Let us turn for our scripture reading to Numbers chapter 11. Numbers chapter 11. My Bible editor, and it's always good to remember that Bible editors are not inspired. My Bible editor has as heading the people complain, and I would have added as heading Moses complains. So this sermon is not aimed at any one faction of you as congregation. It's aimed at all of us. all of us can sometimes make a mess in the church. And I'm not thinking of anyone in particular, but of all of you, including myself, when we ponder how the Lord calls us to search our hearts here in this passage of how we act within his church. So Numbers chapter 11, we'll read the whole chapter, but then our text will be verses 10 through 23. And I'm reading the rest of the chapter because you can see how Moses normally reacts. And in our text, he reacts totally the wrong way. And then we see how the Lord provides for and cares for the church anyway. Now, when the people complained, it displeased the Lord. For the Lord heard it and his anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire was quenched. So he called the name of the place Tiberia, and Tiberia means burning, because the fire of the Lord had burned among them. Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving. So the children of Israel also wept again and said, who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our whole being is dried up. There is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes. Now the manna was like coriander seed and its color like the color of bdellium. The people went about and gathered it, grounded on millstones or beat it in the mortar, cooked it in pans and made cakes of it. And its taste was like the taste of pastry prepared with oil. And when the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it. Then Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent and the anger of the Lord was greatly aroused. Moses also was displeased. So Moses said to the Lord, why have you afflicted your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight that you have laid the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them that you should say to me, carry them in your bosom as a guardian carries a nursing child to the land which you swore to their fathers? Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep all over me saying, give us meat that we may eat. I am not able to bear all these people alone because the burden is too heavy for me. If you treat me like this, please kill me here and now. If I have found favor in your sight and do not let me see my wretchedness. So the Lord said to Moses, gather to me 70 men from the elders of Israel whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them. Bring them to the tabernacle of meeting that they may stand there with you. Then I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the spirit that is upon you and we'll put the same upon them. And they shall bear the burden of the people with you that you may not bear it yourself alone. Then you shall say to the people, consecrate yourselves for tomorrow and you shall eat meat. For you have wept in the hearing of the Lord saying, who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt. Therefore, the Lord will give you meat and you shall eat. You shall eat not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor 10 days, nor 20 days, but for a whole month until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you. because you have despised the Lord who is among you and have wept before him saying, why did we ever come up out of Egypt? And Moses said, the people whom I am among are 600,000 men on foot. Yet you have said, I will give them meat that they may eat for a whole month. Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them to provide enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them to provide enough for them? And the Lord said to Moses, has the Lord's arm been shortened? Now you shall see whether what I say will happen to you or not. So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. And he gathered the 70 men of the elders and of the people and placed them around the tabernacle. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him and took of the spirit that was upon him and placed the same upon the 70 elders. And it happened when the spirit rested upon them that they prophesied, although they never did so again. But two men had remained in the camp. The name of one was Eldad and the name of the other Medad. And the spirit rested upon them. Now they were among those listed, but who had not gone out of the tabernacle, yet they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moses and said, Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp. So Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, one of his choice men, answered and said, Moses, my Lord, forbid them. Then Moses said to him, are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them. And Moses returned to the camp, he and the elders of Israel. Now a wind went out from the Lord and it brought quail from the sea and left them fluttering near the camp about a day's journey on this side and a day's journey on the other side. That means probably what, 20 miles of quail in all directions, all around the camp. And the two cubits above the surface of the ground. So 20 miles, two cubits is about a meter. It's a lot of quail. And the people stayed up all that day, all night and all the next day and gathered the quail. He who gathered the least gathered about 10 homers. It's a large basket. And they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was