Exodus 32:25–29Scripture
Everybody, open your Bibles this morning to Exodus chapter 32. I am very excited about this. Well, I actually wish I could preach on this the rest of the year, but I'm not allowed to. I could do whatever I want, but I'm not going to. I feel like there's so much to talk about in the Scripture. Were your small groups enriching conversation for this? I felt like it was very good. There were so many wonderful things that we could talk about. Probably you are coming in with a hope, and maybe a possible desire, that I will zero in on a specific thing. I seriously doubt that I will zero in on anything that you want today. Right? Sorry about that. I just feel like, with much prayer, there's something specific that I want to talk about. It's very short. Actually, I'm going to extrapolate out one or two verses. Let's turn to Exodus 32, verse 30... 20... I think it's 25 and 26. I want to zero in on these verses for us this morning. And for those of you who don't have context because you've not been in small group, or you didn't do the study and you're just kind of showing up today, let me lay some context for you today on this Palm Sunday. All right, here's some context. People are freed from captivity by God. They are removed out of slavery, and they are freed for a purpose: to be his. So now he leads them out of, honestly, one trouble after another. He does miracle after miracle. He splits Red Seas. He delivers his people repeatedly. And we see this scene of God's delivery of his people, and worship from his people celebrating that he has delivered them. Recently, not too long ago, he
Introduction
Delivered them from the Red Sea. The Red Sea split. They walked across on dry ground, and then he killed everyone that was in hot pursuit of them in the waters that were split for them. They celebrated. They wrote a song. They sang a song on the other side. They built an altar, and they praised the Lord. Something might come to mind like "Hosanna in the highest." Not exactly, but praise.
And it is amazing how we will praise God when we can control him.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 2:31
Or we will praise God when he's doing what we want him to do, but how our praise wanes just a few weeks later, when God isn't behaving the way we want him to. And the same people that praise his name and lay down palm branches and say, "Hosanna in the highest," are the same people who call for his death when he ain't behaving the way they want him to behave. And if you know anything about God, he isn't in the business of behaving the way you want him to behave. It's a real bummer. Now, I wish that you could manipulate God and do whatever you want with God, but if you could do that, he wouldn't be God. And if you could do that, he wouldn't be a Savior to everyone. Probably you would pick and choose who would be saved and who would not. And you might disqualify yourself with your qualifications, not even knowing you're disqualifying yourself.
The reality is, God doesn't behave the way you want.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 3:33
And if your love and adoration for him is dependent on his behavior, you got problems right off the bat. Now, we see a people here who want to be in control of God, and they're wrestling with the idea that they can't control God. And then we also see their worship seems to be connected to when he's behaving the way they want him to.
So now, when he behaves in a way that they don't understand or they don't want, their worship is shifted. Then they begin to create another god. This story in Exodus 32 speaks of them building a golden calf and worshiping like crazy people around the calf, because they want to fashion a god they can control, that they can pray to and get what they want. God doesn't think it's very funny. And we begin to see the really strong punishment he rolls out to them. I'm just going to extrapolate a couple verses here, and we're going to talk about it. But that's the context of what's going on. In 25 it says, "And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose," they had broken loose, and then in parentheses, "(for Aaron had let them break loose...)." You can't let somebody do something if you don't have the authority to stop it. So we see here that Aaron had some kind of authority to stop this, yet he chose not to. So whether or not you have read in your commentary that it was a mob and they would have killed him, whatever, all of that stuff is in there. But I came here today to tell you, right here in black and white, God is rebuking him, and Moses is irritated, because Aaron let them do it. See, you come to a point in your life, when you grow up, that you don't get to blame everybody else for your responsibility. Today, each of you are sitting in a seat, and you are responsible for your life. Your mama ain't responsible for it. Your history ain't responsible for it. The way you were treated in your past isn't responsible for it. All of your bad experiences aren't responsible for it. Your health isn't responsible for it. Guess what? You are responsible for where you are, and what you do, and the choices you make. And the reality is, all of us, each of us individually, are going to stand before the Lord one day, and we have to answer for our lives.
No one else answers the question about our lives. You are responsible. So you don't get a pass. You don't get to go, "Well, you don't know the family I was raised up in." That's like Aaron going, "You don't know how mad the people were."
