Exodus 28. Well, I had plenty of that in my first six months of ministry at my first church. I don't need any more. Got all that out of my system. Exodus chapter 28. I want to preach to you tonight on preparation for service. Preparation for service. Look at Exodus 28 verse number 1. God says, And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother and his sons with him from among the children of Israel that he may minister unto me. Notice that. In the priest's office even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons. And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, for glory and for beauty. And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. And these are the garments which they shall make, a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broided coat, a miter, and a girdle. And they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twine linen, with cunning work. It shall have two shoulder pieces thereof joined at the two edges thereof. And so shall it be joined together. Let's pray. Father, we love you tonight. We thank you for the word of God. And we pray as we dive right in here tonight, Lord, that you would bless the service. I pray God that you would do what I can't do. And I pray that that would be something supernatural in the hearts of your people. Lord, I pray that you'd please minister to every individual right where they're at. I ask you to build up and edify your church and teach us, Lord, your word. God, in all honesty, we're going through these Exodus stuff and, Lord, the flesh doesn't necessarily get excited about this. This storyline here and the details you're getting into, it's not like some other passages that you wrote. So I pray you'd help us tonight to just have our hearts enlarged in our love for the Word of God and to recognize how every chapter, every Word of God is pure. And there's so much more in here than we even know. Help our faith in the Word of God to be strengthened. And then, Lord, help our service to you to be improved because of this message tonight. We pray it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Notice first of all in verse number one, God tells him to take unto him Aaron his brother, and his sons with him from among the children of Israel. And you'll notice that phrase that I pointed out to you, that he may minister unto me. Now God is here laying out for us the priesthood. And it's the Levitical priesthood here in the Old Testament. This has nothing to do with a modern-day priest that you'll see. Actually, as you study through this, you'll show that they don't line up whatsoever to what modern-day priests do. But what he's having them do here is just kind of separate some certain individuals, because God called them, and God called Aaron, his brother, and Aaron's sons. And what did God call them for? What was the purpose of the office? It's right there in verse number 1. Minister to who? Minister unto God. So the first thing you and I need to recognize is that when you're called of God to serve God, when you're called of God to do something for God, don't forget that calling is for God. I can't get up here and over any length of time be a halfway decent pastor if I'm doing it for people. Sooner or later, I'm telling you, sooner or later, that gets old. There has to be an anchor, there has to be a calling a little deeper in your soul than just, I love my church. You have to be doing what you're doing with a little deeper purpose than just, well, somebody needs me in my position. What are you doing? Are you doing it as unto the Lord? Are you serving God for God? I'll tell you this much, if you serve God any length of time, your motives for serving God will be tested. See, why do some people quit on God or quit on church at least? Well, because somewhere along the line they realize they're in this thing for the wrong reason. your motives get smoked out. You gotta anchor that thing in the fact that you're here to minister unto God. I'm not here for any other purpose, it is the Lord. Something else that jumps out at my attention is how much time God spends talking about such seemingly, honestly boring subject matters. I mean, when you talk about the Exodus and all that went on with the plagues, God burns through that in just a few short chapters. All this exciting stuff is over. I find it kind of intriguing. I mean, I would like to know just a little bit of inside scoop on how God turns dust into lice. What God did chemically to turn the water to blood. I think it'd be pretty cool if God would park it and spell out some details on some of that kind of stuff. You know, I have heard every explanation under the sun. I recently overheard a conversation that only by the grace of God I was able to stay out of. I have a very, very hard time walking away from a fight. I mean, if there's not a fight, it's easier to start one than there is just to let life go on without a fight. I think God puts that in you when you're called to preach. It's real hard to pass up false doctrine with a closed mouth. Amen. But I was listening to this conversation, and this idiot was telling this other idiot all kinds of stuff, and the other idiot was sitting there, you could tell how bored he was, he was dying to leave, and he wouldn't, but the other idiot was trying to tell him how, really, I think there's a little more credibility to the Bible than what people originally realized because of the advances in science. And he was saying, because the events of the science, we figured out how it is possible for the water to have turned to blood, for the sky to have gone black, for the locusts and the frogs to have come. And he began this detailed explanation of a volcano erupted that actually blackened out the sun so nobody could see. And that the chemicals that ran into the water forced the frogs out of the water. And he went through this long process of all the way down to the firstborn dying. And he said, and here's how that would have happened. He said in that culture, they would lay the oldest child on the floor and the other children would be laying in beds. So the chemicals that were creeping across the ground would have killed the oldest. For real. And I just sat there and by the grace of God, the blood was trickling out the