Well, good morning, everybody.
It's a real pleasure to be back with you all. Me and Jamie enjoy
seeing you all so much. If you would, turn to Exodus
chapter 15. That's where our Bible studies are going to be
out of this morning. Exodus chapter 15, and pick up
in verse 22. We'll read verse 22 through 26. So Moses brought Israel from
the Red Sea. And they went out into the wilderness
of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found
no water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink
of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name
of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against
Moses, saying, what shall we drink? And he cried unto the
Lord. And the Lord showed him a tree,
which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made
sweet. And there he made for them a
statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, and said,
if that will diligently hearken to 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 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. Now,
in this story, I saw four things I want to share with you here
this morning. And the first thing I saw was this, a great trial
and an evil response. The second thing I saw here was
this, I see a picture of false religion, man's religion, but
also a believer's response to the message of false religion.
The third thing I saw was this, a picture of how a bitter sinner,
someone like me who is bitter before God, how he can be sweet
to that holy God. And the fourth thing I saw was
this, just a beautiful, simple picture of faith. That's it. Now, here's what I'd like you
to do for a moment. Put yourself in the position of the children
of Israel. Imagine in your mind that you're one of the children
of Israel during the Exodus. The Lord had come over and he
had passed over Egypt. And there you were safe and sound
in that house with the blood over the door, that picture of
the Lord Jesus Christ and the refuge that is found in him.
But you could hear the screams of those Egyptian families as
the Lord passed over and all the firstborn were killed. And
then the Egyptians come and they thrust you out. They say, get
out of here. You're a burden to us. Get out. Take our gold. Take
our cattle. Take whatever you want. Just
go. Go. Serve your God. And there you go. You and about
two million of your countrymen, you go traveling along, and you're
cast out of Egypt. And you come to the Red Sea.
And you watch the Lord part that Red Sea. Two huge walls of water
on either side as you and two million of your countrymen, you
travel along that seabed. And as soon as the last Israelite
got to the other side, They turned around, and they saw their enemy,
Pharaoh and his army, and they're there charging along that seabed.
And you watch those walls of water come down, and the Lord
completely wipes out your enemies. Can you imagine the confidence
you would have felt at this time? What an experience this must
have been. But then you come to the wilderness
of Shur. The first day goes by. You're thinking, I'm getting
thirsty. I really am thirsty. But, I mean, look at everything
the Lord has done for us. Look at everything, how he's
provided for us. No doubt, there's gonna be water just around the
next bend. No doubt. But it's not. Second day comes. Lord, where's that water? We
are so thirsty. But the Lord has provided up
to us up to this point. Look at everything he's done
to emancipate us. No doubt, water's gonna be just, we just have to
get over this mountain. Water's gonna be right there. But it's not. And
the third day comes. And what's interesting about
this, I was reading about this, most experts would agree that in this
climate, three days is about the maximum amount of time you
can go without water before you die. This isn't a wilderness
like you and I would know in Kentucky or Tennessee. There
is nothing out here but rocks, sand, mountains, and the hot
sun. That's it. And these people, three days
without water, they are so thirsty. It's a dire need. It's a dire
need. But remember, it's not just you. You've got your family
with you. So if you've got young kids, they're there with you
too. Maybe they're fainting. Maybe they're crying out. Mommy,
where's some water? Daddy, where's that water? All
these things are happening. You men who are charged with
providing for your family, they need water, but you can't provide
it. Imagine how discouraging that would be. But then all of
a sudden, From the front of the pack, somebody shouts out, we
found it. There's water. We've got water.
We came to the waters of Mara. We found it. And you're thinking,
I knew the Lord would provide. It's right there. And you see
that first guy from the head of the pack. You know what he's
going to do. He's going to dive right in. He's going to refresh himself.
He's going to get a cool drink of water. And you see him take that
first gulp, and he spits it out. Those waters are bitter. He can't
drink them. And what they do next, it is
evil, it is wicked, it is absolutely inexcusable, and I know something
about myself. And I know that if I was put
in this position, apart from the grace of God, I would do
exactly what they did, because it is what I do. They murmured.
It's a silly little word, murmur. It's more of a sound than anything
else. It says they murmured against
Moses, but who were they murmuring against? They were murmuring
against the Lord. They had forgotten something.
It is the same thing that I oftentimes forget in the face of tribulation.
I think many of us oftentimes forget in the face of tribulation
that this same God who had emancipated them from Egypt, who had ported
the Red Sea, who had wiped out all their enemies, this same
God who had delivered, this is the same God who had led them
into the wilderness of Shur and into this great trial. The God
who was before delivering was now trying. My point is this. The scriptures make no bones
about this. In this world, we'll have tribulation. The believer's
life is riddled with trial and tribulation, but they are not
without purpose. And the very first purpose is this, the glory
of God. And it's also for the good of his people. We know that.
