This is the second time Moses
has come down from the mountain. Both times he came down carrying
the Ten Commandments. The first time he came down,
the people were gathered together, but they were gathered together
to worship an idol. Now when we get to Exodus chapter
35, Moses has come down from the mountain again. Once again
he has the Ten Commandments in his hands. And once again there's
going to be a gathering of the people. But it's not going to
be a gathering like it was back in the 32nd chapter to honor
a man-made God. They're going to meet now having
been by God's servant called or summoned to hear what God
has to say. Let me read one verse and I'm
going to begin here and then go back and I'll show you several
other verses in the book of Exodus and elsewhere also. I want you
to pay attention this morning as I consider this subject with
you, this subject summoned to hear from God. These people were
gathered or summoned to hear from God. Now, verse 1, And Moses
gathered, Exodus 35, verse 1, And Moses gathered, or he summoned,
he insisted, all the congregation of Israel
together, He said, come together. He didn't say, would you like
to come to a service today? He said, all of you, be there
when we have the scheduled time to meet. And He said unto them,
and this is the reason that they're together together, these are
the words, the words which the Lord hath commanded, that ye
should do them. That ye should do them. As I
said, this is the second gathering of the children of Israel. That
first gathering was back in the 32nd chapter. And Moses was up
on the mountain and Joshua wasn't too far below him. Moses is there
receiving God's law from the Lord. The Lord wrote the law,
the Ten Commandments on the two tables of stone. And then there
was a noise in the camp below. And Aaron said, I think there's
warfare in Israel. Moses said, that's not warfare.
He said, that's celebration. That's celebration. And so he
came down from the mountain. Go back to chapter 32. Go back
to chapter 32. Of course, he came down from
the mountain, and as you know, he took those two tables of law,
and he broke them on the ground, which indicated what they had
just done. They had just violated the very
first commandment, thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Look here in chapter 32, verse 4, and we've gone over this,
the making of the golden calf, Chapter 32 of Exodus. In fact,
I'll read verse 3 also. And all the people break off
their golden earrings which were in their ears. They brought them
unto Aaron, and he received them at their hand. Now here they
all are all gathered together. And here's the parallel between
this and chapter 35. They're brought together. But
on this occasion, they're brought together not by God, not by Moses'
insistence, but they're brought according to their own lustful,
lustful hearts, idolatrous hearts. They gather together not to hear
from God, not to worship God, not to hear from Moses, not to
reverence the Lord, not to offer a sacrifice to Him, which would
be a picture of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, but they're
gathered together for idolatry. So look at verse 4, and so he
received all this gold at their hand, and he fashioned
it with a graving tool. And after that, he made a molten
calf And they said, Aaron didn't say this. This is what the people
said. These be thy gods, O Israel,
which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And Aaron,
knowing that wasn't true, It wasn't gods that brought them
up out of Egypt. He endeavors, I believe, to kind
of soften the seriousness of their sinfulness. And so it says
in verse 5, when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it.
And Aaron, he made a proclamation and said, tomorrow is a feast
to the Lord. He at least acknowledged that.
He should never have made the golden calf. But at least he said, we're going
to have a feast to the Lord tomorrow. Moses then, when he came down
from the mountain, he found the people involved in idolatry. And understand this, this is
the seriousness of what they were saying there in verse 4. Note this statement again. These be thy gods, O Israel,
which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. They attributed
to God's Little g-o-d-s. They attributed to gods that
which could only be attributed to Jehovah. They said, these are our gods,
and our gods delivered us. Our gods liberated us. Our gods
came to our rescue. Our gods saved us. Our gods delivered
us. And we know that's not true.
That's not true. If you would kind of hold your
place there in Exodus, go with me to a couple of references.
Psalm 106, first of all. The book of Psalm 106. A psalm
doesn't have chapters. So we don't say Psalm chapter
106. There are 150 psalms. And I want you to look for one,
it's Psalm 106. Look at verse 19, and this is
the way David speaks of this occasion back in Exodus chapter
32. Psalm 106 verse 19. They made a calf in Horeb and
worshipped the molten image. And thus they changed their glory,
their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass. Now
what does this mean? They changed their glory. The
glory of Israel was Jehovah. The glory of Israel was that
the one true and living God was in their midst. He had already
given instructions to Moses about building a tabernacle, and God
said, that's where I'm going to meet you. I'm going to dwell
with you. This was the glory of Israel. The Lord was there. They knew
God. God knew them. God cared about
them. God chose them. God was leading
them. God was fulfilling His promise
made to Abraham to take them into the land of promise. So they changed their glory,
their glory, into the similitude of an ox. that eateth grass."
