Richard Ellis Talks

Guest (Male): Today on Richard Ellis Talks.

Richard Ellis: So I believe you get to heaven and the people that are missing, you don't know they're missing because it would break your heart forever. So if it can't break your heart forever on the other side, let it break your heart now. The way to avoid no see um in heaven is to share the gospel on this side.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. We're so grateful you've tuned into the program. Richard wants to share with you some encouragement, words of hope, and probably a laugh or two. In today's complicated, busy life, that's exactly what's needed. Richard's talks are always straight from the Bible, filled with truth.

Now, you may not be able to hang out with us for the entire program, but you can always pick it back up at our website, richardellis.com. In fact, you can find all of Richard's talks right there waiting just for you, richardellis.com. So with today's talk, here's Richard Ellis.

Richard Ellis: The title today's message is "No See Um." Does anybody know what that word means, "no see um"? Raise your hand. Those are people that have been to the beach and lived to tell about it. If you ask anyone who's been anywhere where they encountered the no see um, they will tell you about a tiny flying insect that can do some damage before you ever know what hit you. This is something you don't believe until it happens, but once you have experienced the no see um, which is the technical word for this little bug because you no see um, but they see you.

Some places it's called a midge, some places a sand fly, some places a punkie, and it is this tiny little bug that is all around you and you cannot see it. It attacks, and when it's done and you think you didn't need any bug spray, the following day you're dipping in it because it will drill little holes in your body where you're not protected and leave itchy spots that need to be scratched, and when they're scratched, they swell and it just goes from bad to worse. So the no see um is not something you want to mess with.

So let me talk to you today about some no see ums in the Bible. Numbers chapter 22 is where we're going to start and I'm going to read you some stories and then we'll be on our way. Numbers chapter 22, and this story is actually really great in the King James Version and I'll read you some of the King James Version verses that make you really nervous. Numbers chapter 22, let's jump in at verse one. Everybody got it?

Then the children of Israel moved and camped in the plains of Moab on the side of the Jordan across from Jericho. Now Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites and Moab was exceedingly afraid of the people because they were many, and Moab was sick with dread because of the children of Israel. So Moab said to the elders of Midian, "Now this company will lick up everything around us as an ox licks up the grass of the field." And Balak the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time.

Then he sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor, which is near the river in the land of the sons of his people, to call him saying—and this is why he sent for Balaam—"Look, a people has come from Egypt. See, they cover the face of the earth and are settling next to me. Therefore, please come at once, curse this people for me, for they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed and whom you curse is cursed."

So Balaam had a reputation that if he blessed somebody they were blessed, if he cursed them, it didn't go well. So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the diviner's fee in their hand, like we're going to pay this guy money to bless who we want blessed and curse who we want cursed. And they came to Balaam and spoke to him the words of Balak. And he said to them, "Lodge here tonight and I will bring back word to you as the Lord speaks to me." So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.

Then God came to Balaam and said, "Who are these men with you?" So Balaam said to God, "Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me saying, 'Look, a people has come from Egypt and they cover the face of the earth. Come now, curse them for me. Perhaps I will be able to overpower them and drive them out.'" And God said to Balaam, "You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed." So Balaam rose in the morning, said to the princes of Balak, "Go back to your land, for the Lord has refused to give me permission to go with you."

And the princes of Moab rose and went to Balak and said, "Balaam refuses to come with us." Then Balak again sent princes, more numerous and more honorable than they. And they came to Balaam and said to him, "Thus says Balak son of Zippor, 'Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me, for I will certainly honor you greatly and I will do whatever you say to me. Therefore, please come, curse this people for me.'"

Then Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, "Though Balak were to give me"—now look at how he throws this out here—"though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord my God to do less or more. Now therefore, please you also stay here tonight that I may know what more the Lord will say to me." And God came to Balaam that night and said to him, "If the men come to call you, rise and go with them, but only the word which I speak to you, that you shall do."

And then look at verse 21, and this is where the trouble starts. So Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab. Now what did he do wrong? He did not wait for them to call on him. He's anxious to go do whatever this is, and I'll read you a verse in the New Testament that reveals that really this guy is eaten up with greed and he's thinking, "If I can find a way to go with them and do what they want done, then I'm going to get rich." So he gets up to go with them.

So Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, went with the princes of Moab. Now look at verse 22. Then God's anger was aroused because he went, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as an adversary against him. Now you're going to see here that Balaam no see um. So this angel takes a stand against him. Let's keep reading. And he was riding on his donkey and his two servants were with him. Now the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand, and the donkey turned aside out of the way and went into the field.

So Balaam struck the donkey to turn him back onto the road. Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards with a wall on this side and a wall on that side. And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord she pushed herself against the wall and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall, so he struck her again. Then the angel of the Lord went further and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left.

