Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Numbers. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. Numbers chapter 6. Numbers 6. I'd like to look at the last
few verses starting in verse 22 of Numbers chapter 6. And I want to read these verses,
verses 22 to 27. I've entitled this message, The
Lord Who Blesses. Numbers chapter 6 verse 22, And
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 they shall put my name upon the children of Israel and I
will bless them. If there's anything that a believer
truly wants to know, wants and desires to know, it's to hear
from the Lord that the Lord has been pleased to bless him. Because there's only one of two
things that God's going to do. He's going to bless, he's going
to curse. A man telling me that I'm blessed
of the Lord does not settle my heart unless that man can show
me in the scriptures the truth, the evidence of God's blessing. Just somebody saying the Lord
has blessed you, what does that mean? What does it mean that
the Lord would bless me? Now, a believer has got to hear
from God, and that word from the Lord has got to be made effectual
to my heart. God's got to say it, I've got
to see it, and it's got to be made a blessing to me. The Scripture says, David, Psalm
28, verse 1, Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock, be not silent
to me, lest if thou be silent to me I become like them that
go down into the pit. A believer does not want the
Lord to be silent to him. Two sentences ago. We were looking in Song of Solomon. I'll just read this for you.
Song of Solomon chapter 3. And the bride was saying, By
night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth. I sought
him but I found him not. A believer wants to hear from
the Lord. He wants to hear from the Lord
in his word. He wants to hear from the Lord
in his heart. I want to hear from God. So today, I want us
to consider these few verses of Scripture concerning God's
blessing to His people, a blessing that we need to hear again and
again. I don't want to hear it one time. I want to hear it. I want the
Lord to bless me, and I want to know what do you mean when
you say that? What is that? All right, well,
let's look at these verses for a second. Verse 22, and you see
the all caps there of the L-O-R-D, Jehovah, spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, saying, On this wise you
shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them. Now, if we bless the Lord, We
thank Him. We praise Him. We adore Him. We can bless the Lord only with
thanksgiving. What are we going to do? What
are we going to do for the Lord? But thank Him. In all things,
give thanks. This is the will of God and Christ
Jesus concerning you. But for the Lord to bless us,
there is absolutely something that must be done. He got to
do something for us to bless us. So the scripture says that
Jehovah spoke to Moses and related that Moses was to speak to Aaron
and then Aaron was to relate the blessing of God to the people. Now somebody would read that
and you'd think, well, why would God speak to Moses and tell him
to say something to Aaron, and then Aaron is to say something
to the people concerning the blessing of God. Well, when we
look at this, we realize that there's some pictures here. There's
some types. And Moses is a picture of the
law. The law came by Moses, grace
and truth by the Lord Jesus Christ. So here's Moses. Jehovah is speaking
to Moses who is a picture of the law so I could say it like
this. The Lord said to the law, you say to Aaron, well who is
Aaron? Well Aaron is a picture of the
priest, the Lord Jesus, the great high priest. So the law is going
to say to the priest, and the priest is going to say to the
people. So Moses being a picture of the
law, the Lord Jehovah spake to Moses and said, speaking to Aaron,
so why would I not want the law to speak to me? Can the law speak
a blessing to me? I want you to hold your place
right there. Turn to Exodus 20. I'm going to read you the latter
part. Exodus chapter 20, I'm going
to read verses 12 to 17. But what this is, is the latter
part of the Ten Commandments. Now, I want you to listen to
what's being said in these latter verses, the latter part of the
Ten Commandments. And let's say that the law is
going to say something to me or you, Pat. Exodus 20, starting
in verse 20. Exodus 20, verse 12. Honor thy
father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land
which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Now you know when we were going
in Matthew chapter 6 and the Lord was giving the spiritual
application of the law. He said, you know, you've heard
it said, thou shalt not kill. But if a man, you know, if a
man hates someone in his heart, if there's animosity, if you
ever think one thought of animosity, anger, anger, he said, you murdered
him. So here's what the law says.
Honor thy father, thy mother. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt
not commit adultery. Not one thought. Not one deviation. from purity and holiness. The
Lord said if a man looks upon a woman to lust after her, you
committed adultery with her in your heart. So here's what the
law says, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery,
thou shalt not steal, don't steal something, don't steal a man's
character, don't steal nothing. Thou shalt not bear false witness
against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's
house. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, or his manservant,
maidservant, ox, ass, or anything that is thy neighbor's. Now,
let me ask you this. Can the law pronounce a blessing
upon anyone? The scripture says, therefore
by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in
his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. You know
what, just reading those verses of the scripture in Exodus chapter
20, you know what I realize? By nature, I'm a lawbreaker.
