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The power that has been pouring out here has been awesome, awesome, just awesome. It is touching almost everybody that has anything to do with the ministry at all, just an awesome measure of power. Hallelujah.

 

We have an unusual message tonight, I hope it blesses you. It is not going to be a deep study, the Lord is making a point, and we are going be doing 2 Peter Chapter 2. I am going over it very lightly. For the way I usually teach, it is going to be very light.

 

We will be in Numbers, not the whole chapter, parts of Chapter 22, 23 and 24. This is the point that the Lord is trying to make to you. The Lord had shown me a long time ago that a lot of the Scriptures particularly in the Old Testament that are real hell and damnation, that turn a lot of people off, because it sounds like the hell that we do not preach here and the damnation that we do not preach here, he showed me that if you ask Him to open your eyes, and you can just get past the hell and damnation, there is always restoration, in the following verses.

 

Carnally-minded Christians, because of their carnal minds, for some reason they just never see the Scriptures that speak about the restoration that comes after the hell and damnation.

 

Hell and damnation is very real, the only thing is that it is not in some far away place. It is right here in this world. Hell is this world, and the damnation that you experience is in this world.

 

Some people experience it to a greater extent than others, depending on the family line curses, the weaknesses that you have inherited and what has happened to you since you were born. How your parents have dealt with those weaknesses and what your experiences have been. Have they increased your weaknesses or strengthened you in the areas where you are weak?

 

I challenge you to find any Scripture anywhere in the Old or New Testament that sounds like it is a terrible, horrifying, painful, vicious judgment upon man, I challenge you to show me a Scripture which is not followed by Scriptures which speak about the loving restoration of God after your hell-fire experience has done its job.

 

In case anyone is listening to this tape and they are saying, "Why would I need a hell-fire experience to do any kind of a job on me?" I will tell you, because there is sin in your life. I remember when I first came to the Lord and I said, "Why would the Lord want to chasten me?" I could not even comprehend it.

 

Brethren, the Lord Jesus Christ is our standard. Next to Him we are vile, we are corrupt. I do not care if you speak in tongues, I do not care how gifted you are, we are corrupt and vile in comparison to Him, and He will not slumber or sleep until He has brought us up to where He is. He will not settle for anything else.

 

I do not know if you will have time, but if you are familiar with 2 Peter 2 or if you want to get ahead of me, if you want to take a second to scan over it, I am going to suggest to you that it is going to be very difficult for you to find the restoration after 2 Peter 2, because 2 Peter 2 is pretty rough, but God showed me where the restoration is.

 

Just so you can be prepared to follow me with this, in 2 Peter Chapter 2, in Verse 15, the Scripture refers to Balaam and relates everything that is happening in 2 Peter Chapter 2 to Balaam. We are going to go into the book of Numbers to find out what happened to Balaam. You will find out with me tonight that God restored Balaam, that God overrode Balaam.

 

Balaam was one of the greatest prophets that is written about in the Scripture, and he gave way to his carnality, he was seduced. He was seduced by the love of money, but the Lord God overtook him. Every time that he tried to curse Israel, Balaam was offered money to curse Israel, and he resisted, and he resisted, and he resisted, and he was finally overtaken by his own lust and he agreed to curse Israel.

 

Every time he opened his mouth, the Spirit of God over shadowed him and he blessed Israel. I want to tell you today that the power of God is great, and the power of God is awesome, but you will be chastened, and you will be chastened sore. You will fall down as far as it is necessary for you to fall down until you submit to the rebuilding procedure that the Lord God has provided for you. You will continue to fall, and the Scripture will be true for you, "hell hath enlarged herself to receive you as you fall down," but if you are called, and the Lord God has picked you and chosen you, you will hit bottom and a restoration will begin.

 

I just want to put this little testimony on. I ran into someone that I had not seen for a long time last night, and he is in very bad shape, but he was so funny about it, I just could not help laughing. He is a graduate of Stony Brook University and he is now cleaning toilet bowls at Stony Brook University. The Lord has absolutely crushed him. The Lord has absolutely crushed him. He has taken everything from him, all of his self-respect.

 

He lost his home, he is back living with his parents, no car, he has nothing at 37 years old. He is cleaning toilet bowls at college, not that there is anything ungodly about that, but if you are trained you would like to work in accordance with the area that you trained in. Even though he was giving me this testimony, if you would have heard it, every word out of his mouth was I do not want this and I do not want that, and this is what I want, and this is what I do not want.

