The Consequences and Cure for Complaining, Part 3

Turn with me in your Bible to the book of Numbers. Numbers chapter 10. Now we are in Numbers chapter 11, and we've been looking at the causes, consequences, and the c. For complaining. And we're going to conclude that today by giving you five principles that will help you understand how you can overcome your complaining spirit. Your grumbling attitude. But before we do, we want to introduce to you Numbers chapter 11. We haven't done this yet. So, what I want to do is introduce to you Numbers chapter 11 by going to Numbers chapter 10 to help you understand how what happens in chapter 11 is exactly what happens in our lives when we leave church each and every week.

All right? This is so good. Numbers chapter 10, verse number 33. Thus they set out from the mount of the Lord three days' journey with the ark of the covenant of the Lord journeying in front of them. For three days to seek out a resting place for them. Now they had been at Mount Sinai a little over a year, Mount Horeb. The Mount of God. They had received the law of God. They had received instructions from God about their lives. And now they were leaving. And the Bible says in verse number 34, And the cloud of the Lord was over them by day when they set out from the camp.

And what Moses would do is something he would do on a regular basis throughout their wilderness journeys. He would give an invocation when they left. And when they stopped or rested for a period of time, he would give a benediction. Listen to what it says. Then it came about when the ark set out that Moses said. Rise up, O Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered, and let those who hate thee flee before thee. And when it came to rest, he said, Return thou, O Lord To the myriad thousands of Israel.

Moses would do this invocation, benediction kind of thing. Now, you would tend to think that, having seen what God had done already in Israel's life, that this would give them great security. But just like Isra, so are we. Because the very next verse is chapter 11. Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the Lord. You know, we come and we hear a sermon and we think, man, this is great. This is so good. And we leave only to do what? To complain in the hearing of the Lord about something.

That's what Israel did. And so there was a group that grumbled. We've studied them. They grumbled because of the plan of God. They didn't like where they were going. And so God killed those people. And then verse 4 tells us that there was a multitude then that began to murmur. Now, you would think that they would have learned that God is serious about those who grumble, but they didn't learn their lesson. And so they began to murmur because of the fact they had no meat. They were tired of manna, and they would remember what they had back in Egypt.

They remembered their supper in Egypt, but not their slavery. In Egypt. And so God gave them the desire of their heart. And upon giving them the desire of their heart, he sent a wasting disease among them. Psalm 106. And they died. That was last week's lesson. And so we move now to the third area, and that deals with the leader him, Moses.

The leader who lamented. And Moses now would begin to complain. Now, Moses hasn't complained up to this point. He's been pretty good. So we look now at the leader that laments. And there are three things you're going to need to see about this leader who laments. One is this question. The second is this quandary.

And the third is. His qu. Moses gets to the point where he just wants to throw in a towel and quit. Let me read it to you.

Numbers chapter 11. Verse number 10. Now Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, each man at the doorway of his tent. And the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly, and Moses was displeased. So Moses said to the Lord, Why hast thou been so hard on thy servant? And why have I not found favor in thy sight? That thou hast laid the burden of all this people on me. Was it I who conceived? All this people? Was it I who brought them forth, that thou shouldst say to me, Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing infant to the land which thou didst swear to their fathers?

Where am I to get meat to give all this people? For they weep before me, saying, Give us meat that we may eat. I alone am not able to carry all this people because it is too burdensome for me. So, if thou art going to deal thus with me, please kill me at once, if I have found favor in thy sight, and do not let me see my wretchedness.

If it wasn't so tragic, it would be humorous. Kill me. I'm tired. You ever been there? You ever been in a situation where we say, you what, Lord? Take me now, Jesus. Take me now.

Moses complained, listen, about his job. You ever complained about your job? That's what Moses is doing. And know what he says? He says, you know what, Lord? You are unkind to me. You are unloving to me, and you are unfair to me. This isn't right. Did I conceive this people? Was this my idea? No, this was your idea, Lord. And you put me in this situation. And why is it you decide to burden me, Lord, with your problems? Why is it you're giving this people to me? I didn't long for this opportunity.

You appeared to me at some burning bush sometime long ago and said, This is what I want you to do. And I didn't want to go then, but you made me go. You convinced me that your presence would go with me, your power would go with me, and you would provide for all of my needs. So here I am in the wilderness hearing the complaints of all these people. And you know what, Lord? This just doesn't seem fair anymore. So, what I want you to do is just kill me. Let's just get it over with right now.

