WEBVTT 00:00:06.739 --> 00:00:12.300 Psalm 106. Psalm 106. We're going to just touch 00:00:12.300 --> 00:00:15.460 it real briefly for just a second to remind ourselves 00:00:15.460 --> 00:00:19.739 what we're talking about tonight. Psalm 106. 00:00:19.800 --> 00:00:25.379 We started there last Wednesday, and we were 00:00:25.379 --> 00:00:28.940 introduced to a story, but we had to flip back 00:00:28.940 --> 00:00:32.020 to number 16 to really look at the story. I felt 00:00:32.020 --> 00:00:34.179 like it was worth us looking at. It's a good 00:00:34.179 --> 00:00:37.670 story. We looked at part of it last week, and 00:00:37.670 --> 00:00:39.969 we'll wrap up this portion of the story. But 00:00:39.969 --> 00:00:45.729 in Psalm 106, it's talking about Israel's unfaithfulness 00:00:45.729 --> 00:00:49.310 to God. God had been faithful to his people many 00:00:49.310 --> 00:00:53.409 times, but God's people were often unfaithful 00:00:53.409 --> 00:00:56.490 to him. And one of these stories is being recalled 00:00:56.490 --> 00:01:01.929 here in Psalm 106 in verse 16. We'll just refresh 00:01:01.929 --> 00:01:04.689 ourselves with this. story and then we'll flip 00:01:04.689 --> 00:01:09.250 back to Numbers 16 and talk more about it. Let's 00:01:09.250 --> 00:01:12.569 pray and we'll get started. God, we come to you. 00:01:12.609 --> 00:01:14.590 I thank you for your word. I pray that you would 00:01:14.590 --> 00:01:16.650 help us to learn something from what we are about 00:01:16.650 --> 00:01:19.930 to read, that we would pay attention to the actions 00:01:19.930 --> 00:01:23.989 of your people, that we would pay attention to 00:01:23.989 --> 00:01:27.680 your actions, dear Lord. Maybe what we see here 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:30.599 tonight would cause us to think a little bit 00:01:30.599 --> 00:01:33.340 about the things that we are tempted to do and 00:01:33.340 --> 00:01:37.239 the complaining that we are tempted so often 00:01:37.239 --> 00:01:39.620 to complain about, all the things that may come 00:01:39.620 --> 00:01:41.700 into our mind. And I pray that you just would 00:01:41.700 --> 00:01:44.459 free us from distractions and worries and let 00:01:44.459 --> 00:01:47.340 your Holy Spirit be among us tonight as we look 00:01:47.340 --> 00:01:50.560 at these words. In Jesus' name I pray it. Amen. 00:01:51.819 --> 00:01:58.390 Alright, Psalm 106 verse 16. In the camp they 00:01:58.390 --> 00:02:01.510 were envious of Moses and of Aaron, the Lord's 00:02:01.510 --> 00:02:05.590 holy one. The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan. 00:02:05.709 --> 00:02:10.129 It covered the assembly of Abiram. Fire blazed 00:02:10.129 --> 00:02:13.629 throughout their assembly, and flames consumed 00:02:13.629 --> 00:02:18.449 the wicked. So that brief three verses we see 00:02:18.449 --> 00:02:21.629 in Psalm 106 has a whole big story that goes 00:02:21.629 --> 00:02:24.530 with it. And we talked about that last week in 00:02:24.530 --> 00:02:27.919 Numbers 16. I'll refresh you a little bit about 00:02:27.919 --> 00:02:31.379 what was going on. Last week we read through, 00:02:31.639 --> 00:02:33.979 oh, I don't remember what verse we read through 00:02:33.979 --> 00:02:36.780 last week, through about verse 14. We read number 00:02:36.780 --> 00:02:41.840 16, verses 1 through 14. And there were a few 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:44.719 folks that really didn't like the way things 00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:48.120 were going with Moses and Aaron. And so Korah 00:02:48.120 --> 00:02:51.939 and Dathan and Abraham and some others that they 00:02:51.939 --> 00:02:55.419 gathered up were going to... do this rebellion 00:02:55.419 --> 00:02:58.080 against Moses. They said, hey, why do we have 00:02:58.080 --> 00:02:59.960 to follow you? Why do we have to listen to you? 00:03:00.400 --> 00:03:03.080 And they said, you know, we left a land flowing 00:03:03.080 --> 00:03:05.599 with milk and honey to come out here where we 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:08.159 are now. Well, the reason why they were in the 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:10.560 shape they were in was because of their disobedience. 