corner of my mouth and running down and dripping off my chin, but I managed not to run my mouth. And I'm all for science in the Bible. I love proving the Word of God was written by God because men were writing things down they didn't even know, couldn't possibly have known, because we just are figuring some of this stuff out now and it's already in Scripture. I love to prove that the Word of God is the Word of God by the things men have their faith in, which is, hey, there's no problem with good science. The Bible's not against science. It's against science falsely so-called. And what this yahoo, college-educated idiot, amen, and just because you're, I'm college-educated, if you're college-educated, don't take it personal. But he was just, he just thought he knew more than he knew. And I figured that out by listening to him talk about video games out of the next breath. That was the only two things he knew. How to disprove the Bible and how to play video games. Amen. Now look, I'm all for proving the Bible's true. I am not for using science to discredit the words of God. And that's what they're trying to do. And the stuff didn't even make sense because animals were dying too. What do animals do out in Egypt in that day? Would the animals say, okay, you're the oldest, you have to lay down now. Think about that. What if you only had one child? That child would have been in a bed. All the elders died. This is silly. Aggravates the fire out of me. Why didn't God spend more time explaining to us those miracles? But he gets here in your Bible to something like this and he parks it. And he says, now we're going to get into the meat of the word of God. And what I'm going to show you is how I want you to serve me. And all of a sudden, all the excitement is gone. What happened when you got saved? It's exciting, wasn't it? Man, you ask somebody to give their testimony of salvation, and they'll say, well, you know, preacher, I hit rock bottom, and here's what happened, and I, and all this, and this happened, and that happened, and I went this way, and this happened, and there's divorce, and all these issues, and these problems, and finally, when I came to the end of myself, I trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior. Hey, it doesn't matter if you're five years old when you got saved, the salvation testimony is exciting, and people that know Jesus Christ Don't get tired of telling that part of God's work in their life. It doesn't get old. You know what gets kind of old? The mundane details of serving the Lord one day, one week, one month, one year after the other. Let me ask you a question. When has your knowledge of Jesus Christ and knowledge of the Bible grown tremendously? Was it from the time you were lost to the time you were saved, the exciting part of the story? Or was it since you were saved until now, if you've been serving Jesus Christ faithfully and gone through the ups and the downs and the drag and the monotony of serving the Lord, when have you grown the most? It's in the monotony. It's in the mundane. It's in what seems to be boring, where God is really working. Listen, the Christian life is not supposed to be a theme park every week. It's not all supposed to be a high. It's not always supposed to be exciting. God begins here to slow down in the book of Exodus. He's slowing down His communication with Israel. He's slowing down all the massive works that He was doing. And He's saying, I need to park you for a second. I need to slow you down for a second. No more manna. No more exciting things. Now I'm going to give you some details on what I want you to do and how I want you to worship and how I want you to serve so that you can be pleasing to me and my blessing can be on your life. And can I tell you these passages of scripture are so important for you and I because there's so much for us to learn in seeing the details of what God's trying to teach us. I'm glad God's not just a general God. I believe with all my heart God is in the details of my life. I believe He knows all about every little thing, and He understands every little thing, and no matter what comes across my way, whether it be chance, or reaping what I sowed, or God's blessing, or whatever it is, I know God knows it all, God sees it all, and in everything, there's a lesson to be learned for me, if I'll pay attention to Him, and not get bored and quit on God when it seems boring and mundane. God's trying to give Him something here, and He has to slow down, and He has to spell some things out. So you'll notice the service is unto the Lord. You'll notice something else. God sends in some volunteers to help out the guys that are called. Look at verse 3. Thou shalt speak unto all that are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. So God begins to set up the service to God, to how God wants them to worship and serve. And what God does, first of all, is He said, I got these guys specifically picked out for the priesthood. These are the guys that are going to come in, and they're going to offer the sacrifices, and they're going to lead the worship. That was God's doing. That's God's doing. We're going to get to this in 1 Timothy. It's funny how these things are lining up, and I really did not plan this. And 1 Timothy says, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. I cannot tell you how many ambitious, usually it's young men, who will say, see, if any man desire the office, I guess that means that, you know, I desire it. So hold your horses, man. Nowhere in that chapter, and we'll get this on Sunday morning, and I want to preach Sunday morning's message now. Nowhere in that chapter does it say, if a man desire the office, let him do it. It doesn't say that. You realize some things God calls a man to do, period, the end of the discussion. And if God didn't call, boy, you better not step in there and try to do that thing. Because God killed people in the Old Testament for stepping in to do the priest's work when God did not call them to be a priest. God killed them for stepping in to do that work. You know what I think the problem in too many churches is? There's too many Holy Spirits running around. Amen. Too many people trying to do the job of God in everybody else's life. Too many pastors running