You can be turning to Numbers
chapter six, book of Numbers chapter six. I've said this before and I say
it again, this church has been such a blessing to me over the
year. You've known many and I've known
many of you, many of you in here 40 plus years. That's a long
time. you've been a blessing to me
these men that come to worship with us on Wednesday night sometimes
it's such a blessing you come all that way just to worship
with us i hope you're blessed when you get there well we've
come the same distance and i hope i'll be a blessing to you tonight
i hope the word will be a blessing numbers chapter six tells us
tells me how people are blessed, how I can be a blessing to you. Tells me exactly what to say
for you to be blessed. This is wonderful. The first
time I preached from this, the text was given to me. I've
read it before, You know how you send somebody a card and
you often put a scripture verse at the end of it? Well, a dear
sister in our church, Tammy Fannin, some of you know her, she sent
me a card 15 or 20 years ago, and the end of the card had numbers
six, 22 through 27. And I read that, and I think
I preached from it the very next Sunday. It was such a blessing
to me. Read it with me. Number six,
22 through 27. 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. And the Lord continues, and they
shall put my name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them. So he tells Moses and these men
what to say to bless the people. So I know exactly how to be a
blessing to you. I m just going to repeat what
God said. The blessed Lord, the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, the living and true God, spake to Moses and all his elect
through Moses, didn t it? His people, Israel. He spake
to Moses, he speaks to all his children. Christ said, my sheep,
hear my voice. For whom he did foreknow, he
did predestinate. Whom he did predestinate, he
called. How does he call? How does God
speak to him? Through his word, through the
preaching of the word. The greatest of all blessing
is to be known of God. Our Lord said of Israel, you
of all people have I known. foreknown love, forelove. And so he spoke to them through
a man, Moses, Aaron, the man, to be known of God and to know
God, the greatest blessing, it's salvation to know God. THIS IS
LIFE ETERNAL, CHRIST SAID, THAT THEY MIGHT KNOW THEE, THE ONLY
TRUE GOD, AND JESUS CHRIST WHOM HE HATH SENT, WHO HE IS, WHY
HE CAME, WHAT HE DID, WHERE HE IS NOW, WHO HE DID IT FOR. THAT'S
A BLESSING IN IT. YOU'RE BLESSED OF GOD IF YOU
KNOW THE LIVING AND TRUE GOD AND HIS CHRIST WHO CAME. THE
LORD SPAKE TO MOSES. THAT'S SIX POINTS. Six points.
The blessed, it's just six verses, and I shouldn't be too long.
I shouldn't be. But we're gonna look at the blessed
Lord, the blessed word of the Lord, the blessed word made flesh,
the blessed preachers of the word, the blessed people of God,
and the blessed gospel of God. Okay? That sound like a blessing
to you? The blessed Lord, blessed be
His name, the blessed Lord, blessed be His name, that's what we just
sang. Bless the Lord, O my soul, in all that's within me, bless
His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not all His benefit. He goes on to say, not all of
them, but many of them, the greatest blessings of the Lord. And the
first is, who forgiveth all thine iniquity. What a blessing, if
you know this Lord. If you know Him, blessed be the
Lord. THE LORD SPOKE TO HIS PEOPLE THROUGH MOSES. THE BLESSED LORD
AND THE BLESSED WORD OF THE LORD. BLESS GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS
FLOW. That's the doxology. BLESS GOD
FOR THE GREATEST BLESSING. HIS WORD. WHAT YOU HAVE BEFORE
YOU. WHAT WE JUST READ IS A BLESSING
OF ALL BLESSED IN IT. DO YOU CONSIDER THE WORD OF GOD
TO BE THE GREATEST BLESSING TO YOU? HUH? DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT
TOOK FOR US TO HAVE THIS WORD? My, my, God has maintained and
preserved His Word through every generation for His people. Though
men have tried to destroy it many times, like that story of
Jeremiah writing what the Lord told him to write, and the king
Jehoiakim didn't like it. And every time the man would
read a page, the hork would cut it with a knife and throw it
in the fire. Remember that? Cut it with a knife and throw
it in the fire. Didn't like any of them, like today's, like this
generation and everyone before. And after he threw it all in
the fire, God just told Jeremiah, write another one. You can't
destroy the Word of God. Why? Because it's in heaven.
He's in heaven. The master copy's in heaven.
And all he just said, write, write this down. Holy men spake
as they were moved of God. This is the Word of God. Do you
believe this is the Word of God? Every line, every jot, every
day. Do you? Very few people believe that.
