Well, turn with me to the book
of Numbers, chapter 23. Numbers, chapter 23. And the heading over the chapter in the
pulpit Bible is Balak's sacrifice and Balaam blesseth Israel. and neither of them were children
of God. Such is the wonder-working hand
of God that He uses who He will. Let's read this chapter for our
Prophet, Numbers chapter 23. And Balaam said unto Balak, Build
me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven
rams. And Balak did as Balaam had spoken. And Balak and Balaam offered
on every altar a bullock and a ram. And Balaam said unto Balak,
Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go. Peradventure the
Lord will come to meet me. And whatsoever he showeth me,
I will tell thee. And he went to an high place. And God met Balaam, and he said
unto him, I have prepared seven altars. And I have offered upon
every altar a bullock and a ram. And the Lord put a word in Balaam's
mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus shalt thou speak. And he returned unto him, and,
lo, he stood by his burnt sacrifice, he and all the princes of Moab. And he took up his parable, and
said, Balak, the king of Moab, hath brought me from Aram out
of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, Curse me, Jacob,
and come, defy Israel. How shall I curse whom God hath
not cursed? Or how shall I defy whom the
Lord hath not defied? For from the top of the rocks
I see him, and from the hills I behold him. lo, the people
shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob,
and the number of the fourth part of Israel? let me die the
death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.' And
Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies,
and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether. And he answered
and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the Lord
hath put in my mouth? And Balak said unto him, Come,
I pray thee with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest
see them. thou shalt see but the utmost
part of them, and shalt not see them all, and curse me from thence.'
And he brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah,
and built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on every
altar. And he said unto Balak, Stand
here by thy burnt offering, while I meet the Lord yonder. And the Lord met Balaam, and
put a word in his mouth, and said, Go again unto Balak, and
say thus, And when he came to him, behold, he stood by his
burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said
unto him, What hath the Lord spoken? And he took up his parable,
and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear. Hearken unto me, thou son
of Zippor. God is not a man that he should
lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. Hath he said,
and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall
he not make it good? Behold, I have received commandment
to bless, and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob, Neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel. The Lord God is with
him, and the shout of a king is among them. God brought them
out of Egypt. He hath, as it were, the strength
of a unicorn. Surely there is no enchantment
against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel. According to this time it shall
be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought? Behold, the people shall rise
up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion. He shall not lie down until he
eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain. And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither
curse them at all, nor bless them at all. But Balaam answered,
and said unto Balak, Told not I thee saying, All that the Lord
speaketh, that I must do? And Balak said unto Balaam, Come,
I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another place. Peradventure
it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence. And Balak brought Balaam unto
the top of Peel that looketh toward Jeshimon. And Balaam said
unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven
bullocks and seven rams. And Balak did as Balaam had said,
and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar. Well, it would no doubt be very
interesting and very profitable to spend the evening studying
this chapter and these parables that this man, Balaam, who was
a false prophet and yet the Lord used him and put words into his
mouth. And that's a very searching thing,
isn't it? That the Lord, He will use whomsoever
He will. Balaam has been described as
the great preacher who went to hell. The great preacher who
went to hell. And others, that he is the prophet
that perished. And so, as I say, these things,
how searching they are, and how remarkable that the Lord will
use whomsoever He will. But what led me to this chapter
were those four words at the end of verse 23. What hath God
wrought? What hath God wrought? Now I think we're all aware that
Tim Martin, the editor of the Gospel Advocate magazine, is
looking to and is preparing an article for the forthcoming edition
in April of James's recognition service. and he read through
the events of the day which have kindly been put in writing and
he read through them and he said that this word came forcibly
to him and he believes that he will use as a title for the occasion,
for the account of the occasion, What Hath God Wrought. What hath God wrought? Well, it's very humbling, isn't
it? And it's also very profitable
for us to consider what hath God wrought? What are the wonders
that he has done? And we'll seek to speak just
a little of some of those heavenly wonders, some of those remarkable
wonders that he has done in redeeming sinners from going down into
the pit of hell. But friends, as we think of ourselves
