Prophets for Profit

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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We're going to be back in Jude and Also the book of Numbers if you want to put your finger in Jude and Numbers 22, you can be ready

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We're going to continue with the lesson. We started last week as we continue to examine what it means To take

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God's name in vain to blaspheme his holy Name, let us pray

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Lord God as we open up your word, you have spoken to us through your word for all scripture as God breathed

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We pray that you would help us to be attentive to your word and to not go beyond what you have said

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But abide in the truth, which is your word to the benefit of our soul and our neighbor

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We ask this in Jesus name. Amen Now last week we started as we're taking a look at the second commandment not taking

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God's name in vain We've been examining what it means to take God's name in vain and we're going to note that the primary way in which this happens is through false teachers false prophets and in the book of Jude as we were reading through the epistle last week we

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Began to unpack this concept that Jude reveals for us that there are three primary prototypes if you would of false teacher now that doesn't mean that a false teacher is going to fall into just one of these types of categories often today that we see a

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Blending and a mixing of these two categories if you would and where we left off last week

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We were looking at the story of Balaam if you want to pronounce it correctly It's Balaam in the

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Hebrew, but that's a little doesn't roll off the tongue quite as easily in English So we will continue to mispronounce his name and call him

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Balaam But we only got partway through What was wrong with Balaam?

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And if you remember Balaam is a prophet for profit. He is into divination It doesn't really matter to him which deity he needs to invoke and we're gonna see him in action if you would and He was hired by Balak the son of Zippor who is a

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Moabite King or Prince and He was hired specifically to curse the children of Israel Which is thinking yeah, that's not gonna work.

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And so God himself meets with Balaam and Let's him know you are not to say anything more or less than the words.

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I give you end of story a Little bit of a note here and that is is that Balaam is giving true prophecy

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But Balaam is not a believer and we learn in the book of Joshua That after the children of Israel get into the promised land

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Balaam is one of the first fellows to die Be put to death by the sword because his way is perverse before God he's into divination divination is expressly

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Forbidden by God's Word, but as we saw in our gospel text today the high priest

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Caiaphas who is Spiritually blind as a bat dead in his trespasses and sins and wants to kill

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Jesus, although he is not a believer He also Truly prophesied regarding Jesus that his death would be for the nation of Israel and for all the children of Israel Scattered abroad to the nations and that's including us by the way

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We're all grafted into Israel and so as we look at this we're going to note that there's a little bit more to what's wrong with Balaam and one of the things that we work with here is that scripture interprets scripture and so there's more data given in cross

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References regarding Balaam himself and what his error was about and so we're gonna recount the story from numbers 21

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We'll pick up the story where his donkey is having a conversation with him because that's just oh so fun

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And then we're gonna continue reading through 23 24 and part of 25

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So let me just by way of reminder Read out again Jude Verse 11 woe to them.

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These are talking about the false teachers who've crept in among us in the Christian Church They walk in the way of Cain. This is religious motion without faith

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They've abandoned themselves for the sake of gain What a word to abandon themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error the prophet for profit and they've perished in Korah's rebellion

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We'll talk about what Korah's rebellion here is here in a minute, but let's go back now to numbers 22 and We will start at verse 22 so we can pick up our context and then keep walking through the passage

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God's anger was kindled because Balaam went and the angel of the Lord.

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This is Christ Took a stand in the way as his adversary now he was riding on the donkey and his two servants were with him and the donkey saw the angel of the

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Lord standing in The road with a drawn sword in his hand and the donkey turned aside off the road and went into the field

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Balaam struck the donkey to turn her into the road then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards with a wall on either side and when the donkey saw

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The angel of the Lord she pushed against the wall and pressed Balaam's foot against the wall. So he struck her again

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Then the angel of the Lord went ahead and stood in a narrow place Where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left and when the donkey saw the angel of the

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Lord She lay down under Balaam Balaam's anger was kindled. He struck the donkey with his staff

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Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey and she said to Balaam What have I done to you that you have struck me these three times?

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Balaam said to the donkey because you've made a fool of me I wish I had a sword in my hand for then I would kill you then the donkey

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Said to him am I not your donkey on which you've ridden all your life long to this day? Is it my habit to treat you in this way?

