THROUGH THE BIBLE - Numbers..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.

So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. And the Lord said to Moses, take all the chiefs of the people and hang them in the sun before the Lord, that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel. And Moses said to the judges of Israel, each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor. And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel while they were weeping in the entrance of the tent of meeting. When Phineas, the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman, through the belly.

Thus the plague of the people of Israel was stopped. Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were 24,000." And the Lord said to Moses, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy. Therefore say, Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, and it shall be to him and his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel." The name of the slain man of Israel who was killed with Midianite woman was Zimri, the son of Salu, chief of the father's house belonging to the Simeonites.

And the name of the Midian woman who was killed was Cosbi, the daughter of Zur, who was the tribal head of the father's house in Midian. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, harass the Midianites and strike them down, for they have harassed you with their wiles, with which they beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cosby, the daughter of the chief of Midian, their sister, who was killed on the day of the plague on account of Peor. Amen. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of the Lord remains forever. Well, brothers and sisters, we continue our journey through the Book of Numbers, and it's been a wonderful journey thus far for us and indeed for the people of Israel also.

They're in the final stages right now. They're in the final stages before going into the conquest into the promised land, the land that the Lord had promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They served their approximate 40 years in the wilderness due to all the unrighteousness of their fathers and their mothers who had been unfaithful to the Lord. And now they're camped in a place called River. That means cross the Jordan and you're in the land.

We know that Jericho is one of the first, or the first, of the cities that they take over when it is time. They can smell the promised land. They're on the cusp of receiving the promise that God had delivered to Father Abraham centuries ago. They're beaming with confidence right now. They're on a emotional high, on a spiritual high, because if you remember, they've just gone through three battles.

Three major battles, and from those three major battles, Yahweh had given them three major victories. You remember the battles, the Canaanites, and the king of Arad was one. And then you had the, the, the, the, the Bationites was the other, and then the Amorites as well. not because they were stronger, not because they were better battle-trained or they had better strategies than the rest. We know that's not the case.

Over and over again, we're told that Yahweh is their strength. That if they were to win in battle against a formidable enemy, and all these were formidable enemies, it's only and only because God of Israel is behind these people. That's their courage. That's their rock. That's the one who is their tower of refuge.

Yahweh. He's the one. And all while this was happening behind the scenes, we saw in chapters 22 through 24, the contents of the last three weeks of our study together, was something happening behind the scenes. The enemy had enlisted one of his own in Balaam and Balak. And there was a plot, a severe, a serious plot, to bring destruction to the people of Israel.

Now, this wasn't known to the people at this point in time. This was all happening behind the scenes. Balak, the king of Moab, was now fearful. The fear had struck his heart. Why?

Because he'd seen, or heard at least, among the battles, with the battles that they conquered these three nations, and they were neighboring nations, and Bailout was thinking, I'm next. I'm next. So he enlists the help of Bailout, and we know the story. We see in chapters 22 through 24 what would be the inevitable frustration of anyone, anyone coming face to face with the Almighty God. Anyone who tries to oppose Yahweh, the God of Israel, is going to be frustrated because his hand cannot be stayed, nor his will frustrated.

If God had Indeed, no one would stand in his way, nothing can stand in his way, not even this pagan Balaam, this diviner, this enchanter, the one who is known throughout the world to bless whom he wills and to curse whom he wills. When he comes under the mighty hand of Yahweh, he does what Yahweh says. There's no two ways about it. And so from the evil lips of Balaam, God, God Almighty, brings prophecies that will come to pass. Glorious prophecies, not curses against Israel, but indeed blessings against Israel, and absolutely frustrates and infuriates the king Balaam in the process.

But beloved, even though we know the text and we've been working our way through in the last three weeks, Chapter 24 is when that story comes to an end. Balaam is no longer remembered until chapter 31. That's for a reason. That's the chapter he dies in. But the last verse of chapter 24, even though it reads like this, then Balaam rose and went back to his place, and Balak also went to his way.

