Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copied and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
IS THERE A GOLDEN CALF IN YOUR LIFE?
Exodus 32:1-4, "And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."
It had not been long since Israel had been delivered by the power of God from the slavery of Egypt. They had been slaves in Egypt for a very long time. Generations had passed and there were none left alive who knew what real freedom to worship their God felt like. They were so bound by slavery that they didn’t even have any concept of freedom and self-government. In fact, so many of the Jews were accustomed to their condition as slaves that they didn’t even desire to be free. No matter how bad or how hard their lives were made by Pharaoh, they accepted it as though it was normal to live that way.
Does that give you an idea of why there are so many in our world today who are comfortable in their lives of sin and rebellion against God? They have never experienced the joy of salvation. They have never known a single day of real peace with God. They have never felt the freedom in their heart that only comes when the Holy Spirit is living in their heart. All they know is a life of slavery to sin.
To these people, it is “normal” to live in the filth of sin on every side. They are in the mud pits of sin and they think that this is the way that life is supposed to be. Sure, it may be the inheritance they received as the son or daughter of parents, grandparents and great-grandparents who failed God but that’s no excuse for every man must answer for himself. We cannot point a finger of blame at our ancestors for our life of sin.
James 1:14, "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." Thus we can see that it is our own fault and no one else when we find our selves in the pits of sin covered with the filth of the world and unable to get out because of the chains that Satan has put upon us and because of the blindness of our hearts.
God delivered Israel with a mighty hand. When Moses finally led the Children of Israel out of Egypt, God had given the Jews favor and they left with not only a new found freedom but with the spoils of Egypt. The Egyptians were so glad to see them go that they gave them gold, jewels and much wealth. So much of the wealth of Egypt was taken that it was like a conquering army had come into the land of Egypt and stolen anything of value as spoils of war. In effect, these objects of wealth were the spoils of war because Pharaoh had dared to challenge God and God was found to fight against Egypt on behalf of the Jews.
I want to remind all of you who love the Lord, that you are engaged in a war as a soldier in the army of the Lord right now. You are in a spiritual battle for your very soul and for the souls of those around you who the Lord will bring before you to witness to them of His great love and salvation.
The Youth of our church were immersed in the front lines of that battle these past few weekends as they attended the “Final Exit” presentation. They were right there in the thick of the fight as the Holy Spirit was trying to reach into the heart and soul of thousands of people who went through the scenes of death, destruction and heartache that sin brings into the life of those who live for Satan. They were there as the powers of darkness fought against the move of the Holy Spirit in the lives and hearts of those who saw, some maybe realizing for the very first time, that their lives of torment were not what had to be. They saw that there could be something different. For a time, the war raged on in their hearts, until finally the battle was over and they either decided to stay in the filth of sin or surrender their lives to Christ.
Some of you in this congregation this morning were in that battle for your very soul and God helped you to see that you could have a better life. You have a freedom in Christ that you never had before. You have a peace in your heart; you have happiness and joy that you never knew existed; and you are enjoying life today more than every before. All of this is yours because you won the battle and surrendered to Christ.
Surely there will be more battles to come because this war will never end until Jesus comes and casts Satan and sin out for the last time. But thank God, now you have the Lord on your side and He never loses.
This message is to give you a picture of what can happen if we don’t stay true to God. Israel wasn’t delivered long before they began a long series of grumbling and complaining. They did so because they really didn’t trust God to meet their every need. They soon forgot the miraculous power of God to deliver, to heal, to save and to give them new life. They soon fell back into their desire for the slave pits of Egypt.
Do you wonder why this happened so quickly? Isn’t it strange that these people, who were slaves for so long, would want to go back to their slavery and not serve the God of Love, Mercy and Goodness?
One of the reasons and perhaps the greatest reason was that when they left Egypt they took some of the friendly Egyptians with them. The scriptures say that when they left the land of Egypt and crossed Red Sea where all of the Egyptian army died by God’s power of deliverance, that they were of a mixed company. There were those of Egypt who wanted to leave their land that had been destroyed by the plagues that God had sent upon them. There were those who had been friendly to the Jews and now feared for their lives because of Pharaoh’s anger at the Jews for the destruction of his kingdom and army. There may have been those who traveled along simply because they liked they Jews and wanted to hang out with them.
