Stopping The Plague Of Immorality (part 2) - [1 Corinthians 10:8]

Well this morning is going to be an exciting morning.

We are going to cover 23 verses in the Bible.

Do you believe it over the course of six months?

We will cover 23 verses.

Open your Bibles.

1st Corinthians chapter 8.

We're going to look at one verse in the New Testament.

18 out of Torah our numbers numbers in the book of.

In the in the Torah rather in the instruction and then for in the psalm so 1st Corinthians chapter

10.

But it's so packed full of information.

We'll be going back to the Old Testament.

1st Corinthians chapter 10.

Let me read you the verse, and then we'll talk about the subject at hand and Catch you up to the

context specifically.

Paul says in 1st Corinthians chapter 10 verse 8.

We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did and

23 ,000 fell in a single day.

We live in a society today.

That is sex saturated.

Sinful illicit sex is promoted in every way shape and

form.

I Think our culture is popularized by

infidelity.

Society bombards us with Sexual sin 24 hours a

day.

Quite some time ago physicians would and Dietrich wrote a book called the AIDS epidemic, and they

said this a Society spends the most time and energy

once the basics of Life are satisfied on what it deems most important.

In Ancient Hebrew and American Puritan writings one can hardly read a single

paragraph without encountering a reference to God Almighty.

What items have replaced God in our communication media?

Sex money and self -love.

Satisfy the time and energy requirements for what is sacred in our culture.

These are the gods of the New Age.

It's a crazy world and everybody here knows that.

Often our society acts like Judah.

God says of Judah in Jeremiah 5.

They were well -fed lusty horses each one named after his neighbor's

wife.

What do we do.

The world influences the church, and then how do we stem the tide?

After all really how bad is sexual sin and if we're not careful we can buy

into tolerance acceptance.

Forgetting what God says about sex.

Isn't it fascinating when you study first Corinthians?

There's a lot of information in here about sexual immorality and sexual purity.

There's a culture at Corinth That spilled into the church and sexual

sin was everywhere.

And now I thought it was enough that Paul addressed it in chapter 5 and in chapter 6 and in

chapter 7 and now He addresses it in chapter 10 as well.

Sexual purity an easy

sin.

For Christians to fall into is sexual immorality because if you're not thinking properly you'll say to

yourself I've been justified by faith in Christ Jesus.

I cannot be more justified.

I cannot be less justified.

I cannot be more forgiven.

I cannot be less forgiven.

I cannot be more regenerated.

I cannot be less regenerated and if I sin Sexually, it's already covered

because when God forgave me because Christ's death was so great.

He forgave me past present and future sins.

And for the people that like to come to the edge of Liberty.

They fall into certain sins.

People that like to push the limit and say I'm free in Christ come what may.

They run up and like lemmings that run off the cliff.

They fall into sexual immorality.

They fall into idolatry and Paul says be careful.

Of course, you are justified by faith alone.

And of course you are free in Christ, but you're never free to push the limits and sin.

So Paul says in first Corinthians chapter 10 lots of people were blessed in terms of the

Israelites, but they didn't all make it and So he says in chapter 10 1

to 5 all all all all they were all blessed.

Yet only some of them made it and then he gives four exhortations for those who like to push their

liberties.

We saw two weeks ago number one.

Don't be idolaters and you can see it right there in six and seven remember chapter 10 verse

6 now these things About the Israelites concerning the Israelites took place as an example for

us a bad example a tragic example.

That we might not desire evil as they did.

What would be some of the evil that they desired one?

Do not be idolaters as some of them were as It is written Exodus 32 the people

sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play.

And now Paul gives the second exhortation.

He tells them the second thing that you can fall prey to as Christians.

Everyone here could fall prey to this very issue whether it's with only your mind our mind and body.

You can fall prey to sexual immorality and God wants chastity.

God wants Purity.

God is a God who of course has designed sex and he's not some Victorian prude.

But he has a context for sexual relations that is in the marriage bed.

And so here's what Paul does and he talks in a way that Christians sometimes don't like.

Here's how Paul talks.

