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[0:00]  helping us i see your attention to the book of numbers chapter 23 and verse 19 the book of numbers chapter 23 and verse 19 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 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 one or two remarkable matters which i might just bring before you as we begin this sermon and that is the faithfulness of god to his covenant he was a people that were covenant people the children of god children of israel and against them came this wicked balak and balem balem was employed to curse them as if the curse of man should make some impression upon the chosen people of god chapter 22 you may read at your leisure you will see what went before this text and how that the lord permitted balem to come and laid upon him this restriction that he should speak only what god gives him to speak go with the men but only the word that i shall speak unto thee that thou shalt speak and though the strength of balak and balem might have been mighty in their own eyes they could do nothing against the israel of god because they were a covenant people and because god had blessed them and no one could reverse that blessing then another thing is this that though this false prophet balem was as we might say god's mouthpiece in this incident in this occasion in other words in this occasion in other words what was in his mouth god put it there and he could only speak he was to be obedient and he was made to be obedient to what god who would have him say that nothing could could say nothing but what god gave him to speak yet some of the things that he said of course were real and true and gracious yet the man had no interest in no interest at all no saving interest he was the mouthpiece of god and yet he was destitute of life and grace and of mercy if you follow the life for balaam you'll find that he died fighting against the israel of god but consider what he says consider those truths that he speaks of the israel of god how shall i curse him god has not cursed how shall i defy whom the lord has not defied 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 end be like his well my friends if you if i would say to you in private would not this be your desire you would say surely that is my desire let me die the death of the righteous let my last end be like his you know as so often you've probably heard it said before but how often that would be true of many in religion many that make professions but show little evidence if at all of any possession of the truth or of the grace of god let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his the solemn difference between balaam and god's spiritual people is this that i be brought to be willing to walk the pathway of the righteous you remember what was read and what was said rather of what is read too but it is said of moses he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of god than to enjoy the pleasures of sin which were but for a season oh my friends it sounds good and the truth of the word that it is good let me die the death of the righteous and at my last end be like his but you know it is almost as if one would say well whatever i do in life let me go to heaven at last whatever lengths breadth heights or depths of wickedness however far i walk on the broad way that is leading to destruction so be it but let me go to heaven when i die my friends that's the that's found in the natural heart of man they would spend and be spent in this world of sin and woe in the things of the world and the ways of the world and fear not god but when they come to the end of the journey they would wish this upon themselves as it were let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his my friends you can't have one foot in the world and one foot in the church you can't have the world in your heart and you can't my friends have a worldly heart and no grace or no desire after grace either or all the things of god you will be found when in that great day with those people that sing that hymn that we have occasionally when thou my righteous judge shall come to take thy ransomed people home shall i among them stand shall such a worthless world as i who sometimes am afraid to die be found at thy right hand let me say this to you all this morning where do you stand in this this is the this is the mark this is the rule this you can lie as it were as a measure against your religion and against your walk and against your pathway well you could come in and say yes i would wish this upon me let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his but what is the walk what is the walk it's not just coming to the lord's house my friends that is a part of it i had a man say to me on wednesday a worldly man he said you know i believe i'm a christian but i don't go to church and i said i don't believe you are i said you might be a good man and you might do good things and you might be upright and morally upright i said you can't be a christian if you're not a follower of and a believer in the person of jesus christ well now let us look at the text then it is a remarkable incident in the life of israel they were on the way to canyan they were delivered from the captivity and bondage of egypt they were on the way to canyan and against them and raised up against them by evil men was this attempt to distress or to trouble or to even destroy and that this man balaam should be willing to go along with balak and take his uh take him to these places these altars where they offered uh the sacrifices upon and then when it come to speak in against israel the israel of god the people of god he was unable to do so now in the text then we have a testimony again from the lips of this man it didn't come from his heart it wasn't something that he learned by experience you know the dear saints of god believers and followers in the person of christ jesus learn this truth throughout their lifetime they come into times and difficulties trials and troubles afflictions losses and crosses and in the midst of all these oppositions as they might feel it to be or their natural mind might feel it to be they prove this text they prove this text 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 have he spoken or shall he not make it good you know