Korah (Part 1)

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Avendrop. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the Scriptures verse-by-verse with No Compromise.

The Danger of Small Sins Spoiling Good Things

I was talking to my daughter yesterday in the car and I was describing to her something that is maybe not the most fun thing to talk about but is a very good teaching tool. Sometimes little things can mess up really good things.

You can have a lot of good and something little can really mess you up. When I was a kid, I remember to this day, I was eating a Reese's peanut butter cup. To me, that's a good thing. And it was a mini one.

Usually the big ones you bite in half, but for some reason I bit this small one in half. And I just love the peanut butter. I love the chocolate. Somebody got peanut butter in my chocolate, you got chocolate in my peanut butter for you older folks.

I took a bite of that little peanut butter cup and for whatever reason, I just looked and there was the worm just looking right at me. I figured, well, it's protein, this ain't the rest. And within the same year, I was eating a Hostess kind of Twinkie type of deal, things that my mother in Nebraska would give me for breakfast.

It wasn't supposed to be something hard in there and I was biting it and I thought, something's in here that's not supposed to be in there. So I spit it out and it was a big fingernail. I said to my daughter, I'll have everyone's attention with my introduction.

Something so good spoiled by something so little, it was a good thing, but one little thing can cause the problem. And in our passage today, this is not a rebuke because I don't think this is happening, but it'll be good preventative maintenance.

The sin of complaining in a local church can destroy it. So many good things can be going on, evangelism and ministry and service and fellowship and one another's. It's like the peanut butter, it's like the chocolate.

And then over here, you have the little worm of complaining, dissatisfaction. It can be a really big problem. Yesterday, I was watching a businessman talk about business and he said this, he said, if somebody is in your organization and they complain and they grumble and they're divisive, you fire them immediately.

Why? Because they affect everyone. They set the tone. One or two people who complain, who murmur, who grumble can affect everyone. Well, that's probably good advice if you're in a business, but if we're in a church, it's hard to fire people like you.

I don't mean that. I don't mean grumbling kind of people like you, but this is a volunteer deal. God has, in one sense, we're here voluntarily. In the bigger sense, of course, God recruited us and that's involuntarily.

But the way to appeal to those caught in the sin of complaining and grumbling is to appeal to you, if this is you, of course, we all struggle with it, based on who Jesus is and what he's done, and then you apply the word of God, driven by the spirit, to then make you say to yourself, I ought not to do that anymore.

That is, in fact, a sin, not necessarily against other people or leadership, but against the God who bought me. Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. And so let's turn our Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, and we're coming to a passage that I probably wouldn't normally preach, but since we're going verse by verse, we have to preach it all.

Paul is preaching to the church of Corinth, and they were messed up. I don't think our church is a Corinthian church. There are carnal people here, we all act carnally at times, we have immature people here, but we have a lot of dear saints who serve and who are growing and are maturing.

I sat in my office this morning, my study, and we have about 18 men there in discipleship reading through this book, talking about the sovereignty and salvation of God. This is a pastor's dream church.

And so even though Paul is laying the wood to the church of Corinth, we still want to look at it, but this is, I'm not trying to lay the wood to you today. I'm not trying to say you're a bunch of Corinthians, and everybody here has got the problem of complaining.

I don't think that's true at all. But in the midst of going to two services, in the midst of buying land, in the midst of having more people here, and we're crowded, there's not enough room, and the gravel in the parking lot and all these things, it gives us a possibility at least that we could complain.

And the passage today, here's what the passage is, and so I preach it as they come. The passage today talks about this, are you ready? Don't complain about the leaders, spiritual leaders, God has given you.

You say, that's so self-serving, why don't you just preach a sermon on how to get a raise? Okay, maybe I will. If it's the next verse, I'll do it. Paul is talking to the Corinthians, and you know with a pastoral heart, he loves them, and he's ministered to them, and he wants to do everything he can to tell them, look at, this is how you respond in the light of a God who made reconciliation, made you reconcile to God.

A God who forgave you all your sins, and he wants them to follow his lead. Yet they don't like it, particularly, well, there's nothing wrong with going to a pagan temple and eating the food, because the food doesn't have an idol in it, so what's going on?

And they're pushing against Paul's leadership, and they're complaining. And Paul's gonna take them to a passage today, just like we did the last three weeks, where we go to an Old Testament passage, and Paul tries to teach them, listen, this is a big deal.

