Title:
The Way of Balaam
Text: 2
Peter 2: 14-16; Numbers 22-24
Scripture
reading: 2 Peter 2: 10-16
Date:
May 31, 2012
Place:
SGBC, New Jersey
2 Peter 2: 14: Having eyes full of adultery,
and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have
exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: 15: Which have forsaken the
right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of
Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16: But was rebuked for his
iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the
prophet.
Proposal: Balaam is set before us in scripture as an example of the
way which false prophets go.
Division:
1) The Heart of Balaam; 2) The Word Spoken by Balaam; 3) The Practice of Balaam
In Numbers
22, the children of Israel were camped in the plains of Moab. Balak, king of the Moabites, was afraid of
them. He sent messengers to Balaam
saying,
Numbers
22:
6: Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are
too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them,
and that I may drive them out of the land: for I wot that he whom thou
blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed. 7: And the elders of Moab and the
elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand; and
they came unto Balaam, and spake unto him the words of Balak.
I. THE HEART OF BALAAM
First, the heart of Balaam is compromise
under the pretense of holiness and love.
Numbers 22: 8: And he said unto them, Lodge
here this night, and I will bring you word again, as the LORD shall speak unto
me: and the princes of Moab abode with Balaam.
When
Balaam pretended to pray, Balaam really used enchantments: he sought
omens—signs. (Read Nu 24: 1.) He did it to appear holy before these men. But though Balaam did not come to God, God
came to Balaam.
Numbers
22:9
And God came unto Balaam, and said, What men are these with thee?
God
knows Balaam’s covetous heart and the desire of those men to curse God’s
people. But God is about to overrule the
wrath of Balaam and Balak to praise God’s own name and to bless his
people. He is doing the same here now by
what he did then.
Application:
Brethren, let this be great comfort to you, brethren. Our God is sovereign. He is able to overrule devils and evil men to
bring about his will, even over the ministry of false prophets. Against the evil desires of falsehood, God
will promote his glory and the good of his people.
Secondly, the heart of false prophets is to compromise
with the enemies of God, even against the word of God.
NUMBERS 22:12: And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not
go with them; thou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed.
Application: This is true now as it was then. GOD'S people are
blessed. Blessed because Christ Jesus is blessed and all God’s elect are blessed
in him and for his sake.
Psalm 72: 17: His name shall endure for ever: his name
shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him:
all nations shall call him blessed.
The
Lord’s people are eternally safe and secure in Christ. For the sake of our
Advocate, God shall protect us against all the wiles of evil in this world.
David said,
Psalm
109: 28: Let them curse, but bless thou: when they arise, let them be ashamed;
but let thy servant rejoice.
NUMBERS
22:13: And Balaam rose up in the morning, and said unto the
princes of Balak, Get you into your land: for the LORD refuseth to give me
leave to go with you.
Notice, the word of God to Balaam was, Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not
curse the people: for they are blessed. But Balaam merely told them the LORD refuseth to give me leave to go
with you. He might as well be saying, “Perhaps if you come again, at
another time God will allow it.” He left the door open when God said shut
it. He did it for one reason. Peter
said, “an heart they have exercised with covetous practices;…he loved the wages
of unrighteousness;”
Application: Covetousness is the greedy desire for what you
do not have. It is the root of all evil—including all heresy. False teachers have a heart exercised with
covetous practices. They love not the
Lord Jesus Christ but they love the wages of unrighteousness. Therefore they are willing to compromise with
those who preach another jesus and another way of salvation.
Not
so faithful men. Faithful men are
faithful to God, his word, and his people.
2 Corinthians 4:1: Therefore
seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; 2: But have renounced the hidden
things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God
deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every
man’s conscience in the sight of God….5: For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the
Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6: For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7: But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
Thirdly, the heart of Balaam is presumption and
self-will.
Balak sent again princes more honorable to Balaam with a
better offer.
Numbers 22: 17: For I will promote thee unto
very great honour, and I will do whatsoever thou sayest unto me: come
therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people.
Note:
Satan allures men with money, with positions of honor—give you titles, teaching
positions—promising to serve you, the very things the covetous heart desires.
Numbers 22: 18: And Balaam answered and said
unto the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and
gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the LORD my God, to do less or more. 19: Now
therefore, I pray you, tarry ye also here this night, that I may know what the
LORD will say unto me more. 20: And God
came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, If the men come to call thee,
rise up, and go with them; but yet the word which I shall say unto thee,
that shalt thou do.
