Leviticus, Exodus, Exodus 16,
Exodus 16. I had Leviticus on my mind. I titled this message, What is
this? What is this? That's a good title because unless
the Lord reveals Himself to you, you won't know Him. You will
not know Him. God has to make Himself known
to us before we know who He is. But they asked when they saw
the manna, what is this? Now one of the things that stands
out in this chapter is they're murmuring against God. Actually, it'll stand out through
this whole exodus. Three days into the journey they
were complaining about the water, bitter Mara. Six weeks now into the journey,
they're six weeks into the journey and they are now murmuring That
there's no bread, there's no food, they're hungry. They're
hungry. You think God doesn't know that?
You think God doesn't know our situation? He brings us into
it. We'll see this in a minute. They murmured when they were
in Egypt, they murmured in the wilderness, they were a murmuring
people. Why? Because for the most part,
most of them, DID NOT BELIEVE GOD, UNBELIEF. CONTINUAL MURMURING IS A SURE
SIGN THAT A PERSON DOES NOT BELIEVE GOD, THEY ARE DESTITUTE OF FAITH. WE LEARNED IN HEBREWS THEY COULD
NOT ENTER IN BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF, UNBELIEF. Moses told them in verse 8, he
said, THE LORD HEARETH YOUR MURMURINGS WHICH YOU MURMUR AGAINST HIM,
AND WHAT ARE WE? YOUR MURMURINGS ARE NOT AGAINST
US, BUT YOUR MURMURINGS ARE AGAINST THE LORD. ALL OF OUR COMPLAINING IS AGAINST
THE LORD. Do you know that? Are not all
things of God? All things are of God. 2 Corinthians
chapter 5, all things are of God. However, the most outstanding,
the most outstanding thing in this chapter is the Lord's mercy. It's His mercy, it's His long-suffering,
it's His kindness, His goodness. That to me is the one thing that
really stands out in this chapter. He said to be here in the wilderness
of sin. That's interesting, that's an
interesting name. Israel in the wilderness of sin
is typical of the church in this world of sin. See, they are a
type of the church. They are typical of the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, Stephen called them
in Acts 7.38 the church in the wilderness. He called them that. And the manna is typical of Christ,
the bread from heaven. And we see the church here is
made up of sinners. Even after the Lord saves us,
we are still sinners all the way home. And we complain too much all
the way home. We do. We do. We're guilty of
it. And the cloud in verse 10 represents
the Lord Jesus Christ where God's glory is revealed. God's glory is revealed in the
face, in the person of Jesus Christ. Now verse 1, and I'm
not going to go verse by verse, we wouldn't get through this,
but I'm picking out some key verses. In verse 1 they go from
Elam to sin, the wilderness of sin. In other words, they go
from a place of plenty, plenty of water in Elam, 70 palm trees,
plenty of shade, peace. They go from a place of plenty
to a place of thorns, the wilderness of sin, a place of thorns is
where they go. Now, why did God lead them through the wilderness
of sin? Turn over to Deuteronomy 8. In Deuteronomy 8, let me read this to you. Let me read these first three
verses. And the commandments which I command thee this day
shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and
go in, and possess the land, WHICH THE LORD SWORE UNTO YOUR
FATHERS, AND THOU SHALT REMEMBER ALL THE WAY WHICH THE LORD THY
GOD LED THEE THESE FORTY YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS. AND HERE'S
WHY HE DID IT, TO HUMBLE THEE, TO HUMBLE THEE, AND TO PROVE
THEE TO KNOW WHAT WAS IN THINE HEART, WHETHER THOU WOULDEST
KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS OR NO, AND HE HUMBLED THEE. and suffered
thee to hunger." God knows they're hungry, He knows they have no
bread, He brought them to the place to be hungry, and here's why He did it. "...to
suffer thee to hunger, and to feed thee with manna." It's not
until He cuts everything else off will the manna be worth anything
to us, the bread of life. and to feed thee with manna which
thou knewest not neither didst thy fathers know that he might
make thee to know that man does not live by bread alone he doesn't
live by bread only he doesn't live by the flesh pots of Egypt
that they kept wanting to go back to Christ is our life Christ
is our life not the food on my table if God doesn't make it
rain we're all gonna die He said, here's what you're going to know,
that you don't live by bread only, now my body needs bread,
my body needs food, but here's what you live by, my word! My word, if I command it not
to rain, guess what? You're going to be in trouble.
