Numbers chapter 6, and I want
to begin reading in verse 22 and finish this chapter. Numbers
chapter 6, and begin here in verse 22. And the Lord spake
unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying,
On this wise you shall bless the children of Israel, saying
unto them, The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make
His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord
lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. And
they shall put my name upon the children of Israel, and I will
bless them. The Lord bless thee." That's
what I want us to think about this morning. The Lord bless
thee. The Lord's people often bless
Him, don't they? Brother Bill was talking about
that. Lord, receive our worship. Receive our thanksgiving. But
you know the way He blesses us and the way we bless Him is completely
different. The only way that we can bless
Him is by thanksgiving. Just rendering unto Him all the
benefits that He's bestowed upon us. Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord,
O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. Give Him thanks
always for all things. But that's all we can do, isn't
it? We can't add anything to Him. He's so rich, if He needed
anything, we sure couldn't supply His need. He said, If I was hungry,
I wouldn't ask you. The cattle on a thousand hills
is mine. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. He's too rich for us to provide
anything for Him. So when we bless Him, it's just
rendering to Him what's due Him. The thanksgiving and the praise.
But you know, when He blesses us, He doesn't thank us. He doesn't praise us. But He
blesses us with His goodwill. He blesses us with His spiritual
blessings, His carnal blessings, His temporal blessings, and His
eternal blessings. He opens His hand to us. And out of His richness, He supplies
everything that you and I need. The Lord bless thee. We pay to Him simply what we
owe Him. Given the glory, do His name.
But oh, when He opens His hands, He gives us, out of His goodwill,
everything that is needed and all that we have. The Apostle
said, God who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith
He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us
together. What a blessing! He did for us
what no other can do for us. What a blessing! He's quickened
us, and because He's rich, and mercy. Opened His rich hand unto
some who were so unworthy as you and I are. Now listen to
this. Think of these blessings. Carnal
blessings, temporal blessings, and spiritual blessings. Eternal
blessings. Isn't it a blessing when a newborn
child comes into this world? I noticed when David and Jessica
brought their little baby over, how you all made over and kissed
her and looked at her and gooed and goggled over that little
child. And why do we do that? Because it's a newborn baby.
Never was in this world before a body and a soul. And we love
them, don't we? We make them. What a blessing.
Blessed is the man that has his quiver full of them. But oh,
think of this blessing. A newborn soul, born into the
Kingdom of God. A new creature that never existed
before, born from above. And both of those are the blessings
of the Lord. Think of this, our daily bread. I enjoyed that dinner immensely
last night at Wanda and Steve's house. I just enjoy eating. I'm glad I've got an appetite.
I'm glad my digestive system takes care of itself and I can
eat again. I enjoy eating. Thank the Lord for our daily
bread. It's a blessing, isn't it? But,
oh, what a blessing it is to be provided with our heavenly
bread, spiritual bread, that bread that feeds our souls, that
a man can eat of and have life everlasting. What a blessing!
And both breads is provided us freely from God's rich hand.
Think about the clothes for our body. Most of you this morning
are so nicely dressed. You're so well dressed. It's
a blessing to have clothes to put on our body. Isn't it a blessing,
too, to have a heavenly robe to clothe the shame of our nakedness?
Oh, you appear beautiful to me this morning. in your clothes,
the way you dress. Think how you appear to the Heavenly
Father dressed in the righteousness of His Son. Can you imagine how
well dressed you are? The robe that He's put upon you.
And where do we get such robes? From Him. He's blessed us and
provided this robe for us. Think of this wonderful blessing.
Isn't it a blessing to have a family? Oh, to have a family, grandmas
and grandpas and moms and dads and brothers and sisters. The
family gets together and they love one another and they fellowship
one with another. Having a family, it's a wonderful
thing. It's the blessing of the Lord.
Isn't it a blessing, too, to be in the family of God? To be
among His loved ones, His children, to sit among them, the blood-bought
ones, Oh, they're closer than our natural family, aren't they?
Oh, what a blessing. What a blessing. Isn't it wonderful
to have a bed to sleep in, to rest our tired bodies? Have you
ever come in from working all day and you're just so wore out
and you lay down in your bed and you think, oh, what a blessing. What a blessing. Just to lay
down and rest my weary body. What a blessing of God, brothers
and sisters. Isn't it a blessing that we have
somewhere to take our souls and find rest? Rest for our weary
souls. Rest for our burdened conscience.
