You remember at the beginning
of this chapter that Moses had come down from Mount Sinai where
the Lord spoke with him. It says that the Lord spoke with
Moses face to face as a man speaketh with his friend. He comes down and of course the
noise of Reveling is in the camp and he sees what's going on and
he breaks that law those tables of stone That he holds in his
hands that the very finger of God wrote upon he cast them down
and breaks them And he ground up that golden
calf and Strewed it upon the water it says and made the children
of Israel drink of it And then verse 25 It says, When Moses saw that
the people were naked, for Aaron had made them naked unto their
shame among their enemies, then Moses stood in the gate of the
camp and said, Who is 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 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." Those three, brother there, that
word is relative, family. Family, his companion, that's
his dear friend, and neighbor. And the children of Levi did
according to the word of Moses, and there fell of the people
that day about three thousand 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 upon you a blessing this
day. Now it may seem extreme and very
harsh for Moses to command the Levites and him to kill some among their families, their
friends, and their neighbors. It must have been a horrible
thing to do. Can you imagine having the sword in your hand
that day? And it does seem harsh and extreme
and even maybe cruel, but the reason it does is because you
and I are so used to not getting what we deserve that we don't
even know what it looks like anymore. You realize that? Every once in a while, throughout
the years, throughout the ages, God has given somebody exactly
what they deserved on the very day that they deserved it. Think about why these 3,000 men
and probably others, women too maybe, don't know for sure, but
3,000 men died that day. Think about why. They made their
own decision and after what they had done, they had no remorse,
no desire whatsoever to honor God, They publicly and openly
defied the God that had delivered them from the Egyptians and who had
fed them with his own hand. They openly defied him before all the people. And of course this is not something
that's that should be in our hearts today. There are those
who openly defy God. We don't desire to see them killed
like this. I believe it was James and John
that once heard that there were some that
had dishonored the Lord somehow. I don't remember exactly the
details of it. But the Lord had sent preachers
into a town and they had rejected the Lord. They had refused the
gospel and dishonored the Lord. And James and John said, would
you have us call fire down from heaven like Elijah did and consume
them? And the Lord said, you don't
know what spirit that you're speaking for. He said, I didn't
come to condemn this world, but to save. And the Lord Jesus Christ
didn't come to condemn this world. We're already condemned. If God
gave us what we deserve, we'd all be gone in an instant like
this. And he did that at times. When that wicked king, when the
people rose up and said, he's a God, he's a God. And that king
stood there and he didn't, apparently didn't say anything. He just
didn't say no. He didn't correct him. He didn't
rebuke him. And the Lord, caused probably the worms that were
already in his body to have dominion over his body. He was eating
up with worms right there on the spot. He does sometimes immediately
give people what they deserve. You remember Ananias and Sapphira?
That seems extreme doesn't it? They gave some money. They held
back part and lied about it. That doesn't seem like that big
of a sin. That's to you it doesn't. Sin, all sin, every sin deserves
what these people got that day. And what Ananias and Sapphira
got. And God shows us that at times
to remind us what it is that we do deserve. He made an example
of these that day to teach us. I've known people to openly and
blatantly defy the God of the Bible, and God didn't kill them. Yet. He didn't kill them yet. He didn't kill them that day.
But every sinner who defies God and never seeks His mercy, where
only mercy can be found at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, every sinner who hardens his neck against
not only the righteous law of God, his righteous claims upon
us, and does as they please, but also harden their neck against
the free grace of God in Christ. Despise his grace. A sinner that's determined to
have God accept him on his own merit or not at all. That's all
of us by nature. In other words, as Paul said,
they will not submit themselves to the righteousness of God.
They're going about to establish their own righteousness. And
Paul called it for what it was. It's a refusal to submit to the
righteousness of God in Christ. And that's exactly what we see
in our text. A refusal to submit. Think about
what they had done. The position they're standing
there naked in front of Moses and they're going to defy God?
After what they've been doing? Openly, blatantly defy God? They
got exactly what they deserved, didn't they? And every sinner, this is the
lesson, every sinner eventually will get exactly what they deserve. The difference between the believer
And the unbeliever is we get what Christ deserves. We get
what we deserve in him. God is righteous to justify us
because of his precious blood and because he represents us. But what we deserve by nature
is a one way express ticket to hell. That's what happened to
these people. I think about the question. that Moses asked him,
and turn to Joshua chapter 24. Joshua chapter 24. Moses asked
him, who is on the Lord's side? In Joshua 24, 14, he said, Now therefore, fear
the Lord, and serve Him in sincerity, and in truth, and put away the
gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood,
and in Egypt, and serve ye the Lord. Serve ye the Lord, that's
a command. Put away your gods and serve
the Lord. Not an option, not a choice,
a command. Now, he says, if it seemed evil
unto you to serve the Lord, then you've got a choice to make. The gospel doesn't give men a
choice. You can choose among all those
other gods. They're all the same. It doesn't
make any difference. But the command is serve the
Lord. You see the difference? There's a difference. The gospel
is not an option. It's a command. And he says,
well, if you're not going to serve the Lord, then choose what
God you want to serve. Whether the gods which your father
served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods
of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and
my house, he said, we'll serve the Lord. We're gonna serve the
Lord. And notice the two things about
this text that are also true of our text in Exodus tonight. There's not any choice given,
there's a command. There wasn't a choice given there in our text
in Exodus either. He just said, who's on the Lord's
side? And here in this text, there's a command, serve the
Lord. If you will not serve the Lord, then you've got a choice
to make. The choice is your problem, not your way out, not your solution. Your solution is obedience to
a command. That's your hope. You're not
given a choice in the matter of serving the Lord. The gospel
is a command. And then secondly, everybody's going to serve somebody.
