This morning I would like to speak to you, if I could, a little further. I was going to, you know, we're discussing three men. From the book of Jude, which we've been speaking in reference to the second coming of Christ, prophetic things, as I spoke about Balaam last week, we saw how God took a wicked prophet and put the words in his mouth so that he spoke even of the prophecy of Jesus' coming. Amazing, amazing how God can do these things. It says, he taketh the wickedness of man and makes it serve him. magic. In Acts it says, ye by wicked hands have slain the Prince of Peace, whom, notice, God has raised up and made him Savior. You think? Great, you see? Isn't it amazing how God works? Takes the wickedness act of mankind in slaying his precious Son and And from the councils of eternity past, looking down at all mankind, seeing that death upon the cross, it's the means of man's redemption, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. Gracious grace of God, man so small and so finite with our little minds, living 60, 70 years in eternity and trying to tell everybody about eternity. how foolish man is, and how wondrous God is. He maketh the wickedness of man to serve him." In other words, God is sovereign, and no matter what you do, you cannot change the inviolable will of God. Impossible, impossible. What he has said, it says he has said. And his yea is yea, and his nay is nay. In the portion we read last week about Balaam, Balaam said, he hath said, bless, how can I curse? He was going to curse the children of Israel. Here he was with the Israelites, he was going to curse them. And he says, God hath said, and God is not a man that he can lie. Not a man that he can lie. There is no variableness with God, the same yesterday, today, and forever. He never changes. Now, I thought that I would go on to Korah, but I'm not going to go on to Korah, who's the third man in the group. There was Cain, he was the first one. In Jude, it says, they have gone the way of Cain, or they've gone the way of Balaam talking about these different people and then that to them has been reserved darkness forever and ever. And these were those who walked with the church, remember. As I said, remember Cain believed in God. You know, I read many books and I hardly ever see anyone ever say Cain believed in God. They try to make Cain wicked. Cain believed in God. Cain brought an offering to the same God as Abel. Not one bit of difference, except God says, I have no regard for the offering of Abel, though it is the fruits of the ground, because his offering shows that he knows nothing about sin. And all I have asked is that the firstlings of the flock be brought to me. Abel has done this. Cain has failed to do it. Cain has brought of the fruit of his hands and the produce of his hands, as though this is a beautiful thing to me, but Abel has said by his offering that he knew for sin someone should die. And his father Adam and his mother Eve spoke to him and he knew the way and he came the way. And then he looks at Cain and he says in Genesis, Cain, if you do as Abel do, I'll forgive you too. gave him a second chance. And what does Cain do? He turns around and kills his brother. He objected to the way he came. But God determines. In Balaam's case, I spoke about that last week. I wanted just, if I might, wrap it up together in some thoughts on Balaam, and especially, you remember last week as we Concluded, I said something about you might find it in Numbers 34 or Deuteronomy 34. Well, I was off a few chapters, forgive me. It happened to be Numbers 31. And I don't know where I got the 34, you know, but in the fervor of the message, I thought it was 34. Although I had it in the margin of my Bible, the number is 31. But I want to speak first from 25, because here's a very important thing. Balaam worked so hard to curse Israel, and God had brought blessing so that finally, Balak, the king of Moab, says, listen, don't bless, don't curse, don't do anything, I'm better off. Forget the whole thing. So that Balaam still wants the rewards of evil. Balak's promised him high position. Balak's promised him money. And Balaam still is covetous. You know, that dollar sign is such a big thing, isn't it? I wonder sometimes if Christians were, you know, offered a million dollars if they'd give up their faith. You know, it's six percent, maybe seven percent now, I don't know. I sometimes wonder how many who really, you know, claim faith in Christ would say, you keep your million and all the gold and all the earth. I love Christ. And if you want to slay me, I'll still love him. I cannot do anything against him. But Balaam, he loved the rewards, it says, of unrighteousness. He wanted the money. He wanted the position. He wanted the fame. He wanted the prestige. And I have to say, men, it's a tragedy, but I see businessmen, you know, who've gained great prestige, as I said, when I went to that telephone retirement dinner there just two weeks ago or so, and I dread saying it, but the man who said to me, when I pinpointed him, the executive, the vice president, and when I told him I was pastor of a Baptist church, and he came back to me, and he said, I'm a Baptist. And I looked at him, I said, what church did you go to? He said, Pastor Drew's church in New Jersey. I said, you're