Okay, one more time hopefully
exodus chapter 16 Christ our manna He's the man Never forget this
the bread from God the bread of God is he that came down from
heaven and giveth life unto the world. Those are his words. And this is the bread which the
Lord hath given you to eat. That's what Moses told the people
of Israel. Now he's already talked about
giving instructions, giving the commandment to gather. And then
those that gathered assembled together and meted it out. What I want to start here with
now is verse 19. I'll try and move quickly this
morning. And Moses said, let no man leave
of it till the morning. Notwithstanding, they hearken
not to Moses, unto Moses. But some of them left of it until
the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was wroth
with them. And they gathered it every morning,
every man according to his eating. And when the sun waxed hot, it
melted. And it came to pass that on the
sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for
one man. And all the rulers of the congregation
came and told Moses. And he said unto them, this is
that which the Lord has said. Tomorrow is the rest. of the
holy Sabbath unto the Lord. Bake that which ye will bake
today, and seethe that ye will seethe, and that which remaineth
over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. And they laid
it up unto the morning as Moses bade, and it did not stink, neither
was there any worm therein. And Moses said, Eat that today. For today is a Sabbath unto the
Lord, today ye shall not find in the field. Six days ye shall
gather it, but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in
it there shall be none. And it came to pass that there
went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather,
and they found none. And the Lord said unto Moses,
how long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See
for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath Therefore he
giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days Abide ye every
man in his place let no man go out of his place on the seventh
day So the people rested on the seventh day I'm gonna stop right
there Verse 19 Moses said leave let
no man leave of it till the morning We are to use today what we gather
today. That's the point here. We are
to eat today for nourishment. And God provides every day. Gather every morning. He provides. He provides. And we are to consume
it. We are to eat it. We are to gather.
We are to use today what we gather today. Why? Well, first reason, he doesn't
promise us tomorrow. We're not promised any tomorrow.
Today is the only day we have. And how much of today, that's
up to him also. But I got to thinking, you know
why Moses had to say this, right? We need instruction. Because
there's a part of us that doesn't like and doesn't want instruction. We are rebellious by nature.
It's in us and it's going to come out. It will come out. You are to use today what God
gave you today. Don't leave it till the morning.
We are not to put off till tomorrow the things of Christ. God gave you today, worship God
today. If God gave you today, believe
Christ today. If ye continue, then are ye my
disciples indeed. Every single day. And we don't
leave anything for tomorrow. I will put off stuff. But I don't
want to put off Christ. They have a special word for
people like me. It's called procrastinator. And yeah, I do. I should have
paid my bills four days ago, but I haven't yet. That's not the way we're to treat
Christ. The things of the world, OK. Well, maybe not even then.
But the things of Christ, not. Don't do it. And Moses gives
a specific instruction here, don't leave it till the morning.
Why? Because he needed to. The next verse tells us why.
Notwithstanding, they hearkened not unto Moses. But some of them left it unto
the morning, and it bred worms, and it stank, and Moses was wroth
with them. Now the children were commanded,
and they obeyed, gathering. And then they disobeyed, leaving
it overnight. That's the way we are. I said
it, we're rebellious by nature. That's the way we are. We can
obey God one moment and decry him the next. Remember where we are here in
this wilderness, though. We're here, but this is after
the blood has been shed. This is after they have been
passed over. This is after they have seen
the salvation of the Lord, and yet they still disobey. They pass through the Red Sea,
come through to the other side, and they obey and they disobey
in the very same day. Guess what? We're no different. We never have been. Moses told us the reason for
the disobedience. He told us, notwithstanding,
they hearkened not. Now this is not just heard. Hearkened is the word. Hearkened
not. Hearkened in Hebrew is defined
to hear intelligently. You're using your reason, you're
using your mind to hear intelligently. Now, at this word where we have
it in English, hearken not, it's one Greek word, there's a little
suffix at the end of it. And that little suffix means
certainly not. And I thought, oh, they certainly
not heard intelligently what Moses said. So what's the definition of certainly
not hearing intelligently? Us. It's man. Man is a rebellious creature,
even with a new nature. There's still the old nature. The flesh hasn't gone anywhere.
And it's the spirit that profits. The flesh profits nothing. There
is this rebelliousness in man. Paul said in Romans 7, even when
I would do good, evil is present in me. It's there. It's there. But here's the point. Some of
them left it until the morning and it bred worms and it stank. Jesus Christ never gave anyone
instructions to be a collector only. You understand? They've got television shows
on TV right now, hoarders. These people can't throw anything
away but they can't use it either. We are to gather the manna and
we are to use it today. We are to learn of Christ and
to learn today. You can't store up Christ and
try and leave it for tomorrow. You can't store up Christ and
put him on a shelf. You can't put him in the closet.
