back to index2018-09-09 First Degree Disobedience
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Please turn your Bibles over to Exodus chapter 32. 00:00:07.280 |
And a famous passage in Exodus, we're there this morning because our youth group has been 00:00:14.640 |
walking through the book of Exodus for the last year. 00:00:17.720 |
And it's been an amazing journey through the scripture. 00:00:22.920 |
It's been amazing because actually the content of the entire story is absolutely amazing. 00:00:29.160 |
The deliverance of the nation of Israel from Egypt by the powerful hand of God is an amazing, 00:00:37.480 |
And I wish there were greater synonyms, more profound ways to say it. 00:00:41.760 |
But I would like to do is actually go through how amazing it's been. 00:00:46.220 |
Even just from the very beginning, God had prepared for an amazing deliverance for the 00:00:55.000 |
It wasn't even just his birth and how he survived the massacre of the Israelite baby boys. 00:01:02.440 |
But actually from long before, God has been preparing to build up his people. 00:01:06.260 |
And here and now in terms of the deliverance of the nation, God too by his sovereign hand 00:01:10.440 |
spared Moses, placed him in the hands of individuals who will raise him in the palace, and then 00:01:16.600 |
also eventually prepare him to be a man that will deliver his people. 00:01:20.720 |
What's more, the amazing promise of God was with him. 00:01:23.960 |
From the burning bush, God promised Moses, "I have seen the affliction of my people and 00:01:33.440 |
I'm going to place you in a land flowing with milk and honey." 00:01:37.440 |
What's more, upon the execution of that deliverance, it was an amazing thing. 00:01:45.280 |
I wish we did, but to rehearse, every single miracle of God affected the entire land. 00:01:52.000 |
And people could see this God is more powerful than any idol, any presumed provision we have 00:02:00.400 |
And what's more, even at the end of the story when the 10 plagues go through the land and 00:02:05.000 |
the people finally are saying, "You may go," and then they start leaving, God leads them 00:02:11.500 |
And there are epic moments when people are walking, they come to the sea, their backs 00:02:15.640 |
up against the wall, so to speak, and God provides for them. 00:02:19.460 |
God ultimately splits the sea in half when they walk on dry land. 00:02:23.860 |
And even as they walk, though, God's amazing protection is with them. 00:02:28.140 |
These passages I want to highlight for you, that even as they walk, God protects their 00:02:34.240 |
Scripture talks about how their feet and shoes did not wear and tatter. 00:02:38.840 |
Because God allowed them to have provision even in their walk. 00:02:44.360 |
Who provided the warmth of the pillar of fire? 00:02:46.120 |
Who provided the food that just shows up every single day? 00:02:48.560 |
I mean, the provision and protection is amazing. 00:02:50.920 |
Here's a verse I want to highlight to you, Exodus 14, verse 19. 00:02:57.040 |
It says that the angel of God who has been going before the camp of Israel moved and 00:03:02.840 |
The pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them. 00:03:06.140 |
So it came about between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel, that there was a cloud 00:03:10.300 |
along with darkness, yet it gave light at night. 00:03:13.760 |
Thus, one did not come near the other all night. 00:03:18.440 |
The reason why I highlight that for you is because when I say there was protection, I 00:03:22.800 |
don't even mean just the small provisions of the cloud, or not the small provisions, 00:03:33.360 |
Here's another passage, Exodus chapter 23, verse 20 through 23. 00:03:37.760 |
"Behold, I'm going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way, bring you 00:03:44.960 |
Be on your guard before him and obey his voice. 00:03:47.600 |
Do not be rebellious towards him, for he will not pardon your transgressions since 00:03:53.200 |
But if you truly obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your 00:03:57.720 |
enemies and an adversary to your adversaries, for my angel will go before you and bring 00:04:10.360 |
And where they are now is another amazing moment in their journey. 00:04:14.960 |
They have had an angel, supernatural being, guard them and protect them to this place 00:04:23.600 |
And in my last previous sermon a little while back, what I mentioned was that God had an 00:04:27.280 |
amazing meeting with them where he came down with a covered glory. 00:04:32.880 |
He filled the mountain with smoke, thunder, and lightning and said, "I am here to meet 00:04:40.560 |
I am here to give you my law, my good law, give you my presence. 00:04:44.840 |
