If you look at the book of Jude there, look at verse number 11.
Now, it says there, Woe unto them, for they have gone the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsain of Cori.
The title for the sermon this morning is, The Gainsain of Cori.
Okay, now you probably will read that, you probably, what is that talking about, the gainsain of Cori.
I did not plan to preach this sermon this morning.
I had a totally different sermon, I was going through Jeremiah.
You know, I had other sermons ready for you guys today, prepared them last night.
But due to some actions this morning, I had only a couple of hours, probably not even an hour, I think, to put this sermon together.
So my apologies if it's a bit rushed, if it doesn't seem very, you know, my usual put together style of sermons, if it does feel a bit rushed.
I've had to basically prepare this sermon just this morning before church service.
And it's important for us to understand that, you know, when we read the book of Jude, Jude is dealing with false prophets.
He's actually dealing with people that are not just false prophets, but are reprobates, okay.
Now, I'm not preaching this because I believe we're dealing with reprobates or something like this, okay.
But we do have a warning, we do have a warning that people can get caught up in wrong ways of living out their Christian life
or how they perform, you know, within church or deal with authority.
And if we look at verse number 11 again, just look at it, it says,
Woe unto them that have gone in the way of Cain.
So we know what Cain's sin was.
That Cain sought to give an offering to the Lord, which was of the fruit or the work of his hands,
rather than Abel who gave of the lamb, who gave of the, you know, the bloodshed,
which is the picture of Jesus Christ and salvation can only be found through the shedding of blood,
which was Jesus Christ, not by the works of our hands.
We know that Cain became so envious of what took place or jealous, you know,
and he slew his brother because of the situation.
And then you have and ran greatly after the error of Balaam for reward.
We have Balaam, a prophet, who was basically taking up the office as a prophet for money.
You know, it was about trying to make wealth for himself, trying to do it, to become wealthy.
And, you know, he was the kind of prophet that would preach whatever people wanted as long as they paid him, okay.
And then you have and perished in the gains saying of Corey.
So we're going to understand what this gains saying of Corey is.
Notice that you can perish in the gains saying of Corey, okay.
So I don't want anyone to perish.
I don't want anyone to perish at all, okay.
And this took place, Corey is Cora in the Old Testament.
In the Old Testament you read about Cora with a K, ends with a H, Cora.
But in the New Testament, because it's in Greek, translated back into English, it's known as Corey.
And the reason we can look at this passage today is because this gains saying was basically a rebellion of Cora toward Moses.
You know, God had established Moses to be the leader of the children of Israel,
to be the leader in the church of the wilderness, and Cora sought to rebel against that authority.
And so because this took place in the church of the wilderness, we can take the lessons,
we can take the application and apply it to the church of the New Testament, okay.
We'll bless it up, Baptist Church.
Now you may not know what gains saying means.
Let me just quickly explain, gain is kind of like the word against.
So the word against is like against, against, the gains saying, against the saying.
So the gains saying is to be against words that are being preached or said, you know, by in this case Moses.
So Corey was against Moses, he was against the words that Moses was speaking about, okay.
Let me just give you a quick example in Romans chapter 10, verse number 21, you don't need to turn there.
It says, But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gains saying people.
So we know the story of Israel, how they were constantly rebelling against God,
constantly against his words, constantly against the prophets.
Well the Lord says they were against saying people, they were against the sayings of God.
And it's important for me as a pastor to touch on this topic, to preach on this topic,
maybe I should have done it earlier, you know.
But anyway, one of the qualifications of being a pastor, one of the qualifications of the office of a bishop,
I'll read to you in Titus chapter 1 verse 9, it says,
It says, Holding fast the faithful word, as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convince the gainsayers.
So what this is teaching us is that within church there are going to be gainsayers,
there are going to be people that are against the preacher, against the pastor,
and the pastor has to learn how to basically combat those gainsayings using sound doctrine.
And that is my goal this morning, to use sound doctrine and to teach you about the gainsay of Corey
because I don't want anyone to perish in this type of rebellion that we see in the book of Numbers.
Actually turn there now, please go to Numbers chapter 16.
Numbers chapter 16, we're going to have a look at the story here of the gainsay of Corey.
And after we've gone through this story you're going to be able to recognise the patterns,
you're going to be able to recognise the red flags when you start seeing this kind of rebellion,
you start seeing the gainsay of Corey, maybe in the future it could happen again or in some other church,
that you know, you can identify that as a rebellion and that you will not perish,
you will not participate in that, in that kind of rebellion or that kind of, that gainsaying.
Number 16 please, number 16.
We are basically looking at the whole chapter but I'm not going to read all the verses.
We're just going to look at the main aspects of this story.
So number 16 verse number 1, it says now Corey, now that's Corey, same person.
