Complete dependence upon the
Lord for all needed help this morning. I wish to direct your
very prayerful attention to the chapter that was read in your
hearing, namely Exodus chapter 32. And our text is found in verse 26. We'll consider the narrative
as we find it here, but by way of text, verse 26. Then Moses stood in the gate
of the camp and said, Who is on the Lord's side? Let him come
unto me and all the sons of Levi, gathered themselves unto him. Then Moses stood in the gate
of the camp and said, Who is on the Lord's side? Let him come
unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered
themselves together unto him." You may very well be aware that
the Pope has just visited the Republic of Ireland. Thus, the
golden calf is only over the water as we speak today. Dear soul, we have before us
here, in this chapter, the difference between God honouring
worship and man-centered worship. We have the truth of a Christ-centered
gospel and a self-centered gospel. And we have a firm division before
us. And thus, you and I would do
well to consider the lessons found in Exodus 32. Now, before we venture upon our
text and the direct narrative, we would, by necessity, consider
the context. Moses was a man, at this time,
40 years of age, in the prime of his life, as it were, And thus, the Book of Exodus
catalogues the Lord's dealings with Moses, who is, of course,
a type of the pastor. And as we see the difficulties,
as we go through this chapter, in where we see either a lack
of leadership or poor leadership. and where that leads to. But in this book of Exodus we
have many what men would call miracles. But we must establish, first
of all, the means of our exegesis and the means of our application. Every text of which we find in
the Scripture, including this text before us this morning,
is found properly applied within the direct context of the chapter. Whenever, and I mean this, we
would hold to this carefully, wherever we find a text of scripture,
we must always take heed to the context in which it is found. And secondly, in establishing
the means of how we would exegete the chapter, would we not also
consider our means of application? And what do we find within our
means of application? Well, we find it in 1 Corinthians
chapter 10, when the Apostle writes, "...Moreover, brethren,
I would not that ye be ignorant, how that all our fathers were
under the cloud and all passed through the sea." This is every
believing soul. "...And were all baptized unto
Moses in the cloud and in the sea." And did all eat the same
spiritual meat. And did all drink the same spiritual
drink. For they drank of that spiritual
rock that followed them. And the rock was Christ. You see there's no difference
there, is there? from Adam until the last vessel of mercy that
shall be called by grace. Every one of them must, by necessity,
made to drink of the rock. It's not a perhaps, it's a must. And thus, we see here, a glorious
gospel opened up before us, the rock that was Christ. And we
see that that was what Moses was seeking. Was that there may
be an experiential knowledge of the atonement. Our pastor
mentioned it only a week or two here. That word atonement literally
means at-one-ment. to reconcile, to bring together man and God. And thus we find
Moses who was at Mount Sinai. Now he was at Mount Sinai for
some considerable time, 40 days. So although that was a considerable
time to be, in the mountain and to experience and to walk through
the things he did I mean that direct communion with the Lord
himself and that divine revelation really for the children of Israel it's a relatively short period
What is 40 days? A bit more than a month. And
they were not walking through what Moses walked through. And thus we read at the beginning
of the chapter, When the people saw that Moses delayed to come
down from the mount, the people gathered themselves
together unto Aaron. Now Aaron here had the responsibility
of leading God's people in worship, of opening up the truth to them, and to lead them. But that's not what we see here,
is it? And we see this today time after
time after time. What we see here is the people
leading Aaron. They gathered themselves and
said, Up, make us gods, which shall go up before us, for as
As for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land
of Egypt, we want not what has become of him. So Moses, the man who'd led them, the under-shepherd you might
say, who'd led them out of over 400 years of Egyptian bondage,
and many trials and many situations had here been somewhat discarded. We don't know what's become of
him. And Aaron's response was of that
of a man who ought to have known better. Now, we have to remember that
with the scripture, a man always gets a fair hearing. You will
hear of a man's good points. This man Aaron was an excellent
orator. He could speak. But, he lacked backbone and he
lacked character. And thus, with a man who is placed
in a position of leadership, he is bound to fail. Now, you and I would do well
to learn from this. And thus, does it not prove that
a man's works, therefore, become burnt up. That's actually really
the context of the whole chapter in Corinthians, speaking of the
ministry. And what actually matters in
a man's ministry, it matters, yes, what takes place when he's
alive, but really, the mark of a man's ministry, I'm talking
about those who are really called to the ministry. If we profess
to be called to the ministry, There is a distinct calling to
the ministry that it will have an effect,
it will leave a legacy. It will leave a legacy. There's
been legacies left here, good legacies, of those who have gone
before. What is that? It's that the people
are established in the truth. strengthened, established, and
settled. And that they lead the people.
