Turn to Numbers chapter 10. Numbers
chapter 10 We're going to venture together
in the beginning of the children of Israel's journey. They're
at Mount Sinai and they're getting ready to head to the Promised
Land. And we're going to see the protection
God gives His chosen people in this life and in the life to
come. Just in this lesson here. It's
all laid out very clear, I think. Beautiful, very lovely. We see
just several things going on here. Let's look at verses 1-10
first. And the Lord God spake unto Moses,
saying, Make thee two trumpets of silver, of a whole piece shalt
thou make it, and thou mayest use them for the calling of the
assembly and for the journey of the camps. When they shall
blow with them, all the assembly shall assemble themselves to
thee at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And if they
blow but one trumpet, then the princes, which are heads of the
thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves unto thee. When you
blow an alarm, then the camps that lie on the east part shall
go forward. When you blow an alarm the second
time, then the camps that lie on the south side shall take
their journey, they shall blow an alarm for their journeys.
But when the congregation is to be gathered together, you
shall blow, but you shall not, not sound an alarm. And the sons of Aaron and the
priests shall blow with the trumpets, and they shall be for you in
ordinance forever throughout your generations. And if you
go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresses you,
then you shall blow an alarm with the trumpets, and you shall
be remembered before the Lord your God, and you shall be saved
from your enemies. Also, in the day of your gladness,
and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your months,
you shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and
over the sacrifices of your peace offerings, that they may be to
you for a memorial before your God. I am the Lord your God."
So what we see here is there's trumpets. This is the first thing.
And you think about the logistics. I think there's, what, two million
people, a million, five, whatever, however many people have been
brought out from Egypt. Children men boys girls, there's
a lot of people and you're not gonna just be in a small place
So obviously the Lord who knows all things You can hear a trumpet
You can hear a trumpet and so they're they're camped the bottom
of Sinai And there's this huge camp. So the Lord tells Moses. This is what you're gonna do.
You're gonna make some trumpets every time the camp was to move
if there was war or danger, as we'll see, not in this lesson,
but as they progressed, they had danger here, they had danger
there. They blew the trumpets to alert the people. Because
as they started moving, there were some in the front and all
the way back. You remember the tribe of Dan,
all the way in the back. I don't know how far they were,
maybe, I don't know, a long ways from one another, from the front.
So every time they gathered together or they moved, they would blow
the trumpets, the people would get everything together, they'd
get the tabernacle or the tent of meetings, they would wrap
it up and they would just do all these things based on the
sound of the trumpet. I think in this trumpet we can
see the preaching of the gospel. Because that's what... Turn with
me to Isaiah 27. Isaiah 27. This blowing of the
trumpet, it's for alarm, and that's what the Gospel does.
The Gospel, when you preach, your flesh is alarmed. You know,
we make no provisions in the flesh. And the Spirit is comforted. There's warfare. One of the jobs
of the watchman when he was in the Promised Land was they were
up in the wall. They were to sound an alarm when
danger was present. That's one reason for the trumpets. Another reason for when they
gathered together, Isaiah 27 and verse 13, And it shall come
to pass in that day that the great trumpet shall be blown,
and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of
Assyria, and the outcasts of the land of Egypt, and shall
worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem." That's the
signal. The trumpet shall be blown. Isaiah
58. And there's many more examples,
I'm just going to use these two. Isaiah 58. Isaiah 58 and verse
1. Spare not, lift up thy voice
like a trumpet, like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression,
and the house of Jacob their sin." So, the Gospel declaration
is likened to a trumpet. Isn't this what we do, by God's
grace, for 30 plus years, every time we gather together? I'm responsible. to blow the
trumpet. Make a clear sound. We're not
interested in politics here. We're not interested in the economy,
though it all affects us, when we gather together. Put all that
stuff aside. We're gathering to worship. We're assembled together. That's
what a gathering together means, to assemble together. This is
what we do. Every time we come together,
the sound of the Gospel goes forth, life unto life or death
unto death. Every time we gather together,
the notes, the tunes of the Good News is heard once more among
us. Once more among us. We hear of
how God can both be just and justify the ungodly. It's a time
to reflect How He's been gracious to us?
If you think about it, we could all have went different ways.
We could still be in false religion. It's a time to reflect. We hear
that sound. It's a time to examine ourselves.
