Choose Life not Death

 The Covenant with Israel

Book of Deuteronomy Chapters 28 and 30

What is a covenant?

A covenant is a mutual contract or mutual agreement between two parties, each of which "is bound" to fulfill certain arrangements with each other.

In the Bible covenants denote our relationship with God.

What should we understand about the covenants of God?

These covenants were literal, they are unconditional, and they are eternal!

The one thing we must clearly understand is, that these covenants are based upon obedience and here we learn some things about God that many of us did not know and we may not understand and that may come to a surprise to many, especially those who are liberal minded.

We must try to understand the God we say we trust!

Psa 71:1  In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion. 

Psa 71:2  Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me. 

Psa 71:3  Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress. 

Psa 71:4  Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. 

To be delivered then our "faith" must be on our Lord and Savior, and it must be enduring faith!

It would pay us to get to know as much as we can about Jehovah (The Lord Jesus Christ)!

Psa 121:1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. 

Psa 121:2  My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. 

It is in the knowing of our Creator that allows God to help us! We must know Him as our Creator with creation power to help us!

Our nation and our person are dependent upon the blessings of God!

He gives and He can withhold any blessing at any time, but He will never break His promises!

It is false science, including "so-called climate change" that sees only laws in the truth of nature and ignores the hand and the blessing of the Living God who holds all His creation in His hands.

We must know God has the power to help us in any matter, but we must also realize that we must fear His displeasure when we fail Him by disobedience.

God keeps His "covenants of blessing", but He will also keep His "covenants of cursing" and most people just ignore those covenants of cursing, yet they are still part of the Word of God.

God must approve of everything we do and be satisfied that we have done our best, or we will see the opposite side of God!

God is perfect in "blessing" and God is just as perfect in "judgment"!

The forty years that Israel wandered in the wilderness to the death of all those over twenty years old should be a wakeup call for each of us!

Sin will bring the chastisement of God to those who say they love Him and vengeance to those who oppose Him, and God will be just as perfect in these things as He is in all things.

*****Deu 28:63  And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. 

When we say we believe all the Word of God, then we had better believe these words also.

I believe we can relate these words to what we see going on in America today. 

It is really hard to ask God to bless our nation as it is today for, we are the Sodom and Gomorrah of the modern world and much of the world is the same and our nation is sinking deeper into sin.

These things play out in our streets today, in our malls, in our schools, and even in our churches.

God rejoices in His perfectness!

It is hard to imagine our God, who has more "grace" than there is sin in this world, but the fact that the Holy Spirit caused these things to be written of Him means we had better take note of what is said here.

2Ti_3:16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

When we read that the Lord rejoices in destruction just as He rejoices in blessing, well it is just not the way we picture the Almighty God.

He is Divine in blessing!

He says He is also Divine in destruction and the world will witness this truth when the Lord returns to this earth, but we may also see it more today and in the coming days than we realize.

We already know God has no pleasure in the death of anyone!

Eze 18:32  For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.

This eternal death is already promised to all those who reject the Lord Jesus!

The sinner has already been judged and sentenced to eternal death less they repent and call on the Lord Jesus Christ!

Rom 6:23  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Most of our world has far too much pride to do such a thing as recognize the truth of the Living God!

We also know that the Lord Jesus Christ wept because He knew Jerusalem would be destroyed, but he still allowed it to happen, and our Scripture says He rejoiced in the destruction of Jerusalem.

Luk 19:41  And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, 

Luk 19:42  Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.

God will rejoice at the destruction of sin, but not in the destruction of sinner!

Note: The Word of God says there will be a New Jerusalem and no sin will ever enter into that city.

He teaches us to be this way also! We are Christians because we are to be like the Lord Jesus Christ!

This destruction of sin is certain!

This destruction will be rapid once it begins!

God will not spare a single one that does not repent and come to the Lord Jesus Christ, man, woman, or child, or whatever they call themselves!

This is where the liberal cringes at the truth of God!

They say "surely a loving God could not do such a thing" but the Word of God is specific that He will!

People can attempt to rewrite the Word of God, but those old Scriptures cannot be changed and there are no mistakes in them!

The waves of destruction will flow freely at the return of Jesus Christ!

Rev 19:15  And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 

We would think these things would have some influence upon those who do not know the Lord Jesus, but how can they know Him if they reject all the Word of God.

The Bible is written to the believer so it is the believer that had better understand these things so we will be encouraged to reach out to our family, our friends, and yes to the lost of this world.

What happened to the Israelites after the destruction of Jerusalem?

*****Deu 28:64  And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. 

When God inflicts His vengeance upon this world, we can see that some things did happen prior to this scattering.

Deu 28:58  If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD; 

Deu 28:59  Then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. 

Deu 28:60  Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee. 

Deu 28:61  Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed. 

Of course the Church will not see the wrath of God and will be removed prior to the return of Christ to this world.

This does not mean that the Church will not be a witness to this wickedness increasing before the Lord returns because we see it going on today.

God has to show the Church that He means what He says, and He says what He means!

1Th 4:14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 

1Th 4:15  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 

1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 

1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 

It is after the Rapture of the Church that the Lord Jesus Christ will come in vengeance upon the unrighteous who have rejected Him and rejected the Word of God even rejecting any part of the Word of God.

History has proven what God has done with the Jews and He will not refrain from doing just as He says!

What do we see in our world today?

We see the curse of fearful plagues.

We see harsh and prolong disasters.

We see severe and lingering sicknesses.

None of these things are caused by climate change, they are the result of sin and disobedience!

All these things plus so-called climate change are a result of increased and unrepented sin in this world and in our nation!

The Jews ignored these things, and they are mostly ignored by the world today.

We know that the world believes if they can just keep the temperature down by one-half a degree over the next 30 years, then we can avert such disasters and these things are not in the power of man to do such a thing.

The only power of man comes by a personal relationship with Jesus Christ!

The world would be far better off to realize that these things are in the hand of God and no power on earth can stop what God has planned.

You see our world has a sin problem!

One thing for sure, we do see these things because they are happening right before our eyes!

It was May 14, 1948, before the Jews began their journey home and more of them return to the Promised Land every year, but the world still hates them for some reason they cannot explain, except for the fact that they are still the people of God.

They were forced to serve other gods and most of those were truly figments of man's imagination made of wood, gold, stone, or money.

Remember an idol is anything we place in our heart where God should be!

What is the truth? if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you may be be at ease living in this world of sin and wickedness, but you will also be restless and afraid!

The Israelites found this out when God allowed these things to take place.

*****Deu 28:65  And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: 

 The sinner will never be at true peace for any length of time!

The Bible says you can have a little pleasure in sin, but that it will yield to your misery.

Heb_11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;

Sinners are destitute of peace!

Isa 55:2  Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. 

Sin will take you where you do not want to go.

Sin will keep you longer than you want to stay

Sin will cost you more than you want to pay.

There is no lasting comfort from sin!

There is no lasting satisfaction that comes from sin.

There is everything that can be taken away by sin!

There is always the sense of God's displeasure!

