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All right, amen. While we're in Exodus chapter 31, we're going to come back there. Keep your place there, but go to Exodus chapter 30 real quick. Exodus chapter number 30. So I remember reading through the Bible the first couple times, and this guy would always catch my eye, and it's this guy by the name of Bezalel. And the reason why he caught my eye is because I work with my hands as well as many of you do, and I'm in the trades. And I just would read Bezalel how God filled him with the spirit of wisdom and how he could do all manner of workmanship and things like that. And I can remember thinking like, man, I wish I had like that skill set, that specific skill set and didn't have to study books and watch videos and things of that nature and could just super accelerate at my job. And obviously I do believe that God helps me and helps us in our places of work, but I've always wanted to do a study on this guy. He's kind of like an unsung hero in the Bible. And so that's what we're going to do today. With Christmas being next week, I figured that what we're going to do today is we're going to look at Bezalel, because you might be wondering who he is, and we're going to open him up like a present. We're going to open up him and kind of his mission and what God gave him to do. And then we'll look at that present specifically, obviously, next week on Sunday. So let's talk about where we're at right now. So we're in Exodus chapter 31, and God has just gotten done giving Moses instructions and specifications on how to build the tabernacle and the order around the tabernacle and how their religious services and things of that nature are supposed to be conducted. Now just for context sake, we're going to look at three verses in chapter 30. So if you would look at verse number one. So Exodus chapter 30, verse number one says, and pay attention to this here. He says, and thou, so this is God speaking to Moses. He says, and thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon of shed and wood, shalt thou make it. Now jump down to verse five. Notice the same language here. Okay. Verse five, and thou shalt make the staves of shed and wood and overlay them with gold. Now jump down to verse number 18, thou shalt also make a laver of brass and his foot also of brass to wash with all. That word with all means in addition to, so he says, and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar and thou shall put water there. Now obviously there's a lot to unpack here. I don't have time to take all of this apart, but I just want you to see here what's going on that God is giving Moses instructions and notice the language there. God is saying thou, thou is singular. Okay. When you're reading the King James Bible, remember your, your T's K your, your the thou thine that is singular. And then you have your wise, which are plural. So like ye, you, okay. Those are plural. So this is God telling Moses, Hey, you as the leader, as my representative to my nation, you are going to make these things. Okay. This all makes sense here for you in a minute. The question is, and I was wondering myself if Moses was thinking this like, wow. Okay. This is pretty detailed. Okay. If you read chapters, you know, 25, 26, 27, all the way up through here, there are a lot of things to be built, a lot of things to be made. And these things had never been made before. I wonder if Moses was like, okay, well obviously you're going to have to, you know, help me out here. You're going to have to help a brother out here because this is intense. Okay. This is very intense. And so with that, just, just hold that thought for a second. The question is, how are any of these guys going to do this? Okay. Because it kind of seems like an impossible task to do something like that, that specific that has never been done before. Now keep your place there in Exodus. We're going to go to a few different chapters in this region, but go to Galatians chapter three in the new Testament, Galatians chapter three. And so I titled this sermon, the golden wheel of Bezalel, and I'll explain the whole wheel theory at the end of the sermon. But like I said, we're going to unpack Bezalel here and we're going to, we're going to learn what he pictures and what this story pictures when God enters him in to the Bible. Now first off, before we can understand the picture, what does Moses picture in the Bible? Well, Moses pictures the law. Okay. So let's learn about the law here real quick and what that represents and what that means. Okay. Galatians chapter number three. Look at verse 13. I'm going to give you three quick points about the law starting here in verse 13. So the Bible says, Christ hath redeemed us from, now notice this word, the curse of the law being made a curse for us for it is written cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. So according to this verse here, what can we say about the law? What is the law? Well, the law is a curse. The law cannot bless you. The law cannot save you. The law cannot help you. The law can only judge you. Okay. The law can only be there as a single standard. You either follow the law or you break the law. We all know this is very fundamental. Now go to Galatians chapter number four. So the first point about the law is that the law is a curse. Why is it a curse? Because we cannot be saved by it. The only thing that the law can do is condemn. That is it. That is all that the law can do. Verse 21 chapter four Galatians, look at verse 21. So of course Paul writing this here, he says this, just tell me ye that desire to be under the law. Do ye