor or a programmer or a coach or a business over, that you would work for him and that you would be effective in doing so.

19:54See the problem is today is that so many of us don't do what the New Testament tells us to and we don't abide in that spirit. God has given us the very gift that we need to be effective in our ministry. He's given us the very gift we need to be able to live our lives in a way that's glorifying to him and then we don't abide in that. What did Bezzaleel do? He was called to do the job. He realized that God had equipped him to do the job and then he was obedient. And we literally see four chapters in the scripture where God tells over and over again and he built and he built as God had commanded him. So what's the message this morning? The message this morning is that whatever we do that we would rely on the spirit that God has given to us, that whatever it is that you are called vocationally do. Again, whether you're a teacher or a doctor or a homeschool mom or a pastor or whatever your job is, God has given you his spirit so that whatever you do, you would do it in obedience to him and it would be done for his glory and excellence.

20:57Terminate to Ephesians chapter four, if you will. Ephesians chapter four, starting in verse 17. Now this I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do and the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greed to practice every kind of impurity but that is not the way you learn Christ. Paul says here, don't walk like that. Don't walk in the way that you used to walk because that's not your life anymore. Assuming that you have heard about him being Christ and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus to put off your old self which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through all deceitful desires and to be renewed by the spirit of your minds and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God and true righteousness and holiness. That's what it means to dwell in the spirit.

21:59We see that all through Paul's writing that to dwell in the spirit is to live in this new life. The spirit gives life in John 3 and so therefore to walk in the spirit and to live in the spirit of this Paul puts it is to walk in light of that newness of life. Verse 25, therefore, having put away a falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor for we are not members of one another, be angry and do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal but rather let him labor doing honest work with his own hands so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupt talk come out of your mouths but only such as good for building up as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice be kind to one another tender hard for giving one another as God in Christ forgave

23:04you. The spirit of God, this new life that we are to walk in affects every aspect of our new life especially our work. See what he said? He said, don't be like the thief, don't steal, work hard. You see when we don't work hard we steal. Pastor Chris has talked about that in the past weeks and so the question I have this morning is this, what would it look like if our lives read like Exodus 24 to 31 and then 36 to 39? Where God says God commands God fills and then people obey. What would it look like in your life if God said in his word you read it you studied it you then walked in the filling of the spirit that he's given to you the enabling power that he's put inside of you to be obedient to live for his glory and whatever sphere that might be and then you obeyed what God had commanded you to do. What would that look like? What would it look like if God said God filled and so Gary did?

24:05What would it look like if God said God did and so Caesar did? What would it say if God said God did and then so Bucky did? How much different would the world be if our lives read like that? How much different would the world be if our lives read of God's commissioning and commanding God's equipping and then are willing us to abide in the indwelling that he's given us in his spirit? The problem is though that we don't do that. So often instead of this we allow the allure of sin as Paul talks about the allure of the darkness and the world to low our minds into the days of spiritual ambivalence and spiritless darkness. But remember what Paul wrote to the church in Galatians chapter 6 of Galatians he says in verse 16 but I say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For these desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. God has put inside of us godly desires but the flesh is warring against those things

25:09and those fleshly desires pull us away from faithful and right living. Think about Ohele or think about Bezzalil. What would have happened if they had said you know I know God said as so often happened in the life of Israel. I know God said that that was supposed to be so many qubits wide. I think it should be a little bit wider. After all, bigger is better is it not? But that's not what happens. No. They hear the command of God. They listen to the command of God. They rely on his spirit which enables their obedience and then they do it. Paul continues. Now, the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual morality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you as I warn you before that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

26:09What the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things, there is no law. Paul says against such things, every boss would be happy if you did them. Regardless of what your field is, the spirit can enable you to be all the better employee, all the better mom, all the better husband, all the better father. If you live like this, verse 24, and those who belong to Christ, Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires if we live by the spirit. Let us also keep in step by the spirit. There's a reason why in John 15, Jesus pleads with the disciples, abide in me. He's sending them out to do a huge kingdom work. Think about if the disciples had failed their job.

