Numbers chapter 16. Now verse 1 says, Now Korah,
the son of Ishar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and
Dathan, and Abiram, these were sons of Eliab and An, the son
of Pilate, the sons of Reuben, they took some men, and rose
up before Moses. And they took certain of the
children of Israel, 250 princes of the assembly, famous in the
congregation, men of renown, gathered themselves together
against Moses and against Aaron. Now, first of all, we see here
that Korah was the leader in dividing this people. Now, why
did he do this? Well, you recall that in Egypt,
Before the Lord delivered them out of the land of Egypt, the
heads of the families were the priests of the home. They were
the ones who took the blood of the lamb and applied it to the
doorpost. But when God made the covenant
from Sinai with Israel, God changed all that. He changed it. He changed
who would be the king and who would be the high priest. First
of all, the Lord God made Moses to be, in essence, the king over
Israel. He was the head of the civil
government of Israel. And then God made Aaron, who
was Moses' brother, to be the high priest. And then God chose
Aaron's immediate sons. Eliezer and Ithamar, who were
the ones remaining, the other two offered strange fire to God
and He consumed them. But the two that were remaining,
Eliezer and Ithamar, the Lord chose them to serve as priests
directly unto Aaron. And then God made the tribe of
Levi. to serve as priests in the things pertaining to the
tabernacle, to the Lord. There were two things about this
that had taken place that didn't sit right with Korah. First of
all, we see here in verse 1 that Korah was the son of Kohath. He was the son of Levi. Now turn
back to Numbers chapter 3 with me just a moment. Numbers chapter
3. And look down at verse 29. This is what the Lord said. He
said, The families of the sons of Kohath, that's Korah's great-grandfather,
the sons of Kohath, shall pitch on the side of the tabernacle
southward. In verse 30, he says, and the
chief of the house of the father of the families of the Kohathites
shall be Elazephan, the son of Uzziel. Now, Elazephan descended
from the last and youngest of the families of the Kohath. Korah was in an older He was
the son of Izhar, who was an older son. Eziel was a younger
son. And Korah was older than Elizabeth. And he was passed over by the
Lord as being the chief of the house of Kohath. And this younger
cousin was given the position. And Korah was passed over. Verse
31. There, Numbers 3.31. He says,
And their charge shall be the ark, and the table, and the candlestick,
and the altars, and the vessels of the sanctuary wherewith they
minister, and the hanging, and all the service thereof. Now
this was, Korah was a priest. He was given the charge to do
this. But Eleazar, the son of Aaron
the priest, shall be chief over the chief of the Levites, and
have the oversight of them that keep the charge of the sanctuary."
So this is the second thing. Aaron's son, Eleazar, was chief
over all the Levites. Now, go back to number 16 there,
and look who joined with Korah, and let's see why they joined
with him. Verse 16. Chapter 16, verse 1. And Dathan
and Abiram, these were sons of Eliab and On, the son of Peleth,
sons of Reuben. Sons of Reuben. Reuben was their
father. He was the firstborn son of Jacob. But God didn't give any special
privilege to Reuben. Jacob called Reuben unstable
as water. And Judah was the tribe that
God gave special privilege to over all the other tribes. Genesis
49, look back there with me, Genesis 49, 8. Genesis 49, 8
tells us that this is what Jacob, the blessing
Jacob pronounced upon Judah. He said, Judah, thou art he whom
thy brethren shall praise. Thy hand shall be in the neck
of thine enemies. Thy father's children shall bow
down before thee. They're going to bend the knee
to you, Judah, and praise you. Judah, a lion's wealth. From the prey, my son, thou art
gone up. He stooped down, he couched as
a lion, as an old lion. Who shall rouse him up? The scepter
shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet
until Shiloh come. And unto him shall the gathering
of the people be, binding his foal into the vine and his ass
his coat into the choice vine. He washed his garments in wine
and his clothes in the blood of grapes. His eyes shall be
red with wine and his teeth white with milk. Judah is a type of
Christ. Christ is the line of the tribe
of Judah. The scepter would depart from
Judah because that's the tribe through which Christ Jesus was
coming. Shiloh's coming through that tribe, and to him shall
the gathering of the people be. Well, back there in Numbers 16.2,
let's see who else was in this. And they rose up before Moses
with certain of the children of Israel, 250 princes of the
assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown." Now, these were,
some think they were men of other tribes joined in with these folks
whose firstborn sons were passed over. God didn't take their firstborn
sons of every tribe. He took the sons of the tribe
of Levi. That's the only tribe he took.
