The Lord Bless You & Keep You (Numbers 6:24-27)

Introduction

Tonight I want to talk about benedictions. That’s a big word, but it simply means well wishing to others. The utterance and prayerful bestowal of a blessing. And why do we find so many of them in the scripture? And should we not do the same? After all, if it is true, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much, James 5 and verse 16. Then the evoking, the prayerful invoking of a blessing upon another could only be helpful, right? And we see that a lot between Christians, between covenant people in the Bible. I haven’t ever mentioned this before, but it probably is something you would understand would occur. When I go to hold gospel meetings, you know, there’s always a meal list. And I feel compelled, as the meeting ends, to acknowledge those who have either taken me out to eat or had me in their home or kept me for several days.

And so I will send them a thank you note. And always has been, at least over the last, I don’t know how long I’ve been doing this, the last five or ten years, I would put this in the card that I would send. An encouraging word. I would say something like, may the Lord bless you for your kindness that you’ve shown toward me, the idea of a benediction. And then I would put Jude 20 and 21. Those have been my go-to verses in the cards of late, where it says, Keep yourselves in the love of God, awaiting anxiously the mercy to be brought to you by the Lord Jesus Christ. And build yourself up in the most holy faith. And praying in the Holy Spirit. Now that might need some looking at, but maybe they’ll do that as a result of looking at that verse.

1. Benedictions Throughout the Scripture

But that’s one of the things that I’ve been doing. Sort of just that kind of benediction. Roughly 15 to 20 benedictions in the Bible. You might find a few more depending on your classification of what constitutes a benediction. There’s one actually in the book of Numbers that I want to begin with tonight. That is the title of our lesson. And I believe we have a closing song that is to this effect. Is that right, Aaron? Is it closing song?

But it is a benediction. Okay. Alright. It’s a benediction, we’re okay. I told Daniel I chose this title to get this song from our song leader. Aaron. I’m ordering. Okay. This is where that song, the Lord bless you and keep you. Is that has the seventh fold amen, right? No wonder we’re observing the Passover there. The Lord, but we can see that. The Lord bless you. This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Oh, that’s where that song comes from. And then God says, So they shall invoke my name on the sons of Israel, and I will bless them.

Another Old Testament benediction, or at least it’s in the category of some folks. It’s not quite the translation that I have, but it’s similar. The Lord will keep you from all evil. He will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever. And so as we come to the New Testament, there are a number of benedictions. Both Paul and Peter would use them in their epistles. Interestingly, in Romans, Paul’s benediction is not at the beginning. It’s seven verses in. He states some things about the gospel before he says grace. Grace and peace, which was a common benediction. You’ve noticed that several times, haven’t you, in the New Testament epistles? Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

And those are wonderful things. The possession of grace, the favor of God in all of its manifestations, and the peace of God, both with him and the things that were taught about having peace with others. Grace and peace, he says, be upon you. The God of peace be with you all. He says, toward the end of Romans in Romans 15, verse 33, before his specific commendations and another ending in chapter 16. One of my favorites is 2 Corinthians 13 14. The end of 2 Corinthians.

And really it’s interesting because this has been a problematic epistle. The Corinthians are estranged from Paul for the most part, and he’s dealing with some of that, but he’s come to the end. And he says, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. And so I believe the point of that is he is referencing all three persons of the Godhead, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and when he says God, being a reference to the Father in that particular case. What I like also is Ephesians chapter 6. Peace to the brothers and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with a love incorruptible.

Or an undying love. Newer translations say.

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. I like 2 Thessalonians 3.16. Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.

Paul used it in reference to Timothy. Peter says, peace to all of you who are in Christ. Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ. That’s just a sampling, a pretty extensive sampling, of benedictions throughout the Scripture and their purpose. But I noticed something interesting in some others of the benedictions, in that they somewhat provide a summary of the gospel message. It was sort of like what I was saying this morning about Colossians 1, verse 27, where he says, Christ in you, the hope of glory. That’s somewhat a summary of the entire message of the gospel. And so are some of the summaries. And I thought of Romans 16, verses 25 through 27. Too long to put on a slide.

Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages. Now that goes with this morning’s lesson, doesn’t it? Was kept secret for long ages, no longer hidden. But has now been disclosed. And through the prophetic writings, has been made known to all nations according to the command of the eternal God to bring about the obedience of faith. He started with that, actually, that same phrase in Romans 1 and verse 5. To bring about the obedience of faith to the only wise God, be glory forevermore, through Jesus Christ. Amen. Another that I like is also in Jude. I’ve quoted parts of 20 and 21.

