Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20100425.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Exodus: God's Forming The Nation Israel For His Abrahamic Covenant
Part II: God's Forming Israel To Heed Him, Exodus 15:22-40:38
J. God's Directive For His Edifying Oversight
(Exodus 24:12-25:9)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    If we ever needed gracious, truthful oversight, it would be now:

    (1) Mankind needs gracious, truthful civic oversight: (a) Jonathan Strong ("Congress may get fined by its own health-care law," 4/20/2010, dailycaller.com) reported Tuesday: "Congress's research arm, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) informally confirmed the possibility to Republican aids" that "Congress may be fined tens of millions of dollars a year under its own health-care law, in part because the bill dumps members of Congress and their staffs from their current health-care plans." Congress "would need to shell out approximately $50 million each year to Uncle Sam."

    The issue will likely be fixed for Congress, but "uncertainties surrounding the health-care law for just Congress's health-care coverage are driving questions about how the rest of America will fare when its provisions kick into turbo in coming years." (Ibid.)

    The fact that Congress would vote for a bill that inadvertently cost them and their own staffs so dearly shows they were irresponsible in their roles, and so became oppressive to the people they represented!

    (b) Andrew Kohut, president of Pew Research Center, in his article, "Americans Are More Skeptical of Washington Than Ever" in The Wall Street Journal, 4/19/2010, p. A19, wrote, "Just 22% say they can trust the government in Washington almost always or most of the time, among the lowest measures in half a century."

    (2) Mankind needs gracious, truthful business oversight: we have all heard of numerous charges of fraud in giant corporations!

    (3) Mankind needs gracious, truthful spiritual oversight: (a) We have likewise heard of the clerical sexual abuse cases the Roman Catholic Church has lately been trying to handle, but conservative evangelical Christians are not immune from the problem, either: last year I got a letter from a mission leader admitting his mission had failed to take adequate steps for "a number of missionary children" under its care who had suffered "abuse"! [Thankfully, this matter did not involve any of the missionary families we support!]

    (c) I regularly hear of many believers who are not being "fed" God's Word by pastors in spiritually irresponsible oversight that produces it own kind of spiritual abuse, cf. Mark 6:34.

    We thus ask, "With man's vast need for gracious, truthful oversight in civic, business and spiritual realms, where can he go?"

    Need: "In view of man's vast need for gracious, truthful oversight in civic, business and spiritual realms, where can he turn, and how?!"

