We're going to be in the book
of Numbers again today in chapter 11, but I would like to have you
turn first of all to the book of Romans chapter 10. We're going to have to go old
school. Romans chapter 10 and verse 17. Now that word so means in conclusion. We're coming to a conclusion
about what has been written already in this chapter. So then, Faith
cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Now I wanted
to read that this morning because in our message today we're going
to cover quite a bit of scripture. It's not wasted time though.
It is great time to read God's word and to see what he has to
say about the subject that we want to look at today over in
the book of Numbers. The book of Numbers chapter 11.
The book of Numbers chapter 11. In the book of Numbers chapter
11, I would like to read verses 6, 7, 8, and 9. Numbers chapter
11. Beginning with verse 6. But now our soul is dried away. There is nothing at all besides
this manna before our eyes. And the manna was as corander
seed, and the color thereof as the color of the dillium. And
the people went about and gathered it and ground it in mills or
beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans and made cakes of
it. And the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. And when
the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon
it." Now, would you turn back with me in the book of Exodus
for a reading. In the book of Exodus, what we
have here in the book of Numbers at this passage of scripture
is a repeat of what we have in the book of Exodus. Here in the
book of Numbers, we have a statement made about the manna, about the
people complaining, and over here in the book of Exodus, chapter
16. Now, apparently, the children
of Israel, as they left Egypt, they had some provisions with
them. They took some provisions with them that lasted about a
month. And when they got into the land
there, the Sinaitic Peninsula, just right next to Mount Sinai,
apparently their food ran out. And so they began to complain
about it. Now, we heard read this morning
in the Psalm, Psalm 78, that they saw all of these things
before them. Nobody missed them. You could
not help but notice crossing the Red Sea. You could not help
but notice crossing on dry land. You could not help but notice
that all of the Egyptian army had been destroyed. You could
not help but notice when they left Egypt, not even a dog barked
at them. You could not help but notice
that the Egyptians were so glad to get rid of them that they
gave them gold and silver without measure. When we get into building
the tabernacle and they started giving, it came without measure. Where did they get that? Not
from slave pay, except they got paid when Egypt sent them out. They could not help but notice
all of the things that God had done for them. And yet you and
I run into people every day that have not noticed. And by our
own birth, We did not notice the good riches of God's blessings
to the church. It was not for us, it was for
someone else. So here in the book of Exodus,
chapter 16, it tells us that they took, verse one, they took
their journey from Ilium, and all the congregation of the children
of Israel came under the wilderness of Zin. How many were lost in
crossing the Red Sea? Not one. Nobody was lost between leaving
Egypt and arriving at Mount Sinai. It tells us here they came, the
children of Israel, came into the wilderness of Zion, which
is between Ilium and Sinai on the 15th day of the second month
after their departing out of the land of Egypt. And the whole
congregation of the children of Israel, and here once again
we run into that word that we've run into several times with regard
to them, murmured, they murmured against Moses and Aaron in the
wilderness. And the children of Israel said
unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord
in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when
we did eat bread to the full. Now if we go back just a little
further in the book of Exodus, I find there very little ever
said about how much they got to eat. I find very little about
how much bread they had. I find, in fact, that they were
complaining about having strict taskmasters over them, and they
were nothing more than slaves. And here, they have not gone
but a month into the wilderness, and we find them complaining
and wishing that they were back at the flesh pots, and they're
wishing they were back having bread full, and they're complaining.
And we heard a verse of scripture in Psalm 78 They said, can God
set a table in the wilderness? What a statement about a thrice
holy God made by natural man and the church of the living
God said, yes, he can. He has, he will, he will continue
to feed the church of the sweet bread from heaven that bread
that came down from heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ, the children
of Israel, says there in verse four. And when the Lord and then
said the Lord unto Moses, behold, I will rain bread from heaven
from you or for you. And the people shall go out and
gather a certain rate every day. And I will prove them whether
they will walk in my law or no. Did you notice that we haven't
even got to Sinai and the law hasn't even been given? They
will walk in my law. What is that? Just the natural
state of affairs that they will trust me. I'm going to prove
them. You know what he proved to them?
They could not and they would not because they had not the
spirit of God given to them. They had no faith. They died
in the wilderness by the dozens, the thousands, and millions.
