Numbers 18-20 Misrepresenting the Lord

when we last had our our uh study in numbers last week you'll remember that moses went through a very serious challenge to his leadership uh by some individuals who were able to gather a great number of people actually to be a part of the rebellion that they were posing against moses and aaron and the lord had to deal with it and he dealt with it very decidedly you'll remember by causing uh next to cora and his family the ground literally to open up and swallow all of those people and then and uh completely engulf them um whenever there's that kind of a situation where the leadership of of something is challenged many times it is necessary to go back after such a thing and re-establish leadership and that's what begins to happen here in numbers chapter 18. if you'll look there in the the first verse of the chapter it begins by saying so the lord said to aaron you and your sons and your father's house with you shall bear iniquity connected with the sanctuary and you and your sons with you shall bear iniquity connected with your priesthood now the reason this is a very significant verse is because up to this point god has given a lot of insight as it relates to uh the the responsibility and the job that aaron and his sons have but i want you to notice how this verse this first verse of the chapter talks about their leadership role he says you and your sons are going to actually bear iniquity for this position in other words you're going to bear responsibility you're going to be accountable for these things being done and being done correctly and this is the other side of leadership that sometimes people don't readily understand or lay hold of and that is that yes moses and aaron were given us a very certain calling it was very specific and with that calling came authority and it seems like everybody wants to you know focus on the authority and and what happened in the previous chapters was korah and his followers were jealous of that authority and they were saying to moses and aaron you've taken too much upon yourselves we're just as you know we're just as good as you guys are one of the things that korah and his followers did not stop and consider was the accountability that goes along with leadership they had to learn the hard way all of those individuals who came against moses and aaron died that day because they didn't have the calling and they they they took they took fire and incense into their sensors and it says the fire of the lord came out and literally destroyed all of those men as i said before cora and his family swallowed by the earth they were kind of made to bear their own iniquity in that sort of a situation but they weren't thinking about the fact that aaron and moses yeah they have authority but they have responsibility i want you to read this verse again this is important you and your sons and your father's house with you shall bear iniquity connected with the sanctuary he says and you and your sons with you shall bear iniquity connected with your priesthood you know so listen if if you if you hear that god has given someone headship or authority some some place of leadership where others are told in god's word according to his order to submit to that individual in their ministry in their calling i want you to remember something that those individuals who have that calling also have a special accountability before god related to those callings and it is not all fun and games you know every man every and i don't care if they're a christian or not every man when when that individual gets married is called into a position of headship in the home the bible says that the husband is the head of the wife as christ is the head of the church that man enters into a position of headship and does that position have authority oh yeah sure some and that's what we focus on you know and that's what culturally we tend to bristle under we don't like authority and so you know that's one of the reasons why our culture today has rejected the whole idea of the husband's authority in the family because you know we don't want to talk about that we bristle under the idea of somebody having authority what we forget about is the responsibility that goes with that authority now men there are several of you men here today and i'm you know for those of you that are married how often do you think about the responsibility the accountability that goes along with the position of headship that you've been given you have a responsibility before god god is looking to you to carry out certain things related to your family particularly provision and protection and and those things carry accountability before god men we are going to stand before god as it relates to our families and how we functioned in that position of authority once again stop thinking of authority just as what i get to do it's authority related to what god is holding me accountable to do you guys remember what james talked about when he spoke of calling and authority and and and position let me show you this a verse on the screen it's from james chapter 3 verse 1. you guys remember this he says not many of you should become teachers my brothers for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness in other words what james is saying is that there is a stricter form of accountability for those who take upon themselves the role of teacher in the in the body of christ there is an accountability that goes along with that position just like there's listen responsibility and accountability go together all the time they're never separated you don't get responsibility without accountability so you want a position you want a position of leadership you want a position of responsibility and authority are you ready to take the accountability that goes along with it that's the