Second Peter chapter 2 beginning with 10b. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties. Whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like unreasoning animals born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, Reviling where they have no knowledge will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed. Suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They counted a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes reveling in their deceptions as they carouse with you. Having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin. Enticing unstable souls. Having a heart trained in greed. Accursed children. forsaken the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. But he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with the voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet. Amen. Father, we do come before you, and Lord, I, for one, acknowledge my need for you to help in this moment, in this hour, Lord, I pray that you would help indeed each one of us to receive your word. Lord, what Peter has written years in the past, Lord, how relevant it is even in our day, Lord, let us see rightly, let us grow in knowing you, Lord, and even what is all around us, Lord, to be ones who pursue after the Lord Jesus Christ with all that is within us. We ask this and we pray in the name of Christ. Amen. This morning's title for the teaching is the descriptions of the false teachers, the descriptions or the profile of the false teachers. You know, it's been a while since it's been about a month. And so I'm going to recap as I normally do. just provide a summary of where we are now in this letter and trying to do so always in a different way so that way we can capture what Peter is writing, what he's stating, what he's trying to get across to the saints there in Asia Minor, current day Turkey. So as Peter letter there is much going on in that church among the people of God. There are false teachers that we've learned of last study that arose among the people, among them. The struggle, the opposition is not from the outside, it's actually from the inside. This is what 2nd Peter is about. What is it that these false teachers are coming in and teaching? What is it that they're practicing? What is their lifestyle, their way of living? And how does that affect the church? Well, it affects it greatly. And in 1 Peter, though, we have the pressures, the persecution from the outside. But here in 2 Peter, it's from the inside. And Peter warns them that this opposition is a reality in the church. It's among you. They have risen among you. They are, they were ones who were communing with the people of God. They gathered together, they read the scriptures, they sang the songs, they even ate at the feasts. They are like the proverb that I read yesterday with the children, do not eat the bread of a selfish man or desire his delicacies, for as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, eat and drink, but his heart is not with you. You will vomit up the more so you have eaten and waste your compliments. In a very similar way, these false teachers were feeding the people of God falsehoods. They entice, they deceive, they say eat and drink, but they are not for you. Their heart is far from you. And that's what Peter is saying. Their heart is not for the people of God. How much more is their heart not for the Lord? And so these false teachers are false in their practices, they're false in their teachings, their ways are not according to the way of the Lord. They are sinful people who try to snatch others to follow and to follow after them in their practices, in their way of life. And we'll see more of what they do, which of course only points to the reality of who they really are, these false teachers. You will know them by their fruit, ever rings true in our passage this morning. But notice what Peter is doing up in this letter up to this point. Remember, Peter doesn't know who these false teachers are. He is writing to the saints, to the church, and so it is good for us to read what he writes with that in mind. Peter begins encouraging the saints by reminding them all that they are, who they are, and how they are in Christ Jesus. From the righteousness of Christ, grace and peace being multiplied, we see that in the first chapter that that all things pertaining to life and godliness are given to them, that the precious promises of God are theirs, that they are partakers of the divine nature, that they have escaped the corruption that is in the world by its lust. This is all because the Spirit of God has opened up their eyes to see and heed the calling of the majestic one, the magnificent one, the Lord Jesus Christ. One quick glance at his glory and excellence, as Peter writes there, and nobody will be the same. This is how he calls us, it's by his glory and to his glory. But after encouraging the saints, he begins to bring the reality of the evil and sin in the world and its implications. Yes, even in the church among the people of God. He mentions that there are those who will be. He says, don't be unfruitful, don't be useless. In other words, there are those who are unfruitful, there are those who are useless, blind, short-sighted, forgetting the purpose of the atonement of Christ, the purification from former sins. He makes an appeal for the saints to be diligent and to make certain their calling and choosing, God's, Christ's calling and choosing them, to continue in the practicing of the qualities that align, that match, that go alongside their confession. But Peter transitions there towards the end of the first chapter, as we saw, to begin this defense of what this letter is primarily about. A refutation against the teachings and the practices of these false teachers, and it is this. Jesus Christ is coming. He's