The Reluctant God - Part 8 — G.W. North

I suppose it's in England too, but I don't know. I know it's here in Scotland. That a school teacher had told them that they've been circularised, and your children are listening to what's going to happen to them, that they are to teach four faiths now, they're not to teach the Christian faith, only as one among four.

They're to teach Buddhism, they're to teach Islam, they are to teach humanism, and they are to teach Christianity. And they are not to say that Christianity is the only truth. Now that's going to happen here in Scotland.

Exclusive Worship and Covenant Faithfulness

It's about time you Scots got up and did some crusading, like the Crusaders did before. You covenanters ought to be rising. You ought to invade all the powers that be. You have a perfect right to. They are going to preach lies to your children.

Listen to what God said, you're to break down everything, smash it. That's what he said. You're not to have anything to do with it. Be a snare to you if you do. Thou shalt worship, verse 14, no other god, for the Lord whose name is Jealous is a jealous God.

Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one called thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice, and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go whoring after their gods, thou shalt make thee no molten gods.

I'm jealous, he said. Now, you're only jealous over people that you love, aren't you? This was one of the things that got into Moses. He realized how God loved these people. Absolutely jealous for them.

Jealous God, he said. Yeah, I want you. I want all of you. I want you all together. I love you. If you spend time with God, this is the thing you'll discover. His amazing love that wants everything. That is true love.

Wants everything. Listen. Then he goes on and says this. We're going to see it now, and we'll come back at the end of the chapter. The Feast of Unleavened Bread. Now, you know when that happened. That was when, at the Passover, when the blood of the lamb was shed.

Thou shalt keep it. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee in the time of the month Abib, for in the month Abib thou camest out of Egypt. What does he mean by that? Well, listen to what Paul says.

That Jesus Christ has redeemed us from the corruption that is in the world through lust. You've read that in Galatians chapter 1. That's right. Well, that's what leavened bread, in their bread, stood for.

The corruption of Egypt, or the world. That's right. He said, now you ought to get the corruption of the world out of you. The second thing he says is this. All that openeth the matrix is mine, and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male, but the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem of the lamb, and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck.

All the firstborn of thy son shalt thou redeem, and none shall appear before me empty. Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest, in e 'ering time and in harvest thou shalt rest, and thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingaring at the year's end.

You might be thinking, what's all that about? We'll come back to it in a minute. Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. That is the three times that he's spoken of in the preceding verse.

Firstfruits, wheat harvest, the feast of weeks, firstfruits of the harvest, and the feast of ingaring. They had three sort of harvest festival services. It was very wonderful. Three times in the year all your men children shall appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel.

I'll cast out the nations before thee, enlarge thy borders, neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year. And so he goes off. Three times in the year.

And did you see this in the end of verse 20? None of them were to go up before God these three times in the year empty. They were to go up full. In other words, God was going to bless them in the land, and they were to go up full to God.

But he said, listen, you're only to work six days a week. I don't want you to break the Sabbath. You could, you'll still come up to me full. I'll increase you. I'll bless you. I want you all to come to me.

This is how he loved them. This is why he said, now all that openeth the matrix is mine. All the firstborn, I want you to know that I love you. I want you to know that I've claimed you. This is what he was thinking.

How can I fasten onto this people the truth that I love them and that I want them? He says, well, give me the first thing that's ever born, cow or sheep or goat or whatever it is. Give it to me, the firstborn male.

Give it to me. I want you to know that you're mine, mine, mine. All that you are, all that you have, let me have the first, the best. I'll increase. I'll see that nobody takes anything from you. You'll lose nothing.

But keep your soul in rest now. Don't get this leaven of the world working in you. That's what he's saying. You're mine. You're mine. Your children are redeemed. Everything's mine. I love you. I want you to come up to me.

Of course, we know there's no central place now to go. There's no, nothing like that. We don't have to make pilgrimages to Mecca or go to Jerusalem or anything like that. Wonderful. Three times in the year, every four months.

And then this. Verse 27. The Lord says to Moses, write thou these words. For after the tenor of these words, I've made a covenant with thee and with Israel. Marvellous, isn't it? But look what he'd said just before that.

