Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to Numbers chapter 23, and reading
for our text, verse 20. Numbers 23, and verse 20. Behold, I have received commandment
to bless, and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it. Numbers 23 and verse 20, words
spoken by Balaam. Now we have just read the 23rd
and 24th chapters, and in those chapters it is told us that Balak,
the king of Moab, that he has brought Bailam with
the express purpose to curse Israel. We have that summary
in verse 7. And he took up his parable and
said, and this is in chapter 23, and said, Bailak, the king
of Moab, hath brought me from Aram out of the mountains of
the east, saying, Come, curse me, Jacob, and come, defy Israel."
So that is a summary of what he was brought to do. If we were
to read back in chapter 22, then we see how, indeed, Balak had
sent to Balaam. He'd sent twice. the elders of
his land, and God had forbidden him to curse the people, told
them that they were blessed, and yet he so wanted to go, really. And when further elders were
sent, then God said to him, well, go, but only speak that which
I give thee to speak. And it is a well-known account,
if you've read it, of Balaam with his ass, and how the Lord
met him in the way, withstood him in the way. The ass could
see the angel of the Lord, but Balaam couldn't. And Balaam was
angry with the ass, but in the end, the Lord opened even the
ass's mouth and caused him to speak to Balaam. and then opened
Balaam's eyes and he saw the angel, he saw the sword in the
angel's hand and the angel said, if the house hadn't turned out
of the way, then Balaam would have been slain. And so then
he was told to go and yet to speak just the words that God
gave him to speak. I remember when I was a child
and reading this account and questioning my mother on Balaam,
I couldn't see on the account why he was wrong. I thought, well, he did go and
he did do what he was told. He did speak what was right.
But when you Compare the accounts and really read what he actually
says. You read that he wants to die
the death of the righteous. His last end, he wants to be
like his. He didn't want to live the life
of the 1522, that he died fighting against the children of Israel. We read in Peter's epistles of
the era of Balaam, the son of Beesaw, who loved the wages of
unrighteousness. And we are not left in any doubt
that this man, he was a soothsayer. He used those ability to bless
or to curse and to obtain money. He's well known for that, and
that's why the king of Moab fearful with the children of Israel coming
to his borders just before they went to cross Jordan and into
the promised land. He was fearful of them and thought
that this was the way that he could overcome them. Even a heathen
king, an ungodly king, realizing that if a people were blessed,
then they were blessed. If they were cursed, then they
would not prosper in their war and all that they were doing
at all. And so he wanted them cursed
and he was determined to have the people of the Lord cursed. And so we have quite a number
of chapters, a part of the scriptures devoted to this account. You must remember this is the
children of Israel. This is God's people. In the
Old Testament, we have many types and many shadows. We have a people
that, as Balaam says, were brought out by the Lord out of Egypt. And they were a blessed people,
a typical people of the people of God in all ages that the Lord
has separated unto himself. So when we look at this account,
we don't want to just see Israel of old. We want to see all of
God's blood-bought people. We want to see how they all are
blessed, and how they shall be blessed, they must be blessed.
We want to see the Lord Jesus Christ and the source of blessing. We want also to Think of the
solemn character of Balaam, who could say and be the one that
brings the blessing, speaks the blessing, and yet was not a partaker
himself. It is a solemn thought to every
one of us that stand in the name of the Lord. It is one thing
to speak the wonderful things of God and even to the blessing
of the people of God. It's another thing to be a partaker
ourselves. Balaam could not speak what he
was speaking from personal experience. He could not speak what he was
speaking from a free will, desire and longing to proclaim the name
of the Lord and to bless the people of God. He had not the
mark that he had passed from death unto life because he loved
the brethren, loved the people of God. No, how very different
was he than Ruth, who was a Moab, who was brought to love Naomi,
love the people of God, and desire to be where they were. And so, Balaam, we have a most
solemn character, most solemn warning, that we are not just
to speak the right words, but we are actually to be a possessor
of the blessings and a recipient of the blessings of God. So,
I want to look at the three aspects that are set before us in our
text. Firstly, we have a commandment
to bless. Our text says, Behold, I have
received commandment to bless. Secondly, a blessing received,
the words, and he hath blessed. And then thirdly, a blessing
irreversible, and I cannot reverse it. firstly then a commandment to
bless. If you were to go back to chapter
22, we read that there was three
times that the Lord emphasised to Balaam what he was to say. He received the commandment,
might say three times. In chapter 22 and verse 12, Balaam
had gone to the Lord and the Lord had said to him, who are
these people? What are these men with thee?
