The book of Numbers, chapter
25. In that book of Numbers, we are
going to find that that verse probably could have been taken
from this chapter, but it could be taken from so many chapters
out of the Bible. As we just read there in that
every soul of man by sinning merits everlasting pain. but thy love without beginning
formed and fixed salvation's plan. Now in this chapter 25
of the book of Numbers, we are made quite aware in this passage
of scripture of that very thing, that we merit justice and pain
and it's brought out several times in the book of Numbers.
It was amazing to look at some of this passage of scripture
in the book of Numbers alone that people merited pain. Now it never fell on any of God's
children but it did fall on those that he did not choose before
in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world. And it is so shared
through this book in Numbers chapter 25 and verse 9. In this
chapter, just down through verse eight, the events that took place
after Balaam had been, if he'd had his will, talk about free
will, if he'd had his free will, he would have cursed Israel.
But he did not have his free will, his will was imposed upon
by Almighty God, and the only thing that he could do was bless
Israel. And those few times that he was
able to speak The blessings that God gave to Israel are so gracious
and glorious. And then in the first chapter
after Balaam's event, we find here in chapter 25, that the
children of Israel are doing what is so normal. You know,
the preacher that brought me the gospel said every message
he preaches has three things in it. Three R's. I found out
that he got it from someone else, and that person got it from somewhere
else, and that person eventually got it from the Word of God,
but there's three R's. There's always going to be ruin
by the fall. The ruination that came as a
result of the fall is brought out here in the book of Numbers.
And then the third one is redeemed by Christ. We're going to find
there's good news for God's people in the redemption that we have
in Christ. And then we find out that it is applied by the Holy
Spirit. We're regenerated by the Holy Spirit. So three R's,
there it is, sum and substance of the gospel. Here in the book
of Numbers chapter 25 verse 9, read that with me, and those
that died in the plague were 24,000. As a result of the events
that took place in verses 1 through 8, 24,000 people died in a plague
brought on by God. Well let's just go back if you
would in the book of Numbers to chapter 11 and verse 1 as
we find that God continues to share in the word of God that
justice, if it was truly served as it should have been, we would
not, any of us, ever have been placed in that number. Nobody
would ever be saved. But God is the God of grace.
He's the God of mercy. And he had a plan and a purpose
before the foundation of the world or no one would be saved. Here in the book of Numbers chapter
11 and verse 1, These words, and when the people complained,
it displeased the Lord, and the Lord heard it, and his anger
was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and
consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. And the people cried unto Moses,
and when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched.
In chapter 11 verse 33 of this same book, Numbers chapter 11
verse 33, we continue to find in the scriptures that we are
ruined, ruined by the fall. And we have no help or hope in
ourselves to ever get out of that condition. In chapter 11
verse 33, and when the flesh was yet between their teeth,
ere it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against
the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very great
plague. Here, they're not happy with
manna. And God said, okay, I'll give
you some birds to eat, and he did, and here we have the results. Chapter 14 of the book of Numbers. If you'll turn there with me,
chapter 14, verse 35. Chapter 14, verse 35, the continuation,
the continued story goes on and on through the scriptures of
the problem that came unto the human race as a result of Adam's
fall. And we deal with it in our life
every day. God saves his people from their
sin, but he did not take that out of us. He just promised it
is over. You'll not stand before me in
justice. You'll stand before me. Welcome,
thou good and faithful servant. Here in verse 35 of the 14th
chapter of Numbers, it says, and I, the Lord, have said, I
will surely do it. And unto all the evil congregation
that are gathered together against me in this wilderness, they shall
be consumed, and there they shall die." Verse 37, even those men
that did bring up the evil report upon the land died by the plague
before the Lord. They came back and lied about
the land. They lied about God. They lied. Two of them came back
with a good report. The reason why we find in scripture
is they had another spirit within them. Numbers chapter 16, this
continues on. Numbers chapter 16 and there
in verse 27. Numbers chapter 16 and verse
27, this is what continues to go on and God was right in doing
what he did. Chapter 16, verse 27, so they
got up from the tabernacle of Korah and Dathan and Abram and
on every side and Dathan and Abram came out and stood in the
door of their tents and their wives and their sons and their
little children. And Moses said, hereby shall
ye know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works for
I have not done them of my own mind. If these men die the common
death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation
of all men, then the Lord hath not sent me. But if the Lord
make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them
up, and with all that appertaineth unto them, and they go down quick
into the pit, then ye shall understand that these men have provoked
the Lord. And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking,
all these words that the ground clave asunder that was under
them, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up,
and their houses, and all the men that appertaineth unto Korah,
and all their goods. And all that appertaineth to
them went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon
them, and they perished from among the congregation. Chapter
16, verse 35, would you turn there? And there came out a fire
from the Lord and consumed 250 men that offered incense. Chapter
16, verse 49. Now they that died in the plague were 14,700 besides
them that died about the matter of Korah. And in chapter 21, Talk about ruined by the fall. No man's life or heart is towards
God on their own. They will not turn. It didn't
matter how many times God came down and consumed people, opened
the earth on people, destroyed people. Nobody changed their
attitude towards God. It never brought about repentance.
