Abounding Grace

Larry: Lest you think you are not capable of idolatry, consider this from Pastor Ed.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Idolatry is really sneaky here, because we think of idolatry, just a little statue on our dashboard, a little statue, a little picture on the wall. But idolatry is much deeper than that.

The question could even say, where do you run when times get tough? Wherever you run, it's your idol. Where do you hide when things get tough? Wherever you hide, represents a place of idolatry for you.

Oh, you don't need to be bowing down and, you know, saying mantras. You just need to be running, and hiding, and depending anywhere but the God of the universe.

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Larry: When we left Moses last time on Abounding Grace, he was meeting with God on a mountain. Now, as you recall, the Lord used Moses to lead His people out of Egyptian bondage. God also parted the Red Sea for them and was merciful and kind to them on countless occasions. In light of all of this, the people are about to grow impatient and turn to other gods. Their impatience leads to compromise.

Pastor Ed Taylor will relate this to our lives. So, let's join him in Exodus 32.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Open your Bibles, Exodus chapter 32 is where we are. Exodus 32, another turning point in our study through Exodus. I've untitled our Bible study, it's a very important thing to know, impatience leads to compromise. Impatience leads to compromise.

Now, remember how chapter 31 ended. You can look back with me, chapter 31 in verse 18. This is how the chapter ended. And when he made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God. Moses is given two tablets of testimony, written with the finger of God. That must have been some sight, and some privilege to carry them.

40 days and nights communing with the Father at the top of Mount Sinai has come to an end. And while we've been focused on the description of the Tabernacle and all of the ways to build and all the details, we haven't heard much about the people. We've seen them and heard from them a little bit along the way, but not much.

What we do know is that in their heart of hearts, they committed. They made commitments outwardly to obey the Lord. They made deep commitments. For example, in Exodus chapter 19 in verse 8, it says, "All the people answered together and said, All that the Lord has spoken, we will do." In Exodus 24, verse 3, "Moses came and told the people, all the words of the Lord and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, all the words which the Lord has said, we will do."

Exodus chapter 24 and verse 7, "Then he took the book of the Covenant, read in the hearing of the people, and they said, All that the Lord has said, we will do and be obedient." We have to ask the question, was it really true? Were they really making a commitment to keep all the words of the Covenant? Were they really expressing a desire to obey God, to commit to Him, to follow Him?

And I would say, yes. I believe this is a legitimate commitment. I believe their hearts were in tune with the desire to obey God, to agree with God. Coming out of Egypt, being delivered miraculously, being given a leader and a deliverer, hearing the words of the Lord, the order of God, hearing how his relationship is to be defined and how they relate to God, they go, "We're in."

We're in. It's not unlike you and me when we make a commitment. It may be even a constant commitment when we come in and out of Bible study, or we sit at our devos and we say, "Yes, and amen." Commitment, "We'll do it, Lord. We want to do it."

It is a true desire on our hearts to obey God. But they made mistakes, which we make sometimes as well. If you're taking notes, we won't develop this, but if you like to develop Bible studies on your own, these are great points to look at. They made the commitment, but they also underestimated a few things about themselves.

And today I want you not to leave here without understanding that we underestimate things about ourselves. We have the commitment and the desire, but we also need to consider the reality of the situation. Here's a few things from them.

Number one, they underestimated their own weaknesses, their own weaknesses. Oh, we'll do it. We'll do it. And we know today that their weakness was quickly exposed.

Number two, they underestimated their own personal need for the power of God. They needed God's strength. They had a heart, not only that they would do it, but that they could do it in their own strength.

And then thirdly, I believe they underestimated the powerful enemy that they faced spiritually. The spiritual enemy, their own flesh, what we would call today, the weakness of their humanity. As we move forward in our commitments, we need to take into account these three things, our own weaknesses, the need for God's strength and power, and the enemy, the threefold enemy. The Bible describes a threefold enemy: the flesh, the world, and the devil.

And the devil orchestrating through the world to tempt us into the flesh, because once he gets us into the flesh, it's over. And how important it is that we realize compromise is easy to do. Now, it's easier to say, "I will," but it's even easier to compromise, to say something outwardly, but inwardly be far from God.

