You can go ahead and be turning
with me to Numbers chapter 16, if you would, please. Numbers
chapter 16. Let's start in verse one, look
at the first four verses, and then we'll cover more verses
during the study. Numbers 16, verse one. Now Korah, the son of Izhar,
the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan, and Abiram,
the son of Eliab, and on the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben,
took men, 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. "'And they gathered themselves
together against Moses "'and against Aaron and said unto them,
"'Ye 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.' "'And when Moses heard
it, he fell upon his face.'" Last study in Numbers chapter
15, we discussed two particular types of sin that Israel was
guilty of. The first sin was the sin of
ignorance. For this sin, God provided atonement. God enabled them to make a sacrifice
and a sin offering made by fire of a young bullock and a she-goat
of the first year. As we've said so many times,
and as you well know, any and every sacrifice of the Old Testament
points to and pictures the Lord Jesus, who is our sacrifice for
sin. The second sin mentioned there
in Numbers 15 was the sin of presumption. I'd never thought
about that particular sin much until we began this study and
these chapters. And this particular sin brought
about the sentence of death. Matter of fact, look back here
at chapter 15, verse 30. But here it says, but the soul
that doth ought or the soul that sins presumptuously, that phrase
means exalts or lifts or raises itself, whether he be born in
the land or a stranger, the same reproacheth. And we mentioned
last time, that's a strong word. It means revile. It means to
blaspheme. The same reproaches blasphemes
the Lord, and that soul shall be cut off from among his people
because he hath despised." And again, another strong word there
in the original language, it means hated with hostility. It's the same word that we find
in the New Testament talking about enmity. enmity against
God. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. It's hostile, hostile. It's not
just, oh, I don't like God. I don't like the way he does
things. Hating him, despising God, enmity against God. Strong, strong word. Because
he hath despised, hated with hostility the word of the Lord
and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut
off and his iniquity shall be upon him. Now that's like saying
the same thing twice, really, to be cut off from the Lord and
having your iniquity left on you is the same thing. Why? Because the soul that sins, it
shall die and the wages of sin is death. The presumptuous sin
is revealed here as a reproach to God, according to verse 30.
It's revealed as blasphemy. And those who are guilty of this
presumptuous sin hate and despise the word of the Lord, according
to verse 31. They have broken God's commandment. They shall utterly be cut off
and they will die and their sin for their iniquity shall remain
upon them. The only hope that you and I
have of life eternal is that God might remove our sin and
put it away forever. And thank God and the Lord Jesus
Christ, that's exactly what he did for us. What a great sin
it is for a sinner to attempt and endeavor to add any work
of their own to the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, I know you're probably thinking, brother Dave, you've said that
a lot lately. Well, that's what these chapters
are teaching us. And then to add to that, the
fact that we've been studying the book of Hebrews on Sunday
morning, it deals with pretty much the same thing. The Lord's
finished, accomplished work. And that becomes more and more
precious to me as I study the scriptures and walk through this
life knowing that it's not dependent upon me, my salvation, my redemption's
not, but it's already finished, it's already accomplished in
my Lord who loved me and gave himself for me. Numbers chapter
15 verse 32, it says, and while the children of Israel were in
the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the
Sabbath day. They that found him gathering
sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation.
And they put him in ward because it was not declared what should
be done to him. And the Lord said unto Moses,
the man shall be surely put to death. All the congregation shall
stone him with stones without the can. And I know this world
when they hear something like that, they think, well, that's
pretty extreme. Not at all. It's not at all. Look at verse 36. And all the
congregation brought him without the camp and stoned him with
stones and he died as the Lord commanded Moses. And again, last
time we discussed how the Sabbath and the scriptures picture and
typifies the rest. that the believer has in the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's only found in the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is our Sabbath, who is our rest. And to add anything
to what he's done, his finished and accomplished work will only
bring about death. Now, this man was put to death
because to add anything to that finished work, our Sabbath is
to leaven the bread of life. For us to try to add to that
just leavens and spoils the whole thing. The telling of the people
to put fringes on their borders of the garments laced with blue,
and as you remember, that was to remind them that the commandments
of God came from heaven, came from above, came from God Himself
and not man. And for us to attempt to do anything
or to add anything to the perfect work of Christ. And that's the
amazing thing in it, that any man or woman would want to add
something to something that's already perfect. something that's
already been accepted by God. God doesn't require any more
than what Christ has already provided. And yet we want to
try to add our own so-called righteousness, which is nothing
but filthy rags, our own so-called good works, knowing that there's
none that doeth good, that there's none righteous, oh my. It contaminates,
it leavens Christ's work as our only acceptance by God. Now tonight
we have before us the sin of Korah, along with his cohorts,
Dathan and Abiram, along with the others, numbering 250 in
all. And as you noticed, as I read
those verses, these 250 princes, they were somebody among the
people of Israel. When they walked around in the
camp, people said, oh, that's so-and-so, you know, he's a prince,
he's somebody. And here they come before Moses
and Aaron. and accused them of such evil.
