Exodus Chapter 32 Verses 30 – 32
• Excellent leadership! What a difference from Aaron, right!? “Moses, these people, they made me lead poorly!” Then Moses, “God, the failure of these people, put that on my account.” Quite the difference. A good leader is not over the people but rather a good leader is among the people with the intention of taking responsibility for them. Think of what God did by sending His Son. He became as One among men in order to take away their sin. That is good leadership and that is sorely lacking in the church, definitely in the workplace and certainly in the world.
• How did Moses know about “God’s Book,” which God had written? What book is he talking about at all? This is crazy interesting! The Book of Revelation speaks extensively about what we know as the “Lamb’s Book of Life.” It is the Book where every name of every citizen of heaven is written…and according to Revelation 3:5, Jesus Himself will announce each name before heaven at the Great White Throne Judgment.
• BUT, Exodus 32…all previous chapters, it’s not been mentioned yet. Oddly enough, the “Book of Life” first appears much much later in Psalm 69:28, and to top off the mystery, that Psalm is a Psalm of David! This is crazy mysterious. So, we know, (because thousands of years later it was revealed to John in a vision), that there is a Book of Life…and in it are individual names…but Here we are, thousands of years prior to that vision, and Moses knows about it. Moreover, David writes about it…Daniel writes about it in Daniel 12:1, Paul writes about it in Philippians 4:3…all before the revelatory vision of John…what am I getting at!? Personal individual relationship with God like Moses had, David had, Daniel had, Paul had…God reveals the hidden things of His heart! Such a HUGE benefit of relationship with God!
• And I love and honor and respect Moses’ love for his people…it is the same as the Lord’s…if they are to perish, then accept me as a substitute in their place. Blot me out before them. Moses was innocent…that’s the only way and reason why he could offer this exchange…he was on the mountain when the people sinned…and Moses loves them…this is JUST LIKE Jesus…and think about this…Jesus was blotted out of the realm of the living…but uniquely qualified, the Author of the Book Himself…think about it…His name wasn’t in it…He was and is the Author…but to remove the blot over every other name in that book…He added His name, came into His own creation, blotted His own name out…and yet the blot had no power over Him because He was found to be without sin! I don’t know where my name is in the Book…but I know where Jesus’ is…it’s the last name. The last Adam…
Exodus Chapter 32 Verse 33
• Moses…I love you man…I love your heart man…but each person is individually accountable…
Exodus Chapter 32 Verses 34 – 35
• What was the plague? The ultimate punishment? None of them would make it to the promised land. The wicked and rebellious generation would die out before Israel would enter into the land. A picture of the severity of sin…not the severity of God. People shake their heads looking up, why? It’s not God who sinned…it’s God who is Judge…that’s the real problem, isn’t it?
• But God is faithful…He cannot deny Himself…even when all others are faithless, He is faithful…and that either becomes the source of your constant victory or the source of your ultimate defeat. At any rate, God does not change and in that I and all that surrender their hearts to Him, take GREAT and VICTORIOUS comfort!!
Exodus Chapter 33 Verses 1 – 2
• Notice this, the sin of the people does not cancel out the promise of God. God had “swore” or promised the land and even though they were an unfaithful people, God is not an unfaithful God. I take great comfort in that tonight…that we do not serve a God who has temper tantrums, holds grudges, or changes in any way…no matter what happens and specifically personal for me, no matter how much I may mess things up…
• God has promised that I am saved by grace through faith, He has promised that He will never leave nor forsake me, He has promised His grace, His love, and even His favor upon me because of what Jesus has done…and even if I am faithless, He is faithful, He cannot deny Himself. There is yet consequence, Verse 4 actually calls it “bad news” to my sin though…
Exodus Chapter 33 Verse 3
• There is a bit of a distance from the people. Do you see that? God says, “I’ll take you there, I’ll go before you, but not in your midst…or you’d be consumed.” The word actually means to be among someone in a physical sense…to be so close that it’s felt…God says because of your stiff-necked sinful ways, I’m not going to do that. And this is the “bad news” (if you will) of sin in my life. Fellowship…not communication, not covenant, not relationship, fellowship is interrupted with God.
• Think of a husband and a wife. When things are good the relationship is such a blessing. It just gets better and better and better from the first day that you were married…if you are both setting yourselves aside and serving each other. But things happen, hard days, stuff goes wrong and there may be an argument where one or both act selfishly and maybe in the flesh. What happens for a time after that? The closeness is interrupted. Still married, yes! Vows still lock tight in place? Yes. Still love each other? Yes. But there is yet a chasm, not only between them but between what once was and what is now.
• That is the bad news of sin for the Christian. Sin brings forth destruction. It breeds waste and that is bad news too…but the fact that walking in the flesh and falling into sin breaks your closeness with God…that in many ways is even worse news.
• Now, turn that on its head for just a moment. Walk with God. Trust Him…soften up your neck…quit being so self-stupid! HA! And you will draw near to God in your heart of hearts and James promises that if you draw nearer to God then He will draw nearer to you. Why? Because you can handle more of Him…you won’t be consumed by His righteousness, purity and holiness…you’ll be matured by it! That’s the good news of walking WITH the Lord!
Exodus Chapter 33 Verses 4 – 6
• This is interesting and perhaps much more significant in meaning than I am going to give it…but notice that the people mourn. 2 Corinthians 7:10 says, “Godly sorrow leads to repentance.” And then we see the fruit of repentance as well. They do something about their sorrow. That’s the key. You have not repented; you will not change and there will be no victory and moving on and moving up until you stop only feeling sorrow and start acting upon it.
• Don’t tell me “I’m sorry” and don’t say to me, “I know” when you receive correction if you’re not going to take active steps to make a change. Hearing I’m sorry is good but if you hear it and then the same offense comes back and comes back and comes back, the phrase, “I’m sorry” becomes so damaging…because what it’s messaging is “Yes, I know I’m wrong, I know I’m harming you and others, but I care more about myself than I do about you and them.” And saying, “I know…” man so much worse in terms of infuriating. If you have the courage and character to receive this then please do, never again say to someone “I’m sorry” and then not change. At least a little bit.
Exodus Chapter 33 Verse 7
• What is Moses doing? Seeking the Lord. God had told him about that Tabernacle…that it would be where He would meet with the people…it’s not built yet…but Moses also knows that God is not going to hang out in the camp any longer…so what does he do? He leaves the camp. This is a tough one but essential for us as well…Psalm 1…if God isn’t there, then I shouldn’t dwell there either.
• So, Moses goes outside the camp, look…, “far.” He reestablished with the Lord…and then anyone who wanted to seek the Lord, they now had to put forth effort…they had to separate themselves as well…
• It sounds bad…like separation from people, the world and so on…but that’s not really it…it’s separation from the flesh…that is how you seek the Lord. If that means a change in environment or squad for you then do it…but it might not. If you toss a diamond into a bucket of water, it doesn’t become water…water doesn’t get into the diamond at all…why? Because the diamond is dense man…what happens is that bucket becomes really valuable. HA! So, it may not be a physical separation at all for you…but it definitely is a spiritual move, man…away from the flesh and towards the things of the Spirit.