after giving Moses the law of
the Nazarites back in the sixth chapter of the book of Numbers. God gave Moses a law concerning
the Nazarite, the Nazarite vow, Nazarite purification, Nazarite
diet, Nazarite consecration, Nazarite obedience. Then God
commanded Moses his law, to command Aaron, his priest, to give a
blessing to his people. And the blessing, he said, must
be on this wise. Look at it. Numbers chapter 6
and verse 23. On this wise shall ye bless.
Numbers 6, 23. Moses, God's holy law, was commanded by God to give
Aaron, God's high priest, this command from God to his covenant
people. He said, Aaron, bless my people. Moses, bless my people. The law, which had been the curse
and the terror of all men. God commands to bless some men. What a word. He commands Moses,
by whom the ministration of death had come, to bless some people. He commands him to bless them
through Aaron, his high priest. And he commands them on this
wise, ye shall bless. Now that's my subject this evening.
On this wise, ye shall bless. I had been planning for the last
couple of weeks. I thought with a good measure
of confidence to preach to you tonight from 1 Corinthians 15
on the subject, then come at the end. And things were going
very well. When I went to bed last night,
I was real comfortable. I'll be able to get up this morning,
get to the office, and get writing the message out. And Shelby ruined
everything. She's ruined it all. While we
were having coffee this morning, she pulled down Mr. Hawker and
read me his reading for this morning from Numbers chapter
6, and I knew I had to start all over again. And I hope it
will be profitable to you as it has been to me in preparation. Number 6, just hold your Bibles
open here, and I'll work my way down to our text. On this wise,
ye shall bless. Everything in this chapter speaks
of our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the scriptures
clearly indicate in Matthew chapter 2. There's a statement in Matthew
2, 23, that says our Lord Jesus was taken by his parents to Nazareth,
that it might be fulfilled as it was spoken by the prophets.
He shall be called a Nazarite, a Nazarene. But that's nowhere
spoken by the prophets. That's nowhere written anywhere
in the Word of God. Where on earth did Matthew get
the idea that it was? It is taught throughout the prophets
so that the law of the Nazarite given here by Moses is explained
and expanded in greater detail than most of the laws given to
Israel by God in the Old Covenant. Now we know that this law was
a law of great importance, a law of great significance. John the
Baptist would come and he would have upon him a Nazarite vow.
But the law is never mentioned again after Numbers chapter 6
until we get to the most magnificent of the judges in Israel who typified
our Lord Jesus, a fellow by the name of Samson. who also was
a Nazirite. So the law of the Nazirite is
that law that says there's one coming, there's one coming who
shall indeed be the Nazirite because of whom, by whom, in
whom, with whom, and through whom God shall bless his people
forever. He died as for us being made
a curse for us that the blessing of Abraham might come on us Through
Jesus Christ our Lord and that is the gift of life by his spirit
now look briefly at this sixth chapter of Numbers chapter 6
Our Lord Jesus is the Nazarite described in verses 1 through
12 He is the Nazarite sacrifice described in verses 13 14 and
15 He is the Nazarite's sacrificing
priest. The priest receives these sacrifices
the Nazarite brings and he sacrifices them to the Lord. And Christ
and Christ alone is the one in whom and by whom God's people
are blessed with Jehovah's name being put upon them in Christ
Jesus the Lord. When God gave his law to Israel
by the hand of Moses, This law of the Nazarite is given with
thorough, clear instruction. Look at verse 1. And the Lord
spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel,
and say unto them, when either man or woman shall separate themselves
to a vow, a vow of a Nazirite, to separate themselves unto the
Lord Jesus. Our Lord Jesus Christ is that
one who was typically referred to here in the law. He was separated
by God as our Redeemer before the world was sanctified and
set apart by God to be our Savior. And our Lord Jesus sanctified
himself, set himself apart as our Redeemer, as our substitute
when he came into this world. The Nazarite separation is given
in verse 3. He shall separate himself from
wine and strong drink and shall drink no vinegar of wine or vinegar
of strong drink. Neither shall he drink any liquor
of grapes, nor eat any moist grapes, or moist grapes are dried. All the days of his separation
shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the
kernels even to the husk. Our Lord Jesus is that one who
sanctified himself for our sakes as our great Nazirite, and he's
described something here about the Nazirite's hair. I always
wondered about the significance of Samson having long hair. The significance of these words
concerning the Nazarite, not shaving his head. Look at verse
five. All the days of the vow of his separation, there shall
no razor come upon his head until the days be fulfilled in which
he separated himself under the Lord. He shall be holy and shall
let the locks of his hair, of his head grow. Again, our Savior,
