Go back to Exodus, and we're
going to be looking today, both this morning and this evening,
at the 16th chapter. And I'll give you the title to
the message that is found in chapter 16, verse 1. And they took their journey from
Elam, and all the congregation of Israel. They came into the
wilderness of sin. That's my subject, in the wilderness
of sin. And we'll look at this passage
in just a couple of minutes. Let's ask for God's mercies this
morning as we gather together. Lord, we're very much aware of
our utter inability to worship or think anything that would
be honoring to you, to focus in on Christ and His magnificence
or your glory and salvation. These things are contrary to
the flesh. And so therefore we beseech you,
Lord, that you would deal with each of us in sovereign grace
and mercy, and grant unto us that we would read with understanding
the Word of God, and that we would hear with faith and confidence
and that one who is the only savior of sinners. Oh God, we confess our sinfulness. We confess even the corruption
of our worship. And we flee once again to the
fountain filled with blood. where we lose all of our guilty
stains. Lord, through our dear Savior,
we ask that you administer grace to us and may your Spirit take
the things of our Lord Jesus and show them unto us. Bless
these who sit before me those who are watching by way of the
internet. Lord, they, as with me, are people
who need your presence and need your grace daily. We are instructed in the Word
of God to come to the throne of grace in time of need Lord, ours is always a time of
need. And yet there are circumstances
in our lives when we seem to be more in need of your grace
and of your presence. And that is especially true as
we meet for worship. create within us reverence, respect,
and all of our God. May we honor you today through
the Lord Jesus Christ, your only begotten Son, who took on Him
the nature of Abraham, And in that flesh, He lived and died
to redeem all of the spiritual seed of Abraham. We rejoice in
our Savior. We look within and we see no
good thing. But we look to the Lord Jesus
and we see Him who is our righteousness. and we see him of whom you say
in the word of God, you're well pleased with him. So bless today
as we seek to worship and honor you by looking into your word.
For Jesus' sake, we ask these things. Amen. As we get to the end of Exodus
chapter 15, Of course, most of chapter 15 has to do with the
song of redemption of the Israelites as they have arrived on the distant
shore of the Red Sea, having been redeemed by blood from Egyptian
bondage and now redeemed from Pharaoh by means of a safe passage
through the Red Sea, redeemed by power. They have delighted
to sing together and rejoice in the goodness of God and in
his redeeming mercies to them. And then as they beheld overhead
the pillar of cloud, that pillar began to move. And so Moses instructed
all of the children of Israel that they were to fold up their
tents and get ready and move. And so they did that. And the
scripture says, and we studied this a little bit the last Sunday
evening. The scripture says in the 22nd
verse, of chapter 15, 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 they found no water. Now, these were
a people who had been delivered by the goodness and mercy of
God. They have experienced redemption
because God has bought them. He has ransomed them and the
blood has been shed and application of the blood has been made to
the doorposts of all the Israelite houses. And therefore, when the
Lord came through, the firstborn in that house was spared. And
so they know firsthand something about redemption. And then they
have crossed over the Red Sea and God has safely brought them
to the other side of the Red Sea, what I'd call the glory
side of the Red Sea, the Canaan side of the Red Sea. And these
are people who are happy and joyful And I would think that
their thought process would be something like this. After all
God has brought us through, now it's going to be just a very
few days and we shall enjoy the land flowing with milk and honey. And as they leave that edge of
the Red Sea, they're thinking this is going to be an easy passage. but it didn't prove to be an
easy passage at all. You see, God's people, yes, we've
been redeemed by blood. We've been saved by the grace
of God. We have been made the righteousness
of God in the Lord Jesus, but he never said we'd have an easy
passage to the land of promise. It's going to be a difficult
passage. In fact, it says that they went three days in the wilderness,
the desert. This is an uninhabited land as
this world is in a sense that the whole thing's a wilderness
to the people of God. That is, though we find some
temporal joys here and temporal satisfaction, yet as far as the
spirit is concerned, as far as our souls are concerned, we find
nothing of any everlasting joy and good in this world apart
from the worship of God. And we're thankful for our families,
the love of our families. We're thankful for whatever joys
that God gives us, but we know that this is not our home. We're like Abraham who said he
was looking for a city whose builder and maker was God. That's
what we're looking for. We know that this world, it will
offer many disappointments to us. This world can be very cruel
to the children of the Lord. And for Israel, they go three
days into the wilderness and all of a sudden they're so thirsty
and here's a vast body of water that they come to. And they go
down and they begin to dip their pitchers or bowls or cups or
whatever into this vast body of water called Mara. And they
find the water is bitter. The water is undrinkable. And
there's much bitterness in this world to the children of God.
