Let's open our Bibles this evening
to the book of Numbers. Numbers chapter 1. We received a letter yesterday
from Brother Walter Groover. Shall we copy them off and put
them here on the front pew, pick those up at your leisure. Ian
and Betty are doing fine. Hard to imagine Walter is 84
now. Betty's 82, they're doing very well, and the works there
seem to be doing very well, very thankful. The first four chapters
of the book of Numbers deals with the numbering of Israel. the counting of the people by
the command of God, and by the numbering of Israel, the design
of the camp of Israel was established by God so that the camps were
set up by the tribes around the tabernacle according to the numbering
of the children of Israel. By the numbering of the children
of Israel, the order by which they moved through the wilderness
was established by the Lord God. In the book of Exodus, Israel
was delivered from Egyptian bondage and slavery. The Lord miraculously
set them free from 400 years of captivity. They marched through
the Red Sea and saw God destroy Pharaoh and the armies of Egypt
in the sea. The very same sea that opened
up for them destroyed the Egyptians. God miraculously guided them
day after day for 40 years, provided for them, protected them as they
marched through the desert wilderness. When they got to Mount Sinai,
the Lord Jehovah appeared to them in the spectacular revelation
of himself on the Mount. He called Moses up to the Mount
and gave the children of Israel his law on two tables of stone. While Moses was in the mount
receiving the law, the children of Israel led by Aaron made him
a golden calf. And they bowed down and worshiped
that calf and called it the worship of Jehovah. In the book of Leviticus,
while they were still encamped around Sinai, the Lord God, the
God of all grace, In the typology of the tabernacle, all the sacrifices,
all the furnishings, all the work of the priesthood, all the
ordinances of divine worship, in that tabernacle, God showed
Israel by his servant Moses exactly how he would accomplish the salvation
of his people by the Lord Jesus Christ in his perfect sacrifice
and atonement for sin. The children of Israel in the
book of Leviticus had been out of Egypt for just a little bit
more than a year. Exodus covered a year. Leviticus
covered just about a month of time. And then we come to the
book of Numbers. The book of Numbers covers a
space of a little more than 38 years. This third book of Moses
tells us what happened during those 38 years. The Hebrew title
for the book gives us an idea of its theme. The Hebrew title
for the book is In the Wilderness, not Numbers, In the Wilderness.
The book of Numbers is all about Israel in the wilderness. It's
a picture of God's church, the Israel of God, his elect in this
wilderness of woe that we call earth. There is in this world
of woe a people chosen and redeemed by God, a people for whom the
wonders of providence are performed, a people chosen and numbered
for war. of people who shall ultimately
be crowned with everlasting glory at their journey's end. This
is the message of the book of Numbers. That's what the book
of Numbers is all about. Let's read chapter one. We'll
begin at verse one. I urge you to read all four of
the first four chapters at one setting tonight, maybe before
you go to bed or tomorrow. because all four chapters deal
with this subject of the numbered people, the numbering of Israel.
Let's read verse one. The Lord spake unto Moses in
the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation,
on the first day of the second month, in the second year after
they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying, take ye the
sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel. after
their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number
of their names, every male by their poles, from 20 years old
and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel. Thou and Aaron shall number them
by their armies. And with you, there shall be
a man of every tribe, every one head of the house of his fathers. And then we have a whole list
of names of people whose names we hardly recognize, many we
hardly can pronounce. Get down to verse 44. These are
those that were numbered, which Moses and Aaron numbered, the
princes of Israel being 12 men. Each one was for the house of
his fathers. So were all those that were numbered
of the children of Israel by the house of their fathers from
20 years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to
war in Israel. Even all they that were numbered
were 600,000 and 3,550. But the Levites, after the tribe
of their fathers, were not numbered among them. The Levites were
accepted. For the Lord had spoken unto
Moses, saying, Only thou shalt not number the tribe of Levi,
neither take the sum of them among the children of Israel.
But thou shalt appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony,
and over all the vessels thereof, and over all the things that
belong to it. They shall bear the tabernacle. and all the vessels
thereof, and they shall minister unto it, and shall encamp round
about the tabernacle. And when the tabernacle setteth
forward, the Levites shall take it down. And when the tabernacle
is pitched, the Levites shall set it up, and the stranger that
cometh nigh shall be put to death. And the children of Israel shall
pitch their tents, every man by his own camp, and every man
by his own standard throughout their host. But the Levites shall
pitch round about the tabernacle of testimony, that there be no
wrath upon the congregation of the children of Israel. And the
Levites shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of the testimony.