 

Brethren, if God has called you, He has called you to serve Him. He has not called you so that He can serve you. If He has called you, He has a purpose for you. If you are not going in the right direction, He is going to let you get hurt. We are to lay down our own souls, we are to lay down our own lives. This is called the sacrifice of our soul. We are to give up what we want, and we are to ask the Lord what He wants for us, in every aspect of our life, from the smallest detail to the greatest detail.

 

Even if you are as obedient as you could be, there will still be chastisement because we are imperfect. The less obedient you are, the deeper the chastisement. Why? Because God is vindictive? No. He is trying to get you back on the path. You are going in the wrong direction so He whacks you.

 

The Scripture says that Israel is the goodly horse of the Lord. The Lord likens us to a horse. He is riding on our back, and when we are going in the wrong direction He will kick us with His spurs. If you are an obedient horse, and He just yanks on the reins, and you can figure out what He means, He does not have to spur you. Some people have to be get kicked pretty hard.

 

I told this man last night, I love him dearly, I told him what I am telling you, "You better give up your I, I, I, because if you think you are washing toilet bowls now, only God knows what He has got for you next. You had better give up your own will and do what He wants you to do." He said, "What does He want me to do?" I said, "You are going to be a preacher." He said "Not me!" He said, "I will see you in the latrines."

 

I do not know what to tell this guy. He is just going to keep going until he says, "Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes Lord." The whole Church is like this. I am not picking on anybody, we are all like this. We are all carnal, we are all disobedient, but in varying degrees. Glory to God.

 

I am going to try and preach this thing. I am going to do a very, very light message in that, there are only a couple of words that I looked up. Neither am I going to go into any deep spiritual significance of what the verses mean because the Lord's whole intent here is to show that no matter how bad off things look for you, His mercy endureth forever.

 

His will and His power is greater than any power that could exist in the universe, and it is impossible for the Devil to own you when Jesus owns you. Do not look at the circumstances, but look up and ask God what you are doing wrong. Ask Him where you are going off. Ask Him what He wants you to do. Ask Him what His answer is for your problem, because for as long as you continue to solve your own problems and make your own decisions about what is right for you, you are going to keep flinging around and slipping and sliding and getting spurred by the Lord.

 

If you are called He is not going to let you die. Let me tell you, that is a manifestation of hell, flipping and flopping around and you cannot even die. That is in the book of Revelations, brethren. "In those days they were seeking to die and they could not." Hallelujah.

 

Let me say one more thing to you before we start here. A lot of Christians do not seem to understand that this Bible is written to the Christian. Everything in this Bible is to the Christian. It is for the Christian, and it is about the Christian. When you get into a passage that does not sound too favorable, do not deceive yourself into thinking that the Lord is speaking about the heathen, He is not. He is speaking about disobedient Christians. He is speaking about carnal Christians. He is speaking about you.

 

Do not read some disagreeable passages in the Bible and say, "I can go past that, that is not me, that is the Jehovah's Witnesses, and that is the Mormons, and that is the guy down the street." No, it is you! Unless everything in your life is going right, unless you have it all together and no problem areas, there is a good chance that it is you.

 

We are going through Chapter 2 of 2 Peter. We are going to find out how the Lord describes some people who He is not pleased with at the moment, or who are walking out of His best at the moment. We are going to find out how He deals with them. He does not burn them in hell forever, He overshadows them with His spirit, and He forces them against their will to do what His calling is on their life for. If you are not chastened, you are a bastard. Glory to God.

 

"But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction." First of all let me point out to you that the false prophets and false teachers are not necessarily people in the pulpit. They can be prophets and teachers in the pulpit, but we have prophets and teachers that are not in the pulpit.

 

I was teaching for years before I ever had a pulpit. I was prophesying for years before I ever had a pulpit. Do not think that because you are not in formal ministry that this is not for you. Do you minister? Do you teach people? As you pursue your daily life, are you ministering, are you teaching, are you prophesying? This is for you.

 

"But there were false prophets also among the people." Among which people? Among God's people. "Even as there shall be false teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable heresies." What is a damnable heresy? It tells us right here that a damnable heresy is a teaching that denies the Lord bought them. A damnable heresy denies the Lord that died so that you could live.

