23-1126a Transcript

Preacher: Mike Mathis

(1:34) Good morning, church. (1:37) Everyone that is here and those that are on the phone, it falls upon me in the rotation (1:50) to present to you a lesson from God’s word. The title of my lesson is chapter 3, (2:04) I know that’s not it, but it tells them in this verse, in the verse that I’m wanting, (2:16) that they are to put certain things away and covetousness, which is idolatry. (2:28) But we’re going to turn to Exodus 32, and we’re going to look at this this morning, (2:47) because this is a very important chapter, because he even says, Paul says that they (2:59) neither be adopted as were some of them.

As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink, (3:11) and rose up to play. Now in chapter 32 of Exodus, before that, Moses goes up on the mount (3:26) to receive the law that God is wanting his people to have. And he’s telling Moses, (3:39) so that Moses in turn can deliver to the people.

And Moses is up on the mountain, (3:47) and in chapter 32 and verse 1, and when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down (3:59) out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together under Aaron and said unto him, (4:07) up, make us gods, which shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man that brought us (4:18) up out of the land of Egypt, we want not, or know not, I’m reading from the King James Version, (4:30) some of the language may sound differently than we may be used to, (4:37) we want not what is become of him. And Aaron said unto them, break up the golden earrings (4:45) which are in the ears of your wives, and your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.

(4:55) And all the people break off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto (5:03) Aaron. And he received them at their hands, and fashioned them with a graving tool, (5:13) after he had made it a molten cast. And they said, these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought (5:22) thee up out of the land of Egypt.

And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it, (5:31) and Aaron made proclamation, and said, tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. And when Aaron, (5:46) rather, and they rose up early on the morrow, and offered offerings, and brought peace offers, (5:56) and the people sat down to eat, and to drink, and rose up to play. Just as it said in the 10th (6:09) chapter of 1 Corinthians.

Now here in this chapter, they fashioned this molten cap, and (6:27) said that that is the God that brought them out. Now, we want to notice, as we go along, (6:38) a lesson learned here. God was able to see that they did this, since God is all seeing.

(6:53) And he saw what they did. So in verse 7 of this chapter in 32, in verse 7, (7:06) And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down for thy people which thou broughtest (7:15) up out of the land of Egypt, and have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out (7:22) of the way which I commanded them.

They have made them a molten cap, and have worshipped it, (7:32) and have sacrificed unto it, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out (7:42) of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, (7:50) it is a stiff-necked people. God saw, God can see what they did.

But then they became in danger (8:03) of God’s anger. Because the next thing he said in verse 10, Now therefore let me (8:12) leave alone that my wrath may wax hard against them, and that I may consume them, and I will (8:22) make of thee a great nation. And so God is very angry with them for turning that much away from (8:35) him.

He was showing them that he is their God. And now they have made a cap, and this cap they (8:50) worship. This cap did not exist until it was made.

Yet what did they do but fall down before it (9:04) and worship it? And you know one thing that it is said that Aaron said, Tomorrow is a feast to (9:16) the Lord. You know God said in one of the Ten Commandments, Thou shalt not make unto thee (9:30) any graven image. Thou shalt not bow thyself down to them.

And here Aaron is saying, (9:44) Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. The Lord is not accepting that. And of course the Lord (9:55) in speaking to Moses said, Your people instead of my people have turned aside.

He said, Get thee (10:08) down for thy people or your people which thou has, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt (10:19) have corrupted themselves. You see God was not accepting this. And God was about so angry that (10:31) he told Moses, He said, Let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may (10:39) consume them.

He didn’t realize that they were in this much danger making this cap. (10:49) So we need to be careful of making idols whether we fashion an image or whether it is in our minds (11:01) through covetousness and lusting. But now Moses pleads for the people.

Moses besought the Lord (11:15) his God in verse 11 of Exodus 32. And Moses besought the Lord his God and said, Lord, (11:27) why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land (11:37) of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say, (11:48) For mischief did he bring them out to slay them in the mountains and to consume them (11:56) from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath and repent of this evil against thy people. (12:07) Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou sworest unto them, (12:17) I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven.

And all this land that I have spoken (12:25) of will I give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever. And the Lord repented (12:34) of the evil which he thought to do. So Moses intercedes for these people.

(12:43) And he reasons with God. Now something here that in interceding for these people, (12:53) Moses, a man, changed God’s mind toward what he wanted to do. Now this doesn’t mean that we (13:04) persuade God to change his will, to change what he wants for man.

