Exodus (Lesson 61)

Welcome to the Preaching the Cross Radio Podcast, featuring the radio ministry of Pastor James W.

Knox of the Bible Baptist Church of Delaney, Florida.

Our prayer is that these half-hour Bible study programs will bring the lost to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and enable the saved to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Savior.

Now here's your host, Pastor James W.

Knox.

I'm Brother James.

I greet you one more time in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

This is the preaching of the cross radio broadcast, and the task before us today is a weighty one indeed.

We are concerned with the 32nd chapter of Exodus.

If you have not been with us, we've been studying this Bible book for a long, long time.

This is broadcast number 61 in our study of the book of Exodus.

And in the midst of chapter 32, we are finding ourselves saddened and amazed as we consider that after all the miracles that God had wrought and all the blessings God had bestowed, that his people, the children of Israel, had decided to make a golden calf, and to acknowledge that golden calf made by Aaron's hands as their God.

And they are giving credit and praise and worship to that golden calf, claiming that this uh this idol brought them out of Egyptian bondage.

And as the Lord makes this matter known to Moses, who is on Mount Sinai receiving the tables of the law, we were reading the following conversation when the last broadcast ended.

Exodus 32 and verse 7, and the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down, for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.

In this verse we see that God is so disappointed, that God is so offended, that God is so insulted and angered by the idolatry of a people for whom he has done so much that he has disowned them.

He says, Moses, they're your people.

He says, Moses, you brought them out of Egypt.

I want nothing to do with them.

Not only has their sin brought this separation from God into their own lives and that well deserved.

But Moses has been enjoying forty days of sweet and unbroken communion with God on Mount Sinai.

And their sin has also broken his communion and fellowship and robbed him of the enjoyment of God's presence.

And that's what sin does.

It just marks and mars and hinders and damages everything that is good.

Verse 8, the Lord says, They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I command to them.

They have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.

That's the Bible expression for men that will not humble themselves.

That's the Bible expression for men that will not receive instruction and correction.

That's the Bible term for people who will not own that God is supreme, that God is to govern their lives and conduct.

These words appear in Acts chapter number seven, when Stephen has rebuked the leaders of the nation of Israel for a crime even greater than the making of the golden calf, the rejection and crucifixion of their Messiah.

And Stephen says in Acts 7 51, ye stiff-necked, and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost.

As your fathers did, so do ye.

And so the characteristic history of a people so blessed by God is that they never would bow to God and allow him to be their governor.

Verse 10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them, and I will make of thee a great nation.

This verse is filled with truth worthy of our consideration.

First of all, the very first phrase, let me alone, indicates that the prayers and intercessions of faithful God-fearing men and women do indeed move God.

Sometimes to action, sometimes to inaction.

Sometimes in response to prayer, God does something.

Sometimes in response to prayer, God does not do something.

Here the Lord is ready to execute sore judgments upon the idolatrous Israelites.

But he says to Moses, You must let me do this.

You must stand aside, get out of my way, do not seek to hinder me.

Do you recall when Abraham was pleading with God?

Do you recall when Abraham was praying and asking God if he would spare the cities of the plains, Sodom, Gomorrah, and the suburbs?

And Abraham said, If there's 50 righteous, there will you spare it?

And God, in answer to Abraham's plea, said, Yes, I will.

And as long as Abraham continued to pray and ask God to have mercy upon that city, the Lord consented to have mercy and sent no judgment.

In fact, that judgment did not fall until Abraham ceased asking God to withhold his judgment.

Now, I want to look at the second thing in this verse.

Therefore, let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them.

We must state again what we have seen oftentimes in the book of Exodus, and what we have seen over and over again as we study the pages of the Holy Bible.

That the God of love is a God of wrath, that the God of mercy is a God of judgment, that the God of kindness is God of anger.

He is a balanced being.

He will save your soul, or he will watch you burn in hell.

He will wash your sins away in the blood of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, or he will sentence you to a lake that burns with fire and brimstone.

Those of you who have bought this modern notion that the God of judgment is no more, that the God of wrath is a myth, you are doing yourself and all those who hearken to your folly a great disservice.

God is provoked to wrath, and God will exercise that wrath.

My friend, listen, please, please listen to me.

