So when looking at the verses
that we just read, the kind of the story that goes along with
this, that this man that God puts a word in his mouth, his
name is Balaam. And Balaam is basically a prophet
for hire. A lot like most preachers are
these days. You pay them enough and they'll tell you what they
want to hear, what you want to hear. And Balaam was hired by
this king named Balak who feared Israel. They feared God's people.
And their only desire was to curse God's people. So he hired
this prophet for hire named Balaam. And you can see the great steps
that this false prophet took to curse God's people, to meet
with God, the seven sacrifices on the seven altars, going to
high places, we see the steps that in self-righteous, what
man will do to curse God. And he goes to God pretending
to want to hear what he says. He said, per adventure, I'll
go see what God says. He did not want to hear what
God said. His only desire was to curse God's people. And they
go at night to curse Israel. And this is the nation. And if
you read other chapters in Numbers, you'll see that the tribes of
Israel below in the valley and Moses was there as well. They
had absolutely no idea what was going on. Had no idea. And even if they did, there's
probably nothing they could have done anyway. But at no time were
they ever in any kind of danger. And we see here in verse 16,
God meets Balaam. And in verse 16, he says, And
the Lord met Balaam and put a word in his mouth. And just like with
every sinner, that's always the way it is. God initiates everything. He works all things and nothing
a sinner does ever takes him by surprise. Ever. And when you
look at the entire chapter, you read this entire chapter, every
word, every part of it that Balaam speaks is absolutely true. Everything
he says is true. Even though it's not his intent
to say that, he even appears to be a man of character at times
like most false prophets will. Don Fortner called this, many
times I heard him say, that's a wolf in sheep's clothing. That's
what he called it. Like most preachers are, they
preach another God, they preach another gospel. Balaam even says
in verse 10, he says, who can count the dust of Jacob, the
descendants? And who can number even the fourth
part of Israel? Well, God can do exactly that.
He says, let me die the death of the righteous and let my last
end be like this. And the death of the righteous,
for God's elect, is peace, salvation, and eternal joy in Him. And he
recognizes that, has no knowledge of what it means, but he does
appear to know that. He's blind. See, Balaam has no
connection with God, only carnal knowledge. And we know, you cannot
believe on a Christ that's not revealed. We cannot believe on
an unrevealed Christ. There's no mercy there. See,
Balaam approaches God in himself, in these elaborate sacrifices,
going to high places in self-righteousness. But in John 14, 6, this is what
Christ says. He says, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. And Balaam comes every way but
Christ. And it's easy for us to look
at this story in our flesh and say, well, these guys got exactly
what they had coming to them. It's easy for us to say God showed
them But the truth is, we are the exact same. We are the same
stuff as Balaam. And John, in one of his recent
sermons, said that until this issue of sovereignty is settled
with us, there's nothing but enmity with God and there's absolutely
no peace at all. And the fact that God is sovereign
over natural man makes us mad. We are at enmity against Him
apart from Christ. Just like Balaam, we would say,
consider me, look what my hands have made, look at my sacrifices,
look at all these rims and altars and things like that. We, by
nature, do the exact opposite of what God does. This is what
Paul said. That's which I would, I don't.
What I don't do, that's what I want to do. But I can't do
it because I'm nothing but sin. We only see by faith. We only
see by another person's righteousness. Most people will say, you can
keep your righteousness and I have my own. This is exactly what
Balaam says. But the truth is we're absolutely
nothing when it comes to God's sovereignty. And even when it
comes to nothing, God said, and this is talking about the blind
man who was healed. He said, if this man were not
of God, he could do nothing. In John 15, he said, I'm the
vine, and you are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me, you
can do nothing. He said in 2 Corinthians, we
can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth, which is Christ. And it doesn't get much plainer
than that, just the way he talked to Balaam here. And what happens
here with Balaam is he comes face-to-face with God's sovereignty. Every sinner comes face-to-face
with God's sovereignty. It's either in His sovereign
mercy or it's in His justice and judgment. And this is what God said about
His sovereignty. He said, As it is written, Behold,
I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. And this stumbling stone
and rock of offense is Christ. It says, whosoever believeth
on him, that stumbling stone. And these are the words he puts
in Balaam's mouth. It's what we just sang in verse
19. God is not a man that he should
lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. Hath he said
it, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall
he not make it good?" I remember Rupert saying, spoken, done. That's how Christ operates. I
remember him saying that. 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 his God is with him,
and the shout of a king is among them. But Balaam particularly
didn't like what he heard, neither did Balak, so they go back again
and again. He returns and tries to find
a different answer, one that's more appealing to him, just like
every sinner in self-righteousness in the flesh does. We look for
salvation in ourselves. We look inward for deliverance.
