We Need Forgiveness

Prayer for Illumination

Let's pray and we will get started. Eternal God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, grant us Your Holy Spirit, who writes the preached Word into our hearts, so that we may receive and believe it, be gladdened and comforted by it in eternity.

Glorify Your Word in our hearts. Make it so bright and warm that we may find pleasure in it, and through Your inspiration think what is right. By Your power, fulfill the Word for the sake of Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord.

Amen. All right, before we get into the Sunday School lesson, we'll be in Exodus 31 this morning. Any questions crop up in your mind from the sermon that you may have had? Always want to make sure you know that you have an opportunity and the right to ask questions, to interrogate your pastor and say, why did you preach that?

Right?

Just make sure to give me a cigarette and a blindfold before you start.

Yes?

Okay, so, rule of thumb when it comes to Biblical exegesis, I am incapable of reading minds in the present or in the past.

Okay?

I will say this, is that it doesn't tell us why He did it, it tells us that He did it. And if I had to speculate as to, you know, how John got that assignment, unlike the other disciples, he was at the cross.

Okay?

Peter was off in the fetal position, weeping somewhere. And John was the youngest of them.

All right?

So, fascinating, you know, in all of this. And so, we will say that this is according to the divine will. And it worked out well in that sense. And we know from church history that John, after Paul had planted the churches in Ephesus, that John himself, the apostle, came to Ephesus and brought Mary with him.

And so, she spent some time in Ephesus with John. So, she would travel with him on some of his assignments that he would do as an apostle. And so, as the apostle who outlives the rest of them, that makes him a good candidate for caring for your mother because you know he's going to be around for a while.

Some of the apostles did not make it very long. I mean, that's just the reality of the situation, is that martyrdom became a very real thing in the church fairly quickly. And so, some of the apostles, right out of the chute, you know, they want to be with Christ.

So, but we also know that Mary living as long as she did, and this is kind of an interesting thing, is that when you read the Gospel of Luke, the nativity narratives that we have, especially regarding the conception and birth of John the Baptist and the announcement, the annunciation, and then the conception and birth of Christ, and then the purification, and then Simeon and Anna in the temple, all of this stuff, there's only one person living who could have given that information to Luke, and that's Mary herself.

So, you know, very fascinating, the detail that she ends up giving to Luke when he compiles his Gospel. So, interesting stuff. All right, any other questions? All right. Today, we are going to be looking at Exodus 31.

Good Works and Christian Vocations

As it relates to the building of the tabernacle, God is giving the instructions to Moses. He's at the top of Mount Sinai as we're reading our text, and we're going to note something. This is a vital thing for us to keep in mind, and there's a lot of confusion and really bad teaching out within the visible church as it relates to good works.

When you ask, I would say, maybe the average Christian, you know, American, Protestant, evangelical type, what is a good work? Oftentimes, the answers will come back, going on a mission trip to Africa, digging freshwater wells.

Okay, that's truly a good work. That is service and love to your neighbor. What else is a good work? Teaching Sunday school, volunteering in the nursery, leading Bible study, and then they start to run out, right?

Is this what the Bible teaches are good works? Now, granted, none of these are bad works. I mean, yeah, surely these are good works. But you're going to note, then, that the issue is is that they have a very narrow definition of what good works are, and good works always are somehow related to something spiritual that you're supposed to be doing.

And what's missed is that God himself, he's our creator. And so he has gifted us uniquely for different vocations. And so we learn in Scripture, then, that the vocation of craftsmen somebody who is, you know, skilled in artwork or woodworking or farming, you know, just name the vocation, that these are gifts given by God as well.

And we glorify God and we do our good works in our different vocations. And then when you would look at, like, Ephesians, to kind of help us out here, just work through some of the commandments on this as husband, wife, father, mother, child, obedient child.

I wish I had those, but... Obedient child. And then employer and employee. And so what happens is, is that when you have a very narrow and I would say myopic understanding of good works, it creates within the person who doesn't have the fuller understanding a lot of anxiety as it relates to good works.

Because you feel like you haven't done anything or you haven't done enough. And it's really kind of a mess what it does to people psychologically and then theologically. And then people feel like they have to somehow make it up.

But then also this false understanding of good works then plays into one of the major errors that's running through the visible church in our time, which has very devastating impact on people. And I call the doctrine the dream destiny thingy.

All right?

Now, you're saying, what's a dream destiny thingy? That's the reason I named it that, in order to kind of like say, what's that? Well, within a large segment of the church today, there is a teaching that goes something like this.