I desire to be your God and I desire for you to be my people." 00:04:49.720 |
And in this moment, God gives them an amazing law and in that, God gives them an amazing 00:04:55.160 |
covenant, a relationship that you and I are bound together. 00:05:00.320 |
And God in many ways also is giving them promise of his words. 00:05:04.760 |
It is this moment that they are here in Exodus chapter 32. 00:05:09.680 |
In Exodus chapter 32, a famous passage that we know of, they're still at the mountain 00:05:14.200 |
seeing the glory of God covering this mountain that stands before him. 00:05:19.880 |
And so, with such an amazing journey, we wonder how things will go. 00:05:27.680 |
Chapter 32 verse 1, "Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the 00:05:32.080 |
mountain, the people assembled around Aaron and said to him, 'Come, make us a God who 00:05:39.260 |
For this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what 00:05:44.200 |
Aaron said to them, 'Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your 00:05:51.760 |
Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them 00:05:55.800 |
He took this from their hand, fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into molten 00:06:01.760 |
And they said, 'This is your God, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.' 00:06:07.200 |
Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. 00:06:10.040 |
And Aaron made a proclamation and said, 'Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.' 00:06:14.680 |
So the next day they arose early and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. 00:06:20.360 |
People sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play." 00:06:28.040 |
Nothing short of supernatural, profoundly genuine, life-altering greatness of God delivering 00:06:40.000 |
The people, because Moses is not coming down, perhaps kind of like if there's a senior pastor 00:06:44.920 |
who's been the founding pastor along their journey, he's gone. 00:06:51.760 |
And then they turn to Aaron who's kind of like an associate pastor. 00:06:55.320 |
And I'm sitting here thinking, 'Come on, Aaron. 00:06:58.800 |
Making a bad name for all us associate pastors.' 00:07:07.440 |
In the midst where God's presence is seen on the mountain like a volcano, they turn 00:07:12.360 |
to a gold piece that looks like a cow and they worship and say, 'Ta-da. 00:07:20.180 |
This is a miserable, miserable failure of the greatest kind. 00:07:24.280 |
And what I'd like to do today is not simply gloss over the sins of Israel or even our 00:07:28.360 |
sins but actually dissect, analyze, and examine everything so that we dare not do something 00:07:36.000 |
Because God, upon seeing it, verse 7, if you look down at the passage, 'Then the Lord 00:07:40.600 |
spoke to Moses, "Go down at once for your people whom you brought up from the land of 00:07:47.720 |
They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. 00:07:50.640 |
They have made for themselves a molten calf and have worshipped it and have sacrificed 00:07:54.520 |
to it and said, 'This is your God, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.' 00:07:59.640 |
The Lord said to Moses, 'I have seen this people and behold, they are an obstinate people. 00:08:06.440 |
Now then, let me alone that my anger may burn against them, that I may destroy them, and 00:08:22.300 |
We dare not take sin lightly because God is an absolutely holy God who has every prerogative 00:08:27.720 |
to judge and it would have been just, it would have been proper and appropriate that God 00:08:33.960 |
would actually annihilate all of these people. 00:08:37.560 |
Because I have a case against Israel in this situation, in this narrative and story, that 00:08:42.400 |
this was not just a, "Oh dear, the leader was gone." 00:08:45.320 |
So you understand people were just trying to make a solution. 00:08:53.160 |
I want to make a case to you and prove to you that this is first degree disobedience. 00:08:58.160 |
And what I mean by that is if you know much about law, there is first degree murder, there 00:09:02.560 |
is secondary murder, there is involuntary manslaughter. 00:09:05.440 |
I always had that stuff kind of mixed around. 00:09:07.640 |
I always thought it leveled up so if you did second degree murder, it was like extra bad. 00:09:13.640 |
There's secondary murder which is more like fits of rage. 00:09:17.160 |
You're mad and you're angry and yes, you're getting violent, but your intention was not 00:09:22.420 |
Maybe you expected to harm somebody, but not to slaughter him. 00:09:33.840 |
Because number one, this is first degree disobedience because they already knew the Ten Commandments. 00:09:38.960 |
Upon careful examination of this narrative and story, I always presumed Moses was on 00:09:52.720 |
