Numbers 22-23 | In the Wilderness

Listen to this week’s sermon, In the Wilderness preached by Pastoral Resident Kenneth Dyches from Numbers 22 and 23.

Episode Transcript

Rev. Benjamin Kandt (00:06):
Hello everyone.
This is Pastor Benjamin.
You're listening to the SermonAudio from New City, Orlando.
At New City, we long to see ourFather answer the Lord's
Prayer.
For more resources, visit ourwebsite at Newcity Orlando.com.
Pray together this prayer ofillumination as we prepare to
read God's Word.

(00:26):
Join with me.
God of mercy, the covenantpromises in your eternal word do
not change.
Holy Spirit, enable us torespond to your gracious
promises with faithful andobedient hearts through Jesus
Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Our scripture reading comesfrom Numbers chapter 22 and 23.

(00:50):
Please remain standing if youare able.
Then the people of Israel setout and camped in the plains of
Moab beyond the Jordan atJericho.
And Balak, the son of Zipor,saw all that Israel had done to
the Amorites, and Moab was ingreat dread of the people,
because they were many.
Moab was overcome with fear ofthe people of Israel.

(01:12):
And Moab said to the elders ofMidian, This horde will now lick
us up, all that is around us,as the ox licks up the grass of
the field.
So Balak, the son of Zapor, whowas king of Moab at that time,
sent messengers to Balaam, theson of Beor, at Pethor, which is
near the river, in the land ofthe people of Emma, to call him,

(01:35):
saying, Behold, a people hascome out of Egypt, they cover
the face of the earth, and theyare dwelling opposite me.
Come now, curse this people forme, since they are too mighty
for me.
Perhaps I shall be able todefeat them and drive them from
the land, for I know that hewhom you bless is blessed, and
he whom you curse is cursed.

(01:55):
And this is verse 17.
And he came to him, and behold,he was standing beside his
burnt offering, and the princesof Moab with him, and Balak said
to him, What has the Lordspoken?
And Balaam took up hisdiscourse and said, Rise, Balak,
and hear, give ear to me, O sonof Zippor.

(02:15):
God is not man that he shouldlie, or a son of man that he
should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not doit?
Or has he spoken and will henot fulfill it?
Behold, I received a command tobless.
He has blessed, and I cannotrevoke it.
He has not beheld misfortune inJacob, nor has he seen trouble

(02:36):
in Israel.
The Lord their God is withthem, and the shout of a king is
among them.
God brings them out of Egyptand is for them like the horns
of the wild ox.
For there is no enchantmentagainst Jacob, no divination
against Israel.
Now it shall be said of Jacoband Israel, What has God
wrought?
Behold, a people.

(02:57):
As a lioness it rises up, andas a lion it lifts itself.
It does not lie down until ithas devoured the prey and drunk
the blood of the slain.
And Balak said to Balaam, Donot curse them at all, and do
not bless them at all.
But Balaam answered Balak, DidI not tell you all that the Lord
says, that I must do?

(03:18):
This is God's word.
Thanks be to God.

Kenneth Dyches (03:22):
Good morning, new city.
Some of you notice that uh weare not talking about Balaam and
his donkey today.
Fear not, it is in thechildren's worship guide.
So you can color along as youanswer some questions if you
want more information about thatstory.
No, what today we're talkingabout is blessing.

(03:42):
See, oftentimes when uh we saybless you to someone who
sneezes, uh, we're not expectingthat we will instantly heal
them of whatever illness thatthey have, right?
Um, or uh if your southerngrandmother uh says, bless your
heart, we're not expecting thatour hearts will become instantly
sanctified and holy, are we?
No, oftentimes we don't fullyunderstand what blessing means.

(04:06):
Uh, when uh God's blessing isconferred in baptism, there's
power there.
It's not just uh words that arenice, it's not just
well-wishing.
Uh, God's power and person andgrace are over those people.
And so blessing has real power,as we will see in this passage

(04:26):
and in our sermon today.
However, we often want to takeblessing on our own terms, don't
we?
Rather than receive blessing onGod's terms.
And so why is that?
Well, we all have empty heartsthat, absent of God's blessing,
raise up alternatives and seekafter those alternatives.

