Burning Hot for the LORD's Glory

Good morning. Please turn with me in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 32.

Exodus 32 · chapter mention

Originally was going to cover up to 33.6, but I'm actually only going to be able to cover up to the end of chapter 32.

And I'll finish the rest of that with the next sermon that we are in Exodus.

If you don't have a Bible, please raise your hand. We'd love to bring a copy over to you that you can use while you are here.

Exodus, it's the second book in the Bible. Exodus chapter 32, verses 1 to 35.

Exodus 32 · chapter mention

Let me pray now for the reading and preaching of God's Word.

Heavenly Father, you are the consuming fire.

And you burn hot with zeal for the glory of your name.

And we do not want to be a lukewarm people.

But Lord,

we recognize that we have failed in our worship.

We have been lacking in our zeal.

And we need your grace.

Your forgiveness.

Even to be in your presence.

And so today, Lord, we want to look again in your Word that you might speak to us

and show us more of Jesus, your Son.

Fill our minds and our hearts

with his grace and truth.

That we might be transformed the way you intend for us to be.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

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 and made a golden calf.

And they said,

These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it.

And Aaron made a proclamation and said,

Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.

And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings.

And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

And the Lord said to Moses,

Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.

They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them.

They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshipped it and sacrificed to it and said,

These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

And the Lord said to Moses,

I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.

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.

But Moses implored the Lord his God and said,

O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people,

whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt,

with great power and with a mighty hand?

Why should the Egyptians say,

With evil intent did he bring them out,

to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth?

Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people.

Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants,

to whom you swore by your own self,

and said to them,

I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven,

and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring,

and they shall inherit it forever.

And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain

with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand,

tablets that were written on both sides,

on the front and 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.

When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted,

he said to Moses,

There's a noise of war in the camp.

But he said,

It is not the sound of shouting for victory,

or the sound of the cry of defeat,

but the sound of singing that I hear.

And as soon as he came near the camp

and saw the calf and the dancing,

Moses' anger burned hot.

And he threw the tablets out of his hands

and broke them at the foot of the mountain.

He took the calf that they had made

and burned it with fire

and grounded the powder

and scattered it on the water

and made the people of Israel drink it.

And Moses said to Aaron,

What did this people do to you

that you have brought such a great sin upon them?

And Aaron said,

Let not the anger of my Lord burn hot.

You know the people that they are set on evil.

For they said to me,

Make us gods who shall go before us.

As for this Moses,

the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt,

we do not know what has become of him.

So I said to them,

Let any who have gold take it off.

So they gave it to me,

and I threw it into the fire,

and out came this calf.

And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose,

for Aaron had let them break loose

to the division of their enemies,

then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said,

Who is on the Lord's side?

Come to me.

And all the sons of Levi gathered around him.

And he said to them,

Thus says the Lord God of Israel,

Put your sword on your side, each of you,

and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp,

and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.

And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses.

And that day,

about 3,000 men of the people fell.

And Moses said,

Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord,

each one at the cost of his son and of his brother,

so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.

The next day,

Moses said to the people,

You have sinned a great sin,

and now I will go up to the Lord.

Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.

So Moses returned to the Lord and said,

Alas, this people has sinned a great sin.

They admit for themselves gods of gold,

but now, if you will, forgive their sin.

But if not,

please blot me out of your book that you have written.

But the Lord said to Moses,

Whoever has sinned against me,

I will blot out of my book.

But now go,

lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you.

Behold, my angel shall go before you.

Nevertheless, in the day when I visit,

I will visit their sin upon them.

Then the Lord sent a plague on the people,

because they made the calf,

the one that Aaron made.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

You may be seated this time.

It's easy to trust God when everything in your life is going your way.

The true test of our faith is whether or not we trust God

when things are not going our way.

When your business is failing.

When your relationships are unraveling.

When your reputation is sullied.

When your research or career is stalling.

When your bank account is running low.

When you're feeling insecure and overwhelmed.

What does your heart turn to and depend on?

That is your God.

Your functional God.

That is your idol.

If it's not the true God.

And my burden this morning and my prayer for you this morning

is to contend for the love and allegiance of your heart.

So that when everything is peeled away at the very core of who you are

and at the very bedrock of your life.

You find God himself.

And nothing less than God.

We are all idolaters by nature.

And there's only one hope for people like you and me.

And it's the main point of my sermon today.

