Exodus chapter 15, beginning
in verse 22 to the end of the chapter. So 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 when they came to Marah,
they could not drink of the water of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore, the name of it was
called Marah. And the people murmured against
Moses, saying, what shall we drink? And he cried unto the
Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast
into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There he made for
them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them. and
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 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. And
they came to Elam, where there were 12 wells of water and three
score and 10 palm trees, and they encamped there by the waters. In chapter 13 and verse 20, we
read that the Israelites were in the edge, the edge of the
wilderness. But now we read that they went
out into the wilderness. And I want us to look at this
passage of scripture tonight as typical of God's redeemed
people, the experience of God's redeemed people in this world. Israel was now redeemed by blood,
delivered by the power of God, singing God's praises, and now
they are on their way to their inheritance, that is, the land
of Canaan. They were on a journey to a promised
land, a land flowing with milk and honey. So we will consider
four things in these verses, which I believe may picture the
experience of God's children as we, too. travel on our way
to not a land in this world, but a heavenly land, a place
that God has prepared for them that love him. First, we see
Israel was led in verse 22. So Moses brought Israel from
the Red Sea and they went out into the wilderness of Shur.
Now, the text here says that Moses brought Israel from the
Red Sea and they went out into the wilderness. What does that
mean? It means that Moses gave the
command. He gave the command to go forth,
but he didn't give that command until that pillar of cloud of
fire and the cloud, it rose up. rose up so that God moved and
then Moses gave the command that they move. This is the way God
would lead them for the next 40 years. We studied this several
weeks back and we saw that God promised that he would not remove
that cloud, that pillar of cloud and the fire from them. And he
didn't until they crossed over Jordan eventually into the land
of promise. We might say here, because the
scripture says Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, that
he was a human instrument. He was an instrument in God's
hand, but we know it was really God who brought them into the
wilderness. You know, it's true that some
people choose to live in what men call a wilderness. I watch
some reality shows sometimes I like and some people live off
the grid as they say and they're living in a wilderness, no doubt
about it. But no matter what we think about
a wilderness, it is a place without conveniences, a place with very
little comfort. and the wilderness of Shur, into
which God led Israel, was no different. It was a sandy place. There were a few shrubs that
grew in this wilderness, but it was not an ideal place. In other words, no one, for the
most part at least, would choose to build a house in the wilderness. It was a place to pass through. That's what it was, a place to
pass through. Now, one of the petitions in
our Lord's Prayer, His prayer that's recorded in John 17, and
we love to read that prayer because we know that He's praying for
us. If we have received his word, if we were given unto him by
the father and we have believed his word, then he tells us, he
said, I pray not for these alone, but for them, which shall believe
on me through their word. And we believe on Christ tonight
through the word of the apostles, the word that he, the apostles
he was praying for, who was in his immediate presence when he
prayed that prayer. But one of the petitions in that
prayer is, I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the
world. I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world. And for the children of God,
this world is a wilderness. It is a wilderness. It's a place
where our Lord Jesus Christ was hated, where he was maligned,
where he was crucified. How could it be anything else
to us seeing that it was a place like that unto our Savior? But the point is, Israel was
where God would have them to be. God led them. The scripture says Moses brought
Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the wilderness. They
were in the place just like you and I are in the place where
God would have us to be if we are his children. He said, I
pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world. You
know, some people have asked that question. Why is it? When
the Lord saves a person, why doesn't he just take that person
immediately into heaven? He did one man. He did one man,
didn't he? The thief who was crucified alongside
him that day. He said, today thou shalt be
with me in paradise. He was saved, and on the same
day, he entered into paradise, which Paul calls the third heaven. So he entered into heaven. But
why is it that God leaves his children in this world? Well,
we know that there must be many reasons, many reasons. But one reason is that we live
for his glory, that we glorify him here, that we recognize him. Even as we were singing that
hymn a few minutes ago, this is my father's world. We recognize
And we confess that this world, this is God's world that we're
living in. It's God's sun that shines during
the day and God's moon that enlightens the night. And we live and we
move and we have our being in him. We recognize that and we
confess that and we glorify God in that way. Most of the world,
they deny these things. They talk about evolution and
the Big Bang Theory and luck and things like that. Well, we
know there's no such thing because this is God's creation. It's
God's world and we are His creatures. And our times are in his hands.
We recognize that. Most people would not choose
to live in a wilderness. Most people. As I say, there
are some people who do. But when we think of a wilderness,
we're thinking of a place you're just passing through. Just passing
through, that's all. years ago, many years ago, when
people used to drive to California on a vacation. The road to go
from Houston to California, you'd go through a desert. I remember
that. I never went there, never took
that vacation. But I remember that people would
get a water, a canvas water bag or something, and put on their
car and fill that thing up with water because you were going
to cross a desert on your way to California. That was the only
way. I think it was two routes, and that was the route that was
the closest route. People were just passing through.
