And Perished In The Gainsaying Of Core

Temple Baptist Church - 5-11-2016

Jude 11

Introduction:

A.  In our verse, we find the mention of three Old Testament men with three doctrinal issues that continue to plague fundamental churches in our day.  Three areas where men depart from the Bible to their own destruction as well as to the destruction of others who follow them.

b.  The Way of Cain was a false salvation based upon on human merit.

c.  The Error of Balaam was the wickedness of using religion as a means of making money.

d.  The Gainsaying of Core (Korah in the Old Testament) was personal pride and a thirst for power and position that caused him to question and stand against the authority that God gave to Moses.

B.  Before I take a look at the gainsaying of Core, I find it interesting that all three verbs used in this verse are in the past tense! 

1.  Gone, ran, and perished.  God has pronounced the eternal judgment of these “creepers” before they die.  Verse 11 begins with the word “woe” or the cause of great destruction or misery. 

2.  Woe to the man who thinks that God accepts his person and that he is good enough to go to heaven. 

3.  Woe to the man who uses the things of God for personal gain. 

4.  Woe to the man who stands against God’s man and his God given biblical authority.

C.  The gainsaying of Core or Korah is found in Numbers, chapter 16.  Actually, there were 253 men involved in the mutiny that took place.  There were 250 princes and three named men: Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.  In Jude, only Korah or Core is mentioned as he became the ultimate spokesman for the rebellion that took place. 

D.  Moses and Aaron were God appointed men!  Neither sought the position that God gave to them.  The pastor of a church is just a man but he is a God appointed man. 

E.  Korah was the great grandson of Levi and one of the Kohathites. 

F.  The Gainsaying of Core: what did Korah do that provoked the Lord to judge him? 

1.  Korah was dissatisfied with the position that God had given to him. 

a.  Korah didn’t get his “little red wagon.”  In Numbers, chapter 7, the princes of Israel offered 6 wagons with oxen to the Lord for the service of moving the Tabernacle in the Wilderness.  Moses gave 2 wagons to the sons of Gershon (carried the tent, coverings, and hangings) for their service and 4 wagons to the the sons of Merari (carried the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars thereof, and the pillars thereof, and the sockets thereof, and all the vessels) for their service. 

b.  The sons of Kohath or the Kohathites carried the furniture of the Tabernacle after the priests had covered them.  No wagons were given to them as they were to carry the furniture of the Tabernacle on foot.  Remember the “new cart” fiasco )1 Chronicles 13:7) when David tried to move the Ark of the Covenant (it was to be carried by the priests on foot) but not after “due order” and Uzza died when he put his hand to the Ark to steady it. 

c.  The Kohathites were blessed to carry “the cross” (the Tabernacle’s worship was a beautiful type of the substitutionary death of our Lord Jesus Christ) in the Old Testament as did Simon of Cyrene in the New Testament.

d.  I wonder how many days Korah walked beside of the wagons and wished he could drive one of the.  Korahs are often people who do not get their way.  God calls men that are faithful, busy, fruitful, and malleable. 

d.  Korah was not chosen by God for a position of leadership.  Korah wanted to be equal with Moses and Aaron!  For reasons known only to God, in the Book of Numbers, God set aside Korah and appointed a younger member of the family as the leader of the Kohathites.  Several times in the Old Testament, God set aside the older and chose the younger: Manasseh and Ephraim, Esau and Jacob, etc. 

e.  Korah may not have even been disqualified for the ministry.  God does not call everyone to be a pastor though there are many good, qualified men in churches.

2.  Korah rejected Moses as the appointed leader of Israel. 

a.  Bringing that down to our day, there are universities who reject the biblical order of the local church.  They often use a biblical doctrine to set aside another important biblical doctrine.  The doctrine of the individual priesthood of the believer is a wonderful doctrine.  You no longer need a priest to represent you to God as you now can personally approach Him through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

b.  Here is the twist that these people put upon that doctrine.  Since you represent yourself to God personally, then the pastor has no authority over you and neither does the local church.  They are so wrong on both accounts.

c.  Ephesians 4:11-12  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;  (12)  For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

d.  He elevated himself to a position of authority and power.  These men were men of position and power but God had, for some reason, set Korah aside and chosen another as head of the Kohathites.  In our day, people—such as Diotrephes—love to have the pre-eminence in the local church.  An unqualified man seeking a qualified job.

3.  Korah withstood God’s man in front of the congregation of Israel.  

a.  Every pastor needs to be approachable but, when there is a disagreement, there is a biblical way to approach him.  The Bible say to rebuke not an elder.  God’s man should be approached privately and the issue settled. 

b.  If the problem is doctrinal or sinful in nature and the pastor will not correct it, then—in the mouth of two or three witnesses—he is to be brought before the church.

c.  1 Timothy 5:19-20  Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.  (20)  Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.

4.  Korah paid dearly for his sin of presumption! 

a.  God opened the earth and Korah, Dathan, and Abiram along with their families and all that pertained to them descended alive into the pit and the earth closed over them.  Fire from God devoured the 250 princes.

b.  Many churches have a Korah or a Diotrephes in them.  Normally a church will only have one at a time because they who love preeminence to not like competition!