All right, if you would, open
your Bibles again to Exodus chapter 32, the passage Brother Gary
just read for us. I've titled the message this
morning, Why Doth Thy Wrath Wax Hot? That's the question Moses
asked here in verse 11 of Exodus chapter 32. And Moses besought
the Lord his God and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath Wax hot against
thy people, which thou has brought out of the land of Egypt with
great power and with a mighty hand. And after what just happened,
the children of Israel made them a golden calf to an idol to worship. It's obvious why the Lord, why
his wrath and wax hot, isn't it? Hold your place there, look
back at chapter 24. This is something that happened
just six weeks prior to them making the golden calf. Exodus
24, verse seven. And he, Moses, took the book
of the covenant and read in the audience of the people, and they
said, all that the Lord has said, we will do and be obedient. That was 40 days ago. Moses had
been gone into the mountain for 40 days while he received the
instructions for the building of the tabernacle. And in just
40 days, the people had forgotten all about Moses. We just don't
even know what happened to this fella. That's the end of February
for us today. That's the end of February. That
doesn't seem like that long ago, does it? You don't even have
to go back as far as Valentine's Day. This is the last week of
February, 40 days ago. And that short a time, they forgot
all about Moses. And worse yet, They forgot about
their promise. I'm going to trust the Lord.
They forgot all about that, didn't they? And went headlong into
idolatry. Of course, the Lord's wrath would
wax hot against them. I mean, I know we can't categorize
sin, but is any sin more insulting to God Almighty than idolatry?
Worshipping that golden calf? Oh my goodness. But now remember,
What we read is written for our learning, for our learning. As
bad as what happened there in the wilderness, this is true. The Lord has just as much reason
for his wrath to wax hot against our sin. He actually has more. We doubt the Lord just as quickly
as the children of Israel did. It don't take 40 days. It doesn't
take 40 days for us to start doubting the Lord. And we've
seen more of the Lord's glory and more of the Lord's grace
than they ever did. And we doubt him just as quickly.
We have weak faith just as easily as the children of Israel did.
And we have far more reason to have strong faith in Christ.
We've seen him finish the work that he came to do. What they
only could see in picture, we've seen Christ fulfill. The fulfillment
of it in him, and we still have such weak faith. Shameful. So
there are more reasons for the Lord's wrath to wax hot against
us than the children of Israel in the desert. Well, then what
hope, that being true, what hope do you and I have that we would
be spared God's wrath against our sin? Why would a holy God
not condemn us? Why would his wrath not wax hot
against us? Well, the answer is in two parts.
First, The holy God is not angry with his people because of their
sin because of the sacrifice of Christ. The sacrifice of Christ
has completely removed all of the sin of all of God's people. He took away the sin that would
make God angry. The son of God was made sin for
his people. The sin of God's elect became
Christ's. He became guilty of it. He felt
the shame of it and the father, slaughtered him in justice for
that sin. He put a guilty man to death
on that middle cross at Calvary. But now God's justice is satisfied.
God's justice only demands one death for sin, doesn't it? Well,
Christ has died. So he satisfied God's justice
for all of God's elect. The blood of Christ has washed
his people white as snow from all of their sin. The blood of
Christ removed every reason, God's wrath, would wax hot against
his people. He took their sin away. And when
sin's gone, there's no more reason for God to be angry. If you trust Christ, if Christ
died for you, don't ever torture yourself by thinking when something
happens to you, oh, God's angry with me. No, no, no, no. He poured
out his anger on his son. All that's left for you is mercy
and grace. So first, the wrath of God will
not wax hot against his people because of the sacrifice of Christ.
Second, and this is why I want us to look at this one. The wrath
of God will not wax hot against his people because of Christ,
our mediator. John said, when any man sin,
now, oh, don't sin. Maybe it's your goal not to sin.
But when you do, when any man sin, don't despair now. Hate
your sin, but don't despair. When any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Our advocate
is not just any piker from down the road here, it's the Son of
God, Jesus Christ the righteous. And when Jesus Christ the righteous
pleads with his Father, makes intercession for his people as
their mediator, he always pleads one thing, his sacrifice for
his people. And the father is always eternally
pleased with the sacrifice of his son. So he always accepts
his people because of the pleadings of Christ, our mediator, only
pleading his sacrifice for the sin of his people. Scripture
says that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only mediator between
God and men. You know why he's the only mediator?
