No Enchantment Against God’s People

NO ENCHANTMENT AGAINST GOD’S PEOPLE

Numb. 23:19-23

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: OLD SCHOOL MATH TEACHER ARRESTED

1. A school teacher was arrested at JFK Intl’ Airport as he attempted to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a compass, an ancient wooden device called a “slide-rule,” as well as a device called an “abacus” that he claimed was a calculator.

2. At a morning press conference, the US Attorney General said he believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-Gebra movement. He did not identify the man, who has been charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction.

3. “Al-Gebra is a problem for us,” the Attorney General said. “Al-Gebra has terrorized many young people for years. They derive solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in search of absolute values.

4. They use secret code names like ‘X’ and ‘Y’ and refer to themselves as unknowns, but we’ve determined that they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country. Beware these fundamentalists!”

B. “I WILL FEAR NO EVIL” (Halloween season)

1. Many people, all over the world, are superstitious. They are afraid of evil powers and try to placate them, or try to avoid things connected to them.

2. People won’t walk under ladders; they’re afraid to break a mirror; they’re fearful if a black cat crosses in front of them or to go near a graveyard at night. They worry about haunted houses, ghosts, and voodoo.

3. Many TV series center on witches, sorcerers (i.e., Dr. Strange, Marvel), vampires, the walking dead, and the paranormal. It’s a fixation of our society! Kids even play games where they try to contact the dead (Ouija Boards, seances).

4. First, I want to tell you plainly, YOU DON’T EVER HAVE TO BE AFRAID OF ANY DARK POWERS or people using them – IF you’re a Christian – because you’re covered with the blood of Christ and the “wicked one touches [you] not” (1 John 5:18).

5. But 2ndly, God has forbidden us from contacting the dead or involvement with any kind of witchcraft; “…do not... imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who…practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord.” Deut. 18:9-12. “Do not allow a sorceress to live,” Ex. 22:18.

6. In the Bible there was a famous sorcerer who was brought all the way from the Euphrates River by the Moabite King, Balak, to curse Israel. His name was Balaam, and when he tried to curse Israel, God made him speak a blessing instead. Here’s his 2nd prophecy about God’s people:

C. TEXT

“19 God is not a man, that He should lie.... He has spoken, and will He not make it good? 20 Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. 21 He has NOT observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him and the shout of a King is among them. 23 “For there is no enchantment [ftnt] against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel. It now must be said...of Israel, ‘Oh, what God has done!’” Numb. 23:19-23, NKJV.

D. THESIS

1. Balaam’s prophecy gives us 3 reasons why God’s people are invincible to the powers of darkness and can never be cursed.

2. The title of this message is, “No Enchantment Against God’s People.” The first reason is:

I. GOD HAS PREDESTINED US TO BLESSING!

“He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it” vs. 20.

A. THE COVENANT PROMISE TO GOD’S PEOPLE

1. Back in Genesis 15:10-20, God made a covenant with Abraham, when, as a smoking and burning lamp, He passed between the bisected animals, saying THAT would be done to Him if He failed to keep His covenant. Abraham and His descendants were promised God’s unalterable blessing.

2. Paul reveals that God’s promise made to Abraham was really to those who are of the “faith of Abraham,” specifically, faith in Jesus Christ (Rom. 4:13, 16; Gal. 3:7, 9, 14). “Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham” Gal. 3:7. “For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” Gal. 3:26.

3. It wasn’t the “genes” of Abraham passed down that counted, but the “faith” passed from parent to child, all the way to the early church, and down to us. WE HAVE THE SAME FAITH IN GOD Abraham had in Genesis, in unbroken line.

B. IRREVERSIBLE BLESSINGS

1. So the promises made to Abraham were to his spiritual descendants. That’s the Church! WE are his Heirs! WE are the inheritors of the blessings! God’s blessing is on US!