If you will open your Bibles
to the book of Numbers, the Lord willing, tonight we will begin
a series of messages going through this portion of the Pentateuch,
the five books that Moses wrote, beginning of the Scriptures. If you read the Old Testament
Scriptures, and read them as nothing more than a history,
history of ancient events, concerning people who lived a long, long
time ago, then the Old Testament scriptures, for the most part,
are about as boring as a book on mathematics. If you read the
Old Testament scriptures as nothing but a portion of prophetic mysteries,
it might be a little bit more interesting, but it has nothing
more to do with you personally than that. So it has no meaning
personally for you. But if you read the Old Testament
as a picture of what's happening in your own life experience of
redemption and grace in Christ, if you read the Old Testament
scriptures as a picture of what's happening in your own life experience
right now, of redemption and grace in the Lord Jesus, it becomes
a lively, fascinating picture of God's grace. If you see in
the Old Testament pictures of Christ and his great work of
redemption, pictures of his love for us, his grace toward us,
it becomes precious beyond description. So when you read about and study
the history of the nation of Israel in the Old Testament,
we must constantly remind ourselves that the Lord God is not here
giving us the history of a small, really fairly insignificant nation
in a remote corner of the earth. Rather, God's interest and his
purpose in raising up Israel, his purpose in giving us all
the history of Israel, is to use them for the purpose of accomplishing
redemption and salvation for his people in Christ Jesus the
Lord. Our Lord Jesus came to us through
the line of Israel. The nation was preserved and
kept through all those things they experienced, preserving
and keeping the line through which Christ the Messiah should
come into this world. And as such, the children of
Israel, portrayed God's church, which is described in the scriptures
as the Israel of God, Jerusalem, which is above the mother of
us all. The Pentateuch, these first five
books of the Bible, and the book of Joshua symbolically display
every believer's experience of grace and our salvation in Christ. In these six books of inspiration,
we see how the Lord God brings us from bondage and curse, the
bondage and curse of sin and death, into the glorious liberty
of the sons of God. The whole Old Testament was written.
so that we might see in types, so that we might see in pictures
our own salvation, that which is clearly and fully revealed
in the New Testament is portrayed for us in all the types and laws
and events of the Old Testament. Now understand this as you read
the Scriptures. Those things that are recorded here as matters
of divine revelation and those things that are recorded here
as matters of history, all the struggles of Israel, all their
wars, all their bondage, their captivity, their deliverances,
all of those things were brought to pass by the hand of God for
the purpose of showing us something about Christ our Redeemer and
God's great salvation of our own souls by His accomplishments
at Calvary. That makes the Old Testament
come alive. That makes the Old Testament
meaningful. So as you read the Old Testament, pray as we just
heard Rhett read, that the Lord Jesus, by His Spirit, might open
our understanding and cause us to see Christ in this book. This book I've told you many,
many times is a hymn book, an H-I-M book. It is all about him who loved
us and gave himself for us. Now we know that because the
scriptures plainly state that. I'm not guessing about it. Listen
to this word from God. All these things happened unto
them. First Corinthians 10 verse 11.
For examples, and they are written for our admonition. upon whom
the ends of the world are come. These things happen as examples. Examples of what takes place
in my life and in your life. Examples of how God saves sinners
by his grace. They are written for our admonition
who now walk on this earth seeking to live in this world for the
glory of God and seeking to serve his interest. Genesis, the book
of beginnings, shows us our great need of redemption and grace.
Exodus, the book of deliverance, displays our experience of grace,
our experience of redemption. Leviticus, the book of the priesthood,
typifies atonement by Christ, that which is the basis of and
the cause of our everlasting salvation. The book of Numbers,
this book of numbering, displays our weakness. our unbelief and
our failure in this world and displays God's great faithfulness. And that's my subject this evening.
Our failure, God's faithfulness. Look back over your life, my
brother, my sister. Look back over your life in the
days you've lived in God's grace, in the knowledge of God's grace.
