Exodus chapter 15. Children of Israel had just seen
a great deliverance from the army of Egypt at the Red Sea,
and they had this worship service singing this great song of praise
to the Lord. But now they're not going to
stay there by the Red Sea. They're on a journey. They're
going to go to the promised land. So, verse 22, Moses brought Israel
from the Red Sea and they went out into the wilderness of Shur.
And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water.
And here they walked for three days. I remember when our girls
were little, it took six to seven hours to get to Janice's mom
and dad's house. And that seemed like a hard,
I mean a brutal, Imagine walking with those little ones for three
days. Three days in the desert, walking. And after three days, couldn't
find any water. All you could see is sand, as
far as you could see. They probably left the Red Sea.
They probably had some skins with some water in it. After
three days, all their hoarded resources are gone. No water. That sand is hot. It's burning
their feet. Their sandals never wore out
during these 40 years of this journey, but that sand is burning
their feet. The sand is blowing up. It's
getting in their eyes, in their nostrils, in their mouth. They
don't have any water to drink, and they don't have any water
to rinse that sand off of them. Their lips are dry and cracked. Their tongues are swelling. Their children, can you imagine
seeing those little ones? how they'd be with no water.
Their cattle are dying. This is real neat. I mean, this
is a trial. Spurgeon said this is no holiday
parade. This is brutal in the midst of
the desert. And then they see an oasis. Look
at verse 23. Then, and when they came to Marah,
they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter.
Therefore, the name of it was called Marah. They saw this Oasis
in the distance. It was not a mirage. It was an
oasis, waters. And can you imagine how excited
they were to see that water? They could just taste it. I'm
sure they just ran to it. And there's nothing like water
when you're hot and you're thirsty. There's nothing like water. I
mean, you can feel it going all through you. And they are so
excited. And they got there and the water
was too bitter. So bitter they could not drink
it. Disappointment. I mean, bitterly
disappointed. Can you imagine how they just
felt crushed? I watched a special on TV about
the Sahara Desert. It's fascinating. Two or three
parts of it. I watched them. And they showed
this one particular... I have three hours of television
over the course of a couple of days. I can just remember this.
These birds make a migration across the Sahara Desert every
year. Thousands of miles. And they
always stop at this particular oasis. They've got like about
two stops that they can make along this journey. And they
show an aerial view of this oasis. I mean, it's gorgeous. You just
wouldn't believe it. It's green and lush and colorful
just in the midst of this huge desert. But the water there,
you can't drink it. It's been bubbling up through
the sand, it's been cooked by the sun so long, it's evaporated
back onto itself so many times. The water's sludge. A bird can
land on that water, but if it does, it'll die. It can't get
its feet back up out of it. It just sucks it right down in
there. The water's like sludge. The salt content is just so high,
you cannot drink that water. And all around this beautiful,
you know, from a distance it's so beautiful, but you get up
close to it and there's flies swarming everywhere. I mean,
it's disgusting. But those flies land on that
water and they can drink that salt water. And their bodies
purify the water, get the salt out of it. And there those flies
are, full of fresh water. And those birds come and they
eat those flies. And they get food and water all
in the same thing. And they have what they need
to make the rest of their journey. The Lord provides for those birds. You reckon He's going to provide
for His people when they're in the desert? He's going to. And I just picture that oasis
being very similar to what the children of Israel found here.
