"Pick a Side" 11:30am April 6, 2025

“Pick a Side” (Exodus 32:25–26)

One of the pitfalls of modern Bible students is that we have the whole Bible, so that when we examine a particular passage (especially in the Old Testament), we often miss its teaching because we already know the outcome.

But if we examine only the context (and not the remainder of Scripture), the power of what God is teaching Israel becomes apparent or made plain to us today. For example, when Moses comes down the mountain from meeting with Jehovah, he stands in the gate or the entryway to their camp, and shouts loudly:

“Who is on the Lord’s side?” (Exodus 32:26)

He didn’t give a sermon or take a text. He asked a simple question. In that question he was asking them to pick a side. It is that simple — pick a side. We ask you today to pick a side. Yet, like in this passage, the simplicity of the question masks its complexity. Consider this:

Moses asks them to pick a side, but the people who were dancing naked in this passage (Exodus 32:25), in the presence of a golden calf that they made with their own golden earrings (Exodus 32:2), were the people of God (Deuteronomy 7:6; Leviticus 26:12).

God had especially chosen them (Deuteronomy 14:2; Leviticus 20:26). It was God who led them to the mountain on which they were presently camped (Exodus 19:17). So when Moses asked them to, in essence, “pick a side” in Exodus 32:26, they were literally in the midst of a worship celebration to the Lord for bringing them out of Egypt (Exodus 32:5).

The Israelites thought they had already picked or chosen a side. Herein is the lesson for us, so many believe that we have chosen to be on God’s side when they really haven’t. Consider the following three points:

1. Because He brought you out does not mean that you have chosen a side.

• a. Egypt was a place of bondage for God’s people.
• i. It was a bitter life for the Israelites (Exodus 1:13–14).
• ii. The Israelites were punished for trying to leave to worship God (Exodus 5:6–9).
• b. God led Israel from Egypt.
• i. Plagues caused Pharaoh to let them go (Exodus 9:1; 12:29–31).
• ii. God destroyed Pharaoh and his army (Exodus 14:27–28; Psalm 136:15).
• c. The Israelites worshipped in the presence of a golden calf which they gave credit for bringing them out of Egypt (Exodus 32:4).

2. You will have to evaluate (use discretion, judgment) about whose side you plan to choose.

• a. The people of God suffer from an antinomian worldview. The word “anti-nomian” means “without law” or in urban parlance: “can’t nobody tell me what to do or how to do it.”
• b. The type of worship in Exodus chapter 32 was expressly forbidden by the second commandment (Exodus 20:4–5).
• c. The people of God must know that some things are wrong, and other things are right (not based on feelings but according to the Word of the Lord – 1 Corinthians 5:12–13; Hebrews 5:14).
• d. Under pressure from the people (Exodus 32:1), Aaron created an environment for false worship (Exodus 32:2).
• e. God accused the people of turning away from what they were just instructed in (Exodus 32:8). He said that they had “corrupted” themselves (Exodus 32:7).

3. If you pick God’s side, you will not engage in sexual immorality.

• a. The people of God had gotten naked in their worship (Exodus 32:5). That much is clear from the text. But what may not be as clear is Exodus 32:6.
• i. The phrase “rose up to play” is Moses’ ancient euphemism for sex. The people of God did not have a problem with having sex with people to whom they were not married.
• ii. The people of God must value marriage for what God intended it to be: to create godly children (Malachi 2:15) thereby spreading His moral image (Genesis 1:28).
• b. A failure to judge between good and evil will lead to God’s judgment (Exodus 32:28, 35).
• c. Sexual immorality will cause many to be excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven (1 Corinthians 6:9; Revelation 22:15).

“Christ First, Christ Only, Christ Always”