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God's Perfect Will! By Pastor Bill Taylor A publication of My Father's House, inc. Volume 7//Issue 1 Some were persuaded by the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved. So when they didn’t agree among themselves, they departed after Paul said one word: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying, ‘Go to this people and say: “Hearing you’ll hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you’ll see, and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they’ve closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so I should heal them.’” (Act28:24-27) Since “the hearts of this people have grown dull,” and they won’t obey God, God says they’ll have ears but won’t hear and they’ll have eyes but won’t see lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so I should heal them, as in We’d have healed Babylon, but she’s not healed. Forsake her, and let’s go everyone to his own country; for her judgment reaches to heaven and is lifted up to the skies. (Jer51:9) God would like to heal the Baptists but if a Baptist refuses to leave his “once saved/always saved” heresies and come out from among them and be separate (2Cor6:17) after he hears the Truth then he won’t be healed. So when they’d appointed him a day, many came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the Kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets, from morning till evening. (Act28:23) Even after Paul ministers a whole day there are still those who disbelieve. Which is why he says, “Well did Isaiah speak of you.” “Go, and tell this people: “Keep on hearing, but don’t understand; keep on seeing, but don’t perceive.” Make the hearts of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed.” (Is6:9,10) Paul is full of the Holy Spirit and power. Paul well knows the Word of God. Isaiah says, “Make the heart of this people dull” But Paul says, “The hearts of this people have grown dull.” So Paul isn’t just quoting scripture, he’s testifying to the fulfillment of scripture for in Isaiah God says He’ll make the hearts of the people dull but in Acts Paul says God has made their hearts dull. “The hearts of this people have grown dull.” And what that means is they won’t be healed or saved because of their dull hearts. Again and again the Old Testament witnesses to the disobedience of these stiff-necked people, “All day long I stretched out My hands to a rebellious people.” (Is65:2) It’s righteous for God to judge them. And Paul is correct in applying Isaiah to the Jews he’s shared with all day long concerning the Kingdom of God when they walk away still disbelieving. It’s because their hearts are dull they won’t receive what the Spirit’s saying. So God won’t save them. He’ll let them go on not hearing, not seeing, and being hard hearted until they’re destroyed. What God is looking for in the heart of man is brokenness. (Ps51:17) But He “Makes the hearts of this people dull.” Because like the Pharisees with Jesus these people are always coming against God’s witnesses; always arguing, resisting, fighting against God’s Word. They don’t want God’s will. They want their own. And it’s been our sad experience that too often when we share scriptural Truths with people who say they’re believers, they’ll viciously oppose it. They’ll try to use God’s Truths to favor their own carnal interests and will twist His Word against us, and even against God, because they don’t really have a love for God or a contrite spirit. They steal what God gives and misuse it to serve themselves even against the purposes of God. That’s why God says, He’ll “make them dull hearted.” And because their hearts are dull they won’t be healed, but destroyed. So in Isaiah as in Acts, we can see God’s righteousness that looks into the heart of man and when He finds no brokenness – no true desire to do His will – no passion to turn from sin and receive the Truth, He gives them up to a hard heart instead of saving them. With all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they didn’t receive the love of the Truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who didn’t believe the Truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2Th2:10-12) Though it’s God’s desire that all men would be “saved” it’s His perfect will that they must come to a true repentance not to be repented of (2Cor7:10a) else He won’t save them. However most people even so called “believers” don’t seek the perfect will of God. They try to find a way even in God to do their own will. Through the centuries that’s what the Jews have been doing. Although they believed “in God” they weren’t often interested in doing His will but were only interested in doing their own. It’s a characteristic of Jewish history that whenever they’d get into trouble because they weren’t doing God’s will they’d call upon God to