“Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core,” verse 11.
We will look today at what the Lord says awaits such evil defiers of God and His Word. Their fate is sealed and certain!
I. THE FATE OF SUCH MEN IS ‘WOEFUL’!
“Woe unto them.”
1. Such men know not the place to which they are travelling! “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death,” Proverbs 16:25. Of course it is not just wicked blasphemers as these men who are going to a lost eternity! No, many folks who would be deemed ‘decent’ people will be in a lost eternity! Nicodemus is an example. He was well taught in the Scriptures and had a sense of justice and was unhappy with the treatment of the Saviour by his fellow Pharisees. “Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?” John 7:51. But he was told by the Saviour that unless he was ‘born again’ he would never enter heaven.“
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” John 3:3. Learn this truth today, girls and boys.
II. THESE DECEIVERS WILL SHARE THE FATE OF THE MOST WICKED OF MEN
“Cain, Balaam, Core” - (Korah, Numbers 16:1-35).
1. Cain. The first murderer! He was ‘religious’ but wicked, Genesis 4:3. “For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, (that is, the devil) and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you,” 1 John 3:11-13.
2. Balaam. Just what sort of a man Balaam was is told us in Revelation 2:14. “But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.” These are the words of the Saviour to the church at Pergamos. It was infiltrated also by the deceit of Balaam of old. He was a hinderer of God’s people, a teacher of that forbidden by the Lord and a promoter of immorality. A dreadful hell awaits such! We must not heed such for we will go with them to a lost eternity!
3. Core (Korah). He was a rebel against Moses and the order God had ordained, Number 16:1-7. They suffered a most dreadful fate, verses 16-33. These are the sort of men the devil sends to infiltrate God’s people to corrupt them! Such are at work today here in our land, boys and girls.
III. WHAT THEY EAGERLY THINK WILL REWARD THEM WILL BUT DESTROY THEM!
Note the words “greedily” and “reward”. They have been promised a reward by the devil and they are ‘gushing forth like a flood’ in their eagerness to obtain it! The devil offers a reward to foolish men. “Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me,” Matthew 4:8-9. The devil desires that men disobey God and instead obey him! Paul taught the Ephesians this truth! “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,” Ephesians 2:2.
Those who live in disobedience of God and His Word, give evidence of being under the deception of the devil. They are acting in belief of his promise of joy through sin! It is said of Moses: “Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season,” Hebrews 11:25. He was not deceived by the devil. He believed God’s promise.
“Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward,” Hebrews 11:26.
Girls and boys, it is better to obey God, irrespective of how we may suffer for doing so. There awaits the glorious reward of heaven! “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us,” 2 Timothy 2:12. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also,” John 14:3.
Are you going to that place prepared for you by the Saviour and Who will come again one day soon to bring you to it?
Think on these things, boys and girls. Today is called ‘April fools’ Day’ but there is no fool like the rejector of the gospel. Such has been ‘fooled’ by the master deceiver, “the god of this world”, the devil!