- Faith in the Fire NEW SERIES – Week 1: “Faithful When We Wander”
- Text: Exodus 32:1-6, Exodus 32:24
Big Idea: Even when we lose our way, God remains faithful. - We are all prone to wander. We wander from our plans, schedules, and purposes
- It’s the wandering of our minds, our plans, our desires, and the purposes of God
- Most of you if I asked you who you wanted to be and where you wanted to end up, it would be A Godly purpose. If I asked you if you ever wandered, you would probably answer yes
- It’s the worst! We want to get to a destination, and then we find ourselves wandering
- Here’s what God wants you to know today- When you lose your way- God is still faithful.
- When We Don’t See God Moving, We Try to Take Control
-
- Exodus 32:1 – “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…’”
- Israel had seen miracles (Red Sea, manna, God’s presence at Sinai).
- Here’s what happened Moses was gone longer than expected, they assumed God was absent.
- Instead of waiting, they created their own solution—a false god they could control.
- I get it- they wanted out of the desert, to worship, to be delivered, they just lack PATIENCE
- Isn’t this what we do? Sure, we don’t create a physical golden calf, just a spiritual one
- We start spiritually and jump to the flesh, bc just as Israel, we lack patience we want CONTROL
- Gal 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
- Its what we do! We all do it. We pray, we hear from God, and we want to see God move.
- We know its of God and God is going to move, but we lack the patience for God to move so we take matters figuratively into our own hands and literally ruin ourselves in the process
- Trusting God is HIM in control. Taking it into our own Hands IS OUR CONTROL>
- Faith that won’t wait- seals its fate. You miss out on God’s best when you are impatient.
- Isaiah 30:1 Woe to the rebellious children,” says the Lord, “Who take counsel, but not of Me, and who devise plans, but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin.”
- You can actually move into sin when you don’t wait and make your own plans.
- How many times have we not waited on God and messed it all up in the process?
- Early in our marriage we wanted to be a two car family- bought truck on CC
- Started a snowball process of burying ourselves in debt for many years- should have waited.
- We do the same thing. If God isn’t answering fast enough, we take matters into our own hands.
- Jumping into a relationship, job, making purchase, moving, starting endeavor, etc
- They wanted something tangible—a god they could see, touch, and define on their terms.
- I can control this God- This is something I can worship. INSTEAD OF WAITING. Build a calf
- They wanted something visible – They struggled with an invisible God and desired something they could see and touch.- Believing in the invisible that hasn’t happened is HARD
- surrounded by people who encourage you to move on and stop waiting. (build the calf)
- They redefined God on their terms – They didn’t claim to reject Yahweh; they just reshaped Him into something they could control. CHRISTIANS DO THIS- Say its of God when its NOT
- are you creating your own golden calf because God seems silent?
- When We Don’t See God Clearly, We Create Our Own Version
-
- What are your golden calves? You have to ask yourself this question.
- Modern idols don’t shine—they scroll, swipe, and stream.
-
- Romans 1:22-23 Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—
- Money & Success –believing in the number instead of the provider. Build a money calf
- Some of you refuse to tithe or merely tip God because you refuse to trust God
- You do math in your head and justify your giving as generosity v a means of heart change
- Entertainment & Social Media – People turn to constant distraction instead of God’s peace
- Rel & People spouse, children, or friendships their source of worth, rather than God.
- Religious Rituals – Even church itself can become an idol when people worship the habit, building, or structure more than the presence of God.
- You come here and attend here, but you aren’t here. There’s an ulterior motive. Morality calf
- If we can touch it, control it, or measure it, we’re tempted to trust in it more than God.
- Exodus 20:3-4 You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
- That means nothing.. All of it has to be on the altar. All of it is up for discussion.
- We preach an all or nothing Gospel here because that’s what the Bible teaches.
-
- Acts 17:29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.
- You cannot create something to replace the living God. Israel couldn’t. you cant.
- Here’s the problem with creating your own God-
-
- It will fail you- Not only does it turn us against the true God, it can never satisfy or sanctify us
- It Falls Short – The golden calf couldn’t lead them, save them, or hear them (Psalm 115:4-8).
It Makes Us Blind – When we worship the tangible, we stop seeing the real move of God - It Demands Everything, But Gives Nothing – Idols take our time, energy, and devotion, but leave us empty – its like the time we ate large blizzards for lunch after church.
- 1 John 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
- A God you can control is no God at all—it’s just a mirror reflecting your own desires.
- Here’s a Gospel truth- THEY Always Cost Us More Than We Expect
-
- Exodus 32:2-4 – Aaron said, “Break off the golden earrings… and bring them to me.” So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.”
- The people sacrificed their gold—the very treasure God had provided from Egypt.
- God always wants your best for HIM– First fruits, best energy, best ideas. FOR HIM>
- What God had given for their future (gold meant for the Tabernacle) was wasted on idolatry.
- Idols always demand something from us. They cost us peace, trust, and intimacy with God.
- When you know the truth, and you go against it, the demands of the false God far exceed the demands of the Holy God. It actually Costs you MORE than obedience
- Remodel bathroom in old house- 5k and 3 weeks. 8k and 4 months. Showed him.
- What are you pouring your energy into that isn’t leading you toward God?