00:03:10.620 --> 00:03:13.560 They certainly could have really been in a land 00:03:13.560 --> 00:03:15.919 flowing with milk and honey. It's interesting 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:19.620 that they remembered their time enslaved in Egypt. 00:03:20.030 --> 00:03:23.270 With such fond memories, obviously the time that 00:03:23.270 --> 00:03:26.169 had elapsed from when they were freed, they were 00:03:26.169 --> 00:03:27.889 kind of thinking back that things were a little 00:03:27.889 --> 00:03:32.729 better than they were. But they had saw the land 00:03:32.729 --> 00:03:35.650 that God had promised them, and based on the 00:03:35.650 --> 00:03:37.550 report of some of the ones that went in to check 00:03:37.550 --> 00:03:39.710 out the land, the people were afraid and didn't 00:03:39.710 --> 00:03:41.830 want to go in. So the Lord said, okay, you don't 00:03:41.830 --> 00:03:44.469 want to go in. You're not going to go in. Well, 00:03:44.550 --> 00:03:46.810 the people didn't like what was going on. They 00:03:46.810 --> 00:03:48.909 didn't like the way Moses and Aaron was leading. 00:03:49.319 --> 00:03:52.599 And so these three guys and some others, 250 00:03:52.599 --> 00:03:55.919 other leaders in the community, were planning 00:03:55.919 --> 00:03:57.719 this rebellion to say, look, we're not going 00:03:57.719 --> 00:03:59.639 to follow you, Moses. We don't have to listen 00:03:59.639 --> 00:04:01.780 to you. We can do this our own self. What makes 00:04:01.780 --> 00:04:05.199 you so special? So that's what we saw last week 00:04:05.199 --> 00:04:09.319 in the beginning part of the story. Now, as you 00:04:09.319 --> 00:04:12.500 can imagine, this did not sit well with Moses, 00:04:12.599 --> 00:04:16.259 and it did not sit well with the Lord. And so 00:04:16.259 --> 00:04:18.889 we're going to see the conclusion. of that story 00:04:18.889 --> 00:04:22.449 tonight in Numbers chapter 16, starting in verse 00:04:22.449 --> 00:04:24.810 15. We'll cover a lot of verses, but we'll try 00:04:24.810 --> 00:04:26.810 to get through them quickly because we really 00:04:26.810 --> 00:04:29.629 need to see most of these to understand the story. 00:04:30.069 --> 00:04:34.050 All right, Numbers 16, verse 15. Then Moses became 00:04:34.050 --> 00:04:37.069 angry and said to the Lord, Don't respect their 00:04:37.069 --> 00:04:40.410 offering. I have not taken one donkey from them 00:04:40.410 --> 00:04:43.970 or mistreated a single one of them. So Moses 00:04:43.970 --> 00:04:47.310 told Korah, You and all your followers are to 00:04:47.310 --> 00:04:50.370 appear before the Lord tomorrow, you, they, and 00:04:50.370 --> 00:04:54.329 Aaron. Each of you is to take his fire pan, place 00:04:54.329 --> 00:04:57.589 incense on it, and present his fire pan before 00:04:57.589 --> 00:05:03.529 the Lord. 250 fire pans. You and Aaron are each 00:05:03.529 --> 00:05:08.009 to present your fire pan also. Okay, so Moses 00:05:08.009 --> 00:05:10.290 says, look. I haven't done wrong by you guys. 00:05:10.529 --> 00:05:12.689 You guys are going to come out against us. You're 00:05:12.689 --> 00:05:14.250 going to come out against the Lord. You're coming 00:05:14.250 --> 00:05:16.870 out against me and Aaron. So tomorrow we're all 00:05:16.870 --> 00:05:20.589 going to gather with our fire pans before the 00:05:20.589 --> 00:05:22.829 Lord, and we're going to let the Lord sort this 00:05:22.829 --> 00:05:24.949 out. We're going to let the Lord decide who's 00:05:24.949 --> 00:05:27.209 in the right and who's in the wrong here. Is 00:05:27.209 --> 00:05:29.769 it going to be Moses and Aaron, or is it going 00:05:29.769 --> 00:05:32.769 to be Korah and Dathan and Abraham and all these 00:05:32.769 --> 00:05:36.149 who are... Calling Moses out, okay? They call 00:05:36.149 --> 00:05:38.990 Moses out. They're calling out the Lord essentially 00:05:38.990 --> 00:05:41.689 in this. And so Moses says, we're going to go 00:05:41.689 --> 00:05:44.069 before the Lord. We'll let the Lord sort this 00:05:44.069 --> 00:05:48.810 out. All right, verse 18. Each man took his firepan, 00:05:48.970 --> 00:05:51.769 placed fire in it, put incense on it, and stood 00:05:51.769 --> 00:05:54.209 at the entrance of the tent of meeting along 00:05:54.209 --> 00:05:57.949 with Moses and Aaron. After Korah assembled, 00:05:58.230 --> 00:06:16.160 the whole... All right, didn't