We're going to be returning to
the book of Numbers this morning, but on your way back to the book
of Numbers, would you stop by the Song of Solomon? The Song
of Solomon. And in the Song of Solomon, which
is titled the Song of Songs, in chapter two of the Song of
Solomon, and in verse nine, we have this reading. I am overwhelmed
with learning about the things that God did for me before I
ever knew about it. From eternity, He was dealing
with my needs. And from eternity, He had names
written down in the Lamb's Book of Life. And so often in our
life, we find it is just like this verse of scripture shares
with us. that He is behind the scenes. He is behind the lattice
as we find here in the Song of Solomon. Its lattice is that
stuff we put around that has holes in it, semi-obscures. But in the purpose of God, we
find that He works behind there. As we have looked here in the
book of Numbers, chapter 22, we find that the children of
Israel have come to a place that they've set up their tents and
their life is going on prior to them entering into the promised
land. And over the other side of the
hill, we have a great plot against them. Yet we find that God works
in his marvelous way to protect his people and they don't even
seem to Understand that it's happening. Well read with me
song of Solomon chapter 2 verse 9 my beloved I is like a roe
or a young heart. Behold, he standeth behind our
wall. You know, this beloved, we find
that the church was asked, why do you think so much of this
one? Why do you think so much of this
one? Aren't there other lovers that you could have? And the
bride says, he is altogether lovely. everything about Him. He is marvelous beyond compare.
He is a Savior that saves. He's a Redeemer that redeems. He has all things worked out
for His honor and His glory and His praise, and He extends that
to His people and gives them all salvation, full and free,
without payment from our side, only payment from His side. goes
on to tell us here that, oftentimes, he looketh forth at the windows,
showing himself through the lattice. Now, that word showing himself
could be flourishing. You know, he's very active behind
that lattice. He's not at a standstill. He's
not waiting for things to happen. He's flourishing behind there.
He's doing his bidding as he is hidden from us from time to
time. Nothing takes him by surprise.
Nothing is left out from his knowledge. In fact, we find out
he does more than permit things to happen. He purposes things
to happen. And his purpose was to reveal his glory unto a people
that he is going to die for on the cross. So he is flourishing
behind there. He has so much activity that
he's doing on the behalf of his people, and it's so often unbeknownst
to us. Well, let's travel, if you would,
back to the book of Numbers. And we find in this passage of
Scripture that the Lord of Glory is going to perform so much for
the children of Israel that they don't even realize that it's
happening. But it is for them! And, you know, the Lord is so
good to us that from behind the lattice, He will always, whatever
the Lord desires to reveal to us, will never be contrary to
how He saved His people. Save people will be in complete
agreement with God. We'll not be contrary to God. We may not understand it, but
that does not prevent us from believing it. We'll trust God
in the matter. We'll believe God in the matter.
We'll go with God in the matter. And that's what it reveals to
us. My sheep hear my voice and they follow me. So he's going
to reveal his word to us. We're going to see it. And we're
going to say, you know, God said it. I'm just going to go with
it. He is working, flourishing behind the lattice on my behalf. Here in the book of Numbers chapter
22, we started this chapter last week, and we found out that there
was a king of Moab who had a problem. Now the children of Israel are
camped over here. They're getting ready to go into
the Promised Land. They're camping just all over
from Jericho. That's where they're going to
cross the Jordan River. That's where they're going to
go into the Promised Land. Jericho is the first city that
they're going to meet. And we know the story of the
walls of Jericho. God took care of that. He's working
for his people in such a glorious and manifests himself in such
a glorious way as he did to Joshua, the angel of the Lord, the captain
of the Lord's host. He reveals himself that way.
