(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you Able you know what it takes To be saved to know that their sins are forgiven to put all their trust in their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ So they could be saved that's what we do. So we show people literally You You You You You You You You You You You You You You This whole month Hopefully you already have that as as a priority or as a schedule but you know this month I want to focus You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You All right, and while the offering plate is being passed around if you can open up your Bibles to the book of Numbers chapter 12 Again that's the book of Numbers chapter 12 And As we do customary here at stronghold Baptist Church, we're gonna read the entire chapter I'm gonna ask brother Carter if he can please do that for us In his numbers chapter 12 And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married for he had married an Ethiopian woman And they said had the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses Have he not spoken spoken also by us and the Lord heard it now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth and The Lord spake suddenly unto Moses and unto Aaron and to Miriam come out ye three unto the tabernacle of the congregation And they three came out and the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle And called Aaron and Miriam and they both came forth and he said here now my words If there be a prophet among you I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in a dream My servant Moses is not so who is faithful in all mine house with him Well, I speak mouth to mouth even apparently and not in dark speeches and in the similitude of the Lord shall he behold Wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses and the anger of the Lord was kindled against him and he departed and the cloud departed from off the Tabernacle and behold Miriam became leprous white as snow and Aaron looked upon Miriam and behold She was leprous and Aaron said unto Moses alas my lord I beseech thee lay not the sin upon us wherein we have done foolishly and wherein we have sinned let her not be as one dead of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother's womb and Moses cried unto the Lord saying heal her now Oh God I beseech thee and the Lord said unto Moses if her father had but spit in her face So she not be ashamed seven days Let her be shut out from the camp seven days and after that let her be received and again and Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again and Afterward the people removed from Hazara and pitched in the wilderness of Peyron. Let's have a word of prayer Lord God, we thank you for the church this morning father that was able to gather here this morning We pray you bless the listeners Online as well and not able to make it here Lord we pray that you would help us to focus in right now and see What the Spirit is sent into the church this morning father. We ask that we will be edified and Most importantly that we live out your word and please a manner to you And let your Holy Spirit be upon pastor as well as he bring forth the word in Jesus name. Amen All Right, so my sermon this morning in tiles is titled blessed or the meek and we preach on meekness and we started their numbers Chapter 12 where the Bible says in verse number 3 that Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face Of the earth so Moses was a very meek person We're going to be using Moses as an example to learn from on meekness and you know The Bible says in the Beatitudes if you know the Beatitudes are it's a section of Matthew chapter 5 If you remember where Jesus says blessed are the Peacemakers blessed are the meek bless it, you know, and he keeps on saying people who are blessed So when Bible says blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Obviously, it's a good thing to be meek now Some people have a false understanding of what the word meek even means So I want to make sure that I cover this because I actually went to you know, I know what the word meek means if I went to the dictionary and I was a little bit surprised to see that it that the the false definition I call a false definition, but it's actually definition number two and and some people will use the word meek in this way So I guess that's why it's still considered definition because people will use this in more of a derogatory way definition number two that I found online a dictionary comm is spineless or spiritless and compliant Now that is not what the Bible is talking about when it talked about Moses being a very meek man Okay, he was not spiritless and he was not spineless. He's not just some pushover Okay, when the Bible is talking about being meek, that's not what it's referring to It's not just referring to being some coward just obeying everything. Oh, I'm sorry Look was Moses that compliant when he confronted Pharaoh the leader of all of Egypt and of all the people of Israel Saying hey, let my people go Was that being very compliant? Was that being a very big pushover? No Yet the Bible says that he was meek above all Men which were upon the face of the earth, right? So obviously, you know people may use meek as that with that definition. That is not the biblical definition That is not the biblical definition at all the first definition Which is the primary definition even even in you know today the word is patient long-suffering or submissive in disposition or nature and humble That is a lot more lines up with what the word meek means and then it also says it's an it's an obsolete word for gentle Which would also be applicable here. I mean just think of the word gentleman What does it mean for a man to be a gentleman that's that's not that's not a Derogatory term is it? I mean maybe eventually it'll become a derogatory term, but it's supposed to be a good term You call someone a gentleman. It means that you're that you're humble. You're composed right unit You know how to carry yourself You're not just flying off the handle Being that's what part of being long-suffering is and we're gonna get into that actually this evening