Lessons from the Manna

Q: What does the Bible say about manna and Jesus?

Manna in the Bible symbolizes Jesus, the true bread from heaven that gives eternal life. In Exodus 16, God provides manna as sustenance for the Israelites in the wilderness, which typifies Jesus Christ, who identifies Himself as the 'bread of life' in John 6:32-35. Jesus makes it clear that while their ancestors ate manna and eventually died, He is the living bread that offers everlasting life to all who come to Him in faith. This correlation illustrates how the physical sustenance represented by manna points to the spiritual nourishment found in Christ alone.

Q: Why is the concept of humility important for Christians?

Humility is essential for Christians as it reflects Christ's character and enables us to learn from Him. Humility is an important characteristic for Christians because it allows one to recognize their dependence on God and His grace. In Philippians 2:5, believers are urged to have the same mindset as Christ, who exemplified humility by coming in the form of a servant. As we grow in humility, we learn to trust in Christ and His provision, rather than relying on our own works or understanding. By being humble, we are more open to receiving the truth and grace that God imparts through His Word and the gospel, which ultimately leads us to spiritual growth and reliance on Christ.

Q: How do we know grace is sufficient for us?

Grace is sufficient for us because Christ provides what we need to meet each moment's challenges. The doctrine of sufficiency in Christ's grace reassures believers that no matter the size of their need or the weight of their sin, Christ's grace meets them where they are. In Scripture, it's affirmed that His grace abounds where sin increases (Romans 5:20), which teaches us that no need is too great for God's grace. As each Israelite gathered manna to meet their specific needs (Exodus 16:16-17), we too receive grace tailored for our daily lives. This indicates that Christ continually provides what is necessary for our spiritual sustenance and well-being, reinforcing the truth that believers will never lack what is needed to persevere in faith.

Q: Why is Jesus called the daily bread?

Jesus is called the daily bread as He sustains us spiritually on a daily basis. In the sermon, it is emphasized that just as the Israelites were commanded to gather manna daily, believers are called to seek Christ, their daily bread, through Scripture and prayer. This illustrates the dependency of Christians on Christ for their spiritual nourishment. In John 6:35, Jesus declares that He is the bread of life; those who come to Him will not hunger or thirst. This not only conveys the physical act of seeking sustenance but also reflects a deeper reality: that spiritual life and daily sustenance are found exclusively in Him. The daily gathering reflects the need for continual communion and dependence on Christ as our source of life and strength.

Q: How can believing in Christ bring rest to our souls?

Believing in Christ grants us rest, freeing us from the burdens of trying to earn salvation through works. Christ teaches that the true rest for our souls is found in faith alone. In Matthew 11:28-30, He invites all who are weary and burdened to come to Him for rest. This rest is fundamentally different from the burdens of the law, as it stems from trusting in Christ's finished work on the cross, which satisfies all requirements for righteousness. Just as the Israelites were commanded to rest on the Sabbath after gathering the double portion of manna, believers are encouraged to rest in Christ’s completed work. This rest increases as we rely fully on Him for salvation and sanctification, allowing us to cease from our attempts to earn God's favor through our efforts.

