Would you be interested in hearing
a man preach if you were certain
that the word he preached to you, absolutely certain that
the word he preached to you was the very word God put in his
mouth to speak? Would you be interested in hearing
Something that God really did put in the mouth of a man to
speak to you. I would Well, I've got such a message
for you today turn with me to numbers chapter 23 Numbers chapter
23 We'll begin reading at verse
16 Balak had sent for Balaam to
hire a preacher. He wanted to hire a prophet to
prophesy against Israel. And Balaam was a fellow who was
known, obviously, to be up for hire. He could be bought at a
good price. So Balaam sent, or Balak sent
some messengers to him with some rewards for his divination and
called for him to come and curse Israel. And Balaam, being the
fine, sincere man he was, he said, well, let me go pray about
it. Let me go pray about it. And
he went to pray, pretended that he did. And he came back, told
him, I can't curse Israel. God blessed them. And Balaam
wasn't content. He asked him to come again. And
Balaam said, well, let me go talk to God some more. A pretending
sincerity. Now, here in number 16, or number
23, rather, verse 16, here is another word that God put in
the mouth of this man, Balaam. And the Lord met Balaam and put
a word in his mouth. He was a false prophet, but God
put a word in his mouth. Moses didn't say, this is what
Balaam told me the Lord put in his mouth. Moses says by divine
inspiration, the Lord put a word in his mouth. God himself met
Balaam. and put a word in his mouth,
read up, and said, go again unto Balak and say thus. And when
he came to him, behold, he stood by his burnt offering and the
princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him, what
hath the Lord spoken? Now here's a pagan, ungodly,
heathen king. A Moabite king has no interest
in God, no interest in God's glory. He's only interested in
himself. But like a good politician, he
says, what hath the Lord spoken? What has Jehovah spoken? As if
he's really interested in what God spoke. He says, what hath
the Lord spoken? Well, I am interested in that,
aren't you? What hath the Lord spoken? That's
my subject this morning. Read on. Let's see what the Lord
spoke. Let's hear what the word of the
Lord is that he put in Balaam's mouth. And he took up his parable
and said, rise up, Balak, and hear. Hearken unto me, thou son
of Zippor. God is not a man. Would to God I could teach this
generation. God is not a man. He's not like
you. And he's not like me. He's not
one who is moved by circumstances. He's not one who alters his mind,
his will, or his purpose. He's not one who can be controlled
or influenced in any way by anything. God not a man that he should
lie. What God says is so. What God
said from eternity is so. What God says in time is so. What God will say tomorrow is
so. God is not a man that he should
lie. Neither the son of man that he
should repent. God doesn't change. God doesn't
change. Those whom he loves, he loved
for eternity and shall love forever. Those to whom he's gracious,
he has been gracious to from eternity and shall be gracious
to them forever. Those whom he's chosen, he chose
in eternity and will never choose to turn from them. Those whom
the Lord God accepts, he accepted from eternity and he will never
make them unaccepted. Those whom God justified, He
justified from eternity, and He will never unjustify them. God is not a man that He should
lie, nor the Son of Man that He should repent. Hath He said, and shall He not
do it? Now, men make promises. Men say
they'll do things. And the best of them, The most
sincere, the most honest, the most dependable of them can't
always do what they said they'd do. Just can't do it. They try, but they just can't
do it because men control nothing. You control nothing, not even
your own thoughts, let alone circumstances around you. Man
is in control of nothing. So what a man says he will do,
you can't really depend on it. What God Almighty says he will
do, you can depend on it. It shall be done. All that God
spoke from eternity, he will do in time. Nothing can stop
him, hinder him, slow him down, or thwart him. And shall or hath
I'm sorry read on he says shall he not do it or hath he spoken
and shall he not make it good? behold Balaam says I have received
commandment to bless You hired me to curse Israel,
but God told me to bless him You hired me for this purpose
and I'm a Highland prophet and I can be bought for a dime But
I can't do what God won't let me do. No matter how much I want to. I cannot do what God doesn't
permit, no matter what I desire. He's commanded to bless and he
has blessed and I cannot reverse it. Now watch this. I've tried to preach to you from
this and haven't got it said yet,
but I'm going to try it one more time. He hath not. Underscore that word. It doesn't
say he shall not. It doesn't say he does not. It
says he hath not. He hath not. beheld iniquity
in Jacob. The very name tells you who he
is. He hath not beheld iniquity in
this chosen, depraved, wretched, vile, sinful man whose name is
properly called Jacob. Neither hath he seen perverseness
in Israel. The same man But now he's called
by another name, Prince with God. He's not beheld iniquity in Jacob. He's not seen perverseness in
this one who is his chosen prince. The Lord, his God, is with him. And the shout of a king is among
them. The Lord God is with Jacob, this
one whom he's chosen, and the shout of the king, the shout
of a triumphant victorious king is with Israel, all his chosen. He's not speaking now just about
that single man, Jacob, nor about that political nation, Israel.
