Let's see if I can get in this saddle here, all right? Okay. Yep, thank you, buddy. My subject tonight is Camping with Christ. Camping with Christ, Numbers chapter two. Camping with Christ. When Balaam looked down on the children of Israel as their camp stretched out in the wilderness, He was greatly moved by what he saw. That false prophet beheld the beauty of the camp and found it captivating, magnificent. In his eyes, he recognized these are not just ordinary nomads. Balaam said concerning the camp of Israel, how goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel. As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the riverside, as the trees of lion aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as the cedar trees beside the waters. Now let's read about that camp that Balaam beheld. Numbers chapter two, verse one. The Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard with the ensign of their father's house. Far off about the tabernacle of the congregation shall they pitch. And on the east side toward the rising of the sun shall they of the standard of the camp of Judah pitch throughout their armies. These shall first be set forth, verse 10. On the south side shall be the standard of the camp of Reuben according to their armies. This is the second rank, verse 17. Then the tabernacle of the congregation shall set forward with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camp. As they encamp, so shall they set forward every man in his place by their standards. On the west side shall be the standard of the camp of Ephraim according to their armies. They shall go forward in the third rank. Verse 25, the standard of the camp of Dan shall be on the north side by their armies and these shall go hindmost with their standards. Verse 33, but the Levites were not numbered among the children of Israel as the Lord commanded Moses and the children of Israel did according to the house, I'm sorry, the children of Israel did according to the commandments, according to all that the Lord commanded Moses. So they pitched by their standards and so they set forward everyone after their families according to the house of their fathers. God, the Holy Spirit, be pleased to be our teacher and enlighten our minds and our hearts as we look at this camp of Israel tonight. I want us to look at just five things Very briefly, I'll push this thing out of my way, Lindsey, if you don't mind. I can't see what I'm doing. We'll try it another day. All right, let's look at these five things concerning the children of Israel. First, I want us to take notice of the camp itself and the standard of the camp. Every man in Israel was required by God to pitch his tent under his own standard with the ensign of his father's house. Now, there's a lot of speculation that had been made by the various commentators about these ensigns, the standard that the children of Israel pitched under, various things suggested, but the scriptures never described them for us. The scriptures never tell us what distinguished one banner or one ensign or one standard from another. And there's a reason for that. These banners, these ensigns, point to the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, who reveals himself in Exodus chapter 17 as Jehovah Nisi, the Lord, our banner. Hold your hands here and turn over to Isaiah, Isaiah 49. The Lord Jesus Christ is the banner under which we gather, the banner we lift before men. The banner by which God calls sinners to himself. Isaiah 49, 22. Thus saith the Lord God, behold, I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles and set up my standard to the people. They shall bring thy sons in their arms and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west and his glory from the rising of the sun I'm sorry, I'm reading Isaiah 59 now, verse 19. So shall they fear his name from the west and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall lift up the standard against them. Now look at chapter 11, Isaiah 11. In that day, that is in this gospel day, in this day of the Lord, verse 10. shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign, a banner of the people. To it, that is to this ensign, to this banner, this root of Jesse, the Lord Jesus Christ, shall the Gentiles seek. God's elect scattered to the four corners of the earth are made to seek after this banner, to come to this banner, and his rest shall be glorious. If you have a marginal translation, His rest shall be His glory. The rest of our Savior, that is the rest He has entered into, having accomplished our eternal redemption, is His glory. And it shall come to pass that in that day that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people. which shall be left from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Petrus, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. The Lord by this banner sets his hand a second time to gather his elect from the four corners of the earth. In verse 12, he shall set up an ensign for the nations. and shall assemble the outcast of Israel." These Gentiles gathered from the nations, they're the outcast of Israel, the Israel of God, God's covenant people, the seed of Abraham. And gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Back here in chapter 2 of Numbers. The Lord Jesus is our banner. He's the standard of our Father's house. This is the banner we are commissioned of God to uphold before the nations of the world. The Church of God, I've been trying to tell you this for 40 years, the Church of God, every local assembly, this assembly, you folks in Lexington, every local assembly has one mission in this world, just one, just one. Our business is preaching, the preaching of the gospel. Every local church is a sounding board for the gospel. Our business, our responsibility is to proclaim Jesus Christ crucified to the ends of the earth to the utmost of our ability. That means that Don Fortner and Grace Baptist Church in