[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Take your Bibles, if you would, and open them to Numbers chapter 23.
[0:12] David, you don't have anything to worry about. That's great. Numbers chapter 23. I enjoyed it. How many of you enjoyed that? Say amen. Thank you very much, Stephen and David. All right, Numbers chapter 23.
[0:23] I don't plan this stuff, but it sure is beautiful. Well, this morning, you saw the compassion of Jesus. Tonight, the title is God Loving His People. Now, I do plan the titles, but I think it fits the passage.
[0:36] God's loving His people. I'm one of His people. I'm one of His people. Say amen. It's pretty exciting to know that He loves me, and He loves you. So read with me, if you would. I'm going to skim Numbers 23 with you.
[0:49] If you've got your Bible, you can underline some things as we go through there. And we're talking about old Balaam. He's a wicked man. He's a soothsayer. He is kind of like a, what would you call it, a mystic.
[1:03] And so he's been dealing with our God. And he says in verse 1, Balaam said unto Balak, Build me seven altars and seven oxen and seven rams.
[1:13] And in verse 2, they offered a bullock and a ram on every altar. Twenty-one offerings, what is it, fourteen offerings altogether. He told Balaam, Balaam told Balak, You stand by your offering, and I'll go see what God has to say.
[1:26] In verse 4, God met with Balaam. And the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth as Balak stood by his offering. Look down, if you would, at the last part of verse 7. Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel.
[1:39] That's what old Balak wanted. And Balaam's answer is, How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed? Or how shall I defy whom the Lord hath not defied?
[1:50] You ought to circle that verse. Because you see, the nation of Israel is a very special group of people. God has big plans for them. They're his people, and he's working in their lives.
[2:02] And go, if you would, over to verse 11. Balak says unto Balaam in verse 11, He says, You know, it's amazing. I called you to curse them, and all you've done is bless them altogether.
[2:13] In verse 12, Balaam answers, Must I not take heed to speak that which the Lord hath put in my mouth? And Balak says, Well, come, and let's look at them from another area, and see if you can't curse them from there.
[2:25] That's in verse 13. And in verse 14, they go build seven altars, and offer seven bullocks and seven rams. And Balak stands by his offering, and the Lord meets with Balaam in verse 16.
[2:38] And again, finds out what does the Lord say. Look at verse 19. Well, God's not a man that he should lie, neither the Son of Man that he should repent. And has he not said it, and won't he do it?
[2:50] Has he not spoken, and shall he not make it good? In verse 20, he says, I can't reverse what God says. Verse 21, this is the key verse tonight. You should star it, circle it, point arrows to it, highlight it, everything you do.
[3:04] He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.
[3:17] That is a wild and crazy verse. When I read that verse, honestly, I thought to myself, what in the world is going on? I thought maybe I misunderstood the verse. Notice what message old Balaam is getting.
[3:30] God has not seen iniquity. And I think to myself, I'll get to this in a message in a minute. Excuse me? God hasn't seen iniquity? Did they build a golden calf?
[3:43] These guys didn't go into the promised land? Can I start naming all the junk these jerks have done? And God said, I haven't seen anything wrong with them. That's wonderful stuff, isn't it? I haven't seen anything wrong with them.
[3:54] He says, I have not beheld iniquity in Jacob. I haven't seen perverseness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him. The Lord his God is with him. Verse 23, there is no enchantment against Jacob.
[4:07] Neither is there any divination against Israel. Look at verse 23, underline, what hath God wrought? What in the world has God done?
[4:17] He has built a people and you can't curse them. He has built a people and you can't mess with them. Verse 25, and Balak said unto Balaam, neither curse them at all nor bless them. If you can't do what I'm asking you to do, at least quit blessing them.
[4:29] This is ridiculous. I brought you here to curse them. And Balaam says, verse 26, all that the Lord speaks, that I must do. Verse 27, he said, old Balak says, hey, let's try another place. Third time around.
[4:41] Peradventure will work this time. Maybe God will curse them if we go over there. And so they built seven altars and they sacrificed seven bullocks and seven rams. I want to go with you through the story.