Now Corey, the son of Isha, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi.
So let's stop there for a minute.
So he's part of the tribe of the Levites.
And the Levites if you know, they were people that would serve in the temple of God.
Now they weren't all priests, the only ones that were allowed to be priests were those that were descendants of Aaron.
So Moses and Aaron, they were also from the tribe of Levi.
But God put Aaron, Moses' brother to be the first high priest
and only his children were allowed to serve as priests.
But all Levites were to serve in the temple.
It's just that some had the office, if that makes sense.
Now even though Moses was part of that, he was not commissioned to serve in the tabernacle
or the temple or the house of God like the descendants of Aaron.
So that gives you a picture that Corey is one of the Levites.
And it's not only Corey, I know Corey gets the main name, he's the main name of this rebellion
but then it says, and Dathan and Abiram.
So there's actually two other people.
This rebellion started with three people, Dathan and Abiram.
The sons of Eliab and On, the son of Pila, sons of Reuben, took men.
So this is a different tribe, they're of the tribe of Reuben.
So you can see that this rebellion against Moses first took place with three people.
Now, Corey was happy to be the face of the rebellion.
One thing you'll learn about Dathan and Abiram, they don't really want to be the face of this rebellion.
They're kind of more behind the scenes.
They're kind of the guys that are trying to gather people together
and get other people basically to do their dirty work.
And so there are different personalities.
The rebellion of Corey can look different.
It can be a very upfront, yeah, I'm happy to be the face of this rebellion
or it can be other people behind the scenes trying to get other people to rebel against authority.
But even though they're behind the scenes, they are equally involved.
God passes judgment on these men just as much as he does on Corey.
Verse number two, it says,
So when they get people to rebel against Moses, what do they do?
They get the best men.
They get the men with the most favor, men with the most respect because that's what they need.
They need to show that their rebellion is one that is respectful or one that is seen by many.
That's a large rebellion right there, 250 princes.
You can see that even though it starts with three, it ends up with 250 people coming up against Moses.
This is why you need to put a stop to this before these things continue.
A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
When you see the leaven increase, you better put a stop to it.
Pastors are commanded to put a stop to these things before it starts to affect the whole congregation.
Verse number three,
So what are they saying?
They're saying, hey, you shouldn't be the person that's lifted up in the congregation of the Lord.
We should be all of us. We're all holy. We're all God's people.
So the first thing that you notice is they come against Moses and against Aaron.
Now let me ask you, you guys should know this story, very famous story of Moses.
Did Moses want to lead the people out of Egypt?
No, he didn't.
When God caught him out of the burning bush, Moses was like, Lord, I can't even speak.
I'm not the guy.
I mean, these men are not driven into positions of authority.
These men are very humble men, but they've been chosen by God.
They've been placed by God into this position.
They haven't elevated themselves above the congregation.
It's the Lord that did it.
It's the Lord that chose them.
It's the Lord that ordained them into that position.
But these men are acting like you want to lift yourself above the congregation.
And so not only are they against Moses and against Aaron,
obviously they're against Moses as the leader of the church in the wilderness.
They're against Aaron as the high priest who is in charge of running the tabernacle
at this point in time, which is also known as the house of God.
So we can apply that principle here to Blessed Hope Baptist Church as well.
And their desire was basically what?
Their desire was that Aaron and Moses would not be above the congregation.
They were seeking a congregational run church.
Now let me just make it very clear.
This is a Baptist pastor led church.
And I'm not saying that, I'm such a great man.
No, I'm not a great man.
My office is what gives me the authority.
It's the office that is great.
God has allowed me to take on this office.
You know what, if someone else wanted it, if God had, you know what, great.
I would have much rather somebody else take on the office
and me just being a support to that man instead of being the guy that was chosen.
But God allowed me to be chosen.
God allowed me to have that desire and to open up the doors
to not just pass the Blessed Hope Baptist Church but to pass the New Life Baptist Church.
And I don't know exactly why, brethren, I don't know it all.
But you know what, you leave it in God's hands.
He takes care of it. He puts people in position.
There is no such thing as a congregational led church.
This caused problems.
God was very angry when people sought to take down the authority in the church in the wilderness.
Not only did they want a congregational led church, but they were against a man being lifted up.
They didn't want one man to be above everybody else.
And again, I don't really want that.
I try to be very, you know, I preach God's Word without compromise.
I'll lead the church. I'll be in charge of the church.
But at the end of the day, brethren, I think you guys know
I don't want to be commanding you in your lives.
I don't want to be on top of you about everything.
At the end of the day, brethren, you guys are free to live the lives that you want before the Lord.
I don't really want to get involved. I don't want to be commanding you.
I don't want to be someone that is overstepping my authority.
I'll keep it within the church and that's it.
Now, if you can keep your finger there, go to Numbers chapter 12.
