We'll get the citations out of the way right now. My sources are Matthew Henry's Commentary, Wikipedia, and Collier's Encyclopedia, and the Bible. Imagine a woman. Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, we ask, Lord, that you'd speak to us today because of your son, because of your glory. May your children, Lord, reflect his glory. In Jesus' name, amen. Imagine a woman who looked in a mirror this morning. That shouldn't be hard. A mirror in the bedroom, in the bathroom, by the door as she goes out, and the compact from her purse. She then proceeds to back out of her driveway and collide with another car, whereupon the driver in the other car asks, don't you ever look in your mirror? Now in reality, Women were using mirrors to see behind their vehicles as early as 1906. And automobile manufacturers didn't introduce rearview mirrors until eight years after that. It's documented. Today we'll be looking at things done with mirrors. Hence the title, It's All Done With Mirrors. Let's turn to James 1. We've already read the text. James chapter one. Now for me to really get started, I have to put a pen in my hand. We looked at verses 19 to 27. And I want to read for us verse 18, because verse 18 gives us, well, let's read it first. Chapter one, verse 18. In the exercise of his will, he brought us forth by the word of truth so that we might be, as it were, the firstfruits among his creatures." This verse gives us the reason behind the rest of this chapter. God used his word to make you the pinnacle of his creation, namely, redeemed souls. Something to put on display as the firstfruits. Now, he says in the rest of this chapter, be presentable. Achieve God's goal of righteousness in you by looking intently at the Word of God, the same Word, and living by it, especially in your speaking and in your helping the helpless. I saw an episode of the original Star Trek a few days ago. A woman was the sole survivor of a spaceship crash. And she was severely injured. And she didn't crash on the Earth, by the way. There were many people on this ship, but she was the sole survivor. And aliens on the planet that she crashed on put her back together. But they had never seen a human before. And so although they saved her life, she was grotesque. Is that God's goal? Grotesque Christians who do not achieve His beautiful righteousness. Or worse yet, do we just imagine that we are religious and we are actually still dead, as mentioned in this chapter and the following chapter? We need to look at the mirror that God has provided His Word. It shows who we were and it shows that we are freed from bondage to sin. We mustn't turn away from this mirror or else we will quickly forget these things. I got up Saturday to work on this message. I didn't comb my hair. I walked about in a robe all morning. Then Sandy Wade came to see Debbie. Well, there I was having forgotten what I looked like. Eventually, I got dressed. Notice that in the book of James, the person who forgets what he looks like is a man. Okay? Okay. But then it says, then the rest of it talks about anyone that's not particularly masculine. Okay. One way to keep looking at that mirror of God's word is memorization. Two weekends ago on Saturday, the Student Life Clarity event was held in the Birmingham area. And some of our youths heard Dr. David Platt quote Psalm 119, all 176 verses. He got up on the stage and quoted that psalm from memory. He was emphasizing the importance of God's word by memorizing and reciting a huge psalm about God's word. And I think it impressed everyone. I mean, it did. Everyone stood up. Part of his emphasis in the message was the centrality of God's Word. And we always stand up at these events for the band. He said, why don't we stand up for the Word? And so everyone stood up. And when he recited that, he was standing there. I didn't even know it. Someone had to tell me, because I was looking in my Bible. I didn't notice. He was just standing there speaking that psalm. Someone had to tell me, he quoted that. He did? Woo! Wow. If we do these things, James says, we will be happy and we will see the kinds of results that count. So if God saves us using the mirror of his word, he also liberates us using the same mirror, making us the first fruits to put on display. It's all done with mirrors. What else is done with mirrors? Well, beginning in 1969, the crews of Apollo 11, Apollo 14, Apollo 15, and two unmanned Soviet space flights placed mirrors on the moon. Today, scientists, even today, yeah, scientists measure the distance to the moon to an accuracy of less than a tenth of an inch by pointing a laser at any one of those mirrors that are still operating. They're not all still operating. I mean, they don't do anything, they just sit there, but whether they're covered by dust for some reason or what, but some don't, or they can't locate them because they moved, whatever. One of them, you know, the Soviet ones were on mobile transport, and so they're not sure where they are. But they can still measure to the moon today and do. And they've determined that the moon is getting further from the earth at the rate of 1.5 inches per year. And so my question to you is, are you further or closer to Christ today? Look in the mirror of God's word to see. The hall of mirrors at the Palace of Versailles in France has 17 windows, 8,000 square feet of floor space, 40 foot ceilings, and 357 large mirrors. It was there, in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles, that Germany signed the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, officially ending World War I, thereby reconciling the central powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria to the Allies. Notice the central powers get listed and Allies don't. Of course, there were very many Allies. Have you been reconciled to the Lord of the universe? Stand before the mirror of God's word to see. Let's look at second Corinthians chapter three. Second Corinthians chapter three, verse two and three. You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men, being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God. Not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. In