We know Balaam had just finished prophesying and blessing Israel and cursing the nations that are opposing God. We know more than that. There's some information that we're given in chapter 31. Our brother and I are surprised to know that information last week, if you remember. Because the information we're given in chapter 31 tells us that Balaam doesn't depart back to his homeland before he incites some serious evil.

He sows some seeds, some poisonous seeds, against the people of Israel. Or to use the scripture's terminology, treacherous advice. And he gives that advice to Balak, the king of Moab. According to verse 16 of chapter 31, we find out that it's actually Balaam who is the mastermind of the heinous sins recorded for us in the beginning of chapter 25. Balaam is the mastermind.

So what was the serious, horrible sins before us? Well, the scripture says it best. I'm just going to read it to you. Verse 1. While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab.

These, that is the daughters of Moab, invited, remember that word, invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. Did you get that? These are the people of God. These are the people that have been rescued from bondage in the land of Egypt under the tyrannical power of Pharaoh.

But not only were they rescued to the Lord God, the only God of the universe would give them freedom. Not only were they to be rescued and to experience the intimate fellowship and the relationship with the God of the universe who would make His the tabernacle setting, not only would they experience the providence and the love of God and His protection, not only would God reveal to His people His law, He made covenant with His people. And He gave them a law that reflects His righteous and His good character and He said to His people, this is how I expect you to live before me. Holiness is important before the Lord. And nothing unholy, nothing simple, nothing impure or unclean can dwell in the presence of God.

God gave them His law and these people said, we will do everything that you have commanded of us. We will do it. That was their intention at least at that point in time. And they also knew what would happen or the consequences of transgressing the law of God. We've seen the punishments.

They've experienced the punishments and the plagues of God. We've seen so many of them. Beloved, their parents' bodies are lying across all places in the wilderness as a testimony of the ones who stand against God and violate His law. God's law is not optional. It's mandatory.

Yet before the eyes of Yahweh, in chapter 25, once again we see in the heart of these people rank disobedience. They give in to seduction of the Moabites, women as per the advice of men. On a spiritual high, they've just gone through three massive victories Knowing full well it wasn't by the might of their own power, but God behind them who gave them the victories over these land, devoting everything to destruction and being given the land by God. And yet, you go from that emotional and spiritual high into great sin and clear opposition to the law of God. What a warning it is to us.

You know, when Paul recites this occasion in the New Testament, in 1 Corinthians 10, in that passage, he says these words that we have repeated from this pulpit so many times. And he says that you need to be careful, because if you think you stand, lest, lest you fall. You see, the people of God, and I think we experience this ourselves as well, we think we can stand most when we're on this high. And that's when we need to take heed, because if our eyes come off the living God and we start to rely on our own strength and our own ability, then we will fall. We will fall.

And in doing so, the activities that these people engaged in were absolutely horrendous. They knew that it was against God's word and against God's law to engage in acts of adultery. They knew that very well. But beyond that, there's something more sinister going on in this passage. And they were warned to this even previously in Exodus chapter 34.

Let me read to you from verse 11 how they were warned. God speaking. Observe what I have commanded you this day. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hibbites, the Jebusites. Take care.

Lest you make covenant with these inhabitants of the land that you will go, lest it become a snare in your midst. You shall tear down their altars, and break their pillars, and cut down their asherim. Destroy their pagan gods is what God is saying. For you shall worship no other God, for the Lord whose name is Jealous is a jealous God. In other words, He won't give what belongs to him to anyone else.

He's not envious. He's not going for something that doesn't belong to him. He's a jealous God because everything belongs to him and he's not going to give it away. The honor, the glory, the exaltation. He's not going to give that away to another, nor should his people.

He goes on, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and you are invited. There's that word again. It's the same word that we have in verse 25, in chapter 25, and he says, you eat of his sacrifice, and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods, and here it is, and make your sons whore after their gods. The warring is not only a physical one, it's a prostitution of the heart. The heart belongs to Yahweh.

You give your heart to pleasure from another false deity, and now you're whoring after that false deity. They fell. They were warned. And they fell in the trap of Balaam. God wasn't going to curse his people simply because Balaam wanted think he is, Balaam?

