Out of Numbers, chapters twenty-two through twenty-four. And we want to read tonight the twenty-third chapter. We're dealing with what we call the oracles of Balaam. The Balaam oracles. And Balaam was a false prophet who was forced to tell the truth because God in matchless grace intervened. This is one of the great sections of the Bible. that should give the child of God such truth that causes him to behold God in the unique expression that he provides us for genuine worship. So we're going to read the twenty-third chapter before I review a little bit, let me go on over on two previous Sunday nights, and then we'll get down to business on uh... our next section concerning the person of our great God and the oracles that Balaam was forced to utter verse one of chapter twenty three and Balaam said unto Balaak build me here seven altars and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams when you read a passage like this if you do not understand the activity of the devil. You may not understand why Balaam had seven altars and seven oxen, etc. There is nothing original with the devil. All the devil can ever do is it what God does and who God is. The desire of Satan is to be like God. Israel had an altar that was built for God. God ordained it. Now there are seven authors built because in the practices of witchcraft that Bairom was very familiar with, they arranged the leftovers of the sacrifices in such a way that he would get an incantation out of it. But God intervened on each time. Every time Bairom uttered an oracle, there were seven articles and seven oxen slain and offered, but they were not offered to go. They were offered in order that Baal would get an opportunity, a fresh opportunity, for God to curse Israel, that he could put a curse upon them when he couldn't do it. So when you read about these seven altars that are built, you've got to keep in mind why Baal had them built. Verse two, and Beelik did as Beelim had spoken, and Beelik and Beelim offered on every altar a Beelik and a ram. And Beelim said unto Beelip, Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go. For eventually the Lord will come to meet me. And whatsoever he sureth me, I will tell thee. And he went to an high place. And God met Beelim, and he said unto him, I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram. And the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth and said, Return unto Balaam and thus thou shalt speak. And he returned unto him, and where he stood by his burnt sacrifice, he and all the princes of Moab. And he took up his parable and said, Balaam, the king of Moab, hath brought me from Aram. all from Aram out of the mountains of the east saying, Come, curse me, Jacob, and come defy Israel. How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed? Or how shall I defy whom the Lord hath not defied? If there is anything in the word of God that should cause you to rejoice, it's a verse like that. Here is a person who is hired to curse God's people, and God forbids it. It cannot be done. And beloved men, we are the people of God, accepted in the beloved. It is impossible for anyone in the universe to curse whom God is pleased to bless. And God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. in the heavenly in Christ Jesus. And we are privileged to come to his throne, obtain mercy, and find grace to help in every need and under every circumstance. This is the portion of the people of God. And beloved, this was spoken by a man who died among the enemies of God's people. He couldn't curse them. Verse nine, For from the tops of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him. All the people shall dwell alone and not be reckoned among the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my life then be like his. And Baelic said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and behold, I has blessed them altogether. And he answered and said, Must thou not take heed to speak that which the Lord hath put in my mouth? And Baelic said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place. And whenst thou mayest see them, thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all. and curse me them from thence. And he brought him into the fields of Zopham to the top of Pisgah and built seven altars and offered a bollock and a ram on every altar. And he said unto Baloch, stand here by thy burnt offering, that I meet the Lord yonder. And the Lord met Baloch and put a word in his mouth. And he said, go again unto Baloch and say thus. And when he came to him, behold, he stood by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Barak said unto him, What if the Lord spoken? And he took up his parable and said, Rise up, Barak, and hear, hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor. God is not a man, but he should lie. Neither the son of man, but he should repent. As he said, and shall he not do it, Or have he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Behold, I have received commandment to bless, and he has blessed. And I can't reverse it. He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob. Neither have he seen perverseness in Israel. You know, last week we looked at Israel in the camp in the Book of Numbers. What did you see? Iniquity? And we saw perverseness. What does God see? He doesn't see it all. He says, I haven't seen any of them. You know when God looks at us, He sees us in the person of His Son. He doesn't see our perversions. He doesn't see our iniquity. That shouldn't cause us to live in sin. That should cause us to lose sin. We all thank God for the work of Christ. If there's any section of the word of God that teaches that salvation is by grace, it is this section. You see, I've often heard the statement that if anybody's in heaven, this is so and so is in heaven. My grandmother or my aunt or my uncle. I want to tell you, if a person is in heaven, it's not because of what we see in them. If they're there, it's because they're in Christ. and are alone because they're in Christ. And beloved, it's what he sees in them. And what he sees in them is the work of Christ, having been accomplished on their behalf, and nothing else will ever change that issue. We are saved by grace alone, and that is our only plea. Here's where we rest with God. Notice again what he says. Verse twenty round. