If you have your Bibles, turn
with me to Numbers chapter 5. Numbers chapter 5. The title of my message is The Law
of Jealousies. The Law of Jealousies. I'm going
to read a fairly lengthy portion of Scripture, but trust me, the
message is not that long. And if I should fall asleep while
I'm preaching, y'all wake me up. And I'll do the same for
you. Numbers chapter 5, beginning
with verse 11. And the Lord spake to Moses,
saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them,
If any man's wife go aside, and commit the trespass against him,
and a man lie with her carnally, and he be hid from the eyes of
her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and there
be no witness against her, neither is she taken with the matter.
And the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of
his wife, and she be defiled, or if the spirit of jealousy
come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she not be defiled.
Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and shall
bring her an offering for her, a tenth part of an eighth of
barley meal. She'll pour no oil upon it, nor
put frankincense thereon, for it is an offering of jealousy,
an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance. And
the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord,
And the priest shall take holy water in an earthy vessel, and
of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest
shall take and put it into the water. And the priest shall set
the woman before the Lord, and uncover the woman's head, and
put the offering of the memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy
offering. And the priest shall have in
his hands the bitter water that caused the curse. And the priest
shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman, If no
man hath lain with thee, And if thou hast not gone aside into
uncleanness with another instead of thy husband, be thou free
from this bitter water that causeth the curse. And if thou hast gone
aside to another instead of thy husband, and if thou hast defiled
some man, and some man hath lain with thee beside thy husband,
then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing.
And the priest shall say unto the woman, The Lord shall make
thee a curse and an oath among the people. when the Lord doth
make thy thigh to rot and thy belly to swell. And the water
that causes the curse shall go into thy bowels, and make thy
belly to swell and thy thigh to rot. And the woman shall say,
Amen, Amen. And the priest shall write these
curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter
water. And he shall cause the woman
to drink the bitter water that causes the curse, and the water
that causes the curse shall enter into her and become bitter. Then
the priest shall take the jealousy offering of the woman's hand,
and shall wave the offering before the Lord, and offer it upon the
altar. And the priest shall take a handful of the offering, even
the memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward
shall cause the woman to drink the water. When he hath made
her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, that if
she is defiled, and hath done trespass against her husband,
that the water that causes the curse shall enter into her, and
become bitter. and her belly shall swell, and
her thigh shall rot, and the woman shall be a curse among
the people. And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean,
then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed. This is the law
of jealousies. When a wife goeth aside to another
instead of her husband and is defiled, or when the spirit of
jealousy cometh upon him, and he be jealous over his wife,
and shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall
re-execute upon her all this law, Then shall the man be guiltless
from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity." And
I didn't know how in this passage of Scripture, I'd be part vicious
and, where's she going with this? Well, I'm going somewhere with
it. In this passage of Scripture,
we have the Lord instituting a law in the book of Numbers.
This is while they were in the wilderness journey. This is while
it was going on. Concerning jealousy. That's what
it was about. The wife was seen speaking to
or with or spending what seemed to be, to the husband, an unseemly
amount of time with another man. She could be brought to a priest
to administer a kind of test. That's what it was. A test to
prove her innocence or establish her guilt. Because that's how
it's worded here that she may not be defiled, she may be defiled.
The situation is the husband don't really know and he, so
he brings to the priest with this offering to decide. or the test will decide. Now,
you'll notice no such avenue existed if the wife expected
her husband of adultery. You'll not find it anywhere in
the laws established in the Book of Numbers. The onus of the proof
was upon the woman. Now, there's a reason for that.
It's not because women are wicked or more wicked than men because
that's not the case. There is, however, a suggestion
of it And it has to do with the greatest curse that could come
upon a Hebrew woman. And that's the possibility of
being barren. That was the worst thing that could happen to a
Hebrew woman, if she was barren. And this is suggested in the
last phrase of verse 28. If the wife were proven by the
test to be innocent of the charge, she would then concede. So that's
the suggestion there. It is suggested by some Jewish
writers, if you read them, that adultery was more prevalent among
wives. And it was because many felt
that the multiplicity of lovers would increase the probability
of a conception and thereby, at least by society's measure,
she would not be cursed. She would be blessed because
she was not barren anymore. And this, of course, was contingent
upon her not being suspected by her husband of doing such
a thing. But it was not necessary that
she be caught in the act or even be guilty of the act according
to this passage of scripture for the test to be administered.