our first text in the book of James, James emphasized the function of the Word of God in conversion and sanctification. Paul, on the other hand, is emphasizing the function of the Spirit of God and the function of the person who carries the Word of God to the unsaved. Actually, what Paul is saying is we carry not just the Word of God, but we carry the Spirit of God to the unsaved. And in a sense, this spirit is transmitted from us to the unsaved. Sounds like heresy, I know. In a sense, look at verse two again. You are our letter written in our hearts. I looked at that over and over again. How can it be written in my heart? You look at the rest of the chapter, it talks about writing in their hearts. But here it says, written in our hearts. The point is, that's the source. Paul wrote the letter in his heart. And the result is the letter in... The result is the Corinthian church, which is the letter. And now the Spirit has been written on their hearts. And so, Paul wrote the letter. He's the source of the letter. It's written in his heart. It's his life. It's because of his life. It's because of his example. It's because of His obedience. It's because of His love for the Corinthians that the Corinthians exist as followers of Christ. And so they, as a letter, were written in His heart. You are a letter we wrote with our lives, with our beings. You are who you are because of who we are, and we sent you out. Look at verse 3. Being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. He's saying it is by Paul's instrumentality that the spirit of God wrote on the Corinthians hearts. So in a sense, the spirit of God is transmitted from one Christian's heart to the next. Look at verses five and six. I mean, that's a heavy statement. And similarly, in Romans, when he says that God is in control of salvation, well then, who can object? He has to answer that objection. Well, likewise, he has to answer the objection. You're kidding me, Paul. We do that? Well, he comes back on verse 5. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God. who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant. Not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. No longer is there Moses, or Aaron, or a priest, as there was in the old covenant, telling the Jews to know the Lord. All Christians know the Lord, and are qualified to spread the new covenant, carrying the Spirit of God to the world. Christ is all and in all, says the book of Colossians. Moses' face glowed. But that glory is nothing compared to the glory of Christ in you, verse 10. For indeed, what had glory in this case has no glory on account of the glory that surpasses it. The world sees Christ in us, verse 18. But we all, verse 18, With unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. I'm afraid this is one time the NIV has the correct translation and the one I just read, my cherished NAS, is wrong. And the King James and New King James likewise are not as good as the NIV in this case. The English Standard Version at least footnotes a good translation of this verse, but the text is the same as the NAS. But let me read the NIV to you right now. And we who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." And we won't worry about the last part of that verse, because I think that's even harder to translate. And I'm not a Greek scholar. But Strong's says that this word that the NAS translates as, beholding as in a mirror, is reflexive. So I conclude that it should literally say, we reflecting ourselves, the Lord's glory. And it doesn't make much sense in English, but maybe we could rearrange it as, we ourselves are reflecting the Lord's glory. I don't know. But if it's reflexive, then we're the mirror. So the glory of the Lord reflects off of us. And what is the point of it except that it should reflect to another person? Look at verses 7 to 13. of chapter 3, 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 7. But if the ministry of death in letters engraved on stones came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how shall the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, Much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. For indeed, what had glory in this case has no glory on account of the glory that surpasses it. For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory. Okay, continuing. Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech. and are not as Moses, who used to put a veil over his face, that the sons of Israel might not look intently at the end of what was fading away. Let's go down to chapter 4, verse 6. For God who said, this is chapter 4, verse 6. For God who said, light shall shine out of darkness, is the one who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, or jars of clay, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves. WDJC has been playing a song by the band Salvador, which just means Savior in Spanish. And it's entitled Shine. Lord, let me shine, shine like the moon. reflection of you in all that I do Lord let me be a light for your truth light of the world I want to be used to shine for you mirrors are made for many things there's a mercury mirror in a telescope in Canada mercury for those of you who don't know is a metal that is liquid at room temperature. Most of you know that, but I just want to remind most of you. A 20 foot wide bowl, in this telescope, a 20 foot wide bowl is filled with a thin layer of pure liquid mercury. And the bowl rotates at 6 rotations per minute to give the surface of the mercury the correct shape to reflect and focus light. This telescope can only look straight up. It can't aim it, because it would pour out. Most telescopes you can aim. But today's mirrors are glass and back-coated with aluminum. You know all that. And this process of coating the back with aluminum is called silvering. Obviously, right? Well, because both silver and quicksilver, which is another name for mercury, were used as earlier coatings for mirrors. Now, clear glass, the clear glass that we use in mirrors, wasn't