Come unto me, all you that labor and are abulating, and I'll give
you rest. Rest for your souls. That's the
blessing of the Lord, isn't it? I saw just the other day they
were trying to get some water, dig some wells in Africa. And
it showed those mothers going down in this old stagnated pool
and taking their buckets and slashing, trying to get the old
stagnation from the top and boiling that water and drinking it and
washing with it. Just trying to get some wells
of clean water. Isn't it a blessing to dig a
well and come up with clean water to drink and to wash in? That's
a blessing. That's a blessing of the Lord.
Isn't it a blessing, brothers and sisters, for a fountain that's
open for sin and uncleanness? For us to take our souls to when
we've dirtied them and to get under that fountain and be white
as the driven snow? Isn't it good to have the fountain
of the water of life to drink of? Come unto me, come unto me
and drink and live. Oh, these are all blessings of
the Lord. There Jesus saves me and keeps
me clean. Isn't it a blessed thing to have
a house? No place like home. You can go
home when you can't go anywhere else. You know there's people
that don't have homes to go to. I was with some just a few weekends
ago out in Montana. No house. Some sleep on the street. I've seen people in boxes sleeping
on the streets in the wintertime in the cold. No houses to go
to. We have houses. Isn't it a blessing
to go there and you have protection? You have the warmth of your house. It's yours. Isn't it a wonderful
thing to live in this world with the hope of going soon to our
Father's house? What a blessing these things
are! It's a blessing to have something
to leave our children for their inheritance, is it not? I don't
know what our children's going to do with what little bit we
leave them, but it's a blessing to have something to leave them
to help them along a little bit. But, oh, isn't it a blessing
indeed to have an inheritance that's incorruptible and undefiled? reserved for you in heaven. All
these are the blessings of the Lord. The Lord bless thee. Could we ever merit this? Have
you ever earned one blessing of the Lord? You say, Bruce,
I feel so unworthy. Don't we all? Aren't all His
blessings carnal blessings and spiritual blessings? Aren't they
all for the unworthy people? Don't we all feel like Jacob
of old? Lord, I'm unworthy of the least
of your mercies. These are not blessings of merit. These are blessings from the
rich hand of our God, and we're so unworthy of them. We're like
that poor centurion that told the Lord Jesus, I'm not worthy
that you should come under my roof. None of us are worthy. I don't mean that We're not thankful. God help us to be thankful. Give
us grace to bow and humbly give the Lord praise for the blessings
that we know of and the countless blessings that you and I are
not even aware of. The Lord bless thee. All the blessings of the Lord.
And as we think of this, we have to confront this, don't we? And
this is a wonderful thought. The Lord bless thee. What does
that mean? That means God can bless a man.
God can bless a man. I've often thought of that, and
it thrills my soul. God is able to bless a man. And He's willing to bless a man.
He knows how to bless a man. The Lord blessed thee. I don't
think the Lord would command Aaron to tell the people that
they do not know how to bless them. not be able to bless it. Charles Spurgeon says nobody
has ever wrote a check on God's bank and it bounced. I believe
that, don't you? He is able to do exceedingly,
abundantly above all that we ask or think. And that being
so, I would encourage all of us to seek His Jacob got a hold of him one night,
and the Lord said, Let me go. It's getting daylight. And Jacob
said, Not till you bless me. Not till you bless me. And Jabez,
that honorable man of old, he sought the Lord, and he said,
Lord, bless me. Enlarge my borders. Let your
hand be with me. Keep me from evil that it don't
grieve me." And you know what the Bible said? The Lord gave
him his request. Brothers and sisters, God is
able to bless us. And that being so, and since
it's not a blessing of merit, and there's no way that we could
earn them, Then let us go right to Him and say with others, O
Lord, bless us. I've often thought of those children,
those little infants and young children that those mothers brought
to the Lord Jesus Christ when He was here. The disciples got
so upset with them and said, don't bring these children. The
Lord don't have time for this, this frivolous stuff. These small things? Concerned
about these little infants and these children? The Lord's casting
out devils. He's feeding thousands. He's
raising the dead. And you're bringing your children,
wanting the Lord to bless them? We don't have time for this.
