Before turning with me to Exodus
31, look at Galatians chapter three first, if you would, please.
While you're turning, let me say the apostle Paul told young
Timothy in his first letter, he said, for there is one God,
singular, one, just one, and one mediator, again, singular.
Just one mediator, one God and one mediator. And between this
one God and men, men being plural, being sinners, is the man, again,
singular Christ Jesus. There's one mediator between
God and sinners. Here in Galatians chapter three,
verse 20, Paul tells the church at Galatia, now a mediator is
not a mediator of one, but God is one. And what Paul means here
is that where there is but one party, there's no need of a mediator. A mediator requires two parties
that are at odds against one another. We are at odds against
God, dear friends, by nature. Tonight, I want us to consider
Christ as that one mediator between God and man, just as Moses was
the mediator between God and the Israelites. I think we'll
see that very clearly tonight. What proof this is that every
man and every woman has offended God. That's just the truth of
the matter. We've offended God and we're
in need of mediation. We need to be reconciled back
to God. Mediation means just that, reconciliation. Reconciliation means the restoration
of friendly relations. Our sin has alienated us from
God. We've come short of God's glory.
We fall way short of the glory of God. And God is angry with
the wicked every day. That's how God refers to us outside
of Christ, wicked. He's angry with the wicked. How
long is he angry with the wicked? Every day, continually, unless
and until a sinner is reconciled to God by the Lord Jesus Christ,
our only mediator. Now it's the Lord Jesus who reconciles
chosen sinners to God and puts them back on friendly terms with
the one that they've offended. I want to be on friendly terms
with God, don't you? I sure don't want to be a victim
of his wrath. No, sir. And that's what I'll
be unless God does something for me in Christ. We need a mediator. We need a go-between to negotiate
justice for us. You know, that's what an advocate,
that's what an attorney does for someone who's broken the
law. They stand before a judge and that attorney or that advocate
mediates a just sentence. He intercedes on the guilty's
behalf. And that's what the Lord Jesus
does for us. And that's what Moses did for
Israel. And there's no doubt from the
Bible that the man Christ Jesus is that one mediator. Look down
at Galatians 3 verse 21. Paul asks, is the law, speaking
of God's law, then against the promises of God? God forbid. If there had been a law given,
which could have given life, verily righteousness should have
been by the law. Verse 22, but the scripture hath
concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus
Christ might be given to them that believe. The law of God
is perfect in every way. The imperfection is in us. That's why Paul said that we
can't be justified by the law and the fact that it's weak through
the flesh, we through the flesh can't keep it. And it's not like
God gave his law in order to condemn us. You see, we had long
fallen into sin, condemned, guilty, long before God ever even gave
the law. Therefore, it is revealed to
God's people that the law of God, according to verse 24 here,
was their schoolmaster to do what? To bring them to Christ.
That simply means that the law showed us our inability to keep
it and to keep it perfectly. And if we offend in one point
of the law, we're guilty of the whole law. So the only means
of being justified is by faith in Christ, actually the faith
of Christ. the one who reconciles us to
our great God. Now look in Exodus 31, look at
the last verse of the chapter, and then we'll move quickly into
chapter 32. In verse 18 of Exodus 31, we
read, and he, speaking of God, gave unto Moses when he had made
an end of communing with him, up on Mount Sinai, two tables
of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.
Now, I don't expect you to remember, I didn't myself, but back in
Exodus chapter 24, we're told that Moses wrote in a book all
the words of the Lord and all his judgments. And then here
we're told that God writes the law on two tables of stone. So
all the laws that Moses wrote in that book, along with these
two tablets of stone written by God's finger, that's what
Paul calls in the New Testament, the handwriting of ordinances
that was against us. This speaks of the whole law.
The whole law of God is against us because in Adam, we've broken
every law and we've also done so by our own personal rebellion. We've broken every law of God
too. You offend in one point of the
law, guilty of the whole law. God gave us the law, not for
us to try to keep in order to be saved. You can't be saved
by trying to keep the law because you can never keep it. He gave
us the law to declare us guilty, to show us our guilt, to show
us our inability of keeping the law and to shut our self-righteous
mouth. Tonight, we're gonna see why
the law is against us. Aaron and the children of Israel
show us something of our fallen nature and inability to keep
any of God's commandments. And we see what we are before
the law. We're guilty. We see what our
sin nature is and what it continually produces, and that's sin and
idolatry. We see that we can't even keep
the first commandment of the 10 great commandments. God said
this, he said, I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have
any strange gods before me. Is God revealed to us yet that
he's zealous? He's zealous over his worship
and he's zealous over his glory. God doesn't play second fiddle
to anyone or anybody. So the first thing Israel did
while undetended by their mediator Moses, Moses was in the mountain
of God receiving the tablets from God. The first thing that
Israel did, unsupervised, was build a golden calf and worship
it. That's just such proof of man's
rebellion by nature. Our hearts are deceitful, they're
desperately wicked. Our hearts' imaginations, Moses
wrote, are only evil continually. That word continually in my marginal
Bible means every day. We want to know why God's angry
with the wicked every day, because we are wicked every day. We are wicked continually. That
brings me to the good news, and I have good news for you tonight.