Complaining is a big sin, and when you complain about the weather, you complain about your spouse, you complain about your kids, you complain about other people in the church, or specifically, in this passage today, you complain about the leaders who, by the way, are sinful and frail and fallible.

When you complain about God's ordained leaders, get this, you are complaining about God. God, you could have given me better leaders. Could have given me more wise leaders. You could be saying this to yourself, if it was God's eternal plan, we could have had John MacArthur as a pastor.

We could have had R .C. Sproul as a pastor. We could have had James Boyce as a pastor, and we've got Abendroth. You could be thinking that way. Those of you who are smiling are thinking that way. We could have Charles Spurgeon.

Don't you know better, God? You're supposed to be good and wise and all-knowing, and we got a Nebraska hick. That's what we got. Eating Twinkies for breakfast kind of guy. So this whole thing today, I want to make sure you understand.

I personally, and I know I can speak for the elders, we don't say to ourselves, we got a bunch of complainers. 15 years ago, 13 years ago, we had a lot of complainers. I actually preached a sermon from James 5 on complaining.

Stood at that door right there, and somebody came up to me and started complaining. I'm not kidding. Who could make that up? So I have no wood to apply. I'm not going to say, you know, here's the rod.

I'm just going to say this. Paul wants you to make sure in your mind that you don't say to yourself, you know, it's my husband, it's my job, it's my this, it's my that, because God gave you all those things.

But the passage today is when you complain against God's sovereignly ordained leaders, you're complaining not against the leaders, but you're complaining against God, which according to God's word, listen, is a heinous sin worthy of death.

And just like God killed 23 ,000 to 24 ,000 people in the wilderness for sexual immorality, it's that bad, so too God mowed down 14 ,700 people because they complained. So I know for me personally, I don't usually talk about my failings and my sin because I'm here to preach to you all this week.

I'm trying to deal with my failings before God. But I hate it when I complain. I hate complaining and murmuring and grumbling. And so we want to be a church that does the opposite, a church full of thankful hearts, praise, thanksgiving, God, you're good, we don't deserve any of this, and you're doing very, very good things to us.

So let's look at the passage today, chapter 10, verse 6 of 1 Corinthians. We're going verse by verse. We will speed up, but there's so much Old Testament import in these last several verses, we had to just slow down.

Let me read to you verses 6 through 10 to catch up and to figure out where we've been contextually. Paul is saying don't be idolaters, don't be sexually immoral, don't put Christ to the test, and now don't grumble.

See if you can pick them up in 1 Corinthians 10, 6 through 10. Now these things took place as examples for us. When you read the Old Testament, for instance, we're supposed to see Christ in the Old Testament, but that's not the only thing we're supposed to see.

Here we're supposed to see things as examples, that we might not desire evil as they did. Well, what kind of evil would that be? Do not be idolaters as some of them were, as it is written. The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

Secondly, we must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did. Twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. Thirdly, we saw last week, we must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents.

And now the fourth exhortation, Paul gives to Corinth and therefore I give to you. Nor grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer. If I had to ask you the question, what passage do you think Paul is referring to?

I think I'd get lots of different answers. Or I could say it this way. Are there a lot of passages in the Old Testament that talk about Israel grumbling? A lot. Grumble, mumble, stumble through the wilderness is what they were doing.

I found a website this week and it was called Weird Deaths. The list of unusual deaths. And you can look through that if you'd like sometimes. Strange way people have died. Maybe eating worms out of a peanut butter cup, I don't know.

I didn't get that far down to the W. But what they didn't have in there was this weird way. Because of the grumbling against the providence and the goodness of God giving them the leaders like Moses and Aaron, God killed people by having the ground open up like a huge mouth and then the huge mouth of the ground just wolfed the people down.

That's an unusual death. And that's exactly what Paul is talking about here in verse 10. Let's look at the text, then we'll look at the Old Testament passage, then we'll see some final exhortations. Look at the text in verse 10.

Nor grumble. There's a variety of words for grumble in the New Testament and Old. And this word here in particular, grumble in your ESV, is from the Greek word that you've heard me say many times, gungismus, gungismus.

And what gungismus means is this. It means that you're expressing yourself in kind of low tones that are almost not audible. That you can hear somebody over there and they're just kind of gungismus, gungismus.

