[Rick Shabi] Anyway, we are here on the Sabbath day. And I know that as the Sabbath day started, you have looked in the Bible, you've done some study and things like that. And we learn more and more as we go through our lives, that when Jesus Christ said we live by every Word of God, that He meant it. And as you go through your study, you learn, as you read the Bible, that in every chapter, in every verse, there's something that we learn. First, we may learn about the stories and be able to recite those and talk about them, and the lessons that we learn. But then you drill down more into the Scriptures and you see that God has put so much into every single verse of the Bible.

And, so, verse by verse, Bible study is an important thing for us to do, in addition to coming to services and the general study that we might do. And I want to turn to one verse, in particular, today and talk about that. If you'll turn with me over to Isaiah. Isaiah 1:1. Isaiah is just a magnificent book that is full of so many things. You cannot understand the Book of Isaiah until you go through it verse by verse and you see how much God opened Isaiah's mind to. And as we've gone through a Bible study, verse by verse on that, I have just been amazed at what the truth, the prophecy, and everything that is going on in the Book of Isaiah that God inspired. But in verse 1, seems like a very introductory little verse to the book.

Isaiah 1:1 It says, “The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.”

So, Isaiah lived during the times of those kings, and God specifically mentions those four kings. This is when Isaiah lived. Now, there's three other prophets, minor prophets, that God had live at the same time who were contemporaries of Isaiah. And you can kind of read and see where they had similar experiences. But there's a reason that God gave us those names of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. We can learn just from those kings. There's a Bible study and at least four or five sermons in the names of those four kings, and not just what they did, but what we can learn from them.

God told us in 1 Corinthians 10 that we live by or that He recorded these things as examples to us. And here we have, if you will, four generations of kings. We look at the first king, Uzziah. He reigned for 52 years, second longest reigning king in Judah's history, and he was a good king in God's eyes. We're going to look at him in a little bit here. But near the end of his life, he made some big mistakes. He let life and pride come up in him, and everything fell apart at the end of his life. His son, Jotham, a second-generation Christian, if you will, saw his father's mistakes. And the Bible records, he didn't make the same mistakes as he got older. He saw what his father did, and he stayed true to God.

His son, Ahaz, the third generation, if you want to put it in that way, he was completely different. While he saw God bless Judah and bless everything that his dad had done, he didn't really want. He didn't really want what God wanted. He wanted to be part of the world and the world around him at that time. And so he resisted God and as a result of Ahaz's reign and resistance, God put some remarkable prophecies out there that a lot of which have yet to be fulfilled. And then his son, Hezekiah, fourth generation, saw the mistakes of Ahaz. And, you know, Hezekiah he turned back to God with his whole heart.

And so you can do some generational studies there and see what's going on with those kings, but we can learn from each of them as well. And as Isaiah was there living through those times, he saw the personalities, he saw the pitfalls that they fell into. He began to understand them, and it did come through in the pages of his book as he began to understand humanity, and the behaviors, and the words that God gives us that we need to be aware of what we're doing and guard closely our heart.

So, we'll talk about some of those kings later, but today I want to just talk about the first one, Uzziah. He's an interesting king. We first are introduced to him back in 2 Chronicles. So, if you turn over there with me, we'll spend just a couple of minutes reminding ourselves who Uzziah was. In 2 Kings, he's referred to as Azariah. But here in 2 Chronicles, he's Uzziah and he's a good king. And one of the things that is said about him, or one of my favorite verses in the Bible that I go back to, it talked about him early on in his reign. But in 2 Chronicles 26, and we begin in verse 3.

2 Chronicles 26:3-5 It says, “Uzziah was 16 years old when he became king, and he reigned 52 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the sight of the Eternal, according to all that his father, Amaziah, had done. He sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God. And as long as he sought the Eternal, God made him prosper.”

That's one of the verses I remind myself of that have always been inspirational to me. As long as he sought the Eternal, God made him prosper. Doesn't mean just wealth or personal wealth, but it means that things went well in Judah. His life was good when he sought God and he remembered who he was and that everything about him was what God had given him, things went well. But for 40 to 52 years of Uzziah, he began to lose what he knew so well back here in verse 5. In verses 6, 7, and 8, it tells us how Judah was positioned at that time.

