WEBVTT

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Psalm 106, verse 28. All of these little stories

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we're looking at, they've all been really short.

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They're all up to this point. It brought us back

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to Israel's time as they were brought out of

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Egypt, how they wandered in the wilderness, their

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constant disobedience, their grumbling, their

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complaining. All of these stories are bad. These

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are bad. Nothing good is happening in these stories

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that we're looking at. This chapter is about

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Israel's unfaithfulness to God. Remember the

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previous chapter was that God was faithful to

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his people, and then this chapter is a reminder

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of their continued unfaithfulness. And so tonight

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we are going to look at another passage, another

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story that's also going to bring us back to the

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Old Testament. looking in the Psalms and then

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working our way back to where these stories are

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found in the Old Testament. And this one's tonight.

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It's got a lot of passages that we'll try to

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look at. There's kind of a lot of connection

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to this story. So let's pray, and then we'll

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get started. God, we come to you. We thank you

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for your good word. I pray that you help us to

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understand what's going on here, that we see

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the importance of your word, that these stories

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are a reminder to us, warning to us, dear Lord,

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that we pay attention to the things that we do

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and the way that we act, dear Lord, that we would

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be those who are obedient to you, that we don't

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have to learn hard lessons, God. And I pray that

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you just be with me as I preach and teach your

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word, that it'll all be for your glory. In Jesus'

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name I pray it. Amen. All right, Psalm 106, verse

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28. It's talking about the Israelites here. It

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says, They aligned themselves with Baal of Peor

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and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods.

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They provoked the Lord with their deeds, and

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a plague broke out against them. But Phinehas

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stood up and intervened, and the plague was stopped.

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Now, again, this is like most of the other little

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sections we've looked at, three verses, four

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verses. A short little story. that draws us back

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to kind of a bigger story that we see in the

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Old Testament. Now, if you flip in the Old Testament

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to Numbers chapter 25, Numbers chapter 25, and

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I would encourage you this week for homework,

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if you want to read the chapters before to get

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a little bit of a background and see what's going

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on or read the verses that come after to see

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the whole story unfold. But we're going to look

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at Numbers chapter 25. verses 1 through 13. This

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is going to recall this story that we are talking

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about. Now, the problem, as we see in Psalm 106,

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is that the Israelites aligned themselves with

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the Baal of Peor. Now, we see Baal mentioned

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several times in the Old Testament. Usually,

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it's attached to a place. In this particular

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instance, it was attached to Peor. So Baal just

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simply means Lord, the Lord of Peor, the God

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that they worshipped, essentially. The false

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god of the people of that area is really what

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it's talking about. Now remember, God had told

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his people that they were to have no other gods

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before him. They weren't supposed to worship

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idols. They weren't supposed to seek after other

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gods. And that was the problem. They were doing

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that. They had begun to seek out these other

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gods. They were interacting with these other

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gods. They had sexual immorality that was taking

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place. They were eating food sacrificed to these

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gods. Things were bad, and so we see God bring

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his punishment on them. We see this plague mentioned

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here, and we also see Phineas mentioned, that

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he was the one who kind of stepped in for them.

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Now, we've seen that theme throughout several

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of these stories that we've looked at. God's

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people disobedient, God's wrath comes on the

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people, and there's somebody that steps in to

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intervene for them. We see that with Aaron. We've

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seen it with Moses. Now we see it with Phinehas.

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Now we just get a little brief outline of the

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story in Psalm 106, but Numbers 25 tells us the

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rest of the story. In verse 1, it says, While

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Israel was staying in the Acacia Grove, the people

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began to have sexual relations with the women

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of Moab. The women invited them to the sacrifices

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of their gods, and the people ate and bowed in

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worship to their gods. So Israel aligned itself

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with Baal of Peor, and the Lord's anger burned

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against Israel. All right, so we have the scene

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set for us. What's the problem? God had told

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his people not to marry these foreign women.

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Now, is that because God is against foreign people?

