Well, good evening. I'd like to welcome you tonight to our evening service and looking forward to the Lord's working in our hearts. Let's bow together for prayer and then we will get started with our service. Father, we are so grateful for the opportunity to open the word tonight. I pray that you will bless Pastor Chris as he opens the scriptures. May he preach the word with clarity and may our hearts be attentive to the word. Thank you for our young people getting ready to go to camp. I pray that you'll give us safety on the roads tomorrow and may our fellowship be very sweet. And I pray that tonight as we fellowship with one another, that you, we pray, would encourage us in your word. And we ask it all in Christ's name, amen. All right, good evening. Let's open our hymn books to hymn number 160. As we stand, 160, we'll sing all four verses of my Jesus. I love thee. My Jesus, I love thee, I love thou art mine. For thee all the fallings of sin I resign. My Jesus is now, I love Thee because Thou hast rest on me, and purchased my heart. by Jesus' blood. All glory in my Fatherland will bend, and praise ye as long on my brow. Remember, I love thee, my Jesus is now. I'll sing with the glittering crown on my brow. Please be seated as we turn to hymn number 555, Face to Face. We'll sing all four verses. When with rapture I will be woken, Jesus Christ, my God, I will be. Face to face I shall behold Him, God in the highest high. Face to face He hath called me, to see Him by and by. What a blessed day it's coming, great glory shall we see. Face to face I shall behold him, holy and resplendent sky. Face to face he now is walking, just to me in my life. The Lord rejoicing in His presence, let our worship begin. Let the world be so straightened that the path it shall be made. Face to face with my Redeemer, face to face with my Redeemer. Rejoice in the Lord. We'll sing all three verses. ♪ God never moves with a purpose or plan ♪ ♪ When trying is true, he'll take hold in your hand ♪ ♪ Give thanks to the Lord, though your destiny seems long ♪ ♪ I could not see through the shadows of death ♪ and said, I bow to the will of the Master that day, and these David's years my own. Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? Our strength is in truth and courage is in love, like all your friends. Great singing this evening. All right, 126 in the blue book. Stand up for Jesus. O cross, with thine soil bare, make us not so poor loss. How great thee art to be lifted, risen we shall be thee. Till every heart languish, and Christ is born again. Bow the knee. ♪ And sing its awesome glory ♪ ♪ I remember the ancient balcony ♪ ♪ Balcony, balcony ♪ ♪ In its gleam all the ages have reigned ♪ ♪ Through our glorious glory ♪ ♪ Sing and ride the rhythm of the balcony ♪ All right. 184 in the blue book. He is Lord. Great chorus. Let's jump over to the Red Book, 639 in the Red Book. Oh, so are you weary and troubled, There's my Lord, a hope and a Savior, and my Lord, I'm undaunted and free. Turn your eyes to God, Jesus, and pray for me. All right. And 628 in the Red Book. 628. Jesus loves me. Amen. All right, let's take a few more. Bruce? 340, second verse. 340. All right. Chris? 192 in the blue book. 192 in the blue book. And Logan? 151 in the blue book. 151 in the blue book. Let's see where this takes us. 340 in the red book, verse 2. It's been a long time since I've heard this one. Can you play it through once? Verse two. Complete in thee. ♪ Completed me, O Lord, am I ♪ ♪ Created Thee, O Lord, the place of my life ♪ ♪ I will have Father and Mother be ♪ ♪ And I am now completed Thee ♪ ♪ Angels in high, voice in low ♪ And 151. I run to Christ. Let's stand. We'll sing the first and the last. Let's sing that last verse a cappella. His voice I hear, His words and words say, Lord, I run to Christ, let me run to Christ. Sing it out. Deliver me, I cry to Him. Temptation yields to grace. I run to Christ when plagued by shame. Great singing. Please be seated. When Jesus Christ, my Saviour, prepared for Calvary's hill, He went into the garden and sought His Father's will. I read about his anguish and feel his sorrow there. I see him humbly kneeling and listen to his prayer. Not my will, but thine, Lord, lead me to Calvary. Make my life a living sacrifice, crucified for thee. my lord became a servant a man of lowly birth he laid aside ambition to dwell with sons of but now he is exalted. Let every tongue proclaim and someday all shall praise him and magnify his name. Not my will, but thine, Lord, lead me to Calvary. Make my life a living sacrifice, crucified for thee. Lord Jesus, I surrender. My will shall be thine own. I lay aside ambition and bow before thy throne. I'll give myself for others as thou didst die for me. Lord, send me forth with power to live my life for Thee. Not my will, but Thine, Lord, lead me to Calvary. Make my life a living sacrifice, crucified for Thee. I was about to say, I think we're done. Book of