The best thing I ever heard or
read or expect to hear or read in my life fell from the lips
of a man who was utterly insane, completely mad. He'd gone insane. utterly mad by the influence
of the Prince of Darkness. His name was Balaam. Never was there a false prophet
more dangerous or injurious than Balaam. He is the only prophet
specifically identified by God the Holy Ghost in Holy Scripture
as being a madman, insane. Peter spoke of the madness of
this man, Balaam, the madness of the prophet. And the madness
of the prophet should be obvious to anyone who bothers to read
Numbers chapter 22. I I try to read ahead of you. If you're keeping up with our
scripture reading schedule, you read Numbers 22 yesterday. 23, four, five, and six will
be today's reading. And I try to read ahead a good
bit just in case something comes up that you or one of you might
wanna ask me about and I'll have it fresh on my mind. But I came
back to Numbers 22 through 31 yesterday and spent several hours
studying them. And you read the 22nd chapter
of the book of Numbers, and you've got to recognize this is sure
enough a madman. It's sure enough a madman. Now,
I've seen people, in fact, I have even done so myself, talk to
an animal. I had dogs all my life growing
up, had dogs until we moved to Danville, and I just don't have
time to take care of one now. But I had dogs, and I'd talk
to them a lot. But I never did argue with one. I never did listen for one to
answer my arguments. But Peter says, this man is a
madman. He's talking to a dumb ass. He's
not just talking to him, he's arguing with him. He's reasoning
with him as if he would reason with a man. Now, if you should
ever take up such a practice, that would qualify you for a
padded cell somewhere very quickly. Balaam was a madman, made mad
by false religion, made mad by idolatry, made mad by his own
cunning devices. yet this man speaks specifically
the very word which the Lord Jehovah put in his mouth. And this is what he says in Numbers
23, 21, you will never hear better words. He, the Lord God Jehovah,
hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, Neither hath he seen perverseness
in Israel. The Lord his God is with him,
and the shout of a king is among them. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob. Neither hath he seen perverseness
in Israel. What a message. I want to try
one more time to preach to you the word that God put into Balaam's
mouth, and if God the Holy Spirit will enable me to preach it and
give you grace to hear it, to receive it, and to believe it,
it will be worth more to you than buckets of gold. He hath
not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness
in Israel. Now, let me first talk to you
a little bit about this man, Balaam. To many, he is a very
puzzling character. We know because the book of God
tells us plainly in Jude 11, in Revelation 2, verse 14, in
Psalm 106, we know that this man, Balaam, was a false prophet.
There's no question about that. They run greedily, false prophets
do, after the way of Balaam. Run greedily. He is a false prophet
who did everything he did because of greed. That's true of every false prophet. Everything he does, he does for
greed. But Balaam appears at times,
in fact, most everything we read about Balaam would make you think
he was a man of remarkable character. He was a man who could not be
bribed or bought, not very easily, not very easily. He said, if
Balaam should give me a house full of gold, I couldn't do what
he's asked me to do, if God's not in it. Man, that sounds good. That's just right. But he did.
Three times he followed Balak's instructions. Three times he
sought a word against God's people. But he said, I can't be bought.
You gotta understand this. I've gotta give you just the
word of the Lord. He didn't know it. He had to because God forced
him. But Balak was a false prophet. This man who appeared to be a
man of tremendous character taught Israel to mix the worship of
idols with the worship of Jehovah and call it the worship of God.
