Idolatry and Immorality:
We must be on guard against Satan's
universal strategy to lead people into
sexual immorality and idolatrous activities.
Here's Gene:
This is his universal strategy.
It's been that way since the dawn of creation.
In our own culture we're beginning to
see a fast movement in that direction.
Once we begin to spiral downward,
it is picking up speed.
We're in the Romans 1 cycle.
Going down and down.
And that should not surprise us.
And that happened here in Israel
in a blatant, unbelievable way.
And God had to deal with it in a very severe way.
We read in Numbers 25, verses 1 through 5:
While Israel was staying in Acacia Grove,
the people began to have sexual relations
with the women of Moab. ...
Isn't it interesting that God delivered them
with the serpent that was raised up on the pole
and they learned that really hard lesson.
And now they go into the area of Moab
where they're crossing through as
they're heading towards the promised land.
And who's at the root of this?
You're going to see that Balaam could
not succeed militarily.
So he succeeded indirectly through
immorality and idolatry.
He came in the back door, as it were,
to begin to create a serious problem within Israel.
And that's what we're reading about here:
...the people began to have
sexual relations of the women of Moab....
This was instigated, as I said, by Balaam.
Balaam said: Here, I'll tell you how to
get to the children of Israel.
So the women were coaxed. It was planned:
...The women invited them to the
sacrifices for their gods, and the people ate
and bowed in worshiped to their gods. ...
And that's another pattern that you see.
Eating, drinking, immorality, and worship of false gods.
You see that with the golden calf. You saw it in Egypt.
You saw them going back to their behavior in Egypt.
You see it all the way through the Old Testament.
You see it in the New Testament with
the Corinthians and others that were
saved out of this idolatrous environment,
the worship, and the temples.
And so you see this combination:
...So Israel aligned itself with Baal of Peor...
That's almost hard to believe, isn't it?
After everything that God has done for
them to this point.
Again and again and again they
align themselves with Baal of Peor. Why?
Because immorality led them
away from the worship of the one true God.
Into the worship of false gods.
...aligned themselves with [the] Baal of Peor,
and the LORD's anger burned against Israel.
The LORD said to Moses...
And here God's patience is going very thin.
Remember He wanted to wipe them
out several times before.
You know when they were there at the Mount.
When God had revealed the
Ten Commandments, and the laws.
And Moses comes down and they're
worshiping the golden calf.
And they're engaging in this paganism
and this immorality. And God changed His mind.
And again, in a sense, God was revealing His grace.
Because He could have wiped out all Israel
because of what they're doing. Again and again.
But this time, He simply said I want you
to take the leaders.
And you see horrible judgment here.
But God had to do something to get their attention.
He couldn't just talk to them.
Because again and again they violated
what they are heard. God had talked to them.
God had worked miracles. So He says:
..."Take all the leaders of the people,
execute them in broad daylight
before the LORD so that His burning anger
may turn away from Israel."
So Moses told Israel's judges,
"Kill each of the men who aligned
themselves with Baal of Peor."
Well, that's a horrible scene, isn't it?
And yet what choice does God have?
Wipe them all out or just deal with
those who had led the people astray? And so we see this happening here in an incredible way.
And in chapter 31, verse 16,
we see who was at the root of it.
I've already alluded to this,
but here's the text. Numbers 31:16:
Yet they are the ones who, at Balaam's advice,
incited the Israelites to unfaithfulness
against the LORD in the Peor incident,
so [the] the plague came against the LORD's community.
And that's why the apostle Peter,
as we saw earlier, called this prophet
Balaam, an evil, evil man.
And he was, of course, at the root of this.
Now, when you go to the
New Testament, we have another
reference back to what happened there.
Again, you see the continuity
between the Old and the New.
And this time, you go to the book of Revelation.
You go to the seven churches.
In this case, the church at Pergamum.
And God revealed this through Jesus Christ
to John who recorded it when he said to this church:
...I have a few things against you.
You have [some] there who hold to the
teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak
to place a stumbling block in front of
the sons of Israel: [And what was it?]
to eat meat sacrificed to idols and
to commit sexual immorality. ...
That's what was happening back there.
...In the same way, [he said] you also
have those who hold to the teachings
of the Nicolaitans. ...
And there, there's some question as to
who these people were.
But basically in context, it was idolatry and immorality.
And here was this church engaging in
these evil practices:
...Therefore repent! ...
That was really God's message back
there in the Old Testament:
...Otherwise, I will come to you quickly, fight
against them with the sword of My mouth.
"[And] anyone who has an ear should listen
to what the Spirit says to the churches."
And so here we have another
New Testament verification of this
universal strategy that Satan has.
And that is, to lead people into
sexual immorality and idolatrous activities.
The question for Reflection and Response is:
In what ways might God discipline
Christian leaders today who violate
God's moral laws and lead others to do the same?
Well, first of all, God does not deal with
us today the way He dealt with Israel.
And it's understandable.
Number 1, we're living in the day of grace.
But eventually God will judge.
Because He is the righteous judge.
God deals with this through exposure.
And we see that happening.
God deals with this by removing
individuals from ministry.
But there is a New Testament reference
I've shared before in this class that is
rather awesome.
And it's in 1st Corinthians where there
was such an involvement in this kind of behavior.
Idolatry and immorality, and divisions
that resulted from that.
And here's this verse that God does deal with this,
sometimes in a very, very severe way.
And here's the statement:
Don't you...
And the "you" there is plural.
Because he's talking to the whole church:
Don't you know that you are God's sanctuary...
God's temple.
Not a pagan temple, you are God's temple:
...and that the Spirit of God lives in you?...
All of us, as believers:
...[And] if anyone ruins God's sanctuary...
God's temple. What is he referring to?
He's referring to the church, the body of Christ:
...If anyone ruins God's sanctuary, God...
And now he gets personal:
...God will ruin him; for God's sanctuary is holy,
and that is what you are.
I believe, and I believe I've seen this,
and there are times when the evil is
so bad for those who are being
destructive to the body of Jesus Christ,
of the church of Christ,
through immorality and through idolatry
that God literally intervenes in that individual's life.
Now what does it mean to ruin him?
Well, I think that has various applications.
And only God is the judge here.
We're not to judge. But I've seen situations where
individuals have lost everything because of evil.
Those who profess to know Christ,
who still lead people astray in a very evil way,
and destroy the body of Jesus Christ.
I've seen individuals lose their families,
their marriages.
I've seen individuals deteriorate
psychologically, emotionally, spiritually.
And in a few rare situations,
it seems that God has literally taken
those people home to glory.
And that's where He talks about the fact
that everything is burned up.
They're still saved, but only through the fire.
And so there are times, I think,
where God does bring that kind of judgment.
I think it's rare because of the fact that we're living
under the new covenant in the day of grace.
But it does happen. And to me, that's serious.
That really gets my attention--
as a leader, a spiritual leader.