So there was almost a sentiment in me that thought if God was just a little bit faster 00:09:59.360 |
or like download it, cast it down, project it or something like that, you just missed 00:10:05.000 |
And then I was upset at the people like, "Gosh, it's just a little bit longer and you would 00:10:12.520 |
The narrative goes that Moses was actually upon this mountain longer in total because 00:10:18.760 |
God spoke to Moses and the elders, including who? 00:10:23.040 |
Aaron and the leaders of the 12 tribes of Israel and gave them the Ten Commandments 00:10:27.680 |
and then told them, "Go speak this to the nation." 00:10:31.660 |
He said, "Upon your hearing, I give you the word and covenant of God." 00:10:41.800 |
It's because the people responded, "Then we will obey it." 00:10:53.000 |
It's a little bit long, so let's all read it together. 00:10:56.080 |
Follow along with me as I read in chapter 24. 00:10:59.320 |
Exodus chapter 24, starting from verse one, gives us this account of how Moses received 00:11:10.240 |
After chapter 20 are many other laws that God gives. 00:11:14.040 |
Here in chapter 24, then, is already having time pass that Moses was up at the mountain 00:11:20.520 |
Chapter 24 says, "Then he said to Moses, 'Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab 00:11:24.680 |
and Behu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and you shall worship at a distance.'" 00:11:31.040 |
"Moses alone, however, shall come near the Lord, but they shall not come near, nor shall 00:11:38.080 |
Verse three, "Then Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of the Lord and 00:11:42.680 |
all the ordinances, and all the people answered with one voice and said, 'All the words 00:11:52.920 |
Everybody in the congregation got together, heard the words, and they responded. 00:12:02.000 |
"Then he arose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain 00:12:05.720 |
with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel." 00:12:12.360 |
Moses actually had the words of God written on paper before God wrote it on stone. 00:12:17.400 |
Verse five, "He sent young men to the sons of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings 00:12:21.640 |
and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the Lord. 00:12:25.360 |
Moses took half the blood and put it in the basins, and the other half of the blood he 00:12:31.440 |
Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and 00:12:36.000 |
they said, 'All that the Lord has spoken, we will do, and we will be obedient.'" 00:12:47.480 |
They said to God in the hearing of everyone, "Lord, we heard your word, and we will do 00:12:57.600 |
Because in the next verse, verse eight, "So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the 00:13:01.800 |
people and said, 'Behold the blood of the covenant.'" 00:13:12.640 |
We know that your word is for our protection, for our holiness, for our representation with 00:13:24.240 |
And then Moses takes the blood and sprinkles everybody. 00:13:27.520 |
Verse nine, "Then Moses went up with," guess who, there's our man, associate pastor Aaron, 00:13:36.040 |
"Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel 00:13:41.600 |
There appeared to be a pavement of sapphire as clear as the sky itself." 00:13:47.440 |
These details sometimes I don't remember, but when I read it, I'm like, "Oh my goodness. 00:13:52.360 |
Aaron saw the glory of God as a sapphire crosses the sky." 00:13:57.720 |
"Yet he did not stretch out his hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel. 00:14:06.400 |
They dined with the Lord and God did not kill him. 00:14:09.640 |
Verse 12, "Now the Lord said to Moses, 'Come up to me on the mountain and remain here, 00:14:13.920 |
and I'll give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandments which I have written 00:14:20.840 |
So Moses arose with Joshua his servant, and Moses went up to the mountain of God." 00:14:26.960 |
People say, "I don't know what happened to Moses." 00:14:31.920 |
He went with Joshua to the mountain because God called him. 00:14:34.560 |
Next, verse 14, "But to the elders he said, 'Wait here for us until we return to you. 00:14:42.800 |
Whoever has a legal matter, let him approach them.' 00:14:48.520 |
You be in charge and take care of the people. 00:14:51.200 |
Verse 15, "Moses went up to the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 00:14:54.960 |
The glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. 00:14:59.440 |
And on the seventh day he called to Moses from the midst of the cloud and to the eyes 00:15:11.600 |
"The appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop. 00:15:16.560 |
Moses entered the midst of the cloud, and he went up to the mountain. 00:15:19.520 |
Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights." 00:15:27.440 |
Do you see my case that this is first degree disobedience? 00:15:41.880 |
It is first degree disobedience because the people aggressively demanded their way of 00:15:48.860 |
Maybe there are a bunch of people who are already complaining. 00:15:51.040 |
They're like, "Aaron, what are we going to do?" 00:15:55.040 |
It's like, "Aaron, we got to plan something." 00:15:58.040 |
And then they felt, "Fine, we're going to take over this guy." 00:16:00.080 |
They massed together as a group, as a crowd, and what's really interesting is they say, 00:16:07.760 |
The Hebrew word for come actually is a command that means stand up. 00:16:14.200 |
They were commanding Aaron, "Do what we tell you." 00:16:18.320 |
And Aaron, unfortunately, he should have been the one who knows better than them. 00:16:23.720 |
He was amidst the group of select few God called to the mountain. 00:16:32.780 |
He should have been the first one to say, "Well, that's a dumb idea. 00:16:44.080 |
But instead, Aaron succumbed to his fear of the people and said, "Okay." 00:16:50.840 |
He didn't even ask, "What other options do we have?" 00:17:03.520 |
When you see a fat, fat sinking hole in the ground, it did not just happen overnight. 00:17:09.600 |
There has probably been long decay farther than what we can see. 00:17:15.720 |
We dare not gloss over sin, especially when it's this heinous, especially when it's first 00:17:21.400 |
degree, and say, "Well, you know, everybody's prone to make mistakes." 00:17:32.200 |
And my case to you is, when there is such sinful disobedience, it goes deeper than the 00:17:37.600 |
There are deep-root sins of the heart that we must uproot. 00:17:41.720 |
We have to ask, "What permission did they receive? 00:17:49.840 |
My case to you is, there are deeper issues than meets the eye. 00:18:01.700 |
Other people, and maybe if it was me, if I'm worshiping anything, I'm worshiping something 00:18:05.000 |
awesome, tigers, lions, you know, like, I don't know, like, king cobras that look awesome. 00:18:18.480 |
What was in them is the question that when they had the idea, there's a vacuum of leadership, 00:18:24.160 |
Moses is gone, my first idea is, "Mooo," like, why? 00:18:29.520 |
And what that reveals is the question, yes, why was that already there? 00:18:34.760 |
And it's because back in Egypt, the cow was awesome. 00:18:39.360 |
It's because in their lives previous, that's what they knew to be power. 00:18:44.240 |
Let me tell you that there was gods of bulls that looked like bulls. 00:18:47.480 |
There was a god of Hathor in the Egyptian culture that represented the blessings, the 00:18:54.400 |
There was the god Isis, which probably you have heard before, the queen of the gods, 00:19:01.280 |
There was a god named Menware, who was the sacred bull of Ra. 00:19:07.080 |
Ra was the ultimate god, kind of like Zeus from the Greeks. 00:19:10.160 |
He was the ultimate god, and he was shaped in the shape of a falcon, and his cow was 00:19:17.920 |
There was another god, Apis, who was a bull considered to be the manifestation of the 00:19:30.880 |
And what's really interesting is later on when he says, when Aaron and the peoples actually 00:19:44.600 |
At the first sign of trouble, the nation of Israel always kind of revealed what was in 00:19:50.240 |
When they were at the waterbeds of the Red Sea, when there were nations who were trying 00:20:06.800 |
When at the first sign of trouble, at the first sign of hardship, they start turning 00:20:09.960 |
to what was familiar, comfortable, and good for them. 00:20:13.600 |
What was in their mind and what was in their heart? 00:20:21.840 |
What we see when these individuals turn to the Egyptian gods so quickly is that once 00:20:27.040 |
again it is proving more difficult to get Egypt out of the hearts of the Israelites 00:20:31.480 |
than it is to get Israelite bodies out of Egypt. 00:20:36.240 |
I thought that was incredibly, incredibly insightful. 00:20:40.280 |
It is more difficult to get Egypt out of the Israelite heart than it was to get Israelite 00:20:48.320 |
Now more than what a commentator says, the Bible says this. 00:20:51.960 |
If you turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 7, starting from verse 39 to 41, this is when 00:20:57.360 |
Stephen is giving a defense against the Jews who are persecuting him. 00:21:02.040 |
As Stephen gives his defense, he gives the most amazing, amazing recount of Jewish history. 00:21:08.040 |
His point is to say, "You are just like them." 00:21:12.240 |
Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him but repudiated him and in their hearts 00:21:19.480 |