Alright, brethren, if you'll
turn with me back to Exodus 16. I'm going to read out of John
6 before we begin, if you want to turn there with me. Now, we know that the manna that
came down in the wilderness typified the Lord Jesus Christ. The Master
tells us that Himself. In verse 32 of John 6, then Jesus
said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you
not that bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true
bread from heaven. For the bread of God, the bread
of God, is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth, giveth
life unto the world. He said there in verse 35, I'm
the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. How did I come to him? What does
he mean by that? He that believeth on me, he that believeth on me
shall never thirst. And then he said down in verse
47, Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me
hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your
fathers did eat man in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread
which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and
not die. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Verse
53, he said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except you eat
the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no
life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last
day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and
I in him, as the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the
Father. So he that eateth me, even he
shall live by me. This is that bread which came
down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna and are
dead. He that eateth of this bread shall live forever. Now,
let's look over at Exodus chapter 16. Now, I showed you this morning
believers are proven through this bread. Proven. It's going
to be made manifest who the Lord's people are. They have a heart
given by the Spirit of God and they delight to feed upon Christ
the bread. Now, we're taught everything
through Christ. everything. So this hour I want
to show you some lessons through the manna. This is some of the
things believers are taught through Christ our bread. Now here's
the first thing that we're taught. We're taught, first of all, that
all spiritual blessings, all understanding, all true light,
all life, all things, we're taught through Christ, not through the
flesh. Not through the flesh. Look at
verse 11. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. Speak
unto them, saying, At evening you shall eat flesh, and in the
morning you shall be filled with bread, and ye shall know that
I am the Lord your God. And it 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. I want you to pay particular
attention as we go here. God gave no instruction concerning
the quail. He didn't give any instruction
at all concerning the quail. The quail is flesh. The quails are flesh. They're
flesh. They represent fleshly things.
They represent worldly things of flesh. They represent things
that our flesh, our old man, our carnal nature lusts after. Natural food, natural lusts,
natural desires. And like birds of the air, all
those natural fleshly, that fleshly food, It takes wing and flies
away, all of it. None of it is lasting, just like
the quail. The quails were given by God.
All the things that the believer has in his life, temporal blessings,
are given by God. But the quail, he didn't work
any miracle in the quail. He did in the bread, but he didn't
work any miracles in the quail. He didn't give any instruction
through the quail like he did through the manna. Later we're
going to see that when they lusted after that flesh of the quail,
they loathed the manna. And the scripture says he gave
them their request. They wanted the quail, they wanted
the flesh, and he gave it to them. And he sent leanness into
their soul. You see, we can't have life in
two places. We can't have life in this world
and have life in Christ. Christ is the true bread. We
can't have life in our hand and have life in Christ. We can't
have life by works and life by grace. We can't have life in
lies and have life in truth. It's an impossibility. It just
can't be done. Now, look at what the Lord, the
Lord said this over in John 6. Now, I've told you that everything
that our Lord is teaching you, He fed them the multitudes with
bread, He proved Philip through it, He began to teach them that
He's the true bread through it. I'd encourage you to listen to
that first hour's message. But look at John 6, 63. This
is what He taught. He said, It's the spirit that
quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak
unto you, their spirit and their life. Do you understand that?
The flesh doesn't profit anything. God may give us some quails.
He may give us some quails, but don't set your affection on things
that merely feed your flesh. Don't set your affection on it. Labor not for the meat that perishes,
but labor for Christ our true bread that lasts forever. All
right. Here's the second thing that
we learn through Christ our bread. God teaches us humility. He teaches
us humility through Christ our bread. Look at verse 14. And when the dew that lay was
gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a
small round thing. as small as the gray frost on
the ground. That's small, isn't it? You know
how small frost is on the ground when you see frost? It's tiny,
tiny, tiny. This bread that fell was a small
round thing, as small as the gray hoar frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel
saw it, they said one to another, it's manna. You know what that
means? Next phrase tells you, for they
didn't know what it was. That's what manna means. What
is this? We didn't know what it was. They didn't have a clue
what it was. And Moses said unto them, this is the bread which
the Lord hath given you to eat. Now, some regard Christ our bread,
and some regard His means of grace, teaching us through this
gospel of our bread. Some regard this and say, what
is this? This is an insignificant thing. You think I'm going to get life
through that? You think I'm going to have life