You see that here? You're going to serve the God
of the Bible, the God that delivered you from the Egyptians, or you're
going to serve another God. The ones in our text were asked
if they were on the Lord's side. Now think about that with me.
If the Lord has a side, then there's another side. It
can't just be one side. Let me ask you this. Those who
sided with the Lord that day, who'd they take sides against? And those who were not on the
Lord's side, whose side were they on? Do you know? Look at 2 Timothy chapter 3.
Whose side was Adam on in the garden? When he made a decision,
God didn't give him a choice, did he? And I don't know if I've
explained that clearly. God didn't say, Adam, you can
eat of every tree of the garden and not eat of that tree, of
the knowledge of good and evil, or if you want to, you can eat
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That would
have been a choice. God didn't give him a choice. He said, you'll
eat of every tree and you won't eat of that one. And that's how
the gospel comes. This is my son, hear him. Come
unto me. And I'll give you rest. That's
not a choice. It's not an invitation either.
An invitation to A wedding or something like that, I can go
or I can choose not to go and there aren't any consequences. There are consequences to rejecting
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's not an invitation. That's
a command. The King says come. And look
at Second Timothy. Who did they side with if they
weren't on the Lord's side? Whose side were they on? Second
Timothy, if I ever get there, chapter 3 Verse 1 this know also
that in the last days perilous times shall come for men shall
be lovers of their own selves That's whose side you're on by
nature right there. You're on your side. You're on
your own side Covetous boasters proud blasphemers disobedient
to parents unthankful and holy and without natural affection,
trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers
of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of
pleasures, more than lovers of God. And that word is rather.
It doesn't mean they love God, but they love pleasure a little
bit more. They love pleasure rather than God. What's pleasure
all about? It's about me. I love myself. And so I love pleasure and not
God. having a form of godliness, but
denying the power thereof, from such turn away. For of this sort
are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly women
laden with sins, led away with diverse lusts, ever learning
and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. Now as Janice and
Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds reprobate
concerning the faith. It said there that they withstood
Moses, that Janice and Jambres withstood Moses. But remember
what God said about that in Numbers 14. Don't turn there, but let
me remind you. It says in verse 2 of Numbers
14, that all the children of Israel murmured against Moses
and against Aaron. And the whole congregation said
unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt.
They murmured against Moses and Aaron. But then God spoke in
verse 27, and said, how long shall I bear with this evil congregation
which murmur against me? And they withstood Moses, but
they were murmuring against God. They were defying God, just like
these ones in our text. He said, I've heard the murmurings
of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. And that's
it. They wanted things their way.
They wanted what they wanted, and they didn't want to do what
God said. They didn't want to obey God. They took sides with
themselves against God. By nature, we all are against
God. Against. Notice that word that
we just read. They murmur, against me. Against
me. Psalm 2, verse 1. Why do the
heathen rage? The people imagine a vain thing.
The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, let us
break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us.
Bands and cords, that's the restraints and controls that God would put
upon and does put upon man. But they're saying, let us cast
those off and do what we want to do. So you see whose side we're on
by nature. Acts 4, 27, of a truth against
thy holy child Jesus. Against him. Whom thou hast anointed both
Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of
Israel were gathered together against thy holy child. Romans
8, 7, the carnal mind is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be. This is what those ones expressed
in our text. They're not going to be subject
to God's law. They're not going to be subject
to God's word anymore, to his will anymore. We're going to
do as we please. They stood there naked, having danced around a
golden calf, while Moses was up there as their representative,
getting a word from God for them. And there they are, asked that
question, who's on the Lord's side? And they're going to stand
there naked and defy God openly. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. we're commanded in the gospel
to take sides with God against ourselves. Romans 3, 3. Paul's talking about
the gospel having been preached to the Jews there. He said, what
if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the
faith of God without effect? In other words, has God spoken
and written his word? And man says, I don't believe
that. Does that make, does that mean that God's truth is in question?