made until AD 100. Soon after that, the method for making clear glass was lost when the Roman Empire fell. And so the 11th century, saw the emergence of glass mirrors in Islamic Spain. I don't know if this was with clear glass or not, but they had some type of glass that was used as a mirror. But mirrors made from clear, uncolored glass, which was called cristolo, were made in Venice, Italy in the 16th century. So my point about all that is that The history of glass mirrors begins maybe in AD 100 at the earliest, okay? And so the mirrors spoken of in the Old and New Testaments are not glass, but bronze mirrors or something like that, which gave a colored, wavy reflection. This is why Paul can say in 1 Corinthians 13, 12, for now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know fully, just as I also have been fully known." If they used the mirrors we have today, he wouldn't say something like that, because you can see perfectly clearly in today's mirrors. Our present understanding is by seeing Christ in the Bible and in other Christians, both of which reflect Christ sufficiently, but not perfectly. You know, Paul said, be followers of me even as I am of Christ. And so we see Christ in Christians. And Paul said, follow me. So it's not improper to say that that's a place that we see Christ. Similarly, in 1 John 3, 2, when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him just as he is. We don't see him just as he is right now, but we will. So why do some of our Bible translations refer to mirrors as glass or looking glass? When the Bible was first written, there was no clear glass, okay? And the mirrors were brass. Well, the term mirror was used for the old, poor metal mirrors. And so when glass mirrors became popular, I suppose they were distinguished from the earlier ones by using the term glass, looking glass. And this was still the case when our early English translations were made. But eventually, the term went back to being mirror, because there weren't any brass mirrors in use. And so there wasn't any need to distinguish anymore. And here, let me take off my glasses. Or should I call them plastics? There's not any glass in them. But we still call them glasses. Elihu, the young man who speaks after Job's three counselors have finished their speeches, Elihu glorifies God as he describes the strong forces of the weather that God controls. He summarizes, I think, by stating in Job 37, 18, you don't have to turn there, can you, he's speaking to Job, can you, with him, spread out the skies strong as a molten mirror Strong, heavy mirrors were cast from brass and polished, reflecting light as does the sky when the lightning lights up the night. So I can see the comparison between a mirror and the sky. And the strength of the sky is in the terrible destruction that we see that comes from it. Isaiah paints a terrible picture. proud women because our topic is mirrors I'm afraid men don't come up too often except in the book of James where they don't use the mirrors enough so they forget what they look like Isaiah chapter 3 Isaiah chapter 3 verse 16 we're gonna read to the end of the chapter Isaiah chapter 3 verse 16 moreover the Lord said because the daughters of Zion are proud and walk with heads held high and seductive eyes and go along with mincing steps and tinkle the bangles on their feet therefore the Lord will afflict the scalp of the daughters of Zion with scabs and the Lord will make their foreheads bare In that day, the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, headbands, crescent ornaments, dangling earrings, bracelets, veils, headdresses, ankle chains, stashes, perfume boxes, amulets, finger rings, nose rings, festal robes, outer tunics, cloaks, money purses, hand mirrors, undergarments, turbans, or some versions say tiaras, and veils. Now it will come about that instead of sweet perfume, there will be putrefaction. Instead of a belt, a rope. Instead of well-set hair, a plucked-out scalp. Instead of fine clothes, a donning of sackcloth. And branding instead of beauty. Branding. Your men will fall by the sword and your mighty ones in battle, and her gates will lament and mourn, and deserted, she will sit on the ground. Are we men or women? Are we proud? Do we tinkle the bangles on our feet, show off our bling bling? Then we should take heed lest we fall. Our final text is Exodus. Turn to chapter 25. I think this is really my text, but don't worry, that wasn't all just introduction. Exodus chapter 25. Starting from this chapter, God gives Moses instructions for the construction of the tabernacle, which would be a large makeshift worship center, which could be assembled and disassembled for 40 years as they travel through the wilderness. It's not a little thing either. His first instructions, God's first instructions to Moses are to raise contributions from personal items and from plunder that they had taken from Egypt. Look at chapter 25, verses 1 to 9. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, tell the sons of Israel to raise a contribution for me. From every man whose heart moves him, you shall raise my contribution. And this is the contribution which you are to raise from them, gold, silver, and bronze, blue, purple, and scarlet material, fine linen, goat hair, ram skins dyed red, porpoise skins, acacia wood, oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones and setting stones for the ephod and for the breast piece. Let them construct a sanctuary for me that I may dwell among them. According to all that I am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture, just so you shall construct it." After this first bit here where he's giving instructions to Moses saying collect donations for the construction of the tabernacle, then detailed instructions for the construction of the tabernacle are given by God to Moses in chapters 25 to 31. And then in chapters 32 to 34, the people become impatient, waiting. As God is giving all these detailed instructions, they're waiting down off the mountain, and so they're impatient, and they're waiting for Moses, so they make a golden