23-1126p Transcript

Preacher: Mike Mathis

(0:30) Thank you, Scott, for that reading, and we’re going to continue what I started this morning. (0:41) The title of this lesson is Storytelling, which I was watching a video, (0:53) and the one conducting the program shot a clip where this man said, (1:06) we should not be storytelling, but it all depends on what kind of stories we’re telling.

(1:19) If we’re just standing tales, if we’re just telling things that have no meaning here or there, (1:34) then I would agree with him, just storytelling should not be. (1:43) But as I pointed out, there’s much of the Bible that has stories in it. (1:55) As a matter of fact, there’s a movie that said the greatest story ever told.

(2:04) The Bible is the greatest story ever told, and much of it is in stories. (2:12) It is history, and you have, when you say history, you say stories, and you have a story. (2:30) And we are told then, according to our reading, that the things that were written (2:42) before Abortions was written for our instruction, or as the Key James puts it, our learning.

(2:55) We should learn from these stories. (3:00) We have lessons that we could glean from this. (3:05) And then, first Corinthians 10, all accounts, an account, he starts off reminding these people, (3:25) he’s saying, moreover brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant, (3:32) how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, (3:41) and all were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, (3:48) and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink, (3:55) for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.

(4:03) That tells us that before Christ took on flesh, he was existing, and he was dying. (4:18) But, and they all drank of this same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock (4:32) that followed them, and that rock was Christ. (4:36) But then, we have a downturn in verse 5. (4:46) But of many of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

(4:55) Now, these things were our examples. (5:01) They’re the intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. (5:12) Now, this morning, and I went back and rechecked that, I was, I had it written down right, (5:25) the verse that I wanted was Colossians 3 and verse 5, which says, (5:34) Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, (5:43) inordinate affliction, evil concupiscence, and covetousness which is idolatry.

(5:55) But this covetousness can be lust, it can be longing after certain things, particular things, (6:10) and we, and to the point where we’re looking after that, and that is what we’re after. (6:19) And these things can be idolatry. (6:24) But we noticed this morning, in Exodus 32, that they fashioned a mountain calf, (6:35) and that was their idols.

(6:38) And we, and in 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 7, he says, Neither be ye idolaters as some of them, (6:51) as it is written, that people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. (6:59) Now, we, those who were here this morning, we discussed Exodus 32, and we saw what happened (7:15) in that chapter. (7:18) But I would advise that when we go, that we read Exodus 32 and find out what it says.

(7:34) Now, in verse 8, Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed, (7:48) and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. (7:54) Now, I’m going to go to chapter 25 of Numbers, Numbers 25. (8:04) And the first verse starts out saying, And Israel abode in Shittim, (8:15) and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab.

(8:24) Verse 2, And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods, (8:31) and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. (8:37) And Israel joined himself unto Beor, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. (8:49) And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people and hang them up (8:59) before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel.

(9:10) And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one of his men that were joined unto (9:23) Beor. And behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren (9:36) a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation (9:46) of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. (9:55) And when Phinehas, the son of Eliezer, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw it, (10:04) he rose up from among the congregation, took a javelin in his hand, and he went after the man (10:13) of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them, the man of Israel and the woman, (10:23) through her belly.

So the flag was stayed from the children of Israel, (10:31) and those that died in the flag were twenty and four thousand. (10:39) Now those that want to look for contradictions and want to find what seems to be contradictory, (10:52) that in 1 Corinthians 10, the number that Paul says is 23,000. Well here it says that in this (11:15) were twenty and four thousand.

Well, if we have 24,000, most assuredly we’ve got 23,000. (11:29) But the number doesn’t really matter whether it’s 23,000 or 24,000, but people want to (11:42) find these seemingly contradictions, which there isn’t. But we see that God was not (11:55) tolerating their committing fornication, and doing so with the daughters of Moab.

(12:05) And so, not only did they commit fornication with them, they (12:14) called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods. They even went to worship their gods. (12:24) So, there’s idolatry there.

And so, for that reason, these people were plagued, and they were (12:43) dying. And then Phinehas the priest went in to the tent of this Israel-like man, (12:57) and he thrust both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. (13:06) And then the flag that God was putting upon them was staged.

And then 24,000 in this account (13:22) of the children. And I’m going to add a little bit of a side note here. (13:34) And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of Eliezer, the son of Aaron, (13:43) the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, (13:51) while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I concern not the children of Israel in my jealousy.

(14:04) Wherefore, say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace, and he shall have it, (14:15) and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous (14:25) for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel. (14:37) So Phinehas the priest was noticed by God for doing what he did. He took action, and he stayed, (14:56) he turned the wrath of God away from the children of Israel.

(15:05) And it says, Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, even that was slain with the (15:14) Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Selahud, a priest of a chief house among the Simeonites. (15:28) And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cosby, the daughter of Zer. (15:37) He was head over a people, and the chief, and of a chief house in Midian.

(15:48) But see, both of these were the son or the daughter in the, or were in the, (16:02) in a chief position, but they had committed fornication, and that was then the downfall. (16:20) But you know, today people overlook this. They want to, they want to (16:32) make this thing a light thing, and instead of calling it what it really is, it’s an affair.

(16:42) But they want to call it, but we shouldn’t call it just the way God calls it, (16:49) because God is going to call it that way anyway, and he is not going to stand for it. (16:58) And also, worshiping idols, other gods. Then in verse 9 of 1 Corinthians 10, (17:17) it says, let us not tempt or test Christ.

And here is another thing that we want to focus upon. (17:36) It says, neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of sufferings. (17:50) Now verse 21, and verse 6 through 9, we’re going to start with verse 5. (18:06) Well, let me do verse 4. And they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, (18:16) to compass the land of Edom.