If the sun doesn't shine, you're going to be in trouble. If the
crops don't grow and God does not give the increase, if He
doesn't command it to do that, you and I are in trouble. And He says this, you're going
to know this. And there's one thing that every child of God
is going to know here as God leads us through this wilderness
of sin, this world of sin. We are going to know that the
Lord has brought us out. We're going to know that the
Lord is the Lord. That's what we're going to know. He said this. I brought you to
prove thee and to know what was in thine heart. Now does God
know what's in my heart? He knows what's in everybody's
heart. Here's what He's saying that you might know what's in
your heart. You know I did not know what was in my heart till
God saved me. And I have been learning what's
in my heart since for almost 50 years now. I've been learning
what's in my heart. Oh, the heart's deceitful above
all things, desperately wicked. Who can know it? God. God. He makes me to know whether or
not I have faith. He makes me to know whether or
not love is in my heart for Him. Peter, do you love me? Do you
love me more than these? God knows. Peter said, Lord,
you know all things. You know I love you. BUT HE MAKES
US TO KNOW WHAT'S IN THE HEART. AND THAT WE UNDERSTAND, THAT
WE UNDERSTAND THIS, THAT WE DON'T LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY
WORD THAT COMES OUT OF GOD'S MOUTH. YOU'RE GOING TO EAT TODAY, GOD'S
COMMANDED THAT FOOD. HE COMMANDED IT TO GROW AND BE
PROCESSED AND END UP ON YOUR TABLE AND MY TABLE. and we're
going to give thanks for it thank you lord give us give us lord
our daily bread our daily bread and it says in verse 2 the whole
congregation of israel murmured what about joshua and caleb i
don't know but i do know it says this the whole congregation murmured And I believe it says it this
way because even though God has saved us, we still complain too
much. We still murmur too much. We
do, we murmur too much. We're guilty of it. We're guilty
of it. And they said, look in verse
3, they said, WISH WE HAD DIED BY THE HAND OF THE LORD IN EGYPT. It's amazing when somebody is
really hungry and really thirsty, How stupid they can be! It's
amazing how our appetite can just bring out of us such irritableness,
such sin! Just an appetite! WISH WE HAD
DIED BY THE HAND OF THE LORD IN EGYPT! Well, does it really
matter where you die? By the hand of the Lord? Does
it matter? Whether it's in the wilderness
or in Egypt? I'd rather die by the hand of the Lord where He
would have me to be than I ought not be." That is such a, what a statement! And all of
that because, all of that because THEY'RE HUNGRY! THEY'RE HUNGRY! But oh, listen, here they are
murmuring, complaining, and he said, I wish we'd died in Egypt
by the flesh pots, and when we eat bread to the full, Man lives for his stomach, doesn't
he? He just lives for his stomach. Well, right about now you would
think God would kill him. But in verse 4 it says, He rained
down bread from heaven. Look at that, at the mercy of
God. This said the Lord to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from
heaven for you. I thought of the scripture in
Romans, and this could be a subtext for this message where sin abounded
grace did much more abound if he gave them what they deserved
it would be death they ought to died in egypt they should
have died in egypt if god gave us what we deserve now can we
be honest here can we be honest if god gave us what we deserve
we would be it would be eternal death wouldn't it It would be eternal death if
God gave us what we deserve. There's one thing about when
God saves a sinner, that sinner agrees with God. That sinner agrees with God's
judgment. Now let us look at God's provision
for His covenant people here in the wilderness. This people
who was a type of the Lord's Church throughout the world.