There will always be that battle of right and wrong going on within each sinner.

Sinners are not settled, and we see these things taking place in our nation that is divided in every way because of sin and immorality and corruption.

We see that the sinner cannot be happy nor content in any place nor any occupation.

They are in a place where their own government will take advantage of them with unfulfilled promises that in reality just make things worse.

Governments believe they know what people need but in reality, they do not have a clue because they have risen above normal man in their hearts and actually know nothing about the average person.

They will blame their condition on anyone but themselves and continue to reject the truth of God!

Pro 28:1  The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion. 

I do believe that this Covid 19 plague has scared so many of those who are lost with a real fright, and they will never get over this fear.

More suicides especially in our young.

More crime in our streets. Serious crime involving murder and attempted murder.

Mass murder.

Extreme hatred.

People who so hate the young people that will murder a child at nine months by cutting it to pieces inside the womb. How barbaric!

There is no love in our nation today, in fact there is no love in our world as we see one nation just believes it needs to rule some other nation by destroying them as the world sits by and allows the innocent to be murdered by a tyrant.

Good is called bad and Bad is called good.

These are graphic pictures painted by Moses to the Israelites, but we see they exist today in all unbelievers and in every nation.

These are things that God will cause to happen, and it is stated clearly the He will rejoice in this destruction of the sinner because they will not repent of their sin.

Some nations will not make it because they will be destroyed!

Remember God does not destroy because He has no love for those who fail Him, God destroys because it is the right thing to do to those who reject Him. 

Jehovah is a righteous God!

Jehovah never does wrong things!

*****Deu 28:66  And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life: 

Most all those that reject God have no peace in their lives.

They are restless and do not know what to do to change that.

They have no source for inward comfort.

Nothing they do brings satisfaction.

Isa 57:21  There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.

Those that hate God are never at rest!

They have an evil conscience.

They are never content or happy in any place or any occupation.

They just cannot live a settled life, so they resort to all sort of wickedness and immorality.

These people feel like they have to have their way and therefore every one that believes in God is their sworn enemy.

In fact, they are so full of hatred they do not really trust anyone.

When they cannot express their beliefs, they will hold a sign telling the world what they think.

Pro 28:1  The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.

They will flee unless they are gathered in a large quantity.

A guilty conscience is full of all sorts of terror.

Moses had read all the passages that concerned a blessing to the Israelites and now he had read all the Scriptures that told of the curse of God for disobedience to them and yet as time went by they chose disobedience as does most all the world today.

They had lost their fear of God just as it is today. Foolish people!

There is still the curse of the Law for disobedience today and the world still chooses to reject God and the Word of God.

There are consequences to those who reject the Word of God and what the Word of God says will take place will certainly take place.

The truth is the Lord Jesus Christ bore the curse of the Law for all people.

Gal 3:13  Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 

Gal 3:14  That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 

Those who reject the Word of God will still suffer the penalties for disobedience and that penalty is death.

This death is a separation from God, and it does not mean annihilation or ceasing to exist!

What does death mean in the Bible?

1) Spiritual death means we are alienated from God while we are still alive. This is the unbeliever.

2) Physical death means the separation of the spirit from the body of flesh. Most people believe in this death.

3) There is eternal death, or the Bible says the second death. This is to be eternally separated from God unless we have trusted in the God's Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is only by the Lord Jesus Christ that we can be saved from the curse of the Law that comes from disobedience to the Word of God!

Some will say "well God said all these things to the Israelites, and they do not concern anyone else" but this is not true.

There is a cursing for anyone who rejects any part of the Word of God, and there is a blessing to all those who accept what God has to say and are obedient to the Word of God!

What did God say about these things?

*****Deu 30:19  I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: 

Deu 30:20  That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. 

This is a Covenant God has made with every individual upon this earth past, now, and future, and God always keeps His side of every Covenant. 

We should think of it as an "oath"!

God also keeps records!

What must we do? 

Choose to love God.

Choose to obey His voice which is the Word of God.

Choose to get as close to the Lord Jesus Christ as we can get!

We all need to rededicate our lives to the Almighty Living God because the Lord is "Life"!

He is the giver of life which is why abortion is so wrong because it smacks the face of the Giver of Life.

He preserves life!

He restores life!

He prolongs life!

He does these things because he has the power to do so!

What does that leave us?

It leaves us with a choice to make.

It is in our own ability to choose life or to choose death and we will stand before the Lord one day and explain our choice.

God gives us His best advice which is "to choose life".

God will rejoice in the fact that He has done the righteous thing no matter what we choose!

2Co 6:2  (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) 

We may not have this choice for very much longer!

Amen

Human Behavior

 The Behavior of Israel

Book of Deuteronomy Chapters 12 14 and 18

In our world of today the existence of our Creator God is denied and this is what skeptics do, but this is simply a copout.

We see that most of the nation of Israel had the same thought. They either asked for more proof or they asked for a clearer proof. 

In order for Israel to do this, they had to deny the things God had already shown them and He had shown them many miracles and many other things!

All those ten plagues shown to Pharaoh, the crossing on dry land at the Red Sea, the water from the rock, the manna, and the many other miracles God had shown them.

It is the same today! 

If we used the evidence God has already given to us, we would conclude that God does certainly exists and what we see did not come about by some accident.

These Jews had witnessed clear demonstrations of the power of God!

Just like today, they simply tossed that evidence away and said no evidence does exists.

This is the way of the unbeliever! 

They believe what they want to and slander everyone who disagrees with them!

We see this in our world today and we see it in the politics of today.

When we mention the virgin birth of our Lord Jesus, they say it was impossible that it took place.

Even today virgins can have children with the use of artificial insemination.

When we mention the parting of the Red Sea again, they say it was impossible.

When the destruction of Pharaoh and his mighty army is mentioned, they say it did not take place, but you can still find the remnants of Pharaohs army on the floor of the Red Sea.

All the things of Creation and the Prophets are all treated this same way!

Doing these things means to them that the Bible is a book of fables.

The Bible tells us of a God who is a friend of humanity, and the world does not want such a God!

The Bible teaches us of the faithfulness of our Holy God and since this cannot be seen in humanity, then it certainly must not exist at all.

It takes more faith to believe in evolution than to believe in a Creator yet, these people would rather believe a lie just so they do not have to acknowledge a Creator.

Just like Israel, the world has allowed such disbelief and deception to rule in this world, where they cannot prove anything, they say they believe.

Responsibility requires two things:

1) Sufficient information

2) The ability to obey

If there is any possibility that God exist, and He does, then we had better be obedient to His Word!

Hesitating to acknowledge the existence of God, is then a criminal action toward our children and grandchildren deserving of severe punishment which God has said will certainly take place.

There are two great pillars on which the revelation of God must stand:

A) Miracles. Impossible to humans yet not to God.

B) Prophecies. Not one prophecy has failed up to today's history and the Word of God will always be found to be true.

We worship the same God as does these Jews!

God simply told Moses, these are the things they will do, when they go into the Promised Land to possess it.

