Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copies and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
IT’S WHAT’S INSIDE THAT COUNTS
Numbers 22:1-20
1 And the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in the plains of Moab on this side Jordan by Jericho.
2 And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
3 And Moab was sore afraid of the people, because they were many: and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel.
4 And Moab said unto the elders of Midian, Now shall this company lick up all that are round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field. And Balak the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time.
5 He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam the son of Beor to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt: behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me:
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.
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.
9 And God came unto Balaam, and said, What men are these with thee?
10 And Balaam said unto God, Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, hath sent unto me, saying,
11 Behold, there is a people come out of Egypt, which covereth the face of the earth: come now, curse me them; peradventure I shall be able to overcome them, and drive them out.
12 And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed.
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.
14 And the princes of Moab rose up, and they went unto Balak, and said, Balaam refuseth to come with us.
15 And Balak sent yet again princes, more, and more honourable than they.
16 And they came to Balaam, and said to him, Thus saith Balak the son of Zippor, Let nothing, I pray thee, hinder thee from coming unto me:
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.
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.
One of the greatest problems we face in the church of our day is that we do not hate the sin because it is sin. We only fear being caught or punished for committing that sin. Deep within the heart of man there lies a great desire to satisfy self and the flesh but we are afraid to allow that to come out and be made manifest lest we are branded as hypocrites or backsliders.
There is really no difference though because God looks upon the heart. God knows the heart of those who only profess but do live up to their profession. God knows those who are playing games and those who really mean business.
The following names and places are important to our message today, not just to know their names but to realize that there is a deeper meaning to this story than can be seen by surface reading. God is really speaking to those who are not completely sold out to Him in obedience.
The nation of Israel had invaded the Land of Moab. They had just completely defeated the neighboring country of the Amorites and the inhabitants of Moab were shaking in their boots with fear for they knew that the God of Israel and the armies of Israel were powerful and unstoppable. The Israelites had left Egypt and defeated their enemies as they came into the Land of Canaan. This was to be their last great battle before entering into the Promised Land.
Moab - seed of the father, or, according to others, the desirable land, the eldest son of Lot (Gen. 19:37), of incestuous birth. In the Plains of Moab, opposite Jericho (Num. 22:1; 26:63; Josh. 13:32), the children of Israel had their last encampment before they entered the land of Canaan.
It is no coincidence that we see the name of Moab applied to this land for it was a land that was a bridge to the Land of Abraham. Because Moab stood between Israel and its Promised Land that made the Land of Moab a very desirable land to conquer for it was the only way in to the Promise of Abraham of the homeland for Israel.
Just as Israel had one more great and final land to conquer before it could enter into Canaan, we also must face one battle after another until every battle is over and the victory is won. There is a constant struggle that lasts for a lifetime.
As Israel came upon the land of Moab, Balak, the King of Moab became fearful for he knew of their power of Israel and the true God.
Balak - empty; spoiler, a son of Zippor, and king of the Moabites. From fear of the Israelites, who were encamped near the confines of his territory, he applied to Balaam to curse them; but in vain.
Balak is a picture of the powers of darkness, Satan and his demons, which will attempt to thwart the plan of God for his chosen people. Satan is empty, powerless, toothless, defeated and afraid. He is the great spoiler of all of God’s creation and the lives of God’s people. But, He is also afraid and knows that he cannot win. The only way that Satan can win in the life of a Christian is to persuade that Christian to bring a curse upon himself or to curse God through disobedience and temptation.
So Balak sent his ambassadors to Balaam - lord of the people; foreigner or glutton, as interpreted by others, the son of Beor, was a man of some rank among the Midianites. It is evident that though dwelling among idolaters he had some knowledge of the true God; and was held in such reputation that it was supposed that he whom he blessed was blessed, and he whom he cursed was cursed.
Though Balaam could not curse Israel, yet he suggested a way by which the wrath of God might be caused to descend upon them. His suggestion found later on the story of his life, was that he would cause Israel to fall into idolatry and thus to bring God’s curse upon themselves.
Balaam was the son of Beor - a torch. Beor is described as a soothsayer, physic or witch, a false prophet
From this we see that Balaam was not raised in the true paths of righteousness and holiness. It is not surprising to see that Balaam’s spirituality and understanding were not as keen as they should have been, but his past life didn’t matter. What mattered was that Balaam’s own heart was not right with God as it should have been.
Balak of Moab (the spoiler, empty one) said to the king of Midian –(strife), “Let’s go down and convince this man who calls himself a prophet to get on our team.”
So the messengers were sent from Moab and Midian to Balaam saying, “Come on down and help us. You live here too. Your home is at stake too. Come on and help us defeat these Israelites.”
The first trick that the devil will play on you as a Christian, is that he tries to convince you that this world is a good place, a friendly place and a place that is desirable to stay in.
Jesus said that if we are friend of the world we are the enemy of God. Satan’s subtlety is without ceasing. His lies are so easily believed and His tricks so easy to fall for if we are not spiritually discerning.
Balaam’s first response was right. It is often said that your first response in usually your best one in times of confusion. I don’t really know how true that would be but it certainly was true for this one.
Balaam refused to fall for the trick of Balak to get him to side against Israel. He refused to go with Balak’s ambassadors.
Satan doesn’t give up that easily though, and neither did Balak. This time Balak called together his “Big Guns”. He was determined to get Balaam to curse Israel and side with Moab. Balak sent his most renown and powerful princes to convince Balaam this time.
