NUMBERS 22 HOW TO TELL WHEN YOU ARE WALKING AWAY FROM GOD2021 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Numbers 22 How To Tell When You Are Walking Away From God

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2021. Well, as we look at Numbers chapter 22 this morning, again, we're looking at this interesting account with a man named Balaam, who is called upon by the king of Moab to bring a curse upon the nation of Israel.

We've been walking with Israel through the wilderness as they've come out of Egypt and spent time with the Lord at Mount Sinai and received the instructions for the tabernacle, the law, and all of the things surrounding that. We've journeyed with them, you know, up to the border. We saw last week they refused to go into the promised land. But then, as they wandered around the wilderness for days,

38 years or 40 years. Now they're on their way back to the promised land. And in Numbers chapter 22, we're on that journey back. They've been making their way to actually enter in. And this time they're really going to do it.

Moses is going to be handing off the baton to Joshua pretty soon, and Joshua is going to lead the people into the promised land. But before they get there, there's a couple encounters that they experience, a couple nations that come out to fight with them. And as they are victorious in that, as God gives them victory, the king of Moab is watching this and he's getting really fearful. He's thinking, oh no, they've conquered that kingdom, they've conquered that kingdom, we're next. And so he's

Figuring he wasn't able to beat them with their military might, he says, I need to figure out a way to get them to be cursed so that spiritually they're already defeated so that then we'll have victory over them. And so he calls upon this man named Balaam to do this for him. And Balaam is a really interesting person in the scriptures because we can't really tell exactly a lot about him.

It seems that he is a prophet of some sorts and that he does have a connection to God and God speaks to him and God speaks through him in these chapters that we're looking at. But

But at the same time, he seems to be a pagan guy and someone who, you know, would be called on for things like this to come and curse people, which, you know, that would not be the normal occupation of any prophet of the Lord, right? And so it's a bit of a mystery and a lot of discussion could be had about, you know, exactly Balaam's background and his standing before the Lord.

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really tagging along with what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10, these things became our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And as we look at this chapter this morning, we're going to be focusing on Balaam and seeking to learn from his example. And so here's what I've titled the message this morning, how to tell when you're walking away from God.

How to tell when you are walking away from the Lord. Here we see Balaam. He does have a connection to God.

He does hear from the Lord right there in the verses we just read. He hears from God. God is speaking to him. But what we're going to find is him not seeking to draw near to the Lord and pursue the Lord. We're going to find this guy who hears from the Lord, who speaks on behalf of the Lord. We're going to find him pushing further and further away from the Lord. And in that, he serves as a really important example for us.

That we need to understand there is a battle that is ongoing for our hearts, for our souls, that we, like Balaam,

can walk away from God. And if you haven't experienced that yet in your Christian life, you will experience those temptations, experience those seasons. You know, there's seasons of all-out pursuit of the Lord, as we were just singing, you know, that pure and holy passion, you know, that full devotion to God. We have those seasons, but we also have those seasons where we're just kind of humdrum so-so about the Lord. And we also have those seasons where we find ourselves in a place where

Where we are drifting from the Lord. And usually it doesn't happen overnight that all of a sudden we're against God and running from God, right? But it's that casual, slow drift. And so it's appropriate for us to identify some warning signs.

To be able to recognize when we are taking steps down the path of walking away from God, when our course is starting to change and we're veering off, we can find some examples here from Balaam to identify some of those points and to help us understand and catch those things early. Now, Balaam is referred to a few times in the New Testament, and it gives us a little bit more insight about his situation and what was going on in his heart.

Check out 2 Peter 2, verse 15 and 16. Peter there references Balaam. He says, talking about false prophets, they have forsaken the right way and have gone astray following the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. There Peter calls out for us and reveals for us the real issue that was happening in the heart of

of Balaam and what caused him to veer off the path of walking with the Lord or drawing near to the Lord. And it was the love of wages of unrighteousness. It was the love of money, which as Paul says later is the root of all kinds of evil, right? His greed is really what drove him to compromise in the things that God asked of him, required of him, and desired from him.

And so for Balaam, his issue, the thing that he lusted after, the sinful desire that dominated his life was that greed for money, for power, for honor and prestige.