Well, I'll just I'll just make it as blunt as possible since I think Paul's fairly blunt here.

If you are a Christian and you entertain in sexual sin God might kill you.

That's a sermon in other words.

Sexual sin is a very very big deal.

Pornography is a very very grievous sin.

Mental adultery mental fornication is Very very serious.

How serious can you imagine for sex God killed?

23 ,000 people in a day.

But I thought if you're not hurting everybody anyone it's fine.

I thought if you both love each other It's fine.

Think about what the world says.

Go for it.

Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food, right?

You're hungry.

Eat.

You've got a desire for sex go for it and In the context of marriage God as again

song of Solomon first Corinthians 7 enjoy eat drink and be merry as it were.

The Christian sex ethic is not no.

But the Christian sex ethic is only in marriage and those who entertain Of these ideas

and then actually do it God says.

It's a very very big deal and look at there again at the text verse 8 and 23 ,000 fell in a single day.

Remember verse 6 these things are given as an example for us that we might not desire

these evil things.

Now I said I was gonna do 23 verses today, that's just one verse here in first Corinthians.

But what's loaded in this is like some kind of zip drive just filled full of all

kinds of information.

What is Paul quoting?

What account is he referring to?

What is he alluding to what's going on in the background when you're thinking about reading the New Testament?

We've got 70 % of the Bible as Old Testament.

He's referring to something that happened in the Old Testament.

And by the way No one here is gonna sleep when we go through this next chapter.

It is amazing.

It is one of these chapters where you read it and you almost want to say I almost wish that wasn't in the Bible.

Because it is stark it is

Sharp and It's a good lesson for all of us.

Let's turn to numbers chapter 25.

Numbers chapter 25.

This is the passage which Paul is referring to in first Corinthians 10 and it's hard to understand

10 8 unless you get Numbers down and this will help you when you think of

purity and desiring that you would live a life Commensurate with your calling if God has called

us as a faithful God we want to respond to Christ's great love for us and his death for us and

his resurrection for us with a Holy life since God is holy.

We want to be holy and the world is gonna say you're missing out if you don't Indulge and

engage and God is going to say you are going to be missing out if you don't indulge and engage.

You'll be missing out on Assassination, how about that?

Say well God doesn't kill every Christian that commits sin sexual sin.

Does he know?

But every sexual sin committed by a Christian is worthy of death.

God is just very generous.

God is just very gracious.

But as we watch what happens in numbers 25, we're all going to say Wow, I hope I hope something

happens today besides learning this passage.

I hope you think I've got to start reading the Old Testament.

Reminds me of the time.

I was up at the Anchorage Inn up on York Beach, and I was sitting in the jacuzzi.

I think I've told you the story and there was another young man sitting in there and he was probably 12 or 13 or something.

He thought he's kind of a big shot and I kind of got in the jacuzzi and I said hi How are you?

And he said my dad's a policeman in Rantham.

Oh Hi, that's good, I didn't know I was doing something wrong by getting in the jacuzzi and

I said rent them.

Wow, I'm the mayor of Rantham.

I Said no, I'm not really the mayor.

I am a Bible teacher and he said the Bible's boring.

So really?

Yeah that time where that guy Snuck in the tent and and wanted a place of you

know Shelter and he laid down his head and that other lady got out the tent spike

and the hammer and put it up to his Temple and drove it through for the glory of God that part and he goes,

I guess I didn't really read that part.

This would be one of those other chapters when you you read it and you just think golly.

Wow, that's in the Bible.

Have I ever said golly.

I preached for 15 years here morning noon night.

I've never said golly.

Gal darn.

See, we don't say darn in our house Paul's

quoting numbers and when we read in our mind numbers the book numbers.

It's where we get the word arithmetic.

Arithmetic and The Hebrew though, it doesn't call it numbers.

It talks about in the wilderness because that's really the key for the book of Numbers if you'd like to understand numbers.

You can say to yourself.

There's a lot of numbering chapter 1 2 3 4 etc.

It's all talking about numbers and all the numbers in numbers.

That's true 48 times.

