Well, good evening. I'd like to welcome you to our evening service. Hope that you had a good afternoon and looking forward to our time together. Let's bow for a word of prayer and ask the Lord to bless our time tonight. Father, we thank you so much for the word of God and how you will use it tonight to convict us and challenge us, to encourage us, to ultimately point us to biblical thinking and living consistent with our position in Christ. And I pray that you would speak your hearts in a special way. As we sing hymns of praise to you, I pray that you would help our hearts to be knit together. And I pray that as we share testimonies a little bit later, that you would use those to be an encouragement to each of us. And we ask it in Christ's name, amen. All right, and good evening. As we start our song service out, I'm going to ask you to turn to page 495. 495, please stand with me. Sing out. I'll probably make a joyful noise tonight. I don't know about singing, but we'll see how it goes. Page 495, all three verses of Count Your Blessings. Sing out. ♪ O come all ye faithful joyful and triumphant ♪ ♪ God, you make it blessed to see the God that died ♪ ♪ God, you make it blessed to see the God that died ♪ ♪ God, you make it blessed to see the God that died ♪ ♪ God, you make it blessed to see the God that died ♪ You are God to them. God to them, a blessing to every man who doth love him. Can you do this to me, as to these who are worthy? How to bless a king upon the high? How to bless a king upon the high? Down to the tresses, in the book of God. That you may in mercy see what God has done. Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave That's good singing. Let's turn to page 345 or follow along with us and another good one. A New Name and Glory. I like these old hymns sang a little up-tempo. ♪ O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪ ♪ O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪ ♪ O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? ♪ ♪ And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, ♪ ♪ We remember God's every plan ♪ ♪ When the heavens opened and I saw ♪ ♪ The rain that dripped and fell ♪ ♪ There's a living, precious man in glory ♪ ♪ And it's not a cloud, it's his own man ♪ ♪ And the voice of the people still whispering ♪ ♪ The sacred threads of love ♪ ♪ Threads of dignity, threads of memory ♪ ♪ Let it fly, let it fly, let it fly, let it fly, let it fly, let it fly, let it fly, let it fly ♪ ♪ Never for you alone ♪ ♪ If the book is written, say my praise ♪ ♪ I'll turn it into my song of praise ♪ And I know where the land may go. There's a new name for the memory, and it's mine, yes, it's mine. Let the blind girl make her sing this morning. Amen. Go ahead and have a seat. And we're going to turn to page 482. 482. Not even going to say the name of the song. I think it's well known. Dwelling in Beulah Land, all three verses. Okay, here we go. of Israel, Israel, Israel, Israel. ♪ O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? ♪ ♪ And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, ♪ ♪ I'm with you again today ♪ ♪ And ever shall I pray ♪ ♪ This one feasting on the meadow ♪ ♪ From a mountain close apart ♪ ♪ I am glad to be with you again ♪ ♪ When the stormy breeze is gone ♪ O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. ♪ In my hotel ♪ ♪ Here the sun is all shining ♪ ♪ Here the flowers are blooming ♪ ♪ I am safe forever in your hotel ♪ ♪ I'm beneath the mountain ♪ ♪ I'm beneath the cloudless sky ♪ ♪ In the shade of the mountain ♪ ♪ And the birds in the sky ♪ ♪ Can slightly see you from afar ♪ ♪ From a mountain course of wonder and magic ♪ ♪ And you, all that matters, you be dear to me ♪ God of our salvation, hear our words of salvation. ♪ God's salvation ♪ ♪ Happy with my journey into the land ♪ ♪ I'm waiting on that day ♪ ♪ I'm waiting on that blessed day ♪ ♪ I'm waiting on that day that never ends ♪ Amen. That should do us for a couple weeks, I think. All right, Pastor? You know, Doug's testimony is that he got to lead that in the red book because the blue book doesn't go that high. Took an engineer to figure that one out. Christ arose, amen. I like this. First verse, page 265, Christ arose. I want to make you guys a choir. Let's sing this like a choir, okay? We start out quiet and we build up. Then when we hit the chorus, we really hit it, okay? Not quite as much as 482, but okay. Okay, let's start this one out. Let's sing it like a choir. Come, come, come, come, come, come, come, come, come, come. You don't know how long I've been wanting to do that. And you can do that with the rest of the song and play with the dynamics. Oh, you gave me chills. I like that. Page 93 in the blue book. Page 93. Page 93. Come on, Doug, it's in the middle. There we go. Bow the knee. Amen. What a privilege to come into God's presence. To be made the way the world should be made. ♪ Glory, glory ♪ ♪ His people the angels have made ♪ ♪ The world, the world is full of him ♪ ♪ Sing all ye people of him, glory ♪ ♪ Glory for him, glory for him ♪ All right, stay in the blue book and go to page 122 in the blue book and verse 1. There's only two verses in it, so I guess I can get that one right. Okay, as the deer. First verse. You follow the right path, stay steadfast in what you do. You follow the straight path, Okay, now let's go to