A choice is a choice, regardless of your atmosphere.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 6:45
It's your choice. You don't get to blame anybody else for the choices you've made. Can I get an amen up in here? It's amazing, in our conversation, how much we want to give Aaron a pass, because essentially we're giving ourselves one. You don't get a pass. And in case you didn't know, the Bible already summarizes your choices: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." And y'all got problems, and you're all doomed. But there is a hope. And the whole point of this story is to speak of a hope, of the one that's coming to make atonement for our silliness. That's the good news. "...For Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies." Then verse 26: "Then Moses stood in the gate of the
Point 1Everyone must answer: who is on the Lord's side?
Camp and said, 'Who is on the LORD's side?'" That's the question for us today, isn't it? It isn't just a question for the Israelites. It's a question for you. Who's on the Lord's side this morning, as you sit in your seat? Which side are you on? Are you on the Lord's side? Whose side are you on? "Come to me." Notice here: "Who's on the Lord's side?" Then second, "Come to me." "And all the sons of Levi gathered around him." That sounds like a lot. We actually can't even deduce how many that is. We do know that they were charged to go kill their family and their friends and their associates, and 3,000 men dropped. So they think that it could possibly be less than 3,000. Some believe it could be between 3,000 and 5,000. Some believe it could be 1,500. In other words, out of the several million people that are there, it's a handful. A handful of people in this mass decided they were on the Lord's side. Yet God had delivered them. God had protected them. God had provided for them. God had given to them. God had saved them.
And out of all those people that he called his, only a handful called God theirs.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 9:03
Fascinating, isn't it? Wide is the path to destruction, and narrow is the gate to salvation. And I want you to understand that the reality is, we have churches filled with people that might not answer the call that God is theirs. That might not answer the call, "i'm on the Lord's side." And then there's a handful of people, probably several handfuls of people, inside the church every single Sunday that, if they were asked the question, "Who's on the Lord's side?" Would say yes with their mouth for an hour on Sunday, and they would be God-deniers with their life all through the week. Come on, now.
This is why the profession of your mouth is pretty shallow indeed, because your life must line up with your profession.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 10:06
We're going to talk about this a little bit. In spite of standing at the foot of the mountain... Smoke still lingers in the air from his presence, and thunder had rolled, the ground has shaken, and just weeks ago the voice of the Lord was heard like no other time in human history, and promises were made. Covenant was sealed, and God had spoken. And yet here we are, in front of the golden calf, with the people dancing in idolatry and turning their backs on the God who saved them time and time again. And then Moses steps into the chaos. He stands at the gate of the camp, his face still marked by the glory of being in God's presence, glowing like one of those little Glo Worm toys you had when you were a kid. You ever have one of those?
Did y'all have one of the Glo Worms, and you squeeze it and his face glows like that? Anyway. ADD, sorry. And he thunders out a question that still echoes through centuries into us today: "Who's on the Lord's side?" And it's not just a question for ancient Israel. It's not just a line in a dramatic story. It is the question today. It's the question that should ring in our ears every single time we open his Word. And it's the question that should ring in our ears every morning we awake. It's the question that should ring in our ears when we're driving down the road. It should be the question that marks our life: whose side are you on? Are you on the Lord's side? In a world filled with compromise (and there's much of it, amen?), where sin is dressed up in gold and worshiped even in churches, in a culture where people say they love God with their lips but they deny him with their lives, when the pressure is to bow to the golden calf of comfort and convenience and cultural approval, this question confronts every single one of us: Who's on the Lord's side? Not who believes in God. Not who attends church regularly. Not who leads a small group. Not who went down to the altar at camp. None of that. Who's on the Lord's side? That's the question. Who will stand with him when it costs everything, possibly your life? Who will draw a line and step across it this morning? We're not just reading a story. We're hearing a call. And it's to every single one of you. And it's one only you can answer. No one else can answer it for you. There are husbands and wives in this room. Husbands, your wife can't answer this for you. We live in an emasculated generation where men have acquiesced on their roles of being men. Men, stand up on your own two feet and be a man. Answer the call yourself.
Sorry to get hyped up, but I'm just tired of it, because we need men. We don't need men who've punted on their roles and let their wives be the men of the house. We need men who will be men in the house. Because men punting on your role, it's like Aaron punting on his.
