Outline Are We Digging Ourselves into a Hole? based on Exodus 32:1-14

I. Stuck in the snow.

II. The result?

III. Aaron was stuck in a hole.

IV. Problem in Exodus 32:1. What was the problem? Exodus 32:1 tells us, “When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, ‘Up, make us gods who shall go before us. 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.’”

V. How long vs. right now.

VI. Read Exodus 32:2-4 and comment about Aaron getting stuck. That is what Aaron offers the people. Exodus 32:2-4 states, “So Aaron said to them, ‘Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.’ So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’”

VII. Read Exodus 32:5 and comment on Aaron’s claim. Exodus 32:5 tells us, “When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, ‘Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.’”

VIII. Good question about making fake gods today.

IX. Next. Aaron gets stuck deeper. Read Exodus 32:6. Then he presses down hard on the accelerator and he gets himself and the people of Israel in a big hole. Exodus 32:6 tells us, “And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”

X. Pattern today is impatience, getting stuck, struggle to obey First Commandment.

XI. Our gods of money, sports, and power.

XII. Moses’ anger and Exodus 34:11-13. Moses came down from Mount Sinai when the people were worshiping this golden calf. He was not happy. God was ready to kill all these people and make a great nation out of the descendants of Moses. Moses pleaded for the people in Exodus 34:11-13, “O 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? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’”

XIII. The covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Israel is an everlasting covenant.

XIV. Covenant fulfilled in death of Jesus.

XV. We have worshiped other gods and been stuck.

XVI. Stuck in the mud in SD.

XVII. Conclusion. What can we do when we are stuck in a hole? We can do what Moses did. Talk to God in prayer. Trust in God’s mercy. Trust in Jesus Christ’s new covenant promises given to us through His blood shed on the cross for us. Amen.