There he sits at your right hand praying for us, defending us, interceding for us. We're always, always in his heart, in his mind. We ask that you would send your spirit to teach us so we would know your word better. We want to thus love you more, rejoice and exult in the gospel all the more, and be concerned all the more for your glory, which is the most important thing. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, we are looking at Jude and we have spent a fair amount of time with Balaam in verse 11 of Jude. Woe to them, talking about these false teachers, for they have gone in the way of Cain. They have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit and perished in the rebellion of Korah. And we haven't got yet to Korah, but we need to hopefully finish up Balaam and maybe perhaps finish up Korah today. So let's go back into the book of Numbers. and look at the story of Balaam. So it begins in Numbers 22 where Balak, remember the names are somewhat confusing to us. Balak sends for this man named Balaam and he says there's these people and they're coming towards me and I need you to curse them, and Balaam says, well, I gotta ask God, and God says what? No, they're my people, they're special, they get my blessing, they don't get my curse. So Balaam says, God says no, so goodbye, keep your money, I don't want anything to do with this. So they leave, and they go tell Balak, the king, Balak sends back a whole nother set of envoys who are greater, we don't quite know what that means, higher up socially, perhaps, more money, et cetera. And they say, won't you please come? He says, I gotta go talk to God. Now, what should he have done when the second group came? He should have said, God told me no. What part of no don't you understand? We've seen that. What part of no don't you understand? So anyway, he goes, because he wants the money. He goes and talks to God again. And that night, God says, OK, you can go, but you can only tell them what I tell you. So he goes back. And he meets Balak and Balak takes him to three different hills to curse the people and he sees them and he blesses them because God tells him he has to bless them. And God gives him the message. The last hill that he goes to is named what? Bale of Peor. So the hill is named Peor. So that's the name of the hill. He blesses them finally from Peor. And then there's another prophecy that he gives. And then Balaam seems to disappear. However, he comes back in chapter 31 because the Lord tells Moses to send an army after the Midianites and attack the Midianites. Remember, this is just before they're about to cross the Promised Land. So if we get our map up. Jerusalem's right here. The people are just over here. Okay, so they're east of the Jordan, and they're going to be going here. Perhaps they're gathered by now just on the edge of the Jordan, and the Lord tells them to attack. They go and attack, and during the attack, they kill Balaam, too. And there's a statement there by Moses that Balaam sent the women, or told the king to send the women and we see this in chapter 25 of Numbers, so let's review this. Now Israel remained in Acacia Grove, that's the name of that area, and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods And the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel. So some of the key words there is they bowed down, they ate, they were joined to Baal of Peor. Remember, Peor is one of these hills that's over here. so Bale of Peor, and so they're joined to Bale of Peor, and what is the purpose of all of this that's going on? Well, we read in numbers later on that Balaam's goal was to tell Balak, which he apparently did, but it's not recorded here, but it's mentioned later, that if you want to destroy the people, what do you want to do? And that is you want to corrupt them morally. So if you want to destroy them, so if your goal is to destroy them, right here, what you do is you corrupt them, okay? And the way to corrupt them is to get them to worship incorrectly. So you got bad worship, which leads to corrupting the people or immoral behavior. which leads to ultimately the destruction of the nation. And we saw this, and I think that this is a paradigm because the principle is that it's righteousness that exalts a nation. Yes, that's a promise that we in the New Covenant have, but we are the nation in the New Covenant. Let's remember that. Let's not be dispensationalists. What do dispensationalists say? All the Old Testament promises are only for Israel. Okay, that's not true. Why is it not true? Because Paul says it's not true. 2 Corinthians 7, Paul says the promises are ours. So the promises are ours, but we are not, the promises are ours, but let's remember that our promises really are heaven-based. So if it's righteousness that exalts a nation, which this is saying unrighteousness then ruins a nation, How does that affect us as new covenant people of God? And that's the question we have to ask. Because the national promises are for the church. And I simply want to say that if you have a nation that has a whole lot of believers and a whole lot of Christians that are living like God wants the people to live, what does that mean? It means they're honest, they work hard, they're respectful to the boss, they don't cheat, they pay their taxes, they don't murder people. Seriously, I'm quite serious. They don't rob banks, they don't rob 7-Elevens, those kinds of things. What you're going to have is a nation that's going to be