As we consider these things this morning, we might be facing similar pulls in our own heart, that the pursuit of money, that desire for more, perhaps the desire for success, or perhaps it's a different realm. You know, there's a relationship that is in our sights and that we are seeking to pursue. Maybe there's a focus on pleasure in our lives, and there are these sinful desires that are

can dominate our lives. And we all have these things that creep up in time, throughout time in our life, and we need to be able to identify them and recognize this desire, this pattern in my life is starting to keep me on the path or take me off of the path where I'm walking away from God and not walking towards God. And so from Balaam here, again, we need to learn how to tell

When I'm walking away from God. Four signs we'll look at from Balaam's example here. To tell, to notice, to identify. Four warning signs, red flags to pay attention to. The first one we find here is in verses 15 through 21. Here's point number one this morning. When God has answered, but you keep asking. Here's a way to identify and understand that your heart is starting to veer off the path.

When God has answered a prayer, when he's answered a question, when he's given direction or revealed his will, but you continue to ask even though God has already revealed the answer. We find that happen in verses 7 through 14. We read it just a few moments ago. The messengers from Balak show up and God says to Balaam, don't go with them. Those people are blessed. You're not to go and curse them.

And so Balaam sends them away. But now as we go on into verses 15 through 21, we find Balak sends more messengers and a more enticing offer to Balaam. Check out verse 15. It says, then Balak again sent princes more numerous and more honorable than they. And they came to Balaam and said to him, thus says Balak, the son of Zippor, please let nothing hinder you from coming to me.

Verse 18. Now, therefore, please, you also stay here tonight that I may know what more the Lord will say to me.

Here is Balak is freaking out about the nation of Israel, certain that they are doomed to destruction. When Balaam refuses the first time, he says, okay, I need to step up the offer. And now he sends princes before he sent messengers, right? Now he sends princes. These are guys of great honor. And Balaam, we're going to bestow upon you great honor.

And Balaam, here's a blank check. You can name your price, whatever you want, we will pay it. Just come and curse this people for us. Now, what Balak did not know was that God had instructed his people to not attack Moab.

In Deuteronomy 2, verses 8 and 9, Moses records that forest that God said, don't mess with them. Go around them, and you're going to pass on by because they're the descendants of Esau. I've given them that land. That's not for you. So just pass on by. Don't mess with Moab.

But Balak, not knowing that, not fearing the Lord, decides, I'm going to take matters into my own hands. And when Balaam refused, he says, I'm going to step up the offer and get that guy out here. And so he sends a second delegation. Now from Balaam's perspective, now this second delegation shows up. Balaam already knows what God has said about this people.

God says, you can't curse them. They're blessed. They're my people. So don't go. Don't have any part in that. But as Balak now sends this more enticing offer, there seems to be a turn in Balaam's approach, in his mindset. He says the right things, but we can tell from the passage that his heart is veering away from the things of the Lord. He says the right things in verse 18 and 19.

He says, though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord my God to do less or more. And I think we could read that and we could stamp the word amen next to it. It's like, yes, no matter what is offered to me, I cannot go against what God says. But at the same time,

He's saying, but you know, maybe I'll just try again. And verse 19, why don't you stick around? Let me see what else the Lord might say to me about that. And of course, that sounds very spiritual. But as we saw a few moments ago in 2 Peter 2, his heart is revealed in this, his heart of loving the wages of unrighteousness. And the enticing offer from Balak was really enticing for him.

And so he's considering this even though the Lord has already revealed his will. Now, I want to be careful here because this is not to say that we cannot bring repeated requests to the Lord or ask the Lord about things, you know, once that we've already asked, you know, sometimes we kind of get that impression.

But I think it is clear in the scriptures that there is the time to stop asking God for things. And that is when he tells you, when he answers the request, whether it be yes or no, when he gives clarity to it. And I think a great example of that is the Apostle Paul. In 2 Corinthians, he describes this thorn in the flesh that he had.

And he said, I pleaded with the Lord three times. And that's not just, you know, three prayer requests, but kind of like three seasons of prayer. Like, man, Lord, I just, I really need this thorn to be out of my life. It's really bothering me. It's really an issue. And he said, I went through three seasons or three times. I pleaded with the Lord in regards to this. And then the Lord said, my grace is sufficient for you.

You're okay. You can handle this with my presence, with my strength, with you. And then Paul says, okay, now the issue is settled. God has answered. And so he stopped requesting that because God had revealed his will and brought clarity to it. But here's Balaam with a clear revelation from God about his will and about the status of the nation of Israel. But the offer is more enticing this time.

He's got a blank check. He can get whatever he wants out of this deal. And so he says, why don't you guys stay here? Let me try again. Let me go before the Lord and let me see if I can work out a way for me to go with you. Now again, Balaam is mentioned a couple times in the New Testament and it gives us some insight into the condition of his heart and what he was after. Here in 2 Peter 2, we see he loved the wages of unrighteousness. In Jude chapter 1, there's only one chapter, but verse 11 says,

It also references Balaam. It talks about other false prophets who have run greedily in the era of Balaam for profit. And that running towards profit was a pattern that Balaam set that these other false prophets are following. And this is what we see developing here is that Balaam, although he knows what God has said and it has been revealed, it's clear God has answered Balaam.