Are we in the faith? Am I in the faith? Do I believe? Do I understand the note that's
being blown? It's a time to rejoice. Turn
to Psalms 81. Psalms 81. His commandments are
not grievous. Anybody that tells you, well,
I don't know how you could go over there and listen to a guy
preach anything, let alone the same message, which is only one
message, one gospel, one faith, one Lord, one baptism. I don't
know how you could do that. So he's saying it's a bore, it's
a drag. Well, in Corinthians he says, His commandments are
not grievous. And that word, I have it written
inside of my Bible, means weighty or burdensome. If it's weighty
or burdensome now, you're not going to enjoy heaven. You probably
won't be there, but you won't. I'm not saying that we don't
have weight. We don't have burdens. We do.
But look at Psalms 81, verses 1-4. Sing aloud unto God our
strength. Make a joyful noise unto the
God of Jacob. Take a psalm. bring hither the
timber, a pleasant harp with psaltery, blow upon the trumpet
in the new moon, in the time appointed on our solemn feast
days, for this was a statute for Israel and a law of the God
of Jacob." So it's a joy. And I know we've got things,
we've got to work, we've got to pay bills, taxes, but let
it go. Let it go. There'll be plenty enough time
to do that. This morning, if you want to say the Lord's Day,
every day is the Lord's Day, we come together to worship.
Don't be thinking about what's going to happen in 20 minutes.
I know it's easy to do. Right now, we're trying to worship
and adore the Lord. I've got the trumpets being played.
The trumpets being played. Do we know the sound of this
gospel trumpet? Do we rejoice when we come together? Are we attentively listening
for the notes of this sweet tune of the free substitution of the
free grace of God in Christ? And this was always the case. Look at what he says in verse
2, that you may use them for the
calling of the assembly and for the journey of the camps." Verse 2, "...blow with them,
all the assembly shall assemble themselves to Thee at the door
of the tabernacle of the congregation." That's always the case. Hear the trumpet, come together,
the people of His choosing. Look at verse 7, "...but when
the congregation is to be gathered together, you shall blow but
you shall not sound an alarm." Now I just went right past this
and then I got to looking at what, well actually no other
commentator but Tim James made a comment. I thought he's right
on the money. When we gather together, we come
in peace to hear of the gospel of peace. We don't come in with
an agenda We don't come in to usurp authority. We don't come
in... There is no hierarchy. There's differing gifts. I'm
not any better than anybody here. If the Lord takes me out, if
this work continues, He'll raise somebody else up. We come together
in peace. You shall blow, but you shall
not sound an alarm. So that tells me, that tells
me, listen just a little bit. When the trumpet to gather together
was sounded, their enemies could not attack. Because then you have to sound
the alarm. When you sound the trumpet to
gather together, don't sound the trumpet for the alarm. This
is a place of peace. And we've seen it a few times,
several times in our history where people come in and it's
just they're making trouble. And Bruce and I will bear with
it, bear with it, and then finally it's just like we're pulling
aside. What we do here is above you and me. What we do here is
we are worshipping the God of glory. That's what we're doing. We're talking about peace. And
Christ has made peace by the blood of His cross. You know, because we've done
this before, you come in and you've got things on your mind,
you're aggravated. He's the God of peace, He's not the God of
confusion or chaos. So it behooves me to stay off
the hot buttons. You see what I'm saying? To stay
off the politicals, to stay off, and I know there's preachers
that that's all they'll talk about. You know, they'll talk
about wars and this and that. Preaching anything other than
Christ and Him crucified is not going to save anybody. It's through
the foolishness of preaching that He calls His people. So
it behooves me every time we gather together to just one note,
one note. He's reconciled us together to
sit in the heavenlies. Do not be alarmed. Now the flesh
is going to be rebuked and those who know not the gospel They
need to be alarmed. But the purpose of the gospel
is, like I say, a saver of life unto life, death unto death.
But for me to try to stick that in and twist it and do this,
I'm not responsible for that. I'm responsible to blow the trumpet. This here is an oasis from the
wilderness. Isn't that true? When they camped
together, wherever they were going, they were about ready
to go. I think it says in the next section, verse 12, they
left Sinai and were going three days' journey to Paran. So it's
a wilderness. That's what this world is. It's
a wilderness. So this is an oasis where we
gather together and there'll be plenty of battles, trials,
but not as we come together. It's about worshiping Christ. Set this time aside. Guard it
jealously. Honor it. Honor God in it. And be at peace among yourselves.
Gathering together through worship. Let's look at the second thought
here, verses 11, 12, and 13. They're going from Sinai to Paran. And it came to pass on the 20th
day of the second month, in the second year that the cloud was
taken up from off the tabernacle, the testimony, And the children
of Israel took their journeys out of the wilderness of Sinai,
and the cloud rested in the wilderness of Paran. And they first took
their journey according to the commandment of the Lord by the
hand of Moses." Now they got this cloud. So the trumpet was
sound, they gathered together, they got instruction, packed
everything up, and like I said, by three days journey they went
from Sinai to Paran. This cloud, now they've got this
cloud, this cloudy pillar, this cloud is obviously the Lord Jesus
Christ and everything regarding Him. There was a cloud by day
for protection from sun, it's a wilderness, it's sunny, and
then a fire by night so they could see, they could get direction.
