Why Do We Sin?

It crossed my mind to just ask him to do the announcements since we didn't have that many, but then I couldn't tease him about doing special music. Well, we've noted a number of times, of course. We're coming to the end of the Days of Unleavened Bread, and it's a week and a season of the year more than ever when we focus on sin and, of course, the importance of getting it out of our lives.

And there are many things that we can speak on. I was joking with Mr. Arat that we didn't compare notes ahead of time, and I was hoping he wouldn't come up with the same sermon as me. But this is one festival season when there's so many different ways that you can approach it. We often don't overlap. We can address a number of questions like, what is sin? What's wrong with it? Well, of course, sin is breaking God's law, and what's wrong is it's rebellion against God. What does it do to us?

What will it accomplish? In the end, it'll bring death, not to mention a lot of suffering along the way. If we look at all of that, even in a cursory way, we can understand those things. And if we understand how difficult it is to stop sinning, especially once we're in a life of sin, we might ask ourselves, why not just never sin in the first place?

Wouldn't that be a lot easier than putting it out of our lives? I thought of that when we moved into a new house last fall. I thought, if we never brought any leaven in here, I wouldn't have to clean it in the spring. But that's easier to say than to do. But it does bring to mind a question.

I was thinking, as I came into this, is, why do we sin? What makes us sin? And there are a number of ways to answer that, so I'm not going to give you a definitive one. Answers could include, well, we're tempted. We don't know better. We're under Satan's influence. Those are all valid and accurate, and there are many more worth considering. But I kept thinking, is there something more basic?

Now, most of us at some time, if you're like me, you do something, and then later you regret it, and you say, why did I do that? What was I thinking? And then I look at myself and say, Frank, well, you're being kind of dumb. You were there. I was there. I should know what I was thinking. But it's still human to have that question and sometimes not have a good answer.

And I've been learning over the last few years that sometimes, if we look at little children, they can give us some of the answers to some of life's most basic questions. And this is one that I think we can apply. Now, I'm guessing most of you who have raised children, which is most of us in the room, have had this experience. You're in one room, and from the other room you hear, crash! And you go in there, and something's out, something's broken.

You know, I have this, Connor's there, something's broken on the floor, and it's usually that he was playing with something that he shouldn't have. Often something I've told him not to touch. He said, Connor, why did you do that? I don't know. Although, most of us have heard that, and if you haven't heard it, you've said it, right? Now, sometimes he gives a different answer. He'll be doing something. He'll say, Connor, why did you do that? I just wanted to. Why in the world would you want to do that? But, you know, it's easy to dismiss that.

It's no more informative than, I don't know. But it might be more telling. I want to keep that in the back of our minds, because I thought it'd be interesting to explore some academic theories of why we do wrong. And then, remember, keep that basic, you know, I just wanted to in mind also. Because it ties in more than you would have thought. Now, I did a little bit of study, but to be honest, I've come across this in various readings at different times, so I'm not going to say that I went to the library and spent hours and hours researching, because I'd known a lot of these things already, but I did do a Google search and visited numerous websites to brush up and make sure that some of the thoughts I had were right.

Now, of course, if you look for sin and reasons people sin, you'll get a whole different take on it than if you look at why do people do wrong. You know, educators and philosophers don't like to use the word sin. But they do like to talk about criminality. So I did an overview of theories for criminality, why human beings do wrong. Interestingly, the oldest explanation is one that would sound familiar. Going back, and this is in academic research, they call it demonism. Demonism, meaning even outside of Christianity, the belief that there are evil spirits in the world and evil spirits make people do wrong things.

As soon as I came across that, I thought of Flip Wilson. I'm wondering if there is some of the older people, yeah, okay, a lot of younger people, what? It was, I know he was around in the 70s. He might have started in the late 60s. He was a comedian in America who had a routine, and it included a common phrase he kept coming back to is, that devil made me do it. The devil made me do it. As a matter of fact, he did some skits. I think some of you who are older reminded me, was it Geraldine? He put on a dress portraying a woman, and her phrase was, that devil made me buy this dress.

I think that's kind of amusing, but that's Americans deciding that we don't even believe a devil exists. But in ancient times, through most of human history, that belief has been very real. And so their belief in how to treat that was exorcism. And exorcism would be accomplished by a variety of ways. Near drowning, torture, burning. All of them are very unpleasant ways to get rid of these evil spirits.

That brings to mind, though, because as I said, modern criminologists don't even believe that a devil or demons exist. But we do believe it. So does the devil make us sin? I think he wants us to sin. He knows the wages of sin is death. The devil wants us to sin very badly. He wants us to bring that sin on ourselves. But I think if we look in Scripture, we'll see that he... I don't think he makes us sin. I want to go to the start of the book of Job just to briefly review that.

