Our pastor, Frank and Janet,
they're in Danville this morning. Um, and Mike Bartram is in Spring
Lake with pastor John Chapman. So let's, uh, let's remember
them in prayer as they, as they meet and for their traveling
mercies. I, I text Frank this morning. I, I never miss him as much as
when he asked me to speak and now I really miss him. Um, Lords,
the Lord's word won't return to him. Void uncomfortable. Next
week, Brother Andy Davis from Lexington, he'll be here bringing
both messages. So keep Andy in your prayers
as well. Also, Brother Dan Culver is scheduled
for, I believe, don't quote me, but I believe quadruple bypass
surgery either tomorrow or Tuesday. So keep Dan and his family in
prayer, as well as the family of Elizabeth Thompson, who went
home with the Lord this morning. Keep them in prayer as well. Our text this morning is at the
end of Exodus 32. If you'd turn there with me. Exodus chapter 32. By way of our morning reading,
I'm going to read the first 18 verses. Our text is found again
at the end. Exodus chapter 32, starting in
verse 1. When the people saw that Moses
delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves
together unto Aaron and said unto him, up, make us gods which
shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man
that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what
has become of him. And Aaron said unto them, break
off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives,
of your sons, and of your daughters and bring them unto me. 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, 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.
And Aaron saw it. He built an altar before it and
Aaron, made proclamation and said, tomorrow is a feast of
the Lord. And they rose up early on the
morrow and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings.
And the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play.
And the Lord said unto Moses, go get thee down for thy people,
which thou broughtest up out of the land of Egypt have corrupted
themselves. Then they turned aside quickly
out of the way, which I commanded them. They have made them a molten
calf and have worshiped it. And it sacrificed there too,
excuse me, there unto and said, these be thy gods, O Israel,
which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. The Lord
said unto Moses, I have seen this people and behold is a stiff
neck to people. Now, therefore, let me alone
that my wrath, that my wrath may wax hot against them and
that I may consume them. And I will make of thee a great
nation. And Moses besought the Lord, his God and said, Lord,
why does 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. 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, repent of this evil against thy people.
Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom
thou swearest by thine own self, and saidst 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. And Lord repentant repented of
the evil, which he thought to do unto his people. Moses turned
and went down from the Mount and the two tables of the testimony
were in his hand. The tables were written on both
of their sides on the one side and on the other where they written
and the tables were the work of God. And the writing was the
writing of God, graven upon the tables. And when Joshua heard
the noise of the people, as they shouted, he said unto Moses,
there's a, there's a noise of war in the camp. And he said,
it is not the voice of them that shout for mastery. Neither is
it the voice of them that cry for being overcome, but the noise
of them that sing. Do I hear you stop our reading
there? Let's pray together. Our Holy heavenly father. We.
Pray that you send your spirit to be with us this morning. We
pray that you bless the message to the hearts of your people,
call sinners to repentance, glorify your name according to your word.
We pray for the classes, for the children, that they be taught
of you, that we bring them up in the fear and admonition of
the Lord as we're commanded. We pray for them, Father. We
pray for the teachers that you bless the message. We do pray
for our pastor as they meet this morning, that you bless those
meetings as well as those of your children that are meeting
across the world even as we speak. We pray that you be with them.
Send your spirit. Bless their time together. Glorify your name
with them. We pray for his traveling mercies.
We pray for brother Andy as he comes next week. We pray for
brother Eric as he brings the message this morning. No man
is sufficient for these things. Father, be with us. Bless your
Word. We pray for Elizabeth, for her
family, that you comfort them in this time. Draw them near
to your bosom. We pray for our brother Dan and for his family
as he undergoes surgery next week. According to your will,
bless the hands of the surgeons and bring our brother through. according to your will. So in
Christ's name we pray, thankfully and for his sake. Amen. So as I mentioned earlier, our
text this morning is verses 19 through 33. I'm going to read
through, and as I'm reading through, look for God's mercy. Look for
God's mercy as we're reading through. And that's really the
focus of this lesson, is God's mercy. And this passage is yet
another example of God's character of mercy. God's mercy is always
shown justly. It's always shown justly. God
shows mercy when he should show mercy, when he should. It's always
mercy extended on the behalf of another because the offense
has already been blotted out. So look for that as we're reading
through the scriptures because that's really, that's why we're
here. That's why we're here this morning is to see again. Again,
the Christ Christ has covered the offense for his Israel and
therefore God rightly extends his mercy. He's right to do so.
