Challenging God's Authority

[MUSIC] Let my yes be yes to you, oh Lord, let my no be no. To the things of this world, live our eyes or from. If I stand there all, I am leaning on the everlasting bones. What a fellowship, what a joy divine. What a priceless gift, God, I'm yours and you are mine. Let my restless hope be still and no. I am leaning on your everlasting arms. The morning sun, and mercy you to the evening stars. Every promise is true as I walk this world. I feel by you, I am leaning on your everlasting arms. What a fellowship, what a joy divine. What a priceless gift, God, I'm yours and you are mine. Let my restless hope be still and no. I am leaning on your everlasting arms. The more I'm leaning, the more I'm flying. Feels less like dying, boy like living, forever and ever. The more I'm leaning, the more I'm flying. Feels less like dying, boy like living, forever and ever. The more I'm leaning, the more I'm flying. Feels less like dying, boy like living, forever and ever. Living on her. What a fellowship, what a joy divine. What a priceless gift, God, I'm yours and you are mine. Let my restless hope be still and no. I am leaning on your everlasting arms. What a fellowship, what a joy divine. What a priceless gift, God, I'm yours and you are mine. Let my restless hope be still and no. I am leaning on your everlasting arms.

I am leaning on your everlasting arms. Don't go for the doors and make way the king is in the room. The king is in the room. We expect them for strong homes to break. It's getting over to you, we know what you can do. We're not seeing lives change, it's all safe. We're all being hearts we knew. ♪ For we are on our way ♪ ♪ That King is in the road ♪ ♪ 'Cause freedom and life ain't where He plays ♪ ♪ Jesus we bow ♪ ♪ Won't we do ♪ ♪ We're laying down ♪ ♪ All of our town ♪ ♪ That King is in the road ♪ ♪ Don't see all that God lives run free ♪ ♪ He's staring down the walls ♪ ♪ He's staring down the walls ♪ ♪ There's rage in the power we see ♪ ♪ The name of the wall ♪ ♪ Your name of the wall ♪ ♪ That King is in the road ♪ ♪ For we are on our way ♪ ♪ That King is in the road ♪ ♪ 'Cause freedom and life ain't where He plays ♪ ♪ Jesus we bow ♪ ♪ Won't we do ♪ ♪ We're laying down ♪ ♪ We're all of our town ♪ ♪ That King is in the road ♪

♪ We're feeling nice to flee ♪ ♪ We're feeling nice to flee ♪ ♪ We're feeling nice to flee ♪ ♪ We're feeling nice to flee ♪ ♪ We're feeling nice to flee ♪ ♪ We're feeling nice to flee ♪ ♪ We're feeling nice to flee ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ We're feeling nice to flee ♪ ♪ We're feeling nice to flee ♪ ♪ We're feeling nice to flee ♪ ♪ We're feeling nice to flee ♪ ♪ We're feeling nice to flee ♪ ♪ We're feeling nice to flee ♪ ♪ We're feeling nice to flee ♪ ♪ The King is in the road ♪ ♪ For we are feeling cold in our part of grace ♪ ♪ That King is in the road ♪ ♪ We're feeling nice to flee ♪ ♪ Jesus, we bow ♪ ♪ Always in the air ♪ ♪ We're laying down ♪ ♪ All of our town ♪ ♪ That King is in the road ♪ (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ It is freedom ♪ ♪ You're my refuge and strength ♪ ♪ We are the glass of wasted rain ♪ ♪ That it is freedom ♪

♪ You provide every need ♪ ♪ And everywhere that you will lead ♪ ♪ You will sustain ♪ ♪ You'll keep your promises ♪ ♪ For goodness never ends ♪ ♪ From generation to generation ♪ ♪ You keep your power within ♪ ♪ We see your faithfulness ♪ ♪ From generation to generation ♪ ♪ For goodness, regent ♪ ♪ We're redeemed by your blood ♪ ♪ All the others pass away from this time ♪ ♪ For goodness, regent ♪ ♪ God of power, oh my God ♪ ♪ The spirit of the living ♪ ♪ God of love ♪ ♪ You keep your promises ♪ ♪ For goodness never ends ♪ ♪ We keep the power, we keep the power, we keep the faithfulness ♪ ♪ From generation to generation ♪ Ladies and gentlemen, we will trust you and believe as it's written like me. You alone will be a good foundation. What you've spoken is enough. It's the ground we're setting for. You are God and we will not be shamed. We will trust you and believe as it's written like me. You alone will be a good foundation. What you've spoken is enough. It's the ground we're setting for. You are God and we will not be shamed.

