Would you join me in the book
of Numbers this morning? The book of Numbers. I have so
much enjoyed our study of the book of Numbers. But I cannot
tell you how much I enjoyed preparing for the message today. There
is just a passage of scripture here that is just so full and
so overflowing with the gospel of God's free grace in Christ. And we're in the book of Numbers
chapter 6 and we're going to be dealing with the last few
verses of this chapter, beginning with verse 22. Now, just a very
quick recap. God is in charge of these people's
deliverance. Remember what happened in Exodus?
He was in charge of their deliverance. He set them free out of Egyptian
servitude. And God is in charge of their
location. He put them where he wanted them
to construct the tabernacle, but he also put them around the
tabernacle exactly where he decreed and purposed that they would
be. So he's in charge of our deliverance and he's in charge
of our location. God is in charge of their separation. Those that had leprosy or an
issue or had touched a dead body were to be put out of the camp
and so it is God has that special place for sinners. Out of the
camp with Christ Jesus the Lord and he triumphantly was victorious
over all their issues. And now we have, God is in charge
of their blessings. This whole section, this section,
there is a sevenfold blessing. We're not going to say there's
seven blessings here, but it's a sevenfold blessing. It's much
like God. God is one God. He's not three
gods. There's God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit, but there is one God. And we
find that that is something we cannot explain, and it's incumbent
upon us not to try to explain it. But God's people will simply
believe it. They believe that God is God,
and he is given to us through the scriptures as the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And they all had their very important
and unable by human beings part in the covenant of grace. The
Father chose a people in Christ before the foundation of the
world. The Son voluntarily said, I will ransom them. They're sinners,
and I will ransom them. I'll pay the full ransom price.
And the Holy Spirit in covenant mercy said, I will go find them
wherever they are, and I'll bring the gospel to them through the
preaching of a faithful minister, and they will hear it. And by
God's mercy, He regenerates them, and they believe it. Well, here
we find in these blessings that are mentioned here, all the blessings
that God gives are not conditional. They're not conditional upon
anything done by the church or by an individual. Every blessing
listed in here is unconditional blessings. We cannot buy blessings. God's blessings are not for sale. There's nowhere in the marketplace
to buy God's blessings. Religion has attempted over many
centuries to buy the blessings of God and to sell the blessings
of God But God's blessings are sovereign and sovereignly given,
and He gives them to whomsoever He wills. God's blessings are
not earned. We do not earn the blessings
of God. Religion tells us that that's
how we get to him, that we become good, we turn over a leaf, we
accept Jesus, we go forward, we sign a card. But the blessings
of God are not earned, they are given by God and they're given
by God alone. God's blessings are for his children
and without merit of any kind involved. These blessings that
we find in this passage of scripture, they are for his children, and
they are without merit of any kind involved. There is no purchase
power that we have to get these blessings. We might consider
this passage as the great standard for blessings to God's people. We're going to find this throughout
the scriptures. These principles that are laid
down here, we'll find them throughout the scriptures. Sometimes I have
found it almost necessary to rip out those pages in the middle
there that separate the Old Testament from the New Testament. I remember
watching a film one time about a teacher that told his students
to rip out the front pages of a poetry book because they made
poetry mechanical and poetry is not mechanical. Poetry is
heartfelt. Sometimes we need to do that
with those pages that people put in between the Old Testament
and New Testament because the Old Testament declares the grace
of God as much as the New Testament because there's not two forms
of salvation brought out Old Testament and the New Testament.