He's talking about those who are called the sons of Jacob,
you who are God's chosen, and those who are the Israel of God,
God's princes, all his elect. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel. What a message. To many, Balaam is one of the
most puzzling men in scripture. We know because the scriptures
tell us plainly that he was a false prophet, a self-serving man. We're told that in Jude. We're
told that in Revelation 2. But if you read Numbers 22, 23,
24, 25, and try to find out something that was wrong with this man,
you're going to be hard-pressed to find it. You're going to be
hard-pressed to find it. We would not know that Balaam
was a false prophet except for the fact that God tells us he
was a false prophet. Not by the words he spoke, not
by the doctrine he taught, not by anything he did in his behavior. You see, Balaam appears to have
been a man of character. He taught Israel, however, to
mix the worship of idols with the worship of Jehovah. And that
betrays what he really is. He persuaded Israel that they
should compromise the truth and glory of God in the name of unity
and peace with those who were the enemies of God. Yet at times,
he seems to have been a man of truthfulness, a man committed,
a man who was genuinely committed to the truth. He appears at times
to be a man who couldn't be bought off or bribed, not even by the
power and influence and money of a mighty king like Balak,
the king of Moab. One of the great problems in
recognizing false prophets is the fact that they sometimes
appear to be men of integrity and principle and character.
Sometimes They seem to be self-denying. Sometimes they do. Sometimes
they appear to be men who genuinely sacrifice much rather than serve
their own lust. Sometimes they speak the truth,
defending certain aspects of truth, even at personal cost. They even hazard their lives
in defense of certain things. There are men who despise the
gospel of God's grace who will fight tooth and toenail for the
book, the blood and the blessed hope. There are men who despise
the free grace of God, who will sacrifice much, even their own
lives, defending the deity of Christ and his virgin birth.
But they despise, they despise the person and work of God's
son as set forth in this book. False prophets, you see, are
wolves in sheep's clothing. They are wolves in sheep's clothing. If they looked like wolves, and
smelled like wolves, and sounded like wolves, there wouldn't be
any danger. But they are wolves in sheep's
clothing. Balaam was just such a man. He
was like the man Bunyan called Mr. Face both ways. He represents
those who appear to have a great deal of Bible knowledge and spiritual
discernment, but in reality, they have no spiritual discernment,
no spiritual knowledge, no spiritual understanding. They appear to
serve God, but in reality, they serve themselves. They know much
truth, but they don't know Him who is the truth. They know many
Bible truths and facts, but they know nothing of the truth. They
have heads full of knowledge, but hearts utterly empty. And
they shall at last perish with the wicked because they're lost
and they are of all men most wicked. Yet our great glorious
God, so great is he. that he uses even reprobate false
prophets like Balaam to accomplish his purpose, which is the everlasting
salvation of his people. We read just the other day, Shelby
and I were reading, Janey's and Jambree's withstood Moses to
the face. One of you men read it either
here or in the office just recently. Janey's and Jambree's withstood
Moses to the face. They raised their ugly heads
and fought against God. They yapped and yelled and made
a lot of noise. And this is what God says after
that. But they shall proceed no further. All they can do is
make a lot of noise. They shall not injure God's cause. Balaam himself says no enchantment
can be made against Israel. No divination against Jacob. It won't happen. These are God's
people. False prophets are used by him
to accomplish his purpose. The Lord our God is an absolute
sovereign. That means no one and nothing
is beyond his rule. I don't mean that God just controls
