When Moses came down from the
mountain, he found his beloved Israel dancing naked, singing
at the top of their lungs. When Joshua first heard it, he
said, someone's attacked the camp. There's a war going on
here. And Moses said, that's not the
noise of war. He said, that's the noise of
singing. They were singing at the top of their lungs, probably
intoxicated, no doubt about it, dancing naked around a golden
calf, pretending to worship God. And Moses, he'd been up on that
mountain with God, and God had given his holy law to him, and
he had it in his hand. And now here's the people that
he's bringing this law back, this covenant of God, he's bringing
it back down to the people, and here they are. Rank idolatry. Rank idolatry. As though God
had not done anything for them. You think of what God had done
for Israel up to that point. They were in bondage down in
Egypt, crying out to God under the oppression, under the whip,
under the strict rule of old Pharaoh, that evil king. Forced
to eat whatever they wanted them to eat and do whatever they told
them to do. And God come down in the person
of this man Moses and delivered that whole outfit out from under
Pharaoh's rule. And then Pharaoh chased after
him. And the Lord split a sea. And
there were walls of water. No telling how deep that sea
was. I remember one time a man contested. the splitting of the
sea and said that sea was just a grassy sea. It was very shallow. It was only about a foot deep.
And the guy he was trying to tell that to, he said, praise
God. He said, it's a greater miracle
than what I first thought. He drowned Pharaoh and all of
his army in a teaspoon full of water. But this was a sea. There were
walls of water, the Scripture said. Walls of water standing
straight up. And the wind God caused to blow
down on that sea and dried that land out. And that whole outfit,
over a million people marched across that sea on dried land. And when Pharaoh tried to follow,
God buried them in the sea. And washed up on the bank all
the weapons, everything that they needed to go on in and take
that land. that God had promised them from
those Canaanites. And then, out in this barren
wilderness, God took those people and preserved them. He gave them
water from the rock and He caused His manna to come down. He rained
down quail for them to eat. And you can just go on and on.
He sweetened those bitter waters up. And on and on, how God provided
for His people. Think what these people had seen.
And Moses had just been gone now about 40 days. I believe
that's correct. Been on that mountain 40 days.
Come back down. Here's the whole outfit. Aaron's
out there with them. And the whole outfit, all of
the priests that God had sanctified and set apart for His service.
They're all out. All the Levites. Everybody's
out here dancing naked around a golden calf, singing at the
top of their lungs, pretending to worship God. Well, I'll tell you this. He
was angry to say the least. And he burnt that golden idol
in the fire and he cast it upon the waters and he made them to
drink of it. And then he gave commandment
for all who were on the Lord's side, he said, you line up right
here. You come to me. Everybody that's
on the Lord's side, come to me. And do you know that a lot of
those folks didn't come? Three thousand of them stayed
in their tents. The Scripture said they pulled
the shoulder. Get your hand off of me. And
went back to their tents. And Moses said, all those Levites
lined up behind him. And he said, every man strap
on a sword. And go through the camp. And
slay every man, his brother, and his father, and his sister. Go through all these rebels.
out here. You slay every one of them. He called them to make a public
declaration concerning their allegiance to God and their allegiance
to Him. And then He commanded the Levites
to strap on their swords and all those rebels that were left
in their tents. And we're not talking about strangers
and foreigners here. We're talking about relatives
and friends and cousins and nephews And even so, in our day, the
Gospels preach, the commandment to believe is given, and all
who refuse are left under the judgment of God to a sure and
certain death. At the end of that day, 3,000
souls lay dead in the camp. And then Moses took what most
of the old writers said was a temporary tabernacle. This was not the
tabernacle that he'd been given instruction for. It was too soon
after the instruction to have been it. And though it doesn't
call it a temporary tabernacle, this is what it was. And I believe
he made it somewhat in the, you know, like that pattern, though
it didn't have all the furniture and all the stuff in it. And
he set it outside the camp. Now the tabernacle was to be
put inside the camp, but Moses removed this tabernacle and he
not only set it up outside the camp, but I don't know if you
remember this, but as I read the scripture to you, he said
he set it up far off from the camp. It wasn't just right outside
the camp, it was way outside the camp. And he went out to
it, out to this tabernacle. to make intercession for Israel
and to beg God to forgive them for their sins. Now, you and
I know that the one mediator between God and men is Lord over
Providence. Scriptures tell us that He worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will. David said,
The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord like the rivers
of waters out here. Just the same as those rivers
are guided by Him and laid out by Him, ordained by Him, so the
heart of the King is in the hand of the Lord, and He turneth it
whether so ever He will. He is the Lord of Providence.
