impact, and you can see it right
away, an enormous impact on the person you're talking to. This
world has nothing but lies, lies. And I've been around long enough
to know lies are usually loud and impatient. No wonder the
world is the way it is, running around frantic, running from
this to this. But God speaks in a still, small
voice, and we're comforted. Look at what we listen to. I
wanted to preach about our great Phinehas today. If you go, please,
that's in Numbers Chapter 25, but first I want to introduce
it by going to 1 Corinthians Chapter 10. 1 Corinthians Chapter
10. He shows us what is our strength
and our motive to fight against the indwelling sin that we carry
through this life. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse
1. 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 all baptized
unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did eat that same
spiritual meat, and did all drink that same spiritual drink. For
they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and
that rock was Christ. overthrown in the wilderness.
Now these things were our examples to the intent we should not lust
after evil things as they also lusted." Every believer's only
problem in life, only problem, is our indwelling sin. We do desire to please God. That
is our heart's desire. And it's for the right reasons,
too. We know it's not to gain God's favor. We already have
it. We want to please God. But we
see another law warring against the law of our mind and bringing
us into captivity. How could we remain so unbelieving
when God has done so much for us? His Son has given us His Scriptures,
His Holy Spirit. How could we not wake up every
day and serve Him every second? That's because we have two natures.
We have an old man, we have a new man. Our old man never, ever
loves God, never understands God, hates God. And our new man
is always loving God perfectly. In Ephesians chapter 4, God gives
us a verse that explains this, to my mind, the most concise,
besides Romans chapter 7, that I know of. He says, put off the
old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and put
on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness, Paul wrote that to believers,
and he said that there is, in a believer right now, there is
a corrupt nature, and it can't be improved. And at the same
time, there is, in every believer, a perfectly holy, righteous nature
that also cannot be improved. He doesn't tell us to improve
on, or try to clean up the old nature. What he does tell us
is to take off, put off the old man and put on the new. That goes against everything
we know in this world because naturally when we have a problem,
we look at the problem to fix it. But spiritually, we look
to Christ to fix our problem. See, the way of the Lord is through
the sea. It's not natural to us. It's
actually contrary. We can only see that through
faith. We know that Jesus Christ is
our sanctification. But even knowing this, our old
nature, that pragmatist, that Pharisee, will still creep up. Our new man, we say, who can
understand his errors. As soon as we say that, the old
man's right behind him saying, I should try harder to understand
my errors. The new man says, keep back thy
servant from presumptuous sins. And the old man says, stop being
presumptuous. Through this whole back and forth
throughout our lives, God teaches us that the law made nothing
perfect. that our hope did, by the which
we draw nigh to God. And who is it that draws nigh
to God but those with two natures who want to worship God and want
to put off the old and put on the new. Now verse seven, neither
be ye idolaters as some of them were. 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 twenty thousand. Now that's the same event that
we're going to see in Numbers chapter 25. Neither let us tempt
Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of
serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of
them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now
all these things happened unto them for examples. and they are
written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are
come. These are the last days. Wherefore,
let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed, lest he fall. Is God scaring us? Is He scaring
His children with this verse? Is He saying, take heed, you
that believe in Christ, you might end up in hell anyway. Jesus
Christ is able to save to the uttermost. There are no threats
in Scripture. If you've come to Jesus Christ,
if you do come having nothing, needing everything, knowing He
alone can give it, there are no threats, only encouragement
and love and peace in the Scripture. If it's of works, It's no more
of grace, just like if it's of threats, it's no more of love. The two can't go together. So
what is this verse saying? Let him that thinks he stands
take heed lest he fall. It's saying, take heed who you're
standing on in order to not lust after evil things. Take heed
what you're relying on to to fight against the sin nature
in your life. Let him who thinks he resists
temptations in the flesh by his own strength, take heed lest
he fall. In Galatians chapter three, verse
three, Paul addresses them who were falling into the air of
self sanctification. He says, are you so foolish? Having begun in the spirit, are
you now made perfect by the flesh? You were given faith, first time,
by the Holy Spirit, showing you that Jesus Christ is all. That
He came and lived a perfect life in your stead, and He died a
death for your sin. and He made an end of sin. You
heard about a finished salvation, you were a finished sinner, and
you loved it. You were justified freely through
the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, not in the strength of
your hand. Are you now going to go back
and rely on your own will, your own strength, to fight against
the old nature? No. Scripture says that we of
righteousness, and that Spirit was sent to take the things of
Christ and show them to us. That's why He's called the Helper,
the Comforter. He continually teaches us that
every time we think we stand in the flesh, we fall. The point
of this message is to show that Christ Himself is our motive,
our strength, in putting off the corruption of the old man.
