What Does God Expect

·        Deuteronomy 27:5,6 – And there shalt thou build an altar unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them. 6 Thou shalt build the altar of the LORD thy God of whole stones: and thou shalt offer burnt offerings thereon unto the LORD thy God:

·        Genesis 11:3-5 - And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. 4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 

·        Exodus 20:22-26 – And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. 23 Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. 24 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. 25 And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. 26 Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon. 

An altar is a place of sacrifice, not the tabernacle (build by Moses) or the temple (built by Solomon).  God gave David particular instructions for building the temple, so much so that there was not the sound of a hammer in all the construction.  1 Kings 6:7 states, And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.  It is not wrong to place a most pleasing house of worship, but it is extremely wrong to change any part of the sacrifice. 

Exodus 38:1-7 describes the brazen altar, or the altar of burnt offering.  It is made of shittim wood overlaid with brass.  It was five cubits square, and three cubits high, with a brass horn on each corner, and four rings and two staves so it could be carried.

The difference between what God expects and what man demands.  Look at what church building look like today and what men demand they look like.  Early churches met in homes, not in a building dedicated to worship.  God pays more attention to the inside, not the building, or the outside. 

God wanted people to look at the sacrifice, not the altar the sacrifice was laid on.  Today, God wants people to look to Christ, the only perfect sacrifice, never to the church building, or the people inside the church building.  It is good when people see our good works, but only when our good works cause them to glorify God.

Some “religious” people are attempting to appeal to the flesh, which is at emtity with God, when we should allow the Holy Spirit of God to take the message of God, use it in the hearts of unbelievers to bring conviction.  This is the only thing that will bring true salvation, and exactly what lost sinners need today.  Today, many religions teach that people do not need to repent, they need only to believe and do the best they can.  There is no record of what to believe in.  Because there is no sin, there is nothing to repent from.

DAVID AND SOLOMON

Notice that David, the man after God’s own heart did not have a great throne or a great palace to rule from.  Neither did King Saul, but he probably would have if he had the chance.  Solomon was the first king of Israel who had a palace to rule from.  He also had a great high throne: I Kings 10:18-20 - Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold. 19 The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round behind: and there were stays on either side on the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the stays. 20 And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom.  Solomon did sit upon the throne of David his father, but Solomon also made his own throne, with 6 steps.  There was probably nothing wrong with Solomon’s throne, but the picture is that men began to elevate themselves above that which they should.

Solomon sitting on the throne of his father David:

1.      I Kings 1:17 - And she said unto him, My lord, thou swarest by the LORD thy God unto thine handmaid, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne. 

2.      I Kings 2:12 - Then sat Solomon upon the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was established greatly.

3.      I Chronicles 29:23 - Then Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD as king instead of David his father, and prospered; and all Israel obeyed him. 

THE TABERNACLE

Notice the tabernacle.  All the beauty of the tabernacle was on the inside, not the outside, that men could see.  On the outside, the tabernacle looked like a black box, it seems I read that somewhere, but I cannot find it in scripture.  Looking up the word dye* in Online Bible, it appears only 7 times and always in relationship to the color red, not black. 

1.      Exodus 25:5  And rams’ skins dyed red, and badgers’ skins, and shittim wood,

2.      Exodus 26:14  And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering above of badgers’ skins.

3.      Exodus 35:7  And rams’ skins dyed red, and badgers’ skins, and shittim wood,

4.      Exodus 36:19  And he made a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering of badgers’ skins above that.

5.      Exodus 39:34  And the covering of rams’ skins dyed red, and the covering of badgers’ skins, and the vail of the covering,

The gold, and other precious materials, was on the inside, where men could not see it.  Exodus 26:12-14 reveals the outside of the tabernacle will look like animal skins.  And the remnant that remaineth of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remaineth, shall hang over the backside of the tabernacle. 13 And a cubit on the one side, and a cubit on the other side of that which remaineth in the length of the curtains of the tent, it shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side, to cover it. 14 And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering above of badgers’ skins. 

NOAH’S ARK

The ark of God build by Noah was not beautiful on the outside.  It was black, covered with pitch, a tar like substance.  People did not flock to a black structure, running away from a prophesied flood, when it had never rained before.  Only the grace of God in that persons’ heart, convincing them of the soon coming destruction would drive a person to such a vessel.  The beauty of the ark was in obedience, nothing else.

CHRIST

Isaiah 55:2-4 states, For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  Even Jesus was not appealing in his physical body.  His appeal to sinners is not because he was good looking or had charisma. 

RELIGION TODAY

The “religious world” today is doing everything they can do to appeal to people so they will come their services.  I do not think God intends for us to be repulsive to people, but he certainly does not want us to compromise anything he declares to us to reach people.  Many people have called IBC and asked what we have to offer.  I have asked people what they have to offer us, or what they have to offer the Lord.  There is nothing wrong with having nice things, or of having nice things for the Lord, but there is much more to serving God than having nice things.  People often judge what they consider holy by what they see on the outside.  A nice brick building or whatever for example. 

Our church building should be nice, but people should be drawn to Jesus Christ, not our nice church building. 

Church today are doing surveys of their communities, finding out what people want, and that is what those churches give them.  It makes no difference what the people want, some churches will do everything in their power to give them what they want so they come, then return again and again.  When a large number of people are congregated together, that church is said to be successful, therefore more people will want to come.

I Corinthians 1:21 states it is by the foolishness of preaching that people are saved, not showing movies, having plays, or skits. 

I know IBC wants people to come to services, be saved and grow into spiritually mature adults.  But people do not want to know they are lost, must less be saved from sin.  Sin is made to be pleasurable and fulfilling, and we are made to seem old-fashioned and trite.