Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Numbers, and we're going to be at the very end of
Numbers chapter 11. Numbers chapter 11. We have been going through here,
and we've been seeing some things that are so relative to us today. People have not changed. People
are the same in every generation. And I'm reminded of a passage
of scripture that is brought out in the book of the Judges.
Now it's articulated in the book of the Judges, but it is presented
throughout the scriptures. It's presented throughout these
chapters of the book of Numbers. And that is, everyone did what
was right in their own eyes. And that is just a normal attitude
of people when they have no concept of a saving God. It is just their
nature. It was my nature. It still has
some of that tendencies. I'm thankful for the restraining
hand of God. It's the only thing that makes
us any different than anyone else is God's restraining hand
and his salvation. Now we're witness to a lot of
this. Every person did what was right in their own eyes by Israel. Israel, God's chosen nation,
an example people. And we look at them so often
and so often they're put up on a pedestal, but God is only showing
us through this nation that if God does not give them a heart
to believe, even as he took care of them as he did, they still
will not believe. It is absolutely necessary that
God give us a heart to believe. Well, we follow these people
out and they're just complainers. And we could go to this country,
or that country, or this county, or this state, or this city,
wherever we want to be, and we're going to be around complainers.
They complained about God. And you know, we heard some verses
of scripture read this morning in the Bible class that are some
of the most complained over verses of scripture in all the Bible.
Romans 9, 10, and 11. They are just complained about.
God is not fair. God shouldn't do that. God can't
do that. Well, God did it. And we'll complain
about it until our heart is made right with God. And then we're
thankful and we're sorry for our complaint. Well, over here
in the book of Numbers chapter 11, we have a bunch of people
that are, they've just been freed from
slavery. And their slavery was not very good. All you have to
do is read about it. And they complained about being
a slave. And they complained about having to bring their own
straw. They complained and complained
and complained. God frees them from that, takes them out there,
a physical freedom. That's what it was. It was a
physical freedom. It pictures spiritual freedom.
But they took him, he took him out into the wilderness and was
going to take care of him. And before we know it, they're
complaining about the food. And we wish we had what we used
to have. Can you imagine what they did
eat back in Egypt? It probably wasn't the most pleasant
food. They didn't get the pharaoh's food. They got the off-scouring
food. And here they're complaining.
Now God has given them manna and they're complaining because
that is not enough. And so God is going to do something
for them to show what it is to be a complaining folk without
grace. He's going to give them quail.
Now, I almost passed over this passage of scripture, but I was
reading through it and reading through it, and I says, oh my
goodness, I don't want to miss that point. Next time we're here,
we'll probably be in the next chapter. And we have Miriam, Moses' sister, Aaron's sister,
complaining about who Moses married. Well, we have to deal with that
in this good time. We're going to find in this passage
of scripture that God is going to demonstrate something by a
wind. By wind. And by wind, throughout
the Bible, God demonstrates his great power and he pictures his
life-giving attributes by wind. Now we're used to it here. Wind
is part of our life. It's going from one direction
or the other direction, and when it's not going, it's very hot.
We're used to it. It's just part of life here.
Well, here we find in the scriptures time and time again that God
illustrates his great, almighty, sovereign power by wind, but
he also demonstrates that he is the only life giver. He's the one that gives life,
whether it be physical life or whether it be spiritual life,
he is the only one that gives life. I would like to follow
a few of these glorious passages today, and we want to end up
with this thought, the wind bloweth where it listeth. Now I have
tried to take a little control of the wind at my place by building
a garden shed on the west side. All it does, the wind goes around
it. It didn't stop the wind, but I have just a little bit
of place where I can sit out of my deck and not be blown away.
So we try to deal with it, but we're not gonna get rid of it.
It is here, God uses it, and God uses it for his glory, his
honor, and his praise, and he illustrates much in the scripture
by this great subject of the wind. All right, here in the
book of Numbers chapter 11, I want to read verse 31. Now the people, they've been
complaining. They're just, everyone did what
was right in their own eyes. And they complained about not
having meat to eat. This manna was the most perfect
food that has ever been placed upon the face of this earth. It had all the nutrients and
tasted like ice cream. It was the perfect meal. And
yet, the majority of them complained because they did not have meat.