take the Lord 00:06:16.160 --> 00:06:19.500 long to make a judgment on this case right here. 00:06:19.959 --> 00:06:22.500 These guys are coming against Moses. They all 00:06:22.500 --> 00:06:24.860 go before the Lord. The Lord says, Moses, you 00:06:24.860 --> 00:06:27.259 boys get out of the way. I'm about to send fire 00:06:27.259 --> 00:06:29.480 down. I'm about to consume this whole community 00:06:29.480 --> 00:06:32.160 of people. The Lord says, I'm done with them. 00:06:32.220 --> 00:06:34.899 I'm going to consume them. So the Lord had already 00:06:34.899 --> 00:06:37.060 made his decision on who was in the wrong here. 00:06:37.439 --> 00:06:41.160 All right, verse 22. But Moses and Aaron fell 00:06:41.160 --> 00:06:44.839 face down and said, God, God of the spirits of 00:06:44.839 --> 00:06:49.000 all flesh. When one man sins, will you vent your 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:51.540 wrath on the whole community? All right, that's 00:06:51.540 --> 00:06:54.779 a good thing we see of Moses here. Now, we see 00:06:54.779 --> 00:06:57.420 this throughout Moses as he leads the people. 00:06:57.980 --> 00:07:00.839 Moses intercedes for the people. He steps up 00:07:00.839 --> 00:07:03.000 for the people when they've done some pretty 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:05.620 evil things. Now, if God would have chosen to 00:07:05.620 --> 00:07:07.839 have wiped them all out, the whole bunch of them, 00:07:07.920 --> 00:07:10.540 he would have been right in doing so. He had 00:07:10.540 --> 00:07:14.240 given them some conditions. Hey, you need to 00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:16.240 do these things. And if you don't do these things, 00:07:16.360 --> 00:07:18.819 you're going to experience my wrath. Well, they 00:07:18.819 --> 00:07:21.399 did not follow the instructions of God. They 00:07:21.399 --> 00:07:23.920 did not live in obedience to him. And God says, 00:07:24.120 --> 00:07:28.120 I'm going to take care of them. But Moses intercedes 00:07:28.120 --> 00:07:31.540 and says, hold up, God. Not everybody's bad. 00:07:31.819 --> 00:07:34.360 There's some of these folks in your community 00:07:34.360 --> 00:07:37.290 that are bad, sure enough. These guys that are 00:07:37.290 --> 00:07:39.329 wanting to start this rebellion, they're not 00:07:39.329 --> 00:07:42.329 doing a good thing, but don't take out your anger 00:07:42.329 --> 00:07:45.069 on the whole group of your people, God, just 00:07:45.069 --> 00:07:47.750 because there's a few folks that are doing wrong. 00:07:47.990 --> 00:07:51.610 So Moses intercedes on behalf of the people. 00:07:51.750 --> 00:07:56.209 Verse 23, Then the Lord replied to Moses, Tell 00:07:56.209 --> 00:07:58.889 the community, get away from the dwellings of 00:07:58.889 --> 00:08:02.740 Korah, Dathan, and Abraham. Moses got up and 00:08:02.740 --> 00:08:05.019 went to Dathan and Abraham, and the elders of 00:08:05.019 --> 00:08:08.079 Israel followed him. He warned the community, 00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:11.500 Get away now from the tents of these wicked men. 00:08:11.939 --> 00:08:14.620 Don't touch anything that belongs to them, or 00:08:14.620 --> 00:08:17.300 you will be swept away because of all their sins. 00:08:18.019 --> 00:08:20.579 So they got away from the dwellings of Korah, 00:08:20.620 --> 00:08:24.120 Dathan, and Abraham. Meanwhile, Dathan and Abraham 00:08:24.120 --> 00:08:27.899 came out and stood at the entrance of their tents 00:08:27.899 --> 00:08:31.889 with their wives, children, and infants. Okay, 00:08:31.949 --> 00:08:33.889 now God had just told Moses and Aaron, hey, get 00:08:33.889 --> 00:08:37.090 away. I'm going to destroy everybody. And Moses 00:08:37.090 --> 00:08:39.570 intercedes and says, hold up, God. There's some 00:08:39.570 --> 00:08:42.289 bad eggs in this group, but don't punish everybody 00:08:42.289 --> 00:08:44.409 because there's a few bad guys in this group 00:08:44.409 --> 00:08:48.389 that are doing wrong. So the Lord hears Moses' 00:08:48.629 --> 00:08:51.200 request. And so Moses goes out and tells the 00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:54.100 community, all right, these dudes here, Korah, 00:08:54.100 --> 00:08:57.100 Dathan, and Abraham, they're up to no good. And 00:08:57.100 --> 00:08:58.879 if y 'all know what's good for you, you need 00:08:58.879 --> 00:09:01.220 to get away from them. Don't be anywhere close 00:09:01.220 --> 00:09:03.399 to them, nothing they own, not their family. 