Jude speaks of these people, woe unto them, they've gone the way of Cain. Verse 11 of Jude, we've looked at it a couple of times, they run greedily. They run after the error of Balaam. I want to know what the error of Balaam is. And they run after it greedily for reward and they're perished in the gainsaying of Korah.

So these three infamous, infamous false prophets are laid out before us and given to us in such extraordinary detail in the scriptures. And God does everything for a purpose, and the purpose is always the glory of his name.

And you might ask the question when you look at Jude, and he speaks so amazingly about those that are sanctified by God the Father, and they're preserved in Jesus Christ, and they're called, and then we sing at the end of our service, unto him is able to keep you from falling and present you faultless by the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. Then why? Why is there so much need throughout the scriptures for such clear declarations of what false teachers are?

And they're called creeping men here. They're called certain men in Galatians. And they came out of the church in Jerusalem to harass the churches in what is now modern day Turkey. And they went out from us in 1 John 2. That didn't mean that they went out from us and did absolutely nothing. They went out from us and found a place of religious acceptance.

And why? You have to keep asking the question, why after so much faithful labor? When you think of the labor of Paul, and in 2 Timothy, no man stood by him. And it's extraordinary to think of that remarkable man's life. But when he departed from the saints in Ephesus, he called all the pastors of the churches in Ephesus down to that beach in Miletus and they prayed and Paul preached and they wept and wept and wept.

And Paul said, he said, I know this, after my, this is Acts 20, 29, after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, peaking for those things, to draw away disciples after themselves. Why? That's a good question, isn't it? Why?

Well, while you're in Numbers, you just turn over one book into Deuteronomy 13. It's a good question to ask, isn't it? That's a good question to ask. Deuteronomy 13, it speaks of these false prophets. It says, Deuteronomy 13 verse one, if there arrives among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder. He says this is going to happen and this is the sign. And, listen to it, and the sign or wonder come to pass. He speaks these great words and this wonder comes to pass. And then he says, Let us go after other gods. So there's this miracle worker, this extraordinary prophet. Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them.

Then he says, thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God proveth you. Why the false teachers? The Lord your God proveth you. He's testing us. And this is a test that the saints of God will all pass with flying colours all the time. Because God keeps them. That's exactly what we read at the beginning of Jude. God is able to keep his people.

And God is able to reveal his glory and his faithfulness His covenant mercies, and he's able to reveal himself even more clearly by what happens with the false teachers. And you shall not hearken to that dreamer of dreams, that prophet. For the Lord your God proved with you And this is the issue, isn't it? This is the fundamental issue, to know, Deuteronomy 13 through, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice. You shall serve him and cling to him, cleave to him, you'll cling to him.

That's what he's going to do in the hearts of his people when they see these false teachers arise. They're going to be forced back into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're going to be forced to realise the depth of their weakness and they're going to be made to realise the wonder of the faithfulness of God and how much they need him to protect them.

Because if they're creeping, you can't see them. they crept into the churches that the apostles were preaching in. And creeping things are much harder to see and to detect than anything that's so open and perverse. And so these men held up before us.

If anyone's ever visited our place knows that I sit on my veranda in a certain place in a certain chair and right in front of me just 10 meters away is an old old camellia tree and it's been there for 180 years or more I don't know how old it is anyway it's an antique. Anyway I was sitting on the veranda there last year or the year before when Lisa was away. And I looked up in this tree, and there, sticking out of the top of it, was a lantana bush. And it had been grown, and it was six metres long. I took a photo of it and measured it on the lawn. It was six or seven metres long, this lantana, and it was just one stem.

Now, I had whippersnapped around that tree, and I dug around that tree, and I fiddled around that tree, and I chopped bits away from around that tree. And it had been there, and I'd been looking at it all the time, and it grew up through that tree, and it wasn't until it popped out the top that I actually saw what it was. I'm just, my point is simply that we can have something that's right before us and not see it. And my great prayer for us is that God would make these words very real and that we would, we would be not only encouraged by the Lord's work in the hearts of his people to protect them from the Balaam's of this world and the Korah's and the Cain's.

Cain's great sin was that he thought he could come to God on the basis of what he did himself. Cain came to God with an offering, but Cain came to God with the wrong offering. Cain came to a church service and he brought the wrong offering. He didn't bring the lamb of God. God will accept, has accepted, and will only accept one offering for sin, one offering that brings righteousness, and that's his dear and precious son.