and eat this evening sermon being long-suffering And Submissive in disposition doesn't mean you're submissive to everything But it just in your disposition the way you approach things you're being real humble, right? You're steaming others better than yourself when you talk to someone you use respect when you speak to them You don't just talk down to people. You're a little bit more submissive in your communication But it doesn't mean you're not assertive it doesn't mean that you don't have a backbone It doesn't mean that you don't just stand up and we need to make sure that we don't confuse the two Right because people today will start claiming. Oh, you're not being very Christian because you do have a backbone Right if people have this false ideology of what Christianity is and what it is to be a Christian To make you think that you just have to be Spineless and a coward and just go along with every single thing. That's that's done regardless of whether or not it even Contradicts the Word of God right people It's it's it's kind of perverted the way that they view Christianity, but we're gonna look at Moses specifically as our example I'm being meek now on the other hand. We also want to make sure we don't forget what it means to be meek and I'll tell you why and And especially in a church like ours in in this style Church and a fundamental Baptist Church We preach you know strong and hard against sin and about living a separated life and on Fighting the good fight and going out and we're soldiers for Christ We go out in war and we want to make sure that we you know There's there's a good reason for all of those things and that we can endure and that we could keep going and endure hardness But at the same time we need to maintain meekness And we need to be careful with the more that you learn and the more you receive from God's Word and you get better Understanding and more knowledge that that knowledge doesn't puff you up The Bible says that knowledge puppets up a charity edify so we want to we want to make sure we don't fall into the trap of Feeling like oh man well I know so much more than all these other people and start walking around with a haughty attitude with a proud attitude and Especially, you know, you're gonna go out. Hopefully you're gonna come out with us and we're gonna go out and preach the gospel to people But I've seen this happen way too many times and look even with my own self have experienced somewhat of Getting into this type of a mindset of going. Oh, man I could you know, I could run circles around these guys these bozos these Jehovah's Witnesses They know one or two verses I could just I could prove them wrong up and down one way back You know Look, that's not what it's about Really? I mean, hopefully look you should be able to do that You should know your Bible really well You should be able to dismantle false doctrine and and and heresy very easily and readily You should be able to do that, but you don't go out with this mindset of just being Arrogant and ha ha ha. Well, you think that it you know, like look that's not that's not appropriate That's not very meek That's not very humble and Especially when we're going out to win people We need to be meek we need to be humble We need to be patient we need to be long-suffering Just a few positive mentions of the word meek in the Bible before we get in this example of Moses I'm just gonna blow through this real quick Psalm 22 26 the Bible says the meek shall eat and be satisfied They shall praise the Lord that seek him your heart shall live forever Psalm 25 9 says the meek will he guide in judgment and The meek will he teach his way? So God God's gonna guide in judgment. He's gonna teach his way to the meek. We want to be meek Psalm 37 11 But the meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace Psalm 147 6 the Lord lifteth up the meek he casteth the wicked down to the ground Psalm 149 for for the Lord taketh pleasure in his people. He will beautify the meek with salvation let's go back to numbers 12 now where we started and What do we see happening at the beginning of this passage? It says Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses Because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married for he had married an Ethiopian woman. So Moses is living his life here He gets married to this Ethiopian woman and now Miriam and Aaron have a problem with that They have a problem with who he married and they start speaking against him and they don't like the fact that he married this woman So now they just they basically want to take him down a notch and and kind of replace him Because they don't like what he did but he did but nothing he did was sinful here At all, it's not like he was breaking God's commandments. Not like he's divorced and remarried Okay Verse two says and they said hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses had he not spoken Also by us and the Lord heard it So now they're saying what what makes Moses so special, huh? What what makes him so that hasn't God also spoken by us? Haven't we been used and been involved too? And you know what God hears this and then God gets mad and one of the reason why God gets mad is Because verse three says now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which are upon the face of the earth so Moses isn't someone who's just full of pride and when they start speaking against him that he's just gonna have to come out and just Defend himself and fight against you know what they're saying the meek person oftentimes won't always respond to everything that's going on against him because they're being humble because they're being meek and But here's where God will speak stand up in his defense And it's always best to have other people stand up in your defense, too It's better to have that happen than to have to have to defend yourself Obviously, there's gonna be sometimes we may have to defend yourself. I'm not saying it's wrong to ever defend yourself Okay, don't don't just take this to some weird extreme But here's the the value and a benefit of being meek when everyone knows you're humble and meek But you're also a strong leader