Denver, Kentucky are responsible under God and responsible in this generation. to use every means and every opportunity at our disposal for the preaching of the gospel. And Todd Nybert and Lexington Todd Road Church is responsible for the same. We are not responsible for the opportunities and privileges that you have. And you, not for the privileges and opportunities we have, but we are responsible as God's church to lift high this banner to the nations of the world. This is the banner that draws the family together, the banner of our rallying point, the banner that unites God's elect. We come together around this banner, under this banner, Jesus Christ crucified. And over us, the banner of Christ Jesus is the banner of love. The banner is a pledge of safety. The true, we have our foes, foes that hate us and assail us. Those words are not too strong. Night and day they plot, they rage, they draw the bow, they shoot the arrow, they slander, they malign, they abuse, they lay a snare, but all must fall. all shall fall. The fight may sometimes be fierce, it may sometimes seem absolutely useless, it may be long, but in the camp of Christ, defeat is not a possibility. Failure is not a possibility. Beneath our banner, Christ Jesus, we find sweet repose. Our Savior says, Come unto me, all you that labor and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. He says, take my yoke upon you, and learn in me, and you shall find rest unto your souls. Here, believing souls lay down and rest. I don't think I ever really grasped David's statement in Psalm 4, verse 8, until preparing this message. I will both lay me down in peace and sleep. for thou, Lord, only, makest me to dwell in safety. We rest in Christ. Our lives are at rest in Christ. We live in peace as we live in Christ. I, the Lord, declares, do keep it, my vineyard, my people. I will water it every moment, lest any hurt it. I will keep it. night and day. What a statement. I'll keep it. I'll water it every moment. I'll keep it night and day. Beneath this banner, Christ Jesus, I repeat victory is sure. Thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ. Who always causes us to triumph in Christ. and make them manifest the savor of his knowledge in every place. Many years ago, I read an incident that happened in a man's life. He was a janitor, and he would go to the schoolhouse and open it up for men to play basketball on Friday and Saturday nights, and he'd just sit in the corner and read while they played basketball, and he was sitting reading the scriptures, and one of the fellows came over to him Game was over and asked him, said, what are you reading? He said, I'm reading the book of Revelation. He said, do you understand it? He said, I think so. What does it mean? Jesus wins. That's exactly what it means. Our Redeemer always prevails. He always prevails and he shall prevail. Happy to camp. over which Christ is the banner. Christ crucified is salvation's captain. His cross is our glory. His heaven, our rest. Children of God, glory in this banner and be steadfast. Not too many weeks ago, Brother Todd stood here and preached for us from Galatians 6, 14. God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. To glory in the cross is to rest in it. To glory in the cross is to trust it. To glory in the cross is to trust Christ our substitute. This cross by whom the world is crucified unto me. The world to me is a dead thing. And I unto the world, I to the world am a dead thing. Second, the next thing that catches my mind is the position of these tents in Israel's encampment. All the tents of Israel share a great privilege. They were all pitched around the tabernacle, we're told in verse two. They all have a common focus. As the planets circle the sun, these tents circle the sanctuary. God is the center of everything. Christ and his salvation stands continually before their eyes. They form a wide circle around the sanctuary, the Levites right in the midst of them. And every man in Israel, as he opens his tent's door, opens his tent's door and he sees something. He sees God's tabernacle. He sees Christ and salvation accomplished. He sees an altar of sacrifice. Christ sacrificed for us. He sees a laver of cleansing, which represented the cleansing work of God, the Holy Spirit, in sanctification, making us new creatures in Christ. He sees a veil, a veil hanging between the holy place and the most holy place, separating man from God, but that veil also setting forth a way. There is a way into the Holy. There is a way into the, there's a way to God. There's a way for sinners to get to God through that veil. And the only way is by the blood of that Passover sacrifice offered by God's priests upon the mercy seat and accepted of God. That's Christ, our propitiation. That's what faced every door in the camp of Israel. Every tenth door opened up to the center of God's salvation. God in Christ is the center of everything. The heart, the life, the strength, the joy of his people. Did you hear me? God in Christ is everything. The heart, the life, the strength, the shield, the joy of his people. In their midst he dwells. Their glory is our delight and our glory. When they go forth, their eyes are fixed on him. When they return, it is to nestle around him in his presence. Be wise. Oh, would God, I could get the ears of everybody in this world. Be wise and pitch your tent toward God's sanctuary. Pitch your tent toward God's tabernacle. Pitch your tent where you can worship God, not towards Sodom. The Israelites of old pitched their tents far off from the tabernacle. Blessed be God, things are different today. In this gospel age, we are brought nigh by the blood of Christ. In Revelation chapters 4 and 5, you see a picture of this tabernacle. You see the very same thing the children of Israel saw in the wilderness here. It's the same thing that Isaiah saw in Isaiah chapter 6. But now you see the throne of God. A door is opened