Is only the forgiveness secured by Christ our substitute

can save us from God's fiery wrath toward idolaters.

And we're going to talk about the folly of idolatry.

The fire of God's wrath.

And the forgiveness of sin.

It's easy to read this account that many of us are familiar with.

About the golden calf and Israel's idolatry.

With a sense of superiority and disbelief.

How could the Israelites be so foolish

after all that they have seen the Lord God do on their behalf?

But note in verse 1 their uncertain circumstances.

What they are not seeing.

They're not right now seeing Yahweh intervene with the ten plagues

upon the land of Egypt.

They're not seeing Yahweh split the Red Sea right now.

This is what they are seeing.

They're seeing it says when the people saw

that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain.

That's what they're seeing.

What's dominating the Israelites' mind right now

is the absence of Moses.

The mediator between God and his people Israel.

They're getting anxious.

They're getting insecure.

Moses is the one who has been speaking for Yahweh the whole time.

And interceding on behalf of the Israelites.

And if there's no one to go before Yahweh on their behalf,

how can they possibly complete this journey

and enter the promised land?

Rather than remembering what they have seen of God

and what they do know of God

and his promises and his faithfulness,

their view, their horizon is entirely taken up

by the uncertainty and urgency of the here and now.

What are you seeing right now in your horizon

when you look around at your life?

What's filling up your view?

In what ways do you feel that God has delayed

in fulfilling his promises to you?

Are your eyes starting to wonder?

Is your heart starting to stray

to cling to other solutions, other gods?

We know from Exodus 24, 15 to 18

that the glory of the Lord God dwelt on Mount Sinai,

which it said had the appearance of a devouring fire

on the top of the mountain

in the side of the people of Israel.

And we know that before Moses went up

to meet with the Lord at the top of the mountain,

he put Aaron and Hur in charge of the people

so that he could decide disputes among them

and judge them.

And then he entered into the cloud up to the mountain.

And it says in 24, 18,

that Moses was on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights.

So that's a long time for someone to be away by himself

without any provision for food

or especially after disappearing

into what looks like a devouring mountain,

fire, smoke, cloud.

Imagine if I told you

that I was going on a solitude retreat

to meet with God with no timetable for return.

And then you had no way of getting in touch with me.

You probably would not wait 40 days

before you report me as missing.

And the situation is far worse for the Israelites.

It's not hard to replace Sean.

It is really hard for the Israelites to replace Moses.

The Israelites can't just get another Moses.

This is in the days of the old covenant.

Not every believer has the spirit of God in them.

Not everyone has direct access to God in Jesus.

It says later in Exodus 33, 11,

the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face

as a man speaks to his friend.

And this was Moses' unique privilege in that time.

And he didn't do that.

God didn't speak like that with anyone else in Israel.

So from the Israelites' vantage point,

this is a legitimate crisis.

Not only do they think

that they've lost their political leader,

they also think that they've lost

their access to God himself.

They don't have their mediator,

their spiritual leader.

So he says in verse one,

that 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.

You can see the people's impatience.

The mob has formed to make their demands.

Up, Aaron.

Get off your bum.

Do something about this crisis.

Make us gods who shall go before us.

And their misplaced hope and faith

is clearly seen in this phrase.

The man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt

is nowhere to be seen.

But remember what Yahweh said,

the Lord said in Exodus 20, verse two,

I am the Lord your God

who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

It's not Moses who brought Israel

out of the land of Egypt.

But that's what the people are saying.

That Moses,

the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt,

he's nowhere to be seen.

The Israelites were not ultimately

in this situation oriented toward God

through Moses.

They were oriented toward Moses.

Rather than seeing Moses as a tool of Yahweh,

they saw Yahweh as a tool

that they can wield using Moses.

There's a difference between relying on God

to answer your prayers through people

and relying on people.

Israel's ultimate trust was not in the Lord

and they saw him not as the end

and the goal of their lives

and of their worship,

but only as a means to an end.

This is why they don't hesitate

to demand the construction of an idol

to take his place.

They say,

make us gods who shall go before us.

After an initial quick reading,

it might seem like the Israelites

are trying to rewrite history,

forsaking Yahweh altogether

to turn to a different God

that they hadn't known before.

But if you read the narrative carefully,

you can see that they're actually

setting up the golden calf

as an image,

an idol,

a representation of Yahweh.

The Israelites say of the golden calf,

these are your gods,

O Israel,

who brought you up

out of the land of Egypt.

