reads all the commandments which I command thee this day shall you observe
to do that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land which the
Lord's swear unto your fathers now shall remember all the way which the Lord thy
God led thee these forty years in the wilderness to humble thee and to prove
thee to know what was in thine heart whether thou wouldest keep his
commandments or no and he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger and fed thee
with manna which thou knewest not neither did thy fathers know there may
make thee know that man doth not live by bread only but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord of man live thy raiment wax not old
upon thee neither did thy foot swell these forty years thou shalt also
consider in thine heart that as a man chasteneth his son so the Lord thy God
chasteneth thee therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy
God to walk in his ways and to fear him for the Lord thy God bringeth thee into
a good land a land of Brooks of water fountains and depths that spring out of
valleys and hills a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and
pomegranates a land of oil olive and honey a land wherein thou shalt eat bread
without scarceness thou shalt not lack anything in it a land whose stones are
iron and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass when thou is eaten and art
full then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath
given thee beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God in not keeping his
commandments and his judgments and his statutes which I command thee this day
lest when thou is eaten and art full and has built goodly houses and dwelt
therein when thy herds and thy flocks multiply and thy silver and thy gold is
multiplied and all that thou hast is multiplied then thine heart be lifted
up and now forget the Lord thy God which brought thee forth out of the land of
Egypt from the house of bondage who led thee through that great and terrible
wilderness wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions and drought where there
was no water who brought thee forth who brought thee forth water out of the
rock of flint who fed thee in the wilderness with manna which thy
fathers knew not that he might humble thee and that he might prove thee to do
thee good at thy latter end and now saying thine heart my power and the
might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth but thou shalt remember the Lord
thy God for it is he that given thee power to get wealth that he may
establish his covenant which you swear unto thy fathers as it is this day and
it shall be if thou do it all forget the Lord thy God and walk after other gods
and serve them and worship them I testify against you this day that you
shall surely perish as the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face so
shall ye perish because he would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your
God let's pray dear Lord God thank you again for this opportunity to hear the
preaching of your word and just ask that you would bless brother Cody with the
Holy Spirit as he does so and please just give us ears to hear and in Jesus
name we pray amen amen good morning everyone and we're in Deuteronomy
chapter 8 but before I get there just want to thank Pastor Mejia for giving me
the privilege to preach again it's always an honor and you know he's
obviously at the Red Hot with his family right now the Red Hot preaching
conference taking place with other brethren so just pray they're having a
good time there and that they are able to make it home safely and you know I
just got back myself from the Red Hot preaching conference came back home
early so hopefully I could bring a little bit of that fire from the Red
Hot back here this morning and we're in Deuteronomy chapter 8 and if you look at
verse 1 it says all the commandments which I command thee this day shall you
observe to do that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land
which the Lord swear unto your fathers and thou shalt remember all the way which the
Lord thy God led thee these 40 years in the wilderness to humble thee and to
prove thee to know what was in thine heart whether that would keep his
commandments or no and he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger and fed thee
with manna which thou knewest not neither did thy fathers know that he
might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only but by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live and go ahead and
turn to first Corinthians chapter 10 first Corinthians chapter 10 but in
Deuteronomy chapter 8 it just kind of give an overview and an introduction to
what I'm going to preach on but first let's get an introduction to Deuteronomy
where it's the last book of the five books of Moses and of course we have
Genesis Exodus Leviticus numbers and Deuteronomy and when we when we look at
Genesis it's obviously the beginning of creation to the time where the children
of Israel are in Egypt Exodus is where the children of Israel are in bondage in
Egypt and it kind of shows the beginning portions of them out in the wilderness
Leviticus is doesn't have a lot of story to it it's mostly God's statutes and
judgments and commandments and his law that he gives to the children of Israel
and then Numbers is where we get a lot of the story of them actually out 40
years in the wilderness and the Deuteronomy as we saw in chapter 8 it's
kind of the end of that 40 years and God ready to put the children of Israel into
the promised land just to give some context there and he shows in Deuteronomy
chapter 8 what we just read there it shows why he did that why they were out
in in the wilderness for 40 years and it was to humble them to prove them which
means to test them to try them and it was to suffer them to hunger and to
thirst and to show you know the in the Fed would manner to show them that man
does not live by bread only but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of
God and so that's why God had them in the wilderness for those 40 years to
try them to prove them to humble them and if you look at first Corinthians 10
it gives more context to you know what we could glean from the New Testament to
the children of Israel out in the wilderness look at verse one it says
moreover brethren I'm not happy that I would not that you would be ignorant how
that all our fathers were under the cloud and passed through the sea and
they were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea and all eat the
same spiritual meat and it all drink the same spiritual drink for they drink of
that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ but with many
of them God was not well pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness
now these things were our examples to the intent that we should not lust after
evil things as they also lusted neither be idolaters as were some of them as it
is written the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play now let us
commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day three and
twenty thousand now that let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted were
destroyed of serpents neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were
destroyed of the destroyer now all these things happen unto them for examples and
they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come
wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest ye fall so we
see there in first Corinthians chapter 10 where us as New Testament believers
what we could glean from the children of Israel out in the wilderness if they
were set as our examples they were set as our admonition to say we should not
commit the same sins that they committed out in the wilderness and so I want to
focus on the journey through the wilderness that these children of
Israel went through and kind of hit one specific topic that I want to focus on
and the title of my sermon you could go ahead and turn to Exodus 16 but I want
to hit on one specific sin this morning of what the children of Israel committed
over and over again as we see through the wilderness and the title of my
sermon is the journey through the murmurings. The journey through the
murmurings. I want to talk about murmuring this morning and you say well
what is murmuring? Murmuring is synonymous with complaining, whining,
being a spoiled little brat is what murmuring is. And in fact murmuring is
somewhat of an onomatopoeia and what that is it's basically a word that kind
of sounds like what it is. You know murmuring is like people go meh meh meh meh meh meh.
