0:04 Exodus 30 verse 17. The Lord said to Moses, you shall also make a basin of bronze with its stand of bronze for washing. You shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it, with which Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet. When they go into the tent of meeting or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn a food offering to the Lord, They shall wash with water so that they may not die. They shall wash their hands and their feet so that they may not die.
0:37 It shall be a statute forever to them, even to him, and to his offspring throughout their generations. Let's pray. Father, we need your help. Lord, in every way, we need your help with our thinking, with our understanding, with our obedience, even with the heat. Lord, we need your help.
0:58 Help us pay attention, Lord. Help us believe that there are people that are in caves and people that are underground and are completely satisfied without water, without fans, without comfy chairs. And so, Lord, we choose to adore you, not just in song, but in hearing your word and receiving it with delight. So, Lord, as it goes forth and as we share, may it be like honey to our lips and to our souls. Lord, may we rejoice and agree with the psalmist in Psalms one nineteen that more than precious silver and gold do I delight in your law.
1:31 Bring us to that place tonight. Lord, we need your Holy Spirit. May he manifest powerfully in this place. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
1:40 You may be seated. Would you believe it? We are the last piece of furniture in the tabernacle. We've come to the place to discuss the final piece of furniture concerning this building, concerning this movable tent, concerning this place of worship. And if you're joining us for the first time, we believe that the Bible has from cover to cover, something to teach us concerning the Christian walk, even if it's in the Old Testament.
2:09 We don't throw the Old Testament away. If, the Old Testament is two thirds of the Bible, we have to believe that there's something there for us. And so we come here to this last piece of furniture, and I'm gonna immediately ask a question, because this is bible study. And so I'm gonna restrain myself from going into preaching mode and just stay in this place of trying to make this as back and forth as possible. But we see here with this last piece of furniture, not many verses, but it's important to have your rear view mirrors up and and ask yourself.
2:41 Remember, revelation comes from asking the bible questions, asking the text questions. And so we we look at this text and from your reading of it, what do you notice? Whether it's differences or similarities concerning the tabernacle itself. Evan and then Marfil. It says it's gonna be passed down between generation and generation.
3:04 So the watching is obviously significant to something. There's more than surface level, like, cleaning before you enter the town. More than surface level cleaning for it to be a statue forever means that there's something there. Absolutely.
3:17 The outer courts is, bronze, whereas the inner courts is gold.
3:22 Uh-huh. Did you guys hear that? We've discussed the furniture in the holy place, and we've discussed now the final piece of the outer court. And did you notice that everything in the holy place is made out of gold? Every piece of furniture is with acacia wood and then furnished and covered with gold.
3:41 But when you come to the outer court, the only two things are made out of bronze, strictly bronze. That's a great observation. This is how things start to go off in your mind. What else can we say about this text? Look at the details.
3:56 Look at maybe not just what's similar, but what's missing. See who's gonna catch on to it. Think about all the other pieces of furniture and the details and their instruction. And think about this one. Why is this one different?
4:14 Yes, Isaac? Does not have poles. Does not have poles. Yes. So there's no means of transportation at least clearly here.
4:24 Yes. So we're going on the right track. There's no mention of poles like the other ones. The other ones had had things that poles can go through in order for them to lift it up and bring it from one place to the other, but there's no poles here. There's no mention of holes.
4:38 There's no mention of rings. No? Yes. There's no mention of this. There's no measurement.
4:43 That's it. There's no measurement. There's no specific details of how it's supposed to be built. Every other piece had that except this one. So that's gonna perhaps lead us to something, perhaps lead us to something.
4:56 I mean, there's a reason why God did this. And maybe it's underlining with the message that this thing represents. But I'm curious to know this question. Does anybody know Yes. It says bronze.
5:07 But does anybody know specifically what this piece of furniture was made out of? I'm curious to know. It's a bible verse. It's in the it's in the scriptures. It's not some random thought.
5:20 It's it's there. The answer to the specificity of this material is found in Exodus 38 verse eight. And when you get there, if you beat them to it, read it out loud. What is this piece of furniture made out of? 38 verse eight.
5:36 He made the basin of bronze and its stand of bronze from the mirrors of the ministering woman who ministered at the entrance of the tent of the meeting. So when they came to building it, that's the only instruction we really get about this piece of furniture, that it was made out of mirrors. That's interesting, is it not? Now here's my next question asking, what's what's the purpose of a mirror? Why do people use mirrors?
6:06 I believe that according to since it's since it's an instrument for washing, but at the same time, it's it's it's a mirror. I believe it might be to show us our sinfulness, our inadequacy before the Lord, and the process of the washing might in a certain way indicate that inadequacy of our our humanity, that the Lord is purifying us of all the the the sinful elements in in in a certain way by the prefiguration to the sacrifice of Christ.
6:32 Well, you went right to the heart of the matter. I was just wondering whether physical mirror was gonna use these, but you went straight to it. Well, here here's the understanding. When you think of a mirror, in its practical sense, people use mirrors all the time, my hope. People have mirrors in their pockets.
6:48 People go to bathroom trips to check the mirror out. And so what's the usefulness of a mirror? It's a tool. It's an instrument for you to be able to identify something that's out of place in your appearance. And so you come to the mirror, and you look for things that are not maybe in sync or as planned, and you alter that, and the mirror assists you to reflect what needs to be changed as you desire that change.
