Having said that, if you wish
to follow along, turn to Numbers chapter 12. Numbers chapter 12. Let me read through this chapter.
And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian
woman whom he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, hath the Lord
indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us? And you remember this from last
week, and the Lord heard it. Let me tell you something. Even while here, we heard two
great gospel messages this morning. But my flesh is filled with evil. Because even while that truth,
Mack, was being preached, my flesh will raise its ugly head. And we think a lot of thoughts
that we ought not think, but let us never think that it's
the same as saying it. If you think it, acknowledge
it for what it is, corruption, but don't say it. Don't say it. And the Lord heard it. Now the
man Moses was very meek, above all the men that were upon the
face of the earth. The Lord spake suddenly unto
Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come ye out three, come
out ye three unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they
three came out. And the Lord came down in the
pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle,
and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forth. And
he said, hear now my words. If there be a prophet among you,
I, the Lord, will make myself known unto him in a vision, and
I will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who
is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to
mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches, and the similitude
of the Lord shall he behold." I'm telling you folks, he's seen
the pre-incarnate Christ. I believe he's seen him in what
was shown to Moses as incarnate. But he's seen Christ because
you cannot see God in his purest form and live. No man has seen
God at any time in that sense. He shall behold, wherefore then
were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? This is who
Moses is to me, God says. You have spoken against me. That's
what God is telling us. And the anger of the Lord was
kindled against them, and he departed. Folks, this was our brother and
sister in Christ. This is our brother and sister
in Christ. Let's go on. And the cloud departed from off
the tabernacle, and behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow. And Aaron looked upon Miriam,
and behold, she was leprous. And I read some of the commentaries,
and they said, well, she wasn't really leprous. And I'm thinking,
you know, just can't tell the truth, no matter what, like trying
to find the hen's tooth. And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas,
my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us wherein we
have done foolishly and wherein we have sinned. Let her not be
as one dead of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh
out of his mother's womb. Don't let her be like a stillborn
child that's already rotting before it comes out. That's pretty
rough to even think about, ain't it? And Moses cried unto the
Lord, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee. But he didn't. He didn't. Now, he was merciful,
but he didn't heal her right away. Look, and the Lord said
unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should
she not be ashamed seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp
seven days. Hmm. Remember, they're in the wilderness.
She's gotta be put out yonder seven days. But this is not wrath. Look at what it says. And after
that, let her be received in again. Do you see that? That's grace. That's grace. And not only that, and Miriam
was shut out from the camp seven days. And the people journeyed
not till Miriam was brought in again. I thank God for that. And afterward the people removed
from Haziroth and pitched in the wilderness of Paran. As I
was reading this text, what did you think about? Did you maybe
Just maybe did you have a good downright holy spasm and thought
this speaks of Jesus Christ. Here's Moses as a type or a shadow
of Jesus Christ. Did you have one of those good
holy spasms? I had one. Here's Christ and I got no doubt
that's true. But remember this was a real
bona fide event. These things happened unto them.
We've already read it. Paul says it clearly under inspiration. Happened unto them. It was real
happenings. These are real life events of
faith and unbelief. Even in God's people. even in
God's people. So I'm not trying to be hard
on you, I just wanted to throw that out there. You had this,
well there's Christ, but did you think about, oh boy, I've
been so much like Moses and people just give me a hard time. Boy, I just suffer so much for
the cause of the Lord. Or did you say, wow, I could
relate to Miriam in there. I can relate. Here's the context,
briefly. Israel is now traveling from
Sinai, what is the scripture calls the wilderness of Sinai,
and they were at the base of Mount Horeb, Mount Sinai. And they were traveling to Paran,
or that is the wilderness of Paran. In Paran, the stage would
be set for them to enter the land. and take it by force, which
did not happen, but I don't wanna get ahead of myself. So Israel
is traveling from Sinai, the wilderness of Sinai to Paran.
Two places of holdover are given. We looked at the first one last
week, Kibroth Hateva, chapter 11, and now Haziroth. Every believer has Haziroth stuck
in our crawl. We camp far too long at Haziroth. Our natural bent is to park right
here at Haziroth. What am I talking about? Here's
what I'm talking about. Ever speak against God's specific,
special, unique ordinations? Moses certainly stands out here
in our text, does he not? Moses was a special ordination
of God. To speak against Moses was to
speak against God, and I don't care if he did marry an Ethiopian
woman. Now do you hear what I'm saying?