(04:47):
Those alternatives you can callidols.
Those are idols of our heartsthat we go after.
That might be financialself-security, uh, where we're
if we're financially stable,then you feel blessed.
It might be a comfortable andstress-free life, which looks
like prayers that the Lord wouldkeep everything calm and easy
and stress-free.
Maybe it's career andachievement.

(05:07):
You know, if if business isgood, then then I feel blessed.
Maybe it's relationships.
If I'm accepted by my friendsor the opposite sex, if I marry
the right person, then I willhave the blessed life.
Maybe it's image andself-branding, right?
Our social media curates ourlives so that when people look
at our feeds, they see a lifethat looks blessed, all of the

(05:29):
highlights of our lives.
Maybe it's self-health andspiritual autonomy or moral and
religious performance, right?
If I do the right things, thenthe universe or God will give me
good things in return.
Those are all things that ourhearts, instead of going to God
first, can go to in order tofeel to fill the empty void in
our hearts to find blessing onour own terms.

(05:53):
However, even though our heartstend to do that day in and day
out, there is good news, whichis that God has already blessed
his people.
We just need to kneel toreceive it.
God has blessed his people, sowe must kneel to receive it.
So my first point today is thedefinition of blessing.

(06:13):
What exactly is blessing?
Well, blessing holds realpower.
And so if we look at Numberschapter 22, verse 6, you can go
ahead and if you have a Bible,you can open that, or a Bible
app, you can go ahead and bustthat out now.
Scroll and click your way tothe right passage, is Numbers
22.
And so in verse 6, Balak saysto Balaam, Come now, curse this

(06:38):
people for me, since they aretoo mighty for me.
Perhaps I shall be able todefeat them and drive them from
the land, for I know that hewhom you bless is blessed, and
he whom you curse is cursed.
So Balach here, he trulybelieves that if uh Balaam is
able to curse Israel, to revoketheir blessing, then he will

(06:59):
have real power to defeat them.
Right?
So he's expecting this is morethan well-wishing, this is an
opportunity for him to defeatGod's people.
Now that word Barak is areally, it's the Hebrew term for
blessed in the Bible, uh, andit's a really important one.
Essentially, it means to blessand invoke with divine favor and

(07:19):
abundant life, to bestow powerfor success, prosperity, and
fertility.
So, blessing in scripture, theblessing over God's people is
divine power for successaccording to God's terms, right?
And if we look at our passage,we see that Israel has God's
blessing.
They have power, provision, andabundant life, and they have

(07:41):
become an abundant people.
Go ahead and look at me at 22,verses 2 through 3.
Bloch, the son of Zippor, sawall that Israel had done to the
Amorites.
And Moab was in great dread ofthe people because they were
many, and they were overcomewith fear of the people of
Israel.
And then in verse 5, it evensays that they covered the face
of the earth and they aredwelling opposite me.

(08:03):
So this is a people who, in theverses just before this, it
says that God gave over theenemy into their hands, right?
Because the tabernacle is withthem.
The tabernacle is the throne ofGod, it's the footstool of his
throne.
And so as the tabernacle goeswith God's people, God's very
presence and power goes withthem against every enemy.

(08:25):
And so Israel has defeated uhthe Amorites, who had actually
already defeated the Moabites.
And so the Moabites are like,well, dude, what chance do we
have versus these people?
In addition to that, they're anabundant people.
They've come out of Egypt,delivered by God.
Uh and in Genesis chapter 2,verses 2 through 3, we see where

(08:45):
this blessing has come from,why God chose this people.
And that reads, uh, God says toAbraham, and I will make of you
a great nation, and I willbless you and make your name
great, so that you will be ablessing.
I will bless those who blessyou, and him who dishonors you I
will curse, and in you all thefamilies of the earth shall be

(09:07):
blessed.
So here we see that Israel,they're a great people, they're
defeating anyone they comeacross.
God is providing all that theyneed in the wilderness, he has
delivered them from Egypt, andBalak is not ignorant of that.
He sees all of these things,and he knows that he cannot go
against them on his own.
Israel has God's blessing,their power for success

(09:27):
according to his will.
And that power is God's verypresence.
In Numbers chapter 6, verses 23through 27, it reads, The Lord
spoke to Moses, saying, Speak toAaron and his sons, saying,
Thus you shall bless the peopleof Israel.
You shall say to them, The Lordbless you and keep you, the

(09:48):
Lord make his face to shine uponyou and be gracious to you, the
Lord lift up his countenanceupon you and give you peace.
So shall they put my name uponthe people of Israel, and I will
bless them.
This is, of course, also thebenediction that we speak over
you at the end of the serviceevery week.
And so notice a few things inthis passage.

