Going through the archives and I found my last sermon I preached in my journal. I preached this sermon on a Wednesday night right before Thanksgiving in November 2010, when Pastor Rob Mahovich of Calvary Christian Fellowship was in Florida spending Thanksgiving with his family. I wanted to share this for those who were there to hear it live, along with those who may be interested in what I taught then. Please keep in mind there were my notes, and not everything was written down.
Next time I have a chance to preach/teach, I hope to have better notes/copy of the sermon to share, when God opens that door.
Numbers 11 How Not to be Thankful
How many of us plan on celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow?
Tonight we are going to look at a time when people were not thankful. They cried, complained, and just rebelled against God and Moses.
Numbers 11 1:3 Now when the people complained, it displeased the Lord; for the Lord heard it, and His anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp. 2 Then the people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire was quenched. 3 So he called the name of the place Taberah,[a] because the fire of the Lord had burned among them.
God does get upset when we complain against Him. God then sent fire to the outskirts to control complaints. The people cried to Moses due to the fire, and Moses prayed. God heard his prayers and stopped the fire.
Hebrews 11:4-6
4 Now
the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so
the children of Israel also wept again and said: “Who will give us meat
to eat? 5 We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; 6 but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!”The mixed multitude translates to be rift raft, or the troublemakers. The troublemakers started to crave meat. they started to complain and they caused the children of Israel to start longing for meat. The Israelites started to complain and question God. By saying 'Who will give us meat to eat', they are dismissing God as their provider, especially when He was providing manna for them. They also had a selective memory. Sure, they had cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic in Egypt, but they were slaves, and were subject to cruelty by their masters. The manna God provided was enough to meet their physical hunger and was full of all nutrients needed to survive, but they wanted more.
Numbers 11:10-15
10 Then Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent; and the anger of the Lord was greatly aroused; Moses also was displeased. 11 So Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You afflicted Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all these people on me? 12 Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a guardian carries a nursing child,’ to the land which You swore to their fathers? 13 Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep all over me, saying, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ 14 I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me. 15 If You treat me like this, please kill me here and now—if I have found favor in Your sight—and do not let me see my wretchedness!”
Moses got upset when he heard the Israelites complain about the manna. God was also angry over the complaining. Moses cries out to God, and he starts into a "Woe is me" statement. Moses is upset so much over the Israelites complaining, he gives God an ultimatum to provide, or remove him. This is not the fist time the Israelites have complained. (See Exodus chapter 16, and 17).
Numbers 11:16-3516 So the Lord said to Moses: “Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you. 17 Then I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone. 18 Then you shall say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. 19 You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, 20 but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have despised the Lord who is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, “Why did we ever come up out of Egypt?”’”
21 And Moses said, “The people whom I am among are six hundred thousand men on foot; yet You have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat for a whole month.’ 22 Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to provide enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to provide enough for them?”
23 And the Lord said to Moses, “Has the Lord’s arm been shortened? Now you shall see whether what I say will happen to you or not.”
24 So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord, and he gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tabernacle. 25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and placed the same upon the seventy elders; and it happened, when the Spirit rested upon them, that they prophesied, although they never did so again.[b]
26 But two men had remained in the camp: the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them. Now they were among those listed, but who had not gone out to the tabernacle; yet they prophesied in the camp. 27 And a young man ran and told Moses, and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”
28 So Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, one of his choice men, answered and said, “Moses my lord, forbid them!”
29 Then Moses said to him, “Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” 30 And Moses returned to the camp, he and the elders of Israel.
The Lord Sends Quail
31 Now a wind went out from the Lord, and it brought quail from the sea and left them fluttering near the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and about a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about two cubits above the surface of the ground. 32 And the people stayed up all that day, all night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail (he who gathered least gathered ten homers); and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. 33 But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was aroused against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague. 34 So he called the name of that place Kibroth Hattaavah,[c] because there they buried the people who had yielded to craving.35 From Kibroth Hattaavah the people moved to Hazeroth, and camped at Hazeroth.
God's response to the complaining:
1. Bring me the 70 elders of Isreal
2. I will come down to you there.
3. They will help you bear the burden of the people.
Even though Moses was complaining and upset, God still was willing to meet them. God also fills the elders with the same spirit that is upon Moses.
God also answers the complaints. He tells them to have the Israelites consecrate themselves and be prepared to eat meat. Also God told them they are going to loathe meat. God told them he was going to provide this, but he was going to punish them for displeasing Him.
v21-23
Moses in his human sight does not see how God is going to provide all this meat for all the people.
v31
God said he would provide meat and he delivers on his promise. He provides more quail than they needed. So much quail was provided, the least amount gathered was 60 bushels. There is a price paid for giving into sin. The sin committed here is complaining against God. The wages of sin is death (Romans 3:23).
New King James Version (NKJV) The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
No comments:
Post a Comment