Something else is going on and it's the word closely Translated as wilderness.

It's about the wilderness what happened to Israel in the wilderness.

The fifth word of the Hebrew text of Numbers 1 1 is in the wilderness.

And so it's what's going on in the wilderness and here we come to chapter 25 Israel's final

rebellion and Paul is going to use this as a lesson read the Old Testament.

So you learn these lessons chapter 22 23 24 Balaam

Balak, we think that they're kind of in the rearview mirror.

He tried to get him to curse Israel, but didn't and God discombobulated the whole thing and he

couldn't curse and we're hoping.

That's all behind us, but there's more than one way to skin a cat for false teachers.

They're going to try to get Israel to sin sexually and Then God will judge them

that way if you want God if you want to get rid of a people and you can't get rid of A people then let's get them

sinning against their God and then God will get rid of their people.

Get rid of his people

this chapter chapter 25 doesn't have anything to do with Balaam in terms of the exact word in numbers 25

but let me just read you numbers 31 just for a second one verse.

Behold these on Balaam's advice caused the people of Israel to act treacherously

against the Lord in the incident of Peor and So the plague came on the congregation

of the Lord.

So here's what's happening 22 through 24 Balaam Balak trying to get rid of Israel

didn't seem to work.

But there's another way to infiltrate the believing people the nation of Israel.

How do you how would Satan say, you know, how can we get into the minds of these people to disobey God?

How could we get let's use today's terminology?

How can we get a Christian to sin?

They seem to be doing so well in every other area and I'll tell you the area that Satan uses and it's sex.

I Don't I I used to keep a file.

I try not to keep it any more of pastors that have fallen to sexual sin.

And if I use that for pastors, I'm sure the file would be much bigger for Congregants

who fall to sexual sin seemingly everything else is right.

But then when it comes to sexuality and it comes to sexual sin and engagement.

They lose control and God says it's a very big deal.

No matter what the world says it's okay.

Enjoy it.

The media is pushing it down our throats.

And God says, you know, what sexual sin is a sin against God.

Watch what happens to Israel?

They're so close to the promised land.

We would say they're so close.

You could taste it.

They've waited they've waited and they're so close and now chapter

25 verse 1.

And as I'm going through this, by the way I do want to say this is a good case study and how quickly sin can happen how

sin spread so quickly.

How bad sexual sin is and how many people are affected by it?

It's just this mock for Acceleration of sexual sin.

They just go headlong.

You've met people probably like this.

They just lose their mind when it comes to this issue

chapter 25 verse 1 starting off with defiling language

putrid language.

This is the kind of language that it just reeks as you read it.

You go out of town for two weeks and you've forgotten to dump the trash and You've put a bunch of

sloppy joe meat in the trash can and you forgot to dump it and you open it up and you?

Smell that just how rancid how gross.

Sloppy joe stuff is gross anywhere anyway,

and you just go it's just the odor.

I'm telling you this passage has an odor.

It just is it's vile and it's supposed to be it talks about things that you just think you know what by

the way I would never thought I would talk about this in public in my entire life.

It's in the Bible.

So we preach right through it and you don't understand first Christians 10 unless you get numbers 25, right?

While Israel lived in Shatim are the Asia Grove the people

began to whore.

By the way whore is usually used of a female here.

It's used of the people the men.

They began to whore with the daughters of of all people.

Moab these invited the people to the

sacrifices of their gods and.

Then with language that you remember from Exodus 32 and the people ate and the people bowed

down to their God.

Who who is the people the Israelites the Moabites seduce and the people.

The Israelites eat and they bow down.

So think Israel Corinth get together to worship the idols go have

sex as worship.

That happened both back in those days with the bales right here.

Let's have our feast and then you have communion except communion is fornication.

That's exactly what happens at Corinth.

Let's get together back in those days.

Let's have a wonderful feast in front of all these false gods.

And then the communion is not bread and juice communion is a whore now

who can come up with such a thing that Communion with God is sexual immorality with

the prostitute now, just how sick is that?

Something that's supposed to be reserved for the marriage bed as pure and holy.

