It says in verse five, we remember the fish which did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers
and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic.
But now our soul is dried away.
There is nothing at all besides this manna before our eyes.
The title of my sermon tonight is Desiring Cucumbers.
Desiring cucumbers.
Now you say, what does that mean?
Have you ever just been at home and you're really hungry and you went to the pantry and
then you went to the fridge and you're just like, man, there's nothing to eat, but yet
there's all this food in the fridge, there's all this food in the pantry, you just aren't
satisfied.
You're just not content.
Nothing sounds good.
You're just desiring that which you don't have.
And so many people, that's how they spend their whole lives.
They just desire what they don't have.
And so I have three points tonight.
My first point is that there's a problem here with the people of Israel.
They have a lack of contentment.
They're just not content.
They're discontent.
And some people spend their whole lives disappointed.
They spend their whole lives discontent.
They're never happy, they're never excited about anything.
Look at verse one.
It says that 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.
We need to get those words in our mind, get them in our heart.
When the people complained, it displeased the Lord.
God hates complaining.
God doesn't like it.
He doesn't like it when you complain about anything.
When you complain about food, when you complain about your job, when you complain about your
spouse, when you complain about your church, when you complain about your pastor, when
you complain about your family.
I mean there's so many things in our life that could bring us a complaint.
I mean there's plenty to complain about.
But guess what?
God hates complaining every single time.
He hates it.
And we need to just get that settled in our heart, settled in our mind, that when we're
tempted to be discontented, when we don't have any contentment, when we're deciding
something that we just don't have, that we should hold our tongue because God hates the
complaining.
And God punished the children of Israel right here very severely.
The fire burnt among them.
But our country today is just always focused on that which they don't have.
And they think, if I could just have more, I'd be happy.
They think, well, if I just got the cucumbers, then I'd be happy.
If I just got the garlic and the leeks and the onions.
But were the children of Israel happy in Egypt?
I mean were they just having a good old time?
They were just loving it, living it up.
No, they couldn't wait to get out of there.
They hated it in Egypt.
But as soon as they get out, now they're just complaining again.
Why?
It's not because of their situation.
People can be in horrible situations and not complain.
I mean look at Job.
Job was probably in some of the worst situations you could ever imagine.
He wasn't complaining.
So we need to have the idea that, hey, even though my circumstances might be bad, I should
never complain.
And if I just had more, if I just had the cucumbers, that's not going to make you happy.
You have to decide in your heart that you're just going to be a content person, that you're
not going to complain, that you're not going to murmur, then no matter what life situation
happens, you won't.
But I looked up the definition of complaining in the dictionary.
It says, express dissatisfaction or annoyance about a state of affairs or an event.
So they're just really dissatisfied, they're just really annoyed.
I looked up what the antonyms of that was because I think that's really important.
Antonyms are accept, agree, compliment, help, being content.
Now those sound like some good words, that sounds like people I want to hang out with.
People that are helping, people that are agreeing, people that are complimenting, people that
are content.
That sounds like a great person to be around.
I don't want to be around the opposite.
And you know what?
Even if you're a big complainer, you hate being around complainers too.
I mean everybody just hates being around somebody complaining.
They just, oh my life sucks and oh my life's terrible.
I mean sometimes the worst, somebody will be complaining about their life and then they
are just like, oh you don't even know the half of it.
I got it way worse than you brother, oh man, you don't even know and you're just like,
I didn't want to hear you complain, I just wanted to complain myself.
We see nobody wants to be around a complainer.
It's terrible, it's awful, but it's also contagious.
It's one of those things that when somebody, just one person starts complaining, now you
got a bunch of people complaining.
Now everybody's getting their mind thinking about all the negativity, all the bad circumstances.
I mean man, traveling through the wilderness, traveling out of Egypt, I bet there's things
to complain about.
It's not like their circumstance was just the greatest circumstance you could ever hope for.
But if you have your heart set on being content, if you have your heart on the right things,
if you don't have a lack of contentment in your life, you can be in a bad situation and
not complain.
And we need to realize that it's not about being in the right situation and stop complaining.
No, it's a heart issue.
You have to get it set on your heart that you're not going to complain because your
circumstances are always going to be up and down.
There's always going to be good in your life, there's always going to be negative, there's
going to be awful, there's going to be great.
