Would you turn back to Exodus
32? I'm asking myself and I'm asking
you a question. Am I on the Lord's side? I'm not asking, is he on my side?
I'm asking, am I on the Lord's side? Let's read this passage
of Scripture together. You remember What has taken place? The children of Israel have made
a golden calf and worshipped it. And Moses comes down in anger. We read in verse 25, 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 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. 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, Moses is angry, and he looks
at these idolatrous, naked people and says, Who is on the Lord's
side? Now, you can imagine that bunch,
what it must have looked like, and he says just generally to
everybody, Who is on the Lord's side? And we just had the Democratic
and the Republican conventions. And people are taking sides. People are very zealous about
the side they take. But this is infinitely more important. Who is on the Lord's side? Then Moses said, Let him come
to me. They were to make a public avowal
of it in front of everybody. And then he said, Strap on your
swords and look in verse 29 of Exodus chapter 32. For Moses had said, Consecrate
yourselves today to the Lord, even every man upon his son,
upon his brother, that he may bestow upon you a blessing this
day. God's blessing would not come
upon them apart from them slaying their brothers, their companions,
their neighbors who were not on the Lord's side. I've entitled this message, Who's
on the Lord's Side? And I'm asking myself the question,
am I on the Lord's side? The Lord has a side. The issue, I repeat, is not,
is he on your side? That's not even an issue. Are
you on his side? Let me show you that in scripture.
Turn with me to Joshua chapter 5. This is Joshua's vision of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Joshua chapter 5, beginning in
verse 13. And it came to pass, when Joshua
was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes, and looked, and
behold, there stood a man over against him, with his sword drawn
in his hand. And Joshua went unto him, and
said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? I'm sure
he wanted to know. I mean, this was one of those
pre-incarnate appearances of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I
don't think he knew exactly who he was. He knew he was a mighty
being. And he wanted to know, are you
on our side or are you on the side of our enemies? That's what
we want to know. And look how the Lord answered him. And he
said, nay, neither, neither. But as the captain of the host
of the Lord, am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to
the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my
Lord unto his servant? And the captain of the Lord's
host, the Lord Jesus Christ, said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe
from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. Are you Am I on his side? Now, we either are or we are
not. We are either for him or we are
against him. We are either on his side or
we are on the devil's side. I like Bob Dylan's song. You may be an ambassador. to
England or France. You may like to gamble. You may
like to dance. You may be the heavyweight champion
of the world. You may be a socialite with a
long string of pearls, but you're going to have to serve somebody.
Yes, indeed, you're going to have to serve somebody. It may
be the devil and it may be the Lord, but you're going to have
to serve somebody. Now, which side we are on will
determine where we spend eternity. Whose side am I on? Now, before God saves somebody,
they are on the devil's side. Now, I want you to listen to
me real carefully. I don't want you to miss this. Before God
saves somebody, they are on the devil's side by nature, the scripture
says, the children of wrath, even as others. Now, few people would admit or
even be conscious of being on the devil's side. I haven't met
very many people who would say, I'm on the devil's side. Matter
of fact, I don't know if I've ever met anybody that actually
said that. People could be afraid to make an admission like that.
But yet, if I'm not a believer, if I'm not a follower of the
Lord Jesus Christ, I'm on the devil's side, and this is expressed
by being on man's side. If I'm on man's side, I'm not
on God's side. Now, I want you to think about
that. If I'm on man's side, I'm not on God's side. Now, let me
try to illustrate what I'm talking about. This being on man's side
as opposed to being on God's side is seen real clearly in
men's objections to the gospel. Let me give you some examples.
For instance, how many times, and I bet you thought this, I
bet you thought this, you've been reading the Bible, you've
been reading in the Old Testament, And you read where the Lord tells
them to exterminate everybody, kill everybody, kill all the
men, women, and children, and the animals, just exterminate
them all. And you just think, boy, that seems harsh. That seems
harsh. There are some of those stories,
for instance, like what about when Jehu's daughter comes out
and he has to sacrifice her? And all these stories that just
almost creep you out. They're so severe. And somebody
says, Now, how could the Bible be the inspired word of God when
God is telling people to just wipe out everybody? How could
that be true? How could the Bible be God's
holy word if he's telling people to just wipe out men, women and
children? Well. How could a loving God tell? men to wipe out these nations.