But there's something I saw here in Romans 5. We actually get
a picture. were pointed to some things that
tribulation work in the believer. And I want to point that out
real quick. Turn to Romans 5 and look at verse 1. Romans 5, pick up in verse 1.
Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. by whom also we have access by
faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory
in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience,
and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh
not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. Three things
we see here that it works. Patience, experience, and hope. And the more I dove into this,
what I saw was, I desperately want to grow in these graces,
in these things of patience and experience and hope. And I want
to take just a little time to talk about them. And first, this word patience.
And what that means is a cheerful endurance, a cheerful endurance. And I want that. Don't you? I
don't want to be a man who, when trial and tribulation comes my
way, that I'm kicking rocks and always murmuring against the
Lord. I want to have a patient way about me. I want to be brought
into a voluntary subjection to the will of the Lord. Truly,
the thought of my heart, the prayer of my heart is, Lord,
your will be done, and not my own. Whatever your will is, just
cause my will to fall right in line with that. Whatever you
love, cause me to love that. Whatever you want, cause me to want that.
But not always murmuring, not acting immature in the face of
tribulation. And I thought of this. At some point, I'd love to be
brought to this place to where, in the face of tribulation, I
pour out my heart before the Lord, whatever it is. I seek
the means He would use to deliver me. But while that's going on,
be quiet. If I could just be quiet, and
not murmur, and not complain, and patiently wait for the Lord
to deliver me. I wanna grow in that grace. I
really do. The next thing he talks about
is experience. Experience, and this is, the word there is proof,
and it's in reference to faith. Now understand this. Trial and
tribulation does not produce faith. Faith is the gift of God.
But what trial and tribulation does is it exposes faith. It
galvanizes faith. It strengthens faith. And I want
that, don't you? I want a more pure faith. I want
to trust the Lord Jesus Christ alone for everything. For everything
in my salvation, but also for the food that's going to be on
my table tomorrow. for the roof that's going to be over my head,
for the provisions for my children. I want to trust him alone, nothing
doubting. But to come to that place, what's
going to have to happen? I'm going to have to be kept down
in the dust where I'm constantly seeing my need of him. And finally,
hope. Hope, that's the last thing that's
talked about. Now, what is hope? Hope is a confident expectation
in reference to the future. And you only have a true hope
if that expectation is certain. But we have a sure hope. Our
hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ, and any man who's looking to
the Lord Jesus Christ alone has a sure hope. Now, this is the
point I was trying to get to with all this. In trial and tribulation,
I see this more than anything. It's that this world is not my
home. I am thankful for everything the Lord has freely given me
here. I'm thankful for my family. I'm thankful for the relationships
I have with you all. But we're just passing through here. But
my hope is that when I get to the end of this valley of the
shadow of death, I know my end. I'm going to see my Savior face
to face. And I'm going to be just like
Him. And there's not going to be any more pain. And there's
not going to be any more tears. Bliss and peace and rest in Him
for the rest of time. Because there will be no time.
And as my pastor said time and time again, I don't want trial
and tribulation. I'm not asking for trial and
tribulation. I want to get out of every trial I can because
I see how easily I break in the midst of them. But I do want
to grow in these graces, especially patience and experience and hope.
That was the first part. The second point I had here was
the message of false religion. Now notice here for a second.
the condition of the Israelites. What is their current condition?
They're thirsty. And what is thirst? Thirst is
a conscious need. And it's a need to where if that
need isn't fulfilled, you'll perish, you'll die. Thinking
about this, what a blessing is it to be needy? In a very real
sense, every man on the face of this earth is in great need.
He's a sinner and he is in great need of the Lord to do something
for him and in him. But not every man has that need.
Men walk around and they have no need of the Lord Jesus Christ,
they have no need of anything. But if you were a needy sinner,
a man who desperately needs the Lord Jesus Christ to do something
for you and in you, you've been given that need. And that's a
blessing, to be a needy person. Now, notice the language in verse
23 of our text. It says, they could not drink
of the waters. Now, I think that's significant.
Let me ask you this, if you were dying of thirst, You were absolutely
dying of thirst. And you came across maybe some
pond water. And it was stagnant water. And it tasted bad. It had a terrible flavor. But
you knew that it was clean enough that it would keep you alive.
You'd probably drink it, wouldn't you? Yeah, I'd say you probably
would. With them, the issue was not
that this water was bitter in the sense that it tasted bad.
