Turn with me, if you will, to
the book of Numbers. We will just read one small but
gigantic portion of this book. Small in the space it takes,
but gigantic in the message that it gives, and that will be our
starting point in just a moment. When you read the Old Testament,
if you read it merely as a history, a history of an ancient people
who lived a long, long time ago with whom you have nothing really
to do. It's as boring as a textbook
on mathematics, and that's the reason the Old Testament is terribly
boring to most people. They read it as merely a history
of things gone by. If you read it merely as a book
with hidden, secret, mysterious prophecies to be figured out,
it may become a little fascinating. a little exciting, but still
it has no meaning to you personally, has no application to your life.
So when you read the Old Testament, read it the way it ought to be
read. Read it as a description and a picture, things used by
God in the lives of other people, giving a description and picture
of your own experience in life of God's grace. And when you
read the Old Testament that way, it becomes lively. It becomes
a living word to your soul. When you read this book and see
in it pictures of Christ and his great work of redemption,
his great work of grace, then it becomes precious beyond description. So as we read the book, Let's
read this book understanding that the narrative we're reading
concerning the nation of Israel, those individuals and the nation
collectively, is a narrative given by God the Holy Spirit
by those things that God in his providence accomplished with
that nation. But his interest in that nation
was only because he used that nation in his purpose as a vehicle
for the accomplishment of redemption and grace on our behalf. We who
believe are the Israel of God. I don't know how to stress this
enough. We have been so bombarded in
our age, bombarded with constant religious opinion, into the notion
that somehow those folks over in Palestine have something to
do with God's grace and God's purpose and all that stuff. That
ceased 2,000 years ago. God used that physical nation
for the purpose of bringing Christ into this world to accomplish
redemption for us who are truly the Israel of God. And all that
happened to them, happened to them only as they were that vehicle
and that instrument in the hands of God. So that now blindness
in part has happened to Israel that the gospel might go into
all the world. Now don't misunderstand that.
I don't mean by that anything like a racial anti-Semitism. Not at all. I don't mean by that
that the Jewish people are to be somehow mistreated, abhorred,
or treated with a mean spirit by us. Nothing could be further
from the truth. God has his elect among the Jews, and he has his
elect among the Gentiles, but it doesn't matter whether you're
Jew, Gentile, black, white, learned or unlearned, God's elect are
scattered through all the earth. And those who are born of God
are indeed the Israel of God. Now we see in the Pentateuch,
the first five books of the Bible, and in the book of Joshua, clear
symbolic displays of God's marvelous work of grace. These six books
are not only given by inspiration of God, but they are providentially
arranged in God's purpose as they are in this volume. I have
a book in my library that I've looked at a number of times and
haven't read it but I've looked at it a number of times, a good
friend gave me, that's very helpful. It's called the Chronological
Bible. And what it does is it takes the various portions of
scripture and puts them together in chronological order. It doesn't
read very good that way, but it gives you the chronological
history and helps to understand that, and that's needful. But
the arrangement of the books of the Bible is by divine providence
as well. And here in these first six books
of the Bible, we see a very clear, vivid portrait of our experience
of grace, given in types and shadows in the Old Testament,
and they are specifically written, and they came to pass to be examples
for us, for our learning and our admonition. That's what the
Holy Spirit tells us in 1 Corinthians 10. Genesis, and I'm going to
continually remind you of this, at least for the next few weeks,
Genesis, the book of beginnings, shows us our great need. We are
a people fallen and sinful in great need of redemption and
grace. The book of Exodus, the book of deliverance, the book
of going out displays our experience of grace. The Lord God comes
in grace and delivers us from bondage, from sin, from darkness,
from curse and condemnation. And we experience grace by the
power of his grace in bringing us out of our natural estate
into the glorious position we now have as the sons of God.
The book of Leviticus is all about the priesthood. Sacrifices. And it shows us that God's working
with us in time. Our experience of grace arises
from the effectual, accomplished redemption of our Lord Jesus
Christ as our substitute, our sacrifice, our great high priest. The book of Numbers. It's called
Numbers because it's a book of numbering. Displays the believer's
weakness and unbelief and failure in this world. You read the book
of Numbers, and you're constantly confronted with weakness and
belief and failure on the part of a people whom God had brought
out by a mighty hand from Egypt and across the Red Sea. The book
of Deuteronomy shows us God's faithfulness. It is God giving
his law a second time. He hasn't changed. He gave his
law. Israel disregarded and disobeyed
his law, but God remains unmoved, unchanged, faithful in his covenant,
faithful in his grace, and faithful in his person. And then the book
of Joshua displays our entrance into heaven's glory. Now, when
you get the book of Joshua, obviously there is a two-fold picture.