But he keeps on asking because he's not so concerned about figuring out what God wants. He already knows what God wants. He's trying to figure out, okay, God, I know what you want, but is there a way for me to get what I want, even though I know what you want? And so that's what he is after. He's seeking that opportunity to get something that he wants in spite of what he knows God has already said.

Well, verse 20, God came to Balaam at night and said to him, if the men come to call you, rise and go with them, but only the word which I speak to you, that you shall do. So Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab. And so as Balaam sleeps on it, seeks the Lord overnight, God again shows up and speaks to him. God gives a condition. If the men come to call to you, then go ahead and go with them.

But make sure you keep yourself within the limits that I set. Only the words that I speak to you only say that. Only do that. There's a lot of discussion about this account because, well, did God change his mind from the first time the messengers came to this time? And what is actually happening here? One of the discussions centers around the idea of the perfect will of God and the permissive will of God.

The idea being that there is the perfect will of God, the ultimate, the ideal plan that God has for us. But when we resist and refuse or we want something else and we want it desperately, that perhaps there's the permissive will of God where God will say, okay, I really had this other thing for you, but I'll allow you to go this way. That's an alternate plan. You can go ahead and walk down that path. And there's lots of ideas about that that we could discuss, but that's something you can kind of chew on a little bit later. I think...

something important for us to consider as we think about this situation for balaam is that sometimes god answers our prayers as not so much a blessing to us but as a way to address the issue of our hearts and that may sound kind of weird but let me show it to you from psalm 106. in psalm 106 the psalmist is recounting some of the issues that the children of israel faced in the wilderness

And he says, As God was dealing with his people there in the wilderness, we've been walking through that in Leviticus and Numbers, as well as Exodus.

We've seen the children of Israel testing God over and over and over again. And a lot of times it was, you know, rooted in this exceeding lust that they had. Lust for food, lust for, you know, whatever it was that they were pursuing. They were desiring, they were craving different things and testing God in doing so.

And there were some occasions where God says, okay, here is the thing that you're begging me for, the thing that you're requesting, the thing that you're demanding. But with it came leanness into their soul. They got the physical thing, the practical thing that they were, you know, desiring and demanding from the Lord, but they also experienced that leanness again.

that dissatisfaction. It did not resolve their issues as they hoped that it would. And I would suggest to you that what Balaam is experiencing here is something similar to this. He is lusting exceedingly, craving the riches, craving the honor that is being promised to him, and God is allowing it to bring forth, well, the dealing with Balaam that needed to be done. And so Balaam rises in the morning. Now,

Looking at the account, some also understand it to be that Balaam didn't listen to the condition that God set, where it says, if the men call to you, in verse 20, and

And then verse 21 says, so Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab. That he just got up and went. He didn't wait for that condition to be fulfilled, and so he rushed ahead. So perhaps there's a little bit more insight there with the condition that God set and the reflection of Balaam's heart in not waiting for that. Again, some of this is up for discussion a lot because we don't have all of the details included here. But we can see the pattern here.

God has answered, but Balaam, in his great desire, his earnest desire for all the things being offered to him, keeps asking. And you can see this as we continue on in the chapter. He's continuing persistently trying to find a way to get what he wants in spite of what God wants. And for you and I this morning, I would encourage you to consider that when you have an answer from the Lord, but you keep asking,

That's a good warning sign that your heart is now not aligned with the Lord's. There's a disconnect there. There is a disunity there, and you are seeking something that God is not seeking for you. It's a possible indicator that you are veering off the path of walking with the Lord, and you're beginning the path of walking away from God. Now again, repeated requests are not always wrong, but

But you should be checking the motivation. Paul prayed until God told him to stop praying. And when God tells us to stop praying, we need to stop praying. When God answers the request, we need to submit to his will and receive his plan and walk in an endeavor to fulfill his plan, not to find a way to fulfill our plan in the midst of the restrictions that he has set. I think for us as believers, self-correction is an essential skill for us to learn.

Because we all wrestle with these desires and cravings of our sinful nature. And we all need to be able to identify those times where we are starting to veer off course. One of these ways is when God has answered, but we keep on asking. We keep on trying to find a way to accomplish what we want in spite of what God has said. Pastor David Guzik says it this way.