Something to be thankful for now, it's whoredom.

What kind of language began to whore themselves with the daughters of?

Moab.

This is the action of men.

This is harlot language.

Pagan religions of the day eat.

Prostitution later matter of fact remember if you have thought about Corinth or remember what I've said or you've been

there there's that big hill at Corinth and a thousand priestess come down from that

top of the mountain every day at nighttime for Worship.

The act of worship is perverted sex.

The sex God is alive and well.

Now God had been clear To Israel, let me just read you a little bit of Leviticus.

The Lord spoke to Moses saying speak to the children of Israel and say to them I am the Lord your God as they

do in the land of Egypt in which you have been living.

You must not do as They do in the land of Canaan into which I'm about to bring you.

You must not do so the way they do their sexual Perversions in Egypt are in Canaan.

Don't do what they do.

Do not walk in their statutes.

You must observe my regulations and you must be sure to walk in my statutes.

I am the Lord your God.

Do not defile yourselves with any of these things for the nations which I'm about to drive out before you have

defiled with all these things.

The land has become unclean and I have brought the punishment for its iniquity on it.

Do not let the land vomit you out because you defile it just as it has vomited out the nation.

Which was before you.

I am the Lord your God.

How can I get a curse on these people.

You know what?

I'm gonna tell this prophet to curse them.

The curse came out of the prophets mouth as a blessing.

Chapter 22 chapter 23 chapter 24.

So let's get the Israelites by Bringing in the prostitutes Bringing in the women

and let's get them to fall that way

they invited people to the sacrifices.

Chapter 25 verse 2 of their gods and the people ate and bowed down a Far cry from

you shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not bow down to them or serve them Exodus 20 now.

It's interesting.

I want you to think through this.

The language is pretty cloaked both in 1st Corinthians and in numbers.

Why why isn't there all kinds of lurid intimate details like a Mark Driscoll book.

Answer because they knew when they read this exactly what was going on.

And number two more importantly.

The scripture cloaks language in such a way that when you see it, you don't want to say great.

I want to do it.

You what you can listen to someone or watch something go on that's lurid and Salacious and be

tempted and drawn into it if you're not careful because it's so graphic.

It's so clear.

It's so descriptive.

But you know the scriptures don't do that.

It's it's it's given to us in such a way that when you read it You don't say I want to embrace it.

You say you know what like charcoals on my lap hot charcoal.

I want to get rid of it.

You see the evil you don't get enticed into it.

The poison multiplies the virus spreads.

Verse 3 just what this is this language is crazy.

So Israel in every way shape and form Yoked himself

to this false God.

Baal of Peor and

The anger of the Lord Yahweh was kindled against Israel.

That's very powerful.

God became enraged.

They bound themselves with body and with worship and God literally the Hebrew is

got a red nose.

Language that helps us.

God doesn't have a nose that's red.

But if you describe a man as angry then you can understand that's a good way to understand God.

Anthro.

Pomorphically well here.

It's not even like a man.

It's like like like and like empathy.

This is anthro.

Here's your here's your free word of the day.

This is anthropopathic pathic language.

Woodward's looking at me like what?

It's like anthropomorphic except.

It's anthropopathic Empathy it's talking about emotions the emotions a man would have

mad.

There's his wife there with another man, and he's enraged and he's angry.

That's exactly what's happening here.

The wrath of God and you know, what's interesting?

Yahweh was enraged against The Moabites, what's a tech say?

He was angry at Israel his people the

Moabites.

They'll get theirs later.

But here they're coupling in themselves with the false God.

They're succumbing to these enticements.

People risk everything for five minutes of pleasure.

They do it as Christians.

They risk it all for a bed of fornication.

This is not just for Israel.

Paul is writing to the Church of Corinth you know what better be careful because this this world

will allure you into sexual temptation and Unless you're with your wife.

Then what you do with another person is an obscenity.

What you do with another person is vile.

And you can talk about love and you can talk about tolerance and you can talk about acceptance.

You know about no one's getting hurt and God says it's carnal and it makes him

angry.