2 Chronicles 26:5-8 It says, “He went out and made war against the Philistines. He broke down the wall of Gath and all those…” In verse 7, it says, “God helped him against the Philistines, against the Arabians who lived in Gur Baal and against the Meunites.” He knew it was God, it wasn't him, it wasn't his military skill and savvy. It wasn't his military might, he knew it was God who was helping him? And so down in verse 8, it says, “His fame spread as far as the entrance of Egypt for he became exceedingly strong.”

There was a time when he knew his strength came from God, and that's exactly where his mind was at that time. If we drop down to verse 15, it talks about some of the things that God prospered Judah with at that time.

2 Chronicles 26:15 It says, “He, Uzziah, made devices in Jerusalem invented by skillful men to be on the towers and the corners, to shoot arrows and large stones. So, his fame spread far and wide, for he was marvelously helped until he became strong.”

Marvelously helped till he became strong. He began to look around and think, “Look what I've done. Look at how powerful we are. Look how important people think of me.” And early in his reign, he would have thought, this is all about God. But somewhere along the line, it became about him, and he wrongly thought it was about him. In verse 16, we see Uzziah late in his reign. And when you read about the kings of Judah and Israel, you think about our calling. God's looking to make us all kings. And so these kings are a type of us, and the type of maladies and things that have afflicted them can also afflict us.

2 Chronicles 26:16 It says, “When he was strong in his heart or when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.”

Now, you remember at that time, the kings didn't have carte blanche over everything that went on. They were the civic leaders, but there were the priests of God in the temple, and they had no business in that end of it. So, when Uzziah decides, "I'm going to go in and burn incense on the altar," uh-uh, that is not what God said. He did not have that authority to do that. He couldn't go in and do that. And so as he's going in, he's even warned, right?

2 Chronicles 26:17-18 “So, Azariah, the priest, went in after Uzziah, and with him were 80 priests to the Lord. Valiant men. They're asking, what are you doing? What are you doing here, Uzziah? This is not your domain. And they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, ‘It's not for you to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed. You shall have no honor from the Lord God.’”

Wow. Pretty clear warning. They were repeating exactly what God had said. Uzziah knew this. It wasn't any surprise to him that he didn't have the authority to go in there. But somewhere along the line, he thought, I do, and I want to do it. I want that power too. I'm going to go in there and do it. There was something working in him, not a good thing, that made him want to do that. And here, the priests all came out in a huge number to say, “You can't do that. That's not of God.” And look at Uzziah's reaction.

It tells us a lot about what our reaction might be if someone tells us, “That isn't of God, that's not the way God said that that should happen. That's not what God said to do.” He became furious. He became furious. He didn't back down and say, “Oh, yeah, you're right. What am I thinking? Let me repent before God because I made this mistake. Thank you for showing me my error.” He became furious. He had a sensor in his hand to burn incense.

2 Chronicles 26:19 “And while he was angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord beside the incense altar.”

And you can imagine, right there, God made a judgment on Uzziah. So, as they watched the leprosy break out, you can imagine what they all were thinking. What a horrible thing to have happened. Look how immediate God was when Uzziah stood before God and said, "I'm going to do it my way. Forget what you said. I forget the warnings. I'm going to do this because I want to do it. And God had a judgment on Uzziah, and he suffered from leprosy for the rest of his life. Down in verse 21, it says, he was that way till he was dead, until he died.

2 Chronicles 26:22 It says, “The rest of the acts of Uzziah from first to last, the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, wrote.”

There is no real detailed history of Uzziah in the book of Isaiah we have today. And yet, we know that Isaiah wrote one. Isaiah learned what Uzziah had done and wherever that book is, only God knows. But in that little verse, it tells us Isaiah knew, he studied. What was it about King Uzziah that led a man who was so good, to begin with, to turn out the way that he did? There is the responsibility for us to learn the examples of the Bible and to make them real to us so that we don't fall prey to the same things that this man did late, late in his reign after he knew God many, many, many years. What was it about him?

Now, as we've talked about him, you probably are thinking of another king who did something similar, right? King Saul did something similar. So, let's go back and look at King Saul. We find him back in 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel 10 is where we'll begin. Here in chapter 10, you'll remember Israel wanted a king. They didn't want God to be king over them. They wanted a physical king. And, so, Saul is anointed king. And in verse 6, it's a very interesting verse, as he's anointed to be king.

