Examples of Disobedience: Disaffection

Introduction: The Doctrine of Constituted Rule and God's Displeasure

0:05 For the past four Lord's Day mornings, you have had set before you some of the great truths of the Word of God, as found in Hebrews 13 and verse 17, a text which lays out two great lines of biblical concern. First of all, the text teaches us that there is a constituted rule in the visible church of Jesus Christ, obey them that have the rule over you, clearly teaching that there is a rule in the church of Christ, a rule that is not congregational, but a rule that is vested in those whom the scripture elsewhere describes, as we had it this morning in Philippians 1, 1, bishops or overseers, elders, under shepherds of the great shepherd. So there is a constitution. There is a constituted rule in the church of Christ, and secondly, there is a clearly defined responsibility to that rule. Obey them and submit to them, and then there are very rational reasons given for that command, because they watch for your souls as those that give account, that they may do so with joy and not with grief, for this were unprofitable for you.

1:29 And so we have sought in these four weeks simply to open up the mind of the Spirit, as it is found in that great text. Now, this morning, what I wish to do is begin a consideration of this third broad area of biblical truth, namely, the sobering examples of God's displeasure upon those who rebel against his constituted rule. Hebrews 13, 17 teaches us that there is a constituted rule, that we have a clearly defined, fully defined responsibility to that rule, and we shall now go elsewhere in Scripture to see God's great displeasure towards those who rebel against his constituted rule. And what I propose to do is to take several passages from a section in the book of Numbers which record in a graphic way some instances of rebellion against God's constituted rule, and God's very supreme rule. So, let's begin. Now, the first thing I must do this morning, before directing you to the portion that will be the focus of our study, is to demonstrate that this is a proper use of the Old Testament.

Biblical Warrant for Old Testament Application

2:51 Some would question whether or not it is right for me to do what I am doing. Having established some principles from the New Testament, we are going to the Old Testament for a fleshing out of those principles. And making them the basis of admonition and exhortation to you, the people of God dwelling in New Testament times. Now, is this a proper use of the Old Testament?

3:17 And the answer to that question is found in many places, but perhaps nowhere is it found more explicitly stated than in 1 Corinthians, chapter 10. The Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10, I would not have you ignorant brethren, and then he gives some instances recorded in the book of Exodus concerning the nation of Israel and its passing out of Egypt into the wilderness. And then he takes some instances from the book of Numbers, in verses 7 and following, and then he says concerning the narratives to which he has referred both in Exodus and in Numbers, verse 10, verse 11. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 11. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 11. 2 Corinthians 10, verse 11.

4:05 Now the Bible tells us that Ephraim seems to be a tax collector. What does he do? Well he uses a tool to manipulate his Wool Fresco drop, then many history books here say that the tabernacle of me, the Hispanic tale طبر, of the Mysteriouschef said that Jesus Christ was the vår Admonition of the covenant between hon pouvoir sy paw ring and the kingdom of heaven by account of the Ascension, orurities that swear to make worlds. Let's go back in time.

4:34 Let's go back. Ayla ben K Arizonaouen. Okay. Let's go back in time.

4:34 Okay. are written to be the basis of admonition for the church in New Testament times. The phrase, those of us upon whom the ends of the ages are come, is simply a description of gospel days, of the New Testament dispensation, if I may use those terms without having my theology become suspect in this audience. Now, the apostle has referred to the very setting, the very structure of narrative from which I will be preaching this morning.

5:12 Do I have warrant to do that? The apostle tells me, yes, I not only have warrant, it is incumbent upon me so to do. In other words, it is not only a justifiable use of the Old Testament, it is one of the essential necessities in using, the Old Testament. And then, of course, you have the teaching of 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, all scripture is inspired of God, and Paul was then referring explicitly to the Old Testament scriptures, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction, which is in righteousness.

5:52 And so, I'm simply taking part of that all scripture breathed of God, and will from it teach some doctrine, give some reproofs, make some corrections in the realm of practical godliness. So then, if anyone has any question about the legitimacy of what I'm doing, your quarrel is with Paul, not with this servant of Christ, and I leave you to resolve it with the apostle, and not with me. Now then, if you will please turn to Numbers chapter 12. For the first example of God's displeasure upon those who rebel, against his constituted rule, among his visible people.

The Narrative of Numbers 12: Disaffection Described

6:37 And this is a very brief chapter, and so that our minds might be furnished with the basic facts, I shall read all but the last verse. Those who divided up the Bible into chapters and verses, were getting very tired when they came to this chapter, and they had a lapse of mind. Verse 16 should have been included, as the first verse of chapter 13. And Miriam and Aaron, were very weak against Moses, because of the Cushite woman whom he had married.

7:06 For he had married a Cushite woman. And they said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only with, or better translated, by Moses? And hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it.

7:22 Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men that were upon the face of the earth. And the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out ye three unto the tent of meeting. And they three came out. The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the tent, and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forth.

7:49 And he said, Hear now my words. If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision. I will speak with him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so.