In the last couple of verses, Jude 24 and 25, this is absolutely beautiful and full of meaning to the Christian. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling. I love that. We need to depend more on the Lord for spiritual victory. Now to him who was able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy. To the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time. And now and forever. Amen.

2. One Benediction in Particular: Hebrews 13

Does it not? And John’s introduction is somewhat unique. Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the rulers of the kings of the earth. So those are just some more involved benedictions that again summarize in parts the message of the gospel. So those are benedictions. But I want to get to one benediction, in particular tonight, that has struck me recently. And I’ll be reading from the New American Standard here. Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead, the great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord.

Equip you in every good thing to do his will. Working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever. And ever. Well, that’s a pretty good sized sheep on the slide. And I just got to tell you, he bears a striking resemblance to some of you. Do you see it? You know when somebody says, You look like so and so? You know, it’s like sometimes we see it, sometimes we don’t. We love to play that game. I do too. I saw a guy in Indianapolis that, in fact, I ate one of the guys I ate with. It was really cool. He brought in two of the younger women in the congregation who were in culinary school. I might have told you this.

And the girls fixed dinner for us. Well, he just visited. I thought, well, this is a great concept. He didn’t have to do any of the cooking. And these two girls made our meal, and I gotta tell you, this is one of the best meals I’ve ever had. It was awesome. And the thing about this guy, and I couldn’t get over it. It was just over and over again. I kept looking at him. This is Brendan Fraser. The actor. It’s like this guy, it could be his brother for sure, his twin. Just couldn’t get over that. And he said, Yeah, I hear that all the time. So it wasn’t just me. So do you see the resemblance here? Okay. Nobody actually looks like the sheep. But you are.

And we should see ourselves as sheep in a figurative sense. And we’ll talk more about that in a minute. But I want to look at this involved benediction that concludes Hebrews 13. I preach out of Hebrews in almost every gospel meeting. In fact, a week from tomorrow night, I’m supposed to preach my sermon about not throwing away your confidence at the Southside Lectures. And that’s from the book of Hebrews. And so it was perhaps in preparation for some of that. And I was looking at the end of Hebrews chapter 13, and I just saw these two verses that conclude, and I thought, wow, there is so much there to unpack in a lesson. So many different things about the gospel to look at just right here.

3. God Is Able to Equip You

And the first thing I want to look at is that God is able to equip you with every good thing to do his will. Perhaps we need to pray more in the area of being equipped and for our brothers and sisters being equipped, just like the scripture equips us unto every good work. 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 16 through 17. Here is a blessing being invoked by the Hebrew writer that they might, his audience might be equipped in every good thing. That’s wonderful. That’s what we should be praying for each other. I want you, and you want me, and we want all of us to be equipped in every good thing. Why say that if prayer doesn’t make a difference? Why say that if there can be some blessing toward this end that is the result of invoking this kind of blessing through prayer.

I wonder if we depend enough on God’s supply of the things we need to accomplish his work and find spiritual growth. And I think of 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 7 in this regard, for we have this treasure in earthen vessels. And I told you many times, that’s us. And that’s the way we need to see ourselves. We are vessels. We’re to be useful vessels in the hand of the Lord, another text says. And here it says, we have this treasure in earthen vessels. What? If you don’t know what follows, I’m going to be disappointed. Because I haven’t done my work well. Okay, I know you can’t remember everything I say. I get it. For we have this treasure in earthen vessels. Do you know what follows?

4. The Great Shepherd of the Sheep

That the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not ourselves. We need to realize the source of the power that causes our equipping, even if a majority of it is done, and I don’t know the percentages, even if a majority of it is done through our meditation upon and application of the message, of the word that he has given to guide us and equip us. But it isn’t exclusively that, or he would not have invoked such a blessing. But the basis of our hope is this part, and I wanted to come to it second. The great shepherd of the sheep. The great shepherd is the basis of all of our hope. In 1 Peter chapter 5, in 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 1, as Peter speaks of himself as being a fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, he admonishes elders of all of those people who are recipients, all of those congregations that were recipients of the first epistle.

He is admonishing the elders in those places to shepherd the church of God or the flock of God, not exercising undue authority, not under compulsion, but voluntarily. He says, not boarding it over those who are allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. And then he says, and when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of Lord. And so now I want to say a word as we talk about the great shepherd of the sheep.

May the Lord bless you in this work, in this noble work that you’ve chosen. We are blessed to have you care so much about us. That you would sacrifice of your time and your efforts to seek what is best for all of us. So I wanted to say on behalf of the congregation, because I know I’ve already heard some amens, I know everybody else feels this way. Thank you. And I mentioned Robert this morning, who’s not here because of the funeral and Robert and Martha have meant so much to me personally. And Mike and Jackie. Mike has served us tirelessly, has done so many things that you don’t know about and I don’t know about. In tending to the sheep here. And I just want to say to all of them, thank you.

