Exodus 25 (Part 4) Bible Study (The Golden Lampstand) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Exodus twenty five thirty one. You shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand shall be made of hammered work. Its base, its stem, its cups, its calyxes, its flowers shall be of one piece with it. And there should be six branches going out of its sides.

Three branches of the lampstand out of the one side of it, and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it. Three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower of one branch, and three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower on the other branch. So for the six branches going out of the lampstand, just stop. So you get it sometimes. Just take a break and breathe when you read something like this.

So as as as we just stop here, we see that there are these six branches and there's specific design for each branches. Now we continue. 34. And on the lamp stand itself, there shall be four cups made like almond blossoms with their calyx and flowers, and a calyx of one piece with it under each pair of the six branches going out from the lampstand. Their calyx and their branches shall be of one piece with it.

Everything is one piece here. The whole of it a single piece of hammered work of pure gold. You shall make seven lamps for it. So now there are lamps on top of these branches. And the lamp shall be set up as to give light on the space in front of it.

Its tongs and their trays shall be of pure gold. It shall be made with all these utensils out of a talent of pure gold, and see that you make them after the pattern for them which is being shown you on the mountain. Let's pray. Lord, as we come to this portion of the tabernacle, we pray that you would do what you've been doing, and that's opening our eyes to the scriptures, revealing Christ, revealing the shadow of how this relates to the church and to us as temples of the Holy Spirit. And so, Lord, we just pray that there would be no birds of the air now that would come and steal the seed from this portion of your word.

Lord, we pray that we would leave here changed by the power of your holy spirit. We believe in you. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. If you're here for the first time, we are going through the book of Exodus, and we are journeying through this structure called the tabernacle.

You've probably heard of it if you grew up in church. And this structure called the tabernacle was God's design and desire to dwell amongst man, but he had a specific idea of what it would be like. And this structure really is the heartbeat of God, which is his desire to dwell amongst his people. But this for the people was the worship center of Israel at the time to meet with God. Now we can read it like that with a historical lens and say, well, that's that's great.

That's how God dealt with his people in the old covenant. We're in the new covenant, so what does that have to do with me? Well, there are three things that this tabernacle points to. And let's see who's been paying attention. What are those three things?

Yes.

Jesus Jesus. Individuals and church.

Jesus Christ. John one fourteen, he dwelt amongst us. That word dwelt in the original language, the Greek is tabernacled amongst us. The church is referenced as the temple of God, and you and I as individuals are called temples of the Holy Spirit. And so there's three lessons here for us through the tabernacle to understand the person of Jesus Christ, to understand the church, to understand us to some degree.

And some pieces of furniture. Now there are these pieces of furniture, and we touched on two already. What was the first one? Oh. Arc of the Covenant.

The second one was the table of showbread. And here we are now at the golden lampstand. Now we read a a quite lengthy text of the details of this lampstand, but I want us because this has so much importance, I want us to know where it is placed. And so if we can pull up that map of the tabernacle. See, this is why the details are important because if we miss this, we miss on Revelation.

If we miss on the details, we can miss on something so significant. And so here we are with our familiar little map here, and we see that there's the outer court where the bronze bronze altar is and the bronze laver is. And then we're going into the holy place, which has three pieces, and we already touched on one in this place, the table of showbread. But look where the lampstand is. It's on the south side.

Then of the altar of incense, we'll touch on that in a few weeks. And we already touched on the Ark of the Covenant. And so keep that in mind as we continue to unveil what's going on here concerning this piece of furniture. Now if I were to ask you based on our reading, what is the purpose of the golden lampstand? What comes to mind?

Yes. To give light.

To give light. It says it right here in verse 37, does it not? And the lamp shall be set up so as to give light on the space in front of it. And so we know this concerning Jesus Christ. Do we not?

Who is the person of Jesus Christ? What are the one of the I am statements that Jesus made in the book of John? I am the light of the world. Now think about this in light of the tabernacle. Think of it in light of the fact that this lamp is what?

Concerning everything else that you know about the tabernacle, what why is this lamp so important other than it gives light? That is true. It gives light. But there's something else about it. Are there any windows in the tabernacle?

Is there any natural lighting penetrating the structure? No. So what does that say about the tabernacle, and what does it say about this specific piece of furniture? If there's no window, there's no door per se, if there's no natural light coming in, what does that say about this piece of furniture? It's the only source of light.

There's no other light outside of this piece of furniture. If there's no golden lampstand, guess what happens to the priest? They're stumbling in the dark. And so we have to understand that this lamp, God had designed this piece of furniture to make a statement concerning a shadowy picture of his son. That there is no other light source available.

That this golden lampstand says something about the fact that without it, we're in trouble. So think about darkness. Think about think if we turn off all these lights right now, and let's even take it further. Let's say there's no light in this whole city. Let's say all the lights go out.

What would happen to the city? Dark. Dark? Dark. But what would happen to our duties?

What would happen to just us doing simple day to day things? Confusion. Confusion. Heightened fear. Instability.

Lack of direction. Lack of comfort. And so what happens? Jesus comes on a dark night and penetrates through his glory, a generation that is blanketed by the wickedness of its day. And he's not just a light, he is the light.

I'm the light of the world. There's no other light source. And because he's the light source where there is confusion, he brings clarity. Because he's the light source where there is frustration and darkness, there's stability in Christ. Because there's heightened fear and darkness, he brings comfort through his light.

And because there is no sense of direction, he brings guidance through his light. That's what it means when Jesus is the light of the world. All these things are involved with it. Even in light of the fact that this thing was in the holy place where the priests are supposed to meet with God. You can't meet with God without the light of Christ.

