All right, good morning everyone. It's
good to be here with you. Uh for those
of you who do not know, this will be my
last uh chapel service as a professor
as you know uh it's it's quite actually
fitting Dr. which happened last week not
only in terms of the topic but also
myself as we actually it's been amazing
to think through all the years actually
I can remember seven years ago when I
spoke uh this is what I said I said this
is the first time I preached in Missouri
and it was just an interesting moment
just to capture that and to see kind of
where that's been uh one of my joys I'm
going to share two quick stories before
we dive in if you don't mind uh has just
been this meaning chapel service when I
first came seven years ago uh it was
just a little bit lackluster and so one
of the things Dr. Griggs and I were
tasked to do is just to rethink and ask
ourselves what are some of the things
that we could do to make chapel a more
rewarding experience for the entire
community. We're talking staff,
students, and everyone else involved.
And so we said, hey, let's move to
Wednesday. Let's make it central to the
week, central to the the life of this
campus. Let's try to get everyone
involved. Let's get our faculty to speak
more and let's just make it a place in
which we feel formed by the gospel. Uh
and that is my prayer. I hope that you
guys would all cherish Wednesdays as an
opportunity that we get to come
together, worship our triune God, and
just be shaped together. We're
oftentimes in different classes and
spaces, but it's here where we're able
just to experience the grace of God in a
very tangible way. Uh the last thing
that I'll share as a as a story is a lot
of joys throughout the years. Uh one of
which happened two weeks ago. So, I was
able to preach this very message partly
because of the fact I didn't want to
prepare two sermons in a given semester,
but I got to preach in Colombia,
Missouri. And so, two of our students
who were in the church planning track
came together. We're good friends. They
were serving in different spaces. Long
story short, they said, "Hey, what if we
planted a church in Columbia, Missouri
together?" So, they took church planning
foundations and for that class project,
they came up with an assignment on we
would plant a church in Columbia,
Missouri. And long story short, fast
forward a couple years later, they by
God's grace go out there, plant this
church, and they invite me to speak
right before I leave. And I was able to
see kind of what the Lord is doing. And
this is what I will attest to. The Lord
is building a kingdom outpost. People
are coming to know Jesus as a result of
that. And the very thing we're talking
about this semester of equipping God's
people is exactly what they're doing.
And again, I hope you're able to see
that from this place at Covenant
Seminary, wherever the Lord might take
you, that you would be equipped to know
that you are equipping God's people for
the sake of his ministry. We have been
going through a series in the book or
the in the penetuk on equipping God's
people. I want to give you guys a tally
because this is kind of interesting.
Okay, in Genesis, we've done uh seven
times, in Exodus, five times, no
Leviticus, four times in Deuteronomy,
and one time in Lamentations. So, all
that to say is this. Dr. Scolar was on
sbatical so no Leviticus and this will
be your only sermon in the book of
Numbers. Uh and just because I want to
announce this because it hasn't been
announced from chapel yet. Let's
congratulate Orurel who will be
preaching next week who won the
preaching word. Or why don't you stand
brother?
All right.
He is the brother who will be preaching
next week in the book of Genesis. If
he'll he'll do the passage next week.
With all that to say is this. Uh as we
dive into this passage, this is a
familiar text, number 622:27.
Uh let's look and open up God's word.
And I'll pray as we dive in for us
today. Uh here now a reading of God's
word. The Lord spoke to Moses saying,
"Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying,
"Thus you shall bless the people of
Israel. You shall say to them, the Lord
bless you and keep you." The Lord make
his face to shine upon you and be
gracious to you. The Lord lift up his
countenance and give you peace. So they
shall put my name upon the people of
Israel, and I will bless them. The word
of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
>> Let's pray together. Father, as we come
here this morning, we pray that you
would bless the preaching of your word.
As we often confess our sins to you, we
know that we have forsaken the blessings
of God over things of this world.
Forgive us and let's return to the
source of every good and perfect gift
that comes down from the hand from your
hand. We pray that you would open up our
hearts that we might see the beauty of
your gospel and all here would trust in
Jesus as their Lord and Savior. We pray
this in Jesus' name. Amen.
>> Amen.
