From Revival to Rebellion

[0:00] Amen. Well, amen, amen. So glad to see you here this morning. Glad to have the opportunity to get together and open up the Word of God.

[0:15] And I'm glad that you come with your Bibles and desire to hear from the Word of God. So let's do that right now. Find in your Bible Exodus chapter 32. We are more than three-quarters of the way through the book.

[0:30] We are surely more than three-quarters of the way through our study of the book because some material is going to start to get repetitious and we're not going to repeat all of the information that this book does.

[0:44] But we're going to start a new chapter, 32. Last time we finished 31 where God rehearsed this command about the Sabbath day. And as we studied that, we were reminded that the Sabbath was revealed to the Jews on Mount Sinai.

[1:01] It was not revealed to anybody before that. It was intimately connected to their Old Testament and to that covenant that God established with that people. And we cannot separate it from the Old Testament.

[1:13] And secondly, we saw that the punishment for violating and defiling the Sabbath was death. And so when somebody tries to tell you that Sunday is your Sabbath, it's funny how they omit that part.

[1:27] But God surely put that part on them and he very specifically said it a few times in that passage we studied. And it showed how serious God was about that command. And thirdly, we saw that it was a sign between God and the children of Israel forever.

[1:40] It's connecting them back to creation. It was also pointing to a future day of rest that they would have in their kingdom. Now, the greatest takeaway in my view of all of that was that we are not enjoined to God through some covenant or the blood of the Old Testament, but through the blood of Jesus Christ to a New Testament.

[1:58] And we don't observe a holy day or it's not a sign between God and us this Sunday that we would worship Him. Instead, in its place, the place of the Sabbath is the Lord Jesus Christ.

[2:10] He is our Passover. He is the Lord of the Sabbath. We don't have to follow through and observe all these rituals and ceremonies, because Jesus Christ settled it all for us. He fulfilled that law in its completion and we are in Him.

[2:23] And if you want to keep the law, go ahead. Good luck. Keep the whole law, by the way. The Apostle Paul says you're going to have to keep the whole thing and you're not going to be able to do it. So I'll stick with Jesus Christ.

[2:34] I'll stay under Him, covered by His blood, and He is my righteousness. And if you have by faith received Him as your Savior, you have the righteousness of God too by faith of Jesus Christ.

[2:44] So here we go. Exodus 32. Now let me back up one verse to remind you how the previous chapter closed. In verse 18, this is God. He says, He gave unto Moses when He had made an end of communing with Him upon Mount Sinai to tables of testimony, tables of stone written with the finger of God.

[3:03] And so what's taking a place up on the Mount between God and Moses and what's happening in the wilderness down below are two far, far completely different scenes.

[3:16] On the one hand, God is meeting with Moses. He's wrapping things up with Him. He's delivered some very crucial information about the tabernacle to be built, about the priesthood, and all the details involved in that.

[3:28] These are details that are going to define this nation going forward. But on the other hand, down below, people completely ignorant of any of that have something else going on.

[3:40] They're growing restless. They're growing confused as to why Moses hasn't returned yet. And as a result, they've turned aside and corrupted themselves in a very abominable fashion.

[3:51] And so we're going to read this in the first 10 verses of chapter 32 this morning. So beginning in Exodus 32, verse 1, When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the Mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him, Up, make us gods which shall go before us.

[4:09] For as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what has become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings which are in your ears of your wives and of your sons and of your daughters and bring them unto me.

[4:22] And all the people break off the golden earrings which are in their ears and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool. And after he had made it a molten calf, and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

[4:40] When Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. And they rose up early on the morrow and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings.

[4:51] And the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go get thee down, for thy people which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.

[5:03] They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made them a molten calf and have worshipped it and have sacrificed thereunto and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

[5:16] The Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people. Behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore, let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them.

[5:29] And I will make of thee a great nation. What a difference between what's going on up on the mount with Moses and the fellowship and communion with God to what the people have done below in the wilderness, corrupting themselves.

[5:44] And they've brought upon something God wants to kill them and wipe them all out. Now notice with me the very first verse. We're really going to spend our time in verse number one today.