Numbers tonight, continuing our series on the story of redemption. We are in Numbers 22 through Numbers 25. We're going to be covering four chapters tonight. I'm looking forward to it because more than likely you are quite familiar with the account of Balaam. And probably more his talking donkey. He probably is a more popular character. But numbers 22 through numbers 25. And I'm not going to do much by way of introduction because we are going to be covering quite a bit. And what I'm going to do is I'm really going to summarize the events of chapters 22 and 25 and deal quite a bit with the chapters in between. But what we're going to see is that these four chapters, they really serve as a reminder that God has protected his people from maliciousness, both from without, such as Balaam, and even from within. as we will see with their blatant idolatry and wickedness at Belpior. And what we're gonna find is that God really wants us to know his personal protection of his people. And we can see that by seeing the three remarkable ways in which God protects us, much like how he did the children of Israel in Numbers 22 to 25. We'll begin by seeing how God seeks to protect us from ourselves. And I put a little bit of a caveat there, because the reality is we are, in so many ways, our own worst enemy. And because of that, God can, in fact, be limited by our actions while remaining sovereign. See, while God sought to protect Balaam, as we'll see in chapter 22, Balaam's personal actions and decisions ultimately ended in his destruction. In fact, I would draw your attention to Psalm 7840 as well, where it says, Our pride and our ambition often blind us to make us believe that we can pursue our own interests without facing consequences. You see, when we come to Numbers 22, we find Balaam being summoned as a prophet. Interestingly, the name Balaam has nothing to do with Baal, as far as the god, false god. The word, the name Balaam means destroyer of people and a very apt name for him. When we come to verse 1 of Numbers 22, we find Israel encamped in the plains of Moab on the eastern shore of the Jordan River across from Jericho. Now, kind of put this in line with where we're about to go into the book of Joshua, and here they are. They're not in the promised land yet. They're on the other side of Jordan. They're north of Moab. And Moab, as a nation, they feared the enormity of the people of Israel due to the victory that we read about back in Numbers 21. And Balak, the king of the Moabites, he was very concerned. And so he sent messengers, in fact, he sent very high-ranking individuals to Balaam, who was a non-Israelite prophet of God. that's a very interesting thing to notice. But Balak wanted him to divine a curse on Israel in exchange for payment. Now Balaam is told by God directly not to go with the messengers to Balak. and Balaam obeys. We see that in verses 8 through 15. God and Balaam are communicating with one another, which leads us to believe that Balaam is, in fact, a prophet of God. Now Balak didn't take no for an answer. He sent higher ranking people, princes of Moab, to bring riches and say, come, curse the people of Israel for me. And this time, Balaam is told by God that if they call on him, then he could go. But only if he did what God told him to. So what does Balaam do in Numbers 22, verses 18 through 20? Well, he tells the men, depart for the evening, and I will tell you tomorrow what God tells me. God tells him to wait, but instead he rises up first thing in the morning, goes straight to the messengers and goes with them to King Balak. That is where we find him saddling his donkey for the journey and making the journey toward Moab. And because of Balaam's impulsive action, God sends an angel that only the donkey that Balaam was riding on could see. The donkey apparently is smarter than Balaam. He sees the angel with a sword drawn and says, oh boy, and tries to go off the path into the field. He said, this looks like a better direction. What does Balaam do? He smacks the donkey, tells him to keep going the way he's supposed to. They go along a little further. They come to an area where there is a wall, a surface blocking them on one side. And the donkey sees the angel again with a sword drawn, and the donkey smashes Balaam's leg into that wall, trying to get his attention, no doubt, saying, this is not a good way to go. What does Balaam do? Smacks it again, gets it going on its path. Of course, you know the third time, donkey sees the angel with a sword drawn. They're in a place where the donkey can't turn left or right. He's stuck. What does he do? sits down right on the ground underneath Balaam. And Balaam strikes that donkey again, and this time, God opens up the mouth of the donkey, and the donkey says, why have you hit me these three times? And rather than questioning why a donkey is talking to him, Balaam answers him and says, because you wouldn't go. And God opens up the