Download... August 15, 2010. Sunday Morning Service. Bro. Dave Goble.
Each of us, are as an “Aaron,” the last line of defense for the God you serve, or for the enemies god you might choose to serve......
TEXT EXODUS 32:1-4, 21-24
1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, 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 wot not what is become of him.
2 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.
3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
4 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.
21-24 21 And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?
22 And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief.
23 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 wot not what is become of him.
24 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.Moses had faithfully obeyed God’s word, leading God’s people through the wilderness. In the scripture text above, he had gone up on to the mountain, to commune alone with almighty God for forty days and nights. God’s people had had sufficient teachings to keep them, yet they in their impatience became nervous, and unbelieving in their initial “vision.” Moses was their literal appointed leader, Aaron was the theological leader, and their now visible last line of defense, from the surrounding nations and enemies. The Israelites had witnessed the hand of God, yet after their long wait, they lost their focus of the promises already given. Aaron was their last line of defense between them,.. and the surrounding nations. They allowed doubts of the knowledge of where Moses was. “Where is this man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt? We know not what has become of him!" They questioned Moses’ current existence, ..or intention of ever returning. They then asked Aaron to make them a god that they could see and worship. Aaron had a choice,..he could have said no, and instructed them to wait, as the “business” of God is bigger than all else. Or,.. do as he did , by agreeing to make them an inanimate god for their fleshly desires.
Each one of us is as an “Aaron” here,..the last line of defense for God,...or for the flesh, as here in this text of the surrounding nations, and the gods they served. The blessings and the curses. A defense against,.. or for the value of the enemies’ worldly treasures. Aaron did not give something of little value for the enemy, but only of people's greatest value to be molded into a symbol of “that” greatest value,.. an idol for their requested god. God commands us not to do this, but to deny this temptation to figuratively or literally make our self a god we can see, instead of worshiping Himself, the only true one infinite God.
There are many temptations, when we are in a “dry” place, that “we are deserted”, etc., so that we would not easily say no to the enemy, but ultimately yield to the fleshly weaknesses. Here Satan had convinced the Israelites that they could not find their God, even though they had already witnessed His past miracles on their behalf. There was no love “transfer” between this man created god and them, yet they chose it as a move of their fleshly mentality of “survival.” God still mercifully chastised them, to impress on them He is still the Only I AM, there is No other! No other gods of this world can say this. Only the I AM.. is a true reality. Aaron had witnessed the miracles God had performed with him to try to convince Pharaoh to let God’s people go, then their miraculous deliverance. Yet he yielded to the temptation to create for this people a temporal god. Aaron was then guilty of betrayal. He had even further made an altar for this false calf god.
It is the same with us,.. we are constantly presented in this world, fleshly “valuables,” to choose.. away from God. Are we putting something in the furnace of worship, to give our heart to? Similarly the message, of the ten virgins, five were wise to trim their lamps (waiting on God), and five were foolish in their spiritual sleep, so were not ready when the bridegroom returned. The message is for us to Wait upon God and keep our “hand” out of the things that He only should lead us in making moves.. of any consequence. Serve only the God who saved you from sin! Don’t accept anything less than His holy will.
Proverbs 7:5,7,8,10,21,26-27 5 That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words. 7 And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding,
8 Passing through the street near her CORNER; and he went the way to her house, 10 And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. 21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. 26 For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. 27 Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death. This is a vivid picture of the ramifications of yielding to the many flattering temptations of the enemy, in placing our affections or worship.. falsely.
Aaron needed to say (yet didn’t),.. "No," instead of yielding to the enemy. Spirit of error. The people yielded because they lost faith in God and the leader Moses that He had provided. Because... they were not willing to Wait upon God’s leadership. When they could not literally see, ...they lost their faith.
Pastor Goble told of a time when he had been discouraged, because he could not actually “see” what he needed of God’s presence. He said he had had “earrings” of fleshly thoughts in “possession” to put into “his furnace.” Each of us are accountable like he was here, in what we put into our “furnace” of worship. We must not abandon our faith in God, we must not yield to other fleshly valuables to put in our heart furnace of worship. Too often when hearts are discouraged, they lose their original focus of faith and God’s one true Church. If discouragement is allowed to stay, it will spiritually destroy you. Our prayer should be, “Help me not to lose the vision of God’s one pure plan, and people." We need to consistently resist all “earrings” of many things intended to dilute our pure allegiance to God. The people here after a few weeks, unfortunately succumbed to their fleshly inclinations.
It takes faith to serve God. Faith is knowing God has not abandoned me. It is the real substance hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Evidence is the only thing allowed in a court of law. Faith is real, never imagined,..in spite of the “drum beats” of this world. What have you been feeding in your heart furnace of faith?
One current example of potential fleshly distractions, are Internet cafes which many people give their attentions to,... yet many fail to have that devotion to God. Too many say, “I just can’t get free of_____(fill in the blank). What have you been putting in the furnace? Some say “I seem to be losing my closeness with God.” What altar have you set up? Once you allow discouragement to hang around,.. it will be allowing fleshly things in your furnace. It will be a process of collecting “things” we should not- and not “grinding them to powder,” (casting down the temptations of the flesh.) This in essence, is worshiping those “things” over our complete trust and surrender to God.
What have you been accepting from this world? If it is philosophies, etc., you will be come symbolically “hypnotized,” by listening to the world’s “drum beats.” People too often accuse God’s pure and narrow way (Matthew 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.), as being of a legalistic or pharisee substance. Yet biblically neither can we knowingly accommodate worldly ideas and be still truly a christian. Exodus 32:22-24 Aaron excused himself,..”you were gone,” so I instructed them to bring me their golden earrings/treasures and be accommodated in their furnace of worship,”then this god came out.” Some of the people that were found in this time of error were destroyed by God’s move of necessary wisdom.(Exodus 32:26-35).
A false god will not “materialize” in your experience if you have resisted all the temptations to begin with. Most all of us, young, and old, are accountable as Aaron here to keep faith against yielding to the temptations of fleshly allegiance. Someone might call you a Pharisee, but we cannot allow that to encroach upon our faith of obedience to God’s pure path. Some things... we just cannot take to our “furnace of heart worship“ and loyalties and still spiritually benefit. Any honest soul will desire to keep pure in the midst of temptation,... to declare the reality of truth for their soul’s sake. What are you putting in your furnace?
