Neither Be Ye Idolaters: Golden Calf - Another Jesus

This sermon was preached by Pastor Sam Adams on 2/12/12 at Independence Baptist Church in Belleview, Florida. Bible text: 1 Corinthians 10:1-11, Exodus 32:1-8. Paul told the church in 1 Cor. 10 they were to learn from the Israelites at Sinai, and were not to be idolaters. The lesson of the golden calf in the wilderness is that idolatry is not only bowing down to false gods; it is also redefining the true God in false terms; in terms that we can be more comfortable with. In that sense many Christians are guilty of the same sin as Aaron, the sin Paul warned the Corinthians of, of redefining and believing in ANOTHER JESUS than the one revealed in the Bible.

This message makes two important observations from Exodus 32 and the sin of Israel in forging the golden calf. First, the Israelites were WITHOUT EXCUSE. The story did not go as portrayed in the epic Hollywood movie, “The Ten Commandments.” This was NOT Moses’ first trip up the mount, and the Israelites’ great sin was not done before they received the law. In the preceding chapters we see that Aaron made the golden calf during Moses’ 5th trip up the mount, after God thundered the ten commandments from heaven in the ears of all the people; after God gave the civil laws, which Moses wrote down in a book and left with the people; after Moses ratified the covenant and all the people said they would obey all the Lord had commanded; and even after Moses, Aaron and 70 elders went partway up the mount and actually saw God Himself!

Second, we see that the fashioning of the golden calf was not an overt act of turning aside to another god such as to one of the false gods of Egypt. When Aaron made the calf he didn’t name it Ra, On or Osiris; he named it JEHOVAH (Ex. 32:5)! One of the worst types of idolatry is to malign God by redefining Him in our own false terms. Please listen...
Website:
http://www.IndependenceBaptist.com

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_LfCdipYRI