6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 to go with Mrs. Shore to the creche. The rest of us, please, can open up our Bibles. The book of Numbers, Chapter 16. All right, so third book of the Bible, Chapter 16 is our text this morning. By the way, Gracious Bafford had a home, if I'm not mistaken, somewhere along what would be, let's see, East What is to the right of east? East, west, north, I guess. The north side of Jerusalem and the Damascus Gate, somewhere near that, because it was from there, I think General Gordon, staying at his house, looked out across at what is called Gordon's Calvary, the Hill of the Skull, and Golgotha, and looked at that and said, wow, that is just like what the Bible speaks about. you know, as far as looking like a skull. And so just a little bit of interesting modern church history, even as Tommy shared with the story of them and how God used them. There's just another way that God worked through a voracious spaffer. But that hymn has been a blessing to so many people going through trials that you look at and think, God, why? And I'll mention a trial like that in our time together today. Just you look at it and go, why? Why, God, would you allow that? Somebody go through such an awful circumstance, somebody that loves you, somebody that's serving you, and yet God did that, and God did that to his glory. And certainly we've been blessed because of that. And so praise God for that. All right. Do you know posture is important? You might not have even thought about how you're sitting this morning. And I'm not trying to make you self-conscious and think about how you're sitting in church this morning. But posture is important. My mom used to say to me, stand up straight. I'd say, Mom, that's the way my shoulders are. I think my back kind of is turned a little bit or whatever. But she'd say, stand up straight. Stop slouching. Why? Because posture is important. How you stand says a lot. For instance, in golf, you know, you're supposed to stand a certain way. They call it addressing the ball. You know, as Jim Norton would say, hello ball. That's not what it means, right, to address the ball. It means to stand, your legs comfortably spread, right. and your body facing the target, you know, and you're rotating, you know, above your head. There's a way to stand. Why? Because the way you stand makes a difference in your consistency in how you play the game of golf. In livestock, stature is important or posture is important. They go down the line, you know, maybe a dog show, or looking at sheep, or looking at cows, and they're looking to see that that animal is erect and has a good stance. That posture is important. The military, right? How important is posture to the military? Very important. They don't want a soldier standing there all slouched over. They're supposed to be at attention. Posture is important. It says something. A salesman. You want a salesman. If you have a business, and I said something to Benson about it on Friday because we walked into a furniture shop and I'm not Very fond of high-pressure salesmen, but I appreciate the fact that they have a job that they're trying to do. And to do it well, they have to engage the customer, they need good eye contact, and they need good posture as they're talking, that they have that stance that's important. In speech class, I remember them saying, feet comfortably apart, hands not in your pockets, and different things. Why? Because posture is important. So what we're gonna look at this morning has nothing to do with physical posture, all right? But spiritual posture. How are we standing spiritually? Because in our story, what stood out to me as I studied this passage, and I was just praying about what the Lord had had me to share from this text, and I began to realize The spiritual posture of the men of God in this story is the posture that saved lives. The way they stood actually made a difference. And I look at that this morning, I think, you know what, we ought to do the same thing. We need spiritual posture this morning that is going to have an impact in saving lives. And so we need to consider, as we come to this this morning, God, do I have this in my life? There's several things that we're going to look at. And with each one, I just challenge us this morning to think, God, is that in my life? If that would make a difference, if that would help save lives, then I hope your heart would say with mine this morning, God, help that spiritual posture to be in my life so that I can make a difference that, God, you want me to make in this generation and this time. So let's ask God for that this morning. Let's pray and ask God to help us with our spiritual posture. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for the truth that is in this text. And Father, it stands out to me as preacher by what the Spirit of God just gave to my heart as I looked at this passage, that what we see these men, the positions that we see these men in is so important to the mercy of God demonstrated in this story and the salvation of those that were gonna die in the plague. And so I pray that the Holy Spirit of God would speak to our hearts this morning. Father, we thank you because you're real, and because you're active, and because you're present. And Father, I ask, please, that you'd have your way. Father, I confess that I can't speak, Lord, not without the help of the Holy Spirit, not without his enablement. Father, I would be a very poor communicator of truth without your assistance. And so I covet that enablement this morning. But Father, I also would be our desire to ask you, give us ears to hear this morning. It'd be a vain thing for us to come to church and to be present here, and yet not to have the Spirit of God open our hearts, open our minds to eternal truth. And so God, would you do that this morning? And we thank you. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. All right, first position that we see these men in, and what we need to do as well, as we seek to have spiritual posture, is to gaze at glory. Gaze at glory. In verse 41, it says, But on the morrow, all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, You have killed the people of the Lord. And it came to pass when the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron, excuse me, that they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation, and behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared. All right, so get into the story. They're surrounded by a bunch of people that are very upset at them. And they got up that next day and they are so angry at the servants of God. They're angry because these men of God did what was right in the sight of God. And they're upset at them, and they're in a very threatening way coming to these men. They're gathered against them. Why? Again, because they stood up for God. And so what has happened, if you go back to verse 28, It says that Moses said, Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men, then the Lord hath not sent me. But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth and swallow them up with all that pertain unto them, and they go down quickly into the pit, then you shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord. And stopping right there, that is what happens. The ground opens up. It swallows them. And that statement is a good statement by Moses. Surely then you'd understand that it's not me doing this of my own mind. It's not my own ideas. It's God. And God said, this is what's going to take place. And so the Bible goes on to say, It came to pass, as he made an end of speaking all these words, verse 31, that the ground clave asunder that was under them. And the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah and all their goods. All right, it's a sinkhole. Have you seen that on the news? You ever seen? I saw actually this past week a couple sinkholes. One somewhere was six stories deep, 60 feet deep, and I forget how long. Huge sinkhole, somewhere in Australia, somewhere like that. Another one opening up in a housing estate, I think in Florida. Florida has a lot of sinkholes. What a scary thing that would be. I've heard a story about a man in a house that all of a sudden his brother heard him scream and a sinkhole had opened up underneath his bedroom. He tried to jump down there and save his brother's life, but he couldn't. Can you imagine what's taking place? This is a very fearful judgment of God as the earth sinkhole opens up and just consumes these men. All that appertained unto them went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them, and they perished from among the congregation. And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them, for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also." And at that point, there's a terror in the hearts of these people that had seen this event take place. The ground opens up and swallows these, but then as they think about it, They begin to get angry, and they get angry at God's servants. And they gather themselves against Moses, saying, ye have killed the people of the Lord. Criticism's hard to take. You're making a tough decision to honor God as a believer. And you decide, I'm going to stand for God. I'm going to obey God. I'm going to please God. But then somebody that's ungodly, somebody that's not saved, somebody that has their heart against God, they begin to murmur. And they begin to criticize. That's hard to take. It's a difficult thing to experience that. I was speaking with Tommy about his salvation, his baptism. He shared with me when he got baptized that his mother, mother wasn't it, really struggled with that. And she was Church of Scotland, and she brought him up in the Church of Scotland. Now he's born again, and he's gonna follow the Lord in believer's baptism. And that's tough, and it's tough when somebody you love is saying something contrary to what you know that you ought to do for God. And so what are you gonna do? We need to do what Moses and Aaron did. They've got the congregation around them. They're all against them. They look past them at the tabernacle. and the glory of God, and they're just focused on that. It doesn't matter what's taking place here. What matters, really, is what's taking place there. Do you see it? See, they're not staying in the physical. They're not staying focused on the opposition against them as God's servants. They're focusing beyond that at glory. When Stephen, remember the martyr Stephen, when he's dying, or they're getting ready to stone him. In Acts 7, verse 54, the crowd begins to get upset. They heard these things. They're cut to the heart. They gnashed on him with their teeth. They're getting so angry. