You know the words of that hymn,
if you think about it, in every situation we might be in, the
great need is to hear the gospel. I'm going to title this message,
Why God Suffered Their Manners. Verse 18, About the time of 40
years suffered he their manners in the wilderness. Turn back
for a moment to Numbers 14. God had sent spies to spy out
the land. They were there for 40 days.
And they come back with the evil report. And God says, because
of this evil report, because of this unbelief, you're going
to spend 40 years in the wilderness. Now, a lot of water crosses up
the bridge in 40 years. 40 years ago, I was 20. And a
lot of things happened during that time. You have to. And they
spent 40 years in the wilderness. Verse 32 of Numbers chapter 14,
but as for you, your carcasses, they shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander
in the wilderness 40 years and bear your mournings until your
carcasses be wasted in the wilderness after the number of the days
in which you searched the land, even 40 days. each day for a
year, shedding bare of your iniquities even 40 years, and you shall
know my breach of promise." They're going to spend 40 years in the
desert, wandering around from place to place. And this is a
punishment, as it were, because of the evil report that they
gave. They said, it's indeed a good
land, but we can't defeat its inheritance. And God sentenced
them to 40 years. Now, this is not an anti-Semitic
statement, because it's true of all other people. The Bible does not present the
chosen people of God, the Jews, in a very positive light. The
12 patriarchs were bad dudes. I don't know how to say it. Look
at the way they did Joseph when they sold him as a slave in Egypt. And during their 400 years in
Egypt, they forgot God. They were worshiping the gods
of the Egyptians. God didn't forget them, but they
forgot God. As soon as they were delivered,
turn back to Exodus chapter 14, They had been delivered through
the Passover. Now, they're before the Red Sea. Look at the cry of the children
of Israel. When Pharaoh drew nigh, Exodus
14.10, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes. Behold,
the Egyptians marched after them, and they were sore afraid. And
the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord. And they said
unto Moses, because there was no graves in Egypt, is that taking
us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore has thou dealt thus
with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word
that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, let us alone that we
may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us
to serve the Egyptians than that we die in the wilderness. Now look at their murmuring,
and this establishes a pattern. Look at chapter 15. And when they came to Marah,
they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter.
Therefore, the name of it was called Marah. And the people
murmured against Moses, saying, why should we drink? Look at
chapter 16, verses 2 and 3. And the whole congregation of
the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the
wilderness. And the children of Israel said unto them, would
to God we die by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt,
when we said by the flesh plots, and when we did eat bread of
the full. For you brought us forth in this wilderness to kill
the whole assembly with hunger. And that's what he commanded. Look at chapter 17. Verse 2. Wherefore the people
did chide with Moses, who said, give us water, that we may drink.
And Moses said to them, why chide ye with me? Why do you tempt
the Lord? And the people thirsted there for water. And the people
murmured against Moses and said, wherefore is it that thou hast
brought us up out of Egypt to kill us? And our children and
our cattle were thirst. Now, what happened when Moses
was gone for 40 days? They made a golden calf. and
worshiped it. They said, Moses, we don't know
what's happened to them. Him, they made a golden calf
and worshiped it and said, these be thy gods, O Israel, that has
brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Numbers chapter 11,
they couldn't bear the manna anymore. We want flesh to eat.
And you can remember what God said to those whales. And then
in Numbers chapter 12, actually the book of Numbers is about
what the wilderness is. In Numbers chapter 12, that's
when Aaron and Mary spoke against Moses and said, you're taking
too much on you. We're as old as you are. Then
we read in Numbers 13 and 14, that's what we're going to spend
some time at. But that's where the spies went
in for 40 days into the wilderness. They came back and said, this
indeed of land flowing with milk and honey. But there's giants
in the land. There's walled cities. We cannot
defeat them. And they actually spoke of stoning
Moses, or stoning Joshua and Caleb for bringing back the good
report. Then we have the story in Numbers
16 of the sons of Gorath, presumably to take the priest's office.