 

When you are trying a doctrine, ask yourself whether or not it denies that Jesus died so that we could live. "And bring upon themselves swift destruction." If you are sitting under a doctrine that teaches that Jesus did not die for you, there is swift destruction associated with it. However, we have thousands of people if not millions, in large religious groups that do not believe this, and they are not being destroyed.

 

Brethren, there is an hour, there is a season for judgment. The hour and the season for judgment is the hour that the Lord Jesus Christ decides to appear in you. He is not looking at those people over there. Judgment begins where? At the House of the Lord. What part of the House of the Lord? "And at the elders thereof."

 

Being in the pulpit does not make you an elder, brethren. There are two things that could make you an elder. One would be the degree to which Christ Jesus is developing in you, to which you receive no credit. It is strictly the work of the Lord. The second thing which could make you an elder is that there are a group of people in the Church who were called before they were born. If His life is in you from birth, you are an elder.

 

I have found that many people who were called before they even know the name Jesus have very intensely difficult lives. Many of them have almost died. Many of them have been abused. It is like they come up out of the dunghill. Why would the Lord do this? Because, brethren, if we had a good life we would never turn to the Lord. Following Jesus is difficult. Following Jesus is painful. Following Jesus is a sacrifice.

 

If you are looking at the Christians that are dancing around, and singing, and having no problems, they are not Sons, they are not being chastened, they are not in the walk, it is a lie.

 

True Christians are persecuted, true Christians are constantly being bombarded by Satan, the unconscious part of the carnal mind. True Christians are constantly facing snares sent by Satan, the unconscious part of the carnal mind. True Christians are constantly having to deal with Satan, the unconscious part of the carnal mind, rising up in their closest friends, even their wives and their husbands and their families to give them bad advice.

 

Brethren, there is a Church within the Church. There is a group of people that have a relationship with the Lord, and there is a group of people that are intimate with the Lord and are in the process of bearing His Son. They are of a different order. If you have been called to bear His Son, the Lord is not going to let go of you. You have most likely had a terrible life, and He is coming to get you. Some of you have risen above it and become very tough, others are being overcome.

 

If it is His purpose to appear in you, there is no Devil, there is no prophecy, there is no false teacher, there is no false doctrine, there is nothing known to man that can defeat His purpose in your life.

 

Even if you are trying to kill yourself, you will not be able to do it. He will just raise you from the dead, hang you on a meat hook and let you hang there until you die, until you dry not until you die, until you dry out. You cannot do it. Why? Because your body is not yours. Your body is for the Lord. He fully intends to appear in this world system.

 

If your body is one of the bodies that He intends to appear in, there is nothing that you could do to destroy it. You can give yourself a rough time while you are waiting for Him to come to the point that He appears in you, but you will never be destroyed. Tormented, yes, destroyed, no.

 

Verse 2, "And many shall follow their pernicious ways," ways of the false teachers and the false prophets that are teaching what? That are teaching that Jesus did not die for you, not teachers and prophets that are teaching some crazy doctrine about spiritual sexual intercourse. We are talking about prophets and teachers that are saying Jesus did not die for you.

 

Get your definitions straight. "And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of." The true doctrine is going to be evil spoken of. Brethren, open up your eyes and open up your ears. The true doctrine shall be evil spoken of. Does anybody not know what I am suggesting here?

 

There is a doctrine in the Church today, everybody loves it. I do not hear one person speaking evil of it. Verse 3, "And they spoke evil of Jesus' doctrine." Verse 3, "And through covetousness shall they with feigned words," these are Christians now, "And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not."

 

Through covetousness shall these false teachers and prophets use feigned words. They are going to use hidden words to make merchandise of you. That is the second thing you look for when you are testing a prophet or a teacher. Are they making merchandise of you?

 

There is nothing wrong with collecting tithes and there is nothing wrong with collecting offerings, but are you receiving ministry? What are you getting back? Are you receiving ministry? Are you increasing in Christ? Are your needs being met? Are you getting the counseling that you need? Or are they taking your money and playing a few songs and patting you on the back and sending you home.

 

I repeat, there is nothing wrong with giving ministers money. I need money, I have a lot of bills here. You can give me money anytime you want, but you should be getting spiritual ministry from the minister. Not in any proportion to what you are giving. You give what you could give, and the ministers are supposed to give everything that they have to give.

