We'll finish out this chapter this evening. Remember that we are in the section where they're being commanded or told or instructed on how to build the tabernacle. That's chapters 25 to 40. So 25 to 31 is the actual instruction, and then 35 to 40 is the construction. We have this bit of an interruption, chapters 32 to 34. Basically, the people of Israel play or engage in idolatry before the golden calf. And of course, that illustrates their need, ultimately, for the tabernacle that would be a place where they could find atonement with God Most High. So I want to read beginning in chapter 32 at verse 1, just to review and get it in our minds again. We've got the idolatry of Israel in verses 1 to 6, the intercession of Moses in verses 7 to 14, and then the judgment of God in verses 15 to 35. So now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron and said to him, Come, make us gods that shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. And Aaron said to them, Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me. So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, This is your God, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt. So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. And the Lord said to Moses, go, get down, for your people whom you brought 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 themselves a molded calf, and worshipped it, and sacrificed to it, and said, this is your God, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people, Now therefore, let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and I may consume them, and I will make of you a great nation.' Then Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak and say, he brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from your fierce wrath and relent from this harm to your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self and said to them, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven. And all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever. So the Lord relented from the harm which he said he would do to his people. And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the testimony were in his hand. The tablets were written on both sides. On the one side and on the other they were written. Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets. And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. But he said, It is not the noise of the shout of victory, nor the noise of the cry of defeat. but the sound of singing I hear. So it was as soon as he came near the camp that he saw the calf and the dancing. So Moses' anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. Then he took the calf, which they had made, burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder. And he scattered it on the water and made the children of Israel drink it. And Moses said to Aaron, What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them? So Aaron said, do not let the anger of my Lord become hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. For they said to me, make us gods, that they shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. And I said to them, whoever has any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and this calf came out. Now when Moses saw that the people were unrestrained, for Aaron had not restrained them to their shame among their enemies, then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp and said, whoever is on the Lord's side, come to me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. And he said to them, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp. And let every man kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. So the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And about three thousand men of the people fell that day. Then Moses said, Consecrate yourselves today to the Lord, that he may bestow on you a blessing this day. For every man has opposed his son and his brother. Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, You have committed a great sin. So now I will go up to the Lord. Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin. Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, Oh, these people have committed a great sin and have made for themselves a God of gold. Yet now, if you will forgive their sin, but if not, I pray, blot me out of your book which you have written. And the Lord said to Moses, Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out of my book. Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin. So the Lord plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made. Amen. Well again, by way of review, in verses 1 to 6, the people of Israel are fretful because Moses has not returned. He went up to the mountain according to 2418. He was not told by God how long he would be there. Neither were the people told how long he would be there either. And so the people get a bit impatient and then they ask Aaron to make this golden calf. Now this is the sin of idolatry. Remember the first commandment defines the object of our worship and the second commandment demands the particular way that we worship. Notice that they predicate of this gold calf that it is actually Yahweh. So notice in verse 4, this is your God, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt. So when Aaron sought, he built an altar before it, and Aaron made a proclamation and said, tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. So