It was bitter in the sense that it was brackish. They could not
drink the waters. Now, what is brackish water?
If you don't know, don't feel bad. I had to look it up. But
it's this. Brackish water, simply put, is it's salt water. But
how the water becomes salty is actually a point of interest.
What it implies here is that there is a clear, clean stream
of water flowing along. And as that stream flows, a tributary
of seawater, of salt water, intersects. And where the two streams intersect,
a pool is made. And the whole pool is salty because
the clean water is polluted with the salty seawater. That's brackish
water. This is a picture of false religion
in our day. Let me ask you this. When was the last time you heard
this? Listen, salvation has absolutely nothing to do with the Lord Jesus
Christ or His shed blood. It has everything to do with
a man's personal obedience to the law. Has anybody heard that? It's rare. It's very rare that
you would hear something like that. What do you hear? Listen,
you need the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, but you have
to do your part to make his work effectual for you. They attempt
to create a mixture. They take the clear, clean stream
of salvation by grace, by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, and
they interject the salt water of man's works, and it pollutes
the whole pool. The whole pool becomes salty.
Now, I looked up a few things about saltwater, some realistic
things on this earth about saltwater. I think we can actually draw
some spiritual comparisons. I want to give you this. Here's
the first thing I saw. Saltwater can never quench your thirst.
In fact, the more you drink it, the thirstier you'll become.
Now, how can I know if I'm listening to a brackish message? How can
I know if I'm listening to a message that has been infused with work's
religion, with man's religion? For the true believer, salt water
would never quench your thirst. This message, this message that
puts the burden of salvation on you, it will never quench
your thirst. Any message you hear to where it puts the burden
of salvation in some way on the man, it will never quench our
thirst. We're a needy people, a needy people. We're in need
of a righteousness we can't come up with. We're in need of sin
atonement we can't make. We're in need of a new heart
we can't give ourselves. We're in a faith we can't muster. We're
a needy people. And as soon as you turn it around
and make the burden of salvation on anything I must do, it never
quenches my thirst. In fact, I'll leave thirstier
than when I walk through the door. But I'll tell you what does quench
my thirst. Turn to Romans 10. Look at verse 11. Hebrews 10, look at verse 11. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. Those Old Testament priests,
why were they always standing? Because their work was never
done. Because those sacrifices, those Old Testament sacrifices,
they never put away one sin. They were just types of the Lord
Jesus Christ, just types. But verse 12, but this man, this
man, the Lord Jesus Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, what'd he do? He sat down. at the right hand
of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified." Folks, that quenches my thirst. He sat
down because his work was finished, and that means that I'm sitting
down too. There's no work for me to do. There's nothing left
for me to complete. It's just time to rest. Here's
another thing I knew about saltwater. Objects in saltwater are more
buoyant. What do I mean by that? Take two bodies of water. Say
you have a freshwater body, you have a saltwater body. Take the
same object, throw it in both bodies of water. In the saltwater
body, that object is more likely to float to the top. In the freshwater
body, the object is more likely to sink to the bottom. What's
my point? Take the natural man, throw him
in the message. If it is a brackish message,
a message that's been infused with works religion, the natural
man will always rise to the top. Works of religion will always
find glory for the natural man, but not the gospel. You throw
the natural man in the gospel message, what does he do? He
sinks straight to the bottom. In the gospel message, we are
exposed for who and what we are. We are unrighteous, we are ungodly,
we are unable and we are unwilling, and we sink straight to the bottom.
In that gospel message, there is one that rises to the top,
and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. He gets all the glory, and we
love it that way. Another thing I saw, drinking
salt water will kill you. So, in realistic terms, if a
man tries to sustain his life by drinking salt water, he drinks
it down, eventually his kidneys will shut down and he will die.
And it is no different in a spiritual sense. A man listens to a message,
and if he's been given hope to look anywhere but Christ alone,
if he can walk out those doors and find another place to look,
then Christ alone, he's just drank poison. He's just drank
salt water, and it'll kill him. It'll kill him. Unless the Lord
intervenes, it'll kill him. That man will die. Now, a question that may come
up is, how much salt does water have to contain before it's harmful
for you, before it'll kill you? I tried to Google it from a worldly
sense, and I couldn't find it, so I don't know. I don't know
how much salt would have to be in that cup before it would do
me harm. But in a spiritual sense, I know very well. Any at all. You throw one grain of works
religion in the pool. The whole pool becomes salty. There is no mingling of grace
and works. Salvation is either completely and utterly dependent
on what Jesus Christ has done, or it is completely and utterly
dependent on what a man must do. And here's the scary thing. The Lord will meet you on the
ground you come to him on. If you come on these grounds of
grace, the way I want to come, pleading nothing but the shed
blood of Jesus Christ, you know he'll meet you on those grounds. And
you'll be shown mercy. And if you want to come on the
grounds of your own works, he will meet you on those grounds.
