Preached Sunday, March 2, 2014 from 2 Peter 2:413b-16
Theme: Those who walk in a false way display their true character by their footsteps.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
We continue our study this morning from the second chapter of 2 Peter. But before we go to that New Testament passage, I ask that we go to the Old Testament—and specifically to Numbers 22. That’s where we find a story that is a big part of what the apostle Peter was led by the Holy Spirit to tell us.
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Numbers 22 takes us all the way back to the time after the people of Israel had left their bondage in Egypt. They were traveling through the wilderness on their way to the land that God had promised to give them. What an impressive sight they must have been to see! We can safely estimate that, with men, women and children, there were somewhere between two to two-and-a-half million people in that massive band of sojourners—along with all their livestock and belongings; and all their soldiers, their priests and Levites, and all the articles of the tabernacle of God that they carried—all led by God through the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night.
God had wonderfully demonstrated His power on behalf of the people of Israel. And as Moses led them up along the eastern side of the Jordan River, and as they drew closer to the land God was giving them, they were given a stunning victory over the hostile armies of King Sihon of the Amorites, and King Og of the land of Bashan. There would have been no way to explain these victories except that the God who loved them and called them to Himself also fought for them. And as they came to rest and camped in the plains of Moab in the east of the Jordan, and were almost to the doorstep of their land, the king of the land of the Moabite people—a man named Balak—became exceedingly fearful. In fact, the Bible tells us in Numbers 22:3 that he and all his people were “sick with dread because of the children of Israel”. As Balak exclaimed in verse 4, “Now this company will lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.”
But what could be done? Clearly, these people—the Israelites—were being led and blessed by God. And so, he and his leaders sought the help of a man that they thought could somehow overthrow God’s blessing, and enable the Moabites to gain an advantage over God’s people. They decided to send for Balaam—a false prophet who had a reputation for bringing either blessings or curses on people for hire. Balak told him,
“Look, a people has come from Egypt. See, they cover the face of the earth, and are settling next to me! Therefore please come at once, curse this people for me, for they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed” (vv. 5-6).
So, the leaders under King Balak took money in hand and went to Balaam with their request.
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Now; one of the most fascinating aspects of this Old Testament story is that this prophet for hire—Balaam—seemed to have known very clearly who the God of Israel was. He even referred to God by the sacred covenant name Yahweh. What’s more, he told those who came to hire him to wait until he asked the Lord what he should do. And when he inquired of the Lord, the Lord came to him and said, “Who are these men with you?” (v. 9).
So Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me, saying, ‘Look, a people has come out of Egypt, and they cover the face of the earth. Come now, curse them for me; perhaps I shall be able to overpower them and drive them out.’” And God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed” (vv. 10-12).
That seems clear enough, doesn’t it? Balaam asked, and God said no. And that’s what Balaam then told the people who came to hire him. He told them that they should go back home; because God has refused him permission to go with them. But when they went back and brought word to King Balak, the king sent even more of his princes to Balaam—princes with even greater honor; and they pleaded earnestly with him, saying,
“Thus says Balak the son of Zippor: ‘Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me; for I will certainly honor you greatly, and I will do whatever you say to me. Therefore please come, curse this people for me’” (vv. 16-17).
Now; God already said ‘no’. The matter should have been settled. But Balaam was a false prophet. He had a divided and disloyal heart. And when King Balak told him that he would do whatever Balaam asked, I even speculate that Balaam was subtly declaring his price when he then said,
“Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more. Now therefore, please, you also stay here tonight, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me” (vv. 18-19).
Could Balaam perhaps have been giving a little ‘wink-wink’ and a ‘nudge-nudge’ when he said “house full of silver and gold”? I tend to think so. In spite of what God had said, Balaam really wanted to do what he was being asked to do—and to be paid handsomely for it! It may be that, when he went back to ‘ask’, he really wasn’t expecting the Lord to answer him a second time. But as it turned out, the Lord did! He allowed this false prophet Balaam to do what he wanted. So often, when our hearts are set on doing what is wrong, the Lord will let us go—and allow us to suffer the consequences as a result. God told him;
“If the men come to call you, rise and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you—that you shall do” (v. 20).