You're so blessed. blessed word of the lord i'm
going to only have you turn to a few verses okay malachi chapter
3 look at malachi chapter 3 if you don't know this verse uh
you're going to want to remember where this is but most people
know john 3 16 i want you to know malachi 3 16 this is wonderful
malachi 3 16 Says, Then they that feared the
LORD spake often one to another. What did they speak of? The Lord,
didn t they? Don t you, brother, when we get
together, what do we want to speak about? We hope the conversation
will get around to talking about our Lord, don t we? If it doesn
t, we feel pretty much like we ve lost time, don t you? Oh, we want the conversation
to turn to Him. They that spake often one to another and the
Lord hearkened and heard it and a book of remembrance was written
before him that is in his sight what he told them to write for
them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name Malachi
3 16 isn't that wonderful right look and keep reading it it's
all good in They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts. And
the day I make up my jewels, I'll spare them as a man spareth
his own son that serveth him. So his jewels, his people, he
speaks the word to, he gives the word to. Oh, the Lord gave
the word and great was the company that published it. How blessed
we are to have the word of the Lord. Where would we be without
the word of God? I tell you, we're lost. Doug
said, lost. We'd be in darkness even as others
were. Blind, deaf, dumb, dead, trespassing sin. But God sent
the Word. Bless His holy name. Revelation
1, the revelation of Jesus Christ. You know this. It's not revelations,
is it? The revelation. That's how it
starts, doesn't it? The revelation. of Jesus Christ,
the whole book yet, but the revelation. And our Lord said in that first
chapter, the third verse, I believe he said, blessed are they that
read the words of this book. Do you read God's word? Love
it. Love it. What book can you read
over and over and over and over again and not go tired of it?
I have read some books written by men, and I've read them again,
and maybe again, and maybe two or three times, but then I pick
it up later on and start reading it, and I just lose interest. It's tired, not God's Word. It gets sweeter. It gets better,
doesn't it? Oh, blessed are they that read
the words of the Lord. He said, blessed are they that
hear Blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and blessed
are they that keep it. We're so blessed. Though the
heavens declare His glory, God cannot be known except through
His Word. Though the heavens declare His
glory, God cannot be known except through His Word. We cannot know
His person. We cannot know His mind, His
will, His work, His truth. We cannot know Him except through
His Word. So God spoke. God in great mercy. All right, look at verse 22 in
our text again. The LORD spake unto Moses to
speak to Aaron and his son, saying, On this wise shall you speak.
This is what you're to speak. Okay. The blessed word of the
Lord and he spoke. And it says in Hebrews 1 that
God at sundry times and diverse manners spake unto the fathers
by the prophet. Didn t Moses was a prophet, wasn
t he? He was a prophet and the Lord
gave the word through him. All right. God hath in these
last days spoken unto us by his Son. Now you know and very few
people know that this whole book is concerning God's Son. From Genesis 1 to Revelation
22, hidden, it's all the Son. Christ said of Himself in the
Revelation 1, He said, I am the beginning, I am the end, I am
the first, I am the last, in the beginning God. John 1, in
the beginning God. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among them. What is the book? What is the
word? What is it about? Not what? Who? Who? The word was made flesh. The blessed word is the blessed
son of God. That's what it is. The Lord spoke
to Moses, to Aaron and his son, who were to speak to the people.
Moses represents the prophets. He was a prophet. Moses represents
the law, doesn't it? Aaron was a high priest. Okay,
Christ said, Moses wrote of me, didn't he? Moses wrote of me. Peter said, to him, give all
the prophets witness. Paul said, the righteousness
of God is witnessed without the law, but witnessed by the law
and the prophet. You understand what that means,
Greg? You know how blessed you are. There's some people going
about trying to keep the law, you can't. If you think you can,
Christ died in vain. Christ came to keep the law for
us then. He wrote it. We broke it. He came to fulfill
it. He is our righteousness, witnessed
by the law and the prophet. Moses, the prophet, the law,
okay. So God spoke to Moses. Aaron,
the high priest. Who does Aaron represent? Aaron
didn't take this, he was ordained as the High Priest of God. Well,
God said in Psalm 89, I have exalted one chosen among the
people. Who's that? Christ, the great
High Priest, not Levitical, but after the order of Melchizedek,
an unchangeable priesthood. So he spoke to Moses, Aaron,
and his son. Do you remember when our Lord
came and he called his apostles, 12 apostles. And then he, how
many sons did Aaron have? I don't know, two or three, four,
but the sons of Jacob, 12. And our Lord chose 12 apostles. Okay. And also 70 others. So Aaron and his sons were to
go out. Oh, Christ is the word who sends his people out to preach
him. his preachers, and how blessed, supremely blessed, to hear the
Word and hear and see Christ in this book. You know, all of us have photo albums,
don't we? Family photo album. And you may
have someone come over to your house who's a stranger and you
try to show them or your pictures on your phone or whatever. Look
at my grandchildren. And they're not interested. But
those that know and love that person, they never tire of seeing
those pictures. I bet y'all don't have too many
pictures of your kids and all in your house, do you? Anyway,
we've got this little screen that comes up that pops, flashes
pictures all the time. Picture. It's the same old pictures.