And as you look back, Oh God keep you and me from ever swelling
with pride as though we've attained something. But rather make us ever to know
and be keenly aware of our failure, our failure in faith. our failure
in love, our failure in grace, our failure in faithfulness,
our failure in dependability, our failure in steadfastness.
You and I who know God know ourselves failures. With us, it's not a
pretense of humility. It's not a show of humility.
It's really just a masking for pride to confess our sin and
our failure. It is the acknowledgement of
what we experience every day. Which of you would like to stand
up here and talk to us about your prayer life, your devotional
life, your faithfulness to Christ? Which of you would like to stand
up here and speak about what you've done for the Redeemer?
Oh, God have mercy on such things as we are and bless His name
He does. For our God is faithful. Our God is faithful. He proves
himself faithful in our day-by-day experience. The righteous man
falls seven times in a day and the Lord raises him up. He proves
his faithfulness here in these 36 chapters of the book of Numbers. Deuteronomy, the book of the
law, shows us God's immutability and his faithfulness to his covenant
people in the second giving of the law. Numbers shows our violation. In Deuteronomy, God says nothing's
changed and he gives the law again. And then in Joshua, the
book of conquest, We see a display of our entrance into and our
everlasting possession of all the blessings of grace and glory
in Christ Jesus, that which we shall possess in the eternal
resurrection glory that is ours yet to come with Christ Jesus
the Lord. Now let's read just one portion
of the book of Numbers to get started. Numbers 21, Numbers
21. This perhaps is the most familiar
part of the book of Numbers, verse four. And they, the children of Israel,
journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to come past
the land of Edom, and the soul of the people was much discouraged
because of the way." What a statement. What a statement. They're moving
from Egypt to Canaan. They're moving from 400 years. of bondage and slavery and misery
and abuse through the wilderness to a land flowing with milk and
honey, a land of promise God had given to Abraham 400 years
before they ever came out of Egypt. And there they murmur
because they're discouraged because of the way. Oh God forgive me
for my many times of discouragement, not just in the way, because
of the way. Because of what God brings to
pass in the way. Because of what God does in the
way. Because of what God causes me
to experience in the way. We have our trials and our difficulties,
our troubles. When I was 21 or 22 years old,
I drove down to Anstead, West Virginia, about 10 miles below
where we lived at Lookout, to hear a man from England preach.
His name was Charles D. Alexander. He was an eccentric
old man, an old man that, as most brilliant fellows are, he
was pretty eccentric, sort of an oddball. He could, I heard
him one time preach on the three cakes that Abraham had Sarah
to make. He preached for two and a half
hours on those three cakes. And you thought I was long-winded.
But he made a statement, dealing with the believers' trials, I
don't think I'll ever forget. It didn't register much at the
time. I was just 21, 22 years old. He said, heaven shall be
more glorious, more delightful, more blessed, for each of God's
elect than it could otherwise be by virtue of the trials we
suffer in the way. And that's exactly what Peter
tells us in 1 Peter 1. He says these trials, these temptations
are an exceeding weight of glory working for us a greater hope
of glory than we would otherwise have. People were much discouraged
because of the way, verse five. And the people spake against
God and against Moses, his servant. Wherefore had he brought us up
out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there's no bread, neither
is there any water. And our soul loatheth this light
bread, this manna, this manna that fell from heaven
every day, this angel's food, this manna that never changed. This manna that was the same
in taste, the manna that was the same in its qualities, the
manna that was the same in its nourishment, all their days in
the wilderness, they despise this light bread. Speaking of Christ, the bread
of life who comes down from God in heaven as our manna for our
souls. And there's no water, how so
loatheth this light bread, verse six. And the Lord sent fiery
serpents among the people. And they bit the people. And
much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to
Moses and said, we have sinned. For we've spoken against the
Lord and against thee. Pray unto the Lord that he take
away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
And the Lord said unto Moses, make thee a fiery serpent. and
set it upon a pole, and it shall come to pass that every one that
is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made
a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass
that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent
of brass, he lived. Now listen to our Savior's explanation
of this wonder. He tells us in John chapter 3,
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world. God so loved his elect throughout
the world, every part of the world, that he gave his only
begotten son, that whosoever believeth on him or in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life. In this fourth book of
Moses, it's called the book of numbers because it points to
the numbering of the children of Israel. And it concludes in
chapters 26 with the numbering of Israel again. Both numberings
done, not as a matter of pride as David had done, but by God's
commandment. If you read through the first
five books of Moses at one setting, you will see that you have things
portrayed here speaking of redemption. Leviticus seems a little bit
out of place. It seems to interrupt the narrative
of history. And that's because the book of
Leviticus really is parenthetical. It's that which explains everything.