Now, first of all, the first bitterness we encounter is the
bitterness of our own sin. And if God has ever revealed
to you what you are by nature, your own ungodliness, your alienation
from God, your unfitness for Him, then your own sinfulness
has become bitter to you. And oh, how bitter it is when
we taste, as it were, of our own corruption. And we realize
that in this flesh dwells no good thing. And then sin becomes
bitter to us. The Lord, however, has ways of
making bitter things sweet to us. Because when they entered
into or got near this vast body of water, and they tasted the
bitterness of the water, and they began to murmur against
Moses. Then he prayed to the Lord and
the Lord showed him a tree. And I think that tree had been
there all along. It just, Moses paid no attention
to it. It didn't stand out. It wasn't
anything special to him. Now this tree, I'm fully persuaded,
represents the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus. It represents
atonement. It represents what the Savior
did upon the cross of Calvary for undeserving sinners and what
he did for God. He satisfied God. He satisfied
God's justice that demanded death for sin. God told Moses, he said, you
see that tree? And it's like all of a sudden
his eyes are open. That's the way the gospel is
to us. We're blind to the beauties of
the good news of redeeming grace and the forgiveness of God and
the righteousness of God given to us in the Lord Jesus. And
then all of a sudden, though that gospel has been there all
along, all of a sudden our eyes are opened. That's revealing
grace. It isn't you doing something
for God, it's God doing something for you. And He opens your eyes
and you see, oh, there is a Savior. Oh, my sin is so bitter to me. The guilt of it. The horror of
it. And oh, the bitterness of thinking
of the penalty of it. And then all of a sudden you
see the sweetness of redemption. That there's a Savior. And you're enabled by God to
taste of the sweetness of the waters of salvation. And you thank God that he's able
to take bitter things and make them to be sweet to you. And so they drank of the water.
And then that pillar began to move again. And they went to
Elam. That's the last verse of chapter
15. And they came to Elam where there were 12 wells of water
and a well for every tribe of Israel and three score and 10
palm trees, 70 palm trees, one for each of the elders of Israel. And they just encamped there. Oh, how sweet is the goodness
and the grace of God. He knew what these people needed. Now that which lay before them
is going to be a difficult journey. They have just begun a wilderness
trek, three days, and it was rough on them. That's just a
foretaste of what awaited them. And they didn't handle that trial
very well. Kind of reminds us of ourselves. They didn't take that too kindly.
They murmured against Moses and Aaron, which is really murmuring
against God. but God doesn't reward them according
to their iniquities. He does not reward them according
to their grumblings and according to their murmurings. Aren't you
thankful God doesn't do that? He rewards them according to
his own faithfulness. There are two things that are
always to be viewed throughout Israel's wilderness journeys.