You can't do anything. Even if you, in your pious posture want to seek God, the priests could not do anything to approach God because they needed illumination. You know how many religious people there are out there in this world? Billions that are trying to seek God apart from the light of the world, and all they're doing is bumping into walls. All they're doing is stumbling in the dark.

Even your religiosity is dark and pointless outside of Christ. You realize that? No Christ? No way you can meet with God. No Christ?

No way you can even walk forward. And there's a glorious truth about this, That the lamp does not just bring light to the things around it. It does not just bring light to the things that are in front of it. Think about it this way. That if the lamp is not lit, the priest were not able to see the beauty of the lamp itself.

I mean, when we just read these details, we're talking about a beautiful piece of furniture here. There's these little details. There's blossoms. There's flowers. There's all these things that come with it.

But if there's no light, you can't see that piece itself. And the beauty about how Jesus provides light, yes, for us to perceive it to have every everything in the right frame concerning life and our decisions and our choices, but when Christ illuminates your heart, you see Christ. You get to behold his beauty. If you don't believe me, go to second Corinthians chapter three. Second Corinthians chapter three tells us this in detail.

And what's the rule when it comes to interpreting things in scripture? The Bible interprets what? The Bible. You stay safe when you interpret scripture with scripture, or else you get to put in your own input. But when we interpret the scriptures with the scripture, we are more than okay.

Second Corinthians chapter three. Look at verse 12. Now Paul is comparing the glory of the new covenant to the diminishing glory of the old covenant. And he says something here in verse 12. Since we have such a hope, believers, if you're a Christian in this place, you have a hope.

Since we have such a hope, we are very bold. Not like Moses who had put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. Remember when Moses would go up the mountain? He would climb up that mountain. He would meet with God.

And as a result of being in the presence of God, he would come down, and there was light shining from his face. And now if you just read that in the Old Testament account, you realize that he covers his face. And when you when you read it outside of the New Testament commentary, you think that he's covering his face because he doesn't wanna scare the Israelites. Right? I mean, when you when I read it, that's what I thought.

He's covering his face because he didn't wanna he didn't wanna push back. He didn't wanna make the Israelites afraid when he came to give the word of the Lord. But Paul has a commentary here inspired by the Holy Spirit. He goes, no. No.

No. No. It wasn't the people that were afraid. Moses was afraid. Moses was afraid that the glory off of his face would be diminishing, and they would notice it.

And so he covered his face so that they would not see that light coming to an end. And now he makes this connection. But their minds were hardened. For to this day he's talking about the Jewish people specifically. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, the same veil, the same veil remains unlifted because only through Christ is it taken away.

So what is he saying there? That when the Jews read the old covenant, they don't see a diminishing glory. They see a more glorious covenant than the new covenant. So when they look at the old covenant compared to the new, when they see Moses compared to Christ, they see the they see this glory here, but there's a veil that's not showing them that it's diminishing. And see that there's a lot of people like that today, not necessarily Jewish, and you're probably in this place tonight if you you think you're here by accident.

Do you know why you don't think Christ is beautiful? Do you know why that you have not submitted to him yet? Do you know why you think that your life, your plans, your dreams, whatever you do in life outside of Christ, do you know why you think it's so great? Because you have a veil on your heart. That's why.

You're blind. And you think whatever's going on in your life outside of the person of Jesus Christ is oh so grand when you don't realize that there's a glory awaiting for you. And you know how you get that veil removed, oh stubborn one? Nobody will tell you that lately. You know how you get that veil removed?

Says here in verse 16. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. You know, if you just humble yourself, and you just you just admit, you know, Lord, I fail to see what you want me to see. If you respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit and you turn to the Lord, he is more than willing to remove that veil from your heart and for you to behold his beauty in a way that you never thought you could. And not only is there an initial removing of this veil in which you understand his beauty, you understand his gospel, you understand his grace, you forever live in a state of beholding his glory.

That is the new covenant. See, this is what bothers me. You wanna really touch my nerves. This is what really bothers me. I've heard it ever since I became a believer That when you get saved, it there's this jolt of excitement, and rightfully so because you stumbled upon a treasure.

But you you start at this point, and it's this diminishing glory. But my Bible tells me something else. What does it say? Verse 17. Now the Lord is the spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

And we all, if you're a believer, we all with unveiled face, that veil is removed. What happens now that this veil is removed and that you've beheld him and you see him and you understand him? What what happens? Beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. So the starting point is this, you're walking through life, you think you got your own thing going on.

All of a sudden you hear a message, you read the word, there's conviction, and something compels you to turn to Christ because you're a sinner, to turn to Christ because only he can save you. And what do you do? You turn to the Lord in humility. You turn to the Lord in desperation. You respond.

You don't harden your heart and thicken that veil. No. No. No. You turn to him.

And when you turn to him, he removes it. And when he removes it, you behold and when you behold him, guess what? You just entered into a journey beholding him forevermore, and there is more glory to behold of him. There is an ever ending exploration of his beauty that you partake of. And here's the awesome part, is that when you believer, behold them continually.

You've been invited now to a face to face relationship with Jesus Christ. As you behold them, you're being transformed into the same image. Now this is important. Why is this important? Because in order for you to become, you simply have to behold.

The more you behold him, the more you become like him. You're so frustrated. You're not growing. You're not why? Because you stepped out of the simplicity of beholding Christ.

It's as simple as that. And you have unveiled faith. Like, you can see him now. And now you can just explore him. You see the glory of Christ in the gospels.

You see the glory of Christ in the Old Testament. You behold him. And as you behold him, there's something that invites you. There's something that provokes you to be like him. And you're transformed by him.