So you have to have it set on your heart, I'm not going to complain, I'm not going to
murmur.
And of course we all have, we've all struggled, we've all said things that we wish we hadn't
said, we've all been discontented, but we should try to get that right.
I was thinking of a story when I was really young, I can't remember exactly, five or six,
my mom took me out bowling and I loved bowling, it was a lot of fun, but we didn't really
get to do a lot of things when I was that age, we didn't have a lot of money, so it's
kind of a special time.
My dad didn't, you know, he didn't have a job during that time, so we went bowling and
I got to bowl like two times, and I was really starting to get the hang of it, I just wanted
to go one more time, I just wanted to bowl, I was like, oh man, I just want to go again.
And so my mom's like, we're leaving, and I was like, oh, can we just play one more time?
We have one more time, we never get to play, can we play?
And I'm just throwing a fit, I just, I couldn't just stop throwing a fit.
And she just looks at me and she goes, you're getting a spanking from dad when we get home.
I mean, just like, and I was like, what, what did I do, why am I getting a spanking?
And it just kind of, and then she said these words and it finally sunk in, she says, I
took you bowling, and you didn't even say thanks one time, and it really shut me up,
I was just kind of like, I didn't, I was just focused on what I didn't have, I didn't have
any focus on the fact that I did get to go bowling, that I did get to have a good time,
that she took me out and did something fun that I don't normally get to do, and the only
thing I was doing was just complaining the whole time.
And just think of the children of Israel, all the things that God's done for them.
He spared them from all the wrath that he poured out on Egypt, he's taken them through
the Red Sea, he's provided them with water and food and manna and all these things, and
the only thing they can think about, cucumbers.
I mean, what in the world?
But that's how humans are.
We get so focused on something so insignificant, so tiny, that we don't take a big perspective
and we just want to complain about things that don't really matter.
I mean, does it really matter if you had cucumbers?
I mean, I like cucumbers, but I mean, does it really just like, oh, my life's terrible
if I didn't have cucumbers?
I mean, no, but that's how people, they think, they get the wrong perspective.
Look at, flip over a couple chapters to chapter 14.
We could read through the whole book of Numbers and Deuteronomy and see that this is not a
one-time occurrence.
The children of Israel are constantly complaining, they're constantly murmuring, because it's
in their heart.
They just can't stop complaining, they just, they're complainers.
They have a lack of contentment.
Look at Numbers 14 verse 1, it says, 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 unto them, would God that we had died
in the land of Egypt or would God we had died in this wilderness?
So if you get the context, they had just sent some spies into the Promised Land.
They sent 12 spies and 10 of them gave an evil report.
They said, look, there's some big guys over there, where there were like grasshoppers
in their sight.
There's no way we can enter this Promised Land.
And so all the people, they just murmur and complain.
Now they're not even satisfied with going back to Egypt.
They just want to die.
They're like, it's such an exaggeration, and isn't that what complainers do in murmurs?
They just exaggerate about all the details.
I mean the Lord Jesus Christ that performed all the great miracles in Egypt, that took
them by their hand and led them to the Red Sea, that slew all the Egyptians in before
their eyes, and they're like, well, these people are really big.
I mean, it just goes to show that their heart was just not set on the things of God.
They had no contentment, they had no faith in the Lord, and they just are constantly
murmuring.
They're afraid to enter the Promised Land because they just have, they're just completely
discontented in their lives.
Go a couple more chapters, go to chapter 21.
These people, they just can't stop complaining.
They can't stop murmuring, and there's people like that today.
You probably know somebody at your work, or a friend, or a family member.
Every time you're around this person, I mean, they just can't stop, just, everything's
terrible, everything's awful, I hate this, I hate that, this is terrible.
We can all sometimes get in a rut, but we see the children of Israel, man, they were
in a rut for a long time.
Look at Numbers 21 verse 4, it says, and they journeyed from Mt. 4 by the way of the Red
Sea to compass the land of Edom, and the soul of the people is much discouraged because
of the way.
And the people spake against God and against Moses, wherefore have you brought us up out
of Egypt to die in the wilderness?
For there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loateth this light bread.
And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and much
people of Israel died.
Now, go ahead and flip to 1 Corinthians chapter 10.
So these people, they're exaggerating again.
We don't have any bread, except for the manna.