question right so this is an important reminder here as we get into this chapter verse 2 goes on and says and with you bring your brothers also the tribe of levi that means the rest of the levites the tribe of your father that they may join you and minister to you notice their function is to minister to the sons of aaron while you and your sons with you are before the tent of testimony look at this verse three another function of the levites he says they shall keep guard over you that's one of their responsibilities but there's an accountability that goes with it levites are you watching over the the priests the high priest and his sons uh and over the whole tent they're supposed to guard the whole the this is the tabernacle this what would later become the temple but shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary or to the altar lest they and you die so the levites were to guard the priests they were to guard the the the tabernacle but they were not to come near the worship implements that only the high priest could touch right the altar the ark of the covenant you know so on and so forth otherwise they would they would die um verse 4 they shall join you and keep guard over the tent of meeting for all the service of the tent and that and no outsider shall come near you and you shall keep guard over the sanctuary now he's talking to aaron and his sons and over the altar that there that there may never again be wrath on the people of israel wow talk about accountability what did what did god just say to aaron and his sons you guys are to watch over the tabernacle the altar the the those those most holy things so that wrath doesn't come out against the whole nation of israel that is your accountability you guys do your job and wrath doesn't fall upon the nation you guys mess up in your job and wrath falls upon the nation again you know i don't know if cora and his followers thought that went through and they thought gee we want to be just like aaron and have his sort of responsibility you see what god is doing here god is revealing that with these positions come this accountability and it's it's a it's a it's a difficult thing verse six and behold i have taken your brothers the levites now he's talking to aaron again about the tribe of levi from among the people of israel look what he says here we saw this in leviticus they are a gift to you given to the lord to do the service of the tent of meeting and you and your sons with you shall guard your priesthood for all that concerns the altar and that is within the veil and you shall serve i give you the priesthood as a gift and any outsider who comes near shall be put to death right so he talks to the priests here the aryanic priests meaning aaron and his sons and says i've given you the priesthood as a gift and you know in the new testament we all have gifts the bible says we've all been given gifts there's something else interesting told about the gifts in the book of romans it says the gifts and the calling of god are without repentance or irrevocable depending on which bible you may have what that means is god isn't going to take them away god isn't going to remove them so you're given a calling you're given a position of responsibility there's accountability that goes with it and that doesn't go away just because you decide i don't want to do that anymore i mean if the if the if the tribe of levi would have said yeah we don't really want to take care of the tabernacle anymore sorry that doesn't mean that that gift has gone away right and there will be accountability so what is your gift what has god called you to do what are you to be in the body of christ what's your what's your position you say well pastor paul i don't know that's okay it's all right not to know here's what i think is really important that we just begin to serve the lord do something do something you know now it doesn't i'm not when i say serve the lord boy that's a that's a very broad sort of an idea it doesn't have to be things within the church there yes there's way we serve within the church there's wonderful ways we get to serve within the church but there's also a lot of ministry giftings that apply outside the church evangelism is one of them you know evangelism is supposed to be going on outside the church it can certainly happen within but it's one of those things it's a go out job to do right i'm taking it out i'm going to take my job and go you know there's a lot of things that could draw you outside but then some of you are gifted and called to minister inside the church in the body of christ doing things you know whatever they may be the point is get busy and do something and see where the lord would have you to be because i really truly believe that the refining process of clarification regarding people's gifts come i think god hits a moving target that's what that's what i'm trying to say and not doing it very well but i really believe that if you're going to sit on your hands you're not going to discover your calling i think that if you just get busy and start doing you're going to start to see that calling shape itself as the holy spirit brings direction and insight and i talk to a lot of christians who begin to serve and they'll serve in areas that they don't necessarily feel called to and they get frustrated and they kind of back away and they go yeah i tried that and well that wasn't for me you know okay you know so what did what did that cause you to do well i'm just kind of hanging out just kind of waiting well like i said i really believe god hits a moving target you know so step out and find another place to serve be praying ask god to open up doors open up opportunities lord what would you have me do what listen here's the point you have a calling on your life god has you here for a purpose more than