 

Church is not a game. It is not a place where you go to dance and sing and meet members of the opposite sex and socialize and have coffee clutches and have chicken dinners. Church is for the purpose of building up the saints. Christ must be built in you, because in the hour of His appearing the carnal mind is going to be destroyed and if Christ is not appearing in you, you will be destroyed with the heathen man.

 

Church is a serious business, it is not a joke. You can dance and sing if you want, but it is much more than that. Your life depends on it.

 

It is true that there are some ministers today that call themselves Christians that will take your money. It is bad enough if they make an issue out of money, but still I say to you, if you are getting your spiritual ministry, God will deal with that man. You do what is right if God puts you in a church, you do what is right. If he is trying to overdo it with the money, God will deal with him.

 

The question is, are you getting spiritual ministry? That is the question. Are your needs being met? Are you growing, are you being healed? Are you being delivered? Are you being counseled? Are you being ministered to?

 

If you are not, you should really ask the Lord what church He wants you to be in, because the Scripture clearly states that there are prophets and teachers out there that will make merchandise of you. Brethren, that is not only talking about money, it is also talking about your spiritual gifts.

 

There are false teachers and false prophets in the world. They like to build big ministries and if you have spiritual gifts, they want you to be a part of their ministry. Ministry is to build up the saints. You should be getting spiritual gifts, spiritual increase, spiritual teaching, spiritual strengthening, or you should not be in that church.

 

2 Peter 2 tells us, there are unscrupulous prophets and teachers out there. Not only are they taking the people's money and not building them up, but the worst part of the whole thing is that they are taking young Christians who do not know that they are supposed to be getting spiritual ministry, who think they are in a Godly church, who are doing everything they know how to do and are wondering why their problems are not solved. That is the worst part of the whole thing, the people that need help that are not getting help and do not understand that there is something wrong in the church.

 

Usually the ministers that do not have what it takes will tell you that the reason that you are not getting help is because you are a tare or something, whatever they tell you, you have no faith. I was told that for years as I was half-dead that I was not healed because I had no faith. I have faith, brethren. I have faith. Glory to God.

 

We are talking about false teachers and false prophets whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not. It means where is their judgment? They are out there, they have churches, they are calling themselves the minister of the Gospel. They are merchandising the people, taking their money, they are not giving them spiritual gifts. They are keeping them bound in their churches, they are not even releasing to find another church where they will get spiritual ministry.

 

Where is the judgment? There is no judgment. The people of the church cry out to God and say, "Why is there no judgment?"

 

Let me read that for you again, "making merchandise of you, whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not." It means that judgment is now, the time of judgment is now. All judgment is given unto the Son, the Father judgeth no man, the Son judgeth. He does not judge of Himself but He judges righteous judgment. When the Son judgeth righteous judgment, righteousness in Christ and healing and deliverance with the mercy of God is the result.

 

Verse 4, "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them to chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment," I am really not going to take any time on that because we did that word-for-word on another tape.

 

I will just remind you that the angels that sinned were the spiritual men that existed before the flood. They were cast down from a...on the other side of the flood, they were in a much higher spiritual realm than we were. Men lived until almost a thousand years old. There were very many differences between the world before the flood and the world after the flood.

 

Those spiritual men are the men who were cast down. They were cast down to what? To this world. They were cast down to hell. They were cast down from a high spiritual realm where they lived to almost a thousand years of age. We have no reports in the Scripture that they ever got sick. All of their needs were met. We do not have any reports of the problems we see after the flood.

 

They were cast down to hell. They were cast down from an existence, a world that was in a high spiritual realm, into this world where our needs are not met, where we are widows and orphans and in spiritual need. They were delivered into chains of darkness, which we found out means that in their minds, they were joined to Satan, the unconscious part of the carnal mind, in the form of their carnal mind. Hallelujah. Glory to God.

 

Verse 5, "And spared not the old world," talking about the world before the flood, "And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eight person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly."

 

What is going on here? I am not going to spend much time on that. Peter is talking about ungodliness in the Church. He is saying that the Lord did not even spare the angels on the other side of the flood, but He cast them down to hell. He is saying that every sin shall have its just recompense. He is saying do not look at the circumstances but judgment is going to come. Do not worry because these unrighteous preachers have been preaching for all these years without judgment. God is never late, His timing is perfect. Hallelujah.