Because there in the first chapters of this book, we get an interesting view of Satan and his relationship with God and with us. I'm going to summarize here because, as I said, I want to cover some ground. But early on, of course, it says that the sons of God, referring to angels, came before the throne of God, and Satan was included. This must have been by God's allowance. And so God decided... I almost wondered, razzing Satan a little, but maybe to bring something to his attention. Have you noticed my servant Job? There's no one like him, how good he is. Satan said, nah, he's only doing good because you protect him and bless him. Take away those blessings. He's not going to serve you. Now, having said that, God decides to give Satan some latitude, some freedom to act against Job. And that's what I do want to read in Job 1 and verse 12. It says, The Eternal said to Satan, Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only do not lay a hand on his person. Okay, so God said, you can do this, you can't do that. And what did Satan do? He went and wiped out all of Job's property, killed his children, but didn't touch a hair on Job's head. Do you think he would have stopped if God hadn't told him you can't go any further than that? Well, we see along in the story, and I know many of you are ahead of me on this. Next time Satan's there, God says, hey, have you looked at my servant Job? He still holds fast his integrity. He's not turning against me. Even though I've let you destroy all that he had, if we go to chapter 2 and verse 5, we'll see that Satan challenges him again. Matter of fact, let's start in verse 4. Satan answered the Lord and said, skin for skin. All that a man has, he'll give for his life. Stretch out your hand now and touch his bone in his flesh, and he'll surely curse you to your face. And the Eternal said to Satan, behold, he's in your hand, but... Okay, you can touch him, do what you want, but spare his life.

As I said, I'm pointing this out to show that God has absolute authority over Satan. Satan isn't just doing all... I would say Satan is doing all he can to hurt us, but he's not able to take charge of our lives. There is hedges around us that Satan cannot go beyond. I've often thought, I imagine the devil would kill us all outright if he had the chance, but he can't.

God puts certain limits. Satan can't just come and kill us, and I believe that he cannot make us sin. Flip Wilson was wrong about that. The devil can't make you buy that dress. But he can make that dress look awful good, can he? Put it on 80% discount? I don't know... that's not in my notes. I'm just... Let's focus on what the devil can do. He can make sin look very good, and we see that in Matthew 4. Let's turn there. If I freelance too much, who knows what crazy things will come out of my mouth. Matthew 4, verse 2, of course, this is when Satan comes and confronts God in the flesh. Very interesting, because Jesus was the Son of God, but he had given up all those God powers. So if Satan was going to do as much as he possibly could and was allowed to. So we pick up in verse 2, And when he, that is Jesus Christ, had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward he was hungry. He was very hungry. Now, interesting though, Paul later says, When I am weak, then is when I am strong. And Christ understood this, because he knew what a powerful temptation would come his way. Verse 3, Now the tempter came to him, and he said, If you are the Son of God, come in these stones to become bread. But he answered and said, It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Satan tempted him. Boy, was Christ hungry. And what stronger temptation could there be than bread? I mean, that might sound tempting to us right now. If you have walked by a subway in the last week, boy, that smell is tempting. But Satan couldn't make him do anything. And I am not going to read the rest of the account, but Satan tempted him in every way. Later, he takes him up to the pinnacle of the temple and says, Oh, just let yourself fall off. The Scripture says God will protect you. The angels will lift you up. Christ countered with Scripture. Later, Satan shows him by miracle all the kingdoms of the world and says, I can give you all this. And there is speculation. Some say that Satan perhaps was saying, You don't have to go through being crucified and all that. I'll just make you king of kings now. It's in my power. But of course, it would have been temporary. If Jesus had fallen down and worshipped Satan the way he wanted, that physical life would have been all he would have had. But Satan made it look as good as it possibly could. But that's all he could do. And Christ, of course, was close to the Father and drawing on that strength, and he did not give in to the temptation. And there's what I want to say. Satan tempts us, and he always will, but he cannot make us sin.

He's not like, well, I guess it still doesn't count, but I think of someone making you sin. I think of an older brother, and here, I got off easy. I only had an older sister, and she was a little nice. But have you ever seen an older brother get a hold of his younger brother's wrists, and start going, What are you hitting yourself for? Stop hitting yourself! I see mothers who have boys. They're someone making you do something, but your little brother's not really hitting himself. Later on, he's going to be bigger, and things will change.

So I said, Satan can make sin seem desirable, but at bottom line, the person tempted either takes debate or does not take debate. God's not permitted to take our wrists and make us hit each other. Now, having said that, it's worth noting that there are other sources of temptation than Satan. Let's turn over to James chapter 1 and just remind us that what happens when we are giving in to temptation, whether it's from Satan or anywhere else. James 1 and verse 13, Let no one say when he's tempted, I'm tempted by God. Now, God cannot be tempted by evil, and he does not tempt anyone. But each person is tempted when he's drawn away by his own desires and enticed. And that's what Satan is looking for. What is it you desire? And I'll tempt you with that. But it comes from within. And when desire is conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it's full grown, brings forth death. That temptation is always out there, whether presented by Satan or some other source. And when we're drawn away by our own desires, that leads to sin. And that just made me think, what was it that Connor says sometimes? Why did you do that? I just wanted to. That's what happens when we're tempted. We're led by our own desires. At the moment we're doing it, we want to. Okay, that's one old academic theory. Let's move to another one. I want to look at some of the academic theories and then look at some stories in practice and move on to what we do about it. You've probably heard news reports. Actually, it's passed now, but it made a big impression on the trial of Eddie Ralph, who shot Chris Kyle, otherwise known as the American sniper, the soldier who had this exemplary record over in Iraq, and then came back and was killed by one of his own companions. Terrible story. But it's interesting, as he went on trial, the lawyers argued for innocent by reason of insanity. Now, we hear that come up, and the whole basis of that is the person didn't know right from wrong.