not hear the law? And of course if you know the background story to the book of Galatians, Judaizers had come in and basically said, you know, this faith stuff you guys are, you know, preaching and working on, it's pretty cute and all, but you got to follow the commandments, you got to follow the law. And so Paul's rebuking that and Paul's trying to set the record straight again and let them know, hey, you know, think about it, you know, you were sinners, you got saved. Do you really think you could be made perfect in the flesh by the law when you weren't perfect to begin with? Okay. And so he's addressing that here and he says, tell me ye the desire to be under the law. And isn't that where we're at today? People desire to be under the law because they can pretend to follow the law. They can make things up and put on a good show on social media and tell their friends how they don't sin anymore and blah, blah, blah. Okay. And so Paul says, because Paul's saying, do you not hear the law? Do you not understand what the law itself speaks? Verse 22, for it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bond made and the other by a free woman. Okay. So number one, we see that the law curses. That is what it does. Number two, the law is bondage. Again why? The same reason that it's a curse. It cannot bless you. It cannot save you. It cannot help you in any way. Now go to second Corinthians chapter number three, second Corinthians chapter number three. And let's look at verse number six. Okay. So what have we seen so far? The law is a curse. The law is bondage. Well, we know that Moses is often a picture in the Bible of the law. Not always. Sometimes he pictures Christ and you know, we can see that here, but let's look at verse number six, second Corinthians chapter three, verse number six. Look at what Paul says. He says, who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit. Okay. Now this is what I want you to see here, this last part of the verse. For the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. So three quick things about the law. The law is a curse. The law is bondage and the law kills. That is what it does. I mean, if you think about this, okay, you know, let's say you obey the speed limit all year long. Hey, do you think that the police are going to send you a gift card in the mail? Hey, you know, we've noticed that you haven't broke the law this year. Here's a blessing for you. Hey, there's no, they're going to be like, well, that's what you're supposed to do. Okay. That's, that's, that's how the law operates. Okay. You either follow it or you break it, but the law by itself does not save. It cannot bless you. It cannot really help you out in that kind of way. Now let's get back on track here. We'll put this together and unpack what's going on here. Okay. Go to Hebrews chapter number eight. So go forward from where you're at in your new Testament, Hebrews chapter number eight. So we're going to look at Moses, obviously for, for today's purposes as a picture of the law. Then we're going to look at Bezalel. Okay. And I'm going to show you here. We're going to unpack Bezalel and then his helper that God sent with him, which is a Holy Act. Okay. And you can see these three guys picture in the Bible. So let's get back to this building here because we started off reading Exodus chapter 31 and we went back and we looked at some of the specifications that God had given Moses and God said, Hey, you know, you're going to build all of these things. Now look at how serious this is here. Okay. Cause the writer of Hebrews brings this up here in Hebrews chapter eight, verse five. So look at what it says, verse five. So he says, who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things. So what that's referring to is that all the stuff that we're reading about right now, all these physical things like the tabernacle, the altar, the incense, all those things that you read about that the children of Israel physically had that God had told them to build. Those obviously were meant to be pictures and point to Christ in some way, shape or form. Okay. So that's what he says. Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things. So obviously they're a picture of things in heaven as well, but it says this, as Moses was admonished of God. Okay. What's an admonishment. What does that mean? Well, that is a very strict warning. Okay. So God, when he was giving Moses these commandments, right? He's like thou, like, like Moses, you specifically, you were going to do this. You were going to make sure that this happens. Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle. Okay. And that's what we're talking about here. The completion of the tabernacle in the old Testament for see sayeth he that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the Mount. Okay. So again, when God gave Moses these instructions, he's like, this isn't up for debate. This isn't something where you're like, okay, I like this part, but I don't really like that. I'll do that later. Or I'll make it actually this way. I know you wanted it, you know, this many cubits God, but we'll just kind of shrink it up here. No. God gave him the specification and wanted it exact, perfect, no falter. No way around this. Okay. So go back to Exodus chapter 31 where we started here and let's start to unpack this. Let's start to see what is being taught to us here. So again, quick review. God is telling Moses specifically that these things have to be made. God strongly warns Moses to make sure that all of these things are according to the pattern exactly, just like he showed him in the Mount. So the question