[5:55] Notice the reference to the people. When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people, number two, gathered the third reference themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him, Up make us fourth time gods, which shall go before us fifth time.

[6:15] For as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we, seven different mentions of the people in verse 31. And what follows that conversation they have with Aaron is a colossal blunder for the children of Israel, a devastating sin.

[6:36] And it wasn't the fault of God for keeping Moses too long. It wasn't the fault of Moses for dilly-dallying in the mount with God. It wasn't even Aaron's fault.

[6:46] Some people blame Aaron, but the reality is it all started with the people. They're the ones that approached Aaron. They're the ones that got it into their hearts.

[6:57] Hey Aaron, make us gods, which shall go before us. It's the people. Now wait a minute. Let's wait a minute.

[7:08] If we were rewound, I know we've studied this tabernacle and this up in the mount scene for a long, long time, but if we could rewind five or six weeks of real time in Exodus, this people were sacrificing to the Lord.

[7:24] This same people were covenanting with Him by the blood of innocent animals and offerings. They pledged with their own mouths, we will obey the Lord. We will obey His every word.

[7:36] We will obey His every command. We are your people. You make the rules. You lead us and we'll obey. That's what they pledged just about five or six weeks ago.

[7:47] And now God's ready to just wipe them off the face of the earth, every last one of them, and start over with Moses. How did it get to this place? How did they get from where they were promising and while they're building an altar and making promises to God, how did they get to where they're bowing down to a golden calf and worshiping it?

[8:12] How does submission change into rebellion? How does serving God one day turn into deserting God the next?

[8:25] We need to find out. And we need to study this. You know why? Because Christians that have known the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, that have come to the altar and made promises to God, they're just built of the same thing.

[8:40] You and I can do the exact same thing if we don't get our way. If things don't go the way we planned it, fire that was once in us can fade and that zeal for righteousness and that zeal for His Word and that joy and the excitement of living for God and being with Christians can diminish and can fade away and we can find ourselves off in the world doing some Egyptian filthy practices and being an abomination to God.

[9:13] Even godly Christians can grow bitter, can grow backslidden. saved men and women can turn aside and corrupt themselves.

[9:24] So how did this happen? I want to look at it. I want to preach what I'm calling from revival to rebellion. And I want to show you three things from verse 1 today together.

[9:35] Verse 1, it says in verse, at the beginning, when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount. Moses delayed.

[9:46] He's not down here when we expected him to be down here. What did the people do? They became impatient. They became anxious. They want to get to their promised land, not stay here parked in this wilderness on the side of a mountain.

[10:02] The people became tired of waiting, going nowhere, just waiting and waiting and waiting. And they've had enough of that.

[10:13] Obviously, they expected it to be different. God wasn't finished with Moses, but the people were finished with waiting. And they said, Aaron, make us gods.

[10:27] They became impatient and their impatience drove them to a gross sin and to abominable corruption. But why is it taking so long?

[10:38] Why is Moses still up on the mount? Well, if you remember back when we studied, I mean, God is showing him the pattern for this tabernacle.

[10:50] There's something going on up there that God is showing Moses. And he's also giving him these tables of stone. He's also articulating the details and dimensions to Moses.

[11:01] But we could read all of that. But it wouldn't take me 40 days and 40 nights. Even a slow reader could get through those portions of the chapters. Why is it taking so long in the mount?

[11:13] What are they doing up there? Do you remember that when Moses first went up, that he sat there for six days in silence, waiting for the Lord, waiting for the Lord?

[11:25] I imagine the people, when Moses went up, they probably thought in a day or two he'll be back. I mean, how long is this going to take? Three days? Four days? I mean, what they don't know is God hasn't even spoken to Moses yet.

[11:38] And they're likely expecting him to be returning already. And there's nothing they could do about it. And there's nothing they should do about it. But wait. But the people likely expected Moses to return and when he didn't, they grew impatient.

[11:55] I don't know why God's taken so long with Moses. I can't answer that, but what I can learn and what I can discern yet again from this story at Exodus is that God is never in a hurry.