We need men. We don't need tyrants. We need men. Men who, like Christ, lay their life down for their wife. Not lay on the couch and let their wife do everything. We need men. We need men in our church. We need men in our society. We need men brave enough to say no when it's time to say no, even if it is to their life. Because there's a time to say no and a time to say yes. There's a season for everything. We need more than just yes-men. God's Word is drawing a line in the sand, and the Spirit of God is still asking, "Who is on the Lord's side?" And so Moses stands in the gate and cries, "Who's on the Lord's side?" And then he says, "Come to me." And before we rush to answer the call ourselves, because many of us are already answering it, "Well, of course I'm on the Lord's side," we need to take a hard look at why the call had to be made in the first place. There's a problem, because something is desperately wrong in Israel. This is not just a moment of weakness. It is full-on rebellion. The people didn't just stumble; they broke loose. And Scripture tells us exactly who stood by and let it happen. His name is Aaron. Look again at verse 25: "For Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies." The people lost control, but the problem started at the top. Before we talk about who came and stood with the Lord, we have to talk about a man who didn't. Which are you? Are you a man who stands with the Lord, or are you a man who
Point 2Dereliction of duty: Aaron let them break loose
Doesn't? Ladies, are you a woman who stands with the Lord, or are you a woman who doesn't? Let's talk about, first of all, point one: the dereliction of duty. It's failing in your duty. That would be an easier way of saying it, but I needed a D, because I did four D's today for my points. All right, I know it's corny, but I think a good joke rhymes. So if it rhymes, it's funny, and you should laugh. And if you don't laugh, I'll laugh real hard in your face to get you to laugh at me laughing. Yesterday we were watching a TV show, and a car... Sorry, can we just take a moment? This has nothing to do with the sermon. A car ran over nails and went sideways and spun into a cornfield. And let me tell you, man, into a corn... No, into a cornfield. Thank you. Somebody said "field." Thank you. That was probably Ebony. She's helping me out, right? Yeah, it was. And I said... I started going down... See, he said... That's a dad. That's a dad, officially. I guarantee it was a dad who said it. "It must have been a corny joke he told that made him run into the cornfield." That was my first one. "That's what you get for telling a corny joke." And then I said stuff about ears, and somebody must have been stalking him, and he was driving too fast. What? What did you say? What was it? "Definitely not..." Brook said, "It's definitely not his field of dreams." It was hilarious. She didn't laugh at me, but she laughed at her own joke. But I just think rhyming is funny. I mean it. Anybody want a peanut? Anyway, I just love rhyming, right? What am I talking about? I don't even remember. We're talking about the dereliction of duties. Okay. So, Aaron, listen. Look here: "And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies)..." He failed in his duty. He had a duty to keep people from breaking loose, and he failed. He failed. A couple subpoints under this point to keep you on track. Aaron facilitated their sin. That was the first problem. Because you're asking me, how did he fail? Okay, well, let's look. Exodus 32:2 says, "So Aaron said to them, 'Take off the rings of gold... And bring them to me.'" See, it's one thing to watch people sin.
It's quite another to facilitate it. And many of us today can make fun of Aaron and point our fingers at him, but we have our own sense of leadership. We have our own circles in which we are responsible and have a duty to lead others. Every single person in here is a leader. You're leading someone. Everyone. You don't need a title to lead. People are watching and following you. Mothers, your kids: you're leading them. Everyone who has a friend, you're leading somebody by your association, through your relationship with them. You are responsible, and you have a duty with your life and the way that you live. But the problem with Aaron was not just that he watched the sin. That's bad enough, to stand back in silence and let people destroy their life. That's bad enough. That's anti-love. That's not loving your neighbor as yourself. That's the opposite of loving your neighbor as yourself. But he didn't just do that. He facilitated their sin by telling them to bring all the gold to him and place it in his hands. How many of you are enablers of people's sins, or have been guilty of being that? How many people have come to you, talking with a contrite and broken spirit, about what they've done and the choices they've made and the life they're living, and you try to talk... Because you don't want them to feel bad about themselves, you try to talk them out of their conviction? We facilitate. We create spaces for people to be comfortable in their sin. The church is doing it even today. The church has become a place where sin is welcome. Listen to me. All are sinners. All have sinned and fallen short. But we give positions to people who are actively living in sin in the church today, and we call it godly. Are you with me today? It's a problem. The church has broken loose. "And Aaron said to them, 'Take off the rings of gold... And bring them to me.'" Aaron should have resisted instead of facilitating their sin. But we don't want to say no. That's a dirty word in our society. And in case you want to know, it's not new to our society. Evidently it was a problem back then. We have a hard time saying no to people. People want a god they can control.
