We return this evening to Moses and what I call the alternative 10 plagues. Of course, the 10 plagues that I mentioned, of course, you'll find in Exodus and you can read about that there. But by plagues, it kind of meant trials and problems and difficulties that Moses, as a leader, had. And there's 10 altogether. We got through four this morning. One was people complained and grumbled. Secondly, there was stress and the pressure of leadership. Thirdly, jealousy. And fourthly, discouragement.

And I just ended this morning with Psalm 42.5.

With that verse, while thou cast down on my soul, and while thou disquieted in me, hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. And I said, you know, and often we can be cast down as the psalmist was, but he sort of gave himself, didn't he, a bit of a pep talk, a talking to. While you cast down, while you disquieted in me, This is the answer, hope thou in God. And sometimes we worry and we should say, no, hope in God, trust in the Lord.

Easier perhaps said than done, but that's perhaps the kind of pep talk that we need to sort of give ourselves. But with these other points, there is a bit of a sort of repetition a little bit. And you probably gathered that from reading Numbers 20. It was very similar sort of sentiments to what we read this morning, the people moaning and groaning. But we get to that a bit later. But the fifth point, is in Numbers 16. Numbers 16 and verses 1, 2, 3.

Now Korah, the son of Ishar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Daphin and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, And on the son of Peleph, 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.

So as I say, there is sort of similarities to points I made this morning, but here we have like a challenge to leadership. And there is sort of jealousy, which I kind of mentioned as well this morning. There's a challenge against God verse 11, for which cause both thou and all thy company are gathered together against the Lord. And what is Aaron, the Jemima, against him? So there is a challenge against God. And then we have sort of Korah sort of attacked on religious authorities, attacking Aaron.

In other words, sort of saying, why just the tribe of Levi? Why not other tribes for the priestly office? But we know that was ordained by the Lord for the tribe of Levi. He said, is not everyone holy? And then we have David and Abiram, sort of more of an attack on a political side. political authority, sort of attacking Moses again of the tribe of Levi, because they were of the tribe of Reuben. And that was the firstborn tribe. And so well, you know, as the firstborn tribe, you know, we should be getting priority.

And so there are sort of these double attacks. And it reminds me of Nehemiah, where there was a doubled, barrelled attack there on Nehemiah from Sambalat and Tobiah. And I think I might have mentioned that when I did Nehemiah some months ago. But much of this 16th chapter again speaks of God vindicating his servant. So as I say, it's sort of similar themes a bit to this morning in the judgment of the rebellious people. And we have in chapter 17 with the ground swallowing up Korah and his gang. And also Aaron's rod budding, that's in the 17th chapter. And then also the glory of the Lord appearing, which is in verse 42 of Numbers 16.

The ground swallowing up is an expression, isn't it? That's often used today. You know, something sort of embarrassing happens and you just want the ground to swallow you up, you know, because you don't know where to put yourself. You know, you've made a boo-boo and it's, It's quite embarrassing and you just want the ground to swallow you up. So I guess that comes from that verse.

But then chapters 18 and 19 contain, look at those, but they contain renewed regulations and the directions given confirm the authority of Aaron and the priesthood and reaffirm the service of the Levites in the sanctuary. So that was the issue. Why is it just the Levites? Why is it just the tribe of Levi? And God, again, sort of vindicating his servants.

And we read about that vindication in chapters 18, and 19, which we won't look at, of course, but you can read it at your leisure. So a challenge to leadership, and I say it can involve jealousy, you know, why, why you are not me sort of thing. And that was something that Moses faced. But then the sixth, plague or trial, is in Numbers 20 and verse 1, which we read the first verse of that chapter that we read.

Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month. And the people abode in Kadesh. And Miriam died there and was buried there. So death, the death of Miriam, Moses' sister. Not a lot is said about that, but obviously he was grieved at the loss of his sister.

And so it is, isn't it? We face the loss of loved ones. And, you know, and it's a real loss, particularly if they're very close. or if it suddenly happens as well. And we all experience death and we all deal, don't we, with grief in a different way. There's no formula. This is how you deal with grief. This is how you deal with death. No, we're all different. But it comes, doesn't it, to us all.

