Egypt And The Golden Calf Series

December 8, 2002

A. Review

1) Saturday evening—we studied “The Valley of Baca”

a) From this study, we’ve learned that in our Christian journey towards the Promised Land we will experience some difficulty. This is the Valley of Baca. Also known as the Valley of Tears.

2) Saturday morning—we studied “In the Footsteps of Abraham”

a) From this study, we’ve learned several things:

1. God’s call is sacred.

2. God’s call is for us to get out of our comfort zone

3. God’s call is for us to get out of an idolatrous nations

4. God’s call is an affirmation that god is no respecter of a person

5. God’s call is a call to faithfulness

6. God’s call is a call abundant blessings

7. God’s call is a call to come home

B. Tonight’s topic

1) Tonight, we will deal with the subject “Egypt and The Golden Calf”

a) We will follow in the footsteps of Abraham’s descendants, the Jewish nation, as they came out from Egypt

b) We will take the third element in God’s call to Abraham. Just as God called Abraham to get out from an idolatrous nation, God called Abraham’s descendants to get out from Egypt, an idolatrous nation.

C. Their Condition in Egypt

1) EGW, Great Controversy, page 453, “When the chosen people were in bondage in Egypt, many, in the midst of prevailing idolatry, lost their knowledge of God’s law; but when the Lord delivered Israel, he proclaimed his law in awful grandeur to the assembled multitude, that they might know his will, and fear and obey him forever.”

2) Worst case scenarios

a) Not the real worse case scenario

1. They were slaves for 400 years

2. They lived in houses that were not comfortable

3. They ate food that were not palatable

4. They worked for their Egyptian masters just to survived

5. They did not have any luxury at all

6. Their children did not obtain proper education

7. They were constantly harassed by their overseers

8. Their women were raped and made to become prostitutes for the Egyptians

9. They did not have any property that they can call their own

10. They were severely punished for minor mistakes

b) The real worse case scenario

1. They have lost their knowledge of God and His law

c) Why?

1. When we lose God, we lose everything.

2. No matter how fat our wallet maybe, when we lose God, we are poorer that the one begging for food in the street.

3. No matter how good our education maybe, when we lose God, we are more illiterate than the one who never stepped inside a classroom.

4. No matter how comfortable our house maybe, when we lose God, we are more miserable than the one languishing in a 4 by 8 prison cell.

3) God’s people had hit bottom.

4) The only solution is God’s intervention on their behalf.

D. Why Get Out of Egypt

1) Can’t they not serve the true God in Egypt

2) Why can’t God reveal or give His law to His people in Egypt

3) Three stages of salvation

a) Justification

1. This is the first stage in the process of salvation

2. God forgives us from our sins

3. We can be justified while in Egypt

4. Romans 5:8, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

b) Sanctification

1. This is the second stage in the process of salvation

2. Sanctification literally means “to set apart for a holy purpose.”

3. This is the stage where God removes from us the elements that will cause us to sin. How?

a. If overworking is our sin, God tells us to set the Sabbath for rest and for worship

b. If appetite is our sin, God reminds us that those we once considered as delicious food are not good for us anymore.

c. If drunkenness is our sin, God tells us not even to look at a wine when it is red.

d. If sexual perversion is our sin, God commands to us to engage in such activity only in the context of marriage. We cannot even look at each other with lust.

e. If covetousness is our sin, God commands us to give to Him every tenth of everything that we earn.

4. God cannot bless us while we continue in Egypt.

a. God cannot bless us with healthy body while we indulge ourselves in eating crabs, lobsters, pork, and other germ-causing foods.

5. So God calls us to get out of Egypt into His abundant blessings.

c) Glorification

1. In this stage, God delivers us not only from the cause of sin but also from the effects of sin.

2. Death is the ultimate result and effect of sin.