The Golden Calf and Waiting on the Lord - Life of Moses Part 46

Today what we want to do is we want to return to our study of that great man of God Moses.

Now some of you remember way back in the distant past we were doing this and just let me remind you where we've been so far. So far we've watched as God led Moses and the Israelites out of Egypt and through the Red Sea. Then we tagged along as God led the Israelites down to the foot of Mount Sinai and then we studied one at a time the Ten Commandments that God gave the Israelites while they were camped there and that's where we left off. And so what we want to do today is we want to pick up the story.

If you missed any of that that we'd already covered I urge you to go to the bookstore and get the tape or get the CDs or go online and and download those messages. But today we want to pick up in Exodus chapter 32 where we left off and today we're gonna watch as the Israelites build one of the most famous idols of all time and you know it of course as the golden calf. But there are some tremendous spiritual lessons in this story for you and me and that's what we want to talk about. Now here in chapter 32 of the book of Exodus we're really just picking up the story that we leapfrogged from chapter 24.

We leapfrog in the narrative right to chapter 32. So let's go back to chapter 24 for just a moment and there we read that the Lord said to Moses come up to me on Mount Sinai and I will give you the tablets of stone upon which I've written my commandments. So Moses said to the elders of Israel wait here for me until I come back.

Behold Aaron and Hur are here with you. Moses left his brother Aaron down in the valley with the Israelites to keep things under control and then the Bible says as Moses went up the mountain there was a cloud covering it so Moses entered the cloud and he was up on the mountain and stayed there for 40 days and 40 nights. Now you know on my Israel tour and every year in October we go to Mount Sinai. It's an imposing peak about 8,000 feet high and God has given me the privilege to climb Mount Sinai I don't know 10 or 12 times and when you do when you climb to the top of Mount Sinai you discover that the top of Mount Sinai is actually around on the back of the mountain. When you get to the top of Mount Sinai you cannot see anyone in the valley below and the people in the valley below cannot see you and so the point I want to make to you here is that when Moses went to the top of Mount Sinai he totally disappeared from sight but from the Israelites for all 40 of those days and all 40 of those nights and I want to stop and mention to you here that Moses's long stay up on the top of Mount Sinai it was a spiritual test for the Israelites we need to understand that you know friends God could have done what he needed to do with Moses on the top of Mount Sinai he didn't need 40 days and 40 nights to do it he could have done it in 40 minutes he could have done it in 40 seconds of the reason that God prolonged Moses to stay on top of the mountain was because he wanted to test the people of Israel he wanted to reveal what was really dwelling in their heart whether they would stay true to God while Moses was gone or whether they would desert him so how did the Israelites do well let's pick up in chapter 32 and we'll see verse 1 now when the Israelites saw that Moses was so long delayed in coming down from the mountain they gathered around Aaron and they said make us a God who will go before us as for this fellow Moses who brought us out of Egypt I mean we don't know what happened to him they say look Aaron we just can't sit here at the foot of this mountain forever eating manna and waiting on Moses to come back I mean you got to face it man your brother is gone your brother is dead he's never coming back and so what we want you to do is to make us a God that we can see and we can touch and that we can follow and where were they planning to follow this God well folks they were planning to follow it right back to Egypt you say how do you know that well because of what the Bible says in Acts chapter 7 Stephen says there but our fathers refused to obey God instead they rejected him and look in their hearts they turned back to Egypt that's where they were going and they said to Aaron make us a God who will go before us as we go back to Egypt and at that time they made an idol in the form of a calf now folks had Aaron been a stronger spiritual leader then maybe the rest of this very unfortunate chapter would never have happened but he wasn't verse 2 then Aaron said to them take off the gold earrings that your wives and your sons and your daughters are wearing and bring them to me and Aaron took what they handed him and he made it into a golden calf then all the Israelites pointed to the calf and said this is your God Oh Israel who brought you up from the land of Egypt now in doing this we understand don't we that the Israelites grossly violated commandment number one and commandment number two commandment number one says you shall have no other gods in place of me and commandment number two says you shall not make for yourself an idol you shall not bow down to it and you shall not worship it but this is exactly what