It's the explanation of God's work of grace for his people,
the basis of it. Otherwise, these five books simply
give us the history of Israel as they moved from the beginning
of time through Egypt and at last into the land of promise.
The book of Numbers. covers the whole 40 years of
Israel's wandering in the wilderness and the events connected with
their journey. It begins with the numbering
of Israel and it describes how they were set in their camp around
the tabernacle and how they moved from place to place in order
in certain number as God ordered them. It was given to be a description
of what God was doing in the saving of his people by the sacrifice
of a lamb and by the work of his providence. It took 40 years
for Israel to move from Egypt into the land of Canaan and possess
it. Someone said that Israel's wilderness
journey was the longest funeral procession in history. Those
40 years in the wilderness were the result of the nation's unbelief. God sent spies to spy out the
land of Canaan. They went over, it was at the
most a 40 day walk from Egypt to Canaan. And God sent spies
to spy out the land. And they went and spied out the
land and Joshua and Caleb came back and said, let's go take
it. But the other spies said they're giants in the land. We
can't take it. We can't take it. It's too great
for us. And the people, rather than believing
God's messenger and God's message, rather than believing the report
that God gave by Joshua and Caleb, those faithful men, they believed
the unbelieving spies. And therefore the Lord God sentenced
them to this journey in the wilderness for 40 years. Until at last every
person who came out of Egypt, who was 20 years old or above
when they came out of Egypt, all of them died in the wilderness. That generation died in the wilderness.
God said, you shall not enter into my rest because of unbelief. All except for Joshua and Caleb. In these 36 chapters, we're confronted
with that, which may be the most difficult thing for us to learn
as God's people in this world. The most difficult thing for
us to deal with, our unbelief. I suspect you are like I am. This is where I have the greatest
struggle and the greatest trouble. Like the ancient Jews, we must
learn that God really does know best. That God's way really is
best. That God's purpose really is
best. that God's will really is best. Not my way, not my will, not
my purpose, not your way, not your will, not your purpose.
God's will, God's purpose, God's way, that's the best it could
possibly be. Learn that, and as we learn that,
we learn to trust in the Lord. with all our heart, and we learn
to lean not to our own understanding, but to acknowledge him in all
our way, to trust him, and he directs our paths. How I wish
we could learn to live like that. How I wish I could learn to live
as a man who really believes God. There is a way that seems right
unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways
of death. That statement in Proverbs 14,
and made again in the book of Proverbs, there is a way that
seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways
of death, pertains to Everything about man and man's devices,
man and man's religion, man and man's way. If God did things
our way, we would all perish. Thank God he doesn't. He overrules
and uses those things that we would never choose. for our everlasting
good and his eternal glory. Here we have a picture of people,
the children of Israel. They've come out of Egypt. They've
crossed the Red Sea. They've seen Pharaoh and his
armies laying in the mud on the banks of the Red Sea. They have
been provided for by God's miraculous hand. The Lord God had brought
them out of the land of Egypt, promised them this land of inheritance,
but they hadn't yet attained the prize. They had the faith
to follow God out of bondage and slavery and darkness, but
they had yet to come to the fullness of liberty and rest in Christ
Jesus. How much like them we are. We
believe on the Lord Jesus. We trust Him for the forgiveness
of our sins. You who are here tonight and
know God can say amen to what I've just said and what I'm about
to say. We have seen Satan. We've seen him cast out and our
sins drowned beneath the blood of our Savior. We're moving toward
heavenly glory. But oh, how much trouble we have.