That mercy is not triggered by anything we've done. Just as
we're reading, you'll see it's not triggered, certainly not
triggered by anything that Israel has done. Excuse me. Not triggered by anything that
they've done or that we've done. And I pray that we see that again
this morning and that we can rejoice in it together as I have
through the study. So as I'm reading through again,
look for God's mercy and look for yourself. Look for yourself
in those rebellious children of Israel. See if there's anything
there that would make them redeemable, that would commend them to God.
Look at Aaron and see if you see yourself in Aaron as I do. I see myself in Aaron. Look for
God's long suffering and not consuming the entire nation and
look for Moses as a picture of Christ making intercession for
us. And then finally you'll see the
result, a satisfied and merciful God. So starting in verse 19
again, look for his mercy and look for ourselves in Israel
and in Aaron. And it came to pass as soon as he came nigh
under the camp that he saw the calf and the dancing and Moses's
anger waxed hot. He cast the tables out of his
hands and break them beneath the Mount. And he took the calf,
which they had made and burnt it in the fire and grounded into
powder. and strotted upon the water and
made the children of Israel drink of it. Moses said unto Aaron,
what did this people unto thee that thou has brought so great
a sin upon them? And Aaron said, let not the anger
of my Lord wax hot. Thou knowest the people that
they are set on mischief for they said unto me, make us gods,
which shall go before us for as for this Moses, the man which
brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what has
become of him. And I said unto them, whosoever
hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me. Listen to Aaron's pathetic excuse. Then I cast it into this fire
and there came out this calf. When Moses saw that the people
were naked for Aaron had made them naked under their shame
among their enemies. Then Moses stood in the gate
of the camp and said, who's on the Lord's side? Let him come
unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together
unto him. And he said unto them, thus sayeth
the Lord God of Israel, put every man his sword by his side and
go in and out from the gate from gate to gate throughout the camp
and slay every man, his brother and every man, his companion
and every man, his neighbor. And the children of Levi did
according to the word of Moses. And there fell of the people
that day about 3000 men for Moses had said, consecrate yourselves
today to the Lord. Every, even every man upon his
son and upon his brother. that he may bestow upon you a
blessing this day. And it came to pass on the morrow
that Moses said unto the people, you've sinned a great sin. Now
I will go up under the Lord per adventure. 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 have made
them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive
their sin, and if not blot me, I pray thee out of the book,
which thou has written. The Lord said unto Moses, whosoever
had sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. So again, starting in, in verse
19, in the, in the previous verses, the beginning of the chapter,
God had warned Moses that the people had made an idol and were
worshiping it. It said back in, in verse eight,
the people had said, these be thy gods, O Israel, which have
brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And now the people
were openly, loudly, and joyfully celebrating before the golden
calf. Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai with the tablets,
with the commandments that God had written on the tablets. He
returns to the people who were worshiping a false god. They're
honoring a figure. They're honoring a figure that
they had made themselves, and they're sacrificing before it.
They're worshiping an idol. Now, when I think of idol worship,
I tend to picture in my head heathen people bowing before
a huge structure, maybe a wooden structure, a stone structure,
a totem pole. That's what I tend to picture
when I think of idol worship, heathens bowing before a great
structure of some sort. But idolatry is much more than
that, and it can be much more subtle. It's significant that
Israel didn't only set up a figure. They didn't only set up a figure,
but they were offering sacrifices unto it. Back in verse six, we're
told that Aaron built an altar before this golden calf. They
offered burnt offerings. They offered peace offerings.
And now they're having a feast before this calf. They're offering
the offerings that they were taught to offer unto God. They're
offering offerings that belong only to God. And they're offering
these offerings before this golden calf. This is the same burnt
offering that Noah was commanded. when the waters receded. It's
the same burnt offering that Abraham was told to offer Isaac.
These are the burnt offerings that now they're offering before
the golden calf, the offerings, the sacrifice that belong only
to God. It's the same burnt offering
that Moses told Pharaoh that the children needed to go into
the wilderness to offer. This isn't a new sacrifice. The
Israelites aren't ignorant. It's a sacrifice that's due God.
