Sermon 8

Philippians 4:1. For I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

I mentioned various things the last day to set out the evil of discontent. I shall name two or three more.

Sixthly, it is below a Christian in this, because it is below those helps that a Christian has more than others have. They have the promises to help them that others have not. It is not so much to have a Nabal have his heart sink, because he has nothing but the creature to uphold him, but it is much for a Christian that has promises and ordinances to uphold his spirit which others have not.

Seventhly, it is below the expectation that God has of Christians, for God expects not only that they should be patient in afflictions, but that they should rejoice and triumph in them. Now Christians, when God expects this from you, for you not so much as to have attained to contentedness under afflictions, oh this is beneath the expectation of God from you.

Eighthly, it is below that that God has had from other Christians. Others have not only been contented with little crosses, but they have triumphed under great afflictions; they have suffered the spoiling of their goods with joy. Read but the latter part of the eleventh of Hebrews, and you shall find what great things God has had from His people, and therefore not to be content with smaller crosses, this must needs be a great evil.

The sixth evil that there is in a murmuring spirit, is this: By murmuring you undo your prayers, for it is exceeding contrary to the prayers that you make unto God. When you come to prayer to God, you acknowledge His sovereignty over you; you come there to profess yourselves to be at God's disposal. What do you pray for except you acknowledge that you are at His disposal? Except you will stand (as it were) at His disposal, never come to petition to Him. If you will come to petition Him, and yet will be your own carver, you go cross to your prayers, to come as if you would beg your bread at your Father's gates every day, and yet you must do what you wish; this is the undoing of the prayers of a Christian. I remember I have read of Latimer that speaking concerning Peter that denied his Master, (said he) Peter forgot his Pater Noster, for that was, hallowed be Thy name, and Thy kingdom come. So we may say, when you have murmuring and discontented hearts you forget your prayers, you forget what you have prayed for. For you must make the Lord's Prayer to be as a pattern for your prayers though you say not always the same words. What do you pray, but give us this day our daily bread? For that is Christ's intention that we should have that as a pattern, and is a directory (as it were) how to make our prayers. Now God does not teach any of you to pray, Lord give me so much a year, or let me have such kind of cloth, and so many dishes at my table, Christ does not teach you to pray so; but He teaches us to pray, Lord give us our bread, showing that you should be content with a little. What, have you not bread to eat? I hope there is none of you here but have that.

Objection. But I do not know if I should die what should become of my children. Or if I have bread now I know not where I shall have it the next week, or where I shall have provision for the winter.

Answer. Where did Christ teach us to pray, Lord give us provision for so long a time? No, but if we have bread for this day Christ would have us content. Therefore when we murmur because we have not so much variety as others have, we do (as it were) forget our Pater Noster; it is against our prayers. We do not in our lives hold forth the acknowledgement of the sovereignty of God over us as we seem to acknowledge in our prayers. Therefore when at any time you find your hearts murmuring then do but reflect upon yourselves and think thus: is this according to my prayers, wherein I held forth the sovereign power and authority that God had over me?

The seventh thing that I add for the evil of discontentment, is, the woeful effects that come to a discontented heart from murmuring. I will name you five; there are five evil effects that come from a murmuring spirit.

1. By murmuring and discontent in your hearts, you come to lose a great deal of time. How many times do men and women when they are discontented let their thoughts run, and are musing and contriving through their present discontentedness; then let their discontented thoughts be working in them, for some hours together, and they spend their time in vain. When you are alone you should spend your time in holy meditation, but you are spending your time in discontented thoughts. You who complain that you cannot meditate, you cannot think on good things, but if you begin to think of them a little, presently your thoughts are off from them, but if you be discontented with any thing, then you can go alone, and muse, and roll things up and down in your thoughts to feed a discontented humor. Oh labor to see this evil effect of murmuring, the losing of your time.

2. It does make you unfit for duty. A man or woman that is in a contented frame, you may turn such a one to any thing at any time, he is fit to go to God at any time; but when one is in a discontented condition, then a man or woman is exceedingly unfit for the service of God. And it causes many distractions in duty, it makes you unfit for duty, and when you come to perform duties, oh the distractions that are in your duties, when your spirits are discontented. When you hear of any ill news from sea and cannot bear it, or of any ill from a friend, or any loss or cross, oh what distractions do they cause in the performance of holy duties! When you should be in enjoying communion with God, you are distracted in your thoughts about the cross that has befallen you, whereas had you but a quiet spirit, though there should great crosses befall you, yet they would never hinder you in the performance of any duty.

3. Consider what wicked risings of heart, and resolutions of spirit there are many times in a discontented fit. In some discontented fits the heart rises against God, and against others, and sometimes has even desperate resolutions what to do to help themselves. If the Lord should have suffered you to have done (sometimes in a discontented fit) what you had thought to do, what wonderful misery had you brought upon yourselves! Oh it was a mercy of God that did stop you. Had not God stopped you, but let you go on when you thought to help yourselves this way and the other way, oh it had been ill with you. Do you but remember those risings of heart and wicked resolutions that sometimes you have had in a discontented mood, and learn to be humbled upon that.