Those messengers that were from Balak. And so Balaam says unto
God, Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, hath sent unto
me, saying, Behold, there is a people come out of Egypt, which
covereth the face of the earth. Come now, curse me then, for
eventually I shall be able to overcome them and drive them
out. So then God gives Balaam the first commandment to bless. And God said unto Balaam, Thou
shalt not go with them, thou shalt not curse the people, for
they are blessed." In this he is stating that they are blessed
and Balaam should not go. Then we have in verse 20 when
even more are sent to him, more honourable princes than the ones
that were before. God came, verse 20, God came
unto Balaam at night and said unto him, If the men come to
call thee, rise up and go with them. But yet the word which
I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do. And so that's when Balaam
does go. The Lord withstands him. And then in verse 35, Well, verse
34, Balaam says that he had sinned. I knew not that thou stoodest
in the way against me. Now, therefore, if it displeased
thee, I will get me back again. But then we have in 35 the commandment
again. And the angel of the Lord said
unto Balaam, go with the men, but only the word that I shall
speak unto them, thee, that shalt thou speak. So Balaam went. with the princes of Balak. How blessed these people were! The Lord had blessed them, not
for any good in them, we are told elsewhere. They were a rebellious
people. They were people the Lord chastened
many times. But the Lord pronounced them
blessed. And here He wouldn't suffer them
to be cursed at all, but gave a very specific command that
the word spoken was to be a word of blessing. And later on we
see there were many words that were spoken by Balaam, and we
say each of those words that they were words of blessing. But it is this commandment, it
is this commandment going forth that even Balaam with all his
desire to curse and all the king of Moab could change it. The certainty of that blessing
and the Lord taking the part of his people to make sure that
they received that blessing even if it was by the hand of the
ungodly, by the hand of one that would wish them on his own evil,
the Lord would make him to bring forth the blessing. And what a parallel do we have
right through the scriptures. Right from the very start we
have the enmity and hatred against the people of God, Cain, Abel. But never did they, never could
they extinguish that promise that the seed of the woman should
bruise the serpent's head. I may remember that every blessing
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. That commandment to bless for
the Church of God is a commandment that brings forth our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ. Here am I, send me. Thine they
were, thou gavest them me. My Father gave me a commandment,
what I should say, what I should speak, I have power to lay down
my life, I have power to take it again. This commandment have
I received from my Father. That command is going forth from
of old and it is to bless a people that are chosen in Christ from
the foundation of the world. A commandment that is still carried
on and will be carried on for all of the people of God. In Numbers chapter 6 and at the
end of that chapter, we have a word and we'd add the introductory
words to that blessing. We read from verse 22, the Lord
spake unto Moses saying, speak unto Aaron and unto his sons,
saying on this wise, ye shall bless the children of Israel,
saying unto them, the Lord bless thee and keep thee, the Lord
make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee, the
Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. They shall put my name upon the
children of Israel, and I will bless them. You see, it's the
Lord's name, and the certainty of that blessing, it is a commanded
blessing, even life forevermore for the people of God. I hope it may be a real encouragement
and real strength to us to think of this in gospel terms, of what
the Lord has determined to do through His beloved Son. As part
of that commandment to bless, there must be that provision
for the debt to be paid, for there to be a foundation of blessing. Because by nature, you and I,
we cannot be blessed. We must be, we are under the
curse. Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do
them. The curse was pronounced upon Adam and yet we have the
word cursed is everyone that hangeth upon a tree. Our Lord
Jesus Christ was made a curse for us he who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. And that preparation,
that provision for blessing, the commandment to bless, must
also have that which underlies it. And it underlied it here
as well, and we look at that when we come to the blessing
received. But in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ there is
a settling of the debt fast, there is a taking away the curse. In that commandment to bless
is inseparably the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,
the bringing forth of the Just One, He that was made like unto
His brethren, but sin accepted. in the gospel is a commandment
of blessing. Go ye into all the world, preach
the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptised
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. It is the good news of the gospel. It is a blessing inseparable
from the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And that commandment
