James McCann - Class 3: Phinehas' Zealous for his God

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

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   Well, as Brother Jason mentioned, we actually have two sort of sections on Phineas, one by Brother Peter and one by myself. So don't worry, Brother Peter will correct all my mistakes from this morning. But Phineas' legacy is an amazing one that actually goes through for thousands of years. In fact, we could even link it to what we're doing right here, right now.

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   Would anyone like to have a guess as to what connection could we possibly make from Phineas to what we're doing right now? Well, the thing that we're going to be looking at is that Phineas actually begun a line. And in that line, he became a father to a group of people who actually became the beginnings of a school.

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   And it was the school of the prophets. And we're going to see that Samuel is actually part of the legacy of Phineas. And ultimately, that idea of gathering people together in a school to build them up and to strengthen them into the work of the truth, was something that Phineas and his legacy is actually the reason for.

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   So we want to have a quick snapshot. And one of the things that I had a quick chat with Brother Peter about is that he's going to spend a lot more time in Numbers 25 than I am. I would like to take a little bit of a snapshot of Numbers 25. Then we're going to jump into Joshua 22 where Phineas comes up again.

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   And then, of course, we'd like to focus more on Phineas' legacy, particularly the amazing guidance of the Ecclesia and his role in being a father to the sons of Korah. So if you think about it, the idea of prophets and of psalms and of singing became such an instrument of his legacy that even David and Samuel and people like that picked up on it.

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   So what we want to do is first get a little bit of an introduction to where Phineas fits in. So I'd like you to come with me, brothers and sisters, to Leviticus chapter 10. And we want to start here because this gives us Phineas' family and introduces us into the record. Now, he's not mentioned here directly, but just to get a little bit of a family tree, we actually have Aaron having four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eliezer and Ithamar.

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   Now, here in Leviticus chapter 10, this was a very significant event, which, brothers and sisters, I believe Phineas would have been here to observe and to have watched. And this would have had a massive impact on him. This would have been something that would have been a part of his defining characteristics and his legacy.

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   But here in Leviticus 10, and we know the story very well, so we won't labor it too much, but Nadab and Abihu took upon themselves a censer and they offered strange fire before God. And here before the entire nation, it says in verse 2, that they went out a fire of Yahweh and devoured them.

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   Now, can you imagine? Here is the entire nation beginning to set up very much for the first time its worship. And whooshka, out from heaven comes this massive bolt of fire and devours these boys because of their error. That would be your uncles, if you are Phineas. And here it says in verse 3, that Moses immediately turns to Aaron and he says, This is that Yahweh spake.

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    I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron had to hold his peace. Even though his two eldest boys had just been zapped up in front of him. That would have been one of the first things that Phineas as a young man would have seen.

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    So, let's now come across to the first time where he's actually mentioned in the record. And it's over in Exodus chapter 6. And this is fascinating, brothers and sisters, the way that scripture records things. Brother Roger's been talking about how, even in Acts, the little details show the inspiration of how things fit in.

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    And being a past history teacher, I'm sure he loves those sort of little things that are added in. We'll have a look at the way that the lineage of the houses of Moses and Aaron are brought into this record in Exodus chapter 6. If you have a look in verse 14, it says, These be the heads of their father's houses.

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    It says, The sons of Reuben, the firstborn. And it gives a little bit of a cameo of his family. Then of Simeon in verse 15. Then of Levi. Then it stops following down through the boys of Jacob. And it tells us about Levi. And off we go through Levi's family. Gershon, Kohath, Merari.

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    And again, we can see a little bit of a snapshot of his family. But then, in verse 18, Kohath is focused in. And then we have Amram. He is focused on in the record in verse 20. And then from Amram in verse 20, we have Aaron and Moses. And in verse 23, we have Aaron.

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    And it singles it down to Eliezer. In verse 23, and then in verse 25, Full stop. These are the heads of the fathers of the Levites. In other words, brothers and sisters, the record is, in a sense, wilting down this family and focusing us in on one individual. Phineas. Why is that the case?