forgive them and turn towards Him just enough to get out from under punishment but they wouldn’t come back to God in such a way as to whole heartedly do His perfect will. Knowing the heart and purposes of God has everything to do with being a true Christian because to be a true Christian you must have Jesus in you (2Cor13:5) and to have Jesus in you, you must have the mind of Christ. (1Cor2:16) And Jesus would only do God’s perfect will. Thus a true son of God must have a heart and mind to do the perfect will of God. We can’t be satisfied to only do God’s permissive will. And if God were to permit, for example, the Jews to learn just enough of His ways that every time it was needful for Him to chasten them they could cry out to God to avoid His chastening while never returning to God with a real brokenness and contrition to really do His perfect will then again and again this cycle of sin and repent would keep repeating and there’d be no progress made towards God’s Kingdom in such a wicked people who don’t have a heart to go after God’s best! It’s as if they’re saying, “Let’s pursue God’s will enough to keep God from punishing us but let’s do our own will as much as possible.” But what God’s saying is, “I’m not going to let them have the wisdom to keep Me from punishing them “to turn and be healed” if that’s the way they’re going to behave. If they’re just going to keep on sinning and repenting, sinning and repenting then there’ll come a time when I’ll remove their repentance. I won’t even let them see how to repent, lest they should continue to repent and be healed over and over endlessly.” Of course it’s God’s perfect will that everyone should be saved but it’s His permissive will that most will go to hell. If you won’t accept His perfect will you’ll end up in His permissive will. If you don’t receive His perfect will to pursue His Kingdom, then why should He let you stand in His way and hinder His Kingdom from coming? Why should He give you enough wisdom that you’d know how to keep from being punished when you’re resisting the work of the Lord to do your own will and you aren’t pursuing God’s will with all your heart? Although God loves to “save” repentant sinners He can harden the hearts of persistent sinners. He’s saying, “If you won’t give Me your heart completely then I won’t give you the wisdom to escape punishment. If you won’t turn to Me with all your heart, with a broken and contrite spirit then I’ll make you so dull you’ll stumble and fall and be destroyed.” In Isaiah God says the “blindness” will continue until all the buildings and farms are destroyed and there’s nothing left in the land. (Is6:11) God won’t allow that sin and repent sin and repent cycle to keep going on if there’s no real progress made towards His Kingdom. From this we can see “It’s still God’s will to save, but it’s not His will to save in a superficial fashion.” If God’s going to save, He’s looking for a radical conviction that breaks the believer completely and brings him into true contrition: sorrow for sin and repentance unto a full heart-felt humble obedience. You’re either going to get humbled into a real broken-hearted contrition where you turn yourself completely over to God or you’ll die in your sins because you can’t have something in between. That’s what the Bible teaches. It’s a mystery. Most people don’t see it because their hearts are hard and their consciences seared. They can’t see why if God wants to save everyone He’ll harden so many people, because they don’t understand that to really be saved you need to cooperate with God in His way of salvation; you have to do your part, which means you must want more than to just escape the punishments of hell. True salvation comes with a recognition that the pursuit of any will other than God’s is wickedness. To have a life separate from God you shouldn’t want; to have a will separate from God you shouldn’t want. So God’s working to bring the lost to a place where they’re broken-hearted over their entire way of thinking and living until they’ll say, “Lord, I want all of Christ. I want everything Your way.” There’s a song that says, The devil was defeated when the blood flowed down, which celebrates the victory that was won because of Christ’s blood but that victory came because Jesus’ flowing blood broke the hearts of proud sinners who became humbled by His death and it’s those broken hearted who are truly the elect. So it’s hard to accept a church that’s joyfully celebrating our suffering bleeding Christ when that’s the very thing that was meant to break them and cause them to weep. That Jesus had to go this far and go thru this much in order to break my heart so I could really be saved is such a tragedy in one sense, yet such a marvelous work in another. Christ’s blood is a victory but it’s a victory because it broke my heart for if it didn’t break my heart, I didn’t get