The Greatest Story - Holy Cow!

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to the River Church podcast. [00:00:03] Speaker B: We're all about bringing the life, hope and love of Jesus to everyone around us. For more information, check out our [email protected] [00:00:11] Speaker A: and in this series, we've heard about how God rescued the Israelites. Gary mentioned it earlier on. He rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. He was leading them through the desert to the promised land of Canaan. And on this journey they've experienced the God's presence with them. [00:00:30] Speaker C: He's appeared as a dense cloud during [00:00:32] Speaker A: the daytime, which is changed to a pillar of fire at night. And a couple of weeks ago, Jackie talked about how as they were in the desert, God invited them into this [00:00:46] Speaker C: covenant relationship with him where he promised to be their God. He promised to dwell among them and give them a new identity as his people. He would protect them and provide for them. And all he asked was that they would be, they would trust him and they would demonstrate that trust through faith and obedience to his ways, his commands. [00:01:10] Speaker A: And the Israelites agreed to this covenant relationship. And after they agreed, Moses, their leader, left Aaron in charge of the Israelites in the camp. [00:01:21] Speaker C: And Moses disappeared up the mountain into the dense cloud of God's presence to, to go and meet with God. And that is the context for our story today. And so we're going to read Exodus 32, starting at verse one. [00:01:40] Speaker A: When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses, who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what's happened to him. Aaron answered, take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing and bring them to me. So all the people took off their earrings and bought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it. [00:02:11] Speaker C: Sorry. [00:02:12] Speaker A: He took what they handed to him and made it into an idol cast [00:02:16] Speaker C: in the shape of a calf, fashioning [00:02:18] Speaker A: it with a tool. Then they said, these are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt. When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord. So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed, burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterwards, they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry. Then the Lord said to Moses, go down because your people whom you bought out of Egypt have become corrupt. And the Lord describes to Moses what the people have done. And God said, these people are a stiff necked or rebellious people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great. Back in Egypt, the Israelites, they had [00:03:15] Speaker C: been used to worshipping physical statues of idols of gods. [00:03:20] Speaker A: And these idols had often been cows. Cows were viewed as sacred animals. They symbolized divinity and strength. And so the Egyptians often made their idols in the form of a cow. And when Moses took longer to return from the top of the mountain than expected, the Israelites, they became impatient and [00:03:44] Speaker C: asked Aaron to make them a physical representation of God that they could worship. [00:03:52] Speaker A: But it had only been a few [00:03:53] Speaker C: weeks since they'd actually agreed to the [00:03:55] Speaker A: covenant relationship, where they'd agreed that they would not make for themselves an image [00:04:01] Speaker C: in the form of anything in heaven or on earth. [00:04:07] Speaker A: But when things didn't pan out quite [00:04:09] Speaker C: how they expected, the Israelites stopped trusting in God and reverted to their old ways of behaving like they did in Egypt. [00:04:18] Speaker A: It's the equivalent of us when things don't quite pan out in our lives, [00:04:24] Speaker C: not trusting God and reverting to our old independent ways, where we rely on our own strength to accomplish things rather than asking the Holy Spirit for help. [00:04:36] Speaker A: And Aaron, instead of resisting the Israelites demands, he bowed to peer pressure and [00:04:43] Speaker C: he made the golden calf and encouraged them with festivals to worship it. [00:04:48] Speaker A: Rather than leading the Israelites in obedience [00:04:51] Speaker C: to God, he just sought to please the people. And this angered God. [00:04:57] Speaker A: The Israelites angered God. He stopped referring to them as my people. He distanced himself from the Israelites and he suggested that he might even destroy them. [00:05:08] Speaker C: And it's easy to read these words and think, is God having a bit of an