In this sermon, the preacher discusses the story of Balaam and his encounter with an angry angel. The preacher emphasizes that God can use anyone and anything to speak His word. The story serves as a reminder that we should not just observe the people of God from afar, but actively participate and enter into the faith. The preacher also highlights the importance of focusing on Jesus and the gospel, rather than getting caught up in theological debates.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the free will offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Praise the Lord. You know, I am so completely overwhelmed by all that we've been receiving in this leadership seminar. If you've just been coming to the evenings, I will say that you absolutely have to get these tapes and listen on. And I keep coming each day with a little bit bigger cup in these last two days and I have to go back at break to get a bigger cup still. It's just overwhelming, the meat and the blessings that we have been receiving. These topics and these things that God has put upon these men's hearts, I just bless the Lord and I feel so completely privileged to be under the Word of God and to be listening to these preachings during this time. The Lord has put a burden upon my heart this evening. I have some specific ones that I am out to get tonight. Some ones, you know, when you're preaching at a leadership seminar, sometimes it's a bit different than when you do a youth Bible school or your church. There's a group of people that are sometimes older men, oftentimes leaders, pastors, deacons, fathers, leaders in the church, men who are used of God. There's no doubt about it, you're men that are used of God. And so in some ways it's difficult, you can understand, to come and stand here before you and preach this message. So I wrestled with God and asked what it is. What is it that you want me to say tonight? What is it? And I'm afraid that some of you have become over the years very sermon proof. There's been many things that you've listened to from time and time again and you've let these things grow cold. You've learned how to make it through sermons. You have. There are some here tonight that for years you've been sitting and watching the children of God from the outside. Some of you, maybe it's a spouse, your husband is with the Lord and the wife is not, or the wife is and the husband is and you've watched it and you know there's something in their life and you don't have it. And you've watched it from the outside. I have a burden for you tonight. Listen to me young people, young ones tonight. There's many of you who have been living in a godly home. You've seen your parents and yes they're not perfect, but you've seen there's something about them that believes. And you've been watching it and you've been going along with it, but you've been sitting there on the outside. And you have not entered in. You have not entered in. You're watching it from the outside. It's beautiful, isn't it? It's beautiful, isn't it? But you're on the outside. And then, so I want to look at some of these things. At the end, there's a particular kind of person that is so sermon proof that the Lord put this burden on my heart. And a few phone calls that I got right before the leadership seminar and a few brothers that I was counseling with. And it seems the Lord was very almost audibly saying, there are hurting people that are so discouraged that they can't lift up their head to believe. I'd like to close with a message to you at the end of this. So if you could, I'd like to take the text of this message from Numbers chapter 23 verse 20. Turn your Bibles to that. Numbers chapter 23 verse 20. Numbers chapter 23 verse 20. It is Balaam who is speaking. And he says this. Behold, I have received commandment to bless. And he hath blessed. And I can't reverse it. He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob. Neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him. And the shout of a king is among them. And the shout of a king is among them. Did you hear that? And the shout of a king is among them. That's the name of this message tonight. And the shout of a king is among them. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Oh, how I tremble before you today, Lord. Lord, save us from theology this evening. Save us from all our good ideas this evening, Lord. I pray, O God, save us from it, O Lord. And show us Jesus like we just heard in this opening. Father, I pray, O God, in this devotion that we had here, this family, and they spoke of Him who has been through all the ages, O God, O Jesus, show Thyself tonight, I pray, O Lord. Show Thyself. Strip away, O Lord, everything that is preventing us from coming to the very Person of Jesus Christ. We've been hearing it all day, all week. We're going to be hearing about it, Lord. Show Thyself. Holy Spirit, I pray, come. And when You said that You would come, You would testify of Him. And so, Lord, I pray, come, send the Holy Spirit and speak and preach this message tonight. I can't. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. I would like to lift up this prophet this evening, this prophet Balaam, who spoke this passage, the shout of a king is among them. And I'd like to show him as a man who was used of God. You want to be used of God? I want to be used of God. And you know what? I will be used of God. And you know what? You will be used of God. But like we heard yesterday, it matters how we're used of God. It's important. What Brother Denny's told us, that Mao Zedong was used of God to bring blessed Christianity to China. Stalin was used of God. Hitler was used of God. Romans 13 tells us that Nero, the persecutor of the church, he calls him, my minister. Romans 13 called Nero that. He was used of God. In Jeremiah 25, Nebuchadnezzar, who was bringing judgment and bringing armies against Israel. Again, God said, my servant. My minister. Same equivalent. Three verses later, he says that I'm going to judge you after 70 years, and I'm going to rebuke you, and I'm going to make your country an abomination. He will use you. And he used Balaam. We're going to see. He used Balaam. But this is a man who, as we're going to see, looked on the things of God. He followed the people of God. He observed some pretty impressive things. And what is most significant to us is that he had some real wisdom. He could perform some pretty impressive miracles. And almost unimaginably, he had some true prophecies. He had true prophecies. And if you would allow me