So that when you get to Numbers 25, the children of Israel following
Balaam's directions. The children of Israel under
Balaam's influence are worshiping at the altar of Baal. Now the
things practiced there are things I'm a little sensitive about
mentioning. People sacrificed human beings
on the altar to Baal. And they ate the flesh of the
dead human beings. And then they publicly, at the
altar of Baal, committed adultery and fornication. So that Phineas,
when he saw it, and the plague of God had broken out on Israel,
took a spear and shoved it through a man and a woman in the very
act of adultery on Baal's altar. This by the influence of Balaam. And yet at times, this man, Balaam,
seems to have been a man of truthfulness, committed to the truth of God,
the one who, who was just a man of real principle and integrity. One of the great problems in
recognizing false prophets is the fact that they commonly appear
to be men of integrity, principle, and character. Sometimes they
seem to be self-denying rather than self-serving. Who could
ever question the self-denial of a person? who would sell himself
into slavery to preach to slaves. Or of a person who would go into
a leper colony in ages when leprosy could not be handled and was
only certain to result in death in order to preach to those lepers.
Who could deny the evident self-denial of such creatures? Outward self-denial. Physical self-denial. Sometimes
false prophets speak the truth and fight for the truth, put
themselves at risk in defending certain aspects of truth. Many
who vehemently oppose the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace
in Christ, zealously contend for, suffer for, and have even
died for the book, the blood, and the blessed hope. Many who
deny the efficacy of Christ's blood atonement will put themselves
in great hazard, defending the deity of Christ and the virgin
birth of Christ. You see, false prophets are wolves
that look like the sweetest little lambs you ever saw. False prophets
are wolves in sheep's clothing. If they were not in sheep's clothing,
you would never be deceived by them. You would never be devoured
by them. They would be of no danger. They're
wolves in sheep's clothing. Balaam was such a man. He was
a man like the one that Bunyan described as Mr. Face Both Ways. He represents those men who appear
to have a great deal of Bible knowledge and a great deal of
spiritual discernment, but in reality, they have no spiritual
understanding at all. They appear to serve God, but
in all that they do by which they appear to serve God, they're
serving their own greed, their own lust, getting out of their
service what they are seeking for themselves. That doesn't
mean that they physically enrich themselves. That means they get
out of their service what they hope to gain by their service. There are men who know much about
the Bible, much about doctrine, but know nothing about truth
and nothing about God. Their heads are big, but their
hearts are cold and empty. And they shall at last perish
under the wrath of God. They shall perish as will all
the wicked with the reprobate in the last day. Yet our great
and glorious God, our great and glorious God is so magnificent
that even reprobate false prophets like Balaam only serve him. That is they only serve to accomplish
his purpose. And at times he forces them to
say what they would never otherwise say to declare his truth. You
see, God is absolutely sovereign. Hold your hands here in numbers
and turn to John chapter 11. John chapter 11. God who calls an ass to speak
to a man. can with ease cause that man
to speak for him and speak the truth. Read Balaam's parables
carefully and you will read a false prophet declaring, vindicating,
explaining the promises and purposes and works of God with absolute
detailed clarity and we'll look at just a few of them. Now, this
shouldn't surprise us. Here in John chapter 11, there's
a man by the name of Caiaphas, who was the high priest in Israel
that year, who made a prophecy, a prophecy concerning the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ as our substitute. Now, when you read
this 11th chapter of John, understand, Caiaphas is speaking from his
mean-spirited intent to have the Son of God crucified. but
he prophesied by the force of God the Holy Ghost and spoke
the Word of God. Look here in John 11 verse 47.
Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council and
said, what do we? For this man doeth many miracles. If we let him alone, all men
will believe on him and the Romans will come and take away both
our place in the nation. And one of them, one of these
Pharisees, one of these Christ-hating, God-hating, self-righteous religious
Pharisees named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year,
said unto them, you don't understand a thing. You know nothing at
all, nor consider. We've got to kill it. We've got
to kill it. We've got to kill it. Now listen
to how he explains it. You don't consider that it is
expedient for us that one man should die for the people and
that the whole nation perish not. This he spake not of himself,
but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should
die for that nation and not for that nation only. but that he
also should gather together in one the children of God that
were scattered abroad. Now I've said all this concerning
Balaam and false prophets because I want you to understand that
our God is in control of all things, even of false prophets. While they must be denounced,
while they must be identified, wicked men that they are, Those
men only serve God's purpose. They will do no harm in God's
kingdom, no harm to God's cause, no harm to God's people, just
as the case is here in Numbers 23 with Balaam. We have before
us in Numbers 23, 21, One of the most wonderful, glorious
aspects of Gospel truth to be found in Holy Scripture. And
it fell from the lips of this mad prophet, Balaam. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel. That's what the Lord
God has spoken. Let all hell say otherwise, God
has spoken and there it stands. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel. Now those words do
not suggest that there is no iniquity in Jacob and no perversity
in Israel. The fact is, there is an abundance
of iniquity and perverseness in God's people. And we all know
it. It's not something we're proud
of. It's not something we are comfortable with. It's not something
that we delight in in any way. But it is something we dare not
seek to cover up or hide. The scripture says God has not
seen iniquity in Jacob or perverseness in Israel. And this is the reason. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
the world to purge, to remove, to take away the sins of his
people, and he's done it. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. Jesus Christ, God's Son, takes
away by the sacrifice of himself all the sins of all his people,
wherever they are found, throughout the world, throughout the ages.
Jesus Christ, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat
down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Now, once in
the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. You know that he was manifested
to take away our sins. And in him is no sin. God's people are full of sin. We commit sin. time in everything
we do. But the Lord God does not, has
not, cannot and will not behold sin in Israel. That's the one
thing I want you to get from this message. I want to approach
it from every way I can, but I want you to get this one point.
God sees no sin in His people. God sees no sin in his people. Now I am fully aware that what
I'm preaching to you this morning is commonly rejected and despised
by men. I am certain that as soon as
Brother Larry gets it posted, I will get response. I'm sure
I will. It has been described by some
as a freak doctrine. The freak doctrine of perverted
minds that leads to licentiousness and ungodliness. The first time
I preached with regard to this text of scripture, 45 years ago,
I was publicly denounced for doing so. I was accused of being
an antinomian, a promoter of licentiousness and of evil doctrine,
and the accusation continues to be hurled from many. Why? I just have no idea. I just don't have any idea. I
can't imagine anyone who has tasted the bitterness of his
own depravity and his own sin. and has experienced the blessedness
of free, absolute, permanent forgiveness, not rejoicing and jumping up
and down inside when he hears God declare that he's not beheld
iniquity in Jacob, nor perverseness in Israel. He hath not. He does not. He cannot. He will not. Before I'm finished, I hope everyone
here will experience the blessedness of this declaration falling from
the lips of God through a mad prophet. While I'm preaching This fact that God sees no sin
in his people. This glorious, comforting doctrine
of the gospel, without which the gospel would cease to be
good news and glad tidings. I pray God will be pleased. to
speak to your heart the free forgiveness of sins through faith
in Christ Jesus the Lord. Now, let me make four statements. Number one, this is nothing like
the foolish doctrine of sinless perfection. When the Word of
God asserts that God sees no sin in His people, I repeat,
it is not declaring there is no sin in His people. Turn to
I John chapter 1, I John chapter 1. Now I want you to see that
everything I'm saying to you is directly written in the book
of God. Those who deduce from their own
carnal religious experience or from their misreading of Holy
Scripture that there's such a thing as sinless perfection in any
human being walking on this earth do not know themselves and they
do not know God. People talk about perfection or the possibility
of perfection in themselves, not God's people, not God's people. There's no such thing as a saved