So we have a problem. These children of Israel, they've
been traveling for about 40 years. They're ready to go in. It isn't
quite the right day yet. They haven't fulfilled their
full 40 years. And they're camped there, they're
doing their business, they're going about their business, and
on the other side of the hill, we will say, we have the king
of Moab has a problem. The children of Israel were camping
too close, and it may threaten his party. He's been going on
just normally as kings do, not paying much attention to what's
going on around him, and yet he noticed that this group of
people, between 3 and 6 million people, have camped right next
to his border, and he's having a problem. So he's going to send
word to his pastor, it tells us here. The children of Israel,
it says in verse 1, where they are. And it tells us in verse
two, in Balak, the son of Zippor, so all Israel had done to the
Amorites, and Moab was sore afraid of the people. Now remember what
Israel did to the Amorites. You know, many years before this,
God had spoken to their father Abraham and said, now your family
is going to be in jail. So slavery down in Egypt for
400 years. And I don't know, Abraham probably
shocked him just a moment, but then he realized Abraham believed
God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. 400 years those people were going
to be in bondage in Egypt. And the formula for their release
was when the full, the full sinfulness of the Amorites is full, then
they'll be released. Well, we find out in the last
chapter that they took care of the Amorites just like God said
they would, and they're ready to go in. But this king of Moab,
he's having a problem with it. His name is Balak, and he is
going to sin for his pastor. And his pastor is a soothsayer. Now, the reason I know that,
and keep your finger right there, but turn with me to the book
of Joshua for just a moment. In the book of Joshua, chapter
13, Joshua reviews a little bit about this guy, this Balak's
pastor, his name is Balaam, and he shares with us here in the
book of Joshua, chapter 13 and verse 22, what kind of profession
this guy is known for. His profession is the soothsayer. He is a magician, a sleight of
hand person. He is not like we heard this
morning about John. He said his commission was to
make the way to the Lord straight. This guy was contrary to that
in every possible way he could because he was interested in
not the gospel, but he was interested in reward. That was his interest. That was what held him. It tells
us here in the book of Joshua chapter 13 and verse 22, Balaam
also the son of Beor, the soothsayer, did the children of Israel slay
with a sword among them that were slain by them. So we read
about his demise and we're going to go back and read about what
happened to him here in the book of Numbers earlier because it
tells us that this soothsayer is approached by the king of
Moab. The king of Moab and the soothsayer are all superstitious. They're superstitious about their
religion. He believes, and it appears that
Balaam also believed that he had the ability of putting a
curse on people. Maybe he had that little doll
and put pins in it. I don't know what was going on,
but he had the reputation. Let's go back there to the book
of Numbers, chapter 22, and it tells us here in verse 5, And he sent messengers
therefore unto Balaam the son of Beor to Pthor, which is by
the river of the land of the children of his people, to call
him, saying, Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt.
Behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over
against me. Come now, therefore, I pray thee,
curse me this people. That's all I want you to do.
Curse them so I can take over. I've noticed what they've done
to the Amorites, and I don't want to fall into the same position
that those people did. So you curse them so I can take
over. Curse me, these people, for they are too mighty for me.
Peradventure I shall prevail that we may smite them, and that
we may drive them out of the land. For I want that he whom
thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed.
I've heard Through the grapevine, I've heard that you are somebody
that can do this. Whom you bless, they're blessed.
Whom you curse, they're cursed. So I want you to curse this people.
Who is Balak talking about? The children of Israel. That's
who Balak is talking about, and that is who he is going to pay
Balaam to curse, the people of Egypt. He says, they came out
of Egypt. They're a swarm of people, and they've taken over,
and I need help with them. And so he sends his ambassadors. In verse 7, the elders of Moab
and the elders of Midian departed from the rewards of divination
in their hands. They have payment for this curse
in their hands. They know how to get to Balaam. You know, I've said many times,
if 99% of the churches in America said to their pastor, we can't
pay you anymore, how many would be encyclopedia salesmen the
next day? Why? Because they're in it for
reward. The apostle Paul shares with
us, he felt himself only as a waterer. And his brother in Christ, who
was also a preacher, Apollos, he said, he, no, Paul said, I
am just a planter. And my brother Apollos is just
a waterer. We're just servants. There's
nothing in it for us. It is God that giveth the increase. They understood that and how
glorious it is to understand that it is God that gives the
increase. I am nothing more than a planter. Someone else may come along.
Brother Lance may come along and water it. Brother Wayne,
Brother Gary, some other preacher, come along and just water it.