You know that's what murmuring is is people complaining and whining and
that's something that you see over and over again the Children of Israel
committing in the the five books of Moses here and we're gonna go through
some of these murmurings this morning and the first one we find is Exodus 15,
16, and 17. All three chapters they focus on murmuring but I'm not gonna hit on 15
and 17 because for sake of time there's so much murmuring going on I don't have
time to cover it all. But really the first time that you hear the Children
of Israel whining really is in the beginning of Exodus when God hears the
cries of them in their bondage in Egypt. Which you know you could you know kind
of see why they would do that you know because in Egypt they're under hard
bondage the Bible says that they that the Egyptians put them through rigor and
they were slaves there and they and they did not have a fun time in Egypt but God
heard their cries and wanted to deliver them out of Egypt which he did and it's
also a great picture of salvation of course you know God delivering his
people out of Egypt you know you think the last plague for instance was God
sending the destroyer to kill every firstborn of every family even the
cattle as well of both the Egyptians and the Israelites and you know the way you
were spared the way you were saved from that is to slay a lamb and with that
lamb's blood put it on your doorpost and if once the destroyer saw the blood he
would pass over that which is a great picture of salvation of course because
you know when a person believes on Jesus Christ they put their faith on Jesus
Christ Jesus's blood is put on their account and when God sees that blood you
know his wrath of hellfire and damnation passes over that person and so it's a
beautiful picture and the other picture I want to explain too is God delivers
them out of the land of Egypt passes through the Red Sea which is also a
picture of baptism which is something that a person should do once they get
saved and then in the wilderness is a picture of we're still in the world just
like how in Egypt is also a picture of the world but Egypt is a picture of the
world when you're not saved whereas the wilderness is a picture of the world
when you are saved it's a picture of the world you know we're in the world but
now we're not of the world this world is not in our home we're just passing
through and so the wilderness is a good picture of the Christian life while
we're still on this earth and I want to talk about murmuring this morning and I
just wanted to focus on that but we're in Exodus 16 but in Exodus 15 we see
them first murmuring in verse 24 I don't have time to explain it all but they
murmur because they find bitter water and right after they get out of Egypt
and by the way this is like three days after they get out of Egypt and depart from the
Red Sea and they're all rejoicing and it's a great victory and they're all
triumphant and literally three days into the wilderness they're already
murmuring and they murmur because they found this bitter water and they
couldn't drink of it and so they murmur against God but then God makes that
bitter water sweet again a good picture of salvation where you know that bitter
water of Egypt God turns it into the sweet water you know of the Christian
life but they murmur and then God fixes that and then in Exodus 16 well first
Exodus 17 after the chapter after Exodus 16 also mentions them murmuring
because they were thirsty as well and this is the what God does is he has
Moses smite a rock and out of that rock comes out water that they're able to
drink right but in Exodus 16 we see the murmuring in between those two things so
they're murmuring all the time here and again this is right after God performed
this great miracle delivering them out of the hand of the Egyptians but look at
Exodus 16 in verse number two it says and the whole congregation of the
children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness and
the children of Israel said unto them what did God we had died by the hand of
the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the flesh pots and we did eat
bread to the full if you have brought us forth into this wilderness to kill
this whole assembly with hunger and so they're already murmuring because
they're hungry they don't have anything to eat right and the first murmuring
that I want to focus on with all three of these murmurings that we see early on
in 15 16 and 17 is you know murmuring about the trials that God puts you
through in your life the sufferings that God allows to happen in your life you
know oftentimes in the Christian life we could complain about those things and
whine about those things but really we saw in Deuteronomy chapter 6 that he
does that to prove us and he does that to try us and to make us better people
to improve our lives and so when you're going through a tough time in a trial
in your life you know don't charge God foolishly you know Job is a person who
didn't charge God foolishly and he lost everything and he said naked came
out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither the Lord giveth the
Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord and he didn't charge God
foolishly and so we shouldn't charge God foolishly and shouldn't murmur and
complain when we're going through tough times in our life and just understand
that God's doing that to try us you know when when you want when gold you
know in the book of Job it talks about coming coming out as gold and you know
when you want gold to be purified if you want gold to be pure you have to put it
through the fire sometimes put it to the test and so that's what God did but
they're complaining and whining about you know being thirsty and being hungry
and God did that on purpose to prove them but look at what his response is
here and in both instances before and after Exodus 16 as you saw with them
being thirsty in the bitter water God was merciful to them you know he didn't
come down on them hard and in fact he gave them water to drink he gave the
sweet water and he gave the water from the rock and look at what he does here
in Exodus 16 verse number four then said the Lord unto Moses behold I will rain
bread from heaven for you and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate
every day that I may prove them whether they will walk in my law or no and it
shall come to pass that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring
in and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily and let's just talk about
the manna that God sends from heaven and we're gonna see more about that let's
continue reading look at verse 11 it says the Lord's speaking to Moses saying
I've heard the murmurings of the children of Israel which by the way God
hears your murmurings speak unto them saying at even you shall eat flesh and
in the morning you shall be filled with bread and you shall know that I'm the
Lord your God and they came to pass that at even the quails came up and covered
the camp and in the morning the dew lay round about the host and with the dew
that was laid that lay was gone up behold upon the face of the wilderness
there lay a small round thing as small as the hoarfrost on the ground and the
children of Israel saw it they said one to another it is manna for they wished
not what it was and Moses said unto them this is the bread which the Lord hath
given you to eat this is the thing which the Lord hath commanded gather of it
every man according to his eating and omers for every man according to the
number of your persons take ye every man for them which are in his tents and so
God's response to the murmurings is very merciful you know what he's giving the
children of Israel further to satisfy their hunger is this manna that falls
down from heaven it's this special manna we don't really know exactly what it is
we get some details of what it kind of is it's some kind of bread but he sends
this down from heaven and he gives them certain instructions again to prove them
to see if they're actually gonna follow his instructions and it's very simple
instructions basically they just have to gather you know the the dew comes down
and it turns into that manna in the morning and they just have to gather it
in the morning just every single day and basically on the sixth day because the
Sabbath day they're supposed to rest the sixth day they gather twice as much
you know to cover those two days basically and it's just something that's
very simple instructions and we'll see later on that they they basically fail
on it because in verse 17 it says and the children of Israel did so and
gathered some more some less and when they didn't meet it with an omer he
gathered much uh he that gathered much had nothing over and he that gathered
little had no lack they gathered every man according to his eating i want to
focus on that for a second here because you know there's two different ways you
could interpret this and i'll let you know what i think but the first way you
can interpret it is to say that that you know some people just gathered more
because they you know could eat more and some gathered less because they could
eat less basically people just took what they needed i don't believe that's the
case because that's just not human nature i mean you think of covid you know however
many years ago now four years ago and you know people definitely didn't leave
enough toilet paper for the next person or enough soap or enough water right you
know it's just not human nature to just kind of take what you need and so i
don't believe that's the case here what i believe this is is is another
miraculous factor of the mana another miraculous attribute of the mana to say
that basically even if you took like extra mana and you ate that and the
versus the one guy who took like one piece or something like that both of you
would be satisfied with it you know so if someone tried to gather more then it
wouldn't even matter because you're still good at you know you got to have
nothing left over and if you gathered little you're gonna have no lack you're
not gonna be hungry afterwards so I believe that it's a miraculous part of
the mana to where even if people were being selfish and grabbing more that it
It wasn't going to make them more full or more satisfied or anything.