coming. The second coming is a reality. It's going to be a reality. It's a reality now that we are to see and live by. But brethren, this is what Paul is talking about there when writing on the resurrection of Christ as well, isn't he, in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. He says, but each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, after that those who are Christ's at his coming. Then comes the end when he hands over the kingdom of God, he hands over the kingdom to the God and Father when he has abolished all rule and authority and power. For he must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. He must reign. He will reign. And He is reigning now. Praise be to His name. So Peter is saying we saw Him, we saw the Christ, we saw Him in His glory there on that holy mountain, the Transfiguration. where he, Christ, received honor and glory by the Father. He says we also have the prophetic word made sure and everything points to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we would do well, he says, to pay attention as to the lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. And with that we can say come Lord Jesus. Amen. You know, Peter moves on to the current issue that is happening in the church. These false teachers in chapter 2. They are secretly introducing destructive heresies. Even denying the purpose for Christ's redemption. The purchase of a people who worship and serve him alone. You think about that for just a moment. The type of people that Christ has purchased. A people whose master and teacher is the Lord Jesus Christ. A peculiar people. A chosen people. A purposeful people. A hopeful people. A waiting people. An eyes upward kind of people, looking up to the skies, awaiting as the angel said, what are you waiting for? As he is departing and ascending into heaven. For in the same way as he has gone up, so he will come back down. But we're also a fearful people. We're a holy people, a separate people, an unblemished people, a pure people, an unstained from this world type of people. These false teachers are anything but that. They follow their sensuality, their greed, their lust, their own ways, their own ways that are contrary to the ways of the Lord. The profile description of these false teachers, Peter, really will unfold for us this morning in our text. But even before he does that, he clearly details by word and example that their judgment is not idle, nor their destruction asleep. God didn't spare the angels, Peter says. He didn't spare the entire world, but Noah, right, the eight. He didn't spare the rebellious citizens in Sodom and Gomorrah, and Peter lays that out. All perished in the judgment of God upon sin. It is only the righteous that are saved, and this is our hope. Peter's word is this. The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation and trials. So in that clear warning to all is also such a great hope for the righteous. You know, if you think about the things that are happening in Peter's day, things that are even happening in the church in this day, in our day, all the hidden things, all those things will be revealed. I mean, how can anyone think that what is done in the dark will not come to the light. All things are open and laid bare before the one who is all light, before the eyes of him with whom we have to do." This is a warning in itself that the judge of all the earth, he will only do what is right. And he won't overlook, he won't bypass, he won't just close or shut an eye to the things that are evil and sinful and wicked. But we see Peter the restored disciple, don't we, with a pastor's heart. He continues in what the Lord Jesus called him to be and to do, to shepherd the sheep and the lamb, the lambs that belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, there on the Sea of Galilee when he was restored by our Savior. A good shepherd does what Peter is doing in this letter, warns and brings to light the reality of what is happening and doesn't sidestep it. He exposes those false teachers for what they are in practice. He describes them in such a way that the saints have specific characteristics to look for. Peter begins in verse 10 there with the following, that those who are kept under punishment for the day of judgment are those who are unrighteous, especially those who indulge the flesh in corrupt desires and those who despise authority. With that, we ended the last study. The authority they despise is most likely referring to the Lord Jesus Christ, his sovereign rule and reign. And then Peter then continues in our text this morning to unfold for us two main areas that depict the sins or sinful behavior of these false teachers, a more detailed description or profile of these false teachers. He begins by exposing their arrogance and yet ignorance against what they have no knowledge and then he moves to their corrupt desires of the heart and lastly he ends there in verses 15 and 16 with an Old Testament example, Balaam. And so I divide it up into three parts. First, ignorant boldness, verses 10 through 13a. Corrupt desires, verses 13b through 15a. And then the Old Testament example, 15a through 16. Ignorant boldness. He describes these teachers as daring or bold and arrogant. This is not a boldness that is to be applauded. This is as if, you know, they were so filled with such great courage that they're ready to go save someone or to rescue a lost or hurting individual. No, this is a foolish daring that leads them where they have no right to be or speak of things they have no knowledge. They are self-willed, he says, meaning a stubborn or arrogant people. People who take things lightly, we see that they do not even tremble. They are not afraid to slander or revile angelic majesties. Now some of you may, like me, were wondering what all that means. The