Saying to Aaron, "Make for us gods who will go before us for this Moses who led us out 00:21:27.360 |
At that time, they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing 00:21:33.760 |
Verse 51, "You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always 00:21:45.000 |
Stephen gives an amazing rebuke to the leaders of the time, the religious individuals. 00:21:55.480 |
Well, Stephen actually starts to quote Old Testament prophecy. 00:21:59.240 |
It comes from the book of Amos, so I'll actually read it directly from that passage. 00:22:02.680 |
Amos chapter 5, verse 25 to 26, just listen to this. 00:22:06.880 |
God asked them, "Did you represent me or present me with sacrifices and grain offerings in 00:22:13.840 |
O house of Israel, you also carried along Sikith your king, Ki and your image, the stars 00:22:26.740 |
What I'm saying is there's a million man march out of Egypt, but I am willing to bet 00:22:31.120 |
a huge portion of them, maybe not the majority, but at least a huge consistency of them, carried 00:22:36.320 |
in their pocket and in their heart the gods of Egypt. 00:22:40.800 |
Out of Egypt, they probably brought along the gold figurines in their pockets, in their 00:22:44.240 |
sacks, and in their wagons, and in their bags. 00:22:51.640 |
They loved comfortably the things that gave them comfort before. 00:22:59.720 |
A way of application to every single one of us when we deal with sin, if you just say, 00:23:08.280 |
It does not sometimes then actually account for and diagnose and then actually apply a 00:23:19.140 |
What I'm trying to prove to you is the absence of Moses was not a temptation. 00:23:23.360 |
It was only an opportunity for them to worship openly that which they already worshiped secretly 00:23:33.440 |
The absence of Moses was just an opportunity to put out in the open what was already in 00:23:40.480 |
That's what I mean as a case for first-degree disobedience that has much more to do than 00:23:45.480 |
just what meets the eye, but internally there is a struggle for what was already contained 00:24:00.920 |
In the vacuum, that was their volitional idea. 00:24:08.720 |
Make us this calf and their wicked heart desired it. 00:24:11.760 |
For us, we have to do a thorough job examining the heart. 00:24:15.360 |
Please understand that I'm not just trying to weigh heavy on sin. 00:24:18.440 |
Neither am I trying to make this a soapbox I stand on. 00:24:21.600 |
It is my conviction that if we do not analyze, dissect, and sin for what it is, we will never 00:24:27.400 |
find an appropriate solution and our disobedience will continue. 00:24:40.840 |
First, the deeper issues of the heart start with personal selfish desires. 00:24:47.960 |
There are selfish desires that they are pursuing. 00:24:59.160 |
You slapped my name on it, but you know it was for you. 00:25:04.600 |
Yes, maybe you thought you were persevering in it, but you made this for you. 00:25:09.520 |
The fact of the matter is you read the story and you ask the question, "Okay, they make 00:25:25.120 |
The next day they rose, they offered the offerings, they brought the priest's offerings, they 00:25:28.960 |
sat down, they ate, they drank, and they rose up to play. 00:25:43.840 |
And in the end, that's what they were seeking. 00:25:47.920 |
They wanted to satisfy whatever desire or inclination was in their heart. 00:25:51.760 |
I think about all the riots, all the complaints in this day, and in the end, what is it? 00:26:01.880 |
And actually, if you think about it, everything in terms of idolatry is just like that. 00:26:12.280 |
Any idol is an idol because it's by me and for me. 00:26:17.520 |
Any idol is an idol because it's by me and for me. 00:26:21.080 |
Stephen, who was making that accusation against the nation of Israel in the past, said, "You 00:26:32.760 |
It's an idol because it's made by you, and it is unlike the real God who demands exclusive 00:26:38.000 |
It is unlike the real God who demands that we mimic him and follow after his holiness. 00:26:42.400 |
It's different than the real God who desires true worship from our heart. 00:26:49.200 |
It's like that Buddha at an Asian restaurant where he's sitting up at the front door and 00:26:52.360 |
it's just like, "Come, and I'll take whatever you got. 00:26:57.880 |
I always laugh every time I see one of those things. 00:27:00.680 |
It takes whatever you have and implicitly, it doesn't speak to you, it's there for you. 00:27:08.160 |
For your fortune, for your luck, and for your business. 00:27:14.640 |
And our selfish desires that precede that is our pride and our arrogance constantly 00:27:19.640 |
seeking not God's good pleasure, but our good pleasure. 00:27:30.200 |
It lies to us that this is for the better good. 00:27:34.020 |
