(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

. . Well, good evening, everyone. Welcome to Mountain Baptist Church. Take your song books and turn to song 115. Song 115. We'll sing no one ever cared for me like Jesus. And if you would stand, we'll sing song 115. I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus since I found in him a friend so strong and true. I would tell you how he changed my life completely. He did something that no other friend could do. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. There's no other friend so kind as he. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. Oh, how much he cared for me. All my life was full of sin when Jesus found me. All my heart was full of misery and woe. Jesus placed his strong and loving arms about me. And he led me in the way I ought to go. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. There's no other friend so kind as he. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. Oh, how much he cared for me. Every day he comes to me with new assurance. More and more I understand his words of love. But I'll never know just why he came to save me. Till some day I see his blessed face above. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. There's no other friend so kind as he. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. Oh, how much he cared for me. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we just want to thank you, God, for another day that we get to meet in your house and to hear your word preached. I pray, Lord, now that you would just meet with us, fill our paths with your power and spirit. We'll thank you and praise you for us. In Jesus' name we ask all, but amen. All right, you may be seated. And turn in your song books to song 126. Song 126. We'll sing anywhere with Jesus. Song 126. Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go. Anywhere he leads me in this world below. Anywhere without him, dearest joys would fade. Anywhere with Jesus I am not afraid. Anywhere, anywhere. Fear I cannot know. Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go. Anywhere with Jesus I am not alone. Other friends may fail me. He is still my own. Though his hand may lead me over dreary ways. Anywhere with Jesus is a house of praise. Anywhere, anywhere. Fear I cannot know. Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go. Anywhere with Jesus over land and sea. Towing souls in darkness of salvation free. Ready as he summons me to go or stay. Anywhere with Jesus when he points the way. Anywhere, anywhere. Fear I cannot know. Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go. Anywhere with Jesus I can go to sleep. When the darkening shadows round about me creep. Knowing I shall awaken nevermore to roam. Anywhere with Jesus will be home sweet home. Anywhere, anywhere. Fear I cannot know. Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go. Well, welcome back to Baptist Church on this Wednesday evening and just some general church announcements here. We have normal service times this week so nothing should be different there as far as that goes. Then our sowing time on Sunday, our normal sowing time should be in place there. And then we have our regional sowing times as far as Monday with our brother Charles, Tuesday brother Matt and then brother Richie should be back. When's he coming back? This Saturday. Yeah, so we'll assume that that one will be back up once he's back from Transylvania. From Dracula's castle. But they just had eight saved I think again today so the numbers have been really good so just praise the Lord for that. They had a couple baptisms and so just some good stuff going on out there. But just being prayer for them as they're coming back and when they come back and just travel, mercy's there and all that. And we have the men's prayer meeting this Friday and we have the women's prayer meeting the next Saturday. And then we have the Mountain Baptist Church retreat coming up in the middle of the month of October. And so everybody should already be signed up for that and we have cabins for you there. Our third John is our chapter for the month. We're going to be coming into October here so we're going to be getting a new chapter. And then Hebrews chapter 10 verse 25 is our memory verse for the week, birthdays, anniversaries. And then pregnancies, being prayer for my wife on the pregnancy list. We did find out that we are having another boy so that's pretty cool. The girls were really excited about that. They wanted to have another brother and wanted James to have a brother so yeah. They say they come in pairs or groups and all that stuff. I don't know how much truth there is to that. I think it's just, yeah, brother Dave is like, there's no truth to that. Well, I'll say this. It has been in pairs when it comes to the girls or in groups when it comes to the girls. It's just bigger groups for the girls. But being a prayer for Holly and just being a prayer for any of the ladies in our church as far as pregnancies go. Sometimes we don't know or there might be ladies that are pregnant that we don't know about. Or maybe there's things going on as far as we've had miscarriages, we've had other things going on. And just always being a prayer for our ladies in our church and just being a prayer for the families in general there. That's about all we've got for announcements and offering boxes in the back there. We have the mother-baby rooms for the mothers and babies only. Is there anything specific on the retreat that we need to mention? I know when we get closer to it, we're trying to figure out how we're doing the food situation. But when we get closer to that, we'll figure it out. But if you have any questions, if you haven't gone to the retreat or been to it before, we can answer any questions there. Most of you have been there so you know what you're getting into there. That's about all I've got for announcements. Pastor Burzins is supposed to be coming in for the retreat. So he'll probably be preaching for us on that night when we do the preaching night. But I might have him tag teaming with me again on that Sunday. I don't know. Sometimes though, I know his wife, she likes it when he just sits there and listens to the sermon with her. And mainly to take care of the kids as well. So I know my wife feels the same way. So anyway, excited about that as well. Brother Anthony's going to be reading tonight. Brother Dave's going to sing one more song. Brother Anthony's going to be reading Exodus 32. And we will be finishing it tonight. So this is not a seven-part series or anything like that. We are doing part two. But we'll sing one more song, then we'll have the scripture reading and get into the Bible study. All right, take your books and turn to song 178. Song 178, we'll sing Jesus Loves Even Me. Song 178. I am so glad that our Father in heaven tells of his love in the book he has given. Wonderful things in the Bible I see. This is the day Jesus loves me. I am so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me, Jesus loves me. I am so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves even me. Though I forgive him and wander away, still he doth love me wherever I stray. Back to his dear loving arms would I flee when I remember that Jesus loves me. I am so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me, Jesus loves me. I am so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves even me. Oh, if there's only one song I can sing, when in his beauty I see the great King, this shall my song in eternity be. Oh, what a wonder that Jesus loves me. I am so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me, Jesus loves me. I am so glad that Jesus loves me. I am so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves even me. All right, take your Bibles and turn to Exodus 32. Exodus 32. Brother Anthony, read that for us. Exodus 32. Bob reads, And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, makest gods, which shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what is become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people break off their golden earrings, which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf, and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it, and Aaron made proclamation and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings, and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down, for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way, which I commanded them. They have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people, and therefore let me alone, that my wrath be waxed hot against them, and that I may consume them, and I will make of thee a great nation. And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swearest