to live for yourself living for yourself is a liv is a life of misery living for god is a life of ministry and there's a great difference between misery and ministry and and one brings joy and the other one is terrible it's an awful way to live so how are you serving how what are you doing for others when you wake up in the morning are you thinking about what you're going to do for yourself or you're thinking about what you're going to do for others what doing for others is the ministry and so you know i believe i i believe god hasn't left anybody out and i mean that with all of my heart i truly believe it that god has not left anyone out as it relates to uh gifts so our job is to get busy get moving get active let the lord bring direction as you go so he speaks of the priesthood as a gift verse 8 then the lord spoke to aaron behold i've given you charge of the contributions also now made to me all the consecrated or set apart things of the people of israel i've given them to you as a portion to you and your sons as a perpetual do this shall be yours of the most holy things reserved from the fire every offering of theirs every grain offering of theirs and every sin offering of theirs and every guilt offering of theirs which they render to me shall be most holy to you and your sons in the most holy place shall you eat it every male may eat it it is holy to you now he's talking about the part of the offering that is not burned up on the fire the part that is offered to the lord given to the lord what was what happened to all those parts of the animal that didn't get burned up or those grain offerings or whatever the thing they went to the priests and often to the to the levites as well so but notice these are the holy offerings these are when he says holy offerings this is things that are uh offered on the altar given to the lord on the altar on the altar of fire if you will and then he goes on to say in verse 11 this also is yours the contribution of their gifts all the way offerings of the people of israel i've given them to you and your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual do everyone who is clean in your house may eat it all the best of the oil and all the best of the wine and of the grain the first fruits of what they give to the lord i give to you now he's talking about the provision that goes not just to aaron and his sons but to the whole family of the priests right to take care of them because remember they weren't given any land so they're going to literally you know exist on the gifts of the people verse 13 says the first ripe fruits of all that is in their land they're going to be offering them up to as a sacrifice to the lord or as an offering to the lord he says they're going to bring them things to the lord and there are yours they shall be yours everyone who is clean in your house may eat it every devoted thing in israel shall be yours meaning devoted to the lord everything that opens the womb of all flesh whether man or beast which they offer to the lord shall be yours nevertheless the firstborn of man of course you shall redeem and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem and their redemption price at a month old you shall redeem them you shall fix at five shekels in silver according to the shekel of the sanctuary which is 20 guerras but the firstborn of a cow the firstborn of a sheep or firstborn of a goat you shall not redeem they are holy you shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and shall burn their fat as a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the lord these animals the firstborn given to the lord in sacrifice but the others are redeemed but verse 18 even of these things that are burned up he goes on to explain but their flesh shall be yours as the breast that is waved and as the right thigh are yours all the holy contributions that the people of israel present to the lord i give to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual dew it is a covenant of salt forever before the lord for you and for your offspring with you and the lord said to aaron you shall have no inheritance in their land neither shall you have any portion among them i am your portion and your inheritance among the people of israel all right so no land given they are given the lord i i like the lord's portion don't you i mean land can have all kinds of problems have you looked at your lawn lately have you started to see spots where the snow is melting doesn't it look great under there it looks awful doesn't it i looked at it with sue the other day and i thought is grass going to grow in this area i'm not sure land can go through all kinds of problems there can be issues there can be drought there can be you know land can be taken away your enemies can come and the portion of the lord can never be taken away and i always have loved the idea that god said to the uh the priests and to the levites i am your portion i am your inheritance you know we think about an inheritance today maybe sit around and hope some rich uncle you never heard of you know is gonna pass away and you're gonna you know get a note in the mail saying you know you're called to a reading of a will because you're a beneficiary probably not going to happen here's the thing we have an inheritance in christ right and that's such a beautiful thing god said to the levites to the priests i am your inheritance do you understand that you and i paul prayed to the the the uh for the ephesians yeah when you go through and read the book of ephesians what a beautiful prayer he mounts for the church in ephesus which is i believe a prayer for the body of christ but he prays and says i pray that the eyes of your heart may be opened that you might know the inheritance that you have in christ jesus that you might understand what you are inheriting