7:13 And this is the interesting thing about a mirror, that the mirror itself does not change you. So you don't go up to the mirror and you see something off, and the mirror reaches out its hand and fixes it. The mirror shows you what needs to be changed. And based on the revelation of what you see in that mirror, you have to make the choice yourself whether you're gonna make a change or you're gonna stay in that same condition. I had a friend who told me that when he went on a mission trip overseas that he and his wife had not seen a mirror for three whole months.
7:46 They had not seen a mirror for three entire months. And as I was looking into this, I thought to myself, you know, there are people that haven't seen mirror who have abundance of mirrors for weeks. And I'm not talking about physical mirrors, I'm talking about spiritual mirrors. Abundance of mirrors. Mirrors in their pocket, mirrors in different rooms, and yet they still refuse to look into those mirrors for their benefit.
8:10 Not only that though, could you could you imagine this? The silliness of this of going to a mirror to see if there's anything off with your face, your hair, anything, your makeup. And you come to that place, and you see a smear of dirt on your on your chin or something, and you you recognize it, it's identified there. Could you imagine somebody getting mad at the mirror? Could could you imagine somebody yelling at the mirror for showing them the fact that there's dirt on their face?
8:37 Or would the appropriate response be, I'm so thankful that I looked into the mirror because I didn't realize I had food in my teeth. I didn't realize that I had dirt. I didn't realize this was off. Even worse, could you imagine somebody looking into the mirror and when they see the reflection, there's something off with their a. They realize it.
8:58 They acknowledge that there's something off, but they just look at the mirror. Do you guys know where I'm going with it? And they leave the room the same way that they came in. And I want to tell you tonight, millions of people are doing that, and unfortunately, some people do it. From time to time here.
9:17 What what are we talking about? What do we mean by mirror? What analogy are we we saying when it comes to mirror? Why why would the bible use mirror for the basin? What is that leading to in the New Testament context?
9:29 Is there anything that's likened to a mirror in the scriptures? James one twenty three. If anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forget what he looks like. Last week, we spoke about the altar of incense, and that was a clear illustration and a clear symbol of prayer.
9:58 If there's one thing, I don't know, I'm being transparent. If there's one thing that I took out of that concerning the the altar of incense is the fact that God wants pure incense. God wants a specific type of prayer that's filtered in holiness and filtered in evaluation, but not only that. The one thing that convicted me the most was the fact that that altar of incense was not to be used for any other offering. You're not supposed to put on that thing a burnt offering, a drink offering, a grain offering.
10:21 God wants the altar of incense for incense to rise. It's a picture of not replacing the ministry of prayer for anything, that we don't get rid of other ministries, but we also preserve and protect the intercession of the church, your private prayer life. Now that's a picture of prayer. And now now we come to this piece, this final piece. And if there's a picture that it points to, it is this for sure, and that's the word of God.
10:44 The the bronze basin is a picture of the ministry of the word of God and your relationship to it. It's a mirror. That's what the bible likens itself to. Like a person that looks into a natural mirror looking at their natural self, what the scripture does is that it brings us to a place where we are faced with truth, and it reflects on our corruption, it reflects on our need, it reflects on the things that need to be altered and changed, but you know what? We have to make the decision every time we're confronted with it.
11:14 We have to make that decision week after week. You know, people leave places convicted, but they don't leave changed. There's a big difference. Conviction is when the mirror comes up to you and says, hey, this needs to change. Now imagine, there are people all over this country that get mad at those who present the mirror faithfully every week.
11:31 And say, hey, hey, hey, I wanna show you're a Christian. Right? Yes. Because the church is not meant to evangelize within the church. The church is to build up the saints.
11:41 We go out to evangelize, but Sunday morning, we have to equip the saints. So here are the faithful pastors that come up, they bring up the mirror, and they say, hey guys, we're called Christians. This is what your appearance is supposed to look like. And you know what? So many people sit there and say, are you kidding me?
11:55 What kind of standard is that? This is judgmental, man. I'm just saying, no, dude, there's dirt on your face. I'm just trying to the word is trying to show you, you can change, that you can look more like Christ and go and it's as silly as a person that longs to look in a certain way and comes to a place with a face with a mirror and they get angry at the mirror for showing them what can change. And so this this is a this is an important picture for us to understand that the Bible itself is like a mirror.
12:22 It measures us. And we can come to the scriptures for encouragement. We can come to know God, really. We can come to the scripture for that. We must come to the scriptures for that.
12:30 For comfort, for counsel, for wisdom. But you and I must also have this attitude every time we come to the scriptures that we are expecting for it to measure us, and to show us what can be changed, what can be transformed, what should be altered. And the beautiful thing about this is that just like that basin, not only is that imagine that priest would come up and see his reflection and see the things that, you know, it's it's obviously a picture of his need to be cleansed, but even in a practical sense, maybe he saw some things in the reflection there. But here's the beautiful thing, just like the word of God, it does not just expose you. It does not just show you your need to change.
13:12 It provides a source for you to change right there in the right there in the basin. And so I come to the word of God, and I realize that there is there's corruption, there's dirt, there's sin that needs to be removed from my life. And you know what? It doesn't say go and figure it out. It says now come scoop.
13:27 Now come wash right in the very thing that exposed it. So the word not only exposes, it provides the sources and the power necessary for me to be changed. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. So this is not only the mirror, it is also the very source for me to wash.