Number one, their failures. Their failures, which reminds
us of our failures. And number two, God's faithfulness. Oh, bless God for his faithfulness. He doesn't reward us according
to our transgressions. He sees us as his children. He sees us as his people. And
though we murmur against him, and though we fret And though
we grumble, still God does not reward us according to our iniquities,
but rather he constantly shows us his own faithfulness to us,
his faithfulness to his covenant promises. And he abides with
us always. when God first appeared to them
in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night,
he assured them, I'll always be with you. And you who are
the people of God, you may come to some bitter waters and no
doubt you will. In fact, I suspect some of you
have visited Merah several times. And you know something about
bitterness, but rest assured of this. He who is the pillar
of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night says, I will
never leave you. And I will never forsake you. And so he takes them from Merah
to Elam. And they sit down under the shade
of the palm trees, put their toes in the warm sand and in
the shade. They eat, they drink water, they
relax. Aren't you thankful for the elums
in life? Every once in a while, God brings
you to an Elam. And really, they're more often
than we tend to remember. Because you see, Elam, it happens
whenever God brings to our memories the sweetness of His grace. and
that He is our Father, and that the Lord Jesus is our ever-abiding
Savior, and the Spirit of God is the seal of redemption. He
is the one who is our comforter, who shows us the Lord Jesus,
and He's always with us. God knows exactly what we need. He knows when we need to sit
under the palm trees of Elam. And he also knows when we need
to take a visit to the bitter waters of Merah. I'll remind you it was at Merah
that God revealed himself in a new way to them. I am the Lord
that healeth thee. I am Jehovah Rapha. I heal you. by the stripes of our savior,
the scripture says we're healed. And every day he heals us. He
binds up our wounds. The world is a difficult and
rough place on the people of God. It beats up on us as it
were. And he with the tenderness of
a mother, And with the skill of a great physician, he binds
up our wounds. And before he binds, he puts
the staff of the gospel on us. And we say, oh Lord, in the midst
of my wilderness, thank you for taking care of me. Thank you
for binding up my wounds. I would have perished Were it
not for you, I would have run and forsaken you, oh God, but
you're faithful. You remember in 2 Timothy 2,
here's what Paul says. He says, though we believe not,
yet he abided faithful. Oh, the faithfulness of God. And so every time you study,
the wilderness journeys of Israel, you should remember the failures
of men and the faithfulness of God. The scripture says there in the
last words of chapter 15, and they encamped there by the waters. What a pleasant, delightful oasis. Sure like that better than the
wilderness. That's much more pleasant. This
is a whole lot better than Mara, I'll tell you that. And they
would drink of the refreshing waters over and over again from
these wells at Edel. But they can't stay there. That's not the land of rest. That's not the land of promise.
Now, if you hold your place here and go over to Numbers chapter
33, let me show you something. As we go to Numbers chapter 33,
which identifies very specifically the various locations where Israel
stopped in their wilderness journeys, here's what we learn. After Israel
left Elam, they did not immediately go into the wilderness of sin. And we only learn this from Numbers
chapter 33. And I don't know what the purpose
of God was in the purpose of God, the Holy Spirit, and not
having Moses record this over here in Exodus chapter 16, but
it does record it in Numbers chapter 33. Numbers 33, look
at verse eight. And they departed from before
Piahiroth, they passed through the midst of the sea into the
wilderness, verse eight. And they went to three days journey
in the wilderness of Etham, and they pitched in Marah. And they
removed from Marah and came unto Elam. And in Elam were 12 fountains
of water and three score and 10 palm trees. And they pitched
there. And that's the last thing that we read there at the end
of Exodus chapter 15. Now, look at verse 11. And they removed from the Red,
verse 10, sorry. And they removed from Elam and
they encamped by the Red Sea. They did not immediately enter
into the wilderness of sin, but the Lord led them up onto a ridge
or a mountain so that they would once again look down upon the
Red Sea. Now, undoubtedly, this is like
a bay or an inlet of the Red Sea, but all of them went up
there and they're all looking down upon a segment of the Red
Sea. No doubt, it was there that they
were reminded once again of their safe passage through the Red
Sea. They would have perished. They
had no hope. There were mountains on both
sides and the enemy was in mad pursuit. The enemy said, I will
pursue, I will overtake. I'll take them into captivity
again. And at first, the Lord told Moses
to tell Israel, you stand still and see the salvation of the
Lord. And they stood still. And then
God said to Moses, tell them to go forward. And they went
forward, believing God would make a way, and he did. Believing
then was seeing. That's the order in the Scripture.
Not seeing is believing. It's believing the Word of God.