saved because that’s what it had to do to break through the dullness of hearing, the heart that has grown hard and the eyes that aren’t seeing. It’s in the comprehension of how much my sin cost Jesus that when I was first saved I wept for a month. My heart was broken. I have a real salvation whereas many people in today’s “churches” get “converted” in a way that takes Christ’s death for granted. And if Jesus’ death isn’t a “heartbreaker” to them they didn’t really get saved because real salvation is where you lose your dullness of hearing and blindness because God has broken your hardened heart. God isn’t going to save the lukewarm unless they repent! (Rev3:15-19) To really be “saved” you must become zealously committed to God and to doing His perfect will. Concerning most people today, their eyes are closed – their ears can’t hear – their hearts are dull because they aren’t of the broken and contrite Spirit. The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. (Ps34:18) But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My Word. (Is66:2b) There’s no wisdom or understanding or counsel against the LORD. (Pr21:30) But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and commit sexual immorality. (Rev2:14) Balaam taught Balak how to “curse” the Jews by causing them to sin, and he was killed for doing that. (Num31:8) Woe to them! For they’ve gone in the way of Cain, run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. (Jude11) Korah’s sin is the usurpation of authority. Cain’s was the jealousy that came from his brother having an acceptable offering while Cain’s wasn’t acceptable. Balaam’s sin is he sold out God’s people for money. They’ve 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. (2Pt2:15,16) Balaam’s madness was evident before he even got to Balak. His madness became manifest when he decided to go and was restrained by the donkey on the way. Most people today have no concept of how wicked Balaam’s sin is and how common it is in today’s “churches.” For example, it wouldn’t be inaccurate to call the “faith movement” the “Balaam movement.” If anyone teaches otherwise and doesn’t consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the doctrine which accords with godliness, he’s proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the Truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. Balaam believes godliness is a way to get rich. The “faith movement” teaches godliness is a means to financial gain. From such withdraw yourself. (1Tim6:3-5) And from such people turn away! (2Tim3:5) Now godliness with contentment is great gain. (If Balaam had godliness with contentment he wouldn’t have been killed.) For we brought nothing into this world, and it’s certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, (For they’ve… run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit… Jude11) and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (1Tim6:6-10) Moab was sick with dread because of the children of Israel. (Num22:3) Moab wants to destroy the Jews but Balak knows he doesn’t have the power to do it in an armed conflict. Therefore please come at once, curse this people for me, for they’re too mighty for me. Perhaps I’ll 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. (Num22:6) So Balak tries to use sorcery to do what he can’t do thru normal means. He knows Balaam is a prophet so he tries to buy Balaam’s curse against Israel. God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they’re blessed.” (v12) That’s God’s answer. So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, “Go back to your land, for the LORD has refused to give me permission to go with you.” And the princes of Moab rose and went to Balak, and said, “Balaam refuses to come with us.” Then Balak again sent princes, more numerous and more honorable than they. And they came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor: ‘Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me; for I’ll certainly honor you greatly, and I’ll do whatever you say to me. Therefore please come, curse this people for me.’” (Again Balaam answers correctly.) “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I couldn’t go beyond the Word of the LORD my God, to do less or more. (If Balaam had stopped here he may have lived – but then he sins.) Now therefore, please, you also stay here tonight, that I may know what more the LORD will say to me.” (v13-19) This leads to Balaam’s death. He’s not content with the revelation he has of God’s perfect will, but wants to see if there’s someway he can still get Balak’s reward through God’s permissive will. That’s what kills him. If you understand why Balaam died you may avoid Balaam’s sin. “Stay here tonight and I’ll see what more the Lord will say.” Although Balaam knows what God’s will is he’s not happy with God’s perfect will. He’s trying to find a way to receive Balak’s