Series: Questions
Title: How Long Shall God Forbear?
Text: Numbers 14: 26-27
Date: February 9, 2014
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Numbers 14: 26: And the LORD spake unto Moses
and unto Aaron, saying, 27: How long shall I bear with this evil congregation,
which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel,
which they murmur against me.
What a
sad way to be recognized by the Holy LORD God of glory!—“this evil congregation, which murmur against me.”
The LORD
never looks upon his people in Christ this way, never upon those who are
justified by Christ Jesus through faith, but there is an evil
congregation. Christ tells us who they
are in:
Mark 9:19: He answereth him, and saith, O faithless
generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?...
God
bear this evil congregation in Israel for a long time. He was longsuffering to them a long
time. His forbearance with them lasted a
long time. He suffered their evil manners for many days.
Proposition:
God is longsuffering. He suffers—he puts up with sinners—for a long time.
Numbers 14: 27: How long shall I bear with
this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of
the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.
Divisions:
We see how long God bore this evil congregation—and how great his longsuffering
is toward sinners—using the three things that made the children of Israel’s
unbelief to be so evil. It is found in Numbers
14: 22. 1) Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles,
which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, 2) and have tempted me now these
ten times, 3) and have not hearkened to my voice;
I. FIRST, WE SEE HOW GREAT GOD’S
LONGSUFFERING IS IN THAT THOUGH THEY HAD SEEN HIS GLORY AND HIS MIRCLES, STILL HE DID NOT IMMEDIATELY
TURN THEM OVER TO REPROBATION THOUGH THEY DID NOT BELIEVE—V22: all those men
which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the
wilderness,…
The Plagues and the Passover Lamb
The
glory of God—his power, wisdom, goodness, faithfulness, and truth—were all
displayed in the miracles, the plagues, God wrought before their eyes in Egypt.
Then
they beheld God’s glory when he brought them out of Egypt. God smote all the firstborn in Egypt. But God provided a Passover Lamb for his people in Israel: a lamb
which represented all the firstborn in Israel, lamb which died in place of all
the first born in Israel. They put
the blood of the lamb upon the doorpost of their houses. And God promised
Exodus 12:13: And the blood shall be to you for a token
upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you,
and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of
Egypt.
God
provided himself this Passover Lamb in Christ. The Holy Spirit said through
Paul, “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.” (1 Cor 5: 7) Holy God satisfied his own justice toward his
own people by slaying his own Lamb, Christ Jesus, in their room and stead. Not
one shall perish who rest in Christ through faith because all who do are
effectually called and saved by God’s grace.
Red Sea
They
beheld God’s glory: In bringing them through the Red Sea and destroying Pharaoh
and his army. Christ has delivered all God’s Israel and destroyed all our
enemies in the Red Sea of his blood on Calvary’s Tree.
Cloud and Fire
God
showed them his glory in the Cloud which led them by day and in the pillar of
Fire which led them by night. Christ Jesus is he who leads his dear children
along, protects us and covers us all our days.
Waters of Marah
They beheld
God’s glory in the bitter water’s of Marah which were turned sweet by the tree
cut down and cast into the waters. God
revealed himself in his name, “JEHOVAH Rapha—I AM the Lord that healeth thee.” Christ is that sweetening tree. He was cut down willingly
and he alone turns the bitterness of his people’s sins sweet. Christ is “I Am
the Lord that healeth thee.”
Manna from Heaven
Then
they saw his glory when God rained down manna from heaven. That bread pictured
Christ.
John 6: 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. 33: For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth
life unto the world….35 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.
Smitten Rock
They
saw God’s glory when God gave them water out of the Rock that was smitten. The
Holy Spirit said through Paul, “and that Rock was Christ.” (1 Cor 10: 4) Christ bore the smiting of divine justice to declare
God and to justify his people. Not one
for whom he died shall be smitten because justice is satisfied for them. God is
the Justifier of all who believe in Jesus Christ our Righteousness
The Rod of God
They
saw his glory when the enemy—Amalek—came upon them in the wilderness. As Moses
held up the Rod of God, Joshua defeated all their enemies. This pictured Christ
our Savior defeating our enemies through the gospel of Christ and him
crucified. God revealed himself as
Jehovahnissi—the LORD our Banner!