Inevitably, therefore, they will always want the leader they're connected to be somebody they can control as well. And we want to be liked so much that we'll allow ourselves to be controlled by the mob. Some of you got a mob right inside your house. And that's why we have parents who would rather be a friend to their kid than be a parent to one. Come on, now. That's why the school has discipline problems. It's not because the school has problems; it's because the parents have problems. We want everybody to be our homeboy. We want our kids to be our homeboy, and our wife to be our homeboy, and Jesus to be our homeboy. We want God to be a homeboy and the Holy Spirit to be a homeboy. And I came here today to tell you: God is God. He's your friend, but he's also King, and he's Judge, and he's Savior, and he's all those things, and one isn't there to remove the other. And sometimes parents need to know when to be a friend and when to be a dad, because they're different. When to be a friend and when to be an authority figure. And sometimes parents need to know when to turn off the authority figure and be a loving father and be a friend. But you got to be both. And if one destroys the other, you're failing. We have a duty. And don't you dare derelict on your duties. Number two: Aaron enabled. He enabled idolatry. We see that in Exodus 32:4: "And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf." Out of it! What in the world? What in the world? Aaron didn't just passively watch. He actively participated in their sin. However, I'll throw this in there as a P.S.: passively watching is actively participating, in my opinion. That's the way I feel about it. So when you stand before the Lord, you don't get a pass because of all those sinners out there who you passively watched sinning. If your passiveness in watching them, and not ever taking action on it, is just as bad as you doing it, you might as well just do it. That's the way I feel about it. Now, some of you can theologically argue with me about that, and that's fine. You might win that argument, but that's the way I feel at the moment, until you talk me out of it. We're trying to create scales on this thing. It's not okay to be a passive spectator.
We live our life before an audience of One.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 24:47
He's the spectator. And even if you're passive, you're still actively doing something. And he's watching. He's watching. Idolatry doesn't just come with evil intentions. Listen to me. Don't let this be lost on you. The foundation of idolatry is not necessarily evil intentions. Sometimes idolatry erupts in the life of an individual due to compromise. Let me ask you a question. If you were really to reflect on your life, is your life one that's marked by compromise, because you'd rather have peace than be holy? So many things... I don't know how that hits you, but I think about a lot of things.
We prioritize comfort, and so we compromise for comfort's sake.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 25:49
And sometimes we compromise on things we know we shouldn't compromise on, just so we can be comforted and have peace. Could it be that Aaron's like that? And could it be that you're guilty of behaving this way? Could it be? Are we excusing or enabling sin in our homes, churches, or hearts in the name of peace? There was a dereliction of duties.
Number three, subpoint: Aaron blamed the people. This is how he was derelict in his duties. He blamed the people. "Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people." Do you ever try to read the Scripture like somebody's actually talking? Like, "Yeah, you know these people. They're evil. They're evil." All the while, he's facilitating their sin. That's crazy.
It's crazy that you can identify the sin in others but not see it in yourself.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 26:56
That's fascinating to me, and highly relevant. And we are derelict in our duties when we're not self-aware. And do you know that you can be self-aware and still want bad stuff? He refused to look at his own sin and buried all of his own sins in the declaration of others'. How many of you... It's so easy to identify when someone else is an idiot. You're like, "Can we say 'idiot' in church?" Oh, my goodness. I've seen you say worse on Facebook. But you understand what I'm saying? That was supposed to be funny, but that was not very funny, was it? He feared the people more than God. Number
Point 3A decision has to be made today
Two: there's a decision that has to be made. It doesn't matter if you've been connected to somebody who's been derelict in their duties. And it doesn't matter if you've been derelict in your own duties as a leader. You don't get to blame any leader that's been around you. And I know you want to blame that church you grew up in that hurt you, that pastor that hurt you, and that parent that hurt you, and all those leaders who hurt you and abused their power and all of that stuff. And, wah, cry me a river. You don't get to blame everybody else anymore. God called, and he wants you to answer the call, regardless of any leader in your life that's been derelict in their duties, because, just so you know, you're a leader too. And I'm pretty sure you've done it. So you're in good company.
