[0:00] Please find Psalm number 50. Right around Psalm 50. Why would you turn there? Psalm 95. That's where we're supposed to be. I'm going to try not to do that again. Psalm 95.
[0:15] Psalm 95. And we'll read the 11 verses of this psalm and then go from there.
[0:35] So please follow along in your copy of the Holy Scripture, Psalm 95. O come, let us sing unto the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
[0:47] Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods.
[0:58] In His hand are the deep places of the earth. The strength of the hills is His also. The sea is His and He made it and His hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
[1:13] For He is our God and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your heart as in the day of provocation, as in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted me and proved me and saw my work.
[1:33] Forty years long was I grieved with this generation and said, It is a people that do err in their heart and they have not known my ways, unto whom I swear in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.
[1:49] Let's pray together. Lord, these are Your words and God we believe them. We pray that You'll help us to make application and understand Your heart and Your thoughts and to receive the admonishment from the Scripture, to receive the examples that You've placed in this book for us to learn from.
[2:09] Lord, may we see ourselves in this mirror and may we apply what we see and may we, Lord, never just think it's talking about somebody else. Help us to take it to heart today.
[2:21] We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. So here's an exhortation from the beginning of the psalm for folks to come. It says in verse 1, O come, in verse 6, O come.
[2:33] They want to sing. They want to praise. They want to thank with a joyful noise. They want to worship before God. They want to bow before Him and hit their knees before the Lord, their Maker.
[2:46] It's an exhortation to come together. But in this exhortation, it ends with a warning. And a warning is not to harden your hearts.
[2:57] And in talking about hardening hearts in verse 8, it started in verse 7. And today, if you'll hear His voice, harden not your heart. As in a time past.
[3:08] As in the day of provocation. The day of temptation in the wilderness when your fathers tempted me, God's saying. And proved me. And saw my work. And I was grieved with them. And so the exhortation of coming together and getting before God and worshiping Him and praising Him.
[3:25] There's this warning, if I want to call it that. This thought of, hey, wait a minute. If you're going to be doing this, don't you be coming here with a hard heart. Don't be doing it with a hardened heart like those guys back there in the wilderness.
[3:40] In the history of Israel. The past. So he illustrates with that generation past that God led through the wilderness. Speaking explicitly of them.
[3:51] Because they fought against Him tooth and nail. When what He was trying to do. And accomplishing His will for them. Now look at verse 7. He says, for He is our God. We are the people of His pasture.
[4:02] The sheep of His hand. And there's a period. And the verse closes saying, Today, if you will hear His voice. Yes. Harden not your heart.
[4:13] Today, if you will hear His voice. The word day in this context and often in the Bible, it's not a reference to a 24-hour period. He's not talking about Sunday morning specifically or any Tuesday or Thursday.
[4:28] But rather a specific, not a specific day, but rather a period of time, an age, an event. Sometimes the word day just refers to an event that will encompass a week, months, or even years.
[4:42] We do the same thing. We say things like, well, back in my day. And so we use the word to refer to an age in the past or in the future. Oh, like He'll have His day. Things like that.
[4:53] We say that the same way. Now, when He says in verse 7, Today, He's not talking about Sunday, but rather in this day, in your lifetime, to whom He's addressing.
[5:08] Today, in this day, if you will hear His voice. The statement here, I'm pausing, I'm kind of laying some groundwork, because I want you to understand the wording here and not just read past it and miss it.
[5:20] But when He says, if ye will hear His voice, He's not saying, if you'll be so kind as to listen to God, or if you listen, you'll get a treat after the service is over.
[5:32] He's not saying it in that sense of if ye will. But when He says, if you will hear His voice, He's saying if you want to. The word will, like your will. If it's your will to hear His voice.
[5:45] And a cross-reference to this is in 1 Timothy chapter 6. It's not only a term, but He says, they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare. And that is, they that desire to be rich.
[5:56] They that want to be rich. So that's the same usage of the words. Today, if ye will hear His voice. If you want to hear His voice. So He's saying in your lifetime, and right where you sit, if you want to hear from God, you want to come before Him and sing and have Him pleased with you, and you want to hear from Him then, then His warning is, harden not your heart.
[6:19] Harden not your heart like your fathers did. And He references the day of provocation. He references the day of temptation in the wilderness. He says it's 40 years in verse 10.