And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam. So Balaam's anger was aroused and he struck the donkey with his staff. So this donkey's getting whacked repeatedly for trying to protect the owner and rider, Balaam. Now I'm about to read you something. If you've never read this story, you're going to go, "What in the world is this about?" This will make the animal people really happy, so get ready. And just pray this never happens to your animal if you are cruel to your animal.

Now look at verse 28. Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you?" Now I know they probably haven't talked before, but this is like a cartoon moment actually. There are cartoons where donkeys talk, but it's probably not that same voice you're thinking. But here this animal looks up and says, "What have I done to you?" And Balaam said to the donkey—now this is where you're probably in trouble. If a donkey speaks to you and you speak back, you're pretty much gone at that point. You think, "Well this is crazy." No, you're the one talking back to the donkey.

So the donkey says, "What have I done to you that you struck me these three times?" This is a smart donkey, been counting. And Balaam said to the donkey, "Because you have abused me. You're the one abusing me. I wish there were a sword in my hand and now I would kill you." So the donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden ever since I became yours to this day? Was I ever disposed to do this? Have I ever done anything like this to you before?" And he says, "No."

This is very disturbing by the way. This is an intense conversation. So he says, "No, you've never done anything to me." And then it happens. It went from no see um to see um. Then the Lord opened Balaam's eyes and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand, and he bowed his head and fell flat on his face. And the angel of the Lord said to him, "Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to stand against you because your way is perverse before me."

"The donkey saw me and turned aside from me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, surely I would also have killed you by now and let her live." And Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, "I have sinned, for I did not know you stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it pleases you, I will turn back." Then the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, "Go with the men, but only the word that I speak to you, that you shall speak." So Balaam went with the princes of Balak. And if you follow the story, he goes and the king tries all these machinations to get him to curse and he won't.

Now, you say, "What are you talking about? What is this no see um thing?" As far as I know, I have never seen an angel. I know people who have. I know people who have been in this room and seen angels in this room. You say, "Well, how do you know there's angels if you've never seen an angel?" Because the book says there are. You say, "Well, that's not proof." It is to me. Now, this story, you say, "Was that a demon coming against Balaam?" No, that was an angel of the Lord.

Now, this is a situation you do not want. You do not want a situation where you are up against something that you cannot see that is not from the enemy's side, it's from God's side trying to stop you from doing a fool thing. So ask yourself this question: is it possible? You think, "Well, I'm under attack." Is it possible that God himself has sent an angel of the Lord to slow you down, stop you, maybe kill you if he has to, because you are so hell-bent on going the wrong direction and doing what you want to do?

Just because you don't see them doesn't mean they're not there. Now, I personally am okay with not seeing them ever in my life because I'm freaked out enough by what I can see without seeing a bunch of angels and demons going at it. Now go to 2 Kings chapter 6, and this has got to be one of my favorite stories in the whole book. 2 Kings 6:8. Now the king of Syria was making war against Israel, and he consulted with his servants saying, "My camp will be in such and such a place."

And the man of God sent to the king of Israel saying, "Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are coming down there." Then the king of Israel sent someone to the place in which the man of God had told him. Thus he warned him, and he was watchful there, not just once or twice. Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was greatly troubled by this thing, and he called his servants and said to them, "Will you not show me which of us is for the king of Israel?"

And one of his servants said, "None, my lord, oh king, but Elisha the prophet who is in Israel tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom." So he said, "Go and see where he is that I may send out and get him." And it was told him saying, "Surely he is in Dothan." Therefore he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city. And when the servant of the man of God arose and went out, there was an army surrounding the city with horses and chariots.

And his servant, Gehazi here, his servant said to him, "Alas, my master, what shall we do? We're surrounded." So this king sends not just a little delegation—horses, chariots, and an army to surround the city because he's so afraid of one guy, Elisha. So he says, "What shall we do?" So he answered, "Do not fear." If you're comfortable underlining things in your Bible, this would not be a bad one. "Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." Do you believe that?

Now, what is that referring to? See, you may think, "I'm by myself. It's just little old me with little old Jesus living in me." Now you think, "Wouldn't that be enough?" That is not all that's going on. I don't think I'm by myself, and actually I think it should be way more disturbing for any of us who claim to be Christians to do some of the things that we do because we've got God on the inside, angels on the outside, witnessing everything we do.

And you think, "How could that be possible and people not stop doing what they're doing?" You hear stories about presidents throughout history that had Secret Service detail and running women, crazy stuff going on, and all the time all their protection knew exactly what was going on. But it went on anyway. Why? Because they're just there to protect, they weren't there to tell you how to live. So read that little phrase again, "Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them."