I don't know that I ever really thought about this before, but
while Aaron and the children of Israel were breaking God's
law, and while they were building their own little G-God to worship,
that's all that golden calf was, while they were doing that, Moses
is on the mountain with God making intercession for them. So in
Moses, we see a type of Christ, our mediator and our intercessor
who mediates and reconciles and brings all the elect of God back
into a friendly and loving relationship with God. And let me say this,
all who desire this relationship with God can have it. But preacher,
I thought that redemption was only for the elect of God. It
is. But if you really desire this
fellowship and this communion with God, this loving relationship
with God, that actually proves your election. No lost person
desires a relationship with God. "'You and I being dead in our
sins, "'Christ has quickened us together with him, "'having
forgiven all our trespasses, "'forgiving all our sins.'" And
Paul said blotting out the handwriting of ordinances, speaking of God's
law that were against us. And by the way, they all were,
because we can't keep any of them. He said they were contrary
to us, contrary to our nature, contrary to what is just natural
for us to do. and he took it out of the way.
Well, that's the best news I ever heard. He nailed it to his cross. How did he do that? Because he
fulfilled the law in our place as he died for his elect on Calvary
Street. That's how it was taken out of
the way. And those for whom Christ died are continually shown mercy
to God because Christ is upon the Mount of God. He's sitting
at the right hand of God right now. forever making intercession
for us. I know this is nothing new, but
it's just everywhere you look in the scripture. When Moses
and the people of Israel camped at the foot of Mount Sinai, do
you remember that? The scripture says that God called
for Moses out of the mountain. I wonder what that must have
sounded like. God calling for Moses out of
the mountain. I tell you this much, it had
Israel shaking in their sand. Upon Mount Sinai, we're told
that there was thunder and lightning and a thick cloud, and the voice
of the trumpet exceedingly loud, so that all the people that was
in the camp trembled, scared to death. I can only imagine
how that trumpet sounded. This was no normal trumpet. This
was no normal trumpet player. This was the Trump of God. God
said this, he said, tell the children of Israel that they've
seen what I did to the Egyptians. And he said, and I bear them
on Eagle's wings and I brought them out. There'll be a peculiar
treasure unto me above all people for the earth is mine. And you
remember what they said? Now they're terrified. They told
Moses, you go talk to God for us. And they said, all that the
Lord has spoken, we will do. Do you think they meant it? I'm
sure they did at the time. Moses sprinkled the blood of
that covenant on them and they entered into that covenant of
works with God and they promised to obey all that was written
in the law of God. Did they? Do we? Well, there's no difference between
them and us. Now we fast forward six weeks
later, and they're making a calf of gold to worship. And as they
make this golden calf, they attribute their deliverance to this God
that they just made with their hands from their own substance.
They said, this is the God that delivered us out of Egypt. Look
at Exodus 32 here, verse one, it says, and when the people
saw, The scripture says that God's people walk by faith and
not by sight. Believers walk by faith, not
by carnal sight, not by fleshly sight, physical sight. The believer
walks by faith. And when the people here saw,
I want you to notice that they saw with fleshly eyes, natural
eyes, carnal So the natural man receives not the things of the
spirit of God, their foolishness unto him, neither can he know
them because they're spiritually discerned. And the things of
God's spirit are spiritually, that word discerned means determined. What does that mean? It means
that God's got to reveal this gospel to you or you'll never
see it. What was it that Israel saw in verse one? We'll look
at it. They saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mount,
but they only had natural sight. They weren't seeing with the
eyes of faith. You see, true faith, truly and
fully trusting In Christ alone, Paul said, is the substance of
things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11
one. So true faith, I mean, believing
God, believing in Christ, gives substance to these things concerning
the spirit of God that a chosen sinner hopes to have. Someone
that God begins to deal with, they say, oh, I want that faith. I want to have an understanding
of the things of God's spirit. Well, if you have faith in Christ,
that faith is actually the evidence. It's that proof that you will
receive those things. We've never ever sought God for
the things of God that God refused. Nowhere in the scripture will
you find someone needing healing that didn't get it when they
wanted it, when they needed it. They saw their need, they begged
God for it and God gave it to them. That's just the way it
is. That's the way God does it. Now, Israel here said that Moses
had delayed to come down from the mountain. That's how they
saw it. That's how they saw it, with
their carnal, fleshly, natural eyes. But there was no delay.