[12:10] He's never in a hurry. He doesn't jump when you cry. And you can't pray him into doing something for you if it's not in his will. He will not be rushed.

[12:23] You cannot hasten his hand. He will make you wait. wait. And it was good for Moses to sit there in silence for six days and it's good for the children of Israel to sit here in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights and wait.

[12:41] When you consider their impatience, it wasn't the sacrificing to the golden calf. It wasn't the demanding Aaron to do something about this.

[12:51] But if we could back it all the way up, it was their impatience. They had exhausted their patience. They had decided it's enough. They decided we're done waiting for this man anymore.

[13:04] It's time for us to move on with or without him. That's where the problem lies with the people deciding to rebel against God.

[13:14] We're going to go forward and we're going to do it another avenue. And Christian, you better learn to wait on the Lord. you had better learn to wait on God until he moves or until he instructs or until it's obvious that he wants this to go forward or this to be done.

[13:34] And as I said, stop trying to pray in some change into your life because you'll just frustrate yourself. You'll cling to a prayer promise somewhere in that Bible and it won't happen because you won't be able to hurry God's hand and he'll say, I told you to wait, so wait.

[13:53] Sit still. Be still. Wait. If you've got something on your heart, your job is to take it to the throne of grace and to lay it there and receive mercy from God, receive grace from God, and then wait and just trust him.

[14:13] I don't want to let the cat out of the bag here so I'll be a little bit vague but many of you in this church know a lady, a grown woman now named Naomi Pena. Naomi grew up in this church as a little girl and she was moved with her family to go to the San Gabriel Valley to her dad's pastoring a church there, a good friend, Louis Pena.

[14:33] Understanding a little bit of her past, she's had some guys interested in her over the years and she's just never followed through with any of them because there was different issues, doctrinal issues that she said those are deal breakers and I'm not going to do it.

[14:48] So she waited and she waited and she's getting older year by year by year and I remember coming here and thinking she's a good girl, she's giving to the Lord, she's serving God in the ministry with her father and she's all in and she's really seems like an indispensable piece of their church and I think what a good girl, she's going to God give her a husband, you know, let her serve the Lord with a husband but she just waited and she kept her heart on the Lord and I can't say too much more, I mean some of you probably know but there's a young man that she's very interested in and he's very interested in her and he's sold out to God, a Bible believe in associate pastor that is 100% in the ministry for the Lord and they've come together in about four weeks, that's all I'll say, there might be some news but that girl, I look at her and think what a blessing and what a testament to somebody deciding I'm going to wait,

[15:48] I'm going to trust God and wait on the Lord but when you become impatient, you know what that shows you, you know what it showed about this people is a lack of faith, is they stop trusting God that he knows what he's doing, that he's right and decided we're going to make the decisions from here forward and what a mess they got themselves into, sacrificing to an image of a calf, would you ever have believed or imagined that's how this would result in, that they would offer sacrifices to this image, that they would worship this image after they promised God, no, you're our God, thou shalt have no other gods before me, we will do it, we'll obey, thou shalt not make unto the any graven image, everything you said we'll do and take it from that place to total outright rebellion, it's because they became impatient, they stopped trusting God, they stopped waiting on the Lord to lead them, there's something else they did back in verse number one, when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, they gathered themselves unto Aaron, secondly they're looking for an alternate leader, they're looking to somebody that God did not call to be their leader, and saying we want to hear from you, we want you to do something here Aaron, now understand Aaron's calling as a high priest has not been revealed to anybody but Moses, Aaron doesn't know about this, his sons have not been consecrated, the information has not yet been revealed, they have not been consecrated to the priesthood, no garments, none of that has taken place, they're just the same guy that came out of