You're magnetized by him. You're you're you're drawn to him. And as a result of that, the flesh begins to shed off, and now you begin to become the one that you behold. So where does the enemy work in this? He wants to take you away from beholding.

All the enemy needs to do in your life is take your gaze away from him. Just just take your eyes off of him. Put it on something else. And when you fail to behold him, you fail as a result to become like him. But when you and I choose daily to take advantage of the fact that that veil is removed, you have access to beholding him.

You have the Holy Spirit as we're gonna learn. You have the Holy Spirit in dwelling in you, able to teach you and to show you and to be that tour guide for you, to show you a facet of Christ that you've never seen before. Oh, why would you miss out on that? For this comes by the Spirit who is the Lord. He tells us that.

The Holy Spirit is the one who activates and changes and renews you. Listen. When you when you remove yourself from beholding, you eliminate the possibility of becoming. See, we put the cart before the horse and we go, I gotta do, do, do. No.

You just have to behold. You just have to take that by faith and you, if you really wanna bear fruit, if you really wanna reflect Jesus Christ, just fall in love with him. Because when you behold him and you come to that place where you fall deeper in love with him, you naturally, as a result, will wanna Remember that. Unveiled face. Do you remember when you were saved?

Do you remember when you first got saved and you knew that that veil was removed? And it did two things. It made you see things differently. It made you see everything differently. Just like that lampstand.

Everything before the lampstand, everything before your eyes is changed. It's like it's like you were sitting in a living room, all dark, and your mother walks into the living room. She opens up those curtains and light beams forth, and you look out and you see all the colors. You see all you see all the nature. You see the birds flying.

You see the green grass. It's like this is this is something I've never seen before. That's a that's a very poor example, but it gets the idea across. That your whole life, you were seeing things through this veil. You were limited.

But then all for some, when you come to him by faith, he removes it. And listen, everything before you is different. Everything before you. And you know this about the born again experience, do you not? What changes?

Everything changes. The way you look at your job changes. The way you look at your family changes. The way you look at money, clothes, material, food, music, all of it changes. You've you've heard me say this before, but I I don't mind saying it again.

I remember when I first got born again. I remember when that veil was I can tell you the days of what it was like when I had that veil. I didn't see Christ as beautiful. Just Jesus, you know. Like, that name didn't tenderize my heart.

The house of God was the house of God. It was just there was nothing. There was no life for me. There was it was just I was just a zombie sitting in a chair. And one day, there was that conviction, and it provoked me, and it called to me to turn to him.

And I can tell you that weekend when I did, and I turned to the Lord. And I do not say this with the least a bit of exaggeration. The next day, after that intense weekend of wrestling with God, January 2012, I woke up that day with unveiled face. Everything was different. You did not need to tell me I was born again.

I knew I was born again. Everything changed. Like a like colors changed. It was always there, but it's like you see Christ in creation now. The air was different.

Everything was different. Music was I just everything became clear now. But not just the things in front of me, the lampstand itself. It's like, how did I live twenty years of my life not seeing the beauty of Christ, the one who dispenses light, the one who shows me. Don't get caught up just with the things in front of you, which is this is glorious, but don't forget to look back and look at Him and to behold Him and to enjoy Him.

He said, if you got born again and you do not see the beauty of Christ, how is that possible? And not only that, but six years later, and you can testify to it too if you're born again, three years later, six twenty years later, if you abide in him, if if you just take the time to behold him, you can say that you go from glory to glory. And you can say that Christ goes from glory to glory. And you can go through this ever learning, ever seeing, ever be ever just understanding the fact that his glory never ends, and you become like him. So this lampstand, unmistakably, is a picture of Jesus Christ.

But is it a picture of something else or someone else?

Yes? The Holy Spirit?

Absolutely. I need I need participation from two people. I need somebody to open up to Revelation chapter four and verse five, and I need another person to read from Isaiah 11 verse two. The first person from Revelation four verse five, the second person Isaiah 11 verse two. And when you're there, just read it.

Nice and loud, please, if you don't mind.

And from the throne proceeded lightning thunderings and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.

K. So we we hear this in Revelation that there is this imagery of these seven torches, which represent the seven spirits of God. Now that might get a little confusing. Is there seven holy spirits? No.

There's one Holy Spirit. So seven spirits of God. There are many interpretations for this, but I once again believe the Bible interprets the Bible and so Isaiah 11 verse 12 helps us. Who's Isaiah 11 verse two? Sorry, not 12.

Verse two.

The spirit of the Lord shall rise upon

him. Okay.

The spirit of wisdom and understanding. The spirit of counsel and might. The spirit of knowledge

and fear of the Lord. Okay. So if if you count the spirit of the Lord as one, you get a total of seven here in Isaiah 11. You got the spirit of the Lord, which is one, the spirit of wisdom, which is number two, and understanding, number three, the spirit of counsel, which is number four, the spirit of might, which is number five, the spirit of knowledge, which is number six, and the spirit of the fear of the Lord, which is number seven. So when we're talking about the seven spirits of God here, we're talking about not seven different spirits, but the sevenfold ministry of the Holy Spirit.

The multifaceted work of the person of the Holy Spirit. And just think about like, read these carefully and see what the Holy Spirit can do. He grants wisdom. He grants understanding. He grants counsel.

He grants might. He grants knowledge. He he's the one that puts the fear of God on your life. He's the one that places it on your life. That's why we can pray and ask for the fear of the Lord.

And so when we connect this with this understanding of seven branches on this lampstand in connection with the holy place, this is what we have to understand. If this lamp is a picture of the Holy Spirit, that says something about the other two pieces of furniture. Where are the other two pieces of furniture in the Holy Place? You have the table of what? Showbread and you have what?