Then you see. And that sea opened up for them
one way, one passage through the Red Sea. The Red Sea, the
one way to life. They went right through the Red
Sea. They went right through the blood, as it were. The blood
of the Lord, the blood, the Red Sea. There's one way to God. Christ
said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father, but by me. And as Moses gathered them all
together, They're all looking down. I'm sure he said, because
he's the preacher, he's the pastor of this vast congregation. And
he said, look there. Do you see Egypt over there on
the distant shore? That's where we were in captivity
and in bondage, and we could in no way get out, but God brought
us through those waters. Rejoice, my brethren. I'm sure
he said that. Remember, there's one way to
safety. One way to God. One way to the
land flowing with milk and honey. And for us, Christ Jesus is the
way. If you forget everything else
that I say this morning, you remember that. You take that
home with you. There is a way to God, but just
one. Just one. And as they stood up
on that ridge looking down, and Moses said, oh, remember children,
remember fathers, remember mothers, remember you grandparents, what
God in his mercy and by his grace has done for us. We are a blessed
people. That's what Moses would have
told them. And then they resumed their journey
again. So go back to Exodus chapter
16. So they resumed their journey. And as we get here in chapter
16, look again at verse one. Chapter 16 of Exodus verse one.
And they took their journey from Elam And all the congregation
of the children of Israel came into the wilderness of sin. The
wilderness of sin. Now, this word S-I-N is not the
word that means thought. This doesn't have anything to
do with guilt. In the New Testament, the word,
Sin means missing the mark, missing the mark of perfection. We're
all guilty of that, but that isn't at all the meaning of the
word here in Exodus chapter 16. The word means briars or thorns. Make a note of that. And all
the congregation of the children of Israel came into the wilderness
of briars, the wilderness of thorns. The wilderness where
they're often going to be pricked in the flesh. Briars, thorns. It reminds you
of what God said in Genesis chapter three, that he cursed the earth.
And here they're embarking upon a journey across the wilderness
of sin. A land that is uninhabitable
except for an oasis here and there. And the land that was
specifically known for its briars. They'd go blackberry hunting,
pick blackberries. She picked a lot of blackberries
up on the hill there in Virginia and of course she made a lot
of blackberry jelly and that's so good. All the sweetness of those black
luscious blackberries. But you can't pick them without
putting up with the thorns. In fact, Nancy's daddy, she would
try to get Duvall right, Mr. Wright, Nancy's daddy. She'd
say, let's go blackberry picking. He said, not me, too many briars
and too many snakes. And so he wouldn't go. We'd go
though. We'd pick blackberries with her.
Boy, when you come back, oh. You know, this life, there are
a lot of sweet things in life, aren't there? Aren't you thankful
for the sweet, for the blackberries of life? All the sweetness of
the things of life. But all along the way, in enjoying
the sweet things that God gives you in life, you're going to
get thorns. You just count on it. You're going to get briars. Because
you see, this is a wilderness of sin that we're in. It is a wilderness of sin. It's bad enough that it's a wilderness
and offers nothing good for the children of God. That is, this
world doesn't produce anything good for the children of God.
It's full of evil, of course. It's bad enough it's a wilderness,
but it's a wilderness of thorns. and her briars. And I'll guarantee
you that most of you, if not all of you, have felt the prickly
pain of thorns this week. And you pulled some briars out.
And you've said in your own heart, I'm thankful for so many things
in life, but there sure are a lot of briars here. Well, that's
because it's a wilderness of sin, that's why. And you needn't expect that the
briars will go away till you reach the land of promise. Our Lord Jesus knew the pains
of this wilderness of sin. He knew weakness. He knew disappointments. As a man, he knew loneliness.
He knew homelessness. He knew hunger. He knew thirst. He knew rejection. He knew what
it meant to be despised. He felt some thorns. And when he would lay down his
life for his sheep as the good shepherd, He literally felt the
thorns as he made a crown of thorns and put it on his head
and mashed it down and blood came out and covered his face,
mingling with the rest of the blood that he had shed from being
beaten and from being crucified. And all of that mixing with the
spittle of those who despised him. He felt the thorns. The scripture says that he was
tempted in all points. He was tried in all points as
we are, yet without sin. He's felt the thorns. So it isn't any great surprise
that we would feel the prickly pain of the briars of this wilderness. You say, well, I'm often pricked
by the briars of this world. That's the way it's always been
for the people of God. Now, if you don't profess faith
in the Lord Jesus or to believe in the grace of God, it won't
be so prickly for you because the world won't persecute you.