This is the God of the universe. He's not going to listen to your pagan lips, no matter who you entice, no matter who you enlist on your side. However, Balaam knew this much, and we know because he added destruction on the nations that opposed God, at least this much Balaam knew that if you sin against this God, if you sin against this God of Israel, then he has to punish you. So what does Balaam do? He tells Balaam, get some of your Moabite and get them to entice the men of Israel.

And when they do, and they sin against Moabite, Balaam needs to punish unrighteousness. Agultery is a heinous sin before the Lord, don't get me wrong, but this is worse. Verse 2, they ate and bowed down to their gods, so Israel yoked himself to Baal. Peor was the mountain, it's a place. And the Baal as we know is often, the Bible brings up that word Baal, which means Lord or God.

It's the pagan local deity of the Moabites and the Midianites were sharing and sacrificing to the same deity. False deity. And the people of Israel, we're told here, they yoked themselves. They yoked themselves to this false god. They bent their knee to another.

Robert Joachim themselves literally means joining to. Joining to. Joining their hearts and their souls and their affection to a manifestation of Satan. Because if it's not from God, it is of whom? It's of Satan, it's of the enemy.

The sexual immorality, the appeal to the lust of the eyes of the men who fell from Israel, the appeal to the lust of the flesh of these men in Israel was debate. Pagan Baal worship, beloved, almost always includes this sort of filth. Pagan worship in general includes all sorts of filth. And if we were to look at what's involved in pagan Baal worship, well, all I can say is the detail's inappropriate for me to share from this pulpit. It's disgusting.

It's horrific. And the heart of God's people was drawn away from the only true God, and it was drawn by the passions and the lust of the flesh. Ultimately, they weren't satisfied anymore. Commandment number one, thou shalt have no other gods before me, broken. Broken.

God's glory, God's honor, trampled underfoot by the people who are called by his name, and we're told, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. Beloved, sin demands punishment. God must, must repay all transgressions. against his holy name with a proper reckoning, because he is a just God. So Moses was told by God to hang the chiefs of the tribes as an example before the Lord, and that would be an example for all to see.

Their leaders, they're the ones responsible for their people. They bear responsibility for allowing what took place. And Moses also, we're told, he gathers the judges and the authorities to enact the death penalty, and he says, do this, go and kill everyone who's yoked themselves to Baal. Everyone who's yoked their height, everyone who's bent their knee, everyone who's shown allegiance to anyone other than God, someone who's come before Baal and worshipped. But behind the scenes, we also know from verse eight and from verse nine, that the Lord directly dealt with the people as well, because we're told he sent a plague.

A plague, now we don't know what the plague was, we don't know, but we know one thing for sure, it was lethal, lethal enough to kill some 24,000 people. It's a serious plague. It's a serious crime against God. This is a serious crime against His holiness. A serious crime against the righteousness of the only God of the universe.

And some among these people had come to recognize the seriousness of the crime. It seems they were peace to the heart. It seems like they had a sorrow that was a godly sorrow that leads to repentance because there's weeping that's taking place. This pleading for forgiveness at the entrance of the tabernacle. Intense sorrow.

And then, and then you get this. It's incredible. This audacious and frankly foolish young man, called Zimri, is the son of a Simeonite chief. See, it wasn't a riffraff. This guy knew what he was doing.

He strolls right before them all, and where were they again? They were before the tabernacle of the Lord. No, they were before the tent, the entrance of the tent of me, before Yahweh. He strolls right before them with a Midianite woman, probably around his arms, and he takes her to his family, into his tent, to do the unthinkable with her in front of everyone. No regard for Yahweh.

No regard for the place of the manifest presence of God or the God who sees all and knows all. Beloved, no regard for the chief men who were condemned to death by hanging because of these vicious and violent or horrible sins. And his father may have been very likely to be one of those chiefs. No regard for the thousands of people falling. because of the plague that God had sent.

