SUMMARY
Pastor Jason discusses the tragic sin of Israel at Peor, where they worshipped false gods and committed fornication with Moabite women. He draws parallels to modern-day temptations, emphasizing that sin, not external threats, is the greatest danger. He highlights the role of Balaam and Balak in deceiving Israel and the subsequent punishment, including the execution of 24,000 people. Phineas' intervention stopped the plague by killing Zimri and Cozbi, earning him a covenant of peace. Jason warns against complacency in sin and urges true believers to strive for holiness, likening Phineas' zeal to Jesus' sacrifice, which turns away God's wrath.

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

God’s Unconditional Love and the Tragic Sin at Peor
Once again, a very good morning and blessed Lunar New Year to all our Chinese worshipers. Now, because this is Chinese New Year, I was wishing, hoping for a more happy, positive, uplifting sermon, but I think it's a little bit difficult because we're looking at Numbers Chapter 25 today, which is a story of tragic sin that took place at a place called Peor in the Bible. And I've entitled this sermon “Peor, Phinehas and Our Priest”. I hope the title will make sense to you at the end of our message today.

This tragic sin is very readily or very quickly unfolded before us when we look at verses 1-3: “When Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab.” So they commit fornication with the daughters of Moab. The Moabite women came, and these Moabite women then invited the people, the people of Israel, to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. Probably some kind of religious feasts that were conducted then. So Israel now yoked himself, or joined himself to Baal of Peor, which is a false god of that region. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.

About one or two weeks ago, I read about this Singaporean actor, Laurence Pang. And he said he lost some $35,000 to a pretty face in online scam in Philippines. You might know the actor, if you are Singaporean, he appears on our television here. And he said, “Being an old man, you know, when a young lady tells you, ‘I like you’, you’d believe her. That was stupid.” But then he went on to transfer money to this person's bank account. Her name is Mika. So she set up a crypto currency and e-commerce platform accounts for him, but he never saw his money back after that.

Well, there's a Chinese… This is Chinese New Year, so let me… I know there are not many, not all of you are Chinese, but let me give you a Chinese saying: “yin1 xiong2 nan2 guo4 mei3 ren2 guan1”. Literally, it means “even heroes find it hard to escape the clutches of beautiful women”. And I think this is certainly the case for Laurence, and it is the case for the people of Israel. They fell right into a trap. They fell right into a scheme. They fell right into a ploy. The Bible tells us that the people of Israel began to commit fornication with the daughters of Moab. When we read this, we might think of it as a chance occurrence. Somehow, the Israelite men met with the Moabite women, and they had relationships as they were living at Shittim.

The Intentional Trap Set by the Moabites
But it was anything but accidental. It was highly intentional, because the Bible goes on to tell us at the end of this chapter that God said… the Midianites, the Midianites, the Moabites, they were pretty much the same group at this point of time… “they (the Midianites) have harassed you with their wiles, with which they beguiled you in the matter of Peor.” So they tricked you. They seduced you, they lured you, they trapped you. So I think what happens is that the Midianites sent out a bevy of beautiful women intentionally to seduce the men of Israel. And when they got hooked, when they took the bait, then they began to reel the fish in. They invited the Israelites to the sacrificial feasts of their gods: “Come join us. You're already sleeping with us, so come join us in our feast when we worship our gods.” And poor, blur Israel men went along, ate––there's food, why not? They are sick of manna, maybe. They ate and they bowed down to their gods, and in so doing, they joined themselves to the Baal of Peor. So they kind of divorced themselves from Yahweh, the God of the Bible, and they worshiped these false gods made of metal and wood, fashioned with man's hands. And so the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.

I think it's worth our while to pause and to realize that this was all part of a ploy, a scheme. As we have said, the people of Israel began to act treacherously against the Lord. It was evil, but it was all at the advice of Balaam. Ha, Balaam, remember him? We looked at him last week. Numbers 22 to 24. Balak, the king of Moab, was scared of Israel, knew that he couldn't fight them, so hired this soothsayer––this prophet, Balaam. Because Balaam very ling2 (in Chinese, it means “alert and effective”). Whatever he says, bao jiak (Singlish for “guaranteed to be good”). Whatever, whoever he cursed will be cursed. Whoever he blesses will be blessed. But Balaam and Balak couldn't get any curses out against Israel, because God was protecting them. But Balak did not give up, neither did Balaam. So Balaam came up with Plan B. Plan B is to lure Israel to sin so that they themselves press the self-destruct button.