You know, someone took the time, I wouldn't take this time, but
someone did, and that's good for me to read, that the amount
of manna that was given to the children of Israel every day,
if there was two million of them, I tend to believe that there
were more than that, probably double that amount, but if there
were two million, This man figured out that it would take 94,466 bushels a day to feed them. Every
bushel contains eight gallons. So that would be 755,000 gallons a day to feed Israel. Over the space of 40 years, it
would be over almost 11 billion gallons of manna that they were
fed over the space of 40 years. Now just think of that for a
moment. That's more to fill this room up a several times and Almighty
God gave it a kernel at a time. Sent it down from heaven. He
wanted them to know that their bread did not come from the earth
up. He wanted them to know that their
bread came from heaven down. Just like every spiritual blessing,
it is not from the earth up, it is from heaven down. Every
good gift and every perfect gift cometh down from the Father of
lights. We have no capability in ourself
to come up with any bread solution that will take care of the need
that we have in our lostness that came upon us as a result
of the fall. We need bread that came down
from heaven. We need this bread that God sent
that came down. Well, the children of Israel
did not know what they were eating. They were eating a typical pictorial,
shadowing picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. We find that Paul
uses that term. It was spiritual bread. Well,
it was spiritual in type. Did you know that everyone that
ate that bread died? We're going to get over into
the book of John chapter 6 in a few moments, and we'll read
there that those people ate manna from heaven and died. Now, let
me tell you about a bread that people eat and will not die. All right, it goes on here and
says, shall come to pass, verse five, that on the sixth day they
shall prepare that which they bring in, and it shall be twice
as much as they gather daily. And Moses and Aaron said unto
all the children of Israel, at even, then ye shall know that
the Lord hath brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in
the morning, then ye shall see the glory of God. how often through
this passage of scripture, Moses is brought to the conclusion
that this is an act of God, it's a blessing from God, and here
we read it's the glory of God. It's God's wonderful glory displayed
in a type, in a picture, in a shadow, that eventually the Messiah will
come, the one that was promised to Adam and Eve, the one that
is promised throughout the ages, has come and has done exactly
what he said he would do when he went to the cross. For that
he heareth your murmurings against the Lord, which are we, and you
murmur against us. 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, for that the Lord heareth
your murmuring, which ye murmur against him. And what are we?
Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord. You
know, the Lord gave them instructions about, OK, the Sabbath's coming. You're not going to collect on
the Sabbath. You take and gather enough. You know, on a daily
basis, if I felt lazy about it, I would go out and gather enough
for tomorrow, too, because I don't want to go to work today or tomorrow. I'll just stay in my tent and
I'll gather enough today to fill tomorrow. What happened? The
scriptures tell us it stank and was full of worms. All right,
they're instructed to go out and gather enough on the sixth
day so that they'll have it for the Sabbath. What did they do? They went out looking for it
on the Sabbath. They could not and would not
hear the word of the Lord. We find that that's just the
scriptures fulfilled. We are unable and would not,
if we could, follow the word of God. So the instructions are
given here. Turn with me if you would to
the book of Deuteronomy chapter 8. There's a review just before
they enter the promised land in the book of Deuteronomy chapter
8. In Deuteronomy chapter 8, I want to read two verses, verse
3. And verse 16, as we think about this manna, this bread
that came down, a kernel that was taken and then it was mashed
up or put in a mortar or crushed, made into a cake and baked. How
pictorial is that of our Savior? He is of no benefit to anyone
until first of all he was taken and crushed and broken because
of our sins and then eaten If we do not partake of this one
that God has given as the hope of Israel and for all the sins
of his people, if we do not partake of him, we have no value. There's
nothing about it. We can't rejoice in anything
that God did if we cannot rejoice in eating of Jesus Christ. Now we don't take literal flesh
and literal bread. He mentions that in one of his
comments there in the book of John chapter 6. And people have
taken that and says, well, we're going to have to change this.
