Title: The stiff-necked people
Title: The stiff-necked people (Ex 32:1-14)
Mission 21 Uninhabited Island and Gold
A ship sailing on the sea was wrecked in a storm, and many people lost their lives. Only a few survived and reached the deserted island.
Fortunately, there was food and seeds spilled from the wrecked ship, so we had to eat for the time being. Not knowing when they would be able to get out of this deserted island, they decided to plant a seed, picked the right land and started digging up the soil. Then large chunks of gold began to appear wherever they dug. Seeing the gold, no one planted a seed. Everyone was busy digging for gold every day. It's been several months. Food ran out and there was no more food on the deserted island. Only then did the survivors stop digging for gold and hastily planted the seeds. But before the seeds planted could bear fruit, they all starved to death. Numerous gold nuggets aside.
Now is the time to sow the seed, faith. I hope that the precious work of planting faith to the extent that we have matured will come.
The words of this text look at the people of Israel with a stiff neck.
9 I saw this people, a stiff-necked people.
Why are the Israelites a stiff-necked people?
1) Because they were the Israelites who demanded a visible God.
The Israelites could not wait for Moses, who went to receive the Ten Commandments, and were clamoring for a god to guide us.
Aren't they a stiff-necked people? God, who had led them all the way here, divided the Red Sea, fed manna with fire and cloud, fed them with quail, clothed them, and led them, but when Moses came down from Mt.
2 Then Aaron said to them, "Take the gold rings from the ears of your wives and children and bring them to me. 3 And all the people took the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 Aaron took the gold rings from their hands and poured them out. They carved it with a carving knife and made it into the image of a calf, and they said, O Israel, this is your god who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
This is how we live today, satisfied with substitutes for the true God.
Physical humans are satisfied with what they see. Judging and favoring by numbers and appearances. That's why it's degrading in the end. This Korean church is falling apart.
Since the 1980s, the gospel rate in Korea, when the gospel was only 1%, has boasted of 12 million members. As a result, everyone played with inflating numbers or playing numbers, and they became fascinated with building a large church building.
God does not matter how many or few there are. Just as you started with Abraham, you can start over with Moses. We are judging everything by the slaves of visible numbers and appearances.
10 “Therefore, let me do what I do, and I will be angry with them, and I will destroy them, and I will make you into a great nation.
God is saying that He will raise up a great nation from one Moses instead of the entire nation of Israel.
The Israelites made a calf out of their gold and worshiped it themselves. They made their gods out of visible golden calves, and made their gods in numbers and appearances.
But followers of Jesus do not consider silver and gold essential. I don't worship idols. The first and second commandments of the Ten Commandments are not to have other gods and not to worship idols.
Those who believe in Jesus believe in Jesus. Those who believe in Jesus will conquer and dominate silver and gold in the name of Jesus.
Acts 3:6 “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise and walk.”
That is, we live contentedly with Jesus Christ, who is God. He alone is our God, our Savior and our Father.
3017 Seeing people and seeing the world I was not satisfied When I saw my God, I was satisfied When I saw Him, the wind from the southeast blow, the wind from the northwest, Blow The thorns will blow the fragrance of lilies of Jesus Hallelujah Amen The thorns will smell of the white flowers of Jesus Hallelujah Amen
Our seeking and God are not silver and gold. Our asking is Jesus, the eternal invisible God.
So, who is the target of our worship? is God
John 4:24 “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” Why are the Israelites a stiff-necked people? Because they demanded a visible God.
2) Because they did not believe in God's promises.
7 And the LORD said to Moses, "Go down, for your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have become corrupted. 8 They have quickly departed from the way that I commanded them, and made a molten calf for themselves, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, saying, This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
Even though they had to keep their faith as God's people, they did not believe in God's promises and became corrupt.
They made idols and served them.
Exodus 20:4 Do not make for yourself carved idols 5 Do not bow down to them or serve them 6 For I show kindness to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Deuteronomy 6:17 Be careful to observe the commandments, testimonies, and ordinances that the LORD your God has commanded you, 18-19, and do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, so that you may be blessed and go into the land, and the LORD will put all your enemies before you You will take possession of the good land that you swore to your ancestors to drive out, as the LORD has said.
The people of Israel did not believe God's promise, so they gathered gold and made an image of a calf, and when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it, and Aaron proclaimed it, saying, Tomorrow is the feast of the Lord. 6 The next day they got up early and offered burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and the people They sat and ate and drank, and got up to play.
They did not believe in God's promises, worshiped idols, and acted according to their own will. 9 And the LORD said to Moses, "I see this people, a stiff-necked people. 10 So let me do what I do, and I will be angry with them, and I will destroy them and make you into a great nation.
Then Moses prays to God
11 And Moses inquired of the LORD his God, and said, O LORD, why are you angry with your people, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with your great power and mighty hand?
12Why do you want the Egyptians to say, “The LORD brought his people out of the mountain with evil intentions to kill them and destroy them from the face of the earth? come
13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, for you have sworn by the Lord for them, saying, I will make your descendants as numerous as the bees of the heavens, and I will give to your descendants all this land that I have given you, for an everlasting inheritance. you said you would
In this way, Moses led the people of Israel with God's greatness, revealing your goodness and lovingkindness, and keeping your promises. He did not give it to the people.
The Israelites say that they are a stiff-necked people because they did not believe in God's promises.
We do not want to serve idols, who are gods who look like the people of Israel, and do not become a stiff-necked people because we do not believe in God's promises. I hope that we will truly love God and believe in His promises, so that the precious work of God's great grace will come.