The word translated gods here

is actually the same Hebrew word

that's been used to refer to the true God

dozens of times already

in the book of Exodus.

It's the same word

that's used to refer to God

over 2,000 times

throughout the Old Testament.

They're not saying

this is a new God

that you should worship.

They're saying

this is the old God,

Yahweh,

who brought you up

out of the land of Egypt.

This is why

after Aaron builds an altar

before the golden calf,

he proclaims a feast

to who?

The Lord.

Yahweh.

Israelites

are not rewriting history.

They're saying

that the golden calf

represents Yahweh.

So this then

is a violation

of the second commandment

of the Ten Commandments

we saw in Exodus 20.

You shall not make for yourself

a carved image

or any likeness

of anything

that is in heaven above

or that is in the earth beneath

or that is in the water

under the earth.

You shall not bow down

to them

or serve them.

They created this image

because they thought

that it would keep them

connected to the Lord

when they feared

the absence of the Lord

due to the absence of Moses.

So they reduced God

into something tangible,

something that they can see

and touch.

But ironically,

this creation of the image

that they built

to represent God

is actually idolatry.

And Moses conveys that to us

by using plural verbs

and pronouns

throughout this narrative.

The Hebrew word for God,

Elohim,

when it's used to refer to God

is plural,

always plural.

It's a plural of majesty,

as grammarians call it.

But because it's referring

to the one true God,

whenever you use verbs

associated with that noun,

the verbs are always

in the singular.

However,

in this narrative,

even though that word

for God is the same,

all the verbs

and the pronouns

are in the plural.

It's like Moses

is conveying to us,

these Israelites

are thinking that

they're worshiping

the true God.

They're thinking that

they have an idol

to represent Him.

But in reality,

they're just setting up

an alternate God.

They're worshiping

multiple gods.

They are idolaters

because a false representation

of God

is nothing less

than a replacement God.

Psalm 106, 19-20

says of this incident,

they made a calf in Horeb

and worshipped

a metal image.

They exchanged

the glory of God

for the image

of an ox

that eats grass.

It's dripping with irony

and it's tragic

in the full sense

of that word.

Remember that

the glory of God

appeared

like a devouring fire

on top of the mountain.

He was resting there

while Moses is conversing,

meeting with God.

So I assume

that that's still going on.

The glory of God

is on top of the mountain.

And here they are.

They look at that glory

in the absence of Moses

and then they say,

oh no.

I can't deal with that.

That's a little too

scary.

Too

powerful.

Too

wild.

Untamed.

Godlike.

We need something

a little more

manageable.

Something a little

more familiar.

How about a cow?

Cows a symbol

of fertility.

Nations around them

who worship Baal

depicted him as a cow.

They give us milk.

They give us meat.

They give us free labor.

How insulting

and degrading

to the living God.

In what ways

are you

misrepresenting God?

Instead of shaping

your views

and your lives

to conform

to who God is

and what he has said

in his word,

are you shaping

God

remaking God

according to

your own

21st century

secular

humanistic

western sensibilities?

Do you read

God's word

to see if your

perception of God

is accurate?

Do you submit

to God's word

and let it

examine you

or do you

quickly dismiss

or ignore

anything in scripture

that doesn't fit

with your own

value system

or preconception

of God?

does your

God

never contradict

you

your beliefs

never confront

you

in your sins?

Then you don't

know God

at all.

You're not

worshiping God

you're worshiping

a false

representation

of God

which is

idolatry.

in what ways

have you

domesticated

God?

Tamed him?

In what ways

have you

made him

less offensive

more manageable

more familiar

more like the

gods that our

peers worship

out in the world

and less like the

God of the Bible?

the nations

surrounding Israel

could not

conceive of a

deity without

the aid of

images

and so they

manufactured

idols and

held special

rituals to

attract the

presence

the spirits

of the God

into that

idol

at which point

they can now

control that

God

have access

to him

whenever they

wanted

but God

the true

God

will never

suffer such

indignity

he is the

king

he is the

creator of

the cosmos

and do we

puny humans

dare to

control him

and make him

do our

bidding?

Are you

using God

as a means

to your

end?

As a means

for gaining

status

acceptance

and respect?

