Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20100523.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
K. God's Directive Of The Tabernacle To Fellowship With His People
4. The Tabernacle: Fulfillment By Biblical Fellowship With A Holy God
(Exodus 26:1-37)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    Last Sunday, several people spoke with me about an issue that clearly concerned them -- the negative reaction of some Christians to another believer's genuine effort to heed God's Word:

    (1) For example, a believer in a theologically "Arminian" institution who tries to be upright faces debasing words or isolation from fellow Christians seemingly offended by his upright efforts.

    (2) Then, our web site's web master forwarded an e-mail to me last week with a comment by a "Calvinist" blogger who had seen our file on divine election. The blogger charged we were "Semi-Pelagian".

    [To explain, Pelagius (A. D. 400) held one was saved solely by his will to be righteous. Reacting to this error, Augustine taught God gave man the faith to trust in Christ. Responding in turn to Augustine, Semi-Pelagianism arose, teaching one's will partly participates to save his soul, and this became the popular view of the Catholic Church. (W. Walker, A History of the Christian Church , 1959, p. 165-172)]

    However, we do not teach Semi-Pelagianism! We say faith is NOT at all a work, so it cannot in any way contribute to salvation, but that God alone saves the soul when one trusts in Christ of his own will. The charge our view is Semi-Pelagian thus (falsely) suggests we hold to a false faith-plus-works-gospel, and with the Galatians 1:8-9 anathema against such gospels, the charge against us is slanderous!

    Nevertheless, professing Christians I have met for four decades of ministry have persistently claimed our view is "Semi-Pelagian"!

    (3) Last Sunday, a member reported in our Adult Sunday School Class of a charge by others that our Church is "almost cultic" since we try so hard to be Biblical, we do not mix with many groups! This claim rises from the "Arminian" outlook that demeans doctrinal precision to "engage the world" ecumenically for outreach! (John H. Armstrong, gen. ed., The Coming Evangelical Crisis, 1996, p. 31-41)

    This charge is slanderous as well, for cultists by definition notably Biblically err, and no one has ever shown us how we do that!

    Nevertheless, I have heard reports of this charge for years!

    (4) Well, the next passage we are set to study in Exodus, along with Revelation 3:14-22, addresses this issue very graphically! In view of all these things, I believe God wants me to address this issue today!

    Thus, we ask, "When I try to heed Scripture, why do I often face mistreatment from Christians', and how am I to respond?!"

    Need: "As I often face mistreatment from even Christians' when I try to heed Scripture, why is this so, and how am I to respond to it?!"