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    Because here, brothers and sisters, is a man who is going to encapsulate the principles of priesthood, particularly as it's even picked up in Numbers 25, as God's own covenant of peace with the Levites and the work that they were actually designated by God to do. So, when we go to the second occurrence of Phineas in the record, which is Numbers 25, let's just turn there now.

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    We can see that Phineas enters the record in a rather dramatic way. Now, brother Jason likes this very dramatic passage. Just don't go near him if you've done anything wrong today. But in Numbers 25, we need to sort of get the background and the context. And it's already been mentioned this week, but of course, we have the story of Balaam.

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    But brothers and sisters, what is Balaam noted for in Scripture? That's a question that you can answer. You can yell it out. Agreed? Yeah?

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    False prophet? Definitely. Both the New and the Old Testament refer to this particular thing about Balaam. Yes, that's true. But the Old Testament and the New Testament definitively use this word.

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    The right? Bribe. True, yes. But something that he did. Yes, he did. How? There's a key word. It's used even in Revelation. That's the outcome of what happened.

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    You've got to make this happen in the second session because everyone's sort of like getting a bit sleepy. It's the word doctrine and counsel. Balaam is actually noted in Scripture for counselling the people in a wrong direction. You see, Balaam actually tried to curse Israel, but he was not allowed to do that.

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    And the New Testament picks up this beautifully in Revelation 2 where it says the doctrine of Balaam who taught Israel to stumble. And so the story of Balaam and all that happened after that, all the events that transpired was because Balaam couldn't actually curse Israel. He blessed Israel. And that shows us, brothers and sisters, that God was overlooking over his people.

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    And you can't curse the family of God. But if you want to get at them, you teach them something different. You teach them the doctrine of the world. You teach them how to sin. And if you think about it, brothers and sisters, our doctrines stand very firm. Our brother Roger was talking this morning about standing up against the doctrine of the Trinity.

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    It's very powerful when we see truth versus error. But the way we are going to get beaten, brothers and sisters, is when we introduce new doctrines that teach us something different, that teach us how to sin. And our brother Peter was mentioning those sort of things as well, like theistic evolution and other things that come into our midst.

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    They teach us something other than what scripture records. And so when we come to Numbers 25, we can see the effects of what took place. And you know, brothers and sisters, if you want to teach people to be like the world, you've got to show the world to them. And this is exactly what takes place.

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    It says that Israel abode in Shittim and the people began to commit whoredoms with the daughters of Moab. And the reason that we have the daughters of Moab mentioned here is because like back in Genesis, we have the sons of God and the daughters of men. This was the way in which Israel was going to be seduced away from the things of God.

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    And it says that they were joined to Baal Peor. This is fornication. This was the sexual immorality that was going on amongst the people at this time. And our brother Peter has been using this example from 1 Corinthians 10 because this is telling us that as they committed fornication, we can't just stand there and go, well, that was something that we wouldn't do.

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    Brothers and sisters, it's mentioned in 1 Corinthians 8 because there is no temptation taking you as such is common to man. We all have this before our eyes every day. And therefore, we have to see that God is faithful, trust in him and make sure that we keep ourselves away from idolatry. But you only need to look, brothers and sisters, at the various things that our eyes can see day by day.

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    The things that we're shown on TV, the things that are in magazines and newspapers, things that are on the internet. These are the things that we are watching in our families. And so if you have a look at even just this smattering of the world in our midst today, you know, even in our own brotherhood, there have been people who have been trying to discuss the things of marriage equality.

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    And here is the big billboard that was on the M5 as we drive from our house to Rivewood. This was the big billboard that was on the M5 that says, marriage equality and said by a priest, it is the right thing to do. This is now entering it into a moral realm where people in our world who are proclaiming to be Bible teachers are calling that which is evil good and that which is good evil.

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    Are we, brothers and sisters, being taught the world by the things that we are indulging in? We might say we stand for the truth and yet our entertainment and the things that we like to watch and listen to, they are the immoral things that this world presents and it's being paraded past us like the daughters of Moab.

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    Sin will destroy us. A different morality will corrupt our minds as it did Israel. And so a plague is sent through the nation. And that's very interesting, brothers and sisters, that took place because it was very similar to another event that took place in Israel. And that was, of course, the issue relating to Korah.

