Join me now, if you would, in
the gospel according to numbers. Numbers chapter four. Numbers
chapter four, and we have spent a couple of months on verse 16,
but we're gonna leave that place right now, that camping site,
and to me it's like saying goodbye to an old friend, but we shall
return. Sometime, but I'd like to read
a few other verses found here in chapter 4 of the book of numbers
the gospel according to numbers verses 17 through 21 Numbers
chapter 4 verse 17 now it appears that the theme is changing here,
but it is not Eliezer declared the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ in the manner that God showed him and He declared it
by what he carried and by the authority he was given over all
of the tabernacle and everything there. And it speaks so highly
of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, as we move on in
here, we find that the Lord spake in verse 17. And the Lord spake
unto Moses and to Aaron saying, now there's going to be a number
of times that we're going to find that phraseology here in
the book of Numbers as well as through many other places in
the scripture. And it is very important that we take mind of
what is said here, how important it is this verse to us, Jehovah
spake. Now, that word L, capital L,
capital O, capital R, capital D, is the way the translators
gave us the understanding this name is Jehovah. This is that
sacred name among the Jews, but only God's people who have ears
to hear really know what that word means, what that name means.
Now, he spoke, Jehovah has never spoken, in the Old Testament
and then changed when he came to the New Testament. We don't
find a different message in the Old Testament than we do in the
New Testament when it comes to the gospel, when it comes to
how God saves his people from their sins. He used types and
shadows and pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ throughout the Old
Testament, but the message was never changed. He never said,
if you keep the law, you'll be saved. He understood very clearly
when he gave that law to the Jews, they could not keep the
law, and he was demonstrating to his most favored nation that
they, doing the best they could, could not and would not keep
the law. They needed to be saved by grace
just like everyone else. As Mike and I were talking this
morning, the Jews always go back to Abraham. You know what? Paul went back to Abraham so
often in the scriptures. He went back to say, this is
how God saves his people. Abraham believed God and it was
counted unto him for righteousness. Abraham was brought out of Ur
of the Chaldees. It wasn't his choice to do that.
It was God's choice. The God of glory appeared unto
him and said, move out. And we find that he was given
an irresistible strain on him to come out of there. Now he
could say it was his choice to do that after the suggestion
was brought to his mind, but still it was God's employment
of his power in this man to bring him out, and it was God's employment
in this man to do what he intended to do to demonstrate to us that
the Old Testament saints are saved just like you and I are
saved today. He did not change with regard
to time, and he doesn't change his message ever. It is always
the same. Salvation has always been by
grace. It has never been by works, and
Jehovah never saved anybody in the Old Testament or the New
Testament by keeping the law. In fact, Jesus Christ contended
with lawgivers all the time, and then he gave a special message,
it seems, to the Apostle Paul when he wrote those letters.
to contend with lawgivers again, and he brought up the subject
so clearly in the book of Galatians. He said, many people say this
is the gospel, but it is not the gospel. It's not even another
gospel. It is something that should be
shut down immediately, and that is any law mixed with the grace
of the Lord Jesus. His speech is always for his
glory and for the glory of the church. Would you turn with me
to a couple of passages over in the book of Jeremiah? Jeremiah
chapter five, would you turn with with me to Jeremiah chapter
five. As we think about the Lord speaking
here to Moses and to Aaron is a message that is continuously
brought out. Who is doing the conversation? Who is doing the instruction?
Who is doing the word? Who's bringing this word? And
it is the word of God that is so important. And here we have
it in the book of Deuteronomy. or excuse me, the book of Numbers
Chapter 4 there, the Lord spoke, Jehovah spoke, and he had a message
to share with these people that is of great significance. It
means the matter of life and the death to some people. Here
in the book of Jeremiah Chapter 5 verse 14, we have these words
that God shared with Jeremiah. Jeremiah Chapter 5 and verse
14, God's word says, Wherefore, thus saith the Lord God of hosts,
because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words
in thy mouth. Isn't that interesting? When
Jeremiah was speaking, he was speaking as God instructed him.
