with the Lord. And we should be careful that we don't think that we are not capable of being there also. It kind of goes in line. I think, yep, wrong message. But I was thinking, yeah, this is the right one. It goes right in line with the message tonight in Numbers chapter 20, for the gym read our text for us. And you ever heard this line that they are too big to fail? Right. You've heard that. Remember, we've seen that over the last few decades. Companies like Enron and Kodak and the auto industry, you know, GM and Chrysler, they had to go take a bailout. And it wasn't, it was a union bailout. It wasn't a Anyway, that's a whole other political issue I don't want to bring up. But all of these bailouts, and Lehman Brothers went through about $7 billion, went bankrupt. I mean, how about Sears, and Montgomery Ward, and Woolworths, and all of these great bigs, coast to coast. There was one here in Springfield, wasn't there a coast? Who was around here? Nobody was around, never mind. I wasn't around, it was before me too. I just know my dad, do you remember Coast to Coast? You're like, I'm not that old. Nobody, man, okay. My dad had a fishing rod from coast to coast. They must have got it up in... Anyway, they're gone. That's what I'm trying to say. They're all gone, right? And nobody, or no thing, or nothing is too big to fail. It applies to companies. It applies in the work-a-day world, but it also applies to God's children as well. It absolutely does. How many, how many preachers, great preachers are not in the ministry today, right? Because of their sin, not, right? Just because of what, I'm talking about the ones that, man, they sin. They're in prison. They've just, they've been in prison. They've gotten out of prison. I mean, they're out there. and they have fallen, and they have failed, and they thought they were too big to fall. They had ministries of five and 10,000 people in their churches, and they just thought they were on top of the world. But listen, man, I'm telling you, you're never too big to fall. In David's lament after the death of Saul and Jonathan, it's recorded in 2 Samuel 1, verse 19, he said, the beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places. How are the mighty fallen? In verse 25 he goes on to say this, How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle, O Jonathan? Thou wast slain in thy high places. Verse 27, How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished? It's a fact tonight that great men and great women of God have been put aside from service for many different reasons, but they have been. Some have passed away. There are some who have actually killed themselves. There are some, as I said earlier, are in prison today. Great ministries, great accomplishments, great leadership abilities. They've written books and they've gone out and done all sorts of things. I mean, they were on call to preach all over the place and they're nowhere to be found right now, right? Listen, something happened and they became unusable to God. And what I want to focus on tonight, and we might look at ourselves and our little work here and our little lives here and say, well, yeah, but we're not like that. We're not big like that. Listen, you're not too big to fail. You're not too small to fail. and to fall. And we've got to be careful of that. Remember, we say it tonight, little is much when God is in it. If God's in this, no matter how many people are here, it's a work of God. And if it's a work of God, it's a great thing. And it's a powerful thing, and it's a mighty thing, and much can be accomplished, right? I think it was Moody or somebody said, I forgot who said, but a little candle can do what a large sun cannot. Shine in the night. Amen. Listen, all that matters is is God in it. And if God is in it, listen, if God is in it, we've got to be careful. We've got to be careful because it's possible to get away from God and become unusable to Him. What a shame it would be, what a tragedy it would be one of these days to drive up Highway 14 and this property be grown up with weeds and empty and nothing here. What a shame that would be. Can I tell you that is not out of the pale of reason. It could happen. Yes, it absolutely could. Moses, when we come to chapter 20, Moses had already hit the rock twice. He wasn't supposed to, right? He had hit the rock the first time, and then God came to him, and the second time, when we know what happened, he told him to speak to the rock, and we understand all of the pictures and the typologies there, and the beautiful typologies. That rock in the wilderness, that rock was Christ, amen? And he was smitten once, but we approach him now. He's only smitten one time. He's crucified once, Hebrews 6. He isn't going to be, you're not going to crucify him afresh. He's one sacrifice forever. And we're so thankful for that. And so Moses came and he smote that rock twice. And God came to him and he told him, hey, listen, you can't go into the promised land. Look at verse 12 of chapter 20. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, because you believed me not to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation to the land which I have given them. Notice he said here, because you believed me not. You believed me not. I mean, what was Moses' problem? Was it this? No, he just didn't believe him. I think the Holy Spirit of God knows what was in the heart of Moses. This great Moses that had already believed God for some great things, he came to this stage of the journey through the wilderness, 38 and a half years probably at this point. I mean, victory was absolutely just around the corner. It was just around the corner, right? And what happened? He hit the rock. Great message right there. Listen, your victory, whatever you're waiting for right now tonight, might be just around the corner. And I'll tell you, here, don't hit the rock, man. Just keep going. Just keep trusting God. Just keep believing God. And God wasn't, he didn't believe God. And the other problem was, it says here, God wasn't sanctified in the eyes of Israel. What does it mean to be sanctified? To be set apart. God wasn't set apart at the smiting of the rock. You know who was set apart? Moses. Now God still supplied, right? God still provided for Israel. But if God had allowed Moses to go forward into the promised land, Israel would have been following Moses and not God. And God said, I can't do that. I can't do it. And so Israel is here. God said he was not gonna go into the land and Israel then is gonna be rejected from crossing Edom. Look at verse 14, Moses sent people. They're gonna go on now from this place. God has dealt with Moses and with Aaron. And verse 14 of Moses sent messengers from Kadesh under the king of Edom. Thus saith thy brother Israel, right? Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us. Who is Edom? Well, that's Esau. Are they siblings? Yes, they're siblings. They are relatives. Thy brother. He says it right there. And so Moses tries to tell them here that they don't want the land. All they want to do is pass through. They'll pay for whatever they use. We're just going on before you. And the king says, well, no way, Hosea. Yeah, it's not Hosea. It's Hosea in the Bible. No way. You're not passing through. And so Moses tries again. Look at verse 19. He's going to try it again. And the children of Israel said unto him, We will go by the highway, and if my cattle drink of thy water, then we'll pay for it. I will only, without doing anything else, go through on my feet. That's the only thing we're going to do, and Edom is going to go and show up here with his army, and he's just going to say, beat it, get out of here. Look at verse 20. And he said, Thou shalt not go through, and Edom came out against him with much people and with a strong hand. Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through this border, his border, wherefore Israel turned away from him. And now the only thing that Israel can do now is to turn away and try to go around the land of Edom. Now don't miss this, please. God didn't punish Edom for turning away Israel. The other nations, God took care of them. God didn't do this with Edom. Why? Because maybe one of the reasons is there is something that God needs to do before Israel moves forward again. There is some in-house things that need some house cleaning that needs to go on before they move on. And he didn't have Israel get into a war or anything like that because God wants to do something with them. So as they travel south just a little bit they are going to come to Mount Hor. Look at verse 22, And the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, journeyed from Kedesh and came to Mount Hor. And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor, by the coast of the land of Edom, saying, Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, for ye shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel. And so in their attempt to press forward, God stops them here at Mount Hor to take care of an issue. And the issue is, first the issue is with Aaron. He's gonna take care of Aaron. God has determined, Aaron, it's time to die. It's your time. I read it. Did you see it there? The Lord spoke unto Moses, verse 23, Moses and Aaron in Mount Or by the coast of the land of Edom, saying, Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel. Why? Because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah. Aaron was not going to enter into the promised land because of his sin. Not only did Moses sin in smiting the rock twice, but if you'll go back to verse 12, Aaron was guilty for unbelief as well. Would you look at it please? And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, and what did he say? Because ye, singular, plural, both of them, because ye believed me not. So not only did Moses mess up the picture of Christ and draw attention to himself instead of God, but Aaron was guilty as well. And so here in verses six through eight, the responsibility was to Moses and Aaron. Look back up in six and eight. And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation and they fell on their faces and the glory of God appeared unto them. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye, both of you, ye, under the rock before their eyes, and it shall give forth water. And thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock. So shalt thou give the congregation and their beasts drink. Aaron is just as responsible as Moses. and it is time that God is gonna deal with this thing with Aaron, and God has determined that it's time for Aaron to die, it's time for him to go on, he's not gonna go into the promised land, and also God has determined the place that he will go. Now, Aaron may have squandered his opportunity to sanctify God in providing water to Israel, but God is going to be sanctified in the sight of Israel in Aaron's death. Why? It is gonna be God's time, it is gonna be God's place, and it's gonna be in the sight of all of Israel. They are gonna watch here at Mount Hor as it jets up from that desert floor and can be seen from very, very far away. The congregation of Israel is gonna watch as Aaron ascends up into that mountain and as Moses comes back without him. God is going to be sanctified