So to go back to Numbers 20. 22. The Balaam is mentioned many times in these verses of scripture and I can only just give you in the time we have remaining just the history of it. But you've got to remember that this is right at the end of the wilderness wanderings. This is right towards the very end of 40 years of wandering. So the children of Israel had been grown by God in Egypt for those 430 years. They had been miraculously and wonderfully rescued by God out of there. They'd crossed the Red Sea. They'd seen a superpower destroyed by a man who had the word of God in a stick. A superpower. People of what China and America and Russia and other people are doing. Our God is amazingly enormous and the word had spread throughout all of that land and just in the previous chapters you'll see that nations had been destroyed by God Almighty right in the very presence of Balaam and the Midianites and the Moabites.

And just start in chapter 22, and we'll just look at some of these things very briefly. And the children of Israel set forward and pitched in the plains of Moab on this side of Jordan by Jericho. Moses knew that he was going to die. This is at the very end of Moses' life, just at the very, about the time they were to cross over. And so God had witnessed his glory in the midst of all of these lands around, for many, many years. These people had generations of stories about Israel.

And Barak, the son of Zippor, saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites, and Moab was sore afraid of the people because they were many, and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel. And Moab set under the elders of Midian. They were sort of two nations side by side there on the eastern side of the Dead Sea and all the way down to the Gulf. Now shall this company, the Israelites, lick up all that are round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field.

And Balak, the son of Zippor, was the king of the Moabites at the time. He sent messengers, therefore, unto Balaam, the son of Beor, to Pethor, 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 of Egypt. Behold, they cover the face of the earth. They abide over against us. Come, therefore, I pray thee, and curse me this people, for they are too mighty for me. Peradventure, I shall prevail, that we may smite them, that I may drive them out of the land, for I know I want that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed.

Balaam was a famous soothsayer. He was a famous soothsayer. And Balaam was called upon by Balak. And the elders, verse 7, and the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand. And they came unto Balaam and spake unto him the words of Balak. And they said unto him, and he said unto them, Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again. And listen to how pious he was. As the Lord shall speak unto me, and the princes of Moab obey with Balaam, And God came unto Baal and said, What men are these with thee? And Balaam said unto God, Balak the son of Zippor, the king of Moab, hath sent unto me, saying, Behold, there is a people come out of Egypt with cover of the face of the earth. Come now, curse me them. Peradventure I shall be able to overcome them and drive them out.

And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them. Thou shalt not curse the people. Listen to what God says to these people. For they are blessed.

Balaam was enticed with money and he was enticed with the honour of men. And Balaam, as we'll go on to see, walked in the way of compromise. He spoke the words of God, but in his heart he had no love for God. Balaam could compromise the worship of God because he had compromise in his heart. Balaam had companionship with those who worshipped Satan. Balaam was corrupt and he led others into corruption.

But Balaam heard from God and Balaam was rebuked by God in extraordinary ways. So Jude calls it the era of Balaam. And Balaam's end is an appalling end. Balaam's end is in the company of those who despise God. And yet he looked down on the people of God and he knew the power of God and he heard from God himself. Cain heard from God. Balaam heard from God. Cora heard from God. And yet, despite all of the remarkable, remarkable privileges they had, Balin looked down on Israel. and ended up living his life with the Midianites and he was slaughtered with them. And his companions in the end are his companions now. Balaam has spent these three and a half thousand years deep sin.

Firstly I want us to go back and have a look at Numbers chapter 22 verse 8. We'll see that Balaam doubted the word of God. Where did it begin in the garden? What did Satan say in the garden? What was it? One of the very first words that led to all Did God really say? God had spoken so clearly, wasn't it? He says, don't go with them. Verse 12, thou shalt not go with them, thou shalt not curse the people. And God declared what he's done for his people. They are blessed. And Balaam sends these people away. And he says, verse 13, Balaam rose 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 with you. And the princes of Moab rose up and they went unto Balak and said, Balaam refuses to come with us.