I know we know that. This time was set by God for
Moses to come down, but to carnal sight, Moses delayed to come
down. But God is never late. God's
providence is never, ever late. God's purposes are always right
on time. whether we're waiting and trusting
in God to save our lost loved ones, our children, whether we're
waiting on God to reveal His will to us in a trial. Some of you have gone through
some real trials, and you're waiting on the Lord. Lord, I
need help. Lord, I need patience. I need
rest. And we're waiting on Him. We're
waiting on the Lord. Whether it's to wait on the Lord to give
us understanding of his word. I ask the Lord all the time,
Lord, give me understanding of your word. Teach this to my heart,
not just my head. Help me get it from here down
to here. You know, it's always unbelief
that makes us think that God has delayed. You'll never be
disappointed waiting on the Lord. I can assure you that. Never,
never be disappointed. You'll always be disappointed
and not waiting on him. Israel shows us that. Now let
me show you something about all of us. Our carnal sight wants
a visible God. We want a God that we can see
and that we can touch and we can feel and we want to trust
in something we can see. Again, verse one, look at it
with me. The people gathered themselves together unto Aaron
and said unto him, "'make us gods which shall go before us
for this Moses, "'this man that brought us up out of the land
of Egypt, "'we want not or we know not what is become of him.'"
When we take matters into our own hands, when we make unto
ourselves gods that we can control and manipulate, praise and even
give honor to, we prove that we ourselves desire to be our
own God, we really do. Carnicide always wants to see
some action. We want a God that we can see,
touch, and lead around by his golden nose. If you remember,
they had already turned on Moses when things were not going to
their liking. They attributed their deliverance
out of Egypt to being something that was actually done against
them and not for them, done to hurt them. They said Moses brought
us out of Egypt so that we might die here in this desert, in this
wilderness. That wasn't the case at all.
God was leading them to the land of promise, a land that flowed
with milk and honey, but it was their own rebellion and obstinance
against God that kept them wandering in the wilderness for 40 years.
Through Moses, God had worked many signs and wonders. And friends,
God in Christ has worked many signs and wonders for his people
when he walked on this earth. Through Moses, God had provided
a Passover lamb, and when God saw it, he passed over their
firstborn sons. Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed
for his people, and as the head of his house, he applies the
blood to our hearts, and God passes over us. Through Moses,
God delivered Israel out of Egyptian bondage and they left with the
riches of Egypt. And friends, through Christ,
God has delivered us and he's loaded us with his unsearchable
riches. You see the picture here? Through
Moses, God delivered Israel through the red seed, drowning Pharaoh
and his army. And through Christ, God has made
us more than conquerors through Christ who loved us. God gave
them water from a rock, gave them victory over every enemy
that came out against them, rained down bread from heaven, and through
Christ, God has led us through this wilderness of a world. All
along, we feast on Christ, our bread, and we drink of Christ,
our rock, and God provides for us every need that we have, every
single one of them. But where Christ is not dominant
and where Christ is not reigning in the heart, He's soon forgotten.
It's happened so very often. I wish it wasn't so, but it certainly
is. The unbelief within us quickly
forgets God and all that He's done for us in Christ. And again,
in verse one, Israel confesses their unbelief by saying this,
as for this Moses, the man that, the man, just total disregard. The man that brought us up out
of the land of Egypt. We don't know what's become of
him. I can just hear their contempt. This Moses. We don't know what
happened to him. Maybe he run off and left us.
Maybe the job was too big for him. Maybe God killed him. Men
have the same contempt for Christ. You know, I never saw this before.
I won't turn you here, but in Luke chapter 23, when the Lord
stood in Pilate's hall and the Jews cried, away with this man,
away with this man, that word man there is italicized. You
know what that means. It was added later by the translator. But what they actually said was,
Away with this. Words wouldn't even describe
how repulsive they felt. Away with this. In John chapter
nine, when the Lord opened that man's eyes that had not seen
from his birth, born blind, speaking of Christ who healed him, the
Jewish leader said, we know that God spake unto Moses. We know
that. But as for this fellow, And again,
that word fellow there is italicized, meaning it was that. But for
this deplorable man is what they were saying. We see again that
they were just filled with contempt and disgust over the Lord Jesus.
