1 00:00:00,480 --> 00:00:01,600 All right. Good morning, everybody. 2 00:00:02,120 --> 00:00:03,960 As you find your seat, if you would open your Bibles to the 3 00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:09,320 Book of Numbers, Chapter 25. We've been going through numbers 4 00:00:09,320 --> 00:00:13,480 for several months now and we've just recently finished a study 5 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:15,720 on the the prophet Balaam. We've been looking at him for 6 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:17,880 the past several weeks. And this morning we're going to 7 00:00:17,880 --> 00:00:24,680 be changing stories, and we'll be in Numbers 25 for the next 8 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:27,720 two weeks at minimum. This morning I was going to do 9 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:29,640 the whole chapter, but it was just way too much material. 10 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:32,040 And so this morning we're going to look at verses one to six. 11 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:34,840 So let's read the text. Open sent a word of prayer. 12 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:39,760 The title of the sermon this morning is this Yoked to Sexual 13 00:00:39,960 --> 00:00:43,120 Sin. And so let's read the text and 14 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:47,800 we will jump into the sermon after praying #25 beginning in 15 00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:53,320 verse one. While Israel lived in Shateem, 16 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:58,000 the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. 17 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:01,920 These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and 18 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:04,760 the people ate and bowed down to their gods. 19 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:11,120 So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the 20 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:15,440 Lord was kindled against Israel. And the Lord said to Moses, Take 21 00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:21,440 all the chiefs of the people, and hang them in the sun before 22 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:25,520 the Lord, that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from 23 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:28,360 Israel. And Moses said to the judges of 24 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:31,960 Israel, Each of you kill those of his men who have yoked 25 00:01:31,960 --> 00:01:36,560 themselves to bail a pure. And behold, one of the people of 26 00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:42,000 Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family in 27 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:45,240 the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation 28 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:48,520 of the people of Israel, while they were weeping in the 29 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:54,280 entrance of the tent of meeting. And we'll stop right there if 30 00:01:54,280 --> 00:02:00,880 you will pray with me. Lord, I pray this morning as we 31 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:08,960 get to a sensitive subject. God, would you help me to live 32 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:10,840 in the tension. Help us all to live in the 33 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:17,840 tension of your abundant grace. That there is grace upon grace 34 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:22,760 for your children, even those who have fallen into sin or 35 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:27,000 sexual sin, and help us to live in that. 36 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:30,400 That side of the tension with the other side of our holiness 37 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:34,040 matters. And that we must strive for 38 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:38,560 holiness. God help us to live in that 39 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:41,640 tension this morning. Help me God, to present both 40 00:02:41,640 --> 00:02:45,680 sides of that as I work my way through this text. 41 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:48,560 As we all work our way through this text, I pray this in Jesus 42 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:53,400 name, Amen. Gordon Wenham, who is a 43 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:59,600 commentator, writes this. The Bible startles its readers 44 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:04,480 by the way it juxtaposes the brightest of revelations and the 45 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:08,880 darkest of sins. The law giving at Sinai was 46 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:13,880 followed by the making of the golden calf, the ordination of 47 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:20,760 Aaron by the disobedience of his sons, the covenant with David by 48 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:26,280 the Bathsheba affair, Palm Sunday by Good Friday. 49 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:30,880 Here we have another classic example of this pattern. 50 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:37,520 The wonderful prophecies of Balaam are succeeded by the 51 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:41,680 great apostasy at Piore. In this way, Scripture tries to 52 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:49,280 bring home to us the full wonder of God's grace and face of man's 53 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:53,960 incorrigible propensity to sin. End Quote. 54 00:03:57,240 --> 00:03:59,880 Over the past few weeks, we've looked at these 4 prophecies of 55 00:03:59,880 --> 00:04:03,760 Balaam where God is blessing his people. 56 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:10,560 And these four blessings are followed up by Israel yoking 57 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:14,400 himself to their sexual sin and their idolatry. 58 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:17,880 So this morning we're going to look at this the first part of 59 00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:21,880 the story, the 1st 6 verses, and we'll hopefully get to the next 60 00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:24,600 part that the, the, the remaining of it next week. 61 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:28,040 I've been going through, I've been weaving together exposition 62 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:30,600 and application. But this morning I'm going to 63 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:34,400 give exposition first and then I'll give application at the end 64 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:36,800 this morning. So let's start looking at our 65 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:39,560 exposition of the text, looking at it verse by verse. 66 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:43,160 Let's start in verse one. While Israel lived in shateen, 67 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:48,880 the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. 68 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:52,960 Now before we look at our text this morning, I I think it would 69 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:57,600 be beneficial for us to jump ahead in the book of Numbers for 70 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:01,080 a brief moment. And why is because often the 71 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:05,920 narrator of narrative does not give us details that you wish 72 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:08,880 were there and we have to look at other places for them. 73 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:11,600 And, and the reason for this is that the narrator gives us 74 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:15,200 pieces of information that shed light on this story. 