Sermon: The Way of Balaam

Turn with me, uh, if you would, in your Bibles to the second WR letter written by the apostle Peter, can be found on page 10 19 of your pew Bibles. Our text tonight is from chapter two, uh, the second part of verse 10 through the end of the chapter. Uh, if you have been here with us through our series through second Peter, you know that chapter two is dealing extensively with false teachers, their, their motivation, what they do,

God's judgment upon them. Uh, and tonight we are jumping right into the middle of Paul Peter's exposition of these themes. So as we read, Peter is going to say a lot of theys and thems, and every time it is the false teachers who are in view. Just so you know, uh, let's pray together before we come to the word

or we come humbly before your word this evening asking that by it you would grow us in Christ's likeness, in faith, and in the peace of our salvation by grace. May we leave here tonight more sure of you, more sure of Christ, do more than we ask. We pray in the name of Christ. Amen.

Well, as you can see, this is a very dark condemnation, uh, of the character and motives of these false teachers. Uh, Peter's condemnation here could not be any stronger. He is right. He is writing to clearly warn us to not be taken in by them and also to plainly articulate why it is that they do what they do and also to show to us and to promise to us and them, uh, their destruction. It's important to note that Peter doesn't seem

to have any specific false teaching in view. Isn't that interesting? At least he doesn't articulate any specific doctrines, and that fact makes this warning more sobering. He's saying to the reader, to us, this type of person exists and more will come and you can tell them by their corrupt character, such people will attempt to destroy the truth and the truth of God and seduce the church. The false doctrines may differ,

but the motives will be the same in view. Here are not Christian teachers who are in need of correction to their doctrine on this or that matter. Remember Apollos in Acts 18 who was teaching a little bit wrong and Priscilla and Aquila corrected him. They're not even weak Christian teachers who have fallen into sin and need to repent. Remember Peter himself in Galatians two, who was sinning by not eating with the Gentiles.

Peter is warning against predators, whose plan is to use the name of God to satisfy their lust and their greed, and who attempt to drag others down with them. Such so-called spiritual leaders have been a plague to the people of God, at least as far back as Moses and Peter identifies them here as a threat to the early church, and we know they're a threat to us today. Now, if all this seems a little abstract to you or maybe remote or outside of your experience,

let me assure you that these kind of false teachers are very present and influential in the modern religious landscape. I'll just say Islam, Mormonism, the Prosperity Gospel are glaring examples of religious movements that are started or, uh, overseen by this kind of false teacher that Peter is describing. He's warning us that not only these false teachers ex do they exist, they will keep coming and he wants us to be able to sniff them out.

Peter wants us to have spiritual noses attuned to this type of person. We will need to resist their teaching and defend the church from these false teachers. And Second Peter two, the whole chapter is laying out for us how to sniff them out with our spiritual nose. If I can extend that metaphor, I I can see three sense, uh, in our pack passage today that help us, uh, sense a wolf among the sheep. These three are, we can know them by their character,

we can know them by their motives, and we can know them by where it is that they end up, where it is that they are leading. So first we can tell them by their character. You can see there in verses 10 to 12 an arrogance, a willfulness that is the fruit of their corruption. Unlike Apollo in Acts 18, these are not people who will receive correction for their error. There are no humble spirits here. In fact, there is an unwarranted self-confidence

that prevents correction. They blaspheme about things about which they are ignorant. That is they speak with confidence and authority about the things of the Lord, about the Bible, but are totally unqualified for such confidence or authority. In 1912, a, a suit was brought against a pastor by the founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses, Charles Tase Russell. This pastor had published a pamphlet calling into question both Russell's doctrine

and his authority to speak on the matters that he was speaking upon. For instance, it rightly pointed out that Russell was unqualified to teach about the Greek text of the New Testament because he did not know how to read Greek. And famously Russell had to admit on the stand, uh, on trial that he could not read any Greek, he could not identify any letters of the Greek alphabet. These teachers will make false claims about matters

upon which they have no right to speak. They will arrogantly claim an authority to themselves that they do not possess. Verse 19 says that these teachers are slaves of corruption. We see that licentiousness and sin permeate all that they do. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. Verse 13, their eyes are full of adultery and they're insatiable for sin. Verse 14, they entice the weak by sensual passions verse 18,

and we can sniff out these false shepherds not only by their arrogance, but by their marked lack of self-control when it comes to appetites and desires of the flesh. What is more it seems that their teaching will aim at justifying such indulgences, at least when it comes to themselves. Again, history is full of these so-called spiritual leaders coming in God's name and using his name to pursue their lusts. It is tragic to read the accounts of Emma Hale Smith's

lifelong grief and anger about her husband, Joseph. Joseph Smith's new revelations about polygamy. Likewise, we know that the Quran teaches that a man can have up to four wives unless he is the prophet Muhammad who was allowed 11, including his own daughter-in-law. One of Muhammad's wives really put her finger on what Peter is warning us against when she said to Moham, I feel that your Lord hastens to satisfy your desires.

