Seeking once again the help of
God, I'd like us to turn together to the chapter that we read,
Exodus 15, and the text you'll find in verse 26. 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." Really the words on my mind are the last
part of this text, I am the Lord that healeth thee. Three days after the children
of Israel crossed the Red Sea. They are brought into a place
of hardship. They are brought to the waters
of Myra, which they could not drink and for they were bitter. And they began to complain against
Moses and they began to question and what they were going to drink. And so Moses cried unto the Lord
and the Lord showed him a specific tree for which he was to cut
it down and when he had cut the tree down the waters were made
sweet. God revealed something of himself
to the children of Israel at this point in their life. He revealed himself as the God
who heals. The God who heals. He is the
God who is able to bring about a distinction between the people
of Egypt and the people of Israel. He is the one that brought the
plagues and the sicknesses upon the people of Egypt. He is the
one that was able to bring about that distinct separation from
the people of Israel and the people of Egypt. He is the one
that delivered them. He is the one that redeemed them.
He is the one that claimed those people for himself and so as
they as they walked these three days they had no water and then
they come to a place of water and they find that that water
was not suitable to drink it was bitter. God ordered or orchestrated
this event to show them something of himself that he was not a
God who was distant. He was not a God who was made
of stone. He was not a God who had no feelings
or concerns, but he is a God who was near at hand to his people. He was a God who understood their
weaknesses, understood their needs, and he was a God who was
going to draw near to them and enter into a covenant and establish
his laws with them. but on the basis of their obedience
to him. Under that covenant that was
given to Abraham there was to be obedience on Abraham's part
and so it was with this covenant that they were under that God
would continually bless them with the needful things of life,
bless them with his favour and his presence if they continued
to give ear to his commandments and to walk in his statutes,
if they obeyed his laws and they lived out the principles that were given
to them, then they would experience the favour and blessing of God. God's face would shine upon them. They would walk in the light
of God. They would walk under his blessing
and favour. But should they rebel and turn
against him, then they would experience his displeasure. They
would experience his chastisement. They would experience those things
that they had seen in Egypt, those plagues and those sicknesses.
The displeasure of God would then fall upon the people of
Israel. And so as Abraham God entered into a covenant with
Abraham, it was, in a sense, the core part of that covenant
was God. That covenant could not fail
because God himself entered into a covenant with Abraham, but
the blessings received were to be the result of Abraham's obedience
to God. Remember that God spoke to Abraham. Abraham was called out of the
Ur of the Chaldeans. God chose him and favoured him
and blessed him and entered into a covenant with him. If you remember
in Genesis 15 that Abraham wanted to know what
God was going to do to prove to him that the promises that
had been given to him would take place. He wanted proof. How do I know it's because I
am childless? How do I know that what you have
said is going to take place because I am childless and it is seemingly
impossible that what you have said that from me My children
are going to be as the stars of the sky, as the sand of the
sea. And in me, from me, are all the nations of the earth
going to be blessed. And so God now gives him a visual
token of his favor by entering into a covenant with him. And I think we looked at it recently
that the animals were divided, were split in part. And so it
was in those days, the animals were cut in half, and as two
people entered into a covenant, they would pass through those
two parts of the animal, signifying that should someone break that
covenant, what would happen to them would be death, as happened
to the animal. And so God tells Abraham to get
these sacrifices ready, Abraham gets them ready he parts them
and he divided them in the midst except for the birds and then
when the sun was set a deep sleep fell upon him and the horror
of the great darkness fell upon him and he said unto Abraham
no other surety surety that thy seed will be a stranger in a
land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall
afflict them four hundred years. And also that nation whom they
shall serve will I judge, and afterwards shall they come out
with a great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers
in peace, and thou shalt be buried in a good old age. And it came
to pass that when the sun went down and it was dark, behold
a smoking furnace and a burning lamp that passed between those
two pieces. In that same day, the Lord made
a covenant with Abraham, saying, unto thy seed have I given this
land, on the river of Egypt, unto the river Euphrates. And
so God enters into this covenant with Abraham by passing through
these two, these parts of the animal, that that covenant rested
solely upon God. The covenant of grace, it was
undeserved. God appeared to Abraham. God dealt with Abraham and brought
him out from his idol worship and now enters into this great
covenant, this great blessing with him that rested upon God
but Abraham himself had to walk out and be obedient to God. Nothing of this covenant was
going to fail. It couldn't fail because if it
failed then Christ would not come. If it failed then all the
nations of the earth would not be blessed through Abraham. And
so God's part of this covenant was secure because God himself
passed through those two parts of the animals. But Abraham had to walk, we could say walk
worthy of the Lord, walk in obedience to experience God's continued
favor, God's continued blessing, God's face to shine upon his
life, to experience his blessing rather than his displeasure. And we see that when he is called
to offer his son Isaac. Because of his obedience, we
could say that Abraham was moved by God to do that, to obey God,
which is true. But he still had to walk it out. He still had to go through with
what God had told him to do. He still had to take his son.