by thine own self, and says unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it forever. And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. And Moses turned and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand. The tables were written on both their sides, one on the one side and on the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God graven upon the tables. And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome, but the noise of them that sing do I hear. And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing, and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hand and break them beneath the mount. And he took the calf which they had made and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to a powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? And Moses said, Let not the anger of my Lord wax hot. Thou knowest the people, and that they are set on mischief. For they said unto me, Make us gods which shall go before us, for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what is become of him. And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me. Then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf. And when Moses saw that the people were naked, for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies, then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, Who is on the Lord's side? Let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves to gather unto him. And he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from the gate. . . Amen. So you're there in Exodus chapter 32, and last week we got through eight verses. I promise, obviously, we're going to be going a little quicker today through that, but I wanted to really hit on the golden calf and just kind of where that was kind of coming from, or at least I was thinking of why it was a calf and all that stuff. But we're really going to finish up the story that's going on once they made this golden calf. And in verse 9 there, we're going to be picking up. It says, And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and behold it is a stiff-necked people. Now, therefore, let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them, and I will make of thee a great nation. So here God is basically saying, I'm going to destroy them all. And this term stiff-necked is used a lot in the Bible, and every time I see it, and maybe it's just because I'm from West Virginia, I always think rednecked, you know? But, you know, there is a little bit of truth to that because when I think of redneck, I think of people that want to be willingly ignorant and dealing with the fact that being like a redneck is someone that glories in being simple-minded, and I am not for that. I'm all about being a simple man, okay, and not, you know, getting caught up in all the different things of this world and just living a simple life, but being simple-minded is another story, and glorying being simple-minded is not good, but what I'm talking about here specifically is being stiff-necked, and what that means is like basically you're so stiff that you're not willing to even turn your head and turn around essentially. You're going this one direction, and you're just so stiff, and the direction that you're going, you're not willing to even turn or look in another direction. But God is basically stating here that I'm going to destroy them all, and I will make of thee a great nation, and then Moses steps in here to kind of intercede for them. Now, at this point, Moses hasn't seen anything, right? So I want you to kind of get this perception that God knows what happens. He sees the fact that they made this calf and knows what they've done. Moses is up in the mount still. He hasn't seen any of it. Basically, He's telling him that they did this, but it's different between hearing that they did it and seeing it. God has seen it, and it's something we need to think about, too, is our mindset, too. When we think about God doing stuff or in the Bible, you'll see some really harsh punishments, and you'll think, man, that was really rough, what God did there, but you're not the one that saw everything that happened, right? You didn't see all, like, and you think about, like, just different cases of Sodom and Gomorrah or just different cases where God judged people, and you weren't there. Like, God is seeing it. He's hearing the cries coming from there and the innocent people that are being heard and all that, and then it kind of gives you a little more perspective because then when Moses gets down there, he gets really angry. So once he sees it, he's, like, super angry. So when you think about, like, God is angry with the wicked every day, one thing you have to understand is that he's beholden the good and the evil, and his eyes are upon all of that, and we don't see it every day. And then there will be times when you do see it and you get really angry. Imagine, though, that God is always seeing that. And then, one, you'll understand, like, his anger, but, two, you'll really understand how long-suffering God really is, okay? But that being said is that God is basically saying, I'm going to wipe them all out, and I'm going to make thee a great nation. He's talking to Moses, right? And in verse 11 here, Moses is basically trying to get God from doing this, and he's bringing up a reasoning why not to destroy all of Israel. Verse 11 here says, And Moses besought the Lord his God and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? Wherefore, so he's kind of giving the reasoning why he shouldn't do it, right? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say, For mischief did he bring them out to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth. Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swearest by thine own self, and said unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it forever. And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. So there's a lot of things to kind of see here. Kind of the obvious glaring thing is that God repented of the evil that he said he would do unto them. Sound familiar to Jonah? That God saw their works that they turned from their evil way, and he repented of the evil that he said that he would do unto them? Actually, God is the one that repents more in the Bible, or at least stated that God repents, or that whoever is repenting is that God's the one repenting. He repented God that he made man. He's repenting himself, you know, that on basically doing evil to them. He's repenting with Nineveh and all that, so obviously repenting of evil doesn't mean turn from sin, okay, because God obviously isn't turning from sin. Evil just means something harmful, so he's basically turning from the wrath of like destroying them completely, right? So that would be committing evil upon them because that would be harmful, and he's basically, you know, Moses convinces him not to do it. Now something to think about here is that, you know, when it comes to this, there's another place in the Bible because you can say, well, you know, yeah, I mean, that would make sense that, you know, all the people around would be like, yeah, you just brought them out here to slay them, you know, but I want to give you another perspective because God gives a different look of the way someone would look at this to where I believe God could have destroyed them, and it would have been, you know, he could have made it work, and Moses is really the reason that they didn't get completely annihilated, okay? I know that the Calvinists don't want to think that, but honestly, Moses is the one that turned God's wrath from completely destroying the children of Israel, and obviously I don't believe that every single person, I don't think Joshua would have been destroyed, right? You know, Joshua's up there with him in the mouth. I don't think it's like every single person, but holistically a lot of them would have, like, almost the whole nation would have been destroyed, right? But go to 2 Chronicles 7, 2 Chronicles 7. I always think this passage, when I'm thinking about how Moses is basically stating, like, you can't destroy them because everybody's going to be like, you know, what in the world? You know, they're not going to think, they're not going to know the story of, like, why they're getting destroyed, right? They're going to basically just look at us and be like, you brought them out from Egypt, you did all these wonders, and then you just killed them out there. He's, like, brought them out there to kill them, right? So he's basically saying, for the sake of, like, basically God's name and his reputation, don't do this because it's going to look bad on what the world's going to say. But I want you to think about what he