page 548 in the Red Book. Page 548. Servant's heart. Amen. What a prayer. Every voice, every tongue, ev'ry word, ev'ry line, ev'ry sign, ev'ry smile, ev'ry thought, ev'ry feeling, 114, 114, 114. Master, the tempest is raging. Oh, good. All right. Let's put this right before the special. Stand up and we'll sing the first, second, no, let's sing the first and the last, first and the last. ♪ The sun will shine upon the place ♪ ♪ Where children of darkness die ♪ ♪ There is no mountain higher than this ♪ ♪ No mountain higher than this tree ♪ ♪ No mountain higher than this tree ♪ ♪ No mountain higher than this tree ♪ ♪ No mountain higher than this tree ♪ ♪ No mountain higher than this tree ♪ O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, to Bethlehem. ♪ In the light of heaven above us ♪ ♪ Make her a blessed redeemer ♪ ♪ In the earth above us all ♪ ♪ Let the angels give her glory to all the world ♪ ♪ Let all the praise be shown ♪ ♪ O praise him, O praise him, O praise the Lord ♪ ♪ He's risen and stands again ♪ ♪ Let earth and heaven respond to him ♪ Amen. Please be seated. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed, how our God's proclaimant is shouted forever and ever. And so happy in Jesus' new language, my rapture can tell. I know that the heart of His presence with me doth continually dwell. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. I think of my blessed Redeemer, I think of him all the day long. I sing, for I cannot be silent. His love is the theme of my song. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed, how I long to proclaim in His childhood forever I am. We'll be in the book of Numbers tonight. We are leaving the book of Exodus, but we haven't left the Exodus. As we move on, last week we spoke on the dark moment of Israel's history where Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai worshiped the golden calf. And of course, between then and the moment in which our passage takes place tonight, are numerous events, particularly of note is the building of the tabernacle and their continued journey toward the promised land. Now, if there's one thing that we know the Israelites did more than anything else in the wilderness, what would that one thing be? Complain. It's almost like it's on the slide or something. complain and complaining is something that when we read about it with the Israelites, we're very quick to condemn and to judge. And while it's still very taboo in our society, it's not something that's generally looked happily upon. It's something that we do constantly. It's almost a pastime, if you will. Well, while it's something that we all struggle with to varying degrees, some of us, of course, being more negative and pessimistic, being particularly susceptible to this vice, we should look at this passage in Numbers 11 as something of a cautionary tale against complaining. And as we look at these passages tonight, numbers 11 and 12, we'll see, of course, the generation which saw God judge Egypt, which saw God bring them through the Red Sea, who saw God on Mount Sinai, prove themselves to be an unbelievable, implacable people. Implacable. Including Moses' older siblings. But tonight, I don't want to give the proposition up front. I want us to take a look through this passage, and by the end of it, we'll see what God wants us to do with what we learn tonight. And so as we move through numbers 11 through 12, I would like for us to make four considerations regarding this matter of complaining. The first consideration we need to make is in relation to what complaining reveals about our discontentment with God's blessings. Numbers 11, verses one through three. It says, and when the people complained, it displeased the Lord. And the Lord heard it, and his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. And the people cried unto Moses, and when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched. And he called the name of the place Taborah, because the fire of the Lord burnt among them. Now jumping right into this text, you might say, whoa, hold on. God started a fire in the camp just because they were complaining? Well, we need a little bit more context, but yes, that's exactly what God did. You see, the people complained in the midst of tremendous blessing and privilege. If we were to look back at Numbers 10, we'll see, even within that one chapter, ways in which God provided and blessed the nation of Israel. You see in verses one through 10 of Numbers 10, we see that God gave them this unique means of large-scale communication through the silver trumpets. Now, this is a section where you start seeing some description. You might think, okay, how does that help me? But it was a description of the fact that God was providing for practical daily needs that the Israelites had, including communication among millions of people. Not only did they have large-scale communication, but the cloud of God's visible presence led them through the wilderness. We read about that in Numbers 10, 11 through 17, where the cloud led them by day. Not to mention that they had the tabernacle there upon which God was visibly present, and they were able to commune and worship God. They had an organizational structure which allowed them to move as tribes consisting of millions of people in Numbers 10, 18 through 28. In those verses, we