All right, good morning, church family.
Once again, if you would open your Bibles to the Book of
Numbers chapter 25. And this morning we're going to
be in verses 7 to 18, Numbers 25, seven to 18.
We are on Part 2 of our story this morning of the story of the
Baal worship, and we're going to get to a new character this
morning. The title of the sermon is this
Jealous with God's Jealousy. So let's read the text, open it
in a word of prayer, and then we'll jump into our sermon this
morning #25 beginning in verse 7.
When Phineas the son of Eliezer son of Aaron the priest, saw it,
he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in
his hand, and went after the man of Israel into the chamber, and
pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her
belly. Thus the plague on the people of
Israel was stopped. Nevertheless, those who died by
the plague were 24,000. And the Lord said to Moses
Phineas. And the Lord said to Moses,
Phineas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned
back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous
with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the
people of Israel in my jealousy. Therefore say, Behold, I give to
him my covenant of peace, and it shall be to him and to his
descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual
priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made
atonement for the people of Israel.
The name of the slain man of Israel who was killed with the
Midianite woman was Zimri, the son of Salou, chief of a
father's house belonging to the Semi unites, And the name of the
MIDI. That woman who was killed was
Cosby, the daughter of Zur, who was the tribal head of a
father's house in Midian. And the Lord spoke to Moses
saying, Harass the Midianites and strike them down, for they
have harassed you with their Wiles, with which they beguiled
you in the matter of Peor and in the matter of Cosby, the
daughter of the chief of Midian, their sister, who was killed on
the day of the plague on account of Peor.
If you will pray with me, Father, pray this morning as we
get to a story that is quite graphic, quite extreme.
It's violent. Remind us, Lord, of of our need
to treat sin with seriousness, of our need to be jealous with
your jealousy, that we would be jealous for your glory, for the
holiness of your people, and that we would rise and take
action as Phineas does. Lord help us to to see this man
of the faith who averted A plague from being worse than
what it was and help us Lord to to rise up and and to say, Lord,
what are you calling me to do? How do you want me to put to
death to sin in my life and to be a vessel and helping others
to put sin to death in theirs? I pray this in Jesus name Amen.
John Owen, in his book The Mortification of Sin, writes
this. To mortify means to put any
living thing to death. To kill a man, or any other
living thing, is to take away the principle of all its
strength, vigor, and power, so that it cannot act or exert, or
put forth any proper actings of its own.
It is the constant duty of believers to render a death blow
to the deeds of the flesh, that they may not have life and
strength to bring forth their destructive influence.
Do you mortify? Do you make it your daily work?
Be always at it while you live. Cease not a day from this work.
Be killing sin, or it will be killing you.
End Quote. If you need to know.
How violent does this mortification need to be?
How extreme. Look no farther than the story
of Phineas, because in here we have a physical example of what
we are to do metaphorically, spiritually to our sin and to
others sin. I want to give the context.
If you're busy with this morning, we've been going
through the Book of Numbers for several months and most recently
we've been looking at the story of Balaam and Balak.
And this morning we get to a new story and we started it last
week. And so I want to give the
context to bring us up to speed and then I'll we'll give
exposition of the text and then I'll give application.
For the past several weeks, we've been going through the
story of Balak and Balaam where Balak, who is king of Moab, has
hired Balaam, a false prophet, to come and curse Israel.
But instead God uses it as an opportunity to bless his people
four times. Since Balaam cannot find a way
to curse Israel through the front door, he instead finds a
back door. He becomes a stumbling block.
He tells Balak. Put a stumbling block in the
Israelites path. A stumbling block in the form of
Moabite women. The Israelite men begin to whore
with the Moabite women. And to make matters worse, the
women invite the men to the sacrifice of their gods.
And not only do the men go to the sacrifice, they even eat the
food that a sacrifice to these false gods.
They even bow down themselves to the false gods.
And as a result of this immorality, as a result of this
idolatry, God tells Moses to hang probably more literal and
pale, either the chiefs of the people or the offenders.
And the reason for this is that so that the anger of the Lord
may turn away. Now, it's unclear from the story
if this actually happened, if they actually did hang them.
But the story then begins to shift to this specific example
where an Israelite man actually brings a Midianite woman to his
family. So here is a married man,
probably with children, and he brings a foreign woman to his
tent, to his family. And he does this in broad
daylight in front of everybody. He does it in front of Moses and
the congregation while they are weeping at the tent of meeting.
