Real Men Are
Something This World Hasn’t Seen for a Long, Long Time!
Exodus 33:1-11
DATE:
17 June, 2001
Father’s Day
PLACE: BBC Blarney
I.
Introduction
A. I look through the pages of this Bible, and maybe it is the same with you, but it seems to know me, and deals with me as a man!
B. If you are a lady, you also know how that Book cuts you too!
C. But I am going to preach mainly to us men today. I say “us men” because it’s father’s day, and whether you are a father, or single, or married, or whatever, US MEN need a lot of preaching!
D. There are some things that God clearly expects of us men, and He expects them of us even TODAY
II.
Background
A. We are going back to the Book of Exodus, to the time when the Israelites were travelling to the Promised Land
B. The people of Israel had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years
C. God brought them out of Egypt by Moses
D. They had seen God do some incredible things: Passover, Red Sea, Manna every day, water from a Rock
E. Now they were at Mt Sinai
1. Moses was up on the mountaintop getting the 10 commandments
2. All the people of Israel were down at the base, getting bored
3. Then came the idea to forget about Moses, and “make” themselves some gods, and have a “real” worship service (32:1) - dancing, nakedness (32:25), and drunkenness (32:6) – times haven’t changed at all!
4. Aaron makes a golden idol, and everybody gets “into the spirit”
5. That is, until Moses comes down and finds all this going on
F. Do you know what God does? (Ex 32:26)
1. He jumps into this impossible situation – could have walked away
2. And calls for MEN to decide if they are on the Lord’s side or not
3. And if they are, if they are willing to follow God!
G. In chapter 33, the Lord shows us a glimpse of what MEN are supposed to be doing. Not just women, children, wimps, or troubled individuals, but MEN!
III.
Message - What
God Expects of Men Today (Exodus
33:1-11)
A. Go for God (Ex 33:1-2) – go all out for God
1. Real men, go all out for God - In life, in love, in achievement, in joy
2. God’s hardest task, I think, is to get us moving in the right direction
3. Israel had gotten side-tracked
a. Israel had started off right - left Egypt – been freed
b. The Passover had bought them their freedom – salvation
c. They were supposed to get to Canaan – the Promised Land – living a different life
d. But the troubles of life affected them
1) Constant complaining
2) Always doubting God’s abilities and His promises
3) Always impatient (more about this in a moment)
e. So, they end up not only dragging their feet, but actually turning around, and going back to the old life!
1) Idolatry
2) Worship of pleasures
3) Fashion fanatics
4. God says, “HEY! GET GOING!”
a. Get off the fence – you are in the middle, not where God wants you – between Egypt and the Promised Land
b. Get back in the spiritual race
1) Some of you have never gotten into the race
2) Some have never been truly born-again, the Bible way
3) They are running along the sidelines, but won’t count for eternity
4) Some of you have backslid – not out at prayer meeting, or Sunday evening preaching, or in your Bible everyday, or witnessing
c. Get focused on your target
1) Not just heaven in view here
2) But the Promised Land – the kind of life that God has for every Christian – the life of victory over the sins that smother you!
5. The current trend in the world is GO for ANYTHING BUT GOD
a. Sports fanatics – total saturation – nothing wrong with sports, but people are only willing to be dedicated to it, and not to God!
b. Pub fanatics – drink unbelievable amounts, and act like it doesn’t faze them
c. Computer nuts – eats, sleeps, lives inside computers and games
d. Fishing fanatics – believe they evolved from fish
e. Couch potatoes – just totally addicted to the TV, soaps
f. Radio heads – can’t think without a radio or CD, or MiniDisk blaring in their ears
g. Family only – your wife gentlemen, expects you to be all go for her, and her jobs around the house, her mother, her needs, etc
h. Work-a-holics – always away from home doing jobs and making money – your boss expects you to be ALL GO for HIM, and HIS SCHEDULE, and HIS WAY of doing things
i. I’ll say it this way – real men are addicted to God (1Cor16:15)
6. Go for God means we are committed to setting out, launching out by faith, committing ourselves to obtaining what God has ahead of us!
7. You know what? It is not by accident that everything is vying for our commitment – it is so that we have little or no energy, nor time for our own, personal relationship with GOD!
B. Don’t Take God for Granted (Ex 33:3) Real men are spiritually sensitive
1. Israel had taken God for granted once too often
a. The Tabernacle was first off set-up right in the midst of the people as they left Egypt. God wanted the people to know that He WANTED to be WITH them.
b. But all their complaining, idolatry, their constant whinging, and lack of faith showed God that He was not wanted – so he steps to the side
1) He has the Tabernacle set-up away from all the people
2) The Lord is not, where He is not wanted (Cf Rev 3:20)!
2. Men! By nature, we take too much for granted: wives, kids, jobs, health, and most importantly our God
3. What do I mean by taking God for granted?
a. Men think God will surely “understand their situations”
b. Men think God really doesn’t care how we live
c. Men think God is there to take care of us, and that He knows we will get around to doing things His way, one day
d. Men think there is plenty of time to start living for Jesus
e. Men think it doesn’t matter what the Bible says
f. Men, let me tell you – YOU ARE SO WRONG (33:3)!
4. Do you ever feel BACKSLIDDEN? Like God is kind of FAR AWAY?
a. It is probably because we have gotten used to God just being there
b. It is probable we just are too proud – another “manly thing” right?
c. Whether you realise it or not, your heart and soul yearns for God – needs ONLY God, and the more you deny that, it is like denying that your car is out of petrol
1) Try putting water, or Guinness, or computer games, or pillow-stuffing into your fueld tank and see how far you get!
