Numbers Study - 2025-09-17

Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.

If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.

Thank you for joining us today.

Number 16 is where we're at, and let me just pray over us real quick. Lord, thank

you so much for being good to us. Thank you for your word. Thank you in the midst

of hardship, in the midst of the trials that life brings, in the midst of

everything that's going on in our own society, but also just in our own personal

lives. You meet us even in a chapter in the Old Testament that can sometimes be

overlooked. We just pray that your spirit would lead us tonight to a place of

repentance, a place of knowing you more, loving you more, and seeing your

Son Jesus here tonight. So just thank you in Jesus' name, amen.

Alright, so I'm gonna start by just reading, because it's kind of a long

chapter. We're in chapter 16 of Numbers, if you miss that. It's kind of a long

chapter, but there's so much, there's so much gospel in here. It's funny, two

weeks ago is whenever I was asked to teach tonight, and I was looking at the

chapter and I was just like, alright, Lord, what do I do with this? Because it's just kind of like, if

you've already read the chapter ahead of time, you kind of already know, like it's

just this wacky story that happens, and for like four days I was preparing and

just praying and like, Lord, I don't know what to teach here. I don't know how do

we apply this to our current lives, because it's just a dishonor to the

Word, if we're just reading it as history instead of application as well. It's both.

And so, just last week though, the Lord just revealed so many things, and so he was

just so good in just giving me fresh eyes for this, and I say that because

chapter 16 is just, it's the gospel of Jesus. That's what it is. And not just

the joy in salvation, but the sorrow in rebellion. So we're gonna start reading

in verse 1. Now Korah, the son of Ishar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Dathan and

Ibaram, the son of Eliab, and on the son of Palath, the son of Reuben, took men,

and they rose up before Moses with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs

of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. They assembled

themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, You have

gone too far, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the

Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the

Lord? So Korah is the leader of this rebellious group that's coming up

against Moses, the appointed leader of Israel, pointed not by man, not by himself,

but by God. And in fact, Moses wanted nothing to do with his position. We look

way back in the previous books, and we actually see God saying, Moses, I want

you to go and lead the people. And Moses is saying, please send somebody else. And

yet here he is being accused of taking the authority for himself, trying to take

power and influence and the might of this role that he has as the people's

leader. And he says, every one of us is holy. Why are you being self-righteous,

Moses? We're all on the same playing field. Why are you putting yourself in

this role above us? And the first note there is just to recognize that pride,

because it's going to be obvious, I'll just put it plainly, it's going to be so

obvious what the motives are of Korah and these men. It's not because they

think that Moses is doing a poor job, it's not because they think that they're

better men than Moses, it's not because they see any fault in Moses, it's because

they want power, they want authority, and they're filled with pride and selfish

ambition. And so they're accusing him of taking power instead of being in

submission to the Lord. And notice that 250 chiefs of the congregation in verse

2, 250 chiefs of the congregation chosen from the assembly, well-known men, followed

along. Another application point for us right there, if you're not rooted in the

Lord, if you're not rooted in his will and his design, in here it's a design

of hierarchy and authority, if you're not rooted in submission and obedience to

the Lord, even if you are well-established, even if you are well-liked

and appointed by men, it is easy to be misled by wicked people. And so are we

following after voices of man or are we following after the voice of the Lord?

Because right here, 250 well-known, established, appointed people from the

people chose to follow after the voice of a man, not after the voice of the Lord,

not to live in submission and obedience to the Lord. And I just want to really

quick just not back up to the last chapter but just summarize in slight of

where we're at is they were all of this Old Testament of Exodus and

Numbers is all leading the people out of Egypt to a promised land and in the

last few chapters, if you've been here, you saw that they were denied that promised

land, not because God is just punishing them for the sake of punishing them but

because they chose to rebel and live in fear and walk in fear, not encourage and

obedience to the Lord. Even though Caleb and Joshua said, look, there are giants

in the land that God promised, but God, but God is greater, but God is bigger

than any giant. And so because of their rebellious hearts and because of their

their complaining spirits, the Lord had to discipline them. Enough was enough. And

so now we are in this position where Korah's promised land is gone. The joy

and the pleasures of the hope of the future are gone. And so he says, I'm gonna

take what I have then, which I can at least get power and authority here with

this people. And so that's where he ends up. And these other men are deceived by

him. And then where did we stop there? In verse three, they have assembled. Oh, I'm

sorry. Verse four, when Moses heard it, he fell on his face. Notice that Korah is

accusing him of pride and selfishness, yet the first response he has is humility.