You think you promise it. You're good, it's heaven. From generation to generation. You think you promise it. We see you pay for this. From generation to generation. From generation to generation. From generation to generation. We're in a series called Unbelieving Believers and we're going through looking at some of the high points in the book of Numbers and today we find ourselves in Numbers 16 such an important chapter of Scripture as we read about this showdown between Moses and Cora really between Holy God and sinful man. Now Cora is mentioned in the very second to the last book of the New Testament, the book of Jude it remembers this guy and Jude says woe to them for they have gone the way of Cain and for pay they have rushed headlong into the era of Balaam. We're going to read about Balaam in the book of Numbers and perished in the rebellion of Cora. First Corinthians chapter 10 says these things happen to those Old Testament people as an example to us that we should not crave evil things as they craved. Cora craved the priesthood. He craved for something that God was not going to give to him that God did not have for him and he rebelled against God. Unless you think rebellion is a minor sin the Bible says in 1 Samuel chapter 15 verse 23 for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and in support nation is as iniquity and idolatry. It's a terrible horrible sin to rebel against God, his word, his will and his ways. So we want to listen extra close today because here's the reality. Rebellion is something that is never far away from your heart and my heart. Rebellion knocks at the door constantly. Do it your way. Hey we have commercials that say hey have it your way.

Go to Burger King and have it your way. You deserve a break today. All those things that really play on that it's all about me. One of the things that the Bible says in the last days there will be difficult times for men will be lovers of self lovers of money. So let's learn from this showdown so that hopefully we say, hey, I don't want to go in the direction and walk in the footsteps of Cora because he perished and he perished in a way that speaks to everyone in every generation. This is what God thinks about the sin of rebellion. The ground opened up and swallowed up Cora and his cohorts and swallowed him up whole and then shut over there. I was tempted to call this sermon, not challenging God's authority, but I feel the earth move under my feet. But I didn't think that was a good title for the seriousness of this situation. Numbers chapter 16, I'll begin reading in verse 1. Now Cora, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and on the son of Pelth, sons of Ruben took action. Ruben was one of the first sons of Jacob and Levi was one of the sons of Jacob. And so they take them all the way back to the tribes. And it says they rose up before Moses together with some of the sons of Israel, 250 leaders of the congregation chosen in the assembly, men of renown. They assembled together against Moses and Aaron and said to them, "You have gone far enough for all the congregation are holy. Every one of them and the Lord is in their midst." So why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord? When Moses heard this, he fell on his face. And he spoke to Cora and to all his company saying, "Tomorrow morning, the Lord will show who is his and who is holy and will bring him near to himself. Even the one whom he will choose, he will bring near to himself. Do this, take senses for yourself, Cora, and all your company and put fire in them and

lay incense upon them in the presence of the Lord tomorrow, and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the one who is holy. You have gone far enough. You sons of Levi." Three lessons that we want to look at today from this very important passage of Scripture, lessons to teach us about rebellion. First of all, rebellion has telltale signs. It has distinguishing marks. And the poster child for rebellion and the leader of the rebellion that we read about here that involved a lot of people, 250 men of renown, is Cora. You say, "Well, who is Cora?" Cora is the cousin of Moses and Aaron. And to understand what is going on here, it helps to understand the family tree. So I have a graphic that shows the family tree. So you have Levi, one of the sons of Jacob, one of the 12 tribes. And the tribe of Levi was the tribe that was set aside for the things of the Lord. And the Levites were involved in the tabernacle service, and then when the tabernacle became a temple, then it was temple service. And in the tribe of Levi, he had three sons. He had Gershan, Kohath, and Marari. And they became the three branches of the Levites. And Kohath had sons. And one of those sons was Amoram, and Amoram had three kids, Miriam and Aaron and Moses. And then Ishar, Amoram's brother, he had Cora. So Cora is first cousins with Moses and Aaron and Miriam. Well, here's the thing that made him so mad. You have the Levites, and they're doing the service of the Lord, and then you have Aaron and his sons, and they were designated as the priests. All priests are Levites, but not all Levites are priests. To be a Levite, you just had to show your lineage goes back to Levi.