The water is like sludge. They cannot drink it. It's so
bitter. And boy, then the murmuring and complaining starts. Look
at verse 24. And the people murmured against Moses saying, what should
we drink? Now, all this murmuring and complaining came just three
days after the Lord miraculously delivered them from this mighty
army of Pharaoh. Everyone was singing and dancing. Where'd all the joy go? It went
quick, didn't it? You think maybe after everything
they've seen, that maybe they could pray and ask the Lord to
send them some water, but they didn't. And we know why they
didn't. Because we're saddled with the
same sinful nature. We know why they didn't. And
this just shows you how weak a human being is. We're weak
in the flesh and we're weak in the faith. Just the lack of a
little water will cause even a believer to murmur and complain
against God. That says they're murmuring against
Moses, but really they're murmuring against God. And that's, we understand,
we've got the exact same nature. Have you been there? If you're
honest with yourself, you have. Found yourself questioning the
providence of God. Have you ever found yourself
in a situation, look back on it? Well, that would have been
a good time to pray instead of murmur. And you wonder. Why would the Lord put up with
the likes of me? Why did he put up with the likes
of them? Look at Psalm 78. The Lord gives us an answer. Psalm 78, verse 34. Here, giving a history of Israel,
they sinned. And when the Lord slew them,
Then they sought him, and they returned and inquired early after
God, and they remembered that God was their Rock, and the High
God their Redeemer. Nevertheless, they did flatter
him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues.
They just gave lip service, and they just wanted the Lord not
to punish them any more, for their heart was not right with
him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant. But he, being
full of compassion, forgave their iniquity and destroyed them not.
Yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir
up all his wrath. For he remembered that they were
but flesh, a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again."
That's why the Lord doesn't just destroy all of us. He remembers.
He remembers His people. He remembers we're but flesh.
He remembers all we are is a vapor. And He remembers His covenant.
And He did not destroy the people, the people that He delivered
out of Egypt. But now Moses is still left with them. Moses called
these people, you know, murmuring and complaining at him. And Moses
prays. Look here at verse 25. And he
cried unto the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, which
when he had passed into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There
he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved
them. And Moses prayed, and the Lord
answered his prayer. The Lord showed Moses a tree.
The tree was always there, but Moses didn't see it. Moses didn't
see it for what it was, didn't know the properties of the tree
or something. He didn't see that tree until
the Lord showed it to him. And when Moses put that tree
into those bitter waters, those waters became sweet and everybody
could drink all they wanted. Now, let me give a word of comfort
to the child of God. This world that we live in, it's
a wilderness, isn't it? It's a wilderness. And you all
came from it today. Out in that wilderness. You had
to struggle to get through that wilderness to get to the oasis
this evening. And tomorrow, we're right back
out in it. It's a wilderness. But just remember, we're only
passing through now. This is not our home, this wilderness,
this desert. This is not our home. We're just
passing through. Who wants to make a home here
anyway? You want to have a home where there's no water, where
there's no life, where there's nothing that can support life?
Well, of course not. We're just passing through. And
while we pass through, remember this, we will have trials. In this world, we shall have
tribulation. The Lord sent them this trial
to prove them. Now, sometimes the Lord will
just suddenly cause the trial to end and we have relief. Sometimes in the midst of this
trial, the Lord will bring someone into our life or something into
our life, maybe that we wouldn't have ever had, wouldn't have
ever known if it wasn't for that trial. And in the midst of that
trial, the Lord gives some relief. We have some sweetness. from
the bitterness of the trial. Sometimes, and I wish this was
true with me more often, the Lord removes the bitterness of
the trial by giving us a submission to His will. And if we'll submit
ourselves to His will, the bitterness will be sweet. Now, remember
this name. This is not the name of our study
tonight, but remember it. Jehovah Shammah. is there. No matter where you are in this
wilderness, you remember the Lord's there and that'll give
his child some sweetness in the bitterness. This tree that the
Lord showed Moses is a picture of Christ, the tree of life.
That tree was always there. It was always there. We may not always see the Lord.
But He's always there. That's His name. The Lord is
there. We're never alone. And if the child of God has the
presence of the Lord, we don't notice the bitterness of the
trial anymore. Just like I don't notice my back
porch light. I don't notice if that light's
on if the morning sun is just beaming in there. Because the
sun outshines that little bulb. The sweetness of Christ's presence
outshines the bitterness of the trial and gives us sweetness. It's because of his presence.