around the church. Amen. You know what's important for you and I if we're going to worship God and do it with the power of God and the presence of God in our life? First of all, know His calling. What did God call you to do? Second of all, if you're not called, He says, You know what they were to do? They were there to help out. You know what God said about those people? What did God say about the people that were just helping out? Does it say there that they're second class? Does it say there that they haven't quite attained to the level that Aaron and his sons attained to? No. We look at everything that way. It's our pride looking at things like that. I wish I could sing like them. I wish I could preach like him. I wish I was as good as... I wish I quit wishing you were something God didn't make you. Thank God for who you are. He created you. He loved you. He knows you. And the church needs you, but the church needs you to be filled with wisdom and saying, hey, Let me do what I can do to further God's cause, because what we're doing here is not of the men, it is unto the Lord that we're supposed to be serving. So if this is what God's given me to do, I'll do it. And I'll do it with joy. They have a spirit of wisdom. God said they're wise-hearted. And then it says He filled them with the spirit of wisdom. And so what are they going to do? They're going to sit around and they're going to make all this stuff. that Aaron gets to put on and strut around in. Here he is strutting around in a bunch of stuff he didn't even make. Everybody else made it. You know what God has done with the church? With worship to God? He has integrated us. He expects a spirit of unity. He expects a spirit of cooperation. He expects a spirit of work, where we're willing to help out one another in order to fulfill what God said. so that we can worship Him. I'm telling you, if you're a Sunday school teacher, you know what a blessing that is to the church? That's a blessing to the church. If you sing, that's a blessing to the church. If you clean the church, that's a blessing to the church. It doesn't matter what you do as long as you're doing what God would have you to do. Thirdly, I noticed this, and then we're gonna burn through my outline, so we'll be out of here in just a little bit. It won't be that long tonight, I think. Thirdly, there's always a time of preparation before the service starts. There's always a time of preparation. God is having them prepare all the things that later they're going to use. But as of now, Aaron's not wearing the garments God's spelling out to them. Aaron's not doing all the things Aaron's sons aren't doing all the things that God's going to tell them in Exodus 28. Here's what I want you to get ready. Here's what I want Aaron to do. What is it now? Right now it's time for them to get to work and to prepare because down the road some worshiping is going to happen that is not yet happening. Are you following me? You know what most people get discouraged and begin to quit on God because they're not as spiritual as they want to be? I talked to some people this week that are like, well, you know, I should be at a certain point and I'm not at that point and I'm sick of the point that I'm at and I might as well just forget it. Wait a minute. God is not in a rush. Souls are dying to go to hell, brother! Yeah, that's like a new thing, right? I'm not trying to throw cold water on your fire to win souls. Or slow your zeal down. But I'm just saying, I'm pretty sure God knew that a long time ago. Like before you were born. So you know what's important for us to realize? God works on us. God prepares us. You know sometimes God has to prepare an area? It's not even about the man. Listen, I go to prepare what? I go to prepare you? I go to prepare a place for you. Okay, Lord, you're going to prepare a place for us. Great, what do we do? Occupy till I come. What do you mean occupy? Stay put, be faithful, just occupy. Just go to work in the morning, just read your Bible, just pray, just be in church the next time the doors are open. Just occupy till I come. Just light that light, light that candle, don't put it under a bushel, put it on a hill, let your light so shine before men, and keep on shining until I show back up, and if you do that, you're good, because I gotta go get something ready for you. What? You know a lot of times the reason a young guy's not in the ministry when he wants to be in the ministry is because the place God wants him to minister isn't ready? I'm ready. I feel like I'm ready. I'm just ready. What am I supposed to do? Sit here forever? Nope. Sit here until God says go. What do I do in the meanwhile? Prepare. You know what I believe? I'm saying this for a reason. You know what I believe God's doing in this church? Well, we've been here 10 years. We're already in full swing. We got everything. No, no, no. I think God's preparing us for worship in the future. I don't think we've arrived. Do you? I think I'm gonna live my entire life in ministry, and if we prepare right, I think our worship will get better, I think our fellowship will get better, I think the fruit of the ministry will get better, but I think we're gonna live our entire lives preparing. You know what for? Real worship. Spirit and in truth when we see him and our eyes behold him and we actually dwell in his presence This is all preparation. So your whole life is meant to be preparation Learning and getting ready and working and obeying and watching the details. It is mundane. It is not always exciting I thank God there are good times. I And when things start getting boring, I got to do something to get it exciting for a little bit. Amen. Go on a mission strip with us. Something like that. We'll go somewhere fun. I mean, hey, ISIS is supposed to be in the town we're heading to in the Philippines, so that should be a riot. Amen. It's not all a drag. But can I tell you something? The reality is the vast majority of the Christian life is Monday. and God is doing something. If we'll pay attention, He'll get us ready to serve Him, to worship Him. Interestingly enough, God tells them to prepare six garments, actually seven. Six are shown right here in verse four. These are the garments which they shall make, a breastplate