But to be a priest, you had to be in the lineage of Aaron. And you're going to see that Cora doesn't like where he is. He sees what Moses and Aaron have, and he says, "Why don't I have what you have?" Now, rebellion has telltale signs. What are the signs? Well, first of all, a rebel is disgruntled and disapproving of leadership. And Korah didn't like what was going on at all. I mean, they were in the wilderness and they're gonna be in the wilderness for a long time as we studied last week when they had an opportunity to go into the land of promise they didn't do it. And so God says, you're gonna wander around in the wilderness for 40 years until all of you are dead and your children are gonna go take the land. And so here they are. It's not fun in the wilderness. As I told you before, don't think wilderness sure would forest think wilderness the desert. It's rocks and sand, it's hot. And so he doesn't like the way Moses is leading. He is disgruntled and disapproving. I had to look up the word disgruntled. You know, we use that word sometimes disgruntled. You never ever hear somebody talk about being gruntled. You know, it's always, you're always disgruntled. Well, Korah is very disgruntled. That word means unhappy, dissatisfied, resentful. It doesn't like the way things are taking place in the camp. He's upset with Moses, he's upset with Aaron.

He thinks they're exalting themselves above all of God's people. So a rebel is disgruntled and disapproving of leadership. Secondly, a rebel is convinced he is in the right. And Korah was so convinced that he was in the right. This is wrong. What is happening is wrong. Moses and Aaron are leading us who gave them that position. Well, God did as we're going to see, but he doesn't like it. And he says, hey, we're all holy, every single one of us. And so we need to be involved in this leadership thing. And who designated Aaron as the priest? Why do I have this position over here where I take care of the temple furnishings, but he gets to be the priest. He doesn't like the arrangement. And he blames Moses and Aaron not realizing God is the one who set that up. So a rebel is convinced that he is in the right. Listen to what number 16, three says in the easy-to-read version. They came as a group, Korah and the 250, and Nathan and Abraham. They came as a group to speak against Moses and Aaron and said, you have gone too far, you are wrong. All the Israelites are holy. The Lord still lives among them. You are making yourselves more important than the rest of the Lord's people. You have exalted yourselves above the assembly of the Lord. You are walking around Moses and Aaron like you're high and mighty. Now we read in Numbers chapter 12 that Moses was the most

humble man on the face of the earth. So Korah is accusing Moses of being prideful. He's accusing Moses of what's in his own heart, pride. And he says, you are wrong, I am right. We are all holy, yet you're exalting yourself above us. Well, that's telltale sign of a rebel. Think he's in the right. Thirdly, a rebel is ungrateful for what he has been given. Totally ungrateful. Now when Moses responds to them and he says, you are wrong, Moses turns it back on him and says, you've gone far enough. Korah, he says, you're in the wrong, you sons of Levi. Then Moses said to Korah, here now you sons of Levi, is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the congregation of Israel to bring you near to himself, to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister to them and that he has brought you near Korah and all your brother sons of Levi with you. Are you seeking for the priesthood also? Therefore you and all your company are gathered together against the Lord. But as for Aaron, who is he that you grumble against him? Now what is he talking about? Okay, go back to our chart. And so here are the sons of Levi and here were their assignments. You had Gershan and Gershan was in charge of his descendants, the Gershanites.