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Notice the doggies talk talking sense here. He said no, he should have said wait donkeys don't talk

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Okay, then Yahweh opened the eyes of Balaam and he saw the angel the Lord standing in the way with his drawn sword in His hand and he bowed down and fell on his face and the angel of the

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Lord said to him Why have you struck your donkey these three times keep in mind? God does care how we treat our animals.

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That is an important thing We also have a good cross -reference in the book of Jonah at the very end how

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God not only cares for the people of Jonah But also their cattle God does care about his creation his animals

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Why have you? Struck these three times your donkey behold. I've come down to oppose you because your way is perverse before me

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That is quite the indictment. These are not words that any human being wants to hear from God You do not want to hear from God your way is perverse before me

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Unless of course the thing that follows is repent be forgiven Christ has bled and died for your perverseness

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But that's not what goes on here So the donkey saw me and turned aside Before me these three times if she had not turned aside from me surely just now

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I would have killed you and let her live Yeah, see the donkey was more precious in the sight of Christ than Balaam What does that tell you about the nature of our sin?

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So Balaam said to the angel of the Lord I have sinned. I did not know that you stood in the road against me

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Therefore if it is evil in your sight, I will turn back Hello, you just confessed to God that you sinned

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The next thing is to ask God to be merciful and to forgive notice. He does not do that.

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So Now therefore if it's evil in your sight, I'll turn back well, that's great

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But you need to be absolved the angel the Lord said to Balaam go with the men But speak only the word that I tell you so Balaam went on with the princes of Balak When Balak heard that Balaam had come

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He went out to meet him at the city of Moab on the border formed by the Arnon at the extremity of the border

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Balak said to Balaam did I not send to you to call you? Why did you not come to me?

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Am I not able to honor you and Believe me Balaam is a prophet for profit

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This particular gig that he has is going to bring him. No money.

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No honor Yahweh's bad for business for the prophets for profit think about that Do you not know

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I'm able to honor you Balaam said to Balak behold I've come to you Have I now any power of my own to speak anything the word that and I'm gonna note here

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I'm gonna point something out here Something changes in the future portion of this text coming up, but here

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Balaam uses the word Elohim Which is a very interesting thing Because this is a unique way to talk about the

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God of Israel. God is Yahweh Elohim in Hebrew the word for God singular is

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L Always in reference to Elo it to Yahweh. It's always

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Elohim Why? Well because God is a trinity father the Son and Holy Spirit So technically the word is

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God's but it gets translated into our English Bible as God Singular because there is only one

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God Is this one of these things that kind of theological mysteries of the Bible itself and it relates to the doctrine of the

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Trinity the One God three persons father son and Holy Spirit yet. There are not three gods.

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There's only one God So I'm gonna note here that in his conversation with Yahweh at this point in the story

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Balaam's theology has been sorted out a little bit and he's speaking some of the mysteries of Yahweh He says the word that Elohim puts in my mouth that must

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I speak and then Balaam went to Balak and they came to Kiriath who's off and Balak?

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Sacrificed oxen and sheep and sent for Balaam and for the princes who were with him in the morning

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Balak took Balaam brought him up to Bahmoth Baal and from there he saw a fraction of the people and Balaam said to Balaak Build for me here seven altars prepare for me seven bulls and seven rams

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Balak did as Balaam had said and Balak and Balaam offered on each altar a bull and a ram and Balaam said to Balaak stand beside your burnt offering and I will go perhaps

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Yahweh will come to meet me and whatever he shows me I will tell you and he went to a bear height and Elohim it says met

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Balaam and Balaam said to him I have arranged the seven altars and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram and Yahweh put a word in Balaam's mouth

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So notice God's the one who puts the word in his mouth and he only speaks what he's supposed to speak Which is what any prophet is supposed to do by the way any pastor as well

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Pastors are only given to speak the words that God gives him to go beyond that is to endanger

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Christ's sheep and your own soul So the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth return to Balak and thus you shall speak he returned to him and behold he and all the princes of Moab were standing beside his burning offering and Balak took up his discourse and he said

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From a rom Balak has brought me the king of Moab from the eastern mountains

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Come curse Jacob for me and come denounce Israel How can

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I curse whom God has not cursed, how can I denounce whom Yahweh has not denounced knows?