But God never changes, and when He goes back, He gets the same
exact answer. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob. neither hath he seen perverseness
in Israel." And we know in reading the Word of God that many times
the names Jacob and Israel are used together. And what they
do, what Jacob does, he uses these names to show us by Jacob
who we are in ourselves, who we are by flesh, who we are by
nature. At the same time, Israel, who we are in Christ. God said
he finds no iniquity in Jacob. They reveal who we are in the
flesh and who we are in Christ. And I know a lot of times it
seems kind of strange to us that God says that he finds no iniquity
in Jacob. And we've all read and heard
John preach on about Jacob when he was in Genesis and all those
verses whose name means iniquity. He says, I find no iniquity in
this guy who is iniquity, who is a liar, who is a supplanter,
But while we are by nature Jacob, to God in Christ, we are at the
same time Israel. I don't really understand that,
but that is exactly how God sees. He says, "...he hath not beheld
iniquity, neither hath he seen perverseness." He didn't say,
I might not or I may not. He says, I hath not. But these
words that he puts in Balaam's mouth, he forces Balaam to go
back and say this. Can that also be said of me? Can it be said of the elect?
Can it be said of you? Does God see the sins of His
people? Because in myself, that's all
I see. We know God sees all things. God is all-knowing, all-seeing.
He is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And
all things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom
we have to do. He sees everything. But yet he
says here what Balaam is forced to say, that he has not seen
iniquity in Jacob. And at the very time Balaam says
that, those Israelites in the valley were sinning. The Jacobs
that he just said, I do not see iniquity in, were sinning. And
he talks about not seeing perverseness in Israel, which in ourselves,
Israel, that's all we are. That's all they are, the perverseness.
But he says, I have seen no perverseness in them. So how can an all-knowing,
all-seeing God not see my sin? How is this possible? Our eyes
are so blind or so limited by our sin. That is all we see. In spite of what we just read,
we just read God say, I do not see the iniquity in Jacob, yet
with Paul we say, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Because all I am is sin. Our eyes are so limited, like
it says, now we see through a glass darkly. But God's ways are not our ways.
And I know John has said this many times as well, we try to
project our thoughts, our minds on God, trying to limit Him to
how we see. But in Habakkuk 1, this is what
God says about Himself. Thou art of purer eyes than to
behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. But those are God's
eyes. He is of purer eyes. Why can't
he see iniquity? I see it every day, all the time. If he can't see sin, his inflexible
justice still has to be satisfied. Somebody has to pay the debt.
And in this is where we find the meaning of the words substitute
and surety. In 2 Corinthians 5, he says,
For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that
we may be made the righteousness of God in him. And to the all-knowing,
all-seeing God, he can't see my sins, he can't see the sins
of Jacob, because he has already seen them in Christ. He was made
sin for us. He is of purer eyes than to see
my sin. He views his people's sin in
Christ, the one who has put them away. And that's what surety
and substitute is. In addition to that, Christ was
a lamb slain before the foundation of the world. What about my sin
right now? I'm in sin right now. I will
be tomorrow. What about those? He said, before
the foundation of the world, as He viewed our sins in Christ. In Romans 8, He says, There is
now, therefore, no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. He says,
no condemnation. None. But yet I'm still sin. Sin is all I am. That's all I
see. That is all I see. You still walk in the flesh.
I still walk in the flesh. Don't ask me if I don't. Not
to them which are in Christ Jesus. That's what He said. There's
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Not because
I said so, because He said so. And it's not that I could walk
after the Spirit. I have no idea how to walk after the Spirit.