But it's more than that. Let me just give you a few. Try
to mention these things. That is these special, specific,
unique ordinations of God. What about government? God has
ordained government. Romans chapter 13, it is absolutely
clear. And the powers that be are of
God. God puts them in power. He may
use your vote to do so. He may not use your vote to do
so. But God puts them in power. And what is the one thing, what
is the one thing that God tells us in Holy Scripture is government's
purpose? Do you remember what it is? To
punish evil doers. To establish the rule of law
so that we do not then become as wild beasts and a free for
all slaughter of one another. Ever complained about a government? Ever griped because somebody
got the election you didn't want to have the election? Ever rejoice
when somebody got it that you thought you ought to have it?
God puts them in office and God takes them out of office. To
rebel against the government is to rebel against the ordinance
of God. As a matter of fact, Paul calls
it resisting. You resist the government, you
resist the ordinance. I know this causes a plethora
of problems. I'm not going into those problems.
Ever rebel against circumstances? Ever speak evil about some circumstance? Of course we have. Ecclesiastes
chapter three though tells us every circumstance is of God. Every circumstance, there's a
time to kill. A time to kill. A time to make
a life. Circumstances, what about parents? Are they not special ordinations
of God? Even Paul, Paul wasn't no legalist.
But Paul mentions honor your mother and father. Obey them. This is good. This is good. Oh, God help us. How many of us have spoken against
parents? What about pastors? What about
pastors? My wife had one lady tell her
that, well, I don't have to hear anything from a man. If I get
something, I'll get it from God. And she was talking about Romans
10 when she said it. And Romans 10 says clearly that
God will use somebody with feet, because they're called beautiful
feet, to bring the gospel to men and women. What about Christ? ever speak against Christ. My
whole life for my first 22, 23, 24 years was nothing but rebellion
against Jesus Christ, Mason. And yet, I read in God's word
in Psalms chapter two, specifically verse 11 and 12, kiss the son. And it's not talking about walking
up and giving him a Judas kiss. Talk about bowing down at his
feet and kissing his feet. Kiss the son lest he be angry
and ye perish in the way. When his wrath is kindled, what?
But a little. But a little. When we do, speak
against. And we do, don't we? When we
do, speak against. And we do. Let us remember, government
may fail. Right now, governments may fail. Circumstances may overwhelm us. Parents and pastors may plunge
into apostasy. Right now. Sadly, we've seen
that happen. But Jesus Christ is consistent
toward us. Always. Listen to the 103rd Psalm. And you know it, but listen to
the 103rd Psalm. Let me read that. Psalm 103. Bless the Lord, O
my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth, look at that,
not just iniquities, that would be good. But it says, who forgiveth
all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases, even when one
kills you. No, especially when one kills
you. Because that's how we get to
go be with Christ. That's a healing, is it not?
I know we have a rough time thinking of it, and we sit here, I've
thought about this, especially with the events of the past three
or four weeks, and God taking one here and one there, and here
we are in this small group, but God's healed some of us. He's
taken them to glory. He's taken them to glory. Who
redeemeth thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with loving
kindness and tender mercies. who satisfy thy mouth with good
things so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles. The Lord executeth
righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. And that
don't mean that somebody give you a hard time and God's on
your side. Let's talk about oppressed down in here. Down in here. He made known his ways unto Moses,
his acts unto the children of Israel. The Lord is merciful
and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. He went up
from off that tabernacle, did he not? But he was still, Mason,
pretty close by. because Moses cried out for help
for Miriam, did he not? He will not always chide, neither
will he keep his anger forever. He, oh, here it is, look at it. He hath not dealt with us after
our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities, even when
he chastens us. that is not dealing with us after
our sins or rewarding us according to our iniquities. If he ever
did, we'd go to the lake of fire. We'd be banished from the presence
of all that will ever be considered as good. God's good to us. God's good
to us. For as the heaven is high above
the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. Somebody says, well, is that
reverential fear, or is that just being afraid? As Joe would
say, yes. I've heard some preachers try
to say it's reverential fear. It's both, it's all kinds of
fear. It's reverence, yet bow down,
kiss the sun, but also fear him who can destroy both soul and
body in hell. We love to take the edge off,
don't we? We love to take the edge off.
I do too. I'm not preaching down at preachers.
I know how difficult it is to stand here and then it be recorded
and you can listen to it and say, wow, I said that. As far as the east is from the
west, so far have they removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth
our frame. He remembereth that we are what?
We're just dust. We're just dust. So again I say,
governments may fail. Circumstances may overwhelm us.
