Verdict

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. Once blind, but now I see. Was grace that taught my heart to fear And grace my fear to free to be How gracious did that grace appear The hour I first believed Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come His grace hath brought me safe thus far ♪ And grace will lead me home ♪ ♪ Where we've been there 10,000 years ♪ ♪ Bright shining as the sun ♪ ♪ With no mistakes to be found ♪ And when we first knew God... After scripture reading and prayer, we'll sing your handout, El Sovereign. Hero of Sovereign Grace. If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Numbers chapter 5.

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him, And a man lie with her carnally, and be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she is defiled, and there be no witness against her, neither she be taken with the manner.

And the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled. Or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he is jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled. Then shall a man bring his wife unto a priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, a tenth part of an ephah, a barley meal. He shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense upon their own, for it is an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.

And the priest shall bring her near and set her before the Lord, And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel. And of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle, the priest shall take and put it into the water. And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord and uncover the woman's head and put the offering of the memorial in her hand, which is the jealousy offering. And the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causes the curse.

And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman, if no man hath lain with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness with another instead of thy husband, be thou free of this bitter water that causeth the curse. If thou hast gone aside to another instead of thy husband, if thou be defiled, and some men have lain with thee beside thy husband, then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing And the priest shall say unto the woman, the Lord make thee a curse and an oath among the people, when the Lord doth make thy thighs to rot and thy belly to swell. This water that causes the curse shall go into thy bowels to make thy belly swell and thy thighs to rot. And the woman shall say amen, amen. The priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with bitter water. And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causes the curse, and the water that causes the curse shall enter into her and become bitter.

Then the priest shall take the jealousy offering out of the woman's hand, and she'll wave it at the offering before the Lord and offer it upon the altar. And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass that it is she to be defiled, and some trespass against her husband. that the water that causes the curse shall enter into her and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thighs shall rot, and the woman shall be a curse among the people. And if the woman be not lethal, but be clean, then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.

This is the law of jealousies. When a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband and is avowed, or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him to be jealous over his wife, he shall set the woman before the Lord, and the beauty shall execute upon her this law. Then shall a man be guiltless from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity.

Our Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the fact that wherever we look, it teaches us of Jesus Christ and some aspect of his person, his work, and his ministry. It teaches us of his church, his beloved bride. It teaches us what we are inside. Out of the heart flows murders and thefts and iniquity and evil eye and corruption. Covetousness, all these things come with the image of a foul man.

We are thankful, Father, for the shed blood of Christ that takes away and puts away our iniquity, that hides our sin from the face of God so much so that He does not remember them, that in Him we have full forgiveness of sin. We are thankful because we know what we are. We know that we have received much mercy, and our hearts are overwhelmed with the fact that if you look for us for anything, we would soon perish. We are thankful that you look at us in Jesus Christ. We pray for those who are sick, going through trial. Happy to see Julie back with us today. Continue to pray for Cynthia and her recovery. are the others who requested prayer. I ask for your help for me.

Help us this day to rejoice in the glorious work of Jesus Christ our Lord and be thankful for the power and the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Help us now we pray in Christ. With thanks we gather in this place To hear of free and sovereign grace, O may our God this very hour Sing for His grace and mighty power. It is true, we are the worms of clay, Yehvorah's presence we will pray, And we will praise Him for His grace, Pushing our standards in our place. Thou hast taught us this thing proclaim, O worship Him, the sinner's friend, and let His praises never cease! to part, then let us be of kindred heart, and wheresoe'er we are placed, still love to hear a song embraced. Father, again, we come in the name of Jesus Christ, our great and glorious Lord.

Because of his work on Calvary's tree and his death at the altar unto you, it has completely satisfied you and propitiated you for your law and your justice. And from his lips flowed grace. We are thankful that he sits at thy right hand, ever ready to make intercession for us. We know that everything we have is a gift. As we return unto Thee that which You've given us, let us do so with joy.

We pray in Christ's name. Amen. So, I want your attention back to Numbers chapter 5. I preached this message on from this text on Wednesday night many years ago when I was studying Numbers. I preached it several times in other places. And it came to mind sometime last week and I was thinking about it and thinking of it. Because it sets forth the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ in type and shatter in a wonderful way.

