Participants: Daniel Mesa
Series Code: WOHII
Program Code: WOHII000010A
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00:14 Whoever committeth sin also transgresseth the law for sin
00:18 is the transgression of the law. This is the only definition of 00:23 sin given in the Holy Scriptures and we should seek to understand 00:26 that sin is, what sin is, lest any of us be found in opposition 00:32 to the God of heaven. We are required to be in a position of 00:37 obedience to all of God's commandments. Our salvation 00:42 cost too much from our Lord for us to be going on in uncertainty 00:49 when eternal interests are involved. Therefore we should 00:53 open our minds and search the Scriptures so that we may know 00:57 for ourselves how we can stand under the banner of 01:01 Prince Immanuel. God requires at this moment just what He 01:06 required of Adam in paradise before the fall. Perfect 01:10 obedience to His law. The requirements that God makes in 01:14 grace is just the requirement He made in paradise. We want to 01:19 understand the claims of God upon us that we may reach the 01:23 hearts of men and teach them what God's Word requires of them 01:28 in order that they may have eternal life. We must live by 01:32 every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Our Savior was 01:35 Our Savior has told us that in these last days there would be 01:40 false doctrines and false teachers who would lead the 01:43 people to accept fables and customs and practices of men 01:48 instead of the commandments of God and that our world would be 01:53 flooded with heresies as we bring, as we, ah let's see 02:02 are we bringing in heresies to turn souls from the truth of 02:04 of God's word? We want the truth of God's word on every point 02:08 and we need to practice it. Those who follow the course of 02:12 error and live in transgression of the law of God will not 02:15 follow that course alone. There will be others who imitate 02:19 their example. We must examine what captain we are following 02:23 under whose banner we are stand- ing. That's taken from Review 02:28 and Herald, July 15, 1890. And that's my desire. I want for 02:32 myself, for my family, for my friends, for my entire church 02:36 to fall under submission to the authority of the Lord God of 02:40 heaven. That's my prayer and I wish that you pray with me now 02:43 as we begin this message. Father thank you so much that You've 02:50 given us the opportunity to meet here together to share the truth 02:54 of Your word. Make it clear today Lord help us to understand 03:00 the depth of Your love, the care that You have for Your people 03:03 and the dedication that you desire us to have for Your glory 03:08 and Your honor. Bless us please and do not trust me Your servant 03:12 with a single word before this Your people I pray 03:15 in the name of Jesus. Amen. 03:19 There's a friend of mine named Chad. He's a dear friend of mine 03:24 I was with him not long ago in Southern California. We were 03:27 preaching together a message at the Advent Hope Church. It was 03:33 entitled "The Almost Overmaster- ing Delusion". That can be found 03:38 on Audio Verse if you're interested. And as Chad and I 03:42 were sharing, he came up with this story I hadn't heard before 03:44 He says he knows of a pastor who is brother to another pastor 03:52 They both became Conference Presidents at different times 03:57 and I think it was here in North America. They both are SDA 04:02 and they're both identical twins ok? I don't know if you know 04:08 who I'm talking about. I don't know them. I've never met them. 04:10 So one time the pastor calls his brother and says, hey would you 04:15 come to my church this weekend? I want you to preach on the 04:18 subject of deception. And so what happens is the brother 04:23 comes and he shares with the church after visiting with the 04:27 elders, praying with them, getting up in front and having 04:31 opening prayer, starting to preach as though he's the pastor 04:34 he's preaching on deception. And it occurs that as he's preaching 04:39 he says to the congregation, how many of you think that if I 04:43 called my brother to come in and speak for you as though he's me 04:47 that you'd know that he's not me, it's my brother. And all 04:50 the congregation they raised their hands like Yeah we'd 04:52 totally know, we'd totally know that it was not you, 04:54 it's your brother. And so after like, raise your hands high 04:57 I wanna make sure I see every body, he says 'I'm the brother" 05:01 And of course everybody was terribly shocked, Oh he's, Wow! 05:05 We didn't know, that's amazing. Well guess what? There's so many 05:09 things in the Holy Scripture that looks so much like Jesus 05:13 no wonder the Bible says in Revelation 13, All the world 05:19 followed after the beast. That's the premise for what I'm gonna 05:24 be sharing today. There are a lot of things that God has that 05:27 are true, and beautiful, loving for our purpose and there are a 05:30 lot of things that the enemy has has come in and said, hey guess 05:33 what? I've got something just like it. You're gonna love it. 05:37 And too often we love it. So my question is today are liturgical 05:43 and organizational matters important. Liturgical, what kinda 05:46 word is that? Anything relating to public worship. Are public 05:49 worship matters and organization matters important to God? 05:54 And so the question is, Is organization with God a moral 05:59 issue or not. Does it really matter if God lays up something 06:05 for us to experience in our Christian experience that is 06:08 symbolic? Does it matter to God if we change, for example, like 06:13 I've heard some of the young, how do you call them, youth 06:16 pastors do, for communion. They will serve pizza and cola 06:23 for the bread and the wine. Is that important, does it matter? 