Moses On The Mountain With The Lord - Part 14 Series

Moses on the Mountain with the Lord - Part 14

Pray Like Moses!

Exodus 32:1-14

Sermon by Rick Crandall

McClendon Baptist Church - Sept. 29, 2010

BACKGROUND & INTRODUCTION:

*As we begin tonight, Moses has been on the mountain with the Lord for 40 days. It was a miraculous meeting where God gave some of the most important standards of all time: The Ten Commandments.

*Unfortunately, things had not gone well while Moses was away. Down at the foot of the mountain, the people rushed to rebel against God. After all that God had done for them, they still turned back to the false gods of Egypt. We see this in Exodus 32:1-6:

1. Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, "Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for 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.''

2. And Aaron said to them, "Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.''

3. So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.

4. And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, "This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!''

5. So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, "Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.''

6. Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

*They weren’t playing kids games. They weren’t playing ball. They were playing the wicked games that were often part of pagan religions.

*Those people had no idea how much trouble they were in. But we find out in vs. 7-14, and we see how Moses saved the day:

7. And the Lord said to Moses, "Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.

8. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, `This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!' ''

9. And the Lord said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people!

10. Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.''

11. Then Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, and said: "Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

12. Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, `He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people.

13. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, `I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.' ''

14. So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.

*How did Moses save the day? -- Through prayer! And Christians, God wants us to pray like Moses. Let’s look into the Word of God and see why?

1. First: Pray like Moses, because we are weak.

*Many times we are weak.

[1] Part of the time it’s our inability to help. Think how overwhelmed Moses must have been when he heard the Lord in vs. 7-10:

7. And the Lord said to Moses, "Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.

*In the past, God has called them “My people.” But now He is done with them, so “Moses, they are your people.”

8. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, `This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!' ''

9. And the Lord said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people!