Now last week we looked at John
chapter 15 on the need for believers in Christ to bear fruit. Christ
insists upon fruit. You must bear fruit. Believers
live according to gospel principles. Believers do not say, shall we
sin that grace may abound? My relationship with God doesn't
depend on what I do, so I'll do what I want, because I'll
still be the same child of God. No, not at all. God forbid, says
Paul. We bear the fruit of the gospel.
We're in flesh, we fall constantly, but, but, Believers live according
to gospel precepts. Believers are honest people.
Believers, the tenor of their life, they may slip and fail,
but the tenor of their life is honesty, truthfulness. goodness,
generosity, all of these things, that's the tenor of the life
of a believer. You cannot, you cannot look at
the gospel of Christ. You cannot look at what you've
been saved from and at what great cost and remain a mean-spirited
person. and remain somebody who delights
in evil, somebody who delights in licentiousness. You cannot
do that if you're saved by the grace of God. You may, as I say,
fall, but the tenor of your life is one of wanting to live by
gospel precepts and bear fruit. But at the same time, to balance
this, I want this week to look at Numbers chapter 23, and you
know the Old Testament accounts are there for our learning. These
things are written for our learning. Because I want to reinforce the
fact that our relationship with God is entirely dependent on
what He has promised and what He has done. Our relationship
with God is entirely on that basis. And when we come to share
bread and wine after the sermon, after the next hymn, That's what
we're remembering. That's the basis of our relationship
with God. What he, in Christ, has done
for his people. So then, in Numbers 23, turn
to Numbers 23. I want you to see God's unchangeable
blessing this morning. Now, in Israel of old, this is
the wilderness wanderings. They've come out of Egypt, and
Moses was leading them, and they were in the wilderness wanderings.
of forty years before they got to the promised land. You know,
they didn't go in because of unbelief. That's why they didn't
enter in. The spies came and said, oh,
there are great big giants, I don't know how we're ever gonna cope
with them. And the spies looked at the giants rather than God,
who is greater than all. And so they had 40 years of wilderness
wandering, but it's all written for our learning. And amongst
them, the nation Israel was the true elect remnant, according
to the election of grace in ancient Israel. But they were surrounded
by false religion, false profession amongst their brethren, sinful
rebellion all the time, false prophets, and so are we as God's
people in this world today. This is what it's written for,
for our learning. In Numbers 22, we meet a man called Balaam. I'm not going to read it now.
I'm not going to take a great deal of time telling you about
it. Some of you who went to Sunday school will remember the stories
of Balaam and the ass and all that sort of thing. Read it again.
Remind yourself of the situation. But Balaam was a prophet. But
what we know for sure from scripture is that he was a false prophet.
If you read Jude, verse 11, don't turn to it now. If you read Revelation
2, verse 14, were left in no doubt, whatever, that Balaam
was a false prophet serving his own self-interest. But in the
situation of numbers 22 to 24, God put a word of truth in this
false prophet's mouth to confound the evil intentions of Moab,
that nation. Now Moab They were relatives
of the Israelites. You know when Lot was rescued
from Sodom and Gomorrah? when God told him to get out
and the angels went and got him out of Sodom and Gomorrah because
God was going to rain judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah for their
sin. And you remember they came out and lots and several people
wouldn't come. But Lot and those immediately
with him, two daughters and his wife, they came out of Sodom. And you remember Lot's wife looked
back and God turned her to a pillar of salt. She didn't believe God. Her heart was there in Sodom.
Even though she was coming out, physically looking like, her
heart was fixed, rooted in Sodom, where there was everything that
her heart desired, and God turned her to a pillar of salt. And
so they came out. And something very wicked happened. The daughters of Lot lay with
their father and had children by their father. And those children,
these are the ones from whom Moab comes. So they were relatives
of Israel. And as Israel had been going
through the lands around the promised land, God had told them,
because the people were so wicked, that they were to utterly destroy
them. And so they did. Amalek and the kings, Og and
Sihon, were destroyed and their peoples. And Moab and its king,
Balak, with a K, Balak, They were frightened of Israel. They
said, look at them. They're just herds and hordes
of them. And they're going to do the same
to us. Just as an ox walks through a field and with its tongue just
licks up the grass. Have you seen a cow eat grass?
