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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/joel-portman/serving-god-in-the-assembly-exodus-35/
And we will turn again to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Let's begin reading in verse 10. 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 10. According to the grace of God, which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereupon.
But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other, that is, other of a different kind, foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest.
For the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide, as he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire. I'd like to turn back to Exodus chapter 35. Exodus 35, and we'll begin reading from verse one.
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 ye should do them. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day, there shall be to you a holy day, a Sabbath of rest, to the Lord, whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death.
You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath day. And Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, this is the thing which the Lord commanded, saying, take ye from among you an offering unto the Lord, whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it an offering of the Lord, gold and silver and brass, and blue and purple and scarlet and fine linen, and goat's hair, and ram skins dyed red, and badger skins and chitim or acacia wood, and oil for the light and spices for anointed oil, and for the sweet incense, and onyx stones and stones to be set for the ephod and for the breastplate.
And every wise hearted among you shall come and make all that the Lord hath commanded. We follow that, of course, with the things that they were commanded to construct out of these materials. And then they come down to verse 20, and he says, and all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses, and they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing.
And they brought the Lord's offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all his servants, and for the holy garments. And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted, and brought bracelets, earrings, and rings, et cetera.
We'll go down the chapter a little bit, and we find that in verse 25, all the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands and brought that which they had spun, both of blue and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen.
And all the women whose hearts stirred them up in wisdom spun goat's hair. And we could go on farther than that, but I want to read from verse 30. Moses said unto the children of Israel, see, the Lord hath called by name Bezaliel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, the tribe of Judah, and he hath filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to devise curious works, to work in gold and silver, in silver and in brass, and in the cutting of stones, to set them in carving of wood, to make any manner of cutting work.
And he hath put in his heart that he may teach, both he and Aholiab, the son of Ahisumac, of the tribe of Dan. Then he hath filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work of the engraver, and of the cutting workmen, and of the embroiderer, in blue and in purple, in scarlet, in fine linen, and in weaver, and of the weaver, even of them that do any work, and of those that devise cutting work.
I'd like to read in chapter, the end of chapter 39. We have the list previously to what they brought from verse 33 on, and then in verse 42, according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel made all the work.
And Moses did look upon all the work, and behold, they had done it as the Lord had commanded. Even so had they done it, and Moses blessed them. I think that's sufficient for a reading. I'll confess that there are some things that are hard for me to understand in the dealings of God with men, and the ways of God and his purposes.
I think perhaps we ought to always acknowledge that there are aspects of the person of God and his work that go beyond our capacity to grasp. If it were any different, then of course, God would not be God, because in himself, he is infinite in his character, and we are limited in our understanding.
I don't fully understand, though I think I understand why God created the universe and all the things that exist by one word of power, but he did it, and he did it for a purpose. I'm not sure that I can say that I understand exactly why God made man with the capacity to sin, but he did, and of course, there's a reason for it, because God has a purpose in everything that he does.
But there's one thing I can say that I don't really understand, and perhaps you can explain it to me, and that is why God has a desire to know fellowship with a fallen creature like you and me, desiring to dwell in their midst, desiring to have a place among them where his name would be honored, where they'd be drawn to him, where they would enjoy fellowship with him.
Now, that doesn't commence here in Exodus chapter 35 or in Leviticus chapter one. It commences in the garden in Genesis chapter two, because God made man in his own image with the capability of an enjoying fellowship and communion and harmony with the God that made him.
Sin has come in and interrupted that, separated man from God, and we know the results of it in the dark, evil world in which we live, and we experience reality oftentimes in our own life, how it comes between to hinder our fellowship with God.
But God does have a desire to dwell in the midst of man. I think of the prayer of Solomon on the dedication of the temple, that he said, will God indeed dwell with men? Thank God the answer is yes. He did so when the Lord Jesus came to move in this world and to manifest God in his holy character and his grace and his love to you and me.
And here was one who was God himself dwelling in the midst of men, who didn't understand him and didn't appreciate him. And then we come to revelation, we find that God's ultimate purpose is, yea, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell within.