8:03 He is faithful in all my house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even manifestly, and not in dark speeches. And the form of the Lord shall he behold. Wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?

8:25 The anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed. And the cloud removed from over the tent, and behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. And Aaron looked upon Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said unto Moses, O my Lord, lay not, I pray, thee sin upon us, for that we have done foolishly, and for that we have sinned.

8:52 Let her not, I pray, 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, Hear me, O my Lord. Hear me, O my Lord. Hear me, O my Lord.

9:03 Hear me, O my Lord. Hear me, O my Lord. Heal her, O God, I beseech thee. And the Lord said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days?

9:15 Let her be shut up without the camp seven days, and after that she shall be brought in again. And Miriam was shut up without the camp seven days, and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again. Here in this narrative the word of the living God, written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages are come. As a classic example, which becomes a pattern not only of how men rebelled to constituted leadership, but a pattern of how God deals with all such who thus rebelled. And if we are to understand the mind and message to God to our hearts, this is where a motion and a motion of power occurs. we must first of all have firmly in our grasp the basic facts of the story itself.

Facts of the Narrative: Disaffection, Apprehension, and Punishment

10:14 So, we're going to spend a few minutes simply describing what happened in the chapter. The facts of the narrative, and if you have a paragraph version, you will notice that it's divided verses 1 to 3, verses 4 to 8, and then verses 9 to 15. In the first paragraph, we have what I am calling a description of the disaffection of Aaron and Miriam. In the second paragraph, we have a description of the apprehension of the disaffected.

10:49 And then in the third and final paragraph, we have the punishment or the retribution upon the disaffected. First of all, then, a description. A description of the disaffection of Aaron and Miriam. And I use the word disaffection very purposefully.

11:10 I fished around a long while before I settled upon that word. For here we do not have yet high-handed rebellion. We do not have a form of anarchy, but we do have a clear case of disaffection. The word means simply to become alienated in one's feelings, to become estranged, discontent, to experience a spirit of antagonism and ill-will.

11:38 And generally, the disaffection towards a leader will manifest itself in insubordination to that leader. The first step in the direction of insubordination is disaffection. The enemy of our souls will seek to make us disaffected to those who have the rule, over us, in order that he might manipulate us into a path of disobedience to their directives. Now then, how did this disaffection come about?

12:14 Well, look at the text. And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. This disaffection comes as a result, as a result of Moses marrying the Cushite woman. Now if you want something interesting, get the commentators and read them on this passage.

12:42 Now my task is to read all they say to spare you the mental agony of having to do the same. So I will not bore you nor torture you with all of the theories as to what this marriage to the Cushite woman was. Suffice it to say, there are only two that make any real sense and do justice to the biblical material. One is that possibly this has a reference to his marriage to that Midianite woman, Zipporah.

13:14 And some commentators take this position because you will find, in reading a passage such as Habakkuk 3.7, that Cush and Midian are put together as part of the Asiatic divisions of what we would now call Ethiopia. . If this is true, that the Scripture is saying that forty years after his marriage to Zipporah , if the passage is saying that 40 years after that marriage there were certain elements of her relationship to Moses or more likely to her relationship to the STEREN and MIRIAM , as they were related in that family intimacy of being brother and sister, the of being brothers and sisters, something occurred that caused them to be disaffected towards Moses. However, other commentators point out, and I think rightly so, it would be strange that 40 years after a marriage which was contracted while Moses was still out in the wilderness would be the occasion of any disaffection in his brother and sister. Rather, and this is the second view, Zipporah has died, and now as Moses is seeking another wife, he bypasses all of the available, no doubt beautiful, talented,

14:42 acceptable Hebrew women, and he sets his affection upon one of these women who was part of that mixed multitude who came out of Egypt with the children of Israel. You read of that mixed multitude several times in the Old Testament narrative. And being a Cushite, in all probability, she was an Ethiopian. She is what we would say today, she was a black woman.

15:09 And Moses married her. Now, why did he do it? Well, again, we can conjecture. Could it be that Moses, because of his intimate relationship with the living God, understood that by marrying a woman who was not a Hebrew by birth, but a convert to the Hebrew religion, that he would demonstrate in this way the whole purpose for which the Hebrew nation existed?

15:37 Israel existed to be God's praise to the earth. Israel existed to be his light amongst the nations. Could it be that Moses, perceiving this, determined that he would make his very marital relationships a monument of this great truth that Israel was so soon to forget, and so often forgot, and so soon to forget, and so seldom understood? Well, that's a possibility.

16:05 Could it be that he wanted to show the evil of the beginnings of this racial pride that the Hebrews seem to have in such abundant measure? Could be. Or could it be he simply liked her, and said, I like a Cushite woman. I like them a little darker than my Hebrew friends.

16:32 Black is beautiful,

16:35 and she's capable, and she's noble, and she knows the God of Israel.

16:42 And since there is no precept which forbids it, for God had said they should not marry Canaanites, but that's all,

16:50 Moses, in the integrity of his heart, before the precepts of God, took to himself a Cushite woman, and in so doing violated no biblical principle, and gave expression to the delight and to the desire of his heart. I, I frankly think it was the latter.