Joshua is a picture not only of that which is to come, our
taking possession of heaven, but it is a picture of us in
this world taking possession of heaven's glory by faith in
Christ. Tonight let's look at Numbers.
Numbers chapter 21, we'll read this first, beginning at verse
4. Children of Israel journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of
the Red Sea, to accomplish the land of Edom. And the soul of
the people was much discouraged because of the way. How often, how often, how often
my soul is much discouraged because of the way. Ought not be, but
it is. We don't. And the people spoke
against God. How often we do. not like they did with our lips,
were not quite as honest as they were, but entered the murmuring
of our hearts and our thoughts of rebellion against him. They
spake against God and against Moses, the man who delivered
God's message. Wherefore have you brought us
up out of Egypt, to die in the wilderness? For there is no bed,
neither is there any water, and our soul loatheth this light
breath. We loathe Christ, God's We loathe
God's daily provision for us, not only for our souls, but for
our bodies. Verse 6, And the Lord sent fiery
serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and much
people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to
Moses and said, We sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord
and against thee. pray unto the Lord that he will
take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. Verse 8, And the Lord said to
Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole, and it
shall come to pass that every one that is bitten, when he looketh
upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass,
and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass that if a serpent
had bitten any man, When he beheld the serpent of Baths, he lived. Now, hold your hands here and
turn to John chapter 3. Let me remind you of our Lord's
explanation of this event. John chapter 3, verse 14. This event happened in Israel
as an intended picture of God's grace and mercy in Christ for
his people scattered through all the world and not to the
Jews only. Look at verse 14. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
How come that whosoever, Jew or Gentile, whosoever among Adam's
fallen son bitten of hell, and having the poison of the serpent
of hell in them, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have eternal life? The way to live is to look. Did you hear me? The way to live
is to look. Away from yourself, to Christ,
lifted up on the tree, having accomplished redemption. That's
the way we live. Look unto me and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth. Faith is compared to looking.
We look to someone else for help. We look to someone else to supply
our need. We look to someone else for everything
we need. That's what faith is. It's looking
to Christ for everything. Now, look at verse 16. For God
so loved the world, not just the Jews, the world. Our Lord
is speaking to Nicodemus, a high-ranking Jew who presumed that anything
was better than being born a Gentile. He says, Nicodemus, God so loved
the world, the world of his elect, wherever they are, that he gave
his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him, whosoever looks
away to him. It doesn't say looks and sees.
He doesn't say looks and beholds, he says looks. He doesn't say
looks and understands, he says looks. So that the sinner in
his desperate need, like that man bitten of the fiery serpent,
squirming for his last breath in desperation, is told there's
a blazing serpent and God said anybody who would look would
live. And the man just looks. And immediately
he's made whole. That's how sinners are made to
live before God. We live by looking to Christ. I said, but Pastor, are you suggesting
that a man looking brings life to himself? No. Yeah. I realize nobody's going
to look except man who's given life. I understand that. I realize
nobody's going to believe except man to whom God gives faith.
But I want to tell you this, you will never know anything
about life. You will never possess anything
of the health of your soul. You'll never possess and have
right to lay claim to anything promised of God to his people,
except as you look to Christ. And looking, it's all yours.
Look and live. look and live. That's what the
book says. Now let's go back here to the
book of Numbers. This fourth book of Moses is
called Numbers because it opens with the numbering of the children
of Israel. And then it concludes in the latter part of the book,
beginning in chapter 26, with the numbering of Israel again.