He says here, I will make my words in thy mouth fire and this
people would and it shall devour them. What a symbol here that
God used to the prophet Jeremiah about his word. I'll put it in
your mouth, and it will have the same authority as if I spoke
it myself." And we find that that is what the gospel is. We
are ambassadors for the Lord Jesus Christ, and we preach none
other but Him and Him crucified. And the power that it has there
is the authority of God. I'll put my word in your mouth. You will speak for me, you'll
be an ambassador for me, and my word will be a fire and it
will consume." Well, he brings the subject up again in Jeremiah
chapter 23. Jeremiah chapter 23 and there
in verse 29. He brings up this subject again
and he compares what his word is like. The word that he brought
to Moses and to Aaron with regard to the Kohathites that we're
going to read here in just moments. In the book of Jeremiah chapter
23 and there in verse 29, the scripture says, is not my word
like a fire? He's already presented that there
in Jeremiah chapter 5. It is a fire, it consumes. It
melts or it hardens, and we find that particularly in preaching
the gospel in the New Testament, but it's also quite evident throughout
the Old Testament that the word of God brought and presented
by his preachers, by his prophets, to some it melted them, and they
were brought before God humbled, and God gave them repentance,
and to some the word of God as a fire hardened them, and they
become worse off than they started. Well, it says here, is not my
word like a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh
a rock in pieces. This hammer of God, how he very
carefully aimed that hammer at the hard-heartedness of Saul
of Tarsus, how he aimed it at the hard heart of Abraham, how
he aimed it at the hard heart of Abel, how he aimed it at the
hard heart of Samuel, how he aimed it at the hard heart of
anybody that's without Christ. He brings his word and very carefully
aims that hammer and begins to rock, to break the rock in peace,
that old stony heart, to get rid of it. And then, by God's
grace, He gives us a heart of flesh. That thing is removed. His Word continuously works on
it. And, you know, people may come
here and hear one message or two messages and leave, but that
isn't the end of the story. We never know how the outcome
will be. We never know what God will do
with His word after they have it and heard it. We just don't
know. So God is successful in every
venture, every aspect. He is very successful and His
word is like a hammer. His word is like a fire. Then
if you'll turn over with me to the book of Hebrews chapter 4
Hebrews chapter 4 that familiar passage of scripture about the
Word of God For the Word of God is quick. It's lively. It's living
word We think it's just on a page and many people just look at
it at that But it is a word that the Holy Spirit uses and the
Holy Spirit uses effectually and the Holy Spirit uses eventually
he will do as he pleases and Here in the book of Hebrews chapter
4, there in verse 12, that wonderful passage of scripture about the
word of God. By no means, we should be reading chapters and
not just verses. But here it is, Hebrews chapter
4, there in verse 12, he said, ''For the word of God is quick
and powerful.'' Now, we could just stop there and spend a lot
of time. on seeing the power of God through the Old Testament.
It was by the word of his power he created the heavens and the
earth, and it was by the word of his power he created a man.
It was by the word of his power he did all of those great things
throughout the Old Testament. For the word of God is quick
and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. You know,
some swords are just, you can just cut paper with them. Well,
the word of God is sharper than that. To pierce, it goes beyond
the skin level. It goes down to the heart. It
gets down to the issue. It gets down to the problem.
Here it says, there's two edges sharper than any two edges here,
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. I
can't go there because I don't understand it, but I know that
God can deal with it. He can go where we cannot go.
He can take this word to the lodgment of the heart. He can
go where no man is able to reach. And it says here, to the joints
and marrow, to the very being of the person. Not talking about
this as a physical exercise, it's a spiritual exercise that
God is doing with his word upon his people. And that word goes
out to people that are never saved and it causes them to be
hardened, to raise their fist against God. Well, it says it
is discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. My
goodness, we can read in the scripture and find out what man
really thinks about God. He doesn't pay any attention
to God. He has no peace with God. He
has all of those thoughts that God brings out with regard to
man's statement before God. The word has already established
it. David said, in my haste, I said, all men are liars. What
a truth that is. And that there's none that seeketh
after God. No, not one. What a truth that
is. You know, when God brings us to salvation, we agree with
every one of those statements. We agree with what he has to
say about us. There's no fighting over it.
There's no grumbling about it. Yes, Lord, you know me much better
than I know me. And I agree with your words on
this. Now, going back there to the book of Numbers, the Lord,
in this instance, Numbers chapter four, and there, verse 18. He has something to say. He brings
up the subject. The Lord spoke unto Moses and
to Aaron. Now, it is so interesting that
the Lord so often speaks to us through a mediator. He speaks
to us through an ambassador. He speaks to us here. He spoke
through Moses and Aaron. God brings somebody that knows
something. along with the word, I just don't
know how much, by simply reading the word, anybody gets out of
it. I've had a discussion with that,
with a young man. He thinks that by just having
a word on an island, that you could eventually be saved. I'm
just not sure about that because the Bible tells us that it's
by the preaching of the gospel, it's by the speaking of it. In
fact, that is clearly brought out there with regard to the
Ethiopian uni. He was reading the Bible. He
was reading the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. He was reading the
scriptures. And Isaiah was a prophet of God. And he had the word of God in
his lips. And he was used to write it down.