Oh, the Lord looked at them and frowned. And He said, You let
the children come to Me. And He took them up in His arms,
and the Scripture says He blessed them. And I've often wondered,
I've often wondered what happened to those children. Wouldn't you
have loved to have followed them as they grew up? You see, that
wasn't some sort of a benediction or ritual He went through. When
the Lord says He blessed them, that means they were blessed.
You might bring your children to me, and I may get them up
here and put my hands on them and bless them, and they turn
out to be devils. But not when Christ blesses you.
Oh, I think each one of those young children could have wrote
a book. Here's what happened to me. Here's how the Lord has
blessed me. Oh, we learned one thing about
the study of Balaam. God taught that wicked prophet
one thing. The Lord has blessed, and I cannot
reverse it. The Lord has blessed them, and
they shall be blessed. Isn't that encouraging to see,
Kim? The Lord bless thee. Then let us go right to Him and
say, Lord bless me. Notice some of these blessings.
Look here in verse 24. The first one he mentioned is
this. The Lord bless thee. And look at this. Something so
important. We all feel our need of this.
The Lord keep thee. The Lord keep thee. Boy, this is a dangerous world
you and I live in, isn't it? We've been studying some about
the children of Israel and that desert that they were in, full
of slime pits, full of traps, full of serpents. But you know,
that's nothing compared to the traps and the pits that you and
I face in this world. How many have you and I seen
fall? We've seen multitudes now, haven't we? False professors,
but we've seen some true professors fall. We've seen some of God's
own children fall to their own shame and hurt and the brokenness
of our heart towards them. This is a dangerous world. The
angels fail. Adam and Eve fail. We can't keep ourselves, can
we? The Lord keep thee. The Lord keep thee. Oh, the Lord keep us at home.
The Lord keep us on our jobs. The Lord keep us at play. The
Lord keep us when we're worshiping, when we're reading. If He don't,
what will happen? We fall. We fall. Nobody may even know it. It may
be just a fall in our hearts. But you know something? When
we fall, we can't get up. Keep us. Listen to these passages
of Scripture. You are kept by the power of
God. I wonder why he said that if
it wasn't so important. If it takes the power of God
to keep us, can you imagine the opposition that's against us?
Only the power of God can keep us. Brother Larry was talking
this morning about the angels, the fallen angels. Can you imagine
if the Lord opened our spiritual eyes this morning, like He did
Elijah's servant, to see the things around us? Can you imagine
what we would see? We'd see those elect angels,
no doubt. They're there ministering. But
you know, we would probably see a host of fallen, black, wicked,
unclean spirits. with their frowning faces, with
their hateful looks? We'd see wicked men laying smithereens
for the righteous. We'd see cliffs, and down in
the bottom of those cliffs, the souls of men that had fallen. What would we see? All kinds
of danger. What a fearful thing. And I'm
sure then we would pray, Oh, keep me! Bless me! And keep me! The older I get,
the more I see what I didn't see in years past. I see all
the pits that I didn't see before, all the snares, all the slippery
places along life's way. Oh, Lord bless us, Lord keep
us. And listen to this, not only
kept by the power of God, but the peace of God that passeth
all understanding shall keep your hearts and your minds."
Peace. Peace. Boy, there's one thing
anymore I value over joy. I love to rejoice. I don't rejoice
too much anymore, to be honest with you. But you know something
I've learned to value more than joy is peace. To have a deep,
settled peace in my mind. It seems like we're just one
thought away from going insane anyway. Some of you have been
complaining about how you can't remember anything anymore. I'm
the same way. Oh, a fickle thread holds our
thoughts, our sanity. But the peace of God shall keep
your hearts and your mind. And listen to this. Brother Larry
quoted this this morning. Now to Him that's able to keep
you from falling. He's able to keep you from falling. He has the power. His peace keeps
your mind. And now He's able. He knows how. He's wise. He's able to keep
you from falling into temptation. He's able to keep you from falling
into sin. He is able to keep you from falling
away unto Him who is able to keep you from falling and to
present you faultless before the presence of His glory with
exceeding joy. Oh, what a blessing to them,
brothers and sisters, to be kept. And listen to this, except the
Lord keep the city. Except the Lord keep the heart.
