I have one verse of scripture,
and I want to speak to you from this morning really mainly just
one expression. And it is located in Exodus chapter
33 in verse 5. And so I do encourage you, those
of you here in the auditorium, Look at this verse with me and
those of you who are watching by way of the internet, I certainly
encourage you to do the same thing. The statement that I want
to leave with you is at the very end of verse 5. God said, now
put off thy ornaments from thee. that I may know what to do unto
thee." Now, understand this. God already
knew what He was going to do with Israel. His purpose is from old eternity,
from everlasting. There are no circumstances that
come up in any of our lives or in anything in the world that
causes God to react. God has already ordained everything. And He already ordained what
He was going to do to these people. But they didn't know what He
was going to do. They didn't know. Will they live? Will they die? Their fate was
in the hands of God. And there's a good indication
that at least a few of them, maybe many of them, embraced
this and they considered this very seriously because of what
the next verse says, verse 6. The children of Israel, they
stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb. And that would be outward actions
which were indicative of or indicated inward change of attitude toward
God. Theirs had been a great celebration,
great joy, dancing around a golden calf. Two days later now, all
their mourning or there's mourning now that has taken over from
joyfulness. Weeping instead of laughter. There's no more dancing. There
isn't any more celebration. There isn't any more frivolity. They now realize their lives
are in the hands of God. And I'm sure they asked themselves
the very question I put to you this morning, which is, what
will God do with us? Now, He already knows, because
it's already been appointed. But we don't. Now, you can be a fatalist and
say, well, whatever He's going to do, let Him do it. I'll just
sit down, take my ease, eat, drink, and be merry, and I'll
live my life, and whatever God does, He's going to do it because
it's already willed. Well, you can take that attitude,
and I'll guarantee you this, whatever He has willed, He is
going to do it. Or you can take the attitude
of these Israelites, which is a change of direction. Forget idols. Be done with them. Turn away from them. and only
turn to the Lord your God through Christ Jesus. You see, the worship of the golden
calf by Israel was an awful offense against God. And he was offended. His justice
was offended. For that law Moses was receiving
upon the mount, that law began, Thou shalt have no other gods
before Me. What are they doing down there
in the valley? Having another god before the
Lord God of glory. And then as they rejoiced around
that golden calf, Aaron said to them, These are thy gods that
brought thee out of Egypt. They are then violating God's
law. God took this very seriously. I tell you, this matter of our
sinfulness and our guilt, we better take it serious too. And know this, God is offended
by sin. What's He going to do with you? What's to be done with you? What's
to be done with me? Now let me tell you this. This
awful dancing around the golden calf, obviously it should never
have happened. And if Aaron and her, and the
sons of Aaron, if they had done what they should have done, this
would never happen. Let me show you that. Go back
to Exodus chapter 24. Look at Exodus chapter 24. And look at verse 1, and I'm
just going to give you a few verses here. I don't have time
to read them all. But the Lord said to Moses, 24
verse 1, Come up unto the Lord thou, and now watch it, Aaron,
and Nadab and Abihu, and then the seventy elders of Israel,
and worship ye afar off." Now the gospel message is drawn nigh
through the blood of Christ Jesus. But now Moses is going up there
to get the law of God. And here's what the law of God
says. Worship afar off. Afar off. You sinful people. God's a holy God. But our Lord
Jesus has come, and He has torn the veil from top to bottom. He has opened up the presence
of God by satisfying God's justice, by dealing with that which was
the great offense to God, our sins. And therefore the gospel
message is not, worship ye afar off, but come nigh by the blood
of Christ Jesus. That's good news, isn't it? Come
nigh. So verse two says, Moses alone
shall come near the Lord, but they shall not come nigh, neither
shall the people go up with him. So here's the congregation of
Israel. You can visualize it. They're
staying at the foot of the mountain. Here are these hundreds of thousands
of people. And going up a little ways into
the mountain, there's Aaron and Hur, and Aaron's boys, his sons,
and the 70 elders of Israel, and Joshua and Moses. Now, go to verse 9. Then went up Moses and Aaron,
Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. And
they saw the God of Israel. They saw Christ Jesus in pre-incarnate
form. And there was under His feet,
as it were, a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were, the body
of heaven in His clearness. And upon the nobles of the children
of Israel He laid not His hand. Also they saw God, And they did
eat and drink, they communed with God. Now watch verse 12. And the Lord said unto Moses,
he said, come up unto me, come up to me into the mount and be
there and I'll give you the tables of stone and a law and commandments
which I have written that thou mayest teach them. You be the
teacher. In many ways, our Lord Jesus
is typified by Moses, who is the teacher. He is the prophet.