They're on Mindy's phone. They keep popping up. Our grandchildren,
mostly. And we, oh, look at that. And
we're walking by and getting something out of the fridge.
Would you look at that? Mindy, look at that. Do you see that? She
said, look at that. Isn't that? We never get tired
of them. Why? We know that person. We love that person. We're one
with that person. Okay? Do you ever tire of seeing
pictures of Christ in this book? Do you ever tire of hearing Christ
preached from this book? Don't you see Him in every jot
and tittle, in every line, in every phrase, in every book?
Don't you? Oh, you're so blessed. That's
God's beloved Son. That's whom He loved and He made
this whole universe for the glory of His Son. And He saves a people
and sheds abroad in their heart the love of God, which is a love
for His Son. And they never tire. They all
say, would you look at this? Look at this. Johnny, did you
see this? Yeah, isn't that wonderful? That's Christ. That's who God's
people are taking up with. The Word was made flesh. and dwelt among them, and we
beheld His glory." Oh my, God's people behold His glory, the
blessed Son of the Most High God. So here's the next thing,
the blessed preachers of the Word. He said to Moses, He said
to Aaron and his son, go and say this to the people. Go and
speak to the people. Paul said, how shall they hear
without a preacher? what the world calls foolishness. It's
what God says, you're not going to hear from me except through
a preacher. Isn't it? We're blessed, you're blessed
to have preachers of the world. Blessed people. Moses was sent
by God, Aaron was sent by God, and John Chapman was sent by
God at this point. No less than Moses. That's right. If God didn't send him, you need
to go somewhere where there is a man sent by God. How do you
know? How do you know a man's been
sent by God? How did you know the apostles? They preached Christ,
didn't they? They preached Christ, and so
do his preachers now. They preached Christ. So God
speaks through his men. He blessed people who hear the
word, the truth, the gospel preached from a man that God has sent.
It says in Ephesians 4, you know these verses. He says when Christ
ascended up on high, he gave gifts to men. He gave some apostles,
some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. He
puts a pastor and a teacher in the same sentence with an apostle. They don't have, there are no
more apostles, they don't have the powers, the gifts of healing
and all of that that the apostles did. The apostles wrote the scriptures,
we don't do that. But we have the same gospel.
We have the same commission. We have the same message. We're
sent on the same mission to preach Christ. He told young Timothy,
preach the word, Timothy. Many say that we believe the
Bible. We preach the Bible. Well, what are you preaching
the Bible? It was a man we were. He and his wife and children
were walking up the street one day a few years back. And I talked,
I went out and was talking to them, introduced myself. They
had just moved into the neighborhood. I said, oh, what do you do? He
said, I'm a preacher. I said, really? He didn't know
me. I said, what do you preach? I don't guess he ever heard anybody
ask him that. He said, well, I preach the Bible. Well, what
do you preach about the Bible? He said, well, we preach the
Bible, and we're trying to reach unchurched people, unchurched.
We're starting a place for the unchurched. Where did you come
from? He said, Southern Baptist. I
said, Why do we need another church? I kept asking these questions. He couldn't answer any of them.