No regard, no regard, no regard for the weeping and the wailing before the Lord for forgiveness from his fellow people. His only concern was what? His only concern was one thing, satisfying the sinful passions of the flesh at all costs. Can it be, can it be that sin is so brazen, Can it be that one can be so foolish and so blind in his or her sin? A lot of yes.

Allow the heart to grow cold towards God and you too could end up doing the unthinkable. That's why we have to look back as an example of instruction for our lives. Because if our eyes come off our Lord, our Saviour, the one in whom we live and breathe and have our being, the one whose life is the one empowering our life unto righteousness, we take our eyes off Christ and we will begin, step by step, to go into unrighteousness and one day to the unthinkable. So this young man does this, he walks before these people with no respect for anyone. And then we introduce to Phineas.

It's the second time in the Bible that name comes up. The first time was back in Exodus chapter 6. But that was a genealogy. First time we hear about Phineas as far as his character is concerned, don't get this Phineas mixed up with the other Phineas in the Bible. The other Phineas in the Bible, Eli, the evil son of Eli, if you remember in Samuel, that was Phineas also.

He would be the grand, grand, grand, grand, grand, grand nephew of this Phineas. No, this Phineas was a man, according to what we have before us, who was jealous with the jealousy of God. We know this. He had righteous zeal, we're told. And his first action was to take a spear to the tent where Zimri and Cosby, which is the name of the Midianite woman that Zimri was with, and what does he do?

He plunges the spear into both of them, seemingly as they engage in their act of unrighteousness. Beloved, irrespective of any of our opinions about his actions, They were approved by God. And they were rewarded with, we're told, a covenant of peace and perpetual priesthood. In fact, we're told in verse 8 that his actions, it was the actions of Phineas, his actions where he plunged that spear into the heart of the two wicked people, it was those actions that stopped the plague from continuing. 24,000 had perished already, and it would have been a lot worse had Phineas not got that spear and done what he did.

As difficult as it is for us to conceive these truths. So as we can see, Phineas didn't have any malice in his heart. He didn't have any bitterness in his heart. He didn't have any animosity against these individuals. We don't even know if he even knew them.

Remember, we're talking one, maybe two million strong at the moment, the Israelites. But we do know this. He was jealous for the holiness of God. This Phineas was jealous with the jealousy of God. If it belongs to God, Phineas didn't want anyone else to take it and defile it.

And everyone before him belongs to God. Their allegiance, their hearts, their affections, all of it belongs to God. And what he saw was a brazen, brazen act of unrighteousness and wickedness, heinous sin. And he could not but look upon it. He had to act.

He knows about the holiness of God. He knows about the punishment of God. He knows about the glory of God that is given to no other. And the disposition of God against anyone who violates His word. He remembers His uncles.

You remember His uncles, Nadab and Abihu? You remember what the Lord did to His uncles back in Leviticus chapter 10? He struck them, fire came down from heaven. You know what God said after that happened? This is what he said.

Among those who are near me, the Lord says, I will be sanctified. I will be made holy. And then he continues, and before all the people, I will be glorified. Linnaeus was concerned first and foremost with the glory of God. with the honor of God, with the holiness of God.

And he was prepared to act accordingly by lunging the spirit to the wicked sinners that are before him, because such filth doesn't belong among the people of God. Such filth doesn't belong before the eyes of God. And God was pleased that Phineas would be the instrument that he uses. to dish out the punishment on this rank disobedience on behalf of the people. And God accepted what Phinehas did.

In fact, we're told in verse 13 that he accepted it as an atonement. That's hard for us to understand. There's not only atonement. An animal sacrifice, a pure and holy and righteous. An animal without spot or blemish.

But in this case, he says that God was pleased because he was a man who was jealous after God's own heart, and he offered that atonement, and God withheld his judgment. Seems to have made an exception because Phineas was dealing with the recompense of sin and unrighteousness. The soul that sins shall rot, shall die. He was almost, you could say, working and dealing as a Levite interceding on behalf of the people in a priestly way to deal with the rank unrighteousness before him. Beloved, human lives were in the mix and that's why it makes it difficult for us too.

to understand how this all works. We're not called to go to javelins and spear people for unrighteousness. That's certainly not what we do, but there is a clear message, and the message of God to his covenant people is this, when dealing with sin, have no mercy. That means you and I, when dealing with sin, We ought to have no mercy. If there's sin, we need to deal with sin.

