May God be pleased to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let's turn to the
book of Numbers and chapter 23 and the last clause in verse
23. Numbers 23, verse 23, the last
clause, which reads, what hath God wrought? The Word of God is very comprehensive. And we find in it so many wonderful
examples for us in our life today. And some of those examples are
of warning to us. And this account in the Book
of Numbers of Balak and Balaam is a very solemn and serious account to realize how somebody
pretends to be a prophet, a servant of God, and yet not be one. Again, a person that can in actual
fact speak some very great truths, and yet not be a servant of God. Here's a very solemn example. This man, Balaam, who, on the
face of it, reading through these chapters without too much care,
would think, well, he was a good man. But in actual fact, he was
not. One of his problems was, and
he was covetous, And that's a very insidious defect
and is hard to discern. But God, of course, knows whether
there are those covetous thoughts and desires and the cunning way
in which some may try and persuade people that they are indeed a
servant of God. And I suppose We see in the Christian
world today many so-called pastors and evangelists who are really
only covetous and they pretend to preach the truth of God and
some things they say are true about many things that they do
and say are not of course in accordance with the Word of God. And I think one of the most solemn
statements really here is something which I've heard people say,
I've heard people say, and here is the statement in this tenth
verse, when he asks and he says, let me die the death of the righteous
and let my last end be like his. And again you might think, well
that's a very gracious statement and a very wonderful word, but
we need to analyse it and to think, Are we just relying upon
someone else's experience and someone else's testimony? And
we think, well that was quite pleasant, that was quite nice,
so therefore I really just want to go along like that. Well, the reality is that all
of us will have to stand before the face of Almighty God. All
of us will have to die and we should be concerned therefore
Lord to come and bless us individually in that right way, that way which
is needful for us. Balaam, you see, had this realisation
perhaps that those who were righteous, who were taught by the Spirit
of God, would be blessed and therefore he thought well that
would be a good desire, and therefore he states it. You may remember,
we have that same kind of thing in the New Testament. In that
case of that man who thought that he could buy salvation,
buy the gift of the Holy Spirit, we term him Simon the Sorcerer. He was baptized, and everybody
thought he was a great man. And then you see when the Spirit
of God was given to some people, he thought he could, he wanted
it as well. And he thought he could buy it
with cash. Of course, such things are not
bought. He was deceived. And here Balaam
was deceived. Well, our great concern should
be that you and I are not deceived. we have the true work of God
in our heart. And just for reference with regards
to Balaam, so that you young people have some references about
Balaam, because there are references in the Word of God which direct
us to the true situation, and we can read in the second epistle
of Peter and the second chapter The 15th verse which tells us
He says well read the 14th perhaps first having eyes full of adultery
and that cannot cease from sin Beguiling the unstable souls
and heart they have exercised with covetous Practices cursed
children which have forsaken the right way and I've gone astray
following the way of Balaam the son of Bosaw who loved the wages
of unrighteousness, but with rebuke for his iniquity, the
dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbade the madness of
the Prophet." Well there's a very clear statement about Badaman
and young people might like to read the account, you may not
be familiar with the ass that Badaman was riding upon and how
it spoke to him in human language. by a miracle of God. So that's
one verse there, and then if you turn to the little epistle
of Jude, and in that epistle we read in verse 11 these words,
Woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain, and
we know about Cain don't we, Cain and Abel, and ran greedily
after the error of Balaam for reward. and perished in the gainsaying
of Korah. So we see Balaam is there, numbered
amongst those people, Galen, Cain and Cori. So we have those
examples which are so very important. Then just perhaps one final reference
in the New Testament, and that's in Revelation chapter 2 and verse
14 where we read, but I have a few things against thee. Because
they're them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to
cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat
things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So there we have some testimonies
with regards to Balaam. And another point there really
is this, when you, and I'm talking To all of us, but perhaps particularly
young people tonight, if you read the Word of God, and you
read a portion of the Word of God, and you might say, well,
that's very clear, that says something. Well, you need to
read really all the Word of God, because sometimes, taken out
of context, you may come to a wrong conclusion. You might read one
or two verses about Balaam here, and you might think, well, he's
a godly man. But you made a mistake, he was not. He was an ungodly
man. Well, there we have just, I hope,
some helpful words about Balaam and Barak who tries to get Balaam
to curse Israel. And of course, you see, Israel
were God's people and he wasn't able to perform that which he
wanted to. But nonetheless, he did mention
these words, which we read here, the seedling to speak from, which
are good words. And again you see how sad and
solemn it is that an evil man can, by permission and influence
of the Holy Spirit, speak words which are good. And so in this
23rd verse, which we have read, or start at verse 22, God brought
them out of Egypt. Who was that? Israel, we know.