my friends you find this dear saints of god and coming down to the end of the journey that they have brought along with them these sweet promises these comforts the lord has so blessed them in their soul in their times of need and the sorrows of the way and indeed in their spiritual life as well and the teaching of the holy spirit to know themselves and feel themselves to be lost and ruined in by sin within they prove this word i do i love the promises that are in the scriptures but there is one thing so necessary about the promises my friends and the comforts of those promises they are to be walked out to be proved and this 19th verse is what you and i must walk out to prove it it's not something that we might say as an abstract way it is true of course it's true that god is not a man that he should lie neither the son of man that he should repent or change his mind is what it means there that's true of course it is it's right to say so but the blessing of this word my friends is not in the letter but it's also and particularly in the experience of it so that you and i may be brought into a sweet agreement with this text today we should be brought into pathways which we shall prove the truth of it then we shall know that though this man balaam was a wicked uh a false prophet who would prophesy the overthrow of the people of god yet the word in his mouth was true and he had to live by that of course what he said more than once and we read it again in the closing words i believe told i not told i not told not i they say and all that the lord speaketh that i must do well then we see this wonder working power that even is in the uh over and above wicked men we often say and have to prove it don't we that all men's hearts are in god's hands the wicked the the ungodly those who fear not the lord the their hearts their matters what they would do and what they would not do is in the lord's hands how often is he taken away as it were what even the wicked would set their mind to do against the lord's people now then let us look at this word god is not a man that he shall 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 well first of all let us look at the covenant of which israel was a part of the covenant was made between israel and between israel's god they were his people and they were his eternal they were his choice let's keep the old covenant separate from the spiritual comfort covenant let's keep old israel from spiritual israel in this the old israel the jews still they are of course still the jews still those of israel are under that covenant they are god's national people god chose them for himself and in the book of deuteronomy you will read there that's a sweet account of that choice it wasn't because they were better or bigger than other nations it was it was because he would and he placed his love upon them that is the seal of that covenant that israel was under and in that covenant was this provision that they were delivered by god from the egyptian bondage and they were promised that they shall come into the canyon that was before them 40 years they must walk through that wilderness but though it was 40 years the lord was to bring his ancient people into the land of their possession that is into israel and today of course they are in israel and they are in the land of their possession god is not a man that he should lie neither the son of man that he should repent for almost 40 years he maintained them he upheld them he provided for them fed them and though there were those who fell in the wilderness by reason of the judgments of god upon them israel as a people were brought into canya i believe we could rightly apply this truth you know to the spiritual israel of god the people of god the church of christ god is not a man that he shall lie neither the son of man that he should repent but he has a spiritual people the church of christ are his spiritual israel now under a covenant just as just as israel was under a covenant of works these the spiritual israel of god are under a covenant of grace the old covenant had it a multitude of uh works and sacrifices which were ordained and taught of god to the elders of israel moses and aaron in the first place and continue through the generations of the generations of israel and in those covenants in those uh sacrifices there were provisions made that those that knew themselves to be sinners and felt to be sinners were to bring a sacrifice and that they should present it before the priest and the priest should offer the sacrifice for the sins of the people every year once a year the high priest himself went into the holiest of all in the tabernacle or in the temple and he offered blood for his own sins and the sins of the people now why did they do this this was part of the old covenant because it spoke and because it spoke and because it showed the gracious of israel that there should be a day coming when the son of god himself shall be on this earth who shall himself offer himself as a sacrifice for the sins of his people the promise you know was given in genesis chapter 3 of the day of christ god is not a man that he shall lie neither the son of man that he should repent all nations kindred and tongue all the sons of adam were born in sin and shapen in iniquity all went forth from the wounds speaking lies all had hearts deceitful above all things and desperately wicked did it change the covenant you know some of the dear people of god some who fear the lord some who would would hardly dare take themselves a name as being followers of the person of christ sometimes they're so confronted by their own iniquity and sin that they would feel that god would be just to confined until where hope and mercy can never come but it would be against the covenant of grace to so do god is not a man that he should lie neither the son of man that he should repent my friends what a mercy what a comfort to the spiritual israel of god to the little church of christ in the earth but though it is made up of sinners saved by grace their sins because they are under that covenant and because they were chosen of god because they were the subject of his grace and mercy though they're sinners and feel themselves to be that sin shall never separate them from their god god is not a man that he shall lie