The Story of Balaam Pt 2

Good evening. Would you all stand with me and join me in prayer? Father, we thank you for this opportunity to come and worship in song and study your word tonight, Lord. We ask for your blessing on our service that we would just look to you, Lord. We thank you that you're in control. We can trust you in every area of our life. We're so appreciative of that, Lord. Just bless our time.

We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. I want to welcome all of you this evening to Calvary Chapel and those who are joining us online as we begin to worship and study God's word this evening. I have a maker. He formed my heart before even time began. My life was in his hand. He knows my name. He knows my name. We ask that trusting you, look to you, allow you to empty those things as we yield to you,

as you show us, Lord, as you speak to us by your Holy Spirit, as your word is taught, Lord, you begin to meet us individually, we know. And so would you do that tonight? Meet us individually where we are as we fellowship with you and one another. And as we hear your word taught, we'd ask that you would anoint Pastor Ryan with the power of your Holy Spirit to teach your word tonight, that it would do its work in hearts tonight, that you would bless, Lord.

Father, may we be shining lights in a dark world in what we do and what we say, and we give you thanks in Jesus' name. Amen. Lord bless you.

Good evening. Good to be back. It was fun to go, but it's always nice to come home and sleep in your own bed. So good to be back with everybody. If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Numbers, chapter 24. Numbers 24. Last time we were together, at least last time I was with you, we started talking about Balaam. I think one of the more fascinating stories in the Old Testament.

And so just kind of a quick recap to bring us back up to speed. And may I say, I was able to listen. It's so fun that we do have the system that we do here. And I think it's so fun that we here now that when you're on vacation, you can still join in and watch church. So I watched Wednesday night and I thought Nick did a fantastic job. I really enjoyed his message and got to watch

most of Sunday morning, although our internet coverage was mildly spotty while driving. And I thought Lewis did a fantastic job, but it's really fun that we have this system to be able to continue to watch. But I was talking to the folks in the video booth and they were like, you know, if it's just Lewis or Nick, we really just need one shot because they don't move. But when you're here, we need multiple cameras because you move around a lot. So my bad. It's the ADHD in me that keeps

me moving around constantly. So we're talking about Balaam. And remember, the children of Israel were camping in the plains of Moab. They are right on the edge of the promised land at this point in time. As a matter of fact, we saw some small victories that they were able to have over some of the neighboring countries. And as they were having some of these small victories, they are

really in their last major battle slash story, maybe place of temptation that they're going to face before they move into the promised land. And so as they're right there at the edge of the promised land, having seen some victory, the king of the Moabites, the land in which they were camping, which by the way, they didn't plan on doing anything to the Moabites. We actually learn in the book of Deuteronomy that God said, hey, just leave them alone. That's not your land. That's not

going to be the case after this story this time. But as they're camping there, the king comes up with a plan. King Balak has an idea. He says, I'll deal with the nation of Israel in a way that will hopefully keep us out of battle. There's a guy that I've heard about who is a prophet of God. He seems to know what he's doing. So let's hire him. He can curse the nation of Israel and then we won't even

have to fight. Their God will take care of it for them. And so that's what he does. He sends men to Balaam. And of course, when men show up to Balaam, we said Balaam is this fascinating character because he's not a part of the nation of Israel and yet seems to be a part of the nation of Israel. He seems to have some form of a knowledge of God, whether it's a true surrendered heart to God or not,

we're not real sure. Actually, we're starting to maybe think he is a little more surrendered to money than he is to God. Either way, he had seen success in the past. So when they show up to Balaam, Balaam says, hold on, I have to ask God. God says, no, don't go. And so they come back a second time. Hey, listen, we're willing to pay you even more money. And he's like, God, please. And God's like,

fine, but only say what I tell you to say. His heart wasn't fully set on obeying God because an angel of the Lord, the angel of the Lord had set himself up against Balaam and his donkey just continued to sit down and bump him into walls and just cause him all kinds of grief, woe and misery until finally he had had enough and he started beating his donkey. And so when he did so, the donkey, God opened his mouth and the donkey said, why are you hitting me like this? I've never done this to you before. And the greatest part is that Balaam answers back and he