And the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord
commanded Moses. So did they. And let me call
your attention to five things in this passage. First, the book
of Numbers is about a numbered people. The children of Israel,
I must remind you again, were typical of God's elect church,
his chosen people. They are called the church in
the wilderness in Acts chapter 7. The children of Israel represent
the whole host of God's elect, typically signifying God's church,
his holy nation, his royal priesthood. Everything that happened to them
in Old Testament history. Everything that happened was
by divine design for our instruction to teach us about our Redeemer
and His salvation. Now hold your hands here and
turn to 1 Corinthians 10. 1 Corinthians 10. I want you
to see this clearly. 1 Corinthians 10. Moreover, brethren, I would not
that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under
the cloud and all passed through the sea and were baptized unto
Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Verse three, and did all
eat the same spiritual meat and did all drink the same spiritual
drink, For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed
them, and that rock was Christ. But with many of them God was
not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
Now these things were examples to the intent that we should
not lust after evil things as they also lusted. Neither be
ye idolaters, as were some of them, as it is written. The people
sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Neither let
us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in
one day three and 20,000. Neither let us tempt Christ as
some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents. Verse
10, neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were
destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened
unto them. for this reason, for in samples. And they are written for our
admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore
let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Observe these numbered people
carefully. They were a people snatched by
God's hand out of a tyrannizing foe, the Egyptians. A miracle
of care supplied them every day for 40 years. A moving pillar
of fire by day and a moving pillar of cloud by night hovered over
them and gave them direction through the wilderness. God gave
these people his law, his word, his worship, his priesthood.
He fenced them off from all of the people. They went through
these various nations, walking through the wilderness. But God
managed by a unique way to make them distinct and separate from
others. He fenced them off from others by circumcision. So that
the children of Abraham, all the males were circumcised and
identified as God's covenant people to themselves by that
circumcision. Even as God's elect are called
by the Spirit of God and made to be born again by his grace
circumcised in the hearts. They were distinct from others,
separate from others, a despised people, a peculiar people, kind
of oddballs. People looked at them as a little
weird because they worshipped at one altar, the altar that
God required, an altar of earth. not an altar made by hands. They
worshiped God through a sacrifice, a blood sacrifice offered on
that altar and that blood sacrifice with the blood sprinkled on a
mercy seat that was hidden out of view in a tabernacle that
looked just almost like something you would despise, like something
that you, why would you want to go there? Why would you want
to go into that place to worship? These people were distinct from
all others, for they had one priest, one priest who stood
over all the people, offering sacrifice to God, wearing their
names upon his breastplate, representing them before God. Their contact
with the world was broken by design. They'd move amid the
nations of the earth as strangers and pilgrims. Strange people,
unknown by the world around them. God was with them. His sheltering
arms were their defense. Goodness and mercy followed them
all their days through the wilderness and that pursued them to a land
of promised rest over the horizon. Children of God, we are God's
Israel. When we read their history, We're
looking into a mirror, a mirror given to us in scripture so that
we may observe and understand God's work with us and in us
and for us by his spirit in Christ Jesus. Like them, we often err
and fall. Like the children of Israel,
we sin often and we stray much, like them. Like them, we are
miraculously, supernaturally preserved and kept. Like them,
miraculously, supernaturally preserved. We should always see
ourselves in Israel's history. Every step finds its counterpart
in them. The parallel's obvious. They
once groaned bitterly in cruel bondage but mercy set them free. They were slaves to Satan, slaves
to Pharaoh, as we are slaves to Satan and his will. He ruled
you. He ruled me with an iron yoke. But now Christ has broken the
chain and set us free. By his commandment to number
the people, the Lord God graciously kept a detailed record of the Jewish heritage and the
Jewish people. So that when our Lord Jesus came
into this world, his lineage back to David, back to Abraham,
back to Adam could be traced directly without a flaw. John
Gill pointed out I read this many years ago, of all the things
the Jews raised an issue about, of all the things they caviled
about, of all the things they argued about, nobody once raised
a question about our Lord's lineage, because God required the Jews
to keep these meticulous, detailed records. By numbering his people,
the Lord Jehovah seems to say to us, the rest of the world
matters nothing to me. The rest of the world is insignificant. The rest of the world is made