They don't follow them. This is what happened here. Aaron
followed them. And thus, we've all met the sorry
situation of the pastor that follows the people. We know what
happens. Aaron here, and most of the commentators
would say, had no great enthusiasm actually for what the people
wanted, but he acquiesced. He was weak. He was weak. And thus, what do
we have before them? Or what do we have before us
here? He even shows, He gives them instruction
in how they might build an altar. An Aaron made proclamation, we
read. Verse 5, and this is the solemn aspect. He says, tomorrow
is a feast to the Lord. To account to the worship of
God. that which is a stench in his
nostrils, is a solemn thing. Very solemn
thing. We have instruction, do we not,
in the New Testament, of how worship ought to be conducted.
We're here in the morning service, in God's house, and there is
to be singing there is to be the reading of the Word. But
the center on the Lord's Day, of all the Lord's services, ought
to be the exposition of the Scriptures, else people aren't fed. But it's not just the exposition,
it's what we say. It's what we say. But here, the tickling of ears, was accounted
to be the worship of God, a feast. A feast. I love the authorised
version. Look how it describes what was
taking place. It's so honest. The end of verse
6. And the people sat down to eat
and to drink and rose up to play. Now, here we see the Lord here instructs Moses in what
follows. He says, Get thee down for thy
people which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt have
corrupted themselves. The word themselves of course
is in italics and basically he says they've corrupted. They
have become corrupt. They have turned aside quickly
out of the way which I have commanded them, and have made them a molten
calf and have worshipped it." So they set up the molten calf
before the people. I need not tell you that all
imagery in the house of God is idolatry. People don't think
these things out properly. But you know there's a reason
why we have the pulpit at the front. And we have the Word that
is central. Not the altar. We have the Word
central. You'll notice the modern evangelical
way of things is to remove pulpits or make them tiny little platforms. Dear soul, we want powerful preaching
from sound, a properly constructed pulpit. It's a pulpit made of
wood. It doesn't need to be grand, it doesn't need to be elaborate. But it's a pulpit made of wood,
at the centre. The word is to be central. And thus, we don't want relics and so on
and so forth. This was a monstrosity. Really. And the people worshipped
him. But the Lord said unto Moses,
I have seen this people and behold it is a stiff-necked people. But we see the first marks of
sovereign mercy. in that the Lord here constrains
Moses to pray. We read in verse 11, Moses besought
the Lord his God and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against
thy people which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt
with great power and with a mighty hand? You see, the children of Israel
had been overtaken, in many respects, with what they'd seen in Egypt.
You have to remember, Egypt was architecturally, culturally, and in a general sense, very
prosperous. Economically, very viable. far exceeded those nations that
surrounded them and even to this day we can see I've never been
to Egypt but you could visit the pyramids and you can see
the ingenious work meticulous that has gone into the place but you know evil communications
corrupt good manners and the people became imbibed. They became
taken up and caught up with all this. Moses saw through all this here
and he was concerned. He was concerned for his people.
He was concerned of those whom he'd walked with. They were given to idolatry.
And what does Moses do. Well, he pleads with the Lord
in the power of his own covenant. He says in verse 13, Remember
Abraham, Isaac and Israel thy servants, to whom thou swearest
by thine own self and saidst unto them, I will multiply your
seed as the stars of heaven. and this land have I spoken of
will I give unto your seed and they shall inherit it forever."