Brother Mike standing up here, water it, plant it, water it,
plant it. But what is the result? It must come from God, we cannot
produce it. People who try are messing where
they don't belong, and they're like Balaam, they're soothsayers. They're like Balak, wanting a
curse or a blessing. All right, in verse 80, he said
unto them, Lodge here this night. Now, this is Balaam speaking
concerning that ambassage, those folks that were sent by Balak.
He says, spend some time here. Now, if we follow this through
for a little bit, we think, well, this guy's on the level. Look
what he's going to do. He said here, he said, lodge
here. this night, and I will bring
you word again, as the Lord shall speak unto me, and the princes
of Moab abode with Balaam." Stay in my house tonight, and tonight
I will go have a conversation with God about this matter. And
then it tells us, God came unto Balaam and said, what men are
these with thee? Now, that question is like all
questions that God asks. When He came to Adam and He said,
Adam, where art thou? He was not trying to collect
information. He was not trying to find out
where Adam was. You know, God said what What
man are these? Is it not because God does not
know? It is because He wanted Balaam,
or me, or you, in a framework to consider that what we don't
know. Balaam didn't know a whole bunch,
and Adam, in his fallen condition, didn't know anything. He was
dead in trespasses and sin, and if it wasn't for God coming down
and speaking to him and calling him and covering him, Adam would
have died in that Garden of Eden with covering of fig leaves and
paid no attention whatsoever to ever anything God had to say.
God had to intervene in his life just as we're going to find out
here. God came down to Balaam and said, what men are these? And he wants Balaam to understand,
I know all about this. I am reading things through the
lattice. My people are over there, and
you have been called on to curse them." Now notice what he tells
Balaam here. He says, And Balaam said unto
God, Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, hath sent unto
me, saying, Behold, there is a people come out of Egypt."
Who is he talking about? He's talking about the people
of God. He's talking about those descendants
of Abraham. Where did Abraham come from?
You know, the Bible tells us in Joshua that Abraham and his
whole family worshipped other gods. If you study anything about
the Urites, you'll find out there's probably 10,000 different deities
that they had, and Abraham was right in the mess with them.
He was a worshipper of other gods. He had no interest in God.
He had never heard about God. God had never come down there
in that form to reveal his truth of the gospel to him. But we
read in the book of Acts chapter 7 that Stephen goes back to the
time of Abraham and brings us up to date. The God of glory
appeared unto Abraham in Mesopotamia. You know everything that Abraham
could ever boast in was because of that? The God of glory. You know, that same word is used
in that same chapter down at the end when Stephen beheld the
glory of God as he closed his eyes. The God of glory. This God of glory revealed unto
him, appeared unto him, is such a striking thing. It isn't no
small thing that happened in a quarter, but it was something
that was so enormous to Abraham. He was caught up. He was brought
to senses. God revealed himself to Abraham. The God of glory came to him. It wasn't Balaam. It was the
God of glory. And now we have the descendants
of Abraham there, these children of Israel. Abraham had two sons. Well, he had a number of sons,
but two of them are very important in the scriptures. One of them
was Ishmael. And God says he was born after
the flesh. And he had another son by the
name of Isaac. And he was born after God's determination
because we find out his mama was 90 years old and she was,
the Bible's very plain, past the years of having children.
So this is going to be a miracle birth. You know, that's what
God does when he gives us the new birth. It's a miracle birth.
It's not of our doing. It's not of our contrivance.
We're unable. We can't get there. So, we find
that Abraham, these are the children of Abraham. These are the children.
Now, not all of these people, we read by the Apostle Paul's
wisdom given to him by the Holy Spirit in the Book of Romans,
that not all Israel was of Israel, but they're a type and a picture
of the church. And here, they're over here taking
care of business, living their life, waiting for entering into
the promised land. And over here, we have a king
that is upset with them being there, and he entertains payment
to a soothsayer to put a curse on him. And this soothsayer,
God comes to him as God even does to Satan himself. and all
of his imps, all that stuff. He's not without knowledge of
all things. In fact, he uses them for his
honor and for his glory. He did that with Job. He did that himself. Satan came
down and tempted the Lord. He did exactly the same temptation
to the Lord that we find went to Adam. And you know what? Adam
fell. And Jesus Christ came out saying,
hallelujah, I'm king of kings and I'm lord of lords. He will
bow someday. All right. Now notice here, it
tells us verse 12. And God said unto Balaam, I like
this. He didn't suggest this to Balaam.