right because doesn't the bible say we are joint heirs with christ we're heirs of god for heaven's sakes and joint heirs with christ so what is your inheritance we don't even know we don't even know what our inheritance is that's why we're sitting on our chairs right now and not moving or hooping and hollering right we're all going yeah that's right i don't know what it is if we did you would i dare say you would not be able to remain seated right now if god gave you a glimpse of that inheritance you'd be just like dude we're going out tonight to get some frozen yogurt this is celebrate time right or something like that yeah verse 21 says to the levites i've given every tithe in israel for an inheritance in return for their service that they do their service in the tent of meeting so that the people of israel do not come near the tent of meeting lest they bear sin and die but the levites shall do the service of the tent of meeting and they shall bear their iniquity it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations and among the people of israel they shall have no inheritance other than of course you know what the lord gives them for the tithe of the people of israel which they present as a contribution to the lord i've given to the levites for an inheritance therefore i have said of them that they shall have no inheritance among the people of israel and the lord spoke to moses saying moreover you shall speak and say to the levites when you take from the people of israel the tithe that i have given you from them for your inheritance then you shall present a contribution from it literally a tithe of the tithe did you catch that and your contribution shall be counted to you as though it were the grain of the threshing floor and as the fullness of the wine press so you shall also present a contribution to the lord from all your tithes which you receive from the people of israel and from it you shall give the lord's contribution to aaron the priest and so even the levites had to tithe on the tithe that's an interesting concept isn't it do you know that here at calvary chapel we've been tithing on the tithe for over 26 years in fact we've been trying very much to go beyond tithing on the tithe because as you know the word tithe means 10 percent but you know you guys give your gifts and offerings to the church and we take from those gifts and offerings and we give to missions that's where that money comes from so we're giving uh money to you know italy and we're giving money elsewhere and then there's local missions you know to the whole pregnancy center and love inc and and there's a lot of things that frankly kind of come into that idea of of of missions if you will but the point is we're tithing on the tithe if you will just as the levites were commanded to do uh in the word of god uh verse 29 says out of all the gifts to you you shall present every contribution due to the lord from each its best part is to be dedicated did i say that right yeah therefore you shall say to them when you have offered from it the best of it then the rest shall be counted to the levites as produce of the threshing floor and as produce or just like produce of the wine press and you may eat it in any place you and your households for it is your reward in return for your service in the tent of meeting and you shall bear no sin by reason of it why because these are not holy offerings these are tithes okay so he's saying doesn't matter where you eat them doesn't matter really who eats it doesn't you know there's going to be no sin related to any sort of misuse there's no specific rules or guidelines related to it this is just your do this is your reward if you will or if you're going to put it in a new kind of a modern way this is your salary okay he says when you have contributed the best of it but you shall not profane the holy things of the people of israel lest you die okay chapter 19. now the lord spoke to moses and to aaron saying this is the statute of the law that the lord has commanded tell the people of israel to bring you a red heifer without defect in which there's no blemish and on which a yoke has never come and you shall give it to eliezer the priest and it shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered before him and eliezer of the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle some excuse me some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times and the heifer shall be burned in his sight its skin its flesh look at this and its blood this is the only instance of a sacrifice where the blood is not drained and used elsewhere to sprinkle it is burned up in the fire so this is an animal that is being burned completely okay you know with its dung shall be burned and the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet yarn and throw them into the fire burning the heifer all this burns together and it's to create ash then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water and afterward he may come into the camp but the priest shall be unclean until evening the one who burns the heifer shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water and shall be unclean until evening and the man who is clean then shall gather up look at this the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place in other words a place that is not unclean and they shall be kept for the water for impurity for the congregation of the people of israel it is a sin offering and the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening and this shall be a perpetual statute for the people of israel and for the stranger who sojourns among them now this is interesting the ashes of the red heifer this is a a wild sort of a thing uh and these ashes were kept in perpetuity and used very sparingly we're told that during the course of while this sort