75 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:19,760 Last week we saw that after Balaam had given his four 76 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:23,440 prophecies and he had blessed the people of Israel four times, 77 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:26,960 Balak went home and Balaam went home. 78 00:05:27,280 --> 00:05:31,360 The only problem is that Balaam didn't actually go home. 79 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:37,920 In Numbers 3116. This is what Moses says, Behold, 80 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:42,920 these being the Midianites, on Balaam's advice, cause the 81 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:46,000 people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord 82 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:50,600 in the incident of Peor. And so the plague came against 83 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:54,520 the congregation of the Lord. So all the way in #31 we're told 84 00:05:54,520 --> 00:06:00,320 that Balaam gives advice, and then Revelation 214 explains 85 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:05,920 what that advice was. Jesus says you have some there 86 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:10,840 who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put 87 00:06:10,840 --> 00:06:14,880 a stumbling block before the sons of Israel so that they 88 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:18,720 might eat food, sacrificed idols, and practice sexual 89 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:22,120 immorality. Now here's what this means. 90 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:28,920 It appears that since Balaam was not able to curse Israel through 91 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:33,560 the front door, he found a back door instead. 92 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:39,320 He taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons 93 00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:44,640 of Israel, a stumbling block in the form of Moabite women. 94 00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:47,920 Balaam couldn't curse God's people. 95 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:50,240 He couldn't he he didn't get paid. 96 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:55,960 But he found a different way. He found a way to make them 97 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:59,080 stumble. The narrator says that while 98 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:03,640 Israel was living in Shateem, the people, which is really the 99 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:08,800 men, began to whore with the daughters of Moab. 100 00:07:08,840 --> 00:07:12,520 Now translations here vary That word whore can mean play. 101 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:15,400 The harlots translated that way can mean to indulge in sexual 102 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:17,240 immorality. It can mean to begin to 103 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:20,400 prostitute themselves. But the basic idea is that the 104 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:25,640 men began to commit sexual immorality with the Moabite 105 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:27,920 women. That's what's going on here. 106 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:32,240 Look at verse 2. These invited the people to the 107 00:07:32,240 --> 00:07:36,880 sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to 108 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:40,240 their gods. Now as bad as the sexual 109 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:42,720 immorality was, it actually got worse. 110 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:47,800 These Moabite women would invite the Israelite men to the 111 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:52,120 sacrifices of their gods. And the Israelite men, when they 112 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:55,280 would go to these sacrifices, they would actually eat the food 113 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:59,720 that was sacrificed to the gods. They would even bow down to the 114 00:07:59,720 --> 00:08:03,840 gods with the women. Now God had previously warned 115 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:07,800 them about this in Exodus 3415 to 16. 116 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:11,760 God says this lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of 117 00:08:11,760 --> 00:08:14,560 the land. And when they whore after their 118 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:18,720 gods and sacrifice to their gods, you are invited. 119 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:23,520 You eat of a sacrifice you take of their daughters for your sons 120 00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:29,120 and their daughters whore after their gods, and make your sons 121 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:35,240 whore after their gods. God warned them this would 122 00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:38,360 happen. God warned them not to do this, 123 00:08:39,799 --> 00:08:45,000 and yet they did it anyway. Even Solomon and all his wisdom, 124 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:48,600 the wisest man living at the time, and all his wisdom, when 125 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:54,360 he was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods. 126 00:08:56,080 --> 00:09:03,840 Now why would these men do this? Because their desire for sexual 127 00:09:04,040 --> 00:09:09,480 gratification was greater than their desire for God's 128 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:13,760 glorification. Look at verse 3. 129 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:20,280 So Israel yoked himself to bail a peor, and the anger of the 130 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:27,760 Lord was kindled against Israel. Israel yoked himself to bail a 131 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:29,200 peor. Now what does that mean? 132 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:32,000 Well, on the front of your bulletin is a yoke. 133 00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:36,840 If you are a farmer and you need to plow the ground, you often 134 00:09:36,840 --> 00:09:38,760 will plow the ground with two oxen. 135 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:43,720 Now oxen will not just naturally walk together side by side, 136 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:45,560 right? You put two oxen together and 137 00:09:45,560 --> 00:09:47,800 they'll just go off and do their own thing. 138 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:49,920 They won't walk. So farmers will use what's known 139 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:52,920 as a yoke. There's a cross beam and then 140 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:54,880 there's two holes for the animals heads. 141 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:58,560 And this, this yoke would keep the animals together so that 142 00:09:58,560 --> 00:10:02,680 they walk in tandem. So they plow a straight line and 143 00:10:02,680 --> 00:10:07,600 this, this yoke. The narrator uses this imagery 144 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:14,440 there, says that Israel willingly yoked himself to Baal, 145 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:17,040 a pure. Now this is the first mention of 146 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:20,160 Baal in the Hebrew Bible, but it certainly will not be the last. 147 00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:22,600 We will see Baal come up over and over again. 148 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:25,400 This is the Canaanite fertility God. 149 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:27,200 Baal is the Canaanite fertility God. 150 00:10:27,560 --> 00:10:31,600 And as a result of this yoki look at God's response to this. 151 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:36,840 The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. 152 00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:43,160 Think about that. God has just spent the past two 153 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:48,920 chapters blessing His people, but now His anger is kindled 154 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:53,400 towards them because of their immorality and their idolatry. 