27:10We wouldn't be here, right? But God didn't allow that to happen, right? He called them, he equipped them, he readyed them for it, and then sent them out to be obedient and they did it. They abide it in him. In John 15, fruit, successful, fruitful ministry, fruitful life comes from abiding in the vine, it comes from walking in the spirit. Here's reality, God has created and commanded you. He has created and commanded your family. God has given you his spirit. Will you allow him to work in and through you for his glory? Will you allow him to work in and through you for his glory? Yes, he did through Bezzalo, as he did through Ohealim. These two men seem to be pretty ordinary guys. We see their family lines here and they come from two families of note within Israel,

28:12but they seem to be two ordinary guys and they're not mentioned anywhere else in Scripture. But what do we see here? We see that they abided in the calling, they abided in the gifting that God had given them. And because of that, they were able to execute a life of faithfulness with excellence, even in a menial task like building. And we see God through his Scriptures give us multiple chapters of by detail defining they did it. They did it. They did it. They did it. What's the point? The point is that God created, God designed this whole project. God then invited in to the management of this process, these two ordinary men to execute his will on this earth. Guess what that sounds a whole lot like? Creation in general, right? In fact, there's a lot of ties here. What we see between this account and the creation account. We see here is the same pattern we see in Genesis 1 and 2.

29:12You see beginning, all the way back in Genesis chapter 24, we see seven divine speeches. Each one of them, you can go back and count them, begins with, and the Lord said to Moses, there's seven times that that happens. Seven times that that happens, seven days in creation. Follow with me. The first five of these, we see God unfolding his design of the temple and let's not be mistaken. Remember, the temple is God's creation. And on the sixth day, God calls individuals to oversee the management of this creation and then gives them a helper and gives them the work to do. The connection becomes all the more clear when we remember that what God created in the garden. He didn't just make a garden and give it a landscaper. He made a temple and gave it a priest. Remember, he gave them the commission to go and fill all the earth and to subdue it. God made all of creation to be filled with his image bearers. So that is to say that those who represent his rule and dominion and he made them in

30:14his likeness so they could do it. What God was doing in creation, we see him doing again here, but what happened? What happened in creation? The fall happened, right? Adam was not obedient. God gave him a job. He made him in his likeness so he was able to do the job and then Adam didn't do it. The fall, therefore, and we have now the curse. All of creation bent away from God's design because of Adam's sin, but God promised victory, right in Genesis 3.16. We see that God is not finished. He promises that the offspring of the Roman will crush the head of the serpent, but that the sun will have his heel bruised. And then after the fall, things go as you might expect. The world was wicked and all seems lost until God calls a man named Noah to build an ark. He promised to deliver Noah in his family because of righteousness so that through the boat made from wood, humanity was spared. Sin had not won, right? Even though it seemed dark, even though the world was full of sin, God still won and

31:17his promise of victory was preserved. And then we find God introduced a character, a man named Abram, right? We see after the flood, we see the Tower of Babel happen and then we're introduced to this man named Abraham, our Abram, called to go to a land where he would show him, that God would show him, and that God would make him a great nation. And through the world, he would rather through him the whole world would be blessed. Again, this is God's promise being preserved. That man, family grew and eventually, this family found their way to Egypt, where because of the political success of one of the sons Joseph and the blessing of Pharaoh, they were welcomed and blessed. Until as we began in Exodus many months ago, one day there was a Pharaoh who didn't know Joseph and didn't favor this family. You might say, where are you going? Hang with me. And as we've been preaching for some number of months now, God delivers them from the hand of slavery. The promise still remains, right? God's not finished with his people.

32:18He still has a plan, right? When he started in the garden, he's going to bring to fruition. But unless we get bogged down by the details here, the reminder in the midst of all the intricacies and laborious details, God has a bigger plan, right? We've spent literally months now preaching through the details of what God instructed to be built in the temple. Why? Because weakin and weak out, we've pointed to that it's not about the details. That it's ultimately about Christ. The details point to Christ. All of this points to Christ. God has a bigger plan. God is not primarily concerned about a temple in the wilderness. God is concerned about bringing to fruition what he had set out to do in the first temple in the garden. What God had done originally in creation, he's now beginning to recreate. Israel will eventually possess the land that he promises to them. But God has a bigger plan. It doesn't stop there. Israel asks for a king and God warns them that this will be a wicked king, but they insist and God gives them over to their desires, knowing that he has a bigger plan.

33:22The king was wicked. God ordains a new king, David. Finally, it seemed victory was a hand. The king was here. The kingdom was going to come. The head of the serpent would be crushed. But David failed just like Adam did, right? David was just a man. He didn't crush the head of the serpent. Nevertheless, God, once again, to David, reminds his people that something greater is on the way. That David's throne will last forever. What he started in creation wasn't over because there was a bigger plan at play. What happens after God reminds them of this? Well, they continue to reject God. That people continue to reject Him. Eventually, in Ezekiel, we read that God's spirit leaves the temple. That seems like a big deal to our passage this morning. Does it not? Very place where God was so focused on dwelling with His people, His spirit leaves why? Because there's a bigger plan. It's not just about a temple.

