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Audacious Sin

Words of Faith Final

Audacious Sin

Words of Faith 8-4-2020

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2020

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL

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Numbers 25

    [4] The Lord said to Moses, "Take all the leaders of these people, kill them and expose them in broad daylight before the Lord, so that the Lord's fierce anger may turn away from Israel."

    [5] So Moses said to Israel's judges, "Each of you must put to death those of your men who have joined in worshiping the Baal of Peor."

   [6] Then an Israelite man brought to his family a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. [7] When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand [8] and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear through both of them--through the Israelite and into the woman's body. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped; [9] but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.

 

         Wow!  What a tragic day in the camp of God’s people!  Seduced by Balak and Balaam's plan into immorality and idolatry, many of the men engaged in terrible acts of cult-sex with Baal prostitutes.  Such immorality was a central part of Canaanite fertility rites. It was practiced in connection with the regular rituals of their temples.

        These carnal acts tempted the Israelites into the spiritual apostasy of worshiping Baal. So serious was this breach of covenant, especially when Israel was on the threshold of the land of promise, that the Lord commanded Moses to take serious action. All the guilty individuals involved had to die and be “exposed.”

        As all this was happening, a particularly heinous and offensive act took place, one so painful it was difficult even to describe with words and pass on through the scribes. Translators suggest that a better rendering of this text might be...  “Then a certain Israelite man brought the Midianite woman to the Tent [of God] right before the eyes of Moses and the eyes of all the congregation of Israel; and they were sporting at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.”

         There is a strong suggestion in the language that this woman was actually the chief priestess of the fertility/prostitution cult. The two brought their sexual activity to the very entrance of the Tent of God.  This would be the equivalent of two people (one a member of an occult religion) having sex at the front of the church during a gathering for worship. The sin was so audacious that the priest Phinehas slew the two with one spear.  The 24,000 who died because of these flagrant actions exceeded even those who died in the earlier rebellion.

        Foremost, we can see that flagrant sin among God’s people was not ignored. There was a consequence.  An audacious sin was dealt with swiftly.  This was not some secret sin hidden away and covered up.  The brazenness of these two people's acts made them not just sinners but an abomination to the Lord.  Their activity was an assault on the true and pure worship of the Lord. Only an act of equal force to the nature of the affront would suffice. That powerful act came in the person of Phinehas.

         Some scholars suggest that the word translated "spear" may also be rendered "knife."  If so, it may have been that the audacious sin was punished using the same knife that priests used to make animal offerings according to the Law. 

         Perhaps the best application of this text is to see the need to deal with sin in our own lives and church communities. We surely are not in a time in which we would render capital consequences, but we also cannot ignore sin that is flagrant and audacious.  The Christian community is often criticized and even sued for acting to separate blatant, unrepentant sin from its midst. 

         While it is important to reach out with compassion to those who are coming to Christ, it is equally important not to tolerate flagrant, audacious, and unrepentant sin among those who claim to know God.  This is why church discipline exists and is important.   

         On a personal level, Jesus spoke of acting radically to avoid falling into continual sin.  “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell” (Matthew 5:29-30). 

         Obviously, Jesus was not teaching self-mutilation.  A blind man could have as much of a problem with lust as a sighted person, and a man with only one hand could use it also to sin. Jesus was advocating the removal of the inward cause of offense. Since a lustful heart would ultimately lead to adultery, one's heart must be changed.  We must sometimes act radically to remove the source of sin in our lives.

         There is also an image of Christ here believe it or not.  Not in the sense of vengeance against the sinners, but in the radical way he approached the problem of sin. He attacked it through His own sacrificial death and resurrection.

 

           Lord God.  Examine me by Your Holy Spirit.  Point out to me anything that You wish to remove or change.  Give me the grace to walk in the freedom You have won for me.  Cleanse Your people.  Make Your church holy in every way as we await the return of Your Son.  In Jesus' name.

 

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2004, 2020

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)       

2820 Business Center Blvd.

Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2010 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.