All that was necessary was that her husband be jealous. That's
all that was necessary. That she be suspected of something. And this test was to take place
before the priest. This did not involve being put
on trial or in a court of law. This would only take place if
the woman were caught in the act and the result in that case
was capital punishment. Now, if a woman was actually
caught in adultery, she could be killed. You remember when
the woman was brought before the Lord, who was caught in adultery,
they wanted to stone her to death. Of course, the law says, and
they not only stone the woman, they stone the man too. But the
men were bringing her before and laid it out that she should
be stoned. So if a woman was actually caught in adultery,
she could be stoned to death. under the old law, but that's
not what this is about. This is all about suspicion.
It's about jealousy, about wondering whether or not or thinking maybe
perhaps the woman has done wrong. But if a man suspected his wife,
she was brought to the priest with an offering. That's what
it says in verse 15. We won't go over it. The offering
was to be supplied by her husband. He would supply the offering,
but it was her offer. The offering was unique. The
amount was a tenth parth of an efith of barley, which is the
same amount, same as an omer, which is about three and a half
quarts of dry measure, or about one tenth of a bushel. This offering
was carried in an earthen vessel. The reason I emphasize this is
because the woman had to actually hold the weight of this offering
while she was being tested. Through the whole test, she had
to hold the weight of this offering. That was very important. That
was designed also to make her weary. to make her weary under
this test. Everything about the offering
was significant. First, it was not an offering that was designated
to expiate or remove sin. Either one of those. Or foretold
for sin. That was significant. The amount was the same as the
daily ration of manna. Exactly the same amount for one
person and also equal to the amount used in the meal offering.
But unlike the meal offering, this offering had no fine flour
in it. or oil, or frankincense, all of which pointed to the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. All those things did. Fine flour was the food of the
priests. This offering was barley. Barley
was the food of the beast. That was their offering. The
earthen vessel was a vessel of dishonor. What that simply means,
it was a common vessel. It was to be used for a short
period of time or a particular period of time. and then cast
aside and never to be used again. That's set forth in Romans chapter
nine when the Lord talks about making vessels of honor, making
vessels of dishonor. He's talking about vessels of
honor. He's talking about those he saves by his grace. He's talking about
vessels of dishonor. He's talking about those he uses,
which is the rest of humanity, which he uses to fulfill his
purpose for a time and then cast them aside. This was a vessel
of dishonor. This was a common vessel. Every
element of the offering was designed for one thing. It says a memorial,
a recollection of sin and iniquity. To remember, if the husband was
jealous, this offering or this test was made to remember whether
there was iniquity or not. To recall. This was the jealousy
offering and it showed the effects of suspicion, The woman was suspected
of a beastly, common and dishonorable act and this test was given.
Now the priest would take holy water. That's not what they use
in the Roman church. The holy water was the water
from the brazen labor in the tabernacle. And he mixed it with
dirt from the floor of the tabernacle and pronounced a curse upon the
woman. Now he pronounced a curse upon her and she had to agree
with it. He had to agree with it. He says,
now if you drink this water and your belly swells and your thigh
rots, you're guilty of this. And if you don't, you're not.
Do you understand the terms here? You understand the terms that
if you drink this water and it shows that you've been committing
adultery with another man, if it shows that, you're going to
be cast out of the camp. Do you understand it? She had to say, I understand
what I've been charged with. So she'd have to say amen. Amen. So be it. So be it. So she understood. She was charged. Now, the ramifications
of the curse were contingent upon her being proven guilty
and were declared to the woman that she might verify her understanding
of the charges. She was saying with the words,
Amen, Amen, that when she drank the bitter water, if it became
bitter in her stomach and caused her stomach to swell and she
became ill and began to corrupt, that proved that she was guilty.
She's saying that. I'm going to drink the water.
The husband's giving me the test. It'll be proved whether I'm guilty
or not. There was nothing in the water. No magic potion. But dirt from the floor and blottings
from the parchment were upon the charge was written. So blottings. So what she had in the, what
you had in that concoction that was given to her was dirt, water,
and scrapings off the law. That's what you had. This was
the concoction that was made. And this singular drink can only
do one thing, prove whether she was guilty or innocent. And since
the waters had nothing toxic in them and can only discern
what was inside the woman, the test was a miracle. Might as
well just say it was a miracle. And should not be viewed otherwise.
Paul had said in 1 Corinthians 10 that these things that took
place in numbers, and numbers are a very important book. Very
important book in the Old Testament because it's a picture of the
church in the wilderness, what it's about. He said these things
took place, they happened for us as types and examples. He says that in 1 Corinthians.
These happened for types and examples. Now all this, all is,
or as is all the law, the book of Numbers is about the church
and the relationship with Christ, as the whole book is. We know
that the church is the bride of Christ and He is her husband,
and this is what this is about. All that, now that's a long introduction,
but the message is going to be short on introduction, but all
this is about Christ and His church. The law of jealousy. We know that the church is the
bride of Christ. He is her husband. What then
is this passage teaching? First, in our text, this is important. Only the wife could be suspected
of adultery. Only the wife. No law was given
concerning the possibility of the husband being suspected.
