Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Exodus chapter 16. Exodus chapter 16. I'd like to take this chapter
16, preach it in both messages, two parts to this message. I've
entitled it, Every Believer's need every believer's need. To bring us up to this chapter,
preparation, I guess you'd say, the Lord has delivered his people
out of the bondage of Egypt. They beheld the hand of the Lord,
his power to guide The scripture says in Exodus, I'll read this,
1320-22, they took their journey from Succoth and encamped in
Etham, at the edge of the wilderness. And the Lord went before them
by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way, and by
night in a pillar of fire to give them light, to go by day
and night He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor
the pillar of fire by night from before the people." In Exodus
14, we have the account of the Lord's deliverance of the people
through the Red Sea. And the pouring out of His judgment
upon the Lord's and His people's enemies. And after his marvelous
deliverance, the scriptures declare that the Lord's people sang the
song of Moses in Exodus 15. You can read that. And that glorious
song set forth the praise for God's triumph over those that
opposed the Lord and his people. And after the mighty victory
through the Red Sea, the Lord led his people three days, the
scripture declares, into the wilderness. And for three days
they had no water. And then when they did find water,
in chapter 15, verses 23 to 26, it declares that there was a
place called Marah. And the water there was bitter,
and the people murmured against Moses, the scripture said. The
Lord declares that Moses cried unto him, and the Lord showed
him a tree. And that tree, Moses was instructed
to take that tree and cast it into the bitter water, and when
he did, the water was made sweet, and there the Lord delivered
them from the thirst. and showed them that you can
trust me. Oh, how beautifully we behold
the gospel of God's grace in the deliverance of Israel. Out of all of their tribes, God
has a people. God has an elect, a people chosen
before the foundation of the world. And they've been given
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And He has eternally stood for
them as their surety. And has promised them, I will
not leave you. And so even now, we see even
then, up until now, Almighty God, His sustaining grace, mercy,
is ever shown toward the objects of His mercy. And then the scripture
says in verse 27 of Exodus 15, And they came to Elam, where
were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees,
and they encamped there by the water. Now listen, they've come
through They've come through the Red Sea, they've gone three
days, they didn't have anything to drink, and the Lord delivered
them, gave them some sweet water by showing the tree, a picture
of a cross upon which the Lord laid down His life, and that
cross, the shed blood of that cross make the waters of God's
tribes to His people sweet. sustains them. And now they're
in a place called Elam. Now, what is that? There's twelve
wells of water and there's three score and ten. Seventy palm trees. They can rest and they are able
to drink and relax and be rejuvenated. But all of these trials that
they've gone through, he shows them. I'm not going to forsake
you. They can rest. The Apostle Paul
spoke of this in Philippians 4.12, talking about being brought
down and then being prospered. He said, I know both how to be
abased, brought down, or humbled with contempt of men. I know how to abound, to have
abundance, and to be held in respect. He said, everywhere
and all things I'm instructed both to be full and be hungry,
both to abound and to suffer need. Now here's what I know. The Lord is going to put His
people through trials. We're going to suffer. We're
going to suffer. He said, you're in a world that
you're not of. The world's going to hate you
because they hate the God that you love. God gives his people
rest, and so they rested in Elam. And now we begin in the 16th
chapter of the book of Exodus. And here's the first thing that
I want us to realize, this point that I just brought out. All
God's sheep shall be tried and proven to be God's sheep. Verse one, and they took their
journey from Elam, and all the congregation of the children
of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elam
and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their
departing out of the land of Egypt. They were all, the scripture
says, in the wilderness of Sin. Now listen, we're in a wilderness. God's people are pilgrims in
a place that is not their home. And we are, excuse me, we're
ever exercised with the trials and the tribulations of this
world. But remember this, every trial and every tribulation that
God's people go through has been lovingly and divinely ordered
by Almighty God. The Lord has sent every trial. And that in itself sweetens the
water. That sweetens the trial. Lord, you sent this. Lord, you directed this. Lord, you caused my path to go
this way. All of them were led. The pillar
of the cloud, the pillar of fire, it never left. Did not the Lord
provide? Did not the Lord sustain? And
though all the people in the desert And I know this, they
were not all God's sheep, they were not all God's elect, they
never are. The scripture sets forth that
this nation of Israel, that was a type of God's kingdom. And
you know I mentioned this last time, when we say God's kingdom
in this earth, it's made up of all professors, whether they
know the Lord or whether they don't. There's always tares among
the wheat. But all of these people, this
nation, though they were not all God's elect, they were all
sent into this desert. And the scripture says that the
Spirit of God even moved upon Moses when he penned this to
write down exactly when they took their journey. Now did you
notice that They took their journey from Elam and all the congregation
of the children of Israel came into the wilderness of Sin between
Elam and Sinai on the 15th day of the second month after their
departing out of the land of Egypt. Now, if it was just a
matter of recorded history, if that's all this was, what difference
would it make? when they went out. What difference does it make,
the exact time? Well, the very fact that the
Spirit of God moved upon Moses to tell us when they did it has
great significance. It wasn't merely that they came
out of Egypt and traveled to these different places. They
did so according to God's timing. Hold your place. Turn to Ecclesiastes
3. I want to read verses 1 to 11. A lot of times I usually read