riches without openly rebelling against God. Balaam wants to see if there’s another way to do it. He’s “testing” God’s “perfect will” and looking for God’s “permissive will.” But when Balaam entered into God’s permissive will he started on a course that would end in his death. Because he’s not content with what he has. (1Tim6:6-8) Because the riches Balak offered him are attractive to him, even though he knows what God’s will is and he can’t do anything outside God’s will, he still takes steps to find some other way where God will let him obtain what he wants. How often do we see that today? Multitudes of professing “christians” trying to get God to let them do their will instead of focusing on what they ought to be doing which is the perfect will of God. God is life and God is perfect and anything that isn’t His perfect will is going to have in it something of the wages of imperfection (sin) which is death. (Rom6:23) Anything less than perfect isn’t worthy of God and therefore won’t receive a good reward. So if Christ is truly in you, you must want God’s perfect will, not His permissive will. Consider when Paul says, “Making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some Spiritual gift, so you may be established.” (Rom1:10,11) God’s perfect will at that time isn’t letting Paul come to them. But do you think that Paul is wrestling with God’s will trying to find God’s permissive will here? Not so! Consider Paul’s motive. Balaam is trying to find a way to get rich – selfishness. Paul is trying to find a way to better establish the Roman church which certainly is God’s will and isn’t selfish. And Paul isn’t willing to go to Rome in God’s permissive will. He won’t go on his own. He’s waiting for God’s perfect will to let him go, as he says, “I know that when I come to you, I’ll come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.” (Rom15:29) If he comes in the fullness of the blessing he’s coming in God’s perfect will where God is saying “Yea and Amen” to him. It’s a sad thing that in many “churches” today there are “believers” who can’t even see Balaam’s sin! When Balaam says, “I want to know what more the Lord will say to me,” many so called “believers” today will say, “What’s wrong with that?” What’s wrong is he already knows God’s perfect will. But because most so called “christians” today don’t value God’s perfect will, they often do the very thing Balaam did. If they don’t like God’s first answer, they look for another. Is God stupid? Does He save His best answer for last or does He show you what’s right immediately? Certainly if you ask to know God’s will He’s going to show you His perfect will. (Lk11:13) But if you aren’t happy with His perfect will, He may let you have His permissive will because God doesn’t take away your free will. He may decide, “Since you don’t want to be used as a vessel unto honor, I’ll use you unto dishonor.” (2Tim2:20,21) He’s going to use Balaam to teach us what not to do. Balaam is going to die. The fact that Balaam escapes death when the donkey intercedes doesn’t teach Balaam to be righteous. Balaam does die soon after because of his wickedness. And that wickedness began when he decided to look for a way that wasn’t God’s perfect will, when Balaam says, “Now therefore, please, you also stay here tonight, that I may know what more the LORD will say to me.” What more does he need to know? “You shall not go with them.” Isn’t that enough? “You shall not curse the people.” What more must God say besides that? That’s His Word. When a mother tells her children to do something and they resist saying, “But this or but that” they’re trying to get her to change her mind because they don’t like what she’s telling them to do. Now what if she lets them have another way? Does that mean she’s happy with them? She’d be happy if they’d listened to her first instruction, wouldn’t she? Some children have learned if they just nag and nag they may get their way. But it won’t be the right way. It won’t be the peaceable way. When someone doesn’t like God’s first answer, God may give them another answer but it won’t be blessed. He already said what His perfect will was. Balaam doesn’t like His perfect will. Now if Balaam was to accept, receive, and honor God by obeying His perfect will, Balaam would be a righteous example to us. We’d respect him as a true prophet. But Balaam isn’t accepting God’s first Word. Balaam doesn’t like it. Balaam has a will of his own and he wants his own will. He’s looking for a way to get his will done “in God.” Even though he believes in God, even though he believes he can do nothing unless God lets him do it, yet he’s not one in spirit with God – he doesn’t have one heart with God – he’s trying to manipulate God. “That I may know what more the LORD will say to me.” And God came to Balaam at night and said to 