neither the son of man that he should repent that this covenant which is the covenant of grace and mercy there was an age be that that covenant was to be sealed you look at it my friends in the things of time and sense for a moment you enter into an agreement if you sell your house for argument sake that deed and that covenant you know is only valid if there's a signature on this and the seals on it it's only valid if there's no signature and there's no seal and it's not valid the covenant of grace was sealed and the seal was the precious blood of christ god is not a man that he shall lie neither the son of man that he should repent let me say this to you if god has given to you that awareness of that covenant made you to feel that to the people of god to the zion to the church of christ that there is a people whom are god's people and are safe inside that covenant they can never fall out of that covenant they can never be unsafe my friends and there can never be a power from from the earth or from hell itself that shall remove them out of that covenant because it's a sealed covenant all that the father giveth me shall come to me jesus said and him that cometh to me i will in no wise cast out how safe then is the people of god god spiritually strong god is not a man that he should lie neither the son of man that he should repent but he should change his mind hath he said and shall he not do it hath he spoken or shall he not make it good but then i want to say this my friends there may be those in this house of god who are blessed with promises sweet and precious promises there may be those who are also blessed with spiritual children those whom god has given them to watch over and to pray for and indeed to commend and commit them into the gracious hands of god spiritual children they might not be their own children maybe someone else's you remember in exodus when the daughter of pharaoh came to the river to bain she found uh the art the ark of bulrushes and she found moses laying there as a little child and uh through moses sisters moses mother was provided as the nursemaid but remember the commandment of that daughter of pharaoh take this child away and nurse it for me god is not a man that he should like you know it there are those dear saints of god in the church of christ who are given spiritual children not natural children spiritual children and are calls to pray over them they're calls to bring them to the throne of grace they're calls to lay them before the lord to watch their pathway to see whether god will bring to pass what he has promised to do the promise in isaiah 54 is this that all thy children should be taught in the lord and great shall be the peace of thy children well if you think that these spiritual children will adhere to the truth in their old nature they will never do so if you think that these natural children in their natural spirit and mind and life will always be kept to the house of the lord you may be sadly disappointed but my friends if god has given you spiritual children that they'll be found in this covenant which is ordered in all things and sure and though they may stray in their old nature in their unregenerate nature my friends that they shall live to prove and you will live to prove god is not a man that he shall die neither the son of man that he should repent what a mercy my friends that if under divine teaching and grace that you and i are brought to know and brought to believe in and brought to wait upon a faithful god do you know you look at you talk to the lord's people whether however long they've been in the way however long they've been taught by his grace and led by his spirit they will say this about their glorious god that he's a faithful god that he's an unchangeable god that his promises which are in the word of god are to be walked in as and to be experienced and to be enjoyed and whatever the lord's promises have been whatever the circumstances have been the lots of the people of god whatever words given them whatever exercise he lays upon them my friends whatever desire is put within them that they seek for and pray after and long to see they will prove in it all that he is a faithful god and this 19th verse speaks clearly and yet simply of his faithfulness and his goodness and his mercy god is not a man that he shall lie neither the son of man his faithfulness and his mercy god is not a 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 now these exercises of god's spiritual people these burdens that the lord lies upon their soul these matters which they raise to a hope in and then it's seemingly dashed they're encouraged to believe that the lord will do this for them or that for them whatever it is they'll cast upon the lord their exercise there those promises of god they'll walk in times of need and say to the lord in prayer remember the word unto thy servant upon which thou has caused me to hope this is my comfort in my affliction and i'll prove in this my friends this wonderful word god is not a man that he shall die neither the son of man that he should repent what a comparison then is god is god is not a man that he shall lie neither the son of man that he should repent how often has been a lot of the people of god that they've seemingly come to the end of their own strength and way david you know was chased over the mountains by saul saul was jealous of david and of his exploits and also too that god had taken from saul the kingdom of israel and have given it to david and saul set out to destroy david and you know sometimes in the hardship of the way david gave him to his feelings and he said one day i shall fall by the hand of saul but god is not a man that he shall lie neither the son of man that he should repent hath he said hath he said oh i would ask the question to you who fear the lord hath he said is there something that he said is there a word that you have rests upon your spirit not a promise that you steal out the word of god or borrow from the word of god something that the lord has given you something that he's given you concerning your soul or your or your walk and pathway something that he's given you as someone else something he's laid there by the lord it goes into the fire you say my friends it will go into the fire will be a tried word though now for