aroused against the people. And the Lord struck the people with a very great plague. So he called the name of that place, Kibreth Chatavah, which means the place of craving or graves of the craving. because there they buried the people who had yielded to craving. From Kibreth Chetavah, the people moved to Hazeroth, and they camped at Hazeroth. Beloved congregation of the Lord, have you ever been to one of those old museums about the pioneering days? In my first church, there was one in the Fenwick area called Balls Falls, and they had all these rustic old barns and homes, and you could go and look at the old-fashioned farming equipment through the windows. and especially those of you who have farmers and GPS guided tractors and fancy systems that inject the different amounts of fertilizer every square meter, look at something like that and say, that's just so basic. A wood stove compared to a furnace, you've got to find the wood, haul the wood, chop the wood, stoke the stove, and with a furnace, you just get out your phone app and click your Google Nest up a button or so. What a difference. It might be tempting to react the same way when we look at the first church. God constitutes the first church at Mount Sinai. He calls the first office bearer in his church Moses, and then others. We might look at this and say, well, that's pretty basic. Haven't we, as a New Testament congregation, moved on from that by now? And yet our text shows us how similar the Old and New Testament church is. The privileges are largely the same. The challenges and problems, at least some of them, are the same too. The struggles of those and the failures of those who are called to bear office are quite similar. And even though the focus of this sermon is on Moses and his sin as an office bearer, I remind you, as I reminded my Confession of Faith class this past week, that every Christian is called to exercise the office of Christian, of believer, of prophet, priest, and king. And you can read Lord's Day 12 of the catechism yourself if you want to check me up on that. So there's overlap, there's application to all of us here. When the Lord gives you a work to do in his church, you sometimes come home and you're energized and you're refreshed and you're motivated. And you say, I just love it when I listen to someone at someone's bedside talk about the grace of God. Their body is failing and their soul is feasting. And other times an office bearer comes home from a visit or a phone call or a meeting, just burdened, just heavy hearted, just thinking to himself, I don't need this kind of aggravation in my life. And our text gives us a glimpse into one of those moments in the life of Moses, the friend of God, the man of God, the servant of God. And what's so beautiful about this passage is not how Israel and Moses mess it up, but the God who comes alongside his people and demonstrates that he is the secret. He is the glue. He is the good news that makes it possible for them to live with each other and to serve him. The Lord bears the burdens of his people. He never asks any of his own to bear them alone. So here's our theme. The Lord bears Moses' burden in the congregation. First of all, he bears with Moses' complaint. Secondly, he bears up under Moses' burden. And lastly, he bears away Moses' unbelief. If you read the text, you see a whole side of Moses that you and I are not used to seeing. We meet the overwhelmed, complaining, unbelieving, rebellious Moses. That should come as a total shock. If you have your Bible open at Numbers 3, then you can see in the first three verses what usually happened. Verse 1, the people complained about how the Lord was leading them. They didn't like the route. They wanted the shortcut along the Oasis straight to the promised land, and the Lord took them through the burning, fiery desert. The longer road, the harder road. They wanted a solution yesterday and it looked like they were going to spend more time in the desert. But they didn't mention the redeeming mercy of God. The cloudy pillar to shade them during the day to give them light at night. Water gushing from the rocks and a stream that followed them from camping place to camping place. Bread from heaven. The voice of God, the only people in the whole world who had ever heard God address them. as a group like this. The worship of God. They acted like God treated them worse than the Egyptians did. And that's why verse one, God is angry and of his fire burns in the camp. And verse two says, this is what they normally did. Moses, the mediator is appealed to. Moses prays, the Lord's fire is quenched. That's the normal Moses. That's the first office bearer in the congregation of the Lord. But then things change. Verse four, the people are dissatisfied this time about how the Lord is feeding them. They complain that no one is giving them meat and they don't want manna, they want meat. And verse five says, they look back longingly at the good old days in Egypt. fish, cucumbers, onions, melons, and garlic. The food was so great back then. And now it's the same old, same old every single time. They dare to complain about what Psalm 78 calls angel's food rained down from heaven. Now, children, if your mother had something like manna to work with, She would think it great because she would just tell your dad, bring home a sack of manna from the grocery store, we're covered for every meal. You could do anything with it. You could grind it into flour and bake bread with it. You could make porridge with it. You could put some meat in it and make a hearty stew out of it. You