This, of course, points to the fact that Christ is without sin.
Our husband is without sin. The problem of a damaged relationship
between the Church and Christ may never be laid at the door
of the Savior. His relationship with you and me, as believers,
as His children, never changes. Think about that now. No matter
what we do, no matter what we think, no matter how often we
foul up, He loves us continually, constantly, ever the same. When you fallow, you look at
yourself, and you're embarrassed, and you're ashamed. Christ is
neither ashamed nor embarrassed by you. What we do affects our relationship
with Christ, but it doesn't affect His relationship with us. So the problem of a damaged relationship
between the church and Christ may never be laid at the door
of the Savior. No hint of suspicion can ever be put on the immutable
Christ. He who never lies, who cannot
lie, loves his bride unconditionally. He will never leave her nor forsake
her. He is always with her. He is the same yesterday, today,
and forever. He loves her with an everlasting love and lives
to intercede for her. If a possibility of suspicion
exists, it can only be in the bride. if a possibility of
suspicion exists. Secondly, Christ is jealous for
His glory. He is jealous for His glory and
will not countenance any rival to His affections. The emotion
of jealousy has to do with entitlement. On a human level, people get
jealous because they believe they are entitled to the affection
of the one they love. And that's because they don't
understand what love is. And it just rips you apart. Love
don't have anything to do with Listen, love has nothing to do
with being loved. It doesn't. It has to do with
loving. Love goes that way. It doesn't
come this way. My love never comes here. My
love goes out. I love my wife. I love her. My love for her. And I loved
her since she was 12 years old. I couldn't date her until she
was 16, but I loved her since she was 12 years old. My love
for her will not keep her true to me. It'll keep me true to her. Only
her love for me will keep her true to me. That's what love
is. So if we're jealous, in a sense
we believe that we're entitled to the love of the person. But we're not. If we really got
what we deserve, Nobody would ever love us. Nobody would ever love us, but
Christ loved us unconditionally. Loved us unconditionally. A simple
understanding of our consummate unworthiness would dispel such
notions of entitlement. Human jealousy is groundless.
No human being is worthy, much less entitled to be jealous.
But Christ on the other hand, Christ on the other hand, has
both claim and right to the unconditional affection of those whom he loves. He has claim to that. He's owed
that. Why? He's worthy. He's worthy
to be loved. He's worthy. He is entitled to
it because he's worthy. He has a right to be jealous
because he's entitled. He's entitled. Thirdly, could
his bride give him cause for jealousy? Could she? The answer's yes. She, we sang yesterday, is prone
to wonder. Lord, she feels it. Prone to wonder. The cares of
this world often get in the way of the unquestionable love she
owes her beloved. Her mind may wander and become
affixed on petty differences between the brethren. She may
isolate herself individually as a body from fellowship with
others, of like precious faith over perceived issues. She may
become proud and self-sufficient, as did the church at Laodicea,
having need of nothing. She may allow the presence of
false teachings, as did the church at Pergamos. She may allow the
doctrine of Balaam to enter in, as well as the doctrine of Nicolaitans. She may struggle with schisms,
as did the church at Corinth. She may often be suspected of
alienation of affection, as did the church of Ephesus, when she
left her first love. There's reason to be jealous.
To be suspicious of her is reasonable. It's reasonable. The possibility
of her philanderous nature is real. All we have to do is look
at Peter and Barnabas at Antioch and know we can go astray. We can go astray. Fourthly, she's
got to be proved. God gave the manna to Israel
to prove them. God gave the heavenly manna to His people to prove
them. She must be proved. She must
be tested. She must be tried. She must be searched from within.
She must drink the water mixed with the dust. How will her inner
thoughts of her heart be discovered? The three elements of the potion
are dust and water and the scrapings of the indictment written against
her. This is significant. The dust represents death. The
water represents the Word of God. The indictment, the law,
is in the water. The gospel sets forth the death
of Jesus Christ as the substitute for sinners condemned by the
law. The gospel is the food and drink of the church. It is the
feast of fat things, wine on the leaves, and well-defined.
It is the single drink for both the one who is true and the one
who is unfaithful. Same drink. or the one who is
suspected of unfaithfulness. It is the drink that discloses
both. It is the gospel that searches the inward man and only that.
For God requires truth, you see, and that's in the inward man.
The one who is guilty of unfaithfulness and drinks, the gospel searches
them out and finds them, judges them, if you will, for
lack of a better word. discloses their unfaithfulness.
