[0:00] Numbers 11, we'll look at the entire chapter tonight, because I believe we have to look at it in its entirety to get it in its proper context. So we will read it, and then we will pray, and then hopefully we'll get into the understanding of it after that.
[0:13] I told you last week, or last time we were together, it was last week, that Numbers 10, the second half of Numbers 10, actually starting in verse 11 of Numbers 10, begins the transition in the book of Numbers.
[0:25] If you remember, the book of Numbers starts out with the first nine and a half chapters of God's people living in faithful obedience, and it ends with His people living in rampant disobedience.
[0:37] It is much like the book of Judges in that it spirals downward, but the only difference we see in the book of Numbers is there is a resurgence because Joshua comes up, and that generation which were disobedient had passed away.
[0:49] But this reflects what we were looking at this morning in the book of Hebrews of the picture, or the type, or the illustration we have of disobedience. And really we're in the heart of that because Numbers 10, starting in verse 11, going to the end of chapter 10, is when the people begin to move.
[1:07] So they move for the first time after being camped for almost a year. Right at 11 months, they were camped at the base of the Mount of the Lord. They were there. They had received the Ten Commandments.
[1:18] Moses had went up there twice for 40 days. They had received the Levitical priesthood order, how that was supposed to be organized, all of the sacrifices they were supposed to offer. They had constructed the tabernacle, erected the tabernacle.
[1:31] The Shekinah glory of God had filled the tabernacle. God had given them the order of the camp and how they were to set out those orders. He had counted the people. So a lot has happened in that 11 months, and God says, Okay, now we're ready. We're organized. We're mobilized. Let's go.
[1:46] And they start traveling, and they travel three days, and then they stop. And it gets us here to Numbers chapter 11. And it reads, Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance was like a benelium.
[2:37] The people would go out and gather it and grind it between two millstones, or beat it in the mortar and bowl it in the pot and make cakes with it. And its taste was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. When the dew fell in the camp at night, the manna would fall with it.
[2:50] 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 have you been so hard on your servant?
[3:03] And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you have laid the burden of all these people on me? Was it I who conceived all these people? Was it I who brought them forth that you should say to me, Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing infant to the land which you swore to their fathers?
[3:20] Where am I to get meat to give all these people? For they weep before me, saying, Give us meat that we may eat. I alone am not able to carry all these people, because it is too burdensome for me. So if you are going to deal thus with me, please kill me at once, if I have found favor in your sight.
[3:37] And do not let me see my wretchedness. The Lord therefore said to Moses, Gather for me seventy 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.
[3:51] 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 will not bear it all alone. Say to the people, Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat.
[4:05] For you have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, Oh, that someone would give us meat to eat. For we were well off in Egypt. Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, but a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils, and becomes loathsome to you.
[4:24] Because you have rejected the Lord who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why did we ever leave Egypt? But Moses said, The people among whom I am are six hundred thousand on foot.
[4:35] Yet you have said, I will give them meat, so that they may eat for a whole month. 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?
[4:47] 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. So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord.
[4:59] Also he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and stationed them around the tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and he took of the Spirit who was upon him, and placed him upon the seventy elders.
[5:10] And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, but they did not do it again. But two men had remained in the camp, and the name of one is Eldad, and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them.
[5:21] 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, Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp. Then Joshua, the son of Nun, the attendant of Moses from his youth, said, Moses, my Lord, restrain them.
[5:37] But Moses said to him, Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them. Then Moses returned to the camp, both he and the elders of Israel.
[5:48] Now there went forth a wind from the Lord, and it brought quail from the sea, and let them fall beside the camp, about a day's journey on this side, and a day's journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about two cubits deep on the surface of the ground.
[6:01] The people spent all day and 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. While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very severe plague.
[6:20] So the name of that place was Kibroth Hatava, because there they buried the people who had been greedy. From Kibroth Hatava, the people set out for Hezeroth, and they remained at Hezeroth.
[6:31] Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much that you have given us this night. God, we thank you for the great privilege of reading your word.
