(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

There are a couple of events coming up. First of all, all the ladies are invited to a baby shower for Miss Taylor Marin on Saturday, June 1st at 3 p.m., and Miss Taylor is having a girl. She is registered on Amazon, and it is a potluck. So if you can, please bring this to share. Please sign up on your communication card so my wife knows that you're coming and she can make plans for that. And if you'd like, so make sure you do that on the communication card. And then we also want you to be aware of the graduation service coming up on Sunday, June 2nd at 6 p.m. So if you are part of our homeschool group and you have a graduate that needs to walk and receive their diploma at kindergarten or high school, make sure you let us know on your communication card that they'd like to participate, and that way they can be part of that. And if you have a kid that's graduating that sixth grade or eighth grade where they normally don't walk for those grades, or if you are graduating from a different school, then we wanna recognize you that night as well. So make sure you do that on your communication card. Let us know so that we can recognize you on that day. Make sure you write down the name, the grade, the school so we have that information. And then that night, June 2nd, we'll have pizza after the service. It's the fellowship in honor of all the graduates, so just be aware of that. There was no choir practice today. Homeschool group, there's PE class on Thursday, May 23rd. And there's other things there for you to look at. Please don't forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent during the service so that they're not a distraction to anybody. If you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays and anniversaries for the month of May, today is Isayla Thompson's birthday, May 12th, and then we have Joseph Coffney's birthday, May 17th, and Brother George and Miss Andrea McQueen have an anniversary on May 17th. Praise Report, Money Matters, all of those things are there for you to look at. And I think that's it for all of the announcements. So we're gonna go ahead and sing the chorus of the week, which is the insert in your bulletin. And we're gonna sing Rejoice in the Lord as we prepare to receive the offering this evening. And let's go ahead and sing it out on the first. God never moves without purpose or plan when trying is servant and holding a hand. Amen, give thanks to the Lord, though your testing seems long, in darkness he giveth a song. Oh, rejoice in the Lord, he makes no mistake. With the end of each path that I take, for when I am tried and purified, I shall come forth as gold. Good, sing it out on the second. I could not see through the shadows ahead, so I looked at the cross of my Savior. Instead, I bowed to the will of the Master that day. Then he escaped and tears fled away, and tears fled away. Oh, rejoice in the Lord, he makes no mistake. With the end of each path that I take, for when I am tried and purified, I shall come forth as gold. Good, sing it out on the last. Now I can see testing comes from above. God strengthens his children and purges in love. My Father knows best, and I trust in his care. Lord, I will bend. Oh, rejoice in the Lord, he makes no mistake. With the end of each path that I take, for when I am tried and purified, I shall come forth as gold. Amen. Good singing. We'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time. And let's go ahead and borrow half an hour of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you. We thank you for allowing us to gather together tonight. Lord, we pray that you bless the offering, the gift and the giver. We pray that you meet with us as we open up your Word and City of the Bible together. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Please open us to Numbers 31. Numbers, chapter number 31. If you're going to have a Bible, please raise your hand. And unless you can read your Bible. Numbers, chapter number 31. Numbers 31. We'll read verses one through 18. Numbers 31, verses one through 18. Numbers 31, beginning of verse number one. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites. Afterwards shalt thou be gathered unto thy people. And Moses spake unto the people, saying, Arm some of yourselves into the war, and let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the Lord of Midian. Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war. So that were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of every tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the holy instruments and the trumpets to blow in his hand. And they warred against the Midianites as the Lord commanded Moses, and they slew all the males, and they slew the kings of Midian, beside of the rest of them that were slain, namely, Eli, and Rekim, and Zer, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian, and Balaam also the son of Beor, they slew with the sword. 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. And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles with fire. And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and of beasts. And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil unto Moses and Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel, and to the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by Jordan, near Jericho. And Moses and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp. And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, and with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle. And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? 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. Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women, children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening. I got to thank you for your word, and for our church. I ask you please give us all a tender heart to the message tonight. Please ask that you be their pastor. Please strengthen him, and fill him with his spirit. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Alright, we're there in Numbers chapter number 31. And of course we are continuing our study through the book of Numbers, chapter by chapter through the book of Numbers. And if you remember last week, we were in chapter 31, and we did not cover the entire chapter last week. What we did last week was just looked at one difficult question that came up in this chapter, and the question was, why did God sanction the death of men, women, and children? I'm not going to be preaching on that at all tonight. We dealt with that extensively last week, and if you missed that, or if you need to re-listen to that, we encourage you to check that out on our website. What we're going to do tonight is we're going to walk through the chapter, and we're going to learn what we can from this chapter, but we're not going to deal with that subject, because that is too much of a time-consuming subject, so we gave an entire sermon to that last week, and tonight we're going to just go through the actual passage. So if you're here tonight and you're wondering, why am I not dealing with that subject, you need to go back to last week's sermon and catch up on that. Now what we see in this chapter, of course, in verse number 1, the Bible says this, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Avenge the children of Israel, of the Midianites, afterward, shalt thou be gathered unto thy people. And what we see here is that God is directing the children of Israel to go to war with the Midianite people, and of course we talked about it last week, but let me just quickly remind you that the Midianites tempted the people of God to worship Baal and to commit fornication with the children of Israel, and this