The Word, “God Said “ - Exodus 20,32, 34

The Word of God is God's Word to us, and we must

treat it as such. And what we're going to read

in these three chapters is particularly... man's

heart bent away, really not desiring God's word,

and that the only way we can really hear God's

word, truly hear it, know it, understand it,

is by the Holy Spirit of God. And we'll prove

this out in a minute, okay? So Father, I just

ask that you would be with us as we open up your

word, that you would guide us, that you would

give us your wisdom. that you would speak to

us through your word as we go through these three

chapters, that we would clearly understand how

you work through your word and how you draw men's

hearts and how you sanctify us through your word

and how you are the God of all creation who loves

us and cares deeply for us, Lord. We don't worship

your word, but we worship you, the God of the

word. and we praise you and thank you that you

are the faithful King of kings and Lord of lords.

In Jesus' name, amen. So that's going to be something

I think we're going to need to continue to be

reminded of as we're going through this because

we have a tendency when you emphasize the word

all the time, people start to worship the word

and the written word and not the God of the written

word. or the word incarnate, Jesus Christ. And

so remember, this is God giving us what we need

for life and godliness, and that our very existence

is completely dependent on God's word itself.

Man does not live by bread alone, but by every

word that comes from the mouth of God. So Exodus

20, Exodus 20. What's interesting here is a lot

of times we read, these these chapters and we

have a tendency to think that it's the same event

just told in like a different way and it's not

it's three very distinct events and this is very

important because i want you to understand what

god is doing here so in chapter 20 we get to

this point where the people of god have been

brought to mount sinai And God is now about to

lay down this clear standard of who he is in

his character. It's not like they haven't seen

it coming out of Egypt, but this is a clear declaration

of God. Now, what God does here in chapter 20

is he actually speaks his commandments. How many

of you guys have watched Charlton Heston, Moses,

and... Everybody thinks that just Moses goes

up into this mountain and there's fire and then

Moses watches God. And it's like, whoa. And he

comes down and there's a golden cap and he throws

it down and he crashes it. And then Moses has

to carry up two stones and then God like, no.

God tells his people three times. Three times.

He gives the commands three times. And he warns

them, and they still don't listen. So I want

you to notice here, chapter 20. And God spoke

all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God,

who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out

of the house of slavery. You shall have no other

gods before me. You shall not make for yourselves

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, for

I am the Lord your God. I am Yahweh Elohim, am

a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers

on the children to the third and fourth generation

of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love

to thousands of those who love me and keep my

commandments. You shall not. Take the name of

Yahweh Elohim in vain. For Yahweh will not hold

him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Remember

the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you

shall labor and do all your work. But on the

seventh day it is a Sabbath to Yahweh Elohim.

On it you shall not do any work. You and your

sons or your daughter, your male servant or your

female servant. or your livestock, or the sojourner

who is within your gates. For in six days Yahweh

made heaven and earth and the sea and all that

is in them and rested on the seventh day. Therefore

Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Honor your father and your mother that your days

may be long in the land that Yahweh Elohim is

giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not

commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall

not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You

shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male

servant or his female servant or his ox or his

donkey or anything that is your neighbor's. When

all the people saw the thunder and the flashes

of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and

the mountain smoking, the people were afraid

and trembled and they stood far off. and said

to Moses, you speak to us and we will listen,

but do not let God speak to us. Wow. Lest we

die. Moses said to the people, do not fear, for

God has come to you, come to test you, that the

fear of him may be before you, that you may not

sin. The people stood far off while Moses drew

near to the thick darkness where God was. And

Yahweh said to Moses, Thus you shall say to the

people of Israel, You have seen for yourselves

that I have talked with you from heaven. You

shall not make gods of silver to be with me,

nor shall you Make for yourselves gods of gold,

an altar of earth. You shall make for me and

sacrifice on it your offerings and your peace

offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every

place where I cause my name to be remembered,

I will come to you and bless you. For if you

wield your tool on it, you profane it. And you

shall not go up to the steps to my altar that

your nakedness may not be exposed. So what do

we notice about this chapter? God hasn't written

anything yet. He spoke to the people of Israel.

