And this morning is found in verse 11 there where the Bible reads therefore now flee
thou to thy place I thought to promote thee unto great honor but lo the Lord hath kept
thee back from honor and the title of my sermon this morning is this the Lord hath
kept thee back from honor now before I get into that part of the sermon I want
to just explain the story about who Balaam is I don't like to just take something
completely out of context and so let me give you the story of Balaam go back to
Numbers chapter 22 and we can see who he was now if you just read Numbers 24 all
by itself you'd probably walk away thinking the number that Balaam was a
pretty good preacher because in Numbers 24 he's speaking a lot of God's word
and he's refusing to curse Israel which Balak the king of Moab is trying to get
him to curse Israel he won't do it and so he seems like he's really
standing his ground standing up for the Word of God but if you get the whole
story you'll see the Balaam was a very bad person and I'll explain to you why
he did what he did in chapter 24 look at chapter 22 verse 5 the Bible
says he sent messengers therefore unto Balaam the son of Beor to Pethor
which is by the river of the land of the children of his people to call him
saying behold there is a people come out from Egypt behold they cover the
face of the earth and they abide over against me come now therefore I pray thee
curse me this people for they are too mighty for me peradventure I shall
prevail that we may smite them and that I may drive them out of the land
for I wat that he whom thou blessest is blessed and he whom thou cursest is
cursed and the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the
rewards of divination in their hand and they came unto Balaam and spake
unto him the words of Balak and he said unto them lodge here this night and I will
bring you word again as the Lord shall speak unto me and the princes of Moab
abode with Balaam so here this king Balak the king of Moab and the Moabites
and the Midianites they come to this man Balaam he's a well-known preacher
he's a famous preacher and they come to him and they say we want you to curse
the children of Israel the children of Israel come out of the land of Egypt
and of course they're going to come into the Promised Land and these people are afraid that they're going to be
defeated by the children of Israel because the children of Israel are much
mightier and more powerful than they are so they decide to hire this
preacher to curse the children of Israel of course the children of Israel are God's
people God's the one who brought them out of the land of Egypt God is
going to bless them and so this is a ridiculous request but Balaam says
well okay he says in verse eight lodge here this night and I'll bring you word again as the Lord shall speak
unto me and the princes of Moab abode with Balaam so Balaam pretty much says
okay well I'm going to ask God what he thinks about this I'm going to go speak to God
come back in the morning lodge here and in the morning come to me and I'll tell you what God
says about this so it says in verse nine and God came unto Balaam and said
what men are these with thee and Balaam said unto God
Balak the son of Zippor king of Moab has sent unto me saying behold there
is a people come out of Egypt which covereth the face of the earth come now
curse me them peradventure I shall be able to overcome them and drive them
out and God said unto Balaam thou shalt not go with them thou shalt not curse the
people for they are blessed now that's a pretty clear answer isn't it
God says don't go with them don't curse these people he says they're blessed
done end of story and remember these men that wanted Balaam to curse the
children of Israel they brought money they're trying to pay him and give him a
lot of money and a lot of honor to do that so Balaam rose up in the
morning verse 13 and Balaam rose up in the morning and said unto the
princes of Balak get you into your land for the Lord refuseth to give me
leave to go with you now the fact that it says the Lord refuses shows that
Balaam is trying to get God to let him do it and God's refusing to let him do
it
ok look at the next verse and the princes of Moab rose up and they went
unto Balak and said Balaam refuses to come with us and Balak sent yet
again princes more and more honorable than they and they came to Balaam and
said to him thus saith Balak the son of Zippor let nothing I pray thee
hinder thee from coming unto me for I will promote thee and a very great honor
and I will do whatsoever thou sayest unto me come therefore I pray thee
curse me this people he's saying name your price whatever you want
whatever honor or money or power you want I'll give it to you and Balaam
answered and said unto the servants of Balak if Balak would give me his
whole house full of silver and gold I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord
my God to do less or more so Balaam sounds like he's still doing pretty well
at this point but it says in verse 19 now therefore I pray you
Terry also here this night that I may know what the Lord will say unto me
more
wait why does he need to ask him again he already knows what God said the
first time
watch what God says to him God came unto Balaam at night and said if the
man come to call thee rise up and go with them but yet the word which I
shall say unto thee that shalt thou do so if they come and call you then go
ahead and go with them but only say what I tell you to say and look what it
says in verse 21 and Balaam rose up in the morning and saddled his ass and
went with the prince of Moab is there any mention of them calling him
no he just gets up bright and early all right let's go God said I could go
see he only hears the part that he wants to hear you know everything that
God said is just go with them
you know that's how it is sometimes when people come to church they just hear
the part that they want to hear they they just ignore all the part that they
don't like and the same thing when they read their Bible sometimes so he
doesn't hear the part where God told him
hey if they call you come with them but no he just gets up and goes just to
prove that what he did was wrong
it says he saddled his ass and went with the princes of Moab look at verse 22
and God's anger was kindled why because he didn't follow his instruction because
he went 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 them
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 so again I'm
not going to read the whole story for sake of time but God's very angry when
he just is so eager to go because he was so taunted and tantalized by the
money and the honor he just really wanted to go do this even though it's
not what God wants him to do even though God told him not to do it he
wants to do it anyway God gets angry and so God sends an angel to kill
Balaam to destroy Balaam with the sword in his hand to smite Balaam with
the sword now the ass that he's riding upon which is like a donkey it sees the
angel and the sword even though Balaam can't see it and so the ass turns out
of the way and and and will not go forward down the path so Balaam begins