He said unto Balaam, thou shall not go with them. Now that's good advice. The gospel is straight. Make
straight the way to the Lord. Don't deviate, don't go to the
right hand or to the left hand. Don't get it mixed up in that.
Straight, thou shall not go with them. Don't you dare go with
these folks. They only have one thing in mind,
and that is my people and harm to my people. All right? Secondly,
he says, Thou shall not curse the people. Now there's two meanings
here. You shall not and I shall not
let you. You know there's something about God's people. God has blessed
them with a blessing that cannot be removed and nobody can interfere
with it. Did you know what we read over
there in the Psalm 32 and verse 2? Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no guile. Blessed is the man whom the Lord
imputeth not iniquity. What does that mean? There is
a blessed people that God has taken care of their sin debt.
They're a blessed people, they cannot be cursed. There will
be no curses ever brought to them. Now people may mock them
and people may make fun of them and people may say, well, I heard
the other day about a preacher on YouTube preaching about the
most dangerous doctrine in the world. You know what the most
dangerous doctrine in the world is? He was preaching against
God getting involved with people before the foundation of the
world. Preaching against God, having an atonement that actually
atones. That's the most dangerous doctrine
in the world. Are you giving me, the guy knows
nothing about the gospel because the most glorious gospel is God
being in charge, saving his people from their sins without their
help. We can't do anything. We're dead in trespasses and
sin. And if God should come along, thank God for grace. grace. Now God said to this man,
Thou shalt not curse them, for He tells us in the last, what
is it, four words, for they are blessed. Those people over there
are my people and they are blessed. You cannot curse them. You will
not curse them and you shall not go with them. Well, we find
through the scriptures how God declares to a group of people
that he has foreknown before the foundation of the world that
they are a blessed people. They are so blessed that it tells
us in the New Testament that the gates of hell shall not prevail
against them. Oh, we've come under all kinds
of threats by religion. You're going to have to answer
for that. My Savior has answered for that. All the sins of all
His people were poured out on Him, imputed to Him on the cross,
and He paid made completely and forever for all of them, and
they will not be charged with them. In fact, the Apostle Paul
was led by the Holy Spirit to bring this subject up once again
in the book of Romans. He said, Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies it.
So, no charges. Now, we may charge ourselves
sometimes because, oh my goodness, you know what we are made of.
But God will not charge us. That charge went to Christ. They
are blessed. The church is blessed. I give
unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. They are
blessed. It is a blessed people that God
has. And now we find that Balaam, he said, don't go, don't go with
them. Balaam rose up in the morning
and said unto the princes of Balak, get you into your land,
for the Lord refuses to give me leave to go to you. I cannot
go. I cannot go. Well, these ambassadors
go back to their king and said, sorry, he won't come. You know what that king did?
He says, take my checkbook. There's a blank check. I'll sign
it. There's a blank check. You take this check back and
say, whatever it takes, all the gold and silver that
I have, if necessary, you have that man come and curse these
people. Well, what did they do? They
turned right around and went back. And they come to Balaam
and said, thus saith, verse 16, they came to Balaam and said
unto him, thus saith Balak, the son of Zipporah, let nothing,
I pray thee, hinder thee from coming unto me, for I will promote
thee unto very great honor. And I will do whatsoever thou
sayest unto me. Come, therefore, I pray thee,
and curse me this people. And Balaam answered and said
unto his servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his house
full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord
my God to do less or more. We think, what's wrong with this
guy? He's saying all the right words. Verse 19, now therefore I pray
you, Terry, you also hear this night, that I may know what the
Lord will say unto me more. What did he say before? Don't
go, don't curse, they are a blessed people. Well, let's find out
what else he says. You know, people are always wanting
to add. I'm not quite satisfied with
that answer. You know, I know what it is to
be not satisfied with the answer. The man who brought me the gospel
said there is one answer, and I wanted two or three. Those
folks down there in New Guinea, where Brother Lance Heller's
father was for 55 years, when Lance was down there this last
time, and they came to him and says, all these other religions
have brought all of these things. You know, they bring hospitals,
they bring this, they bring that, and they think that that's honoring
God, doing that service like that. If you're gonna go down
to New Guinea to open a hospital, don't put it under a religious
name, just be a doctor. Because there's only one thing
that God has ever asked the church to do when they go out on a mission
field. And that's what Lance's father
did. He went down there with one thing. It wasn't medicine,
it wasn't doctrine, it wasn't how to dig wells, it wasn't how
to do anything. He brought one thing, and that's
the only thing God has ever asked any one of his preachers to ever
do, and that is to declare Christ. The only hope, declare Christ. Those folks down there in those
23 churches thanked Lance to tell his father for coming down
and sharing one thing. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And those folks where Lance is
are thanking Him for the same thing. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Nobody will remember the Band-Aid. But for eternity, people will
remember the message when God gives it to our heart. The message
is what we remember. Thank God for the message. Yes,
the man who brought me the gospel was a kind man. I hated him,
but he was a kind man. But I remember him for the message.