they have the object of worship, which is Yahweh, but they have the wrong manner, which is this visual aid, this golden calf, which they had been prohibited by God from engaging in. So the idolatry of Israel. And of course, God's anger is expressed toward them, His righteousness, His justice, His judgment of them, and Moses intercedes on their behalf in verses 7 to 14. We see that summarized in verse 14, so the Lord relented from the harm, which He said He would do to His people. Now, that doesn't mean there won't be some sort of sanction imposed, which the next section takes up, but it means that He's not going to cut them off covenantally. He's not going to destroy them and start afresh with Moses. So Moses' intercession was blessed by God. So in verse 15, Moses now comes down from the mountain. Remember that when he went up to the mountain, according to chapter 24, Joshua attended him, but Joshua went only up about midway. He didn't go up to the summit of the mountain and didn't hear God, and he did hear something going on in the camp of the Israelites, but he wasn't exactly sure what it was. Being a military-minded man, he hears the noise of war, according to verse 17. When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, there is a noise of war in the camp. But he said, this is Moses, it is not the noise of the shout of victory, nor the noise of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing I hear. So he descends, he sees what they're doing, they're dancing around this calf, They're giving it praise and worship and adoration. And then, of course, he asks Aaron what's going on. And Aaron does what sinners typically do. They pass the buck. They throw people under the bus. They try to get rid of, or they try to avoid blame. So first, he blames the people. They're very wicked. They're very vile. They're very wretched. And then he sort of offhandedly blames Moses. He repeats what they had said, and perhaps with that same sort of thing. If you hadn't have been up on the mountain so long, if you had come back down sooner, we wouldn't be in this mess. And then, of course, he blames chance. I took the gold, I threw it in the fire, and out came this calf. So he knows what he's done is wrong. He's trying not to identify it as wickedly as it sounds. Now, of course, that then brings this sanction imposed by God through Moses upon the people that were guilty. but it wasn't all the people that were guilty, it was representative. Gill argues that it was primarily from the tribe of Levi, that most likely the Levites at this particular time were assisting Aaron, who was one of theirs, in terms of the fabrication of this idol, and then the worship of this idol. So notice in verse 28, the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and about 3,000 men of the people fell that day. Now when we get to our passage tonight, notice in verse 30, now it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, you have committed a great sin. So 3,000 are dead, but there's still guilty people within that particular people group. And so Moses comes to deal with them. And so we see, again, his intercession on behalf of the people. Moses does that often for the nation of Israel. And in that, he is like the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, Matthew Poole makes that connection. It is to be considered that Moses speaks this, as also many other things, as the mediator between God and Israel, and as the type of the true mediator, Jesus Christ, who was, in effect, to suffer this which Moses was content to suffer." So Moses basically says, blot me out of the book. if you will not relent in terms of judging these people so severely. So essentially what we have in this section is the rebuke by Moses of the people in verse 30, the request of Moses of God in verses 31 and 32, and then the response of the Lord in verses 33 to 35. So notice in the first place his rebuke in verse 30. It came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, you have committed a great sin. Notice that idolatry is always treated as a great sin. Not that adultery isn't a great sin, not that lying isn't a great sin, not that, you know, all the other things given to us in the Decalogue are great sins, but you really see God's enmity toward idolatry. It is to set up a rival to God. It is to assert of something other than God what is true of God and God alone. It is to give to something other what is only due to God and to God alone. When we give our time and our energy and our talents and whatever it is that we possess to that which is not God, that is great sin according to God's Word. And so he rebukes them. And again, there are those who are guilty of this particular sin. And then notice that Moses expresses his desire to make atonement. So he knew, he understood what was already true. We see it back in the book of Genesis. In Genesis chapter 3, after Adam and Eve sinned, God kills an animal and covers them with that skin. We see there that emphasis on blood atonement. And then when we get to Genesis chapter 4, at the end of the days of the week, we see Cain and Abel go to present their offerings to the Lord. Now obviously Abel does so in a correct manner. He brings blood for atonement. So Moses understood the need of atonement when you have a holy God and when you have sinful man. I think we looked at Numbers 25 last time. In Numbers 25 you see a very similar situation, specifically in verses 1 and