WEBVTT 00:00:01.280 --> 00:00:02.240 Morning. 00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:05.440 Welcome to Christ Community Church. 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:08.640 If you are a student, you are dismissed. 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:12.160 The rest of us, welcome. 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:14.080 I'm glad you're here today. 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:14.800 Bless you. 00:00:14.880 --> 00:00:15.359 Bless you. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:16.160 Bless you. 00:00:17.039 --> 00:00:18.480 Larry moved us up closer. 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:20.239 Yeah, I hate being so far back. 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:22.960 I feel like I'm yelling at you, and I don't want to do that. 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:24.399 Unless you need yelling. 00:00:24.559 --> 00:00:25.120 That's all. 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:30.960 What a great line, Christopher. 00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:36.560 There's no mistake that we could ever make that would make God change. 00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:57.840 If you go, if you take a theology class in college or seminary or something, one of the things that they'll teach you in theology is that there's certain qualities that only God possesses, and then there's certain qualities that God has shared with his image-bearers. 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:28.799 I don't know that they mentioned this one when I was in grad school, but it is true that one of the things that would make God different, unique, set apart from us, a quality that he possesses that not one person in this room shares with him is that he has the ability to not let our mistakes change how he feels about us. 00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:39.040 You might say, oh, I'd never change how I feel about my mate or my kids or my good for you. 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:41.120 Good good effort. 00:01:41.359 --> 00:01:41.840 Good effort. 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:44.239 Hope you achieve that. 00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:58.319 The truth is only God can say with absolute honesty, no matter what you do, and no matter how many times you do it, I will never change the way I feel about you. 00:01:58.799 --> 00:01:59.359 Never. 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:11.120 In a book that I teach, at the end, a mother is begging forgiveness of a child, and and and many terrible things have happened in the book. 00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:13.439 And she can't the mother can't forgive herself. 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:20.159 And she's hooked on that idea, forgive and forget, as if that's a real thing. 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:22.159 Yeah, yeah. 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:24.319 Because we don't forget. 00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:28.000 God removes our sin and forgets, but we can't do it. 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:35.360 And the girl, the the person that the mother is begging forgiveness of, her daughter, says, Mother, mother. 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:36.319 No, no. 00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:41.280 The definition of grace is remember and forgive. 00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:45.840 For us on this in this life. 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:46.319 Yes. 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:48.479 Um it'll be different in the other. 00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:50.080 What a great definition. 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:50.879 Dang. 00:02:51.599 --> 00:02:52.080 That's good. 00:02:52.159 --> 00:02:52.639 That's right. 00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:53.520 I wish I'd written out. 00:02:54.080 --> 00:02:54.319 Me too. 00:02:55.280 --> 00:02:56.080 I wish I'd have said it. 00:02:56.400 --> 00:02:59.120 Actually, she says forgive and remember. 00:02:59.520 --> 00:02:59.840 Yeah. 00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:02.240 That's Christ. 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:04.240 That's worth going home and pondering. 00:03:04.400 --> 00:03:04.960 That's good, right? 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:05.759 Yeah. 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:09.520 We're in the we are beginning. 00:03:09.759 --> 00:03:23.919 Last week we began, and we're continuing in a little study where we're going to focus on two verses in the Old Testament, in the book of Exodus, Exodus 34, verses 6 and 7. 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:28.479 And we started this study last Sunday. 00:03:28.879 --> 00:03:36.319 And we're going to spend the month of May looking at these two verses. 00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:45.280 Primarily, we're going to focus on five attributes of God in those two verses. 00:03:45.439 --> 00:03:55.120 But we're to appreciate these five attributes of God, we need to have a little background and an understanding of what's going on. 00:03:55.840 --> 00:04:00.960 Why would God say these words here, right now? 00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:02.240 Why would He say them to Moses? 