Gospel—L. Smith
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I was thinking of a verse in Psalms.
We sang of the glory of the grace shining in the Saviors face.
Telling sinners from above, God is light and God is love with it. Last night we had before us Saul of Tarsus.
He saw the Lord in glory. He.
A victorious Savior in Psalm chapter 2.
We get those who are opposite.
Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed.
Saying let us break their bands asunder and castaway their cords from us.
He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision.
Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a Potter's vessel. Be wise now, therefore all your kings, and be instructed the judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the sun, lest he be angry, and you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust.
In him.
Well, that's looking forward.
Isn't it? But what a mighty.
Conflict is going on. We were reminded of warfare and how important it is that we see it. This is an Old Testament.
Viewpoint. But the fact is, the one who is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinners.
He's going to be exalted in this earth regardless of how much counsel is taken against him. Shall we look to God in prayer? Think of that. Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
He says in another place, Set thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
He's still sitting there.
But He accomplished something for you. We had just what, 2-3 weeks ago? The verse some you children remember it.
Blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. The memory verse.
How important that is, You know, if we go to the book of Exodus, we find there in chapter 12 That they were to take a lamb, set it apart. It was to be a lamb without spot and without blemish.
They were to set it apart and then they were to take it. Was it on the 14th day of the month? And they were to kill it between the two evenings. And then they were supposed to do something with the blood. What were they supposed to do with the blood? Put it on the doorpost? Let's look at first, Peter.
Chapter one and verse two reads Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through the sanctification of the Spirit.
And this was the phrase I was thinking about unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. The sprinkling of the blood. What does that speak of?
It's the blood applied. What about your soul?
Dear boy or girl, man or woman has the blood.
Been applied.
You could have it in the basin, you could have a dead lamb, you could have a clean house.
And if the Angel of Death came by that night, and the blood was still in the basin?
The first born would be killed. The blood failed to be applied. What an amazing thing.
Let the work of Christ is so great.
That God is going to give him.
Everything that was ever created.
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Ask of me and I'll give thee the heathen for thine inheritance. The uttermost parts of the Earth. It's not even just limited Earth, is it?
What a victorious Lord.
And so in Egypt the blood was applied and a great company came.
And as they came towards the Red Sea.
There were mountains on one side and mountains on the other.
And the Egyptians had changed their minds again.
They wanted to take him back as slaves.
And the Lord.
He lets the cloud come between.
And he lets it be darkness to the Egyptians and light to Israel, and there's a sea in front of them.
And he says to Moses, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.
Pick up thy rod and put it over the sea.
The sea parts.
And they go over on dry land.
Marvelous. What a story, and we're all familiar with it. Let's look at another verse.
In 2nd Corinthians 3.
That I was thinking of.
In verse three it says.
The Epistle of Christ.
Written.
Not with ink.
The Epistle of Christ, written with the Spirit of the living.
God.
Not on tables of stone.
But in fleshy tables of the heart.
You can know all about.
Marvelous histories that are in the Word of God.
But the vital thing is that you have something written in your heart.
By the Spirit of the living God.
That he take the work of Christ.
And it's written right in fleshy tables of the heart.
Quite a thing to read about in the Old Testament of God's finger writing those 10 commandments.
Not just once.
When Moses beheld idolatry and the people, he broke them without even a command to do so.
And he goes up, and they're written again.
We come to the book of Daniel and we have Belshazzar making a feast, and he brings in the gold and silver vessels from the House of the Lord.
And there's a part of a man's hand and it writes in the plaster of the wall.
And it's not good news. It's not gospel.
It's judgment.
Mini mini Tekka you Farsan our weighed in the balances and found wanting.
That night.
He's killed.
And his Kingdom is given to someone else.
There's writing in stone tablets, there's writing in plaster, but is there writing?
In your heart.
By the Spirit of the living God.
In fleshy tables of the heart, you know if you attend gospel meeting in your assembly.
Let's say 50 * a year. There's 52 weeks.
You might be sick a couple times.
Might be in someone else's assembly, but how many times have you heard the gospel?