God
tried Balaam in this to show us that the heart of a false prophet is
presumption and self-will. God told him
to go with one condition—v20: “If the men come to call thee, rise up, and
go with them.” Will Balaam be presumptuous
and self-willed to go? Or will he heed
the Lord’s command, patiently wait until the men came another time and call him
to go?
Application: God’s tries his preachers and his people. He commands us to preach Christ, to use what
he has given us to make sure the gospel goes forth and to wait on God to give
the increase. Our heart is like Moses,
Exodus 33: 14: And he said, My presence shall go with
thee, and I will give thee rest. 15: And he said unto him, If thy presence
go not with me, carry us not up hence. 16: For wherein shall it be known
here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in
that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all
the people that are upon the face of the earth.
But
Peter says the heart of false teachers and those who follow are presumptious, self-willed—Samuel told
Saul stubbornness is as idolatry. Balaam
did not send the men away and wait to see if they called him again. What did Balaam do?
Numbers 22:
21: And Balaam rose up in the morning,
and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab. 22: And God’s anger was kindled because he went:…
Balaam
mocked God. God’s anger was kindled because he went. And God rebuked him
2 Peter 2: 16: But was rebuked for his iniquity:
the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet.
Numbers 22: 22:…and the angel of the LORD
stood in the way for an adversary against him.
The
Angel is the pre-incarnate Christ, Christ the Messenger of the covenant (Ex
23:20; Mal 3: 1) Balaam’s donkey saw the Angel of the Lord but Balaam did
not.
The
donkey turned and Balaam smites him three times. When the ass asked why? Balaam said,
Numbers 22:
29: Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand,
for now would I kill thee.…31: Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he
saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand:
and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face. 32: And the angel of the
LORD said unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times?
Balaam
said he smote the ass because he mocked me—the Lord says that is what you are
doing to me.
Numbers 22: 32:…behold, I went out to
withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before me: 33 And the ass saw me, and turned from me these
three times: unless she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee,
and saved her alive.
Balaam’s
eyes were open so that he had a great head knowledge of truth.
Numbers 24: 15: And he took up his parable, and said,
Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said:
16: He hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the
most High, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but
having his eyes open:
But it was all in the head. He had not the Spirit of God—without the love
of Christ in his heart a man has no constraint to follow Christ and serve him.
Application: For the same reason, like
Balaam, false prophets are those natural, brute beasts that willingly,
deliberately, “forsake
the right way.” They forsake
what they know is truth because their true love is the wages of
unrighteousness. They want money. They want honor among the Moabites—Balak will
promote you to a teaching position, great honor, men will obey you—the covetous
man will take it, even if it means turning his back on God and cursing Israel.
II. THE TRUTH SPOKEN BY
BALAAM
Numbers 22: 35: And the angel of the LORD
said unto Balaam, Go with the men: but only the word that I shall speak unto
thee, that thou shalt speak. So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.
God sent Balaam to
make his power known on the vessels of mercy. Balaam despised the gospel, yet the
Lord put words in his mouth and forced him to speak the truth of the gospel.
Numbers 23: 8: How shall I curse, whom God
hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied? 9: For
from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the
people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. 10: Who
can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of
Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!
Numbers 23: 19: God is not a man, that
he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and
shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? 20:
Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I
cannot reverse it. 21: He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen
perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a
king is among them. 22: God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it
were the strength of an unicorn. 23
Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there
any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob
and of Israel, What hath God wrought! 24
Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as
a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink
the blood of the slain.
Each
time he proclaimed the truth, Balaam received opposition from Balak for
preaching the gospel. But though he said
the truth and withstood opposition because of the truth. It did not change the
fact that God declares Balaam a false prophet.
Three
times in the New Testament, Balaam is used as the example, to warn us to avoid false
prophets.
Application: Men and
women that support those who have gone the way of Balaam, justify their
preachers because they say he preaches much truth. Balaam did! But though his doctrine was true doctrine, he
was yet a false prophet. Why?
III. THE PRACTICE OF BALAAM
It
was not that Balaam’s doctrine was heresy.
But by his compromise with false
religion, Balaam taught Israel to worship Jehovah at the altar of Baal.