That will be the glorious day to which God is working, when his own beloved son is established in the place of sovereignty, absolute preeminence and supremacy, where he has his place and receives honor and glory.
And when the words of Malachi will be fulfilled, from the rising of the sun to the going down of the sea, my name shall be great among the nations. And he says, God will dwell amongst men. Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men.
But you and I have been reminded today that his desire is that he might dwell in the midst of his people in this dispensation of grace. In this particular time, his dwelling is in the midst of his people in a particular way, in a collective way, in the local assembly gathering that is obedient to his word, and in which all believers who are in fellowship where God desires all of his people to be are contributing to what is being brought into it.
And the passage I've read reminds me whether in 1 Corinthians 3 or in Exodus 35 or chapter 39, that it must be as the Lord commanded. We've been hearing that already, and I'm only reinforcing what our brethren have said, and I want to make it very clear, God will not tolerate or accept material in his house apart from what he has told us to bring in.
Everything else is an offense. Everything else is derogatory. Anything else that we introduce is denying his sovereignty and the place that he ought to have in the midst of his people. And yet we find, typically in the Old Testament, physical structures, the tabernacle, as well as the temple in Solomon's day and the restoration of the temple, of course, to the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, and then we have the millennial temple in the terminal chapters of Ezekiel, God's dwelling place.
We find that assembly today is house of God and character that is to fulfill the same purpose, to provide a place where God can be at home in the midst of his people. And so we look at this tabernacle as it leaks itself in my own mind with what we read in 1 Corinthians chapter three, and I find it, along the line of what we've already been hearing today, that it's most remarkable that it's only in this assembly that is being addressed by the Spirit of God through the writing of the Apostle Paul that there is caution, there's a warning, deliberate instruction given about the danger of introducing faulty material into an assembly.
He says that's all going to be tried by fire. It's all going to be manifest in the coming day, and no matter how attractive it might seem to you and me, it makes no difference. We have enough instruction in God's word that would tell us what he wants in his building.
I want to look at this from four very simple points. I want to think about the background or the basis of why we are reading in chapter 35. I think it's very interesting that it begins by instructing them about the Sabbath, reminding them that there's to be a day that was going to be set apart in which they'd enjoy the rest that God had brought them into as a result of his delivering grace.
If you're interested in the structure of the scripture, you'll notice when you go back to chapter 25, you have a chiastic order. If you want to look at the grammatical aspect of it, that's a structural pattern in which literature could be written.
You have, first of all, the instruction about the giving of contribution material and what is going to be built in the tabernacle. That's chapter 25. Following that, you have the instruction about them keeping the Sabbath, and then you have their failure in chapter 32.
But following their failure, it comes back in chapter 35, and he doesn't talk about the tabernacle first. He talks about the Sabbath first as the opposite order, and then he gives them instruction about the tabernacle.
Now, just in this passage, without looking at that aspect of things, I find it very interesting that it begins from the standpoint of keeping the Sabbath, because God had brought them out of a condition of slavery.
I doubt that they'd have a period of rest all the years that they were in Egypt. Slavery and making brick, bringing in the stubble and the hay or the straw from the fields in order to make brick for Pharaoh's treasure houses, treasure cities, store buildings.
And here for all those years and all their experience, some of them had grown up continually working, laboring without any choice, without any opportunity for rest. God says, now I've brought you out.
I've brought you to myself. I entered into rest the day when I finished the creation. Now, he says, I want you to enter into rest. I remind ourselves of what we read in Hebrews chapter four, they that have believed have entered into rest, chapter three.
In other words, we begin our service for God and enjoy the privilege of working and doing anything for him from the standpoint that thank God he has given rest to my soul. He's finished the work of salvation.
And what I do from that point on is not to gain the rest, but because I enjoy the rest. It's not to achieve my relationship with God, it's to enjoy that relationship and respond to it. And so he says, I want you to begin from the standpoint that you've entered into rest, even to the point he says, don't even kindle a fire.