all came about with the story of Balaam. If you remember, Balak, which is the king, not of the Midianites, but of Moab, hired Balaam to curse the people of God, and he was not able to. God did not allow him to bring a curse upon the people, so then Balaam, we know from this chapter, then counseled the Moabites and the Midianites to then tempt the men of the children of Israel into fornication, to tempt them into committing idol worship, because if the devil can't get God to curse you, he can get you to curse yourself, and he can get the people of God to turn against God and therefore bring the judgment of God upon them. Now, I do want to deal with one quick question before we jump into the chapter, and you may not have noticed this, but I'm sure some have, and maybe you have the question, and I want to answer it. If you can make your way back just real quickly to Numbers chapter 25, of course in Numbers 31, what we see is the judgment of God coming upon the Midianites. When you go to Numbers 25, which is why they're being judged, the Midianites are being judged in Numbers 31 because they tempted the children of Israel to fornicate and to commit idolatry against God in the matter of Baal Peor. When you go to Numbers 25 and you read the chapter which deals with this, the Bible says in verse 1, and the people began to commit whoredom, and I want you to notice the last phrase of verse number 1, with the daughters of Moab. So here in Numbers 25, we're told that they began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab, but then in chapter 31, the judgment is coming upon the Midianites, and sometimes people will look at this and they'll say, this is a contradiction in the Bible, because the Moabites and the Midianites are two different people. They're two different groups of people, and they're not the same group of people. So the question arises, why is it that God brought judgment upon the Midianites in Numbers 31 when the Bible says in Numbers 25 that they committed whoredom with the daughters of Moab? And I'd like to just point out a couple things for you. First of all, if you go down to Numbers 25 and look at verse number 14, Numbers 25 and look at verse number 14, of course, you have the matter of the idolatry and fornication, but there's one specific story that God highlights for us in this ordeal regarding Phineas and his zeal for the Lord. In fact, just look down at verse 13, actually, just to get a little bit of context. Numbers 25 and verse 13, the Bible says this, And he shall have it and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, and of course, this is referring to Phineas, because he was zealous for his God and made an atonement for the children of Israel. Notice verse 14, Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, because remember, Phineas was with Moses and with the elders of the children of Israel. They're praying before the tabernacle, and an Israelite is taking a woman by the hand and going to commit fornication as God is bringing wrath upon the children of Israel for fornication. This happens just blatantly right in front of Moses and Phineas, the Bible tells us, took a javelin in his hand and he thrust both of them through the man of Israel and the woman through her belly and the plague was stayed, is what we read about earlier in the chapter. But I want you to notice here in verse 14, the Bible gives us details as to who these individuals were. Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, even that was slain with, and I want you to notice here what it says, with the Midianitish woman was Zimrai, the son of Salu, a prince of a chief house among the Simeonites, and the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was caused by the daughter of Zur, who was head over the people and of the chief house of Midian. So even though Numbers 25 1 tells us that they committed whoredom with the daughters of Moab, we read in the specific story here of what actually upset God and what upset Phineas and how Phineas brought the plague to an end by thrusting them through a javelin through their bellies, we see that it was fornication with this Midianite woman. So what does that mean? Well what it means is this, that there were both Moabite women and Midianite women that were involved in tempting the children of Israel into bringing fornication. So it's both the Moabite, the daughters of Moab, and also the Midianitish women. So then the question, and that should be easy to understand, there's not a contradiction here, women from both of these groups were involved, which makes sense because Balak is the king of Moab, and he's the one that's trying to get the children of Israel to sin against God, so it makes sense that the daughters of Moab or the women of Moab would be involved in this, but then we have this other group of women, the Midianitish women, and in the story, they are the ones that are highlighted as being the most brazen and the most disrespectful in regards to this. So then we get to Numbers 31, and God is bringing judgment upon the nation of Midian. But then the question that's asked is this, well why Moab and not Midian? And there's lots of things that we could say in regards to that, the relationship that Moab has versus Midian with God in the Old Testament, but I would just say this, and I would say that there's many layers to that, but let me just give you the cliff notes and maybe what I think is the most important answer to that question, and the answer to the question is this, if you go back to Numbers 24 and look at verse number 14, remember in Numbers 22, 23, and 24, we have the oracles of Balaam, we have these famous oracles where he's trying to curse the people of God, but God is not allowing him, God is not allowing the words to come out of his mouth, in fact God is changing the words as they're coming out of his mouth, and they're turning the curse, God is turning the curse into a blessing. When we get to the end of that, right before the last oracle, what Balaam says to Balak is this, Numbers 24 and verse 14, he says, And now behold, I go unto my people, come therefore, and I will advertise thee what this people, what what people, the people he refers to as my people, what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days. Now, the question is, what is the people that Balaam is referring to when he says, I will advertise thee what this people shall do, I go unto my people. Because if you go back, and we won't take the time to do it, but if you go back when we first meet Balaam, we're told exactly of where Balaam is from, meaning where he was born from, where he originates from, and it's a location that's not really has any sort of involvement with the story. But what we learn, keep your finger right there in Numbers 24, and flip back to Numbers 31, if you would, and look at verse number 8, Numbers 31 and verse 8. We're going to go through the whole chapter here in a minute, but I do just want you to see this real quickly. What we learn in Numbers 31 is this, that Balaam is residing with the Midianites. Numbers 31 says this, And they slew the king of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain, namely Evai and Rekim and Zur and Hur and Reba, five kings of Midian. And then notice this, Balaam also, the son of Beor, they slew with the sword. Why did they kill Balaam when they killed all the kings of Midian when they came in and destroyed the land of Midian? They killed Balaam because that's where Balaam was living, that's where Balaam was residing. And though the Bible is clear that Balaam was not originally from the Midianite people, he is living with the Midianites, and I believe when he says in Numbers 24, 14, I go unto my people, he is referring to the Midianite people. He