following. Basically what you had were the children of Israel played the harlot, Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel. When it says they played the harlot, it was idolatrous, but it was also a compromise in terms of the seventh commandment. That's the way that Baal was worshipped, in terms of a compromise with reference to fidelity. And so it says in verse 4 of chapter 25, the Lord said to Moses, take all the leaders of the people and hang the offenders before the Lord out in the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel. So Moses said to the judges of Israel, every one of you kill his men who were joined to Baal of Peor. I dealt with this last week. I had a good quote from Stuart where he says, the modern reader and persons in Western civilization are absolutely shocked to see this kind of thing happen. Moses commands these Levites to kill 3,000 people. We see the same sort of emphasis here where they're going to kill these idolatrous and adulterous Israelites. And Stuart points out, Moses would be shocked at the thought of not doing that, of actually allowing that sort of leaven of idolatry to spread among the professing people of God. You cannot allow for that. You cannot let that happen. It's like gangrene that will ultimately circulate through the entirety of the body and destroy it. And so in verse 6, Indeed, one of the children of Israel came and presented to his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Now when Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose from among the congregation, took a javelin in his hand, and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman through her body. So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel, and those who died in the plague were 24,000. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous for my zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in my zeal. Therefore say, Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood. Now notice, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the children of Israel. So the children of Israel, whatever they knew or did not know, they certainly understood our God is holy, we sin against Him, and we have a need for blood atonement. When you get to Psalm 106, specifically in verses 28 to 31, it commends Phinehas. It doesn't say, you know, he was just some guy that was off his mind and he engaged in some vigilante justice. No, he's commended for what he did in terms of that situation at Baal Peor. And back to our particular passage, with reference to these men who killed these men, Moses is able to say in verse 29, consecrate yourselves today to the Lord. that he may bestow on you a blessing this day, for every man has opposed his son and his brother." In other words, it's not contrary to the will of God to execute justice. It's not contrary to the glory of God to execute righteousness in terms of the punishment of criminal offenders. So that's what's happening. And so Moses reminds them of their great sin, and then he says that perhaps I can make atonement for your sin. And then he makes this specific request of God in verses 31 and 32. Notice he confesses their sin. Verse 31, then Moses returned to the Lord and said, Oh, these people have committed a great sin and have made for themselves a god of gold. And he says in verse 32, yet now, if you will forgive their sin. Commentators notice he just breaks off the sentence there. Doesn't finish that sentence. He simply says, if you will forgive their sin, we can sort of surmise what the rest of it would be. But then he goes on and says, but if not, I pray blot me out of your book which you have written. So he requests that he dies with them if God blots them out, or if God removes them in terms of his covenantal dealings with them and his blessings upon them. Now in this way, again he sounds very much like our Lord Jesus Christ, who basically was blotted out on behalf of his people. He gave himself for our sins. But in the New Testament we see correspondence with the Apostle Paul. Romans chapter 9, the Apostle Paul says a very similar thing as Moses does in Exodus 32. Now in Romans chapter 9, Paul takes up the issue of the Jews, ethnic Israel. Where do they fare now in this situation where Gentiles are coming into the church of the Lord Jesus Christ? So chapters 9 to 11, the Apostle takes up that particular question. But he doesn't sort of just drop into the theology, he highlights the real necessity in terms of thinking through this, and not only the necessity, but the practicality. That he himself has witnessed his own countrymen reject and resist the very Messiah that was sent by the Father to them. So notice in Romans 9.1, I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ. That's the Greek word anathema, translates the Hebrew word harem, and it means something that is devoted to destruction. It is something devoted to destruction. So Paul says, I could wish that I myself were devoted to destruction, separate from Christ, condemned for my brethren, my countrymen, according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises, of whom are the fathers, and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is overall the eternally blessed God. Amen. Now that's a stark contrast between what we find with Paul and Moses and those guys we looked at on Sunday in John chapter 9. They led by intimidation. They led by coercion. They led by bullying. They expressed their