Exodus 16 gives the laws, the
eating, the sustenance of Almighty God for His people, and the giving
of manna. Now, Moses was commanded of the
Lord, Numbers 33, He was commanded of the Lord. And the 33rd chapter
of Numbers tells where all the people went. Every time they
moved, God had Moses record where they went. If you read Numbers
33, you'll find the names of all those places. In Numbers
33.3, it says, And they departed from Ramses in the first month
on the fifteenth day of the first month. It wasn't very long after
they left Egypt, after they left Ramses, they came after stopping
according to the genealogy, the lineage of those places where
they were. The fourth place that they came
to was a place called Elam, which is where we read in Exodus 15,
verse 27. And the Scripture says in that
27th verse, they came to Elam, where were twelve wells of water,
threescore and ten palm trees, and they encamped there by the
waters." Now, in Numbers 33 and verse 10, it says concerning
those waters right there that actually, it was the Red Sea. And more than likely, when they
were there by the waters, it was a reminder. of the good providence of Almighty
God and His mercy to deliver them from Pharaoh's army when
they went across the Red Sea. So the Lord, before they left
and went into the wilderness, according to the The timetable,
if we'll notice here, it says in that first verse, they took
their journey from Elam, and all the congregation of the children
of Israel came into the wilderness of sin, which is between Elam
and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after the
departing out of the land of Egypt. Now, in the departure
of Israel out of Egypt, They left on the 15th day of the first
month, the Scripture says. Now it's the 15th day of the
second month. They've been out of Egypt one
month. The Lord has put them now in
four places. The last place before they leave
and go into the wilderness is Elam. Nice place. Wells, 70 palm trees, And they
are encamped by the Red Sea. Plenty of places to rest, plenty
of places to drink. Now, the Scripture sets forth.
The Lord, after one month, directed Moses to take them out of Elam
and bring them into the wilderness. And let me show you what happened.
Verse 2 and 3 of Exodus 16. 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, and I'm telling you, I want you to look, I've looked
at this to bear this out, what they did, was that the terminology
that they used, Gary, they just disrespectfully used the Lord's
name. I mean, it was just a disrespectful
way. Here's what they said. Would
to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt.
I mean, just a slang is what they did. Disrespectful people that Almighty
God had delivered out of the land of bondage. Here's the first
thing I know, and we never get away from this first point. Man
is totally depraved. He is ungrateful and he's disrespectful. Four times in this 16th chapter
right here of Exodus, we find where the Spirit of God recalls
the people murmuring against the Lord and against the Lord's
men. The same people that just a few
weeks before had crossed the Red Sea, had been delivered by
Almighty God and sang the song of Moses, singing the praises
of Almighty God who was their Deliverer. They had just a month
or so before this been kept by the Lord through ten plagues
that God sent to Egypt and just decimated the land of Egypt. And now entering the wilderness,
Delivered out of Egypt, out of bondage, out of slavery. Delivered by God Almighty. And
the Lord who allowed them to come to Elam and have some time
there to sit and to be refreshed. And the Lord is going to take
them to the promised land. They're going to be in the wilderness
40 years. You remember why they were there
40 years? It was because of the 40 days.
that the spies went in to spy out the land, and all those spies
except Caleb and Joshua, all those spies except those two
men said, can't do it. These people are too big. They're
giants. We're just grasshoppers to them. And the Lord said, because of
the 40 days of rebellion, You're going to spend one year in the
wilderness for every day that you were in the promised land.
He came back and didn't believe me. So here we are. They come
out of Elam. They go into the wilderness.