4 Unthankfulness, that is an evil and a wicked effect that comes from discontent. Unthankfulness the Scripture does rank among very great sins. For men and women that are discontent though they enjoy many mercies from God, yet they are thankful for none of them, for this is the vile nature of discontentment, to lessen every mercy of God, to make those mercies they have from God to be as nothing to them, because they have not what they would have. Sometimes it is so even in spiritual things, if they have not all they would have, the comforts that they would have, then what they have is nothing to them, do you think that God will take this well? If you should give a friend, a kinsman, a purse of money to go and trade withal, and he should come and say, what do you give me? They are but a few counters, they will do me no good: you cannot bear this at his hand if he should do so, because he has not as much money as he would: So for you to be ready to say, All that God has given me is nothing worth, will do me no good, they are but counters; though they are the precious Graces of God's Spirit that are more worth than thousands of worlds, yet for you to say, they are nothing, they are but common gifts, and all is but in hypocrisy, all counterfeit, Oh! What an unthankful thing is this! The graces of God's Spirit are nothing to a discontented heart that has not all that it would have; and so for outward blessings, though God has given you health of body, and strength, and has given you some competency for your family, some way of livelihood, yet because you are disappointed in somewhat that you would have therefore all is nothing unto you; Oh! What unthankfulness is here? God expects that every day you should spend some time in blessing His Name for what mercy He has granted unto you, there is not any one of you who are in the lowest condition but you have abundance of mercies to bless God for, but discontentedness makes them nothing. It is an excellent speech that I remember Luther has, (says he) This is the Rhetoric of the Spirit of God, (it is a very fine speech of his) to extenuate evil things, and to amplify good things; if there falls out a cross, to make the cross to be but little, but if there be a mercy to make the mercy to be great; as thus, If there be a cross, if the Spirit of God prevails in the heart, such a man or woman will wonder that it is no greater, and will bless God that though there be such a cross, yet that it is no more; that is the work of the Spirit of God; and if there be a mercy, wonders at God's goodness that God granted so great a mercy: The Spirit of God extenuates evils and crosses, and does magnify and amplify all mercies, and makes all mercies seem to be great, and all afflictions seem to be little. But (says he) the Devil goes quite contrary, the Rhetoric of the Devil is quite otherwise, he does lessen God's mercies, and amplify evil things, as thus, A godly man wonders at his cross that it is no more, a wicked man wonders his cross is so much, Oh (says he) none was ever so afflicted as I am! If there be a cross, the Devil puts the soul upon musing on it, and making it greater than it is, and so it brings discontent: And then on the other side, if there be a mercy, then it is the Rhetoric of the Devil to lessen the mercy, I indeed (says he) the thing is a good thing, but what is it, it is no great matter, and for all this I may be miserable. Thus the Rhetoric of Satan does lessen God's mercies, and does increase afflictions: And for this I will give you a notable example that we have in Scripture, it is the example of Korah, Dathan & Abiram, In Numbers 16:12, 13. And Moses sent to call Dathan, & Abiram the sons of Eliab: which said, we will not come up: Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a Land that flows with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, except you make yourself altogether a Prince over us? Mark, they slighted the land that they were going unto, the Land of Canaan, that was the Land that God promised them that should flow with milk and honey: But mark here their discontentedness, because they met with some troubles in the wilderness, Oh it was to slay them, they made their affliction in the wilderness to be greater than it was, Oh it was to kill them, though it were indeed to carry them to the Land of Canaan. But now their deliverance from Egypt though it was a great mercy, they made that mercy to be nothing, for say they, you have brought us out of a land that flows with milk and honey, what land was that? It was the Land of Egypt, the Land of their bondage, but they call it a Land that flowed with milk and honey, though it were the land of their most cruel and insupportable bondage; whereas they should have blessed God as long as they had lived for God's delivering them out of the land of Egypt, yet meeting with some cross they make their deliverance from Egypt no mercy, no, it was rather a misery to them, Oh (say they) Egypt was a land that flowed with milk and honey. Oh what baseness is there in a discontented spirit! A discontented spirit out of envy to God's grace will make mercies that are great to be little, yea to be none at all. Would one ever have thought that such a word should have come from the mouth of an Israelite that had been under bondage and cried under it, and yet when they meet with a little cross in their way to say, you have brought us out of the Land that flows with milk and honey, to say they were better before than now, and yet before they could not be contented neither; this is the usual unthankful expression of a discontented heart: And it is so with us now when we meet with any cross in our estates, any taxations and trouble, especially if any among you have been where the enemy has prevailed, you are ready to say, we had plenty before and we are now brought to a condition of hardship, we were better before when we had the Prelates and others to domineer: and so we endanger ourselves to be brought into that bondage again; Oh let us take heed of this, of a discontented heart, there is this woeful cursed fruit of discontent to make men and women unthankful for all the mercies God has granted to them, and this is a sore and grievous evil.

And lastly, There is this evil effect in murmuring, It causes shiftings of spirit: they that murmur and are discontent, are liable to temptations, to shift for themselves in sinful and ungodly ways, discontent is the ground of shifting courses and unlawful ways. How many of you may have your consciences condemn you of this, that you in the time of your afflictions have sought to shift for yourselves by ways that have been sinful against God, and your discontent was the bottom and ground of it? If you would avoid shiftings for yourselves by wicked ways, labor to mortify this sin of discontent, to mortify it at the root.

The Eighth evil that there is in murmuring and discontent is this, There is a great deal of folly, extreme folly in a discontented heart, it is a foolish sin. I shall open the folly of it in many particulars.

1 It takes away the present comfort of what you have, because you have not somewhat that you would have. What a foolish thing is this, that because I have not what I would have, I will not enjoy the comfort of what I have? Do not you account this folly in your children, you give them some victuals and they are not contented, perhaps (they say) it is not enough, they cry for more, and if you do not presently give them more they will throw away that they have, and though you account that folly in your children, yet you deal thus with God; God gives you many mercies, but you see others have more mercies than you and therefore you cry for more; Aye but God gives you not what you would have and upon that you throw away what you have, is not this folly in your hearts? It is unthankfulness.

2 There is a great deal of folly in discontentment, for by all your discontent you cannot help yourselves, you cannot get anything by it. Who can by taking any carking care add one cubit to his stature, or make one hair that is white to be black? You may vex and trouble yourselves, but you can get nothing by it. Do you think that the Lord will come in a way of mercy ever a whit the sooner because of the murmuring of your spirits, Oh no, but mercy will be rather deferred the longer for it, though the Lord were before in a way of mercy, yet this distemper of your hearts were enough to put Him out of His course of mercy, and though He had thoughts that you should have the thing before, yet now you shall not have it. If you had a mind to give such a thing to your child, yet if you see him in a discontented fretting way you will not give it him; and this is the very reason why there are so many mercies denied to you, because of your discontentment, you are discontented for want of them, and therefore you have them not, you do deprive yourselves of the enjoyment of your own desires because of the discontentment of your hearts, because you have not your desires, and is not this a foolish thing?

3 There is a great deal of folly in this, there are many foolish carriages commonly that a discontented heart is guilty of: They carry themselves foolishly towards God and towards men, there are such expressions, and such kind of behavior comes from them, as makes their friends to be ashamed of them many times, their carriages are so unseemly, they are a shame to themselves & their friends.

4 There is a great deal of folly in discontent and murmuring; for it does eat out the good and sweetness of a mercy before it comes. If God should give a mercy that we are discontented for the want of, yet the blessing of the mercy is as it were eaten out before we come to have it. Discontent is like a worm that eats the meat out of the nut, and then when the meat is eaten out of it, then you shall have the shell. If a child should cry for a nut that has the meat eaten out, or all worm-eaten, what good would the child have by having the nut? So such an outward comfort you would fain have and you are troubled for the want of it, but the very trouble of your spirits is the worm that eats out the blessing of the mercy, and then perhaps God gives it you, but gives you it with a curse mixed with it that you were better not have it than have it. That man or woman that is discontented for want of some good thing, if God does give that good thing to them before they are humbled for their discontent that did proceed from them, such a man or woman can have no comfort of the mercy, but it will be rather an evil than a good to them. And therefore for my part if I should have a friend or brother or one that were as dear to me as my own soul, that I should see discontented for the want of such a comfort, I should rather pray, Lord keep this thing from them, till thou wilt be pleased to humble their hearts for their discontent. Let not them have the mercy till they come to be humbled for their discontent for the want of it, for if they have it before that time they will have it without any blessing. And therefore it should be your care when you find your hearts discontented for want of anything, to be humbled for it, thinking thus with yourselves: Lord if that that I do so immoderately desire should come to me before I am humbled for my discontent for want of it, I am certain I can have no comfort of it, but I shall rather have it as an affliction to me. Many things which you desire as your lives, and think that you should be happy if you had them, yet when they do come you find not such happiness in them, but they prove to be the greatest crosses and afflictions to you that ever you had, and upon this ground, because your hearts were immoderately set upon them before you had them. As it was with Rachel, she must have children or else she died, well says God seeing you must, you shall have them, but though she had a child she died according to what she said, Give me children or else I die. So in regard of any other outward comforts, people may have the thing, but oftentimes they have it so as it proves the heaviest cross to them that ever they had in all their lives. Such a child as you were discontent for the want of it, it may be it was sick, and your hearts were out of temper for fear that you should lose it, and God restores it, but he restores it so as he makes it a cross to your heart all the days of your lives. One observes concerning Manna, when the people were contented with their allowance that God allowed them, then it was very good, but when they would not be content with God's allowance, but would gather more than God would have them; then (says the text) there was worms in it. So when we are content with our conditions, and that that God disposes of us to be in, there's a blessing in it, then it's sweet to us, but if we must needs have more, and keep it longer than God would have us to have it, then there will be worms in it and no good at all.