Sinner,
week-in-week out, you have seen God’s glory in the gospel I preach unto. You
have seen God’s miracles in God’s word. Now, for you not to believe on Christ
is to call God a liar. (1 Jn 5: 10) So sinner, “How long shall God bear with
you calling him a liar? How long shall God bear with your evil of not believing
his Son after he has been so evidently set before you?” Sinner, “Seek ye the LORD while he may be
found, call ye upon him while he is near: 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: 6-7)
Romans 2:4: Or
despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering;
not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
II. SECONDLY, WE SEE HOW GREAT
GOD’S LONGSUFFERING IS IN THAT THOUGH THEY TEMPTED GOD, STILL HE DID NOT
IMMEDIATELY TURN THEM OVER TO REPROBATION—Numbers 14: 22:…and have tempted me now these
ten times,
They
tempted God with their murmuring and complaining. Perhaps, a certain number is
given for an uncertain, meaning they frequently tempted. But we can see at
least ten times in scripture. As I give
you these, you think would you be as longsuffering with sinners as God
is to you?
At the Red Sea
Exodus 14: 11: And they said unto Moses, Because there
were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness?
wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? 12: Is
not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we
may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians,
than that we should die in the wilderness.
At the waters of Marah
Ex 15: 24: And the people murmured against Moses…[God
said, I have heard the murmuring, they murmur against me.]
At the wilderness of Zin where God gave the
Manna
Exodus 16: 2:…the whole congregation of the children of
Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron…3: Would to God we had died by the hand
of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we
did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness,
to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
They rebelled against GOD'S commandment by
leaving the manna until the morning. (Exodus
16:20)
Then they went out to gather manna on the
Sabbath day contrary to God’s command. (Exodus
16:27)
At Rephidim where God gave the smitten Rock
Exodus 17: 1:…there was no water for the people to drink.
2. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we
may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye
tempt the LORD? 3: And the people thirsted there for water; and the people
murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast
brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with
thirst?
While Moses was in
the mount 40 days receiving the law from God
Ex 32:
1: they said to Aaron, “Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for
this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not
what is become of him…[Aaron did so]… 4. and they said, These be thy gods, O
Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 5: And when Aaron saw
it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To
morrow is a feast to the LORD. 6 And
they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought
peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to
play.
At Taberah, for no apparent
reason, again they murmured. (Nu 11:1)
At Kibrothhattavah
Numbers 11: 4: And the mixt 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? 5: We remember the fish, which we did eat
in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions,
and the garlick: 6: But now our soul is dried away: there is
nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.
Now in our text the spies returned from
spying out the land of Canaan with an evil report
Numbers 14: 1: And all the congregation lifted up their
voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. 2: 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! 3: And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto
this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a
prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? 4: And they said one to
another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
In all
of this, they tempted God:
·
His power:
whether God could provide
·
His goodness:
whether he would forbear
·
His faithfulness: whether
his promise would be performed.
·
His justice: they
dared God, they challenged God whether he would answer their provocations and
punish them or not.
Application:
Brethren, all the days of our unbelief, our unbelief, tempted God. And you who
do not believe on Christ do so now! All murmuring is tempting God: about God’s
providence, God’s way of salvation, even about the weather. Fake questions is
tempting God: When the Pharisee’s came to Christ with their questions, Christ
called it “tempting God.” Every question in hypocrisy to justify rebellion is
tempting God. When the Judaizers tried to bring believers back under the law,
Peter said, Ac 15:10: Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the
neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? Self-righteousness and yoking believers with
the law is tempting God. Yet, all that time, God gave them and us space to
repent and believe on him:
Romans 2:4: Or
despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering;
not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
III. THIRDLY, WE SEE GOD’S LONGSUFFERING IN THAT THOUGH THEY WOULD NOT HEARKEN TO
GOD’S VOICE, STILL HE DID NOT IMMEDIATELY TURN THEM OVER TO REPROBATION—Numbers 14: 22:…and have not hearkened to
my voice;
From
Egypt till our text, they repeatedly would not obey God’s voice. At last, they
disobeyed God’s command to go in and possess the land God promised to give
them.
