← ArchiveExodusSunday, July 2, 2017DateJuly 2, 2017Speaker—TextExodus 32Passages in this sermonExodus 321:022 Peter 3:1416:34TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00Moses, Moses, your fathers called me God and I am Him. I have made you an orphan of grace. I have sustained you in the house of the King. Now see your purpose. For I have heard the cries of my people.0:23I have seen the weight of their oppression. And I have come down to deliver them. And I will stretch out my hand against Egypt and guide my people to a land I have prepared. I will make you my mouthpiece. I will make you a shadow of one greater to come. I will lead you as I have led you. Now go!0:52And you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. If you have your Bibles, and I hope and pray that you do, join me this morning in Exodus chapter 32. A very famous passage. Exodus chapter 32. We find embedded within the narrative of Exodus, the Lord God calling His people from bondage.1:15And we find a momentary, yet paradigmatic paradigm of rebellion. It's something that we still struggle with today. Being in the presence of God, and yet falling and failing miserably. Anyone ever been there? Anyone God bringing you up to the mountaintop and you're like, man, this is awesome. God, look what you're doing in my life.1:44And the next moment, you say, Lord, I just prayed that you'd forgive me of that. And Lord, I've done it again. I failed miserably. We see at the foot of Mount Sinai, Moses receiving the Ten Commandments, the Decalogue, and the instructions for the tabernacle. The chosen community of the Lord, Yahweh, fails to worship the true God. And instead, they exchanged the glory of God for something that is a false representation by their own hands.2:11We would never do that, would we? The Golden Calf episode forces us to ask deep spiritual questions of ourselves. Questions like this, Lord, where am I weak today? God, where am I prone to stumble? God, where do I perceive my strengths?2:37Because in my strengths, Lord, I am often weak. Lord, where am I just allergic? And, Lord, how can I pursue Christ more in my life? So my heart today is this. As we open up God's Word, may the meditations of our mouth and the thoughts of our heart be pleasing to Him. And may God's Word be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.3:04And today, church, I know we're a couple days early, but we declare our independence. We declare our freedom from sin. We declare our independence from ourselves. And we declare our submission to Jesus Christ and Him alone. So if you would, read with me God's Word, verses 1 through 4 of Exodus 32.3:25Exodus chapter 32, the second book in the Bible, the very beginning. When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, "Come, make gods for us who will go before us. Because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him."3:52And Aaron replied to them, "Take off the gold rings." Now, circle that word or highlight that word or mentally remind yourself of that later. "The gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons and your daughters, and bring them to me." So all of the people took off the gold rings that were on their ears and brought them to Aaron.4:17He took the gold from them and he fashioned it with an engraving tool and made it into an image of a calf. Then they said, "Israel, these are your gods who brought you up from the land of Egypt." Let's pray, Father, we need your grace in our lives. Because in our strength and in our own pride and our arrogance, Lord, we are slaves to our sin.4:44And there is no one but you who can deliver us. And so, Lord, our declaration of independence today is that you are our deliverer. In Christ, we find salvation. And Lord, help us choose wisely today. May we not choose the golden calf, but may we run and cling to a gracious God.5:08We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, we're going to look at several questions this morning through God's word. The first is this. What happens when God delays? What happens when God delays? Look at verse 1. The people saw that Moses delayed.5:35I'm reading from the Christian Standard Bible. I switched on you guys several weeks ago for Father's Day. If you had the New King James, you might be a little off. But verse 1. The people saw that Moses delayed in coming down. Now, we see, as with Israel, that often our perception of God's delay leads to our impatience. But oftentimes, God's delay in our life, and I'm going to say delay, every time I say delay this morning, I want to use the air quotes.6:03Right? God's delay often leads to our impatience. You see, impatience lay at the root of the sin in Israel. Now, the text does not say how long Moses was up there. But if you read backwards and you look at chapter 24, we see that it's possible that Moses was on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights.6:26That's a long time. Now, we don't know the exact moment, but obviously, it was long enough