Now, here's the point I want to make. A loving God doesn't.
But a just God does. Let me show you a passage of
scripture in Deuteronomy chapter 9. Deuteronomy chapter 9. You see, men, this man, these men and
women I'm looking at, all men deserve If God gives us what
we deserve, he'll send us to hell. He'll wipe us out. It's an act of God's justice.
God's a just God. He's a just God and he's a savior. Thank God for that. He's merciful.
He's gracious, but he's a just God. That's why he exterminated
these nations. Look in Deuteronomy 9, verse
7. I've got the wrong scripture
down. To do it, it's a Deuteronomy.
Wait just a second. See if I can find it. OK, look in verse one. Hero Israel,
Deuteronomy 9 verse one hero Israel. Thou art to pass over
Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier
than thyself, cities great, fenced up to heaven, a people great
and tall, the children of the Anacons, whom thou knowest, and
of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children
of Anak?" Now understand, therefore, this day, that the Lord thy God
is he which goeth over before thee as a consuming fire, he
shall destroy them. and he shall bring them down
before thy face, so shalt thou drive them out and destroy them
quickly, as the Lord hath said unto thee, Speak not thou in
thine heart, after the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before
thee, saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me to possess
the land. No, but for the wickedness of
these nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee, not
for thy righteousness, For the uprightness of thine heart dost
thou go to possess their land. But for the wickedness of these
nations, the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee,
that he may perform the word, the promise which the Lord sware
unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understand, therefore,
that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess
it for thy righteousness, for thou art a stiff-necked people."
Now, I want you to think about that. All these judgments, these
judgments that God give to these nations, he kills them all. It's
an act of his justice. He's a just God. Now, my question
is, whose side are you on? Man's or God's? Look at people's
objections to the gospel. The first thing that comes to
my mind, and I know how I had to deal with, how can it be fair
for God to elect some and pass by others? How could that be
fair? Now that shows how warped our
way of thinking is. Fair is God sending us all to
hell. Do you really believe that? You know, I believe, I believe
I'm an evil person in and of myself. And I believe that if
God gave me what I deserve, he'd send me to hell right now. I
really believe that. I know that's so. And to say, how could it
be fair for God to elect some and pass by others? That's being
on man's side. What about the Lord's side? It's
a mercy that he chooses some, and he chooses a whole bunch.
Thank God for that. Or people say, how could it be
fair? How could God be just? How could
it be fair for Jesus Christ to die for just some and not for
everybody? I mean, everybody ought to have
the same equal chance. How could that be fair? That is saying
that we, that God owes us giving his son, that's being on man's
side. That's taking man's part rather than the Lord's side.
Who's on the Lord's side? There's so many examples of that
in men's objections to the gospel. For instance, here's another
thing. How could it be fair for people who have never heard the
gospel? You know, most people in this planet have never heard
the gospel. There are billions who've never
had the Bible opened, they've never heard the gospel, and somebody
says, well, how could that be fair? For God to send those people
to hell when they've never heard the gospel? Isn't it all right
for God to send an innocent heathen to hell? Well, he won't. If you
can find me an innocent heathen, the reason God sends men to hell
is because they've sinned against him. That's taking man's side
instead of the Lord's side. Who is on the Lord's side? That's the question. Am I on
the Lord's side? I'll tell you where this really
comes out. Family members. I've seen this happen so much.
Now, my mother doesn't believe that way. My dad doesn't believe
that way, but if what you're saying is so, that means you
think they're not saved. I won't have that. I know my
mom's not saved. Now, whose side are you on? The
Lord's side or your mom's side? Whose side are you on? Who is on the Lord's side? Turn with me to Matthew chapter
10. Hold your finger there and we'll get back to Exodus in a
minute, but Matthew chapter 10. Verse 34. Think not that I'm
come to send peace on earth. Now, these are the words of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Think not that I'm come to send peace on
the earth. Well, he's come to make everybody get along. No,
he hadn't. I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at
variance, at opposition against his father and the daughter against
her mother and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and
a man's foes. shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son or
daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh
not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. He that
findeth his life, he's going to lose it. And he that loses
his life for my sake, the same shall find it." Now, let God
be true. and every man a liar. Shall not
the judge of the earth do right? Who is on the Lord's side? Am I on the Lord's side? Now, somebody doesn't believe
the gospel. They're not on the Lord's side. They're on man's
side. They're on the devil's side.