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.” So Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab. (Balaam had permission to go, didn’t he? Not according to God’s perfect will first answer, but only according to God’s permissive will second answer.) Then God’s anger was aroused because he went, and the Angel of the LORD took His stand in the way as an adversary against him. (Num22:19-22) The Truth isn’t hard to understand. As a parent when a child pushes you into letting him do something you didn’t want him to do, it can make you angry. Even though you eventually gave permission you may still be vexed. Concerning Balaam God has already spoken His perfect will and that Word is forever established, even written in the bible. But Balaam wasn’t content with that so he’s pushing for something different. He wickedly wants God’s permissive will so God will let him do it his way but in the end he’s going to be rewarded according to what he deserves. So God’s anger is aroused and He sends an angel to kill Balaam but the donkey intercedes and Balaam realizes he’s done wrong. And Balaam said to the Angel of the LORD, “I’ve sinned, for I didn’t know You stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases You, I’ll turn back.” (Num22:34) Here’s the madness of the prophet – to say “if.” There’s no question that this displeases God. But you can read this to any “christian” and they’ll say, “What’s Balaam doing wrong? Didn’t he say ‘if it displeases You I’ll turn back?’” Does he have to ask God if it displeases Him? He was almost killed because it so much displeased God! Yet he says, “if it displeases You, I’ll turn back.” Can’t you see that Balaam is a hypocrite? This man refuses to see God’s will even when it’s slapping him in the face – yet he hypocritically pretends he wants to know the will of God. Even after he’s almost killed by an angel and a donkey talks to him, Balaam’s still hoping to get to Balak. Peter calls this the madness of the prophet. Balaam is insane! He ought to be trembling in fear – white-faced – begging God to forgive him. He ought to be racing home as fast as he can and yet he’s still hoping to get permission to go to Balak. He’s trying to get permission to disobey without looking like a rebel, but his is a false humility. He’s pretending to say, “I won’t go if it displeases You, just tell me!” But the Truth is he’s been told – he’s been rebuked in an extraordinary way. Yet he acts like he hasn’t been. One of the characteristics of wicked men is they’re undiscerning. (Rom1:31) Balaam can speak prophecies from God and yet as a man he’s undiscerning. He’s stupid and wicked. He refuses to do God’s perfect will because he doesn’t like it and he keeps trying to get God to let him do something God doesn’t want him to do. Do people do that any more? How many people try to marry the wrong person? They keep praying for God to bless their union with an unbeliever. (1Cor7:39) You get your heart set on something when God’s telling you no and you keep going after it. That never happens any more? “I’ve sinned, for I didn’t know You stood in the way against me.” Notice Balaam isn’t speaking of his sin where he first left the perfect will of God. He says, “My sin is I didn’t know the angel was trying to kill me.” He’s repenting for the wrong thing. He’s not repenting for what caused the angel to try to kill him. He is repenting for not discerning the angel. How often do people repent for the wrong thing when in truth they don’t see their real sin? Balaam doesn’t see his true sin. His sin is covetousness, desiring to be rich, wanting the honor Balak’s offering him and knowing he can’t get it without somehow getting something over on God. He should know what God’s will is but he won’t accept it. He just keeps pushing to try to find a way for God to let him have what he’s after. When Balak takes him to view the camp of the Israelites, at first Balaam tries to use sorcery against them but then out of his own mouth comes this message. “For there’s no sorcery against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel.” (Num23:23) Balaam knows what he’s speaking is from God and he knows if God says there’s no sorcery against Jacob that it’s useless for him to continue to use sorcery so as the scripture says when Balaam saw it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he didn’t seek to use sorcery anymore. (Num24:1) Everytime he attempted to curse Israel what came out of his mouth was a blessing until he’d blessed them four times. (Num23:7-10,18-24; 24:2-9,15-24) Of course Balak is angry with him because he wanted him to curse Israel but Balaam keeps blessing. Did I not also speak to your messengers whom you sent to me, saying, “If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I couldn’t go beyond the Word of the LORD, to do good or bad of my own will. What the LORD says, that I must speak?” (Num24:12,13) So what’s Balaam