He literally falls on his face. And it's not because he's falling on his face

before these men, but he's falling on his face before God Almighty and asking for

intercession. He's asking for the Lord to intercede and do something here

because he can see the wickedness in the hearts of these men. And so it says

that Moses fell to his face, and he said to Korah and all in 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. Do this. Take censors,

Korah and all his company, put fire in them and put incense on them before the

Lord tomorrow. And the man who the Lord chooses shall be the Holy One. You have

gone too far, sons of Levi. And Moses said to Korah, here 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 that 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? Just a context to who Korah is and who these

men are. They're in the Levitical family, which means their

position in the congregation of the people of Israel was to take care of and

to carry the holy sacraments of the Lord. So their job was to carry the Ark of the

Covenant, their job was to carry the golden lampstands, everything that was in

the holy place. It was their job to go into the presence of the Lord and carry

these things every time the Lord was having them move their camp. And Moses is

rebuking them right in this moment because he can see that their heart is

a heart of pride, not a heart of desire for the goodness of the people. And he's

seeing that isn't it enough for you to actually get to be in the presence of

the Lord and carry his holy things. You're ministering to his people already

by being in that place. God chose you for something and now you're seeing somebody

else's calling and going after that instead. It is so easy to be discontent

with the calling that God has for our life and look at somebody else's grass

and say the grass is greener over there, I want that ministry, I want that calling

in my life. When God is telling you if your grass isn't green, start watering it

with the Holy Spirit and with the Word of God, right? Because wherever God has

called us to is the best place for us. It will have the best life outcome for

us if we stay in the calling that God has for us instead of chasing after the

calling that God gave somebody else. And here they are chasing after the calling

of Aaron. Aaron was the, we could say, the most important person in Israel

right now. He was the high priest. It was his job to intercede on behalf of

the people. It was his job to go and be with the Lord in his presence in the

holy of holy places. And Korah didn't see that as a place of humility, but he saw

it as a place of power and authority and he wanted that. And so he's being

rebuked. Isn't what you have good enough? Now you want to steal somebody else's

calling? I also just want to point out the test that Moses declared. Let's do

this test. If you really think that everyone here is set apart for this, if

we're all on the same playing field, if God didn't call me, but instead we can

all just take this position of holiness, this position of being the high priest,

then let's do this test. Let's take this incense. Let's go stand before the Lord

God Almighty and let him tell us, I chose you. When you're walking in the calling

God has for you, when you're walking in confidence that you're being obedient

and humble to the Lord, you can say, let's go stand in his presence and

find out because you're confident that you're being obedient. You're confident

that you're living a life of humility, not pride. And that's just the picture of

Moses here is a life of humility. I just don't want to miss that. The picture of

Moses here is a life of humility. Every single time something happens and it's

not just in this chapter, it's in almost every chapter before. When God

speaks, Moses doesn't stand up. He falls to his face and they didn't have clean

carpets. They had dirt floors. So he's willing to go before the Lord and say,

Lord, you tell us who is holy because he can see the deceit and the pride in the

heart of Korah and he knows the obedience and humility in his own. They

wanted to be lifted up, but the only way to be lifted up is through humility. In

1 Peter chapter 5 verse 6 it says, humble yourself therefore before the

mighty hand of God and at the proper time he, God, will exalt you. If you want

to live a life of exaltation and to be exalted is to have your name praised. So

if you want your name praised by God, you don't go and achieve it. You don't go in

and do amazing things and preach amazing sermons and make sure that you got the

most people saved. You humble yourself before the mighty hand of God. We see

the same thing in James chapter 4 verse 10. Humble yourself before God and he

will exalt you. He will lift you up. Korah and his group of men wanted the

exaltation without the life of repentant humility. But it doesn't work that way.

You can't get the exaltation if you're not humbling yourself before the Lord.

And verse 12 will continue, Moses sent to call Dathan and Biberam the sons of

Heliab and they said, we will not come up. Is it a small thing that you have brought

us up out of the land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness?

That you must also make yourself a prince over us? Moreover, you have not brought

us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of the

field and vineyards? Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.

First, I just want to note that last, will you put out the eyes of these men is such

a confusing sentence. I read that and I was like, what are you talking about?