*****Deu 12:1  These are the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to do in the land, which the LORD God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth. 

Deu 12:2  Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree: 

Deu 12:3  And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place. 

We know of the Ten Commandments given to Israel, we call these the Moral Laws, but there were in fact 613 commandments given to these Hebrew people and God simply says for as long as you are on this Promised Land you will observe these statutes and judgments.

Some of those they never did!

This was a commandment!

Today people worship everything from animals to gold and some even carve out their own gods and they worship them in as many ways as they can and much of that worship includes perverted sexual expressions.

Those who say there are no gods and who go another way simply worship themselves as little gods while making demands upon all other people.

When man is worshipped, then it leads to the worship of science, the worship of medicine, the worship of business, the worship of government, the worship of sports figures, and today the big thing is the worship of "power".

The greatest downfall of these things is the short lifespan of humanity and as they die off something new will always creep in to make itself known.

Problems arise when we become enemies of each other and meet in this battlefield called life!

When we understand these things, then we will understand God's Judgment.

All those places of false worship were to be destroyed because only Jehovah was to be worshiped and this has not changed today.

We can read about all these laws from chapter 12 through chapter 26 in this same Book of Deuteronomy.

To worship Jehovah begins with "obedience" and the world and much of the Church has forgotten this first rule of worship.

There is no worship without complete obedience to the Word of God!

This is not a brief time event, it is for the rest of our lives and why should we think God changes, when the same Bible says He does not ever change.

The same Bible still says that the Word of God is never going to change!

Rev 22:18  For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: 

Rev 22:19  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. 

True worship means we are incredibly careful to be obedient to the Word of God.

To keep all His commandments.

To keep all His laws.

To keep all His regulations.

To keep all of His statutes

This way we never have to guess if we are doing right, if we are obedient to the Word of God!

Deu 26:16  This day the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. 

These Jews were to utterly destroy all the places of false worship.

We can understand this when we realize the confusion that would come from a worship service that took place in a house that once taught false worship and blasphemy.

Even if we knew that we were worshipping the true God, those on the outside could not be sure! 

These places had to be destroyed no matter how ornate they were.

Any false worship is an affront to Jehovah God!

All symbols of false worship were to also be destroyed.

1) So, for the Church we must understand that we must reject all false worship.

2) We must never compromise with the false worship of the world.

3) We must have nothing to do with "idolatry" and false worship anywhere in this world.

This is what God demands and we can readily see where so many of the mainline denominations have failed in this early commandment of God and these things will never change.

So there is no such thing as Chrislam!

There are no other roads to Heaven but by the blood of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ!

Deu 11:16  Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; 

Deu 11:17  And then the LORD'S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you. 

Psa 81:9  There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god. 

We serve a Holy God, and we must make ourselves to be holy with His help.

*****Deu 14:2  For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth. 

The basic meaning of "holiness" is to be "set apart" or "separation from the ways of the world".

If we see God as our Father, then why in the world would we want to do things that He is opposed to?

God is absolutely distinct from all His creation and is exalted above them in infinite majesty.

Exo 15:11  Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? 

Isa 57:15  For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. 

Since we know these things and believe these things, then why don’t we act like it?

Lev 11:44  For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 

It is like we are making demands of our Holy God to be allowed to live as we wish and then be accepted into His world.

This is not going to happen! 

We must strive to be holy as is our God!

The Holiness of God is the moral and ethical standard by which we must live!

God sets the laws we are to follow, and it is He that is the standard in obedience.

God will not break one of His own laws and neither should we!

*****Deu 18:13  Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. 

Deu 18:14  For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do. 

Deu 18:15  The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; 

Psychics, fortune tellers, palm-readers, diviners, are no more than self-proclaimed prophets of the New Age movement.

Almost everyone that lives want to know more about the future and use these charlatans to try to find out their future.

They want the blessings of all these false gods they have heard of all their lives.

Many of them have now heard of Jehovah and they want the blessings of Jehovah without making a commitment to Him.

Well guess what, Jehovah tells the entire world about a future so grand that no one wants to believe it.

They think it should be given to them freely and it is!

The one thing God demands is a commitment and the world does not want to commit to Him.

They want only good things to happen to them as they live their lives, but guess what life is not fair!

They want more and not less.

They want everything done their way without making a commitment.

This is not the way the Lord Jesus Christ works so, much of the world seeks out the occult world and its promises.

To Israel a Prophet of God was the actual voice of God and this was certainly true of God's true prophets.

Moses was an incredibly old man at this time and the children of Israel were worried that Moses would soon die, and they did not know what would become of them.

We should be aware that God appointed each true Prophet, but the Priests were selected according to the line of the tribe of Levi.

The job of the Prophet was to speak only the words God gave them to speak and the test of that prophet was the fulfillment of those Words of God!

The prophet spoken of in verse fifteen would be the Lord Jesus Christ.

Just as Moses was the founder of God's Kingdom with Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ would be the founder of the Church.

Moses was the mediator between God and the children of Israel, and our Lord and Savior is the Mediator between God and the Church.

The Lord Jesus Christ was a Jew from the tribe of Judah.

We should understand that God cannot communicate with humanity because of our sin.

He will communicate with us by and through His own Son Jesus!

*****Deu 18:16  According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. 

Deu 18:17  And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. 

Deu 18:18  I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

We should clearly understand that God will never fail to speak directly to those who love Him.

This is the greatest purpose of the Bible, the direct Word of God to His Church!

We have the complete Bible and there will never be another book added or chapter or even one verse.

We have the complete Bible, and we also have our Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ and we also know He will never change, and He cannot die so He has an unchanging Priesthood.

There will be no one else beyond the Lord Jesus Christ!

Heb 1:1  God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 

Heb 1:2  Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 

Heb 1:3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; 

Heb 1:4  Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. 

The Bible will not change, and the Lord Jesus has already warned those who would change the Word of God in any way!

When the Lord Jesus Christ stepped upon the scene in Israel the religious leaders of that were still looking for the fulfillment of this Scripture!

John the Baptist emphatically told them it was not he, but it was Jesus who was the Lamb of God.

Philip declared it was Jesus.

Most all the people who knew the Scriptures at that time, said Jesus was that promised prophet.

Jesus Christ declared that He was that promised Prophet.

Joh 5:45  Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. 

Joh 5:46  For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. 

Joh 5:47  But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? 

Jesus Christ claimed that He fulfilled the requirements of that promised Prophet.

Joh 12:49  For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. 

Joh 12:50  And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. 

Even Peter declared that the Lord Jesus was that Prophet.

And Stephen at his execution, boldly proclaimed that the lord Jesus Christ was that promised prophet.

Act 7:37  This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. 

If we believe the Bible as we say we do, we will believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God and our Redeemer, and He will soon return to take us home!

Amen

Getting Personal With God

 The God of Israel

Book of Deuteronomy Chapter 6

What is Spiritual Maturity? If we had one word to describe Spiritual Maturity that word would be "assurance".

This assurance comes by just believing everything God has to say!