[6:31] When these people tempted and chided against and murmured against the Lord, and so much so that the Lord swearing His wrath, these people aren't getting in.
[6:42] I pulled them out of Egypt to bring them through that, to bring them to this, and when it was said and done, He's like, nope, you people, you're not setting foot in that land.
[6:53] Your kids will get it. My promise to Abraham will come true, but it's not going to be you. It's going to be them, because they harden their hearts. And the warning is, for us, this exhortation to come and sing and worship God has this attached thought of not to come with a hard heart.
[7:11] Not if you desire to have God speak to you. Not if you desire to hear His voice. Now, because the psalm refers to God swearing in His wrath that they'll not enter into His rest, because it refers to those 40 years, and it mentions those people with their hardened hearts, I want to look back at what He's referring to, because He closes this psalm with that illustration of those four verses.
[7:34] It's the thought of coming before Him, and it's the thought of, wait a minute, if you want to do this, don't harden your hearts, and then reminds us of what they did. And I want to look back at what they did, because it was written for our admonition.
[7:47] What they did to provoke Him to wrath, and what some specific moments that God got so provoked and furious against His own people, that He wanted to wipe them out and kill them.
[8:00] Because when we come together to praise the Lord, and to worship Him, and to seek to hear from Him, God help us to be sure that we don't have a hardened heart. And I want to look today at some evidences of a hardened heart this morning.
[8:14] So take your Bibles and go back to Exodus 14. And I'm pretty sure we're not going to get through all of this today, but we'll get as far as we can, time permitting, and then perhaps finish it at another time.
[8:31] In Exodus 14, it's going to take me a few minutes to kind of go through a few passages with you, and build this to show you the people that God's dealing with. The kind of people that they were toward Him.
[8:44] We know God's plans for His people. We know His intentions for promises He's made years past to the patriarchs, and He intends to fulfill in these people.
[8:59] And they were in Egypt, and they were slaves and bondmen, and served with rigor and hardness. And now, I mean, that place, Egypt was called a furnace of affliction in the Bible.
[9:10] And God brings them out. They're the generation that gets to come out and gets to go experience the land of milk and honey. And it's those people that had hardened hearts.
[9:22] And there's some evidences throughout these passages I want to draw out, so that if we want to hear His voice today, that we spot it, that we're not guilty of it. Look at Exodus 14, and let's start in verse number 10.
[9:36] The Israelites have fled Egypt, and the king of Egypt's in hot pursuit. And in verse 10, when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them, and they were sore afraid.
[9:50] And the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord, and they said unto Moses, That's a question. I didn't read that as a question.
[10:00] Hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians?
[10:12] For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than we should die in the wilderness. And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, see the salvation of the Lord, but see who showed you this today. For the Egyptians whom ye shall see today, ye shall see them again no more, forever the Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
[10:32] And look at the Lord. The Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward. If thou lift up thy heart, he tells them, take your rod, and smite the river, and so forth.
[10:42] And it goes on, that verse 18, he's saying, I'm going to harden the hearts of the Egyptians, in verse 17. They're going to follow, and I'm going to get me honor upon, and then verse 18, the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, which I have gotten honor upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, upon his horsemen.
[10:58] And now just, God, it sounds like, and I'm seeing it this way, you see if this, you agree. God, if we could be this kind of helicopter view of the situation, God is working something out, it's a plan he has.
[11:14] He brought them out of Egypt, he guided them this direction. Pharaoh charges right after, God's saying, yes, yes, continue, go, this is all my plan.
[11:25] They come up to the water, mountains on this side, Pharaoh coming this way, we're entangled, we're trapped, and they cry out against the Lord, and they're turning on Moses right away, and the Lord just says, why are you crying unto me?
[11:40] Tell him to keep going. Like, you're going to ruin this. Keep going, keep going. Take your rod, smite the water, it's coming apart. Pharaoh, he's going to follow right after, go ahead, that's it, right after him.
[11:53] The Lord is more concerned with what he's about to do with Pharaoh and the Egyptian army. He's more focused in on it, because he says that they're going to know that I am the Lord. And it's like God has this thing with Pharaoh in Egypt, and he's going to, he's already done those plagues and those wonders in the land, and now this is the final thing, I'm going to show them who I am.