and in a in a godly person then people will stand up for you And in this case God is standing up because this makes God angry that someone so humble and so meek and who's who's giving of himself and Self-sacrificial is gonna have these people now Criticizing him and trying to take him down and try and replace his position when God's like no First number four says in the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses and unto Aaron and under Miriam come out e3 unto the tabernacle of the congregation and they three came out and the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle and called Aaron and Miriam and They both came forth and he said hear now my words if there be a prophet among you I the Lord will make myself known on him in a vision and will speak unto him in a dream So you're saying in general, you know what if there's a prophet then I'm gonna speak to him in a vision They're gonna have some dream and that's how I'm gonna communicate with them You said that that's how I deal with prophets Verse 7 my servant Moses is not so who is faithful in all mine house with him Will I speak mouth-to-mouth even apparently and not in dark speeches and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold? Wherefore then sir were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? So he's saying look Moses is special Moses isn't just like your average Prophet which again even just being that prophet receiving these visions from the Lord is Is a great thing to you know to not want to be speaking against the people who are receiving these visions from the Lord Let alone Moses. He's saying look I speak to Moses like face to face like we're friends All right, don't you go talking bad about Moses now, don't you think that you're in the same category as Moses is? Oh, well, is it can't even we also been used to look Moses has been used of God way different than you have And don't just treat that like it's nothing is what God's saying because these guys are railing on Moses Verse 8 with him Will I speak mouth-to-mouth or excuse me verse number 9 and the anger of the Lord was kindled against them and he departed and the cloud departed From off the tabernacle and behold Miriam became leprous white as snow and Aaron looked upon Miriam and behold She was leprous. So now God judge judges Miriam with leprosy Just for what they were saying against Moses Verse 11 and Aaron said unto Moses alas my lord I beseech thee lay not the sin upon us wherein we have done foolishly and wherein we have sinned so Aaron and Miriam are quick here to repent They're quick to see. Yeah, I mean you would hope That someone being rebuked by God Almighty would be quick to repent to be like, I'm sorry We were wrong, right but and they were it would be really really strange for someone to not have that type of response But they did and verse 12 He says let her not be as one dead of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother's womb So Aaron entreats Moses for Miriam Now if Moses were not What you know very meek he could say, you know what she deserves it let her suffer If he was what he said that about me Well, she's getting what God gave her then that's what she deserves Is that Moses's response though? No No, and you know what? We're gonna see That's almost I say almost never Moses's response There is a time when Moses tells God Hey, you know what? Don't accept their offer and we're gonna look at that too. That's with Korah, Dathan and Bairam Who are wicked? reprobate false prophets Okay, and for them He said you know what? Yeah They could die and go to hell quickly But for but for everyone else for for saved and lost alike Just your average person. He's saying no He's being very humble as being very meek and he's saying okay verse 13 and Moses cried unto the Lord saying hear her Heal her now. Oh God, I beseech thee Now we're not gonna read the rest especially read the whole thing. God just says look She needs to suffer a little bit here You know She she's not just getting away with this that quick and that fast she's gonna she's gonna be you have to deal with this at least for a week, but but Moses still was was humble enough to look past the transgression against him and to seek the forgiveness and And to not have it bother him. Well, who do they think they are coming against me? Yeah, that's right I am the friend of God I am this you know, this this person who has a great relationship with God He didn't he didn't he didn't hold that bitterness and anger against them He was quick to forgive and quick to just humbly ask God for forgiveness for them and For Miriam and look, this is the attitude that we need to be able to have and it's not always easy Which is one of the reason why I'm preaching this morning because it's not easy Turned if you would to Numbers chapter 16, and this is where we're going to see that story With Cora, Dathan and Abiram and we're not going to read the whole thing. Hopefully you already know this story But it's it's it's something that's very similar we're basically Cora is is a Levite So he already has a job within the tabernacle within within God's service, but he's not a priest But they want to take over this position And It says in verse number three of chapter 16 And they gather themselves together against Moses against Aaron and said unto them you take too much upon you Seeing all the congregation are holy every one of them and the Lord is among them Wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord? So you see what they're doing here. They're saying well look Everyone here is holy everyone here is set apart So you know you're taking too much, who do you think you are and and you know they say lifting up yourselves? You know you're putting yourselves in these position you're and you're controlling us And you're you know who do you think you are trying to be above all of us. Hey, we're all saved here We're all God's people so who do you think you are to stand up here and bring you know? This is the mindset of that house church movement that wants to say oh, who do you think you are? You think there's only one pastor of a church well, you know what we're all