California was, so to speak, the land of promise, wasn't it?
The sunny land of California. Beautiful, beautiful place, beautiful
climate. But you don't want to live in
a desert. You don't want to live in a wilderness
for the most part. You want to just pass through.
And God's children, you and I, we're in this wilderness, this
world, and we're just passing through. That's all. And we need
to remind ourselves of that. We're just passing through. If we're not careful, we begin
to live as if we were going to stay here forever, as if this
was going to be our home. It's not. We're just passing
through. And the apostle Peter, in his
first letter, he tells us, he's speaking about Christians, about
believers, that we are strangers and pilgrims. Strangers and pilgrims. What are some of the things that
make a person a stranger, a stranger in a foreign land? For one thing,
the language. The language makes you a stranger.
Everybody else is just talking and you can't understand a thing. And then you try to say something
and they all know, he's not from here, she's not from here. That's
a stranger. And we're strangers in this world
because our language has been changed. We now speak a language
called grace. Grace. I am what I am by the
grace of God. That's the language that God's
people speak. We're strangers in this world,
strangers by our language. We don't talk about luck and
good fortune and those things, we speak about God's providence,
God's purpose. Another thing that makes a person
look or to be a stranger is their clothes, their dress. You know,
when we lived in Mexico, and I'm sure it's still like this
in Mexico and other Central and South American countries, there's
a number of tribes, a number of Indian tribes there. And they
all dressed a little bit different. And some of them were very, very
colorful. I remember the Chamulas down
in Chiapas, Mexico. And they dressed in a very distinct
way. And that made them, when we came
in, rather, to their area, they recognized immediately by the
way we were dressed. Those are strangers. Those people
don't belong here. Our dress is different. The believer's
dress is different. We now wear the garment of praise. I looked this scripture up today
to use tonight. It speaks about God's work of
grace in the heart of his people. It says, to appoint unto them
that mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes. Can you see
a person just covered over with ashes? Just ashes from the fire,
you know, just all over him. And that's the way we were in
going through conviction, if God brought you through that,
being convicted of your sins. But then God gives you beauty
for ashes. Takes away the ashes and gives
you a new dress, a new New clothing, that is the righteousness
of Christ. But the scripture there says,
to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning. Now here it is, the garment of
praise for the spirit of heaviness. The dress is different. And then
a third thing that came to my mind their goal. A stranger's goal is different
from most people. What is the goal of most people
that live in this world? Well, it's usually riches, fame,
all the things that this world has to offer. That's usually
the goal. But a believer, a child of God,
is a stranger because his goal, his goal rather, It's like the
Apostle Paul, that I may win Christ and be found in him, not
having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. Our goal is different. We're strangers in this world,
but we're here just like these Israelites were. They were where
God led them, where God put them, and that's where we are. Now
the second thing I would bring out to us tonight is Israel tasted
bitter water. They tasted bitter water. Three
days, three days they were walking in that wilderness. And then
they were disappointed. They were disappointed because
the water wasn't what they were expecting. They knew, I would
assume, they knew they were going to come to some water. Surely
Moses wasn't going to lead them out here and there never be any
water. But they were expecting sweet
water. They were expecting water that
they could drink, not this brackish water that they found at Marah.
They were disappointed. We're often, disappointed in
this world. And we are disappointed when
we allow ourselves to expect something different from what
the Lord Jesus Christ told us to expect. He told us to expect
in the world you shall have tribulation. We much, Paul, exhorted the believers
in those new churches and acts that through much tribulation
enter into the kingdom of heaven. And we get to thinking that somehow
we're going to go through this world and we're going to escape
tribulation. We're going to escape troubles. And we set ourselves up then
to be disappointed, just like these Israelites. They were disappointed
because they were expecting water, sweet water, cool drinking water. But what happened? God showed Moses a tree. Now, what is that tree a picture
of? Well, some say it's a picture
of Christ. I believe it's a picture of the
cross. And that's the same as Christ, but a picture of the
cross. because the Lord Jesus Christ,
he bear our sins in his own body on the tree. And what is it that
heals our disappointments? What is it that heals our discouragements? When we bring the cross, when
we bring the cross into our disappointments and our discouragements, and
we thank, we meditate upon the sorrow that the Lord Jesus Christ
experienced in this world, the suffering that he went through.
And yet, the scripture says, who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame. Who for
the joy that was set before him. What was that joy that was set
before the Lord Jesus Christ that caused him or enabled him
to endure the suffering that he endured? Well, I believe first
of all and foremost it was in doing his father's will. In doing
his father's will. He loved his father, his father
loved him, and all the joy that he knew would come to him by
doing his father's will. But also the joy that he saw
was saving his people. You and I and everyone that he
saves by his blood, by his righteousness. That's the joy that was set before
him, that one day he's going to bring all of his family together. There's not going to be one left.