Christ and Him crucified. So this man says, let me find
out what more. And God came unto Balaam at night
and said unto him, The men come to call thee, rise up and go
with them. But yet the word which I shall
say unto thee thou shalt do. Now between verse 20 and verse
21, do you notice any men coming? Nobody came. And what did Balaam
do? The allurement. The allurement. He loved notoriety. He loved preeminence. You know,
there's a preacher mentioned over in the book of 3 John, I
believe, who pratteth about and would not receive John. Can you imagine? John, one of
the Lord's disciples, who was given the privilege of writing
the book of John and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, this man, Diotrephes,
refuses to receive John. Why? Because he hated his gospel. He hated the message of Christ.
He prattled about. He wanted the preeminence. He
wanted the position. You know, there are many things
that we can learn from John the Baptist, and one of the things
that John the Baptist did, he never endeavored to have a following. He always pointed His disciples
in one direction, and that was to Christ. Behold the Lamb of
God, which giveth His life for the sins of the world. And you
know, two of His disciples turned around and said, John, thank
you. And they left. And you know what He said? Hallelujah. He was not having a problem with
those disciples going to follow Christ, because that was his
goal. That's the goal we have. So,
as we look here at Balaam, it says in verse 21, Balaam rose
up in the morning and saddled his donkey. Now, forgive me. I'm gonna use the word donkey.
We used to have a preacher attend when we were in the old building.
And I got his Bible when he passed away, and right there he says,
Brother Norm said the word donkey instead of the word that's right
there. So forgive me, it's going to be donkey. Balaam rose up
in the morning. What did the Lord say? If those
folks come, then you go, but don't you do anything past that.
And he rose up and saddled his donkey and went with the princes
of Moab. Now notice verse 22, and God's
anger was kindled because he went and the angel of the Lord
stood in the way for an adversary against him. Oh, my. We've got an adversary of Balaam,
and his title is Angel of the Lord. Now, who is that? Who's
the messenger of Jehovah? No, in a pre-incarnate way, he
appeared unto Balaam, and Balaam could not see him. How strange it is that that donkey
saw him before Balaam saw him. He saw him and saved Balaam's
life. And then the Lord opened his eyes. Let's read through
here. God's anger was kindled because he went and the angel
of the Lord stood in the way for an adversary against him.
Now he was riding upon his donkey and his two servants were with
him. You know, he is traveling with these folks from Moab. It was just, as I was reading
through this this last week, I said, you know, I've often
thought that he was just traveling alone. Not only did he have two
servants, but he had a whole host. And most of them didn't
see a thing. Most people don't. How do we get to see Christ?
When He opens our eyes. How does He do that? He has to
raise us from the dead. How do we hear Christ? When He
gives us ears. How do we see Christ when he gives us sight?