It's knowing that we are crucified with Christ and we died in Him,
just like Phinehas killed the man of Israel and Cosby in one
blow. We'll see that in our story.
Our strength is to stand still, the scripture says, but we don't
stand still with an empty mind. God says, think on these things,
set your mind on things above. That is how Jesus Christ is all
that we need to stand on and to put off the old and put on
the new. So let's go to Numbers chapter
25, please. Verse one, and Israel abode in
Shittim, and the people began to commit horde with the daughters
of Moab. And they called the people unto
the sacrifices of their gods, and the people did eat and bowed
down to their gods. Have you loved God with all your
heart, soul, mind, and strength every second from the very first
moment you were given faith? I have not either. So this message
is to us. Here's God's people going and
straying from their God. Verse 3. And Israel joined himself
unto Baal Peor, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against
Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Take all the heads of the people and hang them up before the Lord
against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned
away from Israel. And Moses said unto the judges
of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto
Baal Peor. And behold, one of the children
of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman
in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation
of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door
of the tabernacle of the congregation. And but Phinehas, the son of
Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it. He rose up from
among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand. Phinehas,
his name means the face of one who spares. Who is it that spares? It's God the Father. Christ is
the face of God, the express image of his person, the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. He said, if you've seen me, you've
seen the Father. This is the one who shows us
who God is, our Phinehas, and he rose up from among the congregation. In Deuteronomy 18, God told Moses
that I will raise them up a prophet, From among their own brethren,
a prophet is one who declares God, the mind and will of God.
From among their own brethren, from among the congregation.
How can we sin against one who has shown us so much of himself? Instead of sinning against a
God who is shrouded in mystery and hides Himself from us, this
is the face of Him that spares. And He came from those who God
spares. We have a Savior who says, I
will declare Thy name unto my brethren. Brethren, consider
Him so that you don't feel weary and lose heart. Christ is the
King of the Jews, born through the Jewish nation, and we as
believers are the true Jews, according to Philippians chapter
three. The face of one who spares came
into the world through those who God spares. He took on the
nature of the seed of Abraham. This is why Christ can sympathize
with our weakness, brethren. Could you go to Hebrews chapter
four, please? of our infirmities. And I want
this message to be used by God for us to put off the old and
put on the new man. And we do that by looking to
Christ. Hebrews chapter 4. I thought about this. Moses himself
was a great type of Christ in the scriptures. You know that
God's people Israel were slaves at this time and Moses was raised
by Pharaoh's daughter in the palace after he was floated down
the river and she found him. In Exodus chapter 2 verse 11
it says, it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown that
he went out and he looked on their burdens. He went out of
the palace and he saw his brethren in slavery. When the fullness
of time was come, God sent forth his son made of a woman. I can just imagine that moment
in time when Moses looked around and saw, he felt for the first
time their misery and he was in his heart, in his mind he
was touched with the feeling of their infirmities in a way
he couldn't be if he had stayed in the palace. In the same way
Moses chose to suffer affliction with the people of God, Christ
came to this earth. He came to our world from heaven.
So let's read Hebrews 4 verse 14. Seeing then that we have
a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the
Son of God, let us hold fast our profession For we have not
a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities, but was at all points tempted, like as we are. We won't go to someone for help
who can't relate to us, or one who we don't know much about. Are you tossed about and sick
and scared by your old sin nature, that body of death strapped to
your back? Look to Christ. He's seen your
burdens. He arose from the congregation
and shown you the very face of God because God purposed to spare
you. Stand on Him. who spares." He arose from the
congregation. Verse 8, once he arose, he went
after the man who had taken the Midianite woman into the tent.