prosperous and successful. And how do I define successful? Well, a nation that pays its bills, a nation that doesn't go into debt that it doesn't need to, a nation that doesn't kill its own children. Those kinds of things, I call that a successful nation. And I call a nation that doesn't do those things a failure. Now, I know I'm getting a little political, but that's the way I am, because I think that's what God's words teach. If you've got a nation that kills its own babies, and just borrows, borrows, borrows, and is unable to pay its bills, and is unable to control itself financially in any other way, I think that nation is a failure. And you all know what I'm talking about. Simple as that. So given this, let's think a little bit more as we would apply the issue here of Balaam. The issue of they were joined to Baal of Peor and they were joined how? They engaged in the worship and what was the worship such that? They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord was aroused against them. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 10, and I think we'll see similar language to this idea of being joined. First Corinthians 10 is the passage that the Lutherans really like when it comes to the Lord's Supper, and the rest of Protestantism tends to ignore. Why is that? I mean, do you have First Corinthians 10 in your Bible? Seriously, do you have First Corinthians 10 in your Bible? When's the last time you've heard a Lord's Supper talk about the First Corinthians 10? I have never done it. So I'm accusing myself, I'm not accusing Pastor Schroeder, I'm accusing me. I have led a few Lord's Supper services in my life. Any of you ever heard the person who's leading the Lord's Supper refer to 1 Corinthians 10? I haven't. We should. I mean, it's in the Bible. So let's look at it, verse 14. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. Well, why does Paul tell this to the Corinthian church? Why does he tell them to flee from idolatry? Well, what's going on in this chapter? We have the chapter of 1 Corinthians 10 earlier. I don't want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea and ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink. Food and drink, spiritual food, spiritual drink. Sort of sounds like the Lord's Supper. Paul's kind of sliding into the topic of the Lord's Supper. Paul's talking about what? He's talking about Israel when they were wandering around. So they came out of Egypt Right? And they ultimately are down in Sinai. Okay? And then ultimately they come up here. Okay? And they wander around for 40 years. Remember the rock where the water came out of? Okay? So. Verse, what is it? Verse 4. Okay? They all drank the same spiritual drink for they drank that spiritual, they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and the rock was Christ. Now that's important, interesting, important to remember. But with most of them, God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Well, what did Moses do wrong with the rock? He struck it. The first time he was supposed to strike it, God told him to strike the rock. Second time he was supposed to talk to the rock, but he struck the rock. So you see the symbols there? He struck Christ. The rock was Christ. That's what Moses did that was wrong. Now these things became our examples And we talked about the difference between two posts, the Greek word for type and example, and how the idea is, are they a type of Christ, and all of these are a type of Christ, or are they an example? Which one is it? And the answer is both. Look at the rest of the sentence. to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted, and do not become idolaters as some of them, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play." Now what event is that? Eat and drink and rose up to play? The golden calf, right? When the incident with the golden calf, which commandment did they break? Did they break the first commandment? They broke the second commandment. Why? Because they're saying to the calf, O Jehovah, you who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, but they said it to this calf. So they're breaking the second commandment. The first commandment is whom do you worship? The second commandment is how do you worship? So let's go on. nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of the dead in one day, 23,000 fell, nor let us tempt Christ. Tempt Christ? You might think tempt God the Father, but Paul says tempt Christ. As some of them also tempted and were destroyed by serpents, nor complain as some of them complained and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them as examples that were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Now why does Paul talk about whom the ends of the ages have come? Because we're the new covenant people. They were written for examples for us that we, the new covenant people that have so much more than they have, should learn from their examples, good and bad. God expects, I'm convinced of this, more from us than he could expect it from them. Verse 12, therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. We've heard that before. Let's remember the context. No temptation is overtaking you, except such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, lest the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. We've heard that verse many times. But notice the context. The context is, learn from Israel, and their sins do not sin like Israel sinned. That's the context. Now we get into, and what does all of this have to do with Balaam? And you're saying, well, let's answer that question. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. Now, does the issue with the story of Balaam have anything to do with idolatry? Yes, it does. But Balaam's name is not mentioned in this passage. But notice the thought. I speak as to wise men, judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not, The other word communion or sharing or fellowship there? Participation. The idea of sharing, doing something together. The communion of the blood of Christ, the bread which we break, is it not the communion or the participation, the sharing of the body of Christ? Don't you think Paul is talking about the Lord's Supper? It is. Now, why do the Lutherans like this passage and why do we, the rest of Protestants, tend to not like this passage? Yeah. Exactly. What do the Lutherans believe about the Lord's Supper? Have you ever heard of it? It's called consubstantiation. That's different than the Roman Catholics, which is transubstantiation. Okay, transubstantiation, if I can somehow remember to spell it. Transubstantiation. I think that's right. Only one S right here? Thank you. Yeah, it's one word. Okay, I know that. What does trans mean? Across, what is this? No, I mean this thing, the substance. So the substance goes across. In other words, the bread and the wine change into the body and blood. Okay, that's Roman Catholic. What is the Lutheran term? Consubstantiation. And that means, what does con mean? With, right? That the body and blood of Christ is with the elements. Okay, this is one of the key passages. And you know the other one? What did Luther say? Jesus says, this is my body. Luther emphasized that in the discussions that he had. This is my body. Now what does the rest of Protestantism tend to do? It's a memorial. Sometimes the view is attributed to Zwingli, a reformer in roughly the same time as Luther and Calvin in Switzerland, a memorial, and they get that from as many times as you do this, you declare, as often as you do this, you declare the body and blood of Christ. And what is the position typically of the reformed churches? It's kind of in between. We're the great compromisers, right? And that is, Christ is with us when we have the Lord's Supper, but he's with us in a spiritual way. In contrast to these. Now, why don't we talk about this passage much? I don't know. It's there. It might because we're uncomfortable and we ought to just become comfortable with it, right? The cup of blessing which we bless is it is not a communion a sharing a participation Of the blood of Christ the bread which we break is it not a communion or a sharing? Of the body of Christ for we though many are one bread and one body for we all partake of that one bread Hmm, who is that one bread that we all partake of Christ, right? Okay, Mr. Pleviac, here comes the controversy. How big should your congregation ever get to be? Big enough, but no bigger than you can have Lord's Supper with one loaf of bread. Now isn't that crazy? But there you go. That's right. That's right. You get one of these big long sandwiches. Okay. OK, let's go on. Observe Israel after the flesh. Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? What does that mean? By the way, the word partakers there, it's the same word for sharing or participant. That word is used four times in this passage. Koinonia, the sharers, that which is in common. What does it mean, those who eat of the sacrifice are partakers of the altar? Well, if you go back in the Old Covenant and you look in Leviticus, Some of the sacrifices, the priest ate the meat that was sacrificed. Some of them, the people who brought the lamb, they ate the meat. Peace offerings especially. They were participating in the altar. You see, that's the language that Paul has. They're partakers of the altar. What am I saying that an idol is anything? Or what a sacrifice to idols is anything? Remember that the things with the Gentile sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. And I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. That's the same word. Participation, fellowship, communion, it's the same word. That's the fourth time now we've run into that in this passage. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the Lord's table and the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He? Now what is Paul's point here? When we have the Lord's Supper, we are participating with Christ. It seems to be saying that. We're sharing with Christ as well as sharing with each other. And does that not remind you of the language of Numbers 25? What did they do to Baal of Peor? They were joined to Baal of Peor. Don't you think the language is sort of common in the concept? Different words. I looked it up in the Septuagint. It's not the same word in the Septuagint. But the concept seems to be there. Participating or sharing with a pagan god, Baal of Peor, or to demons, or with Christ. I think that perhaps Paul even had this in mind. Now why? Let's notice a couple of other details. Notice the end of verse 22. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Now, let's be careful in our terms. We tend to think the word jealousy is the equivalent to envy, right? But they're not. What does envy mean? He's got something and I want it. I'm discontent with what God has given me, right? Breaking the 10th commandment, do not covet. That's envy. Whatever it might be, what I'm really saying is, God, you're not being fair to me and I want that. And I'm discontent with what you, you know, the hand you have dealt me. That's envy. What is jealousy? Well, remember, let's ask this. Is God ever discontent? Does God ever say, I wish I had that over there? He is jealous. See, they're not synonymous. What does jealous mean? Jealous means that which is mine, I want for me, and I'm going to protect. Now, do you remember the commandment that says the Lord is jealous? Remember, it doesn't mean he's envious. But which commandment says the Lord is jealous? For I, the Lord God, am a jealous God. Very good. Say that again, Robin. She said it this way, thank you very much. The second commandment, which is the second commandment? No graven images, right? So let's go back and look at the language of the second commandment. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or graven image, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above. or the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth, you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. See, there's worship. You will not bow down to them or serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. Doesn't say I'm envious. I'm jealous. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. Now, the greatest example I can think of, jealousy, in the right and proper sense, is that ladies, wives, what are you gonna do if some other woman gets a little too friendly with your husband? You're gonna rear up and you're gonna say, leave him alone! Right? What are you gonna do? That's jealousy, and that's good. He's mine. Stay away. That's good and proper, and that's what God says. I'm a jealous God. Question, commandment number one, whom do you worship? Remember what the Hebrew literally is? You shall have no other gods before me means what? In my face. You'll have no other gods in my face. Now, how are you going to worship? You're going to have no graven images, no carved, okay? Very simple worship place that we have. A trap there with demons. And what did they do with Bela Peor? Mm-hmm. In 1 Corinthians 13, it says, meditation and crying out does not end. Yep. Some translations say it does not fail. Where's that reference? 1 Corinthians 13.4. Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Do any of you guys have something other than envy? Because I think I'm a long-holding mind and jealous at some point. Um... The words are different, but they're related in the Greek. One is zeloi, and the other is parazelomen. You hear the ze sound in the middle of it? So they may be etymologically related, but the, yeah, the one in 1 Corinthians 13.4, love is not zeloi, z-e-l-o-y, long e. Yeah, sort of, yeah, mm-hmm. In 1 Corinthians 10, is it 22? What is the verse number? Yeah, 22. Do you want to provoke the Lord to envy, or to jealousy, rather? Parazelumen, okay? Lord, let us not provoke the Lord to jealousy or to envy, okay? Yeah, the para. at the beginning, which is an intensive participle, or prefix, rather. Zalumen, let us not. So they may be related. But that doesn't mean that the concepts aren't the same. We have a lot of words that are related that have different concepts and nuances. And the point that I'm trying to make here is that the sin of envy ultimately is discontentedness. And I want that. And God's never discontented. He's all wise and all powerful. I think it's proper to say God is contented, don't you? Yeah. So part of our godliness, which means to be like God, is that we should be contented. Yes. Thank you. Any other questions related to that? What I want us to see is, I think there's a parallel between the event in Numbers 25. with Israel sinning and the misuse of the Lord's Supper. Think kind of language. I wanted us to get that tied together, okay, of joining and the communion. And I want us to think a little more about communion. We had communion today. I'm just having to work it out that this Sunday that we got into this passage and we're looking at 1 Corinthians 10. Any other questions about Balaam? No? Okay, then let's, yeah, sure. Mm-hmm. No, but I could see how people could do that, but the problem I have with that is that it doesn't seem to be in the text in either one. My concern with that stuff is we need to be careful and say what the text says. You know, Deuteronomy 29, 29, we're not to go beyond what God has now given us. He was struck the first time, and that's why I went over it. First time he struck, because God told him to strike. Second time, God told him to speak to the rock, and he struck the rock. So it seems to be that Moses did two things. One is he disobeyed God. God said, do A, and then he said, do B. And Moses did A, and then he did A, right? And the second thing is what the rock symbolizes, that was Christ. Yeah, I think so. Yes. Yes, you are not mistaken, he did. Different rocks, different place. Yeah, exactly. There's lots of interesting theology we can think about because we know that Christ suffered once and Hebrews makes a big deal about that, right? once because his work was completed. That's what's wrong with part of the Roman view of the Lord's Supper, is they re-sacrifice Christ. That's why they need transubstantiation, which is really saying the death of Christ was not sufficient. Okay. Back to Jude for just a second. We are studying Jude. How long, Mr. Plovek, did you say it would take us Do you remember what they did to false prophets? Do you want to claim that? We'll see. Okay. So what have these people done? Jude