in the sight of Israel. And they're going to know that God is completely in control still. God is still moving forward and still in charge of where they go. And so in verse 25, God commands Moses, Aaron, and Eleazar to go up into the mountain. Look at verse 25. take Aaron and Eleazar, his son, and bring them up unto Mount Hor. And Aaron is going to take off his priestly garments. He's going to give them to his son. And it was done where everybody could see that this was going on. Look at verse 26. And strip Aaron of his garments and put them upon Eleazar, his son. And Aaron shall be gathered unto his people and shall die there. And Moses did as the Lord commanded. And they went up into the Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. It was done where everybody could see it, and Moses did exactly what he was told. Aaron took those priestly garments, were taken off of him, they were given to his son, to Eleazar. Aaron died there, and then Moses came down from the mountain with this new high priest. Israel did mourn the death of Aaron for 30 days. This is a huge event in Israel's existence. This is a terrible place here. Miriam had already died. Aaron was the first high priest that there was of Israel. He's with Moses at the initiating of the priesthood. Aaron and Moses went before Pharaoh together. Aaron and Moses were together every time that he pleaded for God to spare Israel. Aaron was there with him. I mean, he was a great man and he was mightily used of God. But listen, he was also a flawed man. Do you remember those calves? that just jumped out of the fire, right? Because the people gave them the earrings and the gold and all of their ornaments that must have still been on them from Egypt. You realize when they came out of Egypt, they still looked like Egypt. Remember when Moses went up when he fled Egypt and his soon to be wife went home and said some Egyptian was here. Right? Moses looked like an Egyptian. He wasn't. He was a Jew. But he looked like the world he was living in. Right? And they had all of these ornaments of Egypt. And you know what happens? They give them to Aaron. And Aaron told Moses. He said, What happened? Well, I just threw all this stuff in the fire and it came out. Well, why did you do it? Well, the people wanted me to. I was afraid of them. Kind of sound. Remember Saul did that too as well. He was afraid of them. Right? No, he wasn't. He was there at the golden calves. He really messed up. Yeah. He was there with his sister Miriam when they complained against the man of God. And his sister got leprosy because of it. And here finally he was complicit in unbelief regarding the water for Israel. Aaron was right there. He was a great man. He was a mighty man. He was used of God, no doubt, but he too was a flawed man. And God determined here at this point, Aaron is not going to go into Israel and the Promised Land. Why? Because, can I tell you, the sin of unbelief is huge. Unbelief in the person of Jesus Christ ends your life in hell. Unbelief in the life of a believer Keeps you from ever getting to that place of rest that is available to the people of God, as it says over in Hebrews. There's therefore a rest for the people of God. Unbelief is huge. And Aaron was complicit in God not being sanctified in the sight of Israel. See, it's one thing to sin at the golden calf. It's one thing to sin in murmuring and complaining against the man of God. Those are personal sins. And yeah, they are still colossal sins. that happened and it still caused others to go with them. But really those are personal sins. But it is a colossal sin to have a miracle somewhat attributed to you and not to God. That's huge. And it didn't seem like they were going to correct it. God corrected it. God stopped them. And any response of Israel to follow Aaron from now on, it wouldn't be in faith. Just like I said earlier, if they had followed Moses into the promise, it would not have been in faith. They couldn't have do it. They had to listen. He was a great man. God used him in a mighty way. But he was a flawed man. And this last event of his ministry was beyond repair. beyond repair. David asked God to keep him that he didn't commit, go on and commit the great sin. Whatever that sin was, doesn't say what it was. But there was a sin so great that David knew maybe he could not recover from that. He didn't recover from his sin. He didn't recover from the murder. He didn't recover from the adultery. His family didn't recover from that. He was a great man. David was a great man, but he was flawed. You know, I think there are some things that we could consider about Aaron's life that could help us in our journey as well. I think there are some things here. Aaron did fill a high office. He absolutely did. But his office didn't make him perfect. Yep. People in authority, can I tell you, people in authority have issues. People in authority make mistakes. I know you don't see those around this place much, but I've heard it happens. I've heard it really does. People in authority disobey. People in authority sin. People in authority get out of the will of God. People in authority choose to live their own life in their own way at times. It happens. Aaron had a high office, but it didn't make him perfect. See, no matter what role you are occupying tonight, no matter how lowly the position may seem, no matter how high the position might seem, no matter how godly the responsibility is, whether it's the responsibility of a mother, or a father, or a grandfather, or a grandmother, or a Sunday school teacher, or a pastor, you are not perfect. You are not perfect. Failure is