[12:12] And he's focused on Pharaoh following after, that the children of Israel crying, he just, he kind of ignores it at first. Now it's going to get worse, and he's not going to be able to ignore it anymore. But the first time they turn and cry and complain and accuse Moses of taking them out there just to kill them, and they said, we told you it would be better if we were just servants in Egypt.
[12:33] The Lord just, he doesn't even acknowledge it, is what I want you to see. Because I think he's so focused on Pharaoh, and he's like, keep going. I've got a plan here. I'm doing something.
[12:45] And he didn't reveal his plan to them beforehand, though he could have. You go down there, Moses is going to do this, the sea is going to part, you're just going to never believe it. It's going to be amazing. Wait till you see it.
[12:56] And you're going to go across on dry land, I'm going to make it dry for you. The wind's going to blow, it's going to dry out, and you're going to get across, everyone's going to get across, he's going to come in, I'm going to kill them all. He could have told them his plan, that was his plan, but he didn't tell them a word of it.
[13:10] He was just kind of expecting them to trust him. He was just telling them enough. And you as a parent do that with your kids. You don't lay out the entire sequence of events that you have planned in your mind.
[13:21] You just tell them what they need to know, and you expect them just to trust, follow dad's lead, follow mom's instructions. God's doing that. He's got it figured out. He wasn't surprised when they got on the other side in the wilderness, and, oh man, I led you into a wilderness.
[13:39] What was I thinking? That didn't happen with God. He's got a plan. They didn't see it. God just expected them to obey him, and to trust him.
[13:50] And so after this does take place, in the next chapter, when they saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore, back in verse 30, and they saw the great work, they believed the Lord, they feared the Lord, they believed his servant Moses at the end of 14, and then it goes into 15, and now they're singing, and they're dancing before the Lord, and there's just the timbrel, and the dances in verse 20 with Miriam and the women, and they're singing to the Lord.
[14:18] He's triumph glorious. They're just loving things. Everything's good, right? Well, it didn't take long. Verse number 23 of chapter 15, when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter.
[14:33] Therefore, the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, what should we drink? And he cried unto the Lord. The Lord showed him a tree, and the Lord took care of it.
[14:44] And it says there, he proved them. And look at verse 26, and said, if thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and will give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that healeth thee.
[15:03] And the Lord's letting them know, I can take care of you. So the second time, in two chapters, they're murmuring, and God fixes their issue, and God's trying to say, hey, you can trust me.
[15:15] Okay? I took care of them, and I just took care of the water. So you can follow and obey what I tell you. And so the Lord's teaching him. He's like training this infant child to trust him.
[15:27] So then we move forward, and move into chapter 16. In verse 2, the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
[15:42] And the children of Israel said unto them, 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 we did eat bread to the full. For ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
[15:56] And so they murmur yet more. And the Lord ends up in this chapter giving them quail, and giving them manna. And he takes care of them, and shows you can trust me again. And now chapter 17, just skimming through.
[16:08] Chapter 17, verse 1, And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin after their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched and refined him. And there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink.
[16:22] Moses said unto them, Why did he chide with me? Wherefore do you tempt the Lord? 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?
[16:37] And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone me. And skipping ahead, this is where the Lord then tells them, Smite the rock, and then water comes out, and they have plenty to drink.
[16:52] And they make this statement though in verse 7. Look at the end of it. They tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not? What a thing. They're implying that if he was among us, then these things wouldn't be happening.
[17:04] These problems. And so let's just summarize all of what we've just read. And just this beginning stage of this nation coming out and experiencing some hardships. And it shows you that they've had a hardened heart.
[17:16] God said he was grieved with them for 40 years in the wilderness. Their hardened heart is revealed by their murmurings against God, against God's leadership, murmuring against them.
[17:29] And what it shows us, they're murmuring because they're not trusting the Lord. They have a lack of faith. They're not just whining and fussing like little kids do, but rather it says it's against Moses and against the Lord.
[17:43] Moses says, You're murmuring against the Lord. You're tempting the Lord. This is not just whining. Their murmurs are antagonistic accusations. They're complaining, pointing the finger, criticizing, blaming Moses and blaming God for every unfavorable circumstance in their life.
[18:02] Their murmurings are evidence that their heart's wrong. Something's wrong in their heart. They're not coming out with joy, trusting God, knowing that the one that did all those wonders in Egypt can surely take care of us out here.
[18:17] They're just looking by sight saying, We want this. We want that. We're not happy with this. Come to keep your place. Well, you don't have to keep that place, but come to Philippians chapter 2 with me.