Have you been taught of the Lord? He's the great teacher. In fact,
nobody can effectively really teach you the gospel of His grace,
how God saves sinners, except the great teacher Himself, the
Lord Jesus Christ. God said that you may teach them. Thank God our Savior is a teacher. And He's a great teacher. Because
that gospel He teaches us, we will learn if He's the teacher. Now if I'm the only teacher you
hear, you're not going to learn it in your heart. But if the
Lord of glory, if He teaches you, You'll be a learner. You'll learn how God can be just
and justify the ungodly. Now look at verse 13. And Moses
rose up. He's going into the presence
of God. Now watch this. And his minister, Joshua. Let me tell you something. Now
the picture, the typology switches to Joshua. You're going to go
into the presence of God? You better go with Joshua. Jehovah
who saves. Our Lord Jesus said, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Joshua went with Moses. You don't want to go into the
presence of God without the great Joshua. Jesus who saves. He alone can take you into the
presence of God. You want to go into the presence
of God? I do. I do. Not but one can take me. That's the Lord Jesus Himself.
Jehovah who is our salvation. Now watch verse 14. Here's what
I'm getting to. And He said to the elders, He said to them, tarry ye here
for us until we come again unto you." Now get that. You stay
right here. And behold, Aaron and her, they're
with you. If any man have any matters to
do, let him come unto them. The orders are very, very clear. You need to obey this now. Aaron,
you and her, Aaron your sons, and you 70 elders, now hear what
you need to do. Stay right here till I come down
off this mountain. Did they do it? If they'd have done it, Aaron
wouldn't be down there fashioning them a golden calf. Disobedience
gets us in a world of trouble. You see, all this that happens
over here, the making of the golden calf, the dancing around
the golden calf, this is all led by Aaron. You want to say, Brother Aaron,
why didn't you do what the Lord told you to do through the lips
of Moses? Why didn't you tarry? Why didn't
you just stay there? But you disobeyed. Disobedience never does us any
good. It always hurts us. And all of these men disobeyed,
except for one. You know who stayed up on that
mountain with Moses? Joshua. Joshua. He stayed up there. He didn't
go down. And let me tell you something,
where all other men failed, where all other men are disobedient
to God. There's one man who has perfectly
obeyed God in our flesh. In fact, he was obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. That's our Lord Jesus
Christ. So as we go back to our text
over here in chapter 33, we discover that such was the
severity of the sins of Israel that the Lord said, I'm not going
to go with you on this journey, but the angel of My presence
is going with you. He's going to lead the way. And, of course, Moses offered
an atonement to God for the people. This is the reason they were
allowed to keep on living. Look with me in chapter 32. I
said chapter 33, but look at chapter 32, verse 30. It came
to pass on the morrow that Moses said unto the people, you've
sinned a great sin. Well, they had. And now I'm going
to go up to the Lord, peradventure, I shall make an atonement for
your sin. I'm going to make an atonement. Otherwise, you're all going to
die. So he offered an atonement. And then, the Lord continues
to tell Moses as we get into chapter 33 that He's not going
to go with them. These are a stiff-necked people.