- When We Don’t Use Fire Wisely, It Consumes Instead of Refines
-
- Fire is a spectacular entity. Cook food. Keep warm. Propulsion. Burn down. Refine.
- Use it right and its wonderful, use it wrong and its unbelievably destructive. LA Fires
- Aaron takes all of of their Gold, throws it in the fire “and this calf came out”
- Exodus 32:24 – “So they gave it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and this calf came out.”
- What a liar! Aaron made it! Such it is with idolaters. They blame the idol not themselves.
- Fire is an image of Good in the Bible- fire signifies the process of God in your life
- It refines us- fire removes the impurities of our life and makes us holy
- They didn’t let the fire change them, so they changed the fire’s purpose
- Psalm 66:10 For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined.
- It tests us- it reveals our loyalties and passions- what do we really value?
- Isaiah 48:10 I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
- It proves us- We know when we Go through the fire that we have faith!
- 1 Peter 1:7 That the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory
- If we agree the fire is the process that God uses- keep the imagery of fire as the process
- We use the process as a means to bring out a false idol instead of drawing us closer to GOD
- God is removing impurities– instead of removing them, we hold on to them
- God is testing us– we double down on worldly passions and make them into our focus
- God is proving our faith- instead of leaning into his proving- we create something false.
- Aaron’s excuse is ridiculous—he acts like the idol just appeared. Nooooo
- We often minimize our sin like Aaron: “I didn’t mean to, it just happened.”
- The fire of life’s challenges will either refine you or lead you into idolatry.
- Are your struggles refining you or defining you? Are you letting the fires burn?
- Are you using pressure, hardship, or delay as an excuse to shape an idol?
- “ I didn’t mean to, it just happened” No way. You’re using Gods process as an excuse.
- instead of running to distractions, lean into God’s refining process.
- Pray through challenges rather than trying to escape them.
- When We Are Unfaithful, God Still Stays True
-
- Exodus 32:1-6 (contrast with Exodus 32:13-14) READ
- Though Israel was unfaithful, God still had mercy. God could have destroyed them
- The story could have ended with God wiping them out—but He didn’t. MERCY
- Deuteronomy 4:31 For the Lord your God is a merciful God, He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.
- Psalm 86:5 For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy
- Moses interceded, and God chose mercy over destruction. They strayed- he stayed.
- God didn’t abandon them, even though they abandoned Him.
- God’s faithfulness is not based on our performance—it’s based on His character.
-
- This is a very important truth when it comes to your relationship with God
- Here’s what I know to be true- Most people who come to church want a relationship w God
- You declare it to be true, you believe it to be true, and you do your best to walk it out
- But inevitably we miss the mark. We sin. Purposefully, willfully, accidentally whatever.
- We start the day, week or whatever with Good God intentions, and then somehow- Boom.
- And hopefully when you wake up to the reality of your path of destruction you have a few choices- Continue in sin. Repent and turn back to God. Receive the Mercy of God.
- But here’s what’s great about this scripture- we see that God shows mercy to Israel
- Christ didn’t look at us and save us from our sins bc we were doing well, it was opposite.
- When you were at your worst is when the blood of Christ interceded the strongest. It was and is at your worst, not your best. The mercy of God applies to your biggest moral failures.
- Eph 2:4-5 READ
- Can someone say hallelujah this am? Can someone rejoice for God’s mercy?
- Can anyone testify to the fact that we serve a God that bestows mercy when we don’t deserve
- Ps 103:10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities.
- God thank you for forgiving me, for welcoming me back time and time again, for not forsaking me when I have forsaken you. Your tender loving mercies endure longer than I do.
- I’ve wandered and not trusted. I’ve created false things to worship. I’ve ran from your fire.
- BUT GOD- Rich in mercy- because of your Love for me. Thank you thank you thank you.
-
- One of my favorite movies is Saving Private Ryan. Lots of great motifs in there.
- One of the strongest ones is The guys saving someone who’s done nothing to deserve it
- Private Reiben: “You wanna explain the math of this to me? I mean, where’s the sense in risking the lives of the eight of us to save one guy?”
- Corporal Upham: “Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die.”
- Soldiers Follow Orders Without Understanding—We Receive Grace Without Earning It
-
- the soldiers are given a mission that doesn’t make sense to them. They don’t get to question why Private Ryan is worth saving; they just have to follow orders. They are obedient.
- Similarly, in faith, we don’t get to earn or justify God’s grace—we just receive it.
- Christ’s Mission Wasn’t About Fairness—It Was About Obedience and Sacrifice
- Jesus didn’t go to the cross bc we deserved it; He went because it was the will of the Father.
- could have asked why sinners were worth saving, but instead, He chose to obey unto death.
- Phil 2:8 – And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. We Are Ryan—Rescued Without Merit
- Private Ryan didn’t earn the sacrifice of those who saved him. The soldiers laid down their lives for someone they never met, simply because they were sent to do it. Obedience like Jesus
- Christ did the same—dying for us while we were still sinners.
- Romans 5:8 – But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
- “Grace isn’t about reasoning why—it’s about receiving what we could never earn.”
- Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
- Have you been wandering? God is still here. He hasn’t given up on you.
For more sermons please visit our SERMON PAGE
Please subscribe to our YOUTUBE PAGE