00:04:02.479 --> 00:04:06.240 Why would He say them at this moment in the history of the Bible? 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:07.280 What's going on? 00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:10.000 So that's what we're going to continue with, a little bit of an introduction today. 00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:14.240 And then next week we'll start with the first of these attributes. 00:04:14.719 --> 00:04:32.000 One of the things I said last week was that the Bible is an amazing book because it does address and offer help and wisdom on a million different things related to our lives. 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:44.160 From marriage to parenting to finances to health to end times to moral goodness and all kinds of things. 00:04:44.959 --> 00:04:55.600 But if you and I don't, and we should look to the Bible to get help with those issues and every other issue that we'll ever face in life. 00:04:55.920 --> 00:04:58.079 A wise person will do that. 00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:04.319 But it is incredibly important that we realize that that's not why the Bible was written. 00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:06.800 It helps us with those things. 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:09.199 But that is not why it was written. 00:05:09.519 --> 00:05:14.240 It was written to reveal to us who God is. 00:05:14.480 --> 00:05:22.399 And if we miss that, we will, well, you can imagine going to Disney World. 00:05:22.639 --> 00:05:23.920 How was Disney World? 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:25.040 Well, it was good. 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:30.959 You know, we we ate a lot of hot dogs and drank a lot of Diet Cokes. 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:34.560 Okay, well, that's good. 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:37.920 But that's you came home from Disney World and that's what you got. 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:38.480 Well, yeah. 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:40.000 Did you not ride all the rides? 00:05:40.079 --> 00:05:41.759 Oh no, we didn't ride any rides. 00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:44.079 You went to Disneyland and you didn't ride any rides? 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:45.279 No, we didn't do any of that. 00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:47.519 We just ate a lot of hot dogs, drank a lot of Diet Cokes. 00:05:47.600 --> 00:05:50.000 They've got really good Diet Cokes and really good hot dogs down there. 00:05:50.160 --> 00:05:52.720 Well, that's fine, but you missed the point. 00:05:54.160 --> 00:05:54.639 Right? 00:05:54.959 --> 00:06:19.199 So we read the Bible, hopefully, to accomplish its main purpose, and that is to get a grasp, an ongoing lifetime journey of growing in our understanding of the God of the universe, an eternal God. 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:22.079 Yeah, so it's important that we see that. 00:06:22.240 --> 00:06:26.959 So we started a new study last week on these two verses, Exodus 34, 6 and 7. 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:32.720 I declared to you, or we declared to you, that these verses are uniquely important. 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:35.360 For lots of reasons. 00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:36.800 I gave you three. 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:53.600 One was that this was the very first time in the Bible that God gives us, or the Bible gives us, a very detailed introduction to who he is. 00:06:54.480 --> 00:06:57.519 The Bible, for the very first time, what's God like? 00:06:57.680 --> 00:06:59.439 Well, I can tell you what he's like. 00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:12.399 He's full of compassion, he's full of grace, he's slow to get angry, he is abundant in covenant love and in compassion. 00:07:12.639 --> 00:07:14.079 Or faithfulness, should I say. 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:15.680 Faithfulness. 00:07:15.920 --> 00:07:16.959 That's what God's like. 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:18.959 And then it goes on to reveal some other things. 00:07:19.199 --> 00:07:24.319 But this is the very first time the Bible introduces to us who God is. 00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:33.279 Another reason it's important is because it's not just that the Bible introduces God to us, God introduces himself to us. 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:39.360 He takes the time in this passage to tell us himself what I'm like. 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:51.920 And then the third reason that I think it's important is that those two verses, verses six and seven, are the most repeated verses in the entire Bible. 00:07:52.240 --> 00:08:00.319 Other Bible writers quote Moses and those two verses more than any other verses in the entire Bible. 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:26.480 And then we talked a little bit about the importance of repetition, and in all great literature and all great mothers share something in common, and that is that they use the power of repetition to emphasize that which is important, to emphasize, to clarify, to flesh out things. 