sinner who believes even in the possibility of sinless perfection
in his own experience of life in this world. 1 John 1, verse
8. If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess
our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sin. and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned,
we make him a liar and his word is not in us. Now let me see
if I can make this crystal clear to you. You open your house up
to complete strangers and provide for them. And you make great
sacrifice to take care of them. get them a place of their own,
help them get started in life, and they get a good job and have
family and take, they do the same thing after you. And you
say, now there, that was good. Or you read your Bible. You get
up before your wife and kids do and you spend time reading
your Bible and you just meditate on the things of God and you
pray and you say, there, that was good. And you say, I haven't
sinned. I haven't sinned. That's just
exactly the same thing as the prostitute who wipes her mouth
and says, I've done no wrong. Exactly the same thing. You deceive
yourself. The word of God not in you and
you make God a liar because God says you did. God says it's not possible for
you to do good and sin not. God declares it's not possible
for a man to do good. Oh, but that's talking about
the unregenerate man. That's exactly what it's talking
about. And as long as you live in this body of flesh, you live
with a nature that is unregenerate, dead, and will soon be utterly,
utterly annihilated. But this unregenerate, natural
man cannot do anything good even after God saves you. It ain't
possible. It ain't possible. And believers
know it. The fact is God's people in this
world are sinners still. To say otherwise is to speak
in contradiction to this book and to speak in contradiction
to the experience of all God's saints in this world. I do not
have any reason to try to convince you of this. It's a fact painfully
obvious to everybody who's born of God. We have in us two natures,
flesh and spirit, the old man and the new, the unregenerate
nature and that which is born of God. and the two are contrary
one to the other. Two opposing natures, Adam and
Christ. The old man, thank God, no longer
reigns, but he will never surrender. Therefore, we are constant contradiction,
and we are constantly at odds with ourselves. and constantly
at war within our own hearts. Constantly struggling inside
with a warfare that nobody can understand or explain. But we
won't attempt to explain it away. Every heaven born soul knows
that. Sin dwelleth in me. It doesn't just like that chair is in this room.
Just an idle old man sitting there, kind of helpless. No, sin dwells in you. A constant, active, vicious,
malignant foe dwells in you all the time. So that when I would
do good, I cannot. And the evil that I would not,
that's the very thing I do. If I pray or read or hear, sin
is mixed with all I do. You that love the Lord indeed,
tell me, is it thus with you? The wise man said, there is not
a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not." Not one. Not one. There is not a just man upon
the earth. Oh, there are many of those.
There are many of those sitting here right now, just with God,
justified by God, justified by the blood and righteousness of
Christ. just men and women, but there's not a just man in this
house who does good and doesn't sin. They're not one, they're
not one. Our sins, our sins are everything
we do. And that which we call goodness,
if I can use such a term, anything in us, that which is good in
us, love and joy and peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance, such like. These are the fruit of the Spirit,
not the works of the flesh. These are not things that we
are or things that we do by nature. But what we are and what we do
by grace through the gracious influence of God, the Holy Ghost
dwelling in us. I hate to burst your bubble,
but I've got bad news for you. As long as you live in this world,
you will never stop sinning. In everything. In everything. And the sins we
commit are just as much the evil deeds that we perform as the
sins of the unbeliever are evil deeds and sins he performs. Somehow or another, there are
folks who get the idea that somehow we don't really sin, we just
make mistakes. We err, we have slips and falls. But that's not how the scriptures
speak of those things. David said, pardon my iniquity,
O Lord, for it is great. When he went to God after his
horrible evil with Uriah and Bathsheba, he didn't say, Lord,
Lord, forgive me of my errors, my mistakes and my slips and
my falls. He said, Lord, wash me throughly
from my sin. Pardon my iniquities. Take away my transgressions. He confessed his sin. And believers
confess their sin. In fact, when you and I sin,
our transgressions, my transgressions are far more inexcusable than
those of any other people. You see, when we sin, when I
sin, we sin against light and knowledge and understanding and
goodness and grace and mercy and love that folks outside here
know nothing at all about. Believers in this world are sinners
still. The very best of God's saints,
just sinners. Now here's the second thing. This declaration that God sees
no sin in his people does not in any way deny or contradict
God's omniscience. The Lord God sees all and knows
all. All things are naked and open
to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. He sees in darkness