because He ransomed them all. He took who He would. He took
who He would from among them. And these were famous men, princes
of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown,
but none of that matters with God. None of that has any bearing. He doesn't have respect of persons. His grace is free grace. His grace is based solely upon
Him choosing whom He will and passing by whom He will. Nothing
about these men had any bearing. Everything God did in choosing
whom He would, to the office He gave them, was to glorify
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as God made a change of
who would be the king and the priest over Israel, When he made
that covenant on Sinai, that was a covenant of works. That was a covenant based on,
if you will, I will. This do, and you can live. But
the everlasting covenant he makes in the heart is not a covenant
dependent upon you or I. It's not a conditional covenant
whatsoever. It's totally accomplished by
the triune God in Christ Jesus. And it is a I will and they shall
covenant. It is God doing everything and
you shall be saved because of that. That's the covenant He
makes. But when He makes that covenant
in the heart of His people, He gives a new king and a new priest. There's a new king and a new
high priest when He makes this covenant with every believer.
And that's the picture we see here, what God did with Moses
and Aaron. He made a new king and a new
high priest. God chose His Son. Christ Jesus,
the only king over spiritual Israel. He's the only king over
spiritual Israel. The government of God's Israel,
the government of God is on the shoulder of his king. And that
king is Christ. All power in heaven and earth
is his. He does as he pleases. He's the
king. Christ Jesus is the high priest.
It wasn't by the blood of bulls and goats like Aaron when he
went in to the holiest of holies, and it wasn't a holiest of holies
made with hands. He went into the presence of
God with his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. for everyone He represented.
He purged the sins of all those given to Him before the world
began. He put away their sin. He brought in a better hope.
He established upon better promises because this covenant is sure,
it's yes, it's amen, every bit of it is accomplished by Christ
Jesus the High Priest. It's not an offer made to some
men, if they'll just exercise some aspect in themselves and
take it. This is God's doing. God saves
whom He will. And He's going to have all the
glory in this thing because Christ has fully, perfectly, completely
perfected forever those who He's calling out by His grace. He's
done that. And He's long-suffering. He's
not willing that any should perish for whom Christ died. And because
He's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come
to repentance, they are all coming to repentance. Not a one is not
coming to repentance. Because God has never been willing
for anything to be accomplished that He didn't accomplish. And
He shall accomplish it. He's the priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. He's the only one who holds the
office of king and priest. He's the king priest. He's the
king of righteousness and peace, the king of Salem. He's the priest
of the Most High God. He doesn't have beginning of
days or end of days. He has been the king priest since
God gave him a people and entrusted the work of salvation to him. God is the one who first trusted
his son. He gave him a people and trusted
the work of making him just and the justifier of establishing
a righteousness. He trusted him. And Christ, our
king priest alone makes every elect child of God to be a king
and a priest under our God. Revelations 5, 9. It says they
sung a new song. And if God ever makes this covenant
in our hearts, we'll sing a new song. We'll sing a new song. Thou art worthy to take the book
and to open the seals thereof, for Thou was slain and has redeemed
us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and
people and nation. Not every kindred and tongue
and people and nation, out of every kindred, tongue, people
and nation. And has made us under our God
kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. Like God
sent Moses, and like he sent Aaron, and like he sent Elizaphan,
Christ Jesus, our king priest, gives whom he will to be his
under shepherds. Jeremiah 3.15, the Lord said,
I'll give you pastors according to my heart, which shall feed
you with knowledge and understanding. We read in Ephesians 4, 8, when
He ascended on high, He led captivity captive and He gave gifts unto
men. He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some
pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for
the work of the ministry, for the edifying of His body. And
it's His body. And He's going to see to it that
His body has faithful pastors. Aren't you glad of that? Aren't
you glad of that? He's going to see to it. They
can't see to it. And his messengers like Moses
and Aaron and Elizabeth, they're ambassadors and they merely set
forth what the king has declared to be. So they just come forth
telling what, what their king sent them forth to tell. That's
what an ambassador does. And those whom the Lord Jesus
sends to be his under-shepherds are one. They're one. They're
not seeking to divide brethren. They're seeking to bring them
together in one, in Christ Jesus whom we preach. But Korah and these others were
working from a carnal heart. They were working with carnal
eyes, with carnal desire. Now here's Korah's complaint.