They said, Moses and Aaron think they're the only holy ones around
here. We're holy. We can offer up incense. That's
what God sent. 250 people opened up the ramps
into hell with their shoes on because of their objection to
the Lord. Then we read in Numbers 20, where
they lusted again for water, and murmured that Moses and Herod
were upset that it's not what we signed up for. We don't like
this. And that's when Moses struck
the rock twice, and water came out. And Moses was never allowed
to enter the promised land because he struck the rock twice. You
see, the rock is only to be struck once. Christ was only struck
once. And that's when the flowing grace
of God, the blood of Christ, And then we have the story in
Numbers chapter 21 where they actually said regarding the manna,
our souls loathe this light bread. We're not finding any sustenance
in this light bread. We need something more. That's
what God sent the fiery serpents in. And then in Numbers chapter
25, they committed whoring with the lullabies. They joined themselves
with him and then they ended up worshiping the God of the Molochites. Now I repeat, this was a bad
bunch of people. Amen? Any different than me and you?
Not at all. And the Lord suffered their manners
in the wilderness for 40 years. He suffered their manners in
the wilderness. He forgave them. He didn't leave
them in spite of their amazing wickedness, unbelief, and murmuring
during this 40-year period in the wilderness. Now my question
is, why? Good question. Why? They were so ungrateful. They
were so unbelieving. They were so fleshly. They were
so sensual. They were so evil. I could go
on and on and misride with these people. Why do God continue to
forgive people? Now if we can learn the answer
to this question, we can learn why He can suffer with us in
spite of our manners during this time here on earth. And more
importantly, we can learn the Gospel. So let's go to Numbers
chapter 13. This is where this 40 years came from,
Numbers chapter 13. Verse 1, And the Lord spake unto Moses,
and this is very early, this is before the forty years of
wandering, this is just a few months after they had left Egypt.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou in, that they
may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children
of Israel, of every tribe, to their father, should he send
a man, every one, ruler of them, he with Moses, by the commandment
of the Lord, All of those men were heads of
the children of Israel, down to verse 17. And Moses sent them
to spy out the land that came in and said, we're going to get
you up to this way south. We're going to go up into the
valley and see the land, what it is, and the people that dwell
there, whether they be strong or weak, few or many, and what
the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad, and
what cities they dwell in, whether in tents or in strongholds, and
what the land is, whether it be fat or lean. whether there
be wood therein or not, and be of good courage, and bring forth
the fruits of the land." And the time was the time of the
first fruit, grapes. And they search out the land,
they come back, verse 25, and they return from searching of
the land after 40 days. And they went and came to Moses,
and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children
of Israel, and to Willard, and to Barad, and to Kadesh, and
brought back word unto them, and to all the congregation,
and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, and
said, we came into the land where thou sentest us, and surely it
floweth with milk and honey. And this is the fruit of it.
Remember, they brought back that cluster of grapes that had to
be carried on a staff by two men. That cluster was so large.
Nevertheless, here's the objection. Nevertheless, the people be strong
that dwell in the land. And the cities are walled and
very great. And moreover, we saw the children
of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land
of the south, and the Hittites, or the Hittites, and the Jerusalemites,
and the Amorites dwell in the mountains. The Canaanites dwell
by the sea and by the coast of Jordan and Canaan. Now let me remind you before
I say much more about Caleb and name him Faithful Dog. And Caleb
and Joshua were the only ones of the adults who entered into
the promised land. And Caleb and Joshua were the
two men who said, we can take the land. Listen to Caleb's words. Verse 13, Caleb stilled the people
before Moses and said, let us go up at once and possess it,
for we are well able to overcome it. You see, if God was for us,
it would be against us. We're well able. This is not
a difficult thing. But the men that went up with
him said, we'd be not able to go up against these people, for
they're stronger than we. Well, they're not stronger than
him. They're stronger than we. But they're not stronger than
the Lord. And they brought up an evil report of the land which
they had searched under the children of Israel, saying the land through
which we have gone to search is a land that eats up the inhabitants
thereof. And all the people that we saw
were men of great stature. And there we saw the giants,
the sons of Anak, which are the giants. And we were on our own
side as grasshoppers. And so were we in their side.
And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried. And the people wept that night.