safe here We should all teach we should all get up behind the pulpit. We should all come look. That's nonsense. It's ridiculous And it's not one person lifting up yourself. It's a little past versions. You're lifting up yourself. No. I'm not lifting up myself I was chosen and ordained and Found faithful to go out and have this position and to do this job and to start this ministry Okay, that was something that was bestowed upon me That's not something that I just took for myself The house church people that want to call themselves bishop and elder and pastor They're the ones who are taking honor upon themselves because no one put that honor upon them No one laid hands upon them. No one found them faithful. No one anointed them to be in that position But that has been done to me into any biblical pastor Someone's being having her hands put on them and anointing them Because that's the way it's done because that's the way that God designed it But this is the complaint against Moses and Aaron From these wicked people trying to say oh and you know what they do They get the whole congregation worked up and they get them persuaded. Yeah. Yeah, you know, who do they think they are? Oh, they know them lifting themselves up. Moses can't tell us what to do to and look Moses was a meek person He wasn't out there trying to tell everybody what to do He literally was a minister and a servant he was serving the people by teaching the Word of God and Doing so humbly and if the Bible says that he was he was more meek than anyone above you know on the face of the earth I believe that and If you're gonna have a problem with a preacher That is called by God the most meek person on the face of the earth and you've got the problem Okay, it's not it's not with the with the preacher You can run across many preachers that have their own faults and their own flaws Right that you might want to point to as to give an excuse as to why you don't want to listen to them But Moses is not that person Because the delivery of his message is going to be done With meekness because there wasn't a more meek man and if you know not saying he was perfect But you wouldn't find anybody better the job Because he was the most meek one But this was their complaint this is what they want to do they're trying to get rid of Moses so jump over to Verse number 19 Because They're supposed to gather their censors and you know and and offer up this offering before the Lord and Actually before we even get there Because I didn't have this in my notes, but I just want to I want to point this out Because Moses rebukes them That they're trying to now take over the priesthood even though they're already Levites and already have a service to the Lord Like isn't it just enough for you to have to be able to be a Levite and serve in that capacity Like that should be enough for you Like whatever capacity that you have to serve the Lord like that that ought to be enough Like that's a big enough job and it's not like it was some small job either You know the Levites had a big job in their service to the Lord like what if you treated that job with the respect that you Ought to treat it with and the importance that you ought to treat it with then you'd be busy enough About that business to not to worry about taking over the priesthood also God divided the the job because there's a lot of work to do So a verse number 15 we'll start there and Moses was very Roth 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 So this is the point where we're gonna see Moses saying instead of entreating for them Okay, he's saying look don't respect their offering God But one of the reasons because first of all, they're not even repentant at all Like you know Moses or Aaron Aaron and Miriam were very repentant immediately So Moses is seeking now the the mercy of God upon them and he's gonna entreat for them but these people are wicked and they're just trying to cause strife and division and Moses God look I haven't done anything against these people You know, I've done no evil to them and yet here they are trying to usurp my authority here. Don't respect their offering verse 16 and Moses said unto Korah be thou in all thy company before the Lord thou and they and Aaron tomorrow and Take every man a censer and put incense in them and bring ye before the Lord every man a censer 250 censers thou also an Aaron each of you is censored and they took every man a censer and put fire in them And laid incense thereon and stood in the door of the tabernacle of the congregation with Moses and Aaron and Cora gathered all the Congregation against them under the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. So here Cora's got all the congregation pitted against Moses and Aaron and The glory of the Lord appeared unto all the congregation so now God appears he's got everyone worked up against Moses right Cora does 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 what I want you to do though real quick is just put yourself in Moses's shoes. Imagine you're Moses You've been doing good. You've been doing right. You've been trying your best You know, you're leading these people you already had to deal with Pharaoh and all the threats and and you know Being chased out of Egypt and having all these miracles and God's saving you every time and going through and then you got to deal With the people complaining you got to deal with, you know, all these this is multitude of people All looking to you. It's like oh, well, where's the water Moses? Well, where's the food Moses? Well, where are we gonna go Moses? Well, what's going on Moses? And you're at the brunt of everybody's ire when things just aren't going perfectly the way that they think they should be going and Moses had to deal with all of that and he did deal with it and He dealt with it the best he could and any any sought the Lord for the people all the time and was seeking guidance From God the direction from God. Where do we need to go God and he's teaching the people he's teaching him God's Word He's judging for them Yet they still end up treating him like this they get to some some core arises Forget everything else that