THROUGH THE BIBLE - Exodus 3..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. The book of Exodus, chapter 36, and we're going to be doing the corporate reading of a scripture, as we always do. We are approaching the end of the book of Exodus, approaching the beginning of the glorious book of Leviticus.

And these evening or this afternoon, we're going to be addressing together chapter 36 in the book of Exodus. We are in the in the section in which now they are going to be constructing a building, the tabernacle, So let's read carefully the word of God, paying attention to each one of the words with reverent hearts. This is the word of God. Vesalel and Ochuliab and every craftsman in whom the Lord has put a skill and intelligence to know how to do any work in the construction of the century shall work in accordance with all that the Lord has commanded. And Moses called Bezalel, and Oholiab, and every craftsman in whose mind the Lord had put a scale, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work.

And they received from Moses all the contributions that the people of Israel had brought for doing the work on the sanctuary. They still kept bringing him freewill offerings every morning. so that all the craftsmen who were doing every sort of task on the sanctuary came, each from the task that he was doing, and said to Moses, The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded us to do. Verse 6. So Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp.

Let no man or woman do anything more for the contribution for the sanctuary So the people were restrained for bringing, for the material they had was sufficient to do all the work and more. Verse eight. And all the craftsmen among the workmen made the tabernacle with ten curtains. They were made of fine twine, linen, and blue and purple and scarlet yarns, which Jeremiah skillfully worked. The length of each curtain was 28 cubits and the breadth of each curtain, four cubits.

All the curtains were the same size. He coupled five curtains to one another and to the other five curtains he coupled to one another. He made loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain of the first set. Likewise, he made them on the edge of the outermost curtain of the second set. He made 50 loops on the one curtain and he made 50 loops on the edge of the curtain that was in the second set.

The loops were opposite one another. And he made 50 clasps of gold and coupled the curtains one to the other with clasps. So the tabernacle was a single whole. He also made curtains of goat's hair for a tent over the tabernacle. He made 11 curtains.

The length of each curtain was 30 cubits, and the breadth of each curtain 4 cubits. The 11 curtains were the same size. He coupled 5 curtains by themselves and 6 curtains by themselves. And he made 50 loops on the edge of the outermost curtain of the one set, and 50 loops on the edge of the other connecting curtain. Verse 18, And he made fifty clasps of bronze to couple the tent together, that it might be a single hold, and he made for the tent a covering of ten ramskins and goatskins.

Then he made the upright frames for the tabernacle of acacia wood. Ten cubits was the length of a frame, and a cubit and a half ten breadth of each frame. Each frame had two tenons for fitting together. He did this for all the frames of the tabernacle. The frames for the tabernacle he made thus, twenty frames for the south side.

and he made 40 bases of silver under the 20 frames, two bases under one frame for each two tenants, and two bases under the next frame for each two tenants. For the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, he made 20 frames under 40 bases of silver, two bases under one frame, and two bases under the next frame. For the rear of the tabernacle, westward, he made six frames, He made two frames for corners of the tabernacle in the rear, and they were separate beneath but joined at the top at the first ring. He made two of them this way for the two corners. There were eight frames with their bases of silver, 16 bases under every frame, two bases.

He made bars of acacia wood, five for the frames of the one side of the tabernacle and five bars for the frames of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames of the tabernacle at the rear westward. And he made the middle bar to run from end to end, halfway up, the frames. And he overlaid the frames with gold, and made the rings of gold for holders for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold. Verse 35. He made the veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twine linen, which Jeremy skillfully worked into it, he made it.

And for it he made four pillars of acacia, and overlaid them with gold. Their hooks were of gold, and He cast for them four vases of silver. He also made a screen for the entrance of the tent of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, embroidered with needlework, and its five pillars with their hooks. He overlaid their capitals and their fillets were of gold, but their five vases wear of bronze this is the perfect all-sufficient inerrant worth of our lord and savior now brothers and sisters much detail is given to us here on how this tabernacle now is going to be constructed or built or put together There's something very important that you have to remember as we are approaching until the end of the book. And as we're going to start the book of Leviticus, we have to remember that the book of Exodus, brothers and sisters, was everything about God taking his people out of the captivity or out of the bondage that they were in the in the land of Egypt.