It is all by the grace of God. There is a sevenfold blessing
in these verses and we have God the Father, God the Son, and
God the Holy Spirit blessing the people of Jehovah. There
is nothing like being blessed and not having any reason to
be blessed. Have you ever got something from
somebody and you had no reason in this world to get that from
somebody? They weren't related to you? You didn't owe them anything
and they blessed you with something anyway? That is a real blessing
that God gives to his people. You don't deserve any of what
I'm giving to you. And the people realize that they
should not be blessed, but God blesses anyway. What a blessing
that is. Now, verse 22. Let's look here
at the book of Numbers, chapter 6, verse 22, and read down through. It says, and the Lord spake unto
Moses, saying, The Lord, Jehovah, spoke to Moses. Moses is in charge. Now, the message is to Moses
to give to someone else. Now that's just the way God does
his business. He gives his message to a messenger
and his message is to be given directly to someone else. We
are just reporters. That's all a minister of the
gospel is. That's all a teacher of the gospel
is. That is all we have. The responsibility
placed upon everybody in the church is just to be a reporter. Don't add to it, don't take from
it, and don't make it different than what the scriptures declare
it is. It is God's free and sovereign
gift to people and we cannot impose it upon people. We cannot
educate people into it. We cannot bring them to a place
where they'll understand it. That is God's business and he's
the only one that can do that. And then it says in verse 23,
speak unto Aaron. Moses, I'm giving you the message.
You speak to Aaron and his sons. say on this wise ye shall bless
the children of Israel saying unto them. Now Aaron and the
other priests don't have anything to do with these blessings except
delivering them. A priest cannot give a blessing.
A preacher cannot give a blessing. The only thing that we can do
is declare the blessing that God has already said he's going
to give. That's our part. I can't bless
you. I can't bless anybody. God alone
can do that. It says now, here it is, verse
24. This is the message. This is
the blessing. This is the Lord's blessing.
This is Jehovah's blessing to these people. Israel is so often
a type of the church, and these blessings are brought out to
the rest of the Old Testament as well as the New Testament,
that these blessings are to the church. And we find out, well,
God really got angry with some of Israel in the Old Testament.
Yes, just like he will with people on the left-hand side at that
day. He's very angry with them. Why? Because their sins are not
paid for. That's why God's angry. Those
people, even here in the book of Numbers, we're going to run
into a guy by the name of Korah that went down into the pit,
the earth opened up and swallowed his entire family. God was angry
with them. Why? Their sins were not paid
for. Now he's not going to be angry
with his people. He will be angry with his people
only in Christ and he's going to pay the full brunt payment
for them. But he is not angry with his
people ever. Let's find that out. The Lord
bless thee and keep thee. Oh my. The Lord bless thee. This word,
bless, the Lord does that which is good for you. That's what
that word means. The Lord does that which is good
for you and gives that which you cannot by nature deserve. That's what he's talking about
here, was mentioned in the study this morning. In the original
language, when Moses and then Aaron and his sons were delivering
this message to those children of Israel in whatever language
they were speaking, Hebrew, okay. they understood the tenses of
the verb, they understood the meaning of the words, they understood
what was being brought to them from a heartfelt position, I
mean a head felt position at least. They understood when he
used this word bless, it is not them earning a blessing, it is
God giving a blessing only because he wants to. They understood
that part. Now whether they understood it
in their heart, that is the work of God, that's the work of the
Holy Spirit, that's the work of regeneration. But this word
blessing here This word blessing are the things of God. Grace
means an intentional. I like this about grace. When
we talk about blessing, when we talk about God bless you,
as we read there in verse 24, the Lord bless thee, this is
all dependent upon grace. This grace that we find throughout
the scriptures is an intentional, an intensive, and a deliberate
act. Grace is not just like that and
hope it falls on somebody. Grace is an intentional act of
God. It's an intensive act of God. It accomplishes its purpose and
we find it is a deliberate act of God. God aforethought blesses
his people. God in eternity determined to
bless his people for Christ's sake. God blesses his people
today for Christ's sake. It is often hard and I went through
this and it came to my mind as I went through there that I was
saved but I had grave clothes on me and some of the grave clothes
that I had on me when the Lord saved me was I had been brought
up in a religion And almost every religion I can read about or
hear about or study about has this very thing in it that God
is an angry God. And he has a stick in his hand.