doing that’s of his own will because these prophecies aren’t of his will? The Spirit prophesies as He wills. (1Cor12:11) I can’t prophesy of my own will. I can’t bless someone of my own will. If God doesn’t bless, they won’t be blessed. When Esau finds out Jacob has stolen his blessing, Isaac says, “Indeed he’s blessed” (Gen27:33) because Isaac realizes just like we do when we’re witnessing to someone and the Spirit takes over and you know, “That wasn’t me. That was the Spirit!” So Esau asks, “Can’t you give me a blessing too father?” (v38) “Not unless the Spirit does.” Isaac might reply. Is the Spirit stupid? Was the Spirit fooled by Jacob’s hairy, goat skinned arms? Of course Jacob didn’t fool God. God blessed Jacob on purpose. Even though Isaac was fooled you can’t fool God. So it really wasn’t up to Isaac to determine who he was going to bless. It was up to God! It’s got to be the Spirit who speaks and that’s what Balaam’s saying. He knows what’s coming out of him is the Word of God and it’s not in his power to make God speak a curse thru him if God won’t speak it. So he’s deprived from being made rich. And even though he tried hard to find a way to get Balak’s riches God didn’t let Balaam have them. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. (1Cor12:11) The gifts of the Spirit operate as God wills not as man wills. It could have been Peter’s desire to heal someone else but God willed to heal the man at the gate beautiful. (Act3:6) It may have been Paul’s desire to heal Trophimus but he had to leave Trophimus sick because the Spirit wasn’t in it. (2Tim4:20) It’s not in the will of man to do miracles; they have to come thru the will of God. To do good or bad of my own will, I can’t go beyond the Word of the Lord to do that. The Truth is Balaam intended to do bad and ended up doing good but whose will was being done – his or God’s? It was God’s will since Balaam was intending to do bad he’s not going to be rewarded for doing good when it was God who turned his bad to good. So Balaam will be punished because he didn’t follow the perfect will of God but his own evil will. He proved himself unworthy of the reward God would have given if he’d followed the perfect will of God. (Num23:10b) God determined to let him pursue the wickedness in his heart and even though God didn’t let him do the wicked thing He allowed him, in a sense, to act it out. It’s much like Abraham sacrificing Isaac. God let Abraham act it out but at the last moment stopped him, then gave him credit for his extraordinary obedience and faith. “In blessing, I’ll bless thee.” (Gen22:17) God let Abraham go right to the edge of sacrificing Isaac and He let Balaam go right to the edge of cursing Israel. So what does Balaam deserve for this? Death is what he deserves and death is what he gets. (Num31:8) Balaam degenerates to where he gives the evil advice to Balak that leads to the Israelite’s harlotry with the women of Moab where Phinehas kills Cozbi the Midianite princess and Zimri the Israelite. (Num25) It was Balaam who advised the use of the Midianite women to entice the Israelites to sin. 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. (Rev2:14) Previously Balaam prophesied “God hasn’t observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen wickedness in Israel.” (Num23:21) Although Balaam knows there’s no sorcery against Jacob, he also sees, “If I can get Jacob to commit iniquity then God will curse him.” So being wickedly clever in the ways of God, Balaam attempts to use the wisdom of God against God. There’s no wisdom or understanding or counsel against the LORD. (Pr21:30) And thousands of Israelites die because of Balaam’s counsel to Balak. Those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand. (Num25:9) How serious is Balaam’s sin now? And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: “Take vengeance for the children of Israel on the Midianites… Arm some of yourselves for the war, and let them go against the Midianites to take vengeance for the LORD on Midian. A thousand from each tribe of all the tribes of Israel you shall send to the war.” So there were recruited from the divisions of Israel one thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. And they warred against the Midianites, just as the LORD commanded Moses, and they killed all the males… Balaam the son of Beor they also killed with the sword. (Num31:1-8) Balaam didn’t live very long after he separated himself from God’s perfect will. He got into God’s permissive will and committed a sin unto death and God killed him. (1Jn5:16b) Moses said to them: “Have you kept all the women alive? Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD.” (Num31:15,16) Balaam dies with the Midianites because he sought his own will. And a lot of so called “believers” today are making that same mistake of looking for God’s permissive will. But that’s not where Christianity is found. That’s where “Balaamanity” is. “Balaamanity” is insanity – the madness of the prophet. (2Pt2:16) It’s madness to be looking for God’s permissive will because God’s permissive will is death. It’s sought only by people who are looking for a way to get their own will done because they actually oppose the will of God. And there can be no place for “Balaamites” in the church of the living God which can only be composed of a Christ-like people who delight to do God’s will. Then I said, “Behold, I’ve come-- in the volume of the book it’s written of Me-- to do Your will, O God.” (Heb10:7) In the beginning, every time Balaam sought to curse Israel he sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams. Balaam made a big sacrifice. But, Sacrifice and offering You didn’t desire… (Ps40:6 & Heb10:5) What did God desire? God desires that people do His will. Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You didn’t desire, nor had pleasure in them” … then He said, “Behold, I’ve come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. (Heb10:8-9) True Christianity is founded in a people who do God’s perfect will and that kind of Christianity is doing away with the false religions that try to make up for not doing God’s will through sacrifices and offerings. (Heb8:13) Then Samuel said: “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.” (1Sam15:22) The perfect will of God is what real Christians are walking in because Christ has obsoleted the Old Covenant sacrifices which couldn’t “perfect” the believers. (Heb10:1) I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove (demonstrate) what is that good and acceptable and (permissive will? NO!) perfect will of God. (Rom12:1,2) Christianity is found in the outworking of God’s perfect will in the lives of true believers! So; Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the Kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” And then I’ll declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” (Mt7:21-23) “God’s permissive will” isn’t God’s will. It’s your will where God is just allowing you to have your will and making some accommodations to your will because of your wickedness in refusing His will but it’s not what He wants. Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name…” Didn’t Balaam prophesy in God’s name? But is Jesus going to say, “Enter into the joy of the Lord” to Balaam? No! You see, “I couldn’t go beyond the Word of the LORD, to do good or bad of my own will.” (Num24:13) “What was my will? It was my will to get rich by cursing Israel but God wouldn’t let me do it. So I found another way to get my will, to please Balak and harm Israel. I showed the Midianites how to cause God’s people to sin by using lewd women and idolatrous parties. Even though I couldn’t get God to curse them when they were righteous, I was able to cause the Israelites to sin so God did curse them.” Balaam spoke some of the greatest blessings ever spoken to the Jews, yet his heart was wicked. He was so wicked he caused the death of 24,000 of God’s people. And Many will say to Me… “have we not prophesied in Your name.” (Mt7:22) What’s it matter you prophesied in God’s name since that was God speaking? The important thing is what was the desire of your heart while you were speaking God’s words? Were you trying to make a ministry for yourself, to get rich – to impress people? That’s what Balaam was trying to do. There are Balaams all over the churches today. Balaams sometimes speak the Word of God because there’s a gift of the Spirit operating thru them, yet in their hearts they’re desiring – not God’s glory – not the welfare of God’s people – they aren’t desiring to advance the Kingdom of God – they’re seeking to advance their own selfish interests. And God’s going to hold them accountable not for what came out of their mouth but what was in their heart. What was their motive, their true intention? It’s not hard to understand what Jesus is talking about here if you know what went on with Balaam. Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” And then I’ll declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” (Mt7:22,23) Jesus is saying, “I never knew you Balaam. You never understood what I wanted to do. You didn’t care about My interests. You’re thoughts weren’t towards pleasing Me. You knew Me better than most people on the earth. You knew My Word was established and couldn’t be violated and yet you worked to thwart My will in order to do your own evil will. You resisted My perfect will every step of the way.” When God moves as He did when delivering Israel from Egypt, people like Balaam who claim to serve God while they actually seek their own will soon come into conflict with God’s works in the earth. At first the difference may seem subtle but soon enough the Balaamites will separate from the true believers over