Amen, well let us like teachable children look into God's word as it comes to us. In the Old Testament book of Numbers, and we are considering Numbers chapter 11 verses one through 15 as we continue this evening in our series in Numbers titled The Word in the Wilderness. Numbers chapter 11 beginning in verse one, this is the word of the living God. And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes. And when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses and Moses prayed to the Lord and the fire died down. So the name of that place was called Terabah, because the fire of the Lord burned among them. Now the rabble that was among them had a very strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, oh, that we had meat to eat. We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing. The cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at. Now the manna was like coriander seed and its appearance like that of delium. The people went about and gathered it and ground it in hand mills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it. Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent, and the anger of the Lord blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased. Moses said to the Lord, why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight that you may lay the burden of all this people on me? Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth that you should say to me, carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries a nursing child to the land that you swore to give their fathers? Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, give us meat that we may eat. I'm not able to carry all this people alone. The burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once. If I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God shall stand forever. Let's look to the Lord once again in prayer. Our gracious heavenly father, we do pray as Jacob prayed earlier for soft hearts, that we might receive Your Word, that we might see Your Son, that we might see His cross clearly, that we might experience His grace afresh, that we might taste and see once again that the Lord is good, that we might not be an unfaithful people or an unloving people or an ungrateful people, that we might be a people infused by the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ with boldness, with confidence, and with the desire to show your love to a needy world. Meet with us through these means of grace before us now to transform us more and more into disciples that are faithful to you and bring you honor and glory. This we pray through Christ our Lord, amen. Well, an optimist said to a pessimist, isn't this a bright, sunny day? The pessimist replied, yes, but if this heat spell doesn't stop soon, it will burn up all my grass. Two days later, the optimist said to the pessimist, isn't this rain wonderful? The pessimist replied, well, if it doesn't stop soon, my garden will wash away. The next day, the optimist invited the pessimist to go duck hunting. The optimist wanted to show off his new registered hunting dog that could do things that no other dog could do. The pessimist looked at the dog and said, looks like a mutt to me. At that moment, a flock of ducks flew over. The optimist shot one of the ducks and it fell in the middle of the lake. He snapped his fingers and his dog ran after the duck. The dog ran out on the water, picked up the duck and ran back on the water. The optimist took the duck from the dog's mouth, turned to the pessimist and said, what do you think of my dog now? The pessimist replied, dumb dog, can't even swim. In our passage this evening, we see some pessimists, those pesky people, pessimists, pessimistic pilgrims, to be exact. What I hope we were reminded of this evening is that pessimistic pilgrim is actually a contradiction in terms. An oxymoron, even more so than freezer burn or jumbo shrimp. or unbiased opinion. Pilgrims, by definition, are people on the move from one place to another expecting something better. Think about those people we think of when we think of pilgrims. 1620 on the Mayflower. Why'd they come here? Because they were hoping for something better than what they were leaving They're hopeful that the future's gonna be better than the past. But here in Numbers chapter 11, we find this peculiar breed of people, pessimistic pilgrims. And they are surely included in God's word to call us away from the pessimism that we can easily fall into. and call us to a robust, biblical, good news infused optimism as pilgrims on our way to the promised land. So let's consider three characteristics of pessimistic pilgrims this evening, specifically how pessimists fail in three key areas of life. The first thing I would like us to note about pessimistic pilgrims is that they fail to be grateful. They fail to be people who give thanks. It would be very hard, I think, to be grateful and pessimistic at the same time. I'm not encouraging anyone to try it, but I would think it would be very, very hard. I kind of tried it a little bit just to kind of, it's hard to do. It's kind of like patting your head and rubbing your tummy. It's even harder than that. Being grateful and pessimistic at the same time. Gratitude involves being thankful about the past and thankful for the present, And this has a tendency, doesn't it, to color in a positive way the way we think about the future. As we consider what God has done for us in the past and how he is blessing us and sustaining us and helping us in the present, we begin to consider the future in a more positive light. We sang in those very terms this morning, didn't we? As we sang, great is thy faithfulness. We sang, all I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. Gratitude, cultivating gratitude for the past. And those words, strength for today. Cultivating gratitude in the present and then what? Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. See how it works? Optimism about the future. Blessings on mine with 10,000 beside. When we count our blessings, past and present, and we give thanks to God for them, no matter what circumstances we may be in, difficulties we may be in, when we take time to thank God for all of his many blessings, past and present, that changes how we think about the future, and in fact, gives us bright hope. for the future, why? Because God's faithfulness does not change. His commitment to us does not change, it does not waver. His love for us is steadfast. The Israelites in the wilderness were failing to give thanks for past and present blessings and thus they were becoming pessimistic about the future. They were losing sight of their God who had helped them so much in the past and thus they were losing sight of the God of the future. Who held their future? Who was their future? To name a few specific ways that they were failing to give thanks, they were failing to be grateful for how God had kept his promises to aged, childless Abraham to give him a multitude of descendants and bring them out of captivity. They failed to give thanks to God for the amazing way that he had brought them out of that captivity in answer to their cries for help. And how he had done so abundantly above all they asked or thought they they remember how they were weighed down with the spoils with the riches of Egypt when they came out of that house of bondage. With more than enough to build the tabernacle and with every provision they needed. They failed to give thanks for the miraculous provision. Of water from Iraq and manna from heaven. They were ungrateful for how God had raised up Moses to lead them and mediate on their behalf and for the sacrifices that substituted for them and their families, the blood of the Passover lambs through which their lives were spared. They'd become an ungrateful people. And thus they were a pessimistic people. ready to turn back on their God and their journey and return to the slavery from which he had saved them. Pessimistic pilgrims fail to be grateful. In the second place, pessimistic pilgrims fail to trust the promises of God. They fail to trust the promises of God. God had not promised these pilgrims that their pilgrimage would be without difficulty. But he did promise them that if they would trust his promises and remain faithful to him, he would preserve them, protect them and deliver them to the promised land. Yet now, after promising that they would follow his every word, similar to the way we heard Peter promise never to deny his Lord, they now were turning back on their promises and doubting his promises, and they were ready to go back to Egypt. Up in chapter 10, beginning in verse 29, basically that portion of chapter 10, verse 11 through the end of the chapter, you have the Israelites leaving Sinai as the Lord had instructed them. We talked last week about the trumpets being sounded. and each clan leaving in an orderly fashion and so forth. And that's basically what you have recorded there. But something very interesting is recorded in chapter 10, beginning in verse 29. We read this, and Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, Reuel, another name for Jethro, Moses said to his brother-in-law Hobab, we are setting out for the place of which the Lord said, I will give it to you. Come with us and we will do good to you for the Lord has promised good to Israel. But he said to him, I will not go. I will depart to my own land and to my kindred. And he said, please do not leave us, for you know where we should camp, in the wilderness, and you will serve as eyes for us. And if you do go with us, whatever good the Lord will do to us, the same will we do to you. Now we're not sure whether the Midianite Hobab, Moses' brother-in-law, ultimately went with the Israelites to the Promised Land, but what we see here is Hobab was refusing the offer of God through Moses to fully become part of the covenant community of Israel and an heir of all the blessings God had promised for his people. It's one of those heartbreaking passages where you see a man offered everything. And he turns it down. God was offering to Hobab and his family those amazing words that we heard Dr. Jerby read this morning from Jeremiah. And if I'm not mistaken, Dr. Jerby got a little choked up when he was reading them this morning, those amazing words of God to his people, what he offers really to all people. The offering is for all is the free offer of the gospel as it is for all people. I will be your God and you will be my people. That was offered to Hobab. And what did Hobab say? On behalf of his family, no thanks. We got it, we're good. I'm gonna go back to my land, in my strength, with my resources. I'm gonna return to my ways and my God's. What a tragedy. What a tragedy for a sinner who's offered everything to turn it down. Well, that's what the Israelites were doing as well. That's what God's covenanted people were doing as well. Many of them were saying the same thing. They failed to trust the promises of God and follow in the footsteps of their father, Abraham. who when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going, he trusted the promises of God. He took the footsteps of faith. Friends, when we fail to claim by faith the promises of God for ourselves, for our children, for the church, for the world, for the future, we can begin to believe what? The lies of the devil. If we're not claiming the promises of God and trusting the promises of God, we will believe the lies of the devil? and we will become pessimistic pilgrims. That's what the evil one wants you to be, is a pessimistic pilgrim who has no sense of hope about what God can do in your life and what God can do through your life and in your family, in the lives of your unconverted family and unconverted neighbors and friends and so forth, and in this community. We need to be like David, who in Psalm 27, And verse 13 said these amazing words. Listen to what David said. He's in a very difficult situation. Things look