>> So, as we go into the book of Numbers,
we need to confess, right? The book of
Numbers is not necessarily a feel-good
book. It's not the book that you'll
probably go to and say, "Hey, I really
want to have a good devotional. Let's
open up our Bibles to the book of
Numbers." If you see a non-Christian,
you're saying, "Hey, I want to introduce
you to who Jesus is." is you're probably
not going to say, "I'm going to give you
a copy of the book of Numbers." And yet,
here's what we know, right? It's it's a
book that's actually rich. It's full of
of things in which we need to realize
that again, it's part of God's 66
canonical books that were reminded that
again are for the building up of the
body of Christ that we might be used or
that we might see the beauty of Christ
in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Numbers
is useful for that reason. And I will
attempt I will try to attempt to do
that. I'm going to take you back to a
period of where uh you may not think of
it. I'm my early years of puberty. You
know, it's funny by the way, the last
time I preached this was in front of my
daughter. So, I remember the first time
I started liking girls, right? Just
going back to my best years. And this is
probably like a little house on the
prairie like you know in terms of
theology. But here's why I'm taking you
back to this moment because sadly I
think some of us still have this in our
current repertoire and it goes something
like this. All right. So think of it
like sorry uh it's Daisy theology right
and so I would think of this girl her
name was Claire again that's not my wife
oneman so I confess this in front of my
daughter but all that to say is this I
would think oh does she like me does she
love me so you go and take a daisy and
you take it out what you would do is you
would take these petals you're like she
loves me she loves me not she loves me
she loves me not and hopefully you will
end and you'll be like oh she loves me
you're like oh I feel so good about
myself and if it doesn't what would you
do you would just go find another power
until it finally does, right? But here's
the thing, right, about that. Often
times in our relationship with God, we
can do that. We can say, "Lord, you love
me. You love me not.
Lord, if I pass this final exam that one
of my professors here are going to give
me, you surely love me." Or maybe
perhaps if I get this job or if I have
that right relationship, whatever it
might be, you love me. Or to use the
language of number six, we can say, "He
blesses me. He blesses me not. And yet
what we're reminded, if you are to be
equipped, you are blessed to be a
blessing. And indeed in Christ Jesus,
this is the gospel of Jesus Christ, you
indeed are blessed. The declaration of
the benediction that you will receive at
the end is not if he blesses.
Indeed, he has. As we look at the book
of Numbers again, it's one of those
books that we often overlooks. It
doesn't give us a quite the devotional
things. And yet even if you open up the
book of numbers one, it begins with
telling Moses to take a census. And
you're like, "Wow, really rich book,
right?" Um, but if you go throughout the
book, what is it doing? Right? It
depicts a 40-year-old journey from of
the Israelites going from Mount Si to
the promised line land. It highlights
their rebellion, God's judgment, and his
covenant faithfulness upon his people.
As they're about to embark on this
journey, it becomes one where we know
that they're going to have all types of
hardships. It's not going to be an easy
journey. And for those of you who are
about to graduate from coming in 70,
whether you go into counseling, to
ministry, to be a pastor, go on
missions, for the same reason, it will
not be an easy journey.
The Israelites will go forth and they
will have uh aspects in which they will
rebel. And yet God continues to show
again how he's faithful to his people
over and over and over again. The book
can be puzzling because why? There's all
different types of things in it. There's
directions for a census. There's
countings, a census for the army, laws,
lists, rebellions, and just because if
you want to maybe perhaps wonder where
the the inspiration for Shrek comes
from, Numbers 22, there's Balum and the
talking talking donkey, right?
Literally, you have it all within this
book. And in number six, we find that
Moses tells Aaron and his sons to give a
blessing over Israel as they're about to
embark in this journey. And here's what
I want to show you. This is actually
coming from Dr. Aer. Uh he said hey
Robert as you're about to preach on this
I want you to realize how beloved this
text was so this Samar this is literally
the picture is coming from Dr. jocker he
sent it to me. He says this depiction is
of the Samaritan penetuk that in this
particular passage when it was read it
was so loved that the people would
respond by going up to these this
particular parchment and literally kiss.
So there is a mark grease on today's
passages where worshippers have
literally kissed the priestly blessing.
This beloved passage that meant so much
for the people of Israel, I pray would
also mean that much for us today that we
would love again the blessing that God
bestows upon us in Christ Jesus. The
context of number six is the Levites
were to give a blessing over the people
of Israel. They were to prepare the
worship. All the priests were Levites,
but not all Levites were priests. This
is often known as the ironic blessing.
And it's funny, it's almost ironic that
Dr. Goldstein did not preach from number
six, but let's go from there. Um, in
doing so, right, they are preparing a
blessing over his people. So, there's
three things I want us to consider for
today in this text. One is the giver of
the blessing. Two is the gift of the
blessing. And last but not least is the
cost of the blessing. And so, follow
with me if you can. The first thing is
to consider in terms of this blessing
that God declares over his people is the
giver. And this is important to note. If
there's one thing that you've seen or
maybe perhaps heard or received here at
Covenant Seminary is kind of this notion
is that we put the spotlight on the
right person.
