I have quoted many times a line
from that song, a sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made
him so. And I've loved that quote, but
I've never heard that song before. That was such a blessing to hear
that. And I had the words so I could follow along and I want
to hear that a lot more. Would you turn back to Acts chapter
seven while you're turning there. Tonight, I'm going to be preaching
upon knowing His love. And we're going to observe the
Lord's table. And the Lord said, this do. This is a command. This do in
remembrance of me. And somebody may wonder, well,
why do you do it on Sunday nights instead of Sunday mornings? There's
more people here on Sunday mornings. Well, they did it at night then,
and we're going to do it the same way they did it, as best
as we can, and that's why. But this do in remembrance of
me. Back to Acts chapter 7, this
is a part of the message that Stephen was stoned to death for.
After preaching this message, look what took place in verse
54. When they heard these things,
they were cut to the heart and they gnashed on him with their
teeth. But he being full of the Holy
Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory
of God. and Jesus standing on the right
hand of God. And he said, behold, I see the
heavens opened and the son of man standing on the right hand
of God. Then they cried out with a loud
voice and stopped their ears and ran upon him with one accord
and cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses
laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul,
and they stoned Stephen calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit. And he kneeled down and cried
with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this into their charge. And
we'd said this, he fell asleep. This sermon cost this man his
life. Now let's go back to verse 38. This is he that was in the church
in the wilderness. And most people think of the
church beginning after the resurrection of Christ or during the life
of Christ, but not at all. The church was in the wilderness.
You see, the church is the church of Jesus Christ, the church of
God's elect, the people Christ died for. Husbands, love your
wives, even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. Don't look at the church as something
that just began 2000 years ago. The church represents every believer
to ever live. And he speaks of the church in
the wilderness. This is he that was with the church in the wilderness,
which the angel would speak to him in Mount Sinai, talking about
the giving of the words of God, the law to Moses. And with our
fathers who received the lively oracles, the living words to
give unto us, talking about when God wrote the law with his own
hand. And here was our response and our father's response. to
whom our fathers would not obey. Now, that would be a good summary
of the life of every man and woman and boy and girl in this
room. They would not obey. That describes me. That describes
you. but thrust him from them, verse
39, but thrust him from them and in their hearts turned back
again into Egypt. That's where they wanted to be.
They wanted to go back to Egypt. After all God had done for them,
they wanted to go back to Egypt. Saying unto Aaron, verse 40,
make us gods to go before us. For as for this Moses, look at
this contempt they speak of Moses, which brought us out of the land
of Egypt. We want not as become of him.
Now he told them that he's going to go up in Sinai and to tarry
for him and he would return. They knew that, but they acted
like they didn't. That's the way people do. They hear, but they act like
they don't. Now here's what they did in this
reminds me of a modern day worship service. And they made a calf
in those days and offered sacrifice unto the idol, the man made God. And here's Stephen's summary
of it. They rejoiced in the work of
their own hands. Now, let me repeat, this reminds
me of a modern day worship service and natural religion, you have
a man made God. And we know that they call this
God Jehovah. We're going to look at that in
a moment. They call this God Jehovah. They didn't say this
is a different God. This is Jehovah. This is a representation
of Jehovah. And Stephen says, it was them
rejoicing in the works of their own hands. They forged an idol,
offered sacrifices to that idol, and rejoiced in the works of
their own hands, rejoicing in a God they had made. And as we're
going to look at the Exodus 32 account, you're going to see
that this resembles most of what is called worship in our day,
making a man-made God and sacrificing So what I'd like you to do is
turn to Exodus chapter 32. This is what he's referring to. And Lord willing, for the next
three Sundays, we're going to consider Exodus 32, Exodus 33,
and Exodus 34. Because through this event, God
himself gives us a description of himself and the gospel that's
so clear. And so as God always does, he
brings good out of evil. But this is the most, it's as