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    And think of this, that these two instances are very similar. And it's very important we see that connection because Phineas is going to become connected to the sons of Korah, as we'll see in a little while. But God commanded that they were to speak unto all the heads of the people and say unto them that those who were joined to Baal-peor would be hung up before Yahweh against the son.

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    And this idea of hanging them up is used in the Septuagint as the same word as crucify in Hebrews chapter 6. There had to be, brothers and sisters, a public display of God's righteousness that this was incorrect, that the world was to see and Israel was to see that God will not tolerate this kind of immorality and behaviour.

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    His righteousness he has openly showed in the sight of all the nations. And the heads of the people had to carry out this judgment. Well, unfortunately, we have someone who should have known better parade himself in front of all Israel. And we see that in verse 6 it says, And behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation who happened to be weeping before the door of the tabernacle.

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    Now, brothers and sisters, we've got to ask ourselves the question, why didn't Moses do something about this? Why was it that Phineas rose up here? Well, there's possibly two suggestions as to why Moses was possibly compromised here. The first of all that you might notice that this woman that was being paraded here was a Midianite-ish woman and it says, before or in the sight of Moses.

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    Maybe this person as he paraded through was in a sense sort of saying, well, you had a Midianite-ish woman so I can. It was done deliberately in Moses' eyes. The other thing you might do is just quickly link verse 6 across to verse 14 because we're actually told who this Israelite was. And this Israelite was actually one of the heads of the people.

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    He was actually one of Moses' arranging brethren if you wanted to put it that way. And so therefore he should have known better. And we're reminded, aren't we, of the words of Paul in 1 Timothy that of course we are to count those elders amongst our mouths of double honour especially those who labour in word and doctrine but those who do the wrong thing publicly are to be rebuked before all so that others might fear that there might be that public declaration of God's righteousness amongst the people.

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    We're not to be partial in that. And so therefore brothers and sisters Phineas stood up. And that's what happens in verse 7 when Phineas saw this he rose up from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand. Now we're told by God in this little section here look at verse 11 look at God's assessment of this because when you start talking about someone walking into the middle of the ecclesial hall with a javelin it sounds very very graphic and it was but this was a drastic measure because the circumstances were drastic but this is God's assessment of it.

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    He speaks to Moses in verse 10 and he says Phineas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest has turned away my wrath from the children of Israel because he was zealous for my sake. Look at that he's acting on my behalf God's saying he was jealous with my jealousy and here we actually have the character of God revealed God is merciful he's gracious he's long-suffering he's abundant in goodness and truth but he will by no means clear the guilty and so this was the zeal of God this was not human anger this was divine zeal to see the things of God right and true in the midst of Israel.

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    It says it again doesn't it in verse 13 he was zealous for his God but what's interesting that in this phrase here it says in verse 12 wherefore behold I have given him my covenant of peace my covenant of peace and that's really important brothers and sisters that when we come to think about the righteousness and holiness of God and us coming before God we have to appreciate that God does desire peace with us but it's not on our terms it's on his terms it's his covenant of peace as Malachi picks up in chapter 2 and verse 4 my covenant was with him of life and peace because the law of truth was in his mouth he walked with me in peace you see it's when we actually want to share God's righteousness and God's peace when the law of truth is on our lips then brothers and sisters we're walking with our God that is the covenant of peace that our God is seeking and these things will not be removed these are the principles the eternal principles by which all those who come to God must acknowledge it is not on our terms it is on God's terms and can you imagine if you were a little Phineas and you remembered your uncles these are the principles by which those who come nigh me will be sanctified we must sanctify our God in our hearts if they're the things that we are to draw nigh to him through and that's why in verse 13 he is told that his seed after him here's the idea of legacy coming in to numbers 25 this everlasting