And that's where we left off last week.
Last week we left off kind of on the cliffhanger of what's going
to happen, how is this going to get resolved?
And that we see that this morning.
So let's start with our expedition of the text,
beginning in verse 7 where I kind of explained the text and
then I'll give application from it.
Look at verse 7 when Phineas, the son of Eliezer, son of Aaron
the priest, saw it. He rose and left the
congregation and took a spear in his hand.
We are, without any kind of warning, introduced to a new
character in the story and we're only told 2 pieces of
information about him #1 his name.
His name is Phineas and #2 is lineage.
He is the son of Eliezer, who is the son of Aaron.
Now that means that Phineas is a priest.
Aaron is a priest and all his sons are priests, and so Phineas
is a priest. Now that is stunning considering
what he is about to do. He is not a military general of
any kind. He is a priest, which is
stunning when we see what he's about to do.
The text says that when Phineas saw it, what is it?
It is verse 6. It is this man bringing a
Midianite woman to his family. When Phineas sees this, he rose.
I don't miss the connection there.
Don't miss that when Phineas saw it, he took action.
He left the congregation. And look at what he does next.
He goes and grabs his spear. He picks up a spear into his
hand. Now why does a priest have a
spear in his hand? Look at verse 8.
And went after the man of Israel into the chamber, pierced both
of them, the man of Israel, and the woman threw her belly.
Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped.
Phineas went after the man of Israel.
He went after him all the way into his chamber.
That word chamber there. It's the only time that the
Hebrew word is used in the Old Testament.
Some scholars believe that it should be translated as woman's
quarters or area of a tent reserved for women.
And so Phineas goes into this man's chamber.
And what does he do when he gets inside there?
He takes, remember that spear he has in his hand.
He takes it and he pierces both of them at the same time, the
man of Israel and the woman through her belly.
That seems to suggest that they are actually engaged in the act
of sexual immorality. And Phineas Pierce's both of
them at the same time while they're engaged in this.
And notice what happens when he does this.
Thus, the plague on the people of Israel was stopped.
Now 3 questions that raises at the minimum three questions
raises for me #1 Plague What plague?
When? Where did a plague come from?
This is the first time we're hearing about a plague.
It appears that God sent a plague upon the people for their
immorality and their idolatry. Now, we weren't told when it
started, but it there was a plague #2 Second question, was
the plague supplemental to the hanging, or was it a punishment
for failing to hang? Some scholars believe that the
plague started for one of two reasons.
Either a member, possibly Moses, changed the command from hanging
the leaders to hanging the offenders.
I don't know if that's true, but that's possible.
And if that's true, God might have sent a plague for Moses,
failing to actually hang the leaders.
Or B, it could be that the judges failed to hang the
offenders, that, you know, they did not want to do this, they
don't want to impale these people.
And so God's like, well, if you're not going to do this,
then I'll do it through a plague.
That is a possibility. It's also possible to the plague
is a supplemental punishment to the hanging.
The hanging did take place. It just doesn't say they did it
and it's supplemental to that. Either is possible #3 why did
Phineas's action stop the plague?
Why would taking a spear and killing this man and woman stop
the whole entire plague? God is going to answer that in
verse 11, which we'll get to in just a minute.
Look at verse 9. Nevertheless, those who died by
the plague were 24,000. Even though Phineas stopped the
plague, much damage has already been done.
The plague has killed 24,000 Israelite men.
Paul tells us in First Corinthians 10/8 that all 24 of
these thousand died in one single day.
Deuteronomy 4 three tells us For the Lord your God destroyed from
among you all the men who followed the bail of peor.
That means at the minimum, the minimum, 24,000 men had yoked
themselves to the bail of Peor 24,000.
Look at verse 10 to 11. And the Lord said to Moses,
Phineas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned
back my wrath of the people of Israel in that he was jealous
with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the
people of Israel in my jealousy. Now God tells Moses that Phineas
has been the sole means of propitiation.
Phineas has turned back my wrath.
Now think about that. One man propitiated the wrath of
God, and notice the reason he gives in that he was jealous
with my jealousy among them. Now what does that mean?
Well, we know that Scripture teaches us that God is a jealous
God. He's not jealous the way that
we're jealous. It's a different kind of
jealousy. It's a holy jealousy.