says to Solomon when he builds his temple, okay? Notice what it says here in 2 Chronicles 7, verse 19. It says, but if you turn away and forsake my statutes and my commandments which I have set before you and shall go and serve other gods and worship them, then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them. In this house which I have sanctified for my name will I cast out of my sight, and I will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations. Okay, so kind of similar, right? He's basically like, I'm going to destroy everybody. I'm going to destroy this temple, this house. I'm going to destroy everybody that's in here. I'm going to pluck them up, right? In this house which is high shall be an astonishment to everyone that passes by it, so that he shall say, why hath the Lord done thus unto this land and unto this house, right? So it's kind of the same question that Moses is kind of bringing up, like, what are they going to say, you know? What are they going to say when they hear, like, you destroyed everybody out here? Well, the same question that God's asking this is a rhetorical question, right? He's like, they're going to say this. Why did he do it? And notice in verse 22. And it shall be answered, because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on the other gods and worshipped them and served them. Therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them. Sound familiar? So do you see that second scenario that could have very well been the case? Because you could look at this and be like, well, you know, don't look at it in the case that God would have been wrong to do it, because God would have been righteous and right to do it, to completely annihilate them. They broke their covenant. He has no, you know, basically thing holding him back from doing that. Moses intercedes and basically gives this scenario, like, you don't want to do this because, you know, what if the nations, they look at this and they're like, you know, why did you bring them out here just to kill them? And he kind of gives that scenario. But do you see how another scenario could have been the case? Because God could have come back and said, no, what they're going to say is that I brought them out there and they completely just, you know, disregarded the covenant I made with them and that's why they got destroyed. Right? Because he brings it up later with the temple. It's interesting, too, because what's the next thing that's going to happen in Exodus? They build the tabernacle and all the vessels therein. Very similar, right? The people being plucked up and the temple being destroyed and all that dealing with Solomon. Go to Matthew chapter 3. And know this as well. Do you not think that God can still keep all his promises that he made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob if he would have destroyed all of them? Because Moses was of Levi. You know, he could have had, you know, and basically, you know, Joshua was of Ephraim, but Caleb was of Judah. We know Caleb was obviously righteous and he went into the Promised Land. You don't think that he could have brought, you know, David, you know, through that line and going down through the line and basically had that line like he foretold it to be? Obviously, too, know this as well is that God knows the end from the beginning. He knew that Moses would intercede. He knew that that was the choice he was going to make because of Moses, okay? But at the same time, don't think that God couldn't have made a great nation and still fulfilled all our promises, right? He's like, this is the path you're going to go down. You messed up. Annihilate them and then go down this path over here and basically, he even states to them, I will make a great nation of thee, right? He's not saying you won't have a nation. He's just saying that it's not going to be of these people, though, right? And then go to Matthew chapter 3 and verse 7. I want this to really ring through here. When you think about how close God was to destroying these people and how it was very possible, that's the kind of thing I want to get across with this is what I'm trying to get across is that it was going to happen if Moses didn't step in and that it would have been, basically, it wouldn't have like nullified the rest of the Bible or nullified God's promises because notice what it says here in Matthew chapter 3 and verse 7. It says, but when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come, bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance, and think not to say within yourselves we have Abraham to our father, for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham, and now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees, therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is shewn down and cast into the fire. So if God is able of stones to raise up children unto Abraham, I think he could handle the remnant of the children of Israel in raising up seed, okay? So that's kind of the point I'm trying to get across there is that one, there could have been another scenario that God could have just brought up and be like, no, this is what they're going to say. They're going to say that they broke my commandments. I mean, reading 2 Chronicles chapter 7 is like reading, it's almost like the exact kind of reading. They went after the gods, right, and they broke his commandments, just like the same thing that exactly happened in Exodus chapter 32. Now, the thing that you have to understand, too, is that Exodus 32, we're at the very beginning of the covenant. I mean, they haven't even built the tabernacle. They haven't made any of this stuff yet. We've read about all the stuff that they're going to be, but at this point, everybody that's down there has no idea, right? All the children of Israel that make this calf and even Aaron, they have no idea what the priest's garments are supposed to look like. They don't know what the ark of the covenant's supposed to look like. They don't know what the tabernacle's supposed to look like. They're not even at that point yet where they're making it. So we're not even at the point where it's even set up and ready to go and got the brazen altar and, like, everything's... I mean, we're, like, in the infancy of the first covenant. Now, yes, it did start the day that they came out of the land of Egypt. Okay, don't get me wrong. That's when the covenant started. But it's kind of like this startup of, like, okay, let's get all these pieces together and go forward with what God wants them to do in this covenant. And they're already breaking it, okay? But look at verse 15 there. So this is where Moses goes down from the mount. So God tells him, like, hey, this is what they did and I'm going to destroy them. And Moses is, like, don't do it. So at this point, he's still on the mount and he's still talking to God. Obviously, they just finished, you know, God just finished telling them all the stuff and it's like before these 40 days and 40 nights are up, they're already making a golden calf and worshiping it. I mean, think about that. Like, how fast that was. But verse 15 here says, And Moses turned and went down from the mount and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand. The tables were written on both their sides. On the one side and on the other side were they written. And the tables were the work of God and the writing was the writing of God graven upon the tables. If you remember, in the end of chapter 31, it says that it was written with the finger of God. And basically, it's the work of God. It calls it the oracles, you know. It talks about how the oracles are in the Ark of the Covenant. Which oracle, like I said, is kind of like the oral, basically, the word that proceeded out of the mouth of God, right? And how, I mean, how significant are the Ten Commandments, obviously, because all of Israel heard it, right? Orally, they heard it, okay? It's the only thing that everybody heard, right? Everything else after that was through Moses or through Aaron or through the priests and all that, right? So we see here that this is the work of God. I mean, these things were made by God. They were written on the front and the back, and I think that's obviously interesting as well and how, like, when you think about the tables of stone, usually when you see, like, a representation of the Ten Commandments on the tables of stone, and you're like, what tables of stone? Is it like a table? Well, think of the word tablet and how that's spelled, right? So we normally say, like, a tablet, right? So that's what we're dealing with, okay? But usually when we see the depiction, you see, like, a stone, a stone, and then you have, like, five commandments, five