of a offering was going on that only like six red heifers were were ever used in the history of israel during the sacrificial period because they would use these ashes very sparingly and only just a small portion was used with fresh spring water to use as a cleansing agent for people in certain various sorts of cleansings that were required such as somebody who had been healed of leprosy and other things this this water mixed with the ashes of the red heifer would be used in this cleansing ceremony now remember this is all external you guys with me this is all external that's why in the new testament these things are mentioned as being less effective than what you and i have in terms of cleansing you might say well why a red heifer why did they burn the whole animal take the ashes mix it with water and use it for these various ceremonial cleansings because it's a picture everything in the old testament is a picture let me show you a passage here uh on the screen from uh hebrews that speaks of uh this look at verse chapter 19 verses 13-14 for if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh meaning the outside how much more will the blood of christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to god purify our conscience meaning our inside from dead works to serve the living god you see that here in the old testament all these things that we're talking about in these books have a new testament picture that we're pointing toward and the writer of hebrews is using these references and particularly you can see the ashes of a heifer where he's talking exactly about what we just read to pinpoint the supremacy of the new covenant he said that the the the the sprinkling of these cleansing waters mixed with the ashes of a heifer were meant to cleanse the outside the flesh but it couldn't get into here so what happens when i really mess up what happens when i really go the way of the flesh and i do something that just grieves the lord and grieves me and grieves others and now what how am i going to ever start again how am i ever going to move forward in my walk with god well my conscience needs to be cleansed doesn't it when we come to him for forgiveness when we know that jesus died on the cross for all of our sins when we know that we've been cleansed and washed and purified there is such a deep work of the spirit that can take place whereby our conscience becomes cleansed literally we can start anew we can move forward you know one of the things i love about reading the bible particularly even the new testament is it shows us some of the very serious mistakes and failures that people in the body of christ made think about think about peter i don't know if you've ever denied the lord three times with cursing to a mostly to a a servant girl and then you know to some other people but that had to weigh very heavily upon his heart so how how in the world is peter ever going to move forward after something like that how about the apostle paul here's a man who spent the early part of his life doing everything in his power to get rid of christians he believed that christianity and the followers of christ were a blight on jewish society and religious observance and he had devoted himself to the extermination of these people and then god calls him to be an apostle you kind of have to wonder you know how does a man like that take up a mantle of apostleship and begin to go out and help people get saved and establish churches and so on and so forth without bearing some kind of wound upon his conscience that keeps him from being able to move forward it's because he knew he was cleansed by faith the blood of jesus christ which does a better more efficient more powerful work of cleansing than can the water mixed with the ashes of the red heifer which is only external so we see in the old testament so many of these things related to the externality of life even the law even the law was external right where was the lot sat on these two rigid stones what does god say that he's going to do with that law in the new testament i'm going to write it on their hearts i'm going to i'm going to write it in here it's no longer going to be out it's going to be in you see how everything has moved inside the holy spirit didn't never came in in the old testament the holy spirit never came to indwell somebody in the old testament because why the vessel hasn't been had been cleansed the holy spirit could come upon and he did the spirit came upon people in the old testament and he still comes upon people today even believers but we have something that's even greater the holy spirit who comes to dwell within living inside of us so that the bible says we are now temples of the holy spirit you are a temple of the holy spirit isn't that amazing you know you are the building of god literally this is not the building of god you are that's the exciting thing about it it's inside the kingdom of god is within you right it's wonderful so much superior to what they had in the old testament that's what the writer of hebrews is is arguing let's keep reading verse 11 whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days he shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day and so be clean but if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day he will not become clean whoever touches a dead person in the body of anyone who has died does not cleanse himself defiles the tabernacle of the lord and that person shall be cut off from israel because the water for impurity was not thrown on him this is the water we've been talking about with the red heifer he shall be unclean his uncleanness is still on him this is the law verse 14 when someone dies in a tent everyone who comes into the tent everyone who's in the tent shall be unclean seven days and every by the way have you ever noticed