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Balaam's Unexpected Blessings 0:09 Good morning. Welcome to Stand on the Word. Thanks for joining me this morning as we look at 1 of my favorite passages in the entire Old Testament. We're gonna look at numbers chapters 24 and 25 today.0:21 It's my favorite because it shows how 1 person persistent in prayer, devoted to the truth, yielded to the Lord can make an eternal difference. Next to the, sixth chapter of Paul's letter to the0:33 Ephesians, this has been kind of a guiding passage, for me. In fact, on my office wall in Washington DC is a, a very old Jewish animal skin0:45 scroll that contains Numbers chapter 25. Now today for our key verse, I'm gonna actually go to Psalm 1 0 6. It's a historical Psalm of Israel, but it summarizes Numbers chapter0:56 25 in verse 30. It says, then Phineas stood up and intervened, and the plague was stopped. So before we go to chapter 25, let's go back to, to chapter 24. Let's finish up with1:08 Balaam because he's actually behind this crisis that Phineas, stepped into resolve. Verse 1 chapter 24. Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go as at1:20 other times to to seek to use sorcery, but he sent his face toward the wilderness. Now here we have a little more color on the character of Now here we have a little more color on the character of Balaam and his,1:30 syncretic faith. Balaam, as we discussed last time, is 1 of the more difficult individuals to understand that we encounter in scripture. He's a, a I think he's a type.1:42 He's, he's just something we can learn from. I mean, scholars have wrestled with this. So I'm sure you are as well as I have. How is it that God spoke1:54 to him and prophesied through him, yet he was motivated by money as we will see in today's passage when he couldn't succeed in cursing because God would2:06 not allow, him as we looked at last time, would not allow him to curse the children of Israel. He helped lay a trap for them. Verse 2, and Balaam raised his eyes and saw Israel encamped according to their tribes, and the2:18 spirit of God came upon him. Then he took up his oracle and said the utterance of Balaam, the son of Beor, the utterance of a man whose eyes are opened, at least they were open for this moment, the utterance of him2:30 who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the almighty, who falls down with his eyes wide open. So the spirit of God comes upon Balaam. He receives a prophetic vision2:42 of Israel's future. Now look how he wraps it up in, he he actually restates Genesis chapter 12, which I think is very fascinating, especially the times in which we're living today.2:54 This is despite, okay, despite the fact that Israel had deviated from God's instruction, he punished them. They end up spending, 40 years3:06 wandering in the wilderness. And here is Balaam, a wayward prophet at best used by God to proclaim3:22 promised land, and he restates what God told Abraham generations before. Numbers 24 verse 9. Blessed is he who blesses you, and cursed is he who curses you.3:35 Wow. Pretty good stuff. Alright. So Balak had enough. Then Balak's anger was aroused against Balaam, and he struck his hands together. And Balak said to Balaam, I called you to curse3:47 my enemy. And look, you have bountifully blessed them these 3 times. Now, therefore, flee to your place. I said I would greatly honor you, but in fact, the Lord has kept you back from honor.3:58 Well, that honor was to enrich him with material goods. He said, god's kept you from that because he wouldn't let you curse my enemies. So Balaam said to Balak, did I not also4:10 speak to your messengers whom you sent to me saying, if Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the lord to do good or bad of my own will. What the lord4:22 says that I must speak. And now indeed, I am going to my people. Come, I will advise you. There's keyword here. Don't miss this sentence. I will advise you what this people will do to your people in the latter4:34 days. So he took up his oracle and said the utterance of Balaam, the son of Beor, and the utterance of the man whose eyes were open, the utterance of him who hears the words of God and has the knowledge of the most high,4:45 who sees the vision of the almighty who falls down with eyes wide open. Alright. So here's what happens. Balaam goes further with the prophetic word, reaching all the way in this passage to4:57 the Assyrian captivity and beyond to the Messiah. I mean, he lays it all out right here. And so all that actually transpired here to this point is not recorded because in5:09 numbers 31 16, we know something else took place. That Balaam, unable to pronounce this curse upon Israel, presented Balak with plan b. Alright. So let's go5:21 to numbers chapter 25, and we're gonna find out what that plan b was because it as we've we've talked about, Balaam is mentioned 60 times in the bat in the Bible. 3 times, 3 books of the Old Testament, 3 books of the NewSeduced into Idolatry and Immorality 5:32 Testament, and we know his character, and we know that he hatched a plot. Verse 1 chapter 25. Now Israel remained in the Acacia Grove, and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. They5:44 invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their god. So Israel was join joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel.5:56 So here's the picture. The children of Israel were literally at the doorstep of the promised land ready to step into all that God had promised and prepared for them. Now you would have thought you would have thought that6:08 after 40 years and countless encounters with the consequences of bad choices that they would have known better. But here's what happened. Unable to curse the children of Israel,6:20 Balaam, the wayward prophet according to Numbers 31, counseled Balak, the king of Moab, to seduce them into idolatry, which was associated with sexual immorality,6:31 directly violating God's instructions to them and therefore bringing his judgment upon them. Alright. So the Moabites worshiped Baal of Peor. Now Baal being6:43 a general name for for Lord. We see that a lot in the old testament. We're gonna see a lot more. The idol they worshiped was named Chemosh. It was a fertility god, which we'll see more of later.6:55 But you might recall our previous discussion about child