terrible a sin as has ever been committed, what they did. After
all the Lord had done for them and then making this golden calf
and saying, these be thy gods, O Israel. Now back to Exodus
32. Verse one, and when the people
saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, we know
he was there for 40 days and 40 nights. And he told him that
he would be there. And he said, Terry for me, and
I'll come back down. But when the people saw Moses
delayed to come down out of the mount, they wanted some kind
of instant gratification. The people gathered themselves
together unto Aaron and said unto him, up, make us God's which
shall go before us for as for this Moses, the man that brought
us up out of the land of Egypt, we what not is become of him. Now, Moses didn't bring them
up, the Lord did. The Lord did. And somebody says,
how could these people be so evil that they would reject the
word of God and make a golden calf and follow it? How could
they do that? Same way me and you will do it
if the Lord doesn't permit it. I hope you believe that. I think
of when the Lord said, one of you shall betray me. How did they answer? Is it I? Is it I? I hope the Lord will
give us that attitude as we hear the gospel. Is it I? I fear that I would think I know
who it'll be, and I'll think of somebody else. And if I do
that, I show how blind I am to myself. Is it I? Let's go on reading. Verse two. 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. Now, Aaron, according to the
Psalms, was a saint of the Lord. He was a believer. No doubt about
that. And he was also a very weak man
who so easily caved in to popular opinion. When Moses leaves him
in charge, we see what takes place. He gives in to the desires
of the people. He says, bring me your earrings.
I think there's something significant to that. Faith cometh by hearing
and something was going to be going on with their hearing.
He said, you bring me your earrings. Verse four, and he received them
at their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool after he'd
made it a golden calf. And they said, these be thy gods,
O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it and Aaron
made proclamation and said, tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. Jehovah. He wasn't saying we're worshiping
this golden calf. He was saying this golden calf
represents Jehovah. And tomorrow we're going to have
a feast to the Lord. Verse six, and they rose up early
on the morrow and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. They brought every kind of offering,
but the sin offering. And the people sat down to eat
and drink and rose up to play. Now we got that going on all
over Lexington, Kentucky and all over the world this morning. This would be an accurate description
of man's religion, using the Lord's name, blending it with
error, making a man-made God and rejoicing in the work of
our hands. It's a willful rejection of the
truth. And that's what is going on so
much right now as we speak. Verse seven, and the Lord said
unto Moses, Get thee down, for thy people, which thou broughtest
out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. Now notice,
he doesn't call them my people at this time. He calls them thy
people. The implication being, these
aren't my people, these are your people, Moses. Verse eight, they've
turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They've
made them a molten calf, a man-made God, and have worshipped it,
and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, these be thy gods,
O Israel, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt. The Lord said unto Moses, I've
seen this people, and behold, it's a stiff-necked people, a
rebellious people, a hard-hearted people. Now therefore, let me
alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, that I may
consume them, and I'll make of thee a great nation. Now, I can
get rid of them, And my promise will still be true with regard
to Abraham and Isaac, because you came through them. I'll just
get rid of all them and start over and make a thee a great
nation. These people need to be destroyed.
Now, I have to say this. The Lord never purposed to destroy
them, or he would have. But he was using this to make
Moses pray. You see, all the Lord does, he
does through the prayers of his people. That is amazing. He is
going to do something. He impresses his people to pray
for it. And then that's what he does.
Now look at Moses and what a type of Christ he is here. Verse 11,
and Moses besought the Lord, his God. He loved these people
as bad as they were. He loved them. And Moses besought
the Lord his God and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against
thy people, which thou has brought forth out of the land of Egypt
with great power and with a mighty hand? I didn't do this, you did
it. And they're not my people, they're your people. He's reminding
the Lord of this. These are your people. Now, verse
12. 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.