And centuries later, it was presented to this Ethiopian eunuch. But
God was pleased to send him somebody who knew this gospel, who the
answer was when the Ethiopian eunuch brought it up. Who is
this man speaking of? Of himself or some other? And
we find that Philip began at the same place and preached unto
him Jesus. There just needs to be this and
God is so pleased to let us hear somebody who has the word of
God in his mouth. Well, here in the book of Numbers,
chapter four, verse 18 through 20, we have this message that
was given to Moses and to Aaron. And to these people that he's
writing about, it was so valuable and so important. Read with me
here in the book of Numbers, chapter four, verse 18. Numbers
chapter four, verse 18. Cut ye not off the tribe of the
families of the Kohathites from among the Levites. Well, what
in the world is he talking about? Next two verses help us understand
it. But thus do unto them that they
may live and not die. We have a situation here that
means life or death. Be faithful to instruct the Kohathites
about this very important thing. God has spoken in the past and
often spoken in the past and has spoken throughout the New
Testament that you don't follow my guidelines, you don't follow
my word, you have no life in you. If you do not succumb to
the word of God, here we have that it goes on and says in verse
19, that they die not when they approach unto the most holy things. Now what were these guys going
to do? They are the guys that are going to be carrying the
most holy things in the holy place and the holy of holies.
They're going to be carrying the mercy seat. They're going
to be carrying the brazen or the altar of incense. They're
going to be carrying that seven-posted lampstand. They're going to be
carrying the table of showbread. They're going to be carrying
the most value, most holy things in there. But God gives them
through an ambassador, through an emissary, through someone
who knew something and believed God to share with them that you
go in and out of your curiosity, you go in and look at these things
with your naked eyes, I will kill you. Now warn them about
it. Warn them, it says here, Aaron
and his son shall go in and appoint them, every one, to his service
and to his burden. But they shall not go in to see
when the holy things are covered, lest they die. They're not given
permission to go in and see if everything's covered up like
it's supposed to be. Suppose one of those things was not covered
up, they die. Now, there are a number of places
in Scripture when the Lord put an end to self-importance. Now if these guys, these Kohathites,
if they went in out of curiosity, you know what that means? They're
pretty self-important. They've established themselves
as important enough to go in and see things that they're not
supposed to look at. And God says that there's a number of
cases in the scriptures where God put an end to self-importance.
And one of them that is so important is also found here in the book
of Numbers. Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Numbers
chapter 16. In Numbers chapter 16, we have some relatives of
Aaron and relatives of Moses coming up with this. Numbers
chapter 16. Numbers chapter 16, I just want
to read the first four verses here to kind of set the tone
for this, because God is going to deal with this just like he
promised to deal with the Kohathites. These folks whose business it
would be to go in and carry these most holy items, to carry them
across the desert until they came to the next place. But every
one of those items were covered very carefully by Aaron and his
sons. That was their job. It was not
the job of these folks to go in and look at these things with
their own eyes. They needed an ambassador. They
needed a mediator. Now here it says, now Korah,
the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, hmm, he is a Kohathite. It's been his, given his responsibility
to carry these items. The son of Levi, Dathan and Abram,
the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, the sons of Reuben,
took men. And they rose up before Moses
with certain of the children of Israel, 250 princes of assembly,
famous in the congregation, men of renown, very important people. Now, here they promoted themselves
above their station. They've made themselves more
important than they really are. They've established this and
it goes on and they gather to themselves together against Moses
and against Aaron. Now, as we look at what God shared
with Moses and Aaron to share with the Kohathites, keep your
eyes off of this. What a blessing it was for the
Kohathites. We have been warned. Folks, don't
go in there. Our life is at stake. If we go
in there and look and they're uncovered, we will die. That
is the promise of God. And how blessed it is that God
would send a warning ahead of time, that he would warn us ahead
of time. of what the consequences will
be to go and see things that don't belong to us or try to
be so important that it doesn't matter. And that's where many
false gospels come from. I know what God has to say, but
this is more important. Well, it goes on to say, all
the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is
among them. Wherefore, then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation
of the Lord. Now, we have to say, who put
Moses and who put Aaron in their position? It wasn't Moses and
it wasn't Aaron. Moses would have done anything
he could have possibly done not to be put in that position. Just
take him over there into the wilderness where he's watching
his father-in-law's sheep. I can't talk, I can't go, I can't
do. And the Lord said, I will be
with you and you'll do it. Well, it goes on here, and Moses
heard it and fell upon his face. Now Moses is just broken hearted
that his relatives are coming up and saying, you are just doing
too much. Now let's follow this through.