It never brought about change. We find throughout the book of
the judges that they for a season would seem to Go along, but then
every man did what was right in their own eyes. Notice with
me here in chapter 16 and verse 49, these words are recorded.
It said, and they that died in the plague were 14,700 besides
them that died with the matter of Korah. Chapter 21, chapter
21 and verse 6. And the Lord sent fiery serpents
among the people, and they bit the people, and much people of
Israel died. And then we read in chapter 25
in verse 9 that 24,000 died. God often demonstrates that he
truly is the offended party. You know, the other day I asked
a young man, he said he was saved, and I said, what were you saved
from? And he said, from sin. And I
says, who told you that you were a sinner? And he said, my dad. That's not enough. That is not enough. To be told
by a man that we are a sinner, that is not enough. Who's gonna
really tell us that we're a sinner? The Holy Spirit's business is
His will convict us, convince us of sin. It is Holy Spirit
conviction that is the only real conviction. To be sorry we got
our hands caught in a cookie jar is not enough. To be sorry
that we betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ is not enough. It is not
enough. The God of heaven is the offended
party. And He has taken that offense,
greatly and he has shown how he feels about that offense and
if anybody is ever going to be saved out of that offense then
somebody is going to have to take the punishment for it and
that's the good news. Someone has taken the punishment
for it. The punishment was delved out
to these people The punishment of this plague was delved out
to these people, and the punishment, an eternal punishment, is delved
out, but it will never, ever be paid for. It was not of human
beings that we are saved from. It's not of human contrivance
that we're saved by. It has to be someone that has
the ability to take care of it, and we find that they're in eternity.
There's only one that has had the ability of taking care of
this problem of the fall, and the heart that is desperately
wicked towards God, a heart that is grossly at war with him, and
will not bow, will not come, will not give credence to God. God often demonstrates that he
truly is the offended party. Adam's offended God and it was
such a great sin and it's been passed on to all of us. We find
that the There is so much God has the clear right and authority
and power to use the plagues against offending parties. And
he has throughout the scriptures, we find that very thing. In verse
10, going back to the book of Numbers chapter 25, in verse
10 of that, we find something took place. Chapter 25 and verse
10, the scriptures share this. And the Lord spake unto Moses
saying, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar,
the son of Aaron, the priest, hath turned my wrath away from
the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake, and
among them, that I consume not the children of Israel in my
jealousy. Wherefore say, behold, I give
unto him my covenant of peace, and he shall have it and his
seed after him, even the covenant of my everlasting priesthood,
because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the
children of Israel. Now, this word in this capacity
does not mean that he was able to take care of their sin. It
just simply means that God was appeased and settled down and
he didn't consume all of Israel. But we do find that he is a beautiful
picture of the one that truly can take care of the sin issue
and truly give us a covenant of peace and settle the issue
once and for all and bring it to a head. It will never happen
from our side. We can never get there from here. It is never going to be from
here up. We'll never find out that salvation
is from us to God. We'll always find out it is from
God to us. It is top down. He must be in
charge of it. He must be the one that created
it. He must be the one that carries
it out. And He's the one that is going to consummate it in
eternity. He is our salvation. We find that His very name, they
shall call His name Jesus for He shall save His people from
their sins. What a promise. You know who
got to hear that? Adam and Eve and Abel got to
hear that. That is their only hope and only salvation was they
shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from
their sins. It was promised to Adam and Eve
that there would be someone come who would be able to take on
the sin of his people, take care of the devil himself to put him
away. He would no longer have his power. And this is what we find that
the Lord did. If you'll turn with me to the
book of Colossians, in the book of Colossians, we have this word
again used in Colossians chapter 3 and verse 6. In Colossians
chapter 3 and verse 6, we read these words about what the Lord,
the wrath of God. Chapter 3 and verse 6, the scriptures
share this. For which thing's sake the wrath
of God cometh on the children of disobedience? Now, there's
gonna be a wrath paid on the children of disobedience. And
this is a promise from Almighty God. It will not be stopped.
