This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to day 5 of week 6 of our look through the book of Exodus,
Exodus chapter 30 today. These are chapters that are all about, as we look at
the tabernacle and the priests, how God has made you holy and how God is making
you holy. None of us feel perfect, none of us are perfect, but we're all being
perfected by the holiness of God in Jesus Christ.

And this chapter gives us some pictures. It talks about the altar for burning
incense, talks about the census they were to take of the people, talks about the
bronze basin for washing. At the end of the chapter, where I'd like to focus
today, it talks about the oil that was to be made for the anointing of the
priests.

And it's very detailed instructions for this oil, the anointing oil, verses 22
to 32. Let me read those verses. Then the Lord said to Moses, "Take the
following fine spices, 500 shekels of liquid myrrh, half as much, that is 250
shekels of fragrant cinnamon, 250 shekels of fragrant cane, 500 shekels of
cassia, all according to the sanctuary shekel, and a hint of olive oil.

Make these into a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a
perfumer. It will be the sacred anointing oil. Then use it to anoint the tent of
meeting, the ark of the testimony, the table and all its articles, the lampstand
and its accessories, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering and all
its utensils, the basin with its stand.

You shall consecrate them so that they will be most holy, and whoever touches
them will be holy. Anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them so that they
may serve me as priests. Say to the Israelites, 'This is to be my sacred
anointing oil for the generations to come.

Do not pour it on men's bodies, and do not make any oil with the same formula.
It is sacred. You are to consider it sacred.

' Now again here, the focus is on holiness, the holiness of the tabernacle, of
the altar of the priests. The oil and the incense that's later in this chapter,
the sweet smelling aroma of this incense, were symbols of holiness. This oil
that was used to anoint everything in the tabernacle, and then to anoint the
priests as well.

The oil for the anointing of the priests. I want to focus on that. A special oil
for special people for a special task.

We don't get the meaning of anointing today, because we don't do it very much.
But it's all through the Bible, and understanding anointing is key to
understanding how you live in relationship to God's Spirit. How you live out the
freedom of God in your everyday life.

Anointing is all through the Bible. Through the Old Testament, kings are
anointed as well as priests. David is called the Lord's anointed one, and is
anointed when he becomes the king.

So oil is poured on his head as a part of him becoming king. Psalms, the book of
Psalms in fact, looks forward to someone else that's called the Lord's anointed
one, who will somehow serve forever. Now we know that it's Jesus.

It says, "Your throne, O God, will last forever. A scepter of justice will be
the scepter of your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness.

Therefore God your God has set you above your companions by anointing you with
the oil of joy. " That's Psalm 45, 6, and 7. It's about Jesus.

So there's this anointing of kings and priests, and even looking forward to the
anointed one coming in the Old Testament. There's also in the Old Testament
another kind of anointing, a practical anointing. A kindness that's done for
someone or that someone would do.

Anoint yourself for the day. It's like taking a shower or offering somebody
anointing, anointing their head. It's like offering them a shower or in some
places it would be a spa treatment.

Psalm 23 talks about the fact that God even does this for us sometimes. He
anoints my head with oil. The comfort of his anointing, the fact that he cares,
he shows kindness to me.

There is this by the way in the New Testament as well. There is a practical kind
of anointing in the New Testament, a kindness that's done to someone. When
somebody came into your home, you would anoint their head with oil.

You would wash their feet. You would anoint their head with oil. In the dusty
roads of that day, that was a kindness that was done.

It's also in the New Testament a way of symbolizing the faith of the church as
we pray for someone. So James 5 says you anoint somebody with oil when you pray
for their healing. So there's this practical idea of anointing but there's also
this spiritual idea that God has set you apart through his anointing and that's
what I want to focus on.

Now why so much detail? Why am I going into so much detail about anointing?
Because there's a lot of confusion about what this word means amongst
Christians.

If you read only in the Old Testament and you read only about priests and kings,
it can lead to a misunderstanding, a misuse of what this idea is. It leads to
the idea that only some Christians are anointed and only at certain times are
they anointed. And you may have heard this.

Somebody says, "Wow, you're really an anointed pastor. " Or somebody says, "That
sermon was really anointed. " Now, that could be a positive thing.

That could be okay if you recognize that we're all anointed, that everything God
does in our lives is anointed by his Spirit, but that's not how we usually use
it. It's as if there are some times of anointing, some people that are anointed
and there are others that are not. Now what does the New Testament say?

Well, the New Testament says obviously Jesus was anointed. Luke 4 18, Jesus says
his first sermon, "The Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. "
So he is obviously anointed.

He's looked forward to as the anointed one of God in the Old Testament and he
proclaims himself to be the anointed one of God in the New Testament. So Jesus
is obviously anointed. How about Christians?

The Bible tells us that all of us are anointed as Christians. Not some, not
sometimes, all of us are anointed. How are we anointed?

2 Corinthians 1, 21 and 22 says, "Now it is God who makes both us and you stand
firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his
Spirit into our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. " We are
anointed today by God's Spirit.

And so everyone who comes to Christ, we are anointed. He has set his seal of
ownership on you. He's put his Spirit into your heart.

He's guaranteed what is to come through his Spirit in your life. All of us are
anointed. I know some days you don't feel anointed and there are sometimes when
you do things that seem to be more anointed than others.

But it's not a matter of whether you're anointed or not. We're all anointed with
God's Spirit. It's a matter of whether you're obedient or not.

It's a matter of whether you're focusing on what God wants to do in your life in
that moment or not. The problem with the word anointed is it can make some
Christians feel like, "I'm in a second strata. I'm never going to reach that
other place.

" When the truth of the matter is, if you're a believer in Christ, you are
anointed by God's Spirit. And today, today, you can decide to obey. And as you
decide to obey, anointed things are going to happen through your life.

It may not feel anointed when you speak with kindness to your son or daughter
today. It may not feel anointed when you, instead of acting in retribution
towards that person at work, you act in love. You actually pray for them as
you're walking away from them.

You may not feel like this priestly kind of a person, but the truth is you're
obeying. You're doing what God has said to do. And that is living out the
anointing which God has already put on your life.

So anointing is not just for pastors. It's not just for some Christians. It's
not just for some times.

It's something that God has already put on your life as a believer. And the
question is, am I going to live out that anointing that God's put on my life
today or not? Am I going to live out who He's made me to be or not?

It comes down to obedience. It comes down to letting His Spirit live through my
life. Remember, we're coming back to this again and again in particularly these
five chapters of this week.

When we look at priests, when we look at the tabernacle, we're looking at
pictures of how God relates to us as believers. We are all temples of God's
Spirit. We are all priests of God.

We are all anointed. Let's pray together. Jesus thank you for the anointing of
your Spirit that you sent upon me, sent upon us as believers.

And I pray, we pray together, that you would help us, strengthen us, empower us
through your Spirit to live out that anointing today. Obviously, that power is
not going to come from us. The only way to live out the anointing of your Spirit
is through your Spirit.

So through the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit, I pray that the
anointing of the Spirit would be seen in my life, in our lives today. In your
name we pray. Amen.

We have two weeks left in our study of the book of Exodus. Next week we'll be
looking at chapters 31 to 35. And in these chapters we're going to get back into
the history of Moses and the people of Israel, including what happened when
Moses came down from the mountain.

Just a little tip, it wasn't good. And it gave Moses an opportunity to learn
another major lesson about what it means to be set free.