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God. And Jesus, standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. All right, so again, a story where there's great opposition. Everyone's against the man of God, and he's looking right past them. He's gazing at glory, and he says, I see Jesus Christ. Do you know what's gonna happen? By God's grace, there's a man there, Saul. Everybody laid their coats at Saul's feet. Saul is over that killing of Stephen, But Saul, in chapter, I think, nine of the book of Acts, might be chapter eight, it's very soon after this, he's on his way to Damascus. He's kind of confronted by the Lord. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And we know Saul gets saved in a very incredible way as God divinely reaches down and puts that man in a place where he has to look at God for who he is, Jesus Christ for who he is. But also, we look at this story and say, Saul saw in Stephen's life somebody that was looking past everything that was taking place around him, just obeying God and gazing at glory. And because of that, Saul got saved. So often, it's going to be the case we take a stand for God, there's going to be a lot of things taking place in this realm. There's going to be a lot going on trying to get us off focus, trying to get us off track. But if we want to make a difference for God, what's our posture need to be? Our posture needs to be gaze at glory. My focus is there. I mean, isn't that our text this morning in Sunday school? Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. It's us looking beyond to see what God desires us to do. And so this morning, How's your posture spiritually? Are you looking up instead of looking around? And this would be very frustrating. This would be very overwhelming. This would be very depressing. If I get focused on the opposition that's here, that's going to hurt me. But when I gaze at glory, all of a sudden, it doesn't matter because I'm seeking to honor the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And so gaze at glory. And then secondly, Hasten to the holy house. Verse 43. Hasten to the holy house. It says, and Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of the congregation, and the Lord spake unto Moses, saying. All right, he's gazing at glory. The glory of God is descending on a place. That place is the place called the tabernacle. The tabernacle was a tent. was a nomadic people. So when they traveled, they traveled with their tents and with their animals and livestock. The tent of the tabernacle was what God had given Moses to make for God's glory to reside with the children of Israel as they traveled. It was the place of worship being God present. And so they go to that place expecting to meet with God. It says online that about the tabernacle, any common Israelite could enter the courts, but only the priestly tribe could go beyond and into the tabernacle. And only the high priest could go beyond still into the Holy of Holies once per year on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. You have an outer court where all Israel is welcome. You have an inner court where just the priest can enter. And then you have a holy of holies where just the high priest once a year on the day of atonement could enter into that holy of holies. And there's a wonderful picture. I was reading a book by Andrew Murray, and Andrew Murray speaks about that holy of holies now being present in our heart, that the spirit of God resides within that inner tabernacle of our soul, all right? There's a precious picture there. And certainly, as believers, we have direct access to God. We go through the great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, so we know that picture. But as far as a place of corporate worship, Similar to that courtyard where all Israel, as the people of God, could come, this house that we're considering is the church house. It's the place of corporate worship for God. And it's the place where, in this case, they came to the Holy House expecting God to speak to them. Verse 44 says, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, And certainly this morning, this is the house where we corporately gather together. And I know, I understand this morning, the church is the people. But this is a place where we physically meet. And that coming here this morning, it ought to be in our heart to say, God, I'm at church this morning because I desire you to speak to me. God, I want to hear you speak to my heart. When's the last time you said that to God? Or said something like this? Maybe you left church and you said, you know, the Lord was really speaking to me this morning. God was really at work in my heart. I felt like, God, there was a definite decision that you wanted me to make, and it's because of coming to that place where God speaks. When I was five years old, you know my testimony, most of you, I heard my dad preach a message on hell. And as a little boy sitting down towards the front, I thought, man, I don't want to go to hell. And I went down to my dad's study and I asked my dad, dad, can I get saved? Guess what? Nobody said to me as a little boy sitting there, you know what? If you're thinking about eternity and heaven and salvation, you need to go talk to your dad. So the logical question would be, who spoke to me? And the answer, in God's mercy, God. Isn't that a wonderful thing that God speaks? That God has something to say to our hearts. When I was in high school, I shared a bit of this story recently, but at Christian camp, sitting in a preaching service, and again, The preacher is preaching. I don't remember the preacher. I don't remember what he preached. I wish I did. Honestly, I believe he was a missionary, actually, not an evangelist. A lot of camps have an evangelist speaker. I think he was a