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Ella, you know whom God has not denounced in four four, excuse me and from the top of the crags

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I see him and from the hills I behold him behold of people dwelling alone and not counting itself among the nations

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Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright and let my end be like his

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Balak said to Balaam. What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies and behold you've done nothing but bless them and He answered and said must

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I not take care to speak what Yahweh puts in my mouth now a little bit of a note here is

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Balaam prophesying out of faith and his free will love for Yahweh he is

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Prophesying with the sword of the angel of the Lord to his neck You will say only what

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I give you to say nothing more So he is prophesying under a death threat from God Keep that in mind, so he's watching his words very carefully

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Although he's gonna get a little cheeky in his later prophecies. I'll explain in a minute Balak said to Balaam verse 13 come with me to another place from which you may see them now

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This is gonna happen three times This sound okay. Notice the children of Israel still in the wilderness a three -part temptation to cursing

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This sounds like it has type and shadow of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness something similar is going on here

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So please come to with me to another place from which you may see them You shall see only a fraction of them and shall not see them all then curse them for me from there so he took them to the field of Zophim to the top of Pisgah and Built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar

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Balaam said to Balak stand here beside your burnt offering while I meet ya with meet

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Yahweh over there and Yahweh met Balaam put a word in his mouth and said return to Balak and thus you shall speak

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And he came to him and behold he was Standing beside his burnt offering and the princes of Moab with him and Balak said to him what has

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Yahweh spoken? Balaam took up his discourse and he said rise Balak and here give ear to me.

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Oh son of Zippor God is not a man that he should lie or a son of man that he should change his mind

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And by the way, we talk about the attributes of God to this day We cite this passage

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That God does not lie What Balak said is right here God does not lie and he's not a son of man that he should change his mind has he said and will he not do

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It or has he spoken and will he not fulfill it behold? I received a command to bless he has blessed and I cannot revoke it

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He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob nor has he seen trouble in Israel Yahweh their

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God is with them and the shout of a king is among them and This is rather fascinating Yeah, now you know, this is a slightly different topic but in the same vein

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Let me make one point real quick and then I'm gonna address what you've said So the Lord their God is with them and the shout of a king is among them notice that Balaam Actually prophesies about Jesus.

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That's what it means. The shout of a king is among them now regarding God changing his mind

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This gets to a very interesting doctrine. You remember the story of Jonah? God calls

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Jonah and he tells him you go and you prophesy in Nineveh Forty days and the

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Lord's gonna destroy this place because of the wickedness that has come up before me But what did

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Jonah do when God told him to go to Nineveh? Oh, you know, that's a different story

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That's dirt. You're conflating two stories. That's Abraham and Sodom and Gomorrah But what did what did

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Jonah do when God? Commanded him to go and preach against Nineveh. Tell him 40 days and Nineveh is overthrown

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He didn't go to Nineveh Okay, he got on a ship and he hightailed it out of town he went the exact opposite way of Nineveh trying to get as far away from there as possible and if you know the story the reason why is explained later in the book of Jonah, which is only four chapters and the reason why is because Jonah knew that God is slow to anger abounding in steadfast love and forgiving and trespasses and pardoning iniquity

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This is he knew this about God and he didn't want to go and preach to Nineveh because he didn't want

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God to forgive them. I Want you to think about that that's actually in the text

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Jonah remember after Nineveh they experienced revival everyone repents even the king of Nineveh and sackcloth and ashes and is

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Jonah sitting there going praise you Lord That is the best thing ever. The Ninevites are gonna be with us in heaven

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No, he's mad and he goes outside of the city and he's Absolutely pouting and having a temper tantrum and even then

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God is merciful to poor Jonah but I mean you could see it in the text was like I knew you were slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love these

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Ninevites are worse than the Nazis and you're gonna forgive them Okay, so you'll notice that over and again the only one of the times we see in Scripture where God consistently

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Changes his mind it looks like he does is always when it comes to grace and mercy and forgiveness and There's a reason for this because this reflects the true nature of God God is not wrathful and vengeful as his primary way of operating

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God is loving kind Merciful. In fact, God is love we learned from Scripture And so when

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God punishes sin when God acts in wrath It takes a lot to provoke him to get him to this point.