I don't know how far I should push this but I guess I can say this

when worship centers become brothels.

Something's wrong and Back in those days the religion of the day was

let's get together for a pot Providence.

And then let's go to the back of the building to the tent where the brothel is to continue

the worship service.

It's a madhouse for Israel, it was a breach of the covenant

that God had made with Israel and Now we're going to see God dealing with sin.

Promptly and mercifully promptly and Mercifully mercifully

because if God doesn't excise this cancer, it's gonna be bad.

If only we would deal with sin in our own life and in the church like this figuratively

verse 4 and Yahweh the personal covenant -keeping name of God.

Lord said to Moses.

Let's have a discussion.

Let's have a dialogue.

Let's bring in some of the leaders of this side and some of the leaders of this side.

We'll sit down at the table and we'll talk about it a little bit.

Discuss it.

We'll converse.

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.

Hang them in the Sun before God.

Oh, it will help if they're hung before the people because they'll say sin cost.

I better run from it, but this is before God.

Hang them in the Sun execute them.

Publicly.

Hang them high the reflex action of God

when the reflex hammer hits his knee as it were it kicks out with.

Put him on a gibbet.

Why.

Because atonement must be made.

Atonement needs to be made.

Otherwise, it's going to spread to everyone.

Somebody satisfy God's holy nature by atonement.

He's holy.

One of the shocking things in my life is when I was taught this truth that God is jealous.

The second shocking thing that was taught in my life is you ought to be jealous for God's glory.

You have to be jealous with God's jealousy.

You ought to say everyone in Scripture who is jealous with God's jealousy.

God commended our society says oh forget about it.

You got to be known for what you're for not what you're against.

This is all this kind of nice and love and it'll all work out jealous for God's jealousy.

Covenant agreement has been broken and so in the broad daylight.

Kill them used here in Hebrew as a judicial

Execution verse 6 and

behold one of the people of Israel.

Came and brought a Midnight woman in his family 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.

People are dying because of a plague because of this immorality people are being put up on gibbets.

Some godly people are mourning and they're sad that God has not done this to

the people but that the people have done this and deserve this from God and they're they're weeping and

behold.

One of these people of Israel now.

This is gonna be by the way really bad if it was a Midianite man and a Midianite woman.

It would be really bad if it was a Moabite man and a Moabite woman, but this is a man from Israel and

a Midianite woman.

It's not gonna take much imagination to figure out what they're doing.

One commentator said.

This is the most quote outrageous action of apostate behavior known anywhere in the

Torah Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy.

Now what tent and where there is some debate?

But it's blatant.

It's unspeakable.

While this is going on.

Most likely at the front of the tent of meeting here comes an Israelite man with a Midianite woman and

They're going to take this tent that is supposed to be for worship and then do in that what they would do at the

brothel other places.

Talk about in your face talk about you know, what let's just take this woman in and

engage in worship.

Right there in front of everybody people are out here weeping.

Because God's judging people are dying people are being given it and now we're going to have this

and the text says the Midianitis with a definite article that is to say most

likely it's a person that was of prominence.

Maybe she was the high priest.

But she was known the Midianitis.

You wouldn't have to even say her name the Midianitis.

Very conservative commentary said quote women priests.

We're so very closely tied to the sexual outrages of Baal and Asherah worship that the very

notion of a woman priest conjured up images of sexual worship.

Perhaps this is the principal reason that Israel had no women priests.

Verse 7.

Here's a couple in the act.

Defiling shaming perverting.

Will someone do something standing up for God in his

Character.

If I had another son, this is what I would name him except his nickname would be Finney and then that would

conjure up other information.

When Phineas the son of Eliezer the son of Aaron the priest saw it.

He rose and left the congregation.

Priests don't have spears.

He must have grabbed one from some soldier and took a spear in his hand.

What's going on?

Here's a couple committing fornication right there.

Everybody else is shocked.

They don't know what's going on.

They're speechless.

What do we do?

How do we how do we take care of this?

They're horrified.

They're playing the whore.

What do we do Phineas?

It's going to do something.