emotional outburst? But his reaction is justifiable because he's a holy God. He's superior to every other physical and spiritual being. [00:05:26] Speaker A: He's the only one who's always existed. He's the creator of everything and the [00:05:33] Speaker C: only one who gives and sustains life. [00:05:35] Speaker A: And he's the only one who is [00:05:37] Speaker C: absolutely pure, completely flawless in every way, and is completely separate from all sin, imperfection, wrongdoing, weakness. [00:05:51] Speaker A: And it's impossible for us to understand how perfect he is because we don't have a point of reference for holiness or perfection. We live in a broken world where we're affected by sin and the consequences of sin, suffering and aging and. And decay and death. [00:06:12] Speaker C: And when we think about perfection, what we really mean is our own internal standard of behaviour or achievement that we deem to be acceptable. [00:06:24] Speaker A: And when we read these verses, we can be tempted to think that God wants to destroy the Israelites. But it's probably more accurate to say [00:06:32] Speaker C: that God's holy nature means that nothing less than perfection can exist in his presence without being destroyed. [00:06:42] Speaker A: So I'm going to try and give you an example. When we think of the sun, we know that characteristically, it is a ball of fire. And if we get too close to it, it will burn everything up. And if we stand next to it, we expect to get burnt up and consumed, because characteristically, it's a ball of fire. And that's kind of the example I can give to what God is like. If we sin and we're in the presence of God because of his perfection, his holiness, his perfect justice, anything less [00:07:20] Speaker C: than that results in us being destroyed. The penalty, the result of it is the penalty of our sin is death. And so God's reaction to people's sin is not an emotional outburst. It's an appropriate response to the Israelites unfaithfulness and his holiness. And God's desire is not destruction. It's reconciliation and restoration of relationship. [00:07:51] Speaker A: So rather than immediately judging the people and destroying them like they deserve, God [00:07:58] Speaker C: separates himself from them. So there's distance. [00:08:02] Speaker A: And so to relate to God, a [00:08:04] Speaker C: mediator is needed to stand in the gap as a go between. [00:08:08] Speaker A: And God's already he knew what the Israelites were going to be like. [00:08:12] Speaker C: He's already raised up Moses to be [00:08:14] Speaker A: their leader, to be that mediator. And through Moses, God is going to demonstrate his justice and his mercy with [00:08:23] Speaker C: the hope that the covenant relationship is going to be restored. So we're back to our story. [00:08:30] Speaker A: If you're following in the Bible, we're in Exodus 32, verse 11, and Moses intercedes for the Israelites. He asks God not to bring disaster on the people. And he appeals to God on the basis of his reputation. Lord, if you destroy the Israelites, the Egyptians, they will think that you're evil. And he appeals to God on the [00:08:54] Speaker C: basis of God's character. God, you promised Israel's forefathers that their descendants would become a great nation and they would inherit the blessings of the promised land. Because you're faithful, don't destroy the Israelites. And because of Moses intercession, God shows mercy. He relents. And he doesn't destroy the whole nation. [00:09:24] Speaker A: Moses leaves the mountain and he goes back to the camp with the Israelites. And in his arms he's holding the two stone tablets which has the covenant [00:09:34] Speaker C: law written on them. [00:09:35] Speaker A: And when he sees the people, he throws the tablets to the ground and the tablets of the covenant law break. And this is a symbolic act of, [00:09:46] Speaker C: of the fact that the Israelites behavior had broken the covenant with God. [00:09:50] Speaker A: And then Moses does this, what we probably think is a really odd thing. He gets the golden calf, he grinds it into dust and he mixes the dust with water and he gives it to the Israelites to drink. And this again is another symbolic act. In their ancient times, they used to do this. [00:10:13] Speaker C: When someone was [00:10:16] Speaker A: suspected of adultery, they would give them a bitter drink. And it was what Moses is trying [00:10:22] Speaker C: to do is another symbol to say, you have committed adultery against the Lord. [00:10:29] Speaker A: So this is another symbolic act. And then Moses, he questions Aaron, what did these people do by leading you? [00:10:47] Speaker C: Oh, it worked. Thank you. [00:10:51] Speaker A: What did these people do