Exodus 32 (Part 1) Bible Study (The Golden Calf) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Exodus 32 beginning in verse one. When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, up. 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 Aaron said to them, take 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. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool, made a golden calf. And they said, these are your gods, oh Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before, 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 play. Father, we come before you, and we need your help to understand this text. In light of the new covenant, We pray that this Bible study would be far greater than intellectual stimulation. We pray that it'd be far deeper than emotional stirring. Lord, we ask that by the power of your holy spirit, we would be changed into the image of your son, Jesus Christ.

And so we pray that there would be clarity from confusion. We pray that there would be a freedom from distraction, and we pray, Lord, that there would be nothing but your word declared in the power of your spirit, leaving us undone, leaving us to a place in which we leave here transformed. Lord, if there's anybody here that does not know you, may they come to the knowledge of Christ. If there's anybody in here that's backslidden, even in this bible study, may this be the turning point in their walk. And, Lord, if there's anybody in here that is walking faithfully, may may you protect these people.

Lord, through the purity of your word, we come because we know that sanctification comes through your word. We pray these things in the precious name of Jesus Christ. Amen. You may be seated. If you're joining us for the first time or maybe you haven't been here for the past few weeks, what we've been doing is going through the entire book of Exodus.

We have gone through Genesis. We're trying to really tackle the Old Testament. In the past several weeks, we've been exploring this understanding of the tabernacle, this portable tent, so to speak, of a place in which God ordained for the people of God to meet with God and for God to manifest His presence. And, really, the several past sessions have been exploring each piece of the furniture and what that means for, our understanding of who Jesus is, understanding of what the church is, and our understanding of who you are as the temple of the Holy Spirit. The very thing now that hosts the presence of God is you.

And as detailed as God is with the tabernacle, every single line, every single measurement, everything with the material and the colors, every detail was important to God. And as the temple, every detail of your life is important to God. God is concerned about you from head to toe. God is concerned about you and me from our speech, the where where our eyes look, what we put on our ears, because he wants us to experience the fullness of who he is. And we can't forget that in these past several weeks, we've been exploring these details of how to build this tabernacle.

But if we really understand it, all those verses and all those chapters were found where Moses was on the top of the mountain speaking to God and God speaking to him. And so all those things that we just covered were initially on the mountain with Moses and God as he was there for several days and several nights. But as we come to chapter 32, if this was seen on a movie and the camera has been in this past several weeks showing God speaking to Moses and the instructions, and and perhaps there would be this visionary picture of what the Tabernacle would look like, but as as that camera was up there showing us what was taking place between God and Moses, Chapter 32 now is a span from the top of that mountain scaling all the way down to the camp. And this is where we find ourselves. While God is speaking to Moses, we're about to find out what the people of God are doing in the camp.

And if there's any title that we can bring to this chapter, this isn't a sermon, this is a Bible study. We'll try to restrict it as much as we can to a Bible study so it doesn't turn into a sermon. But as as if we can give a title to this, perhaps we can label it this way, Compromise or consecration, your choice. Compromise or consecration, your choice. Now this is a very familiar chapter amongst believers.

We are all familiar with the golden calf scene. Even the world knows about the golden calf scene. So before we dig into this verse by verse, I'm just curious to know if there is anything that you have received from this chapter as we hope to read it together week after week. Is there anything that stood out to you even if you haven't but you you just know the story or you've heard something about this story? Is there something that you can bring?

Because here's the reality of Bible study guys, this can just be information or it can be application. We want information to turn into application. What can we find out about this story and what it has to do with you and I as believers? Yes, Sofia. So we're gonna find out something about leadership.

And Sophia brought up the fact that this is very much a very precise picture of what we're seeing in our day today concerning God's people and even the leadership that represent who He is. Absolutely. What else can we say with this text? Yes. Oh, yes.

We're about to discover that you and I as the people of God can take the very blessings of God and turn them into golden calves. It's a dangerous thing. Absolutely. What else can we unpack here?

God gave 10 commandments, and there he pointed out that there should be no image of anything except what he gave in commandments. So some how do they forgot that. I don't know.

Yeah. We're We're gonna find out that Moses had not even delivered the 10 commandments, and they already broke them. It's amazing what the flesh can do. What else can we discover? These are great points.

Yes, brother.

Thanks, Matt. Just just even in the Christian community how they want to idolize a golden calf. A lot of times people get complacent, wanna idolize a celebrity pastor or a celeb something like that. I was I'm

trying to

see it in Samuel too, but we wanted we wanna idolize somebody who we think is anointed and elevate them in a place of.

Yeah. You can idolize a pastor. You can idolize a minister. In fact, I'm glad you brought that up because the people have esteemed Moses to a place in which they should not have esteemed him. And when you esteem somebody above what they're supposed to be esteemed, you become overly dependent upon them.

And when Moses isn't in town, are you still gonna be faithful? Absolutely. This is a powerful text. I found myself studying this text and just reading. There was something in every single verse.

There was something just you could take one verse and turn it into a sermon. It's absolutely jam packed what God's trying to trying to tell us here. And these are wonderful points. Is there anything else before we go into these verses? Yes.