5. There's a great deal of folly in discontentedness, for it makes our afflictions a great deal worse than otherwise it would be. It no way removes our affliction, nay, while they do continue they are a great deal the worse and heavier, for a discontented heart is a proud heart, and a proud heart will not pull down his sails when there comes a tempest and storm. If a mariner when a tempest and storm comes should be froward and would not pull down his sails, but is discontented with the storm, is his condition the better because he is discontented and will not pull down his sails? Will this help him? Just so is it for all the world with a discontented heart, a discontented heart is a proud heart, and he out of his pride is troubled with his affliction, and is not contented with God's disposal, and so he will not pull down his spirit at all, and make it bow to God in this condition in which God has brought him. Now is his condition the better because he will not pull down his spirit? No certainly abundantly worse, a thousand to one but the tempest and storm overwhelms his soul. And thus you see what a great deal of folly there is in the sin of discontentment.

The Ninth Evil of murmuring and discontentment is this, There is a mighty deal of danger in the sin of discontentment, for it exceedingly provokes the wrath of God. It's a sin that does much provoke God against his creature; we find most sad expressions in Scripture (and examples too) how God has been provoked against many for their discontent. In Numbers 14 you have a notable text, and one would think that that were enough forever to make you fear murmuring, in the 26th verse, it is said, The Lord spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron saying, what did he say? How long shall I bear with this evil congregation which murmur against me? How long shall I bear with them says God, This evil congregation. Oh it's an evil congregation that murmur against me! And how long shall I bear with them? They do murmur, and they have murmured: as those that have murmuring spirits, and murmuring dispositions, they will murmur again, and again, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation that murmur against me? How justly may God speak this of many of you that are this morning before the Lord, How long shall I bear with this wicked man or woman that does murmur against me, and has usually in the course of their lives murmured against me when anything falls out otherwise than they would have it? And mark what follows after, I have heard the murmurings of the Children of Israel. You murmur, it may be others hear you not, nay it may be you speak not at all, or but half-words, yet God hears the language of your murmuring hearts, and those muttering speeches, and those half-words that come from you. And observe further in this verse, how the Lord repeats this sin of murmuring, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation which murmur against me? Secondly, I have heard their murmuring, Thirdly, which they murmur against me: Murmur, murmur, murmur, Three times in one verse he repeats it; and this is to show his indignation against the thing. When you express indignation against a thing, you will repeat it over again, and again: now the Lord because he would express his indignation against this sin, he repeats it over again, and again, and it follows in the 28th verse. Say unto them, as truly as I live says the Lord, as you have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you. Mark, God swears against a murmurer; sometimes in your discontent you will be ready to swear (it may be,) do you swear in your discontent? So does God swear against you for your discontent. And what was it that God would do unto them? Verses 29, 30. Doubtless your carcasses shall fall in the wilderness, and you shall not come into the land concerning which I swore, to make you dwell therein: as if God should say, if I have any life in me, your lives shall go for it, as I live it shall cost you your lives. A discontented murmuring fit of yours may cost you your lives. You see how it provokes God, there is more evil in it than you are aware of, it may cost you your lives, and therefore look to yourselves, and learn to be humbled at the very beginnings of such distempers in the heart. So in Psalm 106:24, 25. Yea they despised the pleasant Land, they believed not his word; But murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord; therefore he lifted up his hand against them to overthrow them in the wilderness. Here are diverse things observable in this Scripture.

First, That which we spoke to before, How a murmuring heart does slight God's mercies, so it is here, They despised the pleasant land: and that a murmuring heart is contrary to faith, they believed not his word, but (says the text) they murmured in their tents, and hearkened not to the voice of the Lord. Many men and women will hearken to the voice of their own base murmuring hearts, that will not hearken to the voice of the Lord; if you would hearken to the voice of the Lord there would not be such murmuring as there is: But mark what follows upon it, you may not think to please yourselves in your murmuring discontentedness, and think that no evil shall come of it; Therefore he lifted up his hand against them to overthrow them: you that are discontented, you lift up your hearts against God, and you cause God to lift up his hand against you; perhaps God lays his finger upon you softly in some afflictions that are upon you, in your families or elsewhere, and you cannot bear the hand of God that lies upon you as tenderly as a tender-hearted nurse that lays her hand upon the child, you cannot bear the tender hand of God that is upon you in a lesser affliction; it were just with God to lift up his hand against you in another manner of affliction; Oh a murmuring spirit provokes God exceedingly. There is another place in the 16th of Numbers compare the 41st verse, and the 46th verse together, But on the morrow all the Congregation of the Children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, You have killed the people of the Lord: and mark in the 46th verse, And Moses said to Aaron, Take a Censer and put fire therein, from off the Altar, and put on incense, and go quickly to the Congregation and make an atonement for them, for there is wrath gone out from the Lord, the plague is begun; mark how God's wrath is kindled; in the 41st verse, the Congregation had murmured; and they murmured but against Moses and Aaron, (perhaps you murmur more directly against God) and that was against God in murmuring against God's Ministers, it was against God but not so directly; but it may be the murmuring of your hearts is more directly against God's dealings with you, if you murmur against those that God makes instruments, (because you have not everything that you would have) as against the Parliament, or such and such that are public instruments, it's against God; it was but against Moses and Aaron that the Israelites murmured, and they said that Moses and Aaron had killed the people of the Lord, though it was the hand of God that was upon them for their former wickedness, in murmuring. It is usual for wicked vile hearts to deal thus with God, that when God's hand is a little upon them for to murmur again and again, and so to bring upon themselves even infinite kind of evils; but now the anger of God was quickly kindled, Oh says Moses, Go, take the Censer quickly for wrath is gone out from Jehovah, the plague is begun: so while you are murmuring in your families, the wrath of God may quickly go out against you, quickly, in a morning or evening, when you are murmuring, the wrath of God may come quickly out upon your families or persons, you are never so prepared for present wrath as when you are in a murmuring discontented fit, those that stand by and see you in a murmuring discontented fit, have cause to say, Oh let us go and take the censer, let us go to prayer, for we are afraid that wrath is gone out against this family, against this person: And it were a very good thing for you that are a godly wife when you see your husband come home and fall to murmuring because things go not according to his desire, to go to prayer, and say, Lord pardon the sin of my husband; and so for the husband to go to God in prayer falling down and beseeching him that wrath may not come out against his family for the murmuring of his wife. And the truth is, at this day there has been (at least lately) as much murmuring in England as ever was, and even in this very particular the plague is begun, and this very judgment it does come many times upon murmuring upon those that are so discontented in their families and are always grumbling and murmuring at anything that falls out amiss, (I say) this text of Scripture in Numbers does clearly hold forth this, that the Lord brings the plague upon men for this sin of murmuring, he does it in kingdoms and families, and upon particular persons. Though we cannot always point out the particular sin that God brings this for, yet this should be examined how far we are guilty of the sin of murmuring; because the Scripture holds forth this so clearly, that Moses when he did but hear that they murmured, Do they murmur? (says he) Go forth quickly, and seek to pacify the anger of God, for wrath is gone out, and the plague is begun. And in 1 Corinthians 10.10. there you have an notable example of God's heavy displeasure against murmuring, Neither murmur as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Take heed of murmuring as some of them did, (he speaks of the people of Israel in the wilderness,) but says he, what came of it? They were destroyed of the destroyer. Now the destroyer is thought to be the fiery serpents that were sent among them: They murmured, and God sent fiery serpents to sting them. What do you think that such a cross and affliction does sting you? perhaps such an affliction is upon you, and it seems to be grievous for the present, what? do you murmur and repine? God has greater crosses to bring upon you: Those people that murmur for the want of outward comforts, for want of water, (sometimes) and for the want of bread, they murmur, but the Lord sends fiery serpents among them. I may say to a murmuring heart, Woe to you who strive with your Maker: woe to that man, that woman that strives against their Maker; what do you else, but strive against your Maker? Your Maker has the absolute disposal of you, and will you strive against your Maker? What does this murmuring discontented heart of yours do otherwise but wrangle and contend and strive even with God himself? Oh woe to him that strives against his Maker! I may further say to you, as God speaks to Job: Job, 38.1, 2. when Job was impatient, Now God spoke (says the text) out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? So, do you speak against God's ways, and his providences that have fallen out concerning your estate and outward comforts? who is this? Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Where's that man or woman whose hearts are so bold and impudent, as dares speak against the administration of God's providence?