And so God says, all right. You're going to have meat. More
than enough. Now, I figured out that if they
ate one quail per day, per person, for 40 years, there was about
500 billion quail eaten. Now, I've eaten quail before,
and if it's anything like the quail we used to eat, it took
you three or four to make a meal. All right. The people stood up
all that day, excuse me, verse 31. And there went forth a wind. Now that's the word that caught
my eye. 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. Now you wanna read some commentaries
about this. There's a lot of discussion on
how big a pile of quail this was. I'm just gonna take it here. You'll have to take it or leave
it. It said a day's journey on this side of the camp, a day's
journey on that side of the camp, and two cubits deep. Now, there were two cubits high upon
the face of the earth, and the people stood up all that day
and all that night and all the next day, and they gathered the
quails. He that gathereth least gathered ten homers, and they
that spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp,
and while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed,
the wrath of God was kindled against the people. And the Lord,"
you know what they're saying? We loathe this manna. The perfect food. Now, the manna,
the Lord Jesus takes us to the New Testament and reflects on
what Moses and the rest of the disciples in the Old Testament
were teaching. This is a picture of Christ. He is the perfect
food. He's round. He cannot be figured
out. We call him, I don't know what he is, because that's the
way we are by nature. What is it? That's the very name
of it. What is it? What is it? And then the description
is a description of Christ. And what he does is for our benefit. He's that bread that came down
from heaven. Your fathers didn't eat manna in the wilderness,
and they died. I am that true bread that came
down from heaven. and you eat me, you shall live
forever. You have eternal life. So that picture is back there,
and now these people are just going berserk over these quail. And it says there, and while
the flesh was yet in their teeth, air was chewed, the wrath of
God was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people
with a very great plague. And then we find out what the
place is gonna be named, and then we go into the next chapter.
But let's back up here. It tells us there, in verse 31,
And there went forth a wind from God. Now turn with me back to
the book of Genesis, if you would, Genesis chapter one. And in Genesis
chapter one, we have the same exact word. Now I'm thankful
for translators that could differentiate between this wind that is going
to bring those quail in and what we read here in the book of Genesis
chapter one. In Genesis chapter one, verse
two, the scriptures share this very important verse of scripture
for us. Because the creation shares with
us that God is creator, and he does it physically, and he is
the creator spiritual. We're not going to create ourselves.
We never can do that. We won't be able to. It's an
impossibility. Yet people still, from a spiritual
standpoint, make that effort to create themselves. We cannot
create ourselves. We must be created by God. A new creation, a new creature
in Christ Jesus. Here in the book of Genesis chapter
1 and verse 2, the earth was without form and void and darkness
was upon the face of the deep. What is the answer? The next
sentence. and the spirit now that is the
same word that we read into over there in the book of exodus chapter
eleven that wind that came from the lord brought those quail
in we have the demonstration of the almighty all sovereign
power of almighty god to gather those quail together and bring
a heap to the children of israel goes on to tell us here in the
spirit of god moved upon the face of the waters how God in
his perfect wisdom, his almighty power, his ever perfect demonstration
of who he is, shares with us here that there is not going
to be any life whatsoever unless God is involved in it. He created
the heavens and the earth, the spirit moved upon the face of
the waters, And God said, let there be light, and there was
light. Turn with me just a little bit further in this book of Genesis,
in the book of Genesis chapter 6, and we find this word used
again. Now it's used several times in
between that verse of scripture and the one we're going to turn
to in Genesis chapter 6. And in verse 17, here we have
the same word is used, and it has to do with our breath. It
has to do, as we read here, and behold, I, even I, do bring a
flood. Now who is that saying that?