I mean, we have the bread from heaven, but we don't have any bread, we want bread.
I mean, they just can't be satisfied with anything, and even when it just gave the description
of the manna in chapter 11 where we started, it said it tastes like fresh oil.
It was like giving a really good description, it says they could grind it and make it into
all kinds of things, it was like this great thing.
It wasn't that there was a problem with the manna, it was a problem with their heart,
it was a problem with the fact that they were never going to be satisfied.
If God had given them all the cucumbers they could have eaten, they wouldn't have been
satisfied.
Because he gave them all the quail, he said they wanted the flesh, but then he gave them
so much it's coming out of their nostrils, is what he said.
Kind of like a metaphor, I mean, they wouldn't even like that.
They got tired of that, they're just tired of everything.
They're just constantly complaining.
Look at 1 Corinthians 10 verse 5, it says, but with many of them God was not well pleased
talking about the children of Israel, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
Now these things were our examples to the intent we should not lust after evil things
as they also lusted.
Neither be ye of dolators, as were some of them, as it is written the people sat down
to eat and drink and rose up to play.
Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed and fell in one day three
and twenty thousand.
Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents.
Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer.
Now all these things happened unto them for in samples, 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 he fall.
So this story, it keeps getting brought up, they're complaining, they're murmuring, they're
complaining, they're murmuring.
Even God says, you tempted me these ten times, and then they weren't allowed to enter in
the Promised Land, because they were murmuring.
Then in the New Testament, he says, look, they were murmuring, you shouldn't do that.
That's our example.
I think if God says this many times, if he has the New Testament, it's really important
that we don't complain, that we don't murmur, that we don't speak against God and say, why
do I have this?
Why do I have to live here?
Why do I have this family?
Why do I have this spouse?
Why do I have this in my life?
We shouldn't just be constantly complaining and murmuring and speaking against that which
God's given us, because we see God hates murmuring.
God hates complaining, and if you look at verse 6, we see that they said they were lusting
after evil things, but if you want to know how you kind of get away from that, go to
Micah chapter 7.
We're not supposed to get our joy or our contentment from our circumstances.
We're not supposed to be, well, I got a raise today, so now life's good.
Well, I just got married, so now life's good.
Well, I mean, we should enjoy the things of this life.
God wants us to enjoy the spouse of our youth, the wife of our youth, that we should enjoy
working hard and doing these things, but we shouldn't let just good things that happen
in our life just control all our emotions, control how we speak, control how we act.
No, we should have something else.
We should let God be the one that we get our joy from.
I'll read for you in Psalms 35, the Bible says, and my soul shall be joyful in the Lord
and it shall rejoice in His salvation.
We should get all of our joy from God, all of our satisfaction, all of our rejoicing
from God, and then we'll be rooted and grounded on rock.
We won't be tossed to and fro with our emotions.
I can always be joyful if I'm always looking to God because He's always faithful.
He'll never leave me or forsake me.
He loves me.
He's long suffering.
He's full of mercy.
I'm always saved.
I can always have joy if I'm always looking to God, but most people today, they try to
get their joy from somewhere else, and you know, it's not wrong to enjoy your spouse
or enjoy your kids or enjoy those things, but that's ultimately not where you should
get your ultimate fulfillment, where you should get your ultimate joy.
Look at Micah 7 verse 5, Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide,
keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.
For the Son dishonereth the Father.
The daughter riseth up against her mother.
The daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
A man's enemies are the men of his own house.
Therefore I will look unto the Lord.
I will wait for the God of my salvation.
My God will hear me.
We see, you can have joy in your spouse, you can have joy in your family, you can have
all those things, but ultimately, you should be looking to God for your joy, because guess
what?
You married a human, and they're going to make mistakes.
They're going to disappoint you.
If you're married, your spouse is going to disappoint you, or you've never been married.
I mean, it's going to happen.
I don't care if you're married, you know, the greatest woman on the earth like I did,
I get disappointed very seldom.
You know, she might get disappointed a lot more, but your spouse is going to disappoint
you.
Your children are going to disappoint you.
Your parents are going to disappoint you.
Shocker, your mother-in-law is going to disappoint you.
I mean, you're going to have bad things happen, and you can't let those circumstances, you
can't let those people rule your emotions.