00:09:03.460 --> 00:09:06.220 You need to get away. You need to get out of 00:09:06.220 --> 00:09:08.700 God's path because God is about to bring his 00:09:08.700 --> 00:09:12.799 wrath on these who have done wrong. So Moses 00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:16.240 gives the people a warning. All right, let's 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:20.440 continue on in verse 28. Then Moses said, This 00:09:20.440 --> 00:09:23.860 is how you will know that the Lord sent me to 00:09:23.860 --> 00:09:26.600 do all these things and that it was not of my 00:09:26.600 --> 00:09:30.899 own will. If these men die naturally, as all 00:09:30.899 --> 00:09:34.240 people would, and suffer the fate of all, then 00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:37.899 the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord brings 00:09:37.899 --> 00:09:40.860 about something unprecedented and the ground 00:09:40.860 --> 00:09:43.879 opens its mouth and swallows them along with 00:09:43.879 --> 00:09:46.779 all that belongs to them so that they go down 00:09:46.779 --> 00:09:50.620 alive into Sheol, then you will know that these 00:09:50.620 --> 00:09:56.240 men have despised the Lord. Okay? So Moses says, 00:09:56.419 --> 00:09:59.019 all right, we need to figure out who's in the 00:09:59.019 --> 00:10:01.799 right and who's in the wrong. If I'm in the wrong, 00:10:01.899 --> 00:10:05.399 Moses says, if God did not send me, then these 00:10:05.399 --> 00:10:07.419 men who are coming against me, then nothing's 00:10:07.419 --> 00:10:09.779 going to happen to them. Then they're just going 00:10:09.779 --> 00:10:11.679 to live a long, normal life. There will be no 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:14.399 more problems. They'll go on their way. I'll 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:16.840 go on my way. And if nothing happens to these 00:10:16.840 --> 00:10:20.139 men, then you'll know that God didn't send me. 00:10:20.860 --> 00:10:24.600 But Moses says, if God did send me, then the 00:10:24.600 --> 00:10:27.299 ground, may it open up and may it swallow these 00:10:27.299 --> 00:10:30.299 men and everything they got. May it be brought 00:10:30.299 --> 00:10:32.139 down to Sheol. May it be brought down to the 00:10:32.139 --> 00:10:35.799 grave with them. All right, let's see what happens 00:10:35.799 --> 00:10:40.539 after Moses speaks these words. Verse 31. Just 00:10:40.539 --> 00:10:43.740 as he finished speaking all these words, the 00:10:43.740 --> 00:10:47.240 ground beneath them split open. The earth opened 00:10:47.240 --> 00:10:49.700 its mouth and swallowed them and their household, 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:52.480 all Korah's people and all their possessions. 00:10:52.940 --> 00:10:56.019 They went down alive into Sheol with all that 00:10:56.019 --> 00:10:58.700 belonged to them. The earth closed over them 00:10:58.700 --> 00:11:01.769 and they vanished from the assembly. At their 00:11:01.769 --> 00:11:04.289 cries, all the people of Israel who were around 00:11:04.289 --> 00:11:07.289 them fled because they thought, the earth may 00:11:07.289 --> 00:11:11.129 swallow us too. Fire came down from the Lord 00:11:11.129 --> 00:11:15.330 and consumed the 250 men who were presenting 00:11:15.330 --> 00:11:20.250 the incense. Sure enough, we see who was in the 00:11:20.250 --> 00:11:23.590 right. It was Moses. Moses was sent by God. He 00:11:23.590 --> 00:11:26.000 was doing exactly what God said. He was giving 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:28.299 the commands of God to the people. They didn't 00:11:28.299 --> 00:11:30.759 always like it. They didn't like the results 00:11:30.759 --> 00:11:34.139 that they were getting, which was pretty much 00:11:34.139 --> 00:11:36.740 their own fault. God told them what to do. They 00:11:36.740 --> 00:11:39.419 didn't do it. God would bring consequences, and 00:11:39.419 --> 00:11:43.179 then they'd complain, and then Moses would intercede, 00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:44.779 and then they'd complain