a season if needs be you are in heaviness through manifold temptation that the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perishes though it be tried with fire shall be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearance of jesus christ my friends in these matters which your soul rest on which your prayers and supplications have to before the lord remind the lord i say that in all who all the reverence and humility to remind the lord of his promises it's the proven of this word you've got to be in this word you've got to be in that experience of doubts and fears we've got to be in experiences of trials and troubles against his own holy word my friends to prove this truth 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 now in the things of salvation as i said earlier that the third in that third chapter of genesis he gave a promise that the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head a promise concerning the coming of christ throughout the years hundreds of years that that first promise was given to our first parents my friends whatever came against the time against it time rolled over it difficulties came people lived and people died the israel of god were looking for the coming of the messiah and generations past years past still the word shall remain the promise shall remain he's firm to his promise he's firm to the truth he's 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 hath he said my friends this is where there is a difference between those who profess and those that possess those who have a religion that's but letter formality or duty but those who walk according to the grace and fear of god hath he said is this something this is something that's spoken into your heart something upon which you you've been caused to hope something upon which everything's come against something as if that some matter which has been so sweet and precious to your spiritual life and yet it seems as if all the powers of hell against it and doubts and fears rise up you know one of the greatest opposers of the truth do you know where that is in your heart my friends never mind about the carnal world outside they never will believe but the greatest opposer of the truth lies within blind unbelief william cowper called it but it's unbelief all the same my friends and it opposes it questions the lord as it were it brings to question what the lord will do or what he won't do and some of these promises and some of these exercises of the lord's dear people go on year by year and as the years roll over them so it seems more and more impossible my friends it stands out in capital letters in ex-suite experience god is not a man that he shall lie neither the son of man that he should repent there's no change no change with him what he said hath he said and shall he not do it if the lord has spoken something we spoke on wednesday from that text the words of the lord jesus christ and i say unto you ask and it shall be given you seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you but what seemed to me to be so important although we could have read it in matthew it didn't say in matthew those important words and i say unto you but what was so blessed to me and i believe my friends is of all necessary blessings to the people of god is that the voice of the lord spoke the mouth of christ spoke and those matters which he lies in which he lays upon you those matters which are important to you in your walk or your soul those concerns my friends that the lord has encouraged you to ask for you know we sang that hymn uh in in our book but it says why are thou afraid to come why are you afraid to tell thy case he will not pronounce thy doom smiles are seated on his face raise thy downcast eyes and see numbers do his thrones around they were sinners once like thee but of full salvation free salvation found my friends though these things are opposed and they will be doubts and fears will rise up and these will be oppositions these will be things which will take away the comfort of the word of god but these are things my friends which you will walk through and you will walk to prove this word is true god is not a man that he shall 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 now i want to then just before we come to the end of the service to try to speak of some of these things that come into the way that we we seek to seek that the lord will so work and so make it good so to prove to us not only the truth of the promises your own salvation my friends i'm sure of this rests on promises your own salvation rests upon what the person of christ has done your own soul salvation put in the way of iniquity the assurance of glory the evidence of grace within rests upon a work that's been done within you and has done has been done for you now these matters are often questioned as i said by the carnal heart by the natural heart of man that they are matters which try the faith of the people of god now go back some of you some of you can i wish i could say all of you i don't know the lord knows go back in your walk and pathway through the journey of life through your spiritual walk the lord resurrect now in your mind upon your spirit what he has said those promises of long forgotten times perhaps those evidences which the lord put within you those things which brought comfort to your soul that he has said those matters which were blessings you know are you go through the word of god you're through the old the new testament old testament promises new testament promises but especially look in the in the promises that respect on the salvation or rest upon the salvation of the soul the blessings of forgiveness you look again at those promises in the world or those words of the lord jesus christ to sinners those that brought comfort and consolation those that broke broke taste of the soul the heart of the soul hath he said hath he said and shall he not do it remember this dear friends when the lord jesus christ spoke it was said of him that he spake as never man spake what was the difference between his words and someone else's in what was the difference between the the word of the lord jesus christ remembering this he came unto his own and his own received him not this was the difference my friends good men had come and good men