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob. Neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him. And the shot of a king is among them. God brought them out of Egypt. He hath, as it were, the strength of a unicorn. Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob. See, that's what he was doing with the seven altars. He was seeking for enchantment against Jacob. He says, there isn't any. And when I read this, there's no enchantment against anyone in the family of God. Neither is there any divination against Israel. According to the time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, wrath hath God wroth. Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion and lift up himself as a young lion. He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey and drink of the blood of the slain. And Baalek said unto Baalek, Neither curse them at all, neither bless them at all. But Baalek answered and said unto Baalek, Told not I thee, saying, All that the Lord speaketh that I must do. And Baalek said unto Baalek, Come, I pray thee. I will bring thee unto another place. her adventure would but please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence. And Baalim brought Baalim unto the top of PR. That's looketh toward Jess Shimon. And Baalim sent unto Baalim, build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven billets and seven rams. And Baalim did as Baalim had said, and offered a billet and a ram on every altar. Now may the Lord bless his word. Let's pray. Our Father, it's thrilling to us to read your word, to realize the care that you have for your people, and to realize the position that is ours in Christ Jesus. It is not ours because of who we are or what we do. It is all of grace. It is because of who thy Son is. He is what we say in tonight. in our great Christmas carol. He's a heaven-born prince of peace. He's a son of righteousness. He's the one who was born that man that no more may die. He was born to give the sons of earth a second birth, a birth from heaven. We praise you for who he is. I want to thank you that salvation is by grace and by grace alone. Help us to so speak of him tonight. that the hearts of our people will be warm and blessed for Jesus' sake. Amen. In our study of the oracles of Bilem, we examine in particular the time and the place where these oracles took place. They took place on the mountains of Moab while Israel was dwelling in the plains of Moab before they crossed over the Jordan River into the promised land. And we asked the question as to why Moab had such fear of Israel. He didn't have to fear them because God in the book of Deuteronomy told them he had given all to Moab to the sons of the children of Lot. And he had given Mount Seir to Esau, proving that God is sovereign over the nations. And God restricts the borders of nations. The scripture says in the book of Judah, one of them, and God made it up the earth to the children of men. He divided it according to the number of the sons of Israel. In other words, that nation of Israel is a determining factor for the other nations of the world. And that is very important to recognize. Because Moab is afraid... because Israel conquered the two great kings of the Emirates, where Moab controlled the kingdoms that these men now have, and Israel conquered them. The kingdoms in the Transjordan, the kingdom of Sihon and Og, and they took their land, and it became the portion of Reuben, of Gab, and the half tribe of the Nasser. And Moab was hoping that they could recoup and go down and take that land back, but not Israel has. And Moab is afraid that they're going to attack them. And the Dalek is trying his best to keep Israel from being blessed by God. Behind the whole plan is Satan. Satan is behind it all. And in this we see the hand work of God. Now a person can't study this portion without being impressed with God's declarations of His care of and his care for his people, Israel. And he gives that to us, for he shows us how he confronted Balaam in his own land. Before Balaam ever left home, when the first messengers of Balaam came to him, God came to him. And God said, who came to you tonight? And Balaam had to answer God. There's no getting away from it. And I'll tell you, when Barron met with a war, God was dealing in grace, but it still wasn't a Sunday school picnic. And we need to keep that before us in our mind. What was Israel doing all this time? They were murmuring and complaining. And they pointed that out last week as we studied the other sections. and the other portions of the Book of Numbers. But God through Balaam was declaring his blessing of these people in the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant. These were covenant people, people who were healed by covenant and His forever. And that's like the second hymn in our worship hymn book, that we sang this morning. Hymn number two, we are His by covenant, and we rejoice in this. You see, the source of Israel's