And we know from Numbers 14, when the Lord's getting ready
to kill them because they wouldn't believe the spies and wouldn't
enter the promised land, Moses says, the people will hear that
you were not able to save them, so you destroyed them in the
wilderness. Now he is using this argument, you're the one that
brought him out, these are your people, that you brought out
by your grace. And this would discredit your
name before the nations if you go ahead and destroy them and
kill them. Then he 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 anger, and
repent of this evil against thy people. Remember, and he appeals
to the covenant, Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel thy servants,
to whom thou swearest by thine own self. and says unto them,
I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven and all this
land that I've spoken of will I give your seed and they shall
inherit it forever. And the Lord repented of the
evil, which he thought to do unto his people. Now, what about
that scripture says the Lord is not a man that he should repent.
Does the Lord ever change his mind? No, but this is given to
let us know in his dealings with Moses, this great type of Christ,
he's going to cause him to ask for mercy for this people. And that's what Moses did. So the Lord repented of the evil,
which he was going to do to this people. Now, this ought to be
an encouragement to every one of us. Who can tell what the
Lord will do? I know everything's determined,
but I'm gonna ask him for mercy. I'm gonna ask him for grace.
I'm gonna ask him to do something for me and for you. And every
reason to, just like Moses did. Now, verse 15. And 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 their sides. On the one
side and on the other, they were written. And the tables were
the work of God. The writing was the writing of
God, graven upon the tables. God wrote this. I know most of
us, I guess, have seen that movie, The Ten Commandments, where the
stuff goes and starts rotting on a rock. I don't know how it
happened, but God did write it. God did write it. God wrote this
book. This book is God's holy word,
the living oracles of God. Verse 17. And when Joshua heard
the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses,
there's a noise of war in the camp. And he said, it's 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. And it came to pass as soon as
he came nigh into the camp that he saw the gold, the calf and
the dancing And Moses' anger waxed hot. This is when the people
had rose up to play. And he cast the table out of
his hands and break them beneath the mount. He lost his temper.
He did that a lot. Moses had an issue with his temper
and he was angry. And verse 20, he took the calf
which they made. and burnt it in the fire, and
ground it into powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the
children of Israel drink of it." That God that they had made is
going to come out in human excrement. That's what God thinks of their
man-made God. And Moses makes them drink of
it. Verse 21, and Moses said unto
Aaron, What did this people unto thee that thou brought so great
a sin upon them? And Aaron said, not let not the
anger of my Lord wax hot. You know the people that they're
set on mischief. And that word mischief is the
word that's generally translated evil. They're set. on evil. Once again, a very accurate description
of you and I. Set on evil. Verse 24, 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, what not is become of him. And I said unto them, whosoever
hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it to me,
then I cast it into fire, and out came this calf. He couldn't
take responsibility for what he did. He didn't say, I fashioned
it with a graving tool. He was a very weak man and weak
men never take responsibility for what they've done. And he
said, out came this calf. Verse 25. And when Moses saw
that the people were naked, for Aaron had made them naked into
their shame among their enemies. Now this word naked is not the
word that's This is the only time it's translated naked. It's
not the same word where Adam and Eve were naked and were not
ashamed and went after the fall. They said we were naked. This
is a completely different word. It means without restraint. Without restraint. Do you have
any idea what you would become without restraint? The Lord left these people to
themselves and they were without restraint. And look what they
did. You know, all the Lord has to
do to harden our hearts is leave us alone. Doesn't take anything
else. Leave us alone. You see, these
hearts are naturally set on evil. And these people were acting
without restraint. Then Moses, verse 26, stood at
the gate of the camp and said, who is on the Lord's side? And that's what I titled this
message. It took me a long time to get to the title and I'm going
to just speak a few minutes. So don't anybody worry about
the length of the introduction. Who is on the Lord's side? I've