And He very easily could have restrained these men from doing
what they did if He so intended. So why would the sovereign all-knowing
God allow this assembly to fall into such a snare and permit
them to manifest such rank idolatry and rebellion toward him? I'm
not trying to relieve them of their responsibility. They're
fully responsible, same as you and I. But I'm saying God could
have prevented it. Why didn't he? Why didn't he? Well, I believe it's for this
reason. to show His people that the only difference between them
and the heathen, all the heathen world that was around them, to
show them that the only difference between them and the heathen
world around them is the sovereign, distinguishing grace of God. I don't know how many times in
the text that I just read to you He mentions that word grace. Isn't that amazing when we get
in trouble how we run back to the grace of God? Moses said,
if, if I found grace in your sight, if this people found grace
in your sight. Look back at the text there in
Exodus 33, verse 13. He said, now therefore I pray
thee, if I found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that
I might know thee, that I might find grace in thy sight. and
consider that this nation is thy people. And God said, my
presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And
Moses said unto him, if thy presence go not with me, care is not of
hence. For wherein shall it be known
here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? Is
it not that thou goest with us? So shall we be separated, I and
thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the
earth. What separates us from all the people on this earth?
The presence of His grace. Abraham, the father of natural
Israel, was found of God in the land of Ur, a heathen idolater. That's what he was. Worked in
his daddy's carpenter shop making idols, making idols and selling
them. He was not chosen for his goodness
or any potential of goodness that God saw in him. He was chosen
to manifest the sovereign grace of God. You know that scripture I read
to you last Sunday over there in Romans chapter 9 where he's
talking about how the doctrine of election was established.
It was established with these two twin boys, Jacob and Esau. And before they'd ever done any
good or any evil, that the purpose of God, according to election,
might stand, it was said to their mother, the elder is going to
serve the younger, as it's written. It was already written. Jacob
have I loved, and Esau have I hated. What sets us apart from the rest
of this world is the distinguishing, free, sovereign grace of God. It's not of him that willeth,
Paul said. There was a time when he didn't
believe that. There was a time when he believed it was of him
that willeth. But not after that revelation of God came to him
and God spoke to him. Now he knows the difference.
And he said, it's not of him that willeth, and it's not of
him that runneth. At one time, he thought it was.
He was running for all he was worth. But now he knows the difference. But it's of God that showeth
mercy. That's what God told Paul. Now let me give you six things. The difference in Abraham and
the rest of the world was the free and sovereign grace of God.
And I want to give you six things tonight that were true of Israel
then and true of spiritual Israel now. First of all, it was the
grace of God that chose them and us and made a covenant on
our behalf to make us heirs of His grace. It's the sovereign
grace of God. In Romans chapter 11, Paul begins
to explain to us the connection between ancient Israel. You study
that text, you'll see there. He's showing us the connection.
There was a lot of controversy at that time going around. All
God's presence and power and promises and His covenants and
all of that had to do with ancient Israel. And now the apostles
were preaching these things to the Gentiles. And folks didn't
get the connection. They weren't seeing the connection
here. They didn't understand that God had a spiritual Israel
from the very beginning. And that not all that were of
Israel were Israel. But God had a people among them. And He begins to show people
that connection between ancient Israel and what He calls in the
New Testament the Israel of God. That the promises left to them
which seemingly had been lost They rejected the Messiah. They
crucified the promised Messiah. So if this be the Israel of God,
if this be the elect of God, isn't the Word of God made of
none effect? But Paul tells us in Romans chapter
9, God forbid, God forbid. And then he begins here in Romans
11, and he reaches back to the days of Elijah when he cried
to God out of that cave and said, they killed all your prophets.