We need you. I’ve worshipped in churches without elders. It is not ideal. I have worshiped in churches with elders who didn’t grasp the concept well of what an elder was. That’s not ideal either. But I believe you do. And I want to expound upon that a little bit. And I want to do this not just for our newest elders, though they know these things, and not just for those who have served as elders in this place, Robert and Mike. But I want to do it for all of us, because I don’t believe the work of shepherding is confined to these men who are responsible and who will give an account. You know, they will give an account as to the nature of the shepherding that they’ve done.

I look over and I see Larry Sisko. He served as a shepherd with where I was at Baytown at Eastside. And we had a good relationship. But so a former shepherd that I worked with is here. That’s great. At least they’re all constructed. But the work of shepherding is not confined to just the elders. It is not exclusively their role. Something happens in the congregation, and so I want to go to the elders, let the elders take care of. Maybe it’s something I can take care of. Maybe it’s a way that I can assist their work, because I’ve got to tell you, even the things that I’m called upon to deal with because people come to me as an evangelist or preacher, I don’t get all of it.

I don’t get everyone on my plate. I just get a few pieces here and there. They’re responsible for everyone. And so it makes sense. And I think I could probably get an affirmative from them. They could use our help. That we could shoulder some of the burden that they bear. And I know this, young men. If you’re ever going to serve in this capacity, and there’s not a more noble or higher ambition than to want to serve mirroring the model of Jesus as the great shepherd of the sheep. There’s no greater ambition or role in which to occupy yourselves. But if you’re going to do that someday, you might want to have some practice ahead of time. You know, great shepherds don’t just wake up one day in their 40s or 50s or 60s or whatever it is and say, Well, you know, I think I might try some shepherding.

I think I might just do something. You’ve got to prepare for this. You’ve got to be thinking in this direction. You need to do some work ahead of time. And so, what do we know about Jesus’ model of shepherding? And I do this for our present elders, but I do it for every man and woman in this assembly tonight who is a child of God. Jesus’ model for shepherding was that he had a genuine concern for all the sheep. He’s the good shepherd. And what did he do? He laid down his life for the sheep. Which ones? Every person. Even his enemies. So one thing a shepherd is going to do is going to be concerned about all. The sheep. He’s not going to pick and choose the ones he likes the most.

And we need to have, we need to generate, we need to grow in our attitudes that we have a genuine concern for all the sheep. These are the sheep to whom I’m responsible. I’m a part of this congregation. And perhaps I might even be able to serve beyond this sphere and help someone in another place. Someone with whom I might have some influence. Shepherding sheep is not confined even to the local church. And I’ll tell you, I get to do some of that from afar. Help in whatever way I can. And that needs to be our mindset, and we need to grow in that. A genuine concern for all the sheep. And I’ll tell you what else he did. He supplied godly leadership. He didn’t just say, this is what you need to do.

He showed us the way to do it. Be an example as we read in 1 Peter chapter 5. He supplied godly leadership, guidance, and you know that’s what these silly little sheep need. He chose sheep for a reason to illustrate this. Sometimes sheep do silly stuff. They don’t know what’s best for them sometimes. They think they have it figured out. Oh, I’m going to go over here. But if they’re not careful, they put themselves in harm’s way. Or they do some damage to themselves. And so the shepherd, he knows what they need, and he’s guiding them. Supporting them, feeding them and helping them. It is a compassionate kind of tending. We learned that in the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15. We looked at it very briefly in our study, but it’s a compassionate kind of tending.

This Jesus went ashore in Mark chapter 6. And he saw them as sheep without a shepherd. And so it says he had compassion upon them, and he taught them many things. You don’t run rush shod over people and unnecessarily discourage them. Here’s the thing you want to try to do is to express some compassion, some feeling with in their situation and tend to them. And notice what Peter, the elder, was instructed. Do you love me, Peter? Remember, he denied the Lord three times, so he got the question three times. Peter, do you love me? And Peter had to keep saying, I think this is part of his spiritual recovery. You know I love you. You know I love you. You know I love you. But the most riveting part about all of that to me is what Jesus says after he affirms his love.