Numbers 22: 38 And Balaam said unto Balak, Lo, I am come
unto thee: have I now any power at all to say any thing? the word that God
putteth in my mouth, that shall I speak. 39: And Balaam went with Balak, and
they came unto Kirjathhuzoth. 40 And
Balak offered oxen and sheep, and sent to Balaam, and to the princes that were
with him. 41 And it came to pass on the
morrow, that Balak took Balaam, and brought him up into the high places of Baal,
that thence he might see the utmost part of the people. 23: 1: And Balaam
said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and
seven rams. 2 And Balak did as Balaam
had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a
ram. 3: And Balaam said unto Balak, Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go:
peradventure the LORD will come to meet me: and whatsoever he sheweth me I will
tell thee. And he went to an high place.
Three times, he did this. Each time calling upon the name of the Lord “in
the high places of Baal!” Though the words coming out of his mouth
was the gospel, the false doctrine he believed in his heart was manifest in
that he joined with the worshippers of
Baal.
At last, Balaam resorted to another tactic,
he used the women of Moab to cause Israel to commit trespass against God.
Numbers 31:15: And Moses
said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? 16: Behold, these caused the
children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against
the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation
of the LORD.
Application: Peter says “they have eyes full of adultery.” Like
Balaam used all these works in the high places, all this appearance of charity
and union with those of different opinion, like Israel was attracted by the
women: false prophets use their church and many religious activities to
attract:
·
their humanitarian missions and gospel
missions along with their prayer meetings (The Lord Jesus told us not to those
things to be seen of men.)
·
their many wonderful works in the name of the
Lord.
·
their compromise with those who preach
Armenian, free-will works religion
Jeremiah
3: 2: Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been
lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for
them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with
thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness. 3: Therefore the showers have been
withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore’s
forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.
As harlots unashamed, boasting, Peter calls it rioting.
2 Peter 2: 13: And shall
receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot
in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their
own deceivings while they feast with you
Using it all to allure those who were clean escaped from
their error.
2 Peter 2: 18: For when they speak great swelling words
of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much
wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
That is what began to happen with Israel.
Numbers 25: 1: And Israel abode in Shittim,
and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. 2: And they
called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat,
and bowed down to their gods. 3: And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and
the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.
Application: God tried those in Israel through all Balaam’s idolatry
and many failed. Will we?
James 1: 27: Pure religion and undefiled before God and
the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and
to keep himself unspotted from the world.
It
is one thing to visit will-worshippers and preach the gospel to them—for they
are fatherless and widows. It is another
to join with them and become spotted.
Be sure we get it: The idolatry Balaam led
them into was not an open denial of truth, or of God, or of the gospel. It was
the mixing of the worship of God with the worship of Baal, preaching grace but
practicing will worship and works religion, mixing Christ our Altar and our
Sacrifice with man’s altars and mans’ sacrifices.
Titus 1: 16: They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him,
being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
2 Corinthians 6: 16: And what agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I
will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they
shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come
out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the
unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall
be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
Hebrews 13: 10: We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which
serve the tabernacle….Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp,
bearing his reproach.
LASTLY
God prevented Balaam from cursing his
children and each time he was made to bless them. And God continued to bless
his people in the plain. So God shall
make the wrath of man to praise him and work for the good of his saints. Balaam was made to confess it, saying,
Numbers 24: 5: How goodly are thy tents, O
Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! 6: As the valleys are they spread
forth, as gardens by the river’s side, as the trees of lign aloes which the
LORD hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters. 7: He shall
pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters,
and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted.
8 God brought him forth out of Egypt; he
hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his
enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his
arrows. 9 He couched, he lay down as a
lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that
blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee.
In the end, God sent his servant Moses. Through Phineas he stayed the plague—a
picture of God sending his true messenger with the gospel of Christ whereby the
Spirit of God conquers the heart of his children and brings his people to
believe on Christ in whom our plaque has been put away. So God saves his people from Balaam’s way. We overcome by the blood of the Lamb, by the
word the testimony—the gospel, by his grace giving us a new heart so that we no
longer love our lives unto the death, but forsake all and follow Christ through
faith.
God prevented the honor Balaam sought. Balaam
went his way and Balak went his way. And eventually
David arose and conquered Moab—a picture of Christ fully slaying all our
enemies in the day he returns.
Numbers 24: 17 I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold
him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall
rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the
children of Sheth. 18 And Edom shall be
a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies; and Israel shall
do valiantly. 19: Out of Jacob
shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of
the city.
As long as we continue with this world’s Moabites
constantly trying to allure us into their false religion, we are to do one
thing. Follow Christ, taking heed to his
gospel until that Star of Jacob returns.
2 Peter 1: 19: We
have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed,
as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day
star arise in your hearts:
Amen!