It's a little too convenient that the Lord's revelations teach that sin isn't sin for the teacher. Peter warns that these false teachers will have revelations or interpretations of God's word that are strongly catered to their own appetites and conveniently justify those appetites. Next Peter shows us that you can sniff out a false teacher by their motives. This is obviously very related to their character, but a bit deeper.

Peter underscores that these false teachers are driven by their corrupt desires. They have hearts trained in greed. Verse 14, there is a huge difference between being paid for gospel labor and trying to get rich off the spiritual needs of others. There is a motive difference and that difference will show by what the teacher does, how they present themselves and what they teach. Makes me think of an Instagram account that some Christian Guy started several years ago

with the simple observation that celebrity pastors or prosperity gospel pastors tended to wear shockingly expensive sneakers when they preached. Now let me be clear. I'm, I'm persuaded that the preacher should, uh, dress for the occasion and there there's a cost involved in that. I'm not piling on pastors with nicer wardrobes than mine, but there is no occasion for a pastor to minister while wearing $18,000 tennis shoes

or $2,000 Gucci fanny packs. There is a, an ostentation here, an extravagance in these choices that illustrates something deeper than just a God honoring desire to be un distracting and look put together. It demonstrates that something other than love of Christ and his word motivates the message, and because of that, it illustrates that their message itself should not be listened to. This greed is exemplified. Peter tells us in the story of Balam

who loved gain from wrongdoing. Verse 15. Now Balam is an interesting story from numbers 22 to 24, and his story can be difficult to understand if we don't read it very carefully. It's a story that we tend to read to children because balam can, uh, because of the, the fun part about the donkey. Um, and combined with that and the fact that Balam cannot curse Israel in the story, we can miss that Baam has persistently evil

motives throughout his account. Peter does not miss BA's motives. Baam was a diviner, a medium for hire from far away. Mesopotamia in the days when Israel led by Moses was encamped on the plains of Moab and King Baik of Moab was afraid of the Israelites and he hired Baam to come down a far journey and place a curse upon Israel. But God tells Baam very clearly that he will not be able to do so. Balam reports this to the king and then the price goes up.

So Balam insanely attempts some kind of further negotiation with God about this matter and God essentially answers in the story. Alright, go and see what's gonna happen to you, but no, you will not curse Israel. And this is where the donkey comes in, which is referenced by Peter in verse 16. Balam travels to the place where the cursing is to happen and on the way an armed angel blocks the way forward. Balam can't see it, but the the donkey he is riding

on can see it. And accordingly, the donkey refuses to move forward lest they both be killed. After balam beats the donkey, God gives its speech and gives balam the ability to see the angel. Now, Balam reacts here in a way that sounds humble and submissive to God, but what follows are three failed attempts by balam and bik to proclaim a curse upon Israel. And each time Blum's mouth will not cooperate, it will not do the cursing.

God told him that he would not be able to do so from the beginning. God spared his life from the avenging angel. So why on earth does Balaam ever try even the first curse, let alone the second and the third? That simple answer is that Balam had zero respect for the word of God and the utmost respect for BX money. The word of the Lord to him was essentially a joke. And the delightful irony, the joke of the story is the parallel that's drawn for us between the mouth

of Balam and the mouth of the donkey. God is sovereign over both mouths. Balam thought he was very important and was greedy for the king king's money and treated the word of God as a joke, but he is shown to be the joke. We later learned in numbers that immediately after this on Balaam's advice, king Baic and the kings of the Midianites sent women into the Israelite camp to seduce men and coerce them into idol worship.

Baalam was a businessman and the customer paid for spiritual harm upon Israel. Baum's first idea didn't work, so he invents this second obscene strategy of God's anger is kindled and Moses orders the Israelite men who yoked themselves to Baal in this way to be killed before long baalam himself and the kings of Midian are killed by Israel's army. So this is the story that Peter has in mind when he warns against these false

teachers here in chapter two. This is a quintessential example of these motives. For the love of money, Balam went against God's word, treated it lightly and sought to bring great harm upon God's people. We might miss this because his words after the angel incident sound humble and every time he attempts to curse Israel, a blessing comes out. But don't miss this. His actions demonstrated his motives more clearly than his words did.