God created you specifically for you to fulfill a particular destiny, a specific purpose in your life. And you have to learn how to hear God's voice so that he can whisper that purpose or destiny in your ear.

And once you have that, you hear from God what that destiny is, you need to single-mindedly go after it. And in the context of where that doctrine is taught, oftentimes what the pastor will do is say, you know, are you tired of your mundane life?

I don't know if you've noticed, but the grind of everyday mundane life kind of impacts us all, right? And so are you tired of getting up every morning, brushing your teeth, combing your hair if you have any left, right?

Sorry.

Hey, I resemble that comment. Anyway, combing your hair, putting on your work clothes, getting in your vehicle with your cup of coffee and commuting to the office or wherever you work, punching in, doing your work, your time, punching out, coming home exhausted, having to deal with your screaming children telling you how hungry they are while they're beating up on each other and misbehaving and having to help them with their homework and then putting them to bed, waking up, and doing the whole thing over again.

You see, they talk about our mundane life in such a way that it creates dissatisfaction with it and it creates the false impression that God has something way better that he wants us to do and the people who then buy into the dream destiny thingy doctrine, what do they end up doing?

They despise their everyday work. They despise having to take care of their children. They despise the grind of homework and cleaning up vomit and dog poop and all the stuff that goes along with managing a house, right?

And instead, their eyes are always on this dream destiny that they're supposed to fulfill and that's completely backwards. 100 backwards. In fact, God is the one, and remember in our sermon today, Christ said that a man will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife.

The two will become one flesh and what God has joined together, let no man separate. So we recognize then that in the institution of marriage, God is the one who makes the two one and if God has made you a husband and if God has made you a wife, then being a really good husband or wife is exactly where you do your good works and I don't know if you've noticed this, but children are a gift of the Lord.

So if Christ has gifted you with children, either naturally or via adoption or other means, you are now father and you are mother and who has made you such? God has. And caring for those crazy people is exactly what Christ would have you do and this is where your good works are.

No.

That's what a commercial does.

Yeah. You're right, that's what commercials, infomercials in particular, they're always about making you dissatisfied with your ordinary life, but your life will become so much better once you buy product.

Whiz-bang, zip-zap. It'll make your life...

That doesn't work. Huh?

That doesn't work.

I'm just saying that there are certain infomercial like exercise pieces of equipment that I've noticed don't live up to their product claims.

I'm just saying.

You can't buy them, they don't work.

That's right.

Just purchasing them doesn't do anything.

Just purchasing doesn't do nothing. So with that, let's take a look at Exodus 31 and consider the implications of what is said here. Yahweh said to Moses, verse 1, See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all...

What?

Craftsmanship.

Craftsmanship.

Look at that.

Huh.

Notice he isn't gonna fill him with it. He has already filled him with this. By the time Moses gets these instructions, Bezalel is already a very skilled craftsman. And who gave him the knowledge and intelligence to do such things?

God did. To devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze. A little bit of a note here. I have heard and seen discussions that absolutely question whether or not artists are somehow, if that's a valid vocation for Christians.

I'm not making this up, because the claim is that they're really not loving neighbor or serving neighbor by making art and stuff like that.

Hogwash.

This text explicitly says that God gave him skill in creating art, in cutting stones, for setting and carving wood, to work in every craft. Have you ever thought that stone cutting, and skillful stone cutting, is actually a gift given by God to be able to do?

So behold, I have appointed with him Aholiab, the son of Ahasemach, of the tribe of Dan, and I have given to all able men ability that they may make all that I have commanded you. The tent of meeting and 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, and the pure lampstand with all its utensils and the altar of incense and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils and the basin and its stand and the finely worked garments, the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons for their service as priests and the anointing oil, the fragrant incense for the holy place according to all that I have commanded you they shall do.

So these men were already craftsmen prior to the Exodus. God is the one who said he's given them that skill and then that skill that they have had probably, and you're going to note them, the ordinary means by which people learn these things.

How did Aholiab and Bezalel become good at this? Well, they were probably journeymen, learning under somebody else, applying themselves to their craft, to their trade and getting better at it. And by the time of the Exodus, they had already had this skill and God is the one saying, I gave them that.

So we recognize then that everything we have, everything we can do well, God has given us that ability. So the Lord said to Moses, you are to speak to the people of Israel, say, above all, you shall keep my Sabbaths for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I, Yahweh, sanctify you.

You shall keep the Sabbath because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Now, I've already done a very in-depth study on the Sabbath. I would just remind you then that the command of the Sabbath is not a command regarding a day of worship.