the differences they have between God’s will and their own. Eventually the Balaamites will become vicious enemies to the true people of God. For those who seek their own will are always at enmity with God’s Spirit (Rom8:7) no matter how much they give “lipservice” to God. And those so called “believers” who like Balaam really seek their own will, can never abide peacefully with God’s Spirit led people who do God’s perfect will. So ultimately these Balaamites become enemies of God, His will, and His true church and they join with the “churches” of the Midianites – churches made up of people like themselves who reject God’s perfect will to pursue their own interests. And these are the churches of the antichrist, whom God will soon destroy! (Rev17:16, 18:4,8) Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Mt5:8) Balaam isn’t pure in heart. Balaam believes in God. Balaam has faith in God’s Word. He knows God’s Word is true. He knows he can’t do anything apart from God’s Word. He knows some things about God but he isn’t pure in heart. Pure in heart means to have an undivided heart. What do we mean when we say “pure olive oil”? It means there’s no canola oil mixed in, no peanut oil or lard mixed in there. It’s pure. What does it mean when James says a double-minded man receives nothing? A double-minded man is not pure in heart. If he’s double-minded there are more interests in his heart than just God’s interests. James says to purify your hearts, you double-minded. (Jms4:8) Meaning if you have conflicting interests in your heart, get rid of them. Balaam has conflicting interests. He knows some things about God that makes him fear to displease God but he won’t let go of the things in which he wants to please himself. So he’s impure. He is double-minded. He’s trying to do two contrary things and he can’t. You can’t serve God and mammon. (Mt6:24) What do you have to do to get your heart pure? You must cleanse it of all the conflicting interests so you have one interest and that one interest is to do the will of God – to please the Lord – to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. (Mk12:30) Ask the Lord to cleanse you of everything contrary to His perfect will. I can of Myself do nothing. (Balaam said the same thing, but Jesus goes on to say,) As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I don’t seek My own will (But Balaam does seek his own will and wants to use God to attain his own will) but the will of the Father who sent Me. (Jn5:30) And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father hasn’t left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him. (Jn8:29) Jesus has a pure heart. A pure heart means I have no will except the Father’s will and I’m here to do His will and nothing but His will. That’s real Christianity. That’s the Spirit of Christ. That’s the Spirit of the Son. That’s what defines real Christians as having Christ in them. Balaam however portrays almost everything that pretends to be “christianity” today. Almost every place you look in the “churches” today you see Balaams; people seeking their own will and trying to get God to help them get their own will. But where Jesus’ true church is you see “I’ve come to do Your will.” Jesus’ pure heart – absolute dedication to the will of the Lord, the perfect will of God and nothing else. God’s permissive will is your will – not God’s. It’s death to Balaam and God’s permissive will is death to you. God’s perfect will is not my will or yours. God’s perfect will is God’s only real will and it’s Christ and Christ is life. He who has the Son has life; he who doesn’t have the Son of God doesn’t have life. (1Jn5:12) Prophecy: I said in My Word, I wouldn’t leave you orphans, but there are many who claim to be Mine who are illegitimate, and truly they are orphans. I’m not their Father, they aren’t My children. And I tell you many, many come to Me to try to take of My treasures to use in their own ways for their own purposes, and to accomplish their own wills. They pretend to praise Me and they pray to Me and sing to Me and in many ways they seem to acknowledge Me but they aren’t My children. For they’re trying to use Me to accomplish purposes that aren’t Mine. They haven’t given themselves up to Me. Their hearts aren’t pure. My will isn’t what they desire. But in acknowledging My existence and in recognizing My power, they attempt to use Me to accomplish their own ends. This is what the many do, My people. But the many aren’t My children for My children are born of Me – they’re born into My heart – My causes – My Word – My love. They’re born to work together with Me to accomplish the things I purpose and will to do. And these are those of whom I say “I won’t leave you orphans.” For you indeed are Mine and I’m yours, saith the Lord. (Prophecy delivered at “My Father’s House”)
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