06:29 I mean, hey we're different right? You know they didn't have 06:32 pizza back then. So now today we're just gonna include our 06:35 experience in what we see in the Scripture. Is that ok 06:39 to change up God's symbolism? Is it ok to reorganize God's 06:43 work without any trouble? I mean does God say, yeah it's ok 06:48 and it really doesn't matter? I mean are there other paths 06:51 that God has that we can just follow as result of our culture 06:55 and our changing times? We're gonna look at Scripture today 06:58 I want you to have your Bible. We're gonna look at a lot of 07:01 Scripture today. Now if you want to you can follow along 07:04 in Genesis 4. I'm not gonna be reading it I'm just gonna use 07:07 this a s a thought. Cain offered something, right? 07:11 It was not what God had requested that symbolized His 07:18 Son's atonement sacrifice. Now wait a minute, it symbolized 07:23 something, right? We're told in the Spirit of Prophecy, Christ 07:26 Triumphant, pg.35 that the Lord gave Cain and Abel directions 07:31 regarding the sacrifice that they were to bring to Him, so 07:34 God had made clear This is My command, you're to bring a lamb 07:40 But that lamb, it couldn't have been just changed up because it 07:45 actually symbolized something, it symbolized the atoning 07:50 sacrifice of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen. 07:55 lamb, as it was slain, represented the Lamb of God 08:04 who was to be slain for the sins of the world. Guess what. 08:08 Cain he didn't care so much about symbolism, he didn't 08:11 care so much about organization, he didn't care so much about 08:14 God's commands and so what he did, he changed it up a little 08:16 bit and he thought it would be best instead of humbling himself 08:20 and going to his younger brother to get one of the lambs remember 08:22 what God has asked. And it so happened that God came to Cain 08:33 investigated the situation and after the investigative judgment 08:37 what did he put on the forehead but the mark. Ok so we have a 08:42 scenario where there's the righteous worshipper and the 08:45 unrighteous worshipper. The unrighteous worshiper persecuted 08:50 the righteous worshipper, persecuted him unto death 08:54 and after the investigative judgment this man came, he 08:57 ended up with the mark of the beast at the end of time, if you 09:00 will. We have end of time scenario right there in the very 09:03 first story, one of the first stories in the book of the Bible 09:08 So let's jump to another one. Let's think about Judges 8 for 09:13 for a second and Gideon, ok? 09:35 Whoa, wait a minute. I mean it all sounded good, right? 'cuz 09:38 Gideon had been visited by an angel. Gideon had actually been 09:44 able to offer, if you will, some thing for the Lord there if you 09:48 read the story but notice what it says in this quote here. 10:26 Oh we see right here a reorganization of God's original 10:33 tabernacle service. And hey, it just makes sense he was asked to 10:38 offer up something with the angel there. And so what he did 10:43 he decided well you know what? I'm going to use everybody's 10:45 jewelery, I'm gonna put to- gether this ephod and I'm gonna 10:48 put it in my city and since I'm the one God that has called to 10:52 organize all these things, because you know I did offer a 10:54 sacrifice. I'm gonna go ahead and set it in my city, and I 10:57 just believe that this is ok. Well it ended up being a snare 11:00 the Bible says, to himself and to all Israel. 11:05 I don't think we can change these organizational systems 11:09 and their symbolism without there being serious consequences 11:14 Is it moral? Let's continue looking. Let's go to, in our 11:20 heads for a second, then we're gonna turn to our Bibles 11:22 to Jeroboam. Jeroboam, chapter. I'm sorry 1 Kings 14. That's a 11:29 new section in the Bible, go to Jeroboam please. No, 1 Kings 11:32 chapter 14, verses 15-16 Notice what it says. 12:09 Notice what's being said here. God is prophesying to His people 12:14 He's gonna smite Israel, root up Israel, scatter Israel 12:18 and give up Israel because of the sins of Jeroboam. Question 12:22 What did Jeroboam do? Turn in your Bible now, follow with me 12:26 to 1Kings:12. And it says in verse 25, Jeroboam built Shechem 12:33 in Mt. Ephraim and he dwelt therein. He went out from thence 12:37 and built Penuel. verse26 Jeroboam he said in his heart, remember 12:45 the Bible says the heart is deceitful and desperately 12:47 wicked. He said within his heart Now shall the kingdom return to 12:52 the House of David. Ok, this is envious. He's desiring that he 12:57 would be able to be the king with more people than Rehoboam 13:04 his neighboring king. Remember this is just shortly after 13:08 Israel asked for the first king. It says in verse27, if these people 13:12 go to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem then 13:15 they will say in their heart that they should turn to their 13:18 Lord, even unto Rehoboam King of Judah, and they will kill me 13:21 and go again to Rehoboam, king of Judah. So what happens is 13:25 he's lacking faith in the protection of God. He's being 13:29 envious and jealous. verse28, where upon the king took counsel. He 13:36 took counsel, good thing. And he made two calves of gold. Wait a 13:40 minute. He took counsel and found out that he should make 13:44 two calves of gold? What time era is it? This is in the Kings 13:49 right? Remember many years before when the children of 13:52 Israel came up out of Egypt, they were told by somebody 13:55 his name was Aaron, to do some thing. What was it? Make a calf 13:58 of gold. Hey you know, if it worked back then, thank you 14:02 so much my dear counselors if it worked back then, I'm 14:05 gonna make two of them so it really works today. 