The end of verse 26. Thou shalt not see the kid in his mother's milk. Well, bless the Lord. Could, you can imagine it, can't you? There's this little baby kid being born. You could say, well, that's a sentimental touch.

Yeah, that's right. Yeah, I like a little bit of sentiment, don't you? No? You're a stranger to me. I like a little bit of sentiment. I don't like over-sentimentalization. In the end, you go, no. But he said, don't do that.

And old Moses, and you'll see in a moment why I'm going this way, because it says it's written in scripture. Moses realized what a God he was dealing with. And he was up there with God 40 days and 40 nights.

The Tenor of God's Love in His Commandments

And this is what God said. Now, listen, do you get what I'm saying? Can you hear me? It isn't just the words I'm saying. It's the tenor of the words. You know what we mean by tenor, though? I have a tenor voice.

And I could just sing to you and sing to you, and you might not understand a word I was singing. Especially if I was singing in Hebrew, which I can't, by the way. I can just about manage to sing in English.

You could hear the voice. What is it that's coming through to me by all these commandments, Lord? What is it? It's this. I love you. I love you. I love you. I want you. I want you to see that your national life is run on these lines.

Oh, I want a nation that's my line. That's what he said. Say, what's in your heart? Can you hear the tenor of it all? Oh, how harsh mere words can be. Can bash people over the head with the words, words, words.

But do you get the sound of it? Do you get the lilt? He says, don't go after these other gods. Don't make covenants with these other things. Don't do this. Don't do that. Keep in rest. Come to me at least three times a year, because you will know that's what will happen.

When they got in the Promised Land, they had a small holding or a large farm, tens and tens and tens of miles away. There wasn't any LLF plane and there were no cars and there was nothing like that. They couldn't pop into church every Sunday morning like that.

Three times a year, he said. And when they came, they never had to come empty. They would bring their offerings and their sacrifices and their gifts to the Lord. He said, now, look, I don't like to sort of part with you for four months, but will you come three times in the year to me?

Moses was thinking in his heart, oh Lord, I've had 40 days with you. I've had 40 days before this. Hallelujah. And his heart was rejoicing. He'd heard God's heart. Some people only hear words. What do you hear?

Glory. Now, I don't know whether he came dancing down that mountain. I bet he thought I got to be a bit careful. I broke the last two. I guess he came down that mountain clutching these tables of God's requirements for his nation to his heart.

And when he got down there and he called them, they stared at him and ran away. His face was glowing. That's what made him glow. That's what made him shine. He'd come heart to heart with God. He'd seen the glory.

He knew the truth. It's Moses, but in him had been naturalized in God. Everything in him had responded under the Lord. He'd been in his presence. When we look upon one another's faces, we see where we'd be.

With whom do you keep company? It transmutes you. May not be to the same degree in which Moses was there because he literally spent 40 days up there with God. And certainly not to the degree in which Jesus was transfigured.

But I do say this to you. You can have a transforming, transfiguring relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, if you will. Present yourself. I hear old Paul saying the same thing. I don't know whether you do.

Transformation Through Surrender to God

For you will remember that he says this. You are to present your bodies. That's what he said. And he said in that same 12th chapter of Romans, please read it tonight sometime. And he said, present your bodies a living sacrifice unto the Lord.

And he said this too. You will be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So if there's no transformation, you know people haven't presented themselves. If they're still really the same old thing, just gone religious a bit, you know they've never, never presented themselves to God.

And Moses whisked not that the skin of his face shone. He didn't know it. Isn't it wonderful that it's good to be transformed and not know it, but other people know it. And it's so wonderful now. He'd gotten used to it.

And that's what happens. You can get really used to it. Glory be to God. Old Moses got used to it. And every time he went into God, he went in bare face. When he went out to people, had to put it on again.

He got used to it now. Hallelujah. Fail off. Face to face with Christ my Savior. Glory. Amen. Now listen, whenever you go into God, don't you start putting a veil on. You know, the prayers, all the nice prayers you repeat.