in heaven and behold a throne. That throne is what's represented in the mercy seat. The Lamb of God sits on the throne. Around the throne is a rainbow through which comes all things from the throne. A covenant. A covenant of free grace. And there are gathered around that throne 24 elders. All the Israel of God, twice the number of the tribes here, telling us that the Israel of God reaches beyond just the physical seat of Israel. We are not ordered to pitch our tents afar off, but near, right up next to the Most High Himself, to be seated with Christ on His throne. And they are clothed in white linen garments, the very righteousness of Christ. so that the saints of God around about him, bringing presents to him that, to him that ought to be feared. Oh, God give us grace, making us one with his son, by his own dear son, he keeps us close to him. Making us one with his son, by his son, he keeps us close to him. We sometimes sing, nearer my God to thee, there is a sense in which we wish experimentally to be near our savior. But for folks who talk about their nearness to God, I'm always suspicious. I suspect they don't know what they're talking about. Either that, I don't know anything about what they've experienced. Because I don't commonly experience any extraordinary nearness to Him. Once in a while. Blessed times. But my nearness to God doesn't depend on my experience. My nearness to God doesn't depend on my feeling. My nearness to God depends only on His Son. And one with His Son, I am as dear as His Son. One with His Son, as dear as His Son. Accepted as His Son. Oh, blessed, blessed are those people who are God's people in this position. With Christ, one with Christ. Now third, look at the tense. These chosen, redeemed people, as long as they walked through the wilderness, dwelt in tents, not palaces, tents, not stately houses, tents, not consecrated buildings, tents, not even condominiums, tents, not splendid estates to leave to the families, tents. They dwelt in tents, intentionally in tents. The contrast with all the people around them is unavoidably obvious. They live in tents. Tents that stand today, and tomorrow you loosen the cords and pull up the fins, fold them up, and they're moved out. They are pilgrims dwelling in pilgrim's tents. Short-lived homes. Short-lived homes for short-lived sojourners. That's our present state of mortality. What is our body? Nothing but clay. These frames all have one origin, dust. The vilest reptile, the dirtiest possum, the wildest dog, and the proudest prince come from and return to the same mire. Is it not then folly to pamper and admire this flesh. At best, these bodies of flesh are tense, just tense, soon to be removed and quickly removed. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians. It'll do you good to read it with me one more time. Verse 17. Our light affliction. What a statement. Paul has just described the life of a man who was constantly in trouble, constantly burdened, constantly afflicted, constantly opposed. Opposed from without and opposed from within. And he says our light affliction, our featherweight affliction. Our featherweight affliction. I like to sleep on soft pillows. And feather pillows are all right, but once in a while, the feathers will come out. And the feathers just aggravate you to death. Just aggravate you to death. For nothing. It's life. You have as long as this rubber up against my cheek, it's aggravating. Just aggravate you. That's how Paul describes his affliction. our light affliction, our featherweight affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we look not at things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God. A house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven. If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened. And Paul explains himself, not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. He said, we don't groan here because we're tired of living. We don't groan here because we're tired of life. We don't groan here because of the affliction. We groan for our house, which is in heaven. Now he that hath wrought us for the self same thing, not he who hath wrought for us the self same thing, he who hath wrought us for the self same thing, he has wrought us for this purpose, who hath also given us the earnest of the spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that whilst we're at home in the body, we're absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing, rather, to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Now, that text of scripture causes a lot of problems for some folks who believe the gospel of God's free grace and they try to read it different ways. The text reads exactly as God intended it should read. We must appear before the judgment seat of Christ. All of us. We must everyone receive from the Lord. the things done in our body according to that he hath done. In other words, when we stand before God in judgment, we will receive exactly what we deserve according to our works. Brother Don, you can't say that. Oh, yes I can. You see, Christ Jesus has performed all our works for us. when the Son of God walked on this earth, fulfilling the law and the will of God, living in perfect faith. Oh, blessed, comforted hope. I walked in him. with Him, living in perfect obedience to God, with perfect faith as a man, the full age of man, in perfect righteousness. Righteousness in which I am glad to stand before God in judgment. Now that's either so or it's a lie. You can take your pick. Can't be any other way. But what about your sin? when the Son of God died at Calvary, He died in my stead. That doesn't mean He died instead of me. That means He died for me, and I died in Him, suffering all the hell of God's wrath until God could punish Don Fortner no more, until my sins were gone. That's called substitution. And we receive That we've done, whether good or bad. You have two choices. You can leave here tonight in Christ Jesus, believing the Son of God, prepared to meet God in his Son, or you can stand in yourself, in your goodness, in your merit, in your worth, in your righteousness, and meet God in judgment and go to hell. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, We persuade men. How soon these tents must crumble. No care, no thought, no art, no skill can lengthen out our days. The countless families of foregone ages, where are they now? Dust they were to dust they have returned. The many families of this day, where do they hasten? Thus they are, to dust they must return. These tents must fall. These tents must fall. But when? Oh, perhaps another day, maybe another year, maybe another 10. Perhaps in a few hours, perhaps the next step, perhaps the next birth. Whichever is true, at my appointed time, this tent shall be folded up. My soul, from Israel's tents, learn how fleeting life's little day is. When I go hence, is an abiding mansion mine? There is a kingdom prepared for God's people from before the foundation of the world. Is it prepared for me? Are those mansions Christ has gone to prepare in glory for you? Yes, they are. Yes, they are. How can you say that? I believe on the Son of God. I trust the Lamb of God. Flesh is what we are. No more just flesh. Fallen, sinful, dying flesh. But that fact itself commends us to the grace of God in Christ. Our Lord Jesus scorned not to assume flesh. He took on himself our flesh. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. He did that so that he might live as a man, so that he might suffer as a man. so that he might bear our sin in his own body as a man. On the cursed tree be made sin for us as a man. These things none but man can do, but this man must be God. And the Lord Jesus came here as a man to fulfill all things for us for the saving of his people, that he might die in our stead and redeem us to himself. He was made a man. But soon this degradation of humanity will be past. Our Lord's humiliation ended with his resurrection. He ascended up on high, took his seat in glory, and soon these bodies shall be raised in glory. If I understand 2 Corinthians 5 correctly, immediately upon death, As soon as the believer ceases to breathe air in this world, he has a building, a house not made with God, not made with hands, eternally in the heavens. But that house shall be joined to his body in resurrection glory. And the resurrection, oh my. We haven't begun to contemplate in Delphi what that's like. It baffles understanding. This mortal, this mortal, look here, this mortal shall put on immortality. This corruptible shall be raised in incorruption. This natural carnal body, if I walk into that wall right there, I'm going to stop because it's going to stop me. I've got a carnal body. If you hit me on the jaw, I'm going to hurt because you hit me. This carnal body shall be raised a spiritual body. A spirit? Who ever heard of a spiritual body? The Lord Jesus, one night as his disciples were having bread, just walked into the room. He didn't come through the door. He just appeared in the room. in his resurrected body. He appeared in the room. They watched him ascend to heaven in his resurrected body. Oh, glorious prospect. We will sow these bodies in the earth and sow them in hope of the resurrection because of our surety who died upon the cursed tree for us. Happy the inhabitant of this crumbling frame. I am Christ. Right now the vilest of dust, but soon I will shine more brightly than 10,000 suns in the glory of the Son of Righteousness, the Son of God my Savior. Now consider for just a minute or two the order of the camp. What perfect regularity. I read recently this camp of Israel was approximately 12 square miles. circling the tabernacle. That's a pretty good-sized camp, with lanes and streets. It was just a camp. And they'd get moved from place to place. And in those same lanes and streets, they'd pitch their tents again, move to another place, same lanes and streets, pitch their tents again. And God would rain manna from heaven to feed the camp. They were arranged by certain rules, rules drawn by the hand of God. Each section put exactly where God said put it. Judah going forth first. Judah because our Lord sprang as a lion of the tribe of Judah. Our God delights in order and everything God rules is ruled with order. Did you hear me? Our God delights in order and everything God rules is ruled with order. Well, the Rex and some of the men were back there talking in the study a little bit ago. We tend to look at things and think everything's chaos. You go home in the evening and turn the news on. What in the world's happening? We live in such a chaotic world. Oh, no. No. Perfect order. Perfect order. God rules everywhere. God rules everywhere. He rules the streets of New York and the streets of Danforth. He rules in Africa, rules in America. He rules everywhere, everywhere. In providence, everything comes to pass with precise, predestined, divine order. Oh, what a picture we have of Christ, the angel of the covenant in Revelation 10, standing with one foot on the earth and one foot on the sea and a book in his hand. And it stands one foot on the earth and one on the sea, ruling the nations of the world. And it turns the page. And the next day, it turns another page. And the next day, it turns another page. Rules the world according to the book of God's eternal purpose before the world began. In the believer's life, everything's arranged and ruled by divine order. And when God is pleased Give a sinner life and faith in Christ. Isn't it amazing how his life takes order? I lived in chaos and I caused chaos. I lived in unrest and I caused unrest until Christ stepped in. And suddenly, order. Order. Oh, splendorous order. God rules his chosen and his chosen walk in peace. Peace that guards our hearts in order. In the church of God, God rules. In the church of God, there's order. I'm sure Brother Nyberg