The Tenth Evil of murmuring and discontent is this, There's a great curse of God upon it, so far as it does prevail in one that is wicked it has the curse of God upon it. In Psalms 59.15. see there what the curse of God is upon wicked and ungodly men, Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied. That is the imprecation and curse upon wicked and ungodly men, that if they be not satisfied they shall grudge; when you are not satisfied in your desires and find your heart grudging against God, apply this Scripture, What, is the curse of the wicked upon me? This is the curse that is threatened upon wicked and ungodly ones, That they shall grudge if they be not satisfied. And in Deuteronomy 28.27. There it's threatened as a curse of God upon men, that they cannot be content with their present condition, But they shall say in the morning, would God it were even; and at even, would God it were morning; and so they lie tossing up and down and cannot be content with any condition that they are in, because of the sore afflictions that be upon them; and therefore it is further threatened as a curse upon them, in the 34th verse, That they should be mad for the sight of their eyes which they should see: This is but the extremity of their discontentedness; that is, they shall be so discontented, as they shall be even mad: Many men and women in discontented moods are mad kind of people, and though you may please yourselves in such a mad kind of behavior, yet know, that it is a curse of God upon men to be given up to a kind of madness for evils that they suppose are upon them, and that they fear. In the 47th verse, there is a notable expression for to show the curse of God upon murmuring hearts; the Lord threatening the curses that shall be upon them, (says he) verse 45, 46, & 47. The Curse shall pursue you, and they shall be upon you for a sign, and for a wonder, and upon your seed for ever: Because you served not the Lord your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things. God here threatens to bring his curse so upon them, as to make them a wonder and a sign to others, why? Because they served not the Lord with joyfulness of heart, (that may be added to that of the wrath of God upon men) therefore God would bring such a curse upon them as would make them a wonder to all that were about them; Oh how far are you then that have a murmuring heart, from serving the Lord with joyfulness?

The Eleventh evil of discontent and murmuring is this. There is much of the spirit of Satan in a murmuring spirit. The Devil is the most discontented creature that is in the world: He is the proudest creature that is, and the most discontented creature; and the most dejected creature. Now therefore so much discontentment as you have, so much of the spirit of Satan you have. It was the unclean spirit that went up and down and found no rest; so when a man or woman's spirit has no rest, it is a sign that it has much of the unclean spirit, of the spirit of Satan, and you should think thus with yourself, Oh Lord what have I the spirit of Satan upon me? It is Satan that is the most discontented spirit that is, and Oh! how much of his spirit have I upon me that can find no rest at all?

Twelfthly, Murmuring and discontent has this evil in it, There is an absolute necessity that you should have disquiet all the days of your life. As if a man that is in a great crowd should complain that other folks touch him; While we are in this world God has so ordered things that afflictions must befall us, and if we will complain and be discontented upon every cross and affliction, why we must complain and be discontent all the days of our lives, yea God in just judgment will let things fall out on purpose to vex those that have vexing spirits, and discontented hearts, and therefore there is a necessity that they should live disquiet all their days: and men will not much care to disquiet those that are continually murmuring, Oh they will have disquiet all their days.

Lastly, there's this dreadful evil in discontent and murmuring, God may justly withdraw his care off you, and his protection over you, seeing God cannot please you in his administrations. We use to say so to discontented servants; nay, if you be not pleased mend yourselves when you will. If you have a servant not content with his diet and wages, and work, you say, mend yourselves; so may God justly say to us, we that profess ourselves servants to him, to be in his work, and yet are discontented with this thing or that in God's family, God might justly say, mend yourselves. What if God should say to any of you, If my care over you do not please you, then take care of yourselves, if my protection over you will not please you, then protect yourselves: Now all things that do befall you, befall you through a providence of God, and if you be those that belong to God there is a protection of God over you, and a care of God. Now if God should say, Well, you shall not have the benefit of my protection any longer, and I will take no further care of you: would not this be a most dreadful judgment of God from Heaven upon you? Take heed what you do then in being discontent with God's will towards you, and indeed upon discontent this may befall you. And this is the reason why many people though God's protection hath been very gracious over them for a time, and they have thriven abundantly, yet afterwards almost all that behold them may say that they live as if God had cast off his care over them, and as if God did not care what befell them. Now then my brethren, put all these together, all that we were speaking of the last day, and these particulars that have been added now this morning for the setting out of a murmuring and discontented spirit, Oh what an ugly face hath this sin of murmuring, and discontentedness, Oh what cause is there that we should lay our hands upon our hearts, and go away and be humbled before the Lord because of this! Whereas your thoughts were wont to be exercised about providing for yourselves, and getting more comforts to yourselves, let the stream of your thoughts now be turned to humble yourselves for your discontentedness, Oh that you may have your hearts break before God, for otherwise you will fall to it again, Oh the wretchedness of man's heart! You shall find in Scripture concerning the people of Israel, how strangely they fell to their murmuring again and again. Do but observe three texts of Scripture, for that, the first in the 15th of Exodus at the beginning, there you shall have Moses and the Congregation singing to God and blessing God for his mercy, Then sang Moses and the Children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously, the Horse and his Rider hath he thrown into the Sea. And then, The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation, he is my God and I will prepare him an habitation, my Father's God and I will exalt him; and so he goes on, and who is like unto thee O Lord amongst the gods, who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Thus their hearts triumphed in God, but mark before the Chapter is ended in the 23rd verse, When they came to Marah (in the same Chapter) 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. After so great a mercy as this was, what unthankfulness was there here in their murmuring! Then God gave them water, but in the very next Chapter they fell to their murmuring, (you read not that they were humbled for their former murmuring, and therefore they murmur again) Exodus 16:1 etc. All the Congregation of the Children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, etc. And the whole Congregation (in the second verse) of the Children of Israel murmured against Moses, and against Aaron in the wilderness, and the Children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the Land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, and when we did eat bread to the full. Now they want flesh, they wanted water before, but now they want meat, they fell to murmuring again, they were not humbled for this murmuring against God, neither when God gave them flesh according to their desires, but they fell to murmuring again, they wanted somewhat else. In the very next Chapter, (they went not far) in the 17th of Exodus beginning. And all the Congregation of the Children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin and pitched in Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink: then in the second verse, Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink, and Moses said unto them, Why chide you with me? wherefore do you tempt the Lord? And in the third verse, And the people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Moses and said, Wherefore is this, that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us, and our Children, and our Cattle with thirst? So one time after another, still as soon as ever they had received the mercy then they were a little quieted, but they were not humbled. I bring these Scriptures for this to show, that if we have not been humbled for murmuring, the next cross that we meet withal we will fall to murmuring again.