The wrath of God will not be stopped. Now, there is something
that happened. It's a discovery that comes in
the gospel. There is someone pointed out
to the church that has taken care of the issue. It is by revelation
we learn that God has taken care of the issue of the fall of Adam
as it was imparted to us and imposed upon us and imputed to
us this fall. Someone is revealed to us that
has the ability of taking care of it and takes care of it. Now there's only one way that
this could be taken care of. The wrath of God must fall on
someone else. It can't fall on us. If it falls
on us, we're done away with. If the wrath of God falls on
us, it cannot be helped. It cannot be taken care of. No
one can take the wrath of God and survive. Now, there's someone
that had to come, and there's only one being that could take
the wrath of God, survive the wrath of God, and in so doing,
pay the price that was due God. He's the offended party. There
is a passage of scripture in the book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel
chapter 7. In Ezekiel chapter 7, we have
some words shared here, but they truly are meant with regard to
our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only one that could
have the fury of God poured out on him, given to him, imputed
to him, placed upon him in such a manner that would take care
of the problem that is between men and God. In the book of Ezekiel
chapter 7, if you would turn there with me, and verse 8, We
read these words, now will I shortly, Ezekiel chapter 7 verse 8. As we think of this in a prophetic
manner, it won't be very long, the issue will be taken care
of. It will not be taken care of during Jeremiah's day, it
will not be taken care of during Ezekiel's day, it will not be
taken care of during Malachi's day, but it will be taken care
of soon. A day with the Lord is as a thousand
years and a thousand years as a day. So when he uses this here,
it tells us verse eight, now will I shortly pour out my fury. Now we just heard read there
in the book of Matthew that the Lord Jesus on the cross cried,
my God, and I can't put the feeling in it. I cannot express it like it needs
to be expressed. We read it and that is as close
as I can get to it. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Now this verse of scripture shares,
I will pour out, I will spare, verse eight, now will I shortly
pour out my fury upon thee. and accomplish mine
anger upon thee. There's only one that can take
that. And it goes on to tell us, and I will judge thee according
to thy ways and will recompense thee for all thine abominations. Now we're gonna read that this
is the holy son of God. This is the one who has no sin. This is the one that is the righteous
son of God. And yet God speaks about it in
such a manner that our sins are gonna be imputed to him and he
is going to treat him as if he was a sinner. Now, he had no
sin of his own and he had none on the cross. He did not become
a sinner. He became sin for us. And so,
we find out, I will pour out my fury. I will pour out my justice. I will pour out upon you, upon
you. Now, in the book of Romans, if
you turn there with me, Romans chapter three, we've seen God's
fury upon humanity, book of numbers, a number of times poured out
his fury. I cannot imagine what it was
to have the fire of God come through a camp. I've never seen
that. You know, we had a dear friend
here that was in World War II, and his job was to carry around
on his back a device that threw flame. And you know that man never got
over that. That was his job, and he never
got over it. How terrible. And we think about
the fire of God going through the camp of Israel and consumed. You know, two of the sons of
Aaron came and offered, and God consumed them inside
of their garments. Now we have a Savior appointed
by God, provided by God, decreed by God, gloried by God to come
and have all of this that was due us poured out upon him. In the book of Romans chapter
3 and verse 25, Romans chapter 3 and verse 25, these glorious
words as we find in the book of Romans so often and through
the New Testament, through the Old Testament, the message never
changed. We have more revelation about
it, but here it says in chapter 3 and verse 25, whom God has
set before to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God. Now, what does propitiation
mean? There's a verse that we might
read over there in the book of 1 John 2. He's a propitiation for our sin
and not for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world.
You know, I used to argue about what that world meant. Now I
don't even discuss it. That's not the issue. The issue
is, who did he propitiate for? Now, if he propitiated, which
means to pay the sin debt of, of everybody that has ever been
born, then there will be nobody in hell. That is it. If he took
care of the sin issue, there's no reason for that place. But
he did not. He propitiated for the church.
He paid the sin debt for the church. He's the one that had
his God's fury poured out on the cross for his people. And
here we read that he's a propitiation through faith. He's a propitiation
for our sins. He's the sin debt payment. In
Hebrews chapter two, would you turn there with me as we think
about the glorious satisfaction that God had in the person of
his son that he would take care of the sin debt for the people.
It was onerous. It was a stench in the nostrils
of God. It was so terrible that we find
out the only way that reconciliation could be made was the death of
his son. Now, this is no small price. This is God come to take care
of the problem. No man could take care of it.
