Exodus chapter 15. The title of the message is BITTERSWEET. BITTERSWEET. Israel had just experienced One
of the greatest miracles in history. God delivered them from 400 years
of bondage. He delivered them out of Egypt.
Nobody could deliver from Egypt. That was the most powerful nation
at that time. But God delivered every one of
them, every one of them from Egypt. THEY CROSSED THE RED SEA
ON DRY GROUND. WATER WALLED UP ON BOTH SIDES
AND THEY WALKED THROUGH ON DRY GROUND. AND THEY WITNESSED THEIR
ENEMIES BEING DESTROYED. THEY SAW THE EGYPTIANS FLOAT,
THEIR DEAD BODIES FLOAT UP ON SHORE. THEY SAW THAT. And they
had nothing at that time now to be afraid of. Nothing to be
afraid of. God delivered them from their
enemies. They saw them dead. No one is afraid of a dead lion.
No one's afraid of a dead lion. They had nothing to fear. God
had killed their enemies. And they had nothing to do with
it. God did it all of Himself. Salvation is truly of the Lord
from Alpha to Omega. We have nothing to do with it.
We are recipients of the grace of God, of the blessings of God's
grace and God's mercy and God's saving power. We are recipients
of it, is what we are. And yet, HAVING SEEN THIS, HAVING
EXPERIENCED THIS, THREE DAYS LATER, THREE DAYS, THAT'S ALL
IT TOOK FOR THEM TO FORGET WHAT HAD JUST HAPPENED. IT JUST TOOK
THREE DAYS, AND THEY ARE COMPLAINING AGAINST GOD. They are murmuring. It says against Moses, but no,
it's against God. It's against God. I'll show you
this. I'll show you this scripture
in a minute. They're complaining against God. And I thought, what
do we have to complain about? What did they have to complain
about? They have nothing to complain about. Will God fail them? Will
God deliver them from Egypt? Will God bring them across the
Red Sea? Will God kill their enemies and
then three days later fail to give them water? Will He fail
them? Will God fail us? No, no. We who believe, what do we have
to complain about? What do we have to fret about?
Honestly, nothing, nothing. WE HAVE NOTHING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT,
ESPECIALLY US WHO HAVE RECEIVED AN EVEN GREATER DELIVERANCE.
GOD HAS DELIVERED US FROM SATAN, YOU ARE NOT UNDER THE SPIRIT
OF DARKNESS NO MORE, YOU ARE NOT UNDER HIS POWER. GOD HAS
DELIVERED US FROM THE GUILT OF SIN, THE POWER OF SIN, SIN SHALL
NOT HAVE DOMINION OVER YOU, He has delivered us from the power
of death and the grave. He's delivered us. Whom the Son
sets free, He's free indeed. That's what the Scripture says.
We've been translated from the kingdom of darkness into the
kingdom of God's dear Son. We were born into the kingdom
of darkness. But God has translated us into
the kingdom of His dear Son. And the scripture says, all things
are yours in Christ. All things are yours in Christ. And the scripture says over 2
Corinthians 5, 18, all things are God. This is why I said,
what do we have to complain about? All things are of God. Nothing happens to us that's
not of God, not His children. Instead of murmuring, we need
to learn to ENTREAT. Entreat the Lord in trying times.
It would have been better if they had entreated the Lord instead
of complaining. It would. PRAYER. I tell you,
prayer is always better than complaining. It really is. Now we come to the WILDERNESS
JOURNEY here. So Moses, verse 22, brought Israel
from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur,
and they went three days journey in the wilderness. And that's
what life is, it's a journey. This life is a journey, and it
has an end. It has an end. So many people
live as though it's never gonna end, it's gonna end. But they take a three days journey.
