Phil Johnson Interview (Part 2)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

Apostle Paul said, But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry.

Today we're going to look at part two, Korah's Rebellion, in number 16, with special No Compromise guest

Phil Johnson. You could pull up Phil's interview that I had with him, oh, several months ago.

You can go to nocompromiseradio .com and pull that up if you'd like. But today we're going to look at part two, a message that Phil preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston back in May.

I think it was May 22nd, something like that. If you'd like to pull up the website and pull some of the sermons down, he preached

Sunday morning, John chapter 9, the man bore blind. He did a Sunday school on why hell is real in light of all the

Rob Bell stuff. You could pull those up as well. But today we are going to listen to part two of Korah's Rebellion, number 16.

And like I said last week, if you're a person who's a slanderer, a gossip, someone who's a backbiter, someone who is destroying the local unity at your body, you need to repent.

You need to stop that. God hates many things. But if you pull up Mark, excuse me, Proverbs chapter 6, you're going to see what

God especially hates. And so this message today, I hope it goes out to a great audience, that is to say far and wide, to show you that if there are politics going on in the church and there are rebellions going on in the church, can you imagine?

It's as bad as witchcraft. You don't want to get involved in that. No politics of upheaval and rebellion in the church.

And you'll see this transchronological truth from Phil Johnson today here on No Compromise Radio, that if you rebel against God's ordained leadership, there's going to be trouble for you.

So Phil Johnson, Executive Director of Grace to You, part two, number 16, the

Rebellion of Korah. The same thing is true of the Reubenites who joined

Korah in this rebellion. They also had reason to feel they had been unfairly snubbed.

Who was the eldest son of Jacob? Jacob. It was Reuben. And yet you may recall in Genesis 49, when

Jacob was blessing his sons just before he died, instead of pronouncing a blessing on Reuben, he pronounced a curse.

Listen to Genesis 49, verses 3 and 4. He said it like this, Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the firstfruits of my strength, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.

Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence. Wow. That was his dying blessing on his eldest son.

You shall not have preeminence. And the tribe of Reuben never became the dominant tribe in Israel.

The fact that Moses, a Levite, had ascended to power instead of a

Reubenite seems to have been a particularly galling thing to the leaders of the tribe of Reuben. And that's why so many of them were eager to join this rebellion.

Korah found them easy recruits for a mutiny. And here's the fourth mark of this sort of rebellion.

Number four, it spreads secretly before it goes public.

It spreads secretly before it goes public. Korah and the

Reubenites had evidently conspired quietly over some period of time before they brought this rebellion out into the open.

A rebellion like this never just springs full -blown into being. Influential people first shared their complaints with one another, and then having stirred one another up to become even more disgruntled, they began to infuse their discontent into the rank -and -file people of their tribes.

And before long, they had a large party of people who were feeding on one another's complaints, and they drew courage from the fact that so many other people feel the same way.

And thus, the root of bitterness that had sprung up in one or two individuals soon infected multitudes.

That's how it always is. Now, if these men had ever had a legitimate complaint against Moses, what was their first responsibility?

To take their complaint privately to Moses himself. And yet, it's evident that they didn't do that.

By the time word of this rebellion reached Moses, there were already, according to verse 2, at least 250 influential leaders involved, and a multitude, countless number of rank -and -file people.

Only after he had whipped the people into a mutinous furor, only then did Korah make his complaint known to Moses.

And look at Moses' response, verse 4. When Moses heard it, he fell on his face, and he said to Korah and to all his company,

In the morning the Lord will show who is his and who is holy, and will bring him near to him.

The one whom he chooses he will bring near to him. Moses' reply to Korah is the model of humility and restraint.

First he falls on his face, and he leaves it entirely to the Lord to settle the differences between him and Korah.

Here is the response of a truly godly man. Moses doesn't reply with an outburst of personal indignation.

He doesn't debate with Korah. He doesn't defend himself. He simply places the whole matter before the

Lord, and he proposes a test, verse 6. Do this, he says. Take censers, those are the containers, usually on a chain, hanging on a chain, in which you'd put incense to burn, and smoke would come out of these censers.