What's the other one before the veil? The altar of incense. And this is what we learn about the Holy Spirit. That when the Holy Spirit illuminates, He shows us how to handle the showbread, and he shows us how to handle the altar of incense. In other words, without the ministry of the Holy Spirit, you cannot properly and effectively handle the word of God, And you cannot properly or effectively know how to pray the altar of incense.

That's what that picture is. You and I need the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit to shine forth on the table of showbread, the the bread of heaven, the manna. Yes, Christ, but also the word of God. And you and I need the Holy Spirit to know how to pray. The altar of incense, as we're gonna talk about in a few weeks, is a picture of prayer and intercession.

But if you have the lights off, you can't do either effectively. You you can't touch the bread. You can't minister effectively. You can't handle the altar of incense. And this is what God is trying to tell us.

I've given you my Holy Spirit to do these things right. And once again, this is not just speculation. This is not just allegorizing. This is scripture. Let me just read these verses to you, and you can write these down if you want.

First John two twenty seven. Here's the context in the letter of first John in this portion. That Christians, there was a mingling with other people who were identifying as Christians or amongst the assembly but were antichrists, so to speak. They they were teaching a different doctrine, and they left. And you know what he says?

He says, you know what? They left us because they were not of us, and they were never of us. And then he talks about this thing called the anointing. He says what? But the anointing that you have from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you.

But as his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and is no lie, just as it is taught you, abide in him. So this is how John is encouraging the believers. He's saying you have and all you believers, we all have this common anointing. And the word anointing simply means smear with oil, and the oil is a picture of the Holy Spirit. All of us, when we got saved, had received this inner common anointing.

And what is that purpose? What's the anointing for? To protect us from false teaching. Because he says in the verse before that you don't have to worry about being deceived per se because there is this intuition. There's something in you that can detect when something's false and something's wrong.

When somebody says something on the pulpit and you're like, that doesn't sit right. No. No. There's I don't get it, but I don't fully understand it, but what that person just said doesn't click. That's the anointing, and it's in you.

And this anointing has been granted to you and me to help us and to teach us and to guide us into truth. You can go on vacation somewhere and and perhaps you go somewhere like Israel, let's say. And we talked about this once at prayer meeting, this illustration. You can go to somewhere like Israel and you can my brother's there right now. I I haven't talked to him.

He hasn't sent anything. He just sends me pictures, and I said, looks amazing. He didn't answer me. You can go to Israel, and you can try to tour on your own. You can try to explore on your own.

You can try to figure it out and and know the certain place. You can go to Capernaum. You can go all these places, and you can probably figure some things out. But it's a whole different experience when you go with a tour guide that knows the ins and outs, that will show you things that you could not figure out on your own. That is true of the Holy Spirit when you come through the scriptures.

And you can come to the scriptures, and and you could try to put things together. I've heard non believers put things together. But when you come dependent upon the Holy Spirit, oh, he'll show you things that you've never known, and he'll show you things that you've never seen before. And so we have to trust and depend and rely and ask for this anointing within to be activated when we come to the scriptures. It's a whole different experience.

When you come to the Lord, say, Lord, show me the glory of Jesus Christ, and let me behold him in Exodus. Let me behold him. It can be you can see and I'll tell you this. Every time you journey through it, they say when you go to Israel, you cannot just go for ten days. You gotta go for, like, a month because you'll just rush through things, and you won't be able to grasp the fullness of it.

Listen. When you go through the scriptures and you go through the book of John, you can go through the book of John again and see things that you've never seen before. Not just for two months, you can do it for the rest of your life. And the Holy Spirit is so wise. He is so amazing.

He has so much truth. He has so much power that he'll show you things that you've never seen. Or maybe it's something that you knew and he just it hits you like it's never hit you before. And so you know what that should do to you and me every time we come to the word of God? It's an adventure.

Lead me, Holy Spirit. Show me where I need to go. Stop me where I need to be stopped. Let me meditate on what you want me to meditate. Make that your prayer language.

Make that experience with him as you come to the word of God. And not just the bread, the altar of incense. You and I, apart from that lampstand being lit, cannot effectively pray or intercede. Romans eight twenty six. Likewise, the spirit helps us in our weakness.

For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Oh, that's I just I take that and I go thank you, Lord. It is a battle when it comes to prayer some days. I mean, you're fighting everything sometimes. You're fighting yourself.

You're your worst enemy in prayer. But the Holy Spirit has been given to help us to pray. Now we can talk about this for the rest of the session. I just wanna highlight the fact that this lampstand points to the Holy Spirit. But when you think about how the Holy Spirit helps, when you depend upon the Holy Spirit listen.

He can do amazing things in your prayer life. Don't look for sensation. Don't look for all these things. Don't look to cry. Don't look for that.

Look for true prayer in the spirit, praying according to the will of God, praying in sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, and watch how he can guide and lead your prayers. Watch how he can put somebody on your heart. They have no idea why this person is on your heart, and you come to figure out that that person on that day at that hour was going through something, and the Holy Spirit helped you and prayed through and and put that person on your heart so that you can pray more effectively. And so this is what it looks like. Lord, I'm here to seek you, but I need help to seek you.

Lord, I'm gonna intercede, but I need your help that is Lord, show me what to pray for. Show me who to pray for. Lord, place it on my heart. Guide me. Put it in my mind.

Lord, protect me from distraction. Lord, let me give you my undivided attention. Total dependency. And so we have a helper. We have a helper in these things.

So you and I don't have to stumble in the holy place. We don't have to try to figure out how to handle the showbread. We don't have to figure out how to handle the alter of incense. No. We have full light, illumination, and guidance, all the things that we need for the rest of our life.