It's a righteous jealousy. And the 10 commandments God said
for I the Lord your God, am a jealous God.
Exodus 25. Later in Exodus, he says, you
shall worship no other God. For the Lord whose name is
jealous is a jealous God. Exodus 3414, Moses says in
Deuteronomy 424 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a
jealous God. Now what does that mean to have
a righteous jealousy? Well, think about it like this.
It's, it's an imperfect analogy, but think of it like this.
In the same way that I am jealous for my wife, I am
jealous for my I am not willing to share her with any other man.
I don't care how good looking you are.
I don't care how rich you are. I don't care how nice you are.
I don't care if you would be a better fit for her than I am.
I am not willing to share my wife with anybody, any other
man. I'm also jealous for my
children. I'm sure many of you are great
parents, but you're not allowed to raise them.
I want to raise them. They are mine.
I will not farm them out. I will not entrust them to
anybody else. They are my children.
I am jealous for them. God is righteously jealous for
His people and ultimately His glory.
And here's the thing. So is Phineas.
Phineas takes this spear and he drives it through this man and
this woman because he feels, he feels a sense of divine jealousy
for God's glory and the holiness of God's people.
Phineas is jealous with God's jealousy, and this jealousy is a
glorious desire. Why?
Because look at what the alternative was so that I did
not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy.
Now, what does that mean? That tells me that the plague
wasn't finished. That tells me that God would
have let the plague continue to consume the rest of the
offenders. Maybe more than that, I don't
know. But that's why I say at the
minimum 24,000 it seems to suggest the plague would have
kept going. God was going to consume every
last offender, maybe more. Now we may wonder, why would God
kill them if he was jealous for them, right?
Think about it like this. If, if, if a wife is unfaithful
to her husband, he doesn't kill her.
I mean, some people do and they do it out of jealousy, but we
all know that that's murder and that's wrong and and that's,
that's a wrong kind of jealousy. So why?
Why does God's jealousy move him to kill them?
Why would God do that? Well, we must remember this.
God is jealous first, people. But it's so important you
understand this. His primary jealousy is not for
His people. His primary jealousy is for His
glory, for His name. God consumes them.
He would consume them to uphold His name as holy.
God is jealous for his people, but more than that, He is
jealous for His glory, His Holiness, his namesake, and God
says I will uphold it and that's why he puts them to death.
Look at verse 12 to 13. Therefore say, behold, I give to
him I covenant a peace, and it shall be to him and his
descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual
priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made
atonement for the people of Israel.
God tells Moses, say to Phineas, Phineas, I am giving you my
covenant of peace. What is that?
What is a covenant of peace? Dennis Cole writes It means that
God was with them to will and to work for his good pleasure.
The benefits that would accrue to the covenant recipients we're
safe dwelling and abundant blessing and God says I'm giving
this to you Phineas. Not only was this covenant given
to Phineas, but it was also given to his descendants.
It shall be to him and his descendants a covenant, a
perpetual priesthood, meaning that everyone who descends from
Phineas will be a high priest, not just a priest, but a high
priest. We know this later in Chronicles
when it gives the genealogy. The reason that God gives him
this covenant of peace, this covenant priesthood, is
precisely because he was jealous for his God, precisely because
he made atonement for the people.
Atonement here means the same thing as propitiation in this
context. Look at verse 14 to 15.
The name of the slain man of Israel who was killed with the
Midianite woman was Zemri, the son of Salut, chief of Father's
house, belonging to the semi Knights.
In the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cosby,
the daughter of Zur, who was the tribal head of a father's house
in Midian. And often in these kinds of
stories, we're we're never given the name of of the offenders or
details. I mean, it's very rare that you
often are given the names and the details of them.
But in this case, not only were given the names of the
offenders, we're given their lineage as well.
The Israelite man was Zimbry, the son of Salut.
He was a chief. He was a leader of a father's
house belonging to the semi Knights.
The Midianite woman was Cosby, the daughter of Zur.
Zur was a tribal head of a father's house in Midian.
Now you may be wondering, why do the narrator take the time to
give their names and their backgrounds?
Here's my guess. My guess is to emphasize the
fact that the person who did this, this man who brought a
Midianite woman into his tent, to his family, he was a leader.
He was a leader of the people of Israel.
Look at verse 16 to 18. And the Lord spoke to Moses
saying, harass the Midianites and strike them down.