I'm a law, I have never, I've never kept the law of God. And
the law is going to bless me, Paul said, Romans 7, 9, I was
alive without the law once. Here's what he thought. Because
of what I thought I was doing in my obedience. I was all these
things, a Pharisee of Pharisees, and I was this, that, and the
other tribe, this, that, you know what I mean? I was blameless. He said, I was alive without
the law once, but when the commandment came, that is in regenerating
grace, I saw myself for what I really am. He said, sin revived
and I died. I realized, I'm dead in trespasses
and sins. So before any man in false religion
He's converted. He fancies himself to be righteous. Righteous before God. Righteous
before men. He sees himself as having fulfilled
the demand of God's law for salvation. He's done all he could do. In his mind, he thinks, all I
have to do is this little act of whatever. Whatever you do. Once I do that one thing, I'm
saved. You know, the law is satisfied. Justice has been, you know, done. Justice is satisfied. Righteousness
is satisfied. I'm done. I'm good. Not according
to God's law. But when the light of God's Spirit
reveals something of the demand, of the severity, of the strictness
of God's law, that to offend in one Now listen, let me tell
you something. There is nobody in this congregation
this morning, in themselves, that's innocent. We're all guilty. We're all deserving of hell.
All of us. And if we have to deal with the
law of God in ourselves, we're going to lose. The wages of sin is death. And
we, because of the weakness of our flesh, we cannot keep the
law of God. So therefore, we can't please
God. You know what God is pleased with? Obedience. Obedience. This is my beloved Son in whom
I'm well pleased. I'm well pleased with Him. So
when the people were going to hear from God, Over in Exodus
20 verse 18, they saw the thunderings and lightnings and the mountain
was smoking. They stood afar off, they said
unto Moses. Now here, Moses in Exodus 20
verse 18 is the picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Mediator.
You know, just because somebody is a picture of one thing somewhere,
it doesn't mean that they are always the same picture. Moses,
in this one, Moses went up on the mountain to meet with God.
He was a picture of our mediator. Here's what they said to Moses.
They said, speak thou with us and we'll hear, but let not God
speak with us, lest we die. We don't want to talk to God.
I don't want to talk to God outside of a mediator. I can't. I can't. Without an advocate. I need one that God's satisfied
with. to speak to God, and then let
God speak to him, then he speak to me, because he loves me, because
he's got my best at heart. So, mercifully and compassionately,
back in Numbers 6, verse 22, the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak to Aaron, on this wise, Aaron his sons, saying, on this
wise, you shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them. So Aaron and his sons, the priests,
that's who they are, they're pictures and types of the Lord
Jesus Christ, our great high priest, and we the vessels of
Jehovah's mercy, we need to hear of God's blessing from the voice
of Him who has fulfilled and satisfied every jot and tittle
of the law. We need to hear from Him who
said, who said, my sheep hear my voice. Aren't you glad for
that? Aren't you glad that the Lord
Himself would say, you know, I speak. I who have satisfied
the law. I've dealt with the law. I dealt
with the law. I was made under the law. Made to be subject under the
law. And my sheep hear my voice, I
know them, and they follow me. And that comfort of saying, you
know, I've borne the guilt. I paid the penalty. I put it
away. I've imputed to you righteousness. All is well. All of you come
to me. I'll give you rest. So the Lord
speaks today as His word is faithfully proclaimed through the preaching
of the gospel by men of God's calling. The voice that they
hear, the voice of the Master. He said, I'll give you pastors
according to my heart. They'll feed you with knowledge
and understanding. God's people need to hear. You
don't deal with the law. God's people need to hear. Christ has dealt with the law.
God's people need to hear that. So the blessing of God is related,
not from God's justice and judgment through the law. Because the
law, no man is going to be justified by the deeds of the law. Oh,
but by Him who has fulfilled the law, now I can hear a blessing
from the Lord. But let's listen on this. He
says in verse 23, Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying,
saying. I want you to relate to my people
and you say something to them. Continuing in verse 23. On this
wise you shall bless the children of Israel saying unto them. Now God's people hear of the
blessing of God, by hearing the blessing of God. That's how they know of the blessing
of God. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. Nothing exceeds in the blessing
of God's people the preaching of the Gospel, the proclamation
of Christ Jesus. There is nothing, there is no
other way that God's people perceive. You might say, well I just feel
like I'm blessed. Now which one of you can truthfully
say, I know I'm blessed with the Lord because I just feel
like I am. I just feel it. I just know it. This just feels
right. What are you basing it on? There's
one way that we know. God has sent a book. These scriptures. And in this book, in these scriptures,
Almighty God has revealed His blessing to His people. And He
does this through preachers. This is the only way. There is
nothing else. Without a pastor. Without a pastor,
my mind just went back to the church there in Danville while
I was saying that. Without a pastor, Kevin, everybody
can show up. Everybody can show up. We're
all here. Everybody will show up. We're all sitting here. You're
all sitting where you're sitting right now. You've all heard the
gospel before. You've heard it for years and
years and years. Pat, you come up and lead a song
or two. Y'all sing some songs. Now what? Now what? Without a pastor, the Lord
has ordained this. You're thinking, it's lonely, it's empty, where do
we go from here? What do we do? Can someone come
up? Isaiah 41 and 2 says, Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably. You speak to their heart. Speak to the heart of my people.