And he promised them that he was going to rescue them and to give them liberty or freedom. And he did. But he did not only give them that freedom. This is something very important. He also entered into a covenant with them.

It was not only the promise that I'm going to take you to a better land where you're going to be free, but also I'm going to enter into a covenant. And the meaning of that covenant was fellowship and relationship. This is very important. That's why because of that relationship, because of that fellowship, God gave the people of Israel three things, as I've mentioned before. The law, the location where they were going to meet, the tabernacle, and also the Sabbath day, which was an allocated portion of time that was holiness unto the people.

The law. the tabernacle and the Sabbath. This was the way that the people were going to enter into that fellowship or communion with the God that liberated them from the bondage in the land of Egypt. Now, Moses received or started to receive all the instructions on how The tabernacle was going to be built and we went through each one of the details of each one of the sections and even the items of the tabernacle. But now, brothers and sisters, what we have here in chapter 36 is the construction or the fulfillment, if you want, how the people of Israel obeyed the requirement that was given to them or the instruction given to them to build this tabernacle.

So the instruction to build the tabernacle was given and now in chapter 36 they are putting that into practice, they are doing. But remember that in between the instruction and the fulfillment of the instruction, there was the breaking of the covenant. When the instruction was given, that was given to a people that had not yet broken any covenant. So here in chapter 36, we have the people of Israel that are coming to obey a commandment that was given to them in chapter 26 of building the tabernacle. But in the middle, we have this very important event that took place in chapter 32 in our Bibles, which was the breaking or the breaching of the covenant.

Now, in light of all of those facts, I want us, brothers and sisters, to analyze and to study and to meditate together upon the nature of obedience. The nature of obedience. Because here in chapter 36, we have two things that are directly obeyed by the people of Israel. The first one is the construction of the tabernacle. Chapter 26, verse 1 says, and you shall make the tabernacle of 10 curtains.

You shall make was the instruction given. You can see that in chapter 26, verse 1. You shall make. And then what we have just read, it is over 30 times the word made, made, made. made, he made, he made, he made, he made.

Speaking of, perhaps, Bezalel and Oholiab, Oholiab, of these two men, they fulfilled the instruction that was given to them. So in chapter 26, you are to do this, you shall make this way, and in chapter 36, we have the fulfillment of it. But second, we have another instruction that is fulfilled here in this chapter that is given to us in chapter 35. So if you turn your pages in chapter 35 in verse 5, there was another commandment given to the people of Israel. Another commandment given to the people of Israel.

And in chapter 35 verse 5, you see that the commandment that was given by the Lord through Moses to the people was, Take from among you a contribution to the Lord. Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the Lord's contribution." And then we have the explanation of what the contribution is. So, brothers and sisters, give me your ears, please. We have an instruction that was given of you're going to build, and then you're going to collect the contribution.

And now in chapter 36, we have the fulfillment that is the obedience of those two instructions given. Build the tabernacle and also receive the contribution. In the middle of those two, there was the breaking of the covenant. The people that are going to obey in chapter 36 are the rebellious people that created or made for themselves a golden calf and that they worship it. Not only that, but these are the people that saw with their eyes the wrath of the Lord against worshiping other gods.

So, let's analyze and study together the nature of obedience. And I want you to place your eyes in chapter 36, verse 8, because there's going to be a very important word that is going to help us to understand the nature of obedience in this case in verse 8 it says and all the craftsmen among the workmen made the tabernacle when turn curtains now these were Craftsman, it's a very important word. And even if you have a different translation of the Bible, it might translate it in a different way. A translation that will give us more light into what that word means is a wise-hearted man. That is, a man who had wisdom in his heart.

And understanding that is very important because these craftsmen, who were the people that were obeying the instruction of the Lord, were, according to the literal word there, were wise in their hearts. wisdom in their hearts and this explains everything that the chapter is start telling us because that word it is used if you exchange that word every time that you find craftsmen or mind or heart in your ESV then it will give you a different perspective because that is exactly the The same word, it says the chapter will set bezel and a holy app. And every wise hearted man is literally the word there in whom the Lord had put a skill and intelligence to know how to do any work in the construction of the century shall work in accordance with all that the Lord had commanded. And he continues on Moses called. Bezalel and Oholiab, and every wise-hearted man in whose heart the Lord had put a scale, everyone whose heart is exactly the same word, stirred him up to come to do the work.