tonight, I would like to just get away from the doctrine of whether Balaam and people like Judas ever was this way and then lost it or was or not. Can we just avoid all that doctrine right now? Here's the bottom line. In the bottom line of Christianity is this. It's Jesus Christ, as we've continually heard this week and we're going to hear again tonight. It's Jesus. And if we can strip away all that theology, if you're with Jesus, you're a follower of Christ and you're a Christian. If you're not, you're not. Can we avoid all the theology tonight? And so, it says of Judas, Jesus was praying all night before He chose His disciples, but in John 6 right there at the very end, He says, I have chose twelve of you, and one of you is a devil. He knew from the beginning. Later on, He sends them out to prophesy and to cast out devils. I don't understand that. I'm not even going to pretend to explain it to you. I don't understand it. But I know that God came to this earth and preached a sermon. And Mose talked about it this morning. God came to earth and preached a sermon. And there's lots of bits of them in the Bible, but in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, we get the Sermon on the Mount and there it is. He preached a sermon. And it's interesting, just as an aside, if I can give you a little assignment tonight. It will go along with Brother Moe's message. Jesus Christ, the Person of Jesus Christ came on this earth and preached a sermon. Go through each of those things he mentioned. You know, humility. He talked about adultery, lust. He talked about non-resistance. He talked about lawsuits. He talked about storing up treasures in heaven. He talked about worrying about tomorrow. He talked about all these different things. I challenge you, go through the Sermon on the Mount and each thing that Jesus Christ came and said, I want Christianity to look like this. On a piece of paper, draw just the opposite. Just the opposite. And see what you come up with. If it comes up looking like your Christianity, it should alarm you. It should alarm you. It's Jesus. It's His Word. The engrafted Word which is able to convert your soul. The Logos of God has become flesh and has dwelt among us. And He spoke His Words. So we're going to lift up this false prophet in a way that I can show you something. And if you're here tonight, and you say at the end of this, that's me. I'm like that. Then by all means, repent. But if there's just even a part of you, and we can lift up people like Judas and Balaam and say, is there part of that in you? And can you have this as a warning when you go on, you may begin to look like this. You know, it's easy to get off the road. It's easy to find different things other than Jesus. Oh, how easy Satan gives them to us. So if we could, I'd like to look at Balaam. As we start in looking at Balaam, the main passages from that are from Numbers 22, 23, 24. Three chapters of the Old Testament are given to us about this false prophet. This true prophet who's a false teacher. And if we just read that passage, you can be a little bit misled about some of his motions. The New Testament gives us some light. I'm going to read through some of those so that we can have an understanding when we go back and look at Balaam. It says in 2 Peter 2.14, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls in heart, they have exercised with covetous practice cursed children. Peter's giving us an example of some wicked things within the church, which have forsaken the right way and have gone astray following the way of Balaam, the son of Bezor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, but was rebuked for his iniquity by the dumbass speaking with man's voice forbade the madness of the prophet. So Peter gives us an idea. He loved the wages of unrighteousness. He was madness in his sin. And he wanted to deceive and curse Israel. We get a hint here. In Jude verse 10, but these speak evil of those things which they know not, again rebuking of people who are troubling the church. But these speak evil of those things which they know not, but what they know naturally is brute beasts and those things they corrupt themselves. Woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain and run greedily after the heir of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah. Again, the same idea of wanting to prophesy for profit. There's an interesting one in Revelation which we would not understand at all. And it gives insight into Numbers chapter 31. Revelation chapter 2, beginning at verse 12, there's a rebuke that even in a godly church, that spirit of Balaam, that spirit of Balaam can rise up. It can cast us down. Revelation chapter 2, verse 12, And to the angel of the church of Pergamos write, These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges. Hallelujah. Who's that? So you heard these wonderful children singing about it. I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is, and thou holdest fast my name, and hath not denied my faith. Hallelujah. Even in those days where an antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth. But, I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam. The doctrine of Balaam? What's that? that was responsible for the killing, the judgment of God upon 24,000 men. In Numbers 25, we'll get to it. So, let's turn to Numbers 22 and look at the story of Balaam. At this time, Israel is finally on their way back. They have been traveling in the wilderness for all these years. Miriam had recently died. They just recently had some big problems still we just had in a few chapters before this the brazen serpent Where they again had not belief in God and and finally we had this Serpent been raised in the wilderness for salvation and now but after this finally this thing let me turn there here in numbers chapter 20 and Chapter 21 we see this beautiful part where God allows this well to be spring up And so we have this beautiful thing spring up Oh, well, and they're rejoicing and at this point you see Israel beginning to start to make a turn You see those 20 year old those? Babies are those 20 year olds that were there the time of judgment of God upon Israel are now 60 year old elders in the Church in the in Israel the church there and the people of God there There's young men and there's young ladies who now are starting to head and they're starting their march forward towards the promised land and they're going Now and suddenly things start to change and you see a people of God who start to have more of a faith and