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And this is not what he wills It was Scripture say it's not his will that any should perish but that all should repent and be brought to a knowledge of the truth and so when we see in Scripture where God is saying

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I'm gonna destroy this town. You guys are toast. That's it and they go. You're right. We've sinned.

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Please Lord Have mercy on us. God says, okay, I forgive you And you sit there and go wait a second.

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It says God doesn't change his mind Right. God doesn't change his mind.

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It's not his will that any should perish Well, here's the fun part is that even the ability to ask is not something that resides in you

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That is given to you as a gift by God the faith and the repentance to actually

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Say Lord have mercy on me that comes as a gift from God through the preaching of his word But that's a whole other story.

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Okay, that's a whole other lesson So keep in mind when we talk about God not changing his mind We have to kind of come down to foundational level when we see where God has threatened punishment and destruction and they repent and he does

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Not destroy them that is because down deeper Than the than the threat of punishment and his wrath down deeper than that is his will that none should perish and That's the thing.

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He does not change his mind on that make sense. So we come back to Balaam's Prophecy verse 21 again.

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He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob nor has he seen trouble in Israel Yahweh their God is with them and the shout of a king is among them

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Look at that Balaam this unbeliever who is prophesying with the sword of the angel of the Lord to his neck prophesies about Jesus The shout of a king is among them.

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That's right Jesus is there among them as the unborn great great great great great great great great great great grandson of one of these fellows

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So God brings them out of Egypt and is for them like the horns of the wild ox

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For there is no enchantment against Jacob no divination against Israel Yeah, this is one of the reasons why we you know

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If the local witch coven decides to cast a hex on Kong's finger or any of us

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We don't need to worry about it at all We are grafted into Israel.

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There is no enchantment or divination against Israel how shall it now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel what has

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God wrought behold a people as a lioness it rises up as a lion

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It lifts itself. It does not lie down until it has devoured the prey and drunk the blood of the slain

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Then Balaam said to Balaam And he could just see he's like freaking out at this point

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All right, don't curse them at all and don't bless them either say nothing

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So Balaam answered Balaam. Did I not tell you all that Yahweh says that I must do and Balaam said to Balaam come now.

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I will take you to another place Perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there

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So Balaam took Balaam to the top of Peor which overlooks the desert and Balaam said to Balaam Build for me here seven altars and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams

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Balak did as Balaam had said and offered a bull and a ram on each altar

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When Balaam saw that it pleased Yahweh to bless Israel He did not go as at other times to look for omens, but set his face toward the wilderness

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Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe and the

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Spirit of God came upon him Says Elohim by the way, and he took up his discourse now the opening portion of this from this point on to the end of verse 4 this sounds like the template of How Balaam normally operated when he was doing his mumbo -jumbo

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Okay listen to these words the Oracle of Balaam the son of Baor the Oracle of the man whose eye is open the

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Oracle of him who hears words of God And sees the vision of the Almighty falling down with his eyes uncovered

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Seeing with eyes uncovered This sounds to me like his standard mumbo -jumbo that he would give when he was doing paid gigs

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You know somebody comes to him when he wants a blessing or a curse from this deity or that this sounds like That's his standard opening and the word here is not

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Elohim for God. It's L. It's just it's rather fascinating I don't think that the Holy Spirit inspired him to speak so fondly of himself

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So he kind of throws this on the front end of it. But next what comes is a real prophecy How lovely are your tents

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Oh Jacob your encampments Oh Israel Like palm groves that stretch afar like gardens beside a river

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Like aloes that the Lord has planted like cedar trees beside the waters Water shall flow from his buckets and his seed shall be in many waters

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His king shall be higher than Agag and his kingdom shall be exalted here.

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He again prophesies of Christ God brings him out of Egypt and is for him like the horns of the wild ox

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Notice the singular here God brings him out of Egypt You think of the story when after Jesus is born

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Herod wants to kill him, right? God appears to Joseph in a dream says they're gonna kill the kid get out of town

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And where does he take him to Egypt and then after the death of Herod? It says that Joseph brought

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Jesus back and they went to Nazareth and said this is to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet out of you out of Egypt I have called my son

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So here we see kind of a similar type of prophecy God brings him singular out of Egypt and is for him like the horns of the wild ox

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He shall eat up the nation's his adversaries He shall break their bones in pieces and piece them through pierce them through with arrows

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He crouched he laid down like a lion and like a lioness who will rouse him up Blessed are those who bless you and cursed are those who curse you

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So here we have again Balaam giving real prophecy Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam and he struck his hands together.