[17:40] Egypt, now we know Aaron was a close man to Moses, he was a mouthpiece for Moses going in before Pharaoh, he was his older brother and he was by his side the entire time, he was definitely in a place of leadership to a degree, and so surely he's a key figure in this congregation, but he is not the man that God called to lead the people, he is not Moses, there's only one Moses and he's up on the mount, and Aaron does not make these decisions, nobody makes these decisions and furthermore, God is not speaking to Aaron, the people though, without Moses, say let's find an alternate leader, let's go to Aaron and demand that he do something, so how should Aaron respond to the people coming to him, how should he respond, well the reality is Aaron has no business even answering them in this matter, he should have never given in to their request or their demands, but the people, the people are set on rebellion, and it's not easy to stand against the multitude, it's not easy to go against everybody, and this incident reveals something about Aaron to us, that in this regard, he's weak, he was not built to stand up against a complaining and a chiding people, Moses did, you could study that one out, Moses stood against him, he had it in him from

[19:15] God to take a stand and know what's right and not allow things, but not Aaron, Aaron was weaker, Aaron gave in to their demands, and surprise, surprise, going to the wrong man, and propping him up as your new leader, and it's going to give us direction, going to the wrong man, the man that gave the people what they wanted, he led them in the wrong direction, imagine that, he fed into their rebellion, rather than stand against it and rebuke it, and this isn't the first time these people acted out, it is surely not going to be the last time they act out, but when Moses isn't anywhere to be found, this is how they fall into rebellion, they seek another leader, another man, you know what happens to Christians when they get ideas in their heads of how it should be, this is how it should be, and I know how it should be, well they seek other people to join in with them and agree with them, and now that we have a group agreeing with us, let's go in search of a man or a ministry that will agree with us, and cater to us, and give us what we want, I'm sure you've heard this said before, there's no perfect church, this church certainly isn't perfect,

[20:34] I haven't met one, I've been in some good ones, and there's no perfect church, but it's a funny thing how many perfect Christians there are that will leave a good church, and go find themselves one as perfect as them, but then they don't stay long because there is no perfect church, and how perfect Christians bounce and bounce around, and of course you know I'm speaking tongue-in-cheek about the perfection of the Christian, but in this case Aaron is not God's appointed leader, and the people have no business going to him in the first place, but what's wrong, their hearts are set on rebellion, they've already made up their minds what they want, and now they're going to go to Aaron to get it, there's a third thing we want to see in this verse, come back to chapter 32 verse 1, when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him, up make us gods which shall go before us, now get that line in your mind, they want him to make us gods which shall go before us, for as for this

[21:40] Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what has become of him, there's something else they do here, is they abandon the Lord, saying make us gods which shall go before us, but let's think of this, let's look at the situation, when the people beckoned Aaron to make them gods, do you suppose they were asking for an idol, do you think they were asking for a golden calf, they didn't ask for any of that, we've already studied something on the word gods, and maybe I have to refresh you on that, so let's do something quickly here, look back at chapter 7, look at Exodus 7 and verse number 1, when you think of the word gods as idols, you may make a mistake of what they were asking for, look at chapter 7 and verse number 1, and the Lord said unto Moses, see I have made thee a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet, well Pharaoh is not bowing down to Moses and worshiping him, this is not an image, it's not an idol at all, but he calls him a god, what does that mean?

[22:54] Well the word god here is just a reference to a ruler, or a leader, it's someone in authority, and God made Moses an authority, or a leader of the people of Israel in the eyes of Pharaoh, as he went in before him, he didn't say who are you, get lost, off with your head, no, he recognized him as this is their spokesman, this is the man that's speaking for the people, it's called a god, it's just a reference to a position of authority, so now look at chapter 12, and there's another time the word shows up, and we've already covered this, but I don't reckon that you remember each detail here, so look at chapter 12, and this is when God is going to pass through the land, and execute judgment, look at verse 12, for I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment, I am the Lord, he's not executing judgment on an image, or the sun god, as people teach, but no, he's executing judgment when he passes through and smites the firstborn of men, of the rulers, of the leaders, even