We've got some elements over here. We're going to change this
into the very flesh and this into the very blood. He's not
talking about that. He's talking about if we are
not given the faith to partake of him spiritually, we have no
part of him. And who gives us the faith? Alright,
the book of Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse 3, the scriptures
share this. Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse
3, it says this, And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger,
and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did
thy fathers know. This is something they'd never
seen before. You know the word manna, I've
mentioned this before, my dad used to buy calf manna. I didn't even put the two terms
together. Calf manna. It was supposed to
have all of the nutrients and vitamins for these calves that
we were raising. Calf manna. You know when the
children of Israel went out that first morning and looked at that
manna that had fallen, they said, What is it? Now that's the definition
of the word Vanna. What is it? Now they had the
same conversation about this one that came down from heaven,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Who are you? What are you? We know your brothers, and we
know your sisters, and we know your dad, and we know your mom. How dare you tell us that you
are that Brad that came down from heaven? Who are you? Now here we have these kernels.
What are you? Or what is it? What is it? Now,
he goes on to tell us here in Deuteronomy chapter 8 in verse
3, that he might make thee known that man doth not live by bread
only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of
the Lord doth man live. And then in verse 16 of that
same chapter, who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which
thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that they
might prove thee to do thee good at thy latter end. This is in
preparation for just going into the promised land. And turn over
with me to the book of Joshua chapter 5. Joshua chapter 5 and
verse 12. We have the conclusion of manna.
When they got into the land, no longer was it needed. They
ate the old corn of the land. Here in the book of Joshua chapter
5 and verse 12, the scriptures say, and the manna ceased on
the morrow after they had eaten the old corn of the land. Neither
did the children of Israel, neither had the children of Israel manna
anymore, but they did eat the fruit of the land of Canaan that
year. There is only one batch of manna that was preserved. You know where it was? It was
in a golden pot placed inside the mercy seat. That was the
only batch that was preserved. Everything that was in that mercy
seat was a reminder to us, and should have been to them, of
rebellion. Aaron's rod that budded. It happened over a rebellious
state. Manna happened over murmuring
and rebellious state. What do we have? All right. Now,
turn with me if you would to the book of Nehemiah. As the
children of Israel are called on to go back into the land after
they've been in Babylonian captivity for 70 years, Nehemiah brings
this subject up again in Nehemiah chapter 9. In Nehemiah chapter
9 verse 6. A refresher course. There is
a record of when of their history. This is a history lesson. You
know what Stephen did when he had a whole group of Jews around
him? He gave them a history lesson. Stiff-necked, hard-hearted people
were our fathers because they believed not. Here in the book
of Nehemiah, chapter 6 and verse 12, excuse me, chapter 9 and
verse 6, chapter 9 and verse 6, Thou, even Thou, art Lord alone. Thou hast made heaven, the heavens
of the heavens, with all their hosts, the earth and all things
that are therein, the seas and all that is therein. Thou preservest
them all, and the hosts of heaven worship Thee. What is he saying?
I believe in an almighty, all-sovereign God. That's who this Bible is
about. Thou art the Lord, the God, who
didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldeans,
and gavest him the name of Abraham. Numbers or Nehemiah chapter 9,
now we're in verse 8. And found us his heart faithful
before thee, and made us a covenant with him to give the land of
the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites,
and the Jebusites, and the Gergesites, to give it, I say, to his seed,
and has performed thy words, for thou art righteous. And did
see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heard us their
cry by the Red Sea. and show us the signs and wonders
unto Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of the land.
For thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them. So didst
thou get thee a man, as it is this day. And thou didst divide
the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of
the sea on dry land. And their persecutors thou threwest
into the deeps as stone in the mighty waters. Moreover thou
leadest them in a day by a cloudy pillar, and in the night by a
pillar of fire, so give them light in the way wherein they
shouldest go. Thou camest down also upon Mount
Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them
right judgments and true laws, good statutes and commandments,
and madest known unto them thy holy Sabbath and commandments
that proceed statutes and laws precepts, statutes, and laws,
and by the hand of Moses thy servant, and gave us them bread
from heaven for their hunger, and brought us them forth water
for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promised them
that they should go in and possess the land which thou didst swear,
had swore to them to give. But they and our fathers did
proudly and hardened their necks and hearkened not. and to thy
commandments, and refused to obey, neither were mindful of
thy wonders. You know, I had a person tell
me one time when I was bringing this up, if I was there, I'd
have been smarter than that. You know, that man just shared
ignorance. Only the church knows what we're
capable of. And only the church knows the
depths that we're in. when God brought us out of it.