Go to Numbers chapter 12 and verse number 3.
Numbers chapter 12 and verse number 3.
Korah and these people think that Moses is all about the authority.
That he just wants to be in charge, right?
But look what God says about Moses in Numbers chapter 12 and verse number 3.
Numbers chapter 12 and verse number 3 reads,
Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.
I want you to notice that. God says Moses was very meek.
He was the meekest man on the earth.
Now I'm not saying I'm the meekest man on the earth.
But one thing you need to understand, when God selects somebody to have the authority,
especially over a congregation, guess who he's going to be looking for?
He's going to be looking for the meek.
What does meek mean? Does that mean someone's weak and soft? No.
To meek is to esteem others.
Say, you know what, I want to serve other people.
Matthew chapter 23 verse 11, Jesus Christ says,
But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant,
and whose servant shall exalt himself shall be abased,
and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
Brethren, being a pastor of a church is not about lifting yourselves up and being served as a pastor.
Being a pastor is being a servant.
It's to humble yourselves and allow God to lift you up and give you that office
and to be just in service for him and service to the congregation.
I have no desire, brethren. I've got 11 kids.
If God just gave me a wife and 11 kids, that's enough for me.
I did not need further authority over two churches.
Eleven kids, more than enough.
If that's what God wanted, I'd say, God, thank you. That's more than enough than I need.
I do not want to take further authority beyond what God has allowed me to be given to me.
And being meek once again is to esteem others, to think of others highly above yourselves.
Now, go back to Numbers chapter 16.
The reason I read that is because you can see that Korah had a different view of Moses.
He thought Moses was a very prideful man, someone that abuses his authority,
that just wants to be in charge, but God says about Moses, no, he's actually a very meek man.
He's the meekest man on the whole earth, is said about Moses.
Verse number four, look how Moses responds in verse number four, number 16, verse number four.
And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face.
So look, he lowers himself in the presence of those against him.
He's not there to take them down, he's not vindictive, he's not trying to hurt them.
He just lowers himself, he humbles himself before those people.
And again, he just has that very meek attitude.
If we drop down to verse number eight.
So what Moses is saying to Korah is look, you are a Levite.
Is it a small thing to you that God has separated you basically to serve in the tabernacle of God?
So what is Moses saying? Moses is saying, look, you've been given a great honor by God.
You've been selected by God to serve in his house, right?
To maybe, you know, we might use the analogy today, to preach, to song lead, to read the Bible.
You know, God has allowed you to do this. Does it seem like a small thing to you?
In other words, is it insignificant to you, Korah?
You know, for Korah it was not enough, he wanted more.
He wanted more than just to be able to serve in the house of God and to please the Lord.
Okay, a small thing, he wasn't satisfied.
One thing I want you to understand, brethren, serving in the house of God, serving in the church is not a right.
It's a privilege. It's a privilege to be able to just come and serve the Lord.
You know, if someone comes up here to preach the Bible and I'm asking somebody,
hey, let's say I get sick or something and I can't preach and I call someone up,
hey, can you preach in my stead? Can you preach for me, brother, because I'm not will?
I don't want you to think, well, I've got to preach for Kevin.
No, you're preaching for God. You're preaching for God's people, okay?
It's a privilege. It's an honor to be able to serve God.
It's not a right. You don't just have the right because you're part of the congregation and that's just how it is.
No, it's a privilege, but to Korah, it was right, okay?
And even though it was a privilege to him, he was so insignificant, they wanted more.
They wanted a higher position. Look at verse number 10.
It says,
So you get to serve in God's house and that's not enough.
Now you want the priesthood. Now you want the office.
Hey, he was not selected by God to have the office.
He was not the descendants of Aaron, okay?
And Moses says, what, you want the priesthood as well?
Can't you be satisfied? Can't you be happy to serve in the house of God?
And brethren, let me just say it to you now because I don't want to see this stuff creep up in our church.
If I call you to song lead or to read the Bible or to pray or to preach or something,
and to you it's a right and not a privilege, then don't do it.
Don't do it because your heart's not in the right place.
Your heart's not in the right place, okay?
We do it to serve the Lord. We do it to serve the brethren.
So you can see that Korah was not happy with just serving.
He wanted the office. He wanted the authority. He wanted the priesthood, okay?
Look at verse number 11.
Now were they thinking they were acting against the Lord? No.
They were seemingly against Moses and against Aaron.
What does Moses say? You're actually working, you're gathering together against the Lord.
And what is Aaron? That you murmur against him.
He goes, yeah, you're murmuring against Aaron. You're not happy that he's the high priest.
But who is Aaron? He's just a man.
He's just a man who's been given the office by God.
And so it's not actually rebelling against Aaron. You're rebelling against God.