Rule whether or not you're going to complain.
Rule whether or not you're going to murmur.
Rule whether or not you're going to be content.
You should be looking to the Lord for your joy.
You should be looking to the Lord to get that joy and rejoicing.
And then you can just constantly be good spirits.
I mean, even Joe, he lost everybody, his wife's coming in, why don't you just curse God and
die?
He's like, I'm going to praise God.
Why?
Because he's looking to God, ultimately.
And you know, when you're looking to God, you're going to be a better spouse.
I mean, it's just inevitable that if you're always happy, and you're always joyful, you're
going to be a better influence on your spouse, and when you're never complaining, and you're
never murmuring.
But we see when the first spouse starts murmuring and complaining, what's the tendency?
Well, now I'm going to, look, you're going to tell me how bad I am?
Guess what?
I have a list too.
I have a really long list.
Do you want me to get started?
But we see we shouldn't do that, because it's just a vicious cycle, and people just keep
throwing back insults, and insults, and murmurings, and complainings, and speaking against.
No, what were the antonyms of that?
It was being agreeing, complimenting, helping, being content.
Don't you want that in a spouse?
Don't you want your spouse to constantly compliment you, to constantly be happy that they married
you, to constantly be agreeing with everything that you're wanting to do in a broad sense?
Obviously, two people are never going to agree on everything.
But for the most part, you're just kind of in lockstep, and you're just going together.
I mean, it's great when spouses just are agreeing and going on the right path.
There's so many people that sometimes they want to live for God, but their spouse doesn't.
Or maybe they're wanting to read their Bible a whole bunch, and their spouse doesn't.
Or they're wanting to go to church a whole bunch, and their spouse doesn't.
It hurts.
You don't want that.
You want them to agree.
When two agree, they can walk together.
So my second point though, if you're still there in 1 Corinthians 10, look at verse 6,
it says, Now these things are examples to the intent, we should not lust after evil
things.
That's the first reason why people are complaining and murmuring, because they're just not content.
But secondly, it's because they're lusting, because they're lusting after the things that
they don't have.
Go to Jude chapter 1.
People are constantly, especially in America, I mean, America is the land of lust.
I mean, we constantly want and desire and can fulfill.
I mean, you can pretty much, if you're an American, you have any kind of job or anything,
you can usually buy whatever you want.
I mean, within reason, you can pretty much, I can go get a car today, I can go buy a house,
I can go to this restaurant or that restaurant, if there's something you want, you can save
up money, you can get it.
I mean, you're pretty much not limited in ability to satisfy the lust of the flesh.
You can satisfy all the lusts of your flesh at your will.
There's pretty much no restraint.
So you've got to have a restraint on yourself.
You've got to be a person of principle, you've got to have discipline in your own life, otherwise
you're just going to gratify the lust of the flesh.
Look at Jude chapter 1 verse 15, it says, to execute judgment upon all and to convince
all that are ungodly among all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed and
of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against them.
These are murmurs, complainers, walking after their own lusts and their mouths beget great
swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.
But beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before the apostles of our Lord
Jesus Christ, how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should
walk after their own ungodly lusts.
These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
So we see these people that are murmurs and complainers, they're walking after their own
lusts.
And when you're walking after your own lusts, in verse 19 it says you're having not the
Spirit.
So there's a contrast here.
When you're satisfying the lusts of the flesh, when you're just desiring the cucumbers, you're
not in the Spirit.
When you're complaining, you're not in the Spirit.
When you're murmuring, you're not in the Spirit.
Go to Galatians chapter 5, in Numbers 11 when we were reading, the Bible says, and the mixed
multitude was among them, felt a lusting.
And the children of Israel also wept again and said, who shall give us flesh to eat?
So see the problem with the children of Israel is they were lusting after the things they
didn't have.
They just weren't content, and when they weren't content, they started desiring the things
that they didn't have.
Desiring the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks.
Look at Galatians 5 verse 16.
This I say then, walk in the Spirit and ye shall not befill the lust of the flesh.
For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh.
And these are contrary, the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you
would.
Now, the interesting thing here is I think a lot of people, they know, yeah, you walk
in the Spirit, you won't befill the lust of the flesh, and you won't go out and put sin,
but they don't realize that when you're complaining, when you're murmuring, you're not in the Spirit.
