WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.759 Good morning, church. Would you turn with me to Exodus chapter 32? That's page 72 in the Pew 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:15.740 Bibles if you want to follow along there. As Greg mentioned, we've been walking through the book of 00:00:15.740 --> 00:00:21.359 Exodus this spring and summer, and we're getting near to the end. And this morning brings us to 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:28.560 chapter 32. We're going to walk our way through this whole chapter, kind of piece by piece. So 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:33.399 let's begin first just by reading the first six verses. We'll start there. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:41.039 Let me read this for us. When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:44.659 the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, 00:00:45.399 --> 00:00:51.480 up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the 00:00:51.480 --> 00:00:57.599 land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. So Aaron said to them, take off the rings of 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:01.320 gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me. 00:01:02.120 --> 00:01:05.439 So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 00:01:06.040 --> 00:01:10.379 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a 00:01:10.379 --> 00:01:16.579 golden calf. And they said, these are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. 00:01:17.659 --> 00:01:22.319 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, 00:01:22.319 --> 00:01:28.199 tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord. And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt 00:01:28.199 --> 00:01:33.719 offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to 00:01:33.719 --> 00:01:43.659 play. Would you pray with me? Father, we ask that in this time, as we consider the text before us, 00:01:43.759 --> 00:01:48.259 by your Holy Spirit, you would give us the understanding that we need as we think about 00:01:48.260 --> 00:01:56.300 these things so that we might rightly know you, know our own hearts, and know more deeply the 00:01:56.300 --> 00:02:03.640 provision of grace that you have given us in our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we might live for you. 00:02:04.620 --> 00:02:15.040 We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, so the other day, I noticed that my car was giving me this 00:02:15.039 --> 00:02:21.259 alert that I had run out of windshield washer fluid. You got to love cars that they just talk 00:02:21.259 --> 00:02:25.239 to you now. They just tell you what's going on, what's wrong. Now, there are some car problems that 00:02:25.239 --> 00:02:31.000 I can take care of on my own and other car problems that I can't. But you know, getting more windshield 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:35.419 washer fluid and pouring it into the reservoir, that is definitely doable. I can handle that, 00:02:35.519 --> 00:02:41.299 right? That is a problem I can identify and fix. Of course, I had never seen this particular 00:02:41.300 --> 00:02:46.700 alert before, but I figured we had just used up all the fluid. Maybe they forgot to top it off 00:02:46.700 --> 00:02:53.320 at the last oil change. No problem. But, of course, I ended up kind of procrastinating and never got 00:02:53.320 --> 00:02:59.980 around to it. And it said it was empty for a long, long time. Now, the story thickens. About the time 00:02:59.980 --> 00:03:05.740 that we had run out of windshield washer fluid, someone had backed into our car in a store parking 00:03:05.740 --> 00:03:11.960 lot and drove off without leaving a note, leaving a nice dent in our front bumper. You got to love 00:03:11.960 --> 00:03:18.640 when that happens. That's a good day. And again, okay, there are some car problems I can handle and 00:03:18.640 --> 00:03:25.800 fix. Others I can't. Taking off the bumper, popping the dent out of it with a mallet. Yeah, why not? 00:03:25.860 --> 00:03:31.480 That shouldn't be too hard, right? So, one Saturday, I proceed to take the bumper off of our car. And as I'm 00:03:31.479 --> 00:03:37.560 doing so, as I'm about halfway there, as I pull the bumper back, I can see the windshield washer 00:03:37.560 --> 00:03:41.759 fluid reservoir. And sure enough, it's empty. No surprise there. But I noticed something else. 00:03:42.539 --> 00:03:50.099 The hose that runs from the washer fluid pump to the windshield is hanging loose. And then I look a 00:03:50.099 --> 00:03:56.319 little closer and realized that the nozzle of the pump had snapped and cracked off where the tube 00:03:56.319 --> 00:04:02.219 connects, causing all the fluid to leak out. Now, at that moment, I have a number of epiphanies. 00:04:03.400 --> 00:04:08.979 First, I am not a mechanic, and this job is going to take me way longer than I anticipated, 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:12.740 and I'm probably not going to get it done today. I'm putting the bumper back on, and we're going to 00:04:12.740 --> 00:04:18.060 put this off for a little bit longer. You'll still see the dent in our car to this day, 00:04:18.139 --> 00:04:25.139 because I'm waiting for the part to fix the washer fluid pump. Second, I had totally misdiagnosed the 00:04:25.139 --> 00:04:33.599 problem. We hadn't just run out of washer fluid. When our car was bumped into, it had broken the 00:04:33.599 --> 00:04:40.159 pump, caused a leak, and all the fluid leaked out. I could have kept pouring gallons of fluid into that 00:04:40.159 --> 00:04:47.759 reservoir, and it wouldn't have made any difference. My car still would have been empty, because that 00:04:47.759 --> 00:04:55.620 wasn't the real problem. Have you ever considered that spiritually the same thing might be true of us? 00:04:56.719 --> 00:05:04.240 That we might be missing the real problem? Of course, as Christians, we would all say that the real 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:13.779 problem, the problem underneath it all, is sin, and that's true. But do we really know what we mean when we say that? 00:05:13.779 --> 00:05:23.139 One of the main reasons we get so stuck spiritually is because we don't know what we mean when we say that. 00:05:25.139 --> 00:05:32.559 Why is our love and desire for God so cold? Why do we keep falling into the same old sins? Why is our 00:05:32.559 --> 00:05:39.599 service and love and forgiveness of others so begrudging? What really is the problem, and what do we do about it? 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:52.180 Chapter 32 of Exodus is unique in the book of Exodus, because here we come face to face with the nature and 00:05:52.180 --> 00:05:59.379 the depth and the dynamic of the true human problem, the problem of sin. Of course, it's been in the 00:05:59.379 --> 00:06:04.600 background of Exodus all along, but here it comes out into the open. Nine times this chapter will 00:06:04.600 --> 00:06:11.939 explicitly use the word sin. That's almost more than the rest of the book combined. So here in this 00:06:11.939 --> 00:06:17.360 chapter, we get a chance to understand not just first the nature of sin, the true nature of sin, 00:06:17.580 --> 00:06:24.340 and second, the terrible consequences of sin, but third, what we can do and what we can't do about it. 00:06:26.140 --> 00:06:30.600 And I hope this will help us not just to understand ourselves better, but hopefully to get us 00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:38.180 unstuck spiritually, to quit pouring fluid down the reservoir to no avail, so that we can really 00:06:38.180 --> 00:06:46.140 become the people God intends us to be in the love and the worship of him. So let's dive in then. 00:06:46.200 --> 00:06:51.240 The first thing we see in this passage is the true nature of sin, and we see that in verses one through 00:06:51.240 --> 00:06:57.180 six that I already read for us. You know, we often think of the word sin as basically just breaking some 00:06:57.180 --> 00:07:03.639 arbitrary rules, right? Or maybe if we think a little more deeply about it, sin, I think often 00:07:03.639 --> 00:07:11.259 culturally is sort of some really pleasurable thing that only Puritans and social conservatives have 00:07:11.259 --> 00:07:18.240 outlawed because they don't want anyone to have a good time. That's basically sin. But you know, 00:07:18.280 --> 00:07:24.120 these verses show us that the heart of sin is what the Bible calls idolatry. 