He went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both
of them through, the man of Israel and the woman, through her belly.
So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. This
is Christ destroying our enemies. The man of Israel is you, your
sins, your old man. And the woman here, her name
is Cosby, look in verse 15, and the name of the Midianite woman
that was slain was Cosby, the daughter of Zerub. Cosby means
liar. That's what that name means.
Satan was the first liar. He told the first lie. Christ
said he abode not in truth because there's no truth in him. And
when he speaks a lie, he speaks his own native tongue because
he's the father of lies. Jesus Christ destroyed the works
of the devil on the cross. At the same time, he put away
our sin and killed our old men. And look, our Phinehas went into
the tent. He didn't wait until we started
resisting the devil. He went in. When we were yet
enemies, Christ died for us. He rescued us from the strongman's
palace, brethren. Let's go to 2 Corinthians chapter
5. Yeah, chapter 5. Our Phinehas went after the man
of Israel and thrust both of them through. 2 Corinthians chapter
5. The way of the Lord is through
the sea. It seems like to combat our sin, we would want to discern
the what, why, where of our sin itself, but we don't do that.
We look back at the cross. And when we look back at the
cross, we see that when Christ died, teaches plainly that sin shall
not have dominion over you. Why? Because he that is dead
is freed from sin. Romans chapter 6 reminds us that
everything Christ did, His elect did in Him. We can't stress that
enough. We can't take it too far. When
you feel overwhelmed, think on that, brethren. How does it work,
though? Well, it says, in that he, Christ,
in that he died, he died unto sin once. But in that he liveth,
he liveth unto God. And since you were in Him when
He did that, reckon ye yourselves also to be dead indeed unto sin,
but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And how do I
reckon that? Romans 6 says it right there.
Reckon it by knowing this, that our old man is crucified with
Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth
we should not serve sin. Phinehas went into the tent,
and he thrust through the man of Israel. 2 Corinthians chapter
5 tells us the exact same thing as Romans chapter 6. Verse 14,
For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge. that
if one died for all, then, then we're all dead. And that he died
for all, that they which live should henceforth not live unto
themselves. But unto him which died for them
and rose again, he that is dead is freed from sin. If we belong
to the Lord Jesus Christ, he is going to whittle us down until
that is all we have. God's written word right there
telling us we are dead to sin. Because if we're honest, we can't
see much evidence of that. But God says it. If you believe
in Jesus Christ, you are dead to sin. He thrust you through.
It will not have a victory over you. Then it has rose up and went
into the tent of our humanity. And he killed him that had the
power of death. And it says, and so the plague
was stayed. This is what we think on, to
put off the old man and put on the new. It is finished brethren. Scripture says he made a show
of the devil openly triumphing over him in it. He killed our
old man and destroyed the works of the devil. Verse 9, And those that died
in the plague were twenty and four thousand, but none for whom
Christ died will die in this plague. And the Lord spake unto
Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of Eliezer, the son of Aaron
the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel,
while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not
the children of Israel in my jealousy. Wherefore, say, Behold,
I give unto him my covenant of peace. Because Phinehas turned
wrath away, God gave him a covenant. But God gave Christ as a covenant. to turn wrath away from us. He
said, I have given him a covenant for the people. Jesus Christ
is the covenant. In Isaiah chapter 54, God says,
in a little wrath, I hide my face from thee for a moment,
but with everlasting kindness, will I have mercy on thee, saith
the Lord, thy Redeemer. In a little wrath, for a moment,
One of Job's friends said that God holdeth back the face of
his throne and spreadeth his cloud over it. There was a cloud
between us and God. We couldn't see him as children
of wrath, as unbelievers. We couldn't see our Phinehas
interceding on our behalf. We couldn't see God's smile.
