The Golden Betrayal

If you have a Bible in front of you, please now turn with me to the book of Exodus and chapter 32. If you're using one of the Blue Church Bibles, that can be found on page 72, and we're going to be reading the whole chapter together this morning.

So that's Exodus chapter 32, and that can be found on page 72 in the Blue Church Bibles. Exodus 32, beginning at verse 1.

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 did 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 are 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 to 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 is 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 they had made and burned it with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered on it 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 up at 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 derision 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 in 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 three thousand 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 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 have made 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.

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 angels 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. Amen. This is God's word to us this morning.

Can you please get it open in front of you before we continue? Let's come before the Lord together in prayer. Let's pray. Father, please, by your spirit, as your word is preached, would you do a work only you can do?

For without you working on our behalf, we truly can do nothing. So Father, be with us now. All for your glory and our goods.

In Jesus' precious name. Amen. Amen. It might be hard to remember, but believe it or not, it's been roughly eight months since we started our series on the book of Exodus.

It was on Sunday, the length of January this year, that Donald started us off on this great adventure which started in the sand dunes of Egypt with God's people in chains.

You see, God had blessed his people and they were multiplying, but the serpent king Pharaoh, well, he didn't like that, did he? So he ruled over them like a hard taskmaster.

God's people were harassed and oppressed until God looked down and heard his people's groaning and remembered his promises. Putting into effect a rescue mission that was to make his name go down in the history books.

And through Moses, we saw him bring judgment down in Egypt through the ten great plagues, didn't we? It was like ten hits of the hammer to nail in this one big point, the Lord is the one true God and there really is no other.

And we watched as he went before the people in a great cloud and a pillar of fire, splitting the sea in half so that his people could walk through on dry ground to safety.

He provided miracle bread from heaven to quench their hunger, miracle water from a rock to quench their thirst, leading them safely to Mount Sinai where he appeared in one earth-shaking sight.

Because not only was the great rescue mission designed to make a statement, no, it was also designed to fulfill this great purpose. God dwelling with his people again.

And at the top of the mountain, we heard all about the Ten Commandments and the case law that taught Israel how to live as God's people. And we watched Moses come back down the mountain in chapter 23 and tell the people all that the Lord had commanded.

And can you remember how the people replied? They replied, all that the Lord requires, we will do, they proclaimed. Moses, we heard you loud and clear, heard how God wants us to live.

Now you go up to the mountain again and receive instructions for how we're to build this Eden-like tabernacle where God is going to dwell with humanity again. So Moses entered the cloud that's off the mountain and we're told he was there for 40 days and 40 nights to hear all about how to build this tabernacle.

It's what we've been learning about with Joe over the past couple of weeks. 40 days and 40 nights and then look what we hear has been happening at the bottom of the mountain while Moses has been away.

chapter 32, verse 1 and the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain and the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, up, make us God so you 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. 40 days and 40 nights is all it takes for everything we've been learning about for the past eight months to go straight out the window.

40 days and 40 nights to go out from calling all that the Lord requires we will do to now calling out, up, make us gods.

It's striking, isn't it? After everything we've been seeing it's almost unbelievable. And look how Aaron replies.

Aaron, the man that's going to be the first high priest of Israel. Verse 2, so Aaron said to them, take the rings of gold in the ears of your wives, your sons, your daughters and bring them to me.

In other words, take the gold that God has gifted to you when he saved you out of Egypt and is meant to be used to build the tabernacle. Give that to me so I can do what?

Verse 4, break the second commandment 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 of Israel who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

Aaron then builds an altar so that sacrifices can be made to the golden calf and that a feast can commence. How do the people respond? Well, they respond with enthusiasm.

Verse 6, eating and drinking and they rise up to play. Now when the text says to play, that isn't a reference to a game of rounders.

No, it's likely a reference to sexual immorality. Many take it as a reference to the people rising up to indulge in sexual acts with one another. It really is a twisted picture that's painted for us in these first six verses.

An ugly, twisted picture that sounds far too familiar. Verse 1, they saw.