to be angry with the ass he starts to beat it and whip it and so forth
and the thing just keeps turning out of the way it won't listen and then
finally God performs this miracle and it's kind of a funny miracle in the
Bible but he actually opens the mouth of the ass and begins to speak to him
look if you would at verse 27 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
the staff and the Lord opened the mouth of the ass and she said unto
Balaam what have I done unto thee that thou has smitten me these three
times and Balaam said unto the ass because thou has mocked me now when your ass
starts talking to you it's kind of weird to start responding to it like
it's just normal just well of course I'm hitting you he says because I was
mocked me I would there were a sword in my hand for now would I kill thee
he said I wish I had a sword might I kill you right now I guess he's just so
mad he doesn't stop to think about it wait a minute why is an animal talking
to me and the ass said unto Balaam am not I thine ass upon which thou has
written ever since I was dying and to this day was I ever want to do so
unto thee and he said nay you know have I ever done this before and it
says in verse 31 then 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 fell flat on his face and the angel of the Lord
sent him wherefore is thou smitten thine ass these three times behold I went
out to withstand thee because thy way is perverse before me 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 life said I would have
killed you he's saying that ass just saved your life and Balaam said unto
the angel of the Lord I've sinned for I knew not that thou stoodest in
the way against me now therefore if it displeased thee I'll get me back
again and the angel of the Lord said unto Balaam go with the men but only the word
that I shall speak unto thee that thou shalt speak so Balaam went with the
princes of Balaam now I'm not going to read the whole thing it goes into
chapter 23 chapter 24 Balaam eventually goes with them he goes to
Balaam Balaam basically rebukes him for not coming sooner he says in verse
37 and Balaam said unto Balaam did I not earnestly send unto thee to call thee
wherefore camest thou not unto me am I not able indeed to promote thee to honor
and so Balaam over and over again is asked by Balak to curse the people of
God to curse the children of Israel and God keeps putting blessings in his
mouth and God will not let him curse the people now we don't want to
give Balaam too much credit here for standing his ground when you realize the
fact that the only reason that Balaam is doing what's right is because God has
already come this close to killing Balaam so when God physically sends an
angel to come and to kill Balaam with the sword and he says I'm gonna
kill you because your way is perverse don't say anything that I don't
tell you to say we can't really give Balaam too much credit as being oh he's
just such a great man of God he's just standing for the truth now he's
really interested in money he's interested in the honor that's why he's so eager
to go with them and so forth but God does not allow him to curse the people
now look at the end of chapter 24 in verse 25 this is the last verse of
chapter 24 this is right after the chapter that we read where he's
standing his ground against Balak says in verse 25 and Balaam rose up and he
went and returned to his place and Balak also went his way now if we stop reading
there it would seem like okay Balaam did the right thing but look at verse 1
chapter 25 this is not a coincidence and Israel abode and shit him and the
people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab and they called the
people under the sacrifices of their gods and the people did eat and
bow down to their gods and Israel joined himself unto Baal Peor and the
anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and the Lord said unto
Moses take all the heads of the people and hang them up before the Lord
against the Sun that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from
Israel and Moses said unto the judges of Israel slay ye everyone his men that
were joined unto Baal Peor so right after Balaam goes back to his house
everything seems fine it seems like Balaam only blessed them the next verse
tells us that the children of Israel begin to commit whoredom with the
daughters of Moab and they start to eat the meat that sacrificed unto
Baal Baal Peor is another name for Satan there Baal Zebub Baal Belial
Belial whatever all these different names are associated with Satan and it
says in verse six behold one of the children of Israel came and brought
unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses and in the
sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel who were weeping
before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation so here we have the
people weeping they're sad they're sorry for the sins that they've
committed and for the sins of their nation and right in front of Moses in
front of all the leaders in front of everybody this guy brings in a
Midianitish woman in order to commit fornication with her and look what it
says in verse seven when Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the
priest saw it he rose up from among the congregation and took a javelin in
his hand and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust
both of them through the man of Israel and the woman through her belly
so the plague was stayed from the children of Israel and those that died
in the plague were twenty and four thousand that's a lot of people twenty
four thousand and the Lord spake unto Moses saying Phinehas the son of Eleazar
the son of Aaron the priest had turned my wrath away from the children
of Israel while he was zealous for my sake among them that I consume not the
children of Israel in my jealousy wherefore say behold I give unto him my
covenant of peace and he shall have it and his seed after him even the
covenant of an everlasting priesthood because he was zealous for his God and
made an atonement for the children of Israel then he gives the name of the
Israelitish man and the Midianitish woman that their memory may rot for
all history and thousands of years later their name could be held in
ignominy and reproach you see God's people here right after the incident
with Balaam and we get more detail about this later in the Bible that's
why it's important to read the whole Bible they begin to commit
fornication with these Midianitish women and God makes an example of this one man who was so
brazen and open about his sin now let me explain something to you throughout
history there's always been sin running rampant in all nations in all
the world because the heart is deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked who can know it man is a sinful creature there's none
that do with good no not one sin has always been around and fornication has
always been around and adultery has always been around all throughout the
Bible we see these sins but a big difference between the sin of today and
the sins of the past and what we read about in the Bible is that the