Balaam began on a dangerous course, entertaining, planning, setting his heart on something he knew to be sin and looked for a spiritual excuse to pursue the sin. Because of his love for money, Balaam essentially tried to manipulate God into granting him a special exception. And sometimes we cloak our motivations and intentions in those spiritual terms and it sounds really great sometimes,

But we're looking for a spiritual excuse to pursue the sin, to pursue the desire of our heart that God has already said, that's not the right thing to do. That's not the right course for us. And so that's the first warning sign. How to tell when you're walking away from God, when God has answered, but you keep on asking. Now, as we move on to verses 22 through 29, we get the second warning sign this morning, and that is when you are extra frustrated by difficulties.

Do you ever get extra frustrated by difficulties? I mean, you get frustrated by difficulties for sure, but do you get extra frustrated? That's what Balaam does here. Check out verse 22. It says, "'Then God's anger was aroused because he went, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as an adversary against him. And he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. Now the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand, and the donkey turned aside out of the way and went into the field.'"

So Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back onto the road. Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on this side and a wall on that side. And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pushed herself against the wall and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall. So he struck her again. Then the angel of the Lord went further and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam.

So Balaam's anger was aroused and he struck the donkey with his staff. Here as Balaam is journeying towards Balak to deliver this curse upon the nation of Israel, he encounters some difficulties with his donkey. And the donkey here is really seeking to preserve his life because the donkey is given spiritual insight by the Lord and

And the donkey sees this obstacle. The angel of the Lord, sword drawn, ready to strike down Balaam. The donkey sees it and tries to save Balaam from that encounter.

Here we see that God was angry with Balaam. Now again, this gives us some insight that there's more to the account than we have the details of here, because God said, okay, if this condition is fulfilled, then you may go with them. And then he gets up and he goes, and it says that God's angry with him. Now, it seems likely that that's because Balaam just went ahead and got up and went without waiting for what God, you know, put the condition there to be fulfilled. Um,

There's something more going on here than we are able to understand. But here's what we do know. Balaam was not where he was supposed to be. And so God here is angry with him. His heart's not right. That is, Balaam's heart is not right. And he needs to be instructed. He needs to be taught a lesson. He needs to be warned strongly. And so the angel of the Lord now is to deliver this warning. And so the donkey, seeing the angel there, three times said,

tries to save Balaam from that encounter. The first time in verse 23, the donkey turns off the path and walks off the field. And Balaam is really frustrated. Now you can imagine that, right? It would be like if you were on your way to an interview for a job that was going to, you know, pay you millions of dollars and your car broke down.

And you'd be like, oh man, I gotta get there. I gotta, you know, you're anxious to get there because you are craving, you're desiring, you have this great reward ahead of you, but all of a sudden now there is this difficulty. There's this obstacle, this speed bump, and Balaam becomes frustrated and he begins to strike the donkey until she gets back onto the road. They go down a little bit further, and again, the angel of the Lord stands in the path. Verse 24 and 25 records the second time.

The donkey now tries to save Balaam, but there wasn't space for them to go off the field. So the donkey like leans into the wall that was right next to them and it ends up crushing Balaam's foot against the wall as the donkey tries to save him from this encounter with the angel. So now it's not just an inconvenience, but now there's a little bit of pain involved. And so Balaam is frustrated again and he's striking the donkey again. Well, then the third time in verse 26 and 27 says,

They go down a little bit further. The angel of the Lord shows up. This time it's a narrow place. There's nowhere to turn. There's not like you can kind of try to squeeze by, you know, and so the donkey just sits down. And again, Balaam, it says in verse 27, his anger was aroused and he struck the donkey with his staff. He is really frustrated at this point. He is over above and beyond frustrated. And you can tell this because in verse 28, it says this,

Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey and she said to Balaam, what have I done to you that you have struck me these three times? And Balaam said to the donkey, because you have abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand for now I would kill you. There's a couple of things here that show us that Balaam here is, you know, a little bit over the top. He's frustrated out of proportion with the situation that is going on.

And the first way to notice that is that a donkey is talking to him and he talks back without any thought, right? He's just in the midst of a conversation before he knows it because he's so frustrated with the situation. The Lord opens the mouth of the donkey. Now, this was a long time ago, right?

Several thousand years ago, but if that's not, you know, familiar to you or it's not clear to you, donkeys didn't talk several thousand years ago. That wasn't part of their experience. That hasn't changed. And so it would be really just as surprising for you if, well, an animal around you just started talking to you one day. And that would probably kind of be a jolt, a shock, right? It'd be quite surprising for you.