And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against
Aaron. And the whole congregation said to them, would God that
we died in the land of Egypt, or would God that we died in
this wilderness? And wherefore hath the Lord brought
us into this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and
our children should be appraised? Were it not better for us to
return to Egypt? And they said one to another,
let's make a captain and let us return to Egypt. Then Moses and Aaron fell on
their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children
of Israel. They were devastated over this. And Joshua, now Joshua's big
son, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephthah, which were
of them that searched the land, they were in their clothes. And
they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying,
the land which we pass through and are searching, it's an exceeding
good land. If the Lord delighted us, and
that's the key, We're talking about grace. If the Lord would
delight in us. Now the only way the Lord delights
in anybody is His grace. If you think the Lord delights
in you because of you, you're deceived. If the Lord delights
in us, what He says, if the Lord delights in us, then He will
bring us into this land. and give it to us. A land which
floweth with milk and honey, only to rebel not ye against
the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land, for they're
bred for us. They don't stand a chance. Their
defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Fear
the Lord. If God be for us, who can be
against us? What was the congregation's response? That all of the congregation
bathed stone then with stones. Let's kill these men. Let's throw
rocks at them until they die. We don't want to hear what they
have to say anymore. Now look what takes place. And
the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation.
before all the children of Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses,
How long will this people provoke Me? And how long will it be ere
they believe Me? For all the signs which I have
shown among them." I mean, think of what they've seen. They've
seen the ten plagues. They've seen the Passover. They've seen
the Red Sea part. They've seen manna come down
from heaven. I think that miraculously they've
seen water flow out of that rock. They've seen so much. And the Lord says, how long will
it be here? They believe. And what he says
to Moses, he says, I will smite thee with the pestilence and
disinherit thee, and will make of thee a greater a nation, a greater nation than
I've ever been. Well, I'll just exterminate them
and we'll start all over. Now, the Lord is doing all of
this to give us this glorious time of Christ. Moses prays for
the people. Now, I'd like that Moses pray
for me, because every time Moses prayed for somebody, the Lord
didn't ask me to. And that is simply given to show
us the intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ. Moses is such a
child of Christ here, praying for these unworthy, sinful, wicked
people. And look at the argument Moses
uses. And Moses said unto the Lord,
then the Egyptians shall hear. Remember the place you delivered
us from? They'll hear. For you brought
us up as people in thy mind from among them. And they will tell
it to the inhabitants of this land. For they have heard that
thou, Lord, art among this people, that the Lord art seen face to
face. And you know every believer has
that blessed privilege. This thing of salvation is knowing
the Lord face-to-face. I think of what was said of Moses. The Lord spoke to Moses face-to-face
as a man speaking with his Lord. And listen, that's the privilege
of every child of God, not just some super spiritualist who propels
Christ in our salvation. That is the privilege of every
child of God, to speak with the Lord face to face as a man speaketh
with his friends. Now he is drawing on the special
covenant relationship that the Lord had with his people. They
will tell it to the inhabitants, verse 14, of this land, for they
have heard that thou, Lord, art among this people, and that thou,
Lord, art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over
them, and that thou goest before them by the daytime, and in the
Lord's cloud, and in the pillar of fire by night. Now, if thou
shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which
have heard the name of thee will speak, saying, because the Lord
What are those next three words? Was not able. He's appealing to what is most
important to the Lord. His own glory. His own ability
to save. Now Thou shalt kill all the people
if one man in the nation should have heard the famous people
speak, saying, The Lord was not able to bring his people to the
land which he swore he would. He wasn't able to do what he
swore he was going to do. He had slain them in the wilderness. They were so bad, he couldn't
bring them in. Now Moses is appealing to what's
most important to God himself, his own glory. They say you're not able. Is
there going to be anybody that's going to be able to say, I was
too sinful for the Lord to save me? Can anybody say that? I was too sinful for the Lord
to save me. Now children of Israel paint
an accurate portrait of you and me. Filled with sinful unbelief
and mistrust, I fear the giants. I fear the wall of cities. I
fall for the same familiar sins, just like they did. How does
God suffer my powers and continue to forgive me? I'm not talking
about you right now. I'm talking about me. How does
God suffer my powers and continue to forgive me? Now in this intercessory
prayer of Moses, I see seven reasons, and these are so good
and I hope these are a blessing to you. It sure was a blessing
for me to think about it. I see seven reasons as to why
God suffers our manners and continues to forgive us. We see all of
these in Moses' prayer. Moses' first argument is God's
glory. Let's read verses 13 through
16 again. And Moses said unto the Lord, then the Egyptians,
if you kill them all, I know they deserve it, but if you do,
then the Egyptians shall hear. Oh, that's that bunch that he
brought out from us. But he couldn't bring many problems
like that back. They were too simple. or too
helpless or too weak. God could not. Can't say that. Can't say that. He's appealing
to God's glory. Then the Egyptians shall hear,
for God brought us up as people, and thy might from among them.