[4:52] And I want you to see some fantastic truths that I think will thrill you straight out of this chapter. Father, please help me to stay out of your way and out of the way of your book so that your people tonight can wonder or realize what a wonderful God you are.
[5:07] I am so blessed to know how good you are. I am so blessed to know how you love your people and you won't turn your back on your people. I am so blessed to know how you're a God who doesn't lie, can't lie, won't lie.
[5:21] It doesn't happen. I'm so blessed that I have your word and I can trust it. And I pray tonight that you'd help your people mark it in their Bibles, not trust me, but trust your book and go home thrilled with what a great God you are.
[5:34] And I will give you praise in Jesus name. Amen. First thing I want you to look at is this. What happens when you continue with what you know isn't right? Now I will stop and talk to you Christians a second.
[5:45] Oh, Balaam, I don't believe is a believer. I don't believe he's a Christian. I don't believe he's a part of the nation of Israel. I believe he's an evil man. I don't believe he's serving God but himself. I believe he wants money and fame.
[5:57] I believe he is willing to be used for the wrong purposes. Fact is, in the next chapter, he is going to figure out a way to help mess Israel over anyway. Even though God won't let him curse them, he's going to get them into idolatry before it's over.
[6:09] God made it clear to Balaam in the last chapter he didn't want Balaam participating in all this cursing of the people. If you recall, in the last chapter, he's going over there, and on his way, God said, Who are these guys?
[6:21] Who are these guys that have come to see you? What are you doing with them? And then he said to them, I don't want you going there. I don't like this. And then Balaam keeps persisting, and God lets him do what he wants to do. And the story starts, chapter 23 starts in verse 22-39, and it starts with Balaam participating in the worship of a demon.
[6:41] In the worship of a false god, look at verse 39, And Balaam went with Balak, and they came unto whatever that city is, and Balak offered sheep and oxen, oxen and sheep, and he sent to Balaam and to the princes that were with him.
[6:53] And it came to pass on the morrow that Balaak took Balaam and brought him to the high places of Baal. He took him to the temple of the demon. He took him to the temple of a false god.
[7:06] And this quote-unquote man of God was there. And in chapter 23, now Balaam builds seven altars, and he sacrifices seven oxen and seven rams.
[7:17] And I just read that part of the story to you. And by the way, he's going to do it three times. I'd like to bring some truth to you for you now. I don't know if you'll write this down in your Bible.
[7:30] I don't know if you'll think about this, but here's a quote. In fact, somebody used a quote after last week, but I'll say this to you. Testing doorknobs is not working. Somebody said, that's how you find God's will, testing the doorknobs.
[7:41] See if God will let you through. God lets you through when he doesn't want you through. We saw that last week. God will open doors for you that he really doesn't want you going through.
[7:52] We saw last week how he gave them what they wanted, but he sent leanness to their soul. And oh, Balaam and Balak are doing this foolish thing. Balak's like, well, curse them from over here.
[8:03] See if that'll work. And a blessing comes. They said, well, it must be where we are. Let's move over here. We'll offer some work and let's try it from here. That doesn't work. Well, let's try it from over here. And they keep persisting and doing the same thing.
[8:15] They're trying to find out if the doors will open, if it's good. But that's not God's way. That's not God. God's way is for you to base your life on truth, not emotion.
[8:27] God's way is for you to base your life on truth, not trying your best to figure out a way to get around truth, which is what old Balaam's doing. We find God's will through God's word.
[8:38] We are people of the book. And let me just tell you this. It is so easy to be a good Christian and God to give you feelings. I'll pray about it and God will give me peace. But God will often, quote unquote, now not God, not really, but God quite often gives people peace to do stuff He's against.
[8:56] He wrote He was against it, but they got peace to do it when He said He was against it. And they say God gave them peace. Are you listening? God didn't give them peace. God didn't give them peace.
[9:07] It wasn't God giving them peace that got that done. We find God's will through God's word. Don't fall into the trap of trying every angle before you consult the word of God.
[9:19] Can I just say to all of you, as Christians, consult the word of God. Test your motives and be sure that you really are seeking God. Quit trying to find a sneaky spiritual way to get what you want.
