Balaam was a prophet:
_(a)_ He knew something of the divine character,
_(b)_ He knew what righteousness was (Micah v. 8).
_(c)_ He knew of a future state, and longed for 'the last end of the
righteous.'
He would not break the law of God, and curse by word of mouth:
But yet for all that he wanted to curse. He wanted to do the wrong
thing, and that made him bad. And when he durst not do it in one way,
he did it in another.
So he is a picture of the universal blending and mixture that there is
even in bad men.
It is not knowledge that makes a man good.
It is not aspirations after righteousness. These dwell more or less in
all souls.
It is not desire 'to go to heaven'--everybody has that desire.
Perfectly vicious men are devils. There is always the blending.
Many of us are trusting to these vagrant wishes, but my friends, it is
not what a man would sometimes like, but what the whole set and tenor
of his life tends towards, that makes him. There may be plenty of
backwater eddies and cross-currents in the sea, but the tide goes on
all the same.
'All these fancies and their whole array
One cunning bosom sin blows quite away,'
'Let no man deceive you; he that doeth righteousness is righteous.'
Do not trust your convictions; they are powerless in the fight.
II. How men may deceive themselves about their condition, or the
self-illusions and compromises of sin.
These convictions will never, by themselves, keep a man from evil, but
they may lead men to try to compromise, just as Balaam did. He would
go, but he would not, for the life of him, curse; and he evidently
thought that he was a hero in firmness and a martyr to duty.
He would not curse in words, but he did it in another way--by means of
Baal-peor.
So we find men making compromises between duty and inclination; keeping
the letter and breaking the spirit; obeying in some respects and
indemnifying themselves for their obedience by their disobedience in
others; very devout, attentive to all religious observances, and yet
sinning on. And we find such men playing tricks upon themselves, and
really deluding themselves into the idea that they are very good men!
This is the great characteristic of sin, its deceitfulness. It always
comes as an 'angel of light,' like some of those weird stories in which
we read about a strange guest at a banquet who discloses a skeleton
below the wedding garment!
'Father of lies.' '_Nihil imbecillius denudato diabolo._' The more one
sins, the less capable he becomes of discerning evil. Conscience
becomes sophisticated, and it is always possible to refine away its
judgments.
'By reason of use have their senses exercised to discern.' 'Take heed
lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.'