He's the only one's got anything to plead. He's the only one that's
got a sacrifice to plead. He's the only one that's got
blood, pure, precious blood to plead before the Father. He's
the only one that's got a perfect righteousness to plead. He's
the only one that can be our mediator. And as Moses here makes
intercession for Israel, he's a picture of Christ who's making
intercession for spiritual Israel. And I love this about the intercession
of Christ, Christ our mediator. When our savior sits sitting
on the throne of God, sitting on the right hand of the father,
when he makes intercession for his people, he doesn't even have
to say a word. The scars that are evident in
his body are all the father needs to see. That's the only evidence
he needs that Christ has been crucified and the sin of his
people has been put away. It's the only evidence that the
father needs. Brother Bruce Crabtree last week
preached us a message. He showed them his feet. It's those same scars he shows
to the father as our mediator right now. And those scars, that's
the only evidence the father needs to see to forgive his people.
My wrath's been poured out on my son. Those scars means he
died. Here he sits risen. Sitting at
the right hand of the father on high is a man in human flesh. He rose again. He lives because
his sacrifice put away the sin of his people. And that's all
the father needs to hear. For his wrath not to wax hot
against his people. I know Christ doesn't have to
say a word. But we'll find comfort for our hearts this morning.
If we can imagine what do those scars say to the father? As Christ
makes intercession for his people. Let me give you a few things.
Number one, when Christ our mediator, when he pleads for his people,
he always pleads the glory of God. Verse 12, that's what Moses
does. Moses says, wherefore should
the Egyptians speak? And say, for mischief did he
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. Moses pleads, Lord, don't
destroy this people. Don't destroy Israel. for your
glory's sake, for the sake of your glory. Lord, if you destroy
these people, you know what the heathen are gonna say? The Lord
was not able to bring them to the land of Canaan. Oh, he purposed
to. He was trying to bring his people
to the land of Canaan, but he couldn't do it. When the heathens
say that, you'll lose your glory. Now, I don't know a lot, but
I do know this. The Lord will never lose his glory. His glory will he not share with
another. He's not going to lose his glory. So when we plead for mercy, mighty
good plea would be God's glory. That'd be a good plea, wouldn't
it? If you would have mercy from the Lord, I hope there's someone here this
morning who's a sinner and knows it, and knows I need mercy from
God. If you need mercy from God, don't
try to make yourself better than you are. Don't try to minimize
your sin, maximize it. Make yourself look as bad as
you possibly can. We don't know the depths of our
sin, but confess the depths of your sin before God as much as
you possibly can. Make it as bad as it can possibly
be. Because listen, the Lord doesn't
get glory from saving little sinners, does he? All the righteous,
they don't need a physician. I didn't come for them. The Lord
gets glory for saving great sinners. Oh, if you're a great sinner,
plead God's glory that He'd get glory in saving you. Cry, Lord,
I'm the chief of sinners. It's not possible for any sinner
to be worse than me. It's not possible for anybody
more guilty, more defiled by sin than me. Lord, you sure would
get a whole lot of glory if you'd save somebody as despicable as
me. That would be for your glory,
because Lord, you're the only one that can do it. If you want
mercy from God, if you would like for God to save you, tell
you what you plead. Lord, save me so that you get
all the glory. That's a good plea for mercy,
because that's pleading for God's glory. Now I know what somebody's
thinking. Who am I to talk to God? I'm not good with words. I'm
the worst person I can think of to make my case before God.
If I start trying to plead with God, make my case before God,
I'm just going to mess it up. I'll make things worse than they
ever were before. If I try to plead with God, I'm just going
to say things that will make Him angry. His wrath is going
to wax even hotter than ever before. Well, don't worry for
two reasons. Number one, God always hears
the cry of a sinner. You read through the four gospels,
the account of our Lord's earthly ministry, you won't find one
single time the Lord didn't stop in his tracks when a sinner cried
for mercy. Not one. Here's a second reason not to
worry. Christ, our mediator, is pleading the very same thing.
He's pleading for God's glory to his Father. And the Father
always hears him. The Savior, his scars plead.
I died for that wretched pile sinner. I took their sins into
my own body on the tree and I died to put them away. Now, father,
if you send them to hell anyway, if you condemn them anyway, you're
going to lose all your glory because you violated your own
justice. And the father always says, okay, son, Always, the
father will spare any sinner. He'll save any sinner, wherever
they're at, if he can get all the glory and save them. Plead
God's glory. Number two, when Christ makes
intercession for his people, he pleads God's covenant of grace.