14:10 So what happens is he took counsel and make two calves 14:13 of gold and said unto them, it is too much for you to go to 14:16 Jerusalem, behold your gods O Israel which brought you up out 14:20 of the land of Egypt. Wait a minute. He not only made twice 14:25 as much of a problem that occurred before but he used the 14:29 exact same words as found in Exodus 32. Is there a problem 14:34 with this? Absolutely. There's a terrible problem with this. 14:37 He decides he's gonna do some thing in his deceitful heart 14:42 and it ends up affecting the children of Israel. In fact 14:45 remember in our previous quote 1 Kings 14, God is gonna give up 14:50 up Israel, He's gonna scatter them. What else? He's gonna root 14:53 them up and He's gonna forsake them I don't remember exactly 14:56 what it says but you can see it there in 1 Kings 14. 15:01 Notice what happens. It says there in verse28, he took counsel 15:04 and he said, 'Your gods which brought you up out of the land 15:08 of Egypt. Now here's a problem. The children of Israel should've 15:10 known their own history well enough to be able to look back 15:13 and say, ho ho ho we've been here before my friend, O king 15:17 Jeroboam you need to step down because that is wrong. 15:20 Notice what happened back there in Exodus 32, that happened 15:24 under the really foolish leader- ship of Aaron, and the children 15:28 of Israel were rebuked by God, the commandments were broken, 15:31 showing that they broke the covenant, on and on and on, you 15:34 cannot do this for us O king Jeroboam. But they didn't 15:38 remember their history. My people perish for lack of knowledge 15:44 in their own history because we've rejected knowledge. 15:48 It says there in verse28 again, verse29 rather, he set one of these 15:53 golden calves in Bethel, which by the way is right next to 15:56 Jerusalem. And the other he put in Dan which is way at the North 15:59 of Israel, verse30 and this thing became a what? a sin, 16:09 transgression of the law, sin. Organizational matters changing 16:16 up symbolism, reorganizing God's original plan, this became a sin 16:21 Absolutely. We're gonna go thro a lot of Scripture about this 16:26 part. It says this thing became a sin, for the people went to 16:31 worship before the one even unto Dan. verse31. He made a house of 16:37 his high places, he made priests of the lowest of the people 16:41 which were not of the sons of Levi. See God said specifically 16:49 them priests. But here he says, he took the lowest of the people 16:57 which were not of the sons of Levi, verse32 Jeroboam ordained 17:02 a feast in the eighth month, we can never find a feast that God 17:05 had ordained in the 8th month. Then it says he set up the feast 17:09 that was similar to the one in Judah. He offered up on an altar 17:14 he did it in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made 17:18 he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had 17:23 made, so he offered upon the altar which he had made 17:27 in Bethel the 15th day of the 8th month, even in the month 17:30 which he had devised of his own heart, and ordained a feast unto 17:35 the children of Israel. And he offered upon the altar and he 17:38 burned incense, just like Gideon that sounds very similar to the 17:43 original tabernacle service that God had set up. A feast, priests 17:47 incense, an altar, sacrifices all these things are right there 17:52 given by Jeroboam to the people. And it became a sin. God is 17:57 going to reject the children, root them up, scatter them, 18:01 Why? because of the sins of Jeroboam. Now, you're gonna have 18:05 to listen for a second because I'm gonna race through Scripture 18:20 His father was Jeroboam. King No. 2. It was Baasha. 24 years 18:27 he served, He did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked 18:29 in the way of Jeroboam in his sin wherewith he made Israel to 18:33 sin. King No.3 Zimri. It says he was killed by a fire 18:42 unfortunately because his sons who had sinned in doing evil 18:47 in the sight of the Lord in walking in the way of Jeroboam 18:49 and in his sin which he did to make Israel to sin. King No.4 19:10 With their what? With their vanities. In vain they worship 19:15 me Jesus said, Matthew 15. Teaching for doctrine, what? 19:18 say with me, the commandments of men. These are not 19:21 scripturally based. Well sure they're very similar, they look 19:25 just like what God did. Jeroboam set up an amazing system where 19:29 we don't have to go to Jerusalem any more, it's so much closer to 19:31 go to Dan. Think of all the time we can save. 19:35 Nonsense, these vanities. Ok, King No.5 Ahab. He did evil 19:41 the sight of the Lord above all that were before him. 19:53 King No.6 Ahaziah. He served only two years. 19:56 He did evil in the sight of the Lord. 20:14 King No.7 Jeroboam the son of Ahab, not the son of Nebat 20:20 Jehoram, sorry yeah there's another one the next is Jeroboam 20:43 What were these sins, what was going on? The next one Jeroboam 20:48 the son of Nebat caused Jehu King No. 8 now 22:49 We have just spoken of years and years and years of leading 22:57 people away from God because of something that was not 23:02 organizationally God's design. That is sinful, it is wrong. 