2 Peter 2 16 Peter says under inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God That Balaam was rebuked for his iniquity the dumbass speaking with man's voice for bad the madness of the prophet Quite a combination of words He's called the prophet that talks about his iniquity and and his madness that he had to be rebuked by an animal. And yet, even that did not stop his mad course of sin. Let's go back to Numbers 22, where we left off last time. We see an amazing thing. In verse 34, after the angel had told Balaam that he would have killed him if the donkey hadn't turned away from him, he says, Balaam said unto the angel of the Lord, I have sinned, for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displease thee, I will get thee back again. We thought this was an amazing thing. You have Balaam confessing that he had sinned. You know that's one of the hardest things to bring a person to? Those three simple words, I have sinned. And I say it's the hardest because of man's pride and stubbornness. I didn't do anything wrong. You can't tell me what I'm doing isn't right. I'm not such a bad person. And yet on another side, those are very common words. They're kind of watered down. Nobody's perfect. We all make mistakes. We've all done wrong things. Oh, are you admitting you're a sinner? No. just admitting what is too obvious to deny, even though some will even deny that. Why do people say that? Well, God's given us a conscience. And that gives us the awareness of right and wrong. And it also testifies against our wrongdoing, and it brings guilt upon us. And so, even by the power of a natural conscience, people are willing to say, I did wrong, I'm sorry. So what's the case here with Balaam? We said this was not a true expression of repentance. Why? Because Balaam continued on in his sin, even until it brought him to death. And we saw that Proverbs 28, 13 says that he that covers his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesses and forsaketh them shall obtain mercy. He confessed. Did he forsake his sin? No, he continued in them, and so we find that this is not a true expression of a change of heart. Of course, repentance means a change of mind and heart and attitude toward sin and toward God. We said that this confession was extorted from Balaam by the pressure of the circumstances. What were those? He was caught. He was in danger of his life. He couldn't deny it, he couldn't get away, and he wanted to be spared. Alright, I'll admit, I have sinned. And we were saying last time, we spent the time last time noticing how there are many individuals in the Bible who confess their sins after they were caught without ever experiencing true repentance and salvation. We looked at Achan. We looked at Saul. We looked at Shimei. We looked at King Ahab. We looked at Judas Iscariot. And we looked at Simon Magus. All of them confessed that they had sinned. None of them were saved. All of them perished in their sins and were lost in eternity. And yet they had confessed their sins. How can this be? And how can we tell whether I have repented or if I have just made some kind of outward, shallow expression of sorrow for my sin without really repenting of it? Well, what we have to understand is, in all these cases, there was no true saving repentance. There was only the sorrow of the world that works death. That was in 2 Corinthians 7. We saw it this morning in our reading. 2 Corinthians 7. I want to look at verses 9-11 again. Paul had written a letter to rebuke the sins that were occurring in the Corinthian church, especially an individual in that church that was guilty of fornication. And they had responded in a godly way to that letter that had led to repentance and change of behavior. And Paul is explaining to them how he was feeling as he wrote that. He says in verse 9, Now I rejoice not that you were made sorry, Now it's like a parent. The child is bad, you have to spank it. You don't enjoy doing that or it hurts to do that, but yet you know that it's necessary in order to help that child be better in the long run and to understand that you can't sin and get away with it and sin brings consequences. So he says, I made you sorry. Not that that makes me rejoice, but what makes me rejoice is that you sorrowed to repentance. In other words, it wasn't just a temporary, superficial, I feel bad, remorse, regret, and then right back to the old way again. He says, for you are made sorry after a godly manner, or toward God, that you might receive damage by us in nothing. And then he says, for godly sorrow, Sorrow toward God. Not sorry I got caught. Not sorry I got in trouble. Not my conscience makes me feel bad. But I've offended God. My sin is committed against God. God does not like my sin. And what I did is wrong in His sight. And I'm sorry that my sin has offended Him. I'm sorry for my sin because all sin is a great evil that God hates. And I'm sorry that I did something that displeases Him. So it's a godly manner. He says, godly sorrow works repentance to salvation. And repentance is absolutely necessary to salvation. Jesus said, except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. And it's a repentance not to be repented of. There are some people that have a repentance that they need to recognize as not true repentance, and they need to repent of it, confess it as not the real thing, as a sin, as something less than what God requires, as a substitute for true repentance, something like just a Band-Aid to salve over the sore, not a real Lansing to take the poison out and to bring a cure. He says here that, but the sorrow of the world works death. There's two kinds of sorrow. There's a godly sorrow, sorrow toward God, that produces repentance and leads to salvation. There's a sorrow of the world. We saw in many instances, Balaam is one of them, that the end result of that is death. We saw every one of those individuals ended up dying a terrible death and entering a priceless lost eternity. And so which is it that we have expressed? Both of them said, I have sinned. The same word. One led to salvation. One led to death. How do you tell the difference? Well, I've already indicated somewhat. didn't have true