for the people to give up hope. What the people are saying here in verse 1 is we don't know what's happened to him. They're saying he probably died. We don't know. Now, keep in mind throughout all this, Moses is on Mount Sinai doing what?6:53He is meeting with God. He's receiving the Decalogue, the 10 words, the commands of God. He is encountering and he's mediating for the community of faith with God himself. And oh, how impatient the people grow when God delays. You see, this propensity not to wait is a character trait that Israel has passed down to us.7:19It's a character trait that our great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather Adam has given us. We are impatient folk, right? And I'm talking to the followers of Christ. We're impatient. When we see God delay, we throw up our hands and say, "God, where are you?" And so here are some temptations that we all face.7:47And may God's grace sustain us during these delays. First is this. Often when God delays, in our minds we are impatient. You know, we have a tendency to be impatient or irritable or restless. Ever feel like that? Ever feel like, "God, you're just not working on my time. God, don't you realize, you know, I have an agenda?" And so we become restless in our lives.8:14Impatience, waiting on the promises of God is a direct result of busyness. And if you're like me, sometimes we're puffed up and we put ourselves on a pedestal. We'll apply that later. Because people ask us, "Well, how's your week going?" And we say what? "Man, it's really busy." You know, don't we all have busy weeks? Well, let's just cut through that, right? And sometimes it's busy to say, "You don't understand what I've been through.8:43If you were walking in my shoes, you would be worn out." As if I don't have as many hours in the day as you do. And that's impatience and it's busyness. And impatience says this, "God, I don't have time to wait." Or busyness says the opposite, "God, I have to keep busy. God, I have to do something." And busyness is not the answer to spiritual sanctification and growth.9:11And how often we become impatient. You see, impatience in our lives always leads to a lack of trust in the promises of Christ. Look at God's people. They said, "We don't know what has happened." And then what do they say next? Aaron, we need gods. So not only are we impatient with the true God, we need to stay busy and we need something else.9:36That's another temptation we face. It is trust. Let me remind us, the world needs to see the community of Christ model patience. The world needs to see you when you're at Walmart and someone has 30 items and you're in the 20 item or less aisle. They need to see you calm down and keep your cool.10:03And you have every right to act a fool. That's your right as an American and that's your right as being in the line of 20 or less. But you know, the world needs to see the community of Christ and you know what, it's okay. I know you have 80 items and you're using coupons. And I know you sent your husband to run back for an item you forgot. In the back of the store, the dairy section.10:31But you know what? The world is not about me. And I'm going to choose to be patient because God is patient with me. The world needs to see us model patience. You say, well, that's not easy. I don't have time for that. Exactly. The world also needs to see us trust. This is a temptation. When God delays or seemingly delays in our life, trust is the confidence placed upon a person.10:55Often in our lives, spiritual delays tempt us to doubt the promises of God. Delays tempt us to doubt the promises of God. And maybe you have some of those promises that God has put on your heart through his word. And you know God has promised me this. Maybe you feel like Abraham and God has promised me that I'm going to be a father of many nations.11:21And hey, dude, I'm 90. And God says, just be patient. Trust me. Trust in my promises. You see, delays of doubt beg the question in our life. God, did I hear you? Ever felt like that? Ever asked that question? God, did I hear you? Right? Or maybe this. God, can you truly do what you say you can do?11:51God, I know what your word says. I know greater is he that is in me than he who is out there. But God, I just don't feel it right now. God, can you really do what you say you can do? And may we as people of God rise up today and say, God, build our trust in the midst of delay and doubt. And maybe that's you right now.12:20Maybe you feel like it's taking way too long. And God doesn't have the same watch that you have. Do not doubt. Do not doubt. Do not doubt. Do not doubt. A third temptation we have is this. When God delays in our life, sometimes we just say, you know what, I'm going to go ahead. Right? I don't have time. And so I'm just going to go ahead and do what I need to do. We see Israel moving forward. Verse two. They say, well, Aaron, apparently this Moses guy, and that's what they say in the Hebrew.12:48It's literally this