For they have harassed you with their Wiles, with which they
beguiled you in the matter of Peor.
And the matter of Cosby, the daughter of the chief of Midian,
their sister who was killed on the day of the plague on account
of Peor. In case we were wondering, well,
why do the Israelites get punished?
Why? Why, You know, like it takes 2
to tango. Why did the Midianites get
punished? Why didn't the Moabites get
punished? Well, they will.
The Moabites will get punished later, God will see to it.
And the Midianites are going to get punished.
Now God tells Moses, harass the Midianites that were harassed
can be translated, be hostile, treat them as enemies or attack
them. God says harass them, attack
them and strike them down. Why?
Because they have harassed you. They have harassed you with
their Wiles. That's a strange word.
We don't use that word anymore. It's really like the wily
coyote. It has also translated tricks,
deception or treachery. They have harassed you with
their Wiles with which they beguiled you.
We don't use that word either. That means to deceive.
Which would they deceived you. In other words, God acknowledges
that his people were deceived by the Midianites deceptions, they
were deceived by the Midianites schemes, and God says now it is
your turn to judge these people. Now I will use you to judge the
Midianites and I'll stop there with our exposition application
of the text. I have 9 exhortations for you.
I did have 10. I whittled it down to 9.
Number one, see something, do something.
See something, do something. You may know that the Department
of Homeland Security's motto is see something, say something,
right? You're at the airport, you see a
suspicious bag, see something, say something.
I don't know how many of us abide by that, but that is their
motto. It's just just that if you see
something suspicious, report it. The temptation is to think
what's not that big of a deal, It's probably nothing or
somebody else. Take care of it.
It's not my job. I'm I'm not supposed to get
involved in this. It's not my role.
Somebody else should do it. What if it is a big deal?
And what if you are the one to do something about it?
The nation of Israel was engaged in egregious sin, and if 24,000
men was the minimum number of those involved, then it was also
engaged in widespread sin. And it appears that nobody was
doing anything about it until Phineas saw something.
The text says that Phineas saw it.
He sits there and he watches as this man brings a Midianite
woman into his tent. And when he saw it, he rose.
He rose. He did not contemplate.
He did not delay, he did not weigh his options.
He did not turn a blind eye. He rose and he did something.
Trust family. I want to exhort you, if you see
something in the congregation, do something.
If you see that somebody looks spiritually off, rise and go
talk to them. If you see that somebody is
engaged in sin, rise and go exhort them.
If you see that somebody is not making wise choices, rise and go
give them wise counsel. Don't assume it's not a big
deal. Don't assume that somebody else
will take care of it. See something, do something #2
Never underestimate the difference one person can make,
especially if that one person is you.
Never underestimate the difference that one person can
make, especially if that one person is you.
The Bible is filled with examples of God using one
person. It was a little boy who provided
his lunch that Jesus used to feed 5000.
It was one younger brother who was sold into slavery that saved
not only the nation of Egypt but also saved the nation of Israel.
It was a little servant girl who spoke up about Elisha to Naaman
and Naaman was healed of his leprosy.
It was 1 cupbearer to the king who rebuilt the walls, led the
rebuilding of the walls. It was one woman who saved a
whole entire nation from genocide in Persia, it was 1
Ethiopian eunuch who rescued Jeremiah out of a cistern, and
it was one priest who made atonement for the people of
Israel and stopped the plague. Never underestimate the
difference one person can make, especially if the one person is
you. We've all heard of Augustine,
one of the greatest Christian thinkers, theologians,
philosophers of our time. Did you know about his mother,
Monica, who for years, through her tears, prayed for her son's
salvation? We all know about Augustine, but
he had a mother. So did Jonathan Edwards.
It was Edward Kimball, a shoe salesman, a shoe salesman who
shared the gospel with his Co worker.
You know who his Co worker was? DL Moody.
One man stopped this plague. You never know how God might use
you. Yes, it is true we don't take up
Spears anymore. We should do not take up Spears
anymore, but we certainly take up a sword.
We take up a sword of the spirit.
Three, though we can certainly overreact to sin, the greater
temptation is to under react. Though we can certainly
overreact to sin, the greater temptation is to under react.
If you were reading this story, imagine if you were reading this
story for the very first time, you had never read it before,
you had never heard it before. And imagine you ever, you ever
be reading something and you get interrupted and like you stop at
a certain word in the middle of a sentence, right?