You're against God. It's not Aaron that you're against is what Moses is saying.
Because Aaron's just a man, okay? What is Aaron?
Look at verse number 12.
Notice that Moses has to call these guys. They're not there.
These are the guys working behind the scenes, okay?
So again, Korah, he's happy to be the face of the rebellion.
But Dathan and Abiram, they're just behind the scenes, acting secretly.
You know, getting people to turn against Moses.
And so Moses calls them.
Now what do you learn here? It says the sons of Eliab, which said, we will not come up.
What do you learn there?
There are some people that want to rebel, but they don't want to show their face.
Okay, you call them.
Okay, hey, come. Let's have a meeting. Let's discuss this. Let's deal with this.
No, we're not going to come.
It's the actions of Korah's rebellion.
Different people respond in different ways, okay?
And look, when people are acting secretly, you know, to tear down a pastor.
It doesn't have to be me. It can be any pastor.
Those should be warning signs to you.
Okay, when things are not being done transparently and openly.
Okay, that should be warning signs.
Verse number 13.
Is it a small thing that thou has brought us up?
So this is what they're saying.
This is what, sorry, Dathan and Abiram, this is what they're saying to Moses.
They said, we will not come up.
Is it a small thing that thou has brought us up out of the land that floweth with milk and honey?
Look, he's saying, you've taken us out of the land of milk and honey.
What is that?
Those terms are meant to represent the promised land.
But they're talking about Egypt.
They're talking about where they were worse off.
They're saying, you brought us out of this land?
For what? To kill us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us.
What are they saying?
Look, you want to make yourself a prince over us.
You want to be the authority. You want to be in charge of us.
That's why you brought us out in the wilderness.
And you seek to kill us. You seek to destroy us.
There are too many parallels, you know, with recent events.
And to suggest that Moses tried to destroy the people, even though it is a wilderness.
Look, granted, I know this isn't the best building.
You know, there are other churches with nicer buildings, nicer seats.
Better air conditioning systems.
You know, with the kids clubs and the Sunday schools and, you know, with the orchestra, Brevin.
You could find a better church if you wanted to.
In that regard.
But I know why you're at this church, though, because you want to know God's word.
You want to know God's truth without compromise.
All right?
But look, yeah, I guess this church can look like a wilderness.
Before we renovated the carpets and the walls, yeah, it looked like a wilderness.
You probably would have been better off in the wilderness than in this building.
You know, with all the dust and stuff, but you know.
But here's the thing, they take the approach that you're trying to destroy the church.
You're trying to destroy us.
You seek to kill us and you seek to lift yourself up as a prince.
You know?
This is what they think about Moses.
Verse number 14.
Moreover, thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with milk and honey,
or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards.
Look at this.
Will thou put out the eyes of these men?
We will not come up.
So look, you're trying to pull out the eyes of men.
Okay, you're trying to hurt us.
And it goes, we will not come up.
We're not going to meet with you, Moses.
We're not going to deal with you, Moses.
Okay?
This is Korah's rebellion.
Moses wants to deal with this.
Moses wants to talk to them.
He wants to sort it out with these guys.
They don't want to sort it out.
They don't want to do it.
Okay?
Verse number 15.
Now notice this.
And Moses was very wrath.
Didn't God just say he's the meekest man on the earth?
He's the meekest man on the earth, brethren.
But you know what?
There comes a time when it's just too much.
You know, even Moses was full of wrath.
Very angry by the way these people were speaking about him and treating him.
Okay?
And you know, sometimes I get a bit frustrated and angry.
And people might think, well, is it right for you to be the other pastor?
Well look, I'm not as meek as Moses.
And he was very wrath.
Okay?
And he was very wrath because Moses knows what he's trying to do.
He knows he's just following the Lord.
He knows he's doing the best he can.
Okay?
He knows that he's just a man and he's just following the best way possible.
He has a love for God's people.
He's meek.
He's just seeking to do what is right.
And then when people turn around and say, well, you're just trying to destroy us.
You know?
You're trying to lift yourself up.
You're abusing your authority.
Of course Moses is going to be very wrath.
Okay?
And Moses was very wrath and said unto the Lord,
respect not thou their offering.
I have not taken one ass from them,
neither have I hurt one of them.
Moses, look, I've not taken advantage of these guys
and I've not done them any wrong.
Okay?
But Lord, don't respect them, he said.
He prayed to the Lord and said, Lord, you know,
don't respect them.
Don't let them get away with this is what Moses is praying to the Lord.
Drop down to verse number 19.
You haven't got time to go through it all but you can read it in your own time.
Verse number 19.
And Korah gathered all the congregation against them.
Against, look, they gathered all the congregation against Moses and Aaron.
Unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation
and the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the congregation
and the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
separate yourselves from among this congregation
that I may consume them in a moment.