And the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. (18:27) And the people spoke against God and against Moses. Wherefore have you brought us up out of (18:38) Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water.

(18:46) And their soul loatheth this light bread, by referring to the manner that God was giving (18:58) these people, and they referred to it as light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among (19:08) the people, and they bit the people, and much people of Israel died. (19:16) Therefore the people came to Moses and said, we have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord (19:26) and against thee, praying to the Lord that he take away the serpents from us.

(19:34) And Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses, make thee a fiery serpent (19:45) and set it upon a pole, and it shall come to pass that everyone that is bitten when he looks upon it (19:54) shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass (20:05) that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

(20:16) Now, maybe some people would wonder why this is here. Well, as he said, this is for (20:31) learning. First of all, these people spoke against God.

Whenever they murmured and complained to (20:41) Moses, they were murmuring and complaining against God. And there were times that God (20:51) felt like consuming them, as he did here, as he did in Exodus 32. He told Moses to let him be, (21:05) that he would consume them and raise up a people that would do what he commanded.

(21:14) And here, they’re murmuring and complaining against Moses. They asked him, you know, (21:25) why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? (21:34) And in Egypt, they suffered heavy bondage. They cried unto the Lord because of this heavy (21:42) bondage.

And God heard those cries and smote Egypt with ten flags. (21:52) And then after the tenth flag, Moses finally let them go. (21:58) So, the Lord, with a mighty hand, brought the people out of Egypt, (22:13) out of this bondage.

But the only thought about the physical things that they had, the food that (22:22) they were able to have there to eat, the graves that were there that they could have been buried (22:30) in, if they died there. They were going to die in the wilderness, they were telling them. (22:43) For there is no bread.

There isn’t anything to eat, according to them. (22:51) Neither is there any water. God provided water for them.

And our soul loathes this (23:01) light bread. And as I said, that was the manna that God gave them. (23:08) So, the Lord sent these fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, (23:16) and much people of Israel died.

So, they were putting God, or as it says in (23:28) verse 9 of 1 Corinthians 10, let us not tempt Christ. That means let us not test Christ. But (23:38) let us not put God to the test.

And Jesus even told Satan that one should not tempt the Lord thy (23:51) God when Satan told him to cast himself down off the pinnacle of the temple. So, the people realized (24:07) being bitten by these serpents and dying, the people came to Moses and said, (24:22) we have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against thee, (24:28) praying to the Lord that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.

(24:39) And then the Lord said to Moses to make a fiery serpent and set it upon a pole. (24:50) And it came to pass that everyone that is bitten, when he looked upon it, it shall live. (24:59) So, Moses made a serpent of brass and put it upon the pole, and when anyone was bitten (25:09) and he looked upon the serpent of brass, he lived.

Now, Jesus made reference to this (25:21) in John 3, 14, as he was talking to Nicodemus. For as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, (25:34) so shall the Son of Man be lifted up. He is telling how he’s going to die.

(25:46) Usually, when someone would die, they would be stoned to death. They would have the people (25:57) stoned to death, but he is going to be lifted up. And in John 8, 32, or rather, (26:12) John 12, 32, Jesus says, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself.

(26:30) So, Jesus will die upon the cross. He’ll be suspended from above the earth, and there he (26:42) would die on the cross. That was telling us, and so with Jesus backing up this story, (26:52) and he did that at least twice here, in John 3, 14, and then John 12, 32.

(27:06) Now, I’m going to read 1 Corinthians 10 through 13, and then make a few comments here. (27:19) 1 Corinthians 10, verses 10 through 13. Neither marmer ye as some of them marmered, (27:37) and were destroyed of the destroyer.

And there, in the case of the serpents, (27:46) they were marmering. They were complaining to Moses, and the serpents came. (27:54) Now, other times they were destroyed also of the destroyer.

Now, all of these things happen (28:03) unto them for examples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world (28:15) are come. Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth, take he lest he fall. There have no (28:33) temptation taking you, but such as is common to man.

But God is faithful, who will not suffer you (28:44) to be tempted above all that you are able. But with the temptation also make a way to escape, (28:57) that you may be able to bear. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.

(29:09) So we’re told here that, you know, we may be tempted to turn away and follow (29:23) after other things, lust after other things, or it may, but he’s warning against it. He’s telling (29:32) us, referring to these things that happened then. So these people did these things, (29:42) and God was displeased with them, and many of them died.

Many of them were destroyed. (29:53) And so here we may face temptation to turn away from God. We may think little of (30:01) committing fornication.

We may think that there’s no big deal in it, but he’s telling us, (30:14) wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth, take he lest he fall. We can do just what the (30:23) children of Israel did, go in unto these and face the wrath of God. So in order to (30:38) avoid God’s wrath, his anger, knowing that he has the power to take vengeance upon us, (30:50) and upon those that do these things, that he can really, he’s got the power to be our judge (31:06) and to be the one that will send us away into utter destruction forever.

(31:20) So if we were then want to avoid this, let us then stay away from these things and flee from (31:34) idolatry. And in order to do that, let us look unto Christ. And you know, this is, (31:44) these are stories.

These are the things that really happen. (31:52) And sometimes it may be that the people look upon a story as something that (32:01) might not be true. Some stories are not true.

But if we read what is in the Bible, (32:11) those stories are true. Those stories happen. And we have a reminder that these are for our learning, (32:26) that we would not go after the evil things, but then they can give us hope.

They can comfort us (32:38) and give us hope. God doesn’t want these stories. That’s why he sent Jesus to die for us.

(32:49) And may God help us as we go through this life, making every effort to please him. (33:01) And let us learn from the stories that are in the Bible. So if there is anyone that (33:15) wants to make God their judge, make Jesus their brother, why not do so now? (33:31) Anyone that is subject to the gospel in any way, the time is now to do so while we stand and while we sing. (33:41)