guy, Moses, you know, that guy, the guy who led us to the promised land and part of the sea and the whole template thing. He's not here. Let's just move on. And don't we struggle with the same thing? Sometimes we struggle with the try harder or run faster technique. We say, God, you're not working right now, so if I just try harder. God, that's what you need. God, you need me to work harder.13:17God, I know you formed everything by the word, the divine fiat. God, I know you spoke and everything was created, but you really need me to work harder. That's how we feel sometimes. And I was reminded last year that oftentimes God's delay is for our good because he is a good and gracious God. And if God is good and gracious and he is delaying in our minds, then he is delaying for our good and for our deliverance.13:46We took the Amtrak, which we love, by the way. My brother-in-law is in route right now on Amtrak. And it just seems like even when we drive, it seems like the stretch from Birmingham to Tuscaloosa is a nightmare. I'm not going to make any type of application there spiritually, but it's just reality, right? For us, there's always been construction in that area for 20 years, it seems like.14:14And so we get delayed on Amtrak for an hour. I'm like, what is going on? I'm going to go up there and just, look, it's just a lever. Let's just push it. But the conductor knew something I did not. The conductor knew that there was a freight train barreling the other way towards us. And the conductor knew. I know some of you are railroad guys.14:42You're going to tell me after it's not a conductor, it's an engineer, okay? The guy who drives, he had to pull over. And that delay frustrated me. Because we have a time schedule. And I'm thankful that I did not have the authority to go ahead with that train. Because if we would have gone barreling at the speed I wanted to, we would have perished, or we would have been hurt or harmed. Because the conductor knew that the delay was for my good.15:11And how much more in our lives spiritually are the delays for our good and for our benefits? And so if you're here this morning and you feel like you're in the midst of a delay, and you're just, God's telling you, wait. That's for your good. It's for your deliverance and your protection. 2 Peter says this, "The Lord does not delay his promise, but as some understand delay,15:33but he is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all come to repentance." Some of us are here today on a freight train or on an Amtrak. And we say, "God, let's go 75 miles an hour. Let's get to our destination." And God is saying to you right now, if you go that speed, you're going to perish.16:00Because I'm not through with you yet. But some of you are here because you don't believe. And God is delaying that you might come to faith in Jesus Christ. Because he is good. And he is a gracious God. Not only for our deliverance, but God often delays for our rest and for our patience. I know what you're thinking. I think I don't have time to delay.16:28That's exactly why God gives it. 2 Peter 3:14. He says, "Therefore, dear friends, while you wait for these things, make every effort to be found at peace with him who is without spot or blemish. Also, regard the patience of our Lord as an opportunity for salvation." Some of you right now are spiritually, you're in the 20 or less checkout.16:55And the person in front of you has 50. And God is saying, "I'm building your sanctification." You're growing in patience. Just as our dear brother Paul has written to you according to the wisdom given to you, I'm reminded in Isaiah those who wait on the Lord, he will renew our strength. They will mount up on wings like eagles. They will walk and not grow weary.17:24We will run and not grow faint. God's delays beg us the question. Will we choose a golden calf? Or will we serve a gracious God? Sometimes in our mind God delays. Church, it is for your good. The second question we see here in this golden calf narrative is in verse 2. Aaron replied to them, "Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives,17:51your sons and your daughters, and bring them to me." So for those of you who struggle, can men wear earrings or not? That's another implication. But it seems like here some of these guys had earrings. And you're going to say, "Well, Aaron told them to take them off." There you go. But this is what's happening with the people. They're trying to exchange the grace of God for a bad, poor shadow.18:16They're changing the grace of God, the glory of God, for something that is weak and empty. You see, Israel, seeing the delay of the leader from the mountain, gathered around the second in command and they wanted a solution. They were longing for the presence of God in their lives. Longing for us to see God face to face. And so they said, "Aaron, let us see God's face to face."18:44Now see that small shift? We want to see the true God face to face, but if we have to see the little