has encamped himself with them, he has made that his home, he has made that his people. He says, I go unto my people, and he says, I will advertise thee what this people, referring to the Midianite people, shall do to thy people, referring to the Moabite people, in the latter day. And then in the next phase of the story, we see Moabite women and Midianite women both coming into Israel and bringing idolatry and causing the men of Israel to commit fornication. Go back real quickly to Numbers 31 and verse 8, and I'd like you to look down at, in fact, I'm sorry, not verse 8. Let me find it real quickly. The Bible says in verse number, I should have, I wrote down the wrong number here. Let me find it for you real quick. I mean, we're going to go through the whole chapter here in a minute. But the Bible says here that he, that they were destroyed through the counsel of Midian. I don't know why I can't find that verse now. It's in this chapter, we'll look at it here in a minute. It comes through the counsel of Midian, and what I believe the Bible is teaching us, look at verse 16, there it is, Numbers 31 to 16. Behold, these cause the children of Israel, notice this little phrase, 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. So here's what I want you to see. Verse 16, it was through the counsel of Balaam that they committed trespass against the Lord. Verse 8, Balaam is residing with the Midianites. Numbers 24, 14, he says, I go to my people, the people that he's living with, the people that he's identified himself with, the Midianites, come therefore and I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people. So what I believe is happening here is that Balaam goes back home, and by the way, if you look at Numbers 24 and verse 25, the Bible says this, and Balaam rose up and went and returned to his place, and Balak also went his way. So what's his place? Well, Numbers 31 tells us it's in the land of Midian. It's with the Midianites. So Balaam in Numbers 24 goes back home to not where he was born, but where he is now living, residing, the people that he identifies himself with, the Midianites, and it is the Midianites that give him this idea of bringing women to fornicate with the children of Israel, which is why he says, I go unto my people, come therefore and I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days. And then he takes that idea from the Midianites, and he gives that as counsel to Balak, which brings daughters of Moab, daughters of Midian, to fornicate with the children of Israel, which is why God brings judgment upon the Midianites in Numbers 31 because of the fact that the Bible seems to indicate, as we put all these different things together, that the idea originated with them, this idea. Because, again, people will say, well, if it's Balak who's a Moabite, and if it's the daughters of Moab, and yeah, there was this cause by Midianites, this woman, but why is God destroying all the Midianites? I believe that the judgment is coming upon the Midianites because I believe the idea originated with them. I think when you put all the different pieces together, that's the picture that is painted for us here in Scripture. He went back home. Where's home for him? With the Midianites. He's residing with the Midianites. They give him the idea. I will advertise thee what this people shall do unto thy people, and this is why God brings judgment. So anyway, if you care about that, I'm not sure if you do, but I want to answer the question because sometimes people will bring these objections up as contradictions of the Bible. And I don't think they're contradictions. I think we just need to look at the Bible and look at all the different pieces that God has given us and put it together to be able to get a picture of what is going on. Go back to Numbers 31, if you're not already there, and look at verse number one. So let's just walk through this chapter tonight, and I'll give you eight different statements. You can jot these down if you'd like. On the back of your course of the week, there's a place to write them down. They're not alliterated, and they're not even necessarily points. They're just applications as we walk through this chapter, but I would like to get through this chapter tonight, and next Sunday night will be in Numbers chapter 32. So look at verse number one, Numbers 31 and verse one. And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites. And then I want you to notice this little phrase. We've talked a lot about that extensively. Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites. God says, I want you to go to battle with the Midianites. But then I want you to notice this. Then he says this, afterward. Afterward. He said, I want you to avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites. God says, afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people. Now what does that mean, afterwards shalt thou be gathered unto people? This is a phrase used in scripture that means that he's going to die. Being gathered unto thy people means that he's going to pass away, he's going to die, and his people are going to bury him. He's going to be gathered unto his people. This is something that God has already told us about Moses earlier in the book of Numbers. Go back, if you would, to Numbers 27. Just real quickly, look at verse number 12. Numbers 27, verse 12. The Bible says this, and the Lord said unto Moses, Get thee into this mount, Abarim, and see the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, and when thou hast seen it, notice the words here, thou also shalt be gathered unto thy people as Aaron thy brother was gathered. And if you remember back in Numbers 27, Aaron had recently died, and that's what God is referring to. Aaron had died, and he had been gathered unto his people. In Numbers 27, God tells Moses, go up to the mountain, look at the land, you're not going to enter the land, thou also, he says, and when thou hast seen it, verse 13, thou also shalt be gathered unto thy people. So God already told Moses back in Numbers 27, you're going to look at the land, you're not going to enter the land, and then you're going to die. And then in Numbers 31, God says, Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites, afterwards shalt thou be gathered unto thy people. What can we learn from this? What we can learn from this is this, that Moses was fighting battles for the Lord right until the end. I mean, he was fighting battles for the Lord right until he died. The Bible says here that God had already told him, Moses, your ministry is coming to an end, your life is coming to an end, you're going to be gathered unto the people, and then God says, but wait, Moses, just real quick, one more thing. Right before you die, can you, Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites, and afterwards shalt thou be gathered unto the people. Here's what we can learn from this, that in the Christian life, in the life of a believer, there's always going to be battles. And we're probably going to be fighting battles, spiritual battles, battles against the flesh and the world and the devil. We're going to be fighting battles all the way up until the end. I mean, I think for me this is bad news, I guess, because it means that I'm going to be fighting battles as a pastor right up until the end. And this is why pastors who have pastored longer than I have and who went before me have described the ministry as going from problem to problem. The ministry, if you want to know, you say, what is the ministry like? The ministry is this, you go from problem to problem, problem to problem. And that's what we see here with Moses. I mean, right up until he died, God says, you're going to die, but real quick, first, fight