He gave them bread from heaven, Flesh to eat, we're going to
look at this flesh in a little bit. God said, I'm going to give
you so much flesh that it's going to come out your nostrils. I'm
going to make you sick. When you vomit, you're going to vomit
it out. Be careful, God might give you what you want to the
point where you're sick of it. I know there's one particular
person that comes to my mind that I know God has given this
person what he was after and he's sick of it. You ever throw up and it comes
out your nose? that's I'm gonna read that to you here in a little
bit I'm gonna read to you a little bit he said it's gonna come out
your nostrils I'm gonna make you sick of it be careful what
you're after because God sometimes will let you have it to the point
where you just you're sick of it okay verse 15 the children of
Israel saw the man it rained down it rained down bread from
heaven They saw the manna and they said,
what is this? They didn't know what it was
because they had nothing to do with it. They had nothing to
do, this is of God. What was manna? Well, verse 4,
it was bread from heaven, from above. Who gave them manna? Who gave this manna to them? murmuring people, who gave them
the bread from heaven? And this is important. God did. God did. You know what the Israelites,
some of the Jews said to the Lord? They said, Show us a sign. They said, He gave us bread from
heaven. And the Lord said, Moses did
not give you that bread from heaven. MY FATHER GIVETH YOU
THE TRUE BREAD FROM HEAVEN. THEY CLAIM MOSES GAVE THEM THAT
BREAD FROM HEAVEN. MOSES DIDN'T HAVE THAT KIND OF
POWER. You see how things can get twisted over time? You see
how you can twist the scriptures to your own destruction? He said,
MOSES DIDN'T GIVE YOU THAT BREAD. It's in John Chapter 6. He didn't
give you that bread. MY FATHER GIVETH YOU THE BREAD
FROM HEAVEN, THE TRUE BREAD FROM HEAVEN. Now who does this man
represent? It represents the Lord Jesus
Christ. Turn over to John chapter 6. This is a type, this man is
a type, and there is no life in a type. He said, Your fathers
did eat manna in the wilderness, and they are dead. And he didn't
mean just physically dead, he meant spiritually dead because
God is not the God of the dead, He is the God of the living.
He wouldn't have called them dead. In John 6, look in verse 36, Verse 32, Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say to you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven,
but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the
bread of God is HE, it�s a PERSON. The bread of God is a PERSON
which cometh down from heaven and giveth life, spiritual life
unto the world, not to Jews only, but Gentiles like me and you. Then said they unto him, Lord
evermore give us this bread, this life-giving bread. And Jesus
said to them, Amen. I am the bread of life. He that
comes to me shall never hunger. He that believes on me shall
never thirst. I'm the bread. Look over in verse 48. I am that bread of life. God
gave them the manna in the wilderness as a type of His Son who is the
bread from heaven. Who is the bread of life. He
came down to give life to the world. I'll tell you something
else about this man. It's mysterious. They said they
didn't know it and their fathers didn't know it. They didn't know
what it was. It's mysterious. I said to you, you'd never know
Christ unless He reveals Himself to you. And it's mysterious in
this sense also. It was given at night. They were
in the tents. They were asleep when all this
was going on. All of this. Paul wrote this to Timothy, verse
Timothy 3.16, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. That one who is the bread of
life is God Almighty Himself. Is God Almighty Himself. And
then this manna was white, is white. It says that in verse
31. IT REPRESENTS CHRIST'S PURITY AND HOLINESS. HE KNEW NO SIN. THERE WAS NO SIN IN CHRIST, THE
BREAD OF LIFE. It says over in Numbers 11 and
7, And the manna was as coriander seed, and the color thereof as
the color of bdellium, that's the color of pearl, the pearl
of great price. Holy, that's what it represents. Holy, holy, holy, holy is the
Lord God Almighty. That's who He is. And then it
was small in verse 14, it was very small. Our Lord had a small
beginning. He shall grow up as a tender
plant. He came into this world as a
babe, laid Him in a manger. HE WAS LOOKED UPON AS A VERY
SMALL THING BY MOST WHO SAW HIM. WE KNOW YOU, YOU'RE THE CARPENTER'S
SON. He had a small beginning, but
oh my soul, there's life in that bread. There's life in that bread. DESPISE NOT THE DAY OF SMALL
THINGS written in Zechariah 10. I remember Zechariah 4, 10. And
then it was round. It was round. SHOWING CHRIST
COMPLETENESS AND PERFECTION. NO BEGINNING, NO END, HE'S ETERNALITY. You know, if something is round,
there's no beginning or end to it, is there? I'm the Alpha and
Omega, the beginning and the end. He's the Eternal God. He's
the Eternal God. And then it was sweet. Tastes
like wafer made with honey. To those of you who have tasted
that the Lord is gracious, He's sweet, isn't He? Sweet to the
taste. Everything about Jesus Christ
is sweet. When they put that tree, when
they cut that tree down and they put it in that bitter water,
what did the water taste like? It didn't say it tastes clean.
It said it tasted sweet. And this man, it tasted sweet. A song with Solomon, 516, his
mouth is most sweet. That's what it says. In Psalm
45, 2, grace is poured from his lips. Grace is poured from his lips.
Come unto me all you laboring, heavy laden, I'll give you rest. That's sweet. That's sweet. And look how this was prepared.
