Sovereign Grace Chapel, located at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. It's going to be in numbers. Chapter six, Numbers chapter six. And this might sound a little familiar from the sermon I preached a couple of weeks ago, but it's different. And it's the same.

Numbers chapter six, beginning in verse 22. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron, and unto his son, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.

So my title this morning is The Lord Bless Thee. Little bit different. I read this from a fellow by the name of Archibald Alexander. I don't know a whole lot about him, but I really like this quote I found from him. No one was ever saved because his sins were small. No one was ever rejected on account of the greatness of his sins, where sin abounded Grace did much more abound. All my theology is reduced to this narrow compass. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. And I agree, that's good theology.

Now, this is the blessing of the Lord told to Moses to speak to Aaron and his sons. who were then to relay it to the children of Israel, telling them, bless the children of Israel this way, this way. Here's how it starts. It's in verse 24. The Lord bless thee. That's good. You understand, folks? That's good news. The Lord bless thee. Because I'm gonna tell you something, that's where everything good starts, is with the Lord. This is the beginning. The Lord bless thee. And he tells Moses to tell Aaron to tell the people.

Understand, God has always spoken to his people through men. Guess what? He still is. He still is. All we're doing is relaying this word of God today to you and to you. This is what we do. This is what we are told to do. Go out into all the world and what? Preach the gospel. He that heareth and is baptized shall be saved. He that heareth not, he that believeth not shall be damned. This is all we got, folks. And here's the word of the Lord to Moses, to Aaron, and to his people.

The Lord bless thee. Oh, that's way, I mean, this is a manifestation of the love of God directed toward his children. And listen, the children heard through the priests, not through the law. He told Moses, but he told Moses to tell Aaron and his sons. Then he told Aaron and his sons to tell the people. You understand? There's no good news through the law. I don't care what anybody says. I don't care where you are on your spiritual journey, as they say. Whether you're lost or saved, the law is not good news. Good news comes through the priesthood. The priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Aaron was the high priest at that time. That's where the good news comes from. The ones who offer the sacrifices. Not from the ones who give the law. I'm not gonna go into that. But there's a message there if you want. Think about it.

This is a manifestation of the love of God directed toward his children. Here it is. His eyes upon them. His ears hear their cries. and his heart is turned toward his people. The Lord bless thee, bless thee. Oh, I'm gonna tell you something, just this fact right here of what the Lord said to Moses to tell Aaron to tell the people, this fact right here, God is speaking to his creation. He didn't have to, folks. He wanted to. He wanted to. Oh my, because I'm gonna tell you something.

There was a time, and it seems like a long time ago now, but it really wasn't that long as far as time goes, that I was ignorant of the blessing of the Lord. But still he had blessed me. He had blessed you. Even in your unbelief, the Lord knew you. and watched over you, and I'm gonna tell you, he blessed you. Because the Lord bless his people. The Lord bless thee.

Oh, I'm gonna tell you something. Without his word, we wouldn't know his blessing. But with his word, we do. And we are to know his blessing, and be thankful for it. Be thankful for it. The world doesn't understand, the world doesn't care. but the creator speaks to his children. And he speaks tidings of grace and mercy and love.

Oh, the Lord bless thee. I'm gonna tell you something. The greatest blessing ever to come on this planet came through the Lord. You understand, right now, the Lord bless thee. The seed of the woman has come. The seed of the woman has come. The Lord bless thee. The child is born. and the son was given, the Lord bless thee, God manifest in the flesh has come, has come. And the Lord bless thee, Christ obtained eternal redemption for his children, for his people. The way Paul wrote it in Hebrews, for us. For us, the ones he was writing to. The Lord bless thee.

Jesus Christ has perfected forever those that he has sanctified. By one offering. By one offering. Oh, I like that, I do. The Lord bless thee. What's the second thing he says here? The Lord bless thee and Keep thee, keep thee. Any keeping done is done by the Lord. You don't keep yourself. Sorry, you don't bless yourself and you don't keep yourself. I don't bless myself and I don't keep myself. There's a simple reason why, folks, we can't. And I'm including myself in that. We are incapable of not only blessing ourselves, but we are incapable of keeping ourselves, keeping ourselves.