So he says, Take censers, Korah and all his company. Put fire in them, and put incense on them before the

Lord tomorrow. And the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one. You have gone too far, sons of Levi.

See he turns back on them exactly what they said of him. You've gone too far. He says, You have gone too far, you sons of Levi.

And he reminds the rebels that their uprising is a direct attack on God. This is not merely a slur against Moses, but it's an attack on God.

Verse 8. And Moses said to Korah, Hear now, you sons of Levi. Is it too small a 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 of the

Lord, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them? And he has brought you near him, and all your brothers, the sons of Levi, with you.

And would you seek the priesthood also? Therefore it is against the Lord that you and all your company have gathered together.

What is Aaron that you grumble against him? See, God had given them a task, and it was no small task.

They were to stand before the congregation and minister to them in the presence of God. But they treated their own calling with contempt.

They didn't want the role of service. They wanted the place of authority. They acted as if, in Moses' words, it was a small thing to minister in the role

God had assigned them to. Korah would be satisfied with nothing less than Aaron's job.

And that brings us to another mark of sinful rebellion. Number five, the ungodliness of the rebels inevitably is manifest.

That's number five. Inevitably, you see that what motivates the rebels is ungodliness.

I pointed out at the start that this sort of rebellion always pretends to take the moral high ground.

Rebels claim to be defending justice or righting wrongs, but inevitably, their response manifests its own ungodliness.

You've seen this, I'm sure. People who claim they have been wronged think they're justified now in bringing a lawsuit against a fellow believer in violation of God's clear word, 1

Corinthians 6. Disgruntled church members purposely spread strife and division, even though they know that dishonors

God. Rebellious people always begin by pretending they own the moral high ground, and they'll recite laundry lists of wrongs which they claim they've suffered as if their suffering justified their doing wrong.

But Scripture never grants that kind of tolerance to evildoers. Suffering wrong never entitles us to do wrong.

David, you'll recall, was anointed by Samuel as the rightful king of Israel in Saul's place, and yet Saul retained the throne.

And Saul pursued David's life with a demon -possessed vengeance, literally. David was the rightful ruler.

He was God's choice for the throne. He was a man after God's own heart. And yet, because he was a man after God's own heart, he knew that rebellion could never be the means by which he came to the throne.

God never sanctions rebellion, even when the person in authority is completely in the wrong or even demon -possessed, as Saul became.

Defiance and insurrection are never justified against God -ordained authority anywhere in Scripture under any circumstances.

Consider this, the classic passage on submission to authority, Romans 13, was written by Paul when

Nero was emperor of Rome, Nero being probably the most evil and undoubtedly demon -possessed man that ever held that office.

And yet, Paul tells us, submit to those who are in authority. Their authority has been ordained by God. That doesn't sanction everything they do, but it means that the right response to evil authority is never rebellion.

Notice how the Reubenites responded to Moses. I read verses 12 through 14 earlier, but I want you to look at those verses again.

And this time, let's take special note of the sinful response of these men from the tribe of Reuben, verse 12. Moses sent to call

Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and they said, we will not come up. Is it a small thing that you 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've not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards.

Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up. This is unbelievable insolence.

This kind of open rebellion against Moses amounted to treason. Furthermore, remember that all these men had been witnesses to the plagues

God sent against Pharaoh because of his defiance of Moses. Had they forgotten how

God used Moses to deliver them from the hand of their oppressors? And yet, notice, they're actually accusing

Moses of wrongdoing for having brought them up out of Egypt. They've forgotten the oppression they suffered.

And now in verse 13, they characterize Egypt as a land that flows with milk and honey. You see how they turned the truth on its head?

Egypt was a land of garlic and fish and onions. Canaan was the land of milk and honey.

But again, rebellion is the seedbed of lies and false doctrine. Once you justify rebellion in your mind, you will turn truth on its head.

And that's exactly what they did. I'm going to read a very long passage here. I want to follow the narrative starting with verse 15, and let's just see what happens.