You can't say, I'm guilty. I didn't know the difference between right and wrong. I thought, you know, for most of mankind, there's something to that when it comes to God's law. Most of mankind doesn't know right from wrong. To some degree, well, I want to refer to a couple of scriptures rather than turn to them, but Revelation 12 in verse 9 refers to that old, that dragon, that old serpent, the devil, who deceives the whole world. Satan is deceiving the world. Likewise, 2 Corinthians 4 in verse 4 refers to him as the God of this world, who's blinded those who don't believe. The world is blinded. Fortunately, that's temporary. One more scripture that I'm going to cite. I'm going to turn to plenty of scriptures before we're done. Looking ahead, Isaiah 11 verse 9 reminds us that eventually, in a time that we call the millennium, the world will be as full of the knowledge of the way of God as the waters cover the sea. And that makes me think of the Feast of Tabernacles. That's a theme for the fall holy days. Right now, we're focusing on the spring holy days, focusing on us. And I wanted to give that as a backdrop to say, wait a minute. The whole world is deceived except for a small number that God the Father has called out and drawn to Jesus Christ. And that's us. We are not deceived. We're not blinded by Satan. Let's turn to Matthew 13, if you will. Matthew 13 in verse 15.

Matthew 13 in verse 15.

I thought I might have wanted to start early in here.

I did, actually. I wanted to look...

Well, yeah, let's start in verse 15. Here Jesus Christ is quoting from Isaiah, where he says, Christ was quoting Isaiah because the disciples had asked him, why do you always speak in these parables? And he basically said, now I'm speaking in parables to fulfill what it says here in Isaiah, that they're going to hear me teaching and they won't get it. They won't understand. And then he says something more in verse 16.

But what this is saying is we do understand God's law.

It's not hidden or a mystery. We can't claim that insanity's defense, that we didn't even know better. God has changed things so that we do.

And I'll cite also James 4 in verse 17, where it says, To him that knows to do good, now we so often focus on not doing wrong.

Don't break the commandments, but knowing something that's good, maybe I should turn there. Well, actually, if I turn there, it'll say exactly what I just said.

Actually, I just laughed because I don't know how many times I've done that at ABC, and I'll get the wrong scripture, and someone will say, that doesn't say that. And then we'll have to look it up. But here it says, So that's what we sometimes do. And you think, well, if we know what's good and what's not good, why do we sin?

Now, again, we'll come back to that. Let me think of... Actually, I think I've just got one more of the theories I wanted to consider. Aside from the Bible, it's called conflict theory.

This is very commonly accepted today among academics. It basically says that much of criminal behavior arises out of conflict between different groups and different classes in society. They say that laws and the whole criminal justice system operate on behalf of the rich and the powerful who control the system. So that those they call the have-nots, the poor, the uneducated, well, they steal from other people. They commit assaults. They take drugs. Because society has put them in an untenable situation, and it's society's fault.

I can't help but have some disdain in my voice when I say that. A lot of people don't buy into that theory, and I'm one of them, because they see it as simply blaming society for the wrong that others do.

So I have some faults with that, and I don't want to get into debating all of it. But let's concede. When it comes to some civil laws, even some criminal laws, we might agree that some of them are unjust or they're wrong-headed. One of the examples I like to think of in a little while later this afternoon and getting to evening, I'll be driving down Route 23, and I think, especially on the Kentucky side of the river, it's got those signs with two fives on it. And I say, what a dumb law!

You know, this road was built to go much faster than that. Okay, I might be able to come up with other laws. I was talking to Mr. Grounds about laws restricting how many deer you can shoot when you're eating up your garden. No, that's not necessarily a smart law if you're trying to raise a garden or a farm or raising a crop. But that cannot apply to God's law, and it never does. If you will, turn with me to Isaiah 33. Isaiah 33 and verse 22.

I think this is kind of a nifty scripture for how it describes where laws come from. Isaiah 33 and verse 22. Or it's actually talking about God, but we'll see how it applies to government. It says, the eternal is our judge. The eternal is our lawgiver, and the eternal is our king. He'll save us. I like this. Scholars point out that if you believe in the three branches of government, executive, judicial, and legislative, here it's saying God is all three of those. Now, we separate those three in America because we want to have checks and balances.

Because mankind will do wrong, and we've got to have Congress to keep an eye on the president, and then the Supreme Court to keep an eye on both of them, and they balance each other out.

We don't need checks and balances when it comes to God's government and God's law. Because it's just. It's good. Paul wrote in Romans 7, 12 that the law is holy. The commandment is holy, just, and good. I'm not going to turn to that one because it's so succinct. Romans 7, 12, though, if you want it in your notes. The law is holy, and the commandment is holy, just, and good. But I do want to turn to Deuteronomy chapter 10. Deuteronomy 10, and we'll read starting in verse 12. They said, God's law is never unjust.

It never favors one class over another. It's never unfair to some people and not to others. But if we want to know why God commands us to do certain things, why He commands us to not do certain things, He spells it out pretty well here. Deuteronomy 10, beginning in verse 12, Now Israel, what does the eternal your God require of you but to fear the Lord your God, not be afraid, but honor and respect Him, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and the statutes which I command you today for your good?