1 Samuel 10:6-9  It says, “The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and you will prophesy with men, and you will be turned into another man.” The Spirit of God will be upon you, you will be a different person. So, God was with Saul. And it says in verse 7, “Let it be when these signs come to you that you do as the occasion demands, for God is with you.” Just like God is with us when we turn to Him and His Holy Spirit comes on us. In verse 8, He says, “You shall go down before me to Gilgal. Surely, I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and make sacrifices of peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait till I come to you and show you what you should do.” So, here's a command from Samuel, a judge, not a command from God, but he was the appointed of God at that time. In verse 9, it says, “So, it was when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart and all those signs came to pass that day.”

Just like God gives us another heart and His Spirit. So, Saul is early in his career here, right? 1 Samuel 10, he's just been anointed. But if we go over just a few chapters, remember, Samuel says there, “You wait for me seven days, Saul. When you go down to Gilgal, you wait for me seven days.” So, we come to that time in Gilgal, three chapters later, in 1 Samuel 13. And here the Israelites are being faced by the Philistines. They're kind of scared, here's this numerous army. They don't know what to do. The people are beginning to scatter, and Saul is there as king. How do I keep the people together? What do I do? And so when we come to verse 8, in 1 Samuel 13, we see him make a decision that is not a good decision.

1 Samuel 13:8 It says, “He waited the seven days according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel didn't come to Gilgal and the people were scattered from him. And Saul said, ‘Well, then, bring me the burnt offering and peace offerings and I will offer the burnt offering.’” And he did that even though he'd been told crystal clear, “Wait for me and I'll show you what to do.” But he took it upon himself, something that he didn't have the authority to do. And he offered that offering. Samuel came just as he was finishing the burnt offering.

1 Samuel 13:11-12 And Samuel said “‘What have you done?’ Saul said, ‘Well, when I saw that the people were scattered from me and that you didn't come within the days appointed and that the Philistines gathered together at Mikmash, I said, the Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal and I have not made supplication to the Lord.’” You know what? I haven't done what God said, we didn't offer the burnt offerings. You weren't here. What was I supposed to do? And then it says, “Therefore, I felt compelled and offered a burnt offering.”

Now, it's interesting because when you look compelled and when you look at the Old King James, it doesn't say compelled, you know, I felt compelled to do this. But the Old King James translates those words this way, which was much more accurately. “Therefore, I felt forced myself to offer the burnt offering. I knew I shouldn't be doing it. I knew what the command was, but I forced myself to do it, even though I knew I shouldn't.” Well, that says something about Saul. And God makes a pretty quick judgment on Saul at that point.

1 Samuel 13:13 “Samuel said to Saul, ‘You've done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now, He would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, but now your kingdom shall not continue.’”

Wow. On that one mistake that Saul made. Or was it a mistake? He did force himself to do something against what he was told.

1 Samuel 13:14 “And Samuel says, ‘The Eternal has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over his people because you haven't kept what God commanded you.’”

You know, that man that succeeded Saul was David, of course. And David waited for many years, if you recall after he was anointed, before he actually was coronated or installed as King of Israel. And David, we know, read God's Word in varied detail. How many times are we told that he meditated on God's Word, in the middle of the night he was sitting there, he was thinking about God's Word every single time. He would raise up at night and you read Psalm 119 and he would talk about how much he meditated on God's Word. This is what God said, this is what I need to do, this is the way to life. These are the words that God gave us to live our lives in exactly the way is the way to what He wants us to be, that is the way to eternity. You get to know God through His Word. You get to know God as you understand it and dwell on it and just don't go through the virtual of keeping His Word when you really focus on it.

So, David succeeded Saul. And David knew what went on with Saul. He watched him after he was anointed to be king. And he knew what was said. Samuel was still alive at that time. And I'm sure Samuel told David this is what Saul did. He took it upon himself, he took the liberty of playing with God's command and saying, "I've got to do it." He thought there was nothing else. And as you read through David's writings and what he said, one of the things you read in the Psalms many, many times is David said to all of us, "Wait. Wait for God." Right? Sometimes it's not exactly when we want God to answer, but we wait for God. Saul didn't wait for God. David learned a lesson. David waits for God. You and I will learn to wait for God. He is there when we follow Him, when we're baptized when we have His Holy Spirit in us. But David learns something else about Saul. And in Psalm 19, he makes a request of God, a very interesting request, if you will. I'm going to read, I'm going to begin Psalm 19:7. It's a beautiful psalm. David is talking about how the heavens declare God's glory. Beginning of verse 7, he recounts what God's way is.