Listen, God, He needs nothing to sustain Him. He is all sufficient in Himself. He is the everlasting God. He needs nothing. What does an
ox need? He needs to eat grass. And this is what David is saying.
The people of Israel in Moses' day, they didn't exchange God, the God of glory, for an
idol. For an idol. What was the issue? Verse 21.
They forgot God their Savior, God the Deliverer. They said,
these be our gods that delivered us from Egypt. And David says,
here's what they forgot. In a moment of spiritual insanity, they said, these idols. They
saved us. They saved us. Read on, verse 21. They forgot
God, their Savior, which had done great things in Egypt, wondrous
works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red Sea. Now, we must pay attention to
this because we're advised and admonished in the New Testament
to give due diligence to the mistakes and the sins and the
rebellion of the people of Israel. Go to the book of 1 Corinthians,
if you would, 1 Corinthians, and I'll ask you to go to chapter
10. The book of 1 Corinthians, chapter
10. I'll read verse 6. I'll start
at verse 6. In fact, I may just go back.
Let me just begin at verse 1 of chapter 10. Moreover, brethren,
I would not that you should be ignorant how that all our fathers
were under the cloud and all passed through the sea. Who opened
the sea? Not the gods. that Israel was
speaking about. Our God's delivered us. Delivered
us from Egyptian bondage. Opened the way through the Red
Sea. That's not true. That's not true. They all passed through the sea.
One way through the sea. I'm telling you, there's one
way to safety. That's Christ. You see that? There's one road to the presence
of God. Our Savior said, I'm the way,
I'm the truth, I'm the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Another verse 2, and they were
all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. And they
all did eat the same spiritual meat. They ate that manna from
heaven. That's Christ the bread of life,
right? Christ the living bread who came
down from heaven. They did all drink the same spiritual
drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed
them. That rock was Christ. They were thirsty. Children, thirsty. Animals, thirsty. Adults, thirsty. We need water,
Moses. God said, you take your rod.
you hit a rock. A rock that I'll show you, a
special rock. And he did and water came out.
Life-giving water. Life-sustaining water. A picture
of what happened at the cross of Calvary. God took the rod
of his justice, he smote his son. And as a result, the water
of life comes forth. It flows freely. You thirsty?
Thirsty. Drink of Christ. He said, if
any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. Come unto
me and drink. Verse 5. But with many of them,
God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now, here's what I want you to
pay attention to. Now, these things were our examples. So why does God record these
things in His Word about the disobedience of Israel, about
their idolatry, about their foolishness? They're examples to us. to the intent, watch it, 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 drink and rose up to play. Where is that
found? Right back there in Exodus chapter
32. He says, neither let us commit fornication. That which is meant
here is spiritual fornication. Giving the love of your heart
to a little god that you have fashioned or somebody else fashioned
out of the figment of their vain imagination, and you give the
love of your heart to that false idol, that false god, rather
than giving it to the Lord. at spiritual fornication. And there fell in one day three
and twenty thousand." He says, "...neither let us tempt Christ,
as some of them also tempted, and God destroyed them with serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of
them also murmured, and they were destroyed of the destroyer."
Verse 11, "...now all these things happened unto them for examples,
Would you learn from them? Oh, that God would make us wise
to learn from the failures of others. If you don't want the exact result,
the same ending as they experienced, then don't do what they did. You see, when they worshiped
that golden calf back there in chapter 32, God was angry. God was angry. You have attributed
to your gods the work God said that I did. And therefore, 3,000
men died. Now, if you don't want to suffer
a fate worse than physical death, better learn from their failures.
Idolatry is deadly. Idolatry is deadly. What is idolatry? When you worship something or
somebody more than your creator. That's idolatry. It's giving
the very love of your heart. What is the heart? You know in
the Bible when we read about the heart of man, what is the
heart of man? Well, it's the seed of our emotions. It is the mind, the will, the
understanding, the seed of our passions. And idolatry is giving
the very love of our innermost being, the adoration of our hearts
unto something or someone other than the Lord God of glory. That's idolatry. And it can be
a person. It can be something. And I'll tell you, the greatest
idol in the world today, in my estimation, is man's will. Man's will. That's the idol that
has been magnified in most religious circles even this morning. They make God out to be fully
dependent upon carrying out His purpose, but He's dependent upon
your will. And man's will seems to hold
God in limbo. Years ago, I used to hear, in
fact, I used to say, God can't do anything unless we let Him.
Really? That's an absolutely stupid statement. And I've made it a bunch of times.
