Moses on the Mountain with the Lord - Part 15
Who Is on the Lord’s Side?
Exodus 32:15-29
Sermon by Rick Crandall
McClendon Baptist Church - Oct. 6, 2010
BACKGROUND:
*Moses’ fifth meeting with the Lord on Mount Sinai lasted for 40 days. There the Lord gave Moses the Ten Commandments and other laws for the people. The Lord also gave Moses detailed plans for the Tabernacle, the priesthood and much more. (1)
*But while Moses was away, the people rebelled against God and began to worship an idol made of gold. They were totally oblivious to the great danger they were in, but we know because we see the Lord’s anger starting in Exodus 32:7.
7. And the Lord said to Moses, "Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.
8. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, `This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’’’
9. And the Lord said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people!
10. Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.’’
*A lot of men would have said, “Great idea God. That sounds good to me!”
-But Moses loved those people, so he started pleading for them in vs. 11.
11. Then Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, and said: "Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
12. Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, `He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people.
13. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, `I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ’’
14. So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.
*God didn’t vaporize them with fire from Heaven, even though He surely could have. Instead, the Lord sent Moses back to the people to try to straighten things out. Moses also needed to find out just who was on the Lord’s side.
*With this background in mind, let’s read vs. 15-19.
15. And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand. The tablets were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other they were written.
16. Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets.
17. And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There is a noise of war in the camp."
18. But he said: "It is not the noise of the shout of victory, Nor the noise of the cry of defeat, But the sound of singing I hear."
19. So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. So Moses’ anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.
INTRODUCTION:
*During the savage violence of the Civil War, a preacher from the North told the President that he hoped “the Lord is on our side,”
-Lincoln replied, “I know that the Lord is always on the side of the right. But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord’s side.” (2)
*Who is on the Lord’s side?
-Moses needed to know 3,500 years ago.
-Lincoln needed to know 150 years ago.
-And we need to know today.
*Am I on the Lord’s side? -- We can find out by answering 4 questions tonight.
1. First: “Am I stubborn to sin against God?”
*Many of the Children of Israel were stubbornly sinning against God. We see this in vs. 19-22:
19. So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. So Moses’ anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.
20. Then he took the calf which they had made, burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder; and he scattered it on the water and made the children of Israel drink it.
21. And Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?’’
22. So Aaron said, "Do not let the anger of my lord become hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil.
*Aaron said, “You know the people, that they are set on evil.” -- The KJV says “they are set on mischief.”
-It means they are exceedingly wicked and evil.
-They are disagreeable, malignant, giving pain, unhappiness and misery.
*John Gill said that these people were totally “in wickedness, under the power and influence of it, given up to it, and bent upon it. There was no restraining them from it.” (3)
*They were stubbornly sinful. And we can tell that they were “set on evil” at least two ways.
[1] First: These people were swift to sin. They were so quick to get into trouble. Yes, Moses had been on the mountain for 40 days. But after all they had seen and heard, was that too long to wait on the Lord? -- No, of course not.
*They were quick to sin, so back up in vs. 7&8:
7. The Lord said to Moses, "Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.
8. They have turned aside QUICKLY out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, `This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’’’
*We can tell these people were stubbornly sinful, because they were swift to sin.
[2] On top of that, they were stiff-necked.
*Listen to the Lord starting back in vs. 9:
9. And the Lord said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and indeed it is a STIFF-NECKED people!
10. Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.’’
*They were stiff-necked. Not all of them, of course, but many of them were stiff-necked. God would call His people “stiff-necked” at least 8 times in the Old Testament. And the “stiff” in “stiff-necked” means they were “cruel, grievous, hard-hearted, obstinate and stubborn.
*They were stiff-necked. How bad was it? -- Flash forward 40 years. Moses was turning the leadership over to Joshua. And in Deut 31, Moses told the Levites:
26. "Take this Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there as a witness against you;
27. for I know your rebellion and your stiff neck. If today, while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the Lord, then how much more after my death?
28. Gather to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness against them.
29. For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days, because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.’’
*So many of the Children of Israel were stiff-necked. They were swift to sin. They were set on sin.
*But what about us? -- Are we on the Lord’s side? -- If you want to know, ask yourself this question: “Am I stubborn to sin against God?”
2. But also ask this: “Do I see the seriousness of my sin?”
*Many people seemed to be clueless until Moses got back to camp. But in vs. 19 they began to quickly see that their sin was serious:
19. So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. So Moses’ anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.
*I’m not sure I could have broken those precious tablets written with the finger of God.
-It must have been a hard thing for Moses to do.
-It must have broken Moses’ heart to break the Ten Commandments.
*Moses’ righteous anger here was a reflection of the Lord’s righteous anger. And breaking those tablets was a sure sign that they had broken God’s law. John Gill explained that it also could have been a sign that the people “deserved to be broken in pieces and destroyed themselves.” (4)
*Which laws did they break? -- Certainly, they broke the First Commandment. In Exodus 20:3, God had already told them: “You shall have no other gods before Me.” But there they were, worshipping a golden calf!
*Of course this means that they also broke the Second Commandment, for in Exodus 20:4 the Lord had told them: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth”
*God wanted them to see that their sin was serious, so look what the Lord had Moses do in vs. 20: “Then he took the calf which they had made, burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder; and he scattered it on the water and made the children of Israel drink it.”