goes, no. And so he has this whole conversation with the donkey. And as he does so, God opens his eyes and reveals the angel of the Lord. And the angel of the Lord says, I was ready to kill you. You should thank your donkey because he saved your life. Now only say the things that I tell you to say. And so he shows up. And as he shows up, he says, I can only say what God tells me to

say, but build me some altars over here and we'll see what happens. And so they build seven altars and they make all these sacrifices. And Balaam proceeds to speak. He hears from the Lord. And of course, rather than it being a cursing on the nation of Israel, it's actually a blessing on the nation of Israel. And Balaam's going, what is going on here? That's

not what I wanted you to do at all. Let's find a different spot. Maybe the nation of Israel will look different from a different spot. So we'll go up on a different mountain. They go up on a different mountain, same result. So he has these two prophecies blessing the nation of Israel. And as we pick up tonight, there's going to be two more prophecies that are given, the last two

prophecies of Balaam. And then we'll see the sin at Pehor. And so we'll pick up, first of all, in chapter 24 with the last two prophecies of Balaam. So we pick up in verse 24, and this is what it says. When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go as at other times to seek omens. But he set his face towards the wilderness, and Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel camping

tribe by tribe, and the Spirit of God came upon him. And he took up his disclosure and said, the oracle of Balaam, the son of Pehor, and the oracle of the man whose eye is opened, the oracle of him who hears the words of God, who sees vision of the Almighty, falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered. Where are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel? Like valleys that stretch out, like gardens beside the rivers, like aloes planted by the Lord, like cedars beside the waters. Water will flow

from his buckets, and his seed will be by many waters. And his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. God brings him out of Egypt. He is for him like the horns of the wild ox. He will devour the nations who are his adversaries and will crush their bones in pieces and shatter them with his arrows. He couches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who dares rouse him?

Blessed is everyone who blesses you, and cursed is everyone who curses you. Now, Balaam is starting to pick up on the pattern that God has been following with the nation of Israel. As a matter of fact, I think these next two prophecies are the most spiritually enlightened Balaam has been in his entire life. And if he had lived in this place of being spiritually enlightened, he would have really been blessed because of it. We'll find out that that's not the case,

but let's dwell on the good thing that's happening right now, shall we? It says that he didn't start as before. Remember before he said, you need to build me a whole bunch of altars, and then I need to try to ascertain or discern what the word of God is, the oracle, the omen. This time, he's in the flow of the Spirit. And as he's in the flow of the Spirit, he says,

I don't need all those other things. I'm actually just going to speak forth what the Lord lays on my heart to declare about the nation of Israel. And it says he looks out and he sees the nation of Israel encamped. I don't know why, but that particular phrase in the verse has really been working on my heart and mind these past couple of days. The fact that he just looked out and

saw the nation of Israel encamped. What was it about that that really started to happen? And the more I've thought about it, the more I've thought about the arrangement of the nation of Israel. Do you remember how they were arranged? They were arranged almost like a cross, but that's not even the part I want to point out. What was at the center of the nation of Israel? At the center

of the nation of Israel, at the center of their encampment was the tabernacle, the representation of God amongst the people. Because the idea would be that God would always dwell amongst the people. And so I think when he looked out on that camp and he saw the camp of the children of Israel, what he actually saw was a lot of people. And so I think when he looked out on that camp and he saw the glory of God in the middle of the camp, which is why he says the oracle of Balaam in the verse three, the son of Beor, an oracle of the man whose eye is opened, who hears the words of God and who sees the vision of the almighty. Now, I got to tell you, not very many commentators spend very

much time on those three things, but I think those are fascinating phrases that Balaam lists there. Again, I think this is the most spiritually in tune. Balaam has ever been in his life and the most spiritually in tune he will ever be in his life. Because isn't it amazing that when God is at work in our hearts and we begin to get tuned into him, that's exactly what happens to us. Our eyes get opened and all of a sudden we start seeing God

more clearly and our ears get opened up and we can hear what he has to say to us. And we're able to see the almighty, not that we actually see God, but that we actually see what God wants for us to see. We can see the presence of God all the time. And we can see the presence of God all the time. At work in all of the situations. And that's what Balaam looks at when he sees the nation of