And again, they're offering it before this calf. What they're doing is they're
taking what's owed to God, and they're giving it to another.
Whatever the object is of that worship, excuse me, if it's a
totem pole or a golden calf, whatever the object is, that's
irrelevant. And in this case, it's a calf,
and it serves as a very good warning to us, whether it be
a calf or whether it be the gold that the calf is made of, whether
it be our family or whether it be our job or whether it be our
children. And I'm speaking to myself, whatever it is that we
put first in our heart, that that's who we give our attention.
That's who we give our thought to. That's who we give our energy
to. That is who or what we derive our comfort from what we put
first in our heart. These things can be comforting.
The children of Israel, they were dancing before the calf.
They were having a piece. They were comforted. The comfort wasn't
real, they were comforted. These things that we put first
in our heart can be comforting to the flesh. And the Israelites'
flesh was comforted by this golden calf. They were singing again,
they were dancing, they were feasting before it. Just because
something gives us temporary comfort to the flesh certainly
doesn't mean that it's real. The first place in our heart
is to be reserved for God. And this is a warning to us,
both in the flesh as well as believers. This is a warning
to us, first place in our heart, where we derive our comfort that
belongs to God, to whom we offer what is due God. That's the first
place in our heart. Creatures are to worship the
Creator. And anything that takes the place in our heart is an
idol, whether it's a calf, again, or something that we might see
as more noble, it's still an idol. And we're no different.
We're no different than the children of Israel. Christ said in Matthew,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with
all thy soul, with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.
The second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
The Israelites had set up a golden calf and they were giving honor
and sacrifice to it. Again, that belonged only to
God. What was Moses's response? Moses took the tablets and he
broke the tablets. He broke the tablets that contain
God's law. Now, why did Moses break the
tablets? He broke them because to be guilty
of violating one law is to be guilty of violating them all.
The first commandment is, you shall have no other gods before
me. To be guilty of one, again, is to be guilty of all. So Moses
broke the tablets because they were all broken. Remember, the
Israelites here are a picture of us. It's easy to be hard on
the Israelites, easy to be hard on Aaron. This is a picture of
us, fallen man. Although there is instruction
here and there is warning and we are not to set up idols in
our hearts, we should take that seriously, to be watchful of
ourselves so that we don't take that affection that is rightfully
God's and give it to something of this world. But the beauty
in this passage is in seeing God's mercy toward his children
when we do, when we do set up idols. The beauty in this chapter
is seeing God's mercy. The blessing here is for us to
see ourselves as these rebels and to witness how God removes
all other hope from them. And then he draws his elect back
to himself in repentance. In verse 20, he took the calf,
which they had made and burnt it in the fire and ground it
to powder and straddled upon the water and made the children
of Israel drink. Now here for the next five or six verses,
I'm going to go pretty quickly through because what I really
want to get to is, is verses 30 through 33. So the next few
verses I'm going to go through pretty quickly. Here Moses burns
the calf with fire. He burns the calf with fire and
then grounds it into powder, grinds it down into powder. And
I'm reminded of those burnt offerings and the Passover sacrifice that
was burnt. But unlike this golden calf, Christ suffered the fire
of God's wrath and was not consumed. Christ was crushed under God's
judgment. His judgment for sin, but not a bone, was broken. unlike
this calf, which was burnt and then ground into powder because
the idol can't stand. Moses burned and crushed the
golden calf, thereby showing, again, that no idol is able to
withstand the judgment. Christ alone is able to bear
God's judgment. Christ alone is worthy of bearing
that judgment. Everything else will be burned, as we're told.
Everything else will be burned in a fervent heat. Verses 21
through 24, and Moses said unto Aaron, what did this people unto
thee? that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them. And
Aaron said, let not the anger of my Lord wax hot. Thou knowest
the people that they are set on mischief. For they said unto
me, make us gods, which shall go before us. For as for this
Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt,
we want not what has become of him. And I said unto them, whosoever
hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me. Then
I cast it into the fire and there came out this calf. See ourselves
again here in Aaron's response. Is he repentant? Is he repentant
to God? He's repentant to Moses, perhaps.