But Balaam, he's so frustrated. He is so worked up over this situation that he's not stopping to say, how are you talking? What is going on here that a donkey is talking? Am I going crazy? You know, like I need to stop and like do a mental check assessment, you know, like pinch myself. Am I sleeping? Am I awake? You know, like he should be kind of running through those things. But instead, he's entering into this argument with the donkey. Okay.

And he loses the argument, by the way. The donkey has more rationale and logic than Balaam has. But he engages with this. It shows us that his frustration is out of proportion with the situation. He's not just a little bit upset or bothered by the difficulty. He is over-the-top frustrated.

Beyond what would be normal or, you know, kind of an accepted level of frustration, an understandable level of frustration in the midst of the situation. But you can also see this by the very words of Balaam. He says in verse 29, if I had a sword in my hand right now, I would kill you. If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now. Now, again, think about, you know, this is his vehicle, right? So your vehicle breaks down. After three times...

This is not like major breakdown, right? This is like you get a flat tire, you get, you know, a little bit of an issue that requires a little bit of a fix. You're back on the road in just a couple minutes. But after three times of that, then now you just like demolish the car and throw it away. Like that's not a reasonable response to three flat tires, right? It's not a reasonable response to a little bit of an inconvenience in the vehicle that you are driving, right?

But here he is like, I'm so upset right now. I'm so frustrated with this donkey. I'm going to kill it right now if I had a sword. Because again, his heart is really where it should not be. His heart is, it's revealing the condition of his heart, which is far from God. His motivation is not to honor God. It's not to seek the Lord. It's not to know the Lord. It's not to serve the Lord. His motivation is,

is his greed. His motivation is his selfishness. And he is revealing that with the level of frustration that he is having over these things that are difficulties. And we would understand having some frustration along with them, but this is beyond what is appropriate for the situation. Listen, there are many times that God places hurdles in our life for our good so that we experience these kinds of things.

There's hurdles there to help us to stop and think, why am I overreacting? Why am I so worked up in this situation? Why am I, you know, so bent out of shape over this issue? And it's appropriate for us to stop and to think about the path that we're on in those times. That we would allow the opportunity for the Lord to reveal, hey,

I know you've cloaked this in spiritual language. You've got a way to present this that sounds great to everybody else, but God says, I know your heart. And there is an issue here that you're not addressing. There's an issue here that you are pursuing that is detrimental to you. And so here's a speed bump to give you a chance to think about that. In fact, here's three speed bumps so that we have opportunity to stop and reflect on where we're at. When you're extra frustrated by difficulties,

when your frustration, when your reaction, when your response is out of proportion to what would be normal or acceptable in the situation, you need to stop and think and let it be a warning sign that causes you to stop and reflect on what God might be wanting to reveal to you about that situation. And it's interesting how God uses a donkey here because donkeys are known to be stubborn, right?

They're known to have these kinds of issues, right? But it's the Lord who uses the donkey to reveal the stubbornness of Balaam, that you are stubbornly pursuing this path that is going to bring harm and difficulty to your life. The Lord wants to lead us, and he wants to give us opportunity to self-correct, to catch those things where we're going off track, veering off the path. I think it's appropriate to consider Psalm 32 in this context.

God says, I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will guide you with my eye. Do not be like the horse or like the mule or like the donkey, adding that in, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near to you. Don't be like a dumb animal, God says, where you have to kind of force them and harness them and bring them to you forcibly. God says, let me, I want to teach you the right way.

I want to show you. I want to guide you. I'm going to guide you so gently, though. I'm going to guide you with my eye. And so to be led by the Lord, don't expect, you know, the harness and the forcible. Like, it's going to require you looking to the Lord, willingly inviting the Lord to speak to you, to lead you.

And when you're trying to push and push and push and circumstances are just not going in your favor, right? They're not working out for you. There's just difficulties and your level of frustration is rising and rising and rising. Perhaps you need to go back and check in with the Lord and say, Lord, are you guiding me with your eye in this? Is this your doing? Is this your path? Hey, listen, a lot of times in obedience to God, there's going to be major difficulties and great frustrations.

So the fact that there's difficulty doesn't mean that it's not God's plan. But when we're overreacting to those frustrations, it is a good indication that maybe we need to check our hearts. Maybe we need to go back and say, Lord, are you trying to speak through this and reveal a different path that I need to follow? Well, moving on to verses 28 through 35, we get the third point to consider this morning. How to tell when you are walking away from God?