[9:33] That's a big lesson, I think, in this chapter. You say, why do you think that's for us in that chapter? Balak wants something. Balak's playing with a man of God, a quote-unquote man of God, and he's trying it all these different ways.
[9:44] I mean, by the time the story's over, he's offered, what, seven times three. He's offered 21 bullocks and 21 rams. He's built 21 altars. I mean, he is playing religion if there ever was anybody, but he won't do what God wants him to do.
[10:00] Now, can I just stop and say, this is why you're a people of the book. This is why you read the Bible. You take time to study the Bible. You take time to learn Bible principles because you want to do what God wants you to do.
[10:13] And you don't know what God wants you to do because of culture. You don't know what God wants you to do because of a feeling that comes over you. You want to know what God wants you to do based on what God's holy word says.
[10:26] That's why you're in church. That's why you're studying the Bible so that you can learn that way. Second thing I want you to look at in this chapter, and that is that God God has a special relationship with Israel.
[10:37] God has a special relationship with Israel. Look if you would at verse 8. Numbers chapter 23 and verse 8. How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed? Or how shall I defy whom the Lord hath not defied?
[10:51] I want you to look this way. This is a big deal. You know, we are not, we do not believe, biblically, if you'd study the Bible, we are not Israel. There are two distinct groups.
[11:04] There's the nation of Israel and there's the church. There's the nation of Israel who God got finished with and is no longer using and he's put them to one side and he's brought in this mystery that he talks about in Colossians, this thing that no one knew about, which was the church and he's put us into place and he will soon move us out of the way in a rapture and bring Israel back and he didn't leave Israel, he'll bring Israel back.
[11:26] You say, why is that important? Because a lot of the churches you know about that wear robes and backwards collars they really think they're part of Israel. One of the reasons they like to wear robes is they're priests. I'm not a priest.
[11:37] I'm a pastor. I don't have any kind of special place above you. I'm your brother. I wrote a devotion this morning. I wrote a devotion this morning where he said, don't call me rabbi, master or father because you're brothers.
[11:49] Don't say rabbi, master or father because you're brothers. I'm your brother. That's all I am. I am your brother in Christ and that's all that I am. And so I want you to understand God's still got a plan for Israel.
[12:00] If you study your Bible and you keep up with Bible prophecy at all and you know what's going on, God has a plan for the nation of Israel. They are his special people and I'm going to prove that to you from the Bible if you've got your Bible.
[12:12] But in Numbers chapter 23 and verse 8, he said, I can't curse them because God don't curse them. They're his special people. They're his chosen. God made great promises to them.
[12:23] Look in your Bible at Genesis chapter 12 and verse 1. Maybe make a mention, make a note of this beside verse 8 there in your Bible. Now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house and the land that I will show thee and I will make of thee a great nation and I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing and I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curses thee and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
[12:50] Three interesting words, three interesting phrases, I will, I will, I will. If you've got your Bible open there, if you've got your Bible open there, he said, he said, I will make of thee a great nation, I will bless thee and I will bless them that bless you, I will curse them that curse you, I will, I will.
[13:05] Balaam's trying to curse him for Balak and he tries to curse him. God said way back in Genesis, ain't nobody gonna curse you, buddy. This is Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, 430 years in Egypt and all these years later and you might say, well, I don't believe they're the special people of God anymore.
[13:22] Must have worked because Balaam said, I'll curse him and every time he opened his mouth to curse him, a blessing came out of his mouth. They're God's special people. By the way, God has judged every ruler and every nation that have caused the nation of Israel to suffer.
[13:36] He judged Egypt and Assyria and Babylon and Nazi Germany. No nation has prospered like he has Israel materially and divine protection. Even today, if you're a country boy like me, you grew up knowing this.
[13:50] If you want to get somebody to give you a better price, you jewel them down. You say, you're not supposed to say that. I know it's not politically correct anymore, but that was exactly what we said because those guys, they knew how to make money. God had a blessing on them.
[14:01] These are God's special people. Look at what it says in Numbers chapter 23 and verse 9. In verse 23 and verse 9, there's no other nation on the planet like Israel. No other nation on the planet like Israel.