00:07:24.120 --> 00:07:34.519 And idolatry is exchanging our love and trust in the one true God, our creator, and putting it 00:07:34.519 --> 00:07:45.079 instead in some created thing. Now, idolatry has a dynamic. It has a pattern, and we see it here in 00:07:45.079 --> 00:07:52.879 verses one through six. It goes from demanding an idol to making an idol to then worshiping and being 00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:59.360 controlled by an idol. Look at the Israelites' demand for an idol in verse one. Where does this 00:07:59.360 --> 00:08:04.300 demand come from? Well, at this point in the story, you'll remember that the covenant between the Lord 00:08:04.300 --> 00:08:10.699 and Israel has been made at Mount Sinai, and Moses has gone back up the mountain to receive the written 00:08:10.699 --> 00:08:16.060 law of God on stone tablets as a confirmation of that covenant. And while God is doing that, God is 00:08:16.060 --> 00:08:20.180 also giving Moses the instructions for the tabernacle, the place where God will dwell in their midst, 00:08:20.180 --> 00:08:24.840 and they will worship him rightly. But during this 40-day period, the people at the base of the 00:08:24.840 --> 00:08:33.580 mountain are growing impatient. Notice the word delay there in verse one. And their impatience turns 00:08:33.580 --> 00:08:39.899 to doubt and uncertainty. We don't know what's happened to him. And their doubt becomes contempt. 00:08:39.899 --> 00:08:48.699 This Moses, they say, which is an expression of contempt. Rather than trusting God's word, 00:08:49.159 --> 00:08:57.059 which God gave them back in chapter 24, which was to wait, the people rebel and demand that Aaron 00:08:57.059 --> 00:09:03.740 make them gods who can go before them because this God and this Moses clearly isn't cutting it. 00:09:03.740 --> 00:09:09.919 And then in verses two through the beginning of verse four, Aaron goes right along and makes the idol. 00:09:10.580 --> 00:09:18.299 Now, in Egypt, there were a number of calf and bull deities. They signified strength and vitality and 00:09:18.299 --> 00:09:25.899 fertility. And the real irony here is that the Lord had demonstrated his absolute sovereignty over 00:09:25.899 --> 00:09:30.240 these so-called gods during the 10 plagues when he had liberated the people from slavery in Egypt. 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:37.460 And yet, the people go right back to those familiar forms of worship that they saw when they were 00:09:37.460 --> 00:09:44.580 enslaved. And then from the end of verse four through verse six, they worship the idol. 00:09:45.639 --> 00:09:52.580 They ascribe to this golden calf not just God's deeds, what God has done. They say, here's who rescued 00:09:52.580 --> 00:09:59.000 us from Egypt. But they also ascribe to this idol God's name. Notice what Aaron says, 00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:07.740 tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord. And there Aaron is using the divine name that God revealed 00:10:07.740 --> 00:10:15.340 at the burning bush, the great I am. In light of that, some have wondered here whether the Israelites 00:10:15.340 --> 00:10:20.279 were guilty primarily of breaking the first commandment or primarily of breaking the second 00:10:20.279 --> 00:10:25.580 commandment with this golden calf. In other words, were they really worshiping other gods altogether, 00:10:25.580 --> 00:10:30.400 which is what the first commandment prohibits? Or were they trying to worship the one true God by 00:10:30.400 --> 00:10:34.700 means of a graven image, by the means of a representation from the created order, which is 00:10:34.700 --> 00:10:40.520 what the second commandment prohibits? At the end of the day, it's not that clear from this passage, 00:10:40.600 --> 00:10:44.240 isn't it? They kind of go back and forth because in reality, they're doing both. 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:50.899 And besides, you see, breaking the second commandment, trying to worship God through an image, 00:10:51.980 --> 00:10:56.879 inevitably leads to breaking the first. Trying to worship God by means of an image will always 00:10:56.879 --> 00:11:01.899 functionally lead to worshiping another god because the true God can't be captured or compared 00:11:01.899 --> 00:11:11.180 to any creaturely thing. He's holy. Now, the Israelites may not have literally believed that this graven 00:11:11.179 --> 00:11:20.459 image itself was the God, but it was certainly the means whereby they could control such a God 00:11:20.459 --> 00:11:30.799 and they could get God's presence and power into their lives. And that sort of exchange of the true 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:38.679 God for an idol, that sort of attempt at manipulating God led to all other sorts of disintegration. 00:11:38.679 --> 00:11:46.279 The final verse says that people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. And the word play there 00:11:46.279 --> 00:11:50.439 is actually used in other parts of the Bible as a term for sexual immorality. 00:11:51.579 --> 00:11:56.039 The people weren't having a garden picnic and playing bocce ball in front of the golden calf. 00:11:57.719 --> 00:12:06.000 It was an orgy. They were sinking down into explicit immorality. You see, having taken God into their 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:12.840 own hands and making an idol, they now inevitably disregard his other commands for how life works 00:12:12.840 --> 00:12:20.580 best as well. Now, the important thing for us to realize today is that idolatry comes in all sorts 00:12:20.580 --> 00:12:29.259 of shapes and sizes. We're probably not tempted to fashion a golden calf, right? But what becomes your 00:12:29.259 --> 00:12:36.240 functional God when your life is full of doubt and uncertainty like the Israelites? When you've 00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:45.240 become impatient with the course of your life? Calvin rightly said that the human heart is a factory 00:12:45.240 --> 00:12:50.399 of idols. We can't live without a God, so we'll make anything and everything into one. 00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:59.139 Mike Wilkerson, in his book Redemption, which is a study of Exodus, we might have copies on the 00:12:59.139 --> 00:13:03.519 bookstall, which is another really good resource for studying the book of Exodus. In that book, 00:13:03.579 --> 00:13:10.399 he distinguishes between a surface idol and a deep idol. A surface idol is the thing, the action that's 00:13:10.399 --> 00:13:14.460 sort of right there on the surface. For the Israelites, it's the golden calf. There it was. And for us, 00:13:14.500 --> 00:13:18.980 it might be the career that determines everything else in your life. Everything bows to the career. 