Except the Lord keep the church, the watchman waketh but in vain. Here's another blessing. Look
in verse 25. And the Lord make His face, the Lord bless you
and keep you, the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be
gracious unto you. What is this shining of His face
upon you? Well, we're told exactly what
that is in the New Testament. Clarence made a statement when
he taught about the Old Testament is concealed and the New Testament
reveals it. What is the shining of His face
upon us? That's the Gospel. That's when
the Holy Spirit brings the Gospel in its light and shines into
our hearts. Listen to 2 Corinthians 4, 6.
God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined
in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God. We are in the face of Jesus Christ. So when He is saying here in
verse 25, make His face to shine upon you, that is the face of
Jesus Christ. as he shines in the gospel. Remember when you were in darkness.
Boy, looking back now, looking in retrospect, can't you see
more of that darkness than you saw then? Boy, you see the thickness
of it, don't you? Oh, now looking back how thick
it was, how it blinded your mind. You couldn't see. There's no
need to get mad at lost people because they're blind. The darkness
has blinded their mind, and they can't see. They can't see God. They can't see Christ. They can't
even see themselves and the dangers that they're in. They can't see
the way out. They can't see God's way of salvation. They don't know who He saves
and why He saves and how He saves. The blindness, the darkness,
this thick Egyptian darkness. has blinded their eyes. And then
what happens? Oh, the face. They're blessed. The Lord blesses them. And He
makes His face to shine. And He shines right into their
hearts. And the darkness can't resist
the light. And it comes in and it illuminates
their minds. Illuminates their understanding.
And then they see, oh, they see themselves complete in Christ.
They see themselves saved and forgiven for His sake. Sometimes this light, this light
of the gospel, the Spirit brings it so suddenly, and He just breaks
in upon the mind and illuminates suddenly. It's like walking into
a room and flipping the light switch on. Everything suddenly
illuminated. But it's not with everybody that
way, is it? Sometimes it's like the slow rising of the sun. He
begins to peep up over the horizon. And the light is slowly, and
the fog is burnt away. And the mist is burnt away. And
then you see, Then you see. I don't know how this light,
I don't know how the Lord caused His face to shine upon you. But
if He has in His light, you see, don't you? Oh, you see now if
His face has risen upon you. It's been a cloudy spring. Some
of us have been talking about it, what a cloudy spring it's
been. clouds coming in, I guess, from
the awful tornadoes and the weather they've had in Nebraska and Texas
and places. But I'm getting weary with it,
aren't you? I'm weary with the dampness and I want to see the
sun. I want to see it break through
the clouds and the mist and the blue skies. I want to see its
rays and I want to feel its warmth. I love that. Ain't it that way
spiritually sometimes? We know the sun is always shining. Behind those clouds, we know
it is there. And sometimes the clouds and
mist and the doubts of our minds hide the face of our dear Savior. We know He is there, but what
do we want from Him? What do we want Him to do? We
want Him to break through the clouds. We want Him to melt away
the mist and cause His face to shine upon us. That's what we
want, isn't it? That's the blessing. That's what
the Lord told Aaron. The Lord bless thee and cause
His face to shine. Oh, that's what we want today.
Don't you long for the day when all these clouds and all the
mist and all the winter's gone? And there is nothing but the
shining of His face. They shall see His face, not
through a glass darkly either, not by the eye of faith or understanding
either. They shall see His face as clear
and openly as He can possibly show it there in heaven. Oh,
His face, the shining of His face. Or you can say this to the lost.
If you're here this morning and you're lost, consider this. If
the Lord don't bless you, you'll never be saved. The only way
a man can be saved is if the Lord blesses him and causes his
face to shine upon him. It's only in that light that
you can be saved and saved. The darkness is too thick. You
can't get out of it. You don't know which way to turn.
Oh, my prayer for you this morning,
if God willed it to be so, is for Jesus Christ to shine His
face upon you and give you light. Look here at the third thing
in verse 26. This is a wonderful thought. The Lord bless thee. In verse 26, he said, The Lord
lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. Lift up his countenance upon
thee. What does that mean? We put a
lot of stock in people's countenance. Have you ever gone for some time
and you haven't seen a dear friend? You haven't spoken with them?
And as soon as you see them, It's not only what they say,
but it's the way they look at you. I mean, they see you come
in and they're surprised and they do a double take. They look
at you and then they start to turn away. Then they look back
and their face lights up and they begin to smile and they
laugh and hold their arms out. They haven't said a word, but
their countenance, their countenance, it shows their approval, their
friendship, their love, their affection is towards you. That's
the same way it is with the Lord. When He causes His countenance
to rise upon us, He shows us His favor. That's what it is. Do you remember poor Jacob when
his father-in-law's countenance had changed towards you? Laban
got mad at him. Jacob went back and told his
wife, said, Boy, your dad, he's upset with me. He's mad at me.