17:13 The others sound more spiritual, but the third is more real.

17:20 Well then, having married the Cushite woman, and there is no doubt about it, for Moses writing the narrative says himself, for he had married a Cushite woman, this disturbs Aaron and Miriam. And it says in verse 1 that they speak against Moses because of this marriage. Now the order in the text, is very significant. Look at it.

17:45 And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses. Miriam is first in the order of the words in the original, and a feminine verb is used to show that she was the instigator. And she drew Aaron into her instigation, but she was the leader. The verb is feminine.

18:04 Her name stands first. And who is punished with leprosy? Not Aaron and Miriam, but only Miriam.

18:11 There's a classic example,

18:15 of the liberation of the world, of the liberation movement. What male chauvinist pig, need to take all this leadership upon himself? Aaron, come here, stand with your sister. Well, I won't go into that, but it's here.

18:32 My son asked me the other day, Daddy, who started the women's lib movement? Well, son, that's part of your answer right here.

18:43 But now, why were they thus disaffected with Moses? And again, I won't weary you with all of the conjectures of the commentators, but I think the most plausible answer is this, that Moses was disaffected with Moses, and that it was a matter of racial pride. Remember, Moses and Miriam and Aaron were blood brothers and sisters after the flesh. Now, here's an interracial marriage, most likely to an Ethiopian woman.

19:11 And here was that sense that the Hebrew seed was being diluted, being prostituted. And if the greatest leader of Israel does it, why, that gives license for anyone else to do it if they want. We must protect the purity of the Hebrew race.

19:32 But again, that's only conjecture. But one thing is clear. Whatever the reasons for their disaffection to Moses, it was rooted in this marriage, and it expressed itself, notice carefully verse 2, and they said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only with Moses? This disaffection rooted in a matter of Moses' personal liberty in choosing Moses, in choosing a wife after his own desire, now manifests itself in Moses, in Aaron and Miriam, by questioning the propriety of the place of leadership which Moses has assumed and under which he functions. And notice how they question it. Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Why, he goes around running the show here, like he had some special niche on the voice of God.

20:35 And then they make a claim that is valid. Hath he not spoken by us also? Yes, he had spoken by Miriam. She was a prophetess.

20:47 You read in Exodus chapter 15 and verse 20, the explicit statement of the word of God. Now Miriam was a prophetess. Exodus. Exodus 15 and verse 20.

21:04 And Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand and all the women went out after her. God had spoken by Miriam. A prophet is one who becomes a mouthpiece for the living God, whose mind and speech organs are so controlled of God that that person becomes the very speech organs of omnipotence. And God had also spoken.

21:31 He had spoken by Aaron. Was he not Moses' mouthpiece when he went in unto Pharaoh? He complained, I am slow of speech. God says, all right, Aaron will be your mouthpiece.

21:41 Was he not the high priest who had the Urim and the Fumim, whatever that was, by which God gave direct revelation in terms of matters of guidance? Yes, it was true. It was absolutely true that Aaron and Miriam were indeed prophets, that God spoke to them. And by them and through them.

22:04 But what they don't like is the exclusiveness of the position of Moses as the highest and the unique spokesman for God. That's the point of their gripe. That's the area of rub. Now, in order to make it clear that there was nothing in Moses to provoke such an attitude, God vindicates his servant in verse 3.

22:32 By saying, now the man Moses was meek above all men that were upon the face of the earth. In other words, if Moses went around pulling rank all the time, saying, look, look, you're a second dog. I'm first fiddler here.

22:48 Why, if this kind of thing was evident in Moses, he could have provoked them. But God is careful to clear the character of his servant. Whatever provokes Aaron and Miriam to be disturbed with Moses' unique place as God's spokesman, the reason did not lie in Moses' abuse of that position, for he was meek above all men upon the face of the earth. He never used his position as a platform of personal glory.

23:18 Never used it as a pedestal to abuse the little peons who were beneath him. So much, then, for this description of the disaffection. I've only given you facts. It's been difficult not to apply and preach, but I'm holding back till we get the facts.

23:33 All right. Now look at the second paragraph. The apprehension of the disaffected.

23:39 And the Lord speaks suddenly.

23:45 Isn't it graphic? God says, I'll put a stop to this thing right off the bat. This disaffection that will lead to disobedience and then will infect the congregation, the Lord speaks suddenly.

24:00 And he then apprehends. You know what apprehending is, don't you? When the policeman apprehends someone, that means they arrest them. They're not tried yet.

24:08 And said, this is a sentence, but they're apprehended. The newscast will say, suspect of such and such a murder has been apprehended. The law has seized upon him. Here is God coming forth to apprehend the guilty ones.

24:22 The Lord speaks suddenly unto Moses and Aaron and Miriam. Come out ye three unto the tent of meeting. God says, that place where my glory and presence is manifest in a peculiar way, I want you to know that you're having direct dealings with me. We're not going to talk about this issue just anywhere.

