The Golden Calf & The Human Heart

Exodus 32 NASB95

1 Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 Aaron said to them, “Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” 5 Now 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.” 6 So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. 7 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8 “They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’ ” 9 The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. 10 “Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.” 11 Then Moses entreated the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 “Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people. 13 “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” 14 So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people. 15 Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets which were written on both sides; they were written on one side and the other. 16 The tablets were God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing engraved on the tablets. 17 Now when Joshua heard the sound of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.” 18 But he said, “It is not the sound of the cry of triumph, Nor is it the sound of the cry of defeat; But the sound of singing I hear.” 19 It came about, as soon as Moses came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain. 20 He took the calf which they had made and burned it with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it over the surface of the water and made the sons of Israel drink it. 21 Then Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought such great sin upon them?” 22 Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, that they are prone to evil. 23 “For they said to me, ‘Make a god for us who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24 “I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them tear it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.” 25 Now when Moses saw that the people were out of control—for Aaron had let them get out of control to be a derision among their enemies— 26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered together to him. 27 He said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Every man of you put his sword upon his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and kill every man his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his neighbor.’ ” 28 So the sons of Levi did as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day. 29 Then Moses said, “Dedicate yourselves today to the Lord—for every man has been against his son and against his brother—in order that He may bestow a blessing upon you today.” 30 On the next day Moses said to the people, “You yourselves have committed a great sin; and now I am going up to the Lord, perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” 31 Then Moses returned to the Lord, and said, “Alas, this people has committed a great sin, and they have made a god of gold for themselves. 32 “But now, if You will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written!” 33 The Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. 34 “But go now, lead the people where I told you. Behold, My angel shall go before you; nevertheless in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.” 35 Then the Lord smote the people, because of what they did with the calf which Aaron had made.

INTRO: I know what you’re thinking: How could these Israelites be so foolish?!? I mean, they literally witnessed God’s presence through all the plagues in Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, the provision of food and water in the desert, and more explicitly still, in God’s presence on Mt. Sinai through fire, smoke, thunder, earthquakes… they heard the voice of God and cried out, “In all God says, we will obey!!”

Didn’t God say not to worship any other gods? Didn’t he say not to create graven images? (Yes… the answer is yes)

Yet, here we are- now there is a literal golden idol being crafted and worshiped by these same people. Perhaps they forgot… it had been a few weeks. Maybe they were bored- after all, they were not moving. It could be that they needed something to focus on that was not quite so intense as that whole fiery mountain scene.

Boy, I’m sure glad we don’t do things like that! Or do we? Surely we wouldn’t create an idol like this… but perhaps there is a warning here that we should heed… a call for a serious examination of our lives and practices.

I am reminded of the Pharisee who came to the temple in Luke 18:11 “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.”

We’re tempted to laugh at the Israelites’ foolishness. But if we stop and think, we might realize we do the same thing—just with better packaging.

ILL: I wonder, have you ever played that game at Christmas called, “the white elephant”? It has a couple other names too. It’s where everyone brings a wrapped gift, then you draw numbers for order, people can steal gifts- there are gag gifts, etc.

When my wife worked for the CPA group, we played this game each year and there was one gift- a book on tax code - that was wrapped up each year. People caught on after the first year, so in order to really get someone, you had to be creative and package it differently to disguise the book. Each time, people would speculate which gift it might actually be.

Just like the book that was disguised in creative wrapping, idolatry often doesn’t look like a golden calf. It looks like something good—until you unwrap it. It might be wrapped in success, family, or even ministry—but once unwrapped, the heart of it is the same: self-serving worship. And if we are not careful, we can be easily fooled.

What can we learn from this account of the golden calf? I believe that there are some important lessons for us here and it is my prayer that we will see with fresh eyes this morning.

Today, we are going to examine the incident of the golden calf and try to understand how Israel could make such a major mistake. We’re going to look at the impact of this idolatry and we’re going to wrap up our time by looking at how we can spot idols in our life and what specifically we are to do with them.

Let’s get to it, shall we? The sermon is titled “The Golden Calf & The Human Heart.” If you have a bulletin, please use the sermon guide to follow along as we learn together.

The first part we will explore is the origin of the calf.

Idolatry Begins When We Replace God's Commands with Our Preferences (1-3, 25)

(READ 1-3)

It is amazing that Israel so quickly took to idolatry. How did this happen? Let’s look:

I do not think their intention was to replace Yahweh with an idol.