is, is Moses going to do this by himself or the children of Israel going to do this? Like, how is this going to happen? Okay. Cause I mean, think about it. When you, if you really knew all the laws, let's, let's, let's look at it like this. If you really knew all the laws that were out there in America, it would frighten you. Okay. There are laws that you and I don't even know about that we could be breaking and get a fine or get some sort of action against us. Okay. Now, obviously God's not like that. He puts it all out there for you to see, but it's intense. Okay. It's intense. And of course, you all know we can't follow the law. We'll get into that here a little bit in a minute, but going back to these specifications, going back to building this tabernacle, exactly like God had said, how is this going to happen here? Okay. Look at verse number one, Exodus chapter 31 verse number one, and the Lord spake unto Moses saying, so this is after he gives them all these specifications. Okay. And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, verse two, here it is. See I have called by name, Bezalel, the son of Ari, the son of her of the tribe of Judah. Okay. So God calls Bezalel by name for a purpose, for a specific reason. Verse three, and I have filled him with the spirit of God in wisdom and in understanding and in knowledge and in all manner of workmanship. So here's the solution right here. The solution to doing something that has never been done to the exact specifications that God has given was that God filled a man with his spirit to accomplish that. So what does that mean? Well, what that means is that Bezalel pictures Jesus Christ. So you have Moses who pictures the law. The law can only curse. The law can only keep us in bondage. The law kills. Okay. And then we see Moses killing the Bible. Okay. So here, okay, what does the Bible say? Jesus came to redeem those that were under the law. Jesus came to save. God sent Bezalel here filled with his spirit to make sure that all of these things that he gave Moses could be done according to the specification here. So Bezalel is a type or a picture of Jesus Christ and said, and of course at the end of the day, what does that mean? That means that the children of Israel were not going to be able to say, Hey, look at what we built of our own accord. Hey, no, no, no. God gets the glory because God filled Bezalel. God made it possible that these things would be done and completed as he prescribed to Moses in the mount. Now the Bible does mention, I just want to bring this up two times that God called Bezalel by name. And if you start to just study that out, that would take us a whole nother direction and take a while to get through. But in Exodus 31, where we're at, it says that God called by name Bezalel. And it also says that in chapter number 35. So let's get this picture straight here. We've got Moses. He pictures the law. Okay. We can't fulfill the law. We all know that. Okay. For it is written. There is none righteous who know not wanting to know. None of us can fill the law. All of us are sinners. The Bible says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Okay. That's exactly what have happened in this situation. If they would have tried to accomplish this on their own. That is why God had to send Bezalel and fill him with his spirit to make sure that this stuff gets done according to his specification. So again, let's, let's read a little bit again here. Exodus 31 verse two. So he says, see, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of her of the tribe of Judah. And I filled him with the spirit of God in wisdom and in understanding and in knowledge and in all manner of workmanship. Okay. All manner of workmanship. So you wouldn't want to call this guy a Jack of all trades. This guy at this point in time in his life could do it all. Okay. But not because he was just some genetic specimen. It's again because God had stepped in and filled him with his spirit to be able to accomplish these things. Again, notice the three things here. Wisdom, understanding, knowledge. Okay. We've talked about these extensively the last few weeks. So verse number four, to devise cunning works, to work in gold and in silver and in brass. Now we've done little studies before specifically about how the tabernacle looked and then the transition from the tabernacle to the physical temple and so on and so forth. So I'm not going to re-preach that today. We'll do that again another time, but let's think about the picture here. Okay. Let's look at the picture. So we see Moses as the law. We see Bezalel now as a picture of Jesus Christ, but what does this mean here? So God fills Bezalel with his spirit and then it says to devise cunning works. Okay. Notice when the works come, when do the works come? After he was filled with the spirit of God, not before. Okay. Look, this, this principle is taught from the beginning of the Bible all the way to the end of the Bible. Okay. You get saved, then you work, and that's exactly what you're going to see this morning in this story here. Okay. To devise cunning works to work in gold and in silver and in brass. So God fills this man with his spirit and lists three different metals that he is going to work with. Let's see how that could apply to us in our day and age. Now go back to Exodus chapter number 25. So just flip back a few pages in your Bible to Exodus chapter 25 and let's see what the gold represents. What can we unpack about the gold here in the Bible? Exodus chapter 25, look at verse number 31. So the Bible says this, again, Moses speaking to God here, he says, and thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold. Of beaten work shall the candlestick be made. His shaft and his branches, his bowls, his knobs and his flowers shall be of the same. Okay. So obviously God gave Moses this commandment, this instruction here to make this candlestick of pure gold. But now we know who is actually going to do that, who is going to be able to physically put this together and make it according to the specification. And that's a Bezalel filled with the spirit of God. Jump down to verse 37, okay, and thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof, and they shall light the lamps thereof. And then it says this, that they may give light over against it. What does the Bible say about light? What does the Bible say about a lamp? The Bible says in Psalm 119, thy lamp is a, I'm sorry, thy word is a lamp unto my feet. Okay. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet. Okay. So let's put this together here. Go to Revelation chapter two. Now keep your place here in Exodus, because like I said, we're going to come back to it, but go to Revelation chapter number two. So Bezalel here, he was going to be the guy that melts down the gold, fashions it, forms it, and makes it into these lampstands. And of course he's going to make the things surrounding it as well. Okay. And we'll see what this pictures and how this relates to us here in just a second here. But I just want to kind of show you. So we got a physical representation of the candlestick and the seven golden candlesticks that were going to be made. And those are still alive and well today, still up in heaven. Revelation chapter two, look at verse number one. So this is Jesus speaking here to the church in Ephesus. Okay. And remember, this is the part of the book of Revelation where God is, or Christ is addressing the seven churches here in Asia. Verse one says unto the angel of the church of Ephesus, right? These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. Okay. Now look at verse number two. So why is that in there? Why does he bring that up? That he walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks? Well, verse two, I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience and how thou canst not bear them which are evil and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not and has found them liars. Well, how does a person do that? How do we look at somebody who says they're an apostle, says they're a worker of Christ or whatever, and judge, render a judgment whether or not that is true or false? How do we do that? Well, we do that by the word of God. Okay. And what separates the word of God from any other book on the planet is that it is living, it is preserved by God. It can go into all languages. Okay. We know this. This is what the Bible says over and over again. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet. Bezalel filled with the spirit of God made this. That is a picture of us being filled with the spirit of God because after salvation, you have the Holy Ghost, you have that spirit, and obviously we know that the Holy Spirit is God. Jesus is God. Okay. These three are one. So you see this connection with the spirit in you which is God and then you see obviously the fact that Christ is walking in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. When you put those two together, you can see obviously what this is referring to here that Christ gives us light. This light here helps us to discern the spirit of truth versus the spirit of error. That is what it does. Okay. But it also sheds light on something else and you get to see that here with this church. Look at verse number three. He praises them first because they're actually looking at what's going on. They're looking at people who say they're Christians, who say they're apostles, and they have found them to actually be liars. Then he says this though, a little bit of a rebuke. Verse three. It has borne and has patience and for my namesake has labored and has not fainted. So another good thing. Verse four. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee because thou has left thy first love. Okay. So what else does the word of God do? It's obvious right here what it does. It sheds light on our own sins, on the things that we are doing wrong. Okay. And when pride gets in the way, like we've been talking about a lot lately, when these things set in, what does it do? It makes us not sober anymore, right? People think, oh, you can only get intoxicated on an alcoholic beverage. No, you can be intoxicated on pride. It blinds you from seeing truth here. And so these guys over time had become so puffed up because they were gaining knowledge on all of these people that were claiming to be apostles and things like that. And they were obviously rejoicing in the good things that they were doing, but they left their first love. What is the first love? Well, going out and preaching the gospel, going out and making that priority that had begun to slip. And we've studied that in the past here. Okay. So go to Exodus chapter number 26. But basically what I see here and I want to bring up is that the application is for us to understand that we have the Holy Spirit inside of us and we can use that same gold, which is the word of God, which is connected to heaven. Okay. When you look at this book like pure gold, okay, it changes your life. It changes the way that you look at situations. It changes the way that the news is portrayed to you. It changes everything because now you can see. But the question remains, are we going to allow this book, this pure book of gold to actually expose what we're doing? Right. And