the Israelites did the next day verse six the people rose early and they sacrificed burnt offerings to this calf then they sat down to eat and drink and they rose up to play you say well that doesn't sound all that serious eating and drinking and playing friends these guys were not playing Trivial Pursuit these people were not playing Monopoly the Hebrew word that's translated here play means sexual play it being means provocative sexual playing and so what was going on here around this calf was these people were gorging themselves with food and drinking themselves drunk with wine and then rising up and engaging in all kinds of immoral behavior this was a drunken immoral orgy that was happening right down there now chapter 32 suddenly switches the scene now and we go to the top of the mountain where Moses is now remember Moses cannot see what's going on in the valley so watch verse 7 then the Lord said to Moses go down at once for your people have corrupted themselves they have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and they have made an idol in the shape of a calf now friends Moses couldn't see this as I said God informs him of this and then God makes him an amazing offer watch I have seen these people God says that they are a stiff-necked people now leave me alone Moses God says leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and I will destroy them and then I will make you Moses into a great nation do you understand what God is offering Moses here he says Moses if you leave me alone I'm going to annihilate all those Israelites down in the valley all the ones who've been those people have been making your life miserable for months now and I'm gonna start all over Moses with you you're gonna become the patriarch of a new special nation that I'm gonna make for me and I'm gonna give your descendants the land of Canaan and I'm gonna multiply your descendants like the stars of the sea and it's gonna be your name that's gonna be the progenitor and the hero of this new nation friends let me say that just like Moses his absence was a spiritual test for the Israelites so the Israelites sin my friends was a spiritual test for Moses had there been a single bone in his body that was filled with personal ambition had there been a single bone in his body that was filled with a desire for personal glory man this is the offer you want to make you into God's special nation but watch in contrast to the Israelites Moses passed his test verse 11 says then Moses and treated the Lord prayed and said Lord please turn your fear away from your fierce anger and change your mind about doing these people harm please remember Abraham and Isaac and Jacob your servants to whom you swore that you would make their descendants a great nation Moses said hey God you never swore anything about my descendants you swore by your own name to Abraham Isaac and Jacob about their descendants that's their descendants down in the valley there Lord I got nothing to do with this I don't want to start a new nation I don't want to be a big shot I don't want to be the progenitor of anything Lord I'll just be your servant you you show mercy to those people and friends do you understand that by doing this Moses proves that he was indeed worthy of his calling as a man of God you understand that he passed his test and so verse 14 the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster that he had threatened finally the scene switches to the bottom of the mountain again as Moses arrives and sees the golden calf and everything else going on verse 15 then Moses went down the mountain carrying the two tablets of stone in his hand and they were inscribed on both sides and the writing was God's writing engraved on the tablets and as Moses drew near to the camp and he saw the calf and he saw all the reveling and the partying his anger burned and he threw the two tablets from his hands and he shattered them at the foot of the mountain he was upset and then Moses did three things number one the first thing he did is Moses dealt with the golden calf look at this verse 20 then Moses took the calf and ground it to powder and put it in the water and made all the Israelites drink it why why did he do that well he was trying to make a point the point he was trying to make is hey if this calf can't even save itself from being annihilated ground into powder and you drink in it how in the world could he possibly save you second of all after dealing with the calf Moses next deals with his brother Aaron he calls Aaron over verse 21 and Moses said to him what did these people do to you that you led them into such a great sin and standing there in front of Moses with gold dust all over him Aaron offers what has to be one of the lamest excuses in recorded history watch he said don't be angry at me my lord for you know how prone these people are to sit it wasn't my fault they asked me to make a god who would go before them so they gave me their gold and I threw it in the fire and out came this calf you talk about a bonehead excuse sounds like the excuses my kids used to give me when they were growing up how does bathtub overflow I don't know it just did how'd the cat get out I don't know it just did how'd the scratch get