Moses has done and now some core say oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, who do you think you are most? How about the guy that stood up to Pharaoh while you were slaves? Because I didn't see chorus standing up to Pharaoh when everyone else was in bondage How about the guy that held up the rod and parted the Red Sea, you know that God was using how about that guy Because I don't think Cora was the one doing that either but now all of a sudden Cora wants to be oh, hey look We're all holy We all could have done that but you didn't And imagine being in his position and Now you've got all this people who's already causing your problems all back in court Nobody is defending you What kind of an attitude could you have towards those people it could be easy To say you know what? Not suspect God's already willing to destroy him. He says To Moses and Aaron. Hey separate yourselves from among this congregation. I may consume them in a moment I'm gonna destroy him It would be very easy for Moses to say, you know what? I'm done with them Go ahead take him and and you know what God could just wipe them out And would have been righteous But what did they do They fell upon their faces and said Oh God the God of spirits of all flesh shall one man sin And wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation All the congregation was there with Korah But they still entreat for him because they know this is the type of thing just like Jesus said forgive them for they know Not what they do This is the same place that the people were in When they were found that just got swept up and following Korah They weren't just all wicked like Korah was but Korah was really good at deceiving people and getting people worked up and focused on the wrong things and That happens a lot. There's a lot There's people who are like false prophets and then there's the followers of the false prophets right the false prophets Are Damned to hell and and I hope they go to hell quickly But the people who get deceived by the false prophets we want to win them to Christ We want to we want to show them the right way We love them and we still care about them and this is what Moses is demonstrating here And I'm telling you this in order to be meek this meekness of Moses shows through here Because he was the one directly involved in this it's easy You look at a situation where you're not involved in feel like yeah, that's the right thing to do The hard thing is when you are actually the one that is confronted with this and when people might be doing wrong to you to still maintain a level of humility and meekness and not have a vengeful attitude against them and when we could look at someone like Moses who was able to still Fall on their face Moses and Aaron and say God Oh God the God of spirits of all flesh now one man's been will it be wrong with all the congregation and treat for the people that are just speaking out against you and Just completely look past Their transgression of doing that just be like look. It's it's really not their fault. It's this guy's fault. Please just deal with him And the Lord spake unto Moses Saying speak unto the congregation saying get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan and Abiram 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 So they got up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan and Abiram on every side and Dathan and Abiram came out and Stood in the door of their tents and their wives and their sons and the little children and Moses said hereby you shall know that the Lord had sent me to do all these works for I have not done them of Mine own mind. He's saying look this isn't just like all my own stuff This is God instructing me and God leading me. This isn't just me coming up with whatever I want out of my own heart verse 29 if these men die the common death of all man Or if they be visited after the visitation of all men Then the Lord has not sent me but if the Lord make a new thing and the earth Open her mouth and swallow them up with all that appertaining to them and they go down quick into the pit Then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord So you saying it's not about me It's not about them provoking me saying if this happens if the earth just opens up and they go straight down into hell That's not me Okay, that means they provoked God You said and otherwise and if that doesn't happen then hey, I guess I'm not a prophet of the Lord am I Verse 31 and it came to pass as he had made an end of speaking all these words that the ground clay of asunder that was under them and the earth opened her mouth and Swallowed them up and their houses and all the men that appertained unto Korah and all their goods They and all that pertain to them went down alive into the pit and the earth closed upon them And they perished from among the congregation That's pretty strong statement they're pretty strong testimony from the Lord as to who's right and who's wrong in this situation This also should show you that Moses is not some pushover he's not Spiritless he's not a coward. That's not what meek means He's willing to stand up to these adversaries He's willing to do but he's you know, he does things the right way He says all right. Well, you know what you bring your senses. I'm gonna bring myself you know, what I love about this story too is that Moses as The meekest man that was on the face of the earth He still was a solid leader because when he said to do something everyone followed Even the people opposing him followed right there saying, you know, he's like, okay, we'll settle this So you guys all bring your senses and I'll bring my sense and they're like, okay Over So I thought you wanted to be the leader you're gonna come up with something else Well, no, we're not gonna do that. We're gonna do it. None of them did that They still followed what Moses said Because he really he truly had the authority and people all recognize that But there's a rebellious heart and rebellious spirit of people who want to fight against that Just like here the people that were about the tents of Koradetha and by room He said hey you guys separate yourself