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:28.079 And the Bible does that. 00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:42.559 The Bible will make a statement, and it will only give us so much information, so much truth, and then later on it will repeat that truth, that statement again, and it will repeat it. 00:08:43.679 --> 00:08:51.120 Uh uh repeat it exactly all of the all of the earlier truth, the previous truth. 00:08:51.279 --> 00:09:07.120 Sometimes it will pull out a part of the earlier statement, and we're going to look at that in just a minute, um, because it's wanting to focus on something important, or it will turn the words around. 00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:08.960 It will change the order. 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:13.279 Say the same verse, but say it in a different order. 00:09:13.440 --> 00:09:16.399 Again, all of these things communicate. 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:27.440 I'm trying to show you something, I'm trying to teach you something, I'm trying to reveal to you more of who I am and what I want you to know. 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:29.679 Let me give you an example. 00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:33.279 Read for me, Exodus 34, 6 and 7, please, friends. 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:34.159 I will. 00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:42.080 Now listen carefully to what she reads, because I'm going to read it in another passage in Deuteronomy 5, and I want you to see if you can see the difference. 00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:42.639 Okay. 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:46.720 Yahweh, Yahweh, the God of compassion and mercy. 00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:49.039 Well, the Lord passed, sorry, I started in the wrong place. 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:55.360 The Lord passed in front of Moses and called out, Yahweh, Yahweh, the God of compassion and mercy. 00:09:55.600 --> 00:10:00.639 I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. 00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:05.600 I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. 00:10:05.840 --> 00:10:11.120 I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin, but I do not excuse the guilty. 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:14.720 I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren. 00:10:14.879 --> 00:10:19.360 The entire family is affected, even children in the third and fourth generations. 00:10:19.679 --> 00:10:20.480 Okay, thank you. 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:43.360 And last week we talked about the tension in those two verses between the part that we rejoice in knowing about God and the part in verse 7 that's more intimidating, more awe-inspiring, more heavy. 00:10:44.399 --> 00:10:47.679 Yeah, I guess I would I guess I could say it that way. 00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:51.840 Uh now, we jump over to Deuteronomy chapter 5. 00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:55.679 Moses, this is still Moses, so Moses is quoting himself. 00:10:55.840 --> 00:10:58.639 He's quoting what he said earlier in Exodus 34. 00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:00.399 But listen to what he says this time. 00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:06.799 He says, Yahweh said, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of slavery. 00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:09.440 Have no other gods before me. 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:14.080 Don't make idols of things in the heavens, the earth, or in the waters. 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:22.399 Don't bow down to them or worship them, for I the Lord am a jealous or passionate God. 00:11:23.200 --> 00:11:32.799 I punish the children for the parents' sins to the third and the fourth generation of people who hate me. 00:11:33.679 --> 00:11:38.799 But I show love to a thousand generations of people who love me. 00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:40.320 Did you notice? 00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:48.960 In Deuteronomy chapter 5, Moses adds something that he did not say in Exodus 34. 00:11:49.200 --> 00:12:06.720 It's not just that God sees Logan, Logan does something really bad, and he says, and God says, well, deadcoming Logan, your great great grandchildren, I'm gonna zap them for what you did. 00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:12.799 If all we had was Exodus 34, you could draw that conclusion. 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:25.440 But then in Numbers chapter 5, I'm sorry, Deuteronomy chapter 5, God shows Moses something that needs to be added so that we can see the greater truth. 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:30.720 It fleshes it out, it clarifies it, it makes it more understandable. 00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:39.279 And what he adds is it's not that God is punishing your great-grandson for something you do. 00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:53.919 What's happening is your son sees you, watches you live your life, and if you live your life consistently telling God, no, you're not the boss of me. 00:12:54.159 --> 00:12:56.000 I'll do life my way. 00:12:56.240 --> 00:13:00.159 And your son watches that and says, Well, that's a good way to live. 00:13:00.320 --> 00:13:01.840 I'm gonna do that too. 