They are opposed to the Lord. He that is not for me is against
me. There is no neutral ground. You cannot say, I have no affiliation. Who is on the Lord's side? Now, the Lord has a side and
it's identifiable. The Lord has a side. It's the right side. And it's
right because it's His side. He doesn't do something because
it's right. It's right because He does it. And whatever He does
is right. Do you believe that? Shall not
the judge of the earth do right? I have such confidence in that.
Whatever the Lord does is right. I'm on His side. I'm on His side. I agree with Him. Whatever He
does, I agree with. I'm on His side. His glory or man's glory? Which
side are you on? His will or man's will? Which side are you on? His Word or man's Word? Which side are you on? Grace
or works? Which side are you on? Holiness and righteousness or
sin and disobedience? Which side are you on? The Lord has a side. And if you're
on his side, that means he's for you. And that's a wonderful
place to be, isn't it, to have the Lord of glory for you? If
God be for us, now if I'm on His side, that means He's for
me. And if God be for me, who can be against me? I mean, everything,
it's all downhill in that sense. I might have plenty of uphill
battles, but still all downhill because He's for me. He's in
control of everything. If I'm on His side, that means
that He is for me. And everything is working together
for my good. But if I'm not on His side, that
means I'm His enemy. And that means He is against
me. And let me ask you this, if God
be against you, who can be for you? Who is on the Lord's side? And when God saves somebody,
they are on His side. They take sides with God against
themselves. You know, that's what confession
of sin is. When you confess your sin, you take sides with God
against yourself. You agree with God. How can two
walk together except they'd be agreeing? The fact of the matter
is they can't. When the Lord saves somebody, they are on the
Lord's side. Now, when we're on the Lord's side,
We don't object to his way of saving sinners. As a matter of
fact, when we're on the Lord's side, we don't object to anything
he does. We agree with all he does. Now, my agreement doesn't add
anything to it. I agree with that. Well, so what? So whether
I agree with it or not. But when I'm on the Lord's side,
there's a genuine heart agreement with all he does. And I love
the way he saves. I love the way the Lord Jesus
saves. I love being saved by him. I love everything about
his salvation. I love him. Who is on the Lord's
side? Now, was David wrong when he
said, Do not I hate them, Lord, that hate thee? David said that. The man after God's own heart.
Am I not grieved with them that rise up against thee? I hate
them with a perfect hatred, not a fleshly hatred, but a holy
hatred, a perfect hatred. I count them my enemies. Now, David said that under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. You can read it in Psalm 139.
These are the words of the man after God's own heart. Was Paul
too harsh when he said, If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ,
let him be anathema. Maranatha, let him be damned
upon the return of the Lord. Was he too narrow when he said,
if any man preach any other gospel, let him be accursed. Or do I
now persuade men or God, or do I seek to please men? For if
I yet please man, I should not be the servant of Christ. That's the words of Paul in Galatians
chapter one, verse two. Now the Lord has said, That which
is highly esteemed among men is what? An abomination in the
sight of God. Ye that love the Lord hate evil. The Lord has a side. Am I on the Lord's side? Now
let's go back to our text in Exodus 32. Verse 26, Then Moses stood in
the gate of the camp and said, Who is on the Lord's side? Let
him come unto me. There was a public avowal in
being on his side. Whoever's on the Lord's side,
let him come to me. A public confession. You see,
you can't be on the Lord's side in private. It has to be public. The Lord says, whosoever shall
confess me before men, him will I confess before my Father which
is in heaven. But whosoever will deny me before men, him will
I deny before my Father which is in heaven. Now, what does
he mean when he says, whosoever shall confess me before men? That's what it is to be on the
Lord's side. That means you confess him. You confess him before men.