This passage is called the passage of the law of jealousies. It's a law instituted when a man suspects or has suspicion, and this might have been untrue to him. It's important to understand that according to this passage, there are no witnesses to this. No one has seen the matter take place, so it's a matter of suspicion.

And the husband is jealous because of it, and then this system of offering is said before the priest, and this woman goes through it. This is the only law in Scripture concerning jealousy, save for that law that is general to all of Scripture that says God is jealous for His glory, and He is. Now we know that the glory of God is manifest completely and fully in the salvation of His people. So when God is jealous for His glory, He's jealous for His salvation. which purchased a bride for his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In this passage, his wife is seen speaking to or spending too much time, it seems, with another man. She could be brought to a priest and administered a kind of test, and this is what this is, to prove her innocence or establish her guilt.

No such avenue existed. is the wife expecting her husband of adultery. That's important because we know that all scripture speaks of Jesus Christ and his people. There is no indication that adultery was more prevalent among the wives than the husbands in Israel. There is, however, a suggestion of it, and it has to do with the greatest curse that could be upon a Hebrew woman, the promise made to Eve in the Garden of Eden that her seed would come and bruise the serpent's head and the serpent would bruise his heel. The possibility of being barren to a Hebrew woman was a horrible thing.

In verse 28, it says that if she passes the test, she can conceive. So this is of great importance to her. If a wife were proven by a test to be innocent and charged, then she could conceive. It's suggested by some Jewish writers that adultery was more prevalent among wives.

And it was because many felt that the multiplicity of partners or lovers would increase the probability of conception and thereby at least According to Sinaites measure, she would be seen as blessed. For to be not barren among Hebrew women is to be blessed. It's to be blessed, because there's a possibility that later on we saw that he was going to come from the tribe of Judah. That all Hebrew women in the early days are all of God's children in the early days before they were actually called Hebrews or actually called Jews.

I believe there was a possibility. And if she conceived a son, that son would be the Messiah. And that was the great hope. So barrenness was a horrible, horrible curse to her. When Eve bore Cain, she didn't say, I've got a baby boy. She said, I've got the man. She was thinking that this man, came would be the Messiah. He turned out to be a murderer, but this was her thought. This was her thought as a woman under that promise in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15.

This matter before us was contingent upon her not being suspected by her husband. If he didn't suspect anything, this never took place. It's not necessary However, that she be caught in the act, we said there need not be any witness or even guilty of the act, because she couldn't take this test if she was innocent. All that was necessary was this, that her husband suspected something, that her husband was jealous. This did not involve being put on trial in a court of law.

That would take place if the woman were caught in the act of adultery. And the punishment would be for both men and women and the woman, the man and the woman with whom he was having an affair. That was the error that the men had when they brought that woman before the Lord Jesus Christ in John chapter 8. When they brought before the Lord Jesus Christ an accuser of adultery, the law says she must be stoned. Well, the law says she must be stoned and the fellow that was having an affair with her has to be stoned also. That was the error. They just wanted to kill her, actually trap the Lord Jesus Christ.

If a man suspected his wife, she was to be brought to the priest with an offering. That offering was supplied by the husband. He made the offering for her. The offering was unique. The amount was a tenth part of a leaf of barley, which was the same as an omer, which is about three and a half quarts of dry measure, or one-tenth of a bushel. This offering was carried in an earthen vessel. That, too, is important. The reason I emphasize this is because the woman had to hold this weight the whole time this test was being administered. And it was designed because of the weight of a tenth of a bushel of barley in an earthen vessel would make her weary. Everything about the offering was significant.

First, it was not an offering that was designated to expiate or remove sin. It was not like the burn offering, which pictured the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, which put away our sin. It was not like the sin offering, it was not like the way bar, it was not any of those offerings that had to do with sin or the removal of sin. It was not designated to transfer sin as in the sin offering was.

The amount was the same as the daily ration of manna for one person. also equal to the amount used for the meal offering. But unlike the meal offering, this offering was unique. This offering had no fine flour, which was part of the meal offering. It had no oil or frankincense. Those things pointed to the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, the work of the Spirit, the sweet-smelling savors, grace of God. None of those things existed in this offering. Fine flour was the food of the priests. Barley, however, was the food of the beast.

