In Defense of God's People
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And he 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 commandment to 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 shout of a king is among them.
God brought them out of Egypt; He hath as it were the strength of an 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!
Introduction.
Introduction.
Someone has said that “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. Shakespeare said it this way “Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye”.
The Lord prefers common-looking people. That is the reason he made so many of them. A. Lincoln.
“In Timbuktu it is said that the larger the women were the more beautiful they were thought to be. In fact, a young missionary who had a small, trim wife said that the nationals had told him she was a bad reflection on him-- he obviously was not providing well enough for her. A proverb in that part of Africa says that if your wife is on a camel and the camel cannot stand up, your wife is truly beautiful.”
May people don’t see any beauty in the Bride, and are free to say whatever they want to about the people of God.
The excuse usually is that they are not talking about the “true” Bride.
Israel in the wilderness was a diverse group, but God did not allow Balaam to differentiate between the good and the bad. Even the mixed multitude was under the protection of following the Message.
The mixed multitude caused trouble everywhere they went.
And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.
Even the ones who were really Israelites were constantly backsliding under the influence of this mixed multitude.
And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?
God gave them angels food, and they complained about it.
And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
The Lexham Bible Dictionary Stiff-Necked
STIFF-NECKED (קשֵׁה עֹרֶת, qsheh oreth; Σκληροτράχηλοι, Sklērotrachēloi). An idiom based on a farm animal stiffening its neck to refuse the yoke (Exod 32:9, 33:3, 33:5, 34:9; 2 Chr 30:8, 36:13; Neh 9:16–29; Prov 29:1; Jer 7:26, 17:23, 19:15). For the people of Israel, bearing the yoke was living in obedience to the covenant; stiffening the neck against the yoke was disobedience.
Nehemiah gives a history of how Israel had acted.
But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments,
And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.
Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations;
Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go.
Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst.
Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.
Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations.
Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.
But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies;
And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear.
This is who they were. Yet God would not allow Balaam to curse them, even the rebellious ones. They were His people.
You don’t have the authority to discipline God’s kids. He does delegate discipline to the church, but even then it must be done with the right motives, and in the proper way.
God set in the church the fivefold ministry. and each under shepherd reports directly to the overseer, Christ.
Even the man who sinned so badly in the Corinthian church had to be dealt with by the local church under the instructions of the Messenger to the age.
To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
The motive has to be salvation.
There may be cases where someone is no longer able to go to a certain church for the health of the church, but that is the job of the local church. “Where two or three are gathered together”. It’s no one else’s business.
Being backslid does not make a person open season for gossip and destruction.
Look at how God dealt with Abraham.
Because he deceived the king of Gerar, the king went to take Sarah for a wife, and God told him “You’re as good as a dead man.”
So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children.
For the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife.
You don’t mess with God’s children, even when they are backslid.
“When Balaam went down there, he looked upon that people. Israel had done everything that was on the calendar, nearly, in the way of sin. They had backslid on God.
…the little church standard, they broke up men’s homes, and run this a way and that way, and done everything that was doing. That’s right. But don’t judge all of them by that one.
And Balaam looked upon that people, and he thought, “Looky here…” Now, listen. He thought, surely, that a holy moral God would have to curse a people like that, that done such things as that.
But when looking upon them, he looked; he said, “Now, looky. They’ve done this; they’ve done that. Surely, there’s not a holy God in heaven could look upon that, and absolutely have any blessing with that Church.
’Cause, look at them. They have done this, and they’ve done that.” He looked at it from the eye standpoint, from the moral standpoint, trying to judge a people by a moral God, holy God. But he failed to see the smitten rock before them, and the brazen serpent, that atonement that forgave their sins.
And so is it today, when a people laugh and say, “Them Divine healers, them holy-rollers, they done this and that.” I’ll admit it. But they fail to see the Blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, moving on before the Church.
That’s right. It atones. There’s a sin atonement made for the Church. And people, you who know God, move on. God is for you. No matter how much they try to put a curse on it, it can’t be done.
The Blood of Christ separates that. God did not look upon any people as their own moral standards. The only thing He looks at, is the Blood of His own Son, Jesus Christ. And any persons that’s under that Blood is safely protected.
47-1123 - The Children Of Israel
64 Now, look. If the world calls us crazy. If the world thinks that we are just about half off up here…Look.
(Talks about vindication)
Because the world makes fun of you, because you got something out there, people criticize you. They did the same thing about Israel.
Didn’t the false prophet Balaam, thought surely that God would curse Israel, because they’d done just about as much as the holiness churches done today. Every unclean thing that could be done, and could be done, they did it.
But Balaam failed to see the blood on the altar. He failed to see the atonement made that was standing between Israel. And here’s where it is today.
People, you are God-called and chosen. I’m not ashamed to take myself with you. I’m numbered with you. “In the way that’s called heresy, so worship I the God of our fathers.”
There’s things in your church that I don’t endorse. There’s things that you do that I don’t endorse. Sometimes feel like I ought to give you a whipping for it and things like that. But all the time right down in the bottom of it, you’re my brother and sister. You’re my own. And I love you.
52-0713A - Early Spiritual Experiences
Watch what you say about God’s people.
41 Now, here come Israel up. Talk about bad things, look what Israel had. Every ungodly thing could be thought of was right among them. Here they come journeying.
Now, here come the prophet Balaam, coming down to curse Israel for Balak. What a type of today, the hireling prophet trying to curse what God’s blessed. You couldn’t do it if you had to.
“Now, Balak, the king of Moab, he wasn’t a infidel. He was a believer. Sure he was. And Balaam wasn’t a infidel. Balaam, the prophet, he was a believer. Here’s two sets of believers, them same spirit, like Cain and Abel, they’d come right down again.
