You can go ahead and turn with
me to Exodus chapter 32, if you would, please. As we saw last time, Moses was
on the mountain of Sinai, where he received the commandments
of God on the tables of stone. Scripture says here, written
by the finger of God. While he's gone, Israel shows
us something of ourselves. Israel often does that, the nation
of Israel, and the scripture shows us a pretty good picture
of what we are by nature. According to verse one, they
came to Aaron and said, make us gods. Just those words alone
should cause us great concern. All they had seen God do for
them, and now they say, make us gods, we shall go before us. When God had all along been leading
them by the pillar of cloud and the fire by night, They said,
make us gods which shall go before us. As for this Moses, we don't
have any idea what's become of him. Israel, after all they'd
seen, as I said, in Egypt and at the Red Sea, and even thus
far in the wilderness, how quickly they forget the almighty God
that delivered them and prefer a dead idol that they could actually
attribute their deliverance to. Now, if that doesn't show us
something of the wickedness of men and women's heart by nature,
nothing does. And it's still no different today.
Men and women would rather worship a God of their own imagination. And that's exactly what he is.
He's a God that they've imagined him to be. They imagine God to
be altogether one like themselves. They've forgotten who God is
or they never knew. And they make a idol with their
own hands and they worship their imaginary God instead of the
one true and living God that can save. There's only one that
can, and that's God almighty. And he does so in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, when the children of Israel
and Aaron made this golden idol, this golden calf, God informed
Moses before he ever went into the camp to see for himself,
God informed Moses what was going on and Moses interceded for him. We saw that last week. What a
beautiful picture that is of Christ, our great intercessor
and high priest who makes intercession constantly for us. And last time,
as I said, we saw that Moses is a picture of Christ, our great
intercessor. And tonight we'll see that Christ
not only intercedes for his people in Mount Zion before God, we
have to remember where Christ is. He's now on the right hand
of God and he's making intercession for us. He has God's ear. I wouldn't
want anyone else to intercede for me when I have Christ, would
you? Now Christ comes to his chosen nation and he reveals
to them, not all of them, but he reveals to some of them their
need of him. That's something that I think
about often anymore. And until a man or a woman, a
sinner sees their true need of Christ, they'll never desire
him. They'll never come to him. Those
that are well, those that are whole have no need of a physician,
but those that are sick, most certainly do. And I'm so glad
that the Lord showed me that I'm sick, that I have a desperate
disease called sin, much worse than leprosy was, and that I
need the great physician. Now in the verses before us tonight,
we see Moses' descent from the mountain, which also shows us
something of the descent of our Lord Jesus Christ, who came into
the world to save sinners. And this is pictured and foreshadowed
by Moses coming down from the mountain. And in verse 15 here
of Exodus 32, we read, and Moses turned and went down from the
mount and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand. The
tables were written on both their sides, on the one side and on
the other were they written. And notice these words, very
important, verse 16, and the tables were the work of God.
This is God's law. This is God's word. And the writing
was the writing of God, graven upon the tablets. And it's crucial,
I think, to note what we see there in verse 16. This was the
work of God, and this was the word of God, the writing of God,
and they were graven in stone tablets. Somewhat a contrast
to when the Lord Jesus descended from Mount Zion, we're told from
the scripture that the law of God was written or graven in
His heart. Our Lord came to fulfill the
law written on the tables of stone. But as we know, the law
was not given for us to keep in order to be saved in that
it was weak through the flesh. And we know that that's our flesh. We can't keep God's law in any
shape, form or manner, much less perfectly. And we know that to
offend the law in one point is to be guilty of the whole law.
So there's no way that a man or a woman can be saved by the
keeping of the law. It's weak because of our weakness,
not because of God's. And that's exactly what Paul
tells us in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 3. He said, for as much
as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ.
I got to thinking about that today and just rejoiced in that. You're manifestly declared to
be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink,
but with the spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone,
but in fleshly tables of the heart. Believers are Christ's
epistle. Christ is the author of this
epistle, and he himself is the sum and the substance and the
subject of what's written on his people's heart. And these
words on his people's heart are not written with ink. The law
of God does not contain words of nature's power or man's will
and way and work or even moral persuasion. I'm thankful that
God writes these things on our hearts. Every grace that's implanted
in the soul of God's people was engraved there by the spirit
of God. It's God's work of grace on the
heart. Therefore, the people of God
become living epistles of Christ. And every letter is written with
his finger and in perfect likeness to him. No wonder we're being
conformed to his image. It's Christ and the Spirit of
God that makes us so. Now this new law, this new covenant
of grace is written on his people's heart, not on tables of stone. And Christ fulfilled the law
of Moses and satisfied God's justice for his people. That's
nothing new. We talk about that all the time.