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Well, not exactly. Because if you look at the

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genealogy of Jesus, for instance, one of the

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names you see in there is Rahab. Well, she's

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not a woman from Israel. She was a Canaanite.

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And so God wasn't necessarily just against foreigners.

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He told his people to love the foreigners and

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to be kind to them on some occasions. But there

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were also plenty of these foreigners that they

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came up against that were evil people. And justice

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was served. God oftentimes would tell his people

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to destroy these people, not because he didn't

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like certain people, but because many times these

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people were doing a lot of evil stuff, like really

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serious evil stuff. They weren't innocent people.

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And so God didn't just not want his people to

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associate with foreign women. The reason why

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he gave such commands is there was a reason,

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and that is because these foreign women were

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going to lure the Israelite men away from God.

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Now, here's something that you guys may not be

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aware of, but this is a newsflash. Men like women,

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and they'll do just about anything for women.

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Now, I don't know if y 'all figured that out

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yet. but I suspect you probably have. Man, you

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know that's to be true, because one day you've

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had your eye on a girl before, and you pretty

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much would say or do anything you could to get

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to spend time with them. I remember one day,

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Jennings, there was a hog that was killed. He

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was going to skin it, and I knew Michelle was

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going to be at their house. That's before we

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got married, and I volunteered to go help skin

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the hog. Now, what do I know about skinning a

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hog? I mean, you might as well have told me to

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go out there and build an Eiffel Tower. But I

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was like, oh, yeah, I'll come over there and

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help because I wanted to hopefully get this.

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And so we get over there, and then you know what

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he says? I'm getting off track. He says, well,

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we're going to take this down to one of my buddies

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in Gillsburg and do it. And I was like, Gillsburg?

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I don't want to go to Gillsburg to skin a hog.

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So anyway, the point being is men will do whatever

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it takes to be close to a woman, and women can

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kind of have their way and tell men what to do,

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and men will just kind of cave in and do it.

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And these women, well, they were worshiping false

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gods and they were doing a lot of evil things.

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And God didn't want the men of Israel to be led

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astray. But they were led astray. They started

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hanging out with these foreign women. They started

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giving in to sexual immorality and doing things

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they shouldn't have done. And pretty soon they

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start worshiping the gods of these foreign women.

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All right, verse 4. The Lord said to Moses, Take

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all the leaders of the people and execute them

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in broad daylight before the Lord, so that his

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burning anger may turn away from Israel. So Moses

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told Israel's judges, Kill each of the men who

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align themselves with Baal of Peor. An Israelite

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man came bringing in a Midianite woman to his

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relatives in the sight of Moses and the whole

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Israelite community while they were weeping at

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the entrance of the tent. All right, so God's

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not happy with what's taking place here. This

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is very serious. God said, don't do it. They

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did it. They were led astray. The most important

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thing, don't have any other gods before me. And

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now these men of Israel have got other gods before

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God. So God tells Moses, all right, these people

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who are doing these things, they need to be killed.

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It's a death sentence. It's pretty serious. God

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takes this serious. After the fact, this dude

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comes up. He's got a foreign wife, a Midianite

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wife, and just bebops right up in the middle

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of the crowd in front of everybody. Now, having

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a Midianite wife is not necessarily a bad thing.

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Even Moses' wife was a Midianite. Again, the

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problem was maybe not so much that the women

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were foreign, but that the foreign women had

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false gods. Now, you know, there are foreign

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women who... who fear God. Rahab, I just used

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that example, she's one of them. She was a foreign

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woman, and even though maybe the rest of the

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people in her group didn't fear God, she did,

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and guess what? God spared her. So what God really

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wants is people who fear him and serve him. There

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certainly were foreigners who did love God and

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fear him and serve him, and he didn't just say,

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get out of here, you're a foreigner. But the

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real problem was most of these folks didn't worship

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God and fear God. They worshiped their false

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gods. And so this Israelite man and this Midianite

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woman, Come up in the middle of the crowd. Verse

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7. When Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron,

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the priest, saw this, he got up from the assembly,

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took a spear in his hand, followed the Israelite

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man into the tent, and drove it through both

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the Israelite man and the woman through her belly.