Is he repentant to God? No. He may be afraid of Moses,
and he may have reason to be afraid of Moses. He may be sorry,
but he shows no repentance here towards God. Aaron shows no remorse
as having sinned before God, and there's nothing in Aaron's
words here that would commend Aaron to God and make him a worthy
object of grace. And I personally get comfort
from figures like this, like Aaron, like Jacob, like David
in so many instances. Here, here I can see myself,
an object not worthy of grace. There's nothing I can look at
to myself to say, well, there's a reason I can commend myself
to God. There's, there's a reason that I could hinge my hope on
that, that the Lord might show mercy unto me. There is no reason.
And then just as there's no reason here with Aaron, yet he receives
mercy. He receives grace. That gives a sinner hope, that
if one sinner, one unworthy sinner, that did nothing to receive grace,
can receive grace. Maybe another sinner can too.
That gives me hope. Because Aaron's words reveal
him to be exactly what he is. He's weak. Aaron's a coward. He said he threw the gold into
the fire and out came this calf. Aaron's a coward. He's making
excuses, and not even good ones, making poor excuses. There are
no excuses. Aaron doesn't deserve respect. He's conniving. He's
like Jacob. He's like me. There's nothing
about him here that separates him from the 3000 that are about
to be killed. There's nothing about Aaron's
actions that would cause God to show him attention, any attention
to show him favoritism. Aaron was Levi. How many of those
3000 were out in the street, out in the camp, just as Aaron
was yet the Lord chose to spare Aaron. Yeah, and there's a person
with whom I can relate and someone I can see myself in. Aaron deserves
God's wrath. He is spared, but he's not even
spared for his own sake. He's not even spared for his
own repentance. Moses prayed for Aaron. Aaron was, was spared
for someone else's sake. In this case, for Moses sake,
he spared by Moses intercession for him, just as we're spared
by Christ's intercession for us in verses 25 through 29. And when Moses saw that the people
were naked for Aaron had made them naked under their shame
among their enemies, then Moses stood in the gate of the camp
and said, who's on the Lord's side? Let him come unto me. And
all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.
And he said unto them, thus saith the Lord, the Lord God of Israel,
put every man, his sword by his side and go in and out from gate
to gate throughout the camp and slay every man, his brother and
every man, his companion and every man, his neighbor. And
the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And there
fell of the people that day about 3,000 men. For Moses had said,
consecrate yourselves today to the Lord. Even every man upon
his son and upon his brother, that he may bestow unto you a
blessing this day. In the camp, there were an estimated
somewhere between 600,000 to over a million or more people
who were estimated in the camp at that time. When Moses came
down from Mount Sinai, Again, this camp was there worshiping
an idol. Yet Moses, Moses by himself stood
strong in the Lord. Moses, who considered himself,
what did he tell the Lord in earlier chapters? Slow of tongue,
right? Slow of speech. But yet Moses by himself called
out the rebellion in front of a million people. And he did
so boldly. For error against the Lord's glory must be called
out. And the Levites stood with Moses to carry out the Lord's
work. They were vastly, vastly outnumbered. And the task they
were called to do was hard. I don't imagine, scripture doesn't
tell us, but I don't imagine the Levites found joy in taking
the sword to their people, to their brother, to their family,
to their companions. But that must, the Lord's glory, any error
against it must be, must be called out. They were called, these
Levites were called to do the service of the Lord and the Lord
blessed them for it. First, God turned the hearts of the people
so that they returned to their tents. They were, the Levites
were instructed to slay those that were out and about in the
camp, only those that remained out in the camp and in open rebellion.
And again, there that day there fell about 3000 men because the
Lord's glory and any, any air against it must be called out.
I'd like to read you a quote that comforted me. Um, this was
in, uh, pinks. gleanings in Exodus, but he is
actually quoting another writer. And I think you'll enjoy this
as I did. It's kind of a long quote, so
stay, stay with me, but I think you'll, you'll enjoy it. It was
obedience at all costs to the divine call and hence complete
separation from the evil into which Israel had fallen. God
often tests his people in the same way. Whenever confusion
and moral deterioration have begun the only path for the godly
is that which is marked out by the course of Levi, that of full-hearted,
unquestioning obedience. Such a path may be painful, involving,
for those who take it, the surrender of some of the most intimate
associations of their lives and breaking many a tie of nature,
of kindred and relationship, but it's the only path of blessing.