eyes of Balaam, And he sees the angel of the Lord standing there ready to kill Balaam for his impulsive decision. Now Balaam, he confesses that he's sinned. But the sin that he's confessing is not his impulsive decision to pursue King Balak's offer. His sin is that he didn't see the angel. But God, in his mercy condescends to Balaam, says, go, but you will only do what I tell you to. Now we know later on that Balaam, while he was called to be a prophet, he would eventually become infamous as a wicked prophet. He's quoted in the latter part of Numbers and Deuteronomy and Joshua and Nehemiah and Micah, all throughout the Old Testament, as a prophet who betrayed his calling to the one true God. Really, he made a name for himself that subsequent generations would denigrate severely. Now, the Old Testament has a lot to say about him, In fact, it also notes his advice to the Moabites in how to get Israel to be cursed, which we'll talk about later. But the New Testament further delves into what is commonly known as the doctrine, or the error, or the way of Balaam. Revelation 2, 12, and 14 says, and to the angel of the church of Pergamos write, these things saith he which hath a sharp sword with two edges. Interesting connection here. But I have a few things against thee. because thou hast there them told because thou hast there them 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. Jude 3 and 11 Jude writes, Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. Woe unto them, for they, that is speaking of the false prophets, the ones who have gone astray, for they have gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward and perished in the gainsaying of Korah. 2 Peter 2, 9 and 15. Peter writes, Now time will not permit me to delve into the tremendous nuances of all these passages, but we can summarize this concept in this way. The doctrine, the error, the way of Balaam is essentially that of a once God-fearing individual who's turned from his calling to exploit God's people for personal gain and prestige. It is the way of greed, of selfish ambition, And I would say that far too many Christians today, in fact, I would say Christians probably in name only, are guilty of pursuing it. Now notice that along the way in chapter 22, and a few times in the next few chapters, we see God interacting with Balaam. And I believe it's to prevent him, really, from doing what he has become known for, or what he has become known for doing. I believe God repeatedly looked to protect Balaam from rebelling against the one he prophesied for. But Balaam limited the Holy One of Israel by pursuing greed and selfish ambition over faithful service. We as Christians are quick to call out false teachers and false prophets where we know that they are all pursuing money and prestige. In fact, I have a couple names here. I won't read them, but you can probably think of a few right off the bat. But anytime we place our own personal pursuit of wealth or personal ambition before faithful obedience to God, really, we risk pushing aside the loving kindness of God that protects us from the horrors that await us in those lifestyles. You see, for Balaam, it not only ended in his death, but in the death of 24,000 Israelites. The error of Balaam is not a light thing for a believer to fall into. We should be mindful that God seeks to protect us from that very evil by warning us of it repeatedly, particularly with the way of Balaam. God protects us or seeks to protect us from ourselves. And then in chapters 23 and 24, we see God also protects us from unknown forces. Now here we'll begin seeing God intervene on a much broader scale. When Balaam goes to curse Israel, God forces Balaam to pronounce blessings and prophesy of blessings. Now, imagine you're Israel in the middle of the valley there, and you're completely unaware of the fact that there's a prophet in the mountains looking at you, trying to curse you. God is intervening. It's a reality that God protects us even when we're not aware of what's going on. You see, Balaam started off by prophesying the preservation of God's saints when he was trying to denounce and curse the Israelites. Under the instruction of Balaam in chapter 23, King Balak prepared seven oxen and seven rams for seven altars atop a hill that was really set aside for the worship of Baal. In fact, the act itself was smacks of paganism. And sadly, Balaam, in all of that, expected God to meet him there. You know what? God condescended. And he told Balaam exactly what to speak to Balak. Notice in Numbers 23 verse 7. Balaam took up his parable and said, Balak, the king of Moab, 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? Or how shall I defy whom the Lord hath not defied? 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. 