see a description of how Israel moved by tribe and how they maneuvered through the wilderness in a very structured and organized way. For anybody who has moved through any kind of formation in the military, they can appreciate how helpful that is. But wait, there's more. They had fellow descendants of Abraham with them in Numbers 10, 29 through 32. These Midianites, brothers-in-law of Moses, who were there and were able to bolster their numeric strength. Then we read about, at the end of Numbers 10, how they had godly leadership. which was able to direct them through the wilderness according to God's personal instructions. Israel was blessed. And yet we get to verse one of chapter 11, and what did they do? They complained. Now when the people complained, it was evil in the ears of the Lord. We of course see how the Lord punished through a sudden fire and caused a fire to burn and spread throughout the camp and it was only quenched upon Moses' intercession. Clearly, God was not going to put up with this discontentment after he had mercifully held his hand from them when they utterly defied him at the foot of Mount Sinai by worshiping the golden calf. This also adds to the ultimate judgment against Israel of having to die in the wilderness after they refuse to enter the promised land, which we'll be looking at at a later time. But when we complain, think of all the blessings that we've received that go ignored. And I'm not talking about merely material blessings either. I mean, think about the fact that we're living at a time and a place where we have free access to the gospel more so than any other generation has in the history of the church. We can worship freely in this nation without fear of physical persecution, of imprisonment, of death. We who are in Christ have hope and power in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. So rather than being discontent and full of complaints, We should, as Paul desired of the Colossians, to be strengthened with all might according to God's glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, have translated us into the kingdom of his dear son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins." There's a lot there. The point being that we are a blessed people, and let's consider our blessings before we begin to complain. So we ought to consider when we complain, how our discontentment, or how it reveals our discontentment with God's blessings. So another consideration we should make, we go back to Numbers 11, and that's that complaining reveals our lust for something that really is unrealistic. Notice in verse four of Numbers 11, It says, And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting. And the children of Israel also wept again and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic. But now our soul is dried away. There is nothing at all besides this manna before our eyes. The manna was as coriander seed, and the color thereof was of bdellium. And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it." We see here the people complained due to the lust of strangers that were in their midst. If we were to look back at Exodus 12, 38, we would note and recall that there was a mixed multitude that went up also with Israel and flocks and herds and very much cattle. This mixed multitude included non-descendants of Jacob, perhaps even former slaves from other nations who also lived under the rule of Pharaoh. It's likely that even Moses' second wife from Ethiopia was among this number. And when this group of people began lusting after the foods from Egypt, it affected the children of Israel to the point where they began lamenting their lack of meat and foods found in Egypt. They even went so far as to complain about this, the heavenly manna which God graciously and miraculously provided them, and for which they really had to put almost no effort into obtaining. And when the people complained due to this unrealistic lust, they weren't gonna get food from Egypt. They weren't gonna go back and get what they wanted. but the Lord punished them by giving them exactly what they wanted. This time God miraculously gave them meat. But notice the details that we find in verses 18 to 23 of Numbers 11. God is speaking to Moses saying, and say thou unto the people, sanctify yourselves against tomorrow and ye shall eat flesh. For you have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt. Therefore the Lord will give you flesh, and ye shall eat. Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days, but even a whole month, until it come out of your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you. because that ye have despised the Lord which is among you and have wept before him saying, why came we forth out of Egypt? It says that the quail that God brought came and fell a day's journey around the camp. And the quail was piled up two and a half feet high. And this was going to happen for an entire month. Then when these Israelites went out, I mean, they went out a day's journey from the camp. They went night and day to collect these quail. And it says in verse 12 of Numbers 11, that the least of these, hold on, did I say the right verse? No. It says, I can't find the right verse, but it says that the least of them that went out collected 10 omers worth. 