God Might Give Us What We Want to Our Detriment

Some people have a mistaken notion about God. They think that if God doesn’t want them doing something, that He will prevent them. But it doesn’t work like this. God might give us what we want to our detriment. If we push God, He might let us have what we want even to our own detriment. We saw that in last Sunday’s sermon when God let Moses take Aaron with him. We see it in this sermon when God gives the Israelites meat in the wilderness and lets Balaam go with Balak. https://youtu.be/Lc6Oydt51q8 Some people think if God doesn’t want them doing something, He will prevent them, but God might give us what we want to our detriment. Table of ContentsFamily Worship GuideSermon NotesGod might give us what we want but later (Lesson One) we might not want it.God might give us what we want but later (Lesson Two) He might punish us.God might give us what we want but later (Lesson Three) He might be angry. Family Worship Guide Directions: Read the verses and then answer the questions: Day 1: 1 Numbers 11:1-19—Why would the Israelites complain at the beginning of the chapter after everything God had done for them? Why do we complain despite all God has done for us? Why do you think the Israelites no longer wanted the manna? Why do you think God gave them meat? Why would the meat become loathsome to them and what application does this have for us? Day 2: Numbers 11:31-34, Philippians 3:19, Psalm 78:26-31, 106:12-15—Why would God punish us after giving us what we want? What do you think it means that they ate but weren’t filled? What application do you see this having for us? What does it mean that God sent leanness into their soul? Day 3: Numbers 22:2-22—Why was God angry with Balaam after he went? Why would God be angry with us after giving us what we want? How did things end up going for Balaam after he went? What application does this have for us? Sermon Notes The title of this morning’s sermon is, “God Might Give Us What We Want to Our Detriment.” Please open your Bibles to Numbers 11 and stand with me for the reading of God’s Word. Numbers 11:1 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. 2 Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down. 3 So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the Lord burned among them. 4 Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. 6 But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.” 7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium. 8 The people went about and gathered it and ground it in handmills 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. 9 When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it. Go ahead and skip to verse 18… Numbers 11:18 And 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 better for us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. 19 You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, 20 but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the Lord who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?”’” You may be seated. Let’s pray. On Sunday mornings we have been working our way through Luke’s gospel verse by verse, but we encountered something at the beginning of the parable of the prodigal son that I thought was so important I wanted to elaborate on it by showing you a few other examples in Scripture. Let me remind you what we read and then I will explain why I wanted to flesh this out… Luke 15:11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. As we talked in our sermon on these verses, the son’s request was incredibly rude and disrespectful. The listeners in Jesus’s day would’ve expected the father to: Reject the son’s request Rebuke him for his disrespect Remove him from the family Slap him across the face Announce that the son should be viewed as dead And then hold a funeral for him Instead, we read… Luke 15:12b And he divided his property between them. The only thing more outrageous than the son’s request was the father’s response. One commentator wrote, “For a father to do this…would cause [people to] gasp. Rather than strike [the son] across the face for his insolence, the father grants him what he wants.” Jesus’s listeners would never believe a father would respond this way and give his selfish, immature, rebellious son his inheritance. And you don’t have to live in Jesus’s day to know that a reasonable father wouldn’t do this in our day. What father, if he knew his son was going to waste the money, would give him lots of it? No earthly father would do this, which begs the question why the father in this parable did it. The answer is the father in the parable doesn’t represent any earthly father. He represents God the Father: The father in the parable extends freedom that will be taken advantage of and used sinfully, because he represents God the Father who extends freedom that can be taken advantage of and used sinfully. The father in the parable gives the son what he wants – even to the son’s detriment – because he represents God the Father who might give us what we want to our detriment. To make this very simple, the beginning of this parable represents God the Father giving the sinner freedom to sin. Some people have a mistaken notion about God… They think that if God doesn’t want them doing something, that He will prevent them. There are people who engage in sin and their defense is, “God hasn’t stopped me, so He must be okay with it. He didn’t close the door, so it must be okay that I walked through it.” But it doesn’t work like this. God hasn’t created a bunch of robots. We are free moral agents able to make sinful decisions, such as rebelling against a loving father…which is the point of the beginning of the parable. And I wanted to show you other examples of this in Scripture… In the last sermon we saw God let Moses take Aaron with him. In this sermon we will see two more examples. The first example is in Numbers 11. We will read through the first few verses quickly. Look with me at verse 1… Numbers 11:1 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. 2 Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down. 3 So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the Lord burned among them. We could have another sermon entirely just on complaining. God doesn’t like complaining, and he definitely didn’t like the Israelites complaining after everything he had done for them up to this point: He unleashed plagues on Egypt to get them released from their captivity He parted the Red Sea to deliver them from the Egyptians who were chasing them He led them with a cloud during the day that protected them from the sun He was a pillar of fire at night that kept them warm He gave them water from the rock He gave them bread they could walk outside their tents and pick up off the ground Yet they’re complaining. To teach them a lesson he unleashed fire that burned parts of the outside of the camp. Unfortunately, they didn’t learn. Look at verse 4… Numbers 11:4 Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. 6 But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.” Apparently, the manna wasn’t good enough for them. They wanted meat. Keep two things in mind: First, they’re in the wilderness. They don’t have established farms and vineyards. Food isn’t the easiest thing to come by. But now, all they have to do is walk outside their tents and pick the manna up off the ground. But that’s not good enough for them, so they complain. Second, the manna is a picture and type of Christ, the true and greater bread from heaven, so criticizing the manna could have been like criticizing Christ. Now considering God just sent fire through the camp because of their complaining, what would you expect from Him at this moment? I would expect him to be even angrier and unleash an even worse judgment. Instead, He looks like the Father in Luke 15. He gives the Israelites what they want. Look at verse 18… Numbers 11:18 And 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 better for us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. The sounds good at first, doesn’t it? God is going to give them meat. But I want you to notice in the following two verses that it’s described in an incredibly unpleasant way… Numbers 11:19 You shall not eat just one day,