24:41 We're going to discuss it. We're going to talk about it. We're going to deal with it at the tent of meeting. Aaron and Miriam, listen to me.

24:52 Your dealings are not with Moses. Your disaffection is not with the man. Your disaffection is not because you have a gripe with his cushite wife. Aaron and Miriam, your disaffection is towards me.

25:09 And as I deal with that disaffection, I want to make it evident. Therefore, come to the tent of meeting. And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the door of the tent, apparently one of these theophanies, a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And he called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forth, and he said, Hear my words.

25:35 If there be a prophet, that is an ordinary prophet among you, how does God make himself known? In dream and in vision. That's the ordinary way of revealing truth to a prophet. God takes hold of the mind of the prophet.

25:51 And in prophetic elation, in the context of prophetic revelation, there is dream, there is vision, God makes himself known. But he says, You've classified Moses along with yourselves as prophets, but he is more than this. For he said, I have done something, I have done something in revealing my will to Moses that I have done with no other man. Notice how he states it.

26:18 My servant Moses is not so. He is faithful in all my house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even manifestly, and the form of Jehovah shall he behold. God did not speak in dream and vision to Moses when he shrouded him there upon the top of the mountain, the thick darkness and the thunders and the lightnings.

26:42 God spoke. God spoke to him mouth to mouth as man with man and revealed his glory to Moses. Therefore, God says, weren't you afraid to speak against him, having full knowledge that his place of unique leadership was not one usurped by Moses in pursuit of carnal desire, but his unique place of leadership was imposed upon him as a prophet. And sealed in his unique revelation, weren't you afraid to speak against him?

27:20 God says it is so evident that I have given him a unique place of leadership. I have constituted him the leader in Israel. Weren't you afraid to speak against him? That's the question God asks as he apprehends the guilty.

27:37 Now then, the third paragraph, and we're just dealing with facts now, no application, no deductions, just the facts. The third paragraph, the punishment or the retribution of the disaffected. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them.

27:56 Does God get angry with his children? Yes, he does. It is not the anger of a judge against the guilty criminal. It's the righteous anger of a holy father against his disobedient children.

28:09 Psalm 103, speaking of the anger of the father to his children, he will not keep his anger forever, but he will be angry. Whom he loves, he chastens in righteous and holy anger. And here his anger is stirred, and it is focused upon Aaron and Miriam, and notice the first evidence of it, and he departed.

28:34 God says your sin has caused me to withdraw.

28:40 A withdrawn God is the evidence of his anger, and the cloud removed from over the tent. And then God says when I go, all protection is, and immediately Miriam breaks out in leprosy, that dread disease. Miriam was leprous, as white as snow, and now the function of the high priest was to examine anyone suspected of leprosy, and the high priest had to declare whether or not there was leprosy. If there was, then the person was banished from the camp of Israel, excommunicated, cut off from all worship, all social intercourse with the people of God.

29:19 And so Aaron, how humbling it must have been, looks upon her and makes the pronouncement, and then he turns to Moses, verse 11, and says, Oh my Lord. Oh, he's changed his language now.

29:33 Oh my Lord.

29:36 God has constituted you, the peculiar leader. Oh my Lord. Proper leader of Israel, whose leadership I would seek to usurp. Oh my Lord.

29:51 He's eaten crow, feathers and all now. Oh my Lord. Oh my Lord. Lay not, I pray thee, sin upon us, for we have done foolishly, for that we've sinned.

30:02 There is an honest acknowledgement of the sin, and Aaron owns his involvement. He doesn't excuse himself and say, Miriam, talk me into it. She took the lead. He owns his own guilt.

30:12 And then he prays, Let her not, I pray thee, as one dead of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother's womb. It's a graphic analogy. He says, Let her not be as a stillborn child who died weeks before birth. And the body has already begun to be decomposed when it comes forth from the womb.

30:32 That's exactly what he's saying. He said, If the leprosy remains, it's as though she were a stillborn child with half its flesh consumed. The dread nature of this disease, he pleads that Moses would pray. And so the scripture says, Moses cried unto the Lord, Heal her, O God, I beseech thee.

30:53 God heard his cry, but he says, Moses, if her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? Suppose she did something that warranted her father's contentious act of spitting in her face. It was a way of showing contempt. We have a record of it in Deuteronomy 25.9 when a man would not fulfill the duty of raising up seed to the deceased husband. And the woman comes to the nearest of kin and says, Look, you're now to take me into the relationship of a wife, and raise up seed to the family name. And if the man wouldn't do it, God had a whole ritual, and the ritual was climaxed when she'd spit in his face. A sign of contempt.

31:37 Now God says, Look, if she had done something to her father that was such a denial of the proper relationship of parent and child, so that the father had every right to spit upon her face, wouldn't she feel ashamed? Even if she'd acknowledged her sin and there had been restoration to fellowship? And the answer is very obvious. God says, All right, likewise.