Look there at Numbers 16, verse 3. And they gathered themselves
together against Moses and against Aaron and said unto them, You
take too much upon you, seeing 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. The
Lord had given Korah and these other Levites the right to offer
to the charge of taking care of these various vessels in the
outer court. And they had great privilege,
great responsibility. But to Cora, it appeared that
Moses and Aaron, his kinsmen, were guilty of nepotism. Moses
chose Aaron, and in Korah's eyes, Aaron chose his sons, and they
chose their tribe, and this whole thing was a family affair to
Korah, and he was being passed over. And that was quite simply
what the problem was. And he thought they were exalting
themselves above the congregation of the Lord. Now look at Moses'
response. And when Moses heard, He fell
upon His face. Satan uses haughtiness to excite
the flesh. You know, we hear the Lord say
on the Sermon on the Mount, we hear the Lord say to bless them that curse you,
to do good to them that oppose you, not resist the evil. And it sounds
good. We delight in it in our inward
man. We long to do the commandments
of our Lord Jesus Christ. We long to do what he's told
us to do. But just let somebody come along and oppose us and
see how fast we figure out that Thankfully, he's done everything
he's commanded for us to do. And he's done it on our behalf,
because we can't do it. Paul said to Will's present with
me, but how to perform that which I will, I find not. I want to
do it. I want to do it. But sin's in
everything I do. And all it takes is just a little
bit of opposition. And we'll find out real quick
what we are, what we still are, in our flesh. Korah and these
men, they made their boast of being holy. They made their boast of being
holy. Moses here shows us what true holiness is. He shows us
what it is to be truly holy. He resigned himself to the care
of God. He made intercession to God for
those who opposed themselves. He completely cast this whole
matter into the hands of God. That's what He did. And the Lord
Jesus did that very thing for Moses and for everyone He represented. That's what our Lord Jesus Christ
did. He came to where we were, totally,
completely resigned to the care of God. as the righteous servant
of God. There had never been anybody
faithful as Christ Jesus. In His walk, He was continually
in the care of God. He's God, no doubt about that.
He is the Son of God. But as a man walking on this
earth, He continually, continually said, I came not to do my will,
I came to do the will of Him that sent me. He continually
was resorting to a place alone, to a solitary place. And in prayer,
in the Garden of Gethsemane, that sacred ground, that holy
place, we find Him casting His care into the hands of the Father,
saying, Father, if Thou wilt, We find Him being strengthened
by the angel and going to the cross, and even upon the cross,
crying out to God, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?
And what's the last words He said? Into Thy hands commend
I my spirit. That's faithfulness. This One
who knew no sin, whom God made to be sin, that His people might
be made the righteousness of God in Him, this One who is bearing
the the wrath of holy God in the place of those He's representing,
this one who is under the fiercest agony of soul before God Almighty, never once, never ceased to trust
God, never ceased, never turned from God. That's faithfulness. That's faithfulness. And in doing
so, he faithfully honored God. He faithfully glorified God. He faithfully accomplished the
salvation of his people. He faithfully put away the sin
of his people. And more than anything else that
he came to do, he glorified the holy name of God. He declared
God just and the justifier. And the Lord here did just what
He promised He would do for Moses. Moses hit his face. Moses prayed
to God to take the... Moses, standing before this company
of men, hits his face and asks God to take this matter. Look at verse 5. And the Lord
gave him a word. And this word that he speaks
is what the Lord gave him to speak. He spake unto Korah and
to all his company, saying, Even tomorrow the Lord will show who
are His and who is holy. Aren't you thankful that the
Lord knows who are His? He separated them from this world. He separated them into the refuge
of Christ Jesus the Lord before eternity, before time began in
eternity. He keeps them separate. He makes
it known who it is that he's separated and who it is that
he'll use. He does that. And Moses said,
he'll make it known and he'll cause him to come near unto him.
You can be sure of this. Those whom God has put in Christ
will cause to come near unto him. He will cause them all to
approach unto him. Even him whom he hath chosen
will he cause to come near unto him. This do. Take you censers,
Korah, and all his company, and put fire therein, and put incense
in them before the Lord tomorrow. And it shall be that the man
whom the Lord doth just choose, he shall be holy." Our best is
to wait on the Lord's time. Moses didn't get hasty about
this thing. He said, We'll see about it tomorrow. The Lord will make clear tomorrow.