We will often do ministry and we might
think much of ourselves. But the reality
is that we think to ourselves, we're
simply the subject, but think about the
object. And here in particular, it's the
same thing. God three times uses his
covenantal name. The Lord bless you. The
Lord keep you. The Lord, the Lord, the
Lord. It's God who's making the
initiation. It is the Lord's work. And
even as we think about the blessing, why
are we blessed? It's because of the fact
that God takes the initiation. Israel
will go on this pilgrimage from Sinai to
Moab, the desert. They will face what?
Death, enemies, physical threats,
thirst, hunger, grumbling. And yet in
midst before they go on that journey,
God says, "Hear and receive this
blessing."
In amidst it, it's really sad because
why? They know this is what they will
receive. And yet they will doubt.
You too in your ministries will probably
doubt that.
Is the Lord blessing you? There'll be
days in which you're preaching a sermon.
You'll say, "Is the Lord using this to
somehow equip God's people?" You'll be
in a counseling session and you're
wondering, "Am I making breakthroughs
that are actually doing something within
these people's lives?" And yet, we need
to realize again, God is the initiator
of God is the one who's doing the
ministry. Our search to find blessings
elsewhere is oftenimes also true. That
was true of the Israelites. Jeremiah 2.
We are like empty sistns. The Lord
blesses and no one else can. And yet
sadly we try to find his blessing in
other things. Yet no one can take the
Lord's blessing off his people.
One of my favorite commercials that
actually kind of depicts this is
actually it's like a Zales commercial. I
don't know the exact reference, but long
story short, it's a picture in which a
man declares his love over his wife, but
and anniversary by giving her a diamond
ring. And so, long story short, it's
like this picture of like the the
pigeons are around. He stands up in the
midst of it and he screams at the top of
his lungs, right? He's like, I love this
woman. And then he gives the diamond
ringer and then they embrace. And the
reason why I love the commercial is
because the commercial ends by this
woman, the wife, declaring like subtly
over her voice, I love this man. I love
this man.
And here's the reason why I love the
commercial because I think it depicts
the gospel and even this blessing.
It's the Lord, the giver of the
blessing. He's declared that over his
people. And our response ought to be
much of the same. We love it. We love
him. I love this man. I love the Lord
who is the giver of every blessing. Two,
what we want to consider is the gift
itself. And this is where we're actually
looking at the text. Um, and to please
our Hebrew scholars in the room, the
first point I'll say about the gift is
that there is an order to this blessing.
And what I mean by that is if you were
to study it, our Hebrew students in the
room might know this as well. Each line
has two verbs. It continues to grow and
gets longer. There's kind of an apex or
a crescendo to the text itself. in
verses 24 to 26. In verse 24, for
example, there's three words. In verse
25, there's five words. In verse 26,
there's seven words. That's true in
terms of the crescendo of syllables. It
goes from 12 to 14 to 16 to the
consonants, right? It goes from 15 to
20, 20 to 25. And yet each one of these
again depicts the gift itself. Not just
the gift of order, but what the gift is.
And so, let's try to look at each one of
these first in terms of the verse 24.
blessing and keeping. The word in Hebrew
here is the word to bless which means
the bestow of divine favor and signifies
being a special favor relationship with
God. Meaning literally you're his
covenantal people. You are a blessed
people. Think about the Old Testament
over and over again the prophets declare
what or they say, "I will be your God
and you will be my people." And it's to
the Israelites as they're about to
embark on this journey that he reminds
them you are those blessed people. And
the other thing that he mentions in this
in verse 24 in terms of the blessing is
what is that he will keep God's people.
He will protect them. He will guard
them. Genesis 2, Adam was entrusted to
do exactly that in terms of the tending
and the keeping of the garden and he
failed. And yet what we realize is
that's the big contrast, is it not? We
may fail, but the Lord never fails.
He keeps Israel. Psalm 121. Dr.
Goldstein a couple weeks ago when he
used this very word uh to to keep. Liry
talked about how you know his son looks
to him and how he protects his son and
that's exactly what again the Lord does
over his people. He keeps them. Verse
25, the second part of this gift, his
face and his grace. The Hebrew word here
for face literally describes a physical
face. In the ancient near east,
including the Old Testament, when a
deity's face shines, it's a sign of
favor. And it's as though we can look
upon the face of God, right? For
example, like Psalm 31, let your face
shine that we may be saved that we can
indicate and see that it's as actual
face that we reflect that. It's what we
see. For example, as Moses came down
from Sinai, right, in Exodus 34, his
face shined.