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Then the plague on the Israelites was stopped.

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Now that was pretty serious stuff right there.

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Phinehas, the son of Aaron, he takes matters

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into his own hands. He said, okay, this was the

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command of God that the men of Israel who were

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guilty of this need to be killed. And he goes

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in and he kills this man and he kills this woman.

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It's pretty serious. God does not take sin lightly.

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And we see that in this example. All right, let's

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read on a little further. At the end of verse

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8. Then the plague on the Israelites was stopped,

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but those who died in the plague numbered 24

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,000. All right, now this is a theme that we've

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kind of seen. We've seen it in some of our past

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examples with Aaron and with Moses. They were

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disobedient. A plague came on the people, and

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there had to be some type of intercession there.

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There had to be some type of atonement that was

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made. Somebody had to step in on behalf of God's

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people, or they were going to be destroyed. And

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in these other instances, we see that a lot of

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people die. I mean, not all of them. There were

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probably a few million, a couple of million at

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least, Israelites at this time. And we see some

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big numbers of them dying, 24 ,000 that are mentioned

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here that die from this plague. Now, this same

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story is also referenced very briefly in the

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New Testament. Now here's why I like this story

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that we're looking at in Psalms. This story is

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a good example of how a lot of passages throughout

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the Bible kind of tie together in a cool way,

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and you see how things tie together. So we see

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this story referenced in Psalm, which brings

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us back to Numbers 25, and then it also points

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us forward to 1 Corinthians 10, verses 7 and

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8, where Paul uses this example for the Corinthians.

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He says, Don't become idolaters, as some of them

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were, as it is written. The people sat down to

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eat and drink and got up to play. Let us not

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commit sexual immorality, as some of them did.

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And in a single day, 23 ,000 fell dead. Now,

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Paul is referencing this story here. Now, you

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may be saying, well, the number's 25. It said

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24 ,000. 1 Corinthians 10, it says 23 ,000. Well,

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you'd be right. And it could be that there was

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just some error in copying through the years

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and maybe what Paul was looking at had a different

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number. Or maybe 23 ,000 died in one day and

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the other 1 ,000 died another day. Because Paul

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says 23 ,000 in a single day and Numbers says

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24 ,000 died total. So maybe some of them, the

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bulk of them died in one day and maybe there

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were a few. But even though those numbers don't

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line up perfectly, this is the story that Paul

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is referencing here. These are the events that

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Paul is referencing. All right, back to Numbers

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25 in verse 10. The Lord spoke to Moses, Phinehas,

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son of Eleazar, son of Aaron. The priest, I'm

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sorry, I told you all Phinehas was the son of

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Aaron a while ago, son of Eleazar, my mistake.

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Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, the priest

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had turned back my wrath from the Israelites

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because he was zealous among them with my zeal.

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So I did not destroy the Israelites in my zeal.

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Therefore... I grant him my covenant of peace.

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It will be a covenant of perpetual priesthood

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for him and his future descendants because he

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was zealous for his God and made atonement for

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the Israelites. All right, so Phinehas steps

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up. He's the one that spares the people. Yeah,

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a lot of them die, but he steps up and he makes

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atonement for the people. We're starting to see

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a theme here as we go through Psalm 106. And

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these stories we're looking at, The theme that

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keeps repeating itself is, is God's people sin,

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and someone else steps in and makes atonement.

00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:10.320
This is the third person that's done such a thing.