had preachers do that. They give a 45 minute... Now, one thing I want us to notice
is Moses does not ask, which side are you on? But whose side are you on? That's
the issue. You're either on the Lord's side
or you're on man's side. Right now, as I speak, you're
either on the Lord's side or you're on man's side. Whose side are you on? Now, men love to take sides. You see, the side you're on makes
you a little better than the side the other fellow's on. Men
love to take sides, right wing or left wing. Republican or Democrat? Rich or poor? Pro-choice or pro-life? Conservative or liberal? Protestant
or Catholic? Calvinist or Arminian? Contemporary
or traditional worship? In some churches, we have both
services. Smorgasbord, pick what you want. Whose side are you on? That is the issue. Who is on
the Lord's side? That's what he asked. Who is
on the Lord's side? You remember when Joshua, before
the conquest of Jericho, saw the man with the drawn sword
in his hand, and he said, are you on our side? Or are you on
the side of our adversaries? He said, neither. I'm the captain
of the Lord of hosts. I don't take sides. I'm the Lord. Now the question is, are you
on his side? Are you on the Lord's side? You and I right now are either
on the Lord's side or we're on man's side. There is no neutral
ground. You're either for the Lord or
you're against him. You're either on His side or
you are on man's side. Now, if you can hear the gospel
and think, this is not fair. It's not fair for God to elect
some and pass by others. It's not fair for Christ to die
for some and not die for others. It's not fair Whenever I use
that kind of language or that kind of thinking, all I'm saying
is I'm on man's side. I'm not on the Lord's side. Now, would you please give me
your very careful attention? The Lord's side. The Lord's side and man's side. God's will and man's will. God's sovereign will and what
men call man's free will. Now, if you're on the side of
man's free will, you're not on the Lord's side. The Lord's side
is his will being done in everything. If you're on the side of man's
free will, you're against God's sovereign will. You're saying
man's free will has control over God's sovereign will. You're
on man's side. If you're on the Lord's side,
you want his will to be supreme in all things, if you're on his
side. Now, if you're not on his side, you don't feel that way.
But if you're on the Lord's side, you rejoice in his sovereign
will and you tremble at the thought of man's will having anything
to do with anything. You don't want that. Not if you're
on the Lord's side. The Lord's side is where he gets
all the glory. This is so important. This is
what's more important to the Lord than anything else to Himself.
It's His own glory. Somebody says, well, isn't that
egotistical? You're on man's side if you say something like
that. You haven't really seen and gloried
in and rejoiced in the Lord's side. Now, in this thing of salvation,
this is the issue. This is the issue. Who gets the
glory? Now, in man's religion, you have
God willing all men to be saved, and God loving all men the same,
and Christ shedding His blood for every man without exception,
making salvation possible for all men, and God the Holy Spirit
calling all men. Yet in that group, some are lost
and go to hell, and some are saved. Now if that's the case,
if you have one man being saved that God loved and that Christ
died for and that God willed their salvation, and you have
man being lost that God loves and willed their salvation and
Christ died for, who gets the glory? Not God. He did the same thing
for one that he did for the other. God doesn't get the glory in
that picture. Man does. And if you're a believer, you
utterly reject anything where man gets any glory because you're
on the Lord's side. The Lord's side is the side of
salvation by grace alone. The only way he gets all the
glory is that salvation is all of grace. Now, what does grace
mean? Let me cut through the chase.
Election. God choosing who would be saved
before time began. If you don't believe that, you
give man the glory. But if you're on the Lord's side,
you give him all the glory, don't you? You glory in his choice
of his people. I think of on the Lord's side
is being saved only by his righteousness. Man's side is man getting some
of the glory in salvation, human righteousness. Do you know what
it is to trust only his righteousness? It doesn't have anything to do
with your personal righteousness. Do you know what that is? If
you do, you're on the Lord's side. If you don't, really you're
on man's side. You've never bowed the knee to
the Lord Jesus Christ. On the Lord's side is faith alone. You look to Christ only as the
only reason you have any hope that God looks in favor toward
you. You look to Christ only. Man's side, you look to something
in you to give you some hope of your salvation. Now, which
side are you on? I could go on and on with this.