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:08.480 And then his son watches him do the same thing, and then his son watches him. 00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:21.440 You have created a chain reaction or a lifestyle for your family lineage of living life where you tell God no. 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:24.480 Now let me translate that for you in Bible language. 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:25.679 You hate God. 00:13:25.840 --> 00:13:27.200 That's what it says. 00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:32.320 But that's all it, but most people, I don't think, would verbalize I hate God. 00:13:32.559 --> 00:13:35.360 I don't think there's how many people in the world would say that? 00:13:35.519 --> 00:13:40.159 That's not, that's not how people tell God I hate you. 00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:46.799 How we communicate we hate God is by saying, God, I've got this. 00:13:46.960 --> 00:13:49.600 I'm just gonna live life the way I want. 00:13:49.840 --> 00:13:51.759 You're not in charge of me. 00:13:53.440 --> 00:14:10.480 And they experience that great grandson experiences the consequences of living a life that continually, consistently declares, God's not the boss of me, just like his great granddaddy did. 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:12.399 That's what that means. 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:14.559 And I could go into other examples. 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:21.440 There's a there's this of Exodus 34, 6 and 7. 00:14:21.600 --> 00:14:27.759 It's actually quoted over 30 times, 33, 34 times throughout the rest of the Bible. 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:39.440 So if you take all of those and you look at them, what you you discover, oh, that's what Exodus 34, 6 and 7 means. 00:14:39.679 --> 00:14:47.039 Okay, so we ended last week with what I just said, and that is the power of our example. 00:14:47.759 --> 00:14:55.679 The power and the impact of my example on my future generations. 00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:17.120 And that can be for great good over a child to grow up in a family where they watch their parents get up on a regular basis and do their best to say yes to God throughout the day. 00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:44.720 And then their child, and then their child, the power of choosing to do that, what the Bible would suggest is the impact of that daily choice, not to be perfect, but to try, to try to get up and say, yes, God, as you go through your day, the power of that impact will last a thousand generations. 00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:48.960 That's what Moses is trying to tell us there. 00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:54.080 The power of our of our impact on our future generations. 00:15:54.720 --> 00:15:56.879 Okay, let's we got to move along here. 00:15:57.120 --> 00:16:00.720 Today, what I want us to do is if you will turn to Exodus 32. 00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:07.679 We're gonna look at Exodus 32, and I'm gonna answer the question real quickly, or we're gonna try to answer the question real quickly. 00:16:10.240 --> 00:16:17.039 Why did God choose this moment to introduce himself to Moses? 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:19.600 Moses is up in Exodus 34. 00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:31.759 Moses is up on Mount Sinai again, and he's in a cave, and he's crying out to God, and in the middle of Moses crying out to God, God introduces himself to Moses. 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:35.519 Why did God do that and why did he do it then? 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:40.240 All right, would you, my precious friend, read Exodus 32, the first 10 verses? 00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:40.799 I will. 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:41.440 You can follow along. 00:16:41.840 --> 00:16:42.960 32, first ten verses. 00:16:43.120 --> 00:16:43.519 You have it. 00:16:43.759 --> 00:16:49.600 When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. 00:16:49.759 --> 00:16:52.320 Come on, they said, make us some gods who can lead us. 00:16:52.480 --> 00:16:55.919 We don't know what happened to this this verse makes me laugh. 00:16:56.080 --> 00:16:58.799 It's terrible, but it's so human that it makes me laugh. 00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:03.120 We don't know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt. 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:05.920 Like, he's not producing, so job, job, he's out of here. 00:17:06.160 --> 00:17:11.119 So Aaron said, Take the gold rings from the ears of your wives and sons and daughters and bring them to me. 