All right. Now, would you turn with me over
to the book of John Chapter 6. The Lord takes all that we've
read here and much, much more in John Chapter 6. I want to
begin reading with verse 31. In John Chapter 6 and verse 31,
we find here that that manna came down from heaven. It did
not come through their plowing and it did not come through their
sowing. It came down from heaven. It
was a gift of God. They went out and brought it.
It tells us, as we read about this, it is not him that runneth
or him that willeth, but God that showeth mercy. We find that
God's demonstrating to all of these people of Israel as they
wandered in the wilderness. It is not of you. It is of me
that you're still alive. It's not because you followed
me. It is me that have kept you in the way. And as we read in
the Psalms, can God provide a table in the wilderness? Or is he just
going to let us starve out here? Well, here in the book of John,
chapter 6, verse 31, we find the Lord Jesus Christ taking
an Old Testament incident, bread, manna, bread from heaven, and
saying, there is the true bread that came down from heaven. There
are those that ate that bread and they died. It did not keep
them for eternity, they died. And here in the book of John
chapter 6 verse 31, the scriptures say this, our fathers did eat
manna in the desert. As it is written, he gave them
bread from heaven to eat. Who's speaking there? A bunch
of Jews about their own history. 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.
Now Moses was an ambassador. He was an emissary. But who gave
that even the manna? It came down from heaven. God
gave that to the children of Israel. Even in their unbelieving
state, he gave that to the children of Israel. Now, there were a
few, a remnant, according to the election
of grace, that understood some symbolism about this manna that
came down from heaven. We didn't have to work for it.
We didn't have to plow for it. All we did by faith we won. And there's some of them that
didn't have the faith to trust God about taking up too much
on one day or about not taking up enough for two days on the
Sabbath and still went out. I wonder how many that was. I
wonder how much stench there was in the camp when they took
too much and it gathered worms and stunk. I wonder how many
were out there on the Sabbath day wandering around and says,
where's the food? Where's the food? I'm hungry. And how many
understood he told us to take enough for the Sabbath yesterday. Or don't take too much. And you know what? There was
always enough for everybody. Those who ate more, got more. Those who didn't eat more, got
less. But everybody was filled with,
one passage of scripture says, with angels' food. We follow the children of Israel
for 40 years, eating this manna. They did not get the diseases
that we do. They went for 40 years on one
kind of food, manna, and another kind of meat, quail. They didn't
have any dietary issues. And they complained. You know,
it's like someone coming up to you and saying, is this all you're
going to talk about is Jesus? Is this all you're going to preach
about is Christ? Because that's what they had
every day was a picture of Christ. All right, let's follow this
just a little further here in this passage of scripture in
the book of John. It says there are in verse 33
for the bread of God is he. which cometh down from heaven,
and giveth life into the world. Then said they unto him, Lord,
evermore giveth us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am
the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But
I said unto you, that ye also have seen me, and believe not.
All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me, and him that
cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out. What is he saying there?
All that the Father giveth me will come and eat. All that the
Father giveth me will come and drink. For I came down from heaven
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will, which has sent me, that of all which
he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day." Did you notice here, as the Lord
talks about this manna that came down from heaven, he brings out
some of the dearest, blessed passages of scripture concerning
himself and his eternal work, that God in his wisdom, God giveth
some to me and they will come to me and I will not cast them
out. How promising that is to the church that he will never
get rid of anybody that he ever saves by his grace. Then that
I should lose nothing and raise him up at the last day. 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'll raise him up at the last day." Have you seen any negative
words here at all with regard to what the Lord has to say about
the true bread that came down from heaven? Not one negative
word. It's an act of God. It's an act
of grace. It's a blessing from heaven.
All I have is a blessing from heaven. The Jews, what did they
say? Notice the fourth word here.
The Jews then murmured at him because he said, I am the bread
which came down from heaven. They said, is not this Jesus,
the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? Today we
know Jesus. In this day, they saw him and
didn't know Jesus. They could not comprehend it's
just a physical man here talking to us. And the church knows that
this is the God man. This is the Messiah. This is
the one that came to take care of the sin issue that we have
through Adam in our own self. Jesus, therefore, answered and
said unto them, murmur not against Among yourselves no man can come
to me except the father which has sent me draw him You know
if we ever realize that we're dead in trespasses and sin We're
thankful that he came and took that I heard a man the other
day in a message He said Peter had a sword on his side That
sword didn't jump out of by itself Peter drew that sword out and
you know what will not jump out of the holster ourself. I We
must be drawn out. He draws us and is for his glory
and for our good. He goes down through here and
says. No man burst 44. No man could come to me except
it were given of him. The father has sent me draw him
and I'll raise him up at the last day. It is written in the
prophets and they shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore
that has heard and has learned of the father cometh unto me.