I always like to say it like that, and I'll admit I'm borrowing that from Frank McCready. This is one of his favorite scriptures. I've heard him cite it a number of times. Walking God's law, obey it for your good. God says, I'm not telling you to do this so I can just boss you around or so I can keep you from things that you would enjoy. I'm telling you this for your good.

It'll make you happy. It'll save you from heartache and trouble. If it's for my good, why would I ever do otherwise? That question, why do I sin? And I keep coming back to that basic fact, which I was surprised how many criminologists seem to agree with, that at least at the time I'm committing the sin, I just plain want to. I'm doing something I want to do. A person will tend to strive very hard to do something that he wants to do.

And it's really hard to make a person do something if he does not want to do it. And that's where I want to turn to a couple of examples of people, both ways, of someone who resists doing something because he just doesn't want to, and then also someone who found a way to do something despite all the obstacles in the way. Excuse me, my throat's a little dry today. Luckily, I'm double-fisted. Now, of course, we've already read some of the ultimate examples of someone who couldn't be convinced to do something he didn't want to.

That's Jesus Christ. When he'd fasted for 40 days and 40 nights and Satan came and tempted him, we could never have a better example of someone... you know, Christ... you could say Satan was tempting him, but Jesus wasn't really much tempted. I mean, he just didn't want to do those things. He didn't want to make bread. He wanted to trust in the Father.

But I want to look at a more human example that, in some ways, we can relate to a little better, and a story you might not have heard of as much. Now, this is a story that's been fairly well told recently, and some of you might be aware of it because it came out in a movie this last winter. I think it was winter. There's a movie by the title of Unbroken about Louis Zamparini. Did anybody go see the movie, by the way? Oh, a few did. So you can correct me if I got it wrong. Actually, I didn't see the movie. It's about a fellow who was an Olympic athlete and became a pilot... no, not a bomber pilot... a bombardier during World War II. Now, the movie was based on a very well-written book. So I'm not shooting in the dark. I did read the book. Actually, during the Feast of Tabernacles, one of Su and I's favorite things to do is go visit a bookstore. Bookstores are so much more fun when you've got a lot of money in your pocket that you can spend. We always look at the children's books and then I buy comic books. I almost hate to admit that, but I just did. I wouldn't spend my own... well, yeah, I would spend my own money. Anyways, Su came across this book and she'd heard it was really good. It's actually by Laura Hillen, the same woman who wrote the Seabiscuit novel.

Let me tell you the story about Louis Zamparini. He was an American, obviously of Italian ancestry. He came from a lower middle-class family. They were working hard, getting by. He got into a lot of trouble as a kid, but he found his thing in life with track and field. One thing... I related to this because I was a runner in junior high and high school. I didn't realize that back in the 1920s and 30s and 40s, track and field was a much bigger sport than it is today.

This was back before the NFL and NBA and NHL. The big sports then were, I think, boxing, horse racing, and track and field. Oh, and baseball. This little thing called baseball was around. But Louis was good. He was fast. And he was on track to break the four-minute mile, long before Roger Bannister eventually did do it.

He actually competed in the 1936 Olympics, but in a different event because he didn't quite make it in the mile. But he was almost a sure thing to get the Olympic gold in the 1940 Olympics, running the mile. And as I said, he probably would have been doing it a sub-four time. But some little thing came along that interrupted the 1940 Olympics. World War II. And so, like most young men in that era, he joined the military.

He ended up in the Air Force and became part of a crew of a B-24 bomber in the Pacific Theater. They went on several missions, fairly successful. But in 1943, his plane went down over open water. Almost all of the crew was killed, but he and two other men survived the crash, climbed up on two of the life rafts that they lashed together. Eventually, they ended up on just one.

And they spent 47 days on a life raft out in the Pacific, far out in open water. Now, the Air Force back then was part of the Army, so the Army, Air Force, and Navy did launch a search and rescue operation. But the Pacific is very big, as some of the stories we've heard about lost airliners have been telling us. It's really hard to find stuff out there. And so these men, they were out there drifting, and they were drifting with the currents. They managed to stay alive by catching rainwater.

Every now and then, a bird would land that they'd grab and tear apart. They'd catch fish as they could. They'd beat off sharks with oars and such. Actually, I believe they set a world record for staying alive in such a situation.

Eventually, the Army, Air Force, and the Navy called off the search. They were declared missing at sea, and all the crew presumably dead. Well, actually, but Louis and one other person on the life raft did not die. They were rescued, but unfortunately by the other side. They came across a Japanese ship. They were taken prisoner. Then what followed was years of inhumane and cruel treatment. It's good to understand, and I didn't really get this. I knew the Japanese were vicious fighters, and I came to understand why a bit more reading this book, that in Japanese culture of that time, to surrender at all was considered the most humiliating thing you could do.

Much better to die in a suicide attack or defending. They treated anyone who did surrender as less than human, not worthy of any respect. I want to condense the story, but let's say these men, including Mr. Zamperini, were subjected to terrible treatment. They were living on a starvation diet. They were treated as subhuman, humiliated in many ways, and actually physically beaten many times. Also subjected to exhausting labor. Interestingly, in Louis Zamperini's case, they kept him alive in some situations when they executed others. They also did not report his capture to the international Red Cross.