[14:13] Look at verse 9. From the top of the rocks I see him and from the hills I behold him. Though the people shall dwell alone, nobody hangs with them, nobody's like them. They dwell alone and not reckoned among the nations.
[14:25] They're not counted among the nations. Verse 10, he said, who can count the dust of Jacob and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous. Let my last him be like his.
[14:36] Balaam said, I want to die like a Jew. I want to die like the nation of Israel. They're God's people. They dwell alone. There is none like them. They're the sons of a one-of-a-kind nation.
[14:47] They weren't reckoned among the nations. They don't even think of themselves as a regular country. And that's because the Bible said that. Look at Exodus chapter 19 and verse 5. I'll get to the good stuff in a minute, but you need to learn some Bible along the way.
[15:00] Exodus chapter 19 and verse 5. Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure, an unusual, different, separated, separated unto me, people, unto me above all people.
[15:18] That's what your Bible says. In Exodus chapter 23, verse 5, unto me above all people, all the earth is mine. And you, nation of Israel, shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
[15:31] These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. Numbers chapter 23 and verse 11. When Balaam tries to curse him, blessings come out of his mouth.
[15:42] Look at verse 11. And Balak said unto Balaam, Why hast thou done this? What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies and behold, you have blessed them altogether.
[15:54] And he answered and said, Must I not speak that which the Lord hath put in my mouth? So I just want you to say, number one, I want you to understand this. Balaam and Balak are trying to get around the will of God.
[16:05] You should go home with that. You should think through that. You should realize it's so often we use God's will for the wrong excuse. Please, men get divorced. Men leave their wives.
[16:16] Men pick up lovers. Men look at porn. Men steal. Men kill. There was a guy named Son of Sam when I was a kid and he killed because God told him to. God never told him to. Say amen. That's an extreme picture.
[16:28] But you do that. You actually go buy a house sometime or get a loan or do something. God told you, I had a kid in Bible college in Peru who God told if he would go gamble, he would bless his gambling and he'd make enough money to pay his college bill.
[16:42] So he broke into church and stole the piano and the guitar, went and sold him, got the money. He told me, he said, I wasn't worried about it because God told me. God clearly told me that if I did that, I could get my money back and I'd have the money and I'd go buy the guitar back out of the pawn shop.
[16:56] I'd buy the piano back and I'd bring it to church. Well, we came to church and there wasn't none of it there. And I said, well, what happened? He said, I don't know. He said, God didn't come through. I said, well, God never told you that. Say amen. You said, but we don't want to get in a fight.
[17:12] Amen. Number two, Israel is a special nation. It's pretty common now for Christians to kind of like disallow Israel and not know who Israel is.
[17:24] But I'll give you a hint. They've been God's people since Genesis chapter 12. They're God's people. And we're not that special group. We're the church and that's a special group. We'll learn about that in a minute. But I want you to know that. Now, I want you to go with me to verse 19.
[17:37] I want you to see how God is showing grace in this story. God's showing grace in this story. And this first one is like one of them big words for you to learn.
[17:48] You're going to learn Bible principles as you study the Bible. And one of them is the immutability of God. God doesn't change. You need to write that down somewhere. God doesn't change.
[18:00] Now, if you knew Austin Gardner from 20 years ago, you wouldn't know the same Austin Gardner that's here today. I've changed physically. I've changed a lot of the things I do. I'm not exactly the same guy I was.
[18:11] But God doesn't change. So read what the Bible says in verse 19. Numbers 23, 19. You should mark this verse. You need to know this. And by the way, this is extremely important.
[18:23] Because if God does change, how do you know you'll still be saved 100 years from now? If God does change, how do you know that you have eternal life? Because all you've got to base anything on is I trust God.
[18:34] And if God's going to be a changer, we don't know what He's going to do. But I know God doesn't change. Look at verse 19. God's not a man that He should lie. You ought to underline that. Neither the Son of Man that He should repent.
[18:47] He doesn't change His mind. He doesn't... He's not flippant. He's not a man that He should repent. Hath He said and shall He not do? Hath He spoken and shall He not make it good? If God said it, He'll do it.