although they're still Making lots of mistakes. There's something from with inside them. That seems almost unstoppable and here they come So they're on their march and they go forward there to chapter 21 and they they kill the the Amorites and they slay them and then Down at 21 verse 29. They call out woe to thee Moab thou art undone and they're on the march They're going forward and they're going here through the rest of chapter 21 and They say and they come here and they take verse 33 and they turned and went up the way of Bashan and Og the king of Bashan went out against them and all the people and they just slayed them Giants big armies there slayed them Who's next? Moab and he knows it He knows it and he's looking at and watching all this and he says, you know there in chapter 22 These people have been on the march and they're eating up the nations around them Just like an ox eats up the grass What a picture, huh? Just chomping away as they go next chomp next and they're on the march and we're next or the next ones in line so Balak is a king. He's a smart king and he begins to understand Well in those days And also all the way up into the Middle Ages the Dark Ages some of the practice of what they would do in a battle is they would put a warlock or a witch or someone in front of an army to curse the armies with spells and Demons and things so that they could win that army and this was a practice back then So Balak says I'm going to purchase me the most fearful Person I can find prophets soothsayer I can find so he goes to a town called Pithor there in verse in chapter chapter 22 verse 5 and Balak goes to Pithor now interestingly enough. Do you know what Pithor means in Hebrew? It means it literally means soothsayers the whole City was named soothsayers some commentators believe that the entire the entire city was nothing but wickedness and witchcraft and there was all manner of Devil worship and things and and people went there to have their prophecies told in these things and here from that place Balak said not only am I going to go to the best place to find me one of these soothsayers I'm going to get Balaam because he's been proven now. I don't understand this I'm not even going to pretend to understand this, but apparently Balaam knew and I had experience on receiving things from God I don't know. I speculate did he receive it like suddenly later on here We see the angel appeared before him and spoke to him and then he couldn't see him Is that the way it was but Balaam was no faker? He understood and when Balak comes and talks to him. He says yes I'm going to do these things But I can only say what God actually says to me and for that you have to give him credit for that He was doing those things and apparently he had experience in this He knew that when God said something it happened it happened so Balak Then decided I'm going to get a huge treasure. I'm going to send men and I'm gonna send him to Balaam So there it is in verse 7 He's sending there and he's got all these treasures and you can imagine it now He's he's bringing all these treasures to Balaam and there he is and he finally gets him and he says here That's what I want you to do. He sent the men. I want you to take this treasure But here's what I want you to do go and curse this people that's coming against me The New Testament tells us that Balaam liked the idea Okay Okay, well you stay right here. I'll go see what God says In verse 9 God came to Balaam and said what men are these with thee and Balaam said unto God Balak the son of Zippor a king of Moab has set them to me saying behold There is a people come out of Egypt with covers the face of the earth come now curse me them But a venture 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 for they are blessed the people of God So Balaam rose up and he said go home. I can't do it. Just go home So they went home they went back to Balaam Balaak said no, you don't understand. We've got to do this. We're next They're going to kill us. So, you know the story he then there took more men more more than they may said It made him look all the more fancy all the more dignitary like and sent them to them And now he said I'm not only gonna give you money. I'm going to give you a position I'll give you anything you want Balaam. Just come and curse the people of God. That's all I'm asking Just come and curse them He said again, the New Testament lets us know that Balaam wanted to do it. The position looked good. The money looked good All right, I'll try I'll see what God will do so he came and he went and he talked to him this time look down at verse 20 and God came to Balaam at night and said unto him now watch this carefully If if the men come to call thee Rise up get up out of bed rise up and go with them But yet the word which I shall say unto thee thou shalt thou do Next verse Balaam took this little test God was giving him Okay, if they come and call thee Look what happened as soon as he gets up in the morning and Balaam rose up in the morning and saddled his ass and went with The prince of the Moab they didn't come and ask anymore He just had a little a little bitty chance to do it So he ran with it and he took it and he ran God was upset and it says in God's anger was kindled because he went and the angel the Lord stood in the way Now we get to the story that every child in here knows about right? It's an amazing story What do you do with this story? It's amazing And if there's anything in the Bible that tells me God will use whatever and whomever and wherever and Anything ever to speak his word Here it is. I Thank the Lord for that. I do But here he is. So, you know the story he's on his way and the first time he's on his way And he's saddles on his donkey and he's there and all of a sudden this angry angel Who says is God is this who is this Jeff? Whose angry angel is there before him and as he's there he the the donkey moves over into the field and he moves it back over and then he moves him into the wall and crushes him against a a Vineyard wall and he crushes it foot. It's he says it's anger he strikes them again and finally get into it between two walls and between two vineyards and This time the third time he crushed him and he got into that area and then finally the angel is standing there right between these Two walls and they can go nowhere. It's me and it's you and finally the the donkey just falls down And he's and this is where he starts to talk to his donkey now. I Don't know. I think that's a little strange You know, what's more