155 00:10:54,560 --> 00:10:59,240 Look at verse four and the Lord said to Moses, take all the 156 00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:03,240 chiefs of the people and hang them in the sun before the Lord, 157 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:08,200 that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel. 158 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:14,960 If we are wondering how angry is God, verse 4 answers that 159 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:19,000 question for us. The Lord gives Moses 160 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:22,360 instructions. He says take all the chiefs or 161 00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:28,040 the leaders of the people and hang them in the sun before the 162 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:30,480 Lord. But I want to make 4 notes about 163 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:34,160 this punishment #1 why the chiefs? 164 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:36,760 Why the leaders? Well, there's actually two 165 00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:41,040 options here. A Them might refer to the 166 00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:43,960 offenders. When it says hang them, who is 167 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:46,040 the them? Them might refer to the 168 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:48,320 offenders. So the way to read this would be 169 00:11:48,560 --> 00:11:53,640 take all the chiefs of the people and hang the offenders in 170 00:11:53,640 --> 00:11:55,680 the sun. That's one way to read it. 171 00:11:56,280 --> 00:12:01,280 Or B them may refer to the chiefs, meaning Moses was to 172 00:12:01,280 --> 00:12:03,240 hang all the chiefs of the people. 173 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:07,040 Either is possible, and there's really no good way to discern 174 00:12:07,480 --> 00:12:12,320 which is objectively correct. But most commentators think it's 175 00:12:12,320 --> 00:12:17,120 B that's the take the chiefs and hang the chiefs because that's 176 00:12:17,120 --> 00:12:19,960 that's the closest antecedent. That would seem to make sense, 177 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:25,600 but then you got to wonder why? Why, why? 178 00:12:25,680 --> 00:12:27,880 Why are they to hang only the chiefs? 179 00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:32,680 How do we understand this? Well, first, Peter 417 says that 180 00:12:32,680 --> 00:12:34,720 judgement begins with the household of God. 181 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:37,640 And I assume that a judgement begins with the household of 182 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:39,520 God. I assume that in that household 183 00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:44,520 it also begins with the leaders. James 31 says teachers will be 184 00:12:44,520 --> 00:12:46,800 judged with greater strictness, and that's true of teachers. 185 00:12:46,800 --> 00:12:48,640 I assume that's also true of leaders as well. 186 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:55,040 The leaders will be judged with greater strictness #2 He says to 187 00:12:55,040 --> 00:12:57,400 hang them. Hang them is probably not a good 188 00:12:57,400 --> 00:12:59,840 translation. Probably the better translation 189 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:02,920 is impale them. That's what it probably 190 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:08,280 literally means it it literally translates as disfigure them and 191 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:13,760 probably through impaling. This is a brutal punishment #3 192 00:13:13,760 --> 00:13:15,200 He says do it in the sun. Why? 193 00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:17,280 Why does he say that? Meaning, this is not to be done 194 00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:20,720 behind closed doors. This is not to be done Outback. 195 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:23,360 This is to be done in the sun. This is to be done for all to 196 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:26,920 see. God wanted all of Israel to see 197 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:28,960 the punishment for this egregious sin. 198 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:33,320 And #4 he says, hang them in the sun before the Lord. 199 00:13:33,400 --> 00:13:35,640 Why did you say before the Lord? This is a reminder that their 200 00:13:35,640 --> 00:13:40,760 sin is against God. They sinned before the Lord. 201 00:13:41,680 --> 00:13:44,160 Now they will be judged before the Lord. 202 00:13:45,560 --> 00:13:47,960 And I want you to notice the reason for such a harsh 203 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:50,920 punishment. It sounds punitive, but it's not 204 00:13:50,920 --> 00:13:56,440 primarily punitive. It's propitiatory that the 205 00:13:56,440 --> 00:14:00,760 fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel. 206 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:04,120 We call this the doctrine of propitiation. 207 00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:05,520 You may have seen that term before. 208 00:14:06,520 --> 00:14:12,640 Israel has angered a holy and righteous God, and this anger 209 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:16,800 will not go away on its own. You ever been angry? 210 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:23,880 And if enough time passes, it just goes away, right? 211 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:26,880 You get angry at something and you get distracted. 212 00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:30,280 You get busy and you just kind of forget you're angry. 213 00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:32,200 You get busy doing something else. 214 00:14:32,360 --> 00:14:35,240 That's not how it works with God. 215 00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:41,480 God's anger doesn't go away. He doesn't get distracted. 216 00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:44,440 He doesn't forget, He doesn't get busy. 217 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:51,760 God's anger must be dealt with. It has to be dealt with. 218 00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:56,920 Look at verse 5. And Moses said to the judges of 219 00:14:56,920 --> 00:15:01,360 Israel, each of you kill those of his men who have yoked 220 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:05,280 themselves to bail of peor. Now there's two ways to 221 00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:08,640 understand verse 5. Verse 5A. 222 00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:15,760 If the them in verse 4 refers to the offenders, then chiefs in 223 00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:20,560 verse 4 and judges in verse 5 are the same people. 224 00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:25,120 They're one in the same. Moses is telling the judges to 225 00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:28,280 kill the offenders. Or B. 226 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:36,400 If the them in verse 4 refers to the chiefs, then it appears that 227 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:39,200 Moses fails to carry out God's command. 228 00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:45,360 In verse 4, it appears that Moses alters God's command to 229 00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:51,560 only kill the offenders. It's hard to know either way. 230 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:56,040 Here's what we do know. Moses has the leadership of 231 00:15:56,040 --> 00:16:00,000 Israel get involved in the judgement of Israel. 232 00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:04,960 Moses says the leaders are to get involved in the judgement of 233 00:16:04,960 --> 00:16:06,320 Israel. Now this is similar to what he 234 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:08,760 did in Exodus 32 when they built the golden calf. 235 00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:11,880 Remember when Moses went up the mountain to get the 10 236 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:14,400 commandments and when he came down they had built a golden 237 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:16,680 calf. And then Moses said this who was 238 00:16:16,680 --> 00:16:20,080 on the Lord's side, Come to me. And all the sons of Levi's 239 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:22,440 gathered to him. And he said to them, pull out 240 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:26,360 your sword on on each side. Put put your sword on each side 241 00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:31,080 of you and each of you go kill his brother and his companion 242 00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:35,080 and his neighbor. And the Levites went up and down 243 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:39,760 the line, killing those who had built this golden calf. 244 00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:44,480 Now, whether the judges actually do this or not, whether they 245 00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:46,720 actually carry out this command or not is debatable. 