We're going to be in chapters
22, 23, and 24. We will not cover all that today. We have an interlude in this
great book of numbers. We have three chapters where
Israel, the children of Israel, are kind of set aside for a moment,
but they are greatly discussed. They are discussed by a king
by the name of Balak, They're discussed by a prophet by the
name of Balaam. And then we have a donkey that
talks. And then we have the wonderful
character of Almighty God. Elohim, Jehovah are brought out
in these chapters so clearly. Now, we often come upon passages
of scripture that do not make good logical sense to a human
being. We're gonna be discussing some
of those passages as we go through these three chapters. They just
don't make logical sense. In fact, I've heard people say,
God wouldn't do that. We heard one of them read this
morning. I create evil. I create calamity. That's what he does. He's the
God that does that. And people would like to say,
no, he doesn't do that. That's of someone else's problem. We must be careful that we do
not be as a king found in the book of Jeremiah, who was read
what God had given to Jeremiah to write. And he took a pen knife
to it because he didn't agree with it all. Turn with me. Keep
your finger there in the book of Numbers, but turn with me,
if you would, to the book of Jeremiah, chapter 36. In chapter
36 of the book of Jeremiah, the word of the Lord was given. And
it was the word of the Lord, just the same as you turning
your pages today. The word of the Lord, this is
God's word that was given in Jeremiah chapter 36 and verse
one, the scripture reads this, and it came to pass in the fourth
year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this
word came unto Jeremiah from the Lord saying, take thee a
roll of a book. He's saying, take a scroll. I'm
kind of glad we have this kind of book anymore. We don't have
to go rolling and rolling and rolling to find our place. But
it says, take a roll of a book and write therein all the words
that I have spoken unto thee against Israel and against Judah
and against all the nations for the day I spake unto thee from
the days of Josiah even unto this day. Now, can you imagine
the report is in there? that God gave to Jeremiah to
report all the evil that Israel had done, and all the evil that
Judah had done. Now, we find moving over to verse
21 of this chapter, and this is so prominent. This is prominent
by natural man to want to be very selective. I believe all
the Bible, but I'm very selective. You know, a hue and cry came
out a few years ago when Reader's Digest put out their translation
of the Bible. You know what they did? They
took out all the redundancy. That's what they did. Well, they
left a lot of parts in there that a lot of people would like
to have that taken out too. We find that natural man does
edit the scriptures so often and they will say in their heart,
I do not want this, I do not believe this. Here in the book
of Jeremiah chapter 36 and verse 21, so the king sent Jehudai
to fetch the roll. And he took it out of Elisha
the scribe's chamber and Jehudi read it in the ears of the king
and in the ears of all the princes which stood before the king.
Now this is a message that was given to Jeremiah. Who gave that
message? Almighty God. Just like this. Right here. This is God-given,
and it was given to various writers to report what God had given
them, and we have it today, and we thank God for it. But we must
be very careful that we're not like this king and begin to pull
out verses of scripture. Notice what he did with them.
It tells us here in verse 21 or verse 22. And now the king
sat at the winter house in the ninth month and there was a fire
in the hearth burning before him. And it came to pass that
when Jehoiada had read three or four leaves, he cut it with
a pen knife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth
until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. He did literally, What I used
to do physically, I never took a penknife because
I had too much. I believe all the Bible. I believe it from
cover to cover, but there were sections of it that were anathema
maranatha. You just didn't read it. You
didn't comment on it. It was for around a kitchen table
or whatever. And yet we find out that God
Almighty has said, this is my word and I want it read. And
it is necessary to be read because I want people to know that I
am God and beside me there is none else and I can declare whatsoever
I want to declare. And we were just flip over there
if you would to Isaiah 45 once again. Isaiah 45, we heard this
just read. There in the book of Isaiah chapter
45, in that last verse of scripture that is in that passage, Isaiah
45 verse 7, it says here, I form the light and create darkness.
Now this is the Lord speaking, and then he goes on to say, I
make peace and create evil, or I bring calamities. I, the Lord,
do all these things. And who is he writing about?