a saved man if you listen to that man's message. He said, yes, I'm saved. But I found out after he's never said a word to a soul. Because when he was going up the line, oh, when he was younger, he was a fervent witness for the Lord Jesus. But as he went up the line of organization, His position became more important to him than his relationship to God, which was eternal. Oh, this happens so often. That's why I so, when I read the words of the Scripture, you know, where it says, riches are a snare, and those that have attained them have pierced themselves through with so many sorrows. And the average, now I'm not saying all, because I have to look at Nelson Blount, who's with the Lord now, I have to look at men like Letourneau and say there are the exceptions, you see? But I have to say that by and large in the great majority of cases, you show me the Christian who has attained to riches and I will show you a Christian who is not what he was at one time. There are many reasons for this. The reason ordinarily is a very plain one. Riches demand attention. That's why there's such a snare. I can tell you that the man who has a million dollars in investments has a full-time job. I know a man who has it, and I want to tell you he spends night and day over the stock markets and the bonds. So much so that his bedroom is lined with the reports. And when he comes home at night, he goes to the bedroom and looks over all the reports. and spends his late hours figuring what he's going to do with his money. How is he going to keep it? What should he do now? How shall I move? Is there going to be a recession? And he frankly told me that he can't sleep good because all night long figures are going through his head. It must be terrible. I'm not afflicted so. God delivered me from such afflictions to have figures in my head all night long. I can't imagine anything more terrible than to have just figures dancing in your head, you know, and dollar signs, you know, all over the place. It must be, you know, it's so precious, isn't it, to lay your head on your pillar and to love the Lord, isn't it? I think it's so wonderful when you can just put your head on your pillow and love the Lord. Well, Balaam, he loved the fruits of unrighteousness. That's what he said. He wanted the reward. And even God, when he spoke to Balaam, you know, when the Lord spoke to Balaam and Balak spoke to Balaam, Balak said, I want to tell you something. Your God has kept you from a high position. Imagine your God's kept you from a high position and he's kept you from the rewards. I want you to see just for a few minutes before we go to the Lord's table in the 25th chapter of Numbers, if you turn to that, 25. This is after he's tried to curse them. After he's tried to do everything, he still is not satisfied. He's got to do something. If only he could get this reward. Now, what could he do? He can't curse them. He says, when I would curse, God blesses. What am I going to do? He says, if you gave me all the gold there is in the world, I can't do anything about it. Because he says, all God says to me is, I regard not sin in Jacob, nor perverseness in Israel, because they belong to me. You can't do anything. They're my people. So he has to think, now what could I do? What would be the best thing? Well, I'll tell you what he does. Israel abode in Shittim and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab Balak's king of Moab Now just before we finish reading that would you turn over to 31 with me for just a minute so you understand who caused this I want you to understand perfectly what happened I want you to read with me the seventh, I'll read it to you, to the ninth verses, and then I'm going down further. They warred, now this is the Israelites, they warred against the Midianites as the Lord commanded Moses and they slew all the males. And they slew the kings of Midian, besides the rest of them that were slain, namely, Evi, Rechem, Zur, and Ur, and Reba, five kings of Midian, Balaam. Notice that. Also the son of Beor, they slew with a sword. And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captive and their little ones and took the spoil of all the cattle and all their flocks and all their goods. Now the 14th verse, Moses was upset with them because they did this. Notice what he says. Moses was wroth with the officers of the host and with the captains over the thousands and the captains over the hundreds which came from the battle. And Moses said to them, have you saved the women alive again? Behold, these women caused the children of Israel, what? Through the counsel of who? Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor. And there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord. He couldn't do it the one way, so he picks the easiest way to get it men, get them attracted by the women. So what does Balaam do? Notice what it says. The people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab, and they called the people," this is 25th chapter now. I'm sorry, I didn't say I was going back. They called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods. Notice, these women did. You know, let me stop there a second. I have to say this. Women, you have a tremendous control over men. Fellas, be careful who you marry. I'm saying to both, don't marry a non-Christian, but I'm saying to fellas, be careful. If you marry a non-Christian, notice what happened here, the women that they committed whoredom with, that's what God calls it, they joined with them and they had children. God calls it whoredom. They called it marriage. They had children, women and children. God says when you join yourself to an unbeliever, it's spiritual adultery also. Be careful, fellows, who you join yourself to, because in this day we're living in especially, there was a day sometimes where men were the heads, spiritually the houses, but I have to say that the woman so often today has control over where the children shall worship and go to the Lord. Girls, I say the same for you. Be careful who you marry. Be careful that you marry a Christian born again. Our problem today is that there's a thinking of marriage as an end in itself. For the satisfactions of physical, biological urges, you'd think marriage was only meant for one thing. If you read all the books in the stands, and all the books in the bookstores, and everything else, you think marriage is sex and nothing else. I want to assure you, if you get married for that reason, you're going to be the saddest individual in all the world. Marriage was meant for one purpose only, and that was exactly as God determined it would. And in Ephesians 5, he makes it very clear when he says, I speak of Christ and his church when I speak of marriage, because the joining together of a man and woman is a spiritual thing. They'll be one flesh. But unless there is one spirit in Christ, the union can never be that beautiful thing God intended it to be. It will be flesh! And God says flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven. Impossible! And so there cannot be a joining together of the believer and the unbeliever. What fellowship has light with darkness? Now, some of you may say, but Pastor Gein, I did this. I've done it. Well, let me say this. Peter then makes it clear to you that if you've done it, he says, shall you leave an unbelieving wife or an unbelieving husband because they do not believe? No, of course not. He says, live the kind of a life that's radiant before God. Live it in purity and love and tenderness. Don't be laying down the law and say, mate, don't do this, don't do this, don't do this. But let them. Let them. So you can express the love of Jesus with all your heart. Sometimes the saved mate begins to set down the legal thing. Don't do this, don't do that. You shouldn't do this, you shouldn't do that. You'll get cancer if you do this and you'll get cancer if you do that. Setting down the laws and the rules to the unsaved mate. Let me tell you, God never said that. God says in Peter that you're to love your unsaved mate. He says, for how can you know whether he or she will be saved or not? You do not know. So therefore, he says, live a radiant life of God before them. Here they are, a separated nation. What does Balaam have to say in part of his prophecies? He said, God hath said to me that Israel shall not be judged amongst the nations, for they are to be separate among all the nations of the earth, and separate from the Gentiles. He says they'll not be judged with the nations. They'll not intermingle with the Gentiles. They'll not marry the Gentiles. And let me say this, the Jewish people today, if they're Orthodox, they drug the marriage of their sons or daughters to a Gentile. The Orthodox Jew still has a funeral service in his house when his daughter or son marries a Gentile. They're dead. They have a funeral service in the home. Don't ever speak to us again. You're dead. Because we're a nation of God, chosen, earthly people. We're separated from the Gentiles. We can't join ourselves to them. And what does Peter say in his great epistle about the Christians? He says, you are a chosen generation. Notice this, a holy nation. God, you mean? Israel was an earthly people and you told them not to marry outside the covenant of Israel, didn't you? Yes, I did. And you said they would never be amongst the nations of the earth, they'd be individual and alone. Yes, I did. And now you say to us as a church, you're a royal priesthood, you're a chosen generation, you're a holy nation. Born of the Spirit of God? Yes. Then how could I ever marry outside this glorious nation and people and priesthood of God? Can I, who am indwelt with the Holy Spirit of God, my body the temple of the Holy Ghost, join myself to that which is pure flesh, destined for the grave and death? Shall we be joined together? What fellowship, Corinthians says, has light with darkness? Be not joined together, he says, unequally with unbelievers. You cannot. He says, Israel was my earthly nation. I wouldn't allow them to marry Gentiles. Now tell me something, he says. Do you have so little spiritual understanding? I've given you the Holy Spirit. I never gave it to Israel. I gave you myself. And now you're going to say to me, Israel could not join themselves to Gentiles, but we can. They're an earthly holy nation. You are my heavenly holy nation. I've seated you together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Marriage becomes a matter of getting married for marriage's sake only. I'd rather die lonely and single than married and miserable. Marriage is no end in itself. Marriage is a tragedy without Jesus. For it does not give you the spiritual union you have no picture of the church. He says marriage pictures Christ in his relationship to his church. Oh to God that my young people will see this. God never changes. Let me read 1 Peter 2, 9-11 to you so you see it. Notice what Balaam did. He got them to marry into an unsaved nation. He died for it by the sword. And then when they went to war with the Midianites, they went and they brought all the women back, and Moses said, you're gonna do the same thing again? Haven't you seen the judgment of God? 24,000 men died because God wouldn't allow it the first time. That's what happened in the 25th chapter of Numbers. 