And he's just waiting for us to step over the line so he can
thump us with it. Well, that is so contrary to
scriptures. That is so contrary to the Word
of God. That is so contrary to God's
purpose of grace. He is not an angry God if He
has taken care of your sin on the cross. He was angry with
his son. He poured out his wrath upon
his son, so he will not pour out his wrath upon his people.
We're going to find out in this passage of scripture that God
is a happy God with his people. He is pleased with his people. He is gracious to his people
for one purpose, and that is for Christ's sake. He has taken
all the anger. He's taken all the punishment,
and God is not going to extract it from his people. When he punished
people in the Old Testament, particularly as we find out in
punishing in anger, those people were not his people. They died
in unbelief, it tells us in the book of Hebrews. They were not
his people. Not all Israel is of Israel is
what the Apostle Paul brought out. To hear of a God Almighty
that is not angry with his people all the time is a strange thing
to hear, and yet that's the message of the gospel. All of that wrath, all of that
angry was put upon him. And now we're going to find out
just because he uses this term here in Numbers chapter 6 and
verse 24, the Lord bless thee. He says, I've already taken care
of the anger part and I'm happy with you. I'm pleased with you. I'm thankful for you. He's going
to go on and share with us. He's going to let his his face
shine upon us as it brings out happy. He's happy with his children
all the time because he has put away sin forever. He allows natural things to take place,
but he's not angry with his people over sin. Jeremiah chapter 32. We heard this read. I want to
read one verse out of that that Brother Craig read. In Jeremiah
chapter 32 and verse 40, we find these wonderful words that God
spoke to Israel here, but to the church in particular. Boy,
there's a whole bunch of Israels. It's not going to be of Israel. There's a whole bunch of national
Israel is going to be on the left-hand side. That's just what
we find in the scriptures. The mercy and grace of God was
towards the church from eternity, and there are going to be Jews
and Gentiles that make up the church. Here in the book of Jeremiah
chapter 32 and verse 40, the scriptures share this so invaluable,
so important to the people. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do
them good, but I will put my fear or my respect in their hearts
and they shall not depart from me. Oh, what a message God has
to the church that I have you in my heart. I have you as an
apple of my eye. I have you and it's an everlasting
covenant and I'll not turn away from you from them to do them
good. I will do them good and good
and good and good and good. The Lord bless thee. More than
just, well, I hope a drip falls on me. Let there be showers of
blessings and maybe one will fall on me. Well, this is more
than just a little bitty rainstorm that we get in Eastern Oregon.
This is a deluge. This is God's grace upon his
people. The Lord bless thee and then
it tells us in there in verse 24, and the Lord keep thee. The Lord keep thee. Believers,
the children of God cannot keep themselves. I use a term often
about, I'll be with you in just a moment. You ever looked up
where that word came from and what it means? It's an old medieval term that means
90 seconds. I'll be with you in 90 seconds.
Well, sometimes my moments are longer than that. But have you
forever a moment? 90 seconds. Gone without sinning. No. So we need someone to keep us. We need someone bigger than us
to keep us. We need God to keep us. And that's
His promise of exactly what He will do. Believers, the children
of God, cannot keep themselves. They cannot keep themselves for
a second. They fool themselves if they
think they can. But we are kept by God. We are kept. The Lord keep thee.
That's the message that Moses was given to the preachers to
share with the people. And no wonder we find over there
in the book of Isaiah, comfort ye, comfort ye my people. We
find out not only does he bless us on purpose and for our good,
because we can't bless ourselves, but he also shares with us, I'll
keep thee. The Lord keep thee. That's God's
business on the behalf of the church. That's what Jesus Christ
shared during his own ministry when he said, I have kept all
that thou hast given me. I have lost none of them. When
he went to the cross, I've lost none of them. They're all in
my mind, in my heart. They're all in my outstretched
arms. They're all in my feet. Everything
that I'm doing, all that my hands could do, all my feet could do,
are for my people to keep them, to keep them safe. I'll pay the
very last farthing for all their sins. I'll put them as far as
the east is from the west, and I will keep them for eternity.