A man by the name of Cyrus, who is going to be used of God, and
even he brings out twice in that passage of the scripture, even
though you don't even recognize me as God. You don't have any
relationship, spiritual relationship with me, but I am going to use
you to release my people from servitude down in Babylon. Well,
these kind of scriptures go on and on, and we find in the book
of Daniel as one of those captives that was taken captive by the
Babylonians, by Nebuchadnezzar, and taken up there into Babylon,
He writes this in the book of Daniel chapter 4. Would you read
this with me in Daniel chapter 4? As we hear that king, Nebuchadnezzar,
speaking by the utterance of Almighty God. Now, I'm reading
these passages of scripture so that when we go through the book
of Numbers chapters 22, 23, and 24, and we run upon things that
we say, oh my goodness, I didn't realize that. I didn't know God
acted that way. I didn't know God did that kind
of thing. That we will say, this is the God of the Bible. And
he has the right to do with his as he has feeling to do. In the
book of Daniel chapter four, we read these words as King Nebuchadnezzar
comes out of his stupor. He's been turned out. He's the
king of Babylon. He's the one that has taken all
of these folks out of Israel and Jerusalem and carried them
captive, and now after God has put him out to the field for
seven years, he is brought out of that stupor, and this is what
he has to confess. This is the God that we're going
to be reading about, and this is the God we need to believe. This is the God that is revealed
to every one of his saints, and if we have a problem with it,
we have a problem with God. In the book of Daniel 4, verse
34, and at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up
my eyes into heaven, and my understanding returned unto me, and I blessed
the Most High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever,
whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is
from generation to generation. and all the inhabitants 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? You know, by the grace of God,
Saul of Tarsus, now the apostle Paul, picks up much of this as
the Holy Spirit leads him, and in his instruction to the church,
that this God that Nebuchadnezzar met is the God that saved me
by his grace. He does according to his will
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and nobody can stop his doings. Nobody can stop him in his progress. And if you'll turn over with
me to the book of Romans chapter 9, Romans chapter 9, we have
some great insights to the Old Testament, to the Old Testament
God that we're going to be dealing with in Numbers chapters 22,
23, and 24. as we find that Israel is kind of on the other side
of the hill, and they cannot observe what is going on. They're
kind of there just settled down, waiting for a bit before they
go into the promised land and take Jericho. They're there resting,
if you please. They're camping in their tents,
if you please. On the other side of the hill,
we have people conspiring against them. We have people, kings,
conspiring against them because of their great deeds that they
did to the Amorites. Here in the book of Romans chapter
9, we read about that beginning with verse 15. Romans chapter 9 beginning with
verse 15, it says, for he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. Did you know that in the Old
Testament, when God was asked, requested by Moses, show me your
glory. This is what God said. This is
what God demonstrated. This is all my glory. It is more
glorious than Jesus Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration.
This is more glorious than anything that we can comprehend, that
God would have mercy. Now, he is writing there in the
book of Exodus, when Moses requested that, he's writing about a nation
that is a gainsaying people. He's writing about a people that
are always wicked before God. He's writing about a people that
God is leading by the hand. He's taking them to the promised
land, and at every turn, they turn on God. God said, I will
have mercy. That's a wonderful blessing when
we think about it, that God would have mercy on anybody. He had
mercy on Joshua and Caleb. He had mercy on Moses and Aaron.