And when I was reading this, I thought this is exactly what
our life is like spiritually in this world. It's a journey
through the wilderness, isn't it? This world is a spiritual
wilderness. Now I didn't see it that way
for many years. I saw it as a playground. I saw
it as a way to fulfill the lust of my flesh, but now it's a wilderness. There's nothing in it for me. Nothing in it for me. I was telling my granddaughter
the other day about it. We were talking about the scriptures
and the gospel and somehow we got on to our school friends
and I told her a couple of mine have mine are passing away now
I told her I said many of mine have passed away and I said a
couple of friends that I knew in high school I said that they
they've passed away and she said doesn't that make you sad doesn't
that make you sad I was sad that they didn't know the gospel but
I said my real friends now are those who believe the gospel
I said they're I said, I'm friends with, still
friendly with them, but they're not my friends. You are my friends. You are my friends. That's the
truth. You are my friends. Christ said,
you are my friends. Speaking to his disciples. This life is a wilderness and
everybody in it is just a, those who don't believe God, it's just
a problem. It's a problem. Listen to Psalm
63, verse 1. Oh God, early will I seek Thee,
my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee, in a
dry and thirsty land where no water is. I find no water except right
here in the Word of God, where I find the water of life, the
Lord Jesus Christ. All other waters leave you thirsty,
don't they? This life, I promise you, this
life will leave you thirsty. now in verse 22 look here it
says here that they found no water and unless the lord does
something unless he does something they're gonna die of thirst unless
he does something and in this verse we see our dependence on
the lord daily and our dependence on the lord FOR EVERYTHING, DON'T
WE? WE NEED HIM FOR WATER. WHAT IF IT DOESN'T RAIN? IS THERE ANY POWER ON THIS EARTH
THAT CAN MAKE IT RAIN? IF IT DOESN'T RAIN, EVERYTHING
DIES. EVERYTHING DIES AND THEN WE DIE. BUT ONLY THE CHILD OF GOD REALIZES
THEIR DEPENDENCE ON GOD FOR EVERYTHING! EVERYTHING! We ask our Lord for our daily
bread, don't we? The Lord said to pray, give us
Lord our daily bread. I realize and you realize our
total dependence upon God to supply our needs every day. I
know that everything could dry up. it can dry up if he doesn't
bless if he doesn't bless if he's the one who gives us our
next breath as you sit there thinking about every time you
take a breath that's God's giving God's giving you the breath one
day he'll you'll draw that last one and there'll be no more he'll
give you your breath and you need your breath just that we
take things for for we take so much for granted just a breath
just a breath we never think about it do we don't even think
about it turn over to psalm 104 Let me see if I can find the
verse that I want to start reading. Let me read verse 10. I'll start
in verse 10. HE SENDETH THE SPRINGS INTO THE
VALLEYS, WHICH RUN AMONG THE HILLS. THEY GIVE DRINK TO EVERY
BEAST OF THE FIELD, AND WILD ASSES QUENCH THEIR THIRST. BY
THEM SHALL THE FOWLS OF THE HEAVEN HAVE THEIR HABITATION, WHICH
SING AMONG THE BRANCHES. HE WATERS THE HILLS FROM HIS
CHAMBERS. THE EARTH IS SATISFIED WITH THE
FRUIT OF THY WORKS. HE CAUSES THE GRASS TO GROW FOR
THE CATTLE, AND HERB FOR THE SERVICE OF MAN, THAT HE MAY bring
forth food out of the earth, and wine that maketh glad the
heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread
which strengtheneth man's heart. The trees of the LORD are full
of sap, the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted, where
the birds make their nests, as for the stork, the fir tree,
or her house. The high hills are a refuge for
the wild goats, and the rocks for the conies. He appointed
He appointed the moon for seasons, and the sun north is going down.
Thou makest darkness, and in is night, wherein all the beasts
of the forest do creep forth. The young lions roar after their
prey and seek their meat from God. The sun arises, they gather
themselves together and lay them down in their dens. Man goes
forth unto his work and his labor until the evening. O Lord, how
manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them
all. The earth is full of thy riches. Let us never forget that. Let us never forget those things. Lord, thank you for the sunshine.
Thank you for the rain. Thank you. Be thankful to the
Lord. He gives us all that we have
and we learn from this, as I've already mentioned, that the world
would leave us thirsty. There's no water in the wilderness.
What did our Lord say to that woman at the well? WHOSO DRINKETH
OF THIS WATER SHALL THIRST AGAIN." You'll come back to this well
again, and again, and again, because there's nothing in this
life that will satisfy the soul except God. He's the only one. And now we come to the bitter
waters of Marah. And when they came to Marah,
they could not drink of the waters. Water is plural. All of them
were bitter. You can just try anything in
life. and it'll end up bitter. It will not satisfy. All the
waters were bitter. Why was the water so bitter there?