And you cry unto her. What is it? You address her by
name. You tell my people. That's what
the scripture says in number 6. 23, you speak to Aaron and to his
son saying on this wise, shall you bless the children of Israel? You bless the children of Israel.
You say to my people. You talk to them. You tell them
what I say. You tell them what I've written.
You set forth that which I say. And you tell her, back in Isaiah
40 verse 1 and 2, you tell her that her warfare is accomplished.
The battle's over. People of God, the battle's over. There's no battle anymore. God in the person of His Son
has put away your guilt. You tell her that her iniquity
is pardoned. What a blessing! People of God,
you don't have anything to answer for before God. Your iniquity. And we're all guilty. But listen
to this. Your iniquity, God has pardoned.
Pardoned. Why? Because Christ has borne
it and put it away. But what about what I'm doing
right now? Marvin, I can't even keep my
mind concentrating on what you're saying right now. I've already
thought, you know, we've already gone different directions in
our minds and stuff like that. But what about your iniquities
pardoned? God's forgiven you for that.
You tell her that her appointed time of servitude and captivity
to sin and misery, her being bound in trespasses and sins,
The presence of it is still there. But being bound in it, having
a carnal mind that orders all my thoughts, it's finished. God's
given you a new heart. He's removed that heart of stone
and rebellion that reigned. And sin doesn't have dominion
over you. But I'm still grieving over it.
I know you are. But God's forgiven you, pardoned
you. She's received of the Lord's
hand Double. Double. I've dealt with this before and
I want to say it again. Turn to Job 11. Job chapter 11. That word you've received of
the Lord's hand, double. Job chapter 11 to me gives a
good understanding of Job had three friends, question
mark, that came in his misery. And this one, Zophar, Job chapter
11, I'm going to read verses 4 to 6. Zophar surely had been
moved of Satan. He was a religious man, and one
that had rebuked Job with words of religion. It was Job's suffering,
all the suffering that the Lord permitted him to go through.
And so far, as pretty well related to him, I'll tell you why you're
going through all this. Because of your unfaithfulness.
Because you haven't been faithful to the truth, you haven't been
faithful to God, and all in the world, Remember, the Lord gave
Satan liberty to buffet Job. You can't kill him, but to buffet
him. And here, I'm convinced, here
through the mouth of this religionist is the direction of Satan. How religious people buffet God's
people. You want to know the meanest
people in the world, most insensitive people in the world? Religious
people. Religious people. Insensitive,
harsh, hard. And here's Zophar, the namathite,
speaking and he says in verses 4 to 6, rebuking rebuking Job
because of Job's faithfulness, faithfulness, faithfulness. And
he says, for thou hast said, my doctrine is pure. I am clean
in thine eyes. Oh, that God would speak and
open his lips against thee. He's saying to Job, he says,
you say that your doctrine is right and pure and holy. You say what you believe. is
pure before God and that you're clean in God's eyes. But then he says, oh that God
would speak and open his lips against thee and that he would
show thee the secrets of wisdom that they are double to that
which is. Know therefore that God exacteth
of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth. But the point that
I want to see in that is when he used that word double, There
in verse 6, that He would show thee the secrets of wisdom that
they are double. It means the same thing as it
means over in Isaiah chapter 4, that you've received of the
Lord's hand double. What does that mean? If you look
the word up, you may have it in your margin. It means a folding
over. It means a folding over. My hand
right there. Can you see it? It's there. How are you going
to see it? There it is. What's happened
when it's folded over? It's unsearchable. You can't
discern it. You can't perceive it. That's
what he's saying. And so he says, you tell my people,
Isaiah 40, you comfort my people, you speak comfortably to them,
you tell them, crying to her, warfare is accomplished, that
her iniquities pardoned, that she's received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sins." What does that mean? I can read
it, I believe it, but I can't grasp. It's unsearchable for
me to perceive what I've received from the mercy, from the hand
of God, the mercy and grace and compassion that He's shown me
for my sins. What's He done? He took them
and made them to be Christ's. And He was made sin. I believe
that, David. I believe that. I believe it.