13:51 So I come to this and and it gives me the instructions of how to change, and it gives me the promises that I can change, and it gives me everything I need the examples to follow so that I can see the standard and conform myself to that standard. So here here's the encouragement to you and I right off the bat. Is that our attitude every time we come to the word of God, whether corporately or individually? Listen, I just wanna be honest. I I myself, when I first got saved, and I I prayed that this attitude continues, that every time it comes to the house of God, that no matter who's behind the pulpit, if that word is gonna be declared faithfully, you and I must develop this habit to say, Lord, show me what needs to change.
14:30 Show me, Lord. Show me any area of my life. Show show me any corner that I can't see, the blind spots, Lord. Lord, I don't want to walk out if there's dirt on my face. I don't wanna walk out if there's dirt on my feet.
14:42 I don't wanna walk out and look anything less than what I can be by your grace and by your power. So show me. Expose me whatever you need to do. I'm not here to I'm not here to be angry if it happens. I'm not here to to beat myself up.
14:55 I wanna be conformed to the image of your son. So I come up to the basin, and I say, show me individually as well. Oh, lord. Just show me something about me. I wanna see how I can be changed.
15:06 Show me the areas in my life that are compromised. Let your word illuminate. Let your word illuminate to me. Reveal it to me, lord. I'm I'm willing to change.
15:15 Do you think God's gonna withhold revelation from someone like that? Is God willing to not speak to you powerfully through the scriptures when you have that kind of posture towards it? And so there's this wonderful picture here that we get from this base and on a corporate level, on an individual level, and this mirror has the power not only to show us but to give us what we need to wash. And this is amazing because many people mix this with a different piece of furniture, and and that's if we can put up the the design of the tabernacle to see. Because not only is the purpose of it clear, the position of it says something to us.
15:56 When we look at how the the tabernacle places these things, it gives us a lesson within itself. Do you see where where the bronze altar is? That's the first thing you see. Where's the where's the basin? Right after it.
16:10 So you see you see the compass, you see the east, that's the entrance. You're coming in from the east. The first thing that you see is the bronze altar. The second thing that you see is the basin. What do you think that's a picture of?
16:23 Well, what's the altar bronze altar represent? Sacrificing. Blood sacrifice. And so it's a picture of prophetic image of what? Our need for blood to atone for our sin.
16:35 It's a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ and his finished work on the cross. Now that's the first thing. You see where the presence of God is, the Holy of Holies? Here's the problem when it comes to what we're just talking about here. People mix the bronze altar with the the labor.
16:52 They switch the order. And so the laver in this context, in the way God instituted, represents practical sanctification on the basis that you have been washed by the blood of Jesus Christ. You now come to a place in which you wash yourself. For what purpose? Well, we're gonna find out that for the purpose of going into the tent and for serving.
17:13 And so that's a picture of you and I partnering with God to wash ourselves continually in order to know him deeper and to be used by him more greatly. Don't mix that up with the bronze altar because there are many people that I even have conversations with that are approaching the Christianity like the the basin is the first thing. That they need to wash themselves and wash then Jesus will provide his blood. That's not the gospel. The gospel is you are motivated now to wash because you have a revelation of the blood.
17:49 You have a revelation of what he's done for you. And from that place, now you want to You have a revelation of what he's done for you, and from that place now you want to wash. And this is scriptural. So now do we see a New Testament lesson on this concerning a washing that that pertains to justification and a washing that pertains to sanctification? John 13.
18:07 Remember this? Jesus is washing the feet of his disciples and it comes to Peter and Peter, you know, Peter's Peter. And he says what? You can't wash me. And what does Jesus say?
18:19 Well, we'll get to that. Unless I wash you, you have no part of me. But then he says this. Listen. Paraphrasing John thirteen ten.
18:27 He says that the one who is washed doesn't need to be washed except for what? His feet. Except for his feet. So so there's two types of washing that the the Bible presents to us. One washing, which is an initial washing that doesn't need to happen again, which is what?
18:42 Salvation. We are regenerated. The Holy Spirit comes in and does his cleansing work and positions us rightly before God. That washing never has to happen again, but Jesus says that there is another washing that must continue to happen, and it's your feet. Your feet need to be washed.
18:59 Continually, it needs to be cleansed. And that's a picture of you and I walking through this world and picking up dirt from time to time and having to come to Jesus for him to cleanse us. Don't forget that. Remember, Jesus says, unless I wash you, you have no part of me. See, not unless you wash yourself.
19:15 That's a whole different gospel message. He says, unless you allow me to wash you. Many people in this world don't allow Jesus to wash them. They wanna wash themselves, and he goes, you have no part of me. But do you see the eagerness of Jesus in John 13 where he goes, I want to wash you.
19:31 I've humbled myself to come and wash you. Let me wash you. But you know, this is what many Christians believe too. They believe that Jesus is only excited to wash you initially, but he's not excited to wash you continually. What do you what do you mean by that?
19:47 I mean this, that you come to a place where you acknowledge your sin and you experience that joy knowing that Christ wants to cleanse you and renew you. But, you know, you go through your Christian walk and you make some mistakes sometimes, and you're afraid to allow him to wash you. You're afraid to acknowledge that you need washing. But Jesus himself, as much as he was excited to wash them initially with that washing of justification, is just as eager to continue to wash you throughout your walk. Do you believe that?