sin of today is done openly you see God is especially angry when sin is
condoned and just publicly accepted and as it says in 1 Corinthians 5 when
there's just a common report and everybody knows about it and everybody's
ok with it and nobody minds there have always been queers and homos but let me
tell you something today they're more open than they've ever been in the
history of mankind even in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah they went and hid
as soon as it became light they were out at night and then when the sun
came up they all went and hid in their place same thing in Judges 19 they
all went and scampered away like cockroaches when the sun began to
come up today sin is more openly accepted than it has ever been and that's
what we see here just open fornication and God is so angry and a
man of God was so angry
Phinehas here we see that judgment was carried out by both and God poured
out his wrath 24,000 were killed now a lot of people will say that go to 1
Corinthians 10 a lot of people will say this they'll say well you know it's a
good thing God has really mellowed out in the New Testament because man
back then he was a god of wrath it's a good thing we're living in the age of
grace brother but look what it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 oh thou
dispensational one who believes that we're living in the age of grace and
that there is a difference in God's attitude towards sin let's go to the
epistles of Paul first Corinthians chapter number 10 the Bible brings up
this exact incident it says in verse 8 neither let us commit fornication as some
of them committed and fell in one day three and twenty thousand you say
that's a contradiction no there were 24,000 that died in the plague 23,000
died in one day
ok obviously more continued to die he says there fell in one day three and
twenty thousand and he says in verse 11
now all these things happen unto them for in samples they are written for our
admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come
the Bible says that that story is even in the Bible for you and I today
living in the last days
those of us upon whom the end of the world has come that we would
understand what a serious sin it is to commit fornication
God put that story in there not just for the children of Israel but for us in
the New Testament today
that's what that story is for it's to admonish us it's to warn every teenager
that's here this morning and every young person at not to commit
fornication because it is not a small sin it's a big sin according to the
Bible and God feels the same way about it in first Corinthians 10 as he
felt about it in numbers 25 now you say well how do you know the Balaam was
responsible for what happened in numbers 25
well for sake of time let's just go to Revelation chapter number two revelation
chapter two and while you're turning there all all read for you some more
from second Peter chapter two you turn to Revelation 2 and second Peter
two it says and you should remember this from a few weeks ago when I
preached about false prophets it says having eyes full of adultery and that
cannot cease from sin beguiling unstable souls and heart they have exercised
with covetous practices cursed children who have forsaken the right way and are
gone astray following the way of Balaam the son of both sore who loved
listen this who loved the wages of unrighteousness so whenever you don't
understand a story in the Old Testament it's great when God sheds
more light on it in the New Testament he said that Balaam loved the wages of
unrighteousness he was the quintessential false prophet teaching
things which he ought not for filthy lucre's sake he loved to get paid now God
prevented him from cursing Israel God threatened to kill him God put his words
in Balaam's mouth but still he was a bad guy he wanted to do wrong he
wanted to curse them God just wouldn't allow them to curse them it says that
Balaam the son of both sore who loved the wages of unrighteousness but was
rebuked for his iniquity the dumb ass speaking with man's voice for bad the
madness of the Prophet you know what madness means insanity and so this was
not a good guy this is not somebody that we should look at as a great
preacher but look at Revelation 2 verse 14 God gives even more detail
but I have a few things against thee because thou hast there them that hold
the doctrine doctrine means teaching the doctrine of Balaam who taught
Balaam to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel to eat things
sacrificed unto idols and to commit fornication so here in the book of
Revelation Jesus himself speaking to the seven churches explains that in the
Old Testament the reason why right after Balaam and Balaam met the
children of Israel began to commit fornication and go to these Baal Peor
sacrifices and eat the meat sacrificed unto idols is that Balaam taught
Balaam to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel to eat things
sacrificed unto idols and to commit fornication that's why later on the
Bible says in numbers 31 you don't have to turn there but in numbers 31
7 the Bible says they war against the Midianites and the Lord commanded
Moses and they slew all the males and they slew the kings of Midian beside
the rest of them that were slain namely Evai and Rekim and Zur and
Hoel and Reba five kings of Midian Balaam also the son of Beor they slew
with the sword so when they were killing all the Midianitish males they
also killed Balaam because he was with them and because he was a bad guy
the Bible calls him later on Balaam the soothsayer does that sound like a
Bible believing preacher the Bible also says that later on in the book of
Joshua how basically he wanted to curse them but God would not harken unto
Balaam therefore he blessed you still okay so Balaam was a false prophet he
was an unsaved man he was an ungodly man you say well how could he speak
God's Word well in John 12 the high priest that year Caiaphas he actually
spoke God's Word and the Bible says that the Spirit of the Lord basically
came upon him and he spake because he was the high priest God put words in
his mouth even though he was an unsaved unbelieving man so God can make
I mean I don't I don't think that that ass was was saved either I mean it
was an animal and yet God put his words into the mouth of that ass and so
God put his words in Balaam's mouth but Balaam was a bad man he was a bad
preacher he was a not a man of God whatsoever
Jude one go to Jude quickly if you're in Revelation just a few pages back
Jude verse 11 says woe unto them for they've gone in the way of Cain and
and ran greedily listen to this after the error of Balaam for reward so
according to the Bible here Balaam went greedily after that reward and he
says modern-day false prophets are like unto him and he says that they
perished in the gainsaying of Corey these are spots in your feasts of
charity when they feast with you feeding themselves without fear clouds
they are without water carried about of winds trees whose fruit wither without
fruit twice dead plucked up by the roots raging waves of the sea foaming out
their own shame wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness
forever so here we see very clear evidence again that Balaam was not
saved he was a false prophet there's a lot of evidence with that but go to
John chapter five let me get into the actual meat of the sermon I just
wanted to first of all let you know who Balaam was and get you the context
of the story and I'm just going to quickly preach on this subject the
Lord hath kept thee back from honor now when Balak was trying to get
Balaam to curse the people of God and Balaam himself wanted to curse
the people of God according to other places in the Bible he wanted to do
it God was preventing him from doing he wanted the paycheck he wanted the
fame and the prestige and the honor that Balak was able to give him when
he tried to do it and was not able to do so Balaam told Balaam he
said he said I thought to promote thee under great honor but lo the Lord
hath kept thee back from honor and so I want to preach about that subject
this morning the Lord hath kept thee back from honor look quickly at John
541 the Bible says I receive not honor from men now that's a profound
thought I love the short verses in the Bible don't you God I guess God
just felt that there was just enough in that verse it's time to you know get
going on to another number I receive not honor from men you know that could be
a motto and a slogan for every preacher and every pastor and every
believer I mean that should be something that should be a life verse
I've never heard of anybody having this as a life verse but this would be
a great life verse I receive not honor from men and who said it Jesus
said it Jesus said I don't receive honor from men but I know you that you
have not the love of God in you I'm coming my father's name and you
receive me not if another shall come in his own name him he will receive how
can you believe which receive honor one of another listen to this and seek
not the honor that cometh from God only now right there God says that
there are two kinds of people in this world the ones who like to receive
honor from men and those who are seeking after the honor that comes from
God only now Balak said to Balaam I thought to promote thee to great honor
but behold the Lord hath kept thee back from honor let me tell you
something truer words were never spoken that's the truth God did keep
Balaam back from honor he could have been honored he could have been
popular he could have been a great man amongst the worldly crowd but the
Lord kept him back from honor why because God will not allow us to
prosper with the world and also to prosper with God it's not going to
happen you can't have both in this life go to Luke chapter 6 Luke chapter
number 6 you see it's the wicked that really prosper in this world look if
you would at Luke chapter 6 verse 20 you don't believe me the Bible says no
man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the
other or he will hold to the one and despise the other you cannot
serve God and Mammon okay he says in Luke 6 verse 20 and he lifted up his
eyes on his disciples and said blessed be ye poor for yours is the kingdom of
God blessed are ye that hunger now for ye shall be filled blessed are ye
that weep now for you shall laugh blessed are ye when men shall hate you
and when they shall separate you from their company and shall reproach you
and cast out your name as evil for the Son of Man's sake rejoice ye in that
day and leap for joy for behold your reward is great in heaven for in the
like manner did their fathers unto the prophets but woe unto you that are
rich for ye have received your consolation woe unto you that are full for ye
shall hunger woe unto you that laugh now for ye shall mourn and weep woe unto
you when all men shall speak well of you for so did their fathers to the
false prophets he says if all men are speaking well of you you're a false
prophet woe unto you he said if you're being despised and rejected and
persecuted leap for joy greats your reward in heaven Jesus is putting out a
very clear choice here do you want to be poor and right with God or do
you want to be rich and have God upset with you do you want to be loved
by man as a preacher or do you want to be loved by God and you want to be
promoted by God do you want to laugh now and have all the fun now and mourn
later and mourn throughout eternity or do you want to have the little bit of
weeping and mourning and sorrow now and have great rejoicing for all
eternity you say I want to have both I want to live a happy life I want to
be popular I want to be the kid at school that everybody loves and adores
and lifts up I want to be popular on the job I want to be famous I want to
be wealthy I want to be comfortable I want to be happy all the time you
can't do that and be right with God because the Bible says that God has
called us to a life of suffering the Bible says for unto you it is given on
behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake
God expects sacrifice from his people he does not expect us to take everything
the world has to offer and to thrive in this world and serve God at
the same time he said no you're gonna have to sacrifice in order to serve me
you're going to have to be persecuted because all that will live
godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution you're not going to be a
rich fat cat living a lavish luxurious lifestyle because God said sell all that
you have and give it to the poor if you're wealthy and he said and take up
the cross and follow me he said to give and to distribute and to be
generous not to just lavish yourself with wealth and luxury but you see
people want to have it both ways don't they they want to have serving God and
riches serving God and popularity serving God and laughing and happy every
day you know when you serve God you go through some hard times you do but he
said you know blessed are you that weep Jesus wept he said you will be
comforted there are so many scriptures that talk about the fact that we as
God's people are going to have to go through hard times and suffer and
sadness the Bible says of Jesus that he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with
grief he was not wealthy he did not have a fancy dwelling place he did not
drive a fancy car he did not have this world's good he was not popular in
the sense that he had many people trying to kill him in many places he
said the world hates me because I testify unto it that the works
thereof are evil go to Luke 16 Luke chapter number 16 Jesus talked a lot
about this subject Luke 16 and the Bible reads in verse 14 and the
Pharisees who were covetous that means that they desired to have more
money and more possessions and riches for themselves the Pharisees who were
covetous heard all these things and they derided him and he said unto
them ye are they which justify yourselves before men but God knoweth
your hearts for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in
the sight of God now with that in mind if what man honors because
esteem and honor are pretty much the same type of a word okay they're
very similar words he says that which is highly esteemed among men that
which the world considers honorable that which the world considers good