Or that he's not faithful to his word? God forbid, yea, let
God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written, that thou mightest
be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou
art judged. That's a quote from Psalm 51
4, where David said against thee, And thee only, Lord, have I sinned
and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified
when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest." What David
is saying there is that God judges my sin and condemns me for it.
He does. And either he's unjust or I am. Either God's unjust to condemn
me or he's right to do it. And David said he's right. He
just took sides with God against himself. That's what we'll do
if we ever believe God's word. Because God's word flat out condemns
us and commands us to repent, to do what these ones would not
do. David took sides with God against
himself saying, when you judge and condemn my sin, you're right
to do so. I'm the one in the wrong here.
And that's exactly what those who Moses asked that question
of that day were called upon to do, to acknowledge their sin
and to submit themselves to the will and word of God, to the
care of God, to trust God and not to insist upon their own
way and will. The occasion of that question
was their great sin. Moses said, you've sinned greatly.
And to side with God is to side against self. If I'm on the Lord's
side, I'm saying I've sinned. Our thoughts are
not God's thoughts, and His ways are not our ways. So are you
going to do it your way or God's way? Who's on the Lord's side? As we've seen all through God's
Word, we've studied it verse by verse, Old Testament, New
Testament. We've gone through several books
of the Bible already, and we're going through three or four of
them right now. And we've seen everywhere, all through God's
Word, that sooner or later it's going to boil down to this. You
are God. Are we not? You can't serve both. Now we know from God's word how
a sinner comes to be on the Lord's side. It doesn't happen naturally. The Ethiopian can't change his
skin, the leopard can't change his spots, and you can't change
your nature. You can't do good. You are evil. But the gospel
is the power of God unto salvation. Romans 116, and by grace through
faith in Christ, as he's revealed in that gospel, God saves sinners.
Ephesians 2. And when he does, we take sides
with God against our sins. We just happen to be studying
in Matthew at the same time we're studying in Exodus, and we see
the exact same truth taught in both places in God's Word. Who
is on the Lord's side? Our Lord Jesus said to his disciples
in Matthew 16, 24, if any man will come after me,
let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. In that verse, there are two
persons mentioned. One is denied and the other one's
followed. You're going to have to take
sides. who is on the Lord's side. To be on the Lord's side is,
as we've already seen, to take His word against your own thoughts. His word, His revelation is contrary
to the way we think. You're going to have to sat with
somebody. And as Paul said, let God be
true and me and you and everybody else that doesn't say exactly
what God said is a liar. Or conform in our minds and hearts
to what God said. We're liars. It is to agree with him no matter
what he says. Even like that woman in Matthew
15. When he says you're a dog and it's not right for me to
take the children's bread and give it to a dog like you. No
matter what the master says, our response is truth, Lord. That's the Lord's side. It's a question of his word or
what I think. what I think is fair, my sense
of fairness, my sense of right and wrong. That's the question now, who's
on the Lord's side? And there's another aspect to
the question, too. It's to submit to his righteousness
and abandon your own. We've already quoted that verse,
too, in Romans 10, 3. To submit to the righteousness
of God in Christ and to quit going around trying to be righteous
before God in yourself. In other words, you either stand
before God as you are, as you've done your best, my good outweighs
my bad, so I'm gonna stand here and God's gonna accept me as
I am, or he's not gonna accept me. Or, you stand before God
in Christ, owning him as your only righteousness and your sin
offering. Works or grace, there's never
been but two. You will stand before God in
the last day, and you will either stand there as those that our
Lord talked about in Matthew 7, 22, and say, Lord, Lord, look
at all the wonderful works I've done. Or you will stand before God
in that white robe that's been washed in the blood of the Lamb. I want to stand in Him that's
able to keep me from falling. and to present me flawless before
the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. It's a question of His righteousness
and blood or my works. Who's on the Lord's side? To be on the Lord's side is to
reckon the way that Paul did in 2 Corinthians 5 14. He said, the love of Christ constraineth
us because we thus judge. This world doesn't judge this
way. This world doesn't reckon things this way, but God's people
do. That if one died for all, then we're all dead. He died
because we were dead in sins. And that he died for all that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves. but unto
him which died for them and rose again. It's a question all through life
of this, his glory or mine, his will or mine. My works are his grace. Those who were asked this question
were called upon to publicly confess that they believed God,
that they agreed with God in condemning their sin, and that
they trusted God, that they denied themselves and committed themselves
to God, that we're going to side with God. They were called to
publicly do it before the whole camp. And believers still do that.