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 last end be like his. Where Balak expected a curse, God intervened on Israel's behalf and probably on Balaam's as well. And had Balaam present a parable or prophetic discourse, oracle if you will. God informed King Balak that he would not curse those whom he has not cursed. And he included in his message a very interesting phrase. He says, let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his. You see, because of Israel's unique position as God's chosen nation, act as any death as one of God's people is more desirable than the alternative. This doesn't imply a spiritual position so much as a national one that Balaam, though a prophet of Israel's God, lacked as a non-Israelite. Now the question is, was Israel unique just because it was so different from any other nation? Well, of course not. In and of themselves, they lacked nothing unique. But because of God's gracious election of them as a nation, they would be the ones from whom the Redeemer of mankind would come from. We'll see more of that as we go on. Balaam not only prophesied concerning the preservation of God's saints, but he also prophesied the conquest of God's nation. Can you imagine Balak hearing this blessing? Well, his face was probably like, probably deadpan, like, what is happening right now? But rather than accepting that God had intervened to protect Israel, Balak's like, oh, you know what? We're just in the wrong spot. We gotta go to another mountain. And that's what they do. They go, in his pagan mind, he's thinking location, location, location. We gotta go to Mount Pisgah to try and do the exact same thing. Seven altars, seven rams, seven bulls. This time, God again meets with Balaam to give him a word to communicate to Balak. Verse 18 of Numbers 23. Balaam took up his parable and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear. Hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor. 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? Behold, I have received commandments of bless, and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the shadow 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, 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 the blood of the slain." Now there's some very interesting and notable statements in this prophecy. Numbers 23, 19 states, God is not a man that he should lie. He's the son of man that he should repent. Of course, the point of this is that as God, In his character, he will do what he sets out to do. We of course know this does not speak anything about his ability to manifest himself as a certain way. We know that Christ is God in flesh, only without sin. But here, he communicates to Balak that unlike the gods that are made in man's image, he did not possess the weaknesses that man possesses. Numbers 23 through 24, is where God says, behold, I have received commandments to bless, and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it. Now this is Balaam speaking about God's prophecy and blessing. Balaam is forced to say something about himself through God's prophetic words, and here we clearly see that God, in his omnipotent sovereignty, does have the capacity to override Balaam's free will. It's not really something we see in other places of scripture. The question that we might ask is, does God overwrite our free will? Well, I will have to say probably not. Only because there is a mystery concerning the balance between the sovereignty of God and the free will of man. And we'll never really find that defining line. Biblically speaking, I think it would be wise to see man as having free will in so much as that he has full responsibility of his actions. But God has sovereignty to supersede that free will if he so desires, and only to fulfill his plans, which are always in line with his good, holy character. So Balaam articulates that God has made Israel a set-apart nation. God forces him to do this. And God has blessed this nation by strengthening them, bringing them out of Egypt to take the land of Canaan and drive out the wicked people of the land. In other words, God made a promise to Israel, and he intended on keeping it, no matter what Balak desired. Balaam also prophesied the sovereign care of God's hand toward Israel. Verses 25 into the next chapter, Balak clearly doesn't like this. As he states in verse 25, neither curse them at all nor bless them at all. In other words, just stop, Balaam, just stop. He's exasperated. And then he moves them again to another mountain. And this time, Balaam tells Balak to build the seven altars and provide the seven bulls and rams. We're also told in chapter 24, verse one, that Balaam had been using enchantments in the previous attempts. But this time, he simply looks out at the multitude of Israel. And when he does this, verse two tells us that the spirit of God came upon him. And then he prophesied, verse three of chapter 24. He took up this parable and said, Balaam, the son of Beor, hath said, and the man whose eyes are 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 tents, O Jacob. and thy tabernacles, O Israel. as the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the riverside, as the trees of lying aloes, which the Lord hath planted, and as the cedar trees beside the waters. 