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? You might say very simply, what
hath God done? What has God accomplished? Well,
he uses the illustration here of Jacob and Israel, and I'm
sure We know what wonderful deliverances God brought about for Jacob and
Israel. And God wrought wonderful miracles
for them, without any doubt. And therefore, the question is
asked, what hath God wrought? Well, tonight we could of course
sit down and we could go through a whole list of those things
which God did for Jacob and Israel. and we could be encouraged by
them. And I hope, as you may be able to think, perhaps of
what this refers to. Some of the instances in the
life of Jacob and in the life generally of Israel. And just
perhaps to give you one or two, or perhaps one little help, and
that's with regard to Jacob. And we know he was a deceiver. Deceived is a poor old father
into thinking he was Esau. But God is so gracious and merciful. And perhaps we've been deceivers
in our life. We've deceived people. And we'll
need God's mercy, just as Jacob needed God's mercy. Of course,
Jacob didn't have an easy time, did he? You see, he deceived
his father and he was deceived then by Laban in giving him not
Rachel, but Leah to wife to start with. Well, sometimes things
come back in our face and we realise that it's God that's
done these things to remind us perhaps some sinful situation
which we were involved in, and to perhaps correct us with love. Well, without any doubt, in Jacob's
life, God was very gracious to him. And as we know, he was with
him when he went out to seek for a wife and to work, all those
miles away from his home And God blessed him at that place
where he lay down to sleep and the Lord appeared for him and
he saw a ladder reaching up to heaven with angels ascending
up and down upon it. Well how wonderful it was for
him, an encouragement. But he needed such words from
God to strengthen him as he was to pursue the life that God had
ordained for him. And then of course when he was
returning his homeland with his wives and his children and his
flocks and they sent out a search party and they saw Esau coming
towards him and what did he need? He needed God to appear for him
and what did he do? Did he say well I better hope
for the best I'll get all my men in the front and hope they
can succeed in beating Esau if he's going to come and try to
kill me." No, he didn't do that. He did put men in the front and
men in the rear, but what did he really do? He prayed to God. He prayed to God. And he prayed
all night. And we're told he wrestled with
God. Now, people sometimes take this
very lightly. And I've heard people say, well,
I wrestle with God in prayer. Well, I usually doubt such a
statement. Because it's a very special time
when God gives us grace to wrestle with him in prayer. And to such
an extent that the day was breaking And he was told to let go, and
he said, I will not let thee go unless thou bless me. Now there was a real concern,
a real urgency, and the Lord did hear, and the Lord did bless
him. And so in answer to this question,
what has God wrought? Well, there was a wonderful work,
was there not, in Jacob's life, and we know as we follow on the
life of Jacob, how the Lord did wonderfully appear for him. Although
again, he was deceived again when his sons came and said that
Jacob had been killed, or at least gave him the evidence to
make Jacob say that Joseph was killed. You see, let us not be
left to deceive, let us not be left to sin lightly, because
you know the Lord marks these things. Never think that you
can get away with sin. Never think, well, no one knows
about that. Always remember, God knows. And
God marks these things. And God brings them back. And
we have to painfully then recollect the sins that we've done. And
perhaps mourn over them. And perhaps wrestle with God
that he'll bless us and cast our sins forever away. Here we have this testimony to
remember the blessings that were granted to Israel and Jacob in
their day and age. And indeed, all the people of
God have walked this path. And may we, today, in our lives,
have a follow the journey of life we are. And some of you
are young and some of you are old. And there are all those
in between. But I wonder tonight, if I was
to hand out paper and pencil to you all and I say, well look
tonight, when you write down what God has done for you, what
are you going to do? Are you going to have a blank
sheet of paper? Are you going to be able to testify
to the glory of God what he's done for you? Now there's two
elements to this. There's of course the element
of the things in our natural life, when God has heard and
answered prayers. And I hope you got evidences
of that. Evidences that when God has heard