always possible. That's why we've been focusing on 2 Peter. If these things be in you and abound, they shall make you that you shall not neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Right? If you do these things, you shall never fall. But there's a reason that God gave us those things. Why? Because there's always the opportunity to fall and for failure. So Aaron filled a high office, but it didn't make him perfect. But number two, Aaron wasn't exempt from God's laws. Yeah. You know, if you're the Pope, you can just ex cathedra, you know, determine anything's not sin and you're good, right? Or you can just change the rules, right? It's kind of like, well, I don't want to get into politics, but. You have people that are head of the Treasury Department who hadn't paid their taxes in 40 years, Charlie Rangel. And they say, oh, wow, boy, what a clerical mistake. I am the smartest man on the planet, head of the Treasury Department, or whatever that thing he was on, and yeah, just a mistake. We'll go ahead and pay those 25 years of back taxes with no penalties or interest. maybe in our world but listen not in God's world, not in God's economy. Even though he was the high priest, even though he was the mouthpiece for Aaron, Aaron was still subject to the same law as everybody else. It's pretty discouraging when those who write the laws and enforce the laws fail to abide by them themselves isn't it? whether it's politician, or the police, or parents, or pastors, or whatever. Aaron wasn't exempt from God's laws. That was number two. Number three, Aaron was replaced. See, the office of high priest and the priesthood, it was instituted by God. This was God's idea. It was God's position. It was God's place for him. It was to be a place of righteousness and holiness, right, and obedience. Aaron simply filled the office that God created. He was a man, he was a great man, he was blessed of God, he was used of God as a high priest, but it was God's office, not him. Can I tell you, I'm a pastor, but it's God's office. It's not mine. And I can be just as quickly replaced as anybody else. When people cease to fulfill their role given to them by God, and their life ends up being marked by disobedience and self-will, I'm telling you, God replaces them. He replaces them. Eli was replaced. King Saul was replaced. Aaron was replaced. Moses is gonna be replaced, right? And if you look at the end of Joshua's life, boy, it's pretty successful. It was a great place. Aaron wasn't exempt from God's law and Aaron was replaced. I want to remind you of Proverbs 16, 18, pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Listen to me tonight. We are not perfect. We are not exempt from God's laws and we can be replaced. We can be replaced. You see tonight the point of it all is it doesn't matter how big you get or how important you get. You're not exempt. I'm not exempt. We are not exempt. Can I tell you it doesn't matter how many years you've been saved. It doesn't matter how many how faithful you've been to assemble with the body. You might have grown up in a Southern Baptist church and have 800 years of Sunday school pens and faithful attendance and never missed a Sunday school. I'm telling you, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter in God's eyes. It doesn't matter how many people you bled to Christ. There are those out there that used to teach, so he's passed on now. You know, just keep winning people to Jesus. I know you're frail, but God looks over that as long as you keep winning people to Christ. No, he does not. No, he does not. Doesn't matter how much money you've given. Doesn't matter how many times you've read through your Bible. Doesn't matter how many Sunday school classes you have taught. Doesn't matter how many messages you have preached. It doesn't matter how faithful your father and your mother were. It doesn't matter how deep of a godly heritage that you come from. Listen, man, you are not too big to fail, and God can replace you if he needs to. Oh, listen, don't miss it. He doesn't want to. God is much for our victory as we are. God is much for us finishing what He's given us to do as we are. But it's possible. It's possible that we can get outside, out of the will of God, and God would have to replace us. What is the remedy tonight? What was the remedy here? Well, number one, believe. Moses and Aaron didn't believe God. You know, our problems come from unbelief. We struggle with the Word of God. We struggle with believing it, right? We've gotten so academic in our nation, in our colleges, in our Bible colleges, and places of theology. We've gotten so academic, right? And trying to parse every last thing. Why don't you just start by believing it again? and then you can worry about whether it parses out or not. I had somebody ask me, somebody just said this the other day to me, somebody said, we're talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and three days and three nights and this person stopped me. He said, wait a minute, hold on, hold on. Yeah, I mean, certainly that had to have been maybe fictitious or, you know, more of a metaphor or something like that, or not really, or I can't even think of the word, but certainly that can't be literal, right, because he was crucified on Friday. I'm like, well, where'd you get that? Right, you know why? Watch, the whole thing was backwards. The view should have been the Bible, Jesus said three days and three nights, I believe that. So I don't know how they got to Friday. Instead of it's Friday, I don't know how they got to three days, why Jesus said three days and three nights. Believe the