It's as though God was saying, I'm about done with them. I'm
about done with them. And He says to Moses, tell them
to take off their ornaments, their celebratory clothes, that I may know what to do with
them. What am I going to do with these
people? God knew because He appointed, but they didn't know. And there they stand, and I can
just imagine they're shaking in their boots. What is God going
to do with us? We have offended Him. In Acts chapter 2, Simon Peter
preached that message on the day of Pentecost. He said, has exalted Jesus to be Lord
in Christ. That Jesus whom you crucified. You put Him to death. You butchered
Him. And I'll tell you, those people,
they got serious then. They said, men and brethren,
what shall we do? Our lives are in the hands of
God. What's God going to do with us?
And you and me, we're all rebels against God. We're all sinners
against the Lord. You know that and I know that.
What is He going to do with us? Well, He knows. He's appointed
it already. And like I say, you can sit there
and have this attitude, well, whatever will be, will be. Well,
it sure will be. There's no doubt about that.
or you can become what some of the old timers used to call a
mercy beggar. You can come to the Lord from
your heart with a broken heart if God were to give you the ability
and the desire to do that. Oh God, I'm such a vile sinner! And I know my life's in your
hands. At the end of chapter 33, Moses,
when he said, Lord, show me your glory. God said, I'll cause my
goodness to pass before you. I'll be gracious to whom I'll
be gracious. I'll be merciful to whom I'll
be merciful. Let me tell you something. God may be merciful to you. He may be gracious to you, but
He doesn't have to be. Now let's hold on a minute. So that's what God's for us to
save us. You better have a change of attitude
there. You're deserving of death and
hell and judgment, me too, and all the rest of Adam's race. Maybe God will show mercy to
us. If He does, we'll give Him the
glory. If He doesn't, what are you going to do about it? He's still got salvations His
to give. I, as you, I take the attitude
when faced with the sovereignty of God's grace and the sovereignty
of God's mercy, I take the attitude, Lord, you've backed me in a corner
here and there's no way out. I plead with you. I come to you
through the only sacrifice, through the only means by which you receive
sinners, your dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That'd be a smart
thing to do, wouldn't it? What will God do with us? That's a question you need to
consider. You know, the Israelites, boy,
they had been a sinful bunch right from the get-go. The Lord brought them out of
Egyptian bondage by the blood of the Passover lamb, took them
out and they get to the Red Sea. And there the waters of the Red
Sea stood before them. The Egyptian, the mighty Egyptian
army, the most powerful army in the world at that time, they
were in mad pursuit. You know what the Israelites did?
They said, Moses, didn't we tell you to leave us alone in Egypt? It's better to serve the Egyptians
than to die out here in the wilderness. But Moses said, stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord. And the Lord opened up a path
right through the Red Sea. One way of safety. One way of
life. Christ is the way. He's the path
to safety. when they came then to the bitter
waters of Marah. They grumbled about that. But
again, God was merciful and He told Moses, He said, you cut
a tree down and cast it into the bitter waters, and the waters
were sweetened. God the Spirit shows us the bitterness
of our sin. And then God, as it were, casts
into our being the cross of Christ, the gospel of redeeming grace,
the gospel of substitution and satisfaction. And where before
there was only bitterness, now there's sweetness. That's what
the Lord does. On the way to Mount Sinai, where
they are in our text, They belly ached again about not having
any food. They longed for the buffets of
Egypt, as they alluded to. They called it the flesh pots.
They said, we ate bread to the full. There, man, it was all
we could eat. And the Lord, instead of raining
down fire from heaven upon them, He rained down manna from heaven,
Christ the bread of life. He said, I'm the living bread
come down from heaven. Over and over again, that just fussing about what God has done,
fussing about his providence. All they want is perfect life. That's what they want. And any
little bump in the road, why would you do this, Lord? You're
not like that, are you? It's a whole lot of that left
in all of us. I'll tell you that. Murmuring
against His good providence. And then they came to Rephidim.