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    priesthood was going to be this legacy of Phineas because he was zealous for his God and he made atonement for the children of Israel this is a beautiful little phrase brothers and sisters to make atonement let's just come quickly to Romans chapter 3 because it's the apostle Paul that picks up this idea of the basis by which God is reconciled or we are reconciled back to God in Romans 3 again we know this really well but it's very powerful to see that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God but we have been justified verse 24 of Romans 3 freely by his grace through through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God has set forth to be a propitiation or a mercy seat now we know brothers and sisters that under the law what God actually designed was that the high priest would come in on the day of atonement and he would sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat and it was under that condition on that day that God says I will meet with you they were his principles of peace and so Jesus has been set forward as that throne of grace through faith in his blood so we have to believe what was stated in those principles of his death because what was declared to the world was God's righteousness to lay a basis for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God to declare I say in verse 26 his righteousness why so that God might be just and if his righteousness has been upheld then he might be the justifier

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    of all those who believe in those principles even though they are in desperate need as sinners it's a beautiful thing brothers and sisters when we see the character of God played out in these principles and Phineas got that and that's why God elevates him so in this record here this covenant of peace but what's fascinating is to actually see something that's added here in verse 7 in numbers 25 it says that Phineas rose up from among the congregation now if we look back in verse 6 we can see that the congregation were there weeping at the door of the tabernacle now why that's interesting brothers and sisters is because if we follow the door of the tabernacle through the law we actually see that it keeps coming up over and over and over again little exercise to do with the family in the readings get a pen colour in the door of the tabernacle the door of the tabernacle why well there's two things that predominantly the door of the tabernacle was a place of the first thing it was a place of the offerings it's where people bought the offerings because that's where the priests resided and they would bring their offerings to the priest who was there at the door of the tabernacle so this place was a place of atonement it was a place where the sacrifices and forgiveness were there prefigured but it's interesting too that we have on a few occasions it's also the place where God's glory appeared now why that's fascinating brothers and sisters is because if we follow Phineas's legacy what is it that he would have

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    passed on to those in his care well we know that the sons of Korah as we'll see a little bit later became part of his legacy and if we look through the psalms of the sons of Korah Psalm 84 says this when you see the context of this family legacy this psalm comes alive for a day in thy courts is better than a thousand i had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my god than to dwell in the tents of wickedness there's the sons of Korah they didn't want to partake of the tents of wickedness of their father for for Yahweh Elohim is a sun and shield now notice this Yahweh will give grace and glory no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly there are the two principles of the door of the tabernacle grace the place where they brought the offerings and glory the character of God shining out there being met in all those principles as they brought their offerings it's beautiful that here embedded in this family is this idea of grace and glory and it puts a really important spin doesn't it on our understanding of what a doorkeeper does you see a doorkeeper in the ecclesia brothers and sisters should be a person who is about these principles a person who is about striving for reconciliation to draw people in to what God is trying to do with us as we come to meet him and that's why here if we look in Matthew 25 Christ picks up these principles of the place of where they brought their offerings to the altar he says

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    therefore if you bring your gift to the altar and there you remember what your brother has ordered against you leave there your gift go your way first be reconciled to your brother then come and offer your gift if you

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    to offer your gift to God then go and realize that your relationship and your reconciliation with your brother is as equally important as your relationship and your reconciliation with God in fact so important that forgiveness on God's terms is based on how we forgive each other so likewise will your heavenly father forgive !

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    you if you from your heart forgive your brothers and sisters that's the principle of people who are door keepers in our ecclesia so brothers and sisters here is this beautiful little snapshot of Phineas and how he is drawing to the people an understanding of God's covenant of peace we'd now like to jump across to Joshua 22 to look at another instance of where Phineas comes up in the record now as we're going to Joshua 22 we're going to have to do a little bit of a summary of the story of what's taken place just so we build an understanding of what takes place but Joshua 22 is coming to the end of the conquest in Canaan and as they had battled for long and hard it was Reuben Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh who had originally come to Moses back in the as they were entering and they said look we've got our inheritance here and Moses said you are coming with us you cannot leave your brethren to do the rest of the work you are going to be involved in this process and so they faithfully accepted that little dressing down and followed Israel in and then they literally showed a great deal of faith in leaving their entire families on the eastern side they came in and helped the conquest and now as the conquest had finished they then come back and they realise that they are going to leave their brethren and sisters on the west side and they are going to have to travel back and they are starting to scratch their head as to what takes place