As soon as they go into the wilderness, they murmur against the Lord
and say, Word to God, we died by the hand of the Lord in the
land of Egypt. Well, we sat by the flesh pots when we ate bread
to the full. They were talking about like
they were having a great time there in Egypt. And you go back
and read the account of it, and their taskmasters were hard on
them, and beat them, and took straw away from them that was
delivered to them. They had to go get their own
straw to make bricks. Man, I wish we were back in that. Man, I wish we could go back
into bondage. Spiritually, it's like a man
saying, oh, I wish I could go back to being lost. Man, I wish
I could go back to bondage. The whole head, the Scripture
says, is sick. The whole heart is faint from
the sole of the foot even to the head. There's no soundness
in it. You know, it's easy for us to
look at these people right here and say, I can't believe that
they're like that. We're like that. We're all like that. We all have this nature in us
right here. Secondly, but with the backdrop
of rebellion, oh, how bright does the grace of Almighty God
shine. When they rebelled and murmured
against God and God's men and said, I wish we were back in
Egypt. I wish God would have killed
us. We would have been better off if God would have killed us in
Egypt. And let us die there. We would have been better off
than to have been in this place where God has brought us. And
let me show you the indescribable mercy of Almighty God. Verse 4, 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. with such a spirit of ingratitude,
would it have been unjust for Almighty God to have rained fire
and brimstone upon that people and to have destroyed them? It
was just for such rebellion as this that Almighty God wiped
Sodom and Gomorrah off the map. His long-suffering to us-ward,
not willing that any of His us-wards, any of His elect, any of His
people should perish. But for the grace of God, where
would we be? Such thoughts of disrespect,
ingratitude, murmurings against the good providence of God, If
Almighty God were to mark iniquity, who could stand? Oh, the God
of all grace delights to show mercy. In the morning, verse
7, Moses says, Then shall you see the glory of the Lord, for
that he heareth your murmurings against the Lord. And what are
we? that you murmur against us."
Moses was saying, why are you mad at us? You want to see the
glory of the Lord? You want to see the mercy of
Almighty God? You want to see the longsuffering
of the Lord? Here it is. God has heard your
murmurings. And you're still here. Mercy. The Lord told Moses, he said,
you tell the people, I'm going to send bread. I'm going to rain
bread from heaven for you. People are going to go out. They're
going to gather a certain rate every day that I may prove them
whether they'll walk in my Lord or no. Now, I want us to look
for just a few minutes. We're going to remember the Lord
in the taking of the Lord's Supper tonight. And I wanted to look
at this account where our Lord had said, speaking of the bread
that was sent during this period of time, he said, Moses didn't
give you that bread. He had revealed to them that
he himself was the bread of life, the bread of heaven. He said,
I am the bread that came down. That bread that came down in
the wilderness right here, he said, Moses didn't give that.
God gave that. That was a picture of Christ.
Let's look at this manna for just a minute. The manna in the
wilderness, it was divine in its origin. Psalm 78.25 says
concerning this manna, man did eat angels' food. Psalm 78.25. Israel didn't produce
it in the wilderness. They didn't bring it out of Egypt.
It was a gift from God. The Lord said, I will rain bread
from heaven for you. The people will go out and gather
a rate every day. I'll prove them to see whether
they walk in My law or no. The bread, the heavenly bread,
the bread from heaven itself. John 6.33, the bread of God is
He which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world,
unto the arrangement, unto the order, the order of man that
Almighty God loved and would not let perish. The Lord was
going to put these people, and did put them in the wilderness,
but was God Almighty going to leave them to themselves? How
are they going to live? What are they going to eat? What
are they going to drink? The Lord is going to have to
sustain them, or they are going to die. They didn't know how. When are we going to come up
with enough food for these people? Where are we going to find the
sustenance? I will rain bread upon you out
of heaven. Numbers 11.9, you can mark these
down and go back for the sake of time, I'll just give you the
Scriptures. It says that what would happen
is the dew would fall first. That was Numbers 11.9. Dew would
fall, then the manna would fall on top of the dew. And then another
dew would fall on top of the manna. And then when the sun
would start to come up, that first dew would rise. And the people would go out and
they were gathering the manna. And it had dew under it and over
it. Revelation speaks of that hidden
manna. That's Christ. The hidden manna
from heaven. So here we are. The Lord is going
to give them bread. And this is what He is going
to sustain them on. He's going to sustain them on the bread.
But the people murmured. People murmured. And they said,
we want something else to eat. Verse 11 of Exodus 16, I'll pick
up. It says, I've heard the murmurings
of the children of Israel. Speak unto them, saying, It even.