00:13:18.980 --> 00:13:24.060 Or it might be the addiction to pornography or to alcohol. Or it might be the obsession with 00:13:24.060 --> 00:13:31.320 exercise and diet and body image. But the deep idol is what's underneath. 00:13:33.379 --> 00:13:38.800 The deep need for success that makes everything else take a backseat to your job. 00:13:39.920 --> 00:13:47.080 That deep need for approval that makes you run to pornography or alcohol to numb the pain of rejection. 00:13:48.980 --> 00:13:52.980 Or the deep need for control that makes you count every calorie. 00:13:57.659 --> 00:14:02.340 In Acts chapter 7, when Stephen is recounting this episode before the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem, 00:14:02.500 --> 00:14:04.860 he says, in their hearts, they turn to Egypt. 00:14:06.320 --> 00:14:10.560 God has freed us from slavery, but our hearts constantly want to go back. 00:14:10.559 --> 00:14:15.099 Friend, how is it for you? 00:14:17.099 --> 00:14:18.759 What is your functional God? 00:14:20.259 --> 00:14:23.039 What gets you up in the morning and gives meaning to your life? 00:14:23.899 --> 00:14:26.859 What's your consolation when you're uncertain or afraid? 00:14:28.500 --> 00:14:29.939 What's the thing you can't live without? 00:14:29.940 --> 00:14:34.800 Where do you turn to find value and significance as a person? 00:14:35.760 --> 00:14:38.620 This is what makes me me, and this is what makes me okay. 00:14:38.940 --> 00:14:39.720 Fill in the blank. 00:14:40.740 --> 00:14:44.120 I guarantee it's not a golden calf, but it's something. 00:14:48.260 --> 00:14:54.200 You don't really know yourself, and you don't really understand yourself until you can answer that question. 00:14:54.200 --> 00:15:01.320 Part of the reason we get so stuck spiritually is that we don't understand the true nature of our own specific sin. 00:15:02.920 --> 00:15:04.400 There's an exchange that's happened. 00:15:05.140 --> 00:15:08.420 The creator has been dethroned by a created thing in your heart. 00:15:09.280 --> 00:15:11.520 And it's not enough to just see this general pattern. 00:15:11.700 --> 00:15:16.060 Can you actually spotlight the one or two even deep idols in your own heart? 00:15:16.580 --> 00:15:18.740 If I had this, then I'd really be okay. 00:15:18.820 --> 00:15:19.280 I'd be happy. 00:15:19.379 --> 00:15:21.600 If I lost this, then I wouldn't know how to go on. 00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:26.800 Now, maybe you're listening to this and you're tempted to say, look, I don't need anything that way. 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:29.659 I am strong and self-sufficient on my own. 00:15:31.960 --> 00:15:35.540 Well, friend, have you considered perhaps that autonomy and independence are your God? 00:15:40.139 --> 00:15:42.519 In any case, these are deep waters spiritually. 00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:47.879 Maybe you need to get with a good friend soon and have this kind of conversation. 00:15:47.879 --> 00:15:53.379 Maybe you need to start praying that God will reveal to you the idols of your heart. 00:15:56.299 --> 00:16:04.240 You know, as I examine my own life, I kind of find it helpful to move backward through the dynamic or the pattern that we see in verses 1 through 6. 00:16:05.899 --> 00:16:10.200 In other words, it's fairly easy to spot where I blatantly disobey one of God's commands. 00:16:10.200 --> 00:16:13.960 Like the Israelites eating and drinking and rising up to play in verse 6. 00:16:14.920 --> 00:16:17.100 Where am I overtly breaking a command of God? 00:16:17.160 --> 00:16:19.060 Am I letting anger or frustration boil over? 00:16:19.160 --> 00:16:21.120 Am I letting pride or vanity seep in? 00:16:21.960 --> 00:16:23.680 And then go a step back from there. 00:16:25.100 --> 00:16:27.660 Why were the Israelites rising up to play? 00:16:28.800 --> 00:16:30.360 Well, because of the golden calf. 00:16:30.360 --> 00:16:36.860 And now, why might you and I experience unrighteous anger, for example? 00:16:38.740 --> 00:16:41.759 It's because I can't stand the house being so messy. 00:16:41.980 --> 00:16:42.419 Rawr! 00:16:44.899 --> 00:16:47.180 A clean house isn't too much to ask for, is it? 00:16:48.980 --> 00:16:52.139 But then, take a step further back. 00:16:52.639 --> 00:16:54.180 Why did they make the golden calf? 00:16:54.179 --> 00:17:01.419 Because they didn't want to wait for Moses and they wanted control and safety, so they reverted to the gods they had seen in slavery. 00:17:04.220 --> 00:17:08.059 Why is a clean house, that surface idol, so important to you? 00:17:09.720 --> 00:17:12.159 Is it an overriding desire for comfort? 00:17:12.379 --> 00:17:15.659 I just don't want to keep bothering with cleaning over and over again. 00:17:15.720 --> 00:17:16.539 It's such a nuisance. 00:17:18.879 --> 00:17:21.379 Is it an overriding desire for control? 00:17:22.639 --> 00:17:24.039 This is how I like things. 00:17:24.180 --> 00:17:25.299 And this is my domain. 00:17:25.820 --> 00:17:28.240 And this is how I show that I've got it together. 00:17:31.160 --> 00:17:36.519 So you can go from sinful action to surface idol to deep idol. 00:17:37.259 --> 00:17:40.120 And really see the true nature of your own sin. 00:17:41.380 --> 00:17:43.000 Friends, have you spent time to do that? 00:17:45.560 --> 00:17:48.000 Would you be able to follow that path in your own heart? 00:17:50.500 --> 00:17:54.060 If not, you're probably still just pouring fluid into a broken bucket. 00:17:54.180 --> 00:18:01.620 But this passage doesn't just show us the true nature of sin, this dynamic of idolatry. 00:18:01.660 --> 00:18:03.980 It also shows us the terrible consequences of sin. 00:18:04.519 --> 00:18:06.100 Let's pick up the story in verse 7. 00:18:06.860 --> 00:18:11.620 The scene shifts to the top of the mountain where the Lord and Moses are conversing. 00:18:11.619 --> 00:18:13.139 And the Lord said to Moses, 00:18:13.139 --> 00:18:14.279 Go down. 00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:18.539 For your people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. 00:18:19.099 --> 00:18:21.599 They've turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. 00:18:21.899 --> 00:18:25.719 They've made for themselves a golden calf and have worshipped it and sacrificed to it and said, 00:18:25.959 --> 00:18:28.599 These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 00:18:28.599 --> 00:18:30.019 And the Lord said to Moses, 00:18:30.019 --> 00:18:33.599 I have seen this people and behold it is a stiff-necked people. 00:18:34.359 --> 00:18:42.719 Now therefore let me alone that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them in order that I may make a great nation of you. 00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:49.399 There are two terrible consequences of sin. 00:18:49.400 --> 00:18:52.980 First, in verse 7, there's corruption. 00:18:55.040 --> 00:19:00.240 Rather than magnifying the glory of God and bearing his image, living in the freedom of his love and power, 00:19:00.340 --> 00:19:03.800 when we worship idols we become enslaved and dehumanized. 00:19:05.160 --> 00:19:11.259 The language of turning quickly out of the way in verse 8 and of being stiff-necked in verse 9. 00:19:12.680 --> 00:19:15.420 Those are animal analogies, right? 00:19:15.420 --> 00:19:21.820 Beasts of burden would be stiff-necked if they didn't submit to the leading and the yoke of the farmer. 00:19:21.940 --> 00:19:23.500 They would turn quickly out of the way. 00:19:26.060 --> 00:19:27.940 And do you see the tragic irony here? 00:19:29.340 --> 00:19:34.980 The Israelites worshipped a calf and so we're becoming just like it. 