strange the donkey talking or him talking back to the donkey? I don't know I don't know but it's it's an impressive thing and he says and then look I wasn't I just a good Donkey for you, and he said he was But then the trouble came then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam and he saw the angel of the Lord Standing in the way with his sword drawn in his hand and he bowed down his head as fell flat on his face And he says listen By to see you hit that donkey one more time I would have killed you as a matter of fact if it wasn't for him I would have already killed you and left the donkey standing there So he repented and said I'm sorry He said but he said to him that the angel said to him the way before you was perverse Again, it's a hint and understanding who Balaam really was I want you to see this because the point that I'm driving home here is what happens next is when Balaam just looks at The people of God and this is where I want you to check your heart And I want you to see that the way before Balaam was perverse He said no, I want you to keep good. He said I go back. No, and now I want you to keep going God he used a donkey now. He's going to use Balaam So he's going for it. He's going on and as he's there and Balaam is coming there. We'll get towards the end of chapter 22 there at verse 33 Balak meets him and says and is all I Anticipating what took you so long kind of thing. He's staying there to him He's finally he's here and again Baylis Balaam's reminding Balaam. Remember I can only say what God will say God hedged him into that I can only say what God will say then from this we're going to get some ideas of what Balaam prophesied So here he goes. Oh the thought of this next passage these scenes in my mind I so he says there in verse 41 the last verse of 22 and it came to pass on the moral that Balaam took Balaam and Brought him into the high place of Baal that thence he might see the utmost part of the people and Balaam next chapter in Balaam said unto Balaam build me here seven authors and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams and Balaam did as Balaam had spoken and Balaam and Balaam offered on every bullock And a ram so here they are. He says I understand God. He likes these sacrifices, right? That's God and we have these real fancy altars of Baal. So come up here Balaam and and come up here So you imagine Balaam and Balaam climbing up this mountain to a very high spot where they could look over the people of Israel and they're looking over and they're seeing all the children of Israel from this high spot and Balaam says Okay, make seven altars and make this huge Sacrifice to God. I'll go speak to God and we'll see what he says And then it says there in verse 6 and he returned unto him and lo He stood by the burnt sacrifice. So you're imagining Balaam went to talk to God and now they're coming back and you see the picture They're on the mountain. They're looking there. There's Israel. He's saying just curse him just curse him And he's coming back and Balaam is still standing there with all the smoke of these things I imagine this is a these old altars of Baal with bones of different Sacrifices and all these different things there on this place and there Balaam comes up to him What do you say? You know you imagine Balaam saying well, what did he say in verse 7 or verse 8? He said this Balaam He said how shall I curse whom God hath not curse or how shall I defy whom the Lord hath not defy But from the top of the rocks I see him Do you see that? From the very top of the rocks Balaam. I see the people of God. I see him lo The people shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations. They are a peculiar people a people set apart There are people alone Chosen look at him. Look at him Who can count the dust of Jacob and number the of the fourth part of Israel and then listen to what he says? There's Balaam. There's Balaam and they're on the mountain. They're looking back and they're hearing what Balaam said and he says this. Oh Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last in be like his Do you know that everybody wants that? We go live our life. Oh, but just let me die the death of a righteous. Have you ever seen a righteous man die? You know, it'll change you to see a man die with hope to see a man die who knows he's going to be standing before the face of God and Somehow Balaam is seeing that he's looking over Israel. There's something different about this people There's something different about them if I could just die like they are dying That's enough for me And then he goes on he says and Balaam said What have you done? I took you to curse my enemies and behold you've blessed them all together And he answered and said must I not? Must I not take heed to speak that which the Lord has put in my mouth and Balaam said to him come I'm gonna take you to another spot. So they took him to another spot And he says here with me to another place from whence thou may see them thou shalt see but just the utmost Part of them and shall not see them all and then curse them there If you look at all the people if you see the people of God if you look them straight in the face You're not going to be able to curse them. So come over to this part of the mountain So just see this section over here of the people of God and then curse Israel that way And he says here and he brought him unto the field of Zophim and to the top of Pisgah and built seven altars and offered seven bullocks and a ram on every altar and he said And then Balaam said again stand here and we'll see what God will do again He goes Where I'm trying to go is I want to ask which part are you on? Are you watching? Or are you a child? And what makes the difference is this is the title of this sermon So he goes away and again in verse 18 He comes back and he and he took the parable and he said rise up Balaam can hear what God has said So Balaam's all anticipating now. Okay, maybe finally he did this now listen to this and he says this What'd he say? Well, this is what he said. He said God is not a man that he should lie Neither the Son of Man that he should repent Hath he said and shall he not do it or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good? Behold I have received commandment to bless and he hath blessed and I cannot reverse it Now do you remember all the mistakes that? Israel had just made I just told you about several of them Can you believe this next verse? Can you believe this next verse? This is what God said