bleak. He said in Psalm 27 and verse 13. I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord, be strong, and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord." See what David was saying? Even in the very difficult circumstances that he was in, he was saying, I believe I'm going to see God do great things. in the land of the living. We know that God's going to do great things when Christ returns and in eternity. But David was saying, in my lifetime, I believe I'm going to see God do amazing things. Are we thinking like that as God's people, or are we pessimistic pilgrims, doubting the promises of God to use even the weakest sinners who call out to him for grace and ask him to help? to advance his kingdom, to reach the lost, and to see him glorified on the earth. Pessimistic pilgrims fail to give thanks, they fail to trust the promises of God, and third, pessimistic pilgrims fail to focus on the love of God. Wasn't that wonderful how, Jacob, you had us right on the edge there as you wrapped up 1 Corinthians chapter 12. And Paul's so artfully there. And I think, you know, sometimes the chapter divisions in Scripture, you know, maybe they're not the best. You know, I wasn't on that committee. I wasn't asked. But maybe they're not the best, but boy, they hit a home run between chapter 12 and chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians, because they end with Paul saying in chapter 12, and I will show you a still more excellent way. A way that's more excellent than even healings and speaking in tongues and all those amazing things. A way that's actually more excellent than that, and of course, What is it, Paul? Well, you know what it is? Love. Love. Faith, hope, and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love. And so God wants his people to focus on his love, that which we will experience for eternity with God and with one another. We're not gonna experience faith for eternity, we're not gonna experience hope for eternity, we're gonna experience love for eternity. And so God wants you to focus on his love now. A pessimist fails to focus on God's love, specifically going back to our passage this evening, God's love demonstrated through his appointed mediator. The Israelites, Had failed to do that as we have seen many times. We'll see it again. God being our helper and we see it in the passage tonight. Moses. We see Moses fulfilling his role as mediator interceding to the Lord on behalf of the people of God wrestling with the Lord. In that sense, fulfilling his role as an Israelite, you remember Israel means one who wrestles with God and prevails. Moses did that time and time again as the appointed mediator of Israel. But the people who cried out to Moses to pray for them one moment, and I mean, Moses was quite an intercessor. I mean, remember in Egypt, Pharaoh even asked Moses to pray for him. Remember that? A number of times, because things were looking really bad for Egypt. And Pharaoh would say, time out, time out. Okay, mercy, mercy, mercy. Moses, pray for me. Pray to your God for me. And Moses would go and pray for Pharaoh. And God would relent. He would stop the plague. He would show mercy. And here we see the people of Israel doing the same thing, getting themselves in one situation after another, and Moses would pray for them. But sure enough, after the Lord answered Moses' prayer, they would go back complaining about the Lord and His anointed mediator, Moses. They failed to focus on the love of God to them through their mediator. The love that rescued them, redeemed them, sustained them and prepared them a future. And thus, what happened to them? They became a very ungrateful, unfaithful, unloving people. Missionary Amy Carmichael tells of an experience she had in 1895. You know, Amy Carmichael spent decades, most of her life in India as a missionary, but she first went to Japan, and there she became severely ill. And so she came back to England, she was in England, and while she was there, Andrew Murray, the great Scottish preacher and devotional writer who spent most of his days in South Africa, ministering there. He was in England as well, doing some preaching and so forth. And it turned out that they ended up being guests at the same house of this wealthy Christian, had many rooms and a large house, and he had various people staying. Amy Carmichael and Andrew Murray were staying in this person's home. And she later wrote, I knew that his books were very good, not that I had read one of them, but a neat row of them, dressed in sober gray, lived in my mother's room, and she and everybody else said how good they were. But she wondered If Andrew Murray was as good as his books, she said she found that he was even better. She explained, there was not only goodness, there was a delicious dry humor, dauntless courage, and the gentleness and simplicity of a dear child. And he was very loving. He never seemed to be tired. Of loving. Friends, people who focus. With gratitude. And childlike faith. On the love. Of God. Become loving. as their Lord is loving. And they move from being a pessimistic pilgrim to one of dauntless courage and good news infused optimism with bright hope for the future, to the glory of God and the good of others. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for this reminder tonight that the term pessimistic pilgrim is really a contradiction in terms. Forgive us of our pessimism. Grow us in being a grateful people, a trusting people, a people who focus on your love to us in Christ and who show that love to others. Grow us in being pilgrims who are optimistic, prayerful. And who work towards the great things that you will do through your Son and by your Spirit in us and through us for your glory. To that end, gracious Father, we pray that you would set apart now the bread and the cup. We ask with thanksgiving that through this means of grace that we might meet with your dear Son and feed by faith on his body and his blood. In Jesus name we pray, amen.