Go with me if you would now to
Numbers chapter 6. Numbers chapter 6. Our message tonight is a command
from the Lord. It's a command to the preacher
concerning what he is to say to the people of the Lord. Just
like the command that he gave in Isaiah 40, he said, you comfort
my people. That was a command that God gave. You comfort my people. And the preacher there in Isaiah
40 said, how? What shall I cry? What is it that will comfort
their hearts? He said, prepare the way of the
Lord. Prepare the way of the Lord.
Just preach Christ to them. The way of Christ to them. The
words of Christ to them. Just preach Christ to them. That
is the command that has been given to every preacher that
has been called of God. Send the comfort of the word
of the Lord to them. Just send the comfort of the
Word. In Ezekiel 34, the Lord said, woe be to the shepherds,
woe be to the preachers and pastors, because the diseased you have
not strengthened. He said, you haven't healed that
which was sick. You haven't bound up that which
was broken. You haven't brought again that
which was driven away. You haven't sought that which
was lost by declaring the words of the Lord to them. That's how
that's done. The Lord is the one who strengthens
the disease, heals the sick, binds up the broken. The Lord
does that. And that's how his preacher does that for God's
people by preaching the words of the Lord to them. That's what the apostle Paul
was saying when he said, woe is unto me if I preach not the
gospel. He said, if I do not declare
God's good news from him to his people, woe is unto me. Paul
said, that's his command to me. And thank God that's his command
to me. I say, thank God, because there's nothing I'd rather tell
God's people, honestly. I'm so glad that's his command.
I'm so thankful that's his command. There's nothing I would rather
say to you and to me, to my own heart. than the precious words of the
Lord concerning the salvation that Christ has secured for us.
Everything that God has done for us in the person and the
work of our Savior, Christ our Savior. So with that being the
command, let's read verses 22 to 26 together. Numbers chapter
six, verse 22 says, And the Lord spake unto Moses
saying, speak unto Aaron and unto his
sons saying, on this wise shall you bless the children of Israel
saying unto them, the Lord told Moses, you tell Aaron and his
sons, this is what I want you to say to my people. This is
what I want you to say to them. Verse 24, 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. The Lord, the Lord, the Lord. He said, that's what I want you
to tell my people. The Lord will do this for you. And that's what
I want to tell you. The Lord will do this for you.
Verse 24 says, 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. The Lord will do that for you. The Lord, he said, that's what
I want you to say. The longer I go in preaching, the more that
I preach, the more that I realize my message is, the Lord did this. End of message. That's it. The Lord will do this. End of
message. The Lord will do this. Every
time it says the Lord, it's speaking of all three persons of the Godhead,
Father, Son, and Spirit. But all three persons of the
Godhead are represented and found in the body. of the Lord Jesus
Christ. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily." This is saying Christ will do this
for you. The Lord Jesus Christ will do
this for you. All the fullness of the Godhead
will do this for you in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
six things are mentioned right here, and I just want to think
about each one of them for a second. Verse 24, He said, The Lord bless
thee. Is that not just precious? The Lord bless thee. I love thinking
about this particular scene in this moment. I just truly, honestly
love thinking about this moment. Turn with me to Luke 24. The Lord here has already risen
from the grave. He's already appeared to His
disciples. And these are His final words to Him before He
ascends back up to His Father to glory. Luke 24, look at verse
44. And He said unto them, These
are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law
of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning
me. Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the
Scriptures. Do we not desire that? Lord, open up our understanding
that we might understand the scriptures. We wanna know more
about him through his word. Verse 46, and he said unto them,
thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer
and to rise from the dead the third day. And that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in his name among
all nations beginning at Jerusalem, and you are witnesses of these
things. And behold, I send the promise
of my father upon you, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until
ye be endued with power from on high." Now verse 50 says,
and he led them out as far as to Bethany and he lifted up his
hands and blessed them. He blessed them. What that means
is he prayed for them. That's what it means. In John
17, he said, Father, I pray for them. He prayed for them, he
pronounced God's blessing on them. That's what it means to
say he blessed them. He pronounced God's favor on
them. God's favor be on you, God's
blessing, God's favor be on you. He gave them a benediction of
praise. to God, from God, in God. He blessed them. Verse 51 says,
And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted up
from them and carried up into heaven. In the middle of his blessing,
while he was praying, while he was telling them, you have favor
with God. He was parted up They watched
Him leave, blessing them as He went up. Verse 52, And they worshipped
Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually
in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen. The last thing that
He did before He left this earth is He blessed them. It's the
last thing He did. Ephesians 1 verse 3 says, Blessed
be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
blessed us in Christ. That's where the Lord has blessed
us. We were chosen in him. Predestinated to adoption in
him. Accepted in him. Redeemed by
the blood in Him. Forgiven our sins in Him. Gathered together in Him. And given the inheritance of
glory in Him. That's what Ephesians 1 says.