Israel with God camped right there in the middle. And so as he looks at them, he of course gives another prophecy. Of course, the first prophecy is the blessing and prosperity of the dwellings of the nation of Israel. Do you notice what it said? Like valleys they stretch out, like gardens beside the river, like aloes planted by the Lord, like cedars beside the waters. Water will flow

like buckets. Now they're in the desert. That's a pretty important thing to have happen at that point in time, right? And so as he looks out, God gives him this vision of the blessing and the prosperity of the nation of Israel. But it's not just the blessing and prosperity of the nation in a material sort of way. He also sees the dominance of their king. Notice what it says.

His king shall be higher in the verse seven than Agag. Agag was a powerful king at that point in time. He says his leader will actually have dominance over all of the other kings. And if that's not all, their kingdom, the kingdom of the nation of Israel, will be dominant over all those around them. Notice what it says. And his kingdom shall be exalted. Jump down to middle of verse eight. He will devour the nations who are his adversaries

and will crush their bones in pieces and shatter them with his arrows. Can you imagine being Balak at this point in time? Everything about them is going to be blessed and prosperous. Their king is going to be better than you. Their kingdom is going to be better than yours. As a matter of fact, they're going to crush your bones. Well, that's not what I wanted at all. That's the exact opposite of what I wanted to

happen. But I want to point out one last thing to you about this prophecy that Balaam gives. Did you notice that at the end of verse nine, blessed is everyone who blesses you and cursed is everyone who curses you? Now, I think that's important for two reasons. Number one, because that is the very first blessing that God gave to Abraham when he called the nation of Israel to separate them unto

themselves, right? He said, I will bless those who bless you and I'll curse those who curse you. And so I think, first of all, it's very indicative of the fact that this is the same God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that's still blessing the nation of Israel. But I also think it was a warning to Balak because what did Balak call Balaam there to do? To curse the nation.

I can't say this definitively because it never says this in scripture, but I feel like this is perhaps God's way of giving Balak an out. Ooh, blessed are those who bless you and cursed are those who cursed you. Hey, Balaam, you know, I think we're done here. I think this is good, right? Like we've done what we need to do. Clearly you've blessed them. I agree with you. Let's move on.

I could be wrong on that, but it seems like he's giving Balak a little bit of an out right now. But of course, Balak can't see that because he's too enraged with his desire to curse the nation of Israel. Because take note of what happens in the reaction. Then Balak's anger burned against Balaam and he struck his hands together. I don't know why I find that funny, but I do. Actually, I do know why I find that funny because I own two dogs.

And when they do something that really frustrates me, the only thing I really know to do to get their attention is to clap my hands really loud. And they both go, right? They both give you that look like, sorry, dad. And so that's exactly what Balak does. He's so angry. He's just clapping. And Balak said to Balaam, And Balaam said to Balak, Did I not tell you? Did I not tell your messengers whom you had sent to me saying,

though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, hint, hint, I could not do anything contrary. To the command of the Lord, either good or bad of my own accord, what the Lord speaks that I will speak. And so, of course, the reaction is the same. Balak is very angry with Balaam. He says, I called you here to curse and you're only blessing them. Balaam says, I can only do what

God tells me to do. I've told you that from from the get go. You should know this. But there's one little verse that stuck out to me, one line in a verse that stuck out to me. Perhaps it did to you too. Middle of verse 11, it says, But behold, the Lord has held you back. Now, that's an interesting thing for Balak to say to Balaam, because you see, Balak only can think

in the worldly perspective. In the worldly perspective, Balaam's obedience to God was preventing honor from the world to come upon him. And it reminds me that sometimes obedience will have a temporary cost in our lives. Sometimes when we obey God, we don't win the game. Sometimes when we obey God, we don't make it out. Sometimes when we obey God, everything doesn't work out like sunshine and roses, because sometimes

when we obey God, there is a temporary cost that we have to pay. If you don't believe me, read Fox's Book of Martyrs. You will see a lot of people who obeyed God and paid a temporary cost, who could have easily, as a king was putting them to death, the king could have told them, the Lord has kept you from honor. But brothers and sisters, our honor can't come in this world. And our honor will not come in this