We shouldn’t misunderstand that as God’s approval of Balaam’s action. Do you remember how God once even once gave permission to Satan to bring harm on Job—but then also limited Satan in terms of what he could do? I believe that the same thing is happening here. And so, God permitted Balaam to go and pursue his fleshly desire; and Balaam rose up the next morning, saddled his donkey, took a couple of his servants with him, and rode off with the princes of Moab.
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Now; even though He gave him permission to do as he wished, God was very angry at Balaam for disregarding God’s orders and choosing to take King Balak up on his offer. I speculate that, even along the way, Balaam had been crafting means by which he could curse the people that God had told him he may not curse—and thus end up getting paid richly. And that’s why we’re told that the Angel of the LORD took His stand along the way as an adversary against Balaam. Just because God may permit someone to do the wrong that they really want to do, that doesn’t mean that God does not take action along the way and stand against them for it.
But it’s then that we are introduced to one of the most fascinating characters in the Bible. (Can I really call a donkey a ‘Bible character’ . . . ? I suppose I can.) She had more sense than Balaam. In fact, she had more spiritual insight than Balaam did, because she could see God’s opposition while Balaam and his servants couldn’t. As they were riding along, and as the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord standing against them with a sword drawn, She turned off the rode and into a field in an effort to avoid the danger. And so, Balaam—blind to what was going on—struck her and forced her back on the road.
A little further down the way, the Angel of the Lord stood against them again—this time in a narrow pathway between some vineyards—with a wall on either side of the path. When the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord a second time, she pushed herself against the wall—crushing Balaam’s foot. So, he struck her again. The poor donkey was actually doing him a favor—but she got a beating for it!
And once again, the Angel of the Lord faced them off—this time in a narrow place where there was nowhere for the donkey to turn. And so, when she saw the Angel of the Lord, she simply laid down and stopped moving. Balaam had all he could take! He got off and began to strike the poor donkey with a stick. And that’s when the Lord performed a miracle; and opened them mouth of the donkey so she could speak. She said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” (v. 28).
Now, dear brothers and sisters; what would you have done if your donkey spoke to you? I know that none of you would ever beat on your poor donkey—if you had one. But even if you did—and it spoke and asked why you were doing so—what would you do? I think that, at the very least, you would stop striking her and would stand in stunned amazement. You might even begin to be very excited and think, “I’ve got a talking donkey! I’m going to be rich!” (After all, we’ve seen that dancing and singing frog cartoon enough times; haven’t we?)
But Balaam was a messed-up man. His donkey asks why he was beating her; and so—just like there was nothing unusual about it—he answered! He explained, “Because you have abused me. I wish there was a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you!” (v. 29).
So the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden, ever since I became yours, to this day? Was I ever disposed to do this to you?” And he said, “No” (v. 30).
Can you see what a messed-up guy he was? He was actually having an argument with his donkey—and was losing! And that’s when Balaam’s eyes were opened; and he was allowed to see the Angel of the Lord standing in opposition to him. Balaam fell flat on his face—perhaps right next to his donkey! And the Lord told him,
“Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to stand against you, because your way is perverse before Me. The donkey saw Me and turned aside from Me these three times. If she had not turned aside from Me, surely I would also have killed you by now, and let her live” (v. 32-33).
Balaam knew he had been on the wrong side of things. He confessed to the Lord that he was sinning; and asked if he should turn back. And the Lord told him, “Go with the men, but only the word that I speak to you, that you shall speak” (v. 35). And Balaam did so. You may remember the story. Everywhere in the high places of Moab that King Balak made Balaam stand in order to get a good glimpse of the vast multitudes of the people of Israel—and very much to Balak’s frustration—Balaam only spoke the words of blessing over the Israelites that God commanded him to speak.