But there's another thing about the Sabbath and that is that by doing so, they were recognizing God's claim on their time, that at the least one seventh of their week was to be devoted to him. And so they were recognizing that God has a claim on my life, not only on my material and my possessions, he has a claim on my time and what I'm going to do every day of the week.
Six days shall thou labor, the seventh is to be at rest. And they were resting because God had rested. And they began of course the week by laboring. That was characteristic of the Old Testament, labored six days and then to enter into rest.
We begin from the standpoint that we have entered into rest and then we can labor. Now I'm not saying that the Lord's day is a Sabbath, don't get me wrong, I understand the difference. But of Israel in the Old Testament time with the limited blessings they enjoyed and with all the limitations of what they knew, would respond to God by giving him one day out of the week.
I don't see how we can do any less. And sadly the world refuses to give God even one day out of their week. Let's not be like the world. It's a great privilege, you know, the Lord's day is not the Sabbath, it's not for rest, it's for service, it's for worship, it's for the privilege of setting aside other things and devoting it to the Lord himself.
And so they began from the standpoint of enjoying rest. And even in the building of the tabernacle, I would take it that they only labored six days out of the week. Even in the service of God, they had time for rest.
The Lord said to his disciples, you remember, come ye apart and rest a little while. We need that. The second thing I want to notice with you about this is the people. It wasn't just any people that were allowed to participate because really building this tabernacle was a privilege.
It wasn't something that anybody could just come along and say, well, I want to have a hand at building this interesting building that you're constructing. No, no, it was only a certain number of people that could do so.
And that's important to notice. Well, just now, who were these people? Well, they were people that had been redeemed. They'd been liberated. Remember, the Passover had been the effective means by which they'd been delivered from the Egyptian bondage.
And they'd been brought out, redeemed by blood, and then redeemed by power in the Red Sea. By the way, I just noticed this the other day. You learn things all the time. There's no mention of sin regarding the Passover.
It's separation. God separated His people from Egyptian bondage and from Egyptian environment. He separated them for the purpose of bringing them out. And you don't find any mention of sin when it comes to the Passover.
It's death. But not only had they been redeemed by the application of the blood and delivered by coming to the Red Sea, well, they were those as well who had come into a covenant relationship with God.
God brought them to Himself. And God had done so that they might enter into a relationship established on the grounds of His own word and His own standard. You say, well, they made a mistake. Well, granted, I guess they did.
They shouldn't have said all that the Lord has said we will do. But let me just say in defense of the Israelites, what would you have done if you would have been just delivered out of Egypt and brought into such a place and received a blessing and been supplied with a manna?
Wouldn't you have responded? We recognize human frailty. But they did so out of a genuine appreciation, I believe, what God had done for them. And God said, I want to claim you as my people. I've borne you on eagles' wings.
I've brought you to myself. I've brought you so that you might be a kingdom of priests unto me. Now, He says, I want to enter into a relationship with you as a nation that will separate you as a distinction from all that are around.
And God had great purposes for that nation. But it wasn't a covenant on their standard or on their level. It was on God's level. God brought them to His word. But let me just say, before I get too bogged down in the people, the ones that built the tabernacle were the ones that had failed and sinned.
You might say, well, to build a place for God to dwell in the midst of His people would require people that had never sinned, never fallen, never made a mistake in their life, never departed from God.
Why, these people were guilty of idolatry. They'd already broken six or seven of the commandments of the foot of Mount Sinai. Well, thank God, God uses failing people to do His work. You say, how could they ever do the work of God under the condition like that?
Because there was a man up on the mountain that was an intercessor. In God's presence, making intercession for them. And that's the only way that you and I, as failing believers, could be able to function for God anyway.
It's the grace of God that sustains us and maintains us. And don't take any credit for yourself, because we can do the same thing as they did. Idolatry is a very real thing, not only in the form of idols that are built like that, but the world is full of idols.
But thank God we have one that's on high. We have one that never fails. He that keepeth Israel shall never slumber, never sleep. He upholds us by His gracious power and His gracious hand. And in the presence of God, He pleads for us, our great high priests.
That's what Moses was doing, as God was going to destroy them. But Moses pled for the people. A people that have been redeemed, a people that have been separated, a people that have been brought to God in covenant relationship, a people that have failed, a people that have enjoyed the intercessory work of one on high.