The command of the Sabbath is a day of rest. That's exactly what it is. To profane the Sabbath is to work on the Sabbath. And the Sabbath, by the way, is not Sunday. The Sabbath is Saturday, Shabbat. And we'll note then that in the New Covenant, Hebrews 4 makes it clear that the old Mosaic Covenant Sabbath was a type and shadow that points to the rest that we have in Jesus Christ, salvation by faith through grace, no work.

Jesus is our Sabbath rest, if you would. So you get the idea. So reinforcing the concept of the Sabbath, it's just important to recognize its proper place. So you shall keep the Sabbath day. It's holy for you.

Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. And you'll note then one of the ways in which you keep the Sabbath, and I always love it when people say, oh, I'm a Sabbath keeper today. No, you're not.

Do you put to death those who profane the Sabbath? That's a requirement of being a Sabbath keeper. Anyone who doesn't keep it must be put to death. Well, no, you don't keep the Sabbath.

Right?

Death penalty enforcement is a requirement to be a proper Sabbath keeper. 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 the Sabbath of solemn rest, holy 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 forever between me and you and the people of Israel that in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. Now, a little bit of a note here. So invoking the days of creation, let me ask you real quick, I know I've asked it before, but worth reviewing.

Was Abraham a Sabbath keeper? No. Jacob?

Nope.

Joseph?

Nope.

There were no Sabbath keepers until the Mosaic covenant. Although God invokes the creation, you'll notice that the early patriarchs that we studied in the book of Genesis, none of them kept the Sabbath.

No mention of them keeping the Sabbath. The first Sabbath keeper in the Old Testament is God, and then the second group of Sabbath keepers are the children of Israel after this command is given to the children of Israel.

So God gave to Moses when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God. So Moses is now ready to come down from the mountain, and you can say that God, by writing out the Ten Commandments on these tablets of stone, has begun the work now officially of the writing of the Bible.

These two tablets are the foundation stones. This foundation is going to be broken, though, because as we're going to find out, things were not going so well down below in the camp.

Okay?

And here's the story. When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and they said to him, Make up, make us gods who shall go before us.

As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. Forty days, I guess, is too long to be gone, right? Gone way too long. So Aaron said to them, Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, your daughters.

Bring them to me. So all the people took off the gold, the rings of gold that were in their ears, brought them to Aaron, and he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf.

And they said, These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, Tomorrow shall be a feast of Yahweh.

And they rose up early the next day, offered burnt offerings, brought peace offerings, and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and they rose up to play. Think Woodstock. Think Burning Man. This is sex, drugs, and rock and roll at this point with a pagan calf.

Now, always worth reviewing the location because Scripture tells us exactly where this takes place. It takes place in Saudi Arabia. That's where Mount Sinai is. And we'll see how my internet connection holds up.

It's a little sketchy out here.

All right.

Let's see if I can find this real quick.

There we go.

A little slow.

A little slow.

I hit the return button. It might be easier just to cross the pond myself.

Thank you for flying.

Kongsvinger Airlines.

And we'll zoom in just a smidge.

Hello.

How did I end up in Rome? I did not want to go to Rome.

All right.

The internet connection is a smidge slow,.

Though, I will say that.

Okay.

Now, the region where this is taking place is in Saudi Arabia itself,.

And I wonder...

Hang on a second here. Oh, it's not going to let me do this because it's too slow.

Let's see here.

All right.

Waiting for all the data to come in. You know, it's a big planet. You know, a very big planet.

Yeah.

No, I'd take dial-up right now. It just is not loading quickly. I'll come back to this in a minute, see if it is able to load, but we'll come back to the story shortly. Let's go back to the story, and then I'll check on my internet connection shortly.

All right.

So they rose up early to eat, drink, and to play. Yahweh said to Moses, Go down for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. Notice the change in the pronouns.

The pronouns become a major part of this story, kind of moving forward in this section, but notice they're no longer God's people. These are your people, Moses. They're yours, that you brought out of Egypt, and God's like, I got nothing to do with these people.

I didn't bring them out.

No way.

And because God knows full well the idolatry they're engaging in. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. Fascinating that he uses that phrase, and the reason I say that, Jan, Derek, way here, that's the first name of Christianity.

Christianity, the first name for Christianity. It wasn't Christianity. People were called Christians first because the pagans named us Christians. It's kind of fascinating. But the initial first name of Christianity was the way.

So they've turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshipped it and have sacrificed to it. These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

And Yahweh said to Moses, I have seen this people. Behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now, therefore, let me alone that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them in order that I may make a great nation of you.