And with its tongue it just licks up the grass, rips it off the
ground. And they said, look, that's what they've done to Amalek
and these other peoples. They'll do the same to us. So
Balak was terrified of Israel. And he sent to this astrologer
this soothsayer whose name was Balaam. Balaam knew a thing or
two about the spiritual world, but mostly it was evil. And Balaam
had a reputation as a wizard, a soothsayer. someone who you
went to to have your fortune told, someone who might be able
to put a spell on something to make it happen, you know this
kind of spooky stuff that people believe in in their hordes, they
won't believe the word of God for anything in our day, but
they'll believe the astrologers, and they'll believe all these
tellers of lies, they'll go after all of these that bring up people
from the dead, that kind of thing. Well Balaam was such, and Balak
sent to him to put a curse upon Israel that Israel would not
be able to overcome Moab like they'd overcome the others. But
God put a word of truth in this false prophet's mouth to confound
the evil intentions of Balak and Moab against Israel and so
he does from time to time today. He did at various times in the
past False prophets are what the scripture calls wolves, but
they don't look like wolves. They're dressed up in sheep's
clothing. A sheep won't tear you to pieces, will it? Soft,
frightened, timid creature. Wolves in sheep's clothing. They
can speak the language of the true gospel. Some of them, they
do. Some who are false prophets,
they speak the language of the true gospel. They speak strongly
for the Bible. They talk about Christ's blood
atonement. They talk about election. They
talk about heavenly hope. When all along, they deny true,
biblical, gracious, effectual salvation. I'll tell you more
about that in a moment. But that's what they do. They're
all around us today. They look like they're sounding like those
who are good Calvinistic reformed Christians. And yet you look
at what they're really saying. They deny I'll put it as strongly
as that, they deny true, biblical, gracious, effectual salvation.
They deny the word of God, as we'll see. But God causes even
such as Balaam, false prophets, to further his eternal purposes
because nothing can stop God's purposes. And God uses such as
him at times to show there's nothing that the evil thoughts
of man can do to frustrate the eternal purposes of God. Balak
was terrified. He resorted to Balaam to curse
Israel. He promised him huge great bribes,
money, he said, as much money as you want, huge riches, and
Balaam really wanted it. Balaam really wanted the riches
that Balak promised him. Balaam really wanted, wow, just
think, ha, that's my retirement sorted out, thought Balaam. He's
going to give me a house full of gold. I'll never have to work
or do anything ever again. Wonderful, I'll have some of
that. Brilliant. That was his hope. His entire
hope was what he could get out of it. He really wanted it and
he tried to go and do Balak's bidding. And do you remember
the account? I'll just refer to this in Numbers
22. He was riding on his ass. You know what an ass is? It's
like a... Somebody will tell me wrong. Somebody who understands
the equine world in great detail will tell me how I've got this
wrong. But it's some kind of cross between a mule and a horse,
is it? Or something like that. I don't know. Never mind. There
or thereabouts. And he's riding on this thing
and the animal sees the Lord Jesus Christ. the angel of the
Lord, it says. We know it's the Lord Jesus Christ
because of other factors about him. It's one of those pre-incarnate
appearances. And he's standing, blocking the
way of Balaam, going to do this cursing of his people. And the
ass sees And Balaam doesn't. And the ass won't go. And Balaam
beats his ass. And God puts a man's voice in
the ass' mouth and says, what are you beating me for? Can't
you see? There's the angel of the Lord
in front of us. And really, it shows that Balaam
really wanted to get these bribes, this money for going and cursing.
And so, In four pronouncements, two in chapter 23 and two in
chapter 24, four pronouncements or four oracles, Balaam, who
is false entirely, declares God's purpose in saving and preserving
his elect. But Balaam himself experienced
nothing of it. He was a false prophet, as Jude
and Revelation tell us. Look in Numbers 23 verse 5. This is a false prophet. Chapter
23 in verse 5. And the Lord put a word in Balaam's
mouth. Look again in verse 16. And the
Lord met Balaam and put a word in his mouth. God put his word
in this man's mouth. Just as he did with Caiaphas.