them. I mean that God uses them exactly
as he will, and they can do nothing except what God has willed for
the good of his people. Nothing. So, well, we talk about
the permissive will of God. That's kind of hard to explain,
isn't it? God permitted that, but he didn't
really intend it. I have some problem with that. I have some
problem with that. God Almighty is an absolute sovereign. He rules everywhere and rules
all things. He who calls and asks to speak
to a man can cause a man to speak for him and speak the truth,
though the man himself knows nothing about him. Balaam's parables
give us a clear picture of a prophet, a false prophet, vindicating
the faithfulness of God and declaring the truth of God, though he knew
neither God nor his truth. Now, that shouldn't surprise
us at all. Read the 11th chapter of John, the last paragraph of
John's gospel in chapter 11, and you'll see a high priest
by the name of Caiaphas. who when it came time the Jews
were all disturbed by what they were going to do, Caiaphas says,
don't you know anything? It is expedient for us that one
man should perish and not the whole nation. And the Spirit
of God says this, he spoke, being the high priest and testified
not only that Christ should die for that nation, that is for
God's chosen nation, but also that by his death he would gather
in the children of God that are scattered abroad. Now, Caiaphas
didn't have a clue what he was saying, but he spoke the truth.
He spoke the truth as plainly as the Apostle Paul. Now, I've
said all this because I want you to understand. That our God
is absolutely in control of everybody. Of all things. The thoughts and
intents of every man's heart are ruled by Him. The actions
of every man's hand controlled by Him and ordained by Him. Ruled by Him and overruled by
Him for the saving of His people. Surely the wrath of man shall
praise thee, and the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. Brother Clayton told me last
night about an old preacher he knew for years. I never knew
the man. The old man, continue preaching the gospel to his 94
years old when God took him home. And he once said from the pulpit,
I think Brother Clayton told me, he said, if I thought I was
standing on a foot of ground God didn't control, I'd jump
off right now. What kind of God do you worship
if he doesn't control everything? Everybody, all the time. What
use is it? Oh, you don't really worship
him. You just use it. And that's true
of all worshipers of idols. They don't really worship. They don't really bow to and
give themselves to their God. They use their God like a good
luck charm when they're in trouble. And that's all there is to it.
He who is God is worshiped by his servants, for we recognize
that he rules everything. Now this is what the Lord hath
spoken. Let all hell say otherwise. Let preachers everywhere deny
it. The Lord has spoken this about
his chosen. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob. Neither hath he seen perverseness
in Israel. Now, let me show you what these
words certainly do not mean and what they clearly do mean. These
words do not suggest that there was no iniquity in Jacob or perverseness
in Israel or that there is no iniquity in God's Jacob's and
in God's Israel today. There was an abundance of iniquity,
an abundance of perversity among them. But the Lord God does not
mark the sins of His people against them. He does it now, He did
it yesterday, He won't tomorrow, and He never has. Blessed is
the man unto whom the Lord will not impute sin. Rex Bartley, there are people
in this world to whom God will never impute
sin. And we who believe are those
people. We who now believe, and those
who shall believe tomorrow, and those who believed yesterday,
God hath not ever beheld iniquity in them. He will not impute sin
to his chosen. He didn't look upon their sins
with any eye of justice or vengeance or anger but rather hid his face
from them and forgave them. Again I repeat the text says
he hath not. He didn't behold iniquity in
Jacob He didn't behold perverseness in Israel before Balaam spoke
these words, when Balaam spoke these words, or after Balaam