But understand your debt. This is your debt. To keep the law,
every jot and every tittle, every time, all the time, outwardly
and inwardly, in the very imaginations of your heart. That is an impossible
task. We want to come on the grounds
of grace. I want to come on the grounds of grace. All right,
my third point. How can a bitter sinner be made
sweet? Look back at your text and look at verse 25. Exodus 15, verse 25. And he,
speaking of Moses, cried unto the Lord. And the Lord showed
him a tree. Now, a question someone might
have is, where was that tree? The tree had been there the entire
time. Moses just couldn't see it until
the Lord revealed it to him. That'll make more sense here in a minute.
And the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the
waters, the waters were made sweet. Now, let's change the
types for a minute. Now, you and I are the waters
of morrow. What is the natural state of
the waters of morrow? They are bitter. That is their
natural state, and that is our natural state. We are bitter
before God because of our sin, our sin. Now, the word we want
to key in on here is tree. That will be the key word through
everything else I say through all this is tree. How did we
get in this condition of bitterness, of being bitter, being dead in
trespasses and sins? How did we fall into that? Well,
actually the story of our fall, it begins with a story of a man
and a tree. Adam in the garden. Adam was
created upright. He was created innocent. And
the Lord gave to Adam one command. Do not eat of this tree, the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the day you eat
thereof, you shall surely die. And Adam disobeyed God, and Adam
ate the fruit. And Adam died. He died spiritually.
He passed that fall of nature down to each and every one of
us, including me, including you, including our children. Somebody
says, are you blaming Adam for your fall? I am. I absolutely
am. Adam is to be blamed. He is not to be pitied. I point
my finger at Adam, and then when I get done, turn around and point
it at myself. And I'll tell you why. Romans 5, 12 says, whereas
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Adam was our first father, our
federal head, our first humanity, but I was an Adam. And when Adam
ate that fruit, that was Aaron eating that fruit. When Adam
disobeyed God, that was Aaron disobeying God. We're no victims
in any of this. We disobeyed God, we fell. But just as the story of our
fall begins with the story of a man and a tree, the story of
our redemption concludes, it finishes with the story of a
man and a tree. So he says, what are you talking
about? Turn to Galatians 3, look at verse 13. Our redemption concludes with
the story of a man and a tree. What do I mean by that? Galatians
3, look at verse 13. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Now notice that word
hath. I love that word hath. You know
what it means? It means already accomplished.
This is how redemption was accomplished. And the picture, the type here
is very simple. Just as the waters of morrow were made sweet, they
were made to be what they were not before, the Lord Jesus Christ
was made a curse for us. He was made to be what he was
not before. He was cast into the bitterness
of our sin. He bore our sins in his body
on the tree. He was cast into the bitterness
of our sins. And because of those sins, he was cast into the bitterness
of his father's fire, his father's wrath, the bitterness of his
father's wrath. His father's wrath came down
upon him. And you imagine, we can imagine, there was wrath
reserved for you, there was wrath reserved for me. Our sins demanded
punishment. Now times that by thousands and
thousands and 10,000s by 10,000s and put it all on one man. We can't even fathom what that
agony was. And many sacrifices have been
offered up to this point in history, several sacrifices, bulls, goats,
sheep. They'd kill the sacrifice, bleed
it out, put it on the altar, apply the fire, the fire would
consume the sacrifice. This one time in history, things
were different. This one sacrifice, this man
on the tree, this time the father's wrath came down, the fire came
down, and the sacrifice consumed the fire. He swallowed up his
father's wrath, he paid the debt, He died, he bled and died, and
in three days he was risen again. His father was satisfied with
what he offered. And here's the effects. Every
sinner, every man who in his own experience is nothing but
bitter, bitter, dead in trespasses and sins, he's sweet before a
holy God because those sins and those iniquities have been put
away. Say, give me a scripture, give me some sort of New Testament
scripture. Second Corinthians 521, for he, the father, hath
made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. Believe it right now,
when the father looks at you, he sees nothing but his blessed
son. And it's all because that man
hung on that tree. Now, here's my last point. It's
a picture of faith. Turn back to your text and look at verse 26. Exodus 15, verse 26. I'll try
to be quick about this. And said, if thou wilt diligently
hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which
is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments,
and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon
thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, Now, if we were to read that
without understanding, that would inspire a lot of fear because
the only thing that's separating me from the wrath of God is my
personal obedience to His statutes and His commandments and His
law. I've got a real problem because I've never kept one.