Who's the I? God. I'm going to bring a flood. Now God shares with us why he's
going to bring that flood. Evil is so rampant upon the face
of the earth. You know, I'm thankful God promised
that it wouldn't happen again or he'd have done it a dozen
times between there and here. The nature of man has not changed,
but he promised, I will never destroy the earth by a flood
again. But it says here, behold, I,
even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all
flesh wherein is the breath. That's that same word we found
for wind, same word we found for spirit, and now we have breath. It's the air that comes out of
our lungs, the breath. It's a demonstration of the spirit.
It goes on to say here, under the heaven and everything that
in the earth shall die. Now move with me just a little
bit further into the next chapter, chapter 7 and verse 22. Chapter 7 and verse 22 is God
speaks to Noah and he speaks to this is what he's going to
do. In Genesis chapter 7 and verse 22, we're going to find
that same word. We're following that wind through
the scriptures and we come to a conclusion about it in this
book of John chapter 3, that the wind blow us where it listeth,
or where it's purpose to do, or where it's going to do, no
control of it. So here, and all in whose nostrils
was the breath of life, of all that were in the dry land died. They had this wind, and it was
a natural wind in themselves that God never made over. You know what? He does not save
that wind. He gives us His Spirit, which
is the wind of God, which is the Spirit of God. He gives us
that. He does not try to make over
what we have. And then, if you'll turn with
me, back up to verse 15 of that same chapter, it says this, and
they went in unto Noah into the ark two and two of all flesh
wherein is the breath of life. So God made a difference here.
Now these are just animals going into the ark, but with Moses
and his three sons and their wives and Moses, excuse me, Noah,
it was Noah, Noah and his wife, three sons and their wives, with
whom had the breath of life, the same breath that everybody
else out here had. He made a difference about them,
and he placed them in the ark. He brought them into the ark.
He brought him into an ark that he had most, Noah built, had
Noah built, had a door, and Noah didn't have the handle on the
door. When those eight people went
through that door, God shut the door. They breathed the same
air that everybody else breathed and outside was everybody else
who had the breath of life died. Those inside who had the breath
of life that heard God speak to them through the gospel and
gave them the spirit of God And that's a picture of what
God does for the church this very day. They went into the
ark, the ark two by two that had flesh. Now, turn with me
to the book of Exodus. As we follow this theme through
the scriptures, we find in the book of Exodus that God demonstrated
some great power by the wind, just like he did by bringing
all of those quail into the camp of Israel. He used his wind to
do that. Do you think those quail had
sense enough to fly there on their own? No, God hearded him
up and brought him in by his wind. The only place on earth
where they could find the air to fly in was right there. All
right, here in the book of Exodus, chapter 10, verse 13, we have
this mentioned. God did something down in Egypt,
something that never happened before. I read a story recently,
in fact, my fourth grader handed me one of his books. I read it
in about two hours, and he was surprised that I could read it
that quick. Well, I read it slow. But they talked about the locust
that came into Nebraska out of the Rocky Mountains and ate absolutely
everything. Nothing was left. And this is
in 1880. Now, I don't know why, but that
species of locust has died out. We don't have them anymore in
America. Well, read with me here. Egypt. God is demonstrating to Pharaoh
who actually is in charge. For this very purpose have I
raised thee up that I might show my power in you one day as God
is demonstrating to Pharaoh, to Moses, and to everybody in
between who's in charge of this, he does something that just doesn't
happen normally. Here in verse 13 of the 10th
chapter, Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt,
and the Lord brought an east wind Who brought it? The Lord brought
an east wind. And it says upon the land all
that day and all that night. And when it was morning, the
east wind brought locusts. Now we can read about what they
did to the land. They ravaged it. They destroyed everything
that was edible in Egypt, but not in Goshen. That's where the
Israelites were. Now in that same chapter, drop
down to verse 19. And the Lord turned a mighty
strong west wind, which took away the locusts and cast them
into the Red Sea. There remained not one locust
in all the coasts of Egypt. What God did, sovereignly displayed
his power to bring them in and to shoo them out, and not one
of them was left behind. how God demonstrates his almighty
power by his wind, and how he demonstrates his life-giving
power by the wind. Let's travel just a little bit
further. If you'll join me in the book of 2 Samuel, we heard
this read this morning, but I wanna notice the same word is brought
up again in 2 Samuel, 2 Samuel chapter 22. And there in verse
11, Now David in his praise of the
Lord, what a beautiful song. You know, he and Cooper, there
is a fountain filled with blood. They got their lines from the
same one. This happened to be inspired.