Brothers and sisters, the only thing that I'm just trying to say here It is that the heart of these rebellious people who had before built for themselves a golden calf and who had given their hearts to worship that golden calf, these hearts had been impacted and changed by the wisdom and the understanding of God. Their spirits, their hearts had been stirred up by God Himself to the point that now God calls them wise, hearted men, and out of the wise heart of a person who had been intervened, affected, visited by the Spirit, is that genuine obedience comes. Because if you go to chapter 35, when it comes to the contribution, in chapter 35, in verse 29, we can see the heart when women and men brought the contribution. In verse 29 it says, All the men and women, the people of Israel, whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done, brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord. They, from their heart, they were obeying.

And then in chapter 36, we are told that they brought so much that Moses had to tell them, please stop bringing freewill offerings because we have sufficient and enough. We have everything that we need for the construction of the temple." Their hearts, just not long ago, had been taken captive by Satan to give a contribution to build a golden calf. Now God had changed those hearts, stood them up, and now they were bringing the contribution for the building of the sanctuary of the Lord. And brothers and sisters, this is glorious because in all of those complicated words and all of those details that I have just read, there's over 30 times the word, He made, they made, He made, they made, In the eyes of the Lord, these people who were rebellious by the workings of the Spirit, giving them wisdom and understanding, now these people were fulfilling their requirements, or His requirements, as Moses says, according to what the Lord commanded.

Now, brothers, put your eyes, please, in verse 2, and let me just finish with this practical application from the New Testament. In verse number 2, it says, Moses, Cole, Bezalel, and Oholiab, and every craftsman, that is, wise-hearted men, whose heart had been affected by God. Now pay attention. In whose heart, the heart symbolizes the core. It's not my physical heart, but the core of the person, that which is very deep, our soul, our spirit.

In whose heart the Lord had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come and to do the work. In a couple of words, I can summarize here that in the heart of the person, the Lord worked two things. Not only... knowledge and understanding to do what they were supposed to do, but also He worked in them the desire to do what they were supposed to do according to what the Lord had told them. It was God in them, in the Spirit, In their spirit, working in the core of the people, both skills and knowledge that they did not have, because there was no other tabernacle like this that had been built before, all of this knowledge they received, but they did not do that out of compulsion.

as an obligation because their hearts were also touched and stirred up by the same Lord. So, these people who received an instruction and who were obeying, even in the middle of breaking the covenant, disobedience was like Galatians 5, verse 6. It was a faith that was working through love. It was something that had changed their hearts. It was the result of something different.

And in the New Testament, brothers and sisters, we're given a very exact and precise exhortation when it comes to our salvation. Go to Philippians chapter 2. If you go to Philippians chapter 2, it's best that you read it. Because these people did what they were supposed to do, but they did it because the spirit of God have moved them to know and to desire. And in Philippians, chapter two, verse 12, we have the instruction of the apostle Paul for us when it concerns to our salvation.

us who are the tabernacle of God, us who are the temple of God, each individual person who is the temple of God and the congregation as a whole. So in Philippians 2, verse 12 says, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Why? For it is God who works in you both to will and to work or to do for his good pleasure. Brothers and sisters, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

That is, obey and do the things that we are called to do inside of the glorious salvation that we have in Christ. For it is God the one that works in us, both to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Obedience is not something abstract, not something that we analyze and something that we say, oh, yes, the spirit of God will work in me. And therefore, one day I will obey or I will do the things that I'm supposed to do. Obedience for the Christian is with the eyes in Jesus Christ and by the workings of the spirit.

do what we are supposed to do according to Scripture, out of a heart of gratitude and love and thankfulness to the Savior, walking towards the goal of our supreme calling, walking towards a point not ecstatic and slothful, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, departing from the living God, and our hearts might be hardened, and then obedience unto us might not be sweet, but rather may be a burden, and it becomes works and self-righteousness. Eyes in Christ and obedience unto the glory of the Father, because we have the promise that it is Him working in us, the one that enables us to glorify Him through fruits of righteousness, as Paul says in chapter 1 of Philippians, for the glory of the Father. Amen?