Don't you try that. The nice bedside poem book you read. Don't you try that with God. When you go into God, you go naked, bare faced, to prove you're not a bare faced liar. That you're in absolute reality with the Lord.

We all need to practice this a bit, you know. Not literally. I mean, we don't all want to come in with veils all over our faces when we talk to one another. But sometimes, is everybody listening to me, you have to veil the inner glory for the sake of others.

Oh, Paul said that. He said, we're beside ourselves to God. If we're sober, it's just because of you. Paul knew what it was to keep the glory in. So he wasn't always bawling, amen, hallelujah, praise God, and all the people outside that didn't understand a bit what he was talking about, saying, oh, this man's gone cranky.

You know, like that, you see. He veiled it. He veiled it. He wasn't afraid of anybody. Except this. He was afraid of stumbling them because of their ignorance. And they didn't know. Couldn't be expected to know.

And he'd come with a big heart like Moses. He wanted everybody to come in, come into the glory of God. I'm going to stop. Not because I finished. Tomorrow night's our last night around the world. We're going to sort of wind up on Moses.

I don't really know. Perhaps we'll, in any successive Wednesday nights when I'm home, I took note of what was said on Sunday night about letting the Tuesday night meeting be a prayer meeting. All right.

And on successive Wednesday nights, perhaps we'll continue. It might take us the rest of the year. I'm only home a few Wednesdays, I believe. Somewhere between here and the near end. Something like that.

But I hope that you have entered in into this tremendous thing that God wants to do. Now, if you're not there and your heart really pines to be there, listen. Make sure before you get to bed tonight that you know your names in the book.

That's your entitlement to all that I've said. Amen. And more than I've been able to say. All right. Let's pray then. Glorious Lord, oh Lord, we are so grateful to thee for this marvellous thing that thou hast revealed in the book.

And Lord, more and more, oh, win people's hearts, Lord. Win them, we pray thee. The world is so strong, has so many attractions. If necessary, Lord, carry us away from our Egypt into some Sinaitic place and talk to us, Lord.

Better get us to thy Calvary, blessed Lord Jesus, until we can see the glory of God in thy face. Dear Lord Jesus, who died to be our saviour, lives now to be our sanctifier unto God. Move upon us, Lord, everyone.

Everyone, Lord. We should get the truth and the tenor of thy words and get the meaning and longing of thy heart. For we're not saved by words, but by thy loving heart, thy grace through the redeeming blood of Jesus.

Thank you, Father. Thank you for loving us. Amen, Lord. Amen, Lord. God loves you, and that's knowing how he loves you. Perhaps you might like to sing the second verse next time. It's wonderful to know that he does.

When you know how he does, that's marvelous. Perhaps you might add why, too, as a third verse. Do you know why he loves you? That's glorious, isn't it? Well, I'm sorry that we've come to the end of our series.

Moses as Mediator of the Covenant and Tabernacle

For my own heart has been blessed as we've been going through the life of Moses. God asked me for a title for the series. She thought it was a bit sort of banal, saying the life of Moses. So we sort of knocked our heads together without too many hollow noises coming out.

And I think we've come up with the idea, Moses the God-man. And I told her she'd better put the reference for it, and it's people who think it's rankest heresy. That's only because they don't read their Bibles.

Mind you, that's how all heresies do count, because God plainly said to Moses, I will make you a god to Pharaoh. And that was a very, very marvelous thing. All right. It's a tremendous thing to realize that this man, Moses, was the mediator of a very, very wonderful covenant, known to us, of course, now as the old covenant.

But when it was made, it was the new covenant that God made with people then. And it was very, very wonderful indeed. And how that Moses was given the opportunity, indeed, he was raised up to be the leader in the bringing forth of the greatest overall type to the Lord Jesus that there is in the whole Bible, and that is the tabernacle.

Now, our study is not the tabernacle. That might take us another 12 months on top of what we've already been doing and shall not reach the end of it tonight. But the tabernacle itself, as you know, was the great reason, ultimately, why God called Moses up the mountain.

We always think he was called up the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments. And perhaps that's about as far as our knowledge and our thinking goes. But far and away beyond that, he was called up the mountain to see a pattern.