He still had to make the journey. He still had to climb up to the
mountain. He still had to make the altar. He still had to get
the wood. He still had to tie his son upon the altar. He still
had to get the knife and experience all that that was, humanly speaking,
going through his mind, the emotions that that was taking place in
his life at that moment in time. Realising that God was able to
raise up his son from the dead but that was the obedience that
God was pleased with in our own lives when we have done things
that the Lord has prompted us to do. We still, we don't walk
those things out without any feeling. We have emotions that
take place. We have battles that go on in
our minds, in our hearts that seek to resist the will of God,
seek to resist what God is calling us to do. But we overcome them,
we pray, we seek for greater guidance and blessing. And so
with Abraham, he still had those natural things that were taking
place in a human body. And God said to him, because
you have done this thing, because you have not withheld your son,
your only son from me, I will bless you. In chapter 22, and
the angel of the Lord called out to Abraham the second time
and said, by myself have I sworn, saith the Lord. For because thou
hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only
son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying
I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven and the sand
which is upon the seashore, and thy seed shall possess the gate
of his enemies, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed, because Thou hast obeyed my voice. So Abraham returned unto the
young men and they rose up and went together to Beersheba and
Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. And so the obedience of Abraham
produced a greater blessing or clarity of the blessing upon
his life. He is the father of the faithful. is looked upon in scripture as
the, yes, the father of the Jewish nation, but also the father of
all those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, who he was the
man of faith. And even in Christ, when we're
under the covenant of grace, yes, Our salvation is secure. We've come out of the covenant
of works. The Lord Jesus Christ has fulfilled
all the law of God for his people. We are now under the covenant
of grace in Christ Jesus. Our salvation is secure. Nothing can take place to cause
that salvation to disappear, to fall short, but we can experience in that
covenant displeasure of God by our lack of obedience to him,
by our sin. The church that laid us here
were called Luke Warm. They were still the church, they
were still the people of God, but they through their disobedience
and worldliness had to become lukewarm, they were proud. And so they experienced the displeasure
of God. And so in the times of the Lord's
people, yes, we may be saved, We may be walking under the displeasure
of God because of our disobedience, because of our sin, because of
our rebellion and hard-heartedness, or because of our worldliness
or our self-will. We may not be experiencing the
blessings of the face of God shining upon us, but we may be
walking in the shadow of his displeasure. like the people of Israel, they were told
by God, if you will diligently hearken unto my voice, into the
voice of the Lord thy God, and will do that which is right in
his sight, and will give ear to his commandments, and will
keep his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee.