00:14:10.600 --> 00:14:14.740
Aaron was first, then Moses, and now Phineas

00:14:14.740 --> 00:14:17.379
has made atonement for the people. Now, this

00:14:17.379 --> 00:14:20.120
atonement was justice being served. That is,

00:14:20.299 --> 00:14:23.700
these people had committed some sin that God

00:14:23.700 --> 00:14:27.549
said not to commit, and the punishment had to

00:14:27.549 --> 00:14:31.370
take place. Justice had to be served for atonement

00:14:31.370 --> 00:14:35.309
to be made. And so we see this theme in the Old

00:14:35.309 --> 00:14:38.389
Testament that should, as we have read through

00:14:38.389 --> 00:14:40.250
the Scripture, if you ever have or maybe you

00:14:40.250 --> 00:14:43.330
haven't, but when you read through the New Testament,

00:14:43.409 --> 00:14:46.090
you should start to see some connections that

00:14:46.090 --> 00:14:50.250
Jesus is the intercessor for us. He is the one

00:14:50.250 --> 00:14:53.629
who makes atonement for us. He is the one who

00:14:53.629 --> 00:14:56.720
pays the price for us, all right? Justice had

00:14:56.720 --> 00:15:00.279
to be served in this story for there to be atonement.

00:15:00.440 --> 00:15:04.159
Now justice has to be served. God is a just God

00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:08.840
and justice has to be served. Now in our case,

00:15:08.860 --> 00:15:13.000
we don't have a priest coming and using his spear

00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:16.399
to strike us dead. In our case, it's Jesus who

00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:19.659
took the punishment on our behalf. It's Jesus

00:15:19.659 --> 00:15:23.220
who paid the price so that atonement could occur

00:15:23.220 --> 00:15:27.620
for you and I. So we see this theme of continual

00:15:27.620 --> 00:15:30.840
unfaithfulness for God's people, and there continually

00:15:30.840 --> 00:15:34.659
being a man who stands in the gap. We saw that

00:15:34.659 --> 00:15:37.279
language used of Moses a couple of weeks ago.

00:15:37.419 --> 00:15:40.559
A man who stands in the gap. Now, you may remember

00:15:40.559 --> 00:15:43.200
when we talked about Moses that Moses said, I'm

00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:45.500
going to go before God and I'm going to see if

00:15:45.500 --> 00:15:48.879
I can make atonement for you. And he goes before

00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:52.909
God, but what God says is that... Moses is not

00:15:52.909 --> 00:15:55.669
able to make atonement for the people. The people

00:15:55.669 --> 00:15:58.909
are going to suffer the consequences of what

00:15:58.909 --> 00:16:01.750
they've done. Now, in some way, I believe that

00:16:01.750 --> 00:16:05.509
God's wrath was kind of subdued by Moses interceding

00:16:05.509 --> 00:16:09.129
for the people, but Moses in and of himself was

00:16:09.129 --> 00:16:11.830
incapable of making atonement. The atonement

00:16:11.830 --> 00:16:15.789
that was needed for humanity is not something

00:16:15.789 --> 00:16:17.990
that Moses could offer up, even though he had

00:16:17.990 --> 00:16:20.559
a heart to do it. And he said, God, If you won't

00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:22.960
forgive them, then take my name from your book.

00:16:23.240 --> 00:16:25.840
Even though Moses had the heart to atone for

00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:28.659
those sins, he didn't really have the ability.

00:16:29.820 --> 00:16:32.580
But Jesus does have the ability. There was some

00:16:32.580 --> 00:16:34.720
atonement that was made through the sacrifices

00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:37.840
and through the people that spoke up and did

00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:40.159
what they did for justice to be served in the

00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:43.200
case of Phinehas or whatever was going to be

00:16:43.200 --> 00:16:46.279
offered before the Lord. There was some atonement

00:16:46.279 --> 00:16:48.980
that was made, but it was not a perfect atonement.

00:16:49.549 --> 00:16:51.590
It would atone for a little while, but it could

00:16:51.590 --> 00:16:55.529
never atone someone's sin for eternity. It never

00:16:55.529 --> 00:16:57.730
could fully pay the price that our sin deserved.