and an ephod and a robe and a broided coat, a miter and a girdle. And they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. Now, God has these six things, and a seventh we'll show you in a little bit, to get ready for Aaron to wear. The first thing is the ephod. Look at verse 6. They shall make the ephod of gold. What is gold a type of in the Bible? We've gone over this before. It's deity. of blue and of purple and of scarlet and fine twine linen with cunning work. You know what they would do is they would make gold like gold strands. You ever see the metal strings? Those of you guys that work construction, you've seen that stuff. Actually Alex was just telling me in the airplanes They have a metal string that goes between them, right? Safety wire, that's what he called it. Wire, that's the word I'm looking for. Between the bolts that go actually through the bolts and the bolts are going opposite directions so that if in flight one of those bolts begin to vibrate loose, the other one tightens. Pretty cool. So they can make wire out of metal, string out of metal. They could do it back here. So they had gold strings and they were embroidering that thing, sewing that thing together with blue and scarlet and fine twine linen with cunning work. It was beautiful stuff. That gold represents deity. That blue represents the heavenly. The purple represents loyalty. Scarlet represents blood. And they twine those linen together. And he said it was cunning work. Notice in verse number seven where they put it. It shall have the two shoulder pieces thereof at the two edges, and so shall it be joined together, and the curious girdle of the ephod which is upon it shall be of the same according to the work thereof, even of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twine linen. And thou shalt take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the children of Israel, six of their names on one stone and the other six names of the rest on the other stone according to their birth. God says this, I want the priest to bear on his shoulders the names of Israel according to their birth order. Not the way Jacob did it. God didn't show favoritism. He said, according to their birth order, I want their names on those stones and I want it on the priest's shoulders. Supposed to be born where? On his shoulders. Matthew chapter 23, please. Matthew chapter 23. Matthew 23 verse 1, Then spake Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do. But do not ye after their works, for they say and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. You know what he said? The religions of this world do and the Pharisees and the liars, not the ones that are truly following the word of God, the liars do. The liars take grievous burdens that are heavy to be born and they lay them on your shoulders and they say, go carry your sin. You know what God wanted the priest to do? He wanted him to bear the sins of Israel into the holy place before God. He said, if you're going to minister to me, what you're going to do is you're going to take their sins and you're going to bring them in. You're going to bear their burden. You're going to come in before me as a mediator. You're going to come in before me as one trying to help somebody else out, not laying them down with burdens grievous to be born. That is the problem with religions today. They're going to try to tell you that your works have to outweigh your good works, have to outweigh your bad works. They're going to pressure you. They're going to put more on you and more on you and more on you and more on you. When God doesn't do that, God is one who says, listen, if I got one guy that's going to help out, he's going to be one that is going to bear everybody else's burdens, not load them up with more burdens. That's what I'm thankful for about Jesus Christ. When I got saved, Was lifted at Calvary. I felt a weight come off of me because Jesus Christ on his own shoulders Took that cross. It was my cross and carry that thing for me. Hey a burden came off of me It's a great thing to be saved. It's not a burden. It's not difficult. It's not a struggle Hey, the shuttle's gone because my sins are gone and it was Jesus Christ that bore those sins for me I'm thankful for that He comes in there with this ephod. He puts these stones on Him and He goes in before the Lord. Look at Galatians chapter 6. Obviously, it's a type of Jesus Christ, as I've already made the point. But if you and I want to serve God, I mean, preparation for service, you want to serve the Lord? Amen. I'm glad one person does. If you want to serve God, Then you got to get the point. What's the point? You want to truly be a minister unto the Lord, right? Not unto men, unto the Lord. What does God expect you to do? Galatians chapter 6, verse number 1. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such in one in meekness, in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Watch. bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. You want to be like Christ? You want to fulfill the law of Christ? You want to be prepared for service? Then learn how to help somebody else out who needs some help. Jesus was warned in the multitudes, watch out for those Pharisees because they'll load you down and walk away. They will pressure you, they will burden you, they will preach constant judgment on you and walk away from you. Can I tell you, it's easy to open a Bible and see all that God says about sin, cry aloud, spare not, lift up that voice like a trumpet, tell my people, I mean, there's a powerful feeling there in always telling people about their sin. Get right. But can I tell you something? That's not all there is to the Bible. Yes, there's that message. But what are you supposed to do when you get right? You just take your burdens to the foot of the cross and you drop them off. Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. The get right thing is just so you can get rid of your load. Aren't you thankful for that? Did the Lord take your load? Find somebody else who has a load on them and help them out. Fulfill the law of Christ. Help them bear their load. I have seen so many times, and I'm getting tired of seeing it. Somebody messes up, and boy, they just feel so guilty about that sin. That thing's bothered them so bad. I've seen it in churches where you can't sing in the choir if you've been divorced. People find out you had an abortion and you are always and forever a Christian walking around with a black X on their forehead. You got right with God. It could even have been before you were saved or when you were backslidden. You got the thing right with God. The thing breaks your own heart. And then everybody else will never let you get freed from the sin that you committed sometime in the past. Let me tell you something, there is no sin that God can't forgive you for if you'll get right with God. Nothing. Nothing. What will men do? They'll load you down. What will Jesus Christ do? He'll take the load off of you. What will a true Christian who's following Jesus Christ and a true church that's got a spirit of meekness and the spirit of Christ in it, what will they do? They'll pick that load up off of you and help you start walking straight and living for Jesus Christ. You don't always have to be identified by your past. And if you're around people that always want to identify you by your past, you're around the wrong bunch of people. That ain't what the Lord had all the way over here under the law. The Lord didn't have that in mind. He said, put their names on your shoulders and bear their burden in before me. What was that? Well, you know who that is. He was typifying Jesus Christ. He was preparing all through those times for Jesus Christ to come. They should have known him when they saw him. Back in Exodus chapter 28, The second thing he tells them to get ready is in verse number 15, he begins to describe the breastplate. And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment, with cunning work. After the work of the ephod, thou shalt make it of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twine linen shalt thou make it. Four square it shall be, being doubled. A span shall be the length, and a span shall be the breadth. So now we got the breastplate of judgment. Now that's kind of interesting. Because the Christian's armor in Ephesians chapter 6 is a breastplate of righteousness. But in the Old Testament back here, when the high priest was to wear this garment, it was a breastplate of judgment. And I find it real interesting that it's four square. That's come up here recently. Remember we were discussing four square, the four Gospels? What's four? Testimony. Throughout your Bible, it's testimony. And it's funny to me also that he says double it. Now, I've told you time and time again throughout your Bible, when God passes judgment, in order for God to damn somebody justly, He'll give them two witnesses, two chances. And the two chances every human being on the planet gets is creation, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork. creation and conscience. You can go to heathen tribes out in the middle of nowhere and they'll know it's wrong to take another man's wife, to take another man's pig, to take another man's potatoes. Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not commit adultery. They know that stuff. The law of God according to the book of Romans is written in their hearts. That's conscience and everybody has both. So everybody could justly be damned for rejecting those two. Any individual on this planet who will respond to creation and conscience the best they know how, if they respond to light, God will give them more light. And they respond to that light, God will give them more light. And anywhere along that process that they go, yeah, I just don't believe that. God will shut the lights off. So throughout the Bible, when you find judgment of God, you'll find twos. You know what you've got? An Old Testament and a New Testament. It's interesting, isn't it? God says, double that thing, make it four square, give them a testimony, and make sure you give it to them twice. Why? Because this is the blessed plate of judgment. And what He was to do is to bear this thing on His heart. He has all these stones set that are representatives of the children of Israel. And He was to wear this thing in there, into the holy place, on His heart. Well, I just don't think God, a just God, a judging God. Wait a minute. God is just, God does judge. But you do not have a God in heaven that's your judge who is heartless. He so loved the world. that He passed judgment on His only begotten Son so the world could find forgiveness. That's a pretty powerful thing. Can I tell you something else that's a scary thing? Because when somebody just rejects creation and conscience, have they rejected a lot of light? Not a lot of light, enough light to be justly damned. Jesus Christ said to those, the cities that had heard the gospel preached and rejected them, He said, woe unto you. Because if Sodom and Gomorrah had heard what you've heard, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes. You've heard the gospel preached and you haven't repented. He said it shall be more tolerable in the day of judgment. For them, Sodom and Gomorrah, rapists and murderers and fornicators of every kind. He said it's going to be more tolerable in the day of judgment for them than for you, fine moral upstanding cities, because I preach and I work miracles here and you rejected me anyhow. Can I tell you America is going to have it bad. because so much Bible knowledge and so much Jesus Christ and so much truth out there that even a doubter who's not sure could dig enough to figure out, wow, man, there's something to this. To whom much is given, much will be required. This is the judgment here. Verse number 23, look at this. And thou shalt make upon the breastplate two rings of gold, and shalt put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate, and thou shalt put the two wreathing chains of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the breastplate, and the other two ends of the two wreathing chains, thou shalt fasten the two ouches, and put them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod before it. Two, two, two, two, two, all over judgment. That's interesting to me. Because look at Psalm 94. Psalm chapter 94. God's trying to give a testimony. God's trying to let some people know something. And what you got to first realize when you begin to deal with God is you