Turn with me, if you will, to
Numbers chapter 23. Just hold your Bibles open here
for a few minutes. Numbers chapter 23. Driving down the road to the
meetings in College Grove Friday morning, I listened to the message
that Brother John Chapman preached here last Sunday evening. I'm greatly blessed by it. And
as I listened to that message, thought about it, and asked God
to apply it to my own heart, I kept coming to this passage
in Numbers 23. This chapter contains the words
that God put in the mouth of Balaam. I said that slowly and
deliberately. This chapter contains the words
that God put in the mouth of Balaam. False prophets are not
all Arminians. False prophets are not all preachers
of free will, works, religion. Sometimes false prophets tell
the truth. They can't help it. God forces
it. False prophets are men not only
who have a false message, but false prophets are men who come
and pretend to serve God and they are false at heart. Judas
was a false prophet, but he didn't preach heresy. If he did, he
couldn't have stayed among those other fellows. Demas forsook
the church and Christ and the apostles, having loved this world
because he was corrupt at heart. Diotrephes, loving to have the
preeminence and refusing to do anything to promote or accept
the servants of our God, was a false prophet, but he told
the truth. To many people, this man Balaam is one of the most
puzzling characters in the Bible. We know without question that
he was a false prophet. No question about that. The scriptures
tell us plainly, both in the book of Jude and the book of
Revelation, Balaam was a false prophet. Yet at times, he appears
to have been a man of character. He led Israel to mingle the worship
of God with idols in the name of peace and unity and brotherly
love. Doesn't that always sound sweet?
Brethren, we ought to love one another. Indeed, we ought to
and brethren do. But we dare not compromise God's
character and God's truth in order to get along with men who
hate God and worship idols. You can't do it. You can't do
it. But Balaam led Israel to do just that. You can read about
it in Numbers 25 and 31. He persuaded them to compromise
God's glory as God alone so that they wouldn't offend others.
And yet at times, he seems to be a man of truthfulness, one
who is committed to the truth of God who could not be bought
off. He pretended that for a while
with Balaam, didn't he? Even that mighty, mighty Moab
king, Balaam said, no, no, no, I can't do that. He finally gave
in, but he pretended, at least, to be a man who couldn't be bought
off. One of the great problems in recognizing false prophets
is just that. They sometimes appear to be men
of integrity, principle, and character. Now, you listen. You
listen and hear me. Hear me. Hear me. If a man serves
God, he is a man. of integrity, of principle, and
character. You don't have anything he wants. You don't have anything he wants. You don't have anything he wants.
I don't care who you are. I don't care what power you have,
what influence you have, or what wealth you have. If a man serves
God, you don't have anything he wants. Years ago, I heard
Brother Henry Mahan say, They're just two kinds of preachers and
he was exactly right. Those who give and those who
take. Those who use and those who are
gladly used. Those who serve and those who
demand to be served. That's all there are. No other
kind, just those two kinds. All preachers can be identified
by just exactly those two things. Sometimes false prophets seem
to be self-denying rather than self-serving. Sometimes they
speak the truth and even fight for it and will even put themselves
in great, great positions where they look like they're in great
danger defending certain aspects of truth. Many who vehemently
oppose the gospel of God's free grace, oppose the message of
divine sovereignty, zealously contend for the book, the blood,
and the blessed hope. Southern Baptist Convention for
as long as I've been involved in religion. I mean, just since
I was a boy, they've been fighting over liberalism and conservatism,
liberalism and fundamentalism. And every few years, the fundamentalist
will get the upper hand, fighting for the book, the blood, and
the blessed hope. And then every few years, the
liberals get the upper hand, fighting to oppose the book,
the blood, and the blessed hope. And they all just go right on,
getting along fine, just getting along fine. Why? Because none
of it really matters to either of them. None of it really matters