That's the people that God used to build the tabernacle. That's where I see myself. And I hope you can see yourself there too, brother and sister. Marvelous thing that God can use people like you and me to do His work.
Not only that, but I need to notice something as well about these people. And God describes eight times over, He talks about their heart. Eight times He talks about their heart. Because it wasn't a matter of intellectual knowledge that was needed.
That was probably helpful. It wasn't a matter simply of being enjoying the message they had. But God says, I want to have those that have a willing heart. They're doing it because they're willing. God doesn't compel service for Him.
He gives us a privilege. And I ask you, as I ask myself, is any service that you and I do for God a drudgery? That's what it was in Malachi's day. They didn't want to even open the doors for naught. They didn't want to serve God without getting something in return.
No, it's a great privilege, brother, to think that we've been granted the liberty, set free from the bondage of sin and this limitation that we might be able to serve God out of a willing heart. But not only He says about willing-hearted ones, but He says about wise-hearted ones.
That could be perhaps translated crafty or ones that have capacity, some way to do it. But I like the thought that they were wise enough to recognize the value of what they were engaged in. They were wise enough to recognize that the work we're involved in is a work that is taking place to provide a place for God to dwell in the midst of His own people.
Wise enough to appreciate that. Wise enough to understand something of God's purposes. Then He could talk about those not only who were wise-hearted and willing-hearted, but other ways in which they were described in this passage.
And I won't go through them at all, but you notice that they were the ones whose hearts stirred them up. They had an exercise. They were willing to put out the labor. They were willing to sacrifice for their own materials for the great purpose of building a tabernacle, a holy place for God.
I wonder if you and I are that people today. Wise-hearted, willing-hearted, stirred-up hearts? Go away from this conference with greater desire. I want to serve God faithfully. I want to enter into the great privilege it is to be participant in a local assembly fellowship, not just a spectator, but be one who is involved and contributing.
Then we need to look at the materials. And I won't take much more time. I'll try to get done very quickly. But the materials that they brought are involved here as well. Just very simply, I want you to notice that these materials had a variety.
They weren't all the same. It didn't say, I want everybody to bring gold. It wouldn't be a very nice tavern. It might have been very beautiful, but it wouldn't have been very structurally stable with just gold.
But there were other materials involved as well. So there was a variety, but the interrelationship of those materials would only add more beauty and glory to the building. A variety of materials, going from the gold and the silver, the precious stones, and on down to the fabrics and the different colors and the ramskins dyed red.
Everything had its purpose, but it was a variety. You know, you remember in the New Testament, again, in 1 Corinthians, he makes it very clear that not everybody has the same gift. Not everybody has the same ability.
Not everybody can contribute the same thing, and not all are allowed to do the same thing. But according to our capacity, we all have the privilege of taking part in bringing something of varying degrees, perhaps of value and importance, but still all has a place, and a part of it's according to what God wants to be brought.
So the variety. Another thing you notice about these materials is that for the majority of them, it involves sacrifice. To give up those precious stones and to give up the gold and the silver, the things that are very valuable to the individual, those are things that they had to give, and God was calling upon them to give that which was precious to them.
He doesn't say, well, if you have something in your rummage box over in the corner of your tent, well, just bring that, that'll be all right. No, he doesn't say that. He didn't say, if you're gonna take something to goodwill, just bring it to the tabernacle.
I can accept it. No, he doesn't say that either. He says, these are the things I want. And if you're gonna bring anything, you bring that, because I won't accept anything else. You notice when it was brought to Moses, Moses inspected it.
He looked it over, and again, we read in 1 Corinthians chapter three, every man's work shall be tried, manifest, opened right out to view, and its value, and the motive for which it's been done will be revealed.
He says, it'll all be tried by fire. The fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. So they were materials that caused them to sacrifice. You remember that David could say, I will not bring unto the Lord or offer to the Lord that which costs me nothing.
I wonder sometimes if you and I, and I've been in an assembly fellowship since I was about 15 years old. And if you know how old I am, you know how many years that is. More than I like to say. More than, I shouldn't say that.