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:40.019 We become like what we worship. 00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:42.880 Don't we see that culturally? 00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:47.280 We worship sex and everything becomes sexualized. 00:19:47.740 --> 00:19:50.860 We worship money and everything becomes monetized. 00:19:52.120 --> 00:19:59.140 If we worship anything other than the true God, we will fall woefully short of his glory that he intends for us. 00:19:59.480 --> 00:20:01.960 We become, in the language of verse 7, corrupted. 00:20:04.600 --> 00:20:07.320 The second terrible consequence is found in verse 10. 00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:12.400 Idolatry brings God's wrath upon us. 00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:15.380 What is God's wrath? 00:20:16.900 --> 00:20:22.700 It is his perfect hatred and opposition to all that is evil and wrong. 00:20:23.900 --> 00:20:27.520 God's anger, of course, is utterly unlike most human anger. 00:20:28.280 --> 00:20:33.300 Human anger is almost always irrational, temperamental, unpredictable, and self-serving. 00:20:33.299 --> 00:20:41.480 But God's wrath is the utterly controlled expression of his perfect justice. 00:20:41.480 --> 00:20:53.720 And friends, given all the evil and injustice in the world, a God without wrath, a God without a purposed opposition to evil and injustice, 00:20:54.140 --> 00:21:00.819 surely such a God wouldn't be worth worshipping and living and hoping in, knowing what we know of the world, would he? 00:21:00.819 --> 00:21:09.500 But does the idolatry of the golden calf really warrant God's wrath? 00:21:09.559 --> 00:21:11.899 I mean, this is a bit of an overreaction on God's part, isn't it? 00:21:11.900 --> 00:21:17.960 But consider what idolatry is saying. 00:21:17.960 --> 00:21:24.799 On the one hand, idolatry is nothing less than cosmic slander. 00:21:24.799 --> 00:21:29.539 For the Israelites to erect the golden calf and say, 00:21:29.799 --> 00:21:33.319 here are the gods who led us out of Egypt, or here is the Lord, let's feast to him. 00:21:33.940 --> 00:21:42.539 They were misrepresenting God to the world, portraying him as just another fertility god out of the oppressive Egyptian pantheon. 00:21:42.539 --> 00:21:48.619 A greater lie couldn't be conceived. 00:21:49.240 --> 00:21:57.819 The God of liberty and steadfast love, the creator who keeps his covenant through thick and thin to represent him as an Egyptian calf deity? 00:21:59.819 --> 00:22:05.799 Imagine showing up to work to find that an office memo is circulating, labeling you as a Holocaust denier. 00:22:06.579 --> 00:22:09.599 And it's signed by all your colleagues and your direct reports. 00:22:12.539 --> 00:22:14.980 Now you think, that would never happen. 00:22:15.240 --> 00:22:16.220 That's total slander. 00:22:17.539 --> 00:22:18.019 Exactly. 00:22:19.920 --> 00:22:21.359 Idolatry should never happen. 00:22:23.319 --> 00:22:29.819 And what's worse, misrepresenting God in this way is not just dishonoring him, but it's misleading to others. 00:22:30.799 --> 00:22:37.420 Israel was meant to be a light to the nations, so that the nations too could come to know the true God of freedom and love as well. 00:22:37.420 --> 00:22:44.200 And now that light was being distorted, and the nations were no longer able to distinguish this God from any other. 00:22:48.700 --> 00:22:51.100 But idolatry isn't just cosmic slander. 00:22:52.120 --> 00:22:53.960 It's spiritual adultery. 00:22:53.960 --> 00:23:09.140 In fact, the phrase, great sin, that we will see used later in this chapter to describe the worship of the golden calf, that phrase, great sin, is used in other ancient Near Eastern texts to denote just that, the act of adultery. 00:23:09.140 --> 00:23:15.200 In Exodus 24, Israel had promised their allegiance to the Lord. 00:23:15.580 --> 00:23:18.080 God had taken them as his special chosen people. 00:23:18.460 --> 00:23:21.400 Their maker had become their king and their lover. 00:23:22.660 --> 00:23:31.380 And now the people broke that allegiance, in effect saying that this incomparable lover is unworthy of our love. 00:23:31.380 --> 00:23:40.060 And to fashion another love of their own choosing and making, they used the very gifts that God had given them. 00:23:43.140 --> 00:23:46.060 Where did the earrings of verse 2 come from, after all? 00:23:49.320 --> 00:23:54.340 From the spoils of the Egyptians that ultimately God gave Israel when he redeemed them from slavery in Exodus. 00:23:56.520 --> 00:24:00.900 And the very artistic skill that Aaron uses to fashion the idol, where does that come from? 00:24:01.380 --> 00:24:06.760 Again, all these good gifts come down to us from the Father of lights. 00:24:09.100 --> 00:24:16.900 Isn't it true for us, friends, that the resources at our disposal and the very talents and abilities with which we use those resources, 00:24:17.540 --> 00:24:23.360 all of it, absolutely all of it, is a gift of our God, our maker, and our lover. 00:24:23.720 --> 00:24:30.760 And yet with those very gifts, we pursue other lovers and other gods and other ultimate ends instead of him. 00:24:31.380 --> 00:24:43.980 So in the face of such cosmic slander and spiritual adultery, God is more than just to judge us. 00:24:43.980 --> 00:24:44.980 God is more than just to judge us. 00:24:44.980 --> 00:24:48.400 To cut us off from his goodness and presence. 00:24:48.539 --> 00:24:53.579 God is more than just to give us what we ask for, a life without him as our God. 00:24:53.860 --> 00:24:55.559 A life without his gifts or presence. 00:24:55.680 --> 00:24:58.860 A life of reliance on those false gods who enslave and bring us shame. 00:24:58.920 --> 00:25:02.579 In other words, he's just to give us the judgment of eternal death. 00:25:02.579 --> 00:25:14.159 So these are the two terrible consequences of sin, of idolatry. 00:25:14.740 --> 00:25:17.819 Our corruption and God's wrath. 00:25:20.339 --> 00:25:23.720 Friends, have you ever thought how the story of your life will end? 00:25:23.720 --> 00:25:28.860 What if you reached the end of your life with everything you desired? 00:25:29.660 --> 00:25:37.799 Wealth, reputation, comfort, family, respect, and yet didn't have God? 00:25:42.720 --> 00:25:50.579 And what awaited you at the end of that life wasn't the embrace of your eternal loving creator, 00:25:50.579 --> 00:25:59.039 but his holy justice and wrath because you used all his good gifts to slander his name and pursue other lovers. 00:26:01.139 --> 00:26:09.720 And not just that, but the legacy you leave behind you was not one of seeking God and prizing him, 00:26:09.919 --> 00:26:12.099 but of actively living without him. 00:26:13.119 --> 00:26:17.419 Or even worse, putting some of those ends on equal footing with God. 00:26:17.699 --> 00:26:19.699 I'll have success and I'll have God. 00:26:19.700 --> 00:26:21.920 I'll have comfort and I'll have God. 00:26:23.559 --> 00:26:28.220 Trying to have both at the same time and thus really equating God with the created things is of equal worth. 00:26:29.600 --> 00:26:35.140 Consider the end of your story and how many you will have led down the paths of idolatry 00:26:35.140 --> 00:26:37.200 by your own example. 