They still publicly and openly confess the Lord Jesus Christ. If you believe in your heart
and confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, Paul said, you'd
be saved. Believers publicly confess Christ
in baptism. They also do so by the public
worship of God. And that's not just going to,
that's not just attending a church service. A lot of people go to
churches and say, or so-called churches, and say that they're
worshiping God. But listen to what Paul said
about that in Acts 24, 14. He said, this I confess unto
you. He had been accused of some crimes, and he said, I didn't
commit them. Nobody can say I did, because I didn't. Nobody can
prove it. But this, I'll confess something
to you, I'll make a confession to you. After the way which they
call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing
all things which are written in the law and in the prophets. Can you say that today? This whole town would call what you're hearing
right now, the free grace of God in Christ, heresy. That's how we worship. We worship
the God who has mercy on whom he will have mercy. We don't
get angry at him and curse his name. We worship him by his grace. God's people answer this question
still. by identifying with God's people. And I know that the Lord, I'll
be learning what he meant, what he said there in John when he
told him, by this shall all men know that you're my disciples,
that you love one another. I don't claim to know what all
he meant by that, but I know this is included in it. If you
love those that truly love the God of the Bible, because this
world doesn't, do they? This world, boy, they'd hang
us from the yardarm if they could get away with it. Don't you imagine
it would? If they had any idea who we are, what we believe,
who we believe. But I love those that love him
by God's grace. That's his disciples. We identify
with his people. When somebody says, God, when he saved me, he saved
a wretched, vile, helpless, hopeless. I never would have ever come
to him if he hadn't come where I was. This world would go, well, what
do you mean? But you know what that, if I heard somebody say
that, I would fall in love with them. Wouldn't you? Boy, that's my brother right
there. That's my brother. When I hear somebody say salvation
is not by choice or by free will, it's by sovereign, free, effectual,
distinguishing grace. Well, that'd make some people
mad, but that boy, somebody that'll confess him like that. Immediately. When you go visit
somewhere, another assembly somewhere, you're immediately family, aren't
you? And that's why. And God's people will do that
wherever God's people are. That's where the rest of his
people will be. They're in that same area. They'll
find each other and they'll get together and they'll worship
together. Moses, look at what he remember
what he told him to do. He said, you come and stand with
me. There was a place for them to
gather. Everybody that was on the Lord's
side, there was a place for them to gather and there still is.
He didn't say raise your hand or hold up a sign that says I'm
on the Lord's side. That won't be necessary. Just
come stand where the other ones are standing that love the Lord
and are on his side. That's how you're identified. I wouldn't have wanted to be
anywhere near those ones that didn't. Would you? And I don't. I don't. I have no desire. and no fellowship and nothing
in common with those that hate my Savior. And when they gather
together, that's the last place I want to be. Still an indicator, isn't it,
of the Lord's people. You'll find them together somewhere.
The Lord said where two or three are gathered in my name, that's
where I am. And we gather together Not to
worship the golden calf of prosperity and promotion of man's glory.
That's what they were about. They were reveling in the flesh
and in themselves and in their will. We're going to do what
we want to do. Moses is gone. Let's just do what we want to
do. And that's what religion still does. They defy God openly
and just decided to do what they think is the thing to do. And
they call it a worship, just like they did then. Remember
earlier in the chapter when they say we're gonna offer some sacrifice.
It's gonna be a day unto the Lord Unto Jehovah. No, it's not It's gonna be a bunch of reveling
in the flesh and it still is Glory in the flesh and in the
will of man in the works of man and everybody's bragging on everybody
else And everybody's got to be some kind of a teacher because
we don't want to hurt nobody's feelings It's all about the flesh. It's not about the promotion
of the flesh, which is what that golden calf symbolizes, and it's
not about the entertainment of the flesh, which was what all
of their dancing and drinking symbolized. We don't have a movie projector.
We don't have a McDonald's. We don't have a bookstore. We
don't have clowns and wrestlers and celebrities. What's the point
of that? The flesh. The entertainment
of the flesh. We gather together in His name. In His name. To worship Him. To learn of Him. to glorify Him,
to honor Him, to show forth Him. He said, you show my death when
you observe these ordinances, to preach Him. That's where God's
people are going to be. Who's on the Lord's side? That's
the question. They're all together. And really, our entire lives
will reflect whose side that we're on. And not just when we
gather to worship. Our whole life will reflect that. Titus 1 16 Paul talked of those
he said they profess that they know God You know anybody like
this, but in works they deny him They say I'm on the Lord's
side if you asked him that they'd say I'm on the Lord's side But in works they deny him being
abominable and disobedient and into every good work reprobate The kind of faith that doesn't
work, James said, is dead. And it's ironic that the very
ones who trust in their works for salvation are the ones whose
works betray that they don't know the Lord. They want to be saved by their
works, and then they don't ever want to do anything for God.
If you trust the Lord Jesus Christ alone and have committed your soul unto
him against that day as Paul said he had. I know that he's
able, I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've
committed unto him against that day. It will affect your whole
life. Who is on the Lord's side? That's
a good question, isn't it? I ask myself tonight. Let's pray
together.