Now look at the language in chapter 25 verse 8.

He's got the spear in his hand and he went after the Man of

Israel.

See this whole covenant relationship.

God's covenant people Israel and he went into the chamber and Pierce both of them.

Through the back out the stomach in the stomach out the back.

He pierced both of them.

The man of Israel and the woman through her belly.

Through the lower region you're going to have some kind of sexual sin.

The punishment is going to fit the crime.

Phineas knew God's law.

Phineas knew God's jealousy.

Thus the plague of the people of Israel was stopped.

Nevertheless those who died by the plague were 24 ,000 first.

Corinthians says 23 24 if you get bogged down to 23 or 24.

Which one rounded up.

Which one rounded down.

Which one was killed?

23 ,000 on the first day.

A thousand more died the day later or however you reconcile them.

You've missed the whole point of everything.

I have a question.

What would the media's take on this be?

What would the New York Times say about Phineas?

The son of Eliezer.

The grandson of Aaron.

Phineas means dark -skinned.

When lexicon says Negro dark.

Plague is checked.

By piercing them through.

What would the media say?

What would God say?

What's the athyrm aftermath?

Let's find out chapter 25 verse 10.

And the Lord said to Moses.

Kill Phineas.

That what he said and the Lord said to Moses.

I'm a god of love.

Sinclair Ferguson is one of my favorite Theologians and I like what he says in his

Scottish way.

When people say to you we have great worship at our church.

By the way, they usually mean we have great music.

It's like rock and roll coffee house code orange, you know all this kind of stuff we have great worship at our church and

We know that worship is preaching and singing and giving and everything's worship.

Just not the singing.

But when people say to Sinclair Ferguson come to our church because we have great worship.

Sinclair Ferguson always says I think I'll let God be the judge of that.

We have great worship.

The Lord said to Moses.

And by the way, if I could sing here's what I would do if I could throw my voice.

Here's what I would do.

I would read the next two verses and Simultaneously, I would go done done done done

done done done done done done done done done done done.

This is language of pomp.

Circumstance this is language of celebration.

This is language of applause.

For what Phineas did we get out?

This is like getting with words the matter metal of valor pinned on you

this is the ceremony of Commendation the language

of applause and By the way, if you're standing there and you're the dad of

Phineas, or you're the grandfather.

Are you related?

You ever have somebody that you know and goes and graduates the Naval Academy and you think you know, I'm a relative.

Just kind of want to stand up straight.

Don't you think you know what?

If Luke went to West Point and graduated with honors, you can just imagine me standing there going.

I'm the dad.

That's the language here.

Jealous for God's jealousy.

They're gonna do that in the face of God.

Phineas the son of Eliezer.

This is this is it.

I'm telling you I'm sure that's not a song.

I'm just making it up but it's good the son of Aaron the priest has turned back my wrath

from the people of Israel and 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 him my covenant of peace and it shall

be to him and his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood.

Get ready to have your world rocked.

Because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.

It's not shocking that he did this in God's eyes.

It was commendable.

Commendable that he would put a stop to that with a javelin through the both of them.

It's interesting.

He made atonement now in Israel's economy.

If you sinned you'd have to die and often you would have a sacrifice you would have something in place of and you would kill an

animal instead.

Except the animals weren't needed here because it was so flagrant.

So instead of an animal sacrifice for atonement.

It was the two people they made atonement by their own lives.

Just a side note.

What God says is right is wrong and right and wrong.

It's a lot different than what our society says is right and wrong.

Isn't that true?

Society says abortion is mother's choice.

It's part of her body.

And what does God say?

It's a living being and the list goes on and on as long as you love each other etc.

God says here's the realm of sexual engagement the marriage bed.

It's in the numbers three.

This shouldn't shock us about Phineas.

The Lord said to Moses saying bring the tribe of Levi near and set them before Aaron the priest.

They shall keep guard over him and over the whole congregation before the tent of meeting as

They minister at the tabernacle.

They shall guard all the furnishes of the tent of meeting and keep guard over the people of Israel as they minister

at the tabernacle.