So God says, look Moses, step away.
Aaron, step away from the congregation.
I'm going to destroy those people.
I'm going to consume the congregation.
Now, Moses is a pastor as it is, right?
An Old Testament pastor in the church and the wilderness.
I want you to understand how angry God is
by the rebellion against the authority, that he seeks to destroy them.
But I want you to see the pastor's heart.
I want you to see how Moses responds to God.
Verse number 22.
And they fell upon their faces and said,
O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh,
shall one man sin and wilt thou be rough with all the congregation?
So what are they trying to do?
They're trying to appease God.
Say, God, please, don't destroy the whole congregation.
It just started with one man.
The leaven has increased though.
It's leavened the whole lump, okay?
But it started with one man.
You know, they're petitioning to God,
God, please don't destroy the congregation.
They don't, you know, it all started with one guy.
Deal with that one guy.
Deal with the one person that brought this accusation,
that brought these issues, that started this choral rebellion.
You've got to understand, this is the heart of a good pastor.
He does not want the congregation being destroyed.
He doesn't want the congregation being caught up in the sins of one man.
You know, Moses was like, all right, God, yeah, destroy them.
Destroy them all.
They double done me wrong.
That's not Moses, okay?
I'll quickly read to you from 1 Corinthians 5, 6
because I've already mentioned a few times.
But this is about church discipline.
And it says, your glory is not good.
Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
And then it says, purge out therefore the old leaven
that ye may be a new lump as ye are unleavened,
for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.
And that's in the context of church discipline.
You know, I don't like it, brethren.
I don't like having people out of this church.
You know, applying church discipline, I don't enjoy it.
But what saves the church, what protects the church
is taking out the leaven before it leavens the whole lump.
I hope you understand my actions, okay?
Even if you disagree to some extent,
well, you could have done this differently,
you could have done that differently,
please understand I'm just dealing with the leaven.
And it's increasing and it's spreading, okay?
And I'm doing the best I can to step in,
stop the increase of the leaven,
and at the same time trying to appease God
and say, God, please don't destroy the congregation.
So the parallel that we can draw from Korah's Rebellion
is how we deal with church discipline.
That God sought to take out these people
that were rebelling against the authority, okay?
We're going to drop down to verse number 23.
Back to, sorry, number 16, verse number 23.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto the congregation, saying,
Get you up from the tabernacle of Korah,
Dathan and Abiram.
So notice, God is dealing with these three main guys.
One was very upfront, one was very vocal,
the other two behind the scenes, hidden, okay?
Notice that God deals with them in the same way.
He's angry with them, you know, in the same way.
And then it says in verse number 25,
And Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram,
and the elders of Israel followed him.
And he spake unto the congregation, saying,
Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men,
and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed
in all their sins.
Brethren, this is the next warning.
This behaviour against a pastor, against authority,
okay, is wickedness.
I'm not saying that, that's what God says.
You know, these are wicked men.
I can still love them, I can still pray for them,
I can still intercede for them,
but understand their actions are wicked, okay?
And God is saying, look, depart from their tents, okay?
Don't touch anything of theirs,
lest ye be consumed in all their sins.
In other words, brethren, if you go and join the rebellion,
you participate in the gainsaying of Corey,
then God's going to hold you accountable as well.
This is why I'm preaching this.
I don't want anyone else to be affected by what's going on.
Verse number 27.
This is the saddest thing, okay?
That they should be thinking about their wives,
they should be thinking about their children,
they should understand that my rebellion, my actions,
is not going to end well for my family either.
You know, I've said it before and I'll say it again,
if being a church pastor is affecting my family in such a bad way
that it's causing cracks in my marriage,
that my children are being far from the Lord,
you know what, I'd just rather step down as a pastor and look after my family.
My family is my first ministry.
I cannot be a pastor if I don't have a family that is together,
that is united, that is loving, that is serving the Lord.
If I can't have that family, then I don't want the church, you know?
And these men should be thinking about their children and their wives.
But they're so angry at Moses, they're so angry at Aaron,
for being in a position of authority.
What am I up to brethren, what verse?
28.
Brethren, putting people under church discipline is not out of my own hand.
If I wrote the Bible, this is not how I would do it.
This is what God instructs from us in His Word.
Regardless if it makes me uncomfortable,
regardless if I wish things were some other way,
you know, we're not doing things by our own hand,
we're following God's Word as closely as we can.
Verse number 19, 29.
And if I may be visited after the visitation of all men,
then the Lord hath not sent me.
But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth,
and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them,
and they go down quick into the pit,
then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord.
And it came to pass, as He had made an end of speaking all these words,
that the ground clave asunder that was under them,
and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up,
and their houses, and all the men that appertaineth unto Korah,
and all their goods, they and all that appertain to them,
went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them,
and they perished from among the congregation.