Turn with me, if you would, to the book of John chapter 6. In
John chapter 6 and there in verse 37. John chapter 6 and verse
37, how often we've been in this book of John, but how often have
we been in the New Testament and Old Testament? It's just
where we find God's word that declares, I will bless thee,
I will keep thee. Here it says in John chapter
6 and verse 37 and verse 38, John 6, verse 37, all that the
Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me,
I will in no wise cast out. I'll never fall out of fault
with them, because I will take care of their sin issue. For
I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but to him
that sinned me." This is the covenant of grace being drawn
out. This is the covenant of grace
being declared. This is the covenant of grace
from eternity past to eternity future. The Lord bless thee,
be grace to you. The Lord keep thee. Turn with
me to John 17 and verse 12. John chapter 17 and verse 12.
We read these words about this wonderful subject of being kept.
We cannot keep ourselves. We can't keep ourselves for a
second. We can't keep ourselves for a millisecond, a nanosecond. We're unable. It's just not in
us to do that. But we have someone who has,
in the covenant of grace, determined to do that on our behalf. Though we fall, we shall not
be utterly cast down. We do things that are contrary
to God's word and contrary to God every day, and yet he says,
the Lord bless thee, the Lord keep thee. I am in charge of
this too. John chapter 17 and verse 12,
the scripture shares this, while I was with them in the world,
I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me, I
have kept, and none of them is lost. But there's one guy that
is. Why? He's on the left-hand side.
He is not mine to begin with. The son of perdition, that the
scriptures might be fulfilled. And in the book of 2 Peter, travel
with me through this section of scripture to 2 Peter chapter
1. 2 Peter chapter 1, as we find again, the Lord keep thee. Bless, the Lord bless thee, the
Lord keep thee. It is the Lord's business. Jehovah,
that's what that word over there in the book of Numbers is. Jehovah,
Jehovah keep thee. The Jehovah bless thee, Jehovah
keep thee, and that's his job for our benefit out of the covenant
of grace. 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 3,
the scripture says, According to his divine power hath given
unto us all things that pertain unto life, and godliness through
the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue,
whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises,
that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, and
beside this giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue and
to your faith knowledge, given unto you exceeding great and
precious promises that we've been called to this life and
that we have not, we're kept by the power of God. We have
this wonderful gift given to us. It is not ours that we have
by nature, but it is ours because God has provided it. You know, everything that is
required, God provides. We have nothing of ourselves.
Well, the Lord is thy keeper, we find in the book of the Psalms.
Let's go back over to the book of Numbers, chapter six there,
and it tells us there in verse 25. Numbers, or chapter six and
verse 25, we had in verse 24, the Lord blessed him. Gracious
is he. Intentionally gracious. greater graciousness than we
can ever think about. And the Lord keep thee, that's
his job, his business in the covenant of grace is to keep
all that were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world. Here in verse 25, we read these, the Lord make his face
to shine upon thee. The Lord's blessings here refers
to the blessings of God in continual presence with his people. He
is with his people on a continuous basis. As it says there, the
Lord make his face to shine upon you. How good it is. Let me back up one time. I used
to work with a teacher that went to a ball game, baseball game.