could bake it, you could boil it, you could fry it. All from the same stuff. Cost them no trouble, no work, no money. It was fresh every day. Matthew Henry says, while they lived on manna, they seem to be exempt from the curse which sin brought on man, that in the sweat of his face, he would have to eat his bread. So how the Lord is leading them, how the Lord is feeding them. And unbelief can give good gifts, a sour taste in your mouth. It can make the bondage of sin seem like a luxury resort. What were they forgetting when they talked about the food in Egypt? It wasn't a buffet where they could tank up. They were slaves. They weren't princes. They talk about the melons and the fish, but they forget the brick ovens where they sweat it in. They forget the whips and the swords and the harsh words. They speak more highly of being Pharaoh's slaves than they do of the Lord's free people. And isn't that what can sometimes make being responsible and in leadership a heavy burden? Now I didn't pick this text or this section of the text to point fingers at any certain individual or group in this congregation. It's something all of us need to think about. I say this because there have been times when I sat in the pew before I was ordained. There were times when I responded to the Lord's choice mercies with complaints instead of praise. Do you ever look back at your pre-conversion days? Those are the good old days when I could do whatever I wanted. You were a slave of sin back then. Are there ever times when you forget the redeeming mercies of the Lord? How could Israel act like being a slave was the best lifestyle? Well, verse four does give us some explanation. We're told this was a mixed multitude. When Israel left Egypt, a bunch of the poor among the Egyptians just tagged along because the country was trashed by the plagues. Not everyone in the camp was a believing child of God. Some of them thought, well, they're going to the promised land and paradise, and it's got to be better than burnt out and burnt over Egypt. Maybe the promised land will make up for everything. The church should be a resort ship with banquets, buffets, and six-place settings besides every plate. It shouldn't be a battleship with iron plates and hard, narrow bunks. And yes, even the New Testament church can be a mixed multitude. Read Jesus' seven letters to the churches at Revelation and see how he says that there. Read what the Apostle Paul sometimes says to a New Testament congregation. Read what Hebrews 3 and 4 say. But that's not the only possible problem here. Verse 4, the children of Israel also wept. The infection spreads. Believing children of Israel also have mixed hearts. God's children. are both believing and unbelieving. And sometimes the people of God can get carried away and react in a peevish, petty way that dishonors God. I know because I've done it myself. We can't look at this passage after all as if this is just the church and the museum at Balls Falls. It comes painfully close. And I'm not going to tell you what you should be confessing to the Lord as you read this passage. That's not my place. I'm asking you to do what the psalmist says. Search me, O God, and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Ask the Lord, the Holy Spirit, what he would have you take from this passage, even as I ask him what he wants me to take to heart from this passage. So what's the result of this? Verse 10, every family is openly weeping and grumbling at the door of their tent. The anger of the Lord is kindled and Moses needs to step in as mediator. And Moses completely blows it. He hears the weeping and the words of the people and he's got nothing to say to them. He notices the anger of God aroused, however he noticed that, and he has nothing to say to God either. At least nothing for the people. He doesn't pray for them. In fact, Moses here lashes out at God in such a way that you want to duck when you hear it. Remembering the cloudy pillar and the lightning bolts that have flashed from it before. Is Moses right to talk like this? Well, of course not. He sins here and he sins greatly with his lips here. But God records Moses' words, not to tell us we can talk this way too, but to teach also office bearers to ponder long and hard. What words do you speak to or about God and his people? And God bears with Moses' sinful words. Listen to what Moses says in verse 11. Why have you afflicted your servant? Why do I get the burden of all these people laid on me? Why does this have to be my problem? There are times in the life of an office bearer where you start to feel sorry for yourself and you grumble. And those words are always in the presence of the Lord. Why me? And remember again, that the office of believer has overlap. And that all of us can find something to chew on here. And what is the root of Moses complaint in verses 12 and 13? Well, there's a little word that he keeps on using and I'll read it and you can see it jump out for emphasis. I, me and alone. Did I conceive all these people? Have I begotten them that they should say to me, carry them in your bosom as a guardian, a nursing child? Where am I going to get meat for all these people? I can't bear them all alone. Moses acts like he does the lion's share of the work. God makes the promises and Moses has to do the sweating. And Moses is thinking far too highly of himself here and far too little of God. Who humbled Pharaoh with the ten plagues? Who saved Israel through the blood of the Lamb? Who opened the Red Sea and led them through on dry ground? Who gives them daily water, daily manna, and