(Exodus) Exodus 36:3-6

Now, will you notice, this is the way they were to work, but here's something else. Verse 3, And they received of Moses all the offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to make it withal. And they brought yet unto him free offerings every morning.

And all the wise men that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they made. And they, now listen to this, here's a verse that'll startle you. And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which the Lord commanded to make.

Now, this is the only place on record, as far as I know, that they had to ask the people to stop giving. They had already brought more than they needed. I've never heard of an offering like that before.

This is really a miracle, to have an offering like that. The people bring too much. And Moses gave the commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary.

So the people were restrained from bringing. They were not urged to give. They were restrained and told, You brought enough.

My, that is amazing, friends. And you must remember, these people are just out of slavery. They've never had anything of their own before.

And you'd think now that they would husband it and would not give. But here they're giving graciously and giving hilariously and giving joyfully. You see, whatever you do for God, you're to do it enthusiastically.

That's the way He wants it done. And that's the way that He wants giving done, is to give like that. There was that motto years ago, Give till it hurts.

Well, God says, If it hurts, don't give. But if it helps and makes you joyful, then give. And that's the way a child of God should give to the Lord's work.

Do it joyfully. This is something that's really enthusiastic that needs to be done today. Even the offering ought to be done with great joy.

We should give that way. Now, we find here that they are restrained from giving. They've given too much.

Now, sometimes I hear this today. I heard it not long ago of a certain missionary that told about that they had a certain project and that they prayed the Lord to send in the money and that exactly enough came in to take care of the project. And he emphasized that was just exactly enough, not a dollar short nor a dollar over.

And he said that was an evidence that God was in it. Well, may I say to you, if he had got several hundred dollars more, then I would have agreed it was of the Lord. I'm not sure it was.

I think the Lord does exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think when he's in it. And therefore, he'll always give more. That's the way you can always tell when he's in it.

It's when it's more than enough, not when it's exactly the amount. And so here they brought much more. This is a marvelous thing, is it not? Now, we have here going over again of the different articles and the different parts of the tabernacle.

And that sounds like a repeat. The only thing is we had the blueprint before. Now they're executing the job and we not only need a blueprint, but we need the materials and we need to go to work.

And that's what they're doing.