I want you to consider, as we jump into the chapter today, just the first few verses, that within a span of 30 days or so, even if we gave them all 40 days, but in the span of 30 days or so, they have this desire to worship God wholeheartedly undermined by impatience. So quickly. Up on the mountain, there's been this great revelation with Moses, but down in the valley, the people are caught up with wild imagination.

Notice with me, verse 1 of chapter 32. "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. And 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."

First, notice that the problem begins with a delay, at least a perceived delay. Because from the perspective of God, there was no delay at all. This was the perfect timing of God for them to be up on the mount, for him to be up on the mount, the exact timing of God. But for those around him, the conclusion was, there is a delay. There was some time that passed. And how we interpret that time that passes is very important.

Everything begins with a delay. It didn't happen right away. Moses didn't go up and come right back down, but time. That tells me that in their minds, they had already their mind made up of how long this would take. They had their mind made up, a limited timeframe. And Moses somehow went beyond it.

You could say today that they had unrealistic expectations of exactly what God was going to do with Moses. And they had it. They had it figured out. He's going to go up and he's going to come back down. And yet, at the same time, they didn't know what God knew. Did this begin on day two or day three, or day five, or day 30? We aren't told.

And this is a classic example of impatience. And the sin that can be caused by a man or a woman impatiently making decisions. It seems as if it's always hard. It seems as if it's always hard for God's people to wait for God. It just seems to be a challenge in our lives.

I would take away the word "seem," and it is a challenge in our lives. This waiting on God. And if God doesn't come through the way that we want, in the time that we want, then we think we must jump in and help God out a little bit. And we can make it happen. And we can fix this problem, and we can end the delay.

You remember Jesus in Luke's Gospel was describing the end of the age. And he's highlighting for the disciples the persecution they'll face. And he says in Luke 21:16, "You'll be betrayed by parents and brothers, relatives and friends. And they'll put some of you to death. And you will be hated by all for my name's sake, but not a hair of your head shall be lost. By your patience possess your souls."

In other words, at the end of the age, it's going to get harder and harder for you. And the way that you face the complexities of difficulties of living in the last days and living in the progressively difficult last days is patience. I wonder how many that is the word of the Lord to you right now, patience.

Or put a different way, keep waiting. Or put a different way, do not take things into your own hands. Or put a different way, repent and give it back to the Lord before it's too late. But when you see or perceive a delay, a delay from God is not necessarily a denial. And not now doesn't mean not forever. It just means not now.

And for those of us that are learning to live in the moment, we can, we can more readily accept the nows and the not nows as God gives them. The children of Israel do become impatient, and this leads to their desire for immediate gratification.

A big problem. The people gathered to Aaron, notice in verse 2. Or excuse me, in verse 1, they come to Aaron and say, "We need to make gods." We need something tangible. We don't know if Moses is coming back, if he's ever coming back, we need gods, little G. And Aaron said to them, verse 2, "Are you guys out of your minds?" No, actually, he doesn't say that.

He says, "Break off your earrings, your golden earrings that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, your daughters and bring them to me." Idolatry is mentioned some 111 times in the Old Testament. This is a big deal for the children of Israel.

And then we go, "Oh, yeah, it's a big deal for the children of Israel." No, no, no. It is a big deal for the children of Israel, but it's also a big deal for you and for me. How careful we need to be of idolatry. What is an idol? Simple definition, anything or anyone that takes place, that takes the place of God in your life.

Anything that you run to, anyone that you lean into, anyone that comes between you and God is idolatry. This revelation was given to me when we were putting together our book on Letting Go of the Past. And I was trying to draw out in our teaching, actually, the significance of your unwillingness, some of you, to forgive yourself.

There is a lot of unforgiveness in the room. It's not just unforgiveness with family, but it's an unforgiveness with self. And it goes a little bit like this. What I've done is so bad. And the people that I've hurt, it's just too much. That if I was God, I wouldn't forgive myself.

And so, rather than receiving the forgiveness of God through His Son Jesus for those sins, or for that sin, you choose a pathway of beating yourself up, putting yourself down, living under the shadow of condemnation, shame, an unhealthy guilt trip that you put on yourself, let alone those that might be around you.