have gone but the words of jesus christ my friends are words of power and our words of authority this word speaks of the authority of god and the power of god and it also speaks of the ability of god you know there are matters in your in the pathway of the lord's dear people that by nature are totally impossible and and the older they get you know the more impossible they become but if the lord has spoken it and he speaks it with power because it abides but then he speaks it with ability you say well what's that mean my friends the ability is this with our god to perform what he says no we might make sorts of promises with people and the day comes when we've got to fulfill the promise and something's changed make might simple make you might make simple promises you might say something to the effect well being well i'll see you on a certain time and perhaps the day before you're taken ill and you can't be there my friends promises which the lord has made happy said those matters which he speaks into the soul my friends they are they have this strength my friends first of all the power then the authority and then the ability to perform those things which he said go back to the old testament promises and there's some sweet ones you know that have been the comfort of god's people dropped in by the spirit of truth suitable to the occasion or to the occasion yet to be walked in promises which they've rested upon promises of which they've laid before the lord remember jacob when he was when he was at bethel and the lord gave him a promise and i will be with thee and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest and will bring thee again into this land and will not leave thee until i've done that which i have spoken to thee of and the time came as you who read the word of god will remember that jacob was returning to his father's house and they came against jacob what he thought they came against him 400 men and he saw as well matters which distressed his spirit what grounds of comfort did jacob have my friends the comfort of the word of god promises of the word of god that's what he had that's what he could rest upon bainan was a man who could speak what god had gave him to speak but he didn't know the comfort of what he spoke and he couldn't and he wouldn't and he didn't want to rest upon the truth of what he spoke the jacobs of this world my friends believers and followers of the meek and lowly jesus those who hear the word within as well as hear the word without those sweet seasons of blessing my friends they they derive comfort from them because they're sure promises they'll derive comfort from them because god has spoken them and i'll derive comfort from them because god who has spoken them will be the god that performs them and there'll be nothing that will indeed oppose or overthrow rather there'll be plenty of opposing but there'll be no overthrow jacob had to lay the word thou hast said before the lord well you know the outcome esau was reconciled to jacob and there was no animosity there was no friction there was no anger there was nothing to distress jacob was to prove the truth that the lord remembered the promises and the lord performed the truth of those promises god is not a man that he shall die neither the son of man that he should repent once given will never be removed oh doubts and fears will rise up against it will everything that god does everything that god has spoken will will surely suffer uh hindrance or opposition of some form or another but it doesn't alter it my friends it is by authority and it is by the power and another thing we mustn't forget my friends this morning that hath he said when god speaks he reveals his will he reveals his will you know that no those exercised people of god those who are led by the promises and by the promise performing and promise keeping god my friends what the lord would have his people do he leads them along and teaches them and brings them into those places and pathways that he will have them to be and he raises up with it within them a hope respecting the exercise or the promise or the matter which he lays upon them my friends and what he says is his will what he shows is his will hath he said and shall he not do it have you those matters my friends which well you you would just as soon lay them down because it seems so impossible have you those things which the lord has spoken to you of concerning your own soul salvation you know when christ came into the world when he was laid in a manger at bethlehem there was a performing of the promise throughout old testament scriptures the scriptures have spoke of the day of christ christ and the day when the shepherds heard the choir of angels singing and rejoicing the time when the lord jesus christ was brought into this world and laid in a manger my friends the word of god was being performed and throughout those 33 years of his life my friends even down to the the ghast of god to the judgment hall and to the judgment hall and to the cross there was a performance of the word of god hath he said and shall he not do it and those words were performed my friends though the world rejoiced you remember or do you read did you read those words in john's gospel the world shall rejoice and ye shall weep but your weeping shall be turned to joy performance of his promise again those two men that walked to emmaus who were sad the day of christ had come and the day of the cross had come and the day of the resurrection had come and they couldn't lay it straight and the lord jesus christ drew near and went with them and he went with them for this purpose to bring to their understanding the truth of the will of god respecting himself written in old time in the scriptures of the old testament fulfilled before their eyes the performing of it my friends and in the performing of it was the will of it and in the performing of it was the salvation to the church of christ 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 now my friends let me say this to you if there's something that the lord's put upon you this is a word in season if the lord has not put something upon you no promise no comfortable hope no desire for truth or for the things of god may you be brought to seek for those blessings which he has said and which he will perform amen