own fearfulness, they're cowardice in that they would not face the Lord Jesus Christ, but they'd try to get at him through the adulterous woman and they'd try to get at him at this man who was born blind and had been healed. A stark contrast between the true man of God that we find here in Paul and we find in Moses versus the religious leadership at the time of the Lord Jesus Christ. So when Jesus upbraids them and reproves them, they have it coming. They're wretched people. They're not following the example that Moses set forth, Paul certainly picked up on that, and Paul lived in a manner that was consistent with that. So back to our text in Exodus chapter 32. He makes that request. And again, it's a powerful one. If not, I pray, blot me out of your book which you have written. More on that book in just a moment. Now notice the response of the Lord in verses 33 to 35. He essentially says to Moses, I'm not going to blot you out because you didn't engage in this particular sin of idolatry. You didn't engage in that which was a great sin. You didn't engage in that which is an offense. So in verse 33, the Lord said to Moses, whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out of my book. Now, for New Testament readers, we know something about the Book of Life. In fact, you can turn to the New Testament. So, I think at times, Exodus 32-33 presents a bit of a challenge to New Testament readers in terms of the Book of Life that is spoken of by the apostles. So, Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3. We have this reference to a Book of Life. specifically at chapter four, at verse three. I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. And then the book of Revelation speaks concerning this book of life in a whole host of places. So you can turn there, Revelation chapter three. Revelation chapter three, specifically at verse five. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. And then over in the Beast chapter, chapter 13, specifically at verse 8, all who dwell on the earth will worship him whose names have not been written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And then in chapter 17, specifically in verse 8, Chapter 17 is the destruction of the scarlet woman and the beast. I'm sorry, verse 8, the beast that you saw was and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was and is not and yet is. And then over in chapter 20, same sort of emphasis, specifically at verse Verse 12, chapter 20, verse 12. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. and they were judged, each one according to his works. Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." And then 21, 27. 21, 27, but there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life." And then again in chapter 21, I'm sorry, chapter 22, verse 19. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the Holy City, and from the things which are written in this book. So as New Testament readers, we're pretty sure that it's a secure place to be in that Book of Life, right? Sounds like you're not going anywhere. If your name has been entered in the book of life by God from before the foundation of the world, you are safe and secure from all alarm. You're not going to be cast out. You're not going to lose your inheritance. You're not going to be ultimately in hell. Now, when we look at Exodus 32-33, it might challenge that. It might cause us to reflect and say, well, does God blot people out of the book of life? Am I the only one that's ever sort of thought through this? I hope not. I hope I'm not making something up that'll cause you a bit of distress or concern. But I always think it's good to sort of face these things head on. One of the things that I think we can surmise, based on the text we've looked at in the New Testament, is that yes, or no, I don't know how to phrase this, you can't be removed from the Book of Life. If you're in that Book of Life, by the sovereign grace of God Most High, you're in that Book of Life by the sovereign grace of God Most High. The New Testament and the Old Testament teaches us that those who are really saved are saved to the uttermost. Matthew 1.21 tells us that you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins. That's a definitive declarative statement. He's not going to falter. He's not going to fumble the ball. He's not going to lose you. You're not going to go to hell. John chapter 10, we'll see that as we move through our exposition of John's Gospel. Jesus speaks about the elect of God, the saved, the believer in Christ being in the hand of God and nobody can pluck you out of his hand. Romans chapter 8, the Apostle says, I'm persuaded that nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Philippians 1.6, he who began a good work in you will complete it unto the day of Christ. So when we look at these New Testament passages, we can be assured that sinners for whom Jesus died will not lose their salvation. So going back to Exodus 32, what does verse 33 mean? The Lord said to Moses, whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out of my book. Now, as I ponder this, I think it's conditioned by the covenant that we find it in. When we come to the New Covenant, it is an unconditional covenant for our part. It is conditional on the part of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, Jesus lived in perfect obedience to the law, Jesus died as our substitute and sacrifice on the cross, Jesus was raised