Even though the Bible says, "There's therefore now no condemnation for those that are in Christ," you refuse it. And even though the Bible speaks of the forgiveness that comes from Jesus Christ, covering all of your sins, you won't receive it. And even though the Bible doesn't declare you bad, you know, because shame and guilt are two different things. You got to watch out for this.

Because guilt can be good in proper places if guilt takes you to the Lord, where you feel bad for something. You did something wrong, and you have a feeling, and you come to the conclusion, and this is what guilt says, this is healthy, "I have done wrong." That's guilt. "I have done wrong. I need to make it right." That's guilt.

But shame is unhealthy. Because shame goes one step beyond, "I have done something wrong," and shame says this, "I am wrong. I'm the problem. I'm undeserving. I'm unlovable. I'm..." And all these unhealthy ways of twisting some of these things that actually are true. We are undeserving, but God loves us still.

We are unworthy, but God has placed his worth upon us as the kids are going to learn. But it becomes unhealthy where you've gone from, "I've done wrong," to, "I am wrong," or, "I am a mistake of God," or, "I should have never been born," or, "I should have never had..." All of those things are simply because you don't receive the forgiveness of God.

And you go, "Well, Ed, what does that have to do with idolatry?" Let's go back to the illustration. When you come to the conclusion, you may not voice this, but I've voiced it for you now, you'll never think of it differently, you'll never think of it the same way again. When you refuse to forgive yourself or receive the forgiveness of Jesus, you're saying, "Hey, what I've done is so bad, if I was God, I would never forgive me."

And there's a Bible word for that. It's called idolatry. And by the way, we're very thankful you're not God. Because there's a lot of unforgiveness that would flow from that attitude. And we're grateful. You have to process through, you're not God. And you may have sinned beyond your own limit, or the limit of what you expected, or you never saw it coming in your life.

And I'm sorry, it brings a lot of pain, a lot of sorrow, a lot of consequence. You're right. But there is still forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ for even that. And you and I, we are wise to receive the cleansing. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

We're constantly coming for a new and fresh cleansing each time we add sin upon sin and sin upon sin. Idolatry is really sneaky here, because we think of idolatry, just a little statue on our dashboard, a little statue, a little picture on the wall. But idolatry is much deeper than that.

The question could even say, where do you run when times get tough? Wherever you run, it's your idol. Where do you hide when things get tough? Wherever you hide, represents a place of idolatry for you. Oh, you don't need to be bowing down and, you know, saying mantras. You just need to be running, and hiding, and depending anywhere but the God of the universe.

Of course, the children of Israel here, they don't know it yet. They really don't understand, and I don't know that they could at this stage. I mean, perhaps they're getting hints of it, but they don't know yet that Moses is going to be one of the giants of the faith. He is going to be the kind of man that's worth waiting on.

He is going to be the kind of man with all his faults and failures, a kind of man to emulate your life upon. They don't know it yet. Because if they did, they wouldn't make unwise decisions. Moses wasn't up on the mountain messing around. He wasn't goofing off. He wasn't running in circles, you know, around the mountain going, "Ha, ha, I'll come down when I want."

He was doing business with the Lord. He was where he needed to be as long as he needed to be there in obedience. His focus was on God and not on the people. Any healthy leader will know that your time first starts with God, knowing Him and communing with Him, and obeying Him, not living at the whims of men and women.

The service to men and women come only after the communing with God. And if you have to be there 40 days, you have to be there 40 days. They become impatient. While Moses, and here's the scene here, while Moses is perfect in obedience, the people are imperfect in impatience.

Moses, perhaps the greatest leader on the face of the earth, other than the perfect leader Jesus Christ, was shaped and seasoned and separated by God for almost an impossible task, leading these three million people. You recall Moses is a man of faith, a weak man, but a man of faith nonetheless.

And he suffers through the wilderness wanderings, he suffers not because of his own lack of faith, but he suffers along with the people, similar to Joshua. And he deals with the crying and the complaining on the 40-year death march of sin. Where's Moses right now? He's where he's supposed to be.