23:07 Jeroboam is going to pay the price. I'm telling you what he 23:11 did and how he lead the children of Israel into sin 23:13 was straight up wrong. But it looked so similar. It looked so 23:18 close. It was almost there. I mean there were priests 23:23 and there was incense and there was sacrifice and there was 23:25 an altar and there were places for worship even. And there was 23:30 even a feast. Wrong, it was wrong and what happened? 23:36 Generation after generation after generation was led into 23:40 sin as a result. I say church No, let's not do it again. 23:45 He set up of the lowest of the people, not saying that women 23:50 are low, I understand, no don't get me wrong. Women are high 23:53 I'm married to one, I love women specially my wife. I love the 23:56 way they minister, I love all the, I better clarify that 24:00 I wanna be careful. But listen I truly respect the ministry of 24:04 women. My wife is going to be preaching tomorrow morning 24:06 and I tell you she's a powerful preacher. She believes what she 24:09 teaches, she walks in the ways of the Lord and she raises up 24:12 my children 12 and 9 in the way of the Lord and I praise God 24:16 for her and what she's doing. Listen, I believe that this here 24:23 is talkin about the lowest of the people. I'm not saying 24:24 we're trying to ordain the lowest of the people and 24:27 ordaining women but it was not of the sons of Levi, that's my 24:32 point. They were not of the sons of Levi. They were different 24:36 than the sons of Levi. Today we are trying to bring in somebody 24:39 into the ordination umbrella to be pastors and elders 24:44 who are not of the sons of Levi, if you will. They are female 24:49 they cannot be you understand? It was very specific, gender 24:53 specific. So now I wanna read something in 2 Kings 17:19-23 25:02 I'll be skipping thro quickly. Notice what it says. This is not 25:07 a king after the 15th king. This is a nation ok? Israel was 25:15 run by Jeroboam who set up a false system so similar to God's 25:19 I mean you wouldn't have known if Jeroboam stood up to preach 25:23 at one of those meetings. You would've thought wow that looks 25:26 just like his brother. Now it says: 26:22 Wait a minute. Judah is followin Israel and Israel got to where 26:25 they were because of Jeroboam. It says that in Kings there 26:29 And it says for, here's another reason, 26:51 Wow. So wait a minute this history, let's make this clear 26:56 Israel was carried into Assyria right? Where was Judah carried? 27:00 Babylon. Now let's understand what's happening. Jeroboam sets 27:06 up this false system. It was contrary to God's organizational 27:09 design. Contrary to God's symbolism in His church. 27:12 You know the husband, the wife scenario? So what happens 27:15 is Jeroboam leads generation after generation into sin 27:21 which led Israel into Assyria. Judah follows the example of 27:25 Israel and Judah ends up in Babylon. Let's read right before 27:30 Judah goes into Babylon. Jeremiah chapter 44. Please turn 27:34 into your Bibles I want you to see this one. Jeremiah 44. 27:38 The Bible says in verse11. I'll tell you quickly what happens 27:44 Jeremiah speaks to Judah and Judah responds. Ok that's what's 27:51 happening in this section. Jeremiah 44 startin in verse11 27:55 Therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, behold 27:59 I will set my face against you for evil and to cut off all 28:05 Judah and I will take the remnant of Judah that have set 28:09 their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there 28:13 and they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt 28:19 They shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine 28:22 they shall die even from the least even unto the greatest 28:25 by the sword and by the famine and they shall be an execration 28:31 and an astonishment and a curse and a reproach for I will punish 28:35 them that dwell in the land of Egypt as I have punished 28:39 Jerusalem by the sword, by the famine, by the pestilence 28:42 so that none of the remnant of Judah which are gone into the 28:45 land of Egypt to sojourn there shall escape or remain. They 28:49 that should return into the land of Judah to which they have 28:55 desired to return to dwell there For none shall return but such 28:59 as shall escape". Then notice, here's the response 29:04 Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense 29:14 unto other gods - the wives in Judah were the ones offering 29:20 the incense, meaning their wives were priestess, if you will 29:26 they are ripe ready to go into Babylon. Jeremiah is speaking to 29:32 them, listen you're gonna be destroyed and the men which knew 29:35 their wives had burned incense unto the other gods and all the 29:38 women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people 29:41 that dwelt in the land of Egypt in Pathros answered Jeremiah 29:44 saying, 'As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us 29:51 in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto you. But we 29:55 will certainly do whatsoever thing goes forth out of our own 29:59 mouth to burn incense unto the queen of heaven and to pour out 30:05 drink offerings unto her as we have done, we, and our fathers 30:08 our kings and our princes in the cities of Judah and the streets 30:12 of Jerusalem