And now there are divers aggravations of this sin of murmuring, I'll mention but one now, and I shall but begin that. The first Aggravation is this.

To murmur when we enjoy abundance of mercy, the greater and the more abundant the mercy is that we enjoy, the greater, and the viler is the sin of murmuring. As here now when God had newly delivered them out of the house of bondage, for them, now to murmur, because they want some few particulars that they desire, Oh to sin against God after a great mercy this is a great aggravation, and a most abominable thing. Now my brethren, the Lord hath granted us very great mercies, I'll but speak a word of what God hath done of late, what mercies hath the Lord granted to us this summer, heaped mercies upon us, one mercy upon another, what a condition were we in at the beginning of this summer? And what a different condition are we in now! Oh what a mercy is it that the Lord hath not taken advantages against us, that he hath not made those Scriptures (before mentioned) good upon us for all our murmuring, the Lord hath gone on with one mercy after another. We hear of mercy in Bristol, and mercy to our brethren in Scotland: But still if after this we should have anything befall us that is but cross to us, that we should be ready to murmur again presently; Oh let us not so requite God for those mercies of his; Oh let's take heed of giving God any ill requital for his mercies; Oh give God praise according to his excellent greatness, to his excellent goodness and grace.

And now hath God given to you the Contentment of your hearts? Take you heed of being the cause of any grief to your brethren, think not that because God hath been gracious unto you, that therefore he hath given you liberty for to bring them into bondage, Oh let not there be such an ill effect of God's mercy to you, as for you to exclude by petitioning, or any other way your Brethren that the Lord hath been pleased to make Instruments of your peace, let not that be the fruit of it, nor to desire anything that yourselves do not yet understand. God is very jealous of the glory of his mercy, and if there should be an ill use made of the mercy of God after we enjoy it, Oh it would go to the heart of God! Nothing is more grievous to the heart of God than the abuse of mercy: As now, if any way that is hard and rigid should be taken towards our Brethren, and those especially that God hath made such special Instruments of good to us, that have been so willing to venture their lives, and all for us; now when we have our turns served, let God and his People, and Servants that have been a means to save us shift for themselves as well as they can: Oh! this is a great aggravation of your sin, to sin against the mercies of God: But for this Aggravation, and specially in this particular, we shall speak to (God willing) the next day.

Philippians 4:11: "For I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content."

Last time I named several things to show the evil of discontent. I will add two or three more.

Sixth, discontent is beneath a Christian because it falls below the resources a Christian has that others do not. Christians have God's promises to sustain them, which others lack. It is not surprising when someone like Nabal sinks in spirit, for he has nothing but earthly things to uphold him. But for a Christian, who has the promises and the means of grace to uphold his spirit, to collapse in discontent — that is something else entirely.

Seventh, discontent is beneath the expectation God has of Christians. God expects not only that they should be patient in afflictions, but that they should rejoice and triumph in them. When God expects this from you, to have not even reached simple contentment under affliction — that falls far short of what God expects.

Eighth, discontent falls below what God has received from other Christians. Other believers have not merely been content under small trials — they have triumphed under great afflictions and accepted the plundering of their goods with joy. Read the latter part of Hebrews 11 and you will see what great things God has received from His people. To be unwilling to bear much smaller crosses, then, is a very great evil.

The sixth evil in a murmuring spirit is this: by murmuring, you undo your own prayers, because it directly contradicts what you ask of God. When you come to God in prayer, you acknowledge His sovereignty over you — you profess yourself to be at God's disposal. Why else do you petition Him, if not to acknowledge that you are subject to His will? If you will not stand at His disposal, you have no business petitioning Him. To come begging at your Father's door every day and yet insist on having your own way — that is a contradiction that undermines your prayers. Latimer once said, speaking of Peter who denied his Master, that Peter had forgotten his Lord's Prayer — for the prayer says, "Hallowed be Your name" and "Your kingdom come." In the same way, when you have a murmuring, discontented heart, you forget your own prayers — you forget what you have prayed for. The Lord's Prayer is meant to serve as a pattern for all your prayers, even when you do not use its exact words. What do you pray but "Give us this day our daily bread"? Christ means that to be a guide — a kind of directory — for how to pray. Notice that Christ does not teach you to pray: "Lord, give me such an income, such fine clothing, such a number of dishes at my table." He teaches you to pray: "Lord, give us our bread" — showing that you should be content with a little. Do you lack bread to eat? I hope there is no one here without that.

Objection: But I do not know what will become of my children if I die. Or, I have bread today but do not know where I will find it next week, or how I will have provision for the winter.

Answer: Where did Christ teach us to pray for provision over a long period of time? He did not. If we have bread for today, Christ would have us be content. When we murmur because we do not have the variety others enjoy, we are, in effect, forgetting the Lord's Prayer. It goes against what we pray for. We do not in our daily lives reflect the acknowledgment of God's sovereignty that we seem to profess in our prayers. So whenever you find your heart murmuring, pause and ask yourself: is this consistent with my prayers, in which I acknowledged the sovereign power and authority of God over me?

The seventh thing I add concerning the evil of discontent is the terrible effects that murmuring produces in a discontented heart. I will name five.

First, through murmuring and discontent you lose a great deal of time. How often do discontented people let their thoughts run unchecked for hours at a time — brooding, turning things over in their minds, feeding the discontent. When you are alone, you should be spending that time in holy meditation. Instead, you are spending it in discontented thoughts. You who complain that you cannot meditate, that you cannot keep your thoughts on good things — that your mind drifts away the moment you try — notice: when you are discontented about something, you have no trouble going off alone and brooding over it for as long as you like. Discontent provides its own fuel for thought. See this evil effect of murmuring: it wastes your time.

Second, discontent makes you unfit for duty. A person in a contented frame can be turned to any task at any moment — they are ready to come to God at any time. But a discontented person is extremely unfit for the service of God. Discontent causes constant distractions in duty. When you hear bad news from distant places, or about a friend, or suffer some loss or cross — how it distracts you when you try to perform your duties before God. When you should be enjoying fellowship with God, your thoughts are pulled away to the cross that has come upon you. But if you had a quiet spirit, even great trials would not hinder your duty.

Third, consider what wicked risings of heart and desperate resolutions sometimes appear in a fit of discontent. In some discontented moments, the heart rises up against God and against others, and sometimes entertains desperate thoughts about how to take matters into its own hands. If the Lord had allowed you to carry out what you thought to do in some of those fits, what terrible misery you would have brought upon yourself. It was a mercy of God that stopped you. Had God not held you back, had He let you go ahead with the plans you were making to help yourself, it would have gone very badly for you. Remember those risings of heart and those wicked resolutions you have had in your discontented moods, and let them humble you.