god's not into death he's really not god is not into death death is was never part of god's original design he never intended for you to die he never intended for mankind to die death the bible says what does it call it an enemy right the last enemy to be destroyed is death god considers it an enemy it's a bad thing in the kingdom you know our culture sometimes wants us to kind of make friends with it you know but no it's an enemy jesus came to conquer death right that's what he did by rising again he conquered death and everyone who is putting their faith in jesus that same victory is imputed to that individual you now have the victory over death in you living in you residing in you right that's why we don't fear death because the victory is ours in christ jesus it's already it's done for you and i when the body expires it's just like walking through a door we walk through the door into the next room which is real life you know so isn't that glorious you know so god's not into death and he had all these things related in the law to death that would cause people to become unclean because death is unclean death is not a clean thing it's a dark thing it's an unclean thing it's an unwanted thing verse 15 says and every open vessel that has no cover fastened on it is unclean uh whoever is in the open field uh excuse me whoever in the open field touches someone who was killed with a sword or who died naturally or touches a human bone or a grave she'll be unclean seven days you couldn't walk upon a grave if you walked on top of a grave you'd be unclean of course most of the graves you know weren't in the ground they were in hillsides for the unclean they shall take some ashes of the burnt sin offering and fresh water shall be added in a vessel this is the thing we were talking about earlier then a clean person shall take hyssop which is a branch that they used to brush things with and dip it in the water and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the furnishings and on the persons who were there and on whoever touched the bone or the slain or the dead or the grave and the clean person shall sprinkle it on the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day thus on the seventh day he shall cleanse him and he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water in the evening he shall be clean if the man who is unclean does not cleanse himself that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly since he has defiled the sanctuary of the lord because the water for impurity has not been thrown on him he is unclean and it shall be a statute forever for them the one who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes and the one who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening and whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean and anyone who touches it shall be unclean until evening all right chapter 20 do you like stories about time travel i do i love time travel well between chapter 19 and chapter 20 we're going to go [Music] we are now 40 years from the time israel left egypt 38 years from the time they first came to the land of promise and they're now nearing that area right now and as we begin chapter 20 they are there they are basically there and we're going to talk about some of the things that go on during that period of time so you know you have to understand that a lot of people have died a whole generation died because of their unbelief so we we think somewhere around 600 000 people would have perished during that that following that 38 years of wandering after the first two so a lot of people a lot of graves in the desert and the people of israel the whole congregation came into the wilderness of zinn in the first month and the people stayed at kadesh and miriam died there and was buried there so miriam is not going to be the last person but she is one of the individuals to die there you remember miriam the the the sister of moses now there was no water for the congregation and they assembled themselves together against moses and against aaron and the people quarreled with moses and this is a new generation quarreling now and said wood that we had perished when our brothers perished before the lord what a wonderful thing to say to god brought him really to practically to the doorstep of the promised land oh if we'd only died with our families that's what they're saying why have you brought the assembly of the lord into this wilderness that we should die here both us we in our cattle and why have you made us come up out of egypt and bring us to this evil place it is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates and there's no water to drink you know i can imagine when you're gone without water for a period of time it probably becomes stressful i get that um but these people once again do not have the foresight maybe i should even say the faith site to see beyond their current circumstances and know that very soon they will be in the land that god is bringing them into and yeah this wilderness is no place to raise a family or anything else for that matter but we're just about to move out of this place and then moses and aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces and the glory of the lord appeared to them and the lord spoke to moses saying take the staff and assemble the congregation you and aaron your brother and tell the rock notice that tell the rock your bible may say speak to the rock before their eyes to yield its water so you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle and moses took the staff from before the lord as he commanded him now stop there for a moment let me just briefly because this is a very very powerful story here in the course of the book of numbers but so the nation of israel has come to a place where there's no water and they begin