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Now; I wish the story had a happier ending than it does. And you need to know about that to appreciate fully what Peter is about to tell us. Balaam was a wicked, evil man. He loved pleasures and riches more than the God who had so clearly proven Himself to him. And so, even though God would not let him curse His people, Balaam nevertheless crafted a plan that enabled King Balak to lead the people of God into sin. He talked King Balak into getting the Moabite women to invite the people of Israel into some of the feasts of their false gods; and they thus tempted God’s covenant people to fall into idolatrous Baal worship and sexual immorality. In Revelation 2:14, the Lord Jesus spoke of the “doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality” (Revelation 2:14). The consequences of this treachery on the part of Balaam was dreadful. The Bible tells us that God sent a plague that killed twenty-two-thousand of the people of Israel for their unfaithful act of wickedness. What a tragically deceptive man that man Balaam was! He has gone down in sacred history as a prime example of the damage that a false prophet can bring upon God’s people.
And I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that I believe we’re to take that story literally—all of it. You probably wouldn’t be too terribly surprised to know that many commentators and scholars try to turn Balaam’s story into a mere myth. They tell us, “Now; of course, we all know that a donkey can’t talk”—as if you and I really needed them to remind us of that! But I believe that God can—and did—perform the miracle of making a donkey speak with a human voice in order to stop the folly of a reckless, wicked prophet. It was certainly no greater a miracle than that of the deliverance of the people of Israel from bondage in Egypt. If we can believe that God can create all that there is in six days, then we can certainly believe that the Scriptures are telling me the truth when it says that He made a donkey speak with a human voice. I believe it; and I’m in good company. Apparently the apostle Peter believed it too.
Turn with me now to 2 Peter 2:13-16. As we have seen, this is the portion of his letter in which he warned the people of God against the danger of false teachers in their midst. He wrote of how those false teachers were like brute beasts that were given over to their own corruptions;
and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet (2 Peter 2:13-16).
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Now; let me remind you why Peter wrote those words. At the beginning of his letter, he affirmed that we—as followers of Jesus—are granted, as a promise of God’s grace, all that we will ever need for life and godliness through a relationship by faith with Jesus Himself. It’s our task to rise up and build on that foundation of faith, and live the victorious Christian life God calls us to live. But Peter also went on, in the second chapter, to warn that false teachers would arise and seek to lead God’s people away from a faithful walk. Such false teachers, if we’re not on the alert, can rob us of many of the victories God has gained in our lives through Christ.
In verses 10-13 of Chapter 2, Peter has already described to us one aspect of these false teachers that helps identify them to us; and that is that they despise authority. That’s what we considered together during our last time in 2 Peter. These false teachers blaspheme those things that they ought to hold in reverence; and they speak evil of that which they do not understand. And now, in this morning’s passage—in verses 13-16—he goes on to describe another aspect that helps us identify them; and that is that they “walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness” (v. 10).
I like to describe what follows as ‘the footsteps of a false walk’. Let’s consider these “footsteps” briefly.
First, notice that these false teachers are . . .
1. DARING IN THEIR SIN (v. 13).
Peter refers to them as “those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime.” The word that Peter used for “carouse” is one that speaks of luxurious living—but not in a good sense. It’s the word from which we get the English word ‘hedonism’; and it speaks of a kind of ‘luxury’ that is sensual and sinful and focused on lusts. Most people try to hide their enjoyment of sinful gratification under the cover of darkness. But not these false teachers. And one of the ways that you can recognize them is by the fact that they live in sinful ‘pleasure-seeking’ out in the open. They may seek to hide it for a while; but when they can no longer do so, they justify it and give spiritual-sounding reasons for it. In time, they begin to relish their sensual living openly and in the very midst of the household of God—and even ‘count it a pleasure’ to do so.
Peter says that they are also . . .
2. DECEITFUL IN THEIR FELLOWSHIP (v. 13).
He says, “They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you . . .” Here, the word Peter uses for “carousing” is a different one than the other. This one means “riotous living”. And note what it is that they ‘carouse’ in—their own deceptions. They tell lies to themselves about what’s right and what’s wrong; and they live those lies out in practice in the midst of God’s people. They show up for church as ‘Sunday-morning saints’ after having been ‘Saturday-night sinners’. And notice that Peter says they are “spots” and “blemishes”. Jesus seeks to make His church a glorious bride—”not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27). But these are “spots” and “blemishes” that, by their behavior, bring shame and dishonor to the bride of Christ.