I'm just a preacher. Will you ask a true preacher
of God what he preaches? He said, We preach Christ in
Him crucified. Isn't that right? Necessities
laid upon me. Woe is unto me if I preach not
the gospel. Preach the word Timothy. What
is the word? It's Christ the word. That's
what it is. Christ the word made flesh. Blessed are the people. Blessed is the book. Blessed
be God. That he sent these preachers
of the gospel. Look at verse 23. He said, speak to Israel. ON THIS WISE YOU SHALL BLESS
THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. WHO IS GOD SPEAKING TO? WHO DID
HE SEND THIS WORD TO? IS IT THE WORLD? ISRAEL, HIS CHOSEN
PEOPLE. PAUL SAID, HAVE THEY NOT ALL
HEARD? YEA, VERILY, SOUND HAS GONE THROUGH ALL THE WORLD. BUT
HAVING EARS TO HEAR, THEY DON'T HEAR. eyes to see, they don't
see it, now you do. How do you know if you're one
of God's elect? How do you know? Israel is God's elect, that's
God's chosen people, right? How do you know? Well, Paul said,
Knowing brethren, your election of God, for our gospel came unto
you, right? THE gospel, the gospel of Christ
crucified with POWER, Not in word only, but power and the
Holy Ghost in much assurance. And all of that relates to Christ.
How our gospel came. Blessed people of God. Israel,
the true Israel of God. Look at Deuteronomy 4. Here's
one more scripture I'll have you turn to. Deuteronomy chapter
4. This is so good. Deuteronomy
chapter 4. Look at verse 32. Deuteronomy,
it s hard to know where to start and stop. Craig was preaching,
reading from Revelation, and he had trouble knowing where
to start and where to stop. Same with me. Look at verse 32. Ask now of the days that are
past, which were before thee, since the day that God created
man upon the earth. Ask from one side of heaven unto
the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great
thing is, or hath been heard like it. Did ever people hear
the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire? A voice
of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard
and lived. Read on. Or hath God a say to
go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation by
temptation, trials, and signs, and wonders, and by war, and
by a mighty hand, by a stretched out arm, by great terrors, according
to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your
eyes? Unto thee it was showed that
thou mightest know that the Lord, he is God, there is none else.
HAVE YOU NOT HEARD HIS VOICE OUT OF THE FIRE? When did Moses first hear from
the Lord? A BURNING BUSH. What is that burning bush? Somebody
tell me one word. LOUD! You are one of a million people
that knows that. That burning bush is Christ crucified
in it. The voice of the Lord came out
of that burning book. That such Christ on the cross,
the burnt offering, Christ on the cross, Christ who suffered
the wrath of God, the eternal fires of hell without being consumed.
And He speaks to all His people of Christ and Him crucified.
Did He not say, Is not My word like a fire? Didn't you remember when Elijah
met all those false prophets? There were 850 altogether. 400 prophets of Baal and 450
prophets of the grove. 850 prophets to one true prophet.
And he said this, the God that speaks by fire, that's God. You
know what that means? Hebrews 12, 29, our God is what? A consuming fire. Christ said, I came to bring
fire on earth, didn't He? John said, when I saw Him, His
face, His countenance, His eyes were as a flame of fire, His
feet as fire burning in the furnace. That's the holiness, purity,
the righteous God, Christ crucified on the cross. It's all Christ
in it. You know that, don't you? That's
what this book speaks of, Matthew. The fire. Burns away all the
waste, all the dross, all the nonsense. Christ said, I'm coming
to bring fire out of his mouth, sharp two-edged sword and fire
to consume his enemy. The God that answers by fire
is the God of the Bible. So few people know what that
means. And those who hear him, they're going to hear him from
this word that's like a flame of fire, and it's going to burn
in their hearts. Did not our hearts burn within
us? Oh, how blessed we are. Look
at verse one more. Verse 36, Deuteronomy 4. Out of heaven, he made thee to
hear his voice, that he might instruct thee. and upon the earth
he showed thee his great fire, and thou hast heard, thou heardest
his words out of the midst of the fire." You know most, I quoted at Hebrews
12, I bet there's so few so-called Christians that know that verse
29. Our God's Men think God has changed, that God was, you know,
full of wrath and terror in the Old Testament, and now God's
different. No, the last book, you know these verses. Malachi
3, he said, I'm the Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. Consumed by what? Him. Why? You're in Christ. In Christ. You're not consumed. Oh my goodness. Blessed people. We know them. We know them. All right? Here's the last point. And I've been saying the last
point the whole message. The blessed gospel. The blessed
gospel. Blessing of blessings. BLESSING
OF BLESSING IS TO HEAR THE BLESSED GOSPEL, TO KNOW THE BLESSED GOSPEL. LOOK HERE IT IS IN OUR TEXT,
GO BACK TO NUMBERS NOW, BE VERY BRIEF. HERE'S WHAT THE LORD TOLD
HIS PREACHERS TO SAY TO HIS PEOPLE TO BE A BLESSING. VERSE 24, THE
LORD BLESS THEE, THE LORD BLESS THEE. DO YOU KNOW THE SALVATIONS
OF THE LORD? DO YOU KNOW THAT? Well, sure
you do. If you know Him, you know salvation
of the Lord. If you know yourself, you know
salvation of the Lord, don't you? Huh? Listen to Psalm 3,
verse 8. I don't want to misquote it. It says, salvation belongeth
unto the Lord. Modern religion, cross the board. Say God's done all He can do,
now it's up to you. It's your choice, it's your decision.