the cloud? Who speaks to Moses face to face every time again? God doesn't say to Moses, well, Moses, I see you've got a real problem, figure it out, you'll think of what to do. He never says that to Moses. He always says to Moses, Moses, you say to the people, thus says the Lord. All he had to do was repeat God's words. But Moses speaks like he's the one doing it all. He's responsible for it all. It's all his problem. His time and energy are consumed with it. But God is the one actually doing far more than Moses. All God's words and works make Moses' words and works possible. Sometimes we can get completely overwhelmed. Not because God wants us to, but because we act like we have to carry it all alone. It can be a form of pride, you know. Pride in your own abilities. I can do this. I've got this. I know what to say. I know what to do. That leads to a certain unbelief against God's work and to an overwhelmed complaining. Isn't this true to life? whether as a consistory member or as a believer. And how does God respond to Moses? He bears with Moses, Psalm 103, mindful of our human frailty. That's why we started the service with that Psalter, is the God in whom we trust. Once you realize that, you can take a deep breath and you can carry on in the congregation of the Lord. This is who God is. For those who bear the sometimes heavy burden of office in his church. For those who have some position of responsibility in his church. For those believers who are responsible for each other's spiritual well-being. And of course, that doesn't excuse Moses' sin here. But it gives hope. to the flawed, broken, still under construction people who are placed in office, because otherwise I couldn't stand in front of you. Sometimes as office bearers or people with responsibilities, we can become so stubbornly, selfishly, sinfully dependent on ourselves. And when you're honest, you have to say, what a wretch I am. How could God ever use me again? I'm not fit to lead in His church. God bears with Moses. And He bears with every frail, weak, sinful man who holds office. He's the God of abounding grace for sinful, failing people. And where the mediator Moses completely fails and blows it, The real mediator of whom Moses is an imperfect illustration, the Lord Jesus Christ, is heard in heaven where Moses falls silent. Bear with them, Father. Show them grace. Have pity and compassion on them. Do not lay this sin to their charge. Now, if God has provided a mediator like that, then he's worth serving, even when the way in which he is leading you and feeding you is challenging and isn't the way you would have chosen. And shouldn't then God's patience with you as an elder or pastor or deacon spill over into your patience with one another? Remembering that each office bearer too has sometimes said and done foolish things. And remember how the Lord dealt with you. Then deal with each other that way too. That's the first thing God does. He bears with Moses' burden, bears Moses' complaint. But secondly, he bears up under Moses' burden, or to say it for the children, he puts his shoulder under the load Moses is carrying and puts it on his own back. God doesn't look at Moses and say, Moses, you ungrateful, pompous wretch. Now, he could have said that, Moses deserves that, and God will correct him later, but he doesn't do that first. He comes alongside Moses before he corrects Moses. He doesn't just tear a strip off Moses. And there's a whole lesson in this about how we treat each other wherever and in whatever part of life is there not. How does God provide for Moses? Verse 16, well, in the first place, he has Moses gather 70 elders and they come and they stand in the tabernacle and all the people will see them. These are the elders of Israel. Moses isn't alone. A congregation should never be a one-man show, and it should never have just one office bearer. There should always be elders and deacons together with a pastor. That's why it's such a good thing when elders go on a visit two by two. The Lord Jesus said the same to his disciples. Go together, because it's a visible reminder to each of you. You are not alone. The Lord has given you someone to walk next to you, to go with you. Sometimes when people get overwhelmed as office bearers, it's not so much from the difficulty of the work, which is certainly there, but because you expect too much from yourself. God didn't put you alone there. Share the load. Don't think you're the only one who can do it. Don't think that your words and wisdom are going to fix and guide and feed and make everything right in the church. Don't come into office either thinking to do as little as possible. Share it with each other, but most of all, fix your eyes on the God who daily the heavy burden bears. The care of the congregation of the Lord in the best of times is a burden no one man can bear alone. God doesn't ask anyone to. Don't ask yourself to either. Gift number two, verse 17. The Lord bears Moses' burden in an even more important way. The Lord is speaking to Moses so the elders can hear, and then he takes the Holy Spirit who was resting on Moses, and maybe there was some symbolic way in which the Lord made that clear, whatever it was, and he pours this spirit out on those 70 office bearers too. And they prophesy, that means they speak the word of God under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It's simply Word and Spirit equipping the office bearers for their task. Calvin says it this way, the greater the difficulty and calling God imposes on someone, the greater the generosity with which God treats him to