And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. For
they, the inhabitants of this land, have heard that thou, Lord,
art among this people, that thou, Lord, art seen face to face,
and that thy cloud stands over them, and that thou goest before
them by daytime in a pillar of cloud, and there's still a fire
by night, and after you kill them, all this people is one
man. Then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak,
saying, because the Lord was not able to bring this people
into the land, which he sweared, Therefore, he has slain them
in the wilderness. Now, if they say they were just
too bad, the Lord was not able to bring them into the land.
What else they could say? If they were just a little bit
better, God could have done it. If they were just a little more
righteous, God could have done it. But they're in a place where
he could not do anything for them. Now, they said that. That's going to deny two things. Number one, it's a complete denial
of your ability to save. Do you believe, out of your brains,
do you believe that God is able to save you without any help
from you? Do you believe that? Do you believe
that he can save you as you are? Not as you think you ought to
be, but as you are. Now these people, Moses was loving
these people. If these people say this, they'll
say you're not able to save these people, they're too bad. Now,
the second thing that that denies, First, it denies the ability
of God to save. And secondly, it denies that
salvation is by grace. Plain and simple. If that's the
case, then salvation is not by grace. Don't call it that. So
Moses is using arguments with the Lord that he drawn from the
scriptures as to why he wants these people spared. The first
reason is your own glory. You're able to say, well, he
believed in this fact. And if you can't save people
this bad, that would mean if they were better you could, that
questions your ability to save and that denies the glorious
truth that salvation is all of grace. Now Moses' second argument
was his appeal to the Lord's character. Now he doesn't say
anything about, they promise they won't do it again, and I
know it won't happen again, and these people, surely there's
some commendable things about him. He didn't say anything like
that. He appealed to the Lord's character that reminds us the
reason for his forgiveness, the reason for his grace, is not
found in us. It's found in him. Verse 17. And now I beseech thee, let the
power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken, saying,
the Lord. This is what he said in Exodus
chapter 34 after Moses said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And he showed him his glory,
and here's what it is. The Lord is longsuffering. and of great mercy, forgiving
iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearly guilty, visiting
the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and to the third
and the fourth generation. Now he says, you say it, you
forgive sins. You say it, you're in great mercy. This is who you are. Now understand
this. I've heard preachers say, I know,
maybe I've said it. God must be just and he may be
gracious. He must be just. He must be gracious. That's who he is. He said, I
will show mercy. Not I may show mercy. I will
show mercy. This is who He is. This will magnify your patience
and long-suffering. The greatness of your mercy is
magnified in forgiving and suffering manners of such evil people. Now here's the third reason.
The first reason is God's glory. The second reason, this is who
He is. This is His character. The third reason, He gives His
justification. Now, did you notice in that text,
He said, you will by no means clear the guilty. They're not
guilty. They're not guilty. You see,
God's not going to clear a guilty man. If you have any guilt, if
you have any sin at all, God will not clear you. He said,
I will by no means clear to you. But the fact of the matter
is, every believer has been justified. Who is he to condemn him? It's
Christ the God. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God. Romans 3.24 says, being justified
freely. Don't miss that word. If you've
got everything, He'll pass you by. But if you had nothing, being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is
in Christ. You see, if Christ died for your
sins, the very justice of God demands your salvation. The law of God demands your salvation. You see, you're not guilty. You
haven't sinned. He will not clear a guilty person.
And this appeal to forgive these people is the appeal of justification. They're not guilty. You say you're
by no means clearly guilty. If you're not guilty, you'll
be sentenced. Here's the fourth reason. Because
of the greatness of His mercy. Verse 19. Pardon, I beseech thee,
the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. You can't begin to be merciful
and stop being merciful. Not with the greatness of His
mercy. Now, the guy 36 says, I am the Lord, I change not.