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 hath brought him forth out of Egypt. He hath, as it were, the strength of a unicorn. He shall eat up the nations, his enemies, and shall break their bones and pierce them through with his arrows. He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion, who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blessed thee, and cursed is he that cursed thee. Here, Balaam prophesies the great blessing that God will bestow upon the nation of Israel. including the establishment of a kingdom that would overrun the Amalekites, represented by Agag, who probably was chosen to represent the enemies of Israel as a whole. That prophecy is reiterated in verse 20 as well. Of course, Agag is a name we find in 1st Samuel 15. It's likely a title for an Amalekite king, much like the Egyptian pharaoh. But we have yet to see, so far in this text, the kingdom of Israel truly exalted to its prophetic peak, as we will under messianic rule. So it's safe to say that this general prophecy speaks to the overarching rich blessing of God upon his people. And finally, we get to the last prophecy where we see Balaam prophesying the coming of God's kings. And this is a very interesting one, chapter 24. Balaam has really moved from exasperation to fury in verse 10. He claps his hands together, he dismisses Balaam, saying that the God of Israel have kept him from honor. Wait, what? What does Balaam have? to be concerned about with regard to Balaam's honor before God. Balaam repudiated Balak's discrediting statements toward him by stating clearly, God would not have allowed him to speak cursings against Israel. Yet before Balaam left to return to his people, God spoke one final prophecy through him to Balak. He says, he took up this parable in verse 15 of chapter 24. Balaam, the son of Beor, hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said, he hath 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 shall see him, but not now. I shall behold him, but not nigh. There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth, and Edom shall be a possession. Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies, and Israel shall do valiantly. Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city. And when he looked on Amalek, he took up this parable and said, Amalek was the first of the nations, but his latter end shall be that he perished forever. And he looked on the Kenites and took up this parable and said, strong is thy dwelling place, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock. Nevertheless, the Kenite shall be wasted. Until Asher shall carry thee away captive. And he took up this parable and said, Alas, who shall live when God doeth this? And ships shall come from the coast of Shittim, and shall afflict Asher, and shall afflict Eber. And also, he also shall perish forever. Utter destruction against Israel's enemies. But did you catch That interesting statement right there in the middle, where the focal point of the prophecy is, there shall come a star out of Jacob and a scepter shall rise out of Israel. If that sounds familiar, it's probably because you're thinking of Genesis 49, 10, where Jacob himself prophesied the scepter shall not depart from Judah. not a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Now we can clearly see there's some messianic implications in these verses. And it reminds us in connection with Genesis 49, 10, this prophecy from Balaam reminds us that Christ will rule with the scepter of Judah. The star that rises out of Israel could be an allusion to something we read far later in the book of Revelation, chapter 22, verse 16, where it says, I, Jesus, have sent mine angels to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright and morning star. However, this prophecy, while messianic in nature, mainly points to the coming kings of Israel, probably even Saul or David, as these kings saw these prophecies carried out under their rules. But don't miss the messianic implications, that which came out of a non-Israelite rebellious prophet. So why look at all this? While it's helpful to see prophecy that is well contained in the Old Testament, what these chapters are remembered for is the fact that when Balaam and Balak looked to curse God's people, God intervened. He protected his people. While these men stood on various hilltops and overlooked the unsuspecting Israelites below, God ensured that Israel would be protected from these unknown forces at play. Now, you're probably not gonna watch TV and find a political leader calling up some TV preacher to curse God's people. Nevertheless, we know that there are forces at play today that are actively seeking to attack God's people. In fact, Christ taught this in John 16. He said, you