1Pe 1:21  Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

1Pe 1:22  Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: 

1Pe 1:23  Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. 

1Pe 1:24  For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 

1Pe 1:25  But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. 

1Pe 2:1  Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, 

1Pe 2:2  As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: 

1Pe 2:3  If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 

1Pe 2:4  To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, 

1Pe 2:5  Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 

Even when we think we know all there is to know about our Savior, there is still much more to learn and we will not know all about Him until we meet Him in the clouds.

As long as we are in this body of flesh, we will feel the need to get closer to God and we had better pay attention to that need!

Israel had lived in the presence of God for some time now.

He walked with them, and He talked with them, and God does this same thing with each and every believer today.

He provided all their needs as He does for each believer.

Remember a believer is someone who believes "all" the Word of God not just bits and pieces.

We cannot select what we believe and what we do not believe.

He kept them safe from danger in ways they could not understand.

As Christians we have angels watching over us.

God gave them laws to set them aside from all other nations.

Those laws are still good laws to help us in this life!

God was faithful to this tiny nation of Israel.

God is faithful to every true believer!

The first thing we need to clearly understand about our God is that there is no other God in this universe.

Oh, there are many so-called  little gods who are only figments of the imagination.

There is only the One God, Jehovah and it does not matter what the world has to say about it or what the world believes!

We have a Living God who has given to us His Living Word!

*****Deu 6:4  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: 

Deu 6:5  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 

We always forget what God says here. If we love Him in this manner, then we will certainly believe Him.

The Hebrew word "Elohim" is used to say that Jehovah is One God in three persons.

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit which Israel still has not understood.

1Co 8:6  But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

1Ti 2:5  For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 

1Ti 2:6  Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. 

That word "Hear" means to hear "with the intent of believing what God says is true", and this is to be applied to all the Word of God!

Moses was God's "messenger: just as every true man "called of God".

1Co_1:9  God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

1Th_2:12  That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.

1Pe_2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

1Pe_5:10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

1Jn_3:1  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

God has made a covenant with humanity and this covenant began with the Ten Commandments, which are now hated by the world because they teach us things not to do and the world refuses to be obedient to God.

We must understand that it is hatred not love, that guides this world today!

Have you noticed that even the "judges" of today look upon crime with a soft touch and none of us can understand it. Where did this come from?

It is a complete lack of observing the covenant with God! The Ten Commandments.

Most judges of today are not about laws but only their own interpretation of the laws which they should always avoid!

The Ten Commandments must be followed even today, and we need the Ten Commandments because we refuse to love one another!

There is no true brotherly love in America today.

Every group of people are trying to get what they want off the backs of all other groups of people!

God made this covenant with the Israelites who believed, after He freed them from the tyranny of Egypt!

Exo 19:5  Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 

Exo 19:6  And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. 

We should not miss the fact that God demands obedience!

God had saved and delivered them, and He expected them to follow His laws.

We see God expects the same for all those He saves!

God made this covenant! 

This covenant was not something dreamed up by humanity!

There is no excuse for any child of God to be confused about the Word of God! 

With those things that we do not understand, we are to just accept them for what they say!

We are to just accept the Word of God and be obedient to it!

It is all those who pervert the Gospel who instill confusion in the many believers.

Moses became a type of Christ as the Mediator of these commandments.

1Ti 2:5  For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 

1Ti 2:6  Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. 

When we are obedient to our Almighty God, then we become His personal possession, but:

He will treat us a king.

He will treat us as priests.

He will treat us as holy, sanctified, pure, righteous, the consecrated people of God!

These are all things that show us just how much God loves us if we love Him!

*****Deu 6:6  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 

You see, it is our Holy God who produced those Ten Commandments and not some man or some group of men.

God will never change these commandments, nor will we ever find them useless as long as we are in these bodies of flesh.

These commandments work because they come from God!

Exo 20:1  And God spake all these words, saying, 

Exo 20:2  I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 

Jehovah is the source of all things good and proper!

God simply says, "I Am That I Am", our self-existing God!

He is the source of all life because He is the source of all beings, and the source of all His creation!

Remember God created using nothing but His will!

This is why there are no true creators today, because they only use the things that God has already created for their creations

He created us.

He loves us.

He will save us.

He will deliver us.

He will redeem us if we love Him!

Isa 33:22  For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us. 

We must understand the Word of God as God's Divine Revelation of His Creation and of Himself.

We must have the proper view of the Word of God, to experience the enormous truth that God has given to us!

Though much of the world ignores the Word of God, for we who love Him, we do not know what it would be like to not know the truth of our creation!

Once you know the truth of God then it is easy to see the lies of this world!

Our God is not far off in outer space, unreachable or unapproachable, He is very near to those who love Him, even residing within us!

Deu 5:29  O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever! 

My God hears me even when I whisper to Him!

Jehovah is direct! 

He Himself saved the children of Israel, He did not need help from some other source.

The Lord Jesus Christ gets personally involved with those who love Him!

When we study the Word of God, we can see that the Mosaic Covenant is a continuation of the covenant with Abraham.

The Church is a continuation of the covenant with Abraham!

The entire world had rejected God and God chose one man Abram to forsake the world and follow our Creator.

God is still fulfilling the promises He made to Abraham and his descendants!

There is still a "promised land" to the people of God, but it is not of this earth.

Abraham is a picture of salvation!

Moses is a picture of walking with the Lord according to His Word after salvation!

Today we have the Old Testament (Covenant) and the New Testament (Covenant).

The Lord Jesus Christ instituted the New Covenant, all by the hand of Jehovah God, the One God.

Mat 26:26  And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. 

Mat 26:27  And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 

Mat 26:28  For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 

Mat 26:29  But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new "with you" in my Father's kingdom. 

It does not end with us, because we are to pass this information on throughout our families and our friends.

*****Deu 6:7  And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Deu 6:8  And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. 

Deu 6:9  And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. 

Notice God makes it our duty to instruct our own children. 

***We must first place the Word of God in our own hearts.

The commandments of God must be real to us. 

We are to cherish the Word of God as the actual "Words of God" because they are!

We must be committed to obeying what God has revealed to us!

God insists upon this, not because He is some tyrant, but because by being obedient to the Word of God we will live a better life also full of joy.

Our own hearts are wicked!

Jer_17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

When we carry the Word of God within our hearts, it will replace that wickedness with the love of God.

God will look into our heart to see if His words are there.

Rom 10:8  But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 

Rom 10:9  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 

Rom 10:10  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 

***We must next teach the Word of God to our children.

Some of the Word of God was at one time taught to our children until we allowed certain foolish people to rewrite certain laws to suit themselves.

Our Founding Fathers approved the Word of God.

The original Constitution of these United States is mostly ignored by a certain group of politicians as they seek their own failed glory.

We all understand that educating children is a necessity but indoctrinating our children is a crime!

Today we battle those who are perverted who try to teach even three- and four-year-old their own perverted sexual opinions.

America has surely become the new Sodom and Gomorrah. 

We must stand up against these things no matter what names we are called!