[24:10] Pharaoh's house himself, there was a great cry that went up, and so the word gods there is not always a reference to some image, or idol, but rather to an authority, in this case, a position of authority, or a leader, and so the people come to Aaron and say, up, make us gods which shall go before us, for as for this Moses, they're wanting to replace the man Moses, I don't believe they're saying, they didn't bring gold to Aaron, and say make us gods, Aaron said, all right, give me your gold, it was his idea to go that direction, and so they were looking for new leadership, saying we don't know what happened to Moses anymore, but let's hold on for a second here, something's off, something's off in this, and it's going to bring up a very important point here, that I think we can observe and discern about the people, and where they are, they're saying that they need a new leader to go before us, make us gods which shall go before us, they need that because they don't know what happened to Moses, but what catches my interest here, is in the absence of Moses, it reveals that the people were looking to the man, and following him all along, now I'll do a quick little study here in Exodus, come back to chapter 13, and you'll see what I mean, chapter 13, make us gods which shall go before us, for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up, we don't know what happened to him, so we need you to make some other man that can lead us out of here, chapter 13, and let's consider who they were supposed to be following all along, look at verse number 20, this is when they're getting out of Egypt, they took their journey from Sukkoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness, and the Lord went before them by day, in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, to go by day and night, he took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people, who's leading them, not

[26:34] Moses, but the Lord is leading them, the Lord went before them, now keep that table back, because it's going to come up, look at chapter 14, when they get to the Red Sea, in verse 19, the Egyptians are right there, and it says the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them, and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them, and he was a wall to them, of protection by night, so that he could divide the Red Sea in front of them, so that's the angel of the Lord, though, that is before them, going before them, look at chapter 23, one more time here, last verse, 23, make us gods which shall go before us, they say, what they're doing is they're abandoning the Lord, in chapter 23, in verse 20, behold I send an angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared, beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my name is in him, but if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries, for mine angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, etc.

[27:55] So who is actually, who is it that they're following? Who is it that they want to go before them? Is it Moses?

[28:07] Is it the man, Moses, that brought us up out of the land of Egypt? Or is it the Lord? Now if you think I'm just kind of making something up here to preach something, I'm going to show you more here, look back at chapter 24, I'm going to show you how real this thing is.

[28:25] In chapter 24, when Moses is called to go up into the mount, and he's there, and there's six days of silence, and then the seventh day, he goes up, and verse 18, and Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and got him up into the mount, and Moses was in the mount 40 days, and 40 nights.

[28:53] You know what was going on up on top of the mount? Where they couldn't hear and see the interaction between God and Moses, but you know what they could see from below? That cloud still rests on top of that mount.

[29:07] That same cloud that was leading them out, it's up on that mount right now, where Moses went up. The presence of the Lord is still very alive on the top of the mount, whether it's for four days or for 40 days, it doesn't matter.

[29:22] They can see with their eyes that the cloud hasn't moved, and they know it. God hasn't moved an inch, but they're not looking at the cloud, and they're not recognizing the presence of the Lord.

[29:37] They've gotten used to following a man, and the man's gone. And the problem isn't that they've abandoned Moses, but that they've abandoned the Lord, and they're ready to go on without him and leave the cloud behind.

[29:51] That's the rebellion. Now this is something very important, and I want to show you. Look back at chapter 20. This did not start at this moment in time, after Moses was gone for 40 days and nights.

[30:08] It didn't start then. It started before that, long before that. Look at chapter 20, and verse number 18. This is right after those ten commandments.

[30:19] Now verse 18. And all the people saw the thunderings and the lightnings and the noise of the trumpet and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it, they removed and stood afar off.

[30:31] And they said unto Moses, the man, Moses, the one that brought him out of the land of Egypt, speak thou with us, and we will hear.

[30:43] But let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, fear not. Don't be afraid of God.

[30:54] Don't be afraid of his lightnings and thunders and his powerful voice. He's not coming to kill you. He says, God has come to prove you. That his fear may be for your faces, that ye sin not.

[31:08] But the people haven't changed. And what they've decided, the people stood afar off. And Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. All the way back there, the people made a decision.

[31:22] They made a decision to disassociate themselves from the person and the presence of God. And Moses, you handle this stuff for us. And we'll follow you.

[31:34] We'll do what you tell us to do. But we do not want to have a relationship with that God. We're going to stay far away and let you handle it all.

[31:45] They had an opportunity right there to have a relationship with God. And Moses said, you don't need to fear him. You don't need to run away and get far away from him.

[31:57] But they said, no, we're good. We're staying far away. And they chose to stay far off. Now Moses is absent. They've been headed for rebellion for a long time.