blessing is a revelation of the attributes of God. What we have in this section is who God is, not who Balaam is, and not basically who Israel is. Israel is the recipient of the blessing. But in this section we're confronted with who God is. And tonight again we want to deal with the attributes of God that are manifest in this portion of the world of God. The prophet who came to curse them could not because God was determined to bless them. At the close of our last session together we looked at the incomparability of God. For whom could dare and compare God? He didn't know God. He couldn't compare him to anyone. Neither can we. And the moment we try to compare the bride of the Bible to anything that we know, we become guilty of idolatry. Thou shalt not make unto the agreement image the righteousness of anything in heaven above or the earth beneath. or the waters under the earth. The God of the Bible cannot be compared to anything or anyone. That is what's wrong with what we know as pantheism. That is what the problem is with Judaism. And that's why we are what is known as theists. You see, the pantheist says, Oh, I see God in the tree. God isn't in the tree. God made the tree. The tree may reveal its glory. But God is not the tree. And we don't worship the tree. Even if we decorate it. We worship the God of the Bible. to whom no one can be compared. So, having examined the incomparability of Jehovah, tonight we want to look, first of all, at the sovereignty of Jehovah, as outlined here. You see, throughout the articles of Balaam, stress is laid upon the unsolent sovereignty of Jehovah. And this is what forms the foundation for his incomparability. Why can we not compare him to anything but because he is sovereign over everything? You see, God's choice of Israel is rooted in his sovereignty. For God says to Israel, I didn't choose you because you were great. I didn't choose you because you were few. I chose you because I loved you. And God's choice of us is rooted in his sovereignty. He didn't choose us because of anything he loved. He chose us simply because he loved us. You see, God's blessing of Israel flows from his sovereignty. They were murmuring and complaining in the wilderness. But God just kept on blessing. And it seems when you read through Exodus and through numbers in particular, the more they complained, the more they were blessed. That doesn't give us a reason for complaining. Because complaining is sin. But then, when we think of the sovereignty of God, God's use of bare them. And even God's use of the doubted. Fathers from his sovereignty. And they become expressions of his sovereignty. That God can use a dumbass. that he so wills to express his purpose and his will. Now, what about God's sovereignty? Let me just say this. It was Israel's responsibility to understand God's sovereign and exclusive lordship that he had over his people. The demands he expects and the response that he expects from them to his demand. Now, this depends and depended for all things whatsoever was written a four-time is written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hoped. We read in Romans fifteen and verse three. So this depended then upon their understanding of the concept of covenant. What does it mean? And what did it mean to Israel to enter into a covenant relationship with God, first in Abraham and then second at Mount Sinai? What did it mean? What does it mean to us to have entered into covenant relationship with him through the blood of the everlasting covenant when we became these children in what we know as a new birth when we were saved from our sins? What are our responsibilities to a covenant keeping God? And when we think of the sovereignty of God, the sovereignty of God enhances the responsibility of man, adds to our relationship to the concept of covenant that He's given us in the New Testament, and of course in the Old Testament. Now in chapter twenty-three in verse twenty-one, the ending of the verse, it's a verse that enhances what we would call the sovereignty of God. In verse twenty-one, in that verse it's where he says, He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob. Neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel. But all this expression, the word is God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. And it's a shot of a king. Who is this king? He is a king of glory that he's spoken of in the twenty-fourth Psalm. Well, now, when you look at chapter twenty-four and verse twenty-three, the end of the verse, now I hope you have a new American standard Bible tonight for this verse. It's so much better than the King James and the twenty-third verse of chapter twenty-four. And that twenty-four third verse says, Alas, who shall live when God doeth this? But the American standard says, Alas, who can live except God ordained it? Who can live except God ordained it? And you see, it is God who ordained. That means he decreed that we should have lived. You talk about the summary of God. There are textual critics of that particular verse who claim that it has been corrupted in transmission. But I'll tell you when I read the American Standard, I just come up with one answer to that. And my answer is this. These words don't need to be reconstructed. They need to be believed. That's what they need. They simply need to be believed. Alas! Who can live? But God has not ordained it. But not only do we have the sovereignty of Jehovah, but we have the immutability of Jehovah. Oh, what a thrill this is. What do we mean by immutability? It means that God doesn't change. You see, When you say that God doesn't change, he said to Abram in verse nineteen, God