this battle. Avenge the children of Israel, the Midianites. Afterward, shalt thou be gathered unto the people. And look, this is true of Moses and it's true of ministry, but it's true of just the Christian life. You are never going to get to the place in your life where you're not going to have battles, you're not going to have problems, you're not going to have issues, you're not going to have to fight some things and stand for some things and earnestly contend for the faith in regards to some things. I've often said that the Christian life, in the Christian life, you're either going through a storm, you're coming out of a storm, or you're getting ready to go into a storm, but that's just how the Christian life is and you and I need to know that it's going to be like that right until the end. Even when God says, hey, you're done now, your ministry is done, your life is done, you can go ahead and rest, you can be gathered unto thy people, but real quick, Moses, just fight this one last battle real quick. Avenge the children of Israel, the Midianites. Afterward, shalt thou be gathered unto thy people. So, maybe it's good for us to just be aware of the fact that we're going to have battles. And we're never going to get to the place where the battles are done, where the battles are gone. We're never going to get to the place where we're just going to be done fighting and we just have to realize that. You're always, look, in the Christian life, you're always going to be dealing with a storm and in the ministry, I guess I'll always be dealing with a problem. It's just the way it goes. They say that the average pastor leaves a church over five disgruntled church members. And I guess that would make sense because there's about five of you that have been pissing me off lately. And it's just the way it goes. There will always be battles, there will always be fights, there will always be Midianites that need to be avenged. So, look there at verse number two. He says, Avenge the children of Israel, of the Midianites. I want you to notice this, notice this in the verses here. Avenge, and make note of this phrase, the children of Israel. The children of Israel. Who is Moses supposed to avenge? He's supposed to avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites. Afterward shall thou be gathered into thy people. And then in verse three the Bible says this, And Moses spake unto the people, saying, Arm some of yourselves unto the war, and let them go against the Midianites and avenge, notice here, the Lord of Midian. So in verse two we're told, Avenge the children of Israel. Do you see that? Verse two. Avenge the children of Israel. But then in verse three, the last part of verse three, we're told, Avenge the Lord. He says in verse two, Avenge the children of Israel. And then he says in verse three, Avenge the Lord. So you've got to ask the question, well which one is it? Are we avenging the children of Israel? Or are we avenging the Lord? Have the Midianites offended the children of Israel? Or have they offended the Lord? Have they sinned against the children of Israel? Or have they sinned against the Lord? Have they gone to battle against the children of Israel? Or have they gone to battle against the Lord? Are we avenging the children of Israel of the Midianites? Or are we avenging the Lord of Midian? And the answer to the question is yes. The answer is both. Because the truth is this. That messing with God's people is like messing with God himself. And the mistreatment of God's people is the mistreatment of God himself. Let me show this to you in another passage just real quickly. Go to Matthew 25 if you would in the New Testament. First book in the New Testament. It should be fairly easy to find. Matthew chapter 25. Look at verse number 42. Matthew chapter 25 and verse 42. These are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are in red if you have a red letter edition Bible. Because this is the Lord speaking. This is of course in a parable but it's about himself. Notice what he says in Matthew 25 verse 42. He says, and there's lots that we could look in this parable. I'm just going to show you just real quickly one aspect. Matthew 25, 42. He says, for I was in hunger and you gave me no meat. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you took me not in. Naked and you clothed me not. Sick and in prison and ye visited me not. What are you talking about? Jesus is looking at individuals in this parable and he's talking about how they mistreated him. How they treated him wrongly or poorly. He says, I was in hunger and you gave me no meat. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you took me not in. Naked and you clothed me not. Sick and in prison and ye visited me not. Verse 44, then shall they also answer him saying, Lord, when saw we thee in hunger or thirst or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister unto thee? Verse 45, then shall he answer them saying, barely I say unto you, in as much as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. It's interesting that the Lord Jesus Christ says, remember that time that you treated me poorly? Remember that time that I was in hunger and you gave me no meat? That I was thirsty and you gave me no drink? That I was a stranger and you didn't take me in? You say, well, when did we do that to you, Lord? Well, when you did it to another believer, he said you did it to me. Why? Because the mistreatment of any of God's people is a mistreatment of God himself. And God seems to take it personally. Let me give you another proof text. Go to Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts. Acts chapter 9. So what can we learn from this? Here's what we can learn from this. You better treat God's people well. Let me say this. You should just treat everyone well. The Bible says that sometimes we are dealing with angels unawares. I mean, think about this. God might send an angel that you don't know is an angel just to see how you treat them. Just to see how kind you are, how respectful you are, how merciful you are, how gracious you are. We should be kind people, with everyone, but especially let us do good unto the household of faith. Acts 9 and verse 4. Notice what the Bible says. And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him. This is, of course, the famous Damascus road experience of the apostle Paul, or the man who was to become the apostle Paul, at this time named Saul. The Lord Jesus Christ appears to Saul on the road to Damascus, and I want you to notice what he says. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou? This is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking. Why persecutest thou? Me! And you would say, me? Jesus has already died on the cross, he's already buried, he's already resurrected, he's already ascended up to this point, and he's sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and Saul is wreaking havoc of the church. He's persecuting the church, he's having believers imprisoned, having believers stoned, he's bringing persecution on believers, but when Jesus appears to him on the road to Damascus, he says, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou? Me! Why would Jesus say that? Jesus says that because, simply put, the mistreatment of God's people is a mistreatment of God himself. And he said, who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus. Look at it, look at verse 5. I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. So maybe before you start gossiping about one of God's people, maybe before you start criticizing one of God's children, maybe before you start falsely accusing another believer, you should consider the fact that mistreatment of any of God's people is a direct assault on God