And both times this numbering was done not as an act of pride
for which God punished David, but rather it was done because
God commanded Moses to number the people. If you read through
the first five books of the Bible at one setting, when you get
to Leviticus and then come back to Numbers, it looks like Leviticus
is out of sync. Because Leviticus doesn't deal
with anything historic, really. Two or three events we mentioned
as we looked at it, but really it's not a historic book. These
other books are historic books. You read to the end of Exodus,
you could actually just fold over to the book of Numbers and
pick up the history right there. And Leviticus looks like it might
be out of sync, but it's not. The book of Leviticus is a parenthetical
explanation of something. In Exodus, we see God bringing
his people out of bondage, out of darkness, out of slavery,
and bringing us, his people, in grace, out from under the
curse of the law, the bondage and dominion of sin, into the
liberty of faith and life in Jesus Christ. And when you get
to Numbers, you see another picture. Those same people. Those same
walking by the way of the Red Sea. Those same people. Those
people who have seen Pharaoh and his armies drown in the wrath
of God in the Red Sea. Those people who sang of deliverance. Those people who have tasted
the sweetness of God's deliverance. You and I. Murmuring, faltering,
failing, walking in incessant unbelief. What a sad fact, but fact it
is. You and I, while we live in this
world, live in a constant struggle with unbelief. A constant life of failure. That's just that. That's just
that. I read books about leading the
victorious Christian life. Well, I used to. I don't read
them anymore. I still run across them. And folks talk about getting
the victory and all that stuff. And I'm going to be honest with you,
I don't know anything about any of it. Nothing. Nothing. I look back and see God in His
grace holding and upholding, recovering and forgiving. sustaining
and guiding. But I see nothing in me but unceasing
struggle with unbelief and failure. And nothing in him but unceasing
immutable faithfulness. And that's the message of the
book of Numbers. But why is Leviticus stuck right
between Exodus and Numbers? To teach us that God always deals
with us. God always deals with us. Not upon the basis of our experience,
but on the basis of Christ's accomplished redemption. And that gives me hope. That
sustains my soul. That gives me strength as I go
through this world. Now this book of Numbers covers
a period of 38 years. 38 of the 40 years that Israel
wandered in the wilderness. You know, the children of Israel
were brought into this time of wandering because of their unbelief. The Lord God here would separate
the precious from the vile. And all those who came out of
Egypt, 20 years old and upwards, died during that 40 years. And
God thereby raised up another generation who was also numbered
by the Word of God, according to the Word of God, by Moses
and by Aaron. Someone suggested that This was
the longest funeral procession in history. That's a pretty good
description. These 40 years, Israel wandered through the wilderness
under divine judgment. By these things, God taught his
people to believe him. God taught his people to believe
him. These 40 years were the result of their unbelief, specifically
The children of Israel refused to believe the report of Joshua
and Caleb, those two faithful spies that went in with the other
ten to spy out the land of Canaan. And the children of Israel chose
rather to follow the lead of the unbelieving spies and would
have taken up stones and killed Joshua and Caleb on the spot.
And so God told them, you're going to wander in this wilderness
for 40 years until every one of you are dead. Until every
one of you are dead. One year for every day the spies
were in the land. And they all perished in the
wilderness and could not enter into the land of promise because
of unbelief except for Joshua and Moses. Now, having said that,
I think it's very important that you understand not all those
who perished in the wilderness in this typical picture were
unbelieving people. Moses died in the wilderness
too. And Moses believed God. The Lord is teaching us something.