You shall eat flesh in the morning, you shall be filled with bread,
and you shall know that I am the Lord your God." These people,
they said, we need something else to eat besides bread. We're going to have to have some
meat. And so the Lord was going to
send them some meat And in Numbers 11, it speaks of, here again,
read that 11th chapter of Numbers. God says, okay, you want some
flesh too. The bread is not enough. Spiritually speaking, that's
a man saying, Christ is not enough for me. We loathe this light
bread. I want some meat. I've got to have something else
to eat besides this. light bread, this manna. So God, out of anger
and wrath, judgment, sent these people quail. He said, I'm going to give you
some meat. And He said, I'm going to give
you meat. And He said, you're not going to eat it. You're not
going to eat it for a day. You're not going to eat it for
a week. or a few weeks. He said, I'm going to give it
to you for one month. Numbers chapter 11. And he said, I'm
going to give you meat until it runs out your nose and you're
going to know that I am the Lord. Men may find when they desire
more than God's provision, God's Christ, be careful. The Lord may give it to you.
The Lord may just allow a man to go through what he thinks
he wants. Or if I had this, I had that.
I'd have it all. This manna was God's provision. He said, I'm going to feed you
with manna. No, we want some meat too. Okay? I'll give you
what you want. About like when the people told
Samuel, we need a king. Samuel said, you don't want a
king. Yeah, we do too. They said, okay. God's going
to give you a king. And he gave them Saul. And you
know what happened. Thirdly, this manna, the manna
that God sent, divine provision of Almighty God. God sent it. Divine in its origin. Secondly,
this manna was where the people were. Verse 13 says it came to
pass that even the quails came up. If that's all we knew right
there about the quails coming up, you really wouldn't know. But the quail, it said that a
strong wind came and blew from the Red Sea these quail, and
they just landed. They were everywhere, everywhere,
just covered the whole camp of the nation of Israel. But this
scripture, that's in Numbers 11. It says here in verse 13
of Exodus 16, "...came to pass that at evening the quails came
up and covered the camp. And in the morning the dew lay
round about the host." Almighty God sent Those wafers of the
manna round about the host. And when the dew, verse 14, that
lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there
lay a small round thing, small as the heart, frost on the ground. The manna was all around. It
was there. The people gathered it according
to God's Word. And likewise, where the Lord
sends the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Men, as these men
and women right here, all they did was they walked out of their
tents and there was the manna. God told them to gather it. That
is your sustenance. That's the fruit of heaven. That's
your bread. You'll live on that. And one
of two things were going to happen. They were going to gather it,
or they were going to trample on it. They were going to walk
on it. When men hear the gospel preached, men are never indifferent. Brother Scott used to say, it
will either make a man mad or glad. One of the two. Men are not indifferent to the
gospel of God's grace. Thirdly, concerning this manna,
it was in the midst of the host. It was right where it needed
to be. It was of divine origin. Thirdly, the manna was indispensable,
which means it couldn't be neglected. It was there until the heat of
the sun melted it. The people were to go out every
morning, six days, and gather for every person in that tent,
gather there was going to be an omer. I looked up an omer. I didn't know how much an omer
was. It's just a little over a gallon. Just a little over
a gallon. 1.15 gallons. An omer of manna. sustained a man. One man. Those that needed more, that
homer took care of. Those that didn't need as much,
there was no lack. God Almighty supplied the need
of every one of His people by that measurement right there.
You go and gather, if there's four people in your tent, then
you go out, four homers. Eight people, some more, some
less. But there was always enough,
but it was not to be neglected, even now. As long as there's
breath in our lungs, we have hope. If they didn't go out and
gather that manna every day, when the sun melted it, it was
gone. It was gone. It was not going
to be there until in the morning. They had to go out every day
except the day before the Sabbath day, and that day they could
gather two days' worth. But every day was just for that
day. And they ate it. And if they
tried to keep it until the next morning, worms got in it, except
on the day of the Sabbath. Worms didn't get in it on that
day. They were going to have to believe God. They were going
to have to rest in the Lord. But if they didn't go gather
it, and the sun melted it, In the day of the heat of God's
judgment, in that day, all men are going to stand before God.
The books are going to be opened. And the book is going to be opened.