And you're talking about, God was speaking to him during that time, giving commandments. And the first thing when God speaks, he's like, they have turned aside quickly out of the way that I have commanded them.

Yeah. God's commentary on the whole situation is they have turned around quickly. We're gonna read that together. They have turned around so fast. Absolutely.

And it's a sad commentary for so many today as well. Yes, Sofia. It's just

an observation how in the same verse,

God is very specific with his language, and he says your people have defiled themselves. And we're gonna we're gonna unpack this dialogue between Moses and God because we're gonna discover something so fascinating about Moses. See, there's a lot of Old Testament figures that are actually displaying new covenant principles. And one preacher said it this way, there are a lot of old covenant people that are actually manifesting new covenant principles, and there are a lot of new covenant believers today that are still living under the old covenant. It's amazing.

And Moses is one of those new covenant figures in the old covenant. So what do we see here? When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and set them up. Make us gods who shall go before us. This is interesting because there is something that triggered this compromise.

There was something that was used as an excuse. Moses who was the spokesperson for the Lord, Moses who was that mediator, who was that voice for God, was delayed. He was on top of the mountain. For how long? Does anybody know?

Forty days and forty nights fasting. And so there he is, and he's he's he's receiving from God what the people need to hear. And here's the danger that there's this period of silence between God and his people. There's this sense of delay on God's part. For the longest time they've been hearing and they've been even moving towards a direction in which they were going to reach the promised land, and all for a sudden they come to this long pause.

The sense in which they don't know what the next step is. The sense in which they don't feel leadership. They don't feel the movement in their spiritual walk. There's this sense of pause. There's a sense of delay on God's part.

And this is what we need to understand that delay, if not appropriately responded to, can derail you in your walk with God. Delay has often caused people to derail in their faithfulness to God. This is a magnificent truth because oftentimes it is people who experience the silence of God that go off track. Oftentimes it is when God does not provide that sense of wooing or that that stirring in your heart or your spirit in which you begin to now compromise in your thinking, and that compromise in your thinking begins to manifest in your life. You and I must make the conscious effect, because I wanna tell you this.

I don't care how long you've been in the faith. You will experience God's silence at one point in your life. You will experience it, and that doesn't make you less spiritual. That doesn't mean that necessarily you're out of touch with God. No.

The most faithful have experienced God's silence. But even amongst the faithful, God's silence has victimized so many people because they don't understand a principle that we're gonna discover. So we see here that delay. You and I must not allow God's delay in our lives to derail us from our faithfulness. Even if I'm in the valley and God is in the mountaintop, you and I have to make a decision that I'm gonna stay faithful to him.

There's a powerful verse that describes the people of Israel later on concerning the devotion that they have to God. It's in Hosea six four. It's probably one of the saddest commentaries that God can give concerning his people and and their love towards him. You know what God says? What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?

What shall I do with you, O Judah? Now look how God describes the love of his people. Your love is like a morning cloud. Like the dew that goes early away. Same way you wake up early in the morning and you see that dew on the grass, by the time that sun comes up, even early morning, that dew disappears.

It's like, that's what your love is like. It's sporadic. It's there one day and it's it's gone throughout the rest of the day then it's back again and it's it's it disappears so fast. I don't know about you, but when I read a verse like that, I there's something in my heart that says, God, if you're gonna describe my devotion, may it be far from what this verse says, that my love towards you would be like the morning dew, that my love towards you like the morning cloud. If you were to measure my love towards you, lord, what would it what would you say?

What would it look like? And so quickly, I mean, it was just a matter of forty days after they've seen so much. And guess what? Just like that morning dew, their love was disappearing. It was being evaporated.

And this is so true for so many people today that once they experience God's science, once they go through a trial, once they go through anything in which their faith is tested, in which their devotion is they even know themselves that that love is beginning to evaporate from their hearts. It's beginning to disappear from their soul. And once that happens, because man's soul is in need, people are hungry. That's why people it doesn't matter who you are. You're pursuing something.

And if you do not pursue him, you'll pursue something else. Here's a question. Why was God delaying here in this context? Why was God silent? Why was God not saying something?

Well, we've been talking about what he's been doing up there the whole time. What is he doing at this time?

Preparing solutions.

He's preparing? Moses. Moses? Is he just preparing Moses though? He's preparing the entire people.

What God was doing in this delay was preparing God's people and God's leadership for the next step in their lives. And you need to trust this about whenever God seems silent in your life, that that period of silence, yes, is a test of your faith. But you have to believe that if you're walking in righteousness, if you're walking in faithfulness, that period is only going to prepare you to chisel your character and to unveil your calling in the next step. That's what they had to understand, but they failed to understand it. That God is silent, but what God is doing up there is preparing me for the next step.

And that demands you and I to remain steadfast and faithful with that knowledge knowing that, lord, I'm gonna lean into you in this time believing that you have something in store for me, believing that this is not an accident, believing that you're working in the background. And so keep my feet steady. Gird up my loins, lord. I'm setting my face towards you even though you might be up there and I'm down here. You You know what?