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:14.240 All the people took the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:20.880 Then Aaron, it's Moses' brother, um, took the gold and melted it down and molded it into the shape of a calf. 00:17:21.039 --> 00:17:27.119 When the people saw it, they exclaimed, Oh Israel, these are are the gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:32.240 Aaron saw how excited the people were, so he built an altar in front of the calf. 00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:35.759 Then he announced, Tomorrow will be a festival to the Lord. 00:17:36.559 --> 00:17:40.480 The people got up early the next morning to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. 00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:46.160 After this, they celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry. 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:49.119 The Lord told Moses, Quick, go down the mountain. 00:17:49.279 --> 00:17:53.440 Your people, whom you have brought from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 00:17:53.599 --> 00:17:56.960 How quickly they have turned away from the way I commanded them to live. 00:17:57.119 --> 00:18:02.240 They have melted down gold and made a calf, and they have bowed down before it and sacrificed to it. 00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:06.960 They are saying, These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:10.799 Then the Lord said, I have seen how stubborn and rebellious these people are. 00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:16.079 Now leave me alone, so my fierce anger can blaze against them, and I will destroy them. 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:19.200 Then I will make you, Moses, into a great nation. 00:18:21.440 --> 00:18:34.319 Very ominous, tragic, solemn moment when Moses and God have this encounter. 00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:38.400 Um, it's a deal. 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:43.279 And uh the well, I don't have time to go into the impact. 00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:51.519 Had that gone differently, had Moses responded differently, our world would be different. 00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:54.079 Our world would be different. 00:18:54.799 --> 00:18:57.359 The destiny of humanity would be different. 00:18:57.680 --> 00:19:06.079 I'm gonna try to help you get a 30,000 feet view of the at least the the majority, the lion's share of the book of Exodus, real quick. 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:09.200 Okay, you know how Exodus starts. 00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:19.359 Uh Israel is uh enslaved in Egypt, and God sends Moses uh from Mount Sinai. 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:22.319 This is where Moses has been living, right, for 40 years. 00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:23.599 This is where Moses has been living. 00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:26.319 So he knows Mount Sinai very well. 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:27.039 Okay? 00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:46.880 Um he sends Moses back to Egypt to deliver or rescue uh his people from slavery, and he and he takes them through the Red Sea, and then for a year they wander, uh, well not wander, they they travel from the Red Sea to Mount Sinai. 00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:56.079 And if you could get in your mind that that's sort of uh God meeting Israel as a nation. 00:19:56.240 --> 00:20:00.079 Now, because in Genesis, Israel is a family, right? 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:05.359 And so we get to Exodus, and now all of a sudden this family has become a nation. 00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:21.519 And God meets this nation and he begins to pursue her or woo her, or the word I'd like it, I know it's an old word, but he begins to court Israel for a year. 00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:30.000 And when they get, after the year, they get to the bottom of Mount Sinai, and God uses Moses. 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:33.039 The the word I like is the word matchmaker. 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:34.640 Love that idea. 00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:38.480 Uh it's one of my favorite uh uh what's that lady's name? 00:20:38.720 --> 00:20:39.839 So Larry loves them. 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:41.839 Larry loves them, his favorite person, right? 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:43.920 Larry loves the musical filler on the roof. 00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:45.599 Yeah, to me it's the best musical of all. 00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:47.359 And there's a matchmaker in there. 00:20:47.440 --> 00:20:49.680 Yeah a Jewish matchmaker who is Yenta. 00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:50.799 Yenta, yeah, that's right. 00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:51.440 Yenta. 00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:53.680 And she's all up, matching everybody up. 00:20:53.920 --> 00:21:08.079 If you want to get married, you got to go to this old woman named Yinta, and uh she sort of helps uh she'd be like an old-timey uh match.com kind of thing, is what she would be. 00:21:08.319 --> 00:21:10.319 She would be the original match.com. 00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:14.559 And I love if you've ever if you have never seen Federal on the Roof, you ought to go and watch it. 