246 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:49,360 Because later we're going to see that a plague comes, kills 247 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:52,160 24,000. You kind of wonder, was the 248 00:16:52,160 --> 00:16:55,240 plague in addition to this, or did the plague happen because 249 00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:57,160 they refused to actually do this? 250 00:16:58,760 --> 00:17:03,400 We don't know. Look at verse 6 and behold, one 251 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:06,560 of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his 252 00:17:06,560 --> 00:17:09,000 family in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole 253 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:11,680 congregation of the people of Israel while they were weeping 254 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:14,200 in the entrance of the tent of meeting. 255 00:17:14,680 --> 00:17:16,960 The narrator now makes a hard pivot. 256 00:17:17,240 --> 00:17:20,280 He makes a hard pivot to a new story, and he does this by 257 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:24,880 saying this and behold, meaning something shocking is about to 258 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:27,920 happen. One of the Israelite men brought 259 00:17:27,920 --> 00:17:34,960 a Midianite woman to his family. So he's he's married, he's 260 00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:38,240 married, he's got kids. He goes and finds a mini night 261 00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:43,200 woman and he brings her to his own family. 262 00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:44,800 And notice he doesn't do this in secret. 263 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:49,200 He did it in the sight of Moses. He did it in the sight of the 264 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:51,720 whole congregation in broad daylight. 265 00:17:52,360 --> 00:17:56,800 And to make matters worse, he does this while Moses and the 266 00:17:56,800 --> 00:18:01,480 people are weeping over their sin and weeping over their 267 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:04,760 judgment. This man can hear the weeping of 268 00:18:04,760 --> 00:18:08,480 his people, and he does it anyway. 269 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:17,800 This is a very, very low point in Israel's history, but like 270 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:25,640 always, God will raise up a deliverer, which we will get to 271 00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:29,560 next week. We'll stop there with our 272 00:18:29,720 --> 00:18:32,560 exposition of the text application. 273 00:18:34,120 --> 00:18:37,800 I have 10 truths. This is why I could not do the 274 00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:42,360 whole chapter. I have 10 truths from these 6 275 00:18:42,360 --> 00:18:51,920 verses #1 God's blessing comes from divine grace, not human 276 00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:57,560 merit. God's blessing comes from divine 277 00:18:57,560 --> 00:19:04,760 grace, not human merit. Numbers 25 is a crazy story. 278 00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:07,040 There's no way around it is a crazy story. 279 00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:11,160 But you know, what is the craziest part of this story, to 280 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:15,760 me at least, is the juxtaposition of the previous 281 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:21,000 two chapters and chapter 25. It's the juxtaposition of it. 282 00:19:22,360 --> 00:19:25,960 Balak hires Balaam to curse Israel and rather than curse 283 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:30,920 them, he spends 2 whole chapters blessing the people of God. 284 00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:33,040 And here's the thing. It's not as though God doesn't 285 00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:37,640 know what's coming next. It's not as though God bless 286 00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:38,760 them. And then they did this and he's 287 00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:40,960 like, oh man, why did I bless? Maybe I should have listened to 288 00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:43,120 Balak. It's not as though God didn't 289 00:19:43,120 --> 00:19:45,520 know what's coming next. He knew good and well God knows 290 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:48,960 the future. God knows that his people are 291 00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:51,200 about to engage in this egregious sin. 292 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:56,360 And yet God tells Balaam, bless them. 293 00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:02,680 Why? Because God's blessing comes 294 00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:05,400 from divine grace, not human merit. 295 00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:11,840 God created Adam and Eve knowing they would disobey him. 296 00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:18,160 God raised up. David to be king to replace 297 00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:23,360 Saul, knowing that he would kill a man and commit adultery. 298 00:20:26,360 --> 00:20:31,680 Jesus chose Peter as his disciple, knowing that he would 299 00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:38,200 deny him three times. And friend, God chose you and 300 00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:42,240 me, knowing every single sin we would ever commit. 301 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:49,480 If there is one thing that we learned from the scriptures, it 302 00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:52,840 is this. God doesn't bless us because of 303 00:20:52,840 --> 00:21:04,560 our merit, but because of His grace. 2 If Satan can't get us 304 00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:09,200 through the front door, he will attempt to use the back door. 305 00:21:11,480 --> 00:21:16,720 If Satan can't get us through the front door, he will attempt 306 00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:20,760 to use the back door. Balaam and Balak couldn't curse 307 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:23,560 Israel through the front door. So what did they do? 308 00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:27,520 They found a back door. Balaam got Balak to put a 309 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:30,680 stumbling block to the people of Israel. 310 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:34,080 And how did he do it? Through Moabite women. 311 00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:39,720 You see, Satan is a master at finding our weaknesses, and he's 312 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:40,920 been around for a very long time. 313 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:44,360 He is very clever. He is a master at finding our 314 00:21:44,360 --> 00:21:51,600 weaknesses and exploiting them. He will try one method, and if 315 00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:57,880 he is not successful, he will try another and another, and yet 316 00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:02,400 another. He will keep going until he 317 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:06,560 finds a stumbling block that works. 318 00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:13,920 I remember several years back when we were getting broken into 319 00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:15,280 what seemed like almost every month. 