calf. And after this is resolved, understatement, We're trying to look at this very quickly, but an overview After that issue is resolved The law is once again written on tablets and Moses comes down His face is shining so a veil is placed over it as we read in the New Testament and then in chapters 35 to 40 Moses relays these instructions to the people That he had received and the construction is performed let's look at chapter 35 so skip it over to chapter 35 you know we skip a whole lot that I just described to you and verses 4 to 5 and Moses spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel saying this is the thing which the Lord has commanded saying take from among you a contribution to the Lord whoever is of a willing heart Let him bring it to the Lord's contribution. Gold, silver and bronze. And it continues, but I'll just stop there. Now skip down to verse 21. And everyone whose heart stirred him and everyone whose spirit moved him came and brought the Lord's contribution for the work of the tent of meeting and for all its service and for the holy garments. We're going to read down to verse 29. Then all whose hearts moved them, both men and women, came and brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and bracelets, all articles of gold. So did every man who presented an offering of gold to the Lord. And every man who had in his possession blue and purple and scarlet material and fine linen and goat's hair and ram skins dyed red and porpoise skins brought them. Everyone who could make a contribution of silver and bronze brought the Lord's contribution. And every man who had in his possession acacia wood for any work of the service brought it. And all the skilled women spun with their hands and brought what they had spun. It blew in purple and scarlet material and in fine linen. And all the women whose hearts stirred with the skill spun the goat's hair. And the rulers brought the onyx stones and the stones were setting for the ephod and for the breast piece. and the spice and the oil for the light and for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense. The Israelites, all the men and women whose heart moved them to bring material for all the work which the Lord had commanded through Moses to be done, brought a freewill offering to the Lord. So the people brought their possessions and they were used for the construction. Look at chapter 36 now. verse 4 and all the skillful men who were performing all the work of the sanctuary came each from the work which he was performing and they said to Moses the people are bringing much more than enough for the construction work which the Lord commanded us to perform so there's just plenty And many of the workers were singled out by name. Many of the workers, their very names are recorded here, as each had skills given to them by the Lord to perform their work on constructing the tabernacle and tent of meeting. But the donors of the material aren't singled out by name. The workers are, but not the donors. Only two groups of donors are identified, but not by name. They're named... What group they are is told to us, okay? At least this is what I could see. Only two groups. The two groups are identified. One from each end of the privilege spectrum, okay? The rulers are identified. Look at chapter 35, verse 7. Go back to chapter 35, verse 7. And that's not it. It's 27. Verse 27. And the rulers brought the onyx stones and the stones for setting for the ephod and for the breast piece, which he read. And so the rulers are identified as bringing those rich items that were necessary. And now one final group. was identified look at chapter 38 verse 8 this is all the description of the construction going on of the tabernacle and they're all fulfilling what the Lord had commanded to Moses and what Moses had relayed to the people and God had moved his spirit in the hearts of the people to bring the donations and given talents to the people to perform it goes through all this in these chapters to perform the work to build the tabernacle and then verse 8 chapter 38 verse 8 moreover he made the uh i can't even pronounce it the laver the wash basin the sink of bronze with its base of bronze from the mirrors of the serving women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting can you imagine that women donating their bronze mirrors for the work of the Lord. Mary Magdalene white Jesus's feet with her hair, hair that had participated in her harlotry. Did the serving women give their mirrors out of repentance? Repentance from abuse of those mirrors? like we saw in Isaiah, where the women were proud and they bangled their bells and whatever it said. But the point is that they were proud of their appearance. They were proud of their riches. Or perhaps, you know, in the earlier episode with the golden calf, as the people were violating the commands of the Lord and worshipping the golden calf, and performing all sorts of idolatry, and the mirrors may have been involved there as they prepared themselves for whatever acts they would take part in. Or perhaps, merely out of zeal for the work of the tabernacle and their hearts were moved to give of those things that they cherished, that they needed, their mirrors, their bronze mirrors. Unlike the woman driver at the beginning that I mentioned, we need to be looking in the correct mirrors. We need to be looking in God's Word. We need to be like those waitresses who gave up their mirrors for the tabernacle construction. Is God moving in your heart to give up something of yours for the work of the Lord, something that you cherish, something that you seem to need? So we have several spiritual mirrors. The Bible is a mirror. It shows us who we were. And the Bible is a mirror that shows us who Christ is. We are mirrors of the glory of Christ shining to the world. And mirrors, in this verse here in Exodus, is a symbol of the things that we cherish that ought to be given to the Lord. And as we sing this next hymn, when we sing of God's glory filling this nation, let us remember what vessels will be showing that glory. We are the vessels.