again for us and our salvation, and when by grace we believe in him, We are accepted in the Beloved. We're not going to be cast out. We're not going to be lost. We're going to have our ebbs and flows. We have our remaining corruption. But God has stationed Jesus at his right hand as an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous, for when we do sin. So there is an unconditionality concerning the New Covenant. We are in by grace and we stay in by grace. The Old Covenant was not so. The Old Covenant was not a covenant of grace. The Old Covenant was a covenant of works. How do we know it was a covenant of works? Go back to chapter 24. Because after the giving of the law, both the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments are moral law, and the judicial law in chapters 21 to 23, the children of Israel are called upon to ratify this covenant. They're called upon as a covenant party to enter into this contract with sanctions with Yahweh. Remember the two tablets have the same law on each tablet. It's not like there's four and then six commandments on the other. Both tablets contain all of the law and then both tablets are deposited in the Ark of the Covenant because both tablets represent the parties of the Covenant. One copy is Yahweh's, the other copy is the people. So in 24, they ratify that covenant. Notice in chapter 24 at verse 3, all the words which the Lord has said, we will do. And then verse 7, then he took the book of the covenant and read in the hearing of the people, and they said, all that the Lord has said, we will do, and be obedient. Turn over to the book of Leviticus, Leviticus chapter 18. Leviticus chapter 18, Paul invokes this passage in the book of Galatians. Let me just make sure it's 18, sorry, let me look at Galatians here. Yes, Leviticus 18.5, So the old covenant was in fact a covenant of works, so it's conditional. And in fact, when we get to the end of this particular chapter, we see that God says that, you know, verse 35 for instance. So the Lord plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made. There was a sanction. 3,000 people died. There was judgment, there was chastening, but it wasn't the curses of the covenant that you find in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. It was sort of a one-off, an ad hoc judgment upon them for their sin, but it wasn't a disenfranchising them from the covenant. So when we consider 32-33, I think because we're dealing with a conditional covenant and a covenant that again, for the most part, has to do with physical things. The old covenant secured for the nation of Israel a land. It promised a kingdom. It afforded kings for that kingdom. But it was primarily physical. I'm not suggesting that no one in the Old Covenant was saved. But they were not saved because of the Old Covenant. They were saved because of the promise of the New Covenant. The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and His blood would be retroactively applied to them, according to Hebrews 9.15. So in 32-33, the Lord said to Moses, whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out of my book. I think it has to do with physical death. I think it has to do with physical judgment, and that it does not obliterate the blessed emphasis on this secure book of life that we find in the New Covenant. In fact, in Psalm 69, we read this, let them be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous. So it's not that you can lose your salvation because God said in Exodus 32-33 that he's gonna blot you out of his book. If you are in the Lamb's book of life you are safe and secure. When we come to this particular passage there is a book that is conditioned by the Old Covenant, by a conditional covenant of works, that if you falter, if you rebel, if you transgress, God will kill you. And that's the emphasis in Exodus 32-33. But then moving on from there to show that this is not the finalization of this Old Covenant situation, he promises to continue with that. In other words, Moses keep on with reference to the Exodus. Notice in 34. Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin. So basically, that's programmatic for everything that's going to follow subsequent to this. If you go back to chapter 23, chapter 23, we have this announcement of the angel that is going to go before them and lead them into the land of promise. So 2320, behold, I send an angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. So back to chapter 32, he says, resume the program. We've purged, we've dealt, we've done away with these sinners. They're blotted out of the book of the living. Now we continue with the plan. So this expresses both the justice and judgment of God, but also the mercy and grace of God. Remember in the former part of the passage, he is angry and expresses that to Moses. And Moses says, or he says to Moses, I'm going to eliminate all them. and I'll make a great nation out of you." Moses obviously intercedes, the Lord relents according to verse 14. Language spoken in the manner of men, there's no change in God, but rather expresses something concerning His justice and His judgment. Now the plan continues. Behold my angel shall go before you, nevertheless in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin. When you engage in these sorts of forays in the future, there's going to be chastisement, there's going to be discipline, there's going to be these sorts of outbreaks in terms of the