In Christ we are blessed. We're so blessed. The Lord bless
thee. The Lord has blessed thee. The
Lord will bless thee. in and because of the person
of Christ our Savior. Now don't turn back, but our
text goes on to say, the Lord keep thee, the Lord bless thee
and keep thee. This is God's word to his people. This is God's word to his people.
He told his, he commanded his preacher, you repeat what I have
written. You repeat what I have said.
You tell them, Moses, you tell Aaron and his sons, say this,
right? This is God's word to his people.
I will keep you. What a word. What a word. The Lord will keep you. He'll
keep you from harm. You know, we have some things
happen to us and we feel like harm has come our way. He will
keep us from harm, true harm, eternal harm. No harm will come
to you. A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand, but it's not coming to you. He'll keep us from destruction,
eternal destruction. He'll keep us from damnation,
eternal damnation. and He won't let us go. He'll keep us from these things
and He will not let us go. The Lord will keep you. In John 17, the Lord said, Father,
those that you gave to me, I have kept them and none of them is
lost. The apostle Peter wrote in first
Peter one, he said, in Christ, in our election into Christ,
in the mercy of His blood, in the resurrection of His life,
in Christ, we're being kept by the power of God. We're being
kept. The Apostle Paul said in 2 Timothy
1.12, I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able
to keep that which I have committed unto Him. What have we committed
unto Him? Everything. Everything. Our souls, our life,
our salvation, our all, everything. Why have we committed it unto
Him? It's because He took it from us and committed it to Himself. And we bowed to it. And we say,
it's committed to you. All things are committed to you. In Christ, our Lord, We're kept,
eternally kept. And in Christ, we're kept every
minute of every day as we walk through this life. We're kept
eternally, and we're kept right here on this earth. Look at this
with me. I hope this will be a comfort
to you. Go to Luke 4. Luke 4 verse 10 says, for it is written, he shall give
his angels charge over thee to keep thee. And in their hands,
they shall bear thee up lest at any time thou dash thy foot
against a stone. That applies to our Lord and
that applies to all of his people. all of the Lord's people. Not
only will our God keep us eternally, He has given His angels charge
over us. Every now and then I get a hold
of these things that just bring great comfort to me. Great comfort
to me. And in the same way that if I
could do that for my children, I would, He can and He has. He has stationed His angels around
His people to keep them to watch over them, to look out for them,
to prepare a safe way for them. We don't, we don't have any idea
what the Lord spares us from, what the Lord protects us from,
the fiery darks that are constantly being defended away. He sent his angels to literally
catch us every time we stumble. Hebrews 1 says, are not His angels,
all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who
shall be heirs of salvation? Every one of them is being kept. Every one of them is being kept.