34:22It's about something bigger. They go into exile in Babylon. After some number of years, they are delivered and returned to Jerusalem. Guess what? They rebuild the temple, but God's spirit never returns why? Because there's a bigger plan. He reveals over and over through the prophets that He will be faithful until one day silence. Another army comes and conquers Jerusalem and Decorate desecrates the temple and all seems lost. For 400 years, Israel feels like God has abandoned them, that God has forgotten His promise. Then rumblings, something about a star and some visitors from the east and then tales of an odd child, born to a manger who's growing up and teaching in the temple from a young age. Then one day Jesus from Nazareth comes into Galilee in Mark 1 and says this. He says, the time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel. The time had come.

35:23Thousands of years of longing and faithfulness and rebellion and forbearance had come to a climax. Jesus would live a sinless life. Die, a sinner's death in our place. The perfect man, born of woman conceived by the spirit had done what Adam couldn't and he crushed the head of the serpent. He rose from the grave, proving he had victory over it. Jesus said in John 3, the way to enter the kingdom that he came proclaiming was to be born of the spirit. You and I enter into this kingdom, to this plan that God is continuing to unfold and unveil that he began in creation. You see, what's so important about what God is doing in these few chapters in Exodus is God is foreshadowing as we've been toying to again, weakening weak out, a bigger plan. Is it important that God filled Bezzale with his spirit? Yes, it is. Of course it is, right? Or else we wouldn't be talking about it this morning.

36:24But what's more important than that? It's more important than that. It's as important as it was that Bezzale was filled with the spirit and the obedient. It's all the more important for you and I today that we're filled with the spirit and we're obedient because we're a part of God's unveiling plan just like they were. You and I have a job today to read the word, figure out what it has to say for how it should change our lives, not just in the spiritual realm, but in the day to day as well and allow God to transform our lives through the power of this gospel and the indwelling of the spirit. Jesus says again in John 3, the way to enter this kingdom is through being born of the spirit. Paul continues this idea in Romans chapter 8, starting in verse number 9. He says, you however are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if in fact the spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Jesus

37:27from the dead will also give life to your moral bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. Jesus is creating, has created through his death, burial and resurrection, a new people for his possession. Namely you and me, Paul continues in verse 26 likewise, the spirit helps us and our weakness. We're not able to do this on our own. We must rely on the spirit. For we do not know even what we ought to pray for as we ought. But the spirit himself intercedes for us with groaning's two deep for words, and he who searches hearts knows what is in the mind of the spirit because the spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, those who have called according to his purpose, for those whom he for new, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, in order that he might be the force-barn among many brothers in those whom he predestined, he also called, in those whom he called, he also justified, in those whom he justified, he also glorified.

38:30Remember what God did with Adam? He made him in his image, he made him in his likeness, and then gave him a job and called him to be obedient. Now think about that in light of what Paul says in Romans 8 here. The same thing that he does with Bezilell, he makes Bezilell, he calls Bezilell to a job, he fills him with the spirit and then leads him into obedience. Paul says here, the same thing is happening in the life of believers. The same thing is happening in you and I. You see, this image that we're supposed to bear, this picture of the Lordship of Christ that we're supposed to bear to the world, which is what Adam was called to bring to the ends of the earth, right? This image of Christ's power and dominion that Adam was supposed to bear to the ends of the earth, Adam didn't do that. Why? Because Adam thought he was king. Adam thought that he deserved the dominion. And so now all of us inherit that same brokenness. We all inherit that same sinfulness. And Paul says here, what is Christ doing in and through his spirit?

39:33What is Christ doing in and through his people? He is transforming them back to that image. Remember? He said he said, he verse 20, number 29, for those whom he forenew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. I'm afraid that many of us just go as far as for those whom he forenew he predestined period and that's all we know of that verse. But what did he predestined him to? He predestined him back to a state that they were designed to function in. You see in Christ, God doesn't just fill us with his spirit. He conforms us to the image of Christ, that is to say, to the image of God, that we may rightly bear his name and his dominion to the ends of the earth. You see what God started in Adam. He foreshadowed by his spirit in Bezalel, Nohilo. He accomplished in Christ and is realizing today through you and through me. Right? Remember the Great Commission. What is God, what is Jesus? Call his disciples to do. Take the gospel to the ends of the earth.