I can give it to you in one word. I can tell you in one word why
all the waters were bitter. SIN. SIN. SIN HAS TOUCHED EVERYTHING, EVEN
NATURE ITSELF. SIN HAS TOUCHED EVERYTHING. BUT
THE REAL BITTERNESS THERE, REALLY, IT WAS NOT THE WATER, IT WAS
THEIR HEARTS. IT BROUGHT OUT THAT SITUATION. YOU SEE, ALL GOD MUST DO IS PUT
US IN A SITUATION TO BRING OUT WHAT'S IN US. AND THEY WERE FILLED
WITH BITTERNESS. BITTERNESS. BITTERNESS AGAINST
GOD. The real bitterness there was
their complaint. Our hearts are naturally, now
listen, they really are, they're naturally Mara. They are naturally Mara. It takes
the grace of God and the love of God she had brought in the
heart to make us sweet. It does, it does. Marmarine, listen, marmarine
is always, always, ultimately against God. always. Look over in Exodus 16, look
in verse 8, And Moses said, This shall be when the Lord shall
give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread
to the full. Because they were complaining
about that. For that the Lord heareth your murmurings, which
you murmur against Him. And what are we? Your murmurings
are not against us. It's not against us. He's telling
them the truth. But against the Lord. Your murmuring, he says,
is against the Lord. What's the root of their murmuring? What's the root of all complaining?
What's the root of it? Unbelief. Unbelief. We don't believe God. We don't
believe God. That's the root of all complaining. Does the Word of God not say
all things are of God? In 2 Corinthians 5 18. Listen
to 1 Thessalonians 5 18. In everything give thanks. Now wait a minute, wait a minute. this is this is going on in my
life this is hurting you you saying i'm to give thanks for
this in everything give thanks for this is the will of god in
christ jesus concerning you this is god's will for you right
now he and he said give thanks which is a total opposite of
complaining it's a total opposite But notice how Moses responds
when they come to him and complain. And he cried unto the Lord in
verse 25. He did not argue with them. He
prayed. He prayed. No one wins in a shouting
match. No one wins a spitting contest.
He took his burden to the Lord. That's what he did. He took his
burden to the Lord. This is what a faithful pastor does. He takes
their problems to the Lord. Because he's the only one who
can do anything about all our problems. He's the only one who
can do anything about it. That's why we sing, take your
burden to the Lord and leave it there. That's the hardest part is leaving
it there. It's one thing to take it there. It's another thing
to leave it there. And we need to remember this
as we read through Exodus. It says in 1 Corinthians, these
things happened for our examples, for us to learn from. This is
for us to learn from. What God put them through is
for us to learn from. We have spiritual lessons in
this. Now, here comes a good spiritual
lesson. In verse 25, Well let me go to verse 24, And
the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?
And he cried unto the LORD, he prayed, and the LORD showed him
a tree. Not trees, he didn't show him
a bunch of trees, he didn't show him a grove of trees, he showed
him a tree. It's interesting that he didn't
tell Moses to take his rod like he did turning the the river
to blood and and uh as he did all those plagues and he didn't
tell him to take that rod and put it in the water he showed
him a tree he revealed a tree to him a tree 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
statue and ordinance, and there He proved them. He put that tree into the water
and it became sweet, and that water changed the attitude of
the people. It is Christ, listen, it is Christ
who takes us from bitter to sweet. It's Christ the water of life
that takes us from bitter to sweet. And that tree points us, I believe,
to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, who Himself is the Tree
of Life, and who is called the Branch. Is He not called the
Branch? He is called the Branch. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
is revealed to the heart as that tree was revealed to Moses, he
said, there's a tree. And Moses looks and there's a
tree. He says, now take that tree and put it in the water. Now what did Moses have to do
to that tree in order to put it in the water? He had to cut
it down. He had to cut that tree down.
Christ crucified. the sufferings of Christ, the
sufferings of Christ. So when Christ is revealed to
the heart, Christ the tree of life, Christ
who is the branch, He makes bitter things sweet. He's one who puts sweetness in
our trials. He's one who makes death sweet. Many of dying saints have come
up to die and it's been sweet. It's been sweet, ready, ready
to meet the Lord. He makes bitter people sweet.