word there, as far as the angelic majesties, it really is doxos, which means glory or majestic being. And so we must consider The context, if we are going to understand that very term there. The ESV uses glorious ones. The NASB uses angelic majesties. I think angelic majesties is more correct in this situation here. But very few commentators, and I'll present both views, very few commentators see this term as referring to church leaders or civil authorities. in that day. If we would go with that meaning, then it would come to mean that the false teachers were slandering those in authority either in the church or outside the church. However, this would be something that would not flow contextually. It would make the very next verse, verse 11, difficult to understand with that meaning inserted. And so majority of the commentators would see the glories as referring to glorious beings or angelic majesties. But then the question quickly becomes well what angelic majesties? Which angels? Good or bad angels? Good or evil angels? Well even though there are some that would probably disagree with what I'm going to say although more would agree than disagree. with this view, I do believe that the glories that Peter is referring to are the angelic majesties known as evil angels or demonic powers. Let's read verse 11 because it really brings this out. It points back to verse 10. Verse 11 says, whereas, well, let's read 10B and then 11. Daring self will they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, whereas angels, We see the term there, angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. The angels are clearly distinguished in verse 11 from the angelic majesties in verse 10. They are ones who are greater in might and power than the false teachers, yet even they do not bring any slanderous judgment against them before the Lord. Well, who is the them? Referring to well it's pointing back to the angelic majesties or the evil angels in other words the false teachers are taking lightly They are slandering. They are ignorant of the reality or the awful power of these demonic powers And so we see that where the good angels don't dare to to tread the false teachers are flippant and arrogant they place themselves in in the role of that belongs only to God. They are the ones that are bringing a reviling judgment against the evil angels. A somewhat, although not exact, parallel passage there is found in Jude where not even Michael, the archangel, dared to pronounce a railing judgment against Satan when disputing over the body of Moses. He left it to the Lord to judge, but these false teachers and their arrogance did not fear demonic powers. It could be that they didn't fear or that they mocked the idea that any human being should be afraid of these evil powers as if it's nothing to them. Or it could also be that since there is no coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, hence no judgment, then these demonic powers have no influence on them. Some commentators have even suggested that the teachers ridiculed the notion that their sins would make them the prey of evil angels. That could very well be. It certainly can be deduced from their way of life. If we read the way that these false teachers lived, living in such a way that dabbling with evil is somewhat or somehow not a big deal. But see more of how they are slandering. They slander not only the demonic powers and the power of sin, but also in areas they have no knowledge, Peter says in verse 12. This could mean that in things they don't comprehend, they slander. As if what they are teaching and doing has no eternal weight, no judgment from the Almighty One. And so you see how they are, in essence, slandering God. His sovereignty, His holiness, God's own rule. But they don't understand, Peter says. They are like unreasoning animals, he says. What is dangerous and to not be trifled with, they slander. They follow only after their own appetites. They are like brute beasts, unrestrained and probably slandering all who would have any form of restraint, especially restraint by the Holy Spirit. So Peter calls them unreasoning animals. They're unable to reason. They live, they act, they move, they react because of instinct, never by reason. They are creatures of instinct. Animals don't reason you nor can you reason with animals you can't walk up I can't walk up to my rooster and say could you please not crow? when I'm sleeping you know or Walk up to any animal. I mean you can do anything you want try to reason with the animal bees Please don't sting me today. Okay sure right No, they will always do what is natural Do what is instinctive to them? And so it is with these false teachers, they are under the power of sin, not under the power of the Holy Spirit. And what follows after that statement of them being like unreasoning animals, Peter describes their own fate, their future, what is in store for them. Peter writes that animals are captured to be killed. And so likewise, the destruction of these false teachers will be similar to that of the animals. They will suffer wrong as the wages of doing wrong. Their payment, the payment or punishment for the wrongdoing is death. Following their instincts will destroy them. There's no question about that. Peter is making that very clear. And he's pointing out exactly what they are about and exactly where they're headed. There's no ands or ifs about it. What they sow, they will reap. Sounds pretty biblical. Brethren, we need to hear what Peter is writing. We need to see that there is a lesson for us to learn from these false teachers. You know, we tend to look at this and say, well, I'm not a false teacher. Good. But do you know how to spot one? But does that mean that what the false teachers are doing that you can't be doing as well, maybe to not that