And one of the reasons the Lord sends us these trials as we pass
through this wilderness is so that we will know him by this
name, Jehovah Rapha, the Lord that healeth thee. If we never
got sick, we wouldn't know the Lord that healeth thee. Now you
remember, the Lord didn't deliver you from Egypt. Egypt's a picture
of sin. The Lord did not deliver you
from sin to take you out into the wilderness and let you perish
in the wilderness. No, sir. He's going to bring
you to the promised land. But while he won't let us die
out there in the wilderness, he will send trials. And this
was a test. The Lord sent this to prove the
children of Israel. And they failed the test. I mean,
they just got an F. They failed the test. But the
Lord did not destroy, even though they failed the test, the Lord
didn't destroy them. Look at verse 26. And he said,
if thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy
God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt
give ear to his commandments, and keep all of his statutes,
I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought
upon the Egyptians. for I am the Lord that healeth
thee." Jehovah Rapha, the Lord that healeth thee. Now, I want
to look at this name here in two ways, the Lord that healeth
thee. First, in physical sicknesses, sicknesses of this flesh. And
the first thing we learn from this text is this, if we didn't
sin, we'd never get sick. I mean, what that verse 26 says,
if you hearken diligently, you do that which is right, you give
ear to His commandments, you keep all of His statutes, you're
not going to get sick. But we do sin. That's all we
do is sin. So we have these many sicknesses
that we suffer. And if we're ever healed of any
of those sicknesses, write this down. Jehovah Rapha is the one
who healed our bodies. He's the great physician. Just
like many of our number are going through right at this moment.
If the Lord's pleased to give healing, it's Him that did it. Jehovah-Rapha. If you start to
feel a little better, it's the Lord that healed thee. We cause
the sickness because of our sin. Jehovah-Rapha, in mercy and power,
heals His people. One of the things while I had
my back surgery, I liked this. I went to see the surgeon, and
he looked at everything that there was about my case, and
he said, I mean, I'm hurting. I mean, oh. And he said, Frank,
we're going to fix this. I'm going to fix this for you.
Oh, that was good news. It didn't work as much as maybe
what he hoped it would be, but the other thing I appreciated
about him was this. He was compassionate. I mean, I went back to him and
I still had some pain and the side effects of the medicine.
I thought I was losing my mind. And he put his hand on me and
he said, it's alright. It's going to get better. And his compassion
meant a great deal to me. Jehovah Rapha, he's compassionate. He remembers his compassion for
his people. And he never heals somebody partway.
He heals completely. The second thing we learn is
this. Well, let me go back. You know, the Lord's not going
to heal us. We know this. The Lord's not
going to heal us of all of our physical diseases. Someday, he's
going to let this body die. And when he does, you remember,
old Frank, he's plumb healed now. Plum healed. Sometimes he's
going to heal our bodies. And one day for his people, they'll
be plum healed because Jehovah-Rapha is going to heal them of every
disease. So the first thing we learn is
we wouldn't get sick if we didn't have sin. And the second thing
is this. When someone gets sick, use the means that God's given
to provide some relief. Tom Fortner said, I just laughed
out loud when I saw this. Faith and good sense go hand
in hand. Faith and good sense just go
hand in hand. You know, you see these people, they won't take
medicine. They won't go to the doctor and,
you know, just, well, the Lord's just going to heal me while I
lay here. They don't get that from Scripture. Scripture is
full of illustrations and plainly teaches that we're to use the
means that God has provided for us. And the first means is this.