And I'll read the whole thing, and then we'll comment on it. Verse 15, and Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, do not respect their offering.

I have not taken one donkey from them, and I've not harmed one of them. And Moses said to Korah, 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, and every one of you bring before the

Lord his censer, 250 censers, you also and Aaron, each his censer.

So every man took his 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.

And then Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

And the glory of the Lord appeared to the congregation. And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, separate yourselves from among this congregation that I may consume them in a moment.

And they fell on their faces and said, oh, God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, say to the congregation, get away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.

And then Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.

And he spoke to the congregation, saying, depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be swept away with all their sins.

And so they got away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents together with their wives, their sons, and their little ones.

And Moses said, hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and that it has not been of my own accord.

If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then the

Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the

Lord. And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, and all the people who belonged to Korah, and all their goods.

And so they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.

And all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, lest the earth swallow us up.

And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men offering the incense."

That's a frightening scene, isn't it? I mean, it's probably easier for us to imagine having seen movies where special effects accomplish this kind of thing, but imagine this happening in real life.

Again, a new thing. Nobody had ever seen anything like this. The ground opened up and swallowed the ringleaders, and then fire from the earth burned the other 250 participants to a crisp.

And here is the sixth characteristic of sinful rebellion. Number six, it destroys undiscerning people.

It destroys undiscerning people. This is the tragedy of this whole story. Korah destroyed not only himself, but a number of others on the periphery who didn't have the discernment to stay clear of this mutiny.

That's how rebellion always works. Every sinful church faction I have ever witnessed has swept in people whom

I love. They're dear people. From a human perspective, often well -meaning people, people with sweet dispositions and kind hearts, but people who lack the discernment to see that this sort of rebellion is never how

God accomplishes his word and his will. And God's judgment against Korah is severe, purposely, dramatically so.

This was an unprecedented thing. The ground opened up and swallowed him. Imagine if you were a witness to that kind of judgment.

And it was terrifying for people. They began to run, as you would, and yet here is perhaps the most disturbing thing about this entire episode, the rebellion was not over yet.

And here is one more remarkable characteristic of evil rebellion. Number seven, rebellion breeds more rebellion.

Now, try to put yourself in this scene. The people of Israel witnessed what happened to Korah and his followers.

They saw the ground open up. They saw the fire from heaven. You would think that would put an end to rebellion in Israel once and for all, forever, but it did not.

The fires were still smoking. The ground was still settling when the next major rebellion broke out.

Look at verse 36. And again, I'll read a fairly longish passage. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, tell

Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, to take up censers out of the blaze. Then scatter the fire far and wide for they have become holy.

As for the censers of these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be hammered into plates as a covering for the altar, for they offered them before the

Lord and they became holy. Thus, they shall be assigned to the people of Israel. And so Eleazar, the priest, took the bronze censers, which those who were burned had offered, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar to be a reminder to the people of Israel so that no outsider who is not of the descendants of Aaron should draw near to burn incense before the

Lord, lest he become like Korah and his company, as the Lord said to him through Moses.

But on the next day, all the congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, you have killed the people of the

Lord. And when the congregation had assembled against Moses and against Aaron, they turned toward the tent of the meeting, and behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the

Lord appeared. And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, and the Lord spoke to Moses saying, get away from the midst of this congregation that I may consume them in a moment.

And they fell on their faces. And Moses said to Aaron, take your censer and put fire on it from off the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the

Lord, the plague has begun. So Aaron took it, as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly, and behold, the plague had already begun among the people.

And he put on the incense and made atonement for the people, and he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.

Now, those who died in the plague were 14 ,700 besides those who died in the affair of Korah.

And Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of the meeting when the plague was stopped. Now, I want you to notice something important here.

Although Moses is always the target of the rebels' attacks, it's always

Moses who stands between God and the people as their intercessor. That's always the way it is with a godly man.

Notice how prone the people were to misjudge Moses. I think we all have a sinful propensity to misjudge people who are in authority over us, and you see that at work here.

This is a great reminder to young people who are strongly tempted to rebel against their parents' authority.

