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!
2. Who can override what GOD says? No one! God’s decree is supreme, therefore, anybody who tries to contradict it will fail.
3. YOU ARE PREDESTINED TO BLESSING. To “predestine” is to “determine beforehand, to impose a direction.” All who merge or lose their lives into Christ’s, are predestined to receive all the blessings due to Christ.
4. Predestination is like two elevators. One is going down toward Hell and has on its door, “Without Christ.” The other is going upward toward Heaven and has on its door, “Those in Christ.” Everyone who GETS “in Christ” automatically switches from the elevator going to Hell to the one going to Heaven!
5. “In Christ” you’re: “a new creation” 2 Cor. 5:17; “blessed with every spiritual blessing” Eph. 1:3; “seated in heavenly places” Eph 2:6; “more than a conqueror” Rom. 8:37; you’re “always led about in triumph!” 2 Cor. 2:14.
6. No evil spell or curse can ever fall on the people of God because we’re inside of Christ and He’s blessed forevermore!
C. HUMOR
1. I heard a HUMOROUS STORY about an old man who went to see a Wizard. He asked the Wizard if he could remove a curse he’d been living with for 40 years.
2. The Wizard said, "Maybe...but you’ll have to tell me the *exact* words that were used to put the curse on you."
3. The old man said, "I can do that, I remember them well. The man in robes said these words, ‘I now pronounce you man and wife.’"
4. The 2nd reason Balaam couldn’t curse Israel was because:
II. THERE WAS NO SIN TO DRAW A CURSE!
A. WHY NO CURSE WAS EFFECTIVE
1. Proverbs 26:2 says, “Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, AN UNDESERVED CURSE DOES NOT COME TO REST.”
2. The second reason God’s people can’t be cursed is because God didn’t “observe iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen wickedness in Israel,” vs. 21. WHY? Because the sacrificial system in Israel atoned for their sins!
3. On the Day of Atonement (Sept. 15-16), the sin offering had put a blanket covering of forgiveness over the nation. No curse of sin could settle on the Israelites, for in the sight of God, their sins were gone!
4. Balaam knew there was no ‘sin separating them from God,’ and as long as they were in union with God, Balaam could do nothing to harm them.
5. That’s why David said in Ps. 32:1, “BLESSED is the man/woman whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” Can you praise God, with me, that we’re forgiven!
B. THE PRICE OF FORGIVENESS
1. Oh! What a blessing we have in God’s forgiveness! Can you put a price tag on it? If we possessed the entire amount of the national debt – 28 trillion dollars – we still couldn’t buy it!
2. If we owned all the oil wells of Saudi Arabia, all the gold and diamond mines of South Africa, and all the resources of Brazil, we still couldn’t buy our pardon from sin; it’s beyond price!
3. God says, “The whole earth is Mine” Ex. 19:5. What can WE offer God that’s not already His? Forgiveness is a gift of God’s grace! HOW WAS THIS GREAT GIFT PURCHASED FOR YOU?
4. Go to Garden of Gethsemane and look where Jesus prayed, and you’ll find the bloody sweat upon the ground. Then go to Gabbatha, in the Roman fort, and see where Jesus’ beard was ripped-out by His persecutors. His cheeks were fouled by their spitting and His back lacerated with deep wounds from the knotted whips. And lastly, go to Calvary, the place of execution. There the nails were driven through His hands & feet, and all the sins of the world were laid on Him, darkening the sky. Hear Jesus’ pray for you, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!”
5. He suffered for you, but YOU still must personally receive forgiveness. We must surrender our lives to Him, since He surrendered His life for us! Have you given your life to Him yet?
6. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
III. GOD’S PRESENCE IS WITH US!
A. THE EFFECT OF GOD’S FAVOR
1. The 3rd reason no dark force could threaten Israel or us, is that “The Lord his God is with him and the shout of a King is among them” Numbers 23:21. God’s presence is with us!