is not a man that he should lie, neither the Son a man that he should repent. Has he said and shall he not do it? Or has he spoken and shall he not make it good? In other words, there are some who have imagined, and I've read them, a conflict between chapter twenty-two and chapter twenty-three. For it appears that God indeed does change. He changes his mind. Remember when the first messengers from Delah came to Delam, God says, you shall not be with them. But Delam wasn't satisfied. Delam all the time, he realized that he couldn't go. But he really wanted to go because we learned from the New Testament that he was a lover of money. And Derek the king promised in great honor a good job. Great benefits. Good hospital plan. Well, honor. And what do people look for to do in their work? What are the benefits? And a person should ask for which life, for this life or for heaven. Reverend Kelly, who is one of the early brethren, if John Darby had not made the translation of the scriptures, he was going to. His nephew was studying at Oxford, and he was studying Greek under this professor. And his nephew knew more Greek than he did. The professor, and the professor called him aside, he said, where do you get this knowledge of Greek? Oh, he said, for my uncle Bill. Who's your uncle Bill? He said, William Kelly. I want to talk to him. And when William Kelly went to a meeting, he found that William Kelly knew the Greek far better than he did. And he was a professor at Oxford. And he said, Kelly, what are you doing? He said, you can really go places. And Kelly said, for which life? Don't make your decisions, friends, in this world. Salem did. And you see, God then gave him permission to go. And if a person is going to rule to have his own way, God may give it to him. And if God gives you your own way, friend, you'll never enjoy it. I have a note in my Bible in the sixteenth chapter of Genesis. I want to read what George MacDonald said. And... This is what I have written in the edge of my Bible. George MacDonald said, Whatever man does without God, he must fail miserably or succeed more miserably. Hmm. Whatever man does without God, he must fail miserably or succeed more miserably. See, God doesn't settle his accounts in December. God settles his accounts when man stands in his presence. And then he also said, the greatest judgment God could put upon my life is to let me have my own way and not enjoy it. The greatest judgment that can never come into a person's life. It's to let a person have his own way and not enjoy it. Whatever our presuppositions are concerning chapter twenty-two is going to lead us astray when we get to chapter twenty-three. When we deal with that attribute of God and his immutability, Dylan is a person, friends, with a shifting personality. He says one thing with his lips, but he holds another thing entirely in his heart. With his lips, he had to just say what God said he could say, but in his heart he wanted to curse the people of God. What a shifting personality this man Barron had. Now, the immutability of Jehovah is stated with precision in Numbers twenty-three and verse nineteen. God is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should change his mind, that he should repent. Have he said, and shall he not do it? Or have he spoken, and shall he not make it good? The problem is, God told Barim his will. Don't go. Now the fact that God gave him permission to go didn't change God's mind at all. God's will was that he shouldn't go. But he was determined to go. He was determined to have his own way, but he's not going to enjoy it. God is not a man that he should lie. You see, here is the truth, friends, that Balaam never earned. The truth of the immutability of God. On the one hand, Balaam becomes one of the prime examples in the scriptures between God and man. God is different than man. His ways are higher than man's ways. You see, Barham, he's constantly shifting. He goes from one place to another. He's constantly pervaricating. He's constantly equivocating. He's constantly changing. But one of the effective teaching devices in Scripture, one of the ways in which the Word of God teaches us as we read through the Scriptures is that of contrast and comparison. Now, a good example of this is to read Genesis chapter thirty-eight, and then read Genesis chapter thirty-nine. In Genesis chapter thirty-eight, what do we have? We have Judah set before us, and Judah sin. When we come to chapter thirty-nine, what do we have? We have Joseph set before us, and Joseph's righteousness. we have comparison and contrast between two sons of Jacob, Judah and Joseph. Now, when we come to this portion of the Word of God, what do we have? We have a good example. You see, Barom is contrasted with Jehovah. Here's Barom, who's the outstanding seastayer of the day. He had a name. When Behrer called him, he said, I know that who you curse is clever. They don't come better than you. You're the best doctor in the area. The one that you bless is blessed, the one who you curse is cursed. My confidence is in you. It's all up to you. But you see, Behrer, oh, what is man? Man of his best is only a man. And here above all things is the Lord, Jehovah of hosts. Ah, the Lord, he says, I change not. In other words, we learn the truth here of the immutability of God, that God is utterly distinct from man, and that God is unable to lie. That's the oldest promise in the Bible. Did you know that? And the oldest promise in the Bible is found in the New Testament. It isn't found in the Old. He found in the letter of Epistle of Titus, chapter one and verse two. It says, In hope of eternal life, that God