So God's initial response is he's going to take the people of Israel and basically destroy every one of them to a person. That doesn't sound good, right? And God's going to then make Moses into a great nation.

And that's not what Moses signed up for. And so you're going to note then that Moses begins his intercessory work. You know, he's going to stand in the gap between God and the children of Israel who have sinned greatly against God.

And as the story unfolds, we're going to see something fascinating happen. And we'll watch this as the pronouns kind of continue. Is that Moses will eventually come to grips with just how wicked this was and the ramifications of their sin.

And he's going to note that he somehow, and he doesn't know how yet, he has found favor in God's eyes. But his theology hasn't progressed properly to where he understands how exactly he's found favor in God's eyes.

And so he's going to note that by this sin, the children of Israel, they have lost favor with God. They do not have God's favor anymore. And he's going to make a couple of attempts to reestablish them having God's favor.

But he's not going to know how. And so this is kind of an important piece of the story. So we continue. So they've made for themselves a golden calf. They've worshiped it. These are the gods who brought you up.

Now, therefore, let me make you a great nation. But Moses implored Yahweh, his God. Watch the pronouns. Again, there's so much in the pronouns. His God, and said, O Yahweh, why does your wrath burn hot against your people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

Why should the Egyptians say, with evil intent did he bring them out to kill them in the mountains and consume them from the face of the earth? So Moses now is praying to God and saying, wait, wait, wait, wait a second.

You do that, and your enemies, the Egyptians, the whole country you destroyed, they're going to sit there and go, oh, the reason why Yahweh brought them out is so that he can just wipe them off the face of the earth.

Okay, that makes sense. And so he's basically saying that God's enemies would somehow have consolation, feel a little bit better about themselves if that's what God had done. So he says, turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people.

And then he invokes the covenant that God had made with Abraham. Remember, and this is your Hebrew word zakar, which is not just mere remember those guys. He's kind of invoking the covenant that God had made with Abraham.

This is a remembrance. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants to whom you swore, see swearing is that covenant talk, by your own self and said to them, I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring and they shall inherit it forever.

And Yahweh relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people. Good prayer, okay? So you'll note, Moses prays, God says, all right, I'm not going to destroy them. They still don't have God's favor.

Things are really bad still. So let's check back with Google, see how we're doing. It doesn't look good. It's not looking good. Okay. Yes, funny that you would ask that question. And let me kind of answer it very carefully.

And I have to answer it carefully. There's a reason why. God in his word does say that prayer and repentance would cause him to relent of a disaster that he intended for somebody who was impenitent. He does say that.

And so we must understand that God oftentimes, and this is kind of a theology of prayer, we have not because we ask not. This is most certainly true. And so there is an aspect then to where God has, let's just say, penciled in His plans.

And they're not in ink. And prayer, according to what we see in God's word, literally results in God saying, all right, what I penciled in, I'm going to erase, and we're going to write in something different.

Is that changing his mind? I don't know in the truest sense if that's changing his mind. But it's more like it kind of comes back to the true nature of God. And here's what I mean. And Luther, I think, has a profound insight here.

If you want to see what God is really like, look at Jesus on the cross. And so God, it is His alien work to punish sin. It is His alien work to break out in wrath. God, when pushed, will do so. But that's not what He desires.

It is not His will that any should perish, but that all should be brought to repentance and a knowledge of the truth. And so when God finally says, all right, you're going to persist in sin and unbelief, or you're going to take My good gifts and despise them in this way, then God could at that point kind of pencil in, well, then what's going to happen to you is this.

And He's still giving you time to repent in the midst of it. You kind of see this in the book of Revelation in the letters that Jesus has John write out to the different churches. And you can see in there Jesus literally saying of some of these churches, I have thrown this woman on a sickbed, given her time to repent, but she would not.

This so-called prophetess who calls herself Jezebel. So there's a sense in which there is an aspect of God's will, which in His sovereignty God has willed that it's somewhat malleable. But it's not truly changing His mind in the way we change our mind.

So, yeah. Yeah, I think that's not a bad way to talk about it.

Okay?

That there is a sense, so in His sovereignty He's made certain decisions and parts of that are open for discussion with God. And God wills that we discuss these things with Him. And so this then gets into the proper understanding of the theology of prayer, is that we are to be praying daily.

Daily. And part of the aspect of prayer that when you learn to pray according to the Psalms, the Psalms are just really raw sometimes. Where are you, God? Where did you go? Why are you hiding your face from me?