If God the Father would pour out his wrath upon God the Son, as the darling Son of God hung between two thieves on Mount Calvary, if God the Father would execute judgment upon God the Son as He bare the sins of the world in his body on the tree, how could you possibly think that he would not pour out his wrath and judgment upon sinners who have scorned and rejected him?

It's incredible that one could even think such a thing.

And yet, modern man in his self-love, modern man in his self-adoration, imagines himself more worthy of God's blessing than Jesus Christ Himself.

Imagines that, well, God might have punished Jesus, but he wouldn't do anything to me.

What a crazy notion.

What a silly idea.

The Lord says, Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them.

Here's the next point we must ponder from this verse.

Do you know what these people are doing?

They are worshiping the God of their own choosing.

You know what these people are doing?

They're engaging in a religion that suits them.

Do you know what these people are doing?

They are sincerely enjoying and celebrating the free exercise of their faith.

Now, again, I must address modern man.

And I must speak to the folly of modern man.

I hear on every hand that as long as you are sincere in your worship, that's all that counts.

That who are we to judge people of other faiths and other religions?

That there are many ways to heaven, and a man must choose the way that suits him best.

And all manner of like expressions of infidelity and Bible rejection, you hear them day after day.

I want you to see in this verse, my friend, that God's wrath is waxing hot, that God's anger is about to be meted out upon people who are religious, who are worshiping, who are sincere in their chosen faith, and God is going to take swift and definite action against them.

So if you're listening to my voice right now, and you are the member of a religion or a cult or a sect or a denomination, and you are not seeking to enjoy eternal life solely on the merits of the finished work of Jesus Christ, the wrath of God abides upon you.

The Bible says that God, God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

And he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already.

Why?

Because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.

You are not condemned because of your religion, you are condemned because you chose your religion instead of choosing Jesus Christ.

You are not under condemnation because of your faith.

You are under condemnation because you misplaced your faith.

You put it in someone or something other than Jesus Christ.

That's the verse, that's the statement.

Now, therefore, let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them.

That's God.

That's the God of the Bible.

That's the God who said, Suffer little children, come unto me and forbid them not.

That's the God who said, Blessed are the peacemakers.

That's God.

That's the God that made flowers and singing birds.

That's the God who made beautiful sunsets and rippling brooks.

That's the God who gives eternal life.

That's the God who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.

That's the God who offers you hope and comfort and help and assurance and certainty and peace and joy and contentment and satisfaction.

That's the same God.

The same God said, If you choose to bow down to idols and worship them, I will consume you.

Your life will come to an end.

Your body and soul will be separated one from the other.

And as men are laying your body in the grave, your soul will enter the fires of hell.

There will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth in that outer darkness.

You will be consumed on a permanent basis in a permanent fire.

Your worm will not die, and the fire will not be quenched.

All of those are the words of Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, and they are sure and certain words spoken against those who choose idols, religions, unbelief, any thing you choose other than the Lord Jesus Christ will end you up in the hellfire that was prepared for the devil and his angels.

You've just got to understand that.

So I don't like hearing that.

You may not like hearing it.

The one you ought to be unhappy with is not me.

It's the preacher that never told you that.

It's the church you attend that never warns you of that.

That's what you ought to be unhappy about.

That's what you ought to be upset about.

Not truth.

Not truth.

Truth shouldn't upset you.

Not being told the truth should upset you.

And then verse 10 concludes with this: the greatest, maybe, maybe the greatest trial of Moses' life, and he's had many.

As a young man, he had the opportunity to be called permanently the son of Pharaoh's daughter.

He had throne rights to Egypt.

And yet, Hebrews 11 says that he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to settle down and live out his life as part of an idolatrous nation.

Moses had a great trial when God spoke to him at the burning bush.

And Moses was uncertain and unsure if he was the right man for the job and if he could do the job.

And you recall how he argued with and contended with the Lord with regard to that high calling.

You may remember the trial at the Red Sea and the trials along the way as the children of Israel murmured and complained against him.

And yet now comes what could well have been the greatest choice that Moses ever had to make.

The Bible says, God says to Moses, and I will make of thee a great nation.

The Lord on Mount Sinai tells Moses, this is my intention, I am going to exterminate those idolaters.

And I'm going to start all over again.

And my chosen people will not be known throughout history as the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but as the children of Moses.

The New Testament would not read that all those who exercise faith do so as did their father Abraham.

That's Romans 4.

It would read, as did their father Moses.