But now written upon these fleshly tables of the believer's heart,
Our hearts are made soft and tender by the spirit of God. Soft and tender toward God. It
says in the scriptures that he'll take away that stony heart and
give us a heart of flesh. And that's why we look to the
Lord Jesus, who is the author and the finisher of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross,
despising the shame, and fulfilled the law for us, and God accepted
his work, because it was perfect. And since God accepted his work,
Christ is now set down at the right hand of the throne of God,
and his people are seated there with him. That's why Paul said,
there is therefore now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus.
We're as saved as we'll ever be. We're as perfect as we'll
ever be. I know we live in this body of
flesh. I know that we declare from the
heart how wretched we are, like Paul, wretched man that I am.
Not that I was, we still live with this old man within, but
we're as perfect as we'll ever be in Christ. Now in the verses
before us tonight, we'll see that in picture and type what
believers know to be true. And that is how Christ works
in the heart of his people, causing them to be consecrated to Christ,
who is their righteousness. How well the believer is made
to know that Christ makes them to know their sin and their guilt. If you know that you're a sinner,
you need to thank God because he was the one that revealed
it to you. Now look at verse 17. And when Joshua heard the
noise of the people, as they shouted, he said unto Moses,
there's a noise of war in the camp. And he, Moses said, it's
not the voice of them that shout for mastery. Neither is the voice
of them that cry for being overcome. But what we're hearing is the
noise of them that sing. That's what I hear. The noise
of rejoicing, the noise of singing. And in this case, the noise of
sin. Verse 19, and it came to pass, as soon as he, Moses, Joshua
with him, 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 break them beneath the mount. Friends, what
a picture we have here of Christ making us to know our sin and
our guilt. We're told that Moses' anger
waxed hot. Israel's idolatrous show here
is suddenly interrupted by Moses in his righteous indignation.
Moses breaks the tables of stone before them all. And what a picture
that is of God's people breaking the whole law. We see that we
can't keep the law, that we've broken every commandment. And
Christ interrupts vanity of our hearts. You do know that man
in his best state is altogether vanity. We're altogether vain.
And the Lord reveals to his people that they've broken the law of
God, making us to know something of God's wrath against all who
do break his law. Romans 3, 19 and 20 says, now
we know that whatsoever the law saith, it saith to them who are
under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world
may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin. God gave us the law to show us
that we're incapable of keeping it and to show us something of
what we are. Now the amazing thing and one
of the most marvelous acts of God's grace to us is that Christ
turns his people from their idols. And we all have them. We all
have them. Look at verse 20. And he took
the calf which they had made and he burned it in the fire
and he ground it to powder and he strawed it upon the water
and he made the children of Israel drink of it. And I tell you this
all the time, but it's very needful to say it again and again. I
need to hear it and you need to hear it. Anything that men
and women give preeminence to, anything that we make more important
than Christ, anything we make superior and more important than
the Lord Jesus is nothing less than an idol. It doesn't have
to be made of gold and glittering and all to be an idol. Men and
women have many idols, but I will tell you this, if God saves a
sinner, he'll turn them from their idols. He will. He'll burn
them. He'll grind them to powder. And
in doing this, Moses showed the people of Israel that their idol
had no power to save itself, much less to save them. In this,
God shows us that our idols can't save us, but they can certainly
condemn and damn us. Now Moses made their gold unprofitable
to him. You know, there are men today
that make their gold, their riches, their God. but not God's people. God makes our wealth and all
unprofitable to us. Some of the most unhappy people
in all the world are those that have great riches in this life. Christ makes our idols unprofitable
to us. I'm so thankful that God has
enabled me to finally see that all the glitters is not gold.
Moses made Israel drink it. Don't you know that that was
bitter water? Christ will make our sin bitter,
friends, He'll make it bitter to our taste. And this is one
thing that I have learned. God will make his people to hate
their sin. And Israel didn't become idolaters
when they made the idol and worshiped it. They made the golden calf
and worshiped it because they were idolaters. Christ makes
us to see who and what we are by nature. Christ makes our sin
personal to us. Look at verse 21. And Moses said
unto Aaron, what did this people unto thee that thou hast brought
so great a sin upon them? And Aaron said, let not the anger
of my Lord wax hot. Thou knowest the people that
they are set on mischief. For they said unto me, make us
gods which shall go before us. And as for this Moses, the man
that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what
has become of him. And I said unto them, whosoever
hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it to me.
Then I cast it into the fire and there came out this calf.