I say, is the one portrayed here. The Church of God, in the Song
of Solomon, is described as having hair like a flock of goats. Like the hairs of his head, a
vast multitude grow up in Christ Jesus and upon him. And no razor
ever separates us from our Savior, our head. Samson had long hair
and his hair was his glory and his strength. It wasn't really. It was the symbol of his glory
and his strength. And when the hair was gone, his
strength was gone. So with our Lord Jesus, our mighty
Samson, his church is that which shows forth his glory and his
strength. and his head shall never be shorn,
we are ever his glory and his strength. And therefore it may
be said of every member of Christ's church, As we read in Lamentations
4, her Nazarites were purer than the snow. They were whiter than
milk. They were more ready in body
than rubies. Their polishing was sapphire. His hair, his body, his members,
all his glory and his strength. Now look at his purity, verse
6. All the days that he separated himself unto the Lord, he shall
come at no dead body. He shall not make himself unclean
for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister
when they die, because the consecration of God is upon his head. All the days of his separation,
he is holy to the Lord. His whole life, his entire being
devoted to God, consecrated to God for one purpose. the fulfilling
of God's will in the saving of our souls. He shall not be turned
aside by any earthly connection, by any earthly care, by any love
of anyone, no matter how dear to his flesh. He shall not be
turned aside, but he sets his face like a friend to obey God
and fulfill his will in the saving of his people. Yes, our Lord
was made sin for us, and yet he knew no sin. Neither was guile
found in his mouth. He was ever holy Harmless undefiled
and separate from sinners now look at his sacrifice verse 9
And if any man die very suddenly by him We did we died when he
died and he hath defiled the head of his consecration When
he was made sin for us Then he shall shave his head in the day
of his cleansing on the seventh day, the day of grace, perfection,
and completion. He shall shave it. And on the
eighth day, the day of resurrection, new life, new beginning, he shall
bring two turtles, turtle doves, or two young pigeons to the priest,
to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And the
priest shall offer the one for a sin offering. And the other
for a burnt offering to make atonement for him, to make atonement
for him. The high priest had to offer
sacrifice on the day of atonement first for himself and then for
his people. This Christ did once when he
offered himself for us were told in the book of Hebrews. The Lord
Jesus is here represented as our substitute for he that sinned
by the dead and shall hallow his head that same day. Verse
12, and he shall consecrate unto the Lord the days of his separation
and shall bring a lamb of the first year for a trespass offering. But the days that were before
shall be lost because his separation was defiled. And this is the
law of the Nazarite. When the days of his separation
are fulfilled, he shall be brought unto the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation, and he shall offer his offering unto the Lord
one helium of the first year without blemish for a burnt offering.
One you lamb of the first year without blemish for a sin offering
and one lamb without blemish for peace offerings and the basket
of unleavened bread cakes of fine flour mingled with oil and
wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil and their meat offering
and their drink offerings and the priest shall bring them before
the Lord and he shall offer his sin offering and his burnt offering
and And he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings
unto the Lord with the basket of unleavened bread. The priest
shall offer also his meat offering and his drink offering. And the
Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation at the door
of the tabernacle of the congregation and shall take the hair of the
head of his separation. The hair of his purity, his glory,
his strength, his majesty, his work as the Nazirite, the hair
representing the whole of his church and people. Now watch
this. And put it in the fire, which is under the sacrifice
of the peace offering. When Christ died, we suffered
all the fury of God's wrath in him to the full satisfaction
of divine justice, like that hair burned in the fire. And
the priest shall take the sodden shoulder of the ram, and one
unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened waiver, and
shall put them upon the hands of the Nazarite, after the hair
of his separation is shaven. He shall take these offerings,
these offerings brought by the Nazarite, This Nazarite now who
has completed his days of separation and consecration and the priest
puts the sacrifices back in the hands of the man who brought
them and offers them to God. Watch this. Verse 20, and the priest shall
wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. This is holy
for the priest. with a waved breast and the heave
shoulder. And after that, the Nazarite
may drink wine. Our savior said, drink this cup. I'll not henceforth drink it
with you until I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom.