you know get away from them because they're gonna be judged and they did and the people separated from About the because Koradetha and by room the only ones that you know They're their household their families were the only ones that went down into the pit The rest of the congregation did separate themselves when Moses said hey Don't get close to these guys because you don't want to have their wickedness being rubbing off on you basically and you get caught as collateral damage Because you're too close to that wickedness and and you're yoked up with them So he warns them and Saves them and say whoever was around them They they let you know, they got saved from falling down in the pit, but look at their look at their attitude It doesn't stop here. You would think that would be enough Any normal person would think wow. Well, okay. I guess Moses is the man of God right, I Mean the ground literally opened up And we saw these people just go straight down to hell and then the gone closed back up again case closed, right Well, no not for these people and You know what else this does is this shows how strong of a hold these false prophets can get Over people as well and how influential false prophets can be over people and this also shows How Moses still doesn't give up on them And let's read the rest of the story here verse number 36 and Lord spake unto Moses saying speak on Eliezer the son of Aaron The priest that he take up the censors so they get these censors Let's jump down to Verse number 41 Basically taking the censors to put up and do something with them to recreate them as a sign to say hey don't be like Cora Because it's already been decided that Moses is the man of God that this is the priesthood It's it's for the you know, the the the order of Aaron Not for the Levi's not for anyone else verse 41 But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron The next day The people are all murmuring Complaining about Moses and Aaron and what did they say? Ye have killed the people of the Lord You killed God's people Moses said look if this happens you've made God angry and God's the one who's gonna judge you, you know, like like that's literally what he said when God opened up Yeah, Moses isn't the one that opened up the earth He doesn't have that power I mean just as much as Moses wasn't the one that that parted the Red Sea obviously is the power of God now God Used him, but it still was not like his own power as opposed to didn't have this magic ability to just go Oh, look, the ground's gonna open up a deal watch out because I Might do that to you, right? You didn't have that ability, but he was using the power of God and Invoking the Lord to say hey God, you know because God listened to him But they're blaming him now and they're still looking at those people as the people of the Lord Look they're false prophets get over it God proved it verse 42 and it came to pass when the congregation was gathered against Moses against Aaron that they looked toward the tabernacle the congregation behold the cloud covered it in the glory of the Lord appeared and Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle the congregation and Lord spake unto Moses saying Get you up from among this congregation that I may consume them as in a moment So The people see The glory of God in the tabernacle. They see the smoke descend. They see the presence of the Lord And this wasn't something new for them. This is something that they've been already witnessing this whole time I mean they witnessed Moses going up into the tabernacle Or going up in the mount the Mount of Olives and he had to To you know when he received the Ten Commandments and he had to wear that veil Over his face because his face shone so brightly and they were scared by that They've seen all of this and yet they still are Coming against Moses and Aaron and they finally when they see this and they hear God speaking Hey get up from on his congregation. I may consume them as a moment They fell upon their faces look at verse number 46 and Moses said unto Aaron Take a censer and put fire there in from off the altar and put on incense and go quickly under the congregation and make an Atonement for them for there is wrath gone out from the Lord the plague has begun and Aaron took as Moses commanded and ran into the midst of the congregation 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 now they that died in the plague were Fourteen thousand and seven hundred besides them that died about the matter of Korah and Aaron returned unto Moses under the door of the tabernacle Congregation the plague was stayed So when Moses and Aaron hear what happened? Moses doesn't hesitate Says we got to make an it's we got to do something for them We got to make an atonement for the people we need to save them Because God is angry and God is judging we know obviously look There's a lot more symbolic meaning to this a lot more But what I want to focus on is that meek Humble attitude of Moses who no matter how many times people are doing him wrong no matter how many times people are going to speak Against him and come against him. He is still going to have a humble meek Attitude in spirit that is willing to go forward and willing to put in the extra effort and putting it He could have just hung back and God would just could have just wiped him out But no he took action He says no we got to go and do this Aaron quickly go and make this you know make this offering and make this atonement and stand he stood between the living and the dead and God respected that offering and God respected that atonement and the plague ceased and The meekness the humility to be able to continue to love people and to continue to care about people even when they are Bad to you and mean to you, and and maybe even literally want to seek your harm, and you're hurt That exemplifies the meekness that we all should strive to have And I want you to be able to take this with you day to day You know maybe you have family members are going to give you a hard time for your faith And they're going to treat you really poorly and they're going to mock you and ridicule you don't give up on them Okay, you