How do you know that? I saw his countenance. I saw
his countenance. I tell you, there's times when
you and I have saw the Lord's countenance, and it's been a
frowning face, hasn't it? We knew that He wasn't pleased
with us. We long for His countenance to
rise upon us, to show us His favor. Listen to these passages
of Scripture. David was talking about the children
of Israel taking the land of promise, and he said, They got
not that land by their own sword, neither did their own arm save
them, but your right hand, and your arm, and the light of your
countenance, because thou hast a favor unto them. the light of thy countenance. Listen to this passage. Thou
art the glory of their strength, and in thy favor our horns shall
be exalted. Listen to Psalms 4. There be
many that say, Who shall show us any good? Lord, lift up the
light of thy countenance upon us. Then what's the effects of
that? Well, listen to this. Thou hast
put gladness in my heart more than the time when their corn
and wine was increased. I will lay me down in peace and
sleep. Why? He's lifted up the light
of his countenance upon me. Brothers and sisters, what could
give us more peace and more joy and more gladness in our soul
than for the Lord to make us know that we've obtained favor
in his sight. Isn't that a wonderful thing?
Look over here in Psalms chapter 42 with me just for a minute.
Whole numbers there. And look at Psalms chapter 42. This is very peculiar Psalms. He tells here about the trouble
David was in David himself tells us what the remedy would be.
If you're in Psalms 42, look in verse 3. My tears have been
my meat. That's what I've been eating,
my tears, night and day. Well, they continually say unto
me, Where's your God? Where's your God now, David?
Yeah, He's around when the sun was shining, but now it's raining.
Where is He now? When you're crying, where is
He? When you're troubled, where is He, David? Oh, this was awful. Look in verse 6. Oh, my God,
my soul is cast down within me. Therefore will I remember thee
from the land of Jordan. Look here in verse 7. Deep calleth
unto deep at the noise of thy water spouts. All your waves
and your billows are gone over me. Look in verse 9. I will say
unto God, my rock, why have you forgotten me? Why go I mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy? In verse 10, as a
sword in my bones. Boy, that would hurt, wouldn't
it? My enemies reproach me while they say daily unto me, where
is your God? He was in bad shape, wasn't he?
What's the remedy for him? Look here at the remedy. Look
in verse 5. Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? Why art thou disquieted within
me? Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise Him for the help of His countenance." David said,
one thing that can deliver me from my tears and this sword
in my bones and the oppression of the enemy, one thing will
do it. Let me know that I have found favor in his sight. Let his countenance, let me see
his smile. Let me see his eyes. Let me see
his laughter as he looks upon me. That will do it. That will
do it. Look what he says here in verse
11. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why are you disquieted
within me, hoping God? For I shall yet praise Him who
is the health of my countenance and my God." See how he changes
that? He said, God's countenance will
be my deliverance. It will be my help. But then
he says here, His countenance will be the help of my countenance. You looked at David, and I bet
you that was one of the saddest fellows you've ever seen. I mean,
you get in a place where somebody's a sword in your bones, you're
not going to be there with a bright countenance on you. You're not
going to look like Joel Osteen. But let the Lord visit. And then
he says, you'll see a difference in my countenance. There was
a lady, Gail talked to her the other night down at the nursing
home, and I went back and saw her. Gail was telling me some
of the things she was saying. And I went back. And oh, I tell
you, I left so burdened. I've been so burdened about this
poor woman. I was there talking to someone else. She pushed herself
up in a wheelchair. And she wanted to know if I could
talk to her. Will you talk to me for a few minutes? Oh, how
sad. My heart went out to her. She
began to tell me about she had been seeking for mercy. And she
said, I'm afraid I've sinned away. God's mercy. I'm afraid he's not going to
have mercy upon me. I said, you've been seeking him? She said, I've
quit now. She said, I've quit. I don't know what to pray. She
said, I've been awful. Nobody knows how I've been. And
I tried to explain it to her, how the devil seek to drive men
to despair. Oh, it's so sad. And her countenance,
her countenance is so fallen. Her eyes are swollen. Her eyes
are full of tears. And she just sobs. Her lips tremble. And there's but one thing going
to deliver that woman. And you know what it is? For
God to let her know, now I'm not angry with you. For God to
let her know, you've found favor in my sight. For God to rise
to his countenance. That's the only thing that's
going to save that woman. And I'm telling you, if I go back
down there or Gail goes down there and you see that woman
and the Lord's countenance has risen upon her, I tell you what,
you'll see it in her countenance. His countenance is the help of
ours. And it's the joy and gladness
of our hearts. Oh, cause thy countenance to
rise upon us. And here's the reverse of this.