You say, I want to be in the Spirit.
Well, it's not when you're complaining, it's not when you're murmuring, it's not when you're
speaking against church, it's speaking against your spouse, it's speaking against your job,
but you're not in the Spirit when you're complaining and you're murmuring.
We should get that in our minds.
Maybe you should think a little bit more serious about the fact of how bad complaining is to
God.
It's not being in the Spirit.
It's being in the flesh.
Why?
Because you're just lusting after something you don't have or you're just not content.
Those aren't good attributes to have.
I mean, we don't have those kind of attributes.
We shouldn't just be desiring all that which you don't have.
There's more stuff out there than you could ever get.
I mean, you can't get it all.
Why are we going to lust after everything?
Look at verse 24, it says, and they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh and
the affections and lusts.
We should just get rid of the flesh and the affections and the lusts, then we won't complain.
If you don't desire all the things of the flesh, if you're not desiring the cucumbers
and the melons, you won't complain.
You don't have anything to complain about.
When you're just looking for joy in God, when you're walking in the Spirit, there's no reason
to complain.
You're just going to be full of joy, you're going to be full of the Spirit, and you're
not going to fulfill the lust of the flesh.
You're going to stop complaining.
You say, how do I stop complaining?
Well, get all your joy in the Lord and start walking in the Spirit, getting this Bible
filled in.
When you read just chapter after chapter, then just complaining and complaining and
complaining and complaining.
I remember when I was younger, I would always like want to be like, I'm going to read the
Bible.
I'm going to read it cover to cover.
And I'd start out and I was like, Genesis, Exodus, and I would just always fail out.
I would pretty much just, you know, I can only get through the law, maybe at best.
I bet I read the law like 15, 20 times.
I was like, at the beginning of the year, I'm like, I want to read it and I would just
always burn out.
And one time it hit me, it said, maybe God's not letting me get through the Bible because
I need what the first few books are.
And I was like, I kept reading this deal and I'm like, why are they?
I mean, they're, they're given everything by God, they're going through the Red Sea.
Why don't they have trust in the Lord?
But then I look at my own life and I'm like, I'm not doing anything that God wants me to
do.
I'm just complaining.
I'm just satisfying the lust of the flesh.
I'm not going to church.
I'm not fulfilling things.
And these are written for our samples.
God wants us to see, hey, even these people that saw the great miracles, they can just
continue to lust over the lust of the flesh, not have faith in the Lord, not live for God.
We shouldn't think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think.
And we, you know, the Bible makes it clear that it gave us all the examples because they're
real.
People really struggle with complaining.
People really struggle with murmuring and lusting after the flesh.
Go to Numbers 13, go back if you would.
The Bible says in 1 John, I'll read for you a couple places, for all those in the world
the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of the life is not of the
Father, but it's of the world.
James chapter 4 says, he asked and received not because he asked amiss that you may consume
it upon your lusts.
There's so many people today that are praying to God or something, hey, I want the cucumbers.
Hey, I want the melons.
I want the leeks.
They're never going to get it because they're asking amiss.
Why?
To consume it upon the lusts of the flesh.
When we think to pray, we should decide, hey, is this a spiritual prayer?
Is this a prayer that God has in his Bible that he wants us to pray for?
Or is this just something to satisfy the lusts of the flesh?
Because if you ask for this lust of the flesh, you're never going to get it.
You ask amiss, you're not going to receive it.
So we got to think, hey, is this something that, you know, God gave us an example to
pray for, like salvation, like somebody getting right with God, like God protecting evangelists,
like God blessing the church.
I mean, are these things that God's praying for, wanting us to pray for, or am I just
praying for a new car?
Am I just praying, you know, oh man, I have this car that works and it gets me to play
St. B, but I really want that sports car, you know, oh man, I really want those cucumbers.
I know we have food, and I know it's good, and I know I live in America, but I just want
filet mignon every night, you know, I'm just going to pray like filet mignon.
I mean, God's not looking at those prayers and he's being happy.
No, when he saw the people complaining and murmuring about the manna that he gave them,
his fire burst among them.
And my third point is when the children of Israel were coming to the promised land, because
they wanted the cucumbers, they were tired of eating the manna, the ten spies, they came
back and they brought the fruit of the land, and they said the fruit of the land is great,
I mean, these great, I mean, all this food is amazing.