10 omers worth. Verse 32, that's where it is. So imagine the person who collected the least amount of quails collected 10 omers worth. How much is that? You do the math, that's about 1,900 birds. That's a lot. And that was the least of them. And that's a lot even considering the fact that in verse 21, it says that in the congregation there are at least 600,000 able-bodied men. And if you know anything about military men, they like to eat. But this greed for meat came with a significant cost. It says in verse 33, and while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague. And he called the name of that place Kibrat HaTava, because there they buried the people that lusted. and the people journeyed from Kibrath-Hattabah onto Hazaroth, an abode at Hazaroth. So many died there due to their lust and greed that they literally named the place the Graves of Lust. Now in these accounts, we find at least two principles which warn us against complaining. First thing we should be wary of is that discontentment of those around us can and will affect us. I mean, have you ever been in a conversation with someone who is complaining? What's our most natural response? Typically you want to follow up with a complaint ourselves, isn't it? It's not even always a competition. Sometimes we just want to relate. But a complaint's a complaint. And it is never right to complain out of a heart that isn't seeking growth or reconciliation or achievable justice. More on that later. Another principle we should take from just this passage is we should take note of the fact that there are times that if we beg and plead with God out of a heart of lust and discontentment, out of caution, we should note that he may very well give us what we ask for. and it may very well be to our hurt and dismay. Now keep in mind that God loves us and wants to mature us, but why not display wisdom on the front end by considering how God has already blessed us? Asking for a need and whining for something that we want are two completely separate kinds of prayers. And we should pause and consider how we are presenting our requests and what we are requesting for. If it's truly something that God would want for our lives. If you think it is, then pray and be happily content with how God blesses. But if not, I would say pass on from those cravings to enjoy what God has given you. So we'll continue our considerations from our passage in numbers 11 through 12, moving now from the fact that complaining reveals our lust for things unrealistic to the fact that complaining reveals our deepest character flaws. Numbers 12. It says, and Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it. Now the man, Moses, was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. And the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out, ye three, unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out. And the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forth. And he said, hear now my words. If there be a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently and not in dark speeches, and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold. Wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed. Now notice the chaos and the panic in this scene. Verse 10, And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle, and behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow. And Aaron looked upon Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned. Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother's womb. And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee. And the Lord said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days, let her be shut out from the camp seven days. And after that, let her be received in again. And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days, and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again. And afterward, the people were moved from Hazareth and pitched to the wilderness of Paran. We're considering how complaining reveals our deepest character flaws. When we look at Miriam and Aaron, complaining as prompted by Moses' marriage, we see some very serious character flaws, particularly in Miriam. We see the word, spake, in verse 12 is indicative of the fact that Miriam is the one who is instigating a personal attack against Moses by the fact that it's a feminine verb in the original language. And his authority as a prophet. Then there's Aaron who's following along. And as we've seen with the golden calf, we know that he's pretty easily swayed into doing some of these things. It states that they speak against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married. And this likely took place after Moses' wife, Zipporah, had passed away. However, by what they say, they betray their real reason for speaking out against Moses. When they say, has the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Had he not spoken also by us? We know from Exodus 15, 20 that Miriam, Moses' and Aaron's sister, was in fact a prophetess, someone who communicated God's word from a position of authority. It didn't mean that she held a particular office or leadership position. It simply means that God used her to communicate truths in a unique way. Yet here both she and Aaron presumed to think that because God had used them as spokesmen, much as we know Aaron was, that they were on equal footing with Moses in terms