And so to them, as they walked in the ways of God, they would
experience his blessing and his favor. But if they walked in
disobedience, then they would experience his displeasure. There were judgments that were
brought upon them. And even for the Lord's people,
we can experience the displeasure of God. We can lose the joy of
our salvation. We can lose the peace that we
once had. We can lose the love that we
once had to Christ. We become cold and lukewarm and
hard-hearted. We distance ourselves from God
and walk in disobedience and we experience that displeasure
of God. The Bible tells us that the Lord
will not allow us to walk in rebellion against him as his
children for long, for he will bring discipline. He knows exactly
where to discipline his people. He knows exactly where to punish
them and to hurt them the most done in love to bring them back
to himself. He knows exactly the things in
our life that have caused us to go away from him and he knows
exactly the thing to touch by which to bring us back to himself. And so as the children of Israel
came out from experiencing great blessing In the land of Israel,
in the land of Egypt, through the Red Sea, the Lord gives them
three days of thirst. And instead of crying to the
Lord, they grumble and they complain to Moses, ultimately to God. But God, in his mercy, was teaching
them a lesson. part of his disciplinary procedure,
his training process for his people was to bring them to thirst,
to bring them to a point of grumbling and complaining then to show
them his goodness and to show them his mercy. If you remember that they had
been under the authority of the king of Egypt. They had been
under the authority of Pharaoh. They were his slaves. They were
dealt harshly. They were whipped. They were
beaten. But they were provided for. They had enough to eat.
They had enough water. They had enough to sustain them.
Now the Lord had redeemed them and brought them out. He had
overthrown their enemies by mighty plagues by which he overthrew
their gods. He then brought them through
the Red Sea which caused them to rejoice and to worship him. And now he brings them into a
training process, a training ground. Lydia has been recently
on a training ground in the army. but they undergo training and
exercise. And the Lord does so with his
own people. It's not just a walk in the park
but the Lord's people are under a proving ground, a testing ground
that they may understand who he is and how he works. He tells them here. 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. There he tested them. They needed testing. They needed
proving because they needed to learn to trust God for their
provisions. They'd been trusting themselves
or they'd been resting in Pharaoh. But now their authority had changed. Now their leader had changed.
Now their provider had changed. It was not going to be themselves.
It was going to be God and they needed to trust in the Lord. And so he tested them. Their
whole journey was a testing process. And so it is with the people
of God, our whole lives are continued training. Those in the military,
my brother-in-laws were always on training exercises, going
all over the world to train in the snow, train in the jungle,
train in the deserts, constantly training. so that they would
be prepared for battle. And so the Lord's soldiers, soldiers
of the Lord Jesus Christ, are constantly undergoing a training
process to be able to trust in the Lord, that their faith may
be stronger, that they may rest upon God to look to him for his
provision and for his help, that they may be those good soldiers
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so in Deuteronomy it tells
us there. And thou shalt remember all the
way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the
wilderness to humble thee and to prove thee, to test thee,
to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his
commandments or no. And he humbled thee. and he allowed
thee to hunger, and he fed thee with manna, which thou knewest
not, neither did thy fathers know, that he might make thee
to know that man does not live by bread only, but every word
that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. And so the whole process, this
whole wilderness experience for the people of Israel began here
at the waters of Myra. Their first test that they went
through on this journey was to test, was a test to see whether
they would rely and trust in God. They failed at first because
they grumbled and they complained. But God provided them with a
way by which that water which was bitter to them could be made
sweet. And he said, and the waters were made sweet.
There he made a statute and an ordinance for them. The water
was healed, that which was bitter became sweet. They had just been
living in 400 or so years of bitter hardship, they had experienced
the sweet deliverance and now they come to a bitter experience
but the Lord makes that experience sweet to them. He heals that
water and he is able to be the God that heals them. Those plagues that were upon
the Egyptians would not be upon them if they obeyed the voice
of the Lord. God, he says, I am the Lord that
healeth thee. We know that God heals both the soul and the body. the soul and the body. Often we get things the wrong
way round. We look at the body and we forget
about the soul. We go for healing of the body
rather than the healing of the soul. We see the sicknesses that
we see but we forget the sickness of our soul. In Mark chapter
two, where the friends of the man sick of the palsy bring him
to the Lord Jesus Christ, they were concerned about his body. What drove them to the Lord Jesus
was his sickness. They were not considering his
soul. They were not considering that
Christ was able to deal with the man's sin, but they brought
him as a lame person, unable to come to the Lord Jesus. And
they laid him at the feet of the Lord Jesus. But Jesus, understanding
the severity of the sickness of the soul, deals with that
first. When Jesus saw their faith, he
said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. It's like going to a doctor and
you've got a small cut on your finger and you ask him, can you
give me a plaster for this small cut? But not realizing that you've
got got some cancer growing you're
more concerned about this small wound that's not really going
to have any effect upon you but you've got something far more
severe going on and the doctor says forget about your small
wound you've got something far more serious something with greater
consequences The small wound is not going to end your life
but this other thing that you have is terminal. And so when
they come to the Lord Jesus Christ with this, with their friend
who is sick of the palsy, they're just like looking at the small
wound, not realising that this man has a greater wound. He has a sin-sick soul. And Jesus knows that that sin-sick
soul has to be dealt with. Jesus understands that that sin
sick soul is terminal, eternally terminal and it must be dealt
with. So Jesus takes the most important,
the most concerning thing to him and he deals with it. He heals the sin sick soul by
saying, son, thy sins be forgiven. He goes straight to the point.