And that's not the only place that you hear the gospel. You hear it from Mom and Dad.
You hear it again and again.
But is it written in fleshy tables of the heart?
Christ, my Redeemer.
You know, the blood has to be applied. That's very important. Let's turn.
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To Micah, I think it is.
Micah, Chapter 6.
Verse 3.
There's a phrase, that first phrase. Oh my people.
Now, if you sit here tonight and you're you're a member of a Christian family and you've been raised in an assembly.
You fall under a.
How can I say it? A sphere? An umbrella of blessing?
And God wants you to possess in your soul His truth.
And life from God.
All my people.
He's talking to Israel after they'd gotten away. What have I done unto thee, and wherein have I wearied thee?
Testify against me.
Now he tells what he has done. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
We know that Egypt is a figure of this world.
According to nature.
And you get this term throughout Scripture so strongly out of Egypt, many, many times you get it.
I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. We've just spoken of the sprinkled blood, and it sheltered them from judgment. And they came to the sea, and those waters parted. And we know in this room, probably most of us, but the parting of the Red Sea was Christ death for us.
And once we've believed in him and have him as our Savior, we appreciate that.
More than just knowing about it, it gets written in those fleshy tables of the heart.
And redeemed the out of the House of servants. Let's look at Romans chapter 6.
And we'll go back to this other portion, so keep your place there.
Romans, chapter 6.
And verse 17, it's talking about some that had become Christians.
But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin.
But you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
So where are you tonight?
Are you a servant of sin?
Because you haven't had the sprinkled blood, the blood applied to the.
You can't erase the past.
It just looms up there. God requires that which is past.
Is he going to require it of you?
Are you going to receive his substitute on Calvary's cross and say, Oh, I believe in thee, Lord Jesus?
I'll take thee as my substitute.
He wants to not only redeem you out of Egypt.
Bring you out of Egypt, but redeem out of the House of ******* out of the House of servants.
I think a verse in the Psalm says something about Joseph I took him from.
The baskets, he must have been carrying something.
And he brought him to be a ruler in Egypt. Amazing change.
He redeemed the I redeemed the out of the House of servants back in Micah 6 verse 4.
And I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
Now that's kind of interesting, isn't it?
God.
Had spoken through Moses to Moses in the burning Bush.
And God used a family to lead his people through the wilderness.
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But he says, I sent before thee.
In Romans 10 we read How shall they hear without a preacher?
How shall they preach, except they be sent?
God sent these three servants.
And he's bringing a whole people, some estimate probably a million, and a third, 600,000 men, wives, children.
But they're covered by the blood. Are you covered by the blood tonight? That's what is so important.
Then in verse five it says, Oh my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted.
And what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him from Chittim unto Gilgal, that you may know the righteousness of the Lord. Shall we turn to Numbers chapter 22?
What?
Balak, king of Moab, consulted.
I don't want to read all this, it would take too much time. But Balak got scared in verse two. He saw what Israel had done to the Amorites and says in verse three, and Moab was so afraid of the people because they were many. Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel.
And.
Balak is king of the Moabites. Into verse four he sent messengers unto Balaam the son of Biore, to Pithor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying.
Behold, there's a people come out from Egypt.
Behold, they cover the face of the earth.
There's those millions.
And they abide over against me. Come now, therefore I pray thee, curse me this people.
For they are too mighty for me.
Per adventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land. For I want that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou curses his cursed.
So what is his counsel?
Curse.
The people of God.
Dear young person.
Ever since you believed.
The Gospel.
And had that writing of the Spirit of God on your fleshy table of the heart.
You're blessed of the Lord.
You're blessed of the Lord, every redeemed soul in this room.
Is hated by the enemy of souls and hated by the world.
But here's counsel that says curse those people.
Well, Balaam.
He's acted as somewhat of a priest in this Pagan country before.
But God came to Balaam verse 9.
Verse 12 God said to Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them. Thou shalt not curse the people, for they are blessed.
And so he tells the messengers that came after him, go back to your land. Verse 13. And Balak sends again verse 15. And.
In verse 18.