on my car I don't know it just did how'd all this mud get on the carpet I don't know it just did Aaron how'd this golden calf get here say it with me I don't know it just did well you don't really think God was going to accept that excuse did you in fact the Bible says Deuteronomy chapter 9 the Lord was angry enough at Aaron to destroy him but Moses said I prayed for him too and God spared him finally after dealing with the calf and dealing with his brother Aaron now it was time for Moses third and finally to deal with the ring leaders of Israel who had started all this trouble when Moses saw verse 25 how the people were running wild and acting out of control then Moses stood at the gate of the camp and he shouted whoever is on the Lord's side let him come to me you understand what this is here this is God's offer of mercy to the people of Israel before he sends judgment friends listen don't you ever forget it God always offers mercy to sinners before he sends judgment and that's what this was all about and every single one of the Israelites who came over and stood with Moses in the gate of the camp God forgave every one of them and God spared every single one of them the Bible says a bunch of Levites came over and stood with him and then look verse 27 Moses said to the Levites every one of you strap your sword on and go through the camp of Israel and kill all those people who didn't come over and stand with me even though they might be your brothers or your friends or your neighbors now a lot of people have trouble with this a lot of people say how could the loving God of the universe do this how could he command a slaughter like this how cruel could he be how heartless could he be wait a minute wait a minute before you impugn God like that you remember my friend that the only people in danger that day were the people who had first spurned God's offer of mercy the only people in danger that day were the people who had refused to come over and stand with Moses and declare that they were on the Lord's side and by doing so they had rebelled against God they had rejected God's offer of mercy they had decided to go their own way those were the only people in danger that day and God said I'm not tolerating this and he sent the Levites out to deal with them and so the Levites did as Moses commanded and that day about 3,000 of those people who refused to come stand with Moses they died now listen if you're here today and you've never trusted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior what we just read has enormous implications for your life remember what we said my friend we said God always offers mercy to sinners before he sends judgment now in the days of these Israelites the mercy God offered was Moses standing in the gate saying come to me but you know today the mercy that God offers sinners is the Lord Jesus Christ and what he did on the cross and the Lord Jesus saying come to me and friends for every one of us who will come to Christ just like for every Israelite who came over to Moses God will forgive that person and God will spare that person and God will deliver that person from justice but you know what the people who spurned Moses's offer they tasted of the judgment of God and friends everyone who spurns God's offer of mercy in Jesus Christ I'm here to tell you as your friend they will taste of the judgment of God too don't you think because it's not happening today or it's not happening tomorrow that the judgment of God won't fall on the people who reject Christ it will and so if you're here and you've never trusted Christ I urge you my friend to run to the cross I urge you to sprint to the cross and accept God's offer of mercy it is a dangerous thing to reject mercy when God's offering it and remember God was only offering the Israelites mercy at one place they couldn't go to just any gate in the camp and find mercy they had to go to the gate that Moses was standing at where he told him to come and friends today you can't go to just any place and get mercy from God I'm sorry God's only offering mercy today one place and that is in Jesus Christ and what he did on the cross and I sure hope you take advantage of it my friend well that's as far as we're gonna go in the passage for today because now it's time for us to ask our most important question and I know y'all are a little rusty I know that so here we go now we need to do this nice and loud are you ready are y'all ready up there all right here we go nice and loud one two three oh you can do better than that I'm telling I know you can so come on now ready come on one two three oh there you go how sweet it is huh you say Lon so what I mean the golden calf and grinding him up and putting him in the water and everybody I mean what difference does anybody does it make to my life tomorrow when I get on the Metro when I go to work when I go to school when I drive the carpool what difference does this make oh I'm gonna make that connection for you right now friend let's start by asking the question why did the Israelites do what they did here in Exodus 32 why did they make the golden calf I mean what what was it that caused them to build that calf well the answer is the real issue here was their failure to