and and and right to do he said that which is highly esteemed among men is
abomination in the sight of God so translation if you want to be highly
esteemed among men you're going to be an abomination to God I mean it or
else or else you're going to be highly esteemed in God's eyes you're
going to be an abomination to the world around you and you see if you
follow God's Word remember the the title of the sermon the Lord has kept
the back from honor you know what God's going to keep you back from being
popular at school and God's going to keep you back from being a successful
politician I mean you think that that you can become a successful politician
or you can become the president of the United States without selling your
soul to the devil in 2012 you're wrong go to Luke chapter 4 now people
disagree with that but but it's foolish if you don't if you don't
understand that you're full I'm sorry but if the world today is wicked if our
nation is ungodly and sinful why would they exalt and lift up a righteous
person to lead they're not going to look at Luke chapter 4 and I'll show
you how people come to positions of power the Bible says in verse 1 Jesus
being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit
into the wilderness being 40 days tempted of the devil and in those
days he did eat nothing now is he whining and dining and and having a
luxurious lifestyle no he's fasting he's praying he's in the desert he's
suffering this is Jesus this is our Savior this is the one who left an
example that we should follow in his steps it says in verse 3 and the
devil said unto him if thou be the Son of God command that this this
stone that it be made bread and Jesus answered him saying it is written that
man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God look what Jesus
look what the devil says next verse 5 and the devil taking him up into a
high mountain showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment
of time and the devil said unto him all this power will I give thee and
the glory of them and watch this next statement for that is delivered unto
me and to whomsoever I will I give it if they'll therefore will worship me
all shall be thine and of course Jesus didn't give into that temptation he
said in verse 8 Jesus answered and said to him get thee behind me Satan for
it is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt
thou serve now Jesus Christ here is offered all the kingdoms of the
world now we know eventually Jesus will receive all the kingdoms of the
world but first he had to be to suffer to be beaten to be spat upon to
be mocked to die to be in hell for three days and three nights to
rise again okay the devil is offering them a shortcut without any of
that just all give it to you because look it's delivered unto
me and into whomsoever I will I give it now you say I've heard
some people say this well the devil was lying there he doesn't really
have the power to give somebody that authority oh yeah that's the exact
authority he's going to give the Antichrist so if he doesn't have
the power to give that then how does he give it to a man in
Revelation 13 and in Revelation 13 it talks about the Antichrist and
it says he had power over all nations all kindreds all tongues and
it says the dragon gave him his power and great authority so where
did the Antichrist authority of the devil gave it to him now this is where
the concept comes from you probably heard the concept of people selling
their souls of the devil right this is where that comes from because
the devil is making this offer to Jesus saying you know what if
you worship me I'll give you X Y and Z and I believe that many
of the of the politicians today and many of the rock stars and
many of the film stars today that are just climbing the ladder
and getting so much popularity and riding the waves of success they
have sold their soul unto Satan that's how they got there that's
why I wouldn't listen to any popular music or watch the popular
movies because the people who make these things have literally
sold their soul to the devil you see there are all kinds of
musicians in this world there are thousands and tens of thousands
hundreds of thousands of very talented skillful musicians that
can play music very well but the ones who become popular are the
ones who are hand-picked by record labels that can put their
billboard everywhere put the music everywhere and look young people
they're just going to walk into the store and whatever is the
big billboard whatever is the big signage whatever is on the
shelf that's the music they're going to buy and that's what
they're going to think is cool because that's what they're
used to because that's what's being promoted unto them on TV
so look any I mean the most worthless musical group could
come down the scene and if the world pumped it up kids will
buy it and think it's cool I mean look at all the stupid
stuff that's been around somebody give me an example of just the
stupidest music that was ever produced what Milli Vanilli the
monkeys give me an example just just ridiculous stuff just
stupid MC Hammer is that a good one I mean anybody else can
think of one that's just it's so dumb yeah I'd never
understood that exactly but you know what it's like the
emperor's new clothes people just follow the herd they follow
the crowd just bat bat they just follow along what everybody
else is doing and they think it's cool you know that those
pants that MC Hammer wore I mean how can anybody think
that's cool but but the thing is though if they put it
in front of you and pump it up yeah this is cool when I
was a kid everybody wore those pants and they thought it
was cool I'm serious when I was a kid my friends wore those
pants and I I didn't wear them my friend's dad wore those
pants and he was like he was like 40 and I'm thinking you
look like an idiot but you know I didn't say that but
that's what I was thinking and and what I'm saying is that
people who who sell out and sell their soul to Satan you
know he can give them great power he can give fame he can
give riches hey how about preachers you know when
you're the preacher that's loved by the world God said
woe unto you you're a false prophet the one who holds
out the Bible for the president to be sworn in on
Rick Warren you know or or before him you know Billy
Balaam I mean Billy Graham these these these false
prophets they've sold their soul to Satan that's how
they're able to rise that's how they're able to have
all this popularity not amongst God's people but
amongst the world and amongst the sinful crowd they're
loved by the world because they've sold out let me tell
you something when you are when you do what's right
God's gonna hold you back from great honor in this world
God's gonna hold you you say oh you could have been a
popular preacher if you do excellent no God held me back
from that honor oh I could have been so I'm the best
looking guy or I'm the best looking girl I could have been
the most popular kid in school but God's gonna hold you
back from honor when you stand up for what's right and
when you do what's right and you say what's right and
you be what's right oh I'm the best piano player I'm the