32:00 I'll remove her leprosy, but so that the message will get through, that she'll feel something of the sting of the chastisement. Let her be put without the camp for seven days. Now you know what that meant? That was excommunication.

32:15 Cut off from all worship. Cut off from all fellowship with the people of God. And can you imagine the shame that came to see Miriam with her head down and probably sobbing, being led out of the camp? And people say, Miriam, the one who stood at the head of the people of God, leading the women in songs and dances of triumph, the prophetess Miriam, pray tell, why without the camp?

32:41 And the message would go through. She was disaffected to Moses, the man of God. But why? She didn't like his cushite wife.

32:54 And not only was Miriam humbled that the lesson might be burnt into the inner folds of the flesh of her heart, but that the whole congregation might be warmed. And so there was no movement, the scripture says, until after Miriam is restored. Now those are the facts. There you have the narrative,

Admonition 1: Beware of Pride and Jealousy

33:14 the disaffection of Miriam and Aaron. The apprehension of the disaffected, the punishment upon them. Now these things are written for our admonition. What admonitions come to us from this passage in terms of the fact that we are not and if time permits, I want to give you five this morning.

33:35 And the first one is this.

33:38 Beware of that cursed spirit of pride and jealousy which lies at the heart of much disaffection and rebellion to constituted authority.

33:55 Beware of that cursed spirit of pride and jealousy which lies at the heart of much disaffection and jealousy. of much disaffection and rebellion to constituted authority. In the case of Miriam and Aaron, it was probably racial pride. Probably.

34:13 I can't assert with finality. But I can assert because I have clear scripture that it was pride in the measure of their gifts and jealousy at the measure of another's gifts that led them to be disaffected to Moses, the man of God. ...only spoken, by him. We're prophets, too.

34:40 Ah, yes, but the God who made you prophets, Aaron and Miriam, is the God who made Moses more than a prophet. Will you quarrel with him? Will you allow your hearts to be permeated with pride and with jealousy? Sure, you are given as gifts to lead the people of God.

35:02 In Micah 6, in verse 4, God speaks to his people and says, I gave you Moses, and Aaron, and Miriam. They were all gifts given to the nation. And as long as each recognized his own place and was content that the other occupy his place, there was a beautiful fusion in the diversity of gifts and diversity of administration. But the moment pride in the one and jealousy in the one would usurp the place of the other, then you must find some appearance, some apparent spiritual reason for doing it.

35:42 And that's precisely what Aaron and Miriam did. Now, the New Testament teaching is very clear. In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, we read, Within the body of Christ, furnished with gifts according to the mind and the will of Christ, verse 5 and 6, verses 5 and 6, or back to verse 4, there are diversities of gifts, but the same, there are diversities of ministrations and the same, Lord. And there are diversities of workings, but the same God who worketh all in all.

36:20 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit to profit with all. Do you catch something of the glory of this teaching? One Spirit dwelling in the midst of the people of God. One Lord sovereignly governing the people of God.

36:38 One Lord sovereignly governing the people of God. One Lord sovereignly governing and dispensing those gifts by the Spirit, Ephesians 4. And in the outworking of those realities of the Spirit's presence and the sovereign lordship of Christ, diversities of workings, but the one God who works all and all given that all may profit. And oh, how beautiful when the body recognizes those principles.

37:04 Now only some have gifts to govern. Listed among them, among the diversities of gifts right here in 1 Corinthians 12 in verse 28 is this. Gifts of healings helps governments. Some have gifts to govern and the word is a unique word only used here in all of the New Testament with reference to the gift of governing.

37:27 But it's other usage. It's noun usage. Two other places in the New Testament, Acts 27 and Revelation 18, it speaks of the owner of a ship, the master of the ship. Not the owner, but the master of the ship, the ship's captain.

37:43 Some have gifts to captain the ship of God's people as they make their way through the waters of this life seeking to be kept from the shoals of false doctrine and the reefs of schism and disruption. And what happens on the ship when every single sailor says, I'm competent to be the captain?

38:09 The ship ends up on the rocks. You see? Elsewhere in the New Testament we read in Romans 12, 8, those who rule are to do it with diligence. The same word there is the one we have in 1 Thessalonians 5, 12.

38:25 Know those that are over you in the Lord. 1 Timothy 5, 17, the elders that rule well. Now what does this say? Get hold of it.

38:34 The Spirit of God indwells all the people of God. And in that sense every believer is a prophet, a priest, and a king. He has direct control He has direct access to God through the blood of the everlasting covenant, through the new and living way, through the mediation of the Son of God. He has direct access to the mind of God in Holy Scripture.

38:56 He is to seek to walk beneath the kingship of Christ, bringing under the dominion of Christ every sphere of his own life and responsibility and stewardship. But this does not negate the fact that within the body of Christ some are elevated to peculiar places of leadership, peculiar places of responsibility. And we must never out of jealousy or pride use the fact of our common privileges and our common spiritual graces to disaffect us towards those who have special gifts and special graces to rule in the body of Jesus Christ. Do you see the parallel? Beware of that cursed spirit of pride and jealousy which lies at the heart of much disaffection towards and insubordination to constituted authority. And the text that's been coming to my mind all during my preparation is Proverbs 13, 10.