They were in charge of all the woven materials for the temple and so for the tent coverings from the holy place, they were in charge of all that, all the outside woven materials. And then you had the Mararis, they were involved with the wooden parts, the tent poles and things like that, because God is constantly moving in the wilderness. Every time the cloud moves or the cloud by day, the pillar by fire, when that would move, then they would have to pick everything up and move it. And those guys were in charge of moving the tabernacle. And then you had the sons of Izzar, the Kohathites, and they were in charge of the vessels. You say, "Where are the vessels?" Well, you have different pieces of furniture there. You have the big altar, and then you have the bronze labor, the wash basin, and then you have inside and the holy place, you have the lamp stand, and you have the table of show bread, and you have the altar of incense. And then on the other side of the veil of the temple, you have the ark of the covenant. We have a picture of this. There's the inside of the ark of the covenant, and you see some of that furniture. Well, Cora was involved when the priests would come in, and they would cover those pieces of furniture, then Cora and his descendants, they would move it

from one place to the other. So they were handling, through poles and things, but they were handling the furniture, the vessels. Of the three branches of the Levites, theirs was the most close to the things of God. Now, a Levite couldn't go into the holy place, only the priest could. A Levite couldn't offer sacrifices, only the priest could. And Cora wasn't satisfied with just his job, just being a Levite. He wanted to be a priest. He was envious of what Aaron got to do. Why do you get to be a priest, and we don't get to be a priest? Well, because that's the way God set it up. A rebel is ungrateful for what he has been given. It's never enough. Cora wanted the priesthood, and then the fourth sign, a rebel is bitter over present circumstances. This is bitter, bitterness and rebellion go hand in hand. Look what it says in verse 12, "Then Moses sent a summons to Nathan and a bearum, the sons of Eliab, they were Rubenites, but they said, 'We will not come up.' It is not enough that you have brought us out of a land flowing with milk and honey to have us die in the wilderness, but that you would also lord it over us. Indeed, you have not brought us

into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor have you given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Would you put out the eyes of these men? Are you trying to pull the wool over our eyes? We will not come up. Then Moses became very angry and said to the Lord, do not regard their offering. I have not taken a single donkey from them, nor have I done harm to any one of them." So here's their beef. Hey, you told us that you were gonna take us into a land flowing with milk and honey. Guess what? Here's the deal. Egypt was the land flowing with milk and honey. You took us out of the land flowing with milk and honey. We're not in a land flowing with milk and honey. Look around you, Moses. All there is here are rocks and sand. And so you lied to us and you're continuing to lie to us and our eyes don't deceive us. So quit trying to pull the wool over our eyes because this place stinks and this is where you brought us. That's the attitude there and it's pretty amazing. You were slaves in Egypt and you call it the land flowing with milk and honey. You build it up like it's this nirvana. Oh, we remember Egypt, Egypt was so wonderful. Egypt is where you made straw or bricks without straw. Egypt is where you got beaten on a regular basis.

Egypt is the place of slavery. I don't know why you think it's such a great place. It wasn't a great place at all. Egypt is where you were under the thumb of Pharaoh. And if he got mad at you, you'd be wiped out just like that. But the rebel is bitter over present circumstances. And that's the way it was. And Cora is the ring leader of the rebellion. Now Cora is quite the picture of the devil. That's exactly the way the devil was. The devil was given, he wasn't made the devil. And he was the most beautiful angel that God created. He was the guardian angel Ezekiel 28 of God. And he was also, there was some musical quality about Lucifer's makeup because he has settings and sockets, which are like pipes, musical pipes. And so most Bible scholars believe there was something musical about him. And so when he would lead the angels to worship God, the worship would come as he led, would go through him in a beautiful expression to the Lord. And you would think that he would be grateful for that, but he wasn't grateful. He said, I'm too beautiful, I'm too wise, I'm too special. This worship that's coming through me should come to me. And he says in Isaiah 14, I guess, let me tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna exalt my throne above the stars of heaven. I will make myself like the most high. That's exactly what Cora is doing.

And just as Lucifer went out and got a third of the angels to follow him, Cora goes out and gets 250 men of renown, top notch leaders in Israel to follow him, along with Dathan and Abiram and this guy named On. Rebellion has telltale signs. And bitterness is one of the telltale signs. The Bible says in Hebrews, chapters 12, verse 15, see to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and that by it, many be defiled. You know, when you get bitter, it doesn't just stay with you. You have to share it. And you have to get people on the team because you're bitter at this person or that person or this situation or that situation and you're gonna have meetings. Come to my house where we can share our bitterness. And I can tell you how bad a leader Moses is and how sorry a dog Aaron is. You don't know them like I know them. They're my cousins, they stink. That's the attitude that's there. And he gets people on board with him. Rebellion has telltale signs. Secondly, lesson number two, rebellion does not understand the core issue. What's the core issue? Well, they are grumbling and speaking ill of Moses and Aaron and Moses puts it in perspective, verse 11. Therefore, you and all your company are gathered together