And Balak sent again princes, listen to this, more and more honorable men than they. And they came to Balaam, and said to him, Thus saith Balak the son of Zippor, Let nothing, I pray thee, hinder thee from coming to me." Listen to the enticement, the covetousness that Balaam eventually was seduced by. "'For I will promote thee unto very great honour, and I will do whatsoever thou sayest Me, come therefore, I pray thee, and curse this people. And listen to Balaam's response. Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, if Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord. Listen to what he describes. He says, he's the Lord my God. And will say unto me more. I'm not going to do more or less now, therefore I pray thee. Tarry here also this night.

Why did he ask them to tarry when God had said go? Why did he ask them to tarry? Balaam, according to Numbers 24 verse 1, used enchantments, but he was happy to use the name of the Lord his God. And he appeared as a holy man before these people. He appeared as a pious man. He appeared as someone who wasn't covetous at all. I'm not after your gold and silver. I'm not after your honors.

God says to Balaam, what are these people doing with you? The first thing we need to see in all of this is how God is absolutely sovereign and he reigns and rules over all things and he must work all things for the good of his people. And even the wrath and the deceptiveness of man he's going to use for his glory. He sees everything. He sees the hearts of people. And what... And he says, we read it there in verse 13, and this is at the heart of what Balaam's error became. God says, you're not to go with them. Thou shalt not curse the people for they are blessed. But Balaam says, in verse 13, he says, the Lord refuses to give me leave to go with you. So Balaam is saying, he's had a clear word from God, a clear instruction from God, and Balaam is saying, well, perhaps if you come again at another time, God might allow it. He opened the door that God had shut by his word. He had a heart that was exercised with covetous practices. Balaam began where Satan began with Adam and Eve. If you question the word of God, you are settling on a path which is so, so dangerous. Every word of God is pure and tested. Every word of God is true.

He was covetousness. God's people are faithful to him. In verse 17, we read that Balaam has offered all of these great honours and things. Satan allures men with money and positions of honour. You've seen so many churches fall apart over the years and so much infamy come because people have had in their hearts a covetousness and no love for God.

God, as we read in Deuteronomy 13, he tests his people and he tests his preachers. That's why we have prayed ever since we began, Lord, if you don't go with us, don't let us go from you. If you're not with us and you're not here and you're not speaking in us and to us and through us, then close us down.

be people who do not know the truth of who the Lord Jesus Christ is. And listen to what Balaam did. He was told not to go. He said, well, maybe I can possibly go and you come back. And Balaam just openly disobeyed the word of God. And he went with them.

In verse 21, listen to it. And Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his ass and went with the princes of Moab. And God's anger was kindled because he went. And the angel of the Lord stood in the way. You know the story. Balaam was so much, as Jude said, so much a man who thought naturally and was like a brute beast that God had to use a brute beast to rebuke him.

You know the story of Balaam's ass. Three times he beat Balaam, beat his ass. And the ass spoke to him. The ass spoke to Balaam. The Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee that thou hast smitten me these three times? And Balaam said unto the ass, Behold, thou hast mocked me. Thou hast mocked me.

And Balaam is actually mocking God in his going and in his association with these people that God had promised to destroy in his own good time. God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. And Balaam said, and the ass said unto Balaam, Am I not thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day, if I ever want to do so unto thee? And he said, no, I haven't done this before.

And the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam. Isn't this remarkable? This man is considered one of the greatest false teachers in all of the scriptures, Balaam. And the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way. Who is the angel of the Lord? The Lord Jesus Christ is the angel of the Lord. Christ is the messenger of the covenant.

Who spoke to Cain at that church service? It was the Lord Jesus Christ who spoke to Cain. These false teachers have had God speak to them. When do we open the word of God? God is speaking to us. We're in the same situation as all of these people throughout all of the scriptures. Christ is the messenger of the covenant.

And Balaam's donkey saw him before Balaam did. Just shows you how, how, how dead we are. Balaam smote the ass because Balaam said the ass mocked him and he was in the business of mocking God. And Balaam had great head knowledge of the truth. Balaam's eyes were opened.

In verse 32, he says, Behold, I went out to withstand thee because thy way is perverse before me. And the ass saw me and turned from me these three times. Unless she had turned from me, surely now I would have slain thee and kept her alive. Balaam had eyes that were opened. and he had no love in his heart for the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 24, chapter 24, he speaks that he took up this parable and said, Balaam, the son of Beor, has said, the man whose eyes are opened has said, he has said, which heard the words of God and knew the knowledge of the Most High and which saw vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance but having his eyes open.