missionary. But I was sitting there, and I mean, God was burdening my heart to surrender my life to him to say to God, God, whatever you want me to do, I'll do. Where is it taking place? At the house of God, the place of corporate worship. I surrendered. University, in grad school, I was sitting in a class that was the Preacher Boy class, and they preached to us every Friday. And the preacher was up there preaching. He was a church planter from out west. And God, again, burdened my heart about church planning. And I walked away from that class and asking God, God, is this just a burden or is this a call? And God called me to church planning. Where? In the house of God. God can and God does speak to people outside of this place and God will speak to me through the word of God. But you know, what a precious place for us corporately to come sit under the word of God and think this this morning, just those stories that I've just shared. If it wasn't for God speaking to your pastor at the house of God, this church wouldn't be here. This gospel light wouldn't be in this community. It's here because the spirit of God spoke to my heart. We're at the house of God. This is hypothetical. But if I'm not at the house of God, just think about the importance of being at the house of God. If I'm not at the house of God, how can God speak to me as he desires to or what would God have said to my heart through the preaching of the word of God if I would have been there? Do you see it makes a difference? See, our posture makes a difference. By posture, I'm just meaning the way we are stanced. I'm heading to the Holy House. Why? Because God, I want you to speak to me. See, that makes a difference. And so, hastening to the Holy House. And then, the third posture, falling on your face. Verse 45 says, get you up from among this congregation that may consume them as in a moment. and they fell upon their faces. What did God desire? What did God say? You kids tell me. Do you need me to read it again? Get you up from among this congregation that I may consume them as in a moment. What did God say? He said, get out of here, because I'm going to take him out. Okay, and the Bible says, and they fell upon their faces. So here's a question for you, don't answer out loud. Did they disobey God's desire? Okay, I didn't ask, did they disobey what God said? Did they disobey God's desire? And I believe the biblical answer is no. See, God said, up, get you out of this place. I'm going to destroy him. And God's wrath is coming. But what did God desire? I believe God desired what they did. They got on their face before God and say, oh, God, please give mercy. How do I know that, or why would I think that? Ezekiel 22, verse 30 says, and I saw for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, But I found none. In fact, God's wrath is coming against the land, and God's going to destroy them. Why? Because of their sin. Just like in Ezekiel earlier on, where it says the watchman doesn't warn them like he should, they're still going to die because of their sin. But the blood's going to be on the watchman's hands. But regardless of the watchman saying anything, the judgment of God coming is just. Yeah, it says there that God's looking for somebody that'll get on his face and cry out to God and say, God, they deserve judgment. But God, I'm asking for mercy. Does that make a difference? Even in this story, it's not the first time, all right? This story, it happens many times. Praise God, Israel had two intercessors, Moses and Aaron. Because earlier in this story, verse 20, it says, The Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. And they fell upon their faces and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation? These men were not afraid to take time out of their day to get on their face before God and say, God, please, please, God, give mercy. After the Chicago fire, D.L. Moody went to London. And I'd be interested to know where Horatius Spafford was going. He might have been going. to a similar church that Moody was heading to here. He comes to London to rest, learn from the Bible scholars there. He had no intention of preaching. One Sunday morning, he was persuaded to preach in a church in London. Everything about the service dragged. He wished that he'd never consented to preach. There was a woman in the city who had heard of Mr. Moody's work in America and had been asking God to send him to London. This woman was an invalid. Her sister was present at the church that Sunday morning. When the hearers reached home, she asked her sister to guess who had spoken for them that morning. She guessed one after another of those with whom her pastor was in the habit of exchanging, never guessing aright. Her sister said, no, Mr. Moody from Chicago. The sick woman turned pale and said, this is the answer to my prayer. If I'd known that he was to be at our church, I should have eaten nothing this morning, but waited on God in prayer. Leave me alone this afternoon. Do not let anyone come to see me. Do not send me anything to eat. All that afternoon, the woman gave herself to prayer. As Mr. Moody preached that night, I'm sorry, as Mr. Moody preached that night, he soon became conscious that there was a different atmosphere in the church. The powers of an unseen world seemed to fall upon him and his hearers. As he drew to a close, he felt impressed to give out an invitation. He asked for all who would accept Christ to rise. Four or 500 people rose. He thought that they misunderstood