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Numbers 22:21-31 Sinners are blind. They do not see the drawn sword of divine judgment awaiting them in their dangerous path. Divine instructions and obstructions do not delay or divert them. Even when God narrows their path with difficulties they press on (vv24-25). The lesson of Balaam is the warning that we may so defy God or attempt to manipulate him that we fall into irredeemable insensibility to his will and voice.

Jewish opinion was not favorable to Canaanites, yet the distraught mother was not averse to calling upon the one she believed to be Israels Messiah, the Son of David, and her faith in him was more firm and fervent than the majority of Davids nation.

Jesus intimates and then discloses his Messianic destiny to his chosen twelve as they stride forth to Jerusalem. The blindness of our insight without Jesus' revelation is aptly mirrored in the act of the blind beggar receiving his sight.

A Memorial Service for Jean Arthington.

The Bible in its entirety is the Book of Christ. The things averred by Isaiah about Jesus, for instance, are riddles that incite a sense of profound mystery and delicious intrigue. The Messianic figure is referred to as a shoot "that will come up from the stump of Jesse," the father of King David. The Christ will emerge from Royal background, and yet a Royalty that far exceeds mere earthly dignity. The human and divine natures of Israel's Redeemer are predicated in the One who is both the Base and the Branch of the Royal tree; its producer and product of the Lord's saving grace, the fruit of divvine efficiency. How beguiling this wondrous insight happens to be.

In this comprehensive outburst of prayer David sums up many reasons in both God, and his actions, that are worthy of our whole-hearted praise. This wonderful God, David affirms, is the owner of everything.

Paul exhorts believers to hold firmly to the Gospel. He knows nothing can be denied and that every fact must be declared. "For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance."

An ambassador has no right to alter his masters message. The ambassadors of Christ are attuned to the words of the Lord to Jeremiah: Tell them every word I command you; do not omit a word (v. 2). The message to be delivered is the doctrine of Holy Scripture with all the exactitude that the Spirit and his guidance enable.

The knowledge of our nature is essential to our faith in God. From our creation the assessment of the human constitution is that we are weak. Since the event of the Fall this weakness has now fallen prey to the influence of sin. Detached from God we have no protection from it as an invading and driving impulse. Holiness is the commencement of abiding in the Lord, strengthening our association with him until we are fully compatible with his nature and made fit for his fellowship. The result of living to and with God is the sublime reality of eternal life - pure gift.

Entitlement, feeling special, is a common human trait indulged by most of us in various circumstances. There can be no allowance for personal ambition in attachment to Christ. Kinship to Jesus in the flesh rendered no advantage to his natural relatives. For real and saving connection to him each of them would have to be born from above. Nothing human brings credit. Grace alone admits us to divine favor through trust in the Redeemer. Servant-hood is the key characteristic of the true child of God and their nurturers in the faith. Jesus disarms and dispels our foolish pride through his self-revelation as the Son of Man who came to serve in the most ultimate way possible - to give his life as a ransom for many. He frees us from enslavement to satan, self, and sin.

Acknowledgment of Christ as Lord is to set him apart from, and revere him as sovereign over, all beings. The heart is to revere him, reveal his holiness and goodness. He is to reign in each heart and reside in it. The believer is to be a reflection of Christ and to replicate his virtue: Live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. These are to be the basic characteristics of the people of God. They restrain selfish passion and evince patience and respect in the assembly of Christian folk; the control of self-assertion, selfish ambition, and power over others.

The divinity of the Lord Jesus and his Savior-hood was declared in his dominion over the elements. Every ultimate danger due to alienation from God is removed in him. This will be the case in heaven. Hebrews hated the chaos and cruelty of the sea. They avoided the sea as much as possible. It would pose no threat in the coming kingdom of God. Johns vision in the Book of Revelation would confirm this welcome truth. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea (21:1). The dread possibility of being swamped and drowned had been forever taken away. The likelihood of falling fatally into water had been entirely removed. The sea before the throne of God is depicted as safely solid - a sea of glass (4:6).

This recording was made from the pew. Please forgive the audio quality. But please listen for the compelling quality and loveliness of the Holy Spirit's urging to the human soul.

The most engaging and exhilarating contemplation for the Christian mind is the mystery of the great Three-in- One. A mystery, not in the allegation that it does not make sense, but in the fact that the three-ness or plurality of God can only be known by revelation - his own self-disclosure. The reality of the Triunity of God is a matter of enabled spiritual observation, not of human discernment or acumen or impossible mathematical juggling. The One Lord manifests himself as Three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Throughout the history of his Word, spoken to mankind via prophets, apostles and chosen witnesses, divine speech proclaims God as being internally, essentially, and by nature, a society of three members of the One Godhead, one Being diversified in three personal entities in harmonious communion, will, and action.