1.     I would like to draw your attention to a phrase found in Numbers 11:4 – “the mixed multitude that was among them.”

2.     Exodus 12:38 tells us that when the children of Israel left Egypt, “a mixed multitude went up also with them.”  Hundreds of years later we read in Nehemiah 13:3, “Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.”

3.     All through the Bible, God warns us of “the mixed multitude.”  The mixed multitude is a conglomeration of saved and unsaved, mixed together.

4.     These are the people who go to church on Sunday but run with the worldly crowd during the week. 

5.     In the OT, Israel was always having problems on account of the mixed multitude.  And just as God wanted the Israelites to separate from the unsaved, He has the same standard for the church (cf. II Cor. 6:14—7:1).

6.     Years ago a pastor asked me why our church did not support the Billy Graham meetings.  I explained our position to him and quoted II Corinthians 6:14.  He got very upset and said that these Scriptures had nothing to do with separating from unbelievers.  Then what do these Scriptures teach?

7.     Remember: God is a separator; but the devil is an infiltrator (Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43).

8.     After new believers are saved they must be taught separation from sin and worldliness.   And we must make sure people are genuinely converted to Christ before they join the church, otherwise we will wind up with a “mixed multitude” (cf. Rev. 2:2, 14-17, 20; 3:15, 16).

I. THE MIXED MULTITUDE COMPLAINS AND LUSTS AFTER THE THINGS OF THE WORLD (11:1-5).

1.     Mark that word in Num. 11:1 – “complained.”  Another word frequently associated with the mixed multitude is “murmur” (Ex. 15:24; 16:2, 7, 8; 17:3; Num. 14:2, 27, 29, 36; 16:11, 41; 17:5; Deut. 1:27; Psalm 106:24-48; I Cor. 10:10, 11).

2.     One of the problems with a mixed multitude is that the unbelievers are a bad influence on the believers, especially new believers, carnal believers, weak believers, etc.

3.     Many a weak believer has been led astray by an unregenerate church member.

4.     The Scofield Bible says, “This mixed multitude, standing for unconverted church-members, was a source of weakness and division, then as now” (p. 85). 

5.     And, “Unconverted church members, unable to desire or understand Christ as the Bread of God (Ex. 16:35), will clamour for things pleasing to the flesh in the work and way of the church: sumptuous buildings, ornate ritual, an easy doctrine. Alas! They lead away the unspiritual believers also.” (p. 181).

6.     For example, note Exodus 16:2, “And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.”

7.     Compare also Numbers 14:2 – “And all the children of Israel murmured…and the whole congregation said…”

8.     We see this throughout the Bible.  For example, a few weeks ago I was preaching from John 12:1-6.  From John’s account it would seem that Judas Iscariot was the only trouble-maker.  But when we compare John’s account with Matthew and Mark we see that Judas was able to influence the other disciples as well.

9.     That is why the apostle Paul said to the church at Corinth, “Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us…But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat…Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person” (I Cor. 5).

10.Let us look again at out text (Num. 11:4, 5).  The mixed multitude is always lusting after worldly things.  We had a member one time who told me he would only come to Sunday School if we had donuts and coffee. 

11.Some churches get nobody out for prayer meeting or soulwinning but they get a big crowd if there is a picnic or a softball game.

12.Please do not misunderstand me.  I like donuts and coffee and picnics and softball games but what are our priorities?

13.Let me take this further.  The big thing now in many churches is entertainment and worldly, rock-and-roll style music.  Pastors and deacons who give in to this are making a big mistake. 

14.This sort of worldly worship always leads to shallow preaching. Churches that go this route are filling up their auditoriums with unsaved people.  Soon they close down the Sunday night service because the mixed multitude prefers staying home and watching TV on Sunday nights. 

15.Soon you have teenagers coming to church with ear-rings and purple hair.  Soon you have teenage girls getting pregnant out of wedlock. 

16.We had a young lady from another church graduate from our Christian school.  She said many of the girls from her church were having babies out of wedlock.  And there was absolutely no church discipline.

II. THE MIXED MULTITUDE DOES NOT KNOW CHRIST (11:4-9).

1.     If you know your Bible, you know that the manna sent from heaven was a picture and type of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Indeed, our Lord Himself said in John 6:51, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

2.     “How strange that souls whom Jesus feeds

With manna from above

Should grieve Him by their evil deeds,

And sin against His love” – author unknown.

3.     The mixed multitude despised the manna from heaven (11:6).  They preferred the leeks and onions of Egypt (11:4-6).

4.     Interestingly, the word “manna” means, “What is it?” (cf. Ex. 16:15).   It is a fact that there are multitudes of church members who know nothing about the Lord Jesus Christ.

5.     George Barna has done extensive research on church members from a variety of different churches and has proven by his many polls and surveys that for the most part, professed Christians do not live any differently than unsaved people.

6.     Their marriages are falling apart.  There are just as many divorces among professed Christians as among unbelievers.

7.     Churchgoers do not know anything about Bible doctrine. They do not seem to have any real understanding of the Bible's distinctive message.  The majority of church members cannot even define the Gospel or name the Ten Commandments.

8.     Church members switch denominations and cannot give you a Biblical reason why they move around so much.

9.     Barna discovered that most practicing Christians believe the Bible teaches that “God helps those who help themselves.”  Mr. Barna has pointed out that an increasingly pagan and wicked American culture was shaping Christians more than Christians were shaping the culture.

10.In the old days it was the churches that shaped American culture.  Now it is the wicked pop culture (TV, Hollywood, rock music, etc.) that is shaping the churches!

11.Barna has also noticed that most churches seemed barely aware of the problem. “You go talk to pastors, and hear them talk about all the programs and all the numbers and the money and all the buildings,” Barna says. “But you almost never hear them talk about how the lives of their people were so demonstratively different that people had to pay attention to the cause of Christ and take it seriously.”

12.Mr. Barna is describing the problem of the mixed multitude.   What is generally referred to as “evangelical Christianity” is nothing more than a hodge-podge of believers and unbelievers, wheat and tares, Baptists and charismatics and everything in between.

13.The problem is we have millions of unregenerate church members in our churches today, and this includes unsaved pastors, deacons and Sunday School teachers.

14.A mixed multitude church can never be strong.  The unsaved  members eventually drag the church down and eventually the church gets very liberal, and then it closes down.

15.Strong Bible teaching and preaching is the best antidote for this problem.  Otherwise, the mixed multitude will continue polluting and weakening and eventually destroying their churches. 

III. THE MIXED MULTITUDE BRINGS THE DISPLEASURE AND JUDGMENT OF GOD (11:1-10).

1.     “And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD…” (11:1; cf. 11:10).

2.     God responded to their complaining with a consuming fire that destroyed those that were “in the uttermost parts of the camp” (11:1). 

3.     After the fire fell from heaven, the place was called “Taberah” (means “burning”).

4.     God sent fire from heaven to devour Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10).  Hebrews 12:29 says, “For our God is a consuming fire.”

5.     We see this all throughout the Bible.  The Lord is patient and merciful, long-suffering and gracious.  But there is a limit to God’s patience (cf. Num. 11:33, 34; 12:9, 10).

CONCLUSION:

1.     Only the intercessory prayers of Moses quenched God’s consuming fire at Taberah (11:2, 3).

2.     Moses is a picture and type of Christ our Intercessor and Mediator.  First Timothy 2:5 says, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”

3.     Is He your Mediator?