And they murmured again, they said to Moses, why, wherefore
is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us
and kill our children and kill our cattle with thirst? God told Moses, take that rod,
that rod that you used to turn the water into blood in Egypt,
you take that rod, the rod of justice. You see that rock over
there, that special rock? You hit that rock. And He did, and water came out
in great abundance. Our Lord, He's the rock. He's
the rock of ages who was indeed smitten by the rot of God's justice. God's justice took Him and dealt
with Him in our stead. and He faced our hell. He absorbed
the wrath of God. The rod of the Lord fell squarely
upon Him. He felt the sword of justice
in His soul. And the waters of salvation flow
freely. And we drink. Just like our Lord
said in John 7, I say to you, if any man thirst, Anybody thirsty
for this glorious Savior? For this wonderful Redeemer?
For God's salvation? Let him come to the Savior and
drink. Drink. Well, I don't want to
drink. That's because you're not thirsty.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord creates a thirst and a hunger. a thirst for mercy, a hunger
for righteousness. They shall be filled. They shall
be. All these many times that Israel
murmured against the Lord, and the Lord, could I just say this? He puts up with a lot, doesn't
he? He puts up with a lot from you. And He sure has put up with a
lot from me through the years. And He's done it for Christ's
sake. Because Christ has paid all my sin debt. Our Lord, He's
patient. He's patient. He's long-suffering
to usward. That's what it says in 2 Peter
3. To usward. To God's people. And He sends His temporal mercies
upon the just and the unjust. And though people offend Him
every day, the sun keeps shining on them. The rain keeps watering
their gardens. He keeps them in some measure
of health. He gives them some measure of
happiness in their family. And still they keep their fists
in the face of God. You can keep on blessing me,
Lord, and I'd sure appreciate it, but I'm not going to worship
you as Lord now. Don't expect me to do that. And
the mercies keep coming. But they won't always come. And if I'm speaking to somebody
here or in the internet audience, that God is pricking your heart,
convicting you, I hope you will, I pray that you will ask right
now in your own soul, what is God going to do with me? I've
defied Him. I've rebelled against Him. Perhaps you may, in your honesty,
have to say, God has sent me the Gospel many, many times,
and I've walked out still having a deaf ear and a hard heart. Actually, I'm kind of stiff-hearted
and stiff-necked like the Israelites. Oh, what's God going to do with
me? What's God going to do with me? Don't test His patience any longer. I want you to look at this verse
of Scripture. It's in the book of 2 Chronicles chapter 36. 2 Chronicles chapter 36. I don't know much about deadlines
in the Bible. And deadlines to us are invisible. But it does seem to me that you
can kind of cross a line from which there is no return. I can't
explain that, but I believe it's evident in the Scriptures. I
told you about the Jews, the Israelites, how time after time
they murmured against God. And of course, there in our text,
they danced around the golden calf, and yet God was merciful. But look over here in 2 Chronicles
36, last chapter of the book. Look at verse 11, and Zedekiah,
he's the king, was 1 in 20 years old when he began to reign. He reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil
in the sight of the Lord his God. He wouldn't humble himself
before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord. Jeremiah
preached to him. He wouldn't pay any attention.
All the prophets, the Lord Jesus said, wrote of Me. They spoke
of Me. Our Savior said one day to the Jewish
religious leaders, you search the Scriptures, for in them you
think you have eternal life, and these are they which testify
of Me. You won't hear about me. You
have no interest in me. You have no faith in me. You
won't look to me. You look to your laws, you look
to your traditions, but you won't look to me. And this king, he wouldn't listen
to Jeremiah. And look at verse 13, he also
rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God,
but he stiffened his neck. Oh, here's another stiff-necked
person. And he hardened his heart from
turning unto the Lord God of Israel. Moreover, not only him,
all the chief of the priests and the people They transgressed
very much after all the abominations of the heathen, and polluted
the house of the Lord which He had hallowed in Jerusalem." They
brought that idol worship into the temple, where the brazen
altar was, where the sacrifices were offered to God. Every sacrifice
being a picture of our Lord Jesus. Into the temple, into the Holy
of Holies where the high priest went once a year and he took
blood and he put it on the mercy seat. They polluted all of that. Look at verse 15. And the Lord
God of their fathers sent to them by His messengers, rising
up big times, many times and sending. One after another, he
sent preachers. One after another. Why? Because he had compassion on
his people and on his dwelling place, the temple. Oh, what kind
of reaction did the people have to the mercies of God? Now watch
this. They mocked the messengers of
God, made fun of them. made fun of Elisha. Look at that
bald-headed preacher. That's what they said about Elisha. God sent some wild animals that
took care of those mockers. Elijah, they mocked him. Ezekiel,
they mocked him. despised His words. Watch this,
misused His prophets. You know what they did to Jeremiah?