here as a little church and people, what hath God wrought? And we are reminded by one or
two of God's servants that come that used to preach in the old
chapel and how things transformed. from coming to that chapel, a
very, very large chapel with just a few people in, and that
what must have been a tremendous step of faith to come with just
a few, I believe about half a dozen, to this house of God that needed
a lot of attention to it. But we can say as we look over
that last 20 years or so, what hath God wrought? And as we have
been favoured and we think that it wasn't that many years ago
when the baptismal pool was built and put into this house of God. And the number of times that
that has been opened, and there have been those that have declared
what the Lord has done for their souls. What hath God wrought? We think of the Sunday school
that was established and truly we can say as we've seen a generation
now come up and move on and now having children themselves. What hath God wrought? And so it is living desire, isn't
it, that there will be many more, like Ciaran was his name, wasn't
it? Was it Ciaran? Yes, Ciaran. And what are two others? And
Ryan. and how they came up to the Sunday
school and now they may be a long way off. But there is that, isn't
there, train up a child in the way that he shall go and he'll
not depart from it. That word is very, very tried
sometimes for parents. But we believe it, don't we,
that there somewhere the Lord will be pleased to use that which
has been sown in the hearts of children by faithful Sunday school
teachers, by faithful ministers of the gospel, and by the faithful
godly people whom they have come into contact with. So what hath
God wrought? and as we consider the way in
which there was that united exercise regarding James, regarding calling
James as pastor. And we heard, didn't we, at the
induction service of that call which Deacon Tom spoke of, and
James, our pastor, how he had been prepared over years What
hath God wrought? And we see, don't we, the remarkable
timing that there is. Each of us can see the Lord's
hand, how He's brought us together, how He's brought us together
in families, how He's brought us together as husband and wife,
how He's brought us together to this house of God, and so
many, many things that we can look back over the years up to
this present moment of time, and truly to the honour and to
the glory of God, we can sing, What hath God wrought? and even this evening as we meet
this evening and we are concerned and prayerfully concerned for
dear Elsie and yet we trust that we shall be favoured indeed to
bless the Lord that he sees her through and we're blessed with
yet another in the congregation and another baby in the fellowship
And truly, in all of these things, what hath God wrought? And so there will be many things
known only between yourselves, ourselves, and God. that he's
he's he's worked wonders hasn't he he's worked wonders so that
it's you in your small corner and i in mine that we can say
humbly before god to his honor and to his glory and bless his
holy name what hath god wrought And the next hymn that we shall
sing, that hymn of Joseph Hart, number 88, The Wonders of Redeeming
Love. And based on the 130th Psalm
and verse 7, let Israel hope in the Lord. For with the LORD there is mercy,
and with him is plenteous redemption, and he shall redeem Israel from
all his iniquities. The psalmist, he says in that
Song of Degrees earlier, he says, out of the depths have I cried
unto thee, O Lord. And how many times there have
been where you have found yourselves in the depths. Well, there was
no greater depth, was there, than when in that depth of of
lost, of being lost and ruined. You knew that you were lost and
ruined in the fall. You were condemned under the
holy law of God. And yet, what has God wrought? He favoured you, didn't he? He
favoured me. He favoured us to be brought
to that place to cry for mercy. That in the depths, in the depths,
we cried. We said, Lord, in effect, Lord,
hear my voice. Let thine ear be attentive. to the voice of my supplications. And we had to confess, didn't
we, that if thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who
shall stand? But what hath God wrought? He
blessed us, didn't he? He blessed us, and we proved,
but there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. And so we were blessed, weren't
we? Oh, we were brought out of that slavish fear. Oh, that slavish
fear that we were afraid of God. We were afraid of this. We were
afraid of that. But he brought us into a filial
fear, didn't he? The love of God. Oh, to know
Him, to know Him as our all and in all. Yes, and so there was
that humble reverence, wasn't there, that took the place of
that slavish fear. And we were blessed. We were
blessed as time went on. And he was a sovereign in that,
wasn't he? With some, it was a short work. with others longer. But there
came that time, didn't he? Oh, to be received, to be adopted
into the family of God, and to prove that He, like as a father,
pitieth His children, so the Lord pitieth them that love Him. And that, oh, the wonders of
redeeming love, that prompted our love, didn't it? that prompted
our fear, our filial fear of God. Oh how that we could say,
couldn't we, oh that my soul could love and praise Him more. And so the psalmist, he said,
I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do
I hope. Oh, that glorious hope, not a
fatalistic hope, but a hope, a hope that's fixed on Christ. In my soul waiteth for the LORD
more than they that watch for the morning. I say, more than
they that watch for the morning. Let Israel hope in the LORD,
for With the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption,
and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Now this