00:26:38.380 --> 00:26:41.440 And how many will be headed to the same end as you. 00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:52.240 This is the severity and sobriety of what this passage is telling us about the consequences of sin. 00:26:55.240 --> 00:26:57.000 But it doesn't have to end that way. 00:26:57.000 --> 00:27:08.460 The rest of the story in verses 11 through 35 deal with Moses' response to the nature and the gravity of the people's sin. 00:27:09.460 --> 00:27:14.359 And through Moses, we can see three things that we can do and one thing we can't do. 00:27:14.359 --> 00:27:19.500 First thing, we can pray for mercy. 00:27:20.899 --> 00:27:24.139 Let's pick up in 32 verses 11 through 14. 00:27:24.140 --> 00:27:27.640 But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, 00:27:27.640 --> 00:27:34.020 Oh Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:40.900 Should the Egyptians say, with evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth? 00:27:41.360 --> 00:27:45.300 Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. 00:27:45.299 --> 00:27:50.940 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants to whom you swore by your own self and said to them, 00:27:51.240 --> 00:27:58.220 I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring and they shall inherit it forever. 00:28:00.419 --> 00:28:05.440 And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people. 00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:11.059 Note the basis of Moses' prayer for mercy. 00:28:11.059 --> 00:28:16.579 He approaches God not saying, God, the people have been so good in the past. 00:28:16.919 --> 00:28:18.440 This is just a little slip up. 00:28:18.700 --> 00:28:20.679 It's a little sort of blip in their character. 00:28:21.039 --> 00:28:22.779 Why don't you just overlook this one this time? 00:28:23.919 --> 00:28:27.419 Neither does Moses try to minimize the sin of the people or excuse it in some way. 00:28:27.500 --> 00:28:27.679 No. 00:28:28.460 --> 00:28:32.119 The basis for mercy has nothing to do with the people themselves. 00:28:32.259 --> 00:28:34.359 It has everything to do with who God is. 00:28:34.599 --> 00:28:39.079 The first thing that Moses asks for mercy for the sake of is God's reputation. 00:28:39.079 --> 00:28:44.759 Don't let the Egyptians think that you're a God of evil intent who led them out here just to consume them. 00:28:44.839 --> 00:28:46.059 What will the nations think? 00:28:46.839 --> 00:28:49.539 What will be said of your glory if this is what happens? 00:28:50.119 --> 00:28:53.419 And second, Moses asked for mercy for the sake of God's faithfulness. 00:28:54.519 --> 00:28:59.879 God had promised to bless the offspring of Abraham, to multiply them, to settle them in the promised land. 00:29:00.319 --> 00:29:03.919 So Moses appeals to God for mercy on the basis of his promise. 00:29:03.920 --> 00:29:07.700 Don't destroy the people, God, because you've promised. 00:29:08.039 --> 00:29:09.600 You're faithful to your promises. 00:29:13.200 --> 00:29:19.400 And when we're faced with the gravity of our own idolatry, we too should pray for God's mercy. 00:29:20.480 --> 00:29:22.220 And this is how we should do it. 00:29:22.560 --> 00:29:27.740 On the basis of God's own glory and on the basis of God's own good promises. 00:29:27.740 --> 00:29:36.220 God, be merciful to us, not because we deserve it, but because you're a great God who keeps his promises. 00:29:39.599 --> 00:29:41.079 So we must pray for mercy. 00:29:41.240 --> 00:29:44.660 And second, we must destroy our idols. 00:29:45.579 --> 00:29:47.220 This is verses 15 through 20. 00:29:47.940 --> 00:29:52.519 Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of testimony in his hand. 00:29:52.519 --> 00:29:56.680 The tablets were written on both sides, on the front and on the back. 00:29:56.799 --> 00:30:01.799 They were written, the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. 00:30:01.940 --> 00:30:09.720 Notice here that the people had traded the engraved word of God, whereby they would truly know God, for an engraved calf of God that led them completely astray. 00:30:11.359 --> 00:30:16.639 When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, there's a noise of war in the camp. 00:30:16.640 --> 00:30:23.300 But Moses said, it's not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear. 00:30:23.900 --> 00:30:28.560 And as soon as he came near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. 00:30:29.220 --> 00:30:34.060 Moses, his anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hand and broke them at the foot of the mountain. 00:30:34.560 --> 00:30:43.060 He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it on the water, and made the people of Israel drink it. 00:30:46.640 --> 00:30:56.820 Unlike Moses, too often our approach is to tolerate rather than annihilate the idols of the hearts and our lives. 00:30:57.920 --> 00:31:01.380 They've become too familiar and too comfortable for us. 00:31:01.800 --> 00:31:03.740 We're so reluctant to see them go. 00:31:05.320 --> 00:31:11.480 But rather than play those games, Moses understands that decisive action has to be taken. 00:31:11.480 --> 00:31:18.940 After all, when he breaks the tablets at the foot of the mountain, this isn't an outburst of sort of rage and human frustration. 00:31:19.380 --> 00:31:26.160 No, Moses, in righteous anger, is symbolically portraying the spiritual reality of what their idolatry has done. 00:31:26.480 --> 00:31:28.339 It's broken their covenant with God. 00:31:28.960 --> 00:31:33.120 So Moses breaks the tablets to show the people how grave their situation is. 00:31:33.119 --> 00:31:40.139 And then he proceeds to destroy the calf as thoroughly as possible. 00:31:43.619 --> 00:31:50.619 Now, it's not clear why exactly Moses makes the people drink the water that contains the ashes of the pulverized idol. 00:31:52.139 --> 00:31:59.479 Perhaps it's so that they remember the bitter taste of the idol for years to come as a deterrent to never do this again. 00:31:59.480 --> 00:32:04.180 Or perhaps it's a way to show that the idol is less than nothing. 00:32:04.360 --> 00:32:08.660 Surely a God you can drink the ashes of is no God worth worshiping. 00:32:11.360 --> 00:32:12.700 We can't say for sure. 00:32:14.660 --> 00:32:19.460 But more importantly, are you and I willing to not just plead God for mercy, 00:32:19.819 --> 00:32:23.779 but to follow through and root out the idols in our life? 00:32:24.140 --> 00:32:26.120 To be done with them completely? 00:32:26.119 --> 00:32:30.219 To take even what might seem like extreme measures to be free of them? 00:32:31.379 --> 00:32:35.139 To do things that might make us look a little weird in the eyes of our neighbors? 00:32:37.359 --> 00:32:38.339 To be free. 00:32:42.279 --> 00:32:44.259 And that leads to the third thing we must do. 00:32:44.319 --> 00:32:46.019 We must take responsibility. 00:32:47.659 --> 00:32:52.079 Picking up in verses 21 through 24, Moses confronts Aaron now. 00:32:52.079 --> 00:32:59.199 And Moses said to Aaron, what did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them? 00:33:00.220 --> 00:33:04.299 And Aaron said, let not the anger of my Lord burn hot. 00:33:04.899 --> 00:33:06.019 You know the people. 00:33:06.740 --> 00:33:07.740 They're set on evil. 00:33:08.139 --> 00:33:10.659 For they said to me, make us gods who shall go before us. 00:33:10.699 --> 00:33:13.619 As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, 00:33:13.960 --> 00:33:15.519 we do not know what has become of him. 00:33:15.960 --> 00:33:19.179 So I said to them, let any who have gold take it off. 00:33:19.180 --> 00:33:21.860 So they gave it to me and I threw it into the fire. 00:33:22.519 --> 00:33:23.759 And out came this calf. 00:33:26.519 --> 00:33:27.039 It's okay. 00:33:27.120 --> 00:33:28.200 You can kind of chuckle at that. 00:33:28.240 --> 00:33:29.019 It's a bit ridiculous. 