grumbling and they're sick and tired of being in the desert and all that goes along with it and so moses and aaron as usual take their complaint to the lord i like that you got people complaining to you take it to the lord and so they go to the lord and the lord says okay here's what i want you to do i want you to go out in the sight of all the people and i want you to stand before the rock and i want you to you know with your staff in your hand i want you to then speak to that rock speak to the rock and water will come forth from the rock and we'll take care of this entire that's got to be a lot we're not talking about trickle here guys we're not talking about your bathroom faucet we're talking about a gusher because this is a lot of people this is you know millions of people and they're animals that need to drink and by the way water doesn't usually come out of a rock so this is going to be a supernatural work of god but notice what god is telling moses to do now gotta understand something else as we before we read moses has been in the wilderness with these people for 40 years and he's like had it up to here with these folks right these complainers these whiners these you know grumblers let's see how this thing plays out verse 10 then moses and aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock and he said to them here now you rebels shall we bring water for you out of this rock can you kind of hear i'm putting a little emphasis in there because i think this is kind of i'm doing my moses interpretation post 40 years in the wilderness and moses lifted up his hand look at this and struck the rock with his staff twice and water came out abundantly and the congregation drank and their livestock so well it worked right it worked do you know this isn't the first time water came out of iraq it's actually given to us in exodus chapter 17. let me show you this passage on the screen because this one uh will help us to kind of remember this it says therefore the people quarreled with moses and said give us water to drink and moses said to them why do you quarrel with me why do you test the lord and the lord said to moses behold i will stand before you there on the rock at horeb and you shall strike the rock notice what he was supposed to do the first time strike the rock and water shall come out of it and the people will drink and moses did so in the sight of the elders of israel this happened about 38 years ago and moses was told go out to the rock strike it with your staff water will come gushing out it's 38 years later moses is 38 years older 38 years more tired of these people and all their grumbling and complaining and so what does god say to moses does he go separate yourself from these people so i can wipe them out he's actually said that before not this time god simply says fine go out to the rock speak to it and i'll give him water that's all and moses comes out and you can see that he's angry and he starts calling him rebels and and so what's going on here god's heart in this situation is to simply take care of the people moses's heart is to chastise them and to spank them well that wasn't god's heart and remember moses is god's representative remember we talked at the very beginning about responsibility calling and accountability remember we mention that so moses has a responsibility to exemplify for the people the heart of god related to whatever they happen to be going through and god's heart in this case was okay i'll take care of you guys i'll give you water to drink so moses go out take your staff with you that's fine but speak to the rock and may water and water will come forth so moses does kind of the opposite misrepresents god to the people and that's very important people please understand that moses misrepresents god to the people and what happens verse 12 and the lord said to moses and aaron come here boys because you did not believe in me to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of israel therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that i have given them these are the waters of meribah or and meribah means quarreling where the people of israel quarreled with the lord and through them he showed himself holy this is the area this is the time in moses's life when god said to him because you misrepresented me you will not enter the land you will not take these people into the land because you did not regard me as holy in the eyes of the people because you misrepresented me before the people now i wonder how many people want to be moses now i wonder how many people want to have his same responsibility and calling have you ever thought about your calling my calling to represent god to a lost and dying generation we represent the lord you know you've heard that saying you're the only bible some people are ever going to read it's true it's true we are to be holy as he is holy we are to represent the lord so and you know what's really interesting if people are i'll be honest with you if people look at us christians and they try to figure out what god's like they're going to be confused because some of us are representing god as really ticked off really angry right some people that's the way they represent god they're just always kind of going around god's going to get you for that one and they're always talking judgment and they're talking about how god's going to judge the sinners and stuff and and then hollywood's going to burn like sodom and i and and it's it's like wow i wonder how many people that attitude brings to christ my bible says that it is his kindness that leads us to repentance my bible says for god so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life now that doesn't mean we love the things of the world or the sin of the world we're talking about the people you know we're not to hate the people of