Here's the reverse of this. Listen to Psalms verse 7 of chapter
9. We are consumed by your anger,
by your wrath with trouble. Thou hast set our iniquities
before you, our secret sins, in the light of thy countenance. Can you imagine God's countenance
if he looks upon sin and marks it? An angry countenance? That's why those on the Day of
Judgment said, rocks and mountains follow us, hide us. Why would anybody want rocks
and mountains to follow? Hide us from the face of Him
that sits on the throne. Why are you afraid of His face?
There are men who long to see His face. Not this face. Not the face that we see. We
don't see a smiling face. We don't see shining eyes. We
don't see a bright countenance. We see a frowning face. We see
a countenance that's against us for our sins. Hide us. Hide
us. Oh, I know of nothing so dreadful.
I draw nothing so dreadful. For the dear and blessed Son
of God, who is so gentle Thy gentleness has made me great.
That's what David said in the Psalms of Bill. Thy gentleness
has made me great. He's the Lamb of God. And to have his wrath stirred
up, for him to change his countenance from one of acceptance and favor
to one of anger and wrath is the most horrible thing I can
think of. I'll be honest with you, it bothers
me when I haven't seen some of you all for a few days and you
don't look at me and smile. It bothers me. I get to thinking,
have I done something? Have I said something? What will
it be to see the awful countenance of the judge of all the earth?
What would that feel like? Hide me. Oh, it makes us want
to pray, doesn't it, for it. Let your countenance rise upon
me, and watch the effects of all of it, and give me peace,
and give me peace. A couple of more things, and
I'll quit. I'm keeping you a little bit long. A couple of more things. In verse 27, he says this. And they shall put my name upon
the children of Israel, and I will bless them. They shall put my
name upon the children of Israel. What does it mean to put your
name upon someone? Well, I put my name upon my wife
in 1970. I put my name upon her. Now, I'll be the first one to
confess, and she'll admit that she's not profited very much
from my name. It's not made her any richer. not give her any
honor, not open any doors as far as I know. But I tell you
something it did do. When I gave her my name and I
put it upon her, it bound me to her. When I gave her my name, I gave
her everything I have and everything I am. That went with my name. I don't consider anything I do
now apart from considering her. She's mine. My name is upon her. It's the same thing with my children.
When they were born, I put my name upon them. I gave them my
name, and they still possess my name. Wherever they go, whatever
they do, all of their life long, they have My name. I gave them
My name. What am I saying? When the Lord
Jesus Christ puts His name upon someone, they're His. They're His. Where He puts His name, where
He gives His name, He gives Himself. And when He gives His name and
puts it upon you, You're His. Everything He has is His. Everything
that you do, wherever you go, you never cease to be His. Ain't that a wonderful thought?
And think of this, His name, His name is the Lord Our Righteousness. Oh my goodness! Is that His name? Is He the Lord, our righteousness? That's what we call Him. Then when He puts that name upon
her, and you look at her, you look at His church, what do you
call her? This is the name we're with.
She shall be called the Lord, our righteousness. But that's
His name. Yes. And now it's hers. It's hers. And she can claim
it. She should claim it. Everything
he has and everything he is, it's hers. He's put his name
upon her. And isn't it a blessing to be
called the children of the living God? That's their name. That's
their name. I've got to say something about
this in verse 23 and verse 27. Who are these blessings pronounced
upon? Did you notice that? Did you
notice how discriminating they are? Did he say, Aaron, I want you
to go announce to all the Moabites and all the Canaanites and the
Jebusites? He didn't say that, did he? Let's
be honest about this. Who are these blessings for?