So now they have before them the opportunity to get what they said they wanted.
They said they wanted new food, they wanted this food.
So it's said there right before them.
And then what happens?
They don't go because they're too lazy, and almost every time a complainer and a murmurer,
they're just too lazy.
That's why they're complaining and murmuring in the first place, because everything's before
you.
In America, you can get whatever you want, you can do whatever you want, I mean, virtually,
you can be who you want to be.
But why do people always complain and they murmur, because they don't want to do it.
They're lazy.
They don't want to work hard.
And I can't stand it when people complain about things that are 100% in their control.
I mean, there's no one stopping them from achieving this.
There's no one stopping them from getting it.
Was anybody stopping the children of Israel from eating the Promised Land?
No.
God's like, I got my arms stretched out, I'll do all the work, just go, just walk in there,
just get in the Promised Land.
But you know, so many people today, they say, oh man, I'm just so fat, you know, I'm just
so overweight.
And they just complain and they just murmur and they just hate their weight.
But it's completely in their control.
I mean, they control if they're going to eat and how they're going to eat.
They control if they're going to go work out.
Nobody's going to, I mean, I can't make somebody else skinny.
I can't, I can't pick somebody else up and put them on the treadmill and be with them
all day and make sure they eat.
No, it's completely in your control.
But why is the person complaining and murmuring?
Because they're too lazy to take care of that situation.
And now, of course, we shouldn't get Hollywood's mentality and say you have to be some rail
thin, you know, anorexic to be skinny.
No, of course, we're talking about people that are severely obese, severely overweight,
where it's damaging their health, where they can't walk, they can't get up, they couldn't
do anything.
Yet they just want to complain and bellyache and moan, oh man, I'm just so fat.
I want some more cucumbers and leeks and garlics.
No, I mean, if it's in your control, you shouldn't complain about it.
People say, I wish I had more money.
It's in your control.
I mean, there's so many jobs out there, there's so many people that will hire you, you can
become more educated, you can become more skilled, you can learn anything on the internet.
If you really want more money, is there really somebody holding you back?
I mean, you have so many people in this country, you know, maybe because of the color of their
skin, they say, oh, I wish I had more money.
I can't get more money.
If you work hard, it doesn't matter what color of skin you are today, you can make plenty
of money.
You can provide for your family, but of course, either A, they're just, you know, chasing
after the love of money and things that they shouldn't even want to desire, or they're
just too lazy and they don't want to get off their rear and go work.
They just want to complain.
Oh, it's because I'm black or it's because I'm Mexican or it's because I'm a foreigner.
They just want to complain and bellyache, they don't want us to go and do any work.
More people say, man, I wish I had a wife.
There's so many people that complain and murmur, oh, man, there's no good women.
Look, there's not a girl that's just going to come walk up to your door and say, will
you marry me?
It's never going to happen.
It's in your control.
The Bible says they're supposed to go out and seek, we're supposed to find, who can
find the virtuous woman?
Well, you better start looking.
And you know, I don't believe that you're just going to find the virtuous woman because
if you read Proverbs 31, you know, she has kids and she's taking care of the house.
That's not going to exist before you get married.
You first got to get married and then you got to have kids and then you're going to
grow together and then she's going to become the virtuous woman.
It's an ideal.
So you got to go out and find the lady and help her and encourage her and lead her to
become a virtuous woman.
But there's so many people that just want to complain about things that are completely
in their control.
I had you turn to Numbers 13.
Look at verse 27.
And they told him and said, We came unto the land, whither thou sendest, and surely it
floweth with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it.
Nevertheless, the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled and
very great.
And moreover, we saw the children of Anak there.
The Amalekites dwelt in the land of the south, and the Hittites and Jebusites and the Amorites
dwell in the mountains, and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and by the coast of Jordan.
And Caleb stilled the people before Moses and said, Let us go up at once and possess
it, for we are well able to overcome it.
But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people, for
they are stronger than we.
And they brought up an evil report of the land, which they had searched unto the children
of Israel, saying, The land through 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 sons of Anak, which come of the giants, and we were in our
own sight as grasshoppers.
And so we were in their sight.
Look at verse 41, it says, for they are stronger than we.
You know, it's interesting because God actually makes that comment later.