best guitarist I'm the best you know trumpeter whatever
you know I could have made so much money in the world
and I could have been so popular yeah if you sold your
soul to Satan if you keep your mouth shut about the
word of God you will or you can play and sing in the
house of God where it really matters why would
anyone want to be some worldly musician have a bunch of
worldly sinful people falling all over themselves bowing
down and worshiping at your feet on some stage
somewhere when you could sing praises and play your
instruments in the house of God that's a greater
audience I'd rather play before the Lord God almighty
than to play before the world and their crowd God will
keep you back from that I don't believe that that a
person today in our sinful sick sodomite uh country
that we live in today you're not gonna become
president of the United States without selling your
soul to Satan that's what I believe and and
honestly there are a lot of people today in a lot of
positions of great authority and and great success
where people look at them and I think of of ASAP and
he looked at how people prospered in the world and
he looked at you know the the ungodly preachers
around him and he looked at sinful leaders
and he looked at the prosperity and he said wow this isn't fair
he said I'm I'm sick I'm ill I'm unpopular
I'm plagued every morning why are these people being blessed and I'm not
but then he went to the house of God and he understood their end he said
wow God you've set them in slippery places
they are gonna be doomed I would never want to trade I mean would you want to
trade places with the rock stars and famous politicians of today when
you know their destiny is hell I mean would it really be worth it to
you no way and so what I'm trying to
express to you in the sermon this morning is that you know the devil has
a lot to offer you and God has a lot to offer you
you know Balaam he really blew it because he didn't get either one
okay he didn't obey God but then he didn't go all the way over to the
devil's side either so he ended up dead in a very short
time and he wasn't honored by anybody nobody likes Balaam the world was mad
at him and God's people were mad at him
he tried to straddle the fence between doing it God's way
and doing it the devil's way and he ended up living a very short life
and being an execration to everybody okay but
God is showing us in the Bible that the devil has something to offer us
he offers us popularity and look you want to be kids you want
to be popular at school just start telling dirty jokes
everybody loves dirty jokes at school it's true
you want to be popular on the job tell a dirty story
that'll get you look this is how to be popular amongst the world okay you want
to be popular as a politician well what was that uh newt gingrich right he was
the one of the candidates i i believe he's dropped out of the race now
am i right about that he's dropped out of the race newt gingrich
okay he had not won any states in the republican primary
he was not winning any states you know but he was running for president
well it came to the i believe it was either georgia or south carolina i
think it was south carolina he came to the south carolina primary
and right before the south carolina primary this scandal came out
about and you know the guys committed adultery repeatedly
he's on his third wife he committed adultery in all of the marriages
and it comes out right before the south carolina primary
that basically this horrible scandal about him wanting to have an open
marriage with his second wife he wanted to just be allowed to
commit adultery and his wife would be okay with that and his wife told him
no this all comes out i mean just how much more wicked can you be
you're just committing adultery after adultery after adultery
then you're going to your wife saying well do i have to divorce you
or is it all right if i just commit adultery while i'm married to you can
you just be okay with that so this comes out in the news the
evidence of it comes out in the news days before
the south carolina primary and you know what happened newt gingrich's
popularity surged and that's the only state that he won
that's a fact you think i'm crazy up here you come to church and say oh
pastor anderson's crazy he's rattling his cage he doesn't
know what he's talking about look i just told you that a horrific
scandal came out a few days before this election and
that's the only state that he won
isn't there something wrong with that picture you know what it is
because people today are sinful wicked and that's who they want to rule over
them and that's who's going to win somebody
who represents that it's representative government
somebody who represents their values look at look at bill clinton
i mean bill clinton that happened in his first term
where he committed all that horrible sin and the horrible adultery
and not only that an abuse of his power i mean he should have been
thrown in prison for abusing his power in that way and then he gets re-elected
why and you know you know what today he's listed as one of the best presidents
i mean every time you hear i mean the democrats talk
they'll go back and praise bill clinton and you'll even hear the republicans
talk and say you know he wasn't that bad
he actually was you know a pretty good guy you know
isn't it funny how the world promotes adulterers
and sinful people look don't look don't act like i'm crazy i'm telling you
the truth that today if you want to be popular
commit adultery commit sin be wicked be filthy but you're going to be an
abomination in the eyes of god if that's how you live your life and so you got
to choose this day whom you will serve
you've got to choose say go to galatians one you got to choose today
are you going to serve god or mammon are you going to serve god or
popularity and you know when you're a young person especially as a teenager
it's tempting to want to be popular and sometimes you're too young to realize
that that popularity is vanity and worthless
but you want to be popular you want people to like you
and so you're going to have to back down on the bible you have to back
down on christianity you're not going to be you start you
go you go to school and start talking the way i'm talking
you're not going to be popular period i don't care if it's a christian school
or a public school you start you start sounding a little
bit like pastor anderson i i know people i know people who've
been thrown out of christian school for basically listening to my preaching
okay and basically telling other people to listen to it
okay and look and public school i mean i don't even know
i don't even know what would happen if you if you said the kind of stuff i
say at public school you'd probably be put in handcuffs i
don't know i mean maybe you'd be okay i don't know
but i'll tell you something you won't be popular look
you're not going to be popular you're going to be an outsider why because
jesus was an outsider jesus suffered without the camp and the
bible says let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp
bearing his reproach that's what god has called us to do