No idea. But He does. And he said, there's
no condemnation to them which are in Christ. In Jeremiah 50, he says, In those
days and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel
shall be sought, shall be sought for, and there shall be none.
and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found. For I will
pardon them who I reserve." And these are the Jacobs in the Israel
he forced Balaam to say. I find no iniquity there. If
you would turn to Ephesians 1, we've read this many times. In verse 3. In Ephesians 1, verse 3, he says,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places
in Christ, according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without lame before
Him in love. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will. And we would ask, why would He
do that for sinners? In verse 6, to the praise of
the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the
blood. That's why. And to sinners, you
would ask, is this too good to be true? What He forces Balaam
to say, that I see no iniquity. The words He puts in the mouth
of His elect. It's not for a sovereign God.
Well, does that mean there's no sin in me? Is that what this
means? Because, like I said before,
all we see in ourselves, every sinner sees, is nothing but sin.
That's all we are. The fact that God does not see
iniquity in Jacob or perverseness in Israel does not mean believers
don't sin. We know that. Our sins are no
less evil than unbelievers. We're no better than Balaam.
And this is what Spurgeon said, and I really like this when it
comes to what we see in ourselves. Spurgeon said, sin is my name. Sin is my nature. And to deny
it is to deny the word, deceive myself, and call God a liar.
My old nature is such that I will sin until I die, for sin even
pollutes the best thing I do." So if you ever think the best
thing you do is nothing but sin, there's nothing there but sin.
But these same words, the same words he puts in Balaam's mouth,
that the flesh despises, by his sovereign mercy, are to God's
people salvation. In Isaiah 38, 17, he said, Behold,
for peace I had great bitterness, but thou hast in love to my soul
delivered it from the pit of corruption, for thou hast cast
all my sins behind my back. My current sin right now, was
he talking about those as well? He said before the foundation
of the world did he choose us in Christ that we would be without
blame. So that said, there is absolutely
nothing in us for God to punish. And I would give about anything
to know the full meaning of what that is. I think it's virtually
impossible on this earth. What I would give that my heart
could see and my soul could see that there's nothing in me to
punish. I say with Paul, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death? And in thinking about this, I remember the line
in It Is Well With My Soul that Horatio Spafford wrote. He said,
My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought, My sin, not in part
but the whole, Was nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. And he knew something
of this mercy when he said, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought,
because if that thought ever gets in our head, it is absolute
bliss. When we have faith to see this
and get a hold of it, we will praise Christ. We had a debt
with absolutely nothing to pay it with. And he didn't just cross
out our debt, he took it and laid it on the one who knew no
sin, made him our sin, and when he did, When the God-man put
away our sin, in Hebrews 8, he says, for I will be merciful
to their unrighteousness. Who does that? Who is a God like
unto thee that would be merciful to our unrighteousness, that
would pass by our iniquities? And he says in their sins and
in their iniquities will I remember no more. The all-knowing, all-seeing
God remembers them no more. And about his son, this is what
God said. He said, this is my beloved son
in whom I'm well pleased. He sees our sin in his son in
whom he's well pleased. It is impossible for God not
to be pleased with his elect at all times. If we are one with
Christ, He is well-pleased. All that He demands of me, He
finds in Him. And Tim James, I remember Tim
James saying this one time, he said, because we can't get over
our sin, he said, sins are not as crimes to be punished. They
were punished in Christ. There's nothing left to punish
but a sickness to be healed, a death to be overcome. And in
Deuteronomy, this is what God said. He said, see now that I,
even I am he, and there is no God with me. I kill and I make
alive. I wound and I heal. Neither is
there any man that can deliver out of my hand. He said, you
can't reverse it. You can't deliver yourself out
of my hand. Apprehended and subdued. If we could, we would. We would.
And I'm convinced of that. He is commanded to bless and
has blessed. And I can't reverse it. He has
not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness
in Israel. These are words that he puts
in the mouth of every one of his elect. But in our life, what
does it take for us to see this? The same words he puts in Balaam's
mouth, what is the difference between Balaam hating it and
His people being their only righteousness, what's the difference? The difference
between Balaam and his people is it must be revealed. And that
idea is so contrary to us by nature that the only way we'll
ever see it is in His mercy alone. His mercy is the only way that
will cause us to see it and God alone does this. So how does
He, the same words He put in the mouth of Balaam, how are
they made known to His people? And I'd like to read this. This
is another excerpt that Spurgeon wrote dealing with this exact
thing. Spurgeon was called in his day
the Prince of Preachers. But this was a time just like
Spurgeon was just like Balaam, just like every sinner finds
himself. And this is what Spurgeon said. He said, there was a time
when I wondered not at Christ. I heard of his beauties, but
I had never seen them. I heard of his power, but it
meant absolutely nothing to me. I had no connection or need of
it, and therefore I didn't observe it. But once upon a time, there
came one to my house of a black and terrible aspect. He smoked
the door. I tried to bolt it and to hold
it fast. He smoked it again and again
till at last he entered. And with a rough voice, he summoned
me before him and he said, I have a message from God for thee.
