<“Exodus: Response to the Commandments
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A Sermon by Dr. Bob Griffin, Teaching Elder at Sovereign Grace Church
I. FALSE PERCEPTION OF GOD
A. OUTWARD REACTION
>>1. ANTICIPATION
Ex 19:17-19 Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. (Deut 5:23; Ex 19:21; 20:1)
>>2. ANTICLIMAX
Ex 20:18-19 Now when all the people heard the thunder accompanied by fireballs, and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” (Is 6:1-5; Rev 1:17; Ex 33:18; Mt 5:17-48; Phil 3:6)
B. INWARD REACTION
>>1. TESTING BY GOD
Ex 20:20 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of Him may be before you, that you may not sin.” (I Jn 4:18-19)
>>2. DREADING THE TEST
Ex 20:21-22 The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. And the LORD said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven. (Ex 31:18)
II. FAST PLUNGE INTO IDOLATRY
A. FORTY DAYS LATER
>>1. PEOPLE WITHOUT CHARACTER
Ex 32:1-3 When the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods that will lead us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” So, Aaron said to them, “Tear off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So, all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. (Ex 25:1-7)
>>2. LEADER WITHOUT CHARACTER
Ex 32:4 Aaron received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” (Deut 32:17)
B. WICKED HEARTS
>>1. WORSHIP OF GOD TO AN IDOL
Ex 32:5-6 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.” And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to revel.
>>2. WAYS OF EGYPT
Ex 32:7-8 And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'”
>>3. REPLACE WITH MOSES
Ex 32:9-10 The LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Therefore, let Me alone that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”
III. FINAL PLEA FOR MERCY
A. MINISTRY OF INTERCESSION
>>1. PLEADING FOR HIS PEOPLE
Ex 32:11-13 But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.'”
>>2. RELENTING FORM ANGER
Ex 32:14 And the LORD relented from the disaster that He had spoken of bringing on His people.
(Num 23:19; Ps 106:19-23)
>>3. BRINGING GOOD NEWS
Ex 32:15-18 Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and back they were written. The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” But he said, “It is not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear.” (Jer 31:33)
B. MINISTRY OF JUSTICE
>>1. JUDGMENT ON THE PEOPLE
Ex 32:19-20 And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it.
>>2. EXCUSES OF AARON
Ex 32:21-24 And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?”
And Aaron said, “Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. For they said to me, ‘Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ So, I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ They gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.” (Prov 28:13; Deut 9:20)
C. PENALTY FOR BREAKING THE COMMANDMENTS
>>1. STANDING AGAINST EVIL
Ex 32:25-29 And when Moses saw that the people had lost all moral restraint (for Aaron had let this happen, to the derision of their enemies), then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the LORD’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. And he said to them, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.'” And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men died. And Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for the service of the LORD, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.” (Jdg 17:6; Prov 14:12)
>>2. WILLING SIN-BEARER
Ex 32:30-35 The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” So, Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.”
But the LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.” Then the LORD sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made. (Ex 22:20; I Pet 3:18; II Cor 5:21)