Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording, including sermon titles, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these sermons. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copied and/or quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
CHOOSING YOUR IDOL
Exodus 32:1-6, "And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; 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. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play."
Moses is often seen as a type of Christ. God used him to deliver the Children of Israel from the slavery of Egypt, even as Jesus came to deliver his people from the slavery of sin. As we examine the events of this portion of scripture, we must keep this fact in mind and think of the parallels that we see coming to pass in our world.
In a few weeks we will be celebrating Easter, commemorating the death, burial and glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ. A little over 2 millennia has passed since the events of the Crucifixion and we are still waiting for the second coming of Christ to put down evil and establish his righteous kingdom on earth.
When Jesus went away into Heaven and sat down at the right hand of the Father he left us with a great responsibility and a job to do. We are supposed to “occupy until he comes” as stated in Luke 19:13.
Like the Children of Israel, we are headed for a Promised Land flowing with milk and honey. A land where the presence of the Lord will be so powerful and God’s peace and justice will reign.
The problem is that not only do we have the same promise, only on a far greater scale, that Israel had but we have the same trouble with disobedience and idol worship that they had.
And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount...
Moses was gone for a long time. He had been on that fiery mountain for 40 days now. The Israelites below, at the foot of Mount Sinai, were beginning to wonder if he was ever coming back. They had rejected Moses’ leadership on so many occasions even though God had used Moses to perform some mighty miracles and brought them out of bondage with a mighty hand.
The people finally gave up on Moses coming back. They decided that it was time to move on. Never mind that the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night had not moved. They decided that they couldn’t wait any longer so they took matters into their hands.
Isaiah 40:31, "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
Israel wasn’t willing to wait upon the Lord anymore. It was time to go and their patience had run out. They decided to make their own way to the Promised Land and that included making their own God to lead them.
Doesn’t that sound like a lot of Christians you know? The attitude I often find is that Jesus has been gone a long time and the promise of his soon return seems lost in that delay. The majority of the church world has given up on Jesus coming again. You can tell by their lifestyles that they don’t believe it anymore. How can we say that we believe in the imminent return of our Holy Lord to take away his Bride when there is so much foolishness and sin within those who claim to be a part of that Bride.
The church world has decided that they can make their own way to Heaven. Many have discarded God’s path to salvation. They no longer believe in the Blood of the Lamb and its cleansing power. They no longer believe that Jesus is the only way. They have slowly accepted false doctrines and another gospel as though they could be saved by any means they choose. So many of our so called Christian churches have become little more than a side show or a social club and there is no power of God in them to change lives. Entertainment and motivation are their theme and not the salvation of lost souls.
The individual Christians have decided that they can live in the world, act like the world, talk like the world, take part in every activity that the world has to offer and it just doesn’t matter anymore. They have taken their freedom in Christ and they have abused that freedom.
Romans 6:1-2, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" Too many people take the grace of God for granted. They think that his grace will cover every sin, even those that are unrepentant. My friend God still requires holiness if we are to see him. He will not wink at sin. Sin is sin and the wages of that sin is still death. I’m afraid that many who believe they are saved will discover that they are not on Judgment Day. We can’t create our own god’s to lead us. We must follow only the leading of the one true God.
…the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him, up; make us gods which shall go before us…
Israel was ready to create their own symbol of God that would lead them to the Promised Land. If the pillar and the cloud would not move then they would follow another “god”. They knew that this “god” was not living but it became a symbol of the presence of the living God, a symbol of their own making. The 10 commandments were yet to be given to them but that did not make them innocent in the sight of God. There disobedience and unbelief were enough but now they created their own graven image to represent God, thus they became idol worshippers.
We can easily see this same attitude in our churches today. How many people create their own symbolism of the presence of God in their churches? How many preachers push people down in an effort to force God to move in the hearts of his people? How many preachers fake miracles of healing and deliverance to “prove” that God’s anointing is upon them? How many use their own speaking and oratorical and motivational skills to make people believe that the anointing is upon them? How many create a whole ministry based on one simple thing like blowing on you, touching your head, or some other theatrics to create a false atmosphere of the presence of the Lord.
We need spiritual discernment if we are going to know the fake from the real. The church has become so well versed and trained in presenting a fake anointing that it is often hard to know what is real or not unless it is revealed by the Holy Spirit.
…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…
A church can call itself full gospel, Christian, or anything it wants to but that doesn’t make it so. In these last days there have been a large number of churches who have thrown the doors open to anything that calls itself Christian. Most, if not all, Christian rock music isn’t Christian at. Any music that glorifies those who sing and play and is performed for the purpose of creating wealth and recognition for the performers is not Christian at all. It is satanically inspired, not Holy Spirit anointed. God shares his glory with no man and he will never accept man’s methods of salvation and praise. If the music doesn’t glorify God and lift up the name of Jesus, it’s garbage and has no place in the church of the Living God.
