All right, having said that,
if you wish to follow along, turn to Numbers chapter six. Numbers chapter six. Since it is a brief passage,
I will read the whole, well, just a few verses, five or six. Numbers chapter six. Moses is continuing in his account
here, but he says these words. Numbers chapter six, verse 22.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and
unto his son, saying, On this wise, or you might say in this
way, in this way, on this wise, ye shall bless the children of
Israel, saying unto them. So they were to actually say
it. 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 and give thee peace. They shall put my name upon the
children of Israel and I will bless them. having read through the book
of Numbers, and not necessarily having read through it right
before we entered Numbers, but having read through it before,
I knew this passage was here, but I was focused on chapter
one, two, three, four, five. When I got to this one, I thought,
my, oh, my. I will try to be honest with
you now. I read these words, And I remembered
the rest of the book of Numbers and the account of what takes
place in many circumstances recorded in the book of Numbers, and I
thought, my, oh, my. I must confess that I even thought,
is chapter, or is verses 22 through 27 true? Do you remember some of the things
that this nation did and said toward God? And what God did
because of their rebellion to them in the wilderness? And yet before it even happens,
God says, speak to them on this wise, and
say, that just struck me. But let me, at least in word,
crush any doubt. God meant this, and God did this. Because God could have, and would
have been right had he done so, God could have crushed This whole
nation in the wilderness, because of their rebellion, took his
loved ones on to glory and been done with this thing. But he
had their good and our good in his purpose. Because in fact,
had he actually crushed this nation in the wilderness, all
of humanity would have perished without hope. A little bit of
foundation, try to be brief. In the Hebrew, the word here,
to bless. It means this, and it struck
me odd when I first read it, as most things in the scripture
do. Because I am sure that on far too many occasions, I approach
the scripture from the power of the flesh, Rather than approaching
the scripture, God teach me what you are saying. To bless means
to kneel before. If you look at the base meaning
of this word to bless, it means to kneel before. Give you an
illustration. If you've probably seen movies
on TV, someone comes in before a king, they're going to be blessed. Or you know some of the old English
would take the sword. you know, touch, what is it,
the shoulder, the shoulder. What does the person being blessed
always do? They kneel before the king. So then it began to make a little
more sense. But think about it, in the scripture,
because what we see in the movies, that don't matter. Y'all laughing
like that ought to be laughed at. In the scripture, which is
our only standard of what we believe, how we think what we
think, how we walk, who we believe. When men bless God, when men
bless God. Now that sounds odd, but it happens
in the scripture Ephesians one, the first part of verse three,
blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't
that what Paul wrote? We know he was inspired, he was
moved to the spirit to write that, so Mason, I know that's
okay. When men bless God, they kneel before Him in adoration.
Right? That's what the scripture's teaching
there. We kneel before Him in adoration when we bless God.
We do not add anything to God's essential character. When we
bless Him, we bow before Him and we adore Him. When God blesses
man, man kneels before God. in humble submission to receive
a benefit, a favor, something conferred from the blesser. This is my title and subject,
Blessed by the Blesser. Think about this, take note of
this, and if you want to turn, you can, but Hebrews chapter
seven, soon as I get there I'm gonna read it. If you wish to
turn, Hebrews chapter seven, There is a divine principle talk
concerning blessing. And in the verse I'm going to
read, Hebrews 7 and verse 7, it teaches us this divine principle,
and it teaches this divine principle as an absolute. There is no contradiction
to this principle, because it says, and without all contradiction,
So Mason, there is no, there's nothing that will contradict
this. And without all contradiction. And this is used in the sense
of the second sense in which I talked of, of blessing. When
we bless God, we still bow before him. He does not bow before us. We bow before him in adoration
of him. But when God blesses a man, a
man or a woman bows before him. And this is the principle. And
without all contradiction. The less is blessed of the better. You see that? The less is blessed
of the better. By default, this teaches me at
least one thing. You and I do not cut the muster
when it comes to standing, standing before God. Yes, God created man. in his
own image. But man has marred that image
from the fall even unto now. Without going into some diatribe
or arguing one way or the other, I am sure there are some ways
in which man still manifests that image. Man says, I think
they're still. But we've marred that image. I believe if you could have looked
at Adam and Eve, you could have said, I can see their creator
in them. Now you do not. If it's there for the sake of
argument, it is hidden, hidden away somewhere. What I'm saying
is we are corrupt by nature. We are sinful by nature. We drink iniquity like a thirsty
man drinks water. It is natural to us. When we were originally created,
because all of us were in their loins, in Adam's loins. When
we were originally created, God called us good and very good. He now says about us, there is
none good. No, not one. In other words, we are totally
depraved. Joe kind of said it, but I'll
say it in another way. Our best doesn't even have right, the
right to stand before God. The best place for any sinner,
any son or daughter of Adam and Eve, the best place for us is
to bow in the dust before God. God will never save a man or
a woman until God Almighty first makes them to know they are lost. I'm talking about conversion.