I enjoyed that. The Lord strengthens his servants
just as he did the Levites. to the task that he lays out
ahead of them, just as he did with Moses. Slow of tongue, slow
of speech. But he strengthened Moses for
the task he laid out before him. And he'll do the same today.
We're not to look, as tempting as it is, and our nature does
this, we're not to look at material or physical evidences for comfort
when the Lord lays a task in front of us. We're not to look
to those for strength or comfort. We're to look to the Lord. And
the Lord will provide, just as he always has provided. That was a long introduction.
The heart of the message is really chapters 30 through 30, or excuse
me, verses 30 through 33. And I see three points, three
points that I really want to highlight in verses 30 through
33. And they highlight Moses as he makes intercession to God.
Moses is a type of Christ in these verses. So the three points
we look for Moses, the sin bearer, Moses, the substitute, Moses,
the mediator, Moses, the sin bearer, Moses, the substitute
Moses, the mediator starting in verse 30. And it came to pass
on the morrow that Moses said unto the people, you've sinned
a great sin. And now you've sinned a great
sin. And now I will go up unto the
Lord per adventure. 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 it made them gods of gold
yet. Now, if thou wilt forgive their
sin. And if not blot me, I pray thee
out of thy book, which thou hast written. The Lord said unto Moses,
whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my
book. Again, first see Moses as a type
of Christ, as the sin bearer. When Moses went to God to make
atonement for the people, he didn't hide their sin. He didn't
excuse their sin. Moses exposed their sin. without
excuse. And he laid it bare, laid it
bare before God, the father to deal with bear before God, the
father to deal with just as Christ bore the sin of his people. And
he laid it bare. He laid it bare before God, the
father defenseless, but Christ is better than Moses because
Moses couldn't really bear the people's sin. He's a man. Moses
carried the people's sin. He bore their sin, if you will,
in his mouth. to confess them before God, but Christ, the God-man. He's worthy. He's worthy to truly
bear the actual sin of his people in his body on the tree, defenseless
before God the Father. He bore our sin. Moses couldn't
come fully into the presence of God the Father. God told Moses
that there shall no man see me and live. God's holiness can't
allow sin into his presence. Christ came into God's presence.
Christ took our sin before God, the father with no veil between
defenses. So we see Moses as the sin bear
as Christ, the sin bear. Secondly, we see Moses as a type
of Christ, the substitute. Moses said yet now, if thou wilt
forgive their sin, and if not blot me, I pray thee out of thy
book, which thou has written. Moses offers himself as a sacrifice.
and says, you'll destroy the people at this time, destroy
me as well with them. In John, Christ said, greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends, as Moses is offering to do here. But God answered
Moses in verse 33, Lord said unto Moses, whosoever hath sinned
against me, him will I blot out of my book. Moses's death wouldn't
be sufficient for his own sin. let alone the sin of Israel,
the sin of others. Turn with me, if you would, over
to Ezekiel, Isaiah, Lamentations in Ezekiel,
Ezekiel chapter 18. I missed Jeremiah in there, but
you forgive me. I'd like to read a couple of
verses here in Ezekiel 18, starting with verse four. Behold, all
souls are mine as the soul of the father. So also the soul
of the son is mine. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. And over in verse 20, the soul
that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity
of the father. Neither shall the father bear
the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous
shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. In Moses's death wouldn't be
sufficient for his own sin, let alone the sin of others. But
Christ is better than Moses. Unlike Moses, Christ knew no
sin, knew no sin, loved no sin, was acquainted with no sin, and
in him was no sin. Yet, yet he bore our sin in his
body on the tree and was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
willingly, willingly, openly defenseless before God, the father. Christ was not a picture of a
substitute and he didn't act like a substitute. Moses is a
picture of a substitute. Christ isn't a picture of a substitute.
Christ is a substitute. He is the substitute. Christ
became sin for his people and stood where we deserve to stand.
Christ stood where I deserve to stand. We're spared because
We are spared because God spared not his own son, Christ, the
substitute. So when God, the father says
the soul that Senate, it shall die, the full execution, excuse
me, the full execution of that judgment fell on Christ. Moses
would have been consumed by God's fire, by God's wrath and crushed
by the weight of that sin. Just as the golden calf was burned
and crushed, Moses would have been burned and crushed just
as each of our idols would be consumed and crushed. Psalm 130
says, if thou Lord shouldn't mark iniquities, Oh Lord, who
shall stand? Christ stands and only Christ can stand. He bore
the righteous judgment of God and didn't hide his perfect face.