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    now when they go across the other side of the Jordan and so Reuben and Gad had kept their promise but what they decided to do is they wanted in verse 10 to build an altar and they built it says in verse 10 and when they had come to the borders of Jordan on the land of Canaan the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by Jordan a great altar to see so they build this altar and they head back across the Jordan now look at this little phrase here in verse 11 when the children of Israel heard say now it's mentioned again in verse 12 when the children of Israel heard of it this is an interesting little phrase brothers and sisters because when the children of Israel heard what this two and a half tribes had done they suddenly went into panic mode and so what they do is they send Phineas and all the heads of Israel because what they wanted to do in verse 12 look at this they gather themselves together at Shiloh to go up to war against them and in verse 16 as they come to the children of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh they immediately begin with this massive charge of idolat tree look what you've done the whole congregation of Yahweh it says in verse 16 what trespass is this that you have committed in turning away that might rebel this day against Yahweh brothers and sisters they just heard a little bit of gossip about what this two and a half

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    tribes have been doing and they drew a conclusion that they must be leaving the truth they're not doing exactly what we should be doing and so they come and they charge from verse 16 all the way through to verse 20 they unleash this idea of trespass iniquity and rebellion in Israel and of course who do you send if you want to put idolatry and rebellion down you send Phineas because he deals with people with spears and we're going to war is the response and here brothers and sisters is the reply in verses 22 all the way to 29 from Reuben Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh they say Yahweh ale of gods Yahweh ale of gods he knows Israel he shall know if there be rebellion or if there be transgression this day against Yahweh then don't save us if you are right then take us out we agree with you we don't want to rebel this is not what we're doing he goes do you actually really want to know what we're doing he goes we'll tell you he goes we're trying to establish a legacy we're trying to put here a witness to our families that we belong over there with you that our entire families as they grow up in the future look at this as it says in verse 24 in time to come our children might speak to your children and they're going to say well what do you have to do with Yahweh Elohim of Israel and we're worried about this we don't want to ever be severed from the hope of Israel we belong united with you

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    but how can we teach our children that how can we possibly do that well verse 27 but that it may be a witness between us and you and our generations after us we're trying to establish a legacy that we might do the service of Yahweh before him that we belong with you over there because we love the things of the truth we're not trespassing we're not rebelling we're not committing iniquity this is a witness between us and you they say at the end of verse 28 God forbid verse 29 that we should rebel against Yahweh this day how beautiful is that brothers and sisters that sometimes we need to stop and be very careful what we hear about other people we hear a lot of things don't we there's a lot of hearsay that goes around but do we stop and carefully think about what that charge is because they should have known from Moses own words back in Deuteronomy 13 you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently and behold if it be truth and the thing certain that such an abomination is wrought among you then you act but look at the emphasis inquire search be diligent don't go with the thought already in mind that you're going to war go and find out what the reason is first and so it says in verse 30 that when Phineas the priest heard that he said in verse 31 this day we perceive that Yahweh is amongst us because you have not committed this trespass against Yahweh now we have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of Yahweh and so they

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    all return and in the hearing of this brothers and sisters the wisdom of Phineas to say put away the sword we've made a mistake here we need to realise that what is here is truth this is what they were actually trying to do and this reminds me brothers and sisters of of a passage in the New Testament which I'd like you to come to because it's one of my favourites it's one that always runs through my mind when I hear things I suppose and I think it's a beautiful passage that shows the balance in Phineas's character here in 2nd Timothy chapter 2 we have in verse 19 all the way through to the end this beautiful balance about getting God's principles right it says nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal that the Lord knoweth them that are his so let everyone that is named the name of Christ depart from iniquity that's what we should be like like Phineas zealous for the things of God in departing from iniquity as it goes through it tells us in verse 22 that we should flee youthful lust and follow righteousness and faith and love and peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart and we should avoid unlearned and foolish questions and strife and here in verse 24 it says the servant of the Lord must not strive here's the response be gentle unto all apt to teach patient meek because meekness is the mode by which you instruct those who oppose themselves because what you're trying to do is allow God to work through you to turn