And kind of the point I want to make on this too, just as a personal application as well,
is some people in this church, some do gather more and some gather less manna.
And what do I mean by that?
This is kind of a different point I want to make, but some people in this church, you
know, let's just be honest, some people know more Bible than you and some people know less
Bible than you.
You know, some people serve more in the church, some people serve less.
You know, some gather more of that spiritual man, us that spiritual meat, and some gather
less.
But you know what?
In God's eyes, it says, you know, he that gathered much had nothing over and he that
gathered little had no lack.
You know, at any point in time, you know, we all have different phases in the Christian
life and we're all at different areas in our lives.
And we need to not be down on the people who have little, right?
You know, someone, you know, if you're reading your Bible, 10 chapters a day versus the one
guy who's reading maybe one chapter a day, don't be down on that person because you don't
know where he's at in their life, right?
Hey, the one person who's going out evangelizing three times a week or something versus the
one guy who goes out once a week or maybe every other week or something, don't be down
on that guy because, you know, he might be a babe in Christ, might need to kind of build
himself up to that.
And we need not even put others down and not feel like, you know, they're lacking or something.
You know, if they're serving God to the best extent that they can, we need not be down
on those people.
And in verse 19, it says, "And Moses said, 'Let no man leave of it till the morning,
not with sand, and they hearkened not unto Moses, but some of them left of it until the
morning, and it bred worms and stank, and Moses was wroth with them.
And the God that did every morning, every man according to his eating, when the sun
was waxed hot, it melted."
So this is also other attributes of the manna is, you know, some people try to keep, you
know, they try to stock it up, and that shows all the more that they didn't just take what
they needed.
They try to stock up more for the next day, but miraculously with this manna, it would
breed worms, and it would stink, and it would basically get rotten if you try to save it
for the next day.
So you have to gather manna every single day, and it's a good application to say that, you
know, we need to walk in the Spirit every single day, and not just think that you come
on a Sunday morning and just try to gather up all the manna you can, and then you're
good for the rest of the week.
And you need to be in your Bible reading every single day.
You need to go soul winning every single week.
You know, you need to have these certain factors in your life, and you can't just rely on one
day to just try to gather up as much as you can, or else it's going to breed worms and
stink.
And so, that's it with the manner there, but I just want to focus on, first of all, murmuring
number one is the trials God puts you in your life.
You know, some people are in different walks of life, even in the Christian life, and you
know, you can't charge God foolishly with what's going on in your life, right?
And in Exodus, or sorry, in Hebrews 11, 24, it's talking about Moses that says, "By faith
Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures
in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward."
You know, people in the church are going to feel backslidden in heart from time to time,
you know?
And if you feel like you're getting backslidden in your heart, you know, a lot of the times
the tendency is to want to go back into Egypt, you know, go back and, "Oh, I wish I was
back in the times.
You know, I don't like this Christian life, the trials I got to go through and the sufferings
I got to go through in the Christian life.
So I'm just going to go back to Egypt because it might be better back, you know, before
I was saved, you know, back to the party life or something and think that that's going to
satiate you.
But really it's not.
And you think that if the children of Israel, when they got out of Egypt, you think if they
went back to Egypt that it'd be easier for them, you know, after they've already left
and you know, all these plagues happened to the Egyptians?
Of course not.
They, you know, it'd be a lot more miserable.
And so if you're feeling backslidden heart, the best thing to do is just to stay in church.
You know, it's better to be, feel backslidden while you're serving God and just begrudgingly
doing it and just suffering through it than to try to suffer out there.
Hey, you know, they were servants in Egypt and now that, you know, into the wilderness,
they're servants of God, you're going to be a servant to someone no matter what.
So who are you going to serve?
Are you going to serve Satan or are you going to serve God?
Either way, you're going to go through trials and tribulations, you're going to suffer,
but it's just better to just suffer an affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season like Moses.
Go ahead and turn to Numbers 11, Numbers 11, murmuring number two.
Murmuring number one is murmuring about the trials and the sufferings you go through in
life that God allows to happen in your life to try you and to prove you.
If you look at Numbers 11, verse number one 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 that place Taberah, because the fire of the Lord
burnt among them." Whoa, this is a little bit different from
how God was treating them for murmuring in Exodus as we saw, but you've got to think
that in Exodus, again, Exodus is where they're just coming out of the wilderness, so God's
giving them some mercy, giving them some grace. In Numbers 11 here, they're well into those
40 years in the wilderness, and they're still murmuring. And this is a good lesson to say
that if you're the person that's kind of known as being the whining and complainer, people
get tired of it, people get sick of it, and it displeased the Lord. So they were complaining,
and God basically burnt some of them with fire, killed some of them, and then you think
that they got it right? Well it says in verse 4, "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, I don't know what's
free about Egypt, 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. You hear that? They're saying there's
nothing at all. Oh wait, the verse continues. Oh, besides the manna before our eyes. Oh,
so it's not nothing at all. You're over-exaggerating. But you know, the second murmuring I want
to cover here is murmuring about the blessings that God's already given you in your life.