God showed him on the mountain in the fire and in the glory the pattern of the tabernacle that he was to build for him. And the Ten Commandments were given not just to be the kingdom law of the children of Israel, but to be placed in the heart of the king.

That is, the ark, which represented more specifically the person of the Lord Jesus. And the two tablets of stone were ultimately put there in the heart of the ark. That was wonderful. And the ark as it is, the tabernacle as it is revealed unto us, in its completeness, piece by piece.

And then it's raising up. And all the glorious system of worship and of teaching and of the blood offerings and the bodily sacrifices and the great atonement and redemption and everything that was brought into being based on that tabernacle speaks to us in the completest way possible of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I hope that you know this. For instance, let's just look at it this way. Turn back with me in Exodus chapter 19 and you will discover the chapter opens like this. In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day they came into the wilderness of Sinai and in verse 3, Moses went up unto God.

Okay, that's the third month. In chapter 40, it says this, verse 17. It came to pass in the first month, in the second year on the first day of the month that the tabernacle was reeled up. And there you have the normal gestation period of a baby, all right, that the tabernacle was, as it were, born.

And so you get this marvelous revelation of God that it was produced. I know that they were lunar months, but here is the great and glorious truth. You know that all babies don't keep the timetable properly.

Some come under, some go over time. Well, at least I'm told. And so here we have it, the production, the bringing into the world of the tabernacle. It was a marvelous thing that God did. And, you know, Moses was charged with this.

He was charged with it to go back into the 19th chapter or, if you like, on through chapter 20, 21, 22, and 23, and 24. And when you get to chapter 25, the Lord speaks unto Moses and he says, Speak unto the children of Israel that they bring me an offering of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart.

You shall take my offering. Then he goes down through the verses specifying what he wants. And it says in verse 8, And let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. You know, he's a dear God, isn't he?

He wanted to come down and live among his people. That was it. And Moses, you may remember, was up in the mount 40 days and 40 nights. He sent at last down the mountain by the Lord, carrying the two tables of stone.

That is, the Ten Commandments, and charged with all the details of the building of the tabernacle. When he was up in the mountain, it wasn't only God who was busy writing Ten Commandments. Moses was busy too.

And he was writing down the commandments that God gave him and writing down the details of the tabernacle. And this is why you will read that it was all done under the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

You'll read that again and again and again. And you know how often we talk about somebody writes in long hand or they've got a nice hand. In fact, when I was born in London, they used to call it fist sometimes, but they weren't all that respectful.

I suppose they had in mind that I was going to be an awful writer at one period. But here is the wonderful truth that he wrote it down. He wrote down lots of the other ordinances and laws. He had a great time up there.

He was so in God that he didn't think about eating or drinking. And I suppose too, he had no sense of the passage of time. And I don't know, this is another thing I'm going to ask when I get to heaven.

I don't know this. I don't know whether you got the answer. I can see Jim sitting there like the philosopher staring at me. And I don't know, but I don't think that Moses ever went to sleep. I don't think he did.

I don't think he ever, he anymore needed sleep to restore his strength and he needed food or drink to keep it up because he had passed into God. And there he was. And I suppose everybody else would have said, well, Moses, you were up 40 days and 40 nights without sleep.

That's impossible. And I suppose he might have heard a whisper. Though again, I don't know that it was ever said with God, nothing is impossible. And he was with God and he never noticed the passage of time.

Like sometimes you don't when I've been speaking to you for an hour and you don't even know you've been sitting there for a quarter of an hour. Because we pass into God and we lose all sense of everything else.

Amen. Do you know our meetings together should be a foretaste of heaven. They should be mountain top experiences. We should forget about all other things. God should so grip hold of us that everything begins to burn inside us.

Or awed in his presence and he catches up everything and just fills us. And because we're filled with him, we lose sense of everything else. These should be the little foretastes of what it's going to be when we get to be with the Lord forever.

Well, then Moses wrote these things down. And ostensibly he was coming down the mountain to do what God said. But you know what he did? He smashed the two tablets of stone. He turned on the people with anger that they had turned against God.