Are you

using God

as a means

to get what

your heart

desires

health

wealth

success

God is not

a tool

for you

to wield

toward your

own ends

you are

his tool

we are

his tool

to be

wielded

for his

glory

it's

possible

actually

seamlessly

to blend

God

with an

idol

in our

sinfulness

as the

Israelites

did

so that

we have

a hard

time

even

detecting

these

idols

in our

lives

because

it's

so

enmeshed

with

our

belief

and

worship

of

God

Habakkuk

1

11

speaks

of

guilty

men

whose

own

might

is

their

God

do

you

idolize

your

own

strength

your

own

beauty

your

own

intelligence

Job

says to

God

Job

31

24

to

28

if I

have

made

gold

my

trust

were

called

fine

gold

my

confidence

if I

rejoiced

because

my

wealth

was

abundant

or because

my

hand

had

found

much

this

also

would

be

an

iniquity

to be

punished

by the

judges

for I

would have

been

false

to

God

above

money

can be

an

idol

as

Jesus

made

very

clear

in his

teachings

Matthew

6

24

Philippians

3

19

teaches

that

people's

belly

can be

their

God

pleasure

lust

sensuality

can be

someone's

God

covetousness

is

idolatry

Colossians

3

5

says

so

from

these

biblical

examples

we can

discern

what an

idol

is

by

asking

these

two

questions

one

what

do

you

count

on

and

put

your

trust

in

other

than

God

really

try to

ask

yourself

that

question

or

secondly

what

do

you

desire

more

than

God

or

what

are

you

devoted

to

more

than

God

pastor

Tim

Keller

who

is

a

renowned

Christian

author

and

he

went

home

to be

with

the

Lord

two

days

ago

and

he

wrote

a

book

entitled

counterfeit

gods

where

he

helpfully

defines

an

idol

this

way

and

I'll

quote

in

full

what

is

an

idol

an

idol

is

anything

more

important

to

you

than

God

anything

that

absorbs

your

heart

and

imagination

more

than

God

anything

you

seek

to

give

you

what

only

God

can

give

a

counterfeit

God

is

anything

so

central

and

essential

to

your

life

that

should

you

lose

it

your

life

would

feel

hardly

worth

living

an

idol

has

such

a

controlling

position

in

your

heart

that

you

can

spend

most

of

your

passion

and

energy

your

emotional

and

financial

resources

on

it

without

a

second

thought

it

can

be

family

and

children

or

career

and

making

money

or

achievement

and

critical

acclaim

or

saving

face

and

social

standing

it

can

be

a

romantic

relationship

peer

approval

competence

and

skill

secure

and

comfortable

circumstances

your

beauty

or

your

brains

a

great

political

or

social

cause

your

mortality

and

virtue

or

even

success

in the

Christian

ministry

an

idol

is

whatever

you

look

at

and

say

in

your

heart

of

hearts

if

I

have

that

then

I'll

feel

my

life

has

meaning

then

I'll

know

I

have

value

then

I'll

feel

significant

and

secure

there

are so

many

ways

to

describe

that

kind

of

relationship

to

something

perhaps

the

best

one

is

worship

often

it's

the

best

things

in

life

things

that

God

has

created

as

good

that

become

the

most

despotic

idols

in

our

own

lives

as

some

people

have

put

it

we

humans

have

a

sinful

tendency

to

turn

good

things

into

God

things

and

precisely

because

they are

good

things

our

idolatry

can be

much

harder

to

detect

if

you

look

at

the

way

Aaron

the

Israelites

build

an

altar

and

then

they

proclaim

a

feast

in

verse

5

and

then

they

rise

up

early

and

offer

up

burnt

offerings

and

peace

offerings

that

bears

a

striking

resemblance

to

their

worship

of

Yahweh

earlier

on

in

Exodus

24

45

when

Moses

rose

early

in

the

morning

and

built

an

altar

and

the

people

offered

burnt

offerings

and

sacrificed

peace

offerings

of

oxen

to

the

Lord

but

this

time

instead

of

offering

oxen

to

God

they

have

made

an

ox

their

God

instead

of

offering

a

burnt

offering

that

is

pleasing

to

God

they

make

God

burn

hot

with

anger

against

them

with

their

idolatry

but

it's

the

resemblance

between

true

worship

and

false

worship

that

beguiles

the

Israelites

when

I

was

in

high

school

in

an

art

class

I

painted

Leonardo

da

Vinci's

The