He's teaching us that we must walk with him by faith and the
only way we shall enter into heavenly rest is by faith in
Jesus Christ alone. And so he raised up another generation
and brought them into the land of rest, given by Joshua, the
representative of Christ, the deliverer, not by Moses, the
picture of the law. Now in these 35 chapters, God
gives us a message. And this is it. we are confronted
head-on with that which causes us our greatest trouble, that
which is our most constant struggle, that which causes us most difficulty
while we live in this world as God's people, and that's unbelief. Nothing so dishonors our God
as unbelief. Nothing is so harmful to ourselves
as unbelief. You remember our Lord during
his earthly ministry, the scripture says of one place that he could
do no miracles there because of their unbelief. This is what I struggle
with most, and I suspect it's true of you. We say the Lord
knows best. We always say that. But we don't
much act like that do we? We always acknowledge that the
Lord knows what he's doing. He acts according to wisdom,
infinite wisdom. He knows what he's talking about
when he speaks. He knows what he's doing when
he acts. He always tells us the truth. All that he says, all
that he does is for the good of his people. All that he requires
is for our good. How I wish I could learn to live
as a man who believes what I preach to you constantly about God's
providential goodness. It is ever our tendency, it is
ever the tendency of our fallen, depraved nature to trust anything
but God. It is ever our tendency to lean
upon the arm of the flesh, to lean unto our own understanding,
or if not to our own, to the understanding of other human
beings who are just as fickle as we are, rather than leaning
upon the Lord our God. Solomon's word is true, no matter
where you want to apply it. There is a way which seemeth
right unto a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of The book
of Numbers pictures it for us. Here we are given a picture of
a people. A people who have come out of Egypt, who have crossed
the Red Sea, and they've come out believing God. A people who,
God said take a lamb, they took a lamb. God said slay the lamb,
they slayed the lamb. God said eat the lamb, they ate
the lamb. God said come out, they came out. God said come
on back to the sea, they went across the sea. And no sooner
had they gotten across the sea than they began to murmur and
complain. They're given a promise and they're
pressing toward the mark, but they haven't reached it. They
had faith to follow God out of Egypt, out of bondage, out of
slavery, out of darkness, but they have no faith yet with which
to possess the liberty and the rest that is in Christ as it
ought to be possessed. How much like them we are. I believe on the Son of God. and you, my brothers and sisters,
do as well. We trust his blood and find forgiveness. We trust
his righteousness and find justification. We trust his grace and find salvation. We are moving toward heavenly
glory, but we have a great deal of trouble trusting our Savior
to provide for us, to protect us, to guide us, to lead us,
and to bring us through this waste and howling wilderness
safely into glory in the way in which we should go. And so
we are often discouraged by the way. Not only does this book
speak to us about our unbelief, our failure, it speaks about
our God who is faithful still. May God, his mercy, his grace,
his goodness, His provision is never altered by our experience. The Lord God deals with us upon
the basis of His covenant love and the accomplished redemption
of our souls by the sacrifice of His Son. So that as He speaks
to us throughout His Word, He speaks to us upon the basis of
redemption accomplished. Not upon a conditional promise
of redemption, but rather upon the basis of redemption accomplished.
Turn to Isaiah 43, I want you to see this. If we believe not, yet he abideth
faithful. He cannot deny himself. The foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them
that are his. In Isaiah 43, children of Israel
are troubled. But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob. He that formed thee, O Israel.
What's this? Fear not. How come? for I have
redeemed thee. Not, fear not, and I will redeem
you. Not, fear not, and redemption will be yours. Fear not, for
I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. So when you pass through the
waters, I'll be with you. Through the rivers, they'll not
overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you'll not be burned,
neither shall the flame kindle upon you. For I am the Lord thy
God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. Come back to that
passage David read a little bit ago, Psalm 103. Psalm 103. I can't tell you how often in
a day's time my mind goes to this passage of Scripture. Psalm
103, verse 8. The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger. Aren't you glad? Plenteous in
mercy, verse 10. He hath not dealt with us after
our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the
heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward
them that fear him. As far as the east is from the
west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Now
watch this. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the
Lord pitieth them that fear him." But what does that mean? He knoweth
our frame. He remembereth that we're just
dust. He knows what we are and he pities
us accordingly. You take those small children
and you see them fall and you They fall because they do dumb
things. They get hurt because they do stupid things. They break
limbs because they do things they ought not to have done.
Things you told them not to do if they don't pay attention.
And when they fall and hurt themselves or break a limb or in some way
cause great harm to themselves or someone else, that small child,
you run and rush to the child and pick him up and snuggle him
to your breast. Because you pity the poor baby. We'll deal with correcting once
we make sure he's all right. He remembers we are dust. His name is faithful and true. Now we see this illustrated so
often. God's faithfulness. Faithfulness in spite of our
unbelief. But we see it distinctly set before us in the latter part
of the book of Numbers. Beginning at chapter 21. Here
we see Israel. triumphing over their enemies
by the hand of God. Their many, many enemies surround
them. Their outward forces, the kings of Arad, and Shaihan, and
Og, and the king of Bashan, and the attempts of Balaam, the false
prophet, to try to undermine the purpose of God, all those
things not only did not hurt the nation, but resulted in their
greater blessedness. Now hear me. All that by which
Satan would undermine God's purpose, all that that he would use to
destroy us, not only shall not hurt God's people, but shall
result in our greater blessedness. The book of Numbers tells us
in the most vivid language that God himself can find, that though
we are disobedient, though we are rebellious, though we are
full of unbelief and Though we are constantly living in this
howling wilderness year after year in barrenness and emptiness
and desolation of soul, our God has sworn, I will never leave
thee nor forsake thee. And he gives us picture after
picture. First, he gives us a picture of Aaron's rod that budded. Number
17, I think it is. Yeah, number 17. Who is God's
priest? Who is the Lord's servant? Who
is the Lord's anointed? Moses, you tell the people. Have
these fellows all stick their rod out here. And the rod that
buds with life, that's my anointed. That's my servant. That's a picture
of Christ Jesus, our Lord, bringing life out of death. And he's raised
up. And God thereby testifies that
our sins are put away and justice has been satisfied. The children
of Israel had a rock following them through the wilderness.