“Let their God punish them”, Balaam says. So Balaam said, “King Balak, send all the beautiful women and seduce Israel.” We see that again in Micah Chapter 6: “...remember what Balak, king of Moab devised, and what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him…” So they were in cahoots. This was a conspiracy. This was their masterminding of the downfall of Israel. And again, in Revelation 2: “Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.” It was all employed.

The Danger of Sin and the Role of Leadership
And I think it's worth our while to then consider, what does this mean for you and for me? What caused Israel to fall? Was it curses from the outside? No. Were it threats from the outside? No. Because God protected Israel. What was their greatest number one danger? Sin. And I suggest to you, this is the danger that you and I face today. It's not persecution from the outside. It's not that we lose money or we don't have enough resources for life and living, but the greatest danger is sin from within.

What's the greatest danger to your family? It's not the loss of job because I'm sure if we follow the Lord, He always provides. But it's sin. Husband may sin against the wife; father may sin against the children. That's the greatest danger in our lives, in our families and in the church. In recent months, we have read of quite a few well known preachers, pastors who have influential ministries just get devastated. Not because of illness, not because of a lack of resources. But because of sin. We have read of churches that have collapsed because of sin. So I say to you: I think the number one danger that you and I face always is sin. How we need to be vigilant and sober, because, remember, there is always this deceiver. To Israel, it was just beautiful women. But to God, there is someone behind these beautiful women masterminding their fall. And Satan, like Balak, like Balaam, loves and is always working to cause God's people to fall. And they love to hide behind beautiful things. You realize that? What causes you to fall? Ugly things? Usually beautiful things: beautiful lifestyle, beautiful car, beautiful house, beautiful women, beautiful future. They like to hide behind beautiful things. And when you are seduced, they reel you in and say, “join with our gods”. And the anger of the Lord will be kindled against God's people. Satan loves to hide behind beautiful things, but his intent is always the same, like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

Our battles are not physical. Our real battles are spiritual against spiritual wickedness in high places. So be alert, because this is a world that is designed to lure you away from God. There's a great deceiver, and I think there is a great disgrace when God's people fall into temptation and sin. What a sad thing that Israel who worships Yahweh and Israel who is delivered by Yahweh should now join themselves to Baal, the local gods of Peor. It's a sad thing, and it's a sad thing when God's people leave God for the Baals of this world.

I think one of the great dangers of this world is––or at least for Singaporeans, being a rather prosperous country––is the worship of prosperity. I know later on you will have your Chinese New Year lunch or dinner, and you say gong1 xi3 fa1 cai2 (Chinese New Year greeting which means “may you be prosperous”). And we say it almost as if it's a good thing. Well, I'm not saying that you should intentionally be poor, but I'm also saying that… but I do say that I don't think it is a good idea to aim to be rich. It's a balance there. I understand. Not that we deliberately act as poor or want to be poor, but I think there's a dangerous thing to desire to be rich or to aim to be rich, because the Bible does tell us, they who desire to be rich––it’s not those who are rich, but who desire to be rich––pierce themselves through with many sorrows. Why? Because oftentimes, Satan hides behind beautiful things, even prosperity.

So this is the story we read of. This is the danger we must heed. There is someone always masterminding your downfall. The greatest danger to this church, to your ministry, to your life, to your family, is always that susceptibility to sin. But let's move on.

Because secondly, we see in this story the punishment. The Bible tells us that “The Lord then said to Moses, ‘Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them in the sun before the Lord, that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.’” Now, God is holy, and this sin and disobedience must always be judged. So, the chiefs of the people are called to task. Now, why the chiefs? Well, leadership does come with responsibility. It could be that the leaders themselves were involved with this Moabite relationship, or that even if they are not involved, they have allowed their people to be involved, and so God calls them to task. They are to be hung. To be hung there is to be cursed by God. It's a public declaration of shame and disrepute, and so that's what they will be suffering. But besides the leaders, Moses also said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor.” So the leaders are called to task. The people who are committing that sin are also called to task. And the Bible tells us that “...those who died by the plague were 24,000”. And so this is what God had to do: “...the Lord, your God, destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor”. So that's mentioned in a summary sermon in Deuteronomy later on.

The Parallel with Exodus 32 and the Warning from Paul
Now I'd like you to notice something, because in Numbers 25 we see a certain parallel with another story in the Bible. So Numbers 25 we read of the second generation after the Exodus account. So the first generation have pretty much died off. We are just left with Moses and Joshua and Caleb, but most of them have died, like Miriam and Aaron. Now they arrive at Peor and they commit idolatry and adultery at this place with Baal Peor. Now I say there's a parallel because it's very similar to what happened in Exodus 32.