against the Lord. But as for Aaron, who is he that you grumble against him? Aaron's a nothing nobody. You're grumbling against the Lord. You're contending with the Lord. You're challenging God's authority. God set this up. We didn't set it up, God did. And you are gathered together against him. Now rebellion doesn't understand the core issue and what is the core issue? All authority is from God. All authority is from God. Romans chapter 13, verse one. Every person is to be in subjection, is to submit himself, herself, to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from God and those which exist are established by God. God establishes authority, authority in the home. Husband is the head of the wife. Children obey your parents and the Lord for this is right. He establishes authority in the church and the pastor is the leader of the church under the Lord. He establishes authority in schools. You have a teacher, you have a principal, you have administrators, they are authority figures. He establishes authority on the team. You have this person called a coach. He determines who plays.

And you have authority known as law enforcement. They're the authority, they pull you over. You're not the authority, they're the authority. You have authority in the courts. You have authority in government and with people in leadership positions in the government. God sets up authority and he says all authority is from God. So Cora was missing out on the fact that well I'm mad at the way things are but who set this up? Not Moses, not Aaron, God. So rebelling against authority is rebelling against God. We're not to do that, to rebel against authority. And the Bible makes it very clear what was going on in number 16 was a challenge gunfight at okay corral calls him out to this showdown. And we're going to see how that works, but just jumping ahead a little bit, verse 28. Moses said, "By this you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these deeds. For this is not my doing. You're not fighting me. You're fighting God in the way he set it up. If these men die the death of all men, or if they suffer the fate of all men, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord brings about an entirely new thing, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that is theirs, and they descend alive into she-hole, then you will understand that these men have spurned the Lord. They've despised the Lord. They've held the Lord in contempt. They said in their hearts, we don't like the way the Lord does things. That's the core issue. Rebelling against authority is rebelling against God. Now there's some caveats to this, caveats. We can humbly appeal to authority. You know, when you put yourself under authority, you willingly put yourself under authority, and you say, "Okay, God, you've set this up." Well, I can appeal to authority if authority's asking me to do something that I don't understand or that I don't think is right. I can go to the authority and say, "Hey, wait a minute. Can I ask a question here?" And you say, "Where is that in Scripture?" Daniel chapter 2.

Nebuchadnezzar gets mad at all his wise men, and he orders them all dead. Remember, he had a dream, and he said, "I want you guys to interpret the dream, but I'm not going to tell you the dream. You tell me the dream, and then you give me its interpretation." They said, "Well, how can we do that? Tell us the dream, and then we'll give you the interpretation." He said, "No, I'm not going to give you the dream. You give me the dream and the interpretation, and then I'll know if you're really shooting straight with me." And they said, "Well, nobody, no wise men could do that." And he said, "Then I'm killing all of you guys." Well, Daniel and his friend, Shadrach, Meshach, and Bendigo, were part of the brain trust of the wise men. And so they were told, "Hey, by the way, I got some bad news. You're going to die." Nebuchadnezzar is mad. He's going to wipe all you guys out. And Daniel said, "Well, wait a minute. What's going on?" And they said, "Well, he said that you interpret the dream and the interpretation, and you tell the dream and the interpretation." And Daniel said, "Okay, here's the thing. Give us some time. Let us pray about this." And let me get together with my homies, Shadrach, Meshach, and Bendigo. And we're going to pray about this, and we'll ask God to give it to us. So he asked for more time. And Nebuchadnezzar gave him more time. Hey, you can appeal to authority, humbly appeal to authority. What about this? That is fine, and that is permissible. And then caveat number two, we can and must reject God-defying authority. When the government or somebody in authority tells you to do something, commands you to do something that goes against what God has called you to do, then you have an obligation to the Lord that says, "I'm not doing that." Daniel chapter three, Nebuchadnezzar sets up his golden image, and he tells everybody, "When I strike up the band, everybody bows to my golden image." Shadrach, Meshach, and Bendigo said, "We are not going to bow. We can't bow. That's wrong. We're not going to worship your golden idol because we worship God and him alone." When in the book of Acts, the religious leaders told Peter and John, "I command you guys, do not preach or teach any more in the name of Jesus." And the response to us, whether it is right in the sight of God to obey you or to obey God, you be the judge, for we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard. Well, you think about the Christians who got martyred, the apostles, all the apostles saved John, God killed for their faith. What did they get killed for? Because they wouldn't do what the government authorities told them to do. Stop preaching and teaching in Jesus' name. Burn some incense to Caesar. Say Caesar is Lord. And they said, "We're not going to do that."