So many people unfortunately come to this place where the Israelites come. What happens? Oh, the persuasion of popularity. The people saw that Moses delayed to come down, and what happened? The people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, up, 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. What's going on there? Put yourself in Aaron's shoes for a second. You have possibly the entire nation that have made up their mind to say, we want an image to worship. And it's one thing put yourself in Aaron's shoes for a moment.

It's one thing to experience God's silence because Aaron experienced it just as much as the people of Israel did. But it's a whole other level of temptation when not only do you have God's silence to deal with, to test your faithfulness, you have other voices trying to persuade you into another direction. You better expect that when God's silence is there in your life. You better believe that when God is silent in your life, yes, he's testing you, and yes, he's preparing you, but the enemy will take advantage of that season and present you opportunities to compromise. Believe it.

That's why so many people fall into it. Because yes, he's silent, but now here's the crowd, and here's the people that are saying, Aaron, come on, man. Nothing's happening. Aren't you bored? God hasn't done anything.

God hasn't shown himself. We don't know what to do next. Let's have a little bit of fun. And what does Aaron do? Well, we know.

God is silent. His brother, the leader of his people is absent, and now he has an entire nation. People so many people are so hard on Aaron. Imagine a nation, not your group of friends, a nation standing before you and saying, make us something. All these things that could become they they could probably stone me, that I'll probably be unpopular, I don't know where to turn.

All these things could be going through Aaron's mind, and and for unfortunately, he budges. But what happens here? What do they do in verse two here? So Aaron said to them, take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters and bring them to me. And verse three tells us that all the people did it.

They took him to Aaron, and Aaron did something with that gold, but somebody's already mentioned it, but it's good to see it on paper. Where in the world did they get this gold from?

Egypt. They plundered the Egyptian.

They plundered the Egyptians. And there's a verse in Exodus twelve thirty five that tells us precisely that they plundered the Egyptians. And that was God's way of blessing his people, but what? Just so they can have some nice things to wear? Was it so that they can have some ornaments in the wilderness?

What was the reason for God allowing the people of Israel, thank you, Allowing the people of Israel to plunder the Egyptians. There was a reason behind it. It's not this prosperity gospel stuff. There's a reason behind it. And God can give you stuff, that's fine.

I'm not against that. But there's a reason which God has given the people gold, silver, and different jewels.

He prophesied about it to Abraham saying that people are gonna suffer slavery, but come up with great abundance.

So it's a fulfillment of prophecy to Abraham? Sure. But there's also a practical reason.

So that way they can survive and they could be, you know, training and bartering, you know, with different missions. So that way they can get food possibly?

Possibly. But there is one specific reason that God has in mind. Yes, Sofia. So there's a choice that God gives them. There's a verse that tells us, and it's later on in Exodus, but you gotta turn your bibles there.

Exodus thirty five twenty two. God had something in mind when he blessed his people. Exodus 35 verse 22. That whole chapter really speaks about it, but here's one verse to give us an idea. So they came, both men and women, all who were of a willing heart, brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and armlets, all sorts of gold objects, every man dedicating an offering of gold to the Lord.

The reason why God blessed them with those things was that they would make a contribution for the tabernacle itself. God blessed his people so that they would make a contribution to his glory. But instead of using the very things that God blessed them with for God's glory, they used it for themselves. You have to understand this about the history of God's people. God's people are not very good with blessing.

History has shown it that one of the greatest curses that can actually come upon the people of God is prosperity. Prosperity is good, but there is so much more warning about prosperity than you think. And in fact, the people of God do really well in the environment of persecution. Prosperity can become a curse. And you and I have to be careful even in our own lives that when God dispenses blessing, it's always in his mind that it would be a contribution for his glory.

Always. You have that relationship, and it's a godly relationship. Guess what? God never intended you to turn that relationship into a golden calf. God bless you with that job that you've been praying for, and it's a good job.

But God never intended for your job to become a golden calf. Whatever God has deposited in your life is that you would be able to, in return, give it to him for his glory. Never forget that. In abundance, in little, all for him. Whether I eat or drink, whatever I do, I do it for his glory.

And that people fail to realize that, so in fact, they were robbing God. Aaron said, give me the gold. And God had something else in mind with that gold, but they give it to him. And it turns into a golden calf. And Instead of using it to glorify the God that delivered them, they themselves turn God's blessings into idols.

It happens so much. Happens so much even to good people, faithful people, spiritual people. Keep your heart in check. Keep your heart in check-in every arena of your life and ask yourself, is this dedicated to God? Is this for God's glory?

Is my education for God's glory? Is my relationship for God's glory? Do I want, like that tabernacle, for this contribution to manifest the presence and the power of God? Make that choice. Compromise or consecration?

That's what this whole chapter is about. So Aaron takes it. Unfortunately, leaders bow to the persuasion of the popular vote. God, we need some men that are not jello backed, but have steel spines that can be able to stand firm even if a we're gonna find out about a man who does and it wasn't necessarily a leader. And what happens here?

Verse four. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool, made a golden calf. And they said now look at this. Read the bible slowly. These are your gods, oh Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

When Aaron saw this, she built an altar before it, and Aaron made a proclamation and said, tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord. What is going on? This looks like confusion to me. Well, compromise does lead to confusion. What's going on here?