You know what the sad reality when I
think about some people in ministry is
that they can become chromogens, right?
And what I mean by that is that their
face doesn't shine.
And I hope your time at Covenant
Seminary would be you would be reminded
reflect the very face of God that you
experience regularly that you see his
grace. Now again since I gave you Daisy
theology let me give you emoji theology
and I know I'm joking but follow with me
if you can. I often will have students
do this just to encourage them to see
and if you can understand what his face
looks like. Close your eyes and imagine
what the face of God might be as he
looks upon you. That he knows every
single facet of you. Psalm 139. He knows
your thoughts before they're in your
head. He knows your words before you
speak them. He knows every hair upon
your head. He knows you that intimately.
And in doing so, as you think about the
face of God, how do you view it? And if
you see anything apart from the delight
of God, his face to actually say that he
shines upon it's one of delight. The
very notion right that we would see as
in in the ben in the baptism of Jesus in
Matthew 3:17 when he says and declares
over Jesus, this is my son. adding here
in the sink of of context, my daughter
in whom I am well pleased, that for all
in Christ Jesus, we might see the face
of God as one of delight
and that we might radiate that same face
to the people in whom we will minister
to. The other part of this promise is
what or this blessing is faith and grace
and think about grace, right? The
undeserved love of God towards sinners.
And it's almost ironic here again
because of the fact who Moses is telling
to go and declare this blessing over
God's people. It's Aaron and his sons
who were serving as priests. But again,
one of the things you know about Aaron
is Aaron just made a golden calf. If you
go back to Exodus 32 and you're like,
wait, here is a man who literally made
an idol. And now yet, he's the one being
chosen by God through Moses to declare
the blessing over his people. And the
reason why that's important is because
when you think about grace, you need to
hold fast to that.
God uses sinners
to somehow declare the wondrous beauty
of his gospel
to display grace. Aaron just made this
golden calf and yet now he's giving the
blessing. It's almost as though that's
artifact number one. God is a God of
grace. You fast forward to Jesus on the
cross. There's thieves, right? There's
sinners. And what does Jesus do? Think
I'm not that kind? God is a forgiving,
gracious, and forbearing God. He
presents not only Aaron but he presents
every single one of us that we realize
again he continues to bestow his grace
upon his people. Last but not least in
terms of this gift is the lifting of his
face and his peace. This very notion
again it's the same Hebrew word by the
way for face that we would look upon the
face of God.
And in doing so, what what's happening
here in this text is that we will see
that this countenance is often
translated is it's as though a father
who gets distracted and yet the lifting
of his face is actually saying, you know
what, I'm not going to be distracted,
but I'm going to look squarely upon you.
Not a distant deity, but a loving
father. As though he's saying to us, "My
eyes are on you. I see you. I know you.
I'm watching over you." Just like Psalm
121, the Lord watches over Israel.
And I remember being a parent of young
children. I'm actually empty nesting
this year. Praise the Lord. But all that
to say is this. I remember being a
parent and there are sometimes my kids
would come up to me when I'm busy and
I'm distracted. And I would just want to
sit down and continue to do the work.
And that's the contrast where I would
want to do my work. Here we see the face
of God saying, "No." He lifts his head
and his eyes are on his people and he
declares over in verse 26 his shalom.
Not just the absence of conflict but
total blessing, the wholeness of life.
It's literally what Jesus Christ
promised in John 16:33. In this life,
you will have tribulation, but I give
you my peace.
As we close, let me talk last about the
cost. And thinking about the cost, uh,
every good gift comes with a cost. That
wedding ring or that diamond ring that I
just referenced had a cost that the
husband had to pay down for it. And
here's the thing, right? When we think
about this blessing, at least if not for
you, this is how I feel about it, right?
I received this blessing and you will
receive it today at the end of this. By
the way, in Hebrew, Dr. Aer is going to
give the benediction today and you will
receive it in its original form. But
when you receive that blessing, I don't
know about you, but I feel a little bit
unworthy.
Why should I be blessed? I know where I
fall short of God's glory.
