Corrupt Christians

CORRUPT CHRISTIANS

EXODUS 32

One of the things that seem to plague most Christians is the idea of standing against the mainstream when it comes to the area of faith. I can't tell you how many times people have expressed their frustration with trying to convince unsaved men and women about trusting in a God they can't see...to do something they think is impossible anyway.

Even when these people realize that this far away God has probably helped them out a time or two...they just aren't able to make any kind of firm commitment to turn their lives over to Him in faith...actually believing that God wants to be actively involved in every area of their lives.

This is a fact that we have to come to grips with...most unsaved people just can't grasp the concept of a God who loves them enough...unconditionally loves them enough to be an intimate part of their lives...talking to them...leading and guiding...providing and just plain loving them.

But I don't want to talk about the unsaved this morning. I want to talk about "Corrupt Christians." Now, using the word corrupt sounds pretty strong...but I wonder just how many really understand what the term means. When we think of this word we may imagine wicked sinners who are guilty of many terrible things.

But God's definition goes much deeper than anything we may associate with it. The word corrupt means "to change from what is solid and good to something that is putrid and decaying." It speaks of something that was once whole and well...but isn't any longer because its begun to decay and rot. That's what we see here in Exodus 32:7 (READ).

The scenario is probably a familiar one to most here this morning. This passage is set during the time Moses was up on the mountain receiving the 10 Commandments and while he was up there with God the people were down below having an all out orgy around an idol they had just made out of gold. And their corruption was bad enough that God wanted to wipe them out on the spot. Read v. 9 10

Now it says that God relented...He decided against wiping out that nation...but this is quite a charge He makes against the people. What had they done to make God so mad? Was it the drunken, lustful orgy they were engaged in...or the golden idol? That certainly was bad...but it was just a symptom, not the root problem. No, it was more than that.

Just a few weeks before this incident took place, these same people had been delivered from Pharoah and his army at the Red Sea. And they were singing the praises of God who performed such miraculous displays of power. After all the miracles they saw in the form of the 10 plagues that fell upon Egypt...then the parting of the sea and deliverance there...

Now the Lord says they are totally corrupted...and on the verge of being wiped out by an angry, offended God! In Hebrews we are reminded of their hard heartedness and their falling away...and in Hebrews 4:11 we are told not to fall into their example of disobedience. There is a very clear warning for us about unbelief.

These people were corrupt because they lost their confidence in God when He didn't meet their timetable. Look at verse 1...(READ 32:1)

Talk about spiritual blindness! At the very moment they were losing their confidence in God...all heaven was in motion making tremendous plans for their future. God was giving Moses the blueprint for a tabernacle where God Himself would come and inhabit.

He was giving them a law that would set them apart from all the other nations in the entire world. It was the provision that would allow them to be victorious over all their enemies...and to ensure God's continuous presence with them.

God was bringing them into a place of peace, rest and fulfillment. It was a place where there would be houses already built for them...orchards and vineyards they didn't have to plant...I mean, everything they could ever have wanted!

At that very moment God was focused not only on their present needs...but their future needs and blessings as well. He was arranging for all they could ever dream of to take place...and what were these people doing?

They were crying and moaning..."Where is God? Where is His direction? He had been faithful but now where is He? We haven't heard from Him for a while. And what kind of God would leave us here...alone and without a word of instruction or direction?"

And they basically said, "Enough of this waiting...we've had enough silence and delays. It's time to get down to business....Let's do something! And they did do something.... they put out of their minds all the miraculous things God had done for them.