He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob Neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel The Lord his God is with him and the shout of a king is among them shouts of a king What that means there that phrase that in ancient times? Then if you look at the history of generals and in the history of generals that very Notable generals were known that in their presence among the troops did such a charismatic thing to the truth that it just in It encouraged them and it kept them on Alexander the Great is known for this of running and inspecting his troops and having a place in front of them Patton had this kind of an idea with his troops But there's lots of different kings who have done it this way But the one in particular it stands out as I as I thought to make an analogy of this has been what they say that It's the way Napoleon was Napoleon had this incredible presence among his troop the historians tell us as a matter of fact when I was doing some of the Study for this I was getting some Testimonies that we're talking about and they were giving some of the accounts of the men that were there amongst Napoleon's troops and some of them that might have had a a leg blown off or a or or a Some sort of straddle in their eye But they were still going on and still marching on and every time that Napoleon was there It said they just wrote that encouraged them and they would shout and they would scream for the Viva la Emperor to the Napoleon Listen to one of these accounts here He says as the Emperor was on horseback and he reviewed the regiments the troops greeted him with mounting Enthusiasms the shouts of the soldiers thousands upon Thousands even drowned out the music and the music that were playing with all their heart They would have all these troops lined up and all battalion after battalion and Napoleon would get upon his horse and ride Through them all and it says that as the as he would come the men would take their hats and put it on their sabers And put it up and the shout it says Thousands upon thousands of them drowned out the music of the regimental bands whose numbers were playing their hearts out sounding the glorious marches of the Empire and Everyone made an effort to get close enough to see him the infantry raised their their bayonets and screamed at the top of their voice Viva la Emperor It goes on to say that even some of these other people the enemies captain Mercer of the British Royal Artillery Said he has to admit if I had to totally be honest what I really desired was just Napoleon was an antichrist a devil some of his Doctrines that he's put out in the rights of men and some of the devilish things that they brought in during the so-called great Enlightenment are still things that are winning the death of your soul. He's an antichrist at all How he in right how he encouraged the people the shout of a king and here's the point the cause Purpose The why they were doing everything was embodied in a man a man it wasn't just a declaration It was a man and hit their man was an antichrist But in Israel it wasn't it was God and As a matter of fact Napoleon at one time after he was finally defeated They he was he was exiled twice And he was put on this little island called Elba and he was there for just a little time and he was so discouraged there They they wanted him just to run the business of this little of this little talent of this little island He finally escaped and at this time the new king of France had already taken over Paris and taken over everything and he escaped with A small amount of troops and landed back on French soil with two cannons a small group of men an entire Battalion of the king's army was coming to attack Napoleon Napoleon marched right up to them all and said he who has a heart kill his Emperor Every single one of those men backed him they marched into Paris took over the king in four months He had the entire nation again behind him and he was marching into Belgium. They had the shout of a king Israel was on the march and Balaam saw it What drives you? What drives you men? What drives you does Jesus Christ embody everything that you live for stand for? Exists for is it in the person of Jesus Christ because that kind of presence is what this people of God had The shout of a king was among them the shout of a king was among them And then he says this in verse 23 Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob Neither is there any divination against Israel according to this time it shall be said of Jacob in Israel What hath God he says behold the people shall rise up as a great lion and lift up himself as a young lion He shall not lie down until he eats the prey and drinks the blood of the slain Again Balaam gets mad at him as you can imagine Please stop They try one last time and go to one more place and there they are At the end of chapter 23 and he goes and in going into chapter 24 I mean did God want us to get this or not? This is a lot of the Bible So in chapter 24, we're going in there and as soon as this time it seems as soon as he tries he realized, okay God's not gonna do it. So he says he just puts his face against the wilderness and begins again to look And I just imagine Sort of like I'm up here and there he is but looking a lot further down and he's just looking down And he's looking at the people of God He's watching them and this time the scriptures tells us that he's taken into their very households He's taken into their tents and their dwelling places and he's seeing this is real it says there look what it well it words it there and Balaam lifted up his eyes and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to the tribes and the Spirit of God came upon him And he took them and he says that he he fell into a trance. So he's way up there But God is showing him he wants them to see the people of God and if you're here tonight And you've only been looking from afar and you've been watching your husband. You've been watching your parents You've been watching the people of God and you know that I know I've been trying to imitate this but to be honest There is no shout within me and then he goes on here Balaam said he's realizing this but this thing is real And he falls into a trance there verse 4 but having his eyes open and listen what he says How godly are the tents Oh Jacob and the tabernacles of Israel as? The valleys are they spread forth as gardens by the riverside as the trees line aloes with the Lord Hath planted and the cedar trees beside the waters. He shall pour the waters out of his