[18:58] You can trust it. Say amen. I'm going to show you that in the other parts of the Bible, but you need to know this. Now listen to me. Our security of salvation is not based in what we do.
[19:09] Our security is based on what God says. And so if God's not trustworthy, if this Bible's not trustworthy, then we're in a heap of trouble. So you're told all the way back in Numbers.
[19:20] I'm going to show you in the New Testament too. But you're told all the way back in the book of Numbers, hey, when God says something, He means it. That's just it. That's the way it works. Balaam's like, we can keep trying this cursing bit, but once he speaks, that's it.
[19:31] I mean, it's done. They don't even try it anymore, but if you insist, we'll try it. God's not someone you can manipulate and twist to do what you want. God's not someone you can twist and manipulate to get what you want.
[19:48] God can be trusted to tell the truth because He doesn't change. Would you write beside verse 19, Hebrews 6, 18, and look at it as they throw it up on the screen for you.
[20:00] Look at the verse if you're not going to look it up. Look at the verse, mark it down in your Bible. Hebrews 6, 18, that by two immutable, immutability, remember that, two immutable things, it is impossible for God to lie.
[20:16] Underline that. Say that with me. Would you just say this? Impossible for God to lie. Are you ready to say it? Impossible for God to lie. Have you ever been lied to? I remember I bought a car in my first church.
[20:29] A man said, heaven now, I hope, I think, I believe. But he sold me this car and he said, I couldn't get a loan and so this guy was a pretty big businessman and he sold me this car for I think $1,700 or $1,800 and he sold me the car and we got to the bank, we're sitting in the bank and he said, yeah, give him a loan for $2,100.
[20:48] And I'm sitting over and I'm only like 19 but I'm like, I'm thinking, you said 17, now it's 21. So I said, I thought we said 17.
[20:59] He said, what's 21 now? Okay. I've already been driving the car, already have my stuff in the car, it's my car. Next thing you know, I'm paying more money. I found out something, you can't trust a deacon from the church.
[21:12] Say amen. Well, you can't these deacons here. You can trust these deacons here. They would never do that. Say amen. But I'm just saying, you can't trust, but you trust God because he doesn't lie.
[21:24] Amen. By the way, I could lie to you. I heard the other day about some mystery that was mad at me because he said, I promised him something that didn't do it. So we wrote him a letter and sent him some money. I wrote and said, I don't know when I promised or what I promised, but here's $100.
[21:36] Tell me how much more I owe you and I'll send it to you. Because I could mess up. God doesn't mess up. Can you say amen? Look if you would at verse 18. That two immutable things, two things that don't change, underline that, in which it was impossible for God to lie, that we might have strong consolation.
[21:54] You can be sure. You can rest on this. You can have strong comfort in this. God doesn't lie. Who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope before us.
[22:06] God doesn't lie. God doesn't lie. He said he would save us and so he will. I love this verse I'm about to show you. You should mark it in the Bible right here. Look at 2 Timothy 2 and verse 13.
[22:19] Here's the beautiful thing about your salvation. Any of you ever mess up since you got saved? Any of you been less than faithful since you got saved? If you have, say amen. Say oh me. But look at this verse right here.
[22:30] If we believe not. See, you might say, well I believe and I trust in God, but sometimes I think I mess up. Sometimes I'm not sure about how good I believe. He said, if we believe not yet he abideth faithful, he can't deny himself.
[22:42] But the security of my salvation is not on how good I'm doing. The security of my salvation is on how good my God is. My salvation is based on him, not me. My salvation is based on his strength, not my strength.
[22:54] God is no man that can be tricked into doing something he doesn't want to do. I'm going to stop there because I'm going to change gears with you. But I just want, please know this. The immutability of God, he doesn't change.
[23:05] So when God says something, in 1962, May the 6th of 1962 at the Wrigley Baptist Church, a little seven-year-old boy, almost eight years old, put his trust and faith in Jesus Christ and he believed God.
[23:19] And that guy is now 60 years old and standing in front of you, but let me tell you this, and I've changed and I've made mistakes. I sinned more since I got saved than I did before. I got saved. I was only seven. I was only seven.