24,000 men died because they went in with Midianite women. 2 Peter, or 1 Peter 2. Notice what God says about us now. You are a chosen generation. You know, this really, to talk about marriage without looking at the scripture wouldn't mean anything. You have to understand yourself. Are you born again? That's all I have to ask a person. If you're born again, you understand what I'm talking about. If you're not born again, you're lost, and it doesn't make a bit of difference, marry anybody in the world. Can I say that? It breaks my heart, but I have to say it. It doesn't make a bit of difference in the world. But if you're saved, rather die lonely with Christ than married to the world and miserable. You're a holy generation. You're a royal priesthood. Imagine a royal priesthood. You're a holy nation. says of Israel, they're my nation, but they're earthly. I wouldn't allow them to marry the Gentiles. I judged them because they did. Twenty-four thousand men died. Now you're a holy nation. You're a heavenly people. Do you think I have less for you? I have a higher calling for you. Don't marry anybody who's not born again unless the Holy Spirit dwells in your breast and their breast. You'll not be joyous, or you may be a little bit happy. Your husband may attain to great world fame and have money, and you'll have everything you need. But I want to tell you, God is saying, on your bed at night, when you get there, and when you're alone, and when your husband sees you not, and then he's in the bed beside you, the thoughts will come in your heart, I have disobeyed the Savior who redeemed my soul. Notice, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but now you are the people of God which had not obtained mercy, now we've obtained mercy. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims in this world, abstain from all fleshly lusts which would war against your soul and destroy you, oh beloved. Be careful that marriage isn't born of sex, please. You know, when people come to my study, I'm a little rough sometimes, maybe, with those getting married. I say, number one, are you born again? Well, if one's not born again, that's it. Oh, I'll deal with that soul on the new birth, you see, but I'll not merge together darkness and light. Impossible. Number two, if you're born again, you might think I'd stop there. Great, I'll marry you. No, I don't. Number two, how much in love are you? Well, how much? Are you really in love with each other? You've been born again. Do you really love each other deeply? Well, you could tell right away. Oh, I love him so much. Yes, I love her with all my heart, Pastor. I have that in my study. It's blessed, wonderful. Number three, tell me, do you like each other? Well, don't that take in love? No. You can love a person and not like them too much. And number four, are you really compatible? Are you interested in the same things? Are you? Are they the things of the Spirit of God? Do you have an interest? You see, all these things are so blessed. You know, it's ten after, I have to stop. But it's so tremendous, so tremendous. Balaam only had to do was to get the Israelite, these religious people, God's people, he has to, he can't curse them, he can't do anything, so what does he do? He works on the morals. Oh boy, get a hold of the men. Look at those Midianite women! You see? And that was it. Boom! That was it. Oh beloved, listen to me. I hope your mothers and fathers are very clear on marriage. Young folks, I hope so. Don't ever come to me with an unsaved person to get married. I had a mother come to me, oh many years ago, and say to me, Pastor, the Holy Spirit has spoken to me and told me that my daughter should marry an unbeliever. I said, I want to say this most clearly. Neither the Holy Spirit nor the Word of God can deny themselves, and they never spoke to you. If the Holy Spirit spoke to you, he would say, what fellowship hath light with darkness? Let us pray. Now, Father, bless this word to our hearts, and as we come to thy table, Lord, bless us. May we learn lessons, practical lessons, from thy word. And oh, Father, just touch my young people. Lord, if there's anything I want to do, it's to have the joy of marrying them. But oh, how I pray for their marriages. that they will be in the Holy Spirit of God. With all of those qualities of which I spoke, Christians, number one, deeply in love, number two. Number three, liking that person with all their hearts, and then perfect compatibility. God give it to our young people, especially in these last days. In Christ's name we pray, amen.