I'm not going to read this whole chapter, but jump with me to
the verse 23 of this. God warned Moses and Aaron to
share the message with the Kohathites. Don't go looking where you shouldn't
be. Pay attention to God's word.
I'm warning you ahead of time. Fair warning. And then here's
a Kohathite and some compatriots that rise up and say, we want
to do what you're doing. We want to look at the holy things.
Well, here in the book of Numbers chapter 16 verse 23, and the
Lord spake unto Moses saying, speak unto the congregation saying,
get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abram. The Lord Jehovah, one more time,
is speaking unto Moses and saying, tell the folks to get away from
those guys. separate yourself. And Moses
rose up and went to Dothan and Abram and said to the elders
of Israel, follow him. And he spake unto them, unto
the congregation, saying, depart, I pray you, from the tents of
these wicked men Touched nothing of theirs lest you be consumed
in all their sins so they got up from the tabernacle of Korah
Dothan and Abram and every sigh out on every side and Dothan
and Abram came out and stood in the door of their tents and
their wives and their sons and their little children and Moses
said hereby shall you know that the Lord has sent me to do all
these works for I have not done them of my own mind and If these
men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after
the visitation of all men, then the Lord hath not sent me. But
if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth
and swallow them up with all that appertaineth unto them,
and they go down quick into the pit, then ye shall understand
that these men have provoked the Lord. Well, we know what
happened. The Lord opened up the earth
and swallowed them down into the pit. Now Moses, it broke
his heart when these came thinking they were somebody. Moses understood
what it was to be a somebody. He tried that when he was young
and there trying to rule over Israel when he was not given
that responsibility. But here, knowing full well that
God was a God of his word, then he would fulfill his word upon
these folks. And here Kohath went down to
the pit. Well, in the book of Leviticus,
there are two important young priests. They're the sons of
Aaron, Nadab and Abihu. In Leviticus chapter 10, verses
1 and 2, we have them mentioned by name and we haven't mentioned
what they did. They got too important. They
establish themselves as being more important than God. And
that's so often the natural way. I can make a decision to do what
I want to do. I don't have to listen to God.
Well, here in the book of Leviticus chapter 10, verses 1 and 2, Nadab
and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them, his censer,
and put fire thereon and put incense thereon, and offered
strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not.
And there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them, and
they died before the Lord." There are a number of times in the
scripture where this just happened right in front of their eyes.
You know what we find with these guys? They didn't have a mediator. They didn't have a representative.
They didn't have someone stand up for them and speak for them.
Well, one other place, or two other I want to look at, one's
in 2 Samuel, 2 Samuel chapter 6. Now, Israel did a great crime
when they said, you know, the Philistines are really about
to beat us, so we'll take our rabbit's foot into battle with
us. We'll take the tabernacle with us into battle. As things
would happen, the Lord permitted the Philistines to get that tabernacle,
or that mercy seat. And they did all the honor they
could do it. They put it in the temple of
their god, Dagob. Well, several things happened,
like this great stone image fell over and broke its head and hands
off. The Lord was just demonstrating, and they finally decided we need
to get rid of it. And they sent it back. Well,
here in the book of 2 Samuel chapter 6, verse 19, 20, and
21, 2 Samuel chapter 6, verse 19, the scripture says here,
and he dealt among the people, even among the multitude. Oh, my. This is not the one I want, and
I apologize. The people, the men of Bathshemesh,
came and opened up the ark. And there were many of them whose
lives were taken. Is that in the next chapter?
