This is God's holy, inspired and inerrant word written for you, his people. The Lord said to Moses. See, I have called by name, Bezalel, the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood. to work in every craft. And behold, I've appointed with him Oholiob, the son of Ahissamach, of the tribe of Dan. And I have given to all able men ability that they may make all that I have commanded you. the tent of meeting, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat that is on it, and all the furnishings of the tent, the table and its utensils, and the pure lampstand with all its utensils, and the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin and its stand, and the finely worked garments, the holy garments for Aaron, the priest and the garments of his sons for their service as priests and the anointing oil and the fragrant incense for the holy place. According to all that I have commanded you, they shall do. And the Lord said to Moses, you are to speak to the people of Israel and say, above all, you shall keep my Sabbaths. For this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. For six days shall work be done. But the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore, the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days, the Lord made heaven and earth. And on the seventh day, he rested and was refreshed. And he gave to Moses when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone written with the finger of God. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Please be seated. In Genesis, we have paradise lost and the hope of return grows dim as evil grows stronger. And it reaches a focal point, a climax, when the Lord destroys his enemies by flooding the world. And yet he chose one man to save his family, Noah, through the ark. In the book of Exodus, the Lord saves his people through one man, Moses, after drowning their enemies in the Red Sea. After the flood, the nations began building a tower. After the Exodus, God's people began building a tabernacle. The building of the tower was an act of rebellion. The building of the tabernacle is an act of faith. The Lord stopped the tower builders by creating confusion among them and dispersing them. God equips the Israelites with wisdom so that they could be united in building the tabernacle. In an act of judgment, God scatters the tower builders across the earth. In an act of mercy, he saved Israel to send them after them. How will Israel succeed? Only if God goes with them. And how does the Lord go with his people? Through the tabernacle. Through the tabernacle. The Garden of Eden was the beginning of the kingdom of God on Earth, and it was to be spread out like the waters cover the sea. And yet it shrinks to the size of an arc floating on the seas of judgment. In that arc is the kingdom of God visibly represented. There is life and light. And what Exodus is showing us is that the kingdom of God on earth will be visible again. His visible presence on earth will be seen again, and it will be seen through the ministry of the tabernacle, which we have seen brings life and light to all who believe. But then we have to ask the question, if there is going to be a tabernacle, then there must be people to build that tabernacle. Just as Adam and his descendants were to build the kingdom of God on earth by spreading it to the furthest corners of the earth, and just as Noah and his sons built the ark to save them from the wrath of God, So, also, there must be a people to build the tabernacle where God will dwell and manifest His presence. And what you ought to hear this morning is that God is still in the work of building His kingdom, and just as He uses the people of the Old Covenant to build it, so He is using people like you today to do the same in the 21st century. So we are going to look at this text in just two parts, though you have three points on your outline. We are going to look at the people who build the tabernacle first, and then we're going to look at what God builds into the Sabbath day for his people. So two parts. What God uses, he uses people to build the tabernacle, and then secondly, what he builds into the Sabbath day for his people and their work. So first off, the builders of the tabernacle. Israel is the people, right? They are the people. They have been rescued. They have plundered the Egyptians, so they have gold, silver, precious gems, fabric to build this thing. And in chapter 12, we learned that. And now we're here in 31, and Moses is still up on the mountain. he's still getting the plans for this thing that they are going to do. And the plans for building the tabernacle will be overseen by two individuals. We might call them ancient foremen. We're told a couple of things about these foremen in verses one and six. First off, their names are given and what interesting names they are. I'll bet you've never run into a Bezalel. I'll bet you don't know anyone named Aholiab, right? Those typically aren't the go-to names when we're thinking about naming kids. You know, we think, we like our Davids and our Jacobs and our Pauls, and we like for girls' names, Ruth or Naomi or, you know, Sarah, something like that. We sometimes pick their names for meaning. I think mine did. Daniel means God is my judge. I'm not sure why they picked that name for me, but I can tell you this, there was a time when even my name haunted me, when I realized that yes, God is judge, and God is your judge, that's only good news if Jesus is your savior. Well, the names of these two men, they're interesting, even as they are relevant. Bezalel means in the shadow of God. That's the kind