some more. It's just 00:11:44.779 --> 00:11:47.779 this cycle that we see over and over. But Moses 00:11:47.779 --> 00:11:50.460 was just doing the Lord's work. And Moses said, 00:11:50.539 --> 00:11:52.940 okay, if I'm doing the Lord's work, ground's 00:11:52.940 --> 00:11:54.580 going to swallow these dudes up, ground open 00:11:54.580 --> 00:11:56.929 up. swallowed these dudes up, all their family, 00:11:57.009 --> 00:11:59.330 everything, and the ground closed over them. 00:11:59.370 --> 00:12:01.570 So you can imagine there was great fear among 00:12:01.570 --> 00:12:03.669 the people. It got their attention, at least 00:12:03.669 --> 00:12:06.409 for a second, that God had brought judgment on 00:12:06.409 --> 00:12:08.269 these people, on Korah and Dathan and Abraham 00:12:08.269 --> 00:12:12.330 and their families, and these other 250 men, 00:12:12.409 --> 00:12:14.889 fire consumed them. Boom. Now this is the event 00:12:14.889 --> 00:12:18.269 that we see described in those three short verses 00:12:18.269 --> 00:12:21.330 in Psalm 106. This is what's being talked about 00:12:21.330 --> 00:12:24.110 here. This type of disobedience and complaining 00:12:24.110 --> 00:12:27.710 and rebellion among God's people, those three 00:12:27.710 --> 00:12:31.450 little verses have a big story behind them that 00:12:31.450 --> 00:12:34.070 helps us to understand just how serious God was. 00:12:34.190 --> 00:12:36.110 God didn't take these things lightly. He was 00:12:36.110 --> 00:12:39.590 pretty serious about his people and about them 00:12:39.590 --> 00:12:43.090 living in obedience to him. And when these guys 00:12:43.090 --> 00:12:45.169 tried to come and thwart his plan and tried to 00:12:45.169 --> 00:12:47.190 overthrow Moses, God said, no, this isn't the 00:12:47.190 --> 00:12:49.750 way it's supposed to be. And even though God 00:12:49.750 --> 00:12:51.629 desired to destroy them, praise the Lord that 00:12:51.629 --> 00:12:54.789 Moses was a good intercessor there for the people 00:12:54.789 --> 00:12:57.610 that God only destroyed those who were trying 00:12:57.610 --> 00:13:00.190 to cause the rebellion and not the whole community. 00:13:00.590 --> 00:13:03.309 Now let's skip down a few verses to verse 41. 00:13:03.889 --> 00:13:07.309 All right, so this right here should be the end 00:13:07.309 --> 00:13:10.110 of the story because God has done a pretty powerful 00:13:10.110 --> 00:13:13.309 thing. Like if all of a sudden today you saw 00:13:13.309 --> 00:13:16.120 the ground open up, and people do an evil fall 00:13:16.120 --> 00:13:19.279 into it and the ground's shut behind them, you'd 00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:20.919 think that would probably get your attention 00:13:20.919 --> 00:13:24.360 so that you'd live in obedience and stop complaining. 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:29.159 Verse 41, The next day the entire Israelite community 00:13:29.159 --> 00:13:32.240 complained about Moses and Aaron, saying, You 00:13:32.240 --> 00:13:35.879 have killed the Lord's people. What in the world 00:13:35.879 --> 00:13:40.399 is going on? We just saw this same thing in Exodus 00:13:40.399 --> 00:13:46.809 chapter 15. Right when God got them out of slavery, 00:13:46.870 --> 00:13:49.169 right when they crossed the Red Sea, they sung 00:13:49.169 --> 00:13:51.309 a praise to the Lord, and then three verses later 00:13:51.309 --> 00:13:54.009 they complained about how bad things were. They 00:13:54.009 --> 00:13:57.250 had just saw the power of God swallow up these 00:13:57.250 --> 00:14:02.169 men who spoke against Moses and Aaron, and you 00:14:02.169 --> 00:14:04.370 don't have to skip down but a handful of verses, 00:14:04.470 --> 00:14:07.970 and the next day the community complained about 00:14:07.970 --> 00:14:11.870 Moses and Aaron. Now how do you think God felt 00:14:11.870 --> 00:14:14.750 about that? He had just swallowed up all these 00:14:14.750 --> 00:14:17.529 guys for what they were doing. Well, guess what? 00:14:17.769 --> 00:14:19.990 The Lord's attitude hadn't changed. The next 00:14:19.990 --> 00:14:22.570 day, he was still just as angry about that kind 00:14:22.570 --> 00:14:25.250 of action that he was the day before. The next 00:14:25.250 --> 00:14:28.370 verse, verse 42. When the community assembled 00:14:28.370 --> 00:14:30.710 against them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the 00:14:30.710 --> 00:14:33.649 tent of meeting, and suddenly the cloud covered 00:14:33.649 --> 00:14:37.669 it, and the Lord's glory appeared. Moses and 00:14:37.669 --> 00:14:39.450 Aaron went to the front of the tent of meeting, 00:14:39.629 --> 00:14:43.179 and the Lord said to Moses, Get away from this 00:14:43.179 --> 00:14:46.600 community so that I may consume them instantly. 