In Ex. 7:1, God told Moses that he would make Moses as a god to the Israelites so they would listen to him and follow him.

But Moses was gone.

He had been gone for weeks. The people saw him enter the smoke, and figured him to be dead.

There was no cell phones or news broadcast to let them know he was ok and to just be patient.

The Israelites were familiar with having representations of the gods they were to worship. They could not see Yahweh.

The calf was preferential to waiting. It was comfortable to them.

Though God had given them instructions on worship, they chose to follow their preferences.

In fact, in v. 1, the scriptures tell us that a group assembled about Aaron (lit. against Aaron)- they had formed a mob. And they demanded Aaron to make them comfortable by forming a god they could see and worship on their own terms.

Aaron surrendered leadership for the sake of peace, but peace at the cost of truth is not peace at all—it’s passivity; v. 25 says that Aaron let them get out of control.

Some might argue that Aaron was outnumbered.

If the Israelites were taking votes, it sure seemed as though Aaron could either cave to the people or be killed resisting them.

Either way, Aaron demonstrated what we often call compromise, but in reality is deadly idolatry.

Idolatry emerges in the church today in the same way- We don’t melt down earrings and shape calves, but we do elevate comfort over calling, tradition over truth, and applause over obedience. This often happens subtly- not as a replacement of God, but as a supplement.

And here’s the thing: Even spiritual leaders- pastors, SS teachers, etc. can compromise under pressure. How many leaders cave to “mob” preferences (entertainment, comfort, popularity, etc.)!

An idol is anything that demands your greatest loyalty, joy, and attention. Maybe it’s a picture that we think represents God:

Some denominations, like Catholics, have images of Mary, the crucifix, the rosary, etc. that will receive prayers, sacrifices of worship, praise, etc.

Idolatry might emerge in a Baptist church in something like a piece of furniture - pew or pulpit, particular music styles, etc.

In our lives, it can be sports, school, career, and even family that emerge as idols.

How do we spot an idol in the church?

Identify anything not prescribed by God that, if messed with, would divide the church. {PAUSE}

Like a tree, a program, a preference.

Idolatry Begins When We Replace God's Commands with Our Preferences. And it’s dangerous. God stressed this in His law- do not have any gods before Me.… do not make graven images for yourselves in the likeness of anything in heaven, earth, sea, etc.

God’s law is a warning because the ramifications are deadly. You see,

Idolatry Corrupts Our Worship and Invites God's Judgment (4-10, 24)

(READ 4-10)

Look here, the people declared this calf to be the god that led them out of Egypt. Again, I believe this was normal to them- that calf gave them a visible object to direct their worship to. They were good with worshiping Yahweh, - In. v. 5, Aaron declared that they were going to make a feast to Yahweh…

I think that they believed this idol would make them feel closer to God. They could see the smoke on the mountain- there were barriers that prevented them from getting close and it was terrifying. So, in their minds, they could worship God better with an object that they could see and touch.

But their worship was twisted. God had declared certain feasts, sacrifices, and practices for worship. But the Israelites worshiped in a way they saw as suitable. V. 6 says they ate and drank and rose up to play!

They were more concerned with having fun than pleasing God. Now, don’t hear me wrong- it’s ok to have fun. The problem here is that the Israelites’ were taking their old sinful customs and pretending that they could honor God by calling them worship.

We see this in the NT as well- People would worship the false god Artemis through acts of sexual perversion. When some were saved, Paul had to explain to them that this was NOT pleasing to God!

The decision to create an idol that would supplement Yahweh’s seemingly inaccessible presence would not accomplish it’s purpose of increasing intimacy with God.

To show how distorted their logic was, let me offer a hard but revealing comparison…It’s like a husband paying a prostitute to feel closer to his wife.

In fact, God was greatly angered by Israel’s idolatry. They clearly disobeyed his command and they deserved immediate judgment and destruction.

God feels the same today about idols in our lives.

What might that look like?

It might look like softening God’s standards in the name of acceptance and love. So instead of embracing His holiness, a church might make an idol out of inclusion.

People might feel good when they can cling to a cross, directing their attention to a piece of wood rather than a reigning Lord.

