Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20110710.htm
THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION Numbers: Lessons From Spiritual Casualties And Conquerors Part VII: Purging The Mind And Heart To Give God's Truth Effectively (Numbers 8:5-26)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

The need to communicate God's truth to associates we know who are in spiritual darkness is huge, a fact we can readily illustrate:

(1) Nicole Winfield's Associated Press story, "Miracle claimed for World War II-era pope," appeared in the July 4, 2011 Waterbury Republican-American, p. 2A, telling of an alleged healing miracle that occurred following a prayer made to Pope Pius XII, the pope in World War II. Due to the 2009 action by Pope Benedict XVI to declare "Pius had lived a life of heroic' virtue," if this miracle is ratified by the Vatican, Pope Pius XII will be beatified, be granted sainthood, Ibid.

However, this is a highly controversial issue "given that many Jews say he failed to speak out enough to stop the Holocaust", Ibid.

(2) What fuels this controversy even more is the fact that John Cornwell, Senior Research Fellow at Jesus College in Cambridge, England, a Roman Catholic institution, who extensively researched the life of Pope Pius XII to try to vindicate him, ended up writing the book, Hitler's Pope: The Secret History Of Pius XII, 1999 in self-confessed "moral shock," Ibid., p. viii. He claimed he found that "(i)n 1933, he [Pope Pius XII] negotiated a treaty with Hitler, the Reich Concordat, which ensured that the Nazis would rise unopposed by the most powerful Catholic community in the world -- sealing, by Hitler's own admission, the fate of the Jews in Europe . . . Pius's wartime reticence [to speak out against Hitler's mistreatment of the Jew] was consistent with a career dedicated to enhancing papal power and . . . he had a personal antipathy toward the Jews . . ." (Ibid., Cornwell, front flap)

(3) From weighing just these issues alone, any thinking person can discern that something is badly amiss: a pope's formal agreement with Adolf Hitler to insure Nazism's rise unopposed by the most powerful Catholic community in the world, and his antipathy toward the Jewish people as documented by a Roman Catholic scholar just do not make him "of heroic' virtue" as Pope Benedict XVI claimed!

(4) We at Nepaug who are aware of such errant views not only in the Roman Catholic Church where many of us have associates, but also in many ways in numerous Protestant groups, can wonder how we can ever be effectively used of God to deliver His truth to such folk!



Thus, we ask, "In today's era of great spiritual darkness, HOW can and will GOD use ME to enlighten needy associates?!"

Need: "How can God effectively use me to give His truth to others?!"