(10:09):
The name Yahweh is invoked.
The power for abundant lifecomes only from the life giver.
Second, his face andcountenance are invoked.
God's personal presence isactually tied up in blessing.
And thirdly, his name is placedupon them.
God makes a claim over thepeople of Israel as his own when

(10:30):
he blesses them.
And notice in our passage, ifyou look at chapter 23, verse
20, it reads, Behold, I receiveda command to bless.
He has blessed, and I cannotrevoke it.
God is the only source ofblessing.
God is the life giver whocreated all things, and those
who receive his blessing receiveabundant life according to his

(10:54):
purposes, power to succeed.
So why does blessing hold allof this power?
Why does God's blessing holdall of this power?
What is God's doing?
Well, it is in line with hischaracter.
If we look at verse 19, Balaamsays, God is not a man that he
should lie, or a son of man thathe should change his mind.

(11:14):
He has said, and will he not doit?
Or he has spoken and will henot fulfill it.
What Balaam is getting there atthere uh is God's immutability,
the idea that he does notchange.
Now we change our minds all thetime.
I don't know about you, but Iuh resolve to work out every
evening after my kids go to bed.
But lo and behold, uh I finallyget my kids to bed, you know,

(11:38):
after 30 minutes to an hour oftrying to put them down, and
that TV is very tempting.
And I turn it on and just seewhat's going on there.
I'll say, you know, maybe afterI work out, I'll see what I'll
watch.
And lo and behold, I'm watchingNetflix for hours and I have
not worked out at all.
And then it becomes a week andI have not worked out all week,
right?
So you get it, right?
We change our minds.
Things, circumstances come upthat move us in a different

(11:59):
direction, not so with God.
When he resolves to dosomething, he accomplishes it.
He has given to Abraham ablessing that is, he is carrying
out in Israel and God's people,and he will surely accomplish
it.
And then that goes along withwho he is.
Yahweh reveals himself to Mosesand he says, Uh, My name is
Yahweh Yahweh, a God mercifuland gracious, slow to anger and

(12:23):
abounding in steadfast love andfaithfulness.
Right?
This is the God who is offeringto us his blessing.
He is good and merciful andgracious and pursues us in
steadfast love, and he willcertainly accomplish the
blessing that he gives to us.
And so that power, thatblessing is power for success,
prosperity, and abundant lifeaccording to the one who has

(12:47):
given you life.
But just to give you a briefillustration on what that looks
like, oftentimes uh parenthooduh and parents with their
children uh is an image inscripture to describe God's
relationship with us.
So I'll tell you a little bitabout my son Luca.
Luca uh just started karaterecently.
Uh it's his first sport.
He was super stoked.
He walks in the first day andhis lights just lit up.

(13:08):
His face lit up.
It looked like he was at umDisney World or something.
And he does his first lesson,he loves it.
Uh he comes in the next week,uh, he does a full lesson.
Uh, he gets to break a board toearn his first belt.
Uh really excited.
You should have seen his face.
I delighted and his delight.
Uh lo and behold, fast forwardtwo weeks, we've paid for the

(13:29):
first three months because we'relike, this kid loves this
thing.
This is great, this isfantastic.
We're excited for him.
Uh, I try to bring him into thedojo, and lo and behold, he
does not want to go in.
And he doesn't want to get onthe mat.
Uh, and he's cheerful.
He's worried.
Something has happened that hascaused him to worry about uh
coming onto the mat and maybedisappointing somebody or uh

(13:49):
getting things wrong, not doingthings right.
Uh and so he doesn't want to doit.
And of course, as a parent,you're thinking, like, okay, I
want to listen to you and loveyou well, but also I paid for
the next three months.
So you kind of have to do it.
Um But you know, as gently aswe could, we listened to him and
encouraged him.
Uh I would pray for him as wewent in.