I chuckle every time I read that, but it's one of the saddest statements
ever made in scripture. Sin and guilt can sure produce
some pretty sad and flimsy excuses. Aaron said, I cast gold into
the fire and turned around and got me a drink and then just
out popped this cat. And I've probably made sadder
excuses than that to my own shame. You know, here Aaron does just
what Adam did. Adam blamed his wife first, and
then he blamed God for giving him his wife. Moses here not
only convicted Aaron of his sin, but as we just read, Aaron was
brought under great conviction for bringing sin upon the people.
Got to thinking about David. You know, when David asked Sheba
to be his own, his sin caused her to sin also. Nathan said
to David, thou art the man. And that's what Moses here is
saying to Aaron. Aaron, thou art the man. He's
exposing Aaron's sin. He's exposing Aaron's personal
sin and his sin of contributing to the sins of Israel. Look at
verse 25. And when Moses saw that the people
were naked, "'for Aaron had made them naked "'and to their shame
among their enemies.'" You see, to sin against God this way in
the worshiping of an idol was an outward manifestation of what
was already in their hearts. We talk all the time about sin
being what we are, not just what we do. We sin because we're sinners. We're not sinners because we
sin. And you know, I have no problem with believing and agreeing
with what Arthur Pink and many other of the Bible scholars believe
concerning Israel's nakedness here. Many of them believe that
Israel had demoralized themselves in this idolatrous sensuism,
just as they had witnessed in Egypt. But I think the bigger
picture here is when we keep in mind that the word naked here
in the Hebrew language simply means exposed. There's more than
one way to be exposed, not just by nakedness. And that no doubt
this nakedness also refers to the exposing of their desperately
wicked and deceitful hearts. They stood naked before God.
Again, their outward actions exposed their inward iniquity
and their outward nakedness exposed that every imagination of the
thought of their hearts was only evil continually. God had told
Moses, This before he ever came down from the mountain with the
tablets. Matter of fact, in verse seven, God said, go get thee
down for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of
Egypt. Notice those words, have corrupted themselves. Was Satan
behind it? No doubt, but they corrupted
themselves. He said, they turned aside quickly
out of the way, which I commanded them. One of the first laws God
gave was thou shall have no other gods before me. You shall not
make any graven image. And here within just a few short
weeks of God giving them that commandment, they're worshiping
a golden calf made from their earrings and gold. And the truth
of the matter is, is that it's the same with us. We don't have
anyone to blame but ourselves. We've corrupted ourselves. We've
corrupted ourselves with sins. And let me also say this. I heard someone say something
not long ago about, well, his secret sins was exposed. You know, when it comes to God,
there is no such thing as secret sins. All things are naked and
open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do, Hebrews 4.13. God sees every iniquity. We're
not hiding anything from God. Everything we think, everything
we say, everything we do, God knows. Now we endeavor to hide
our sin from one another, but the one who's gonna judge our
sin knows, as the Lord told Moses here before he ever went down
into the camp. Verse 26, and 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. This is one of the great questions
of scripture. Who is on the Lord's side? Those
who are on the Lord's side, I know this, they'll come to Christ.
And this question is very much the same question that our Lord
Jesus asked when he said, what think ye of Christ? You see,
being on the Lord's side has everything to do with what you
think of Christ. When Christ makes us to publicly
confess that we're on the Lord's side, what we're confessing to
is that sin is what we are. I know that I have never done
anything but sin, outwardly and inwardly. All my righteousnesses
are sin, they're filthy rags, God won't accept them. All my
religious deeds are just iniquity. Best prayer, best sermon a man
ever preached, just full of iniquity. Salvation is taking sides with
the Lord against ourselves, against everything that we are by nature
and everything that we think that we've done for the Lord
Jesus. Confessing ourselves to be on
the Lord's side is a public cry to God before the world, that
we acknowledge our transgressions and that our sin is ever before
us. That's what David said. Our sin
is against God and Him only. And we are by grace made to acknowledge
that we've sinned and done all this evil in His sight. And now
if you're on the Lord's side, you take God's side on the matter.