go out, and we knock on doors and maybe someone's going to yell at you and and and you know curse you out or whatever Don't let it get to you don't have your pride get triggered To have to oh well, but you know and get in this back and forth argument With people that want to give you a hard time Just be humble Okay, God sees everything that happens, and he will take vengeance if it's needed But if you can suffer for Christ's sake Then then happy you should be You should be you should you should rejoice if these things happen to you Because they happen to all of the prophets of God They happen to Moses it happened to Jesus Okay, it happened to Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel I'm always you know Blown away by by how the people can respond and then how Moses responds as a leader I? Love Moses as an example And I thank God for all the examples we have in the Old Testament And you read because when this is just a small section too I mean as you read you see it's just like continuous time after time after time of the people complaining and murmuring where's our food and where you're all of that all of that and Moses still cares about them and loves them and is self-sacrificial for them Because that's a picture of what Jesus did for us also in the way that Jesus lived look God commended his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us So even though we sin against God on a on a daily basis God still loves us And he loved us enough to send his only begotten son Jesus Christ to die on the cross to pay for our sins and in you know The humility and the meekness that Christ had and I didn't even go over all the verses that talk about Jesus Christ being meek Being lowly where he comes on to you on an ass on a full of an ass, right? Jesus Christ was a meek person. Obviously Moses was the most meek person on the face. There's then But not more meek than Jesus As a godly attribute being meek being humble Jesus when he was reviled he reviled not again When he suffered he threatened not But committed himself Unto the judge right on him that judges righteously Turn if you would to Matthew chapter 5 I would say the opposite of meekness is pride Just Like humility you meekness gentleness this is the attributes that we need to have and we need to be characterized by When you deal with people Hopefully that will will show through and you know what some people you might have to win in the long run and not in the short term There's many people that won't necessarily get saved if they're unsaved or they won't come around your way of thinking right away But if you can stay the course and Stay humble and stay meek then You know what those? those characteristics those attributes they can Get through to people along with the words over time Just like the one the Bible talks about the the the wives winning the husband's You know what they're with the discreet conversation and and you know the way that they carry themselves You have an unbelieving husband's who knows? You know if you just keep doing what's right day in and day out that can have an impact on that person And even beyond how you know spouses you can have an impact on people that transcends just the words when they can see you and and You know the way the way that you're able to to handle Let's call it abuse right handle people attacking you being meek Matthew chapter 5 look at verse number 43 Bob read you have heard that it's been said thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate that enemy but I stand you love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and Pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you and I think that we can see those things being done with Moses and the children of Israel in the wilderness That there were people that hated Moses and there were people that were despitefully using him and persecuting him you know what? Moses prayed for him Moses interceded for him now The only the only key difference was with that the false prophet with the reprobate to someone who's just completely rejected of God now I don't want to get in all that this morning, but There is that distinction that you will find all throughout Scripture Let's keep reading your verse number 45 that you may be the children of your father Which is in heaven for he maketh his son to rise on the evil and on the good Incendeth rain on the just and on the unjust For if you love them which love you what reward heavy Do not even the publicans the same if you salute your brethren only what do you more than others do not even the publican So be therefore perfect Even as your father, which is in heaven is perfect. He's saying you shouldn't just love people that love you back And That true love is going to be one where like Moses and Aaron had interceding for others Right look I know they're wrong I Know that they've wronged me but we're still gonna try to help them and love them and Overarching that is the the attitude that we need to have in one last place. I'm going to point to his first Peter chapter 3 Meekness is for everybody Everyone ought to strive to be meek Moses was meek means humble The first Peter chapter 3 We see some characteristics of a godly wife That today's society in today's world wants to scorn and mock and laugh at and Well call me names because I believe what the Bible says here in first Peter chapter 3 Call you names because if you believe what the Bible says here in first Peter chapter 3 But you know what I? Want if any lady? has a rebellious spirit inside of her that she's learned from this world and And bristles at the thought or at the the words that are written in God's Word Just remember now and read this in the light of everything we read about Moses in the meekness here In first Peter chapter 3 I'm actually gonna I didn't have all the Verses copied here my notes that I wanted so let's So reading verse number one likewise he wives be in subjection to your own husbands that if any obey not the word They also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives. This is what I was quoting earlier that look You're supposed to be in subjection to your own husband and even if they're not