Look at the language.

They're stowing the glory that God deserves for giving to the calf.

So the giving the glory that belongs to God and concerning their deliverance and placing it upon the calf, absolutely. But there's something being done here by Aaron. There's some strategy he has in mind. There's something I believe that he's doing to perhaps ease the conscience of his own compromise. Yes.

He's trying to, in his way, use the wrath of God mentally so that God

And how is he doing that? Because you're right.

He's, by by building that that altar in front of, kind of shadowing that, which is what they wanna build, the the the pagan mindset that they want. So he's he's trying to say no. This is not about them. This is about me. I'm trying to show that to God.

Do you guys realize that? And if you're not convinced of that, look what happens in verse six. They rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. So here you have a man who who builds a golden calf, who has now entered into the place of compromise. But perhaps in order to ease his conscience and perhaps to come to a place in which he can justify his actions, he now mingles this compromise with some type of sacrifice and some type of keeping up with God's law while at the same time trying to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh.

And this is what so many have done in their own lives. They have golden calves, but they try to justify it with altars. Is that not true? It listen. This is not a judgment statement.

This is just a truth statement. If there's any verse that can describe American Christianity in our generation, it is the latter part of verse six. And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings, actually the whole verse, and brought peace offerings. So there is that sacrifice, but here's the second part. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

So they're making the sacrifices, but they're also playing with the world. They're building altars, but they also have golden calves. And here here they are. They think that they're actually in the right. They think that they've actually tricked God somehow.

Like, God is some needy deity that's saying, oh, just please offer some sacrifice. You can do whatever you want, and I'll be happy. No. No. No.

No. God is a jealous God. He is a jealous God. And this is people that we see today. You know the people that post, like, the pictures that they were in the club on Saturday night, but they pitch they check-in on church on Sunday morning?

Maybe you know some of those people. You just have to scroll through their pictures and you see that one day they have a drink in their hand and an arm around a girl they probably don't know, the next day they're quoting a bible verse with a selfie. This is the description. This is the description of so many today. They they're making their sacrifices, but they also are rising up and playing with the world.

That's a sad commentary. But guess what? God has something to say to this. Maybe Sofia might enlighten us with that. Yeah.

Because when you look at I think from verse six, it says they rose up early the next day. Excuse me. Verse five. He says, tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord Yahweh. So he has in mind that they're going to sacrifice and have a feast before the living God.

So he's not he's not taking God's name and attributing it to the golden calf because you look up here, it says, these are your gods, plural, oh, Israel. And so they are elevating this golden calf to the same level of influence and power and majesty as Yahweh, and they're trying to marry these two things, But that doesn't work in God's mind. That doesn't work in God's word. That doesn't work in God's heart. And what we see here in verse seven, the Lord said to Moses, go down for your people whom you brought 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, oh Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. You know what I notice about God? He doesn't even give any credit to their worship at this point. He's not saying, oh, well, they're worshiping me.

He's not saying I see that sacrifice. I see those peace offerings. I see those burnt offerings. No. He doesn't even give any attention because it's corrupted worship.

And corrupted worship before God is no worship before God. It's either 100% or it's nothing. He's either lord of all or what? Not lord at all. And and this is what we see here, that god sees and hears, and which is so amazing because the people down the mountain thought that though they were experiencing God's silence, that He didn't see and He didn't hear.

This tells me something, that even when God is showing Himself to be silent in your life, you know what I'm talking about when I mean that? I mean you don't sense the presence of God. You don't sense the heart of yours beating for Him, loving Him, worshiping Him. You feel like things are you're kind of in a swamp in the spirit, so to speak. You feel like things are slower than usual.

That's what I'm talking about. But you have to understand though, you may not perceive God in that moment. God perceives you completely. He sees it all. He quotes them.

So they might not perceive him, they might not understand him, but God is fully aware of what they're saying, of what they're doing, which brings so much joy to my heart. I don't know about yours that in those moments God is watching me. God is watching you. And in those moments, we can show God that you are worthy of my obedience. You are worthy of my song.

You are worthy of my life, even though I don't sense your blessing or your hand upon me. And he says here, I see all that they are doing. They have turned aside quickly. Again, I don't want that said of me. Did not Jesus say something so similar in Luke 18 when he taught on persistent prayer?

After he teaches about how that widow comes to that king and comes and comes and comes persistently. Jesus says, will not the righteous king come and bring forth justice for his elect? What does he say in verse eight? Nevertheless, when the son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth? That is probably one of the most convicting verses that Jesus has uttered concerning his people.

He teaches on prayer, and yes, this is in light more of his second coming, but I believe it's in light with prayer as well. It's connected. When the son of man comes, will he find a people seeking me even though my answer does not come immediately? Which tells me something about God. That when he sees a person, when he sees a people remaining faithful even in God's silence, he takes pleasure in that.

He takes delight in that. He's in fact looking for that. When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? Will he find a bunch of people dancing around a golden calf? And that's why there's so many warnings in the New Testament about believers not being caught by surprise.