to serve you. I'm interested only in you. Jacob
have I loved, Esau have I hated. Ham shall be servant of servant
to Japheth and to God's people throughout the world, Jew and
Gentile. Second, the people before us
are a people in a wilderness. For them, it was a wilderness
of woe, an empty, desolate desert, a place of trouble, a place of
much pain and much sorrow. The wilderness was never meant
to be their final resting place. It was not meant to be a place
of rest. The place of rest, the land of promise, was just over
there. just over that hill, just across
that mountain, just across that river. That's the land of Canaan. And so it is with us. This world
was never intended to be our resting place. God designed the
wilderness for Israel. and he led them on purpose through
the wilderness for those 40 years. Yes, he used their rebellion
to accomplish it, but it was by his purpose he led them through
that wilderness for 40 years to display his glory in preserving
a people amongst a heathen barbaric people who held them in enmity
all the time they were there and God preserved them. He promised
to make Abraham's seed as the sand by the seashore and by the
stars of the sky. When Abraham's children were
carried into Egypt, a little over 70 people went down into
Egypt when Joseph was there. And they came out. Multitudes,
a great multitude, increased by the very oppressors who sought
to destroy them. And it took them through the
wilderness. And though all those who came out of Egypt, 20 years
old and older, perished in the wilderness, except for Joshua
and Caleb, God preserved the people. And it brought them into
the land of promise, a great multitude, numbered like the
sand by the seashore, like the stars of heaven, just as God
had promised. Israel's tribes journeyed as
strangers through a desert waste. Is that not the case with you?
The abiding place for us is not here. We look for a city whose
builder and maker is God. And it's just over there, just
right across that hill, just over that mountain. just over
that river, we shall enter into heaven's everlasting glory. Israel
was escorted and proceeded through the wilderness by a heavenly
guide. So the hand of the Almighty marked
out our course for us. The hand of the Almighty is our
guide. The hand of the Almighty is our
protection. Is your soul heady? There's bread
and nothing to spare. Are you thirsty? The water of
life is ever springing. They had heard the thunderings
of God's law and they trembled for a mediator. They said, Moses,
you go speak to God and you come back and tell us what he said.
We've got to have a mediator. And so you and I have been convinced
of our sin, our unbelief, Because we believe not on the Son of
God. Convinced of our Savior's righteousness. Because of his
obedience unto death as our substitute. Convinced of judgment. Judgment
finished because he suffered the wrath of God in our stead.
Was Israel God's special portion? Hear me, my brother. Hear me,
my sister. Hear me, O my soul. You are God's
special portion. Things that are numbered are
chosen things. Common ordinary things we don't
pay much attention to, but special things, chosen things, those
are numbered. You and I were chosen by God
in the eternal election. And in that purpose of grace,
he numbered the hairs of our heads as chosen, prized, and
precious. Some years ago, it's now been
nearly 50 years ago, Shelby and I moved to West Virginia from
Winston-Salem, and little did we realize it, shortly after
we got there, found out she had an uncle. who lived just down
the road from us. He was already an old man. He
ran a liquor store down in Winona. That's what we ought to have
expected, but he was also a coin collector. We went down to visit
him, and I like to joke with folks, he showed me his coin
collection. He had some rare coins. They were worth some money,
and I just put one in my pocket. Had a suit coat on, put it right
here, and forgot about it. I forgot it. A couple of weeks
later, I put that coat on. Oh my soul, how am I gonna explain
this? I gotta go down there and tell
Uncle Polly I took his dime. Old, old dime, but it was worth
some money. And I went down there, and you
know, I wasn't a bit surprised when I started to tell him. He's
an old man now. Surprised he remembered my name. I said, when
Shelby and I were here, looking at your coins, I said, I was
gonna pull a joke on you, put one in my pocket, just hide it
for a minute, and forgot it. And he named the dime, the date
that was on it, the package it was in, it was prized by him
amongst a number of coins numbered by him, because precious. Oh, my soul. How precious we
are to God our Savior. Those things that are numbered
are protected. He keeps us as the apple of his
eye. In the numbering, we read rightly if we read of God's special
love for us. His people are numbered because
they are loved. Oh, my soul, come bow before
God and adore his great love. Its worth exceeds mountains of
gold. God loves me. My name is written
on his hand and on his heart. The God of all creation prizes
me as one of his chosen jewels. Why was the Lord Jesus sent into
this world? Why did he empty himself and
become one of us? Why did all the billows of hell
sweep over him? Why was the wrath of God poured
upon him? Why did he suffer? Because God
loves you. Why did God send his spirit to
awaken your dead soul? to quicken you from your Adam
death and to raise you from your Adam fall because God loves you. How is it that today you still
stand your feet firm as you tread the slippery slopes that go up
to Zion's hill while multitudes around have fallen because God
loves you? When did the love begin? Tell
me when God began. I'll tell you when his love began.