I don't typically read from the message Bible but it really has, it just explains

it and it just says, we're not blind. We can see the mess that we're in. Do you

really think that we're blind and we can't see that the promised land that you

took us out of slavery to go to isn't here? You see, they're walking in the

sin as quite literally as old as time, as old as the garden. We're here because

of you, not because of me. It's your fault. They're unwilling to repent. This is

something that just marks the people of Israel, a non-repentive heart. God, time

and time again, showed them mercy upon mercy upon mercy. It says in his

book, and in the past, they would sin, Moses would be humble and repent for them,

and it actually says in a chapter in Exodus that the Lord turned his wrath

away from them because of Moses pleading. But at some point, at some point in life,

it doesn't matter if the pastor, it doesn't matter if the person leading you

is repentant or not. If you are not living a life of repentance, there has to be

judgment. There has to be discipline and punishment, and that's where we've come to

where God said, Moses, you're doing great, you're being humble, but I have to

punish them because they are continuing to walk in pride and not humility.

They're continuing to turn from me, not to me. They're continuing to not repent.

I can't keep allowing this. And here, again, it's just so evident what their

heart motive is, is they don't want to repent, even here. What if they did?

What if instead of rebelling, instead of pointing all the blame at their leader,

what if the entire congregation of Israel said, Lord, we should not have complained?

That was wrong. We should not have been in fear when you told us, take courage.

I would like to believe that the Lord would have had mercy because he did in

every single book of the Bible leading up to this, and he does in every single

book of the Bible pass this.

But unfortunately, they did not choose repentance still. Verse 16, and Moses

said to Korah, be present. So this is now the next day, the day of the test.

Moses said to Korah, be present you and all your company before the Lord, you

and Aaron tomorrow, and let every one of you take a sensor and put incense on

it. And every one of you bring before the Lord his sensor, 250 sensors, you

also and Aaron, each of his sensors. So every man took a sensor and put fire in

them and laid incense on them and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting

with Moses and Aaron. Then Korah assembled all the congregation against them at

the entrance.

Do you notice that when humble people rebuke, they do it in private one on one.

But when people that want others to see how great they are, they make a loud

show. They bring out an audience. Watch this. Look how cool I am. Look how

authoritative I am. Look, I've got 250 of your most prized leaders all

watching me on my side. Everyone come watch this.

And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron saying, separate yourself from among

this congregation that I may consume them in a moment.

And they fell on their faces. Surprise, surprise. We see Moses's response

once again.

They fell on their faces. Oh God, the God of the spirit of all flesh shall

one man's sin and will you be angry with all the people? And the Lord spoke

to Moses saying, say to the people, get away from the dwelling of Korah,

Dathan and Ibaram.

Notice how gracious Moses is to the sin of one man, even though 250 other

men are sinning right along with him.

Then Moses rose up, went to Dathan and Ibaram 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. So they got away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan and

Ibaram and Dathan and Ibaram 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 things.

If these men die as all men die, meaning if they die of old age, they die of

disease, they die just like any of us would die, then this wasn't the

Lord. This was just 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. Just want to highlight that, despise the Lord. We'll come back to

that. As soon as he had finished speaking, the ground under them split

apart. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them in it with their

households, all the people who belong to Korah and all their goods. So they and

all the people that belong to them went down alive into Sheol and the earth

closed over them and they perished from the midst of the assembly. And all who

were around them fled at their cry for they said, lest the earth swallow us

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

There's a lot of application in here. The first thing to note

is just to look at the mercy of God through the humility of Moses, that he

actually allows the people to back off, to get away from what is about to

happen. But notice that it said, if you even touch their belongings, then you're

going to have the same fate as them. So flee, get away from them. And I think

one major application to us, one, don't live in rebellion and do not despise

the Lord because there is judgment coming and that is the gospel. There is

judgment that will come upon everybody in the end of time. But also, if you live a

life that is in despising the Lord, the earth will swallow you up. We are living

in a society with record high suicide, record high anxiety and depression, record

high divorce rates. The earth is swallowing up sinful people. If you despise

the Lord, the earth will swallow you up. The earth in all its sinful ways will

devour us, if we do not walk towards the Lord. The other point though, who are we

spending our time with? Who are we listening to, looking to, letting lead us?

Because it says that all 250 men were consumed by fire from the Lord, just for

going along with what Korah was doing. Nowhere in this chapter does it say they

said a word, but their action and their posture was following after someone in

rebellion. I think I already said it, but whoever is leading you spiritually,

whether that's a pastor or someone that's discipling you, their righteousness does

not save you. We have to walk in discernment ourselves and discern if the

people that we're listening to and following are a representation of Jesus or

a representation of the world. Paul said follow me, but the next sentence was as

I follow Jesus. So are we following representations of Jesus or are we

following representations of sin? Or better yet, are we following Jesus?