The Lord will make this thing clear tomorrow. The Lord shows
His long-suffering in this because these men are given time to repent.
They're given time until the next morning. And then this next
word was probably hated by Korah, but it was the charge of a faithful
servant of the Lord in care for their souls. Look at verse 8.
He says, you take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi. And Moses
said unto Korah, here I pray you, ye sons of Levi, seemeth
it but a small thing unto you that the God of Israel hath separated
you from the congregation of Israel to bring you near to himself
to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before
the congregation to minister unto them? And he hath brought
thee near to him, and all thy brethren, the sons of Levi, with
thee, seek ye the priesthood also? for which cause both thou
and all thy company are gathered together against the Lord." What's
Aaron that you murmur against him? You see, they were seeking
to usurp authority which belongs to the Lord alone. Who is Aaron? Who's the doorkeeper in God's
house? Who's the song leader? Who's
the deacon? Who's the one who sweeps the
floor? It's God, Christ Jesus, our King,
who sets us in His body. He sets each one in His body. Speaking of the priesthood, in
Hebrews 5.4, it says, No man taketh this honor unto himself,
but he that's called of God, as was Aaron. Aaron put him in
this office. God put Aaron in this office.
Aaron didn't. Speaking of Moses, Hebrews 3.2
says God appointed Moses. Moses didn't take that office
to himself. Anytime brethren, that anybody,
whether they're standing in a pulpit or sitting in a pew, thinks they
have the power to put any sinner into the body of Christ, they
are attempting to usurp authority that belongs to God alone, that
belongs to Christ alone, that belongs to the Holy Spirit alone.
It is a self-exaltation. Men will, Pharisees in our day
will spend all their time lording over God's heritage, trying to
make themselves to be master, Lord, trying to sit upon the
throne that belongs to God alone, usurping the authority that belongs
to Christ alone. And then the moment that the
Lord separates the people from such tyrants, those people will
turn around and say, you're a son of Korah. That's the pot calling the kettle
black. Did I say that right? That's
what it is. And the same goes for anybody
who sits in a pew. and decides they're going to
usurp authority over one of God's true messengers who's preaching
the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus, who's declaring
that no man can come to God except the Father which is in heaven.
Draw him. Declaring to men that Christ is the bread, He's the
door, He's the way, He's the truth, He's the light. Men without
Him are wandering aimlessly in darkness. No matter how religious
they are, And any man who tries to usurp authority and make himself
more than what God's made him in the body is usurping authority
over what only God can do. Look over at 1 Corinthians chapter
12. 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Look down at verse 12. For as
the body is one and hath many members, and all the members
of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ. For by one spirit are we all
baptized into one body, whether Jew or Gentiles, whether bond
or free, and have been all made a drink into one spirit. For
the body's not one member, but many. If the foot shall say,
I'm not the hand, I'm not of the body. Is it therefore not
of the body? If the ear shall say, because I'm not the eye,
I'm not of the body. Is it therefore not of the body?
But look at verse 18. But now hath God set the members,
every one of them in the body as it hath pleased Him. Look down at verse 25. Look at
verse 25. Why did God do it the way He's
done it? That there should be no schism
in the body, but that the members should have the same care one
for another. Look down at verse 29. Are all
apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, are all workers
of miracles? Have all gifts of healing? Do
all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But covet earnestly
the best gifts, And yet I show unto you a more excellent way.
Look at verse 1 of chapter 13. Though I speak with tongues of
men and of angels, and have not charity, have not love for Christ,
have not a love for God that He's given in the heart that
He's made new through the Spirit of God, have not a love for brethren,
I become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. I have the gift of prophecy.
I understand all mysteries and all knowledge. I have all faith
so that I can remove mountains. If I don't have love, I've got
nothing. But look what love does. Look down at verse 4. Love suffers
long. It's kind. It doesn't envy. It doesn't vaunt itself. It's
not puffed up. That's what the problem was with
Korah and Dathan and Abiram. It doesn't behave itself unseemly. It doesn't seek, seeketh not
her own. That's what Cora and Dathan and
Byron were doing. They were seeking their own.