that you led them into such greater sin? Moses isn't trying to learn something by [00:10:59] Speaker C: asking Aaron this question. [00:11:00] Speaker A: He's actually trying to get Aaron to reflect on his own behavior. And Aaron's response, Don't be angry, my Lord. You know how prone these people are to evil. They said, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow, he's not come back from the mountain. Instead of taking responsibility for what happens, Aaron self righteously blames the people and downplays his actions. I only threw the gold into the fire and out came this calf. He doesn't take responsibility for what he's done. But Moses, he's trying to help the [00:11:36] Speaker C: Israelites see the that the way they've behaved is wrong. And really it's just a symptom of their underlying lack of trust in God. [00:11:49] Speaker A: But because of his holiness, God can't just ignore sin. [00:11:53] Speaker C: Every person will be held responsible for their wrong choices. [00:11:58] Speaker A: And God demonstrates His justice through Moses. He asks the people to ally themselves to the Lord again. And the tribe of Israelites responds. And they show their allegiance to God [00:12:12] Speaker C: as God uses them as agents of justice in the camp. And 3,000 people die that day. Can I have the next slide please? Moses intercedes again. Exodus 32:30. [00:12:40] Speaker A: The next day Moses said to the [00:12:42] Speaker C: people, you have committed a great sin. [00:12:45] Speaker A: But now I will go up to [00:12:47] Speaker C: the Lord, Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin. [00:12:50] Speaker A: So Moses went back to the Lord and said, oh, what a great sin these people have committed. They've made themselves gods of gold, but now please forgive their sin. [00:13:00] Speaker C: They've made for themselves gods of gold, [00:13:03] Speaker A: but now please forgive their sin. [00:13:05] Speaker C: But if not, block me out of the book you have written. [00:13:11] Speaker A: Although Moses intercession has spared the whole nation from total destruction, he understood that [00:13:17] Speaker C: God's justice needed to be satisfied, the [00:13:21] Speaker A: penalty of sin needed to be paid, the people's sin needed to be atoned for. [00:13:27] Speaker C: And Moses realized that one man could bear the punishment on behalf of everyone. And so he sacrificially offered himself. But God rejects Moses offer. [00:13:41] Speaker A: Moses is unable to meet the righteous [00:13:43] Speaker C: requirements of God's perfect justice. [00:13:47] Speaker A: But Moses willingness to stand in the gap for the Israelites points forward to the need for a greater mediator, one who could fully meet God's righteous standards [00:13:59] Speaker C: to provide eternal salvation. [00:14:02] Speaker A: And since the penalty of sin must be paid either by the individual or [00:14:09] Speaker C: by a substitute, Jesus bore that penalty on behalf of those who put our faith in him. If you're here and you have never put your trust in Jesus and made a decision to follow Jesus, I would love to talk to you more about it, about the life that you can have knowing Jesus. After the service, feel free to come and find me. [00:14:41] Speaker A: And although the Israelites deserve death, God [00:14:44] Speaker C: demonstrates mercy and he afflicts them with a plague instead. Back to Exodus 33, this time, verse 1. [00:14:59] Speaker A: Then the Lord said to Moses, leave this place, you and the people brought up out of Egypt. Sorry. Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, I will give it to your descendants. I will send an angel before you and drive out your enemies. Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey, but I will not [00:15:24] Speaker C: go with you because you are a stiff necked people and I might destroy you on the way. [00:15:31] Speaker A: So God wants the people to resume their journey to the promised land. And he's very gracious, despite the fact that they've broken the covenant. He promises the Israelites that they will still receive all of the blessings that he promised their forefathers, plus supernatural help. He will send an angel along the way who will get rid of all of their enemies. And so it looks like a really [00:15:56] Speaker C: attractive offer until they realize that God [00:15:59] Speaker A: is not going with them and they [00:16:02] Speaker C: are used to his presence with them day and night. [00:16:06] Speaker A: And when the Israelites grasp that their [00:16:09] Speaker C: sin has led to this loss of God's presence with them, they start to mourn. [00:16:14] Speaker A: You have to remember these are a tribal people. They wear body ornaments, they wear jewelry, and so they take off their body ornaments. It's the equivalent of maybe some of [00:16:26] Speaker C: us, when we have periods of mourning [00:16:27] Speaker A: and we choose to wear black, it's [00:16:30] Speaker C: the equivalent of that. But this loss of God's presence is actually A blessing in disguise. [00:16:38] Speaker A: You see, in removing his presence from [00:16:40] Speaker C: his people, God's acting in their best interests because it means that his holy presence won't destroy them. He loves them. He wants the best for them. [00:16:54] Speaker A: And the emotion that the Israelites feel, this grief over the loss of God's [00:16:59] Speaker C: presence, is actually godly sorrow. 