That's what Moses does here, verse 13. Remember Abraham, Isaac,
and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swearest by thine own
self. And said I said 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. Now Moses pleads, Lord, remember
your promise. You promised Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob that you were gonna give this land, the land of Canaan.
You'll give it to their descendants. Now Lord, don't wipe them all
out now. If you wipe them all out now, you'll be breaking your
covenant. Your promise to Abraham. Now, again, I don't know a whole
lot about the Lord, but I do know this. He always keeps his
promise. Always. And that's what a covenant
is. It's God's promise to save his people by his mercy and by
his grace. Now, if you need mercy from God,
I'll tell you what to do. Plead God's covenant mercy. Cry. Say, Lord, you promised you'd
have mercy for sinners. Lord, I'm a sinner. I mean, I
fit the bill. Lord, have mercy on me. See,
if you ever want to plead with God, plead the promises of God. Plead the covenant of God. Plead
God's word. Plead His own word back to Him.
Don't say, now, Lord, I just need a little help here. I mean,
don't you think I deserve a little help here? I'm not as bad as
some people. That's minimizing your sin. And that will never
work with a holy God. If you would plead with God,
plead His word, plead His promises. Jan and I, one time we, for our
25th wedding anniversary, we took a cruise, only cruise she
and I have ever been on. We were coming back from dinner
one night, going back to our room, and there was this little
fella with his mom, he's four years old, maybe five. He's walking
down the room, down the hallway, holding his mommy's hand. And
he said, well, are we going to go to Nana's room? And she said,
no, we're going to our room. And he just blessed his little
heart. He just puckered up and started crying. He said, but
you promised. After we eat dinner, we can go
to Nana's room. And I thought, uh-huh. What you going to do now? She did that mother's patient
sign. She turned around to go to Nana's room. She promised.
He pleaded her own promise to him. If you want mercy from God,
plead his word. Lord, you said, I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy. Lord, you be merciful to me.
Lord, you said, all that the father giveth me shall come to
me. And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Lord,
I'm coming. I come to you. You're my only
hope. I'm coming to you, begging you for mercy. I say with the
songwriter, Jesus, I come. Out of my darkness into thy light. Out of my need and despair and
sickness and heartache. Lord, I'm coming to you. Begging
for mercy because you're my only hope. Lord, don't cast me out. I'm not pleading that you don't
cast me out because I'm in account. Lord, don't cast me out because
you promised. See that? Lord, you said, other
sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. Lord, I'm lost. Lord, bring me
into your fold. Come find me, bring me into your
fold. You know, the Lord will hear
that cry, plead his own word to him. And if you feel like,
I'm not very skilled at making that plea, before God. I can't
remember all the promises of God. God will never hear me.
Tell you what, take comfort. Don't ever let that stop you
from crying to the Lord. You cry to God. He hears the
cries of sinners, but you take comfort in this. Our Savior is
pleading the very same thing to his Father. The Savior says,
Father, you promised to save a people by my obedience and
by my sacrifice. and their works don't enter into
it anywhere. Father, you chose the people to save, and you knew
they were sinful people. You knew their sin debt was great.
You knew their sin debt would have to be put away, and you
chose to save them. You chose to save them by my
merit, not theirs. You chose to save them by my
sacrifice. Now, Father, I've kept the law
for my people. I've suffered and died for their sins. Now,
Father, save your people, because that's what you promised. And
the Father always says, okay. The Savior prayed in his high
priestly prayer in John 17. Father, I pray not for the world,
but for them which thou hast given me, for they're thine.
I pray for them because you promised to save them. Father, I will. They're lost, they're in darkness,
they're dead, they can't see, they can't hear, but Father,
I will. This is my will. That those whom
thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold
my glory. Father, bring them, because I'm
gonna go put their sin away. And the father always says, son,
okay. He gives him what he prays. See,
the savior, if he's pleading his merit for you, you can never
perish. He fulfilled the covenant. All
right, number three. When Christ, our mediator, pleads
for his people, he's pleading his blood. Look over at verse
30. And it came to pass on the morrow
that Moses said unto the people, you have sinned a great sin.