There's always something public about it. You can't do this in
private. What is it to confess the Lord Jesus Christ? Because
I'm not on his side unless I confess him. So what does it mean to
confess publicly the Lord Jesus Christ? I've given you these
things before, but they they bear repeating. First way I confess
the Lord Jesus Christ is by a believer's baptism. I love that passage
of Scripture, Mark chapter 1 verse 4, when it says they were baptized
of him confessing their sins. That doesn't mean they got up
in front of everybody and had to confess all their sins and
wrongdoings and evil works before they could be baptized. No, in
the act of baptism, they were confessing, they were making
a public confession of their sin. I'm saying in the act of
baptism, I'm saying I am so sinful that the only way I can be saved
is if Christ lived for me, and if He died for me, and if He
was raised for me. And that is my confession. Now,
I'll tell you what, the whole Gospel is found in the act of
baptism. Here's what I'm confessing. The only hope I have is that
when He lived, I lived in Him. When He kept the law, I kept
the law. When He died, my sin was punished. When He was raised
and accepted by the Father, I was raised and accepted by the Father.
That's what I confess in believers' baptism. Now, I confess him by
believer's baptism. I confess him by an identification
with the gospel. Paul said, in Acts 24, 14, this
I confess to thee, after the way which they call heresy. And
you know, you think about it. Most people in Lexington, Kentucky
would say, those people at Todd's Road believe heresy. Isn't that
true? Most of them would. They wouldn't
agree with our doctrine. They believe heresy. Now, here's
how Paul dealt with that. He said, This I confess to thee,
that 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 the prophets. I identify with God's truth. I don't care if everybody calls
it heresy. It doesn't matter to me. I identify with the truth. Now, it's only by the grace of
God that I do that. But listen to me. I'm on the
Lord's side. I'm not on man's side. I'm on the Lord's side.
I love that doctrine that gives Him all the glory. That's what
I like. I'm on the Lord's side. I'm on
the side that gives Christ Jesus the preeminence in all things.
I'm on the Lord's side. I confess Him by identification
with His people. You know who my friends are?
Right here. Right here. I identify with the
Lord's people. Birds of a feather flock together
and indeed they do. That's who I want to cast my
lot in with. I want to live and die with the Lord's people. Those
who believe his gospel. I identify with his people and
we confess the Lord by baptism, By identification with the truth,
the gospel, by identification with his people. Remember Paul
said, be not ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner,
but you be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel. And
I confess the Lord by my life, by my conduct, by the things
that I do, how I treat you. That's how I confess the Lord.
And if my actions are contrary to what I say I believe, then
I am denying the Lord. You know, Paul spoke in Titus
1.16 of those who profess that they know God, but in works they
deny Him, being abominable and disobedient and to every good
work reprobate. So when Moses said, Who's on
the Lord's side? Are you on the Lord's side? By
the grace of God, I am. I'm on His, I'm not on man's
side. I'm against myself. I'm on the Lord's side. Now,
he said, whoever's on the Lord's side, let him come to me. There
was a public avowal of that. There was a confession of that.
And then what did he tell them to do? Strap on your sword and
kill everybody that's not on my side. Consecrate yourself
to the Lord, even if it means killing your brother or your
son. Let me show you a couple of scriptures.
Turn to Numbers 25. Numbers 25. And Israel abode in Shittim,
and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of
Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their
gods. And the people did eat and bowed down to their gods.
And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor. And the anger of the
Lord was kindled against Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Take all the heads of the people and hang them up before the Lord
against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned
away from Israel. And Moses said unto the judges
of Israel, Slay ye every one his man that was joined to Baal-peor.
And behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto
his brethren A Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, in the
sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, somebody
who was not an Israelite, who were weeping before the door
of the tabernacle of the congregation. And when Phinehas, the son of
Eliezer, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw it, he rose up from
among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand. And he
went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both
of them through, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly.
