I've been working on something
ever since I got in town and I believe it will profit your
souls if God will speak through me. I just told you the Bible
is open and listen for a few minutes. In this chapter we have
God's Word which He put into the mouth of a false prophet.
This is not Balaam's Word. but rather it is God's word that
he put into Balaam's mouth. Balaam was hired, as you know,
to curse Israel, but Balaam found out and reported back to Balak,
I can't curse those whom God has blessed. To many, Balaam
is one of those puzzling characters in the Bible, to many. We know
because we're told plainly in the scripture that he was a false
prophet. And yet, at times, he appears to have been a man of
character, appears to have been. He led Israel to mingle the worship
of God with the worship of idols and thus to compromise the truth
and glory of the God in the name of unity and peace and brotherly
love. And yet, at times, he appeared
to be a man of truthfulness and faithfulness, one committed to
the truth of God who could not be bought off or bribed. Of course,
that was just a pretense. But even the power and money
of Balak the king of Moab proved insufficient to control him. One of the great problems in
recognizing false prophets is the fact that sometimes they
do appear to be men of integrity, principle, and character. I emphasize
the word appear. They never are. They never are. They may be theologians and they
may be impressive and they may be folks that you like to be
around or like to listen to or you're mystified by listening
to them. But they'll always lack two things,
integrity and grace. They appear to be men, however,
often of character. Sometimes they seem to be self-denying
rather than self-serving. Sometimes they speak the truth
even fight for it, put themselves at risk defending it. Many who
vehemently oppose the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace
in Christ zealously contend for the book, the blood, and the
blessed hope, and they'd fight you over it. Many who deny the
efficacy of Christ's blood will put themselves at great hazard
to defend his deity and virgin birth. You see, false prophets
are wolves who look like sheep. They're wolves in sheep's clothing,
and Balaam was just such a 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 spiritual discernment, but in reality, they have no spiritual
understanding at all. Everything they know can be explained
in carnal terms. Everything they proclaim can
be explained to the carnal mind and understood by unregenerate
men and women. They appear to serve God, but
really they always serve themselves. They know much truth, but not
Him who is the truth. They have big heads, but they're
cold and empty and dead at heart. And like all the wicked, they
shall perish under the wrath of God, and they're the cause
of many who will perish with them, perishing. Yet, our great
glorious God, and I want so much for you to hear this, our great
glorious God, He who is God over all uses false prophets to serve
His honor, His glory, to accomplish His purpose, and to serve the
very people they seek to destroy. Did you get that? Jameis and
Jambres withstood Moses with their enchantments and their
incantations, but all they could do is a little hoopla and say,
ah, and Moses went right about his business. They could do no
more. All they could do is make a show
and make noise. They will do no harm in God's
kingdom. Hear me, children of God. The
church of God is never at jeopardy. The souls of God's elect are
never in danger. Those who oppose Christ's kingdom
shall fall before it. The gates of hell shall not prevail
for a second against the church that Christ builds. It won't
happen. He who is our God takes even false prophets, and though
they fight against Him and His people, uses them to serve His
people and to serve Him. I wish we could get just a little
bit of that in here. Don't you? The demons of hell
are vassals of our God. Satan is as much His servant
as Bruce Crabtree. Just as much so. He serves Him
just as truly as Tim James serves Him. Against His will, mind you. But serve Him is all He can do. That's all he can do. Nobody
wiggles in heaven or hell except they wiggle by his decree in
the way he ordained. We ought not be surprised to
hear God speak his truth by a man like Balaam. He caused an ass
to speak to Balaam. My first year in Bible college,
Actually, it was the first week. I was out in Springfield, Missouri.