Do you see the response? Of the people of Israel.

Do not let God speak to us because if he speaks

to us, we're going to die. Think about the mindset

you have to have to think that God always wants

to kill you. He leads you out of slavery where

you were dying to bring you into freedom where

you can live, and they say you led us out here

to kill us, to starve us to death. Then he brings

them to the mountain. He speaks to them the truth

of his word, himself, his perfect standard of

law that is given to them. And they go, don't

talk to us because you're going to kill us if

you talk to us. I want you to grasp that. Principle

number one. God speaks his law and commands.

Israel to obey. Not only does he tell Israel

twice not to make any graven image, which he

gives in the command, which he spoke first. Then

he tells him again, which he says, don't make

anything of silver to be with me. In other words,

don't go and make yourself a God who will be

me before you. And so, here we are, Exodus 20,

1 -6. And God spoke all these words, saying,

I am the Lord your God who brought you out of

the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

He reminds them of the God he is. He tells them,

I did this for you. I brought you out. I led

you. I am your shepherd, is basically what he's

saying. And you shall have no other gods before

me. You shall not make for yourself a graven

image or any likeness of anything that is in

heaven above or that is on the earth beneath.

Or that is in the water and under the earth.

And you shall not bow down to them nor serve

them. For I am the Lord your God and a jealous

God. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on

the children to the third and fourth generation

of those who hate me. I want you to get that.

People don't love God. They hate God. Why? Disobedience

and rebellion is a clear act of hatred towards

them. That's what he means here. They don't want

to obey me because they hate me. And they can

obey me. And you're going to see that in a minute.

But showing steadfast love to thousands of those

who love me. He doesn't say to all the earth

who will love me one day. It's only to those

thousands who love me and keep my commandments.

So this is not an issue of legalism here, which

during the men's conference I was talking to

Pastor Ben there, and there's always this fine

line. Between legalism and grace. But with God,

there isn't. God is all grace and all truth.

He's both. He's law and grace. You don't separate

the two. But because we have grown up in a seeker

-sensitive environment and a modern -day idea

of church, We've taken the very thing that God

says that he is, truth and grace, and we've separated

saying it's legalism and grace. But Jesus says,

if you love me, obey me. He says again here in

Exodus 26, by showing steadfast love to those

who love me and keep my commands. Obedience is

the standard. Why do I obey? Because I love him

by faith. I love him. I want to obey him by faith

because he's my God. That's my drive. That's

what I want to do. Principle number two. God

warns Israel and says, do not make gods of silver

or gold to be with me. Don't do it. Like I said,

he told him twice. Verse 18 and 24. Now when

all the people saw the thunder and the flashes

of lightning and saw the trumpet and the mountain

smoking and the people were afraid and trembled

and they stood far off and said to Moses. Isn't

that interesting? God not only speaks to them,

they hear the trumpet, they hear the voice of

God, the commands of God as thunder. And they're

so preoccupied with what they're seeing that

they are not hearing. Words of life here. Two

words of life. And they're afraid. And this is

what they say to Moses. You speak to us and we

will listen. No, you won't. If you're not going

to listen to the living God, the creator of all

the universe, there's no way you're going to

listen to a man who bleeds like you and breathes

like you and will eventually die like you. Give

me a break. And Moses knows this. Because as

you read the rest of the chapters and how Moses

deals with the people, Moses is their ambassador.

And Moses is their... Shepherd. And Moses is

their priest. Because as we read later, Moses

says, I will go before the Lord and ask to make

atonement for you. That's Jesus. Look what he

says. Look what else they say. But do not let

God speak to us lest we die. But yet, the Torah

and the Talmud, they live and die by that. They

really don't listen to the word though. This

is the issue here with the people of Israel.

They willingly not listen. They're afraid. And

in verse 20, Moses says to the people, such a

good shepherd. Do not be afraid. For God has

come to test you. That the fear of him may be

before you that you may not sin. What's the fear?

