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Sermon Outline - The Bad Example of Balaam, 2 Peter ch.2 vv.15-16

Date07/12/2003
Time18:30
PreacherRev. Maurice Roberts, Inverness
Sermon TitleThe Bad Example of Balaam
Text2 Peter ch.2 vv.15-16
Sermon ID723

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Introduction

  1. Some names are proverbial for evil.
  2. Exx. Jezebel - Babylon - Cain
  3. So is Balaam in the Bible.

So Peter here, like Jude, mentions him as a prime example of a wicked man.

  1. BALAAM WAS A WORSE MAN THAN WE MAY THINK

    * There were good points about Balaam:

    1. He was a prophet (Numbers 22 - 25 (4 chapters)
      1. beautiful words - ex. Numbers 23:19/23
      2. but he was a bad man
      OBSERVE: Common grace was all he had.
    2. He spoke of Christ:
      1. Numbers 24:17 - the glorious Saviour
      2. a 'STAR' - later 'SUN of righteousness'
      APPLICATION: Godless men may use pious words.
    3. He said some memorable words
      1. Numbers 22:8 - excellent words, but!
      2. Numbers 22:30
      APPLICATION: He looks like a saint!

    * But for all that, he was a Bad Man:

    1. He forsook the right way
      • He craftily found a way to curse God's people (Explain).
      • He knew the right way and forsook it.
    2. He wanted unrighteous wages
      • to be well paid for his sin
      • the sin was to curse God's people
    3. He found a way to curse God's people
      • Balak was afraid of Israel
      • so Balaam ruined Israel by a devilish trick
      APPLICATION: Beware of Satan's craft.

  2. HIS WICKEDNESS WAS REBUKED BY A DUMB ASS

    * The narrative in Numbers 22:21f

    1. Why Balaam wanted to go
      • his mind knew what God said but his heart loved the money offered.
      APPLICATION: We only go straight after conversion.
    2. What Balaam feared to lose
      • the large sum of money
      • he wanted to be a millionaire
      APPLICATION: So do many people today.
    3. How God gave him mercy
      • the angel was there to kill him
      • but the ass had more sense
      APPLICATION: Sin makes us worse than beasts
    4. The blindness of Balaam
      • he did not see the angel
      • sin blinds us and deceives us
      APPLICATION: How near death is us all!
    5. The voice of the ass!
      • Numbers 22:23, 30
      • The angel appears to Balaam
      APPLICATION: If only people listened to God's voice.
    6. Balaam's sin not cured
      • he got a warning
      • but he still went on!
      APPLICATION: To ignore God's voice is to go on to destruction in the end.

  3. THE LESSONS WE LEARN FROM BALAAM

    * It is called "madness" - why "mad"?

    1. It is madness to love money
      1. This offered him by Balak as reward
      2. But money should never be our God
      APPLICATION: Have you got money as your God?
    2. It is madness to forsake God's way
      1. God's way = that of faith/holiness/love
      2. the Ten Commandments as our rule
      ILLUSTRATION: Adam - Judas. Where did it get them?
      APPLICATION: It is sad when people forsake God.
    3. It is madness to harm God's people
      1. he played a wicked trick on them
      2. God's people can be deceived by evil
      3. when they are, they suffer great loss
      APPLICATION: That is why we must love both God and His people.
      Do you?
    4. It is madness to ignore God's warnings
      1. the "dumb ass" - what a lesson!
      2. but Balaam ignored the warning
      3. in the end, he perished
      APPLICATION: Ignore the Gospel - and you perish.

CONCLUSION

So like Judas, who was

  1. warned by Christ
  2. covetous and so perished

See Acts 1.

This sermon outline has been downloaded from http://www.bible-sermons.org.uk