And that's the point of this, isn't it? To get us to see we need a Savior. That's what we need. That's what each of us needs. "Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, 'Who is on the LORD's side?'" Listen, there's a decision. Point two: there's a decision that has to be made. And Moses doesn't offer a compromise. He draws a clear line. There's no middle ground here. A couple subpoints, so you can see the decision that needs to be made. First of all, there has to be a call if there's going to be a decision. So let's listen to the call. The call was clear: "Who is on the LORD's side?" It's clear. Listen: not who's religious, not who feels spiritual today, but who actually belongs to the Lord. Not who's part of the right denomination that believes the right stuff, but who belongs to the Lord. Because there's people in each denomination that belong to the Lord, and that don't. Shocking, right? You're like, "Good, good news. We're part of a non-denominational..." Psych. That's a denomination too. Okay. The call was costly. The call was clear; the call is costly. To come to Moses meant turning your back on your friends, family, and maybe even your tribe. Answering this call cost you something. If you're on the Lord's side, if you belong to the Lord, it's going to cost you. It is going to cost you something. Following the Lord always requires surrender, and it's sometimes painful.
It's often... It's most often painful, and it's always total. The call was urgent. It wasn't like, "Hey, you know, whenever you feel like it, maybe you ought to give some consideration and decide sometime, someday, someplace." "Decide." You know, "Let me present the gospel to you, and, you know, sometime, when you get to it and you feel like it, maybe 20 years from now, once you've lived a big riotous life and you've really burned yourself out on all the sin, maybe give Jesus a try and decide then." No. The call was clear. The call was costly. And the call is urgent. Moses didn't wait for a better day. The people were already breaking loose. The time was now. I want you to understand: you're hearing the call as I preach, and the time is not tomorrow. And for some of you, the time is now. And it's urgent. And let me tell you, a denial that the time is now, an "I'll do it one day," is an answer to the call. It is urgent. You cannot delay this decision. You make it in your lack of making it.
Delayed obedience is disobedience.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 32:50
Joshua later says it this way: "Choose this day whom you will serve." "Maybe tomorrow." No. Choose this day. And if you don't choose, you chose. You chose. There's a decision that has to be made in the midst of us breaking loose. It's good that God gives us a chance to make one. It's good we can even choose him. But we can't choose him unless we have a call. And I came here today to say the call is
Point 4Declaration is more than coming forward
Real. The response was defining: few stepped forward. Few. Point number three: declaration. Verse 27: "And he said to them, 'Thus says the LORD God of Israel, "Put your sword..."'" I almost didn't want to talk about this, because it's like, I don't even understand what is happening here. I don't even get... I have ideas, but why in the world, when people step forward and are like, "I belong to the Lord," and it's few, he's like, "Hey, grab a sword and go kill a bunch of people you like"? Say what? "And he said to them, 'Thus says the LORD God of Israel, "Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor."'" I wouldn't want to be the brother. I wouldn't want to be the companion. I wouldn't want to be the neighbor. But death comes knocking when you don't choose God. Are you with me today?