Obeying the Word of God does not make us bigots or racist. In fact it is just the opposite!

Teaching is taking the truth of God and then living the truth of God, so our children will understand why.

We must be examples of what the Word of God teaches!

This is the greatest of all teaching methods and we must take the world out of the focus of our children, and place the Word of God in clear focus.

We need to take back control of our school systems and rid those systems of the entrenched perverted minds of immorality.

This may have to begin with school boards. Rid these boards of perverted people and replace them with Christians.

Our children need to know what God has to say, not what the world has to say.

We need to think upon the Word of God as we walk, as we work, when we are laid down, when we get up and when we are around our children and grandchildren.

We are to live by the commandments of God!

Eph 6:4  And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. 

***We are to use the Word of God as our strong witness while we are in the eyes of the public.

What has happened is there is so much evil in the world, that some of the things taught in schools now seem minor but they are not.

When the children of Israel were out in public, they were bind the commandments of God on their hands and their head.

It is important that we look more like Jesus Christ every day!

In fact, we cannot be Christians unless we begin to look like Him in our everyday walk in this world.

This is called repenting from our old life. Now people just want to cling to their sin yet receive the benefits of God and He is their JUDGE, and He has already JUDGED them! 

Jesus said "ye must be Born Again"!

We should not call ourselves Christians.

It is our enemies who should notice that we are trying to be like the Lord Jesus Christ.

Orthodox Jews practice these things.

We must understand that the home is to be the center for our testimony of the truth of God and His Son!

1Pe 3:15  But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: 

1Pe 3:16  Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. 

Psa 66:16  Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. 

God's blessings come to those who love Him and who are trying to be like Him!

*****Deu 6:10  And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, 

Deu 6:11  And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; 

Deu 6:12  Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 

It is the simple thing of obedience where we fail the most in our relationship with our Heavenly Father!

No matter what we think, God owns all of His Creation and can do with it as He pleases!

He does not need our permission to take our land and give it to someone else! 

Remember God had told Abraham that everywhere his feet would touch would belong to His children.

It is the residents of Canaan Land who were the trespassers!

What worldly gifts did God offer these people?

1) God gave them the land promised to Abraham.

2) God gave them cities that were prosperous.

3) God gave them houses already stocked with good things.

4) God gave them wells that were full of water.

5) God gave them plenty of food.

What do we learn from these things knowing that God will not do for one that He will not do for others?

The believer who is obedient to God will be blessed by God!

Greatly blessed in this life and even greater blessing in that eternal life to come.

Jas 1:25  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. 

Moses also taught these who would receive all these blessings, that there was a downside to so many blessings.

Owning so many treasures of this world can lead to the danger of forsaking God, and this is where the Church stands today.

Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 

Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

We have this tendency to get so relaxed after receiving such blessings, that we forget that they came from our Savior and begin to put ourselves before God which is a great sin.

Sudden prosperity can be fatal to Christians!

A Christian can not only forget his salvation, but they can in fact forget God after He has blessed us so much.

As Christians we are to openly declare the Lord our Savior.

Prosperity can put us in a position of compromise!

Again, this is a sign of today's Church who have compromised with the world and allowed what God has called an abomination into the pulpits of the Church.

When we begin to think too highly of ourselves, we begin to forsake God!

We may even think that we are so high on God's list that we will never chastise us.

No one can get too high for God not to act against them!

Remember God loves those He chastises!

We may drift too far from God and feel nothing, and we must certainly never test God nor test the love of God!

We are to never give back the control of our lives to this world!

We must be incredibly careful if it seems we are making demands of God!

The fear of God from the heart is the most powerful principle of obedience!

Pro 30:8  Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: 

Pro 30:9  Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain. 

We must always remember our righteousness comes by our faith.

No one can keep all those old laws, and no one can keep the law perfectly.

It is by Jesus Christ that we are accepted by our Heavenly Father.

BUT once we have been accepted by Him we must seek to be obedient to Him and fulfill the commandments of God which is based upon our relationship with Him and with each other.

Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 

Mat 22:38  This is the first and great commandment. 

Mat 22:39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 

Mat 22:40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. 

And these things will never change!

Amen

God Never Changes His Plans

 Remembering Israel's Past

Book of Deuteronomy Chapter 4

As we look back in the history of Israel and their escape from Egypt, we should understand that even on foot the journey from Egypt to Kadesh on the outskirts of the River Jordan, was only an eleven day journey and it took Israel forty years to make this journey.

Deu 1:2  (There are eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadeshbarnea.) 

Deu 1:3  And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them;

This is the difference between obedience and disobedience even among God's people!

As Christians remembering our past can be painful but also joyful at the same time.

It is sad to recognize how sinful we were, but joyful to know that God has enough "Grace" to forgive us of our sin.

Rom_5:20  Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

When we look at our past with clear eyes, we can utterly understand that the news of what Jesus Christ has done for us, is certainly Good News.

We serve a merciful God who is also full of "Grace"!

There is one God who is also our Creator and to Israel, He is Jehovah and to the Church He is the Lord Jesus Christ the true Messiah who came down from Heaven to die that we might have eternal life.

As Christians the one most important thing we must do after we are saved, is to snuggle up to Jesus and stay as close to Him as the hem of His garment.

We need the Lord in our lives much more than we can know!

We must never forsake our Savior as Israel forsook Jehovah, and traveled in the wilderness for forty years.

The journey of the new nation of Israel to their Promised Land in type means, "it will not be easy to be a Christian", but the rewards of obedience to Him are out of this world.

So, we must not just read the Word of God we must study the Word of God.

2Ti 2:11  It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: 

2Ti 2:12  If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: 

2Ti 2:13  If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: "he cannot deny himself". 

2Ti 2:14  Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. 

2Ti 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 

I know when we pray being filled with the Holy Spirit, God does speak to us in our heart and relays that into our mind and we know we have heard from the Lord.

It is a true saying that "I know that Jesus lives because I just spoke to Him, and I know He heard me".

But these Israelites heard the actual voice of God.

Even though we rarely take notice that God is still doing miracles today, these twelve tribes of Israel were eyewitnesses to many miracles, yet they denied the truth of Jehovah God.

When the Lord commands us, He is actually telling us His commandments are better for us and this is why we should obey.

In other words it is good for our health here on earth and later in Heaven if we will just be obedient to all the Word of God!

When we have that understanding, then it is rather easy to tell others what the Lord has done for us and this is what we are to do!

When we study the Old Testament, we realize that God never broke one promise nor any covenant with Israel, and since He never changes, it is the same for the Church if we continue to be obedient to Him.

We know for sure that when we make requests that are known to God, He will respond to that request!

He may say "yes", He may say "no", or He might say "now is not the time", He may even say "I have something better for you", but He will respond to every prayer that reaches Him in Heaven.

Our job is to live our lives so that our prayers can be heard in Heaven!

Isa 58:9  Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; 

Isa 58:10  And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: 

Isa 58:11  And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. 

It is a great privilege to take our burdens to the Lord, but when we do, we must certainly leave them there!