People who are bitter and they stay that way have never tasted
that the Lord is gracious. They've never tasted that the
Lord is gracious. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ
is the place where bitterness of sin was removed. I thought of that tree when it
was cast into that water, sucked that bitterness out of it and
it became sweet. He who knew no sin WAS MADE TO
BE SIN FOR US, THAT WE MIGHT BE MADE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF
GOD IN HIM. HE TOOK OUR SINS. HE BORE OUR
SINS IN HIS BODY ON THE TREE. THE VERY BITTERNESS OF SIN THAT
I AM, HE TOOK IT AWAY. HE TOOK IT AWAY. HE REMOVED IT. THE CURSE LIFTED AND GRACE FLOWED
FREELY. HOW SWEET IS THAT! HOW SWEET
IS THAT! HOW SWEET IS THE LOVE OF GOD
IN CHRIST JESUS! IF HE HAD NOT REMOVED OUR SINS,
WE'D NEVER TASTE IT! WE'D NEVER KNOW IT! THE LAW THAT
WAS AGAINST US, THE LAW THAT CONDEMNED US, IS NOW SWEET TO
US! ISN'T IT? OH! THE PSALMIST WROTE
HOW I LOVE THY LAW, I LOVE GOD'S LAW! YOU LOVE GOD'S LAW, I LOVE
GOD'S LAW! THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH GOD'S LAW! That's what Paul
said, Paul said, the law of God's good. There's nothing wrong with
God's law. Oh, how I love that law. Then
he says here in verse 25 and verse 26, but at the end of verse
25, and there he proved them. God's going to prove faith. God's
going to prove faith. and you want Him to prove faith.
I want to know I believe God here. I don't want to wait until
I stand before God. I want to know I believe God. I want to know it here. There He proved them and this
world, this wilderness that we walk through is God's proving
ground for us. That word means TESTED. He tested
them. See here in chapter 26, It says
there in verse 25, And there he proved them, and said, If
thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy
God, and do that which is right in his sight. How did he prove
them? He proved them by OBEDIENCE, by their obedience. He tested
them. Will we believe and obey, or
complain and leave? Look over in Matthew 9. In Matthew chapter 9, look in verse 27. And when Jesus departed thence,
Two blind men followed Him, crying and saying, Thou Son of David,
have mercy on us. And when He was coming to the
house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them,
Here, He's going to prove them. He's going to prove them. Believe
ye that I'm able to do this. When we come to Calvary's tree,
when we look at Calvary's tree, Do we really believe that Jesus
Christ can save us from our sins? Do we really believe that he's
all that we need? Believe ye that I'm able to do
this. Do you believe I'm able to give
you your sight? And they said, listen, and they said unto him,
yes, Lord. Yes. Yes. yes then touched he their eyes
saying according to your faith be it unto you and their eyes
were opened according to your faith you said you believe you
said you believe that i'm able to do this well here's going
to be the proof when he touched their eyes they could see if
they hadn't believed they would still be blind but they believed
him Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
You believe that? If you do, you will believe.
You will believe. If you really believe He can
save you, you will believe. You will. God tested them, there God proved
them. And this world is a proving ground.
You know, Paul wrote this. I have learned in whatsoever
state I am therewith to be content." He said, I have learned how to
abound and I've learned how to be abased. I've learned how to
be poor. I've learned how to handle it and not complain. I've learned how to when God
brings me down and this is a learned behavior.
This is a learned behavior and it takes trials and ups and downs
and heartaches to learn this. And in whatever state God puts
me in, I'm content because this is the will of God. This is the
will of God. God speaks clearly to them, He
says here in verse 26, If you will diligently hearken to Me.