Everyone that God deals with is going to come. Everyone that
knows the bread that came down from heaven is going to come.
Not that any man hath seen the Father save he which is of God. He has seen the Father. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting
life. I am the 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 this bread, he
shall live forever. And the bread that I give him
will get that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for
the life of the world. You know, as Jesus goes down
through here, the crowd begins to get more murmury. I don't like what I'm hearing.
Here is the son of God. talking about the true bread
that came down from heaven, a picture, a type, and a shadow was found
over the book of Exodus, the book of Numbers, the book of
Deuteronomy, and found throughout the Psalms, and found there in
the book of Nehemiah. This bread is talked of as a
symbol, a type, and a shadow. Jesus comes down and shares with
these people, these religious people, and share with them,
I am the true bread that came down from heaven. And we would
think that everybody there would rejoice to hear this message.
Here is the fulfillment of all that we've heard about in the
Old Testament. Look at verse 66. If Jesus didn't do what he
said he would do to his people, if he didn't draw them, If He
didn't bring them, if He didn't call them, here's what would
happen. John chapter 6 verse 66. This
is the true sad state of the number 666. From that time, many of His disciples
went back and walked no more with Him. Now the word, they're
my disciples. They appeared to be, they followed
him. They listened to him. But they
were not the ones that Jesus is talking about in his own message
to them. All that the father gave me shall
come to me. What did they do? They left.
Now, Jesus asked his disciples, will you also go away from the
bread of life? Will you also go away from the
true manna? Will you walk away? And Peter,
standing up and speaking for the church, said, To whom? He did not ask where, but to
whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. They knew what he was talking
about because of the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now, turn with
me, if you would, to the Psalm, Psalm 147. Psalm 147. In Psalm 147 it tells us about
the quality, the quality of the food of the Lord. Here in the
book of Psalm 147 and verse 14. Psalm 147 verse 14. He maketh peace in thy borders,
and filleth thee with the finest of wheat. This is the finest. This bread
that came down from heaven is the finest. The most absolute,
most beautiful, most nourishing, the finest of wheat. That's what
the Lord said He would do for His people. They spake against God and said,
can God set a table in the wilderness? You know, it's a great mystery.
Great is the mystery of godliness. God come in the flesh. God come
as the bread of heaven. Before the church, As we read
there in Psalm 147, we find out in the book of 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, He's made unto us everything. Wisdom, and righteousness,
and sanctification, and redemption. And turn with me to the book
of Colossians chapter 2 if you would. Colossians chapter 2.
Here's what they missed. This is what we will miss by
nature. This is what we'll miss if God
never gets involved. Here's what we'll miss if our
names are not written down in the Lamb's Book of Life. Here's
what we'll miss if He never calls us. If He leaves us to just murmur. If He leaves us just to murmur
about things. Here in the book of Colossians
chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2 verse 9 and 10. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead. Did you notice that? Bodily.
Every quality of the Godhead dwells in him bodily. Now the
results of that. What are the results? The next
verse. And ye are complete in him. which is the head of all
principality and power. He is the fullness of the Godhead
bodily and ye are complete in him. He takes care of all the
hunger. He takes care of all the borders.
He takes care of everything. He pictured that with Israel.
He does it for his people. No longer will you hunger. Those
that hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled. Those who have a thirst shall
be quenched. So here it is, this true manna
that came down from heaven. Come unto me all you that labor
and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. You know, there are a few things
about the manna that are not typical of Christ. He mentioned
one of them. Your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness and died. The true manna that came down
from heaven is eternal life. Manna was eaten by those and
they later died. Manna rotted and decayed when
kept. Christ never rots or decays. He always lives. He abides the
same yesterday, today, and forever. The manna was only found in the
morning. Aren't you glad you can find him in the afternoon
and the evening too? Manna ceased when they entered
into Canaan. Now that was typical. Christ
our bread is our bread forever, never to cease. Through eternity
we'll rejoice in that bread that came down from heaven from the
Father and the work of the Father in his people. We'll rejoice.