[6:42] We pray now, Lord, as we have read it, that we would come to an understanding of it. And Lord, as always, our heart cry would be that that understanding would be the motivation to lead us to live our lives completely and totally for your glory and yours alone.
[6:56] Lord, may the truth impact us so that it touches those around us. And Lord, may it have such an influence over us that we would not leave here tonight the same as when we came in, but rather would we leave here completely committed and totally dedicated to your calling upon our lives.
[7:13] We ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. I want you to see tonight from Numbers chapter 11, Digging the Graves of Desire.
[7:25] Digging the Graves of Desire. The name of that place, Kibroth Hatava, literally means grave of desire.
[7:37] Grave of desire. Or grave of pleasure. Or grave of want. These people were buried in the grave of their own desire.
[7:50] And this is the beginning, really, of a series of three that successively happened in the book of Numbers of God's people complaining and murmuring and disobeying.
[8:01] And this really has for us not an illustration of what they did, but a warning against what we may do. So I want us to see tonight from Numbers chapter 11 how it is that God's people dig a grave of desire in which they suffer and in which they fail to walk in complete obedience.
[8:19] And hopefully we will see this not just in verses here and there. And the reason I wanted to read it in its entirety is because we needed to look at the entire chapter and we need to take it in context because it is a rampant picture of what it looks like to dig that grave of desire and what it looks like to be because it is not just limited to a few people.
[8:37] Number one, we see that the grave of desire is dug first of all by discontentment. It is dug first and foremost by discontentment. It says, Now the people were like those who complain of adversity.
[8:51] Evidently in the original wording here we find out that their complaining happened after only three days of journeying. Because it is easy to be content while being camped at the base of the mountain of the Lord.
[9:01] It is a whole lot harder to be content while walking through the wilderness. It is easy to be content while camping out in a place of isolation and separation and not having anything to compare ourselves to.
[9:12] But it is a totally different thing while walking through a world of adversity and a world of struggle. And evidently as we see that God's people are beginning to move and He has moved His cloud and His presence from over the tabernacle and He is leading them to the promised land because He brought them out to take them in.
[9:28] Remember that theme throughout the book of Exodus? He brought them out of Egypt in order to take them in to the promised land. The base of the mount of the Lord was never their destination.
[9:39] It was a place of preparation. Much like we could say that the local church is never our final destination. It is only a place of preparation as we prepare to walk through the wilderness of sanctification so that we may one day arrive at the place of promised destination.
[9:56] This is not our final place. The church is really just a gathering place of preparation that we may be encouraged until that one day where we are in His presence.
[10:07] But they had found themselves free from slavery and free from Egyptian bondage and in a place of quiet restitude and there they found contentment. But when God began to move them they very quickly became discontent because the traveling was hard.
[10:22] In the wording there when it says as those of adversity it literally probably means because the going was tough. Because the going was tough.
[10:33] They became as those who complained because it was hard. I don't know if you've ever seen any video clips or if you've ever looked at any kind of pictures of what that area looks like that they walked through but look it up someday.
[10:47] It's a very difficult terrain. It's not pleasant to walk through. And I'm sure that three days journey through that was not that pleasant. They were probably walking at a pretty decent pace not a rampant pace but they were still driving through some harsh terrain.
[11:03] And because it was tough they became discontent. And in their discontentment it said that they began to complain in the hearing of the Lord. And when the Lord heard it his anger was kindled.
[11:14] And it says and the fire of the Lord began to consume the outskirts of the camp. Literally that's flashes of lightning began to flash and kill some of the outskirts of the camp. And thankfully before it got to the innards of the camp Moses interceded and the Lord stopped.
[11:28] And then in that particular place where God began to strike the people in their complaining Tabara. But that was not the end of their discontentment.
[11:39] Because while they were discontent with the rigors of travel their greater discontentment centered on something totally different. Because it was stirred up from within them. Some have said the greatest danger and the greatest harm Warren Wiersbe once wrote in his many years of pastoring the greatest danger to the church lies from that which comes from within not that which opposes it from without.
[12:00] And it is this in verse 4 it says the rabble who were among them had greedy desires. The rabble who were among them had greedy desires.