just as in light. He sees the deep, dark recesses
of the heart just as he sees the open spoken word or the open
deed of the hand. His eyes are upon the ways of
man. He seeth all his goings. There is no darkness nor shadow
of death. where the workers of iniquity
may hide themselves. O Lord, thou hast searched me
and known me, David said. Thou knowest my down sitting
and my uprising. Thou understandest my thought
afar off. There is not a word in my tongue,
but O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. When the scriptures then declare,
he hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness
in Israel. The declaration has nothing to
do with the attribute of God's omniscience. The meaning is simply
this, insofar as God's law and justice is concerned, he sees
no sin in his people. Let me see if I can illustrate
that. Somebody says, well, this is
all a matter of justice. No, no, it's much more than a
matter of justice. Somebody else says, no, this
has nothing to do with justice. It is a matter of justice and a
matter of experience. It is a matter of fact that can't
be denied. If I owe a debt, be it little or small, I owe
a debt, And the debt is by law cancelled. Whether it's been
paid or by bankruptcy or just statute of limitations is run
out. The debt is cancelled insofar as law and justice is concerned. There's nothing written against
me. Nothing written against me. If I have committed a crime,
if I've committed a crime, and I have, I told somebody the other
day when I was younger, It took me a while to learn, but when
I was younger, I thought the only way a vehicle could run
is if it made a noise with the tires when it took off, and almost
as loud when it stopped. I mean, I just ran with my foot
to the floorboard all the time. And I got a lot of tickets, and
I paid a lot of fines, and I paid insurance through the nose. I mean, I bled paying insurance
payments until I was 25 years old. If you should go and try to find
some reason for me to be afraid of that state trooper who sits
out there on a bypass in that little nook going up toward Rock
Quarry every day, or going down 127 headed to Lexington every
evening, he's out there. They're out there somewhere.
And you say, Lord, that's all right. He ain't looking for me.
How do you know? I paid my debt. I don't have any. It's gone. It's gone. Will you hear me?
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, by His blood, paid my debt. And He took my sins away, so
that the eye of God's justice can never see them. This is exactly
how God describes it. Turn to Isaiah chapter 43, Isaiah
43. Verse 25. I, even I am he that blotteth
out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember
thy sins. Chapter 44, verse 22. I have blotted out as a thick
cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins, returning
to me, for I have redeemed thee. The Lord God says, I've blotted out your transgressions. I've blotted them out with the
blood of my darling son. Therefore he sees them not. Number three, this declaration by God, declaring,
He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness
in Israel, does not mean that the Lord God is not displeased
with our sins. Listen to the book. Are you listening? Mark, he blotted out David's
murder of Uriah. Couldn't see it. He blotted out
David's adultery with Bathsheba. Couldn't see it. Couldn't see
it. David said, blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not
impute iniquity. He couldn't see it. Justice wouldn't
allow it. Justice wouldn't allow it. But
the book says, The thing that David did displeased the Lord. What does that mean? Justice
will not allow the Lord God to punish any sinner for whom Christ
has died. Justice won't allow it. Payment
God cannot twice demand, first at my bleeding shirt, his hand,
and then again at mine. God will never punish his children
for sin. He won't do it. He can't do it. He punished our sins in his son,
our substitute. Justice is fully satisfied. But
a loving, wise, gracious, and good father will never refuse
to observe the faults, failures, transgressions,
iniquities, and sins of his children. But a good father, a loving father,
a gracious father, while he chastens his child, and he must chasten
his child, you mamas and daddies, listen to me, listen to me, make
your children obey. That means sometimes blister
their bottoms, inflict pain on their backside, fix it so they
have a tough time sitting down. Oh, Brother Don, you don't mean
literally smack a child's fanny. Oh, yes, I do. I mean literally
make him hurt. If you love him, you will. If
you love him, you will. Because you will insist that
he obey you. It's called chastening. Not for
your pleasure. Not for your pleasure, but for
their profit. For their profit. I assumed it to be my responsibility
to administer discipline in my household. And so, when Faith
got to be four or five years old, I told Shelby, I said, anything,
anytime I'm gone, she needs paddling when I get home, you let me know,
I'll paddle her and then we'll talk about why. All you gotta
do is tell me. And I'd take her to the bedroom and I'd have her
go get the paddle and I'd bend over my knees and I would wear
her out and make her cry and I hurt her on purpose, on purpose. But never once when I was angry
with her. If I was angry, I waited until
the next day or next week. Anger, no, no, that only satisfies
me. I got a lot of that growing up.