00:16:58.769 --> 00:17:01.789
And that's why Jesus is so perfect. Now, these

00:17:01.789 --> 00:17:03.669
guys that served the Lord, they were righteous

00:17:03.669 --> 00:17:05.890
here. Phinehas is called a righteous man. It

00:17:05.890 --> 00:17:08.289
was credited to him for righteousness for what

00:17:08.289 --> 00:17:11.829
he did. Well, these were godly men, but it took

00:17:11.829 --> 00:17:17.569
God himself to pay the price for us through Jesus

00:17:17.569 --> 00:17:22.380
Christ. to be the atonement that we needed. And

00:17:22.380 --> 00:17:24.559
so there's some beauty in this story because

00:17:24.559 --> 00:17:26.759
we say, golly, when we look through Psalm 106,

00:17:26.839 --> 00:17:29.680
why are these people so unfaithful? Why are we

00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:32.579
so unfaithful? I mean, we're in pretty bad shape.

00:17:33.319 --> 00:17:35.619
And praise the Lord, we have somebody that's

00:17:35.619 --> 00:17:37.599
even better than Moses and better than Aaron

00:17:37.599 --> 00:17:40.680
and better than Phinehas, somebody who was nailed

00:17:40.680 --> 00:17:44.400
to a cross for us in Jesus Christ. And so these

00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:46.619
verses serve as a warning in a sense, like, hey,

00:17:46.640 --> 00:17:50.759
don't do this. Okay, Jesus has died on a cross

00:17:50.759 --> 00:17:53.559
so our sins can be forgiven, but we see that

00:17:53.559 --> 00:17:56.380
God took these sins pretty serious, and, well,

00:17:56.440 --> 00:17:58.259
guess what? He still takes sin pretty serious

00:17:58.259 --> 00:18:00.859
today, so we should think about these things.

00:18:01.079 --> 00:18:03.339
And, you know, as Paul says in the New Testament,

00:18:03.880 --> 00:18:05.880
well, just because grace abounds all the more

00:18:05.880 --> 00:18:08.779
doesn't mean that we just sin all the more so

00:18:08.779 --> 00:18:10.779
that grace can abound all the more. Like, we

00:18:10.779 --> 00:18:13.140
have to understand the price that Jesus paid

00:18:13.140 --> 00:18:16.640
was a powerful price. It does atone for our sins,

00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:19.269
but... It's not a license to sin. That grace

00:18:19.269 --> 00:18:22.730
should change our heart and transform our lives.

00:18:23.349 --> 00:18:26.650
And so we see that beautiful theme through these

00:18:26.650 --> 00:18:31.009
stories. Now, one other kind of bonus to this

00:18:31.009 --> 00:18:34.450
passage. This is no extra charge. But talking

00:18:34.450 --> 00:18:37.359
about how stories kind of tie together. Well,

00:18:37.380 --> 00:18:39.599
if you go back and you read the chapters around

00:18:39.599 --> 00:18:43.460
Numbers 25 before that, you see the story of

00:18:43.460 --> 00:18:45.759
Balaam. Now, you may remember that story. You

00:18:45.759 --> 00:18:48.319
may have heard it or maybe not. But Balaam was

00:18:48.319 --> 00:18:50.740
a guy that there was another guy who wanted Balaam

00:18:50.740 --> 00:18:54.660
to curse Israel. And he was going to get paid

00:18:54.660 --> 00:18:58.160
to do it. And the Lord wouldn't let Balaam curse

00:18:58.160 --> 00:19:02.180
Israel. We see several times that... He just

00:19:02.180 --> 00:19:04.440
can't do it. I think it's three or four times

00:19:04.440 --> 00:19:07.279
that he tries to do it. You may recall the most

00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:09.460
memorable part of the story is Balaam's donkey

00:19:09.460 --> 00:19:13.359
talks to him. Long story short, Balaam is supposed

00:19:13.359 --> 00:19:16.640
to curse Israel, but yet he never curses Israel.