That's his question. What am I going to do? He's the leader that laments. Now, let's be fair to Moses. I mean, can you blame them? I mean, at every turn, they murmured and complained and griped and belly ached. And after a while, you kind of get a little tired of that. You know what I'm saying? And I'm sure Moses was a little tired of all their bickering and belly aching. And so he gets to the point where he is at meltdown mod. He 's melting down. What am I to do? That 's the question Moses asks of the Lord.

And after all, he is the one, Moses, who is constantly criticized. So you can kind of understand Moses' predicament. Whenever there's a problem with God's people, Moses gets blamed. So we can sort of understand Moses' situation, can't you? And it's almost like, you know, can you blame the guy for being just a little upset? What do you do? And there's something here we need to understand, especially if you want to be a leader, that if you can't handle criticism, then you probably shouldn't lead anywhere, especially in the church, because you've got to be thick-skinned.

You have to be. You got to be strong. And if you can't handle criticism, then you know what? You probably should be a follower, not a leader. And at the same time, if you're looking for admiration, you want people to affirm your leadership, do us all a favor. Don't lead. Don't lead. Nobody affirmed Moses' leadership. Moses, you're doing a great job, man. I missed all the people who are going to, I to it to you. You 're doing a great job. You're standing strong, Moses. You're a good man. Nobody comes alongside of him.

Nobody encourages him. Moses is out on an island all by himself. He never received affirmation from man. Did he want it? I don't know. The Bible never says that. Did he receive it? No. Not that we know of, because the Bible never records that either. In fact, the very next chapter we're going to cover, Numbers chapter 12, his sister and brother turn against him. And yet, he humbly handles that situation. But here in Numbers chapter 11, he does begin to lament of a situation. And look how God responds.

This is what God says to his question. Verse 16. The Lord therefore said to Moses, Gather for me 70 men from the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and their officers. And bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. Then I will come down and speak with you there. And I will take of the Spirit who is upon you, and will put him upon them. And they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you shall not bear it alone. The Spirit of God would come down upon them, and they then would prophesy.

The Bible says these words, verse 24. So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. Also, he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and stationed them around the tent. Then the Lord came down to the cloud and spoke to him, and he took of the Spirit. Who was upon him, and placed him upon the seventy elders. And it came about that when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, but they did not do it again. Now, these men would receive the same spirit that Moses had, and they would then be able to prophesy to the people.

They would be able to speak. Forth the word of the Lord to the people to encourage the people, to stabilize the people, to give them a word of encouragement about God and who He is, and they would help relieve the burden. Because Moses is saying, these people, all they do is complain. And here's the answer to the complaining spirit: it is the wor of the Lord. That's the answer to the complaining spirit. That's why God gives him 70 men who will now prophesy to help them understand the error of their way in light of who God is, to help them understand what it is they should be doing as the people of God.

And so God responds to Moses and his lamenting by saying, Choose 70 men. The Spirit of the Lord will come down upon them, and I will use them to prophesy. Now note this, verse number 26. But two men had remained in the camp. The name of one was Eld, and the name of the other was Med. And the Spirit rested upon them. Now they were among those who had been registered, but had not gone out to the tent. And they prophesied in the camp. So a young man ran and told Moses, and said, Eld and Med are prophesying in the camp.

Then Joshua, the son of Nun, the attendant of Moses, from his youth, answered and, Moses, my Lord, restrain them. But Moses said to him, Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them. Now, Joshua was the one who was going to succeed Moses. And this was a great learning experience for Joshua. Because you see, sometimes we can become jealous of other people who don't do ministry the way we do ministry. Or don't do church the way we do church.

And there are these two men who removed themselves from the tent, went inside the camp and began to prophesy. And somebody saw them. They told Joshua. And Joshua was incensed and said, Moses, you got to stop these guys. They're not part of the group. They're not doing it the way we do it. And Moses said, Don't be jealous for my sake. Would it be that all the people would prophesy? You see, Moses is exemplifying his humble spirit. As you recall in the ministry of John the Baptist. There were some people who came to him and said, You know, this one that you came to be the forerunner for, there are more people being baptized by he and his men than you.

And you're John the Baptist. And John the Baptist responded by saying, You know, he must increase, I must decrease. And then there were some disciples in Luke chapter 9 who had heard about. The fact that there were other disciples casting out demons, and they weren't a part of the 12, the in-group. And they said, Lord, should we not stop them from doing this kind of ministry? And the Lord said, No. Not at all. Because if they're not against us, they're for us. And then, of course, there was the Apostle Paul in Philippians chapter 1, verses 15 to 18, who was in prison.