first got to deal with judgment. You've got to. See, this is what turns most people away. And Christian, you're not off the chain just because you got saved. Your eternal soul is. But if you want to serve God and you want to be used to God, you want to minister to the Lord, you better learn to pass the righteous judgment in your life. Psalm chapter 94, look at verse 15. But judgment shall return unto what? Judgment shall return unto righteousness, and all the upright in heart shall follow it. It's called the breastplate of judgment in the Old Testament. What's it called in the New Testament in Ephesians chapter 6? Aren't you glad for Jesus? Because now you can get the breastplate of righteousness. Where does the righteousness come from? Does it come from the Old Testament law and all these good works that these guys fulfilled? Do you live up to this stuff? Does anybody in this room live anywhere near as holy as those Jews lived under the law? Anybody? I had some bacon when Grace was out of town. I had some pizza too and some ice cream and some other stuff. Amen. Hallelujah. It was all junk food. None of it, I mean none of it would have been allowed. A lot of it wouldn't have been allowed under the Old Testament law. I don't live as holy as these guys did. Do you? And what do they get? The breastplate of judgment. In other words, God's trying to tell you those works aren't going to cut it. You need a high priest to go in before the Father, before the God, and to represent you. And he's got to keep going in and keep going in. Read the book of Hebrews in light of this stuff and see what Jesus Christ was, the great high priest who ended all this stuff. And now what? Because of Jesus Christ, you and I got righteousness. We got the breastplate of righteousness. I am so thankful tonight that it is His righteousness and not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy we saved as I have the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ given to me because of what He did for me on the cross of Calvary, and the fact that I did what He said and received Him as my Savior, and I stand before God, I'm good. And I do not stand here before you tonight and say, Mike is good. I'm not telling you, Mike is good. I know Mike's a sinner. I fear God enough to stand in a pulpit with a Bible open claiming to represent Jesus Christ and God and truth and point men to myself? Are you kidding me? I'll tell you this, I'm good tonight. You know why? Not because of me, because of Him. Thank God for the righteousness of Jesus Christ. I'm so glad I'm not worried about that breastplate of judgment. Back in Exodus 28, I'm going to keep moving here and then we're going to tie it all together here in just a second. Exodus chapter 28, I want you to see the robe. Look at verse 31. And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod of all blue. And there shall be a hole in the top of it, in the midst thereof. And it shall have a binding of woven work round about the hole of it, as it were the hole of a habergion, that it be not rent. All right? Now, verse 33, beneath it, you need to notice this. Upon the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue and of purple and of scarlet round about the hem thereof, and bells of gold between them round about. A golden bell, and a pomegranate, a golden bell, and a pomegranate upon the hem of the robe round about. And it shall be upon Aaron to minister, and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the Lord, and when he cometh out, that he die not." Alright, so now you got the robe that he's told to make. The robe in verse number 31 of the ephod of all blue. This is a beautiful, beautiful garment he was wearing. Remember we read in the beginning of glory and of beauty? God says, I want something before me, when you come to minister unto me, I want it to be beautiful. Here's how I want it done. So now this robe that they're to wear. Boy, this one right here is interesting. Because, we'll go to the conclusion here first, and then we're gonna work back. He wants, on the bottom of that robe, he wants pomegranates and bells. Now, he spells it out specifically in verse 34. A golden bell and a pomegranate. So when he's describing it, he says pomegranates and bells, but then when he goes to tell him how to put it together, he says, the first thing is a bell. After the bell, a pomegranate. What is this representing? What a bizarre, I mean, isn't that kind of a little strange, to be honest? When that priest is in there to minister before the Lord, he is to be moving. And he's to be making noise. There was no getting comfortable in the service of God. There was no getting to a point where you're just chilling in the holiness, God, you know, right? You're in the holy place, and you're just kind of sitting around lazy in the house of God, and you're all, he's just relaxing. God said, when that man's ministering unto me and before me, I want everybody around to hear and to know that there's some noise being made. There's some work going on. Can I tell you this? Lifestyle evangelism doesn't work unless there's noise made first. I didn't say lifestyle evangelism will never work. If it's out of order, it's not unto the Lord. The first thing you've got to be willing to do is open your mouth. You've got to be willing to make some noise for Jesus Christ. God wanted that thing first in the proper order, the noise first, the fruit later. You've got to tell them about Jesus Christ. You've got to preach the gospel. That is not lifestyle, let them watch me and see what a great guy I am. And then they're going to come and say, why? Hey, you know what? I just wanted to stop you today and just say, you're such a great guy. Can you tell me what your secret is to all your joy and happiness? I want the spirit that you have. That's just not realistic. First, you have to open your mouth and make a little noise before God. You want to worship God? You want to serve as unto the Lord? You want to bring God glory? You want glory and beauty unto the Lord? Then make a little noise for Jesus Christ. Open your mouth and tell them about Him. Be bold to claim that name. and then when you claim that name, don't walk away from that thing and live like the stinking devil so his name is blaspheme