So you'll notice once again that they perished among the congregation.
Which is why in Jude 11 it says,
and perished in the gainsaying of Korah.
So here's the situation.
You have these three men, Korah up front,
two men behind the scenes, everybody that supported them,
including their wives, including their children,
including all their goods, everyone that supported them in the rebellion,
God judged them very severely, opened up the earth and swallowed them.
Please understand that coming up against authority,
coming up against a pastor, is not a minor thing.
It's a very serious thing.
It's a very serious issue.
So I need to preach this, because I don't want to see this happen again.
I don't want to see these things happen.
Now look, if the pastor has sinned,
if the pastor very clearly has committed some grave sin,
that pastor needs to be called out.
We'll deal with that in some other sermon.
But you better make sure that if you're bringing that kind of accusation,
that it's foolproof.
That it's done the proper way.
That you've got the two free witnesses, and you've all seen the evidence,
and it's very clear that the pastor has sinned to the point
where he needs to be rebuked and called out,
and maybe even taken out from the church in that authority.
These kinds of things I've often seen where pastors maybe have committed adultery,
or they've gotten themselves drunk, or taken drugs,
or stealing money from the church, or these kinds of things.
That's where I've seen maybe where a pastor has had to be taken down by the congregation.
But brethren, still it's a very serious thing.
If you find that it's a false accusation,
then the person bringing the false accusation faces the same kind of punishment
that he sought the pastor to be dealt with.
I'm warning you not because I think I'm some great man.
I'm not, brethren. I'm not.
As I said, I wish God just had someone else to do it all.
But I've had the privilege of doing it, and I'm very thankful.
I'm very happy to be a pastor.
Don't get me wrong. I'm very happy to be a pastor of this church.
I'm so happy to be here for 12 months and to travel back and forth and all these kinds of things.
Once again, it's a privilege.
It's a beautiful thing to be amongst the brethren and to be able to serve the brethren.
I'm not speaking about myself here.
I understand how serious the office of the bishop is.
I'm very careful to speak about people who hold offices even when I know they're in the wrong.
When we read the book of Jude earlier, we saw that even Michael the Archangel
did not bring a railing accusation against Satan.
You have to be very careful.
You have to make sure you have everything lined up and it's clear evidence that the pastor has sinned.
Do it the right way before you start taking down the authority.
Otherwise, you're going to be caught up in a choral rebellion.
Now, you would think that being swallowed up by the earth, the people, those that are supporting them,
you would think that would be the end of it.
You would think, God has dealt with it. God has punished them.
They perished because they rebelled against authority.
You'd think this is the end of the story.
Unfortunately, it's not the end of the story.
You know, many times when these messy situations start, they become messier.
Again, a little leaven, leaven of the whole lump.
It becomes messier.
Drop down to verse number 44, please, number 16, verse number 44.
It says, but on the morrow, so the next morning,
after the swallowed up, after God passes judgment, very clear, supernatural, earth opens up,
super clear that it's God that has stepped in and judged these people, right?
I mean, Moses does not have the power to open up the earth and swallow up people.
It's very clear that it's from the hand of God.
But look what happens the next morning.
And on the morrow, all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron,
saying, you have cured the people of the Lord.
What? You have cured the people of the Lord?
It was God that did it.
But notice they're angry at Moses and Aaron.
Something I need to understand and grow and understand and you need to understand as well.
When people are placed under church discipline, guess what's going to happen the next morning?
People are going to murmur. People are going to complain.
People are going to say, hey, these are people of God. Look what you've done.
You've done it the wrong way.
And look, these things are natural.
I'm not saying you're wicked to think this thing.
We need to understand we're flesh and blood.
God tells us these stories because this is how man is.
This is how we respond.
It's very hard to think of men who are godly or have positions of respect and then they're being chastised or corrected by God.
It's very natural to think, well, the other man was at fault here and you've done wrong and this and that.
It's natural to think that way.
But notice what happens.
Look, obviously these people had an emotional attachment to Korah and the people that were swallowed by the earth.
Again, it's natural.
They claim that Moses has killed these men.
No, Moses is just following God's instructions.
That's all.
Putting people under church discipline is only following God's instructions.
And again, some people are going to be driven to think that someone under church discipline,
that the pastor is self-willed and is just doing whatever he wants, abusing his authority.
No. No.
We have these clear instructions for us in God's word.
And in fact, if you read the whole book of Corinthians, you start to realize why,
well, what happens to a church when people that should be placed under church discipline are not placed under church discipline.
The whole church is corrupt.
The whole church is messed up.
I mean, it's such a bad thing to start compromising on God's word.
Then you start compromising on everything.
Just do things the right way. Do things God's way.
Allow God to be the one that speaks and you follow the instructions that God says things will be right.