Parent and pastor may plunge into apostasy. Yea, maybe even
spouse. or son or daughter, mother or
father, but Jesus Christ is consistent toward his people. When he moved
away, it was not in wrath, but it was in anger. But it was in
anger. Had it been wrath, Moses, Aaron,
Miriam, and the people of Israel would have never seen God in
the cloud again. Right? Right. All to have is
my rule of life, the grace of God shown here. And patience
with others. Patience with others. And to
be able to show that grace to the family. Again, let me read
it. And the Lord said unto Moses, if her father had but spit in
her face. That's just almost disgusting, right? But that's
what God's proving to Moses. If her daddy had just spit in
her face, she'd have put her out for seven days. Right? If he'd have showed some displeasure
in this child. He said, put her out for seven
days, but you don't go anywhere without her. Aren't you glad
for that? You ever felt, I mean, God, listen,
we don't, no, we don't walk by feelings, but bless God, we do
feel, don't we? Can you ever displease the Lord
and put you on the outside for a while? You just know you're
all alone. But ain't nobody going anywhere
without you. Not if you're one of God's. They ain't going nowhere
without you. Mason, they ain't. God's people
will go through together what they have to go through even
if it's 40 years of wilderness journey. Joshua and Caleb had to go through
it with everybody else. And Caleb was a faithful dog.
A man that feared God and believed God. He's ready to fight. As
God willing, we'll see. Joshua said, we'll have these
people for lunch. I think that may have been where that phrase
come. He said, there'll be bread to us. What's he said? We'll eat
them for lunch. Huh? But his kinfolk said, no, we're
going to kill you. Huh? We're going to kill you. all
but to have this patience, this compassion, this forgiveness
toward one another. And Miriam was shut out from
the camp seven days, and the people journeyed not. Mack, I
don't think they even took another step toward Paran. They parked
right where they were parked. And they stayed right there at
Haziroth and didn't move. until God says enough's enough.
It's enough. Move out. Move out. Doesn't that give you hope? But
it also, listen, don't fly in the face of God. Don't fly in the face of God.
God deals with us as with children in love, but that love can hurt. That love can hurt. And I guarantee
you this, when Aaron looked up at first and seeing Miriam leprous,
he thought, oh no, it's over with for her. And I just knowing
a little bit about what humanity is, he probably thought, I think
I'm probably next. They said the Hebrew, it kind
of lets us know Miriam was the instigator here, but let me tell
you, whether you're an instigator or just a conspirator, you're
still guilty when it comes to God. And that's me too. That's
me too. God doesn't have his levels like
men have their levels. Sin is sin against God. Whether
you're the instigator or a conspirator. They spoke against Moses. That
wasn't a thing to do. That wasn't a thing to do. Well,
after all, think about it though, we all have our Ethiopians, don't
we? Huh? Oh, maybe you ain't got
one right now, but you've had one. Huh? Yeah, you've had your
Ethiopians. I said Ethiopians. Moses just
had one. We got our Ethiopians. But don't
you know we loathe everybody else's Ethiopian? Singular. Yeah, we all have our Ethiopians,
and we loathe everybody else's Ethiopian. We run the yap about
everybody else's Ethiopian, except our own, because we could deal
with our Ethiopians. We're special, don't you know?
I've been doing this for a while. Been up and down, up and down,
and then the first thing we do is see a brother or sister, and
you start to do this. Now folks, that's what we do.
We ought not do it, but that's what we do. And we could be sitting,
talking, phone or in person, doesn't matter, with one another,
and the next thing you know, in the blink of an eye, we're
doing this. Are we not? Yes, Moses married
an Ethiopian. And again, the commentators want
to argue about whether that was right or wrong. It doesn't matter. They spoke
against Moses. God's special ordination. And any time we speak against
any special ordination of God, we're speaking against who? God. God. I'm gonna turn to one. See, if I tell you where to turn,
you're gonna know That's where I'm turning and what I'm going
to say before I get there, so I'm not going to give you that
advantage. The book of God says this, judge
not that ye be not judged. Now I realize this is used today. I realize that, and I do feel
I must say that in this venue. I know there are those that use
it and say just live and let live, it doesn't matter. Don't
ever point your finger at anything. Point your finger at all the
things. but be careful about pointing your finger at the people.