[23:30] But God's been faithful. And you can trust God. And so when you're wondering, am I saved? Don't wonder, did you hold your tongue right when you prayed?
[23:41] Some of, we get this foolish thing about, am I surely I'm saved? And it's like, did I pray it just right? Did I say all the right words? Did I understand enough? Did I believe enough? And you're putting way too much pressure on you.
[23:52] You just got saved. Amen? He just reached down and picked you up. You say, I don't even remember everything I did. I just know I'm saved. That's the key. It's God who does the saving.
[24:04] Then I want you to go to verse 21. This is my favorite verse in the chapter. You know, I could spend an hour, I did spend an hour on this in my class this week. But look at this verse. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel.
[24:19] The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. Now I'm going to read you some verses in a minute. I just need to talk to you a second. I'm going to go off script for a second.
[24:30] I'm just going to relax and talk to you like you're some of my students. This is beautiful. Look at this. I know a whole lot more about the nation of Israel than God apparently knows. I know Israel's a bunch of jerks.
[24:44] I know, I know they grumbled before they crossed the Red Sea. I know they grumbled about the food they ate. I know they weren't satisfied with the food. I know they built a golden calf.
[24:55] I can tell you I have seen a lot of perverseness among these people. I've seen bad attitudes. I've seen jerks. I've seen a messed up bunch of people.
[25:06] But God looks at them and goes, I never see anything wrong with them. That is a wild story. Now I have time to go through there with you, but I want you to write Romans chapter 4, and I want you to go back to Romans sometime when you have time and you just enjoy studying God and how good God is.
[25:21] I want to remind you of a beautiful story. How many of you remember Abraham? Abraham was chosen by God, and he was promised that he would be the father of many nations. And the Bible says in Romans chapter 4 that he never doubted, that he was always strong, that he never considered his body being dead.
[25:41] He didn't consider the circumstances. That's just not quite right. Hang on, I'm going to show you something. The truth is, Abraham one day walked in and said, God, it looks to me like you're having a hard time getting your promise taken care of, and so how about my servant?
[25:57] Can we count him as my son, and that would get you off the hook? I mean, you're not doing too good at getting me. You said I was going to be father of many nations. You're not coming through on that deal, and I'm just trying to help you out. And God said, no. I told you, you're going to have a bunch of kids.
[26:10] Well, that's one. That's strike one. Amen? And then later on, he and his wife were talking, and they're having this discussion, and she said, well, why don't you just sleep with my maid, my handmaid? You can have a baby that way.
[26:22] And that way, we can tell God we got him a baby. We helped him out. He couldn't figure out what he was doing. And so they had Ishmael. And he goes in and says, God, I've got a kid. And God said, I told you, I ain't the one I want. I told you, I'm going to do it.
[26:34] And then Sarah got so old, she could no longer have babies. It's past the age of childbirth. She's 90 years old. She can't have babies. And an angel comes and says, a year from now, you have a baby in there, Sarah goes, yeah, sure.
[26:51] And I get to the New Testament. Here's what God says. Man, he never did doubt me. If that doesn't excite you. You see, God sees you as you are and chooses not to see you as you are.
[27:04] He chooses to see you in grace. The truth is that the nation of Israel had done a lot of junk, but every time a lamb died, every time a substitute died, every time blood was shed and their sin was taken care of.
[27:22] And when God looked at him, he saw them in Christ. I'm going to prove it to you in the Bible, but I just want you to know, right now, you know, I know more dirt on you and you know more dirt on me than God knows on us.
[27:37] That's wild. You see, you say, how's that? Because he said, I don't remember. He said, I will not remember your sins. I will wipe them out. I will cast them behind my back.
[27:47] I'll bury them in the deepest sea. I'll separate them as far from you as the east is from the west. That means when I'm looking at you, I keep me looking at you sin. When I'm looking at you sin, I can't see you. I'm a good God. I do not count your trespasses to you.
[27:59] The fact is, I count your righteousness, my righteousness to you. In 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, he made us the very righteousness of God. Those are some great truths. I had a young guy, his name's Aldo Osto.