not to be famous and popular and wealthy and have
look if it was easy to serve god everybody would be doing it
look if you would where did i return yeah galatians one great passage
and you know some of you some of you guys uh in this room
you know i have a vision for you of one day uh pastoring
and starting a church someday and there there are several guys in this room
that i have that vision for you and i can see that potential there
and i would love to see you but you uh do that and serve god in that way
but let me tell you something this sermon needs to really resonate with
you and you need to understand this before you count the cost
of of pastoring a bible believing church you
are not some people think like well i'm gonna do it but it's gonna be
different than pastor anderson basically and i mean everybody's
different don't get me wrong obviously everybody's a little different
but they this is what they think they think well i'm gonna do the works that
pastor anderson has done but i'm not going to be hated and
persecuted that's just his personality now
now look i'll admit okay maybe some people don't like my personality and
maybe my personality is a little bit more abrasive than your personality
that's fine but you know what god is my record
god is my witness that in many cases i have been
physically assaulted and attacked or yelled at or thrown out of places
and let me tell you something it was some of my most kindest
most congenial moments because i have my moments
i'm serious there have been a lot of and my wife could tell you
my wife has seen me be nice and be really friendly and nice
it's listen to me it's not how i'm saying it that makes people mad and
this is why i don't want you to be deceived
it's not how i'm saying it and look do i say it a little more abrasive
sometimes than i should well you be the judge you know whatever
but the bottom line is this though it wouldn't matter how i'm saying it
it's what i'm saying that gets me into trouble
you may not believe that but it's true because i've had some of my most
persecuted moments were when i was being the nicest
and being the kindest sometimes being more abrasive kind of backs people
down but honestly when i've been kind and nice and friendly
people get just as enraged and furious because they're mad
at the bible they're mad at the truth i mean let me tell you this
there's no nice way to say to somebody you're not saved
if you tell somebody you're not saved they're going to get mad at you usually
and it doesn't matter how you say it i mean i've said it like you know what
you know i'm not trying to offend you or anything it's just that you know
according to the bible here if that's what you believe
and i'm not saying you do but if that's what you believe the bible says
here that that would mean that you're not saved
now i mean that's like the nicest i could say it what are you doing
the guy got real mad at me this was like a week and a half ago
guy got enraged at me and i was just i'm not saying
you know i was being very gentle other times i just say you know what
the bible says you're not saved i mean you're going to hell you know and then
yeah i mean it doesn't matter how but look there's no nice way
there's no nice way to express what you believe about the homos that's
going to make everybody happy and they're going to be like well
that's okay you know that's christianity
there's no nice way to to rebuke whatever the sin whether it be
divorce whether it be fornication whether it be
you know indecent clothing it will infuriate no matter how you say it
and i'm not saying to just be as abrasive as you can i try to be nice
but the bottom line is though it's not how i say it that makes people
mad it's what i'm saying that makes people mad and i'll tell
you right and it's what the bible's saying that's making people mad
and what i'm saying is if you're going to be a preacher someday you
just have to understand that you know and i don't really feel like i've been
persecuted that much there have been a lot of people before me who were
persecuted a lot more but i'll tell you this though i
guarantee you that if you if you become a preacher and you preach in a
way similar to the way i preach even if you do it
with a better personality okay i guarantee you
you're going to face persecution and you're going to face similar
persecution what i face or maybe even worse persecution
and i think the more you do for god the more you're going to be persecuted
you know the devil said in the book of acts he said
jesus i know and paul i know but who are you
he knew paul because paul was shaking the world with the gospel of christ he
knew paul and he had paul marked for persecution and that's why paul was
persecuted everywhere he went i believe that if i
did more for god i'd probably be persecuted more
you know but i still need to strive to do the most that i can
the more righteous you are the more godly you are the more people get
saved the more you're marked for persecution it doesn't matter how good
your personality is i mean look steven was a nice guy i
mean he said a lot of nice things and he got persecuted you know my
friend brother roger jimenez you know i love my friend
roger jimenez he and i have been good friends going back now
oh let's see uh what 11 years 11 years ago he and i became friends when
he was just 16 years old and i was 20 and we became friends and he and i man
we believe the same doctrines you know and i listened to his preaching from time
to time when i get a chance i downloaded off
the internet when i need some preaching and some encouragement and i love
listening to his preaching but he's very different than me but but the
doctrine is the same you know totally different personalities
we look different we talk different we act different
we have a totally different approach totally different personality
but we're preaching the same doctrine i guarantee you he's never going to be a
popular preacher unless he compromises god forbid he
will never be a well-loved popular he'll never be having the mayor of
sacramento giving him the keys of the city
you know jesus will hand him the keys to the kingdom but he's not going to be
getting the keys to the city of sacramento anytime soon just like i'm
not going to be getting the key to the city of tempe anytime soon
and i'll tell you something he and i are dramatically different sometimes i
joke around with him that that uh you know his slogan for his church could
be you know this is uh faithful work
everything you like about faithful word baptist church without all the junk you
don't like about faith without or or faithful word baptist
church for people who don't like pastor anderson's abrasive personality
but anyway i'll tell you something right now
he is just as right on with the bible as i am
and he is going to be persecuted he's not going to be popular
and you are going to be the same way young man that wants to go out and
preach the word so you better count the cost and understand
that it's not about being up in front of people and loved and well liked
and being famous and popular i'm not famous i'm infamous
i'm infamous and i'll tell you something right now