himself, and that's how God sees it. So here we see, if you'd like to make your way back, please keep your place in Acts if you'd like, we'll come back to Acts here in a minute. In Numbers 31 we see that Moses is directed to avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites, but in verse 3 we're told that it is an avenge of the Lord of Midian. Why? Because messing with God's people is like messing with God himself. I'd like you to notice in verse number 4 the Bible says this, Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war. So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. And Moses sent them to war, a thousand of every tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eliezer the priest, to the war with the holy instruments and the trumpet to blow in his hand, and they warred against the Midianites as the Lord commanded Moses, and they slew all the males. We see in these verses that God specifically says, I want a thousand from every tribe, there's twelve tribes, I want a total of twelve thousand soldiers, they're the ones that went in, and I want you to notice here that God, because we're actually going to learn when we get into Numbers 32, next week we're going to learn that God wants 100% cooperation, he wants 100% participation, he wants everybody involved in the work of God, and he wants the entire congregation involved in the work of God, but here in this specific instance, God says, I don't want everyone to go, I just want a thousand from every tribe, I want twelve thousand soldiers to go in. Now we talked about this last week, the Bible says in verse 7, They warred against the Midianites as the Lord commanded Moses, and they slew all the males. Of course, we understand that the Old Testament nation of Israel was a geopolitical entity, New Testament believers are not, we are not a physical nation, we are a spiritual nation, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. So, I hate to burst some of your bubbles, but no, we're not going to take up arms, we're not going to form a militia, we're not going to try to fight the government, that is not something that we are supposed to do. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, is what the Bible says. But the children of Israel are going to war because they're a literal physical nation, going to war with a literal physical nation. Look at verse 8, And they, the children of Israel, slew the kings of Midian. Beside the rest of them that were slain, namely, Eli and Rekim, I want you to make note of this name, and Zer, and Zer, and her, and Reba, five kings of Midian, Balaam also, the son of Beor, they slew with the sword. Here the Bible tells us that when the children of Israel came in, not only did they, of course, kill all the men, but they specifically slew the kings of Midian, and then it names the kings that were slain, Eli, Rekim, Zer, and her, and Reba, five kings of Midian. Now, I brought this up to you back when we were in Numbers 25, that was a long time ago, I don't expect you to remember this, but we did talk about it back in Numbers 25, but I'll point it out to you now, if you'd like, if you can make your way back to Numbers 25 real quickly, in Numbers 31, verse 8, we're given the five kings of Midians that were killed, and one of them was this man by the name of Zer, Z-U-R, Zer. In Numbers 25 and verse 15, remember the Midianitish woman, Kazabai, who was thrust through her belly by Phinehas with his javelin, Numbers 25, 15, the Bible says this, and the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Kazabai, Kazabai, the daughter of, look at it, Zer, Z-U-R, Zer. Her dad was one of the kings of the Midianites, one of the five kings of the Midianites. He was head over the people and a chief house in Midian. And here's what we learn from this, is that your sin will hurt others. And this young lady who engaged herself in fornication, listen to me, did not just hurt herself, and fornication will hurt you. Fornication is something that'll, it's a sin against your own body, the Bible says. But the truth of the matter is this, especially you young people, when you engage in fornication and you sin against your own body, you allow for sexually transmitted diseases and all sorts of thoughts and baggage that you don't have to carry with you, you shouldn't have to carry with you for the rest of your life, not only are you sinning against yourself, but do you understand that you're sinning against your parents? You're hurting others around you, and specifically this man, Zer, lost his life because his daughter had committed a fordom in the matter of Baal Peor. So we see that she goes, commits fornication, and as a result, her father dies, and her mother dies, and her whole family dies. In fact, everybody in our nation dies. What you and I need to always remember is this, that we are not islands, we do not, people say, oh my sins are not hurting anybody, it's hurting those around you, and it's hurting God. Have you ever thought about that? So your sin will hurt others. Look down at verse, go back to Numbers 31 and verse 8. Here's another application. I think for all of us, but maybe specifically young people, an application on fornication, your sin will hurt others. Here's another application. And they slew the kings of Midian beside the rest of them that were slain, namely, Evai, and Rechem, and Zer, and her, and Reba, five kings of Midian, and then we read this, we've already seen it, Balaam also the son of Beor, they slew with the sword. Balaam was there, the Bible does not say that they came for Balaam, they did not go there to kill Balaam, they did not go there to bring judgment upon Balaam, they went there, the Bible's clear, to kill the Midianites, to bring judgment upon the Midianites. But, because Balaam happened to be there, while Balaam was there, the Bible says, Balaam also, the son of Beor, they slew with the sword. Look down at verse number 16. Behold, these caused the children of Israel through the council of Balaam to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord. We're going to skip verses 9 and 15 for tonight, because I dealt with it extensively last week, so we won't deal with that. But here's what I want you to see. They are there to kill the Midianites. Balaam happens to be there, and they take the opportunity to kill him as well. What's the application? Here's the application for all of us, but maybe especially for young people, and it is this, don't be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Don't be at the wrong place at the wrong time, and maybe we should add this, with the wrong people. Were they there to kill Balaam? No. Had God necessarily even brought judgment against Balaam? No! They were there to bring judgment on the Midianites, but Balaam was in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people, and guess what? He got the judgment of God as well. And people will often say, well this happened and that happened, and I resulted, these consequences came as a result, but I wasn't doing anything. I wasn't drinking when the accident happened. Yeah, but you were with the wrong people at the wrong place at the wrong time. I didn't commit that crime, but you were at the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people. Look, I'm just here to tell you something. The Bible says abstain from the appearance of evil. You say, well I wasn't guilty, I wasn't involved, I didn't do it, or God wasn't there for me, God wasn't bringing judgment upon me, but if you find yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people, the judgment of God is going to come upon you as well. Just learn it. Just learn it. What's interesting is that in Numbers 23, you don't have to turn there. In Numbers 23, in Balaam's