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So we go Yeah Balak said to Balaam. I called you to curse my enemies and behold you bless them these three times

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Therefore now flee to your own place. I said I will certainly honor you but the Lord has held held you back from honor and Remember Balaam's a prophet for profit.

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So I mean this is this is a knife plunge that goes deep. I know Just think of all the money

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I could have had here, but no I have nothing right The only thing he has is

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Balak's anger and we're gonna find out from the cross references here that Once he's done his duty

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Prophesying with the sword of the Lord on his neck that Balaam is going to get his revenge.

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He's gonna get his revenge It's very fascinating. Well, let's keep going with the text and we'll point it out when we get there

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So I called you to curse my enemies you bless them these three times flee to your own place

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I said I will certainly honor you but Yahweh has held you back from honor Balaam said to Balak did I not tell your messengers whom you sent to me if Balak should give me his full house of silver and gold.

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I would not be able to go beyond with The word of Yahweh or eat to do either good or bad of my own will

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What Yahweh speaks that will I speak and now behold I'm going to my own my to my people come

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I will let you know what this people will do to your people in the latter days and he took up this

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Discourse and he said here we go again with this Self -aggrandizing mumbo -jumbo the

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Oracle of Balaam the son of Beor the Oracle of the man whose eyes opened The Oracle of him who hears words of God and knows the knowledge of the

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Most High Who sees the vision of the Almighty falling down with his eyes uncovered? Yeah, well

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He still ends up giving the words now he says I see him but not now

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I behold him But not near who's he prophesying about?

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Jesus a star shall come out of Jacob and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel It shall crush the forehead of Moab break down all the sons of Sheth Edom shall be dispossessed

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Sayer also his enemies shall be dispossessed Israel is doing valiantly and one from Jacob shall exercise dominion and destroy the

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Survivors of cities and then he looked on Amalek and took up his discourse and said Amalek was the first among the nations

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But its end is utter destruction He looked on the Kenite and took up his discourse and said enduring is your dwelling place and your nest is set in the rock

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Nevertheless Cain shall be burned when Asher takes you away captive and he took up this discourse and he said alas

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Who shall live when God does this but ships shall come from Kittim and shall afflict

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Asher and Eber and he? Too shall come to utter destruction then Balaam rose and went back to his place and Balak also went his way

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Now if it were not for the cross references, we wouldn't know the source of what comes next but the source of what comes next is

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Balaam and Balaam teaches this to Balak and Balak Puts the plan in motion

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So what comes next comes out of the heart and mind of Balaam and we know this from the cross

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References. In fact, we know this from Jesus himself and I'll show you But watch what happens next

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While Israel lived in Shittim the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab I want you to think of it this way.

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Somebody came up with this great idea Let's send our hottest single chicks who are into idolatry into the camp of Israel to be a snare to them and So some of the people of Israel began to whore with the daughters of Moab.

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This is sexual immorality these Invited the people to the

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Sacrifices of their gods and the people ate and bowed down to their gods

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So notice they eat food sacrifice to idols and they bowed down to these false idols of Moab Whose idea was this?

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I Already told you it's Balaam's and I'll prove it in a minute So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor and the anger of the

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Lord was kindled against Israel and the Lord said to Moses take all the chiefs of the people and hang them in the

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Sun before Yahweh that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel and Moses said to the judges of Israel each of you

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Kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor and behold one of the people of Israel came and brought a

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Midianite woman to his family in the sight of Moses and in the side of the whole congregation of the people of Israel While they were weeping in the entrance of the tent of meeting when

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Phinehas the son of Eliezer the son of Aaron the priest saw it he rose and left the Congregation and took a spear in his hand and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them the man

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Of Israel and the woman through her belly in other words kind of think of it This way is that while everyone's mourning because God is literally saying you guys have hooked yourself up With the with the false gods of Moab some guy thought it would be a great idea