Glory be to God. Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit. But undoubtedly, this is a picture of the church. The golden lampstand is a picture of the church. So I need help as well for this.

Revelation one verse 12. And the same person that finds Revelation one twelve, can you read verse 20 as well?

Then I turned to see the face that was speak the face that left was speaking to me, and now turning, I saw seven golden lamp lampstands.

Stop there for a second. I'm sorry for interrupting you. So John is having a vision of Christ and he hears this voice. He turns around and he he sees the glorious Christ. But before anything, he sees Christ standing where?

In the midst of what? Seven what? Golden lampstands. Now we go, what does that mean? So brother Marflug, would you lead us to verse 20?

As the mystery of the seven stars, he saw in my right hand the seven golden lampstands, they were the seven stars were the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

The seven lampstands are what? Seven churches. Now out of all the imagery that god almighty could have used for his church, out of the many things, he chooses a picture of a lampstand, which says what of the nature and the function of the church?

The church would be in light in the midst of darkness.

Light in the midst of darkness? Yes. Jesus says, I'm the light of the world, and then he tells the believers, you're the light of the world. So we are an extension of the person and ministry of Jesus Christ to some degree. So we have this lampstand.

So what does that mean? It means this, that to the world, this dark world that the Bible describes as dark, corrupted, twisted, perverted, lost, stumbling, blind, the church provides clarity, provides warmth, provides direction. And here's the danger, that when the church tries to blend in with the world and if you're gonna blend in the world, guess what you're doing? You you're becoming dark. And when you let darkness creep in, you've eliminated the possibility for a dark world to find light.

And this is what he does for the the next two chapters. He talks to seven different churches in seven different conditions. Now when you hear that the church is the lamp, what is that light? What is the light for people to see? Let your light shine before men so that they may what?

See your what? Good works. And as a result of seeing your good works, they would glorify God. So good works. What else is known as light?

Truth. Truth, the person in the revelation of Jesus Christ. Pure doctrine is known as light. Here's the interesting thing. This might surprise you.

In order for the church to be an effective lampstand, it needs more than pure doctrine. It needs more than good works. I mean, those things are excellent. Those things are so needed. It needs more than perseverance.

It needs more than all those things. Those things are needed, but there's one element that could be eliminated in the midst of all those things, and it's proven in the church of Ephesus. So let's read Revelation two verse one down to verse seven. We all know this text, But I believe this text in a local church setting needs to be addressed once, twice, maybe three times a year. That's just my opinion.

To the angel of the church in Ephesus write, the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. Think about that. You know, you're sitting here. We're all sitting here right now, but there's somebody else here. He walks in the midst of the golden lampstands.

Jesus attends church services. And during the week when the leaders are working at church and preparing for church, Jesus is there. He walks in the midst of seven golden lampstands. And look what he says to this specific local church. He goes, I know your works, your toil, and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not and found them to be false.

Oh, Jesus knows. He observes. He sees. He analyzes. He he has such insight that your heart is laid bare on a table, and he sees the intentions of it.

Nothing is hidden from him. Those eyes of fire that John saw means that he can penetrate through anything. Nothing. There's no corner too dark. There's no secret too deep that can hide anything from the person of Jesus Christ.

And he says this, I know your works. I see all your efforts. I see all the good things that you're doing. I see all the outreach. I see all the ministries.

But not only that, he says, I know your toil. We're talking about intense labor. We're talking about, like, you are dedicated to the point where it is painful in your devotion. There's exhaust exhaustion. There's there's there's physical pressure even where you've come to.

There's a sacrifice beyond normal standard. I see that, and it's good. I'm commending you. He's commending this church for that and your patient endurance. You're enduring patiently.

You're you're running through this race, and you're not easily moved. You're not easily giving up. You're persistent. Now up to this point up to this point, this is very impressive. Church.

It goes even beyond that. There's doctrinal purity. Says what? You have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not and found to be false. No joker could come into church and claim to be somebody without them testing, finding out who you are.

And if you're the wrong person, bye bye. This is not a church to play with. You're talking about a strong church. You're talking about a church that at one point Timothy pastored. You're talking about a church that was birthed in a move of God where people took their idolatry, took their magic books, and in the city of Ephesus, they burned them in front of everybody as a public witness.

You're talking about an amazing church. You step into the church of Ephesus, you're walking out saying they got it together. You step into a church like this, you go, if our church could even come half, a quarter of what this church was. You compare church of Ephesus with all these other churches, you're going to Ephesus. The pastor of the church of Ephesus is writing a how to build a church book, and it's a bestseller.

And he commends him for that. He says it's all good. Everything is great. Look what he says though. Verse four, but I have this against you.

This is not a pastor. This is the Son of God. This is Jesus. And after commending them, he goes, I have this against you that you have not lost, you've abandoned. You've abandoned the love that you had at first.

Now, what is that love? That's a first love relationship with Jesus Christ, Which says something about what we can do in church, does it not? That doctrine can be had to the t. Pure. No dirt in it.

Like, clear doctrine. Works? Turmoil. Everybody's a volunteer. There's nobody sitting on their hands in this church.

Everybody's active. Everybody has something to do. Everybody's in the game. False teachers, they can't even step in without being sniffed out. But he has this against them.

You can do all of that and still not have a passion for Jesus. People say, no, no, no. He's talking about a love for believers. You can't love believers without loving Christ, effectively at least. And so it's this love for Jesus, this passion, this desire, this longing, this awareness of his person, this longing to know him that is missing.

And look at the threat. Look at the consequence if they don't re repent. Well, first he says, remember, therefore, from where you have fallen. You were at a certain height with me, and you fall. You've fallen from that height.