I got smacked around by everything. It's hard to tell whether I get
hit with a bottle, a brick, a bat, or a belt. Whatever was handy
is what I got hit with, just to satisfy mother or dad's anger. That's all, that's all. That's
not discipline, that's not discipline. That's satisfying you. Chastisement
is for that child's profit. Now, why would you do that to
a child? You saw my daughter last week.
That's why. That's why. Oh, I wanted her
to be just exactly what she's grown up to be. That's the reason
why. That's the reason why. And that's
the reason God chastens his own. For our profit, not for his pleasure. Now, look at this one more time. What does this mean? He hath
not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness
in Israel. He has not ever, he does not
now, and he cannot ever behold iniquity in Jacob. or perverseness,
perversity, guiltiness in Israel. What does that mean? It means
that God would never impute to his saints or require satisfaction
from his saints for their sins. They were imputed to Christ,
paid for by Christ. and justice is satisfied, so
that God can't see them. Let me look at one more passage
with you and then we'll go back to Numbers 23. Look at Jeremiah
chapter 50. I'll show you exactly what it's
talking about. Jeremiah chapter 50, verse 20. in those days, and at that time,
saith the Lord. You remember what it said concerning
judgment, 2 Corinthians 5, 10 and 11, Revelation 20, every
man will be judged according to that he hath done, judged
out of the books, out of the books. When you go to court,
there's some books, some legal ledgers, and there are crimes
written against you, and they gotta be answered for. The picture,
and it's just a picture, God doesn't have to keep ledger books,
but it's a picture given to teach us something. God opens the book,
and he says, I'm looking, I'm looking for the iniquity of Israel. I'm looking for the sins of Judah.
I'm looking for iniquity in my chosen. I'm looking for sin in
my redeemed. I'm looking to find something
here. In those days and at that time,
saith the Lord, the Lord God Jehovah, this one who spoke by
Balaam, the iniquity of Don Fortner shall
be sought for. and there shall be none. And the sins of Larry Brown. Hang on, I got something to say.
No, you don't, we're looking at God's book. What's it say? And they shall not be found. How come? How come? I will pardon
them whom I reserve. so that in God's esteem, you
and I, his church and bride, are the very perfection of beauty
and holiness. This is what he says. I just caught David looking his
way. This is what he says to David Coleman. This is what God
our Savior says to you. Thou art all fair, my love. there is no spot in thee. He said it must be perfect to
be accepted. And He says concerning you whom
He's accepted, thou art all fair, my love. There is no spot in
thee. what a blessed, blessed, blessed
Word from our God. This is the glory of the Bible
and the very marrow of the Gospel. Would you have this blessed forgiveness
of sin? Then trust Him of whom Balaam
spoke in chapter 24, the star of Jacob, the scepter of Israel,
redeemed us with His blood, and go home justified." With these
words, when you lay your head down tonight, oh, how sweet it
will be to lay your head on your pillow with these words ringing
in your hearts, God has not beheld iniquity in me. He never did. He does it now
and he never can. He's not beheld perversity in
me. He never did. He does it now
and he never can. Because he sees me as I really
am only in his Son, the perfection of beauty. God sees no sin in any sinner
who trusts his son. Oh, God help you to trust his
son. Amen.