He loved baseball. And he had a picture of the great
big screen that they used to have. And the camera was on he
and his son. on that great big screen, and
he took a picture of it. You know, most people that were
in that stand had no idea who in the world this was. But that
dad, when he saw his son on that great screen, knew exactly who
he is. Now that's the way God is with
his people. To most people, they're just nefarious people. Strange. Odd. Out of sorts. They don't
agree with us. But when it comes to God, he
sees us for what we are in Christ Jesus. It is God that sees us
there. He makes his face to shine upon
thee. The word shine alludes to the
dawn when the sun breaks forth. The other day I got to see the
sunrise just as it came over the mountains here in the east,
just broke through clouds above. Fog below came right through
there. What a glorious sight and that is what this is alluding
to. How glorious are the sunrises
and yet God says how glorious it is for you to see my face. My face in the face of Jesus
Christ. Now you and I have never seen
him physically. But in grace, we get to see Him
daily. In grace, we see Him in all of
His attributes, and in all of His glory. The word shine alludes
to that dawn that breaks through. It is the effect of the Word
of God on your hearts of the people to see the glory of God
found in the Scriptures. Even in the night seasons we
find in the Psalms. Psalm 16 verse 7. Even in the
night seasons he breaks forth with his glorious sunrise on
our behalf. The Lord make his face to shine
upon you and it's a smiley face. using every bit of reverence
I can give to it. It is a face that he is pleased
with his people because of Christ Jesus, his son. Unto us a light
that shines in a dark place. You know, we live in pretty much
darkness. I mean, the sun may be up, but
it's still a dark place. When the Lord came down to this
earth, he was living in a dark place. He could look around him,
and he's the only one that could look around him and see all the
lost people. And every once in a while, he'd
see his face shining in the glorious, regenerative work of the Holy
Spirit in somebody. Those are the ones he called
to himself. Matthew, follow me. John, follow
me. And what did they do? They came
to the face of God. The glorious, glorious face. Now, a little farther in that,
it says in verse 25 of Numbers chapter 6, it says, the Lord
be gracious unto thee. Again, he repeats himself. Aren't
you thankful? He repeats himself. He shares
with us again, the Lord be gracious to thee, Lord be gracious unto
thee. A believer walks by faith and must acknowledge that the
faith is by grace. We walk by faith and not by sight,
but that faith is a gracious act that God has given to us
that we can even believe that we walk by faith. We have no
merit whereby we should deserve anything from God but death. That is what we truly deserve. I want what I deserve. We're a weak and needy people,
but we sure don't want what we deserve. We have no merit whereby
we should deserve anything from God. God pours out His abundantly
which we cannot ever deserve and that is grace and grace alone. Remember those words found over
in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8, 9, and 10. For by grace are
ye saved through faith And that not of yourselves, it is a gift
of God. We could go back and say grace
is a gift of God, faith is a gift of God, not of works lest any
man should boast. When it is merit, we boast. When it is works, we boast. We
don't have to be around religious people very long before they're
boasting in their religion and tell us all the good things that
they have to do. I've shared with you one time
that my barber found out that I was a pastor. And she said,
you've never told me that. And I said, you're going to change
your attitude towards me since that. Oh, no, I won't. And the
next thing she's doing, how she saves the cats in the community,
and how she's beneficial to all the people in the community.
And I said, that's not what we want to hear. By grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship. created in Christ Jesus unto
good works which he hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. That's how gracious he is. He's
already set our steps out. He's already set the plan out.
He's already set the purpose out to walk in him. We'll not
walk in him alone. We walk in him because he walks
by us. Isn't it interesting that sometimes
we grab our grandchildren's hand or our children's hand and they're
tugging and tugging and pulling all over but they're just going
with us. We're going to make sure of that. Thank God for God,
because he makes sure of that. He makes sure that his grace
is sufficient. He makes sure that he's gracious
to his people. As it tells us over there, the
Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. How gracious though. And then
it says in the next verse over there in the book of Numbers,
and the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee. Just think about that
for a moment. The Lord lift up his countenance. This blessing is intended again. This is the message that was
given to Moses and Moses delivered this to the preacher. You just
remind the people that everything they have is from God. Everything
they have is from God. They are not supplying anything. I took them out, I delivered
them from bondage. I brought them across the Red
Sea. I brought them here. I've told them exactly where
to put their tents. This is God. And I've already
told them who's to go on the outside and who's to stay on
the inside. And now I'm going to tell them
again, the Lord bless thee. The Lord bless thee and keep
thee. The Lord make his face to shine
upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee. The Lord lift up his countenance. The countenance is simply a smiling
face. Oh, I used to walk in the house.