Moses declared unto this nation of Israel the truth of God, and they should have listened just as the Church needs to listen to what God has to say today, no matter what part of the Bible He is speaking to us from!

*****Deu 4:31  (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them. 

Deu 4:32  For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? 

Deu 4:33  Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? 

The Creator of all we see here on earth and what we can see in the heavens declare the glory of God!

As stronger telescopes are made and sent into the heavens, we see a never-ending array of God's creation and we need to stand in awe of His mighty power.

We should also understand that according as the speed of light, there are still great lights in the heavens that have not been seen and when they are seen it does not mean they are something new.

This information is ignored because it makes the earth to be young earth and not billions of years old.

Why would such a powerful God pay close attention to the people He created, we might not ever understand that, but He does!

I am sure that He does not call us "birth persons" and "non-birth persons" as we see our government is pushing for us to use instead of boy or girl or male or female. Such foolish people insist that God makes mistakes and I know He cannot make mistakes!

God works for those who love Him!

It is not just anybody who can brag and say, "my God works for me" and He does!

This same powerful God will still humble Himself and stop what He is doing long enough to listen to me when I speak to Him.

The greatest enemy of our prayer life is our lack of faith!

Luk 18:6  And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. 

Luk 18:7  And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 

Luk 18:8  I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? 

The Lord is the only true multitasker!

He can listen to me and many others and still keep His creation moving along according to His plan.

God never has to alter His plan!

My God is not afraid to reveal Himself to me!

My God will also act on my behalf in a world that rejects Him!

Heb 4:14  Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. 

Heb 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 

Heb 4:16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

What was the reality of God in removing the children of Israel from Egypt?

*****Deu 4:34  Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 

Deu 4:35  Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him. 

We must understand that God alone has the power to conquer the enemies of life and there are many enemies ready to take control of our lives.

Temptation may be our greatest enemy as it was to Israel!

These children of Israel had witnessed with their own eyes the formidable power of God.

All the way back to the time of Adam there was no evidence that God would deal with a nation as He had dealt with this band of slaves.

We could say that only Adam and Eve had ever heard the voice of God until He spoke to Israel.

Gen_3:8  And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

God spoke out of the midst of a fire to Moses, yet Moses still lived.

Exo 3:1  Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. 

Exo 3:2  And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 

Exo 3:3  And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 

Exo 3:4  And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. 

God spoke from the midst of a fire to this entire nation of Israel to give them the moral laws.

Exo 20:1  And God spake all these words, saying, 

Exo 20:2  I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

No other nation could brag of such a thing as Israel could!

God had shown great signs in the plagues upon Egypt.

Jehovah God is certainly a merciful God.

Yet this same merciful God is a consuming fire to His enemies.

And in the future, not too far off, the enemies of God will be destroyed by this consuming fire.

And yet, this consuming fire can be a refining fire in our hearts to remove the dross and impurities of our sinful lives causing us to be "Born Again" into a new life.

Why had God done all these things in eyesight of Israel? So Israel would know there is a true Living God!

Why does God do what He does? He wants everyone in this world to be saved!

2Th_2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

2Pe_3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

You see the Lord God is the only Living and True God, the Sovereign Majesty of the Universe, (Jehovah Yahweh), which also makes Him a God of discipline, correction, and holiness!

*****Deu 4:36  Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire. 

God gives His commandments in order for us to know right from wrong! 

These are commandments and not suggestions and they are all for our benefit in order for us to live a joyous and productive life upon this earth and a glorious life when He calls us home to Heaven.

These things are not that hard to understand when you come to know Him as your personal Savior!

We would be wrong to think that He will not correct us when we are disobedient!

There is no one more faithful to the things He says than the Lord God Almighty!

There is no one who keeps all His promises as does the Loving God!

It is the faithfulness of God that gives us hope for eternal life!

Death has no real meaning to the child of God, and He wants us to be as His dear children!

Apostasy is the abandonment of our Christian Faith!

The title Christian comes from being like the Lord Jesus Christ!

All those who have abandoned the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ are living in "Apostasy"!

Just as these Israelites began to fall away from Jehovah God, we see today the Church is "falling away" as the Apostle Paul taught and this is a sign of the soon coming of the Lord.

2Th 2:1  Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 

2Th 2:2  That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 

2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 

Everything we see going on in our world today is building to this climatic event just as it was for Israel for their own apostasy.

We can believe that the "Man of Sin" is about ready to stick his ugly head onto the world scene if he has not already.

God and God alone have the power to conquer all His enemies who can empower His people to victory.

Victory over our own sin, victory in our lives and that victory will lead us to eternal life in the "Glory World".

It was the nation of Israel who was chosen to bring forth our Savior just as He chose the land now called Palestine for them to live!

*****Deu 4:37  And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt; 

Deu 4:38  To drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day. 

Notice also that this same powerful Holy God, is the God of Love!

1Jn_4:8  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

1Jn_4:16  And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

When you know Him in a personal relationship you can feel this love!

God proved His love to Israel by leading them out of slavery and bondage.

Egypt can be understood as a symbol of what the world is today.

We should be able to see easily that nations even in the USA are all trying to make slaves of their people and succeeding.

God hates slavery and He removed the tiny nation of Israel out of slavery and the survival of Israel over all these years is enough proof the God is still on their side!

God does not save from a distance. God remains close to His people even when He does not have to!

God alone has the power to conquer all our enemies and He does not need some mighty army to do so.

We know that God had chosen Abraham, then Isaac, and Jacob and He never took His eyes away for their children.

It’s like this today! God chose His only begotten Son the Lord Jesus Christ and all those who accept Him become the children of God and He will never take His eyes off His children.

All He ever ask of us is obedience!

Most all the mighty nations of Canaan Land fell before that ragtag bunch of Israelites when they were obedient to God. 

In fact, the problems they have today with those called Palestinians are the result of disobedience all the way back to the time of Moses and Joshua when they rebelled against the commands of God.

It is the same for us today. Our lives are joyful and peaceful when we come to know our Savior, but when we decide to do some things our own way, we will see failures and some of these things we will carry with us the rest of our days.

It is best just to have faith in the Word of God and be obedient.

*****Deu 4:39  Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else. 

Deu 4:40  Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever. 

The entire Bible is the revelation of God. God revealing Himself to the world!

He could have chosen many ways, but this the way He chose.

After we recognize this then it behooves us to be obedient. Even through the many translations, the Word of God still has a simple message. 

Just be obedient to God because He is all knowing! He knows the ending at the same time as He knows the beginning.

There is only One Living And True God and it does not matter what unbelievers think or say. They are wrong!

We must always understand, God does not intend for us to argue with the Word of God, the truth is the truth, and we have the truth.

Why are we to keep His commandments, it is quite simple? That it will go well with us!

This means in this life but also in that everlasting life to come if you accept the work of the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation.

The Bible is the wisdom for every nation and should be accepted as such.

When we obey the Word of God, we get the blessings of God and just like last week when we studied Balaam.

There is no one that can take away the blessings of God except God Himself!