Peter says, the church needs to be on guard against teachers who are driven by the fulfillment of their fleshly desires. They will reveal their motives by what they do. They will give lip service to God, but are looking for ways to fulfill their greed and to lead others into sin alongside them. What they want will become apparent by what they do again. For example, long before Salt Lake City, the Mormon promised home city was Kirtland, Ohio,

and this is where they built their first temple. They fled eventually that city of Kirtland, Ohio because of bank fraud charges filed against Joseph Smith and the other leaders. False teachers will sound nice, they will sound authoritative, they may tickle the ear, but the desires of the heart reveal themselves like bank fraud, like $18,000 sneakers. Third, you can discern these false teachers by where they lead. Where is the teacher taking you?

What is the end of their teacher of their teaching? I want you to notice that there is a hypothetical set up for us here in verses 20 and 21. Peter is not saying, uh, Christians can come to Christ genuinely and have genuine faith in Christ and then lose their salvation. Peter is pointing out a hypothetical. He is saying, uh, he's pointing out the inconsistency of the kind of carnally minded Christian Christianity. Now that's not really Christianity

that these teachers teach. Their logic is you have been freed from slavery, you've been freed from slavery to your desires for this world. You've been freed from sin and your passions. So now you have the freedom to indulge your desires and, and your sins and your passions. Peter points out this doesn't make sense. This is not the logic of the gospel. These false teachers teach things that are absurd. They teach that a willing reentry into slavery

to your passions is the right path after being freed from slavery. They teach as if what God said through Moses all along was, Hey, let's go back to Egypt and Egypt and into slavery. Verse 19 says that whatever overcomes a person to that he is enslaved, a false teach a slave to their passions and teaches as right and as hopeful freedom. The same slave slavery that we have been delivered from in Christ. They dress it up in religious sounding language

and entice the weak if possible, into believing these falsehoods. Now if you have any experience personally, uh, with fighting against abiding sin or even addiction, verse eight, verse 19 is a very sobering and even terrifying thought because you know what it is like to experience a temptation and know clearly that you should not give in again to that temptation and then you do give in again and we should be shocked, stung by the words

for whatever overcomes a person to that he is enslaved and this sting should motivate us to pull away from sin and to leave it on the road and to go the other way. Peter's words here illustrate the idiocy that sin causes Christian. You are freed from this sin. You don't have to drink the dirty poison water anymore. You have the living water. But believers here in this room fighting with your sin, which you know to be true

because you are a believer, is that the poison water doesn't give life. You may fall or fail in your fight against your addiction to that poison water, but at least you know it is poisoned and you can fight and you can pray for strength to do better. Do you see what these false teachers try to claim is that the poison isn't really as bad as it is or that it isn't there at all? It isn't merely that these teachers are addicted

to the water that's killing them. They want you to get addicted alongside them. They want to drag you into their folly. It is absurd behavior. It is absurd logic. It is like a dog who expels sickness from his mouth and then eats the sickness back into its stomach or a pig that gets clean who immediately goes back into the mud. It is animalistic. It is a irrational. There was, uh, a real study performed on rats in the 1950s

where two neuroscientists, olden Midler implanted tiny electrodes in the part of the brain that produces pleasure dopamine, and they hooked it up to a tiny lever inside the, uh, the cage where the rats were kept. And what do you think that the rats did when they figured out what the lever did? They pressed it until they died. They ignored everything else, food, water, other rats and just pressed the button. These false teachers are not weak Christians

who have fallen into addiction to sin. They're rats pushing the button and their teaching is meant you meant for you to push the button as well. They teach that although you have been freed from slavery to sin, that freedom doesn't matter, that sin doesn't matter or that what will actually make you happy are the things of this world and not God. Nowhere is this theological inconsistency, this this terrible logic seen more plainly today than in the

modern prosperity gospel. They use a Christian veneer or shell, Jesus died for you to save you from your sin. Of course, of course. But what's really important is that he earned you earthly prosperity and health. It belongs to you by faith as an inheritance. If you just believe it hard enough, you will never get sick and you'll never be poor. Oh yeah, the Bible is true. They would say and they love to preach verses that are way out of context like Matthew seven,

ask and it'll be given to you. Seek and you'll find knock and it'll be open to you. You'll never hear them go anywhere near James four. You ask and you do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions. They love to misapply. Jeremiah 29 for I ha know the plans that I have for you, plans for welfare and not for evil, but pass by on the transcendent hope of Jesus words. In John 16, I have said these things to you that in me,

you may have peace in this world, you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world. Prosperity. Gospel preachers offer exactly what Peter outlines here, an entanglement of earthly concerns. The real reward of the gospel is not eternal life. It is an enriched earthly life. Jesus died for your bottom line, for your pocketbook. And this is evil. It is heretical and it is a large part of American Christian teaching.