we've talked about this also recently. You know, are we strong enough as a people of God to say, hey, are these works that we're doing, the things that we're doing in the body of Christ, are these pleasing to God or not? Okay. And of course we use this book to determine that because that we know Jesus is the word. Okay. He is the word. He's walking in between the golden candlesticks. Obviously he sees everything. He's looking, he's observing. He is not hands off. He is definitely involved. Let me read for you Psalm 119, one 30, which says the entrance of thy words giveth light. It giveth understanding to the simple. Okay. Giveth understanding to the simple. If you want to increase your knowledge, your wisdom and your understanding to be a type of Bezalel, to be able to devise cunning works for the kingdom of God. Okay. The way that you're going to do that is to let this gold, this light come in through your eyes and in through your ears and resonate and listen to it. And when it hurts your flesh and it hurts our pride, right, what are we going to do? We're going to be okay with that. We're going to put ourselves down here in God's priorities up here. That's what we're going to do. So picture the picture of gold that makes sense here. Now let's take a look at the silver. Okay. So again, God filled Bezalel with his spirit to work in gold. Well, what would the silver represent here? Well Exodus 26, look down at verse number 19. So the Bible says this. So again, God now again, speaking to Moses, giving him specifications and says, and thou shalt make 40 sockets of silver under the 20 boards, two sockets under one board for his two tenants and two sockets under another board for his two tenants. Notice that word under there. Okay. Think about that word under. Now we're not going to take the time to really read this entire chapter right now. Someday we'll do an Exodus study and we'll, we'll go through this in detail, but I just want you to notice under, okay. Think about that word under and silver. Okay. So God telling Moses here that you're going to make these sockets. Okay. And these sockets are going to be made out of silver and they're going to go underneath. So they're going to be for support. They're going to be for the foundation of the tabernacle verse 20. And for the second side of the tabernacle on the north side, there shall be 20 boards. So what you see here, when you read this chapter and you read the chapter after it and you, when you start to witness the building of the tabernacle, okay, is that Bezalel was given by the spirit of God knowledge to take those silver shekels and to melt them down and to make these sockets and to put in the boards of Shittim wood into those sockets as a foundation for the tabernacle. So what does that mean? When you think about that, what that means is this. Go to first Corinthians chapter number one, first Corinthians chapter number one. So before any of the priests ever went into the tabernacle to perform work, to do the incense, to do the offerings, to do the sacrifices, what was all ready laid? Well, the foundation, that foundation was already laid. Well, does that sound familiar to anybody? Does it sound like anything in the Bible? Look at first Corinthians chapter three in verse number 11. So Paul says, says this, and we talked about this a few weeks ago for other foundation can no man lay, then that is laid, which is who? Jesus Christ. So again, okay, again, the Bible demonstrating to us that the only way a person can do works that will be acceptable to God is if they have the foundation, which is already laid, which is Jesus Christ, a person who is not saved. Hey, God bless them. It's great. You're doing great things. It's not acceptable, but it means nothing unless you're saved, unless you're building those things on the foundation that was all ready laid. Okay, look, you can't escape this. It's all throughout the Bible. It's all throughout the story. Again, when was Bezalel able to accomplish the works? After he was filled with the spirit of God. When were the children of Israel, when were the Levites able to actually start working in the tabernacle? After the foundation was all ready laid. That is what that silver picture is there. So for sake of time, let's just move on here. Go back to Exodus chapter 26 and let's just take a very quick look at the brass. What could the brass represent? Exodus 26, look at verse number 11. So the Bible says this, continuing on here with the building of this, it says, now shall make 50 tatches of brass, 50 tatches of brass and put the tatches into the loops and couple the tent together that it may be one. What are tatches? Well, tatches are like clasps or hooks, okay, things that hold. Now go to chapter number 27 and let's take a look at something here. So I'm gonna have you put two scriptures together, Exodus 27 verse two, and then I'm gonna have you go all the way over to Micah, okay, all the way over to the prophet Micah in still in the Old Testament and Micah chapter four. But let's look at this here real quick and we'll learn what brass represents here or what that pictures. Exodus 27, look at verse two. So he says, and now shall make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof, his horns shall be of the same and thou shall overlay it with brass. Now if you would, okay, go to Micah chapter number four. So obviously we see brass as a picture of holding a covering. What you're gonna see here is that brass pictures something here, okay, it pictures a sturdiness, it pictures holding, but we see in Exodus 27 that they were gonna make the horns of the altar out of brass, they