He had Moses' mercy on a few other people. And here we go
on, and the Apostle Paul is used to pick this up. The Holy Spirit
led him. I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I will have
compassion on whom I will have compassion. This is my glory. It is the glorious God of a glorious
God demonstrating where his glory is. I will have mercy, I will
have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but God that showeth mercy. You
know, most of this, I've come to the conclusion that these
mysterious verses of scripture, like we read about that king,
Cutting up that Bible, cutting up the Word of God, cutting up
what God gave to Jeremiah to deliver to the children of Israel
is demonstrating to us that God is going to have His way in all
things, and most importantly, He will have His way in the salvation
of His people. He will not be deterred by anything. He will save his people as he
declared he will save his people, and that is by his mercy and
by his compassion, and not of him that willeth, not of him
that runneth, but God that showeth mercy, for the scripture saith
unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up,
that I might show my power in thee. You know what? That message
was delivered to Pharaoh. He got to hear that with his
very own ears. He was a nincompoop. He was a down-and-outer. He was
worse than the worst. And the apostle Paul said, I
was just like him. But God showed mercy. Now to
Pharaoh, king of Egypt, he did not show mercy. And he says,
I'm going to use you to show what I, almighty God, will do
to people that I don't show mercy to. He goes on here, even for
the same purpose have I raised thee. Oh, God wouldn't show mercy
to everybody. That's his glory. That's the glory of God, that
he would show mercy unto those whose names were written down
in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world.
But let's read the rest. It says here, I might show my
power in thee that my name might be declared throughout all the
earth. Therefore, he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy and
whom he will. Don't cut this out. Don't grab
your penknife. Leave it alone. By the grace
of God, believe it. Whom he will, he hardeneth. Thou
wilt say then unto me, why doth he yet find fault? For who hath
resisted his will? Nay, but O man, who art thou
that replyest against God? You know what that, I don't believe
it. That's the greatest. reply that natural man has is,
I don't believe it. I'm not going to have a God like
that. Well, a God like that is the
one that saves people from their sins. A God not like that can't
do anything. Shall the thing form, say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the
potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel
unto honor and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show
his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, that he might make
known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which
he hath afore prepared unto glory, even us whom he hath called,
not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. And the Gentiles
said, give me some more of that. And the next day, the apostle
Paul preached, and those who were ordained to eternal life
believed. That's the glory of God. That's
his glory demonstrated that he would give Jews and Gentiles
lost without help and without hope and without God in this
world would demonstrate to them his saving grace. And we walk
away and say, thank you. Keep my pen knife in my pocket,
Lord. Keep my attitude towards your
word positive because you are the God that gave us this word
and you're the God that gave us all of the scriptures, all
about it. Don't let me get myself in the
way of your eternal word. Let me just be thankful for it.
Well, let's go over here to the book of Numbers. Numbers chapter
22. We're going to be dealing with
these three chapters. And as we mentioned, there are
three, four real characters in these chapters. We have the director,
the all-seeing one, the all-knowing one, the all-powerful one. We
have Jehovah. We have Shaddai, El Shaddai. And we have Elohim, different
names that are used in this three chapters. We have God, the director
of all things. He's ordained and directing all
things. This just didn't happen by mistake. This just didn't happen because
a king got out of sorts with what was going on around him.
This is God's eternal purpose. And he is sharing with us, I
can have my will and purpose in a king, I can have my will
and purpose in a prophet, I can have my will and purpose in a
donkey, because I am Jehovah, I am Elohim, I am Shaddai, I
am the Almighty. And I will demonstrate that to
you. Well, here in the book of Numbers chapter 22, we read these
words that there was a problem. God in his success always creates
a problem for somebody. Oh my goodness, that looks like
a threat to me, that looks problem to me. Almost exactly what we
read over in the book of Joshua, do we find here? We've heard
about these people. What was it that Rahab said? Since you crossed the Red Sea,
we've heard about you. And we do indeed fear and quake. Well, here in the book of Numbers
chapter 22, we have a king. Chapter 22, verse 1, the children
of Israel set forward and pitched in the plains of Moab on this
side of Jordan by Jericho. They're posed for what we're
going to find out in the book of Joshua. They're ready to cross
the Jordan River. Their 40 years is just about
up. They're ready. They're there.