Verse 2, take. Verse 3, brought. Verse 4, he received. Can you hear the echoes of the fall?

The echoes of Eve seeing, taking, giving, and Adam receiving the forbidden fruit? God. We might have felt we've come a long way in the Bible's big storyline.

I mean, it looked like we're about to see something of the garden being restored with God dwelling with humanity again in the tabernacle. I mean, we've just spent the last couple weeks hearing all about God's plan to do that.

But here we are, once again, with humanity getting it all wrong. Humanity doing exactly what humanity does best, forsaking God and worshipping created things rather than the Creator and indulging in twisted desires.

You see, the unpopular truth that we see here so blatantly is that God isn't the problem, no, humanity is. humanity is the one that keeps hitting this self-destruct button each step along the way of God's great rescue story.

It's often the narrative of our culture, the narrative of our own hearts that somehow God's the one to blame. As if humanity is the one seeking after God while he's purposely making things difficult, but here we see the Bible's honest testimony that in fact it's the total reverse.

God's the one who sought humanity out. He's the one who's been making all the positive moves. And even when he saves a people, saves a people from slavery through miracles and wonders that we can barely even imagine, here humanity is with hard hearts that are far too quick to forsake God and worship created things and indulge in twisted and destructive desires.

I mean, look how the Lord describes them in verse 7. Look down with me. Go down for your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.

It's the same word used at the flood. Genesis 6 verse 11, Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and the earth was filled with violence and God saw the earth and behold it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

That's what the human race is like in and of ourselves. We are corrupted. We aren't good people that just need to be given half a chance.

Again, that's what we often tell ourselves, isn't it? It's often what we see on television or taught in schools. We're all just good people. The problem is we just need to be given half a chance.

But if that's the case, this account makes no sense. No, give humanity chance after chance and this is still where we end up.

Corrupted, forsaking God and pursuing twisted desires deserving nothing but God's just wrath for our sin.

Verse 9 and 10 And the Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people. And behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore leave me alone and my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them in order that I may make a great nation of you.

I mean, that should be it, right? This should be the moment that the whole camp is totally wiped out. God but you see, when humanity's sin is at its very darkest, a jewel that holds Christ's reflection is ready to shine through all this mess.

At the fall, we were given a sacrifice. An animal had to die so that Adam and Eve's shame could be covered. At the flood, we were given an ark that protected Noah's family from the flood.

And what are we given here? Well, a jewel shimmers here that holds the reflection of a zealous mediator who's ready to intercede.

Just look down with me to verse 11 and 13. 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 mighty hand?

Now notice the next bit with me. As he intercedes, what reason is he going to give for why the Lord should relent? Lord, just wait, give them another chance, they'll do better next time.

Or Lord, there are really good bunch deep down, you've just caught them on an off day. No, verse 12, Lord, for the sake of your name, your fame, and your reputation.

Verse 13, Lord, you gave a promise, and I put them together. Lord, for your own glory, and so that your word might be fulfilled, turn your wrath away.

God's glory. humanity's only hope. A zealous mediator that intercedes for the people so that God might be glorified, and that his word might be fulfilled.

You know, it's so common to think that the Bible teaches that in order for God's wrath to be turned aside, you need to provide God with a reason, and that reason needs to be based on you.

I'll become more moral. I'll try harder at these lists of do's and don'ts. I'll go to church, I'll try to clean myself up. On and on we go, trying to find something that we can base our hope in.

But here, we see again the glorious truth that the Bible masterfully keeps taking us back to time and time again. In and of ourselves, we have no hope.

give humanity a million chances and we will always come back to corruption and rebellion. That's just what humanity is like in and of ourselves.

But you see, the good news here that's portrayed for us in shadowy form through Moses is that to our hopeless situation, a zealous mediator is provided to plead our case for us.

Jesus Christ is the one who perfectly fulfills this role. The perfect mediator, zealous for God's glory and word, who we can place all our hope in.

The Bible constantly encourages us to look away from ourselves. I mean, why do you think the Old Testament is filled with so many failures? I mean, time and time again, here we are, and the only hope that is given is some sort of jewel that holds Christ's reflection.