If you're on the Lord's side, you look to his word only. The
only place you find what you believe is found in the word
of God. What you really think about God
is seen by how you respond to his word. If you're on man's
side, You look to human traditions and what we've always been taught
and what we've always believed. Whose side are you on? Are you on the Lord's side or
are you on man's side? Back to verse 26. Then Moses
stood in the gate of the camp and said, who is on the Lord's
side? Let him come to me. There has
to be a public avowal. 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 the 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. Now, if you're on the Lord's
side, Strap on your sword and slay. Now, are you suggesting that
we ought to kill people that don't believe the way we do?
Of course not. Of course not. But you slay anything in you
that's contrary to the Lord's side. Slay it. Strap on your sword. Stab anything. and everything
that's contrary to the Lord's side. Verse 29, For Moses had said, Consecrate
yourself today to the Lord, even every man upon his son and upon
his brother, that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day. Consecrate yourselves to the
Lord. Follow the Lord fully, don't
be half-hearted. Be all in. Be all in. The gospel that I'm preaching,
if it's true, it's of infinite importance. If it's false, it's
of no importance. But the one thing it cannot be
is moderately important. Consecrate yourselves fully. We can't expect his blessing
without it. Consecrate yourselves fully. Don't be a part-timer. Don't
be half-hearted. Consecrate yourselves this day
to the Lord. Verse 30. And it came to pass
on the morrow that Moses said unto the people, you sinned a
great sin. He realizes the magnitude of
this sin. And now I'll go up into the Lord
and peradventure, I shall make an atonement for your sin. Now,
Moses is a type of Christ here. And Moses returned unto the Lord
and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin and that made
them gods of gold. He doesn't diminish what they
did. Yet now. If thou will forgive their sin. And if not. Blot me, I pray thee,
out of the book which thou hast written. Now, I wish I could
enter into that. But you know, the Lord said to
his father, if they're not forgiven, blot me out. And that's exactly
what the Lord did to him. So they would be forgiven. Moses is a type of Christ. On the behalf of every one of
his people, He said, blot me out of the book for them. And
that's why I died on Calvary's tree. My sin, and listen, this
is the gospel. My sin became his sin that he
was guilty of. And the justice of God fell upon
him and killed him. And his very righteousness is
given to me. God raised him from the dead.
He didn't stay dead. God raised him from the dead
because he completely satisfied God. Now Moses, I don't know
what all he was thinking when he said this, but he said, forgive
him. And if you don't blot me out of the book, Moses was a
type of Christ, but Moses was not the Christ. And Moses, a
mere man is not going to be telling the Lord what to do. So look
how the Lord replies. And the Lord said unto Moses,
whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my
book. Therefore now go lead the people
into the place of which I've spoken unto thee. Behold, mine
angel shall go before thee. Nevertheless, in the day when
I visit, I will visit their sin upon them. And the Lord plagued
the people because they had made the calf which Aaron made." Now,
while we admire Moses, it kind of sounds like Paul when he said, I could be accursed if my brethren,
according to the flesh, could be saved. What an attitude. And I admire Moses, but Moses
is not going to tell the Lord what to do. No man is going to
tell the Lord what to do. I think of even when the Lord's
mother said they'd have him wine. He said, woman, what have I to
do with thee? No human being. is going to be dictating to the
Lord what to do. And he's not going to let Moses
do that. But I ask you, we'll look at chapter 33 next week,
Lord willing, but I ask you, whose side are you on? Are you on the Lord's side or
are you on man's side? And I know this, Everybody was once only on man's
side. And everybody God saves, he causes
them to be on the Lord's side. And that's the side you're interested
in being on. Let's pray together. Lord, I ask in Christ's blessed
name, that you would make everybody in this room, for Christ's sake,
to be on the Lord's side. In Christ's name we pray, amen.