him. And so he put the question several ways, that there would be no mistake, but no, they had understood. D.L. Moody leaves that meeting to go away, if I remember the story correctly, and the pastor contacts him back and says, you've gotta come back, God is working, as revival came to that church. Here's the question. It's hypothetical, because we don't really know. It's not Bible, it's a story. But what if that woman hadn't prayed? And see, I would just ask you, if you ever look at your pastor and think, man, he's really struggling up there to share the word of God. He's really having a difficult time. Or you think this, he's not a great preacher. I beg you, get on your knees before God and say, dear God, help that man. Because what we need, we need people to begin to cry out to God and say, God, we need help. Listen, when's the last time you fasted? When's the last time you did without a meal because your neighbors are on the way to hell, your family's on the way to hell, your community's on the way to hell, and you had to get on your knees before God and say, God, please be merciful. See, our Savior said, this kind goeth not forth but by prayer and fasting. Surely in our day, we ought to stop and look and listen and say, hey, they're not going forth. It's not happening. It's like we are the disciples standing before the demon and saying, get out of the man, get out of the man, get out of the man. It's not working. What is a posture that saves lives? A posture that saves lives is those that fall on their face before God. But do we have a generation that'll step up and say, God, help me to be that man. She was an invalid. I mean, you can make all sorts of excuses this morning and say, well, I can't be that person. We can make all sorts of excuses or we can stop and say, look, if an invalid in her bed can pray and have power with God and see God do mighty things, surely a healthy person that gets on their knees by their bedside and says, God, I'm gonna take some extra time today because it's not happening. that God would, in His mercy, respond. Even if God's intention was just to go fully, I'm sick of it, I'm done with it. That God, in His mercy, would work. That's a good posture, isn't it? Falling on your face. And then, plan to prevent the plague. I'm going to call this posture because it's something they do. It's not something they think of. It's something they enact. But to get to the point of action, they've got to plan. So, they plan to prevent the plague. Verse 46. And Moses said unto Aaron, take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them, make a covering for their sin, for there is wrath gone out from the Lord. The plague has begun. Here's a question for you. Is it enough to pray? Is it enough to say, God, I'm fasting, God, I'm praying, is that enough for me just to beg God, God, save my family, God, save my neighbors, God, save my friends, is that enough? Or do I have to think and say, I've got to have a strategy, I've got to have a methodology, I've got to put something into my feet to get the job done so that we can accomplish getting the gospel to the world like Jesus wants us to. See, going into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature is our purpose, but what's our plan? What is our idea of accomplishing that? See, I've heard it say, if you aim for nothing, you'll hit it. If you don't have a goal, if you don't have a target, if you don't have an idea, it's not gonna happen. You know, we're listening right now, I mentioned a sad story that happened to God's servants, and it has to do with Jim Elliott and Nate Saint and the Aka Indians, and five men. I mentioned the first two, Ed McCauley, Peter Fleming, Roger Udarian. They all died 8th of January, 1956. And they died at the end of a nine-foot spear thrown into them by the Indians of Ecuador, the Aka Indians. They called themselves Waorani, a people group of about 400 that were cut off from the world in the 1950s. Still living in the Stone Age, primitive tools, primitive farming, no contact with modern men because their language shut them out from the world, the great fear. Some of it was completely misunderstandings. Even the death of these men takes place not because they didn't prepare well. They prepared very well. You know what they did? They did bucket drops. Nate Saint, the pilot, figured out this method of lowering a rope and circling with a plane with a bucket at the bottom. And the bucket would be stationary. And they lowered gifts down to this village. And they did that. And they did everything right. They did flower bombing the beach so they knew how long the beach was to see if they could land on it. It was just long enough for their Piper plane to land on the beach. They brought in with them the pieces necessary to put up a prefabricated tree house 30 feet up so it'd be a safe place for them to sleep the night. Three men would stay, two would fly out every night as they tried to contact these people in their territory, Aka Indians. How did it happen? It happened because these men got together, they got on their knees before God and said, God, give us a plan. We want to reach these people with the gospel. God, give us a plan. And they began to pray and they began to think about how it was going to take place. Listen, what's our plan? What's our plan? I mean, we could go week after week after week after week after week in the gospel. It's not happening. It's not going out. The atonement isn't being made. The wrath of God's coming. Man, it's