How do we get to smell Christ when he gives us a nose? All
of our spiritual senses must be given by God. There is an
incident in the New Testament when the Lord Jesus Christ was
notified that one of his friends was sick, nigh unto death, and
Jesus Christ refrained himself from healing from a distance,
because he could have done that, or even joining him, he could
have done that. But he stayed where he was until
word came that that friend of his had died. Jesus said to his
disciples who were with him, he's asleep. And they said, well,
that's good because people, they're sick. They need sleep. No, he
said, I'm talking about he died. Why did he stay? Why did he stay so long? That
the glory of the Lord might be revealed. So when it came time,
he went down there and the tomb is covered. You know, we don't
often do it that way in our culture, but in their culture, they had
a place above ground. Down in New Orleans, I saw things
like that where If you're buried below ground, your lab will end
up in the Mississippi River. But they have above ground. Well,
they had it all sealed up. And the Lord came, and He knew
how long it had been, and He knew what those ladies would
say, don't take that door away. You know, that's just a sample
of what it is to be dead without Christ, stinking dead. But this Lord of glory, the angel
of the Lord, came in his mighty power, and he said just a few
words, Lazarus, come forth. And there was no way in this
world that that man, Lazarus, who had been dead for four days
could not come. He had the God that created the
heavens and the earth, the solar systems and everything on it,
all of the water of the earth and all the land of the earth
and all the creatures of the earth in activity. He had his voice
calling him. And so it is when he calls us
out of darkness to his marvelous light. The Lord is going to use
a donkey here. You know, this is not the first
time that God has used an animal. It's interesting when you go
over to the book of Genesis, you find that when God called
on Noah to build that ark, Noah didn't have to go out all the
hinterlands and bring those animals in. What did they do? They came,
yes, they came. God called them, they came. And
they entered into the ark. We had all kinds of critters
entering in that ark. And Noah did not have to go after
them. Noah didn't have to do anything. He stood there in the
door and they came in. We find in another place that
there was one of God's prophets that was fearing for his life. And God told him to camp by a
brook. You know, there must not have been a salmon run in that
creek, because there's nothing about him fishing. There's nothing
about him doing anything. God said, I'll send you ravens
with food in their mouth. Can you imagine a raven carrying
food? Those guys are just, they'll
eat anything. Why should they share with anybody?
You know, one of the movies I watched with the kids one time, there
were a whole bunch of seagulls, like ravens, were squawking and
it was interpreted, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine. That's
what a raven does, it's mine. God said, I'll send ravens to
feed you. Oh, in the days of Jonah, he
knew, he knew, he knew. And he revealed that he was the
one, that this whole wind was over. And so they cast him into
the deep, into the Mediterranean Sea. And you know what? God said
he prepared a great fish to swallow him. We find in the book of Matthew
that they were going to need to pay some money. Don't you
wish taxes was this easy? And he said, Peter, go down there
to the lake and cast in your hook. And when a fish comes up,
land him and take the golden coin out of his mouth and pay
your dues. Can you imagine God having absolute
control over all those animals that were brought to the ark,
over those ravens that came? You know, at one time, I should
have entered this in too, at the time that the flood, when
it was all through raining, Noah cast out a dove. And that dove
flew around and guess what? Came right back. Went out again,
came back, came back the third time with a branch, olive branch. Now, you know, the Lord demonstrates
his almighty power over another donkey. He told his disciples
just in preparation for the last Passover that God ever authorized. You know there's gonna be some
more, but they're not his. He says, there's gonna be one
Passover, and then I'm gonna institute what we know as the
Lord's Supper. And he says, I want you to go
over there and there's going to be a donkey. And there's a
foal of a donkey. And I want you to bring that
foal of a donkey over here that it specifically says no man ever
rode. You know what the scripture says
about a donkey? Man be born like a wild donkey's
colt. That's the way we're born. Self-will,
strong will, do it our own way. God doesn't mean anything, I'll
take care of it myself. And God said, through this incident,
the Lord came, they brought that donkey, that colt, never been
ridden, they laid some coats on the back of that donkey, and
lo and behold, Jesus Christ stepped, sat on it, and that donkey didn't
even crow foot. He wrote it through crowds of
people screaming, Hosanna to God, glory to God in the highest. And all the religious people
says, please have your master tell him to be quiet. This is
the fulfillment of Zechariah. Behold, your king cometh riding
upon a donkey, full of a donkey. Well, the Lord has absolute control
over all things and even in the animal kingdom. And right here,
we find out that he has the control over a donkey, a man who thinks
he's somebody going to reap some reward He's going to go with
every intent he can to curse those people because of reward,
and God comes upon him and says, you won't see me, but that donkey
will see me. Let's notice here, the Lord's
anger was kindled. Now, latter part of verse 22,
now he was riding upon his donkey and his two servants with him,
and the donkey saw the angel of the Lord. Boy, sometimes we
just hope people get to be donkeys, don't we? So they can see the
angel of the Lord. The donkey saw the angel of the
Lord standing in the way and his sword drawn in his hand. You know, we're going to find
out that if I hadn't stopped your donkey, I would have killed
you. And the donkey turned aside out
of the way, and went into the field. And Balaam smote the donkey
to turn her into the way." Here is the glory of God right in
front. Balaam can't see a thing. The
donkey sees everything. And instead of going up and getting
any closer, he just turns out and goes out to the wheat field.