Not as many as some people here, anyway. But I'll tell you, my parents as well paid a price to be in the assembly. It was very easy to come to the assembly and take it for granted. Going to church. That's what some Christians today say in the assembly, I'm going to church.
Is that all it means? Or do we recognize that I'm in an assembly fellowship because God has a work for me to do within the environments and other requirements of what God desires to see there. Paul says, if any man, now you can apply that to those that have ministry and those that would take leadership in the assembly.
But we can expand it by application because every one of us has a part in bringing something. By life, by testimony, by comportment, by our attitudes and by what we teach and what we uphold, we will bring something to the assembly, either for good or for ill.
You've been hearing about destroying the assembly. The Lord speaks about that. Further down the chapter in 1 Corinthians 3, if any man destroy the temple of God, him shall God destroy. Well, listen, brethren and sisters, it's no trifling matter what you and I bring into the assembly.
You think of one of these Israelites saying, well, I found this stone somewhere in the desert here, and it's quite attractive. It's got a nice shape to it. It sort of glitters in the sun and I like it.
I think that should be acceptable. Is it gold, silver, precious stones? Is it all? No, it's not, but I like it. That's not good enough. You know, Cain was the first one that brought to God what he thought should be accepted, and it was rejected.
God is not going to stoop to your standard or mine. He's not gonna let us say, well, this church over there, they practice this and it seems to be successful, so why don't we do it here? Is it in the word of God?
That's enough. You know, God's principles don't have to change. God knows all about 2017 just as much as he knew the first day, the day of Pentecost, when the church first began. Nothing's hidden from God.
The changes of society and the changes of the world are not, they're nothing that God was not able to anticipate and so God established principles that are in his word that are sufficient to take the church right to the very end of testimony until the Lord come.
Let us be satisfied with what he wants to have. I can't, I want to sit down very quickly, but I want to say this. Going back to those that could be involved in it, they were only the people that had been redeemed, brought out, a pastor of Bai, an Amalekite, a Moabite, Ammonite, any of the nomadic tribes of the wilderness, they might have said, well, let us participate, let us have a part in his work.
That's what they tried to do in the days of Ezra. They said, we've been here, we worship the same God as you do, why can't we have a part in the work? Well, they were wise enough to say, you are no part or lot of this matter.
Now listen, dear brethren, those that are from the outside can contribute nothing and if you want to be a part of God's work in that capacity today, you need to be in fellowship in a local assembly. I think you've been hearing that theme all day long and that's a good one, it's an important one, isn't it?
I want to just say this about the men. We find here that when it came to building the tabernacle, it required two men that were raised of God, called of God in a special way and they were filled with the Holy Spirit.
You know, that tells me that the work of God in this capacity is not a work that depends on natural ability, just because a man's a good speaker, maybe an orator doesn't make him one that can bring the word of God and all of his truth to the people of God.
No, it required men that were filled because I would take it, if anyone here has tried to construct a model of the tabernacle, you know this, there are things about it from the word of God that's written in our Bible that you don't even understand how to put it together or how it looked.
It took spirit-guided men to put into practice and to effect the work so it was completed as the Lord commanded Moses. In chapter 40, you read that expression 17 times, as the Lord commanded Moses. Thank God for men that have ability.
Thank God for men that are intelligent. But brother, what we need today are men that are guided and controlled by the spirit of God. That's what we ought to strive for. That's what we need. That's what we ought to long for, that God would raise men, our sisters as well, for being used of the spirit of God, subject to his will, moving in fellowship with the word of God entirely and carrying out a work that is for the honor of the Lord Jesus and a continuation of local testimony.
The tabernacle, I believe, is one of the best illustrations of a New Testament assembly you'll find in the word of God. Other structures, the temple and others, have a different application of the tabernacle.
Moving through the wilderness with the people of God, with God's presence overshadowing, is a philosophic picture of local assembly testimony. Dear brethren, in a far greater way than Israel, we have the privilege of being involved in a work that is for the honor of the Lord Jesus.