world. Because as Paul told us in the book of 2 Corinthians, we don't seek the things which are below, which are temporary. We seek the things which are above, because they are eternal. And I say that because I think as we continue to move on in life, as we continue to shuffle our way down the road of history, there will be a time when we will see the things which are above, which are temporary. And we will continue to be some temporary prices that we as believers in Jesus Christ have to

pay. And I don't think I'm ridiculous in giving that warning. Paul gave that warning as he went back and talked to the churches there in the book of Acts. He told them that through much suffering, we must enter the kingdom of heaven. And I don't think we as the 21st century church can necessarily be exempted from that. And it may at times feel like the Lord is keeping you back from honor, but it's

because he has something so much better. His obedience. Jesus leads us to eternal glory. Amen. So this is what Balaam says. He says, hey, listen, I told you I can only say what God tells me to say. And as a matter of fact, I'm not done yet because now he's going to give the fourth prophecy. Notice what he says. And now behold, verse 14, I'm going to my people. Come and I will advise you what the people will do to your people in the days to come. He

took up his discourse and said, the oracle of Balaam, the son of Beorah, the son of Balaam, the son of The oracle of the man whose eye is opened, the oracle of him who hears the word of God and knows the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered. I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not near. A star shall come forth from Jacob.

A scepter shall rise from Israel and shall crush through the forehead of Moab and tear down all the sons of Sheth. Edom shall be a possession. Seir, its enemies, also will be a possession. While Israel performs valiantly, one from Jacob shall have dominion and will destroy the remnant from the city. And he looked at Amalek and took up his discourse and said,

Amalek was the first of the nations, but his end shall be... And he looked at the Kenite and took up his discourse and said, Your dwelling place is enduring and your nest is set in the cliff. Nevertheless, Cain will be consumed. How long will Asher keep you captive? Then he took up this discourse and said, Alas, who can live except God has ordained it? But ships shall come from the coast of Kittim

and shall afflict Asher and will afflict Eber. So they will come to destruction. Then Balaam... Arose and departed and returned to his place. And also Balak went his way. Oh man, so much stuff loaded in there. I love it because Balaam goes, Listen, I can only say what God tells me to say and that's not the only thing I have to say. I want to tell you what's about to come of your people.

And he goes on to give this prophecy. And it starts off much like the third one did with his eyes being opened, his ears being opened, him understanding... the knowledge of God, seeing the vision of the Almighty. Everything is just going amazing. And then he begins to give this prophecy. And this next part of the prophecy is so important because he gives a prophecy of a coming king.

And this seems to be something that goes a little bit deeper than just the here and the now. Something deeper than just the... This is what's coming in the next few years for the nation of Israel. Look again at what it says in verse 17. I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not near. A star shall come forth from Jacob. A scepter shall arise from Israel and shall crush through the head of Moab

and tear down all the sons of Sheth. This is a prophecy of a coming king. Now, it would be easy for us to say that this was fulfilled in David. And I do think there's a partial fulfillment, a near fulfillment, because a lot of prophecy has partial and full fulfillments as well as near and future fulfillments. I think that a partial fulfillment or a near fulfillment of this would be David

because David established a throne in Israel, actually God established it, but he established it through David that had complete dominance over all the enemies that were around. And he was sometime from this point in time in the book of Numbers. And so there is a near fulfillment of David that takes place here. But you see, I think he's looking much farther down the line than David.

He doesn't know it because that's why he's saying, I see him, but it's not near. And I behold him, but it's not close by. A star shall come forth out of Jacob. We talked about this a few weeks ago on Sunday morning in the book of Matthew. Why did the wise men start looking for a star? Why were they looking for a star that would come out of Jacob? Why were they looking for a star

that would come out of Israel? Well, because I believe personally that when Daniel went into captivity into Babylon, he took all of the truth of the word of God with him. And he began to teach all of the wise men in the area of Babylon the truth of what the Old Testament had to say. That there was a coming Messiah. And they would know him because his star would be seen.