Not one missing, right? And he'll be able to present
us without spot, without blemish, The scripture says, oh, that's
going to be something, isn't it? And he will be able to say,
Father, here are the children which thou has given me. And
not one of them is going to be missing. All of his sheep, all
of his chosen people will be there. The water was bitter, but there
was a tree. And yes, there's a tree. There's a cross, the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ that heals. our disappointments and our discouragements. And I thought of the words of
John Newton's hymn. He wrote a hymn that is entitled,
I'm sure most of you have heard it, I ask the Lord that I might
grow. I ask the Lord that I might grow. You've asked that, haven't you?
I have. I ask the Lord that I might grow. in faith and love and every grace,
might more of his salvation know and seek more earnestly his face. T'was he who taught me thus to
pray, and he, I trust, has answered prayer, but it has been in such
a way as almost drove me to despair. I hoped that in some favored
hour at once He'd answer my request, and by His love's constraining
power, subdue my sins and give me rest. Instead of this, He
made me feel the hidden evils of my heart, and let the angry
powers of hell assault my soul in every part. Yea, more, with
His own hand, He seemed intent to aggravate my woe. crossed all the fair designs
I schemed, humbled my heart and laid me low. Lord, why is this? I trembling cried. Will thou
pursue thy worm to death? It is in this way the Lord replied. I answer prayer for grace and
faith. These inward trials I employ
from self and pride to set thee free. and break thy schemes of
earthly joy, that thou mayest find thy all in me. I ask the Lord that I might grow. And I was thinking, you know,
we've all prayed, I'm sure all of us prayed and asked the Lord
to use us, to fill us with his spirit, give us a grace to be a good
Christian, That's what we all want, isn't it? A good witness,
be a good testimony. We've prayed those prayers, we've
asked for those things, and then trials come. And what do we do? We immediately start praying
for the Lord to deliver us from the trial, to take the trial
away, not realizing that Through these trials and disappointments
and discouragements, the Lord is fashioning us to be more like
his son. We've all been predestinated
to be conformed to the image of his son. And that work begins
in this life. Well, here's the third thing.
Israel murmured against God in verse 23. 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. And the people murmured. They
murmured against Moses. But you know, as I pointed out
in the beginning, it was God. Moses was just a man that said,
forward march. It was God, the angel of the
Lord, who raised the pillar of cloud and started moving. And then Moses gave the command. They murmured against Moses,
but in murmuring against him, who were they murmuring against?
Against God. Against God. This, when I think
about this, this may well have been Israel's besetting sin. You know that scripture says,
let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily
beset us, let us run with patience the race that set before us.
The sin that doth so easily beset us. Israel, if you follow on
through over the next 40 years, almost 40 years, how many times
are we going to read They fell to murmuring. Murmuring. Murmuring about no bread. Murmuring about the bread. They
didn't like the manna. Wanting meat. Murmuring about
the way. I mean, it's just over and over
and over again. Murmuring. And God certainly
mentions it, doesn't he? He speaks to it. It's a sin. You know, This reminds us, reminds
all of us tonight that God's children, we have a new heart. If we're saved, the Lord has
given us a new heart, but we still have that old heart. And
we have a new nature, but we still have that old nature. It
remains. Years ago, I heard this illustration
It's an old illustration of a man who said he had those two natures
and he compared it to two dogs, two dogs living within him. And
they were fighting one against the other. One was a good dog,
one was a bad dog. Someone asked him one time, well,
who wins? And he said, the dog that I feed,
the dog that I feed. In other words, if we feed upon
God's word, if we take time in prayer, the new man, the new
nature is encouraged and built up. But if we neglect these things,
then it's the old man, the bad dog that gets the upper hand
many times. Well, here's the last thing in
verse 27. Israel was refreshed and they
came to Elam. were 12 wells of water and three
score, 70 palm trees, and they encamped there by the waters.
It was still God leading them. It was still the same God who
led them to the bitter waters, led them now to this place of
refreshment. There was a well, 12 wells, how
many tribes? There were 12 tribes of Israel,
a well for each tribe. And there were 70 palm trees
so that they could take turns, I suppose, resting in the shade
of those trees. And don't you tonight, don't
you thank God for the times of refreshing. When you look in
your life, you know, you have more good days than bad days,
don't you? Yeah, you have bad days, but you have more good
days. I'm thankful for times of refreshing from the Spirit
of God. Sometimes we, this is my experience,
it may not be yours, but sometimes out of duty, it seems I read
the Word of God. You know, I'm going to read today,
I'm going to read so much, and it's just more like duty. And
then sometimes I start reading, And the word comes alive, right? It just comes alive. It's no
chore then to read. Every verse seems to speak to
you. Thank God for these times of
refreshing, as well as for the times of disappointment. They're all part of life. In
our life, in this world, we're going to have bitter and we're
going to have sweet. We're not any different from
any of God's people who've lived here before. Well, I pray the
Lord would bless these words tonight and use them in our lives. We're gonna sing a hymn and we'll
be dismissed.