 

We are going on to Verse 7 and 8. He is saying He delivered just Lot who was vexed with the filthy conversation, I am not going to spend too much time on that. Lot lived in a spiritually filthy city and he was vexed, he was a righteous man, and God delivered Lot out of the unrighteous city.

 

Verse 9 says, "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the Godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished." "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the Godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished."

 

We see a description of what the ungodly is. The apostle is saying, "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the Godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. But chiefly them that walk after the flesh." The unjust are chiefly those who walk after the flesh. We know that there is now no more condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk after the Spirit and not after the flesh.

 

The answer to your problem or the identification of your problem is that you are in the flesh. The answer to your problem is to get into the Spirit, and that can only be done by the power of Christ. Thank you Jesus.

 

Verse 10, "But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities." We find that there are people in the Church, this is not only the ministry, this is all the believers that walk after the flesh in the lust of unclean spiritual authority which is their carnal mind.

 

They despise government, they will not submit to whoever God has placed over them. Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. We see in the Church there is rebellion, and there is pride, and there is lust of the flesh, and there is every unclean work.

 

"Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord." First of all, let us review what an angel is. The Lord has shown us that an angel is the Christ that is within a man. It is the spiritual man. We know that when Peter was in jail, the church was praying for him day and night, and he was released and he went to the house where the saints were praying.

 

When the woman answered the door and saw that it was him and reported that it was him, no one wanted to believe that it was Peter. They said that it cannot be him, it must be his angel, it must be his angel. It must be his spiritual man. When you travel in the spirit, it is your spiritual man that leaves your body and travels.

 

In Verse 11, we are saying, "Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might," this is talking about Christians who are moving in Christ, as opposed to Christians who are living out of their flesh. Peter is saying that the Christians who are living out of Christ in them are greater in power and might, and they will not bring a railing accusation against the ones doing evil before the Lord does. The ones that are moving in the flesh are very quick to criticize the government of God.

 

Verse 12, "But these as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not and shall utterly perish in their own corruption." I did look up a couple of words here. The word "taken" means "capture," and the word "destroy" means "decay or ruin." It is from a root that means "to pine away."

 

These Christians that are carnal, Peter calls them "natural brute beasts," and they are made to be captured. Captured by whom? Captured by Satan, the unconscious part of the carnal mind, and the carnal mind. "Destroyed," that means they are made to be destroyed through lust. That pining away is a lust spirit. They made to be taken captive by the carnal mind and spend their life lusting for something they could never achieve.

 

These are the people in the flesh who will speak evil of the things they do not understand, and they shall utterly perish in their own corruption.

 

Verse 13, "And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time." What is the reward of unrighteousness? Does anybody know what the reward of unrighteousness is?

 

COMMENT: Death?

 

PASTOR VITALE: Ultimately, it is death but for one act of unrighteousness, you can receive a demon. You can receive a demon, or you can reap what you sow. "And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time." The daytime, brethren, refers to the age of Christ. This is the world of darkness and, if we have received Christ, light is starting to be shed upon us.

 

There are some believers, the Scripture says, that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime. That means that they have Christ in them. To be in the daytime, you must have Christ in you. There are people that have Christ in them that still live riotously, and that means they are out of order, they are doing ungodly things.

 

"Spots and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you." How do you feast, brethren? We feast on the Word of God. What this is saying is that there are Christians who are spiritual spots and blemishes, I looked up those words. The word "sporting" means "to live in pleasure." They are living in carnal pleasure while at the same time they are experiencing the deep things of God with you.

 

"They have eyes full of adultery and they cannot cease from sin, they are beguiling unstable souls." The eye in the Scripture, typified by the soul, is full of adultery with the carnal mind and Satan, the unconscious part of the carnal mind. They cannot cease from sin, they are "beguiling." That is seductive. They are unstable souls. That means they cannot stay in Christ, they keep flip-flopping back and forth. They have a heart that is exercised with covetous practices. That means there is envy present. The Scripture says they are cursed children.

 

Brethren, you are not a child of God unless you have Christ. You are not a Son unless you have Christ. These believers are Christ, and the Scripture says that they are cursed.

 

Verse 15, "Which have forsaken the right way and are gone astray." What is the right way? The right way is following after Christ. Here is the verse that is going to lead us into the teaching where the Scripture shows how God is going to deliver His children. Even those who are in this condition are going to be delivered out.

 

Still talking about them, "They have forsaken the right way, and they have gone astray following the way of Balaam, the son of Bolsor who loved the wages of unrighteousness."