So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. That's
what staked the plague. And those that died in the plague
were 20 and 4,000. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Phinehas,
the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, hath turned
away my wrath from the children of Israel, while he was zealous
for my sake among them, that I consume not the children of
Israel in my jealousy. Wherefore, say, Behold, I give
unto him the covenant of my peace. Look over in Deuteronomy chapter
13. And this is a very interesting passage of scripture. Deuteronomy chapter 13, verse
1. If there arise among you a prophet,
or a dreamer of dreams, and gives thee a sign or a wonder, and
the sign of the wonder comes to pass, whereof he spake unto
thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not
known, and let us serve them. Now, the God you haven't known
is the God that hasn't saved you. The God you know is the
God who saved you. How did the Lord save you? That's
the God you know. When you hear the gospel, you
know it's the gospel. When you hear something that's
wrong, you know it's not the gospel. You know it's not doing
you any good. Now let's go on reading. Thou shalt not hearken
unto the words of that prophet, verse 3, that even though his
miracle came to pass, thou shalt not hearken unto the words of
that prophet or the dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God
proveth you. Test you to know whether you
love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul
you shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep
his commandments and obey his voice and you shall serve him
and cleave unto him and that prophet or that dreamer of dreams
shall be put to death because he has spoken you to turn away
from the Lord your God which brought you out of the land of
Egypt and redeem you out of the house of bondage to thrust thee
out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk
in so shalt thou put away evil from the midst of thee. Now go
on reading. The son of a mother or the son or the daughter or
the wife of the bosom or the friend, which is his own soul,
enticing secretly saying, Let us go and serve other God, which
has not known down with our fathers, namely the gods of the people,
which around about you not under the or far off from the from
the one end of the earth, even under the other end of the earth.
Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him, neither
shalt thou not pity him, neither shalt thou spare him, neither
shalt thou conceal him, but thou shalt surely kill him. Thine
hand shall be the first upon him to put him to death, and
afterwards the hands of all the people. And thou shalt stone
him with stones, that he die, because he sought to thrust thee
away from the Lord thy God, which thou brought thee out of the
land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. And all Israel shall
hear and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness that
is among you." Those are some pretty severe scriptures, aren't
they? Am I advocating killing unbelievers? Of course not. They did. They did. But is that what we're supposed
to do? No, you remember when James and John, the Lord sent
them somewhere to preach and they wouldn't receive them. And
they said, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from
heaven and consume them the way Elijah did? And the Lord was
displeased with what they said. He said, you know not of what
spirit you speak. I didn't come to condemn men. I came to save
men. You see, men are already condemned. He didn't even have
to come to condemn men. They're already condemned. He
came to save men. So this is not advocating, you know, killing
people that disagree with us. But we are not to be on man's
side. I'm not going to call somebody
my brother who denies the gospel. That's being on man's side. Somebody
that does not love the Lord cannot understand this. They'll think
this is just... They don't understand zeal for
His glory. They just think this is harsh. This is just too severe. But if you're on the Lord's side,
if I'm on the Lord's side, we will not tolerate that which
is contrary to Him. Now, who's on the Lord's side?
It's a wonderful place to be. Because the Lord's side is the
right side. And I want to be on the right
side, don't you? I want to be on the Lord's side. Now, this
is also the only place of safety. You see, everybody on His side,
He's for. And I'm awful interested in having
God for me. Isn't it a great thing to have
the Lord God for you? Now is anybody thinking, I hope
I'm on the Lord's side, but how can I know for sure? I can tell
you how you can know for sure whether or not you're on the
Lord's side. Do you believe the gospel? Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is your only righteousness before God? Do you believe that His
blood actually washes away sin and makes you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in the very sight of God. Do you believe
that? Do you believe His blood is such that if He shed His blood
for you, you must be saved? Is this who you're relying on? Now, if the answer to that is
yes, it's yes to me. That means you're on the Lord's
side. Who is on the Lord's side? Well,
I'll tell you this. Those who are on his side agree
with all that he says. Now, one final scripture turned
to Joshua 24. Verse 11. And you went over Jordan, and
came unto Jericho. And the men of Jericho fought
against you, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites,
and the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
And I delivered them into your hand. And I sent the hornet before
you, which drave them out from before you, even the two kings
of the Amorites, but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow.
And I have given you a land for which you did not labor. and
cities which you built not, and you dwell in them, of the vineyards
and oliveyards which you planted not, now do you eat? Now therefore,
fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth, and
put away the gods which your father served on the other sides
of the flood and in Egypt, and serve ye the Lord. And if it
seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, If you think, no, I don't
want to serve the Lord, well, choose you this day whom you
will 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. Pick your poison, but as for
me and my house. We will serve the Lord. May God give us the grace to
say that from the very depths of our heart. As for me and my
house, we will serve the Lord. Who's on the Lord's side? Well,
I am. By the grace of God, I am. Let's pray.