repentance because he continued on in his sin he never changed his ways because he never had a change of heart and remember it's out of the heart you know are the issues of life if you look at 2nd Timothy chapter 2 we'll get started on this subject verse 19 Nevertheless, the foundation of God stands sure. Having this seal, the Lord knows them that are his. God has a perfect knowledge of us. He knows our hearts. We know if we are one of his people or not. Well, how can we know? He says, and let everyone that names the name of Christ depart from the nickel. Have you taken on yourself a profession of the holy name of Jesus Christ? Well, then that should lead to a turning from a departure, permanent, wholehearted departure from sin, which is contrary to Christ. You know, He came to save us from our sins, not to save us in our sins. He gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver us from all iniquity. Purifying to himself with peculiar people zealous of good works now What if I named the name of Christ but continue in the love of sin and the practice of sin? well in Matthew 7 You see that what the result of that will be Matthew 7 verse 23 He's talking about many who professed Him as Lord, but didn't do God's will in their lives. They did miracles, but not God's will. Verse 23 says, in the judgment, He says, Then will I profess unto them. They professed Him. What's He going to profess about them? I never knew you. See, God's foundation is sure. and everlasting. He knows those who are his. What about those who aren't his? I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. See, those that God knows and who truly profess Christ, they depart from iniquity. Those who only profess to know Christ, professors, not possessors as we say, They do not depart from iniquity, and Jesus is going to say to them, depart from me. See, if we either have to depart from iniquity and profess Him truly, or we can profess Him falsely and continue in iniquity, and He's going to, in the end, tell us to depart from Him. And what departure is that? Well, on the Judgment Day, what it's referring to is eternally separated from Him. Matthew 25 and verse 41. He's going to separate all men, sheep from goats. Sheep are his, goats are not. Goats on the left hand, he's going to say also unto them on the left hand, depart from me, ye curses. See, the sheep are blessed of the Father. The goats are curses. And they're departing into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and the angels. So it's eternal separation from God in the torments of hell. That is the part. So we either depart from sin and are saved and brought to heaven, or we depart from Christ and are lost forever in hell. And that's the option that's before everyone. So what is it to depart from iniquity? Jeremiah chapter 4 and verse 1, Thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord. Return unto me. Again, returning means we've gone away from him. How have we gone away from God? By our sins. Our sins have separated between us and our God. And he says, return unto me, and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove. In order to really come back to God, we have to get rid of our abominations, which sin is an abomination to God. something he hates Jeremiah 3 and verse 10 talking about the kingdoms of the northern kingdom of Israel the southern kingdom of Judah how Israel sinned and departed from God by their idolatries and they were judged for it and Judah followed them in that it says yet for all this Her treacherous sister, Judah, hath not turned unto me, how, with her whole heart, but faintedly, falsely, in appearance only, saith the Lord." So there's a turning to God that is a false turning, not a true or sincere or wholehearted turning. They turn faintedly. In Hosea 7, you have people like this praying. Their sins had brought them into great trouble, and they're crying out out of their trouble, and yet not from their hearts. He says, it's no better than howling, not praying. Hosea 7, 14, they have not cried unto me with their heart, When they howled upon their beds, they assembled themselves for corn and wine, and they rebelled against me. In other words, they want my blessings, but they are not willing to submit to me and obey me. They have not cried unto me with their heart. In other words, there's a turning to God that is not from the heart. Joel chapter 2, next book of the Bible after Hosea. Verse 12 and 13, Therefore also now saith the Lord, Turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning, true sorrow for sin, And rend your heart and not your garments." In other words, there's an outward, not genuine, but a mere, I would say, superstitious or sentimental sorrow for sin. You see it all the time. It even becomes put into a formal method, things like Lent, oh we're going to express our sorrow for sin for 40 days, we're not going to eat this or do that or whatever. There's no sincerity there, reality there is just a formal outward thing. He says, I don't want to see these mere religious observances, I want to see true heart repentance. And turn unto the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil." It needs to be from the heart. Jesus spoke to this in Matthew 15, in verse 7 and 8. He talked about the Pharisees. They, of course, were very religious people. They had their fastings and such, and their confessions and prayers and whatnot. And yet Jesus says it was all for nothing. It was phony. They were hypocrites. They were putting on an outward show with no inward reality behind it. Verse 7, You hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and on earth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. The words were there, but there was no reality behind it. What the words expressed was not a true manifestation of what the heart condition was. They sounded good, but their heart was anything but. You know, like he says later in chapter 23, outwardly they appeared righteous, but inwardly they were full of all kinds of corruption and abomination. And he says, um, they honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And so I can say I have sinned, I am sorry, is that coming from my heart? Or is that just