And they're sitting in their tents. They pitched their tents
in the plains of Moab. And now in verse two, in Balak,
the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
And Moab was sore afraid of the people because they were many. And Moab was distressed because
of the children of Israel. What did, you know, from a picture
standpoint, from a type standpoint, from a standpoint as we look
at the scriptures, what is this? Those people have God, and look
what they are, and look what they're doing, and look at us. we're just like fodder to them. What he goes on to say here,
Moab said unto the, and Moab said unto the elders of Midian,
now shall this company lick up all that are round about us as
an ox licketh up the grass of the field? And Balak the son
of Zippor was king of the Moabites at the time. Now he's gonna send
to his pastor. He's gonna send a message to
his pastor. It's interesting, and we've noticed
here the Midian. Where did we find Midian in the
past? That's where Moses was for 40
years in Midian. His father-in-law was the priest
of Midian. He was there herding sheep. Moses
is back to his stomping grounds, and we don't even have him mentioned
here yet. We have the children of Israel, camp. Now just think
of them, you know, on the other side of a knoll, a hill, and
they can't hear what's going on. They're just over there.
And I find out what a blessing it is when we're in that position
and we don't even realize how God protects his people because
we're on the other side of the hill and we don't know what's
going on. Do you know what the Lord says
in the book of the Psalms, Psalm 121? Behold, he that keepeth
Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. Isn't that a blessing? We don't even know what's going
on. And we find his comfort to us that he doesn't slumber or
sleep. He doesn't go to sleep and then forget about us. He's
always there for his people. He has them marked out. They
belong to him. Nothing can happen to him without
his permission, just the same as the rest of the world. he
has his people and so behold he that keepeth Israel shall
neither slumber nor sleep. This as we just think about that
they're hidden from all of these Midianites, we're hid from Balak
the Moabite king, we're hid from all the conversation that is
going on over there and all of the conversation is about them. Those people. Those people. They're licking
things up like oxen cleaning up the grass. They're down to
the roots, if you please. Balak has an issue with Israel,
and Balak sins for his pastor, Balaam. Now it's interesting
to me that Balaam is from Mesopotamia. Who else in the Bible is from
Mesopotamia? Abraham! Abraham is from Ur of
the Chaldees. We get over to the book of Acts
chapter 7 and Stephen recounts that. He says he was from Mesopotamia.
Stomping grounds of Abraham and stomping grounds of Balaam. You know, when I was gone I mentioned
in a message that the Lord Jesus Christ was between two thieves.
That's common. But do you know what? He was
between a Jacob and an Esau. And here we have Abraham and
Balaam. Now some people, if you read the commentary says, oh,
Balaam was just, he was a prophet of God, but he was backslidden
and blah, blah, blah. Don't believe a word of it. He
was a liar from the very beginning. He was somebody that was interested. He demonstrates the deception
of maintaining an outward facade of spirituality over the concept
of his inward life. He had the facade. He was, I
love Jesus. But inwardly he was a ravening
wolf and he would take money to curse the people of God. He's mentioned seven or eight
times in the Bible, other than where we're going to read about
him here. He's mentioned in the book of 2 Peter, Jude and Revelation
in the New Testament. And in every account, it's not
a good report. God's report about Balaam was,
he was not my prophet. He pretended to be my prophet.
There are many similarities between Balaam and Judas Iscariot. They were both in it for money.
They were both in it for their own self-righteousness. Well,
notice here in the book of Numbers chapter 22, this king, of Moab, Balak, the son of Zippor,
was the king of the Moabites at the time. He sent messengers,
therefore, unto Balaam, the son of Beor of Pether, which is by
the river in the land of the children of his people, and call
him, saying, Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt. Behold, they cover the face of
the earth, and they abide over against me. Now we're going to
find out that Balak and Balaam are both very superstitious people. Balak believes that Balaam can
cast a curse on Israel. Very superstitious. I want you
to curse this people. And you know what? Balaam has
the reputation of being able to do these kind of things. Let's follow this down here for
just a little bit. It tells us here, In verse six, come now,
therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people, for they are
too mighty for me. Peradventure, I shall prevail
that we may smite them, that I may drive them out of the land,
for I want that he whom thou blesses is blessed, and he whom
thou curses is cursed. Or that's an old English word
for saying, I know that if you bless somebody, they're blessed.
If you curse somebody, they're cursed. He has quite a reputation
that has traveled the distance. This is a man that God is going
to use in a mighty way, just like he's going to do with Balak.