20:13 That when you fall, you can pick yourself back up and come to him and fall at his feet, and he will wash you again. Now we don't come to a place that we abuse that truth, but what a glorious truth. What a glorious truth that I I look at John 13, and I see, yes, a Jesus that wants to cleanse me from top to bottom, but also a Jesus that wants to continue to wash me no matter how dirty my feet get, no no matter how frequently dirty they get. Is that a does that motivate you to be dirty though? I hope not.
20:42 It motivates me to be clean. So we see here that there's a position of this basin that speaks of the order of how we ought to experience our Christian walk. You don't come to the basin before you come to the altar. I have conversations with young people all the time that that maybe come from a different Christian background, and they have this whole thing mixed up. I'm trying my best.
21:08 And and they're they haven't even made the first step. I'm trying to clean myself up, man. I keep going back to this. I keep going back to that. And and let's let's take a step back because you've come to the basin, but you haven't you haven't experienced the the shed blood yet.
21:22 This is why you're frustrated. This is why you're confused. This is why you're not motivated. But this is amazing because there is a practice of this basin that speaks of something for a Christian walk. Look at verse 20 of Exodus 30.
21:37 When they go into the tent of meeting or when they come near to the altar to minister to burn a food offering to the Lord, they shall wash with water. What what do you see in that verse? There there's two purposes. There's two end goals of person washing at the basin. What was it?
21:55 When he goes to God and when he goes to see what do that for us.
22:01 Two reasons. Two purposes, two end goals for the washing at the basin. Number one, to meet with God. Number two, to serve God. Can you put up that map again so we can see where it is?
22:17 It's right before the holy place. And this is what's so fascinating about God's order of even giving the instructions, I believe, of these specific pieces of furniture. That when we come to the final piece, what you and I have to realize is that the entire temple or tabernacle experience is hinged on the practice of this furniture. Do You realize that? The entire experience of the priest in that tabernacle is completely hinged on whether or not they obey this specific command.
22:53 Why? Because they can't go in without washing, and they can't go to the altar to minister without washing. And so how a person treats this truth will determine two things in their life. One, how near they get to God, and two, how effectively they serve God. That's what we have to understand.
23:18 And this is why it's so important because many people are not experiencing either of those two things because of their lack of understanding of how important it is to face the mirror and to realize that they need to be watched. Think about it for a moment. I could be wrong on this. This is just kind of a, I guess, random insight. If you could pull it back, you think about how much space is in the outer court.
23:52 And I wonder the reason why there's so much space is because that's where a lot of people find themselves in their Christian walk. How many people are not experiencing the holy place because they haven't taken seriously the basin? How how many? This is what we call brothers and sisters, outer court Christians that are satisfied alone by the revelation of Jesus Christ on the cross, which is a glorious thing to be satisfied. And what I mean by satisfied is they fail to realize that the cross, as glorious as it is, is not an end in itself.
24:36 It's the means for you to go into the holy place. Do you realize that? That Jesus, yes, he shed his blood, but he also tore the veil. And so this is what we have to understand. Unfortunately, so many people are just satisfied hanging around the outer core.
24:51 Maybe it's because there's so much room, and so many other people find themselves in the outer court. And they're just sitting around understanding that, yes, that blood is shed for me. That's great, but I don't see the need to wash. And you fail to realize that if you just take that seriously, there is something that you can experience in your walk with God. God's not forcing you.
25:09 God's just showing you, and you and I have to make the choice. Am I going to step out of the outer court into the holy place? I mean, we sing it. Take me into the holy of holies, but listen. You can't go in according to verse 20 unless you wash.
25:23 Unless you wash yourself. Do you know what's in the holy place? We talked about it. When you walk in, it's gold. Glistening with gold.
25:31 It's it's another realm. It's another perspective. It's a whole different experience. And listen, all the priests are there, but listen, not everybody, if they don't take that seriously, experiences the same thing. That's why you have Christians today that are not experiencing the same thing as others are.
25:47 And there's one simple instruction. Just come to the base and realize your need to wash, wash yourself, and you can come in. It's a call for holiness. It's a call for holiness that not many people are willing to answer. And listen, if the Bible is not loud and clear enough, is there no greater motivation than this in the pursuit of holiness?
26:10 You know what Peter said when Jesus says, unless I wash you, you have no part of me. You know what he said? He says, wash my hands, my head, my feet, wash all of me. If if you washing me means that I have a part with you, if you washing me means I can come nearer to you, then you can wash me as much as you want. Because sanctification is not necessarily you washing yourself, it's you acknowledging you need to be washed and you coming to the source in which you get washed.
26:40 He provides his spirit to do it. And so the Lord says, unless you let me that's obviously a picture of justification. If you don't let me wash you, you're not gonna get saved. You're not gonna have a relationship with me. But think about this here in light of this, that if your feet are dirty, you can't come in.
26:53 Wash me, Lord. I'll stay away from everything, God. And I'm willing to wash myself as much as I need to in order for me to come nearer to you. That's what all these things are speaking of. The the the basin speaks about even entering in.
27:10 And if you wanna even come nearer, if you weren't here last week, if you wanna even come nearer to him, you gotta go to the altar of incense and get a prayer life. Look at the altar of incense. It's it's the closest thing to the holy of holies, and those who are closest to God are those who know how to give him incense. And so do you see the progression of worship here? Do you see the road map that God has played out for us right here in Exodus?