Prayer. It's prayer. James says, is he
sick among you? Let him call for the elders of
the church and let them pray for him. Now, we just need to
remember this, we need to be a people of prayer. When something goes wrong with
you, let us know. Mike came in and told me tonight
about this prayer request of Leah for Noah. This needs to
be a matter of prayer. We couldn't pray for him if we
didn't know. Let us know and then let's pray. Let's be a people,
a praying people, pray to God to give wisdom and compassion
to the doctors and nurses that treat our loved ones. The first
means is prayer. And the second means is doctors
and medicine and nurses and things. My sister-in-law, Stacy, told
my brother she will not feel sorry for him if he's got a headache
until he takes Tylenol. He said, I've got a headache,
should I take Tylenol? No, then I'll feel sorry for
you. Use the means that God's giving you. Those waters of Marah
would have eternally been bitter if Moses had not prayed and he
hadn't cut that tree down and thrown it in the waters. If he
hadn't done that, those waters would have stayed bitter. Well,
could God have just spoken from heaven and made the water sweet?
Of course he could. But he didn't. He used means. Well, could God just have willed
it to be so and the waters have been sweet? Well, of course he
could. But he didn't do that. God uses means. He had Moses
pray and put that tree in the waters and made them sweet. When
you find yourself in trouble, pray and then use the means that
God's given you to find some relief. Now, secondly, I want
to deal with this and the spiritual application. This is a picture
of Christ, salvation in him. This is a picture of how the
Lord is going to heal his people. from all their spiritual diseases.
Now first, these bitter waters of Mara are a very good picture
of sin. Sin is deceiving. If the children
of Israel saw that oasis in the distance and they were deceived,
when they got there, they were bitterly disappointed. And that's
what sin is. Sin looks so good to the flesh. But eventually, you'll find,
sin does not satisfy. It'll just leave you empty. It'll
leave you bitter and disappointed. Just like Israel was bitter and
disappointed to find those bitter waters of Marah. And I'm sure
they remembered those waters back in Egypt. That land of many
waters. The waters of the Nile were sweet
to them. Remember that Egypt is always
a picture of sin. The waters of sin are sweet to
the flesh. And before God saves anyone,
the first thing He does is bring them to the bitter waters. He makes them come to the bitter
waters. He makes people realize the bitterness,
not just of sin, but of their sin. Makes me realize the bitterness
of my sin. He makes us realize the bitter
punishment and the bitter condemnation that our sin deserves. And He
makes us realize how bitter our sinful nature is. You're seeing
the corruption of our sinful nature is a bitter pill to swallow. And before the Lord saves anyone,
He always makes them see that everything about them tastes
bitter and is bitter. The Lord's going to bring us,
just like He did the children of Israel, to the end of their
hoarded resources. They tried everything and found
nothing. Left empty, bitterly disappointed. And that's what the Lord, he
makes us bitterly disappointed so that we know we are without
hope in ourselves. And the Lord makes us see this
bitter truth. He makes us see we cannot drink. We cannot because
we're dead in Adam. We are spiritually incapable
of drinking because we're dead. And he brings us to that point.
We have no hope, so that we cry, O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? And we're worse
off than the children of Israel. They're dying of thirst. We're
already dead. Dead in trespasses and sin. And
we hear these bitter truths and we cry with those brethren and
ask, men and brethren, what shall we do? We're in trouble. Then,
and only then, Will the Lord heal those bitter waters? Before
the Lord ever gives a man a drink of the waters of life, He's going
to salt him and make him thirsty. Before the Lord ever clothes
a man, He always strips him. Before the Lord ever gives a
sinner life, He always slays him. Before Jehovah Rapha heals,
He always wounds. Always in a bitter wound. Second,
when a sinner First comes to hear the gospel. The gospel is
going to be bitter. It's bitter to him. He cannot
drink it and he will not drink it. It's contrary to his nature.
But if that sinner is one of the Lord's own, tries he might,
he will not be able to get away from those bitter waters. The
Lord won't let him. And third, the Lord uses means to save his
people from their sins and the first means he uses is prayer. Now, no sinner will ever be saved
until he begs God for mercy. And I tell each of us, starting
with me here tonight, pray. That's being praying people.