Well, you can tell when God gives you strong and clear warnings. Checking out verse 28 again, it says, Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey. She said to Balaam, What have I done to you that you have struck me these three times? And Balaam said to the donkey, Because you have abused me, I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you. So the donkey said to Balaam, Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden ever since I became yours to this day?

Was I ever disposed to do this to you? And he said, no. Then the Lord opened Balaam's eyes and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand and he bowed his head and fell flat on his face. Here the Lord gives Balaam a strong and clear warning. I mean, how much stronger and clearer can you get when the donkey starts talking to you?

How much stronger and clearer can you get than when this animal, again, the animal points out, the donkey says, look, I've been yours for a long time. Have I ever behaved this way and have I ever talked to you before? He's like, no, you've been a good donkey. The Lord, through the donkey, gives this strong and clear warning to Balaam. Through this whole situation, as the Lord opens Balaam's eyes and he sees the angel of the Lord there, understand God doesn't do things needlessly, right?

He doesn't do things, you could say, like just for the fun of it. He's not just like, hey, wouldn't it be funny if I just show up on the path and like freak Balaam out? Like that'd be so fun, like a practical joker, right? Like I'll just freak out his donkey for a little bit first, you know, just kind of mess with him and then I'll show up and then he'll be really freaked out. It'd be so funny, we'll just laugh and laugh, it'd be great. Like that's not what the Lord's doing here. He's not just wasting time or goofing off. The Lord doesn't waste words. The Lord is bringing about this situation to give Balaam time

The clear warning, the strong warning, look, Balaam, you are on a dangerous path. You are going a direction that is detrimental to you and to everyone around you. You need to pay attention to what is happening here. And the Lord will often work that way. As he speaks to our lives, as he gives words for us, we need to understand that

He doesn't speak those words needlessly. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, actually it's chapter 10, when you think you stand, take heed lest you fall. One of the reasons why we don't necessarily pay attention to the strong and clear warnings of the Lord is because those warnings come and we think we stand. And we think, I don't need that warning because I'm in pretty good shape and I know how to handle those kinds of situations.

That was the situation for Peter in Matthew chapter 26. Peter was convinced, I'm yours, Lord. I'm your follower. I'm going to be with you thick and thin no matter what. Matthew 26, 33, Peter says, even if all are made to stumble because of you, I'll never be made to stumble. Very confident that I'm good. I'm good, Lord. I have this handled. I know where I'm at and I'm good. And Jesus says, no, before this night's over, you will deny me three times. You're not where you think you are.

But there are so many times where God delivers a strong and clear warning and we don't take heed to it because we think, oh yeah, I don't need that warning. I'm good. I got that handled. I'm okay. No need for me to pay attention to that or be concerned about that. But we can see examples throughout the scripture where God gave strong and clear warnings and they were always needed. They were always necessary. Going back to Genesis chapter 4, the example of Cain.

As Cain is upset because his offering was not accepted by the Lord, he's angry. The Lord says, why are you angry? Why is your countenance fallen? Why are you so upset? If you do well, you'll be accepted. But if you don't do well, he says, sin lies at the door. Its desire is for you, but you should rule over it. Cain, watch out. You're on the verge of going down this path, walking away from God, and it will dominate you. You should rule over it.

But if you don't deal with it, if you don't respond to this, it's going to rule over you. And so here we have this warning, strong and clear, given to Cain. But of course, we know he goes forward and allows the sin to dominate his life as he murders his brother Abel. In Exodus chapter 34, we saw this in our reading not too long ago.

The Lord warns the children of Israel as they're heading into the promised land. He says, take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst. Watch out. Make sure that you don't make a covenant with the people, God says. It'll be a problem for you. Why did he give this warning? Well, we know later on, we're going to see it in the book of Joshua. They make a deal with the Gibeonites. They make a covenant with people in the land. They don't take heed to the warning that God has given.

They don't pay attention. And so these are just a few quick examples with Peter, with Cain, with the children of Israel heading into the promised land. When God gives warnings, we need to pay attention. Even when we think, I don't need to hear a warning in that area. That's not a problem for me. I've got that handled. That's not an issue. God doesn't waste words. And so those warnings are not just, you know, things that are not necessary for us. God's not saying, I know you know this and you don't need to hear it, but I just need to say it. So let me go ahead and say it.

God's saying, I need you to hear this because you need to hear it. You don't think you need to hear it necessarily. You might not think you need to know it, but this is something that's important for you. And for you and I, this continues to happen today. The Lord gives us strong and clear warnings. How does he do this? Well, he could do it in a variety of ways, of course. He might do it through a prophetic word like he did with Balaam. The Lord opened the mouth of the donkey. I'm not suggesting that your animals will speak to you.