And he rolls that cloud away. For this, he goes on, for this
is as the waters of Noah unto me. For as I swore that the waters
of Noah shall no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that
I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. Are you weighed
down with sin, brethren? Is it that law, that principle,
that force, warring against the law of your mind that you can't
get away from? Well, the Bible teaches that
God's anger already washed over our covenant head, the Lord Jesus
Christ. The flood of his anger washed
over him and we were in that ark and not one drop of that
water touched us or ever will. This is as the waters of Noah
unto God he promises, promises are irrevocable. Neither shall the covenant of
my peace be removed." He goes on. Now look at verse 12 here. God says, Wherefore say, Behold,
I give unto him my covenant of peace. Isaiah goes on in that
same place, he says, the mountains shall depart, and the hills be
removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither
shall the covenant of my peace be removed, save the Lord that
hath mercy on me. God calls it in numbers, he calls
it my covenant of peace, and in Isaiah he calls it the covenant
of my peace. The point is, the peace is God's
to give, because only God can make peace with God. Being chosen
before the foundation of the world, God's elect, in Christ
Jesus, blessed with all spiritual blessings, before the foundation
of the world, this covenant is everlasting. From everlasting
to everlasting, Jesus Christ has always been interceding on
our behalf. On the day that the heavens and
the earth flee away, being no place found for them, we will
see our great Phinehas. We'll see and feel in our being
what it means when he says he's not ashamed to call us brethren. We will see God's kindness. Jesus Christ is the peacemaker,
so make him peace by the blood of his cross in Colossians. He's
the peace publisher who came and preached peace to those who
are far and those who are near in Ephesians. And he's the peace
giver. Peace, my peace, give unto thee. I give unto him my covenant of
peace. Verse 13, and he shall have it
in his seat after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood,
because he was zealous for his God and made an atonement for
the children of Israel. He was zealous, brethren. This
covenant of peace is also called the covenant of an everlasting
priesthood because without a priest coming between
you and God, making sacrifice for you. Now, Phinehas would
go on to die, but Jesus Christ was made after the power of an
endless life. Is this not a comfort to put
off the old man? God says that He's given us an
everlasting consolation and a good hope through grace, and everlasting
consolation can only come from knowing about an everlasting
priest. Imagine Jesus Christ praying
in the room right next to you, and you could hear through paper-thin
walls, you could hear Him praying for you. It's the same He's doing
now, but He's in Heaven. What a comfort that would be.
You know, a priest is one who makes sacrifices for the people,
But Christ is the one making the sacrifice, and he is the
sacrifice. Abraham told Isaac when they
were carrying that wood up the mountain that God will provide
himself a lamb for a burnt offering. God will be the one doing the
providing. He will provide himself. And
God will be what he provided. God will provide himself. God is the one requiring sacrifice
for sin, being the sacrifice, and accepting the sacrifice.
That's why it's called the covenant of my peace, he says. Our Fennah
has made an atonement. Look now, he was zealous for
his God in verse 13 and made an atonement for the children
of Israel. He doesn't pray for the world
and he doesn't die for the world, but he made an atonement for
the children of Israel. I know of no better way. And
this is shown in scripture, and you know this in your experience,
there is no better way to be transformed and renewed in your
mind, and not conform to this world, than to fill your mind
with the blood atonement made by the God-man, Jesus Christ.
God says, set your affections on things above, where Christ
sith, at the right hand of God, because He made an atonement,
and the work is done. He put away sins by the sacrifice
of Himself, did our everlasting priest. Let's go to Hebrews chapter
9, please. Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. Now, verse... Remember, the book of Hebrews
starts by, in chapter one, verse three, it says, when Christ had
by himself purged our sins. Remember that. Starting in verse
12 here. Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the
blood For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of
a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying
of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through
the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Dead works
is trying in the flesh to stand against our old man. It's trying
to be made perfect by the flesh after you be gone in the spirit.