So many believers that say, you know, my master's taking a long time in coming, and they go on and they live in the world, and then they hear that knock on the door, they hear that midnight cry. Expect God's silence, believers. Expect it. But also prepare yourself for it. Because God in that moment is watching and hearing.

In fact, he's recording what you and I are gonna do. Luke chapter excuse me. Exodus 32 verse 10. Now look what he says to Moses. This is astounding.

Now 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. Do you feel the weight of that proposition? What sticks out to you with that verse? What sticks out to you? Look at the proposition again, look at the offering that God is giving.

There's an element that God's wrath is gonna be utilized, but for the greater good of people.

So God wants to pour his wrath for the greater good of people? Okay. There's one proposition here that literally if was answered, would have shifted the entire narrative of the of the old testament even the new. Does anybody know? Yeah, Bierry.

Okay. And I and those are very powerful statements that you guys brought up, but look at the latter part of the verse. Look at the offering in the latter part of the verse. Thinking something related to the covenant. Yes.

God's covenant. Yes. With Abraham. So what does that have to do with this verse exactly? Yes.

You

know, God is testing him to see if he will if Moses will remember God's covenant.

The absolutely. So you're right, Phoebe. There is an element of the covenant, and God is in fact testing him. But look at the offering here. Look what he's saying.

In order that I may make a great nation of you, Moses Do you understand the implications of that offering? Moses, clean slate. Let's do this. I'm gonna because they deserve my wrath, we'll destroy them off the map, and you will be the new father of faith, not Abraham. You will carry that title.

You will be known for the rest of time as the father of this nation, as the father of faith. Do you want it? Now think about that as Moses. Think about that as a leader. Think about that as an opportunity.

Me to be the initiator of this covenant? Me being a leader of a new people? Me carrying that title? Me being known in history as Abraham was? How many of you would say yes?

How many of you would say done deal. They deserve it. I've been faithful. Let's let's move on with this. But there was something that consumed Moses that blew my mind this afternoon.

That Moses refused this offer because there was something that consumed Moses, and it was not his own reputation, it was the glory of God. He was more concerned about God receiving glory. He was more concerned about God's reputation than his own reputation. Because he could have slipped into that title, and he could have wore that, and he could have been recorded, and books could have been written about it, but no. What does he say?

Look at verse 11 verse 13. Look what he says. But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, oh Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people? They're not my people. They're your people.

Whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand. See, the people said something else. They said, where is this Moses who has delivered us from the land of Egypt? And Moses understood. I'm just a vessel.

So even when the entire nation recognized Moses as the source of the deliverance, he goes, you're the one who did it. I know myself. I know how weak I am. I know when I try to do it in my own strength, I I would take out one Egyptian at a time with these hands, but you put a rod in my hand. And when I lifted up that rod, that sea split open.

Look at verse twelve and thirteen. He was considered he reminds God of the covenant. And he says, God, what are people gonna say? What are the Egyptians gonna say? What's the world gonna say?

If Egypt knows about this, that you destroyed your people, they're gonna think that you just brought them out to kill them. Something saturated this man's mind and his heart and his soul, and it was the glory of God, even at the expense of his own reputation. And you and I, you and I have to make that same decision. You and I have to develop by the spirit of God that same mentality. Are you willing to be demoted so that God could be exalted?

If God would get more glory of you coming off the platform, would you do it? If nobody knows your name and you work in the background of ministry for the rest of your life so that God could take center stage, Are you willing to take that offer? Could you imagine if he had said yes to this? Moses would have been exalted. Moses would have been known as the faithful Israelite to some degree.

But no, he says, God, I'm concerned about your glory. And at whatever expense my life has to be sacrificed, whether it's my comfort, whether it's the praise of people, whatever it may be, I'm willing to cancel it all so that you would be exalted. That's where my heart is. What a powerful man of God. What a mentality.

Be honest. How many people would have eaten that up? He didn't even entertain the thought. He didn't say, you sure God? No.

No. He didn't even think twice. Cause this man's mind was already consumed with God being exalted. So whenever any offer came, it immediately bounced off that kind of a mindset to say, God, I'm not willing to compromise your glory even to a degree less. I want you to be exalted, not me.

That's powerful. So Moses gives this response because he was saturated with a motive that many people are lacking. So we see in verse 15, when 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 on the back, they were written. The tablets were the work of God and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets. It seems like God really wants us to know what's in his hand.

Moses is coming down the mountain with the law. Remember that. He's coming down the mountain to bring to the people the law. But he meets somebody on the way, and this is amazing. So what's the scene right now from verse six?

What's going on at this point? We have Moses on top of the mountain, going back and forth with God, interceding for the people of God, while the entire nation is compromising in sin. And something interesting happened in verse 17. When Joshua heard the noise what? Who?

Who? Joshua. So when Moses was on his way down, he bumped into Joshua, meaning Joshua wasn't part of the compromise. So he comes down the mountain with those tablets in his hand, and he bumps into a faithful Israelite, Joshua. How do we know that Joshua wasn't part of it?

But look right here. When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, there is a noise of war in the camp. And later we see Moses approaching the camp, meaning that Joshua was far away from the camp. So so what does that tell you and me about this idea of consecration and compromise? This is what I get out of it.