The dead are going to be judged according to their works. And
the quick, or the alive, the regenerate, shall be considered
according to the imputed righteousness of Christ. Those that are found
written in the Lamb's book of life. Hebrews 2, 3. And I'm talking about how they
could not neglect that manna. They couldn't neglect it. That's
all that God provided for them to eat. Oh, they ate quail for
a while. But God continued to give them
manna. If they neglected it, Hebrews 2.3 says, how shall we
escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first
began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by
them that heard Him? How shall we escape if we neglect
God's salvation? Not what man has to say. What
shall we do if we neglect what Almighty God has to say? Fourthly,
the manna was sufficient for everyone and it was satisfying. Verse 16 of Exodus 16 says this,
This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded. Gather of it
every man according to his eating, an omer for every man according
to the number of your persons. Take ye every man for them which
are in his tents. That's what I was talking about
a while ago. Every man has to have an omer. Salvation is personal. You must
be born again. You must hear the Lord. No one
can believe for another. Romans 1.16 says, the gospel
of Christ, which is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth. Salvation is of the Lord to an
individual. You must hear. He that believeth shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. The Lord Jesus Christ died for
His church, for all of them. He is sufficient for all of their
salvation. And every one of them must hear
and shall hear individually. Galatians 2.20 says, Who loved
Me and gave Himself, the Scripture says, for Me. Who is our salvation? He's precious. Not only was that manna sufficient
for every one of them, but also it was delightful. It was tasty. I was reading this. It says in
verse 31 of this 16th chapter, And the house of Israel called
the name thereof, manna. And it was like coriander seed,
white. And the taste of it was like
wafers made with honey. And I read, I tried to read to
find out. They said it was like a little
wafer. It says it was like a little
soft cake. And it was honey. It had a little cake with honey
in it. And it was chewy. It was a chewy. You could almost
start imagining how it tasted. You know, it was just a soft,
chewy, sweet little cake. And it met the palate of every
one of them. Now can you imagine having that
many people and they all liked it? It all tasted good. There's some things that I just
don't care for. It just don't fit my palate. But manna, it fit everyone's
palate. It's you that know the Lord.
He is not the Lord Jesus Christ, sweet unto you. Does he not taste
and savor of life? Oh, Psalm 34, verse 8 says, Taste
and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in Him. Does it? Salvation by grace. Salvation that is all of grace. Let me ask you how this sounds
to you. Almighty God everlastingly loved you. Knew
you. Knew you. Knew you. There He is. Personally. Knew your frame. Knew you before
He said, I ever formed you in the belly, I knew you. Loved
you. The Lord Jesus Christ, who was
ever before the Father, He said, My delights, our delights, Father
and Son, were with the sons of man in the habitable parts of
the earth where His people were. The Lord Jesus Christ, the surety,
the bridegroom, whoever knew His bride, Ever saw her. Ever knows her. Saw her before
she was made. Saw her in life. With her in the physical dying
in this world. He said, I'll never leave you.
I'll never forsake you. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I'm
not going to cast you out. You're not going to be lost.
You're going to be with Me. You're going to behold the glory
that was given me before the world was seated with Him. That little wafer, that little
cake, that little sweet, chewy manna, it was sweet to the taste. Next, the manna was gathered
by faith. The people gathered that food,
as I said a moment ago, every day, six days. The day before
the Sabbath, they gathered enough for two days. None of it was
left. They had to trust the Lord. They had to rest. They could
say, what if there's no manna there in the morning? What if we get up and the weather
is just so bad? What if we just have a... There's a lot of people out here.
What if? If you try to keep it, you try to hoard it, you try
to keep it, hide it, sustain yourself, it's going to stink. It's going to rot. It's going
to perish. You will keep it, not until the
morning. Sabbath day, it will stay there. It won't stink. On that day of
rest, Setting forth a glorious rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. Resting in Him will never perish. He'll never breed worms. It's
always alive. And then lastly, that manna,
though it was undeserved, they murmured against God. It was
free. I will rain bread from heaven
for you. Ephesians 2.8 says, For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. They didn't
plant manna. They didn't cultivate it. They
didn't nourish it. God gave it to them. They gathered
it every day. And it was there. Every day, every day, every day
proved His faithfulness and kept Him. It was free. Salvation is
by grace, through faith, and that not of yourself. It is the
gift of God. Lord, evermore, give us of this
bread evermore give us of this water of life, the manna from
heaven, beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm going
to ask the men if they'll come now.