Thank God for GraceExodus 32-34

California“Three Strikes and You’re Out Law”

An unforgiving lawThe law may be repealed

Many believe it is too harsh

Our story begins with Moses on the mountain

We want to be able to see God or his representative

We want continuous actionWe move on to the next best thing

Exodus 32When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain…

There is always someone willing to make us a god

Someone to give us something to worship

Someone ready to shine the focus away from God to god

2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD.”

Punishment is inescapableSometimes it comes right away

but often later on

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.

Often times our gods do not have to be made

Most often they come out of nowhere

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 Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ 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!”

There is time to repent and returnGod leaves the door open for our return But there is a limit to God’s patience and

open door

26 So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him.

27 Then he said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’ ” 28 The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died.

God leaves us when we fail to be faithful

He turns his back on usGod cannot live with sin in his

presence

33 The LORD replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. 34 Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”

Exodus 335 …“Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you.

15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

17 And the LORD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”

Exodus 34The LORD said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.

6 …“The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”

17 “Do not make cast idols.

21 “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.

The Old Testament law seeks perfection before a perfect God

It seeks punishment and restitutionWe are not under the Old Testament

Law anymore

We are, in Christ, a people of the New Testament

A new covenant peopleWhat does that mean?

Ephesians 2As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

Ephesians 23 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

Ephesians 24 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

Ephesians 28 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

The Old Testament tough lawsThree strikes and you’re out

May be this is what we deserveBut that law, for those who love the Lord Jesus Christ, has been repealedWe are saved by God’s grace and he

no longer turns his back on us

We are the Federated Church.

Our Mission is to…

Seek Christ, Serve Christ and Share Christ.