That Joshua, in order to remain consecrated, kept a distance from those who derailed. And you gotta do the same thing. Here's an entire nation that has separated themselves from God, and here's Joshua. We don't know where he is exactly, but perhaps he's right by that mountain. Could you imagine what that was like in that scene?

This is this is not in the Bible. This is outside the scripture, but let's just play with our imaginations here. Here's some Israelites coming by and they see Joshua there just waiting. Here's the Israelites saying, hey, Joshua. What are you doing out here, man?

You're missing out on the party. Come on, man. Let's join. Aaron is in there. Everybody's out there.

Come and join us. No. No. No. Thanks.

What are you doing? I'm waiting on God. I'm waiting on God. Come on, man. Loosen up.

There's no judgment. See, so many people think that their actions are right because there's no immediate sense of judgment. God's silence in your sin does not mean his approval of your disobedience. Remember that. Come on.

Loosen up a bit, man. Why are you're the only one standing here. We don't see anybody else. Perhaps there was, but we just see Joshua. No.

I can't. Why not? Because I'm waiting on God. Well, just just for an hour. No.

Why? Because when I said yes to God, it meant yes. When I said here's my life, I meant it. And I'm not willing to compromise because I know there's a call on my life. So you can go back to that golden calf, but I'm waiting right here for God to speak again, And I'm waiting right here for the next step.

If there's one quality that Joshua carried, and I believe that this was a part of the reason why he was even a successor to Moses, it's because you follow Joshua's life and he continually made a stand before the crowd. Always. Here he is standing before the crowd to some degree. Standing alone. You meet so many people that says, well, there's no spiritual people around me.

Then stand alone. You're dependent upon other people? God help you if that's the case. Even if your leadership is not this is what you wanna see from Joshua here. I'm not dependent upon leadership even.

You gotta make a choice, believers, in your own life that even if leadership compromises like Aaron did, you're still willing to stand for God. Don't be dependent upon your church leaders. Don't be dependent upon those people that are spiritual in your life and one day they're not. You stand for God by yourself. Well, there's nobody I can fellowship.

Did Joshua fellowship with anybody? You fellowship with God and wait for God to bring somebody. You stand for God. What happens? Joshua's here and he says, I'm not going in.

I'm waiting on God. You see him in numbers. The spies go in and out of not just the spies, but the entire nation again that's operating in unbelief. Here's Joshua and Caleb. Then you move forward when Joshua does become a leader, and there they go into the promised land.

And he stands before the nation again. He says, you wanna think it's evil to serve God? Then serve those above the river and beyond the river. But as for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord. Throughout his life, he stood before the crowd always.

You see him here as an assistant. You see him later on in numbers as he's now promoted to spy to some degree. And then when he's a leader of the entire nation, he goes, I'm standing for God. I'm standing for God. See, it's a lot listen.

Your compromise now will lead to the greater compromise later. Stand for God now. Stand for God now. And build up that confidence, and build up that faithfulness so that when God promotes you in life, you'll be able to still remain faithful. Joshua proves something.

There's a quality about this man that's fascinating. We move on to verse 18. But he said, being Moses, 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. So the the there's two people here hearing two different things. And there's an important principle here.

How is Moses hearing one thing and Joshua hearing another? One simple answer. Moses was somewhere that Joshua was in. What do I mean? Moses was in the presence of God.

Because he was in the presence of God, he had received insight that Joshua did not receive. And And so when Moses was up the mountain and he came down to the valley, he was be he was able to discern and perceive perceive things that Joshua could not. What do we take out of that? Those who pray have a greater sensitivity to those who may not be in the presence of God. Understand that?

Moses was just in the presence of God. Moses heard what God had revealed to him. He gave him insight about the situation. When you know how to practice the presence of God, what you will inherit is a greater discernment. When you know how to meet with God frequently on the mountain, you will be able to have clearer perception for the things that you face in the valley.

God deposits something in you that those who do not spend time with God do not have. And so Moses was be was able to discern a situation. Moses was able to discern a circumstance. Prayer clears the air. When you get the word of God in you consistently, what you do is you develop a discernment.

You develop the ability to know certain things that other people don't know. You develop an ear to hear. You receive revelation that people do not have. It's only found on the mountain. But you don't only get that, that you get something else.

Verse 19, and as soon as he came near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. Moses's anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. What else do you think that he received from being on the mountain with God in that verse?

Yes. Whoever was angry, like, whenever God was angry

before, he was also Bingo. You going to a church service. I'm not talking about you even going to a conference. I'm talking about you meeting with God. Long periods of time consistently, faithfully.

Moses was there for forty days and forty nights. He was with God. You not only receive something from God concerning how you face circumstances, situations, and discern things, you also receive a deposit of God's emotions. You inherit God's heart when you seek His face. And what makes God angry will make you angry.

And what makes God pleased will please your life. Listen, you can't get that at seminary. You can stuff your head with information, that's great. We have plenty of that. But where are the men whose hearts burn like God's?

And for the things that God burns for? Because you spend time with God, guess what will happen? This will be listen. You don't have to force this guys. This is the fascinating byproduct of being with God daily.