The professor took us all by surprise. We were all young fellows,
you know. We had the world by the tail
on a downhill pull, and he said, God once took the jawbone of
an ass and slew a thousand Philistines. And he looked over this crowd
of about 700 young boys who thought they were preachers, and he said,
it looks like he's still using the jawbones of asses. He used
Balaam's ass to speak to him, and he speaks to men by men who
are just like Balaam, the truth of his word as it pleases him. In Balaam's parables, we see
a false prophet vindicating God's faithfulness, declaring God's
truth, though he knew nothing about it. Turn over to John chapter
11. Hold your hands here. Let me
show you another passage. I want you to see this. This is not
the exception. This is not the exception. Satan
couldn't do anything to Job except he got permission from God first.
And God was the one who initiated the confrontation. And he couldn't
go beyond what God ordained with Job. And he can't do it with
you. Here is a man by the name of
Caiaphas. who is high priest in Israel,
and I dare you to find any preacher in any generation who ever stated
the gospel more clearly." Then gathered he, verse 47, then gathered
the chief priest and the Pharisees, a council, and said, what do
we? For this man, Jesus of Nazareth,
doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, everybody's
going to believe on him. And the Romans will come and
take away both our place and the nation. And one of them,
named Caiaphas, being high priest that same year, said to them,
You know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient
for us that one man should die for the people, and that the
whole nation perish not. Now watch this. This spake he,
not of himself, But being high priest that year, he prophesied
that Jesus should die for that nation. God Almighty uses whom He will,
and He always uses them exactly as He will. I've said all that
because I want us to understand our God is in control. Oh, learn it, children of God,
and it'll sail your boat through rough water." Our God is in control. The thoughts and intents of the
heart of all men are under His thumb all the time. All the time. Now, here's the first thing I
want you to see. Balaam was forced Look at verse
18, back in Numbers 23. He was forced by God to declare
this blessed fact. God's purpose, His great grace,
and His blessings upon His children are all unalterable. Now back
up in verse 16 we read, the Lord met Balaam. I read that today,
barked it again. I just sat back and I said, well.
The Lord met Balak and put a word in his mouth. Now this is what
it is, verse 18. 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. Most everybody thinks he is.
Maybe a superman, but still a man. God is not a man that he should
lie or deceive, neither the son of man that he should repent.
He often appears to, but he never does. 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 them, and
I can't reverse it." God's purpose, His grace, His blessings are
unalterable and irreversible. When I read that, I thought,
blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ before the foundation of the world, according as he
hath chosen us in him." He blessed us, Bruce, before the world began
with everything, with everything of any benefit to our souls,
and nobody is going to reverse it. Nothing in time is going
to alter it. Second, in verse 22, Balaam was
compelled to declare that God's redeemed are unconquerable. God brought them out of Egypt.
He hath, as it were, these whom God brought out of Egypt, Jacob,
God's Israel, the strength of a unicorn. The strength of a unicorn? That mythical flying horned horse? You? The strength of a unicorn? Well, let's read it this way.
We are more than conquerors through him that love does. More than
conquerors. What on earth can that mean?
I know that, you know, you folks know my gentle side. You can't
hardly imagine this, but I was a scrapper when I was on the
streets of Winston-Salem growing up. And once in a while, I whipped
fellas, and once in a while, I got whipped. But it didn't
matter who I whipped. It didn't matter who I whipped. I was always like this. Because I knew he was out to
get me. And if he couldn't get me, he'd get somebody who would.
I whipped him, but I didn't whip him good. He was able to get
up. The Lord Jesus Christ, by His
conquest over death, hell, and the grave, by His conquest over
Satan, has so thoroughly whipped our enemies that they can't rise
again. We're more than conquerors. Then
in verse 23, God told Balak, and it's recorded for us, that
it's impossible for anything or anyone to injure God's elect. 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? What hath God wrought? Then in
verse 21, the Lord God declares that one of the most wondrous,
glorious aspects of gospel truth, one of the most profound mysteries
of divine revelation could be found in all the book of God.