The cloud signifies obviously the Lord Jesus Christ, His presence,
His perseverance, His protection, His sustenance, His truth, His
doctrine, His abiding graces to us. So here's my thought. This is just the start. We started
sometime. Now before the foundation of
the world, He chose the people. But we didn't realize that until
a certain particular day, time, when He called us by the truth. From that time until we reach
Canaan, heaven, this cloudy pillar is never going to leave our side.
Do we believe that? Whatever the situation may be
in this country, this economy, whatever it may be, diseases,
viruses, etc., He will be with us the whole way. But there's
more. So, there was never a time, here
and now, and a time to come, that which will come, that our
great God is not with His redeemed people. From Sinai to Canaan,
from right now, it's Sinai to Paran. He is even with us. One day, faith will be turned
aside, and we'll realize this more than we ever have before,
that He's taken care of us the whole time. We may change places,
Sinai, Paran, here, there. You may change places. You may
change jobs, careers, trials, highs, lows, but we can, on the
authority of God's Word, state that He never left us or forsook
us. Verse 13, And they first took
their journey according to the commandment of the Lord, by the
hand of Moses. He's there all the time. All the time. First and last
earthly journeys are all under his caring providence. What about
the neighboring tribes? No. They're the elect only. The elect only. The people of
his choosing. The third section here, the next
section is just it talks about each tribe and where they're
at in their order and walking and marching, etc. So we'll skip
all that. We'll go to verse 29 to 32. And
Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Regil, the Midianite, Moses'
father-in-law. He's a Midianite. We are journeying
unto the place which the Lord said, I will give it you. Come thou with us, and we will
do you good. For the Lord has spoken good
concerning Israel." The Habab returned to Moses and said, I
will not go, but I will depart to my own land and to my kindred.
And he said, Leave us not, I pray thee, this is Moses, for as thou
knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest
be to us instead of eyes. And it shall be, if thou go with
us, yea, it shall be that what goodness the Lord shall do unto
us, the same will we do unto thee." It's the same will we
do unto thee. Now what we see in here is the
Spirit and the flesh. Yes, Moses is a man of like passions. First, we see the Spirit. We
see the Spirit. He says, come with us, we will
do you good. You have mom that's not saved,
dad that's not saved, children that's not saved, neighbors that
are not saved. Come with us. The trumpet's being
blown. Gather together with us, is what
he's saying. Come with us. This is a good
thing. I can't witness very well. That's fine. Just invite people.
Come with us. Come hear the Gospel. Come hear
the Word of Truth. Indeed, we shall. Come here with
us at this place, that sovereign grace church in Jackson. You
will hear that one true gospel of the grace of God, where ruined
sinners are reclaimed by the blood of Christ's righteousness
and not our works. Where ruined rebels are made
willing to serve and worship the triune God, blessed forever
and over all. Where you will hear how God in
Christ is satisfied based upon the worthy work of the Lord Jesus
Christ only. Our sins are covered, blotted
out, atoned for. God is honored and we are saved. To Him be all glory, now and
forever. This is what you'll hear when
you come here. This is what you'll hear. Yes, come with us and hear
what good things, that sounds like good news to me, that God
has said and done for His people. Verse 29 in the last part. We will do thee good, for the
Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel." That's the gospel. The
good news. But what does Hovab's answer?
And that happens. No, I'm not going to go. I'm
going to depart to my own land and to my own kindred. And that's
what a lot of times we hear. But you don't know the mind of
God. We don't know the heart of man.
It is in the heart of man. But secondly, flesh. Flesh, flesh, flesh. Now again,
no other commentator said this but Mr. Tim James, and I think
he's right on the money. The flesh is always the flesh
because we're only sinners saved by grace. What is Moses' motive
for asking Look at verse 31. Don't leave us, because as you
know how we are encamped in the wilderness, and that you may
be to us our eyes, instead of our eyes. You may help lead us
the way. Now back up. I thought they had
the cloudy pillar. God's sovereignty, Christ. I thought they had the fire at
night to lead them in the way. What do you need man's eyes for? Moses is just like us. Does God need anyone? Does the
church need anyone? We need the church. This is a
hospital where sinners come. We are but lepers cleansed. God's
will and purpose shall be accomplished with or without you and I." That's
like inviting somebody because they've got money. Oh, that'd
be a good addition. They'd be a good addition because
they're a sinner and they need to be saved. That's it. And may
I remind us that God is omniscient, He's omnipotent, He's omnipresent. Does He not see all things? What
are we going to ask somebody? It's like the children of Israel.