make him sufficient for his charge. Moses isn't alone. He's never been alone. Those moments when he felt alone were his own fault because he lost sight of the God who was in him and with him. Now, of course, we might ask, does this mean the Holy Spirit wasn't working yet in the Old Testament and the people and elders? Yes, yes, he was. But of course, the fullness of that comes in the New Testament. And sometimes as an office bearer, and I say this again out of experience, you think, okay, I've got this. I know how to fix this. I know what to say. And you don't prayerfully call out on the Lord for help and wisdom and grace. And sometimes you need to run stuck because you need to remember this isn't my church. It's the Lord who is needed here. Sometimes you carefully teach and it's misunderstood. Sometimes your words of counsel go in one ear and out the other. Sometimes you teach a catechism class and you walk home and you go, what was that? And sometimes you say, well, did I also prepare by crying out to the Lord? asking for his wisdom and help and grace, asking for him to be at work. Sometimes you need to fall on your face so you'll remember the Lord and be prayerful, independent. And often when you fix that, the Lord makes it clear, I am with you. Imagine a little boy, he wants to play basketball, but he can't get that ball way up there. on the 10-foot rim. So his dad picks his son up, puts him on his neck, passes him a smaller ball and said, go shoot, son. Then it goes in the hoop. This is how God deals with Moses and the elders of Israel. He puts them on his own shoulders and says, now speak my words, now act in my congregation. This is the Lord's answer to the burdens of leading and feeding a flock. He puts his spirit on his servants to give wisdom. The Lord carries the load, even when it doesn't feel like it. And I can certainly add a personal word of testimony to this as well. There have been times in my life as pastor where I've been completely overwhelmed. And yet I have to say those moments when I was at my worst and my most overwhelmed, the Lord carried me. Those two words describe what it means to be responsible for someone's spiritual well-being. Overwhelmed, carried by the Lord. Blessed be the Lord who daily will sing, our heavy burden bears, the God of our salvation, who for his people cares. That is why these passages are so wonderful to preach. Because yes, they make you and they make me look in the mirror, and they make you say, ouch, and they make you bow your head. But at the same time, they tell you that God knows and God understands and God is there caring for his people. Without the Spirit's work and without the Word of God, you can try to say all the right things and your words don't change a thing, whether you're talking as an office bearer or to an office bearer. Calvin. uses this striking example, just like water washes the outside of a rock and doesn't wet the inside, God's choicest words and most generous provisions do not soften the hearts of sinners. And the clear proof of it is here in Numbers 11 or in 1 Corinthians. All that mercy and grace All that provision, nobody else has ever had a river follow them from camping place to camping place, or had daily food from heaven. All of that didn't keep them from saying, we had it better when we were Pharaoh's slaves. to use New Testament language, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the precious promises of the gospel, Pentecost, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, answers to prayer, encouragement, help and hope through the years and decades. All of that by itself is not enough to soften a hard heart. It's not enough because of our own frailty. To keep us from being grumblers instead of praising believers for whatever the reason. The spirit alone can break up the hard crusts in my life and in yours. So that the words and works of God have the impact they're supposed to. And Moses recognizes this later in the passage. That is why when the Lord's Spirit comes upon the elders, Moses even prays in verse 29, oh, that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Holy Spirit on all of them. It's the most important thing you can do as an office bearer, not first of all say, what should I say? What should I do? Lord, will you work among us with your Holy Spirit? Will you give me the wisdom to know what to speak? Will you work in our congregation by your Holy Spirit so that we will respond to your word, to you in a way that glorifies and honors you? You know why we can ask that in hope? Because Pentecost has happened. The spirit has been poured out and therefore you can pray that specific people become spirit filled because the reservoir was poured out and now you can dip out of it for individuals. You can pray and speak and act in hope. Because God bears the burden of his church. God bears the burden when you are overwhelmed with congregational life, and he doesn't ask you to fix it. That's not all the Lord does for Moses. Yes, he bears with Moses' complaints, and he bears, he picks up Moses' burden for him. But lastly, he bears or takes away Moses' unbelief. The Lord says, I'm gonna stop the grumbling of the people. They're gonna have so much meat, they're gonna be sick of it. Sometimes when you think there's something you really want, having an overdose of it is enough to make you realize that's not the issue. The issue is my craving that nothing can satisfy. And Moses shows his own unbelief. He said, there's 600,000 men. That probably means there's a couple million people, conservatively estimated. Where could anybody