Yes, it fell from the mouth of Balaam, a false prophet, but
it fell from his mouth by the inspiration of God, the Holy
Spirit. He declares that the Lord our
God does not behold iniquity in His people. Look at it. Remember verse 16,
God put this word in Balaam's mouth. Now what does it say,
Brother Kim? God put this word in Balaam's
mouth. He hath not beheld iniquity And that scoundrel, just like
you and me, tricky, shifting, deceitful, cunning, crafty, unstable
as water, Jacob. He hath not beheld iniquity in
that man whose very name means iniquity. Neither hath he seen
perverseness in Israel. It doesn't say merely he does
not behold iniquity in Jacob and does not see perverseness
in Israel. The book does not say he does
not or shall not see iniquity in Jacob and shall not see iniquity
in Israel. He says, Moose Parks, my friend
Jacob, God Almighty has never seen sin
in you or perverseness of any kind. He hath not. He hath not. Because before the world began,
God put you in union with His Son, the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world, and accepted you. But if He didn't behold sin in
us, why did He slay His Son? He beheld us as sinners in need
of mercy, but not sin in us. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob. not perverseness in Israel. Imagine
that. Imagine that. If you ever get hold of this, you will bow forever in astonishment
and cry in your soul with gratitude, what hath God wrought? And when the world is done and
God has cast Satan and the demons of hell and the false prophets
and all who follow them into the pit of the dam, as they behold
the wonder of His grace in us and God spreads out His people
before wandering worlds, as they screech in the damning fires
of hell, they will say, what hath God wrought? Hath God wrought?" Well, let's
see if we can find out. These words certainly don't suggest
that there's no sin in us, no perverseness in us. There was an abundance in Jacob
and an abundance in Israel. And, Pastor, there's an abundance
in you and an abundance in me. No child of God has to be convinced
of that. Did you ever imagine before God
saved you what it would be like to live in this
body of flesh as you now find it, struggling with every lust
imaginable, every vile thought obscene, So Brother Don, I don't act like
that. I don't act like I used to either. Folks I preached to wouldn't
tolerate it. And my wife wouldn't tolerate it. And my daughter
wouldn't tolerate it. But this old man is exactly what
he used to be. Nothing changed about him. Bless
God, there's something new inside me called that seed which is
born of God, called Christ in you, the hope of glory. There
is that new man in me that loves my Redeemer and loves righteousness.
But what I am by nature, what I have always been, and what
I will be until I leave this world, becomes more and more
painfully apparent to me with every passing day. With every
passing day. Let me be crystal clear. Let
me tell you what this text means and what it doesn't mean. First,
what it doesn't mean. Certainly, when the Word of God
asserts that God sees no sin in His people, He is not telling
us that there is no sin in us. To suggest such is to speak in
direct contradiction to everything written in this book and to everything
every child of God knows. God graciously has taught us
our sin. That's the first thing he teaches
a man when he comes in grace. And if he hasn't taught you what
you are, by nature you don't know his grace at all. But that teaching initially, while it is perhaps more shocking
than what we experience day by day, was just the introduction course. Is that right? Bitter as sin was made to me
in the early experience of God's grace when I was terrified of
His wrath and made to know I fully deserved
it. that was, but that bitterness
pales by comparison to the bitterness I taste in my soul for what I
know I am. In me, in my flesh dwells no
good thing. Even that which we do that Oh,
I know somebody will hear this on tape and they'll start cussing
me good. That's all right. I'll use the word anyway. We
call it good. Comparatively. It's better to have things we
do. Even that which we do to aid
others and that which we do seeking the glory of God and to worship
Him, the service of His kingdom, We saw it with the dirty hands
by which it's performed. So that if any man says, I have
not sinned, like the harlot in Proverbs 7, I don't care what
you just got through doing. The truth's not in you. Oh, I
did good now. Did you? Did you? Oh, I had such a good thought
this morning. Did you? Did you? Well, Brother Dodd,
the way you talk, even believers can't do good. No, that's how God talks. Our righteousnesses are just
filthy rags. There is in every regenerate
man or woman two opposing natures. The one flesh, the other spirit. The one sin, the other righteousness. We are bidden and commanded of
God to put off concerning the former conversation, the old
man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust and put
on the new man, that man of righteousness and
true holiness created in us. How on this earth could Peter look the Lord Jesus square in
the face after denying Him and denying Him and cussing and denying
Him denying him, knowing him, denying him as God. He said, I don't know that man.