shall have tribulation. But where does that tribulation come from? comes from the world, comes from the devil and his forces. But Christ didn't leave it there. He said, be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Christ said in Matthew 16, 18, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Listen, if you feel like you're facing challenges out of left field, you don't know where this is coming from. Well, know that God is actively protecting you. You can be assured that he is actively working behind the scenes. God protects us from unknown forces as well as he seeks to protect us from ourselves. But finally, chapter 25, Bethesda wants to point out that between chapters 24 and 25, Balaam advised the Moabites that if they wanted to hurt Israel, they would have to sin, get them to sin against God. And Israel was drawn into abominable sin. I can't even read it for the sake of our mixed company, but at some point after Balaam's departure, he gave this advice, and Israel committed sin at Beor that would be marked with infamy for the generations that followed. This idolatrous, wicked, pagan sin left 24,000 Israelites dead. as a result of God's just judgment. And this was a major catastrophe for this conquest generation. But I want you to notice that God does in fact protect his people from the full extent of sin's consequences. In verse seven of chapter 25, We read about Phineas, son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest. In other words, Aaron's grandson. And he stepped into action as he saw all of this sin going on, as he saw people dying from the plague that resulted from their sin. And he did what had to be done to end this plague of God's judgment. What he did was a necessary act against an obstinate, rebellious, and defiant people who chose the pleasures of wickedness for self over the joy of faithfulness to God. But listen, Phineas didn't just happen to be at the right place at the right time. His being there, no doubt, was an act of God's grace and protection against further death. There's so much that could be said about this chapter. In fact, I could probably preach about six to nine sermons just from the text alone that we've looked at tonight. But let's draw out this simple and profound truth. When we are tempted and where we fall, God is always prepared to protect us. Say how? Well, when it comes to temptation, we can always fall back on this promise from 1 Corinthians 10, 13. There's no temptation taking you, but such as is common to men. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way of escape that ye may be able to bear it. But what about when we fall to temptation and end up in sin? Does God protect us from every consequence? Obviously not. Sin always has its consequences. In fact, you can say that is why Jesus hung on a cross. Because the ultimate consequence for our sin is eternal death. And only the eternal God could pay for it to provide us everlasting forgiveness. But you can be assured of this. While we have no idea how far our sin can affect ourselves and the lives around us, even beyond us, God is ever watchful. God is ever merciful. He does not desire that we know the full extent of the consequences of sin, but he does want us to know that he intervenes to protect his people. We know, of course, Romans 8, 28. We know all things work together for good to them that love God to them, who are the call according to his purpose. Psalm 76, 10. Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee. The remainder of the wrath shalt thou restrain. Lamentations 3, 22 to 23. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. 1 John 2, 1. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Revelation 21. I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea and I John saw the holy city new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband and I heard a great voice out of heaven saying behold the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, write, for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, it is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things. And I will be his God, and he shall be my son. There will be a day when the horrors of sin and their consequences will have no place in our eternal reality with Christ. And we who are in Christ have this blessed hope. God will protect us from sin and temptation, even in this life. Though we fall and betray his protection, we have an advocate with the Father, Christ Jesus. Do you feel that sense of protection? Do you know what it feels like? It is the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, that shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. If you don't have that peace, that sense of protection, ask yourself, why not? If you need help answering that question, we're here to help. Talk to us, text us, call us, email us, just do it. Know that for the believer, we have God and his personal protection of his people. If you don't know