00:33:32.120 --> 00:33:35.340 Now Aaron is just like us when confronted about our sin, isn't he? 00:33:37.400 --> 00:33:38.880 First, he tries to pass the blame. 00:33:39.660 --> 00:33:41.140 The people are so evil. 00:33:41.340 --> 00:33:42.380 What else could I have done? 00:33:42.460 --> 00:33:43.200 It's really their fault. 00:33:43.299 --> 00:33:43.860 They threatened me. 00:33:43.980 --> 00:33:44.920 There was no other choice, Moses. 00:33:44.920 --> 00:33:49.519 And second, he minimizes his responsibility just like we do. 00:33:50.019 --> 00:33:52.560 I threw the gold in and out came this calf. 00:33:53.039 --> 00:33:53.560 I don't know. 00:33:53.759 --> 00:33:54.360 It just happened. 00:33:54.940 --> 00:33:55.620 It was a sign. 00:33:57.039 --> 00:33:59.519 How many times have we made similarly lame excuses? 00:34:00.980 --> 00:34:04.759 I mean, I stayed over at my boyfriend, my girlfriend's apartment until 2 a.m. 00:34:05.080 --> 00:34:05.680 I don't know. 00:34:06.120 --> 00:34:07.019 It just sort of happened. 00:34:09.119 --> 00:34:10.780 I went to the bar with all my friends. 00:34:10.860 --> 00:34:12.220 I ordered a few drinks and I don't know. 00:34:12.340 --> 00:34:13.039 It's just, I got drunk. 00:34:13.119 --> 00:34:13.820 I don't know what happened. 00:34:13.820 --> 00:34:13.900 I don't know what happened. 00:34:20.059 --> 00:34:24.039 Rather than minimize and pass the blame, we need to take responsibility for what we've done. 00:34:25.620 --> 00:34:31.880 We need to exercise the agency that God has given us that we might be done with our idols. 00:34:33.059 --> 00:34:36.800 The counterexample to Aaron is found in the next paragraph concerning the Levites. 00:34:37.400 --> 00:34:39.240 Let's read verses 25 through 29. 00:34:39.239 --> 00:34:45.339 And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose, for Aaron had let them break loose to the derision of their enemies, 00:34:45.459 --> 00:34:47.259 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, 00:34:47.739 --> 00:34:48.959 Who is on the Lord's side? 00:34:49.299 --> 00:34:49.959 Come to me. 00:34:50.699 --> 00:34:52.839 And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. 00:34:53.399 --> 00:34:54.199 And he said to them, 00:34:54.199 --> 00:35:01.619 And thus says the Lord, God of Israel, put your sword on your side, each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, 00:35:01.939 --> 00:35:05.199 and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor. 00:35:05.879 --> 00:35:09.159 And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. 00:35:09.639 --> 00:35:12.460 And that day about three thousand men of the people fell. 00:35:13.159 --> 00:35:14.039 And Moses said, 00:35:14.039 --> 00:35:28.519 Now admittedly, this is a very hard paragraph to understand at first blush. 00:35:28.599 --> 00:35:29.539 What is going on here? 00:35:30.440 --> 00:35:34.840 A couple things to sort of put this passage in perspective to help us understand it. 00:35:34.840 --> 00:35:40.719 First, we need to remember that overt idolatry was a capital offense under the Sinai covenant. 00:35:40.719 --> 00:35:47.099 God takes this sin so seriously that in Israel, under the old covenant, the judicial penalty for it was death. 00:35:48.459 --> 00:35:53.279 Of course, today, now that Christ has come, the Sinai covenant is no longer in force. 00:35:54.239 --> 00:35:58.079 So breaking the second commandment cannot and must not be judged in the same way. 00:35:58.159 --> 00:36:00.919 While idolatry remains immoral, it's no longer illegal. 00:36:01.819 --> 00:36:08.379 Moreover, the church does not carry the power of the sword, only the power of the word, exercised in teaching and correction. 00:36:08.380 --> 00:36:13.220 So there's not a one-to-one correspondence in applying this passage today. 00:36:13.820 --> 00:36:17.740 But in ancient Israel, idolatry was a capital offense. 00:36:18.960 --> 00:36:26.940 So what we have in these verses is not some twisted version of vigilante justice, some kind of strange purge. 00:36:27.579 --> 00:36:33.039 But the Levites are acting as the legal judicial agents of the high king, the Lord, 00:36:33.260 --> 00:36:37.880 executing the Lord's just judgment upon his rebellious subjects for high treason. 00:36:38.380 --> 00:36:50.660 Second, nearly all the commentators agree that the judgment executed here is targeted against the ringleaders of the golden calf incident. 00:36:50.820 --> 00:36:55.400 It's against particularly those people responsible for misleading the people to break God's covenant. 00:36:56.059 --> 00:36:57.340 So there's a focus to it. 00:36:58.480 --> 00:37:00.000 Third, when the Levites are commanded, 00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:02.659 Did each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor? 00:37:02.940 --> 00:37:08.119 That's a way of saying that they are to show no partiality in discharging God's command. 00:37:09.420 --> 00:37:17.739 If guilty, even close neighbors, even relatives, must receive the same just sentence for their treason. 00:37:17.739 --> 00:37:26.899 And it seems that rather than minimize and pass the blame like Aaron, the Levites carry out God's command. 00:37:28.119 --> 00:37:34.699 And as verse 29 alludes to, this costly obedience leads to their eventual ordination in the book of Numbers 00:37:34.699 --> 00:37:39.079 to be the tribe that's set apart to care for and protect the tabernacle itself. 00:37:39.079 --> 00:37:46.860 Of course, the severity of this judgment is very real, and it's very hard to wrap our minds around today. 00:37:46.940 --> 00:37:47.659 I understand that. 00:37:47.759 --> 00:37:52.779 But in part, don't you see that's because we don't have a robust sense of God's holiness. 00:37:54.759 --> 00:37:59.719 God is holy, and the wages of sin is death. 00:37:59.719 --> 00:38:06.279 And while today God no longer asks human agents to carry out his divine judgment, 00:38:06.439 --> 00:38:10.279 that right now, that right to judge belongs only to the risen Lord Christ. 00:38:10.399 --> 00:38:12.579 He is the only one who will execute God's judgments. 00:38:13.579 --> 00:38:15.839 Still, the wages of sin are still the same. 00:38:16.419 --> 00:38:18.500 The wages of sin are still spiritual death. 00:38:21.459 --> 00:38:25.480 Today, however, we can still take responsibility for our actions like the Levites. 00:38:25.480 --> 00:38:30.199 Rather than balk and minimize the situation, the Levites understood the gravity of the sin, 00:38:30.480 --> 00:38:33.500 and they stepped forward to do whatever God was asking them to do, 00:38:33.719 --> 00:38:36.460 even if it was personally costly in the extreme. 00:38:37.500 --> 00:38:39.639 They would be on the Lord's side. 00:38:44.440 --> 00:38:48.559 And today, the whole church, led by the church leaders, are meant to be set apart in such a way, 00:38:49.019 --> 00:38:52.480 taking full responsibility to pursue holiness with devotion. 00:38:52.480 --> 00:38:56.579 Not, of course, enacting judicial sentences, 00:38:57.159 --> 00:39:02.260 but exhorting and encouraging one another to flee sin and pursue Christ. 00:39:05.280 --> 00:39:07.900 So in the face of our sin, there are at least three things we can do. 00:39:07.980 --> 00:39:09.099 We can pray for God's mercy. 00:39:09.679 --> 00:39:11.320 We can root out and destroy our idols. 00:39:11.780 --> 00:39:13.840 And we can take responsibility for our holiness. 00:39:15.340 --> 00:39:16.880 But there's one thing we can't do. 00:39:18.199 --> 00:39:20.300 Let's conclude with verses 30 through 35. 