And you can probably see their countenance and you can just hear this tone. You can't really distinguish what they're saying, but you know it's a murmur. The lexicon calls it a low tone of disapprobation.

I like murmur better. Ever do that? Just kind of under your breath but loud enough for other people to hear you're kind of expressing yourself with displeasure. You don't like this situation. It's audible and here's the bad news, it's against God.

That's Paul's point. It's against God. It's the sin really of all sins. It goes back to the sin of all sins, that is unbelief. Grumbling against God. Paul, you're too hard on us. We can't go to these feasts.

We don't think there's any idols in the meat. We just want to go to the feast. Paul says, no, you've got to run from idolatry. And you can just hear the response of the Corinthians with murmuring and gungusmus.

And if you say gungusmus a certain way, you can make it sound like what it is. It's a word that sounds like what it is. Gungusmus. Gungusmus. Gungusmus. Is that you? Is that how you've been around the church, around other people?

People just don't measure up. At the end of the day, it's no faith in God for choosing who he's chosen. And it's a prideful thing because you think everybody should measure up to, of course, your standards.

Gungusmus. Somebody's listening. Now, the good news is I'm just preaching verse by verse. The good news is I haven't heard much of this. But I might as well make sure we talk frankly as a family. Two services.

Gungusmus. Fifty-three acres of land and nothing to show for it. No, I'm just kidding. No building. There's plenty to show for it. Scott Goddard, please forgive me. But whatever our minds think, you know what?

If I was a leader, I'd do something a lot differently. Complaining against God's divinely appointed leadership means you aren't trusting in God and his sovereignty who rules over all. Now, I don't think I'm John MacArthur, but I know for a fact that God has placed me here and that I am, in fact, your leader.

I have a long way to go. I hope you pray for me. But submission, friends, and those in the military know this and those in business know this, means you go along even if you disagree. So you disagree with leadership and you have options of, God, I'm thankful it's not chaos here and anarchy.

God, you're sovereign enough. You're sovereign enough to overturn the elders of Bethlehem Bible Church. Our response is we complain. And for Israel, they complained and they complained and they complained.

It was a song of refrain for them. I won't read you all of them. I have them all listed here. But you can just kind of get how bad. When I hear complaining of others, I think that's horrible. And I think, yeah, I do that too.

All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness by stages according to the commandment of the Lord. There was no water for the people to drink. Therefore, the people quarreled with Moses and said, give us water to drink.

The people thirsted there for water and the people grumbled against Moses. In numbers it said, and the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes. And when the Lord heard it, what do you think the Lord said?

I understand that. And the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlined parts of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses. But look at the text here in 1 Corinthians chapter 10.

Out of all the passages in the Old Testament in numbers in Exodus in the wilderness complaining, there's nothing about the destroyer. And if you take a look at your text in the ESV, it's the destroyer.

Not just a destroyer, but the destroyer. Now you might think that's Satan, but this isn't Satan. This is the destroying angel sent by God for judgment. This is the destroying angel that comes and says, God, you sent me on a mission to destroy.

I'm going to destroy. This is the angel that came to destroy those firstborns in the Passover who didn't have the blood over the lentil. This is the destroyer that went and destroyed people after David counted the census.

This is the destroyer that the Lord sent who killed 188 ,000 Assyrians. And this is the angel that killed the Israelites in the wilderness for complaining. Let's turn our Bibles to Numbers chapter 16 and take a look at this account.

It doesn't talk about the destroyer, but now we learn from Paul in added revelation, in progressive revelation, who actually did this. Numbers chapter 16. I've been loving to go through these Old Testament passages, Exodus 32 and Numbers to see Phinehas and to see the snakes.

Here we're going to see the passage that Paul refers to. And if you're a Corinthian, Paul says this verse in chapter 10, verse 10, you go, I got it down. We don't really have it down like Paul did. And so we're going to work our way through number 16 so you can see the clear reference that Paul is referring to.

This is the sin of Korah. Going against divinely ordained leaders and complaining. You know what I could call this chapter? The church split chapter. This is the church split chapter. You're going to read through this, and if you've gone through a church split, you'll go, oh, I recognize that.

If you've gone through a church split, you're going to say this. Not pity the people who were left to do the cleanup, but I pity the people who were antagonistically involved in the church split. God have mercy on them.

God have mercy on their souls. Because God is very, very clear here that this is a heinous sin. Now Korah, numbers 16, I'm reading the ESV. The son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, Dathan, and Abiram, and the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, the sons of Reuben, took men.