sanctioning power of God Most High. But at the same time, everything that God had promised was going to come to pass. So this is not invalidating that, but rather it is the plague of God upon these people for their particular sin, but it does not disenfranchise them from their covenant communion with Him. And that's what 35 means. So the Lord plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made. But they continue on, they fulfill all that God had called them to. Not, I say that like they were good. I mean, God dragged them, basically, to get them where they were supposed to go. That's His mercy, that's His grace. He managed, not managed, but He kept them together in spite of them. So they do not reap the curses of the covenant. That is held back for a later date. It's going to happen in the Northern Kingdom, it's going to happen in the Southern Kingdom, and then it's going to happen to Israel as a whole when they're ultimately shut down in terms of Old Covenant religion. So the book of life, or the book that God blots people out here in verse 33, is not the book of life that we find in that new covenant setting that we cannot be blotted out of. Now, in conclusion, just a couple of thoughts. First, the idolatry of the people. Look at verse 8. It's been a couple weeks since we looked at that, but note, well, verse 7. Moses is on the mountain with God. And then Moses, so the Lord says to Moses, go get down for your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. Now, it's quickly just in terms of literature, right? Chapter 24, all that God has commanded we will do. Chapter 32, they're dancing around this golden calf. Well, Moses was up on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights. It's not a long time, brethren, and they corrupted themselves quickly. We need to guard our hearts in terms of idolatry. Little children, my little children, keep yourselves from idols John ends with in 1 John 5 and verse 21. We should really see and appreciate the enormity of the said of idolatry. I pointed to the example of David. David was a man after God's own heart, and yet David did some pretty horrible things as a Christian, as a believer, as a blood-bot, but he never ever engaged in idolatry. He didn't corrupt himself to the core in that fashion. As well, in this passage, the conduct of Moses is really excellent also. There's righteous indignation in light of their sin. Remember last week we talked, he didn't throw down the tablets in a fit of rage. He's angry, the scripture tells us that, and he throws down the tablets, but he's never upbraided for that by God. When he strikes the rock, God says, you're not going to enter into the promised land. That was an expression, or that was coloring outside the lines. So God sanctions him as a result of that. There's no sanction here. What Moses does is not only legitimate and just, but it's also symbolic. He's showing them that they've reneged. They've broken the covenant. They've already betrayed what they said in chapter 24 about all that Yahweh has commanded we will do. This was a very powerful image for the children of Israel to witness and to see. As well, His gracious intercession in order to deal with their sin. Now, I'm not suggesting that all of us are going to have that Moses spirit and that Paul spirit in terms of, you know, God send me to hell if my fellow Canadians don't get converted. There's something about that compassion, there's something about that concern, there's something about that kind of love that a man has for others that is very attractive and perhaps Praying that God would soften our heart to the plight of the heathen around us. To the plight of the people around us that stand in need of the gospel of our salvation. Again, we're not all Moses called to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. We're not all Paul canvassing the Roman Empire, taking the gospel. to the farthest parts of the known world at that time, but we certainly can pray. We can certainly pray for people we know, people we love, people that we're close to, people that perhaps we're not so close to. We can pray for the various churches, we can pray for the various missionaries. These are real expressions of a compassionate spirit relative to a desire to see people converted. I mean, brethren, I don't know if you're looking at the same world I'm looking at, but we certainly have lots to pray for in terms of the world around us. I mean, it's getting nuttier and nuttier day by day. And what do people ultimately stand in need of? They need the gospel of Jesus Christ, our blessed Lord. And then the final observation, I just would remind you of Paul's teaching in the book of Romans, specifically in Romans chapter 1. I alluded to this the other night in the sermon on, you know, Paul speaks of the revelation of God's wrath in 118, and then the revelation of God's righteousness in Romans 321. But in between there, from 118 all the way to chapter 3 and verse 20, the apostle highlights the universal depravity of man. All men, every man, Jew, Gentile, all are liable to the justice of God Most High. Well he starts with the Gentiles and the primary emphasis there is on their idolatry. They suppress the truth and unrighteousness. They exchange the glory of the incorruptible God for that which is corruptible. They bow down to creatures. They bow down to anything and everything. It's just a bleak and dark picture of what man looks like apart