your prayers, and I hope you have prayed, you're able to say,
well, yes, God has done that for me. Because God has done
that for me, which I couldn't really do. It gave me the ability
to do those things, be able therefore to say, yes, God has wrought
that for me. But then, more particularly,
because it's far more important, to be able to recollect what
God has done for us in a spiritual way. Well, tonight, are we able
to write anything down? I've told you before and I'll
just tell you again. occasion when I was out in the
West Indies and it was Christmas time and we'd had a kind of a
Christmas lunch together in the church on the Sunday and we were
sitting around in a big circle and the pastor said well now
we've we've reached 359 days whatever it is of the year and
let us look back in the year Let us go round one at a time
and be able to testify of what God has done for us in that year. Well, it's a good question, isn't
it? Once a night, we all sat round
in a big circle here and we began at one place and we went round
in a circle and you were able to say what God had done for
you, what God had wrought for you in this year. You know, there's
a danger as it were, resting on our laurels. If we feel God's
blessed us in a particular way on one occasion, we almost stop
being concerned about what God has done for us. We need to have
a continual testimony of God's work in our heart and in our
soul, so that if we are asked that question, we would be able
to say something. We might be very embarrassed
You might have to just sit still and say, well, I don't think
I can say anything. Well, that would be very sad,
wouldn't it? And I'm sure if you knew in a year's time you're
going to be asked the same question, you'd be very desirous to be
able to say what God has done in the year. Well, it's good
to just think upon these things, because here is this question,
what hath God wrought? What has he done for your soul? What has he done for my soul? It's good if you and I are concerned
about it, and are concerned to be able to give a positive answer,
to be able to say yes, and I believe it will be said in a humble way,
And you will have to say, by the grace of God, as the Apostle
said, by the grace of God, I am what I am. You won't be able
to say, well, I've changed my way of life. You may have done,
but it would need to be prefaced by the goodness of God has enabled
you to change your life, to change your lifestyle. Because it's
the work of the Spirit of God in your soul. Because the Spirit
of God does produce a change in our lives. It does produce
a change in our lifestyle. And it is noticeable. You may not think that it is
noticeable, but the true Church of God are anxious for the salvation
of souls. And the true Church of God are
watching and praying. And there may be those evidences
that there is a work of grace going on in the heart of one
another. And you may not be aware of that.
But such people will notice changes in your attitude. Changes in,
perhaps, the things you read. Changes in the things you do.
Changes in the places you go to. It would be a wonderful thing if it is
the work of the Holy Spirit, and that God is working, and
therefore, what hath God wrought you are able to be able to commune
and say, Well by the grace of God, God has perhaps caused you
to consider your ways. You know it's a great blessing
if the Spirit of God comes and directs us to see the way that
we're walking is in that broad way which leads to destruction. You may be enjoying it. You may
think, well, I can do this, and well, there's other people who
don't seem to be able to do it, but I can do it, and I enjoy doing it,
and I want to do it. And what are you really doing? Rebelling against God. And you
know what the Word of God tells us? The rebellious dwell in a
dry land. And when I say that, I mean a
dry land spiritually. you're barren, there's no life,
you're in a dry land, because you're rebellious against the
things of God. The hymn writer says, rebellious
thou'st been, and art rebellious still, but since in love I took
thee in, my promise I'll fulfill, I've bound thee up secure. What a mercy to think we have
such a God who deals with us with such great love to our soul.
And therefore, in answer to such a question as this, what hath
God wrought? To be able to testify of His
work in our soul. Now, it'll be God glorifying
And it would be God honouring to be able to testify. And let's
not forget, the last thing the devil wants to occur is that
you testify of what God has done for your soul. He doesn't want
you to say anything. And he'll belittle that which
your hope is resting upon. He'll tell you, that's of no
value, you were deceived, forget about it, carry on as you are,
religion's rubbish anyway, just enjoy yourself in this life.
