Epistle Lesson: 1 Timothy 1:12 - 17
Gospel Lesson: Luke 15:1 - 10
Sermon Text: Exodus 32:7 - 14
There are only two main teachings in God's Word; the Law and the Gospel.
The Law shows us our sin and tells us that we are sinners. The Law tells us what we are to do and what we are not to do. The Law shows us that we are sinful, and deserve God's punishment. The Law tells us that we deserve to die, because of our sin.
The Gospel is different from the Law. It doesn't tell us what we are to do, but rather it tells us what Jesus has done. The Gospel doesn't show us our sin, but shows us our Savior,
Jesus.
The Gospel doesn't tell us about death, but tells us about life -
Eternal Life!
Today in our text, we see both of these teachings presenting themselves. We see God's wrath toward the children of Israel, because of their sin. And, we see God relenting from his wrath, showing love and compassion.
This text is part of the Golden Calf story. But before we look at our text for today, let's fast forward and see some similarities and differences of another golden calf story. Let us look to a time after King Solomon's death when Jeroboam led the rebellion that resulted in the split up of the kingdom united under David and Solomon.
The northern kingdom, called Israel, was divided from the southern portion, called Judah. Jeroboam, from the North wanted to sever ties with the South, and especially with Jerusalem. He had golden calves made and enshrined them in the holy places of Dan and Bethel, which were in the north. He thought this would keep people in the north from going to the temple in Jerusalem, which was in the south.
Now Jerobam may have at first intended these calves to be pedestals upon which the Lord rode in victory. But calves were a common representation of either a god or of his throne to the Caananites around them. What Jeroboam may have intended for the good of the people, and the good of his own pocket book, turned into idol worship. Jeroboam even said, "Here are your gods, who brought you up out of Egypt." The people began to worship these calves. He even appointed anyone who wanted to be a priest, who were not Levites.
By the word of the Lord, a man from God, a prophet, came to Jeroboam to show him his sin. But Jeroboam did not change from his evil ways. This was the sin of Jeroboam, that led to his downfall and to his destruction from the face of the earth.
We now look back a few hundred years and return to our text and see a similar event among God's people.
After all the mighty works the Israelites had seen God do, they still had not learned the lesson that it was God leading them, and not Moses.
Just think about what they had seen God do:
-divide the water so that they could cross the Red Sea and escape the Egyptian army,
-make the bitter water taste sweet,
-supplying manna and quail, and
-delivering water from a rock!
Again the Israelites were looking away from God. They became impatient while Moses was gone for 40 days speaking with God. So, they appointed Aaron to fashion their gold into a golden calf. They broke the first commandment.
You shall have no other Gods
They began to worship a golden calf, instead of the triune God. They quickly forgot about the Lord and credited a
man made object for bringing them out of Egypt. Again they had sinned against God.
Jeroboam sinned against God. The Israelites sinned against God. And, we are no better. We too have again sinned against God by putting our own priorities ahead of Him. We enjoy working overtime for the extra money, and skip taking the time to worship God. We enjoy sleeping in or taking time with our families and neglect to give thanks to God. We enjoy our possessions and pleasures often, or always, over God, His Word, and His worship.
Again, today the Ten Commandments remind us how far from God's Law we have strayed. We are the lost sheep. We are the lost coin that our Gospel lesson spoke of.
We, too, are surrounded by daily reminders of the Lord's goodness to us.
Most of all we are reminded of
His daily forgiveness!
And, still we are attracted and distracted by idols of our own or others. Ultimately, any sin puts some kind of false god before the true God. Our jealous God is just as angered by the golden calves of our time and place. We, too, are a stiff-necked people who deserve to be destroyed because of our sin - just like the Israelites.
Notice in our text God doesn't even call the Israelites His people. He tells Moses, "your people have become corrupt." God wanted to let his anger burn against the Israelites and destroy them.
Psalm 106:23 says, "So God said he would destroy the Israelites - had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him to keep his wrath from destroying them."
Here, Moses steps in to appease God's anger. Moses looks back at God's promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The promise that God would make their descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky.
Moses was a mediator who stood between God and His people. Moses knew the people deserved to die because of their sin, but he also knew the promises of God can't be broken.
God, who is faithful to all his promises, "relented" and did not carry out his threat to destroy Israel. God did not change his mind. He, the God of all grace, who has promised to hear the prayers of his children, wanted them to hold him to his word of promise.
Moses was a successful mediator between God and the Israelites. Even though they had sinned against God, Moses asked God to look to His promises, instead of looking at their sin.
What a perfect picture that is of Jesus who is our mediator, who stands in between us and God. Even though we have sinned against God, Jesus asks God to look to His promises, instead of looking at our sin.
Jesus asks God to look at his perfect life. Jesus asks God to see that not one time during his life, did he sin. Even when he was tempted by the Devil, to worship the Devil, Jesus said, "Worship the Lord your God and serve him only." Jesus asks God to also look at his death on the cross.
The Bible says, "Christ died once for all." The Bible says Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sins."
And, it says Christ Jesus, who died, and more than that,
-who was raised to life -
is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
Because of Jesus' perfect life and death on the cross, God has relented from his anger against us. He no longer wants to destroy us because of sin, rather he wants to save us because of our Savior.
Again today we have seen these two beautiful teachings in the Bible. The Law and the Gospel. These two teachings say it all! The Law tells us that we don't match up to what God demands. And the Gospel shows us God's love and compassion and grace. Through Jesus, our Savior and what he has done, we are forgiven, and saved!
Our text today offers us the opportunity to see the power of prayer. Jesus, as our intercessor, delivers those prayers to God. It also shows the compassion of our God toward us, who are sinners. God doesn't have any pleasure in the death of those who die. God wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Again today, we have seen our sin, and our Savior Jesus, who removed our sins to ensure our life,
our eternal life!
Amen.
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