00:19:17.259 --> 00:19:20.359
But by the time we get to the New Testament,

00:19:20.579 --> 00:19:24.619
we see Balaam is not talked about in a very good

00:19:24.619 --> 00:19:27.240
light. Now, I'll read over just a few scriptures

00:19:27.240 --> 00:19:30.769
real quickly from the New Testament. that talk

00:19:30.769 --> 00:19:32.829
about Balaam, that talk about all these things

00:19:32.829 --> 00:19:35.970
are in the same time frame when Balaam is being

00:19:35.970 --> 00:19:41.029
discussed. In 2 Peter 2, verses 15 and 16, it

00:19:41.029 --> 00:19:43.950
says, They have gone astray by abandoning the

00:19:43.950 --> 00:19:46.869
straight path and have followed the path of Balaam,

00:19:46.950 --> 00:19:51.630
the son of Boser, who loved the wages of unrighteousness

00:19:51.630 --> 00:19:54.230
but received a rebuke for his transgression.

00:19:54.630 --> 00:19:58.190
A donkey that could not talk spoke with a human

00:19:58.190 --> 00:20:03.230
voice. and restrained the prophet's irrationality.

00:20:03.589 --> 00:20:09.750
All right? So this was a warning that Peter was

00:20:09.750 --> 00:20:12.589
given to these false teachers. And he was saying

00:20:12.589 --> 00:20:16.089
that these false teachers were like Balaam in

00:20:16.089 --> 00:20:18.509
the Old Testament. And Balaam is not spoken of

00:20:18.509 --> 00:20:22.190
in a very good term here. He says that he's one

00:20:22.190 --> 00:20:24.789
who loved the wages of unrighteousness. Well,

00:20:24.829 --> 00:20:26.849
wait a minute. If you go back and you read the

00:20:26.849 --> 00:20:30.250
story, Balaam doesn't... Doesn't curse Israel.

00:20:30.369 --> 00:20:32.849
So what's going on? Why is he looked at so negatively?

00:20:33.130 --> 00:20:35.990
Well, we see another example. In Jude, verse

00:20:35.990 --> 00:20:39.289
11. Woe to them, for they have traveled in the

00:20:39.289 --> 00:20:42.190
way of Cain, have abandoned themselves to the

00:20:42.190 --> 00:20:46.089
error of Balaam for profit, and have perished

00:20:46.089 --> 00:20:50.029
in Korah's rebellion. Again, Jude's talking about

00:20:50.029 --> 00:20:52.670
some evil folks here, and he's comparing them

00:20:52.670 --> 00:20:54.849
to some folks that we know in the Old Testament.

00:20:54.970 --> 00:20:57.269
Cain, Cain and Abel. Cain killed his brother.

00:20:57.430 --> 00:21:00.329
That's pretty evil. Balaam, who we're talking

00:21:00.329 --> 00:21:04.750
about, who's the main focus here. Well, he abandoned

00:21:04.750 --> 00:21:10.410
himself to the heir of prophet, it says. And

00:21:10.410 --> 00:21:13.569
then Korah. You may remember just a couple of

00:21:13.569 --> 00:21:15.490
weeks ago we talked about Korah's rebellion.

00:21:15.529 --> 00:21:18.230
That's one of these stories of Psalm 106. He

00:21:18.230 --> 00:21:19.869
got a group of folks together and said, Hey,

00:21:19.910 --> 00:21:22.069
we don't like Moses. We're going to rebel against

00:21:22.069 --> 00:21:25.829
him. And these are some evil folks that Judah's

00:21:25.829 --> 00:21:28.450
saying, Hey, these folks I'm talking about, they're

00:21:28.450 --> 00:21:30.670
like Cain. They're like Balaam. They're like

00:21:30.670 --> 00:21:34.349
Korah. Okay, again, Balaam is not a good guy.