to them. They just are interested in promoting and keeping their
own positions wherever they are. Many who deny the efficacy of
Christ's blood will put themselves in great hazard defending the
deity and the virgin birth of Christ. Risk losing position
and fame defending Christ's deity and virgin birth. Some years
ago, when the convention was meeting down here in Dallas,
the electing president, I've forgotten which year it was,
but I recall reading the Advocate Messenger. It happened to be
one of those times when they called me. They didn't put on
what I said in the paper, but they called me. I told them I
wasn't involved with it, but the fellows, given their comments,
they were fighting about whether or not the Bible is really the
inspired Word of God. Is it really the inspired Word
of God? This fellow down the road, he
said, well, I don't know what all the fuss is about. I think
we just ought to win souls for Jesus. What nonsense. What nonsense. Balaam was just that kind of
man. He was like the man Bunyan called Mr. Face Both Ways. He represents those men who appear
to have a great deal of Bible knowledge and a great deal of
discernment, but their knowledge is all carnal knowledge and their
discernment is all spiritual, all natural judgment. In reality,
they have no spiritual understanding. no spiritual knowledge, no spiritual
discernment. God's people know by spiritual
revelation. They know Christ and they know
truth by the revelation of God through his word from the inside. He is Christ revealed in you. Yet our God is so great, so glorious,
so infinitely over all God blessed forever that he uses even reprobate
false prophets like Balaam to accomplish his purpose, to serve
his people, and even to proclaim his gospel. He who is God, he
who is God, whoever, whoever God is, he who is God is God
over all. and rules always, everywhere,
and everyone. Absolutely. Absolutely. Even
false prophets serve him, though they fight against him. Let that
sink in. You serve him, and I serve him.
We who are his servants willingly serve him with willing hearts
because he's made us his willing servants. But we serve him no
more fully than Satan and the demons of hell. Everything serves
our God absolutely. Nothing wriggles in heaven, earth,
or hell except by God's decree and God's appointment for God's
glory and the good of his people. That includes false prophets.
Janes and Jambres withstood Moses to the face. Every time Moses
would have Aaron to perform a work, they would imitate it. Every
time Moses would do something, they would imitate it. And they
kept doing this and that and doing this and that, imitating
Moses and imitating Aaron, imitating God and imitating divine power.
And they did so hoping to oppose God and oppose Moses and oppose
the deliverance of Israel. But all they could do was just
make noise. And so Israel came out of Egypt.
Moses succeeded. Aaron succeeded in that which
they came to accomplish. And Paul says that these false
prophets like Janes and Jambres withstood Moses to the face shall
proceed no further. God teach us to understand nothing
is ever out of control. Nothing ever slips up on his
backside. Nothing ever takes him by surprise. But all Performed that are all
performed that which is according to God's purpose in Balaam's
parable We see a false prophet vindicating the truth and faithfulness
of God and Declaring the truth of God though. He didn't know
God and didn't know God's truth now that shouldn't surprise us
shouldn't surprise us at all and I can show you one more example
where this took place in scripture. Hold your hands here in Numbers
23 and turn back to the book of John, the gospel of John,
the 11th chapter. There's a fellow here by the
name of Caiaphas, the high priest in Israel on the year when our
Lord was crucified. And though he knew nothing at
all about what he was saying, he prophesied the death of Christ
and prophesied his death in the language of absolute theological
accuracy and didn't have a clue what he was saying. Okay, John
chapter 11 verse 47 then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees
a council and said What do we for this man do it many miracles
if we let him thus alone? All men will believe on him and
the Romans shall come and take away Both our place in the nation. That's the thing that motivates
them every day if we if we leave him alone, we're gonna lose our
position and Lose our jobs, lose our salaries, lose our influence.