And the thing is, if I'm going to be
blessed, I should know the cost of that
blessing. And here's the beauty of it's
not, and this is where Dr. Chapman last
week teed it up perfectly. And I say
that just because of the fact one, it's
his doctoral dissertation, but two, I
was going to speak on blessing and he
spoke on curses. And I remember in my
seminary days, one of the things about
covenant structure that we knew is that
in the covenant structure, there are
blessings and curses. The blessing is
secured for sinners by the work of
cross. Who became a curse for us? Here
in lies the beauty of the number six
blessing. And what do we owe such a
blessing? To what cost do we owe it?
Right? And the word curse literally
draws this notion that we think to
ourselves blessings and curses. Who took
the curse for us? Obviously, we know
fast forward to Jesus Christ. To fall
under the curse of God, as Dr. Chapman
mentioned last week, is to fall under
his judgment. Deuteronomy 28, the cursed
are cut off from God's presence. Psalm
37, covered with shame. Jeremiah 42,
cast into the fire of darkness. Matthew
25. And RC Sproul says, one of the ways
we can feel the weight of the number six
blessing is to literally reverse the
words. And so, here's what I'm going to
do is read his words to RC Sproul. He
says, reverse the words like this. May
the Lord curse you and abandon you. May
the Lord keep you in darkness and give
you only judgment without grace.
May the Lord Lord turn his back upon you
and has removed his peace from you
forever.
You know when you hear that you feel the
weight of that and yet Dr. Chapman last
week who took us to Deuteronomy 21.
Cursed is a man who hung on a tree.
This is what Paul gets at in
understanding how we receive the
benediction. Christ took on the
maladdiction.
2 Corinthians 5:21. For our sake, he
made him that is Jesus to be sin or to
be the curse who knew no sin so that in
him we might become the righteousness or
to receive the blessing of God. Christ
on the cross felt the abandonment of the
father laid in darkness and received the
full wrath of God upon him. There on the
cross he felt the father turn his back
as he cries, "My God, my God, why have
you forsaken me?" The king has been
rejected, persecuted, and scored. In his
suffering, he feels a sense of
abandonment even by God himself. But we
know at the end of the psalm that David
knows that he is not abandoned. And in
doing this, what does he do? He secures
the blessing for all in Christ Jesus.
And here's the thing. So if at any point
in your life in ministry, you feel and
ask yourself, maybe he loves me not, you
turn to Ephesians 1:3-6 and you realize
there the Apostle Paul says what?
Blessed be the God of a father of a of
our father Lord Jesus Christ who has
blessed us with every spiritual
blessing. And he ends up by saying to
the praise of his glorious grace with
which he has blessed us.
but bless us with in the beloved. Let me
end. I promise I'm ending here. Let's go
back to this flower.
How do I want you to feel as you leave
uh this time or this chapel service? I
invite you to respond to the God who
blesses. First and foremost, for those
who are in Christ Jesus, if you identify
as a Christian, would you take
confidence to remember today that you
receive this benediction not as wishful
thinking, but rather assured covenantal
promises of God. Don't be like the
Israelites who although they were the
blessing was uh proclaimed over them
before their long journey, how easily
they forgot.
They wandered.
They said, "He loves me not. Surely he's
not blessing me." so that even though
you might go through a a desert or a
valley, you would hold fast to the
promises of the gospel. Secondly, and
I'm going to be honest here and saying
that just because we're a seminary, I'm
not going to assume that we're all in
Christ Jesus. There are some in this
room who may not. For those of you who
are not yet trusting in Jesus on your
journey and may be doubting how the
pedals fall for you, let me proclaim to
you this free blessing over God's people
is offered in the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Perhaps you may think, "He loves
me not, not now, not tomorrow, not ever.
Why would he love me?
Yet this is the free offer of the gospel
declared by Paul in Romans 10:13 that
anyone who calls on the name of the Lord
will be saved. Respond freely to the
gospel as the Lord might lead you. Last
but not least, this benediction in
number six, given thousands of years
ago, as you receive it today, would you
receive it as though you know for sure
again this is for you, God's people, as
you go forth, you are equipped with this
blessing,
that you might go and bless those in
whom you will minister to. That is what
you have been entrusted with. receive
that this day for the praise and glory
of Christ. Amen.
>> Let's pray together.
Father, we thank you for your word. We
thank you, Father, that you are a God
who initiates,
who has covenanted with your people, who
blesses your people. And Father, I do
pray that Lord, you would continue,
Lord, to uh declare that over your
people, that we might walk in it, that
we might go forth, Father, as your
people. So that Father, even though we
go through valleys and a long journey
just like the Israelites did, Father,
may we hold fast to again this blessing,
the grace that you bestowed to us that
we might walk with you in all the ways
that we do. We pray this all in Jesus
name. Amen.