You know, Balaki, he's so earnest about this. If I can just hire this.
Shaman, if you please, or.
You could almost say which doctor.
In present day terms.
But this man was not Jehovah's priest.
But he wants them to curse them.
Verse 18 Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God to bless, to do less or more.
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Now therefore, I pray you, tarry he here, here also this night, that I may know what the Lord will say unto me.
God comes again.
If we went to the book of Jude, we would read in the 11Th verse.
About.
Balaam.
Seeking reward?
Here he has just mentioned a house full of silver and gold.
Let's go on chapter 22 a little later.
He's writing his *** and he's going between two walls and he gets his foot crushed against the wall.
Because.
This little animal sees an Angel standing there.
The end of verse 32 Says Thy way is perverse before me. You know when someone tries to curse the people of God.
God looks on it.
He sees it.
You can't curse whom God is blessed.
So.
In verse 31.
The Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way.
Sword drawn in his hand and he bowed his head and fell flat on his face.
We don't talk much about angels.
But we read about elect angels, and those are ministering spirits sent forth on account of those that shall inherit salvation.
How thankful we can be for angelic care. Sometimes we.
We don't see them.
Most of the time, probably all the time nearly, we don't see them, but we can see the effects of their care.
So there, here's a man he's not even affected by his donkey talking to him.
But when he sees an Angel.
He fell down, bow down. His head fell flat on his face.
You'd think, oh, this man might have something going here.
Verse 34 Balaam said unto the Angel, The Lord, I have sinned.
For I knew not thou stood us in the way against me.
Now, therefore, if it displeased thee, I will get me back again. He's been told not to go.
And he seeks to look to the Lord again, though he knows the mind of the Lord.
Now he says if it displeased the amazing isn't it?
Well, it comes finally to Balak.
And he says.
Well.
Verse 39 Balaam went to Balak, and they came unto courage at Houth.
And Balak offered oxen and sheep, and sent to Balaam, and to the Princess that were with him. And it came to pass on the Morrow that Balaam took Balak, took Balaam, and brought him up into the high places of Bail, that thence he might see the utmost part of the people.
And Balaam said unto Balak filled me here 7 altars, prepare me here 7 oxen and seven Rams, And balak didis Balaam had spoken. And Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a Bullock and a ram.
And Balaam said unto Balak, Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go for adventure. The Lord will come to meet me. Whatsoever he showeth me, I will tell thee. And he went to a high place, and God met Balaam.
And he tells God what he's prepared, and the Lord tells him what to say. Verse 5.
There's Balak standing there, waiting for the answer.
I thought it was interesting in perusing this portion.
That though he sees the people, he never seems to see the cloud or the pillar fire.
He doesn't have the eyes of faith.
He took up a parable, verse 7.
And said Balak, the king of Mome, hath brought me 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? How shall I defy whom the Lord hath not defy? For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him. Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.
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He tells us in the New Testament Friendship.
With the world.
His enmity with God.
Where are you tonight, dear young person?
Perhaps already you can say the blood has been sprinkled on me. I know my sins are gone.
But but I I kind of like my worldly friends.
I like to be accepted by them.
Be careful.
Friendship with the world is enmity with God.
You see, God has placed you once you have faith in Christ, He's placed you in a place where you are blessed and you can't be cursed. Isn't that wonderful?
Verse 10 Who can count the dust of Jacob and number the 4th part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.
You know what?
Balaam's last end wasn't like his.
There are people around you that can know about you.
And know about the way God blessed you and never enter into your blessing.
Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and behold, thou bless them altogether.
He answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the Lord hath put in my mouth? And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee with me to another place, from whence thou mayest see them. Thou shalt see but the uttermost part of them, and shalt not see them all, and curse me them from thence. Isn't that interesting? He didn't want him to see the whole of Israel.
He brought him unto the field of Xofin, to the top of Pisgah, and built 7 altars, offered a Bullock and a ram on every altar.
We go through the same thing.
And he goes to tell him.
Inverse.
18 He took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and here hearken unto me, thou son of Zipper. God is not a man that he should lie.