God comes to earth as a man to redeem fallen men and women,
and men and women hated him, the scripture says, without a
cause. Well, we'd like to know who he thinks he is. That's what
they were saying. We don't even know where he's
from. And if he was somebody, trust me, we'd know, because
we're somebody and somebody knows somebody. The truth is this friends,
if God doesn't keep his people by his grace, they'll forget
Christ. They'll forget his precious work
of redemption done for them. By nature, men will turn their
back on God. And if they do, it only proves
that they never really believed and they never really trusted
God with true faith. Do we see here that Israel's
rebellion is much like ours? Oh my. Surely there would be
no rebellion and idolatry from Aaron, though, because after
all, Aaron is Moses' brother, and well, he's the man that God
had called to be high priest. Surely no rebellion from Moses'
own brother. Surely he would stand faithful
against Israel's idolatry. Look at verse two. And Aaron
said unto them, break off your golden earrings. which are in
the ears of your wives, of your sons and of your daughters, and
bring them unto me." Verse three, and all the people break 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.
This is what we need to see. Aaron was in need of God keeping
him just as the rest of Israel was. It's the same with every
pastor that God uses in the cause of Christ today. Just men, just
sinful, rebellious, depraved men, just like all God's elect
are. But this is what I want you to
think about, and this is the blessing. If you take this home
with you tonight, then the time has been well spent. With all
of this going on with Aaron and the children of God, throwing
their gold into a melting pot and Aaron fashioning into this
idol that they'll soon be worshiping, all the while this is going on,
God is at the same time declaring to Moses that Aaron would be
his high priest. Ain't that amazing? At the very
same time, Aaron was melting down the gold and fashioning
the golden calf. God was telling Moses that Aaron
would be adorned with the beautiful clothing of the high priest and
the breastplate of the high priest, which bore the names of the 12
tribes of Israel that Aaron would go into the holiest of holies
to seek forgiveness for God for. All the while, they're sitting
there building their own idol to worship. God is out to do
them good. My, my. How could God declare
Aaron to be such, especially after making this idol? I bet
you know the answer. Only in Christ. Only in Christ. No other way. Christ is the way.
Look at verse five. And when Aaron saw it, talking
about the golden calf, he built an altar before it. And Aaron
made proclamation and said, tomorrow 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 sit down to eat
and to drink and rose up to play. It's party time. And what we
have here, dear friends, is nothing less than idolatry. Keep in mind, not far off from
where all this is taking place, not far from where Aaron is building
his altar. God was commanding Moses to build
another altar, but the altar that Aaron built, there was no
sin offering. There was no offering for sin
there. And when there's no offering for sin, there's no redemption.
Where there's no truth of man's sin, there's no necessity for
God's mercy and grace. Where there's no need of Christ,
there's no true worship of God. Aaron called this a feast of
the Lord, and the people said, this be the God of Israel that
delivered us out of the land of Egypt. Yesterday, the gold
had dangled from their ears, and now they're worshiping a
molten calf made from that gold. I need not comment on that, but
just allow scripture to do so for me. I want to read two verses
out of Psalm 106 concerning this. It says, they made a calf in
Horeb and they worshiped the molten image. Thus they changed
their glory, speaking of their God, into the similitude of an
ox that eateth grass. They forget God, their savior,
which had done great things in Egypt. That's exactly what they
did. Wondrous works in the land of
Ham and terrible things by the Red Sea. They flat forgot it."
We're prone to forget. Will we ever see that any addition
by us to the worship of God is idolatry? Every effort of man
to mix the work of his own hands with the glory of God is idolatry. Paul spoke of these things in
1 Corinthians chapter 10. Let me read. these two references
to you that he makes in reference to what we're reading here in
Exodus chapter 32. 1 Corinthians 10, verse six. You may want to write it down
and look at it later. It says, now these things were
our examples to the intent we should not lust after evil things
as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters as were
some of them as it is written, the people sat down to eat and
to drink and rose up to play. Then five verses or so later
in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 11, it says, now all these things
happened unto them for in samples or examples. And they are written
for our admonition, for the believers admonition. Upon whom the ends
of the world are come, wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth
take heed lest he fall. Let's not forget who and what
we are by nature. Sin is mixed with everything
that we do. We make idols out of everything.
We say, how so? Well, anything that we give preeminence
over Christ, we've made it an idol. We need Christ intercession
continually because we're sinners continually. Now, let me finish
up by showing you Christ, our intercessor. Let's read a few
verses here, beginning in verse seven. And the Lord said unto
Moses, go, get thee down. For thy people, which thou broughtest
out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have
turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They
have made them a molten calf. "'and have worshiped it and have
sacrificed thereunto "'and said, these be thy gods, O Israel,
"'which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.'" Boy,
God knew exactly what was going on, didn't he? He always does.