00:39:20.300 --> 00:39:24.120 The next day, Moses said to the people, 00:39:24.220 --> 00:39:25.500 You have sinned a great sin. 00:39:26.080 --> 00:39:27.600 And now I will go up to the Lord. 00:39:27.700 --> 00:39:30.100 Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin. 00:39:31.320 --> 00:39:33.220 So Moses returned to the Lord and said, 00:39:33.300 --> 00:39:36.340 Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. 00:39:36.620 --> 00:39:38.780 They've made for themselves gods of gold. 00:39:38.980 --> 00:39:41.280 But now, if you will forgive their sin. 00:39:42.940 --> 00:39:43.860 But if not, 00:39:44.860 --> 00:39:48.280 please blot me out of your book that you have written. 00:39:48.280 --> 00:39:51.860 But the Lord said to Moses, 00:39:52.200 --> 00:39:54.519 Whoever has sinned against me, 00:39:54.840 --> 00:39:56.000 I will blot out of my book. 00:39:57.600 --> 00:39:58.360 But now go, 00:39:58.460 --> 00:40:00.680 lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you. 00:40:01.760 --> 00:40:03.340 Behold, my angel shall go before you. 00:40:03.680 --> 00:40:05.180 Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, 00:40:05.260 --> 00:40:06.500 I will visit their sin upon them. 00:40:07.360 --> 00:40:08.740 Then the Lord sent a plague on the people 00:40:08.740 --> 00:40:09.920 because they made the calf, 00:40:10.460 --> 00:40:11.360 the one that Aaron made. 00:40:13.180 --> 00:40:14.600 Friends, the one thing we can't do 00:40:14.600 --> 00:40:16.660 is make atonement for our sin. 00:40:16.659 --> 00:40:19.879 Moses goes up the mountain, 00:40:20.319 --> 00:40:22.739 realizing that even though God has relented 00:40:22.739 --> 00:40:24.679 and decided to not utterly wipe them out 00:40:24.679 --> 00:40:26.139 in one fell swoop, 00:40:26.279 --> 00:40:27.519 their guilt still remains. 00:40:28.879 --> 00:40:30.119 Maybe you've sensed that. 00:40:31.480 --> 00:40:32.639 You've pled for mercy. 00:40:33.279 --> 00:40:35.019 You've done your best to get rid of your idols. 00:40:35.399 --> 00:40:37.099 You've taken responsibility for your actions, 00:40:37.199 --> 00:40:38.639 but the guilt is still there. 00:40:40.639 --> 00:40:42.920 The relationship with God is still breached. 00:40:43.019 --> 00:40:44.599 The debt of sin still remains, 00:40:44.599 --> 00:40:46.559 and nothing you do seems to change it. 00:40:49.900 --> 00:40:51.239 Moses goes up the mountain 00:40:51.239 --> 00:40:56.119 with an almost unbelievably loving plan. 00:40:57.920 --> 00:40:58.980 Perhaps, he says, 00:40:59.460 --> 00:41:01.960 I can make atonement for your sin. 00:41:02.819 --> 00:41:04.940 And Moses' proposal to God 00:41:04.940 --> 00:41:06.779 is that he, Moses, 00:41:06.900 --> 00:41:09.159 be blotted out for the sake of the people. 00:41:09.159 --> 00:41:11.219 If you'll forgive their sin, 00:41:11.299 --> 00:41:12.279 well and good, Moses says, 00:41:12.339 --> 00:41:12.859 but if not, 00:41:12.920 --> 00:41:14.679 if you require a price to be paid, 00:41:14.759 --> 00:41:16.279 then blot me out instead of them. 00:41:21.159 --> 00:41:22.000 Do you see, friends, 00:41:22.039 --> 00:41:22.659 how in many ways, 00:41:22.759 --> 00:41:23.819 this whole chapter 00:41:23.819 --> 00:41:26.159 becomes a test for Moses, 00:41:26.859 --> 00:41:28.799 a test through which 00:41:28.799 --> 00:41:30.779 his virtue shines. 00:41:31.799 --> 00:41:32.839 Moses, as a leader 00:41:32.839 --> 00:41:34.079 and as a mediator 00:41:34.079 --> 00:41:36.920 and as the shepherd of God's people here, 00:41:36.920 --> 00:41:38.460 really comes into his own. 00:41:40.180 --> 00:41:41.139 Look back at verse 10. 00:41:41.460 --> 00:41:43.380 God offers to start 00:41:43.380 --> 00:41:44.639 his redemptive plan 00:41:44.639 --> 00:41:46.780 over with Moses in verse 10. 00:41:47.300 --> 00:41:48.740 I'm going to make you a new Abraham 00:41:48.740 --> 00:41:50.619 and make a new people from you, Moses, 00:41:50.700 --> 00:41:51.539 because these people 00:41:51.539 --> 00:41:52.760 have broken their covenant with me. 00:41:52.780 --> 00:41:53.800 And what does Moses do? 00:41:54.860 --> 00:41:56.260 Hey, that sounds like a pretty good idea. 00:41:56.420 --> 00:41:57.420 I'm sick of these people too. 00:41:57.599 --> 00:41:58.360 Sign me up, God. 00:41:59.420 --> 00:41:59.820 No. 00:42:02.139 --> 00:42:04.059 Instead, Moses intercedes 00:42:04.059 --> 00:42:05.860 for the sinful people instead. 00:42:07.599 --> 00:42:08.659 What love. 00:42:10.480 --> 00:42:11.679 Oh, to have a Moses 00:42:11.679 --> 00:42:13.299 in your life like that 00:42:13.299 --> 00:42:17.059 who would trade his own glory 00:42:17.619 --> 00:42:20.900 and his own kingdom for you. 00:42:26.119 --> 00:42:28.159 But even Moses, great as he was, 00:42:28.960 --> 00:42:30.920 could not atone for the people's sins. 00:42:30.920 --> 00:42:34.900 God flatly denies 00:42:34.900 --> 00:42:35.740 Moses' prayer. 00:42:38.139 --> 00:42:39.500 Yes, the plan will go forward. 00:42:39.619 --> 00:42:40.460 God will send his angel 00:42:40.460 --> 00:42:41.159 to lead the people, 00:42:41.380 --> 00:42:42.940 but their guilt will remain on them. 00:42:44.000 --> 00:42:45.340 A plague will strike many 00:42:45.340 --> 00:42:46.260 in verse 35. 00:42:46.420 --> 00:42:47.860 We're not told anything else about it. 00:42:48.639 --> 00:42:49.200 But eventually, 00:42:49.340 --> 00:42:50.159 as the history of Israel 00:42:50.159 --> 00:42:50.840 will unfold 00:42:50.840 --> 00:42:51.800 through many generations, 00:42:51.940 --> 00:42:53.079 the people will be consumed 00:42:53.079 --> 00:42:54.240 in the judgment of exile 00:42:54.240 --> 00:42:55.619 with only a remnant that remains. 00:42:55.619 --> 00:43:01.259 Why wasn't Moses enough? 00:43:04.259 --> 00:43:05.759 Who else could we find? 00:43:09.359 --> 00:43:10.559 Moses wasn't enough 00:43:10.559 --> 00:43:13.079 because Moses too was a sinner. 00:43:14.799 --> 00:43:16.159 The rest of the Pentateuch 00:43:16.159 --> 00:43:17.039 will reveal that 00:43:17.039 --> 00:43:19.420 even Moses needs a mediator. 00:43:19.619 --> 00:43:21.079 Even Moses needs atonement. 00:43:21.079 --> 00:43:23.239 You see, 00:43:23.299 --> 00:43:24.619 Moses could come down the mountain 00:43:24.619 --> 00:43:26.259 and crack the stone tablets. 00:43:26.380 --> 00:43:27.360 He could symbolically 00:43:27.360 --> 00:43:28.179 break the covenant, 00:43:28.480 --> 00:43:29.559 but he wouldn't ultimately 00:43:29.559 --> 00:43:30.880 be the one to repair it. 00:43:32.279 --> 00:43:33.519 Moses pleaded with God, 00:43:33.639 --> 00:43:35.059 God, let me be the representative. 00:43:35.259 --> 00:43:36.259 Let me be the substitute 00:43:36.259 --> 00:43:37.380 for the people's sins. 00:43:38.360 --> 00:43:39.599 Let me take the logic 00:43:39.599 --> 00:43:40.940 of the sacrifices 00:43:40.940 --> 00:43:42.139 that you've just told me about 00:43:42.139 --> 00:43:42.920 and let me take it 00:43:42.920 --> 00:43:43.920 to its conclusion 00:43:43.920 --> 00:43:45.699 and let me stand for the people. 00:43:47.039 --> 00:43:48.099 And God says, no. 00:43:48.099 --> 00:43:48.159 No. 00:43:48.159 --> 00:43:48.219 No. 00:43:51.079 --> 00:43:52.480 Because you see, 00:43:52.579 --> 00:43:53.519 a greater substitute 00:43:53.519 --> 00:43:55.420 had already been appointed, 00:43:56.079 --> 00:43:56.340 friends. 