Don't be found reaching for sinful people's things. Don't even want what

they have to offer. They might have all the goods, all the power and authority

from looks. Don't even attempt to chase after those things, because even that

you'll be found in the same fate as them. Then in 36 it says, then the Lord spoke

to Moses saying, tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take up the sensors

out of the blaze, then scatter the fire far and wide, for they have become holy.

As for the censer of these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, let

them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they offered

them for the Lord and they became holy. Thus they shall be assigned to the people

of Israel. So they're holding these metal, I couldn't find a picture of what in the

world a censer is. I'm sure they exist out there, but I'm guessing it's just like

a metal like torch, because I had to hold fire. And those, notice I think it

just said it in verse 39, when consumed by the fire of the Lord were made holy. The

men weren't, they weren't found holy at all, they were completely consumed,

incinerated, gone. They are dust on the ground, but the thing that they were

holding was made holy. When the fire from the Lord tests you in this life, will you

be found holy, or will you be consumed completely? In the New Testament it

talks about how testing is like fire, like gold, how it is meant to refine it.

But on that final day of judgment, when we're sitting before the seat of the

Lord, and his judgment comes, and the fire goes past us and consumes all our

flesh, are we going to be found standing there still, holy, before the Lord? How

did you do that? We're gonna get to that in just a few verses. Verse 41,

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 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 the congregation. Any

guesses on Moses' response? Fell on his face, and Moses said to Aaron, take your

sensor and put fire on it from off the altar and lay incense on it and carry

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

meeting, when the plague was stopped.

We can choose rebellion and be consumed by this world, both figuratively, I pray

that people walking in sin, and when I am not walking in repentance, I can tell you

I am consumed with my own anxieties. But all it takes is a moment of repentance.

But that's in this life. And there's a day that we're going to stand before the

seat of the Lord, and judgment is going to come, and we have to be found holy to

be found standing there. And Aaron shows us how to be found holy. Only through the

role of the high priest, Aaron is the representation, I'll just put it clearly,

Aaron is the representation of Jesus Christ. He is a representation of the

high priest, the final high priest, Jesus, who came, died on the cross for

us, so that we could have, what is the word here? Atonement. Aaron went and stood

in between the living and the dead. I can almost picture his hands out with both

censors, one hand here, one hand here, just like Jesus on the cross. And it is only through that

Atonement that when judgment comes and consumes us, we can be made holy.

Two weeks ago, I didn't see the gospel. I just saw a crazy story of some rebellious

men falling into a sinkhole. But today I look at number 16, and all I can think,

this is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The good news that if you live in repentance

to the Lord, you can be made holy. But if you walk in rebellion, and that word that I

wanted us to go back to in verse 30, the very last sentence, these men despised the

Lord. And if you despise the Lord, you will be consumed by the world. This friend

that I mentioned earlier, right now is just running from the Lord. And she's

telling us how anxious she is, and she's telling us how depressed she is. And

she's telling us how if she stops working for just a day, she's filled with

fear. Because if you despise the Lord, you will be consumed by your sin. But if

you repent, and you turn to Jesus, there's hope. There's eternity of holiness waiting

for you. Let's pray. Lord, we just thank you for your word. Thank you that the

gospel of your Son Jesus is here. Thousands of years before he even walked

the earth, his image was clear and evident right here. To be in your presence

is to be in repentance. And to be in pride is to walk in judgment, to be

consumed. Lord, help us not to be consumed, but to walk in repentance. Lord, in

whatever way that means for us tonight, whether that's repentance from big sins,

that's repentance from little sins. It's all the same to you. You just want us to

be present with you. You love us so much. You wanted your people to be present

with you. But Lord, you don't allow rebellion to go on and on and on. So Lord,

I just thank you for your goodness. Thank you that you sent your Son Jesus

so that we can have atonement, so that you can stand between death and life

and give us life when we put our faith in you. God, I just pray that you'd be

with us right now as we break into a small group and just pray and spend time

discussing your word. Amen. All right, so we're not gonna break into multiple

groups. We're just gonna break into one group. And like I said earlier, I didn't

get a chance to print anything off, but I want us just to go over two questions,

which is what and how. What do we think this chapter is here for? And how do we

then apply this to our life today?

Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church as we praise God and discuss His

Word. Don't forget to join us for worship lives Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. Eastern

on YouTube. Be blessed and have a great day!

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