 

Balaam was rebuked for his iniquity, the Scripture says. God loved him, and He rebuked him. "The dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbade the madness of the prophet." We are going to go into that in a few minutes, but we are still going on with what Peter says. "These are wells without water," these are Christians, they are wells without the water of Christ. "They are clouds which are carried about with a tempest." That means every time Satan, the unconscious part of the carnal mind, blows on them, they move about. They cannot settle down, and they cannot stand still. "To whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever." The mist of darkness is this world system.

 

You might be saying, "How can I say that they are Christ?" I said these are cursed children, meaning they are children of God. I said that God does not chasten you if you are a bastard so to be chastened, it means that you are a child of God. To be a child of God or to be a Son of God, Christ must be in the process of being formed in you. Then, how can the Scripture say and how can I say that, you are a well without water?

 

What this Scripture means, brethren, is that the person that this chapter is describing is not living out of Christ. This is the description of the carnal man that they are living out of. Christ is in there, that is what makes them a child. They are a cursed child, because even though Christ is in there, they are crippled and unable to live out of Christ.

 

Being a Son, God is going to have to do something. He is going to have to wound the carnal mind that they are living out of. He is going to have to overshadow that carnal mind. He is going to have to move supernaturally, by His Spirit, to help the Son that is cursed, because he is lying under his carnal mind and cannot stand up. The Lord is going to have to do something supernaturally to weaken the carnal mind and to strengthen His Son.

 

Remember, no two Scriptures can contradict one another. There must be a reconciling doctrine. Every Scripture must be able to be reconciled with every other Scripture. If you cannot see the reconciliation, then pray to the Lord to show it to you. There can be no contradiction in the Scripture.

 

"They allure," or "they seduce through the lusts of the flesh." What are they seducing? They are seducing you to follow them. These are false teachers and false prophets. They are seducing you through the lusts of the flesh. Brethren, they are talking about charisma, they are talking about preachers that get you to listen to them because they have charisma. Not because they have the Word of God, but because they have charisma.

 

"They allure you through the lusts of the flesh and through much wantonness". This word, "wantonness" means "lacking legal and moral restraints." It means you are lacking restraints and that you have other vices. They are going to convince you to come to them for prophecy and teaching through the lusts of the flesh and through a lack of moral restraints.

 

That means that we find some ministries that are teaching that it is not necessary to live holy, and there are some ministries out there like that, that it is not necessary to live holy. "Those that were clean escaped from them who live in error." This is saying that we have false teachers and false prophets that are going to those that have escaped from a life of error, and they are telling them it is all right to do these things, it is all right to do these things.

 

Verse 19, "While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption." While the preachers and false prophets promise the people liberty, deliverance and healing, the prophets and teachers themselves are servants of corruption. "For of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage." If you are sinning, you are the servant of a spirit in you that brings you to that bondage.

 

"For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them"

 

What does this mean? "If you do that, it means severe judgment." If God calls you, and He blesses you and you cannot walk in it, it means severe judgment is going to fall on you. "But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to its own vomit again."

 

The dog in this Scripture typifies Satan, the unconscious part of the carnal mind, and the word "vomit" means "to give food back up." Brethren, when Christ comes into your life, Christ is the Word and He is food. When He comes into your life, His food covers over the carnal food, and the carnal food goes down under.

 

When your carnal mind rises to surface and becomes your mind again, it is spiritual vomit. Satan, the unconscious part of the carnal mind, the dog, has caused his vomit to return, has caused the carnal mind to become the mind of that person.

 

"And the sow (That is a female pig. That is your human spirit) that was washed has returned to her wallowing in the mire." She has returned to her spiritual adultery with Satan, the unconscious part of the carnal mind.

 

The Church world takes this...if you go on to Chapter 3, there is nothing at all that indicates that God is going to have mercy on people that fall into this condition. I am suggesting to you that our God is an awesome and mighty God, and that He can deliver people that fall into this condition. His deliverance is...an example of His deliverance is in Balaam in Numbers.

 

Let us turn to Numbers. We are going to see how God delivered Balaam who was in this condition. How do we know that he was in this condition? Peter tells us that he was in this condition, that as far as God was concerned Balaam was in this condition.

 

Numbers Chapter 22, and we are going to go over Verses 21 and 35. We are going to see a pretty good example of how God deals with someone in this condition out of His love.