of how God used him. And they wanted to persuade others to see it their way as well. Possibly even those 70 which in Numbers 11 were used to prophesy with Moses. Now God gives us as readers insight at the end of verse two. It says that the Lord heard it. Then he records by the hand of Moses himself that Moses was meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. Now can you imagine Moses writing this? Meekness here, however, doesn't mean weak or quiet or even humble. It's a word that actually is quite difficult to convey in English, but it carries in one sense an idea similar to a strong horse who's being controlled by just a small bit in its mouth. But yet in another sense, it speaks to the weight that a horse carries without complaint. In describing Moses here, the Holy Spirit leans heavily on this second sense. One way to put it is that Moses put up with a lot of garbage. He really did. No other man living had to bear the weight of leading God's chosen people like Moses did. And that was much easier said than done. In the time that Moses began leading the children of Israel, we read about how they complained as many as seven times as a nation. And they've committed national apostasy by worshiping the golden calf. Now he was facing open rebellion from his own siblings, older siblings no less. Yet he bore it in silence. so much so that God had to intervene. We see the Lord punished Miriam for instigating this open rebellion. He spoke suddenly, as in, he did not hesitate. And he did so without any warning. He directed them to go to the tabernacle in the center of the camp, where God descended in the pillar of a cloud. And he then explained that with any prophet, he would speak to them through dreams and visions. But with Moses, God spoke mouth to mouth, even apparently. In other words, God spoke to Moses in a uniquely direct way, unlike any other prophet, to include Miriam and Aaron. Now this revealed to them as it reveals to us that Miriam and Aaron had grievously erred in speaking against Moses. But it also reveals a misperception on their part. See, Miriam and Aaron assumed that because God had used them in a certain way that God used Moses in the exact same way as they did. That kind of pride and assumption naturally breeds contempt and rebellion in the hearts of even the closest of people. And considering what God clarified about Moses to Miriam and Aaron, God asked them both directly, why weren't you afraid to speak against my servant Moses? Now we've already looked at the severity of disregarding God's human authority last week. But here we have Miriam and Aaron blatantly speaking against Moses. God could have struck them down immediately, but instead, he directs his judgment against the instigator, Miriam. She is made leprous, which essentially is a death sentence, especially for someone as aged as these three would have been. And as Miriam's flesh became whitened by the leprosy, God departs from the tabernacle, allowing for the chaos of the moment to ensue. While Miriam is receiving this physical judgment, Aaron is subjected to lose face before his younger brother and to seek mercy on Miriam's behalf. His horror comes from the sight of Miriam becoming leprous before his very eyes. No doubt this scene would have been traumatizing to witness, and knowing what caused it prompted the immediate response on Aaron's part. And being a part of the scene, no doubt, Moses himself was disturbed by the sight of Miriam becoming leprous. You get a sense of this chaos, of the chaos of this moment when he cries out, heal her now, oh God, I beseech thee. In fact, I like how Martin Luther translates this in German. He says, ach, Gott heile sie! With an exclamation point. And upon hearing the prayers of Moses and Aaron, God replies to Moses with a straightforward comparison. If her father had spat upon her face due to her behavior, she would have hidden away for a week. It seems as if God is saying, Miriam, your behavior is childish and shameful. However, God does in this statement offer mercy to Miriam, in stating that rather than allowing her to die of leprosy, she would be miraculously healed of it in seven days. And there's Israel, mind you, millions of people, who is forced to wait for Miriam to be healed before they can move on. Now again here, there's two principles of application that we should draw. As with the Israelites being swayed with the instigating mixed multitude to complain, so too do we see Aaron swayed by his instigating sister to do the same in the spirit of discontentment. Yet a key distinction here is that Miriam was a prophetess, a woman who communicated God's word from a position of authority. We who have knowledge and who bear the responsibility of communicating God's word which should be all of us, by the way, not just those who preach in a pulpit, should keep this in mind when we feel discontentment rising within us. But the main thing that we should keep in mind, the second principle of application, is that when our discontentment is directed toward a person, it can reveal some very awful things about us. For Mariam, her discontentment as it was provoked by Moses's marriage to an African woman revealed an ugly prejudice that led to her further revealing her jealousy and discontentment toward Moses's leadership. For us, there are character flaws