Psalm 119:7-12 “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” When you live it and when you apply it. “The testimony of the Eternal is sure, making wise the simple.” If He says it, it will happen. “The statutes of the Lord are right. Rejoicing the heart.” If you live by God's way, you will have joy. It's one of the fruits, the second listed fruit of the Holy Spirit. “The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.” You get it. You understand what life is about. You understand where God is leading us. You appreciate the calling that He's given us, and you commit more to what He wants us to become. “The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold. Yea, than much fine gold. Sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them, your servant is warned.” Your servant is warned. Follow him. Look what you're doing. “Moreover, by them, your servant is warned. And in keeping them, there is great rewards. Who can understand his errors? And David says, ‘Cleanse me from secret faults, keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins.’”

Don't let me do something like Uzziah did. Uzziah came later than David. “Don't let me fall prey to the same thing that Saul did.” Uzziah was presumptuous. He thought, “I want to do it.” He knew what God's command was and he did it anyway. Even when he was warned, he decided he would go against God and do things his way. Saul didn't wait. And God saw in his heart, he's going to try to take matters into his own hands. And as David watched Saul the rest of the time, he saw him do it again and again. When God said, “Fight the Amalekites and slay every single one of them.” Pretty clear what God's command was. Kill them all. But what did Saul do? He kept the King of the Amalekites alive. He let a few others go and then those Amalekites had been a plague to the people of God and the physical people of Israel from then on.

It's like, “Okay, I'll do most of what you say, but, you know, my physical reason? Yeah. I'll keep the King alive because I want someone to show mercy to me someday.” He didn't obey God fully, and he made some decisions along the way. And as you saw his life go, he departed further and further from God to the point where then he was consulting the witch of Endor. How do you come from where Saul was in 1 Samuel 10 to consulting the witch of Endor? He made choices and decisions that plagued him. He made decisions that weren't good at all. And God had some swift things to say about all of that.

David, as he studied the Scriptures, he saw some things there as well that he would look at. If we go back to, further back in the Old Testament, let's go back to Exodus. Do I want Exodus? I thought I wanted Exodus, but let's go to Deuteronomy 17. While you're turning to there, let me give you a definition of presumptuous in case it isn't clear in someone's mind. It says presumptuous means of a person or of their behavior failing to observe the limits of what is permitted or appropriate. They take liberties and authority they haven't been given. They disregard the exact orders of God.

We might say, they bend the rules. Isn't this achieving the same thing? Can't just do it my way? I don't care what my boss said. If you work in a place that is someplace else, you might think, it's kind of irritating when someone just kind of does things they don't have the authority to do and they just take it upon themselves to do it. Doesn't play well in the marketplace, doesn't play well in the workplace, certainly, doesn't play well with God. He gives us complete orders and He is the boss. If we go back to Deuteronomy 17, we see this word presumptuous show up again. Deuteronomy 17, I'm not there yet, but let's look at verse 8.

Deuteronomy 17:8-12 Says, “If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, between one punishment, matters of controversy within your gates, you shall rise and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. Come to the priests, the Levites, to the judge who is there in those days and inquire of them, and they will pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment.” And verse 10, God says when you do that, this is what you do. “You shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in the place which the Lord chooses. Be careful to do according to all that they order you.” And then he says, again, he repeats it, “Whatever you're told, do it. The man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God or the Judge, that man shall die. So, ye shall put away the evil from Israel.”

If he just doesn't do what someone says, God says, “Put the evil away from Israel. Don't let that attitude continue.” God is very exact with us. This is the way to do this. He gives us His law, He gives us the examples. He says exactly what He wants us to do. Over and over in Deuteronomy and other places in the Bible, there are the words, like you read here, carefully do what God said. Know what He said. Diligently, apply it into your life. Earnestly obey it. Know what God said and live it His way. It is the way of life that will be in the kingdom. The way of life that you and I are to be practicing in our lives right now. That takes complete submission to Him. We don't get there. None of us are there right now. We have to be growing in that way, though, as God wants us to do His will.

Deuteronomy 17:13 He says, “And all the people shall hear and fear and no longer act presumptuously.”

Let's go to Leviticus back a few more chapters, Leviticus 10. And there we see another example of a couple of young men who acted presumptuously. You'll remember the story. Aaron was the high priest. He had a couple of sons. They were to serve in the temple. God made pretty distinct and clear commands of what is to happen in that temple. And one of them was the fire that they would used to burn the incense. You can read about that as you move into chapter 10. But let's look at 10:1.