buckets and his seed Shall be in many waters and his and his King shall be higher than any egg He goes on in blessing him because he saw the reality of the whole God took it right there to a prophecy there This thing is real So Balak is discouraged again and finally there he says wait. I have one more prophecy for you in verse 15 He says this he's I want to tell you what it's gonna look like in the last days And he says and he took him up as a parable and said Balaam the son of Besor Has said and the man whose eyes are open has said he had said which? Heard the words of God and news the knowledge of the Most High which saw the vision of the Almighty Falling into a trance, but having his eyes open Whatever that means he did that I Shall see him But not now I Shall behold him But not nigh there shall come a star out of Jacob and a scepter shall rise out of Israel and shall smite the corners of Moab and Destroy the children Praise God, who's he talking about? Jesus the Messiah star is risen. That's Balaam making that prophecy brothers You want to be used of God Are you in your Wherever you are with the Lord and God's using you But do you have the shout of the king among you? Are you among the people of God? Are you just watching down at 23 says he took this parable instead of last who shall believe what God? When God doeth this Balaam said he was going to go home and Balaam said he was going to go home. It's the end of the chapter and there it is. I tried to curse the people Because there was something real there. There was something tangible there. There was something that I just couldn't get away from there It goes on to say that after this God suddenly brings judgment upon Israel because of their taking upon wives of Moab and they were going into idolatry in a minute what they couldn't do with curses It says here that with seduction They brought it in in chapter 31. We read that they finally killed Balaam and it says there Verse 15 of 31 and Moses said unto them. Have you saved all the women alive? Behold these cause the children of Israel though the chill counts through the counsel of Balaam to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor and There was a plague among the congregation of the Lord and 24,000 men were killed False prophets have brought a lot of damage to the Church of God Jesus warns us at the end of that Sermon on the Mount Many will say to me that day Lord Lord, did we not prophesy in thy name and cast out demons? Many will say that he didn't say many will profess to say that he said many will say did we not cast out? Did we not prophesy in thy name and he will say departure if you don't have Christ you don't have anything My theology is not going to be able to take you there You must have this shout now Here's the point During the week we have been hearing about these things We've been hearing about brother Denny and talking about the centrality of Christ And we learned about how we can get off into different theologies into different things and we say, okay All right. I'll try to tune this thing up a little bit. It's not a matter of tuning up a little bit Here's the point that I want you to make you must repent of this thing. It is a to take anything other than the person of Christ is an Absolute abomination and it will bring you into a false prophecy It'll bring you into seduction and it will lead you into the same path that he did Now if you've been looking on the children of God, you've seen it reality Turn with me if you can now to John chapter 4 and let me just introduce to you the reality For the New Testament the shout of the king It's Jesus You've heard of the Romans Road, right? I mean you use it. I love the Romans Road using in Witnessing I'm gonna read to you the little bit of John's Road I'm just gonna tip tap through these different passages of John that all are speaking of Jesus and I want you to watch something I want you to watch how easy it is to have something other than Christ in the way Here's the point. I want to make to you John chapter 4 if you recall there you have the Samaritan woman and she's there and she is Jesus is asking her for a drink of water. And as he's asking for a drink of water, you remember the story He realizes that he says if you would knew who was asking this you'd realize that you have living water She's confused by this and says and says to him. Oh, give me this water. You're not getting it I am the living water. She's already replacing something other than Christ He goes on now and watch what he does. He cracks through her little theology with touching her sin And he says this he says you have had five husbands the word in the Greek There's men you've had five men you have had five husbands. Look at John chapter 4 Jesus said in her thou hath well said I have the woman's answered and said I have no he said go get your husband The woman said I have no husband. Jesus said in her thou hath well said I have no husband thou hath had five husbands and he whom thou now hath is not thy husband and thou said truly and That sayeth thou truly and the woman said unto him sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet So she finally got it. This is a prophet of God So what does she do? She was just rebuked of her sin And the first thing she does is to go and open up the biggest theological argument of the time She's in Samaria. You're in Judah. And oh what an argument it must have been We all say you're supposed to worship on this mountain. You're supposed to worship on this Can you please understand you please give me an understanding for this and Jesus rebukes her of that and you know the story He says those who worship in God are going to worship in spirit and truth Although he did rebuke her and say that salvation is of the Jews He said you worship what you know, not we know what we worship in verse 22 and Then he says this the woman said unto him And got in verse 24 God is spirit and they that worship him must worship in spirit and in truth the woman said unto him I know the Messiah cometh which is called the Christ when he has come. He shall tell us all things. I Believe in this idea of the coming of the Messiah and Jesus said in your eye that speak unto you and he It is I it's me Going over in chapter 6 again. John's wanting to nail this thing home We see the people they were following Jesus says because the miracles and because the food because the things that they had given him He was feeding them and it says with him if you but if you want to do the works of God What does it say we had