Well, he tells us, doesn't he? Speak unto Aaron and say unto
his sons, On this wise you shall bless the children of Israel. These blessings are for his covenant
people? Oh, but the Jebusites say that's
not fair. That's not right. That's not
a righteous thing to do. Why not? These aren't blessings
of marriage. These aren't blessings that's
earned. These are gracious blessings.
And God gives His blessings as it pleases Him and who He's pleased
to bless. Shall I not do with my own as
I will? He shouldn't bless anybody, but
He's pleased to. But who does He bless? His covenant
people. Abraham, I'm going to make a
great nation of you, and I'm going to bless you. And here
they are, His covenant people. And you know something, brothers
and sisters? It hasn't changed today. Who are these blessings
for? Who are these spiritual blessings
for? Who is His face rising upon? Who is He manifesting His saving
favor to? the seed of Abraham. Well, who
in the world is that? If you be Christ, then are you
Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Those four fellows
over there that's regathered, they're in Israel. Those aren't the children of
promise, are they? Most of them are lost. The children
of the promise are counted for the seed of Abraham. Those who
be of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. Galatians
chapter 3 and verse 8. We are blessed with all spiritual
blessings. Listen to this. We are blessed
with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. as He has chosen
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. He set His people
aside. He chose them to obtain these
blessings. Covenant people, the elect of
God. Say unto them, how can I know
I'm one of them? Are you Christ? Has He bought you? Or years? We're living in a day, and I
doubt if the church has ever faced a day, that a lot in the professing
church, a lot of preachers and teachers are taking the Bible
and just applying it to everybody. They're taking these precious
promises that Christ has given to His bride and believers, and
they're just applying it to everybody and anybody. These epistles are
written to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be
saints, who in every place call upon the name of the Lord. And to take these promises and
these blessings and to apply it to anybody, that's dangerous
and it's sad and it's adulterous. If I was away from my dear wife
and I wrote her a letter, And she got the letter and went out
in the neighborhood and gathered all the women together in the
neighborhood and said, we got a letter from her husband. And she opens the letter and
says, my dearest darling, wait a minute, wife, that's not to
those women. That's an intimate, personal
letter I've written to you. I've never taken those women
to be my wife. This letter is not to them. It's
to my wife. Read on. My dearest darling,
Joel. All right, then. That sells,
it doesn't. Who's going to be blessed? Oh, the seed of Abraham. They're
going to be blessed. They sure are. They may be of
the Jews. They may be of the Gentiles.
out of all the nations of the world. In thee shall all the
families of the earth be blessed." And there they are. And lastly is this. Lastly is
this. Who pronounced these blessings?
This is a wonderful thought. We know they were from God because
Aaron didn't sit and thank these up. The Lord spake unto Moses. saying, speaking to Aaron and
to his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall speak." These were
from God, and He even told them the words to say. But who did
He give these words to, to announce to the children of Israel? It
was the high priest, wasn't it? And it was in succession. Aaron,
as long as he lived, he was to pronounce them blessed. When
he died and his son took his place, he was to pronounce Israel
blessed. And when his son died and his
son took his place, it came through the high priest. That tells us
something, doesn't it? God sent his son, our high priest. And it's through his son that
God announces the blessings upon his people. Listen to John chapter
14 and verse 10. The Lord Jesus said, ìThe words
that I speak, I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwells
in me.î Heís doing the work. Heís doing the speaking. The
Lord Jesus just came as our high priest to tell us what the Father
said to tell us. ìMy son, you go and bless them. Here's what I want you to do,
here's what I want you to say. And Peter even made that wonderful
statement in his message. He said, God has sent his Son
to bless us. To bless us. All the promises
he's made, he that heareth my word and believes on him that
sent me has everlasting life. and shall never come into condemnation."
What a blessing! What a blessing! The voice of the hour now is,
that all the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of Man,
and they that hear shall live. What a blessing! But that's what
the Father told Him to speak to us. And you know, He don't
have anybody that's going to take His place, because He's
never going to die. He began to bless those apostles in the
early church, and you know something? He's still living today, and
he's still pronouncing the blessings of God upon his people. And he
never will cease. And he'll sum it all up, Your
Honor, today at judgment. Our faithful and merciful High
Priest and the Judge of all this earth will pronounce the last
blessing. Come, ye blessed of my Father.
Come, ye blessed. My Father purposed to bless you.
He set you aside to bless you. He sent me to bless you. And
you are blessed. Oh, God bless us. God bless us. Let us pray.