a fleshly expression based on some kind of outward pressure or circumstance as it was in the case of Balaam? Or even we want to sound right and do right, that we hear that's what people are supposed to do if they want to be Christians or be saved, and so we imitate it. But is it really coming from the heart? That's what we have to try to determine. In Proverbs 16 1, we have a good verse for this. The preparations of the heart in man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. God is Lord and sovereign, even of the heart of man. And he works in the heart of man. And so if the answer of the tongue will be from the Lord, it has to be preceded by the preparations of the heart by the Lord. Because as long as I continue in my natural state, Nothing pleasing to God can come forth from me. Because the source determines the quality of all that proceeds from it. And if I have a heart that is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, no good thing can come from that. You know, an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil things. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things. So the condition of the heart determines the quality or nature of what proceeds from it. Out of the heart, the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And so God must prepare the heart if the answer of the tongue is to be what it should be. And God does prepare the heart. 1 Chronicles 29 verse 18, David was so happy to see the people committing themselves to God and contributing toward the work of God. and rejoicing in God's service. Verse 18 says, O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee. And give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart, to keep thy commandments, and thy testimonies, and thy statutes. and to do all these things, and to build the palace for which I have made provision. Prepare the people's heart to you, give Solomon my son a perfect heart." We know man's heart by nature is anything but perfect, it's totally corrupt, by sin. And this is one thing, people like to say man is a sinner, but they don't really understand the full ramifications of that statement. A man is totally depraved. He is completely ruined in all his faculties and powers. Sin has corrupted our entire nature, body and soul. Our mind is blinded. Our will is depraved. Our affections are corrupt. So what can a man do as a sinner? Total depravity also includes total inability. Total inability means I can't do a single thing pleasing to God. They that are in the flesh cannot please God. And so how can a man give a saving confession or exercise true repentance and faith left to himself? It's impossible. And so God must work his work in the heart before anything can come forth. There has to be a new source which will have entirely different quality than what the old source of sin was. And so, the preparation of the heart in man, the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord. That explains things like Romans 10, verses 8, 9, and 10. Can a man who loves sin be sorry for and turn from his sin? Can a man who hates God turn to God and receive Christ? Not as long as he's left to himself, God has to work. Look at Romans 10.8. It says there, what sayeth it? What's the gospel say? It says, the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of faith which we preach. In other words, some people have the word in their mouth and not in their heart. But if there's faith, then the word is in their mouth and in their heart. You know, like it says, the word preached does not profit those in whom it's not mixed with faith. And so he says here, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus. Didn't those people in Matthew 7 do that? Lord, Lord. They professed him. But it's more than that. It has to be an expression of faith in the heart. And shalt believe in thy heart that God has raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. See, for with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. There has to be faith in the heart from which that profession with the mouth proceeds. In other words, it's an expression of true faith before there can be salvation. Because anyone can say, I accept Jesus as my Savior, but is that just something they're saying from the mouth? Or is that something that's proceeding from God's work in the heart. Notice on Jeremiah chapter 24, here's a promise God makes regarding this in verse 7. He says, I will give them in heart to know me, that I am the Lord. Knowing God is the expression of salvation. Unbelievers do not know Him, but He gives them a heart to know Him, that He's the Lord. And they shall be My people, and I'll be their God, for they shall return unto Me with their whole heart. Oh, so if God gives me a heart to know Him, then I can return to Him with my whole heart. Now it's interesting, you read the four kinds of soils in the parable that Jesus gave, and the last one he says, you know, where there's fruit, a good man, you know, out of the good treasure of his heart, you know, he brings forth fruit with patience. Well, where did that goodness come from? The man? The Bible says there's none good, no, not one. You know, there's none good but God, and there's none that does good, no, not one. How did this man have a good and honest heart? God gave him that heart. And from that heart proceeds repentance and faith. Look at Zechariah chapter 12. See, a lot of times we rob God of His glory because we try to divide salvation between Him and us. God does this much, we do this much. So He gets credit for that much that He did. We have to take the credit for that much that we did. What have we done? Well, look at Zechariah 12. He says here, I'll pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications. And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, to have eyes to see Christ crucified. And they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. If we are going to have godly sorrow and mourning to repentance, God's Spirit has to produce that. Jeremiah chapter 31, verse 18 and 19, I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised. as a bullet unaccustomed to the yoke. Turn thou me, and I shall be turned. Thou art the