Trying by our strength of our will to not fall to temptation. We need our conscience purged
because we know that when we would do good, we find a law
that is present with us. that evil is present with us,
and we know that religious rituals will never, ever fix our sin
problem. Here's the purging, though. It
says, how much more shall he purge your conscience? You know
when that happens? It's when we say, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? That's the question. Here's the
purging, though. I thank God, through Jesus Christ,
my Lord, because by one sacrifice He put away sin. Now let's go
to, flip one page over, Hebrews chapter 10. What I'm trying to
say is, The way that we approach God, the way that we come into
fellowship with God is either going to be something that brings
to mind our sinfulness, a remembrance made of sins, or it's going to
be something that purges our conscience because it's faith
in the one who purged our sins. Let's read verses one through
three. Chapter Ten For the law, having a shadow of good things
to come, and not the very image of the things, can never, with
those sacrifices which they offer year by year continually, make
the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have
ceased to be purged. because that the worshippers,
once purged, should have had no more conscience of sins. But, in those sacrifices, there
is a remembrance again, made of sins every year. Trying to
combat our sinful flesh, in the flesh, is just a remembrance
of sins made again, every day. Now, go down to verse 9, please. Verse 9. God had no pleasure
in the sacrifice and offerings of the Levitical system. Then
in verse 9, Then said He, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. He taketh away the first covenant,
that He may establish the second. By the witch will, the will of
God that Christ came to do, by that will we are sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every
priest standeth daily, ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies he
made his footstool. Our strength in this battle come
from knowing our Phinehas made one sacrifice for sins forever,
and then sat down. Verse 15, whereof the Holy Ghost
also is a witness to us. For after that he had said before,
this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,
saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts and in
their minds will I write them. And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. We say, my sin is ever before
me. God says, I remember it no more. We read that the love of God
is what constrains us, and how do we see the love of God? Scripture
says, hereby perceive we the love of God, because that He
laid down His life for us. There's nothing that keeps our
old nature from breaking out into sinful activity except thinking
on the sacrifice of the Son of God that He made on the tree
for us. It says, put ye on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and make no provision for the flesh. That's how we
do that. Look to Him. For the transgression
of my people was He stricken, stricken for you. Let's go back to our text now. and he shall have it and his
seed after him. His seed after him. I got out of order here. I'm sorry to have you do so much
flipping. Go to Psalm 89, please. Because God made this covenant
with our covenant head, the Lord Jesus Christ. It also says he
made it with us, his seed. Let's go to Psalm 89. Let's start reading at verse
19. Then thou spakest in vision to
thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty. I have exalted one chosen out
of the people. I have found David my servant.
With my holy oil have I anointed him as Christ, with whom my hand
shall be established. My arm also shall strengthen
him. The enemy shall not exact upon
him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him. And I will beat
down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.
But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him. And in my
name shall this one be exalted. I will set his hand also in the
sea, and his right hand in the rivers. He shall cry unto me,
thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. Also
I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the
earth. My mercy will I keep for him forevermore, and my covenant
shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to
endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven. It's his
children. Christ is called the everlasting
Father in Isaiah chapter 7. If his children forsake my law
and walk not in my judgments, if they break my statutes and
keep not my commandments, then will I visit their transgression
with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my
lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, from Christ. nor suffer my faithfulness to
fail. In Isaiah chapter 55, God says,
why are you spending money for that which is not bread, and
your labors for that which satisfieth not? Why are you trying to be
made perfect in the flesh? No, no, no, come unto me. Here
and your soul shall live. And I will make with you an everlasting
covenant, even the short mercies of David. God made this covenant
with Phinehas, our Christ, and he made it with his seed in him,
his children. Isaiah 55 is this right here
in verse 33. Nevertheless, my lovingkindness
will I not utterly take from him. The sure mercies of David
is that God made a promise to Christ that if they send his
children, God will not take his mercy and faithfulness away from
Christ. To take his mercy and favor from
Christ would be like to taking it from us. We are bone of his
bone and flesh of his flesh. The scripture says, that's why
it's called the covenant of my peace. If we believe not, yet
he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself. God gave this covenant
of peace to our Phinehas, and his seed after him. Though we go a-whoring with the
daughters of Moab and join ourselves to Baal, God will not take his
mercy from Christ. His mercy is higher than the
heavens, brethren. When we are comforting each other
and encouraging each other about our sin and our wanting to not
sin, Really, there's so much we can say. There's so many ways
we can go. But really, there's only one
way. It all comes down. Whatever you're going to say,
it comes right back to this. God made a covenant with His
Son that is unmovable. And Jesus Christ has already
performed it all. God will not ever take His mercy
away from you, though you break His statutes and keep not His
commandments. I heard a man say once that,
uh, sin will take you further than you want to go, cost you
more than you want to pay, and keep you longer than you want
to stay. Now, that's true. That's true, and it's worth repeating
in such a foolish day when Most people will say that if something
feels good and it doesn't hurt anybody else according to my
definition of hurting anybody else, then you should do it.