Now these men by their actions and words denied the word of
God. And really they're accusing Moses
of lording over the people. They couldn't be further from
the truth. Moses was, in reality, one of the most meekest of men
on the earth, and he was only doing what God commanded him
to do. If you remember back early in our study of Exodus, Moses
hadn't desired or applied for the position that God gave him.
Matter of fact, when God first appeared to him, Moses wanted
God to send someone else. He said, Lord, I don't talk too
good. I got a little bit of a stutter. I got a little bit of a speech
impediment. And God said, I'm doing the talking. I'll do the
talking. And I'll even give Aaron, your
brother, to help you out. So he didn't desire this position,
this place of authority. What these men were saying was,
everyone here has the same place you have. Everyone here is just
as good as you are. Everyone here is holy. Everyone
here is qualified. You put yourself on a pedestal
to rule over us. In the New Testament scriptures,
they declared this man Korah to be one who is presumptuous
before God. Peter and Jude both speak directly
concerning this man and others like him. Matter of fact, hold
your place here in number 16 and turn over to 2 Peter 2 with
me, if you would. We'll come back to numbers here
in a moment, but I want you to see this. It'll help us to understand
a little bit more about what this sin of presumption is, this
presumptuous sin. 2 Peter 2, verse 10. 2 Peter
2, verse 10. but chiefly them that walk after
the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise government." Now,
that don't mean that they hate their mayor or whatever. It means
much more than that. It means they hated those whom
God put in authority. They hated the government of
God. They hated God's sovereignty, His purpose in all things. They
despise government. referring to authority, presumptuous
are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries,
whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not
reeling accusation against them before the Lord. But these, as
natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak
evil of the things that they understand not, and shall utterly
perish in their own corruption. Now turn over a few pages, if
you would, to the little book of Jude, just one chapter, as
you know. But verse 10, Jude chapter one,
Jude says, but these speak evil of those things, which they know
not. They're ignorant of. But what they know naturally
is brute beast, and those things they corrupt themselves. Woe
unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily
after the heir of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying
of Korah." Now in these verses, Jude groups two other men with
Korah who were guilty of presumption before God. The name here, kore,
C-O-R-E, is the Greek word for Korah. So it's speaking of Korah
that's in our text. But first he mentions Balaam.
You remember Balaam. Everybody remembers the story
of Balaam's ass that spoke to him. God had given Balaam the
gift of prophecy and he said right things concerning God,
but at the same time, he often combined pagan religion with
the truth. You know, men and women who claim
to believe grace and yet embrace and seek to prosper by their
association with God's enemies are being extremely presumptuous. Secondly, Cain is mentioned.
We all know who Cain is. He was the firstborn son of Adam
and Eve. So what was the presumption of
Cain's sin? Well, Cain presumed that God
had no right to require blood for sin. Without the shedding
of blood, there's no remission. Abel heard that same message
from his father, Adam, and he brought the offering of blood. But Cain, no, Cain, he presumed
that God had no right to ask such a thing. So he approached
God with the work and the fruit of his own doing, his own hands
and his own labor. And it's somewhat ironic when
you consider the fact that Cain himself was angered and humiliated,
and he presumed his anger could only be satisfied with blood
when he killed his own brother. Cain's presumptuous ways was
his demise. He didn't think that God himself
had the right to require blood, but he thought he did. And this
Cain proved like the rest, that he despised the government and
the authority of God, which is found in Christ alone. And then
thirdly here, Jude mentions Korah. Jude speaks out against Korah,
who I said is the Greek name for Korah. And the accusation
against Korah or Korah here is gainsaying. That word gainsaying
means rebellion. It means contradiction. It means
opposition. It means speaking out against. And it's to deny, and it's to
dispute, and it's to argue against and declare against the authority
of God found in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's to question God's
will. It's to question God's purpose.