2) Ps 42:1,2; 63:1; 73:25,26; 84:2
C. Repent of Our Worldliness (Ex 33:4-6) Real men love God more than their sin. If you have no problem repenting, then you aren’t human!
1. There were five things that the Jews were carrying over from Egypt
a. Impatience (32:1,2)
1) Even as slaves, they had learned to get what they demanded for! That’s society today – constantly demanding more and more from the government, from the boss, from the church, etc! And we all want things YESTERDAY
2) We men need to repent of our impatience – I know we talk about women and children being impatient – but WE are pretty demanding.
3) We impatient with everyone BUT ourselves
4) Some key verses: Ps 27:14; 33:20; 37:7; 40:1; 130:5
b. Idolatry (32:2,3)
1) People have so many idols in their lives
2) Yes, having a statue in your home to bow to is an idol
3) But so also is that stupid TV idiot box
4) And your car, or motor bike
5) And your relationship with your girlfriend/boyfriend
6) If it comes between you and God, it is an IDOL!
c. Intoxication - Drunkenness (32:6)
d. Irreverent ways of worship (32:19). Having church our own way is not the answer to why this world is going to hell
1) DANCING?
2) Carnival atmosphere (32:6)
3) Great fun, to be sure – but GOD was not in any of it
e. Immodesty - Nakedness (32:19) shameless
1) This is today’s plague
2) There is just no shame
3) Even IN churches
4) If immodesty is IN the homes, it is because it is IN churches
5) THAT’S why we Christians ignore people’s fashions, and fancy hats, and high heels. aren’t impressed with car colours, and speed, and alloy tyres!
6) People want to show off – real men don’t show off! And they don’t live for women to show off either!
2. Notice how that at God’s rebuke, the people felt shame again – praise God for touchable hearts, and for people who are not perfect, but who get right when warned from the Bible! AMEN! And it takes MEN to repent!
D. Stand With Jesus Christ (Ex 33:7; Heb 13:13)
1. Nobody ever said that the path to walk as a Christian was easy. Remember, God requires a humble, surrendered heart - not easy!
2. Up to this point, the Tabernacle (the Temple) was right in the midst of everybody - very easy to come and go with all the crowds
3. From here on out, the Tabernacle will be set outside of the camp - out in plain view of everybody
4. Therefore, if you sought to fellowship with the Lord, you had to:
a. Leave all the people of the camp (the world) behind – be in minority
b. Go alone - no longer a big party like it used to be
c. Worship and live for the Lord in full view of everyone else - not able to be secretive about it - if you try and start living for God according to this Book, people will watch like a hawk!
d. Bear the shame - now everyone would see that you were going to spend some time with the Lord, and therefore must be in trouble, or in need, or “too weak” to carry on by yourself! Which would be true!
5. That’s what denying yourself, and taking up your cross means!
6. Real men, stand with cross, and stand up for Jesus!
E. Abide with Christ (Ex 33:8-11) – Here is the best part
1. Notice who hangs around in the Tabernacle, after everyone is gone. Joshua stays around (lingers). He is doing something called abiding
2. It means:
a. Letting God do most of the talking where you are praying
b. Letting God speak as friend with friend to you (Pr 27:6) Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
c. Staying with God, fellowship, abide in the tabernacle just a little longer
1) Seek the Lord Himself – not just His blessings, or help
2) See God’s glory – let it linger
3) Hear God’s word – echo in your heart just a little longer
4) Be all alone with Him in your “closet”
3. The disciples had been taught this over the course of 3 and ½ years with Jesus right beside them – but they had to apply it after Jesus ascended back up to heaven
4. The principal is this:
a. Any attempt to solve the problems of life apart from a dependent relationship with God is both arrogant, and in the long run,, ineffective.
b. When Jesus sought to help the woman at the well, He did not offer her a 12 step recovery program for sexual addiction. Her greatest problem was not her immorality. No. She sought to fulfil the longing of her soul with something temporal. Jesus’ remedy was HIMSELF – a relationship with her Creator that would have permanent impact on her thirst for intimacy with other people
5. I can’t over-emphasise this enough! What REAL men need, is to know God (Jer 9:23,24)
a. Not just in the head – that is the means to the end
b. But the goal is to intimately know Jesus in my heart and hands
c. THAT’S where lives are changed, and transformed
d. We have great amounts of Bible knowledge, but little victory over sins and temptations
e. We have great motives, but little motivation
f. We have a great Saviour, but little time for Him!
g. HUH? How can that be?
h. It is all because we don’t take the time to abide
6. Let me explain what I mean:
a. With all the business of life, our prayer time, and Bible study is cold because we are not using it to get to know the Author – only the information
b. We use the Bible rightly for a guidebook for life, but it is more (1John 5:9) – Your Bible is a revelation from God about His Son!
c. There is a Person at the centre of everything you read in the Bible
d. EX: God did not put the account in John 6 of how we ought to feed large numbers of people at a church picnic. It was recorded to show us Jesus
1) His great compassion
2) His awesome abilities
3) His arrangement of situations so that our faith is tested, and strengthen
4) Do you ever ask yourself, What is “compassion?”
5) Do you think you show any compassion? Talking to MEN!
6) Have you ever had to fully trust Jesus for your needs? MEN?
7) Can you encourage anyone else to fully trust Jesus?
e. That’s just one example
IV.
Conclusion - Application
A. Go all out for God
B. Never take God for Granted
C. Repent of our Worldliness
D. Stand With Christ – separate from the world, and even religion
E. Abide with Him in fellowship, and a walk that seeks to know ONLY Him!