what most people think of about being saved. Some say getting
saved, but being saved, no one is ever found by God. Now they
are lost from the get-go, but no one is ever found by God until
God manifests to them that they are lost. So take note of the
blessing in conferring favor upon. Without contradiction,
the less is blessed. of the better. Think about the
phrase, I do not mean again to be hypercritical. And I know
most of us probably say it just as a way of, you know, human
compassion or whatever someone sneezes or coughs. What do we
say? Bless you. Don't we? Which way are you meaning
that? Which way you mean it? Well preacher,
it really don't apply to either one of those scriptural ways.
If you got that, maybe you got the point. I say, I'm not telling
you don't tell someone bless you when they sneeze, but do
you think you're superior to them? Do you think they should bow
before you? Are you bowing before them and giving them adoration?
No, of course not. It's simply something that we,
something happened. I was even told, I asked this
question one time, and I was told that, I know a fella, his
head's a book. And anyway, I'm about to say
things I shouldn't. His head's a book. And he said this actually
began to take place, the practice began to take place way back
yonder, like in the dark ages or something, and someone would
sneeze or cough, it was supposed they were sick. And back then
when you got sick, just sick, you know, didn't have antibiotics. It was like, okay, this person
may be on the way out, so bless you, you know, God better be
with you, because you may be in trouble. But then, let's take
it even further. If we say to them, people said
that even here, have a blessed day. Are you trying to confer upon
someone a blessing? You can't, that's right, but
you can't. And again, I am not trying to be hypercritical, but
let us remember the scriptural principle of blessing. Men can bless God and should. but we only do so in kneeling
before God in humble adoration. And God can and does bless some
men, but he only does so when we bow down before him, acknowledging
he is the better. God is far greater than us. Turn
to Deuteronomy chapter nine, and I want to look at this in
light of Israel as a nation. just as a nation. Deuteronomy
chapter nine. Let me move. Hear, O Israel,
thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess
nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and
fenced up to heaven, a people great and tall, the children
of the Anakims, whom thou knowest and of whom thou hast heard say,
who can stand before the children of Anak? Understand therefore
this day, that the Lord thy God is he which goeth over before
thee. As a consuming fire he shall
destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face. So
shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the
Lord hath said unto thee. Speak not in thine heart after
that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying,
For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess
this land, but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth
drive them out before thee. It ain't because you're even
better than them. It certainly ain't because of
your righteousness It's because of their utter wickedness. Not for thy righteousness. How
many times does God have to tell us that? Over and over and over. Somebody said, well preacher,
you done taught this to us over and over again. Earl said it
to us over and over again. Joe said it over and over again.
Paul's starting to say it over and over again. We're still gonna
have to hear it till the day we die. Not for thy righteousness
or for the uprightness of thine heart dost thou go to possess
their land, but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord thy
God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may
perform the word which the Lord sware unto thy fathers Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. Understand, therefore, that the
Lord thy God giveth not this good land to possess it for thy
righteousness over and over." It's like, The flesh says, God,
stop it. I'm tired of hearing this. What does he say? Not for thy
righteousness. And then he says this. For thou
art a stiff-necked people. Isn't that amazing? But in spite
of that, In spite of what we will see,
God willing, if God leaves us here that long for me to go through
it, in spite of what we see in numbers, God brought them into
that land. Did he not? Now we will see some
things, and I must deal with those things then. I do not have
time to deal with them now. But illustration, would everybody
that died in the wilderness, was everybody lost? No. Moses died in the wilderness.
He wasn't lost. But some people were lost. Some
people were destroyed because of pure unbelief against God. But we will deal with that later.