who cannot lie promised before the world began, that's the oldest promise in the Bible. It was promised before the world began, and God can't lie. That's the immutability of God. God is unable to deviate from his purpose. Now, we learn that. Let us go to a few scriptures just to emphasize this. Turn to the book of Jeremiah, chapter four, and verse twenty-eight. Jeremiah, chapter four, and verse twenty-eight. We're going to read. I've got to get chapter four, verse twenty-eight. For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be blocked, because I have spoken it. I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it. God doesn't change. Turn over to Isaiah chapter fifty-one. Isaiah chapter fifty-one. Verse sixty-eight. Lift up your eyes to the heavens and look upon the earth beneath. For the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner. But my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. Harken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law, for ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their rebellions, For the moths shall eat them up like a garment, and the worms shall eat them like wool. But my righteousness shall be forever, and my salvation from generation to generation. Malachi chapter three, verse six, tells us that Israel was not consumed because of their faults. For God says, I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. So what can we say concerning the immutability of God? Since God is truth, God has not and cannot lie. In fact, God is immutable. So we have the glorious truth of the sovereignty of God. We have the glorious truth of the immutability of God. But more than that we have the glorious truth of the love of God. The love of God. You see, Jehovah's love for Israel is aligned with his incomparability. Deuteronomy chapter four is a very important passage. It's a significant parallel passage to Numbers chapters twenty-two through twenty-four. Now why do we say that it is significant? for this reason. And we must keep this in mind. What is Moses doing? Where is Moses? Moses is with Israel in the plains of Moab. Where is Barab? Barab is up on the mountain, on the mountains of Moab, working down in Israel and trying to curse them. What is Moses doing? Moses is instructing this new generation in the world God, and he's talking to them about the love and care of Jehovah. What is Barham doing? He's trying to curse them from without. Moses is blessing them from within. Barham is busy trying to curse them from without. In other words, Moses is teaching them of their incomparable relationship with Jehovah. You see, in Deuteronomy four, particular emphasis is laid upon the love of God for his people and the incomparable nature of the person of God in all his acts toward his own. What is Balaam forced to do? Balaam is forced to speak of the unparalleled, the unparalleled relationship of Jehovah with his people. And what do we attribute this to? God's love for his own. I want you to turn to Deuteronomy four, and we're going to read a portion of it. Because here we get a glimpse of God's love for his own people. The book of Deuteronomy chapter four. And we're going to begin our reading at verse thirty-one. And we're going to read to verse forty. Dear Romans chapter four, verse thirty-one, for the word thy God is a merciful God. He will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he swear unto them. For us now the days that are passed, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and asked from one side of the heaven unto the other, where there hath been any such thing as this. Great thing is, or hath been heard like it. Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard and heard? Or have any God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation by temptations? by signs and by wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm and by great terrors according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes. What is God doing? He's rehearsing his love for his people. That's what he's doing. Verse thirty-five. Until then it was shown. that thou mightest know that the word he is God, there is none else beside him. Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee, and upon earth he showed thee his great fire, that thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire. And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt. to drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day. No, therefore, this day, and consider it in thine heart that the world he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath there is none else. Thou shalt therefore keep his statutes and his commandments which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the word thy God giveth thee forever. Oh, what a portion. What a portion. The love of God. There are three quick things in closing. Our time is gone. Number one. The more we know about the God we worship, the more we will worship. The great part of worship is wonder. God is revealing in this, the articles of Bailam, through hidden magic, the majesty of his ways, and he gives us the privilege of exploring the wonders of his life. The more we know about God, the more we will worship. The second thing is this. These oracles of Balaam set forth the attributes of God in such a way that we behold God's glory. Barak wants to curse the people of God, but God reveals himself as a great blessing. Most of us are so afraid of what other people think or what other people will say about us, but it merely doesn't matter. North Coast, not North Coast, um, I'm thinking of the great Puritan preacher, whom God saved you and lived a wicked life.