wait on the Lord see when Moses went up that mountain for 40 days and 40 nights what did he say when he went up the mountain he said wait here from me until I come back Moses didn't say I'm going up the mountain you'll never see me again he said I'm coming back and instead of looking back and remembering how God had been faithful to them all the way out of Egypt and across the wilderness and then on that basis trusting God to be faithful to them while they were waiting for Moses instead of waiting on God and resting in God by faith these people instead completely lost sight of God they began to question his faithfulness they began to doubt his promises and then they did what people always do when they go down that road they panicked they panicked and they came to Aaron and said Aaron quick quick make us a god because we're going back to Egypt they took matters in their own hands and they acted with fleshly impatience and fleshly impulsiveness listen folks during that 40-day delay what God wanted these people to do is he wanted them to rise up and trust God by faith he wanted them to rise up and rest in God's promises he wanted them to rise up and wait on God's timing in quiet confidence but they failed this test utterly now let's move all this into the 21st century and let's let's say that folks this is why God often delays in your life as a Christian and in my life as a Christian this is why delay is a part of every Christian's life this is why sometimes in every Christian's life God allows himself to feel so far away from us this is why in every Christian's life God sometimes lets our prayers go seemingly unanswered and we feel like they're just bouncing off the heavens and back down friends God is not trying to be mean to us or cruel to us or insensitive to us any more than he was being mean cruel or insensitive to those Israelites in the valley at Mount Sinai God is trying to teach us something he's trying to teach us when he delays the very same thing he was trying to teach these Israelites he was trying to teach them how to be still and know that he is God Psalm 46 10 he was trying to teach them Jeremiah 17 5 how to wait patiently on the Lord and not rely on the arm of the flesh he didn't want these people to be a mile long and an inch deep he wanted them to be deep in their walk with God and the way to force them there was to force them to wait on God and trust God listen friends what does it really mean to wait on the Lord practically I mean we see that phrase all through the Bible what's it really mean well let's define it waiting on the Lord is a spiritual discipline it is a spiritual attitude that says five things a person who's waiting on the Lord as a person that's saying all five of these things to themselves every day number one a person who's waiting on the Lord is saying first I have a great and awesome God that's where it starts number two a person who's waiting on the Lord is saying my great God is in utter control of everything whether I can understand what he's doing or whether I can when you're waiting on the Lord the third thing that you say is that the timing of my great God is always perfect it may not be the timing I want and by the way friends the timing we want is now always now well it may not be that but his timings perfect I affirm that if I'm waiting on the Lord number four a person who's waiting on the Lord says based on what God has done for me in the past I can and I will trust him to be faithful for to me in the present and last of all a person who's waiting on the Lord says therefore because I believe those other four things because I believe I got a great God because I believe my God is in control because I believe my God's timing is perfect and because I believe God will be faithful to me in the present like it was in the past therefore I am NOT gonna panic therefore I am NOT gonna fret and I'm certainly not gonna rush out impulsively in the energy of the flesh and do anything when God tells me to act I'll act until that point I've Psalm 37 7 will rest in the Lord and I'll wait patiently for him Hudson Taylor the great missionary to China said quoting the book of Isaiah he who believes shall not make haste and all was he right you know there's many many great examples of this principle in action in the Bible but I just want to choose one to point out to you from Acts chapter 12 you remember the story Acts chapter 12 King Herod had cut off the head of John the Baptist you remember that and everybody loved that so much that Herod decided well why don't I cut a few more Christians heads off and so he arrested Peter and Peter was scheduled for beheading the very next morning in fact the Bible says Acts chapter 12 verse 6 the night before Herod was to behead him Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound to them with chains you believe this you believe this I mean here Peter is in jail knowing they're gonna cut his head off the next morning and he's sleeping like a baby I mean friends I have trouble sleeping when I got a big appointment the next day and I would definitely say having my head cut off would qualify as a big appointment wouldn't you well yeah and he's so sleep he sleeps so soundly he was sleeping watch this that