spoke these words. God sees no sin in his people
because Christ has taken away our sins. The primary point is
a matter of justice. Behold the Lamb of God which
taketh away the sins of the world. Not all the sins of all men in
the world. Any fool ought to know better
than that. But all the sins of God's elect,
wherever they are in the world, at any time in the world, the
Lamb of God took away our sins. He by himself purged our sins. He, by His one sacrifice for
sins forever, has put away sin. The Son of God was manifested
that He might take away our sins, and in Him is no sin. That's Bible language. That's
what the book says. God says he hasn't beheld iniquity
in Jacob nor perverseness in Israel because he has taken our
sins away by the sacrifice of his dear son. And he did it before
the world began. Christ the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world was accepted of God from eternity as our substitute. He's accepted of God as our substitute
even when we fell on our father Adam. He was accepted of God
as our substitute when we went forth from our mother's womb
speaking lies. All the days of our rebellion, he's still accepted
of God as our substitute just as fully as when he at the last
gave up his life, laid down his life for us, and gave out his
life to the Father, ascended to heaven with his own blood
as our forerunner, and sat down at the right hand of the majesty
on high. God always has beheld us one with Christ. Larry Brown, he only sees you
in Christ if you're in Christ. Would to God I could see you
only that way. We're told to. Philippians chapter
5, chapter 2 tells us to. We're to look on one another
just as God looks on us. In His Son. In His Son. Man, that'd take away the criticism
and the harping and the griping and the backbiting and the proud,
arrogant, self-righteous judgment And that take away all the trouble
we have. God only sees us in his son as one with his son. Now, let me repeat to you. If
that's the way God sees us, that's the way it really is. It's not fake. It's not fake. What God sees things to be is
what they really are. We come to experience that in
time and blessed be God. We shall experience it perfectly
when we stand before him in glory and we look back over. The seas
of time and the mountain ranges of time. Fully aware. I can't, I, I've been waters
way over my head, fully aware of all We've been and done. And still, no tears. And no sorrow. No weeping. Brother Don, I can't imagine
that. I can't begin to imagine it. But I know that's what the
book says. God beholds us only in Christ. In ourselves, We are sin. Nothing but sin. So much so that
everything we do is marred with sin, corrupted with sin. You
see, the believer, the child of God in this world, is a man
or a woman with two diametrically opposing natures. The one is
called flesh. That's Adam's nature. The other
is called Spirit. Alan, that's Christ in you, the
hope of glory. And that new nature, John tells
us, being born of God, cannot sin. 1 John 3 verse 9. Cannot
sin. So, that new nature is really
who I am. That new nature is really who
I am. God that really is who I am. Paul said it is no more me doing
this but sin that dwells in me. Paul said the life which I live
in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. Christ in you. That new man created in you.
in righteousness and in true holiness. That's the real man. That's the real child of God. You see, we really are one with
Christ. One with Christ. When the scripture
says here that God doesn't behold sin in his people, it's not an
indication as some fools have taught that believers can, in
this world, attain to a life of perfection. And they call
their sins slips and mistakes and failures. That's not how
David talked when he sinned, was it? He said, Lord, for your
name's sake, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. He confessed
his iniquity, his transgression, and his sin. And he said, my
sin, what I am in myself by nature is ever before me. And you're
just when you speak and clear when you judge. He confessed
his sin as sin. Because he understood that's
what we are by nature. And you'll never rise above that.