the world god loved him so much jesus died for them that's what the bible says jesus died for our sins and not ours only but the sins of all the world john wrote so are we representing that love or are we angry you rebels going around with our big stick you know i'll help you but i'm not going to like it that's kind of where moses is at here isn't he we'll bring you water but i'm i i'm hoping some of you drowned in it you know sort of a thing that wasn't god's heart so it's a serious matter frankly that you and i represent god's heart to people and i know sometimes it's hard to represent his heart especially when people bait you so what do you christians think about or are all those other kinds of questions that are meant to kind of lure you in to a a an inappropriate sort of a conversation that's going to embarrass and make you look really really bad i know it's hard i know it is but we still have a responsibility the bible says that we are ambassadors for christ it actually uses that word you guys know what an ambassador does they represent like a nation the ambassador from china comes to the united states or the ambassador you know from germany visits another place in europe or or something like that because they represent the government the people of that nation to another nation well you and i are ambassadors for christ right that means we represent jesus to the lost people of the world how are we doing that's the important thing for us to remember or to think about so difficult time for moses moses sent messengers from kadesh to the king of edom thus says your brother israel you know all the hardships that we have met now you guys know that the are the descendants of esau the brother of jacob right sons of isaac and rebecca so edom and esau both mean red and so these when when when uh moses says to these people um thus says your brother israel this is literally a connection you know a family connection and he says you know all the hardships that we have met verse 15 how our fathers went down to egypt and how we lived in egypt a long time and the egyptians dealt harshly with us and our fathers when we cried to the lord he heard our voice and sent an angel and brought us out of egypt and here we are in kadesh a city on the edge of your territory please let us pass through your land we will not pass through field or vineyard or drink water from a well we will go along the king's highway we will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory but edom said to him you shall not pass through lest i come out with the sword against you the people of israel said to him we will go up by the highway and if we drink of your water i in my livestock then i will pay for it let my uh let me only pass through on foot nothing more but he said you shall not pass through and edom came out against them with a large army and with a strong force thus eden refused to give israel passage through his territory so israel turned away from him and actually during the lifetime of saul king of israel god will actually punish the because of this attitude of not allowing the nation of israel to go through and they journeyed from kadesh and the people of israel the whole congregation came to mount hor and the lord said to moses and aaron and mount hor on the border of the land of edom let aaron be gathered to his people for he shall not enter the land that i have given to the people of israel because you rebelled against my command at the waters of meribah apparently aaron was involved in that process of misrepresentation take aaron and eleazar his son and bring them up to mount horror and strip aaron of his garments and put them in eleazar his son now you know what that's all about don't you remember we talked about death remember the high priest aaron represents who he represents jesus christ our high priest okay aaron is about to be gathered to his father's which is euphemism for dying so what's the first thing that's going to happen when they get up on the mountain moses is to take those high priestly garments off of aaron why he can't die in them death can't be upon the high priest in that way so representing christ in that way death there can't be a connection so the close have to come off aaron go on to his next oldest son eleazar and then aaron will pass from the scene we're in the middle of verse 26 and aaron shall be gathered to his people and he shall die there moses did as the lord commanded and they went up mount hor in the sight of the congregation and moses stripped aaron of his garments and put them on eliezer his son and aaron died there on the top of the mountain then moses and eleazar came down from the mountain and when all the congregations saw that aaron had perished all the house of israel wept for aaron thirty days and that's where we're gonna have to stop tonight i really kind of meant to go through another chapter but i wasn't able to but um that's where we'll have to end with the death of aaron and you know for all the things that aaron did you know and he made some mistakes god still gave him a gracious death i mean you know he didn't die in a plague or bitten by snakes or the ground didn't swallow him up or anything like that he actually had a very peaceful homegoing if you call it that um where they just went up to the mountain they were able to say their goodbyes and presumably aaron who was in good health just laid down and breathed his last because it was his time and you know you got to admit that's it's a pretty good way to go you

Channel: Calvary Chapel Ontario

Views: 15,012

Rating: 4.7647057 out of 5

Keywords: Bible, Bible teaching, Thru-the-Bible, verse by verse, Calvary Chapel, Bible study, Christianity, New Testament, Old Testament

Id: K3OMyhhb4KQ

Length: 56min 34sec (3394 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 02 2017