Leviticus 10:1 It says, “Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censor and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them.”

He was clear this is the fire to use. But Nadab and Abihu, who heard those commands, thought, well, isn't this fire good enough? Fire is fire, right? They didn't pay attention to what God had said. And so when they did that, God's judgment was swift.

Leviticus 10:2 “Fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.”

That's pretty swift retribution. When they presumptuously did what they thought was okay, just bending the law just a little, isn't fire fire? Does it really make any difference whether we light this offering with this fire rather than that fire that God said to have lit forever and ever, burning in the Tabernacle? It would seem right if we're physical people, what difference does it make? But here, it sure made a difference to God, because He's the one who set the standard. He's the one who told them what to do.

Leviticus 10:3 “And Moses said to Aaron ‘This is what the Lord spoke, saying, by those who come near me, I must be regarded as holy.’”

Well, God is saying Nadab and Abihu, they didn't treat me as a holy person. They weren't paying attention to what I said. I was just like, You know, oh, He said it. We'll do something else. If I say it, it's holy. Before all the people, I must be glorified, God said. So, we read this word, holy, that maybe we overuse and the world overuses today. But we read about holy and a few times in the Bible, God does talk about holy. When Moses came before Him at the burning bush, what did God say? “Take your shoes off, Moses. You are standing on holy ground.” What he's saying is, “You don't walk in those shoes on my holy ground, this is my place.”

Now, a few months back, I gave a sermon on holy ground. It might be worth listening to that and understanding when God says holy, what He means when He says holy, and what we are to do with that. If it comes from God's mouth, we do it. And, of course, among the many holy things that He does is have holy days, holy convocations, things like that, that He says, that He expects us to abide by, He is God, after all. He does have the authority over you and me and everyone in the world. “Before all the people, I must be glorified.”

Now, later on, you go into the chapter. You know, God, through Moses, told Aaron, “Don't you weep over those boys. I don't want any mourning over them.” That seems weird, too, doesn't it, from a human standpoint? “Don't you cry over those boys. What they did was wrong. They defied God. They were presumptuous before Him. They took matters into his own hands.” And you know what? Aaron and his family listened and did exactly what God said. Why wouldn't they? They had just seen what it meant to obey God in exactly the way God said to do it. The same requirements or the same, well, I'm going to put it this way, the same commitment that we made to God when we were baptized. We'll do it Your way. Not our life anymore, not our way anymore. Not our ways, not our ideas. Your way, Your way, Your mind following You implicitly.

We'll bring it home maybe a little closer to us today, because we think, well, we don't have holy fire. That was an Old Testament thing. We can find another example of presumptuous behavior in Numbers 15. And we'll begin it in verse 27. Because God shows in this series of verses the difference between unintentional sin, and presumptuous sin, and why unintentional sin can be repented of and forgiven. But presumptuous sin, when it's really, really presumptuous, God makes a pretty quick decision. It appears, and I will underline, it appears from the examples that we have in the Bible.

Numbers 15:27-28 “If a person sins unintentionally, he shall bring a female goat in his first year as a sin offering. So, the priest shall make atonement for the person who sins unintentionally when he sins unintentionally before the Lord to make atonement for him and it shall be forgiven him."

So, you and I, we're the victims of unintentional sin. Before we know what we've done something, then we think, “Oh wow, what did I do?” We repent. We go before God, He forgives us. It's something that we may be tempted that we don't think enough and we just kind of do what something comes automatically or we may not even know it's a sin until later. That's why it says in Acts 17, “The times of our ignorance, the times when we aren't aware of those things, God winks at…” The way it says it in the Old King James, “But now commands everyone, men everywhere, to repent. When we learn it's wrong, we repent and we turn to Him.” We don't just keep doing it. When we learn, we turn to God. It's the same thing that you and I did when we came into the Church. Oh, it's not right to do things that way. Oh, it's not right to keep that day. Oh, it's not right to keep that holiday that's different and not in the Bible. And so we don't do it anymore. We repent and we turn to God. Now, we continue to sin, but we learn through that time. We should get stronger and stronger with that, but we get caught. But God is over and over, He talks about unintentional sins and they will be forgiven. We repent of them.

Numbers 15:29 He says, there's one law for the native Israelites and also for the stranger who dwells among you, right? “You shall have one law for him who sins unintentionally, for him who is native-born among the children of Israel and for the stranger who dwells among them.”