But I'm going to be honest with you. That's double to me. I can't
search that out. I can't perceive what's being
said. So in light of the unsearchableness
of God's mercy, You tell my people that I've blessed them. You speak,
Moses, you speak to Aaron, the priest, and you tell Aaron to
tell the people on this wise, you shall bless the children
of Israel. And you say unto them, oh, we
by faith believe that the Lord has blessed us. But oh, how little
we know. God's thoughts, ways, and providence
appears as a folded over thing. How much do we really know? I
told you what Brother Henry said. He said, the older he gets, the
more, he says, the more I realize how ignorant I really am. How
much do I know? I don't know. Paul said in 1
Corinthians 13, 12, for now we see through a glass darkly, but
then face to face, I know in part, now I know in part, but
then shall I know even as I am numb. So God's blessing to his
people is a mystery, but the Lord said, you tell Aaron, you
tell Aaron to say to my people, and the Lord says to his people,
through his preachers, the Lord bless you. The Lord has blessed
you. So Aaron was said, on this wise,
you say unto them, and I'll wrap this up here, I'm gonna tell
you these 24 to 27. This is what you say to them. I want you to
say to them, now notice here when we look at these latter
verses 24-26 and then also 27 obviously, but He said, The Lord
bless thee. Again now notice all caps. The Lord bless thee. What does
that mean? Father, Son, Spirit. Here we are going to see the
triune God who has blessed us. Three times, Jehovah, Jehovah,
Father, Jehovah, Son, Jehovah, Spirit, God, the Lord, blesses. Verse 24 says, The Lord bless
thee and keep thee. Now, let me tell you who has
blessed us. The Father has blessed us. Ephesians
1, Ephesians chapter 1, in verse 3, listen to these, we've read
this so many times, but look at the blessing here. Ephesians
3, 1, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. Now let me just, Look for a second. Turn in your Bibles to Ephesians
1. And I want you to look. I'm just going to read verses
4-12. And may the Spirit of God bless us to the understanding
somewhat. By faith, for sure. But listen
to these blessings. The Father has blessed us. That's
what verse 3 says. According as He has chosen us
in Him. Now you think of that blessing. God chose to show mercy to His
people. He chose us in Christ. He chose for Christ to be our
representative and put us in Him. And all that the Father
would do, receive from Christ, we were in Him. He has chosen
us in Him before the foundation of the world. To what? That we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. Now you think of this. You talk
about a blessing that God would put us in Christ that we should
be holy. Holy and without blame. Verse 5, having predestinated
us, He determined the end from the beginning unto the adoption
of children. God would adopt me, adopt you,
His people, by Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of His will.
It wasn't because we were better, more faithful. He did this to
the praise of the glory of His grace wherein He made us accepted
in the Beloved. in ourselves. He's not going
to accept me. He's not going to accept you.
But He made us accepted in the Beloved. Listen to this, in whom
we have redemption. What does that mean? He bought
us back. He paid the price for what we
had done. The wages of sin was death. We have redemption through
His blood. Listen to this, the forgiveness
of sins. Now think about this. He's not
going to charge us He's not going to charge you, He's forgiven
them. Why? Because Christ paid the debt of them. According to
the riches of grace wherein He hath made us, He hath abounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the
mystery of His will. Now you talk about a blessing,
He told us about it. He related to us. according to
His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation
of the fullness of times, He might gather together in one
all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, which are on earth,
even in Him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance."
Now listen to this. We have an inheritance. We have
an inheritance. We are heirs of God. and joint
heirs with Christ. I don't even know what that means.
I know what it means, but I don't know what it means. According
to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will, that we should be to the praise of His glory
who first trusted in Christ. You tell my people, back in number
6, He said, the Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord bless
you and keep you. We are kept by the power of God
through faith, ready to be with Him. The Lord bless you. The Lord keep you. Father, He said, I come back
to be with you. Keep through thine own name those
that you've given. That's what He prayed in John
chapter 17. John 17, 11. Now I'm no more in the world.
These are in the world. I come to Thee, Holy Father.
Keep through Thine own name. He was going. We'd still be here.