(14:10):
Uh and then uh the next coupletimes as I brought him in, they
would let me do some of themoves with him on the mat.
And as I did that, he startedto build up a courage.
He started to feel my presenceand feel comforted by me.
He started to feel a power uhto succeed and to do well.
And lo and behold, in the nextcouple of lessons, now he's
running around, he's doing it onhis own, uh, and he knows that

(14:31):
I am there and I am with him,even though I'm not right next
to him.
In the same way, our heartstend to be enveloped by fear and
want to go to things uhopposite of what God wants for
us.
And yet, when God, when wereceive what God has for us,
when we know He is with us,God's blessing gives us power to

(14:52):
succeed in the same way that Ibless Luca with my presence and
give him power to succeed.
Yet, that being true, why doesBaloch and why do we tend to
still seek after blessing on ourown terms?
Well, that leads me to mysecond point.
We've seen the definition ofblessing, and now we'll look at
counterfeit blessings.

(15:12):
So go ahead and look at Numbers22, verses 1 through 4.
We see Balak seeking blessingon his own terms.
Then the people of Israel setout and camped in the plains of
Moab beyond the Jordan atJericho, and Balak, the son of
Zippor, saw all that Israel haddone to the Amorites, and Moab
was in great dread of the peoplebecause they were many.

(15:33):
Moab was overcome with fear ofthe people of Israel, and Moab
said to the elders of Midian,This horde will now lick up all
that is around us as the oxlicks up the grass of the field.
So Balak, the son of Zapor, whowas king of Moab at the time,
did those things.
So what do we see?
We see fear, right?
The Moabites go to Bloch.

(15:54):
Block has seen all of thesepeople, and fear is driving
them, and it reveals their idol,right?
At this point, Israel actually,if you look into the details,
they're miles from the border ofMoab.
So at this point, they are notactively threatening Moab at
all.
And yet they've seen whathappens when Israel uh goes
through a nation, uh, when Godleads them uh in the direction

(16:14):
of another nation, when a nationopposes them.
And so fear begins rising upthat uh Israel will take from
them their resources, thatIsrael will take from them their
autonomy to rule themselves.
Uh and so we see that theiridol is self-autonomy, to do
things in their own way, not tohave to consider what God wants,
uh but to go about it in theirown way.

(16:34):
And that leads to sin, right?
So, what how do they respond?
Well, the king of Moab decidesto go and recruit somebody who's
known for blessing and cursingto go and curse Israel, to
actively oppose God's people.
And so, even though the truthis right in front of him, right?
This people's come out ofEgypt, they've defeated the

(16:55):
Amorites, they're great innumber.
He even, he and Balaam actuallyboth use Yahweh's name, which
means they know what God is overIsrael.
They've heard of him.
God is making a name forhimself by blessing Israel and
deliver them, delivering them.
And so, nonetheless, he iscoming against that God and this
people.
And this is where we see hisspiritual blindness.

(17:18):
We even see the fact that he helooks at the people of Israel
and he says, They're gonna takeeverything from me.
They're like an ox, they'regonna lick it up.
But Balaam later will say,Well, this, they are like an ox,
but God is their horns.
He is defending them.
And those who bless them willbe blessed along with them, and
those who curse them will becursed against them.
And yet he still continues.

(17:39):
And this shows us theirrationality of our hearts
towards our idols, right?
We like to think that we'rerational beings, but when our
empty hearts are deceived and goafter wrong things, they tilt
in the wrong direction directionand they just keep going.
Which is why Balak willcontinually try to curse Israel
over our three chapters, eventhough Balaam keeps saying, I
can only bless these people.

(18:00):
This is what God's given me.
And yet he continues in thewrong direction.
Eric Hofer, an American moralphilosopher, says, You can never
get enough of what you don'treally need.
Right?
Our hearts are always, as theygo after our idols, uh, they can
never quite get enough, and yetthey keep going.

(18:20):
They keep going in the wrongdirection.
Which is why Jim Carrey says, Ithink everybody should get rich
and famous and do everythingthey ever dreamed of so they can
see it's not the answer.
Right?
He finally got exactly what hewanted, what his heart was going
after, what he was filling thevoid with, and he realized I am
still not satisfied.
This is still not the blessingthat I was seeking.