[18:28] And let's see something Paul has to say to the church about murmuring. In Philippians chapter 2, and we'll read verse 14, but then we'll look at the greater context of why he said this.
[18:48] Because their murmurs are evidence of a hardened heart. In Philippians chapter 2, you're probably familiar, verse 14, do all things without murmurings and disputings.
[19:04] Disputings, murmurings. The context of this passage, really verse 14 is kind of a summary statement that goes back to the beginning of the chapter.
[19:14] We read this last Sunday, and let's look at the first few verses again, where Paul begins chapter 2 by saying, If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy that ye, the church at Philippi, the church be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
[19:40] Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
[19:54] Let this mind be in you. And it tells them, this is the same mind that was in Christ Jesus, and gives the illustration of what Christ did, humbling himself to the cross, being exalted by God, and then he comes to that conclusion in verse 14, to do all things without murmurings and disputings.
[20:14] It's about unity, and it's about love, and it's about humility. And when a Christian, a believer murmurs against, like they did against their leader, and against the Lord himself, it's evidence, something's wrong with their heart.
[20:29] And it's revealing that they don't have faith, like they ought to have. It's revealing that they're not trusting what God is doing. It's revealing that they have a hard heart. Murmurings and disputings, and they go on within the body of Christ, just like they did back in Moses' day, in the wilderness.
[20:48] Sometimes you can't see the issue right in front of you. You can't see the solution, so you open your mouth. Sometimes there's a situation you're uncomfortable with, and so you start running your mouth about it.
[21:01] Murmur. That's one of those English words that is what it sounds like. It's got that murmur, murmur, murmur, chiding sound to it. And it's evidence of something wrong with a heart.
[21:12] It's a spiritual problem. Their heart was hardened, and it's revealed by their murmurings, which is evidence of their lack of faith. And I want to go here, but you don't have to.
[21:24] I'll go quickly to Hebrews 3. And in Hebrews 3, Psalm 95 is quoted to the Hebrews. And he quotes the part that we just read about the Holy Ghost saying, today if you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
[21:38] And he talks about that. And then he concludes by showing you some application to the Hebrews in this time. And I'll just read from Hebrews 3. And at the end of the quotation of the Psalm, verse 11, verse 12, then he says, Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief.
[22:00] Unbelief. Lack of faith. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief and departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily. Instead of murmuring, instead of disputing, instead of what he told them in Philippians.
[22:16] He says, No, exhort one another. There's supposed to be that unity and spirit of love. Lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. And he continues on.
[22:27] He goes and quotes it again in verse 15. Today if you'll hear his voice, harden not your heart. Verse 16, For some, when they had heard, did provoke. Howbeit not all that came out of Egypt, by Moses, but with some was he grieved 40 years?
[22:40] Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
[22:55] So it was a spiritual problem. Come back to Exodus 32 now. It was a spiritual problem they had. Lack of faith, a lack of unbelief, and what came out of them, evidence of their hardened heart toward God and toward faith toward him was murmurings and murmurings and complaining and fussing about the way it is.
[23:17] I hope you see that from the scripture. That's what they did. The admonishment, the exhortation to you all today is check it. Don't let that be coming out of you. Don't let that be your heart, a problem of your heart.
[23:31] Make sure that you exercise faith and check your tongue when you're tempted to complain about it, to dispute or to murmur about the way things are. Exodus chapter 32. And we're kind of fast forwarding through some things.
[23:44] Moses is up on the mount and he's receiving the word of God. He's receiving, look at the last verse of the previous chapter, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.
[23:58] I mean, what an amazing thing God is doing, giving his holy laws to his people to set them apart from everybody on the face of the earth. He's doing something with Moses.
[24:11] The people have already been told he's going to receive the word of God. They said, we're going to keep it. And he said, I'm going to come back with his laws and his commands. And while the Lord is instructing Moses and while God's establishing and defining to Moses his covenant, he wants to enter into with these people, here's what they do.
[24:32] Unbelievable what they do. Verse number one, when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron. Well, that's not God's appointed leader.
[24:46] They gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him, 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 want not to become a hymn.