27:33 So my question for you tonight is are you are you an outer core Christian? Or can you say that you've stepped into something with God in which you've seen things and you've heard things and you've experienced things? There's only one way in. God says you cannot come in unless you're willing to acknowledge your need to be washed continually. But verse 20 It goes beyond that.
28:09 It tells us here that you can't go towards the altar and minister. You can't go towards the altar and minister unless you wash. So here's the second part. That any ministry, in order for it to be truly effective, must have a person to continually come to a place where they have a deep relationship with this word. And their main goal in this life, their main pursuit, their single-minded drive is is to be conformed to the image of his son.
28:40 If that is hear me very carefully, those who aspire for ministry. If that is not your main drive, if your main drive is to preach for the sake of preaching, is to worship for the sake of worshiping. If there's any other alternative motive other than you wanna look more like Jesus Christ and you wanna bring people to that knowledge, you might have a ministry, but it will not be effective. Here is the warning for the for the priest. If you go in this direction and you don't wash, you'll die.
29:07 That's the warning. You're gonna die. But many people have a different type of death, a a spiritual type of death concerning their nearness to God and their effectiveness in ministry. That's why you feel so cold in your heart in your walk with the Lord because you don't come to the mirror. You you don't come to the mirror and say, Lord, speak to me.
29:29 You know, Hebrews five says, by now some of you ought to be teachers. He goes, I wanna talk to you about this priesthood with Melchizedek, but he says it. He says, but I can't because you guys are still on milk. I wanna take you guys deeper, but but we can't go deeper because you're still you're still on milk. And he says, you ought to be teachers by now.
29:50 What does that mean? It means that if anybody were to come up to you and ask you some doctrinal question, you'd be able to answer it. At least a basic answer. He said, by now. So so many people treat this so lightly, and and they wonder why they have a coldness in their heart because you don't come to the basin.
30:09 You frequently avoid the basin, And some people are not experiencing true effectiveness in their ministry. Why? Because they have dirty hands and dirty feet. This is all scriptural. If you don't believe that the nearness of God thing requires clean hands and a pure heart, what psalm am I thinking of here?
30:30 Psalms 24. Who shall ascend on the hill of the Lord, and who shall stand in his holy place? He who knows a lot of the Bible, he who has a master's degree, he who is a pastor's son or a pastor's daughter. No. He who has clean hands and a pure heart.
30:47 Does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. You don't hear that text being read a lot before worship. We hear give thanks to the Lord, enter us in his courts with praise. What about how are your hands looking? Do you wanna ascend into the hill of the Lord?
31:05 Do you wanna stand in his holy place? Is that your motivation for holiness? If not, you're gonna have a miserable pursuit of holiness. But oh God almighty, if I can come near to you, wash me through and through. But not just that, ministry.
31:21 Effective ministry requires clean hands. I I'm astounded how so many people, when I talk about the call of God, they emphasize not being afraid. They emphasize that God can use weak people. They emphasize that it doesn't matter what you've done in the past. The God and all those things are wonderfully true, but rarely with my own ears have I heard the necessity of a holy life to walk with God and for him to use you effectively.
31:53 So well, this is old testament. There is a crystal clear new testament verse that I pray that you would never forget for the rest of your life in this compromising age. Second Timothy two twenty one. Therefore, if anyone no. Therefore, if pastors, anyone, pastors, therefore, if anyone cleanses himself, that sounds like bass and talk.
32:15 If anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, what's the result? He will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. Never ever forget that verse. If anyone wants to be used by God at any capacity, this is the recruitment process, and this is how you stay in that place with longevity. Cleanse yourself from anything that is dishonorable, And you will be, God says, a vessel for honorable use.
32:57 So I have two awesome motivations for holiness. I have two wonderful ambitions to to come to this basin and to regularly wash myself, to allow the word to get in me, for it to come out of me, I know that if I do this, I can enter to that holy place and come nearer to him. And I know that I can come out of that place, wash myself again, and be a blessing to people. Be a true blessing to people. And if that's not the case, he says, you'll die.
33:30 And I believe scripturally on the basis of this word that many people, though they are in some form of ministry, the reason why they are not seeing life is because they're not living holy. I'm talking about life in their ministry. I'm talking about fruit in their ministry. I'm I'm not talking about the way the world measures success. I'm talking about how the Bible measures success.
33:55 I'm not talking about gifting. I'm talking about the assistance of the Holy Spirit upon a man who has chosen to cleanse himself from one is dishonorable. That makes all the difference in a person's ministry, holiness. Holiness makes all the difference. And I wonder when you hear this, does it motivate you at all?
34:15 Nearness of God and the ability to be used by God. What else can you and I want more to say no to silly things, dishonorable things, filthy things in this life? God would have had every right for us to obey that commandment even if he just said do it because I'm God. But no, he gives us a reason to do it. He says, you come near to me, and I'll use you in ways that you never thought you can be used.
34:43 If you don't believe that God needs holy vessels, now not perfect vessels, those who pursue holiness and continually come to a place where they examine themselves and ask God to wash them, completely different standard. If you don't believe that, I want you to understand that there are two men who were in ministry, Hophni and Phineas. In first Samuel four, they came to a place where they thought that they could see God move in their midst, but they had dirty hands. What did they do? They brought the Ark of the Covenant upon their shoulders.