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    them around and to be able to give them the repentance to the acknowledging of the truth that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will if we walk in brothers and sisters with a spear and a sword already out and start flaying the collateral damage might not be stopped before we realise that we could have made a mistake and there's actually truth going on here and so I think this legacy of Phineas's character is to be merciful and atoning a peaceful reconciler and a father but balancing that with being strict and decisive on willful sin of course in our own life first behold the goodness and the severity of God and again if we look at the legacy that this was instilled in the generations that came just taking another of the psalms of the sons of Korah psalm 85 surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him that glory may dwell in our land this is the whole idea of Joshua 22 they had to uphold the things that were in the land mercy and truth are met together righteousness and peace have kissed each other truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven there's the beautiful balance of those two characteristics in those who were the sons of Korah and so Phineas' legacy in this family is shown to us in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 I'd like you just to come with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 9 and have a look how here is another mention of Phineas and look at who he

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    is associated with here and notice again what this family is doing in 1 Chronicles 9 if we skip across to verse 19 it says and Shalom the son of Kor the son of Abiasaf the son of Korah and his brethren of the house of his father the Korah heights were over the work of the service keepers of the gates of the tabernacle and their fathers being over the host of Yahweh were keepers of the entry see how it keeps mentioning what their job was here are the sons of Korah well why are they here doing this important job verse 20 because Phineas the son of Eliezer was ruler over them in time past and Yahweh was with him and so what we actually have here is this beautiful indication that Phineas became a ruler over the sons of Korah can you imagine that when Korah actually went against Moses and he was destroyed the stigma that the sons of Korah would have possibly had amongst the rest of the children of Israel but here is this beautiful man who comes alongside them the reconciler and becomes as if like a father to them because Yahweh was with him he brings them under his wings and he teaches them the true principles of what priesthood is like as keepers of the gates of the tabernacle and all the way through this little section you can see it repeats again in verse 21 they were porters of the door of the tabernacle and this legacy continued from Phineas all the way down have a look here in verse 22 to David and Samuel the seer who did

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    ordain them in their set office so Phineas became like a father and a ruler over them and here they are keeping the door of the tabernacle even right down to the time where David and Samuel appoint them and ordain them that exact same role it's beautiful brothers and sisters that this family legacy was held on to for such a long time but even what the reason that we have Samuel mentioned here in the record is because Samuel himself if we follow these two links from Samuel 1 verse 1 and from 1st Chronicles 6 we can see that Samuel was also a son of Korah but I'd like to actually show you what Samuel did the very first thing recorded of him just come back to 1st Samuel chapter 3 if Samuel here is of the legacy of Phineas as one of the sons of Korah and that was their role we have God reveal to Samuel in the night what he's going to do with an unfaithful priesthood and this unfaithful priesthood was because the sons made themselves so vile and their father didn't restrain them that God had to absolutely remove it from Israel and he tells Samuel all of these things and in verse 15 it says Samuel lay until the morning and then he walks out and opens the doors of the house of Yahweh because the sons of Eli had been at the house at the door of the tabernacle doing all the immoral things but this young man wanted to go out and open the doors of the tabernacle so people could come in and understand the true principles of God

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    and he was not scared ultimately to tell Eli although he feared he's told him every wit in verse 18 of what God said he didn't hold back he said this is the way it is this is God's principles what an amazing little man that Samuel would have been and then brothers and sisters for Samuel in the nation to want to embed the principles of God and of priesthood for him to help David establish what would be the ordinances of the temple they sat down together and they worked it all out and they were the things that David then handed on to Solomon as to how the tabernacle should be arranged the service of the Levites and all the singers of the sons of Asaph are there in first chronicles mentioned over and over and over again because that's the legacy that even Ezra picks up to embed into the nation as they come back from captivity it's beautiful isn't it brothers and sisters that the school of the prophets the singing in the temple that would have taken place in David and Solomon's time all were a flow on effect of a legacy started by that man all the way back in numbers 25 so if we look through into the sons of Korah and their psalms you can see that there's a collection of them and when you go through those psalms it's beautiful to see that if you have in the back of your mind numbers 25 and number 16 those two key events it's as if in this family we're embedded those principles forever just give you a few little snapshots to think about