Fourth, unthankfulness — this is a wicked and grievous effect that flows from discontent. Scripture ranks unthankfulness among very great sins. People who are discontented, though they enjoy many mercies from God, are thankful for none of them. This is the vile nature of discontent: it shrinks every mercy of God to nothing, because they do not have what they want. Sometimes this works even in spiritual things: if they have not all the spiritual comforts they desire, what they do have seems worthless to them. Do you think God accepts this? If you gave a friend a sum of money to trade with, and he came back saying, "What's this? These are just a few pennies — they won't do me any good" — you could not bear that, simply because he did not receive as much as he wanted. In the same way, for you to say of all that God has given you, "It is nothing, it will do me no good, it is worthless" — even when those gifts are the precious graces of God's Spirit, worth more than thousands of worlds — to say they are nothing, merely common gifts, perhaps all counterfeit — what unthankfulness that is. The graces of God's Spirit count for nothing to a discontented heart that does not have everything it wants. The same with outward blessings: though God has given you health of body and strength, and has provided some sufficiency for your household and a way of making a living, yet because you are disappointed in some particular desire, everything is nothing to you. What unthankfulness. God expects that every day you spend some time blessing His name for the mercies He has given you. There is not one of you in the lowest condition who does not have an abundance of mercies to thank God for — but discontent makes them all vanish. Luther once made a striking observation about this. He said: "This is the rhetoric of the Spirit of God — to minimize evils and magnify good things. When a trial comes, to treat it as small; when a mercy comes, to treat it as great. If the Spirit of God prevails in a heart, that person will marvel that the trial is not worse, and bless God that though the trial is real, it is not greater. And when a mercy comes, such a person marvels at God's goodness in granting so great a mercy. The Spirit of God makes all afflictions seem small and all mercies seem great." "But," Luther continued, "the devil does exactly the opposite. The rhetoric of the devil is to shrink God's mercies and amplify evils. A godly person wonders that his trial is not worse; a wicked person wonders that his trial is so bad. 'No one," he says, 'has ever suffered as I have.' When a trial comes, the devil leads the soul to dwell on it and make it larger than it is — and so discontent takes root. When a mercy comes, the devil says: 'Yes, it is something, but what does it amount to? It is nothing special — for all this, I might still be miserable.'" The rhetoric of Satan shrinks God's mercies and magnifies afflictions. A clear example of this is found in Numbers 16:12-13, in the case of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. "Moses sent to summon Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; but they said, 'We will not come up. Is it too small a thing that you have brought us up from a land flowing with milk and honey to have us die in the wilderness, but you would also lord it over us?'" Notice: they slighted the land of Canaan — the land God had promised them, which truly flowed with milk and honey. Because they encountered trouble in the wilderness, they cried out that it was killing them — they made their hardship in the wilderness far greater than it was. And their deliverance from Egypt, though a great mercy, they made nothing of it — calling Egypt "a land flowing with milk and honey." That was the land of their most cruel and unbearable bondage. They should have blessed God for the rest of their lives for delivering them from Egypt — but meeting with some small trial, they reduced that great mercy to nothing, and said they had been better off before. What baseness in a discontented spirit. Out of hostility toward God's grace, a discontented spirit will make great mercies seem small — indeed, make them seem like nothing at all. Who would ever have thought that such words could come from the mouth of an Israelite who had groaned under brutal bondage? And yet, meeting a little difficulty on the way to Canaan, they said: "You have brought us out of a land flowing with milk and honey" — claiming they were better off before, even though they had not been content then either. This is the typical ungrateful language of a discontented heart. The same thing happens today. When we meet with trials — burdens of various kinds — we are quick to say we had more before, and to lament our present hardship. We even risk longing to return to forms of bondage we had been delivered from. Let us guard against this. A discontented heart produces this wretched fruit: it makes men and women unthankful for every mercy God has granted them. That is a serious and grievous evil.

Finally, this is another evil effect of murmuring: it leads to scheming — resorting to sinful and ungodly ways to help oneself. Discontent is the root cause of dishonest and unlawful courses of action. How many of you may have a conscience that convicts you of this — that in times of affliction you sought to help yourself through ways that were sinful against God, and your discontent was the very foundation of it? If you want to avoid taking matters into your own hands through wicked means, you must mortify the sin of discontent — strike it at the root.

The eighth evil in murmuring and discontent is this: there is extreme folly in a discontented heart. It is a foolish sin. I will show the folly of it in several ways.

First, discontent takes away the present comfort of what you have, simply because you do not have something else you want. What a foolish thing — to refuse to enjoy what I have because I do not have what I want. You see this folly in your own children: you give them something to eat, and they are not satisfied. "It is not enough," they say, crying for more — and if you do not immediately give them more, they throw away what they already have. You count that folly in your children. But you do exactly the same with God. God gives you many mercies, but you see others have more, so you cry for more. God does not give you what you demand, and so you throw away what you have. Is that not foolish? It is unthankfulness.

Second, there is great folly in discontent because all your discontent cannot help you — you cannot gain anything by it. "Who of you by worrying can add a single cubit to your height?" or make one white hair black? You may vex and trouble yourself, but you gain nothing. Do you think the Lord will bring mercy any sooner because of your murmuring? No — mercy will be deferred longer because of it. Even if the Lord had been moving toward showing you that mercy, your discontented spirit is enough to turn Him aside from it. Though He had planned to give you the thing before, now you will not have it. If you had decided to give something to a child, and you see him fretting and whining for it, you will hold it back. This is the very reason so many mercies are withheld from you — your discontent. You are discontented for lack of them, and therefore you do not have them. You are depriving yourself of the very things you desire by your discontented attitude. Is that not folly?

Third, there is great folly in discontent because it commonly leads to foolish behavior toward both God and other people. A discontented heart produces words and actions that make even friends ashamed of that person. The behavior is so unbecoming that it brings shame on themselves and on those around them.

Fourth, there is great folly in discontent because it devours the goodness and sweetness of a mercy before it ever arrives. If God does grant a mercy you have been discontentedly craving, the blessing has been eaten out of it before you receive it. Discontent is like a worm that eats the meat out of a nut — and then you are handed the empty shell. If a child cries for a nut that has been hollowed out by a worm, what good does receiving it do the child? So with any outward comfort you desperately want: the very trouble in your spirit is the worm that eats out the blessing. Then perhaps God gives it to you — but He gives it with a curse mixed in, so that you would have been better off without it. If a person is discontented for lack of something and God gives it before they have been humbled for their discontent, they will find no comfort in it — it will be more of an evil than a good. If I had a dear friend or a brother whom I saw discontented for lack of some comfort, I would rather pray: "Lord, keep this thing from them until You have been pleased to humble their heart for their discontent. Do not let them have this mercy until they come humbly before You for their discontent over lacking it — for if they receive it before that, they will have it without any blessing." So when you find your heart discontented for want of something, be humbled for it, and think: "Lord, if I receive what I so immoderately desire before I am humbled for my discontent, I know I can have no comfort from it — it will come as an affliction rather than a blessing." Many things people desire as desperately as they desire life itself, convinced they would be happy if only they had them — yet when they arrive, they find no such happiness. Instead those things prove to be the greatest burdens and afflictions they have ever borne, precisely because their hearts were set on them so immoderately beforehand. Think of Rachel, who said she would die if she did not have children. God granted her request — and she died, just as she had said: "Give me children, or I will die." The same principle applies to other outward comforts: a person may receive the thing, and yet find that it becomes the heaviest cross they have ever carried. The child you were so discontented to be without — it may be God restored its health but allowed it to become a source of grief for the rest of your life. Someone has observed about the manna: when the people were content with their allotted portion, it was wholesome and good. But when they refused to be content with God's allowance and gathered more than He permitted, worms appeared in it. So it is with us: when we are content with our condition and with what God has appointed for us, there is blessing in it and sweetness. But if we insist on more, or hold on to it longer than God would have us, the worms come — and the good is gone.