Now notice, here was a man, the king of Moab said, “Come down and curse this people,” believers cursing the believers. Now, Balak come down, got up on the hill, and Balaam showed him the uttermost parts.
43 That’s the way the devil does. He wants to show the very worst side of it, somebody who failed. They say, “Look at this one here. He went to a religious fanatic because he went too far.” You don’t point your finger to them tens of thousands, the same time, didn’t go far enough.
53-0614A - Earnestly Contending For The Faith That Was Once Delivered To The Saints
Notice that Balaam back there, can’t leave that guy yet. Look at him standing there. He’s just as fundamental in his doctrine as they was down there, the same doctrine. But they did not have the signs and wonders.
And this group had the signs and wonders …They had a Divine healing program on. These guys didn’t know nothing about it.
54 They had a smitten rock. When they wanted water, they just went and drank. That’s the way of the Church today.
When you get all kind of down in the Spirit, you go to a good old fashion Holy Ghost meeting, and the Rock’s struck and away goes the water. Everybody begins to jump up-and-down, jump up-and-down, and bubble over.
(Bubble dancing -WW2 meant washing dishes. It’s absolutely a part of the chemical reaction of the soap, but the suds don’t actually do the cleaning)
Sure, the smitten Rock had got amongst the people. That’s right. The brass serpent is right amongst the people yet (truly.), God’s requirement for Divine judgment. The Divine judgment of God was upon Christ.
That rod that Moses had in his hand. That wasn’t Moses’ rod. That was God’s judgment rod. And the rod hit the rock, and there was a cleft in the rock. And when Israel wanted something to eat one day, they went by, and they found honey in the rock. I’ve found it there too, haven’t you?
When they got thirsty, they found water in the rock. Amen. He supplied everything they had need of. And He does yet today.
They say, “Surely that bunch of people, a bunch of religious quacks, screaming, hollering, and carrying on. Well, surely, a holy, moral God would curse such a people.” That’s what Balaam thought.
53-0614A - Earnestly Contending For The Faith That Was Once Delivered To The Saints
Balak thought if he showed Balaam the hinder parts of Israel, gave him a little gossip, he would change his mind.
And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence.
44 Now, I want you to watch the trickery of the devil. Balak said to Balaam, “Come back up here on this side now, and I’ll show you.”
He showed him the utmost parts of the people, the worst part, just their hinder parts, it said, of Israel. He didn’t show him the overall picture; he just showed him the back part of it: the worst part, the little camp, the stragglings that was come along, the poorer sheep and the goats.
(Be wary of any ministry that has a foundational teaching criticism of “Message people”. Be wary of any message that focuses on the bad parts)
He just showed him the utmost parts. Amen. Now, set still. Think real hard. May the Holy Spirit take this now and place it right in your heart, every one of you. I wonder if our pastors just hasn’t showed us the worst part of them holy-rollers.
54-0404M - Earnestly Contending For The Faith
142 What Balaam failed to see was that smitten Rock and that brass serpent, the shout of the King in the camp. They fail to see that identification of God among them. Both of them had prophets; Balaam up there, and Moses down here. But Moses was identified with the Word.
That’s the difference. Both great preachers, but this man was identified with the Word. He wasn’t mighty, of a nation, as that was. But he was identified with the Word, and had the evidence of It.
143 That’s the real believing crew: Christ with us; Christ in us. “A little while and the world seeth Me no more; yet ye shall see Me, for I’ll be with you, even in you, to the end of the world.”
64-0416 - And When Their Eyes Were Opened, They Knew Him
The disciples put the children in a back room, this Word wasn’t for them, but when the children came out, Jesus said “suffer them”.
And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.
But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Offend means to lay a stumbling block in front of. You may be looking at the utmost parts but God sees the whole picture.
Jesus was wrapped in swaddling cloth, and because of how he was wrapped only the shepherds recognized who he was.
(Tell Story)
A little shepherd boy stops by and gives Mary a drink of water.
Begin quote:
That’s the only way anybody in the world will ever know what’s in that Package. It has to be revealed to you. You’ll turn It down, say it’s a fanaticism; but when you get the revelation, you’ll seek for It.
When you see that It’s Life, and the only way of Life, when you see that your church is dry and dead, when you see that your handshake with a pastor, or you sprinkle out of a saltshake, has nothing to do with It, then you’ll go to investigating.
What’s all This about? Lights, sacred Lights coming from Heaven, having pictures taken, great signs, discernments, power, speaking with tongues, interpretation, telling things that’s forecoming, power of the Gospel, healing the sick, taking the cancers and healing them, blind eyes open, all these kind of things. What’s It all about?
116 “Why, it’s a bunch of holy-rollers.” Be careful! That swaddling cloth, it may be.
117 So did Balaam. How did he think that God wouldn’t curse a people like Israel? But he failed to see. He looked at the swaddling cloth, instead of seeing the smitten Rock and the Brass Serpent that was going before them, to make an atonement.
118 So is it today, instead of seeing the Power of the Holy Ghost doing His signs of the Messiah, and the wonders among the people, as He promised He would do in the last days.
As He said, “As it was in the days of Lot, so will it be in the coming of the Son of man,” when He begins to do those signs and wonders amongst the people, showing Himself alive. What is It? Amongst poor and humble, the poor people.
They going to call It “fanaticism,” cast It out. Better investigate ’fore it gets too far on you. Yes.
60-1225 - God's Wrapped Gift
Conclusion.
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
God is going to stand in defense of His People.
When John sees the Lamb take the Book someone is absent. The accuser has been cast down.