That's a lie, isn't it? It's a satanic lie. Salvation
belongs unto the Lord. It's His will. It's His choice. It's His decision. It's His work. It's His, isn't it? You know
that, don't you? Don't you, Donna? Salvation belongs unto the Lord. Thy blessing is upon thy people. How blessed you are, Doug, to
know that salvation's of the Lord. Brother David Edmondson
said this, he said, you know what's after that? Salvation
of the Lord, you know what follows that? A period. No conjunctions, no apostrophe,
no comma, period. That's it. Salvation of the Lord. The Lord blesses them. If we're
going to be blessed, the Lord is going to have to do it. And
we're blessed in Him. Brother David also preached from
Psalm 72, 17, and I'll never forget that. You need to hear
that message. It says, His name, speaking of Christ, shall endure
forever. His name shall be continued as
long as the sun, and men shall be blessed in Him. You're going to be blessed. You're
going to be blessed in Christ. not accepted in the blood, forgiven
in the blood, redeemed by the blood. Oh, the blessed gospel. He said, Say unto my people,
Numbers 6, the Lord bless thee, and keep thee, and keep thee,
The Lord keep thee. The word keep means to retain
and not throw away. You have anything you've kept
all these years? You have any mementos? You have
anything, Peggy, that you've kept and you don't want to lose?
You kind of cherish it? You know, a letter from Ray years
ago? The last letter you received
from him? You keep it? That's what God's people feel
about this book. But it says the Lord's going
to keep you. He's not going to cast it away. He's not going
to cast you away. Christ said, all that the Father giveth me
shall come unto me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. All that come unto God by Christ,
He keeps. He keep. The word keep means
to protect. It means to defend. It means
to care for and provide for. Oh, we're kept. We don't keep ourselves. We're
kept by the power of God. Kept by the power. What is the
power of God? One word, somebody tell me. Christ is the power
of God. Christ is the wisdom of God and
the power of God. We're kept by Him. The Lord is
thy keeper. The Lord is the shade upon thy
right hand. He that keepeth Israel shall
never slumber or sleep. The Lord shall preserve thee.
thy going out and thy coming in. Psalm 121. We're kept by
Him. Kept. We're defended. We're cared
for. We're provided for by Him. The gospel is the power of God
in Him. The Lord keeps you coming to hear the gospel. He keeps
calling you. He doesn't call you one time.
He doesn't call you one time. He keeps calling you back to
hear the gospel. You need it. Keep you from running
away. You run, He calls you, and you
come back. The gospel is the power of God.
Kept. Kept. The Lord keep thee. Look
at verse 25. The Lord make His face shine
upon thee. The Lord make His face shine
upon thee. Some of you may know this verse.
2 Corinthians 4, listen to this. 2 Corinthians 4 says, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness. And God said, let there be light.
How did the light come into existence? He spoke. God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness, let there be light, hath shined
in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God, where? In the face. of Jesus Christ. Here's how the Lord is going
to bless you, the greatest blessing of all. and this is what I'm
to do, and this is what your pastor's to do, and this is what
he does, and this is how you know God's in him. He preaches
Christ, the light, doesn't he? Christ, God, manifest in the
flesh. No man knoweth the Father, but
the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him, the Father.