Do you remember the high priest Caiaphas at the time of the crucifixion
of Christ. And Caiaphas being high priest,
it was the tradition that the high priest would prophesy. And
he being high priest that year, he prophesied. And Caiaphas said
this, you can read it in John's Gospel. Caiaphas said, it is
expedient that one should die for the people rather than the
whole nation perish. Is that not a statement of the
Gospel? Caiaphas, that evil, wicked high priest, God put a
word in his mouth. It is expedient that one should
die for the people rather than the whole nation perish in the
same way he put a word of truth in the mouth of Balaam. We're
going to look this week at the first two of Balaam's pronouncements
regarding Israel and learn some lessons from them. We might look
at the following two in chapter 24 in two weeks' time when we're
back together again. But the first thing I want you
to see is this. God's promise is unchangeable. God's promise
is unchangeable. Despite God putting things in
the way of Balaam, in his permissive will, God said, okay, you go
and you do this. But God would put a word in his
mouth at his time for his purposes. God in his permissive will let
him go. He even forbade him and then
let him go. Read it in chapter 22. But anyway,
we come to the end of chapter 22 and in verse 41 we can see
that what Balak and Balaam were doing was absolutely riddled
with false religion. It came to pass on the morrow
that Balak, the king, took Balaam, the false prophet, and brought
him up into the high places of Baal, the false god. the evil
false god, which is representative. You say, oh, they believed in
such things as that. I tell you, the majority in this
world that calls itself Christian evangelical religion, I would
say, is probably the worship of Baal in truth. It's the worship
of false gods. It's the worship of gods of their
own imagination, surrounding themselves with all of their
religion, all of their high places, using the words of truth of the
God of heaven, and yet being absolutely full of the doctrine
of Baal. And there was, look in verse
1 of chapter 23, Balaam said to Balak, build me here seven
altars and prepare me here seven oxen and rams. This was never
done before, this is false religion. Lots of false religion. Israel
was never told to build seven altars. Never told to go to the
high places of Baal. But anyway, having been there,
surrounded by all this religion, all of this voodoo that they
thought would get their curse put into effect to curse Israel,
when it came to it, it was the Lord that put a word in Balaam's
mouth. Look down at verse 7. This is
the word that he put in his mouth. Chapter 23, verses 7 to 10. And he took up his parable, or
his oracle, and said, Balak, the king of Moab, hath brought
me from Aram out of the mountains of the east, saying, come, curse
me, Jacob, and come, defy Israel. How shall I curse whom God hath
not cursed? He's a mere man. How shall I
curse whom God hath not cursed? And how shall I defy whom the
Lord hath not defied? From the top of the rocks I see
him, Israel. And from the hills I behold him,
lo, the people shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among
the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob
and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the
death of the righteous and let my last end be like his. Well, Balak was furious. Look
at verse 11. Balaam said to Balaam, what have
you done? I called you here, I promised you riches to curse
them, not to bless them. You've blessed them all together,
you couldn't have given them a better blessing. Because God
had blessed them. And Balaam, even though he was
false, knew that he couldn't reverse it. God had promised
Abraham that he would save the people, as we saw in Romans chapter
4 in the Bible class. God had promised Abraham. He'd
made his promises to him. Look back at Genesis 15. Genesis chapter 15. You'll see
some of these promises. Verse 5. Genesis 15 and verse
5. And he brought him forth abroad
and said, this is God speaking to Abraham, look now toward heaven
and tell the stars if thou be able to number them. And he said
unto him, so shall thy seed be. I'll just inject a little aside.
Skeptics about the Bible say, well, we now know that there
are so many stars you can't possibly count them. Therefore, the Bible's
wrong because how on earth could there ever be as many people
as there are stars? Don't be ridiculous. This is
not what it's saying. It's saying that in the same
way that the numbers of grains of sand on the beach are innumerable. You can't count them. Who could
ever count them? In the same way that the stars
of the universe are innumerable, you can't ever count them. The
more we know is that every time we delve deeper, there's more
there than we... It's the uncountability of them. that's the issue not the literal
equating the number of the descendants with the number of stars that's
not what it means it means they're uncountable from our point of
view you can't number them there are so many this was the promise
God made to Abraham look over at chapter 17 and verse 4 He says, as for me, behold, this
is God speaking again, my covenant is with you, Abraham, and you
shall be a father of many nations. He made similar promises to Isaac. And then look at Genesis 28 and
see the promise that he made to Jacob, the grandson of Abraham. In Genesis 28 and verse 14, he
says, that he promised this to Abraham
and Isaac, and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth,
as uncountable as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread
abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and the
south, and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families,
all the nations, all the tribes of the earth be blessed with
that same faith that Abraham had as we saw earlier in Romans
chapter four. Nothing could overturn that promise
of God that he would save a people, this multitude, for his own glory. Balak says, come and curse them,
the Israel of God. And Balak says, because God's
put his word in his mouth, nothing can curse my people. Are you
amongst his people? Nothing can truly, eternally
curse you with any effect whatsoever because God has blessed his people. God has promised blessing. Nothing
can overturn God's promise. Look at verse 19 of chapter 23. Who is it we're dealing with?