[24:57] And if you know the story, they take off their golden earrings and they get together and fashion with a graven tool a molten calf. And they said, in verse four at the end, these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
[25:14] I mean, just that fast. What blasphemy that would come out of their mouths saying, these be thy gods which brought thee up out of the land. I mean, they could have left that part alone and just said, these be thy gods which are going to lead us from here henceforth forward.
[25:27] But to say that these are the gods that brought us out? Wow. When Aaron saw it, he built an altar. In verse six, they rose up early on the morrow and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings.
[25:40] They're sacrificing to this idol and the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play. And the Lord's up there says, Moses, you better get down. You better see these people.
[25:53] I'm about to kill them all. He said in verse 10, Now therefore let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them that I may consume them and I'll make of thee a great nation.
[26:05] Change of plans, Moses. I'm not dealing with this. I brought them out of Egypt and they're going to bring Egypt with them and they're going to blaspheme my name. Forget about it.
[26:17] He's going to do something that Moses, Moses, this is a good passage here in 11 through 14 shows you that your prayers, your interceding for others can have an effect on God's decisions.
[26:29] This thinking that God is sovereign and it's all set in stone, that just doesn't match the Bible so we can't teach that nonsense. Moses besought the Lord and the Lord changed his mind.
[26:41] In verse 14, the Lord repented of the evil that he thought to do on his people. And so Moses got in the way. He stood in between. And so the passage goes on. There's some stuff going on.
[26:52] I don't want to spend the time reading all the verses but they come down off the mount and Joshua says there's a noise of war in the camp. He's hearing the sound of it but he can't discern what it is because he's like it's not the sound of them that have the mastery like the ones that are winning but it's not the sound of those that are shouting because they're losing and crying out.
[27:11] I can't tell what it is. But it's the noise of war. It's a loud, shrieking, screaming, triumphant. I don't know what it is. And it came to pass in verse 19 as soon as he came nigh into the camp that he saw the calf and the dancing and Moses' anger waxed hot.
[27:29] He cast the tables down and he reacted the way he should have in anger and destroyed the whole thing. the people were naked in verse 25 and what they're doing is completely Egyptian and ungodly and what we got here and I'll just try to put it all together and just make some comments about it that they've got a hard heart and their hardened heart is displayed or revealed by their lack of patience number one in waiting on God's direction for them and the instruction that was given them from God's servant they were supposed to stick with and follow and they decided we're done sitting around and waiting for this to happen.
[28:15] We're going to take matters in our own hands and we're just going to do what we want to do. We'll figure out our own way. And it's evidence that they've got a hard heart that they don't want to submit that they don't want to stay that they don't want to listen to what the Lord would have them do and it also shows they have a disinterest in the word of God because Moses told them I'm coming down with the word of God and they said we ain't waiting for that.
[28:41] We don't want to hear what God has to say to us and they refused to wait and they decided to move on with or without God's leader we'll find somebody else a replacement to fill his shoes and we'll just do our thing and that happens I'm just thinking off the top of my head that happens in churches churches a lot splits and taking off and doing their own thing.
[29:04] In Exodus chapter 32 here we see just a disgusting view of God's people in their hardened hearts and it's something telling about those people that they would adopt Egypt's style of worship.
[29:17] They'd make a calf Egyptian. They'd eat, drink, and play and be dancing and shouting and naked and in 1 Corinthians 10 it says they committed fornication talking about this event and so there's some very pagan just immoral ungodly scene going on Joshua's an innocent guy I think he didn't know what it was but Moses knew what it was.