The Bible will elevate the national character of any nation, and this was once true in the USA, but now our government has kicked God out of government, schools, the laws and about everything else and when God is asked to leave, He will leave.

God will not stay where He is not wanted!

It is the duty of each and every Christian to have a close personal relationship with God!

We are then under obligation to teach those things to our young!

Israel had to relationship with Jehovah. 

In contrast those Gentile nations each had their own different god and most all of them had many gods and much of these things were debased forms of human passion and immorality.

God wanted Israel to be a nation of Priests and a Holy nation the same as the Church today.

Exo 19:6  And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. 

And the Church:

1Pe 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 

1Pe 2:10  Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. 

We are royal because of King Jesus.

We are peculiar because we are obedient to God and not to this world.

We love Him so we praise Him.

He gives to us "Mercy" and "Grace".

A perfect relationship.

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. 

It only gets better!

Amen

The Blessed of God Cannot be Unblessed

 Balaam and Israel

Book of Numbers Chapters 23 and 24 and 31

It is in the Book of Numbers where we see the story of Balaam the prophet. Now Balaam was not a prophet of God, but he evidently had forecast some things that had come true much like some of the worldly prophets that we hear about.

Some you may know are Nostradamus, Mirza Ghulan Ahmes, Gordon Hinkley, Muhammad, Thomas Monson, T B Joshua, Jeffrey Lundgren (Murderer) Edgar Cayce, William Branham. Many of these, religionist.

You could include Balaam in this bunch of false prophets.

There are some other things we can see about Balaam.

The story of Balaam is somewhat comical especially when we see his donkey talking back to him.

We can see that God does have a sense of humor.

We also see that God is Sovereign over all His creation!

But we also see God is profoundly serious about these things Balaam had intention to do and there are many today who think they can offer God a sacrifice that will cause God to change His mind.

We can be sure that God never has to change His mind because God never makes a mistake. 

Everything God does is the right thing to do whether we believe it or not!

Num 22:21  And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab.

Num 22:23  And the ass saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way.

Num 22:25  And when the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she thrust herself unto the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall: and he smote her again.

Num 22:27  And when the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she fell down under Balaam: and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff.

Num 22:28  And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?

Num 22:29  And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee.

Num 22:30  And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee? And he said, Nay.

Num 22:31  Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face. 

Num 22:32  And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before me: 

Num 22:33  And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times: unless she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her alive. 

Remember to be a prophet of God then every prophecy had to come true because the prophets of God got their information from God Himself.

Deu 18:22  When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

What did God say to do with all false prophets?

Deu 13:1  If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,

Deu 13:3  Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deu 13:5  And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.

It is the same for sacrifices made by false prophets!

The one thing we should know about all the sacrifices of Israel is that they in one way or another, were a type of Christ Jesus.

God never had pleasure in the sacrifice of animals.

The sacrifices commanded for Israel were to instill faith in this people.

The sacrifices of Balaam were more about superstition and less about faith.

It seems that Balaam was under the impression that a perfect sacrifice placed God under some obligation to him.

The sacrifices of Balaam were offered as a means to induce God to change His mind and God has never had to change His mind and God never makes mistakes.

Balaam felt that if the right sacrifice were offered, He could entice God to give him permission to place a curse on God's people.

You see, there is no perfect sacrifice, but that sacrifice of the Lamb of God.

Today many try to use prayer in the same way Balaam used the sacrifice.

We can never convince God to change His mind!

We can never convince God to change His plans!

Prayer works because of faith and God will only change things that have no effect upon His salvation plan or any part of His overall plan which is written down for us.

God does not change things as such as much as He might intervene to change some outcome such as a healing.

Prayer works only because of our faith!

Jas 5:13  Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. 

Jas 5:14  Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 

Jas 5:15  And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 

Jas 5:16  Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 

We see the prayer of faith.

We see that these prayers should come from righteous men.

Righteous meaning those who are obedient to the Word of God.

A sacrifice can only be looked at in the spirit of the one who made the offer.

Balaam was a wicked man who may have had been some prophet but certainly not a prophet of God.

There have been many such prophets throughout the years.

To be a prophet of God is to have every prophecy to be true because it came from God to begin with.

Man has no such insights into the future!

You see we must offer to God our absolute best.

Our best is not our possessions but is ourselves, so we must give all of ourselves to God for it to be considered a sacrifice.

God does not want part of us, He wants all of us!

Remember the story of Abraham and Isaac.

*****Num 23:5  And the LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak. 

Num 23:6  And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab. 

It does not matter if we are a child of God or some lost soul.

When God says to speak certain words then it is those words we will speak.

The key to this passage is that if our Gracious God has blessed us, then there is no individual who can un-bless us!

There is no one who can call down the destruction of God's people. No human and not Satan.

Jehovah God is in direct control of the things that happen to us! He does not cause terrible things to happen to us, but He may allow some things to happen to us. 

We must remember this great through of the Bible:

Rom 8:28  And we know that "all things" work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 

When terrible things happen to us then God had a reason for allowing them to happen!

When good things happen to us then God has His reasons for allowing them to happen!

Just as Balaam and this King Balak tried to curse God's people by using God against us, the world is attempting to do the same thing to us today.

God will never curse those who love Him. He will in fact remove the curse that He placed upon this world one glorious day.

Rev 22:1  And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 

Rev 22:2  In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 

Rev 22:3  And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: 

Rev 22:4  And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. 

This is what awaits all those who have placed their trust in our Holy God!

We can try to make the perfect sacrifice, but if it does not come from a faithful and sincere heart it means nothing.

When we pray, lacking faith, then that prayer does not make it to Heaven and God will not hear that prayer.

Balaam who had been promised riches for cursing the children of Israel began singing to himself as he traveled to meet King Balak.

*****Num 23:7  And he 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. 

Num 23:8  How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied?

God's blessings are beyond the powers of our enemies to change when we separate ourselves from this world!

As Christians we are independent from the politics of this world.

As Christians we are separated from this world because our morals do not all for immorality.

As Christians we possess privileges that this world can never offer to us.

As Christians we know the benefits of serving the Lord far outweigh any so-called benefit that this world offers.

Psa_68:19  Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.

Psa_103:2  Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

Psa_116:12  What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?

Balaam might have had a worldly reputation, but he had no power to change the mind of God and no one else does.

No one can curse those God has blessed!

The sacrifice of a pagan is just the destruction of some animal and is meaningless.

All pagan sacrifices are meaningless to the Almighty God.

We can never sacrifice ourselves on the altars of the world!

Can a lost soul hear from God? Sure they can, but they must have faith and repent of their evil ways to have a meaningful conversation with the Lord.

To Balaam and King Balak, Jehovah was just one god amongst the many gods of this world.

Our world still believes this today that the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ is just one god amongst many gods that serve this world.

The Lord Jesus Christ does not serve the Church, we serve Him!

He came in the form of a servant to show us how to serve Him!

Php 2:5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 

Php 2:6  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 

Php 2:7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 

Php 2:8  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 

This shows us His great love for us.