Loved to walk in the house when mom was in a good mood. Do you
know what I'm talking about? Used to love to walk in the house
when dad was in a good mood. Had a smiling face. Well, when
we walk into the presence of God, it doesn't matter under
what or any conditions, we're going to meet a smiling face
because he poured all his righteous indignation upon his son or he
didn't. He caused his son to pay completely
and totally for all our sin or he didn't. Now, if he did, He's
smiling. And if He didn't, we're in the
wrong line. Don't try to crowd in on the
right hand side. If He didn't pay for all sin, then you're
in the wrong line. Look with me in the book of 1
Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 1. He is a smiling God. I didn't
know this in religion. I was constantly told, you're
going to have to pay for that. Someone went somewhere they shouldn't.
They did something they shouldn't. They played with something they
shouldn't. They did something they shouldn't.
You're going to have to answer for that. And the preacher that
said that did not understand grace. Because either Christ
paid for it all, or He paid for none of it. And if He paid for
it all, this is what we read about. 1 Timothy chapter 1. And
people will say, well that's going to give me a license to
sin. It better not. If you're going to be like the
folks who said, if I believe that, I'll just go do... 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 11,
the Scriptures share this. according to the glorious gospel
of the blessed God. You know that word blessed there
in that particular place means happy? The blessed or happy God
which was committed to my trust. The gospel is declaring that
God is happy with all his people because Christ paid for all their
sin. This is a good message. It's a great message to know
that we can approach God in his greatest time of happiness and
joy. and love and mercy because he's
taken it out on his son. His son either paid for all or
he didn't pay for any. And if he paid for all, it tells
us here according to the glorious gospel of the happy God, blessed
God, which was committed to my ministry, my trust. So we have
this great, glorious God. Now, we say, well, I continue
to sin. We're the ones that feel bad
about it. Yes, we do sin. Every day we sin. We're called
on to confess those sins before God. Pray, thank God for deliverance. But if we miss one and we didn't
get it confessed, God's not going to come up to you and say, well,
you went over the line. I've got to beat you. Blessed
means happy. He is happy with the Son and
His Son's substitutionary death. He's very happy with His Son.
His Son did exactly what was covenanted in the covenant of
grace, took care of sin at the cross for time and for eternity.
He is happy that redemption is complete, paid for in full for
all those before the cross, all those after the cross, all those
that He chose in Christ before the foundation of the world.
The cross took care of all the issues. And now God is a blessed
God, a smiling God towards people. And that's what the ministry
of those priests was to do when they assembled the children of
Israel together. The Lord bless thee and keep
thee. The Lord let his face shine upon
thee. That's only to the church. Only the blessings to the church.