commandments on the front side of it, right? But that's not how it was. It was on both sides, right? So you'd have to look at both sides of the tablets and all the Ten Commandments. And obviously some of those commandments have a lot more written for it, right, as far as the Second Commandment dealing with idolatry, which, you know, obviously they messed up on. But then there's, like, you know, the Sabbath day, there's a lot more said about that commandment as well. But it was written on the front and the back, and it's just a detail I think is interesting when it talks about the book that has seven seals. It was written within and without and just how that's kind of, like, done a lot with God's Word on how it's written within and without. That's for another summer, for another day. I'm getting into, you know, why. But go to verse 17 there, verse 17. So he's going down, he's got these two tables of stone, or these tablets, if you will, of stone that's written on both sides with the finger of God, which has the Ten Commandments, which is the covenant, right? So I think I made that point very clear that the covenant that he made with them was the Ten Commandments. That was, like, if they break that, then the covenant's done. They're not regarding the covenant if they don't keep those Ten Commandments. There's a lot of other things they're supposed to be doing, but that's, like, it. I mean, that's the bare minimum. Like, these are the main commandments that you're supposed to be keeping. And verse 17 there, Joshua comes into the picture here. If you remember, Joshua was there, and he sees Moses going into this cloud and going into the mount, and then Moses is just there waiting for him, okay? So he's coming out of this cloud, he's coming out of the mount there, and Joshua's there up there with him in the mount, but Joshua wasn't there hearing everything the guy had to say, right? So, I mean, Joshua has no idea about what's going on down at the camp. And verse 17, it says, And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. Now, I want you to think about that. That shows you what kind of party they're having, okay? When we're talking about them, you know, rising up to play, and they were dancing, we're not talking about, like, you know, a good type of dancing or just, like, a good, nice party, right? We're talking about a rowdy party. We're talking about they're probably playing music that's, like, the rock concert type of music, right? The devil type of stuff that's out there, right? And I'm not saying they were, like, Metallica was there or something like that when this was going on, but I'm saying it's that kind of feel, okay? And just a note on music when it comes to that, some people will say, well, you know, are drums bad? You know, are drums just inherently bad? I don't believe percussion is inherently bad, okay? Like, percussion in general, you think of timpanis, you think of, like, timpanis are those big, giant things, right, that you hit, and there's different types of drums and everything. I don't believe that it would be wrong to have some form of percussion when it comes to music, okay? Because it even talks about tablets and, like, different things like that, right, that are more of a percussion type of instrument. Here's the difference, though. We're not going to have a drum set, though, okay? We will never have anything close to a drum set. What is that? It's, like, basically where you have this drum set that's made for a rock band. The same reason that we will have a guitar, but we're not going to have an electric guitar with distortion, okay? So there is a difference. When you're dealing with music, you can have, like, the same kinds of instruments, but it's used in a different manner, and that drum set is made for rock and roll music. That's what it's made for. It's made for that type of music, and we will never have a drum set. I don't believe that you should even, you know, get close to having a drum set when you're playing music, and you could be like, well, you know, I'm playing this music, and it's just on a snare drum. I'm playing a snare drum. I'm playing Little Drummer Boy or something like that, and I got the drum set around me. Of course, you know, like, I'm not saying that's inherently wrong, but why would you have that whole setup that's made for rock music, okay? And the same thing with, you know, electric guitar and all that stuff. You know, just stay away from that stuff that's made for the world and has that feel of, you know, the worldly music, okay? So that one's free. That's for another day, but I'm not against percussion completely, but I am against worldly percussion when it comes to, like, drum sets and stuff like that. I used to play in the band. I used to play concert band, and, you know, I played the trumpet, and there was percussion instruments that were classical-type music, and you can hear classical music where they're using timpanis and they're doing different things with different types of drums, and it sounds good, and it could be in a, you know, think of Handel's Messiah and, like, different things that are done on classical music where it could be done in a proper way, and the Bible will talk about that. And the reason I bring that up is because as soon as you say, well, there was drums, and drums are just bad inherently, well, you might find in the Bible that it talks about drums or timpanis or, like, talks about timbrels and all that stuff, where it says they danced. It's like, don't go too far with it. Like, dancing's always wrong, you know? You know, timpanis are wrong, you know, just inherently. It's like, it depends on how you use it, and there are certain instruments that are made for the purpose of worldly music, just facts. That's why it was made. That drum set was made for a rock band, okay? So verse 18 there, he's basically saying that there's war in the camp, right? Moses, it says here in verse 18, and he said, it is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome, but the noise of them that sing do I hear. And like I said, we're dealing with music that we're dealing with here in the camp that he's hearing. Now, he's basically saying it's not like someone, it's not the voice of like this army that's like getting the advantage and they're just like, you know, getting at it as far as like mastery and war, and it's not the voice of like being overcome, like the screaming of like being overcome by like you're all dying and you're fleeing and all that. It's nothing like that, but it has to do, it's a concert, essentially. And so, you know, Joshua obviously is, you can think of his mindset. He's not even thinking like they made this calf and they're like doing all this crazy stuff down there. He's automatically thinking, they're in trouble, we need to go, right? What's going on? And so in verse 19, they get down there, okay? In verse 19 it says, And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. Okay, so at this point, right, you know, when Moses is up in the mountain, he's like, don't do it, you know, what are the people going to say? What are all these other nations going to say? And he holds, you know, basically holds God back from his wrath. He gets down there and he sees the calf and he sees the dancing, and notice what it says here in verse 19. And Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hand and break them beneath the mount. I want you to think about that. For 40 days and 40 nights he's been in that mount, not eating or drinking, and he's there and he gets these tables of stone that are written with the finger of God, and he's so angry that he breaks them at the bottom of the mountain. And it says right here in verse 20, it says, And he took the calf which they had made and burnt it in the fire and grounded the powder and straw it upon the water and made the children of Israel drink of it. Now, that's a leader right there. When I read that, I'm like, yes. You know, I'm not saying that it was right for him to break the commandments, but at the same time, they did break them, didn't they? I mean, it's a physical to represent what they actually did, that they literally broke the covenant. They broke the covenant from the very beginning. Before he even came down with the tablets of the covenant written on them, they had broken it. And he break them, and it obviously symbolizes the fact that, hey, it is broken. You say, well, they only broke the one. Yeah, but if you offended one point, you're guilty of all. You break one commandment, you've broken the law. You're a transgressor of the law. You're like, well, we didn't commit murder or adultery. Yeah, but you committed thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image and bow down to