Thou art dead, condemned on account of thy sins. Spurgeon said, I
looked at him with astonishment and I asked him his name. He
said, my name is the law. And I fell at his feet as one
that was dead. And y'all remember the scripture
that says, I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment
came, sin revived and I died. And Spurgeon said, as I lay there,
he smoked me. He smoked me till every rib seemed
as if it must break and the bowels be poured forth. My heart was
melted like wax with me. I seemed to be stretched upon
a rack, to be pinched with hot irons, to be beaten with whips
of burning wire. An extreme misery dwelt and reigned
in my heart. I dared not lift up my eyes,
but I thought within myself, you know, there may be hope,
there may be mercy for me, perhaps that God whom I have offended
may accept my tears and my promises of changing that I may live.
But when that thought crossed me, heavier were the blows and
more distressing my suffering than before, till hope entirely
left me and I had nowhere to trust or hope. Darkness, black
and dense, gathered round me. I heard a voice, as it were,
of rushing to and fro, and of wailing and gnashing of teeth.
I said within my soul, I am cast out of his sight. I am utterly
aboard of God. He has trampled me in the mud
of the streets in his anger. But there came one by. of sorrowful but of loving aspect,
and he stooped over me, and he put a word in my mouth. Awake
thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall
give thee light. Behold, I have commanded to bless,
and have blessed, and you can't reverse it. He hath not beheld iniquity of
Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel. The Lord his God is
with him, and the shout of a king is among them." And in this time,
just like I think John said a couple weeks ago, we don't hear the
voice of God like Paul. But what Spurgeon said is these
are the unutterable words to the soul. Words just the same. The same
words he put in Balaam's mouth of sovereign mercy and grace
from God that were a stumbling stone and a rock of offense to
him, become to a believer their righteousness. And God said, where once was
laid a stumbling stone, now he says, behold, I have laid in
Zion a chief cornerstone. elect, precious, and he that
believeth on him shall not be confounded." And God's absolute
sovereignty and sovereign mercy and salvation is revealed to
His people. The same words He put in the mouth of Balaam that
He forced him to say, He puts in the mouth of His elect. Against
their will, with their full consent. And I can't reverse it. I can't
do anything about it. He said, it is finished. And
the only difference between God's elect, the tribes of Israel who
God protected, and the false prophet Balaam is God's sovereign
mercy. And in Exodus, this is God's
sovereign mercy. To which he also said, this is
my glory. If you want to see my glory, you'll see this. This
is his sovereign mercy. And I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee. That's the shout of a king. And
I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show
mercy on whom I will show mercy. And I thank Him that He is gracious
to Jacob and merciful to Israel. The bliss of this glorious thought,
that I should be pardoned for my sins, and not in part but
the whole. And it's not so much the pardon
that we wonder at, it's the wonder comes that He should pardon me. Somebody that is nothing but
sin, that is nothing but blackness, that has committed crimes that
we wouldn't even want to speak. This is God's hope and assurance
to us, the cornerstone, and I think apart from that, apart from His
hope and assurance, we would fall into despair, we would be
depressed, because we can't quit sinning. In our lives, there's
things in the past that we can't get around, we can't get past
them. I mean, I'm not going to speak for y'all, I can speak
for myself on this one. Our constant failures, weaknesses
even in the present, and not to mention what I will do tomorrow.
When we think about them, even though we know our sins are forgiven,
even though we just read this, the debt has been paid and God
is satisfied, they always bother us. Even when we're able to believe
by faith, there are things in the flesh that always stay with
us. Like Paul, he had a thorn in
his side. They're always with us. Sometimes we might even ask God,
if God saved me, why does He keep letting me do what I do? If He does not see iniquity in
me or perverseness in Israel, why does He let me keep sinning?