through Christ? I'm going to be fed something
through His gospel? You think I need to come and
feed on His gospel and His word? Christ was regarded the same
way when He walked this earth. He didn't come into this earth
as high and mighty and haughty and come to conquer Rome and
to deliver His children back into that temporal earthly pleasure
they had when they lived in David's day. He didn't do that. He came
lowly. He came as a root out of a dry
ground, a tender plant. There wasn't anything about Him
that made men want to desire Him and made men look upon Him.
Look over at John 6, 41. Hold your place in John 6 and
Exodus 16 and go back and forth again John 6 41 The Jews didn't murmured at him
because he said I'm the bread which came down from heaven And
they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, who father
and mother we know? How is it then, he saith, I came
down from heaven? You see, they looked at him less
like those children of Israel looked at that man that fell
down in the wilderness. And the Jews, verse 52, And the
Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give
us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son
of Man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you. And
whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life,
and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat
indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. Look at verse 66, I mean
verse 60. Many therefore of his disciples,
when they had heard this, said, This is a hard saying, who can
hear it? When Jesus knew in Himself that
His disciples murmured at it, He said unto them, Does this
offend you? Does this offend you? What, and if you shall see
the Son of Man ascend up where He was before? It is the Spirit
that quaketh, the flesh provideth you nothing. The words that I
speak, there is spirit in their life. Look down at verse 65,
and He said, Therefore said I unto you that no man could come unto
Me except it were given unto him of My Father. From that time,
many of his disciples went back and they didn't walk anymore
with him. No more with him. You see, if we're going to be
taught of God, look at Philippians 2. If we're going to be taught
of God, we're going to have to come down. We're going to have
to come down like Christ came down. We're not going to learn
anything when we're trying to prove to somebody else that we
know everything. You never learn anything that
way. You are going to learn when we come down and we listen to
the Lord speak. Philippians 2 verse 5, Let this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in
the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God,
but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. We're for God also. He's highly exalted Him and given
Him a name above every name. You know, we're going to have
to be brought down. We're going to have to be taught,
and this humility is taught through Christ. He teaches us this way. He teaches us through His gospel.
He humbles us through all He does. Christ came down. Christ came from glory to where
we are. He didn't make Himself a reputation. That wasn't His
mind. His mind wasn't to come to be served. His mind was to
serve. His mind wasn't to come forth
and to disobey God. His mind was to obey God, to
do what the Father's will was. His mind was to glorify his Father
in obedience to his Father. That was his mind. And He did
that, even to the death of the cross, even going to be made
sin for His people to put away our sin and to declare God just
and the justifier. He did that. And men will say,
I'm not going to drive that far to come and hear the gospel preached.
God don't need you. He don't need you. Christ came
all the way from heaven's glory to be made a refuse, to be looked
upon and despised and rejected men to save His people from their
sin. If we can't get our scrawny little butt out of bed and get
in a car and drive to hear the gospel preached, God don't need
us. He don't need us. We're too haughty, too haughty.
We're just too haughty. If you came to the table, your
little pouty high chair be so high, we wouldn't even be able
to get the food up to you anyway. God saves His people, breaking
them and making them humble before Him. We've got to come down.
We're taught that humility through Christ. Here's the third thing.
There's sufficiency in Christ for all who are hungry. That's
what we're taught. There's sufficiency in Christ
for everybody that's hungry. Look at verse 16. This is the
thing which the Lord hath commanded. Gather of it every man according
to his eating. And, Omer, for every man, according
to the number of your persons, take ye every man for them which
are in his tents. And the children of Israel did
so. Now let's get this here. He said, go out, gather every
man according to his eating, and Omer for every man according
to the number of your persons. So the head of the family went
out and he gathered, and he's gathering enough for everybody,
every head in his house, and Omer for every one of them. And
the children of Israel did so, and gathered some more and some
less. Some got a little more than Omer,
some got a little less. And it says, and he that gathered
much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack.
They gathered every man according to his eating. Now this manna
was brought to a central place, and when they measured out, everybody
came there to get their omer for their family. And when they
measured it out, it was enough for everybody, an omer, exact
omer in everybody's tents. And those who gathered much,
they didn't have anything over, and those who gathered less,
they weren't lacking anything. Now Christ is the bread, and
Christ is that central place where we find this bread sufficient.
He's the one we come to. Look back there at John 6, 3-35. Jesus said, I am the bread of
life. He that cometh to me. You see
that? He that cometh to me. He's the
one where we're going to find this full sufficient. He that
cometh to me shall not hunger. He that believeth on me shall
never thirst. Christ Jesus is sufficient and His grace is sufficient. Sin abounds. That's what Scripture
said. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. He said,
my grace is sufficient for you. Those who have strong faith,
they won't have any more grace. than what is sufficient grace.
And those who have little faith won't lack anything. They'll
have grace sufficient for them. You see? There's no inequality
in God's house. We're all made one in Christ,
all fed in Christ. How great is your sin? Is it
great? Do you have great sin? Is your
sin great? His blood's greater. Blood's
greater to cover our sin. How great is your need? Is your
need great, great need? His grace is sufficient to meet
that need. How great is our hunger? How
great is our thirst? Do you hunger after righteousness?
Do you long to be perfect with God? Do you long to be absolutely
complete, as righteous as God is righteous, as holy as God
is holy? Do you long for that? Christ is fully sufficient. He's
fully sufficient. And His grace is sufficient for
us every day. His grace is sufficient for us
daily. The Lord teaches us as we go through this life, just
what He was teaching them. He didn't give them a bunch in
store. He gave them what they needed
that day. And He teaches us this through this, that what we need
today, God gives today. The grace we need, we need to
be taught of him today. We need Christ, our daily bread
today. We need our temple bread today. He gives the grace we need today. He teaches us that, that he doesn't
only care for the whole body, he cares for each individual
member of that body. And he cares for each individual
member of that body at every moment, at every hour of every
day. That's what he does. He gives
full supply according as we need grace. This morning, you got
up, you were tired, you got up and some new part hurt. And you
thought, man, I'm just, I don't know if I'm gonna go this morning.
You needed grace to come here. You needed grace to get here,
didn't you? No man comes to me except my Father which is in
heaven draws him, he said. He gave grace, didn't he? You
that truly came here to hear a word from God, you gonna pat
yourself on the back for doing that? The grace came from Him
to do that. Now when you leave here, as you
sit here right now, you need hearing grace. You need to be
able to hear a word from Him. You need grace to hear Him. The
flesh prophets nothing. You need Him to quicken us. We
need Him to quicken us in our spirits so we can hear Him. He's
the only one that can give that grace. He gives it as we need
it. Ask Him. When you leave here,
you're going to need remembering grace. You're going to need to
have these things continue with you and be planted in your heart
and grow and be nourished by this bread. You know, you eat
and eating is good and it goes into the body. But if God doesn't
give the increase and make that bread nourish our bodies, we
can eat all the bread we want to. We're going to wither away
to nothing. Well, we need Him to continue to grow us by this
grace and cause these things to be planted in our memory and
our minds if we remember them, don't we? He's the one that does
that. Today, right now, as we live,
we need living grace. We don't need dying grace. We're
alive. We need living grace. In a little
while, we're going to be on the edge of death and we're going
to need dying grace then. We won't need living grace then.
We'll need dying grace then. His grace is sufficient for every
hour, for every trial, for every situation, for each one of His
people. Sufficient. That's what He teaches
us through this bread as we go along. That His grace is sufficient.
Then here's the next thing. He teaches us that He's our daily
bread. Christ is our daily bread. Look
at verse 19. And Moses said, let no man leave of it till the
morning. Notwithstanding, they hearkened
not unto Moses, but some of them left of it until the morning,
and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them,
and they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating,
and when the sun waxed hot, it melted. If they waited, if they
got up too much, and they got in excess and tried to store
it up so they didn't have to go out and gather it tomorrow,
It bred worms and it stank the next day when they got up. And
if they hung around all morning and laid up in bed and slept,
as my daddy used to say, till the sun curls your eye teeth.
They laid around and slept. The sun waxed hot and it was
gone. When they went out, it was gone.
There wasn't any there. Some didn't pass this test. Some
tried to save some for tomorrow, but it just didn't work. Now,
some of you come here and you'll feed on Christ this morning.
and expect to go through the whole week without reading His
Word, without seeking His face, without getting up early in the
morning and gathering the bread, without getting up early in the
morning and feasting upon this bread, and reading Him, without
seeking Him each new day. We don't do that with our earthly
food, do we? When our Lord said, he that believeth
on me shall never hunger and never thirst. Those that truly
believe on the Lord. It's not that you eat and then
from then on you don't ever hunger and you don't ever thirst after
Christ. It's not that then you don't ever have a desire to know
more of Him and long after Him and be taught of Him and be fed
by Him. It's not that at all. It's that you know there's one
place I'm going to be fed, and there's one place my thirst is
going to be quenched, and it's in him. And you know he won't
let me go hungry, but we have to come to him and eat daily.
We don't do that in our jobs. You think, well, I worked yesterday,
so now I'm not going to work anymore for another six months.
There won't be any bread on the table out there. And we don't
come and eat that bread and say, when am I going to eat another
again for a week? I say this to you all the time, if that's
our regard of this gospel, just give this an experiment. Don't
eat any more, any longer, any more often than you read the
word of God. Don't eat any more often, I mean at the table than
you come and hear the gospel preached. Don't eat any more