it. Well, I didn't have any other gods, right? So the first two commandments, you completely annihilated. And so, but it really just shows you that Moses, though he's the meekest man upon the earth, man, he can get angry, right? I mean, I want you to think about Moses and then think about Jesus, right? Jesus was meek and lowly, but he also took and made a small cord, you know, a whip of small cord, and went in there and, like, drove out everybody that sold doves and the money changers, Paul Chapel, and all these churches that want to sell stuff. You know, when it comes to that type of stuff, I mean, Jesus gets angry for other reasons, right? He gets angry. There's a place where he was healing a man's hand on the Sabbath day, and he was trying to tell them, like, isn't it lawful to do good on the Sabbath day? And then they were just, like, belligerent about it, and he looked upon them with anger and healed the hand, right? And then there's a case where he's, like, literally out there making a cord. He's just, like, I'm going to go in there. I mean, do you think that he didn't use that whip? I mean, I'm sure he was using that whip to get them out of there. I mean, he's God, but at the same time, like, he was using that whip. He was overturning tables. He was angry. The Bible says to be angry and sin not, but you can see the same thing here where Moses is meek, and, you know, he's the meekest man upon the earth, the Bible says later on about him, but he gets angry. He gets so angry that he breaks the two tables of stone, and then he burns their idol, grinds it to powder, puts it in water, and says, drink it. Drink your mistake. Drink your idol that you made. I mean, talk about justice. I don't know. When I read that, I'm just like, yes, I like Moses, you know? And so he makes them drink of it, and go to Deuteronomy 9. Deuteronomy 9 recaps this as well, and there's just something that, and I kind of already mentioned this, but just how quickly, how quickly they turn from the commandments, right? I mean, they haven't even got into the Promised Land. They haven't even got the tabernacle made. They don't have the garments. They don't have any of the stuff that they're supposed to be using yet, and they're already breaking the commandments, right? Just how quickly they turn from it, which obviously the first covenant does represent the law and that we can't keep the law and that obviously, you know, it was never going to work, right? It does picture that, but just how quickly it shows that, right? How fast that law is broken, okay? In verse 11 there, Deuteronomy 9, it says, And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights that the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant. And the Lord said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence, for thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them. They have made them a molten image. I mean, think about that. I mean, forty days go by. I mean, there was probably a little bit of time where he was giving the judgments and everything, but it doesn't really give you like a set time, like how much time from, you know, chapter 19 and 20 where he's, they hear the commandments, and then if you remember, Moses goes up and hears like judgments and stuff. Then he goes up for forty days and forty nights. Not that much time between when he's like, Hey, here's the covenant, and they're basically saying, we're going to keep it and all this stuff, but they don't want to hear God speak for themselves. And he's just like, how quickly this has happened. Verse 13 there, it says, Furthermore, the Lord spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven, and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they. So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire, and the tables of the covenant were in my two hands. I want you to think about that. I mean, God is angry, and you can kind of see that being represented with this, I mean, the mount was on fire. Now it talks about that being beforehand, but obviously there's anger that's kindled here. Verse 16, it says, And I looked, and behold, ye had sinned against the Lord your God, and had made you a molten calf. Ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the Lord had commanded you, and I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and break them before your eyes. So not only, you know, they saw it. It's not like he just broke them, and then went down and be like, what are you doing? No, he did it in front of them. Right? And so, go to Hebrews chapter 8, Hebrews chapter 8. When you see this passage in Hebrews chapter 8, what you have to understand is that they've been breaking, they were at fault with them from the beginning, from the very beginning. I mean, think about it. Before they even get to Exodus chapter 19, they're all murmuring and complaining and not wanting to do what God tells them to do. Right? I mean, they're like, they're basically, are there not graves in Egypt that you brought us out here? And they're like, oh, you know, what about all the leeks, and the onions, and all that stuff? And you give us all this, you know, they're just complaining, complaining, complaining about everything that's going on, and they're just not, they're not believing that the Lord's gonna take care of them, even though they saw all these plagues that were put on Egypt, they saw the parting of the Red Sea, and just over and over and over again, and then you get to chapter 19 and 20 that he's given these commandments, and then you have the golden calf happening after the 48th and 49th, that Moses is up in the mouth. So you can definitely get this sense of like how quickly it happened, but do you think that was the only time they broke those commandments? I mean, read all the history, you know, all the books of history when it comes to First and Second Samuel, I mean, Judges, First and Second Samuel, you know, going down the line of like the kings, Ezra and Nehemiah, you know, going down the line, I mean, it's, they're still doing the same thing all the way throughout that whole First Covenant. So when you read this in verse seven, it says, For if the first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second, for finding fault with them. Can you see how that applies from the very beginning? It's not like, well, they were doing good, you know, they were holding off strong, and they just, they had a bump in the road somewhere, and, you know, God broke the covenant with them and basically had to make this new covenant. No, it's from the very beginning. I mean, think about it, like from the very beginning they failed. They were failing from the beginning. Now, obviously, the First Covenant is showing that there is fault with us, right, finding fault with them, because it wasn't faultless, but it wasn't because of God. It's not like God had fault. The people had the fault, okay. But then it says, finding fault with them, he said, Behold, the days come, said the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in a day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. Now, that also shows you when it started, right, when they killed the Passover, the blood of the Passover, the day they came out, that's when that started, right, because they continued not in my covenant and I regarded them not, said the Lord. Now, when it comes to them not being regarded, the moment Jesus died on the cross, the veil was rent, that First Covenant is no more regarded. But he was regarding that covenant, God was long suffering, even though they kept breaking it, breaking it, breaking it, breaking it, breaking it, down the line, he was still holding to his covenant. It'd be kind of like if you were like, oh, I'm paying rent, kind of, here and there, I'm paying rent and the landlord's just like giving you a break, giving you a break, giving you a break. And then there came a point just like, you're done, you're out, right. Too much, too long that you've been breaking the contract, okay. But he could have done it at the very beginning, right. God would have been just to just completely annihilate that covenant that he made with them because they broke their end of the deal. They didn't continue in the covenant and he could have regarded them not from the very beginning. But obviously we know that he had long suffering and held out and obviously he had Moses to intercede there. So, now, this is always a funny part of the story here where he talks to Aaron, so go back to Exodus 32 and verse 21, Exodus 32 and verse 21, notice what it says, And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? So, I mean, I think about that question, he's like, what did they do to you that caused you to do this, right? I mean, that's a