sacrifice to Molech. Chemosh and Molech were believed to be, names for the same demonic deity. Now a7:07 source for these sacrifices, okay, they sacrificed children to these idols, a source of the sacrifices, and archaeological evidence suggests this was7:19 the case, were the children conceived from the cult prostitution that was a part of the worship of the idol. I'm sure it wasn't too hard to get a good turnout for church services back then because there was I there7:31 associated with the idolatry was sexual immorality. But the results as we see were catastrophic. Verse 4, then the Lord said to Moses, take all the leaders of the people and hang the offenders before the Lord7:43 out in the sun that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel. Again, we see God moving dramatically, immediately as the sin of7:55 the people results in the judgment of God coming forth. Now we've touched on this before, but God holds leaders to a greater level of accountability. And why is that? Because if they are leaders, people are8:07 following them and they will lead people down a path of destruction and deception. Verse 5. So Moses said to the judges of Israel, every 1 of you kill his men who were joined to Baal at Peor. And indeed, 1 of the8:18 children of Israel came, presented to his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Now8:29 this kind of looks a little familiar. The judgment of God had begun, alright, for the sin of the nation. The people, many of the people were gathered at the entrance of the tabernacle. They were8:41 weeping and they were seeking God's mercy because they saw what was happening. And as this was occurring, as there were those who were praying and interceding, a man of Israel came with a Midianite woman. Now the8:51 Midianites were in league with the Moabites to stop Israel. It it was very clear what this man and this woman were doing. This man was flaunting his sin. They were on the way to the his tent to9:03 commit his his sinful behavior. There was no shame. There was no fear of God in the heart of this man and the heart of many. Verse 7. Now when Phineas, the the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw it, he9:15 rose from among the congregation and he took a javelin in his hand, and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through the man of Israel and the woman through her body so the plague was9:24 stopped among the children of Israel. And those who died in the plague were 24000. Now let me stop. Okay. Very quickly. Let me stop with a reminder that once again, justPhinehas's Zeal Stops the Plague 9:36 so, you know, the casual observer of this message will not take it out of context. What what have we said before about the Old Testament? Okay. The Old Testament speaks to9:48 the physical whereas the New Testament speaks to the spiritual. The weapons of our warfare under the new covenant in the New Testament are not carnal, but they are spiritual. They are mighty in God for the pulling down9:59 of strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to obedience of Christ. Second second10:11 Corinthians chapter 10. Alright. Back to numbers 25 verse 10. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest has turned back my wrath from the children of Israel because he10:23 was zealous with my zeal among them so that I did not consume the children of Israel in my zeal. You see, this is righteous indignation is what that was, that zeal of God. It it wasn't10:35 because Phineas was offended or he was angry because somebody did something to him. He was moved by the zeal of God for the righteousness of God and for the honor of God and for the10:46 people. Therefore, say, behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, and it shall be to him and his descendants after him, a covenant of an everlasting priesthood because he was zealous for his God and made10:58 atonement for the children of Israel. Now look at this. What was Phineas's reward for being zealous of the holiness of God and standing in the gap for the nation? He was given a covenant of peace.11:10 You say, well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. He aggressively confronted evil in such a a violent way and the result was the covenant of peace? Look. Here's the lie of Satan. We've been told11:22 that the way to peace is to accommodate, to appease, to live and let live. That's a lie from the pit of hell. Peace comes through righteousness and obedience, not through compromise and cowardice.11:34 Again, we're speaking about the spiritual warfare that was raging. Then, of course, it manifests itself in the physical. We see it today. There is a11:46 spiritual war that is waging being waged across this nation. It's time for God's royal priesthood, the followers of Jesus Christ to rise up like Phineas11:58 with a zeal for the things of God using the weapons of God, prayer, fasting, the word of God, to confront the immoral12:10 and ungodly agenda that is increasingly being flaunted before us in our nation. Father, we thank you for your word. And, Lord, I just I thank you for the testimony of Phineas,12:23 a man a a priest who was not a a a man of war. He had not been taught to use these these tools, but he was so gripped by the zeal of God that he stepped in to12:34 intervene. Lord, spiritually, may we take the the the weapons of our warfare as Paul talks about in Ephesians 6. The the the the the equipment12:46 that you've given us, prayer, the word of God, intercession, and that we would use that to confront the forces of darkness that are taking our children, that12:58 are deceiving them, that are that is leading our nation down a destructive path. Lord, raise up raise up a generation of Phineas' to13:09 stand in the gap. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright. Thanks for joining me this morning. Until next time, keep standing on the word.13:20 Today's study comes from the stand on the word bible reading plan available for free at frc dot org slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day,13:32 you can read through the entire Bible in just 2 years. Learn more and request the free reading guide at f r c dot org slash bible.In this video 0:00 Balaam's Unexpected Blessings5:30 Seduced into Idolatry and Immorality9:31 Phinehas's Zeal Stops the Plague
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