than you seek God's face through prayer. Don't eat at your earthly
table any more than that. Make them the same. and see if
your hunger don't tear up your belly and you start becoming
hungry and famished, well then know then, this is what's happening
to me spiritually. It's what's happening to me spiritually.
We need to read his word daily. We need to search, seek him in
prayer, faithfully come hear his gospel, daily feed upon Christ.
This word, this gospel doesn't breed laziness. Grace doesn't
breed laziness. It doesn't breed indifference.
God provides Christ the bread freely. Salvation is all together
by His grace, not of works. All together. Now some men will
hear that, and some men here, I'm sure there was some in that
camp, they saw that bread coming down, they said, this bread's
free. We don't have to pay anything for this bread. It's going to
be there. It's going to be there. And so
they just lazed around. Or some were greedy and said,
I'm going to get up all I can so I don't have to do anything
tomorrow. That's not what God's grace breeds in His people. Grace
doesn't make us lazy. It makes us want to seek Him.
It makes Him want to work in our jobs to provide for our families.
It makes us want to be able to provide for one another to do
so as unto the Lord. That's what grace does by teaching
us that Christ is our daily bread. Here's the next thing. Through
Christ, We're taught that through believing, through coming to
Him, believing on Him, we have rest for our souls. We're taught this through the
bread. No man will understand this until he comes. You won't
understand this, what I'm about to say, until you believe on
Christ. You won't get this. This will be a dilemma. You won't
get this until you believe on Christ. Verse 22. And it came
to pass that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread,
two almers for one man. And all the rulers of the congregation
came and told Moses. And he said unto them, This is
that which the Lord hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy
Sabbath unto the Lord." Now it appears here that Moses hadn't
told them this yet. You see, they went out and there
was just twice as much bread, so they gathered up more and
brought in. And the priest came and told
Moses, he said, you know, the guy gathered up all this, we're
going to have all this turned, breed worms and stink and be
gone tomorrow? And Moses said, this is that
which the Lord hath said, tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath
unto the Lord. It's the rest of the holy Sabbath
unto the Lord. Bake that which you will bake
today, and seethe that you will seethe. Then that which remaineth
over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. And they laid
it up till the morning as Moses bade. And it did not stink, neither
was there any worm therein. And Moses said, Eat that today,
for today is a Sabbath unto the Lord. Today you shall not find
it in the field. You're not going to go out and
find this bread in the field. Six days you shall gather it,
but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall
be none. And it came to pass that there
went out some of the people on the seventh day for together,
and they found none." They didn't find any bread. And the Lord
said unto Moses, How long refuse you to keep my commandments and
my laws? See, for that the Lord hath given
you the Sabbath. Therefore he giveth you on the
sixth day the bread of two days. Abide ye every man in his place.
Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people
rested on the seventh day. The seventh day, I've told you
this before, the seventh day meant all the work was finished. All the work was done. God created
the world in six days, and on the seventh day He rested. Not
because He was tired, because there wasn't anything else to
be done. Everything was finished. The work was done. That's why
He rested. Christ came, and the Scriptures
tells us, He said, Tell them their warfare is accomplished.
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, He said. Say unto them that their
warfare is accomplished. I have rewarded them double. for all their sins. That's what
he told them. When this work, on the sixth day, when this work
is finished, he said, you're going to have double of what
you need. And he said so that on the seventh,
you just rest. You can just rest and eat and
you'll have plenty. You'll have plenty. The bread
And the Sabbath were connected, you see. This is when he gave
them the first instruction about a Sabbath day. And he gave them
this bread, and he gave them this Sabbath connected together.
The manna, the bread, shows that all of our provision of life
is Christ. He's all our provision in this
life, it's Christ. He's the bread. And the Sabbath
shows us that all our provision of rest is in Christ. It's all
in Christ. Christ's word, this is His word,
to lost ruined sinners, this is His word, come unto me, all
ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Now you've been working, you've
been laboring, and you've been trying, laboring in what? Laboring
to come to God, laboring to keep His law, laboring to walk in
His statutes and His commandments in order to find acceptance with
God, in order to have some kind of righteousness God will receive.
You've been laboring and laboring, and you become more heavy laden
by it, more heavy laden by it. You've got no peace, you've got
no rest, there seems to be no end to trying to please God that
way. And there is no end to it that
way. He says, all you that labor, come to Me, come to Christ. All
you that are heavy laden, come to Christ, and I will give as
free as that man that came down from heaven, as free as that
rest was given to everybody in that camp, as He gave that double
portion so that they could rest and find rest, as free as that
came. He said, I will give you rest. Who did? Christ said, I
will. Would it cost anything? I'll
give it to you. What does it give? Rest. Rest. Just as we don't have life till
we eat this bread, believe on Christ. We don't have any rest
for our souls except we trust Him alone as our Lord and our