And the Lord said unto Moses, verse nine, I've seen this people
and behold, it is a stiff neck people. Now, therefore, let me
alone that my wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume
them. I'm going to kill them and I'll
make of thee a great nation. And Moses besought the Lord. That's what mediation is. That's
what an intercessor does. 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, God told Moses,
they're your people. You brought them out of Egypt.
And Moses tells God, no, they're your people. You're the one that
delivered them, not me. Look at verse 12. Wherefore should
the Egyptians speak and say, for mischief did he, did God
bring them out to slay them in the mountains and to consume
them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath and
repent of this evil against thy people. Change your mind, Lord,
change your mind. Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel,
verse 13, thy servants to whom thou swearest by thine self and
says unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven
and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your
seed and they shall inherit it forever. Lord, do you remember
the covenant you made with our forefathers? Now that is a true
picture of Christ, our mediator, our great intercessor and our
advocate. God knew, as I said, everything
that was taking place with Aaron and the children of Israel. We
don't catch God off guard. He sees all our sin, too, by
the way. The scripture says that we're
naked and open before Him at all times. No sin's out of God's
sight, whether it's in thought, word, or deed. God knows our
thoughts, He hears every word, and He sees all that we do. No
sin is out of His sight. But the good news, The gospel
is that Christ intercedes on our behalf, on the behalf of
his people in the presence of God in the mountain. Christ is
at the right hand of God and he's interceding for us. He intercedes
for those that are his, the same as Moses did for Israel. And
we see four things here that I'll give you real quick. that
Moses used to mediate to God for his people. First, God told
Moses, thy people have corrupted themselves, but Moses gives them
right back to God. Moses said, Lord, why does your
wrath wax hot against your people? So first we see that Christ is
our intercessor, calls God to mind that he chose a people to
save. And no matter how rebellious
they are, God's gonna save them in Christ. for Christ's sake. Secondly, true intercession says
to God, Father, you redeemed them, thy people, which thou
has brought forth out of the land of Egypt. You brought them
out with great power and with a mighty hand. You're the one
that saved them. You're the one that delivered
them. You're the one that redeemed them. Now don't miss this, please
don't miss this. I'm almost finished, but this
is the gospel message right here. Christ has blotted out our sins
by his blood, therefore God will not, he will not pour out justice
on any of his elect since Christ our substitute has justified
us from all our sins. and it's Christ's presence with
God. It's his wounds that plead for
us. There's a man in heaven sitting
on the right hand of God, the God man, Christ Jesus, that has
scars in his hands and in his feet and his side. And they plead
his work of redemption to God for us. Christ's precious blood
has purged our sins and his obedience in our place makes us righteous
in him. Now that's the gospel. So it
is for Christ's sake that God has mercy on. What is man that
thou art mindful of him? Nothing, nothing. It's for Christ's
sake that God has mercy on us, forgiven us all our sins continually,
I might add. And then thirdly, Christ's intercession
says, Father, remember thy name and thy glory. Moses said in
verse 13, wherefore should the Egyptians speak? God, if you
kill these people now, you know what the Egyptians are gonna
say. They're gonna say that God for mischief brought them out
of Egypt to slay them in these mountains, in this wilderness,
and to consume them from the face of the earth. He said, Lord,
turn from your fierce wrath and repent of this evil against thy
people. God will not lose one that he's
chosen to redeem. God will not allow any rebel
to accuse him of anything less than full redemption for his
elect. He's not gonna do it. He's gonna
uphold the honor of his own name before he ever lets that happen.
And then fourthly, Christ's intercession says, Father, remember your everlasting
covenant of grace. Remember Abraham and Isaac and
Jacob, Israel. Remember Israel, all your servants
to whom you swore by your own self, could swear by no higher
than your own self, your own name. And you said you'll multiply
their seed as the stars of heaven, as the sand of the beach and
all this land that you'll give them. You'll give them to your
seed and they shall inherit it forever. Beloved of God, Christ's
intercession on your behalf will never fail. You know how I know? Look at verse 14. And the Lord
repented of the evil which he had thought to do unto his people.
Christ's intercession. Moses' intercession did it for
old Israel. Christ's intercession does it
for spiritual Israel. I love those words that say,
if any man sin, any woman sin, we have an advocate. an advocate
with the Father. Jesus Christ be righteous. Our advocate is perfect, he's
righteous, and God accepts his advocacy. Oh, may God enable
us to put our trust in him and in him alone.