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You know, he was winking, you know I'm not even paying attention to what's going on winking at some hot Moabite chick and decided hey, come on Let's go over to my tent and kind of hook up together

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So they're doing the friends with benefits thing and while that's occurring They're both put to death in the act

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That's what this is describing verse 8 He went into the man of Israel that the chamber pierced both of them the man of Israel and the woman through her belly

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Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped. Nevertheless those who died by the plague were 24 ,000 all right, so This follows one thing after another and here's where our cross references are going to help us tremendously in Numbers 31 verse 16 we get a little bit of data

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Moses says behold these on Balaam's advice Caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the

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Lord in the incident of Peor So the plague came among the congregation of the

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Lord Notice in numbers 31 16 Moses says that what we see at the beginning portion of numbers 25 of the idolatrous sexually active single

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Moabite chicks that this was done They were sent into the camp of Israel on the advice of Balaam That's what it says

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They were sent there on the advice of Balaam Here's our other cross -reference our other cross -reference is

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Revelation chapter 2 and you're going to note that this is all red letter.

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This is Jesus speaking We don't we don't just find red letters in the four

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Gospels We also see a lot of red letters in the book of Revelation And here's what it says to the angel of the church at Pergamum This is verse 12 right the words of him who has the sharp two -edged sword

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Hmm that sounds a lot like the angel of the Lord in that incident with Balaam. I Know where you dwell or Satan's throne is yet You hold fast my name and you did not deny my faith

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Even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness who was killed among you where Satan dwells, but I have a few things against you

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You have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam Who taught

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Balak to put a stumbling block Before the sons of Israel so that they might eat food sacrifice to idols and practice sexual immorality so Pull all the data together then and What you have?

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Then in the in the book of Jude the reference to Balaam Okay, remember the false teachers woe to them they walked in the way of Cain this is religious activity with no faith

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Abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and Balaam's error is going to include syncretism divination sexual immorality and idolatry

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And I want you to consider the implications here what we saw Jesus saying to the church at Pergamum There are some in your church

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Who have fallen into Balaam's error? Balaam is the one who taught the children of taught basically

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Balak to set a snare for Israel so that they would gauge in eating food sacrifice to idols bowing before false gods and engaging in sexual immorality

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Can you think of any? Pastors Who encourage

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And teach sexual immorality No problemo

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Uh -huh There's a lot of them. Let me give you an example Church bodies.

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It doesn't matter what the name of the denomination is above the name of the local congregation church bodies who ordain impenitent homosexuals

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This is sexual immorality This is Balaam's error Are impenitent homosexuals who are pastors who promote the

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LGBTQ XYZ agenda are they known For their biblical fidelity

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No, they're not What are they? What are they known for?

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Yeah, that's the right way of putting it They have fallen into Balaam's error They're teaching sexual immorality the

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Jesus they believe in is not the Jesus of Scripture the God that they believe in I Promise you would never harm a fly yet alone send anybody to hell the

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Jesus they believe in Blesses same -sex marriage doesn't care if you're shacking up with your honey or in one of those

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Pluralistic things that they have nowadays Name how it goes shacking up booty calls.

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Yeah, this is what how they talk nowadays, right? Friends with benefits. Oh, that's all fine

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But is this okay? but notice when a pastor does this or a teacher in the church does this

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They do so basically trying to tell everybody listen, trust me. God doesn't care about any of that stuff

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It's no big deal. Jesus bled and died for your sins. Go go do whatever you want.

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It's crass, isn't it? This is Balaam's error. It's idolatry and sexual immorality all in one

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So we've seen two of the major prototypes in a false teacher prototype one religious motion no faith

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Prototype two now this opens up a big category. It involves sexual immorality idolatry divination all kinds of crazy wackadoodle stuff and Scripture talks about Balaam's error.

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These are people who've abandoned themselves for the sake of gain and gain here isn't only going to be limited to Financial gain we have to understand that we covetous idolatrous sinful human beings there are several different Temptations that we fall into it could be monetary gain.

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It can also be the accolades of the world You want to get invited to the most important parties by the most prestigious thinkers of our day

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Well, you're not gonna have that happen to you listening to that nonsense you hear at Kongsvinger.