You know, God already gave them the manna, and they should be satisfied with the manna.
And you think that this divine bread from heaven, you don't think it tastes pretty good.
You're right. I would say, and if you were to read some certain descriptions throughout
the Old Testament, you'd see that the manna probably tasted really good. And I guarantee
you it was very nutritious. It was really good for you, too. It probably had all your
B vitamins and some vitamin C and your zinc and your calcium, all the necessary ingredients
you need to live. I guarantee it was in that manna. But you know what they're whining about
and why? Because they're wanting the cucumbers and the leeks. Isn't that like a stick or
like celery or something? I mean, I don't know why you're missing that. You know, they're
missing the melons and the fish, which they didn't eat in Egypt. And you know, I don't
think people think about it. But you know, they want to compare, you know, their life
now to the life they used to live before they got saved, before they got into church. And
they want to think, oh, so much better back then. But you don't want to realize like with
Egypt, why do you think they had the melons and the cucumbers and the fish? It was blessings
from God on Egypt. And you say, what do you mean? Well, if you think where did Egypt even
get this stuff from? Well, in Genesis, at the end of Genesis, yet Joseph, right, being
Pharaoh's right-hand man, interpreting the dream and getting them prepared for that seven
years of famine. And they're a very prosperous nation because of Egypt. No, because of God.
And so really these people are loathing and wanting something else, but really the blessings
that someone else has that's still just God's blessing no matter what they think it's Egypt,
but it's God's blessing that they're still wanting and God is blessing them with the
manna but they're not satisfied with the manna.
And what's the lesson that we can take here is not complaining and murmuring.
I want to kind of hone down on this topic for a while here on this subject here, but
not complaining about what God is giving you in your life.
People will often complain about, and why it is, it says in verse four that they fell
a-lusting and lust is desiring and it's synonymous with covetousness.
That's where murmuring often comes from and complaining is covetousness, desiring something
that does not belong unto you.
If someone, "Oh man, so-and-so's got such a nice car, I'd grab this bag of bolts or
something."
God gave you that car, and in fact covetousness is such a wicked sin that it's in one of the
Ten Commandments.
God said, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's
wife."
Don't look at someone's house like, "Oh man, I just live in some small apartment and just
wish I had a house like that."
Then I'd be happy.
Or someone else's wife, right?
Don't be like, "Man, I wish my wife was like so-and-so's wife.
I wish my wife looked like so-and-so's wife."
You're murmuring and complaining from the blessings that God gave you, and it's wicked
and it displeases God.
I think of a lot of different things.
We'll first cover food, because this is what it's technically on surface value is talking
about food.
Actually, the inspiration for my sermon is actually coming from a trend that was happening
like a month ago, and it has to do with Chipotle.
Who's heard about this trend here, Chipotle, where Chipotle is basically shorting people
on how much meat and how much beans that they give.
What's happening with this trend is people, if Chipotle shorted them, and I don't know,
I'm not a big fan of Chipotle.
My wife loves Chipotle, but we go pretty often and I haven't experienced this, but I wouldn't
doubt that it does happen.
When it does happen, what people do is they start recording these workers that probably
make a little above minimum wage or something, and if they're like, "Oh, can I get some
more on that?"
It's like, "Oh, I'll charge you extra."
It's like, "Oh, okay.
Are you sure about that?
Are you sure you can't give me a little bit more on that?"
And they'll just record them to basically bully them into giving them more food.
Hey, how wicked of a country do we live in where we go to Chipotle and we just feel like
that we're just owed that much?
Hey, why don't you just go somewhere else, right?
It's the same thing with the children of Israel and Egypt.
Oh, they miss the leeks and the cucumbers so much.
Why don't you just go back to -- you never see anyone going back to Egypt, but what they
do is they just stay with God and murmur and complain the whole time.
If you miss Egypt so much, go back.
If you don't like Chipotle, go somewhere else.
And it's wicked.
And, you know, people murmur and complain so much here in America, and we have an abundance.
We have what Egypt has.
We have the melons and the cucumbers and the leeks and the fishes and much, much more.
But we want to whine and complain, "Oh, my steak's a little dry.
Oh, it's a little overcooked and undercooked.
You know, oh, I like this burrito better at this other place."
And we whine and complain when people in other countries would love that dried out steak
or that burrito that's not as good as another place.
But we whine and murmur about what God has blessed us in our life with, and we need to
be thankful and content with what God has given us.
You know, murmuring often is associated with kids.
You know, kids are what we think is like the whining, whining, complaining, right, you
know?
A lot of kids went up to a road trip for Red Hot, you know?
I hope none of those kids were like, "Are we there yet?
Are we there yet?
I'm hungry.
I'm thirsty."
Right?
We kind of associate that, "Meh, meh, meh, meh, meh."
You know?
"I want candy.
I want McDonald's."
You know, and kids, this is why we're a family-integrated church, so that the kids could also hear the
preaching as well.
Hey kids, don't complain about the food that your parents put in front of you.
You know, that's a blessing from God that you get to have nutritious food and good meals
provided by your parents.
So don't complain.
And it's just wicked, you know, again, but kids are like what we kind of think are the
murmurs and complainers, but really as we see here, it's mostly adults.
Grown people complaining about their food, and it's ridiculous, just eat what's put
in front of you, and we have so much variety in America where you just need to not complain
about what God has given you.
But again, you can complain in other areas of life.
You complain about, like I said, the car, the house, the possessions, even other people's,
you know, the wives or spouses, right, or just wish and murmur and complain about your
spouse.
And you know, last time I preached I made a comment, and it was a comment that got
a lot of looks from the congregation here, so I'm just going to double down and just
say it again and hope that maybe we fix some faces this time, but hey, if you complain
and murmur and whine about your spouse, you might as well just say, "I'm an idiot!
