Sermon Tone Analysis
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We saw last time God’s judgment on the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the deliverance of Abraham’s nephew, Lot.
Next, Peter will renew his attack upon the apostates—the false teachers plaguing the early church.
“But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption,”—2:12
These false teachers were driven by mere natural instinct.
They were little better than animals.
“Brute” means “without reason.”
The apostates, having abandoned divine revelation for human reasoning, end up abandoning sense and logic for downright stupidity.
They rail against “things they do not understand,” utterly ignorant of the fact that the unseen world exists.
Multitudes in our day do the same thing.
They are mentally closed to what God has revealed in His Word about demons, evil spirits, fallen angels, righteous angels, and so forth.
Peter assures us that they will “utterly perish in their own corruption.”
In the end, they fall victims to their own propaganda and succumb to the consequences of their corrupt lifestyles.
“…and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime.
They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you,”—2:13
Notice how the false teachers had wormed their way into the love feasts of the Christians: “They feast with you…”
Peter called them “spots” and “blemishes.”
These two words point to the shame, moral disgrace, and licentiousness of the false teachers.
Their tactic was to join the celebratory feasts of the church, all the while “carousing in their own deceptions.”
This is a phrase describing a life of luxury.
These apostates were apparently doing quite well for themselves out of their teaching.
They were using their message to cheat the people out of their money.
They were thoroughgoing hypocrites.
“…having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls.
They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children.”—2:14
They could not look at a woman without lust.
And they used their position as teachers to entice already unstable souls into moral sin.
The word for “entice” suggests catching by means of bait.
“Unstable” means “not set fast” or “not firmly fixed.”
The apostates set their traps for those people who are not firmly rooted and grounded in God’s word.
Peter says they are “cursed children.”
As Paul said, they are indeed “children of wrath” (Eph.
2:3).
Next, Peter once again looks back into the O.T. for another illustration of apostasy.
He finds it in the story of Balaam, who we read about in Numbers 22-24.
Peter begins by comparing the apostates to Balaam:
“They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;”—2:15
Balaam was an O.T. psychic hired by Balak, king of Moab, to curse the children of Israel on their way from Egypt to Canaan.
Peter begins by pointing out Balaam’s materialism.
He “loved the wages of unrighteousness.”
Balaam forsook the right way.
He apparently had some knowledge of the true God, though he was a pagan soothsayer.
God revealed Himself to him on several occasions.
When he was first invited to come to Moab as guest of the king, God appeared to him and told him not to go (Num.22:9), and told him why (22:12).
“And God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.”
Not to be turned down, King Balak was persistent.
He sent a second delegation.
“And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men come to call you, rise and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you—that you shall do.”
“So Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab.
This time, God gave Balaam permission to go, but only on the understanding that he would proclaim the message that God Himself gave him” (Num.22:20-21).
Here is where an amazing thing happened.
“Then God’s anger was aroused because he went, and the Angel of the LORD took His stand in the way as an adversary against him.
And he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him.
23 Now the donkey saw the Angel of the LORD standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand, and the donkey turned aside out of the way and went into the field.
So Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back onto the road.”
So a donkey was more discerning than Balaam!
But it gets worse:
“Then the Angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on this side and a wall on that side.
25 And when the donkey saw the Angel of the LORD, she pushed herself against the wall and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he struck her again.”
Now his foot is crushed.
But he still has zero discernment of what is actually taking place.
And it grows even worse:
“Then the Angel of the LORD went further, and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left.
27 And when the donkey saw the Angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam; so Balaam’s anger was aroused, and he struck the donkey with his staff.”
This poor donkey is getting beat up.
Now it’s time for God to speak—through the donkey!
“Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”
29 And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have abused me.
I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you!”
Balaam has essentially lost his mind.
Rather than being stunned that a donkey is talking to him, he enters a conversation with her:
30 “So the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden, ever since I became yours, to this day?
Was I ever disposed to do this to you?”
And he said, “No.”
31 Then the LORD opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the Angel of the LORD standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand; and he bowed his head and fell flat on his face.”
How blind we can be until God opens our eyes!
Now, God speaks directly to Balaam:
32 And the Angel of the LORD said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times?
Behold, I have come out to stand against you, because your way is perverse before Me.
33 The donkey saw Me and turned aside from Me these three times.
If she had not turned aside from Me, surely I would also have killed you by now, and let her live.”
It is the sheer mercy of God that He blocks our path when our way has become perverse before Him, when He can see that we are headed to certain destruction.
Peter finishes his discourse on Balaam:
“…but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.”—2:16
The word “madness” means “to be out of one’s mind.”
Yet, in spite of God’s amazing intervention through the donkey, Balaam went out of his mind again.
Though sobered, he was not sufficiently deterred to cancel the trip and go home.
Visions of bountiful bags of Moabite gold were still dancing in his head.
Balaam is a prime example of apostates in the church who are very willing to deceive others with fanciful lies and doctrinal error in order to get their gullible listeners’ money.
Three times Balaam was invited to curse, only to have God force him to bless.
God had determined to bless Israel and settle her in the Promised Land.
Then what was the sinister sin of Balaam, the “doctrine of Balaam” referred to by John in Rev. 2:14?
He suggested to Balak that the women of Moab use their feminine powers of seduction to lure the men of Israel into worshiping Ba‘al, the fertility god.
“You cannot conquer these people, my lord king,” he wickedly advised, “so corrupt them.
You cannot slaughter them with the men of Moab, so seduce them with the women of Moab.
Then God will be forced to judge His own people.”
It was a devilish suggestion—and it worked.
A large number of Israelite men abandoned their allegiance to God and willfully participated in sexual sin with foreign women.
Consequently, God’s anger burned against His people.
Numbers 25 tells the sad story.
God sent a plague among the people.
As a result, over 24,000 died.
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