The command. You see the result of God speaking

to you. This should bring to you a reverence

of awe and respect to the point that you're going

to do everything that you possibly can by his

power in faith, not to disobey and make a graven

image. He's preparing them. He's letting them

know, you're going to do this. But I'm giving

you an opportunity. But look at what it says

in verse 21. This is interesting. For the people

stood far off. Their hearts were what? Far from

me. Their hearts were far from me. Why Moses

drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

Moses draws near because Moses knows by faith

who God is and by faith believes his word. But

the rest of Israel? Stood far off. They were

terrified. So, thus you shall say to the people

of Israel, this is what the Lord says, you have

seen for yourselves that I have talked with you

from heaven. And you shall not make gods of silver

to be with me, nor shall you make for yourself

gods of gold, an altar on the earth shall make

For me, a sacrifice on it for burnt offerings

and for peace offerings and for sheep and for

oxen. This is your opportunity to come and worship

me. But they don't. They don't. Exodus 31. Exodus

31. I'm just going to do verse 18. Because what

we read from Exodus 21 all the way to 31, which

if you've been coming to Wednesday nights, you

know, is God then has Moses, as he's talking

with him on the mountain, write out all the rules.

All the rules. How do you deal with slaves and

how do you deal with men who are... behaving

themselves and all these other rules. And it

goes on. And then he tells them what the tabernacle

is going to look like and how it's made and what

it's going to be made of and how big it is. And

he gives all the measurements and what the priest

is supposed to be wearing. But he gets to 31.

Verse 18. Principle number three. God gives Israel

his command written by his own finger. Just to

prove. Just to prove, again, I don't know if

God has to prove anything. Really, he doesn't

need to prove anything. But I'm just making a

point. To reveal to the heart of the man, not

only have I told you the commandments, but now

I'm going to write it with my own finger. I'm

going to hand it to you from my own hand. And

he gave Moses, when he had finished speaking

with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets. Of

the testimony, tablets of stone written with

his own finger. And Moses comes down. Chapter

32. Look what it says. When the people saw that

Moses had delayed to come down from the mountain,

The people gathered themselves together to Aaron

and said to him, you make us gods who shall go

before us. As for this Moses, oh, as for this

Moses, as for the Moses that you said, you speak

to us and we'll listen to you, that only took

five chapters. They abandoned that idea. As for

this Moses, not my Moses, whose Moses is it?

The man who brought us up out of the land of

Egypt. We do not know what has become of him.

The man who brought you out of Egypt, right?

Oh, wait a minute. If I remember in the commandment

that God spoke to you and he had... he was about

to hand you, it says that I, the Lord God, led

you out of the land of Egypt. Since when did

Moses lead you out of Egypt? You remember who

led him? In a pillar of fire, in a pillar of

cloud? Oh, it's Moses though. So Aaron said to

them, man, this dude, when I read, I can't help

to get upset when I read these. I just, listen

to what, this is Aaron, Moses' brother, who is

going to be priest. Okay? This is mind -boggling.

And then we're going to read to you Aaron's response.

It's shocking. So Aaron said to them, take off

your rings of gold that are in your ears. of

your wives and your sons and your daughters and

bring them to me. Really? So all the people took

the rings of gold, rings of gold that were in

their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he

received the gold and from their hand he fashioned

it with a graving tool and made a golden calf

and 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.

I mean, did God not say, don't do this? And when

you build the altar, don't build it with you

in stone. This is pure, unadulterated hatred.

A rebellion of a people. Crazy. Let's keep reading.

And this is what he says, and Aaron saw this,

and he built an altar before it, and Aaron made

a proclamation and said, let's celebrate. That's

basically what he says. Tomorrow shall be a feast.

To Yahweh. And they rose up. Early the next day.

And offered burnt offerings. And brought peace

offerings. And the people sat down and ate and

drank. And rose up to play. They called the calf.

Yahweh. And so the Lord said to Moses. Go down

for your people. Whom brought whom you. Brought

up out of the land of Egypt. That's kind of cool.