I'm stupid!"
Because you chose to marry that person, and it's wicked when God is displeased when He
gave you that spouse, He blessed you with that spouse, and you want to whine and complain,
"Oh, I wish she was like this," or "Oh, he talks to me this way," you know, and a lot
of people go to the point where it's like, "Oh, he's just a psychopath, reprobate."
Really? Really? There's nothing good that you could find in your, and I get that that
stuff happens sometimes, but come on, is that really the norm when you have some, it seems
like every woman today in America is married to some psychopath. I mean, man, it's this
feminist movement today, this feminist agenda today that wants to make men out to be evil
people, you know, this trend too is like, "Oh, I choose the bear." You know, it's this
idea where, you know, people are like, you know, asking women, "Would you rather be stuck
in a forest with a bear or with a man?" And all these feminists are like, "I'd be stuck
with the bear." You know? Wicked. You know? Oh, but it's the men too with this little
MGTOW, men going their own way movement too, where they're like, "Oh, women in America
are a bunch of whores. You know, they're all sleazy and, you know, the good women are in
the Philippines. The chaste women are in some foreign country. I need to get, you know,
someone else, you know, because no one in America, you know, no woman in America's good,"
which is ridiculous because I, you know, there's a lot of women in this church and it sounds
like you're kind of throwing the baby out with the bath water. You know, I want to say
a bunch of these women are whores or something. I'd say we got a bunch of meek and chaste
women here at church that are Americans. And so this is ridiculous, you know, women-hating
movement out there. And you just, why don't you just say that you don't know how to talk
to women? Because that's what it is. You're murmuring about women, but really what it
is is you don't know how to talk to women. Murmuring about the blessings that God gave
to them. What was God's response this time? He says in verse 18 of Numbers 11, "And say
thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, and ye shall eat flesh.
For ye 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 if ye loath some unto
you, because that ye have despised the Lord, which is among you, and have wept before them,
saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt? So what ends up happening, God's judgment upon
the children of Israel from murmuring about the manna, is like, because they're wanting
flesh to eat. So God's like, I gotcha, I'll give you flesh. So he sends quails, and you
know, these people become gluttons basically, and just gather up. I mean, they're gathering
like 10 omers, which is like 10 times as much as the manna as they were getting, and they're
literally stuffing their faces, and literally God sends a plague as they're stuffing their
faces, as the foods in their mouth, God sends a plague and just smites all of them. You
know, that's what you think God takes murmuring lightly, you think God takes complaining lightly,
especially when it's the manna that God has given you. And so it's wicked, and it displeases
the Lord to see people murmuring and complaining about what God has given them. It makes God
mad. And he doesn't take it lightly at all. It says in verse 14 of James chapter one,
you don't have to turn there, but it says, "Every man is tempted when he is drawn away
of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin and
sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brother, and every
good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights
with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Every good thing you have in your
life is because of God. And you need to be more appreciative for what you do have and
be content with what you do have. And that's the big problem today in America and the easy
solution to murmuring and complaining about everything going on in your life. You could
get the murmuring and complaining out of your life today. After the, like literally right
now you could get it out of your life right now. And it's by being content. And contentment
is not something of circumstance where it's like, you know, people think, well, once I
get that job, once I get that spouse, once I get that car, once I get that house, once
I get the finances in order, then I'll be content. But that's not actually contentment
because you have the richest people in this world, like Donald Trump for instance, that
just wants more and more and more and he's never satisfied. And you could have one of
the poorest people in this world and they're completely happy with what God's given them.
That is an attitude change and it's a choice you make. And what it is, is being thankful
for what you do have and focusing on the good aspects of your life and not just whining
and whining about some bad aspect. And I kind of said it right there and I forgot to mention
this too, but another wicked complaint that people make is about their job that God blessed
them with. You know, it makes God mad when you're going to that job that he blessed you
with and you're whining and complaining on the job. You know, that's the job that God
gave you, and if you don't like that job, go find something else. But don't whine and
complain like, "Oh, another Monday, you know, another day, another dollar." You know, don't
murmur, don't whine, don't complain about your job. Be thankful that God's giving you
a job to be able to provide for your family.
Philippians 4, 11, you don't have to turn, you can actually turn to Numbers 13, but Philippians
4, chapter 4 verse 11 says, "Not that I speak in respect of want," this is Paul speaking,
and by the way, Paul's speaking in prison, "Not that I speak in respect of want, for
I've learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content.
I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound everywhere in all things I am instructed
both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
I could do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me."
You know, there's that little Hobby Lobby verse that people like, but they don't see
it in the full context.
What does it mean to be able to do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me?
It's to be content in any state that you're at.
Paul said, "I could abound anywhere, even if I'm full, and even if I'm hungry, even
if I have a lot, even if I'm abounding, and even if I'm suffering need."
And so we need to learn to be content in whatever state we're in.
You know, for instance, if you're single, for instance, you know, don't whine and complain
that you don't have a spouse yet.
Right?
You know, and people, and here's the thing, there is blessings to being single.
There are, because you get more time to basically devote yourself and devote your life unto
serving God.
It becomes harder when you start having a family.
And so, take the blessings of being single right now, and don't whine and complain like,
"Oh, you know, no one loves me," and then you become a MGTOW, you know?
And also too, you know, there's people who haven't been able to have kids yet, you know,
don't be discontent and be like, "Oh man, you know, if only God would just bless me
with kids, you know, so-and-so's got like 10 of them here," you know?
But it's like, don't complain either, because you know what, maybe God is just allowing
you and your wife to be able to serve God together more, and not, you know, be held
back, and you know, because kids, they become a handful, and it becomes harder to serve
God fully with kids, you know?
You have to train up those kids, and that becomes your life, so it, you know, for ladies
who haven't been able to have kids yet, it's a great opportunity for them to just serve
God more.
And so don't be discontent and complain about what God hasn't blessed you with.
All right, numbers 13 were there.