Our God has made preparations and provisions for us to keep
us. And not only will He keep our
souls and our bodies, He will keep our hearts. Keep our hearts. When trials and troubles come,
We sing, it is well with my soul. It says, when sorrow like sea
billows roll, in those moments, this is what Philippians 4, verse
7 says. It says, the peace of God, which
passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus. He'll keep us spiritually. He'll
keep us physically. He'll keep us emotionally. The
Lord will keep thee. Now don't turn back, but our
text says, the Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make
his face shine upon thee. Look with me at second Corinthians
chapter four. 2 Corinthians 4. Verse 5 says, For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord. And every time I read that, I
think, thank God. Thank God we preach not ourselves
but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Matthew 5 verse 8 says, blessed
are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Blessed are the pure in heart
for they shall see God. Every soul that has been washed
pure in the blood of the Lamb is going to get to see God face
to face. Every soul. That's His promise. He said, you tell my people,
this is my promise to them. I will make my face shine on
them. Face to face. To see God face to face is to
see Jesus Christ. To see the face of God is to
see the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. All the glory of God,
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God, where is all of it seen? In the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Face to face, O blissful moment. Face to face to see and know. Face to face with my Redeemer,
Jesus Christ who loves me so. And I shall see him face to face
and tell the story saved by grace." Grace. And that's the next thing
in our text. It says, the Lord will be gracious
to thee. He will bless thee and keep thee. He will make his face shine upon
thee. And he will be gracious unto
thee. He told Moses, I will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious. I'll give the gift, the grace,
the gift of my son to whom I'm pleased to give the gift of my
son to. How can I know if he's chosen to be gracious to me?
He said, I'll be gracious to whom I'll be gracious. How can
I know if He has chosen to be gracious to me? All right, well,
let's ask this question. Are you a filthy, rotten, no-good,
miserable, wretched sinner? Yes? Then the Lord will be gracious
to you. He has been pleased to give the
gift of His Son to sinners, the gift of salvation, The gift of
His favor, the gift of His kindness to sinners, to sinners. If you're a sinner, if you really
are a sinner, the Lord will be gracious to thee. True, true
beggars of mercy receive mercy from God. They receive grace
from God. The Lord will bless thee. The
Lord will keep thee. The Lord will make His face shine
upon thee, and He will be gracious to thee. Now turn with me to
John 17, and while you're turning, I'll quote the next line of our
text. It says, the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee. The Lord lift up His countenance
upon thee. The Lord will lift up His countenance
upon thee. Lift up means exalt. It means
magnify. His countenance means His face. It means His presence. It means
His person. It's the glory of who He is. the absolute glory of who He
is. He will reveal. He will lift up. He will magnify
His glory to you. Look right here in John 17 verse
24. He said, Father, I will that
they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that
they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou
lovest me before the foundation of the world." He said, I want
my people to be with me where I am so they will have the great
privilege and blessing of beholding my glory. Hebrews 1 says, Christ
is the brightness of God's glory. the express image of his person,
the one who upholds all things by the word of his power, because
he by himself purged our sins and sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high. In Christ, we behold God's glory. We behold his glory, the glory
of who he is, the glory of what he's done. Now let me give you the last
phrase in the text. It says the Lord will give thee
peace. The Lord will give thee peace.
Our Lord said, you tell my people, that's my word to them. I will
give you peace. I'll give you peace. You know
what glory with Christ is? Peace. Doesn't that sound wonderful? Glory with Christ is peace, absolute
peace. I'll give you peace. In Matthew
11, our Lord said, come unto me, all ye that labor and are
heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. I'll give you rest from
all your works of bondage. I'll give you rest from all your
fear, all your trouble. I'll give you rest by giving
you peace. You'll have peace. I will give
you peace. In the world, I'll give you tribulation. In the same way that I suffered,
you will suffer. But in me, I'm going to give
you peace, eternal peace, peace in the heart, peace in the mind,
peace in the soul. That cannot be imagined. Peace,
absolute peace. peace, knowing that Christ has
done all things. That's what glory is going to
be like. We're going to sit there knowing Christ has done all things well. What have I to worry about? What
do I have to fear? He's done all things well. He
made peace. He is our peace. In Him the battles
finish. There's no more war. Knowing that and believing that
brings peace to God's people. In closing, go with me back to
our text, Numbers 6. Numbers chapter 6, verse 22 says, And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, saying, On this
wise shall you 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."
He said, you tell them that. I will bless them. On that note, the Lord will bless
you. He promises. Sometimes I've had statements
made to me and sometimes I've made statements and think, how
can you say that? How can you know? The Lord will bless you. In Christ, the Lord will bless
you. You are going to be blessed. You will be so blessed. So, so
blessed for Christ's sake. Amen. All right, let's all stand
together.