2 Corinthians 7:10 tells us, Godly sorrow leads to repentance, that leads to salvation and leaves no regret. You see, the feelings of regret that we experience when we do wrong is actually a gift of mercy from God because God has designed to give us this opportunity so we can repent, we can run back to him, we can receive forgiveness, we can receive the help of the Holy Spirit, and we can know restoration of relationship with Him. Moses, he intercedes again on behalf of the people. [00:17:53] Speaker A: He's not happy. He doesn't want just blessings and an angel to go with them. He wants nothing less than God's presence. So Moses says to God, if your [00:18:05] Speaker C: presence doesn't go with us, don't send us up from here. [00:18:09] Speaker A: How will anyone know you're pleased with [00:18:11] Speaker C: me and your people unless you go with us? [00:18:14] Speaker A: What else would distinguish me and your people from all the other people on [00:18:18] Speaker C: the face of the earth? And the Lord says to Moses, I will do the very thing you have asked because I am pleased with you and I know you by name. God responds to Moses mediation and agrees to go with the people, not because they deserve it, but because he loves them and because he is merciful and he is faithful to the covenant that he has made with the Israelites. And then Moses makes his bravest request yet. He says, now show me your glory. And the Lord said, I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name. That's akin to God's character and his nature. I will proclaim my name, the Lord in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. But he said, you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live. Then the Lord said, there is a place near me where you may stand [00:19:36] Speaker A: on a rock, and when my glory passes by, I will put you in [00:19:39] Speaker C: a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. [00:19:44] Speaker A: Then I will remove my hand and [00:19:46] Speaker C: you will see my back, but my face must not be seen. [00:19:52] Speaker A: In Scripture, we come across these phrases [00:19:55] Speaker C: where they describe God as having physical human features like a face and hands and back. And you know, he's a spirit being. But Scripture uses this figurative language to help us try and understand just the differing degrees of intimacy and revelation we can experience with God. [00:20:22] Speaker A: And Moses had already enjoyed this really intimate relationship with God. Scripture tells us that God and Moses, they'd spoken to each other face to face. [00:20:32] Speaker C: And yet Moses pushes for an even deeper revelation of God. [00:20:40] Speaker A: And Moses request shows us that however intimate relationship with God that we have, [00:20:48] Speaker C: there's always more that we can know of him. And God's response shows us that he is willing to reveal more of himself to us. And with Moses, he graciously hides Moses in the cleft of a rock so that he can safely experience more of God's presence. He will safely be able to experience God's character and nature as he passes by. And God shows Moses his sovereignty. God is under no obligation to save anyone. He is under no obligation to save any of us. But he graciously chooses to extend mercy to sinners like us according to his will and rescue people from judgment. [00:21:51] Speaker A: Mercifully, God invites Moses back up the mountain again so he can renew the covenant with the Israelites. And this time, the Israelites wait patiently. [00:22:00] Speaker C: There's no golden calf. Thankfully, the experience has taught them God's ways, and they're obedient. And when Moses returned from the mountain, his face was radiant because he reflected the presence of God. But the glory was temporary. And so it would wear off. It would gradually fade. [00:22:21] Speaker A: And each time Moses went into the [00:22:23] Speaker C: presence of God, his face would start to shine again. And Moses wore a veil over his face. [00:22:31] Speaker A: Yes, the