You Murmured In Your Tents

Have you ever murmured?  Maybe we don’t use that word much.  In our passage we see Israel murmuring.  Murmuring is something often done in private, either to yourself, or to a small audience.  The word here in verse 27 could also be translated as “whisper,” or maybe even “grumble.”  Usually when the bible talks about the sin of murmuring it’s referring to that quiet complaining that we like do.

Well, the sin of murmuring is one of several sins in this passage.  And yet in many ways it’s the sin of murmuring that becomes so devastating here for Israel.  And of course, the sin of murmuring is really something that reveals the condition of their heart.  It’s not so much that murmuring causes a heart to go hard, but that a hard heart results in murmuring.  And yet murmuring can be so destructive because it can then sow further seeds of unbelief and discouragement among yourself and with others.  This is all a part of what we see going on in this passage with the nation of Israel.  And so today I want us to look at this sin of murmuring, both with Israel, and with us.  But of course, most of all, we’ll be looking again this morning at the gospel of Jesus Christ, even as we think about the sin of murmuring.

Sermon preached on Deuteronomy 1:19-46 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 07/05/2009 in Novato, CA.

Manuscript: You Murmured In Your Tents

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