Numbers 11:1-3

1. Numbers 11:1-3

2. “Complaining is poisoned speech.”

3. Complaining has no place in the life of the Christian. • Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer” (1 Cor 10:10). • “Do all things without murmurings and disputings” (Phil 2:14).

4. Numbers 11:1-3

5. God blesses and blesses. • In context, God had provided “big” blessings for the Israelites. • God gives us so very much. • “He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendethrain on the just and on the unjust” (Matt 5:45). • “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” (Js 1:17).

6. Numbers 11:1-3

7. God will forgive when people come back to Him. • “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Is 55:7).

8. I wish the Israelites had learned their lesson. • “Who shall give us flesh to eat?” (v 4). • The people complained when the spies brought back their report (Num 14:1-5). • Over and over and over, we find the people complaining.

9. “Complaining is poisoned speech.”

10. How do we stop complaining?

11. Sometimes we complain about things we cannot control. • You can’t change someone else’s behavior, but you can change how you respond. • “If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee” (Prov 25:21-22). • “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom 12:21).

12. We need to remember that God is ultimately in control: “Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth” (Rev 19:6). • We can pray to Him: “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” (1 Pet 5:7). • We can remember the multitude of blessings God gives: • God “left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14:17). • “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come” (1 Cor16:2).

13. Make a list of the blessings God has given you. Put it in a place where you can see it and be reminded of God’s great blessings.

14. Sometimes we complain because our behavior needs to be changed. • Examine your life to see what needs to be changed and work at changing it! • “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves” (2 Cor13:5).

15. We absolutely must get rid of complaining. • “Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!” (Js 5:9, NKJV). • “These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage” (Jude 16).

16. Will God execute judgment on your because you are a complainer?