In verse 23, I'm trying to take my time with this this morning
because there's so much here. But in verse 23, And He said
to them, This is that which the Lord hath said, Tomorrow is the
rest of the Holy Sabbath unto the Lord. Bake that which ye
will bake today, and see that which ye will see. Now, turn
over to Numbers 11. In Numbers 11, verse 8. And the people went about and
they gathered it in Numbers 11, 8. And the people went about
and gathered it, and ground it in meals, beat it in a mortar,
baked it in pans, and made cakes of it." Well, this symbolizes the sufferings
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as the lamb that was roasted
with fire back in Egypt symbolizes the sufferings of Christ, this
ground in the meals This beat it in mortar and baked in pans. That's the sufferings of Christ
for us. Christ crucified. Christ crucified. Then there are some other things
I want us to notice in this chapter. For 40 years they never worked
for their food. For 40 years, the manna never
failed them. They never worked for the manna. They never worked for it. We
do not work for the bread from heaven. He's the gift of God. We don't merit Christ. He's the
gift of God to those who have Him. He's the bread of God's
providing. They provided none of this for
40 years. How would you like not go to
the grocery store for 40 years and have to buy groceries? They
didn't buy groceries for 40 years. SHOES, CLOTHES, but they didn't have to in the
wilderness, they didn't have to do any of this. God provided
everything for them and He kept them just like He keeps us. And they were, in verse 21, they
were to gather it early every morning before the sun come up
and got hot and melted it. They were to get up and go out
and gather it EVERY MORNING! This is beautiful! This is beautiful! We are to start our day feeding
on Christ. Isn't that beautiful? This is
how we are to start our day, feeding on the manna from Heaven,
the Lord Jesus Christ. What a way to start a day! Monday
wouldn't be a Monday if we start it right. Everybody dreads Monday. It's
a work day. Oh my, if we start it right we feed on Christ and
we thank Him for the day. Thank Him for our jobs and thank
Him for His provision for us. Then they were to gather enough
for that day and leave none of it uneaten. Verses 4 and 19. WE FEED ON CHRIST EVERY DAY,
BUT THERE IS NO WASTE. THERE IS NO WASTE. CHRIST IS
ENOUGH. HE IS ALWAYS ENOUGH. BUT NO WASTE. THERE IS NO WASTE. JUST LIKE THE LAMB, THEY WOULD
EAT ALL OF IT. EAT ALL OF IT. AND NOTICE THIS, WHEN THEY GATHERED
EXTRA AND KEPT IT UNTIL THE NEXT DAY, IN VERSE 20, WHAT HAPPENED? IT BRED WORMS AND IT STINKED!
NOTHING SMELLS WORSE THAN DISOBEDIENCE AMONG GOD'S CHILDREN. IT STINKS! IT STINKS! HERE'S SOMETHING ELSE
INTERESTING, GOD SAID, I'M GOING TO PROVE YOU WHETHER YOU'LL KEEP
MY LAW OR NOT. BEFORE THE LAW WAS EVER GIVEN, THEY BROKE IT. THEY COULDN'T EVEN KEEP THAT. GOD SAID, JUST GATHER ENOUGH
FOR THE DAY, And the next day, because Christ is always fresh.
We don't live on yesterday's grace. We live on grace today. We live on Christ today. We don't
keep looking back. We keep looking to Him. We feed
on Him. But there's nothing that smells
worse than disobedience among God's children. He said to go
out and gather and don't keep any of it for the next day. They
did. Some of them did. He said, gather enough on the
sixth day for two days. Don't go out the seventh day.
Well, some of them did. You know, God only needs to give
us examples. He don't have to let everybody do it. He just
gives examples. And here's something that just
really jumped out at me. WHEN THE BREAD FROM HEAVEN WAS
GIVEN, look in verse 23, let's read this, AND HE SAID UNTO THEM,
THIS IS THAT WHICH THE LORD HAS SAID, TOMORROW IS THE REST OF
THE HOLY SABBATH UNTIL THE LORD BAKE THAT WHICH YOU WILL BAKE
TODAY, SEETHE THAT WHICH YOU WILL SEETHE, AND THAT WHICH REMAINS
OVER LAY UP FOR YOU TO BE KEPT UNTIL THE MORNING. I never, I
don't know, maybe I noticed it before and I just forgot it,
but WHEN THE BREAD FROM HEAVEN WAS GIVEN, so was the Sabbath. This is the first mention of
the Sabbath and it's when the bread from heaven was given.