good question, right, like, what in the world? You know, like, I mean, that, I mean, it's his brother, he's just like, what are you doing? Like, how did this happen? Because he left Aaron and her in charge. Now, it doesn't really mention where her was at in this whole situation, but obviously they weren't up to the challenge. But in verse 22 it says, And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my Lord wax hot. Thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief. For they said unto me, Make us gods which shall go before us, press for this Moses the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, be what not what is become of him. And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me, then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf. I don't know about you, but if you don't laugh at that portion of the story, like, you're not really getting what he's saying, okay? He basically says that when you read about him making this calf, he's the one that beat it and made it and graved it, right? Like, it's molten, he's the one that used a graving tool, okay? But when Moses asked him, like, how'd this happen? Where did this calf come from? He's like, well, you know, I told them, first of all, you know that these guys are messed up, right? You know that these guys are set on mischief. I just wanted to let you know, you already knew that, right? They're not a good crowd. Then he says, I told them, you know, just give me your gold. I threw it into the fire, and this calf just popped out. Is that what really happened? I mean, it sounds like you're talking to a child, right? Or you're like, all right, all right, Claire, you know, what happened here? It's like, I don't know. It just came out of nowhere. It's like, there's no way. There's no way. Like, how did your sister get, like, beaten ahead with this 50 times? It's like, it didn't just happen by accident, okay? The thing is that this really just shows you that Aaron is not willing to take ownership. He's not really willing to basically take responsibility for what was said. See, if Aaron was really a good leader, here's what he would say. He'd say, you know what? I messed up. And here's what happened. They basically pressured me into doing this. I shouldn't have done it, but I was fearful for my life. I was afraid they were just going to completely just annihilate me if I didn't do this. And you know what? I did it. And that would have been, like, the confession of a good leader right there that basically says, I messed up. Because every leader messes up. Not every, you know, Moses messes up, okay? That's in Numbers where he messes up, and he doesn't go into the Promised Land. So it's not like Moses is, like, some sinless, perfected human being here when it comes to being a leader, but you've got to own it. You've got to own it and take responsibility. You know, they're the ones that said to make the cap, but you made it. And don't act like it just popped out of nowhere. So when it comes to this, we don't really know. I don't think they, like, physically harmed him. Like, they beat him up, you know? It was like in the back of the school yard. They're like, make this cap, or we're going to take your lunch money, and we're going to beat you up every day until you do it, right? I don't think it was like that. I think it was more so just their faces looked like they were going to do something to them, right? Jeremiah, go to Jeremiah chapter 1. I just kind of want to hit on this real quick. When it comes to being a leader, and obviously being a preacher, being a pastor of a church, being a leader in anything, you can't just cave into the will of the people. You can't cave into the will of, you know, whoever's under you. You have to do what's right to do, whether whoever's following you agrees with you or not, okay? And so when it comes to being a pastor, you may all look at me like, you know, what are you doing? Why are you doing it in that direction? But if it's according to the Bible, I'm going to do it. And if you don't want to follow me in what the Bible says, then you know what? That's on you. But I'm not going to just cave and be like, well, everybody's kind of wanting me to go this route. The Bible's saying this. You know, I guess I'm just going to appease the people. That's a bad leader, right? And because the whole reason that you are the leader is so that you'll lead in the right direction. I mean, if everybody knew what direction and didn't need any type of leadership, then what's the point of the leader, right? If everybody's already going to make the right decision, then it's going to be this collective, like, decision-making, then what's the point of the leader? So the leader needs to be, and listen, just to be honest, it's not like most of the time it shouldn't be anyway. You don't have really a great congregation if you're just constantly bucking the tide to the people, right? Like, everybody's just, every decision you make, you're like, no, we don't want to do that. We don't want to do that. We don't want to agree with that. And it's like, well, then why are you even here? Like, why am I your pastor if you just disagree with everything? It's going to be on a very small basis, usually, where you'll be like, I'm going to go this route, and there may be people that disagree with me on that, but you're just going to have to follow me on that. And obviously, if it's not clearly contradicting the Bible, you've got to follow the Bible with me. But I'm talking about things that aren't necessarily biblical routes that's just laid out black and white. But Jeremiah chapter 1 and verse 8 here, it says, be not afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. So Moses, not Moses, but Jeremiah was to be a preacher to the nations, okay? And basically, he's saying, don't be afraid of their faces. There may be times where the faces, the people that you're preaching to don't look too great against you, right? They're kind of giving you that face like, I hate you right now. Or that face of, like, I can't believe you said that. Like, it's this face of, like, disappointment, you know? Like, there's all kinds of faces that could be out there. But in the end, when you're dealing with preaching or leading, you can't just be, like, going off the countenance of everybody. And sometimes the countenance can be deceiving, too. Sometimes the countenance looks like they're angry at you, but they're not really angry at you. They're angry at what you're preaching about. Like, they're angry with you, right? You're, like, preaching about it and you're just like, ah, and you're just like, grrr. And then they're angry and then they're like, are they angry at me, you know? Because they're looking at me, you know? And so sometimes you can't really judge that. But in the end, even if they are angry at you, if it's the word of God, then so be it. Don't be afraid of their faces. Notice in verse 17 of that same chapter it says, Thou therefore gird up thy loins and arise, speak unto them all that I command thee. Be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them. For behold, I have made thee this day a defense city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. And they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee, for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee. So Jeremiah's obviously got this big task because this is before they go into Babylonian captivity and he's supposed to be trying to get them to turn around. Now we know they don't, but at the same time, like, that's his job. And God's saying, don't be afraid of their faces, they're not going to touch you, they're not going to prevail over you. We know that in the end Jeremiah gets thrown into a pit at one point, but in the end he gets out and he ends up being a landowner at the end and everything works out for him because he follows the Lord. But you know what, Aaron, I believe he was afraid of their faces. You know, it doesn't really say anything besides the fact that they came up to him and asked him to make them gods. And at that point we don't really know anything else besides the fact that he just said, make them gods, right? So at that point it's probably that he was just afraid at their faces when they said it. And Moses, they said many things to Moses, they chided with Moses, but you know what Moses did? He just went to the Lord, right? And then the Lord said, here's what you're going to do, and he didn't give in to them. Now there's a case where he gets angry with them and he messes up, but he doesn't really give in to them, he's just angry with them about it, calls them rebels and all that. So when it comes to preaching, when it comes to leading, when it comes to, you know, if