Fifth, there is great folly in discontent because it makes our afflictions far worse than they would otherwise be. Discontent does not remove affliction — it only makes it heavier while it remains. A discontented heart is a proud heart, and a proud heart will not lower its sails when a storm comes. If a sailor, when a storm arose, refused to take down his sails because he was angry at the weather — would his condition be better for it? Would his refusal help him? Not at all. So it is with a discontented heart. Out of pride, it refuses to bow before God in its present condition. It will not humble itself and submit to God's hand. Is its condition better for refusing to bow? No — certainly far worse. The odds are overwhelming that the storm will overwhelm such a soul. So you can see how much folly there is in the sin of discontent.

The ninth evil of murmuring and discontent is this: there is great danger in the sin of discontent, because it greatly provokes God's wrath. It is a sin that stirs up God's anger against the creature powerfully. Scripture records, in both words and examples, how God has been provoked against many for their discontent. Numbers 14 contains a striking passage — one that should be enough to make you fear murmuring for the rest of your life. Verse 26 reads: "The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying..." And what did He say? "How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who are grumbling against Me?" "How long shall I bear with them" — God calls them an evil congregation, a congregation that murmurs against Him. Those who have murmuring spirits and murmuring dispositions will murmur again and again. "How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who murmur against Me?" How justly might God say this of many here before Him: "How long shall I bear with this man, this woman, who murmurs against Me — who has murmured throughout the course of their life whenever things have not gone their way?" And note what follows: "I have heard the grumbling of the sons of Israel." You murmur — perhaps others do not hear you. Perhaps you do not even speak it aloud, or only mutter half-words. But God hears the language of your murmuring heart — those mutterings and half-spoken words. Notice further how the Lord repeats this sin of murmuring in that verse: "How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who murmur against Me?" — then "I have heard their murmuring" — then "which they murmur against Me." Murmur, murmur, murmur — three times in one verse. This repetition expresses God's indignation. When someone is deeply indignant about something, they repeat it again and again. Because God would express His indignation against this sin, He repeats it. And what follows in verse 28 is sobering: "Say to them, 'As I live,' says the Lord, 'just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you.'" Notice — God swears against a murmurer. Sometimes in your discontent you may be ready to swear. But so does God swear against you for your discontent. And what did God swear He would do? Verses 29-30: "Your carcasses will fall in this wilderness — every one of you who was numbered, all your generation. You shall by no means come into the land in which I swore to settle you." As if God said: if I have any life in Me, your lives shall be the price of your murmuring. A discontented, murmuring fit of yours may cost you your life. You can see how it provokes God. There is more evil in it than you realize. It may cost you your life. Guard yourself, and learn to be humbled at the very first stirrings of this disorder in your heart. Psalm 106:24-25 adds further: "Yes, they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe in His word, but grumbled in their tents; they did not listen to the voice of the Lord. Therefore He swore to them that He would cast them down in the wilderness." There are several things worth noting carefully in this passage.

First, as we showed before, a murmuring heart slights God's mercies — and so it is here: "They despised the pleasant land." And a murmuring heart is contrary to faith: "they did not believe His word, but grumbled in their tents and did not listen to the voice of the Lord." Many people listen to the voice of their own base murmuring hearts and will not listen to the voice of the Lord. If you would listen to the Lord, there would not be such murmuring. But notice what follows — you must not think you can indulge in murmuring and discontent and escape without consequence. "Therefore He raised His hand against them to strike them down." You who are discontented lift up your hearts against God — and you cause God to lift up His hand against you. Perhaps God is now touching you gently with a mild affliction, as tenderly as a nurse lays her hand on a child. You cannot even bear that tender touch. He would be entirely just in lifting His hand against you in a far heavier affliction. A murmuring spirit provokes God deeply. Compare Numbers 16:41 with verse 46. Verse 41: "But on the next day all the congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, 'You are the ones who have caused the death of the Lord's people.'" Then verse 46: "Moses said to Aaron, 'Take your censer and put in it fire from the altar and lay incense on it; then bring it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone forth from the Lord, the plague has begun!'" See how quickly God's wrath was kindled. In verse 41 the congregation murmured — and they murmured merely against Moses and Aaron, not directly against God Himself. To murmur against God's servants is to murmur against God, but indirectly. But your murmuring may be more directly against God's dealings with you — and if you murmur against those God uses as instruments in public life, because things have not gone your way, that is murmuring against God. The Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron and claimed they had killed the Lord's people — though it was God's hand upon them for their earlier wickedness in murmuring. This is the habitual pattern of wicked and proud hearts: when God's hand touches them even lightly, they murmur again and again, bringing upon themselves ever-increasing evils. God's anger came swiftly. Moses said: Go, take the censer quickly — for wrath has gone out from the Lord, the plague has begun. So it is today: while you are murmuring in your households, the wrath of God may go out swiftly — in the morning or evening when you are murmuring, the judgment of God may suddenly fall on your family or your own person. Those who stand by and see you in a murmuring, discontented fit have reason to say: "Let us take the censer — let us go to prayer — for we are afraid that wrath is going out against this household." It would be very good for a godly wife, when she sees her husband come home and begin murmuring because things have not gone his way, to go to prayer and say: "Lord, pardon the sin of my husband." And the husband who sees his wife murmuring should fall down before God and beg that wrath would not go out against their family for her sin. In truth, England has seen as much murmuring as ever, and even now this very judgment — the plague — has come in part upon households that are always discontented, always grumbling at whatever goes wrong. The text in Numbers clearly teaches this: God brings the plague upon people for the sin of murmuring — on kingdoms, on families, and on individuals. Though we cannot always identify the specific sin behind a particular judgment, we should search our hearts for murmuring, because Scripture sets this out so plainly. When Moses heard that they had murmured, he said: "Go quickly, seek to pacify God's anger — for wrath has gone out and the plague has begun." And 1 Corinthians 10:10 provides another striking warning: "Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer." Do not murmur as some of those Israelites in the wilderness did — and what happened to them? They were destroyed by the destroyer. The destroyer is thought to be the fiery serpents sent among them: they murmured and God sent fiery serpents to strike them. You may think the trial that stings you right now is hard enough — and yet you murmur and complain? God has far heavier crosses He could bring upon you. Those people murmured for lack of water, for lack of bread — and God sent fiery serpents. I say to a murmuring heart: woe to you who strive with your Maker. What else does your murmuring, discontented heart do but quarrel and contend with God Himself? Woe to those who strive against their Maker. I would further say to you what God said to Job when Job was impatient — speaking out of the whirlwind: "Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?" (Job 38:1-2). Do you speak against God's ways, against the providences He has brought into your life regarding your circumstances and outward comforts? Who is this? Who has such a bold and brazen heart as to dare speak against the administration of God's providence?