Because right here, Balaam says, a star shall come forth out of Jacob. I personally believe that that's what that's referring to. And when those wise men saw the star show up, they went, that's exactly what Daniel said we should be looking for. That must be what it is. We should go find the king. Because remember, they didn't say they were looking for a Messiah.

Who did they say they were looking for? They were looking for a king in Jerusalem. They were looking for a king to come out of the nation of Israel. And so he gives this wonderful prophecy. He probably had no idea. But there was going to be this coming king that would be ultimately fulfilled in Jesus. And he goes on to give some prophecies. Prophecies about some of the surrounding nations.

And then he and Balaam part ways. And if chapter 25 did not exist with some other supporting verses that tell us exactly what happened in chapter 25, one would be left with the impression that Balaam got it. That he had come to a place of understanding. Because after all, in those last two prophecies, what did he say? He said, the man whose eye is open, the man who hears the word,

who knows the knowledge of God, who knows the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the visions of the Almighty. And he says, I can only do what God tells me to do. I can only be obedient to Him. One would find themselves going, it's amazing! Balaam got it! He started off a little rough. The donkey thing was weird, but he's finally there. He's finally where he needs to be.

Everything's looking great for the nation of Israel because God kept blessing them through Balaam. But then comes chapter 25. The sin at Peor. Verse 1 says, While Israel remained at Shittim, the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. For they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods. And the people ate and bowed down to their gods.

So Israel joined themselves to Baal of Peor. And the Lord was angry against Israel. It's such an unfortunate set of verses, isn't it? Everything seems to be going wonderful for the nation of Israel. God is blessing them. God is protecting them. He is keeping all of His promises to the nation of Israel. You thought, surely they're done after the serpent thing.

Surely they're over this whole thing by now. Surely knowing the story of what took place with the golden calf would keep this new generation and the remainder of the old generation from falling back into the exact same sin. And yet here we find them. We find them falling back into the same sins. Because it says, While they remained there, they began to play the harlot

with the daughters of Moab. What does he mean by that? He goes on to explain it, that they joined themselves to Baal of Peor. They were invited to the sacrifices. The people ate and they bowed down to their gods and they joined themselves to Baal of Peor. You see, there was a two-pronged issue that the nation of Israel was facing. They were not only giving into idolatry,

but they were giving into immorality. Those two issues came together in this worship of Baal of Peor. As a matter of fact, oftentimes throughout the Old Testament, you will find that idolatry is always mixed with idolatry. It's always mixed with, it's always mixed with immorality. It's amazing how the sins of the flesh tend to mingle themselves together. Because the way that they would worship

Baal of Peor involved deep sexual immorality. That's not even given to us here in detail because we just need to know it took place. We don't need to know the details of it. But because of that, there was sin in the camp. Now you're probably still finding yourself going, Ryan, what does Balaam have? What does Balaam have to do with any of this? I have not read his name.

How did he have any kind of an issue with this? Well, I want you to look over real quick over to chapter 31.

Chapter 31 of the book of Numbers. And I want you to look at verse 16.

And this is what it says. Behold, these caused the sons of Israel, take note of what it says next, through the counsel of Balaam. To trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor. So the plague was among the congregation of the Lord. What caused them all of a sudden to start giving in to some form of idolatry with the Moabites? After all, the Moabites were keeping themselves

back from the nation of Israel, right? Because they were scared of them. So why all of a sudden did the nation of Israel start joining themselves to Baal of Peor and taking part in not only the spiritual idolatrous worship, but the physical immoral worship of this foreign God? Why all of a sudden did they do that? You can imagine how it went, right? Balak's really mad at Balaam.

Balaam says, listen, I told you from the get-go, I can only say what God wants me to say. And clearly God is not going to curse these people. They are his chosen people. Did you not hear the things that I said? Those words were, straight from God. That's how he feels about the nation of Israel. He is not going to curse them.

But if you promise to still pay me the money, I think I have an idea. You see, God's not going to curse them, but when they sin, he'll judge them. And so what I can't do through cursing, they can do to themselves through sinning. Here's what you need to do. You need to send in the girls. You need to send the temple prostitutes down amongst the nation of Israel.