Put him in prison. Isaiah sought him asunder. Sought him in two. But watch this. They did all
of these things. Now look at the last statement
of verse 16. Until The wrath of the Lord arose
up against his people till there was no remedy. They crossed the
line. They've gone too far now. They've gone too far. God sent them preacher after
preacher. He sent prophet after prophet. and he kept temporally putting
blessings upon them. He had sent some trials and troubles
in, and they had seemed to change their ways and turn to the Lord. But there was no change of heart. There was no seeking the Lord.
There was no crying out for mercy. There was no crying out for God's
salvation. There was no desire for His grace. And over and over again, they
offended God till God said, that's enough. I've had enough. No remedy now. You've gone too far in your rebellion. You say, preacher, I thought
you believed in sovereign grace. I do. I surely do because if
it wasn't for sovereign grace, we'd still be in our rebellion.
And I also believe in our responsibility to God. Whatever God's business
is in salvation, the secret things belong to God. I know what we
should do. Seek the Lord while He may be
found. Let's call upon Him while He's
near. Old Brother Scott Richardson
said, let's stack our shotguns up in the corner. and let's make
dust our headquarters. Maybe God will show mercy. Maybe God will forgive. Maybe
God will be gracious. Maybe He will. What's God going to do with us?
What's He going to do with us? Turn over to Luke chapter 20. Luke chapter 20. While you're going there, I'm
going to read you another verse of Scripture. This is out of Proverbs 29. He
that being often reproved, often corrected, often rebuked, often
hears the gospel, hardeneth his deck, shall suddenly be cut off,
suddenly destroyed. And that without remedy. That ought to scare you to death.
If you have no Savior, if you have no righteousness, you ought
to be frightened. All these good things God's been
giving to you and you turn your nose up at Him? I don't have
time to worship God. I don't have time to honor Christ
Jesus. I'm busy. I'm busy. I don't have
time to go to church. I don't have time to read the
Word of God. God keeps sending you sermons that you hear preached. Keeps you with the Bible. And you keep on hardening your
neck. God says that's it for you. That's it for you. Over here in Luke chapter 20. Luke chapter 20. The Lord sent John the Baptist.
They wouldn't listen to Him. They had no interest in what
He had to say. So our Lord gave to them a parable. These Jewish religious leaders. Verse nine, Luke 20, verse nine. He began to speak to the people
this parable. A certain man planted a vineyard
and led it forth to husbandmen and went into a far country a
long time. At the season, he sent a servant
to the husbandmen that they should give him of the fruit of the
vineyard. What is the fruit of the vineyard? What should be
the fruit that you bear for God? worships, adoration, thanksgiving. And at the season, verse 10 again, he sent a servant to the husbandman
that they would give him the fruit of the vineyard, that worship
that he's due. But the husbandman beat him.
They sent Him away empty, and again He sent another servant,
and they beat Him also, and treated Him shameful, and sent Him away
empty. Again He sent a third, and they
wounded Him also, and cast Him out. Then said the Lord of the
vineyard, What shall I do? He said, I'll send My beloved
Son. It may be that they will reverence
Him while they see Him. Now remember, every parable only
mainly contains one truth. You're not trying to make everything
in it mean something. God sends all these mercies.
And then he sent his son, he sent preachers, he sent his son.
Verse 14, when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among
themselves, saying, this is the heir, let's kill him. that the
inheritance may be ours." So they cast Him out of the vineyard.