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    as you read through psalm 44 we have heard with our ears oh god our fathers have told us what work you did in their days and times of old here were these boys hundreds of years later still saying that we have heard what you have done all the way back there in the wilderness because our fathers have faithfully passed on this legacy to us psalm 45 you have loved righteousness and hated iniquity is Paul's assessment in Hebrews 1 where he quotes psalm 45 therefore god even thy god has anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows and Phineas was given this eternal priesthood i will make thy name to be remembered in all generations because this is the legacy that i'm going to embed in my children says Phineas he's going to bring those under his wing shall the people praise thee forever and ever that's why the legacy will continue all the way through to the kingdom brothers and sisters psalm 48 thy right hand is full of righteousness let mount Zion rejoice let the daughters of Judah be glad because of thy judgments are we glad brothers and sisters when we hear about the judgments of god do we look forward to the time when christ will return and all the iniquity that we see around us will be removed are we like lot crying out for the iniquity of Sodom and Gomorrah that's all around us walk about Zion go round about her tell the towers thereof mark ye well her bulwarks consider her palaces that you may tell it to the generation following it's beautiful how they were embedding

57. 42:17

    this legacy in this family Yahweh loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob the spiritual Israel and the gates of Zion more than the tents or the immediate families of Jacob now that would have meant so much brothers and sisters to the sons of Korah because their own family in a sense was torn apart by their father's work but someone else became a father to the fatherless and looked over them and allowed his legacy to be in that family as well and you know brothers and sisters we have lots of people in our ecclesia who may not be part of our immediate family we may not even have a family and yet our legacy can be over them because we become a father or a mother to them and that's why brothers and sisters these beautiful words and of Zion it shall be said this and that man was born in her the start of that little legacy began in an individual that made them a citizen of Zion and the highest himself shall establish her Yahweh shall count when he writes up the people that this man was born there in that legacy and so if we were to use the phrase back in Numbers 25 that this was an everlasting priesthood and his seed would commence on after him as we said from the beginning of the week brothers and his legacies find their way to the Lord Jesus Christ I'd like you to come with me to John chapter 2 because we see this beautiful balance of Phineas's character in the Lord Jesus Christ the only one who

58. 44:03

    perfectly brought mercy and truth together which is exactly the principles of why he has been set forward as our mercy seat in John chapter 2 we know here in verse 14 that and found in the temple were those that sold oxen sheep and doves and the changes of money and here it was when he saw this it was at the Passover time that Jesus went up to Jerusalem says he made a scourge of small cords and he drove them out of the temple and he said unto them in verse 16 take these things hence make not my father's house a house of merchandise how dare you do this to my father's house then answered the Jews and said unto him sorry verse 17 and his disciples remembered that it was written the zeal of thine house has eaten me up here was this zealous passionate man driving out the iniquity of those people who were making merchandise of his father's house of prayer so christ himself was strict and decisive on sin but the other balance is if we come across to john chapter 10 in verse 7 john chapter 10 verse 7 we read and jesus said unto them verily verily i say unto you i am the door of the sheep all that ever came before me are thieves and robbers but the sheep did not hear them i am the door by me if any man enter in he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture here brothers and sisters is the lord jesus christ as the merciful atoning peaceful reconciler you come to the door of

59. 46:03

    god's house and you enter in by me and there you will find salvation redemption forgiveness of sins and eternal life the true balance of the character of phineas that we saw and how all these things brothers and sisters have to be seen in us as well so our take home message will be sorry we don't have time to look i suppose at the aspects in in hebrews 11 which shows christ is that that priesthood that all of the aspects converge on but our take home message for this morning brothers and sisters is that phineas's legacy is his zeal and his passion for god we need to get passionate we need to get zealous about the things of god but we need to stand for right doctrine and practice we need to be equally zealous for truth and mercy we need to stand at the door and call people in to the salvation of god we need to watch over those amongst us that have no family realizing that the family of the truth is the is the gates of zion that god loves more they're the things that he's trying to bring us as one united and by grace we can share in god's covenant of peace we want to appreciate it appreciate it appreciate it appreciate it appreciate it appreciate it appreciate it appreciate it appreciate it appreciate it appreciate appreciate it appreciate appreciate it appreciate appreciate it !

60. 47:39

    appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate appreciate