Neither the Son of man, that he should repent, hath he said, and shall he not do it, or hath He spoken, and shall he not make it good?
Think of the Lord Jesus saying to you, Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. I give unto them eternal life.
They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. What a promise God hath said. Shall he not do it?
Verse 20 Behold, I have received commandment to bless. He had blessed, and I cannot reverse it. Isn't that wonderful about eternal life? Blessed. Irreversibly blessed.
Oh, precious soul, think of it.
God has taken all that's vital into his own hands.
And once you've trusted Jesus.
You're irreversibly blessed. You have life in the sun if any man be in Christ. Oh, think of that. What a position you have.
Verse 21. 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.
Oh, what a position that nation of Israel had at that time.
We get God's viewpoint, not the enemies.
We get God's viewpoint. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel. How's that? They're covered by the blood.
God brought them out of Egypt.
He hath, as it were, the strength of a Unicorn. Surely there's no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel.
According to this time, it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, what hath God wrought?
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.
Oh, this shows.
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Their position before God, how God looked upon them and what they were going to do. And it applies to Israel, but we can it. It's interpretation is Israel, but it we can apply it to ourselves, can't we? Once you and I have trusted in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's been applied those sins that bothered us, that House of ******* the servant of sin we now become.
By faith in Christ, the servants of righteousness.
No enchantment against him. You know, there's tremendous revival of witchcraft in England.
And in this country, some of the centers are northern Idaho.
New Orleans.
Other places there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel.
You know, there's, I've heard of a young person that was fascinated.
With the occult.
You know, even as a believer, you could find it fascinating. I remember brother Bob Tony telling of being in a city in South America and.
There was a man, there was some crowd down the street. He thought he would go and see what was going on and.
Turned out it was somebody.
Entertaining the crowd by that kind of thing. I don't know how close he got, but it was just enough distraction that his.
Satchel was stolen out of his truck.
You know.
Satan is a wily foe, as we've had before us.
In the city of Cedar Rapids, one of the books hard to keep in the library is about witchcraft and Satan.
I don't know what it is around here.
Why are young people turning?
Away from light and revelation from God.
Because they want something of power, something that makes them different from the other guy.
In an age when everybody's dressing and acting in a way that says look at me, look at me.
Itself, isn't it?
God says all.
Precious soul.
I've looked down through eternity at you.
Your need is so great.
It requires the death of my son.
And I'm going to give him for you.
That's power. That's love that can Pierce through the darkness, take you out of Egypt, redeem you out of the House of ******* give you to be a servant of righteousness.
Verse 25 Balak says unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.
Balaam answered.
Told not I thee, saying all that the Lord speaketh that I must do. And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I'll bring thee to another place. This guy won't give up.
He's going to go through his incantations.
The slaying of all these creatures.
Trying to get a word of cursing.
God's not going to give it to him.
Verse 28. Balick brought Balaam unto the top of Peor that looketh toward Jeshuman.
Here we go, 7 altars.
7 bullocks, 7 ramps.
But there's a change of.
Mind by God's over ruling in verse one of chapter 24. And when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he went not as at other times to seek for enchantments.
Now this is contrary to the man's practice.
But he set his face toward the wilderness, and Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes. What's he see?
Well, you know, there were specific positions for the tribes around the Tabernacle.
What he saw from the heights of the hills was order.
What is the Church of God today?
It's pretty much by man's responsibility. It's in ruin, isn't it?
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But the Lord is going to have a glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
He saw them abiding in their tents according to their tribes, And the Spirit of God came upon him, and he took up his parable, and said, Baal in the son of Beor hath said, In the man whose eyes open hath said, He hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty falling into a trance, but having his eyes open. How goodly are thy 10 So Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel, as the valleys are they spread forth as gardens by the Riverside, as trees of Lionel elos, which the Lord hath planted.
And as cedar trees beside the waters, all this speaks of something fresh and invigorating.
He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his Kingdom shall be exalted. God brought him forth out of Egypt. He has half, as it were, the strength of a Unicorn or Buffalo. He shall eat up the nations of his enemies, and shall break their bones and Pierce them through with his arrows he couched. He lay down as a lion, as a great lion, who shall stir him up.
Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee.
Here, this man who was really a wicked man.
He's finally come to realize they don't matter.
How many alders we built?
Many offerings to give up.
God's gonna bless him.
This is still true of Israel.
Anyone who knows the word of God?
Well, no, you don't dare curse the Jew.
Years ago when brother Ruskin Gill went to England during World War 2.
They were quite worried over the battle.
And he said.
No.
I will bless him that blesseth thee, and curse him that curseth thee.
What the Axis powers, the Nazis, are doing to the Jews, God's going to take it up.
I don't know what his exact words were, but this verse is still true for them.
Thirstin and Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam and he smote his hands together.
And Balak said unto Balaam, I call thee to curse mine enemies. Behold thou salto bless them these three Times Now. Therefore now flee to thy place.
Well, in verse 15, he then takes up another parable.
His eyes are opened to see the people of God as God sees them.
Verse 16 Yet said, Which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the Most High, which saw the vision of the Almighty falling into a trance, but having his eyes open. I see him. I shall see him, but not know. I shall behold him, but not nigh. There shall come a star out of Jacob in a scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Chef, And Edom shall be a possession, and Cyr also a possession for his enemies, and Israel should do valiantly.
Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion.
And shall destroy him that remaineth of the city.
And so forth.
It's a marvelous thing to have God's view of his people.
But are you one of them?
Perhaps raised in a Christian family.
You haven't believed in the Lord Jesus yet.
And you can't say.
The blood has been applied.
The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.
Provision has been made.
Your record is before God.
What are you going to do about it?
The only thing you can do about it is trust him.
And then those sins are washed away, and you stand in this blessing that we've been Speaking of.
There's another facet here.
And it's in chapter 25.
We read in Revelation. Let's look at Revelation chapter 2.
Before. Let's hold your place there before we read that.
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Let's read in Romans chapter 4.
We have in what we read in Micah six. I'll just read that verse. You don't have to turn for it to it in verse 5. All my people remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of your answered him from Chittim unto Gilgal in the last phrase is this, that you may know the righteousness of the Lord. What is that?
In Romans we read about the righteousness of God.
In chapter 4 of Romans, where we have just turned, we read.
There.
Verse 3 For what saith the scripture, Abraham believed God.
And it was accounted, counted unto him for righteousness. Do you believe, God, that the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin?
Verse 8.
Verse seven. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
How important that is. But now?
There's another there's not only not imputing sin, but in verse 11 it speaks of of.
Abraham receiving the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had.
Yet being uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised, that what's this righteousness might be imputed.
Set to your account.
We sang about.
God in mercy sent his Son.
We sing about Him in the glory.
And he's looking down from a victorious place.
And there he is, after having had my sins on him. Can you say that my sins are on Jesus?
He suffered for them. His blood was shed.
He was put in the grave, and the grave couldn't hold him. Therefore, I know that in victory over those sins He lives at the Father's right hand and from the glory.
What are we getting? Righteousness imputed?
The glorious Lord.
He's made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
Look at verse.
13.
The end of it says through the righteousness of faith, the end of verse.
Well, we look at verse 20. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that He was what He had promised, he was able also to perform, and therefore it was imputed to him.
For righteousness, verse 24.
Verse 23 But it was not written for His sake alone that was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.
There's a man in victory.
Raised again for our justification.
And it's imputed.
In Micah it says that you may know listen to what this man tried to do Balin Balak.
What's it say that you may know the righteousness of the Lord?
He views his people standing in the.
Righteousness of Christ, how wonderful.
Christ our righteousness in resurrection life. You know there's many that preach today that the righteousness in the life of Jesus is the righteousness you get by faith when you believe in Him.
Many preach that, but it's Christ gone down into death.
Perfect, yes, suffered, bled and died, and he's in resurrection life. Christ on the other side of death. That's my righteousness. That's yours by faith. But if we go back to Numbers 25.
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We find there's something else comes up.
Israel abode and Shittim and the people began to commit ******** with the daughters of Noah.
