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God’s Proposition for Israel
God’s Proposition for Israel
1 The Lord said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’ 2 I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”
THIS IS SUCH A MIND BLOWING PASSAGE TO ME! God says I’m going to place you where I promised I would.
Make no mistake about it. It’s not because you’ve done what you were supposed to do. Ya’ll are a hard-headed bunch. Disobedient. STIFF-NECKED
ILLUSTRATION: Many of you know that my family for the last year and half has had a beautiful rescue dog. She is gorgeous as they come, she is as energetic as they come, but she is also as stubborn as they come. She is smart and will do anything for a snack but she definitely requires a great deal of wrestling and nowhere is that on display more than when we walk her. We actually have a special chain collar for her because she is DEAD SET on always going her own way NO MATTER how much you command her to go in another direction. She will move towards a danger. She veer off in the street. It really doesn’t matter. Wherever you don’t want her to go is the direction that she is usually dead set on going. And when we don’t have this special collar on her, she will not bend. I mean Asia, that’s her name, would almost rather you die strangulation from collar pull than go the way you desire for her to go and she is a big strong dog with a big strong neck that will not bend. She is stiff-necked.
Israel is Stiff-Necked. You and I as we discussed last week are often like Israel in the sense that we as well are stiff necked. REFUSE TO GO ANY OTHER WAY BUT OUR OWN. NO MATTER WHAT DESTRUCTION AWAITS US.
What we find here in Exodus chapter 33 is that God says I’ve had enough of it. So, I’m going to let you go to the land that I promised your forefathers I would give you and your offspring but I will not be going to that land with you because if I do I’m going to destroy you...
A few things jump out at me up in the first couple of verses in this text:
Israel’s Idolatry Moves God Towards Handing Them Over
1. Like we observed last week, God has practically handed these people over to Moses. Listen to how he is describing them: “The people whom YOU HAVE BROUGHT UP OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT.
This emphasis seems to be intentional here especially sense we know these words come after Exodus 20:2
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
And these words come after Israel has committed gross idolatry and turned themselves over to the worship of phony gods.
Like we said last week, in these words, we can hear the exasperated parent look over to the other parent and say get your kids…meaning “these kids are so off the chain right now I don’t even want to claim them.”
We hear a similar tone as Israel has traded in the immortal God for dead gods made out of dead inanimate materials. Golden Cows. gods of their own making...
Which leads me to another observation…
Israel’s Idolatry Moves God Towards Separation
2. Remember God initially said after He saw Israel’s rank idol worship in chapter 32 that He was going to destroy them but Moses pleaded for lenience. So instead of complete and total eradication, we get Chapter 32 picking up at verse 25
25 And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies), 26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. 27 And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’ ” 28 And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell. 29 And Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.” 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.” 33 But the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. 34 But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.” 35 Then the Lord sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.
Here we see that the clear consequences for the sin of idolatry.
So we get a slaughter of 3000 people at the hands of their own countrymen.
We get some sort of plague delivered upon the people.
THE PENALTY FOR THIS IDOLATRY SIGNIFIES JUST HOW SIGNIFICANT IT IS!
But get this…IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE which is where we find ourselves in Exodus 33:3 reviewing the ways in which it could get worse than it already has been.
3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”
God is saying “This was such an egregious infraction that I don’t need to accompany you to the promise land because ya’ll might do something crazy and then I’ll have to a wipe ya’ll completely out!”
“For your own good, I’m not going to go with you because yall are so wayward, so stubborn, so inconsistent that your sin may lead to me CONSUMING YOU!”
ILLUSTRATION: Have you ever been in a situation where the people you’re connected to…like your spouse, your children, or your family members or friends…did something so egregious, so foolish, so flat out wild that you’re like “I have to get out of here because if I stick around and y’all say or do one more crazy thing I’m subject to hurt somebody...” Some of ya’ll are in here like “Yep, YESTERDAY!”
Well in some small way, this is God right now. Literally ruling himself out for the trip. Basically saying you don’t want me with ya’ll because the next time you lose your minds it could be devastating for you...
But this actually leads me to another very interesting point in the first 3 verses of this text...
Israel’s Idolatry CANNOT nullify God’s Faithfulness
3. This is why this passage is so unbelievable to me. Israel has committed the gravest of sin. They’ve attributed the work of God, namely, their deliverance from captivity to Pharoah to an inanimate statue of a cow and at a time where they was supposed to be gladly welcoming Moses back from the top of the mountain with all the instruction of how to worship the one true God, they were wild party at the bottom of the mountain in celebration of this new idol they created out of their gold that they received from the deliverance that God gave them!