book, right? Believe the book and then go back and try to figure out why they got it all messed up. It can't be Friday, right? We know that's not possible. Yeah. Believe. Believe the Word of God. Just believe it. I don't quite get this. Well, I don't either. You know, people say, I don't understand the Trinity. Well, good. Listen, man, if I understood everything about God, He wouldn't be God anymore. We have no idea how finite and minuscule and insignificant our minds are. I mean, it's laughable. I think one day we will laugh at how stupid we really are. And we say, I just, I can't understand the Trinity, and I just can't get God. Dope. There's a lot of things you don't understand that you just take at face value. Yeah. I'm glad I don't understand all of them. Yeah. Believe. Believe. Yeah. Those that come to me must believe that I am and a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Yeah. Believe. Number two, the remedy for this, trust. Trust. When your emotions are in control, trust Him anyway. Trust Him anyway. What happened with Moses? He got mad. Mad. Have I ever explained the three legs of obedience? Immediately, exactly, and with the right attitude. If you remove one of those legs it's not really obedience, your little ones, you've got to teach them that. You've got to teach the little ones. Immediately, exactly, and with the right attitude. And you see here Moses did immediately, he didn't do exactly, and it wasn't with the right attitude. Remember him? You stiff necked. He was mad. He was angry, his emotions. And listen, part of me doesn't blame him. I mean, he's been 38 years fighting with these people. He's been 38 years standing between, they had no clue. He was standing between Israel and God over and over. And God said, get out of the way, Moses. I will wipe them out and start over with you. And he's saying, no, don't do that. Don't do that, please. I mean, he has put up with a lot. His sister has just died. They're screaming at him for water again. It's been 38 and a half years. Man, his emotions are just running over him, right? Boy, what a dangerous place to be. When you feel like that, just trust him anyway. What does that mean? Just keep believing. Keep believing what he said. Listen, don't act in a way that is opposite of belief. Don't act in unbelief. So number three, obey. It was his anger that brought on this disobedience. No doubt. His anger and his unbelief. Well, God said it was unbelief. But you can see that anger that was built up in him. And the remedy tonight is to believe, to trust, and to obey. Believe, trust, and obey. Believe, trust, and obey. They should write a song about that. I don't know how you'd put trust and obey with, I don't know. We'll figure it out. We'll write our own. Amen. Who wants to finish well? You want to finish well? Yeah. I didn't say finish perfectly. All right. But finish well. Finish still believing. Finish still trusting. Finish still obeying what's next. Listen, sometimes we can't control what comes into our life. We cannot control what people do. We cannot control what comes into our life. We cannot control what this world does. We can't control what our government does. But what we can control is how we respond to God properly in the midst of the upheaval by just believing and trusting and obeying. Because none of us are too big to be taken out of the way and put aside. Father, thank you. Thank you tonight. I know it's easy for us to look at our little lives and say, well, we're nothing special. We're not an errand. We're nothing like that. And I don't think we have much to worry about. But Lord, you have still put us in a place. Everyone in here is in a place of purpose and of power and bringing people to Jesus Christ. Every one of us has a place that you have placed us. And I know that I'm convinced that everybody in this room wants to finish well, not perfect, but well. And Father, would you help us tonight and remind us that as life comes up around us, and the issues of life come around, and the irritations of life come, and the uncertainties come, that we just go ahead and continue to believe you. Believe the book, and believe what you said. That we trust you. It's hard to believe without trust. Hard to trust without belief. but in those two things that we would just live a life of obedience to your word and push on regardless of what's going on around us. Would you help us to do that? Father, we'll thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen. Why don't we stand tonight? The invitation is open. The piano's gonna play. Who wants to finish well? Who wants to finish well? Yeah. Be a good time to get alone with the Lord tonight at an altar and just say, God, would you help me? Who wants help? I just want help, right? I want God to keep it on the front of my mind. I just want help to continue a life of believing and trusting and obeying because I know, I know, I know, I know what's in myself and in my flesh that I could get to such a place that God would have to say, I'm going to have to put you aside. I'm going to have somebody take over the place that I had for you and carry on. You come tonight and you ask the Lord, ask the Lord to help. Help. Can I tell you Moses was 80 years old. He still had work to do. God still had work for him to do. You see, Moses had to be set aside, but here's Caleb, 80 years old, saying, I want that mountain, and still moving forward and pressing forward. It doesn't matter, listen, you haven't gotten to a place in life where you're too old to where it doesn't matter. God still has, if you're breathing, God has a job for you to do. Amen. Yeah. It's okay. you