uses this, woe to them, verse 11. Think about that, dear people of God. Would you want somebody to ever say that about you? Woe to you? God's judgment is coming on you? Isn't that frightening? Okay, woe to you, woe to them. For they have gone the way of Cain, they have run greedily in the Arab Balaam, and they have perished in the rebellion of Korah." Now we're going to talk about Korah. And I was talking with Mrs. Cohen earlier today. If you want to read a scary story, read the story of Korah. Well, we're going to read it right now. The one thing between this and Stephen King's stories and others is that Stephen King and all that is make-believe, and this is real. The ground's going to open up and swallow them. This is not pretend, this is real. So now we have Korah, verse 16 of Numbers. Interesting, this happened earlier than the Baal of Peor, because that's Numbers 22, this is Numbers 16. Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathom and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and on the son of Pelleth, sons of Reuben, took men And they rose up before Moses with some of the children of Israel, 250 leaders of the congregation, representatives of the congregation, men of renown. So here we have Korah. What tribe is Korah from? He's a Levite, what does that say to you? He, one of the leaders of the worship. His job is to help the people of God worship the right God and to teach the people of God about God and what God is like and what God has done for them, right? That's his job. God has called him to that. Special place among the people of God, okay? When God has separated you or separated something or someone to special usage, what is that called? Someone or something, it could be a thing, right? Shirts, you know, altars, things like that. From the normal everyday use to the special use, that's called what? Making it holy, right? Sanctification, okay? So are the Levites, are they holy? The answer is yes. Let's read this some more. They gathered together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord? Now, they had some theology. Their theology was what? Two parts. Number one, The nation is holy. Number two, God is with them. Okay. First one, is this point true, the nation is holy? Where do we read that in the Bible? Right here. But are they wrong? They're saying, they're making this as a claim. Are they right or wrong? They're right. Exodus 19. Now, Exodus 19 is just before Exodus 20. Are you able to handle the math? Okay, we don't need the accountants here to tell us that, right? 20 minus one. We got. I can't do that anymore. OK, we're going to do it. OK, that means the events of Exodus 19 happened just before the events of Exodus 20. What's 20? The giving of the deck law. What's Exodus 19? Israel has come through the Red Sea and they are probably over here, not over here where people say Sinai is. I think it was over here. One of you, I think it was Jeff, was talking to me about that. OK. probably over here, they're at the foot of Mount Sinai in Exodus 19 verse 1, In the third month, after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same day they came to the wilderness of Sinai. For they had departed from Rephaim, had come to the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness, or Israel camped there before the mountain. So they're at the foot of the mountain. And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, Tell the children of Israel, You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be a special treasure to me above all the people, for all the earth is mine. You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel. They are a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Do you remember where those two phrases are quoted in the New Testament? First Peter chapter two, describing us. We're the kingdom of priests and the holy of nations. This is where the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers comes from. So is this statement true? The nation is holy. Yes, it's true. What about this one? God is within them. God's in their midst. Is that true? And there's the alarm. OK. OK. The answer is true. This is true. OK. What is Hebrew for God is with us? Immanuel. Immanuel. The Immanuel principle. Elohim is the name of God. The Immanuel. That part of the term, that's the word for God, one of the names for God. God is with us. And why did they say God is with them? Well, how were they camped? Remember 4, 4, or 3, 3, 3, and 3, and then the mist was the tabernacle with the presence of God right there? So their theology is correct. What they did wrong is the application of their theology, and that we'll look at next week. Okay? The application of their theology. Important principle, let's apply our theology correctly. Father, we thank you that we have these wonderful examples in scripture. They are frightening, Lord, but they teach us that you are a serious God about your worship and how we should behave and treat our elders. Father, we pray that we would learn from them. We would learn, Lord, that we are sinners and we are a people that are rebellious, but yet you have sent us your son who was not rebellious. and who treated you properly, and he dined for us, and he rose for us, and he sits at your right hand for us. And our Father, we thank you for that Savior, dear Jesus. We pray you would bless our meal together. We pray the congregational meeting would be an encouragement to us and a blessing and a praise to you. In Jesus' name, amen.