Caesar is not Lord. Jesus is Lord. And that got them killed because they wouldn't stop speaking what they had seen and heard. And so we must reject authority when that authority usurps God's position. Well, obviously that's not what's going on here. Moses is doing what God called him to do. Aaron is doing what God called him to do. And quote. He wants to be the priest because the priest in his mind is a bigger gig. Get yourself in trouble when you want what someone else has, that's called coveting, when you don't like your lot in life and you see somebody else's lot in life and say, "I should have better. "I deserve better than what I have. "I deserve what they have." And here you have Cora and he's challenging God's authority. So that leads us to lesson three. Rebellion does not consider the devastating results. What happens when you rebel against what God has set up? Verse 16, "Moses said to Cora, "You and all your company be present "before the Lord tomorrow, both you and they, "along with Aaron, each of you take his fire pan "and put incense on it. "And each of you bring his sensor," which is another, it's just a fire pan, it's the same Hebrew word. "Before the Lord, 250 fire pans, "also you and Aaron shall each bring his fire pan." So the first question that comes to my mind

is, what is a fire pan? I don't have one of those, what is it? Here's the fire pan, it's just a bronze pan that they would put colds in and then they could put incense on top and that was the instrument of the priests because you would go into the holy place and there was the altar of incense there and you would burn incense. Incense is a picture of the prayers of God's people. And so that was a priestly utensil. And so he's saying, okay, you wanna be priests? Cora, you and your assembly, you and the Levites, you're not happy with what you have as taking care of the furnishings, so you wanna be a priest? All right, we'll bring your fire pan and let's have the showdown at the okay corral. So they each, verse 18, so they each took his own censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and they stood at the doorway of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. Thus Cora assembled all the congregation against them at the doorway of the tent of meeting. You don't think he had some clout? He got the whole congregation against them and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation. Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron saying, separate yourselves from among this congregation

that I may consume them instantly, but they fell on their faces. This is the second time in chapter 16 that Moses has fallen on his face. He falls on his face in prayer, in intercession. He fell on his face and said, oh God, God are the spirits of all flesh. When one man sins, will you be angry with the entire congregation? Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the congregation saying, get back from among the dwellings of Cora, Nathan, and a beer him. And Moses arose and went to Nathan and a beer him with the elders of Israel following him and he spoke to the congregation saying, depart now from the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing that belongs to them or you will be swept away in all their sin. So they got back from around the dwellings of Cora, Nathan and a beer him. And Nathan and a beer him came out and stood at the doorway of their tents along with their wives and their sons and their little ones. And Moses said, by this you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these deeds for this is not my doing. If these men died the death of all men or if they suffer the fate of all men, then the Lord has not sent me.

But if the Lord brings about an entirely new thing and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that is theirs and they just send a live in the shield, then you will understand that these men have spurned the Lord. I should say that would be an exclamation point. As he finished speaking, all these words, the ground that was under them split open and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up and their households and all the men who belonged to Cora with their possessions. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to shield and the earth closed over them and they perished from the midst of the assembly. Rebellion does not consider the devastating results. First of all, the rebel will wreck his own life. You will wreck and ruin and destroy your own life. If you're gonna live with rebellion in your heart, your life is gonna be horrible. If you refuse to humble yourself before God, before the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the proper level, and it's not gonna go well with you, as God told Paul. Indeed, Paul, it's hard to kick against the goats. How long are you going to do that? Psalm 86, or 68 verse six says this, "God makes a home for the lonely. "He leads out the prisoners into prosperity, "only the rebellious dwell in a parched land." And if your life is dry and parched,