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I Mean that guy I mean for heaven's sakes. He's a dinosaur He teaches that Christ bled and died for your sins tells people to repent he believes in this thing called heresy.

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What a moron We've moved well past that like hundreds of years ago

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Didn't he get the memo you guys are falling for that. Come on over to a more progressive

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Church We all sing kumbaya and that song that they sang regarding the coca -cola commercial, right?

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I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. It's all about love Come on, give everybody a hug and love the one you're with and yet what

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I'm saying is not an unfair characterization Steven yeah.

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Oh, yeah I have I have read really good biblical scholars that make the argument that abortion literally is the sacrament of Liberalism it's the sacrament of liberalism and I think they have a case they really do

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They really do So remember Jude is warning us warning us of false teachers in among us

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They teach just go through the motions just pay your bills comes to church stand up sit down pray

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You don't have to believe any of it. It all works itself out and then go do whatever you want Balaam's error their prophets for profit now.

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Let me give you another example here Kind of very recently if any of you watch and I had to put this in air quotes now

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Christian television there are now three times a year when the

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Televangelists expect a payday and It has to do with the Jewish feast days

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Passover the feast of you know, the first fruits in the Feast of Tabernacles and Here's what they do.

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Let me show you how they do it and I can explain this if we were to look in Deuteronomy 16

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I'll show you how the how the scam works Deuteronomy 16 16 says this and I'm gonna do this out of context so that you can kind of see how you know

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How they do this? Listen to what this says and I'm gonna purposely misquote this three times a year all your mail shall appear before Yahweh and Do not appear before him empty -handed

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Three times a year. You're supposed to appear before God and don't appear before him empty -handed

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If you were flipping channels and you were to come across Rod Parsley Benny Hinn Larry Huck Paula white these are like the the big purveyors of this teaching.

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So here we are we're coming up to the Easter season Easter oftentimes is paralleled with the

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Passover season and One of the feasts when well what God commanded the children of Israel You are to appear before me three times a year that includes the

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Passover the first Feast of firstfruits the Feast of Tabernacles three times you had to appear before the

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Lord in Jerusalem and it says don't appear before me empty -handed. So here's how they do this

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Yeah, I covered this on my program just this past week They'll get somebody like Steve Muncy and says well

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It says in Deuteronomy 16 that three times a year you're supposed to appear before the Lord and don't appear before him empty -handed so this is your time to honor

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God and to be obedient to God because he has scheduled penciled in an appointment and the question is are you going to make the appointment that he's

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Scheduled with you. So you show God that you are that you take this seriously you take the

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God's Word seriously, and if you send in your seed offering of $300 and God's gonna dispatch an angel on your behalf and give you financial blessing and for the next 12 months just cause

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Everything to go your way So make your check payable to Benny Hinn ministries and send it in right now.

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I Wish I was making this up. I Mean keep this in mind Benny Hinn's Facebook audience alone is over 3 million.

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Yeah. Yeah, that would be really funny, wouldn't it? Yeah show up with a lamb Has God commanded you to send your money?

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Three times a year to a tele evangelist. Yeah, I know.

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I hope not. Yeah Mm -hmm.

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All right, let's talk about it. All right. So what are the three rules for sound biblical exegesis? Exactly, that's right context context and context.

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All right, let's take a look at the context and we'll just do a quick Look through Deuteronomy 16 itself verse 1 observe the month of Abib Keep the

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Passover to Yahweh your God in the month of Abib The Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night.

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You shall offer the Passover sacrifice To the Lord your God from the flock or the herd at the place that the

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Lord will choose to make his name to dwell There what is the Passover sacrifice? It's a lamb and what does the

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Mosaic Covenant provide if a family cannot afford a lamb They can share somebody else's

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Okay, they can share somebody else's so is the Passover offering money No, it's not

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You shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the Lord your God from the flock or the herd at a place that the Lord will choose To make his name dwell.

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You shall not eat. No unleavened bread with it seven days You shall eat it with unleavened bread the bread of affliction notice.

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They don't they say the only thing you need to do to Obey the Passover is to send them money

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That's not what this text is saying to obey the Passover regulations What do you got to do get all the yeast out of your house?

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You need the only unleavened bread for seven days. They don't talk about any of that. Do they?