[32:10] They've already decided we're not going to have a relationship with God like that. They've abandoned that relationship years ago. Or weeks ago, rather. So Christian, if there's any man that's called of God to minister to God to his people today, that man ought to be pointing you to the Lord Jesus Christ.

[32:32] And pointing you to a relationship, your relationship with Jesus Christ. To your time in the word of God. To your time in prayer.

[32:45] To a fellowship with a personal God and a personal Savior that knows your name and loves you and careth for you. If a man's going to prop himself up and point to himself and say, follow me, follow me, follow me.

[32:57] Do what I say. Don't do anything unless I give you the green light. You better be careful. You better be careful who you're following. Don't get dependent upon a man.

[33:11] Men, they'll let you down. Men, they're just like the flower of grass. They wither. And they fade away. And you're not going to see them again or hear from them again.

[33:23] You better be careful. What you need to learn to do is to draw nigh to God. And he'll draw nigh to you. But our example here of rebellion, the children of Israel said, we're going to stand afar off.

[33:38] We'll have a man do all of that for us. Church, today, don't abandon the Lord. Don't replace your relationship with God with a relationship with a man.

[33:51] We were talking yesterday after we went out and Jason mentioned it about listening to some preaching. And listening to some preaching, we commented and we're probably all guilty of it sometime to get a hold of somebody's preaching and somebody's teaching and fall in love with it and allow it to replace the time we spend in the word of God.

[34:10] And the time we spend on our knees. And we can fall in love with singing and music and music groups and we can let that replace the time we spend on our knees with God. A personal relationship with God.

[34:23] Don't let men replace what only God can give. So the children of Israel became impatient. They looked for an alternate leader.

[34:35] And ultimately they abandoned the Lord. But it wasn't just there. It had started a long time ago. And so church today, it is important that we learn from this incident.

[34:45] Because rebellion and the same mischief of this children, it abides in our hearts. It's inside of our own nature, in our flesh. And you need to understand how important it is for you to learn to wait on the Lord.

[34:59] Just to wait until he gives the green light and to trust him with all thine heart. Lean not unto thine own understanding. You'll make a mess. You'll find yourself on your knees worshiping a marriage.

[35:12] Worshiping a job. Worshiping some man or some person instead of the Lord Jesus Christ. Protect your heart. Maintain a relationship with him.

[35:24] The fire can fade. And the zeal that you once had for God can turn to apathy. The revival can quickly become rebellion.

[35:36] If you don't guard your heart. And you too can find yourself just ready to walk away from the cloud. Knowing full well that the cloud is still there. And you're going to say, well, I'm just going to go on anyway.

[35:49] You better guard yourself. Learn from these people. Learn to wait on God. Learn to trust God. Learn to protect your heart and keep a relationship with God.

[36:00] Don't ever rely on another. Let's bow our heads. Before we go anywhere, I want to give you an opportunity this morning to consider what you heard. And to consider this example and story in this book.

[36:13] It's for our learning. Is there something you can learn from this? Do you need to learn to trust God? Do you need to learn to lay some things at his throne and at his feet?

[36:27] Need to commit some things to God that you'd otherwise want to hold on to? I wonder if you've abandoned the Lord a long time ago but would never admit it.

[36:39] Would never want anybody to consider you guilty. But you've decided to stand afar off. And let somebody else go in. And I'll just stay back.

[36:51] You've abandoned the Lord. Be careful, Christian.

[37:02] The same sin of this people is in your heart too when you don't get your way. And so if the Lord's deal with you, shows you something, commit it to him.

[37:16] Now's the time. Some have come forward to pray. I invite you to come and join him. We'll sing a hymn here in a moment. And give you an opportunity. Father, please deal with hearts and strengthen ours to be in line with yours.

[37:29] God, forgive us and rebuke us where we want to get ahead of you and where we're afraid to trust you. And where we back off. God, give us the zeal.

[37:42] Give us the joy. Give us the heart's desire to love you with all our heart. God, may we never find ourselves in such a mess.

[38:05] Invite you to pray if you need to as we sing together.