get that much meat for these people. The fish in the sea don't provide enough meat. You gotta remember, people didn't eat meat every day in those days, and God is saying they're gonna eat meat every day for a month. If we killed all our flocks, Moses said, this wouldn't work. The Lord answers again, first a question, and the question in verse 23 is a rebuke to Moses himself. Has the Lord's arm been shortened? Children, God is saying to Moses, Moses, did somebody chop off my arms? That's actually a really foolish question, because who could do that to God? That's how foolish Moses' words were. Who should know better than Moses how powerful God is? Moses was standing in the front row with every one of the miracles of the 10 plagues. He was standing with his staff stretched over the Red Sea. He saw the water come out of the rock because he stood there and tapped it with the rock, with his rod, just like God said. Moses had kept on saying to Israel, God brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and a mighty arm. And now Moses is the one who's saying God's arm isn't strong enough to deal with this. You see, Moses falls into the trap of thinking, what is I see are God's only possible resources. It's easy to do that as an office bearer. The impossibilities, so-and-so is never going to change. So-and-so always reacts that way. It's just the way things are. I can't fix this, this mess is too big for me. I can't solve this, I don't know what to do. And that's okay for us frail human beings to reach that point, whether in the pew or in the consistory room. Sometimes we ask unnecessary questions of each other and the Lord. Ask questions you have answered yourself to other people before you forget the basics and God has to remind you. And when that happens, don't you have to say, I know it happens to me all the time because as pastors, we preach all the time. And that means we ought to know it better than anybody else. And that means we ought to live it better than anybody else either. And unfortunately, when I look at Moses here, I look at myself with a sigh. You say, I knew that. And in great compassion and grace, God bears away Moses' sin by teaching him. You sometimes have to do that with your children. If you had a dollar for every time you said, shut the door, clean up your clothes, pick up your backpack, and put away your boots, you'd all be able to afford a luxury vacation big time. And you keep on saying it in the hope that maybe perhaps someday it'll click. And sometimes as children of God, the Lord needs to keep on telling us the same things. His question is stinging, but it's to the point. Moses, did somebody chop off my arms? Has someone amputated the power of God? Why are you acting like God has become helpless, as if God could never fix this, as if that person will never be converted, that person will never change, that person will never learn? Is the Lord's arm shortened? Has his spirit gone back to heaven and undone Pentecost? And then comes God's gracious promise. It's beautiful. He always takes his stinging rebukes and he marries them to a wonderful promise. You shall see now whether what I say will happen to you or not. The Lord has promised to provide in his church. He has promised to support, teach, guide, instruct, and produce spiritual growth in his office bearers. He has promised that office bearers who, to use the psalm, are weeping while they sow the seed will one day come and harvest bearing golden sheaves. Now, why weeping when you sow? Because I think those of you who are farmers, you've never climbed into your tractor and been weeping while you were seeding. One missionary tells the story in West Africa, a place often with drought, that they would save enough grain to plant when the rainy season came back. And between then, if they ran out, they'd go hungry. So this family was starving. The grain was gone. They were scrapping by with whatever creatures they could catch and put in the pot. And a little boy came running to his dad and he said, dad, I saw a bag of grain in the shed. It's good news. Mom can cook for us tonight. We can eat. And he had to put his little son on his lap and say, son, I can't give you that. Because if I do, there will be nothing to sow when the rain comes and we'll all starve. It's got to stay hanging there. And that spring as the rains came, the father was literally weeping as he was sowing the seed because he was remembering the growling stomach of his little boy. And who in their right mind would throw away food when you're hungry? But you do it because you're sowing the seed. And the sower bearing precious seed may weep as in his toil he grieves, our Psalter says. But the day will come where there's a harvest of golden sheaves, where seasons of trouble and heartache and difficulty are succeeded with seasons of plenty and joy and praise and blessing. Whenever doubt rises in your heart, it could never end this way for us as a congregation, could it? or whether you say that as an office bearer or a person in the pew. Does God need to say to you this morning, you shall see now whether what I say will happen to you or not. Shouldn't that give hope for the future? I say this first of all to our office bearers. You've had it before when you were burdened by whatever the case was. And the Lord helped you so that now you and I should be whispering to each other as we face new challenges. Now I will see that the Lord's word is still true. Isn't that what the Lord says to all his people? You will see that what I say happens. That's why Joshua said not one good word of all the