And you got to pick, like figure out where you pick it back up.
Imagine you're reading this for the very first time and you
stopped at the word congregation when Phineas, the son of
Eliezer, son of Aaron the priest, saw it.
He rose and left the congregation.
Interruption. You're like, he rose and left
the congregation and did what? You come back to the text.
How, how, how would you think it would read next?
How, what, what, what would it say next?
He rose, left the congregation, and Phineas went and confronted
the man. And Phineas went and prayed for
the man's salvation. And Phineas went and wept over
the man's sin. Here's how I would not expect
the story to read. And Phineas took a spear in his
hand. When after the man of Israel to
the chamber pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the
woman through her belly didn't see that one coming, did not see
that one coming. It's pretty graphic, isn't it?
It's pretty violent. Here's my question.
Is that an overreaction by Phineas?
Is that an overreaction that too extreme?
The Lord doesn't seem to think so.
God doesn't seem to think so. The question is, is what are we
to take away from this? Right.
I mean, I don't, I don't know. I don't know that this story
makes it in the children's Sunday school.
I don't know any VBS. It's like this is like a mat LED
VBS. We'd be like our theme this year
is Phineas. I, I, I, I don't know that this
is any VBS theme. What, what are we to take away
from this action? Certainly we're not taking up
Spears and killing people anymore.
So what are we to take away from this violent action?
I think it is this, though we can certainly overreact to sin,
the greater temptation is to under react.
Now, let's be clear, we can overreact to sin.
Let's be very clear about that. Growing up in dense Christian
circles, I grew up in dense Christian circles where it's in
the Deep South. I mean, like out there's the
South. People say the South is like
there's the South and then there's the South, like Alabama,
Mississippi, Georgia, right? Growing up in the Deep South in
the dense S, going to church like 4 times a week, right?
I grew up in dense. I can't tell you how many
stories I've heard of people overreacting the sin.
I've heard stories where like a mother found out that her son
was watching inappropriate things and she just goes on a
rampage, like throwing out everything.
You know, it's like we're getting rid of all, all your
music, all your posters. Like everything is like just
goes on a rampage just throwing out everything.
I've heard stories of churches overreacting.
The sin. There's sin in the church and
the church leadership overreacts.
Those are true. You can overreact to sin.
I want to caution us. I think the greater danger for
most of us, maybe not all of us, but for most of us, the greater
danger is to under react to sin. Stories like this are written to
remind us severe sin must be met with a serious response.
Severe sin must be met with a serious response #4 God pierced
his own Son to stop the plague of sin and death.
God pierced his own Son to stop the plague of sin and death.
Why did this plague stop when Phineas pierced both this man
and woman? Normally, plagues only stop when
a sacrifice is made. When other plagues in the Bible,
they normally only stop when a sacrifice is made.
What about now? In this case, the man and the
woman became the sacrifice. In this story, Phineas functions
as a typology of God and Christ. For thousands and thousands of
years man has been living in immorality and idolatry.
And for thousands of thousands of years God has sent a plague
upon this land known as the curse, a plague of sin, and a
plague of death. Until one day God says enough.
Jesus comes and he enters our tent, known as human flesh.
And yet rather than Pierce us for our sins, God pierces him.
God pierces him with nails through his hands and his feet
and thorns and his skull and a spear through his side.
And the 10,000 year old plague is stopped.
Sin and death no longer reign. Jesus now reigns.
Have you ever considered what marvellous grace it is that God
allows one single act of righteousness to atone for
thousands of sins? Just think about that.
At the minimum, at least 24,000 men engaged in immorality and
idolatry. The minimum 24,000.
And yet it wasn't as though they went and Phineas went and made
24,000 sacrifices, or the Israelites made 24,000
sacrifices. It wasn't as though they paid
24,000 pieces of silver to the Tent of Meeting treasury.
It was one act of righteousness by one man who stopped this
plague, and it was one act of righteousness by 1 Savior who
stopped the plague of sin and death.
What marvellous grace that God would accept that 5 Everybody is
doing it and everybody dies. Everybody is doing it and
everybody dies. The text says that even though
the plague was stopped, it still took the lives of 24,000 and the
number of fenders was most likely much higher.
That's a lot of people engaged in idolatry and immorality.
That's a lot. 24,000. How does you know I'm like
Moses? You know, I'm like man, like
imagine having a congregation, like imagine if you had like a
mega church like 100. I don't even know, like largest
churches, maybe 300,000 or something.