oracles, one of the things that he prophesied and asked for, it was more of a request, he said this, who can count the dust of Jacob and the number of the fourth part of Israel? He says, let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his. Balaam asked, when he was prophesying, he said, I'd like to die the death of the righteous, and I'd like my last end to be like his, like the end of the righteous, but did God allow for that prayer to be, that request to be allowed in the life of Balaam? The answer is no. He didn't die the death of the righteous. He didn't die a peaceful death in old age, surrounded by family. He was slain by the sword when God brought his judgment, and look, we need to get to the place, and I think this might be one of the most emotionally intelligent things that you could, and I'm not preaching on emotional intelligence tonight, I've been preaching a lot about it on Sunday morning, but I think if people could understand this, I remember being a teenager in a youth group, and being 16 years old, 17 years old, my wife, when she was 17 years old, when we met, she came to church with me, I'm sure she remembered this as well, but I remember being 17 years old and having a youth pastor, or a pastor that was ministering to young people and preaching to those young people, I remember him teaching us this, and I remember it's not complicated, but then you meet people and you think to yourselves, how do you not know this? And look, where you are in life today is a result of the decisions you've made in the past. It's that simple. And people like Balaam say, I'd like to die in peace, I'd like to die as an old man, I'd like to die in health, and I'd like to die peacefully in a bed somewhere, surrounded by loved ones, surrounded by children that love me, surrounded by people that maybe I minister to, I'd love to be able to get to the end of my life, and in peace take my last breath, surrounded by people who love me and care about me, and I've invested in, and they're there for me at the end of my life. Hey, wouldn't we all want that? But wait a minute, wait a minute, how are you going to get to the end of your life being surrounded by people you've invested in if you haven't invested in anyone? I want to get to the end of my life if I have people love me and care for me. Okay, then who are you loving and who are you caring for? Balaam, you can ask all day long, let me die the death of the righteous, but when you live wicked as hell, you'll die like the wicked. It's not complicated, friend. You are the product of the choices you've made in life. And I'm not discouraging you, I'm telling you this, if you don't like where you are in life, you have the wonderful privilege today to change the path you're on. But the Bible says, Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. You can't reap to the flesh and you can't reap to yourself and you can't reap to sin and you can't reap to selfishness all your life and then get to the end of your life and pray like Balaam, I hope I die the death of the righteous. No, you're going to die with a sword in your stomach, you wicked false prophet, because that's how you lived. You and I today are a result of the decisions we've made. Get that. Own it. Take responsibility for it and begin today to sow in the right direction, so that you can reap in the right direction. Look at verse 15. Look at verse 15, verse 31-15. Here we have the great passage we dealt with last week. Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? Behold, these caused the children of Israel through the council of Balaam to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord. Now, therefore, kill every male among the little ones and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. Keep alive for yourselves. And again, I'm not going to deal with this subject. We dealt with it last week. We dealt with the difficult question why God sanctioned the death of men, women, and children. I'm not going to deal with that tonight. I've spent a whole hour and ten minutes dealing with it last week. You can look at that later if you'd like. But here, what we do, I do want to point out to you that there is a spiritual application here that we didn't talk about last week, and I want to point it out to you this week, that there is a spiritual application of the people or things in your life that tempt you to sin. I mean, here he says, why did you save all the women in life? These caused the children of Israel through the council of Balaam to commit trespass. He said these women tempted the people of God to commit fornication. He said we need to get rid of these women. And there's a spiritual application here. The spiritual application is this. We need to get rid of the people and the things in our lives that tempt us to sin. The Bible says in Romans 13, you have to turn there, verse 14, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. Look, if you have a friend that's trying to get you to go in the wrong direction, that is no friend at all. You need to cut that friend off. You've got things in your life and opportunities in your life. You need to get rid of these people and you need to get rid of the things that tempt you to sin. That's just a spiritual application. Then in verses 19 and 24, we'll read it. I don't want to spend a lot of time on it. It's dealing specifically with hygiene and ritual cleansing. Verse 19 says this, And do ye abide without the camp seven days? Whosoever hath killed any person or whosoever hath touched any slain, purify both yourself and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day. That's the red heifer sacrifice that we learned about in Numbers 19. And purify all the raiment and all that is made of skins and all the work of goats' hair and all things made of wood and it is the priest said unto them of war which went to battle. This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses. Only the gold and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, everything that may abide the fire, ye shall make it to go through the fire and ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and ye shall be clean and afterward ye shall come into the camp. And again I won't spend any time on it but it has to do with hygiene and ritual cleansing. He's saying if it can go through the fire, if it's material that can go through the fire and have it go through the fire, if it's material that can be washed and have it washed. Look at verse 25. And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, Take the sum of the prey that was taken both of man and of beast, thou and Eliezer the priests and the chief fathers of the congregation and divide the prey into two parts. Now this gets a little complicated and I really don't want to spend a lot of time on it but I do want you to just try to grasp, grasp it here just for the application. They go in and they succeed. They win the war against the Midianites and then he tells them in verse 26 to take the sum of the prey. This is a representation of Moses and he tells them in verse 26 to take the sum of the prey. This is referring to the spoils, the word used later on in the chapter, all the bounty that they are receiving. He says take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, thou and Eliezer the priests and the chief fathers of the congregation, verse 27, and divide the prey into two parts. So dividing the money and the things that they got into two different parts between them that took the war upon them who went out to battle. The group number two is this, those who went to war and between all the congregation. Group number two is this, everyone else. Because remember he only directed for 12,000 soldiers to go, 1,000 from every tribe. So when they come