the most important, and he heals the soul of the man by cleansing
the man from all of his sin, by forgiving him. Yes, the others say that he is
speaking blasphemy because only God can forgive sin, but Jesus
is God. He is the one who is able to
forgive sin, but he's also the one who is able to restore the
body also to its full strength. he heals the man, he tells him
to arise and take up his bed and walk and to go to his own
house and we see throughout the miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ
that he is God, he is the Lord that healeth, the God that heals
but he deals first with the soul then he deals with the body but
he's able to deal with both because he is the almighty God, he is
the creator of both soul and body, all souls belong to the
Lord. They were given to people as
they are born into this world. And so Christ is able to cleanse
both body, to heal both body and soul. And so he says to the
people of Israel, I am the Lord that healeth thee. Sin is described in the Bible
like a sickness. We are deaf by nature. We are born spiritually
deaf, unable to hear God's word. Though we may hear it with our
natural ears it sort of flows through our minds, has no effect
upon us. It's not food for our soul. God is able to heal that deafness
and give people ears that hear the word. We're blind by our
nature, we see no beauty in the Lord Jesus Christ, we see no
beauty in the word of God, we don't have eyes of faith and
so the Lord heals our spiritual blindness. We view Christ although
through a glass darkly, we view him by faith We see something
in Him that we never saw before. We have eyes of faith to trust
Him and to follow Him and to be obedient to Him and so our
senses that are sick are made well by the Spirit of God. We're able to see, we're able
to hear and we're able to speak. dumb by nature. Those who could
never praise God are able to sing his praises, are able to
testify of his goodness. Before we were dumb to the things
of God, we couldn't speak of Christ, we couldn't speak of
his goodness, we couldn't speak of his leadings and his provisions,
but now our tongues are loose loosed and were able to sing
and testify of the goodness of Christ and His salvation. We were lame. We were unable
to follow, we didn't want to follow. But Jesus Christ makes the lame
men walk and they followed Him. And so today those in Christ
they are given that desire, they're given legs that follow. They
want to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. But ultimately all of
these things come from our separation from God. That we are dead by
nature. We are separate from God. But
the Lord Jesus gives us spiritual life. He gives us reconciliation
through the removal of our sin. Those who are dead and separated
from God are now given eternal life. a desire to follow, a desire
to listen, a desire to speak and a desire to testify and that
eye of faith to trust in the word of God. And so the people
of Israel were given this test. They were proved, they were tested
at the waters of Myra. You've seen all that I have done
to Egypt. Now how are you going to react
when I take water away from you? Moses cried unto the Lord and
the Lord heard him and told him exactly what he must do. And isn't that how the lives
of the Lord's people go? those who are following Christ,
trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't it a pathway of up and
down? Isn't it a pathway of a great
experience, great deliverance and then into a time of thirst
or drought where the Lord tests you. Do you only trust me when
things are going well? Do you only trust me when I'm
defeating your enemies, when I'm causing great miraculous
things to take place? Are you only interested in me
for these wonderful blessings? Or are you really interested
in me when things are going tough, when I take away your water,
when I give you hardship? Are you still willing to follow
me then? And that is the Christian life.