Oh my, matter of fact, we're up to number six here. The children of Israel have plainly shown they were incapable of keeping themselves. But the Lord bless thee. The Lord bless thee, and the Lord keep thee. Oh, I like that. And thank God, he doesn't leave it up to us to keep ourselves. I know some people wanna tell you that, and if you're watching that stuff on TV, don't watch that stuff anymore. Because it doesn't work. Why are people brokenhearted and downtrodden? Why? Because they're trodden on by preachers. Oh my.

The Lord keep thee. And if your preacher doesn't preach that, he don't know what he's talking about. Or maybe he does and he's lying. I'm not gonna go into that. But here's the thing. John 17 and verse 10 and 11. This is the words of the Lord Jesus Christ in his prayer to God in John 17. And all mine are thine. What? and I am glorified in them. Why? The Lord blessed thee and keep thee. Oh my. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee, Holy Father. Keep through thine own name. That's the only way you can be kept. That's the only keeping there is. Keep through thine own name who? Those whom thou hast given me. Oh, I like that, that's good stuff. That they may be one, what? As we are. The Lord bless thee and keep thee. Oh my, I'm gonna tell you something folks, that's good news, that's good news. He didn't stop there though, here he was. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name, in thy name. Those that thou gavest me, I have kept. And none of them is lost, what? But the son of perdition.

I'm gonna tell you something, folks. The Lord bless thee and the Lord keep thee is not for everyone. I've kept them, except the son of perdition. Why? That the scripture might be fulfilled. The Lord bless thee and keep thee.

I'm gonna tell you something, folks. The Lord cares for his own. Always. He always has, he always does, and he always will. The Lord cares for his own. All believers are in His Son. And He loves His Son. And He loves us. Not only in His Son, He loves us like His Son. All mine are what? Thine. That's Christ speaking to the Father. All believers belong to the Father and to the Son. Oh my.

And guess what? He keeps us. He keeps us. First Peter one in verse five. I quote this a lot, I like this a lot. Who are kept, talking about believers. Who are kept by the power of God. Through faith. Through faith. Unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time. All those that come to me, I'm gonna raise up at the last day. This salvation we have here is glorious, it's grand, it's gracious, it's merciful, but this ain't all, folks. There's a salvation yet to come. A final, complete salvation. When this mortal puts on immortality, this corruption puts on incorruption. Oh, we are kept. The Lord keep thee. Mm, I like this. Because I'm gonna tell you something, the children of God are saved by God and kept by God. And that's a blessing, that's a blessing.

Now, verse 25. The Lord make his face, and I like this, shine upon thee. The Lord shines upon his children. He shines on his children. Now, let's be clear, I've said this many times, I'm gonna say it many more. The light always shines. But this, let the Lord, and here it says, make his face shine upon thee. You understand what he's saying? You're gonna see it when he makes you see it. It shines all the time. The message is no different now than it was. The message tomorrow will be no different than it is today. The Lord has to make his countenance shine upon you or you'll never see it. And that's a blessing, folks. The part about him making it shine on you. Oh, I like that. And he makes himself to shine on his people. He is the light. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the light and he shines. The son of righteousness makes his face to shine on his brethren.

How is this any different than anybody else? Well, for anybody else, excuse me. Proverbs 20 and verse 12 puts it this way. The hearing ear and the seeing eye, what? The Lord hath made even both of them. If he don't give you eyes to see, you're not gonna see the shine. And that's just the way it is. He makes his face shine upon his people. Oh my. That's a blessing, folks, that's a blessing. And I'm gonna tell you this, when he makes his countenance, his face, shine upon thee, you're gonna see. You're gonna see. You're gonna see. Oh my.

Then he says this, verse six, oh, this is number six in my same book. The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. Understand, we're just in numbers. What is this, fourth, fifth book of the Bible, fourth book of the Bible? We're talking about grace. Well, we were talking about grace in the first book of the Bible. We talk about grace in the second book of the Bible. We talk about grace in every book of the Bible. the grace of God. And I'm gonna tell you something. The very definition of grace is given to us in these first five books. He told Moses, he says, I, this is the Lord speaking, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.