And there are other people preaching the gospel. Some out of wrong motives because they were against Paul, others for the right motives. But Paul said, you know what? Whether they have pure motives or impure motives, if the word of the Lord is going forth and people are getting saved, that's the good news. See, sometimes we can get a little ippity-uppity about the way people do ministry. They don do it the way we do it. You know what? There's a good lesson here for all of us. People do ministry different than we do it, and that's okay, as long as they're preaching the truth.

And they're glorifying God. We want to praise them for their ministry efforts. And these men, El Dad, Me Dad. They did it differently than the other 68. God never rebuked them for what they did. God never said they were wrong for what they did. They just did it differently in a different location. And that's okay. And so Moses has this question. And God answers it. But Moses also found himself in a quandary. They're hungry. They want meat. What am I to do now? And so the Bible says in verse number 21, But Moses said, The people among whom I am are six hundred thousand on foot.

Yet thou hast said, I will give them meat in order that they may eat for a whole month. And we talked about that last week, where God said, Okay, I'm not going to give them one day's worth of food, or two days, or three days, or five days, or ten days. I'm going to give them a whole month's worth of food. And Moses says, okay, where's that meat going to come from? Verse 22. Should flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to be sufficient for them? Or should all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to be sufficient for them?

Little sarcasm there on the part of Moses. Where am I going to get meat? Moses begins to reason in his human logic. You see, Moses had the same deficiency as the people. He had a tendency to forget the power and working of God. This is the same guy who was able to witness the division of the sea. This was the same man who was used to bring water out of a rock. So now, when God gives him an opportunity to trust him, what does he do? He begins to think rationally and logically. You see, when we begin to complain, we forget.

All that God has already done. Same thing with Israel. You see, they kept forgetting what God had done. And that's where Moses was. He had fallen prey to the people's thinking. You see, as a leader, whether you're leading your home, your church, your workplace, you can't afford to forget. What God is doing. Because once you begin to forget, you'll fall prey to the temptation of the people and you'll begin to complain. And that's what happened to Moses. He found himself in a quandary. And so God said in verse 23: And the Lord said to Moses, Is the Lord's power limited?

Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not. You see, when we begin to complain and doubt the plan and provision of God, we actually doubt his power, don't we? And Moses says, I'm going to feed these people. How am I going to give them meat? That's what they want. And God says, I'll take care of it.

Don't worry about it, Moses. Are you saying my power is limited, Moses? I'll take care of everything. And of course, you know how he takes care of it. You were here last week. If you weren't here last week, you need to get the tape with the CD because he gives them the desire of their hearts but sends a wasting disease to their soul. They get the meat they want and they die. But the third thing you need to notice about the leader that lamented was his desire to quit.

He said in verse number 15, Thou art going to deal thus with me, kill me now. If this is how you're going to deal with me, kill me. Let it be done. I'm finished. Now, I understand to some degree Moses' problem. And yet, isn't it interesting that God never addresses this issue with Moses? When Moses had a problem with the burden, God gave him the men. When he had a problem with the food, God gave him the meat, got him of those things. But you know, God never comes back and addresses this will of Moses.

Aren't you glad that God didn't grant Moses his request? Who would have written the Pentateuch? You know, that's what Moses did, he wrote the first five books of the Bible.

Elijah was the same way. In 1 Kings 19, he wanted to die. He wanted to quit. Jonah, remember him? Jonah chapter 4, he wanted to quit too. Peter, he wanted to quit. So he went back to fishing because he was done with the evangelistic thing. But you know what? Aren't you glad God doesn't grant that request in our lives when we want to quit? Just kill us, Lord. Take us home, Jesus. We're done. It's almost as if God ignores that one. And I'm glad he does for your sake and for mine. Because what he did in Moses' life, in Elijah's life, and in Jonah's life, and Peter's life, when they wanted to quit, did a great and mighty work.

All that to say, what is the cure for my complaining? It took us three weeks to get to this point. Five principles, I want to give them to you. That will help you never to complain. Five principles that will help you understand how it is we can be cured from our complaining spirits. Number one, remember this event.

Remember this event, 1 Corinthians 10, verse number 10. Do not grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Paul says this is an ev that you cannot afford to forget because this is what God thinks about your complaining spirit. This is how he deals with those who gripe and bellyach about his plan and his provision. So you can't afford to forget.