And Elisha prayed and said, "Lord, I pray open his eyes that he may see." Now I don't know if Elisha saw or needed to see or not, but the specific prayer was, "Lord, open his eyes that he may see." Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw, and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, "Strike this people, I pray, with blindness."

And he struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. You say, "He was a prophet, that's why he was surrounded." There are myriads and myriads and myriads of angels in the Bible. The Bible talks about a third of the angels fell, so the demons and the angels—the angels outnumber the demons two to one. But there are lots of demons, lots of angels. Now let me tell you the way I choose to approach this. I don't go around thinking about demons and I don't recommend you do either.

And so if you're reading a lot of books, going to a lot of seminars about demons, you need to read your Bible. You need to focus on Jesus and put him first, put him out there. You say, "What about the demons?" I got enough angels to take care of those demons. And I got enough Jesus to summon those angels to take care of those demons. I am not going to live in fear. Go to Ephesians chapter 6. Now some of you know this by heart, some of you have never seen this in your life, and this can be extremely helpful in what we're talking about, the no see um stuff in the world.

Ephesians chapter 6, verse 10. He says, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might." Do not be strong in yourself and in the power of your might. You will get your butt kicked. You go out into the world, you go out anywhere in your own strength, and the enemy—and you read there's scriptures that talk about somebody trying to cast out a demon, do something in the Bible, and they go, "We know who he is, we don't know who you are," and they pounce on them.

Sons of Sceva, you go read any of these stories. You do not want to address the enemy on your own. You better have some game and be hooked up before you start engaging the enemy, because some people who engage the enemy get overwhelmed by that enemy and then he takes them on and uses them as a terrible pawn in his scheme and creates division, all kind of problems. So look at what he says: "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."

Then there is a battle and there is stuff you wear in the battle. There is armor, spiritual armor that you wear in this battle. You say, "Well, where do I go buy this stuff? At the Christian bookstore? Do they sell armor at the Christian bookstore?" It's a spiritual battle, it's spiritual armor. "Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." Why? "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

"Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand." So what does that mean? It means you put on this armor, and he goes on to describe the armor: "Stand therefore having girded your waist with truth, put on the breastplate of righteousness, feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

"Praying always with all prayer and with supplication in the spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints and for me that utterance may be given to me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains, that in it I may speak boldly as I ought to speak." I get my butt kicked when I don't put the armor on, period. Because if you take the time to suit up and stand in the battle, when it's all over you will be left standing. It's what it says.

You say, "Well, I'm tired of being defeated all the time." Then stop being defeated all the time. You say, "Well, it's my wife." It is not your wife. "It's my husband." It is not your husband. "It's my kids. It's my boss." It's not any flesh and blood person. It is principalities and powers, the rulers of darkness. It's what's described there. Steal, kill, destroy, they're after you. You say, "Oh, that's terrifying." Shouldn't be terrifying. Let's read some more verses.

Here's an encouraging one: 1 John chapter 4, and I'm almost out of verses. 1 John chapter 4, verse 4. And this is what he says: "You are of God, little children, and have overcome them because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." You have to know that and believe that. There is no situation I am ever going to encounter in this life where who's on the outside is greater than he that I have on the inside. Not going to be in any situation.

You're a Christian, you can walk into a firestorm. The God who created the entire universe and all the angels and everything that has ever existed here and in the hereafter lives in my little body right here. So what weapon formed against me, what anything coming against me? You say, "Well, how could it work?" Only if God allows it. "Well, what if you do something stupid and bring it on yourself?" He had to allow that too. "What if you do something stupid and an angel of the Lord comes with a sword and kills you and you're in heaven?" I'm in heaven. I'll have to answer for it, but I'm in heaven.

I will do nothing but make heaven and try to avoid all the hell I can on this side, and I recommend you do the same. Then go down in that same chapter, 1 John chapter 4, verse 12. So this is back to the no see um in terms of God. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us and his love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us because he has given us of his Spirit, and we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.

You say, "Well, have you ever seen God?" I'm supposed to be able to see him in you and you're supposed to be able to see him in me. I meet these people all the time. I meet them and you know somebody else lives in that house, it's not just that person. Somebody's home. And I say, "Are you a Christian?" And they say yes, and I say, "Tell me about that." They're not hiding anything under a bushel. The light's on. That's how it's supposed to be with us. And they go, "Wow, I probably couldn't absorb seeing God, but I'm getting little flickers with you," and that's what's supposed to happen.

Verse 15: "Whoever confesses that Jesus is the son of God, God abides in him." Now let me just say this for a second: Jesus is the son of God. God abides in him and he in God, and we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment because as he is, so are we in this world.