At first Balaam was still opposed to the idea of siding with the enemies of Israel. He didn’t jump right into the trap and he sent the messengers packing.
But Satan doesn’t give up that easily and neither did Balak. He sent more messengers this time, but he also sent “rewards of Divination” or gifts to persuade Balaam to join forces with Balak. These rewards were payment for the work of being a prophet and Balaam needed the income since that is what he lived on.
This time Balaam was tempted a little more and began to fall into Balak’s trap. This time he invited the princes to stay overnight while Balaam prayed for an answer from God.
Does that scenario sound familiar to you? How many times have I heard the testimonies of those who would be truthful and tell of how they did not run from temptation? Instead of resisting the Devil so that he will flee from us, we court him for a while. We don’t commit to God or to the Devil. We hang on the fence.
We allow the things that bring us down to stay for a while thinking that we can still overcome them anytime we desire. We toy with the temptations as though it weren’t real and had no power. Let us learn to kick the devil out the first time then we won’t have as many problems with sin.
Too many Christians use the cop out excuse, “Well, let me pray about it first!” Friend, let me tell you that it doesn’t take hours in “prayer” to hear the Holy Spirit say to you that what you are courting with is sin. God is not sleeping or slow. The Holy Ghost will prick your heart instantly. He will bear witness of the sin that is near and warn you to get away from it. We only fool ourselves and try to fool other people by “praying about whether God will allow this sin or not”. Most of the time our “prayer” is not one of seeking God’s will, but a “prayer” seeking His permission to do what we want to do.
God answered Balaam’s prayer. God said NO! Stay Away from Balak and don’t allow him to become your friend. God’s answer is always either Yea or Nay. He has no grey area. A gray area is Black, period. It’s either right or wrong and there is no in between.
Balaam was still resisting and listening to God at this time but his resolve and his commitment to God was growing weaker all the time. He had begun to dwell upon the temptation that Balak had laid before him. His eyes were off the Will of God now and his focus changed to the wealth and power of their world.
Balak still didn’t give up. Satan doesn’t give up either. This time Balak sent his most persuasive force ever. He offered Balaam wealth, power and honor.
Now Balaam’s head was turned and his heart followed his head. He saw the wealth and power of this life as more important than the will of God for his life. Now he invited the devil to stay awhile longer.
Balaam still wanted to make an outward show of false piety and false spirituality. Let me pray about it again. This time maybe God will show me or tell me something different.
This was nothing more than an excuse to make it appear as though God had given His permission to go with Balak and curse Israel.
How blind we become; how ignorant we appear; and how soon we forget the holiness and righteousness of God that never changes.
James 1:14-15 says, "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."
Balaam was tempted by his own lust for power, wealth and fame. He was enticed by his own desire and that desire caused him to sin.
God’s original instruction to Balaam was, “NO, DON”T GO. But Balaam didn’t want to heart that answer so he went again to ask God for permission to go.
This time God said, “God Balaam, but say only what I tell you to say.”
Does this sound like God changed His mind? Well, He didn’t. His original word still was in effect. The only reason God gave Balaam the okay to go was that He knew that Balaam was going to go anyway.
God won’t stop us from our sin. He won’t force us to obey His voice. He loves us too much to force us to love Him.
But God gave Balaam one last chance to obey Him before Balaam would fall into disobedience. He told Balaam to wait for the princes to come to him first in the morning, then to go if they came and asked him to.
Balaam disobeyed God again. He got up and saddled his donkey and chased down the princes. He decided to follow Balak, not God.
Every commentary I could read made the same comment that I discovered in reading this account. I believe that the princes of Balaam had already accepted the fact that Balaam wasn’t coming. They had already decided to leave without him but Balaam chased them down. They may have even been surprised to see Balaam coming to join them.
Oh Lord, how many times have I seen those who have done the same thing in my day? How many times have I failed in this same fashion? Just when Satan and his demons have given up and are regrouping for a different approach, we cave in and go after them to keep from losing what they are offering. Again, like James said, we are tempted when we are drawn away by our own lust! It’s the desires of our own heart, not the temptation from Satan that we have to be concerned most about. We wouldn’t fall into sin if our own heart didn’t desire to sin in the first place.
Balaam’s sin did not harm Israel. God’s true church, His chosen nation, the Royal Priesthood will march on into victory with us or without us. It’s up to us to be a part of that chosen nation by keeping our heart pure and not desiring the pleasures, wealth, power, honor and position of this world.
We must keep our eyes upon God. We must keep our ears tuned to hear His voice and obey His call. We must perform His will and not try to justify our own desires.
God eventually stopped Balaam for a while, using a donkey to speak to Balaam, and angels with flaming swords to stop Balaam from committing this great sin against God. Balaam did obey God for a while but eventually slid back into disobedience.
It is Balaam who started Israel down the road to destruction and captivity in the Land of Egypt once again, because Balaam introduced the worship of idols into the nation of Israel. Israel was to be cursed by God for many generations before God’s mercy shined upon them once again.
Balaam, a man who once heard from God and was looked upon as a prophet of God by his own people, lost his own soul and was killed in battle against Israel along with Balak.
Remember, God’s people win in the end. Why choose sides against the sure winner!
Learn from the mistake of Balaam and choose to be on the Lord’s side. Guard your heart and your motives. Seek not after the world neither the things of the world. Set your heart upon things eternal. Don’t play with sin. Don’t try to twist the Word of God to make it say what you want. Stay pure before God and you will win.