So here Korah, the Levite, he's not a priest, but of the Kohite clan, camping near the Reubenites with Dathan, Abiram, and On. They get together, and they have different agendas. They don't like different things, but they have a common cause.

We don't like leadership. They're rebels. They're rebellious, faction-oriented people. They don't even really like each other. They're like the Sanhedrin and the Pharisees and the scribes. They don't like each other, but they hate Jesus, so let's join together.

So they're united in the opposition of Moses. And what do they do? You can feel this tension build in chapter 16, verse 2. And they rose up before Moses with a number of people of Israel. And there's three different ways you can see how preeminent these people are.

250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, and men of a name, literally. They had well-known names. They were prominent men. And what did they do? They do what all people do at church splits.

They go for the lowest common denominator general complaints. The general complaining. Let's not go for specifics because we can't get as many people. They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, You have gone too far.

For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them. And the Lord is among them. Why do you exalt yourself above the assembly of Yahweh? It's a broad sweep. It's the sweep that happened 10 years ago, 11 years ago here where people call someone and they say to the person, You know, do you have anything against Mike?

Yeah, we do. Gather that. Let's get ready for the big split. That's the exact kind of thing right here. Broad sweep. No specifics. Moses, you're exalting yourself. And, you know, we should be exalted too.

We were taken through the Red Sea like you. Who do you think you are? But this isn't just against Moses. This is against God and God's sovereign choice of leaders. Moses, you heard of it, verse 4, he fell on his face and said to Cornel, the company of his men, In the morning the Lord will show who is his and who is holy and will bring him near to him.

And who will do that? The one whom he chooses, he will bring near to him. In other words, you don't understand sovereignty. You don't get it at all. And sovereignty says, I pick the Levites only to serve me in a certain function.

I pick the apostles a certain way. I pick Israel. And God is a God who chooses and he chooses certain leaders. And we'll see who he chooses tomorrow, all right. God will vindicate. Do this, verse 6, take censers, corn, and all his company.

Put them in the fire. Put incense on them before the Lord tomorrow. And the man whom the Lord chooses, the sovereignty of God over everything, shall be the holy one. See, they're trying to pick themselves.

We'll see who God picks. You have gone too far, sons of Levi. That's exactly what they said to Moses and Aaron in verse 3. You've gone too far. No, you've gone too far. All goes back to the sovereignty of God.

Verse 8, Moses said to Korah, Here now, you sons of Levi. Is it a small thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel? To bring you near to himself to do service in the tabernacle?

They could serve the tabernacle, but now they want to be priests. It's not good enough to be a deacon. I've got to be an elder. It's not good enough to put the chairs away. I've got to be this. It's not good enough to serve the temple.

All these people of the Israelites, none of them could serve the temple except this tribe. But now that's not enough. Verse 10,. And that he has brought you near him. And all your brothers, the sons of Levi, with you.

And you would seek the priesthood also? It's not enough to serve the tabernacle. You've got to be the priest. Therefore, it is against the Lord that you and all your company have gathered against him.

What is Aaron that you grumble against him? You're so privileged. This is not insignificant what God has done. And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram and the sons of Iliah. Verse 12,. And they said, We will not come up.

Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? That you must also make yourself a prince over us? Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey.

Nor given us the inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up. Put out the eyes is a metaphor to pull the wool over someone. To hoodwink them. This doesn't really mean to jab out their eyes.

You're going to pull the wool over their eyes too. No, no, I don't think so. Not to us you're not. Verse 15,. And Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, He's not even talking to these people now. He goes straight to the Lord.

Do not respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them. And I have not harmed one of them. I'm not misusing my office. I'm not in it for the money. I'm not trying to be rich and famous. I didn't make myself this.

You made me this. In this position, Moses, the meek man, the kind man, the man who falls on his face often, leaves vindication to God, said to Korah. Verse 16,. Be present you and all your company before the Lord.

You and they and Aaron tomorrow. And let every one of you take his censer and put incense on it. You really want to go and be priests? Okay. And every one of you bring before the Lord his censer. 250 censers, you also and Aaron, each a censer.

So every man took a censer and put fire in them and laid incense on them and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation.

Note to self, don't be an evil ringleader. Note to self, don't mess with God's people.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Ebendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m. and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.