That that's not a good picture. The the idea there is that you're on your face. Now I I'm not I don't believe that this is just this excitement that you have when you first say that's supposed to be maintained. We can ask for that, and we can have that, those bursts of excitement from here and there. But I'm talking about a mature deep love for him that's ever growing and ever seeking and ever longing for him that was missing.

And perhaps all those others things consumed them, and they justified their lack of love for the person by doing work for the person. So he says, remember remember how you were just, it was about me. Remember how everything you did was a response to your love for me. You've abandoned the love that you had first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen.

Repent. Like, turn. You're going one way. I'm asking you to go to the opposite way. Repent.

Do the works that you did at first, but I thought you just you commended them for works. I thought works wasn't enough. No. But you were doing something in light of your relationship with me that you stopped doing. And that's probably more true of why people fall into this indictment, is that there were some things that we did in the beginning that helped us maintain that love for him that we we walked away from and replaced with something else and justified.

Go back to the things that you did for I remember. He says you remember because what? Christ remembers. Can you imagine that? I'm calling you to remember because I didn't forget.

You forgot. I remember. Just think about that, that the Lord knows the stages of your walk with him. He keeps record of it. That blows my mind.

Because when we forget, he remembers. Go back to that. And then he commends him again for hating the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Do you know Jesus hates stuff? He says, I hate the works of the Nicolaitans, and you hate them too.

One sign that you're really connected to Christ is not just that you love. You also have a fiery hatred for what he hates. You hate these works, I hate them too. And look what he says here. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says.

You can be listening but not really hearing. Oh, that's dangerous. Week after week, you can be hearing but not listening. And he says here, to the one who conquers, I will grant to either the tree of life. But prior to this, this is the consequence.

In the second part of verse five, if you will not repent and do the works you did at first, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. If you do not come back to that first love relationship with me, though you have all these other things, the effective element of you being a lampstand cannot be a possibility unless while doing those other things, your heart is beating for me. And I am not willing Look what Jesus is saying. I am not willing to display a lampstand that does not burn for passion for me. So you can have the doctrine.

How many churches have that doctrine? And good. Rightfully so. You can have the activities. You can have all of that.

But I'm not willing. I'm not willing to put out before the world a lampstand that is not decorated by individuals that have a white hot passion for me. So what is he saying here about a lampstand, an effective lampstand? That an effective lampstand is connected to a first love relationship with Christ. And he's not asking for your obedience or mine to be done out of stiff duty.

He's not asking for you to do these things mechanically and ritually and with formality. What he wants is the horse to be before the cart. And what he wants is all those things to be a result of a heart that is ravished and captivated by the master. That's what he's asking for. So go back to that.

If not, that lampstand, which is which is purpose to what? Give light and direction and warmth and clarity. The effectiveness of that witness will be removed. That's dangerous. Anybody here who is married, I hope, would not want a spouse to do acts and to display any kind of affection mechanically because it's your duty as a spouse.

Would you? Would you want your husband to come to you and say, here are some flowers because I know I'm your husband. I'm supposed to do this. A wife preparing dinner, I'm your wife. Here's here's here's dinner.

I'm just doing my part of the covenant. Enjoy. Now we hear that, and it sounds funny, but so many Christians are doing that with Christ. Let's just go through the service. You know, you can prepare sermons like that.

I'm just gonna prepare another sermon, and let's just get this another week finished, and we'll get ready for the next one. And it's just listen. There are people like this. And instead of it coming out of a place in which you are doing it, knowing the person and wanting to know what he wants to say to the people of God, it's done differently. It's done mechanically.

So imagine your service to the Lord as as his bride, and you're coming to the Lord day after day, and you're just like, k, Lord. I'm here to meet with you because I know I'm supposed to do this, my part of the deal. Let me just keep my part. Christ goes, I don't want that. You have the right doctrine.

You have the master's degree at seminary. You have it, but I want that first love again. Like, you would want from your spouse everything to be done out of a throb love for you. He's just asking what you would want from somebody else. And what's amazing is in order because this is a church.

Yeah. He's speaking to a church, but a church is made up of individuals. He's not talking to a building, guys. He's talking to the individuals that make up the church. And there is an important element of this lampstand back in Exodus that gives us a wonderful insight of how we as a church and I'm speaking to this church.

You might represent a different church. This is applicable to you as well. But to this church, there's something about the lampstands and how the people of God treated it that is greatly insightful for us and how we handle the local church and how we as a lampstand can be effective and be what God called us to be. How do we know that? Exodus 27, and we're ending it here.

Exodus twenty seven twenty. This is a couple chapters after what we just read in Exodus 25. There is instruction concerning the oil, the oil for the lamb. Look what he says in verse 20. You shall command the people of Israel that they bring to you pure beaten olive oil for the light.

That a lamp may regular see, Christ wants the light to burn regularly, not temporarily, not sporadically. Not two months of light, one month no light, three months of light, two months no light, conference comes up, six months of light, eight months no light, regularly. Where was that oil supposed to come from? The people of Israel. The people were to bring their own pure beaten olive oil, bring it to the priest, and the priests were to tend to the land and make sure that it was burning day and night.

That says something to you and me in light of the fact that the lampstand is the church. It says at least two things. One, you. Your participation and your presence is needed. Listen, if this lampstand is supposed to burn effectively and burn brightly and burn regularly, God in his wisdom did not leave it all to the priest.

He could have. But he says, no, no, no, no, no. I want the people to participate in handling the lampstand in order for it to burn brightly. And what the people need to do is understand that my participation is of vital importance to the effectiveness of this lampstand burning in a dark place. You know what that says about you, believer?