gods, that will do. Let's exchange God's grace for a cheaply made human object. In light of the repeated references to gold, it is hard not to see the connection. Now if you were here with us last week, I'm going to task you with homework very quickly. The gold reminds us what?19:14This is not just any gold. The gold that they're taking off, wanting to throw in the fire. Where is this gold coming from? It's more than likely coming from Egypt. When the people escaped, the Bible says that the Egyptians were just throwing gold. They were throwing money at God's people. Like get away. And look, here's some money. Go. Here's gold. And this was a reminder that God is protector and he is provider. But not only that, if you were here with us last week, we looked at the tabernacle and how God wants to dwell with us.19:44Not only want to, but he is dwelling through Jesus Christ in us. And we said the lampstand by itself, the lampstand weighed how much? Anyone awake last week? 75 pounds of gold. The gold is a reminder that God dwells with us in purity and in strength. So what was Israel saying to God?20:13God, we know that you are pure and you are holy and you are deliverer. But you know what? We don't see you working. So let's use this for our glory. And I'm thankful we would never do that, right? Let's unpack some of this. They wanted a concrete point of contact. See, not only did Israel use the gold from God's deliverance, they fashioned it in an image of God that could not compare. Now, let's give Israel a short break.20:43Often in Scripture, God is compared to animals, his strength. You will mount up like wings like eagles. We see God compared to the strength and just the soaring capability. We see that Christ is compared also to the lion of Judah. But never in Scripture is God compared to a cow or a cat. One of our youth is going to get that reference today. So for Israel, they knew that a bull was quintessentially pagan.21:13It was quintessentially pagan. What they were saying is, you know what, God? You're not here, but these gods will do. It's as if we would say, God, we don't really see you. And God, we don't see you working. But you know, the whole church routine or the whole religious system, that will do. We know it's not what you want for me, but you know it's good enough. Have you ever felt like that?21:42Have you ever felt like just putting the good enough in your life? I remember after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans that a lot of the people who were rebuilding had sheetrock. And they didn't know where it was coming from, but it was good enough. It turned out the sheetrock was from China and it was contaminated. And so years later, people were getting sick. And they had to rip out the entire house again because they had put something in their life that was not good enough.22:08And it was harming. It was making them sick. And how much more spiritually when we trade the daily graces of God, the precious metals provided when we use them for cheap imitations. So what are some of those? You know, we're delivered from bondage from our sin. And how quickly do we go back? How quickly do we say, God, thank you for delivering me from this this morning.22:36And that night, we're back in the same sin. Maybe it's, God, you've given me this spiritual gift. And you know what? I just don't have a place or time to use it right now. We trade the grace of God, his gift for our benefit. Maybe it's our time. Maybe we say, God, you've given me this time. But you know what? I want to spend it on my phone or I want to spend it here or there.23:03And God, I know it's not glorifying you. It's not sinful. We trade the grace of God for cheap imitations. Maybe it's this. Maybe it's our money. Maybe we say as a commercialist, my money and I want it now. The truth is for the believer, I own nothing. I own nothing. And if God calls me today, sell everything.23:33The house, the cars, the dog. You can't give him away. I'll have to pay someone to take the dog. But the furniture, the clothes, everything. And if I in that moment say, God, you don't understand. This is mine. And none of us would say, well, we wouldn't do that. Yes, we would. We live in America. And we have so much. And we trade the grace of God for cheap imitations.24:03Maybe our worship. Lord, I want a church that the worship's like, we, that I say it should. God, we need to use this. God, we need special lights. Some of you who are old school are like, yes, I'm thankful he said that. Or maybe if we just use this hymnal. Or if we just sang this song. Or if we just flipped it this way. And how quickly we say, God, it has to be about me and not you. We exchange the grace of God for cheap imitations.24:33And not only that, we, like Israel, not only fashion these calves in our life with the gold that he's given us, but we put them on pedestals. And we worship them. Now, most of you probably have, do not have golden cows in your house on pedestals. But you have something