Well, you know, he's got that whip in his hand and he starts
the backside of that donkey to get back in the road. Well, it
goes on to tell us, but the angel of the Lord stood in the path
of the vineyards, a wall being on this side and a wall on that
side. And when the donkey saw the angel
of the Lord, she thrust herself into the wall and crushed Balaam's
foot against the wall and he smote her again. And the angel
of the Lord went further and stood in the narrow place where
was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left.
Isn't that interesting how we find the Lord does hedge us about,
doesn't he? The Lord does bring us down.
The Lord brings us to a point. The Lord continues to, for everyone
that is his people, he continues to hedge them down. No turning
to the right hand or to the left hand. And when the donkey saw the angel
of the Lord, he fell down under Balaam, and Balaam's anger was
kindled, and he smote the donkey with the staff, and the Lord
opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said unto Balaam. Oh my goodness. Can you imagine
that happening to you? What would you think? Well, it
doesn't seem to affect Balaam very much. his donkey talking to him. Now,
I don't know how many commentaries I read that this had to be a
special way that this donkey signaled to him. There was no
way that he could have conversation. You know, someone who says that
after plain word of God doesn't know God. doesn't know anything,
does not trust God in the matter. This donkey talked to its master
and it talked in Hebrew or Moabites, whatever it was that might have
been Mesopotamian because that's where this Balaam was from. But whatever language Balaam
was from, that donkey talked to him in that language and conversed
with him and said here, Balaam, Lord opened the mouth of the
donkey, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that
thou hast smitten me these three times? And Balaam said unto the
donkey, Because thou hast mocked me, I would, there were a sword
in my hand, for now would I kill thee. And the donkey said unto
Balaam, Am I not thy donkey, upon which thou hast ridden ever
since I was thine unto this day? Was I ever what to do so unto
thee? And he said, No. Then, that's
a very important then. Oh, to have this then in our
life. Then the Lord opened the eyes
of Balaam. He was going to be able to see
something. But you know, as we follow this through, we find
out, and as we get to the New Testament about this man, we
find out he didn't know anything. The Lord was gracious to show
him Himself, but He never showed him Himself. He showed him, he
said, the Lord standing in the way, and his sword was drawn
in his hand, and he bowed down his head and fell flat on his
face. And the angel of the Lord said
unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thy donkey these three
times? Behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way
is perverse before me. And the donkey saw me and turned
from me these three times. Unless she had turned from me,
surely now also I would have slain thee and saved her alive. And Balaam said unto the angel
of the Lord, I have sinned. You know, this is just some mock
repentance. You know why he did that? Because
he'd done a really stupid thing. Almost every religious experience
that we have ever had And we try to get right with God. We've
rededicated our lives. We've been resaved. We've got
all that has been a result of doing something really, really
stupid against God or someone else. And now we want to make
it right. You know what? Repentance, true repentance,
is a gift that God gives us in the new birth. Repentance and
faith are gifts. We don't have that. Now, in our
natural self, we may be sorry for what we did, and that's what
Balaam is gonna demonstrate, but in real life, in real salvation,
we find out that the scriptures teach us that repentance and
faith are gifts that we cannot do ourselves, and they're given
to us, and then it is real over there in the book of 1 Thessalonians.
One of the clearest statements about repentance is you've turned
from dominals to worship the true and living God. We're not through, but we will
stop right here. I pray that each one has a then
when the Lord revealed himself. brother of mine.