The Lord bless thee and be gracious unto thee. Oh, I like that. The Lord be gracious unto thee. Because I'm gonna tell you something, the Lord being gracious unto thee is a blessing from God. He's not gracious to everybody. I know, I know, you can watch them on TV and they say God loves everybody. Well no he doesn't, first point. Second point is, it's not gonna do him much good without grace. Well I can tell you this, if God loves you, he will be gracious unto thee. If God loves you, he will be merciful unto thee. Oh my, the Lord be gracious unto thee.

And the word gracious here, I looked it up, and a lot of people might not like this, but I think it's wonderful, okay? It means to stoop down. To stoop down, but not all. To stoop down to an inferior. Are you saying I'm inferior? Yeah. Listen, folks, compared to God, everybody's inferior. and he had to stoop down to us. We couldn't reach him. He gave his son to reach us. Oh my, that's grace. That's grace. Oh, understand, Christ died for the ungodly. He came to save sinners. and he died for the ungodly. That's stooping down, that's stooping down to inferiors. Now if that ripples your ego the wrong way, that's your problem, that's what the scriptures say.

God is gracious to his people, to the children. Tell Moses, he spoke to Moses to tell Aaron to tell the people. It's a very specific message to a very specific bunch of people. And so is God's grace, always has been. Thank God for stooping down to his inferiors, for stooping down toward us. Oh my, the Lord be gracious unto thee.

The next one, and this one kind of threw me for a little bit. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee. Now, if you look at that, Verse 25 says, the Lord make his face shine upon thee. This next word, countenance, is the same word, face. But the Lord, what, lift up his countenance upon thee. What's that mean? This is the Lord lifting up his countenance upon thee, is not to shine on you, but here it is, folks, to see you. To see you. and not destroy you. That's a blessing from God, folks. That's a blessing from God.

God, who is too holy to look upon sin, looks upon his children in love, in grace. in mercy and in blessing, in blessing. Oh, he doesn't look upon us in condemnation. That's what we deserve. That's what we deserve. But he doesn't look upon us in condemnation, no. He looks upon us in mercy and grace because he sees us, his children, in his holy, only begotten Son. That's where he sees us. That's how he sees us. And here it is, oh my. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee. The Lord sees thee and give thee peace. How about that? The Lord looks upon his own in peace. In peace. Where we deserve wrath. We deserve punishment, not only for who we are, but for what we are. Not only for what we've done, but for what we are. Oh, that's the difference between sin and sins, plural. Sin is what we are, sins are what we do. And the Lord looks upon us, sees us, in peace, and not only that, gives us peace. The Lord give thee peace. Oh my.

Preservation, grace, and peace come from God as a blessing upon his children, on his people. The Lord bless thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. Now, Verse 27, and they, speaking of Aaron and his sons, shall put my name upon the children of Israel. God is the father of his children. He has given his people His name. His name. That's a miracle. That's a miracle. That's a blessing. Oh my.

Matter of fact, Christ said, when you pray, pray on this wise and in this manner. It's not repeat after me. But he starts it off this way. And he says it, our Father. God is our father. And we are to come boldly to the throne of grace where we can say, Abba, Father. God is the father of his children. That's why we're called, and all throughout the scripture, the child of God, the sons of God, the sons and daughters of God. You understand, he looks upon us as his family. Christ is our, he's not ashamed to call us brethren.

Now he is the elect one, the precious, the elder brother, the head, but where is body? Where's body? His members, oh my. Let's be clear. I know, and I saw a sign coming up here about, you know, if you ask believing, God will give it to you. And what they mean is no matter what you ask, as long as you have positive mental attitude about it, God has to give it to you. That ain't so, folks. He's our father. And I'm gonna tell you something, my father didn't give me everything I asked for. You know why? because I was a stupid kid. And I was greedy too, I wanted a lot of stuff. We ask amiss. And I'll tell you something, God answers all the prayers of his children, but sometimes the answer is no, and sometimes the answer is not yet. He may do it later. when it's what? In his good time. But he's put his name upon us. Oh my. That's a blessing from God.

And here it is. And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel and, says it again, I will bless them. You understand? You will never see a verse in this scripture, and you better never hear anybody preach something out of this scripture, but here it is. He does never blesses everyone. Now, the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike. It's a blessing to the just, and it's a curse on the unjust. Same rain. This gospel preached, the gospel of Jesus Christ is a blessing to those who are alive. Ah, but it's a curse to those who don't have ears to hear.