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Numbers 24-25 Good Evening, Church. Tonight We Will Continue Our Study of Numbers

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Numbers 24-25 Good Evening, Church. Tonight We Will Continue Our Study of Numbers P a g e | 1 Numbers 24-25 Good evening, church. Tonight we will continue our study of Numbers. We will be in Numbers 24 and 25. Now remember we are in the midst of a bizarre section of scripture. We have learned of the man Balaam who has a great reputation in the ancient Near East of being able to curse nations. The King of Moab sees this great multitude of Hebrews drawing near to his land. Now, remember the Jews have no quarrel with Moab. The Moabites are decedents of their own relative Lot. Israel’s mighty army could have just passed through, if Balak just came out peaceably. But Balak is thinking out of fear, and comes up with his own scheme to do away with the decedents of Abraham. P a g e | 2 He sent for the notorious sorcerer Balaam, who very clearly explained to Balak’s messengers he could only speak what Yahweh allows. Balaam, this demonic wizard even knows the Hebrew’s God is Supreme. Balaam, however, is bedazzled by the enormous profit he can make off this job, and he looks for a loophole in God’s will. And his heart is so set on the treasure that awaits, he ends up going against the will of God, and makes his way to Balak. He is stopped on the way by the Angel of the Lord, and almost killed had it not been for his donkey. To stop this fool from making a huge mistake, God opens up the voice box of his unintelligent beast. However, this supernatural spectacle was still not enough for Balaam’s covetous heart to be stopped. And God hands him over to his evil heart, and lets him go. P a g e | 3 This is similar to another Bible story, but they have two different outcomes. Saul of Tarsus to was on a journey to do harm to God’s people, and on the road to Damascus, he encountered God in a supernatural way. This left Saul with a choice; he could obey the Word of God, or continue with his devious plans. Saul left the Road that Balaam traveled, and found in his obedience a great calling. Balaam, however, fails to obey, and he chooses the wrong path, and becomes a story of foolishness and lost potential. And so far we have seen him twice try to attempt to perform his sorcery against the Hebrew army, and his curses were turned in to some of the most amazing words of blessing that we have seen in scripture thus far for the nation of Israel. King Balak at this point is a frustrated employer; the man he hired to do a specific job is not only failing at it, but doing the complete opposite of his contract. P a g e | 4 Balaam explains that he can only say what God speaks. But he is still anxious to get paid, and last time we were together, we saw him stage a third attempt. Numbers 23:27-30 Then Balak said to Balaam, "Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there." 28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that overlooks the wasteland. 29 Then Balaam said to Balak, "Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams." 30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on every altar. But as we will see tonight, Balaam on this attempt will try something different. He will put his sorcery aside, and instead he will get a good view of the army of Israel. Let us continue this story in chapter 24… Balaam Foretells the Happiness of Israel 24:1 Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go as at other times, to seek to P a g e | 5 use sorcery, but he set his face toward the wilderness. 2 And Balaam raised his eyes, and saw Israel encamped according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came upon him. This time Balaam does away with divination, and we see this time, instead of God putting the word in Balaam’s mouth, we see the Spirit of God came upon him. It seems Balaam this time is overcome in some kind of trance as he sees this vision. No longer is he speaking words God has given him, but here the Lord speaks through him. We see Balaam looks out at this amazing spectacle in the wilderness. God’s armies are encamped beautifully and in order. Each tribe placed by God in this orderly fashion. No army in Israel’s day would sit so organized. P a g e | 6 You know, when sizing up your opponent in any fight, when you see order, structure and discipline it intimidates the opponent. You know, if your football team comes out in mismatched jerseys, and they have no respect for their coach, they just run whatever plays they want, and players coming in and out whenever they feel like it. You would know that team is going to be destroyed on the football field. But when the opponent comes out, and they are well structured, jerseys are spotless and tucked in, they are disciplined, and running each play the way it was designed to run, well, that will be an impressive team, that would put dread into their opponent. No wonder king Balak is terrified, he has never seen an opponent so wonderfully arrayed as Israel is, and as soon as Balaam’s eyes behold the 2 million plus army in strength and in their ranks, the Spirit of God comes upon him. P a g e | 7 Remember Israel has already defeated the Amorites, the Amorites have defeated Moab. Moab here is by far the weaker of the armies, and terrified. Their only hope is that somehow, Balaam has secured the favor of the Hebrew’s God in this new approach, and it seems well for them as the Spirit of the Hebrew’s God comes upon this wizard. Let us look at his message this time… 3 Then he took up his oracle and said: "The utterance of Balaam the son of Beor, The utterance of the man whose eyes are opened, 4 The utterance of him who hears the words of God, Who sees the vision of the Almighty, Who falls down, with eyes wide open: This is a huge turn of events, the Seer’s eyes have now been open to who God is. The Seer sees. P a g e | 8 It is fascinating that this man can see truth so clearly, the Spirit of God even coming upon him, yet his covetous heart still refuses to believe. This man is so blinded by his pursuit of a payday; he never comes into the family of God. 1 Tim 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Today much of the religious show in the church is nothing but a racket scheme to make money. They use religion as a guise to fill their pockets with wealth. I have heard of Board meetings consisted of ideas on how to get the wealthy business men into the church as to bring more money, a brother mentioned to me that he spoke up for the poor and needy, the sinner, and those who the church was supposed to reach, the pastor dismissed the idea, and continued on with ideas on getting more money into the church. P a g e | 9 On Sunday, a man reminded me of the congregation that he came from, where every service was centered on giving. They took up to four offerings a Sunday, and stood in line, to show how much they were giving to everyone else. And many ministries today have taken the way of Balaam, to turn a profit instead of giving out the Word of God. This man Balaam had more evidence of the truth of who are God is, then any of us ever will, and his wickedness and greed still overruled the truth he knew. Don’t ever think for a moment just because someone is able to teach a sermon, or speak godly words, that they are saved. Many have disguised their true motives with outward piousness. But inwardly they are nothing more than a hireling working for a check. P a g e | 10 So Balaam here is controlled by the Holy Spirit now and speaks on the future health of this nation in Canaan… 5 "How lovely are your tents, O Jacob! Your dwellings, O Israel! 6 Like valleys that stretch out, Like gardens by the riverside, Like aloes planted by the Lord, Like cedars beside the waters. This verse starts out with Balaam seeing the orderliness of the camp of Israel, and then he looks into their future dwelling in the land. Balaam sees the future glory and vitality, as something growing next to a body of water. Balaam clarifies next this abundance of blessing comes from God… 7 He shall pour water from his buckets, And his seed shall be in many waters. We see a picture here of a man carrying buckets, the buckets are overflowing with water. This emphasizing once again the fruitfulness of Israel.
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