The priest takes the sacrifice, puts them in the hands of the
Nazarite, and it takes the sacrifice from the hands of the Nazarite
and waves them before God. And the Lord God smells the sweet
savor of the sacrifice. Now verse 21, this is the law
of the Nazarite who had vowed and of his offering unto the
Lord for his separation. Beside that, that his hand shall
get according to the vow, which he vowed. So he must do after
the law of his separation. Now look at verse 22. Here, upon
the basis of the Nazirite's obedience, upon the basis of the Nazirite's
sacrifice, God Almighty commands a blessing. You get the picture? The Nazirite has done everything. He has lived a life of complete
consecration to God for us, that Nazirite's Christ. The priest
takes the sacrifice the Nazarite brings with his hands and weighs
them before the Lord. That priest is Christ Jesus,
our mighty substitute and redeemer. And he offers the sacrifice.
That sacrifice is Christ, our redeemer. And the Lord God looks
on that sacrifice, that priest, that Nazarite. All the glory
of Christ's person and work, all the merit of his finished
accomplishments as our surety, substitute and redeemer. Now
watch what it says. Verse 22, the Lord spake unto
Moses, God speaks to his law. Jehovah speaks to his justice. The Lord God, the only true and
living God, the just and true one, Jehovah, our Savior, says
to his law that cursed, his law that condemned, his law that
justly would cast us into hell. He says, Moses, you say this
to Aaron. Speak unto Aaron and unto his
sons, saying, O this wise, Ye shall bless. Bless who? Everybody? No. No, the Nazarite
didn't live for everybody. The law wasn't given to everybody.
God didn't speak his word to everybody. This, he says, is
the way, this is the grounds upon which, this is the means
by which you shall bless the children of Israel, God's covenant
people, the sons and daughters of Abraham, God's elect, saying
to them, 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. I like to picture Aaron like
this. He goes in on the Day of Atonement
and makes sacrifice for the children of Israel. according to God's law, brings
God what God required, a sacrifice that only God could provide,
a sacrifice that God accepted, and he turns loose the scapegoat
and sends him out into the wilderness. And in the evening, on the day
of atonement, the scapegoat's gone, and the man who carries
him out into the wilderness comes back with the scapegoat still
out in the wilderness, forever gone, and Aaron steps at the
door of the tabernacle of the congregation with all his gorgeous
priestly apparel. And he lifts his hands up over
the children of Israel and says, 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. And God said, what's this? They
shall put my name upon the children of Israel and I Will bless them
Now when I read these words at the end of number six, I am reminded
of our Savior's final work When he's leaving this world Ascending
up into heaven you remember it He's taken up in the glory having
finished all things as our substitute He fulfilled righteousness for
us. He obeyed the law for us. He died as our substitute. He
rose again. And he walked on this earth,
the resurrected Christ, showing himself to his disciples again
and again and again. And then finally, he's taken
up to glory. And as he ascended up to heaven,
he stretched out his hands and blessed them. He stretched out
his hands and blessed his people. Oh, son of God, stretch out your
hands now and bless your people as only you can. This blessing
was commanded after the giving of the law of the Nazarite. And
the blessing is brought and given, bestowed upon us because of the
law of the Nazarite being fulfilled. The sacrifices weighed by Aaron
before the Lord were typical of our Savior's sin-atoning sacrifice
and our acceptance of God in him. The blessing that Abraham
was commanded to pronounce is God's blessing on his people. All right, let's look at the
blessing just briefly. How blessed, how blessed the
days of God's people are here upon this earth. and how blessed
the day of God's people shall be when day and night is no more. Here, O Israel, the Lord thy
God is one Lord, and here we have our one Lord Jehovah, in
his three magnificent, glorious persons, Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, blessing us in Christ Jesus. The three-in-one God blessing
us. It's significant that this blessed
benediction given here, the word Lord, Jehovah, is used three
times. But all three times, if we could
read it in the Hebrew, it's given with different accent marks.