I'm like 24,000 in my congregation are engaged in
idolatry and immorality. How does that happen?
How do you get there? How do you get there?
Here's one way everybody's doing it.
You know the phrase, you know the phrase.
Everybody's doing it. It must not be wrong, must not
be that bad. Everybody's doing it.
Remember the book of Judges? Everybody was doing what was
what not not wrong, what was right in their eyes.
They thought they were doing right.
Everybody was doing what was right in their own eyes.
And here's here's why this matters.
The fact that this man, think about it, what, what boldness
that this man would bring a Midianite woman to his own
family tent in front of everybody.
Why would he do that? How could he be that bold?
I think the reason he is that bold is that he didn't think he
would be confronted by anybody. This sin had become so
widespread. It was like nobody's going to
care, nobody's going to do anything.
We don't know how long this idolatry and immorality lasted.
Maybe it was days, maybe it was weeks, maybe it was months.
How long does it take for 24,000 men at the minimum to engage in
this kind of sin? We don't know.
But whatever, however long it was, it would appear that the
Israelites thought this is no big deal.
Remember the Corinthians thought that the Corinthians were
boasting. They're like we are free in
Christ. We are so free that one man has
his father's wife and all the while that is happening, you
know what they probably thought, but there's no consequences.
You know that that the age-old like what God does want me to do
it strike me dead with lightning.
OK, I guess he's OK with it. There's no consequences.
However long this went on, there were no consequences until the
plague hit. Until a plague hit.
Paul tells us that 24,000 died on a single day.
Single day. Everybody is doing it and
everybody dies. Church, family, listen to me
when I say this. Be careful that we don't have a
lowest common denominator view of holiness.
I can't tell you how many times in the past 15 years, 14 years
that I've been here where I heard people say they just have
a high view of holiness. Matt just has high standards.
CSPC just has high standards. Everywhere else I go, they do
this. Other Christian circles I'm
around. It's not that big of a deal.
Everybody else does it, yes, and everybody else dies.
Holiness matters. It matters 6 Do you feel a sense
of divine jealousy for the glory of God?
Do you feel a sense of divine jealousy for the glory of God?
If the story ended at verse 9, we might wonder what does God
actually think of what Phineas did right?
Imagine the story ended at verse 9.
Phineas stops the plague. Nevertheless, those who died or
24,000 and then chapter 26, you're like what?
What did God think of this? Did God approve of this?
But we're actually told what God's thoughts are.
God says that he is pleased with Phineas act.
Why? Because he was jealous with my
jealousy. Now what does that mean?
Well Phineas could have just sat back and said you know what?
I know that the Lord is jealous. So God will take care of this
right? God is jealous for his glory.
God will take care of this. God could, He would, and it
would come at the cost of thousands of more lives.
But Phineas in his soul, he feels a divine sense of
jealousy, which propels him to do something about it.
Let me give you an example of how that might work.
Facetious example, but could be real.
One day. I hope one day that I'll get to
officiate the wedding of one of my sons.
At the minimum. Maybe I'd be great if I did all
four. If it's God's will, I hope one
day. If that happens and they're
married, I assume that my son will be jealous for his bride.
I assume he'll be jealous. Even lost people are jealous for
their spouse on a common grace level, and I assume that his
bride will be jealous for him. But that jealousy doesn't stop
there. As a father, I am also jealous
for them. In other words, if I saw my son
one day with another woman, I go to the gym, I see him working
out with some random woman that is not his wife.
They're being flirtatious together.
I'm jealous for my daughter-in-law.
You best believe I'm going to speak up or vice versa.
If my daughter-in-law was with another man, I am jealous on
behalf of my son. This is the point that Paul
makes in Second Corinthians 11/2.
For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I've betrothed you to
one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ Church
family. We are the bride of Christ.
You are the bride of Christ. I am the bride of Christ, which
means I am jealous for your holiness.
Why? Because I'm jealous for God's
glory. I am jealous for your holiness
because I am jealous for God's glory.
Do you feel a divine sense of jealousy for the glory of God?
Seven, God has given us a covenant of peace and a
priesthood through the atonement of Jesus Christ.
Because of Phineas's actions and the atonement made through them,
God gave him a covenant. It was a covenant of peace.