00:14:48.039 --> 00:14:51.500 Same thing we just saw. Isn't that pretty hard 00:14:51.500 --> 00:14:54.399 -headed of God's people that they had just saw 00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:58.659 him destroy these families for complaining about 00:14:58.659 --> 00:15:01.279 Moses and Aaron, and the next day they complain 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:03.980 about Moses and Aaron, and God says, all right, 00:15:03.980 --> 00:15:07.259 I'm ready to do it again. Watch out, Moses. Watch 00:15:07.259 --> 00:15:11.250 out. Let me be done with these people. But what 00:15:11.250 --> 00:15:13.789 does it say at the end of that verse? But they 00:15:13.789 --> 00:15:18.610 fell face down. Verse 46. Then Moses told Aaron, 00:15:18.789 --> 00:15:22.769 take your fire pan, place fire from the altar 00:15:22.769 --> 00:15:25.809 in it and add incense. Go quickly to the community 00:15:25.809 --> 00:15:29.909 and make atonement for them because the wrath 00:15:29.909 --> 00:15:35.529 have come from the Lord. The plague has begun. 00:15:36.629 --> 00:15:39.350 What does Moses and Aaron do here? What did they 00:15:39.350 --> 00:15:41.659 do before? God said, I want to destroy everybody. 00:15:41.879 --> 00:15:44.980 And Moses says, hold on. Hold on, dear Lord. 00:15:45.259 --> 00:15:47.320 Moses says, look, we've got to make atonement. 00:15:47.340 --> 00:15:50.039 He tells Aaron, go get your fire pan. We've got 00:15:50.039 --> 00:15:52.379 to make atonement for these people. God's going 00:15:52.379 --> 00:15:55.759 to wipe them out. So Aaron does just that in 00:15:55.759 --> 00:15:58.440 verse 47. So Aaron took his fire pan and Moses, 00:15:58.600 --> 00:16:01.340 as Moses had ordered, ran into the middle of 00:16:01.340 --> 00:16:03.720 the assembly and saw that the plague had begun 00:16:03.720 --> 00:16:07.460 among the people. After he added incense, he 00:16:07.460 --> 00:16:10.740 made atonement for the people. He stood between 00:16:10.740 --> 00:16:13.539 the dead and the living and the plague was halted. 00:16:13.860 --> 00:16:17.200 But those who died from the plague numbered 14 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:21.220 ,700 in addition to those who died because of 00:16:21.220 --> 00:16:24.600 the Korah incident. Aaron then returned to Moses 00:16:24.600 --> 00:16:27.019 at the entrance of the tent of meeting since 00:16:27.019 --> 00:16:30.940 the plague had been halted. Now we don't know 00:16:30.940 --> 00:16:32.539 what kind of plague this was. We don't have any 00:16:32.539 --> 00:16:35.379 details other than it was a plague. That God's 00:16:35.379 --> 00:16:37.370 people still hadn't learned their lesson? that 00:16:37.370 --> 00:16:39.590 they still complained, that they still called 00:16:39.590 --> 00:16:42.970 out Moses and Aaron. God says, it's done. I'm 00:16:42.970 --> 00:16:46.769 going to destroy them. Moses and Aaron intercede 00:16:46.769 --> 00:16:50.250 for the people, and in the middle of their intercession, 00:16:50.269 --> 00:16:54.250 because they make atonement for the people, some 00:16:54.250 --> 00:16:57.870 of them are spared. Some of them die. 14 ,700, 00:16:57.990 --> 00:17:00.350 plus all those others that the ground swallowed 00:17:00.350 --> 00:17:02.629 up. There was a lot of people that died. God 00:17:02.629 --> 00:17:05.089 was bringing destruction on them, and rightfully 00:17:05.089 --> 00:17:08.240 so. God was right to pass judgment on them. He 00:17:08.240 --> 00:17:13.480 was doing no wrong there. Praise the Lord that 00:17:13.480 --> 00:17:17.599 Moses and Aaron interceded to make atonement 00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:22.480 for the people. It says in verse 48 that Aaron 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:28.759 stood between the dead and the living. Now, this 00:17:28.759 --> 00:17:31.559 is a pretty good story for us to consider tonight. 