So He appealed to the Father to keep us. But then He says in verse 25,
The Lord make His face shine upon Thee and be gracious unto
Thee. The Lord, when He says make His
face shine upon Thee, It means the Lord lighten up, lighten
and be cheerful because of being satisfied. The Lord make His
face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. Here we see the blessing
of God the Son. Aaron was to bless the people
and you tell them God is pleased. You tell them that all is well
and that God has been pleased to grant His presence with them
and to manifest Himself and to shine upon them for Christ's
sake. David said in Psalm 31, 16, Make
thy face to shine upon thy servant. Make your face shine on me. Lord,
don't look upon me in anger. Make your face shine upon and
save me for thy mercy's sake. Psalm 80 verse three, turn us
again, O God, and cause thy face to shine upon us and we'll be
saved. There's but one way. That God's
face shines in blessing upon his people and that he's gracious
to us and that that is and that we're found in his son. where
he told Moses, I'm going to make all my goodness pass before thee,
and I'll proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and I will
be gracious to him. I'll be gracious and show mercy
on whom I will show mercy. Hebrews 1, 3 declares that the
Lord Jesus is the revelation of the Father's glory. He is
who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of
His person upholding all things by the word of His power when
He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down in the right hand
of the majesty. This is the blessing of God,
that God's face shines upon us in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then thirdly and lastly,
then he said in verse 26, and the Lord lift up His countenance
upon thee and give thee peace. Now it's an amazing thing. The
word face in verse 25, make his face shine upon thee. The word face in verse 25 and
the word countenance in verse 26 is the same word. It's the
exact same word. And the countenance and the face,
it does speak of the express image of the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ to God's people. That's where the Lord make His
face and be gracious on how He's done it. He's done it in Christ.
But when He said in verse 26, the Lord lift up His countenance
upon thee and give thee peace. Well, here's what we need. The
Lord Jesus Christ has put away our guilt. He's put it away. He's born it and put it away.
He's satisfied the law for us. But I need for the Lord to teach
me that. If that is something that is
unknown to me, verse 26, I don't have any peace. The Lord lift
up His countenance upon thee and give thee peace. I have to
know it and the only way I know it is in regenerating grace. That's the only way I can perceive
it. John 3, John 3, the Lord is speaking
to Nicodemus and Nicodemus was telling him, he said, I know
you must be a teacher come from God because nobody could doing
these things that you're doing, unless he be from God. And the
Lord said in John 3, 3-8, and He's telling Nicodemus something
that he must have. Jesus answered, verse 3, John
3, 3, and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except
a man be born again, he cannot perceive, he can't see the kingdom
of God. Understand it. He can't behold
it by faith. He's got to be born again. Nicodemus
saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he
enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus
answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born
of water and spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Except a man be born of the water of the Word, blessed by the Spirit
of God. God Almighty can tell me something
in this book. And it applies to me. He can
tell me of having a people and loving them before the foundation
of the world and that he put away the guilt, he put away my
guilt and he could be talking to me, but do you know until
he regenerates me? Gene, I don't know that. How
do I know that? How can I have any peace? A man
be born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom
of God. That which is born of flesh is
flesh, that which is born of Spirit is Spirit. Marvel not
that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth
where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst
not tell whence it cometh, whether it goeth. So is every one that
is born of the Spirit." So back in number 6, in closing, the
Lord instructed Moses. You tell Aaron, to tell the people,
you say something to them. And you tell them, you tell them
what God, Jehovah, has done for them. That the Lord has blessed
them and kept them. How did He keep them? He put
them in Christ. And where, Brother Scott said,
I say this all the time, Where He put them, He kept them. He
maintained them. You tell them that the Lord has
kept you. And you tell them that the Lord
has made His face shine upon them. He smiled upon them. He's
been gracious unto them. And you tell them that the Lord
lifts up His countenance upon them and gives them peace in
regenerating grace. That's how God's people have
some peace. And then he said in verse 27,
and they shall put my name upon the children of Israel. Who is
that? Aaron and his sons, these preachers,
those priests. They shall put my name upon the
children of Israel and I will bless them. God's blessing must
be known. The priests were to call the
people the people of God. That's who you are. That's God's
people. And how do I know if I'm one
of them? I believe God. I believe Him. He's given me a heart to believe
Him. The Father purposed that His
people be blessed in Christ. Now here's the blessing. Here's
the blessing. The Father purposed it. The Father is said to be
the one who has chosen the people. The scripture reveals that the
Son, God the Son, procured that blessing. God purposed it. Christ
procured it. Procured life eternal by His
obedience and by His sacrifice of Himself, by His death for
His people. And then thirdly, the Spirit
of God applies it. in regenerating grace and gives
them peace and comfort. You bless the people of God and
you tell them. I want them to hear that they're
my people. And I will bless them. I pray
that the Lord bless this to our hearts for His glory and our
glory. Amen.