the next verse says that when the angel blows the prison doors wide open and burst into this prison with a flash of light that blinded the guards look at this the Bible says the angel had to hit Peter in the side to wake him up now there's a brother who sleep that man's out he said law this makes no sense here how in the world in prison chained up with the prospect of being decapitated the very next morning how in the world could this man be sleeping like this all because Peter knew how to wait on the Lord friends PC Peter in jail said well number one I got a great God and number two my gods in complete control whether I understand or not and number three my gods timing for getting me out of here or not getting me out of here is perfect and number four God has been faithful to me in the past and I believe he's gonna be faithful to me in the present and therefore Psalm 121 says that the Lord neither slumbers nor sleeps and Peter said well Lord if you're gonna be up all night I'm going to bed no sense both of us staying up all night I'm going to sleep which is what he did now there's a man who knows how to rest in the Lord there's a man who knows how to wait on the Lord friend listen in an audience like this I'm sure there are a lot of us who know how Peter felt in his flesh there in that jail I mean there are a lot of us here who've got all kinds of problems that we're facing that are tough some of us here with or without a job some of us here have a child who's away from the Lord and it grieves us deeper than we can express in words some of us here have a husband or a wife that's not a believer some of us here have a parent or a loved one a brother a sister who's outside of Christ and we're deeply concerned about their eternal destiny some of us here have financial challenges that are gigantic or maybe we have a house we can't sell in this market or maybe we've got big health problems or maybe we've got the challenges that come with dealing with somebody that we love who's disabled or who's old or ill and infirmed and we've been praying and waiting and praying and waiting and praying and waiting and God has not done anything well I'm here to tell you my friend don't you dare get discouraged I'm here to tell you that God hasn't forgotten about you any more than he had forgotten about Peter in that jail I'm here to tell you God hasn't forgotten about you any more than he'd forgotten about those Israelites down in that valley folks God is delaying because he wants to teach you something very important as a follower of Jesus Christ he's trying to teach you what he wanted to try to teach the Israelites but they refused to learn he's trying to teach you Psalm 37 7 how to rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him quietly confident while you're waiting that he has everything under control quietly confident while you're waiting that his timing is perfect quietly confident while you're waiting that he's gonna be faithful to you in the present just like he was faithful to you in the past and quietly resolved while you're waiting that you are not gonna rush out in fleshly impulsiveness and take matters in your own hands and try to fix it yourself you see it was Israel's failure to learn how to do this that led them into every single problem they got themselves into you look in the Bible every single time those guys got in trouble in the wilderness it was for the same reason they didn't know how to wait on God they tried to do it themselves and you see my friends God wants you and me to walk in the footsteps of Peter not in the footsteps of these Israelites God wants us to learn Psalm 27 verse 14 how to wait on the Lord the Bible says be strong and wait on the Lord let your heart take courage while you're waiting because we got a God and he knows what's going on and he's gonna act when he's ready so you stay strong now you say well Lon I got just one question to ask you before we're done well that's good because I only have time for one question you said well Lon here's my question my question is sometimes God does want us to act as Christians right absolutely you say so here's my question Lon how then do I tell the difference between when God wants me to wait and when God wants me to act who that's a good question that's a really good question and the answer is that there is no general answer to that question no I'm not kidding you listen here now I'm not playing with you listen there is no general answer friends that question when do I wait on God and when do I act God answers that question situation by situation for us when we are walking close to the Lord you understand what I'm saying you and I might be facing the very same situation one day and God might say to you act and God might say to me wait yeah I can't give you a general answer but what I can tell you is God does answer that question but he answers it for people who are walking close enough to him to hear his still small voice people who are in the Word of God every single day meditating and studying the Word of God people who are on their knees seeking God in prayer every single day people who are following hard after God and seeking God with everything they've got these are the people who are in a