you're in a position of authority you can't just follow the crowd, right? And even in the Judgements it says in Exodus it talks about not following a multitude to do evil. And Aaron got caught up in that, obviously it shows his lack of leadership skills and all that. Now, that being said, notice in verse 25 of Exodus chapter 32, it says, And when Moses saw that the people were naked, for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies. So it's like he did give in to it, but he's like, he did kind of make them naked and make them look, like be ashamed, right? So you can kind of see what's going on here with Aaron. I don't think Aaron did not want to do this, right? I don't believe it's like Aaron was just like, yeah, cool, great, let's do this. I think it was more of like out of fear and he was afraid of what they would do to them if he didn't. And when he did it, you know, obviously he's like there's a feast and he made them naked, basically made them like strip down naked to their shame, right? And, you know, it gets into that when you get into idol worship. There's a lot of things with, you know, just doing things that are shameful. But it obviously would symbolize shame. A verse on that in Revelation chapter 16 verse 15, it says, Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. And if you think about it, you know, like Moses coming off the mount, they don't know when he, you know, they think he's tearing, right? They're like he's delaying his coming. Sound familiar to like the Lord coming? And the idea that when you come, are you going to be naked or are you going to be walking in white? And obviously when you think about a Christian, if you're walking in the flesh, if you're walking the old man, you're naked, right? You're walking in shame. But if you're walking the new man, then you're clothed in righteousness, right? So you can definitely see the spiritual aspect there of, you know, them being naked, obviously they are not walking in the Lord, right? Go to Exodus chapter 32 and verse 26. And verse 26 here, this is where we get our song, Who's on the Lord's Side, okay? So this is where Moses states this to them. He's basically saying you got to make a choice. Are you going to be on the Lord's side or are you over here with these, you know, polygamists, you know, basically polygamists, not polygamists. Polytheists, polygamists is another thing. These Mormons, you know, you didn't know it, but Joseph Smith was there. No, polytheists is what I meant to say. So poly was in both of those. Anyway, but basically he's making, they have to make a choice, you know, which route are you going to go here? And in verse 26 here it says, Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, Who is on the Lord's side? Let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. And Moses had said, For Moses had said, Consecrate yourself today to the Lord, every man upon his son and upon his brother, that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day. So basically what I believe is going on here is that he said, Who's on the Lord's side? And all the children of Levi come to him, basically, obviously on his side. He's saying, Go in and basically kill every man, his brother, and all this stuff. But I don't believe he's basically saying just wipe out everybody. He's basically, Wipe out those that don't consecrate themselves, right? So that last sentence is kind of giving you a clue that, hey, who are they not killing? They're not killing those that consecrate themselves, okay? So there's obviously, you know, about three thousand men that didn't consecrate themselves, right? They're just like nuts to you, you know, we're doing our thing, and they die, okay? So that's kind of what goes on there when it comes to who's on the Lord's side. That's a whole other sermon for another day, obviously, as far as making that choice. Are you going to be on the Lord's side? Are you going to be on your own side? And on your own side, when it comes to that, perdition's waiting, right? When it comes to, He that sowed to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. But he that sowed to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. You know, being fruitful, approved of the righteousness of the tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. I mean, there's a stark difference between are you on the Lord's side, or are you on your own side, on the fleshly side, right? Good, verse 30 there, verse 30. You're like, you're kind of going through it quick. Yeah, well, it's a big chapter, and I only had eight verses last week. So this isn't a seven-parter. I'm just kind of hitting these main points, and the big point here in verse 30 is the fact that the compassion of Moses, I want you to see this. He was obviously angry, okay? He had compassion to begin with for them and interceded for them, and he was angry when he found out what they did, okay? And basically, justice was to be done on those that weren't willing to basically get on his side, right? Basically, all those that were rebelling against him once he made this decree and basically is there to set order, they were taken out. But notice in verse 30 here, it says, And it came to pass on the morrow that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin, and now I will go up unto the Lord. Peradventure, I will make an atonement for your sin. Okay, so it's not over yet, meaning God hasn't done anything to them yet. At this point, Moses took their idol, ground it, put it in their water, and made him drink it, right? At this point, Moses says, who's on the Lord's side? Gets the children of Levi and sends them out with their sword on their side and says, hey, slay every man, basically that doesn't consecrate themselves. At this point, Moses is cleaning house, right? God hasn't gotten involved yet. Actually, at the end of the chapter, it talks about how there's a plague that goes out. We don't really know how many people died in the plague, but we'll get to that in a second. But anyway, when it gets to this, it says, And Moses returned to the Lord and said, O, this people have sinned a great sin and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin, and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. Okay, so when you're thinking about this, I want you to think about what Moses is stating here. And one, you know, that grammar is kind of interesting. I forget what they call this, the actual grammatical term for it, but basically, in verse 32, it says, Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin, and it's kind of like it pauses that thought, and then he restarts another statement, right? It's kind of like, it does this a little bit in Genesis chapter 3, when it states, I'll give you an example of Genesis chapter 3, where God is talking about kicking them out of the Garden of Eden. It says, Therefore God, or I'm sorry, in verse 22 of chapter 3, it says, And the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become as one of us, to know good and evil. Now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever, therefore the Lord God sent him, you know, sent him forth from the garden. Do you see how it's kind of like, it's making a thought, like he's thinking, like, unless they do this, and then it says they go over here. But it doesn't say, like, lest they do this, and this, and such happens. The same thing's here, and there's a grammatical term for that, and I forget what it is, so just forgive me if I don't have the grammatical term, but basically he's saying, If thou wilt forgive their sin, and if not, blot me out. Right? So he's saying, you know, he's not giving the condition, if you forgive their sin, then do this, this, and this, like, you know, save them alive, or whatever, right? He's kind of just leaving that open to God. He's basically just saying, if you forgive their sin, but if you don't forgive their sin, that's kind of the more, he's kind of almost getting on, like, the most important thing here, but if you don't, though, right, blot me out. I want you to think about that statement, right? The compassion that Moses has is basically saying, just take me instead. Now, that thought process is, I mean, think about it, that's the Lord Jesus right there, right? Right? He took our place. He's the propitiation for our sins. He didn't deserve it. He's not the one that sinned. But Moses couldn't be that intercessor like Jesus, because Moses is obviously still a sinner. He's not the Lamb of God, right? But you can kind of see that thought process that Moses has, but also Paul has. Go to Romans chapter 9, Romans chapter 9. Now, when you think about being blot out, like, being killed physically, you can understand that, right? I mean, you can understand