Some sort of shadow that outlines his shape. love. So if you're here today, and you're trying to think of reasons based on you, for why God should accept you, or why his anger should be turned away from your sin, give up.

Give up. God you've got a better chance getting to the moon on a pushbike. That's not what Christianity or the Bible is about.

It's about showing you what the human condition is really like in all its ugliness. Driving you to place all your trust in the provided mediator.

Jesus is the one who will plead your case and represent you before God. Stop trying to mediate for yourself and instead come to the only hope of humanity, Jesus, the zealous mediator who intercedes so that the Lord's name might be glorified and his word might be fulfilled.

He really is your only hope this morning. He's my only hope. So stop looking to yourself.

look to him. Look to So, we've seen humanity's only hope.

But now it's time for us to turn this jewel in light of this passage in order to see more of the mediator's reflection. salvation. As we come to our second and final point this morning, our biggest decision.

In verse 14, we leave the top of the mountain with the Lord having relented from the disaster that he spoke of bringing on the people. We saw they deserve to be totally wiped out, but because of Moses' intercession, they're spared.

But things are far from over. Verse 15, Moses heads down the mountain, and as they're heading down, the noise of the people is so loud that Joshua mistakes it for the noise of war.

But it isn't the sound of battle, and it isn't the sound of conflict. No, it's the sound of singing. Singing and dancing.

That when Moses sees it, we're told in verse 19, that his anger, it burned hot. I mean, you can imagine the scene, the people shouting and dancing around this propped up golden calf, and it makes the mediator so angry that he throws the stone tablets out of his hand, and they smash.

The stone tablets that the Lord had written on himself with the summary of his law, and now here they are, lying broken on the floor. A potent image for what the people have just done.

And Moses, he wastes no time at all. He's right in there. His zeal for the Lord's glory and name, calls him to march straight for the golden calf, and he burns it with fire.

And if that's not enough, he grinds it into dust and scatters it on the water and makes the people drink the very thing they've just been worshipping. And in verses 21 to 23, it's like the camera just shifts from that and zooms in rain on Aaron.

I mean, you can imagine his stomach sinking as he sees Moses coming down in a rage from the mountain. He's being caught red handed, bringing a great sin upon the people.

But notice, that doesn't stop him trying to shift the blame. It's almost comical. Verse 22, Suddenly, Aaron's forgotten all about the graving tool that we're told he used in verse 4.

And again, if the fall illusions weren't enough already, who does that remind you of? Does he not remind you of Adam, the first high priest of the garden, as soon as he's confronted, what does he do?

He tries to shift the blame. And after all that, we imagine, don't we, that things have been dealt with, right?

I mean, the calf has been destroyed, Aaron has been confronted, so surely that means order has been restored within the camp.

Far from it. Verse 25, And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose, for Aaron had let them break loose to the derision 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.

Now just pause there. It's only the Levites that answer his call. Out of all the twelve tribes, there's only one tribe, one single tribe that chooses the Lord's side by notice, following Moses, the mediator.

the others are presumably up to all sorts, and order must be restored, and that means judgment is going to fall. Verse 27, And he said to them, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Put your sword in your side, each of you, and go to and fro, gate to gate, throughout the camp, and each of you, kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.

You see, the call to choose the Lord's side by following the mediator was a call to choose him over all other allegiances.

And here we see something very important, and that is that the mediator not only wields a shield for the sake of God's glory, but he also wields a sword.

The one that climbs up the mountain to intercede for the people so that they might be spared is also the one that comes down the mountain with a dividing sword calling people to choose.

Just listen to Jesus' words as he describes why he came down to earth. Matthew 10 verse 34 do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth.

I have not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

Whoever finds his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Jesus, the only hope of humanity, is the same Jesus that stands on earth with a dividing sword calling out who is on the Lord's side, come to me.

Now, Jesus isn't literally meaning we need to hate our family members in order to follow him. What Jesus is saying here is that the call to follow him comes above all other earthly allegiances.