Well, don't forget, the devil was and is and always will be
a deceiver. But God is true. And the work
of God can be tested. you can test God's work. And
God does test it. And often his word and his work
is tested to this effect. You will find that the Lord brings
you into what we term trials. That means opposition. And sometimes
these trials might be very testing and We speak of them in this
way, that to test something, whether it's good or false, especially
with metals like gold and silver, what has to be done, what tests
them? They're passed through a very hot furnace, which burns
off all the rubbish. What a blessing it is when God
takes us in hand and burns off That which is rubbish. And when
I say rubbish, I mean this. It's things that we've thought
were the work of God and the Word of God. In my life, I've thought on a
number of occasions that God has spoken about this or spoken
about that. And you see, I watch these things
and, well, they haven't come to pass. And I've been, well,
quite distressed. And I thought, well, why hasn't
this happened? Why hasn't this come to pass?
And as I've thought about these things, I realised that if they
had come to pass, would God have got the glory? And I realised
that it would not have been so. Because I would have claimed
credit for the situation. I would have said perhaps, well
of course it was my prayers that brought all this about. Whereas
I should have said, well it's the mercy of God that has brought
this about. We need to examine ourselves
very carefully before God to see whether the utterances and
the speeches we make are to prove what God has done or what we
want God to do. You know, sometimes we have plans. We have plans, and our prayers
go along these lines. I've got a plan, Lord, and I
want it to be worked to. God says, I've got a plan, and
you'll work to that plan. And that's very different. But
let me tell you this. God's plan is best. God's plan
is best. Because God's plan brings man
down lower. And women of course, and boys
and girls. It brings us down lower. Man's plan brings us up
higher. God's plan brings us down lower. And when God's plan brings us
down low enough, then you see God shows us great salvation
he has given to us, his great and wonderful love to us, so
that we come perhaps in the lines of the hymn writer when he said,
nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Now if you're able to say by
the grace of God, In answering this question, what has God wrought? You say, well, God has brought
me down. You know, the Apostle Paul was
like that, wasn't he? You think how proud he was. He
thought he was doing God's service. He thought he was doing God's
service when he was speaking against and committing Christians
to prison. He thought he was doing God's
service. And he was pleased and proud of it. But God struck him
down. And God taught him. And God instructed
him. So he came to that position where
he confessed that he was the least of all saints. The least of all saints. Well,
it'd be a wonderful blessing for all of us tonight if the
question is asked to us, what has God wrought? And we're able
to say, well, The Lord has brought me down to realise I am the less,
the least of all saints. Not any great person. What a
wonderful work of the Spirit of God. There's something to
say, isn't there? Because it's God's work. It's
not that which you and I would have done ourselves. It's complete
opposite to human nature. Human nature, people want to
be thought something of, don't they? We all want to, don't we,
by nature. We want to be acclaimed, we want
to be thought well of. Spirit of God shows us what we are in
His sight. Not in other people's sight,
in His sight. How undone we are, how vile we
are, how filthy we are. God's work. Now then, you see,
God brought Paul down, but he also raised him up. He also raised
him up. And he raised him up to realize
when he was low, what did he need? A great and glorious Savior. And without any doubt, the Lord
Jesus Christ was precious to the Apostle Paul's soul. Indeed,
he was so precious that he tells us when he wrote to the church
at Philippi, he counted all things, but done and dross for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, his Lord. What had God wrought
in the apostle's life? Wonderful favor. My friends today,
we worship the same God. What hath God wrought? A very important question, but
a wonderful thing if you and I can therefore look into our
hearts and find the evidence of God's work there. God's work,
not man's work, not your work, God's work. And the blessing
is this, God's work lasts. God's work is eternal when it
relates to our souls. It's not something which will
pass away. It's like being written in rock
with an iron pen. It's not going to be erased.