Killed every one of them. Dig down thine altars, and I
am left alone, and they seek my life. You remember what God
told him? He said, Elijah, I have reserved
to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Now
listen to this. Watch this. Verse 5, Romans chapter
11. Even so, then, at this present
time also, there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. And if by grace, then it's no
more works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it
cannot be of grace. Otherwise, works are not works. Grace and works don't mix. And
this election is an election of grace. of grace. Turn with me to Romans chapter
9. Election has nothing to do with nationality or bloodlines
or the color of a man's skin. Election is an election of grace. And in Romans chapter 9 verse
6, Paul tells us, "...not as though the word of God had taken
none effect, for they are not all Israel, which are of Israel,
neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all
children, But in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is,
they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the
children of God, but the children of the promise. Just as Isaac
was the child of promise, so all God's elect are children
of promise, and they are counted for the seed. One man is born
in a jungle in a remote part of Africa somewhere. He grows
up with a bone in his nose, and he is worshiping snakes, and
frogs and who knows what, wooden totem poles or whatever their
gods are over there. I don't know what they are. And
then another man is born here in this country. And he's born
in a city where they preach the gospel. And God brings him to
hear that gospel and gives him an understanding of it. And opens
his heart to receive it. And gives him the gifts of repentance
and faith. Is that luck? What is that? Is that chance? Is it blind circumstance? What is that? We know better. So why does this man hear while
another is passed by the free and sovereign grace of God? That
man who hears that God has given ears, he said,
blessed are your ears for they hear. It's not given unto them
to understand. Isn't that what he said? Those
mysteries of the kingdom, it's not given to them, but it's given
to you. Blessed are your ears, for they
hear. And that man who hears, who hears, oh, how does he hear? He hears by the grace of God. Paul said this about those ones
with hearing ears. God hath from the beginning,
II Thessalonians 2.13, He said, but I thank God for you. Some
have been given over to strong delusion to believe a lie, but
He said, I thank God for you, beloved, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you unto salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. So that's the first thing.
That's the first thing true of natural Israel, and it's true
of us. God chose them, separated them,
called them to Himself by a sovereign election of grace. And then secondly,
it was the grace of God that caused our Lord to hear their
cries in Egypt. Egypt is a picture of this world,
and Israel is a picture of God's elect in this world. And all
of us held in bondage, all of us laboring for the glory of
some heathen king, and I'm talking about Satan now. Most of our
folks, I know you are just a visitor here tonight, most of our folks
know these foundational scriptures, but I am just going to give them
to you as I go over in Ephesians chapter 2. He said, And you hath
be quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Wherein
in time past you walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air. that even that
same Spirit who now worketh in the children of disobedience."
We walked according to Him. We served this heathen king.
We are not free. Men talk about being free. You
are not free. A natural man is not free. He is free within the confines
of his nature. But he has a sinful nature. So
you take an ape, you know, you might teach that ape to do that
or something, but you're not going to teach that ape how to
repair a television. That's beyond his nature. He
can't do it. He's free to do anything within
the confines of his nature. So is the natural man. But that
doesn't make him free. It doesn't give him a free will.
That just tells us he has a will, and that he's accountable to
God for that will. But that will is in bonds. Thousands in this world cry out
for help, cry out for peace, and cry out for someone to do
something for them that they cannot do for themselves. How
come God heard these people? How come He heard their cry?
There were thousands in that day crying out. How come He heard
them? He heard this sinner. But there
are thousands of sinners crying out. Why didn't He hear their
cry? You see what I'm saying? It's the grace of God that brought
him to hear their cries. And he heard their cries because
God had set them apart. And then thirdly, it was the
grace of God that made provision for them in the wilderness. Paul
asked us this question. He said, what have you gotten
that you haven't received? You have anything that you haven't
received of God? You got anything that you can
say, I earned this. This is mine. I did this." Well,
you don't have a single solitary thing. Everything you have is
the gift of God. Everything. What have you gotten,
he said, and if you received it, he said, why do you glory
like you didn't? You received it by the grace
of God. God gave them everything they
needed to survive their journey to the promised land. And what
about you and I? Is not Christ our manna? Is not
Christ our spiritual drink? Is He not made unto us all things? Has God's grace not provided
everything for us in providence, the means of grace, even to our
own reasoning and understanding? Does the Scripture not say, it
is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of His good
pleasure? And then, fourthly, it was the
grace of God that gave them the tabernacle of witness. And this
is the gospel of Jesus Christ set before them. Now, if you
don't believe that, you need to read Hebrews chapter 3 and
the first few verses in Hebrews chapter 4. In chapter 4, he said,
for the gospel was preached unto them as it's preached unto us. It's the same gospel. Same gospel. And you'll see that same thing
in Romans chapter 3 and verses 24 and 25 where he says, He had
set him forth as a propitiation for our sins, for the sins that
are past. Talking about those Old Testament
saints. Who did that? God did it. Where
did He set it forth? Where did He set Christ forth
as a propitiation for our sins? He set Him forth in those Old
Testament sacrifices surrounding that tabernacle. It's the gospel
of substitution, the just dying for the unjust that he might
bring us to God. This is him who was rich, making
himself poor that we might, through his poverty, be made rich. And
this is him being made a curse for us that we might be made
heirs of God. This is the blood, Paul said
in Hebrews 13, of the everlasting covenant. This is the gospel
of the free grace of God in Christ. Paul said the ministry for which
he suffered everywhere he went, that ministry which he received
of the Lord Jesus to testify, now listen, the gospel of the
grace of God. That's what Paul preached. The
gospel of the grace of God. Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Grace and truth was manifested.