We always, one of the reformers said to another one of the reformers,
your thoughts of God are altogether too human. You think that God
is a man like you are, who thinks like you, who changes his mind
like you do. Look at what he says in verse
19. God is not a man, that he should lie, neither the son of
man that he should repent, change his mind, hath he said? And shall he not do it? If he
said something, he will do it. God never changes. Same yesterday,
today, and forever. Has he spoken? Shall he not make
it good? God's promises endure to the
end. Unchangeable. Verse 9, he calls
a people out of the world, a sanctified people. That's the people that
are his people today. A sanctified people. Sanctified
in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is made unto us wisdom from God
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. He calls out
a people by sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. He calls out His people under the gospel of His grace
and sets them apart from the world just like this Israel was
there. A multitude that no man can number.
Revelation 7 verse 9. We don't need to turn it up,
that's what it says. That's what God has purposed
to save. And if you, let's bring this right up to date now, and
me, if we believe the gospel of God's grace, And what I'm
talking about is that true biblical gospel, which is contrary to
all fleshly reason. Read the little article on the
bulletin by Arthur Pink. Read that. It's faith. You believe
it because God's word says it. Contrary to fleshly reason. You
trust God's sovereignty over all things. You trust God's justice
and his establishment of justice in Christ. You trust the justification
that is in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You trust Christ
alone. You don't trust your own works
in any degree for justification or for sanctification. Then you
are amongst that number that God has determined to save this
people. The Israel of God. You are amongst
the true Israel that God must bless, that none can curse. You're amongst them. You're the
true Israel, as Paul says to the Philippians, you're the circumcision,
the people of God, who worship God in the spirit, not in external
appearances, not in posh buildings, not in the things of this world.
You worship God in the spirit, as Jesus said to the Samaritan
woman. And where's your rejoicing? Oh, in our wonderful cathedral
and It's wonderful windows and our priests and no, you rejoice
in Christ Jesus. You rejoice in Christ Jesus and
you have no confidence in the flesh. What about a little bit
of confidence that the things I've been doing are going to
give me a good reward come the judgment seat of Christ? No,
you have no confidence in the flesh. because you trust what
Christ has done to bless his people. And what a blessing,
look at verse 10, what a blessing to be in that multitude. We read
in Psalm 32, I think it was last week, how blessed to be amongst
that number to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity. to
whom for whom the Lord forgives it what a blessing but what a
precious death awaits you if you're amongst that number. Looking
at the end of verse 10, let me die the death of the righteous
and let my last end be like his, oh that's a bit morbid isn't
it? It's very real, it's very practically relevant when you
see how fast the years tick away Let me die the death of the righteous. Not those who are righteous in
their own flesh, in their own strength, but those who are made
righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who have the righteousness
of God in him. Precious, says Psalm 116, verse
15. Precious in the sight of God
is the death of his saints. Turn over to Romans 8. Romans
chapter 8. It's a while since we've When
I say it's a while, it must be one or two weeks since we last
looked in Romans chapter 8. But let's look at Romans chapter
8, just for a moment. Romans chapter 8, verse 28. You
know these words so well, you probably might not be able to
recite them, but they're very familiar. We know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
called according to His purpose. for whom he did foreknow in electing
grace, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom
he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he
also glorified. What shall we say then to these
things? If God before us, Balak, Balak, if God before Israel,
who can be against them? If God has blessed them, how
can I curse them? Says Balaam, the false prophet,
with the word of God in his mouth. If God before us, who can be
against us? Why, what's your reasoning? He
that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all,
all his people, how shall he not with him also freely give
us all things? That's the blessing of God. upon
his people. It's unchangeable. Nothing can
reverse his purpose of redemption for his elect. Jesus said to
his disciples in John 10 verse 29, my father which gave them
me, gave his people to him, is greater than all. And no man
is able to pluck them, any of his people, out of my father's
hand. whatever false religionists tell
us, whatever legalists preach to us today, and they're false
religionists, they're false prophets, they may sound like they're stating
truth, but if they tell you that you owe anything to the law of
God, they're telling you lies that are not in the scripture,
whatever false religionists and legalists may say, contrary to
the gospel we preach, Numbers 23, verse 23, surely there is
no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination
against Israel. God's purpose is complete. It's fulfilled. Nothing can change
it. No one can curse God's people.