Deuteronomy 1:21: Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the
land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath
said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged….26: Notwithstanding ye would
not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God:
I want
you to see how hard the natural heart of rebellion is against God. They would
not obey God’s voice and go in to possess the land. So finally, God said,
Numbers 14:
23: Surely they shall not see the land
which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me
see it:…25:…To morrow turn you, and get
you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea. [God commanded they go
away from the land of promise into the wilderness]….28: Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have
spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: [They said, Nu 14: 2: Would God
we had died in this wilderness! Now God said,] 29: Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were
numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and
upward, which have murmured against me, 30: Doubtless ye shall not come into
the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the
son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
[They said, Nu 14:3: And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to
fall by the sword, that…our children should be a prey? Now God said,] 31: But your little ones, which ye said
should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye
have despised. 32: But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this
wilderness. 33: And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years,
and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. 34: After
the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days,
each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years,
and ye shall know my breach of promise. 35: I the LORD have said, I will surely
do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me:
in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die. 36: And
the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the
congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land, 37:
Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the
plague before the LORD. [These were the evil spies. By their immediate judgment, God shows that those who not only
disobey him, but also make others disobey him, shall receive the greater degree
of damnation.] 38: But Joshua the son of
Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to
search the land, lived still. [they had another spirit and followed
the Lord fully.]
Now seven
times they heard the Lord’s word that because they would not obey God’s command to take possession of the land, now
they could not. God commanded them
to turn back, God said their carcasses would fall in the wilderness, that they
would not be able to enter the promised land. Before their very eyes, God even
killed the evil spies with a disease while God saw to it that Joshua and Caleb,
were not even touched by the disease. Now what do they do?
Numbers 14: 39: And Moses told these sayings
unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.
Moses
must have been greatly disappointed. He would have to remain in the wilderness
for 40 more years, too. But Moses did not mourn. He saw God’s glory in this
judgment.
But these
guilty men mourned because of the consciousness of their own guilt. The fact
they earned this judgment made them mourn even greater. They mourned, not
because they sinned against God, but because of their judgment only.
If they
had wept for their sin when Caleb faithfully reproved them (Nu 14:9), this
sentence would have been prevented; Now it is too late. Don’t let that be the
case with anyone here!
Numbers 14:
40: And they rose up early in the
morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be
here, and will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised: for we
have sinned.
Now,
they want to go into Canaan. Now, they confess their sin. So it will be when
God judges unbelievers. He will bring all to confess that their judgment is their
own fault. He will come,
Jude 15: To execute judgment upon all, and to convince
all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have
ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have
spoken against him.
Numbers 14:
41: And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye
transgress the commandment of the LORD?
They
were still disobeying God. Rather than bow to God, they broke it, so they are
trying to fix it. Moses said, “Do you still disobey the commandment of the
LORD?” They still did not believe the
LORD. They still tempted God. They did not seek the Lord while he might be
found, and now he would not be found.
Numbers 14: 41:..but it shall not prosper.
42: Go not up, for the LORD is not among you; that ye be not smitten
before your enemies. 43: For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there
before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the
LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you. 44: But they presumed to go up
unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses,
departed not out of the camp. 45: Then the Amalekites came down, and the
Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even
unto Hormah.
Now
these three things show us how longsuffering God is—they had seen his glory and
miracles, they had tempted him, they had not hearkened to his voice—still, God
suffered a long time with these rebels.
But these same three things shall increase the guilt of those who will
not believe. The light God has given men justifies God in turning them over to
reprobation and for sending men to hell. (Rom 1: 20) The gifts of God are given
freely by his grace but men earn hell!
Every
sinner here, pay attention to what I am about to say—pay attention to what God
says to you: today is the day of grace, “behold, now is the accepted time; behold,
now is the day of salvation.)” (2 Cor 6: 2)
Hebrews 3: 7: Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day
if ye will hear his voice, 8 Harden not
your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the
wilderness:…13:…exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any
of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin…15: While it is said, To
day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
Mark 1:15: The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God
is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
John 6:29: Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the
work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
Acts 17: 30: And the times of this ignorance God winked
at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31: Because he hath
appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that
man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in
that he hath raised him from the dead.
If these men would have been as eager in the
day of grace as they were when the day of grace was over, it would have been
well with them. Be diligent to seek Christ now, in the day of grace, while he
may be found. Provide yourselves oil while the bridegroom tarries and it will be
well when the bridegroom comes. Amen!