that's more diabolical and it supersedes this. Often for us, the thing that's on that pedestal is you and I.25:01And how often do we speak highly of ourselves more than we should. How's your week going, man? It's been really busy. I just need you to know how hard I work. Because you don't really understand. Or you don't understand what God has given me to do. Or you don't understand what I have or what I need. And how quickly that we take the golden calf off the pedestal.25:27We've taken God off the pedestal and we put ourself. And how ugly of a God we make when we take the grace of Christ in our life. So I ask you today, will you choose a golden calf or a gracious God? Oh, that we would be people who lift high the banner of Jesus Christ and demolish these calves in our life. That we would demolish these.25:55The first question is, God, what happens when you delay? How will we respond in a way that honors you? And God, now, what happens when we're challenged to exchange the glory of you for a false image? But here's another question we have in verse 16. Moses and we see Joshua is there. And God tells Moses, look, you go down there with your people. They are stiff-necked. And I'm going to destroy them.26:26And Joshua and Moses in verse 16 hear a peculiar sound. We see that the tablets were the work of God. And the writing was God's writing engraved on the tablets. That's the Ten Commandments, mind you. And Joshua heard the sound of the people as they shouted. Now, Joshua is a seasoned general. He's a mighty warrior. He's an awesome spy.26:55And he has tremendous trust in the Lord. And so he hears this. He said to Moses, there is sound of war in the camp. So Joshua is saying, let's go fight. Joshua is ready. Let's go kill some bad guys. And Moses said this. Moses replied, it is not the sound of a victory cry. And it is not the sound of a cry of defeat. I hear the sound of singing.27:23The sound of singing. The question we should ask ourselves is this. What sound are we making in our lives? What sound are we making in our lives? We were reminded in this narrative, in this passage of Scripture, that the sound in our life is powerful. Sound has a very powerful element. It jogs our memory and it stirs our heart. For Joshua, he said, man, this is a war.27:53Let's go. And Moses said, that's not the sound of victory. And it's not the sound of defeat because Moses is saying, look, I've heard both. It's the sound of singing. Now, I don't know what song they were singing, but how neat it would be if we had that song. And I'm reminded that memory and sound has a powerful influence in our lives today. The most powerful, recognizable sound in our lives collectively is the sound of a baby giggling.28:16Did you know that? Researchers have said the sound of a baby laughing is the most recognizable and heartwarming sound in our lives. But here's a second branded recognizable sound, and we're going to play that for you. That was like the hip-hop version. Anyone recognize that sound?28:45McDonald's. Some of you are hungry right now. That's right. So McDonald's would be number eight. Do we have any more sound clips? Intel. Now, that's bringing you back. That's bringing back memories in your life. The sound of a phone or ATM cash register. Here's another one that you might recognize.29:21I hear my wife say National Geographic. We have not talked about this sermon. So it is National Geographic. Is that it? I believe that might be all of our sounds. That's a specific ring tone. You recognize the brands. That's the old T-Mobile. So how quickly do those sounds jog our memory? How quickly for Moses and Joshua are those sounds influencing their life?29:47And so I ask you, what sound is your life giving right now? What sound? Someone's hearing cell phones right now. That's not part of the show. But what sound are you making in your life? We know that sounds travel further than we think. The sound of rejoicing, the sound of singing had reached the mountain.30:14And we all are making sounds in our life. Some of us right now are making pleasant sounds. To the Lord, you're singing songs and sounds of grace. But for some of us, you're known as a squeaky wheel. And when others think of you, they say, well, here comes so and so again. It has to be bad. All right. Oh, boy. All right. There they come. Why? Because we're giving off of sounds.30:42Or maybe we're known as, well, you know what? They have a story to tell, but it's not a good story because they're a gossip. Or here comes so and so. It only is bad. So I ask you, what song are you giving that can change this morning? That we would sing songs of victory and freedom. And that the world would see that we are not bowing down to golden calves in our life, but that we are lifting high the noise of the gospel.31:09I was reminded of this. I went to go rent the U-Haul for our trip to Zambia. We began to rent that U-Haul when I was in a local business establishment. And just began to talk to the gentleman about