He's blessed them. God's promise is unchangeable. God's unchangeable blessing.
Oh, but what about our sin? Right, this brings me on to my
second point. even despite their sin. Do you know back in Numbers
21, if you read that, you read of this people, Israel, walking
through the wilderness, and they have triumphs, and they have
complete disasters. And in Numbers 21, they complained.
They were always complaining and forgetting. And they complained
against God. And God sent fiery serpents,
poisonous snakes in amongst them. Poisonous snakes to them. And
Israel, God's people, is a people like all others in themselves,
and we are, too, children of wrath by nature in the flesh,
deserving nothing other than the curse of the law. What's
the curse of the law? It's in Deuteronomy 27, 26, but
I'll quote you how Paul quotes it in Galatians chapter 3 and
verse 10. You know it well, the law says
this, Cursed, because we're talking of a curse. Balak said to Balaam,
go and curse Israel. Cursed is everyone who does not
continue in all things which are written in the book of the
Lord to do them. Do you keep the law of God every
day perfectly in thought, in word, in deed? Do you keep the
law of God perfectly every day in thought and word? Of course
you don't. Let God be true and every man
a liar, whoever thinks he's righteous. God says there is none righteous,
no, not one. And cursed is everyone who does
not continue every day, every minute of every day, to do all
of the law to keep it. But in pure sovereign grace,
God does not curse His people, though they be sinners, because
why? Read on three verses in Galatians
chapter 3, verse 13. For Christ has redeemed us, has
paid the price of justice, has paid the ransom of justice. Christ
has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us in our place. Balak says to Balaam, curse Israel,
effectively after all they deserve it, they're constantly rebelling,
but he can't curse them. Why can't he curse them? Numbers
23 and verse 16, God puts a word in Balaam's mouth, he's promised
blessing, it can't be reversed. He's promised it. Has he said
it, verse 19, and shall he not do it? Has he spoken blessing,
and shall he not make it good? He, Balaam, a mere man, cannot
possibly overturn the blessing of God. Verse 21, and this is
why. This is Balaam's second oracle,
or pronouncement, when Balak says, come and curse me, Israel.
He says this, He 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. God brought them out of
Egypt. He has, as it were, the strength
of a unicorn. Surely there is no enchantment
against Jacob. Neither is there any divination
against Israel. According to this time, it shall
be said of Jacob and of Israel, what has God wrought? Look at
the wonderful thing God has done. Behold, the people shall rise
up a great lion and lift himself up as a young lion and not lie
down until he eat of his prey and drink the blood of the slain.
That was supposed to be a cursing. It's a great blessing. Why can't
he curse Israel? Because, verse 21, God hasn't
beheld iniquity in Jacob. I stress the word beheld. God
hasn't beheld iniquity in Jacob. Do you know why we use the King
James Version? Because it's so accurate in its faithfulness
to the original language. That's why. You may find it difficult,
but it's simple. Words matter. Words meant, God
said, beheld. In Habakkuk chapter 1 and verse
13, in the King James Version, it says this, God is of purer
eyes than to... If you use one of the more modern
versions, it says, look upon. God is of purer eyes than to
behold iniquity. Meaning this, Why is God of purer
eyes than to behold iniquity? In the sense that he can't look
on iniquity with indifference. His justice must condemn and
demand legal satisfaction. It must do. It must do. But, when he looks on his people,
saved by grace in Christ, He beholds nothing requiring legal
satisfaction. He beholds nothing deserving
of eternal punishment. He sees what we are. He knows
we are sinners in the flesh. God sees our hearts. He knows
we are sinners. When it says he has not beheld
iniquity in Jacob, that doesn't mean he doesn't know that we're
sinners. Of course he sees it, but he doesn't behold it in the
way of requiring legal satisfaction, of deserving of eternal punishment. No, he doesn't. He sees what
we are. He knows what we are. He knows
that we're amongst those who are, there's non-righteous, no
not one. We know what John says is true.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth
is not in us. But though God sees and knows
all our sin, and chastises us as his children for it in this
life. He doesn't behold it, because in his justice and judgment...