In Exodus 32, it records for us the first generation after Exodus. And it was at Mount Sinai that they bowed down to the golden calf they have fashioned with their own hands. And in both cases, idolatry and immorality were involved. And in both cases, immediate sentencing was executed. Now I think these two stories are linked together, not just because you see such similarities, but because the apostle Paul saw their link together. I'm not the one who says so. He said in 1 Corinthians Chapter 10. Look at this: “Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.’” Now this is a direct quotation from Exodus 32:6, which is the story of the golden calf. So he mentions that first story, and then he quickly mentions in the next line the second story––”...where 23,000 fell”––and that is the sin at Peor, which we are studying to get today. So Paul links the two together.

Now, if you are good with numbers, maybe right now, immediately you will say, hey, something not quite right, leh. Bo tioh, beh zun… which means not accurate, not correct. What's not correct? Well, the number is not quite correct. Now I know if I said, if the Bible said he owed $24,000 and now you read $23,000, you say immediately, “eh, $1,000 short”, because we are so sensitive about money. Maybe numbers of people, we are not so familiar. But there is a discrepancy, because in 1 Corinthians, it's said to be 23,000. In Numbers 25, it's 24,000. Now, where do you miss that 1,000? It's not really explained in the Bible, but we kind of see a possibility that the 23,000 refers to the people who fell in a single day. So it could be that 1,000 more would die the following day or days. That could be the explanation. Or it could be that the 23,000 refers to those who died directly by God's execution, and the 1,000 were those chiefs and the men that the judges executed. In any case, I think the Bible is not in error here. Paul is not, I think, amnesic, or having a poor memory. But the point is that these two stories are linked together. For what?

For this reason: These things––what happened at Sinai and what happened at Peor, when people worship other gods and commit immorality––these things were written for you as examples, as warnings, so that we, the readers, might not desire evil. That desiring of evil resulted in these treacherous acts. So let's look at these stories. Paul says, “And do not do as they did, and do not desire as they desired, because God is not going to be mocked. God is holy, and He will judge. He will execute punishment on the wicked people who desire wicked.” So this is the warning that Paul is telling us in the New Testament.

You see, this is a psyche you and I may have. I hope not many will have, but some may have, where we say, “I'm a Christian and I'm going to heaven. I come to church, I read the Bible. My parents are Christian. I'm a Christian, and I'm going to heaven. I know Jesus died. I know Jesus died on the cross. I know that His death is able to wash away all my sins. I go to church. I believe in Jesus. I've been raised in Sunday school. I'm going to heaven.” And maybe you may even say it a step further, “I can sin all I want, and Jesus will still save me.” I suppose very few of you would actually dare to articulate these words. I think very few of you would dare say, “Yeah, lah, it's true, what. I can sin all I want, what.” But even though you may not say it, somehow it's at the back of your mind, and so you say, “It's okay, lah. A little dishonesty at my workplace is fine. A little fling with my colleague, God will forgive. A little love for the things of this world. I just want to have a balanced Christian life, you know? You know what's balanced Christian life? Sunday, come to church. Monday to Friday, I work like a dog because I want to have my Ferrari. It's okay, lah. I'm a balanced Christian. I think God will forgive me. I will still go to heaven, and Jesus will still save me.”

I think that is a thinking not a few actually have in your minds. But the whole point here is Paul is writing to the Corinthians, people who are gathered in the church. And he's saying to them, “Warning! Warning! God will judge the wicked!” Who are the wicked? Oh, the people outside, lor. You see all of them outside. We inside. We are not wicked people. Is that how the Bible distinguishes it? No, just because you are in church doesn't mean you are in Christ. As we say, just because you go to McDonald's doesn't make you a hamburger. Just because you come for worship service doesn't mean that you belong to God.

Who are the wicked? The people outside? No, the wicked are those who persist in habitual sin, regardless of what they call themselves. Those who desire evil. Paul is warning the Corinthians, “You are part of the church at Corinth, but you may be the people who desire evil. And be warned, because God will judge you.” Because Paul doesn't assume that everyone who is in church is a Christian, is a true believer. They––those who desire evil––may be those who are in church today. So this is a warning, because true Christians are not just people who got baptized or who said a prayer or who says prayers before their meals. But true Christians, according to the consistent teaching of the Bible, are people who demonstrate the marks of grace, godliness, holiness, obedience, not perfectly, not that they become sinless, but I think they sin less over the course of growth and time. So true Christians are marked by sincere progression in likeness to Jesus, even if we will never arrive at sinless perfection. So they are not complacent. Real believers, true Christians are not people who say, “Oh, I can sin all I want, and Jesus is going to forgive me.” No. True Christians are not complacent. They understand that God has His warnings in the Bible. They take heed and they strive, by the grace of God, towards holiness or godliness. That is their whole tenure and posture of life. They strive towards godliness, not being complacent. And on that day Jesus comes, Jesus would say to them, “Well done, you good and faithful servant.” So, Numbers 25 it's not a passage for you to say, “Aiyah, this is for my uncle. This is for my colleague. They don't go to church. This is for them.” No, no, no, no, no. This is a message for you and for me, to church goers, to the gathered people, as a warning. If you are truly God's people, yes, you are forever saved. I believe that. The Bible says so. No one is able to pluck us out from God's hand. But at the very same time, those who are truly God's people will endure to the end. They persevere to the end. They press on toward the mark to the end.