that is what it takes to be a prophet you got to be
unpopular and if you're going to be a righteous teenager
you're going to be unpopular come to me and tell me you're the most popular
kid in school i'll tell you that you're worldly and sinful and
backslidden come to me and tell me that all your worldly friends on the
job love you and think you're the coolest
funnest guy to hang out with on the weekend
i'll tell you that you're sinful worldly and backslidden come to me and
tell me that your pastor has never been persecuted
and that he's loved and the police department loves him in the city of
the city controller loves him and the governor loves him
i'll tell you he's a false prophet that's what i'll tell you
because it's always been that way and it always will be
and so the lord is going to keep you back from climbing that corporate ladder
sometimes the lord's going to keep you back from popularity the lord's going to
keep you back from riches the lord's going to keep you back from honor but
let me tell you something that which is highly esteemed among
man's abomination in the sight of god anyway
let's close on this verse galatians chapter 1 verse 10
says this for do i now persuade man or god now that's a question that
every pastor should ask themselves every day
wouldn't that be great if every pastor in america would ask that question
before getting up to preach they would look at their outline and say
do i now persuade men or god who am i trying to convince here man or god
who am i trying to prove something to man or god
am i trying to prove god to god that i'm preaching his word faithfully
or am i trying to prove to man that i'm a good preacher or am i trying to
prove to god that i'm a good preacher he says uh do i now persuade men or god
or do i seek to please men for if i yet pleased men
i should not be the servant of christ you say i'm going to be different i'm
going to do both no you won't i'm going to preach
all the truth but i'm going to do it in a way where people will like me
no you won't i'm going to live a christian testimony at school
but everybody's going to like me no they won't
no they won't they won't like you when you're not into the the filthy
movies that they're into they're nobody likes to be told well hey hey
look at this hey look at this dirty picture nobody likes to be told no i
don't look at stuff like that i'm a christian the bible says that
whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after has committed adultery with her
already in his heart wow cool can we hang out i mean you
really think that's going to happen hey hey check out this porno no i don't
look at that kind of garbage that stuff's smut that's filthy that's
garbage that you think that's going to make you popular
but that's the right answer
hey why are you blaspheming jesus christ why do you keep throwing jesus name
around that's the creator of the universe that's my savior
you think that's going to make you popular huh you think soul winning is
going to make you popular and i'll tell you right now i got saved as a
six-year-old uh boy and there was a time in my
teenage years where i was a little bit popular i was never the most popular
guy but i had a period where i was a
little bit popular for a little while it was very short-lived
but let me tell you something you know i had a period where i was popular and i
had a lot of friends and i'll tell you what ruined it for
me i started going to an independent fundamental baptist church
and i lost all of my friends all of them i started soul winning
i started uh reading the bible i started talking about the bible
everywhere i went i started talking about soul winning
just it just you know because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth
speak it this is what i was into it's what i was interested in
i started bringing friends to church with me and let me tell you something
i was very popular amongst a worldly crowd and i lost
all of those friends and i went through kind of a lonely phase
because i mean i had nobody because at my church i went to there weren't
really any people my age okay and so i went to that church and
i didn't really have any good friends to hang around with
and all my old friends had forsaken me because they didn't like
uh the lifestyle i was living they wanted to go do worldly things i was
saying no i'm not doing that anymore you know they all forsook me and so i
went through a lonely period where i didn't really have any friends
that were my age that i could hang out with because i was in a church where
there just was nobody there my age and there were i mean there were
150 people in the church but there just wasn't really anybody in my
demographic but you know what in the end though
you know god took care of it i ended up meeting my wife i got married
i got that companionship and you know what now i've got lots of friends
now i got a church full of friends here that believe like i believe
but you know what you got to make sacrifices to live for god
and if you want to have it all and you want to have the friends and the
popularity and the money and the fame and you want to be a famous musician
and you want to be a famous this and a famous that and a politician
just take it to the bank you're going to have to compromise and sell
out or you can go the uphill battle for
the rest of your life called serving god
but the glory that's going to be revealed in us the bible says i reckon
that the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us you know there's a lot of fun
things to do on sunday morning and sunday night and wednesday night that
could take you out of church as for me and my house we're going to be in
the house of god there are a lot of other things to
do besides going out knocking doors soul winning
i'm going to be out there i'm going to be knocking those doors preaching
the gospel gathering wages unto everlasting life
okay gathering wages that i can take with me into heaven
okay we need to realize that we can't have
everything the world offers and what god offers it's a choice
and so we need to be willing to sacrifice some of the things that the
world offers that are vain anyway and embrace what god has to offer
the the the joys and pleasures forevermore at his right hand let's
bow our heads and have a word of prayer
father thank you so much for for your word dear god and
father i thank you that that you've kept me back from some honor in my
life because honestly the things that are highly esteemed
among men are an abomination in your sight
and so father help us never to get sucked into this idea that we can
live for god and be popular that we can live for god and be wealthy
that we can live for god and be successful in the world's eyes popular
famous gaining high political office dear god
help us to realize that those are the things that satan gives
to his children but that rather if we're gonna live for you we're gonna have to
do without a lot of things and suffer for you
and god help us just to to be all in you know balaam
he tried to have it both ways and and he ended up being destroyed by both
sides help us to go all in for you and
in jesus