It might look like idolizing numbers in ministry over biblical fidelity

It might look like seeking validation through social media instead of hoping in Christ.

When our feelings define worship more than God’s Word, we don’t worship the true God—we worship a mirror

As Jesus told the Pharisees, “You honor me with your lips, but your heart is far from me.”

Idolatry twists our worship and provokes God’s wrath. So, what is the response to such idolatry?

Idolatry Must Be Confronted and Destroyed (19-20)

(READ)

When Moses came down and saw the idolatry, his actions demonstrated the urgency of the situation. Let’s walk though it:

He threw the tablets and they broke.

As important as the Law was, it was useless to a people who were engaged in blasphemous idol worship. How could they say they honor a God they are so blatently disobeying?

He burned the golden calf.

I mean, burned it into a heap! The shape that meant so much to the Israelites needed to be obliterated. The form they so desired was melted into a puddle that no longer resembled anything.

He ground up the puddle of gold and scattered it over the water and made the people drink it.

Moses wanted this thing gone. Even the material used to construct it needed to be destroyed.

Left in a melted heap, it could be revived as an idol.

Left scattered on the water, it could be recollected.

But, having people drink the gold-laced water would remind them of the bitterness of their transgression and reduce the gold to waste.

Now, Moses’ actions might sound a bit extreme, but listen: It is never enough simply to lay an idol down; It’s way too easy to pick it back up! We must burn it down.

It’s never enough to try to put barriers up - we are too weak! We must destroy idols completely- not ignore them, not simply turn from them… smash them, burn them, grind them up!

ILL: Imagine you went into the back yard and saw your kids playing with a poisonous snake… dancing around, singing, poking it…Would you go and say, “kids, please stop.”? or would you grab a shovel and end the threat?

Idolatry is more dangerous than playing with a cobra, and thus our response to idols must be swift and absolute. Idols must be destroyed.

Now, we could close our bibles and leave with this loud warning against idolatry, but God intends more for us. So, I want to point us to one final truth:

Idolatry Reveals Our Deep Need for God’s Mercy (11-14, 29-35)

The Israelites had provoked God’s wrath and deserved to be destroyed. God would have been justified to wipe them off the face of the earth. They seemed as if they would never change.

But look at v. 11 -14 (READ)

Now, God is not some blood-thirsty god who had to be talked out of his rage. God was not reacting rashly—He was revealing something deeper: the need for a mediator and a mercy that Moses couldn’t give

God had set Moses apart as an intercessor- a forerunner of the perfect Intercessor, Jesus Christ. Here, when Moses Interceded, God stayed His immediate wrath; He went up (30) to try to make atonement for their sin. But God’s judgment was not satisfied. (READ 30-34)

Moses could not offer himself in Israel’s spot. Moses could not atone for sins. Even all that the sacrifices would portray in sin offerings and atonement sacrifices, the author of Hebrews tells us that by the blood of bulls and goats can no man be justified.

But look here, Jesus is the perfect intercessor! Where Moses broke the tablets, Jesus fulfilled the Law. Where Moses offered himself, Jesus was offered. And where Moses could not bear the people’s sin, Jesus bore it all

He, being fully God and fully man, took the wrath of God upon Himself to satisfy justice. He paid the whole price for our sins and extends a merciful invitation to you to turn from your idols, turn from your sins and devote yourself to the Lord! You see, God is merciful to those who call upon His name in repentance and faith.

Unlike Moses, who could not bear the people’s sin, Christ bore it in full. And unlike Israel, who remained unchanged, we receive the Spirit to shape us into worshipers of the living God.

Thus, Moses commanded the Israelites in v. 29 to dedicate themselves to the Lord. Consecrate your heart to the Lord! As Joshua implored Israel a generation later, Choose this day whom you will serve!

Friends, we have a great need for God’s mercy, and He is generous and willing to extend it to you today.

Is there an idol standing in your way? Take time today and ask, “What golden calf might I be clinging to?”

Don’t just identify it—destroy it. Don’t just feel conviction—act in repentance.

[PRAY]

Discuss: How did the Israelites try to blend worship of Yahweh with idolatry? What does that reveal about the human heart?

Discuss: What are some “golden calves” in our culture that are easy to justify or overlook?

Discuss: What would it look like to truly destroy an idol in your life—not just lay it down, but burn it, grind it up, and walk away?