trusting our Savior for our daily bread. Trusting our Savior for
breath by breath, moment by moment, event by event. But blessed be
His name, our God is faithful still. I cherish these words. I take them to be blessed words. If we believe not, Yet he abideth
faithful. He cannot deny himself. If we
believe not, we who are his, he abideth faithful. Blessed
be his name, he cannot deny himself. The foundation of God standeth
sure. The Lord knoweth them that are
his. Oh, how gracious he is. Brother Lindsey read back in
the office, Psalm 103, he remembereth our frame, or he knoweth our
frame, he remembereth that we are dust. We see this fact of
God's faithfulness, faithfulness in spite of our horrid unbelief. When we get to the latter part
of the book of Numbers from chapter 21 on, Here we see Israel triumphing
over their enemies by the hand of God. There are many enemies
around them. Outward forces of the kings,
Arod and Shihon and Ahok, the king of Bashan and the attempts
of Balaam, the false prophet, to undermine the purpose of God.
All of those things resulted only in the greater blessedness
of the children of Israel. The opposition of the nations,
the power of kings, Balaam, the false prophets, all those things
that Satan moved against the people of God, God used for them
and they benefited by them. Great is thy faithfulness, our
God. The book of Numbers gives us
in the most vivid language God himself could find. The fact
that though we are disobedient, though we are rebellious, though
we are full of unbelief and sin, we are barrenness and emptiness,
year after year after year, in this waste and howling wilderness,
that's all we are. Still, our great God will never
leave us nor forsake us. He has said, I will never leave
thee, nor forsake thee. That's repeated over and over
in scripture. Oh my God, how you proved it. I've told you before when I was
in school, This had been, oh, better than 50 years ago. I was in a pastoral homiletics
class and required to write out sermons, and I wrote out a sermon
on God's faithfulness. And it was good. It was perfectly
right. I would preach the same thing
today as I preached then. Matter of fact, I do preach the same
thing today as I preached then. But I was just a kid, 20 years
old, maybe 19 years old, and I didn't know anything about
God's faithfulness except what I knew here. It's now been better than a half
century since God has been proving to me by day by day experience
his faithfulness in spite of me, in spite of all I do, in
spite of all I think, in spite of all the evil that's in me,
in spite of my unbelief. Now there are four distinct pictures
of our Lord Jesus Christ in the book of Numbers. First, there's
Aaron's rod that budded in chapter 17. This was a picture of life
out of death. When that rod budded, God identified
Aaron as his high priest. So too, our Lord Jesus Christ
was publicly owned and declared to be the son of God with power
by his resurrection from the dead. And then there was a rock
that followed the children of Israel through the wilderness.
And that rock, when it was smitten, flowed with water, water for
the children of Israel. The Holy Spirit tells us in 1
Corinthians 10 that that rock was Christ. That rock portrayed
and symbolized the Lord Jesus, the smitten rock, and him being
smitten under the wrath of God by the sword of divine justice.
Now you and I have the waters of life flowing to us, the Spirit
of God coming to us, giving us life and faith in him because
he died and redeemed us. When Moses smote the rock the
second time, God was angry and Moses was forbidden to enter
the land of promise because he smoked the rock when God said,
speak to the rock. You see, Christ died once, once
and for all with finality, having died once for all his people,
having died once satisfying all the justice of God, having died
once putting away all our sins, never again the sword of justice
drawn against him or against us. Then in chapter 21 you have
the brazen serpent we just read about. It was another clear vivid
picture of our Lord Jesus. Because the children of Israel
murmured against him in judgment God sent fiery serpents to bite
them and many were killed. When Moses prayed for the people
and The Lord commanded Moses to make a serpent of brass, and
he said, it shall come to pass as you lift up that serpent on
a pole, everyone that's bitten as he looks on that serpent,
as he looks on that serpent will be healed from the bite of the
fiery serpent. And so our Lord Jesus is portrayed
as our sacrifice, that one lifted up upon a pole. lifted up upon
the cursed tree, suffering the wrath of God in our stead. And
all who look to him have life everlasting by him. We were talking
back in the office a little bit ago, I think I told you last
week, Brother Ralph Barnard went to preach for evangelists many,
many years ago, who had a reputation for judging everybody by his
experience. As a matter of fact, Brother
Mark Henson came in the office and asked me about the blind
man healed. One time the fellow put a little
mud on the fellow's eyes and healed him. Another time he put
mud on the fellow's eyes twice to heal him. Another time he
didn't put any on the fellow's eyes. What's the difference?