So the loss indeed of close loved ones is hard, isn't it, for anyone? Christians as well. You know, it's hard for Christians. You know, you sort of think those who have no hope, it must be harder for them than for Christians. And of course, if the one If the one who has died is a Christian, then we're happy that they've gone to be with the Lord.

But again, it's hard, isn't it, if we aren't sure of their standing before the Lord. And then, seventhly, we have in Numbers 20, and from verse two and onwards, we have really a further test of patience as people continued complaining. So, as I say, that sort of theme running through, isn't it, these chapters? And so it is. People complaining, you know, they don't just do it once, you know, they carry on doing it. And that's always been the way, isn't it?

And really Moses and Aaron had reached the end of their tether. And we read that in a moment of impatience and disobedience, they forfeited their own right to enter Canaan. And we sort of read, didn't we about that? Like from verse nine of Numbers 20, Moses took the rod from before the Lord as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock. And he said unto them, hear now ye rebels, must we fetch you water out of this rock? So really at the end of the Tabitha, they've kind of lost patience. And it's as though, well, it's, It's us that gives you the water, not the Lord. You know, taking their eyes off of the Lord. Must we fetch you water out of this rock?

And Moses lifted up his hand and with his rod he was told to speak to it. But he smoked the rock twice. The water came out abundantly. The congregation drank. such as the mercy and the grace of God, and their beasts also. But then he forfeited. The Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, because ye believe me not, to sanctify me in your eyes, the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them." So they really were going to then forfeit entering the promised land.

Of course, before Moses struck the rock at Rephidim, as he was then told to strike it, and that was fine. But here he was told to speak to it, but struck it. And often we, and of course the rock is a symbol, isn't it, of the Lord Jesus Christ. I think this is where it's very sort of serious, isn't it? Because the Lord Jesus Christ was only to be struck once. He was only to die once. When the Lord comes again, he's not going to die again on a cross. No, that's a finished work done once. and for all. So we see, if we sort of look at it as a symbol of the Lord Jesus Christ, we see the seriousness of what Moses in his impatience and his just being at the end, at his wits end, did.

So Moses would not enter the Promised Land, and really it speaks to us too of the seriousness of sin, isn't it? Remember a preacher once saying, you know, there's no such thing as a little sin. You know, sort of little white lies and things like that. There's no such thing as a little sin. God takes sin very seriously.

But the mercy is that the Lord's people would enter later on through Joshua, the promised land. But I think there's also a lesson there for us that Moses really kind of represented the law. And it's the law that can't get us into heaven. We can't keep the law of God 100% we can't, can we? We can't, we fail. So it won't go to heaven by keeping the law. Well, we go to heaven through the one who could keep the law, the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, Joshua, of course, again, Joshua is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Yes, we can't. It doesn't mean that we don't try and keep any laws. No, we are. We are the Lord's people. May he help us to keep, to be obedient to God's law and the laws of the land where they're right. But we mustn't rely on keeping the law to get us to heaven. We rely, don't we? upon the Lord Jesus who kept the law perfectly and who suffered and died in our place for our sins. Because even if we could keep 99.99% of the law, it still would disqualify us, wouldn't it, from going to heaven.

Then we move on eighthly, again in Numbers 20, 14 to 21. And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travel that hath befallen us, how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time, and the Egyptians vexed us and our fathers. And when we cried unto the Lord, he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and hath brought us forth out of Egypt. And behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border. Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country.

We will not pass through the fields or through the vineyards, neither will we drink the water of the wells. We will go by the king's highway. We will not turn to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed thy borders.' And Elam said unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword. And the children of Israel said unto him, We will go by the highway, and if I and my cattle drink of thy water, then I will pay for it. I will only, without doing anything else, go through on my feet. And he said, Thou shalt not go through.

And Edom came out against him with much people and with a strong hand. Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border, wherefore Israel turned away from him. So you might sort of say, well, things in the beginning were worse for poor old Moses. And perhaps my eighth point, eighth word is refusal. Refusal. And we see that here.