that, please reach out, let us show you how you can know God's personal protection through Jesus Christ. Father, we are sternly and soberly warned of the tremendous dark reality that is the way of Balaam. It is one that we as believers must truly be ever diligent not to fall into. The effects are astounding. We know that you are God who protects us, who seeks to even protect us from ourselves. You protect us daily from those forces that Satan would use to destroy us. You even protect us as your children. from the full extent of the consequences of sin, and it's only by your grace, and it is only through Christ that we have access to that protection. Give us a sense of that protection tonight. Grant us that peace that passeth all understanding that comes only through your Son. there be any tonight that does not know that peace, does not know that protection, Lord, let them not depart from here without it. I ask this in Christ's name, amen. Some very important truths for us to think about in that passage of scripture and we really have a lot to think about and we really need to take these truths and apply them in a very practical way. Let's go ahead and pull out our hymn books please to hymn number 156 and I think that this is a great closing hymn when we think about really the heaviness of that passage of Scripture, but then where we ended. And I think that that last truth, so profound, and when we sing this song, you'll see the connection. 156, how can it be? 156. Let's stand together, please. Let's sing all three verses together and think about these wonderful truths. I see all the wonders of thy might, O Lord, the heaven-glorious light of great love that creation thou hast made. And yet to think how lovelessly my heart points out, how can it be? How can it be? How can it be that not your love also I need? Oh, how can it be that at the cross I have leaned up and gazed upon my Lord? And knew the precious meaning for my cruel guilt so bruised and torn. How can it be? How can it be? How can it be? How can it be? How can it be? How can it be? What ever grace so full and free from eyes of bliss to depths of woe, ♪ From sin and shame to rescue me ♪ ♪ O God, how can it be ♪ ♪ How can it be ♪ ♪ How can it be ♪ ♪ That God's love also might be ♪ ♪ Oh, how can it be ♪ Good song. I'd like to ask if... Mr. Jenny, can you please close us in prayer? Please remember to pray for us as we head down south for camp, and let's keep in prayer Vacation Bible School that's just a couple weeks away. Pray that the Lord will really use that to impact our young people and the many young people that are signed up. It'll be a great time of fellowship together, and just looking forward to a great week. So Mr. Jenny, please close us in prayer. Oh, and before I mention too, next week, Kazia, do something about this. Next week, please remember that we have our service at five o'clock, and when I say service, it's going to be a hymn sing fellowship, so we'll be singing, and then there'll be a short devotional message, and then we will have just a time of food and fellowship, so please remember five o'clock. We have it, I think, on all the calendars, but it'll be a hymn sing fellowship, and we'll be back in the fellowship hall as well for that, so please keep that on your mind. Mr. J. Grace and your mercies that you have bestowed upon us, Lord. First of all, we want to think about the The kids going to camp this week, Lord, and the drivers of the vans, Lord, that you'll be with them, give them traveling mercies, keep them safe. Pray, Lord, that you speak to the hearts of these young people as they are in the presence of a godly speaker, Lord, that will be bringing them challenges from your word. We pray, Lord, for safety going down and and a good week down there, and then safety returning, Lord. And then as we think about the preparations for Vacation Bible School, Lord, you'd be with all the workers and kids that'll be inviting their neighbors and their friends out to Vacation Bible School, that this will be a great time of refreshing Bible study for the kids and learning of Bible verses, that you would just use this as a tremendous time of reaching children for the with the good news of the gospel, Lord, that they might have the privilege of coming to a saving knowledge of you. Lord, our hearts have been encouraged today, Lord, with the godly music that we've been enjoying today, and then we've been challenged from your word that you would just continue to work out your will in our life as we continue to go forth from here as a as a godly example that you want us to be. Pray, Lord, that you just help each one of us to be the testimony and witness that we need to be for you, that we might see others come to a saving knowledge of you. Pray now, Lord, that you would just guide and direct us throughout the night. Bring us back again safely for Wednesday, Lord, and we'll give you the praise for this in Jesus' name. Amen.