The world loves its own. The Savior said that. But if
you believe the gospel on top of just the normal briars of
life, if you believe the gospel of God's grace, there will be
some additional thorns in there as you are persecuted for the
cause of Christ Jesus. I want you to notice this, though,
as we get to the second verse. I want you to notice the wickedness
of the whole congregation. It says, and the whole congregation
of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the
wilderness. The whole congregation. Now they
took their journey being led by Moses. And of course, the
leadership of Moses in going out ahead of the people, it shows
he's a man who believes God. He's a man of faith. Because
really here for the very first time, it's going to dawn on him,
I think for the very first time, the reality of this, of what
awaits them out here in the wilderness. I read somewhere many years ago
that based upon the fact there were two and a half million people
out here in the wilderness, it would take nine million pounds
of food every day to feed the Jews. Can you comprehend that? Nine million pounds of food every
single day, and they're gonna be out there 40 years. And Moses has some experience
of living in the wilderness because in Exodus chapter 3 we see that
he spent 40 years of his life on the backside of the desert
in the wilderness. He knows the hardships of wilderness
life. And he sees this massive group
of people and he knows the only way we will ever make it to the
land of promise is through a series of miracles. There must be continual
miracles every day given by God. Oh God, provide for us. Here
we go. He believed God. But The whole congregation of
Israel murmured. They murmured against God. Now I remind you, based upon
the first verse, it says that they come to the wilderness of
sin, which is between Elam and Sinai on the 15th day of the
second month. Let me remind you of this. They've
only been gone a month. Okay? A month. That's not a very
long period of time. But they're already, for the
second time, for the second time, after crossing the Red Sea, they're
already murmuring, and the scripture says, the whole congregation
of Israel. Now, if you read the commentators,
most of them will say, perhaps even all of them, I ain't read
them all, But they say that this is most of the congregation,
or many of the congregation, because there were lots of people
who actually believed God, and they didn't murmur. Perhaps that's
true, but God the Spirit didn't say that. God the Spirit had
Moses to write these specific words and the whole congregation
of the children of Israel murmured. That says they murmured against
Moses and Aaron, but if you'll look up into verse eight, And
Moses said, this shall be when the Lord shall give you in the
evening flesh to eat, the quail, and in the morning bread to the
full for that the Lord heareth your murmurings, which you murmur
against him, against him. Watch it. And he said, what are
we? Your murmurings are not against
us, they're against the Lord. You see, they were not happy
now with their circumstances. Now, if you ask them, were you
happy at Elam? You betcha. Boy, it sure was
nice back there, wasn't it? I remember the good old days.
The good old days. But now they're murmuring against
God. They don't like where they are. They don't like the circumstances
that surround them. They don't like what's happening
in their life. We were happy at Elam. We were
happy when we got across the Red Sea and looked back and we
saw all of our enemies drowned in the Red Sea. We were happy
then. But we're not happy now. They're like a bunch of fretting
children. They're only happy when they
get their way. I think this is exactly the reason
that God, the Holy Spirit said the whole congregation, or the
whole of the congregation of the children of Israel murmured,
because you see, Israel pictures the people of God. And I'll tell you one thing we
all have in common, amongst many things. We're a bunch of murmurers. Now, we may not do it out loud. We might not say it to anybody.
But in our minds and in our hearts, and you be honest with yourself
and honest before God, and I'll try to be as well. oft times
in my heart and in my mind, though I may not mouth it to another
soul, I'm not happy about my circumstances. I'm not happy
about the way things are. I'm not contented. Maybe I'm by myself here. Do
you know anything about this? murmur, the whole of the congregation
of Israel. We're all guilty. Let me tell
you something, we're all sinful people, even the people of God.
And we're murmurers, we're habitual murmurers. We're like little
children, when we don't get our way, we're not very happy. That's just the way we are. And we grumble. We're discontented. And there's no question about
the fact it's sin. It's sin. And here's what they said. Look at verse three. 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, where we sat by
the flesh pots. And when we did eat bread to
the full, we had it made in Egypt. That's what they say. We had
it made. We sat by the flesh pots. Well,
they may have sat by the flesh pot, but I'll guarantee you the
Egyptians didn't feed them out of them. And they make it out
like we lived every day a virtual buffet. All you can eat. And we bred to the full. No,
thank you, Mr. Egyptian. I can't handle any
more. That's the way they make it out
to be. But that wasn't the way it was in Egypt, because they
cried unto God in their hour of trouble. And he says, for you brought
us forth into this wilderness to kill the whole assembly with
hunger. That's foolish talk, isn't it?