It's that which God has done and it's done eternally. So tonight
may we have the wonderful evidence of God's work. You may perhaps
say, well, I don't know if I have anything to say and to think
about. Well, just carefully pray over
it and pray that the Lord will show you perhaps what he has
done. Don't forget the devil wants
to blind your eyes and you need God to give you those spiritual
eyes and to hear Him speaking to you, into your heart, what
God has wrought. In those letters to the seven
churches in Revelation, at the end of each little account, the
Lord says, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And so may you and I have ears
to hear and to remember what God has done. what God has spoken,
perhaps God stopped you doing something perhaps you had your
heart intent on going somewhere and perhaps going to some film
or some theatre or some show or something and you wanted to
do it and you were very keen and you were stopped and you
may have been ill and you weren't able to pursue that which you
perhaps set your heart upon. Well it would be a wonderful
favour if you can look back and realise that God's hand was upon
you and stopped you doing that which you really wanted to do. And in actual fact when you just
meditate on it to realize that it's God who's put his hand upon
it. And it will make the situation
so very different from a complete, as it were, disappointment, and
anger, and annoyance, to realize the mercy of God, his hand upon
you. So ponder situations like that
in your life. Think of those occasions perhaps
when you would stop doing something. You may not have realised, but
perhaps now you can look and think, well, it was God that
did that. What a mercy it is that we have
a God therefore who does stop us doing things. And then you
see also God then opens ways sometimes. He opens ways. It may be that he graciously
and wondrously brings you into contact with a godly person. Perhaps you didn't know him about,
or she, or what. And you're able to talk to that
person. That person is able to talk to
you. And you realise that here's a person that understands the
truth of God. It may be a blessing to you. A person like that may come alongside
and perhaps speak to you of the things of God and speak to you
of the great sacrifice of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Things that perhaps you just
didn't understand. You can come and say, well, God
has done that. What has God wrought when he
brought this person into my life? then direct me to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And direct me to his great and
glorious sacrifice upon Calvary for sin. Direct me to that wondrous
grace of God for his wonderful salvation. What hath God wrought? Well, what a blessing if God
has done something like that in our lives. Perhaps brought
us into contact with a person raised up a person that we're
able to converse with, someone that we're not embarrassed to
speak to. Sometimes you and I may be embarrassed
to speak to people, but may God raise up people that you can
speak to. And you find then an echo, you find warmth in your
heart, you find that drawing one to another. And what is that? It's an evidence of God's work,
because if you're able to speak upon the blessings of salvation,
you'll realise that these things are far more important than earthly
things, because they have an eternal value. And you will go
on your way rejoicing, thankful to know that the Lord has looked
upon you and done something for you. in providing somebody to
perhaps help you and to guide you and to strengthen you. No,
I'm not putting up people in preference to God, of course
not. But Lord, does someone sometimes provide people to help and to
direct? What has God wrought? Well, the great blessing is if
God has shown you yourself as a sinner and shown you the great
and glorious Lord Jesus Christ as your salvation. My friends,
strive after these great blessings. Seek after them. Seek that you
may be able to be able to speak of the wonderful things that
God has done and never underestimate the work of the Spirit of God.
Bible tells us, a little that a righteous man hath is better
than the treasures of many wicked. Don't despise what you might
think the day of small things. Because if you have been given
a little faith, even as a grain of mustard seed, it's able to
move mountains and it will bring your safe home to glory. and
it would direct you to the blessed sacrifice of the Saviour, His
death and shed blood upon Calvary's cross. Oh, my friends, strive
after these blessings. Desire that you may be able to
answer such a question like this. What has God wrought in the affirmative? And be able to praise God for
what He's done and to acknowledge His great love and goodness towards
you. His wonderful mercy, and what
will it do? It'll bring you down and raise
Christ up. The evidence of the work of God
in your soul, and the evidence that you are one of God's children,
and therefore the good hope that through His grace, one day, you
will be with Him, your great and glorious Saviour, in glory,
forever and ever. No more sin. No more sorrow,
no more sadness, but eternal joy and happiness. Well, if that's
the case, we have to say, and you'll have to say, to God be
the glory. Amen.