And then taking up an oath and cursing, I don't know him. And
he heard that rooster crow, and he turned around and walked out,
wet bitterly, not because he was repentant. No, sir. He wet
bitterly because he thought dead sure it was all over for him.
He told his brethren, I'm going back where I was when the master
called me. It's over for me. And he went back fishing. And
the Lord Jesus arose from the dead and sent his angels to tell
the women, go tell my disciples. I'll meet them in Galilee like
I said I would. Be sure you tell Peter. Be sure you tell Peter. And he said, Peter, do you love me? Do you love me? Twice he used
The common familiar word for love, agape, I know the modern
Greek scholars say that word is the strongest word for love,
not on your life. The next word he used is the
strongest word there is in the Greek language for love, the
word from which we get our word Philadelphia. The love of one
with blood kin, brotherly love, he said, Peter. Now let's get
right down to where things are. Do you really love me? And he said, Lord, you know everything. You know everything I said. You
know everything I've done. You know my shameful behavior.
You know my corrupt heart, nature, what I am by nature. You know! You know me! And Lord, you know what James
and John and Tim and Don can't possibly know. You know that
I love you. That new man created in Christ
Jesus in righteousness and true holiness that can not sin. You say, well, Peter did that. Yes, he did, but no, he didn't. It's exactly right. That old
man that's condemned to die did that. That old man that died
at Calvary did that. That new man of resurrection
life didn't. That man can't sin, he's born
of God. He's born of God. But what does this mean? When he tells us that God hasn't
beheld sin in Jacob. or perverseness in Israel. Well,
it sure doesn't mean that the believer's sins are somehow less
evil than the wicked deeds of unbelievers. That may seem redundant to you,
but most religious people tend to talk about their sins as mistakes. and errors and slips. I'll tell you something, when you see it, when I see it, we who are born of God, redeemed
with the blood of Christ, loved of God with everlasting love.
We who have the continual experience of forgiveness and grace. For
me, to sin against God is far more inexcusable than any deed
performed by any human being. We sin against grace experienced,
love known. Mercy-free. Light shining brightly
in our faces and shining brightly in our faces from within our
own souls. We sin high-handedly. So I just
don't believe that a child of God would do that. I wish you'd
tell me what it is that you don't think a child of God would do.
Just tell me what it is you think he won't do. The Lord told Peter
you're going to deny me. Before the rooster crows tomorrow
morning, the second time, you're going to deny me. And, Peter, I can almost guarantee what he's
thinking. If I'm wrong, I'll beg his forgiveness. Lord, you
must be thinking about God. I wouldn't do that. Don't you
remember I took out my pocket knife against that garrison of
soldiers who came to arrest you? I wouldn't do that. And the Lord
said, the rooster's going to crow twice before you deny me
the third time. Peter denied him. Nothing happened.
That must not have been serious. I thought it was. That couldn't
have been too bad. The Lord would have corrected
me for that. He said, I don't know the man.
And that rooster crowed. What? Volcanic shocks must have
run through his body and his mind and his soul. Oh, I did. But such is our fallen, depraved
nature that we cannot keep ourselves from the most vile behavior unless
God keeps us. Looks like you got up and walked
out. And the Lord warned him, that rooster crowed, let me get
out of here. He stayed right where he was
and denied him the third time. You and I have got to learn,
we are made out of the same stuff. Nothing better. Believers are men and women who are sinners
still. What does this mean? God hasn't
beheld iniquity in Jacob. He's not seen perverseness in
Israel. What does that mean? Does that mean somehow that God
is not really omniscient? God doesn't know that we see
Him? Not at all. In 2 Samuel, we're
told plainly that the thing, and it's worded just like this,
the thing that David did displeased the Lord. I wonder why God didn't
say, David displeased the Lord. I know why He didn't. Do you?