[12:11] Now the rabble is also that mixed multitude that goes out with them in the book of Exodus. If you remember when we were going through the book of Exodus when the Egyptian people finally said okay you may go.
[12:24] Pharaoh said that's enough just go. And they plundered the Egyptians and the Israelite nation was getting ready to leave Egypt. there was a mixed multitude who went with them. And if you remember and I know it was some time ago that was all the way before the book of Leviticus and it was in early pages of the book of Exodus but if you remember I said pay attention to the mixed multitude because the mixed multitude will cause great problems.
[12:47] Everywhere else we find them mentioned in the Old Testament they are problem causers because they are not genuine. They evidently went out because they saw that this God who is doing great harm to Egypt must be bigger than our God who was Pharaoh and surely we would like to be on his side.
[13:06] Right? They were not his people but they wanted his blessings and it seems as if God is blessing this nation so I'm going to go with them and here they are described as the rabble and the rabble who were among them had greedy desires.
[13:21] But look it wasn't just the rabble it says and also the sons of Israel wept again and said so here we see those unsincere or insincere or unbelievers we would classify them those who were just alone for the benefit those who were there for the blessing not because of the promise.
[13:40] Okay? The nation of Israel was traveling on a promise God had made a promise he had given a covenant these wanted the blessing of that promise and those who were there for the blessing not because of the promise or not because of a covenant relationship not those who were committed to the Lord but those who wanted the blessings of the Lord began to be greedy and their greedy desires began to overflow into the nation of Israel because it says that they began to complain and they said who will give us meat to eat?
[14:09] We remember the fish that we used to eat free in Egypt and the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic. Now let's just stop right there for just a moment. The food choice here that we are being pointed to is the eating of delicacies probably not the food of slaves.
[14:32] So these things that are being remembered are probably not the nation of Israel it's probably this rabble who said I thought serving God was going to give me blessings I ate better in Egypt.
[14:44] And then the nation of Israel begins to jump on board with that and say oh yeah that sounds good. And they begin to complain and they begin to murmur and they begin to be upset and they say we have nothing at all to look at but this manna.
[15:02] It tells us in the New Testament Jesus says whoever puts his hand to the plow must not look back because when we begin to look back with wanton desire we begin to be discontent with present provisions.
[15:18] When we begin to look behind us at what we used to have we are no longer content with what God has given us at the present moment. Sure when God calls his people to himself he always calls them away from something else.
[15:37] And some of the things God calls us away from just like we looked at this morning were temporarily enjoyable.
[15:48] God calls his people to live sacrifice. I surrender all. That song that we sing when we come to Christ we surrender all.
[16:00] We surrender the things we used to enjoy. We surrender the things we used to hold dear. We surrender the things that used to be pleasing to us. We surrender the things that used to be fun. We surrender all those things and we give all for his glory and if he desires for any of those things to return then so be it.
[16:15] if he doesn't then praise be to God so be it. It is a complete and total surrender but there is this very nagging feeling of discontentment when God's people begin to look back at what they used to enjoy instead of rather looking at what they get to experience.
[16:37] Think about this every night when the dew fell so too did the manna. As one commentator said six days a week they saw God miraculously provide for them and they became discontent with that.
[16:53] Why? Because they began to look and see well in Egypt you can eat better than this. Right. Maybe. It may taste good for a moment. I heard someone say the other day I was listening to radio and he said I lost a lot of my weight.
[17:08] He said I went from almost 400 pounds down to 190 pounds. He said you know how I lost my weight? The guy was on radio and said no how did you do it? He said I began to realize I would tell myself the food I was eating only tasted good for about three seconds.
[17:28] Now there's some things I like those three seconds I ain't gonna lie to you okay I'm not gonna sit here and I'll slow them down and get maybe five seconds out of them you know just let it hang out there for a minute.
[17:39] He said when I began to realize that I was trading three seconds of enjoyment for a lifetime of consequences I walked away.
[17:51] He said I had to convince myself of that. What they are becoming discontent with is they said we are not gonna put up with this manna for a season when we could be back in Egypt and eat something that tastes good.