If I'm doing well, then I can really serve the Lord. 00:27:38.040 |
Don't slap on our agenda to God's business and say we're doing fine. 00:27:45.000 |
And what's really interesting is anytime I've seen an individual who's very selfish, anytime 00:27:49.160 |
that I've seen an individual who's very arrogant about that kind of boast of life, I find incredible 00:27:58.040 |
The heart issue that lies beneath this disobedience, this first-degree disobedience, one predominant 00:28:07.300 |
Why do selfish people, why do arrogant people, why do they fear? 00:28:14.960 |
When you have much to lose, when you have agendas, when you have passions and ambitions, 00:28:19.680 |
then you have so much you can lose, and therefore you are absolutely afraid. 00:28:25.600 |
I imagine I start thinking about the person who is sitting in the congregation of the 00:28:31.960 |
One of them probably asking like, "Hey guys, Moses is not coming back. 00:28:36.120 |
I thought he'd come back at the end of the day." 00:28:38.720 |
The next day goes by, it's like, "He's not back yet." 00:28:47.280 |
By day three, someone probably asks like, "Dude, did you see Moses carry a lunch bag? 00:28:58.800 |
So the worry ward in you says, "Oh my God, I think they're dead." 00:29:03.920 |
And then other individuals are probably like, "Oh no, what if he abandoned us? 00:29:11.600 |
Just like selfish desire lies, so does fear." 00:29:24.400 |
And then by the fourth week, it's like, "We don't even know where he is." 00:29:30.120 |
You just don't see him, but he's right there at the mountain. 00:29:39.440 |
You know what scripture says in the book of Proverbs, "The man who fears says, 'Lions 00:29:51.920 |
And by way of application, this is the thing that I'm talking about. 00:29:58.200 |
I take some opportunity sometimes when I'm on the pulpit to confess to you honestly. 00:30:03.640 |
And I share this with the elders, and I share it with you if you talk to me personally. 00:30:11.120 |
I fear failing God, and I fear failing you, and I especially fear failing my own leaders. 00:30:18.920 |
What's more, I fear certain things that are more just subjective to me. 00:30:25.000 |
When I don't know what to say, when I don't know what to do, and I just put up my hands, 00:30:34.240 |
But if I allow that to rest in my mind and rest in my heart, I will always disobey God. 00:30:39.600 |
So if an individual is sitting there saying, "Well, I just have to stop doing this stuff. 00:30:44.200 |
But he doesn't deal with the fear, he will never obey. 00:30:51.880 |
And fear is one of those things that makes us do all kinds of silly stuff. 00:31:02.520 |
Moses comes down and says, "What did you do?" 00:31:05.920 |
And Aaron's like, "You know these people, these people are wicked. 00:31:10.440 |
I put it in the fire and boop, this calf came out." 00:31:14.360 |
For the sake of time, I read it in the first service and then I went really, really long. 00:31:18.040 |
For the sake of time, read it on your own time. 00:31:21.280 |
Aaron's like, "Yeah, I just put it in there and then it just came out." 00:31:26.680 |
But when you're afraid of the people, you're afraid of the people. 00:31:31.160 |
You're afraid of the people, you're afraid of Moses too. 00:31:42.640 |
He didn't know who to consult and he just did whatever they told him. 00:31:45.240 |
And his fear then is closely tied with the next thing. 00:31:50.800 |
Fear is closely tied with desire, but it's also closely tied with distrust. 00:31:58.260 |
And all three of those things, desire, fear, and distrust, all feed each other. 00:32:02.360 |
They just feed each other into this ginormous monster. 00:32:05.800 |
And so typically when you find an individual who has great passions and lust, you find 00:32:12.640 |
And then that also feeds their continued desire because ultimately you're going to trust one 00:32:17.240 |
You're going to either trust yourself or you're going to trust God. 00:32:18.800 |
But when you're in a moment where you feel like you're in survival mode, like, "I just 00:32:21.280 |
need to do something," you're not going to trust God. 00:32:25.400 |
So my third and final heart issue that we want to tackle today, this morning, is the 00:32:33.620 |
The audacity for them to say, "Let's make a God who'll go before us." 00:32:45.900 |
From before you were even born, he was leading your path. 00:32:53.060 |
How dare you distrust God and say, "Let's make one who'll actually go before us." 00:33:02.240 |
The people are thinking, "I don't even know of this guy." 00:33:14.980 |
The Bible passages are sloaned with just, "Moses, who are you? 00:33:23.420 |
"You were just a shepherd guy who was out in the wilderness. 00:33:26.380 |
You killed people and you're not even leaving all of us. 00:33:37.220 |
