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. 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 and 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. Well, this is number six in my
same book. The Lord make his face shine
upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. Now 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. 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 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. 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. 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. Now 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 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. Understand, you will never see
a verse in this scripture And you better never hear anybody
preach something out of the 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 and a heart to understand. To some, we are what? Life unto
life. To others, the same message,
the same person, death unto death, death unto death. Oh my, the
children of God are blessed. Why? I will bless them. Period. The Lord bless thee,
that's how it starts. And guess how it ends? The Lord
bless thee. I will bless them. I will, I
will. Mm. Listen, God, Jesus Christ came, manifest
in the flesh to save sinners. God will bless them. The Lord
has blessed them, the Lord shall continue to bless them, and the
Lord always will bless them. But this is the message, come
to him. Come to him. You understand?
There are no blessings anywhere else outside of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Come to him. Now, if you don't
wanna come to him, don't come to him. If you don't believe this word,
don't come to him. But if you wanna know him, he'll
show himself to you. He'll show yourself in his word,
he'll show yourself in his message. Horatius Bonar wrote this. I
praise the God of grace. I trust his truth and might. He calls me his, I call him mine. My God, my joy, and my light. Oh, I like that. Grace, love,
and communion, the Lord bless thee with. The Lord bless thee, the Lord
keep thee, the Lord shine upon thee, the Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee, the Lord give thee peace. You understand? Just last thing. Just like the
one I preached a few weeks ago. This is one blessing. And you know what it handles?
It handles salvation from beginning to end. The salvation of sinners
from beginning to end. I came to seek that which was
lost. And you know what? He did. And
you know what? He found them, you understand? The good shepherd's not gonna
miss any sheep. Not any sheep that are his. Oh,
he told something, he says, you're not my sheep. And it wasn't because you don't
believe, it was because you weren't my sheep, you don't believe.
Oh my, but I'm gonna tell you something, If he's one of your,
if you are one of his sheep, the Lord bless thee. And he's
gonna bring you in. And you're gonna be happy about
it. Might not even be looking for it. But he'll find you. And he'll keep you. And he'll
shine upon you. And he'll see you in his son,
and he'll give you peace. And he will put his name upon
you. Oh my. That's good, folks. I'm gonna
tell you something, that's the gospel. The Lord bless thee and
keep thee. And guess what? He does everything
else in between. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for this day, for this place, And these people, Lord, to gather
together in your name is a great blessing. Help us, Lord, to take it to
heart, to keep it close to the surface of my mind that my Lord
Jesus Christ did purchase and save his people from their sins. And help me to walk on your path,
in your way, according to your will, and keep me, Lord, and
keep all of yours. In Christ's name we pray, amen.