You hear what I'm saying? At the people. It might just
be a Miriam or an Aaron, and not the sons of Korah. Korah and the sons of Korah did
the same thing Aaron and Miriam did. Did they not? And we're told in the New Testament,
clearly indicated, these folks were apostate. They were reprobate. I am sure our brother and sister,
Miriam and Aaron, had convinced themselves of their own personal
glory. In this brief period of time, I don't know how long they
were doing the speaking against, But I'm sure that they had convinced
themselves of their glory, but God stopped it with rot and shame. Did he not? With rot and shame. But thank God he didn't stop
it with reprobation. He did with Korah. The earth
opened up and swallowed those folk. God willing, if he lets
us live that long, we'll look at that. Somebody says, that
don't sound fair. It's not about fairness. It's
justice and grace. And God can damn one man for
this sin and save another man in spite of the very same sin. That's called sovereign, free,
reigning grace. He takes of the one lump and
makes vessels unto honor and vessels unto dishonor. But never
think that God damns men just for damnation's sake. They are
fitted to destruction. Those who are destroyed of God
deserve to be destroyed of God. And so did I. And so did you. But he in grace and compassion
chose not to through Jesus Christ. Judge not that you be not judged,
for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged. And with
what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again. And
why beholdest thou the moat that is in thy brother's eye? That's
why I said, we'll look at somebody else's Ethiopian, and don't pay
no attention at all to our Ethiopians. Why don't we? Yeah, we could
have a whole closet full of Ethiopians, but we're gonna point out somebody
else's Ethiopian. Why, beholdest thou the mote
that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam
that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother,
let me pull out the mote that is in thine own eye? Behold,
a beam's in yours. You're not gonna be able to do
it right. You're not gonna be able to do it right. The beam,
the Ethiopians will get in the way all the time, all the time. Thou hypocrite, does God ever
say that to his people? Yeah, because that's what we
are. That's why it says flee from hypocrisy. Because we are
that. We are hypocrites. We'll say one thing out one side
of the mouth and say another thing out the other side of our
mouth. We'll justify ourselves in something and condemn somebody
else for the very same thing. Or less. Or less from the way
we look at it. I realize some preacher, this
ain't very happy, but if you're one of God's, you're not going
to be left behind. Now you can call that license
or whatever you want to, but Mason, that's just the way it
is. If you're one of God's, he ain't leaving you behind. He
ain't leaving you behind. Thou hypocrite, first cast out
the beam that is in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly
to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. What is the difference between
speaking against someone and trying to help someone in a fault? Have you ever thought about that?
What's the difference? I'm gonna try to give you two
things. One, I'll just give you the difference. Two, I'll show
you, illustrate it, God willing. When you think, when you suppose
that someone is overtaken in a fault or will be, even will
be overtaken in a fault. But you gotta be careful about
preemptive strikes. You understand? You gotta be
careful. So when I think they're going
down the wrong path, we'll look at that in a moment. Gotta be
careful. But here, how do I know I'm speaking,
I'm just speaking against someone or really trying to help someone?
Who did you broach the supposed fault to? Do you go to that person
and that person only, or do we run our yap to somebody else?
Well, did you hear what they said? Did you see what they did? Well, if you ain't talking to
them, all you're doing is being like me or him and her. Yeah, yeah. Folks, it's that
simple. Bring the subject up to anyone
other than the supposed offender. You're speaking against them.
You're not speaking trying to help them. And it's all shot
full of pride and self-righteousness. Let me try to illustrate this. You remember the Apostle Peter's
ordeal, don't you? Down there warming his hands
by the enemy's fire. He started out verbally with
this, well, you're a Galilean, your speech, the way you talk,
that's a red flag, you know this fella. I don't know him, I don't
know him. I can see me crouched behind
a rock up on the hill, and I see the shape of Peter down there
around that fire, all those enemies around Caiaphas' house, and I
can see me run back to the group, Mason, and say, Y'all ain't gonna
believe what I just heard Peter say. You get my drift now? Y'all ain't
gonna believe what I just, where I just seen Peter. Ever done
that? Of course we have. Of course
we have. Well, but Peter might get in
trouble. He was gonna get in trouble. Christ told him he would. Now what do you think would have
happened had you tried to stop it? Now think about that for
a while. I can't give you an answer. I
wouldn't suppose, I wouldn't suppose to even tell you try
to do it. Peter had something to learn. And God was gonna teach
him God's way. And you get in the way because
you think you're gonna make the best out of it? God may destroy
you, too. Oh, may our God be gracious to
us. He is. He is. He knows our frame, folks. He
knows better about what you've thought this very moment since
you've been here than you do yourself. And the same thing
goes to me. He knows Mason, sometimes I feel
we got so much sin, we still don't get it. Our motives are
so corrupted and twisted. It's easy to criticize another
man's license plate when you think yours is the top dog. You
ever look at somebody's license plate and say, well, that's stupid.
That's stupid. But you got West Virginia on
yours. You think that makes you something? Yeah, almost heaven, West Virginia,
yeah, right. That's a lie. Now folks, it's a lie, ain't
it? If heaven is like West Virginia, folks, we're all under deception.
And I like West Virginia. Told Moose the other day, we
were texting, I asked him about the storm. And he said he was
happy as a West Virginian on the first day of trout season.
I text back and said, or the first day of government checks.
And he said, I will use that one. Well, Moose is an old West
Virginian too. Oh God, he's gracious to us,
is he not? It hurts when somebody points
the finger at you. I know it does. I know it does, but I thank
God for the forgiveness of God's people. I'd have been cast out
and left behind long ago if we thought it was according to our
works and not God's free, sovereign mercy. Father, teach us these
things. In Christ's name I ask, amen.