God knew exactly what he was doing and he always knows exactly
what he is doing. You think about it. They were
following the cloud. The cloud led them to the waters
of Myra. The cloud led them to that bitterness. But the cloud also led them to
the place where the tree was. That tree that had probably been
planted by some bird had dropped the seed years before. That tree
had grown. That tree was waiting to be cut
down. That tree was waiting to be cast
into the water. God had already prepared everything
needed to help his people. And although
he leads us into hard places, Everything that we need in Christ
Jesus is sufficient to help us through those hard places. Although
there is great bitterness, yet with Christ that bitterness can
become sweet, that hardship can be made a blessing. He led them
there and he provided everything that they needed And then they
go on from that bitter water. They drink from that bitter water
and it's become sweet. And then they go to Elim where
70 wells of water. There was a great blessing afterwards.
see you enter into these deep experiences, bitter experiences
and you see the Lord's hand delivering you and then you experience the
blessings of God. Those who continue walking, some
will run, though the way is too hard, will give up, expose their
hearts. They're only in it for blessings
and an easy life but those who are truly resting in Christ,
who truly love the Lord Jesus Christ, are willing to pass through
all manner of hardship in whatever he deems best for them as they
experience his help and blessing that the bitter being made sweet
he brings them through And they know something of this
Philippians 4. But my God shall supply all your
need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. That's where it comes. All the
blessings of God, all the promises of God are yay and amen in Christ
Jesus. Every blessing that you receive,
every trial that you receive has come by the Father's hand through
the Lord Jesus Christ. And although you might have displeased
him, by your sin, by your unbelief, by your grumbling and complaining,
by your lukewarmness. Yet even when he chastens his
dear people, he does so through Christ in love, not to cause
them to run off, but to draw them closer to himself. I am the Lord that healeth thee. And so in Christ, he heals our
soul, our sin sick soul, and restores it by the forgiveness
of our sin. Yes, he is able to heal even
our sicknesses, should he deem fit to do so. But he is able
to take those sicknesses and those experiences that are bitter,
that are bitter, and he's able to make them sweet by casting
himself into them. That those experiences that you
pass through work for the benefit of your never dying soul and
the crucifixion of your flesh that you may walk worthy of the
Lord Jesus Christ. There is a purpose. He led them
to the bitterness. He brought about the sweetness
and he delivered them to the 12 wells of water and the 70
palm trees and there they encamped there. You could say that's heaven. The Lord will bring his people
through to the greater blessing. the greater blessing of heaven,
where they'll be planted by that river of living water. They will
feast from that tree of eternal life, where they will be ever
with the Lord forever. And so what a great blessing
it is to be under that covenant of grace. Everything is secured
in Christ. Yes, we may experience the displeasure
of God because of our sin. ultimately all things are working
together for good to those who love God, to those who are called
according to his purposes in Christ Jesus and that he is the
Lord that heals thee. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen. May the Lord help us as we close
the service by singing hymn number 15 from Hymns of Worship. We
love the place, O God, wherein thine honour dwells, the joy
of thine abode, all earthly joy excels. We love the word of life,
the world that tells of peace, of comfort in the strife, and
joys that never cease. Hymn number 15 from Hymns of
Worship, the tune 955. of God, where in thy honour dwells
the joy of thy abode, all earthly joy exult. We love the house of bread, where
in thy savings be We love the word of life, the
word that tells of peace, of comfort in the strife, and joys
that ? God bless this breeding pair
? ? But though we long to know ? ? The triumph song of heaven
? ? Lord Jesus, give us grace ? ? On earth to love thee more
? In Hampton see thy face, and with thy saints sing. Dear Lord and Heavenly Father,
we thank Thee for Thy almighty power in Christ Jesus that can
heal our sin-sick souls. We thank Thee, O Lord, that Thou
art able to make the dumb to speak and the blind to see, and
that we are able to testify of Thy goodness and to follow the
Lord Jesus Christ. We ask, Lord, that our faith
may be increased that we may even pass through bitter circumstances. Lord, we pray that they may be
made sweet to us, that we may know thy blessing and thy favour
and thy presence drawing near when our lives are seemingly
upturned. Increase our faith, Lord, we
pray. Dismiss us with thy blessing and do return us here this evening
in peace and in safety. And now may the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ love of God the Father, with the fellowship
and communion of the Holy Spirit, do rest and abide with us, each
now and for evermore. Amen.