And now I will go up unto the Lord. Perventure, 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 made them
gods of gold. Yet now, if that will forgive
their sin, that long pause, and if not blot me, I pray thee out
of thy book, which thou has written. Now Moses pray something. I have
to tell you, honestly, I don't think I could pray. Lord, blot
me out of your book if you won't forgive these idolaters. Didn't
the Apostle Paul make a very similar statement? I could wish
myself a curse from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according
to the flesh. I'm telling you, it's just hard
for me to comprehend a man saying that in me. I'm assuming they
both did, but that's hard for me to comprehend. I've not experienced
that kind of grace in my heart that I can pray that. I'm just
being honest with you. But do you know these men were
pictures? Do you know that is exactly what Christ our savior
pleaded with his father? Father, cut me off that you might
bring your people to yourself. Father, pour out your wrath. that is waxed so hot against
the sin of your people, pour it out on me, not on them. Put me to death, cut me off,
punish me instead of them. Punish me instead of them. Make
me sin for them and make me suffer everything that sin deserves.
Take it off of them and put it on me so that my people can be
spared. The scars in the Savior's body
cry to the Father, count my death as their death. Their sin is
great, no denying it, their sin is great. But you look to my
blood as payment in full for all their sin. Moses said, I'm
gonna go to the Lord peradventure. I shall make an atonement for
their sin. Christ said, my blood's made an atonement. It's made
an atonement, it's covered their sin. Without the shedding of
blood, there's no remission. Those scars on the Savior's body
say, Father, you know better than anybody, my blood has been
shed for the remission of sins of my people. You're the one
that required it. Him and son turned off as Christ
suffered there on the cross. Our Savior didn't bring. He tells
us, Father, I didn't bring the blood of bulls and goats into
your presence. I brought my own blood into the holy place, into
the presence of God. And what did that blood do? Having
obtained eternal redemption for us. And those scars, oh, how
the precious blood of our Savior flowed from those scars. He said,
now, Father, you know the blood. You're the one that required
it to be shed. Father, you know, my blood has
redeemed my people from their sin. Now don't let your wrath
wax hot against them. And the father always says, okay,
always. So I told you earlier, if Christ
died for you, the father has absolutely no reason for his
blood, for his wrath to wax hot on you because the blood of Christ
has removed your sin. See, Scripture says, this is
what the Savior pleads to the Father. It's the blood that maketh
an atonement for the soul. And the Son says, Father, you
know my sin. My blood has made atonement for
the sin of my people. So don't let your wrath wax hot.
Those scars in the Savior's body say to the Father, I remember
your word, your promise. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. And those scars say, my blood
has been shed for the sin of my people. Now don't let your
wrath wax hot against them, it waxed hot on me. Father, pass
over your people, because my blood has been shed to put their
sin away. Romans 5.19, much more then. Being now justified by his blood,
we shall be saved from wrath through him. The scars in the
Savior's body say, Father, my blood has justified my people. It's made them without sin. So spare them from your white
hot wrath because they have no sin. I've justified them by my
blood. Ephesians 1 verse 7, in whom we have redemption through
his blood. The forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of his grace And those scars in the Savior's body
say, Father, forgive their sin. Forgive them. I shed my blood
to pay for it. Forgive them. Oh, I tell you,
if you would beg God for mercy. Don't try to say now, you know,
I've tried my best and I've really had to try. I've started sinning
less and, you know, it's just my sin doesn't sound as bad as
other folks, you know. Don't ask God that. Don't ask
Him to overlook your sin. Admit your sin. Admit your guilt. Admit your sin is even greater
than you even know. And then plead the blood of Christ,
which is greater than all of our sin. Make your plea for forgiveness. Make your plea for cleansing.
Make your plea for acceptance with the Father. The same as
those who are in heaven at this very second. What are those gathered
around the throne singing right now? Revelation 1 verse 5 tells
us, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sin in his
own blood. They're saying, the reason I'm
here is Christ shed his blood and washed me from my sin. That's
what made me able to come here. Now make that your plea. Make
the blood of Christ your plea. And you take comfort. Those scars
in the Savior's body, they're making intercession for his people.