of person you want working on this project, right? Someone who's working in the shadow of God. Actually, shadow is a metaphorical way of saying it's under the protection of God, right? If you're abiding under the shadow of God, you're protected by him. So here is this man who is protected by God, and then there's his servant, Oholiab, whose name means the tent of the father, or the father is my tent, which is a very fascinating name to have when you consider verse seven and what they're making. It's called what? The tent of meeting. The tent of the father is the one who makes it along with him who abides in the protection of God. That's good. The next thing we learn about Bezalel is that he's from a specific tribe, the tribe of Judah, as is Oholiab from a tribe, the tribe of Dan. And that's a bit puzzling. You might've thought that a Levite would be the one to head up this building project since the Levites are gonna be the ones using the tabernacle and performing the sacrifices and all those things, but no. It's someone from the tribe of Judah of all places. And he's the one who's gonna devise the artistic designs to work in gold, silver, and bronze, verse five, in cutting stones for setting and in carving wood to work. in every craft. Is it significant that God chooses one from the tribe of Judah to build this visible kingdom of God on Earth? I think it is right. At least the book of Genesis has sent signals that the offspring of the woman that will crush the serpent's head. Genesis three is coming through this line of Abraham. And by the time you get to the end of Genesis, we, we find out even which tribe he is coming from. So you have it on your outline, Genesis 49, eight, Jacob comes to the end of his life and he's prophesying over his sons. And this is what he says to Judah, your brothers shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's sons shall bow down before you. Verse 10, the scepter shall not depart from Judah nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until tribute comes to him. And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. One who is in the kingly line builds the tabernacle. One who is under the shadow of the Almighty builds the place for the Almighty God to dwell. All this looks ahead to the son of David from the tribe of Judah, who isn't just a man under the shadow or in the shadow of God Almighty, but is God in the flesh. The shadow is removed. It is God in the flesh. Remember when Jesus came, he declared certain things to the people as they listened to him and they expected that the kingdom of God would once again come and it'd be some masterful, significant artifact of history for all to see. And Jesus says in Matthew 12, if I cast out demons by the spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Jesus said the kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, look, here it is or there. For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst. And so you see, there's the Language of Exodus you have a kingdom that is being built around this Tabernacle and who is in the midst of this kingdom God himself and that's what Jesus is saying I've come to expand the kingdom I've come to build it and you can know for sure the kingdom is here. Why because the king is here the king of glory is Jesus said, of course, to those who questioned his credentials, you're looking at Moses because you think you have life in those scriptures of his, but they are those that speak of me. He said in John 5, 46, if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. So Bezalel becomes something of a shadow, a forecast of what the Messiah Jesus, the King of Israel, will do in the years to come. The third thing we discover might be the most surprising. Looking in at verse three, it says, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God. This is only the third time in our Bibles where this Hebrew phrase, Ruach Elohim, Spirit of God, this is the third time that it's found in the Bible. The first time is at creation when the Spirit of God is hovering over the waters. And then towards the end of Genesis, you have Joseph being brought out of a pit, interpreting a dream for Pharaoh. There'll be seven good years and seven bad years. And Pharaoh, in amazement, says, Can we find anyone like this in whom is the spirit of God or perhaps a spirit of the gods? And we probably should not miss this because this is subtle. But in saying, I have filled him with the spirit of God, we have a hint of plurality in the Godhead, don't we? For God to say, I have filled him with the Spirit of God, that is different than saying, I am filling him with myself. So we have signs already that there is a plurality in the Godhead. And it's interesting to speculate the one filled is from the tribe of Judah, who stands as a type of Christ in the work that he does. We have implicit Trinitarian roots growing out of the first and second books of the Bible. Now, this is really curious. Remember how the priests, when they are vested with the office, they're sprinkled with the anointing oil. And that anointing oil, many believe, was symbolic. It's emblematic, if you will, of the Holy Spirit. Isn't it interesting that here he doesn't receive anointing oil, he doesn't receive the sign, he receives the thing signified, if you will. And this might be the most unexpected thing of all. The first mention of God pouring out his spirit into someone happens to be a construction foreman, not a priest, not a king, not a prophet, but a handyman, a contractor. receives the Spirit of God. This would be a great place to talk about building and grounds needs that we