To who? To them. Not to the church. To them. Discloses their unfaithfulness. To the faithful, the drink of
death searches them out and gives them freedom to bring forth fruit
unto God. To conceive and bring forth fruit unto God. The fact
is, there is in us, and that's just a fact about us, as those
who are both flesh and spirit, The old and the new man, that's
us. That's who we are. Both of us are in there. The
believer stands before God as a person who is both flesh and
spirit. Like Rahab the harlot. Bless
her heart. What a gal. But you know, she's
a saint. She's in the lineage of the motherhood
of Jesus Christ. But all throughout scripture,
she's always described as Rahab the harlot, all the way through
the Old Testament, all the way through the New. That's what
we are. We're the saint who's a whore. We're whore saints. That's what
we are. Our flesh, opposes God on every
hand. Our spirit worships Him. And
we don't have a dotted line down the middle where we can say,
this is our righteousness and this is our sin. Paul said, I'm
not sure which is which. When I would do good, there's
evil present with me. I find it in the law within my
membership. Can you say anything you actually
do merits anything? I mean, even if you're trying
your best to do good and be good, is it meritorious? Will it stand
before God on its own? And you know your evil won't
stand before God. This is what it is. This is the thing. This
is the church of God. If we're suspected of doing something wrong, we
did it. We did it. If we're suspected
of being unfaithful, it's because we're unfaithful. That's our
nature. It's what we do by nature. The
fact that in our hearts and our beings, both faithfulness and
adultery exists. We must be tried by the gospel,
by the Word of God, because nowhere else will we see sin presented
as it is that on the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. I can
preach to you about adultery, I can lay it out and just wear
you folks out about adultery. And I think probably all of you
walk out the door and say, I'm glad I don't do that. Because
you probably don't do that. But if I preach to you about
the cross of Christ, where all sin was accounted as worthy of
death, nobody escapes that word. That's the test. That's the water.
That's the dirt. That's the law in that water
and dirt. That's how we see what we are. The gospel is the same gospel
that will convict you, that will comfort you, that will console
you, all with the same Word. I've preached before and people
say, well, preacher, that's like you've been reading my mail.
Well, I wasn't talking to them. In particular, I was just preaching
the gospel. And on the same day, someone
else said, that was just made for my heart. And the other one
says, that just tore me down. Same message. Same message. And that's what that solution
is. We must have, we must have a
constant diet of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the
only thing that will search us out. It's the only thing that
will search us out. The offering that was brought
was barley, the food of beasts. This is a picture of the believer
approaching God with nothing of value. This offering is not
worth anything. It speaks of the fact that the
believer stands before God, trusting God to reveal the truth about
Him. Though He slay me, I will serve
Him, said Juan. The barley also pictures the
gospel in that it's food for beasts. The gospel is for sinners. Christ came not to call the righteous,
but to bring sinners to repentance. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am chief. You see, when the church
is tried, and it always is by the Word of God, it puts us where
we belong. It sets us where we need to be.
It's the test. It's the test. She's always,
when tried by the word of God, by the gospel, the church is
always found innocent. Even though her life is suspect,
even though she may stray, even though she like Peter at Antioch may believe
the Judaizers and try to go back under the law, even though she
may seem to be loving things other than God more than God,
even though what she does is reasonable to cause jealousy. When she takes this gospel and
drinks this water, Word of God, which shows her death by the
dirt and her condemnation by the law. She always comes out
absolutely innocent. When she feasts on the gospel
and is searched in her inward self, she's without sin, you
see. Because the gospel declares that
her sin is gone, she's sanctified, she's made the very righteousness
of God. She, in fact, That's why you
come here. For Bobby to go to the door of
the tabernacle and go to the brazen labor and put some water
in that earthen jar and some dirt and the scrapings of the
law and put it in that jar and say, drink this! You say, gladly! Because I'm without sin before
a righteous God. I'm innocent of all charges. She welcomes the test. She gladly
drinks the potion heartily. And often, for it will always
prove her innocent. It will always prove her innocent.
But I know what I am, preacher. I'm telling you this. Feast on
the gospel. And you may be just a wicked
old thing you are in your nature and in your flesh. But you know
what you can say? My sins are gone. Plain gone. Wiped away by the
precious blood and perfect death, the perfect sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ, I am innocent before God. That's the way it
all weighed thee. Though within her flesh she knows
there dwells no good thing. And if you were to be able to
get into that mind of the members of the body of Jesus Christ,
they would say, please don't come in here. Don't find out
what's going on in here. And in the same breath, she can
say, but God doesn't see any of that. Go ahead, I'll drink
it. Preach me the gospel, I'll drink
it. I'll drink it again and again because it sets me free every
time. The church of God, as frail as
she is, is always true to her husband. Always, in his eyes. and before a thrice holy God.
That's the meaning of the law of jealousy. God bless you and
thank you for having me. Uh oh, that made a lot of
noise.