What a remarkable privilege for someone who is a false teacher. No wonder they talk about, so often talk about, the wonderful things that they've seen and they have done. God sent Balaam and we'll Three times Balaam preached to these people. We're running out of time, and we'll have to continue this next week. But three times Balaam was taken by Balak.

Cain didn't offer blood. Balaam offered blood, and he offered it to the Lord, and he offered it mixed with the worship of Baal. He was bringing an offering to God, and he was speaking in the name of God. Balaam preached much truth. We read some of the truth that he preached. Listen to what he says in Numbers 23 verse 19. He says, God is not a man that he should lie. God is not a man that he should lie, neither the Son a man that he should repent. He has said, and shall he not do it? He has spoken, and shall he not make good? Behold, I have received commandment, he hath blessed, he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it. He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither is he seen perverseness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of the king is among them. And he speaks of the history. God brought them out of Egypt. He has, as it were, the strength of a unicorn. Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob. Neither is there any divination against Israel. According to this time, it shall be said of Jacob and Israel, God has done it. God has wrought this. They are a nation set aside and created by God almighty.

Each time Balaam proclaimed the truth, as you can imagine, Balak was so incensed against him. But I want us just in closing, and we don't have time to look at all these things, but I want us to remember that the sin, the great sin of Balaam is not the words that he said, but the compromise that he practiced in. And I can just read you some of these verses and we can look at it maybe if the Lord allows later on. It's called the Doctrine of Balaam. It wasn't the preaching that he preached on those mountaintops when he stood there in the temples as it were of Baal and declared that he was speaking on God's behalf and God overruled his words so that he spoke the truth of God and he spoke it to the people of God. Somehow we still have all this recorded for us.

And yet, Balaam's great sin was that he said to those people of Moab, all you need to do to get God to curse these people is you go down there and camp beside them and your women will look amazingly attractive to them and their young men will look amazingly attractive to you. And you will cause God to curse them because they'll be compromised and they'll join with you in the worship of your people. Balaam's a great story of compromise.

Listen to what he says in Numbers 31 verse 15. And Moses said unto them, Have you saved the women alive? This is after they'd conquered these people. Have you saved the limit, women? I behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, the last place that Balaam spoke from. And there was a plague among the congregation of the people. of the Lord. 24,000 of them died. 24,000 of them died and the plague was stopped by Pinny Hass and he took this incredibly proud young man and his male biotess girlfriend and they went into a tent and Pinny Hass put a spear through the both of them and the plague that had killed 24,000 was stopped.

Balaam led these people. The idolatry of Balaam, before we finish, the idolatry of Balaam was not an open denial of the truth or of God or the gospel. He spoke amazingly well. It's mixing the worship of God with the worship of Balaam. It's compromised worship, isn't it? Preaching free grace and preaching will worship works religion, mixing Christ and mixing anything other than Christ.

He went to an altar and it was another altar. Cain went to an altar and brought the wrong sacrifice, the wrong offering. Listen to what the Lord says in Revelation to the churches, and this is written to us as well. He says, to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, these things saith he which has the sharp sword with two edges. I know thy works and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is. Revelation 2 verse 13. And that thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.

And then, but, what a remarkable commendation that is. I wouldn't mind getting that commendation. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast them there that hold the doctrine of Baal. What's the doctrine of Baal? It's compromised religion, it's compromised worship. You have them there. who taught Barlach to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication. They're all spiritual pictures of false religion. To commit fornication is to try and produce life, to go through the act of producing life outside of the covenant of God. And they have them there.

They also have them there which hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. The doctrine of the Nicolaitans is a doctrine of those who are above the common people. That's simply what the words mean. It's priesthood. That's exactly what Balaam was involved in. Compromise and a priesthood above the common people. You're not to have them there. What an extraordinary command of God. What an extraordinary challenge. The Balaams are going to creep in and we're not to have them there. We're not to compromise. There's nothing can be compromised with the truth of who the Lord Jesus Christ is and that be declared to be the worship of God or the love of God or obedience to God.

God is trying his people. May we be preserved and kept in the Lord Jesus Christ. Why don't we sing those last words of Jude. Now unto him who is able to keep you from falling. Vast multitudes are falling and have fallen.

Amen. Thank you. to Him who is able to keep able to keep you from falling and present you full of blessing for the presence of His glory with singing joy to the only wise one both now and