But once again, no matter how much an authority tries to do things God's way,
there's going to be people that murmur and complain against them.
And if you in your heart have that murmuring right now,
Listen, I'm not mad at you because I see it's a natural response.
But you need to be aware. You need to take caution here.
Even though Korah and his rebellion has been taken care of, notice what happens.
Verse number 44.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment.
So what? Now God says, Listen, Moses and Arad, this is the second time I'm telling you.
Move away from the congregation. I'm going to consume them all.
Okay? I mean, God has shown his judgment. People are still rebellion.
And God says, Look, I'm just going to wipe them all out. Moses and Arad, step aside.
Again, notice how these men react.
And they fell upon their faces.
Okay? Do they want to see God's people destroyed?
Absolutely not.
Okay? They fall upon their face and they start petitioning God.
They start to ask God, please don't destroy them. Look what happens. Verse number 46.
What did God do? How did God start destroying these people by a plague?
What is Moses trying to do? Let's save the people.
You know, Moses, please intercede.
Right? Make atonement for these people so God does not destroy them with a plague.
Verse number 47.
And Aaron took as Moses commanded and ran into the midst of the congregation.
And behold, the plague was begun among the people and he put on incense and made an atonement for the people.
And he stood between the dead and the living and the plague was stayed.
Brethren, I don't know how God will deal with the rebellion at this point in time. I have no idea.
But you know what? My actions, I want to be like Moses and Aaron.
I want to intercede. I want to pray to the Lord and say, Lord, please, no more destruction.
Lord, let's end this. Let's clean up this mess.
You know, in your way. In your way, Lord, let's clean this up. Please, don't destroy the congregation.
I did not come here to Sydney to bless our pastors to destroy this congregation.
Okay?
But if we have to deal with a bit of leaven, we have to deal with it.
We have to deal with it. Okay?
Look at verse number 48.
And he stood, that's Aaron, stood between the dead and the living and the plague was stayed.
Now they that died in the plague were, look at this, 14,700 beside them that died about the matter of Korah.
Do you notice that the majority are against the leadership?
You're dealing with two people, Moses and Aaron.
We're talking here in the thousands, in the hundreds.
You know, 14,700, let alone those that went down with Korah and his rebellion down into the earth.
You know, one thing that you learn, the majority are not always right.
You get majority turning against a pastor, you still have to be careful.
Okay? You still have to be mindful and consider what is taking place.
You know, be on the Lord's side. Be on the Lord's side.
Verse number 50.
And Aaron returned unto Moses, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation and the plague was stayed.
What I want you to notice in this chapter brethren is that Moses and Aaron are not vindictive people.
People have rebelled against them.
Okay? That they claim that they're just after power and leadership.
They claim that they're trying to destroy them in the wilderness and it was better back in the days.
Right? Back in Egypt it was better back then.
You know?
They're not vindictive people. Right?
You can see that these men are trying to protect the congregation, you know, from Korah's rebellion.
And again, God punished those that rebelled through the gains saying of Korah.
God rebelled, you know, punished them.
And you need to be aware that our God is not some Santa Claus.
Okay? Up in the sky and, you know, only rewards good and is ignorant or blind toward what is wicked.
You know, our God can be very wrathful.
He can do some significant damage, you know, to lives and you can see here in one way that if you're rebelling against authority,
you know, you're taking part of Korah's rebellion, you know, be careful.
Be warned.
Let me, as your pastor, warn you to not participate in these kinds of secret gatherings, the gathering of men together against authority.
Okay?
Please do not participate in these kinds of things because it's not going to end well for you.
Okay?
And it's not me that I'm going to take action against you.
It's the Lord.
It's the Lord's hand.
It's the Lord's guidance.
It's His instruction with how to deal with such rebellion against authority.
Not only did He punish those that were in rebellion against Moses,
He also punished those that murmured against Moses afterward and said,
Oh, you didn't handle it right, Moses, you killed him.
Be careful.
Get your heart right with God.
Get yourself into God's word.
Get yourself into the Bible and it's hard because we can get emotionally attached to people
and I love the people that have been put on the church discipline.
I love their families.
I love their children.
The last thing I want is to see their families being tarnished and hurt and being punished by the actions of a couple of men.
I don't want to see that.
You know, I would love nothing more to see these men, you know, come back.
Apologize and get right, forgiven, forgotten, you know, back in church, serving the Lord to the full capacity.
That's what I want.
You know, my heart is like Moses.
My heart is like Aaron.
I do not want to see God destroy the congregation but God is in His right to do it if He so wills.
Now let me just say this, brethren.
Leadership is not easy.
Being a pastor is not easy.
It may seem like I just get up here and preach God's word for an hour, all right?
I'm done.
That's what it may look like but there's a lot more to it.