It's to question God's authority. It's to argue and refute that
Christ alone satisfied the law and the justice of God. And it's
to disagree that Christ alone sufficiently accomplished the
work required to pay the wages of sin by his death and resurrection. Though Korah was speaking out
against Moses, his hatred was for God. It always is. It always is. When we speak out
against someone, we're basically saying, God, I don't like how
you made him. His rebellion was against God.
He was contradicting God. He was in opposition to God.
And this too was a presumptuous sin. Balaam presumed that he
could serve God and Mammon. Caleb despised the authority
of God. And Korah spoke evil of Moses
and in some sense, all of them hated and rebelled against God's
government and God's authority. And I can't help but to be reminded
of the verse and I didn't write it down. I can't quote it exactly
right, but the government, all God's appointed governing is
upon the shoulders of the Lord Jesus. To hate God's authority,
to hate God's governing is to hate the Lord Jesus Christ. As
much as many of our government officials rub me the wrong way
and irritate me to no end, by the sovereign power and authority
of God, they've been placed there. And for me to murmur and for
me to complain against them is really to murmur and complain
against the sovereign providence and purpose of God. So we need
to stop it. God will in the end accomplish
His sovereign will and purpose in all things. without our help,
without our involvement, without our approval or disapproval.
He knows what he's doing. What men and women mean for evil,
God means it for good all the time, every time. Surely the
wrath of man shall praise him." God takes the wicked ways and
doings of man and he makes them good things, things that accomplish
his purpose. And then the remainder of wrath,
God alone restrains. God's on his throne. God's in
charge of everything. Now there's no doubt here that
this reference to Korah and Dathan and Biram applies to those who've
been called to pastor and lead the people of God. You know,
pastors, which as you know, that word means shepherd, they're
shepherds under the good shepherd. That's what pastors are. They're
often referred to as under shepherds and it's for that reason, they're
shepherds under the good shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. But they
must be, careful to always operate and conduct themselves within
the bounds of the relationship that God has given them with
his flock. In the scriptures, pastors are spoken of in three
ways. First, they're to rule in spiritual
matters and to beseech sinners to be reconciled to God. They're
to open the word of God and seek God for discernment and revelation
in the scriptures and do their best to teach God's sheep the
ways of Christ. And secondly, the pastor is the
servant of the flock. He's their servant, not their
master. That's why I get a little put out when I see some of these
high dollar evangelists, so-called, that just rule with an arm fist. And people just bow down to them
like they're somebody. No, no, no, no. The pastor's
a servant of the flock, not their master. And they're to act as
such. And they're to bear the weight
of the flock's sorrow. They're to bear the burdens as
much as they can for them. If there's any adversity, they
take the responsibility themselves. And I've said this many times,
I don't mind saying it again. When you get into the ministry,
you don't know much about the ministry. It's kind of a lot
of on-the-job trading. And then thirdly, the pastor
should never be caught up with a sense of entitlement. When
Paul spoke of himself as well as Apollos and the other servants
of God, he said, we are yours. We're yours. He said, who is
Paul? Did Paul die for you? Was Paul
crucified for you? Did Paul shed his blood for you?
Did Apollos? No, we're just servants. We're
just ministers, just preachers of the gospel. A true pastor
belongs to God. A true servant belongs to God's
people. A true pastor does not have his
own agenda. And it's obvious from our passage
tonight, and you can go ahead and turn back to Numbers 16 with
me, but it's obvious that the sin of Korah was specifically
rebellion against the leadership that God had ordained. Now, our
Lord told his disciples, he said, if the world hates you, know
that they hated me first. When God haters can't get their
hands on God, and when they can't get their hands on his son, we
know what they did when they were able to. With their wicked
hands, they took and crucified the Lord of glory, but it was
according to the determinant counseling for knowledge of God.
And again, God took man's evil and he made it good for those
that he came to save. That's why Korah and the others
attacked Moses and Aaron. Now, to understand the seriousness
of what Korah did here, it's important for us to know some
things about Korah. As a son of Kohath, Korah was
to be a bearer of the ark. He was the one who moved the
ark, the lampstand, the table of showbread, and the golden
altar. You remember that in our previous study. And the sons
of Kohath, being ministers of the tabernacle, as you know,
they were to never touch the things that they carried. that
they moved from place to place. They bore them on their shoulders
with the golden rings and the staffs put through it, but they
could not touch the instruments themselves. Only the priest,
now listen, only the priest and the high priest could touch the
holy thing. Only Aaron and his sons were
priests. Now, here in verse three, Korah
said, Moses, you take too much on yourself. After all, all the
congregation is holy. Well, that was a pretty big presumption,
wasn't it? Just like men today, God loves
and saves everybody. Everybody's saved, they just
gotta make the choice. That's being presumptuous. That's
not what the scriptures teach. Did you take too much on you,
Moses? After all, everyone is holy and the Lord's with us all. So why do you lift yourself above
the congregation? And look again, what Moses says
here in verses four through seven to Korah and those who followed
him. It says, and when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face. And he spake unto Korah and to
all his company saying, even tomorrow the Lord will show who
are his and who is holy and will cause him to come near unto him,
even him who he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him."