AND YET DESPITE ALL OF THAT! They cannot erase God’s FAITHFULNESS. Note God’s faithfulness even in the moments of His disappointment and anger. He is committed to holding up His end of the covenant even when we refuse to hold up our own end...
1 The Lord said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’ 2 I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”
God is saying, “Listen, Moses I will not go with y’all because I will probably destroy you and your people because y’all are so dag on rebellious but I’m going to give you the promise land that I promised your forefathers. I’m going to send my angel to prepare the way and remove the enemies for you and you’ll be able to go up from this place and enter into the promise land. Think about HOW AMAZING THAT IS! As stubborn as Israel is here, God’s faithfulness is that much more sure.
We see this not only in Israel but we see this ultimately in Christ. We here it in the words of the Jesus on the Cross as He says to His Father while being unjustly punished, “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing!”
Christ was FAITHFUL making eternal provision for people, like you and me, making gods out of lesser things. We have an opportunity to come into a saving relationship with Christ only due to His SHEER GRACE AND MERCY.
So Israel’s Idolatry leads to decision from God to separate but His Faithfulness won’t allow Him to separate without blessing them meaning that He is going to give them EVERYTHING they could possibly want BUT HIMSELF!
Promised land? Check
Enemies Defeated? Check
All The Provision They Need? Check
Here’s what’s really uncomfortable about what God is offering. For many of us, what He is offering is actually ENOUGH!!! Blessings without the Blesser!!! Comfort without the COMFORTER.
So many of us would be completely and totally satisfied with this arrangement.: DELIVER ME OUT OF MY WILDERNESS? CLEAR MY PATH OF MY ENEMIES? MEET MY MATERIAL NEEDS? What more could you want right?
Can I shoot straight with you? If I’m not careful, I can fall prey to this same trap. Think they those are my greatest needs. Life without despair, Life without enemies, Life without material want. Many of us have fallen INTO THIS TRAP to the point where maybe we are Christian by profession or public declaration but inwardly we have grown so cold to God and so dependent on everything else that if He promised to give us everything else but himself we would go on with our lives and barely notice HIS ABSENCE.
IF HE PROMISED TO GIVE US THE DREAM JOB AND COMPLETE FINANCIAL STABILITY...
IF HE PROMISED TO GIVE US VICTORY IN THE CULTURE WARS, IF HE PROMISED TO GIVE US CULTURAL POWER, GETTING RID OF OUR POLITICAL AND/OR CULTURAL ENEMIES...
IF HE PROMISED TO GIVE US THE DREAM HOUSE, THE DREAM CAR, AND THE DREAM SPOUSE...
IF HE PROMISED TO GIVE US ALL OF THIS WITHOUT HIMSELF, many of us would be inwardly totally fine with that. It is to that spot in your heart that the Spirit of God is speaking to this morning...
THIS MORNING IS AS GOOD OF A MORNING AS ANY FOR THE LORD TO SEARCH OUR HEARTS AND TO REORDER OUR DESIRES IN ORDER THAT OUR NEEDS START WITH HIM!
Take note of Israel’s Response
Israel’s Response to God’s Proposition
Israel’s Response to God’s Proposition
5 For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.’ ” 6 Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.
What is Israel’s response? REPENTANCE? How do we know? Because in accordance to God’s instruction, they stripped themselves of their ornaments…their jewelry, their swag, the things that accentuate their appearance and draw attention to them.
1. This was an act of HUMBLING. A humbling of themselves in the presence of God. In this moment or repentance and return back to God, their image was not important. Their appearance was not important God was...
One Theologian says of this moment: “The removal of their ornaments was for the purpose of evidencing the genuineness of their contrition. Outward adornment was out of keeping with the taking of a low place before God...The more true spirituality declines, the more an elaborate ritual comes to the [forefront].”
Ryken, P. G., & Hughes, R. K. (2005). Exodus: saved for God’s glory (p. 1021). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
In a selfie generation, where we photograph ourselves into oblivion and we seem to ALWAYS BE CONCERNED ABOUT HOW WE WILL LOOK when is the last time that you seen the church move towards the kind of repentance and lamenting that shouts: “I don’t care about my appearance. I care about YOUR PRESENCE!”
It doesn’t matter how good I look or even how good we look if you’re not here WITH US!
What a tragedy it would be for our own church. If we completed this beautiful space and leave it empty of God’s presence because our content to have everything else but HIM!
What a tragedy it would be for our own lives to be decorated and adorned with beautiful clothes and beautiful accessories and yet be absent of God’s presence because our hearts were content to live life without it!