You know everything God tells us to do, He tells us to do diligently. Diligently. Seek the Lord diligently
with all your heart, He said, and you'll find Me. That's a
promise. Seek Me with all your heart and
you will find Me. You will find Me. and then he then he reveals himself
Jehovah Rapha I will put none of these diseases if you obey
me upon upon thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians for
I am the Lord that healeth thee I've learned over 70 years I
need healing I need now listen I need daily healing this i i didn't just need healing
almost 50 years ago i need the lord to heal me daily i need
my attitude i i realize this i need an attitude adjustment
every day i need the lord to heal my attitude i need the lord
to heal my thoughts i need the lord to heal me spiritually every
day every i need it and he said I AM, I AM THE LORD THAT HEALETH
THEE, I'M THE ONE WHO HEALETH THEE. In other words, I'm the Great
Physician, I'm the Great Physician. He's the one who heals us physically
and spiritually. You know all healings of God, all healings of God. all physical
healings of God. Now God is a God of means, He
may use medicine. He may use medicine or He may just speak a word,
whichever He is pleased to do. And I know this, one day He will
heal us fully and finally forever. This dawned on me some time ago,
not too long ago, but some time ago I wasn't, I don't know if
I was sick and not feeling well or something, but it just, it
just struck me. The Lord's going to heal me of
all sicknesses sooner or later. You know, when we get sick or
we do get some kind of disease, we do ask the Lord to heal us,
don't we? He's going to, He's going to, I promise you. HE'S
GOING TO HEAL YOU FROM EVERY ONE OF YOUR DISEASES, EVERY ONE
OF YOUR SICKNESSES, ALL YOUR HEARTACHES. I PROMISE YOU, GOD'S
GOING TO HEAL YOU FROM IT. SOME OF IT IN THIS LIFE. ALL
OF IT IN THE LIFE TO COME. ALL OF IT. HE'S GOING TO HEAL
ME OF OLD AGE ONE DAY. I WON'T GROW OLD NO MORE. I'LL
BE ETERNALLY YOUNG. And all those problems, you know
old age has it's own set of problems, I'm realizing that. I'm realizing
it has it's own set of problems that when I was young I was ignorant
of. Ignorant of. But now I'm starting to see these
things, I'm starting to experience these things. And it's just a
different set of problems that you don't have when you're young.
And one day he's gonna heal me of that too. He's gonna heal
me. and I can't express to you that
how that feels to me that I'm just so absolutely a thousand
percent certain that whatever I've got it's going to be gone
it's going to be gone. Now we come here in verse 27
to Elam now we come to Elam They came to Elam, they found 12 wells
of water, one for each tribe. Oh, does not the Lord provide?
There's one there for each tribe. It's been there all along. It's
been there all along. But their journey hadn't gotten
to that point yet. But God's already there. I don't
know when my life will end, but God's already there. You know, tomorrow may come and
whatever tomorrow brings, God's already there. It's already there. The Lord will provide. And it
was 70 palm trees for them to sit down under the shade. Elam
was plenty and peaceful, but it came after Marah. It came after Marah. We must
pass through bitterness to appreciate sweetness. We got to pass through
the conviction of sin to appreciate the grace of God and appreciate
forgiveness, to really appreciate forgiveness. But life also is like this for
the believer. Life is like this for the believer.
It's bittersweet, isn't it? It's bittersweet. Psalm 35, Weeping
may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. You're
going to weep. Some of you have cried yourself to sleep. And then later on you've rejoiced. God's enabled you to rejoice
again. Today might be morrow, but Elam
is coming. There's no trial that's not followed
by a blessing. Now you mark it down. There's
no trial on God's children that's not followed by a blessing. That
trial prepares you for Elam. Do you think they would have
appreciated Elam if they hadn't first stopped at Marah? No, no, no. No. No, they wouldn't. You know,
sometimes we feel like Naomi. Call me not Naomi. Call me Mara,
but the Almighty hath dealt bitterly with me. Isn't that the way we
feel sometimes? God's dealing bitterly with me! Well, sometimes He has to. Sometimes
He has to deal with us this way to bring us to Christ. But oh, how glorious the story
ends! Naomi says don't call me Naomi,
call me Mara, bitterness. And then comes along Boaz. And that story, you know how
that story ends with Ruth and how glorious, and Naomi's taken
care of. She's taken care of. And so it is with the gospel,
we have the bitter truth about ourselves, none good, no not
one. And then we have the sweet truth
about the Lord Jesus Christ, He who knew no sin became sin
for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
Truth concerning us is bitter, truth concerning Christ is sweet. Now in closing, The gospel is bittersweet, it's
bittersweet because it's the truth about us and our sins and
it's sweet being the truth about our Savior. And God always, listen,
for His children, for His children, He always takes us from bondage,
and this is the process, from bondage through bitterness to
blessing. That's the process. From bondage,
through bitterness, a conviction of sin, to blessing, a revelation
of Jesus Christ, the tree of life, who puts sweetness in everything
we do. He puts sweetness in our life.
He puts sweetness in our character. He's the one who makes people
of me. He's the one who makes us sweet, sweet to one another. And as we journey home, now listen,
as we journey home, we need to expect bittersweet. We need to expect it. But know
this, one day it will all be sweet. It will all be sweet because
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Tree of Life. who was cast into
the water. That water is like being cast
into the grave. They cast that tree into that
water and it goes under that water and it comes out so sweet. Christ the tree of life has made
everything sweet. BITTERSWEET! BITTERSWEET!