That you're not just here to warm up a seat. God has called you to bring something to this church and to participate in fueling the lampstand that you are a part of. If you're part of a different church, it's the same thing. Your presence is needed for this church to burn brightly. Each and every single one of you, you have something to offer.

When you fail to realize that, there's no passion for the local church. There's no sense of identity in the local church. And what we have today more than anything is this imaginary thing that so many people have convinced themselves is enough for the local church, and that is this idea of spectatorship. No such thing in the local church. There is no such thing as just coming in and coming out and not offering and dedicating and participating a part of a church that you have prayerfully considered to be a part of.

And so here's the question. People of God, what do you bring to the table? Everybody has something. Everybody has something to give. Everybody has been gifted in a certain way.

God deposited something in you so that it can come out of you, not so it can sit there. Rivers of living water have to flow out. You know what so many believers have? They have an inflow, but they have no outflow. So instead of rivers of living water, they have a swamp sitting inside of them.

And guess what? It gets kinda toxic. When you don't let it come out, when you don't pour out and you continually get poured into, what you have is a swamp living inside of you, and what happens? You become toxic or like the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is dead because there's an inflow, no outflow.

There's nothing living inside of it. You're stagnant. And so you have every right to get itchy if you're not doing something because you're called to do something. You're called to receive so that you can pour back out. And we see here that there is no spectatorship concerning the lampstand.

He wanted everybody to be a part of it. And what does he want specifically? He wants oil. I want the people of God to bring oil to the lampstand. What's oil a picture of?

The Holy Spirit. And so it's not just a participation in activities and ministries that God is looking for, vitally important. But what God is looking from you now think about this. This is the word of God. Answer God tonight.

Don't answer me. Answer God. What God is looking from you and me is to cultivate and to work at our personal intimacy with the Lord, and to produce that oil on ourselves, and to bring that to the body, and to bring that portion to the church. And it goes, again, beyond activities. It goes beyond just ministries.

What you and I need to cultivate, just like what God is asking for in Ephesians two from this church, rather Revelation two from the church of Ephesus is a passion for Christ, is a love with Jesus Christ, is a relationship with him day by day. Because that, when you bring it in here, that affects the burning, that affects the light, that affects the penetrating power of the local church. Do you believe that? Because this is what he's asking for. And if he asked of them, he asked of it of us.

And think about this now. He's asking for every day everybody to bring it so that there would be this never ending supply of the oil. And this is the truth. The more oil, the more light. Listen.

If every person in here took their relationship with Jesus Christ of utmost importance, and you gather those individuals of like mindedness and you bring them together in one place, what will that lampstand look like? What would it look like if people walked in to this church and they didn't see like half people passionate and a quarter people and some are half empty? What would happen if every person brought their own oil? You know what would happen? People would be blinded by the love that you have for God and as a result, love for people.

That's the consequence of you cultivating that for yourself. And let me tell you from experience more than anything, there are so many lampstands out there that when you walk into them, you don't see people burning, you see death. And it's the opposite. Even if it has the everything is there. And some of these churches are nice, like building wise.

And they have a worship set, and they have instruments, and they have the the everything's there. They have the sermon, no oil. And it's total death. There's no light. There's no sense of being attracted.

There's no sense of being warmed by the presence of God. Nothing. And my prayer as we come to this portion of the tabernacle would be, Lord almighty, we pray that you would give us the revelation of my responsibility of cultivating and pressing this oil in my own life so that when I come to the lampstand, I have something to offer. And if every single one of us took that seriously, again, let me reemphasize this. If every single one of us does that, my goodness, the light would beam through this place.

That should be our prayer that when people walk in because of your daily walk with Christ and because of your own oil listen. You can't buy this oil. He didn't say all you Israelites go and buy oil. He says, no. I want pure beaten oil.

That takes effort, time, and energy. When you come to a place where you take that more seriously than anything, you have something to contribute to this church. You burn brightly. When the neighbor next to you burns brightly, when the row next to you burns brightly, and when the church burns brightly, people will notice. People will notice.

So do you come to the lampstand empty? Do you come to the tabernacle with nothing to give? And there is an aspect here. Let's not go too far into this in which the church helps us and edifies us. And but listen.

That does not mean that you neglect the oil that you're supposed to bring. The Holy Spirit has something in you. The Holy Spirit has built you. The Holy Spirit has deposited things in you uniquely and place you in a specific church to bring to the table something that would bring glory to his name. And so we have to make that decision in light of this bible study, especially as the summertime comes up.

I'm closing with this, because the question probably is, how do I burn brightly? How do I cultivate that oil? Well, this is one portion. I'll just read it. You can turn there if you want.

I said we're closing but now we're closing. First Thessalonians five sixteen. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Do not quench the spirit. But do not despise prophecy, but test everything. Hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. So we have these positive commands and this negative command.

Here are the positive commands. Rejoice always. You wanna press. You wanna cultivate that oil. Rejoice always.

Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances. Why? Because the language here of do not quench the spirit is do not extinguish the flame of the spirit. And so I can quench the spirit.

I can reduce that fire. I can eliminate that flame from burning to its fullest potential in me. But listen, I can feed that fire, and I can make that burn brightly within me. And here are some ingredients for that. Rejoice always.

Develop an attitude of praise to God throughout your week. Do this. Listen. If you if you put all these components together, you'll see why somebody burns brightly. Pray without cece.

No. He's not asking that you stay in your room and never come out. What is he saying, though? What he's saying is develop a posture in your heart in which you are continually in communication with God. As you're walking throughout your day, whatever you're doing, build that communication, that connection with him without ceasing.

Invite him again into the places of your life and commune with him. Ask him. Talk to him. Rejoice. Sing to him.