were gonna overlay them with brass in other words. Micah chapter four, look at verse 13. The Bible says this, arise and thresh, oh daughter of Zion, for I will make thine horn iron and I will make thy hoofs brass and thou shall beat in pieces many people and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth. Notice that the hoofs in this passage here are made of brass and then notice we learned that the horns and the tabernacle, the horns were going to be overlaid with brass when you, there's a lot in the Bible here about brass, okay, and it could picture different things, but one thing that's consistent is unity and judgment. That is what brass often pictures. So these 50 tatches, okay, they were gonna hold the curtains, they were gonna hold poles, okay, what does that do, what does that holding represent? Well it represents unity, okay, and you'll see in many different places and I've done actually done a study on this a couple years ago with brass that it does picture judgment. What are the things that are under attack today in modern Christianity? Unity and judgment, being unified in the truth, okay. You've got people using all these different kinds of crazy Bible versions, believing different things and just confused out of their minds, okay. Who's the author of confusion? Well we know it's not God, it is Satan himself, okay. So again, Bezalel being filled with the Spirit of God would be the one to make these and when you read this I just want you to understand there is always application for you. These always mean things for you to apply in your life even in today's day and age. Don't listen to these false prophets that are out there and say, oh well the Old Testament has zero application in it for you, it doesn't mean anything. You know, it was for the Jew or it was for the Hebrew, okay. Good luck going back to the times of Moses and saying, hey I want to talk to the Jews. They wouldn't know what that was, they'd be like, what do you mean a Jew? What's a Jew? You don't even see Jews until the divided kingdom, but again that's a sermon for another day. So brass is a picture of unity and judgment. So the hoofs in Micah being brass, obviously the hoofs representing the feet and swift movement, okay, judgment moves. That's what you see, judgment moves. You have to constantly be judging. The Bible says that the spiritual judgeth all things, that is what Paul told us. So let's kind of finish this off here. Go back to Exodus chapter number 31 and we'll enter where we come into the picture here. Okay, so where do we fit into this picture? So we see the broad picture, Moses pictures the law, okay. God gave Moses all of the law. He gave him all of these specifications. Of course the question is, how are we going to build this? How are we going to fulfill this? God says, don't worry about it. I've taken care of that for you, okay. And he provides Bezalel filled with his spirit to commence and to conduct all of that work and to build it completely according to spec, okay. That's exactly what the Bible says about Jesus. There is the law, okay. If you've ever broken law, which everybody in here has, how do we get to heaven? How are we saved? Well guess what? Jesus is the propitiation or the satisfaction for our sins. He is the one that stepped in on our behalf, filled with the spirit of God, obviously because he is God and did what you and I cannot do. He stepped in and paid the price for us so that all we have to do is believe and receive him and be saved forever, okay. And then that is when the works start. Look at how many people actually ever spend their Christian lives building upon that foundation that was freely given to them. Most people never do. Most people never do. And there are several reasons for that. It's because the world gets in, pride gets in. There's all manner of reasons, okay. But God is looking for people. He's looking for his stones to rise up and to do work for him, not to stay saved, but to get other people saved. Look at the next verse here, verse five. So Exodus 31, look at verse number five. So after giving Moses the good news that Bezalel would come and do all these things, he would devise cunning works of gold, silver, and brass. We kind of unpacked that and opened that up and saw what that could picture for us. But now let's see where we come into the picture here. Verse five says this, and in cutting of stones to set them, and in carving of timber to work in all manner of workmanship, okay. So here in this time, you would probably see Bezalel and the men that are with him going to the quarry and cutting out stones and being able to fashion them. But again, the question is, who actually made those stones? Who put those stones there? Well, you all know who did, God, not evolution, not some, you know, random chance. Go to 1 Peter, chapter number two. And we're getting close to being done, which is another early Christmas present for everybody. Okay, so what do the stones represent here? Okay, 1 Peter, chapter number two, you already probably know. Look at verse number five. So just as Bezalel and his men filled with the Spirit of God, cutting out stones, what does that picture? Well, that pictures us. That's where we come into the picture. Look at what Peter says here in chapter two of verse five. It says, ye also, don't let anybody say, oh no, this is just talking to the Jew. Okay, that is not what it, no, it's talking to the saved. It's talking to Christians. Ye also as lively, what is that next word? Stones. Ye also as lively stones are present tense, are built up a spiritual house, unholy priesthood. Again, what's the reason? To offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Again, I keep bringing this up because we're always under attack from random different people. And they say, oh, you knocking on my door and you know, wanting to talk Bible and stuff. It's really rude. It's really disrespectful. Okay, well, I'm sorry that you feel that way, but I've got verse after verse after verse in the Bible demonstrating that that is a work that is acceptable unto God. If we don't go out and try to get people saved, who's going to do it? Well, of course, the Calvinist says, oh, well, you know, the Holy Ghost just kind of goes around to people, you know, in the community and just kind of lightly taps them on the shoulder. They're like, oh, I need to get to church today. And then all of a sudden I'm like, oh, I need to go to church today. And they just somehow walk into some place and then they become the next apostle Paul. Okay, that doesn't happen. That is not how it works. Okay. We need to do the work at now. There's no work in getting saved. Obviously, it's a free gift. Jesus paid it all. He laid the foundation. All you have to do is accept this free gift. However, we need to start looking at ourselves like Peter looked at us under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and understand that we are lively stones that we are built up, meaning he is building us up as the spiritual house, a holy priesthood, and we need to consistently offer up spiritual sacrifices. But here is the key. They have to be acceptable to God and a group of people that has shunned judgment in place of tolerance is never going to be able to fully do that because they are afraid to go to the text, to go to the word of God and look at the hard things and say, hey, you know what? This is honestly what is acceptable to God, taking this stand on this issue despite what the world says. Okay. Despite what they have to say and actually doing it. Go to Ephesians chapter number two, Ephesians chapter number two. So again, I just wanted you to see that connection there between Exodus 31 verse five and the going out and cutting of stones and building them. Okay. Everything is done after Bezalel filled with the Holy Ghost, filled with the Spirit of God. When you're saved, the Bible says you are indwelt with the Holy Ghost. Therefore you are a type of Bezalel. You can go out and do the same thing. You can devise cunning works that are acceptable to God. You know, and something I think about often and I've been thinking about is that, you know, different, everybody in here, you have gifts. Okay. It may not be an exact, it may not be the exact right time to make your gift. I don't know. Like public or something like that. You know what I'm saying? But everybody in here needs to figure out what their gifts are, what they're good at, what their desires are. And as long as you have proved them by the Bible, we can make a place for them. You know, there are people in some churches that are really gifted at teaching, but they don't want to be a pastor. Okay. We can find a home for you. We can find something for you to do. There are other people that are just very gifted and, you know, and edifying people and encouraging people. We can find something for you no matter what your gift is. You know, I don't want you to ever think, oh, this is just about the pastor and the people just sit in a pew. That's not how this works. The church is made up of believers. Okay. Of believers. And we do things in the order that God gave us, which obviously, you know, we have a pastor. We use the word of God. You know, we conduct our service in a way that we see in the Bible, so on and so forth. But that doesn't mean that this is just all about the pastor and not about the people. That is not what you see in the Bible here. In fact, let me just quickly prove that Ephesians two, look at verse number 10. So obviously after verses eight, nine, which we use every single week, okay, what does he say? For we, who's the we? Everybody on earth? Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, Satanists, those people know, okay. Warlocks wearing high heels? No. Okay. For we who are saved, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. We're saved by faith. Like I said on Wednesday, by faith, but we're saved for good works. We're saved so that we can now take this free gift, this foundation, this tabernacle that God has already given us and we can build upon it, okay. Now I might've lied. Let's finish up here back in Exodus chapter 31. We're almost done, I promise. Exodus chapter number 31. So again, we are his workmanship. We are those stones, okay. And he wants to cut us and to mold us and to shape us. And the way that's done is by you reading the word of God. Not just reading though, right? But also applying the word of God in your life, in your thought life and everything. And over time you will grow and mature like we're starting to talk about on Wednesdays in our series from Milk to Meat. But let's read two more verses out of Exodus 31. Click everything together, we'll be done. So verse six. So God says this to Moses, and so in addition to Bezalel, okay, and I behold, I have given with him a holy app, the son of Ahizamah of the tribe of Dan and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted, I have put wisdom that they may make all that I have commanded thee. So we've got Moses who pictures the law in the story. We've got Bezalel who pictures Christ. Then we have a holy app who is the comforter, he's the helper, okay. So who does he picture? He pictures the Holy Ghost. And so again, you can see the entire Bible, you can see the entire word of God