[18:02] Now in God's provisions all that manna had to last was about a week after that year of hanging out in Mount Sinai it's about a week's journey to Kadesh Barnea.
[18:16] You said well they were in it for 40 years yes they were because in that week's journey they became very very complaining and grumbling and murmuring and disobedient so that all started with well I can't put up with this one more week I can't do that no I would rather have that they began to be discontent and longing for the things of the past they were no longer content with the things and the provisions of the present and they began to be discontent.
[18:44] Friend listen to me the grave of desire is first and foremost dug by discontentment. It doesn't have to be food it can be anything but it is discontentment. Secondly we see the grave of desire is dug by discouragement because discontentment is just but one hinge discontentment is just but one tool there is also the tool of discouragement and in discouragement we see that this is not a chooser of people all people are prone to discouragement and just to prove it to us we see Moses the faithful servant right he was a faithful servant in the household of God the book of Hebrews tells us that Moses becomes discouraged now we don't want to put Moses on the pedestal we also don't want to undercut him any more than we have to but Moses was an imperfect man used by a perfect God to do a perfect purpose to fulfill a perfect purpose right but he was imperfect it says in verse 10 now Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families and each man at the doorway was tent Moses was walking around the camp and heard the complaining Moses was walking around the camp and heard the murmuring
[19:44] Moses was walking around the camp and heard the discontentment now Moses was content because God had already put him in the wilderness for 40 years remember that God had prepared Moses God took 40 years making Moses something in Egypt and he took him out of Egypt and put him 40 years in the wilderness making him into nothing so that he could become somebody to lead his people through that wilderness he had already tended his father-in-law's sheep for 40 years on the back side of the wilderness he knew what it was like to live in those rough terrain and harsh environments so he was more than prepared for this but what he did is he heard their complaining and he heard their murmuring and Moses becomes discouraged Moses becomes so discouraged in verse 11 it says so Moses said to the Lord now I just want you to pay attention to this just listen to this this is Moses right the great intercessor Moses who says God before you kill them kill me I'm going to stand in the way I'm going to intercede for them this is Moses I just want you to pay attention tell me after we read these verses where Moses' focus is at why have you been so hard on your servant and why have I not found favor in your sight that you have 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 you should say to me carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries a nursing infant to the land which you swore to their fathers where am I to get me to give all this people for they weep before me saying give us meat that we may eat
[21:16] I alone am not able to carry all this people because it is too burdensome for me so if you're going to deal thus with me please kill me at once if I have found favor in your sight and do not let me see my wretchedness the people's discontentment led to Moses' discouragement and Moses began to be more focused on his position than God's presence now we say this not to belittle Moses but we say this to admit it is real easy while following the Lord to become discouraged real easy real easy I've told you before that a multitude of pastors a multitude of pastors that I know some of history's greatest preachers Charles Spurgeon being one of them Dale Moody being another Hudson Taylor being a great missionary founder of the China Inland Mission he being one a number of missionaries a number of people who have given their lives to the service of the gospel all dealt with depression why?