Not one time. I've done nothing continually
but break God's holy law. If that's what it's saying, I've
got a real problem, but that's not the meaning. There are four
markers here. I want to look at each and every
one of them. This is the first one. If thou wilt diligently hearken
to the voice of the Lord thy God. What does the voice of the
Lord thy God say? I'll give you this, Matthew 11,
28. Come unto me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest. That's what the voice of the
Lord your God says. Now somebody says, why should I come? Give
me a reason. I'm going to give you five, briefly.
Here's the first reason, because it's not just a gracious invitation.
It's a command. It's a command to everyone who
fits this description. Anyone who is labored and heavy
laden. Are you heavy laden with the
burden of your own sin? You've labored. You've tried
to labor your way out of your sin, tried to labor your way
into the Father's favor, and you found you just can't. It's
impossible. It's an impossible task. You
are commanded to come. You come, you believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ right now, and that is not an invitation,
that's a command. You are commanded to come right
now, and nothing is in your way. I'll tell you what, here's the
second reason, because of what is promised. Rest, rest. A cease from labor. Peace with God, your warfare
is accomplished. Just rest. Anybody have an interest
in that? Third thing, because you have
nowhere else to go. If you can't look at your works and find any
comfort, they're just filthy rags. You can't look at your
experiences and feelings. I don't know if they're real.
I've got nowhere else to go to. I've got nowhere else to turn
but to come to Christ. He's my only place of refuge.
I've got nowhere else to go. Here's the fourth reason, because
you'll perish if you don't. I'm not even going to comment on
that, but that's the truth. Here's the fifth reason. Finally, because
if you are called of the Holy Spirit, it is impossible not
to come. See, grace is both irresistible
and invincible. And if you are called, called
of the Holy Spirit, you cannot not come. You've got no choice,
and you want no choice. You come just as you are, naked
and exposed, just a sinner. But you come to Christ. You have
no other choice. Now here's the next marker we have here in verse
26 is, do that which is right in his sight. That can be scary,
right? I have not done in and of myself
what is right in the sight of God. How is every believer viewed? How does the Father see every
member of his elect? He sees him in Christ. Has the Lord Jesus Christ always
done that which is right in the sight of his Father? Did he keep
his law, every jot and every tittle, when he lived his perfect
life? Yes, he did. Is he absolutely
holy? Is he absolutely pleasing? Believer,
you're in him. When the father looks at you,
he sees no one but his blessed son. You have done that which
is right in the sight of your father in Christ. Next thing
he says is keep all his statutes. Now, what's a statute? I had
to look at that. So a statute is a decree. And here's what
a decree normally means. It talks about a particular response
to a particular issue. So when this happens, do this. That's a decree. Here's what
I thought of immediately. 1 John 2 on. My little children,
these things write I unto you that you sin not. And if any
man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous. What's the condition? What has
happened? I've sinned. I've sinned. What's the prescription?
What's called to do? Flee to the advocate. The Lord
Jesus Christ, he's a very special advocate. He has very special
power with the judge. He's the judge's son. And all
he has to do is go up to the judge and show him the nail marks
in his hands and his feet and show him the mark in his side.
And the judge says, he gets whatever he wants. He gets whatever he
wants. What's happened? I've sinned.
What's the prescription? Flee to the advocate. Beg him
to represent you before his father. Last thing is this, give ear
to his commandments. That's the last marker given.
Turn to this, 1 John 3.23. Give ear to his commandments.
What is meant by this? 1 John 3.23. And this is his commandment. that we should believe on the
name of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave
us commandment. This is the sum and substance
of all four conditions right here. His is the voice we hearken
to. He's the only place of refuge.
He is the one who has done that which is right in his father's
sight. And our hope is that we're in him and we're viewed only
in him. He's the one who kept his father's decree. His eternal
decree. This is where the Father decreed,
I'm gonna have a people. I have a people that I've loved
and I've chosen in you, and they're a fallen people. They're gonna
fall, and I've purposed that. You know what you're gonna do?
You're gonna go, you're gonna live for Him, you're gonna die
for Him, and you're gonna bring Him back to me, safe and sound,
without a scratch on Him. And the Lord Jesus Christ honored
His Father's decree. He did what His Father commanded
Him to do. Your commandment is this, to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ alone. That is your commandment. And
to love your brothers and sisters in Christ. I'm going to leave
you there and we're going to take a little break.