When shall it cease? When God is no more God, but
not until then. God loves you. Did you hear me,
child of God? God loves you, distinctly and
personally. What an amazing impulse to bear
the willing servant over mountains of doubt and fear and hindrance. God loves us. What a strong shield
to ward off Satan's darts. God loves us. What a soft, sweet
pillow of unfailing peace. God loves us. What great light
in a dark day. God loves me. What a cordial
to invigorate my soul with comfort. God loves us. What a foretaste
of heaven. Oh, the love of God for us. We love him because he first
loved us. He loved us before we loved him.
He loved us and his love is the cause of our love for him. He
loved us and he will love us until the end. Third, the children
of Israel were numbered specifically for a time of war. None were
numbered except those who were 20 years old and above. It was God's wise, good, gracious
intention that these numbered people, excuse me, spend 40 years
at war. Imagine that. You realize there
are places in this world where people live and they've never
known anything their whole life long but war. War, incessant
war. We know little about that on
our own shores, but there are places where people live with
nothing but war. The children of Israel, by God's
design, By God's purpose, we're at war constantly for 40 long
years. Surely that needs no explaining
to you of the experience and our experience in God's grace.
God's saving grace in Christ is pictured here. It is the wise,
good, gracious purpose of our God that his people, you and
I, live in this world all the days of our appointment on this
earth in a time of war. Never at ease at war. Never at peace at war. At war with the world. The world
presents countless troops. They're all quick to wound and
skilled to capture. The world I speak of is not what
religious people commonly speak of when they talk about world
and worldliness. I'm not talking about how you
dress or comb your hair. I'm not even talking about things
I may or may not disapprove of personally. I'm talking about
the cares of the world. Oh, what a snare the cares of
the world are. Legitimate, lawful cares. The
cares of being a husband, mother, a wife, a father, a child. Legitimate cares. Cares of the
world, which would draw us away from our Redeemer. The deceitfulness
of riches. Oh, the deceitfulness of riches.
The love of the world. Especially the religion of the
world. Look at 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2. Verse 15. Love not the world. That means
you shouldn't love land and property and riches and entertainment
and those things. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Love
not the world, the people. Neither the things that are in
the world. That's the things. What's he saying? But we're supposed
to love all men. Our Savior says, love not the
world. Don't set your heart on this
world. And don't set your heart on the things of this world.
If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in
him. If you set your heart on the world, you haven't set your
heart on Christ. The love of the Father is not
in you. For all that is in the world, The lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father,
but is of the world. And the world, the world, the
world, the world, everything in it, everything about it, the
world passeth away, and the lust thereof. But he that doeth the
will of God abideth forever. Little children, it is the last
time. And as ye have heard that Antichrist
shall come, even now are there many Antichrists whereby we know
it is the last time. In this world, we're at war with
the flesh. Not just with the world, but
with our flesh, an internal enemy, an internal foe, our flesh, a
constant warfare between flesh and spirit, between that which
is born of God and that which is born of the devil, a constant
warfare so that we continually cry, who shall deliver me from
the body of this death? And we give thanks for the blessed
hope soon Christ Jesus shall. But while here, We have to struggle
with pride, self-righteousness, unbelief. Oh, what foes. My pride, my self-righteousness,
my unbelief. Your pride, your self-righteousness,
your unbelief. Is there anything that gives
you more trouble? Anything that causes you more
trouble, anything by which you trouble others more than your
pride, self-righteousness, and unbelief. And we're at war with
the devil, Satan. He roars, he deceives, he whispers,
he insinuates, he raises doubts, he assaults, and we must relentlessly
resist him. Ours is the life of warriors. We must fight as one fighting
for eternity. Strive as one striving for a
kingdom. March as one resolutely is determined
to march through a storm so that we may take heaven by storm. The Lord Jesus calls us. He commands
us. He leads us. We're to follow
him. But why? Why has God chosen,
in His wisdom, in His grace, to put us through this? He could
just as easily, just as quickly have taken us to heaven, just
like He did the thief on the cross. Why has He chosen this