He says they were stronger.
They were mightier than them.
But were they really, you know, going to conquer all these, you know, Canaanites and the Jebusites
and the Hittites by their own power?
Did they conquer the Egyptians by their own might?
No, God was going to lead them in, but they're too lazy.
They didn't want to go out and just walk into the land.
They had no faith in the Lord.
They were no contentment.
But today people are doing it in the same way.
How many people complain about church and they're not in church?
I mean, I can't find a good church in my area.
That's not true.
You're just lazy.
They don't want to go and do any work.
They just want to complain.
Well, I know the church has soul waiting in my area and I know they're King James only
and I know they're writing the gospel, but they're pre-trip and they're like, I can't
go to church.
Why?
Because they're lazy because they don't want to do any work because they don't want to
go in there and just submit themselves and do the work of God.
They're just going to go, hell, the people are bigger than me.
They just got to bring up some complaint.
Look, there's not a perfect church.
There's not a church that you've got to be perfect in every way.
You just got to go and find the right one.
You don't say, well, they're pre-trip, well, they got a Sunday school, well, they got a
choir.
Well, I got to listen to four special musics before the service.
I went to a church and I mean, it was like four special musics before the sermon.
The sermon was like 15 minutes and the service was like an hour and 15 minutes.
It was like an hour of just special after special and then announcements and then special
and then other announcements and then 15 sermons and announcements and special.
You're like, I just want to hear the Bible preached.
But guess what?
I was still in that church and I was still working hard.
And guess what?
If your church is terrible, then move.
Was it so hard for the children and visitors to just walk into the land?
But guess what?
They didn't do it because they were lazy.
And there's so many people today, they won't go to a good church because they're lazy.
Is it really that hard to just go to a good church in the area?
Or worse, move if there isn't a good church.
Why in the world would you spend your whole life on this earth just bellyaching and moaning
and complaining?
There's no good church in my area.
There's no good church.
These people are just lazy.
Faith-ward Baptist churches in Arizona, but they won't move because it's too hard.
Oh, they can't go on the promised land.
It's too hard.
They can't go to a good church because it's too hard.
Go to Philippians chapter four.
I think the way that you can solve all these problems is just being content.
If you're just going to be content and have your joy in the Lord, it's going to help your
problems with desiring all these cucumbers.
Look at Philippians four verse eight.
My dad, he always said this phrase, and I really hated it, but it's true.
He says, attitude determines altitude.
I mean, he just said this like every day, every second, he's just attitude determines
altitude.
He even got me a poster.
He put it on my wall.
It has this like jet plane going across the sky and says, attitude determines altitude.
But you know what that is what the Bible teaches.
The Bible teaches that we should have a good attitude and you'll go places.
When you're a complainer, when you're a murmur, you're just going to die in the wilderness.
You're going to have nothing.
God's not going to be blessing you.
You're not in the spirit.
God hates it when you're complaining and murmuring and just satisfied with everything in your
life.
Philippians four eight, finally brethren, what sort of things are true, what sort of
things are honest, what sort of things are just, what sort of things are pure, what sort
of things are lovely, what sort of things are of good report.
If there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things, those things which
you have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do, and the God of peace shall
be with you.
But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me have flourished
again wherein you were also careful, but you lacked opportunity.
Now that I speak and rest of want, for I have 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 can do all things through Christ which strengthen me.
One of my favorite verses in the Bible, but I love to get the context there, he's talking
about in tribulations and doing good things, in all things he's going to be content, he's
going to always be thinking of the things that are pure, he's always going to be thinking
of things that have virtue, he's going to be thinking on good things.
We should be focused on the Lord Jesus Christ and getting our joy and rejoicing from him
and be thinking of all the things that are good.
He's like look, if there's anything, if there's anything, anything that's good, anything that
has any virtue, any praise, think on these things.
I mean, can you really just wrap your brain and not think of just one thing to be praise
worthy of, one thing that has virtue, one thing that's good, of course we can.
We have the Lord Jesus Christ, we have salvation, we have eternal life, we have heaven, a lot
of people have families, you know what I mean, if you go to faith-ward Baptist church, just
be thankful you're in a good church.
There's so many people that don't have a good church today.
There's so many people in China today, they would give their whole life up if they could
just go to a good church, but then there's people in America today, well, I don't have
a good church in my area, oh, I can't go to a church of praise-friendly.