(18:43):
So I wonder, what are youafraid of right now?
What idols lay behind thatfear?
How are you responding in sin?
And how are you blind to theblessing that God is giving you,
offering you in the midst ofit?
How is your empty heart fillingup and seeking something other

(19:07):
than God?
A rational and perhapssubconscious, full tilt towards
destruction.
So we see that Balak's heart isoriented that way.
All of our hearts, because ofsin, are oriented in that
direction.
And now we'll see what theopposite of blessing is.
So we've seen the definition ofblessing, counterfeit
blessings, and now the oppositeof blessing.

(19:29):
Go ahead and look at chapter23, verse 21.
The opposite of blessing isiniquity and the curse.
And we actually see the wordfor iniquity, one of the words
for iniquity in chapter 23,verse 21, he says, Balaam says,
He has not beheld misfortune inJacob.
This is Balaam speaking of Godbeholding Israel, nor has he

(19:52):
seen trouble in Israel.
The Lord their God is withthem.
That word for misfortune is aword often used of the human
condition of the human heart,and it carries a sense of
emptiness.
The stress on emptiness thatleads to idolatry and deception
that leads to sin andwickedness.
See, back in Genesis chapter 2and 3, deception, uh, the lies

(20:16):
of the enemy led to Adam and Evesinning against God, choosing a
life apart from God, which wasthen the absence of the presence
of God as they were banishedfrom the garden and his
receiving his curse instead.
Because as we saw earlier,God's very presence is his
blessing towards us.
As he is with us and goes withus, we receive power for success

(20:38):
and flourishing and abundantlife.
But when their hearts weredeceived by the lies of the
enemy and they chose to fillthem with the wrong things, they
didn't receive the abundantblessing that God had for them.
Instead, they were receivingdeath, futility, and curse.
The opposite of blessing iscurse.

(20:58):
And so the lies of Satanlikewise deceive our own hearts
into grasping onto idols insteadof God.
And this leads us to curse aswell.
Deceived hearts always end incurse.
Go ahead and look at Numbers24, verse 9.
At the end, and the end ofverse 9, it reads, Blessed are

(21:21):
those who bless you, and cursedare those who curse you.
Balaam here is echoing God'sblessing and promise to Abraham.
And after multiple attempts ofBalak to curse Israel, Balak is
now reaping curse instead.
And Balak will, in the next fewverses, describe exactly how
Israel uh will conquer theMoabites.

(21:43):
And so as our heartscontinually move in the wrong
direction away from God,eventually the blessings that we
seek in our own power are goingto fail us.
And when we when they do, wewill be left not with blessing,
but with curse.
Tim Keller says, when we turngood things into ultimate
things, they become our curses.
Every idol starts withsomething good, whether it's

(22:08):
work, family, or comfort.
But when the heart elevates itabove God, it inevitably
destroys the one who clings toit.
And yet the good news is thatthough our hearts are like that,
this is not the end.
We can receive the blessing ofGod.
See, receiving the blessing,this is my fourth point,
receiving the blessing requiressurrender.

(22:28):
We open our hands when wereceive the benediction, and God
proclaims his blessing over usbecause we are saying we want
not the things of our own heartthat it tries to grasp for, but
the things that you have for us.
The literal definition ofblessing is to kneel down or
make kneel, right?
Some scholars believe there's aconnection because uh a
blessing is giving from thegreater to the lesser.

(22:50):
And so likewise, uh when wekneel, when we surrender, when
we submit to what God desiresfor us rather than what our
hearts want, when we repent andturn away from those things that
I listed in the beginning andinstead invite God to give us
what he has for us, we receivehis blessing.
However, you might be heretoday and be thinking, you know,

(23:11):
I uh maybe a friend invitedyou, uh maybe you stopped in to
check out uh the church for thefirst time, and so you're
thinking to yourself, well, youknow, I uh I receive blessing in
many parts of my life.
You know, I I follow otherreligions.
I uh know lots of people who umbless me and and who uh love me
and I receive the things that Ineed.
Uh and so maybe you're you'rewondering, like, I don't I don't

(23:33):
feel like I need to submit toto just the Christian God.
I don't need to submit to uhthe the God of this church.
I don't really understand whythere's an explicit call to
that.
Um and so to that I would sayuh this is an invitation.
I wonder uh how many of us areeven right now experiencing the