Now preacher, do you really believe that rock followed them? I reckon
I can, God said it did. I have no idea how, don't have
any idea by what means, but there was a rock that followed them
through the wilderness. And the Lord told Moses, take your rod
and smite the rock and water just out of the rock to refresh
their dying souls and give them life. And Christ Jesus our Lord
was smitten by the command of God with the rod of his holy
law and from his being smitten for us the water of life gushes
out to us. And then on another occasion
Moses took his rod when God said speak to the rock and smote it
a second time. And God said you'll not enter
into the land. Because you see Christ can't
be smitten but once. His one sacrifice for sin is
enough. And then the children of Israel murmuring As we read
in chapter 21, because they began to loathe God's provision for
them. They began to loathe God's manner.
They said, have you brought us out here just to kill us? And
God sent fiery serpents to bite them. And many, many, many perished. And God commanded Moses, you
make a serpent of brass and hold it up on a pole. And command
the people to look. And command them with a promise,
any man bitten of the fiery serpent who looks on this serpent of
brass that I command you to make, any man who looks and will live
and be healed of the fiery serpent's bite. That serpent of brass,
of course, is Jesus Christ our Lord who said, I, if I be lifted
up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. He made in the
image of those fiery serpents that killed him made in the image
of the very plague itself, but there's no venom in him. This
serpent of brass is held up on a pole, held up by the law of
God himself as a way of life and salvation. And that serpent
of brass is a picture of Christ Jesus the Lord. And then in the
book of Numbers, in chapter 35, you see God giving the children
of Israel cities of refuge, six cities appointed, specific cities
of refuge. And if you care to look at them
later, you can. Each of the names of the cities,
each one of them, each one of them, the name itself signifies
something about the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. These
cities of refuge portray Christ Jesus, the refuge for our souls,
unto whom we flee for salvation and life. And then in addition
to these, look at chapter 24. Chapter 24. You remember in John
12, where the Caiaphas, the high priest, made a prophecy concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ and spoke a word of explanation about substitutionary
redemption as clearly as Isaiah 53 or 2 Corinthians 5. Just as
clear, just as precisely accurate as it could be. But Caiaphas
had no idea what he was talking about. He was as lost as a goose
in a snowstorm. He didn't know what was going
on. But God spoke through him. Here in Numbers 24 is a false
prophet by the name of Balaam. And he speaks a word of prophecy
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ that is just as true, just as
accurate, just as faithful, and is recorded in the book of God
as a message from God himself through the lips of a false prophet.
It is a message about Christ Jesus the Lord. Look at verse
17. Balaam says, I shall see him,
but not now. I shall behold him, but not nigh.
there shall come a star out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise
out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy
the children of Sheol, and Edom shall be a possession." Seer
also shall be a possession for his enemies, and Israel shall
do valiantly. Out of Jacob shall come he that
shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of
the city. Christ is this star coming out
of Judah. Christ is this scepter, this
lawgiver, this deliverer out of Israel. His birth was announced
by a star, God said, in the sky. He is called the bright and morning
star in Revelation 22. And he is the deliverer, the
scepter, the lawgiver, who comes out of Zion for the salvation
of his people. Now O.J. ends there and turns
to Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11. This 11th chapter of Romans,
the whole key to understanding it is verse 26. says the fullness
of the Gentiles shall come in. And then he gives this word,
verse 26. And so all Israel shall be saved,
all God's princes, all God's elect, all God's covenant people,
not one of them going to be lost. All Israel shall be saved, as
it is written, there shall come out of Zion the deliverer, and
shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. Now, go back to numbers
one more time, and let me give you some very practical lessons,
lessons I'm sure the Spirit of God intends for us to learn from
this book. I don't suggest these are all the lessons, but these
are dominant lessons. Number one, there is nothing
so dishonoring to our God and nothing so harmful to us in this
world as unbelief. The children of Israel were brought
right up to Canaan. I mean, just right up to Canaan.