And you shall give the Levites to Aaron and his son.

They are wholly given to him from among the people of Israel you Levites.

You guard the temple of the tent of meeting guard the people.

Two people go in there and do that.

Phineas knew exactly what to do.

Sacrifice the two human offenders that word by the way atonement there in your text and numbers 25 means to

atone by offering a sacrifice.

Somebody has to die.

It's not going to be an animal.

It's going to be them.

No animal needed.

When I think of false doctrine when you think of false doctrine,

of course, we want to teach sound doctrine.

But we also have to refute false doctrine.

I want to be jealous for God's jealousy.

Don't you if someone says something denigrating about the Lord Jesus Christ?

Is there anything in you that wants to say for the fame of the glory of Christ Jesus?

That's not true.

I will stand up against that.

I will impale false doctrine.

People say well I don't want you to you know enough of this kind of after false doctrine.

I want to impale it by running it through with the javelin not the people but the doctrine.

I want to stand up and people say well, you know what it's our will and Christ death that

saves.

I want to just take a javelin and impale that because it is the will of God Almighty.

Who saves and God alone?

I'm jealous for God's jealousy

he made atonement for the people and people celebrated now.

Go with me if you would to Psalm 106 and this is put in the form of a song and this is even going to blow your

mind further.

Because of what is said made atonement my jealousy it even gets

wilder.

Psalm 106 what does the psalmist have to say in a fascinating way about this account

Psalm 106 and.

Then we'll go back to numbers and then finish it up.

Psalm 106 verse 28 the psalmist recounts this and

you're going to kind of.

You'll hear the same language.

You'll get it, but there's some new stuff here.

Then they yoke themselves to the bale of Peor and eight sacrifices offered to the dead.

Psalm 106 verse 29 they provoke the Lord to anger with their deeds

and a plague broke out among them and Phinehas Stood up

by the way, that means to stand up as a mediator.

He's going to be the mediator.

He's going to stand in between the wrath of God and the people.

This is not just like I'm standing up now.

This is to stand up as mediator.

The high priest the mediator and he stood up and intervened and the plague was stopped and now

get ready for your for the head gasket to blow and

That was counted to him as righteousness from generation to generation forever.

It was counted to him as righteousness.

He made atonement by offering not the animals but the people and what Phinehas did was counted to

him reckoned to him as

Righteousness.

I know we're not supposed to have heroes in the Old Testament.

No hero except God.

Don't dare to be a Daniel, but I'm gonna break my own rule.

Be Phinehas today.

He made atonement and it Was credited to him as righteousness to

all generations forever.

Check the plague he interceded.

He was the representative.

He was a mediator.

He was acting as the priest.

He was in the line of Aaron as a priest and he did the right thing and God said, you know what?

I'm gonna reckon that to you as righteousness.

Sounds like with Abraham reckoned to him as righteousness.

Let's go back to numbers chapter 25.

We need to wrap this up or I'm gonna not keep my word about 23 verses.

Numbers chapter 25.

Numbers 25 after the celebration and the commendation of Phinehas

after everything is made sure to be given to them as honor him as honor and

the family now we Find out what these other people's names were.

We've gone from family honor to family shame from family glory to

The name of the slain man of Israel.

Remember, he wasn't just a Moabite a Midianite who was killed with the Midianite woman was

Zimri.

His name means my remembrance.

His name means don't ever forget his name ever met met a

man named Zimri I doubt it the son of Salu

boy.

What a dishonor that would be to be the father standing next to him Chief of a father's

house belonging to the Simeonites.

And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Could have been Jezebel.

But next to Jezebel in infamy was a lady named Cosby and her name means liar

my lie Deceiver the daughter of Zor who was a tribal head of the father's

house in Midian.

The Lord spoke to Moses saying harass the Midianites and strike them down.

Strike them down.

What does the rest of the text say?

I should finish this off so we get the 23 verses.

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 the account of Peor.

Okay, big picture a is anybody here sleeping.

No, I saw one guy kind of do that about 15 minutes ago, I'm not kidding.

Paul writes to the Corinthians and he says.