You know, fathers, you know leadership is not easy.
You know, if you're an employer, you know leadership is not easy, okay?
And again, you know that not everybody is going to agree with you but it's not about getting people to agree with you.
It's about doing what is right.
That's what it's about, doing what is right.
Especially as a church, we need to make sure we do what is right, we do what is biblical.
And look, as I said, this is a pastor-led church.
As long as I'm a pastor here, brethren, and I plan to be a pastor for a long time until someone else can step in, you know, that has the same heart that I have, it's going to be a pastor-led church.
We are not going to have a congregational-led church, okay?
As much as I love you, as much as I know you mean well and have a heart for God, okay, and God can speak to you, have the Holy Ghost as well, you know what?
We see the biblical practice of church, it's pastor-led.
And if you cannot get behind a pastor-led church, then this church is not for you.
You know what? I'm the pastor. If you don't trust me, if you don't want my leading, if you don't want my instruction, if you think that I'm here just for the power, just for the authority, then brethren, this is not the church for you.
It's not the church for you.
You know, if you say, pastor, look, I can't get behind you, fine. You know, I don't want your service to God to be hindered.
You know, go find the church, go find the man you can get behind then.
You know, I'd rather you just go serve God in some other church then, you know?
You know, if this church is affected, you know what Jesus Christ said, if two or three are gathered in my name, then he's in the midst of them.
You know what? I don't desire for some massive church.
You know what? If we just have a handful of people, we just keep serving God, preaching God's word, Jesus Christ is going to be in the midst of that church and he's going to be honored, he's going to be praised, okay?
And here's the thing, you know, you're going to have to find yourself some other church if that's the case.
God bless you. I'm not angry at you. I'm not upset. I just want you to serve God with your life, find a pastor you can get behind if that's the scenario for you.
I'm not mad at you, okay? We can still be friends, all right?
And I just want you to consider this because I do not want you to participate in Korah's Rebellion.
I do not want you to be influenced by the gains saying of Corey.
In conclusion, let me just give you four points in the chapter that we've read in number 16.
How can you identify a Korah Rebellion, okay?
I'm going to give you four things that we've read for this chapter.
And look, just because you see one, it doesn't mean it's Korah's Rebellion, okay?
Usually these things you start to see a pattern develop, okay?
You start to see these things combining themselves.
And when you start seeing these things combine, listen brethren, those are red flags.
Those are red flags and please be aware and understand you're probably looking at a Korah Rebellion and you better step away from that situation, okay?
So number one, let me give you four points how to identify a Korah Rebellion.
Number one, when there is a challenge against pastor led authority.
When people start saying, well we shouldn't just have the one pastor there.
We should have multiple pastors and multiple people making decisions.
That's against a pastor led authority.
When people start saying the congregation needs to be in charge and the pastor needs to do what the congregation wants them to do.
Listen, that's against a pastor led authority in church, okay?
That's the first thing that you need to notice.
If someone starts speaking like that, that should be a red flag.
It doesn't mean they're a Korah Rebellion, okay?
It doesn't mean that's going to take place but that's just one little thing that you need to be aware of.
Number two, when people start operating behind the scenes.
When people are not operating transparently and openly and it's behind the scenes, that's the next thing that we learn about Korah's Rebellion here.
Number three, when claims are made that the pastor is seeking to destroy the church, that's a Korah Rebellion.
You start seeing these patterns come together, brethren.
That's what we see in the story there in number 16.
That's exactly what was being said about Moses.
And number four, when church service is viewed as a right instead of a privilege,
brethren, you have all these four things together, it's Korah's Rebellion.
It's the gainsaying of Korah and you need to be aware of this.
You need to be aware that this is wickedness.
This is wicked behavior, okay?
And I'm trying to preach it, brethren, okay?
Without getting too emotionally invested here, okay?
But these are things that you need to be aware.
When you start seeing these red flags, brethren, please step aside.
Please intercede to God.
You start seeing this kind of behavior, bring it to your pastor.
This is leaven that is going to leaven the whole lump, okay?
And you know what?
Many times the pastor has no idea, you know?
He thinks, you know what?
I just want to believe you guys mean well, all of you.
I just want to believe and give you all the benefit of the doubt that you just want to serve God
and you just want to know God's word and you just want to learn and serve God to the best of your ability.
You know what?
When I see you guys make mistakes, I just want to put it down to, well, he meant well.
You know, it's just a mistake.
It's just a little error.
But boy, when you start seeing all these things come together, then you know it's something serious.
So please, brethren, please be careful when people are trying to rebel against authority,
especially against the pastor.
And if you do start seeing those kinds of patterns develop in church,
in this church or some future church that you might find yourself in,
please make sure that you bring that to the attention of your pastor.
Okay, let's pray.