00:17:32.619 --> 00:17:37.640 One... We see how serious God takes sin. And 00:17:37.640 --> 00:17:40.140 God was pretty serious about this. I mean, he 00:17:40.140 --> 00:17:42.019 opened up the ground and swallowed these folks. 00:17:42.980 --> 00:17:45.339 And they continued to complain, and they continued 00:17:45.339 --> 00:17:47.460 to live in disobedience. They should have learned 00:17:47.460 --> 00:17:50.660 their lesson. But maybe there are some times 00:17:50.660 --> 00:17:52.440 in life that we need to stop and look at our 00:17:52.440 --> 00:17:54.339 own life and say, well, are we living in some 00:17:54.339 --> 00:17:57.799 kind of disobedience? Maybe we turn a blind eye 00:17:57.799 --> 00:18:00.059 to it, or maybe we think, oh, that's okay, it's 00:18:00.059 --> 00:18:04.220 2026. Maybe it's not something that God turns 00:18:04.220 --> 00:18:07.759 a blind eye to. Maybe he takes our sin a little 00:18:07.759 --> 00:18:11.720 more seriously than we do. And maybe we need 00:18:11.720 --> 00:18:13.660 to pump the brakes a little bit and think, okay, 00:18:13.819 --> 00:18:17.359 we're not any better really than these Israelites. 00:18:18.319 --> 00:18:21.359 How many times have we done wrong again and again? 00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:24.299 How many times should we have learned our lesson? 00:18:25.059 --> 00:18:28.420 But we didn't. And we keep on doing things that 00:18:28.420 --> 00:18:30.900 we shouldn't do. We see this time and time again. 00:18:31.549 --> 00:18:33.349 for the people of Israel, and we're really no 00:18:33.349 --> 00:18:35.910 better. There are things in our life that we 00:18:35.910 --> 00:18:37.329 should have learned our lesson, and we should 00:18:37.329 --> 00:18:39.750 have stopped doing things that we are doing, 00:18:39.809 --> 00:18:43.990 and we should stop our complaining. But we see 00:18:43.990 --> 00:18:46.029 God work one day, and we complain the next day. 00:18:46.609 --> 00:18:49.990 And so really, we're no better than these folks. 00:18:50.930 --> 00:18:54.769 And we're just as deserving of God's wrath. I 00:18:54.769 --> 00:18:57.089 mean, based on what we do, God has every right 00:18:57.089 --> 00:19:00.799 to strike us down. If he wants to look down on 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:02.700 us and say, I'm done with them, I want to destroy 00:19:02.700 --> 00:19:05.480 that community, God would have every right to 00:19:05.480 --> 00:19:09.119 do so. But the beautiful part about this story 00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:12.000 is it really kind of foreshadows what's going 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:15.079 to come in Jesus Christ. That even though we 00:19:15.079 --> 00:19:19.559 are a people deserving of God's wrath, that there 00:19:19.559 --> 00:19:24.279 is one who stands up for us. That as we are those 00:19:24.279 --> 00:19:28.019 who are dead in our sin, that Jesus Christ stands 00:19:28.019 --> 00:19:30.140 between the living and the dead, and he says, 00:19:30.180 --> 00:19:33.299 look, I want to save those who are dying. I want 00:19:33.299 --> 00:19:35.680 to save those who are going to experience God's 00:19:35.680 --> 00:19:38.680 wrath, and it's Jesus who makes atonement for 00:19:38.680 --> 00:19:41.660 us. Now Aaron made atonement for those people, 00:19:41.779 --> 00:19:44.539 and those who were atoned for are the ones who 00:19:44.539 --> 00:19:47.039 survived. Those are the ones who were spared. 00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:50.640 Now praise the Lord for us tonight that Jesus 00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:54.339 has come to stand between us and God to make 00:19:54.339 --> 00:19:57.240 atonement for us. That we don't get the wrath 00:19:57.240 --> 00:20:00.500 that we deserve, but that Jesus took that wrath 00:20:00.500 --> 00:20:04.640 by dying on a cross to give us atonement so that 00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:09.180 we may be spared. Even when we look at this story, 00:20:09.380 --> 00:20:11.759 as we've gone through the Psalms, you may recall 00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:14.519 when we got to, I believe, Psalm 44, we saw a 00:20:14.519 --> 