Not a different set of laws for people who are not Israelites or different Christians that call themselves Christians, but don't really understand, yet, the calling of God. They don't know yet. When their time comes, they will be expected to repent and turn to God, the Christianity of the world I'm talking about. But there is one law that everyone will live by, you and me and everyone that God calls and the kingdom of God will live by that law.

Numbers 15:30-31 “But the person who does anything presumptuously…” Now, we have the distinction. “But the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the Lord and he will be cut off from among his people.” Why? “Because he has despised the Word of the Lord.”

You can believe the way God puts that. That's what God looks like. That's what God looks at it like. We despise His law when we take it upon ourselves to take a clear command and decide, “It can't be that important. Fire is fire, right? Fire is fire. Does God really care that much that I do it exactly the way He says?” I think the Bible shows He cares that we learn to do things and grow to do things exactly the way He says.

Numbers 15:31 “Because he's despised the Word of the Lord, he's broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off. His guilt shall be upon him.”

So, we have this presumptuous sin. David, as he watched what went on with Saul, no wonder he prayed, “Keep your servant from presumptuous sin. Don't let me walk down that path. Warn me.” Right? David says, Psalm 139, “Search my heart, see if there's any fault within me. I don't ever want do what Saul did. I don't ever want to do what Uzziah said. I always want to yield to you. I will make mistakes, but I want to come before you and repent and not have my mind set about doing things my own way.” Because it is our own way, if we do things just a little different than justify in our minds, that that's okay, that that's okay.

You know, one of the things, I guess, as you watch TV and you hear people talk or hear people talk or you talk with people at your work or in the neighborhood, and something comes up and they'll make a comment, “I'm a good person. I'm a good person.” And I find myself thinking, “Boy, that just seems to be. See, I'm a good person. I may have done that. I might have messed this up, but I'm a good person.” And the more I hear that, the more I get that, I think, is that an excuse? Is that an excuse just for, I'm a good person, therefore I don't have to live exactly the way God said? I mean, if we're good people, even Jesus Christ, when He was called good, said, “Don't call me good. There's only one who's good.” None of us are good by the definition of that. Might want to think about that, if that's something that, I'm a good person. You we're all supposed to be growing to be good persons like God did, but sometimes those words can cover something a little deeper.

Well, it's here interesting in Numbers 15 as God draws this distinction between unintentional sin and presumptuous sin. That He gives this example of a man who was doing something that God had commanded against on the Sabbath day. On the Sabbath day, the same Sabbath day that we have today, the same command that we keep.

Numbers 15:32 It says, “Now, while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day.”

He knew better. God had said, “How do you keep the Sabbath day? No servile work, no work of any kind. Prepare ahead of time for it, so you don't have to do this work.” And I'll just speculate, and this is 100% pure speculation. This man is just a common man, just like you and me. And I see, maybe, well, I didn't gather sticks so, how hard is that? Come on, I can walk out in my backyard and pick up sticks. It's absolutely no effort at all. So, maybe in his mind, he thought, "I can do this. It's a little different than what God said, but what's the harm? I'm not going to go down and chop down a tree. I'm not going to go out and do anything with that. I'm just going to pick up a few sticks so that we have some fire going on." God didn't respond very well or very favorably to that man, who thought, "What's the difference? How important can that be? It's just a few sticks."

Numbers 15:33-34 It says, “Those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, to all the congregation, and they put him under guard because it hadn't been explained what should be done to him.”

“What do we do with this, God? What happens now? This man is violating what you had said. He's violating the spirit of the law. He's taken it upon himself to decide, this is okay. I've judged myself okay to go out and do this.”

Numbers 15:35 “And God said to Moses, ‘This man must surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.’”

Isn't that a tough sentence? If God exacted that sentence on me every time I did something on the Sabbath because I won't pretend that I keep it perfectly, trying, learning, I'd be long gone. Maybe some of you would be long gone, too, when we take liberties with the Sabbath and what's okay on it. If the same judgment was on us that happened back then, what would God do? Same law, same God, same expectations of people who say they are His people and who through their lives, are to be glorifying God in all they do. Yet, God said and judged this man. He was presumptuous. He has to lose his life.