Throughout the Old Testament era, we find thousands upon thousands
upon thousands of animals were taken and sacrificed. They were
a type and a shadow and a picture, but they did not take care of
one sin. The blood of bulls and goats
could not take away sin. Why? They're not of the same
family. And a man cannot take care because we have the same
problem. God brought this out even about
the high priest. The problem was that they were
sinners and they died and they had to have a new high priest
come along and then a different high priest come along. But we
have a high priest that has been the eternal high priest, a priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. We have a wonderful high priest
and this high priest can take care of the issue, the problem.
Here in the book of Hebrews chapter 2, let's read this together.
In Hebrews chapter 2, there in verse 17, Hebrews chapter 2 and
verse 17, all our hope is in this one. This is the only one
that could take care of the issue and he did take care of the issue.
We know he took care of the issue because he's sitting now at the
right hand of the father. all the others still in the grave. Hebrews chapter two verse 17,
wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto humanity,
his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high
priest in things pertaining to God. Now God had a debt. that needed to be paid, I am
offended. And it wasn't up to here. It
wasn't up to here. It was up to here. I'm so offended
as a result of the fall that I have the right as God Almighty,
as sovereign king of the universe to justly condemn, to justly
send a plague, to consume by fire. Whatever I do is right. But, here we read, a faithful
high priest in things pertaining to God. I'm certainly glad it
doesn't say faithfully pertaining to a king, a human king, or to
a church, or to a charter, or to a religion. He says, I'm faithful
to God in this matter. And that's what needed to be,
to make reconciliation for the people. Reconciliation for the
sins of the people to pay the necessary price. That's what
that means, to pay the necessary price. The expiation and removal
of the sins of his people to have it completely paid in full. No charge is against them anymore. How glorious is the gospel of
God's free grace that the sin would fall on another and that
it would be paid for in another and that a substitute would take
care of it and you and I would be able to go free because he
took the curse upon him. This is what we find the gospel.
Oh, we are ruined by the fall. And you know what? The only group
of people I've ever found in my whole life that will admit
to that are people that have been born again. They're the
only ones that can admit, yes, yes. Other people, and even in
my religion, no, I'm not quite that bad. But you know what? We're worse than we thought.
The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
We can't measure it, we can't weigh it, we can't come to the
conclusion of it, but we find out that this is the payment
that it was made. The payment that was required
was the life of the Son of God. He came in human flesh for the
suffering of death. He came in human flesh, called
the God-man, called Emmanuel, grew up among humanity. And you know what? While he was
here, he's the only one that could look around and see each
one that belonged to him. And he, I can just hear him saying,
I'm dying for you. I'm dying for you. I'm becoming
the substitute for you. I'm having sin imputed to me
for you. The sins I will remember No more. You know, what a way God was
able, and it's just, it's another one of those inexplainable things
that God could gather all the sins of all his people from the
very beginning to the very end. gather them all up and impute
them all to one his dear son on the cross and as he did do
what he said he would do I will pour out my fury on this one
because he has all the sins of all my people from the very beginning
to the very end. Now, Jesus Christ came long after
Adam was created and he, at least 2,000 years, he died before what
we have now. So there's a whole lot of people
that were not around during the time of Christ that he was able
to take all their sins and he put, you know, Just a thought
here. Turn with me to the book of Luke,
if you would, for just a moment. Luke chapter 4. In Luke chapter
4, we have an incident take place that reminds me of this very
thing. There would be a gathering time,
but here we have a group of unclean spirits. saying, let us alone,
what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? This
is Luke chapter four, verse 34. Art thou come to destroy us?