our trip. And talked to him about the Lord. And found out that his daughter had passed away 10 years ago. So we began to talk about Christ. And this is a little, this is not a Taj Mahal, right?31:39It's only two of us. Eli's with me. And about the close. And we're trying to hurry through this. And he pushes the papers back. The U-Haul papers. And he said, I need a moment. And emotions flood his heart and his mind. And we have a chance to pray with him. And to encourage him in Jesus Christ. And I was reminded in that moment. I was not, I had not prayed.32:08Lord, I'm about to rent this U-Haul. I want to make the sounds of grace. But I was reminded in that moment, at all times in my life, we are making the sounds. And I didn't know that by renting a U-Haul in a local business establishment that I was going to meet a man who needed to hear the sound of victory in Jesus. Because 10 years ago, his daughter passed away. And daily, he struggles with that.32:36And I encourage you, if you're going out to eat this afternoon, you don't know the lives that you're going to impact. You don't know the hearts that need a sound of Christ. And so I just say this as we leave here shortly, that we would make the sound of good news. And you say, well, I don't know, I don't have my Bible with me. I don't know how to do that. That if God has given you a song in your heart, you have a song to share.33:03And that we would sing songs about Christ. That when people are on the mountain, they would hear us sing songs of victory. Because God has given you a noise. Church, be noisy for Jesus this week. Oh, that we would choose to make noise to a gracious God. And lastly, we see this. We see that we have a mediator.33:28We have a mediator in Jesus. Verse 21. Moses asked Aaron, what did these people do to you that you have led them into such a grave sin? The answer is nothing. Verse 22. Don't be enraged, my Lord, Aaron says. You yourself know that the people are intent on evil. Yes, we are.33:58They said to me, make gods for us that who will go before us because this Moses. We don't know what has happened to him. So I said to them, whoever has gold, take it off. And they gave it to me. And when I threw it into the fire, out came the calf. Can anyone else see how foolish that is? That's a great translation. Literally, Aaron threw it in there and he said they just jumped out.34:23But this is how this episode ends. Verse 31. Moses returned to the Lord and said, oh, these people have committed a grave sin. They have made a God of gold for themselves. Now, if you would only forgive their sin, but if not, please erase me from the book you have written. Oh, I love that.34:51Moses is praying on behalf of the people. And he essentially says, God, take me instead. We have one in Jesus Christ that for you and for me, when God sent his son to die on Mount Calvary, going through what he was going through, we were still at the bottom making our idols. And there is no excuse, church, there is no excuse for the foolish things that we do.35:18And our excuse is the same as Aaron. God, we just, it just happened. God, we just threw the gold in and boom. And God is saying, no, the intent of your heart is evil. No one in here is good. We are all bad. We've all fallen short. He said, that's a horrible message. It is a biblical message. But the good news is that when we were enemies of God, he sent his son, the mediator, to atone for our sins.35:45And you know why we need to know that? Because when I was not good, Jesus died to save me. And on the days where I think I'm good, I need to remember that I'm not. And it's still Jesus that saves me. Because that very fact, I don't struggle with my salvation. Because I know I've done nothing to earn it.36:12Nothing. You say, well, you're a pastor, you've done something. No, I've done nothing to earn my salvation. There is nothing good in me, but it is Christ who makes me right. The good news of this golden calf narrative is this. It doesn't truly apply to us anymore. And so, pastor, what do you mean? It's God's word. The people of Israel had to have a man pray on their behalf. We don't have that anymore.36:40We don't have that anymore. First Timothy says, there is one God and one mediator between God and humanity. Christ Jesus, himself, human. That we don't have to wait for a priest or a pastor or someone to go to God on our behalf. So if you're struggling with your sin right now, you don't have to wait for Moses. You don't have to pray to a saint.37:07Or you don't have to wait for a holy person to take your place. Jesus Christ paid that for you. He is our mediator. So all of God's words apply, but we have the fulfillment of the law in Christ. And that we now respond in grace in an entirely different way. Because we have one that came to God and said, I will take their place. Moses goes on behalf of the people and says, God, wipe me out of your law.37:34Wipe me out of your book if that's what it takes. But God, I want them to be saved. And