The Sin of Idolatry

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Idolatry is putting something or someone in the place of God.

Not too long after their exodus from Egypt, the Israelites are caught up in sinful idolatry.  The proper response to God’s activity is worship, but they responded in abandonment.

Notes from Exodus 32

  1. Their hearts turned to Egypt long before their hands made a god (Acts. 7:39-40).  Idolatry is a heart problem.
  2. Seeking anything that God can give me from any other source is idolatry.
  3. The failures in the wilderness should remind us that any of us can fall into idolatry (1 Cor. 10:11-12).
  4. Even though the people had gotten out of Egypt, Egypt hadn’t gotten out of the people.
  5. A desire to fashion an idol with one’s own hands reveals the draw we have to the tangible and the visible.
  6. “Anything you love more, fear more, serve more, or value more than God is your idol.” -Adrian Rogers
  7. The people indicated their desire to worship the LORD (Ex. 32:5-6) but worship him in their own way.
  8. “The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of him.” -A.W. Tozer
  9. When God’s people grow impatient with God’s timing, they are prone to move on without him.
  10. The irony of idolatry is using a gift from God (Ex. 3:20-22) as a replacement for God (Ps. 106:19-21; Ex. 32:4).
  11. The golden calf couldn’t speak and that is exactly the kind of god so many of us desire (Ps. 115:5).
  12. The people chose to worship a created thing instead of worshiping the Creator God (Rom. 1:22-25).
  13. Never take good things and turn them into god things.
  14. When you worship the wrong god, you live the wrong way (Ex. 32:6).
  15. Idolatry is worshipping a demon playing dress up as a god (Deut. 32:17; 1 Cor. 10:19-20).
  16. Moses served as a mediator between the people and God (Ps. 106:23).
  17. Jesus is our mediator (1 Tim. 2:5; 1 John 2:1-2).