from the gospel of our salvation. And then when he goes on in that passage, he speaks of the nature of God's judgment for that people group. So in other words, you can't say, well they were Gentiles, they didn't have the Bible, how come they're getting punished for this? Well, there's the doctrine of general revelation. God reveals himself through the created order, and that's what Paul appeals to in Romans chapter 1. The effect, the creation, leads us to the cause, or God. There's a sense of deity in all man. This is what Paul is appealing to. We are created in His image, so therefore we're hardwired in a certain way. We're hardwired with some vestige, some degree of the law, according to 2.14 and 2.15, but we're also hardwired in some degree with the knowledge of God. The old boys called this the sense of deity, the sense of divinity. That's why you find worshipers all over the place. That's why you find worshippers in the remotest parts of the earth. Why is that? Because evangelists were there and brought them the Bible? No, because they have a sense of deity being God's creature. But because they don't have the written revelation of God, they worship that, you know, they worship falsely, they worship incorrectly, they worship in a godless, idolatrous manner. So then Paul goes on to say that they will be given over. It says three times in Romans 1. The people rather exchanged the truth for idols, so God gives them up. 21 to 24. That's punitive justice there. That's God's just, righteous judgment of wretched sinners. The people exchanged the truth for a lie. God gave them up. Verses 25 and 26a. And then the people exchanged the natural use for the unnatural. God gave them up. Verses 26b-31. And with reference to that Romans 1.18. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. We look at the vice list there in Romans 1, and it's bad. I mean, people murder, they engage in immorality, you know, children are disobedient to their parents. But those are all symptomatic of the biggest issue in Romans 1. Although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, nor were their hearts thankful. Paul's emphasis in 118, the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. That's not accidental. What we think and believe about God affects that we live in light of that knowledge. So it's ungodliness and then unrighteousness. You have ungodly thoughts about the true and living God, guess what happens? You're going to live like a wretch. You're going to live like they do in Romans chapter 1. That's why when the prophets come to Israel, yes, they rebuke them for their sexual sin. Yes, they rebuke them for, you know, their oppression of one another. They rebuke them for the rejection of the true and living God. Idolatry never produces good character. Idolatry never produces faithful living. And one final quote, this is from John Stott. I think this is money. I think this is gold. I think it really does picture for us how bad idolatry is. He says, all idolatry, whether ancient or modern, primitive or sophisticated, is inexcusable. whether the images are metal or mental, material objects of worship or unworthy concepts in the mind. For idolatry is the attempt either to localize God, confining him within the limits which we impose, whereas he is the creator of the universe, or to domesticate God, making him dependent on us, taming him. whereas He is the sustainer of human life. Or to alienate God, blaming Him for His distance and silence, whereas He is the ruler of the nations and not far from any of us. Or to dethrone God, demoting Him to some image of our own contrivance or craft, whereas He is our Father from whom we derive our being. In brief, all idolatry tries to minimize the gulf between the Creator and His creatures in order to bring Him under control. More than that, it actually reverses the respective positions of God and us. So that, instead of our humbly acknowledging that God has created and rules us, We presume to imagine that we can create and rule God. There is no logic in idolatry. It is a perverse, topsy-turvy expression of our human rebellion against God." I think he's right on. And I think, as I mentioned before, Exodus 32 is an anti-tabernacle depiction. This is smack dab in the middle of here's how you build the tabernacle and then we're going to build the tabernacle. They do it in exact the opposite way. There's free will offerings just like with the tabernacle and they give those free will offerings to put it in the oven and to get this golden calf. This is an anti-tabernacle section imposed right in the middle. Again, I think to highlight the very necessity for the tabernacle they are being commanded to build. This is the place of atonement. This is the place of bloodshed. This is the place where God and sinners are reconciled. Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for the true depiction of what idolatry looks like in passages like this and Romans 1 and other places in the Scripture, specifically in the Old Testament prophets with the children of Israel always going away from You and turning to those things that are not God. Yet we know that's not a problem only confined to the Old Testament. We know, as John says, we're to keep ourselves from idols, so God help us and give us grace to pursue those things that are pleasing in your sight and help us to be just full of love and full of obedience to our blessed Savior. And we pray in His name. Amen.