We can't just stand by and do nothing. And one of them, verse
49, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said
unto them, You know nothing at all, nor consider that it is
expedient. That's a strong word. It doesn't
simply mean it will be best, though it means that. It's necessary. It's necessary for us that one
man should die for the people, in the place of the people, for
the people, in the stead of the people, and that the whole nation
perish not. And this spake he 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 also
he should gather together in one the children of God that
were scattered abroad. Now that is the clearest statement
of the doctrine of atonement, you're likely to read most anywhere
outside this book. It was written by a man or stated
by a man who didn't know God from a gourd. He was a religious
infidel, but he spoke exactly as God ordained that he speak.
Now, I've said all that because I want you to understand that
our God is in control of all things, even false prophets. They will never do harm. in God's
kingdom. I don't mean by making this statement
that we should pay no attention to men who are wolves in sheep's
clothing. I don't mean that we should never
be concerned that they come up by them multitudes are destroyed,
but none of God's elect are harmed. They cause no trouble in God's
kingdom. They cause no difficulty in the cause of Christ. Our Lord
Jesus said, as he declares, I will build my church. The gates of
hell shall not prevail against it. Not ever. Not for a second. Not ever. Now look at what God
said by Balaam. First, in verse 18, Balaam was
Compelled by God to declare to Bailick this blessed fact Bailick
had hired him to curse God's people and he said bail it God's
purpose God's grace God's blessing upon his chosen are things that
are unalterable We were safety and he took up this parable now
remember verse 16. He tells us these are the words
that the Lord has put in the mouth of Balak. He took up this
parable and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear hearken unto me, thou
son of Zippor. God is not a man that he should
lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. Hath he said,
and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall
he not make it good? Behold, I have received commandment
to bless, and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it. God
Almighty has blessed His people from old eternity with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. And it can't be reversed,
not by the fall of our father Adam, not by the entrance of
sin into the world, not even by all our rebellion and iniquity
and transgression, not by all our unbelief and our fighting
against God. God blessed us from eternity
and that blessing cannot be reversed. He who has blessed us has fixed
it so that nothing can harm or curse us. We don't. Verse 22,
Balaam was compelled to declare that God's redeemed are an unconquerable
people. God brought them out of Egypt. He hath, as it were, that is
this people, Jacob and Israel, whom God has brought out of Egypt.
He hath, as it were, the strength of a unicorn, that mythical flying
horse with a horn right in the middle of his head. He says God's
people had the strength of that mythical wild beast. Read on verse 24. Behold, the
people shall rise up as a great lion and lift up himself as a
young lion. He shall not lie down until he
eat of the prey and drink the blood of the slain. That is these
whom God brought out of Egypt who have all strength given them
in Jesus Christ the Lord by the hand of the omnipotent God they
are men and women who cannot be defeated but shall surely
conquer and prevail over those who spoiled them and shall spoil
them at last made more than conquerors through Christ who loved us and
then in verse 23 God told Balaam And it's recorded for us that
it is impossible for anything or anyone to injure God's elect. We don't have to believe that,
do we, Ron? It is impossible for anything or anyone to injure
God's elect. There shall no evil happen to
the just. Look at verse 23. 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 hath God wrought? When we give consideration to
that which is declared in this passage of scripture. Our hearts
ought to be overwhelmed with the constant, constant amazement
expressed in those words. What hath God wrought in the
saving of my soul? What hath God wrought? Now look at verse 21. Here the
Lord God declares one of the most wondrous, glorious aspects
of gospel truth to be found in the book of God. Yes, it fell
from the mouth of Balaam, a false prophet, but it fell from his
mouth by divine inspiration because God the Holy Spirit put it in
his mouth. He declares that the Lord our
God does not behold iniquity in his people. Well, that's not
exactly what it says, is it? That's not exactly what it says.
Look at it. Verse 21. He hath not. When you read the
scriptures, read it like it's written. He hath not. He has never. He does not now. He can never. 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. What does this mean? God
has never beheld iniquity in Jacob. He has never seen perverseness
in Israel. How could that be? Did not the
Lord Jesus Christ die for us to put away our sins in time?
