We noted a while back how God freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt; then God did a “spiritual reboot” in Exodus 13 by telling them of God’s unchanging love and how to respond to that love!
After that “spiritual reboot” in Exodus 13, what have we observed about how the Israelites lived for God while on their journey towards the Promised Land of Canaan??
God called the Israelites, His Own chosen People, a stiff-necked obstinate people with their pride, idol worship, and all sorts of sins against God!
Moses was on God’s mountain for 40 days and 40 nights and was so excited to give to the Israelites the 2 Tablets of Stone with God’s handwriting but when he saw the idol worship of the Israelites Moses threw down the Tablets and broke them. What does God do with these people?
God could have gotten rid of the Israelites but God keeps His promises and so God continues to give second chances till the promise is done or when people refuse the promise (some did and lost their lives quickly)! We will note again this morning how God gives another “spiritual reboot” for the Israelites.
God is the same yesterday, today, and forever and we today can just be like the Israelites of old; stiff-necked people!
Please open your Bible now to Exodus 34 as Daniel Pryor comes up to read for us v1-27…..
Let us summarize the Chapter….
v1-3: God gave Moses specific instructions (to chisel out 2 new stone tablets and come up again to God’s mountain)
v4: Moses obeyed
v5-7: God met Moses and reminded him who God is! This is a key passage in this chapter for we too have to be reminded many times of who God is! Quietly think about this for a moment, if someone asks you to give them 3 main truths about God, what would you say?
Exodus 34 v6-7 gives us 3 main truths about God, what are they??
1. God is Lord – Yahweh – Jehovah = There is only One God!
There is no one like God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob..... the God of the Bible!
2. God is loving and faithful!
God created people out of love to share who He is and will always do that unless people refuse the truth!
3. God is just and will punish sin!
Then we read how Moses responded to God….
v8-9: Moses humbled Himself before God, worshiped, and prayed for his people!
v10-27: God responded positively but again gave specific instructions to be obeyed!
Why does God give instructions to be obeyed??
Again, God is a loving God and knows best for people!
What can we note and apply to our lives today from this passage?
First of all, we today even as Christians can be just like the Israelites of old right? We Christians today can be stiff-necked (obstinate) people! What does God see with Christians today which can be associated with stiff-necked, obstinate people??
Basically, we can all be stiff-necked people when we say no to God and go against what the Bible states!
1. We Christians must fight our tendency to be stiff-necked (i.e. to know better than God)!
We must daily pray “not my will Lord but yours!”
And what should we do if we catch ourselves doing our will and not God’s??
Always remember the Cross of Christ! (1 John 1:9)
Secondly, God is the same yesterday, today, and forever! And so, let us always remind ourselves who our Creator God is:
2. There is only One God who is ever loving, faithful, and just (who will not let sin unpunished)!
And let us simply conclude by following Moses’ example:
3. Let us always humble ourselves before God, worship Him, and pray for others!
Let us all do this quietly for a moment, humble yourself before God, worship Him, and pray for others!