Uh, the the, you find it on Christian television, you find it in Christian bookstores. They gain a foot in the door by preaching the truth of Christ's overcoming work and giving lip service to the Bible. But then just as Peter warns us, they blaspheme to say that this work was for the purpose of fulfilling our earthly passions. This is wicked and false and these judgments that are outlined here in Second Peter two and are coming for these teachers,

they teach a gospel that isn't a gospel. Their freedom actually means slavery. And notice as well that there is a predatory targeting of the weak and the unsteady. There's a reason that the Jehovah's witnesses don't come to my house anymore and it isn't because I'm such an able debater or something like that. It's because they realize within a brief conversation that I'm not going to be deceived, that I'm not vulnerable.

This is why prosperity gospel theology thrives in countries or communities where p poverty is prevalent. Consider how much of a mockery of God it is to say to a poverty stricken, hungry person what you need to do, poverty stricken hungry person in order to receive financial blessing is to send seed money to me, I mean to my ministry. And God will unleash the floodgates of prosperity to you wicked. They devour the weak in the name of God

and their punishment will not be lacking.

All of this should lead us to reflect upon our own selves and our own testimony. What we see here in in two Peter two is that life and doctrine are intimately intertwined in the Christian life and that connection in leaders can be especially destructive or constructive. This is why Paul exhorts Timothy in his letter to keep a close watch on both his life and his doctrine because a life of sin pulls toward the erosion of right doctrine and wrong doctrine pulls toward the

erosion of morality that go together. All of us in this room, if you are a believer in Christ, all of us are in some way. Teachers you can't help it. Pastors, elders, deacons, dads, moms, big brothers, big sisters, grandmas, grandpas, older members of the same church, et cetera, et cetera. And your testimony matters to those who are following you. Young people in the room, maybe you have not even considered before that people are following you, but they are.

And a Christian leader cares about good doctrine and and if there were a Christian leader who said they cared about good doctrine but didn't care about fighting their sin, what they're doing is encouraging their hearers, their followers, to not care about right doctrine. If you say you believe that something is true, but act as if it is not true, you are encouraging those who follow you to also act as if it is not true.

And the reverse is just as true.

The leader who knows that their life demonstrates what they believe and cares about their personal holiness, casts confidence in the word of God to those who follow them. Moms and dads consider this, take this as a personal challenge. Your life of holiness matters at least as much as the doctrine that you teach.

The humility and self-control of the teacher lends credence to the message Your character matters as you share Christ and your motives matter as you testify to someone about Christ, as you preach from the pulpit, as you teach your kids, as you share with your unbelieving peers, these need to both hear the gospel from your lips and see your faith lived in your life. Now, no one exemplified this reality better than Jesus himself.

Jesus spoke the truth and loved the people. There was no competition in in him about these things. Jesus knew what was true, spoke what was true, and lived in integrity. Jesus resisted sin and spoke the words of hope. There is actually a very strong argument to be made here about the truth of biblical Christianity as a whole simply from the character of Christ, even also of his disciples. But let's stick with Christ. Any depth of study in comparative religion reveals

that there is simply no one like Jesus. He is unique in history. He's unique among the founders of religion. He is unique among Gods and everyone knows it. Even the harshest critics of Christianity tend to say nice things about Jesus. Put the moral character of Christ, the man and his disciples even up against the founder of any other religion, and you will find a decisive argument in favor of the truth of the Christian faith.

Furthermore, compare the character of Christ to the so-called prophets that we've talked about tonight. These false religions that claim affinity with him. And you can hear his voice saying, I never knew you depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. The character, motives and end goals of a teacher will prove his doctrine. And one of the most important things I think that we can glean from our passage tonight as that these

teachers have an antithesis. They have an opposite who is perfect that we lesser and imperfect teachers can strive to emulate. Jesus himself is the true teacher. He is the one with the perfect character, the perfect motives, and following him leads to perfect joy. Let's close our time in prayer together.

But we are grateful that even as we resist and fight against false teaching, you have sent us Christ who lived a perfect life, taught us the eternal and certain truths of the kingdom, and died and rose again to accomplish our redemption. We ask that you would make us wise, give us the noses to sniff out these false teachers by what they do, what motivates them, where they lead. We ask that you would strengthen us against their attacks,

and we ask that you would help us to press into the truths of the gospel, the truths of the word of God, which is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Protect us, we pray from the schemes of the enemy. And grant to us discernment. In the name of Christ we pray. Amen.