have at Hope. That's not the point of the text. But there are needs, and you could talk to a deacon and find out what those are if you have those kinds of handy skills. But that's clearly not the point here. God's filling them for a purpose. He fills these two men, verse three, for what purpose? Verse three says he's filled them with the ability and intelligence with knowledge and all craftsmanship to devise artistic designs to work in gold, silver and bronze and cutting stones for setting and carving wood to work in every craft. So. He has taken their skills, their abilities. He's added to that his Holy Spirit so that they can help build the tabernacle. But I want you to notice something else. They're not the only ones doing the building. Look at verse six. And I have given to all men ability that they may make all that I have commanded you. And that's not all. Turn to Exodus 35. And look at verses 25 and 26. And every skillful woman spun with her hands, and they all brought what they had spun in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twine linen. All the women whose hearts stirred them to use their skill spun the goat's hair. So we see this as a collective work. It is a building project of enormous proportions, and many people are involved, not just the leaders. And the elders and deacons of hope are saying, preach it, brother. Everyone is involved in this work. The spirit fills their leader, Bezalel, So that with the wisdom and the ability that he has been given, and if you go back to chapter 31, you notice that that word ability shows up again in verse six, which describes the ability of the crew. And that links back to Bezalel's ability. So we probably shouldn't think that here were these guys sitting around going, Oh, what's that? It looks like a hammer. Any idea how to use it? No, the spirit comes and they have the ability. That's probably not what's happening here. What's happening here is people have developed these skills, right, doing hard labor in Egypt, and now God is reusing those skills. He's repurposing those abilities to build something grand and beautiful. So I wonder if you are drawing any applications out for your own life as you think about this. Let me, again, reiterate, it wasn't just the leaders that did everything. your leaders need your help, just like these leaders needed the people's help. And when you get to the New Testament, it becomes clear that God does not dwell in temples made with hands. He can't be confined in wood and brick and mortar, right? But he is found in the church, both individually, you, and collectively, us. And we noticed from Exodus 31 that people didn't stand in line to sign up for the titles. Oh, I want to be this, or I want to be that. No, they recognized here is a need, I have some skill in that area, I can be used. And that's, I think, the appropriate and proper way in which the kingdom is built. We use the abilities and skills that God has given us for His glory. When people talk about these abilities, we use the language of spiritual gifts. And we tend to think of spiritual gifts as those word gifts, right? preaching, teaching, Sunday school, evangelism, missions, maybe playing the instruments and leading God's people in worship. And that's fine. If God has given you those abilities, please use them in that way to benefit the body. But Paul does speak about the church as a body. And he says the body has different parts because there are different functions and things that need to happen. And so in 1 Corinthians 12, he can say, the foot need not say, well, I'm not the hand, so I'm of no value. or the ear saying, well, I'm not an eye, so what good am I? I'm not part of this thing. Paul is an ancient thinker, to be sure, but to be sure, he does know that there are behind-the-scenes things that happen in a human body. He knows that if his heart stops going lub-lub, he's dead. He knows that the body has lungs and internal organs and so forth, and those are the things that are necessary if the mouth is going to move and speak. And so I think we can take this analogy of the body and say every person has a part to play in God's kingdom, in Christ's body. You have a citation from Romans 12, Paul says, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us. So it's by grace that God has given you the skills and the abilities that you have. Let us use them. If prophecy in proportion to our faith, if service in our serving, the one who teaches in his teaching, the one who exhorts in his exhortation, the one who contributes in generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness. Those are broad categories. And due to the fall, I think there are lots of ways we can serve, right? With cheerfulness, doing deeds of mercy, or verse seven, in serving others who are in need. I mean, this is what the body of Christ is for. how terrible, right? If the head gets a gash and the arm and the hand say, I'm not going to pick up that paper towel and stop that bleeding, right? We are all needed for the service of Christ. That's why we're here. to discover more about who God is, and by consequence, who we are, and therefore what our needs are. So that is the work that is to be done. It is to be done collectively by the body. Now let's look secondly at the Sabbath. In verses 12 through 17, Some have wondered as they looked at the Sabbath text here, why is this here again? Because we already read about the Sabbath multiple times back in chapter 16. You don't collect manna on the Sabbath day. And then we saw it codified in chapter 20. It's one of the Ten Commandments. Keep the Sabbath day holy, do your work and