that compassion, that kind of compassion there. When you think about, like, your children, for example, if you had a choice, like, hey, my children did something, and they're going to die, and it's like, Lord, just take me out instead, right? Take me out, spare them. You can understand that, right, and have that compassion and be like, I'd rather just die than my kids or my loved ones or whatever would still live. And you can kind of understand that being blotted out when it comes to that. Now, when you understand what blotted out means a lot of times in the Bible, though, that's not talking about, like, dying physically. In turn, it would be dealing with that as well, but that's talking about, like, almost being blotted out of the Book of Life, right? And that's, like, you're going to hell, right? And notice what Paul says in Romans chapter 9 and verse 1. Now, obviously, Moses is saved, so it's impossible for that to happen, right? He can't be blotted out, and so God just dismisses, like, no, he that sins is going to be blotted out. You're not going to be blotted out, right? It's not like it's even a question that he'd be blotted out. But in verse 1 of Romans chapter 9, so Paul, obviously, is writing this. This is, I say the truth in Christ. I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost. So what he's about to say, he truly feels this. I mean, he's truly saying, I mean, he's saying, and this is obviously under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, but he's saying, bearing me, you know, also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost. So the Holy Ghost is bearing witness here that what he's saying is a true thing, a true saying. It says that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart, for I could wish that myself, for a curse from Christ, for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh, to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises, whose are the fathers and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all God blessed forever. Amen. The next chapter, chapter 10 of verse 1, it says, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Paul is saying that he could, he would, and you know what this is basically saying? He knows it's not possible, right? But he's like, if it were possible, right, if I could, I would wish myself a curse from Christ for my brethren who are Israelites, according to the flesh, right? He's talking about brethren according to the flesh, basically those that are his own kinsmen, and he's saying I would wish myself a curse from Christ. I'm sorry, but I can't do that, okay? Maybe for a family member I could think of that, right? I mean, think about like a child, you know, like a son, daughter, where you can think about that on that level, being like I'd rather go to hell than my child, right? But obviously with Paul's sake, it's not possible. He's like, if I could, right? If I, you know, if I could, I would wish myself a curse from Christ, but I can't, right? But his desire is that they be saved. That's how much he desires to be saved. That's how much he wants them to get saved. That's how much Moses doesn't want them to be blotted out. He's saying just blot me out instead. And whether that's just physical, that's still a lot of compassion considering what they did. But if it's on another level, when you think about what that would entail, like going to hell, right, being blotted out of the Book of Life, then, you know, obviously the same thing with Paul. It's like you could wish that, but it's not going to be possible, right? You could say blot me out, but you're not, you can't be blotted out, right? Because, you know, whosoever overcometh shall not be blotted out of the Book of Life, right? And shall not be hurt in the second death. So, I mean, you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you've overcome the world, you know, nothing can change that. But he's basically saying that Moses is saying, if you don't forgive him, just take me instead. And same thing with Paul. And you can see that compassion that Moses has here for the children of Israel, which also shows you that he's a great leader, right? I mean, think about that. That he's not, he didn't want to take that responsibility to a fault, right? Because he's at the burning bush and he's like, yes, you need to do something else, you know, and God has to get angry with him and says, you know, no, you're going, right? But at the same time, like, he has that leadership skills to the point where he's like grinding an idol down the powder and making them drink of it and taking, you know, taking charge when he gets, he's cleaning house. He's coming home and just setting things in order, right? But the compassion of the leader, right? So with Moses, you can see just all those elements, the meekness, the willingness to take charge when he's got to and he's got a clean house, but the compassion that he has when he's doing it, right? That he's not doing it out of spite or, you know, like he, you know, he wants them to be saved. He wants them to prosper and, you know, that's a sign of a great leader. And go to Exodus chapter 32 and verse 34. The last thing we'll see here is that God sends forth a plague and he's stating that there's a plague coming, you know, because of this calf. So that's where, you know, you kind of think, well, why is Moses interceding? It's like, well, he's interceding because God's about to do something here. He did hold them back from completely annihilating them, but that doesn't mean that a lot of them can't die or that something really bad can happen there. And in verse 34 there, it says, Therefore, now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee. Behold, mine angel shall go before thee. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them. And the Lord plagued the people because they made the calf which Aaron made. Okay, so he's basically saying, go ahead and lead them and angels are going to go before thee, but, you know, their sin, they're going to be plagued for their sin and it's for the calf, right? So, you know, it doesn't state exactly how many people, you know, died in the plague or anything like that in this chapter, but, you know, the next chapter you're going to still be seeing where God is basically detaching himself essentially from the people and Moses is interceding and saying, like, no, please, you know, we don't want to go in there without you, you know, like, and there's still some intercession that's going on in chapter 33. So, very, you know, I think obviously this meets right here, I mean, this is the fun stuff, you know, when you think about you guys made it through all the tabernacle stuff and all these different, you know, vessels and everything, this is the fun story stuff, right? But then we're going to go right back into that, so chapter 35, back into the tabernacle, back into all the other stuff. But, yeah, I mean, like I said, I wanted to do two parts with that just because I really wanted to kind of hit on where did the golden calf, idea of this calf come from and just kind of give you my thoughts on that and then get into really this back and forth conversation with God and Moses that's very interesting and then obviously with Aaron, you know, it just came out of the fire, you know. So, you know, you got to laugh sometimes when you're reading the Bible because there's some funny stuff in there when you think about, like, I can imagine what Moses' face was like. You're like, yeah, okay. But let's end with a word of prayer. Dear Holy Father, we thank you for today. Thank you for the book of Exodus and just pray that you help us to understand it, help us to use it for our admonition and for our learning and help us to apply it to our lives and Lord, you know, wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. We know that we can fall into these same sins and different sins that are in the Bible that other people have fallen into. Just help us to learn from their mistakes so that we don't get into them and just pray to be with us for the rest of this week, pray to be with our jobs, pray to help us to come back at the appointed time in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. The brother Dave will come and sing one more song and then we'll be dismissed. All right, song 389 in your songbooks. Song 389. And if you would stand, we'll sing Bring the Men, song 389. Heart is the shepherd's voice I hear Out in the desert, dark and drear Calling the sheep who've gone astray Far from the shepherd's fold away Bring them in, bring them in Bring them in from the fields of sin Bring them in, bring them in Bring the wandering ones to Jesus Who'll go and help the shepherd kind Help him, the wandering ones