40:35It is a continuation of the creation mandate given to Adam. And today you and I, through the power of the spirit, continue that same journey. We continue that same calling. And so the day to day of the Christian ethic, the in and out of how you work and why you work and how you live and why you live is not just a trivial matter of moral relativism or spiritual exclusion. But rather, the Christian ethic is the foundation of the ontological principle for why we exist. It is the reason Paul encourages Timothy to fan the flame of the gift that God had given to him. Right? And second to Timothy, chapter one. So what are you doing to allow God to work in and through you by his spirit? What are you doing to participate in this calling that God has given to us? Are you using the gifts he's given to you to bear his image and to spread his glory?

41:40Another aspect of what we see in Exodus 31 that points us to creation is how this section of seven ends. Remember, we had five sections of God laying forth his design and plan. And then we have a sixth day of God inviting man to join in him in the mission. And now we have the seventh section in chapter 31, the seventh and the Lord said to Moses talking about the Sabbath, just like creation ends with rest, so to this section ends and rest. And so we have not just the call of the craftsmen to create, but we have also the reminder of regular rest. Look at how seriously God takes this reminder. It's not just a reminder. It's a heavy reminder. Verse 14, you shall keep the Sabbath because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it, that is to say everyone who makes it something that it's not, should be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

42:43Send them out of the camp. Guess what? They're in the wilderness. Guess what that means? Death. God's call here to remind rest comes with the penalty of death. Consider the reason for this. Remember, God has given them all these instructions for work. God has laid forth many, many things of fine details for them to go and do so that he can have a place to dwell for the building where he would be worshipped. Lincoln Duncan puts it this way. He says, Moses is showing us here in Exodus 31, that sacred time takes priority over sacred space. In other words, he's saying, look, I've just given you the commandments for the building of the tabernacle. You can't work on the Sabbath day, even to be obedient to do that. You can't work on the Sabbath day, even to build the tabernacle. You are to take God's time of rest, even in the building of his house.

43:45And this makes sense, right? Because what we see in Sabbath, what we have in Sabbath, given from God, is not just a divine law given to his people in Israel. It is a creation order. It is something that is at the very foundation of how God created us to exist as his people. God's command for them to build the temple didn't change the created order of the world therefore. He knew he created the earth and all that was in it to rest on these cycles of seven. Remember, we have six days of work and then the seventh day of rest. We have six years of harvesting the fields and then the seventh year, you have to let the fields rest and so on. The whole creation order is found its foundation on this rest. God rests on the seventh day to show us our need for this rest. God didn't need to rest. God was teaching us something when he rested. God doesn't get tired, but rather he knew that we would need the example or else we wouldn't obey this order.

44:46And so then failure to follow God's laws and the rejection of how he's created us to function, the rejection therefore of his lordship is a sign of already being outside of the covenant ourselves. And so what is God saying? He's saying, cut him off because they're not a part of it because to be a part of God's covenant family is to recognize his covenant laws and to recognize the way in which he rules over creation. Moses even points to this here. He says sanctify this day. He says set it apart as a reminder that I, God, will sanctify you. God says set it apart. Set this day apart. Why? Because you are set apart. It's a reminder. But just as the work of the temple foreshadowed something greater, so to this rest foreshadows a new testament reality. Jesus calls us to come to him in Matthew 11 because his yoke is easy and his burden is light. A lot of times I think we don't really think about what that means or why that is contextually

45:49important for Jesus to say that. But in Matthew 23, flip there with me if we were we're we're we're wrapping up Matthew 23. He's given the seven woes to the Pharisees. When Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples the scribes and the Pharisees sat on Moses' seat and do and observe whatever they tell you but not the works they do for they preach but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to bear and lay them on people's shoulders and they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. So what is the context of Jesus saying come to me all you who are weary lady weary and heavy lady and I will give you rest. The context of that is a religious atmosphere of legalism and a religious atmosphere of hypocrisy. It's an atmosphere where the rulers the Pharisees expected things of the people that they weren't

46:51themselves willing to do and that they didn't do. See dead cold legalism legalism and moralism tells you to do do do and then because of your doing you become righteous. That's what the Pharisees taught. That's what every other world religion teaches. Do do do do do do do and then one day have your rest because you will have achieved righteousness or you will achieve Nirvana as the Buddhist put it. But Christ comes and is the man who we are supposed to be right he does what we're supposed to do for us. He then dies in our place and he says rest in me abide in me be filled by the spirit be conformed to my image be transformed by the renewing of your mind Romans 12. And then he says in Matthew 28 to go not in our own power but to go in his power. How is it that we have rest then how is it that you and I can have rest in this day and age where we are called to do so much life is busy we are hard there's work to do there