there. The danger is real. They're going to die for their sin and spend eternity in hell. And we look at it and we say, it's such a problem. I'm so concerned about it. I'm burdened about it. But listen, if we never get a plan, And can I say here, this is why we have a football tournament. This is why we have two weeks of holiday Bible club. This is why we have evangelistic meetings. This is why we have door-to-door. This is why we write gospel flyers. We've got gospel literature on the back table. Why? Because we've got to do something. And so as you think about it this morning, what is your plan for giving the gospel? That's the posture that saves lives. And man, I wish I was a better preacher because I'd really rip into this this morning because right here, the rubber meets the roads as believers, doesn't it? Feet shot with the preparation of the gospel of peace. I read in the Word of God this morning with our group before we prayed the passage that says, your labor is not in vain in the Lord, but guess what? Your lack of labor is. Do you get it? So your labor's not in vain in the Lord, but your lack of labor is. And so it has to be this morning that we stop right here and say, God, do I have a plan? What is my plan for getting out the gospel? God, what's my church's plan? Am I participating in my church's plan? But beyond that, what's my plan? How prepared am I? I heard a great message by a man of God that just put us on the line, and he just said this, if you've got tracks in your pocket, stand up. Then he said, if you don't have bullets in your gun, how are you going to reach anybody? You see, this morning, isn't that it? It's us getting up and having a gospel plan and saying, God, I want to make a difference. I want to save souls. So I'm going to think about it. I'm going to think about it. They did. But then it goes to their feet in getting it out, as we already said. And so they don't just have a plan, but they run the risk for redemption. They run the risk for redemption. Verse 47, it says, And Aaron took as Moses commanded and ran into the midst of the congregation. And behold, the plague was begun among the people, and he put on incense and made an atonement for the people. See, I don't understand exactly how this all works out. He's the high priest. He's the one to run and stand before God as a mediator between God and the people. But there's a plague taking place. God's wrath is coming. And I guess if I'm Aaron, I'm kind of thinking this way. I'm running into a place where, on the one hand, If it works, lives are saved. But if it doesn't work, I lose my life. He's, I mean, he is hastening into a place that the wrath of God is actively falling in. Think about it. I mean, he's getting right in there. He's hazarding his life for the mercy of God for those people. See, I like what Paul said. Paul said, hey, respect these men when they come to you, men that have hazarded their lives for the Lord Jesus Christ. See, what have we hazarded today? What risk have we run? Paul said, Acts 20, verse 24, but none of these things move me, neither can I my life dear unto myself. so that I may finish my course with joy in the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God." Paul said, hey, I'm not bothered by the fact that everywhere people are standing up and coming to me and saying, hey, bonds and imprisonments are your future there at Jerusalem. None of these things move me. Neither count I my life dear unto myself so that I might finish my course with joy in the ministry which I have been given of the gospel, the gospel. These guys were all in for the Lord Jesus Christ, even at the risk of their life. John and Betty Stamm, you might have heard of them. They died, I think it was the Boxer Rebellion that took place in China. But they were taken captive. They had a baby. And the next morning, the Stamms were forced to march 12 miles west with the soldiers to the town of Myoshua. The group stopped for a night, and Betty was allowed to tend to Helen. But in fact, she hit her daughter in the room inside a sleeping bag. The very next morning, John and Betty were being marched down the streets to Miyashita to meet their deaths. Curious onlookers lined both sides of the street. A Chinese shopkeeper stepped out of the crowd and talked to the communists, trying to persuade them not to kill the Stams. The soldiers ordered the man back into the crowd, but he wouldn't step back. The soldiers then invaded the house where they found a Chinese copy of the Bible and a hymn book. He was led alongside the Stam's to be executed for being a Christian. After marching for a short while longer, John Stam was ordered to kneel and was beheaded. His wife and the shopkeeper were killed moments later. The Christian shopkeeper, he could have stayed quiet. He could have blended in. He was part of the crowd. Nobody knew. But he stepped out. They said, step back. He said, I won't step back. And he died. I wonder how many people were in that crowd that were Christians. I wonder how many should have also stepped out and stood for the Lord Jesus Christ, but they didn't. See, Paul says, neither count I my life dear unto myself. I wondered this morning, what would we have to say? Neither count I my pride, neither count I my time, neither count I my sin, neither count I my carelessness, neither count I my life dear unto myself. Or we'd have to say, I do count it dear unto myself. It is my pride. It is my life. It is my sin. It is my carelessness. Or will we hazard