degree? Is that something that you're immune to? Something that you can't fall into? These things are written for us as well. We may never be full out false teachers, but we are still able to sin. Let us not live in such ignorance about the evil around us. Let us not be ignorant of the evil schemes of the enemy who wants to destroy us. He would have us. He would swallow us whole. We need to be careful and cautious, not presumptuous regarding our adversary. To what extent are we willing? This is a question. To what extent are we willing to dabble with or allow certain things into our lives and homes that have the potential for the enemy to use against us to our ruin? Brethren, the power of the enemy is real. The power of sin is real. This is similar to the Holy War. Diabolus is guised as an angel of light. I mean, he doesn't come out in true colors. Not at the beginning. Only to get a foothold into the city, into the town of Mansoul. Saints, are there things in your life or home that need to be done away with? Are you giving a foothold to the enemy? Are you treading lightly rather than treading with great caution? What we read, what we watch, what we listen to, these are some of the gates that are penetrated by the enemy, the eye gate, the ear gate. We must be aware. We must be sober. We must be in the word of God. Moving on, Peter brings another aspect of their way of life. that sheds light even to the extent of their sin, and that's corrupt desires. This is a further commentary on verse 12. Why is it that they will be destroyed? Why is it that judgment or the wrath of God abides on them? Well, because they follow after their corrupt desires, the corrupt desires of the flesh. They indulge in these things, no limits, no restraint. As a matter of fact, they count it a pleasure Hedone, which is where we get our word helenism from, which is defined as the doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the soul or chief good of life. This is a helenistic approach to life as it pertains to self-indulgence and sin. The very thing that the world is characterized by in the first chapter, in verse 4, it is the very thing that the believer has escaped. the corruption that is in the world by its lust. But notice that these false teachers are so consumed with wickedness, and the lust of the eyes, desire of the flesh, and the pride of life that they revel in the daytime. Their actions are dark and evil, and people usually partake of these things in the nighttime, not the day as it is written in Romans chapter 13, but not these false teachers. The night is not long enough for them to swim in their sin. Brethren, these are people who are professing to be Christians. They rose among you. They are among you, who are part of the church. They are there on the Lord's day. They're even partaking at the feast, which was for the body of Christ to enjoy together. This is not the church of Christ. They do not represent the church of Christ. Peter writes in his first letter, the church, the church of Christ, the people of God have not been redeemed with silver or gold. No, they have been redeemed with precious blood. He says, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless. This is by the blood of Christ, the lamb of God. But these people, these false teachers, Peter describes them as the total opposite of the one that has the one they claim to follow. They are stains, he says. They are stains and blemishes. They are deceivers. They have been deceived and are deceiving. They are slandering that which they do not have knowledge of. For if they did, they would have fallen prostrate to the ground in repentance and pleading for their lives to be spared. For they have transgressed the holy. Peter mentions that they even carouse, N-A-S-P, which would be a better word of feast together. They even feast together with you. This would most likely include the love feast and the Lord's Supper. The approaching of the sacred and holy is nothing to them. It's nothing. As a matter of fact, what is to be a remembrance of Christ, of what Christ has accomplished, the Lord's Supper, the Lord's Table, they use that sacrament to only further their sinful pleasures. That's their intent of partaking at the Lord's table. If you see with me in verse 14 where Peter is elaborating why they even hang out or are among the people of God. What is their motivation? What is at the heart of their practice or their intentions? It's really to satisfy their own lusts. and to seduce others into their way of life and to participate along with them. That's what they want. This is horrible. This is blasphemous to our holy God. As one commentator put it, the description of these heretics is a sense of horror at their actual presence right in the midst of the holy people of God. Their eyes full of adultery, is better rendered as it is in the Greek, literally, red having eyes full of an adulteress. In other words, when seeing others, they would see that person as a potential candidate to fulfill the desires of the eyes, whether in thought or deed. Jesus said to himself, I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Notice that Peter He doesn't even say that this is something that they do every so often. No, he says it never ceases. It never ceases, never stops. Remember, they are like brute beasts without control. Their eyes never cease from sin. Their sin of adultery continues into even the second reason that Peter gives, the greed. and their seduction, their enticement to entice others, to lure others. It's like an animal that doesn't know there's the trap, waiting for it to be trapped, live trap. Notice that not everyone will fall into their trap or believe their deceptive lies. Peter gives us a description, though, of those who have taken the bait, though. And who are they? They're the unstable souls. The