Now, here's a statement that many will disagree with, but
this is a test of the true gospel of Scripture. Let me read it
again. Although He chastises us for
our sin in the flesh, He doesn't behold iniquity in His people,
in His justice and judgment, because there is no sin in His
people as far as justice and judgment is concerned. Why? Because
Christ was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. What do you think the hymn writer
wrote that well-known verse? My sin, oh the bliss of this
glorious thought, my sin, not in part but the whole, past,
present, future, is nailed to his cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
oh my soul. He has not beheld in a judgmental
sense. He has not beheld in a requiring
of eternal punishment to pay the price to the justice of God.
He has not beheld iniquity. in Jacob, neither seen perverseness
in Israel. When you stand, when I stand,
as we all must, before the judgment seat of Christ, if you are numbered
in the Israel of God, if you are, as we were looking in Romans
chapter 4, children of Abraham by faith, God will not behold
in judgment, in requiring legal satisfaction, He will not behold
any sin in you. Why not How can this be? Isn't God being unjust if he
looks upon you, believer, with no sin? If he beholds no iniquity
in you, when he will behold it in hordes and millions of others?
Is he not being unjust? No. The reason is this. He's
not unjust because there is no sin in his people. He doesn't
behold it It's not as if he goes, I know they're filthy dirty,
but I'm just going to pretend that they're not. He doesn't
do that. They're not dirty. They're not covered in sin. They're
not iniquitous in his sight. How come? This is the gospel. How come? Let me read you some
scriptures. you can maybe make a note of
them and look them up later. Psalm 103 verse 12, we read it
earlier. As far as the east is from the
west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us, he
has beheld no iniquity. Why? They've been removed. Christ
has removed iniquity from his people. As far as judgment is
concerned, Christ has removed it. There's none there. He has
not beheld it. Isaiah 43 verse 25, God says
this, I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine
own sake, for his own glory, and will not remember thy sins. He's blotted them out. He's blotted
that they're not there. They're not, you know, when the
books are opened, the sins of these people will not be there.
They're blotted out because their names are in the Lamb's book
of life. Chapter 44 of Isaiah, verse 22, I have blotted out As a thick cloud, you can't see
through that, thy transgressions. And as a cloud, thy sins. Return
unto me, for I have redeemed, I have paid the price of ransom
for you. John chapter 1, verse 29. John
the Baptist, seeing Jesus come, says, Behold the Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sin of the world. Meaning, a world full
of his believing people, the children of Abraham. Hebrews
chapter 1 verse 3, when he had purged our sins. If you purge
something, you scrub it absolutely clean, you scrub it out, you
clean it out. When he had purged our sins,
they're not there anymore, they're gone, they're gone. Chapter 9
of Hebrews verse 26, now once in the end of the world has he
appeared, Christ, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 1 John chapter 3 verse 5, And
ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in
him is no sin. Taken it away. Christ has taken
it. He's paid the penalty for it,
and now God doesn't behold it. Do you see that? Do you get it?
Now God doesn't behold it. Christ has taken it away. His
justice is satisfied. What does he say again? I'll
refer back to Romans chapter 8 and then I'll be finished very,
very quickly. Romans chapter 8, following on the verses that
we read earlier. Verse 33. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? They're sinners, aren't they?
No. their sins have been taken away. It's not just as if they
hadn't sinned, in Christ they haven't sinned. His people, he
doesn't behold iniquity in Jacob in a judgmental sense. It is
God that justifies because of what Christ has done. Who is
he that condemns You know, who charges them and finds them guilty?
Christ's already died for them. Yea, rather, is risen again,
so the sacrifice is accepted, who is even at the right hand
of God, who makes intercession for us, and so he goes on. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's all satisfied
in Christ, who's died and risen. Not even false prophets can frustrate
God's grace. Not even false prophets with
their false gospel of sanctification by works of what you do to be
right on that day of judgment. Not even them can frustrate God's
grace. His purposes are unchangeable.
His blessing is unchangeable. He has not beheld iniquity in
Jacob. When we partake of bread and
wine, remember these things. It was not at no cost. It was not a sweeping under the
carpet. Christ took our sins in that
body that was broken and shed his blood, his life blood, the
price of divine justice, so that God might look on his people
and not behold iniquity in Jericho. Amen.