40:06 Only by pride cometh contention. Only by pride cometh contention. When Moses and Abel and Aaron began to be puffed up because God spoke by them instead of being humbled at the amazing reality of this God, Almighty God. For nothing in us is chosen to speak through us or be unto us if we disobey that great God.

Admonition 2: Beware of Personal Preferences and Prejudices

40:35 And so these things are written, brethren, for our admonition. Admonition one, beware of the cursed spirit of pride and jealousy. Admonition two, beware of allowing personal preferences and prejudices to disaffect you towards your appointed leaders.

40:55 Every time they saw that Cushite woman at ground their socks,

41:01 look at him out there snuggling up to that Cushite. It ought to be an Israelite! Don't you know we're God's favorite ones?

41:13 Those Cushites are their people, but they're part of that mixed multitude. We'd be the children of the ground. Moses,

41:25 you married a Cushite. Aaron? Miriam? You got chapter and verse to show Moses where he disobeyed God?

41:32 Well, no, but! Oh, yes. Well, no, but. But what?

41:38 We just don't like Cushites. Well, isn't that too bad? You mean you will let your own personal preferences and prejudices with reference to the servant of God disaffect you toward it? And that's exactly what they did.

41:56 And you know, my dear people, it is a true and tragic chapter in the history of many a church that this is what has brought it to schism, division, and ruin.

42:10 People begin to say,

42:14 I don't like the style clothes the elders or the preachers are wearing. I don't like the kind of cars they drive. I don't like this. I...

42:26 My friend,

42:29 where does the Bible say that a spiritual leader must become a slave to the winds of the sea? His people are non-moral issues.

42:41 Has he no liberty in Christ?

42:45 Must he marry your ideal of what a preacher's wife ought to be?

42:51 Has he no mind in that one whom he shall take to be the darling of his bosom? Oh, granted, I must be willing to forego lawful liberties for the sake of the gospel. I am fully aware of that. On the other hand, I'm not to become the slave of the winds of people because it's like a form of blackmail and the spiritual leader who begins to conform to all the winds and whimperings of his people finds that the demand becomes higher and higher until he's a wreck, a bondage, and he's lost his own identity as a man.

43:34 I happen to like button-down shirts because I've got no neck and straight shoulders and any other kind of collars turned up.

43:43 Now, even if you didn't know the reasons, I could wear these simply because I like them. But you say, I think that's your opinion. Fine. Wonderful.

43:51 You may say, I don't like them. I don't think that's good. But the minute you let that disaffect you toward me as I seek to administer my sphere of spiritual responsibility, you've become a Miriam. You've become an Aaron.

44:05 Well, I just don't like people who preach so loud as you do, Pastor. Well, granted, you may have sensitive eardrums and that's your privilege. But the minute you begin to let a personal characteristic disaffect you toward that which I think I expound from the word of God, you become a Miriam. You become an Aaron.

44:32 Don't you allow personal preferences and prejudices to disaffect you toward your appointed leaders.

44:43 When a man wants to marry a Cushite and doesn't violate the word of God in so doing, you rejoice in his Cushite wife.

Admonition 3: Conclaves of Disaffection Go Unnoticed by God

44:55 Third admonition is this. Beware of thinking that conclaves of disaffection go unnoticed by God. And again, I've used the word conclave purposely. What is a conclave?

45:07 It's a secret meeting. Now look back at the text. There's something I think at least strongly hinted in the text.

45:16 Did Moses hear Aaron and Miriam grumbling? Doesn't say, but I tell you it does say God heard. Right in the middle of their grumbling, look at verse 2. And they said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses?

45:31 Hath he not spoken with us? And Jehovah heard it.

45:36 Doesn't say Moses did, but it said God did.

45:41 Perhaps being his blood brother and sister, it never entered Moses' mind that those who ate bread with him would lift up their hands against him. And I can just picture Miriam dripping with super spirituality, sitting around a cup of tea one day with Aaron saying, Brother, I've been thinking recently and in my own devotions it's come to my mind that I'm not going to Hasn't the Lord spoken by us? I mean, we're definitely humbled at the thought that we should have such a place, but hasn't the Lord spoken? And Aaron says, Why, of course.

46:18 Of course, I was Moses' mouthpiece. Why, of course. And Miriam, you were the one that led the people of God in that great prophetic song of praise. Why, of course.

46:29 And he says, Well, you know, I've been thinking about that and I really wonder if maybe all of this leadership hasn't begun to turn the head of our people. I mean, recently, you know, he's chosen those 70 men to share in his oversight and, you know, he never even consulted us. You read the previous chapter. Why, he went out and chose those 70 to...

46:50 And he never even consulted us. I really begin to think, don't you think we ought to start praying for him?