I mean, I think John recently said, asked the same question,
what about all my sins since I believe? We sin against the
light. We sin against grace known to
us. We sin against God's love that
we have experienced. We sin against the mercy and
grace He's given us freely. That's what we sin. We sin against
thee and thee only. But what about that? Why can't
I just stop sinning? What about my sins tomorrow?
Well, the truth is with God, there's no what if or what about.
The debt's paid or he failed miserably. He said it's finished. We're just so full of sin. He
said, God forbid. That's what he says about our
sins. But the truth is this, about
our constant sin and sinful nature, like Spurgeon said, sin is my
name, sin is my nature. This is what I know. In Romans it says, and we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them that are called according to His purpose. And in Ephesians
he says, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all
things after the counsel of His own will." All things, even our
sin? He said all things. This body of death, He said all
things. He said, I form the light and
create darkness. I make peace and create evil.
I, the Lord, do all these things for the good of His people and
for His glory. Well, some might say, well, that
makes God the author of sin. He makes me sin. Well, the truth
is, we can't make God the author of anything. He is who He is
and He does what He does. A preacher once said that God
does not mind taking the credit or blame for what he says or
what he has done or what anybody else says about it. What he does
in his sovereign mercy is overrules our sin for our good and his
glory. That's what he does. And just like in Samuel, when
he's talking to Ezekiel, he says, and Samuel told him every and
hid nothing from him and said, it is the Lord, let him do what
seemeth him good. And John recently said in one
of his sermons, and this is absolutely true when it comes to sovereignty
and our sin, he said the issue with us, our problem, our entire
problem, our problem with everything is God's right to be God. And you remember what Nebuchadnezzar
said about this after spending seven years in the wilderness
where his fingernails turned up and looked like claws. He
said, and all the habitants of the earth are reputed as nothing,
and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and
among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his
hand or say unto him, what doest thou? What God says to us and
for us in His Word is our only source of hope, is our only source
of comfort, is our only source of assurance. It's the Word He
puts in our mouth, in our mind. He says, I have received commandment
to bless and have blessed, and I cannot reverse it. We can't
escape from it. In Romans, he says, what shall
we say to these things if God be for us, who can be against
us? He says, the Lord his God is with him, and the shout of
a king is among them. And the shout of a king and our
constant warfare between flesh and spirit, between the old man
and the new man. And Paul said in Galatians, and
because ye are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his
Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. That's words in
our mouth. That's the shout of a king, and
we will not say that apart from Him. He sent forth the Spirit
of His Son into our heart. And we can't escape it. We talked
about the names of God. Well, there's one called Jehovah
Shammah. The Lord is there. We can't escape
from Him. This is God. In Psalms 139, and
I'm sure we've read this, He says, Whither shall I go from
thy spirit? How can I get away from it? Or whither shall I flee
from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou
art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold,
thou art there. If I take wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall
thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me." We cannot
escape the shout of a king. And you know what else? I can't
reverse it. Can't do anything about it. If there's any hope
or rest, it's there. And to bail on this rock of offense,
this is a rock of offense that he hates, but to his elect, his
people, Israel, Jacob, whom he shows mercy, these same words
are our hope. He puts a word in my mouth. What
assurance that is. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel. And in closing, if
you would turn to Isaiah 45. We'll start at verse 4. In verse 4, he says, For Jacob
my servant's sake, and Israel my elect, I have even called
thee by thy name, I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known
me. I am the Lord, and there is none
else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou
hast not known me, that they may know from the rising of the
sun and from the west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord,
and there is none else." That's God's sovereignty and His mercy. And even as a pardoned sinner,
We wonder why God just doesn't give us the grace to believe
constantly, to quit sinning. We see it every day. But not only shall He save His
people from their sins, but I hope He makes it known more and more
that every day the only way I can be saved is by His sovereign
grace and mercy. That's the growing grace, to
have to depend on Christ more every single day, to come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in our time of need. He hath commanded to bless
and hath blessed. Here's what David said, he said,
such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high, I cannot
attain unto it. And I may never understand exactly
what that means, but I think, I am so thankful that my salvation
is in no part based on what I understand. And I can't reverse it. My hope
is that we rest in the sovereign mercy of God and His grace and
His wisdom, that He has spoken and made it good, spoken done,
like Rupert said. He is blessed and I can't reverse
it. He has not beheld the iniquity in me but lay it all on Christ
in whom he is well pleased.