Lord my God. I'm like a untamed bullet. Turn me, Lord. Surely after that I was turned, I repented. And after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. This is a special divine teaching of the heart that leads to a true turning to God and conversion. And like Jesus said, they shall all be taught of God. Everyone that heareth and has learned of the Father shall come to me. This is a teaching that leads to us seeing what we are in God's eyes so that we might turn to Him. In 1 Corinthians 4, Paul asks a very Very important question. Verse 7. I say I have sinned and it leads to my salvation. Another one says I have sinned and it's the sorrow of the world and it only leads to death. What makes the difference? if the work of God is there or not. 1 Corinthians 4, 7. For who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Why are you forgiven and someone else not? What do you have? You know, if you have repentance, how did you get it? Now, if you did receive it, why do you glory as if you had not received it? No, he that spared not his own son, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? God has given us all things and has taken the life of Godliness. No man can receive nothing except to be given him from heaven. Where does repentance come from? My flesh. Where does faith come from? My corrupt heart. It comes from heaven. It comes from God. Are these things called God's gifts to us? Yes. Acts chapter 11, Here you have the account of the church spreading and how in Antioch they were preaching the gospel to Gentiles and there were conversions among the Gentiles. And what did this make them realize? God had given his spirit to the household of Cornelius and now the church is spreading up in Antioch and in verse 18 it says, When they heard these things, they held their peace and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. God has even given repentance to the Gentiles. And that's why we preach the gospel, that God might use his word in hearts and bring this mighty work that only he can produce to pass. 2 Timothy 2. 2nd Timothy 2 in verse 24 Paul says to Timothy, the servant of the Lord must not strive or be contentious and argumentative, combative, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach patience. Why do we preach the gospel to every preacher? Why do we put up with all their abuse and opposition? What are we hoping for? Well, in meekness we instruct those that oppose themselves, if God, peradventure, will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, or taken captive by him at his will. The devil holds men bound. They can't just say, I'm done with you, Satan. I'm breaking loose. God gives repentance by opening eyes to the truth. And then they are brought out of the power of Satan and translated into the kingdom of God's dear son by the power of God. And same thing in Ephesians 2. Repentance is given to us. Faith is given to us. It's his gift. Ephesians 2.8 says, for by grace are you saved through faith. And not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. And the word, that and out of yourselves, primary reference is faith. It didn't come out of you. It was given to you. Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but to suffer for his sake. It's not of works. You didn't produce it. It's not something that you can do of your own ability. Lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship. He made us what we are. By the grace of God, I am what I am. We're created in Christ Jesus. Only God can create. Only God can make a new heart. He said, create in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in one. It's according to his eternal purpose in Christ Jesus as he told us in chapter 1. So what am I trying to say here? I want to give one other example from the Bible, 2 Samuel 11. Paul or David did an awful thing. He committed adultery with a man's wife. And then he had the man murdered. And you know both of those are damning sins. They did not even have any sacrifices provided for them under the law. So what's going to happen to David? Second Samuel chapter 11. Verse 27, it says, When the morning was past, David sat and fetched her to his house, Bathsheba, and she became his wife, and Barim his son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD, who was evil in the eyes of the LORD, the same thing that is said about Balaam. If it's evil in your eyes, if it displeases you, I'll go back. Well, here it says, The thing David did was evil in the eyes of the LORD. It did displease him. Balaam said, I have sinned. What did David say in chapter 12 and verse 13? David said unto Nathan, I have sinned after Nathan confronted him. The same three words that Balaam said. I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, the Lord hath also put away thy sin, thou shalt not die. What was the difference between David David was a man of God. Balaam was an unregenerate man. Balaam, by his own conscience and by the circumstances, was forced to admit, I have sinned. David, when he was pinned down and confronted and exposed, he said, I have sinned. Balaam, he went on in his sin and ultimately perished for it. was forgiven. And he wrote those great Psalms, Psalm 32 and Psalm 51, as an expression of his true repentance. What made them to differ? God. God's good pleasure, God's good purpose. He gave David repentance. David, he didn't. Same words, but they were coming from two totally different hearts. And they were, one was sincere, one was false. One led to forgiveness and the other didn't. And what we are trying to say is we need to know that God has worked in our heart for true work. We're not just, you know, an unregenerate person that makes a profession of faith, they're sure they're saved. They're sure they're going to heaven. They have absolute confidence. But it's all presumption. There's no basis for it. There's no reality behind it. And they're going to ultimately find out in the end they were deceived. I never knew you, but God knows those are His, and we need to depart from iniquity, trust in the Lord with all our heart, and live our lives for His glory, and look forward to the promise that He promised us, even eternal life. Let's close in prayer.