46:59 Well, yes, sister. Let's have a word of prayer. A little of the malcontents and Jehovah heard it not for what it appeared to be in their eyes but for what he knew it to be. A conclave of rebellion.

47:23 And oh, how often in the visible church of Christ this happens.

47:29 Someone who's disaffected to a leader starts putting out feelers to see if he can find a kindred spirit of discontent and disaffection. And so the question is asked to say, haven't you noticed recently a pastor really seems so tired? Well, what do you mean? Well, there just hasn't been quite the same clarity in his preaching.

47:53 And I notice he's been awfully kind of harsh with certain situations. Haven't you noticed, elder so-and-so, that I really oh, how spiritual it sounds when underneath the one motivation is disaffection to the leader leading to a spirit of rebellion.

48:16 My friend, I remind you when you're tempted so to act,

48:21 the scripture says, Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Whither shall I flee from thy presence?

48:30 There is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.

48:37 All things are naked and orphaned before the eyes of him with whom we have to do. There is no conclave of disaffection that goes unnoticed by God. Listen to the words of Jesus, what you have spoken in secret. Shall be proclaimed from the housetops.

48:57 Luke chapter 12, Matthew chapter 12, every idle word that men shall speak they shall give an account. Listen, if there are real sins, there is a biblical way to deal with those sins in your leaders. 1 Timothy 5, 19, Against an elder received not an accusation except it be by the mouth of two or three witnesses, not only is a forbidding of receiving an accusation without the witnesses, it is a command so to bring the accusation. And if you are not prepared to bring explicit accusation based upon facts supported by witnesses, then keep your mouth shut and don't you seek to be the beginnings of a conclave of disaffection. For the scripture says, These things doth the Lord hate. And you know what the last one listed is in Proverbs? He that soweth discord, among the brethren.

49:58 And in some of the disruptions through which our sister churches have passed recently, my heart has been made to tremble as I mentioned several weeks ago because people have dared to have repeated conclaves of disaffection and add one and another and another until they become a mutinous element within the church and break the heart of the under shepherds and bring reproach to Christ and leave a working shambles and our flesh is no different my brethren.

Admonition 4: Murmuring and Disaffection Will Be Punished

50:34 Miriam and Aaron were great leaders with great privilege but the moment they were left to nature's resources this is what they did and that's exactly what you'll do and I do if we're left to ourselves. Then the fourth admonition is this. Beware of thinking that murmuring and disaffection will go unpunished by God. Not only must we beware of thinking that we're not thinking they are unnoticed of God but beware of thinking that they will be unpunished by God.

51:10 Verse 9 says the anger of the Lord was kindled and how was the punishment shown? The withdrawal of his presence. I believe that's symbolic. God is saying something.

51:22 You act that way and my presence will not be with you and my friend that's enough to scare the life out of me. The only threat a Christian needs is the threat of the withdrawn presence of God. I'm not talking about falling out of grace. You know me better than that.

51:40 But I'm talking about no longer enjoying the sweetness of communion with God. No longer seeing the light of his countenance when I pray. No longer sensing the warmth of his presence when I sit in the public assembly to have the Lord withdraw.

51:59 That's what God will do. Now that's not the only reason he withdraws because of sin. But that is sometimes the evidence of his displeasure. Then there was the dramatic and the immediate the visible the leprosy that seized upon Miriam.

52:14 Then there was the ordinary and the corporate. She was excommunicated from the people of God for a period of a week. And so the New Testament says him that destroys the temple of God him will God destroy and there are times when God sends judgment upon those who would rebel against leadership and thereby and thereby bring faction and division in the church he sometimes seizes upon them with strange tokens of his displeasure.

52:48 That oft times that displeasure is shown in the more normal way as we find in Romans 16 17 and 18 2 Thessalonians 3 6 and 14 mark those that are disorderly and cause divisions among you and from such withdraw yourself.

53:08 The Miriams who murmur are put without the camp and the tragedy is that in many churches your murmuring can become blatant anarchy and all people do is pray that the Lord will deal with you. My friends we're determined to do more than just pray. As those charged with the peace and purity of this assembly we're determined that all disaffection and rebellion shall be dealt with biblically for the sake of God's glory. Well I must hurry very quickly to touch another admonition.

Admonition 5: Do Not Mistake Meekness for Weakness

53:49 Beware of mistaking meekness for weakness in your appointed leaders. Verse 3 look at it. Now Moses was very meek above all men that were upon the face of the earth and all of the history of Moses' life is an extended commentary and proof of that statement.

54:10 Even in the context he didn't say when Miriam breaks out in leprosy serves you right and Aaron says pray for her and he says no no that's her bed. Let's pray for her. He had a lie in it. He had no ill will in his heart.

54:20 He immediately uses his privilege and access to God to pray for the one who'd been his enemy. And God hears his prayer. How he bore the burden of a nation that turned against him and against his God and God says on a couple of occasions Moses I'll be done with them let me make a nation of you. He said no God you can't do that.

54:42 Your glory's at stake. Their good is at stake. A meek man is a man who walks in a spirit characterized by the absence of ill will to others and the absence of self-will to God. That's a meek man.