for then we had plenty of victuals and we were 30:16 well and saw no evil but since we left off burning incense to 30:20 the queen of heaven and poured out our drink offerings unto her 30:23 we have wanted all things and have been consumed by the sword 30:26 and by famine. And when we burned incense to the queen of 30:31 heaven and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make 30:34 her cakes to worship her and pour out drink offerings unto 30:37 her without our men? In other words they knew what was goin on 30:42 I wanna say here friends, listen We today as we understand the 30:46 Book of Revelation are going into Babylon. God is saying come 30:52 out of her my people. There's gonna be company after company 30:56 that leaves the SDA church and tribe after tribe that come in 31:00 to replace them. Don't go into Babylon. My church, NO. 31:06 There are so many people in this church that unfortunately will 31:10 not heed the word of the Lord and will end up on the wrong 31:13 side. And guess what, the children of Judah they wouldn't 31:18 listen to the voice of the Lord. And they said no, no, no 31:21 we like our women as priests. 31:25 Right before they went into Babylon. I think that's profound 31:34 There are 3 chapters in an amazing book if you've never 31:38 read it. It's called Patriarchs and Prophets. These 3 chapters 31:43 notice the titles. The Rending of the Kingdom. Jeroboam. 31:51 Did I say Patriarchs and Prophets? Ok, it's Prophets 31:55 and Kings. I get that confused all the time. Thank you. 31:58 Prophets and Kings, an amazing book. It's called the Rending 32:01 of the Kingdom. Jeroboam and National Apostasy. 32:06 After Jeroboam set up his system national apostasy which led them 32:13 into Assyria and into Babylon. I don't want my church to go into 32:20 Babylon. I want my church to come up out of Babylon so that 32:23 Babylon can also come up out of her. Amen! 32:29 Let's understand in Numbers 16 something that was mentioned in 32:32 the last part. Korah, Dathan and Abiram. I'm gonna point out 32:35 a couple of things that were not mentioned. Numbers 16 32:38 Korah, Dathan and Abiram. The Bible says Korah, Dathan Abiram 32:43 and on, the sons of Pelath. Now why Korah? Why is he first? Well 32:47 guess what? Korah was one of the sons of Kohath. The Kohathites 32:52 they were the ones you're gonna read these Numbers for, they 32:55 were the ones that were supposed to carry the most sacred portion 33:01 of the Temple. They were to carry the golden vessels 33:07 including the Ark of the Covenant. They were called to a 33:12 a very high purpose. They were carrying the throne of God. 33:21 This was serious business that was given to the sons of Kohath. 33:25 The Kohathites of which Korah was one. Ok, so Korah he's kinda 33:29 risin up and it says in verse2, he rose up before Moses with 33:33 certain of the children of Israel, 250 princes. Don't 33:38 forget that word, Princes of Israel or the assembly, famous 33:44 in the congregation, men of renown. These are no small fries 33:49 These people are respected. They have a strong voice, they are 33:53 great preachers, well renown. verse3, they gathered themselves 34:00 together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them 34:04 Hey, you take too much upon you seeing all the congregation are 34:07 holy. I mean look at us, the Kohathites. We're carrying the 34:11 most sacred things in the planet everyone of them, and the Lord's 34:16 among them all. Wherefore then do you lift yourselves up above 34:19 the congregation of the Lord. When Moses heard it, it says 34:23 he fell upon his face. The response of the leadership was 34:26 prayer. Please God have mercy. Don't let this happen again, 34:30 it has happened so many times in the past. And frankly, Moses was 34:33 getting tired of it. Don't you think? It says in verse5, He spake 34:40 saying, listen tomorrow the Lord is going to show who are His 34:43 and who are holy. verse6,7 take censers put fire in them, fire 34:47 in the incense before the Lord and tomorrow you're gonna see 34:50 that you're taking too much upon yourselves. So what happens is 34:54 in verse3 they said to Moses, you take too much upon you. 34:59 Well Moses takes those words and puts them right back at them. 35:01 verse7 you take too much upon you. Then it says in verse8, Moses said 35:07 to Korah, hear I pray you, you sons of Levi. Does it seem but 35:13 a small thing unto you that the God of heaven, the God of Israel 35:17 has separated you from the congregation of Israel to bring 35:20 you near to Himself to do the service of the Tabernacle 35:23 of the Lord to stand before the congregation and to minister 35:25 unto them? I mean listen, you are the sons of Kohath. You are 35:30 carrying the most sacred thing on the planet, isn't that enough 35:33 That's what he's saying. He's pleading with them. verse10 35:38 It says, He hath brought them near to Him. And all your 35:43 brethren, the sons of Levi with you. Are you seeking leadership 35:47 also? You're seeking the priest hood? And then notice, he calls 35:53 for a gathering and says, Dathan and Abiram would you come up? 35:56 And in verse12 they say, We will not come up. They literally 36:00 disregarded the leadership of God in this rebellion. It does. 36:05 And so what happens is, right there in verse13 they use 36:09 the same words that Moses used to them. Is it a small thing 36:13 you can see than in verse9, that you have brought us up out of 36:16 the land that flows with milk and honey, and so it goes on. 36:19 You have made yourself a prince over us, it says in verse13 36:23 This is wrong. We're all holy. I mean don't you realize we're 36:26 carrying God's throne through the lands here, I mean have you 36:29 forgotten who we are? This was the kind of attitude they had. 36:32 And it says in verse14, moreover thou hast not brought us up into 36:37 the land that flows with milk and honey. verse15, Moses was very 36:42 wroth. Jump down to verse21. He says go ahead, separate 36:46 yourselves, or rather God said separate yourselves from among 36:50 this congregation that I'm gonna consume them in a moment 36:53 See even God was upset with what was happening. But Moses, he 36:58 just as he had done before, and had he learned from Abraham? 