back with the bounty he says I want you to divide into two parts. One part is for group number one which is those who went to war and then group number two is everyone else. And then in verses 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, all the way to 41 he directs them. We won't take the time to read it. We read it before we read the passage. But he takes the time to direct them to give portions to the Lord, to give tribute unto the Lord, to give an amount that was to be given as a tribute, the Bible says, as a levy and of course ties that they were to give to God. Here's what I think is interesting. I'm going to go to 1 Samuel chapter 30 if you wouldn't mind. You're there in Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel. When they get all this money, cattle, wealth from the Midianites, God directs them to give some of it to the people that went to war and then some of it to the people who stayed back. Now if you take the time to go through the passage of what God needed, if you just think about it logically, you realize that the people that went to war got more because if you take all the bounty or the spoil or the booty, which is what the Bible calls it, and divide it in half and then you divide one half among 12,000 soldiers who went to war and the other half amongst everyone else, the entire congregation, obviously these guys who went to war are going to get a lot more money. You say, even the people that didn't go to war, even the people that didn't go to war got something as a result of this reward. This comes up later in the story of David. Let's look at it real quickly. 1 Samuel 30, verse 22. 1 Samuel 30, verse 22. Then answered all the wicked men and men of Belial, and Belial of course is the devil, of those that went with David and said, and if you remember David was going to battle, with the stuff, and now they're coming back from the battle with all the spoils of war, and the Bible says, then answered all the wicked men and the men of Belial, of those that went with David and said, because they went not with us, we will not give them aught. The idea there is they're saying they didn't go to fight with us, so we're not going to give them aught. We're not going to give them any part of the spoil that we have recovered, that which the Lord has given us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the company that came against us into our hand. Look at verse 24. For who will hearken unto you in this matter, but as his part it is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarryeth by the stuff they shall part alike. I want you to notice that David makes the same rule that God made or that Moses made and the people that didn't go to war and stayed by the stuff, they get to have some of the spoil as well and we're not going to disclude them because you have these wicked men, men of Belial, who are covetous and they're saying because they went not with us, we will not give them aught of the spoil. And here's what I want you to say, and here's the application I believe for this, and the application is this, that in every sort of situation someone has to stay with the stuff. Now here we're talking about armies and military, but you can't take every soldier into battle, someone has to stay on base to watch the stuff, to protect the stuff, to guard the base. And God says whether they go out to battle or whether they don't go to battle, if they're participating, if they're playing a role in the war, if they're doing something, then everyone should get of the spoil. This is true of soul winning. The apostle Paul says that some plant the seed, and some water, and some reap the harvest. We may all play different roles, and obviously it's the job of every Christian to be a soul winner and to be witnessing for the Lord Jesus Christ, but in the process of winning people to Christ we may all play different roles. You know that God looks at them all as valuable? When I go soul winning and nobody wants to talk to me and all my soul winning partners are ugly and scary, and nobody ever wants to talk to us, but the women, it seems like the women always on the other side of the street, they always get somebody saved. Say, Pastor, does that discourage you? As far as I'm concerned, I believe I'm getting half of those rewards in heaven. You say, but you didn't get anybody saved. I was there. We're going to part the rewards in half. I knocked on all the bad doors. I knocked on all the bad doors. I got all the no's. I got all the rejects so that they could give the God. Here's what I'm telling you. It doesn't matter what role you play. Just make sure you play a role. Here's another application for you, and this is marriage. You know the Bible teaches that the husband is the head of the home and he should be the provider and he should be the protector. We talked about it this morning and the situation where they're able to do that and that's not their fault and I'm not preaching against that, but if you have the ability to stay home with your children and your husband go and provide for family, then that is the biblical way that a home should be ran. That's what the Bible says is best for your children, but listen to me, men. Don't get this idea that says, well, it's my money. I go to work. It's my money and she stays home. Everyone that stays with the stuff, they're working too. So don't get this idea like, oh, it's my money. She spends my money. No, no, no. Hey, when you said I do, you became one flesh. It's our money. It's our money. It's our bills. It's our debt. You're in this as a team. Don't get this idea because you go out and work a job and if she's working at home and homeschooling the children and doing what she's supposed to do, and you know what? You are a team and you're succeeding together. You should look at it that way. So we see that even those who did not go to war, they got from the spoil because God realizes that somebody's got to stay home with the children and it's better if it's the wife, men. Look at verse 48. We'll skip some of these verses where he's just telling them how to divide the spoil and how to do this and how to do that. I do want you to just know that between verses, we read the whole chapter before the sermon, but between verses 28 and verses 47, he's directing them on tithing, on what they owe God. So in these verses, verses 28 through 47, they are presenting because they got a spoil, right? They got a paycheck and then they are paying tribute unto the Lord. They're paying a levy unto the Lord. They're bringing what they owe the Lord. So that's what's happening in these verses. We read them already, but I just want you to be aware of that because it's going to tie in to the rest of the chapter. Look at verse 48. And the officers, which were over thousands of the hosts, the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, and their lacketh not one man of odds. Why don't you notice verses 48 and 49 because it's easy to miss this. They come back. They bring the money. They divide into two parts. Even the people that didn't go to war get their cut of the deal. Then they all tithe unto the Lord. They all give what they owe the Lord, the tribute and the levy, and they're giving portions unto the Levites and to the house of God. They're doing all that. And then in verses 48 and 49 we find out that the officers, the men in charge of each tribe, which were over thousands of the hosts, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, came near unto Moses. So the men in charge of the tribe, they come to Moses and they said unto Moses, Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war. Because remember they sent 12,000 soldiers, one thousand from every tribe. So when they come back they count the