the Lord sends forth. Men do not send themselves to
preach. The word is not their own. That
is very evident here. The Lord pronounced the people
blessed at the first, and then told Balaam exactly what to speak
and how to bless them, same as we had in number six. But in
the ministry, we are commanded to preach the word, not our own
thoughts, but the word, the word of the gospel, the gospel of
our Lord and saviour, Jesus Christ, the good news of salvation through
Jesus the lamb, the debt paid by him and life given by him. And that commandment, we have
each one to preach the word and to set forth the gospel in all
its fullness and all its freeness. By grace you are saved through
faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. So this commandment, the Lord
sends it and will send it forth and will follow it upon his servants
right to the end of time. May you be able to look this
morning above a preacher, beyond even the present day, and to
look back and see that commandment to bless that the Lord has given
to every blood-borne soul, and that that pronounced blessing
be upon those especially, that by his grace they have been made
the characters that he came to bless. You might say this with
the children of Israel, what marked them out, they were those
that God had brought out of Egypt. God had separated them unto himself. God had brought them in the beautiful
type of the Passover. He had brought them out. And
this was the people that was to be blessed. come ye out from
among them, touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you,
and ye shall be my sons and my daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Those that are brought afield
to hunger and thirst after righteousness, how every one that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. It is to those that feel their
burden, and feel the burden of sin, the weariness of it, Come
unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, I'll give you
rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. For I make a lowly heart, ye
shall find rest unto your souls. And it is that blessing upon
a people that have been brought to know and feel their lost and
ruined state. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people,
saith my God. a commandment to bless, a commandment
to bless a people that the Lord has given eternal life to pass
by and bid them live. What they see first is their
sinnership. What they see first is their
debt. They see first that they are
indeed under the curse by nature that the Lord has commanded to
bless. such as are sinners in their
own sight and are bowed down before the Lord. So here we have a type, a type
of the certainty of the blessing of the people of God, the Lord
bringing it about, that none can hinder it, None can stay
it, none can hold it back. The Lord will bring that blessing.
And the Lord brings the word. You can't say this is Balaam's
word. No, this is the Lord's word.
And it comes pure from the Lord. Everyone shall receive of my
words. The blessing of the Lord, it
maketh rich and addeth no sorrow within. So we have then first a commandment
to bless, but then secondly a blessing that is received. In the chapters that we read,
we read of how that blessing was received. Not just once,
but three times. Not just one altar, but seven
altars. Seven oxen, seven rams. All the time, each time a blessing. We have this perfect, a perfect
offering. All of the offerings in the Old
Testament the shedding of blood, without the shedding of blood
there is no remission. They all point to the Lord Jesus
Christ. But I believe here is even more
than that, because what is ordered in the blessing of the people
of God is Father, Son and Holy Ghost, is a threefold blessing. And we have here three times,
Israel was blessed from three different perspectives, and the
people of God are blessed in the Father, and in the Son, and
in the Holy Ghost. Those that are baptised, are
baptised in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost. The blessing that's pronounced
upon the churches and the end of Epistles, Corinthians, and
that which we close our services with, the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the love of God, the communion of the Holy Spirit,
the blessing is of a triune God. The Father sent the Son, the
Son obeyed, and the Holy Spirit bears that witness. He is the
author of the Word of God and of the quickening operation in
the soul And so we have the first blessing that was then prepared
and given, and we have that in the first verse of chapter 23. And the first altars were prepared,
and the sacrifice offered, and then Balaam goes to meet God,
and God gives him the word to speak, and he speaks, he takes
up his parable, and we read that blessing from verse 7 through
to verse 10. He took up his parable and said,
Bolek the king of Moab, hath brought me from Aram out of the
mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me, Jacob, and come
defy Israel. How shall I curse whom God hath
not cursed? Or how shall I defy whom the
Lord hath not defied? For from the top of the rocks
I see him, from the hills I behold him. Lo, the people shall dwell
alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. Who can count
the dust of Jacob? and the number of the fourth
part of Israel. Let me die the death of the righteous,
let my last end be like his. And here we see a blessing, a