00:43:59.179 --> 00:44:00.980 Before the ages began, 00:44:01.440 --> 00:44:03.519 in the eternity before creation, 00:44:03.719 --> 00:44:04.579 God the Father 00:44:04.579 --> 00:44:05.920 and God the Son 00:44:05.920 --> 00:44:08.199 had already made a pact. 00:44:09.679 --> 00:44:10.900 They had already 00:44:10.900 --> 00:44:13.079 made a binding covenant 00:44:13.079 --> 00:44:14.099 that the Son, 00:44:14.579 --> 00:44:15.860 the Word of the Father, 00:44:15.960 --> 00:44:17.500 would take human nature 00:44:17.500 --> 00:44:18.539 into his own person 00:44:18.539 --> 00:44:20.340 and he would fulfill 00:44:20.340 --> 00:44:20.940 the covenant 00:44:20.940 --> 00:44:21.780 that we had broken 00:44:21.780 --> 00:44:23.220 and in himself 00:44:23.220 --> 00:44:24.820 he would bear our sin 00:44:24.820 --> 00:44:26.539 because he was perfect 00:44:26.539 --> 00:44:27.860 and unblemished 00:44:27.860 --> 00:44:29.539 and fully God 00:44:29.539 --> 00:44:30.600 and fully human 00:44:30.600 --> 00:44:32.460 and able to carry the weight. 00:44:34.780 --> 00:44:35.260 You see, 00:44:35.320 --> 00:44:36.340 the written Word of God 00:44:36.340 --> 00:44:38.079 here in Exodus 32 00:44:38.079 --> 00:44:39.760 is cracked 00:44:39.760 --> 00:44:41.059 at the foot of Mount Sinai 00:44:41.059 --> 00:44:42.200 speaking of our judgment. 00:44:42.380 --> 00:44:43.559 But in the fullness of time, 00:44:43.920 --> 00:44:44.559 on a mountain 00:44:44.559 --> 00:44:45.440 outside of Jerusalem, 00:44:45.579 --> 00:44:46.920 the incarnate Word of God 00:44:46.920 --> 00:44:47.880 would be crushed 00:44:47.880 --> 00:44:48.820 for our iniquities 00:44:48.820 --> 00:44:49.660 and the Lord 00:44:49.660 --> 00:44:50.460 would lay on him 00:44:50.460 --> 00:44:51.600 the iniquity of us all 00:44:51.600 --> 00:44:52.680 and he would remove 00:44:52.680 --> 00:44:53.559 our guilt forever. 00:44:56.800 --> 00:44:57.280 Guilty, 00:44:57.720 --> 00:44:58.100 vile, 00:44:58.360 --> 00:44:59.280 and helpless we, 00:44:59.539 --> 00:45:00.220 the song goes. 00:45:01.100 --> 00:45:02.620 Spotless Lamb of God 00:45:02.620 --> 00:45:03.100 was he. 00:45:03.900 --> 00:45:05.180 Full atonement. 00:45:05.820 --> 00:45:06.660 Can it be? 00:45:07.660 --> 00:45:08.180 Hallelujah. 00:45:08.740 --> 00:45:09.340 What a Savior. 00:45:12.140 --> 00:45:12.660 Now, 00:45:13.160 --> 00:45:14.480 there's no more 00:45:14.480 --> 00:45:15.480 perhaps, 00:45:16.280 --> 00:45:17.000 as Moses said 00:45:17.000 --> 00:45:17.659 in verse 30. 00:45:19.240 --> 00:45:20.380 Atonement has been made 00:45:20.380 --> 00:45:21.099 fully 00:45:21.099 --> 00:45:23.000 through the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:45:24.380 --> 00:45:25.460 Raised on the third day 00:45:25.460 --> 00:45:26.820 proving that the sacrifice 00:45:26.820 --> 00:45:27.500 was complete, 00:45:28.000 --> 00:45:28.880 ascended to heaven 00:45:28.880 --> 00:45:29.760 to intercede 00:45:29.760 --> 00:45:30.659 on our behalf 00:45:30.659 --> 00:45:31.740 with an intercession 00:45:31.740 --> 00:45:32.780 that far surpasses 00:45:32.780 --> 00:45:33.840 anything that Moses 00:45:33.840 --> 00:45:34.679 could have dreamed of 00:45:34.679 --> 00:45:35.340 or ever done. 00:45:36.199 --> 00:45:37.260 Jesus always lives 00:45:37.260 --> 00:45:38.000 to make intercession 00:45:38.000 --> 00:45:39.119 for those who trust in him. 00:45:39.920 --> 00:45:40.119 Friends, 00:45:40.159 --> 00:45:40.500 don't you see, 00:45:40.599 --> 00:45:42.119 you have an even greater Moses. 00:45:42.119 --> 00:45:45.519 the one thing 00:45:45.519 --> 00:45:46.719 you can't do 00:45:46.719 --> 00:45:49.739 has been done for you 00:45:49.739 --> 00:45:51.719 through the costly love 00:45:51.719 --> 00:45:52.900 of Jesus on the cross. 00:45:53.719 --> 00:45:55.000 You can't earn it 00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:57.079 and you can only receive it 00:45:57.079 --> 00:45:57.819 as a gift 00:45:57.819 --> 00:46:00.179 as you lay your life 00:46:00.179 --> 00:46:01.679 into the risen life 00:46:01.679 --> 00:46:02.119 of Jesus. 00:46:05.699 --> 00:46:07.239 And that's what will get down 00:46:07.239 --> 00:46:08.400 into the deep places 00:46:08.400 --> 00:46:08.980 of your heart, 00:46:09.079 --> 00:46:10.480 those deep idols, 00:46:10.480 --> 00:46:12.519 and begin to dethrone them. 00:46:13.659 --> 00:46:13.900 Friends, 00:46:13.940 --> 00:46:14.840 that's what you really need 00:46:14.840 --> 00:46:16.260 to get unstuck spiritually. 00:46:16.440 --> 00:46:17.740 That's what will repair you 00:46:17.740 --> 00:46:19.019 at the deepest level 00:46:19.019 --> 00:46:19.820 when you see 00:46:19.820 --> 00:46:20.740 that Christ, 00:46:21.199 --> 00:46:21.920 the crucified 00:46:21.920 --> 00:46:22.940 and risen Jesus, 00:46:23.159 --> 00:46:24.320 is all the comfort 00:46:24.320 --> 00:46:25.820 and all the success 00:46:25.820 --> 00:46:27.179 and all the power 00:46:27.179 --> 00:46:27.860 and glory 00:46:27.860 --> 00:46:30.159 and all the honor 00:46:30.159 --> 00:46:31.780 that you will ever need 00:46:31.780 --> 00:46:33.300 and that he loves you 00:46:33.300 --> 00:46:34.199 and embraces you 00:46:34.199 --> 00:46:35.400 and takes you as his own. 00:46:37.079 --> 00:46:37.900 When you see 00:46:37.900 --> 00:46:38.960 that having him 00:46:38.960 --> 00:46:39.860 is better than all 00:46:39.860 --> 00:46:40.639 of those things 00:46:40.639 --> 00:46:42.099 and that surrendering 00:46:42.099 --> 00:46:42.519 to him 00:46:42.519 --> 00:46:43.800 is perfect freedom, 00:46:44.320 --> 00:46:47.720 when you let your heart 00:46:47.720 --> 00:46:49.099 sink into that, 00:46:49.179 --> 00:46:49.840 into him, 00:46:50.760 --> 00:46:53.340 those idols start to fall. 00:46:55.179 --> 00:46:56.099 It's a battle 00:46:56.099 --> 00:46:57.079 every day, 00:46:58.079 --> 00:47:00.400 but it's a battle 00:47:00.400 --> 00:47:03.539 that Christ allows us 00:47:03.539 --> 00:47:04.079 to win. 00:47:04.079 --> 00:47:07.239 He's why we never need 00:47:07.239 --> 00:47:07.639 to go back 00:47:07.639 --> 00:47:08.480 to the gods of Egypt. 00:47:09.759 --> 00:47:10.920 He is all 00:47:10.920 --> 00:47:11.860 that we need 00:47:11.860 --> 00:47:13.639 and he receives 00:47:13.639 --> 00:47:14.500 all who come to him. 00:47:16.199 --> 00:47:17.139 Would you pray with me? 00:47:22.880 --> 00:47:23.279 Father, 00:47:23.340 --> 00:47:24.039 we pray that you would 00:47:24.039 --> 00:47:25.819 exalt the Lord Jesus 00:47:25.819 --> 00:47:26.619 in our hearts 00:47:26.619 --> 00:47:27.579 by your Holy Spirit. 00:47:28.840 --> 00:47:29.199 Lord, 00:47:29.259 --> 00:47:29.719 would you breathe 00:47:29.719 --> 00:47:30.539 new life 00:47:30.539 --> 00:47:32.239 into hearts 00:47:32.239 --> 00:47:32.619 that are here 00:47:32.619 --> 00:47:33.239 this morning 00:47:33.239 --> 00:47:34.399 and who are not 00:47:34.399 --> 00:47:35.199 alive to you? 00:47:37.639 --> 00:47:38.459 And for those 00:47:38.459 --> 00:47:38.979 whom you've called 00:47:38.979 --> 00:47:39.559 to yourself, 00:47:39.659 --> 00:47:40.319 would you help us 00:47:40.319 --> 00:47:41.099 to see Christ 00:47:41.099 --> 00:47:42.379 with a fresh splendor 00:47:42.379 --> 00:47:44.779 so that we might 00:47:44.779 --> 00:47:46.439 plead for your mercy 00:47:46.439 --> 00:47:47.599 and cast down 00:47:47.599 --> 00:47:48.199 our idols 00:47:48.199 --> 00:47:49.079 and so that we might 00:47:49.079 --> 00:47:50.099 take responsibility 00:47:50.099 --> 00:47:51.479 with a whole new frame, 00:47:51.659 --> 00:47:51.859 God, 00:47:52.500 --> 00:47:53.479 not trying to earn 00:47:53.479 --> 00:47:53.919 your favor, 00:47:54.039 --> 00:47:54.500 but now 00:47:54.500 --> 00:47:55.559 and as an expression 00:47:55.559 --> 00:47:56.519 of love for you, 00:47:56.599 --> 00:47:57.599 of confidence in you 00:47:57.599 --> 00:47:58.399 because you have done 00:47:58.399 --> 00:47:59.219 what we can't do. 00:48:02.939 --> 00:48:03.319 Oh Lord, 00:48:03.359 --> 00:48:03.819 would you work 00:48:03.819 --> 00:48:04.239 these things 00:48:04.239 --> 00:48:04.759 into your heart, 00:48:04.819 --> 00:48:05.199 we pray. 00:48:05.979 --> 00:48:06.259 Amen.