The Red Cross was active and did keep track of prisoners. They realized, the Japanese realized, that an elite athlete had some influence, perhaps some value. And what the Japanese did is they waited until the U.S. government changed Mr. Zamperini's status from missing to deceased. And after that happened, they fetched him from the prison where he was at, let him clean up a bit, and brought him to a radio station.

And they made him an offer. We're going to offer to let you make a broadcast to tell your family that you're alive. Now, at first, he's a little stunned. He considered very carefully. Matter of fact, they let him go back and talk it over. He talked to his superior officer among the prisoners, and they said, well, if you're allowed to write your own statement and you're not being forced what to say, it would be okay. And so he did it. It's interesting, it was part of a propaganda show that was purposely beamed internationally.

And so the U.S. government monitoring that program did get the message, and eventually Mr. Zamperini's family was informed that he was alive. But the story doesn't end there. A few days later, they brought him back to the same radio station. They said that he could broadcast a longer message, say more about what his experience was, and encourage his family. But this time, the Japanese officials had written the message for him, and they had to read exactly what was in it. And this message was critical of the United States. It became obvious as he read over it that the whole purpose was to convince Americans that their government and their leaders didn't care about them.

We'd be very happy to just use them up and toss them aside. Louis saw this statement, and instantly he refused to read it. Now, his jailors gave him some time to reconsider. They took him next door, and they showed him a clean, comfortable dormitory. This is where you can live if you cooperate. You're going to be able to sleep on a bed with sheets. You're going to have food to eat. You can take clean showers.

Or you can go back to that prison, where you'll be wearing the same clothes you've had on since your plane went down, which actually he ended up doing until he was released. You go back to that filth and starvation. Now, it's easy to think any man might say, well, what would a few words into a microphone hurt? Wouldn't folks back home understand that I'm starving to death?

That they've been beating me and torturing me? Yet he still refused. He just plain didn't want to speak against his own country, and no amount of pressure was going to force him to do it. I was amazed when I was reading, and I'm amazed when I tell other people how outstanding it is that a man who might have gained relief from such suffering, from pain, from starvation, valued wanting to do what he felt was right, more than his physical comfort, or even his own life.

Now, in the end, Louis Amperini did survive the war. That's how we have his story at all. And he lived a pretty long, happy life. He lived, so was it up to 90? Yes, amazing how well he did. Now, if you read the book towards the end, I'm not sure if it shows this in the movie, he did have to deal with post-traumatic stress, and he had some very difficult times.

Actually, he turned to religion, and that pulled him through. Now, he didn't come to the true religion as we understand it, so I'm not holding him up as an example of moral perfection. But in this one area, he's quite an example, because deep down, he refused to do something that he thought was wrong. He wanted to do what he felt was right.

Now, let's keep this in mind for my other example of the opposite. I do want to turn to the Bible. I want to go back several thousand years to an example in Scripture. The story begins in Deuteronomy chapter 22.

Did I say Deuteronomy? I meant numbers. Numbers 22, and it's that of Balaam. Balaam, we might call him the prophet or not. Actually, I've been looking into that. I think that might be an interesting message in itself later on. But the story of Balaam comes in as the Israelites are nearing the end of their 40 years wandering in the wilderness, and they're approaching the Promised Land.

And so the people that are living in and near the Promised Land start getting a little nervous, as we'll see. Let's pick up Numbers 22 and verse 4. Now, it says, Moab, this isn't the man Moab who'd lived years before, but basically the leaders of the nation. Moab says to the elders of Midian, This company will lick up everything around us like an ox licks up the grass of the field.

And Balak, the son of Zippor, was king of the Moabites at that time. So he sent messengers to Balaam, the son of Beor at Pethor, who's near the river, that's the Euphrates River, and the land of the sons of his people to call him. So I'm going to send a message to Balaam and say, Look, a people has come from Egypt, and they cover the face of the earth.

They're settling near me. Therefore, please come at once. Curse this people for me. For they're too mighty for me. Perhaps I'll be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed. Now, I want to condense the story somewhat. We know from what we read in other passages, it is evident that Balaam had some type of knowledge and or contact with God, and this became known to other people.

Now, I suspect Balaam might have had contact with others in the spirit world as well, because we don't see him as a high example, but he knew who the true God was, referred to him by name. But we'll see, as I wanted to make the point, we don't know how much God worked with or through Balaam before this, but we'll see God working with him right after that.

But, of course, yeah, there's what I wanted to say. God is going to work with Balaam, but not in the way that Balaam wanted. And what Balaam wanted is what I want to focus on here, rather than all the things that he said. So let's drop down to verse 7. Oh, actually continuing on here. So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the diviner's fee, so they took a hefty amount of money, it seems.

They came to Balaam and spoke to him the words of Balaam, what we just read earlier. And he said to them, Well, lodge here tonight. I'll bring back word to you as the eternal speaks to me. So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam. And then God came to Balaam and said, Who are these men with you? As though God didn't know. But Balaam said to God, Well, Balaam, the son of Zippor, king of Moab, is sent to me, saying, Look, a people has come out of Egypt, and they cover the face of the earth.

Come now and curse them for me. Perhaps I'll be able to overpower them and drive them out. And God said to Balaam, You shall not go with them. You shall not curse this people, for they are blessed. So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balaam, Go back to your land, for the Lord has refused to give me permission to go with you.