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:16.319 Because it's it's unbelievable. 00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:19.920 And there's this one of the main characters in the story is this matchmaker. 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:26.480 Well, if you could imagine, Moses, who is also Jewish, that's a lovely little thing right there. 00:21:26.640 --> 00:21:33.119 Anyway, Moses is the matchmaker between Yahweh and the people of Israel. 00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:50.319 And Moses goes up on Mount Sinai, and God gives Moses the Ten Commandments and the uh the original plans for the tabernacle and all those things, and sends Moses back down. 00:21:50.400 --> 00:21:54.240 And what God tells Moses is, I want to marry Israel. 00:21:54.400 --> 00:21:56.799 I want Israel to be my bride. 00:21:57.519 --> 00:22:10.079 And Moses comes down, makes the This offer of marriage to Israel, and lo and behold, what the Bible says is Israel declares, we agree, we accept. 00:22:10.319 --> 00:22:21.200 Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is our husband, Yahweh is the one that we're going to live for and obey and follow, yes, to his offer. 00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:27.839 And so that's in verse, that's in chapters 19 through 31. 00:22:28.079 --> 00:22:28.720 Yeah. 00:22:29.839 --> 00:22:49.200 So in 32, which is what you just read, God calls Moses back up on the mountain to get some more clarification and details about what their marriage relationship and their God's plans for them are going to look like. 00:22:49.599 --> 00:23:03.839 And then tragically, while Moses is up on the mountain getting these directions from God, these clarification, Israel decides, well, this isn't what we planned on. 00:23:04.160 --> 00:23:06.000 This isn't working out the way we want. 00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:07.039 Where's Moses? 00:23:07.440 --> 00:23:18.079 We thought it doesn't say exactly all that Israel expected, but whatever Moses and Yahweh did wasn't right. 00:23:18.799 --> 00:23:22.960 It wasn't the plan that the people of God expected. 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:41.279 And so while Moses is up getting these further plans and clarification on the marriage relationship, Israel gets mad, gets discouraged, gets frustrated, and they go to Aaron, and basically they say, We've married the wrong person. 00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:44.240 We have made a terrible mistake. 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:47.119 Now I want you to think about that just for a second. 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:57.039 Hopefully I'm not talking to anybody in here, and if I am, I sure don't know it's you, and I don't want to know, okay? 00:23:57.200 --> 00:24:01.759 Um, but uh so don't be texting me or emailing me or calling me about it because I don't want to know. 00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:07.279 But can you imagine getting married and really on the honeymoon? 00:24:08.400 --> 00:24:13.839 You realize, oh my goodness, I've married the wrong person. 00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:23.839 This person that I've married is not the person that I thought they were, uh, that I hoped they were. 00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:28.160 Um this is, yeah, this is not, yeah. 00:24:28.559 --> 00:24:32.400 So there's a book I teach called East of Eden. 00:24:32.480 --> 00:24:34.240 I mention it a lot because I love it. 00:24:34.400 --> 00:24:40.720 And in that book, there's a man named it's a Cain and Abel retelling, and it's set in California. 00:24:40.799 --> 00:24:42.079 So it's set in modern times. 00:24:42.319 --> 00:24:48.319 But um the Cain character, what he has killed in the Abel character is the sense of home. 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:49.519 It's a metaphor, right? 00:24:49.599 --> 00:24:50.960 It's he's he's destroyed home. 00:24:51.039 --> 00:24:52.160 He can't go home again. 00:24:52.400 --> 00:25:03.759 So the Abel character, the very first, so he he grows up, the very first person he meets, the very first woman he meets, he snatches her up just instantly. 00:25:04.240 --> 00:25:04.880 Which is not a good one. 00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:10.480 Which is not a good plan, who you marry within days, and says, Let's get married. 00:25:10.640 --> 00:25:16.640 Well, what he doesn't know is she's had a terrible situation too, and so she needs to get escape her situation. 00:25:16.799 --> 00:25:20.720 So anyway, long story short, long book short, he just marries her on the spot. 00:25:20.880 --> 00:25:39.599 And the reason he does it, and she says yes because she's trying to get out of a bad situation, the reason he does is because his sense of home has been murdered by his brother, and so he's just gonna snatch up the first woman he can find to satisfy his to recreate it. 00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:41.599 Yeah, to re-recreate it, right? 00:25:41.839 --> 00:25:47.200 Well, y'all, she turns out to be one of the great villains in all of American literature. 00:25:47.359 --> 00:25:48.880 She's the worst. 00:25:49.119 --> 00:25:52.000 And so I talked to her last week in the counseling session. 