Sermon Central
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The Day Moses Broke All 10 Commandments Series
Contributed by Jerry Shirley on Aug 22, 2008 (message contributor)
Summary: Aaron: ‘We melted gold...and there came out this calf.’ That’s got to be the all time lamest excuse from an assistant Pastor! Before Moses even returned with the commandments the people were breaking them. Link inc. to text, audio, PowerPoint.
The Day Moses Broke All 10 Commandments
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/DayMosesBroke.html
And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.
It didn’t take long for the commandments God gave to be broken by the people below, and then by Moses!
22 And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief. 23 For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 24 And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.
‘...there came out this calf.’ That’s got to be the all time lamest excuse from an assistant Pastor!
While Moses is up on the mountain receiving the commandments, the people are below breaking them.
The Children of Israel Corrupted
1. Aaron’s Apostasy.
v. 1-6 The people are restless in the absence of their leader. But their faithfulness needs to be to God, not to the man Moses. Don’t put man on a pedestal...which is for flowers and vases. Up on a pedestal there’s only one way for me to fall, and that’s down.
It’s no excuse that they forgot Moses, because they also forgot God.
They forgat God their saviour, which had done great things in Egypt;
This wasn’t just a national rebellion against Moses, but against God. Isn’t that a good picture of America today?
Aaron caves in to the whims of the people. He’s the leadership left in charge, but he’s no longer leading, he’s following. It seems to me that a lot of church leaders today are caving in to the desires of carnal people. One of the marks of the last days is people flocking to teachers and leaders who will tickle their ears, not step on their toes. Sometimes I get a kick in the pants that I need at church.
Ill.—I heard of a church sign that read, ‘come on in, we promise not to throw the book at you!’ [We don’t make that promise.]
The Bible is a mirror that tells us the truth so we can make any necessary adjustments.
These commandments we’ve studied do something uncommon: they name sin. It’s not just an affair, it’s adultery, it’s sin! Kids disobeying isn’t just a ‘stage’ they are in, it’s sin!
Aaron fashioned this golden calf. Why a calf? They had just come from Egypt, where they worshipped the sacred bull. Then he does something even more foolish, and builds an altar to the Lord in front of it.
v. 5-6 He’s making the same mistake many make today, trying to combine exact opposites...trying to reconcile the Lord and the world, worship and play, and be a more hip and popular leader. With one foot in Egypt and another in the Promised Land, he is trying to serve 2 masters, which cannot be done.
Don’t ride the fence, trying to have it both ways. “How long halt ye between 2 opinions?” Jesus said, I wish you were either cold or hot, but you’re lukewarm, and you make me sick. Either get on or get off, get in or get out, get up or get down. [the people were getting down!] There’s no middle ground, you’re either for Him or against Him!
You’ve heard the saying that you can take the boy out of the country but not the country out of the boy? The children of Israel had been taken out of Egypt, but Egypt had not yet been taken out of them. The same is true for some of us.
Israel is now living in open idolatry, and idolatry always leads to immorality. When v. 6 says they rose up to play, it wasn’t Parcheesi or checkers. The word ‘play’ is a sexual term...speaking of an orgy. V. 19 tells of dancing, which was erotic and immoral in nature. By v. 25 they are all naked. What a slippery slope they were on, just following their leader, backslidden Aaron.
2. God’s Anger.
v. 7-10 It’s a death sentence. God intends to kill them all and start over with Moses. Pastors know how tempting God’s offer must have been. I feel like I know Moses pretty well! [see slide]
It’s kind of humorous, because in v. 7 God refers to Israel as ‘thy’ people. Now look at v. 11, where Moses says, ‘no they’re your people!’ Ever done that w/ your kids? My wife says, look what your son has done!