Smashed the golden calf. Chided with the people. Went up again next morning into the mountain as we read last night in verse 31 of chapter 32. To make an atonement for sin if he could. He would have made the ultimate sacrifice if he could have done.

To atone for the people's sin. But he was a mere man. That is all he was. Great man that he became by God's grace. And then you know what happened. We went through this last night. I'm only recapping slight bits of it.

And then God said to him in chapter 34. You're to come up to me again in the morning. And so he toiled away, hewed him out two tables of stone. And before the day was really awake, he toiled up the mountain to God.

And there he stayed with God another 40 days. So you will see that the tabernacle never got built when Moses came down first time. All right. Now we'll catch up. In the end of chapter 34 where we spent so much wonderful time.

At least it was wonderful to me last evening. And the children of Israel verse 35 of chapter 34. Saw the face of Moses that the skin of Moses face shone. And Moses put the veil upon his face again until he went in to speak with God.

Wonderful. And Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together and said unto them. These are the words which the Lord hath commanded that you should do them. Six days shall work be done.

Willing Hearts and the Building of the Tabernacle

Now he's thinking of the building of the tabernacle at this moment. The commandment goes beyond that. It just didn't just cover the tabernacle time. The building of the tabernacle. But he's now thinking of this tremendous condition as we saw a little earlier.

Moses wasn't all that concerned about the promised land. He'd been raised up to lead the people to the promised land. But he wasn't concerned about the promised land as we saw in that earlier chapter in verse 15 of 33.

Where he said to God if thy presence go not with me. I don't want to go to Canaan Lord. Don't you carry me up here. I'd rather just stay here talking to you. I don't want a glorious thing. Take not unto the Lord whosoever is of a willing heart.

God doesn't want anything from anybody who hasn't got a willing heart. If you've got a willing heart God will have all you want to give him. And he thinks that all you have to give should be all that you want to give.

This is what he says. Let him bring it an offering unto the Lord. Gold he starts with. And so on. All right. And then he goes into verse 10. And every wise hearted man among you shall come and make all that the Lord has commanded.

God didn't only want their gifts. He wanted their labor too. He didn't want you to give money in lieu of working. There are too many people like that. Sometimes, you know, I feel that our missionary societies, the Lord bless them, I'm not being critical of them.

Rather, you know, we'll go. You support us. If you give us the money we'll go on the field. I suppose it's necessary. But lest it should sow in anybody's heart. I'm going to stay at home in comfort. I'll give to 20p in the pound or something like that.

And think you're giving a lot because you're giving a fifth instead of a tenth. What a tremendous truth it is to know that God wanted all they had. I showed you in the earlier chapter. At least I hope I showed you in chapter 34 where he said this.

I want your sons in verse 23 to come to me three times a year. I want everything that's born, every male firstborn. You're mine. You're mine. I want you. I want you. I want what you have. I want your labors and I want your heart for that's what he's talking about.

And everything that he had to say was based on this. Notice it had to be the heart. That's right. The heart. And you and I have to see this. It is our hearts that God wants but he doesn't want this pious stuff.

Lord you have my heart. I'll keep my bank balance. You don't deceive God. You have my heart. God reckons that means you're all. If you interpret it otherwise then don't say you're reaching after the fullest and the best.

Don't. Don't deceive yourself and don't damage other people's ears by pouring it into them. What a glorious truth it is. What God does not want is humbug. Now beloved it's a marvelous and glorious thing and we go right down.

And it says in verse 20 when all the children of Israel heard this. I'm going to read it advisedly. They all the congregation of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. Oh if that's what he wants.

See. Oh no. No they went away and they came in verse 21. They came everyone whose heart stirred him up and everyone who his spirit made willing. And they brought the Lord's offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation and for all his service and for the holy garments.

And they came both men and women as many as were willing hearted and brought bracelets and earrings and rings and tablets and jewels. How about if you all did that. What do you want all these jewels on you for.

When there's a need. What do you want your gold for. And sobbing because the net and bale's not being built. It's a lot of nonsense. The children of Israel will teach you if you'll look. And we say we're in a better covenant.