Therefore, he says to Jacob, or not consider me. Because I
don't change. You change. Oh, my, you're up,
down, all over the place. But I don't change at all. Therefore,
ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. His mercies are new every morning. It's of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed, because His compassions fail not. Oh, I love
this statement. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. For as the heavens are high above
the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. But God who's rich in mercy,
oh, the scripture says He delights in mercy. He delights, this is
who He is. He delights in mercy. Then, from what it says, verse
19, Pardoned I beseech thee the iniquity of this people according
to the greatness of thy mercy and as thou hast forgiven this
people from Egypt even until now. The reason God continues
to forgive and suffer is because the ground of forgiveness is
always the same. As thou hast forgiven them. When
they were first forgiven, what was the ground of their forgiveness? God said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. You know, that ground never changes
in any way to any degree. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. Now, the reason for giving us,
the reason for Him suffering our matters is not found in us.
but in the one who forgives. Be ye kind, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, even as God, what? For Christ's sake. Not because
of your sorrow, not because of your promise to do better, for
Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. David said, for thy name's
sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity. for thy name's sake. There's
no other reason to be giving but for thy name's sake. Psalm
79, 9 says, help us, O God, of our salvation, for the glory
of thy name, and deliver us and purge away our sins for thy name's
sake. For thy name's sake. Now this
is Lord good for Christ's sake. do it for Christ's sake. Behold, I, even I, and he that
blottheth out thine iniquity for my own sake, and will not
remember that I have sinned. The first actual sin that I committed,
I mean, when you're an infant, you're a sinner, but it's also
true that We haven't sinned after the similitude of Adam's sin
just yet. You've got to grow up somehow
before you do that. You're guilty when you're an infant. I mean,
no doubt about it. You deserve to go to hell for
being an Adam. But the very first sin I actually
committed, I don't know what it was. I don't know if I had
the conscious ability to do that. I mean, I was already sinful,
I know. But the first sin I ever committed was forgiven for one
reason, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the last sin
I commit before I close my eyes is the most good blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Sin is forgiven. Christ saving that ground is
always the same. Now, I love all these points. I've gone through five of the
seven, but this sixth one I think is my favorite. The reason He continues to forgive
sin because they're already forgiven. They're already forgiven. They've
already been put away. They're all forgiven. Believe Him. You're not to look
at your sin. I don't care what it is. You're
not to look at your sin in any other light than forgiven sin. You see, that sin was forgiven
and put away before you even committed it. You see, if we confess our sins,
now I don't know how many times I've said this, but that doesn't
mean you've been articulated on one of them because you don't
have no time in the day, and you don't know most of them are
in the first place. It means to take sides with God against
yourself. It means to agree with God. If
we confess our sins, He's faithful. And just to forgive
our sins. He's faithful because He already
determined for them to be forgiven. Your sins aren't forgiven because
you confess. You confess because your sins
are forgiven. He's faithful and He's just His
justice demands to put Him away from your sin. The reason He
continues to forgive your sin is because of all reasons. The reason He suffers our manners
and continues to forgive is because of His intercession. Look what
verse 20 says. to Moses, and the Lord said, I have pardoned
you according to thy word. Now Moses interceded for these
people. He asked for their forgiveness. He asked for their salvation.
And God said, I have pardoned you according to thy word. Peter, I have forgiven you. Anything else need to be said? Wherefore He is able to save
them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever
liveth to make intercession for them. And understand this about
the intercession of Christ. It's not you commit to sin and
say, Lord, forgive me again. And then you commit the sin for
the millionth time, and he says for the millionth time, well
forgive him again. No. He shows the Father his hands
and his feet. And nothing else needs to be
said. Oh, the intercession of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I love the first chapter of Luke
2. Brethren, these things were the right idea that you sin not. Well, how can that be? We ought not
ever sin again. Amen. We ought not ever sin again. I wouldn't be without sin. And I know I'm not. But thank God for the root of
the next verse. If any man sin, and that if does
not suppose that maybe he won't, when you do, when you do, We
have an advocate of this lawyer with the father that we have.
He's the son of the judge. They talk about having a pool.
He's the son of the judge. And he's never lost a case. He's
got a 100% success rate. And he's incapable of losing
a case because of who he is. We have an advocate, we have
a lawyer, we have a representative with the Father. Jesus Christ
the righteous. Jesus Christ the righteous. You
know, when he pleads your case, it's on the basis of righteousness,
not mercy. That person's sins put away.
They have perfect righteousness before you. As long as I have Christ as my
great high priest, which he is eternally. He suffers our manners in this
40 year period. Lord give me grace. to honor
you in light of the freedoms of your gospel. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you. How we thank you for our Lord Jesus Christ and
the salvation that's at hand. Lord, give us grace to stay at
His feet and know that He is all. Forgive us, O Lord, forgive us
of our sins for His sake. In His name we pray.