You know, people that talk about election being a New Testament
doctrine hadn't studied the Old Testament It says right there,
even him who he, God, hath chosen, he'll cause to come near unto
him. That's salvation, that's election. This do, take your
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 choose, he shall behold. Boy, that's
the gospel, isn't it? You take too much upon you, you
sons of Levi. Well, that was an understatement.
And here we see by what Moses says and requires these 250 men
to do that their crime was really much more serious than just simple
opposition to Moses' authority. They wanted to be what they had
no right to be. Did you hear me? They wanted
to be what they had no right to be. They wanted to be priests. They wanted to be the means of
their own salvation. Verse eight, and Moses said unto
Korah, here I pray you, ye sons of Levi, seemeth it but a small
thing unto you that the Lord 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? The Lord has separated
you and called you to do a marvelous thing in the ministry of God. And yet you're dissatisfied. He says, and to stand before
the congregation to minister unto them. Verse 10, and he hath
brought thee near to him and all thy brethren, the sons of
Levi with thee, and seek ye the priesthood also. You have no
idea what you're asking. for which cause both thou and
all thy company are gathered together against the Lord." Not
against me, not against Aaron, but against the Lord, against
the Lord. And what is Aaron that ye murmur
against him? Again, who's Paul, who's a Paul?
We're just ministers, we're just doing what God called us to do.
Moses said, we'll see who the Lord has chosen. We're gonna
find out. We'll see who indeed are his
priests. The sin of presumption. It's that sin of one who asserts
himself into that which only belongs to Christ and His work.
He presumes to touch the holy thing that only Christ may touch
and offer to God. He presumes that he can sacrifice
that which only priest can offer to God. And Christ is our great
high priest. That's what we're seeing in Hebrew.
The priest of old served a purpose, but the main purpose was they
pointed to the great high priest who was to come that offer himself
as a sacrifice. Aaron represents Christ who by
himself entered once into the holy place, not made with hands,
attaining eternal redemption for his people whom Christ has
saved by his precious blood. And Korah represents any and
all who presume that they can assert themselves into this solo
work of redemption. And that's what we see today.
That's what we hear in most of the preaching that we hear. You
do your part, God'll do his part. It's to presume the impossible.
You can't do that. Religious men and women spend
the majority of their lives claiming to have a part in the salvation
of their souls, claiming to make the work of Christ effectual
by their own choice, their own decision, their own will, their
own work, their own way. but those who do prove in the
end not to be the children of God. What awaits those who claim
such things? Death. Death. The glory that
Christ has earned cannot be claimed by another. God will not share
his glory with another. And one of the reasons is because
there is no other who can do what Christ did for us. And for
us to presume that we can is a serious, serious thing. Look
at verse 12. I want to read a few verses here.
I'll try to hurry. Verse 12, and Moses sent to call
Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. They said, we will not
come up. Is it a small thing that thou
has brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey?
We're right here on the border. And then now you're telling us
we can't go in. Well, they didn't go in because
of their unbelief. He says, a small thing that thou hast brought
us up out of the land to flow with milk and honey, to kill
us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself altogether
a prince over us. This is all you're doing, Moses.
You just want to be our president. You just want to be our king.