this is the same thing that Jesus Christ has done. So before we have a time of response, I want to ask several questions. The first is this. Maybe you feel like you had a golden calf moment. If there is anything that the people could not be forgiven of, this should be it.38:00Moses is receiving the Ten Commandments. He is getting God's word for all of eternity. And the people are down there making cows for their sake. And maybe you feel like there's something that you've done in your life that is unforgivable. Maybe you hear and you've had an abortion in your life. And you say, God, I just can't get over that. Or maybe you're here and you've gone through an ugly divorce or even a not so ugly divorce.38:28There's not such a thing, by the way. And you still struggle with the scars of that in your life. Or maybe you struggle with lust and the things that you watch, the things that you hear. And you say, God, I know you forgive, but I just don't feel like you can forgive that. It's a golden calf. Or maybe your golden calf is church membership. You feel like because you're a church member or because you call yourself a Baptist or a Methodist or a Lutheran or whatever you call yourself, that you're good.38:55I want you to know that Jesus Christ died on the cross to rid us of our golden calves. And that there is nothing that you have done that God does not know already. And when he knew your sin, he sent his son to die for that and make you right before him. And if you are here and you bear the scars of that golden calf, and maybe you've put that sin on a pedestal,39:24and you say, God, I can't get over that. It's unforgivable. I pray that you would see his grace and know that there is nothing that is beyond his grace and his power today. Maybe you're here and you just don't understand who God is. You're okay with your little cow. Your life's pretty good.39:52I know it's a cow, but it's gold. Right? That's something. And maybe you're here and you just say, I'm content playing church. Right? I'm content. God, don't call me anywhere. Don't call me to share Christ. Don't call me. I'm not going to go out to eat today because you might do something there. God, I'm okay right where I am. I'm comfortable. God, don't ask me to surrender to you. God, I'll sing songs. I'll be a fan. But God, do not call me to surrender.40:20If that's how you feel, you have not tasted and seen that the Lord is good. And if you are holding on to a church, that church, if you do not know Jesus, will send you to hell. And let's not make it about churches. This church, you can join Bethel Baptist Church. And if you do not know Jesus Christ personally, you will not know him in eternity.40:45And I say that with a broken heart and with tears in my eyes. Because my heart is that if you are going to walk a path of destruction, that you would have to walk over me. And that God would place people in your life that you would have to walk over. So what is the good news? The good news is that we are not good. God is holy. He is just. And he is righteous. And he has made every single one of us.41:14And because he has made us, he holds us accountable to be like he wants us to be. And you and I have fallen short. I don't have a high view of man. Like I have a low view of man. Like we are, we've come from dust and we're going to end at dust. But I have a really high view of God. I believe that spiritually we're kind of in the muck, in the dirt, in the slime. But God gives us a mansion if we know him.41:42So how do we go from here to there? God will hold us accountable one day, each and every one of us. He sent his son to live a life that I could not live. To die a death that I deserve. To wipe away my debts. And to make me right before him. It's as if Jesus Christ took that golden calf that I have in my life. And he smashed it. And he said, God, if this is what it takes, I'll take his place.42:09And if that is you this morning, if you have not known Christ personally, know that he invites you to respond to him. And you don't have to come through a pastor. You can do that right where you sit. You say, well, I don't know what to do. Here's what you have to do. You say, God, I am nothing. You are everything. I need you. I believe that Jesus is who he says he is. He died. He rose again. And he sits with you.42:38God save me. If that is you right now, I pray that you would pray that prayer of faith and that God's promise is that he will. Maybe you're here today and you are tired because God is delaying. Church, know that that delay is for your good. It is for your benefit. It is for his glory. And if you have walked in here with a golden calf, my encouragement is that you come to the altar today and you smash that. Because there is no calf.43:08There is no idol that is worth it. It is not worth your soul. And it is not worth throwing mud on the name of Christ if you call yourself a Christ follower. Let's pray today.← Previous in ExodusSunday, June 25, 2017More sermons on Exodus →