The earthen vessel was a vessel of dishonor. Not a vessel of honor as spoken of in Romans chapter 9, but a vessel of dishonor. Dishonor, it was a vessel used commonly. It was a bowl or urn, which when it had finished its usefulness was cast aside without any thought whatsoever.

Every element of the offering was designed as a recollection of sin and iniquity. This was a jealousy offering and it showed the effects of suspicion. A suspicion that the woman was suspected of a beastly, common and dishonorable act. That's what those elements of that offering was.

The priest would take holy water. Now holy water is not water in the Catholic Church. Holy water was water from the brazen labor in the tabernacle. It was holy not because it had some kind of spiritual power. It was holy because God said this is the water that's in the tabernacle. It's to be changed daily and so forth and so on. All those things represented the fact that this was God's water. So it was called holy water in the scriptures.

It was to be mixed with dirt from the floor of the tabernacle and pronounce the curse upon the woman. We saw that in verses 19 through 22. Now the ramifications of the curse were contingent upon her being proven guilty and were declared to be the woman that she might verify her understanding of the charges against her when he was dead. If you're guilty, your belly's going to swell, your thigh is going to rot, and you're going to be a curse in this community for the rest of your life. She had to verify that, that she understood the charges that was laid against her. She had to say, amen, amen. So be it. So be it.

She was saved with these words that when she drank the bitter water, if it became bitter in her stomach, and caused her stomach to swell and she became ill and began to corrupt and she was guilty as charged. That the suspicion of her husband was a right suspicion and then she would be shunned and cursed in the village or among the people for the rest of her days.

Now there was nothing in the water. There was nothing in the water but dirt from the floor and the blottings of the parchment. That's what was called the bitter water. What she had been charged with was ripped on a parchment. And then water from this vessel was blotted on that and the ink ran and it was as if the charge against her went down into the water. That's how it worked.

The concoction and truth searched her, but not from outside because nobody had witnessed what she had done. It searched her from within and proved her innocence or guilt from inside. And since the waters had nothing toxic to them, it could only discern that inside the woman, this test was a miracle. It was a miracle. It should not be viewed otherwise.

But we have to understand this, that Paul, when he was talking about the book of Numbers, and he talked about the book of Numbers in his first Corinthian letter in chapter 10, he said, what happened in the book of Numbers? happened unto the people for times. What happened in the book of Numbers happened to the people to set forth something about Jesus Christ and His church. It happened to them for times. Now is it all the law? The book of Numbers is about the church and its relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

They wandered 40 years in the desert because of rebellion. It was just an 11 day walk from Egypt to Canaan. They wandered 40 years in the desert because of their rebellion. Until in the end, before they finally went into Canaan, everybody that was above 20 years old when they left Egypt never got into the Promised Land. They all died in the wilderness. They all died in the wilderness.

It was a testing place, if you will, a trial, a place of trials for the people of God. But we know from scripture that the church Which those people represented as wicked and as vile as they were, just like you and I. We're the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ, the picture of the bride.

Our Lord said several times in the book of Isaiah, I was a husband to you. You weren't a very good wife, but I was a husband unto you. What is this passage teaching? Because it's about Christ. It's about Christ and His church, what's it teaching us? this law of jealousy, this strange offering, this curse of bitterness that comes from within a person.

First, in our text, only the wife could be suspected of adultery. There is no mention in all of scripture of the husband being suspected of adultery. Now we know in Eastern, a lot of Eastern religion in the days that pretty much goes that way. can do no wrong, and the wife can do no right. But that wasn't what this is talking about. Remember, it's talking about Christ and His Church. It's talking about Christ and His Church. This, of course, points to the fact that Jesus Christ is without sin. Our husband, the Lord Jesus Christ, is without sin.