It might make us think of Proverbs 14:12. There is a way that seems right to a man, but what does it say? But the end thereof is the way of death. There's a way that seems right. We can rationalize in our mind, it's okay, God gets it. He understands. Oh, He understands. We need to understand more about what our actions tell God. When He says that we despise or He makes this comment that someone despises the Word of the Lord. I mean, would we ever see ourselves saying, “Well, we must despise God's Word because we decided it's okay not to do that, that we can go outside the bounds of what our authority is.”

Jesus Christ is the perfect example. Jesus Christ said, “He's a man under authority.” Here, He was the Son of God. He lived the perfect life. And yet, back in Matthew 8, when the Roman centurion came to Him and he seemed to understand that Jesus Christ was not healing these people by His own power. There was another power that was allowing those people to be healed. Remember what He said? The Roman centurion said, “I'm also a man under authority.”

Because he realized, you're not doing this on your own authority. You're doing it on the authority of someone else, that someone else being God the Father. And Jesus Christ made statements like He did in John 5. He said, “The words I speak, they're not my words, they're the Father's words. He gives me the word to speak, and I do it. I'm under His authority. I'm here to do what He said.” He said the works that I do, they're not my works. They're the works that the Father gives me. He does the works. I'm under His authority. I came here to serve mankind. I came here to learn to do what God said and do it His way. And every single one of us is under authority. Every single one of us is under authority, God's authority. Every single one of us.

Jesus Christ Himself was under authority. And He felt that responsibility. And you and I need to realize and respect that authority that God puts us under. And it's not just, as some would say, “I'm just living for God.” He put us in a body that we would grow, that we would do the things that He wants us to do, and we do them, or we're growing, growing in the way that we should do them. Ever more becoming like God, ever more to the fullness of the stature of Jesus Christ, who set the standard for us, living by every Word of God, paying attention to every Word of God, and holding ourselves responsible to grow, living in that way.

Now, you might say, now that's all Old Testament things, maybe God is a little bit more lenient in New Testament times. Let's just look at a few chapters in the New Testament. Let's go to Romans 12. Because at the heart of presumptuousness is pride. The only reason we would ever act presumptuously against God is if we thought that we were smart enough, good enough, strong enough as Uzziah thought that we could do that.

Romans 12:3 Paul says under inspiration of God, “I say, through the grace given to me to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.” Don't think of yourself more highly. Don't think I'm exempt from that, I can do it more way my way. Watch that pride that's coming up on you. “Don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but think soberly as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.”

If we go back to 2 Peter 2. We find Peter talking about a group of men who become false prophets, enemies of the Church, and anything that any of us would ever think we could become. But then, again, Uzziah never realized probably that he could do what he did at the end of his life. In 2 Peter 2, so read the first three verses here, just to set the tone.

2 Peter 2:1 Says, “There were false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you who secretly, secretly bring in destructive heresies.”

“You don't have to do it that way. You don't have to. Come on, the Church is wrong on that. That's except for sometimes else. You don't have to do it that way. These heresies don't have to be we're moving the Sabbath to another day. Come on. That's not going to happen among the Church of God.” If anyone ever said that, you would stone us all immediately and you would be absolutely right to do it. But secret little heresies, little things that are whispered behind, you don't have to do that. Think of it this way.

2 Peter 2:1-3 “Secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying the Lord who bought them and bring on themselves, swift, swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.”

It's interesting when you look at some of the Hebrew words that's presumptuous or presume and whatever. Blaspheme can be one of them. Pride, insolence, arrogance is among those. “By covetousness, they will exploit you with deceptive words.” It's okay, don't worry about it. You're still okay with God. He gets it. By covetousness, they will exploit you with deceptive words. The covetous is not your money. But maybe it's your money, right? But I want you to follow me. I kind of want to be God. I kind of wanted to dictate what the way of God is. I kind of want to set the law for you.

2 Peter 2:3 “By covetousness, they will exploit you with deceptive words. For a long time, their judgment hasn't been idle and their destruction does not slumber.”

Let's dropdown. You know this chapter well. In verse 10, breaking in the middle of sentence.

2 Peter 2:10 It says, “Especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness. And here's their traits. They despise authority.” I'm not going to listen to him. If he says it, forget it. “Despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They're not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries.”

It's like Satan. He wasn't afraid to speak evil of God. He led a whole group of angels away from God.

2 Peter 2:11 It says, “Whereas angels who are greater in power and might do not bring a vile accusation against them before the Lord.”