This is murmuring number three, and this in numbers 13, this is when God basically wants
to send out spies, 12 spies from the 12 tribes of Israel to go spy out the promised land
that he had promised unto the children of Israel.
We see in verse one, "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Send out men that they
may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel.
Of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them."
And it ends up happening, they're out 40 days spying out the land, and they're supposed
to see the fruit of the land, bring back a sample basically, and also to see the cities
that God promised to give unto them, and also to see the people who live in the land, because
there's people, you know, you've got different nations that are in the land that God wants
them to conquer.
But they end up bringing back an evil report.
It says in verse 32, "And they brought up an evil report of the land, which they had
searched unto the children of Israel, saying, 'The land to which we have gone to search
it is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof.
And all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature.
And there we saw giants, the son of Anak, which come of the giants, and were in our
own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.'"
And so 10 of the 12 spies bring back an evil report, basically saying, "It's too scary."
You know, I'm scared of the people that live there.
You know, the land's beautiful.
It is the land that floweth with milk and honey, which by the way, too, you know, they're
wanting the cucumbers and the melons in Egypt, but God promised them the promised land, and
it said in Deuteronomy 8 that it's a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees
and pomegranates, a land of oil, olive and honey.
And even in here, it talks about a land that floweth with milk and honey.
So God does want the bountiful life for the Christian, but you know, it takes some testing,
it takes some proving, right?
But they're giving up this evil report, basically saying, "It's too difficult.
We won't be able to defeat these people, because what it is, is God promised them this land,
and it's like, it's got everything, and even what they've had, like their buildings, and
their infrastructure, and their harvest, and all that stuff is just going to be yours.
I'm just giving that to you.
All you have to do is this one thing, and go take them out of the land.
And you say, "Well, that's kind of difficult, going to war."
But here's the thing is, they've already fought multiple battles before this instance, and
God was on their side, and God showed strong on their behalf and got the victory.
And so they've seen it already that God is able to, if God's on their side, he's able
to deliver them, or deliver the people into the hands of the children of Israel like nothing
and have great victories.
And so it's not even that much of a task.
He's just saying, "I just need you to be in the battle.
I just need you to be in the Lord's army."
And the third murmuring I want to talk about is murmuring about the good fight of faith.
And a lot of people will murmur about wanting to be in the Christian life.
"Oh man, soul winning and reading my Bible and coming to church three times a week.
Oh man, it's just so much and I don't know if I can handle all that."
And they get fearful and they get scared of wanting to serve God to the fullest.
People get scared today to preach the whole counsel of God.
There's certain portions of scripture that other churches just don't even like to touch
with a 10-foot pole.
And you know, we need to not be scared of what the world might think of us.
We need to not be scared and fearful of fighting and being in the Lord's army.
We need to stand up strong on God's behalf and just fight for Him and be on His side.
And you know, really, He's going to be there and deliver us out of any person, any evil
that comes upon us.
God's going to deliver us out of that.
But we just need to stand up.
We just need to fight.
We just need to go and do it.
So don't murmur and complain about, "Oh man, it becomes hard to come into this church because
my family gives me a hard time," or, "Oh, soul winning and evangelizing.
It's so hot out," which it is pretty hot out today.
But people say it's too hot when it's like 70 degrees out or something, right?
But we need to not be fearful.
And another thing of being fearful, too, is a lot of Christians, especially this year,
with the polls and the voting and all that coming up with politics, you know, Christians
want the easy way out.
They want to just put their little paper in the ballot box and vote someone in that's
like conservative and has conservative values.
And hopefully that person, you know, Donald Trump, will just kind of save us and save
our land.
No.
You know what?
Donald Trump is not on our side.
He's not on the Lord's side.
You know?
And so I don't care if he's president or Joe Biden's president.
It doesn't matter.
We're not Democrat, or definitely not Democrat, but we're not Republican either.
And just getting someone in office, voting someone in office ain't going to change anything
about our nation.
What it needs is Christian, God's people, to stand up and fight for the Word of God.
But what do they do?
Look at, it carries on to chapter 14 in Numbers.
Look at verse 1.
"And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried, and the people wept that night.
And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron.
And the whole congregation said to them, 'Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt,
or would God we had died in the wilderness?'"
And so they still murmur, they murmur and complain about this evil report on the land,
and they're crying, just, "God's going to kill us!"
And he even says too, it's like, you know, "God wants us to fall by the sword, that our
wives and children will be a prey unto the Amalekites in the land."
You know, it's a really wicked, railing accusation against the Lord, and what is God's response
to it?
You know, this is actually the judgment that God puts where they actually are set to be
out in the wilderness wandering for 40 years, is because of this.
You know, they were supposed to enter into the promised land right then and there to
go and fight the Amalekites, but because they gave up this evil report, God just basically
says, "You know what?
You want to die out in this wilderness?
You're going to die out in this wilderness.
Your carcasses will die out in this wilderness," the Lord says.
And sometimes when you murmur and complain, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
You know, God might just give you exactly what you want, but it's not going to be the
outcome that you want.
You know, they want it, and it's funny, too, because God pronounces this judgment, and
they basically, at the end of the chapter, they take it back like, "Oh, no, we're sorry.
We'll go fight.
We'll go fight."
But then Moses tells them, like, "God already said it.
His commandments can't be taken back.
And if you go to fight, God's not going to be with you."
And that should be an encouragement to all of us, is that if you want to feel like you
want to get out of the fight and I'll just get back to it later, it might be too late
at a certain point.
It might be too late to really dedicate and devote your life to serving God.
And so it's better to just be in the fight now and just better to just keep going.
And even if times get tough, even if it seems like there's a log coming against us, it's
just better to just stay in the fight.
Go ahead and turn to number 16.
Number 16.
So that third murmuring is basically a murmuring out of fear, right?
It's basically a murmuring out of not fearing the fight, fighting the good fight for the
Lord, right?
Murmuring number four, we see number 16.
And I'm not going to rehash this whole thing, because Pastor recently preached a sermon
on Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
But Korah, Dathan, and Abiram were these false prophets, infiltrators, that wanted to usurp
the authority of the leadership.