320 00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:17,280 There was a time when we got broken into. 321 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:22,880 Like it felt like every month we would secure up 1 area only to 322 00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:25,560 find out that we needed to secure up another area. 323 00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:30,520 We got to a point where we realized we can't have any easy 324 00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:35,160 access points because if we do, people will find it. 325 00:22:36,760 --> 00:22:39,960 They will find the access point and they will enter through it. 326 00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:46,120 That's just how it is. And that's how it is with Satan 327 00:22:46,120 --> 00:22:50,600 too. Listen to me when I say this. 328 00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:59,880 There cannot be any unlocked back doors in your life because 329 00:22:59,880 --> 00:23:05,960 Satan will find them. He will use them, he will 330 00:23:05,960 --> 00:23:20,360 exploit them #3 Pornography is a God and one of the most worship 331 00:23:20,360 --> 00:23:27,320 gods in our culture. Pornography is a God and it is 332 00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:30,000 one of the most worship gods in our culture. 333 00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:36,640 As bad as the sexual sin was in this story, what made it worse 334 00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:38,760 is that it led to their idolatry. 335 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:43,440 The men were invited to the sacrifices of to bail. 336 00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:46,360 Not only did they go to the sacrifices, but they actually 337 00:23:46,360 --> 00:23:49,800 ate the food that was sacrificed to the idol to bail. 338 00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:53,840 They even bowed down to bail. Now, I think it can be easy to 339 00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:55,880 read this story. Maybe you read, just read the 340 00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:56,960 story. Maybe you're listening right 341 00:23:56,960 --> 00:23:58,600 now. It can be easy to think. 342 00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:02,680 Listen brother, I know that I have sin in my life. 343 00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:05,440 I know maybe I even have sexual sin in my life. 344 00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:09,240 I've never bowed down to a false God. 345 00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:20,920 And yet how many men and even women all across the world bow 346 00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:24,720 down in front of their computer screen or their phone screen? 347 00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:33,520 I want to be clear here, pornography and, and I want to 348 00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:36,040 be clear if you say, when I say pornography, I'm using the way 349 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:40,080 my wife defines it because you might think like, oh, it's only 350 00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:43,840 like that hardcore stuff. I mean, anything, any images 351 00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:55,280 that 'd be hardcore. Pornography is a God and it is 352 00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:58,320 one of the most worshipped gods in our culture. 353 00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:02,080 I was looking up statistics on pornography. 354 00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:04,680 I was going to give statistics and to be honest, I, I chose not 355 00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:06,280 to because the numbers are all over the place. 356 00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:09,280 They're so they vary so much. You kind of wonder what's true. 357 00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:11,360 I don't, I mean, I don't even know what's true, right? 358 00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:13,400 I hear this, I hear that. I have no idea. 359 00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:14,960 It's hard to know what's true. It's hard to know what's 360 00:25:14,960 --> 00:25:17,240 accurate. So I, I'm not a big fan of 361 00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:20,320 speaking anecdotally as evidence, but I think in this 362 00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:23,840 case it maybe has merit. I'll speak anecdotally for my 22 363 00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:28,400 years of being a Christian, and especially the past 14 years of 364 00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:34,680 being a pastor. I've never met a man who did not 365 00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:37,680 struggle with pornography at some point in his life. 366 00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:48,730 Never I've had. Several women confess to me that 367 00:25:48,730 --> 00:25:50,650 they struggle with pornography at some point in their life. 368 00:25:50,850 --> 00:25:54,210 Several, not like one or two. I've had several women confess 369 00:25:54,210 --> 00:25:58,800 this to me. I've even had married couples 370 00:25:58,800 --> 00:26:03,000 confess to me to watching pornography in their marriage 371 00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:11,900 together. Here's why this is such a 372 00:26:11,980 --> 00:26:17,260 dangerous God in our culture, because next week we're going to 373 00:26:17,260 --> 00:26:23,500 see that this sexual sin killed 24,000 of the Israelites. 374 00:26:25,580 --> 00:26:32,760 And yet every day pornography spiritually kills 24,000,000 375 00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:34,800 Americans. Every single day. 376 00:26:36,360 --> 00:26:45,000 And that's being conservative. Your computer screen, your phone 377 00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:50,560 screen is the 21st century temple of this world. 378 00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:56,760 Do you hear me when I say that your computer screen, your phone 379 00:26:56,760 --> 00:26:59,880 screen is the temple of this world? 380 00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:07,320 That's the modern day temple. Brothers and sisters, be careful 381 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:20,640 who you bow down to. 4 You cannot kill desire with effort 382 00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:24,680 alone. You must kill desire with 383 00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:29,200 desire. You cannot kill desire with 384 00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:33,560 effort alone. You must kill desire with 385 00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:37,560 desire. It's tragic how many of God's 386 00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:42,680 men had a weakness for women, right Started with Adam start in 387 00:27:42,680 --> 00:27:45,480 the garden. Adam listening to his wife 388 00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:47,160 rather than listening to the voice of God. 389 00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:54,320 David's weakness was women, so was Samson's, so was Solomon's, 390 00:27:55,120 --> 00:28:00,240 so was these Israelite men. You kind of wonder, why did so 391 00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:02,480 many of God's men fall into sexual sin? 392 00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:08,480 Like, why? I think it's very simple because 393 00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:11,800 God has made certain desires very strong. 394 00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:15,880 God has made certain desires very strong. 395 00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:18,440 I mean, why do we struggle with being overweight? 396 00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:23,040 Is it not that God has made desire for food and comfort very 397 00:28:23,040 --> 00:28:26,400 strong? Do we not love our food? 398 00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:32,160 Do we not love our comfort? Why do we struggle with sexual 399 00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:35,000 sin? Because God has made the desire 400 00:28:35,120 --> 00:28:39,200 for physical pleasure very strong. 401 00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:50,760 And this is so important that we get this You cannot kill desire 402 00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:55,000 with effort alone. It won't work. 403 00:28:56,920 --> 00:29:01,200 Effort alone will never be strong enough to kill desire. 