Tend to my sheep. Feed my lambs. Be a shepherd. Of all the things he could have told Peter he’s about to do, day of Pentecost and beyond, and the leadership he was going to provide. But I want to tell you the thing he emphasized with Peter is you need to take care of my people. Compassionate tending. And instruction without compromise. They’re to feed the flock. And whether it’s palatable or not is not their concern. What their concern is the proper fleeting, feeding, and nourishment for the flock. There’s something for all of us to emulate in this. So I’ll go back to this passage in Hebrews 13, 20 and 21. We looked at the fact that the great shepherd of the sheep is being invoked to equip you with every good for doing his will.

5. Work in Us What Is Pleasing to Him

That he may work in us what is pleasing to him. Now that’s interesting. He’s equipping us so that we may work, or that he may work in us what is pleasing to him.

This is about what is pleasing to our God. And again, Jesus Himself demonstrated this. He said, What? I am always doing the things that are pleasing to my Father. We are to learn to please him in all respects. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 10. The same thing is said in Ephesians chapter 5. In Hebrews chapter 11, verse 6, without faith, it is impossible to please him, for the one that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. And finally, I saw this at the end of the week. If we displease God, does it matter whom we please? And if we please God, does it matter whom we displease?

I like that a lot. If we displease God, it doesn’t matter who is saying, right on, keep going. That’s great. I love you. You’re the best. If we displease God, and thus we incur those kinds of friends, what good is it really doing for us? But if we please God, does it matter that people, I’ll tell you that person, I don’t like them very much. They’re saying things that invite me that I don’t feel good about, that I don’t feel comfortable about, and I’m not saying do it in an ugly way, but some people are not going to take well. Any kind of rebuke, no matter in what spirit it is offered. When you preach the word and are instant in season and out of season, sometimes you’re going to say things that people don’t like.

And the repercussions of that can be quite negative. And they can malign you, and some people might just believe they’re maligning. Surely not. Boy, have I seen it through the years. And I’ll tell you, it bothers me to pieces. When people have ill will toward me because they don’t have what I think are the facts. Or they have not come to me to inquire as to what the facts might be.

6. To Him Be Glory Forever and Ever

I would lose sleep over it, but then I decided something. I can’t change it. I can’t make them believe another story if they don’t want to believe it. And you can’t please everybody as much as I would like to. And here’s the thing. I know I can’t please everybody because Jesus never pleased everybody. And Paul never pleased everybody. And it didn’t look like to me that Stephen pleased very many people in Acts chapter 7. If we please God, it does not matter whom we displease. May He work in us what is pleasing to him. Through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. In Romans chapter 15, verses 5 and 6, here’s another one of those benedictions. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I want the church at Decker Prairie to be that. Under the leadership and guidance of our elders. May we with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now to him, Ephesians 3, who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for all time, as we saw earlier, forever and ever. Amen. To him be the glory of the church. And I’ve said this so many times, you probably tired of hearing me say it. We should almost say it again. This is all about bringing glory to God. Not any man or person other than him.

This is about his glory. We are temporary players on this stage. And all that we are is because of him. We are simply his earthen vessels. And the surpassing greatness of the powers of him and not ourselves. Charles Krauthammer. Isn’t that an interesting last name? Could have asked you like this morning. A few of you do watch that show on the History Channel. I saw some reactions, had some conversations afterward about the curse of Oak Island. How many of you know the name I just mentioned? Charles Krauthammer. If you know that name, you’ve probably watched Fox News. He is a syndicated columnist, political commentator, and has been a regular contributor on Fox News, but you might not have seen him for a while. And that’s because he’s been dealing with cancer.

And he had several complications as they were trying to deal with his cancer. And now he’s discovered after he’s gotten through some of those complications that the cancer has returned, and he has now only weeks to live. And so he issued a statement this week. 68 years old, been married for 44 years to his wife Robin. And one of the things that he said was that he had known great love in his life, and that’s that’s a positive thing. And he, and then he said this interesting thing. He said, I have lived the life that I intended to live. An unusual statement.

And that’s what I did all of my days.

Conclusion

Two verses will be done tonight. 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 7. Not completely sure what the end of all things is that Peter is talking about. Perhaps he’s talking about an intermediate judgment that was coming, destruction of Jerusalem, some other concepts. Could be just the idea that we’re in the last days and that an irrevocable day of judgment is coming. But the end of all things is at hand. And so regardless, this is a prescription for not knowing when the end might come. Therefore, be serious and watchful in your prayers. So bright, watchfulness should characterize us. And then he says a few verses later, after he says, to show hospitality and love one another without complaint. He says, if anyone speaks, he should do it as the one speaking the very word of God.

If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength that God provides. We’ve seen that tonight. So that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ, to him be glory forever and ever. Have you tapped in to the strength that only God supplies? If you need to respond to the invitation of the Lord tonight and put on Christ, we bid you come to stand and sing.