37:01 in Genesis 18. He says in verse22 O God, the God of all spirits of 37:05 flesh, shall one man sin and will you be wroth with all the 37:09 congregation? the Lord said OK. Get you up from around the 37:14 tabernacle, just Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Well Moses rose up 37:18 He went to Dathan and Abiram and the elders followed him 37:21 he said, hey listen guys, depart I pray you from the tents of 37:24 these wicked men and touch nothing that's theirs lest you 37:26 be consumed in all their sins. Get out of Babylon, lest you be 37:30 partakers of their sins and you are consumed by their plagues. 37:33 It's the same exact call in different wording. 37:37 Don't be partakers of this kind of attitude, this kind of 37:42 rejection of authority, this kind of change in God's 37:45 organization. It's wrong. All unrighteousness is sin. 37:52 It says there in verse28, Moses said, hey listen this is how 37:58 you're gonna know. verse29, if these men die a common death 38:02 then this death is not from me. It's sent by the Lord. verse30, but 38:06 as this new thing happens and the earth opens its mouth and 38:11 swallows them up then you're gonna know that the Lord was 38:13 provoked to anger. verse31, the ground clave open, verse32, the 38:19 earth opened, verse33, they perished. verse34, all Israel 38:23 around them fled and cried out. verse35, there came out a fire from 38:28 the Lord and consumed even the 250 men that offered incense 38:32 Well Moses, what does he do in Vs. 37 and 38, he says Please 38:36 Aaron take up the censer and run out there and try to stop this 38:39 plague. Intercede for these folk And so he's standing there 38:43 between the dead and the living the Bible says. In verse39, Eleazer 38:48 took the brazen censers that they had used, because they were 38:51 offered to the Lord and he made broad plates out of them for a 38:54 covering for the altar which was a command by Moses. And then 38:59 notice verse40. Please hear verse40. That broad plate that was made 39:06 as a covering of the altar was to be a memorial unto the 39:11 children of Israel that no stranger which is not of the 39:16 seed of Aaron, these are men we're talking about here. 39:20 No stranger that is of the seed of Aaron. We're not even 39:26 talking about females here. We're just talking about people 39:29 that have not been called of God People that are not of the seed 39:34 of Aaron. That they come not near to offer incense before 39:38 the Lord that he be not as Korah and as his company says the Lord 39:45 So what happens? You can read the rest of the story but I want 39:50 to get to at least that part, God made it clear that if you 39:55 want to go against the leadership and authority and 39:59 organization that He has set up there's gonna come judgment. 40:05 Read this chapter and please, please read in Patriarchs and 40:11 Prophets, I got it right this time. The chapter called 40:14 The Rebellion of Korah. It's chapter 35. Please read Numbers 40:21 chapter 16 and the rebellion of Korah, chapter 35 of Patriarchs 40:27 and Prophets. It is extremely important for this time. 40:32 Miriam, I'm just gonna read something quickly, I don't know 40:36 if I have time to read it all but I'll skip it through quickly 40:39 In an appointment of the 70 elders, Miriam and Aaron 40:45 they were not consulted. Well jealousy was excited because of 40:50 Jethro's visit. And they feared that Jethro and his influence 40:55 would be more with Moses than Miriam's and Aaron's. And so 41:00 they decided, oh oh our position and authority are being ignored 41:04 and so they came up and they said, hey listen, we've been 41:08 chosen to aid Moses and so it says there they "regarded 41:13 themselves as sharing equally with him the burden of 41:17 leadership." So the further assistance of Jethro they felt 41:23 was uncalled for. Aaron had been highly honored already, come on! 41:28 The sons of Aaron are going to be the leaders, priests, the 41:31 rulers. Hadn't he had enough? You know it's almost like modern 41:38 Eves. Eve was given everything in the Garden including the man 41:47 He said you can have everything you want, just don't touch that 41:50 that's for me. And it's like women have, my wife has made out 41:54 a list of things that she's gonna present tomorrow, a list 41:57 of things that women can do in the church and are encouraged 42:00 to do. A huge list, it's beautiful. I hope she reads 42:03 every single one of them because they're amazing. And they also 42:09 want the tree, above all the things they've been given. 42:15 So here it's like, what's going on? Aaron you've been honored 42:20 with so much but regarding them selves are unequally favored. 