Because David is included in that band, indescribable in number,
incalculable in multitude, of whom the Lord God spoke when
He said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. As easy as it is for you not
to be pleased with me, It's impossible for God Almighty not to be pleased
with me. That's just impossible. I'm one
with His Son. He can't be displeased with me
and not be displeased with His Son. I am one with His Son, as
truly one with His Son, as His Son is one with Him, one with
His Son. That means David Wright, he can't
be displeased with you if you're one with His Son. But with what
you do, that's another story. And he'll show it. The Lord sees
our sins, but not... I think I heard Brother Tim James
say this last year, a year before, but Al Mott was preaching and
he said, not as crimes to be punished, but as sicknesses to
be healed. My babies are sick. They need
my help. Ah, what a difference. Not as
the offenses of a rebel that must be crushed, but rather as
the weaknesses of a child who needs to be picked up. Not as
the crimes and debts of a man who's offended society that must
be paid, but rather as the a father of a baby that needs
direction. And that's what he does with
his own. That's what he does with his own. Churches want to kick them all
out. I had a friend of mine, thank God he heard what I said
to him. He called me up one time several years ago, and he said,
I've been asked to preach Sunday. I want to preach on discipline,
church discipline. I wonder if you've got anything
on that. And I said to him, well, you mind me making a suggestion?
He said, what's that, Brother Dodd? I said, why don't you preach
on something the Bible talks about. And find something that's needful
for your wretched soul to comfort and cheer and reprove and rebuke
you. And you might find something
profitable to God's people. Oh, children of God, the Lord
God doesn't behold our crimes, our offenses, our sins as He
beholds those of others. No, no. He beholds our offenses
as the offenses of His children whom He dearly loves. And you're
going to correct. And so He chastens them. Not
to punish us. God's never been angry with you.
Not if you're His. Now, sometimes He looks angry.
I just got one daughter. You've heard me tell it many
times, I'm sure, but I'll tell it again. It bears repetition.
I used to cause her a lot of pain. I caused her a lot of pain. If I told her to do something
the second time, she felt me tell her the second time. She
felt it on her behind. And that was that way all the
time she was growing up. So I didn't have to tell her
a second time very often. She knew if I had to tell her twice,
she's going to hurt. And I'm sure there were times
that she thought I was just mad at her. Just mad at her. The times that much as I tried
to pick up on my laughing, I'd get done, tell her I love her,
and weep because I had to whip her. I'm sure she thought he's
not telling the truth. He's mad at me. Daddy doesn't
love me anymore. Well, why would you do that to
your child? Have you seen her lately? That's why God Almighty punished
our sins in His Son. He corrects them in us. What
a huge difference. But brother Don, what does this
mean then? God has not, does not and shall not behold iniquity
in Jacob or perverseness in Israel. It means just this, there's nothing in us for God
to punish. Nothing in us for God to punish. We had a debt. We all owe 10,000, 10,000 times
10,000, and had nothing to pay. And the Lord God didn't just
cross out our debt, He took it away. He took our sins away from
us and laid them on his son. He made his son to be sin for
us and imputed to his son our guilt. We try to, so often we get in
trouble trying to explain the work of God in grace. And we'll
explain this in forensic terms. I just said that so y'all know
I knew that word. Legal terms. Legal terms. The sacrifice of Christ was a
heapsight more than something legal. How did God make His Son say,
I don't have any idea? I don't have any idea how God
became flesh either, but he did. He was made flesh, wasn't he?
He's the incomprehensible, invisible God, but he was made flesh. And God made his son, saying,
in a court of law, you can transfer debts, but you can't transfer
crimes. You can transfer debts, but you
can't transfer guilt. You can even transfer punishment,
but you can't transfer the offense. It can't be done. God did. He made Him to be sin for us
who knew no sin. And when He did that, the Son of God Put away our sins by the sacrifice of Himself.