blessing that separates the people of God. I wonder how many times
we really count that a blessing, as we separated unto the Lord. Joseph, he was that one who was
separate from his brethren, and many a time, We find it certainly
thus far in my own family with my siblings. One is called, I
am called, but the other three is yet not. And many times the
Lord separates his people unto himself, and that is a blessing,
though it may be a hard trial, a lonely path for the people
of God. Yet it is blessing unto the Lord. I will receive you. You shall
be my sons and my daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. And
the blessing, it points to the end, the death of the righteous. Why did Balaam want that? Really,
the blessing, it pointed to that last end of the people of God,
that that end is a triumph. It is a victory. And when we
think of those beautiful words at the end of 1 Corinthians 15,
thanks be unto God which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. O death, where is thy victory? O grave, where is thy sting? Where is grave, where is thy
victory? It is through the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that blessing, the empty
tomb, the risen saviour, and we find that pointed to in this
first blessing. And then we have another set
of altars that are made and another blessing from verse 18 through
to 24. He takes up his parable and part
of the blessing here is referring to that which is irreversible
God is not a man that he should lie, neither the Son a man that
he should repent. Hath he said, and shall he not
do it? Or hath he spoken, shall he not
make it good? Then those beautiful words after
our text. He had not beheld iniquity in
Jacob. What sinful Jacob! You and I,
in all our sins, the Lord not beholding it? I blotted out as
a thick cloud thy transgressions. When they see the blood I will
pass over you. The righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the blood putting away sin, the righteousness clothing. The Lord is God is with him. I am with thee. The Lord's precious
promise and the shout of a king is among them. The Lord is pointed
to here. God brought them out of Egypt. That is what He's already done
for them. And nothing, nothing against
that people. No, the blessing that Balaam
was called to pronounce upon the children of Israel and the
blessing that is upon the people of God. We have in verse 24,
or sorry, chapter 24, verse 2, the final blessing that is given
here. Balaam lifted up his eyes, this
time he sees the Lord must bless and he doesn't go to the Lord
again. He saw Israel abiding in his
tents, takes up his parable, and he says this, how goodly
are thy tents, O Jacob, And thy tabernacles, O Israel, as the
valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the riverside,
as the trees of lying aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as
seed of trees beside the waters. He shall pour the water out of
his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king
shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. the blessing that was blessed
upon Israel, the blessing that is upon the Israel of God, the
people of God, through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The children of Israel here were
blessed. They were blessed in word. They
were then also blessed in what they did. Because Balaam and
Balak here, the reason why they wanted the curse was that Israel
would be overcome by them. They would triumph over them.
But with the blessing, we find Israel triumphed over Moab and
over Balaam. And then we're given Jericho
and given the promised land The blessing that was in word followed
also in their life and in the Lord fulfilling the promises
that he'd made to them. Those blessings could be seen. The blessing of the Lord, it
maketh rich and addeth no sorrow within. I wonder how many of
us can count those blessings the Lord has blessed us with,
the words that he's spoken to us, the hope that he's raised
up. You think of how it was with
Hannah. Hannah in the first chapter, the first of Samuel, she had
no child. And as she comes up to the temple
and she pours out her heart to the Lord, Eli thee, priest, he
mistakes her for someone drunken. And she says, no, I'm a woman
of a sorrowful spirit. I poured out my heart unto the
Lord. And he said to her, and really
he blessed her, he said, the Lord give thee thy petition.
Lord grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him.
That was the word of the blessing. And you know, she went away no
more sad. She had the word of blessing.
And this morning, you might have the word of blessing. You might
look back to former years and the Lord has given you the word
of blessing. But Hannah, she walked it out.
She still had to conceive. She still had to carry. She still
had to bring forth and had to be a man-child. But the Lord
fulfilled it all. It all flowed out from that blessing. He brought it to pass. We might
have a blessing of a word, of expectation of healing, and the
Lord heals. An expectation of the Lord brings
something to pass, and it does come to pass in the Lord's time
and way. And it shall be said, as it is
written here, what hath God wrought, in verse 23, It shall be said
of Jacob and of Israel, what hath God wrought? Can we look
on our lives? Can we look upon the blessings
we've had and the works the Lord has done and say, what hath God
wrought? This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.