That's a characteristic to be admired. It's a characteristic that's designed to inspire in you to be where you're supposed to be. And to do what you're supposed to do, and to do it the way you're supposed to do it. But you see, the people did what we often do. We put our own thoughts and desires above God's.

Moses went up on day one, everybody agreed. Go up, go up. We don't want to go up. There's lightning and thundering up there. You go, Moses, you go. That's how it started. This is the will of God for you, Moses, not for us. And yet, somewhere along the way, something changed.

And it's an area in our lives where we need to be pay attention to, something along the way changes, and we need to get back to the Lord. Come back to Him.

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Larry: And maybe that's exactly what you need to do today, come back to the Lord. Don't wait another minute to do so. You're listening to Pastor Ed Taylor on Abounding Grace, and his message, "Impatience Leads to Compromise." You can hear it again at AboundingGraceradio.com, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Pastor Ed, in today's message, you referenced your new book, "Letting Go of Your Past." Can you tell our listeners a little more about it and where they can get a copy?

Pastor Ed Taylor: "Letting Go of Your Past," Larry, is being used in incredible ways. I have been traveling around the country to different churches, taking a Bible study from that book, and then making that book available. And it's one of those resources that seems to be hitting the issues of our day. Issues like regret, anger, bitterness, frustration, feeling stuck in your walk, kind of rooted in some moment in time, whether it was a great sin or some big difficulty.

But it is a phenomenal book that God has used. Now, it is a little uncomfortable, isn't it? I mean, maybe, maybe you can sense it where it is a little uncomfortable that I talk about a book that I have written as a really good book. But, but it's, I'm not so uncomfortable because I'm always recommending books. And the reason I recommend the books is because I believe that the message in the book is going to be used by God.

And, you know, you, you look at life and I just know, I've seen it. I've seen what God is doing with this book on how to deal with your past, because you might be super young and you got your whole life before you. Or you might be like me where you have more years behind you than you had ahead of you. Either way, God wants you to live a full life. He wants you to learn how to release emotional burdens and embrace your new identity in Christ.

He wants you to apply biblical insights related to anger, bitterness, resentment. He wants you to walk in forgiveness and release. He wants you to be open to true reconciliation. He wants you to move forward. It's just like driving, isn't it? When we drive, we drive forward. We don't drive places in reverse. Although we do use reverse sometimes. They create cars that way, don't they?

They have a big windshield and a small rear-view mirror. Why? Because everything is forward. It's true that we have to glance around us at times in our mirrors. We need to know our surroundings. Or for us, we need to know where we came from. But your future is upward and onward as you release the past and embrace the Lord.

So please get it. Uh, get a copy for you, get a copy for a friend. Uh, there's an audio version, which is kind of cool. I've never had an audio version for a book before. So that came out really good, the Kindle version. You know, we got all kinds of versions. And if you need to buy in bulk, you can always call the office. Uh, and my assistant can help you with that as well. Um, but this book is powerful.

And one of the things that is so good about it, and I don't want to leave without sharing this, for this book, in all of the books that I've written, all of the net proceeds go to our missionaries. They're not for me. I have a role here. I'm a pastor, I get to pastor a church. So when a book is created, I decided all the net proceeds of these resources will go to our missionaries, which is cool.

So you, it's a double win, isn't it? You have a resource for you, and then whatever is above and beyond all our costs and such, that gets distributed to our missionaries. And so it just stays in the kingdom, number one.

Number two, another thing we're doing with the book is we are making it available for free to Crisis Pregnancy Centers. And we just send a case there and let them use it, give it away, believers and unbelievers alike, that they might grow in grace. So when you partner along with us, there's ministry after ministry after ministry. The book is "Letting Go of Your Past" by Ed Taylor, and I know you'll love it.

Larry: That's "Letting Go of Your Past," available through our e-store at CalvaryCO.store. Our pick of the month here in April is "Real Worship" by Warren Wiersbe. In it, he defines the essence of worship and discusses the key issues surrounding the sometimes controversial topic within the church. We'll send you "Real Worship" when you give a gift of $25 or more to Abounding Grace. Call toll-free 877-30-GRACE. Again, we're at 877-30-GRACE. We'll return to Exodus next time out on Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed. We'll see you then.

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