This is David's words, but he's praising the Lord for what God
has done for him. And it tells us there in this
verse of scripture, in 2 Samuel chapter 22 and verse 11, he rode
upon a cherub and did fly, and he was seen on the wings of the
wind. My goodness, what a metaphor
about God's power and his ability to do things. It is recorded
in the scripture that by his power he brooded over the face
of the earth. It is recorded in scripture by
his power he brought by the wind a great host of locusts and by
his power he sent them all away and by his power he brought this
great host of quail in every day to feed the Israelites. And
by his power, he rides, what's it say here, on the wings of
the wind. Now, he doesn't actually do that.
He's just sharing with us in words that we might be able to
understand a little better that he is all powerful, that he does
according to his will in the armies of heaven and among the
inhabitants of the earth, and nobody can stop his hand. Pharaoh
couldn't stop his hand, and all those Israelites that were opposed
to him could not stop his hand. Well, as we go through the scriptures,
turn with me, if you would, to the book of Ezra chapter 1. Once
again, we have God sharing with us his great mighty power. He
had promised many years before it came to pass that the children
of Israel were going into Babylonian captivity, and they were going
to spend 70 years in Babylonian captivity. Now, when the prophets
brought that message to Israel, none of them believed it. Did
it change the outcome of it? Not one day. They went into Babylonian
captivity, just as promised. Now, we have some books that
were written there. Daniel is one of them. The gospel was still
being declared in the Babylonian captivity through Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego, and Daniel, Ezekiel. The gospel was still being declared
there. It was not shut up. Why were they taken into Babylonian
captivity? We can say, well, because they
sinned. Well, another reason is there was some lost sheep
in Babylon. And someone was going to hear
that through these prophets. Well, in the book of Ezra, we
have a record of what's going to happen. The prophet said there's
going to be a king raised up by the name of Cyrus. Now, he
is named in scripture. I forget how many years, but
a lot of years before he's even born. Just as we find the Messiah. named in scripture before he
was born but this one this one notice here in ezra chapter one
and verse one it said now in the first year of cyrus king
of persia that the word of the lord now babylon took him into
captivity but the persians now had him they overthrew the babylonians
the king of persia that the word of the lord by the mouth of jeremiah
might be filled fulfilled The Lord stirred up the wind of Cyrus. That word spirit is the same
word that we have found throughout the Old Testament here. The Lord
stirred up the spirit of Cyrus. Do you think he had any interest
in doing what he was going to do on his own? Do you think he
is by just alive and a king of Persia and having all these Israelites
there that he is just going to say one day, well, I think it'd
be a good thing. We'll be kind to them. The Lord
stirred him up. And the Lord brought to his attention
that there's one thing that you're going to do if you don't do anything
else in your life. You're going to set these people
free and they're going to go back to Israel. That's his one
number one thing he's going to do. for this very purpose have
I raised thee up that I might show my power in you. Now some
people may felt that he's just being very gratuitous to these
folks but nobody understood like the people of God what it takes
for God to do something with someone else he has to work on
them He has to stir them up. He has to bring the spirit. He
has to do the work. And then the people are made
willing in the day of his power. This man probably never knew
God in salvation, but he certainly knew what God is able to do,
whether he knew it or not. This is what we have the record
of. God stirred up the spirit of Cyrus and Cyrus made a proclamation. We're letting these folks go. Turn with me, if you would, to
the first song, first song. Psalm 1 verse 4. Psalm 1 and
verse 4. The mighty power of God demonstrated
in how he directs the wind. The mighty power of God demonstrated
his great gift of life demonstrated in this wind. In Psalm 1 and
verse 4 it says, the ungodly are not so but are like the chaff. Now what happens to the chaff?