Did he not justify us with his blood? Of course he did. But
the Lord God Almighty looking on us in his son from eternity
with his son from eternity Forgave our sins and put them away by
the blood of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world Before
ever they were committed. You remember what David was confronted
with his sin Nathan the Prophet said to David thou art the man
and God's next word to David was well David I The Lord's going
to watch you now, and if you behave properly and you're really
sincere about this thing of confessing your sin, he'll forgive your
transgressions. No. His next word was, the Lord
hath put away. That's it. Already done. Already done. Well, how could
this be? The Lord God created us and redeemed
us and forgives us as sinners. And yet he has never beheld sin
in us, for we are forever one with his son. Just imagine that. If we ever come to see the sweet
experience of his grace just a little, if we ever come really
to see just a little of what God says here. We will forever
bow in astonishment before him, our souls crying, what hath God
wrought? Now, these words do not suggest
that there is no sin or perverseness in Israel. You know better than
that. There was in that nation that
was typical of us and there is in us. But God doesn't behold
sin in Israel. He hasn't. He doesn't. He never
will. Not in His true Israel. Though
there's much sin in us and much perverseness done by us, as it
is with every true believer, you and I acknowledge it and
confess it with pain, but acknowledge it and confess it we do. Yet
God sees no sin in His people. You see, the Lord Jesus came
into this world, we are told, to destroy the works of the devil. He hath by his own sacrifice
put away sin. Now, either he did it or he didn't. It can't be partial. He destroyed
the works of the devil. He put away sin. And now, in
him, we have no sin. That's what it says, 1 John 3,
5. The Lord God has so thoroughly blotted out our transgressions,
so thoroughly removed our sins that he is declared to have cast
them behind his back. He's declared to have put them
away. He's declared to have removed them from us as far as the East
is from the West. He's declared not to see them
and to remember them no more forever. How can that be? He
put them away. Now, I'm fully aware that people
hear this doctrine and they get upset and they cry, oh, you can't
preach that to folks, that will lead to licentiousness, that
will open the floodgates to corruption and deceit and evil. You just can't preach that to
people. I preached from this passage
of scripture at a Bible conference when I was 21 years old, Winston-Salem,
North Carolina. And when I got done, that's exactly
what I heard. from a bunch of older preachers.
And I mean, they were upset. You can't do that. You can't
preach that. How come? God said it, didn't
he? You got it right here before you, don't you? We're not here
to hide things. If you declare that, that'll
lead to licentiousness. That's exactly what Jude is referring
to when he talks about those who creep into the church and
they deny the Lord God. They say the grace of God is
lasciviousness. They turn the grace of our God
into lasciviousness. They say, you preach free grace.
That'll lead to licentiousness. No. If ever you learn anything
about free grace in the experience of your soul, if ever I learn
anything about it, we will recognize that we've been bought with a
price. Oh, what a price and what we owe our Redeemer. and how
we ought to rejoice in his free grace. That which is declared
here is what John Gill said, without this the gospel must
cease to be good news and glad tidings to the sons of men. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel. Now let me be crystal
clear, I want you to see exactly what God is saying, and I want
you to understand what He's not saying. He is not telling us
that God's people are not sinners. He's not telling us that there's
no sin in us, no perverseness in us. I don't need to prove
that to you. I don't need anybody to prove
that to me. The first thing the Spirit of God does in a Holy
Spirit conviction is to convince a man of his sin. And horrible
and shocking as the knowledge of my sin was when first I began
to see what I am on the inside by nature. The convicting work
of God's spirit that's been going on in here for better than 40
years, more disturbing now than it's ever been. Because I not
only see myself more evil, but I know that I get more evil with
every passing day. Not just we see it more clearly,
more evil than I've ever been. On the outside, we clean things
up pretty good. Some of you who spend a lot of
time with me traveling, you might see me get out of sorts sometimes.