it for the Lord? You know, the posture that saves lives is running the risk for redemption. It's those that step out and say, I'm going to sacrifice something for God. I'm not going to get to heaven someday and see Jesus Christ, who did so much for me, and Him look at me and say, what did you do for me? And me say, I want to be able to say to God, God, it's not much. But God, this is what it's cost me. It's not much. And it will never be anything compared to what your son did for me. But I confess, I've run the risk for redemption. I've stepped out of the crowd. I've identified with Christ. And so this morning, that saves lives. It doesn't save lives to stay in the crown. Stand where the Savior stood, verse 48. It says that he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stayed. I like paintings. I like at Edinburgh Castle going through the war museums that are there. And there's one painting in particular. You just see these soldiers charging and capturing that incredible scene of life and death that's taking place. Picture the man of God, Aaron, standing. And on the right side, you've got men that are alive. And on the left side, you've got men that are dead. What a picture. He stands. What a statement. Standing between the dead and the living. How like our Lord. Isn't that Jesus Christ this morning? That Jesus Christ stands between the dead and the living. It's a perfect picture of Christ as the high priest, the wrath of God came on the side where judgment fell, destruction. On the side of atonement, salvation. And so the Bible says, Jesus gave the story, that when the Son of Man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered all nations and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divided his sheep from the goats. He shall set the sheep on his right hand. Salvation. But the goats on the left, damnation. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. There's a song, I don't think my kids would even think of it this morning. There is a precious lamb who stands in between. Because what it is is this, Jesus Christ and on his left side damnation, right side salvation. God says to us today, come into the kingdom prepared for you because of our righteous Lord standing there. On this side, without atonement, he says to them, verse 41, then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. You know, this morning, It matters what side of the Lord Jesus Christ you stand on. See, on the right side of the Lord Jesus Christ, life. On the left side, death. the man of God stands in between. You know, for us, we're not the Lord Jesus Christ this morning, except for this, we're ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. And you know what? By God's grace, we can make a difference so that those that will be on the right side of God got there, because we stood between the dead and the living. We stood in a place that made a difference, a place that would impact somebody for all eternity. And so we stand in that place between them, stand where the Savior stood. And then stay steadfast for souls. Stay steadfast for souls. Verse 49, it says, now that they that died in the plague, were 14,700 beside them that died about the matter of Korah. And Aaron returned unto Moses unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the plague was stayed." 14,700 died. Can you imagine what that's like for the great, not the great high priest, for the high priest Aaron? Can you imagine how grievous it is for him as he's walking back and he is seeing the dead bodies of those that were slain because of their disobedience to God? How that must have been a burden on the heart of God's high priest. And this morning, I hope it's a burden on your heart, it's a burden on your pastor's heart this morning. As we walked down the streets, And there are people that are dying and going to hell. They're dying and going to hell. They're dying and going to hell. They're damned. They're dead. It's a burden. But listen, it's different than this story. Because they're dead in their trespasses and sins, but Christ can quicken them. Christ can bring them to life. Christ can make a difference. But what I see taking place in this story at this point is Aaron has succeeded in serving God, but where does he go? He goes right back to the place of obedience to God. He goes back to his post. He goes back to his position as a high priest, standing again with Moses at the tabernacle. Aaron and Moses weren't done. They didn't get a break from serving God. By the way, what if they hadn't been there when God's wrath came? There's no holidays, I guess would be my point. There's no holidays for us as we seek to serve God. A Christian can't go, well, I've served God for five years. I've served God for 10 years. I've served God for 25 years. I've been faithful all these years. I deserve a break. No. Why? Because God's wrath is still coming. It's still coming. So stay steadfast for souls. There's a retirement village in Florida that our family visited. And we also preached in a church about, I'd say it was only 20 miles away. It might have been 30 miles. I think it was a half hour from this place. This retirement village was a retirement village for ministers and Christians. It was full of people that had served God in their life. I got to that church, preached that Sunday morning, and the pastor's wife came up to my wife and said, we're closing the church tonight. And that's kind of shocking. They didn't know that. And she said, we've been trying to get young