42:23 They felt that they were entitled to some position 42:26 of more authority. Jehovah came down. He stood in the door of 42:30 Tabernacle. Called Aaron and Miriam. Their prophetic gift was 42:33 not denied. He didn't say, hey listen I did not call you for 42:35 nothing, He called them as prophets, both of them. Moses 42:38 too. He says but listen I've got organization here and if 42:41 you're trying to usurp authority you're wrong. And what happens 42:45 well the wages of sin is punishment or death, right? 42:50 So to Moses, it says He communed with him in a greater way 42:58 than He had communed with others. 44:08 Nadab and Abihu, oh they changed things up, didn't they? 44:13 In fact what they did is they changed something that was 44:16 only symbolic. It was God's command, yes, but it was only 44:20 symbolic. Fire burns stuff, right? So they used different 44:24 fire that will still burn stuff but it wasn't the fire that God 44:28 had chosen to be symbolic of His own divine presence 44:31 and it was sin, ok? I mean if even these little things end up 44:37 with death as a result of sin we ought to be very serious 44:42 about keeping God's organization according to His 44:44 word and His symbolism correct as well. God had explicit 44:50 directions how every part of His service should be conducted. 44:53 That all connected with His sacred worship might be in 44:57 accordance with His holy character. Any deviation 45:01 from the express directions of God in connection with His holy 45:04 service, all of it, with His organization was punishable 45:07 with death. Aaron's sons took the common fire which God did 45:11 not accept and they offered insult to the infinite God 45:15 by presenting this strange fire before Him. The fire did the 45:19 same thing, it burned stuff. No, no, no, no,no. Women can 45:25 preach, yes. But it's not God's direction, Amen. God's direction 45:30 for ordaining is for elders and pastors that are men. 45:33 Don't change it up church. You're gonna mess yourselves up. 45:38 So it says, God consumed them by fire. 45:52 Symbolic. No we can't change stuff up like ordering pizza 45:57 and cola for the Communion Service. Even symbolic things 46:03 are important to God because it stands for His gospel. 46:08 It represents something greater and the salvation of men 46:11 and the deception of men is involved. Serious things. 46:14 Saul. 1 Samuel 10:8 says 46:36 Now quickly please turn to 1 Samuel 13. 46:41 1 Samuel 13, the Bible says in verses 7-14, some of the Hebrews 46:48 went over Jordan to the land of Gilead and as for Saul he was 46:54 yet in Gilgal and all the people followed him trembling. 46:57 He tarried 7 days just as it said in Chapter 10 47:00 like he should, according to the set time that Samuel had 47:03 appointed but Samuel came not to Gilgal according to Saul's 47:08 timing. And the people were scattered from him. So Saul said 47:12 in verse 9, bring hither the burnt offering to me, and peace 47:15 offerings. And he offered the burnt offering. And it came 47:21 to pass as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt 47:23 offering, behold Samuel came. On what day? the 7th day. 47:30 Just as he had said. So here we're seeing impatience 47:35 for God's providence. Impatience for the prophecies to fulfill. 47:38 Impatience for God's mission to be accomplished. Listen, the 47:42 children of Israel are scattering. What are we gonna do 47:44 We gotta do something outside of God's will to bring in your 47:47 or His divine blessing. But no, it was contrary to God's will 47:50 and what happened? It says there in verse 10. Samuel came. 47:54 verse11, What have you done? And Saul said, hey because I saw the 48:00 people were scattered from me and you didn't come according 48:02 to my divine understanding, that the Philistines had 48:06 gathered themselves and I was scared, so, verse12 at the end 48:09 I forced myself therefore and offered a burnt offering, verse13. 48:13 Samuel said to Saul, you have done foolishly. Not only that 48:20 you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God 48:24 which by the way is sin. And it says for now would the Lord 48:30 have established your kingdom upon Israel forever, but now 48:33 your kingdom shall not continue. He said that to Saul because 48:41 he was not following God's organization of the priests 48:46 offering the services, not the king. Well wait a minute 48:50 Saul said, the kingdom holds the Tabernacle, right? I mean I'm 48:56 leader over the whole thing which includes the Tabernacle 48:59 why can't I step down from my high position and why can't I 49:03 do something like what I think? And God says, uh huh that's not 49:07 your business. Your kingdom is being taken from you. Notice 49:11 what happens. Because Saul did not listen to the Word of God 49:15 through His prophet here what happened a few chapters later 49:20 go to chapter 15, and verse22, 23. 49:26 Samuel did not kill, I'm sorry Saul did not kill as Samuel had 49:31 said. So it says in verse22, Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great 49:39 delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the 49:43 voice of the Lord? Behold to obey is better than sacrifice 49:46 and to hearken is better than the fat of rams. 49:50 For rebellion, what you've done Saul, rebellion against my 49:54 specific commands, and God's organization, is as the sin of 49:59 witchcraft and stubbornness is as the iniquity of idolatry. 50:08 Guess what? Saul was saying just like Cain, just like Jeroboam 50:15 just like Miriam and Aaron, just like all the others 50:20 I am God before Him. That's the commandment I think everyone 50:26 of these is breaking above Thou shalt not covet. 