It was a covenant of perpetual priesthood, meaning the
descendants of Phineas. They would always serve as high
priest. Likewise, God has given us a
covenant of peace. It wasn't just Phineas who gets
this. We get a covenant of peace.
Prior to Jesus, we were enemies of God.
And Paul says in Romans 51. Therefore, since we have been
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Which means this God will never
be our enemy ever in Christ. He'll never turn on us.
Not only do we have a covenant of peace, but we also have a
covenant of priesthood. Peter writes.
You are a chosen race. You are a royal priesthood, a
holy nation. Now, here's why that matters.
We're going through Esther in the book of the book of Esther
in Sunday school that meets at 9:00 AM.
And what's interesting going through the book of Esther is
the difference, the contrast between the Persian king and our
king. It's been interesting to see how
even the queen cannot approach this king without being
summoned. If she does, she can be killed.
She lives in fear and yet because of Jesus we are made
priest, which means not only can we approach His throne room
whenever we want, but we approach His throne room knowing
we are always at peace with Him. You ever had a parent, you know,
who was kind of emotionally unstable sometimes?
Never knew they're going to be angry or happy, Good day, bad
day, never knew how they were going to respond when you
approach them. God is not like that.
He's never like that. You can approach Him every day
of your life and you are always at peace with Him. 8 Leadership
experience and maturity offer no immunity from grave sin
Leadership experience and maturity offer no immunity from
grave sin If there is one thing we learn in the Bible, it's
this, that leadership experience and maturity offer no immunity
from grave sin. Think about it.
David, King David, a man after God's own heart, one of Israel's
greatest kings, if not their greatest, fell into adultery,
deception and murder. Peter the Rock denied Christ.
Later he would commit hypocrisy, leading Barnabas astray.
Abraham lied twice, listened to his wife's foolish counsel with
Hagar. Moses failed to give God glory
at the Rock. Aaron made a golden calf.
Uzziah offered unauthorized incense.
Solomon committed idolatry. Jonah ran away from God.
Jeremiah accused God of deceiving him.
And in this story we see that the man who brought this many
night woman to his family, he was a chief, he was a leader.
Leadership offers us no immunity from sin.
Experience offers no immunity from sin, not even maturity.
Paul writes in Galatians 6 One brothers, if any one of you is
caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual, or we might
say mature, should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.
And then here it is. Keep watch on yourself lest you
to be tempted. I mean just watch the news.
How many times have we seen leaders in the church fall into
sexual sin or another type of sin?
Keep watch on yourself #9 Last point, Do not be outwitted by
Satan because we are not ignorant of his schemes.
Do not be outwitted by saying because we are not ignorant of
his schemes. How many?
How did so many of the Israelite men fall into the sin, right?
I mean, it's 24,000. If, if we just rounded up to,
you know, let's say it's double that.
Let's say we round, I imagine maybe it's more than that.
It might have been as much as 10%.
If there's 600,000 people, might have been 10% of the whole
congregation. I don't know if it's that high,
but maybe God, how did how did that happen?
God acknowledges that his people were deceived.
God says in verse 18 for they harassed you with their Wiles,
which the translates deceptions or schemes with which they
beguiled you. That's deceived you in the
matter of pure. I mean, this is Satan's modus
operandum, is it not? Schemes.
Satan, you know, he, he's a master at schemes.
Sometimes you kind of wonder with this kind of sin, I asked
this question for years, are we deceived or do we willingly
engage in it? When someone falls into sin or
ongoing sin, are they deceived or do we willingly engage in it?
Which is it? The reality is both, Both.
There's a measure of both. But here's the thing about
deception. Let me be clear on this.
We are not ignorant. We're not blind, Paul writes and
2nd Corinthians 211 so that we may not be exploited, which
outwitted by Satan. Here it is, for we are not
ignorant of his schemes. We know Satan's tactics.
We have tasted them, We have felt them.
We know them. The Spirit reminds us of them.
And here's the thing, if we wait until we are inside the tent to
fight our flesh, we've already lost.
Don't wait till you get inside the tent to fight your flesh.
You've already lost if you've gone in the tent, Paul writes.
Make no provision for the flesh, which means don't even go in the
tent, Paul tells us. Put on the whole armor of God,
that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the
devil. Ephesians 611.
I pray, church family, that you will be gripped with a renewed
sense of renewed commitment to not only your holiness, but to
mine as well. Let's pray.