1. Deuteronomy 33:8-10 and Malachi 2:7 reveal the Levites were to serve God in relation to the tabernacle and teach God's Word to Israel, Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Malachi 2:8-9.
2. Thus, Numbers 8:5-26 tells God had Moses dedicate the Levites to serve by focusing on purging their minds of error and their hearts of sin that they might wholeheartedly serve God with effectiveness:
1. The Levites' dedication emphasized purging their minds of error:
1. Two of the dedication rituals appear elsewhere in Scripture for cleansing one from touching the dead -- sprinkling with the "water of cleansing" and washing one's clothes, Num. 8:7; 19:11-20 NIV.
2. That cleansing is given in connection to the red heifer sacrifice used to make the "water of cleansing" when the ashes of the sacrificed heifer were mixed with water, Numbers 19:1-10 NIV.
3. <+@>This sacrifice in the context CRITIQUED FALSE BELIEFS:
1. Israel had just spent 400 years in Egypt (Exodus 12:41), thus her people knew about Egypt's most famous, chief god, Osiris. (Edward McNall Burns, Western Civilizations , 1963, p. 45-46)
2. Osiris became united with Apis, a black bull with white marks of a triangle on its head, a vulture wing on its back, a crescent moon on its right flank, double hairs on its tail and a scarab- shaped lump under its tongue. (newworldencyclopedia.org, s. v. "Apis," citing Richard H. Wilkinson, The Complete Gods And Goddesses of Ancient Egypt, 2003, p. 171)
3. In Egyptian belief, Osiris' brother, Set, slew Osiris, cut up his body and scattered its pieces, but Osiris' wife, Isis put the pieces back together, and Osiris became Egypt's chief deity and god of the dead, Compton's Encyclopedia, 1973, vol. 15, p. 505 b,c.
4. The worship of Apis-Osiris resurfaced at Mount Sinai in Israel's worship of the golden calf (Exodus 32:1-6). Apis was a fertility god, so Israel practiced immorality; Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Ex. 32:6.
5. Well, Moses countered this idolatry: acting like a "super" Set, he pulverized the calf to powder, Ex. 32:20. He then burned it, scattered its powder on water and made Israel drink it to COUNTER any hope that Isis would piece the idol together, ADDITIONALLY critiquing Osiris who was linked in Egypt to the life-giving Nile River by having spread the powder on water, Zond. Pictorial Ency. of the Bible, vol. Four, p. 548!
6. God built on Moses' deed by instituting the red heifer ritual: (1) versus Egypt's bull Apis, God wanted a heifer; (2) versus Apis' black and white markings, God wanted an all-red heifer; (3) versus a strong Apis, God called for a heifer that never bore a load; (4) the red heifer was burned like Moses burned the gold calf; (5) as Moses critiqued Osiris' union with a life-giving Nile by spreading the calf's dust on water, the heifer's ashes were put in water (6) to sprinkle a party to purify him from touching the dead versus honoring Osiris, god of the dead! (Num. 19:1-10)
7. Thus, the rituals of sprinkling with the "water of cleansing" and washing one's clothes in the consecration of the Levites signified the need for the Levites, TEACHERS of the LAW, to be PURE in their MINDS of ERRANT PAGAN BELIEFS!
4. Then, sandwiched between the rituals tied to the cleansing from the dead is the ritual of shaving all the body hair, Numbers 8:7a,b,c.
5. We before learned in the passage on the Nazirite vow (Num. 6:5) that pagans cut their hair in certain styles due to false beliefs (Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Lev. 19:27), so the shaving of all body hair again shows the need to eradicate all false theology from one's mind!
2. The Levites' dedication emphasized purging their hearts of sin: the sin offering was made to signify this purification, Numbers 8:8b, 12a.
3. The Levites' dedication emphasized wholehearted service to God: the burnt offering, signifying wholehearted dedication of one with a pure mind and heart, was sacrificed with this emphasis, Num . 8:8a, 12b.
3. Finally, the Levites were dedicated as representatives of Israel's firstborn to serve God in the tabernacle, and as teachers of the nation regarding the truths of Scripture, Numbers 8:9-26.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ as Savior to become a child of God, John 1:11-12. (2) To be EFFECTIVELY USED of God to teach needy associates, may we (a) PURGE our MINDS of FALSE BELIEFS, then (b) CONFESS our SINS to God that we can be useful conduits of His truth (c) and unreservedly devote ourselves to serve the Lord as God's truth-bearers!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

In our sermon introduction, we noted a controversial issue has risen in the Roman Catholic Church -- whether or not the World War II pope, Pope Pius XII, should be beatified. On the one hand, a miracle has been attributed to intercessory prayer made unto him, and Pope Benedict XVI has claimed he was "of heroic' virtue"! On the other hand, Pope Pius XII did make the 1933 Reich Concordat with Adolf Hitler that allowed Nazism to rise unopposed by the most powerful Catholic community in the world, and Pius also disliked the Jews, both facts documented by Roman Catholic scholar, John Cornwell, Ibid.

However, if we apply this message and (a) "purge" ourselves of all errant theology and (b) sin, and (c) work wholeheartedly to address this issue, we avoid wondering if the Vatican should beatify Pope Pius XII, and we can really help others! We do this in practice by using only Scripture, and "go the extra mile" to use only the Catholic Bible:

(1) The New American Bible, 1986, a Roman Catholic Bible, shows Paul at 2 Corinthians 1:1 referred to his readers as "holy ones."

(2) However, in 2 Corinthians 13:1-2 in that Bible, Paul wrote to "warn" his readers "that if I come again I will not be lenient" in dealing with "those who sinned" in the group. Some needed apostolic discipline, but they were still "holy ones" (2 Cor. 1:1 NAB), so they had to be positionally HOLY while also being experientially UNholy!

If so, the idea that the Vatican can beatify one for a virtuous life is made void as one is positionally "holy" no matter how he lives!

(3) The basis for this salvation security is revealed in Ephesians 2:8-9 in that same Roman Catholic Bible: it there claims one is "saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast." Thus, salvation and positional holiness are secured by faith, not by human merit or by the Vatican!

(4) Besides, Deuteronomy 13:1-4 with 2 Thessalonians 2:9 in the same Catholic Bible teach ungodly parties can perform miracles! Thus, a miracle allegedly resulting from prayer to Pope Pius XII can not be used by man to rate Pope Pius XII's level of sanctification!

(5) So, we must not ask if the Vatican should beatify anyone, for the Catholic Bible itself teaches that only God can make a saint!

May we purge our minds of false theology to heed the Bible alone, may we confess what sins we do to God and unreservedly go the extra mile to share God's truth so God can make us effective!