But I know, at least with me, and I figure it's true about
you, we want to have our blacks and whites so that we know how far we can
go before we're really in trouble. Don't we now? Now you know what
you're in for when we start going into the rest of the book. Let's
move on. Did God bless Israel? Yes. Yes. Did God bless every Israelite? No. No. No. Why is that so? Unbelief? Yes. But it's even deeper than
that. And Paul tells us of it in Romans
9 verse 6. For they are not all Israel which
are of Israel. This is no new or dispensational
truth. That's not just something that's
true now. Some teach that. But that's not
so. Because when Paul illustrates
this in Romans 9, 7, and 8, he goes back to Abraham and starts
with him. Not Israel, Jacob, right? He goes back to Abraham and said
it's in the seed. Clearly in Galatians, he said
that seed is singular and it's Christ. And writing even to Gentiles,
he said, if you're a believer in Christ, I'm oversimplifying,
I know, but if you're a believer in Christ, you are Abraham's
what? Seed. So that makes me a part of who? Part of Abraham, but what would
later become called what? Israel. Think of this, Genesis chapter
12 in verse three, God told Abraham, in thee shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed. You see, the inclusion of the
Gentiles ain't no new or dispensational thing. Think of it, even in Israel
in that day. Now not in this day, but as they
moved into the land. I think of just two people, Rahab,
and Ruth. They became Israelites because
God had chosen them to be Israelites before the world began. So having
established that, that truth, they're not all Israel which
are of Israel. Even some Gentiles have been grafted into Israel
where some Israelites by nature have been broken off because
of unbelief. God didn't break them off just
to be cruel. They're broken off because of what? Unbelief. But
Gentiles who believe have been what? Grafted into. That's what
this book teaches, does it not? Think about this. Still laying
a foundation. The reprobate amongst the elect
often experience residual effects of the blessing. They often, but they're not really
experiencing the blessing. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Now,
gotta establish these truths. Because as we go through numbers,
there will be some twisted knots that I will not be able to untwist.
We will simply acknowledge the knot, try to state as much as
possible the truth of thus saith the Lord, and move on with it.
First Corinthians 10, moreover brethren, I would not that ye
should be ignorant. How that all our fathers were
under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. Who's he talking
about? These people we're reading about here. This cloud and sea,
that happened to them. Now look. and were all baptized
unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the
same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual
drink. And then look, for they drank of that spiritual rock
that followed them, and that rock was Christ. So they all,
in some way, partook of Christ. Is that not true? In some way. And even the reprobate, if there's
a person in this assembly that's even reprobate, doesn't believe,
and will never believe. Yet if they're in this assembly,
they experience some residual effects of the blessing of God
on his people. Then he goes on, but with many
of them, God was not well pleased. For they were overthrown in the
wilderness. This is not about who's saved,
who's lost. This is just dealing with facts. Look, now these things
were our examples to the intent We should not lust after evil
things as they also lusted. Now Mason, that's clear enough.
I don't need to hammer on that. They were our examples. Let us
not do like they did. Neither, verse seven. Neither,
verse eight. Neither, verse 10. Do you see
it? Here's things they did, don't do these things. Isn't that what
he's saying? Isn't that what he's saying? Verse 11, now all
these things happened unto them for in samples. They are not
our example, but they are in samples. And they are written
for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Wherefore, that him that thinketh he standeth, take he lest he
fall. Well, God said he blessed me.
Yes, he did. If you're Israel. If you're Israel. But if you're just one of the
reprobate among Israel, you may think you got the blessing and
you got nothing. But not only that, the elect,
having the reprobate in their midst, often moan because of
the judgment of God toward the reprobate in their midst. Think
of what Joshua and Caleb had to go through. Now it's not long,
these people, they're still right here at Sinai, and they're just
about ready to start moving out. Remember? If you've read it.
And it won't be long, they'll be right at the metaphoric gates
of Canaan, right? And Joshua and Caleb are sent
in with 10 others to spout the land, and they come back. You
know, 10 said, we can't do it. Joshua and Caleb said, God, give
us this land. Let's move, fellas. Those two men had to go through
the wilderness for 40 years, just like everybody else. Right? God didn't say, well, you boys
camp right here a while, while I take these folks around, show
them a thing or two. Now did they? Huh? They didn't
get to stay right there and look over the Georgia and say, whoa,
what a land. Well, I'll be glad when this
40 years are over. They had to go through the same
40 years. Do you understand what I'm saying?