people to help, young people to help, people to help. We're burned out. There's nothing we can do. We can't go any longer. And I'm thinking, 20 miles from here is a bunch of believers that, I mean, they could have such an impact still in their retirement. There's a need right here. But they're in holiday mindset. We went to that church on that campus that night. It was kind of an unchurched church. They had a pastor. They had a couple hundred people there. Kind of different, though. Retirement village. Didn't really invite too many people from the outside in. And a Christian college was singing that night. And they got up to sing. And we're coming in. And we're excited, thinking, yeah, this would be great. You know, hear this Christian college and their music and everything. And go to put the kids in the creche. And there's no creche. 200 and some Christian workers, and nobody would watch our kids. I had it out with the Lord when I was walking with my child. I think it was Benson, I was trying to think this morning who that was. Out by the gator ponds, at least there was something to look at. But I would have been in the house of God that night. But I wasn't, because the church wasn't doing the work of the ministry that God wanted them to do. They were retired. See, there's no retirement. We gotta stay steadfast, we're souls, and we want a posture that saves lives. We gotta think, you know what? Until God takes me home, I'm gonna serve the Lord Jesus Christ as he said, Luke 9.23, he said to them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily. That's a posture that saves souls. And so this morning, God's wrath is coming. I know we're going to an Old Testament passage and we're taking a New Testament truth. God's wrath is coming. Whosoever is not found written in the book of life is cast into the lake of fire. They're gonna die because of their sin. They deserve to die and go to hell just like you and I deserve to die and go to hell, but we've got the atonement through Christ, praise God. But a posture that saves lives, what is it? Gazing at glory. I'm not going to get focused on this, because I'm going to stop if I get focused on this. I'm going to keep my eyes on the Lord. Do you hasten to the holy house saying, man, I've got to get to the church house? Why? I want God to speak to me. I want God to challenge me. I want God to instruct me. That's where he does it corporately, is at the house of God. Are you falling on your face? Seriously praying, not just praying, but seriously praying, saying, God, I'm gonna do without lunch today. It's time to pray, time to seek the face of God. Do you have a plan to prevent the plague? This week, as you think about this week, what's your gospel plan? Tracks in the pocket? Or door to door? Or putting out flyers? Or seeking divine appointments, that opportunity to engage somebody about eternity? What's your plan? Do you run the risks for redemption? Do you hazard anything? Risk anything to see people saved? Do you stand where the Savior stood? He stood between the dead and the living. He got into that place that took the wrath of God for us. Are you staying steadfast for souls, not taking a holiday from God's work? I know that's some straightforward truth this morning, And I pray, God, God, speak to my heart. Because we could go week after week after week, and we could just continue to say, God, you know what? As a church, we're just not seeing that much growth. We're not seeing people saved. We're not seeing lives changed. And again, like we said in Sunday school, we could say, God, why aren't you working? And God would say, why aren't you in the correct posture? that is gonna make a difference for all eternity. And so may God just speak to our hearts this morning. Let's take it to Him in prayer and ask Him to consecrate that message to our hearts. God, would you please help us to see what we've seen. Lord, we've seen it, but I pray that we see it in our souls. Men of God that had a spiritual posture that made a difference. Father, it's not about playing church. It's not about vanity. It's about your labors not in vain in the Lord. And Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would stir us up. Father, help us to look to glory. Help us not to get frustrated by people opposing us because they're opposing Christ. Help us to keep our eyes up. Father, I pray that we'd fall on our face before you. Father, I pray that we hasten to the Holy House, that it'd be a very rare thing for us to miss church. Father, that we would see this as so important. Father, I pray that we would desire you to speak to us. Lord, help us to have a plan. Help us to run risks. Father, help us to stay faithful because Father, the need is very real. And Father, I just pray this morning, if there's somebody here that hasn't trusted Christ as their Savior, Lord, that they'd understand the reason I've preached a message like this is because the need is great. The world needs the message of the gospel. The church needs to make a difference. And so I pray, Father, may your spirit have its way. Whatever you're saying to our hearts today, I pray that we take it and obey it. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. We'll stand and sing a hymn of consecration, really, I think, this morning. I want to be faithful, all right? I hope that's your heart this morning. You hear this message, you think, man, that's what I want to be. I want to be the man of God that God wants me to be. Three, one, two, I want to be faithful.