35:20 They come into the camp to try to intimidate the Philistines, and it tells us very clearly in first Samuel that these men as a result of their unholiness, as a result of their unrepentant sin, of the the result of not wanting to cut themselves off from the world, and and mingle with the world. You know, we talked about the the the ladies who ministered at the entrance, and gave their mirrors for the sake of the tabernacle. Houghton and Phineas were the very same men later on down in the history who slept with women at the entrance. And guess what happened? Instead of God intervening in his manifested power, it says that 30,000 Israeli troops died.
36:02 And there's a picture there, that if you attempt to do ministry, what you're gonna bring to the camp, if you're not living a holy life, is not life, is not power, is not a manifestation of God's glory, death. According to the scripture, just because you can stuff a building with people and there are a number of people, does not mean that God is doing something. Does not mean that. Even if people are showing some external emotion, does not mean God's moving. You realize that, right?
36:34 I heard a preacher said it this way once, that a preacher came to his service, and after the service, he approached him, and he says, brother, and after the service, he approached him, and he says, Brother, the Holy Spirit is not in your meetings. And he goes, How? Why'd you say that? He goes, Because the worship there wasn't noise. There wasn't bang.
36:56 There wasn't and he goes, oh, I see. Oh, no. See see, there's a difference between how we understand the Holy Spirit. You believe in father, son, and noisy spirit. I believe in father, son, and holy spirit.
37:10 Because the mark of the holy spirit moving in a place is not noise. It's people that are worshiping with a holy life. How we measure success, how we measure what we deem to think spiritual even. Hophni and Phineas try to do it. Listen.
37:30 You and I must pursue holiness to see true effectiveness in our ministries for God, Which is fascinating because in this topic of service, we come to Exodus 31. Let's dip our toe into it as we close with this chapter. Could somebody read verse one down to verse three?
37:56 The Lord said to Moses, see, I have called my my name Azal the son of Uri, son of Ur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled them with the spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship.
38:15 I love this portion of scripture. Just to just to hear if there's anything that sprung up in your heart. When you read those verses, now we're in the topic of service here, when you see these verses, what comes to your mind? What what ministers to your heart concerning how God calls and how God deals and how God commissions? I'm curious to know.
38:39 What what comes out to you here? Giftings. Various types of giftings? Absolutely. Different types of callings?
38:50 You better believe it. Does God have in mind something for each person here that will look different from the other person? You better believe it. Gifting. What else?
39:04 Yes. Fill them with the spirit of God. That's powerful. Especially in light of the type of ministry that this man is operating in. What else?
39:22 Look at it very carefully in verse one. See, verse two rather, I have called by name. I've called by name. There's at least three things I take out of these two three verses. Number one, that when God calls, he calls by name.
39:39 What does that mean? When he calls, he'll call you personally. That's important. You know how many people are messed up in understanding what God's calling them to do because they're taking what other people are saying and not getting what God is saying? And if you're gonna get anything from anybody, let it be this, a confirmation of what God has already spoken to you.
39:59 That's how this works. I believe there's an order in this. I am a firm believer, and I know people would disagree with me. That's fine. I see something in the scripture.
40:06 I believe that when God calls, he calls by name. That when God wants to reveal something to you, he's a God that's able to do it, and he'll do it to you. And if anybody else is gonna speak into that, they'll only confirm what God has already initiated. Believe that. There are so many people that are afraid to even ask God or even invest themselves in prayer because they don't really believe that God can speak in this manner.
40:32 Really, there are people that are scared to ask God, what is your plan for my life? And if you really ask them, they they they say because I don't know if he's actually gonna show it. I don't know if God's gonna actually really reveal it. And what they're really saying is, if I put all this time and this energy and I fast and stuff, and God doesn't give it to me, I just waste my time. People think like this.
40:52 But I wanna tell you, if that's your thought process, you've already eliminated the possibility for God to reveal it to you. Why? Because Hebrews eleven six says that when we approach God, we must believe that he exists, and that he rewards those who diligently seek him. The moment you step into that process thinking, oh, what I don't think God's gonna show it to me. You've eliminated because of your lack of faith.
41:18 God wanting to reveal it to you. The the faith that you and I have to have in understanding what he has for your life is, as you approach him, you have this rest, and this security, and this freedom from anxiety because you've done your part by seeking him. And you say, God, I know that you can speak. God, I know that you can reveal it to me, and I'm waiting on that. Do you think it's hard for God to do that?
41:44 Is God a God of confusion, which even if he does reveal it, because there's the other extreme and there's this other version of understanding this in a wrong way, that if God does speak, it's gonna get lost in all these other voices. And I'm not gonna know if that's God or if that's me. Listen. God, when he speaks, you know it's God. When he speaks, he'll make it clear.
42:04 And so I wanna encourage you as you're seeking God's call for your life, that he is able to call you by name. Believe that. Pursue that. Expect it. What do I do in the meantime?
42:15 You do what you have to do. You have passions. You have desires. You have things that you have to do. Do that.
42:22 Walk in that, and when God needs to call, he'll call. He'll do it. When God called Moses, did he rebuke him for not sitting in his room and waiting? Hey, Moses. Imagine the burning bush saying this.
42:36 Hey, Moses. I put it in your heart at 40 years old, and now you're 80. Why aren't you in your closet waiting? Why are you why are you taking care of sheep? God knows when to reveal it.