Israelites were afraid of Moses and the glory. [00:22:36] Speaker C: But that's not why Moses wore the veil. Moses wore the veil so the Israelites wouldn't notice that the glory of the Lord was fading. Because the fading glory was the sign of the old covenant. [00:22:52] Speaker A: And the old covenant meant sacrifices and an imperfect human mediator to represent the people before God. And it was glorious. It meant that people could know God. [00:23:05] Speaker C: But it was also temporary. And it was merely a shadow of greater things to come. And the greater was Jesus, the ultimate [00:23:18] Speaker A: perfect mediator, the one who didn't just [00:23:22] Speaker C: reflect the glory of God. Like Moses, he is God's glory revealed in human form. [00:23:30] Speaker A: Like Moses, Jesus offered himself to be [00:23:33] Speaker C: a sacrifice for all people to atone for sin. But this time, God accepted the sacrifice because he was the one who met God's righteous requirements, God's perfection. [00:23:48] Speaker A: And when Jesus died, the veil in [00:23:51] Speaker C: the temple was torn in two, which [00:23:54] Speaker A: symbolized that he was the one who [00:23:56] Speaker C: opened up the way for us to have permanent access to God's presence. [00:24:02] Speaker A: God's presence moved from this external mountaintop [00:24:07] Speaker C: old covenant encounter to the New Testament internal indwelling presence of being able to know the Holy Spirit for everyone who chooses Jesus. And as we spend time with Jesus, we can experience his presence and we're changed. [00:24:29] Speaker A: Rather than merely reflecting a fading glory [00:24:32] Speaker C: like Moses did, the Holy Spirit changes us from within, putting to death our old sinful nature. Remember Moses, he couldn't experience God's presence without dying. Well, because of Jesus, our old nature can now safely die through the Holy Spirit's purification. Rather than us being destroyed by God's holiness, we're transformed to become more like Christ and display God's glory, display God's character. So just to conclude, we've considered God's ultimate purpose in saving people has always been restoration of relationship with him so that we can know a nearness of [00:25:26] Speaker A: his presence and experience his indwelling presence [00:25:30] Speaker C: through the Holy Spirit in our lives. [00:25:35] Speaker A: I've read this Bible story many, many times over the years. [00:25:39] Speaker C: And what's always absolutely captivated me is Moses refusal to settle just for God's blessings. [00:25:47] Speaker A: And even though it came with angelic protection, Moses modeled this life where he [00:25:53] Speaker C: continually pursued a deeper relationship with God [00:25:57] Speaker A: and knowledge of the Lord. [00:25:59] Speaker C: And his greatest desire wasn't what God could give him, but it was God himself. Next slide, please. Have you settled for God's blessings? Or are you still pursuing deeper relationship with the Lord and a deeper knowledge of the Lord? Because the deepest satisfaction and the deepest fulfilment we will ever know will be found in knowing God. So let us be people who hunger for more of God with a desire to experience a greater sense of God's presence with us, we've got another opportunity to worship God. Can I invite the band to come back, please? Thank you. If you're aware of areas in your life where you have a sense of godly sorrow because of your actions, maybe you want to start this worship time by just spending a few minutes just talking to God, repenting, asking God for forgiveness and asking the Holy Spirit to help you. And let's worship Jesus because He is the ultimate mediator. Because of him, we are completely acceptable to God. Next slide, please. And he's placed his spirit within us. And let's, as we worship, let's press deeper into his presence. Not just today, let's make it a lifestyle choice where we don't settle just for God's blessings, but press deeper into his presence. [00:28:00] Speaker A: And I want to invite you just [00:28:02] Speaker C: to stand with me and. And I've written a prayer. [00:28:06] Speaker A: And if you are comfortable with praying it with me, I would love us just as a. As God's people gathered together to pray [00:28:19] Speaker C: this prayer aloud today. [00:28:23] Speaker A: Can you join me, Lord? Thank you, Jesus. [00:28:27] Speaker C: Sacrifice means we can know you, Holy Spirit. [00:28:33] Speaker A: Constantly remind us that knowing you, Lord, is our greatest treasure. [00:28:38] Speaker C: Give us hearts that cherish your presence [00:28:41] Speaker A: and always pursue deeper relationship with you, Lord. [00:28:46] Speaker C: And as we worship, Lord, show us your glory. Amen.