God makes us to do so, to show us and calls us to understand
and agree that God is justified when He speaks against us. That's
what David said. He's justified when He speaks
against me. and that he's clear of any wrongdoing
when he judges me. We know that hell is what we
deserve. We know that everlasting torment,
separation from God is what we've earned. The wages of sin is death
and that's eternal death. Not just physical death, but
everlasting eternal death. And if you're on the Lord's side,
you take the Lord's side in the matter. God makes us to do so. A man or woman who sees what
and who they really are, they won't have any issues at all
with believing that salvation is only by the grace of God in
Christ. It's the best news they ever
heard. Now in these verses here before us tonight, we also see
that there's a great consequence for sin. There is great consequence
for sin. Because of the kind of preaching
men and women hear today, there's no wonder that folks really don't
believe that God is gonna punish sin. Why God loves us too much
to punish us. And this is where a severe lack
of knowledge concerning God is found. Anyone that knows God
knows that God is too holy not to punish sin. A right knowledge
of God is understanding something of God's holy law and something
of God's holy justice. God is so holy that he must punish
sin. He will by no means what? Clear
the guilty. The soul that sins it shall surely
die because God's holy. God is just and right. He must
punish sin. And I suppose one of the biggest
encouragements I got from this study is that God makes his people
consecrate themselves to him. Look at verse 27. And he said
unto them, being Moses, thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
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 neighbor." He's speaking
here to the Levites because it says in verse 28, and the children
of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And there fell
of the people that day about 3000 men. Oh, there's a consequence
for sin. God's holy, God is holy. Verse 29, for Moses had said,
consecrate yourselves today to the Lord, even every man upon
his son and upon his brother, that God may bestow upon you
a blessing this day. 3,000 men died this day because
of their sin. And Moses here in verse 29 says,
consecrate yourselves today to the Lord. Now the word consecrate
means just what you would think it does. It means to devote yourself. Devote yourself to the Lord.
Now, the Levites had apparently been preserved from this awful
sin of their nation. And now they promptly respond
to the call of Moses, God's servant. God commanded them to put on
their swords and to go in and out from gate to gate throughout
the camp and slay every man, his brother, every man, his companion,
and every man, his neighbor that was found in this idolatry. Great,
great consequence to sin. God's too holy to excuse it.
Consecration to Christ is more than just publicly confessing
that we are on the Lord's side. You know, it comes with a price.
Some of you have experienced that. And let me tell you what
I mean by that. And it's a very good picture
of what's typified here. God calls us, his people, to
deny anything and everything that would get in the way of
our worshiping God in Christ. Christ must be your all. Our Lord said, whosoever therefore
shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before
my Father, which is in heaven. "'But whosoever shall deny me
before men, "'him will I also deny before my Father, "'which
is in heaven.'" He said, "'Think not that I'm come to send peace
on earth. "'I came not to send peace, but
a sword. "'For I am come to set a man
at variance "'against his father, and the daughter against her
mother, "'and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. "'And
a man's foes, a man's enemies, "'shall be they of his own household.'"
Some of you've experienced that. He that loveth father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me, the Lord said. And he that
loveth son or daughter more than me, not worthy of me. Oh, this
is serious, serious business. And trusting Christ alone, there
can be no competition. We must give Christ the preeminence
in all things. The Lord said, if any man come
to me and hate not his father, now that doesn't, you know, it
doesn't mean to turn your back on your mom and dad were commanded
to honor our mothers and fathers. But he said, to prefer his father
before me and mother and wife and children and brethren and
sisters, yea, and his own life also. He cannot, cannot be my
disciple. Serious, serious matter. The
sword of the spirit, the word of God, the two-edged sword coming
out of Christ's mouth, the gospel of Christ, the sword of the spirit
here. It cuts to the innermost thoughts
and intents of the heart. And we may be able to fool others,
but you're not going to fool God. God knows. And true repentance
and true consecration to God is what we say it is all the
time. It's sinners taking sides with God against themselves and
their nearest and their dearest idols and companions and loved
ones and even their own self. True consecration. is justifying
God's right to speak against us and to judge us and refusal
to take sides with the Lord is a rejection of God's word against
us. Luke 7 verse 29 says this, and
all the people that heard the Lord Jesus and the publicans
justified God being baptized with the baptism of John. But
the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves
being not baptized of him. The publicans and sinners, they
agreed with God. God showed them what they were
and they saw their need of Christ. and they confessed him in baptism. They publicly said, I identify
with the Lord Jesus. Now, one last thing I want to
show you that's pictured and typified here is the most beautiful
thing of this whole message. And that is that God makes his
people to see Christ and him crucified. What mercy and grace
it is for God to do so. Look at verse 30 here. What a
beautiful picture this is. And it came to pass on the morrow
that Moses said unto the people, you've sinned a great sin. And
now I will go up into the Lord. Peradventure, I shall make an
atonement for your sin. Moses said, I'm going to go to
God and I'm going to beg God's forgiveness of what you've done.