Israel, in this moment, understood this truth: That what they needed most in this moment and ultimately in their lives couldn’t be found in the gold, silver, or any other precious metals. What they needed in this moment couldn’t be found in their sense of worth and self value.
What they truly needed most could only be found in the one TRUE GOD and so they were humbling themselves in light of that truth.
However, that wasn’t the only thing this act of stripping themselves of ornaments was demonstrating...
2. This was also an act of RENOUNCEMENT
Remember what ISRAEL was guilty of: Taking precious metals that God blessed them with in their deliverance from Pharoah’s captivity and making an idol out of them.
Now what were they laying down...
The same precious metals...
Application: Oftentimes repentance from idolatry requires divorcing ourselves from the very things that caused our idolatry in the first place...
How oftentimes do we repent with one hand still grasping the very thing that caused our downfall...
Repenting from substance abuse while still frequenting all of the circles that led to our abuse...
Repenting of jealousy and coveting others lives while still lingering hours on social media watching others lives...
Repenting of selfishness and self-seeking while still never inconveniencing yourself, your wallet, or your schedule.
Repenting from relationship that has gone in the wrong direction while still placing ourselves in compromising situations…maybe an emotional affair that you still haven’t cut off
Oftentimes, our repentance will require a distancing from the scenes, from people, from substances, and other things that are moving us in the direction of the idolatry...
Other times, our repentance will require us repurposing the things that have moved us into idolatry. No longer using those things for ourselves but instead dedicating them to God for His purposes and use...
“We can trace the people’s spiritual progress simply by looking at what they did with their gold. Earlier they took off their earrings to make the golden calf, using their wealth to turn away from God. This time they were taking off the rest of their jewelry as a sign that they wanted to worship God alone. They were putting off idolatry. Later they would use the same gold to build the tabernacle (see Exod. 35:22)...Rather than using their wealth to make idols, they were learning to give it up for God and use it for his glory.
What we do with our money and our other possessions is one of the best indicators of our true spiritual condition. Are we spending most of it on ourselves, or are we growing in the grace of generosity? Are we subtly becoming more and more selfish with what we have, or are we making deeper and deeper sacrifices for the kingdom of God? Are we only giving what’s left, or are we giving more than we think we can spare, so that God can do his saving work? Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:21). By examining our patterns of giving and spending, we can see whether our hearts are in the right place or not. A personal bank account or a family budget is a spiritual echocardiogram: It measures the soundness of a person’s heart before God.”
Ryken, P. G., & Hughes, R. K. (2005). Exodus: saved for God’s glory (p. 1022). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
So Israel determines that they would rather not go with just God’s blessings. They come to realize that instead they really need to go with God.
And so Moses goes to the Lord to petition Him…but before we hear the petition…the book breaks off to describe the scene of Moses’ petition.
7 Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. 8 Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. 9 When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. 10 And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. 11 Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.
THIS IS WHAT THEY SAW AND WITNESSED WITH THEIR OWN EYES. THIS IS WHAT THEY KNEW THEY COULD NOT BE WITHOUT. IT DIDN’T MATTER HOW MUCH GOLD THEY HAD IN THEIR COFFERS. IT DIDN’T MATTER WHERE THEY WERE LOCATED, THE WILDERNESS OR THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY…THEY KNEW THEY NEEDED THIS GOD!
THIS GOD WHO COMMUNED WITH THEM AND SPOKE TO THEIR LEADER AS ONE WHO SPEAKS TO HIS FRIEND.
12 Moses said to the Lord, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ 13 Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” 14 And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”
First, hear in MOSES’ voice...DESPERATION
Moses would rather remain stuck in the wilderness with God
Second hear in MOSES’s reasoning...DISTINCTION
Conquering doesn’t separate us.
Living in plenty doesn’t separate us.
Having a comfortable life doesn’t separate us.
Moses says none of that is what distinguishes from the rest of the nations…none of that is what makes us different from all the people of the world...
This is the mistake that we make over and over and over again in our lives...
We tell ourselves that if my enemies are conquered then I will be alright…if I have enough finances then I will be alright…if I have a comfortable life then I will be fine…
ILLUSTRATION: Can I share a secret with you? Many people have that and they are not fine. Some of you in this room may know what it feels like to have that and still not be fine. Because that is not your deepest need…YOUR DEEPEST NEED IS NOT HAVING ANY OF THOSE THINGS. IT IS HAVING HIM! And so Moses pleads with God not to leave them... In fact he tells God in so many words, I would rather have none of those things and have you instead of having all of those things and not having you...
And to this plea, the Lord answer...
17 And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”
Sometimes we read passages like this and we say…isn’t that beautiful...
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