then rest. Well, why do we have another instance here of the Sabbath? Now, there is clearly a deeper meaning than just a after work, rest follows. There's something deeper here and we learn some new things about the Sabbath and what is expected of the people. We see its purpose in verse 13. Have a look. You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, above all, you shall keep my Sabbaths for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that. And here I'm going to translate it as the NIV does, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. I am the Lord who sanctifies you. So what is the first purpose of the Sabbath? It is so that you can know your God. He has set aside this time so that you can get to know him. And I would say in so doing, you'll better know yourself, but it's primarily set aside for you to know God and what he is like. Now that doesn't say, and therefore you don't have to read your Bibles and pray and do all the other stuff during the week. But God is saying for his people to know him, they must set aside this day and get to know him as he is commanded. And secondly, it says that God is the one who sanctifies you. to sanctify, to be set apart, to make holy. This is the design of this day. And as has been said before, sanctification, there are two sides to it. Sanctification is 100% your work. Pause for dramatic effect. What? And 100% God's work. It's both. Friends, this is why we have in our liturgy, after we have confessed our sins and we have heard the pardon of God's mercy, this is why we have that summons to newness of life. What is that? It is a call to sanctification. It's a call to put to death the dark deeds of the body and bring to life and live in righteousness as God has raised us up with Christ in newness of life. Sanctification is not optional. Those whom God saves, He sanctifies. And so we are to pursue it. And God said, this is what this day is for. This is Hebrews 12, 14 of the Old Testament. Strive for peace with everyone and for holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. That's significant. It's strive for holiness. It's not sit back and wait for it to happen. You got to work at it. And yet, having said that, we don't believe for even a moment that all of our striving for holiness will ever achieve it without the sanctifying work of the Spirit. It's the Spirit of God who works in us to conform us to the image of Christ so that we can say no to sin and yes to righteousness. It is a work of God. It is every bit as much as it is our work. And so we have Philippians 2, verses 12 and 13, where it says, it is God who works in you both to will and to do his good pleasure. As it relates to Exodus 31, then how does God say that he will sanctify his people? That's answered with one word, Sabbath. Note the design of the Sabbath in verse 12. It is that God's people will know the Lord and know they are being purified and made holy by him. That is what the Sabbath is for. And that, friends, is why the consequences for breaking it are so severe. It's because God really does mean for his people to be holy as he is holy. Look at verse 14. You shall keep the Sabbath because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. I have jotted down for you the Leviticus 20 verses two and three. And there you have the only other occurrence of this double negative, to be put to death and cut off. Only there, God is saying anyone who sacrifices their child to Molech will be killed and I will cut them off. Now put those two things together and think about how we do it today. What would you say is a more heinous crime? To sacrifice a child to a God or to skip out on the Lord's day? God says the consequences for Israel in the Old Testament are the same. Sacrificing your child to Moloch gets this double negative. You are to put that person to death and I will cut them off. and so also for breaking the Sabbath. God means for his people to be holy. He places great emphasis on it. It is a day set aside. It's set apart for us and for others so that we can have fellowship with him. It was for their good, even as it is for our good today. As we honor the Lord Sunday by Sunday, the day has changed. Of course, for believers, the day has changed. But the idea has not changed that on one day, God's people will collectively gather in the name of Christ so that we can know him better and thereby be sanctified to live holy lives for him. Friends, that's what he's given us this day for. God has given you this day, it is for your benefit, and here are the benefits. There are two of them. Worship. and rest, worship and rest. You have maybe heard someone say, or perhaps you felt like saying when the alarm clock went off, do I really need to get up and go to church today? And the answer is yes. However, it might be better to reformulate that question. The question isn't, ah, do I have to get up and go to church and worship? Better way to put it would be, you mean I actually get to go and worship and rest? And God's answer is, yes, you do. As your pastor, I'm telling you, you have permission to worship the Lord on Sunday and then to go home and take a nap. Isn't that wonderful? The Lord knows you need both. You need worship and you need rest. And some of you need rest more so than others. You say, but pastor, I have so much to do. The list is so long. Yeah, I think God probably knew that when he told you to take a day off and rest. The list will still be there, but so is God's command. You need this time. You need this refreshing. And I know Some of you come to church, you're so tired that the only rest you get is during the