When you send those temple prostitutes in, you let them know exactly what they're allowed to do in the worship of Baal of Peor. And I can almost guarantee you won't get all of them, but you'll get a lot of them. And God will have to deal with them because he'll judge their sin. What a horrific thing for Balaam to do to the nation of Israel. But before we become

too hard on Balaam, what a horrific thing for the nation of Israel to allow themselves to fall into. You see, everybody likes to blame the one that does the tempting. Nobody likes to blame the one who couldn't keep themselves from giving in. How dare you put them in this compromising position? Now look at what they've done. They had a choice the entire time.

So that's how this whole thing takes place. Balaam gives them the advice and so now they're going to do it. And so now they're going to do it. And so now they're going to do it. And so now they're going to do it. And so now they're going to do it. And so now they go down and now they've joined themselves with this foreign God. Now they've taken part in this immorality

and now God's going to deal with His people. And He's going to deal with them very swiftly. And we can find ourselves asking why? Why is God going to deal with them so harshly? Because they are so close to the edge of the promised land. They are so close to entering the promised land. And after all, they have spent how many years now seeing God's faithfulness?

Almost 40 years now of seeing God's faithfulness and of knowing exactly how much God's faithfulness God hates sin, of knowing exactly how God feels about idolatry. After all, you can't hardly read five verses in the law without finding out how much God hates idolatry. So God has to deal with it because with knowledge comes responsibility. So notice what happens.

It says, The Lord said to Moses, Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the Lord. So that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel. So Moses said to the judges of Israel, Each of you slay his men who have joined themselves to Baal of Peor. Wow. That's pretty intense. I appreciate the language that's used there

because we're allowed to get a little bit of a view into how swiftly God wanted this dealt with. He said, Find those that are involved, especially the leaders that are involved and execute them where? In broad daylight. In other words, where everyone can see. Where everyone can see the effect of sin. And so Moses gave the instructions to the people and they started carrying out

these instructions. And in the process of these instructions being carried out, of men being executed in broad daylight, I want you to pay attention to what happens next. Then behold, verse 6, One of the sons of Israel, came and brought to his relatives a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the sons of Israel while they were weeping at the doorway of the tent of meeting. When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest saw it, he arose from the midst of the congregation and took a spear in his hand and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and pierced both of them through.

The man of Israel and the woman through the body. So the plague on the sons of Israel was checked. And those who died by the plague were 24,000. Wow. I don't need to go into too much detail about the scene. You get the idea. In the middle of all of this judgment taking place, this guy's grabbing a Midianite girl by the hand and traipsing his way through the camp.

Excuse me. Sorry. He makes his way into his tent. And everybody knew what was taking place then. And the wrath of God filled Phinehas, one of the sons of Aaron, the high priest. And he takes a spear and he deals with the two of them. And once that was dealt with, it says that the plague stopped. In other words, people weren't being killed any longer. But 24,000 people

lost their lives in this. You know why? Because sin, has consequences. Because sin costs us a great deal. And it will always, and I mean always, lead to death. It's kind of interesting because this particular section is going to be listed multiple times throughout Scripture as a warning to all of us. And I'll talk about those sections of Scripture at the very end.

But it's things that we have to pay attention to as believers in Jesus Christ. And so we move into verse 10 and we see, how God handles not only Phineas, but also the Moabites. We kind of see the conclusion of the story. Notice what it says. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned away my wrath

from the sons of Israel in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in my jealousy. Therefore, behold, I give him my covenant of peace. And it shall be, for him and for his descendants after him, a covenant of perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel. Now the name of the slain man of Israel who was slain with the Midianite woman was Zimri, the son of Seleu, a leader of a father's household among the Semianites.

The name of the Midianite woman who was slain was Cosby, or Cosby, I don't know how you say it, the daughter of Zer, who was the head of the people of a father's household in Midian. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Be hostile to the Midianites and strike them, for they have been hostile to you with their tricks, which they have deceived with you in the affair of Peor and in the affair of Cosby, the daughter of the leader of Midian, their sister who was slain on the day of the plague because of Peor. So in the conclusion of the story, we find that there's blessing for Phineas. Phineas had a great passion for God, a great passion, a passion for holiness.