Sort of shows his attitude already, doesn't it? The Lord has refused. I'm not allowed to go. I'm going to be kicking the ground. But it's interesting. God told him, these people are blessed. You wouldn't think Balaam would want to be a part of that. But instead, he just saw this situation as not being allowed to do something that he apparently wanted to do. Now, it could have ended there, but unfortunately, in the long run for Balaam, Balaam was persistent. He sent again other messengers and offered greater riches. Now, Balaam already knew God's intent. God wasn't just kidding when he said, No, you can't.

These people aren't cursed. They're going to be blessed. But it seems that Balaam was hoping God would change his mind. So I want to drop down to verse 19. So new messengers come and Balaam says, Therefore, please, you also stay here tonight, that I may know what more the eternal will say to me. And God came to Balaam at night and said, If the men come to you, rise and go with them. Or if the men come to call you, rise and go with them.

But only the word that I speak to you, that you shall do. Now, we don't know for sure what happened that morning. It doesn't say that they came to call them. I wonder if they even had a chance to. Because it says, Balaam arose the next morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab. Then God's anger was aroused because he went. Now, that's interesting. Because God's, you know... Okay, yeah.

Balaam arose in the morning, God's anger was aroused because he went, and the angel of the eternal took his stand in the way as an adversary against him, as he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. What we know, most of you are so familiar with this story, that there was an angel there that the donkey could see and Balaam could not.

So the donkey turned out of the way, and Balaam got very angry. He beat the donkey, and it happens again. Later on, he said, I was so angry, I wish I had a sword, I'd kill you. And then he realizes, hey, I'm talking to my donkey, and he's talking back.

And we focus on that part of the story. It's so amazing. And of course, the story goes, if God can speak through a donkey, anybody in this room could give a sermon, or a sermonette, or something like that. But we tend to miss the start of the story. Balaam, why was God angry that Balaam was going? Well, because Balaam was focusing on what he wanted more than what God wanted.

As I said, we don't know if he waited, apparently, maybe before the men could come and call on him, he was up before them and ready to go. He wanted to get that treasure. He wanted to curse Israel.

And if you read through the story, once he gets there, he and Balak go up and down one mountain top after another. Get me seven bulls and seven altars, and they offer these sacrifices, and he goes to see what God will let him say, and he pronounces blessing after blessing, because God is requiring him to do so.

What a shame! Shouldn't he have chosen to say blessings on Israel because he decided he wanted to, of his own will, rather than because God was requiring it of him? But he didn't. Balak kept trying unsuccessfully to convince God to change his mind, rather than Balam changing his mind to match God's will. And eventually, Balak got tired of this and sent Balam packing, as it says in... If we go to chapter 24 and verse 11, Balak says to Balam, Now therefore flee to your place. I said I would greatly honor you, but in fact, the eternalist kept you back from honor.

I realize that this is Balak, the son of Moab, saying this. That's a lie. God wasn't keeping Balam back from honor. God gave Balam an opportunity to see what was what and join the winning side.

But it seems that Balam felt like Balak did. He felt that God was keeping him from getting what he wanted.

How often have we ever felt that way? I think, you know, you could say, I could have been a high school football star, but God with his Sabbath wouldn't let me play on Friday nights. I couldn't have that sports glory. Or I could have gotten this really great career. I could have had high pay and good benefits, but God and his holy days kept me from getting hired.

You know, I could have been popular. I could have had lots of girlfriends or lots of boyfriends, depending on which side you're on. But God and his prudish moral laws wouldn't let me go out and have fun.

You know, if we let feelings like that stay in us, then even if we're at the moment doing what God says, just like Balam did. Balam did what God required of him. But if we let that attitude stay, we might eventually do what Balam eventually did. What did Balam end up doing? His name comes up again a few chapters later. If you go to Numbers 31, because here's where what you'll want to do is, I said if you want something bad enough, a lot of times you'll eventually find a way to get it. Numbers 31 and verse 7.

Now this is speaking of the Israelites. They warred against the Midianites, just as the Eternal commanded Moses, and they killed all the males. They killed the kings of Midian, with the rest of those who were killed. Evi, Rekam, Zir, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian, Balam, the son of Beor, they also killed with the sword. What's Balam doing there? Well, we'll find out why he was there if we go down a little further in the chapter to verse 15. Because we just read that they killed the males. Moses now speaks to the officers when they come back in verse 14. He says, Moses was angry with the officers of the army, who'd come from the battle. Moses said, Why have you kept all the women alive? Look, these women caused the children of Israel through the council of Balaam to trespass against the Lord in the incident of Pior. And there was plague among the congregation of the Lord. Well, I skipped ahead after we finished when, as I said, Balak told Balaam to get back to your people. If we'd have read in Numbers 25, you'd see that these apparently beautiful Moabite and Midianite women came into the camp and enticed the men to commit fornication, to commit adultery. And then they were so enjoying that, they led them into idolatry, and God punished them. And here we find out, how did they know to do that? Balaam taught them to do it. Balaam, God wouldn't let him pronounce a curse, but God didn't stop him from selling the advice. I'm guessing Balaam charged a high fee for, you want to hurt the Israelites, you can get God to curse them himself if you get them to go astray. Commit adultery, commit idolatry, and that's what he did. God had repeatedly put obstacles in front of Balaam, but because in his heart Balaam wanted to do something, he found a way to do it. And eventually it cost him his life. And that's kind of discouraging, because I'd been making the case earlier that we all sin because at the time we do it, we want to. I said, not always, but at least at the time. I said, boy, that's kind of scary. Does that leave us hopeless? There's nothing we can do? And the answer to that is no. I want to consider the way that we can change, not only what we do, but we can change what it is that we want. And maybe I should say it goes beyond us changing that. I'm going to cite a memory scripture, Jeremiah 17, verse 9. This is one of the first scriptures I've ever memorized, once again, because my grandma told me to memorize this when I was nine years old, but it says, The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. If any of you haven't heard that a million times, go there and read it. Jeremiah 17, nine says, The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Now, of course, this is speaking metaphorically of the mind, not the muscle that pumps blood. Our mind, our thinking being, has that wickedness. That's another way of saying, deep down, we want to sin. But there is a way for that to change, but not on our own. Let's turn now, and let's do read Ezekiel 36.