50:29 Ok? God has set up His design in the Word of the Lord, amen? 50:36 And if we're contrary to those things we're setting ourselves 50:39 in the temple of God showing ourselves that we are God 50:43 and putting Him down just like it happened in Daniel 8 50:47 with the little horn, or the exceeding great horn. 50:49 What about Uzzah? Uzzah put forth his hand, and we know 50:55 that that didn't work out very well. He was trying to help 50:59 God out. Well anybody would I think. Guess what? David was the 51:06 one at fault there. You see because the Philistines had put 51:09 the ark upon a cart, right? A new cart and they sent it over 51:13 to, I don't remember the names of every place, I'm not even 51:17 going to try. That's what I thought. Bethshemesh 51:20 So they take this ark on a new cart to Bethshemesh 51:23 Guess what? David saw the cart that it was in, in Philistia 51:30 it ends up that he thinks, ok guess what? I know how to move 51:34 the ark. I'll put it on a new cart just like the Philistines 51:36 and I'll take it over to where God wants it to be 51:38 and we're gonna offer offerings and we're gonna send prayers 51:41 we're gonna kneel down, we're gonna have offerings, 51:43 we're gonna have prayers, all these wonderful things that 51:45 God must want. And what happens? The ark rocks back and forth 51:50 and Uzzah trying to help the king and God, he puts forth 51:52 his hands, SNAP! He lost his life. And David was to blame 51:59 why? Because he didn't under- stand history, the way that 52:04 the Bible had laid it out. David was to blame for that one. 52:09 Shame. Uzzah, he could've probably understood the history 52:15 better too and the counsel of God better. 52:18 But I think David was at fault for that one. 52:23 What about Uzziah? Uzziah the king was a leper until his death 52:58 Ask Uzziah what he did. What happened Uzziah? 53:01 The Bible says pretty clearly, 2 Chronicles 26 starting in 16. 53:15 When he was strong his heart was lifted up to destruction. 53:18 For he transgressed against the Lord his God. And he went into 53:23 the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of 53:28 incense. Just like Jeroboam had done, right? Just like Saul 53:32 had done. Not offering incense but offering an offering. 53:35 It says there, he offered incense. Well, verse17 as Uriah 53:40 the priest went in after him he said whoa, whoa, there were 53:42 fourscore or 80 priests with him Valued men, the tough guys 53:47 showed up. King listen, you are not supposed to do this. 53:49 Well the king he didn't want to listen at all. verse18, they 53:52 withstood Uzziah the king and said unto him 'It is not 53:56 in your position Uzziah to burn incense to the Lord but 53:59 the priests it is reserved for, the sons of Aaron that are 54:03 consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary king you're 54:07 for your honor from the Lord your God.' verseerse 19 Uzziah was 54:16 angry. How dare these priests speak to me like that. He had 54:20 a censer in his hand to burn incense and while he was wroth 54:24 with the priests the leprosy everseen rose up in his forehead 54:29 before the priests of the house of the Lord from besides the 54:33 incense altar. As Uriah the chief priest and all the priests 54:37 looked upon him and behold he was leprous in his forehead 54:40 and they thrust him out from there. Yea himself hasted out 54:44 also because the Lord had smitten him. He was a leper 54:48 unto the day of his death. I tell you this is serious 54:53 business. We can't just change up God's design in His church 54:57 which still represents His symbolic, beautiful gospel 55:01 and think we can get away with it. It leads to Assyria 55:05 it leads to Babylon, it leads to destruction. It leads to 55:08 scattering. It leads to the destruction of God's people. 55:12 It leads to the diverseision of His church. You follow the story 55:16 of Daverseid. I preached about that not too long ago when it 55:18 leads to the destruction of priesthood, Daverseid eating the 55:22 shewbread. You find when he did that, that ended up being the 55:27 death of the priest, it ended up being the death of all 80 55:31 folk that wore the linen that day. And it was the destruction 55:34 of the entire city of Nob including women, men 55:38 and children. I think that was wrong moversee. 55:45 Trying to change up God's organization, and His symbolism 55:50 His liturgical matters. It is sin. It is wrong. And I plead 55:55 with my church, do not do this. 56:00 We talked about Cain, we talked about Gideon, we talked about 56:05 Jeroboam, we talked about Korah. We talked about Miriam. 56:11 We talked about Nadab and Abihu. We talked about Saul 56:25 9 or 10 stories. I'm gonna haversee to count it again if I want to 56:28 but I'm not going to. 9 or 10 stories from the Scriptures 56:32 themselversees that show that if we as God's people 56:37 take lightly His organization, His specified desires in His 56:42 holy word, and everseen the symbolism that represents 56:46 the Gospel, we will lead our selversees and others into Babylon 56:52 But my Bible says in Reverseelation 18:4, Come out of Babylon 56:57 my people that you be not partakers of her sins. 57:02 And that you are not consumed by her plagues. 57:05 It says from Life Sketches of E.G. White, pg.196, 1902 57:26 May the God of Heaverseen bless my church. I am a Severseenth-Day 57:30 Adverseentist because they follow the Bible. May God bless 57:35 my church with blessings from on high rather than 57:40 the plagues coming upon Babylon. |
Revised 2015-10-29