They're pleading the very same thing. They're pleading the blood
of Christ for you. And the father always says, great,
always. All right, here's the fourth
thing. That's the last one. When Christ
our mediator pleads for his people, he pleads his obedience. Verse
33, Exodus 32 says this, and Lord said unto Moses, whosoever
has sinned against me, Him will I blot out of my book. Now how
can that verse be comforting to the heart of anyone? How? The only way that verse can be
of any comfort to any sinner is union with Christ. The Lord
says, the one who sinned, him I'll blot out of my book. Well,
we're all the one that sinned, aren't we? And listen, we weren't
just followers in this thing. Every last one of us are ringleaders
of the whole bunch sinning against God. Well, if the Father looks
at me and my actions and my disobedience and my sin, I can tell you this,
I'll be damned. You will too. Then on what basis
can we plead for acceptance with the Father? On what basis can
we plead innocence and righteousness before the Father? There's just
one ground. It's union with Christ. Christ
our Savior has justified his people, not made it just as if
they've never sinned. He's made it so they have never
sinned. He took their sin away and he
gave them a new nature that's righteous and holy, has never
sinned and never will sin. You see, the obedience of Christ
as a representative for his people, that's the obedience of his people
to the law. We were in Christ doing what
he did. It's the same way I'm guilty.
I was born guilty. I came into this world speaking
lies. I came into this world guilty
because I sinned in my first representative, Adam. I did what
he did. I mean, there's no denying my
guilt. I'm a sinner. When did that happen? Did it happen the first time
I told a lie to my mom? No. I became a sinner in Adam. I didn't tell my mother the truth
because I'm guilty in Adam. That's when I became a sinner.
Well, then the only way I can be made righteous is by the obedience
of another representative man. In Christ, the second Adam, when
he obeyed God's law perfectly as a man, Born of a woman, made
under the law, when he obeyed God's law perfectly, bless your
heart, I did too. And you did too, if you believe
him. So when the father looks at his people, all he sees is
Christ. All he sees is the perfect obedience,
the perfect righteousness, the perfect holiness of his son. And the father always says, I'm
well pleased. I'm well pleased. So what's our
plea? Lord, see me in Christ. Hear me in Christ. Accept me
in Christ and only in Christ. And I know we may fear that the
Lord won't hear us. I mean, who am I to ask God for
such a great blessing that you'd see me in your darling son? Who
am I to ask that? Why would God ever hear me? Well,
he'll hear you because you're a sinner. Go back to his word,
he promised he'd hear sinners. He promised he'd save sinners.
But if you feel like you just, I don't know if the father will
hear me when I make this plea. I tell you what, you take comfort.
Our mediator is making the very same plea to his father right
now. Lord, see my people in me. Accept them in me. My obedience
is their obedience. So they're innocent. My obedience
is perfect. So is theirs. Then there's no
reason for your wrath to wax hot against them. And the father
always says, son, okay. And not grudgingly gladly because
he loves his son. It's hard to imagine that God
almighty would accept centers like you and me. as gladly and
with as much love as he does his only begotten son. Hard to
imagine, but he does in Christ because he accepts us in Christ.
So I said it before and I'll say it again. If the Lord Jesus
Christ is making intercession for you, if those scars in his
body are pleading for you before the father, You can never perish. Now, that's our comfort. That's
our assurance of salvation. I can't have any assurance looking
at myself. I can't have any assurance listening to what I say. But
I can have assurance looking at Christ. I can have assurance
hearing what those scars in his body say to the Savior, to the
Father, can't you? That's our assurance. That's
our comfort. And oh, how I pray Each of us might leave here this
morning, trust me. All right, let's bow together. Our Father, how can we begin
to thank you for Christ our Savior? For his obedience, for his sacrifice,
for his love, that he would be the mediator for such a sinful,
vile people as we are. Father, how thankful we are.
How thankful we are for the gospel of your grace that's all found
in Christ our Savior. And Father, I pray for your glory,
that for your glory's sake, you might cause your word, as it's
been preached, to take root in the hearts of your people. Father,
for your glory's sake, show us Christ. Give us a heart that
believes him, runs to him. Father, get glory to yourself
in saving us here today. Get glory to yourself in keeping,
preserving, teaching, and edifying, feeding your sheep by the preaching
of your gospel. And Lord, we don't dare pray
this for our sake. It's for Christ's sake. Father, we pray that you'd hear
us, that you'd be merciful, that you'd accept us for Christ's
sake, that you would always and only see us and hear us in Christ
our Savior. Father, it's in his name, for
his sake and his glory, we pray, amen. All right, Sean, come lead
us in a closing hymn.