Not only that. Give thanks in all circumstances if you really wanna burn brightly. Have you ever been around somebody who's thankful? Naturally, you're drawn to people that don't complain. I I people can complain.

I'm repelled. But people that give thanks in all circumstances, and not in a fake way, in a true way, and not in a way which you're saying, God is good. Give thanks, and just awkward about it. No. But I again, a heart posture that recognizes that God is the giver of all things.

That you can see God in all things, and that is a true heart posture of yours. It becomes an attractive factor. And when you take these ingredients, positive commands, and you practice those things now listen. What if one person was like that? Now what if the whole church was like that?

The whole church was filled with people that knew how to rejoice, a church that knew how to pray. Do you wanna see the fire in this church grow? Pray without ceasing. Not just individually, corporately. Give you thanks in all circumstances.

The second part, which I will not get into, do not despise prophecies, which is a gift of the spirit. Don't despise prophecies. In other words, what God wants to do and what God desires to give, don't despise it. Many people have because of abuse of gifts, whatever gifts there are out there. And think of it this way, here's the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes we just need to be so simple so we can understand that that the really the grieveness of these things. Here's the Holy Spirit, and here's a gift. And he goes, I have a gift for you and it's for your good. It's to build you up and it's to glorify Christ. You know what many people have done?

Get that away from me. What do you that's just weird. Here's the Holy Spirit with a gift. So yeah, but this is this is me too. This is an extension of my my love to you to to build you.

Get out of here with that. Can you imagine doing that to somebody who wants to give you a gift? We think that's totally Imagine somebody did that to you. You've invested in this gift. There is a purchase that you've made for this gift to be a possibility and you extend that to somebody else and that person goes, get out of my face.

Don't despise it, but test. But test everything and hold fast to what is good. Not only that, abstain from every form of evil. Not abstain from evil. Abstain from the form of it.

In other words, another translation says, avoid the appearance of evil. I'm not just gonna avoid evil. That's the common sense thing. But anything that might give off the idea that I may be potentially doing something that is contrary to the will of God, I will not be associated with it or to it. Don't grieve the Holy Spirit.

Don't quench the Holy Spirit. And so I pray, and I hope this is your prayer too, that by cultivating our own oil, That that goes beyond just your relationship with God. It affects the effectiveness of the church. And when you take that seriously more than anything, and every person here understands that, we can see God do things that we never thought he could do and a light that can reach areas that we never thought he could reach. Just yesterday, I had a conversation with somebody that I did not expect for this person to say, and I won't say who this person is.

But this person came up to me and made a comment, and Gil was there and he can testify to this. God knows his heart. I don't know his heart. But he had said, I want to know what's going on in that group of young people because something is happening there, and I wanna really know what's happening. I'm willing to learn what's happening.

Because on his side, he's seeing something completely different. And before that moment, I would not have known I would not even imagine the thought that unbeknown to us, there is somebody that hears and sees the things that are happening here, and it's ministering to them. We have a great responsibility, but it is a great joy. So we're gonna do that right now. Would you stand with me?

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances. Whether you're part of this church or a different church, lift up your church to the one who walks amongst the seven golden lamp stands. And realize that you being a part of a church is not just to receive but to give. It's not just to sit but to participate. And that you have an influence.

And if collectively we are one mind, one heart, that influence can be great and this day needs it. This generation can't afford the church to be asleep or to blend in with darkness. And one of the great components of a church burning brightly, again let me say it, is a heart that's passionate for Christ. Not dismissing pure doctrine, but having it in light of the heart of Christ. Not dismissing good works, but being energized by love for Christ.

Not not persevering, but persevering because we are in love with a person. This is what we're talking about. This is what Christ, the same Christ that spoke to that church. It's the same Christ. You know, I always wonder.

I always wonder this. If Christ were to write a letter to this church, what would he write? What would he say that he sees? That he commends for? And the things that he would to change.

You say well there's always something that needs to change. Read those seven letters carefully and you'll realize that Smyrnaq, you'll realize that there are a couple of churches in there where he does not condemn them even once but commends them. So let's just lift up this church together by faith. Father, we thank you for this time understanding the golden lampstand. God in heaven, we look to you by faith realizing that, yes, it's a picture of your son, Jesus Christ, who gives light to those that are in darkness, who removes that veil.

Lord, if there's anybody in here that has a veil on their hearts and they fail to see the gospel, They fail to see their need for a savior. They fail to understand the blood. Lord, would you convict so deeply that they would turn to you. And as they turn to you, Lord, you would so graciously and powerfully remove that veil from their hearts, and that they would see and behold the beauty of Christ. And in doing so, they would continue to behold the beauty of Christ.

Lord, we ask that you would do it. Christ is the only one that can remove that veil. And so Lord we call and beg him to do it, and any heart here that is not that is not compelled or stunned, transfixed on Jesus. And Lord we pray that whatever light is here, that you would fuel it. That it would expand Lord.

We acknowledge this, It's not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord. We can have all the money in the world and not touch anybody. We can have all the resources in the world and only stay within these four walls, but by your spirit. You said right after that scripture, oh, who are you, oh great mountain, to stand before Zerubbabel? You will before him become a plain.

So Lord we understand by your spirit you can take mountains and make them into plains. And Lord whatever mountain is hindering this generation Lord from coming to you, we pray that you would bring into a place in which it is brought low. That you would cast those mountains into the sea, Lord. And that people that are hidden behind that mountain and can't see Christ would behold him as a result of a working of the Holy Spirit. And so Lord, do it through this church we pray.

In your name, in the most blessed name, the lover of our soul, the one who wants from us every act of devotion to be from a heart that melts in love with him. We say yes to this Lord. And we say amen. In Jesus' name.