Last

Supper

it

was

so

comically

inferior

that

nobody

would

ever

mistake

it

for

any

kind

of

special

art

so

there's

nothing

harmful

about

it

but

imagine

if

some

artist

who

is

truly

exceptionally

skilled

made

a

very

realistic

counterfeit

and

tried to

dupe

people

into

buying

it

for

millions

and

millions

of

dollars

that's

more

deceptive

it's

more

compelling

because

it's

so

similar

when

you're

invested

in a

good

cause

you

might

idolize

the

good

rather

than

doing

the

good

for

God

without

knowing

that

that's

what

you

are

in

fact

doing

it

feels

so

good

it

feels

so

right

it

feels

so

meaningful

it

feels

so

fulfilled

but

that

very

thing

can

be

the

most

tyrannical

idol

in

your

life

so

we

have

to

be

vigilant

and

here's

the

folly

and

tragedy

of

idolatry

remember

what

has

been

happening

all

this

time

we've

been

on

top

of

the

mountain

with

Moses

for

like

the

last

month

and

a

half

what

has

been

happening

over

the

last

seven

chapters

what

is

Yahweh

been

saying

to

Moses

over

the

40

days

and

40

nights

he

has

been

giving

him

instructions

for

building

the

tabernacle

because

God's

not only

going to

go

before

them

to

defeat

their

enemies

and

lead

them

into

the

promised

land

because

God

wanted

to

dwell

among

them

he

wanted

to

be

near

them

and

he

wanted

to

be

with

them

he

was

not

going

to

be

aloof

or

distant

God

was

not

going

to

hold

them

at

an

arm's

length

while

holding

his

nose

he

was

going

to

come

and

dwell

among

his

own

people

in a

way

that

no

other

nation

on

earth

could

have

ever

dreamed

of

and

yet

not

knowing

what's

on

God's

very

heart

because

of

their

impatience

and

because

of

their

insecurity

they

settled

for

a

golden

calf

they

thought

an

idol

of

an

ox

was

the

best

Yahweh

had

for

them

it's

such

a

sad

reality

but

that's

how

so

many

people

around

us

live

it's

like

when

I'm

cooking

up

a

delicious

gourmet

meal

rich

with

omega

3

fatty

acids

and

all

kinds

of

essential

nutrients

for

my

third

daughter

who's

two

and

then

she

just

decides

she

wants

to

eat

string

cheese

and

Oreos

except

that

an

idol

is

infinitely

worse

and

eternally

consequential

whatever

your

idol

may be

it

doesn't

matter

how

great

you

think

it

is

do

you

really

think

that

is

God's

best

for

you

idolatry

is

bad

yes

because

it

demeans

God

because

it

detracts

from

him

yes

but

it's

also

astoundingly

foolish

because

it

short

changes

us

the

living

God

came

and

dwelt

among

us

in

the

flesh

in

his

son

Jesus

Christ

the

living

God

indwells

all

believers

by

his

very

Holy

Spirit

the

living

God

promises

to

indwell

to

dwell

with

us

forever

in

the

new

heavens

and

the

new

earth

and

would

you

trade

him

for

that

pale

shriveled

up

perishing

thing

God

burns

with

anger

because

he

burns

with

love

and

passion

for

his

people

so

the

folly

of

idolatry

provokes

the

fire

of

God's

wrath

verses

7

to

29

and

notice

how

God

reflects

back

to

Moses

what

the

Israelites

said

in

their

misplaced

faith

and

hope

in

verse

7

it

says

and

the

Lord

said

to

Moses

go

down

for

your

people

whom

you

brought

up

out

of

the

land

of

Egypt

have

corrupted

themselves

remember

that in

the

preceding

passages

God

has

repeatedly

said

that

Israel

is

my

people

again

and

again

and

God

said

my

people

and

he

has

repeatedly

said

I

am

the

Lord

your

God

who

brought

you

out

of

the

land

of

Egypt

but

now

here

Israel's

attempt

to

bring

God

near

to

them

down

to

their

level

on

their

own

terms

in

idolatrous

ways

has

actually

alienated

God

even

further

from

them

so

God

reflects

what

they

themselves

have

said

and

distances

himself

from

them

your

people

that

you

brought

out

from

the

land

of

Egypt

and

he

says

to

Moses

in

verses

9

to

10

I

have

seen

this

people

and

behold

it

is

a

stiff

necked

people

now

therefore

let

me

alone

that

my

wrath

may

burn

hot

against

them

that

I

may

consume

them

in

order

that

I

may

make

a

great

nation

of

you