and they say, that guy's a fraud and his religion's not real. All that stuff's a mess. Hey, when you're gonna preach the name of Jesus, show the fruit to go with it. That's something, that's something that'll have a power to it. I remember, I wish I knew exactly what preacher it was. If I name the one that got on my mind, I may be right, may be wrong. and I hate being wrong, so I'd rather go neutral, amen. But I remember one older preacher told a younger preacher, he said, what you need to do is set yourself on fire and let them come watch you burn for God. Amen. You know, he was an evangelistic preacher. seeing souls saved and lots of souls saved. Oh, they're gonna think I'm crazy. They're gonna think I'm weird. He said, don't worry about it. Set yourself on fire and let them watch you burn. Why? Because when you're making noise and you're preaching the truth and the word of God's going forth and they see you really mean it and believe it, the Holy Spirit of God will take that thing and start to use it. You know what we are? We're a timid, quiet, mealy-mouthed, and sissified, scared, cowardly bunch. Amen. Amen as the world gets crazier and crazier and bolder and bolder and bolder the Christians get more and more and more afraid Why? You know what? I gotta say for our president And this is not an endorsement of the man the old Bible says not to speak evil the ruler of our people So I'll say something nice Amen, because they can all be criticized. Amen. We're supposed to pray for him, right? You know, I at least appreciate about him at least he put some backbone in there He shouldn't say that. I think about it all the time. I'm like, why are you tweeting like that, man? You know what I mean? But then it's like, you know what, though? That was really controversial. I mean, you got some guts, man. He does not care what's happening. I at least like that. Glory to God. I wish we had some Christians that were a little more like that, a little less timid about Jesus, a little more willing to make a little noise for the Lord, a little more willing to step out there and just say, Hey, Jesus Christ is my Savior. Hey, I'd like to invite you in church. Can I give you a gospel check? Tell you what the Bible says about going to heaven? Sitting in my car not long ago, a couple of guys were walking by. They didn't see me in it. They stop and they're looking at my decal on the back. And they all start, you know, like trash talking each other and like making fun of it. I was sitting there, boy, I'm so carnal. I wanted to just all of a sudden pop in reverse and hit the gas, you know, just freak him out, you know. I sat there thinking, you know what? It's good that I'm being made fun of for Jesus. You know, they'll all broadcast their sin all over the place and not be embarrassed about it. Amen. And we're going to be all, oh no, they're making fun of me. It's not even junior high. You saved? You're going to heaven? You care about them? You want to see somebody else saved? Then tell them. Tell them. And show them the fruit. We used to have some young guys in our church that would run around town with our Jesus Still Saves t-shirts on or Bible Believers Church t-shirts on, buying dope and everything else. I won't tell you what I said to them because it's unpastoral. But that ain't what the Lord's talking about. Throwing on some pomegranates doesn't make it okay, some bells doesn't make it okay that your fruit's rotten. You stink and your noise is obnoxious. Amen. God wants them to go together. But notice something else. Look at Matthew chapter 26. Now, God specifically says that this thing is supposed to be woven throughout, in verse 32, we read it a minute ago, that it be not rent. This is a robe that's not supposed to be torn, right? Are you with me? Okay. Matthew chapter 26, look at verse 65. Start in verse 64. Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said, Nevertheless I say unto thee, Hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power. See that? And coming in the clouds of heaven. Christ was in heaven. He said He's coming back. Look at verse 65. Then the high priest rent his what? It wasn't supposed to be rent. The high priest was not supposed to rent that robe. He said, I want you to make this robe and I want you to wear it, that it be not rent. What did the high priest do in Matthew 26, 65? He should have known that he wasn't allowed to rent his clothes. Jesus Christ did not rent his clothes. When Jesus Christ, and I can show you more about the high priests and how they were and weren't allowed to grieve and all kinds of stuff. Jesus Christ grieved the way the priests were instructed to grieve. He wept and that was it. and that was allowed under the law for a high priest. You guys remember Jesus Christ's garment? Did they tear it? They cast lots for it. Remember that? They didn't tear it. He is hanging on that cross. The Roman soldiers have his garment. They're Roman soldiers. They're not even the Jews under the law. This is the high priest living as unto the law. ripping his clothes. Christ is there on the cross. When they take Christ's garment, he's on the cross controlling what they're doing on the ground. And instead of tearing that thing up and dividing it like they were, they wanted it as a souvenir. Instead of tearing it up and dividing it, they cast lots for it. So one guy got it, three guys lost out. Ain't that interesting? How in the world is he up there controlling that if he ain't God? His robe wasn't rent. Fulfilling the law down to details that most Christians live their entire lives, read their Bible through, and never even notice. He had it all, man. That's your savior. Back in Exodus chapter 28. He wants him to make something else. He wants him to make a mitre. This mitre goes on his head. Thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, engrave upon it like the engravings of a signet, holiness to the Lord. And thou shalt put it on a blue lace, that it may be upon the mitre, upon the forefront of the mitre it shall be, and it shall be upon Aaron's forehead. that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel shall hallow in their holy gifts. And it shall be always upon his forehead that they may be accepted before the Lord. You know what God wanted him to