And they're really wicked people.
And what basically happens, just as a summary here, is they basically tell Moses, you take
too much upon yourself, a little flattery, and even more flattery, because they end up
saying, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them,
wherefore then lift ye yourselves above the congregation of the Lord.
He's basically saying, we could all lead.
What they're really wanting in their hearts, though, is they want to take over.
They want to take charge.
And so it's these wicked infiltrators, false prophets, Judas Iscariots that crept into
the children of Israel, into that congregation, wanting to usurp the authority that God has
set in place.
And what ends up happening is Moses basically says, all right, if I'm not of the Lord,
then coordinate them in a way where they're just going to die the common death.
They're just going to die of old age, or just have some little health problem, just the
common death.
But he's like, but if earth opens up and swallows them whole and they just send down into hell
into the pit, then you know I'm of God.
And what ends up happening is, in fact, earth swallows up Chora, Dathan, and Abiram and
all their followers just straight down into hell, just opens up hell and just they go
straight down.
And obviously showing that Moses was of the Lord, but look what happens after this takes
place on the morrow.
In verse 41, it says, "But on the morrow, all the congregation of the children of Israel
murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, 'Ye have killed the people of the Lord.'"
And so this is crazy because if I was there and I saw just hell opening up and these people
dropping down, I would have been like, "Moses, hey, I knew you hadn't been here all along.
I never doubted you for a second."
I would be fearful to go against Moses and murmur against Moses and Aaron.
But these people are so bold that they still even murmur after that and they're like, "You
killed the people of the Lord."
It's like hell opened up.
How are they the people of the Lord?
But what ends up happening is God sends a plague for their murmurings and basically
people are, bodies are just dropping down until Moses sends Aaron to go make an atonement
for them and that's when the plague has stayed.
But God's judgment is that bodies are just going to keep falling with this plague until
an atonement was made.
And so God doesn't take murmuring lightly and this murmuring I want to talk about is
murmuring against authority.
And we all have authorities in our lives, right?
And I mentioned children, right?
That's the first thing I'll mention.
Children obviously have the authority of their parents in their life, right?
And so again kids, don't complain for the food that your parents put in front of you.
They want you to be healthy.
They want you to be strong.
And so don't complain about that food.
Don't complain when your parents want you to do chores around the house, you know, and
want you to wash the dishes or take out the trash.
Hey, and don't complain when your parents bless you with something and you want to whine
and complain about it, you know?
We don't need a bunch of spoiled little brats today, and you know, kids would love to have
all the great things and the great possessions that your parents bless you with.
Other kids in other places would love what you have.
And so we need not be a little whining, complaining, spoiled little brats, like, "Meh, meh, meh,"
and be murmurers and complainers, right?
But you know, for adults, for instance, you know, wives are to submit to the authority
of their husbands.
You know, the husband in a household is in charge, the one in charge.
And so again, wives don't complain about your husbands, because according to the New Testament,
you're actually putting Christ to shame.
Because Christ, the husband and wife is symbolic of the Christ to the church.
And so if the church wants to murmur about Jesus Christ, that's the same thing as a
wife murmuring about her husband.
That's the picture that you're showing and God is not happy.
He's displeased when you murmur against your husband.
But even men too, we have different authorities in our own lives, right?
We have the boss at work.
Let me just tell you, don't murmur and complain about the boss at work.
That guy, that person, and you say, oh, well, he's not saved.
He's some Catholic or he's some Hindu or something, or he's some Muslim and so he's not even
saved or something.
It doesn't matter.
That is the vessel by which God is using to feed you and your family.
Do not bite the hand that feeds you.
Do not complain about the boss at work.
That's the guy who, yeah, obviously the blessings of God, but you know what?
God has blessed you with that job to where you're able to provide for your family and
it's horrible when you murmur and complain about the boss at work.
Don't do that.
What about church?
What about a church setting about murmuring against authority?
Hey, don't murmur against our pastor here.
Don't complain.
We have, obviously, we preach the whole council of God here, but you know, pastor has certain
set rules here that you don't find in the Bible or anything.
It's just something, just how we do things is the order of things here, and hey, we need
to respect that.
We need to respect those things.
You know, let me start here, you know, on your bullets in there, and it was probably
announced this morning that no food or drink allowed in the main auditorium except for
water and coffee, and you know what?
It's really disheartening when I see people trying to sneak a snack in here or sneak a
Red Bull in here, or you know, oh it's a boba, it's light, it looks like coffee, but you
know, it's like a tea, and you know, just trying to work their way around.
Hey, why don't you just listen to the authority in your life?
Why do you murmur and complain about it?
You know?
It's ridiculous.
I think, you know, we, I'm going to get on this here, and I know this was a while ago,
so I don't want to feel like, and I have no idea who is guilty of this, so I don't want
to single anyone out.
But let's just use this as a good example here.
Who remembers the color of this wall here was green at one point in time?
Yeah, it was for a short while, it was for a couple of weeks or whatever.
You know, pastor decided, let's just change to this, like, dark green, and there's some
murmurs and complainers in this church about the color of the wall.
It sounds silly when I'm saying that right now, but people are complaining about what
color the wall is.
Who gives a rip what color the wall is?
You know, you're in a, you're in a Bible-believing, fundamentalist Baptist church.
We have the, we preach the right salvation.
We have the right Bible.
We have the right doctrine.
We have a good pastor and you're going to complain and murmur and whine about the wall.
It's, it's, it's really ridiculous, honestly.
You know, people in this church, people in this church have like tough times that they
deal with people at church and here they have real life struggles.
People in this church here have suffered real hard losses, but you wouldn't know about that
because you're too busy complaining and murmuring about the stupid color on the wall and it
displeases God.
It doesn't just displease me, it doesn't just displease the pastor, it displeases God when
you whine and complain about the smallest little details.
People in other places, even in America, would wish they had a church like this, but you
want to complain about the smallest detail and it makes God mad and I wonder if you would
be the person here that would whine and complain and murmur and say, "You killed the people
of the Lord, all this manna," and just whine and complain, and I wonder if you would have
been that same person that would have been burnt with fire.