No man knoweth the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any man
the Father, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal
him. Christ came to reveal the Father. You can't see God's face
and live. that we have, haven't we? What's
God look like? Jesus Christ. The face, make
His face to shine upon you. You're smiling, Ginger. You must
belong to Him. The Lord make His face and be
gracious unto you. Be gracious unto you. Not offer
grace unto you. Tommy, God doesn't offer anything,
does He? to man, Christ made one offering
forever unto God, didn't He? And God accepted it on behalf
of His people. And God is gracious to you, shows
you grace, does an act of grace upon you and for you through
Christ in Him crucified. That's it. That's the grace of
God in Him. Christ is the unspeakable gift. Grace means gift. Christ is the
unspeakable gift. Make His face shine upon you,
which is Christ. Be gracious unto you, which is
Christ. Look at verse 26, The Lord lift
up His countenance upon thee. The Lord lift up His countenance
upon thee. That means smile on you. This generation doesn t know
these scriptures, they don t quote them. They think God has changed
like I said before. The Scripture says God is angry
with the wicked every day, doesn't it? God now hateth all workers
of iniquity. It's the same God today as it
was then, that it wrote down. The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness of men. Isn't it? But men don't see it. Like Egypt
of old didn't see the plagues as being the judgment of God,
the wrath of God. Same God, same plagues. Right? Pestilence, drought, you
name it. Men don't see it that way. When
you're angry at somebody, you're not smiling, are you? I remember
when my father was... I knew when he was not happy.
The fur of that brow. God is angry. God's not smiling
on this world. He's angry with this world. but
His people. And the Lord lift up His countenance
on them. You know who God loved? Those
that love His Son. That's right. Those are in Christ. Like that ark, Noah's Ark. Was
the love of God being poured out on people all around that
ark? The wrath of God. God was angry. Where was the
love of God? In the ark. God was smiling. If there was a bumper sticker,
he was on the inside of the ark, wasn't he? Smile. God loves you. The love of God is in Christ
our Lord. That's Romans 8, the last verse,
39. I heard one of our president
at a funeral quote all that. Who shall separate us from the
love of God? Shall tribulation, distress? Got all the way to
verse 39, and left off the last line to keep from offending Muslims
and Buddhists and Hindus and all that. Now, where is the love
of God? It s in Christ Jesus our Lord. Outside of Christ,
God s a consuming fire. You know that, don t you? Hmm,
you re so blind? There is no dark cloud hanging
over God's people. The Lord has lifted up His countenance
on you. Listen to this poem. Fear not,
you saints, fresh courage take. The clouds you so much dread
are filled with mercy and shall break with blessings on your
head. Judge not the Lord by your feeble sense, Trust him for his
grace. Behind a frowning providence,
he hides a smiling face. You know, there were times my
dad frowned at me, but he wasn't going to kick me out of the house,
out of the family. He loved me. He smiled at me
a whole lot more than he frowned, and I didn't deserve it. What
about you? The Lord give thee peace. How
do we have peace with God? Do we make peace with God? Every
son of Adam that dies, every false preacher has them going
to heaven because they made their peace with God. All of God's true people, God's
true Israel, God's son, know that Christ made peace for us
by the blood of his cross, that he is our peace, right? Jehovah
Shalom, the Lord our peace. We all know that, give me peace.
And Christ said, my peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto
you. Peace I leave with you, my peace.
And verse 27, and I close. And they shall put my name upon
the children of Israel. You know, a good name is better
than anything. Ecclesiastes in Proverbs 22.
Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us
that we should be called the sons of God. Christian. I hate that people
so abuse that term. But it's a blessed name. It's
the name that Christ's bride wears. We are Christians. We're
ashamed of what men say about being a Christian, but we're
not ashamed to be one. What a glorious calling to have
his name. Put my name on him, and look
at verse 27, and he says, I will bless them. I will bless them. No ifs, ands, buts, or maybes. I will bless them. God who worketh
all things after the counsel of His will. He says, I will
bless you and they shall be blessed. Isn't that good news? Your pastor
preached from this, I have too, where Balaam was hired by the
wicked king to curse Israel. Remember that? And he went to
curse them and God wouldn't let him. He wouldn't let him. He
ended up blessing them. Balak said, I sent you to curse
you. He said, I can't curse whom God
has blessed. He said, I can't curse. And I
blessed, and they'll be blessed. And we can't change it. Our God doesn't change. His covenant
doesn't change. His mind, His will doesn't change.
His son doesn't change. The promises don't change. Aren't
you glad? I will bless them. I hope this
will be a blessing. Stand with me and I'll dismiss
this in prayer. Our Lord, thank you, thank you,
thank you for your blessed word and the blessed promises, exceeding
precious promises that we have in Christ Jesus. They're all
yay and amen to the glory of God by us. We bless your holy
name for your word, for your son, for the preachers you've
sent to preach the gospel. We bless you for your people,
your kingdom, your church, precious people they are to you and to
us. And we bless you for this blessed gospel. In Christ's blessed
name we pray. Amen.