I guess I can call myself stupid. That's okay. I've made that statement
many times. Do you think God Almighty who
spoke everything into existence and who governs all things by
the Word of His power, do you think He needs permission from
you to do anything? And if you think He does, you've
got a figment of your imagination for a God. You're an idolater. I like what Mr. Spurgeon said. He quoted Martin Luther, who
said this, I would like to be enabled by God this morning to
be an idol smasher. an idle smasher. Oh, if I could
just kill your God. There's only one God who's deserving
of your devotion, of your worship, and that's the God who rules
over all. He rules over all. No wonder
as this passage continues in 1 Corinthians verse 14. Wherefore,
my dearly beloved, what does it say? Flee from idolatry. Idolatry is a killer. And you
see the thing back over there in Exodus chapter 32. If you'll
go back over there with me, Exodus chapter 32. Look what the Lord said. Chapter 32. And I'll go to verse 8. The Lord
said of these people, He said to Moses, they've turned aside
quickly out of the way which I commanded them. In other words,
it didn't take them long. They have made them a molten
calf and have worshipped it. and have sacrificed thereunto,
and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought
thee up out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said unto Moses,
I've seen this people, and behold, it's a stiff-necked people. Now
therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against
them, that I may consume them, and I'll make of you a great
nation. I'm going to kill them all, that's what God said. If
you want to know, if you want some idea of how serious idolatry
is, look at what God says here. Read these words. God's wrath
whacks heart. He said, I am the Lord. That's
my name, my glory. I'm not going to give to another.
And you see, here's what Israel did. They set up a rival God. A golden calf. And then they
attributed their salvation from Israel, their deliverance from
Israel to the gods of Egypt. The Lord's not going to stand
for it. And I know the Lord doesn't have
passions like we have. His ways are beyond our understanding. But as the Scripture says, he
was angry. He's angry with the wicked every
day. He doesn't take idolatry lightly. That's the reason the
very law of God begins. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy
God only. Only. Who delivered Israel? Was it
the gods? No, it was the Lord who delivered
them. He delivered them in two ways, by price and by power. It was the Lord who delivered
Israel. First of all, by price. A lamb
died for the firstborn. God said, take a lamb, a lamb
the first year, a male without spot, without blemish. You kill
the lamb, catch the blood in the basin. Dad, take that bowl of blood
outside, get you a bunch of hyssop, and you start marking the side
posts and over the door posts with blood. I bet you they didn't put it
on sparingly either. I bet you they just, you know,
it wasn't like a painter who said, well, I want to be careful.
Man, if that had been my situation, I'd slap the blood on the whole
thing, wouldn't you Rob? Just all over the place. God
said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Who's the blood for? Who is the
blood for? First of all, it's for God. It's for God. He said, when I
see the blood, I'll pass over you. We've seen that song. It's in the hymn book. Many of
us have been singing it all our life. God said, when I see the
blood. Let me tell you something. His
eye has always been on the blood of the Lamb of God. Always. In fact, before the foundation
of the world, His eye was on the blood of the Lamb of God.
Christ Jesus is said to be the Lamb who was slain before the
world began. God's eye is on the blood. Well,
when did we come to see the blood? It's a blessed day when God teaches
us the truth of substitution and satisfaction. And we see
the necessity of the blood. Our sins deserve the wrath of
God. They deserve death. Our Lord
Jesus stepped in in our stead, died as our substitute to satisfy
God. We rejoice in the blood of the
Lord Jesus, but first of all, the blood is for God. No blood. It means death. Here's what most people don't
understand today. They don't understand anything
about the justice of God in salvation. They just think, well, God, He
loves you. He wants to be gracious to you.
He wants to forgive you. He sent His Son to die on the
cross. Can't you see how much God loves
you? He gave His Son to die. Now, will you accept Jesus? Please
accept Jesus. God wants you to accept Jesus.
That's putting it all on man. And that Jesus you're talking
about and that God you're talking about is just an idol. That's
all that is. Our Lord Jesus was the real substitute
for His people. He died that God might be just
and justify the ungodly. He died to wash us from our sins. The blood is first of all for
God. God, and I've said this before
and I'll say it till I die, I hope. Don't lose my mind. God had to
do something for Himself before He could do something for us.
He had to satisfy His law and justice. This is what you rarely
hear anymore. Yesterday morning, I woke up
early and I decided I'd turn the television on. A bunch of
religious channels and I just went one, watched a little bit
of it. Oh boy, that's junk. Go to the next channel. That's
junk. Go to the next channel. That's
junk. I didn't hear anybody. Nobody's
talking about the justice of God and the punishment of sin.