He didn't, he didn't turn away from the wrath. Sin was punished
justly in Christ. The substitute was worthy and
the sacrifice was accepted. Turn with me. We have time to,
if you would, Isaiah 53 Isaiah chapter 53, I'm going
to read a few verses starting in verse five of Isaiah 53, but
he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our nicotine.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him with his stripes.
We are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned everyone to his own way. The Lord has laid on
him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted.
Yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter and as a sheep before her shears is dumb. So he opened
it, not his mouth. And so willing, willing to say
he was taken from prison and from judgment who shall declare
his generation for he was cut off out of the land of the living.
For the transgression of my people was he stricken. He made his
grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death. Because
he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth,
he was sinless. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. He shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied.
By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he
shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, while I divide him
a portion with the great, he shall divide the spoil with the
strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death. And
he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bear the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors." The sacrifice
was accepted. The substitute was worthy. But
Christ was not consumed like the golden calf was. Christ was
not consumed. Lastly, we see Moses as a type
of Christ, the mediator. Moses sought God's favor based
on his merciful character. Moses said, if thou wilt, forgive
their sin. Moses' plea is based on God's
long-suffering mercy alone. He doesn't ask for mercy due
to any cause other than God's will, if thou wilt. Moses acknowledges
God's authority, control, and right to forgive. Moses acknowledges
that sin is justly punished, justly punished, even when it's
found in ourselves. Moses sides with God and that
sin deserves to be punished, but he pleads, if thou wilt.
And that reminds me of the leper that came to Christ and said,
if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean, if thou wilt. Moses
pleads with God, if thou wilt. But Christ is better than Moses.
Christ lives. to answer all charges against
his elect. Does the law charges? Christ
satisfied the law. Does Satan charges? Christ rebukes
Satan because Christ is born the punishment. I'd like to read
you a couple of verses in Zechariah. Don't turn there. Does Satan charges? He showed
me Joshua, the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord.
and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. The Lord
said unto Satan, the Lord rebuke thee, O Satan. Even the Lord
that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee. Is not this a brand plucked
out of the fire? Does Satan accuse us? Does Satan
charge us? Christ rebukes Satan because
Christ has already borne the punishment. Does our conscience,
does our conscience accuse us? Does your conscience accuse you?
By God's grace, we do remember our sin. And I'm glad we do. By his grace,
we do remember our sin, and we should. But when we sing, when
we sing joyfully, we don't, we sing, oh, how merciful, right? We don't sing, oh, how sinful
I am. We sing, oh, how merciful. What causes us to sing, what
causes us to rejoice is God's mercy. We see his mercy against
our sinfulness, but what causes us to rejoice is his mercy. Our
sinfulness doesn't cause us to sing, and our hope isn't in the
knowledge of our sinfulness. Our hope is in Christ. We see
our great sinfulness as Moses said. Moses said, oh, this people
have sinned a great sin, a great sin. That's how we see our sinfulness.
We see it that way so that we can see God's great mercy in
Christ and sing, oh, how merciful. We're to be mindful of our sin,
always looking to Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our
faith. But does our conscience accuse us? God says, I, even
I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake
and will not remember thy sins. Why? For mine own sake. That's
what God said. For mine own sake. Christ answers
our guilty conscience by calling us to remember that he paid the
debt and that it is finished. And in closing, turn over to
Romans. Romans chapter eight. Christ, our, our sin bear Christ,
our substitute Christ, our mediator. Christ who answers all charges
against his elect start in verse 33, who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect. It is God that justify it. Who
is he that condemn it? It's Christ that died. Yay. Rather
that has risen again, who is even at the right hand of God,
who also make it even now maketh, in the present, maketh intercession
for us. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, persecution, or
famine, nakedness, or peril, or sword? As is written, for
thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as
sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither death nor life nor angels, nor principalities, nor
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. I hope that is blessed you. See, Christ our sin bearer, Christ
our substitute, Christ our mediator. Amen.