Although God could do that, of course, if he wanted to, but God has given to the church spiritual gifts. One of those gifts is the gift of prophecy. It's a gift that God can give to any believer at any time, whenever he wants to, to deliver a word from him to someone else in the body of Christ. And there are times where God will give someone around you a word of prophecy, a word from the Lord for you. Sometimes it's a strong and clear warning.

God says, you need to watch out for this. And listen, if the Lord brings about a prophetic word to you in that way, let the warning signs really, you know, shine. Let the alarm bells sound that, hey, this is something I need to pay attention to. Another way you might consider this is when you are hearing a specific message or a specific thing from the Lord multiple times. The donkey turned to Balaam and said, why have you struck me these three times?

The Lord asked Balaam in verse 28, hey, why'd you strike your donkey three times? There is this repetition. You know, sometimes you open up your Bible in the morning and there's just something that kind of stands out. And then later on that day, there's a message on the radio and

It's that same, not necessarily the same verse, but you know, that same topic, that same message is being given to you. And later on, you're talking to a friend and there's that same kind of message in that conversation. And that repetition is a way that God oftentimes confirms, listen, this is something that I'm saying to you. You need to pay attention to that. You need to listen to that. It's a strong and clear warning. Another way this might look in our life today is that there's a warning that

an exhortation perhaps from someone who you know loves you. The donkey challenged Balaam, hey haven't I been a good donkey? I've been yours you know since you got me until till today and was I ever disposed to do this? Did I ever try to hurt you or you know treat you this way? Sometimes there's people in our lives that love us and we know they love us but sometimes the things that they say the thing you know this particular situation it's like I don't want to hear that I disagree and

And perhaps we need to stop and take a step back and accept that, okay, I know you're not trying to hurt me. I know you're not trying to harm me. I know you want what's best for me. So maybe this is a strong and clear warning from the Lord that I need to pay attention to, that I need to listen to. So when God gives you clear and strong warnings, well, you can know. It's not needless. It's not meaningless. It's not purposeless.

But there is that danger of that alternate path walking away from the Lord. Well, the final thing for us to consider this morning, how to tell when you're walking away from God. Point number four, when you look for loopholes in God's instruction. And here I'm going to kind of summarize the upcoming chapters a little bit. Because as we go forward, you see in Balaam's behavior that he's looking for a way to

to not outright disobey God and curse Israel, but at the same time, he's still trying to get the reward that he's seeking from the king of Moab. If you'll jump with me, turn to Numbers chapter 31, just a couple chapters over. Numbers chapter 31, verse 15 and 16, it's dealing with the aftermath of a sin issue in the camp of Israel.

That is a direct response or a direct result of Balaam's influence in the Moabite kingdom. So Numbers chapter 31 verse 15 says, And there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord.

So the next few chapters, there's a lot of things that unfold. Chapters 23 and 24, Balaam stands on top of the mountain to attempt to curse Israel, but instead he brings forth blessing from the Lord. There's four prophecies or seven prophecies, depending on how you break it up and count it.

But they go to the first one. He pronounces a blessing instead of a curse. And the king says, hey, that's not how it's supposed to work. Hey, come over to this other location. Try it again over here. And then, okay, come over to this other location. Try it again over here. And blessings kept coming forth as God was giving forth his word instead of the curse that was desired from the king. And so here Balaam is really playing around with fire as he is

attempting to find a way to curse Israel, even though it's been made clear to him that that's not what God desires. I like what F.B. Meyer says about this. He says, The prophecies that he brings forth from the Lord are really...

powerful prophecies and proved to be true in the years to come for the nation of Israel. He really does speak the word of the Lord in this time, while at the same time, his heart is clearly far from God. It's something important for us to recognize and understand that God's able to use donkeys and false prophets. He's able to use people whose hearts are far from him to bring forth his word.

And it's clear that Balaam, his heart is far from God because he gives up halfway through in trying to accomplish his own sorceries. Check out Numbers chapter 24, going back just a couple chapters. Numbers chapter 24 verse 1. Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go as at other times to seek to use sorcery, but he set his face toward the wilderness. Again, we get some insight into Balaam's heart here.