He's given us, like Israel here, a blessing first, and then followed
that up in our lives. and wrought for us and done for
us far above all that we could have asked or thought. It is a blessing received and
we must say everyone that is called by grace, everyone brought
to repentance, everyone brought to know the Lord Jesus Christ,
everyone brought to trust in Him, to lean upon Him, and brought
to that felt interest in His precious blood. It is a blessing,
a blessing received. It is the Lord that separates
His people, brings them out, brings them to Himself, makes
them to be what they are. That's why Paul could say so
clearly, what I am, I am by the grace of God. You look upon me,
Paul would say, you see me as I am now. What I am is by God's
grace. If I didn't have God's grace,
I would still be Saul of Tarsus persecuting the people of God. And we might look upon what we
would be if the Lord hadn't blessed us, if the Lord hadn't appeared
for us as well. A blessing received, can we deny
it? Dare we deny that we have received
a blessing? Children of Israel had a blessing
received here. Nature has followed up in works.
I want to know just one last thing, and that is a blessing
irreversible. Because Balaam, he says, and
I cannot reverse it. I cannot reverse it. What a solemn
thing that he thought. Perhaps that he would want to
reverse it. When we think of Jonah, the Lord
used him to send a blessing to the Ninevites and brought them
to repentance. But that was a Gentile nation.
Jonah was not happy, he was very angry. Jonah sat over looking
at the city expecting the Lord would reverse that blessing.
and would destroy the city as he said he would. But the Lord
would not. He would not hearken to Jonah.
He would not take that away. Every blessing that the Lord
gives to his dear people, those blood-borne blessings, the Lord
will never reverse it. Dear sister in faith, years ago
in Australia, she was greatly tempted that the Lord had taken
away the blessing that he'd given her. And she laboured under that for
some little while. But then they came into her room,
she was in a nursing home, a new nurse. As she was hanging things
up in the wardrobe, she turned to Alice and she said to her,
she said, hello, she said, my name is Mary. And immediately
the Lord spoke to her, spoke to Alice, the words, Mary has
chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from
her. And it broke the snare. It was
such a blessing to her, had profound effect upon her too, in a physical
way. And she told everyone in that
home, and she could walk without her sticks for some time, It's
a remarkable thing. Told the doctors, the other patients
and everyone in the home. They could see the wonderful
difference in her. But it's that, that the Lord
does not take away. I give unto them, not just life,
but eternal life. And eternal life doesn't finish.
It begins when it is given. And it is eternal. is not reversible,
it cannot be reversed, it's purchased. He which hath begun a good work
in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. You think again with the children
of Israel, as a nation. Yes, there were many that fell
in the wilderness, but as a nation, the Lord had promised Abraham
that his seed would inherit that land, and they did. In spite
of all their provocations, in spite of all their enemies, in
spite of all what they did, the Lord's blessing was sure. And
the Lord's blessing is sure for his people. They shall endure
unto the end. The Lord speaks in John 10 of
the security of his people, that they are in his hand and no man
is able to pluck them out of mine hand. My Father which gave
them me is greater than I, and no man is able to pluck them
out of my Father's hand. Balaam, he says, I cannot reverse
it. No, not Balaam, not Balak, none
can reverse that blessing that the Lord has blessed his people
with. The Lord's people may sin like
David did, And the Lord will chastise them like he did David,
but he won't take away his mercy. They can fall like Solomon did,
but the Lord said that he would not take away that spirit from
him like he did with Saul. Why? Saul, the first king of
Israel, was never one of the Lord's people. He was another
one. Solemn character like Balaam.
You could speak many right things, the same as Joab could, but we're
never the people of God. The difference is, where the
Lord truly blesses, it will make the Lord precious. It will make
that person love the Lord and love his people and love his
ways. They'll have an old nature, but
that old nature won't destroy them. It can't destroy them,
and it won't make the Lord reverse what He's done for them, because
in that covenant is not only the shedding of precious blood,
but it's all that is needed to bring that soul through time
and to glory at last, to bring them to be with Him. That blessing
is not a half blessing, it's a full blessing. It doesn't just
bring to the birth and then just leave. It doesn't make one born
again, but doesn't give them grace and help through the journey.
No, it shall bring them, as the Lord prayed, Father, I will,
that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory, chosen in Him from the foundation of
the world. You can't take that people blessed
and given them, and then somewhere in time, that that blessing is
taken away, know they must be with the Lord. May this be a
comfort, a help, a strength to us, who know the Lord, have been
favoured with the blessing of the Lord in word and in deed,
and that he has wrought that love to him in our hearts and
to his dear people, that that blessing is irreversible, May
the Lord then bless us through this word this morning. Behold,
I have received commandment to bless, and he hath blessed, and
I cannot reverse it. Amen.