Mercy Wins the Day - Exodus 32:1-14

Introduction

If you ask ten different people who God is, you’re likely to get ten different answers. Some think of God like they think of the state trooper hiding in the tree line waiting to get them. Most of the time they do what they want to, but they try to be sneaky about it and slam on the breaks when they think they might see him or someone that represents him. Some think of God like their granddaddy, who overlooks every bad thing that they do and still tells them great job and gives them a Coke. Some think of him like a Genie that will bless all of the plans that we have and give us all the things that we want. Others think of him as a distant power that watches you but doesn’t interfere with you. All of your life is determined by you and what you do and what you decide and what you make of it.

But, it’s interesting that different people would describe God in such competing pictures, isn’t it? God has told us who He is. God has revealed himself to us so that we can be astonished and comforted and accountable, so that we can be accurate in our relating to him. So, where do all of the different descriptions of God come from? Well, there’s only two reasons. 1) We aren’t interested enough to read what God has said about himself. 2) Or, we’ve read it, don’t like it, don’t agree with it and decide that God is who we want him to be rather than who He actually says He is. You see, we want a god, but we want a god on our terms. We want the type of god we’re looking for rather than actually seeking out who God really is.

God’s Word

That’s exactly what we see in our passage this morning. Israel wanted a god, but they wanted him on their terms. They wanted him as they pictured him, not as He actually was. Now, the picture here is stark. If you’ve read through Exodus, you know that this is a concurrent story to everything that you’ve read just before it. Moses is up on Sinai receiving the Law of God and instructions about the Tabernacle of God, and, meanwhile, this is what’s happening below during Moses’ 40 days on the mountain as God is making a covenant with his people. In fact, the last words we heard from the people was them ratifying their covenant with God in Exodus 24 when they say, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” So, when you come to chapter 32, it makes your head swim when you see how far and how fast Israel’s faith has fallen. And, there’s a picture of us and the gospel (headline) here that is important for us to understand.

We want “God” our “way”.

v. 1b ““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.”” Impatience proves to be one of the distinctives of the human condition. Abraham is promised a son through whom he would become the father of a great nation. But, it doesn’t happen in Abraham’s way and on Abraham’s timeline so he and Sarah conspire to fix the problem themselves with Sarah’s servant. Esau comes in famished from hunting, and he’s not patient enough to prepare himself a meal and sells his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of bean soup. And, it’s this same impatience rearing its head here. Moses has been on the mountain 40 days, and, suddenly, Israel is over waiting. Moses is gone, and they need a new representative of God to comfort them. Where does this impatience come from? We want “God” our “way”. We want God to march according to the beat of our drum, according to our timeline and our desires and our plans. It’s the assumption that God exists for us rather than us existing for him.

We Don’t Feel Him

v. 4b “And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” That’s why they’ve grown impatient, isn’t it? That’s why they demand that Aaron make them an image of God. God had sent locusts and hail upon Israel. He’d divided the Red Sea. He’d fed them from the sky and given water out of a rock. But, where was He now? What has He done for us lately? That ‘old feeling’ is gone now. Doesn’t God know we can’t “see” him and “sense” him and “feel” him any more?

(Point out all of the different examples of sensory unbelief.) We want to relate to God through our senses, but God insists that we relate to him in faith. We want God to give us a religious experience we can feel or a sign that we can touch or a miracle we can see, but God wants us to trust what He has said. It’s common for us to move from church to church to church today, and very often, when we explain why we’re moving, it’s explained something like this: “Things didn’t feel the same. God just didn’t seem to do anything any more. So, we’re looking for a church where can see God on the move, where we can feel close to him again.” Very often, it’s impatience like that of Israel. It’s the desire to relate to God through our senses rather than by faith.

So, they, like us, take action to make themselves feel better. They decide that if God won’t come to them in their time, then they will create a version of him that will. And, what may surprise you is that they weren’t trying to shift away from YHWH to another god. They were just looking for physical proof that YHWH was with them. Something they could see and touch and carry around. They’re still talking about the God who brought them out of Egypt. They’re still talking about the God who gave them the very gold that they were going to use to make the statue. They’re even worshiping him, for the most part, in the way that He prescribed. But, they’re wanting more from God than just his word. They’re wanting a god that reflects their priorities. So, they want the very same God just repackaged to meet their perceived needs. There was still a lot of Egypt in their hearts, and the Egyptians represented their mightiest gods with a young bull. So, they were looking for a shinier version of YHWH. One that made sense to their Egyptian trained eye. They were creating the gods they wanted.

Idols Make our Priorities Sacred

You see, idols are our way of making our priorities sacred. Idols are our way of imposing our will upon God. They are our way of repackaging God so that He fits our lifestyle and our goals and our passions. Worshiping a golden calf seems silly to us, but is it really any sillier than a pontoon boat, a Netflix account, or a ball field? Idolatry is the attempt to make a god small enough to fit him into your life, your understanding, and your plans rather than a God so glorious that you have to orient your whole life around Him. It’s to create an image of God that is not worthy of his Name. It’s a version of God that adjusts himself to your schedule and your priorities and your favorite news network rather than requiring you to adjust your calendar and your schedule and your desires to Him. Does your God reflect your priorities or God’s as He’s revealed them?