[28:12] He's a missionary in Chile. And Aldo told me, he gave us a house to build a church in one time. And Aldo said, I've just got to make things up for God. I've done so much stuff. And I said, Aldo, God doesn't remember what you did. He said, he's God.
[28:23] He's got to remember. I said, he said he didn't. And you don't lie. And I said, if you were to go to God in prayer right now, I'd say, God, do you remember back when I was a terrorist and did all them bad things? I've got to go. No, I don't.
[28:35] That's pretty good stuff. Say, say, amen. God would say, I forgot that. God would say, I blotted it out. I buried it in the sea. I put it behind my back. I separated it from the east to the west.
[28:46] I nailed it to the cross. So if anybody brings it to your mind, just tell them, it's nailed on the cross. And it says, canceled. I knew liable. Annulled. In English. Amen. Not there anymore.
[28:56] Say, amen. So after he wiped it out, after he covered it in his blood, he nailed it on his cross and said, if anybody comes reminding you, let me tell you where it's at. I put it on my cross. So you're looking at your past and thinking of all the mess you've made and God's looking at you and you say, what mess?
[29:11] It's kind of like a parent looks at their child. If you're very deeply in love with your child, you don't go around remembering every time they threw up or messed their diaper. You just look at them and say, I mean, I love this kid. He's looking at his kid saying, it's a special child.
[29:24] Special. Let me give you some Bible verses because you're sitting here thinking, I don't believe this. This is crazy. He's going off the deep end. So let's see what the Bible says. God didn't see iniquity or perversity in his people. He saw a kingdom of priests.
[29:36] Exodus chapter 19 and verse 6, and you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the nation of Israel. They'd messed up. They'd suffered the consequences of their sin.
[29:47] They'd been chastened. This is a wonderful thing. It was like God on this side said, I'll spank you. You mess up, Ty. You mess up, I'll spank you because you're mine. But when he turned around to Balak, he said, you can't curse him. He's perfect. That's beautiful, isn't it?
[29:59] I might spank you when you mess up, but you're mine. I'll take it for you. You're like, Balak, come on and ask for a curse. You ain't cursing them. Nobody curses my people. But I'll spank you if you mess up, but you're mine. That's good stuff.
[30:10] If that ain't good to you, I don't know what's good. I got goosebumps right now. By the way, it says the same thing about us. If you would, Ephesians chapter one and verse four, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy without blame before him in love.
[30:24] I am his chosen. He loves me. He picked me. He picked me. By the way, that's not a Calvinistic word there. That's not a Calvinistic word. That's a word simply saying, it's a sweet word.
[30:37] It's like Betty saying to you, Austin picked me. Well, she can say Austin picked her. You know, the only reason I picked her, she's the only one I could catch. Everybody else ran too quick. Amen. I hobbled her. But the thing is, she's my chosen.
[30:48] Look, if you would, at Colossians 3.3, we are hidden in Christ. You are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. Guess where you are right now? You are hid with Christ in God.
[31:01] In 2 Corinthians chapter five, verse 17, you're a new creature, and old things are passed away, and behold, all things have become new. In verse 21, it says, for he hath made him to be sent for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness.
[31:14] We are made the righteousness of God in him. In Ephesians chapter two, in verse four, we are seated in the heavenlies. We're seated together in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus. In Christ, we are his special people.
[31:28] First Peter chapter two, in verse five, we're a holy priesthood, a chosen generation, a royal, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. In verse 10, we are the people of God.
[31:40] We're the people of God. And so the Bible says, in verse 22, God brought them out of Egypt. He hath, as it were, the strength of a unicorn.
[31:51] It was God and his great power that brought them out of Egypt. Verse 23, it said, there's no enchantment against Jacob. There's no divination against Israel because look what God's done.
[32:06] I'm going to give you a couple of more things, but I just want you to see something. I'm not good because I'm good. I'm not good because of anything I've done. I'm not good because I got baptized. I'm not good because I attend church.
[32:17] But the day I got saved, God did a great work of grace in me and he did one in you. You are his. Now let me say something. He will discipline you. If you make a golden calf, 3,000 of you will die in one day and you will take a golden calf, you'll grind it up in a bit, put it in the water and you'll drink that golden calf.