00:21:35.009 --> 00:21:36.970
All right, let's look at one more example in

00:21:36.970 --> 00:21:41.009
the New Testament. Revelation 2, verse 14. This

00:21:41.009 --> 00:21:44.890
is in the letter to Pergamum, and Balaam is used

00:21:44.890 --> 00:21:47.309
as a warning. Now, they were doing pretty good

00:21:47.309 --> 00:21:49.470
in some areas, but then there was this warning

00:21:49.470 --> 00:21:52.569
that they needed to pay attention to. It says,

00:21:52.670 --> 00:21:55.329
but I have a few things against you. You have

00:21:55.329 --> 00:21:58.569
some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam,

00:21:58.630 --> 00:22:02.069
who taught Balak to place a stumbling block in

00:22:02.069 --> 00:22:05.210
front of the Israelites to eat meat, sacrifice

00:22:05.210 --> 00:22:11.480
to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. Okay,

00:22:11.480 --> 00:22:15.180
so here, some of the folks in Pergamum are being

00:22:15.180 --> 00:22:18.960
compared to Balaam. Now, Balaam was supposed

00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:21.160
to curse Israel. He didn't curse Israel, but

00:22:21.160 --> 00:22:23.619
he sure is looked out in a negative light, but

00:22:23.619 --> 00:22:27.960
this verse tells us what he did wrong. It says

00:22:27.960 --> 00:22:30.420
that he taught Balak to place a stumbling block

00:22:30.420 --> 00:22:33.359
in front of the Israelites. Okay, so he didn't

00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:37.019
curse them, but he said, here's how you can get

00:22:37.019 --> 00:22:39.950
them to stumble, and they did stumble. And how

00:22:39.950 --> 00:22:43.569
did they stumble in Numbers 25? Sexual immorality

00:22:43.569 --> 00:22:46.950
and eating food offered to idols. And Balaam

00:22:46.950 --> 00:22:50.529
was responsible for that. Now, if you continue

00:22:50.529 --> 00:22:52.950
reading the little past, Numbers 25 and Numbers

00:22:52.950 --> 00:22:57.849
31, here's what it says in Numbers 31, verses

00:22:57.849 --> 00:23:01.910
15 and 16. This is after the main verses about

00:23:01.910 --> 00:23:05.309
Balaam before. And now we see in the Old Testament

00:23:05.309 --> 00:23:09.990
where it tells us what Balaam did. He says, Have

00:23:09.990 --> 00:23:12.990
you let every female live, he asked them, yet

00:23:12.990 --> 00:23:18.069
they are the ones who at Balaam's advice incited

00:23:18.069 --> 00:23:20.730
the Israelites to unfaithfulness against the

00:23:20.730 --> 00:23:24.609
Lord in the Peor incident so that the plague

00:23:24.609 --> 00:23:29.809
came against the Lord's community. So even though

00:23:29.809 --> 00:23:33.029
Balaam never just outright cursed God's people

00:23:33.029 --> 00:23:37.869
like Balak wanted him to, Balaam was responsible.

00:23:39.159 --> 00:23:42.119
Because in his advice, he said, here's how you

00:23:42.119 --> 00:23:44.599
can get them. Here's how you can get them with

00:23:44.599 --> 00:23:47.579
these foreign women. So by the time we flip a

00:23:47.579 --> 00:23:50.680
few chapters on over in Numbers 31, we see the

00:23:50.680 --> 00:23:52.920
story that we're looking at in Psalm 106, the

00:23:52.920 --> 00:23:57.819
story that we just looked at in Numbers 25. We

00:23:57.819 --> 00:24:00.859
see these stories coming back full circle. And

00:24:00.859 --> 00:24:03.099
so we see a lot of stories tying into each other

00:24:03.099 --> 00:24:05.079
here. In the Old Testament, in the New Testament,

00:24:05.279 --> 00:24:09.960
Balaam and Phinehas and... All this stuff, it

00:24:09.960 --> 00:24:13.660
all ties together. And that's the beauty of God's

00:24:13.660 --> 00:24:16.279
Word. That's why it's important for us to read

00:24:16.279 --> 00:24:20.619
God's Word and to try to read the whole Bible

00:24:20.619 --> 00:24:22.559
at some point in our life. Like, I get it. It's

00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:24.960
a lot of stuff. And there's a lot of stuff we'll

00:24:24.960 --> 00:24:26.839
read as we read through the Bible that we say,

00:24:26.940 --> 00:24:28.500
man, I don't get that. I don't understand that.