But most of the time, you don't see me get out of sorts. I'm
pretty good at covering that up. You don't see me lose my
temper. I'm pretty good at holding it back. You don't hear me. Speak
grumbling words. I'm pretty good at not doing
that that dear lady over there. She She sees a whole lot more
than you do and she doesn't see anything. Oh Wretched man that
I am Do you acknowledge that to be true? Nothing in you by
nature, but sin now the fact is the believer every believer
young and old man and woman Every believer, the believer who is
most useful and the believer who appears to be the most insignificant
in the eyes of men, who probably is the most useful. Every believer
is a person with two diametrically opposing natures, flesh and spirit,
Adam and Christ. The old man of flesh and the
new man created of God in righteousness and true holiness. That nature
that can do nothing but sin and that nature that cannot sin.
Every believer has that experience and he recognizes it. Sin no
longer reigns, but he will never surrender. Therefore, we constantly
at war with ourselves. Walk in the Spirit, Paul said,
and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. The believer
walks in the Spirit. The life of faith, Darwin, is
walking in the Spirit. That's what it is. Walking in
the Spirit and not some kind of a wild, charismatic, Pentecostal
experience where you just, all of a sudden, now you're elevated
up here and you walk in the clouds and you kind of float 15 feet
above everybody else and look down your nose on them and say,
boy, I wish you were as spiritual as I am. No, no. Walking in the
Spirit is to trust Christ alone as your Savior. That's what Paul
says in Romans chapter 7 or Romans chapter 8. You're no longer in
the flesh, but in the Spirit. We live in this body of flesh,
but you're not in the flesh. We've been born of God and we're
in the Spirit. And those who walk in the Spirit
shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. And that's eternal
death. The believer walks in eternal
life, but the flesh is always flesh and will never improve
in the least. Sin so mars everything that we
do that the prophet says our righteousness is. That's talking
about the self-righteous works of the unbelieving hypocrite.
No, no. Rex Bartley, that's talking about
you and me. Our righteousness is the very
best we think and do. Our filthy rags. An obnoxious,
dirty, minstrels cloth. That's the word. That's the word. Mother of God, that's offensive.
Not near as offensive as your righteousness is to God Almighty
without Jesus Christ. Did you get that? Our righteousness
is filthy rags. God cannot and will not accept
anything we think, much less do, except by the blood and righteousness
of his son, because our righteousnesses are filthy rags. Sometimes I
think, for now, now I'm doing something. Now maybe at last
I've been able to do something just for James Jordan. But most
of it was for God. My God, I wish that weren't so,
but that's just fact. That's just fact. We love ourselves
by nature and our love of self by nature corrupts everything.
God Almighty accepts us through his son and only through his
son. Well, does this mean then that
God doesn't really know everything? God really Is not omniscient? Of course not. Of course not.
God's people recognize that God knows everything. David said,
the darkness is light before thee. The Spirit of God tells
us all things are naked and open with him with whom we have to
do. Hebrews 4.13. Well, if God's
omniscient, how is it that he doesn't see our sins? Is he not aware of the fact that
we sin? Oh, of course he is. Of course
he is. When David sinned against the
Lord, the thing that David did, we're told in 2 Samuel specifically
these words, displeased the Lord. Did you ever wonder why God chose
those words rather than David displeased the Lord? Well, it's
obvious. David's in Christ. always was
in Christ. And God declares that His Son,
this is He in whom I'm well pleased. He could never be displeased
with His Son. But the thing David did displeased
the Lord. How many times your sons or daughters
who were concerned about you being pleased with them, when
they'd see your displeasure with their behavior, appear to think
if they didn't ask, Have you ceased to love me? Am I no longer
the object of your favor? Am I no longer the delight of
your heart? And you can hear the silent question
from the appearance of their eyes, and you grab them up, set
them on your lap, and let them know, son, listen, listen, what
you've done, I hate it, and I have dealt with you as I have to let
you know how horrible what you've done is. But what you've done
doesn't change anything. You're mine. You're mine. Now
God Almighty does that, but not from the same character. We can
do that overlooking one another's sin. God can't. But the Lord