2. Balaam was saying something like, “King Balak, haven’t you noticed that Israel’s God is among them? Haven’t you seen the Pillar of Cloud by day, and the Pillar of Fire at night? Haven’t you seen the water gushing out the Rock Moses struck, producing 11 million gallons of water every day? Have you noticed how their God provides food in the desert – 3 million pounds, everyday? Almighty God is with them! You can’t defeat them!”
3. “IF GOD BE FOR US, WHO CAN BE AGAINST US?”
4. John said, Greater is He that is IN YOU than he that is in the world” 1 Jn. 4:4. God’s presence in us and our relationship to Him as His children automatically confer the status of ‘overcomer’ on us.
5. There’s no situation God doesn’t have the key to. There’s no adversary who’s more powerful than God. The same force that propelled Jesus to rise from the dead – to victory – resides in you and will propel YOU to victory.
B. YOU’RE A WINNER, NOT A LOSER. You WILL eventually triumph!
1. In Adam you were born a loser, but in Christ you’re born a winner! In Adam you had a dark future; but in Christ you have an awesome future! In Adam you were separated from God; in Jesus you are reconciled to God!
2. When you were born again, you were born in God’s image, created in His likeness, and born of His Spirit. You’re a child of the Most High God; you’re a King’s kid, Royal Blood now flows in your veins! You’re not average!
3. You’re an Overcomer! That Greek word (nikao) is translated as “conquer, overcome, prevail, get the victory.”
4. In Christ, You’re *BLOOD BOUGHT, SPIRIT TAUGHT;
BIBLE THUMPIN, PEW JUMPIN;
*TITHE PAYING, WORD SAYING;
SIN HATING, DEVIL CHASING;
*GOSPEL PREACHING, BIBLE TEACHING;
HEAVEN BRINGING, SONG SINGING;
*CROSS BEARING, JOY SHARING;
HOLY FIRE, - ONE DESIRE;
*SIN CRUSHING, GRACE GUSHING;
NIGHT LEAVING, SIGHT RECEIVING;
*PRAYER MAKING, HELL QUAKING;
JESUS PRAISING, KINGDOM RAISING;
PRAISE THE LORD MY HEART IS BLAZING! HALLELUJAH!
C. “NO WEAPON formed against you shall prosper” Isa. 54:17.
1. What does "prosper" mean? To "push forward." Imagine a man trying to push a massive elephant; the elephant would be immovable. It is similar to the ocean waves crashing against a mountain of rock; the waves break unheeded and the rock stands firm. In such a way, we will be unmoved by the attacks of the enemy.
2. This doesn’t mean it won’t hurt, or that we won’t be momentarily stunned and confused, but keep holding onto God, and the great ship Zion will right itself! (Some boats have so much Styrofoam they can’t sink!)
3. Nothing the enemy can throw at us will succeed if we're walking with God. We can only self-destruct!
4. And so Balaam’s attempted curses were turned into blessings! You will have the same, wonderful outcome!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: TAI MABOGUNGI STORY
1. Tai Mabogungi attended seminary with me. His last name means “medicine-man” and his family had been witch doctors in Africa for many generations.
2. He had a powerful conversion to Christianity and then was filled with the baptism in the Holy Spirit with speaking in other tongues.
3. His father tried to dissuade him, but to no avail. His father wanted to send demon powers to attack him, but couldn't because they're of the same bloodline.
4. So his father hired another witch doctor to send demon forces. That night the demons attempted to attack Tai, but he resisted them in the name of Jesus and by praying in the Spirit all night long. He said it was a terrible fight in the spiritual realm, but he and Jesus prevailed.
5. The demons then went back and attacked the witch doctor who had sent them, and he in turn sent men to beat up Tai’s father, saying,
6. "You didn't tell me that we were attacking a Holy Ghost Christian! You know the demons have no power against them. You should have told me!"
7. What a great honor to know that the name of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit are respected in the spiritual realm!
B. THE CALL
1. It’s time for you to be set free! You’ve been bound long enough. Come forward in Jesus’ name and let Him loose you. Prayer partners come.
2. Do you have some areas in your life that you want to get victory over? Jesus is here to remove your shackles!
3. If you’re not “in Christ” then you’re defenseless against the dark powers! You need to surrender to Jesus and find peace today!