00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:52.720 I did, yeah. 00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:53.839 I sure did. 00:25:54.240 --> 00:25:54.880 Yeah. 00:25:55.759 --> 00:26:05.519 So immediately he realizes, pretty immediately, he realizes, oh, what I did was I I married the wrong person. 00:26:07.440 --> 00:26:08.319 Think about that. 00:26:08.480 --> 00:26:10.079 Just Oh, it's a disaster. 00:26:10.319 --> 00:26:30.079 It's sort of like, you know, in almost every great movie that I'll enjoy, you know, all these disaster movies and adventure movies where you've got a guy and he's facing this impossible challenge to defeat evil or overcome or win or whatever it is. 00:26:30.240 --> 00:26:37.359 And in the process of dealing with the challenge, he meets a girl and they deal, they fight the battle together. 00:26:37.519 --> 00:26:40.640 They overcome together, and in the process they fall in love. 00:26:40.799 --> 00:26:42.799 And then the movie ends with them. 00:26:43.279 --> 00:26:45.839 You well, they're gonna get married and live happily. 00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:54.160 So y'all just met two days ago, and the only thing you have in common is this big thing that you just overcame together, and now y'all are gonna get married. 00:26:54.559 --> 00:26:59.759 That's a that they now there's your plan for relational success right there. 00:27:00.079 --> 00:27:08.799 And often the movie will end and you don't know how it's gonna turn out, and that's good because that would not turn out well, you know. 00:27:09.039 --> 00:27:14.559 Oh, we face this earthquake together, or this tidal wave, or this mean guy, or this war. 00:27:15.759 --> 00:27:30.799 Yeah, so it's important to Moses as he's writing these words to us that we see that that is exactly what Israel is doing. 00:27:31.279 --> 00:27:43.039 They have married God, Yahweh, and literally within a handful of days, they come to the conclusion we have married the wrong person. 00:27:43.599 --> 00:27:54.160 This is not the God that we thought he was, that we needed, wanted, and we want another God. 00:27:56.319 --> 00:28:07.200 It's important to Moses that we that we see that, that they are rejecting this marriage covenant. 00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:13.920 They with they're they're they're they have betrayed the marriage covenant, they've walked away from it. 00:28:14.079 --> 00:28:32.240 Um, and it's also important, I believe, to Moses, since he wrote Genesis, where this all flows out of, and he's writing now Exodus, he wants us to see, and it's important that you see this, God, it's all God's ever wanted. 00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:36.640 From the very beginning of Eden. 00:28:37.119 --> 00:28:38.480 What does God want? 00:28:38.799 --> 00:28:42.720 What does the person that has everything want? 00:28:43.519 --> 00:28:45.359 He wants one thing. 00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:52.559 He wants to create a covenant relationship with a people. 00:28:53.119 --> 00:28:57.680 It's the only thing that he does not have that he wants. 00:28:57.920 --> 00:29:03.519 And I realize that's poor wording, but you you see what I'm saying. 00:29:03.839 --> 00:29:25.599 God from the beginning has wanted a people that he could have an intimate, loving, trust-filled, grace-filled, love-filled relationship with, and he has sought this people group from the very beginning. 00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:45.440 And he's trying to create this, and he gets to Mount Sinai, his wedding day, and he's excited about it, and he offers these people his love, his heart, and they agree for a couple of days, for a few days. 00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:47.599 And then they know. 00:29:48.480 --> 00:29:49.759 No, thank you. 00:29:51.039 --> 00:29:54.400 They the the and nothing's changed. 00:29:54.720 --> 00:29:56.559 God hasn't changed. 00:29:56.880 --> 00:29:59.359 It's still that which God wants. 00:29:59.680 --> 00:30:00.960 What does God want? 00:30:01.119 --> 00:30:11.039 Oh, he wants your money, he wants your time, he wants your stuff, he wants no, God wants, as far as like needs, nothing. 00:30:11.759 --> 00:30:15.039 What he wants is a covenant relationship with me and you. 00:30:15.519 --> 00:30:17.200 Nothing has changed. 00:30:17.359 --> 00:30:25.519 It's still that which he wants and pursues and is trying to create. 00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:28.960 It's what God has always wanted. 00:30:29.039 --> 00:30:34.079 And if you, well, I'm not sure I understand exactly what you mean by that. 00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:42.000 Read the little prophet Hosea and his marriage to Gomer, and that'll clarify it for you. 00:30:42.160 --> 00:30:47.680 Because that's exactly, it's exactly God's relationship with us. 00:30:48.720 --> 00:30:51.680 We are in, we make a mess of our lives. 00:30:51.920 --> 00:31:01.599 We, God comes to us and offers us his love and his ability to make right what we have messed up, and we say, woo, thanks. 00:31:02.079 --> 00:31:03.119 I'm in. 00:31:03.440 --> 00:31:10.640 And we go along for a few days, a few weeks, a few months, a few years, and then one day we realize, well, this isn't what I want. 00:31:10.720 --> 00:31:12.160 I didn't sign on for this. 00:31:12.480 --> 00:31:15.039 God's not acting the way I want him to. 00:31:15.680 --> 00:31:17.759 God's not manageable. 00:31:18.319 --> 00:31:20.319 God's not controllable. 00:31:20.640 --> 00:31:24.480 God doesn't consult me before he does things. 