Let me give you one more point. The sins of believers. Did you
ever forget this? Don't take Numbers 6, 22 through
27, and say, well, since God promised to bless me, then I
will live exactly as I please in any facet of my inner being,
because in your inner being is the fallen flesh. And the sins,
even the sins of believers brings God's displeasure. Second Samuel
11 verse 27 concerning King David. In the matter of Uriah and Bathsheba,
and it says in the thing that David did displeased the Lord. And you know what? The sword never departed from
David's house. Any of you ever feel like you're
there? Can't excuse our sin. A man will reap what he sows. I do and am, you do and you are. And don't look for God to change
it. But yet he's blessing us if we're
in Christ. Do you hear me? He's blessing
us if we're in Christ. I want to be one of the elect,
don't you? I want to be one of the elect.
I just can't imagine Joshua and Caleb when they had to turn,
Mason, can you? Had to turn their back on the land and go into
the wilderness again. 40 years. I want to be one of the elect.
The elect are promised the blessing of God, And God has ordained
means, but it is backed by his sovereign will. And they, that
is the priest, shall put my name upon the children of Israel,
and I will bless them. Hmm? I like that. Now let's notice
the three facets of the blessing. First of all, that was all foundation. The blesser is the Lord. There
are not two blessers here. You understand what I'm saying?
Now, I say that because you read. 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. Right? But they are
not the blesser. They are not the one who will
actually confer the blessing. They are simply declaring him
who is the blesser and what he's pleased to do when he blesses. But yet they are the means through
which this is announced to the people of God. Right? I think some of you probably
know where I'm going. You see, the blesser, that is the Lord.
Capital O, capital R, L-O-R-D, all caps. The blesser uses human
means to declare the blessing. We see that in the priest. But
the human means are not the blessers. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
three. This is a truth we must never forget. And I say that
because people have forgotten it. In the days of what I would
call the New Testament church, This evidently happened, Jack,
quite quickly. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter
3. And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual,
but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I fed you with
milk and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it,
neither yet now are you able, for you are yet carnal, for whereas
there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are you
not carnal and walk as men? Now was it about the doctrine
of the personal work of Christ that they were arguing about?
Was that what it was about? No, no. If that would have some,
excuse me, that'd have some validity. Mason, we kind of talked, that'd
have some validity. But be careful because Paul,
Christ told Ephesus through John, he says, I know your works. I
know what you've went through. You stand for doctrine because
you know those that are apostles. You call the rest of them liars.
You remember that? You got the doctrine right, you
know? You're forebearing, you're doing,
but you've what? You've left, I got one thing
I get, you've left your first love. Who's the first love? Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ. Now look what he
says. This is pertinent. You walk as men, for while one
saith, I'm of Paul. And another, I'm of Paulus. I'm
of a Paulus, I like a Paulus. God really does something for
me when a Paulus preaches. Well, folks, I've heard us say
that before. Boy, I sure like so and so. I'm
glad you do. But he ain't the blesser. You
hear me? And some men are far better preachers
than others. It's just a fact. But that ain't
the point. If they're both preaching Christ,
the problem, if I see a problem between the two, the problem's
here, not in those men. if they're both preaching Christ.
So I like Paul. God does something for me when
Paul preaches. I like Apollos. Well, I was converted, God used
Apollos to convert me. And I just really get it when
Apollos preaches. Or you know, verse five, who
then is Paul? And who is Apollos? But now don't,
don't, don't, be careful. Look, but ministers by whom you
believed. God uses this means. even as
the Lord gave to every man. And let me tell you, God said
in his wise purpose, so-and-so is going to believe when so-and-so
is preaching. Yes, sir. And so-and-so is going to believe
when so-and-so is preaching. Yeah. And so-and-so is going
to believe when so-and-so is preaching. That's what he's saying
here. Yeah. But look, look, even as the Lord gave to every man.
I have planted, Paul says, he's using an illustration, and a
polished watered. Oh, but look at it, you see it?
What does it say? But God gave the increase. Do you see that? So then, neither
is he that planteth anything. Now it didn't say planting was
nothing. Now did it? He didn't say watering, no, get
it right. Neither is he that planteth anything,
or he that watereth, but God that giveth increase. You see
if I, oh God forbid, Makes it, it's tough for me to even say,
but if I turn my back on God, God's kingdom will not suffer
one iota. God will raise up his person
his way. Will he not? He told those one
folks, I don't believe it's exaggeration. If these keep quiet, the stones
will cry out. Because God's got his means and
it'll happen. Why? Because God gives the increase.
Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one. And every man
shall receive his own reward according to his own labor, for
we are labors together with God. And that's what he says. But
then look at what he said. We are labors together with God,
but who gets the credit? Ye are our husbandry. Is that
what he said? Ye are God's husbandry. Ye are God's building. So then, that's established. Who does the blessing? God does. He uses means, but don't exalt
the means. Thank God for the means. Love the means. Love the person
who is the means. Support the person who is the
means, but they don't get the credit, now do they? They don't
get the credit. Number two, the blesser, that
is the Lord, guarantees keeping, keeping as a vital part of the
sovereign will and blessing, does he not? The Lord bless thee,
and notice a comma, and keep thee. Do you see it? Men argue,
can a man be saved, or lost after he's saved? It is such nonsense. Now it is not if you believe
you save yourself, or if you believe you help God save you,
then yes, you would have some part in it. But if God's doing
the blessing, then God's got to do the keeping. Yes or no? The blesser, that is the Lord,
guarantees keeping as a vital part. of the sovereign blessing. And what is that blessing? I
think we have an explanation of this in 1 Peter chapter one.
If you want to read it while I go through it. 1 Peter chapter one. Before I
go any further, time's going by. The blessing of God is not
things. What was the one thing, what's
the one thing that God gave to Israel that kept them going through
the wilderness? Does anybody know? What's the
one thing? F-A-I-T-H. Was it not? What's the one thing
that hindered, many did not, many, the Bible puts it this
way, their carcasses fell in the wilderness. You know what
it says? What was the reason? U-N-B-E-L-I-E-F. Now let's read 1 Peter chapter
one. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia, elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you
and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and father
of our Lord Jesus Christ see Peter doing exactly what Paul
did what's he doing? He's bowing before God and giving
adoration to God is it not? Which Which according to his
abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead the foundation
of our salvation is in Jesus Christ who he is and what he
did and The foundation is not faith, it is Christ. But I have
no connection to that apart from faith. Look what it goes on. To an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for
you who are kept by the power of God, Through faith. And I remember Earl saying this,
I may not have it quite right. Faith is laying hold of God.
It is. But faith is first God laying
hold of you. Because he gives you that gift.
He gives it to you freely. That's God snatching you. And
he's got you in his hand. You know what the book says,
he's got us in his hand. The book says a righteous man
can fall, and he can even fall, what is it, seven times, isn't
it? But you know where we fall? In His hand. We're still in His
hand. Do you get it? Through faith
unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, wherein ye
greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are
in heaviness through manifold testings and temptations, that
the trial of your faith Now look at it, being much more precious
than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire,
might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing
of Jesus Christ, and you haven't even seen him, but you love him,
and you believe him. Think about this. Real, true,
true, real, bonafide, God-given faith will stand the test, whatever
it is. It'll stand the test. If God
gives you true, bona fide faith in Christ, you will die with
that faith. You will die with that faith.
Even if it's in the wilderness. Even if it's in the wilderness.
You see, the blessing is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the blessing, it's not things. Remember Paul said Romans 14,
23, and I know he was talking the context, the immediate context
there is meats offered to idols, and drink, wine, and that kind
of thing. But he said that which is without faith is what? Sin,
sin, sin, sin. Faith is it. You see, if God
blesses you with faith, you got it all. because that faith is
in Christ and he is all. Number three, the blesser, that
is the Lord promises his personal attention to the blessed. 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,
that's the same word, face, upon thee and give thee peace. In
other words, when you turn your face to somebody, what are you
doing? You're giving them personal attention. If you turn your back
on them, what are you doing? You're taking it away. God says,
my face is toward you. Mason, this Israel he's gonna
bless, God's gonna look at him in grace and peace. You see, God promises to act
to act toward us in graciousness, to assure our experience of peace. But this peace is not the absence
of turmoil and war. It is a calm assurance based
upon the word of God revealing the person and work of Jesus
Christ. Think about it. Think of the
history of numbers. and what these people went through.