Let me look here. I apologize. I'll have to find
that. But there is one more. Oh, it's 1 Samuel. I believe
it's 1 Samuel. Let me look there. No, that's
not going to be it. The Lord often dealt with people
in the scriptures who had made themselves too important
before God. Just as he was sharing with Moses
and Aaron with regard to the Kohathites and their responsibility,
share with them the responsibility that I have for them. In 2 Samuel chapter 6 again,
verses 6 and 7. 2 Samuel chapter 6, verses 6
and 7. We have another incident of this. His name was Uzzah. Now Uzzah
is also a priest. And they brought back that ark
of the covenant. And when they come to Nacon's
threshing floor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God and
took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the
Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God smote him there for his
error, and there he died by the ark of God." Now, there was a
responsibility that this man had with regard to moving the
ark. We find later that David had to go back and research himself
about what had happened. Well, the Lord came to be both
mediator and substitute for his people. These folks he appointed
no substitute to bear their errors. There was no mediator to warn,
to protect them. No one stood up for them. Cora
was by himself. Uzzah was by himself. Those at
Beth Shemesh that looked into the ark, they were by themselves. No one took an interest. God
had no interest. He let them stand on their own
merits and they all failed and they fell. Well, we find a great
blessing is brought to the church just as the warning went out
to those Kohathites, don't go in and look at what's in there.
Make sure that someone tells you it's okay to go. The warning
went out and God has sent his warning out. We heard read this
morning there in the book of Romans chapter 5 in Romans chapter
5. There was a substitute There
is a mediator that has gone out and it is the Lord Jesus in Romans
chapter 5 verse 6 through 10 Like to just go over that again
very quickly in Romans chapter 5 verses 6 through 10 the scriptures
say here knowing this that Chapter 5, verse 6, it says, for when
we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. Now, at the moment that Christ
died, he knew exactly who he was dying for, but we didn't. By nature, we think he died for
everybody. By nature, we think that he has
made an appropriation for everybody to make them savable. But he
died for the ungodly, for scarcely for a righteous man will one
die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
But God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. What a blessing it was that the
Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and said, you warn these folks
about going into the temple or into the tabernacle before everything
is covered up. We'll give them a sign. We'll
let them know there was a warning went out. Justice would be served
if they didn't follow it. Well we find that the Lord spoke
about this too. The warning has been stated and
that's found over in here in the book of Luke chapter 13.
There's a couple incidences that people seem to think that these
people died because they had done something grossly in error. Notice here in Luke chapter 13
beginning with verse 1. In Luke chapter 13 verse 1 there
is a great a comment made that there was a season that told
him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their
sacrifices. There were present at that season
some that told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled
with their sacrifices. This is a historic event. that
Pilate had a great deal of people. Lives were taken and their blood
was mingled with the sacrifices of the Jews. This is a historic
event. It appears that these people
came along and said, those guys must have really been bad guys
or that wouldn't have happened to them. Jesus answered and said
unto them, suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above
all Galileans? Is that what you're trying to
insinuate? That these people are worse than you are? He said,
because they suffered such things? Are you trying to insinuate that
they died this horrendous death by the hands of Pilate and their
blood was mingled with the sacrifices of the temple because they were
great sinners above anybody? I tell you, no. But except ye
repent, ye shall all likewise perish. They are no greater,
no worse than anyone else. But the call goes out, except
you repent. And we're going to speak about
that in just a moment. And then it goes on to tell us, or those
18 upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell. Can you imagine again? These folks heard about this.
Do you think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt
in Jerusalem? Here it is, in the holy city,
a tower falls, and you're blaming it because they're greater sinners
than anybody else? Jesus' response to that, I tell
you, no, but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. I don't have any record, except
with Korah, that any of those Koathites that were warned ever
went in. and peered into that tabernacle
and looked at those instruments that were in the holy place and
they died. The warning had been given to
them. You know what God had shared with them in that warning? God's
word is serious. It's valuable. It's important.