Phinehas’ Intervention and the Purging of Sin
Well, that's a lot to say, but let me move on. The sin at Peor was not an accident. It was an intelligent masterminding of wicked people, just as the devil today is masterminding your downfall and the church's downfall. And we need to take heed. We must not fall into such lures and temptations, because it might mean that if we live in such habitual sin, we don't belong to Him in the first place. God will judge the wicked. But finally, there's this wonderful account of the purging of sin at Peor.

So let's look at this: “Behold”. Now this is where you pay attention. “And behold”––look, look, look here! One of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family. What's he doing? Well, we are told later on in verse 8 that he brought this Midianite woman to his family into the chamber. So what's happening here is that this Israelite man, in spite of what's happening around him, in spite of the judgment and the deaths and the punishments that are happening around him, he still brought this woman to have intimacy with her. And he did so in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel, while they were weeping, while people were dying, while God was angry! He just simply bo chap (Hokkien here for “don't care a hoot”)! This man is absolutely hardened, brazen and blatant. This is a man with amazing audacity. He is simply saying, “Who cares?” He's spitting in God's face. God is showing His wrath, and he is doing right this in the sight of everyone in front of the Tabernacle of God. We say in Chinese guang1 tian1 hua4 ri4 zhi1 xia4––in broad daylight. This is what he did.

Well, Phinehas, the son of Eliza, the son of Aaron the priest. Who is Phinehas? He is the grandson of Aaron. He is from the priestly line. Later on in 1 Chronicles, we read of him as the chief of the gatekeepers of the tabernacle. So he is an important priest. He saw this man bring this woman into the chamber in broad daylight, and he was stoked. He rose and left the congregation, took a spear in his hand, went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman, through her belly. Probably they were in the act itself when he speared them there. And in so doing, the plague of the people of Israel was stopped. So this man is probably the mastermind… or not mastermind but one of the instigators, or one of the most brazen sinners in Israel. We'll know of his name later on and where he comes from, but the Bible continues to tell us, “The Lord then said to Moses, ‘Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the people of Israel.’” So because of what he did, the plague was stopped.

“...in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in My jealousy.” If he did not do what he did, maybe the whole of Israel will be wiped out. Now in Psalms, we are told Phinehas was a picture of faith and righteousness: “Phinehas… [his act] was counted to him as righteousness.” This language is very similar to Abraham. Genesis 15: “Abraham believed and it was counted to him as righteousness.” So I think this is just simply saying Phinehas was a righteous man before God. Please don't think that Phinehas became righteous as a result of this act. But Phinehas was seen and known to be righteous because of this act. He was righteous by faith, and he was seen to be righteous by this act. That's all. So Phinehas was, I think, clearly a believer. And God said, “As a result of what he did, I give to him My covenant of peace.” Shalom, good will, health, goodness. “I give him My covenant of peace, and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him, the covenant of a perpetual priesthood.” So from now onwards, the high priests of the Levitical system will all come from his family line.

So we see this parallel of Numbers 25 and Exodus 32. We have already looked at this. And interestingly, after Numbers 25 you have the high priest appointment; after Exodus 32 you have the Levites as the priests. So there are significant parallels. That's what I'm trying to say. It's not that important.