  1. God had Israel build a tabernacle to typify how He as a holy God could fellowship with sinful man and meet man's needs, Ex. 25:1-9.
  2. The tabernacle ITSELF shows FELLOWSHIP with GOD is VERY SEPARATE from the UNGODLY, Exodus 26:1-37 (as follows):
    1. The tabernacle coverings are described from the beautiful inner linen covering that is exquisitely embroidered in red, blue and purple yarn to the less attractive outer coverings of goats hair, then ram skins dyed red and lastly drab sea cow hides, Exodus 26:1-14 NIV.
    2. Acacia boards covered with gold and joined by poles through attached rings composed the tabernacle's side and back walls (Ex. 26:15-30), typifying Christ's incarnation. Then, two vails, the less decorated one at the entrance to the Holy Place from the courtyard, and the more exquisitely decorated one that parted the Holy Place from the Holiest of Holies, adorned the inner tabernacle structure, Ex. 26:31-37 NIV.
    3. Bible teachers differ on what the curtains typify, but one thing is sure: the stunning view from INSIDE the tabernacle with its linen curtain embroidered in blue, purple and scarlet set against the gold covered furnishings and walls that reflected the lampstand's flames stood in vast contrast to the drabness of the sea cow hides seen OUTSIDE!
    4. We before learned that the tabernacle itself and its furnishings typify fellowship with God in the ministry of Scripture and resulting prayer; thus, the tabernacle coverings depict the great contrast that exists between the unfulfilling experience the ungodly have OUTSIDE of fellowship with God and the fulfillment of the godly IN fellowship!
  3. This SEPARATION of God from the ungodly creates a TENSION between GODLY and UNGODLY BELIEVERS, one Revelation 3:14-22 shows God USES NOW to KEEP the GODLY UPRIGHT:
    1. Outside the tabernacle courtyard, the non-Christian sees a fence of linen curtains, typifying God's righteousness, and bronze posts typifying judgment for his own failure to attain to God's righteousness (Romans 3:23), and beyond that only drab sea cow hides covering the tabernacle. The non-Christian sees God only as his Righteous Judge, and the idea of "fellowship" with Him is unappealing, Romans 5:10a!
    2. Now, if a non-Christian enters the court, trusting in Christ at the altar that typifies the cross of Jesus (Romans 3:21-26), but he fails to abide in the Holy Place in fellowship with God, remaining instead in the courtyard in ungodly "carnality", his view of fellowship with God is the same as the non-Christian's -- unappealing drab sea cow skins!
    3. Sadly, many Christians today dwell in that state of carnality just like Christ predicted would occur in our era in Revelation 3:15-17 due to the effects of errant Calvinist and Arminian beliefs [see our series on this]! All they see of communion with God, and of the upright who commune with Him, seems intolerable , so they adopt worldly ideas and acts that fit their lusts and readily oppress the godly whose views and acts intolerably critique what they adopt! (2 Tim. 4:3-4 with 3:12)
    4. Christ then advises us to "buy" of Him "gold tried in the fire, white garments and eyesalve" (Rev. 3:18), and our lessons on that passage show this involves our looking to Christ to let carnal Christians afflict us to drive us to Scripture for relief so we will stay in the Holy Place!
    5. Now, the specifics of this program are as follows: Christ lets ungodly believers dish out (1) slander (1 Peter 1:7 "gold tried in the fire" with 1 Peter 2:12), (2) criticism for separating from unbiblical ministry unions to stay upright in ministry (Revelation 16:14-16 "white garments") and (3) rejection for holding upright views ungodly Christians can not tolerate (Jn. 9:11 "eyesalve" with 9:29-34 NIV).
    6. Such mistreatment pressures the afflicted believer to ENTER and STAY in the tabernacle Holy Place -- that is, to STAY EXPOSED to the ministry of SCRIPTURE so he can experience GOD'S ongoing balm from the persecution that he faces!
Application: (1) May we trust in Christ to be a Christian, John 3:16. (2) Then, may we STAY in the Holy Place, in touch with God through the use of His Word, (3) taking advantage of the pain of unjust persecution by the ungodly as God allows to STAY there for its balm and blessing! (4) If the godly seem intolerable to us, we live in carnality [between the fence and sea cow skins], and must let Christ allow us to face persecution from ungodly believers to drive us to enter and STAY in God's Holy Place for His richest blessing!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 Though God uses painful mistreatment from ungodly believers to drive us to stay in fellowship with Him in His Word, that fellowship is a truly blessed one. It makes this program very worthwhile!

The following is a list of a few of the problems ungodly believers and the lost face in life, and the solutions we have for them if we "stay in the Holy Place communing with God in His Word":

(1) The May 17, 2010 Waterbury Republican-American, p. 1A told how drug abuse at Pomperaug High School has become so great, "(p)arents last week pleaded for the administration to bring in drug-sniffing dogs for occasional, random searches of lockers and public areas . . ." The Rev. Joseph Donnelly, a pastor in town, reported he has buried more youths over "suicides, drug overdoses and alcohol poisoning . . . than in any community he has served the past 30 years."

"In the Holy Place," I read in Ephesians 5:18 that the solution is for the believer to rely on the Holy Spirit so as not to need drugs! That's how to "win the war on drugs" without spending any money!

(2) The May 17, 2010 USA TODAY, p. 3C ran the article, "Ex-coach calls Woods sex addict" where Michael McCarthy told how Tiger Woods' ex-swing coach, Hank Haney, told Golf Channel's Jim Gray "he's never seen anything like' Woods' swift fall from grace. We were watching Picasso paint. It's just very sad. Nobody was against Tiger Woods. He had no enemies. He's become his own.'"

"In the Holy Place," I read in Galatians 5:16-23 NIV that if we rely on the Holy Spirit's power for living, we will live above "immorality" in "self-control" in victory over this vice.

(3) The same paper, p. 9A ran the article, "God, the Devil and Lost'" on the coming termination of the ABC TV series, "Lost". The article reported the show had often dealt with "the question of where our lives are headed, and whether there is any meaning to it. Do we have a destiny, and if so, how do we figure out what it is?"

"In the Holy Place," I read in Psalm 119:105: "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" in life. Scripture shares expansively of our destiny, and how to gain heaven and escape hell through faith in Christ, John 3:16 et al. It even tells of God's program for us Christians today in Revelation 3:14-22 as noted in this sermon!

May we STAY in the Holy Place of fellowship with God by regularly exposing ourselves to His Word for balm and blessing.