54:59 Now when they saw Moses in his meekness they mistook it for weakness.

55:04 Now look you see Moses has got this great position but God also speaks with us. Maybe we can horn in on that position.

55:13 God says my servant Moses won't defend himself but I'll come to his defense. And the Lord heard and the Lord The Lord spoke, and the Lord was angry. Do you see the emphasis in this chapter? Jehovah spake, suddenly the anger of Jehovah was kindled.

55:34 True leaders are meek men who seek your good.

55:41 But don't mistake their meekness for weakness, or their God will come to vindicate their position of leadership.

55:48 The Apostle Paul gives an explicit statement of this in 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 14. Here is a man who withstood the Apostle in his place of leadership. And the Apostle says of this man, 2 Timothy 4.14, Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil.

56:08 The Lord will render to him according to his works, of whom do thou also beware, for he greatly withstood our words. Here is a man who opposed my apostolic authority. The Lord will take him in hand to deal with him. So beware of mistaking meekness for weakness.

56:32 And may I say that's generally the temptation either of frustrated would-be leaders who are jealous of the position of leadership that others have, and they're on a peer relationship age-wise, experience-wise, or it's manifested in youth who don't have sense enough to be stilled in the presence of age and maturity.

57:03 Because men are not tyrants, they think maybe, they're unprincipled and they can be shoved around.

57:11 Oh, my dear young people, listen. It behooves young men and women to be still and to listen in the presence of gray hairs and no hairs.

57:26 Ye younger be subject unto the elder. Yea, all of you be clothed with humility. Now I close this morning on the note that I just couldn't wait to get to.

Behold God's Amazing Grace and Forgiving Mercy

57:39 I've given you five bewares. Now I want to close. I want to close with a behold. Behold the amazing grace and forgiving mercy of God.

57:50 Here were these leaders, Aaron and Miriam, greatly privileged, but becoming great sinners. Yet we read in the scripture upon an honest confession of their sin, there was pardon and forgiveness and restoration and even the withdrawal of the hand of chastisement. Oh, how mercy is mixed with judgment. In this passage, look at what the scripture says.

58:17 Verse 11, Aaron said, Moses, oh, my Lord, lay not, I pray thee, sin upon us. We've done foolishly, we've sinned. Let her not be as one dead. And Moses cried to Jehovah, saying, Healer, I beseech thee.

58:31 And thank God, the greater than Moses stands in the presence of God on behalf of guilty sinners and all who come unto him, saying, Son of David, have mercy upon me. He then presents, He then presents our case to the Father. And the Father is pleased with his intercession on our behalf. And he says,

58:55 For by righteousness sake, that sinner is forgiven, that sinner is restored. And thank God that we behold, even in a passage that is oozing with sober overtones of judgment and warning, we behold the amazing grace and the forgiving mercy of our God. Amen. And I say to any of you who've been a Miriam, you've been an Aaron, and you've been disaffected to constituted leadership, you need not leave with the heaviness of the threats upon you.

59:30 You may leave even though there may be some of the sting of God's chastisement in your flesh. You may leave knowing that the sin is pardoned and that you can have communion with your God. And I say to some of you rebel sinners who are in the midst of sin, who've defied not just constituted leadership, but the true King himself. And you've dared to live with a clenched fist in the God of heaven saying, I will not have him to reign over me.

59:58 My friend, the hour is coming when God will seize upon such rebels and consume them in his righteous and holy anger. But that hour has not yet come. The ends of the ages are upon us. But the age has not come to a close.

60:16 Thou is the day of salvation. The door of mercy stands open. Seek the greater than Moses who interposes between you and the holy God and pleads the merits of his blood and the perfection of his righteousness for all who come unto God by him. Now these things were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages are coming.

60:46 Amen. May God burn into our hearts the great danger of becoming disaffected with our constituted leadership lest we also be apprehended by God, come under the chastisement of God. Rather, let us, according to the language of 1 Corinthians 12, rejoice in the diversity of gifts and administrations and together function, as a harmonious body to the glory of the head and to the blessing and usefulness of all the members. Amen.

61:28 Let us pray.

61:40 O Lord, we thank you for your holy word.

61:44 How rich, how fresh, how pointed is its teaching. We thank you that all things necessary for life and godliness are bound up in the teaching of this blessed book. And, O, we ask for eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to obey all that you have said to us this morning. Lord, seal this word to our hearts that we as a congregation may be preserved from this terrible sin of disaffection toward constituted leadership.

62:27 O God, if an Aaron and a Miriam can fall, what can keep them? What can keep us but your grace? Hear us, Lord. Preserve us by that grace.

62:38 And for those who know no leadership but that of their own lusts, have mercy upon them, O God. Put your fear into their hearts that they may seek you and find mercy through the Lord Jesus Christ. Seal this word, we pray. Bring its principles to remembrance when we most need them and perhaps when we least want them.

63:03 Hear us, O God, we ask through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the great Head and only true King of His people. Amen.