to do? To believe it says there in chapter 6 verse 29 Jesus answered and said to them This is the work of God that you believe on him whom he has sent And he goes on to explain what this belief looks like and he wants to make something very Understandable to you and he says here and he talks about this thing in verse 53 And he says except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you have no life in you He that eats my flesh and drinks my flood blood has eternal life and I will raise him up in the last day He wants them to understand. This is me the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ It's no he even says you remember the manna that came down out of the wilderness you remember the manna it was me And you remember what the wilderness they did with the manna and numbers chapter 11. It says that they got tired of it Now Jesus said that he was the manna that came down out of heaven and the people of Israel said they got tired of it We want some meat to eat. We want meat. We're tired of this manna Moses didn't know what to do. God was furious He said, okay, we'll tell them I'll give them some meat matter of fact in Chapter 11. He says tell them I'm not gonna give them meat for one day. I'm not even gonna give them meat for two days I'm not even gonna give a meat for three days What does he say there? But even into the whole month until it comes out of your nostrils and it be loathsome unto you Because that you have despised the Lord which is among you and have wept before him saying why come we out of Egypt? So he they took that rebuke and still The quail started coming down here it is We still want it so now in the midst of it look at verse 33 in verse 11 and while the flesh was yet between their teeth air it was Chewed the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people and the Lord smoked the people with a very great plague Brothers, it's no light matter to replace Jesus Christ with something else It is no light matter and I'm focusing on a you might perhaps think a minor point I Don't believe it's a minor point It's no light matter to replace anything in the place of Jesus Christ in John chapters 8 he goes on in John chapter 8 you remember there it was the people who were saying who are you? We have Abraham as our as our father. And what does he say before Abraham was I? I Am you see what John's trying to do? He gets over into John chapter 11 and as he's there in John chapter 11 He's there and Martha is running towards him. And this is when he's going to heal the Lazarus. He's going to heal Lazarus Because the Lazarus has died and John chapters 11 It says then Martha as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming went and met him But Mary set still in the house then said Martha to Jesus Lord if thou hath been here My brother had not died, but I know that even now whatsoever thou will ask of God God will give it thee Jesus said unto her thy brother shall rise again Thy brother shall rise again She said okay. I believe that Martha said unto him. I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day You see what she did you see what John's trying to get us to understand It's a truth brothers. Oh, listen to me. It's a truth. It's a theological truth But where did he say? I am the resurrection It's me It's me Anything that can get in the way of Christ anything that can get in the way of Christ Anything that can get in the way of Christ Will be death to us. It'll be death to us as a church. It'll be death to you as a people It'll be death So what is it? It led you that way if you notice those different people sin hit that Are you here and you've been watching the people of God and like Balaam you're just looking on You've just been looking on And you have never entered in are you a young person tonight and you've watched your parents and you're blessed with it But you've never entered in you've never let God show you that you are a sinner and you're hiding your sin Maybe in your heritage. Are you here tonight in your hair? Did you say I I was raised in a godly heritage and you're trusting in that and each of those things God wants to show us That he is everything and not to hide in any of those things Any of them? What are you hiding? All right. Let me close with this story as I was preparing this message. I said Lord, why do you want me to preach this? I don't and I look at my own self I look at myself and I look at some of the things that I have been in in my life and I tell you Unless you see the person of Jesus Christ is like you've been hearing over and over again I've made those mistakes and you can see yourself getting off into a theology here Let me just say something if you prefer things of theology You know, you like this debating between little fine points of theology instead of hearing about Jesus. It should be a check to your heart The gospel is about Jesus. Do you spend time in the gospel? All right, let me finish with this story because what God seemed to say to me was Yes, there's a lot of people but there's something blocking. There's something blocking here and it's because you're very sermon proof There's something in you that that's preventing from coming through Sin has blinded your eyes the mercies of God and hearing from God. I'm going to read to you a story From Pilgrim's Progress. You can put your Bibles down and listen to the story. I'm going to feel to your heart There's someone here tonight that you heard brother Aaron's message last night and you've heard those repentance and you heard all those things He didn't leave too many stones unturned touched many things, but you said to yourself Yeah, but you don't understand me. I've been there. I've done the repentance thing. I've done that You don't understand You've heard some of the message this morning in this afternoon and you said I can't go anymore. I've done that I've tried to get up again, and I just can't When the Pilgrim's Progress and I prefer this one is called the annotated version of the Pilgrim's Progress. There's a story and In that story there's a man there that No longer could see the person of Christ anymore and as they're going there if you remember with in the Pilgrim's Progress those of you don't know as Pilgrim came and he came to the cross and gave us all on the cross He was there before the cross and he was there and gave his life to Christ and soon as he came over He came to the house of the interpreter and the interpreter came and then was going to show him many things And as he came and took him to the house of the