It bothers me to hear people say, well, you know, I'd like
to be saved. There's nothing I can do about it. I'll tell
you why that bothers me. Because when I hear somebody
say that, I think, I've not done my job. I failed as a preacher. I failed as one who teaches God's
Word. Pray. There is something you
can do about it. You can pray. Now, if there's
anyone that needs mercy here tonight, pray. There is something you can do
about it. You can call on the name of the Lord. Now, your prayer
will not save you. But God will never save anyone
until they pray. Now, I can't explain that and
I can't reconcile it, but it's so. The Lord will not save anyone
until they call on Him in prayer. You know, it comes to be Wednesday.
You're going through the wilderness of this world. You think, well,
I sure would like to have a blessing tonight. Pray. Pray. It ought not be shocking
to us, but it's shocking. How many times we pray for a
blessing and the Lord gives us one. Isn't that something? Many
times we have not because we ask not. The first means that
God uses is prayer. The second means God uses is
preaching. Preaching the gospel. Preaching
Christ. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Faith cometh by hearing
and hearing by the word of God. Now, could God just speak from
heaven and give spiritual life? Could he just speak from heaven
and call? Well, of course he could. But that's not the way
the Lord's pleased to do. God sends a preacher. Well, could
God just will? Just will it and salvation, it'd
be done. Of course he could. But he doesn't. He does not choose to operate
that way. He chooses to send his preacher
with the message of the gospel, with the message of his son.
So first we have prayer. Second, second means is preaching
the gospel. And the third is the very means
of salvation itself. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. This
tree that the Lord showed Moses is a picture of Christ, the tree
of life. That's just any tree won't do,
just like any preaching won't do, just like, you know, any
Jesus. It must be the tree that God
provided. It must be the tree that God
pointed out to Moses. Look over Revelations 22. Here's this tree of life. Pictured in Revelations 22, same
as what was back there to bitter waters of Mars. In verse 1 of
Revelations 22, and he showed me a pure river of water of life. clear as crystal. That water,
it's not bitter, is it? It's sweet, it's pure, it's clear
as crystal because it proceeds out of the throne of God and
of the Lamb. In the midst of the street, in
the street of it, on either side of the river was there the tree
of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits and yielded her fruit
every month. And the leaves of the tree were
for the healing of the nations. This tree is Jehovah Rapha, the
Lord that healeth thee. Christ is always there, just
like that tree was always there. But we didn't see until God gave
us eyes to see, until God told us where to look, which is exactly
why Wayne asked in his prayer for the Lord to open the eyes
of our children. They'll never see until God gives
them eyes to see. And when a sinner hears that
Christ is the gospel, not just that he hears Christ in the gospel,
but that he hears Christ is the gospel. What was bitter to him
when he first heard it is now sweeter than honey. When a sin
sick sinner sees that Christ is the gospel, that sinner is
immediately healed of every spiritual disease. Peter, when he quotes
the prophet Isaiah, said, by whose stripes ye were healed. Isaiah said, by whose stripes
you are healed. Peter said, by whose stripes
you were healed. It's already done. The great
transaction is already done. And the moment that we behold
the Lord Jesus Christ, we were healed. That's not proper English,
but that's exactly described salvation. The moment that we
see the Lord Jesus Christ, we were healed. And when Christ
comes into a sinner's heart, that Moses put that tree into
those waters. When Christ comes into a sinner's
heart, that bitter sinner becomes a new person, becomes sweet,
made sweet. Now, I know there's degrees of
sweetness, even in a believer. We're not all sweet as Sharon
Parker. I wish I was, but we're not. I'm not. But there's a difference. When Christ comes in the heart,
there's a difference. We're made sweet. People can
tolerate being around you now. There's a difference. The old
writers say that this tree Moses cast into the water was a bitter
tree. How they know that, I have absolutely no idea. But it does
make reasonable sense. This tree grew by bitter waters.