and hidden sins that when we are openly discontent can become quite apparent. I mean, imagine someone complaining to a worker at a store or a restaurant. What are some of the descriptors that come to your mind imagining that scene? The words entitled, arrogance, lack of self-awareness come to mind. All of these traits can be revealed in us when we allow discontentment toward people to drive us to complain. Now, we've looked at complaining in a very negative light. up to this point. But there's an interesting part of Numbers 11 that I want to go back to as we reach our final consideration tonight about complaints. And the final consideration we should make is that complaining really reveals our most painful frustrations. Notice in verse 10, of Numbers 11. It says, Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent. And the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly, and Moses also was displeased. And Moses said unto the Lord, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? And wherefore have I not found favor in thy sight? Thou layest the burden of all this people upon me. Have I conceived all this people? Have I begotten them? that thou shouldest say unto me, carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child unto the land which thou swearest unto their fathers? When should I have flesh to give unto all this people? For they weep unto me, saying, give us flesh that we may eat. I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. If thou deal thus, With me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favor in thy sight, and let me not see my wretchedness. We see Moses very severely complaining with grief and frustration. When Israel was bemoaning their having to eat manna in the wilderness and wept in the ears of God and Moses, Moses was understandably displeased. But that displeasure seemed to lead to a bitter frustration. which led to Moses's bitter complaints as he brought his frustrations to the Lord himself. He accused God of afflicting him, of placing the burden of the people upon him out of disfavor. He even gets rude and sarcastic saying that he's not some kind of a mom or dad giving birth and nursing these babies. He says plainly in verse 14 that he's unable to bear the burden of these Israelites' complaints and asks God to kill him so that he would not have to witness himself in this misery. But whereas we've seen the other complainers being judged by God, we see here the Lord graciously alleviating Moses' grief. and frustration. Notice in verses 16 and 17. It says, and the Lord said unto Moses, gather unto me 70 men of the elders of Israel whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people and officers over them. And bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. And I will come down and talk with thee there. And I will take of the spirit which is upon thee and will put it upon them. And they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone. Drop down to verse 24. And Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord and gathered the 70 men of the elders of the people and set them round about the tabernacle. And the Lord came down in a cloud and spake unto him and took of the spirit that was upon him and gave it unto the 70 elders. And it came to pass that when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied and did not cease. But there remained two of them in the camp. The name of one was Eldad and the name of the other was Midad. And the Spirit rested upon them. And there were of them that were written, but went out unto the tabernacle, and they prophesied in the camp. And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Midad do prophesy in the camp. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My Lord, Moses forbid them. And Moses said unto him, Envious thou for my sake? Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them. Unlike the complaints and malcontents seen in the surrounding passages, here we see God not bringing judgment, but compassion. He tells Moses to bring 70 reputable men of the elders of Israel to the tabernacle. And when Moses did this, God took of the spirit that was on Moses and gave it to the 70 elders to allow them to share the burden of the people with Moses. This was so helpful to Moses that when Joshua told him to forbid the elders from prophesying, Moses' response was, if only all the Lord's people were prophets. And that the Lord would put his spirit upon them. Now, can we condone Moses' poor attitude and Kurt's speech toward his sovereign God? Absolutely not. But if we were honest, there have been times when such complaints have come up from out of our hearts, maybe even our lips, directed toward God himself. We shouldn't be okay with irreverent speech toward God, but understand this, God listens to our frustration. He cares about our burdens. Complaining isn't always a sin in itself, but often it is because our target audience and our heart motivations are wrong. Here I present to you tonight's primary thought is that God wants us to be honest to Him about our frustration. and discontentment because he offers himself to help carry the weight of our burdens. Consider what he said in Matthew 11 where Jesus himself said, take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest into your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. So