It's not easily provoked. It doesn't think evil. It doesn't
rejoice in iniquity. It rejoices in the truth. Bears
all things. Believes all things. Hopes all
things. Endures all things. And charity
never fails. Did you know, look down at the
bottom. Now abideth faith, hope, and
charity. You've seen here verse 11. You've
heard men quote this. He said, when I was a child,
I spake as a child. I understood as a child. I thought
as a child. But when I became a man, I put
away childish things. You've heard men use this and
say, well, when you grow up, you've got to mature as a believer,
and you put away childish things, and what have you. You know what
Paul's saying. Verse 10. Verse 9, he says, we
know in part, we prophesy in part. He's saying, but when that
which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be
done away. He's saying faith and hope and these things, these
other gifts of prophecy, these other things, these are childish
things. These are things God's given
us while we're in this child state right here on this earth.
But when Christ has come and we're coming to the fullness
of Christ and awaken His likeness, look down at verse Verse 13,
Now abideth faith, hope, and charity, these three. But the
greatest of these is charity. When He's come, faith and hope
won't be anymore. They'll be gone. Prophecy will
be gone. All these other gifts will be
gone. Those are the childish things that abide right now.
But when we're made to awaken the fullness of Christ, those
childish things will be put away. But you know what will remain?
Love. Love will always be. It'll always
be. It'll remain. So that's what,
to attempt to take a position that God hasn't given us, whether
it's a believer, being a believer in the body of Christ, whether
it's to have a position in the church that he hasn't given us,
to try to take a position that God hasn't given us, is to set
aside the distinct authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, just
as the pretensions of Korah was the setting aside of the distinctive
place of Moses and Aaron in that day. That's exactly what they
were doing. God uses those He makes content
to serve wherever He puts them in His house. We're called living stones. a spiritual house, a holy priesthood built up, put together, combined,
compacted together where God's put us to offer up spiritual
sacrifices under God. And one's not above another,
and the other one's not above the other one, because you're
not the foot. Because you're not the foot,
you can't say I'm not of the body. Because you're not the
eye, you can't say I'm not of the body. If everybody was the
eye, how are we going to walk? If everybody was the foot, how
are we going to see? But he's put us all in a body together
so that each one supplies what the others are lacking. And he's
done it that way on purpose. He did it that way that there
wouldn't be any divisions in the body so that nobody would
be puffed up and think, well, I can fly solo. I'm good enough.
I can make it on my own. That's what Korah and Dathan
and Abiram thought. We don't need you, Moses. We're
all holy. The Lord's with us all. He's
given us all the privilege of going into the tabernacle. Remember
King Uzziah? He was a king. God made him a
king and blessed the kingdom greatly through him until his
heart was lifted up within him. And you know what King Uzziah
decided? I've accomplished all this. As king, I've done all
these great things as king, which the Lord had given him the grace
to do, or he couldn't have done anything. I've done all this
as king. I don't need a priest to go in
and offer incense for me. I'll go in myself. And so he
takes off with an incense burner and goes in to offer incense
himself. And when the high priest came in, they said, this don't
pertain to you, oh king. And this holy, pious man that
had the ability to go in and offer, he's so holy he could
go in without a priest? You know what he proved about
his holiness? He took the very incense burner that he was going
to use to offer incense up to God and tried to kill the priest
with it. And God put him out and smote
him and made him a leper and put him out of the camp. And
he died a leper. These men were angry for the
reason that every self-righteous, self-exalting, self-sanctifying,
self-serving sinner is angry. And why we all, if left to ourselves,
will try to exalt ourselves to the throne of God. It's because
God chooses whom he would. and gave them to our great king
and high priest, his son Christ Jesus, and he makes us sons of
God and priests unto him, and God passes by the rest." And
these fellas didn't like that. They didn't like that. And the Lord God destroyed these
men. He destroyed them. You can read the rest of the
chapter. He destroyed them, and He destroyed many more. Two hundred
and fifty. The men with Korah and I think
some 14,000 of the rest of Israel, because they murmured against
Aaron and Moses. It's the same. But Moses here
said, you're not coming against Aaron. That's not who you're
coming against. Remember what the Lord said to
Samuel when they said, Samuel, we don't want you to be our king.