And a donkey, he's going to use to demonstrate that he is almighty,
he has a purpose, and he is one that neither slumbers nor sleeps.
Those people on the other side of the hill, you know what I
got? I got a barrier up. I got a hedge up. I got a demonstration
here that God is in charge of all this. He had a reputation
that is able to put a curse on people. He's from Ur of the Chaldees
or he's from Mesopotamia. We find as we travel through
here that Here in Numbers chapter 22 and verse six, come now therefore
and curse me this people. And verse seven, and the elders
of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of
divination in their hand and they came unto Balaam and spake
unto him the words of Balak. What did they have in their hands?
Gold and silver. The price of what? Divination. He's called a soothsayer in another
place. And he said he loves God. And in verse eight, and he said
unto them, lodge here this night. And I'll bring you word again
that the Lord shall speak unto me and the princes of Moab abode
with Balaam. Did you notice that word Lord
there? Have you recognized the capital?
You know who that is? Jehovah. Balak said, as the Lord
shall speak unto me. You know, there's many interesting
instances in the scripture about God dealing with the arch evil. Turn with me to the book of Job,
if you would. You know, so many of us like to look at what Job
had to say there in the end, but did you notice what happened
in the beginning? Why did Job lose his family? Why did Job lose all of his possessions? Why did Job lose his health?
Well, it's very clear in the scripture why he did that. In
the book of Job chapter one, verse six, it says this. Now,
there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves
before the Lord, and guess what? And Satan came also among them. Now, before you get too afraid
of him, he's a created being. He's not omniscient, he's not
omnipresent, and he's not omnipotent. We're gonna see in this as we
do find in other places about Satan that he can only do what
he's given permission to do. He is not in charge. There is not Jesus for you and
Satan against you and now it's up to you to decide the final
vote, who you're gonna go with. If that were our choice, we'd
always vote this way because we don't have the heart to vote
any other way. We are desperately wicked, we're sinful to the core,
and we always vote the negative. That's what it tells us in Romans
Chapter 8. Our heart is enmity with God. So I'm thankful it's
not in a voting situation. We got voted against in Adam.
He voted for us and he said, in Adam, all die. Well, we have
to go back before the foundation of the world to find out that
there was another vote that precedes all the other votes. And that
is a vote from the triune nature of God, the triune God, the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit on the behalf of His people.
We cast the deciding stone for them. I like that passage over
there in the book of Acts that Mike read where He said, I cast
my word against him. That meant he threw in the black
ball. He voted against those people.
Well, we have one before the foundation of the world that
cast in the white stone. We read that over in the book
of Revelation. I cast the white stone. I voted for them. So it
precedes all other votes. Now in this life, we have that
vote. Until God gives us a new nature,
we're always voting against him. We will not vote on his behalf. We'll not vote to please him.
We'll always cast our vote against him. But in the new birth, he
gives us a new heart, and now our heart votes for him. Oh Lord,
have mercy on me. Oh Lord, have mercy on me. God
have mercy on my soul. And that man went away justified. Well, here in the book of Acts,
it tells us, or excuse me, in the book of Job, and the Lord
said unto Satan, whence comest thou? Now he knows where he is,
my goodness. You know, so often we find these
questions that God gives. He did that to Adam. We're gonna
find out he's gonna do it to Balaam. He's not asking for information. He's asking for, or he's making
a statement, how much we don't know. Adam really didn't know
the mess he was in until he was covered. And here, which commissar? And Satan answered, Lord, did
he use that same word? Capital L, capital O, capital
R, capital D, Jehovah. Boy, that name can be used by
anybody. Satan used the name Jehovah. You know why? Because he's his
master. from going to and fro in the
earth and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said
unto him, Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is
none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth
God and askeweth evil? Then Satan answered the Lord
and said, Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast thou made a hedge
about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on
every side. Thou hast blessed the work of
his hands, and his substance is increased. But put forth thy
hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee
to thy face. You know what God did? Gave him
permission to do that. And the next thing we know, that
there is a man coming, says he took all of the donkeys. He took
all, everything, and finally a house fell down and killed
all of his sons, and I'm only one left to escape. We say, whoa,
does God do that? We're either gonna believe it
or we're gonna cut it out with our pin knife. And in chapter two of this same
book, Job chapter two, verse one, well, that didn't work. We took everything away from
him, and he said, you need to curse God. Again, there was a
day when the sons of God came to present themselves before
the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself
before the Lord. And the Lord said to Satan, from
whence camest thou? And Satan answered, the Lord
said, from going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up
and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, hast thou considered
my servant Job, that there is none like him on all the earth?