[29:46] He'd grown up in Egypt he knows what it's about and surely they knew this was wrong and that God would be against it but they're not interested in getting God's rule book of what they can and can't do we're not waiting for that we're just going to do what we know we're going to do it the way we like it you know churches today have really reverted back to Egypt in churches you know churches today some of them look like a movie theater when you walk in they've got the whole thing painted black behind the band and this whole scene it's all dark so that the spotlights just reflect the light of the star it looks like some of them just sound like just a worldly concert that's all it is it looks like Egypt it sounds like Egypt my pastor used to say in regards to the homosexuals he used to say if it looks like a duck and it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck I got news for you it's a duck that was his little one liner about it and I think about it in this light of the temperature of churches today and the style of worship if you want to call it that if it looks like a if it looks like the world and it sounds like the world and it walks like the world chances are
[31:07] I can tell you this much it's not of God it's not of God's spirit now back in this place here I don't know where I'm going with that back in this place here in Exodus 32 they reverted back to the things of Egypt when Stephen preaches in Acts 7 he preaches a message to Israel and he references this time and he says this in Acts 7 verse 30 verse 39 he says speaking about Moses and God speaking to him bringing the lively oracles to give us he says to whom our fathers would not obey but thrust them from them and in their hearts turn back again into Egypt saying unto Aaron make us gods and go before us for as for this Moses that context Stephen tells us that the problem was in their hearts that they turned back into Egypt they've got a hardened heart and it's telling because of the way they turn and start acting when the Moses is around they just turn they just dive right back into Egypt right back into the world that they came out of no fear of God no reverence for God's holiness just Egypt everywhere you look and so Israel got themselves in a mess in this chapter and it's called a great sin in verse 30
[32:27] Moses told them you have sinned a great sin and he tries to make atonement make amends with them with the Lord for them and he doesn't even know how to do it it's a very interesting verse verse 32 if you've ever read this and seen that dash yet now if thou won't forgive their sin and Moses just doesn't have anything to draw from right there what can I plead here what can I suggest that God should what basis there's nothing he's just like you know what if not blot me I pray thee out of the book which thou hast written the Lord's like no I'm going to deal with the people that sinned not you with them but Moses tried now Israel got themselves in a mess and they didn't want to wait for the Lord they had a hardened heart and it's revealed because their lack of patience to wait for God to work and to move and tell them what to do as well as their decision that we don't want the word of God we're going to show you what we really want we want Egypt we want the world now come to
[33:28] Numbers chapter 11 and there's there's several more but we don't have time for it all we'll get one more this morning Numbers 11 and not much time has passed most of what we passed over here was the discussions of God giving Moses the law and the statutes and giving him the particulars about the tabernacle and then the particulars about the Levitical priesthood in the book of Leviticus and coming in the numbers the numbering of them and the order of the placement of them so really time wise not much time has passed at all from that moment and chapter 11 they're back at it look at verse number 4 now verse 1 the people complained it displeased the Lord he heard it his anger was kindled the fire Lord burned among them there he is burning them up in verse 4 and the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting now in Exodus 12 verse 38 describes when they come up out of
[34:29] Egypt that a mixed multitude came with them and there they are they fell a lusting and the children of Israel also also with the mixed multitude wept again and said who shall give us flesh to eat we remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely the cucumbers the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic but now our soul is dried away there's nothing at all beside this manna before our eyes and so they're sick of it and the mixed multitude is there what kind of effect are they going to have on God's people it's only a matter of time the mixed multitude they are Egyptians they have the dress they have the language they have the look eventually they show up and show out you can only keep it contained for so long if you're of the mixed multitude among
[35:29] God's congregation it's just a matter of time before you just aren't satisfied with the will of God the ways of God when you know something better out there and the mixed multitude shows their carnality and their displeasure with this way of life and following and obeying God and this worldly group incites a movement here in chapter 11 a movement of dissatisfaction and discontentment with God's ways and it affected it seems like it affected the entire congregation look at verse 10 then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families every man in the door of his tent and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly Moses also was displeased and if we keep reading through here we see that Moses is done he's ready to quit I can't deal with these people God why did you tell me to take them out here this is how they are you know how they are why are you making me lead them
[36:31] I'm finished with this thing I can't bear this people alone it's too heavy for me and God he's saying just take me out then I don't want to deal with this he's done and first look at fast forward a little bit look at verse number 31 numbers 11 verse 31 this is the Lord's answer to their complaining his wrath is kindled remember he want flesh to eat they remember how well it was in Egypt in verse 31 and there went forth a wind from the Lord and brought quails from the sea and let them fall by the camp as it were a day's journey on this side and were a day's journey on the other side just a huge area that God is dumping flesh on them and it was around about the camp and so forth and how high it stacked up the people stood up and all that day and all that night and all the next day and they gathered the quails and it talks about how much they had in verse 33 and while the flesh was between their teeth there it was chewed the wrath of the Lord was kindled against his people and the