He was jealous for God in the same way that God is jealous for us. And because of it, it pushed him to action. So he says, there will always be a covenant of peace with Phineas. And as a matter of fact, he will be the one who carries on the name of high priest. And the name of high priest will stay in his house forever. And so there's a blessing on him because of his obedience to the Lord.

And of course, there's the pronouncement of judgment upon the Midianites because of what they did to the nation. We'll see that carried out in chapter 31 of the book of Numbers. A heavy chapter to end with, right? So let's bring this all kind of together, put a little nice bow on it and say, what do we learn? What do we learn from this story of Balaam? Well, I think that there's three things.

Number one, the most dangerous place for us to be is out of joint spiritually. The most dangerous place to be is out of joint spiritually. I'd like to read for you a little bit of a quote out of the preacher's commentary. Lloyd Ogilvie is the editor. It says this, We may add that one of the most important things for us to see is that Satan found his tool in a servant of God

who was out of joint spiritually and who wanted the best of both worlds. This was the doorway through which Satan was able to attack the people of Israel. This contains its own warning for us. We may never know just how much harm and injury we may do the work of God and the people of God if we are out of joint spiritually and therefore become the unwitting tool of the devil.

He is never slow to grasp an opportunity or to jump at any chance we give him. Boy, I got to tell you, that quote just resonated in my heart because it reminds me of how important it is that we are constantly in tune with the Holy Spirit. Because if I start getting out of joint, if I start getting out of tune with the Holy Spirit, if I start going off on my own and start desiring the things of the world more than the things of God, then all of a sudden, I'm no longer being led by the Spirit. And listen, there's only one or two things I'm going to be led by.

I'm either going to be led by the Spirit or I'm going to be led by the flesh. And if I'm being led by, then I can absolutely be being used as a tool of the enemy. You say, right, I'm a believer in Jesus Christ. I can never be used as a tool of the enemy. What did Jesus say to Peter? You remember? When Peter found himself out of joint spiritually, because that's basically what Jesus told him that he was,

he said, get behind me, Satan. You're only mindful of the things of man, not the things of God. That's the perfect example I can think of of what it looks like to be out of joint spiritually. And when we start getting our focus on the things of this world, which, by the way, if I'm not spending time in the Word, if I'm not spending time in prayer, if I'm not spending time in an abiding relationship with my Savior, then I naturally am going to be focused on the things of the world, then I will become very out of joint spiritually, which will make me a hindrance to the work of God and to the people of God.

Brothers and sisters, if you found yourself in that place, I want you to know there's only one remedy. Get yourself back in, right? Get yourself back in joint. Get yourself back in the flow. My entire life, I've had what the doctors refer to as loose joints. My shoulders would pop out all the time when I wrestled. I got to the point where I didn't even stop the match.

I could just put my shoulder back in. It wasn't a big deal. And I was wrestling a guy one time, and I put my arm to hook his arm, and when he did, he clamped down on it, and my shoulder popped out. And I went and kept on wrestling the match. Why did I have to do that? Because as long as that shoulder was out of joint, I couldn't do anything about it. So what was the best way for me to get back to wrestling?

Pop it back into the joint, and then I can keep going. Otherwise, you got no strength in it. Listen, all of us as Christians, sometimes we can be like that. We can slip out of joint really easily, right? What's the next step you take? Get back in, and get back to doing what God's called you to do. Get back in the Word. Get back in prayer. And get back in tune with what the Holy Spirit wants for your life.

Amen? Number two,

we are our own worst enemy. We are our own worst enemy. Have you ever noticed that, right? What did Jesus tell us in Scripture? There's no weapon formed against you that can prosper. There was no cursing that Balaam could bring that could prosper. God would not allow it to happen. There is no attack against you from the enemy that will ever really be able to prosper.

The only thing that can hurt you, is you. Is you giving in to the sins of your flesh? Is me giving in to all of the sins of my flesh? Do you see? I'm my own worst enemy. And I know that because as I mentioned before, this story is mentioned in four different places in Scripture. I just had the chapters put up there. But Deuteronomy chapter 4, this story is mentioned again.