And it's coming for all of us. And it's not a temporal death; it's an eternal one. Death comes knocking for the people that don't choose him. Now, I grew up in the South, man, so just track with me here. I grew up in the South, and there is a term called "hellfire and brimstone." And they used to preach you so scared you'd get saved every week, three times on Sunday. The goal of this sermon is not to scare you into a decision, because a decision marked by fear (not fear of the Lord, but fear) is the wrong kind of decision. So my goal here today is not to scare you into heaven and out of the pits of hell, but to help you understand that a decision must be made, and everyone will make one. And one brings death, and the other brings eternal life. And that's just facts, folks. That's just facts. And if you think... Let me just talk to the men in the house today. I'm just picking on men. It's just fun, because men can handle it, right? Okay, you can handle it. I just want you to understand, men, the decision you make affects your kinsmen, your friends, and your neighbors. It just affects it. It affects the whole house. There's actually percentages of a house that is not saved. When a wife gets saved, the whole house doesn't get saved. The percentages are really low. I'll actually give the percentages; I'll put it on my Facebook. The percentages are way low that the rest of the house will get saved. It's a fact. They've done a study. When a man gets saved, the percentages quadruple. Men, your decision doesn't just affect your life. It affects the lives of those around you. It's important. What are you declaring, men, with your life? Because your declaration is saving for you and your family. All right, that's good, man. They did not declare who they serve simply by coming forward. Okay, I just don't have time. I am out of time. I don't have time. I want to stay there for an hour. In a world and a culture where evangelism has been put forefront in the atmospheres of church and conferences and camps, we have made people coming forward as a response enough. But there are people, Matthew 7 says, that will stand before the Lord who said, "I prophesied in your name. I healed in your name. I cast out devils in your name. I did many mighty works in your name. I served in the church in your name. I came forward at camp and I prayed a prayer in your name." And he'll say, "Depart from me. I don't know you." So it is possible to come forward and not be saved. It's possible. And many people will be shocked one day when they stand before him that they're not. So what do we learn from this? That declaration is not simply coming forward. That's not enough. There are a lot of people that come forward to receive Christ as their Savior in church. But a declaration is not just coming forward and being separated one hour a week, or one hour at a conference. The Levites didn't just say they were on the Lord's side. They didn't just come forward. They followed through in obedience, even when it was hard and they didn't understand why God was asking something. Are you with me? See, I just want to answer the question with my mouth and deny him with my life. "God, you can have everything. You can have everything except for my money. God, you can have everything except for my kids. God, you can have everything except for my marriage. I'm in control of that. I'm the boss of that. I got the plans for that. You can have everything except for my church." It ain't yours? You didn't die for it.
True allegiance to God will always show up in your actions, not in your words.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 39:36
That's why James 2:17 says, "faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." It does not mean that faith is built by works, but faith is revealed by it.
It does not mean faith is established by your works, but faith is revealed by it. If the faith you declare with your mouth is not followed up by works, we can know that the faith you profess is actually a dead one, and it's not true. This command was deeply costly.
Point 5Dedication: saved from judgment, sent into service
Some had to confront, even kill, friends and relatives involved in rebellion. Let's just move on, because this is just too heavy. Okay. Number four: dedication. Verse 29: "And Moses said, 'Today you have been ordained for the service of the LORD, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother...'" Ordination came at a high cost. It ain't some free thing you get, or some class you take online and you get certified and ordained. It came at a cost, "so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day." Exodus 32:29. They did not earn... Hear me on this: they did not earn God's favor through perfection, but by wholehearted surrender.
You can be imperfect and surrender.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 41:26
David was known as a man after God's heart, yet he was an idiot, and he slept with Bathsheba, and he killed her husband. But when he realized what he had done, when God sent the prophet to talk to him and said, "You're the man that I'm talking about in these stories I'm telling that you're so mad about," he repented immediately, because essentially God had asked him the question Moses asked the people: "Whose side are you on, David? Are you on the Lord's side?" And he repented immediately. It isn't the issue that you sin and mess up, because we're going to make mistakes. But it's the issue that you don't care and you continue to do it and live in it habitually. That says something about you, and the choice you've made, and how you've answered the call. An oopsy-daisy is one thing, but do you repent? And I'm not talking about oopsy-daisy repent. "Oopsy-daisy, repent. Oopsy-daisy, repent. Repent. I got an out. Just repent. And the more I do it, the more I repent. The more I can do it. The more I repent, the more I can do it." Now, you might have a heart problem there. You might have a heart problem. You might need to answer the call. You might need to answer the call.
When you say, "I'm on the Lord's side," that means your life is not your own anymore.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 42:58
You were bought with a price. It says in the Bible, "You are not your own." And you know what else it means? No more fence-sitting. No more retreating when it gets hard. Dedication isn't just a moment. Listen to me, and I'm closing with this: it's a mission. God took those who stepped forward and gave them a role in his purposes. And the role wasn't just to go slay 3,000 people. He gave them a role moving forward, as the levites, to be a priestly tribe and make sacrifices for the people.
They weren't just saved from judgment. They were sent into service.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 43:52
And I think that's important for you to understand today. You weren't just saved from judgment. The same moment you were saved from judgment because of your sin, you were immediately sent into service. Is your life marked by service to the Lord, or is your life marked by service to self?
Decision is not just a moment. It's a mission. He doesn't just save you. He sends you.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 44:21
He sends you.
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44:44Now playing
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