And verse four, and Satan answered the Lord and said, skin for skin,
yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life, but put
forth thy hand now and touch his bone and his flesh and he
will curse thy face who gave him the boils. Now I'm not interested in having
any of that happen to me, but if it does, I recognize where
it comes from. And Job neither cursed God. You know, we find this, a similar
incident is found in the book of 1 Kings, when God needed,
well, let's just turn over there to 1 Kings chapter 22, if you
would. 1 Kings chapter 22, verse eight. God is in charge of all things.
Nothing is left out of his control. He is Lord God Almighty. He rules over even that nemesis,
Satan. He created him. He's God's Satan. And here in the book of 1 Kings
chapter 22, we read these words. 1 Kings chapter 22, verse eight.
It says here, and the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat,
there is yet one man, Micaiah, the son of Emulah, by whom we
may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him, for he doth not prophesy
good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, let not
the king say so. Drop down, if you would, to verse
13. The messenger that was gone to
call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, Behold now, the words
of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth.
Let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them,
and speak that which is good. We got a prophet, he doesn't
speak good of Jehoshaphat, and now this servant says, I want
you to do a favor, speak good to him. Malkiah said, as the
Lord liveth, what the Lord saith unto me, will I speak. So he
came to the king, and the king said unto him, Malkiah, shall
we go against Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall we forbear?
And he answered him, go and prosper, for the Lord shall deliver it
unto the hand of the king. And the king said unto him, how
many times Shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but
that which is the truth of the name of the Lord? And he said,
I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills as sheep that have
not a shepherd. And the Lord said, these have
no master. Let them return every man to
his house in peace. And the king of Israel said unto
Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would prophesy no good
concerning me but evil? And he said, hear therefore the
word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his
throne and all the host of heaven standing by him on the right
hand and on his left. And the Lord said, who shall
persuade Ahab that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead?
And one said, On this manner, and another said on that manner,
and there came forth a spirit and stood before the Lord and
said, I will persuade him. And the Lord said unto him, wherewith?
And he said, I will go forth and I will be a lion spirit in
the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, thou shall persuade
him, prevail also, go forth and do. Can you imagine the Lord
saying, all right, go be a lion spirit in the mouths of all the
prophets. Well, that hasn't stopped, has
it? I'll be a lion's... Who gave
permission to do that? God Almighty. And we find what
went on and happened. You know, we find in the scriptures
in one place in 1 Chronicles chapter 22 and verse 1, that
Satan provoked David to count the people. Did you know it was
against the law to count the people? Thou shall not count
my people. Leave it alone. Just trust me
in the matter. And Satan provoked David to count
the people. And in 2 Samuel 24 in verse 1,
it said, the Lord moved David to count the people. Who was
in charge of this whole? The Lord God Almighty. Now he's gonna be in charge of
everything that Balaam is going to do. Go back with me to the
book of Numbers and we find the most important passage of scripture
here in this three chapters. Here in the book of Numbers chapter
22, we find this most important verse of scripture that we can
hang on to and look to as we pass through this passage of
scripture in the book of Numbers chapter 22. In the book of Numbers
chapter 22, It tells us here in verse 10. And Balaam said unto God, Balak,
the son of Zippor, king of Moab, hath sent unto me, saying, Behold,
there is a people come out of Egypt, which covereth the face
of the earth. Come now, curse me them. Peradventure,
I will be able to overcome them and drive them out. Now notice
what God said. Now this is Elohim, all powerful. Elohim said unto Balaam, thou
shall not go with them. Now that's not a suggestion.