So remember this event. The next time you want to begin to complain, open your Bible to Numbers chapter 11 and begin to read. And read the whole chapter, or the next time your children begin to complain about what it is they're doing or where they have to go with you. And they don't feel like going anymore. Open up to Numbers 11 and begin to read about how the fire comes down and consumes them. How, when the meat was in their teeth, they died. Paul says, don't forget. This is what God thinks. And after you read Numbers chapter 11, make sure you read to them from the book of Lamentations, chapter 3, verse number 39, which says this.

Why should any living mortal or any man offer complaint in view of his sins? Number two, recognize the exam.

Do you know that you're in the midst of an exam? Now we don't like tests, but tests do one thing: they show us how far we have come. That's why when you go to school, they give you an exam. Remember, back in the book of Exodus, chapter 16, Exodus, excuse me, 16, verse number 4. Listen to what God said. Then the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day. Listen.

that I may test them whether or not they will walk in my instruction. Now when we read Exodus chapter 16 verse number 4 many many weeks ago, we don't see it like we see it today having read Numbers chapter 11. When they complained about the manna. And so, come to Numbers chapter 11. The test, the final exam came. They f. The next time you want to complain, recognize the exam. This is the test, and are you going to pass it or are you going to fail it? It is an exam. But first, remember the event.

And then, number three, I know it's a little long this morning. I know. But for those of you who go to the movies, And sit there for two and a half hours and never complain. A little humor there, a little humor. Number three, rejoice in your environment.

Rejoice in your environment. Paul said, Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice. In Philippians 4, verse 11, Paul says that he had learned to be content in whatever state he found himself. 1 Thessalonians 5:1. And over in Psalm 107, Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His loving kind is everlasting. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from the hand of the adversary. Folks, we need to learn to rejoice and to give thanks in all things and to be content in all things.

We are a very discontented people. Aren't we? And a lot of that has to do with our modern technology. We want it now.

If we don't get it now, we're upset. We become very impatient. But the bottom line is, we need to learn contentment. And let me give you the definition of contentment for those of you who have not been with us for these 11 years, because I've said this to you before.

Contentment is adequacy in reaching my most valued goal in spite of great suffering over unmet desires. I need to write that down. Adequacy in reaching my most valued goal in spite of great suffering over unmet desires. There are many things you're going to want to see happen that never will happen. But in life, you have, as a Christian, one goal. Because a goal by definition, listen, a goal by definition is something that I have ab control over. And therefore, whether or not I reach it solely depends upon me and nobody else.

So I can't say my goal this year is to go undefeated. Why can't I make that my goal? Because I have no control over which of my teammates show up. If I make that my goal. And I can't control it. There'll be all kinds of feelings of inade, all kinds of anger, all kinds of bitterness. Why? Because I'm trying to control something, I cannot. That's why there's only one goal that you can absolutely control, and that is to glorify your God. Because that depends on you alone and nobody else, right? And so, adequacy in reaching my most valued goal, and that is to glorify my God, to put Him on display, no matter what environment I find myself in, in spite.

Of great suffering over unmet desires. And that is the cure for complaining. Number one, remember this event.

Number two, recognize the exam. Number three, rejoice in your environment. Number four, ref. To express it. Ref to express it. Oh, Pastor, I can't refuse to express my feelings. I would be a hypocrite. No, you wouldn't. Refusing to sin is not hypocrisy. It's not. And so you refuse to express it. That's why the Bible says over in 1 Peter 4, verse number 9: be hospitable to one another without complaint.

That's why the Bible says in James chapter 5, verse number 9, do not complain against one another, brethren.

Don't do it. Just refuse. To complain. That's why the Bible says in Philippians 2, verse number 14: do all things without grumbling and disputing or murmuring.

Just don't do it. Two things are at stake. Number one, your identity, and number two, your testimony.

Because the Bible says in Philippians 2, these words, Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent children of God.

Listen, when you don't complain, you demonstrate your identity, your true identity, that you are a child of the living God. Number two, because your testimony is at stake.

This is what he says. In the midst of a crooked and perverse gener, among whom you appear as lights. Number five, in order to obtain a cure for our complaining, we need to relish each and every opportunity to glorify God. Relish each and every opportunity to glorify God. We need to look at those exams, we need to look at that environment as another opportunity to put God.

On display. Now, those five principles will guide you through life, and you'll learn to get it handle. Of what it means not to complain. Let's pray.