 

Let me just feel you in on this. Balak was the king of Moab, and he hated Israel. He sought to hire Balaam, who was a mighty prophet of the day to curse the children of Israel. Remember, if you are a believer and you are having these problems, you have a Balak inside of your mind. It is talking about your carnal mind.

 

The prophet that is in your mind is your human spirit. Your carnal mind is...the one with the spiritual authority is your human spirit, so your carnal mind is trying to get your human spirit to curse the Christ in you.

 

This warfare is going on in your mind. There is a Balak in your mind that wants Israel to be cursed. He wants the false prophet in your own mind, which is Eve, to curse you. This is how God is going to save you from being in this condition.

 

Numbers 22, Verse 21. "And Balaam rose up in the morning." Remember, Balak had just bought him. Balaam did not want to curse Israel, he refused to do it. This can be likened to the believer that does not want to sin, and is fighting, and fighting, and fighting, and then he finally gives in. Balaam has given in. He is going to take Balak's money, and he is going to curse Israel.

 

"Balaam rose up in the morning and saddled his ass and went with the princes of Moab (to do their dirty work, to curse Israel), and God's anger was kindled because he went." God did not like it that he sold out to Moab.

 

If you look it up, Moab means "incest." We know that we have an incestuous mind that has been created. Our carnal mind has been created through the incest of Satan, the unconscious part of the carnal mind, and his sister Eve. "And God's anger was kindled because he went." God is angry when our spiritual man falls prey to our carnal mind.

 

"And the angel of the Lord stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass and his two servants were with him." This is a prophet that is going in the wrong direction. A prophet that hears from God, who is anointed of God, who is going in the wrong direction.

 

"And the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way and his sword drawn in his hand. And the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field. And Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way." What this is saying is that there is, if we are referring it to the Christian today, there is something within the Christian that sees the angel of the Lord blocking his way. He can see the angel of the Lord saying, "Do not go this way," but the carnal mind of that man rose up and is whipping that own part of Christ in himself that wants to say, "No, do not go this way."

 

The carnal mind was too strong, and that is typified by Balaam whipping his poor ass. His ass, that part of him that recognizes the Christ and says, "No, God does not want you going this way." The carnal mind rose up and defeated the Christ in his very own mind. This is what the Lord did.

 

When you are in this condition, the Lord is going to help you. The Lord is going to help you, despite yourself. The Scripture says, "There are those who oppose themselves." They are their own worst enemy. Jesus loves you enough to defeat you who oppose yourself.

 

"But the angel of the Lord stood in a path of the vineyards, a wall being on this side and a wall on that side." The Lord caused Balaam to choose a path that had a wall on both sides of it. There was no place for him to go. He could not go to the left, and he could not go to the right. That is how God ministers to people who cannot stay on the path.

 

He puts them in a place with a wall on the left and a wall on the right, and there is no place they can go, and the angel of the Lord is standing in front of them. Every door is closed on every side. You are going to have to deal with God.

 

"But the angel of the Lord stood in a path of the vineyards, a wall being on this side and a wall on that side. And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she thrust herself unto the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall. And he smote her again." Once again, there is a Christ part of the believer.

 

The Christ part of the believer can recognize that God is saying, "Do not go this way," but that willful pride in the believer is whipping that own part of his being that is saying, "No, I see the angel of the Lord." In the case of Balaam, it was that lust for money. He wanted that money.

 

Please note that the angel of the Lord, caused Balaam's foot to be crushed between the ass and the wall. The foot typifies our existence in this world system, our physical being in this world system. The intervention of the angel of the Lord in the path that the ass was being driven on resulted in the prophet's foot being crushed.

 

Brethren, if you are on a wrong path, and no correction to date has stopped you from being on that wrong path, and you are a Son, you are in the process of being chastened. Rest assured that the angel of the Lord shall appear to you, or is about to appear to you and put a stop to your movement in the wrong direction. Your foot shall be crushed against the wall.

 

Who is the wall? Jesus is the wall of your salvation. You shall be crushed between your own carnality and the wall of the One who died that you might live.

 

If you fit into this category, you can expect to have an encounter with your God along the way which would result in the crushing of your carnal ways. I adjure you no matter how painful it may be, lift up your head and your arms and praise God, for the chastening shall surely save your life.

 

"And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she fell down under Balaam, and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff." Balaam's carnal mind is beating up the rest of his being. Whatever it is in him that is recognizing God is being beaten up by Balaam's carnal mind.