The tenth evil of murmuring and discontent is this: God's curse rests upon it. In the wicked, where it fully prevails, the curse of God is upon it. Psalm 59:15 shows what God's curse upon wicked and ungodly people looks like: "They wander about for food and growl if they are not satisfied." That is the curse threatened against the wicked — that if they are not satisfied, they shall growl and grumble. When you are not satisfied in your desires and find your heart grumbling against God, apply this Scripture to yourself and ask: is the curse of the wicked resting on me? This is the curse threatened against the ungodly — that they shall grumble when they are not satisfied. Deuteronomy 28:67 threatens this as a curse of God: that people cannot be content with their present condition — "In the morning you will say, 'If only it were evening!' And at evening you will say, 'If only it were morning!'" They toss back and forth and cannot be content in any condition because of the afflictions upon them. Further, verse 34 threatens this as a curse: "that you will be driven mad by the sight of what you see." This is the extreme of discontent — to be so discontented as to go mad. Many discontented people behave like mad people — and though you may take pleasure in such extreme behavior, know this: it is a curse of God when He gives a person over to a kind of madness over the evils they imagine are upon them. Deuteronomy 28:45-47 contains a powerful statement about God's curse on murmuring hearts. God threatens to bring His curse upon them so severely as to make them a sign and a wonder — and then gives the reason: "because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a glad heart, for the abundance of all things." God would bring such a curse upon them as to make them a spectacle to everyone around them — and the reason? They did not serve the Lord with joyfulness of heart. How far, then, are those with murmuring hearts from serving the Lord with joyfulness?

The eleventh evil of discontent and murmuring is this: there is much of the spirit of Satan in a murmuring spirit. The devil is the most discontented creature in existence — the proudest, the most discontented, and the most wretched. Therefore, whatever measure of discontent you carry, that same measure you carry of Satan's spirit. It was the unclean spirit that wandered up and down and found no rest. So when a person's spirit can find no rest, it is a sign that it is filled with much of the unclean spirit — the spirit of Satan. You ought to think: "Lord, do I have the spirit of Satan in me? Satan is the most discontented spirit there is — and how much of his spirit do I carry, that I can find no rest at all?"

Twelfth, murmuring and discontent carry this evil: you are condemning yourself to a life of restlessness. It is like a person in a large crowd complaining that others are bumping into him. God has so ordered things in this world that afflictions will come. If we complain and are discontented at every trial, we must complain and be discontented every day of our lives. Indeed, God in His just judgment will allow things to fall out in ways that will especially vex those who have vexing spirits and discontented hearts. And others will not go out of their way to spare those who are always grumbling. A murmuring person will have no peace for the rest of their days.

Finally, here is a dreadful evil in discontent and murmuring: God may justly withdraw His care and protection from you, since He cannot please you with anything He does. We say this to discontented servants: "If you are not pleased, then find a better situation for yourself." If a servant is unhappy with his food, wages, and work, the master says: "Find somewhere else if you will." In the same way, God might justly say this to us. We who claim to be His servants, engaged in His work, and yet are discontented with this or that in God's household — God might justly say, "Then take care of yourselves." What if God were to say to you: "If My care over you does not please you, then care for yourselves. If My protection over you does not please you, then protect yourselves." Everything that happens to you comes through the providence of God. If you belong to God, you live under God's protection and care. But what if God were to say: "You will no longer benefit from My protection — I will take no further care of you"? Would that not be the most dreadful judgment God could send from heaven? Guard yourself, then, against discontent with God's will toward you — for this can happen because of discontent. This is why many people, after enjoying God's very gracious protection for a time and thriving greatly, later seem to live as though God had cast off all care for them — as though God no longer concerned Himself with what happened to them. Now, brothers and sisters, put all these things together — everything we covered previously and these additional points from this morning about the evil of a murmuring, discontented spirit. What an ugly face this sin has. What cause there is to lay our hands upon our hearts and go away humbled before the Lord because of it. Where once your thoughts were focused on gaining more comforts for yourself, let the stream of your thoughts now turn to humbling yourself for your discontent. Oh, that your hearts would break before God — otherwise you will fall right back into it. Oh, the wretchedness of the human heart. In Scripture, you can see how remarkably the Israelites fell back into murmuring again and again. Consider three texts. At the beginning of Exodus 15, Moses and the congregation are singing and blessing God for His mercy: "Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the Lord... I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; the horse and his rider He has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him... Who is like You among the gods, O Lord? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders?" Their hearts were triumphant in God. But before the chapter ends, in verse 23: "When they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter... and the people grumbled against Moses." After such a great mercy — what unthankfulness. Then God gave them water. But in the very next chapter they fell to murmuring again — they had not been humbled for the former murmuring, and so they murmured again. Exodus 16:2: "The whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the sons of Israel said to them, 'Would that we had died by the Lord's hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full.'" Now they wanted meat — before it was water, now it was food. They fell to murmuring again. They were not humbled even when God gave them what they wanted. They simply murmured again over the next thing. And in the very next chapter — they did not go far — Exodus 17:2-3: "The people quarreled with Moses and said, 'Give us water that we may drink.' And Moses said to them, 'Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?' But the people thirsted there for water, and they grumbled against Moses and said, 'Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?'" Again and again: they received a mercy, were quieted for a moment, but were not humbled. I bring these passages to show this: if we have not been humbled for our murmuring, the next trial we encounter will send us right back into murmuring again.

Now there are several factors that aggravate this sin of murmuring. I will mention just one now and make a beginning on it. The first aggravation is this.

To murmur when we are enjoying abundant mercy — the greater and more abundant the mercy, the greater and more vile the sin of murmuring. Here the Israelites had just been delivered from the house of bondage, and now they murmured because they lacked a few particular things they wanted. To sin against God in the wake of great mercy — that is a tremendous aggravation, an abominable thing. Brothers and sisters, the Lord has granted us very great mercies. What mercies God has heaped upon us recently — one after another. What a condition we were in at the beginning of this season, and how different our condition is now. What a mercy it is that the Lord has not taken advantage of our failures — that He has not applied against us those scriptures we mentioned, for all our murmuring. The Lord has continued to go on with mercy after mercy. We hear of mercy at Bristol, and mercy to our brothers in Scotland. But if after all this, some small trial falls upon us and we immediately murmur again — oh, let us not repay God so ill for His mercies. Let us not give God such a wretched return for all He has done. Give God praise in proportion to His excellent greatness, His excellent goodness, and His grace.

And now that God has given contentment to you — take care that you do not become the cause of grief to your brothers. Do not think that because God has been gracious to you, He has therefore given you license to bring others into bondage. Do not let the ill fruit of God's mercy to you be that you use petitions or other means to exclude the very brothers the Lord has been pleased to use as instruments of your peace. Do not reach for things you yourself do not yet fully understand. God is very jealous of the honor of His mercy. If mercy is badly used after we have received it, it grieves the heart of God deeply. Nothing is more grievous to God than the abuse of mercy. If a hard and harsh course were taken toward our brothers — especially those God has made such special instruments of good to us, who willingly risked their lives for our sake — and then, once we have gotten what we wanted, we leave God's people and servants to fend for themselves: that would be a great aggravation of sin, to sin against God's mercies in that way. We will speak to this aggravation more fully, particularly on this point, God willing, at our next meeting.