you gotta really search me, O God, and know my heart. Is there a rebellion in me, because only the rebellion, the rebellious dwell in a parched land. Only the person that has those telltale signs of being bitter and being covetous and constantly wanting what someone else has, and not liking leadership, and not liking the way it's going, and moaning, and groaning, and griping, and complaining, and being so disgruntled, and so convinced that you are right. You're gonna dwell in a parched land. A rebel will wreck his own life, and Cora, Dathan, and Ibiram were swallowed up in the judgment. But not only will the rebel wreck his own life, he'll wreck the lives of his family members, because look what it says in verse 27. Dathan and Ibiram came out and stood at the doorway of their tents, all along with their wives, and their sons, and their little ones. They were all consumed, as they stood with dad, as they stood with husband, they were all consumed in the judgment, and they were all swallowed alive and went down alive to shield. Now interestingly, Cora, his sons didn't go with him, because the Bible makes that clear. The sons of Cora did not perish with Cora. Why? Because they separated themselves from their dad. They recognize dad is in the wrong here, and they separated from him.

But Dathan and Ibiram's, their family didn't. They stayed with him. Hey, your rebellion affects your family. You know, when you have a rebellious man who can't work for anybody, 'cause he's always upset with authority. No, but ain't nobody gonna tell me what to do. That kind of attitude, well, you can't work anywhere. 'Cause you're always going to run into difficulties because God has set up authority structures. If you are insubordinate toward authority and everyone is like you, then the whole thing falls apart. You can't have any kind of society if everybody's just fighting everybody to be the leader. You have to submit to leadership, and God has set it up that way. Submit yourself for the Lord's sake to every human institution, as Paul says, in 1st Timothy. And we must do that. So if you're not going to do that, guess what? You can tell a rebel because typically he's gonna have lots of jobs. And he's always gonna have run-ins with people. And it's always, it's never gonna work out. So I go from this job to this job, to this job, to this job, to this job, and kids are going to have a hard time because normally when you're job hopping constantly, that's not very good for the finances. And so there's difficulty.

You're always in conflict with people. That's not good for your physical well-being. And it affects your family. But not only does it wreck you and wrecks your family, it wrecks the lives of so many people. Because bitterness, bringing up causes trouble, and many are defiled by it. And so what happens, verse 34? All Israel who are around them fled at their outcry for they said the earth may swallow us up. They heard them screaming as they went down and they fled. Fire also came forth from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense. Those guys all died similar to how Nadab and Abihu died in Leviticus chapter 10, two sons of Aaron. They burned strange fire before the Lord. And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and killed him. You don't mess with God's things. When God sets something up, you don't go and do your own thing about it. You know, we have an issue in the Southern Baptist Convention as it relates to women in the pastorate. God has made it clear not that men are better than women, but God has designated that men are to be pastors and to preach to the congregation, not women. And people don't like that. I don't care if you like it or not. God set it up that way. And so we either do it God's way or we don't. Now, if you do it your own way,

well, then you're messing in God's territory. And it's a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Our God is a consuming fire. like a big old marshmallow. He's like a bendable buddy and you can just bend him any way you want and that's my God. That's not God. God is who he is and he sets things up the way he sets them up and we either do it God's way or we do it our own way and you do it your own way and you will suffer judgment for that 'cause you're not God and I'm not God. He is God, we need to do it his way. And so it says fire came forth from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who are offering the incense. Then the Lord said to Moses, spoke to Moses saying, say to Eliezer, the son of Aaron the priest, that he shall take up the censors, those bronze fire pans out of the midst of the blaze for they are holy and you shall scatter the burning coals abroad. Dump out all the coals there but take those bronze censors as for the censors of these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be made into hammered sheets for a plating of the altar, the altar of sacrifice that was there before you went into the holy place. Since they did present them before the Lord and they are holy and they shall be before assigned to the sons of Israel.