I know thee, thou art the Holy One of God. Now they're saying
something that in another place we find, are you here to destroy
us before our time? Now these evil spirits know that
their time is coming. It just reminded me of how sin
was so settled. All the sins of Adam, all the
sins of his children, all the sins down through time, all the
sins to the very end before the last one is saved have just been
settled down in a ditch. And all of a sudden, they're
all pulled up. taken by, and they do not want
to come, but God in his sovereignty pulls them all together in a
big heap and places them, imputes them to his son, and there his
son takes the fury of God, the plague of God on himself. As we heard, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Notice with me in 1st Peter,
in 1st Peter chapter two, 1st Peter chapter two, these words
are recorded that we share and relish and delight in. 1st Peter
chapter two in verse 24, we have this to be written, who his own
self. We don't have a substitute for
the substitute. When I was a freshman in high school, I played my only
year of football. And the only thing I was was
a substitute for the substitute. I was so poor at it that when
the substitute was pulled out and the real guy was pulled out,
I was thrown in. Jesus Christ did not have a substitute
for the substitute. He did not have someone standing
in for him. Here we have, who his own self
bear our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead
to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye are healed. In Isaiah 53, we have that graphic
description of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross as we have
Him, the Son of God, before the foundation of the world brought
and presented. And then we find all those words
written 400 or 500 years before they actually took place that
could have been written and put in the newspaper of that very
day. And Isaiah shares with us He
hath borne our sins and carried our sorrows. And you know, while
He was bearing our sins, the fury of God was being poured
out on Him. We are so thankful that in John
chapter 19, would you turn there with me? John chapter 19, we
have these wonderful words of the Lord Jesus. John chapter
19, verse 30. John chapter 19 and verse 30,
it says, The fury has been poured out. God's justice has been poured
out. The plague has come and been
burnt out. The Lord Jesus Christ there on
the cross, he says here, when Jesus therefore had received
the vinegar, he said, it is finished. God's fury has been quenched. The wrath of God has been paid
for. No longer will there be a plague.
It will be sufficient. It will take care of all. In
fact, we find your sins have been taken care of double. It's
what we have. Oh, to have them double. Now,
that just means where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Sin has been paid for in full. Everything has been taken care
of. And then we read in Romans chapter five, if you turn there
with me, as we look at that passage there in the book of Numbers,
it tells us that this man was given a covenant of peace. A covenant of peace, God's agreed
covenant that there would be peace. And here in the book of
Romans chapter five and verse one, Romans chapter five and
verse one, we have, this is where it is. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. through our Lord Jesus Christ.
To be at peace. To no longer have that enmity
towards Him. No longer have that anger towards
Him. But to be at peace with God. The Lord Jesus Christ brought
complete and total peace between God the Father and His children. He has quenched the flame. He's
put out the fury. He's taken care of the plague.
Sin was paid for. It was imputed to him and placed
upon him and the fury of God in such a way that even the Son
of God gave up the ghost and died. Well, there were a lot
of people in that day and time, as we read, that they didn't
understand completely at the time what happened. Some of them said, we thought
it would be he that would reestablish the kingdom. We thought that. Well, so often our thoughts,
in fact, we find the Lord said, our thoughts are not his thoughts.
His thoughts are so far above our thoughts that when we make
a judgment call about the Word of God and it's only on our thoughts,
we probably ought to go to the Word of God and find out what
he thought about it. Well, his thoughts on the matter was, I
have paid completely for the sins of my people and it is so
secure. that who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect. It is God that justify it. He's
the one that has been satisfied. God the Father was satisfied
with the work of his son on the cross. Now they took him down
and they buried him. And for three days and three
nights, there was a lot of people that were in consternation about
what happened. You know, the people that had him crucified
said, we better make this tomb really, really seriously. secure. In fact, put my signet
in the mortar around the stone. That way nobody will bother it. Well, after he was raised from
the dead, guess what they did to the people that were guarding
the tomb? They killed him because they
let him escape. They let the disciples take him
off. Even the disciples, where is he? And you know, the angel
said, he's not here for he is risen. What does that mean to
the church? The payment's great. God's satisfied. He said, come sit down with me
at the right hand, make intercession for your people until the end.
because your payment was sufficient. It took care of the problem.
I am no longer at odds with the church. You are my minister of
the gospel. And so we rejoice with the Lord
Jesus Christ as he's the minister of the gospel. He is the one
that says, yes, there is an issue. And that issue is we were ruined
by the fall. But the Holy Spirit has promised
to come along in the word of God to share with us that payment
has been made. And yes, we are what he said
about us. And that he has taken our sin
as far as the East is from the West. And he said, I will establish
a covenant of peace. You shall never come under the
wrath of God. You shall never be in the plague
of God. You will never face God's justice
because it has been paid already. I love it when I find out my
bill's been paid already, time and for eternity. The bill has
been paid. And so the Lord Jesus Christ,
it's no wonder that Peter even could say, Thou art the Christ,
the Messiah, the fulfillment of all the promises. Thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God. What did Thomas say? My Lord and my God. And what did Jesus say? Flesh
and blood did not reveal this unto you. but my Father which
is in heaven. We are dependent upon the revelation
of Jesus Christ. And so as we watch God activity
through the children of Israel, and oh, times it was a terrible
place to be, but not one of God's children were ever taken. What
does the scripture say? Not all Israel is of Israel. Now he touched a whole bunch
of people that were not Israel, but he didn't touch Israel. They're
his people. and justice will fall on Jesus
Christ on their behalf. All right, Brother Mike.