00:20:17.680 little section that started a few of the Psalms 00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:20.339 that were Psalms that it said were written by 00:20:20.339 --> 00:20:23.920 the sons of Korah. That's just who he talked 00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:28.029 about. So Korah didn't do right by the Lord and 00:20:28.029 --> 00:20:29.990 the ground opened up and swallowed him, but somebody 00:20:29.990 --> 00:20:33.130 from Korah's line ultimately must have learned 00:20:33.130 --> 00:20:35.730 from Korah's mistakes. Because some of the very 00:20:35.730 --> 00:20:37.730 Psalms that we've been reading over the last 00:20:37.730 --> 00:20:40.390 couple of years were Psalms that were written 00:20:40.390 --> 00:20:44.650 by the descendants of Korah. Perhaps they knew 00:20:44.650 --> 00:20:48.809 of this story of Korah. Perhaps that got their 00:20:48.809 --> 00:20:51.430 attention, that they realized, I don't want to 00:20:51.430 --> 00:20:55.299 be the one who goes against the Lord. I want 00:20:55.299 --> 00:21:00.819 to be the one who's atoned for by the Lord. What 00:21:00.819 --> 00:21:03.259 about us tonight? Have we found that atonement 00:21:03.259 --> 00:21:05.400 in Jesus Christ? Do we know that tonight our 00:21:05.400 --> 00:21:08.660 sins separate us from the Lord? That we may look 00:21:08.660 --> 00:21:10.400 at our life and we may think we're better than 00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:12.440 we are, but really we're just as bad as these 00:21:12.440 --> 00:21:16.079 Israelites in this story. Time and again through 00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:19.000 the Old Testament, we see them doing the same 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:22.000 types of things that we do. And it's not good. 00:21:23.019 --> 00:21:26.019 But God is gracious to us. And praise the Lord 00:21:26.019 --> 00:21:27.779 that he doesn't just strike us all down today. 00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:29.920 He could strike everybody on the planet down 00:21:29.920 --> 00:21:32.920 today if he wanted to. But God is patient, not 00:21:32.920 --> 00:21:35.160 wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance 00:21:35.160 --> 00:21:38.180 through Jesus Christ, who is our intercessor. 00:21:38.660 --> 00:21:41.720 In the same way that Moses continually interceded 00:21:41.720 --> 00:21:44.900 for the people, Jesus Christ intercedes for us 00:21:44.900 --> 00:21:47.920 today. And just as Aaron made atonement for the 00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:50.940 people, so Jesus has made atonement on the cross. 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:54.440 Hopefully we've been covered by Jesus' blood 00:21:54.440 --> 00:21:56.819 and we've experienced that atonement tonight. 00:21:57.039 --> 00:21:59.799 Let's pray. God, we thank you for this good story 00:21:59.799 --> 00:22:02.839 and may it get our attention, dear Lord. Maybe 00:22:02.839 --> 00:22:05.720 there are some things in our life that we realize 00:22:05.720 --> 00:22:07.700 that we're just as stubborn and hard -headed 00:22:07.700 --> 00:22:10.799 and just as bad as the Israelites, dear Lord. 00:22:10.880 --> 00:22:13.640 We don't want to be okay with that. And so I 00:22:13.640 --> 00:22:15.299 pray, dear Lord, that you'd help us to check 00:22:15.299 --> 00:22:18.529 our own life. We thank you for your mercy, dear 00:22:18.529 --> 00:22:20.450 Lord, and I ask that you would be merciful and 00:22:20.450 --> 00:22:24.289 gracious to us. We thank you for Jesus for being 00:22:24.289 --> 00:22:26.430 our atonement, dear Lord, to take care of us. 00:22:26.450 --> 00:22:29.369 God, we know we don't deserve your grace and 00:22:29.369 --> 00:22:31.009 there's nothing we can do to earn it. There's 00:22:31.009 --> 00:22:33.089 no amount of good works or anything we can do 00:22:33.089 --> 00:22:35.789 or say. So I pray, dear Lord, that we always 00:22:35.789 --> 00:22:38.329 just trust in Jesus and what he's done for us 00:22:38.329 --> 00:22:41.390 and never become proud, but always humble ourselves 00:22:41.390 --> 00:22:44.329 before the cross and the one who offered atonement 00:22:44.329 --> 00:22:47.539 for us. And I ask these things in Jesus' name. 00:22:47.900 --> 00:22:48.359 Amen.