could stand here and say the same thing. I have often had people come here, visitors, folks come here and stay, and after a while say, I've never seen a church like this. Never seen things like this. Order. Peace. Never saw that anywhere. Where God rules, there's order. With the unbeliever, things are different. The unbeliever's life is like a beehive that's been stirred. All the notes are jarring. All the movements jostle. The jumbled chaos of desire, attempt, design. Motives conflict with motives. Thoughts conflict with thoughts. Plans conflict with plans. Why? Because God is not in all his thoughts. In Israel's camp, each tribe had his place. Each person had his place. set by divine design to fulfill a divine purpose. And each one kept his place. He was distinctly prepared by God for the place where God put him to live and serve. Distinctly prepared by God for the place where God put him to live and serve. And he kept his place. He kept his place. You who are God's are fitted in God's kingdom where God would have you. Keep your place and serve him there. Back in 1987 or 88, somewhere there, I went down to Australia and was preaching with a fellow from South Africa who wasn't worth listening to. But he said something that I had forgotten. I remembered it when he said it. I went back and researched it and it was true. But he said when they built the temple in Israel, in Jerusalem, they didn't use any tools in building the temple. There wasn't the sound of a hammer in there. They cut the stones for the temple away from the place. Cut them too big. All of them were cut too big. And they would bring the stone and set it between two other stones. And they just jostled it and jostled it. and rub it, and rub it, until rubbing the three stones together, it dropped in place. Oh, that's how God built his temple. He puts each one in his place, prepared by God's providence to serve in that place. And he does that work he was created to do. And when his work is done, he's gone. Each enters on the stage of life as God's pleased to call it. Each runs his preordained course. Each disappears when his task is done. Now children of God, bow humbly before God's ordering throne and discontent will flee. Murmuring will cease. Christ will be honored. God's order for me, God's place for me, God's will for me, God's time for me is best, the best it could possibly be. And God's will for you, God's order for you, God's time for you, God's work for you is best, the very best it could possibly be. One more thing. The Levites were not numbered with children of Israel. Look at verse 33. But the Levites were not numbered among the children of Israel, as the Lord commanded Moses. Why is that? We're told in Joshua, the priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance. The priests, the Levitical family, represented Christ our High Priest, though our Savior came from the tribe of Judah. Though they were part of Israel, they were always held in distinction from their brethren. Nothing special about them. They were Levites, that's all. Being Levites, representatives of the priestly family. And though our Savior came from the line of the tribe of Judah, he was a priest. A priest. And he was revered and set apart from his brethren. because he's the priest, because he is the perfect priest. The Levites also were men who served the tabernacle, representing God's servants in all ages. God's servants, gospel preachers, are men who serve the house of God. The Levites never went to war except when they chose to go. when they saw it was needful for them to go. The Levites served the tabernacle. And those who preach the gospel, like the Levites, are to live by the gospel. Like the Levites of old, gospel preachers are not to engage in mundane affairs. Oh, hear that, every preacher. This world is beneath us. The affairs of this world are beneath us. I hear about preachers running for political office. I just automatically ball my fist up cringe. What a stoop, what foolishness, what stupidity, what dishonor to God. William Carey was missionary in India, missionary Burma, and pioneer missionary. He was one of the first. His son Felix, I think was seven years old when Terry went to the mission field, and Felix resented it. Until God was pleased to save him. He was 21 years old, he went out, started serving the Lord as a missionary himself. And his wife died. He married again. Seven years later, his wife and his children died. Felix was having a tough time. When he was about 28, 29 years old, the King of Burma made Felix an ambassador for the King of Burma. And Felix accepted it. When his father, William Carey, heard that his son had been made ambassador for the King of Burma, William Carey said, poor Felix has shriveled from a missionary to an ambassador. and his father was right. Turn to Hebrews chapter 11. I'll close with this. Hebrews 11, verse 13. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off. and were persuaded, convinced of them, and embraced them, and confessed they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country, and truly if they had been mindful of that country from which they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is in heaven, Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city. That's what it is to camp with Christ. Camping with Christ. Oh, blessed, happy camping. I've never had much opportunity to do it. I started pastoring when I was 21 years old, but I've always enjoyed camping. Not family camping, when Shelby and I get a chance to get away, She doesn't want to cook over and over with fire, and I don't want her to. But camping with friends, we go camping, we go fishing, we go camping, we go hunting, and usually plan to be gone for several days. But I always was anxious to get home, and usually did a day or two early. Here, we're just camping, camping and anxious for home. anxious for hope at God's appointed time. Amen. All right, let's listen.