00:31:24.880 --> 00:31:35.599 It's almost as if he's better than me, wiser than me, sovereign, and I'm not, I'm not, I want somebody that'll obey me. 00:31:35.839 --> 00:31:37.839 You know who will obey me? 00:31:38.160 --> 00:31:39.519 Livestock. 00:31:40.319 --> 00:31:43.680 Livestock, then by God, they'll do what I want. 00:31:44.079 --> 00:31:46.480 I want to milk you, I'll milk you. 00:31:47.039 --> 00:31:49.039 I want a hamburger, I'll get a hamburger. 00:31:49.200 --> 00:31:52.960 But live calves will obey. 00:31:53.039 --> 00:31:54.400 They'll cooperate. 00:31:54.640 --> 00:31:56.400 They'll do what I want. 00:31:57.680 --> 00:32:01.759 I can domesticate a cow, a calf. 00:32:02.880 --> 00:32:06.559 I'm having some real trouble domesticating Yahweh. 00:32:07.839 --> 00:32:10.160 Moses wants us to see this. 00:32:12.640 --> 00:32:19.200 And so Israel rejects a God that is uncontrollable and unmanageable. 00:32:19.519 --> 00:32:26.160 And they choose a God that fits more along the lines of their own terms. 00:32:27.839 --> 00:32:33.680 Well, it's important to Moses that we see the impact this has on Yahweh. 00:32:33.920 --> 00:32:35.519 So Moses goes back up. 00:32:35.680 --> 00:32:41.119 Moses goes up, he immediately sees, oh, this is no, this is not good. 00:32:41.759 --> 00:32:42.960 This is terrible. 00:32:43.200 --> 00:32:57.119 And so he runs back up the mountain and he gets in this cave, and that's when he's, that's when Shirley read what you read in Exodus 32, and he realizes that God is about to destroy Israel. 00:32:57.359 --> 00:32:58.640 God's hurt. 00:32:59.119 --> 00:33:00.000 God's greed. 00:33:00.240 --> 00:33:02.079 God feels betrayed. 00:33:02.319 --> 00:33:07.839 He's angry because he's been rejected and he's been betrayed. 00:33:08.160 --> 00:33:14.880 And so God offers Moses an incredible, he makes him two offers. 00:33:15.440 --> 00:33:19.519 God says, Moses, these people don't want me. 00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:21.039 They don't love me. 00:33:21.279 --> 00:33:26.240 They don't, they want out of this marriage, and if they want out of this marriage, okay. 00:33:27.279 --> 00:33:28.319 What I'm gonna do? 00:33:28.720 --> 00:33:36.400 I'm gonna change this deal, and I'll make your descendants, your family, my covenant people. 00:33:36.559 --> 00:33:39.519 We'll start over again with you, and you got two boys. 00:33:40.160 --> 00:33:41.440 We'll start with them. 00:33:41.680 --> 00:33:47.599 Basically, what Yahweh offers Moses is the Abrahamic covenant. 00:33:47.839 --> 00:33:52.240 I'll give you the Abrahamic covenant, and we'll start over. 00:33:54.160 --> 00:33:57.119 Later on, Moses says no. 00:33:58.160 --> 00:34:03.039 And I'd love to spend time on why he says no, but he says, think about this though. 00:34:03.440 --> 00:34:17.360 God offers Moses the position of Abraham and the opportunity for his descendants to be the chosen people of God. 00:34:19.840 --> 00:34:23.280 Moses declines, and then Moses, and then God says, okay. 00:34:23.519 --> 00:34:25.840 Moses says, please don't reject Israel. 00:34:26.000 --> 00:34:28.000 Please don't reject the children of Abraham. 00:34:28.159 --> 00:34:31.760 And God says, Okay, but I'm not going to go with y'all. 00:34:31.840 --> 00:34:32.639 There's no way. 00:34:32.800 --> 00:34:34.639 They don't want me to go with them. 00:34:35.440 --> 00:34:36.239 They don't love me. 00:34:36.400 --> 00:34:37.199 They don't want me. 00:34:37.360 --> 00:34:38.239 They don't need me. 00:34:38.719 --> 00:34:43.199 They think they, I'll send an angel to help you get to the promised land. 00:34:44.079 --> 00:34:45.679 But I'm not going with you. 00:34:45.840 --> 00:34:47.920 And again, Moses says, no. 00:34:49.360 --> 00:34:58.159 God, in fact, if you don't honor your covenant with Abraham's children, kill me. 00:34:59.039 --> 00:35:06.960 And if you won't go with us, because you being with us is what makes us different. 00:35:07.199 --> 00:35:11.840 It's the only thing, nothing separates us from the rest of the world but that. 00:35:13.039 --> 00:35:22.000 We are the same broken, selfish, mean, contrary people group that every other people group in the universe is. 00:35:22.159 --> 00:35:27.519 Except there's only one thing that makes us unique, and that's that you dwell with us. 00:35:27.920 --> 00:35:38.559 So if you don't go, if you don't honor your promised Abraham, and if you don't go with us, we're not going, and you can just kill me. 00:35:39.440 --> 00:35:47.920 And through the intercession of Moses, he offers God five intercessory prayers up there in this cave. 00:35:48.320 --> 00:35:51.280 He begs God, please don't kill these people. 00:35:51.840 --> 00:35:56.719 I know that you should, but I beg you not to. 00:35:57.280 --> 00:36:02.480 And God, please don't leave us, don't abandon us, don't desert us. 00:36:03.119 --> 00:36:04.880 And and God agrees. 00:36:07.599 --> 00:36:12.239 This is a message about God and not particularly about Moses, I think. 00:36:12.960 --> 00:36:23.280 But um just as a sidebar, think of only a truly humble person could even think those thoughts. 00:36:27.920 --> 00:36:30.800 Well, in fact, the Bible says that he's one of the most humble people that ever lived. 00:36:31.119 --> 00:36:42.559 And the relationship that humility has with God versus the relationship that pride has with God, which is tenuous at best with humility in God. 00:36:43.039 --> 00:36:48.320 Pride and also uh a passion for success. 00:36:48.639 --> 00:36:49.199