The first couple times he's pronouncing a prophecy, he goes away to seek the Lord, but he's attempting to use sorcery. He's trying to circumvent the will of God, circumvent the plan of God. He's attempting to get paid, trying to accomplish what he wants. After a couple times of failure in that, he decides, okay, that's a waste of time. I can't do that. And so he blesses Israel. Now further on in chapter 24, Balak the king says,

comes down hard on Balaam and he says, look, you should just go home. Verse 11, he says, I would greatly honor you, but in fact, the Lord has kept you back from honor. Oh man, if only you would listen to me and not the Lord, you would have so much honor. The king is saying like, ah, there would be so much greatness and goodness for you. But then verse 25, it tells us that Balaam rose and departed and he went home. He went his way. But that's not the end of the story because at some point after that,

We don't have the specific record of it, but we have a little bit of detail about it. Balaam came back to the king of Moab with counsel. Look, I couldn't curse them. God has blessed them. But you can get them to curse themselves if you get them involved in sin. And so Numbers chapter 31 records for us the counsel of Balaam that resulted in Numbers chapter 25. We'll read that as we continue on in the chapters this week.

the great sin of Israel that was brought about by the counsel of Balaam. And so in an effort to get the reward that he wanted, he went home and it was almost like he survived that. Even though his heart was far off, like he could have, if he would have just persisted and just, you know, sought the Lord from there, he would have been okay. But he comes back now and he says, let me teach you how to get them to be destroyed.

Let me teach you. If they engage in sin, God's going to deal with them. We find this revealed clearly in Revelation 2, verse 14. As Jesus is addressing the churches, he says, He taught them how? To stumble the nation of Israel. To bring issues as a result of their sin.

And so Balaam fell in the same way that he taught Balak how to cause Israel to fall. Lust led them astray. It's a common tactic of the enemy, seeking for any way to figure out how can I get the thing that I want. And so it's a warning sign. When you're looking for loopholes in God's instruction, you're looking for a way, well, I didn't curse them, God. You're looking for a way trying to figure out, okay, how can I get about my purposes in the midst of, you know, what God wants here? And so Balaam fell.

Looking for a way to accomplish what I want, regardless of what God wants. It's a red flag. It's a warning sign. It's a one way to tell that you, you're walking away from God. Your heart is on the wrong path. It's a path that's veering off away from the truth. And instead, it's a pursuit of your own desires and cravings. Do you see any of these warning signs in your life right now?

Again, I would suggest self-correction is an essential skill for every believer. We need to be able to look at these things and allow the Lord to prompt us, allow the Lord to correct us, allow the Lord to redirect us. We could go down the path of Balaam. Balaam ends up dead with the Midianites later on in Numbers chapter 31. He gets the reward after teaching them how to cause Israel to fall, but he doesn't get to enjoy it very long because he's with them when they're defeated. And so he dies quick.

He doesn't get to enjoy the reward that he was craving so much. He misses out on what could have been because he would not recognize the will of God. He would not submit to the plan of God. He saw all the warning signs, but he wouldn't self-correct. He wouldn't course-correct. If there's any of these warning signs in your life right now, now is a chance. Now is the opportunity.

If God's answered you, but you keep asking him, you're trying, you know, just please, Lord, you're begging. I really want that guy. I really want that job. I really want that, you know, like, please. And you're pleading with the Lord in that way. Be very careful. Check your heart. You might be taking those first steps off the path. When you're extra frustrated by difficulties, things keep breaking, things keep, you know, messing up, and you're just over the top, you're overreacting, you're

It's a good indication that you're probably not submitted to the will of God. You're not accepting the plan of God and willing to live out the path that God has for you. When God gives you strong and clear warnings, take heed. He doesn't speak needlessly. And when you find yourself looking for loopholes, I know what God says, but if I go this way, if I do it this way, if I, you know, and you're looking for that opportunity to excuse or to get away with or to make your will happen in spite of what God has said,

Let it be a red flag, a warning. Your path is not the path towards the Lord, with the Lord. Your path is a path away from the Lord. Let's pray. Lord, I ask that you would help us to recognize these things in our lives. Lord, if there are these kind of warning signs that are happening for us, I pray, Lord, that you would give us, Lord, an honest reflection at our own hearts and minds. Lord, that we'd be able to see and to address these issues.

God, I pray that you would turn our hearts toward you, incline our hearts, Lord, that we might be pursuing you and your will, your plans and your purposes instead of our own. Lord, would you fill us with your Holy Spirit? Help us, God, to have that pure and holy passion, Lord, for you, that our lives would be consumed with you because, Lord, what you have is what we need. Your life, your heart, your mind, Lord, that's what we need the most.

relationship with you, Lord, that's, Lord, the only thing that will fulfill us. And your plans for us are the ultimate good that could never be competed with by anything that we could come up with. And so, Lord, help us to surrender to your will, to your plans, to seek to accomplish your purposes, and to lay aside our own. Pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

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