Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20101024.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Exodus: God's Forming Israel For His Abrahamic Covenant
Part II: God's Forming Israel To Heed Him, Exodus 15:22-40:38
M. Constructing The Tabernacle, Exodus 35:1-40:38
2. Enjoying God's Fellowship And Guidance In Doing His Specified Will
(Exodus 36:8-40:38)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    We live in an era where many people stand in need of God's assuring signals of His constant supportive fellowship and guidance:

    (1) Jerri Cook's "Jerri Talks Back" column in the current issue of Countryside magazine, p. 80 cited scientist and philosopher Arthur C. Clarke as claiming: "Two possibilities exist. Either we are alone in the Universe, or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.'"

    Thus the problem of the unsaved world: estranged from God, it dreads the idea that the absence of an Almighty means man is his only hope for security and fulfillment in an untamed universe, but that if there is an Almighty, man is vulnerable to Him, and as lost man does not know how to relate to Him, His existence poses a terrifying threat!

    (2) Not only the lost world, but many Christians need God's assuring signals of His constant supportive fellowship and guidance:

    (a) A current year's Christian book catalogue in my office has an ad promoting Pastor David Jeremiah's book, Living With Confidence In A Chaotic World.

    (b) An ad for Linda Dillow's book, Calm My Anxious Heart, asserts: "Women worry a lot. We fret about our children, our friends, our careers, our spouses -- the list goes on and on!"

    (c) Anne Graham Lotz's The Magnificent Obsession is promoted with the ad that reads: "Do you long for purpose in your life, passion in your faith -- and intimacy with God?"

    (d) Beth Moore's book, Get Out Of That Pit is in the catalogue with an ad that runs: "Are you buried in spirit-deadening anger, heartbreaking desperation, or mind-numbing confusion?"

    (e) Randy Alcorn's book, If God Is Good . . ." is pushed with the promo: "Difficult times beg questions about God's goodness and power . . ."

    (f) A book by Nancy Leigh DeMoss and Tim Grissom titled, Seeking Him is promoted by the question: "Do you feel stuck' in your spiritual journey?"

    These well-known Christian authors write to address a wide readership, so such books with their ads reveal a huge need exists for Christians to know God's supportive fellowship and guidance.



    Thus, we ask the question, "How may I gain God's assuring signals of His constant supportive fellowship and guidance?!"

    Need: "In an era of great uncertainty and unrest, how may I enjoy God's constant supportive fellowship and guidance?!"