They're saying that you brought them. So, hey,

why don't you go and save your people? Because

I am about to annihilate them. I am going to

burn them to a crisp. I mean, God, at this point,

was fed up about here. From a human perspective,

like right here. You know you have that little

bit as a parent that just keeps you from destroying

your children? That's this part right here. Thank

God you could see mine because if you had hair,

you'd be guessing. Oh boy. 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.

And they have made for themselves a golden calf

and have worshipped it and sacrificed to it and

said, These are your gods of Israel who brought

you up out of the land of Egypt. And Yahweh said

to Moses, I have seen this people, and behold,

it is a stiff -necked people. Therefore, let

me alone that my wrath may burn hot against them,

and I may consume them in order that I may make

a great nation of you, Moses. Because guess what?

Nothing will stop my plan. I made a promise to

Abraham, and that through Abraham I will bring

the Messiah, and I'm going to do it with you

now. But look what Moses does. Moses says, no,

you can't do that. You can't do that. It's not

like God didn't know he couldn't do that. Of

course he wasn't. He could have. He wanted. He

was. He was angry enough to do it. But he's testing

Moses too. He's testing Moses too. He's seeing

if Moses knows. He knows Moses knows. But God

always tests his people. Tests the faith. When

you go through trials of many kinds, it's the

Lord testing you. And Moses implored. Yahweh

Elohim and said oh Yahweh 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 you did it it wasn't me God

knew he had Moses's heart and why should the

Egyptians say with evil intent did he bring them

out to kill them in the mountains and consume

them with from the face of the earth. Turn from

your burning anger and relent from your 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. And God relents. God relents.

He says, fine, Moses. I don't disagree with you.

I'm just glad you said it. So let's go do something.

We're going to take care of this. I'm going to

take care of this. And what does he do? Fourth

principle. So what God does is he takes Moses

down and Moses takes the tablets and he Breaks

them. Destroys the tablets that God wrote with

his own finger. And then melts all the gold and

then grinds it into a powder and forces everyone

to eat it. And then after they're done, God says,

now you're going to separate them. The wheat

from the chaff. This is wonderful. Because this

is what he does to the church. And he separates

them. Those who are on God's side stand where

Moses is. What do you think Aaron does? I'm on

Moses' side. And if you remember, in chapter

32, verse 35, it says, Then Yahweh sent a plague

on the people because they made the calf the

one that Aaron made. So after he gives them a

plague, he also, before the plague, goes and

grabs the Levites and the Levites take a sword.

And he tells him, take a sword. And the Levites

annihilate those who are on the other side. They

just kill them all. And then everyone who's alive,

who has made a decision, they get a plague. It's

like, you're not getting out of it. The only

one who didn't get a plague was Moses. But everyone

else got a plague. So. What God does now, tablets

are broken. God writes on the tablets that Moses

cuts out with his own hands because he broke

the ones the Lord had made with his own finger.

So God takes these tablets. He cuts them out

with his own finger, writes on them with his

own finger. Moses breaks them, and he's like,

yo, Moses, I'm not doing that again, buddy. You

broke the first ones, you're going to cut out

the second ones. So he goes and he cuts out the

second ones. And in chapter 34, verse 1 through

4, it says this. The Lord said to Moses, cut

for yourself two tablets of stone like the first.

And I will write on the tablets the words that

were on the first tablets which you broke. God

writes the law. Because it's his law. Moses writes

the rules. Be ready by morning and come up in

the morning to Mount Sinai and present yourself

there to me on the top of the mountain. No one

shall come with you. And let no one be seen throughout

all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze

on opposite of that mountain. So Moses cut two

tablets of stone like the first, and he rose

early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai

as the Lord had commanded him. And he took in

his hands two tablets of stone. You're going

to carry the burden now, buddy. This is exactly

what happens. So God gives the law verbally.

God writes the law with his own hand and gives

the law. With his own hand through Moses. He

cuts it all out. And then Moses breaks the law

that God wrote. And so Moses has to now bring

up the law on tablets. Which God then writes

back on the tablet and brings it back down the

mountain. So whether I give it to you by my own

voice or I write it with my own finger. Or if

a man brings it to you. You still won't obey

me. It doesn't matter how it's going to come.