You say, "Cody, you're being a little extremer.
I'm not burning anybody with fire.
God's the one doing that," and I'm making that to warn people to not murmur about authority.
Hey, we have a certain time at this church that pastors instituted that you can't find
in the Bible.
It's just how we do things in the church, but there's a certain time after soul winning
from three p.m. to four fifteen p.m. that we call Baptist quiet time.
But he put that there because it's been hard for people to stay up and you know it can
be hard because first service, then soul winning, then you go out to eat and have a big meal.
So a pastor just put this in place basically to just say hey, get some rest, all the lights
will be shut off, and there's just a time here at this church for just a peace and quiet.
Just listen to that, and you know, it displeases the Lord and it displeases me too when I'm
here trying to rest, being quiet, and then there's some grown men in the back gossiping
like little girls and not obeying and respecting the authority, you know?
Respect authority in your life.
So turn to John chapter 6, and John chapter 6 is the last place we'll go here, murmuring
and complaining.
First murmuring is murmuring about the trials that God allows in your life.
Murmuring number 2, murmuring about the blessings that God has given you in your life.
Murmuring number 3 is murmuring about the fights that God wants you to fight on his
behalf.
Murmuring number 4 is fighting against the authorities in your life that God has placed
there.
And you look at John chapter 6, you say, "Brother Cody, I thought we were like kind of focusing
on like the children of Israel in the wilderness, right?"
Well, this is kind of the children of Israel still, because we're still focusing on Jews.
You know, children of Israel according to the flesh, of course.
And it says here in John chapter 6, it says in verse 30, "They said therefore unto him,
what signs showest thou then, that we may see and believe thee?
What does that work?
Our fathers did eat manna in the desert, as it is written, he gave them bread from heaven
to eat."
So this group of people are basically wanting to see a sign from Jesus Christ, and they're
kind of, you know, "Hey, show us a sign."
And they're kind of giving them an example to kind of be like, "Hey, you know, our fathers,
you know, got manna from heaven, you know, hey, maybe you can make that happen."
But it says in verse 32, "Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from
heaven.
For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world."
And so Jesus is basically saying that he is that bread from heaven, as we're good to see
here.
"Then said they unto them, Lord, evermore, give us this bread.
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life.
He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
But I said unto you that ye have also seen me, and believe not.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no
wise cast out.
For I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will which he sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should
lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
You know, the children of Israel, they didn't get this.
They didn't understand, those at least that murmured and complained, they didn't understand
this concept here, but Jesus is basically expanding the fact that he's that bread of
life.
The manna is a representation of Jesus Christ.
The difference being is that people in the wilderness, they ate that manna and they hungered
again and had to do it the next day, but Jesus basically talking about salvation here that
if you believe on him, it says there, "This is the will of him that sent me that everyone
would see as a son, and believeth on him may have everlasting life."
And so to get that bread of life is just by believing on Jesus Christ, putting your trust
in him, and he says you'll never hunger and you'll never thirst.
That's a beautiful picture that is shown from the Old Testament to the New here.
But look at verse 41, "The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, 'I am the bread which
came down from heaven,' and they said, 'Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father
and mother we know?' How is it then he sayeth, 'I came down from heaven?'" And it goes on
to say, you know, "Jesus answered and said to them, 'Murmur not among yourselves, no
man could come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him.'" And he goes on
and on and on. And he says in verse 47, really good, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he
that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did
eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven,
that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven.
If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give is
my flesh which I will give for the life of the world. And so the last murmuring I want
to mention here to kind of close off is murmuring against the word of God. And I think I said
some pretty offensive things this morning. I don't know. You can tell me afterwards.
But we have a lot of things we can murmur about. And what's really detrimental to a
Christian's life is when they murmur about the word of God, murmur about the preaching
of the word of God. And if you don't like what I said in the Old Testament, when people
murmured against Moses and Aaron, they said, "Who are we that you murmur against us? You
murmur against the Lord." And I would take that same kind of stance, too. If you didn't
like what I said, you're murmuring against God. You're murmuring against the word of
God. And we need not be murmurers and complainers in any aspect of our life. But we definitely
need to not murmur against what God has said. And that's the worst part when a Christian
decides to buckle and kind of cave and not want to receive what God has to say about
any aspect of life. And so we need to be people who are humble enough and content with the
life that we have. Content we have a Bible. Content we have salvation. You know, be content
with just the simple things in life and not whine and complain about anything here. And
Jesus called out the Pharisees or the Jews here for murmuring. And in fact, his own disciples
were saying, this is a hard saying. Who can hear it? And, you know, obviously Jesus, you
know, it says in verse 61, when Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at
it, he said unto them, does this offend you? And he doesn't stop. He doesn't like, is
this offend you? I'm sorry. I'll, I'll, I'll back off. Now you keep going at one. And if
you shall see the son of man ascend up where he was before, it is the spirit that quicken
it, the flesh prophet, if nothing, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and
they are alive. You know, Jesus didn't back down from the preaching of his own work because
Jesus is the word of God, right? He is that man up from heaven. And so we need to respond
correctly to what God has to tell us for our lives and not murmur and complain about all
this commandment or that commandment and just be content and just receive it and be corrected
by it. And so from all those different things of murmuring and complaining, let's not murmur
and be complainers in the Christian life. But if anything you take is just not to murmur
at the word of God. Bow our heads in a word of prayer. Dear Lord God, just thank you for
every soul here that you've brought Lord and brought us safely Lord. And Lord just help
us not to murmur, not to complain against you Lord. And it's a really hard sin to keep
control of and so I just pray that this sermon Lord would at least make people aware when
they could fall into that ditch. Including myself fall into that ditch of murmuring and
complaining and really our murmuring and complaining are all against you Lord. Just help us recognize
that Lord and help us to be changed from what you've provided in your word for us Lord and
just bless our day Lord bless the preaching later on Lord and bless the soul winning we
pay this on Jesus name amen. Please turn your song books to song number 44.