We say we are. I suppose it's everybody wants to be like Prince Charles or Lady Diana. With gold rings and diamonds and I don't know what. Bless her heart. But here is the tremendous thing. Hallelujah.

It might be a good thing for God to get us in the wilderness and strip us down. Mightn't it. We might make progress then. What a marvelous thing. Do you know half the time God doesn't believe us. Because you can believe God 100 percent of the time.

But I doubt whether he believes us 50 percent of the time. If you come to really think it out. Oh what a marvelous thing. Oh it's so great. Look at this. Verse 26. All the women whose hearts stirred them up.

Good you women. Let your hearts stir you up. Stir your husbands up too. If you've got one stir him up. Because he thinks he shouldn't be stirred too much in this direction. I mean he's got responsibilities he says.

You probably thinks the one of them. But you see the whole tremendous thing lies here. Willing. Hearted. Wise hearted. Whole hearted. A heart that'll work. Stirring up. Hallelujah. When your heart gets stirred up your emotions will get reached.

You know that don't you. Glory be to God. My heart is boiling up. Indicting a good matter. Says old David. Glory. I think this is right. I said the Lord. Lord fancy this chapter for tonight. I'm having a good time.

And it says this. And there we go. Verse 29. The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the Lord. Every man and woman whose heart made them willing. To bring for all manner of work. Which the Lord had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses.

God-Given Skill and the Need for Servant Leadership

Now. It's wonderful to have a great leader. We've been thinking a lot about this in these days. But great leaders can't really accomplish anything in the end. In the world except they've got a great people.

They can't do it. One man couldn't do it on his own. Moses realized this. One of the most wonderful things about Moses was his complete humility. You remember he started off like that. It became a bit of a nuisance to him.

He had such a poor idea of himself. There's one thing you may be sure about this man Moses than any other man. Who becomes a great man of God. He knows it isn't a personality wreck. When he got before God.

He said well I can't do this Lord. I just can't do it. God likes to get hold of people who know they can't do it. Amen. Moses comes down this mountain. He's all aglow. 80 days in the presence of the Lord.

First time after the 40 days when he came down the presence of the people. He was horror stricken. Came out of the blazing light into the dark dark gloom of idolatry. Amongst the people of God. He goes back up into the glory again.

It's down this time and I guess he's saying. Again I'll have to ask him when I see him. I guess he's saying. Oh Lord make thy people willing. Make thy people willing. David saw this. He wrote a psalm about it 110.

Thy people shall be willing offerings in the day of thy power. Come on. I want your heart. I want your gold. I want your silver. I want everything. I want all these colors. These spices. These things you've been storing up.

Ransack your tents. You say we're a poverty stricken people. We have no homes of our own. Where are we going? We've got to get established in the promised land. And God might have said oh be quiet. When you get there there'll be more gold and silver and precious stones and houses.

Than you've ever seen or known in your life. You see everybody's saving up for the rainy day. That's why God doesn't rain down blessing from heaven. That's why he doesn't do it. Although we use the appropriate terms in prayer.

We know what to say. We're very clever. We're evangelically taught. We read the right books. But have you got the right spirit? Have you got the right heart? Have you? Blessed be every man or woman that's got this right heart in them.

Gotta be able to do something. You know beloved I believe this. God could do something wonderful. With us if we really got into this position. I do. I believe it with all my heart. Glory glory be to the name of the Lord.

Give me the people. Give me the people. Now if ever there was anybody who realized this. And all leaders however exalted they may be. That is in office being elevated by God. I don't mean in their own estimation of themselves.

They know that they must have help. I suppose first of all we've got to say. Lord God raise us up a real leader. I think that's the cry. Lord raise us up real leader. And then here's the next thing. And every man who's called of God to leadership has got to know this.

And as we finish verse 29. Let's read it again. Chapter 35. The children of Israel forever be their name honored. At this juncture of their experience brought a willing offering unto the Lord. Every man and woman whose heart made them willing to bring.

For all manner of work which the Lord had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses. And Moses said unto the children of Israel. See the Lord hath called by name Betheliel the son of Uri. The son of her of the tribe of Judah.