Focused, truly there. This is what will happen. Your heart begins to be renewed. And you begin to see things, hear things on a completely different level. There is an offense of sin that's growing now in your life.

There is a perception on holiness that is more attractive. Something begins to change now. You're being conformed to the image of his son, and Moses felt what God felt because Moses spent time with God. It's as simple as that. So he feels what God feels.

And now he comes to his brother. This is fascinating. Verse 21. And Moses said to Aaron, what did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them? Now this is after he had took down the golden calf, burned it, and made the people drink it.

Moses said to Aaron so he comes to the the leader. He says, listen, what did these people do to you that you brought such a great sin upon them? And Aaron said this is this is classic. You know the people, they are set on evil. You know, they're human.

They're they have flesh. 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 of gold take it off. So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came out this calf.

Isn't that nice? Everything sounded pretty good up to that point. Listen, God already knows. Just confess it. This has been going on all the way since Genesis.

Always trying to blame people for our mistakes. Always trying to point the fault on our circumstance and our environment and our upbringing. And listen, we all have to make a choice in the end. And he comes up with this excuse. And what I see here is two types of leaders.

I see two types of leaders when I see Moses and Aaron standing beside each other. I see Moses who is consumed with this righteous indignation against sin and who does something about it and who takes the steps necessary to lead the people to a place of holiness. He took that golden calf. He did not even negotiate. He took it to the place in which he says, I don't even want this gold to be used.

I'm gonna crush it to find powder so that nobody would make sure to use it for anything to do with God and his kingdom. It's defiled. And then you have another type of leader. They're just human. Everybody makes mistakes.

This is our flesh. Two different understandings of sin. Are we human human? Do we make mistakes? Absolutely.

Do we use that to justify, compromise? You're in trouble if you do. This is old covenant. Think about the new covenant. What God has given us in the spirit.

Read Romans eight over and over and over again. Realize that you can experience Romans eight. So many people go to Romans seven. I do not know what I wanna do, and I wanna do what I don't wanna do, and I do this. Oh, what's gonna happen?

Why am I doing this? Oh, but my mind is for this. I'm you're stuck in Romans seven. You need to go to Romans eight and see what life in the spirit is all about. So many people like to stay in Romans seven because they're they're comfortable there because it gives them some justification for the compromise.

You gotta read on my friend. Because Romans eight tells you how you can overcome that back and forth. And you could be a Roman seven type of Christian, or you can be a Roman eight type type of Christian. You just gotta make the decision, compromise or consecration. I want to be Romans eight.

I don't wanna be Romans seven. You can be Romans seven if you want, but I wanna be Romans eight. Those who set their mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind of the spirit is life and peace. Those who live according to the flesh set set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. So then, my brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put the death of these bodies, you will live. For the spirit helps us in our weakness. It's all there. These are just random verses.

It's all there. The Holy Spirit has been given. Romans seven or Romans eight. I wanna be Romans eight. I wanna be Romans eight.

So two types of leaders here. And here's a question that I'm curious to know if anybody has figured out. Why did not God chastise Aaron? It seems like even after this excuse, he didn't even confess fully. He seems like he gets a break.

Anybody have an idea why? Why did Aaron move on and the others have to experience God's wrath? Because later on at the end of the chapter, it says that the plague a plague was sent on the people.

Yes. God's not going to display his wrath.

So God is going to display his wrath later on? Perhaps. There is a verse that answers it, and it's not in this book. But I'm curious to know if anybody has an idea because there are different theories out there to why Aaron did not experience God's wrath while others did. This is the beauty about the whole counsel of God.

You may not get the answer in the immediate context, but you keep on reading. Don't skip over those books that you don't understand. There are nuggets of truth because the answer to that question is found in Deuteronomy nine twenty. Deuteronomy nine twenty, that chapter really there's a great portion dedicated to a recounting of this scene, And there's an insight about what happened with Aaron that I believe is so crucial for us to understand, lest you come up with theories that are not true. Why did Aaron not experience his wrath?

When you find it, read it out loud so that people can hear it. Deuteronomy nine twenty. Is it up on the screen? And the Lord was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him, and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. That's the reason why Aaron wasn't destroyed because Moses has stepped in and interceded for him.

The power of prayer. Verse 25, and when Moses saw that the people had broken loose, for Aaron had let them break loose for the to the derision of their enemies. Guys, when the world sees the church acting like the world, it's embarrassing. K? The the enemy saw their behavior and were, like, they were laughing at them.

It was embarrassing. When the church acts like the world, it's laughable to the world because the the church isn't even good at it. Not only is it embarrassing, the church is terrible at acting cool. It's cringeworthy To the derision of their enemies. Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, this is powerful.

So you find j you find Joshua who is faithful, who is distant from those who derailed because bad company corrupts good behavior. But then you see in the midst of the compromise, an extension of grace. Moses comes to the gate, and what does he say? Who is on the Lord's side? Come to me.

Who came? Levi. How many tribes are there? One out of 12 tribes came. Not three, not six, not eight, one tribe.

Can you imagine? Does that not speak of something concerning the reality of consecration and compromise amongst the people of God? One out of 12. A group, just one group. In the midst of the compromise.

