A rebellious people spared by grace
Notes
Transcript
Order of Service
Order of Service
Welcome
Welcome
Prayer
Prayer
Hymn -
Hymn -
Notices
Notices
Prayer Meeting - 7:30pm
Friday 7pm - Online
Sunday Morning 11am & 6pm
Tithes & Offerings - £
Main Prayer
Main Prayer
Hymn -
Hymn -
Reading
Reading
“Furthermore, the Lord said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stubborn people. Let me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’ So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God. You had made yourselves a golden calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you. So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes. Then I lay prostrate before the Lord as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin that you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that the Lord bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me that time also. And the Lord was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him. And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. Then I took the sinful thing, the calf that you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. And I threw the dust of it into the brook that ran down from the mountain. “At Taberah also, and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the Lord to wrath. And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God and did not believe him or obey his voice. You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you. “So I lay prostrate before the Lord for these forty days and forty nights, because the Lord had said he would destroy you. And I prayed to the Lord, ‘O Lord God, do not destroy your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not regard the stubbornness of this people, or their wickedness or their sin, lest the land from which you brought us say, “Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.” For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’ “At that time the Lord said to me, ‘Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me on the mountain and make an ark of wood. And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets that you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.’ So I made an ark of acacia wood, and cut two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. And he wrote on the tablets, in the same writing as before, the Ten Commandments that the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. And the Lord gave them to me. Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark that I had made. And there they are, as the Lord commanded me.” (The people of Israel journeyed from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died, and there he was buried. And his son Eleazar ministered as priest in his place. From there they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with brooks of water. At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord to stand before the Lord to minister to him and to bless in his name, to this day. Therefore Levi has no portion or inheritance with his brothers. The Lord is his inheritance, as the Lord your God said to him.) “I myself stayed on the mountain, as at the first time, forty days and forty nights, and the Lord listened to me that time also. The Lord was unwilling to destroy you. And the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, go on your journey at the head of the people, so that they may go in and possess the land, which I swore to their fathers to give them.’
Sermon
Sermon
Moses recounts from his perspective what happened at Horeb
Moses wants them to understand how serious it was
And shares of his earnest prayers for God’s mercy towards them
The Golden Calf
The Golden Calf
“Furthermore, the Lord said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stubborn people. Let me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’ So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God. You had made yourselves a golden calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you. So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes.
needed to be reminded of their stubborness
They had accepted the covenant obligations at Horeb
Just 40 days and nights later they made an Golden Calf (Exodus 32)
offered burnt offering and peace offering
“The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play [revel]”
Festivities: Drinking, music, sexualised dancing, pagan worship (and orgies?)
referred to the golden calf as The Lord [Yahweh]
they need to understand that they forfeited their lives by breaking the covenant
it is through the intecession of Moses and the mercy of God that 38 years later they stand on the border of the promised land
Not our righteousness, but God’s grace that saves us, keeps us and brings us to the promised land
We are not capable of understanding the relationship between limited, responsible people and the sovereign Lord of all
The nation deserved God’s judgement, but God had already put a covenant mediator in place and so things turned out exactly as he determined they should.
Moses comes down from the mountain, blazing with the fire of God
Carrying 2 tablets of the covenant in his hands
He sees the golden calf
Smashed the tablets of the covenant in his hands, in the sight of all the people
They have broken the covenant, and turned aside from the way The Lord had command them to them
There could be no more seriousness about their sin
Some of the people don’t stop their revelry
“Who is on the Lord’s Side? Come to me”
Sons of Levi come, they action Moses’ commands and slay 3000 men. The Priesthood is established.
It is likely we fail to realise the seriousness of the idolatries of which we are guilty, and of the inadequate and inappropriate worship to which we may be prone
The Covenanty Mediator
The Covenanty Mediator
Then I lay prostrate before the Lord as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin that you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that the Lord bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me that time also. And the Lord was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him. And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. Then I took the sinful thing, the calf that you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. And I threw the dust of it into the brook that ran down from the mountain. “At Taberah also, and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the Lord to wrath. And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God and did not believe him or obey his voice. You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you.
Moses knew ow series Israel’s sin was and had heard God’s threat of judgement.
For 40 days he fasted and lay prostrate before the Lord, until he knew that God was going to be merciful.
40 - a complete period
4 - creation
10 - a round period
intelectual maturity
a generation
complete preperation
This was the first of what would be a series of rebellion against God
Aaron had made the calf - what a disappointment to Moses
Moses destroyed the calf and ensured that they could not reclaim the gold
Moses makes it clear that they have no righteousness, and rely solely on God
The Fervent Prayer of Moses
The Fervent Prayer of Moses
“So I lay prostrate before the Lord for these forty days and forty nights, because the Lord had said he would destroy you. And I prayed to the Lord, ‘O Lord God, do not destroy your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not regard the stubbornness of this people, or their wickedness or their sin, lest the land from which you brought us say, “Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.” For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’
Moses persistence for 40 days was remarkable, and God honoured it
We cannot plead righteousness as a basis for God to answer our prayers
We can only confess the reality of our sins and plead His Mercy
O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.
The Covenant Restored
The Covenant Restored
“At that time the Lord said to me, ‘Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me on the mountain and make an ark of wood. And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets that you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.’ So I made an ark of acacia wood, and cut two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. And he wrote on the tablets, in the same writing as before, the Ten Commandments that the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. And the Lord gave them to me. Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark that I had made. And there they are, as the Lord commanded me.”
When the Lord told Moses to cut two tablets and to bring them to him on he mountain, it indicated that the coveneant had been restored
Inspite of what the people had done.
Moses built the Ark of the Covenant
Ark: box or chest
The tablets of stone with the commandments were placed in the Ark.
They were before the people as a reminder of their covenant with God
Aaron became High Priest
The journey resumed
The journey resumed
(The people of Israel journeyed from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died, and there he was buried. And his son Eleazar ministered as priest in his place. From there they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with brooks of water. At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord to stand before the Lord to minister to him and to bless in his name, to this day. Therefore Levi has no portion or inheritance with his brothers. The Lord is his inheritance, as the Lord your God said to him.) “I myself stayed on the mountain, as at the first time, forty days and forty nights, and the Lord listened to me that time also. The Lord was unwilling to destroy you. And the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, go on your journey at the head of the people, so that they may go in and possess the land, which I swore to their fathers to give them.’
Verse 6-9 are shown in brackets because they may have been a later addition
provide completeness in understanding what took place
Moses and Arron did not enter the promised land because of their rebellion at the Waters of Meribah
verses 10-11 continue from verse 5
it ephasises the people’s proneness to disobedience
and God’s forebearance and mercy with the nation
Their journey will not be complete until they are in the promised land
They needed to look forward in faith, and arise and go over the Jordon to take the land
We see the journey Jesus speaks of believers taking the narrow gate and way
A journey that is a challenges to us to get and and get on; to keep on until we reach the end of the journey
Hymn - Who is on the Lord's side (854)
Hymn - Who is on the Lord's side (854)
Q&A
Q&A
Hymn -
Hymn -
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Doxology
Doxology