And then let me read this to you. I'm gonna have you turn
to, think of this. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God, but it's not because just the
faith. It's not that we've worked up
something. We didn't work up faith. Faith, God gave it to
us. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and
rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Is this not a blessed
person? Now that means everything now
is gonna be better. Ain't that what some people preaching
now today? But look at what it says. And
not only so, but we glory in Tribulations also. I don't think
we do right at the get-go. But if you got real faith, he'll
work this in you. Usually at the get-go, when tribulation
comes, I'm like this. Not only so, but we glory in
tribulations also knowing this. Knowing what? Knowing that tribulation
worketh patience. and patience, experience, and
experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love
of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which
is given unto us. And I believe that applies in
both respects. We begin to understand God loves
us. God loves us, and he knows what's
best for us in this life. But he's also given us love for
him. Let me tell you, believing God is not just, okay, God, I'm
gonna take this. That is unbelief. Belief says, Lord, you're right,
and this is best. So that kind of lets me know how little faith I have. What
about you? That gives me a little inkling
into how much unbelief I have. Because every time I murmur against
a circumstance, who am I really murmuring against? Who, really? God. And I forget that, that
quick. Let me sum up. The face reveals
much. I don't have time to give you
this. Let me just give you one example. This is a negative illustration.
Cain offered his sacrifice. And you know what? I know Cain
was really happy when he did. You know that? You say, Preacher,
it don't say that. Yeah, it does. Not in those words,
but it says it. Cain was happy. He was ecstatic. You know why
I know it says that? Because when he found out that
neither he nor his sacrifice was accepted of God, what did
it say that happened to Cain? His countenance failed. He wasn't happy anymore. Countenance proves a lot, don't
it? And there is a countenance that goes deeper than just this.
Now do you understand what I'm saying? That countenance is down
in here in the spirit and the soul. Now there's many passages
I was gonna give you. I don't have time. Man has a wicked countenance
in here. Only the grace of God can produce
a countenance that smiles at God in the midst of tribulation
and trouble and trial. You know that? It takes the grace
of God. I want you to sometime, Go back
and read, I want you to read this, because it's a lengthy
passage and I just, I went too long. I want you to read sometime
Psalm 89, but specifically verses 13 through 37. They apply to King David, but they
also apply to our Lord Jesus Christ. Read that sometime. Think about it. It is in Christ's
face by the preaching of Jesus Christ the Lord, that we actually
get to see God's glory. Isn't that what Paul said in
2 Corinthians 4, one through seven? And he said, this treasure's
an earthen pot. There's a means. But the glory
and the excellency is of who? God. I'll close with this. You mentioned it, Joe. Moses
asked, it's almost like he was demanding, show me thy glory.
What did God say? I will get a hold of you and
I will stick you back in the cleft. Didn't he say I'm gonna put my
hand over you? He say, and I'll pass before you but you won't
see my what? You won't see my face. But he
did hear the name. Now if you disagree with me,
I understand, it's okay. This is not a thus saith the
Lord. I just feel that he told him, there's one called Jesus
of Nazareth. I just like to think that. And
he said, you know what, you're not gonna get to see my face
yet, but you're gonna get to see what? My hinder parts. Moses seen somebody walk in front
of him. God held his hand over his eyes
while the face came by. But then when the hinder part,
he took it away and said, look, there I am. There I am. What did Christ say to his disciples?
He that has seen me has seen the Father. I believe he meant
that right here. The most reprobate man that ever
walked when Christ was on this earth, when he seen Jesus Christ,
he had looked at God Almighty. Do you know that? But I believe
it's deeper than that. He that's seen me down in here. Not by faith. Guess who we've
seen? The Father. The Father. Think
of this. This is one reason why I chose
this song. 277 verse four. Lord Jesus, wilt
thou mercy show, and save me by thy grace, that I may, when
this life is o'er. This is not all there is to it. Everyone here has someone that's
went on who believed Christ. And we have the promise of God
to know that they are doing what? They are looking at His lovely
what? Face. He didn't turn His back on them
when they came. When they entered into His eternal
glory. He has the right to say, depart
from me, ye that work iniquity. But He knew them. And He looks at them, Joe. And
then another song says, behind a frowning providence, what is
there? He hides a what? A smiling face. God loves you if you're in Christ.
And he's doing what's best for you. And I can't explain how that's
all true. I just know that, that, that
it is. Let's stand and sing.