Peter says they are . . .
3. DEGENERATE IN THEIR LUSTS (v. 14).
He describes them as “having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin . . .” If I may say so, I’ve run into a few people like that in the churches that I have known. They don’t come to church for the spiritual input they can receive. They come to seek out victims. I have often found them to be—quite frankly—predatory in their mindset. They look around for someone who is an easy target for their sensual lusts—perhaps someone in a bad marriage, or someone who is going through a trial, or just someone who is in a vulnerable place of life. They can’t stop thinking about some way that they can break down someone’s virtue, and use them to gratify their immoral passions.
And because of that, Peter says that they are also . . .
4. DEMORALIZING IN THEIR IMPACT (v. 14).
Peter describes them as “enticing unstable souls.” It’s sad when someone who is a professing believer is “unstable”. The Bible teaches that we are to grow in maturity and become stable in our walk—”that we should no longer be children, tossed to and from and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting” (Ephesians 4:14). But some in the household of faith are unstable; and those who walk in a false way know how to bring them down. These false ‘saints’ put themselves across as something they’re not—and can fool those who’s footing is not stable, and drag them down into immoral behaviors or into unbiblical beliefs.
Peter describes them next as . . .
5. DEFRAUDING IN THEIR HEARTS (v. 14).
To “defraud” someone is to cheat them and deprive them of what is rightfully theirs. It means to ‘rip someone off’. And those who walk in a false way become very good at ‘ripping-off’ unwitting Christians. Peter uses the same word you would use to describe someone who is trained in gymnastics; and says, “They have a heart trained in covetous practices . . .” They have learned—by much experience—how to get what they want from God’s people. And they know how to do so in such a way that their victims hardly even realize what’s happening.
Peter says that they are . . .
6. DOOMED IN THEIR PROSPECT (v. 14).
He puts it pretty boldly when he adds that these false walkers “are accursed children.” Unless they repent and turn from their false walk, they are destined for God’s judgment. And they live very much like those who are—indeed—doomed to judgment. In Ephesians 4:3, Paul calls them “children of wrath”. The good news, of course, is that Paul says that we too—like them—were once children of wrath; but that God graciously saved us. He can save them too, if they will let Him. But unless they receive God’s grace and turn from their ways, they are destined for judgment. What a horrible prospect!
And note finally that Peter says they are . . .
7. DEPARTED FROM THE WAY (vv. 15-16).
He says, “They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness” (v. 15). Here’s where Peter draws on the story of that dreadful false prophet Balaam—saying that they behave like him. Remember how I said that Balaam seemed to know pretty clearly who the God of Israel was? Well; take careful note of how Peter says that these false teachers have ‘forsaken the right way’. They were once in the way; but they left it. They turned from the straight path and began to follow down the crooked road Balaam—a pretender who was only in it for what he could get out of it.
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I think it’s very interesting that Peter makes the point he does in verse 16. He says of Balaam, “but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet” (v. 16). I was surprised to discover that, in the original language, Peter doesn’t use the usual word for donkey. The ordinary Greek word for donkey is an easy one to remember, because it sounds like the noise a donkey makes—onos. But here, Peter uses the word for a beast of burden that is subject to a yoke. And I believe that is very significant.
I believe what Peter would want you and I to remember is that—in the way he reminded us of the story of Balaam—you and I are to play the part of the donkey. We are to be, as it were, ‘under the yoke’; submitted to God’s word and obedient to His will. And in that respect, it is our duty—as people under the yoke—to do as that donkey did. We are to speak up against those who teach and walk falsely, and to confront them in their folly. They may say, “Who do you think you are? How dare you—a common nobody—presume to tell me right from wrong!” But being a donkey didn’t stop that humble animal from speaking God’s word against the false prophet.
And one more thing. I would suggest that we also learn from this passage not to place our feet in the places that those do who walk in a false way before God. Let’s imitate that humble donkey in that respect too. Even she knew when to get herself out of danger!