So an application right now for us, we have to deal with the hard issues of desire, fears, 00:33:45.260 |
If you live in any one of these hard issues, you will never obey. 00:33:51.460 |
Imagine if I was an absolute stranger to you. 00:33:54.740 |
You just walking down the street and I show up to you like this. 00:34:03.780 |
Now so you just automatically think, "What are you doing, man?" 00:34:06.700 |
And I come to you and say, "Put out your hand. 00:34:12.460 |
You're just going to look at me and be like, "No." 00:34:20.700 |
I'm just a guy in a suit probably trying to sell you something. 00:34:26.260 |
When you do not trust, you are not going to open your hand. 00:34:28.660 |
When you do not trust, you're not going to do anything. 00:34:33.980 |
And the challenge for us today is to trust the Lord with everything we've got because 00:34:40.940 |
I just started this sermon with, "Look at what God has been doing in amazing fashion 00:34:47.540 |
God was profoundly faithful, good, loving, kind. 00:34:51.300 |
He was an amazing Father giving them everything. 00:35:02.340 |
Contrary to example of distrust, Apostle Paul gives us an example of trust in the person 00:35:12.900 |
Elder Joe read it for us this morning before the worship set and it was a perfect one for 00:35:17.020 |
us to think about trusting in God from the heart that we would not be led down the path 00:35:26.020 |
Romans chapter 4 says this, starting from verse 18, "In hope against hope." 00:35:38.700 |
When the people looked down, what did they see? 00:35:51.540 |
And I would wonder, "Oh my goodness, our founding father guy, our Moses, our leader 00:35:57.260 |
But in that moment, what they should have done is exercise spiritual hope in God when 00:36:03.660 |
there was hopelessness on the earth that they stood. 00:36:06.980 |
But Abraham, it says, "In hope against hope, he believed so that he might become a father 00:36:12.280 |
of many nations according to that which had been spoken. 00:36:21.300 |
I'm going to bless you and make you a great nation. 00:36:25.420 |
So then, verse 19, "Without becoming weak in faith, he contemplated his own body." 00:36:30.940 |
He looked down and said, "Yup, about to die." 00:36:33.900 |
And then it says that he looked now as good as death since he was about 100 years old 00:36:39.620 |
He looked at his wife and she's always been barren. 00:36:43.580 |
But hope against the hope, the hopelessness of this world. 00:36:49.900 |
It says, "Abraham, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew 00:36:54.480 |
strong in faith, giving glory to God and being fully assured of what God had promised. 00:37:02.060 |
Therefore, it was also credit to him as righteousness." 00:37:07.860 |
The solution against every kind of idolatry, the solution of every kind of sin that we 00:37:18.220 |
It's ingrained in your heart, do you trust God? 00:37:21.940 |
And unless you come to a point where besides what you see, besides what you're convinced 00:37:25.700 |
of, besides the lack, deficiency, whatever that you're experiencing, the hurt and the 00:37:30.260 |
pains, you need to be able to say, "I trust God that he will deliver. 00:37:42.900 |
So that in this moment when I stand at the foot of the mountain, I wish I was up at the 00:37:57.340 |
That is to us actual spiritual success when we in faith hold true to the confession, "God 00:38:03.340 |
is good," even now at the bottom of the mountain. 00:38:10.500 |
This is necessary for the solutions of our own faith where we are then guarded against 00:38:14.780 |
pride, arrogance, where we're guarded against sin and all kinds of heinous before God. 00:38:20.380 |
But this last point I want to make really emphatically. 00:38:22.420 |
It is absolutely important for us to dissect the sins, to look at the hard issues, to make 00:38:31.860 |
Not just so that we can find a solution for our sins, but because if in any way we diminish 00:38:44.860 |
If we in any way do not see our sin for what it is, if we in any way diminish what we've 00:38:53.900 |
Scripture says, "If we say we have no sin, we lie. 00:38:58.460 |
We lie against the truth and we make him a liar." 00:39:02.740 |
Because if we gloss over it and say, "I get it. 00:39:08.900 |
Truthfully speaking, yes, if I was in that scenario, I would probably be dismayed too. 00:39:15.500 |
But if in any way we gloss over it without looking at the depth of sin, then now all 00:39:31.100 |
Do you know, we don't have time to go over it, but later on, read the whole chapter. 00:39:34.420 |
God tells Moses, "Tell the people of my men who are on my side, everybody who is a 00:39:42.220 |
He said, "Take your sword, put it on your side, now walk and kill your brother, your 00:39:49.020 |