That's a true statement, but there's no gospel in it. That
will never be used by God to cause somebody to walk in His
light and to put off the old man. It might sanctify to the
purifying of the flesh. But, in the end, it will only
be a remembrance of sins made, again, day after day. Let's put
some gospel in that. He said, sin will take you further
than you wanted to go. Well, how far did our sins take
Christ? In Proverbs chapter 8, he said
that before His incarnation, He was daily His Father's delight,
rejoicing always before Him. Our sins took Christ from heaven
to earth. Yet He became poor for our sake,
that we might become rich." That's how far our sins took Christ.
The man said, uh, our sins will cost us more than we want to
pay. How much did our sins cost Christ? Our sins costed Him communion
with His Heavenly Father. When He hung on the cross and
our sins became Him, His, He says, My iniquity, they were
His sins, they became His. My iniquity has taken hold on
me, so that I am not able to look up. He felt the shame of
our sin. Our sins caused Christ communion
with His Heavenly Father. How long did our sins keep Him,
since sin will keep us longer than we wanted to stay. How long
did it keep Christ? Well, until the last drop in
the cup of God's fury was spent. It kept Christ three days and
three nights in the grave. He said, the earth with her bars
was about me forever. And he did this for us, to bring
us to him forever. So set your mind on things above,
brethren, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. How
much room in your mind is there to lust after evil things when
you think on these things? How shall keep him in perfect
peace whose mind is stayed on thee? Now, back to our text real
quick. Verse 14, And now the name of
the Israelite that was slain, even that was slain with the
Midianite woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a chief
house among the Simeonites. And the name of the Midianite
woman that was slain was Cosby, the daughter of Zur. He was head
over a people and of a chief house in Midian. And the Lord
spake unto Moses, saying, Vex the Midianites, and smite them. For they vex you with their wiles,
wherewith they have beguiled you in the manner of Peor, and
in the manner of Cosby, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their
sister, which was slain in the day of the plague for Peor's
sake. If our indwelling sin grieves
us, then what grieves us even more is our attempt to combat
it, apart from simple faith in Christ. You know, when God brought
the Israelites into the land of Canaan, He didn't drive out
all the pagan nations. He left His people surrounded
by pagan cultures, with their pagan deities. And Israel, God's
people, were continually beleaguered by and attacked by these people. God could have driven them all
out. God killed 185,000 Syrian troops in one night with His
death angel. He could have driven them all
out, but He kept them there to show His people that He was their
only hope. To show them that they needed
to lean on Him for defense. When God first gave us faith,
He could have taken our old man away. But He's kept it there
to show us the same thing. If you're like me, you lie in
bed and think about my day, really. The words from Psalm 56 usually
come to mind. My enemies, my sin, would daily
swallow me up, for they be many that fight against me. But here's
the hope. What time am I am afraid? I will
trust in me. I'll thank God through Jesus
Christ, my Lord. God tells his people to by putting
on Christ, to fight against that which I've already defeated.
This is what I've been driving at. We vex the Midianites by
putting on Christ, by thinking on a successful Savior, who has
His everlasting arms beneath you and His smile above you. Give no place to the devil, knowing
that Cosby has already been destroyed. put on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill it in the lust
thereof. By knowing that our old man is
crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
we vex the Midianites by looking to Him who already defeated them. That sin that we struggle with
and will, For our whole lives, that same sin will sink a world
to hell. But we'll hear, well done, thou
good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of thy Lord.
So brethren, think on these things.