[22:29] because it is exceedingly easy to become discouraged while laboring among God's people now stay with me Moses is discouraged and in his discouragement he becomes more focused on his limitations than God's opportunities I'm just going to speak from personal experience usually I am right back in the office on Mondays usually and the reason I'm back in the office on Mondays I heard a pastor a long time ago gave great counsel when I think I was at a Young in the Ministries conference Carrie and I went to the Tennessee Baptist convention at that time Tennessee Baptist Mission Board now and the pastor said I don't take Mondays off a lot of pastors take Mondays off he said I don't he said the reason I don't is because after preaching twice on Sundays mentally you're just not really good for anything on Monday he said so why am I going to spend my lowest day with my family made sense to me he said I want to be
[23:34] I want to be aware I want to be there I want to be you know I want to be present so I'm just not going to do it so I followed that example and I'm back in the office on Mondays but you need to also understand that if you hold pastors the day they are most discouraged is usually Mondays Mondays and that's why they tell pastors never resign on a Monday don't leave because it is Monday that the enemy says boy you really blew it that week or you really messed up that sermon or you really did that if you had done that right then you would have saw this response and you would have saw the people come here and you would have seen this and it's always focused on the pastor right or what about these people no reason they're not their pastors because of you you made a bunch of people mad and if you're honest every time you get discouraged the focus becomes inward inward and that's not something that is only reserved for pastors anytime we serve anytime we minister anytime we give ourselves to do the labor of the
[24:36] Lord among his people or for his glory discouragement will always creep in and the way it creeps in is we begin to be reminded of how little we can do and the reality is this we can do very little in the kingdom of God on our own because it is a spiritual labor and a spiritual exercise and it is not for us to do Jesus himself said the spirit blows where it wants and no man knows how you cannot save a soul I cannot save a soul I had to get that through my head I had to convince myself of that I can't save anyone and neither can you we can proclaim the truth and cry out to the father intercede on their behalf but salvation is a spiritual thing it is the work of the Lord not the work of man all we can say is Lord I will lead Lord I will serve
[25:36] Lord I will go but you are going to have to do it and the reason that people become discouraged is we begin to look at the extent of the work we begin to look at the magnitude of the need we begin to look at the weight of the calling and we say Lord I can't do it by the way that is exactly where we need to be but discouragement digs that grave of desire discontentment not being content with where God has put you not being content with what he's providing for you while you're there not being content where you're at the Bible tells us to rejoice in all things and again I say rejoice Paul says I have learned to be content in all situations whether in want or in need having fullness whether being hungry or being well fed whether being naked or being well clothed Paul said I have learned to be content in all things and I think one of the greatest tragedies among God's people is when we will not allow him to teach us contentment in the bad seasons so that we can enjoy contentment in the good seasons and when we do not get to the place of contentment all of a sudden we become discouraged and in discouragement we are digging deeper that grave of desire finally this leads this isn't
[26:52] I've got two more but this discontentment this discouragement leads to destruction leads to destruction we see this throughout this chapter because when the people begin to complain because the going gets tough God says you think it's tough walking in the wilderness try to walk in the wilderness in a lightning storm because it says the fire of the Lord started consuming the outskirts of the camp and this all of a sudden is destruction because some people died right and God says okay you want meat to eat I love this because the Bible tells us in the book of Hebrews and also says it again in 2 Thessalonians probably one of the harshest things that God ever does that's not going to sound feasible but I want you to follow me says it in the second chapter of Hebrews not Hebrews of Romans second chapter of Romans and it says it in 2 Thessalonians I think it's the second or third chapter there I'd have to go back and cross references but there's this very scary phrase where it says and God gave them over to their own desires one of the scariest things God does for man is when he gives man what man wants and sometimes the greatest judgment that God can put on man is to give man what he wants so God tells Moses and I want to come back to part of this so stay with me
[28:22] God tells Moses tell the people to consecrate themselves because they're going to get meat I love Moses Moses in his discouragement says what are we supposed to do kill all of our flocks that won't be enough this is 600,000 people on foot now he's counting men soldiers and that's a round number if we want an actual number we want to the people number then we would have to go back and read our census numbers again in the beginning of the book of numbers but what he's just kind of throwing out a roundabout number here he says over 600,000 soldiers on foot not to count the women and the children and those who are not fit for war and we also need to add in the Levites there we've got over a million people here and you're telling me that I'm supposed to feed them not for one day two day five days ten days or twenty days they're going to be fed for a month how am I going to give them enough meat he says if I kill all of our flocks that won't do it if I get all the fish in the sea that won't do it what is Moses saying if I if I if I right and God says stop stop I love this and I have this underlined verse 23 then the Lord said to Moses is the Lord's power limited anytime we want to ask why or how or could it be or I don't see how it's going to happen we need to put this in front of us is the Lord's power limited is it limited in the wilderness no is it limited in his provisions no is it limited when it seems impossible no he says now you