Now, this covenant, we know that there are seven covenants in
Holy Scripture and of course that final covenant, the law
that the Lord writes in the minds and in the hearts of His people,
supersedes all the others. Israel broke all of the covenants
that were made with them. But you see here, that covenant that brings together
all the others, that supersedes all the others as it were, which
we read of in Hebrews 8. Here we can see, has special
spiritual significance. The scripture always applies
these things spiritually and experientially. I will give unto your seed and
they shall inherit it forever." The Lord's spiritual seed are
in possession of all the promises of the Gospel. All of them. All
of them. And we have the inclusion of
some of them as we see them later on here. Now we must be clear
of what it says when it says, then the Lord repented of the
evil which he thought to do unto his people. The Lord never changes
his mind, although here he appeared to. The Lord never changes his
mind. And thus, we see the exercise
in which Moses was brought And thus is it not always the
same with the Lord's people. Their sins weigh heavily upon
the conscience. And we wonder however can the
Lord dwell in this faltering tabernacle. But the Lord you see is here
merciful. But there were those things that
must be faced. And in verse 15 we read that Moses turned and
went down from the mount. And the two tables of testimony
were in his hands. And here he is. Here he is. And the tables were
the work of God and the writings of God graven upon the tables.
He comes down with the Law. This man, Joshua, says there's
a noise. But Moses puts the matter straight. He says it's the noise of them
that sing, do I hear. And he sees the feasting, the
dancing, the foolishness that goes on. I need not tell you
today. No doubt, just round the corner,
there'll be a lot of dancing, and there'll be a lot of singing,
but there's no New Testament scripture for it. Dear soul,
the Lord must be worshipped how he himself has said he must be
worshipped. And thus here, we can see Moses'
anger wax hot! No different from Oliver Cromwell
in that glorious moment when he walks into the established
church and he sees the altar in front of him and he removes
all the relics. You see, this was a man who was
jealous for God's glory. And whenever the Lord deals with
a person, He will make them jealous for God's glory. regardless of
the cost. Regardless of the cost. Moses
here, he was determined to commit that which was God honouring
unto his people. Not because he wanted to lord
it over them. Not that he desired particularly
to be correcting them, but for God's honour. And that is really the consideration with all the
motives that we have. Who is on the Lord's side? God's
honour. Here, he took the calf and he
ground it into powder. That's what idols are. And that's
where they must find themselves, ground into powder. And Aaron confesses his foolishness
here. He says in verse 22, Let not
the anger of my Lord wax hot. Thou knowest the people that
they are set on mischief. And he makes, he explains the
situation. And there is somewhat, you might
feel, of a spirit of excuse with him. But in verse 25, we read that Aaron had made them
naked to their shame, which is, the margin says their derision.
among their enemies. They were considered to be somewhat of an enigma. The Lord had brought
them out, they'd conducted God-honouring worship and then this. But Moses stood at the gate,
as we come to our text here and we can see. He says, who is on
the Lord's side? Let him come unto me. You see,
here the battle lines have been drawn. And even today, and even now,
the battle lines are drawn. God honouring worship, God honouring
preaching, God honouring doctrine, against that which is the works
of men's hands. You might say, well, what is
this? God honouring, worship, what is this at practice? Well, we read it very simply
in the New Testament. They continued steadfastly in
the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread,
and in prayers. The preaching, the ordinance
of the Lord's Supper, and prayer meetings. They are what we find
within the Scripture. And Moses here was determined,
despite the cost, to continue in that God-honouring way. Now, what we read has significance. This is, let him come unto me. Those who desire us to sit under
truth will seek out a ministry that preaches such." And thus here, this is what happened. There were those, all the sons
of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. Now, we must make mention
that the word all here is perhaps not the best translation that
could have been made. The truth is that it was many
of the sons of Levi. It wasn't all of them. I don't
even think you'll find scarcely a single commentator that would
say it was. But we also have, if we notice,
that marginal reference to Deuteronomy 10 and verse 8. As we see later,
the tribe of Levi were those who had been ordained
to carry the Ark of the Covenant. So you have it here, Deuteronomy
10 and verse 8. At that time the Lord separated
the tribe of Levi to bear the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.
To stand before the Lord to minister unto Him and to bless His name
unto this day, the tribe of Levi. The people who were amongst the
people, a tiny flock. And thus that sentiment of course
is continued throughout the New Testament when we read of those
famous words of the Lord where he says, fear not little flock. Well in the original The word
is almost a double little. A tiny number of people. A small
number amongst a small number, as it were. And thus do we not
prove that? It's been the case in every generation,
really, that the Lord's people have always been a small number amongst professors. Those that profess the laws.