In other words, if it's a choice between following Jesus or maintaining that relationship, either with family, friends, or partner, Jesus unashamedly calls you to choose him.

Now, not out of slavish duty, but out of the fact that you recognize that he is your only hope for rescue.

Some of you in this room know the cost of that acutely. Following Jesus did mean your family was suddenly turned against you, or it meant that relationship couldn't continue, or that friendship suddenly fizzled out.

But the call to follow Jesus, the mediator, has always been a call to carry a cross, to find new life by losing your old one.

And if you're here today and that describes you, be greatly encouraged that whatever cost you face for choosing the Lord's side, know that your reward in heaven is beyond imagining.

Choosing Jesus' side means that you are safe and secure for all eternity, and nothing, nothing can change that. And his love for you is far deeper than any blood relative.

You see, humanity's only hope was a mediator that intercedes on our behalf. Again, a mediator that calls everyone to choose sides. So the biggest question facing humanity is, will you follow him?

Will you choose the Lord's side by coming to the Lord Jesus Christ? By calling out to him for rescue and by nailing your colors to his mask, no matter what it may cost in this life?

That's the biggest decision that faces each one of us. again, there is no fence that you can sit on.

The fence doesn't exist. You see, Christianity, it isn't a social club. Christianity isn't meant to be a badge that you can just stick on and off because maybe you enjoy the people or you enjoy the sense of community or enjoy the songs we sing or even enjoy the childcare.

Being a Christian is being someone that's clinging to Jesus as your only hope, even if that costs you everything.

So the question that faces each one of us today is will you choose him? Will you come to Jesus?

Because if you won't and you continue to reject him, then I think the end of this passage leaves us with a very sobering warning.

Because in verses 30 to 31, something quite striking takes place. after order has been restored and the dust clouds have settled, Moses then says to the people that he is going up again to speak with the Lord to see if he can make atonement for their sin.

He even offers himself in the place of the people. Verse 32, but now if you will forgive their sin, but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.

Here we see Moses, the mediator, offers to lay his life down so that the people might be forgiven. But notice the Lord's response. He says, no.

Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. But now go lead the people to the place which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit the sin upon them.

And the Lord sent a plague on the people because they made the calf the one that Aaron made. Now, it's really not how we expect it to end, is it? But Moses can't die in the place of the people because he still needs to lead them.

And we're going to see all about that next week. But even though the Lord relents from bringing final judgment down on the people and wiping them out completely, he relented from that, he still brings a temporal judgment through the plagues that I think acts as a warning for those that will ultimately forsake him.

Forsaking the Lord and not choosing the Lord's side by following his mediator will bring consequences. There will be God's judgment to face.

There will be to face. So again, very simply to us all this morning, choose the Lord's side by following Jesus.

Or maybe you're here and you once did but you've walked away. Come back. Come back. You see, Moses wasn't the guy who could lay his life down so that others could be forgiven.

forgiven. But Jesus is. Jesus is the one that laid his life down so that you could be forgiven.

So that you could be washed clean of all your sin, of all your rebellion. So you could be safe and secure for all eternity.

so please, I beg you, don't walk away from him. Instead, cling to him.

Run back to him if you've run away in the past. Cry out to him for a rescue before it's too late.

And with that, we'll close. Let's come before the Lord together in prayer. Let's pray.

Let's pray. Father, if there is any here amongst us that have not yet come to Jesus, would you, by the work of your spirit, cause them to run to him?

May none of us leave this place without having chosen your side by following Jesus. Lord, in and of ourselves, we're not good people.

Left to ourselves, we have no hope. God, we thank you that you have provided for us a mediator who can intercede, a mediator who laid his life down for his people so that we could be forgiven, we could be washed clean, and we could be welcomed into his open arms.

Lord, for any that have strained, have strained family relationships because of the cost of following you, would they know your comfort this morning?

And Lord, for those that we know that have walked away from you, would you please bring them back? Bring them back to safety. Father, would you be with us now by your spirit as we sing your praises once again?

Would you please cause the truths we sing to minister to our hearts again all for your glory and our good too. In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen. Amen.