Read the next part of that verse of scripture. which the wind,
same word, which the wind driveth away. We heard a lot this morning in
the Bible class about Romans chapter 9. I've never had more,
another passage of scripture give more difficulty to people
than that passage of scripture. And if the Lord ever does what
he did to Cyrus and stir our spirit, then we won't have any
difficulty with that passage of scripture. We'll be thankful
that God stirred us to see it. But if we don't, we're going
to have this. But the Lord said, the ungodly are like this. They're not like we read in verses
1, 2, and 3. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly. Do you think you can do that
on your own? He's not even talking about us. He's talking about
God. He's talking about Christ doing that. We're not there. Religionists wants to get us
religioned. But Christ is going to save his
people from their sins. Nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. You know, if we say
we've accomplished that, we've done nothing more than the man
there in the book of Luke, chapter 18, I thank God that I'm not
like other people are. That's what we do when we become
religious. Well, if we go down through here,
it says, the ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff, which
the wind driveth away. God will take care of the chaff
by his mighty power. Now, what was it in the book
of Jonah, chapter one, that came upon that boat that he's traveling
in? Just turn over, Jonah chapter
one. Jonah chapter one and verse four. It doesn't take very long for
Jonah to get down to a boat going to Tarshish. And this happens. Jonah did what was right in his
own eyes. And the Lord said, my counsel
shall stand. It says, but the Lord. Jonah's
in a boat. Jonah's headed for Tarshish.
He's paid the fare thereof. He's on a trip. He's on a Mediterranean
cruise. Viking. And the Lord sent out a great
wind. into the sea, and there was a
mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be
broken." You know, twice I can think of in the New Testament,
the disciples were on a boat and they felt the same thing.
The boat was about to be broken. They felt it was. And as it says
here, now, the mariners, they make some inquiries and finally,
they do as Jonah becomes such a picture of Christ. Christ was
thrown into the abyss of our sin, if you please, and took
care of it. Jonah went down to the depths,
one of the greatest quotations out of the Old Testament. I use
it constantly. Jonah presents from the great
fish's belly, salvation is of the Lord. Lord spews him out, goes to Nineveh,
they repent. But there was a wind. Now travel
with me just a little bit further, if you would, to the book of
Matthew. The book of Matthew. The book
of Matthew chapter 8. We have one of those instances
in the New Testament where the Lord has absolute control of
the wind and the waves. In Matthew chapter 8 as we look
at this subject of God's great power demonstrated as He oversees
the wind. as he demonstrates his power
in giving life through the wind, as he's able to remove, bring
locusts and remove them. He's able to open up the Red
Sea. A great wind blew all night and opened up the Red Sea. And
here in the book of Matthew chapter 8, beginning with verse 23, the
scriptures share this. And when he was entered into
a ship, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose
a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with
the waves. But he was asleep. And his disciples
came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us. We perish. And
he said unto them, why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose and rebuked the
winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. Now notice
verse 27 with me. And the men marveled, saying,
What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey
him? What? There's never been anybody
like this. We've never seen anybody like
this. And you know what? God's people say that about the
Savior. There's no Savior like this.
I've tried this one, I've tried that one, but there is no Savior
like this. And in the book of Acts chapter
2, there on that day of Pentecost, Acts chapter 2, the Lord demonstrates
his great power, Acts chapter 2 verse 2, It says, there was
a sound. Now, it doesn't say that there
was a wind. There was a sound. If you live
around here where there's wind quite a bit, you get accustomed
to it. But we've had people come to our house and say, what is
that sound? It sounds like a locomotive.
Well, that's just the wind. You've got to be kidding. It's
just the wind. there's a sound now notice this
in Acts chapter 2 there in verse 2 and suddenly there came a sound
from heaven as a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house
where they were sitting you know the rest of this is sometimes
so turned around what does it say that the people heard when
these 12 men preached the gospel We did hear in our own language
the wonderful works of God. They were not in some gibberish.