The fruits of that kind of rebellion are always bitter and divisive, destructive.

Young people, you will ruin your entire life if you allow your character to be shaped in your teenage years by rebellion and defiance.

We live in a generation where that's been glorified. That is the norm. Don't do it. Don't let that happen to you.

I've seen it many times. In fact, I grew up in a generation when generational rebellion was glorified and promoted deliberately, and many of my high school friends have not been able to make it as adults because they never learned to submit to the authority

God placed over them in their youth. In fact, I graduated from high school, has it been 40 years?

Yeah, 40 years ago this summer, and as we sit here, they're planning our 40th anniversary reunion, and they sent out...

I had a large high school class, maybe 600 people. They sent out a list of everybody they've been able to make contact with.

There's a long list of people that nobody even knows where they are, and a shockingly long list of people from my high school class who are now dead.

They're dead, in many cases, prematurely dead because of the fruits of sins that started with rebellion.

This is also a great reminder to all of us, particularly as members of the church for which

Christ died, don't ever be tempted to rebel against those whom God has placed in authority over you.

Someone says, well, but don't we believe in the priesthood of the believer? Don't we believe God has made us all kings and priests in Christ?

Yes, but that was exactly Korah's claim, wasn't it? God had made Israel a kingdom of priests.

So why couldn't the nation be run by democratic rule? Many people think the church should be run by a democracy, but that is not the pattern of church leadership set forth in the

New Testament. God has ordered the church so that godly, gifted men are given the responsibility of leadership.

And the doctrine of the priesthood of the believer does not overturn God's appointed structure of authority in the

New Testament church any more than it did in Old Testament Israel. And that's why near the end of the epistle to the

Hebrews, the writer of that letter admonished his readers with these words,

Hebrews 13, 17, obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give account.

Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

And that's just one verse of many that tell us to obey, submit. Our leaders will give account to God.

There's no room in those words to justify an uprising or rebellion of any kind against God -appointed leaders.

Now invariably, someone will ask, well, what about the Protestant Reformation? Wasn't that a rebellion against established ecclesiastical authority?

No, actually it wasn't. And if you read the record of the Protestant Reformation, you'll discover that the rupture between Roman Catholics and Protestants came when

Catholics disfellowshipped men from the church for raising questions about the gospel.

The questions were about doctrine and not primarily about authority in the church. And it certainly wasn't a rebellion.

None of the leading reformers set out to lead a church split or to manufacture division or to lead a rebellion.

But they were ultimately disfellowshipped by evil men who had no tolerance for the gospel.

Do people in authority ever misuse their authority? Of course. Are men of God ever wrong?

Certainly. Moses himself was wrong on more than one occasion. Does that ever justify the sort of rebellion

Korah tried to incite? No, it doesn't. It is never the right response to stir up people against duly appointed

God -ordained leaders and to seek redress of wrongs by fomenting a rebellion.

Nothing in Scripture ever, ever permits that or sanctions it or overlooks it.

But it's always condemned. Every such rebellion that ever occurs in Scripture is explicitly condemned.

There is not one example of a righteous rebellion anywhere in the Bible because no such thing exists.

Rebellion is always ungodly. And God himself will deal with the wickedness of unrighteous rulers in his own time.

He did this, for example, with Pharaoh. He punished even Moses when Moses sinned.

And we're not to sit passively silent when our leaders sin. But the right response is the response

Nathan took with David. He went to him privately and confronted him. He didn't organize a mutiny. John the

Baptist did the same thing with Herod. He went to him and confronted him directly to his face.

He didn't organize a mutiny. Later, Absalom mutinied against David, but God judged him severely for it.

Rebellion, Scripture says, is like the sin of witchcraft, 1 Samuel 15, 23.

Think about that. Rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft. That suggests that rebellion is as overtly satanic as the black arts.

And that ought to give us reason to pause and think carefully before we are ever tempted to rebel, even if we try to convince ourselves that by rebelling we're defending some high moral principle.

Rebellion is never the high road morally. It may be the way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

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