position to hear the still small voice of God when God says on this one I want you to wait and on this one it's time to act friends God doesn't shout never has never will God doesn't shout God whispers and if you and I are moving a hundred miles an hour and we're not slowing down to take time with the Word of God and time in prayer and time to seek God folks you'll never hear his whisper you won't and you will be guaranteed I promise you you'll be guaranteed to act when you should have waited and wait when you should have acted you'll mess it up just like those Israelites messed it up God reserves that kind of information for the people who care about the answer enough that they're willing to take the time to seek Christ deeply and listen to the still small voice of God and so I want to challenge you my friend if you've been waiting on God and waiting on God and waiting on God it doesn't seem like much is happening that's okay listen waiting on God is not wasting time listen to me carefully waiting on God is not wasting time waiting on God means allowing God the time that he needs to set everything in place so that he can bless us with his choicest blessing so that he can bless us with his richest blessing and sometimes God says I just want you to go into neutral while I get all this other stuff ready and friends if we don't know how to go into neutral and stay in neutral well God says it's time to come out we're gonna mess up the best stuff that he wants to give us waiting on God's not wasting time waiting on God is a spiritual discipline that allows God to give us his very best and we need to know as Christians how to act boldly yes and friends we need to know how to wait boldly yes we need to know how to do both and you'll never learn to wait unless God forces you and that's why he delays in your life because this is not a natural skill acting is easy we love to act acting is fun everybody knows how to do that but friends we have to learn how to wait and that's what God's trying to teach us and may I just say to you that this is the hardest part of my job as your pastor the toughest part of my job is your leader is knowing win as a church we should act and win as a church we should wait and I need your prayers and I covet your prayers and I ask you beg you for your prayers for me and our elders that we would be walking close enough to Christ that we would hear his still small voice and we would hear when he says wait and we would hear when he says act and we'd get it right because the implications of us getting it wrong could be devastating for this church so I need your prayers for me and friends you need your prayers for you that God would answer this question for you years ago I had a wonderful lady an older lady in the faith Satan Milan she said never forget this she said if in doubt wait boy what great advice that was if in doubt wait you know very seldom have I ever regretted waiting on the Lord maybe a little longer than I should have but boy I sure have regretted a few times where I acted way before I should have friends if you're waiting on God that is a great place to be if you're waiting on God and praying for that loved one to come to Christ that is a great place to be if you're waiting on God for that child to come back around to the faith that's a great place to be if you're waiting for him to open up the right job and you're waiting for him waiting on God is a great place to be but friend wait boldly don't you dare wait apologetically and don't you dare wait weekly we a K don't you do that you wait boldly every day saying I got a great God he is in control his timing is perfect he's gonna be faithful to me just like he was in the past he's gonna be faithful in the present and therefore I can wait boldly for him and if that's where he's put you hey friend it's a great place to be because when God finally acts you I promise will be glad you waited let's pray together Lord Jesus thanks for teaching a spiritual truth today deep spiritual truth this is not pablum we've been talking about today this is the stuff that the men and women of God down through the ages have been made of the ability not just to act boldly but the ability to wait on God boldly and so Lord my prayer is that you would encourage the hearts of the men and women here your followers whom you've called in some area of their life to wait on you Lord Jesus teach us that this is not wasting time nor has God forgotten about us nor has he forsaken us this is part of the spiritual discipline that you are enforcing on us as you raise us as your children to be deep men and women of God and I pray that you would help us to wait boldly on God quietly confident quietly confident that when the time is right you will act and it will be awesome and until then we are quietly resolved that we are not gonna run out in the energy of the flesh we are not gonna panic we're not building a golden calf we're just gonna trust you Lord encourage our hearts and lives today and teach us how to wait on the Lord be strong and let your heart take courage yay wait on the Lord change our lives because we were here today father and we studied the living Word of God and we pray this in Jesus name and God's people said amen you