Thousands of men died that day for their sin. 00:39:53.140 |
If we say all we did is make a mistake, circumstantial failure, then we make God unjust. 00:40:04.420 |
The sins that were committed against God in this scenario is so much more than meets the 00:40:09.820 |
If any one of us was a ruler, if any one of us was an Aaron or Moses or even a superpower 00:40:16.300 |
that we were ruling, we would have been so fed up with these people, we would have killed 00:40:22.100 |
Let me prove that to you a little bit, of the things that they did. 00:40:25.940 |
For example, Scripture makes mention of how quickly God says, "Moses, go down, look at 00:40:32.820 |
these people, I've seen them, how quickly do they turn?" 00:40:40.380 |
God was not forced to come and make any covenant with these people. 00:40:44.260 |
And this covenant was so severe, severe as in so strict, so weighty and solemn, there 00:40:54.780 |
There was an actual counting of, "This is who I am, this is who you are, and let's repeat 00:41:06.460 |
What they did is apropos to a man looking at his bride and saying, "I love you, I'll 00:41:11.420 |
always be there for you until death do us part, baby," walks down the aisle, turns 00:41:22.180 |
Does God not have the right to eradicate these people? 00:41:26.020 |
What's more, think about what Aaron does when he says, "Listen guys, we're going to make 00:41:30.060 |
this calf, here is your God, Elohim, majestic Lord. 00:41:38.420 |
To a credit to this figurine, what God Almighty has done, you don't think God would be offended? 00:41:44.500 |
A people He's given them His good law and His presence, where He said, "Make a tabernacle 00:41:54.700 |
And then to have the audacity to mimic what God was doing with that, God desires to have 00:42:03.380 |
God wants us to remember Him, so He gives us feasts. 00:42:05.780 |
And then to use that for their self-agenda, "Guess what guys, tomorrow we'll feast." 00:42:15.540 |
Do you know how a bunch of slaves in the wilderness had gold to make a calf? 00:42:25.980 |
God commanded Moses, "When you leave, turn to the Egyptian neighbor and says, 'Give me 00:42:29.180 |
your treasure, your gold and silver, that I might worship God.' 00:42:33.460 |
And miraculously, all these Egyptians who hated these shepherds said, 'Oh yeah, please 00:42:40.340 |
That was God's sovereign provision for worship, to laden His tabernacle with gold. 00:42:48.340 |
And He ripped them off of the years of His women, His daughters, and said, "Let's make 00:42:59.180 |
Now, to me then, when I read the Old Testament, God is not a God full of wrath. 00:43:13.220 |
If we are disobedient to the first degree, God is patient to the nth degree. 00:43:21.380 |
I can't fathom the measure of His grace and His patience when we look at how sinful their 00:43:31.820 |
It's wild and mind-blowing to think about the fact that God in this moment, He says, 00:43:46.140 |
We are not going to get into a theological argument about God's sovereignty, what He 00:43:51.460 |
We are going to say this, "God Almighty is a God who relents of His anger for your sake." 00:44:06.980 |
This amazing God is so faithful, even in this moment at the end of the chapter, He looks 00:44:13.700 |
Now go and go before these people and lead them into the land I promised." 00:44:18.180 |
"Because I am faithful and I will send my angel before you." 00:44:23.500 |
Because we know through history, God not only sends His angel, He sends His servants, He 00:44:27.100 |
sends His prophets, and then ultimately He sends His greatest prophet and servant, His 00:44:33.660 |
These people, who at the core of their heart don't trust His goodness. 00:44:43.020 |
That's why it might be understandable if I go to you and say, "Trust me. 00:44:46.980 |
Put out your hand so I can give you something." 00:44:50.020 |
But it is sin to not trust the holy God who's been this faithful. 00:44:55.020 |
If anything, our challenge today is not to simply look upon this sin, but once we look 00:45:14.860 |
May we see God as the most trustworthy thing in the universe and have confidence in Him 00:45:23.700 |
Heavenly Father, we take a moment now to bow our hearts and say to you, "Thank you, 00:45:43.780 |
Scripture says you're a steadfast God, steadfast in your loving kindness. 00:45:51.320 |
In the face of such outright rebellion, you are a relenting, faithful God. 00:45:57.300 |
Help us, Father God, to understand, Lord, what it means to trust you. 00:46:01.100 |
Help us, Father God, to understand that although sometimes maybe we've even thought and selfishly, 00:46:07.700 |
sinfully thought that words like, "You just need to trust in the Lord," does not work. 00:46:13.120 |
Help us, Father God, to repent of our disbelief and to trust you and hope in you against all