God, once having embraced us as His own in His Son from eternity,
will never cast us off. And He will demonstrate his displeasure
with the evil we do, chastening the son that he loves, that he
may drive from us the evil that he hates, that he may keep us
from the evil that he hates, but never because he's angry
with us. As a matter of fact, for the believer, nothing on
this earth can be more delightful than the realization that God,
our Savior, truly is the omniscient God and nothing is hidden from
him. When Peter had denied the Lord
the third time, when he heard the cock crow early that morning,
the scripture says he went out and wept bitterly, not because
he was repentant. When Peter heard that cock crow
the third time, he was dead sure he was a lost man and never knew
God. He told his brethren, says, fellas,
if you come looking for me, you can find me where I was in the
beginning. I'm going back to my fishing business. It's all
over with me. And the Lord Jesus came to him
after the resurrection and he sought him out. And he said,
Peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord. Peter, do you love
me? Yes, Lord. Both times he used
the common Ordinary word for love. You've heard it used many
times. You see it agape It's a Greek
word, but it's a common ordinary word for love. It's commonly
used We have agape feast even to this day. Well, we have folks
have that kind of stuff, but It's a common word and then he
uses another word and he said to Peter the third time Simon
son of Jonas lovest thou me and Peter was grieved in his heart
and Because he said to him the third time, love this thou me.
And he used a different word. He used the strongest possible
word for love. He said, now Peter, I'm not talking
about men and men. I'm talking about real love.
Do you, in the core of your being, really love me? The word is phileo,
from which we get our word phile, as in Philadelphia. Pedophile,
we use it all the time. The word is The love of a brother
in blood union. Blood's thicker than water, they
say. That's the word. Do you really, really love me? And this is what Peter said.
Lord, you know everything. You know what I've done. You
know how I've cussed and denied I knew you. You know how I've
blasphemed you. You know how I've forsaken you.
You know how I've behaved. And James and John and the others
know that too. That's easy for them to say.
But you know something they can't possibly know. You know that
I love you. Because you know what you put
in me. You know all things. Aren't you
glad he does? You know all things. For the
religious hypocrite, that fact is terrifying. For the believer,
it's greatly consoling. Well, what does this mean then?
God hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob nor perverseness in
Israel. What does it mean? The Lord God
has so thoroughly put away our sins by the sacrifice of his
son and did it from eternity as he sacrificed his son in his
own heart and purpose as the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world that justice finds nothing to punish. in any of
his people. We have no debt to pay. We have
no crime for which to suffer. We have no evil to be punished. Christ put it away when he was
made sin for us. and suffered the wrath of God
for our sins. He didn't just cancel our debts,
He put them away. He didn't just cover our transgressions,
He put them away. David said, Thou forgavest the
iniquity of my sin. The Lord picked it up off me
and took it away. And now it is no more. But Brother Don, you've told
us our sins. The Lord God looks now at our
sins, not as crimes to be punished, but as sicknesses to be healed,
weaknesses to be helped, diseases in His babies that call for His
mercy, that which is most harmful to His darling that must be taken
away and removed and purged from Him. The Lord God in the last
day will judge us exactly as I have described. We read it
this morning according to our works. I don't want God to deal
with me in justice. He's going to. I promise you,
you're going to get just what you deserve. He's going to judge
every man according to his works, according to the things written
in the book. And turn to Jeremiah 50. Let me show you what's written
in the book. Jeremiah chapter 50 and verse 20 In those days and in that time
saith the Lord the iniquity of Don Fortner Shall be sought for
and there shall be none and the sins of Don Fortner and they
shall not Be found his name is written in another book His name
is written in the Book of Life of the Lamb, for I will pardon
them whom I reserve. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob, or perverseness in Israel, because his son is our head,
our redeemer, our surety, our substitute, our savior. We put away our sins. Oh my,
what hath God wrought?