Put them away. Put them away. Cast them behind His back. Remove
them from us so thoroughly, so completely, so effectually that
the Lord God says, He will not remember them against us again
forever. David commits adultery and murder,
and he is left to see that for a year. His bones waxed old through
his roaring. And finally God's prophet came
to him, And God stuck his finger right in David's heart and he
said, Thou art the man. And David said, I have sinned.
Listen to the next word. Well, the Lord will forgive you
your sin, David, if the Lord hath, hath, hath, before
was ever committed, the Lord hath put away thy sin." David went home and he wrote,
blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. He won't impute sin to us. He
won't do it. He won't do it. Justice won't
allow it even if He wanted to and He has no desire to. He won't
do it because He made His Son sin for us, imputed our sins
to His Son and punished His Son to the full extent of justice
until at last He says to Jacob, fury is not in me. In Jesus Christ, God Almighty
has so thoroughly expunged our sins, robbing us in His righteousness,
making us the very righteousness of God in Him, that the triune
God looks upon you and me. And He says, thou art all fair,
my love. There is no spot in thee I've had the privilege for 40
years of being loved by a woman like no man could ever imagine.
You all can argue with that. That would be all right. Please
do, especially if your wife is sitting beside you. But you will never get her to show
you in the spots. And she covers them up real good,
but she sees a lot of my spots. She hears my gripes that you
don't hear. And she sees my anger that you don't see. And she often
experiences it that you don't experience. And I don't care how she loves
me, that's unavoidable as long as she lives with me. But this
man is loved of a God who sees no spot in man, because there
really aren't any. You don't believe that, do you? Well, that's the way God sees
things. I wish we had learned this. However
God sees it, that's the way it is. If God sees it, that's the
way it is. I don't see it that way. You're
blind. God's not. God sees things right. Our Savior says, Thou hast ravished my heart. Thou hast ravished my heart. Do you remember what I thought
of that? With one look of thine eye. Look unto Me, and be ye saved
all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and beside Me there
is none else." I heard the voice of Jesus say, Look unto Me and
live! And I looked! And He says, You've ravished
my heart. You've ravished my heart. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 50. Jeremiah chapter 50. I'll give
you one more word here. I'll quit. How far can we take this? Folks
have always warned me. The first time I preached from
Numbers 23-21, Nearly 40 years ago, 37, 36 years
ago, Rosemont Church in Winston-Salem, where you were attending, two
or three preachers came up to me afterwards. I was just a young
buck. Oh, I got scolded. I got scolded. It's horrible. Horrible. You can't preach this
stuff. You're taking that too far. Let
me tell you something. I challenge you. I challenge
you. Get hold of any word of grace, any promise of God. found
in this book anywhere. And when you've taken it too
far, would you call me and let me know? How far can we take this? How
far can we take it? Just as far as your sanctified
imagination can run with it and you can pass the baton and run
the next one and pass the baton and run the next one until you
run out of time and you haven't come close to it yet. You haven't
come close yet. Jeremiah 50, verse 20. In those
days, and in that time, saith the Lord,
the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for. Let me read that for me, will you? The iniquity of Donald Stuart
Fortner shall be sought for. And there shall be none. And the sins of Donald Stuart
Fortner, where are they? God, you've got
to search the books. You keep your books. I'm looking. They shall not be found. How
come? For I will pardon them. whom
I reserve, preserved in Jesus Christ unto
the calling of His grace, because God hath not beheld iniquity
in Jacob." He hath not seen perverseness in Israel. Oh, Brother Dodd, Oh, you don't know what I'd give
to be able to go home tonight and lay my head on my pillar with the sweet assurance that
can't be disputed, that God in heaven sees no sin in me. Are you interested? Are you interested? This is what it says. If we confess
our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Cover it, and God will uncover
it. Confess it, and God's already
taken it away. Oh, God, give you grace. God,
give me grace to confess our sin and to know the sweet cleansing
of Christ's precious blood that continually, perpetually, forever
cleanseth us from all sin. Amen.