47:58is sacred work to do. And how are we to rest in that environment flip with me to Hebrews chapter 4. So be the last time we flip. Starting in verse 1 therefore while the promise of entering his rest still stands. Let us fear less than if you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them but the message they heard did not benefit them because they were not united by faith with those who listened for we who have believed for we who have believed entered that rest as he said I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest although his works were finished up from the foundation of the world for he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way and God rested on the seventh day from all his works and again in this passage he said they shall not enter my rest. And therefore it remains for some to enter in those who formally received good news failed to enter because of disobedience again he appoints to a certain day today saying

49:03through David so long afterward in the words already quoted today if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts. For if Joshua had given them rest God would not have spoken of another later on remember God has a bigger plan the rest that God is commanding here through Moses is not the end. The rest given in the law the Sabbath rest given to Moses is not ultimate. What what is ultimate is greater than that is beyond that. If Joshua when they conquered the promised land had given him the rest God would not hear the writer of Hebrew says would not have spoken of another day later on. So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Back in Exodus it says that God rested on the seventh day and was refreshed. God knew that one day there would be people namely all of us who work ourselves to death

50:06who feel the need because of spiritual influences to work ourselves to death. And so God in creation designs the world to function in such a way that points to the rest that ultimately comes only in Christ. So here's the question are you resting as your relationship with Christ change the way that you see your work. Remember what Paul says in Colossians 3 whatever you do work hardelius for the Lord not as for man knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ so many of us think that our work is so important that it's worth for going God's promise of refreshment through rest to get what we want in this temporal life. But what is the Bible tell us the Bible tells us that God knows better because he's our creator that God knows better because he's created a stuff function in a certain way and he is ordained as yes to work he's equipped us yes to work but he has commanded us to rest. He has made us to rest. And so then the question remains who are what are you resting in.

51:10So often I hear people say well I'm just trying to make it to the weekend. That's not rest. So often you hear in country songs all the time working hard to make living right trying hard to get to heaven where I come from. That's not rest. That's not what God's designed for us. Remember as Christians we live in a new creation the old has passed away in Christ. We work out of the rest we have on the Christian Sabbath this morning. We gather together in an uncommon spiritual time to with the saints of old enter into the holy place and worship God and out of this we go empowered by the spirit to work knowing that one day ultimate rest remains for those who abide in Christ. Let's pray Father. You've given us much to do. The task that lays ahead of us is great. The weight of responsibility is heavy both spiritually and tangibly in our lives.

52:18Things are more expensive than they used to be. Schedules are more packed than they used to be. But still the truth remains that you have called us to a work. You have equipped us for that work and you've called us then to rest. So God help us first and foremost to abide in your spirit to allow your spirit to transform us into the kind of person that can be excellent in every area of our life. Help us to be transformed by the power of your words so that we are able to be the kind of person you've called us to be. God I think so often we work ourselves so hard because we're trying to be something on our own and we're not resting in the fact that you've already equipped us through the power of your spirit and through the gift of your word to have what we need to be the kind of people you've called us to be. Help us to see what's primary.

53:19Help us to push out what's not most important. Help us to be willing and able to make sacrifices and cut back when necessary. And God then as we work, help us to do so for your glory, knowing that we work not for man but for you. And then God help us to rest. Help us as we grow spiritually to see that your son has already accomplished on the cross, everything we could ever do spiritually. Help us to rest in that. Help us to be transformed by the spirit. Help us to through these new holy desires you've given to us, seek out the things that are above and be transformed for your glory on our own praise. And then help us to rest knowing that one day, rest is coming, that the things of this our old will pass away and we will be with you, our Creator. What you set out in Adam to accomplish, we will see brought to fruition from ever more. We pray as soon as you know.

54:20Thank you for listening to this sermon from Harvest Baptist Church. For more information about the church, please visit our website, harvestbc.church. If you would like to contact us, please email us at contact.harvestbc at gmail.com or you can call us at 706 780 2211. If you were looking for a church home or visiting the North Georgia area, we would love for you to join us on a Sunday morning at 930 in the Fellowship Hall for breakfast and Sunday school and then at 11 a.m. for our Lord's Day worship service. We hope that you have a great week. God bless.