There have been a great number of people, perhaps about two million people by now, And the easiest passage was by the king's highway. But there was a refusal, a very adamant refusal by the king of Edom, which sort of relates to Esau. And if you look in chapter 21, again, there's a refusal to pass through Sion from verse 21. And Israel sent messengers unto Sion, king of the Amorites, saying, Let me pass through thy land. We will not turn into the fields or into the vineyards. We will not drink of the waters of the well, but we will go along by the king's highway until we be past thy border. And Sion would not suffer Israel to pass through his border.

So you see, don't we? We see the repeat of a lot of things in these chapters. And here we have refusal. But thinking about sort of Edom or Esau, of course, his twin brother was Jacob. We have Jacob and Esau. And really, Edom, or Esau, represents the flesh, compared to Jacob representing the spirit. And that speaks to us of two natures that we have.

The old nature remains in us, Even as believers, we're not suddenly converted and we suddenly just have a new nature, but we still got the old nature remaining. It's not reigning, but it's remaining in us. And that old nature remains in us and buffets us through life.

Galatians 5, 17, for the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary the one to the other so that he cannot do the things that he would. And the classic example is Romans 7 with Paul as a believer. There, the struggle that he has. and said, well, the good that I would, I'm not doing, and the evil that I wouldn't do, that is what I'm doing. And that we read in Romans 7 of a believer saying that, not a non-believer, but a believer saying that.

So there is that sort of thing. As I said, the title was like refusal. And we have, don't we, in our lives, often refusals. We have disappointments in life. We can be refused things. Just this was a disappointment, you know, would have been easier to go through this part instead of having to go around the houses sort of thing. And we are familiar, aren't we, in life with being refused things or being denied things. But as one said, our disappointments are his appointments.

And maybe perhaps with employment, you know, that's perhaps a classic example to be refused a job. You haven't got the experience and that's sort of like, you know, so well, how can I get experience unless you give me experience? And so we know that, don't we?

But if our hope is in God and we know that God is sovereign, and I know that when I was younger, I wanted to do really, I loved geography. But I failed it at A-level. In fact, I failed it twice at A-level, just to emphasize that I wasn't really meant to do geography, but I wanted to do something with geography when I grew up.

But it's as though the Lord said, no, you're not going to do that. I have something better in store for you. You're good with numbers, excuse the pun in the reading, and so that's how the Lord worked. So, you know, we must consider that often our disappointments are His appointments. and that his will, the Lord's will is best for our lives, whatever that may be. We don't always know God's will. It's not always easy, is it, to be sure of God's will, but may he help us to know what his will is.

And then ninthly, we have Again in Numbers 20 and verse 29, right at the end, when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron 30 days, even all the house of Israel. So again, we have death, this time of Aaron. Perhaps a state mourning for Aaron. and is mourned for Aaron 30 days, a whole sort of month. I say bereavement is a trial. Not only was Aaron Moses' brother, but he was sort of his right-hand man as well.

And that can be hard, can't we, when perhaps we not only lose somebody perhaps who is very close to us, but is also very useful to us. Somebody who sort of cares for us or has really been an inspiration to us or really helped us so much to lose that person. maybe through death or through their inability to be able to carry on to help. But of course, nobody is indispensable. And sometimes perhaps in a church fellowship, somebody has perhaps been a pastor for many years, and you sort of think, when he retires, whatever, what's going to happen?

But I've seen in a number of cases, well, actually, no, the church has moved on. They have a new pastor, or if they haven't got a new pastor, they have able men to preach. After all, it's the Lord who will build his church. It's his church, the Lord's church. It's not that person's church, but it is the Lord's church. He will build his church. And we have, don't we, a living saviour. And we have one who ever lives to intercede. And he intercedes at God's right hand, talking about right hand man. Will Christ ever live to intercede at God's right hand for his people as Hebrews 7, 24 says. And finally, in numbers, the final point in Numbers 21 that I kind of just referred to, but actually earlier in that chapter, verses 4 to 6.

They journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to compass the land of Edom, and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God and against Moses. Wherefore have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? We've heard it all before. You know, it's sort of like, it's just the same thing, same talk all the time. For there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loatheth this light bread.

And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and much people of Israel died. So there's more grumbling. As I say, that's sort of the tenth problem, kind of like, it's like about the first problem, grumbling. The first and the last problem, plagues have been grumbling. And here we have the Lord judging in fiery serpents.

But Moses, as a great leader, a godly leader, he was, he interceded, as he did in Numbers 14 too, when the people rebelled then. And we see something of the mercy of God in the brazen serpent. Because if we sort of read Verse 7 of Numbers 21. Therefore the people came to Moses and said, we have sinned, good that they acknowledge that, for we have spoken against the Lord and against thee. Pray unto the Lord that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent and set it upon a pole, and it shall come to pass that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, put it on upon a pole, and it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

So we see something of the grace and the mercy and patience of God with these people who just kept grumbling and kept complaining of God and their leaders. And yet we see, don't we, the wonderful grace and mercy of God. And so in our lives, too, isn't it? We see, you know, despite our sin, you know, the mercy of God.

And we will read of the Lord's people in the Children of Israel, Deuteronomy 7, 7. The Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you because you were more in number than any people, for you were the fewest of all people. but also we read in Deuteronomy 9 about people being stiff-necked. Speak not thou in thine heart after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land, but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee, not for thy righteousness or for the uprightness of thine heart to self go to possess their land, but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may Perform the word which the Lord swear unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understand, therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness. We think of ourselves. We have no righteousness. They're filthy rags. For thou art a stiff-necked people. So it's not because we're righteous.

And all numbers, you know, we can get obsessed, can't we, easily with numbers. But the main thing is, isn't it, is that we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. And there will be a great number of the lords in heaven. You know, sometimes we look, you know, there's not, there's not many of us. Sometimes we can get, as I say, we can get a bit obsessed with numbers or lack of numbers. But there's a great number that the Lord has chosen before ever the world was founded and saved in time.

But of course, our, let's not rely on our righteousness, but the righteousness and the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's key, isn't it? That's important, not our righteousness. There is filth through rags. I think they're described, I think sometimes at one version about prize ropes of righteousness. It's almost that we take pride in our righteousnesses, but they are filthy rags.

But no, may we be clothed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, have that robe upon us and are trusting in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. and know our sins are forgiven, that we have peace with God, and that it's all of the mercy and grace of God. And as we've seen throughout Numbers and the Lord's dealing with his people there, you know, great mercy and great grace, when they certainly didn't deserve it. I trust that these thoughts will be of some blessing to us and there's more that could be said obviously of this great man of Moses that God greatly used and I trust there are lessons not just for leaders but for us all there in these chapters.

Amen. Let's sing our final hymn from Hymns for Worship number 176. 176. Abide with me, fast falls the even tide, the darkness deepens, Lord with me abide, when other helpers fail and comforts flee, help of the helpless, O abide with me. Hymns for Worship 176, tune 758. you The darkness deepens, not worth the abide. Help us, Lord, and comforts bring. Help of the helpless, Lord, abide.

With joy's glad hymns now we pass away. O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of ♪ Spoons every passing year ♪ ♪ What have thy ways done ♪ ♪ Or attempted o'er? ♪ ♪ Who by thyself ♪ ♪ All thy guidance taken be? ♪ As the child above the earth weeps. ♪ Where heroes fall, where they are turned to dust ♪ ♪ Heroes have no weight, and tears no bitter dust ♪ ♪ Where Christus stood, where Christus died ♪ ♪ The grain of victory ♪ ♪ I triumph still with thee ♪ ♪ Abide with me ♪ ♪ Near thee, my soul ♪ ♪ Behold thy close deguise ♪ ♪ Each of thy heroes ♪ ♪ Lightly to the skies ♪ ♪ And morning breaks ♪ ♪ Let us in shadows flee ♪ ♪ In life and death alone ♪ ♪ Have light with you ♪ Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.