Iniquity of Balaam
Workers of Iniquity • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 3 viewsOur stubbiness/self-will gets us into so into so much trouble that it ends us causing us pain and to those close around us.
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Psalm 119:133 (KJV 1900)
133 Order my steps in thy word: And let not any iniquity (my own will) have dominion over me.
There is not a one of us that don’t want our own way!
There is not a one of us that don’t want our own way!
Meet for the for the Master’s use
useful, serviceable, profitable
Philem 1:11 “11 which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me:”
I do not want to run away from what He has called me to do!!
I want to be useful for His Kingdom!!
14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
I’m Thankful for the Gospel and the Salvation message of our heavenly Father
The story of Balaam
The story of Balaam
We find another man in the Bible who was going against the WILL of the God!
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.
In the story of Balaam we find another man that would not listen to God and was trying to find anyway he could to get around it.
He was more motivated by deceit and greed to get what he wanted!
And God condemned it as iniquity!!
The story starts out, the King of Moab was alarmed when he saw the nation of Israel come out of Egypt toward his land!
Behold they cover the face of the earth!
Come, curse the people for they are too mighty for me!
For we’ve heard that what you’ve cursed is cursed and what you have blessed is blessed!
we pick up the story
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.
the direction was clear:
Thou shalt not Go!
Thou shalt not Go!
The message was clear - you will not curse, for the people are blessed!
But Balaam loved loved the recognition he was getting!!
Listen to what he said
Number 22:13 “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 he left out the fact that he did not have the power to bless or curse the people!
that’s what they came to him for!!
He told them a half-truth!!
The moral of the story is: when you begin to substitute the Words of the Lord for your own.
You have opened the door!!
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.
The devil is the master of promising us so much!!
to elevate
to honor
give power
And we try to convence ourselves that we are ok!
We’re doing ok here, we are going to come out smelling like a rose!!
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.
Oh he spoke some wonderful words, but what part of “Thou shalt not go” did he not understand!!
I told you no!
I told you no!
But by inviting the men to stay the night, he was hoping he could find a way to claim the bounty that was offered by Balak!!
There is some way that I can finagle this and get what I want!!
When you start playing with FIRE!!
I know what the Lord said, but I want it MY WAY!!
I want to BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
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.
21 And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab.
The Lord gave him a condition
Clearly the condition in the clause has been met: the men have, in fact, come to summon him.
So what is the point of including the condition here?
The answer is that by putting the focus on the men, it brings to the foreground the same issue as was posed by the Lord’s original question: “Who are these men?”
That is, what authority did they have to summon him?
In other words, the Lord was saying to Balaam, “If the summons of men and the glory (reward) that they offer is really so important to you that it outweighs the expressed command of God, then you may go with them.”
God will let you go!!
This is the equivalent of Joshua’s challenge to Israel to choose whom they would serve, whether the gods of their fathers or the gods of the Amorites or the Lord (Joshua 24:15). Who will you choose?
Balaam had to make a decision whether to go with the men and follow his idolatry or stay home and follow the Lord.
What Balaam did not do this time was to get up in the morning and tell the princes of Balak what the Lord had said.
He didn’t say to them, “Look, I can come with you if you want, but I can only say what the Lord says—and he has already made it clear that Israel is blessed and not cursed.”
Instead, Balaam went with them in haste and without any explicit clarification of what had transpired overnight, presumably giving the envoys the impression that he had straightened out the difficulties with the Lord and was now all set to earn his substantial fees by cursing Israel.
He chose his self-will
Instead of the Will of God Almighty!
As we continue to read the story!
22 And God’s anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of the Lord stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him.
God’s finally let him do what he wanted to do!!
God was angry with him!!
I’ve told you but you still won’t listen to my voice!!
Your trying to get your own way!
23 And the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way.
How many times does the Lord try to get our attention.
But because of our disobedience
All iniquity goes back to disobedience
He was so fixed on his own interest that he lacked the Spiritual awareness.
That even a dumb animal could see!!
Death was right there, but he was beating the donkey to get back on the path that he wanted!!
Notice he started out on the open road, but that was closed
When it does not work -
When it does not work -
why can’t we see that maybe God is trying to tell us something!!
24 But the angel of the Lord stood in a path of the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side.
Our stubbornness and our self will fights against the narrow way!!
25 And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she thrust herself unto the wall, and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall: and he smote her again.
To the point, that it caused him pain!!
It cause YOU HURTS!!
He pulled out the ROD and he beat
the one that was trying to help him!
the one that was faithful to him for years
Lashing out at the ones who are trying to help us.
And he beat the donkey again - try to get to where he wanted to go!!
26 And the angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow place, where was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left.
27 And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she fell down under Balaam: and Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff.
How many times does God speak to us through our circumstances!!
What is it going to take for you to learn your lesson.
He could not curse Israel
But he got the Moabites to inter-merry
Rev 2:14 “14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.”
He dies with the enemy and he was killed with the 5 kings, when Moses when to war.
I’m so thankful for the long suffering of the Lord!!
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? 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.
34 And Balaam said unto the angel of the Lord, I have sinned; for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me: now therefore, if it displease thee, I will get me back again.
God help me to have the spiritual awareness when you are using a message to try to get my attention.
God in His mercy is trying to stop us
From going down that path of destruction
But our pursuits, our own self will
Leads us to spiritual blindness
To the point that we can’t see the danger
Death that is coming!!
God open my eyes this morning!!
You don’t have to face it, there is a Savior standing here this morning with open arms