They were speaking languages of the people that were there,
and they all heard the same message. They heard the gospel. The sound
as a rushing mighty wind. Now, join me in John chapter
three. As we think about this wind,
John chapter 3, the Lord Jesus speaking to a very educated man
in Israel who came to him by night. We constantly, we always,
We want to mention this very thing about God. When he told
Nicodemus this, it is a message that Abel heard in the Old Testament. It's nothing new. you must be
born again now the record isn't there but because he was saved
we know it was that way you must be born again here it tells us
in the book of john chapter 3 and verse 3 jesus answered and said
unto him verily verily i say unto thee accept a man be born
again he cannot see the kingdom of god You cannot vision it. You can't even think about it.
You can't get there from here. Then he goes on, Nicodemus said
unto him, how can a man be born when he is old? Now, that's just
a natural man commenting on the word of God. That's what most
commentators do. They look at things from a natural
standpoint, from a physical standpoint, and there are a few that come
along and say, this is about the gospel. This is about Christ. This is about his great work
of redemption. Nicodemus did what natural men
will do, try to put it into a logical context, and salvation is not
human logic. Salvation is of the Lord. We
cannot figure it out. We cannot dissect it. We cannot
make people believe it. It's of God. He goes on to say
here, shall I enter the second time into my mother's womb and
be born again? Jesus answered him, verily, verily, I say unto
thee, except a man be born of the water and of the spirit,
he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the
flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit
is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again.
Now notice verse eight. This gift is sovereignly given.
This gift is of the Lord. This gift comes through the Spirit
of God, the same Spirit that brooded over the face of the
earth. The Spirit breathed. Here, the wind. The wind bloweth
where it listeth, where it's planning on it, where it's just
going to do it. where it listeth, and thou hearest
the sound thereof, but canst not tell whether it cometh, or
whether it goeth, so is every one that is born of the Spirit."
This is all of God. It is not us, it's Him. He's the one that does it, and
it's like the wind. The mighty wind of God opened
up the Red Sea. The mighty wind of God brought
the quail. The mighty wind of God brought
the locust. The mighty wind of God blew it away. He's the one
that rides on the waves of the wind of the air. He's the one
that is in almighty power of all things. The wind bloweth
where it listeth. You know, those people, even
those people who are unbelievers, had no control of where that
meat was going to come from. They had no control of what direction
it was going to come in. They had no control of how many
was going to be there. This is all known of God. The same is true of the new birth. We have no control over it. God
alone does. He's the only one that can reveal
the eternal purpose of Jesus Christ and going to the cross
to die for the sins of his people. One other passage of scripture
we'd like to look at and is found in John chapter 6. John chapter
6 and verse 63. John chapter 6 and verse 63. Once again, we have that wind,
we have the spirit, that wind of God, that powerful wind of
God. Oh, where I grew up down there
in extreme Northern California, you could look into Oregon. A
lot of farming went on there. And in the summer, we would see
dust devils. Now dust devils are just miniature
hurricanes. They take how it happens and
they get to spinning that stuff. Now if they're big enough and
you drive through them and you have your windows down, you wish you had your windows
up. Because a lot of dust is going to get into your car. My
daughter has been in Florida for 18 years and she has gone
through some serious dust devils. 200 mile an hour winds. Here's the miniature. Here's the gigantic who's in
charge of both of them. And so it is with the gospel. Brother Lance said there was
a church real close to him. They're just celebrating the
grace of God. Seven folks were saved by the
grace of God. And we read here on the day of
Pentecost, how many? 5,000. But it's all the same
wind. Alright. John chapter 6 and verse
63. It is the spirit that quicken
us or give us life. Now here's our part. The flesh
profiteth nothing. It is the spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. The flesh profiteth nothing. It is the spirit that quickeneth.
Have you ever been touched by the wind? Brother Mike.