pictured in the story. You can see God pictured in the story. It's just woven so deep in the story. You know, and if you've ever sat back and wondered like, man, I'm really thankful that I can see truth. I'm really thankful that I could see through the muck and the fog and the garbage that the media is pumping out every single day of our lives. Now, have you ever just thought like, man, I've got the truth. I'm so thankful that I understand salvation as a free gift. I'm so thankful that I understand what truth is. I'm so thankful that these freaks out here are wrong and that God is not okay with that. Have you ever been thankful for that? Have you ever wondered like, why is it that we're okay with this, but other people aren't? Well, the answer can actually be found in this verse here if you look at it again very closely. And I behold, I have given with him a holy ab, the son of Ahizmak of the tribe of Dan and in the hearts, and don't miss this, of all that are wise hearted, I have put wisdom. God is not going to give you more wisdom if you are the opposite of wise hearted. If you've made up your mind, like I know better, I don't care. I'm good to go. Like most people are. I'm good. I'm good. I'll make my own way because I'm a real alpha. I'm a real tough dog. I'll make my own way. Okay. God's not going to be able to use that because people like that aren't going to build according to the pattern. They aren't going to be able to provide that which is supposed to be according to spec. They will not be able to do that. So that's why God and the story is searching for those that are wise hearted, that are seeking after wisdom, that understand their place, that it is God up here and man down here, not the other way around. When we understand that, we're not quenching the spirit. I'm sure all of us at some point have come close to that or been in a position where things just aren't going right or backslidden, things of that nature. We're not listening to the Holy Spirit. We're not doing what we should. In those moments, guess what? We're not wise. We're not being wise. We haven't lost our salvation, but we've lost our comfort because we've taken too much of ourselves and put it back into the world. Number seven, the tabernacle of the congregation and the arc of the testimony and the mercy seat that is there upon and all the furniture of the tabernacle. So just like we read at the beginning in Hebrews, it was the Lord that pitched the tabernacle. I should have called that out when we were there, but go back and read Hebrews chapter eight on your own time and you'll see that the Lord pitched the tabernacle. That means that the Lord looked at Bezalel and said, I'm going to use you. And there is no way that the children of Israel are going to be able to say of our own accord, we did this. The whole point is the fact they could not build the tabernacle according to spec without God's help. There's no way that was going to happen. And that's why I say that Bezalel pictures Christ because there's no way that you and I can actually follow the law perfectly and earn our way into heaven. It doesn't work like that. You guys know this. It's very, very important to see though, because people out here are screaming, oh, show me in the Old Testament what you believe. And it's like, here you go. It's all throughout. But of course, if you don't have the Spirit, if you don't have that foundation, you're never going to be able to see these things and it's never going to make any sense. So again, how this all applies to us is obvious. The Lord has given us the gift to be able to serve Him because you're saved. You have the Holy Ghost inside of you. You have that Spirit. You are able to devise cunning works in gold, silver, and brass. You're able to offer up spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable unto God. And if you ever just want a very quick formula, like, hey, I've got this idea to serve in the kingdom of God. I've got this idea for church or whatever it is, okay? And you're kind of wondering like, man, is this biblical? Remember these two things, the two E's. What is the twofold mission of the church? It's to evangelize and to edify. If it fits in there, then obviously it's going to be biblical and we can make that happen. We can work together to facilitate your gifts, okay? So the title of the sermon is The Golden Wheel of Bezleel, okay? And I titled that just to kind of play off words of the gold, okay? What is a wheel? Well, a wheel is obviously circular. It goes round and round and it's infinite, okay? And so the whole point of this sermon is to acknowledge the fact that we have been given the gift, the ultimate gift. The gift of God. We're saved in Christ, dwelt by the Spirit, and we need to keep that wheel rolling. We need to keep that gold and that silver and that brass going forward by giving other people this gift, by telling other people the good news of the gospel, and edifying our brethren, okay? Keeping that wheel going along. I believe that is what Bezleel, the unsung hero in the Bible, teaches us. And of course, when you unpack him, you see Jesus Christ. And with Christmas being next week, Christmas Eve next Sunday, we'll take a look at that gift specifically like we do every year. So hopefully this is a blessing to you. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, for allowing us to be able to gather here today. I just pray that you would bless the fellowship after the service, the soul winning, and bring us all back safely tonight. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. All right, so we'll have one more song and then we'll be dismissed.