Those Egyptians may have been friendly to the Jews but they were not friends at all. They were placed within the Children of Israel by the direction of the devil to cause dissention in the ranks and to tempt Israel to turn their back on God and worship other God’s.
People of God, you cannot live a victorious life for God and be too friendly with those who live for the devil. There will always be those who will try to hang around you and try to persuade you to party with them, go places where you should not go and do things that you know you shouldn’t do. Satan, to trip you up and help you to forsake the ways of righteousness and holiness, puts those so-called “friends” there, most of the time. You will be influenced by anyone and everyone that you hang around with, so choose your friends carefully. The battles you must fight will be hard enough with the right people around you and nearly impossible to win with the wrong people around you. I know that God is able to deliver in any circumstance but why tempt God? Why make it harder on yourself to win?
As they came to the base of Mount Sinai, the Children of Israel made camp while Moses went up on the mountain to commune with God on their behalf. It was during this 40 days upon the mountain that God laid out the 10 Commandments, writing them with His own hand upon two tablets of stone. This should have been a great time of victory and rejoicing for the Children of Israel. They had not only been set free but now they were hearing from God directly.
They didn’t react with worshipping the Lord though. They grew impatient and finally decided that Moses must have died. He had been gone too long. They called for Aaron, Moses’ brother and spokesman before Pharaoh, to build them a golden calf.
It didn’t take much to convince Aaron to do what they wanted because he had also been mixed up with the wrong crowd. If Aaron had stayed close to God the way he should have, he would never have been guilty of leading the Children of Israel into Idol worship, but he was weak and ordered all the Jews to bring forth the gold that they had taken from Egypt to make the golden calf.
The riches that God had provided for Israel in their deliverance became the thing that formed their Idol!
Child of God, let me tell you this morning that we still change the riches of His grace into our idols when we decide to fall back into the pits of slavery! How do we do that?
We make our freedom our idol when we abuse that freedom to assert our rights to do whatever we want without regard to the Will of God!
We make righteousness our idol when we become so self-righteous that no one can stand to be around us.
We make our God-given talents our idol when we become too smug and self-sufficient that we don’t think we can be taught anything new anymore!
We make holiness our idol when we develop a “holier-than-thou attitude” and begin to actually believe that God won’t save anyone unless they act, believe and dress just like we do.
We make the Bible our idol when we begin to misinterpret its message and to build false doctrine on that misinterpreted scripture or scripture taken out of context.
We even make the church our idol when it takes pre-eminence over the welfare of our family and we get too busy to pray and study the Word of God.
We can make our worship our idol when we start putting God in a box and not allowing the Holy Spirit to give us direction and get trapped in our own idea of what worship really is.
We can take any of the wonderful blessings that God gives us at the time of salvation and turn those things into idols if we abuse them.
Aaron pronounced the gold calf as the God of Israel and even confessed that the calf had delivered them from slavery!
How far will we slide down the path of idolatry once we decide to turn against God! Aaron knew better and yet he was quick to fall into the same trap.
That just proves to me that none of us are immune to Satan’s traps if we play around with the world. You might think that it couldn’t happen to you. I’m too wise for that. I’m too close to God for that. I can stay around the movie theater and still live for God. I can watch the bad movies, read the pornographic magazines, listen to the worldly music, go to the worldly parties or be a part of the world’s crowd and still live for God because I’m a strong Christian.
In the first place, if you are doing those things, it proves two things; that you aren’t living for God and that you aren’t a strong Christian at all. If you were, you would not be in those places and doing those things at all.
God finally had enough and told Moses to get down off of the mountain for Israel had committed a great sin. As he came down from the mountain, the first person he met was Joshua. Joshua had gone part way up the mountain with Moses and stopped to pray and stand guard while Moses communed with God. Joshua was not influenced by those who caused Israel to sin. He was staying as close to God as he could. It is no wonder that God chose Joshua to lead Israel into the Promised Land after Moses’ death.
Exodus 32:19-24, "And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief. For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf."