sermon. I get it. I see everything up here. I don't know where I got this one from. I think it was R. Kent Hughes, something like this. You know, rest is a gift of God. And therefore, if you come to church on Sunday and you take a little refreshing power nap during the sermon, I will feel I've done my Christian duty. in helping you get what you need. Now, if you do that every Sunday, I'm going to get nervous. When you worship and then when you rest, I want to say that it is an act of cultural rebellion, which like Pharaoh says, you do not need or have the time to worship and to set aside your labors. That is exactly what Pharaoh did to Israel. And friends, you serve a master who is generous and kind. And as you regularly do these things, if you get into this biblical rhythm and habit of resting and worshiping on Sunday, you are saying by your actions, I am trusting God to meet my needs for the rest of the week. Yeah, I know that list is long. There's always more work that could be done, especially in our fast-paced, performance-demanding area that we live in. But God is giving us this day to refresh and recalibrate and refocus on how we are going to get through this day. And we will know that we are not facing the tyranny of this week alone because God is with us, because we know Him better. We know that He is with us, and so we don't face it. in our own strength, in our own ability. And you might just find that worshiping and then resting on the Sunday that we gather for worship is a great way to actually prepare you for all the work that you've got to do. It is especially as we gather for worship that God comes to bless and to make holy, making you more like Jesus is God's aim. That is why you are here. Part of that program of making you more like Jesus is through worship, and that's what verse 13 is getting at. As Israel observes the Sabbath day, they come to know God better, their conviction grows. Well, if this is the God who is with us, then who can stop us? You see, it benefits their entire lives. By knowing this God, they know who is with them throughout the week. And so let me ask you, what are we really communicating if we discard the day that God has given? What is that saying? Well, let me give you the comments of others. John Fesco wrote this. He said, God sanctifies us or sets us apart because no other gathering of people except for the gathering of the church is the place where we find God's special holy presence. When we absent ourselves from church and fail to observe the Lord's day, we are tacitly admitting that we have no desire to be in the presence of God, that we do not need the sanctifying work of God in our lives. Or consider these words from Philip Ryken about avoiding the presence of God with his people. Quote, it is a way of saying to God, my relationship with you isn't important to me. You're not worth the time to get to know when people say that they really are cutting themselves off from God, and it is only right for them to be cut off from their people. End of quote. Here's one more commentator. By not keeping the Sabbath, the Israelite was showing that he or she was not interested in knowing that I am the Lord. Let me draw out from another angle why these commentators landed with this application for us the way that they have. this principle that you need this day and that this day, instead of being a defiance of culture, becomes a defiance towards God. Let me show you how they get there. You need to put the opening verse and the closing verse of this Sabbath commandment together. Look at verse 12. It's on your outline. The Lord said to Moses, you are to speak to the people of Israel and say above all, you shall number one. Keep my Sabbaths for number two. This is a sign between me and you throughout your generations. Number three, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. Now, verse 16. Therefore, the people of Israel shall, number one, keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as a covenant forever. Number two, it is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel. Number three, that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth. And on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. You see how those two things work like a framing device. And that's why the consequences are so severe, because we're saying when we don't gather for worship... I understand there are deeds of necessity and mercy. There are policemen that still need to be on the street. There are doctors that still need to perform surgeries. There are those kinds of things. There are neighbors who need help, and that's fine. But when we willfully say, no, I think I'll pass, what we're saying is, I don't care to know you, God. I think I'm doing fine in my own holiness. And what is it saying with regard to verse 16? I know that this is the goal, but right now I have a game to play. Right now I have a life to live. And so I'm not really interested in observing the Sabbath. Well, why would that be? Because you're not interested in what the Sabbath points to, your eternal rest and refreshment with God. It is a big deal. And let me say something to preachers as well, not just to the people, but to preachers. We gather because God wants it to be known that he is Lord, not us, not anything else. He is Lord over his people, not families, not jobs, not status, not wealth, not personal happiness. None of these things are the people's Lord. And so ministers, our job is that God's people would know he is the Lord. That is the purpose of preaching. That is the purpose of this day. Well, if there's anything that shows us the importance of knowing the Lord and the consequences of not knowing him, I think the book of Exodus gives it to us in very bright colors. And I'm not just talking about Pharaoh. Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice? No, I'm talking about Israel and what happens when Israel fails to obey the voice of the Lord. And so let's wrap up with what I'm calling the structural failure. which points to the need for Israel's Savior. Even though they have this Adam-like figure building the tabernacle, filled with the Spirit and life, and even with the Sabbath promise before them to enter God's rest with Him and be refreshed, there's still one more verse. Verse 18. And he gave to Moses when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony tablets of stone written with the finger of God. He's speaking there of the 10 commandments, of course, and therein lies the problem. Like Adam, Israel will also succumb to the subtleties of the evil one. Like Adam, they will break his commandments and they will fail to extend the kingdom and to enter his rest. Even as Adam does their, their bodies die in the wilderness. Notice how the rest of the book unfolds. We have five chapters of the tabernacle and the equipping of the two men for the building of the kingdom of God on earth. That's followed by verses 12-17. We have Sabbath rest, the sign of the covenant that joy and peace will not be fleeting, it will be forever. And then comes verse 18, which speaks of the law of God in two tablets of stone. unbreakable, binding forever. It's called the two tablets of the testimony, but the question is, will it be a testimony for Israel or against Israel? Friends, what comes next? Chapters 32 through 34 are Israel's sin and breaking of the law. And as soon as Moses came down near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. The law is broken. The testimony is against them. But look at what immediately follows the Sabbath. And then notice what immediately follows the Sabbath, starting in verse four and running all the way through chapter 40, the building of the tabernacle. So you have that little point on your outline. It's called a chiasm. It's a literary device to focus our attention on the center. It goes tabernacle, Sabbath, law given, law broken, Sabbath, tabernacle. What is at the center? the law that is given and the law that is broken. And yet the law given and broken is surrounded by God's grace. It could have went tabernacle Sabbath law, broken law finished, but it goes right back to Sabbath. The hope still remains right back to the tabernacle. God is going to build his kingdom. It points down upon Israel's sin, but it points up to Israel's Savior. Jesus comes from the tribe of Judah, and as he steps into the waters of baptism and assumes the responsibility of saving his people, he undergoes the water baptism as a symbol of the judgment brought by an offended, angry God who is Lord of heaven and earth. In that moment, the heavens are opened and Jesus is anointed with the Spirit. The Father sends, the Spirit equips, and Jesus carries out the task to rescue his people before God's wrath reaches its limits and is unleashed like a flood. In order to do that, Jesus must not only do everything that God commands, Exodus 31, 18, He must die for the commandment breakers, Exodus 32 through 34. The promise of baptism is, Father, I will do all that you command. And it reaches its fulfillment at the cross. When the shadow of God which is the protection of God, is removed. And then there's literally hell to pay. And Jesus pays it. Three days later, Jesus is raised and Jesus commissions his people to join him in building his church, the kingdom of God on earth. And friends, the God who calls Bezalel by name also called you to Himself, and He gave you a name, a new name. Your name is Christian, and He has put upon you His name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And his spirit has gifted you to take up the work your savior desires to do through you by using your gifts for the glory of King Jesus, who builds his church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. This is the reminder we celebrate each Sunday. Here it is. Jesus wins. It might look dark. It might look discouraging. It might look like a mess under the mountain, people dancing around before anything and everything but God. But here is the word for each Sunday. Jesus wins. The rest and refreshing awaits. He is worthy of your faith. Without him, you have no hope in this world. You are destined for the sword and that sword will torment forever unless you have found your shelter in the Savior. And what is it that Jesus says to you? He doesn't say to you, you know, when you come to me, you better do better. You better work hard. You better not take it easy. Now, when you come to Jesus, He says, come all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you, what? Rest. Let's pray. We are busy people. We like to be about all kinds of things that interest us. tickle our fancy. Lord, we're so easily distracted, and we just want to confess to you now that we need your Spirit to stay on track. We need the help of your grace to be here so that we could be a benefit to others. So, Lord, we ask that you would make us holy We don't come to you with any pledge of personal merit or holiness. We come to you pleading the merits of Him who is holy through and through and ask that through Jesus, you would do your work in us and that by the power of your spirit, you would use us for your kingdom purposes in this world. Or we pray that others would hear and know and rest in the Savior in whose name we pray. Amen.