We want a king. No, you don't need. I'm your
God. I'm your king. We want a king. So what did God
give him? He gave him Saul. We need to invite sinners because
they need to hear the truth. Not because we think they would
be a great addition to the church. There's nothing, and this is
what Bruce was talking about this morning, there's nothing
that we wouldn't do if God, if He withdrew His grace. There's
nothing we wouldn't do. Oh, you want examples? Noah,
he was a believer, wasn't he? He's drunk. Abraham lied to the king, almost
cost him his wife. David, Bathsheba, these are all
believers. Peter, I'll never deny you. Samson, a woman took his eyes
off of Christ. Solomon, the wisest man there
ever was, an idolater. Paul, we could say Paul, we could
go on. but flesh, so often. May God
keep us, when that trumpet sounds, to rush to gather together. Now,
verses 33-36, we see the ark and the cloud. And they departed
from the mount of the Lord three days' journey, this is going
to Puran, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before
them in the three days' journey, This is strange. "...to search
out a resting place for them. And the cloud of the Lord was
upon them by day when they went out of the camp. And it came
to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, Lord,
and let thine enemies be scattered, and let them that hate thee flee
before thee. And when it rested, he said,
Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands." Or thousands of thousands
of history. Return unto your people. Basically,
this is the same thing I said before. The Lord has led and
fed all the way from start to finish. He says, with food and raiment,
be content. Didn't He send quail? He's going
to send quail. Didn't He send the manna? Water. The water followed the rock.
Corinthians says it's Christ. The cloud, it says in Psalms
105 verse 39, shaded them by day and the pillar warmth by
night. When you and I look back even
now, from now, from when the Lord redeemed us, do you and
I and do we see God's good hand with us every step? Every step. Look at this, what he says here
in verse, The last part of verse 33, they
went three days' journey. The ark searched out a resting
place for them. So it said, you go here and then
stop. And when they stopped, they unpacked,
they put everything out. They may be there a month, they
may be there a week, they may be there a day, years. When the trumpet sounded, they
gathered together, and the pillar started to move. The Scripture says in John 15,
without Him we can do nothing. And what we see here is faith.
When the clouds stopped, they stopped. When it went, they went. And God even searched out a resting
place for them. He does everything. I mean, everything. We have breath in life because
of Him. But the cloud, the ark, the covenant
of the Lord went before them to search out a resting place.
I don't understand. I don't know how it worked. They
couldn't move anymore. The pillar, I don't understand.
It just stopped. Faith, this is walking by faith.
We need to stay put as long as God demands it. And we need to
go forward when He demands it. Stay put. Gather together. Oh, there's nothing going on
here. That's fine. As long as the note
is clear, loud, the message is being preached, you're gathered
together, you see the importance of gathering together. Come what
may, sink or swim, we'll serve Him. Or as Job would say, though
He slay me, yet I'll trust Him. When it moved, they moved. When
it didn't move, they didn't move. As a matter of fact, somewhere,
I can't remember, in the first five books, Moses said, if you
don't go with us, we don't want to go. We don't need to go. If
His presence is not with us, and I believe His presence is
with us. because His gospel is preached. Are we as loving as
we could be? We're like Moses. We're like Paul. We're like David. If the Lord holds His grace,
we'll fall flat. So this is walking by faith.
They went there, It's set forward, Moses said, Rise up, Lord, let
Thine enemies be scattered, and let them that hate Thee flee
before Thee. There are articles and statements of faith. What this is saying to me is
stay close to our Redeemer by reading His book, by gathering
together, by prayer, by fellowship, by hearing the Word of God. And
this will be the result. The enemies will be scattered,
The enemies will flee, and that could be the flesh, that could
be Satan, that could be the world, the trinity of evil. That's our
enemies. And when it rests, the Lord will
be in the midst of them. We won't have fear. We will not
have fear. This is statements of faith.
And where faith is, there will be no fear. And to close, basically
I think what the New Testament parallel passage to what Moses
is saying is found in 1 Corinthians 15. and verse 57 and 58. But thanks be to God, which gives
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved
brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in
vain, in the Lord. It's never in vain. Never, ever
in vain. Where He stays, we'll stay. Where
He moves, we'll move. May the Lord add the blessing
to the reading and preaching of His Word. Nathan, would you
close us?