So Eliezer the priest took the bronze censors which the men who were burnt had offered and they hammered them in out as a plating for the altar as a reminder to the sons of Israel that no layman who is not of the descendants of Aaron should come near to burn incense before the Lord so that he will not become like Cora and his company just as the Lord had spoken to him through Moses. Very, very important. That was gonna be constantly before the people. They took their fire branch, they put them out before the big altar that was out there, the altar of sacrifice and that was a reminder. Only the priests do this, why? Because that's the way God set it up. Remember Cora, Cora perished in the rebellion. And then it goes on to say, you think to yourself, well, what would I have done that I've been there and seen the earth swallow these people up? I mean, I would think that I would be getting my heart and life right with God, that I would be living in the fear of the Lord always, that I would recognize that God is God, He's the great eternal, magnificent God, He can do things that I can't even fathom and that I need to be submitted to His will. You would think that, that's not what happened. Verse 41, but on the next day, all the congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron,

saying, you are the ones who have caused the death of the Lord's people. Come again, did you not see the earth open up? I mean, I'm not David Copperfield here. I don't have the power to do that. God did that. Verse 42, and it came about, however, when the congregation had assembled against Moses and Aaron, that they turned toward the tent of meeting and behold, the cloud covered it. And the glory of the Lord appeared. Then Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting and the Lord spoke to Moses saying, get away from among this congregation that I may consume them instantly. Then they fell on their faces. Third time he's done that, interceding for the people. Moses said to Aaron, take your sensor and put in a fire from the altar of sacrifice and lay incense on it, then quickly, then bring it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them for wrath has gone forth from the Lord and the plague has begun. Then Aaron took it as Moses had spoken and ran into the midst of the assembly for behold, the plague had begun among the people. So he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. He took his stand between the dead and the living so that the plague was checked. But those who died by the plague were 14,700.

Besides those who died on account of Quora, then Aaron returned to Moses at the doorway of the tent of meeting for the plague had been checked. One guy, Quora, got everybody up in arms. Things aren't good. Look at your situation, it stinks, my situation stinks. Who said that Moses and Aaron should be leading this group? God did. Who's gonna go up against the Lord? You go up against the Lord. You can do that if you want, but let me tell you, it's gonna end poorly for you every single time. Your arms are too short to box with God. And if you challenge him, you will face him. God is so wonderfully patient. pummel us. He is God. These people, I don't know if they were true believers or not. We call this series the Unbelieving Believers. I don't know where they were spiritually, but I know they died just like that. And in a 24-hour period, you had almost 15,000 people dead, why? Because they rebelled against God. Now just in closing, I want to ask you, as you search your own heart, as you look at the telltale signs of rebellion, what's going on in here? Are you frustrated? You rebellious? Are you disgruntled with the way things are going in life, with your job, with your school, with the church, with Pastor Chris, or Pastor Quinn, definitely not Pastor Jeff, but those guys, you disgruntled, I don't like it. We need to do it my way.

I need to get more opportunities. Who died and made them king? You've got to check that. You've got to bring that before the Lord. You know, Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses, and Miriam got leprosy as a result of that. He was a healeder of that, but it was a reminder. Here is that rebellion on steroids among Quora. Hey, rebellion can get in your heart, it can get in my heart, and it destroys. And God says, don't do it. So as we search our own hearts, ask yourself this question, is there an area in my heart that I'm rebelling against the Lord, that I want my way, and I'm not willing to yield to His way? Whoa, to those who have perished in the rebellion of Quora. May that not be true of you and me. Now we come to the most important question of all. Have you turned from sin and selfishness, and given your heart and life to Jesus? Listen, if not, today is the day for you. Just pray this simple prayer from your heart, Lord Jesus, I need you. I know that I'm a sinner, and I can't save myself, but I believe Jesus that you are God in the flesh. I believe you died on the cross from my sins and rose again from the dead, and right now I ask you to forgive me and save me, come into my life, change me, make me the person you want me to be. I surrender my life to you, and I promise to follow you all the days I have left. Now if you pray, that kind of prayer and mean it, the Lord will come in, and your life will never be the same. Listen, I would love to hear from you, so please contact me and share with me what's going on so we can pray for you, and if you are ever in the Texarkana area, we would love for you to visit us live and in person at FBC Texarkana.

Listen, you really are important to God, and you're important to us, and we're here for you. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]