[37:33] Lord smote him with a very great plague he smote in verse 34 they buried the people that lusted that lusted here's another evidence of a hardened heart and it's revealed in so many ways but we'll call it this it's revealed by the way that the mixed multitude the effect that the mixed multitude had on them instead of the other way around instead of them showing the mixed multitude the holiness of God and the separation and the way it is to have a God that cares for them and that redeemed them and that is leading them to something so much better than Egypt instead of that no they're falling into the way they think and it's revealed by the fact that God's people are giving ear to the mixed multitude that the fact that they even care what they have to say shows their hearts not right but they're listening to their complaints they're listening to their point of view and they're being influenced by the world and it's fed into their own lusts and when the opportunity arose when the
[38:39] Lord sent the quail they sprang they went after it and you know why they went after it because they've been sitting around talking about it with a mixed multitude they've been daydreaming about it talking about how good it was in Egypt talking about it and when the time came they jumped and they went after it and the Lord killed them dead dropped them there on the spot they lusted and lust is in every one of us it is in us but it can be held down when we walk in the spirit and when we set our affections on things above when we think about the land of milk and honey God is intending to lead us to after he did redeem us and took care of us and sustains us it's true but when we get our eyes off of that and start complaining and murmuring and listening to the world and the worldly complaints and the worldly mindset it's only a matter of time no longer satisfied with God's walk of faith and no longer looking forward to what God has for us in the future it's a heart heart hardened heart and your heart will get hardened toward the
[39:54] Christian life you'll want more today than God's offering you because he's promised you so much more there he doesn't promise you so much here he doesn't want your heart to get in love with it here and think of it like this you've got a heart and anytime you open your heart toward the world you're closing it toward God anytime you turn your affections toward this world or toward things of this life you're closing them toward what God has for you but when you close yourself off to this life and these things and set your affection on things above your heart's wide open to the Lord and to what he has for you your heart's not going to be hardened your heart's going to be opened and content and Christian this morning if you want to hear from God then maybe check the time that you're spending with the mixed multitude be careful how much you're sitting around listening to what they have to say consider how the world could be affecting your heart because the softer you get toward the world the harder you're going to be toward God this people
[40:59] God said I was grieved with this generation their fathers tempted me and proved me and saw my work 40 years was I grieved with this generation I got so fed up with them I swear in my wrath you're not getting in to that promised land it's not going to be you when we come before God church we come before him to worship him we come before him like we were admonished in the psalm we come before him to kneel to bow to praise to thank him to lift a joyful noise up before him because he's God he is great he is king above all gods he is who we should be worshiping but you better be careful you want to hear from him he knows your heart and there's some evidences that we can see in this bible of men that had hardened hearts and in their hardened hearts they thought they were fine they thought they were right but the Lord saw through it they thought everything was okay with them they just didn't appreciate the way things were happening it turns out no the
[42:03] Lord shows us they had a hard heart they were in love with what the world had they remembered Egypt they listened to the mixed multitude they didn't have patience to trust the Lord they weren't really longing to hear from heaven from the word of God which was written by the finger of God just about to come down the mountain to them they weren't looking for that and their heart was hardened we're going to continue on in a few weeks and see a few more points here and a few more reasons and evidences about hardened hearts and then we'll go into a few epistles and show you how the apostle Paul warns the church in 1 Corinthians 10 he warns the here it's going to tie all together that it's for us today to open our eyes and remember that those things that were written were for our ensamples to warn us to caution us to open our eyes that our hearts don't get hardened nobody sitting here thinks you have a hard heart you don't think that about yourself
[43:07] I don't think that about myself I think no I want to do right I want what the Lord wants and then I see examples that says well if you're spending time with the world you're getting soft on them and God despises the world and their sin and their way of life and their thinking and God shows me if I'm leaning that way I'm showing him I'm dissatisfied with him and I want more what this has to offer and that's just one instance the word of God reveals to us what's inside of us and church this morning be careful when you come before God that you don't come in with a hardened heart and not even realize it let's bow our heads together father lord I pray that these examples are things that we see that we don't dismiss that we don't just say not me them not me lord help us to humble ourselves and to care
[44:11] I pray lord that that individuals in here or a group collectively that we respond with an open heart to you and to thy word thy word is very pure and lord we're not we're just different we need that book to clean us up and reveal who we are so god i pray that this morning that we have open hearts to your word that lord we'd see ourselves that we'd change ourselves that we repent of who we are and what we are and seek you lord if the world's getting in us if it's already getting in us if we're influenced by it lord lord to to to to walk to walk to not show that disbelief not show that unbelief and not take matters in our own hands give us patience where we need it and give us a longing for thy word to live it to love it and to hold it close until you call us home let's stand together in this hymnal