Would God have redeemed them? Would God have brought them out
of Egypt? Would God have taken them through
the Red Sea just to kill them? Just to watch them die of hunger? This is just unbelief talking. Does unbelief ever do a little
talking for you? We're all guilty, aren't we?
We might as well confess it and ask God to give us a good attitude. Don't be like the little children.
I'm not happy unless I'm at Elam. Well, let me tell you something. There are a few Elams in life,
but you ain't gonna be happy very often, man. But there's something about contentment,
even in, uncomfortable situations. As you remember that where I
am and all that's going on in my life and all that's going
on in the United States and all that's going on in the world
is all of God. Now, if we can, we say we believe
that. We're good theologians up here,
aren't we? We got it straight up here. All
things are of God. Amen, preacher. God is sovereign
in all things. Preach it, preach it, brother.
And then, oh man, that's a briar. I just felt that briar. I ain't
happy about that briar, them briar bushes. Oh, where's your
joy gone? The very same God who led them
to Elam led them into the wilderness
of sin. And I'm telling you, the same
God who led you to the Lord Jesus Christ, your Savior, is leading
you by the very best route that you can be on. And do not murmur
because you call into question the wisdom of God and the love
of God pertaining to you and the way he governs your life
and the way he governs this world. Do not murmur. Oh, Jim Bird,
do not murmur. Let me hear my own preaching. And it says in verse four, then said the Lord unto Moses,
behold. And you think, uh-oh, here it
comes. Oh, it's gonna be bad. It's gonna
be bad. I know it's gonna be bad because
that word behold means perk up your ears, take notice. Something
unusual is about to be said. Oh, here comes a fire from heaven,
I know. No. Remember, yet we're failures,
but he's faithful. He's faithful who promised. He
says, behold, the Lord said to Moses, behold, I will reign,
not fire and brimstone like he did upon Sodom and Gomorrah,
I will rain bread from heaven for you. Oh, I tell you. I'm sure I'm
glad God's merciful and gracious, aren't you? And he rains bread
from heaven. Here we are this morning, we've
been through a a little bit of the wilderness of sin this week,
and some of you picked up a few briars along the way, and you
murmured, and you come in here, and behold, God says I will reign. Oh no, here it comes. And preachers
will say, God's gonna beat the fire out of you. Nah. Now he chastens us, no question
about that. But he's merciful to us. And I'll tell you what he does.
He once again gives us that true bread of life, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he said, now here's my son.
I present my son to you again that you take and eat, feed on
him by faith. Now this evening, I'm gonna pick
up right here and show you two gracious blessings that God gave
to Israel. Number one, he gave them the
manna for food. And number two, he gave them
the Sabbath for rest. And our Lord Jesus is seen in
both of those. He's the bread who came down
from heaven, and he is the Sabbath. In him we find rest. Let's bow our heads. Thank you,
Father, Your faithfulness to us, though we are unbelieving, and though we murmur
like little children who don't get their way, yet you abide
faithful still. Lord, forgive us. Forgive us
for bad attitudes. Forgive us for not believing
that our God governs all things. to fulfill your purpose and you
govern all things for our good. And you're making certain that
all things work together for our good to them who love God,
to them who are the called according to your purpose. Be with all
of your children as we go through this wilderness filled with briars
and thorns and prickly patches of life. And Lord, When we enter
into those briar bushes, help us to remember it's the Lord
who's leading me. Briars are painful, but if there
was a better path for me, I'd be on it. I'll accept the briars, I'll
accept the thorns, and I'll go on contented in the the very
providence of my God who directs my every step in life. And Lord,
as we continue our journey across the wilderness of sin, we find
that, we find continual, this world itself has nothing good
to offer us, but we sure are thankful for your grace that
you feed us and you bring us into the elims of life. You bring us in here, this is
an oasis. where we can worship and enjoy
the goodness of God. Lord, give us faith and forgive
our unbelief. For Jesus' sake I pray, amen.