The problem of our damaged relationship between the Church and Christ never can be laid at the door of the Savior. can never be laid at the door of the Savior. Can never be. But it can be on us. It can be on us. No hint of suspicion can ever be put on the immutable Lord Jesus Christ. He who never lies, who cannot lie, loves his bride unconditionally. He will never leave her nor forsake her. He is with her always. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He loves her with an everlasting love and lives to intercede for her. There's nothing He can be accused of. If a possibility of suspicion exists in that relationship, it can only be with the bride. That's the only place suspicion can be. If it exists, it has to be in that place.

Secondly, Christ is jealous for His glory and will not countenance any rival to His affections. The emotion of jealousy has to do with entitlement. On a human level, people get jealous because they believe that they are entitled to the affection of the one they love. A simple understanding of ourselves, our consummate unworthiness, would dispel such notions of entitlement if we ever get to that point. Human jealousy is groundless. No human being is worthy, much less entitled, to be jealous.

Christ, on the other hand, Both has claim and right to the unconditional affection and allegiance of those he loves. He has that right as Lord over all. He is entitled to it because he's worthy of it. He has a right to be jealous because he is entitled to your love. If you're his bride. Thirdly, here's the question, might the bride give him cause. We're jealous. Might you and I, if he could be jealous of us, might it be that we could give him cause for that? The answer is yes.

That's why the Bible, if you read it, in the Old and New Testaments, is full of a couple of things. One thing it's full of is admonitions. We're admonished to do so many things because we don't do them. Secondly, there are ample warnings, and we are warned about things because we are apt to do things. These things are in scripture, so when it talks about the possibility of the wife doing something suspicious or causing suspicion, it makes sense.

She is prone to wonder, and she feels it. The cares of the world often get in the way of the unquestionable love she owes her beloved. Her mind may wander and become affixed on petty differences between the brethren. She may isolate herself individually and as a body from the fellowship with others like Precious Lady over perceived issues. She may become proud and self-sufficient as did the Church of Laodicea. She may allow the presence of false teachings as did the Church of Pergamos, allow the doctrine of Philae to enter as well as the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. She may struggle with schisms, as did the church in Corinth.

She is often suspect of alienation of affection. To be suspicious of her would not only be reasonable, it would be factual. The possibility of her being untrue, the possibility of me being untrue to my God is ever present with me. It's ever present with me.

The church must be proved. She must be proved. She must be tested. She must be tried. She must have something brought to her that will prove her innocence or her guilt. She must be searched. From where? By her actions? No. From inside. From within. She's got to drink this. She's got to take this in her body. And from within, it's found out whether she's guilty or she's innocent. This is significant.

This is the three elements of the potion are dust, and water, and the blottings of the indictment written against her. That's the three elements in this potion. The dust represents water. And to dust thou shalt returneth death. The water represents what?

The word of God and the spirit of God throughout the scripture. The gospel of Jesus Christ. The blood represent the indictment of the law. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The dust and the indictment is in the water. It's in the water. The gospel sets forth the death of Jesus Christ as the substitute for sinners condemned by the law. You see it? The gospel is the food and drink of the church. It is the feast of fat things, wine on the leaves and well refined.

It is the singular drink for both the one who is true and the one who is unfaithful. Can a believer be unfaithful? No, let's go to anyhow. Let's go to a meeting with Peter and Barnabas and meet with those Gentiles that have been saved by the grace of God alone, never heard of them at all.

They've been gospelling, they've been preaching to them, they're rejoicing, they're having fellowship, they're sitting down at the table having food together, supping together, enjoying the fellowship. And all of a sudden, these strange characters in finery and theological wisdom start creeping in unawares to spy out their liberty, because they're free. They begin to spy out their liberty, and they begin to say, well, we know you believe on Jesus. We do, too. But you've got to be circumcised. You've got to keep the law. You've got to do that.

The Lord's sidekick, one of the three of the inner circle in Barnabas, there they are, Daniel, fellowshiping with these fellows. And all of a sudden, they're listening to these espionage people, these spies. They begin to listen to them, and they say, well, maybe there's something to what they're saying. Maybe the gospel ain't enough. I've heard people say that to me. A fella said that to me one time up in Detroit, Michigan. He said, there's more to this than the gospel. And I told him, I said, well, if there is, you'll find it, and you'll be sorry you did.