Rock music isn’t the only thing that we find invading the church either. There is dancing that is called “interpretive”. Let me tell you that if you dance, it had better be under the anointing of the Holy Spirit or it is a sin and a reproach on the gospel. All the flag waving and dancing you want to do will not save a soul. Jesus chose the foolishness of preaching to spread his gospel and I have never seen one place in the Bible where Jesus told his followers to dance and wave a flag so that souls could be saved.
There are even churches where you don’t have to change out of your pajamas to go to the service. All you need to do is drive up to the speaker, hang it in your window and listen. There is no interaction with other believers. There is no congregational worship unto God.
Are we so foolish? Are we so stupid to believe that we can live any way we want to and still make it in? Do we think that God approves of anything and everything we do? If that’s true why did Jesus have to die for sin in the first place. There must be a separation of God’s people from the those of the world. There must be a distinct, marked difference in our appearance, our lifestyle, and every part of our lives.
I know that most people would disagree with me vehemently on some of these issues. I’ve even had to confront a little of it within my own church. But I would rather err on the side of holiness than to fall into sin and miss Heaven for eternity.
I shudder to think what would happen in most of our churches if God would bring judgment for such foolishness as quickly as he did for Ananias and Sapphira. Satan is diluting the message of the gospel by using those who claim to be God’s own people.
In the first place Paul says in Galatians 1:6-9, "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."
My friend there are a lot of “other gospels” being preached in the church world but none of them have the power to deliver from sin or change a life. How can a man say that he is saved if there is no change in his lifestyle and he can continue to live in sin unashamedly? The last time I read the Bible it still says that we must repent and be born again into a new life in Christ if we are going to make it into the heavenly Promised Land.
Oh yes we will hear every “Christian” Church talk about Jesus, but do they really know him? They talk about the cross, the blood, being born again, and all of the wonderful blessings of God but they ignore those things most of the time and create their own liturgy. There is little reality and little thankfulness for what Jesus has done. The cross isn’t preached in its terrible reality. It’s only portrayed as a sterile sacrifice. Jesus’ terrible suffering and death are downplayed because it’s too gory. The Blood of the Lamb is forgotten and taken for granted.
… And Aaron said unto them, break off the golden ear rings which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters and bring them unto me …
Aaron was designated as the High Priest of Israel. He was supposed to teach them the truth and condemn their sin and lead them into the paths of righteousness but he caved in under pressure. He decided to go along with the crowd rather than to stand for righteousness. He called for them to break the golden adornments and bring them to him so that he could fashion the golden calf.
Haven’t you seen this happening in “ministries” all over the world? Ministers who were once true to their calling have given in to the wishes of their pleasure and entertainment-seeking congregations. They don’t want to offend those who support the church and give in the offerings so they allow just about anything to keep or build a big crowd as though the crowd would give them a stamp of legitimacy.
Matthew 7:13-15, "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."
I know that not every big church is wrong, just as every small church isn’t right. But it seems to me that too many preachers are seeking after the numbers, regardless of how they have to get them, rather than seeking after lost souls. Just because their crowd is big doesn’t mean that the Spirit of the Lord is there. I wonder how many really know the Lord as their Savior and how many are going only because it’s “cool” to be a member of that church.
Preachers, ministers, pastors – all of us will stand before God one day and give an account of how we invested the gift that God has delivered unto us. Will we stand there and hear the words “Well done” or will we stand there with the blood of multitudes of lost souls dripping from our hands because we failed to preach the truth and most of our congregations are in hell because of our failure?
…And all the people brake off the golden earrings, which were in their ears and brought them unto Aaron…
The men took off their earrings, and persuaded their wives and children to part with theirs. All the people immediately broke off all the golden ornaments that were in their ears because they were so intent upon idolatry. Not every individual did so, but of the greatest part of the people did. They were quick to give up their wealth to serve their idol. They were quick to surrender everything that God had allowed them to take with them from Egypt as spoils because they wanted to follow after their own desire for an idol of their choice.
Doesn’t that sound like a good description of our pleasure seeking church world? We refuse to give any more than we have to in the form of tithes and offerings to see the church grow and souls saved, and the work of God’s ministry to go forth, but we don’t hesitate to blow money on anything else we want to do.
We strip ourselves of the riches of God’s blessings and waste his blessings on worldly pleasures. We take that which should be given to God’s work and put into the sports arenas, the movie theaters, fancy restaurants, social gatherings, new TV sets, computers, clothes, or anything else that has become our idol gods. We will deck that halls of our homes with beautiful pictures, fill our homes with antique furniture, forget our wives, husbands and children to chase the dollar that will buy what we want to adorn our idols.