God’s “way” is the only “way”.

v. 7 “And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.” You’ll notice that throughout this passage Israel’s deliverance continues to come up. And, it’s ironic because no person in the story is lost on the fact that Israel’s relationship with their God was the result of his miraculous salvation of them. So, it’s meant to strike Moses with devastating force when God says in verse 7, “...your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.” God has distanced himself from his people. The implication is that the God who had saved them would now give them over to their own desires which will destroy them. The wanted a God to go their way to make them feel better, to make everything make sense to them. But, God’s “way” is the only “way”. If there is a way that is better than God’s way, then He either isn’t perfect or He isn’t good and loving. He isn’t God at all.

Self-destruction Feels Like Self-improvement

You’ll notice that God says that they “corrupted themselves”. That is, they self-destructed by trying to go their own way, by attempting their own rescue. God had saved them from Egypt. God had set them free. Now, they thought they could improve the situation by helping God out with an idol, and God says that they didn’t save themselves or help themselves. In fact, they’re destroying themselves. You see, self-destruction often feels like self-improvement in the beginning. Our lives are constantly under the threat of our wretched attempts at self-rescue. Sometimes, it’s by positive thinking or by trying to do enough good things so that good things will come back around to you or by spoiling yourself to make you feel good about what you have, or by denying yourself to make you feel good about what you don’t have. But, the truth is that these are your attempts to improve yourself, to save yourself apart from God himself; thus, they are declarations in your life that you don’t need God, and you aren’t committed to his way of grace.

Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man but its end is the way to death.” You can do things that make you feel good. That’s why Israel made the idol. It felt good. You can leave your family for a freer life; you can have an affair with someone who’s easy to talk to; you can self-medicate yourself with alcohol and drugs; you can buy everything that your credit card can hold, and you’ll feel good — in the beginning at least. But, it’s the way to death because it’s your way to salvation. It’s your way to worship. And, God’s way is more than what you feel in the moment. God’s way is assured, and it’s the only way to a salvation that lasts.

The Fatal Flaw of the Old Covenant

v. 8 “They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them.” It’s really breathtaking how quickly they break the covenant with God, isn’t it? God promised to be their God, and they willingly promised that they would keep all of his commands. And, the very next words we hear God’s people utter after they commit to obey God is, “Make us gods.” It’s like an affair on the honeymoon. It’s being fired your first day on the job. They obliterate the covenant as soon as they receive it. That’s how good we are at keeping the Law. That’s how hopeless salvation by morality is for us. That’s how futile of an effort it is that we could sustain our relationship with God by doing what He asks. That’s the fatal flaw of the Old Covenant. It’s not the law. It’s perfect. It’s not the covenant itself. It’s gracious. It’s us. The old covenant had no power to change our hearts so that we wouldn’t immediately break it. That’s why we needed a new covenant that wouldn’t just demand outward conformity but would transform our inward nature. We needed a new covenant that didn’t just affect what we did but what we wanted to do. We needed a way to God that depended upon God alone, and not us.

I wonder what way you are on. Are you on your own way doing what makes you feel good in the moment? Are you attempting self-improvement and self-rescue from your own brokenness? Are you trying to keep the rules good enough and be moral enough so that good stuff will find its way to you? That’s not God’s way! That way will kill you. Those are paths without hope!

A mediator has to “bridge” the “gap”.

v. 10 “Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”” You see, if you’re reading this story in one of our novels, what do you expect to happen next? They broke the covenant the very first chance they got, and the assumption is that God will abandon them in the same way and destroy them. Why? Because that’s what’s right. There’s an insurmountable gap between God’s way and the way that they went, and God’s way is the only way. So, what has to happen for us to have hope? That’s what this story is begging for. Hope. A mediator has to “bridge” the “gap”.

Laced with Mercy

Verse 10 is kind of a strange verse, isn’t it? God tells Moses to “let (him) alone.” It’s a rhetorical device that Moses immediately understands. If Moses doesn’t intervene, if Moses doesn’t intercede on behalf of his people, God’s justice and wrath will rightly destroy them. But, the invitation is that if Moses doesn’t ‘let (him) alone’, if he does intercede, then God will answer him and show them mercy. Think about that. God’s bride cheats on him on the honeymoon, and his immediate reaction is laced with mercy.

30 The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” 31 So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.”

v. 32 “But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.” Look at verses 30-32 to see the fuller picture. Moses had not committed idolatry. He was meeting with God when Israel had made the idol. That’s why God offers to make a great nation out of Moses instead. But, Moses, though innocent, tells God to count him among the sinners. If they are to be blotted out, then He is to be blotted out, too. Here’s God’s justice aimed at his people with both barrels when Moses steps in front of the gun and appeals to the very same justice that was about to condemn. Moses knew that God would not condemn an innocent man. So, here’s Moses offering himself as the innocent substitute on behalf of the guilty. But, you see, God would condemn an innocent man, a man far more innocent than Moses. He would condemn a man that had kept the Law perfectly every day of his life. And, He would condemn him by letting him stand as the substitution for his own people and their sin. Upon him, He would pour out the fullness of his justice so that our names might not be blotted out from his book of life. Through Moses, God was showing us that mercy would win the day.

We’re Not Hopeless

The canyon between our path and God’s path seems clear and hopeless. But, we’re not hopeless. That’s the message here. We’re not hopeless. Because we have a Mediator in Jesus that has bridged the gap. We have an innocent man standing in our place. We have mercy waiting on us. The question in front of you is whether or not you’ll stop loving all of the imposters and if you’ll stop trying to fix yourself and love this Jesus with all of your heart and all of your mind and all of your strength. Because, through Jesus, mercy wins the day.