It portrays both the miracle of God's salvation for us and
the diversity of our experience of God's salvation. Don't allow
yourself to be lured into taking somebody else's experience and
pretending that it's yours. and don't allow anyone to demand
it. Ralph walked into the place where he was going to hold a
meeting and the secretary, who kind of kept the pastor's schedule,
his wife was an invalid, she said, she said, Brother Barnard,
would you tell me about your experience of the Lord's, His
salvation? And Barnard looked down over
his glasses and he said, I would, if I thought it was any of your
business. He had a way of putting folks
in their place. And anytime I have folks who want me to describe
my experience, I'm fairly well convinced what they really want
to do is try to decide whether or not I really know God. Don't
allow that to happen to yourself. You and I experience the same
grace of God, giving sight to the blind and life to the dead.
But that grace of God comes to us in various experiences of
grace. Some, like the Philippian jailer,
God brings an earthquake and gets your attention. Or like
the Saul of Tarsus, God lays you on your back and a bolt of
lightning strikes you. And some, like Lydia, whose heart
the Lord opened as Paul reasoned with her out of the scriptures.
Don't ever try to judge salvation by what you've experienced. Here's
the one thing. Are you listening to me? This
is the one thing that matters. Do you now look to the Son of
God? Do you trust the Son of God?
I presume, Brother Claus, you're the oldest one here. I presume
so. If Ruth is older, I don't want to know it. But it doesn't
matter what you've experienced in the past. It's totally irrelevant. It's totally irrelevant. All
that matters is this, dost thou believe on the Son of God? It's
not how clearly do you see the brazen serpent. It's not how
can you describe the brazen serpent. It's not do you know how the
brazen serpent was made. Do you look out of yourself to
Christ the Lord? That's called faith. That's called
salvation. That's called grace. God's servants
are like that pole. that Moses used to hold up the
serpent of brass. We have one business in this
world. My business is to stand before sinners and uphold the
crucified Christ. That's my business. Doesn't matter
whether I'm preaching to thousands of people or two or three, and
I've done both many times. Doesn't matter whether I'm preaching
to you or preaching to the other side of the world. My business
is to uphold Christ crucified. Doesn't matter whether I'm expanding
a book like the book of Numbers now or the book of Leviticus
or the book of Romans. The message of the book is Jesus
Christ crucified. And any preacher who stands where
I now stand, speaking in God's name to eternity bound sinners
and does not tell sinners how God saved sinners and how they
can get that salvation has done a miserable job and has no business
preaching. That's the business of preachers.
We have numerous pictures of our Savior in the scripture.
There's another picture, the cities of refuge. Those cities
of refuge are described in the book of Numbers, chapter 35.
And those cities of refuge were designed by God on either side
of the Jordan, so that the children of Israel, wherever they were
found, anytime somebody accidentally killed someone, they could flee
to one of the cities. And all over the land, there
were signs, like with fingers pointing, that said refuge, refuge. You've seen these old Westerns,
they just have a marked sign with a point of an arrow pointing
this way to this place, this way to that place. Well, they
had arrows pointing, refuge, refuge this way. And anybody
in all the land of Israel could get to a city of refuge within
one day's journey. The refuge portrays Christ. And once he got to the city of
refuge, entering into the city, the manslayer by law could not
touch him. And you who believe on the Son
of God, God's justice, God's wrath, God's fury, God's anger
against sin can never touch you. God's law itself demands it.