If we turn then to Revelation chapter 2 and verse 14, it says.
And it's speaking to the Church of Pergamus.
I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there then that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. You see, when he couldn't curse him, he says, here's how you can trip him up. You can get God against them.
By drawing them into sin.
You see, God's government is very real.
You may be a young person here and you say, Oh yes, I I know I'm saved. I know I'll never be lost.
And you might start toying around with the world in a way that endangers you.
And the blessing God fully wants to bestow.
Chapter 25 of Numbers. That's what he teaches.
You know, I live in Cedar Rapids, IA, just 19 miles north of the University of Iowa at Iowa City.
And they're so heavy into sports, I call it Iowa Dollar Tree.
Are you so heavy into sports?
It's hard for the Lord to get your attention.
It's a grief to the Lord.
That the world does everything it can to defile the children of God. Can't curse them.
Bunch of his.
They can ruin your life, it can make you miserable. It can turn God's hand against you in government.
What's the town of university of a university like today in many places?
Party, party, party.
I know of several.
Young men.
Who started out to get an education and partied so much they dropped out of college.
Here in Numbers 25, it says they began to commit ******** with the daughters of Moab, and they called the people under the sacrifices of their gods. That's idolatry and the people that eat and bow down to their gods. And Israel joined himself under bail. Peor, in the anger of the Lord, was kindled against Israel. I thought you couldn't curse him. You can't.
But you can bring him under God's government in a way that brings great sorrow.
Dear young person, there is the truth of the gospel. There is the truth that you're blessed.
The enemy can't curse, but the Lord doesn't want you to have a life of sorrow. Let's turn to Acts 15.
We've been reading in Corinthians.
And here.
In the early church the gospel went forth to the Gentiles, and many were saved. And the man who heard the gospel from glory, Saul of Tarsus, who became Paul, had gone throughout.
Many regions of Gentiles and preached the gospel with great fruit, but now there were people that wanted to bring them under the law.
And so they had to settle that matter and they came to Jerusalem and they went over the matter. And I just want to our time is almost gone. Let's look at verse.
25 It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have sent there for Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth, where it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things.
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Let Ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication.
From which, if you keep yourselves, you shall do well. Fare ye well.
You see?
This was clear right out of the early church.
Yes, there were Gentiles saved from an awful past. It gives us a terrible list in First Corinthians 6 and it says and such were some of you. But here these were part of the commandments to the Gentiles that believed, and they hold true today. Do they not abstain from meats offered to idols?
And from blood.
2-3 years ago, as with Bob in Argentina and we went out.
To a smorgasbord and when I went over to where you could get your meat I saw this black looking sausage and I said what is that and they said it was.
Blood sausage.
And the cook assured me it was very good.
And I said no.
I will not eat that.
One of the brothers I was with is a sausage maker and.
Maybe it was kind of light to him to go over this verse.
It still holds true you're not to eat blood.
And from things strangled, the blood still in them.
And from fornication.
How important that is, you see, when Balaam couldn't curse.
Then he knows how to defile when the enemy of your soul. First of all, he wants to keep you from getting saved because he doesn't want you to go to heaven. To the glory of God and the glory of the Lord Jesus.
And when you've managed from his viewpoint, when you've become a Christian, then he says I'd sure like to wipe out your testimony.
I don't want to see that person glorify God.
And so he introduces something that will defile, and it can start with something so simple as partying.
An idolatry.
And associations that.
Are not to our spiritual health things that bring the government of God into our life in a marked way. May God keep you from that precious soul if you're in this room tonight.
And you say, you know, I'm so glad Jesus has died for me, that his blood is shed and I'm covered by that blood, and I really want to go on with him. I know I'm blessed and cannot be cursed. And I really want to walk in a way that's according to God's mind for me with that blessing that was even set forth in the early church.
Don't fall under.
Balaam's Doctrine.
And if there's a precious soul here tonight?
That has failed.
Praise the Lord, there's mercy, there's grace.
For recovery of so much.
It still holds true. If you're blessed, you cannot be cursed.
God wants the utmost of happiness for each soul.