Savior. You know what that means? It
means we trust that His blood is our only atonement. We trust
that His obedience is our only righteousness. We trust that
only Christ is our rest, Him alone. You won't find this bread
in the field. Some went out, they said, we're
going to go out there and see if we can get this bread by our
hand. You're not going to find it that
way. You're not going to find this rest. They went out there
and the rest, they found no bread that way. You're not going to
find rest that way. It's not going to be in our works, it's
in Christ's works. It's not in our wisdom, it's
in Christ's wisdom. It's not in our holiness. Oh,
I get so sick of hearing men say, well, the scripture says
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. Do you ever
want to believe? He's not the end of the law for holiness.
Oh, yes, he is. Yes, he is. Sanctification is
a branch of our justification, and it's all about Christ, who
is, if Christ hadn't been holy in heart, then nothing he did
outwardly under the law would have been righteous. But He is
both our sanctification and our righteousness. Christ is. Read
1 Corinthians 1.30. That's what He is. Now, verse
28. And the Lord said unto Moses,
How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? Now
this is where this throws just a twist and a kink in man's... Man don't get that. Wait a minute
now. They didn't obey His laws and keep His commandments. because
they went out to work to gather this bread instead of resting.
You understand that? You understand that? We don't
keep His commandments and keep His laws by trying to keep His
commandments and keep His laws. We keep His commandments and
we keep His laws by resting in His Son through faith who kept
His commandments and kept His laws on our behalf. You understand
that? Now look, when they disobeyed
and they stored up bread, rather than gathering and eating daily,
it stank and it bred worms. And when they disobeyed by going
out looking when they were told to rest, they found no bread.
But when they obeyed, when they obeyed the Lord, the voice of
the Lord, they were both fed and they rested. And this is
the holy command. Look at John 6. This is the holy
work of God. John 6.27. He said, labor not for the meat
which perisheth. Touch not, taste not, handle
not. All of those things are to perish with the using, God
said. When you've worked up the very best righteousness and the
very best holiness that a man can muster up, it's more righteous
than a Pharisee. When you've done all of that,
as soon as you die, your righteousness and your holiness is gonna die
with you. We gotta have a righteousness and a holiness outside of ourselves
that's God that's been made brought into our hearts by this new birth
and made us partakers of his divine nature through his incorruptible
seed. Labor not for the meat that perishes,
but for that meat which endureth under everlasting life, which
the Son of Man shall give unto you. For him hath God the Father
sealed. Then said they unto him, what
shall we do that we might work the works of God? What shall
we do? We want to keep His commandments
and keep His laws. He said, Jesus answered and said
unto them, this is the work of God, that you believe on Him
whom He hath sent. You notice down the page there,
He said in verse 51, I am the living bread which came down
from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever.
The bread that I will give is my flesh. It's my flesh which
I'll give for the life of the world. There is flesh, there
is a man that God regards as holy and righteous and God receives. But it's not my flesh and it's
not your flesh. Ours is sinful and wretched and
unholy and ungodly. It's going to be Christ the Lord,
the Son of Man came down. He, as a man, He did this. He
gave His life. He was made under the law. He
walked perfectly under that law. He went to the cross and justified
His people from the penalty of that law. It's His flesh that
He gave that is our righteousness and our true holiness. Look at,
what about the law then? Look at Romans 3.31. Romans 3.31. What about the law then? What
about the commandments? Father just got through telling
them, he just got through telling the Pharisees, as bad as you
think all of those people outside who don't have the law of God
are, and as immoral and as lewd and as profane as you think they
are, he said, you that like your boast of the law, Do you keep
the law? You that say don't steal, do
you steal? And I'm sure they sat there when Paul said that
and said, no, we don't. And by saying that, they were
robbing God Christ of the glory that belongs to him alone. He's
the only one that never robbed God. He's the only one that never
steal from mankind. They were robbing God of his
glory and robbing the people. of the bread from heaven and
not telling the truth about God. They are liars. They were stealing
from God. Thou that sayest amiss shall
not commit adultery. Do you commit adultery, Paul
said? And they sit there and say, no, no, you won't ever catch
one of us committing adultery. You harlot, you. You just committed
adultery on Him. You look to your own flesh to
fornicate with your own flesh when He said, the only way you
come into God is to be married to that husband. You see, you
can't look to two husbands and be accepted of God. It can't
happen. In Romans 7, He said, if the law is our husband, then
we've got to come to God in that husband. And you cannot look
to Christ at all because you're playing the adulterous against
that husband when you look to Christ. You can't have Christ
and look back to the law because then you're playing adultery
against Christ our husband and looking back to that old husband.
And he said, but by Christ and what He's done, we're dead to
the law. And the law has as much bearing upon a believer right
now. It has as much to say to a believer right now As a woman
whose husband has died and been buried, and she marries a new
husband, that law has as much to say to a believer as that
old buried husband has to say to her that's married to a new