This is not a conditional blessing, but an intentional, intensive,
and continual blessing. God ever smiles at his people. His children have found grace
in his eyes. His children are righteous in
his sight, and his children's sins and iniquities he will remember
no more because they are paid for. And then back there in the
book of Numbers chapter 6 and verse 26, we find these wonderful
words about God's everlasting ministry to the church. It says
there, the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. To the believer in every age,
the world has gone mad. Can you think of Abel, as he
looked around him and his brother had a club in his hand? The world
has gone wild. The world has gone mad and killed
him. In Noah's age, Noah could say the world has gone mad. Look
at this. He would not have known it if
God had not instructed him in grace. Jeremiah's age, my goodness,
read the book of Jeremiah. As he looked out upon Israel,
God's chosen nation, where the favored nation status wasn't
here, these people were corrupt to the heart. Can an Ethiopian change his skin? Can ye that are accustomed to
do evil do good? Jeremiah's weeping over Israel. The Apostles' Age, you know,
apparently every one of them but one, John, the writer of
the Book of Revelation, was martyred. The world went mad. In the Middle
Ages, my goodness, the world was mad. And in our age, the
world has gone mad. Nothing has changed. Just different
people dressed differently, speaking different languages maybe, but
how great it is the great God is in the business of giving
peace when the world has gone mad. The book of Philippians
chapter four, would you join me there in the book of Philippians
chapter four? That is the Lord's blessing to his people. The Lord
gives you peace. When the world has gone mad,
the world give thee peace. Philippians chapter 4 verse 7. Philippians chapter 4 and verse
7 in this passage of scripture explains it a little bit. It
is peace that passeth all understanding by the world. How could they
be calm in such a storm Philippians chapter 4 verse 7, the scriptures
share this. And the God of peace, which passeth
all understanding. He's the God that passeth all
understanding. And the God of peace, that peace
is without understanding. We just can't put our finger
on it. It's God's gift to His people. Keep your hearts and
minds through Christ Jesus. Come what may. He will keep his
people, their hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. The peace
that passeth all understanding, all to know the truth of the
gospel. Christ has made peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ. And we also find out he's made
peace through the blood of the cross. He made peace. Now he says, my peace I give
you. What a generous God that would
give us all peace, all grace, all mercy, all the very person
of Christ Jesus to us. God that smiles upon his people
and he doesn't carry a stick around ready to beat us at the
first time we cross the line, but he is thankful for us in
Christ Jesus. All my children shall be gathered
together. All my people will be one. They
will be brought into one fold. They will not be scattered, but
will be brought into one fold. God has signed his name in all
the blessings to his people. One quick passage over here.
Numbers chapter six, verse 27. And then we have a verse to read. here in the book of Romans, but
in the book of Numbers, chapter 6, verse 27. I fully intended
to get an illustration for this. In my office, I have a number
of coffee cups. My granddaughter told me one
time, Granddad, you have many coffee cups. And there are places
I've been and things I, you know, it's my remembering stick. Well,
I have a coffee cup up there and I was going to get it down,
but I didn't get a chair so I could reach it. It was a coffee cup
given to me by my daughter. She made it in pottery class.
You know the most cherished part of that whole thing is what we're
going to read about here. Just a moment. Numbers chapter
6 verse 27. And they shall put my name upon
the children of Israel. Now in the book of Romans chapter
9 we have this coffee cup mentioned. Romans chapter 9. On the bottom
of that coffee cup is something very important. And if you buy
quality pottery, there's going to be something on the bottom
of that pottery. The name. On the bottom of that cup is
my daughter's name. Means a lot. Means more than
that coffee cup does. Well, read this with me. Romans
chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. God has signed
his name. on his people. Romans chapter
9 verse 21. The scriptures share this. Hath
not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make
one vessel and to honor and another to dishonor. Now that's his business.
Don't argue with God about that. Don't say it's unfair. That's
just God. He's done his business. Don't
say I don't believe it. That means we're unbelievers.
But God said that. He said over here in the book
of Numbers, and they shall put my name upon the children of
Israel, and I will bless them. Over here, Romans chapter 9,
verse 22. It says, What if God, willing to make
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 the glory of the vessels of mercy, which
he hath before prepared unto glory? Even us, whom he hath
called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. Did
you know that we find in scripture that he has put his name on us? We have been given his name.
It's been written on us. His pottery has his name on it. God knows the name. Over there
in the book of Jeremiah, it says, this is the name that they shall
be known by. The Lord, our righteousness. So God has taken every one of
his vessels of honor, flipped them up on the bottom, wrote
his name on them, said, they are mine. they can be identified
anywhere in the world as mine. And so, as Moses told the preachers,
this is what you're to say. The Lord bless thee. and keep thee. The Lord make
his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The
Lord did it all, and 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. Amen.