Ezekiel 36, starting in verse 25.

Boy, if our heart is desperately wicked, if our heart wants to sin, what we do is, you know, change it.

Starting in verse 25, now, it says, Now, I want to make the point, then is the millennium, after Christ returns for most people on the planet, but it's right now for those that God has called out of the world. So then, we could say for us, it's saying, now, I'll sprinkle clean water on you, and you'll be clean. I'll cleanse you from all your filthiness and from your idols. And Mr. Evans commented on that in the sermonette, we will be purified from sin, or we are by Christ's blood. The sacrifices of the Old Testament, that red heifer that they used for the water purification was a symbol of the real purification that comes from Christ, as Hebrews tells us. That'll happen, and then in verse 26, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I'll take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Again, we're speaking metaphorically of the mind. It says, I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them. And we can make the case you will do it, and you'll want to. You will do it, and you'll like it, as some people have said. Now, this is a very fundamental teaching, something that we learned very early, but it's good for us to review and keep it clear in our minds and understand exactly how it works. This is telling us that God will cause us to walk in his statutes and judgments. Now, he could force us to do that. He could be like the older brother who grabs our wrists. And when I was working on this, I thought of... I don't remember where or when I heard this. My grandmother once... She was citing the Scripture that says, that the name of Christ, every knee shall bow. And I remember her saying, Yeah, and if they won't bow, he'll break their legs and make them bow. And looking back, I thought, Boy, that makes Grandma seem pretty bloodthirsty. But I think she was citing a minister who was making the point that God's will will not be denied. But he doesn't want us to do this because he's forcing us. He wants us to accept his way and to want to do what's right. Now, as mere humans, we often don't want to. But that's why he wants to give us a new heart. That can change. And again, not a transplant of our pump, but a new mind. And we have a new mind from God's Spirit, from Jesus Christ and the Father dwelling in us. Now, I'm going to turn to the New Testament for more explanation of that. But I wanted to turn back to 1 Samuel chapter 10, because I love the way this is phrased here. And I think it's more accurate than we might sometimes think. 1 Samuel 10 and verse 6. Now, I'm just pulling this one scripture out of the context. So I'll just go through the story. Because when God chose Saul, the son of Kish, to become the first human king of Israel. Now, we often think of Saul when he turned bad. He got jealous of David, and God's Spirit departed because he clinched the Spirit in a sense. But before that happened, Saul was humble. And God chose him, and God put his Spirit in him, and that did something really nifty to him. So Samuel is explaining what would happen. We see it in 1 Samuel 10 and verse 6. Then the Spirit of the Eternal will come upon you, you'll prophesy with them, and be turned into another man. He's telling him, you'll be not just a changed man, but another man. And what I was saying is, that's not as much a figure of speech as we might think. Now, let's remember... Now, I'm not going to turn there, but 1 Corinthians 2, verse 11 is where it describes what we call the Spirit in man.

There is a Spirit in the human brain, or attached to our brain and our mind, that gives us intellect, that makes us different from the animals. But it doesn't give us the understanding of spiritual things. That happens when God gives us his Spirit, that joins with our human spirit. And this is not just to change our minds, it's to make something new altogether. If you will, turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

2 Corinthians 5, beginning in... We'll read verse 17.

I'm going to have to hurry. I've got to finish the sermon before I finish my water.

2 Corinthians 5, 17 says, We might also turn back to Romans chapter 5 and verse 8. Because if we're a new creation, the next question is, well, how does that work? Romans 5, verse 8.

That's a subtle distinction, but it's important to remember, we're not saved by Christ's sacrifice. We're justified. Our past sins are paid for, but we're saved by his life. Not just him living, being up in heaven, but him dwelling in us, the Holy Spirit coming in us, which proceeds from the Father and comes through Christ, enters us, and that gives us life.

That's what saves us. That's what makes us a new, special creation. When you're baptized and a minister lays hands on you and that spirit comes in, we make the analogy of it being like an egg that's fertilized by the sperm. And what exists then is something that's new. It's not just modifying. It's, you know, that the chromosomes from both sides come together, and there's a new creation that's different. A different person that still has a long ways to go in growing, you know, that fertilized egg is tiny, and it's got to multiply and grow, but it's a start. Let's look at Ephesians 4 and verse 21.