[29:47] Moses shall see whether my word will come true for you or not by the way praise be to God when he puts us in a position where we have to see if his power is limited and we get to see with our eyes that his word will come true I am so thankful for every opportunity that he has allowed myself and my family to walk through where I can tell you emphatically his word does not fail and I do not tell you by I think it will not fail I can tell you by experience that it will not fail because I have seen that his power is not limited to what man's ability his power is not limited to what we think can happen he is able and his word will come true I remember one particular season in my life I was stepping out of faith and I was walking and someone in my family not my immediate family here someone in my extended family was kind of really thinking I was kind of crazy I was a Jesus freak taking this thing way too far and I was just carrying it on too much and they asked me what do you think
[30:52] Billy Joe that you'll just sit down at your table and open your mouth and you'll get food just poured out in your mouth and I said when I read the Bible it tells me that his children will not go hungry and he's done it once and I expect him to do it again the very next day I opened up my mailbox and the cable TV company had sent us a check I don't know how many people have ever gotten checks back from the cable TV company we don't even know why we had cable TV we didn't have it at that time they sent us a check we needed food by the way we needed groceries you know we did we went and bought groceries when those groceries ran out and because it was a season of my life I'd been laid off and I was really I was just doing what I could do and I was trying to work because if a man would not work he should not eat I was being faithful I was living we were struggling we were giving to the church we would not hold back we continued on we continued on we continued on all of a sudden I get a call hey Billy Joe there was a semi that wrecked and it was full of food we need to give this food can somebody come get this food at that time I had like a 97 F-250 truck long bed and it was full of food I had to go find another freezer space to put it in and it was all meat it was awesome it was the best meat we'd ever ate it was so great and then I get a call hey we you know down here we got this freezer we don't know what to do with all this meat can you take sure we'll eat it what did
[31:56] I expect that I would just sit down at the table and God would provide for me yes you know what he did he did over and over and over again praise be to God we find out that his word will come true for us so God says okay so you want meat I'm going to give you meat because now we're he said I'm going to give you some of this meat it's going to come out of your nostrils and you'll loathe it you'll hate it and you know these people are saying we want meat so he caused a breeze to come and from the sea these quail came in now when it says that it was two cubits deep on the surface of the ground that literally means it was two cubits above the ground so these quail had flown so far they were flying about chest high three feet off the ground they were tired so the quail were trying to fly across the wilderness and they were just tired they were wore out because God had caused the wind to blow them God can use natural causes to do supernatural things we need to understand that right God always uses the natural to perform the supernatural not always but he can it's his nature he can do with it however he wants and he causes this wind quail fly with the wind so it is pushing them that direction towards his people and they're going there and they're getting tired they've been flying so long they're looking for a place to land they're about three feet off the ground and the nation goes check out all these quail and they just go knocking them down right so they're gathering them up and they said the one who gathered the least had ten omers of quail that's like you know an abundance if you do the math they had all of this meat and they laid them out across the camp because they're drying them and salting them down they're going to preserve it chewing it
[33:35] God judged them he gave them what they wanted and what they wanted led to his judgment while the meat was still between their teeth before it was chewed the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people and the Lord struck the people with a very severe plague you said that doesn't seem right well it sure it does when God told them the way they treated the manna would show their heart towards him and when they began to loathe the manna what they were saying is God we don't want what you provide we'd rather have what we can get God says okay I'll give you what you can get go get all the meat you want but when man is allowed to have his way it always leads to destruction because the grave of desire ends in destruction now fourth and finally if these things are true if it is dug with discontentment and discouragement and it's going to end in destruction then number four where is deliverance where is deliverance we see deliverance in the man