But let's look at this. Let's look at the two culprits. The name of the man who was slain was Zimri, and the name of the Midianite woman was Cozbi. And it was interesting that Zimri is the son of Salu, the chief of a father's house. So you could say, in Singapore, he’s an ah sia kia (Hokkien for the boss’ child). You know fu4 er4 dai4––wealthy second gen. He's one of the leaders’ children, so maybe arrogant, proud, thinking that he's got it all. And Cozbi is also the daughter of a tribal head. So the two of them are named. And I'm sorry if you are not a Chinese, I really am. But Chinese… I give another proverb: liu2 fang1 bai3 shi4. Eh, no Chinese here, ah? (Audience laughs). liu2 fang1 bai3 shi4, yi2 chou4 wan4 nian2. Which literally means fang1 is aroma. liu2 fang1 bai3 shi4 means aroma for a long… hundreds of generations. yi2 chou4 wan4 nian2 means you leave a smell for 10,000 years. So you have Phinehas: liu2 fang1 bai3 shi4. His name is celebrated for a long, long time. And then you have Zimri and Cozbi, whose smelly names would reek for 10,000 years. So we have these contrasts of these two characters. And the Lord then spoke to Moses, saying, “Harass or strike down the Midianites. Trouble them, afflict them and strike them down.” And we are going to read of that later on in Numbers 31. That will come in two weeks’ time.

The Greater Zeal of Jesus Christ
But let me bring you back to this scene of Phinehas spearing both the man and the woman. Phinehas pierced both of them, and therefore the plague was stopped. If not for what he did, the wrath of God would not be turned away; if not for him, Israel might be decimated. Phinehas did what, as a priest, he could do, and there's this little detail: “He was jealous with My jealousy among them.” Now, I'm not sure if I'm pushing it too far, but I think there is this hint of something greater, because the word jealousy in the Hebrew is the word “qin’âh”, which can be translated jealousy or zeal. This is the same word you read in Psalm 69: “for qin’âh for Your house has consumed me.” And this Psalm 69 is later on used to refer to none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, when He says, “Zeal for My Father's house has consumed me”, or “Zeal for Your house has consumed me.” It's not John 2:27 but John 2:17.

It was zeal. It was passion. It was jealousy. It was qin’âh for God's house that motivated Jesus to overturn the tables of the money-changer and to chase all those who dishonor God's name from the temple. And I think it was zeal also for the Father's name that resulted in Jesus going to the cross to die for sinners and to save sinners from their sins.

Phinehas was a good priest, but there is an even greater priest––Jesus Christ. He is going to turn back the wrath of God so that all the world need not die in sin and judgment. But the way He's going to turn back God's wrath is not spearing the sinners. But he is going to be nailed Himself to the cross, and the spear will pierce His side, and He will shed His blood, and He will suffer on behalf of sinners. He's not going to conquer by force, He’s conquering by love, and He Himself will be the sacrifice to save His people from their sins. And He will be our everlasting great High Priest, a priest greater than the greatest of the Levitical priests. Jesus is the one who will save you from your sins. I said for a Chinese New Year message, Numbers 25 is difficult to be uplifting and happy, but actually it is not that hard. Why? Because the whole Bible is a wonderful, happy, hopeful book, isn't it? That even though man has sinned against God, and man can never get back to God on our own, God has sent His Son, Jesus, to be the Lamb to take away the sin of the world and to be the great High Priest who will present us faultless before the throne of grace. I hope today you will come to this great High Priest; you will come to Jesus; you will repent of your sin, believe in Him and have everlasting life. May the wrath of God be turned away from you because Jesus is your Saviour. Let's bow for a word of prayer together.

Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father, but by Me.” There is only one way God's wrath can be averted from you––when Jesus stands in front of you to bear that wrath of God. So the Bible says, “Jesus who knew no sin, who lived a perfect life was made sin for us.” He became the sin bearer on the cross. He was cursed for us, so that you today may be made the righteousness of God in Jesus. There is only one way you can be saved from the wrath of God. There's only one way you can be saved from hell, and that is if you today humble yourself, turn from your sin, and look to Jesus and say, “I'll follow Jesus. He is my Lord and Saviour.” Will you be willing today to give up, give up your love for the lusts of this life? Will you be willing today to say no to yourself and to say yes to Jesus? Will you today open your eyes to see that the beautiful things that are alluring you are all the ploys and the schemes of the wicked one. He hides behind beautiful things to drive a wedge between you and your Maker, you and your God. Can't you hear today God's voice crying out to you, “Come home, won't you turn? Won't you be saved? Won't you receive My love? I sent My son to die and to save you from your sin. Sinner, would you come home?” Oh, I beg you to come home. I urge you to come home, my friends. The goodness of God, I pray, will lead you to repentance today and to my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, please don't trifle with sin. Please don't flirt around with sin. Do not harden your hearts, like as in the day of provocation, in the days of Israel in the wilderness. But pay attention to this good news. Remember God's love for you. Love Him. Pursue holiness without which no man will see God, and may we all one day finally arrive safely home. Father, thank You today for Your Word. May souls be saved and may saints repent. May saints be encouraged, may saints return to You. May this church love You, because we know how much You love us. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.