But at this time, God was (13:15) angry to destroy the people. But Moses intercedes for them, and God does not do what he could do. (13:30) And then in verse 31 through 35 of this chapter, later, Moses intercedes and says, (13:47) all these people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.

(13:55) Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin, and if not, block me, I pray thee, out of thy book which (14:08) thou hast written. And the Lord said unto Moses, whoever has sinned, or whosoever hath sinned (14:19) against me, him will I block out of my book. Now here Moses is believing his name to be (14:34) in God’s book of life.

And so he tells them, he says, forget this people. But if not, he says, (14:46) block my name. He was willing to have his name blotted out of God’s book, (14:54) in order to have those people’s sins forgiven.

But God said, whosoever has sinned against me, (15:07) him will I block out of my book. So we need to understand that it is our sins (15:19) that are in danger of having our name, if it is written in God’s book, taken out. See he can (15:34) put our name in his book, but he can also take it out, blot it out.

So we need to understand that. (15:47) Of course Moses is angry when he sees this. And when he sees the people (16:02) dancing around this couch, Moses' anger waxed hot.

This is in verse 19 of Exodus 32. (16:17) And he cast the tables out of his hands and broke them beneath the mount. So Moses was so angry (16:27) that he just cast the two stone tablets that he had in his hands and broke them.

(16:37) And he took the calf, which they had made, and burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder, (16:45) and straddled it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. How’d you like (16:55) to drink that stuff, the powder, that was thrown upon the water? How would you like to drink that (17:07) with that in it? I wouldn’t. And then Moses asked Aaron, what did this people do unto thee, (17:22) that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? And Aaron said, let not the anger of my Lord (17:32) wax hot.

Thou knowest the people, that they are set on mystery. For they said unto me, (17:40) make us gods which shall go before us. And as for this Moses, the man that brought us out of the land (17:48) of Egypt, we want or know not what is become of him.

And I said unto them, whosoever hath any gold, (18:01) let them break it off. So they gave it to me. Then I cast it into the fire.

Listen to what it says. (18:10) And there came out this calf. He had to fasten that calf.

But then Moses took action, because (18:28) when he saw that these people had become naked unto their shame among their enemies, that means (18:40) that they became known for what they had just done. And the people would know that they did this. (18:56) Then Moses stood at the gate, this is verse 26, of the camp and said, who is on the Lord’s side? (19:04) Let him come unto me.

And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him, (19:10) and said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, (19:19) Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, (19:28) and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. (19:35) And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. (19:57) But then at the very end of that chapter, you know, we’re told that if someone publicly sins, and it is known, (20:14) we try to deal with them, and they just do not want to repent of it.

And after trying so to get them back, (20:33) and they just, in their stubbornness, do not want, then we must take action and withdraw from them. (20:43) But then there’s something very important here. The end of this chapter says, (20:51) And the Lord plagued the people because they had made the calf which Aaron made.

(21:01) So we can learn from this lesson that idolatry, God will not accept. He will not tolerate it. (21:12) These gods are falsehoods.

God should be the one, is the true God. (21:21) And notice that when we worship idols, we can’t worship the Lord, and that’s what Aaron was telling the people. (21:31) Even though they were worshiping that calf, he said, (21:35) Tomorrow is a feast unto the Lord.

(21:44) But people do want to provoke God by not listening to him return to something else, return to things that have no value. (22:00) When we lust after things that are not beneficial, yes, covet, these things become idolatry to us. (22:18) We don’t have to fashion an image.

We’ve got to do is lust after things. (22:28) So in order for us not to, let us remember God. (22:35) God wants our worship.

God wants our allegiance. (22:42) And God does not want us to place our trust in things that have no life. (22:53) So if you’re wanting to please God, to keep God from being angry with you, (23:03) if you’re not a Christian and you want to put on Christ in baptism, why not let that be known? (23:14) Why not respond to the invitation now? (23:18) Put him on.

Now’s the day to do it. (23:24) And if there is any other thing that you want, that is needful to you, (23:33) why not come forward now and let that be known and the church will pray for you. (23:39) Let us come to God and do what is right.

(23:44) As Moses asked, who is on the Lord’s side? (23:50) Why not come and be on the Lord’s side? (23:55) Tonight I will give you part two of this lesson. (24:04) There’s more to this. (24:06) Of storytelling.

We need to learn lessons. (24:10) People, if we read this, we ask some people about some of this. (24:17) We look at it and don’t know.

(24:20) That’s because we don’t read. (24:25) Even when we show them, it makes no difference. (24:31) But if it does make a difference to you, why not show it now? (24:38) Let God be your guide.

(24:42) While we stand and while we sing.