TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS
Exodus 32:15-25
KNOW THE PERSON YOU LEAVE
IN CHARGE
V:15 Moses turned and went
down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands. They were
inscribed on both sides, front and back. 16 The tablets were the work of God;
the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
A. Every Word in the Bible is
inspired by God.
1. The Words on the stone tablets were not
only inspired by God. But
written by Him.
2. The Tablets were in addition to the Book
dictated by God but written
by Moses.
3. The writings on the Stone tablets were
the Ten Commandments,
we will see later in the text,
4. The first 4 commandments were vertical,
our relationship with God.
5. The last 6 commandments were horizontal,
our relationship to
each other.
6. I suggest they were written in stone
for our instruction because,
obeying them covers all elements and
situations of our lives.
a. This was the covenant between man
and God.
b. The writing in stone, indicates the
permanent relationship
between man and God.
B. God does not tell us why
He engraved the tablets on both sides.
1. Some suggest that the backside was a
duplicate of the front side.
2. It may suggest that God covers us from
the front to the back.
KNOW THE SIGNS OF
DISOBEDIENCE
V:17 When Joshua heard the
noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, "There is the sound of war
in the camp."
18 Moses replied:
"It is not the sound of
victory,
it is not the sound of
defeat;
it is the sound of singing
that I hear."
A. When we are having a
party, we usually speak louder than normal
conversation.
1. There is usually laughter and
excitement.
2.
Most parties are complete with music and dancing.
B. Moses knew the difference
between the sound of a crowd celebrating
victory
and the sound morning their defeat.
1. Moses spent the first 40 years of his
life in
2. He was probably trained to be a warrior in
the Egyptian army.
3. Moses knew the reaction of the people in
victory and defeat.
4. The sound coming from the camp was a party.
TAKE CORRECTIVE ACTION
IMMEDIATELY
V:19 When Moses approached
the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the
tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.
20 And he took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground
it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.
A. Moses was dedicated to
God, but he had two character flaws which
prevented him from taking
1. As the text indicated, Moses had a
problem controlling his anger
with
2. Moses had the problem of intolerance.
B. As stated in the text,
when Moses saw the dancing and worshipping of the
The golden calf, he threw the tablets with
such force to break them in
pieces.
1. Can you imaging getting so mad at family
members that you throw
your Bible at them or to the ground?
2. Moses had 40 years of training with God
through his father in law,
Jethro, the priest of Midian.
3. Moses had a 40-year relationship with
God.
4. The Israelites had only three months
with God.
5. The Israelites were in the baby stage
with God.
C. The Israelites knew about
God through what was handed down
to them from 400 years of word of mouth
transmission
1. The Bible does not record any miracles
God did for the
Israelites during the 400 years of
slavery.
2.
They had practiced the worship of idol gods all their lives.
3. Worshipping and relying on the true and
living God was
new to them.
D. Moses reasoned with God
not to destroy
The presence of God.
1. Moses knew before he left the presence
of God, that the Israelites
had corrupted themselves.
2. But when Moses came down the mountain
and saw the corruption
he BLEW UP.
3. Moses became self-righteous, judge, and
jury.
4. Perhaps Moses had forgotten that his
anger caused him to
kill an Egyptian in
5. He didn't consider that he ran away from
his sin, rather than
face persecution.
6. Moses didn’t consider that God was still
tolerating his sin.
D. Before we judge others, we
must remember that we are not guiltless.
1. We have a multitude of sins that God has
tolerated.
2. Like God told Cain, we must control our
anger.
Gen 4:6-7
Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why
are you angry? Why is your face
downcast? 7 If you do what is right,
will you not be accepted? But if
you do not do what is right, sin is
crouching at your door; it desires to
have you, but you must master it."
E. When something is wrong,
we have to show immediate disapproval.
In anger Moses at the foot of the mountain
destroyed the idol.
First, he smashed the tablets of the Law,
symbolizing the people's
breaking of the covenant.
Second, he burned the idol, reduced it to
powder, spread it on water (a
mountain stream, Deut
he demonstrated both the powerlessness of
the calf-idol and God's wrath.
Though the burning would not have
demolished the gold idol, it was
smashed till it was crushed into tiny
pieces. Drinking it symbolized that
the people had to bear the consequences
of their sin.
(from Bible Knowledge
Commentary/Old Testament Copyright © 1983,
2000 )
CONFRONT THE ONE
RESPONSIBLE
V:21 He said to Aaron,
"What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great
sin?"
22 "Do not be angry, my
lord," Aaron answered. "You know how prone these people are to evil.
23 They said to me, 'Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow
Moses who brought us up out of
A. Aaron was left in charge
of
With God.
1. When you are allowed to lead, you must
lead according
to God’s commands.
2. The position of leadership is not an
opportunity to go against God.
It is not your job to change standards
that have been set.
B. Aaron knowingly and
willingly went against God’s commands.
1. Aaron knew God better than any of the
Israelites.
2. He stood with Moses during all the
plagues in
3. He was the voice to the Pharaoh from God.
4. He walked with Moses during the exodus
from
5. He had no excuse for his weakness as a
leader.
C. Aaron had no excuse for
not rejecting the suggestions
of the leaders to make an idol god.
1.
Aaron had no excuse for making the idol god and leading
the worship of the golden calf.
2. Aaron knew the power of God, but he yielded
to popular demand.
3.
When we see wrong, we must uphold right at the sake of loosing our
popularity with people.
4. If Aaron had stood for God, maybe
D. It is obvious that God was
in control and allowed the corruption.
1. Everything that is recorded in the Bible
concerning the events
with
2. What we learn here is we are
responsible for our decisions
and actions.
a. We cannot blame others for our
failure to be obedient.
b. Our action affects the decisions
and well being of others.
c. We are role models of God to others
around us.
EXCEPT NO EXCUSES FOR
WRONG
V: 24 So I told them, 'Whoever has any gold jewelry,
take it off.' Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out
came this calf!"
25 Moses saw that the people
were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become
a laughingstock to their enemies.
A. The devil has a field day
when we are disobedient.
1. Other who don’t know God, learn of God
through our action.
2. When others see us worshipping God,
they learn about worship.
B. When others see the church
disobeying God, they see us as hypocrites.
1. We cannot be a friend of the people and
a friend of God at the same
time.
2. every day, we should take a stand for
God to be for God.
C. Evil does not just come
from our actions, it starts with what's in
the heart.
1. Aaron blamed the people for his action.
2. Blame leads to lies.
3. Aaron lied about willingly taking the
gold and making the calf.
4. Lies leads to denial.
D. We cannot get right before
God without owning up to our sins.
1. God will not allow us to get away with
our sins without
asking for forgiveness.
2. God will make us realize the result of our evil
actions on others.
3. Our evil
actions can jeopardize our lives and the lives of others.
SET YOUR GOAL TO BE A ROLE MODEL FOR GOD
Rev. M. Mitchell
Asst Pastor Of Greater
5510 WEST Sam Houston, Parkway North
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