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No, you shall eat it with unleavened bread the bread of affliction for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste all the days

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Of your life that you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt No leaven shall be seen with you in all of your territory for seven days

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Nor shall any of the flesh that you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until that night Until morning you may not offer the

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Passover sacrifice within any of your towns Here's the important part within any of your towns that the

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Lord your God has given you but at the place that the Lord your God will choose to make his name dwell in it there.

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You shall offer the Passover sacrifice In the evening at sunset at the time you came out of Egypt Which city then is the only place where you can truly?

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Observe the Passover. Can you observe the Passover in Oslo, Minnesota?

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No Where is the place where God has caused his name to dwell at least in the

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Old Testament? It not in Egypt Jerusalem Okay, remember when

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Solomon Built the temple and the temple was you know, they had the ceremony

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Opening up the temple. Okay. That was the place where God caused his name to dwell Now where on planet

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Earth right now is the place where God has caused his name to dwell Every church actually a little bit more than that When I baptize and there's baptisms here

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I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit Where has

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Christ caused his name to dwell in? Each and every one of you now hold the

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I'm trying to develop a thought hold it just a little bit longer So here's the thing

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Passover's Mosaic Covenant are we as Christians to observe the Passover? Not like this

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Mosaic Covenant's been done away with are we required to fly to Jerusalem three times a year

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Thank God. No, I couldn't afford that I'm just now operating in the black

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I'd go into the red pretty quick. No We're not

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But can you celebrate the Passover anywhere? Not not according to the

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Mosaic Covenant So you'll notice here that the televangelist the only thing they key in Oz appear below for the

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Lord three times and they equate that with Send in a check That's not what that means appear before the

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Lord literally means physically Getting up from your hometown and making the trip to Jerusalem Jesus did this three times

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During his earthly ministry. He did it every year of his life You think back to when he was 12 years old and his mom and dad lost the

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Messiah Talk about stress What were they in Jerusalem for?

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the feast They were in town for one of these things and so literally no joke

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Jews in the Old Covenant in Judea they would have to go three times a year at least the men at the very minimum had to go and show up Three times a year before the

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Lord in the temple. That's what that means So then come back then to verse 16 and then note the details of the verse itself

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Three times of year all your mails shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose in Deuteronomy that place had not been chosen and it was a it was a transitory place for a while while the

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Tabernacle was still the the thing So if the tabernacle was in Shiloh That's the place you had to appear because the name of the

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Lord was there With the tabernacle and then it became the permanent facility as the temple in Jerusalem.

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Oh, they they would know it didn't move around very often Really the tabernacle barely moved at all

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In the in the time from the when they got into Israel until the tap that the temple is built

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It didn't really move around too much It moved around a few times but not very many so three times a year your mail mail shall appear before the

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Lord your God at The place that he will choose at the Feast of Unleavened Bread the Feast of Weeks the Feast of Booths They shall not appear before the

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Lord empty -handed every mail shall give as he is able according to the blessing of the Lord your God That he has given you so mark.

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Does that answer your question? Context context context and you'll note the televangelists never give you the whole context they just appear before the

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Lord three times and Don't appear before him empty -handed. So send me money Right, right.

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Yeah, and don't worry all you females in our audience today. This doesn't apply to you They never say that they'll be happy to take the money from any woman

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So the televangelist who tells you to that to appear before the Lord not empty -handed means to send them money

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They are lying through their teeth If they were rednecks, they'd be lying through their tooth.

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I Stole that joke, but it's I still love that joke. Anyway, so you get the idea here So they've abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's heir

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The one who is twisting God's word and saying these things they care

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Nothing about telling you rightly about Jesus helping you to correctly understand his word the only thing they care about is getting your

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Dollar bills out of your wallet into theirs That's the only reason why they're operating and I mean have you ever watched

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TBN and sat there and go man? These guys have no conscience because they don't

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They don't have any conscience whatsoever And so if you know somebody who thinks that Benny Hinn is the bee's knees

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It just think oh, I just love that guy. He's so anointed You need to sit him down and say we're gonna cut you off no more checks to tell evangelists

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I Want to start a movement. I just you know, the no more checks to tell evangelist movement, you know, nothing

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Yeah All right You get the idea next week