how do we know when our complaints are sinful and when they're not? Well, in our text tonight we've seen plainly what sinful complaining looks like. But in closing tonight, I wanna turn our attention to Psalm 77. Because Psalm 77 gives us insight as to what it means to wisely bring our complaints to Him. Really, what we'll see is that rather than complaining, we ought simply to be honest with God about how we feel and remember His goodness against our frustration in our discontentment. Psalm 77, a Psalm of Asaph, says, I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice, and he gave ear to me. In the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord. My sore ran in the night and ceased not. My soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God and was troubled. I complained. And my spirit was overwhelmed, Sila. Thou holdest mine eyes waking. I am so troubled that I cannot speak. I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. I call to remembrance my song of the night. I commune with mine own heart and my spirit made diligent search. Will the Lord cast off forever? And will he be favorable no more? It says, Now notice the transition where the psalmist moves from open, honest communication of his grief to praise. He says, and I said, this is my infirmity. But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the works of the Lord. Surely, I will remember thy works, thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work and talk of thy doings. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary. Who is so great? A God is our God. Thou art the God that doest wonders. Thou hast declared Thy strength among the people. Thou hast with Thine arm redeemed Thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph, Silah. The waters saw Thee, O God. The waters saw Thee. They were afraid. The depths also were troubled. The clouds poured out water. The skies sent out a sound. Thine arrows also went abroad. The voice of Thy thunder was in the heaven. The lightnings lightened the world. The earth trembled and shook. Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known. Thou leadest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron." We see the psalmist being honest about his frustration and discontentment by acknowledging it before the Lord. But then we see him moving from that place of misery to a place where his heart was filled with praise toward God. How do we do that? Well, we need to be willing to move from our infirmities to remembering the works of the Lord and being thankful and giving praise to him. God wants us to be honest about our frustration and discontentment. Because when we are, we can begin the process of growth toward contentment and even praise in a God who so richly has blessed us through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's consider these truths tonight. Let's be honest. to God, who already knows our hearts and wishes to carry our burdens. Father, we are a people so prone to discontentment. We're so prone and eager to complain, whether it be our own infirmities or our frustrations with the dealings going on around us. But I pray, Lord, that rather than selfishly holding on to our own wretchedness, we would open our hands to you in prayer and allow you to alleviate the grief that weighs so heavenly on us. We ask that you help us to be honest to you. about our infirmities, our complaints, our discontentments, and allow you to do a work in us that leads us to limitless praise and worship for our Lord Jesus Christ. In whose name we pray, amen. All right, thank you for that. If you could, let's turn in our hymn books to hymn 448, Day by Day. And I think that this actually really dovetails very well with what we've just looked at this evening. 448, Day by Day. Let's stand together, please, and let's sing this song together. Saving my fight to hear my children's tears. Trusting in my Father's righteousness, O friend, I will go on to carry on through the years. Here's a time, here's where we are measured, angel to angel. is good and true, is good and true. ♪ All I care to think of is Jerry ♪ ♪ He whose name is crystal clear and round ♪ ♪ The protection of each child and treasure ♪ ♪ Is a charge that all of us shall be made ♪ ♪ As my name is my shelter, he and my truth ♪ ♪ Is a pledge to keep in faith ♪ ♪ Every death and every tribulation ♪ ♪ Stands to trust in Christ the Lord ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, here's a new salvation ♪ ♪ A new beginning in the new world ♪ Day by day, That's what we need. Brother Tony Florio, could you please come and close us in prayer, please? And it's good to see each of you out this evening. And looking forward to seeing you on Wednesday, if you're able to make it. And I hope that you have a great week. And take it one day at a time. Draw on God's strength. Some days are tough. It's OK. Depart your heart to God and say, I'm struggling today. I need your strength. And he'll do it. He loves us. Brother Tony. Lord God, we are so grateful for today. Indeed, Lord, you spoke to us. I pray, Lord, that we take home to our own home what we have learned today, that we may use it to glorify you. I do give you thanks and praises for the rest of the evening. As we go home, Lord, we do pray to give us troubling mercies. In Christ's name I ask, amen.