There is no rest apart from the bread from heaven. There's no
rest. It's the first mention of the
Sabbath and that was before the law was given. That's before
the law was given. The Sabbath was established when
the bread from heaven was given and Christ is our bread and He's
our rest. He's our rest. You have no rest
until you've eaten of the manna. There is no spiritual rest until
you have eaten of Christ. He that by faith drinks my blood
and eats my flesh. Until then, you have no rest,
you have no Sabbath. Christ is our Sabbath. We cannot rest till we feed on
Christ. And then in their journey into
wilderness, the manna was always there for them. God faithfully
provided for them. God has faithfully provided this
congregation with the manna from heaven for many years. Let us
never call it light bread. Let us never call it light bread. God faithfully provided they
always had enough. Those who gathered a lot and
those who gathered little, they both had the same. One did not
have too much and the other did not have enough. CHRIST IS ENOUGH FOR GREAT FAITH
OR LITTLE FAITH, HE IS STILL ENOUGH. And then He gives a testimony
here in Exodus 16 here in verse 32, And Moses said, This is the
thing which the LORD commandeth. Fill an omer of it to be kept
for your generations, that they may see the bread wherewith I
have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from
the land of Egypt. Well, we definitely have a testimony
of it here in the Word, don't we? You see it every week. You see
it every week. And I thought of the Lord's table
we keep in remembrance of His death till He comes. We do. But let's not forget the cloud
in verse 10. Go back to verse 10. I'm going
to wind this up. I know I've covered a lot, but
there's a whole lot more here to cover. And it came to pass,
as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children
of Israel, and they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the
glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. That cloud is Christ, in whom
the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. And when God commands
the light of the gospel to shine in our hearts, we see the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's what we see. But here's
a note of warning, here's a note of warning, I'm going to end
with a warning. They grew tired of the manna and they called
it light bread. They grew tired of God's provision
and they wanted something else. Now look over in Numbers chapter
11, in Numbers chapter 11. In verse 4, listen here, And
the mixed multitude that was among them fell a-lusting. That's
why we are not to be unequally yoked. And the children of Israel
also wept again, and they said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?
Oh, they're tired of that man, and we remember the fish, and
we did eat in Egypt freely. Oh, those cucumbers, man, I can
still taste them. and the melons, and the leeks,
and the onions, and the garlic. I can just see them drooling
right there as they're saying this. They're drooling. They're
thinking back to their sinful days. That's dangerous. But now our soul was dried away.
There's nothing at all beside this MANNA before our eyes. Brethren, listen, don't get dull
of hearing of Christ. Don't get dull of this message.
Don't get dull of hearing this message. Ask the Lord to make
it fresh. I do. I ask the Lord to make
it fresh to me. I know there's so much sin in
me that I can get so dull of hearing. I can get dull in preaching. Oh, there's nothing at all beside
this manna before our eyes, and the manna was as coriander seed,
and the color thereof as the color of bdellium. And the people
went about, and they gathered it, and they ground it, and they
mad though, they mad, that's all we got. Now I want you to
look over here in verse 18, And say thou unto the people, Sanctify
yourselves against tomorrow, and ye shall eat flesh. WE HAVE
WEPT IN THE EARS OF THE LORD, SAYING, WHO SHALL GIVE US FLESH
TO EAT? FOR IT WAS WELL WITH US IN EGYPT, THEREFORE THE LORD
WILL GIVE YOU FLESH." He's going to give you! Be careful what
you ask for! "...AND YOU SHALL EAT. YOU SHALL NOT EAT ONE DAY, NOR
TWO DAYS, NOR FIVE DAYS, NOR TEN DAYS, NOR TWENTY DAYS, BUT
EVEN A WHOLE MONTH, UNTIL IT COME OUT OF YOUR NOSTRILS." UNTIL
YOU VOMIT IT OUT OF YOUR NOSTRILS, AND IT BE LOWSUM UNTO YOU, BECAUSE
YOU'VE DESPISED THE LORD WHICH IS AMONG YOU, AND HAVE WEPT BEFORE
HIM, SAYING, WHY CAME WE OUT OF EGYPT?" You know what I can say to all
that? Salvation is all of grace. None of us make it. And there's
not a soul that's ever stepped on this earth that would Step
into heaven if it were not for the grace of God. He said, I'll give you flesh. You
want flesh? I'll give it to you. Has God ever made you sick of
yourself? I've had enough of me. I've had enough of me. I don't want me no more. I want
me and I want you and I to just to be absorbed into the Lord
Jesus Christ. Paul said for me to live is Christ
to die is gain. What is this? This is the grace
of God. This is the bread from heaven.
This is our life. This is our life.