soldiers to see how many died. And what happened was these 12 captains, they're gathered together and maybe one of them says, Man, you know, praise the Lord. I'm sorry if this isn't the case for you guys, but I counted the soldiers that we sent and all thousand of them came home. We didn't lose one soldier. And then someone else said, Well, praise God. And then somebody else said, You know what's interesting is we got all thousand back and by the time they realized it they realized that not one soldier had died. Look at verse 49, And they said unto Moses, Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war which are under our charge and there lacketh not one man of us. Now they didn't realize this during the battle. They didn't realize this during the war. So when they came home and somebody actually took the time to begin to count, 1, 2, 3, where's Fred? Where's John? Where's Bill? And they began to take attendance. They realized that no soldier died. So what can we learn from this? Here's what we can learn is that God supernaturally keeps us safe even when we don't know it. You know the Bible says of the safeties of the Lord, and the Bible says that the angel of the Lord encompasses round about them that fear him and deliver them. You and I often want to focus on all the bad things that happen and God why did you allow this accident? Why did you allow this? Why did you allow that? But why don't we sometimes acknowledge the fact that maybe God has kept some things from happening? Every day that your head lays down on your pillow you should thank the Lord because God supernaturally kept these men. They signed up. They volunteered. They went to war. They went to battle. They came back. They didn't even realize it. None of them had died. God supernaturally kept them safe and I'm here to tell you that God supernaturally keeps you and I safe and God supernaturally blesses our lives so I think sometimes there are stories like these in the Bible just to highlight nobody realized. I'm sure everybody realized wow everybody, all my friends nobody died but when they actually took the time to count a thousand men from 12 different tribes and they compared notes they realized there lacketh not one man of us. They realized that God had supernaturally even without them knowing it and then I want you to notice what they did. In verses like we said already verses 28 through 47 we see that God gave to them and they gave back to God and the work of God but then in verse 50 I want you to see this. In verse 49 they find out that nobody died. Verse 50 the Bible says we have therefore brought an oblation of the Lord the gold, chains and bracelets rings, earrings and tablets to make an atonement for our souls before the Lord. Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them. Even all wrought jewels and all the gold of the offerings that they offered unto the Lord of the captains of thousands and of the captains of hundreds was 16,750 shekels for the men of war had taken spoil every man for himself and Moses and Eleazar the priest for a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord. You say what are we reading here? Here's what we're reading. When they realized that God's blessing of his protection that they had not acknowledged when they realized that they chose to give a free will offering above what was required. See in verses 28 and 47 they were required. God took a levy. God took a tribute. God said you owe me this much but then when they realized and they pondered the blessing of God upon their life in verse 50 they come to Moses and they say we have therefore brought an oblation of the Lord what every man has gotten of jewels of gold and chains and bracelets, rings, earrings, to make an atonement for our souls before the Lord and Moses might have said well you already paid your tithes, you already paid your levy, you already paid your tribute, and now we want to just give a free will offering because of the blessing of God and because we love God. And this is how the Christian life should be. You know we're supposed to tithe and pay the tithe. The Bible says that you owe the tithe. When you tithe you don't give the tithe, you're not giving anything to God, you're paying the bill you owe. But in the Christian life you and I every once in a while feel the goodness of God and the blessings of God and the safety of God upon our lives that we say let me give you more. A free will offering. By the way let me just say this, a free will offering doesn't have to be money. It can be money. It doesn't have to be money. The apostle Paul says that you can offer yourself a living sacrifice. You and I can offer of our time, but when they realize God's blessing, they gave a free will offering above what God had already given them. Here's what I believe. If you and I took the time to actually consider the blessing of God, the safety of God, the things that God does for us that we may not even realize or acknowledge, I think we would come and freely want to give ourselves to God. Out of thankfulness and out of amazement of all the things that he's done for us. Let's bow our heads in that word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord we thank you for this chapter and for these stories and applications that we can learn and Lord I pray you'd help us to learn them. Lord I pray you'd help us to be people who acknowledge your goodness, acknowledge your greatness, acknowledge your blessings, every time we go on a trip when we come back home we should acknowledge the safeties of the Lord. Every day we rest our heads on a pillow we should acknowledge that God kept us safe. Every day that you get paid at work you should acknowledge that all of it came from God, all of it was his blessing upon your life. And Lord I pray you'd help us as the R.J. come up and lead us in a final song and I just want to remind you that if you have not taken the time to sign up either for Ms. Taylor Marin's baby shower or for the graduation service please make sure you do that if you can even tonight so that we can start getting records for all of those events and of course if there's anything that we can do for you please let us know. We really appreciate it and of course we want to say again Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers that are with us. We appreciate you being here on Mother's Day. If there's anything we can do for you please let us know. We'll have brother R.J. come up and lead us in a final song. Amen. Let's grab our song books and turn to page number 174. My Jesus I love thee. Song number 174. Sing it out on the first. My Jesus I love thee. I know thou art mine. For thee all the follies of sin I resign. For thee all the follies of sin I resign. For thee all the follies of sin I resign. My gracious redeemer My Savior art thou. Fever I love thee My Jesus is now. Song number 174. On the second. I love thee I love thee because thou has first loved me and perches my pardon on Calvary Street I love thee for wearing the horns on thy brow If ever I love thee My Jesus is now I love thee in life I will love thee in death and raise as long as thou lend us we prayer and say when the dead do rise hold on that plow If ever I love you My Jesus your eyes are singing well. Spin is strong! On the last. In mansions of glory lest he dies I'll ever adore thee in heaven so bright I'll Singing with a glittering crown on my bow. If ever I love thee, my Jesus is now. Amen. Great. Sing. Before we leave here, I want to just say that if you have any questions about salvation, baptism, or church membership, that pastor will be at the door. He'll love to talk to you, direct you to someone who's trying to do that as well. Brother Matt, would you dismiss the word of prayer? Amen. Amen. Amen.