We want a king like the world has. We want a king like the
rest of the world has. Somebody that will run roughshod
over us. Rule with an iron fist. Make
it so we can see things happen. And the Lord told Samuel, he
said, Samuel, they haven't rejected you, they've rejected me. And Moses says to them here,
you haven't rejected Aaron, you've rejected the Lord. That's who
you've rejected. Men think for some reason, that
God's church can be built the same way that you build a business. But it's not built that way.
It's not built that way. He said, it's not by might nor
by power, but by my spirit, said the Lord. If the Lord don't build
the house, they labor in vain and build it. He's going to receive
all the glory for this. For some reason, I can tell you
this from experience, for some reason, Standing where I'm standing,
it's the only occupation in the whole world. And everybody seems
to be in authority on how it ought to be done. And everybody
feels free to tell you how you ought to do it. And I can tell you, if you've
never been there, you just don't know. And I can tell you what
I'm doing. I'm just hitting my face and
saying, Lord, This is your work. I'm just here, an earthen vessel,
to say the words that you give me to speak. Pray you'll do the
work, because I can't do it. I just can't do it. Well, turn
with me to one last scripture, and I'll end with this. 1 Peter,
chapter 5. 1 Peter, chapter 5. Peter knew this. Peter had experienced
this. He had once said, Lord, I won't
forsake you. These other fellows probably
will, but I won't. He knew what it was to be through Satan's
sieve. But the Lord prayed for him. The Lord made intercession
for him, kept him. And here's what Peter said. Look
at verse 2. Feed the flock of God which is
among you, taking the oversight, Not by constraint. Don't do this
because you've got to do it. Paul said, woe is unto me if
I don't preach the gospel. But do it willingly. Not for
filthy lucre. Not for filthy gain. Not to be
exalted in the eyes of people and to have some lofty position
so men will look at you and say, well, boy, he's something. But
of a ready mind. Neither is being lords over God's
heritage. We got one Lord. I'm not it,
you're not it. We're to be helpers of one another's
joy. But be examples to the flock.
And when the chief shepherd shall appear, we're just under shepherds,
Lord's pastors. The chief shepherd, when he shall
appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
We'll seek a crown of glory down below. Seek that one above. Glory with God, Christ Jesus. Likewise, ye younger, submit
yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one
to another, and be clothed with humility. For God resisteth the
proud. You want to see how he does it?
Read the rest of that chapter, number 16. Read on into chapter
17. You'll see what God does to the proud. But it gives grace
to the humble. It gives grace to the humble.
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God. That's
what Moses did when he hit his face. Humble yourselves under
the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time. Now
listen to this. Casting all your care upon Him,
for He careth for you. You people just tell people to
be passive. No, I'm not telling you to be passive. You're going
to have to strive against your flesh all you can. But the only
way you're going to overcome it is casting all your care into
the hand of Christ who cares for you. That's how mortification
of the flesh is accomplished. It's not accomplished by trying
to clean a dirty floor with a dirty mop, I can tell you that. It's
accomplished by Christ. Be sober. Be vigilant because
your adversary the devil has a roaring lion walketh about
seeking whom he may devour. Next thing you know, you'll be
cornered. Saying, well, I think you've
taken too much upon yourself. Be careful. Be diligent. Be sober. Resist steadfast. How? In the faith. In the faith. Trust in Christ. Knowing that
the same afflictions now, get this now, and have this always
in remembrance. This is what Satan loves to do.
My brethren just don't know what I'm going through. They just
don't know how bad they've hurt me and how much I think they
ought to come and tend to me. Knowing that the same afflictions
that you're going through are accomplished in your brethren
that are in the world. Scriptures don't ever tell us
how our brethren ought to treat us. So don't start having a pity
party. It teaches us how to treat our brethren. And the surest
cure for your care is to care for somebody else. But the God of all grace, who
hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after
you've suffered a while, He'll make you perfect. He'll establish
you. He'll strengthen you. He'll settle
you. You think Moses was shaking in
his shoes when he was standing there before that whole host
of those princes, those men of renown? He was. I guarantee you
he was. I would be. I'd be shaking in
my boots right here in front of seven people. So I know he was. But God settled his heart. God
gave him a word of grace in his heart, and he knew how to answer
those men. He did it by hitting his face, casting his care on
God. And God gave him grace, exalted him, settled him, and
one day he'll do it fully, finally, forever. To him, what are we
going to say? To him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. Amen.