by Jesus Christ. And grace and truth are known
only in Jesus Christ. And this old tabernacle was a
picture of Christ. The old tabernacle was made of
woods and skins and its services and meats and drinks and divers
washings and all those carnal ordinances, he said, imposed
on them until the time of reformation. But Christ being come a high
priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle. And not by the blood of goats
and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once, just like
that old high priest did every year. But this time, once for
all. He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. And that man
of faith in the ancient camp of Israel, by the grace of God,
looked forward to the coming Redeemer. When He brought that
sacrifice, he looked forward to that Lamb. that God would
provide in that day. He heard what Moses taught him
concerning these things, and he maybe didn't have the amount
of light that we had, but he had the gospel preached to him. And then, fifthly, it was the
grace of God that came and stripped them before the law and made
them taste of their idolatrous rebellion. That was the grace
of God that did that. Boy, I tell you, it's something
now when God intervenes in a man's life. And he thinks he's done
pretty good. I mean, he knows he's not perfect.
He knows he's not what he ought to be. But he's been sailing
pretty smooth. And he's done more than most.
He's kept his family. He's paid his bills. He's been
a good man as far as men are concerned. And then along comes
God. And just like Moses walked up on that camp, all of a sudden,
God pulls the blinders off and He lets him see what he really
is. Naked, pretending to worship
God in his idolatry. And He shows him what he is in
his heart. And He breaks that man. And that
man just sits there. You know, Israel never said a
word. All Israel, all these people danced around that camp. Not
a one of them said a word. And that's what happens when
God shuts a man up to the law. He shuts his mouth. What are
you going to say? Here you are. There's the cat.
You're sitting here naked singing. What are you going to say? What
are you going to say? You can't say anything. Conviction
of sin is what turns us from our sins, and faith is what turns
us to God. Some of you in here have raised
children. Now let me tell you something
about children. A baby will put anything in its mouth. Anything. It will stick anything. I don't
care how gross it is. I don't care how long it's been
laying there. I don't care how much mold on it. Whatever it
is, that baby will get ahold of that thing, the first thing,
right in that mouth. And I do mean anything. But let
that child get a little maturity. Let him learn what that thing
really is. And you couldn't pay him to put
that thing in his mouth, could you? That's what happens when
God brings a man under the conviction of sin. He shows him what that
sin is. He makes sin to appear to him
exceeding sinful. That's what Paul said. And it
slays him. It slays him. And those things
that he used to do and yippee and clap his hands and wave around
and all this foolish running around and talking in tongues
and all that kind of garbage, he sees it for what it is. You
don't have enough money to pay one of them Levites to dance
around a calf again after God showed him what it was. That's
what conviction of sin is all about. And that conviction comes
as a gift of God's grace. And it turns you from your sins.
