Whiners remember worldly lifestyle
Numbers 11:18(NLT) “And tell the people to purify themselves, for tomorrow they will have meat to eat. Tell them,’The Lord has heard your whining and complaints:”If only we had meat to eat! Surely we were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat,and you will have to eat it.
Introduction: Glory be to God for the breath of life as we witness another week of Speaking Scriptures.
🙏 I pray that His words will fall upon our fertile hearts in Jesus name.
This week, we want to examine our lifestyles as the Chosen ones if we are whiners before God and the implications.
A whiner is the one who complains a lot. A complainer.
Our topic this week says; “Whiners remember worldly lifestyle”
❓Do you know why Israelites started to complain in the wilderness after leaving Egypt?
Numbers 11:5(NLT) “We remember all the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic that we wanted.
They remembered lifestyles in Egypt. Egypt is a type, or represents the world system. To remember Egypt means remembering the pleasures of this world.
As God delivered Israelites from Egypt to settle them in promised land flowing with milk and honey, so also the Lord delivers Christians from the world system under the rulership of the devil, the prince of this world to set them onto eternal life with Him.
Psalms 107:20(AMP) He sends forth His word and heals them and rescues them from the pit and destruction.
His Word sent to deliver Believers from destruction is Jesus Christ.
Satan deliberately entices Christians with worldly pleasures in order to have them on his side under bondage, and deny them promised eternal life with God. Satan tried to woo Jesus Christ Himself to his side.
Matthew 4:8-10(NLT) Next the Devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him the nations of the world and all their glory.”I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will only kneel down and worship me.” “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him.” For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God; serve only him.’
❓What is it that Satan entices you with in this world?
The world will ultimately be destroyed with those without Christ while Christians that endure to the end will live forever as God originally intended before the fall of man.
1 John 2:17(AMP) And the world passes away and disappears, and with it the forbidden cravings (the passionate desires, the lust) of it; but he who does the will of God and carries out His purposes in his life abides (remains) forever.
2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will vanish (pass away) with a thunderous crash, and the [material] elements [of the universe] will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up.
🛑 Food that we crave for enjoyment and our bodies will ultimately be destroyed.
1 Corinthians 6:13 (AMP) Food [is intended] for the stomach and the stomach for food, but God will finally end [the functions of] both and bring them to nothing. The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but [is intended] for the Lord, and the Lord [is intended] for the body [to save, sanctify, and raise it again].
When any Christian remembers and craves for pleasures of this world, such Christian will surely go back to worldly lifestyles and abandon following Christ.
2 Timothy 4:10 For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.
Any Christian who remembers good old days in the flesh; such as alcoholism, revelling, sexual immorality, and many activities that gratify the Flesh, Old man, Human or Sinful or Adamic nature will certainly prefers going back to worldly lifestyles.
Exodus 16:3 “Oh, that we were back in Egypt,” they moaned. “It would have been better if the Lord had killed us there! At least there we had plenty to eat. But now you have brought us into this desert to starve us to death.”
Remember Jesus Christ said no one who desires to be His disciple and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God.
Luke 9:62(AMP) Jesus said to him, No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back [to the things behind] is fit for the kingdom of God.
Many see Christian lifestyle as hardship considering permissive ways of the world. Israelites forgot oppression of Egypt that made them to cry for deliverance, wilderness experience with God on their side was again unsatisfactory because they could not cope with God’s commandments against their wills. This attitude generated God’s anger that brought fire that consumed the ingrates.
Numbers 11:1 The people soon began to complain to the Lord about their hardships; and when the Lord heard them, his anger blazed against them. Fire from the Lord raged among them and destroyed the outskirts of the camp.
Whenever there is destructive fire in any Christian family, it is advisable to retreat and seek God’s mercy peradventure there is complaint due to ingratitude of what the Lord has done.
I discovered that it is better off for unbelievers because there is hope of salvation than Believers that turn back and neglect the great salvation.
2 Peter 2:21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
I also discovered that Christian association with unbelievers influences craving for worldly lifestyles. Foreign rabble or mixed multitudes that influenced cravings of Israelites were Egyptians that followed them when they saw God’s power of deliverance and miracles in Egypt. We still have mixed multitudes that influence worldly lifestyles among Believers today.
Numbers 11:4 Then the foreign rabble who were traveling with the Israelites began to crave the good things of Egypt, and the people of Israel also began to complain. “Oh, for some meat!” they exclaimed.
Whenever a Christian gets tired of Manna, the words of God and craves more for sensual words of man, worldly lifestyles will be inevitably desired, then spiritual death is knocking at the door.
Numbers 11:6 But now our appetites are gone, and day after day we have nothing to eat but this manna!”
Whining before God and praying unto God are two parallel lines. Praying to God gets His gracious attention while whiners get God very angry.
Numbers 11:10 Moses heard all the families standing in front of their tents weeping, and the Lord became extremely angry. Moses was also very aggravated.
❓What is it that we crave for which can make God angry and bring destruction?
God’s anger makes whiners to get what they crave for to the detriment of their souls and destructions.
Numbers 11:18-20 (NLT) “And tell the people to purify themselves, for tomorrow they will have meat to eat. Tell them, ‘The Lord has heard your whining and complaints: “If only we had meat to eat! Surely we were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will have to eat it. And it won’t be for just a day or two, or for five or ten or even twenty. You will eat it for a whole month until you gag and are sick of it. For you have rejected the Lord, who is here among you, and you have complained to him, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”
✍ Finally brethren, the reason why Christians whine and complain is because they remember worldly lifestyle as a result of yoking with unbelievers. Contentment comes with godliness.
1 Timothy 6:6-9(AMP) [And it is, indeed, a source of immense profit, for] godliness accompanied with contentment (that contentment which is a sense of inward sufficiency) is great and abundant gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and obviously we cannot take anything out of the world; But if we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content (satisfied). But those who crave to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish (useless, godless) and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction and miserable perishing.
✋ Maranatha