have at the forefront of his mind at all times? Holiness to the Lord. Not the holiness of the man. You know what religion is always doing? The holiness of the man. Why do they have dress codes? You ever notice that? I mean, you can recognize that's a Muslim. That's a Catholic priest. That's a nun. That's a Pentecostal holiness. That's a Baptist. And they'll all preach their standards for recognition of personal holiness. Right? That's religion. I mean, you see the Mormons, and there they go, and they're on their little missionary journeys, two 12-year-olds walking on the road, you know, the two little guys, and their hair's parted the same way, and they're wearing the same clothes, and they even kind of like walk the same way together, you know? And I know, I feel sorry for them, I'm sorry, I shouldn't mock like that. They need the Lord, they're just people, I get all that. But what is it about religion that is so rubber-stamped? Here's the heart of it. Here's the foundation. Here's the common denominator. Look at my holiness. Look at me. I got it together. I'm spiritual. You know what God said I want on the forefront of your mind at all times? Holiness to the Lord. It ain't my righteousness, it's His righteousness. It ain't my holiness, it's His holiness. And if His holiness is always at the forefront of my mind, My life will please Him. My life will please Him. It goes in line with the helmet of salvation, and I'm not going to run the references that I got for you because I'm going to wrap it up here, but the mind of Christ. You know you're supposed to have that. Another one, look at verse 39. And thou shalt embroider a coat of fine linen, and thou shalt make of the miter of fine linen, and thou shalt make of the girdle of needlework. So he just mentions this, embroider a coat of fine linen. What is fine linen according to the book of Revelation chapter 19 and verse 8? A fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. The robe I wear is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. On my forehead is holiness to the Lord. The coat I put on, on the outside, it's not quite the same. It's not as extensive. It doesn't cover as much as the robe of Jesus Christ righteousness covers. But as a Christian, I am to embroider some righteousness in my life. That's why when a Christian is trying to serve as unto the Lord, their behavior will change. It's not what's on the inside. What's on the inside? What truly gives me righteousness? Him. What truly covers me? Him. You know what this is? This is the outward adorning that goes over that, that says, anymore. I'm going to start trying to copycat you. I've told you before, I'm going to tell you again, I can do, you can't do this because you're saved, you Christians can't do, I can do anything I want. I might go to prison, be in some serious trouble with God, but I can do anything I want. You know, I don't want to do the things I used to want to do. My heart changed and I thank God for it. The embroidered coat, the last one is the girdle in verse 40. And Aaron's sons, thou shalt make coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles and bonnets, and thou shalt make them for glory and for beauty. What's a girdle? Well, in Ephesians chapter 6, he says the Lord said to be girded about with truth. You know, the truth is a beautiful thing, Christian. You know what this girdle would do for the priest when he put that thing around? That robe was big and that clothing was big. And as he's trying to move about, that thing would be all over the place and be twisting and be getting caught. So he'd put that girdle on. And that pulled that robe in and hold it all together and make it easier for him to move fluidly without getting all tangled up. Why? Because he had his loins gird about with truth. You know what a Christian needs? The girdle of truth. Why? It'll make it easier for you to move as you serve God. It'll make it easier for you to make some noise before the Lord. It'll make it easier for you to produce some fruit before God. If you've got your loins girt about with truth, it'll help you understand holiness to the Lord even better. It'll help you control what needs to be controlled and keep things where they're supposed to be in your life. The girdle of truth is something every Christian has got to have. But you'll notice, God would add something back in verse number one again and we'll wrap it up. He says, Folks, let me tell you something, God Almighty is watching. And what he wants to see is something that brings glory to the name of Jesus Christ and shows beauty of God in our lives. Can I tell you something without sounding girly? The Christian life is a beautiful thing. A Christian home ought to be a beautiful thing. Christian marriage, Christian children, a Bible-believing church where the spirit of Christ is ought to be a beautiful thing. How many of you feel like work is beautiful? No-takers? How many of you feel like what you see in society nowadays is beautiful? Anybody think of what they see in the bars, beautiful? Somebody puking his guts out? Rehabs, that look pretty. How about jail? Is that beautiful? You know what blew my mind? And I'll close with this. Blew my mind the first time I, I only been once, the first time I went to Hollywood. I saw something on TV that made it look like it was real sweet. Looks just, looks gorgeous. When I got there, walked down the street, saw those stars on the sidewalk and look at it, I said, this place is a dirty dump. I was shocked what a dump it was. I was unimpressed with the dinginess of it. That's amazing what a camera can do to change your perspective of everything. But you know, you go out there in the mountains that God created, and you walk up and down the hills, and you look down and you go, phew. That's glory. That's beauty. Everything God does is wonderful, and everything man does turns out pretty nasty. So you know what we ought to do with our life? with our worship, with our service, pay attention to the details God gives you and put together something when you go to serve God that is glorious and beautiful unto the Lord. That's what this thing is all about. We're not going to have an invitation tonight. We'll just go ahead and bow our heads and be dismissed in a word of prayer.