husband. Nothing. Nothing. Why? How did that come
to be? How did that happen? Look at
Romans 3.31. Do we then make void the law
through faith? God forbid. We established the
law. And in the next chapter, he tells
us, Abraham did the same thing. Abraham established everything
that was written in the Ten Commandments, and he established them 430 years
before the Ten Commandments were ever given. Man! How could a
man establish the law fully when yet he didn't even have the commandments
given at Mount Sinai? Paul said, through faith. He
believed on Christ who did it. That's how. Now, I want you to
look at Romans 7. And let me show you what I'm
going to preach a message on this soon, I think. But you know
in Romans 6 when Paul said, shall we continue in sin that grace
may abound? I'm convinced that the sin Paul's
speaking of is what he talked about all the time. It's the
sin of trying to find acceptance with God by our law obedience.
You remember, that's worse of an offense. That's a worse sin
than true temporal physical adultery is. You know that? You remember
the Lord said of the Pharisees and the scribes? He said, the
harlots, the sinners and the publicans will enter in heaven
for you will. That meant they were further
away from Christ than he was. He said, you'd accomplish land
and sea to make a proselyte. When you make one, you make him
two times more a child of hell than when you found him. Now
he's in darkness and he's lost and he's blind, but he thinks
he's righteous. We're going to continue in that now that we've
been born of the Spirit of God and found this rest wherein we're
complete and the law is satisfied and established? We're going
to continue in that sin and that rebellion? Paul said in Romans
7, he said, He tried it for a while. He said, but sin, taken occasion
by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence.
For without the law, sin was dead. For I was alive without
the law once. But when the commandment came,
sin revived and I died. Now, remember Paul said, I was
a Pharisee of Pharisee. That's touching the law blameless.
He's not talking about the concupiscence of immorality and profanity.
He's talking about the concupiscence of thinking I could come to God
in that law. And thinking God would receive
me in that law. It wrought in me all kinds... I was the haughtiest,
most arrogant, most... You couldn't fit in the same
room with me, I surprised Paul said. But when the commandment
came, when God taught me what that law was saying, my sin revived. I became alive. It became alive.
And I died. All my righteousnesses died.
And that commandment, which was ordained to life, that I thought
was ordained to life, it's the ministration of death. That's
what it's called. He's saying there, I thought it was ordained
to life. I found it to be under death. I found it to be what
it is, the law of sin and death. for sin, taken occasion by the
commandment, deceived me, and by that law it slew me. Wherefore
the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." And
somebody's going to say, well if you're saying that then, are
you saying the law is evil? And he said, no, it's good. He
said, was then that which is good made death unto me? The
law's good. Was it made death unto me? No,
the law wasn't made death unto me. God forbid, but sin, that
it may appear sin, working death in me by that which is good,
that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. If it
would have been for the commandment, Paul said, I would have known
my covetousness of trying to come to God in my own glory rather
than the glory of his son. I would have never known that
lust if the commandment hadn't shown me. I'm dead as a hammer
while I think I live. You know what they were doing
when they were going out there and trying to gather that bread
when the Lord said rest? You know what a man's doing when
he's still trying to come to God and thinks that it's by his
keeping the commandments and the statutes that God's going
to receive him? So he don't rest, he just goes out working. You
know what he's doing? Going about to establish his
own righteousness. and not submitting to the righteousness
which is of God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believes. Well, he's in
the loft as a covenant of works. Would you find me that in scripture
one place? Surely if God had meant to say that, he would have
said it. Surely Paul, being inspired by God with the Holy Spirit and
writing things he would have said, surely he would have qualified
what he meant when he said, you're not under the law, but you're
under grace. Surely he'd have said, now, as
a covenant of work. He didn't say that at all. You're
not under it. Period. Period. Well, man of
sin, if he does say, if you tell him that, Anybody who tells you
that, don't rest it in Christ. He ain't submitted to Christ.
He don't have the love of God in his heart constraining him
to understand what it is to walk by faith and not by sight. He
just don't have it. Because it doesn't. It makes
us delight in the law of God after the inward man. It makes
us truly honorable. It makes us no more liars. We
don't bear false witness against God anymore and say, oh, I'm
holy. Look at me. I'm holy. I don't
steal like this man steals. I pray. I fast. It don't make
us bear false witness against him anymore. It doesn't make
us say anymore, oh, God, I'm I'm so glad that I was able to
do this. It doesn't make us say, I despise
His electing grace. I despise His predestinating
grace. I despise His redeeming grace.
I despise the fact that Christ is the interlaw for righteousness.
It doesn't make us anymore say, that's not true. It doesn't make
us bear false witness against God anymore. It makes us submit
to Him and be a witness of His and say, I'm here to testify.
I'm here to tell you the truth that I know God's true. Everything
He said is so. He's made His people accepted
in the beloved. Look now, let me show it to you
one more time, Romans 8-2, and then we'll move on. Romans 8,
2. This is what Paul is saying here.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made