404 00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:04,240 It'll never be strong enough to put these desires down. 405 00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:08,640 If you try to manpower this, willpower this, you won't. 406 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:10,200 Your willpower is not strong enough. 407 00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:15,400 We all know this. The Apostle Paul writes in 408 00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:18,720 Colossians 223. These have indeed an appearance 409 00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:21,640 of wisdom and promoting self-made religion and 410 00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:23,800 asceticism and severity of the body. 411 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:28,840 Here it is. But they are of no value and 412 00:29:28,840 --> 00:29:32,240 stopping the indulgence of the flesh. 413 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:41,280 Effort alone is of no value and stopping the indulgence of the 414 00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:47,560 flesh. We must kill desire with desire. 415 00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:56,760 The only way to kill a strong desire is to have an even 416 00:29:56,760 --> 00:30:00,600 stronger desire. It's the only way to do it. 417 00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:09,160 Your desire for the holiness without which no one will see 418 00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:17,960 the Lord must be stronger then your desire for 5 minutes of 419 00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:31,030 gratification. 5 There is no dating and idol, there's only 420 00:30:31,030 --> 00:30:35,910 being yoked to it. There is no dating and idol, 421 00:30:36,710 --> 00:30:41,910 there's only being yoked to it. It's no secret that the younger 422 00:30:41,910 --> 00:30:43,270 generation is putting off marriage. 423 00:30:44,190 --> 00:30:48,440 No offense to anybody. In the 1950's, the average age 424 00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:51,400 that men got married was 22 and women 20. 425 00:30:51,640 --> 00:30:56,040 You realize that in the 1950's, the average age in America that 426 00:30:56,040 --> 00:31:01,040 men got married was 22, and the average age for women was 2075. 427 00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:05,080 Years later, those numbers are now 30 and 28 respectively, and 428 00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:10,120 they are climbing. Sometimes I'll see a couple and 429 00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:11,840 they tell me they've been together for seven years. 430 00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:13,240 They're like, oh, we've been together for seven years. 431 00:31:13,360 --> 00:31:15,840 I assume they're married. Like you've been together for 432 00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:17,000 seven years. You must be married. 433 00:31:18,040 --> 00:31:23,640 Who dates for seven years. And then I quickly realized 434 00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:25,520 that, oh, they're not married, they're dating. 435 00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:32,200 You see, the benefit of dating is that you're not yoked. 436 00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:34,720 You date someone, you're not yoked to them. 437 00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:37,160 Or in the South, we call it hitched. 438 00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:42,240 There's no formal commitment. You can back out whenever you 439 00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:46,040 want, no harm, no foul. I mean, there's consequences, 440 00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:48,600 but it's not sin. It's not sin to break up. 441 00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:51,360 It is a sin to get a divorce. It's not a sin to break up. 442 00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:58,440 Here's why this matters. I wonder how many of these men 443 00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:03,240 who went to the temple of Baal, ate of Baal's food, and bowed 444 00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:06,560 down to Baal thought of themselves as simply going 445 00:32:06,560 --> 00:32:10,360 through the motions. I imagine that's how they 446 00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:13,240 justified it. They thought, well, we have 447 00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:14,640 these women. We like these women. 448 00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:17,200 We think they're better looking than our Jewish women. 449 00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:19,760 Or we think that they have some, you know, or maybe they're just 450 00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:21,400 different, right? Sometimes it doesn't matter if 451 00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:22,640 they're better looking. You just want something 452 00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:26,000 different. We want something different. 453 00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:29,760 And this is just a necessary step in order to keep the 454 00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:32,400 relations open with these women, right? 455 00:32:32,640 --> 00:32:35,360 I really like her. She invited me to her feast. 456 00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:45,080 All right, all right, All right. And yet that's not the 457 00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:50,200 perspective of God's word, the narrator says. 458 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:58,440 So Israel yoked himself to the Bale of Peor yoked himself. 459 00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:03,400 He doesn't even say they yoked himself to the women. 460 00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:07,600 Did you notice that? Even though that's true, he says 461 00:33:07,600 --> 00:33:10,800 they yoked themselves to the Bale of pure. 462 00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:16,200 What we learn is that there is no dating and idol, and there is 463 00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:20,640 no dating God either. There is either being yoked to 464 00:33:20,640 --> 00:33:28,320 God or being yoked to an idol. I've talked to people through 465 00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:30,480 the years and they have defended that they're not walking away 466 00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:31,880 from the faith. They're not walking away from 467 00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:35,680 God, right? They say, look, I'm just 468 00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:38,000 exploring this new relationship with the lost person. 469 00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:41,160 I'm still a Christian. I'm still a Christian. 470 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:42,640 I'm not walking away from the faith. 471 00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:45,400 I'm not walking around Christian, you know, I'm just 472 00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:49,160 exploring this new relationship with the lost person. 473 00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:55,160 Or someone takes a job and they say, look, I'm not giving up on 474 00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:56,440 the church. I'm not giving up on 475 00:33:56,440 --> 00:33:59,120 Christianity. I'm just taking this job, even 476 00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:01,240 though this job is going to take me away from church and I'm 477 00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:02,960 going to miss church every single Sunday. 478 00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:06,360 I'm just, it's just the necessary step for me, OK? 479 00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:09,480 It's part of my career, right? I've talked to people about 480 00:34:09,480 --> 00:34:10,960 that. Hear me when I say this, 481 00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:15,600 brothers and sisters, there is no such thing as dating and 482 00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:20,719 idol. There is only being yoked to it. 483 00:34:23,400 --> 00:34:27,239 You're either yoked to God or you're yoked to an idol. 484 00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:42,400 There's no middle ground. Number six, God is angry with 485 00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:50,120 our sexual sin. God is angry with our sexual 486 00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:51,440 sin. Now I want to be clear that if 487 00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:55,960 we are in Christ, God is not angry with us. 488 00:34:56,120 --> 00:34:58,880 Period. Let me be very clear on that. 489 00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:02,800 If we are in Christ, God is not angry with us, period. 