Lord had promised. Moses failed, not one. And so in all of these ways, God bears Moses' burden. And in the end, Moses and his sin and his failure and his shortcomings fade into the background. And even the grumbling of the people, whatever the reasons were, fade into the background. And it's God, the God who is among His people, who sparkles here in amazing grace, patient, long-suffering, compassionate, providing. And this completely destroys the superficial picture we have of the God of the Old Testament. People sometimes read about Moses and God and think God's the hot-tempered one. Sadly, this happens in a family. Maybe it's dad who's always angry and yelling and short-tempered, and mom is always tiptoeing around and trying to calm him down and prevent Mount Vesuvius from erupting. Painfully tragic when that's true in a family. It's a burden no woman should have to bear. And we almost get that picture of God and Moses superficially. Moses is always trying to calm down an angry God. And if that were true, no one would have survived in this passage. It's the completely wrong way of looking at mediator Moses. There was no pleading Moses. There was no mediator standing in between. Just an angry, fed up, complaining Moses who was completely done with it and said, God, if you love me, kill me. Because then I don't have to put up with this anymore. And this shows us that the patience and grace of Moses was really the work of the Holy Spirit of Christ resting on him. It was a glimpse of Christ ahead of time. And where Moses completely fails, God remains for Israel who he's been all along. It's Christ the perfect mediator who does not fail here. Even the wrath of God in this chapter highlights the gracious kindness of God. His wrath says this is what sin deserves. And that makes His grace and patience and long-suffering all the more amazing and startling and surprising. It's the surprising God of abounding grace that you meet in this passage if you really pay attention. And He's worth serving and living for and hoping and entrusting and obeying. He's big enough so that you can look at each other and say, now we will see that the Lord's Word will come true, that He is among His people to refine and purify, renew and restore His church. Is there someone listening who, if you're honest, you have to say, you know, I'm part of the mixed multitude, quick to grumble in my heart about God's truth, quick to think God is more strict and the world is more generous. If God would just loosen up and tighten up and go easy on me and let me do what I want, I'd have a great life. My life would all be sunshine and joy, but that's not true. If that's you, your problem is not with God's provision, but when you have an unbelieving heart, Manna tastes sour. That's why God sends them the quail. We don't have meat. We all just have this wretched manna. He's fine. I will give you 20 miles all around the camp, a meter thick of quail every day for a month. They are sick of it because that wasn't the issue. It's not things. It's being right with God, walking with God, being near to God. That is what satisfies. That is what enriches. Yes, even believers sometimes need a dose of reality check. And if you're listening with that kind of a heart, whether it be the heart of the mixed multitude or the mixed heart of believers, Then I say to you in the name of the God of this passage, don't you see that that's simply not true? Won't you go to him and ask him to fill you with his spirit and through his son to fill you with his grace and with wisdom and with joy and peace and believing with the wisdom that comes from above that is first peaceable, easy to be entreated. That thinks the best. To quote 1 Corinthians 13, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. And when you run out, the fountain from which these things flows is the God who is among his church. And that's the good news. All day, every day, for any season of a church's life. Amen. Let us pray. Lord, we thank you that you are among your church. And whatever the challenges are with the way we are being led and fed, you are there. And we pray that by your grace and spirit, you would make it so evident that you are here in our congregation. bearing our burdens, bearing with us, opening our eyes and hearts to the fullness of your promises, to the riches of your provision, and to the way in which you are enough for any church in any season. Lord, you know. You know each one of our hearts. You know exactly what we do and don't need. You know whatever way this passage needs to challenge each of us. and the way this passage can encourage each of us. So will you do that work where you produce in us a thoughtful, prayerful people as we digest this sermon, people are saying to you and to each other, search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try me and see if any of the sins in this passage are in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Will you be in particular, Lord, with our office bearers? You know sometimes that the burden of office can be completely overwhelming, that as elders and deacons, we can look at each other and say, now what? Will you give grace and a sense of expectation that you will remain the God who is among your people during such times in these. May they know also in their consistory meetings of the days and weeks that follow this such an unusual sense that you are among your people, that you are providing for your church, for your servants in every way. Make your word fruitful and blessed in our hearts. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.