The Effect of One Righteous Man Ps. 106 Num. 25 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
Many people ask can one person really make a difference. The answer is yes especially if that person is connected to and following God. There are many instances in the Bible of one person making a difference for example; David, Ruth, Elijah, Moses etc. In this sermon we will look at Phinehas and how this one man made a difference during a plague that God had put on Israel.
In Numbers 25:1-13 the children of Israel had joined themselves unto Baal-peor. This was accomplished after Balaam gave advice to the king of Moab on how to overthrow the children of Israel. (This is what is known as the doctrine of Balaam in Revelation 2:14). What was done was to the Israelites to marry with the children of Moab and then start worshipping the gods of Moab. The plan worked and God sent a plague upon Israel Numbers 25:9.
Phinehas stopped the plague by taking a javelin and killing a man of Israel and the woman of Moab that he was with. Now it is important to note that even though Phinehas acted upon his own God had already told Moses and the judges to slay every man that had joined himself unto Baal-peor (Numbers 25:4-5).
In Psalm 106:28-31 we see how God remembered this account. Note the things said about Phinehas in this passage.
While we cannot go around killing people today, we can still make a big difference in the lost and dying world that we live in. Note in reality all Phinehas did was obey the word of God. If we would just obey the word of God we could make a huge difference in the world that we live in.
What are some lessons that we can learn from Phinehas?
1) He stood up (Psalm 106:30)
- Taking a stand is one of the hardest things that a person can do sometimes but in the end it can be one of the most effective things.
- In Ephesians 6:10-18 there is as great passage for how to stand.
- To take a stand there must first be courage, our courage must come from God (verse 10).
- Then we must have something to stand on, this is why we need the word of God. Note that it is spoken of twice in the passage (verse 14 and verse 17). To use the sword effectively you must first have a sure footing.
- Some might say if I only had someone to stand with me it would be much easier. That is where the Lord Jesus Christ comes in (2 Timothy 4:16-18).
2) He executed judgment (Psalm 106:30)
- This was done by carrying out the word of God. Most people want to run around and judge everyone else on why they are wrong but we must first judge ourselves.
- Another reason that many Christians today have a hard time calling sin what it is, is because they have sin in their own lives. Therefore if we say something is sin then we have to judge ourselves first.
- The only way to judge something as sin is by the word of God. In 2 Corinthians 2:15 we see a verse that says he that is spiritual judgeth all things. But if you look at the context leading up to this it deals with having things revealed to us by the Holy Spirit and the word of God.
3) He was zealous for God (Numbers 25:11, 13)
- Zealous means to be warmly engaged or ardent in the pursuit of an object. Once we have made a stand and have executed judgment then we must be zealous for the Lord to do what God says.
- The key is to be zealous with knowledge from the word of God. In Romans 10:1-4 we see that Israel was zealous but without knowledge and as a result they missed the righteousness of God.
- We must connect our zeal with knowledge so that it can be the most effective.
What was the result of Phinehas’ actions?
In Numbers 25:12-13 he gets a covenant of peace and it is extended to his seed. In Psalm 106:31 he is declared righteous. Therefore his results were peace and righteousness. Note how this is also connected with his seed.
All three of the things that Phinehas did are connected directly to the word of God. Our stand must be on God’s word, our judgment must be based upon the word of God, and our zeal must be tempered with the knowledge of the word of God. But if these things are done there is no telling what a person can accomplish for God.