 

"The Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, what have I done unto to thee that thou hast smitten me these three times?" All that she did was try to respond to the living God and Balaam's, or the type of the carnal mind of the believer, was whipping that part of him, trying to destroy that part of him that wanted to respond to God.

 

"And Balaam said unto the ass, because thou hast mocked me, I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee." Brethren, I want to tell you that your carnal mind is so enraged at any part of you that wants to serve Christ, that he is enraged enough to try to kill you.

 

"And the ass said unto Balaam, am I not thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? Was I ever wont to do so unto thee? And he said, nay. Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam." This is the Lord coming through to deliver someone who is caught in the lust for money. God opened his eyes, so that is the first thing that God is going to do to help you if you are in this category. He is going to open your eyes so you can see the truth.

 

"The Lord opened the eyes of Balaam and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand. And he bowed down his head and flat on his face." When God opened Balaam's eyes, he recognized the Spirit of God, and he immediately stopped obeying Balak and worshiped the living God.

 

The first stage of your deliverance, if you are in this condition, is that the Lord must open your eyes. You must recognize your condition, you must recognize that the Lord is saying, "Not this way. "And the angel of the Lord said unto him, wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? Behold I went out to stop you, because your way is perverse before me." If you are not doing the right thing, and you are not going the right way, the angel of the Lord will come out to stop you.

 

"And the ass saw me and turned from me these three times. Unless she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her alive." It is a miracle that he was alive.

 

We see that God is going to open your eyes. First of all, God is going to be angry at your error, and He is going to go out to slay you, judgment is going to fall on you. Then He is going to open your eyes and let you see the truth about your condition, then He is going to talk to you and explain to you what is happening.

 

"And Balaam said unto the angel of the Lord, I have sinned," now Balaam repents, "For I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me." I did not realize that all of my problems was the Lord hindering me. I thought it was Satan, the unconscious part of the carnal mind, hindering me. I thought it was Satan, the unconscious part of the carnal mind, that did not want me to do such and such a thing, but it was the Lord saying to me, do not go that way."

 

"And Balaam said unto the angel of the Lord, I have sinned. For I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displease thee, I shall get me back again. And the angel of the Lord said unto Balaam, Go with the men."

 

We are not interested in that. What happened here was that Balaam repented, and he wanted to go back from taking the money and serving Satan, the unconscious part of the carnal mind, but the angel of the Lord said unto Balaam, "No, I want you to go through with the agreement. I am going to give you the victory, and I am going to be glorified even though you are with these wicked men."

 

What this is saying, for us, for the believer today, is that no matter what condition we are in, no matter how we have sold out to our carnal mind, the Lord has promised to give us the victory. The Lord has promised to give us the victory. Thank you Jesus. I am just going to jump ahead here, and I am going to tell you that three times Balaam, I think it is four times, Balaam goes to make sacrifices unto the Lord in the hopes that he will receive a spiritual anointing that will enable him to curse Israel.

 

In other words, how can we apply this to the believer today? The Lord is saying, "Go forth with your life, continue your life as it is, I am going to give you the victory as you walk, I am going to give you the victory as you walk." That is how it applies to the believer today.

 

Balaam sacrificed his animals and when he tried to curse Israel, he found that he could not do it. We are going to briefly go over the few prophecies that came out of his mouth when he tried to curse Israel. How does this reflect on the believer today? What I am saying to you is that no matter how self-destructive you are, or how hard you are trying to destroy yourself, the Lord Jesus Christ is going to overshadow you.

 

Whereas you would speak words of death and destruction upon yourself, the Lord Jesus Christ will speak words of life upon you. Whereas you are abiding in death, the Lord Jesus Christ will speak words of life upon you. Whereas you are abiding in death, the Lord Jesus Christ has every intention of imparting life to you.

 

That is basically what God is saying to people that are having these problems, He is going to do it for you. If you are having so many troubles that you are categorized by Peter 2, the Lord God is going to enter into your life, and enter into your mind and He is going to be everything that you have not been able to be. He is going to bring you through, and He is going to deliver you. Have faith in God, confess your condition, and the Lord Jesus Christ is faithful to deliver you. Hallelujah. It is good news. Any questions?

 

Deliverance session follows.

 

05/02/2004LM-L

 

08/13/05ab-FinalEdit