I mean, judgment did not immediately come. Here was Moses standing at the gate with a cry, who is on the Lord's side? Come to me. One tribe. Just one.

Out of all the disciples, who went to the cross? The male disciples. Who's found at the the cross as one of the 12? Who were who is it? Where were the rest?

Faithfulness and consecration is amongst the minority, unfortunately. This is the sad narrative throughout the entire scriptures that those who are willing to remain with him even in the midst of so much chaos and compromise, even persecution, name it. One out of the 12 tribes. And there's a pattern here for how the Lord not only deals with the Israelites, but how he deals with people throughout time. There's three things I want us to notice here.

Verse 26, I want us to know is three things that start with the letter c. One thing I want us to notice is the cry in verse 26. Who is on the Lord's side? That is the same cry that the Lord has for people today. That as the Lord looks upon this generation, that's his cry for the people.

Who is on the Lord's side? Come to me. He looks at the church. He looks at the people of God in the West, and he says, who wants to come on my side? Not live in this half and half out, you have a golden calf in your altar.

No. No. Who wants to be exclusively mine? Who wants to stand by me? Who wants to come out amongst them?

Will it be said of this generation that only one of the 12 tribes that only such a small fraction would come and respond to such an amazing cry? But there's not just a cry because it's easy to respond to the cry, because you can get so pumped up after you hear somebody speak about being consecrated and being set apart for God and and being separated from the world and even a compromising generation. There's a cry. Yes. There is a cry, but there's also a cost.

In verse 27, what was the cost? And this is where the rubber meets the road. He says, put your sword on your side, each one of you. 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. The cry sounded really good, but once you come to that place, there will always be a cost.

Consecration always has a cost. Always. And God will put a sword in your hand, and he will ask you to run through your life, killing everything that does not belong to him, whether it's a thing or a person, not literal murder, obviously, but to cut people off or cut things in your life that are not according to his will. You better believe that if you're gonna answer the call or the cry rather of consecration, he will put a sword in your hand and say, now get rid of the things I tell you to get rid of. And you know what you know what many people do at that point?

They respond to the cry, you know, after conference. They get so excited then God puts a sword in their hand and says, okay. You've left the weekend. Now go home and kill everything I tell you to kill. You know what they do?

They leave the they leave the sword on their way home. They throw it out the window as they're driving back. But here's the beautiful thing. Though there's a cry and those are though there's a cost, there's the call in verse 29. After they had done this, 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.

There's a commentary on this in Deuteronomy 33 verse nine. When God speaks of the people of Levi, look what he says concerning their calling and how they came about to their calling as ministers unto the Lord. Deuteronomy 30 three:nine. This is what the Levites said and it's a commentary on this. Who said of his father and mother look what they said.

This is how they answered. We don't see this in Exodus 32. We see this in Deuteronomy 33. This is how they answered the cost. I regard them not.

He disowned his brothers and ignored his children. Now put yourself in that situation. Imagine running to and fro and killing your own siblings and killing your own children. Why did they do this? For they observed your word and kept your covenant.

This is the equivalent to that Luke 14 text in which Jesus says, if you don't hate your father or your mother, your brother, your sister, your wife, your children, yes, even your own life, you're not worthy to be my follower. That's the equivalent to that. And unless you can say that, I regard them not, you will not experience the call of God in your life. You will not experience what God wants you to experience until you have made it up in your own heart that whatever I have to cut off, that doesn't mean you now people take this this understanding of consecration to such an extreme that they become cults. That's not what God is calling us to.

It's this understanding which Jesus himself did not really mean hate. He meant that you prioritize me above everything else, that my relationship to you and your love for me is so exuberant and vibrant and lively and blazing hot with purity that it makes all your other relationships look like hate. He says that here. There's the cry, Who's on the Lord's side? Many people won't even answer that.

But it's amazing how many people are thinned out when they answer that cry, and they realize the cost. And God puts a sword in your hand. God will put a sword in your hand. And when he puts a sword in your hand, you have to make a decision. Will you answer I regard them not, or will you forfeit the call?

What happens in verse 28? We conclude with this thought. And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses in Exodus thirty two twenty eight. And that day about 3,000 men of the people fell. Remember when Moses came down with the law?

He came down with a law in his hands, and the result of the law coming to the people who were in the flesh was death. 3,000 died. But when you go to the new covenant in Acts chapter two, God sent something. He didn't send the law, he sent the Holy Spirit, and when he sent the Holy Spirit, 3,000 got saved. Why?

Because the law kills, but the spirit gives life. And you and I have to be thankful for the Holy Spirit and thankful for this new covenant because if we're faced with the law outside of that, we would be like these people, dead. The law chills, brothers and sisters, but the spirit gives life. And we have to rejoice in that. That now we don't look at this even even the commandments of God, we don't look at it and say, oh, we have a new heart and we have the power the power to fulfill the things that God asks of us.

And so even with that call to consecration, he enables you to even walk in it consistently. How much more do we have? What resources do we have on this side of the covenant with God that enables us to experience the blessings of consecration? Let's pray together.