490 00:35:02,880 --> 00:35:08,080 God is for us. God delights in US, but that 491 00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:11,440 doesn't mean that God doesn't get angry with us for our sexual 492 00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:17,680 sin, the text says. And the anger of the Lord was 493 00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:22,520 kindled against Israel. Now here's why I think this 494 00:35:22,520 --> 00:35:24,960 point needs to be made. I think it can be. 495 00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:28,800 You go to a lot of churches and this point will not be made 496 00:35:28,800 --> 00:35:31,640 because there's a fear of the church walking away feeling 497 00:35:31,640 --> 00:35:35,920 condemned. But here's why this point has to 498 00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:41,080 be made, because everything in the world, everything outside 499 00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:44,320 there, everything is attempting to minimize this set. 500 00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:49,560 Minimize it. I mean, how many songs are 501 00:35:49,560 --> 00:35:53,160 written today containing lyrics about sexual immorality? 502 00:35:56,240 --> 00:35:58,320 How many? There's a song I heard on the 503 00:35:58,320 --> 00:35:59,880 radio recently. I didn't realize it's actually 504 00:35:59,880 --> 00:36:01,280 an old song. I thought it was new, but it's 505 00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:04,600 actually old. I was singing it and I I didn't 506 00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:06,440 know what they were saying because I couldn't understand 507 00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:07,520 it. And I kept singing it. 508 00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:12,360 And then I realized what I was singing was promiscuous boy and 509 00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:15,240 promiscuous girl. And then after I heard it, I was 510 00:36:15,240 --> 00:36:16,640 like, Oh my gosh, why am I singing? 511 00:36:19,280 --> 00:36:25,240 How many songs are written today around the theme of sexual 512 00:36:25,240 --> 00:36:30,920 immorality? How many movies today don't have 513 00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:37,080 a sex scene or an implied 1? Not among married couples? 514 00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:45,000 How many advertisements are centred around some sexual theme 515 00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:50,960 or some sexual innuendo? You see, it permeates all of our 516 00:36:50,960 --> 00:36:53,400 culture. It permeates all of society. 517 00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:59,240 It's everywhere. Again, statistics vary greatly, 518 00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:04,080 I understand that, but almost everyone I looked up said this 519 00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:09,200 one that somewhere around 90% of people have had sex before they 520 00:37:09,200 --> 00:37:15,600 were married, 90%. The average age now today of 521 00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:19,800 people having their first sexual encounter is 17. 522 00:37:25,090 --> 00:37:36,120 That's Abraham and 10 months 17. And when you are surrounded by 523 00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:41,640 this much of A prevailing culture, it is all too easy to 524 00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:44,880 become desensitized to it, isn't it? 525 00:37:46,080 --> 00:37:52,320 We just get desensitized to it. We forget that God is angry with 526 00:37:52,320 --> 00:37:58,000 our sexual sin. When you read the story, it's 527 00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:01,840 clear that God is not just a little bit angry, He's angry 528 00:38:01,840 --> 00:38:03,720 enough to have these people impaled. 529 00:38:05,360 --> 00:38:08,960 He's angry enough to put 24,000 of them to death. 530 00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:13,160 You see, we need stories like this. 531 00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:17,760 We need stories like this to remind us My holiness matters. 532 00:38:18,080 --> 00:38:31,120 It matters #7 Jesus was hanged in the sun before the Lord for 533 00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:33,920 my sexual sin and for your sexual sin. 534 00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:39,960 Jesus was hanged in the sun before the Lord for my sexual 535 00:38:39,960 --> 00:38:43,000 sin and for your sexual sin. And if you're there and you're 536 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:45,960 saying, look brother, I've never committed any sexual sin, OK? 537 00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:47,480 Just substitute idolatry in that sentence. 538 00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:50,880 Let me tell you out the word sexual sin. 539 00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:56,520 Just substitute idolatry there. As stunning as verses one to 540 00:38:56,520 --> 00:39:00,160 three are, verse 4 is equally stunning, is it not? 541 00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:03,360 If not more, we read verses one to three and it just kind of 542 00:39:03,360 --> 00:39:05,840 stuns us. And then you read verse 4 and 543 00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:10,520 it's even more stunning. God commands Moses to hang, 544 00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:14,640 probably impale either the leaders of the people or the 545 00:39:14,640 --> 00:39:18,800 perpetrators of this sin. And he tells Moses, do it in the 546 00:39:18,800 --> 00:39:23,320 sun, meaning in the sight before all of the people. 547 00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:33,560 I got exposed to sexual sin at an early age, maybe around 5th 548 00:39:33,560 --> 00:39:38,000 grade. I was maybe around 1111 years 549 00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:43,520 old. For the next 15 years of my 550 00:39:43,520 --> 00:39:47,320 life, I engaged in more sexual sin than I care to recount. 551 00:39:52,120 --> 00:39:55,320 One thought that I've had at least 100 times in my Christian 552 00:39:55,320 --> 00:39:59,480 life is this. Why wasn't I punished? 553 00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:10,670 More Why don't I have leprosy? Why is it? 554 00:40:10,670 --> 00:40:15,630 One of my. Children died because I deserve. 555 00:40:15,630 --> 00:40:18,030 It. I. 556 00:40:18,510 --> 00:40:23,430 Deserve it, I can scarcely even think. 557 00:40:23,430 --> 00:40:25,550 About it sometimes without tears coming to my eyes. 558 00:40:29,120 --> 00:40:33,040 And I always come back. To the same answer. 559 00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:40,880 Because Jesus was. Hanged in the sun before the 560 00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:52,000 Lord, for my sexual sin, and for yours for yours. 561 00:40:54,640 --> 00:41:10,000 That's the only answer I come up with. #8 The greatest problem 562 00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:14,720 facing our world is that there. Is a holy and righteous. 563 00:41:14,720 --> 00:41:21,600 God who is angry with sinners the greatest problem facing our 564 00:41:21,600 --> 00:41:27,480 world is that there is a holy and righteous God who is angry 565 00:41:27,480 --> 00:41:31,520 with sinners the world kind of. Feels like it's falling apart. 566 00:41:31,520 --> 00:41:33,840 Doesn't it? Especially if you watch the 567 00:41:33,840 --> 00:41:35,040 news, which. I I don't think it's. 568 00:41:35,040 --> 00:41:38,640 A good thing to do, but if you ask people what? 569 00:41:38,640 --> 00:41:40,920 Is the greatest problem if? You were to go walk out on the 570 00:41:40,920 --> 00:41:43,560 streets and ask people what is the greatest problem facing our 571 00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:45,440 world right now? You probably get a myriad of 572 00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:48,240 answers. Some people might say war. 573 00:41:48,240 --> 00:41:50,000 War is the greatest problem facing our world right now. 574 00:41:50,440 --> 00:41:54,120 War with Russia and Ukraine, War with Israel and Palestine, war 575 00:41:54,120 --> 00:41:57,400 with Israel and Iran. Some people might. 