42:49 I I remember being in college and after being and I'm saying this because I hope it encourages you. I'm not saying this because I'm anything close to any Moses, but just to encourage you. I remember just being in that place and wanting to know what God had, but I knew this about myself. And I I learned this later on that if God perhaps had revealed everything immediately, I probably would not have got anything done in my schooling. That if God had revealed the next step, I would have been so excited, I would have been planning for the next step so much that I would not been faithful to what he had called me to do in that moment, in that season.
43:23 And so God, even as a good father, knows how to whisper those insights into your life, lest you, in your excitement, and even in your zeal, fail to be faithful in what He's called you, or or fail to learn lessons that He wants you to learn in that place like Moses needed to learn. He calls by name. Believe that. Expect that. Pray for that.
43:44 Wait for that. Be faithful in what God's called you until that. And as we learn that when he does call, you're ready to give everything up like Elisha. Even if you've developed a small business like he did with those 12 oxen, and Elisha came and put that thing on him, that mantle, and says, I love what Elisha does. He keeps walking.
44:01 He keeps walking. And he goes, hey, can I go say bye to my family? And he goes, what do I have to do with you? You know what he's saying there? Your responsibility to answer the call is totally up to you.
44:10 It's not dependent on me. Every person has their own responsibility to answer the call. You figure that out. That's between you and God. I just told you what you need to do.
44:18 Follow me if you want. So Elisha had to make that decision. But I love it. Elisha was not lazy when God called him. Elisha was not doing nothing when God called him.
44:27 He dropped everything though when God did call him. This man was called by name, not only that, when he was called to a specific calling. He had a unique ministry that was something that he needed to be faithful in. I want you to build a tabernacle. There's a specific tailor made thing.
44:45 How specific is this? I mean, he could have called Moses to do it. He could have called somebody up. No. He says, you are called for this.
44:53 And and that's not the focus. The focus is this, he fills them with the Holy Spirit. For what? To be a prophet? For what?
45:04 To build. To be a construction manager. What does that tell you when you hear that? What do you what do you take out of that? This is what I take out of it.
45:20 That no matter what ministry God has called me to, I need the Holy Spirit. I need the filling of the Holy Spirit to be effective, Lest what I do, I do in the flesh. God almighty, fill me with your power. I don't care what it is, lord, but when you call me to do it, I don't care if you call me into the business field, I don't care if you call me to be a doctor, I don't care if you call me to be a stay home, whatever it may be, lord. I wanna do it in such a way that it carries the fragrance of Jesus Christ.
45:49 And there's power in it, and people see Jesus in and through me and whatever you've called me to do. This was a spirit filled man that was doing something in which we would not think requires the filling of the Holy Spirit. But God in his wisdom sees that I wanna fill you with my power so that you can do this effectively. What? So the Holy Spirit can do it through him?
46:07 No. So that he could assist him. And And that whatever he did, it would leave a trademark of Jesus on it. And I wanna encourage you, this leaves every excuse. This pushes out every excuse in anybody's calling, vocation, that you do not dare take a step forward into that without daily seeking him for the filling of the Holy Spirit.
46:32 I pray that that's your desire. Even if you come up here for two minutes, that by the time you get out of your chair and you come to this pulpit, you say, Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit. I don't wanna do this in the flesh. And I I wonder if that's your prayer every day because it should be. Because there's something in the new covenant that you and I have that these men did not have.
46:59 There came a place in Numbers. Why don't we turn there as we close? I'm sorry. I know it's very hot, but we're closing here. Numbers chapter 11.
47:10 What happened? Moses needed some help, and the Lord says, why don't you get some elders? Look at verse 17. I will come down and talk with you there, and I will take some of the spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you so that you may not bear it yourself alone. He He goes, listen.
47:26 You need help? Take some people, take some elders. Let me put my spirit on them, and you'll be able to not spread yourself so thin. And look at verse 28. Now two men remain in the camp.
47:38 So this happens. They bring these people, the 70 elders, and the Spirit rested on them. And they prophesied, but they did not continue doing it. Now look at verse 28. Now two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad and the other named Midad.
47:51 And the Spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moses, Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp. And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, Lord Moses, stop them. So you see the spirit here that is very limited in how he gives himself over to people and how he assigns people and assists people.
48:18 And and Joshua comes to a place where he thinks he's doing Moses a favor. He runs to Moses and says, hey. Some of the spirit fell on other guys. They're prophesying. This is only for our exclusive club.
48:26 This is only for some people. And you know what Moses is? He prophesies here. Moses said to him, are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his spirit on them.
48:39 That's a true leader. A true leader is not intimidated by other people being used by God. A true leader doesn't see a younger person being used by God and being intimidated by it. A true leader is a person that longs for all the people to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. And Moses comes to this place where he says, I wish all the people of God had the spirit of God on them.
48:58 You know what Jesus says in John chapter seven? That if you're thirsty, you can come to me, and out of your belly will flow rivers of living water. And it says that this did not come. He spoke of the spirit, but this did not come because Jesus Christ had not yet been glorified. And so there's this access and availability of the spirit of God to sons and daughters, maidservants, old men, all these things according to Joel two available to all the people of God, fulfilling what Moses desired here.
49:36 So Besalel was one of those exclusive guys like these 70 elders, but you and I, no matter what you find yourself in, can have access to the spirit of God to inspire, to lead, to guide, to empower whatever God's called your hands to do. I praise God for that. If there's anything that would be the common thread in your prayer language, may it be that. Lord, I want people to see Jesus when I minister for you. Whatever it may be, Lord, let it let me be saturated with the Holy Spirit.