There is nothing that will ruin a ministry or a church any quicker than the “love of money”. For the love of money and the power and wealth it represents we will forget the paths of righteousness and holiness days without number. How quickly we forget that God says that we are to have no other Gods before him!
…And he received them at their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf…
Aaron was quick to take their wealth and do with it they wished to appease their desires. What a waste of God’s precious gifts to his own people. Yet we cannot point fingers at Israel and Aaron without pointing back at ourselves.
How many churches have given up on reaching the lost as their primary duty to get involved in the building of huge facilities because that was what the “offerings” were designated to do.
We take the offerings and build basketball courts, gymnasiums, bowling alleys, shopping malls, and a host of other entertainment and retail businesses, money that should be reaching souls is spent only to make life more pleasurable for the congregation. It’s as though we plan on staying on this earth forever so we have to make it as comfortable and appealing as possible.
I know that many would say that we need these things to draw people to hear the gospel and perhaps there is some truth in that, but how far will we go? How many of those who come to these facilities hear the gospel? How many have a true experience in God? I believe that the drop-out rate of people “saved” as a result of pleasure and entertainment is far greater than most will want to admit. Why? It’s because their whole salvation is based on pleasure and entertainment and when they get bored they quickly turn back to their old lifestyle to seek more pleasure and entertainment.
It is interesting to note that Aaron poured the gold into a mould that was formed like a golden calf. That reminds me of the mould that we pour all of our wealth into. It’s a mould of idolatry that leads people away from God and away from the Promised Land. It’s a mould that is created by Satan to deceive God’s people and lead them astray.
…”and they said, these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt; And when Aaron saw it he built an altar before it…”
Thus is born the false prophet, those who would declare that the work of their own hands is good enough to be called “blessed and anointed of God”. These are wolves in sheep’s clothing.
When will we ever learn that it is not by the might, ability, knowledge or power of man that the Kingdom of God will be built? It will only be built through the anointing of the Holy Ghost! There is the source of life and there is no other.
Proverbs 14:12, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."
What many of the church world look at and praise as a work of the Lord is not a true work of the Lord but it is the works man that has been lifted up and exalted as an idol for all to gaze upon.
I’m not against nice facilities and family centers. I would love to have those for our own church. But God help us if our focus gets off of serving the Lord and reaching lost souls and we start focusing on making our buildings and facilities so wonderful that our people don’t want to leave them and go out into a dark, sinful, nasty, dirty, filthy world to reach the lost. How many more souls could be saved if we focused our main energy on that instead of building programs? How many more souls could be reached by establishing multitudes of smaller Bible based churches in many areas rather than asking people to come to a central mega-church?
“…and Aaron made proclamation, and said, tomorrow is a feast to the Lord And they rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings…”;
Aaron gave the orders to call a feast and offer sacrifices “to the Lord” but it was to be offered first to this golden calf before being presented to the true God. God wants our obedience, not our sacrifices. He doesn’t want our leftovers any more than we do. I don’t know about you but leftovers in my home are usually a waste of time and energy. Sometimes we eat them but most of the time they hang around until something starts growing or they start moving on their own, then we throw them out to multiply on the ground or in the trash can so that the refuse company can deal with them.
God wants your first-fruits, not your leftovers. He wants your best, not your worst. He wants you to offer him all that you have and he will bless that part that he allows you to keep for yourself.
“…and the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play…”
Understand this – those churches, ministers and preachers who begin this path to disobedience and idolatry will only continue to get farther from the truth of the gospel. The depths of sin that the church can go into is yet to be realized. False teachers, false prophets, preachers who are charlatans and wolves in sheep’s clothing, will only multiply as time goes on.
But just as Moses eventually came down from the mountain and brought God’s 10 Commandments with him to teach the people of their sin, I believe that there is going to be a revival of holiness and righteousness.
God is going to separate unto himself a people who love him and will serve him in righteousness.
Jesus really is coming soon! It won’t be long until judgment begins, in fact I have already seen the beginnings of judgment in the House of God where the scripture said it would begin. Jesus is coming soon to take his Bride away. Let us remain faithful, holy, righteous and cleansed by his precious blood. That’s the only way to Heaven, through the Blood of the Lamb and obedience to the Word of God.
Let’s stay where the pillar of fire and the cloud are. Don’t try to get to Heaven any other way! While so many are choosing their idols and falling into the mould of dead, dry, faithless Christianity, let’s remain strong for Christ and stay close to him.
Let’s wait upon the Lord. Move when he moves and follow his lead! Don’t listen to the voice of the world, listen for the voice of the Lord.