How long are you going to be reaching out to God and kind of talking that way? And then there's times when you read some of these Psalms of David, and they're specifically prayers, and you're sitting there going, whoa, I didn't know anybody could talk that way to God.

You know, read the Psalms. They're kind of that raw. And so here's the thing. As His adopted children, our Father wants to hear from us. He wants us to be in conversation with Him. And He wants us to properly petition Him with prayers, supplications, and laying things out.

I mean, so it's okay to sit there and say to God, God, I know you know everything and that there's nothing that escapes your notice and that you're in charge of everything. Why are you allowing that to happen?

Why aren't you doing something about this? This is a funny way to talk, right? But you can pray this way. And sometimes, based on how I read Scripture, God allows things to go a particular way until somebody says enough is enough and starts getting in God's face and saying, why are you permitting this to happen?

You know, you look at the prophet Habakkuk. We'll go on a little bit of a bunny trail here, but I think worth the look. Have you recently read Habakkuk? Generally not on people's high priority list. He's a minor prophet.

That means he dug gold in the day. No, I'm joking about that part, no. He's part of that group of prophets where they're minor prophets because their prophecies are short. I want you to listen to how this dialogue between the prophet Habakkuk and God.

The oracle that Habakkuk, the prophet, saw, O Yahweh, how long shall I cry for help? And will you not hear? Or cry, violence, and you will not save? Why do you make me see iniquity? Why do you idly look at wrong?

Destruction and violence are before me. Strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed. Justice goes forth, never goes forth. The wicked surround the righteous, so justice goes forth, perverted.

I don't know about you, but that seems a little bit in God's face. And he's not condemned for this. So God responds. So this is God's response. Look among the nations. See and see. Wonder and be astounded.

For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings that are not their own.

They are dreaded and fearsome. Their justice and dignity go forth from themselves. Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly. Their horsemen come from afar.

They fly like an eagle, swift to devour. They all come for violence, all their faces forward. They gather captives like sand. At the kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh. They laugh at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take it.

Then they sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men whose own might is their God. So you'll note this is a little bit of a dialogue. Habakkuk complains. God says, I'm doing something. But does Habakkuk see that presently?

No. No. So his complaint continues. Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, you have ordained them as judgment, and you, O rock, have established them for reproof.

You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong. Why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he? You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler.

He brings all of them up with a hook, and he drags them out with his net. He gathers them in his dragnet so he rejoices. He rejoices and is glad. Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet.

For by them he lives in luxury, and his food is rich. Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever? I will take my stand at the watch post and station myself on the tower, and I will look out to see what he, God, will say to me and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

So then the Lord answered me. Write this vision, make it plain on tablets, so that he who reads it runs. For still the vision awaits its appointed time. It hastens to the end, and it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it.

It will surely come. It will not delay. Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not right within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith. Isn't that fascinating? One of the most important verses in all of Scripture is in Habakkuk 2.

And so here you get an example then of this wrestling that kind of goes on in prayer life. And Habakkuk's faith is on the same level as ours. Ours is on the same level as his. And so this life is really difficult.

I don't know if any of you have noticed. It's really a challenge. And that being the case, God knows our challenges, knows the difficulties that we go to, knows the injustices that we suffer. And so we are taught in these ways then to pray and to continue wrestling with God.

So do you think Habakkuk changed God's mind? Speed it up a notch, God, would you? And you'll notice that Habakkuk's prayer that I just gave you runs the exact opposite of Moses' prayer. Habakkuk is all, why are you so slow to bring disaster on these people?

You've got to judge them, God. And Moses is all, no, no, Lord, relent, relent. You know, it's fascinating when you can kind of consider the theology in all of this. Let's check again to see how things are going over here.

And I'm just thinking we're not going to be able to get this to work at all today. I'm kind of hoping that if I click on one of the... Ah, there it is.

Hang on.

Say that again.

Ah, Mark, Mark, Mark, we have to work on your sanctification. Now I'm going to wait for that photo to load up. This is the Golden Calf Altar. And this is, you can actually go to Google Earth or maps .google .com, type in Golden Calf Altar, and a group called Discovered Archaeology hopped the fence at this particular site and has given us one of those, like, in-the-round things.

And we're waiting for it to come in. But you can see a very fascinating rock here. And on this rock, in the middle of the Saudi Arabian desert, and you can see this now, is you have these inscriptions, and the top of it's been hewn out.

So the belief is that the golden calf that Aaron made sat atop this thing. And the markings, the petroglyphs here, these are in the style of an Egyptian apis bull. You know, that's uniquely Egyptian in its stylistic interpretations and the way it's written out.