Moses patience was gone. Not only had his time with God been cut short but now the people who he had led from slavery were worshipping a Golden Calf as their god. He took the calf, melted the gold, ground it to powder, poured it in the drinking water and made the Children of Israel drink that water laced with gold.
YOU WANT TO MAKE GOLD YOUR GOD – SO TAKE ALL OF IT! MAKE IT A PART OF YOUR BODY TOO, NOT JUST YOUR MIND, HEART AND SOUL. GO AHEAD –TASTE IT AND SEE HOW YOU LIKE IT NOW!
I tell you that if we want to have an idol in our life, that God will let us get our fill of it. We will soon get sick of worshipping those things we should not worship. You can serve God forever and never grow tired of it for according to Lamentations 3:22-23, "It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." God make every day new and fresh and fills us with anticipation for the great things ahead that He has planned for us.
But, let anything become an idol, and He will give you your fill of it very quickly. Those who party soon get enough of the partying even though they won’t admit it or can’t seem to stop. Those who fall into legalism and self-righteousness never get legalistic or self-righteous enough but fall further and further into the bondage of the law once again. Those who forsake the ways of proper worship fall deeper and deeper into flesh and their “worship” takes on the air of a high school pep rally instead of a worship of the God of Heaven. I can go on and on but I think you get the picture. God will grind up your idol, mix it into the fabric of your life and make you live with it every day until you can’t stand it any longer and you have to either decide to live in that idolatrous state or turn back to Him!
Moses confronted Aaron and Aaron quickly began to point the finger of blame to anyone but himself. “Its not my fault, the people wanted an idol and they forced me to go along with them. I didn’t want to do it but I also wanted to keep peace, hoping that you would come back soon and take care of it. I just gathered the gold and threw it in the fire and “poof”, like magic, this Golden Calf appeared.” Read it, that’s the way he said it.
When you are caught with your hand in the cookie jar of idol worship, there is no one to blame but yourself. Its your choice to hang around the wrong crowd. Its your choice to not obey God. Its your choice not to pray and stay close to Jesus. YOU LIVE AND DIE IN THE REALM OF THE SPIRIT BY YOUR OWN CHOICES TO LIVE FOR GOD OR FOR THE DEVIL!
Exodus 32:26, "Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him."
Now it was decision time. Moses drew a line in the sand and commanded the people to make their choice. All of those who were of God’s house, the Levites, came to the side of the Lord while those who chose the Golden Calf and the bondage of sin stayed where they were. 3000 of those who chose to stay with idolatry died that day at God’s command.
I want you to notice that those who chose to stay in idolatry didn’t have to move or change anything. If you are living in sin, worshipping an idol in your life, or if you are just cold in your walk with the Lord, you don’t have to do anything to stay like you are. But, understand this, if you don’t change you are on the path to eternal destruction and eternal death.
If you choose to be on the Lord’s side then there is a decision to be made and some action that you must take. You must decide to serve God for He will not force you. You must “come to Him” in repentance for your sin. You must fall down before Him and ask Him to come into your life. You must make that choice willfully and personally. It’s your decision!
Moses tried to intercede for the Children of Israel because God’s anger was hot and He wanted to destroy the nation and begin a new nation with Moses. Moses prayed for God to kill him and blot out his name from the Book of Life instead of the people but God would not do this.
Exodus 32:32-33, "Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book."
Once you have made your decision to live a life of sin and idolatry against God, there is no one on earth who can change your eternal destiny but you and God. We can all pray and intercede for you. We can all offer to even take your place, but God won’t allow us to do that. Surely we must and we will pray for you but our prayers can only bring you to the place of decision, then its up to you!
Whose side will you choose this morning? Will you serve God or will you serve the devil? Its your decision – be careful of the choice you make. It may be your last!
Is there a Golden Calf idol in your life right now? Is there anything that comes between you and God? Is your relationship with Jesus as strong as it should be? If not, make the choice right now to serve Him with all your heart! If you already have made that choice and everything is right between you and God then pray and intercede for those around you.
God spared Israel because of Moses’ prayer of intercession. Your prayer may be the only hope that the lost sinner has!