You know, repentance means a change of one's mind to think differently,
to think differently about holy things. to think differently
about God, to change one's mind about God. That's what repentance
is. If those people heard the warning
and did not go in and says, we will go in only when invited,
then they had a mind that was given to them by God to change
one's mind about sin. You know, when the Lord spoke
to those folks about the tower and those people that were killed,
those Galileans, they had their own opinion about sin, and great
sin will be punished and little sins will not be punished. But
when we repent, when we're brought to repentance, we have a change
of mind about sin, a change of one mind about the Bible. It's
more than words on a page, it's living word. The Lord speaks
and he speaks profoundly through his word to have a change of
mind about salvation. Folks throughout the world, throughout
all generations have had their own opinion about how people
are saved. When God saves his people, they
have a change of mind about salvation. Salvation is truly of the Lord. They have a change of one's mind
about heaven and hell. Good people have always been
said go to heaven, and bad people go to hell. Well, we find out
in repentance that it's just the exact opposite. God saves
his bad people to go to heaven. And good people, in their own
eyes, will go to hell. And to change one's mind about
Christ. Peter, as he grew up as a young
man, had one idea about Christ, the Messiah. Christ gave him
the true idea about Christ. Thou art the Messiah, the Christ,
the Son of the living God. And the Lord shared with him
that he didn't get that by nature. He got that from God. If you
turn with me to the book of Acts chapter 11, Acts chapter 11, where do these folks get repentance? How do God's people get repentance? Where does it come from? Is it
man-made? Do we work at it? I remember
in religion I was told to repent of my sins. Well, that's not
the meaning of repentance. Repentance means to have a change
of mind. And how do we get that? How does
anybody get a change of mind about God or his word or about
sin or about salvation or about Christ? How can we have a mind
change about that? Because we're born with a mindset
about these things. They're not on God. They're far
from him. Here in the book of Acts chapter
11 and verse 18, we have these words. that share with us how
people get repentance in Acts 11, verse 18. Now, if those people
that were warned by Moses and by Aaron said, God is serious
on this matter, I'll listen to him. I have a change of mind. I may have thought about going
in, but now the warning has gone out. I may have thought about
peeking in. I am really curious. You know,
people are curious by nature. And those Jews were no different.
I wonder what it looks like. I wonder what the table of showbread
looks like. I wonder what the lampstand looks
like. I wonder what the altar of incense
looks like. I wonder what the mercy seat
looks like. I wonder what those cherubims look like. None of
your business. And only those who had been given
a change of mind about it would say, it's God's business. Only those. Korah didn't have
it. Uzzah didn't have it. Nadab and
Abihu didn't have it. Those folks were never given
this. They were never given an ambassador. They were never given
a substitute. They were never given these instructions.
It never meant a thing to them. And here in the book of Acts
chapter 11 and verse 18, the scripture says, when they heard
these things, they held their peace and glorified God, saying,
then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. It's a grant. that God grants. Repentance is a true gift of
God. It's a gift of regeneration. It's something God gives us to
have a change of mind about God, to have a change, to be turned
from worshiping dumb idols to serve the living God. And the
Old Testament prophets said, turn me and I shall be turned,
but I can't be turned until you turn me. It's a turning. How blessed it was that those
Kohathites were warned. Let's go back over there to the
book of Numbers for just a moment. Numbers chapter 4, and read with
me those words that were given to these Kohathites. They have
a great service to perform, and that was to move these articles.
But a great warning went out, and that warning was the life
unto life or death unto death. Here it is in the book of Numbers
again, chapter 4. There in verse 18, the scriptures
share this to us. It says, cut Enoch off the tribe
of the family of the Kohathites from among the Levites. A warning
goes out before there's anything else. But thus do unto them. It is important that you share
this information. You know, to those Kohathites,
it was life. It was life to hear these instructions.
It was absolute life. But thus do unto them, that they
may live and not die. When they approach unto the most
holy things, Aaron and his son shall go in. Now they'll take
care of the covering. These folks, God has said, they're
not to see these things. They're not to look upon these
things. Aaron and his son shall go in
and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden,
but they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered
lest they die. Oh my, there's some holy things
that are kept from our eyes to have. revelation of Jesus Christ
to have that revealed to us and then to realize that that revelation
came from God and that repentance and faith come from God and and
all of these sweet gifts of the Holy Spirit to us in regeneration
came from God. He's the one that kept us from
going on. He's the one that hindered us.
He's the one that caused these things to happen. He's the one
that is in charge of all our salvation. He's the one that
sent someone to warn us. Do you suppose those were greater
sinners than you are? No. Unless God grants you repentance,
you'll end up the same way they did. And thank God he grants
repentance to everyone that he chose and everyone he died for. Somewhere in their life, he will
bring this great change upon them and they will trust God
and they will say, he is a God, the very God. That's the gospel
a great God that saves great sinners by a great Savior. This
is the gospel So as we notice here as the warning goes out
the warning still goes out the warning still given Trust Christ
Don't move a muscle Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ When you
do that, it's already a past tense. Thou shalt be saved. So
the warning went out. Don't let them go in. Halt them. There are some things
that we're just out of our reach. Salvation is out of our reach. The blessings of salvation are
out of our natural reach, but they're given to us by a most
holy God. Well, until next time when we
pick this up, God bless you. Brother Mike, would you come?