one verse. I want to read 11 verses. Ecclesiastes
3, verse 1. To everything there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under heaven. A time to be born, a
time to die, A time to plant, a time to pluck up that which
is planted, a time to kill, a time to heal, a time to break down,
a time to build up, a time to weep, a time to laugh, a time
to mourn, a time to dance, a time to cast away stones, a time to
gather stones together, a time to embrace, and a time to refrain
from embracing, a time to get, a time to lose, a time to keep,
a time to cast away, a time to rend, a time to sow, a time to
keep silence, a time to speak, a time to love, a time to hate,
a time of war, a time of peace. What profit hath he that worketh
in that wherein he laboreth? I've seen the travail which God
hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. He hath
made everything beautiful in His time. Also He has set the
world in their heart so that no man can find out the work
that God maketh from the beginning to the end. Scripture sets forth
that they came out exactly when Almighty God declared them to
come out. And we don't know and we never
would even speculate why it pleased the Lord to providentially accomplish
through the means of His people what He did. But suffice it to
say, these people were not just out there wandering around. They
were there exactly, and all of us are exactly here. You know
why you're here today? Because God purposed it. You
say, well, we just decided to come today. No, you didn't. No,
you didn't. Almighty God ordered this to
your salvation or your condemnation, and mine too. Everything is according
to God's timing. He rules in the army of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth. And do you know who
stops him? Nobody. Nobody. Almighty God
directs. He's the Lord. They came out
exactly. So I know this. All God's sheep
are going to be proven and tried according to God's timing. There's a time and a place. Here's
the second thing I know. There's an old man in all of
us that ever resists God. There's an old man in all of
us. Now there's either one man or
there's two men. in everybody in this world. It's
only, you know, there's believers and unbelievers. How many different
kinds of people are there in the world? Two. Believers and
unbelievers. That's the only, that's the only,
there's only two groups that there are. There's nobody else. There's an old man, we're all
born with an old man, an old carnal nature. Even in regeneration,
when the Spirit of God is pleased to move upon God's elect, and
that's the only people that the Spirit of God is going to move
upon, all that the Father has given me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. So how many are going to come
that the Father gave the Son? How many are going to come? All
of them. All of them are going to come. And when they come in
regenerating grace and power, what happens? That old heart,
that old stony heart of rebellion against God, that resists God,
is removed. And a new heart is put there.
But that old man, the evidence of that old man is still there.
Paul clearly, under the inspiration of God's Spirit, set forth that
old wretched man that Not that I was, that I am. Who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? This body of death. That body
of sin and rebellion against God. So every man, whether he's
one man or two men, an old man is always there. And that old
man ever, ever resists God. That old man does exactly what
he's always done. I told you before, I heard some
very, very well-known preacher make this statement. He says
he's a preacher. And he said only God can change a heart.
Well, that sounds religious. I guarantee you that. I mean,
that sounds good to me, I guess. But it's not true. God doesn't
change hearts. He gives new ones. That which
is flesh is flesh. That which is spirit is spirit.
God doesn't change a heart. He gives a new heart and removes
that heart of flesh. Now, look at verse 2 and 3. And
the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against
Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said
unto them, Would to God that we had died by the hand of the
Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and
when we did eat bread to the full. For ye have brought us
forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with
hunger." Now, there was some within this congregation, I think
of Joshua and Caleb There were, I know, there were some faithful,
faithful men and women within that nation of Israel. But I
can tell you this, found, as I said, within every believer,
Joshua and Caleb, David, Peter, you, me, all of us, that old
man still resists God. I mean, read Go ahead and read
what David did, what Peter did. You think that Joshua and Caleb
didn't have that tendency also? Every believer has a battle that's
going on within. And here we're seeing how many
of the congregation, look at verse 2, how many of the congregation
murmured? The whole congregation. All of
them. I read one writer and he said,
well, actually it wasn't all of them. It was just the heads
or the representatives of all the families. Well, God said
all of them did it. So I'm going to go ahead and
believe God. And I'm just going to say that all of them murmured
against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The very people,
just like us, Let's don't get on to them. I
mean, let's just talk about us. The very people that had divinely
been spared. The very people that Almighty
God was pleased to raise up and send Moses a deliverer. The very people that had gone
and seen the Lord take them out of Egypt. Powerful. After 400
years being in bondage. And it got worse. And worse,
and worse, and the taskmasters, they beat them, they used to
give them straw, and then they said, no we ain't gonna give
you no straw anymore, because Moses came over here and just,
you know, you go get your own straw. And we're gonna up the
ante on the bricks too. The scripture says what they
did was, they murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
But in reality, Who are they murmuring against? Against God. God Almighty, through
the Apostle Paul, warned us of this. 1 Corinthians 10. He said,
Neither murmur ye, grumble, mutter, or discontently complain about. Don't murmur as some of them
also murmured and were destroyed by the destroyer. God had sent
them a pastor. That's what he did. The Lord
sent them a pastor and what they did was they had been delivered,
delivered, delivered, fed, given water, rested, sent them in to
a place of God's direction to bring them to the promised land.
