Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
Both the histories of Israel and the Church are filled with leaders who were "workers of lawlessness." That's just a fact. Yes, indeed, there will soon be a "Man of Sin," but there will be many, many more. One of the Original Apostles was also "a devil," and he was chosen by the Lord Himself after praying the whole night!
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Balaam is an interesting case study in the Old Testament. He believed God existed and had intellectual knowledge of God and his ways. When Balak asked Balaam to curse the Israelites, he refused and said he could only speak the words God gave him. This seems like obedience doesn't it?
Numbers 23:11-12
"And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have done nothing but bless them.” And he answered and said,
“Must I not take care to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”
But Balaam's heart was not right because he abused the gifts God gave him to benefit himself. His real god was himself and money and not the God of Israel. If Balaam sat in our churches today, many evangelicals would likely define him as a believer because of his intellectual knowledge of God. Yet the Apostle Peter clearly declared him as damned, just like Jesus did with Judas.
2 Peter 2:1-2
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you,
who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And
many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.
Here Peter is likely referring to the teachers like the Nicolaitans who adhered to the basic truths outlined in the Nicene Creed but taught that the grace of God allowed them to live for the world and indulge in the lusts of the flesh and still be saved. Their "love" feasts were literally "love" feasts.
2 Peter 2:4,15
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned,
but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment... Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray.
They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor,
who loved gain from wrongdoing
Balaam may have intellectually known God but he didn't know God personally (ginosko). Otherwise he would have realized how truly powerful and loving God was and try to align his heart with God to hate what God hates and love what God loves.
1 John 3:6
No one who abides in him keeps on sinning;
no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
God can even bless people through the message just like he did with Balaam and Judas when he preached the gospel, yet the messenger themselves could be corrupt. The false disciples in Matthew 7:21-23 could have even been doing God's work and blessing others with the gospel all their lives but they were denied entrance to heaven because their heart was not circumcised (Romans 2:28). This is in contrast to the thief on the cross who gave his life to Jesus in the last hour and circumcised his heart and yet was saved. In this picture, salvation is truly a free gift, but you have to circumcise your heart to receive it.
Acts 2:37
Now when they heard this
they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles,
“Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “
Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Peter's audience in Acts 2 were "cut to the heart", their heart became circumcised when they realized that their sins put Jesus on the cross and they were guilty. They asked Peter what to do and his response was to "repent". Repent means to make a 180 turn away from loving sin to loving God in faith, to turn away from walking the broad path that leads to destruction to the narrow path that leads to life.
Acts 3:19
Now
repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.