  1. After the tabernacle had been built, God's presence symbolized in His cloud filled the tabernacle structure, Exodus 40:34-35!
  2. The cloud stayed with the tabernacle all through Israel's journey to Canaan, and in the Biblical context, it offered constant supportive assurance of God's presence and guidance, Exodus 40:36-38:
    1. The cloud would rest on the tabernacle to show God wanted Israel to stay or rise and move where He wanted to lead her, Exodus 40:36-37.
    2. No one could doubt the reality of God's presence: by day it appeared as a cloud (Ex. 40:38a) and by night as a pillar of fire (Ex. 40:38b)!
    3. This cloud-and-fire display recalled God's 400-year-old smoking fire pot and blazing torch symbols in His Genesis 15:17-21 vision to Abraham; its constant presence thus assured Israel that God would be with her to lead her to Canaan in accord with His pledge to Abraham!
    4. Thus, the cloud-and-fire display gave constant supportive assurance of God's presence with Israel and of His guidance! (Exodus 40:38c)
  3. Yet, God's constant supportive presence and guidance came only as Israel obeyed His specified will in the forming of the tabernacle:
    1. The arrival of His cloud over the tabernacle showed God approved of its construction, Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Ex. 40:34-38.
    2. However, for God to give that approval, the tabernacle had to be built exactly like the heavenly model shown to Moses on Mount Sinai (Ex. 25:9, 40), which model typifies the Person and work of Jesus Christ!
    3. Thus, God's specifications had to be precisely met for the structure to please Him, resulting in God's supportive fellowship and guidance of Israel, and HOW those specifications were met applies to us today:
      1. The believer must use God's spiritual enabling to serve Him well:
        1. God's Spirit gifted the craftsmen so they were able to build the tabernacle parts to God's exacting specifications, Ex. 31:1-6.
        2. We Christians are gifted by God's Spirit to serve Him with the quality of service He wills, and we please Him only if we serve Him with that gift, 1 Cor. 12:4-11; Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Pet. 4:10-11.
      2. The believer must perform the service God assigns him to perform:
        1. The craftsmen had to do their assigned tasks, Ex. 36:8-39:31.
        2. Similarly, we Christians must each do our God-assigned task(s) for the Lord to bless our efforts, Romans 12:6-8; 1 Peter 4:10.
      3. The believer must fit into the chain-of-command God assigns him:
        1. The craftsmen brought the parts each had built to Moses, their God-assigned overseer, to view for his approval, Ex. 39:32-43.
        2. We also must serve God aligned with His order of overseers to be similarly blessed, Eph. 5:22-6:9; Hebrews 13:17.
      4. The believer must obey God's Word:
        1. Moses had to assemble all the parts of the tabernacle to erect it in accord with God's command to do so, Exodus 40:1-2.
        2. We today must obey God's Word for blessing, 2 Tim. 3:15-17.
      5. The believer must align his works with God's timing for them:
        1. Moses had to assemble the tabernacle on Israel's New Year in God's will for the time of the start of its ministry, Exodus 40:2a.
        2. We today must align with the Lord's timing in all we do that we might enjoy His blessing in our lives, cf. 1 Samuel 13:8-13.
      6. The believer must be consecrated to the Lord to serve Him well:
        1. In assembling the various parts of the tabernacle, Moses had to dedicate various articles and priests to serve God, Ex. 40:10-16.
        2. We believers in Christ today must also commit ourselves to serve God faithfully for our service to please Him, Rom. 12:1-2.
      7. The believer must be cleansed from sin to serve God effectively:
        1. Moses, Aaron and his sons washed their hands and feet at the laver, signifying cleansing from sin, in order to begin to serve the Lord in the holiness He required, Exodus 40:30-32.
        2. We too must confess our sins to God for cleansing to stay useful in life and service to Him, 1 John 1:9; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27.
      8. As all these God-specified steps were heeded, and God's presence, signified by His cloud, connected with the tabernacle for Israel's constant blessing of God's assured, supportive presence and guidance (Ex. 40:34-38), if we apply these steps now, we also enjoy God's constant, assured, supportive fellowship and guidance!
Application: (1) May we trust in Christ to be saved, John 1:11-12. (2) Then, may we align with each of the directives above to enjoy God's continued, assured fellowship and guidance in our lives.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 The Lord last week clearly, forcefully applied this sermon, and I share it with you in obedience to His obvious leading to do just that:

(1) My wife's brother who lives in Alaska recently contacted us to say he would be on the East Coast on business, and he asked if we might meet him in Philadelphia Monday and Tuesday, October 18-19.

We had seen him only twice in our marriage, so we knew we had to make this trip. We worked hard to plan ahead for the meeting and drove down to Philadelphia for what turned out to be a good time.

(1) In making this necessary trip, we found that going out of state to stay overnight was refreshing! In recent years, we had chosen not to shoulder the cost of staying in motels due to the uncertainties of the economy, but it was refreshing to have to do so this time!

That left us recalling an admonition given to us as a couple at my 1976 ordination by a relative who had pastored a church for twenty years. He had told us that it was necessary to "get out of town" on ministry breaks in order to rest well in the pastoral ministry.

I know Jesus practiced this in Mark 6:31. Thus, since the advice was Biblical, and as a past leader admonished us to do so, in line with the point in this sermon on heeding overseers, my wife and I will start to stay elsewhere some overnights in future ministry breaks!

(2) Then, driving toward the motel that was located close to the Philadelphia airport, we crossed the Commodore John Barry Bridge from New Jersey into Pennsylvania. As we came off the bridge, an exit presented itself and seemed to head in the direction of the motel, so I took it -- a big mistake! The exit left us in an older part of Chester, Pennsylvania with no visible on-ramp, numerous stop-and-go streets and a maddening hour extra travel time to get to the motel!

I should have stayed on the bridge road that was marked on the interstate map! Had we missed our planned turn for the highway to take us to the motel, we could have found a return on-ramp and quickly reversed course in line with the map information. I should have stuck to what I knew by the map versus venturing into the "great unknown"!

That was a point in this sermon: God leads us if we heed Scripture, our spiritual map, without taking some other route in life!

So, may we apply the directives of this message and see God provide all the assuring, supportive evidences of His fellowship and guidance that we need in our era of great uncertainty!