(23:53):
emptiness of our hearts,experiencing the things that
we're going after not completelysatisfying us, experiencing
fear uh in our lives that thingswill be lost or taken from us,
or maybe we have experiencedloss and things or people taken
from us.
And we understand the emptinessthat we have in our hearts and
the desire for something more.
Jesus says, I am the way, thetruth, and the life, and no one

(24:18):
comes to the Father exceptthrough me.
That is an invitation from Godin Jesus Christ to come to God
to receive his blessing becauseJesus has earned it on our
behalf.
Maybe you're here today andyou're like, I come to church
every Sunday.
I'm part of communities andcircles, and I do all of the
good things.
I try to serve others, I try tolove others, and so I am

(24:40):
walking in God's blessing.
Maybe that's true.
Maybe that's true.
But uh Paul tells us in Romans3 that no one truly seeks after
God.
Our hearts are oriented in thewrong direction.
And then in Romans 4, 5, uh 4through 8, he says, And to the
one who does not work, butbelieves in him who justifies
the ungodly, his faith iscounted as righteousness, just

(25:03):
as David also speaks of theblessing of the one to whom God
counts righteousness apart fromworks.
Blessed are those whose lawlessdeeds are forgiven and whose
sins are covered.
Blessed is the man against whomthe Lord will not count his
sin.
See, it's repentance, it'sacknowledging all of the things
in our heart that we go to,laying them before the one who

(25:24):
created us, the life giver, andsaying, These are yours.
Would you help me to receivewhat you have for me in all of
these things?
These things, when I go afterthem in my own power, are sin.
But when I believe in faiththat you are giving me your
blessing, I know that I amcovered by the blood of Jesus.
I am forgiven, and I willreceive and experience the

(25:46):
blessing that you have for me.
That's why the author of Johnalso in 1 John 1 8 says, If we
say we have no sin, we deceiveourselves, and the truth is not
in us.
If we confess our sins, he isfaithful and just to forgive us
our sins and cleanse us from allunrighteousness.
See, God's blessings come to usin Jesus Christ.

(26:10):
In Numbers uh chapter 23, inour passage, um, verse 20.
Rather in verse 21, we see atthe end of 21, the Lord their
God is with them, and the shoutof a king is among them.
The shout of a king.
What is he looking forward toand prophesying and seeing?

(26:31):
Well, in Revelation 19, we seethe King of Kings and the Lord
of Lords is Jesus Christ, whoreturns again and defeats all
his enemies, defeats the fatherof lies, defeats all the lies in
our hearts that move us in thewrong direction.
That is the King of Kings whodeclares his victory over the
world and over our hearts.
And then in Revelation 22, 4through 5, it says, They will

(26:55):
see his face, and his name willbe on their foreheads, and the
night will be no more.
We're seeing the fulfillment ofthe blessing given in numbers.
They will need no light of lampor sun, for the Lord God will
be their light, and they willreign forever and ever.
We will be with God forever.
We will see him face to face.
We will be satisfied in him.

(27:16):
We will receive fullness ofjoy.
That is what comes to us.
The blessing is going to befulfilled because the God who
gave it to us never changes,because he is good and because
he is our King.
So as we kneel and we receivehis blessing, we will see the
fulfillment of it in part now,but soon and one day forever.

(27:36):
And then at the end ofRevelation in chapter 22, verse
7, he says, And behold, I amcoming soon.
Blessed is the one who keepsthe words of the prophecy of
this book.
So Jesus reigns.
We know that all things workfor the good of those who submit
to his reign.
For it was God that was able tospeak of word of blessing

(27:56):
through Balaam.
And so, how much more throughthe blood of Jesus Christ who
has secured our salvationforever.
Go ahead and pray with me now.
Yahweh, you are our God.
You do not change.
You are the God of blessing.
You are good and righteous.
You have pursued us insteadfast love.

(28:18):
You desire that we not onlyreceive your blessing, but you
accomplish it in us, and youdesire that we would experience
it.
Lord, by your spirit, would youhelp us to discern our hearts?
Would you help us to see theways we're striving after
things, after blessings in ourown power that are not in line
with your will, that we putbefore your will.

(28:38):
Would you help us, oh Lord, tooffer those up to you today so
that we can receive the fullnessfor what of what you have for
us in Jesus Christ?
Amen.