obeying the word They may be won Then without the word be won by the conversation of the wives while they behold your chase conversation coupled with fear They can start seeing the power and the impact of God's Word in your life when you're saying you know what I'm gonna be a Godly wife. I'm gonna follow the way the Bible says even if you're not Even if you're not following the word, I'm gonna do what's right and that's a powerful testimony in and of itself Verse three who's adorning Let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair and of wearing of gold and of putting on of apparel So somehow the wives right don't worry about the outward appearance but let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible even the ornament of a meek and Quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price Meek and quiet aren't exactly the same thing, but this is what he's instructing women is Very valuable in God's eyes is the arm of a meek and quiet spirit Now Men aren't instructed to have necessarily a quiet spirit because men are given leadership roles and These places where they're supposed to be very vocal women are but you know what men and women both alike are to be meek So don't bristle at this oh, I'm supposed to be meek and quiet well the meek part everyone needs to be meek So there's a problem just with the quiet part Everyone ought to be meek okay, and and you know maybe you could look at that with a new light but let's keep reading here actually because If I was at verse five for after this manner in the old time the holy women also who trusted in God adorn themselves Being in subjection unto their own husbands even as Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord Whose daughters you are as long as you do well, and I'm afraid with any amazement so You know Sarah had meekness about her in Calling her husband Lord Her boss right that's the the modern. We don't really call people Lord. It's not it's not using common language Today as much how about sir? You know something that's respectful to the position here of being in obeisance to to her husband that's what she was doing and God sees that as a high value, and that's being meek, and you know what we're all under different authorities we all have as you know God as our as our first and Ultimate authority so we all need to be meek and but being meek you know obviously inside of marriage It's one thing, but just in general to other people we all ought to just have a meekness and a humility of mind Being able to reach people because look you're gonna. It just is this common sense. I'm gonna close with this When you approach someone Where you just kind of with this attitude that you're just full of yourself well Let me tell you and I'm gonna you know lay it all out for you The vast majority of people are not gonna want to listen to what you have to say If you have that type of an attitude about you when you just go and say well I'm gonna tell you the way it is as opposed to Well, hey can I just show you some things here? Have you ever thought about this or have you read this before you know? What do you think about this and and and approaching someone? With a little bit honestly with a little bit more respect to just Have them being able to think about something and being able to lead people and still instruct and teach people It's very instructive and very you know you're definitely teaching people, but the way that you do so matters We want to be meek And because here's the thing you can you know when we in this little tie-in with the way that we preach the gospel We don't just preach at people Okay, we don't just go out and just preach at people at the door And you know what maybe that some people might think we do that we don't do that We don't just go out and just be like okay you sit down You're gonna listen to me and just talk at them For 10 minutes or 15 minutes, and then just try to get him to pray and leave It's a conversation It's instruction. It's teaching We're trying to show people and get them to see what the Bible says, but very humbly and very meekly Saying hey, well check this out Maybe you haven't seen this before I don't know you know and in going through the Bible with them and communicating Communicating with them and trying to get them to see the truth of God's Word. That's the whole point and The reason why is because we actually care about the people so when you care about the people you're not just gonna Go there and just follow a script And you know like you know if you haven't been so long very long And you're trying to just just learn the gospel. It's fine, but that's you know my point is you're not just rattling off some sales pitch to just throw in front of somebody and and Tally up a number and go or whatever this you know we care about each individual so you bring knowledge in meekness in humility and That's the best way you're gonna be able to reach people is By being humble, and you know what God's gonna bless you for it as well Let's borrow heads have a word of prayer dear Heavenly Father Lord Thank you so much for these great examples that we have in Scripture I pray that you please help us to overcome our own our own pride in our own flesh to Be able to have the humility and meekness that that Moses had and Aaron had dear Lord to be able to still love people that we're doing them wrong as You had for us Lord help us never to forget where we came from Help us never to forget that that we're all we were all hellbound sinners and That only by your grace and your mercy Where we able to be saved and the fact that you loved us Even when we didn't deserve to be loved Lord And we thank you for that and I pray that you would please just help us to be mindful of all these truths to help keep us Meek and humble and lowly of mind Lord We love you And I pray that you would please just help us to reach many more people with the gospel of Christ in Jesus name we pray Amen All right, we're gonna sing one last song before we're dismissed this morning brother Peter, please lead us in the last song Oh So 388 speak my Lord song 388 Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Amen You