You like to go do some idolatry.

You say it's okay to do you slip into some immorality.

You say it's an okay thing to do.

And Paul says like in numbers God judges sexual sins.

It is without question that America today is under the judgment of God.

If we keep doing all this stuff God's going to judge us friends.

Romans 1 is explicit judgment of God comes To

countries like us because what we have done and we're feeling that because God has given us over.

God has given us over.

God has given us over.

Not just with venereal disease.

But with mental illness.

You want to know what happens when a man and a woman are together and it's not in the marriage bed.

I'll just show you the Backwash of the whole thing by looking at America

and Paul says and he includes himself in 1st Corinthians.

We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did

John the Apostle says in Revelation 2.

But I have a few things against you Pergamum.

You have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the

Israel.

So before Israel so that they might eat of the food sacrifice to idols and practice sexually

sexual immoral things.

I just want to say one last thing.

1st 1st John chapter 2 if you'll turn there.

If you are sexually pure now.

By the grace of God I want to commend you for living a life in commensuration with Who you

are in Christ?

And if you're sexually sinning now calling yourself a Christian whether it's pornography or anything else today is

the day of repentance of forsaking and I want

to show you how great Christ Jesus is and when it comes to forgiving and

Since you're still alive.

I assume he has not killed you and now you have an opportunity to repent.

What a gracious God what a merciful God.

We need atonement.

They needed atonement and Phineas provided it they needed to have righteousness credited to them.

God did it and look at how great God's forgiveness is through Christ Jesus for every sexual sinner

here.

Here's the good thing.

Would you like to wear white in God's eyes?

Married or not married.

How would you like to have God see you and see you as a virgin?

If you're not married, how would you like to have God take a look at you and say you know what?

I no longer see you huddled over a computer screen in your basement at night when your wife's upstairs.

Would you like to be seen by God?

Not looking another woman with lust or another man with lust but seen by God as pure

holy righteous.

Seen by God as someone not defiled are defiling but standing up for God's jealousy.

How could that be done?

Even if every one of us today could live perfectly for the rest of our lives with perfect sexual

purity.

We still would need an atonement and look at how great Christ is for all sexual

sinners here today.

Look at how John writes first John 2 1.

My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin.

But if anyone does sin and that's including sexual sin.

We have an advocate.

Christians always have an advocate.

They forever have an advocate.

Someone to stand up in our place.

Not someone like Phineas who's a human but someone who has divine righteousness because he's not just

human.

But he's divine.

We have an advocate with the person we need to have an advocate with that is the father who gets Red

-hot in the nose with anger for sexual sin.

How can we appease him or satisfy him?

Oh the son sure can we have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ?

The righteous.

Perfectly righteous son of God and you know how much he atones for sins.

Verse 2.

He is the Propitiation he makes satisfaction for the wrath of God.

He drinks the cup all the way down for all your sexual sins.

He's the propitiation for our sins.

And not just for ours only not just for the Jews not just for the in crowd.

But also for the sins of the whole world.

How great is that if you're a sexual sinner here today?

You are seen by God based on the Son's work as clean and pure and white

as a driven snow that's good news for sinners and.

And since that's happened to us.

Why would we want to return back to the vomit of sexual sin?

Ever again.

He is the propitiation for our sins and not only ours, but also the sins of the whole world.

Let's pray

Heavenly Father.

I Thank you For how you work in people.

Phineas is one of them.

I thank you that By faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we can be completely forgiven for all our

sins.

And we take you at your word.

Then when we look to your son in faith that we are cleansed that we are clean.

And so father as there can be sexual sin in churches even by forgiven people.

I Pray that it would be stopped.

The plague would stop immorality would stop and father for those here today That are

ensnared enslaved caught up in Sinning as Christians.

With their minds with their bodies in front of a screen.

I Pray that your grace would be greater.

I pray that you'd use your word and change people.

Father we know with you.

We have an advocate and his name is Jesus Christ and what we can't do on our own

He has done and can do.

Be gracious to us in Christ Jesus name.

We pray.

Amen.