They killed Him. They wouldn't worship Him. They
wouldn't adore Him. They wouldn't honor Him. And
so the Lord says, what therefore shall the Lord of the vineyard
do unto them? Well, He shall come and destroy
these husbandmen. And He'll give the vineyard to
others. There'll be other people who worship Him. And when they
heard it, they said, God forbid! And he beheld him and said, What
is this then that is written? The stone which the builders
rejected. He's the stone. He's the stone. He's a tried and true stone. The stone which the builders
rejected. They said they're the builders
of religion. And he says, the same has become
the head of the corner. Whosoever shall fall upon that
stone shall be broken. You fall on me, you'll be broken
in heart, but you'll be saved. But on whomsoever it shall fall,
it'll grind them to powder. Now watch this next verse, verse
19. And the chief priests and the
scribes at the same hour sought to lay hands on him, They feared
the people, for they perceived He had spoken this parable against
them." Look at all He did for them.
He sent all the prophets to their forefathers, and then He sent
John the Baptist, and they heard John's preaching, but they wouldn't
have anything to do with the baptism of repentance. They refused
to be baptized with John. They said, we'd be not sinners.
What are you talking about us for as though we're lawbreakers?
We're not lawbreakers, we're the children of Abraham. The Lord said, well, I'm talking
about you in this parable. And He gave to them a little
bit of insight so that they perceive the parable is about them. It's about them. He took the vineyard away from
them, gave it to the Gentiles. You know, our Lord, and there
are several illustrations I can continue to give you, but on
one occasion, the Pharisees, they got all upset
with the disciples of our Lord because they wouldn't wash before
eating. Now, it's a good thing to wash
your hands before eating. We hear lots of times today,
wash your hands. That's a wonderful thing, but
to them it wasn't merely for cleanliness. It was a religious
thing. Because if you touch something
somebody else had touched, especially if a Gentile had touched it before
you, then you got sin on your hands. You better wash your hands
with that. It was a ceremonial cleansing. And then they got
upset with Him about sin being an inward thing. And you know
what the Lord told His disciples? Leave them alone. They had, it
seems to me like, kind of crossed the line. Don't preach to them anymore.
Don't tell them about me anymore. Don't cast your pearls before
swine. And these men, they're swine. Once again today, you've heard
the gospel of God's grace. You've heard about Christ Jesus. What's God going to do with you? What's God going to do with me? I'll tell you what, by His grace,
this sinner is running all over again to Christ Jesus. Lord,
here I come again. I'm coming all over again. And
I come to Him every day. Saving faith is not an isolated
act. It's an attitude of the heart.
We come to Him all the time. to whom coming. Say, Lord, I'm
coming to You again as just a poor old sinner. I deserve everything
negative from You, but I come to You through Christ Jesus.
And I know Your glory, Your glory is wrapped up in Your graciousness
to people through Christ. Lord, glorify Yourself! And save
me. What do you reckon is going to
happen to me? Tell you what, if God gives me grace to cry
that out from my heart, what's God going to do with me? Well,
since He's washed me in the blood of Christ and robed me in the
garments of salvation, one of these days when I die, I'm going
to be with the Lord Jesus. That's what He's going to do
with me. I don't know what He's going to do with you. But I sure
can tell you what your attitude ought to be. Submission. Humility. Become one of those who seek
the Lord out of neediness. Oh Lord, I need You. I've been
listening to sermons all my life, Lord. But this morning, I've
heard You. I've heard You in my heart. Oh
God, be merciful to me. I'm the sinner here. I look to your Son." That's a
wise thing to do, isn't it? Oh God, give us grace to do that.
Take off the ornaments of false religion. Take off all those
ornaments that you think are so pleasing to God. Impress God. Just take them off. That's what
the Israelites did. Just shed them. Be done with
them. Like the Apostle Paul. He said,
I count it all but done. That's all it is. Then I might
win Christ. Lord, give me that attitude.
And I'll tell you, I'm going to be alright. I'll be alright. Oh, the amazing grace of God.
Good song to close with. 236. Amazing grace. Amazing grace. 236 if you need a song about
it. Joel lead us in all four stanzas.