Justice satisfied will not punish you for your sins. We're saved
by the merit and the blood of Jesus Christ our Redeemer and
His perfect righteousness and that alone. In addition to those
types, the Lord gives us the picture of Balaam, that false
prophet, that ungodly wretch, a man who was a hireling prophet. But God even uses false prophets. All things are of God. And Balaam
was a cursed man, a damned man, a lost man. He's been in hell
for a long time, but God used him. Both to prophesy of the
coming of Christ, the Prince King, the coming of Christ, the
star coming down from heaven, the coming of Christ, and of
the sure perfect salvation of God's people. Telling us God
has not beheld iniquity in Israel. He's not seen sin in Judah. You see, God Almighty, our sovereign
God, rules everywhere and rules everything for our everlasting
good. He rules everywhere and rules
everything, even the deeds of ungodly men, even the deeds of
false prophets, for the benefit of our souls, for the glory of
his name. for our everlasting salvation.
Yes, we are failures. Nothing on this earth is more
dishonoring to God and more harmful to us than our unbelief. No, God doesn't punish his people
for their sins, but he chastens us. And by our unbelief, oh,
I wonder what blessings we miss. The Lord God says, I am the Lord
thy God, which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee
by the way that thou shouldest go. Oh, that thou hast hearkened
to my commandments. Then had thy peace been as a
river, and thy righteousness as ways of the sea. Our Lord stood before Jerusalem,
and said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets,
and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I
have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens
under her wings, and ye would not. Ye would not. The book of Numbers
also teaches us that God Almighty demands that those who speak
for him be heard and obeyed. Ask Korah, Datha, and Abiram. I've been pastoring for nearly
50 years. I've been preaching for 53 years. And I have heard people say,
never without open rebuke. But I've heard people say, he's
just a preacher. I don't follow preachers. You'll
either follow God's service or you'll go to hell, one of the
two. God didn't raise Moses up for
nothing. He didn't raise Paul up for nothing,
and he didn't raise Don up for nothing. Men who faithfully speak
for God are to be heard, and the word they preach to be obeyed. I hear folks, well, you gave
me a lot to think about tonight. Bill, I didn't come here to give
you something to think about. I came here to give you a message to
believe, and you're responsible to believe it. I didn't come
here to study about Scripture. I came here to proclaim the message
of Scripture. Multitudes, like the sons of Korah, and the mixed
multitude in Israel, multitudes, have a barren familiarity with
the things of God. They profess faith, but have
none. They profess grace, but have none. J.C. Ryle made this statement. I've read it somewhere many,
many years ago. Nothing so hardens the hearts of men as a barren
familiarity with the things of God. And one more thing we should
learn. The most deadly thing in this
world is the era of Balaam, that false prophet. Balaam was a hireling prophet. He served God, or professed to,
pretended to, for hire, for covetousness, for what he could get from it.
And for his own profit, to keep from having to suffer for the
cause. Balaam taught the children of
Israel to mingle the worship of God with the worship of idols. He taught them to mingle the
work of men's hands with the worship of God, and thus Israel
perished. The book of Numbers, giving us
example after example, teaches us there is but one remedy for
sin, one way of salvation. and eternal life. The only remedy
is Christ, our crucified Redeemer. He said, I, if I be lifted up
from the earth, will draw all men unto me. My business is to
lift him up. Our business as a local church
is to lift him up. Our business in this generation
is to lift him up, nothing else. Ours is to sow the seed, nothing
else. He said, I'll be lifted up from
the earth. I will draw all men. That is, I'll draw all kinds
of men. Old and young, rich and poor, black and white, learned
and unlearned. I'll draw men from the four corners
of the earth. I'll draw my elect unto myself. He is the magnet. Our business is to lift him up.
He said, I am the way. the truth and the life. No man
cometh unto the Father but by me. Now I bid you, my brother,
my sister, and you who yet know not my savor, I bid you, come
to Christ right now just like I did in the beginning. I came
to him with nothing in my hands, no experience, no knowledge, Nothing to offer, no promises,
nothing that I could use to say, Lord, you saved me and I will.
Nothing. A guilty, dirty, bankrupt, helpless,
ignorant sinner. looking to Christ for everything. So walk ye in him. That's how we live. And that's
the message of the book of Numbers. Our failure, God's faithfulness. Amen.