It can come in a whirlwind. Man will not obey

God. They cannot obey God. It's an impossibility.

What hope do we have? 1 Corinthians chapter 2.

1 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

1 Corinthians chapter 2, 12 through 16. The same

1 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

gift of faith needed and given to believe is

the same gift of faith needed to obey the commands

of God. The same faith that is needed to believe

is the same faith that is needed to obey. Look

what it says in 1 Corinthians 2. Now, we have

received not the spirit of the world, but the

spirit who is from God that we might understand

the things freely given us. by God. There's a

clue. What were the people lacking? The people

were lacking the Spirit of God, their faith.

I'm going to show that to you in a minute. That

we might understand the things freely given by

God, and we impart this in words not taught by

human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit. interpreting

spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

The natural person does not accept the things

of the Spirit of God for they are folly to him

and he is not able to understand them because

they are spiritually discerned. But the spiritual

person judges all things but is himself to be

judged by no one. Why? Because the Word of God

judges him. For who has understood the mind of

the Lord as to instruct him? But we have the

mind of Christ. No one can come to Christ without

the gift of faith by which the Holy Spirit brings

the revelation of the truth of the word of God

to their hearts and minds and the illumination

work of the illuminating work of God, meaning

the doctor of illumination, brings the truth

to his mind and heart. Now I want you to think

about that when you're dealing with the issue

of the gospel. If they can't even understand

the basic commandment, you should have no other

gods before me, you should not make any gods

of graven images, how in the world can anyone

understand the gospel apart from the Spirit of

God? Which is the greatest truth we have on the

planet, that God himself died for his creation,

for his people. Here's proof. Romans chapter

Romans 9:31

9, verse 31 and 32. And I did it. I'm going to

be done on time. But that, chapter 9, verse 31

and 32, but that Israel who pursued a law that

would lead to righteousness did not succeed in

reaching that law. In other words, the people

of Israel pursued a righteousness Through the

law, but they didn't succeed in reaching that

standard. Why? Why? Why couldn't they, if they've

obeyed, as the young rich man said, I've kept

all your commandments. Well, then go sell all

you have and give it to the poor. He walked away

and never came back. Why? Why couldn't he obey?

Because they did not pursue it by faith. They're

faithless. But, as it were, based on works, they

have stumbled over the stumbling stone. Christ,

the law incarnate. The reality of their disobedience

is because of the condition of what they are.

Creatures that are corrupt. Creatures without

faith. You cannot obey the Word of God without

the gift of faith. And you cannot receive the

gift of faith unless the Holy Spirit is present.

And that's the reality when we're dealing with

the Word of God. Do I really know it? And if

I know it, am I obeying it? And if the Spirit

of God is present in me, then I should be pursuing

it. It doesn't mean that I'm Trying to live a

life that comes off self -righteously. But I'm

trying to live a life that's pleasing to my God

because I have within me the living God who gives

me the power and the grace to accomplish his

word. It's called grace. It's not the license

to sin. But it is the power to do what is right.

We don't become Christians because we want to

get out of hell card. We become Christians because

God in his grace and mercy saves a people. Which

then he diverts his wrath away from them. He

doesn't save us from hell. He saves us from himself.

There is nothing worse than being in the hands

of an angry God. So. I hope you understand that

you guys are believers. Men and women of the

living God. Who he has empowered and gifted to

walk in newness of life by the grace he has given

you. And you can obey because he loves you. And

because he lives in you. That's my challenge.

As we read the word, that we ask the God of the

word to reveal himself to us through his word.

Alright? Father, I want to thank you so much

for your goodness and faithfulness. Thank you

for your word. And Lord, may we learn that the

reality of your revelation of the truth of your

word to us, through the work of illumination

by the by the Holy Spirit, and the gift of faith

that we can know and believe and do is a gift.

It's just an amazing thing. Thank you for your

word. Thank you for the examples that you have

given us to avoid, but also the great power of

grace for us to do. Lord, we praise you and thank

you. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, we're going

to sing. Bible Waits.