You want to be our prince. You want to just Lord this over
us. Said this to the meekest man that probably ever lived
other than Christ himself. Moreover, verse 14, thou has
not brought us into a land that flow with milk and honey or given
us an inheritance of fields and vineyards without put out the
eyes of these men, we will not come up. And Moses was very wroth. And he said unto the Lord, respect
not their offering. "'I have not taken one ass from
them, "'neither have I hurt one of them.' "'And Moses said unto
Korah, "'Be thou and all thy company before the Lord, "'thou
and they and Aaron tomorrow. "'And take every man his censer
and put incense in them, "'and bring ye before the Lord every
man his censer, "'250 censers, every one of you bring. "'Thou
also and Aaron and each of you his censer.' "'And they took
every man his censer and put fire in them "'and laid incense
thereon and stood in the door "'of the tabernacle of the congregation,
with Moses and Aaron. And Korah gathered all the congregation
against them until the door of the tabernacle of the congregation
and the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the congregation. And
the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron saying, separate yourselves
from among this congregation that I may consume them in a
moment. and they fell upon their faces
and said, oh God, the God of all the, the God of the spirits
of all flesh, shall one man sin and wilt thou be wroth with all
the congregation? Moses and Aaron still interceding
on these hard, stiff-necked people's path. Aren't you glad the Lord
is long-suffering? Boy, I sure am. My, my, he was
long-suffering with them. speaking to the congregation
saying, get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah and Dathan
and Abiram. And Moses rose up and went unto
Dathan and Abiram and the elders of Israel followed him. And he
spake unto the congregation saying, depart I pray you from the tents
of these wicked men and touch nothing of theirs lest you be
consumed in all their sins. So they got up from the tabernacle
of Korah, Dathan and Abiram on every side and Dathan and Abiram
came out and stood in the door of their tents and their wives
and their sons and their little children and Moses said, hereby
you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works
"'For I have not done them of mine own mind.'" This isn't my
doing, I'm doing what I was told. "'If these men die the common
death of all men, "'or if they be visited after the visitation
of all men, "'then the Lord had not sent me. "'But if the Lord
make a new thing in the earth, "'open her mouth and swallow
them up "'with all that appertain unto them, "'and they go down
quick into the pit, "'then you shall understand "'that these
men have provoked the Lord.'" Now look at verse 31, those familiar
words, and it came to pass. Why? Because God made it come
to pass. And it came to pass as he had
made an end of speaking all these words that the ground clave asunder
that was under them. And the earth opened her mouth
and swallowed them up and their houses and all the men that appertained
in the Korah and all their goods. They and all that appertained
to them went down alive into the pit and the earth closed
up. "'closed upon them, and they
perished "'from among the congregation. "'And all Israel that were around
about them fled, "'and the cry of them, for they said, "'Lest
the earth swallow us up also.' "'And there came out a fire from
the Lord "'and consumed the 250 men that offered incense.'" Now
listen, you can't offer up your own sacrifice. God won't accept
it. And you'll be consumed if you
do. On this day, the people of God here witnessed the justice
of God against presumptuous sin, sin which was the desire to be
as Christ and to share in His glory as our great high priest. Although Korah desired and believed
himself was entitled to the office of priest, it was nothing more
than an intrusion upon the finished work of Christ, and death awaits
all who do. Grace is unmerited. It's undeserved. It's unearned. With God, through
the sacrifice and accomplished work of another, that being the
merit of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's by His merit. It's by His
blood. It's by His work of righteousness.
It's by His death. It's by His burial and resurrection
and His ascension into heaven. You see, the true child of God
is content to be nothing more than a recipient of God's love
and mercy and grace and forgiveness in the substitution and the sacrifice
of Christ, who's their great high priest. When God reveals
to a sinner that Christ has finished their redemption, and they know
that, they know, I'm saved, and it's not by anything that I do,
not by anything that I've done, not by anything that I can do,
it's by His finished work, they're content. It's perfect. We leave well enough alone. God's
people are content with what they have. For Christ said, I'll
never leave thee nor forsake thee. As long as we have Christ,
we have everything that we need. For he is the one thing needful. We know what the Lord told Martha.
She has the one thing needful. What was she doing? Hey dear,
she was sitting at the feet of Christ, listening to him. Oh, if there's something I can
do to save myself, then there's something I can do to unsave
myself. If I am alone, accepted by God, in, by, and through the
finished work of Christ alone, then there's nothing I can do
to lose my salvation. Now you can argue with me if
you want to, but I'm not gonna listen to you and I'm not gonna
argue with you because that's what God says in this book. It's
throughout this book. Saved by grace. Through faith. Whose grace? God's grace. In Christ. Through faith. That's
not of yourselves. You didn't muster it up. No.
God-given faith. God enabled you to believe. God
enabled you to trust in Christ. Not of works, lest any man should
boast, because men will. You can count on it. It's the
work of God alone. Thank God that my salvation is
accomplished. Thank God it's finished and complete
in Christ my substitute. That's what gives me hope and
confidence and assurance, isn't it you? Thank God for his mercy
and his grace.