Abraham would not be called the father of the faithful, but Moses would be called the father of the faithful.

He would henceforth from Exodus 32 onward, those people of God who would inherit God's earthly promises and rule on earth as God's earthly representatives would be the children of Moses.

What a phenomenal opportunity for a man, not just for his lifetime, but for everyone's lifetime, world without end.

The people of Moses, the children of Moses.

That would have been the that would have been the watch word, the call word.

And so what will be the reply?

Verse 11 And Moses besought the Lord his God.

Said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt?

He does not take credit.

God said, You brought him out.

Moses, not for one moment would he entertain the thought that he did that, that that was his work, his doing.

Oh no, oh no, God, not me, not me.

You did that.

You brought them out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand.

Wherefore should the Egyptian speak and say, For mischief did he bring them out to slay them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth.

Turn from thy fierce wrath and repent of this evil against thy people.

God said, Moses, they're your people.

Moses said, No, God, no, they're not mine, they're yours.

God said, Moses, you brought them out of Egypt.

Moses said, No, God, no, you brought them out.

I could never have done that.

You did that with your mighty hand.

But then I want you to notice the nature of Moses' prayerful appeal to God.

He does not for a moment suggest the people do not deserve to be consumed.

He does not imply in any way that God does not have reason to destroy them.

He doesn't make excuses for them.

He doesn't say that God would be unfair.

He doesn't say the punishment's too harsh, you're being too cruel.

No, he says, God, I'm concerned about the honor of your name.

I am concerned about your testimony and your reputation among the Gentile world powers.

What would the Egyptians say if you failed to bring your people into the land of promise?

What would the Egyptians say, not about them, but about you?

They would not say that the people sinned.

They would say that God harmed his people.

They would not say that the people got what they deserved.

They would say that God brought the people forth only to destroy them.

God, please, please consider your name.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, this idea of using God as some sort of Santa Claus or waiter to satisfy your every lust and every desire, and all that you do is just tack on the end of your prayer in Jesus' name.

That's a great misunderstanding.

Consider carefully what we have before us here.

When Moses prays to God, this intercessory prayer, he is concerned with the name of God.

He is concerned with the reputation of God.

He wants God's name to be honored and glorified.

And so it is when we pray in Jesus' name.

The idea is that I want to be certain, I strive to make certain that in my prayer, should my prayer be answered, the name of Jesus Christ will be glorified.

Should my request be given, should I get what I seek, it will bring honor and glory to Jesus Christ.

The Bible says in the book of James, ye ask and receive not, because you ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your own lusts.

That's the kind of praying God does not want to hear.

On the other hand, when Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he said, Here's the starting place.

Our Father, hallowed be thy name.

Let's make sure as we go to prayer, Jesus taught.

The name of our God.

Lord, you can't destroy this people.

The Egyptians will use it to speak evil of you.

Lord, I'm asking you, this is a man asking God to repent.

He hasn't sinned.

He's not asking him to apologize for his sin.

That's not what repentance is.

Repentance is to turn from a path of action, to turn from a course of conduct.

God has stated that he is going to consume the children of Israel.

Moses is asking God to change that direction, to go a different way.

God has said, Moses, I'm going to start all over with you.

And Moses says, no, no, no, no, don't do that, please.

Verse 13, remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swearest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.

God, look what look at the prayer.

God, I'm just asking you to keep your word.

God, I'm just asking you to honor your promises.

God, I'm just reminding you of what you said.

I am standing on your promises.

You gave Abraham promises.

You gave Isaac promises.

I'm asking you, God, to honor them.

That's right praying.

That's real praying.

That's praying that is going to be answered.

And then there's a marvelous, there's a marvelous thing.

He didn't say Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Did you know if you study the book of Genesis, every time the man is asking acting in the flesh, he's called Jacob.

And on those occasions when he's acting in faith, he's called Israel.

Now that life, that life was mostly Jacob and very rarely Israel.

But when Moses prays to God, he says, I'm asking you to remember these men in their hours of faith, not in their hours of failure.

God spare the nation on the basis of your name's sake, and on the basis of your words, the promises that you gave.

How about that?

My friend, are you willing to pass up personal wealth, personal fame, personal honor to see to it that the name of God is honored, that the fame of God is spread abroad?

That's the right and proper course.

Well, I sure wish we could go farther, but that's all the time we have on the program today.

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Until that time, I'm Brother James.

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