hymn of Joseph Hart, he speaks a little doesn't he, of the wonders
of creation. And he says, how wondrous are
the works of God displayed through all the world abroad, immensely
great, immensely small, yet one strange work exceeds them all,
the love of God to sinners. God so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. hath God wrought. He ransomed poor sinners from
the grave, from going down forever to be estranged from God in that
desperately desperate place of no return hell. And he sent his own dear son. A body was prepared for his own
dear son. Oh there is that which I can
hardly believe is still going on according to a recent gospel
standard that there's that poor deluded man that continues to
write to various preachers and deacons insisting that Jesus
didn't have a human soul. and friends and oh what desperately
solemn things to become involved in but that's how precious it
is isn't it what has God wrought oh that that he that he added
to himself he added to his deity What hath God wrought? He added
a body just like our own, a soul just like our own, so that He
would die that sin atoning death, that He would make atonement
of His people for all of His people, atonement, at-one-ment,
at-one-ment into the family of God, adopted into the family
of God, restored to where we were. before the atom falls. And so as the chapter that we've
read speaks in the 21st verse, he hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel. The Lord his God is
with him, and the shout of a king is among them. God brought them
out of Egypt. He hath, as it were, the strength
of a unicorn. And so it is with the spiritual
Israel. And the psalmist, he says in
another of those Song of Degrees 126, when the Lord turned again
the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dreamed. And so our lives, our spiritual
lives, are mirrored, aren't they, on that of the children of Israel,
that captivity in Egypt, that deliverance from bondage, that
way made through at the Red Sea. And as that hymn so beautifully
puts it, through the red sea of his own blood, of Jesus' precious
blood, and in that day as Zechariah prophesied, in that day shall
there be a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness. What hath God wrought, these
wonders of redeeming love and blood? And so he says, then was
our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing.
Then said they among the heathen, the heathen saw it, didn't they? The Lord hath done great things
for them. What hath God wrought? The Lord
hath done great things for us. whereof we are glad. Turn again our captivity, O Lord,
as the streams in the south. They that sow in tears shall
reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth,
bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing. bringing his sheaves with him. What a glorious harvest day. And so as we bring our thoughts
to a close and come to prayer, we would just finish with those
few glorious words. And again, thinking so much,
what has God wrought? to be brought through this valley
of tears, all the sorrows of the way, as well as the joys
for which we thank God, but from this sin-cursed world where the
whole creation groaneth and travaileth under sin, and to be brought
safely to that at which John saw on the Isle of Patmos by
revelation in chapter 19. And after these things I heard
a great voice of much people in heaven saying, Alleluia, salvation
and glory and honour and power. These are the glorious things,
aren't they? All the things that God has wrought
in the earth and the galaxies and everything else, they're
marvellous, aren't they? It's all what God has wrought
and yet all of this, all of this, One thing exceeds them all, and
it's redeeming love and blood, and it's that for which the people
of God anticipate with joy and look forward to in this valley
of tears. For salvation and glory and honour
and power unto the Lord our God. For true and righteous are his
judgments. For he hath judged the great
whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath
avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. Oh, bless God that
he doesn't leave us there. but all to be favoured, to be
favoured to be amongst those who shall sing Alleluia. And the four and twenty elders
and the four beasts fell down, and worshipped God that sat on
the throne, saying, Amen, Alleluia. And a voice came out of the throne,
saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear
him, both small and great. I heard, as it were, the voice
of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and
as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord
God Omnipotent reigneth. Let us Oh, friends, can you join
in it? Have you got that desire, that
living desire that you may be favoured to join him with this?
Let us seek him for it, plead for it. Let us be glad and rejoice. and give honour to him, for the
marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife, that's every one,
for whom Jesus shed his precious blood, that he made atonement
for sin, that that is every one, His wife hath made herself ready,
and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen,
clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of
saints. And he said unto me, Write, Write
this down. Oh, those of you taking notes,
what a joy it is to see our young friends as they take notes. And he says, write, write. Blessed, blessed are they which
are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are
the true sayings of God. Well, may the Lord bless those
few thoughts. What hath God wrought? And may we be favoured to count
up and to write them down, all that God has wrought. Count our
many blessings. Count them one by one. and it
will surprise us what the Lord has done. Amen.