That is an imperative. Thou shall not go with them. Thou shall not curse the people. Why? for they are blessed. Now for the next two and a half
chapters, Balaam is going to attempt to curse the people of
God. He is given three opportunities
to curse the people of God, and God has already said, thou shall
not go, they are a blessed people. Why in the world can't God's
people be cursed Because they are a blessed people. He has
already given him his blessing. He's already given them his blessing.
They stand, they walk, they sleep, they live with the blessing of
God. And nothing shall curse them
and nothing shall do them ill. Now, everything that falls out
to the children of God falls out from the throne of grace.
falls out from a heavenly father, falls out from him who lives
and gives us a, we live and move and have our being in him. This
falls out from him. We're not cursed, we are blessed. And if God should so peradventure
say that I will have them pass through the fire and they shall
die, they will be in my presence. Blessed, God says, are the death
of my saints. So God has said this, Balaam
rose up, it tells us here, thou shall not curse them, thou shall
not curse them, they are a blessed people. And the very next morning,
Balaam rose up in the morning, and it looks like he's gonna
do the right thing, and said unto the princes of Balak, get you
into your land, for the Lord refuses to give me leave to go
with you. Well, we find that those people
go back home and they tell the king of Moab he's not coming. You know what he does? He sends
money. Truckloads of money. And Timson, Balak, sent again
the princes more and more honorable than they. And they came to Balaam
and said, thus saith Balak, the son of Zipporah, let nothing
I pray thee hinder thee from coming unto me, for I will promote
thee unto very great honor, and I will do whatsoever thou sayest
unto me. Come, therefore, I pray thee,
and curse the people. And Balaam answered and said
unto the servants of Balak, if Balak give me his house full
of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord
my God to do less or more. Now, therefore, I pray you, tarry
ye also here this night, that I may know what the Lord will
say unto me. And God came unto Balaam at night
and said unto him, If the men come to call thee, rise up and
go with them. But yet the word shall, which
I shall say unto you, that shall you do. And Balaam rose up in
the morning. How many men came to him to said,
come with us? Where was his heart? Oh my goodness. He loved the riches of unrighteousness. That's what we find in the New
Testament. As he goes, every step he takes for the next two
and a half chapters, he is in the almighty hands of God. And
every time he is paid, given encouragement to curse the people
of God, God turns it around and gives them some of the great
blessings that they will live with throughout their time in
the promised land. God is God and beside him there
is none else. Whatever happens, God has ordained. You know, we read about Judas,
the Lord spoke to him. On that night that he betrayed
him, the Lord spoke to him and says, after he'd given him the
sup, he says, what you do, go and do quickly. Who's in charge? Who has the
upper hand? Who is the blesser? And who are
the blessed? God said to these people, they
are blessed. You know the church of the most
blessed people in all the world? May not have anything physically,
but have everything spiritually. Every spiritual blessing is in
Christ Jesus. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth
us from all sin. We stand before God complete. We're a blessed people. And we
find out that God mentioned that about the children of Israel,
and they're on the other side of the hill and don't even know
the word, but they are a blessed people. How great God is. Well, this is gonna continue.
God's anger, it tells us in verse 22. God's anger was kindled because
he went. He said, stay here unless they
come and they didn't come and he left anyway. Well, we're gonna
find out that God can use the simplest of things, a donkey. I read concerning that donkey
that it had to be some sort of code that Balaam had trained
his donkey to let him kind of know what was going to say. That's
not what we're reading in the New Testament. The New Testament
clearly says, he talked to him. He spoke to him. This God that
is the God of the Bible, he is the God of gods. He is holy and
righteous, and his salvation is a promise, not a proposal. It comes from God, and he has
said they are a blessed people. God blessed forever. Well, as we look through here,
we'll find out God is going to move, impose, bring, Change,
mark, do all the things that God does. And this is a lost man that he's
dealing with. And he shall perform all his
pleasure. Think what he does with the church. Brother Mike, if you'll come.