*John Gill explained that this was probably only the leaders of the rebellion. And Gill gave 3 good reasons why they were made to drink that powdered gold:
-“Not only that they might entirely lose their gold and have no manner of profit by it, but that the idol, which is nothing in the world, might be brought to nothing indeed, and that there might be no remains of it to be abused to superstitious uses.”
-Also to show them their folly in worshipping something that could not save itself.
-And by drinking it, to turn it into something that would be disgusting to them. (5)
*They needed to see the seriousness of their sin.
*What other commandments did they break? -- Well, in Exodus 20:16, the Ninth Commandment said: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
*But Aaron certainly lied here in vs. 21-24:
21. And Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?’’
22. So Aaron said, "Do not let the anger of my lord become hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil.
23. For they said to me, `Make us gods that shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’
24. And I said to them, `Whoever has any gold, let them break it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and this calf came out.’’
*Well, vs. 4 of this chapter tells us that Aaron used an engraving tool to make the calf, so, what a whopper! -- It reminds me of the Robert Fulgham story about a man who caught his room on fire. He had been smoking in bed. But when the firemen asked him about it, he said: “It was on fire when I lay down on it.” (6)
*Which laws did they break? -- They also must have broken the Seventh Commandment against adultery, because vs. 25 here says that “Moses saw that the people were unrestrained (for Aaron had not restrained them, to their shame among their enemies).” The Children of Israel were unrestrained in a licentious way.
*These are just some of the laws that they broke, but which laws have WE broken? -- This is a much more important question for us personally.
*And we can make light of Aaron’s ridiculous whopper, but all of these sins were serious to God. -- And all of our sins are serious to God too.
*Brian McLaren helped us understand when he said:
-If life is a machine, then sin is a bad gear that makes the machine malfunction.
-If life is a kingdom, then sin is a terrorist movement in the kingdom.
-If life is a family, then sin is a feud between family members.
-If life is a body, then sin is an untreated disease that poisons the whole system.
-If life is a river, then sin is mercury or arsenic that pollutes it.
-If life is a garden, then sin is the army of slugs that eat your tomatoes.
-If life is a computer, then sin is a virus that destroys your hard drive. (7)
*Am I on the Lord’s side? -- If you want to know, ask yourself this question: “Do I see the seriousness of my sin?”
3. But also ask this: “Have I come to the Savior?”
*In vs. 26, “Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, ‘Whoever is on the Lord’s side, come to me.’ And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.”
*Here Moses reminds us of the importance of coming to Christ.
-In Matthew 2:1-2, the Wise Men came to worship Jesus:
1. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,
2. saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.’’
*Come to the Savior to worship Him. And come to find rest. In Matthew 11:28, Jesus said: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
*Come to the Savior to find rest, and come in faith to have a part in His Kingdom, for in Matt 19:14 “Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.’”
*Listen to what Moses told the people down in Exodus 32:30: “And it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, ‘You have committed a great sin. So now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.’”
*Moses said he would try to make atonement for their sin. Jesus DID make atonement for our sin, when He died on the cross for us! Jesus bridged the impassible gap between us and God caused by our sin. And the blood of Jesus Christ covers the sins of all who come to Him for salvation.
*Am I on the Lord’s side? -- If you want to know, ask yourself this question: “Have I come to the Savior?”
4. But also ask this: "Am I willing to take a strong stand for the Lord?"
*In vs. 26-29, Moses asked the people to take a strong stand for the Lord:
26. then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, "Whoever is on the Lord’s side, come to me.’’ And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.
27. And he said to them, "Thus says the Lord God of Israel: `Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and let every man kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’’’
28. So the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And about three thousand men of the people fell that day.
29. Then Moses said, "Consecrate yourselves today to the Lord, that He may bestow on you a blessing this day, for every man has opposed his son and his brother.’’
*John Gill explained that they were not to go into the tents, where good men might be grieving over the sin committed, but throughout the streets, where many were still lurking around in their sin. The severe goal was to kill everyone who was still actively pursuing the idolatry. (8)
*Thank God that we don’t have to take up a sword like that! Today God calls His people to take up the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. Do all you can to influence everyone you can with the Word of God.
*Be inspired by the heroes of our faith.
-Be inspired by the people who God used to make a difference in your life. -Be inspired to take up the Sword of the Spirit for the cause of Jesus Christ! -Be inspired to take a strong stand for the Lord!
-Be on the Lord’s side.
*Let’s bow for prayer, as we focus on our four key questions for tonight:
-Am I stubborn to sin against God?
-Do I see the seriousness of my sin?
-Have I come to the Savior?
-Am I willing to take a strong stand for the Lord?
1. Good explanation of Moses’ time on the mountain: “Seven Ascents” by Richard Gamble - www.heraldmag.org/2006/06mj_3.htm
2. Source: http://www.quoteworld.org/quotes/10241
3. John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible - Exodus 32:22
4. John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible - Exodus 32:19
5. John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible - Exodus 32:20
6. “It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It” by Robert Fulghum
7. Adapted from Brian McLaren, “Sin 101: Why Sin Matters,” Preaching Today audio sermon No. 243 - Rom 3:10–20; Eph 4:22; James 1:15 - Depravity, Sin - (Source: christianitytoday.com > Church Leaders > Preaching & Worship > Illustrations - Leadership Journal - Summer 2004)
8. John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible - Exodus 32:27&29