Ephesians 4 and verse 21. Paul is writing to this congregation and reminding them of these things.

If indeed you've heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man, which grows corrupt according to the deceitfulness of lust, and be renewed in the spirit in your mind that you put on the new man, which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness.

Once again, he's speaking of a new creation. That new man was created at that time. It's that baptism we symbolically bury our old self, and that's the old self that wants to sin. And of course, I've been, you know, had the pleasure of doing some baptisms recently, and I always remind people that, okay, going under the water is part of the symbolism. Coming back out is just as much a part of the symbolism because it's coming to a new life and becoming a new person. That's a new person that deep down does not want to sin. As I said, we'll find a way to do something we want to do, but it's very hard to make someone do something that they really don't want to.

Now, of course, if you're like me, this might be where you stop and say, hmm, now wait a minute, Frank. I have been baptized, maybe a long time ago, but I didn't suddenly never want to sin anymore. And then he said, maybe it didn't take. Do I need to be put under again? And in most cases, almost every case, the answer is no. But you and I share the same condition as these Ephesians that Paul was writing to. I'm sure most of them had probably been baptized, but Paul was reminding them of the encouragement to put on the new man.

And to continue the process that you began at baptism, but it's not over that quickly. Sometimes I'd say, unfortunately. We used to say, I've heard many say that you bury the old man at baptism, but that old man's trying to climb back out of the grave. He doesn't want to go willingly. But that's an analogy, and you don't want to take it too far because it starts getting really creepy with people climbing out of the grave.

But putting leaven out of our homes is an analogy, and out of our lives. It's an analogy of we don't sin anymore. And this is my personal belief. I can't show it in Scripture, but I've sometimes wondered, as I know some of you have, why is this festival seven days long and others are one? I think one reason why it might be is because God wanted to remind us it takes time to get rid of sin. So I thought, how many of us have found stuff? Well, or saying you open a cabinet and what do you find?

Crumbs? It takes time to overcome for the new creation to grow up. And so perhaps that's part of why God decided to make it a seven-day festival. While we're in this process and while we're still flesh and blood, we have both natures struggling within us. We don't want to sin. And part of us does want to sin. It's very disturbing or difficult.

But Paul understood that. He described it in Romans 7. If you turn to Romans 7, beginning in verse 14, again, I think Paul wrote this to remind us to take heart. We are a new creation, but we're not a complete creation yet. And we're continuing along that process. And so we have this feeling, just as Paul did. Romans 7 and 14, we know that the law is spiritual, but I'm carnal, sold under sin. What I'm doing, I don't understand.

For what I will to do, let's substitute the word will. We could say want. It means the same thing in this case. What I want to do, I don't practice, but what I hate, that I do. If then I do what I want to not do, I agree with the law that it's good, but now it's no longer I who do it, but sin dwells in me.

And I know that in me, that's in my flesh, nothing good dwells. For to will is present with me, but how to perform what's good, I don't find. In other words, I really want to do good. I want to do what's right, but I find I'm not doing it. The good that I want to do, I don't do. The evil that I don't want to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I don't want to do, it's no longer I who do it, it's sin's dwelling in me.

So I find a law that evil is present with me, the one who wants to do good. For I delight in the law of God, according to the inward man. That's the new creation. That inward man is in us that delights in the law, that wants to do good. But I see another law in my members. Okay, we're still in flesh and blood. It's warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity, to the law of sin which is in my members.

O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? And the answer is, thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So with the mind, I serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. And we say, you know, now we don't willingly have that happen, but the important thing is to realize we're growing up into that new creation, that new heart that God gives us, wants to do what's good.

We've studied this before. I've noticed that many times this passage comes near the end of a sermon, just like it's coming near the end of this sermon. And it makes sense, because in Romans 7, Paul is answering to a large degree that question that I started with.

Why do we sin? It's fairly easy to find the answer of why most people sin. Most people are deceived and influenced by Satan, and they don't really understand God's way. As they're born in the flesh, human beings cannot fully grasp the spiritual things. Without God's spirit, people can't want to do what's right. At least, not always. Now, most people sometimes want to do some of what's right. And that's what I like about that story about Louis Zamparini. He had at least that one thing, and there were probably others in his life, that he wanted to do right.

And all of us have that at times. But God's spirit gives us a new heart and a new mind. One that really does want to do good, that really wants to put sin out of our lives.

And that new person that's created at that time must grow. And it takes time and effort. We don't get baptized, and then we're in the kingdom. We continue. It takes time and effort. And this festival season is one of the times in the year that God reminds us of that. It helps us to understand the process of conversion. Just like it takes some time and effort to get that leaven out of your house. It won't take much time and effort to get it back in, will it?

But, just like it takes that time to get that out of our homes, our cars, our offices, eventually we do at least all that's humanly possible. And over the years we start learning those things that we missed early on, and so it gets better and easier over the years. Similarly, with God dwelling in us by His Spirit, eventually we can do something that's impossible on our own.

With God working in us, we can and we will overcome sin. We cannot do it on our own, but as Jesus Christ said, we can't fail with Him. We will overcome sin. And we'll do it because we'll really, really want to.