576 00:41:57,400 --> 00:42:01,280 Say climate change. There's melting ice caps, global 577 00:42:01,280 --> 00:42:06,760 warming, stronger storms. Some people might say AI. 578 00:42:07,360 --> 00:42:09,120 We don't even know the threats of AI. 579 00:42:09,240 --> 00:42:14,880 Maybe it's going to kill us all. Some people will say pandemics. 580 00:42:15,840 --> 00:42:17,680 COVID you thought COVID was? Bad the. 581 00:42:17,680 --> 00:42:23,400 Next one will be even worse. Food supply. 582 00:42:23,800 --> 00:42:28,920 Overpopulation, economic instability, and on and on and 583 00:42:28,920 --> 00:42:31,760 on and on. But here is the objective 584 00:42:31,760 --> 00:42:35,560 correct answer. There is an objective correct 585 00:42:35,560 --> 00:42:39,840 answer, and here it is. The greatest problem facing our 586 00:42:39,920 --> 00:42:47,840 world is that there is a holy and righteous God who is angry 587 00:42:47,840 --> 00:42:56,200 with sinners. The reason that God said. 588 00:42:56,200 --> 00:43:00,680 To hang these men in the sun was not primarily to punish them for 589 00:43:00,680 --> 00:43:02,040 their sin, though that was part of it. 590 00:43:02,040 --> 00:43:03,680 That wasn't the primary reason to do it. 591 00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:09,640 The reason was that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away 592 00:43:09,640 --> 00:43:14,960 from Israel. Neither war nor climate. 593 00:43:14,960 --> 00:43:19,720 Change, nor AI, nor pandemics, or food supply or economic 594 00:43:19,720 --> 00:43:25,040 instability compare to this central and universal problem 595 00:43:25,120 --> 00:43:30,240 facing all of us there. Is a holy and righteous. 596 00:43:30,240 --> 00:43:34,840 God who is angry with sinners, and something must be done about 597 00:43:34,840 --> 00:43:39,360 it. Something must. 598 00:43:39,520 --> 00:43:43,720 Be done about it. And Jesus did. 599 00:43:46,760 --> 00:43:55,600 He did something about it. There is only one way. 600 00:43:56,840 --> 00:43:58,840 For God not. To be angry with us. 601 00:44:00,280 --> 00:44:04,960 There's only one way and it was. Read in our benediction 602 00:44:04,960 --> 00:44:08,800 recently. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, 603 00:44:09,400 --> 00:44:13,280 and you perish in the way, for His wrath is quickly kindled. 604 00:44:13,520 --> 00:44:24,440 Blessed are all those who take refuge in him #9 We all have a 605 00:44:24,440 --> 00:44:27,320 corporate responsibility when there is sin in the 606 00:44:27,320 --> 00:44:30,080 congregation. We all have a. 607 00:44:30,080 --> 00:44:31,920 Corporate responsibility. When there is sin in the 608 00:44:31,920 --> 00:44:34,440 congregation, it's interesting that later in the story we're 609 00:44:34,440 --> 00:44:37,600 going to see that the Lord put 24,000 men to death through a 610 00:44:37,600 --> 00:44:40,240 plague. But before he did this, he. 611 00:44:40,240 --> 00:44:42,680 Commands Moses. To either hang all the chiefs, 612 00:44:43,000 --> 00:44:45,600 or to hang, or to have the chiefs hang all the 613 00:44:45,600 --> 00:44:48,200 perpetrators. And then Moses commands the 614 00:44:48,200 --> 00:44:50,760 judges, who may or may not be the same people as the chiefs. 615 00:44:50,960 --> 00:44:54,400 Moses commands them to personally kill all the men who 616 00:44:54,400 --> 00:44:58,200 have yoked themselves to bail. Now why did God do it this way? 617 00:44:59,440 --> 00:45:02,680 He did it this way to teach the people that we all have a 618 00:45:02,680 --> 00:45:05,320 corporate responsibility when there is sin in the 619 00:45:05,320 --> 00:45:08,120 congregation. Now this was. 620 00:45:08,120 --> 00:45:11,720 Not an anomaly. In Deuteronomy 13-6 and nine, 621 00:45:11,720 --> 00:45:15,280 God says that if one of your family members, your brother, 622 00:45:15,640 --> 00:45:20,120 your son, your daughter, or even your wife tries to get you to 623 00:45:20,120 --> 00:45:23,800 serve other gods, God says this. You shall kill him. 624 00:45:23,840 --> 00:45:28,760 Your hand shall be the first against him to put him to death. 625 00:45:32,160 --> 00:45:37,080 Think about that. It's not God's job. 626 00:45:37,080 --> 00:45:40,760 To deal with this sin, it's not even moses's job to deal with 627 00:45:40,760 --> 00:45:43,680 this sin. It is the people's job to deal 628 00:45:43,680 --> 00:45:53,200 with this sin we all have a corporate responsibility when 629 00:45:53,200 --> 00:45:54,680 there is sin in the congregation. 630 00:45:58,080 --> 00:46:03,360 Last point #10 Shame is a. Tool like a. 631 00:46:03,360 --> 00:46:06,440 Hammer. It can be used for destruction. 632 00:46:07,360 --> 00:46:09,760 It can also be used to build supporting structures. 633 00:46:11,840 --> 00:46:13,800 Shame is a. Tool like a hammer it. 634 00:46:13,800 --> 00:46:17,120 Can be used for destruction. It can also be used to build 635 00:46:17,120 --> 00:46:20,120 supporting structures. I did a Friday night series on 636 00:46:20,120 --> 00:46:23,000 Shame a few years back and I realized as I was teaching on 637 00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:24,640 shame that it's a very tricky subject. 638 00:46:25,200 --> 00:46:27,120 It's a lot more tricky than I thought it was at first. 639 00:46:27,760 --> 00:46:31,320 Shame is a lot like a hammer. A hammer can be used for 640 00:46:31,320 --> 00:46:34,080 destruction. It can also be used to build 641 00:46:34,080 --> 00:46:38,960 supporting structures. It is a dangerous place to be 642 00:46:39,960 --> 00:46:43,640 when we have lost all shame. That's a dangerous place to be. 643 00:46:44,680 --> 00:46:46,200 And that's what happens in verse 6. 644 00:46:47,320 --> 00:46:50,320 This man who brought this Midianite woman to his family, 645 00:46:50,400 --> 00:46:54,680 he has lost all sense of shame. Not only does he bring a woman 646 00:46:54,800 --> 00:46:58,880 to his family, he brings a foreign woman, a foreign 647 00:46:58,880 --> 00:47:02,840 idolatrous woman, to his family. Not only does he do it in broad 648 00:47:02,840 --> 00:47:05,880 daylight, but he does it in front of Moses, in front of the 649 00:47:05,880 --> 00:47:08,160 congregation, while they are weeping. 650 00:47:09,520 --> 00:47:14,400 He's lost all. Sense of shame now while it's 651 00:47:14,400 --> 00:47:16,760 true that shame can be very. Dangerous in the Christian life. 652 00:47:16,760 --> 00:47:19,680 It can be. Shame can kill. 653 00:47:19,680 --> 00:47:23,040 A person spiritually. Shame. 654 00:47:23,040 --> 00:47:26,600 Can also be very useful. I want. 655 00:47:26,600 --> 00:47:29,080 To be clear, that shame. Will not 'cause us to obey for 656 00:47:29,080 --> 00:47:31,800 the right reasons. Shame is not a tool that will 657 00:47:31,800 --> 00:47:35,440 get you to obey for the right reasons, but it may serve as a 658 00:47:35,440 --> 00:47:42,000 bridge to the right reasons. What do I mean by that? 659 00:47:42,320 --> 00:47:44,680 One of the. Motivations for obedience There 660 00:47:44,680 --> 00:47:47,880 are many motivations for obedience the Bible gives us 661 00:47:47,880 --> 00:47:52,120 like over 50 one of the. Motivations for obedience. 662 00:47:52,320 --> 00:47:57,040 Is this thought I? Would be. 663 00:47:57,360 --> 00:48:03,520 Ashamed for my church family to know that I did this. 664 00:48:06,520 --> 00:48:14,280 I would be horrified if you knew that I was doing. 665 00:48:14,280 --> 00:48:22,160 This that is not a. Bad motivation. 666 00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:35,680 That's a good motivation. Don't tell yourself there's no 667 00:48:35,680 --> 00:48:40,120 shame. There is shame, Paul. 668 00:48:40,120 --> 00:48:44,080 Says you. Should be ashamed. 669 00:48:48,320 --> 00:48:55,730 There is no. Condemnation, I pray. 670 00:49:01,030 --> 00:49:06,670 That if any of you have sexual sin in your life and I know why 671 00:49:06,710 --> 00:49:07,590 are. You harping on this because 672 00:49:07,590 --> 00:49:11,070 that's what the text is about if. 673 00:49:11,070 --> 00:49:19,310 Any of you have sexual? Sin in your life, kill it, you 674 00:49:19,310 --> 00:49:20,790 won't go. To heaven if you don't. 675 00:49:20,790 --> 00:49:24,400 Kill it. Not perfectly. 676 00:49:25,800 --> 00:49:27,200 Nobody kills their sin perfectly. 677 00:49:30,840 --> 00:49:34,680 There are no people in heaven addicted to pornography. 678 00:49:37,760 --> 00:49:46,560 Hear me when I say. That you must put it to death. 679 00:49:49,320 --> 00:49:49,680 Let's pray.