I shall make an atonement for your sin. And Moses returned
unto the Lord and said, oh, this people have sinned a great sin
and had made them gods of gold. And now, if thou would forgive
their sin, and then it's like he stops in mid-sentence there
and says, if not, if you won't, Lord, then blot me, I pray thee,
out of thy book which thou hast written. And the Lord said unto
Moses, whosoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my
book. "'Therefore now go and lead the
people into the place "'which I have spoken unto thee. "'Behold,
mine angel shall go before thee.'" Did you notice angel there is
capitalized? That's speaking of the Lord Jesus.
Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin
upon them. And the Lord plagued the people
because they made the calf, which Aaron made." Never got any easier
for Israel. Matter of fact, as you well know,
over the age of 20, only two men of those that originally
left Egypt, probably upward to 2 million people, only two of
them over the age of 20, Joshua and Caleb entered into the land
of promise. Now I said that to say this,
we've sinned a great sin. That's what Moses told the people
here. And that's what the gospel tells
us. God makes those who have been separated, consecrated unto
God, unto Christ, see that they deserve the sword of God's justice. We don't argue that fact. We
don't plead for justice when it comes to our sin, we plead
for mercy. I don't want justice. because
I know that justice is eternal separation from God. I deserve
hell. That's what I deserve. I don't
want what I deserve. I want mercy that I don't deserve. Don't you? I have by God's grace
come to see clearly that there's no difference between me and
the most wicked, God-hating rebel on this earth. The only difference
is the difference that God makes for us in Christ. The only difference
is that Christ, who is pictured here by Moses, stood in the gate
between his elect and God. He's our one mediator between
God and man. He's the man Christ Jesus. And
Moses here is Israel's mediator and intercessor said, Lord, forgive
their sin. Lord, forgive their sin. But
if not, blot me. Is that not what Christ did for
us? He said, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou
hast written. That is what our great mediator
and intercessor does for all his people. He takes our place. The scripture says it like this.
He died the just for the unjust. He's the just one, we're unjust.
He's the holy one, we're the unholy. He's the righteous one,
we're the unrighteous. He died for sinners. He came
into the world to save sinners. That's what Christ, our great
mediator and intercessor does for his people. He takes our
place. We had to have forgiveness with God in order to ever have
communion with him. Therefore, atonement had to be
made for our sins. A price had to be paid. A price
that we couldn't pay. He paid a debt he didn't owe.
I owed a debt I couldn't pay. I needed someone to take my sin.
That someone is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only one. Atonement
had to be made. A price had to be paid. Justice
had to be satisfied. Now, Moses was not interceding
here for those who had been slain. Too late for them. He was not
interceding for any of those who were determined to continue
in their rebellion. Moses interceded only for those
whom God had made to take sides with him against themselves.
Christ's work on the cross was not for everyone. The Lord Jesus
Christ did not die for everyone. Christ took all the shame and
all the sins of those that God gave him and he was made a curse
for them. Cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree. That should have been you and
that should have been me hanging there, but Christ hung there
in our place. And it was for his people that
Christ bore the sword of God's wrath. Awake, O sword, against
my shepherd and against the man that is my fellow, saith the
Lord of hosts. Smite the shepherd. How much
did Christ love his sheep? He laid down his life for them.
That's how much. Instead of God's people bearing
the sword of God's justice, Christ bore it on the believer's behalf.
And knowing that, we should have such joy Next time we begin to
feel sorry for ourselves because things aren't going exactly like
we think they ought to, we ought to just sit down and think about
what the Lord has done for us. This life is fleeting, friends. It's about over. And when I think
about that, I feel such a calmness. I'm able to enter into such rest
knowing that the Lord did for me everything that God required
of me. God's no longer angry with me.
We ought to be happy, happy people. God put away all the sin of all
His elect throughout all time. And when Christ died on the cross
and all our sin was put on Him, God said enough, justice satisfied. And God remembers our sin no
more. God never blots out His righteous and holy people from
the Lamb's book of life. You want to know why? Because
Christ blotted out all their iniquity out of the record books
of sin. And when God gets that book out,
God's people's names are not there. Why? Because their sin's
been put away. They had no sin. So God, our
Father graciously commands His Son as He did Moses here in verse
34. Sweetest words I ever heard.
Look at it. Therefore, now go, lead the people
unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee." The Lord Jesus
said, in my father's house are many mansions. He said, I go
to prepare a place for you. And when I do, he said, I'll
come again and I'll take you with me and you'll be where I
am. Now listen, friends, that's heaven.
That's what heaven is. And people can sing about the
streets of gold and the pearly gates and all that. I think I'll
sing of Christ who is my redeemer. Heaven is heaven because He'll
be there and I'll be forever with Him.