Well, in verse 10 there, it's interesting that the Greek word translator presumptuous there can also be translated “A daring man.” Isn't that interesting? But the daring man isn't like, “Oh, he's really brave.” He was like a David who went out to face Goliath. No. This daring man is in a negative sense. He was willing to dare God. He was willing to stand up against God and try to change the things that are there. “They are daring men, self-willed, not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries.”

I won't turn to 1 Timothy for you can write that down. Verse 3, it talks about how we can sear our consciences. If we continue doing the same thing over and over, if we feel compelled, as Saul said he did, to kind of do it, we just need to do it. “You know what, I know what God says. I just don't feel like it today. I'm going to do my own thing today.” If we force ourselves to do that, we sear our own consciences. What happens when we sear our own consciences? Well, eventually, we could become presumptuous. It could wear on us. Always yield to God, listen to Him, listen to others. And we see that these people who are presumptuous didn't. God had a swift retribution. Let's go back to Proverbs. What do we do about? What do we do? How do we guard against presumptuous sins? In Proverbs 13, we have the same word that in other places is translated presumptuous.

Proverbs 13:10 It says there, “By pride comes nothing but strife.”

Oh, that's true. By pride nothing comes but strife. When you're living by God's way, peace is there, love, joy, peace, fruits of the Spirit. But by pride comes nothing but strife. We could replace that by presumptuous behavior, by presumption comes nothing by strife. We've seen that with the examples that we've seen, it's brought heartache, it brought destruction, it brought people losing their lives physically, then spiritually now.

Proverbs 13:10 “By pride comes nothing but strife, but with the well-advised is wisdom.”

Who are the well-advised? They follow God. They listen to what God says, they study God's word, they understand they are men under authority and they stand by God's Word to preach it, teach it, live it, and be examples to other, never compromising what God said. Doing things His way. A couple of chapters back, Proverbs 11, we see the same-type thing. Verse 2, here the word is translated pride. Again, because pride comes before a fall. Pride leads to many sins, it can lead to the sin of presumption as well.

Proverbs 13:11 “When pride comes, then comes shame.”

Same word that is translated as presumption or presumptuously if it's an adverb. When presumption comes, then comes shame. Shame came upon Uzziah, shame came upon Saul, shame came upon Nadab and Abihu and others. You can read to Deuteronomy 1, even the nation of Israel when they thought after they disregarded God they would do it His way. It even says, “They were presumptuous.” It's throughout the Bible.

When presumption come or pride comes, then comes shame. What's the antidote? “But with the humble is wisdom.” Humility, it's the opposite. If we are humble before God, if we are humble as Christ is, and was humble when he lived on earth, that'll keep us from presumptuous sins, we will be in tune with God. We will in tune. His Spirit will lead us and guide us, it will direct us and keep us from those presumptuous sins. If we listen and when we understand we've done something not right, turn back to God, fully and completely repent and commit to living His way all that time.

No one was more humble on earth than Jesus Christ. He was the Son of God and He lived perfectly. The man under authority, just like every single one of us in this room are under some authority. We work with that authority, we listen to it, and as long as it is in line with the Bible of God, we do it. When it's not, we speak up and we say something, but we continue to do things God's way. But God's Church should always be preaching the truth, the clear truth. No compromise, no our way. Always God's way. Humility is the answer. I started in the book of Isaiah. Let's end in the book of Isaiah. We started in Isaiah 1, let's conclude in the last book of Isaiah.

Isaiah 66:1 “Thus says the Eternal, heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. Where's the house that you will build me? God says. And where is the place of my rest for all those things my hand has made?”

Everything we have, everything we are, everything we ever will be, if God counts us worthy to give us the gift of eternal life is because of God. Our job is to yield to Him.

Isaiah 66:2 “All these things exist because of me, God says, these things exist. But on this one will I look on him who is poor,” better translated, and should have been translated, humble, right? Number 604-1 in Strongs. “But on this one will I look on Him who is humble and of a contrite spirit and who trembles at my Word.”

Who fears it, who counts it important. And when I see something in that word that doesn't define me, wow. I change. I repent. I ask God to give me the strength to do things His way going forward, not my way. The sin of presumption, Uzziah fell prey to it. Others have fallen prey to it. And not just Old Testament people. Certainly, it happens among God's people today, too. But we should all pray the prayer that David did, “Keep me from presumptuous sin.” And the way we do that is know God's Word, live by His Word, and count every single word of it important to us.