And beloved, that even means with the sin of others. Again, we don't take judgments, but we do it biblically. If there are sins that we know of in the church, then we do it biblically. And that is Matthew 18. We come to our brother and we say, brother, in love and in gentleness, in gentleness, you need to know, I need to make you aware.

because you may have sinned before the Almighty God, and that sin requires judgment. That is the loving thing to do. Beloved, have no mercy on sin. Phineas knew this principle, it seems. He had a heart of jealousy for God.

If only Adam understood that principle. If only he had that sort of seal for the righteousness of God. If only he plunged a spear into the head of the serpent who was trying to deceive his wife. That was his responsibility. But Adam failed dismally.

He was supposed to uphold the glory of God and the honor of God in the universe, among all the things that God had created. Adam was the vice-regent under God, and he was meant to keep things pure and holy and submitted to the God of the universe. But he failed. Phineas was prepared and he did act on behalf of the people of God to preserve the holiness of the camp and to deal with sin in hope that God would withhold his wrath from the people and God did listen and he withheld the wrath from the people. And Phineas will actually go on as we move on in chapter 31 we will see he'll also lead an army and he will attack the Midianites as well as was commanded in this chapter before us in verses 16 and 17.

That's one or two incidents that Phineas will deal with. But my question to you is, what about the rest? What about Israel's sins to come? What about the deuces of sins to come? What about them?

Who will hold back the fury of God's anger against disobedience among his people? You see, the plague was stopped, and the problem was dealt with for now, but what about God's eternal wrath upon unrighteousness? What about God's anger upon sin that deserves eternal punishment? Whose zeal will stop the wrath of God being manifest upon his people when we're talking about eternal wrath? Wilfinius?

No. No. Why? Because Phineas is a sinner. And he needs atonement for his own sin.

Phineas' zeal and his jealousy in regards to God's eternal wrath won't cut it. Won't cut it. So who will? Who will be the one who takes care of the sin problem? Who is the one who will stand on behalf of God's people and deal with the sin problem?

Who is the one who is eternally zealous for the God of the universe? Who is jealous? Who's concerned first and honor of God and He will not take that anyone would trample the glory of God underfoot. Who is the one who came into this world and said that my will is to do will of the Father? My food is to do the will of the Father.

Who is the one who has a zeal for the Father and the righteousness of God? Who is the one who cannot bear the people, sinful, wretched, unrighteous people? To bring impurity or uncleanliness to God. Whether it's His house. John chapter 2.

Do you remember that? Remember how Jesus went into the temple? And there was money changes. And the disciples later on remembered what was written in Psalm 69. That a zeal for the zeal for my Father's house consumed them.

If you think that Phineas has a righteous zeal, a righteous jealousy for God. Then what does Jesus have? He has an immeasurable, infinite zeal and righteousness for the holiness and the goodness and the honor and the glory of God. And he knows that sin, the sin of his people, must be dealt with because that sin is an infinite offense before a holy God. And so what does Jesus do about that?

He doesn't get a spear and plunge it into another. Like Phidias, as righteous as that was and as commendable as that was, no, Jesus knows the only way you can deal with the sin problem eternally is that the righteous one would live a perfect life, righteous life, and then lay down his life for those people. Jesus willingly laid down his life, hung on that cross, shed his blood, allowed his spirit to be plunged into him. in order for the righteousness of God to be satisfied, the justice of God to be satisfied, in order for His people to be able to stand before a good and holy God, and not destroyed under His wrath of all unrighteousness. Why?

Because He will be the one. Phineas is an example. He is pointing to something. He's pointing to the once and for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But once and for all, the Son of God in flesh takes care of the sin column eternally.

Our eyes don't go for this. Our eyes go to Jesus Christ who has dealt with the sin column once and for all.