You'll never rise above that. This flesh will not cease to
be flesh until we are in the grave and this body of flesh
has gone back to the earth where it shall surely go. Then we shall
cease from sin and not till then. And yet the Lord hath not beheld
iniquity in Jacob nor perverseness in Israel. never has, because
Christ once took our sins in his own body on the tree. And by the sacrifice of himself
has put away our sins forever. When the scripture speaks here
about God not beholding iniquity in Jacob, a perverseness in Israel,
it's not an indication that God's not aware of the evil we do. God is omniscient. Read the 139th
Psalm. David said, where am I going
to flee from you? Where am I going to hide from you? The darkness
is light before you. All things are naked and open
to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Oh no, God's aware
of those things. And the evil we do displeases
him. Second Samuel 11, 27. We're told
that the thing that David did displeased the Lord. Thank God. David didn't displease him. David didn't displease him. David's
in Christ. David's one with Christ. And
the Lord God says, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well
pleased. That means if I'm in Christ,
God's always pleased with me. Children of God, hear this and
rejoice. Our standing, our acceptance
with God, our approval by God does not depend on us. We're
in Christ, in Christ. What happens when a believer
says, when a believer sins. Then it
should be a whole lot easier to try to explain when a believer
doesn't sin. Because there's never a time he doesn't. Never. What happens when we commit gross
open sins? Isn't it a real commentary on
our nature to suggest that somehow adultery and murder ought to give us more grief than
forgetting God. Somehow, adultery and murder
ought to give us more pain than neglecting God's worship and
God's praise and God's honor. How often do you find yourself
when you leave this place? God graciously speaks to you,
gives you a fresh glimpse of the Savior, and your heart just swells with joy and praise. And before you get home, your
heart's as cold as ice, as hard as steel. Well, what happens when the believer
sins? What happens? In here, much. And that's good
for us. The Lord chastens us for our
sins. But before God in heaven, nothing
happens. Nothing changes. These things
write I unto you, John, said that you sin not. But if any
man sin, everything's all right still, we have an advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he's the propitiation
for our sins. First time I tried to preach
on this subject, been 40 years ago now. I was just a young man,
and I was reprimanded severely, and scolded severely. That's
antinomianism, that's licentiousness, that'll promote ungodliness.
And folks have been continuing the reprimands ever since, but
that's all right. I don't understand why anybody
who's ever experienced the free forgiveness of sin in Christ
should object to the declaration of that forgiveness fully. And
I certainly don't understand the logic that says, since God
is so gracious, I want to do everything I can to dishonor
him. Does that make any sense to anybody?
Of course not. Only to religious infidels who
refuse to bow to God's truth. That's all. What has the Lord
said? He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob, nor perverseness in Israel. So much so, he declares that
we have the name of our Savior, the Lord our righteousness. It
declares that in the day of judgment, the iniquity of Israel shall
be sought. The sin of Judah shall be searched
for, and there shall be none. Well, pastor, what does this
mean? It means that in Christ, one with Christ, we have no sin. And God will never charge his
own with sin, because in Christ we're freed from sin. Now what does that mean? That
means that God is with him. The Lord Jehovah, the triune
God, is with Jacob! And the shout of a king is in
the midst of them. The shout of a king? Yeah. The
shout of him who is the king. It is finished. And we're more than conquerors
through him that loved us and gave himself for us. Thank God
for the word that he has spoken. This is what the Lord has spoken. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob, nor perverseness in Israel. Would you like to go home and lay your head on your pillow
tonight with these words echoing from God Almighty in your soul? Oh, blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord will not impute sin. Past, present, future. Oh, but I've done so much in
my past. When Christ died for you, you
hadn't done it, had you? How could I overcome this? You can't, but Christ did. And God beholds us in His Son. Would you have such peace, such
forgiveness, such confidence, such that you
lay down at night confident that God Almighty will never behold
sin in you. Never charge you for sin. Never
punish you for sin. Believe on the son of God. Right now, right now, like that
publican who came to the temple and said, Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner. Have mercy on me, the sinner. And the scripture says he went
down to his house justified. The fact is he came up to the
temple justified. He just didn't know it. He just
didn't know it. The Lord had never beheld iniquity
in him. Never. But he didn't know it
because his conscience tormented night and day with the justice
and wrath of God over his soul, knowing himself to be justly
worthy of everlasting damnation. But when he cries, God, be propitious
to me, the sinner. God, for Christ's sake, have
mercy on me. He goes down to his house singing,
Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it. Justified. Because God says, to faith you're
just. God give you grace to believe
on his son. Amen.