interpreter one of the things he brought him to was this cage and inside this cage was this Pitiful man, and he looked at him He was moaning and wringing his hands and beating his breast and and acting as if his very heart would break and so Christian looked over to the interpreter. It says can you tell me the meaning of this? What does this mean? The interpreter said well, why don't you ask him Christian? So he steeped over and knelt down and pulling his face against the bar said sir. Why are you weeping and mourning so much? Why are you crying so? And the man said this he said because I am utterly changed from what I once was So Christian said what did you used to be? Oh, I used to be just like you I Had a profession of Christianity. I I had I was walking after the Lord and I used to be just like you, but what are you now? I'm a man of despair I'm a man of despair and I've locked up in despair just as sure as I'm locked up in this cage And I can't get out. I simply can't get out And he said to him You can't get out He says, but how did you come into this condition? How did this happen? How did you get into this cage? He said hi, I stopped praying I stopped watching I stopped being sober I I stopped it. I laid the reins of my reason upon the necks of my lust I sinned against the light of the Word and the goodness of God and I grieved the Spirit and he's gone from me I dallied with the devil and he took me Christian stood there with sympathetic tears in his eyes and turning to the interpreter said is there no hope for a man like this Are you that way is there no hope for a man like this And Christian said why don't you ask him Interpreter said why don't you ask him? Is there no hope sir? Must you forever be locked up in this cage of despair? The man said no, there's no hope There's no hope at all But Christian unwilling to let this man surrender his soul said why not? He said don't you understand the the blessed is very pitiful and he can forgive he can forgive And the man said no not me Why not? Because I cannot repent I can't repent What do you mean you can't repent? He says I have crucified Him to myself afresh. I have despised his person. I have despised his righteousness I have counted the blood of Jesus an unholy thing and I have done all this despite of grace Therefore I have shut myself out of all the promises of God and are now remains to me nothing but threatenings and dreadful Threatenings fearful threatenings and a certain judgment in fiery indignation, which shall devour me as an adversary Christian was just sober Good, sir. What price did you do this? Oh the price that many a young man do I thought just a little For the pleasures of this world For the positions of this world, you know how I I promised myself such pleasure in them But but now they're gone they're gone, but they still haunt me and they they know it me and they they they bite me and Burn it me like a worm And Christian said, okay, but can't you now can't you now turn? And he said no, I can't and he looked at Christian he says you understand you see God cannot be trifled with I So many times I said go away go away and finally God listened So many times I said I'm tired of hearing it and finally God no longer is speaking to me I have shut myself up in this and now all I read through your Bible. I see no promises there for me I am in this cage of despair and there's no way out Oh eternity eternity How can I bear the loss of eternity? Is there someone there? So is he there he began to weep and go to the back of the cage the interpreter lifted up Christian He said Christian listen, let this man's agony be an eternal Witness to you. He said oh, it shall be It shall be a tremble interpreter He said but I only have one question Why? Why did God lock him up in this cage? Why? Interpreter looking to them said nay It is not God That locked him up us But then he said well who and then as he looked at the interpreter his eyes full of fire And he looked at him and he said it is Satan who is the builder of cages? It is Satan It is Satan who is the builder of cages? They said then why can't he believe why can't he come out? Why? And he said to him Because sin has blinded his eyes to the mercy of God and he cannot believe that God can Forgive him and what man cannot believe God cannot achieve Then he said it so if he would believe then could God forgive him and let him out. He said yes He said yes He said yes He said are there many like this he said there's multitudes who believe that their sins are too strong for God Listen tonight if you're out here tonight, and I know you've made many mistakes And I know that you've grown cold And I know that you've just been looking on as an outsider And and you've not you've just looked on and you've been going through the motions But you know that you're in a cage of despair and when no one's looking you're in despair You're in despair And you say there's no hope for me Let me just say tonight that there is a person and his name is Jesus Christ. His name is Jesus Christ And there's hope tonight. There is hope So if you're here tonight, and you've just been looking at the people of God I Challenge you tonight to believe it's real And that it's for you and that Jesus can save you Jesus can bring you out of your dungeon of despair Jesus can take you out of those rocks up there with bail Are you up there with bail just looking on and come Jesus put it this way Come unto me all He who are heavy laden And if we could let's sing a song um whether if you could have us then if you're here tonight And you know that you are the one that God said Speak this message for them If you're here tonight, and you know that you need to repent of putting something other than Christ in your life If you know that you remember it's not a life matter Jesus said that I am the bread that came out of heaven and when they chose something else They felt the rebuke of God dear Heavenly Father. We come to you. This is nice Lord And we asked you Lord look down with mercy on his father We want Jesus to have as we heard today the pre-eminence Everything and Oh God Shouts Hosanna to the son of David Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord come and bring your salvation to us tonight Lord We pray so God we lift it to you and ask in Jesus name Amen Amen you stand to your feet and brothers gonna have us a song And I'll be up here, and I'm just going to ask you Jesus is calling and answer that call. What song do you have brother? 512 Don't stay on the outside any longer have you seen your