[34:48] Moses it is not wrong to be discouraged it is wrong to be discouraged and allow that discouragement to lead to sin I told you we would come back to that right do you see the difference of what Moses did with his discouragement that the people did not do with their discontentment they were discontent and they complained and the Lord heard they were discontent and they stood in the doorway of their tent and said I can't believe God brought us out here they were gossiping about it right they were mad the fathers were telling their children this was awful we were so much better and we were slaves and kids I just wish you could remember they were standing at the tent and Moses and the Lord heard Moses became discouraged and he went to the Lord the first way we find deliverance from that grave of desire is we make confession Moses says God I'm upset I'm discouraged and I don't know what I'm going to do and he confessed his discouragement and sure he was self-focused and he could have led to destruction in his own life but he did what he had to do with his discouragement he confessed it he says
[36:05] I can't do this and God is always gracious in our weakness remember that right God is always gracious in our weakness and when we hold that weakness to ourselves it becomes a sin but when we take our weakness and we lay it before God we find God's provisions God says find you 70 men and get those 70 men to come to the tent and I will take of my spirit I hope that's a capital S in your Bible by the way because it's speaking of the Holy Spirit the spirit that is upon you and I will put it upon them as well the reason that's important is a capital S the Holy Spirit I'll show you in just a moment so it says okay go ahead and Moses goes out there and they're going to get fed but God is going to take care of Moses discouragement first because Moses confessed his right his is going to be dealt with in grace and mercy and it's going to be met with God's loving kindness it's not going to be met with God's judgment it's never a bad thing to take God our faults and confess them to him so he says find you 70 men
[37:05] Moses goes out and he makes a register these 70 men he's got these 70 men and evidently on the appointed day only 68 of those 70 men showed up at the tent we don't know why but evidently it must have been justifying that the other two stayed back Eldad and Midad must have stayed in the camp they must have had a justifiable reason for it but they're out there around the tent Moses and the 68 Joshua is there by the way always pay attention Joshua always seems to be near Joshua is there and they're around the tent and God speaks he shows up and he's there and he takes the spirit that is upon Moses and he puts it upon the 68 and the two that are in the camp because by the way the Holy Spirit is not limited to time and space right it doesn't matter if they were into tentative or not now what did they do this is why it's important to know what they did this is the Holy Spirit not just Moses' spirit this is the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is evident in the Old Testament as well right as soon as the spirit fell upon them what did they do they began to prophesy now they did not do it again it says they did it once but they never did it again they prophesied that moment that's what caused a disturbance in the camp two men are prophesying the young man ran out
[38:09] Joshua I love Joshua Joshua is kind of like the Peter of the Old Testament Joshua like Moses let's make him stop should I go take care of him he's a warrior Moses I don't know what's going on here let me go take care of Moses I wish that all of God's people would prophesy by the way I wish that they were all full of the spirit Moses gets that desire that wish fulfilled in the New Testament when all of God's people be filled with the spirit now the reason I highlight the prophecy is because when we open up the book of Acts by the way the Bible tells one story right when we open up the book of Acts and anybody is filled with the Holy Spirit what do they do prophesy they begin to proclaim Jesus Christ prophecy is forth telling not foretelling it can be foretelling but forth telling would be hearing what God is saying over here and coming over here and proclaiming it for all to hear foretelling is knowing what's going to happen in the future and telling it's a big deal it's kind of a difference there forth telling happens quite often in scripture foretelling happens sporadically in scripture so they are telling forth what God is revealing to them from the inside and this is exactly what we see the spirit doing with God's people in the book of
[39:30] Acts consistency I love the consistency of it so here's God how do we deal how are we delivered from this grave of desire number one we confess it okay if we don't confess it we got to do the second thing it says in verse 33 while the meat was still between their teeth before it was chewed the anger the Lord was kindled against the people and the Lord struck the people with a very severe plague so the name of that place was called Kibroth Hatava because there they buried the people who had been greedy and from Kibroth Hatava the people set out for Hazroth and they remained at Hazroth so here we are how do we find deliverance number one is confession the second way is you bury that sinful desire and you walk away from it you bury it and leave it those who were greedy they had desire not for obedience but had a desire for the things that they used to want desire for the things that used to be they had a desire for anything other than where God was leading them
[40:36] God buried that desire it was in those people and they left it we call that repentance you turn and go the other way so we confess and then we bury that thing and walk away from it there is deliverance and there alone will we find ourselves moving away from that grave of desire let's pray Lord I thank you so much for this night God so thankful for your word Lord we thank you for the way you speak to us and may we now your people respond to it in Jesus name Amen so so
[42:12] Thank you.
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[44:12] Thank you.