All three times. So as to indicate to us, it's
talking about three distinct things. It's talking about the
blessings we receive from Jehovah, God, our Father, the blessings
we receive from Jehovah, God, the Son, and the blessings we
receive from Jehovah, God, the Holy Spirit, our Comforter. Look
at the Father's blessings. Let me remind you of them. We
have the blessing of God, our Father, upon us in these words,
the Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord God, our Father,
has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. We are called upon by the apostle
and called upon by the psalmist repeatedly through the scriptures,
Old Testament and New. We're called upon to bless the
Lord and bless Him we do. But when we bless God, we simply
ascribe greatness to Him. We ascribe blessedness to Him. We ascribe to Him lofty praise. We ascribe to Him that which
is His already. We do not, in any way, add anything
to God's blessedness. We do not, in any way, add anything
to God's glory, to God's completion, to God's fullness, and certainly
nothing to God's happiness. When we say, blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we say, bless the
Lord, O my soul, all that is within me, bless his holy name,
all we're doing is ascribing praise to God. But when God blesses
us, he performs blessedness. When God blesses us, he does
something. God blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus from old eternity,
according to his own elective purpose of love, mercy and grace
in our Redeemer. And now in response to that,
we bless him. The Lord bless thee and keep
thee, the psalmist says. Oh, the word here, this blessing
from God given by Abraham is spoken. The Lord bless thee and
keep thee. God performs blessing to us and
God keeps us by his grace. Oh, what a blessing. What a blessing
to be blessed of God. To be blessed of God is to be
blessed of God in Christ with all things all the time. With all things all the time.
Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Let me remind you this. 1
Corinthians chapter 3. Try, try, try. Oh my soul, try
to calculate God's blessings. That's impossible. All the more
reason to try. Calculate God's blessings. Infinite. Who can measure them? Infinite. Who can know them? We can't even
calculate the blessings of God we have known and experienced
personally, let alone those unknown yet to us. The Lord God has blessed
us. With all things in Christ look
at this first Corinthians chapter 3 verse 21 Therefore let no man
glory in men for all things are yours All things are yours What does
he mean by that why should that be hard to understand all things
are yours Life Death, sickness and sorrow, bereavement and birth,
all things are yours. Light and darkness, pain and
joy, heaviness and levity, riches and poverty, all things are yours. All things in heaven, all things
in earth, all things in time, all things to eternity, all things
are yours. We don't know whether Paul or
Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death. You see what
I said? All things are yours. And ye
are Christ and Christ is God's. Oh, what a blessing to have sin
pardoned. righteousness bestowed, mercy
heaped upon me, Christ bestowed to me, and given to me, and I
put in Christ Jesus the Lord. What a blessing to be redeemed
by the Son, sanctified by the Spirit, chosen by the Father. The Lord God often blesses us. How often He has when we didn't
know it. Many of our father's choice mercies come in the back door of our
houses, and we wouldn't choose them for
the world. We wouldn't choose them for the
world. I watch what some of my friends
endure, and I wouldn't choose it for them. Not one of us would
have Bob inside of going through what they're going through right
now. Not one of us would. But don't ever think you're smarter
than God or better than God. See, this is not God's judgment
upon our friends. It's not God's judgment. This
is God's mercy. This is God's mercy. I said to
a friend just recently going through heavy, heavy trial. said all I could say and I took
him by the hand and squeezed it hard and laid one hand on
the other and I said, thank God he's given you this too. He's given you this too. This
too is the gift of God and it is God's gift for good. I've often said to Bill Raleigh
sitting there, y'all know what he and Vicki have gone through.
the blessedness of Raising Tony, but the job. Job. Job. I know how she'd go over
and sit all day waiting on to go to school. Some of you do
as well. What a blessing. What a blessing for God to give
you a son whose name you know was written in glory before the
world began. How would you like to have that? What a blessing! What a blessing! God's rich blessings often come
in the back door, and we perceive them as being an enemy come to
harm. These are all things with which
God has blessed us. You understand that? Now, let
alone the blessings we see. The blessings we see, those blessings,
we count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it
will surprise you what the Lord is doing. That's true. But those
blessings that we see, those are just the outer peripheral
things. Those are just the outside things. Those blessings that we see and
count, Sadly, for the most part, Mark, are just temporal blessings. Am I speaking the truth? Just
temporal blessings. We rightly thank God for our
food and drink, but every time you do, be sure you thank God
for Christ, the bread of life and the water of life. We often
thank God for things that come to us day by day. Be sure you
thank God for mercy that comes to you day by day. Let us remember
the Lord's blessings upon us. The Lord God, our Father, has
blessed us. He is blessing us and he will
bless us. He's kept us. He who blesses
us is sure to keep us. Where would we be if he hadn't
kept us? Either last night or this morning
when I forgot which it was, when I was chatting a little bit.