And the scripture says as soon as they got to, they started
complaining against God's preachers. Murmured and complained to the
point of starting now to call into question God's direction. swearing against His mercy and
compassion and complaining about the way that things were now
and wishing that they had been like they always were. Wood to
God. That was not a kind way to say
it. Swearing is what they did. Swearing
against God. I wish God had killed us in the
land of Egypt. when we sat by the flesh pots
and we just ate bread all day and we were just so able to just
get so full. He said to Moses, you brought
us forth into this wilderness to kill us. Where was it recorded how good
they had it in Egypt? Where was that found? when they
just sat around by the flesh pots and just dipped in and got
them a big old chunk of meat right there and a big old piece
of bread and just sat down and rested. Calling God into question. You brought us forth out of this
wilderness to kill us. But are we not like that? Is
there a believer in here that's not like that? Is there a believer
in here that doesn't complain and mumble and grumble? We're
all. No, whatever believer will admit
is this, seeing something of himself, Romans 7, 15, for that
which I do, that which I know is right, I don't do that. And
what I would, what I know to do is concerning the right thing,
I don't do that, but what I hate, that's what I do. I don't understand my own
actions. I'm baffled and bewildered at
myself. I don't practice or accomplish
what I wish I did, but I do the very thing that I loathe, that
which my heart condemns. But thanks be to God, where sin
abounded. Grace did much more abound. Now
this is the way, I'm going to look at verse 4 and we're going
to stop for this first message. This is where they are. God delivered
them graciously, mercifully, kindly. And put them in a situation
to prove them. And they started murmuring against
God. The most discouraging thing that
you can be around. griping, murmuring, complaining. But my last point for this morning.
We serve the God of all grace. Verse four. Then said the Lord
unto Moses, behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. and the people shall go out and
gather a certain rate every day that I may prove them whether
they will walk in my law or no. I'm going to do something the
Lord said totally because it pleases me to do so. I'm going
to rain bread out of heaven but listen to this, he's talking
to Moses and I'm going to do this for you. and all like Him. Objects of
God's mercy. How often we find the Lord blessing
His people, mercifully. And I've told you before, when
we hear this word mercy, do you know what that insinuates? Guilt. Guilt is there. Mercy is for
those that are guilty. And we're all guilty. This whole
room is filled with one large mass of rebellious people. We're all like that. Some, the
Lord's been pleased to reveal it. But we're all that way. I'm going to have mercy, I'm
going to rain down fire, no, I'm going to rain down bread
from heaven. I'm going to pick up, this is
what I'm going to pick up and elaborate on this scripture in the next
message. But I'm going to rain down bread, instead of raining
down fire and brimstone upon the people like He did Sodom
and Gomorrah, the Lord revealed that He was going to deliver
them again. 2 Peter 3.9. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness. But here's a scripture
that is so misquoted, so grossly misquoted. But is long-suffering
to usward. And you go back and find out
who Peter wrote this to. He was writing to the elect.
He was writing to God's elect. He's long-suffering to usward.
not willing that any of the usward should perish, but should all
come to repentance. Lord, if you should mark iniquity, who shall stand? If God marks
iniquity and charges it to our account, who can stand before
Him? We're all as an unclean thing.
Oh, the sovereign mercy and unmerited favor of Almighty God toward
His people. You know, we'd all like to think
that we were all, you know, since we were converted, we're all
just, you know, just, you know, spotless, you know. No. No. We are exactly what the Lord
says we are. but he has chosen to show mercy
to a people of his choosing. And for that, I'm so thankful
that Almighty God would not stop and pour out exactly what our
sin deserves. His long suffering arrests our
heart and causes us to remember Lord, how gracious you've been
to me. And they, just like us, they
deserved judgment. But aren't we thankful that his
ways are not our ways? If we handled the situation,
I'll tell you exactly what we'd do. We'd say, you got me. I'm going
to get you back. I'm going to get you back better
than you got me. I'm going to give you exactly
what you deserve. Oh, if God Almighty gave me what I deserve.
But the Lord who is right, He who everlastingly loved His people,
reminds us of what we deserve. And we behold the mercy of Almighty
God at Calvary, when the Lord Jesus Christ, who knew no sin,
was made sin. I've said I don't even want to
try to explain that. He was made sin. And God dealt with him. Being
made sin. Being made what we are by nature. And put away the guilt of our
sin. They murmured against God. And
what you'd expect would have been the next thing to have been
said, I'm going to rain out judgment upon them. The Lord said to Moses,
I'm going to rain out bread from heaven, and I'm going to give
what you don't deserve. I'm going to take care of you,
and I'm going to protect you. May the Lord bless these words
to our heart for Christ's sake. Lord willing, in a few minutes,
I'm gonna come up and start right there in verse four and try to
go to the end of the chapter, all right? All right, let's take
a break.