I mean, the people in China would saw up their arm to go to that church, that you just, well,
I don't want to go there, because they're just so uncontent, they're so lazy.
Go to Hebrews 13, this last place will have eternal life.
The Bible says in 1 Timothy, but godliness with contentment is great gain.
God says, hey, I don't want you to just be godly, I want you to have contentment too.
I want you to be satisfied with what I give you.
Whatever it is, whether you're abounding, whether you're in tribulations, whether you're
in prison and have nothing, whether or not it killed your whole family and you got boils
all over your body, be content.
Bible says in Hebrews 13, 5, let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with
such things as you have, for he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.
There's something to be praiseworthy about.
We can always be content because we know God will never leave us nor forsake us.
Whether or not our family would, whether or not our spouse would, whether or not our kids
would, doesn't matter.
I mean, obviously that's a horrible thing, I don't want that for anybody, and that's
something we should mourn and grieve, but we can be content with the Lord.
We can be content with what he gives us no matter what our circumstances are, so that
we can never complain and murmur.
It's possible to not complain and murmur if you're walking in the Spirit, if you have
your joint satisfaction in the Lord, but the grass is always greener, isn't it?
People just, they constantly are looking and thinking that some other situation would always
be better.
I mean, what's your cucumber?
Is it the fact, well, you just look at somebody else and say, man, if I had married that person,
I mean, man, if I had just married this guy or this gal, life would be so much better.
If I had just, you know, had this car, I mean, man, my car always breaks down and my car
is not that nice.
I just had a nice car.
I'd just be happy.
If I just had that nice house, if we just had a fourth bedroom, if we just had that
fifth bedroom, if we just had a house, I mean, some people may live in an apartment, they
think, well, if we just had the house, we'd be happy.
And then guess what?
Your furnace breaks, and then your air conditioning goes out, and then you have termites.
Like, man, if I just had an apartment, I'd be happy.
I mean, it doesn't matter.
People are getting a plane and bellyache and mowing about their situation, it can always
be worse.
If you complain about their job, oh, if I just had a good job, if I just made more money,
if I just had a little bit better health, if I just had a better church, if my family
just was better, people can always complain, what's your compute, what's your cucumber,
what do you desire?
Why don't you just find fulfillment in God?
Because there's plenty to bellyache about.
But if you, if you let your situations determine how you're going to act in this life, you're
going to be unhappy all the time.
I mean, when I read the Old Testament, it seems like the children of Israel lived a
horrible life.
I mean, they couldn't stop complaining.
They had a horrible life in Egypt, they had a horrible life in the wilderness, they constantly,
all the waters are bitter, and we don't have the cucumbers, and now we have this quail,
and I wish we had some bread.
I mean, their life just sucks.
They just hate it.
And when you're a complainer, and when you're a murmur, you're just going to think your
life's terrible.
You got to think on the Lord, and then you can realize, hey, my life's great.
I mean, I'm going to heaven when I die, I'm in a great church.
I mean, you probably have somebody else in your life that you can enjoy and find satisfaction
in.
And if not, in the house, you have brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers and sons
and daughters.
And I bet you could think of somebody, a family member, a friend, who has it worse than you
do.
But as, I mean, you think, man, I'm glad I'm not that person, I'm glad I'm not struggling
with that.
I mean, someone's got a worse job, someone's got a worse situation, someone's got worse
health.
I mean, there's always somebody in a worse situation than you.
Just be content and satisfied with the fact of what situation you're in.
But people never stop complaining because they have a lack of contentment, because they're
always lusting after what they don't have, and because they're lazy.
We need to stop desiring all the cucumbers in our life and just be content with what
the Lord gave us, to learn to be in all things content.
We need to stop getting hung up on what we don't have and just thank God for what He
gave us.
God doesn't want you to sit there and never thank Him.
Constant Bible saying, you know, receive with thanksgiving.
We need to be thankful for what we have.
We need to get our joy from the Lord, from His goodness and His salvation.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you God for your Word.
Thank you for your examples and your samples so that we can know that we should be constantly
thanking you and constantly praising you.
And that when we murmur and complain that you're displeased, that you hate it, and that
everybody else hates it too, we should learn to be content with all things that you've
given us.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.