It probably was a bitter tree. And that bitter tree is a picture
of the cross of Christ. Only that bitter tree could make
the bitter waters sweet. What Christ suffered at Calvary
for his people was bitter, pure bitterness. He suffered the bitter
curse of sin. He suffered the bitter condemnation
of the law. He suffered all the bitterness
of the sin of his people. And when he did, there was sweet
peace made between God and men. When they saw this picture of
redemption in Christ, making the water sweet, there the Lord
made for them a statute and an ordinance. Let's go back here
and read it again. Verse 26. This is the statute
and the ordinance he made for them. Verse 26. He said, if thou
wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, if
you'll do that which is right in his sight, and if you'll give
ear to his commandments, and if you keep all of his statutes,
I'll put none of these diseases upon thee. which I brought upon
the Egyptians. I don't know about you, but that
sure sounds like a whole lot like a covenant of words to me.
The blessing is dependent upon obedience. You have to be perfectly
righteous. You have to obey perfectly. And
if you're disobedient, all these plagues are going to come upon
you just like they came upon the Egyptians. The Lord says, if you diligently
hearken unto me. It's not just good enough to
do what you know you ought to do. Go find out what you're supposed
to do. Go find out what you missed.
Go find out what you don't know. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. If you disobey one law, even
if you didn't know it was a law, God sends you to hell for eternity
for it. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. You diligently
hearken. You do that which is right. You
give ear to God's commandments and you keep every one of his
statutes. Then none of these diseases will
come upon you. And I don't know about you, that
frightens me because I know my bitter old nature will not obey. My bitter old nature will not
listen to God's word. Does that covenant of words frighten
you? If this is the covenant, that we're under, we're going
to be sick, both physically and spiritually, forever. So let
me see if I can help you here with some of these fears. The
Lord says, if you're perfectly obedient, then I won't send all
these diseases upon you. For I am the Lord that healeth
thee. The Lord already knew Israel
was going to be a rebellious stiff-necked, sinful, idolatrous
nation. But the Lord is going to bring
them across the wilderness to the promised land anyway, because
of covenant mercies, because of a promise he made to Abraham. And there's a difference here.
Pharaoh and the Egyptians disobeyed God. Moses gave him plenty of
opportunities. Let my people go. God says, let
my people go. And he wouldn't do it. And God,
he disobeyed God and God destroyed him for it. And the Egyptians
knew Jehovah, the destroyer. They knew Jehovah, the avenger.
They knew God, the consuming fire. But Israel, who did the
same thing, who disobeyed God on many occasions, they knew
Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord that healeth thee. They knew Jehovah-Rapha,
who healed every disease their sin deserved. It's not that you
didn't sin. It's the Lord that healed thee.
That's how we're made whole. And spiritual Israel's done the
same thing. We've sinned. And the disease
of all these spiritual terminal diseases belongs to us. But Jehovah
Rapha healed his people by taking their diseases in his body on
the tree. and applying His precious blood.
He washes them in His blood from all their iniquity and gives
His people His health. He takes our sickness. He takes
our disease and gives us His health. And the Lord Jesus Christ
immersed Himself in the bitter sin of His people. He immersed
Himself so fully that Scripture says He was made to be sin. He
was made to be this bitterness. And our substitute suffered the
bitter curse and removed all of the curse with all of its
bitterness, and his people are healed. May the righteousness
of God in him, made as holy and as healthy as God is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, if you're in this wilderness,
you're hot, tired, you're hungry and thirsty after righteousness
and can't find any, come to Christ. Our Lord Himself said, if any
man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. Go to Him. Not just to Him who has the water
of life. Go to Him who is the water of
life. He is the water of life. If you're sin sick, this is the
name of the Savior, Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord that healeth thee. And I like how he put that. Not
just the Lord that healeth, the Lord that healeth thee. This
promise is for you and for your children. You come to Him. I don't care how sin sick you
are. I don't care how miserable and wretched. I don't care if
the doctors of the day have given you no hope to live. You come. to Jehovah Raphael. He'll heal
of every spiritual disease the Lord that healeth thee. All right. Well, I hope the Lord blessed
that to you and make it an encouragement to you.