Leave the Past Where It Belongs

Psalm 84:10 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. Korahs Rebellion

Numbers 16:1-35

Numbers 16:1–24 (ESV)

1 Now Korah the son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men. 2 And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. 3 They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” 4 When Moses heard it, he fell on his face, 5 and he said to Korah and all his company, “In the morning the Lord will show who is his, and who is holy, and will bring him near to him. The one whom he chooses he will bring near to him. 6 Do this: take censers, Korah and all his company; 7 put fire in them and put incense on them before the Lord tomorrow, and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one. You have gone too far, sons of Levi!” 8 And Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi: 9 is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, 10 and that he has brought you near him, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? And would you seek the priesthood also? 11 Therefore it is against the Lord that you and all your company have gathered together. What is Aaron that you grumble against him?”

12 And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and they said, “We will not come up. 13 Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you must also make yourself a prince over us? 14 Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.” 15 And Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, “Do not respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, and I have not harmed one of them.”

16 And Moses said to Korah, “Be present, you and all your company, before the Lord, you and they, and Aaron, tomorrow. 17 And let every one of you take his censer and put incense on it, and every one of you bring before the Lord his censer, 250 censers; you also, and Aaron, each his censer.” 18 So every man took his censer and put fire in them and laid incense on them and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. 19 Then Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation.

20 And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 21 “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” 22 And they fell on their faces and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?” 23 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Say to the congregation, Get away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.” STOP HERE AND READ BELOW

Have you ever challenged someone’s authority or if you’ve been in leadership yourself, has someone challenged yours. From a worldly prespective, this is what we are taught these days. Most people have very little respect for authority anymore. We all know the story of Moses but let me very quickly summerize. Moses was called by God himself almost face to face. God told him go to Eygpt and set free His people. Moses is like ah....wait a minute, I strudder Lord, do you remember the last time i was in Egypt? I killed a man and they’ll kill me if I return. All fears and doubts are similar, that each of us have when God calls us to do something we dont feel equipped to do. In short terms, God said keep your eyes on me and you can do anything! Church leadership is nothing like secular leadership, yes as Christians we can lead in the way of the Lord in the secular world, but church leadership is not one that many ever step in to. Here’s one reason why. Elders and Pastors are called to Preach, Teach and Equip and even more so we are to KEEPWATCH over souls of the people. As stated in Hebrews 13:17 “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

James 3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

I’m 100% confident that this is true of our elders here at the Living Stone, we don’t do this for any type of self interest or control. We know the consequences of our actions and how we lead WILL be judged with greater stickness. Most of us were like Moses when asked to serve, Lord ME? But I, this, but I, that, you fill in the blank for yourself. Now I’m not bringing this up because you need to hear it, I’m bringing it up to praise each of you for how you in this church understand the forces of darkness we are dealing with day in and out to protect your souls. You have made this pastoral transition one that any church in the entire US of A would be enveous of. Why, because again you prayed and trusted the Lord to guide each step through this process, as did we, and guess what happened, Jesus showed up in a mighty way! We looked to HIM!

Now let’s get back to what happened to Korah and his clan of rebels. VERSE 25

Numbers 16:25–35 ESV

25 Then Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. 26 And he spoke to the congregation, saying, “Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be swept away with all their sins.” 27 So they got away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents, together with their wives, their sons, and their little ones. 28 And Moses said, “Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and that it has not been of my own accord. 29 If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.” 31 And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart. 32 And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. 33 So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. 34 And all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!” 35 And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men offering the incense.

Now we'll stop there, as the chapter reads on, the Lord told Moses to have Eleazar son of Aaron to take each of the golden censers and hammer them down to wrap the alter as a reminder of what the Lord had done for they had been made holy before the Lord. Here's the part that caught me completely off guard. As you jump ahead 10 chapters in

Numbers 26:9–11 “The sons of Eliab: Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. These are the Dathan and Abiram, chosen from the congregation, who contended against Moses and Aaron in the company of Korah, when they contended against the Lord and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died, when the fire devoured 250 men, and they became a warning. But the sons of Korah did not die.”

Say what? The sons did not die? So what are these children doing now? Let’s turn in our bibles to

1 Chronicles 9:17–19 “The gatekeepers were Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman, and their kinsmen (Shallum was the chief); until then they were in the king’s gate on the east side as the gatekeepers of the camps of the Levites. Shallum the son of Kore, son of Ebiasaph, son of Korah, and his kinsmen of his fathers’ house, the Korahites, were in charge of the work of the service, keepers of the thresholds of the tent, as their fathers had been in charge of the camp of the Lord, keepers of the entrance.”

Follow Spirit’s leading to add something here

Another quick example just a few chapters later, after the Lord had the earth swallow up Korah and crew:

Numbers 21:4–9 “From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.” Thousands died from those snakes, mostly because they wouldn’t look at the scepter. They wouldn’t look to the Lord! They knew what they had done had angered the Lord and they were ashamed.

So often when I talk to people about coming to church so many think that they have to fix something in themselves before they can set foot in a church building. Oh my goodness the lies of satan!

1 John 5:19–20 “We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”

At 15 years old a young man was on the street freezing to death, he had hit rock bottom and was looking for the meaning of his life when he notice the lights on in a nearby church so he walked inside and sat in the back row to warm up. The winter storm was so severe the pastor couldn’t make it in to the service that evening due to road conditions. So the few who had made it in for the service looked around wondering what they were to do next. So an old farmer went up to the pulpit and said I only know one verse for memory. Isaiah 45:22 look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. The Holy Spirit then prompted the old farmer to point at this young man, and he said, young man just look to Him and be saved. The young man was so convicted of his many sins that had put him in a very dark place that he accepted the Lord right then and there. This young man became a preacher and by the age of 20 his ministry had grown so large they had to build achurch that would seat 10k people. I’m sure you heard of this gentleman, he goes by the name Charles Spurgeon. Charles thought he was going in to warm up the outside of his body. Then walked out a new man filled with the Holy Spirit! All because he just looked to Him! The old farmer, step out in faith and the Lord did the rest! Just As he did through Moses and Aaron and he wants to through you as well.

As I finished up here This last scripture scripture I’d like to share with ya from Psalms has this title of the psalm of the sons of Korah.

Psalm 84:1–12 (ESV) Title of this song is a psalm of the sons of Korah.

1 How lovely is your dwelling place,

O Lord of hosts!

2 My soul longs, yes, faints

for the courts of the Lord;

my heart and flesh sing for joy

to the living God.

3 Even the sparrow finds a home,

and the swallow a nest for herself,

where she may lay her young,

at your altars, O Lord of hosts,

my King and my God.

4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house,

ever singing your praise! Selah

5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,

in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

6 As they go through the Valley of Baca

they make it a place of springs;

the early rain also covers it with pools.

7 They go from strength to strength;

each one appears before God in Zion.

8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;

give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah

9 Behold our shield, O God;

look on the face of your anointed!

10 For a day in your courts is better

than a thousand elsewhere.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;

the Lord bestows favor and honor.

No good thing does he withhold

from those who walk uprightly.

12 O Lord of hosts,

blessed is the one who trusts in you!

The sons of Korah could have just followed in the sins of their parents, lived a life of anger towards God for taking everything they knew and loved, but instead they decided to not live in the past. They decided to change the course, be grateful for the blessing of being the gatekeepers of the holiest of holies. Remember this! No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly!

Let us pray