Nobody's talking about the salvation of sinners because God, who is
holy and just, has satisfied His own justice through the death
of His Son. Where are those who are bragging
about the blood of the Lord Jesus? Where are they? Oh, are you holding
to that old slaughterhouse religion? Yes, we do. Yes, we do. Somebody asked me not too long
ago, are you a hellfire and brimstone preacher? I'm that too. I'm whatever the Word of God
says that we're supposed to tell people. And we're supposed to
tell people that God is God. He doesn't pretend to be God,
He is God and He governs over all. And our Lord Jesus died
not as an effort to save everybody, but as a work of redemption to
save His people from their sins. How did God deliver Israel? Price. Price. That dad, he didn't want
his firstborn child to die. What do you have to do? Go out
in the flock. Find a young male. Perfect. Nothing wrong with him. In the
very strength of his youth. Because he pictured the Lord
Jesus. That's what that lamb pictured. How's God going to save sinners?
Only through the Lamb of God. That's why John the Baptist said,
Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. God redeemed them. God delivered
them. God saved Israel from physical
destruction, from physical death by price. And secondly, by power. Don't attribute to the gods the
deliverance of Israel. Forgive me for trying to describe
our God with language that is consistent only with us, but
this is what aggravated God. This is what moved Him to anger.
This is what moved Him to jealousy. They attribute it to that work
which God alone can do. They attribute it to an idol. God won't stand for that. And
He's going to get even. An old preacher years ago, R.G. Lee, I know you've heard of him.
Some of the rest of you have heard of him. But he preached
a message called, Payday Someday. That's what he preached. Payday
someday. It's going to be a big settling
up day someday. How did God deliver Israel? He
did it by power. They couldn't do it. And I'm telling you, this salvation
of our souls, this salvation from sin, that's a work that's
too great for us. We can't do it. That's an impossibility. It's a work that no idol can
do. In fact, the church can't save
you. The church can't deliver you.
I can't deliver you. I can't save you. I don't ever
tell somebody, why don't you walk down the aisle here and
I'll take you in a room or a Ron Will or somebody else and then
talk to you about the things of God and see if we can help
you. We don't do that. We don't do that. Because salvation
is by the power of God. He has to do something for your
heart, for your innermost being. If the work of salvation, if
it was dependent upon this church, or this preacher, or this elder,
or any of the leaders, the men who are the leaders in this congregation,
or any of the ladies who speak to people about the things of
God, if salvation was dependent upon any of us, we'd all perish. There's only One who can help
you. There's only one who can save. And He always does it this
way, by price and by power. That's the only way He saves. Israel couldn't save themselves.
How could they deliver themselves from Egyptian bondage? That's
impossible. So God did. He delivered them. And with the eye of faith reading
the Word of God, we see Israel making their exodus from Egypt. And here they go in triumph. Not triumphing in themselves,
but the triumph is due to the goodness and power of God. Oh,
thank You, Lord, for the price. Thank You, Lord, for Your power. And then they get to the Red
Sea. What are they going to do now? Oh boy, we should have just stayed
in Egypt. Moses said, you stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord. Well, all of a sudden, that sea
opened up, widened up for hundreds of thousands of people to go
through. That sea of idol do that. Let's see your false god do that.
Let's see your so-called free will do that. You see, that which is impossible
with men is possible with God. So Moses, he gathers the people
together to hear what thus saith the Lord. The same people who
had been gathered together by Aaron and according to their
own willingness and desire to worship a golden calf. That didn't work out. And I say this with as much love
and kindness as I can muster up. If you seek to be accepted
by God upon the basis of something you do, or some idol, some figment
of your imagination that you think that you can maneuver around,
you're in for a rude awakening. The only One who can help you
is the Sovereign Christ. And He saves, He delivers by
price and by power. And I'll tell you, my heart cries
out, oh Lord, save me that way. That's what I want. And I believe
He has, but you know, salvation is not a one-time thing. It's
a daily look into Christ. Faith. You know, we used to have
the idea, well, you know, I believed on the Lord Jesus years ago,
so I'm going to pass that. Don't ever get past that. We're always coming to Him. We're
always looking to Him every day. And in a sense, and some of you
won't understand what I'm going to say right now, but there's
a sense in which every time we come unto the sound of the Word
of God, we're saved all over again. You understand what I
mean? Some of you do. It's a glorious
salvation. And I'll tell you, it is so sweet
to just trust in the Lord Jesus. I want you to get your songbooks
and turn to 257. Number 257. And we'll just sing the first
stanza. It is so sweet to trust in Jesus. And this evening, I hope that
you'll be back at the 6.30 assigned time to worship. And I'm going
to speak to you from 2 Timothy chapter 4. Preach the Word. Preach the Word. That's what
I always try to do. And we'll do that again tonight.