50:07 Whether I'm greeting people at the door or whether I'm preaching a sermon, let people sense the love of god. Whenever somebody sees me building somebody and it's a finished product, let them see god in it. Let them know that I do it out of the desire to glorify you. So we end not there but here. We go back to the basin and we think.
50:29 Remember there is no measurement to it? Remember that detail? There is no measurement to the basin? But when this tabernacle came to a place of permanence into the temple, who built the temple? Solomon.
50:45 And when Solomon built it, he came to the place where he was gonna build this basin, but it was not called the basin anymore. Anybody know what it was called? Sea. First Kings seven twenty three. The sea of cast metal.
51:01 There was no measurement. There was no specific there was no specific instruction of how to build this thing, but Solomon put it on himself to take this basin and to actually create something called the sea of cast metal. Look at the measurements. Then he made the sea of cast metal. It was round, 10 cubits from brim to brim and five cubits high, and a line of 30 cubits measured is circumference.
51:25 Brothers and sisters, that's not a basin, that's a pool. You can swim in that thing. Now there is no instruction to do it, but perhaps this was the mindset of Solomon with the revelation of God's instruction of its purpose. That if this basin means that the priests ought to clean themselves, to come closer to God and to be effective in their ministry, then let's build this thing so that they can jump in if they need to and cleanse every corner of their lives, every corner of who they are so that they could be ready vessels used by God. That's what I take out of it.
52:09 That he's making a statement by making it big. Let's just not just like dab in it and put our toe in it. Jump in. And there should be that same cry in our hearts when we understand the relationship between the word of God, it convicting me, my relationship, and my depth of understanding it in order to have a deeper revelation of who I am and my need of Christ and his power in my life. I don't wanna just dabble in that truth.
52:37 I wanna dive into it. And, lord, I want every corner of my life to be spotless for you, to have all the room you need for the Holy Spirit to move as powerfully as he wants to. And there's no other ambition in my life than that. And you and I have the same opportunity. We are living in that covenant where Moses himself was wishing for the day that you and I are living in.
53:04 Don't you dare not believe that truth. I don't care if you're in full time ministry or not. God longs to fill you with his Holy Spirit. God longs to bring you nearer to him, and he longs to launch you out from that place as well, But it requires us to come to this basin daily, daily, daily to look into the mirror of the word and say, speak to me, Lord, and reveal what needs to be cleansed from me. Why?
53:26 Because I wanna come into the holy place. Why? Because I wanna be a faithful servant. I wanna be a faithful servant to other people. I don't want my service to be tainted.
53:38 Bezalel shows us that even if you're not a priest, even if you're somebody that just needs to build something, that it could be anointed, that it could be led by the spirit, that people can recognize God in and through you. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this teaching in the tabernacle. And, Lord, corporately, we choose to look into the mirror of your word and say, is there anything in my life that needs to be cleansed with the the motivation of entering into that place where I can come nearer to you? And Lord if there's anybody in here that is an obvious sin, may they believe that John 13 truth that you are eager to wash them, that you are eager to sanctify them.
54:27 Not just justify them, but sanctify them. And And Lord, we don't take that truth and abuse it so that we can live how we want because we realize that that's not what your blood is for. But father, in this place now we even ask that no matter what anybody is called to, that they would truly believe that you can empower them by the Holy Spirit. That's our inheritance. And so, Lord, we want that for our lives.
55:00 So, Lord, we just pray right now, would you heighten and would you expand our appetite for this this true mirror? Lord, we don't wanna serve you with filthy hands. We don't wanna produce death, Lord. We want true life to flow through us, and so we set ourselves apart. Lord, we come to worship you in light of the fact that you speak through the tabernacle.
55:37 We worship you in song, and we worship with our voices, and we worship, yes, with praise and even with volume, but that is not the mark of it. That is not the mark of spirituality, but, Lord, may it be backed up with a holy life. And so, Father, in this place, we just yield even in the heat of this room. Lord, call people by name, we pray. Call people by name.
56:11 In your precious name, we pray. I wanna say this one last thing about this understanding of the call. Why is God calling by name so important? What I mean by that, why is God calling personally so important? Why is that knowing in which God has called you to why is that so necessary?
56:30 I'll tell you why. Because the call creates confidence. Maybe I'm speaking to those, especially that are thinking of ministry on any level, that you need that. You need that assurance from God. Why?
56:48 Because let me tell you, when you enter into that sphere, when you go into the front lines and all hell breaks loose on your life, And perhaps you'll even have family stand against you. Perhaps you might not even see the fruit that you anticipated to see in the beginning or whatever season it is. You know what's gonna really anchor you? Knowing that you were called. God called me to this.
57:17 So it doesn't matter what may or may not happen. It doesn't matter who stands or who stands with. God, you called me to this. And that's my confidence. I lean on that.
57:28 So seek the Lord for that. This is personal again. This is this is my opinion, and I I would I can argue scripture with it, but just just for the sake of time, I can't imagine anybody pursuing that without the knowing of a call. Why would you jump into something as as as fierce and as vicious, as glorious it may be, but as as some people don't understand? Why would you go into that without the assurance of the call?
57:58 Seek God for it and he's willing to give it.