00:24:28.599 --> 00:24:30.799
But there's little stories and little pieces

00:24:30.799 --> 00:24:33.690
that we pick up along the way. And as we begin

00:24:33.690 --> 00:24:35.890
to go back and really study and dig in deep to

00:24:35.890 --> 00:24:38.549
God's Word, we start maybe to see some of these

00:24:38.549 --> 00:24:40.849
pieces come together and see how these things

00:24:40.849 --> 00:24:44.309
tie together. And a lot of things in the Old

00:24:44.309 --> 00:24:46.329
Testament, or New Testament, bring us back to

00:24:46.329 --> 00:24:48.569
the Old Testament. And a lot of things in the

00:24:48.569 --> 00:24:51.289
New Testament point us forward to Jesus Christ.

00:24:51.430 --> 00:24:54.289
I would say everything in the Old Testament points

00:24:54.289 --> 00:24:57.869
us forward to Jesus Christ. And so Psalm 106

00:24:57.869 --> 00:25:01.259
is... It is rich in these Old Testament stories

00:25:01.259 --> 00:25:04.240
that we've looked at, most of them coming from

00:25:04.240 --> 00:25:07.960
the book of Numbers. It is a rich and vibrant

00:25:07.960 --> 00:25:12.920
reminder to us about the importance of not giving

00:25:12.920 --> 00:25:16.400
in to sin, but most importantly, it's a reminder

00:25:16.400 --> 00:25:19.240
to us of what it means to have one who makes

00:25:19.240 --> 00:25:23.119
atonement for us. We see glimpses of people who

00:25:23.119 --> 00:25:25.420
attempt to do that in the Old Testament and to

00:25:25.420 --> 00:25:28.440
some degree are successful. But ultimately, they

00:25:28.440 --> 00:25:31.700
point us to Jesus Christ, who is perfectly successful

00:25:31.700 --> 00:25:35.519
in every way to atone for us. Let's pray. God,

00:25:35.599 --> 00:25:37.400
we come to you. We thank you for your word. We

00:25:37.400 --> 00:25:40.240
thank you for this story. It's kind of heavy,

00:25:40.339 --> 00:25:43.319
but I thank you for letting us be able to study

00:25:43.319 --> 00:25:45.980
it and ponder on it tonight and to see how your

00:25:45.980 --> 00:25:49.500
word ties together. We thank you for these examples

00:25:49.500 --> 00:25:51.980
of what these leaders that we're looking at,

00:25:52.019 --> 00:25:55.039
Moses and Aaron and Phinehas, what their leadership

00:25:55.039 --> 00:25:57.660
looks like and how... Dear Lord, leaders should

00:25:57.660 --> 00:26:00.839
be ready to do what you call them to and to make

00:26:00.839 --> 00:26:03.240
atonement for the people. But we thank you first

00:26:03.240 --> 00:26:06.279
and foremost for Jesus Christ, the ultimate atonement

00:26:06.279 --> 00:26:08.740
that's been made for us, dear Lord, the one who

00:26:08.740 --> 00:26:10.759
took the punishment that we deserve. God, we

00:26:10.759 --> 00:26:13.859
deserve that same punishment as that Israelite

00:26:13.859 --> 00:26:16.180
man and Midianite woman in the story, dear Lord.

00:26:16.299 --> 00:26:19.420
But we thank you that Jesus made atonement by

00:26:19.420 --> 00:26:22.460
taking that punishment for us. And I ask these

00:26:22.460 --> 00:26:24.539
things in Jesus' name. Amen.