[32:39] If you gripe and complain about the food, he can send serpents among you. He can send the food, meat and stack it deep until it comes out of your nostrils and you can die.
[32:52] He may do that, but you're his and he never forgets. I have four children. They and I have four children. And I can tell you this. They've not always been perfect.
[33:06] But I can't tell you how much I love them. I can't tell you how proud I am of them. And on this side, they could say, man, dad was a pretty rough disciplinarian. But I'll tell you this.
[33:18] I would chase them to the end of the planet. I would bring them home. I would love them. I would lay down my life for them. There's nothing I wouldn't do. They're mine. I'm just a human. And your great God said this.
[33:29] You're mine. And there ain't nobody going to get away with cursing you. This is the way I look at you. I don't see your sin. I see your holiness.
[33:39] You should underline in that verse, what has God wrought? Verse 23, you ought to underline that because that's what the whole story is. What in the world has God done for us? I was on the way to hell.
[33:51] I deserve to go to hell. But the great God of heaven sent God himself in human flesh to die on the cross and to rescue me. And I am saved by his mercy and by his grace.
[34:02] I am kept by his power. It is him doing a work in me. And God's people will win. Look in verse 24. In verse 24, behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion and lift himself up as a young lion.
[34:18] He shall not lie down until he eat his prey and drink the blood of his slain. Balaam says, Balak, you can try cursing them people all you want, but they're his. You can pull anything you want, but you ain't getting away with it.
[34:29] You remember when we started this, he said they'd lick up every nation they come to. And Balaam says, you ain't cursing them all you want to curse them, but I'll go ahead and tell you, they're going to win. They're God's people that can't lose. They're God's people that can't lose.
[34:41] It's greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world. Say amen. You have God's promises. What a tremendous thing. Let me give you a few lessons and I'll close. I got three minutes for my whole last point.
[34:53] Israel wanted to be like the world and that's what ends up destroying them. They imitated their neighbors in their worshiping conduct and God disciplined them. Today, the church wants to be like the world to reach the world.
[35:04] They forget that the church is the people of God, a very special people saved by his grace. Instead of separation, they promote imitation. Campbell Morgan reminded us, the church did the most for the world when the church was the least like the world.
[35:19] It's time to stop playing games with God's will and just using God as an excuse. By the way, if you understand how he loves you, it'll affect the way you live out your faith. He has forgiven your sin before you commit it.
[35:31] You can live on in sin and try to take advantage of such love, but that's just not what we do. Romans chapter 5, verse 20, and I close. Could you just throw Romans 5.20 up and then we'll go to Romans 6.1.
[35:44] In Romans 5.20, the law entered that the offense might abound. The law came in that sin might abound, but where sin did abound, grace did much more abound. Here's the deal.
[35:56] Your sin's this deep and God's grace is that deep, but if your sin's that deep, God's grace is that deep, it's always more. And so God is such a good and wonderful and loving God. But never would we ever take advantage of that.
[36:08] Never would a true born-again believer say, I don't care, God's been good so I can live like the devil. This once saved, always saved stuff is so bad because what you mean is I prayed a prayer when I was one and a half years old and I've lived like the devil my entire life.
[36:22] That's not what it's teaching at all. It's teaching if you're born again, you're really his and you've got all these promises. But born-again people want to please him. So in Romans 5.20, the Bible said, the Bible said in Romans 5.20, when sin abounds, grace did much more abound.
[36:36] But in Romans 6.1 is the response. God's good, so what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid! How shall they that are dead to sin live any longer there yet?
[36:47] Man, I've got a good God. I've got a good God that loves me. I don't deserve to be loved. Look what God has done. But instead of me running out here and doing junk, I'm going to run around saying, boy, God's good.
[36:58] I want to love him. I want to please him. I want to live a life like he wants me to. And he begins to live out in me who he is. And I become more holy every day.
[37:08] Father in heaven, I love you. I thank you for your word. I pray, God, you'd challenge your people and I pray you'd draw them to you and I pray you'd be magnified. I thank you for how good you are to us. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia.
[37:22] For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.
[37:33] Thanks. Bye.
[37:44] Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.
[38:00] Bye. Bye.