unstable souls. Not just any instability. They are the unstable in their walk with Christ. It must be. It must be. They are those who are on the fringe in their relationship with Christ. They like all the benefits of being among the people of God. Somehow like a young child that there's a thunderstorm outside and they run into mom and dad's bed and there they are in between mom and dad and they're just, they're comforted. They find comfort in that. The unstable are those who think they can have both the goodness of God and the pleasures of this world. A religious person who says all the right things but throughout the week or even moments later are doing the things that are not pleasing to the Lord. Unstable because one day or even one moment they will profess how wonderful Christ is and speak of the glory of Christ and how they commune with Christ and how they love Christ and then the next day or that very day they act just like the world. What impact has Christ had on you that you act like that? There's instability there. There's not congruity. There's incongruity. There's something that is not right about that picture. But yet they do it with such subtlety. They place a religious spin on it. Or do it in the name of Christian liberty. These unstable souls were probably easily enticed when they were promised that they could live for pleasure in the material comforts of of this life without any thought of judgment. Live how you want if there's no judgment. This is a theology that seems too good to pass up, says one commentator. Brethren, there are some here that are just like that. The reality is that you are unstable in your ways. And you are easily enticed because the theology in our own day is not too far off than in Peter's day. Just dressed in a different garment. How many have fallen prey to the false doctrine or thinking that we as reformed Christians are saved by grace but can still partake of the very things that the Lord has taken us and ripped us out of and pulled us out of and that was to our ruin. We have somehow come to believe that because we have been saved by grace, there's this common saying in the manufacturing shop floor, you're like Teflon, nothing sticks. Or that we are immune to the things of this world. That we can even partake of them and not be affected by what we do. That's presumption. That's arrogance. That way of thinking will only end in your own destruction and ruin. But how we have been fooled. We say we are careful that we are not going to indulge to the extent that it is sin, or worse yet, that may be sin for you, but it's not sin for me. Really? So, you see what has happened here. We have so expanded the gray or the matter of conscience area to the extent that it would satisfy our own desires and pleasures. Oftentimes, if we would just ask the question, is this what the Lord would have me do right now, the answer is pretty clear. We need to pray more for the conviction of the Holy Spirit in our lives. I need it. Our lives need to be holy, as if our Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, is in our presence, and He is. I know how often I don't think in that way, and I need to be reminded of this very reality. for us to live pure lives, for us to have that sweet aroma that is ascending up to God, the aroma of Christ. We admire the Puritans, but we are far off. But some of you hear what I'm saying and may just chalk it up to just being so legalistic, and that it will result in living in such a restrictive manner in life, and that it's not really the way that the Lord intended us to live in this life on this earth. I want you to remember that the freedom we find in this world comes from Christ and in Christ. It's not found from the things of this world. It's not about what we are free to do or not do. There's been too much emphasis on that lately. It is so selfish and missing the whole point of following hard after Christ. You can call me legalistic, You can call me restrictive or narrow-minded. People can call us that. They can call us the weaker brother, but I would rather stay away from anything that smells like sin, anything that brings any dishonor to my Savior, because I know me, and I can be easily enticed as well. So my prayer is, help me, Lord. Help us, Lord. We need it. If this is you this morning, Peter warns you that you are unstable. And you will be easily enticed. Don't for a moment think that you can withstand the tide or the pressure of these false teachers and the power of the enemy of sin. You may think you are strong, but Paul says this, therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. There's a reality there of falling. And Peter says this, he says these false teachers have a heart that is trained in greed. That word there, trained, we get our word gymnasium from. They are experts. They are trained and now fully developed in this habit. These false teachers are trained in their greed for pleasure, for unrighteousness. However, their destiny is clear, and Peter uses very strong language there. Very strong language. He's not holding back. He calls them accursed children. They are children that are cursed by God. Brethren, I don't want my life to end up to be what is written of these false teachers or the unstable. You may ask, how have they become a curse of God? How have they become accursed children? Because they have forsaken the right way. Peter says, they have gone astray. And this is sad and should have our full attention here. To have forsaken the right way, to have gone astray, means that at one moment they may have known of this right way. Of course they did, they were in the midst. They heard the messages, they sang the songs, they knew why they gathered for the Lord's Supper, but they would have not. As Lee's sermon at the fellowship conference, They find themselves