wilderness sojourn for us? He tells us three times in the
first chapter of Ephesians, He did this to the praise of His
glory, to the praise of the glory of His grace. Here it is in this
way, by His work of redemption accomplished for us in His Son
and His work of grace being accomplished in us in the new birth and in
preservation in the fresh supplies of grace every moment Every hour,
every day, the Lord God shows the wonder and the glory of his
matchless being as it could not otherwise be displayed in sovereign
predestination, in sovereign providence, in free election,
in effectual redemption, in effectual grace. And for these who are
numbered for war, there is a crown waiting. The crown waiting for
them was Canaan. The numbered host was numbered
for the fights. The fighting host will soon shout
victory. No one will be in triumphant
except those who fight. and no one who truly fights will
fail to be triumphant. Let's take a look at it with
just one man. 2 Timothy chapter four, 2 Timothy
four. Paul is giving his final word
to his son in the faith, Timothy. I charge thee therefore before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and
the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. Preach the word,
be instant in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort
with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall
heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall
turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned into
fables. But watch thou in all things,
endure affliction, do the work of the evangelist, make full
proof of thy ministry. And then Paul speaks to his son
Timothy about himself. He tells Timothy, you be faithful
in this trust God's given you, for I am now ready to depart,
to be offered. And the time of my departure
is at hand. God's fixing to take me out of here, and that's just
fine. I fought a good fight. I finished
my course. I've kept the faith. I fought a good fight. I finished
my course. I've kept the faith. Henceforth,
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, not one that
I earned. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. It's
that which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that
day. but not to me only, but unto all them that love his appearing. One more thing, come back to
Numbers chapter one. The numbering of Israel and the
specific exemption of the Levites from that numbering, we see a
substitution was made. Look at chapter one, verse 47.
But the Levites, after the tribe of their fathers, were not numbered
among them. For the Lord has spoken to Moses
saying, only thou shalt not number the tribe of Levi, neither take
the sum of them among the children of Israel. Why? Back in Exodus
chapter 13, God made a law. He said, sanctify unto me all
the firstborn. Whatsoever openeth the womb among
the children of Israel, both a man and a beast, it is mine. So the Lord God took these firstborn
ones who were numbered for war. Many of the firstborn who were
his, he said, the firstborn belong to me. He said, all right, I'll
make a substitution. I'll take the Levites for the
firstborn. Don't have to guess about that.
Turn over page chapter three, verse 12. I, behold I, have taken
the Levites from among the children of Israel, instead of all the
firstborn, that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel.
Therefore the Levites shall be mine, because all the firstborn
are mine. For on the day that I smote all
the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I hallowed unto me all
the firstborn in Israel. both man and beast, mine shall
there be, I am the Lord. Oh, wondrous, wondrous, wondrous
grace. The Lord God took his own darling
son in our stead, and he takes us in the stead of his son. He takes his loved, chosen, numbered
people in Christ's stead. And the ransom price for all
those numbered of God is exactly the same. You can read about
it in Exodus chapter 30. God said it should be the half
shekel of the sanctuary, whether rich or poor. And the silver
by which each one was ransomed when he was numbered is that
by which Moses was ordered to make sockets to hold the boards
of the tabernacle, the whole of God's salvation. The foundation
of it all is in the atonement of Christ our Redeemer, represented
in these numbered ones whom God took for his son. The silver
of the sanctuary is the price of atonement, representing the
precious blood of Christ, as for lamb who verily was foreordained
before the foundation of the world. And here we are, numbered
of God under the blood, under the blood. I've told you many
times about visiting Brother Harold Martin. the last words
he spoke on this earth. He looked at me and said, Preacher,
it's good to come here and know that everything is under the
blood, under the blood, under the blood of Jesus, safe in the
shepherd's fold. Under the blood of Jesus, safe
while the ages roll. Safe though the world may crumble. Safe though the stars grow dim. Under the blood of Jesus, I am
secure in Him.