  1. John 1:17 states that the "grace and truth" man needs to offset today's oppressive, dishonest oversight is found in "Jesus Christ "!
  2. Just HOW such oversight can be APPLIED to one's personal life is found by studying Exodus 24:12-25:9 in view of its broad context:
    1. Exodus 24:1-2, 12-18 reveals that after the ratification of God's covenant with Israel, He called Moses to come up to the top of Mount Sinai APART from ISRAEL and to commune with Him in His glory.
    2. This SEPARATION between God and Israel due to His HOLINESS opposite Israel's SIN showed a great NEED had to be met for God to be PRESENT with Israel as they were now in covenant RELATION to each other, and God was thus Israel's Shepherd, Psalm 95:6-7!
    3. Thus, God told Moses on Mount Sinai that the PROVISION of a TABERNACLE was NEEDED for GOD to DWELL WITH Israel in His role as her MUCH-NEEDED SHEPHERD, Exodus 25:1-9:
      1. God had Moses tell Israel to bring Him an offering of gold, silver, bronze, blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, goat hair, ram skins dyed red and sea cow hides, acacia wood, olive oil, spices for anointing oil and incense and precious stones, Exodus 25:1-7 NIV.
      2. Using these items, Israel was to build God a tabernacle just like He patterned so He might dwell in it in Israel's midst, Exodus 25:8-9.
    4. One may ask how a God Who was so holy He would not let the people come up to Him on Mount Sinai would yet comfortably dwell among them in a tabernacle, and we view other Scriptures for insight:
      1. Jesus Who came from heaven as God-in-the-flesh, was similarly said in John 1:14 to "tabernacle" among men (as follows):
        1. The word "dwelt" (KJV, ESV; "made his dwelling" NIV) is from the Greek New Testament verb, "skenoo", to "dwell as in a tent," Moulton & Milligan, The Vocab . of the Grk. N. T., 1972.
        2. Jesus is presented there in His earthly life between His eternal preexistence and His post-resurrection glory, so skenoo means "'he tabernacled'" among us, T. D. N. T., vol. VII, p. 386.
      2. In expectation of this "tabernacling" event, God in Deuteronomy 18:16-19 promised He would send Israel a Prophet like unto Moses Who would arise from the people of Israel themselves, and that He would proclaim God's truth for Israel to obey for blessing.
      3. This prophecy was thus typified in the "material tabernacle" of Moses' era but FULFILLED in the "tabernacling" of Jesus Christ, and it applies to fulfill CHRISTIANS TODAY as follows:
        1. Just as God wanted the items for the material tabernacle under Moses to come from Israel's people (Ex. 25:8-9), so the Prophet like Moses was to arise from Israel's people (Deut. 18:15), and this was fulfilled when Jesus was born of the seed of Abraham and of king David as God-in-the-flesh, Matthew 1:1, 17, 20-23.
        2. Then, like we will show in future messages using a scale model of the structure since many New Testament passages testify of the fact, that material tabernacle typologically patterned the Person and work of Christ to defeat man's sin and to apply this victory to the believer's walk! (Z. P. E. B., v. Five, p. 582f)
      4. In summary, then, (a) for a holy God to dwell with sinful Israel, He led her to build Him a material tabernacle that forshadowed the basis for overcoming man's sin -- the "tabernacling" Person of His Son, Jesus and His work on the cross, Rom. 3:25. (b) Also, as Christ provides salvation for all who believe in Him, (c) we who NOW trust in Him can enjoy His guidance TODAY as He "dwells" IN us, 1 Peter 2:24-25; Romans 3:25; John 14:21, 23!
    5. Now, significantly, this JESUS is FULL of GRACE and TRUTH (John 1:16-17), precisely the oversight man so greatly needs today!
    6. For that oversight to be applied today, John 14:21, 23 NIV shows that as a believer heeds Scripture, Jesus and the Father "make their home" in his experiences, giving him fulfilling, gracious, truthful oversight!
  3. Thus, we SUMMARIZE HOW to ENJOY GOD'S FULFILLING OVERSIGHT that is so FULL of GRACE and TRUTH as follows:
    1. First, we must trust in Christ Who "tabernacled" on earth as God Incarnate to save us from sin, and so receive eternal life, Jn. 1:12-13.
    2. Then, we must rely on God's gift to us of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:9b) for the motivation and power to heed Him, Phil. 2:12-13; Gal. 5:16.
    3. Thus equipped, as we learn and heed Scripture, God shepherds us in our daily experiences in His fulfilling grace and truth, John 14:21, 23!
Application: May we apply the "tabernacle" ministry of Jesus Christ as described above that He might DWELL WITH US in our DAILY EXPERIENCES in His FULFILLING GRACE and TRUTH!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 This message's application was illustrated for us last Sunday.

A Church member came over to speak with me in Fellowship Hall after our morning service. He was holding in his hand the sermon notes of the day, and part of those notes he had underlined in pencil.

The underlined part happened to be an illustration I had used in last week's sermon introduction, and its words had matched a point he had made in his Sunday School Class just before the worship service!

(1) Now, the teacher and I had not spoken with each other before the service on what either of us would say in our presentations that day! Also, (2) the illustration had been typed into my computer on April 13th, and (3) the bulletin insert containing that illustration had been printed out for the bulletin on Saturday, April 17th, and it had been folded and left on the rear table in the sanctuary that Saturday.

(4) Yet, the teacher had made his remark and illustrated it with a diagram in his class on the following day, Sunday, April 18th!

This "coincidence" was very encouraging to this teacher, a signal from the Lord that his God of grace and truth had wanted him to be encouraged to stay faithful in his Sunday School Class ministry.

It was also very encouraging to me: (5) I told this teacher that I had several times during the week before the message considered lessening the number of the "political" illustrations I had listed in my notes there! However, due to the call from an 86-year-old lady Friday evening, April 16th, a lady who was very bothered about a political event that had occurred, I knew God wanted me not to delete anything!

(6) Now, the illustration itself had dealt with the failure of many politicians to keep the promises they make on the campaign trail once they get to Washington! Our desire for truth in elected officials hinted at in the illustration was thus condoned by our God of truth!

(7) Finally, when I recalled this Fellowship Hall conversation last Wednesday afternoon, God used it to relieve me of suffering false guilt on another unrelated issue, a ministry of our God of grace !

So, regardless what oppressive, dishonest oversight afflicts mankind in civic, business or religious realms, this teacher and I last Sunday rejoiced in testifying to one another of GOD'S gracious, truthful rule in OUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCES!

May we trust in Christ as Savior and rely on the Holy Spirit and heed Scripture to SEE God oversee us in His grace and truth!