carried away by the false doctrine of this world. That just sounds so right. Peter says that this is the way of Balaam, and this is the last point here. This is the Old Testament example. This is the richness of God's word, brethren. And we can look at these characters in the Old Testament and pull out what it is that the Lord is teaching us through them, and to stay far away from the evil things but to cling to those good things. He loved the wages of unrighteousness. He loved his sin. It is an amazing story that's found in the book of Numbers, chapters 22 to 24, and we know of him. Everybody knows of Balaam. Why? Because he's the only one who had a talking donkey. That's why. Right? Kids, you all know about the talking donkey. And even Even Peter's kind of surprised by that. I love the description. The mute donkey, as if there are speaking donkeys, right? And he says, the mute donkey. But I love that. He's recognizing the hand of God in that is what he's doing. But Balaam, he was hired by King Balak to curse Israel. But instead, God used him to do the opposite, to bless Israel. In the end, he himself, Balaam became the cursed one by God. You see, what the false teachers are doing in Peter's day and in ours, Balaam already did in that day. Some of you may be wondering or confused about Balaam and his prophecy, because a surface reading of the story, you probably get this feeling that he is actually wanting to do what God wants him to do, and he's torn inside. He's not torn inside, brethren. We don't have time to unfold the whole story, but let me just summarize quickly here. And then the New Testament, especially the book of Revelation, will shed some light on that. And Peter does as well. Balaam's smooth talk, his cunningness, his enticing words were like the false teachers. He's one who knew the lingo and the right words. He knew the character of God, that God is sovereign, that God will, I can only say what God wants me to say, right? And that he arose as one that was in communication with God, per se. But as I said in the beginning, the proverb, take and eat, but their heart is not for you, not with you. This is Balaam. His heart was for Balaam only. God saw the heart of Balaam. He saw that he still tried in every way possible to get the wages that were offered him. His greed was great. His eyes were set on the earthly prize. And in the end, he helped the Balak lead Israel into idolatry and adultery. What his eyes, his very eyes were full of, he enticed the very people of God to follow after. Revelation chapter two, verse 14 says, but I have a few things against you because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam. who kept teaching Balak, who kept teaching Balak, to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit acts of immorality. You see, this was his purpose. I mean, he wanted to do these things. He taught these things so that he can gain that which he set his eyes on, the pleasures, the greed of this life. If he couldn't get God to change His view of Israel, he deceived Israel to change their view of God. That's what happened. But here's what Peter's getting at. Balaam knew what God desired for the nation of Israel, even from him, and God used a mute donkey, a mute donkey. But this one, this donkey's a special donkey. He's not an ordinary donkey. I mean, he's an ordinary donkey. He's a brute beast, right? You notice how Peter says about these false teachers that they're like unreasoning animals. Well, he's coming full circle here, and he's gonna take an unreasoning animal, right, a donkey, to speak to a unreasoning man. He says a mute donkey, a brute beast, was supposed to be an unreasoning animal, right? Restrain the madness of the prophet, the one who's made in the image of God, right? The one who is supposed to be the reasoning one but no, the donkey, the donkey had to speak. The beast had to speak to the man to set him straight, to rebuke. Balaam's example serves as a warning for us as well and with this I'll end. We must see though that in that rebuke there is mercy. There is grace. And in that talking donkey, there is love. Balaam was more unreasoning and overtaken, though, by his animal instincts for pleasure instead of seeing the mercy and the rebuke of God in that moment. Brethren, it is for us to warn. It is for us to rebuke. It is for us to call others to repentance. But while we take heed, lest we fall, this warning is for all. Watch out for false teaching. Keep your eyes in the scriptures and on the Lord Jesus Christ. Know this, that nobody can stand without the new mercies given each morning, and without the power and the strength and the filling of the Holy Spirit. Walk in the light, brethren, as he is in the light. Love one another as well, and help each other. This is what we're here for. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we come. And Lord, this is a text that is difficult. because it does require examination. It does require for us to come before your throne and to say, search me, oh Lord, search my heart. Lord, I want to be right before you. I want to be a true servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to live this life in its fullest to your glory in my good. Lord, I just, I ask Lord for each one of us here, Lord, that you would give us a strong desire and passion to run hard after the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, that you would open our eyes to areas in our lives, Lord, that need change, that need to be removed, that need to be done away with, Lord, to not give a foothold to the enemy. Lord, we want to be those that our true desire and pleasure is you, in you alone, Lord, not the things of this world. Lord, keep us away from that. Let us not fall prey to the schemes of the enemy. Lord, keep us in your mighty hands, we pray. In Christ's name, amen.