me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could
not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. You see, there is flesh
God has received. It's Christ's flesh. It's what
He did as a man. And being God in human flesh,
what He did is eternal. It's effectual. And for sin,
He condemned sin in the flesh. He did it as a man. That the
righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. That everything
the law has to say in precept and penalty might be completely
filled full in us. Who walk not after the flesh.
You see, we're not walking after that flesh anymore, but after
the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh,
you know what they mind? Things of the flesh. You know
what they're always looking to? Touch not, taste not, hound not. They're
always looking to the law. They're always looking to the
ministration of death. They're always looking to their works.
They're always looking at how well they've done or how bad they've
failed. There's no peace in that. That's labor. There's no peace
in that. But they that are after the Spirit, the things of the
Spirit. We seek those things that are above. We seek Christ
seated on the right hand of God through this gospel. To be carnally
minded, he said, that's death. But to be spiritually minded,
that's life and peace. That's rest. That's bread and
that's peace. That's bread and that's rest
from all your labor. Now, when we believe God back
in our text now, Exodus 16, when we believe Him and rest in Christ,
that's when we truly obey the whole law of God. And that's
when Christ becomes sweet to our souls. Look at verse 31.
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. That's when this gospel becomes
sweet. That's when this breath becomes sweet, when we truly
rest in Him. Here's the last thing. We're
taught through Christ the continual reminder that our salvation beginning
to end is of the Lord. And He gives us a good hope to
look forward to that salvation to come. Look at verse 32. And
Moses said, This is the thing which the Lord commandeth. Fill
an almirah 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. And Moses said
unto Aaron, Take a pot, put an almirah full of manna therein.
They took that pot, they put the bread in that golden pot,
and they lay it up before the Lord to be kept for your generations.
as the Lord commanded Moses. So Aaron laid it up before the
testimony to be kept. And the children of Israel did
eat manna forty years until they came to a land inhabited. They
did eat manna until they came into the borders of the land
of Canaan. That almirah put in that golden pot, that golden
pot was put inside the Ark of the Covenant, and that Ark of
the Covenant was, that bread was under that mercy seat, and
that Ark of the Covenant was put in the holiest of holies,
in the high priest, where he sprinkled it once a year with
blood. Christ is that bread. Christ is that Ark of the Covenant.
Christ is that mercy seat. Christ has entered into the holiest
of holies, where he offered His blood once and obtained eternal
redemption for us. And Christ has done it all now. It's finished. That's where He
is. And this gospel, just like it was to them, a reminder to
them continually that they were delivered by Christ the Lamb,
by Christ the Bread, all through the mercy and grace of God. And
we have a reminder. We have a reminder. We're going
to eat the bread and the wine here in a moment. And the Lord
said, this do in remembrance of me. Genuinely remind us. If your children ask, why do
you eat this bread and this wine? Why do you eat this bread and
this wine? Because His flesh is meat indeed, and His blood
is drink indeed. It's by His obedience in His
flesh that I'm righteous, holy before God. It's by His blood
shed, laying down that flesh, His obedience even unto death,
that I'm justified. And that's all my acceptance
for God. All the sure mercies of David are mine because of
that. Now, as you drink this bread and this wine, remember
that we're taught through Christ, not through the flesh. The flesh
profits us nothing. Remember that we're taught humility. Come down, trust Him, believe
on Him. Remember that we're taught through
Christ that all our sufficiency is in Christ. All sufficiency
of grace is in Him. Remember that just like we need
daily bread, we need to seek Christ our daily bread in His
Word, in His Gospel, in prayer. Remember that Christ, just like
He's our life, He's our rest. We're complete in Him. And remember
this. Salvation is to come. We've got
salvation to come. He brought them into that land
of Canaan. He brought them there. He's going to bring us right
into that land He's promised. Just as He promised. Look here
at John 6.38. Let me end with this. For I came down
from heaven, He said. John 6.38. For I came down from
heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent
me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that
of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should
raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of
him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth
on him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the
last day. Look down at verse 49. Your fathers
did eat man in the wilderness, and they're dead. This is the
bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof
and not Believe on Christ, feed on Christ,
rest in Christ, and you shall live forever. Amen.

Lessons from the Manna

What does the Bible say about manna and Jesus?

Why is the concept of humility important for Christians?

How do we know grace is sufficient for us?

Why is Jesus called the daily bread?

How can believing in Christ bring rest to our souls?

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Lessons from the Manna

What does the Bible say about manna and Jesus?

Why is the concept of humility important for Christians?

How do we know grace is sufficient for us?

Why is Jesus called the daily bread?

How can believing in Christ bring rest to our souls?

Sermon Transcript

About Clay Curtis

Comments

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