She said, I often think where, where would we be if God hadn't
stepped in? Where would we be? Where would I be if God hadn't
stepped in? And where would we be if he hadn't
continued to hold us by his grace? Or blessings? Or blessings? If
you're tempted, when you're tempted, let this be your prayer. Lead
us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And rest assured,
he will. He will not leave you to the
tempter's power. Brother Frank Hall came in the
office back here a little bit ago He said something humorous.
He heard some preacher say, about the only good thing preacher
ever said, he reckoned. But he's pretty good. He said, what do
you say when the devil speaks to you about your sin? He said,
I speak to him about his end and laugh. He will deliver us
from all temptation and from the tempter. And we shall at
last laugh over the tempter as his head is crushed beneath our
feet. Our Savior's blessings are given
in the next line. The Lord make his face to shine
upon thee and be gracious to thee. The shining of God's face is
shining of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ crucified. This
speaks about reconciliation in the experience of it. The Lord
make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious to thee. Oh, may God be pleased. Whatever
your days and mine are left upon this earth to give us grace all
the days of our appointed sojourn here to walk with his face shining
upon us in the sweet assured knowledge that Jesus Christ is
mine and I'm his. The Lord make his face to shine
upon thee and be gracious to thee. Look at this next line. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee and give thee peace. Oh, what a favor. The long and
short of it is just this. The Lord give you a conscious
delightful sense of His gracious favor. What a blessing when God
the Holy Spirit sheds abroad in the hearts of chosen sinners
the love of God to our souls. Truly, our fellowship is with
the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. This gives us peace. Peace that passeth understanding. Peace. Peace regardless of circumstances. Peace regardless of trial. Peace regardless of pain. Peace regardless of difficulty. Peace. God is my God and I'm
his child. God is my Father. I'm His son. God is my Savior. I'm saved by
His grace. Peace. Oh, the Lord lift up His
countenance above you and give you peace. Blessed, blessed peace
as only He can give. He who silenced and satisfies
the law by His Spirit gives us peace. He who performed and fulfilled
all His Father's will by his spirit gives us peace. That one
in whom there is no condemnation, no sin, and no curse, by his
spirit gives us peace that passeth understanding. And yet there's
a peace that follows and flows from the peace of pardon, righteousness,
and forgiveness. It's the peace of God's assured
favor in all things. How shall he not with his son
freely give us all things? 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. Now, look at our text one more
time, and let me show you God's amen. to what it says here verse
27 and they shall put my name upon
the children of Israel my priests when they come out with these
blessings stretch out their hands over the people as they by their
hands ceremonially put the sins of the people upon the sacrifice
Lord God says, now I've accepted the sacrifice and my priest shall
put my name on you. Oh, God put his name on you. Stamp his name on you in the
person of his son. I had no idea what all is included
in that, but I'm certain it means this. You're my property. You're under my care. I'll bless you. You're accepted of me forever. You'll have your troubles, but
I'll bless you through your troubles. You'll have your heartaches,
but I'll bless you in your heartaches. You'll have your weaknesses,
but I'll bless you in spite of your weaknesses. and even by
your weaknesses. You'll have your falls. You'll
have your falls. And I will bless you through
your falls, in your falls, and out of your falls. You'll have
your bereavements, but I'll bless you in your sorrow. You may have
the world curse you, but I'll bless you. And none can curse
those I blessed. You'll die, but blessed are they that die
in the Lord. And when all is done that must be done, I will
bless you. Oh, how he will bless us then. Then shall I be satisfied when
I awake with thy likeness. I can think of no better way
to conclude the year and to send you home in anticipation of tomorrow
than this. 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. But I can think of something
to say even better than me telling you that. God said, I'll do it. God said, that's just what I'll
do for them. That's just what I'll do for them. All the children
of Israel, because of all Christ has done as our substitute, our
great Nazarite. Amen.