There's a lot that goes on in the name of religion. But there's
much worshipping of the golden calf. But you know you don't
have to be in the trappings of the man of sin at Rome to be
worshipped the golden calf. You know you can have the most
orthodox gospel standard religion and worship the golden calf. because you know we need more
than a system. We need more than an order of service. We need
more than to just go through the motions and look the part. Here there was judgment wasn't there?
We can see here put every man his sword by his side and go
in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp and slay
every man his brother and every man his companion and every man
his neighbour. We have to remember that we have
no rights with the Lord. Only privileges and only mercy. And thus we see here judgment
comes. And judgment always comes when
idolatry is exalted. But we see here, where does Moses
come and where does he lead his people to? He doesn't excuse
anything. One of the things that the Lord
teaches us by His Spirit is that we can never excuse ourselves
or overlook sin. Here Moses says, ye have sinned
a great sin. And now I will go up unto the
Lord, peradventure I shall make atonement for your sin. Now, This is all connected to who
is on the Lord's side. Those who are on the Lord's side
were desirous to know for themselves blood atonement. This was the Messiah that was
promised. This was the man who Job spoke
of when he said, I know my Redeemer liveth and he shall stand at
the latter day upon the earth. This was the glorious God-Man. And thus, in type, Moses went
to confess. It was actually the sin offering that was offered up on behalf
of the people. And thus we can see that the
way of salvation has always been the same. It was by blood atonement
in and through the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. And thus here,
thus here, Moses makes it known. And those who would desire us
to honour the Lord of the tribe of Levi, Were they not those who looked?
They looked past what Moses had offered. They looked to the Lord
Himself. They looked to Christ Himself.
They sought Christ Himself. And thus, the Lord dealt mercifully
and kindly with them. But you see, there's no salvation
without confession And the confession here led to
repentance. Moses, you see, had walked away. Is that not the problem today?
Particularly in the established church. The minister stood at
the front, doesn't even know the Gospel himself. How can he
preach it to anybody else? Moses had walked. out the truth. He learnt that the Lord wouldn't have idols.
There was no other God before the Lord. And thus, he goes up
unto the Lord. He makes atonement for your sin.
You can see the confession. All these people have sinned
a great sin and have made them gods of gold. Now verse 32 obviously needs
some explanation when he says, And yet now if thou wilt forgive
their sin, and if not blot me, I pray thee out of thy book which
thou hast written. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my
book. Now that does not mean that there is the possibility
of being in there and then removed. But the meaning here is of one
of apostasy. You see is not that great proof
of real faith is that we endure in the truth. We endure in it. We continue
in it. We go on in it. We press on. There are many who have made professions and
even been placed in pulpits with a great deal of attention in
a blaze of glory. But they've not endured, or they've
fallen into gross error. but here we see that the truth
for God's people is that they are ones who are brought back
and brought back and brought back and have to confess that in and of the flesh we are
nothing and here we see mercy by blood
who is on the Lord's side who is on the Lord's side. The worship of men's hands would
not do for Moses. Moses himself, he had his faults. Again, we can read of them in
the Scripture. But he wouldn't do, would he? He wouldn't do. And thus, they had to come back to that place, they had to see
for themselves, those of the tribe of Levi who were exercised
by real faith, they had to see that there was no hope outside
of Christ and that the works of their hands would in the end
amount to nothing. That's what worship is. This
is the reason why the Lord must be worshipped according to how
He is designed. Because there's nothing we can
offer to Him that's pleasing. Only that which He has ordained. And what is the centre of all
of this? Well, it's Christ pre-eminent
again, isn't it? It was our subject last time
we were here. Who is on the Lord's side? It's
those who desire us to make Christ pre-eminent. Who is it that saves? It's Christ. By the application
of the Holy Ghost. Who is it that would desire us
to honour? Is it not Christ? Who is it that the Holy Ghost
has designed to exalt? none but Christ and thus we have to come to that place
whereby we quit working quit doing and we find ourselves all taken
up by the exercise of faith brought to by that constraining hand
the application of the Holy Ghost within our souls which leads
us to Christ and thus here we read thus who is on the Lord's side let
him come unto me and all the sons of Levi gathered themselves
together Unto Him. Amen.