So Peter saddles up with the spies, with the Jews. He left the fellowship of the gospel and went with the fellowship of the law. Can the bride of Christ be unfaithful? Paul said, when I have all I want, Paul with him told him he despised the grace of God. That's just one belief. Paul, in the Acts, decided he wanted to reach more Jews with the gospel, so he decided to do a Jewish ceremony. Paid dearly for it. Nothing worked out. Paid dearly for it. David stole a man's wife and then condemned himself with his own words.

Can the bride of Christ be unfaithful? Yes. And she knows anything about herself? She can be. Well, what's the remedy? She's got to drink it. She's got to drink the potion. It's the drink that discloses whether she's guilty or innocent. It's the drink that discloses both. And what is the drink?

It's the gospel. It's the gospel that searches the inward man where God requires truth, according to Psalm 51. The gospel searches them out and finds and judges unfaithfulness. To the faithful, the drink of death. Searches them out and gives them freedom to bring forth truth unto God, to the faithful. The fact is there is in us, that is in our hearts, both faithfulness and denunciation.

We must be tried. That's what we're doing today. We're drinking the gospel. We must be at have a constant diet, a redundant repetition of the truth of the Word of God. It's the only thing that will search us out. The Word of God is quick and powerful like a two-edged sword, it says in Hebrews chapter 4. It discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart. It goes way down to dividing the joints and the marrow. That's what the Word of God does. When you hear the word of God with the ears that God has given you, it's like somebody's been reading your mail. What I've been telling you the truth. I've seen the nods of heads this morning. I've seen the agreement in your eyes when I said you can be unfaithful. Everybody's saying, yeah, yeah. Because it's true. What will the gospel do? It'll search you out.

All things are disclosed by the light, Ephesians chapter 5 says. John chapter 3 says, this is the condemnation that light has come to the world. Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. That's why men hide in darkness. But the child of God brings his works to God and says, you did it, I didn't. He confesses the error of God.

The only thing that will search out a human being is not the law. The law will only continue. The only thing that will search you out of your heart is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's that drink. It's that barley. It's that bitter water. It's that blottings from your indictment. All covered in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The offering that was bought was barley, which is the fruit of beasts. This is a picture of the believer approaching God with what? Nothing of value. Nothing of value.

It speaks to the fact that the believer stands before God, trusting God to reveal the truth about him. Job said, though he slay me, I will trust him. Barley also pictures the gospel in that that's the food of beasts. The gospel is for sinners. That never changes. No, you are a saint. No, you are a saint. You're like Rahab. She's a saint. God said she was. She's in the line of Jesus Christ. One of his grandmas. She was a harlot. And she's described from the Old Testament all the way through the New Testament. We're Rahab, not Rahab the saint. She's the saint. We're Rahab the harlot. That's what we are. We're Rahab the harlot. That's what we are. Christ came not to call the righteous, but to bring sinners to repentance. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

When the church is tried by the gospel, the word of God, you know what? She's always down in the service. Wait a minute, I know what I am. When the gospel searches out the child of God, for whom Christ paid the sin date, and wiped away their sin before an almighty, thrice holy God.

When the church is tested and tried, when she drinks the water, it never swells her belly, it never rots her side by, and she shall conceive and bring forth fruit as the Lord promised. She's found without sin because the gospel declares this, her sin is gone. She is sanctified. She has made the very righteousness of God. She welcomes the test. Oh, preach to me, the gospel preacher. Tell me once again. Tell me that old, old story. I know it's old. I know it's been told to me before. Tell me one more time what God has done for me, what Christ has done for me.

She welcomes the test. She grantly drinks the potion heartily and often, for it proves her innocence. It proves her innocence. And within her flesh, she knows that she is nothing good dwells. She knows by faith that she is true to her beloved and not guilty. Though certainly she could be suspected if you look at her with natural eyes. But if you look at her through the eyes of faith, you'll see her dressed in the pristine robe of Jesus Christ.

And say, my, how beautiful a bride you really are because of your connection with Him. This is the gospel. That's what that water was. Remember, Paul said, all those things happen for types. Drink the gospel. Drink it every day. You'll find out what you are. And it will declare you innocent. It will declare you innocent. The things that people might say about you is probably true.

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