It turns you from. And then that faith turns you
to God. You don't just turn down another
avenue. That's what religion does. It
turns you off this road onto this one. And this road's worse
than this one. That's right. Satan does not
care how he takes you to hell. He will take you to hell as a
preacher just the same as being a harlot. He does not care how
you go as long as you go. And religion turns you from one
road to another road. And then you go from this road
to another road. But God does not do that. When
He turns a man from his sins, He gives him instruction. He
gives him faith. And it turns him to God. That's
why over there in 1 Thessalonians 1, when Paul told those Thessalonians,
he said, I know your election of God because you turn from
your idols to serve the true and living God. When God convicts us of sin,
He makes us taste it just like Moses did. Let them taste their
idolatry. And He makes us to understand
what it is. we learn something about the
exceeding sinfulness of sin. And I tell you this, when sin
becomes obnoxious, you let it go. Any man having been shown the
truth about his sin and goes on as he was before, We must
consider, as Moses did, a candidate for the sword of God's justice
and wrath. He shall be damned. He that believeth
not shall be damned. And then, sixly, it's an act
of grace that led them to see God's tabernacle removed afar
off from the camp. The tabernacle was to be pitched
in the midst of the camp. That's how God gave instruction
for it. Now, listen to me. This tabernacle is where God
purposed to meet with his people. You remember me in our studies
when he talked about that ark and he talked about that tabernacle
and he said, this is where I'm going to meet with you. Between
the cherubim, he said, this is where I'm going to meet with
you. This tabernacle is where worship was conducted. Instruction
was given there. And there the truth was made
known. And this tabernacle is where
men come to God and God came to men. God's presence was made
known in the tabernacle. But here we see this tabernacle
pitched without the camp. It's pitched without the camp.
Now let me give you a few things to think about. When God convicts
the sinner of his sins, he sees himself separated. from the presence
of God. Isn't that the heart of your
conviction? When conviction of sin comes, you see yourself separated
from God. He sees Him unapproachable, withdrawn,
no unity between Himself and God. He sees Himself as He is,
and He sees the Holy God for what He is, and He sees Himself
separated from God. When they heard that God was
not in their midst, They considered that an evil tiding, didn't they?
Verse 4. And under deep conviction of
sin, we feel the presence and favor of God withdrawn. We feel
no worthiness of it. We feel as though we had passed
our point of grace. But then by the grace of God,
we begin to realize that even though it's without the camp,
it's not gone completely. God didn't take it away altogether,
did He? He set it outside the camp. And
there is, thank God, still a tabernacle. God has not simply left them
alone to their enemies. His tabernacle is still in view.
And if you can see the tabernacle, there's still hope. There's still
hope. Hope is what the tabernacle is
all about. Now, my friend, let me tell you
something. When this man thought he'd send
away his day of grace, and I did, I did. I'm like David. I thought I was plumb gone. Plumb gone. God lifted His hand. He's never going to speak to
me again. I'm separated from God. That's it. That's it. But you know, I still remembered
the Gospel. I could still see the tabernacle.
I could still see it. It was still there. He had been
removed. His presence had been removed.
His presence was now far off. But it wasn't long gone. And when I looked to sin for
Israel did, they saw God serving at the door, and God's presence
and glory with Him. Now watch this, Exodus 33, verse
10. And all the people saw that cloudy
pillar stand at the tabernacle door, And all the people rose
up and worshipped God. They worshipped God. Every man
in his tent's door. This is our tent right here. This is our tent. And I tell
you, when we see God speaking to His messenger and interceding
on our behalf, Taking that gospel, taking that good news from God
and bringing it to us, we worship God, don't we? We worship God. That's what worship is all about.
This fun and games and running and tongues and Ollie Smith beating
on drums and swaying with the music and all that kind of nonsense,
that's not worshiping God. Worshiping God is seeing Christ
In that tabernacle, it's seeing Christ and seeing that salvation
wrought out by Him in that tabernacle. And seeing yourself in your unworthiness. And seeing this thing, it's altogether
of grace. Altogether of grace. And when
a chosen sinner hears God's messenger speaking on his behalf at the
tabernacle door, he'll begin to learn something about worship.
And then he tells us here in verse 16, For wherein shall it
be known here? here in this world, that I and
thy people have found grace in thy sight. Is it not in that
thou goest with us? So shall we be separated, I and
thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the
earth by the presence of his grace. Now let me give you this,
and I'll quit. Why is the tabernacle removed
from the camp? Are we not ourselves the reason?
They were the reason. They were the reason. Is it not
our sins that caused our tabernacle to be without the camp? Hebrews
13, 12. It says, Wherefore Jesus also,
that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered
without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto
Him without the camp, bearing his reproach. By him, therefore,
let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that
is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name." Don't you
think that's exactly what they were doing in their tent door
when they worshiped God? Their hearts, they rose up. Every
man rose up when he heard Moses out there interceding for him.
And they looked and they saw that cloudy pillar. They saw
the presence of God in him. And they worship God. They worship
God.