Fake or false gods never show love, thank goodness they are just figments of someone's imagination.

What truth did Balaam realize? Man has no control over the things of God!

God would not allow Balaam to speak one bad word about Israel to King Balak.

There is no power in false prophets!

Isa 47:10  For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me. 

Isa 47:11  Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know. 

Isa 47:12  Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. 

Isa 47:13  Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. 

Isa 47:14  Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it. 

Isa 47:15  Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee. 

We will never be able to do more than God allows us to do!

God overruled the purposes of Balaam and he had nothing to offer King Balak as a counselor.

You see no one can touch God's people unless God allows it to happen! Even the Devil knows this! (Book of Job)

We may live in this world, but we are not to be a part of this world!

We can only lose our blessings if we go against the Word of God and He will be our "Judge", not any other.

This world cannot take away from us the "love God has for us"!

*****Num 23:9  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. 

Our safety comes by walking in the will of God for us.

It is our duty and our honor to separate ourselves from this world and never walk according to the ways of this world.

Israel stands above all other nations in the eyes of God.

Gen 28:14  And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 

Gen 28:15  And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. 

The only peoples that stand above Israel is the Church. 

Why? Because it was through Israel that we have the Word of God and the Lord Jesus Christ came to us as a Jew of Judah, a tribe of Israel.

No other nation will ever reach this magnitude no matter what the world thinks!

Balaam may have wanted to die the death of the "righteous", but that was impossible for him unless he repented of his ways and have that true faith in Jehovah God!

Those who are righteous in the eyes of God use death as the first step to true life that is eternal!

We become righteous once we accept the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ and our names are written down in the Lamb's Book of Life.

Balaam realized that he would never be able to curse Israel.

Num 24:12  And Balaam said unto Balak, Spake I not also to thy messengers which thou sentest unto me, saying, 

Num 24:13  If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the LORD, to do either good or bad of mine own mind; but what the LORD saith, that will I speak? 

God then used Balaam to make a sure prophecy.

*****Num 24:16  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: 

Num 24:17  I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. 

What is a parable? A parable is an earthly story that has a true Heavenly meaning!

No doubt this is a prophecy of the coming Messiah and King of Israel, not King David but King Jesus, King of Kings.

We know that Balaam had a head knowledge of God, but he did not the heart of a believer and knew nothing of God's "Grace".

We should understand that all those who oppose God and God's people will eventually see the truth of God's wrath!

Num 24:18  And Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies; and Israel shall do valiantly. 

Num 24:19  Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city. 

God wants the people of the world to know that the Lord Jesus Christ will return in great glory and will rule this earth according to the Word of God for one thousand years and before He sits upon the throne of David, He will have destroyed all those who oppose Him.

Balaam was noticeably clear on this prophecy because God forced these words from his mouth even though he did not want to speak to them.

He did not want to make an enemy of King Balak, but God would not allow his silence.

This sure King would come in the future. The Lord has not yet come as King, but He is coming.

He come out of Jacob and rise out of Israel.

He will be victorious in all His battles and would crush Moab and Edom. The King of Edom was listening as Balaam spoke these words.

He would guarantee the survival of the nation of Israel.

He would guarantee the triumph and the dominion of God's people. He would destroy all the enemies of Jehovah God.

There is none other than Jesus Christ who will accomplish all these things.

He is the Messiah.

He is the Deliverer.

He is Lord of lords and King of kings.

He will rule His entire creation as the Sovereign Lord of the universe.

1Co 15:20  But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 

1Co 15:21  For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 

1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. 

1Co 15:24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 

1Co 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 

1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 

No doubt Israel will one day defeat all its enemies!

There is a greater battle that will be won than this as our Savior has been victorious over death, hell, and the grave, and offers eternal life to each believer.

Balaam was called on and paid big money to curse God's people, but he could only tell this king of the destruction of his own nation and of the death of all those that opposed Jehovah.

For each of us that believe the truth of God we can see victory for all God's people.

That victory comes to each individual the very moment we accept the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We have learned that head knowledge is not enough, our faith must come from the heart and God can see into the heart.

The powers of this world have no chance against the power of God!

The evil wicked men of this world are but grasshoppers to God who will perish by the Sword of God's mouth. In other words God will just speak and they will perish.

The Lord Jesus gives us victory over the temptations and the trials of this life.

The Lord Jesus gives us victory over the powers of darkness.

The Lord Jesus gives us victory over all who oppose us here and any that opposed us that were once in Heaven.

The Lord Jesus gives us victory over all things and from the persecution we have received in this life.

War was coming to Israel and Balaam had given the best advice he could of how to destroy God's people.

It is in our flesh to fall into the traps of temptation.

Mat_26:41  Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Mar_14:38  Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.

As long as we are in these bodies of flesh, we are subject to the temptations of the wickedness of this world.

These nations of Canaan Land and Moab and Edom had become so wicked that God knew they would never change and give their hearts to Him.

When time for war came God gave the order to destroy them.

Num 25:17  Vex the Midianites, and smite them:

This command was not followed as God intended.

We must understand that God will use a nation to be His arm of wrath and He has a vast knowledge of the future.

Rev_1:8  I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning, and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Israel did not do as God commanded.

Num 31:9  And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods. 

These are things we would consider as proper even today and are in many cases, but not at this time in Canaan Land where wickedness just was not going to end.

They had become as Sodom and Gomorrah.

It was these things that caused Israel to stumble.

*****Num 31:16  Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD. 

Moses became terribly angry with God's people because they had failed to obey the Word of God.

Moses was God's mouthpiece, and his words were to be treated as the direct Word of God.

It was women just like these that had caused the judgment of God to fall on the children of Israel and 21,000 Israelites were destroyed of God.

What God has done in the past is something that God will do in the future because He never changes, and He demands obedience.

We may never understand all the things that God does, but if our faith is truly in Him, we will certainly obey Him.

This was Adam's downfall and why we all have this sin nature to begin with.

Why little children?

We say it still today that our children are the strength of our nation.

We even say that the strength of the Church is in the hands of our children.

God says: Pro_22:6  Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Once these children had seen the wickedness of their parents and trained in those ways, it was very unlikely, they would ever change.

Look at how the so-called Palestinians train small children today. 

This was not indiscriminate brutality.

These Midianites were a warlike people, and this was never going to change.

To bring this closer home we might remember at the end of World War II, all of Germany was bombarded because it was decided that the only way the Nazi menace could be stopped was to destroy most of its people who were solidly behind Hitler.

Japan got a taste of it with the first nuclear bomb.

This is why nuclear war is scary because it targets all peoples, the women the children and all the innocent peoples.

So no, the world has not changed, and it has not changed because we do not obey our Sovereign God who knows all the future.

Moses saved the innocent girls who were adopted by Israelite families and taught the truth of a Holy God, and they became part of the nation of Israel as free and not slaves.

God will destroy all the wicked one day in our future and not one wicked person will ever be allowed in God's New Heaven.

Our world is becoming more wicked and ruthless every day and it cannot be contained by governments that approve of it, as is the America of today!

Amen