Psalm 106, this story is mentioned. Hosea chapter 9, this story is mentioned. 1 Corinthians chapter 10, this story is mentioned. Why? Well, Paul told us in 1 Corinthians 10, these things were written for our instruction so that we will not fall into the same things that they fell into. In other words, I have to constantly be aware of the fact that I'm my own worst enemy.

That my flesh is the thing that will hold me back more than anything else. More than anything else in the world. In Christ, I can do anything. But in my flesh, I can do nothing. And so we must be aware of that. Aware of the areas where we can end up falling into the love of money like Balaam. Or the desire for spiritual idols like the nation of Israel. Or the desire for immorality like the nation of Israel.

We have to be aware of those areas in our lives so that we don't fall into the same things that they fell into. So that we don't throw those stumbling blocks in front of ourselves. Well, number three. The only option for the flesh is to put it to death. The only option for the flesh is to put it to death. Isn't it interesting that God threw out the Old Testament

and then the New Testament writers reiterated the same thing. He only had one thing that they were supposed to do to their enemies. Did you ever take note of that? They were supposed to wipe them out. They were supposed to completely do away with them. They were not supposed to make treaties with them. They were not supposed to make covenants with them. They were not supposed to negotiate with them.

They were not supposed to give in to them. They were supposed to wipe them out. When the nation of Israel fell into sin, what did God say that they needed to do to those areas of their nation that had fallen into sin? He said you need to execute them in broad daylight. So what does that mean that we need to do with our flesh? The enemies of the land that we deal with.

It means we have to put it to death. We can't negotiate with it. Do you know that once you negotiate with your flesh, you have already lost the battle? Do you know that once you have made a covenant with your flesh, you've already lost the battle? Do you know that if you make a deal to say, okay, I'll give in this much, but that's as far as I'm going, you've already lost the battle, right?

Because once I give an inch, what does my flesh take? A hundred miles, right? Because it's never, ever satisfied. I have to put it to death. What did Jesus say to do if your right hand causes you to sin? You should cut it off. What does he say to do if your right eye causes you to sin? You should pluck it out. Brothers and sisters, too many of us so easily want to dabble in or make covenants

with the flesh while Jesus is saying, cut it off, put it to death. Because in that putting of it to death, new life can come forth. I shared this little story at a funeral today. When I was about 14 years old, might have been 13 years old, somewhere in that range, 13, 14, 15, early teenager, we took a trip down to Florida in the springtime. And it was right around the time that they burn off all the pastures.

And I remember watching all of those pastures burn off and all you can see is nothing but black and charred. And you're just like, that's the saddest thing in the world. Like it's, why would they do that to something that kind of looks fruitful? Because the pasture, I mean, there's all kinds of grass there. Surely it's going to come back. And on our way back, it had rained that whole week a lot.

And on our way back, where all of that undergrowth had been burned off and it just looked black and charred, was nothing but brand new, beautiful, lush looking green grass. And I really, at that young age, it was one of the few times that I was able to see two little times at that time in my life that I really felt like I had a little connection with the Lord. It's like the Lord said, because that's what I have to do. I have to burn off that that's dead so that I can bring up that that's alive.

And I remember thinking, huh. And that has stuck with me ever since then because honestly, that's what it is when we put our flesh to death. You see, if I'm willing to burn off, if I'm willing to put to death that which is simply dead already in my life, then in that place, he brings up the most beautiful, brand new life inside of me because he begins to produce fruit that couldn't be produced any other way. Amen.

It's an interesting story with Balaam, a little bit of a sad story for the nation of Israel, but one more thing that will prepare them for going into the land. And so next week, we'll talk about some of the laws that they'll need to know to be reminded of as they move into the promised land that God's given them. That's for now. Let's pray. Father, we come before you and just thank you

for the time that we've had in your word. And Lord, I just ask that for all of us, the people sitting here, the people watching online, those that won't even hear this study, but Lord, they love you and they want to follow you. I just pray for that grace that we need to be self-aware of the areas where we can be our own worst enemy. And Lord, that we would also have the grace and the strength to put the flesh to death so that you can be our own worst enemy.

So that you can produce brand new life inside of us. Father, do that work that you see fit in our hearts and in our lives. We just thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.