Here they are, there's the land of Canaan. God said, I'll give
it to you. You go in and possess it. Right there they are, looking
at Canaan. He said, go in and send 12 men
and inspire the land. And ten of them came back and
said, the land is everything God said it was. Filled with
milk and honey. Look at these grapes. Man, look
at this. This land is something else. But we can't take it. We're few. We don't have any
armies. We don't have any means. We don't
have any might. And there are giants in that
land. We can't take it. But two of them, Joshua and Caleb,
God's faithful dog, said, oh yes we can. God said it's ours,
it won't be any trouble, all we got to do is walk in there
and take it. That's all we got to do, just walk in and take
it. And they believed not. So for the next 40 years, they
roamed in a meaningless, waste, howling desert. But Pastor, haven't
you been telling us that God always deals with us in mercy,
according to blood redemption, according to the atonement of
Christ, oh yes. And here he punishes Israel for their unbelief. But
he uses their punishment as a picture of his chastisement to teach
us and to teach the rest of his people to believe him. Turn to
Isaiah 48. Someone said of all sad words
of tongue or pen, the saddest of these, it might have been. It means I often wonder what might
have been. What might have been. I often
wonder what might yet be if we just believed God. Look here in Isaiah 48 verse
17. I know this doesn't fit very
well with the scheme of folks who like to have everything lined
up so they can squeeze God in their little box and say this
is how we got God figured out, but this is what God says. Thus
saith the Lord thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am
the Lord thy God, which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth
thee by the way that thou shouldest go, O that thou hadst hearkened to
my commandments. Then had thy peace been as a
river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea, thy
seed also as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like
the gravel thereof, his name should not have been cut off,
nor destroyed from before me." Oh, what might have been! If thou wouldst believe, our
Lord said thou shouldest see the glory of God. I'll show you
another passage. For you who believe not, listen
to it. Matthew 23. Matthew 23. I'll just give you the text right
in the comments. It's powerful enough. Verse 32. The Son of God. looking over this damned city, about to be swept away to eternal
perdition by the judgment of God. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent
unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together,
even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wing. and you would not. Behold, your house is left unto
you desolate. Here's the second thing. God
speaks to men by men, whom he sends as his ambassadors, and
he demands that they be received as his ambassadors. Read chapters 11-17 about the
sons of Corinth. They came to Moses and said,
Moses, you take too much on yourself, you and Aaron. We're as holy
as you are. Look at us. We live as good as
you. We can discern the word of God as well as you. You just
assume too much. They don't talk like that anymore. God opened up the earth and swallowed
them into hell. When God Almighty sends a man
with his message as his ambassador, he is to be received as God's
ambassador. So that the word spoken, I can't
tell you, Bobby, how I tremble at this prospect. If God speaks
through me, You're not going to hear me and be the same. It
ain't going to happen. It ain't going to happen. We
beseech you therefore, we pray you in Christ's name be reconciled
to God. And if you refuse, I'll meet
you in judgment and you will be judged by the gospel you hear. Thirdly, here's a sobering lesson. again from the sons of Korah.
Multitudes, like the sons of Korah, have an intimate familiarity
with holy things, who know nothing about holy things. Multitudes
have an intimate familiarity with Christ and the gospel of
his grace. but it's a barren familiarity.
They know nothing of it. Nothing of it. Multitudes can
recite scripture verse by verse, chapter by chapter, some book
by book. Multitudes can give you the creeds
and the confessions and recite them for you. Multitudes can
tell you all about the history of the Bible and the prophets
and the apostles, and then tell you about the life and ministry
of Christ, write books about it, but are in no measure affected
by it. They have no life, no faith,
they have no knowledge of the living God. Oh my God, don't
let me be numbered among them. And fourth, turn back to Numbers
25. The most deadly thing in this
world is the error of Balaam. Chapter 22 we're told what his
error was, it was twofold. First, he was a prophet for hire. He could be bought off and he
knew what he was doing.