You can't put him in the refrigerator or the freezer. What's it say? It bred worms
and it stank. Now, I'm not saying that Christ
ever stinks or that Christ breeds worms. But what it's teaching
here is that if you don't use it, it's of no value to you. This is to be sustenance. It's
to be food for your soul. You are to consume it, to take
it in. And if you just take it and don't
take it in, it's of no value. This is what we are to do as
those who know Christ, as those who have been regenerated and
converted and being converted. We are to take in Christ into
ourselves and to be disciples. Continue every day because we
can't store up Christ to be used later. It doesn't work. We're
not called camels. We're called sheep. And what
does sheep do? Sheep graze all day. And again, I said it, we may
not have a later. Unused manna is of no value to
anyone. You can't even share it the next
day. It must be consumed today. Why? Because he gave it to you
to be consumed. Today for the nourishment of
your soul And it says they gathered it
every morning every man according to his eating when the sun waxed
hot it melted that's verse 21 I Wrote down something here ch
Macintosh said about this verse He wrote it was Christ yesterday
and It must be Christ today and Christ forever. Moreover, it
will not do to feed partly on Christ and partly on other things.
As in the manner of life, it is Christ alone. So in the matter
of living, it is Christ alone. Walter mentioned it. by him all things consist. Gather every man, gather every
morning. The manna is never ending. The
bread of God which came down from heaven never ends. Now this type, this manna, this
physical manna did end. It did. But this is also true, actually,
and this is also true. The bread of God is he that cometh
down from heaven. But it doesn't stop there either.
He giveth life to the world. And that word giveth, I looked,
that's John 633, I'm not gonna turn there. But that word giveth
there, it is a verb, it is present active tense. You read that verse today Christ
is giving life to the world Just as he did back here in Exodus The bread of God has not stopped
ever giving life to the world and he is giving life every morning
and The one who gives life is also the one who gives the provision
for life every day He is our life. Every single
day. Christ is our life and Christ
is also our living. He has brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel. His gospel. His gospel. Glorious gospel. The gospel of
God. And we are to feed on him every
day. We are to gather every morning. And then there's this one little
statement that says, when the sun waxed hot, it melted. You notice it says, gather every
morning? It's time for a cliche now. You
know breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Gather every
morning. Gather early. Gather early. There's a time to gather and
that time is early because this is your food, your sustenance
for the day, the whole day and until the next day. We are to gather, assemble, share
and eat. But we are to gather before the
sun waxes hot. And I thought about this, and
I was trying to think, why in the world did we do this? But
it says, when it waxes hot, it melted. Well, when things get hot, you
get busy. Start your day off right. Start
your day off with Christ. Gather in the morning. Gather
early. Why? Because the cares of this
life will interfere. Circumstances do happen. And
circumstances do interfere with us. That's another thing. Not only do we have the old nature,
within that old nature we have a tendency to get distracted.
And you have to pay attention at your job. You have to pay
attention at your work. There are some people who work
with machinery, and Debbie used to get after me about it, because
you end up cutting your finger off. You've got to pay attention. So before the sun waxes hot,
before things get hot around you, before you get hot, gather
in the morning. Gather early. Psalm 63 and verse
1 said, O God, thou art my 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. Because when you get hot and
thirsty, you want a drink. But it's better to have drunk
before things get hot. Some things melt away. Verse 22, and it came to pass
on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers
for one man, and all the rulers of the congregation came and
told Moses. And he said unto them, this is
that which the Lord has said, tomorrow is the rest of the holy
Sabbath unto the Lord. Bake that which ye will bake
today, and see that that ye will see. And that which is remaineth
lay up for you to be kept until the morning. They gathered twice as much one
day, and it scared them. Because they had left some over,
and it turned. Moses said no. And here, what we have here in
the scriptures, in Exodus chapter 16, before the law is ever given,
you see the establishment of the Sabbath. The Sabbath, I want
to make this perfectly clear, the Sabbath was established before
the law was given. The Sabbath was established before
the law was given. And it tells us exactly what
the Sabbath is. It is the rest of the holy Sabbath
unto the Lord. What did Jesus Christ tell us
of the Sabbath? And he said unto them, the Sabbath
was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the
Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath. He's the Lord of the rest of
the Holy Sabbath. I know there are people who make
a great deal of the Sabbath and they make a great deal of it
wrong. Now the Sabbath was Saturday.
It is Saturday. It was Saturday. It is Saturday.
Sunday is not the Christian Sabbath. Sunday is the day we gather to
worship and preach and to hear the gospel. The Sabbath is the
rest. that the Lord gave to the people
of Israel. That the Lord gave to the congregation. It's rest. It's rest. Six days are you to gather. Seventh
day rest. And eat. You gather twice as much on Friday.
Now you're going to eat on Saturday of what you have left over. There was no rest given to the
Egyptians. There's no rest given to the rest of the world. Again,
remember where we are. After being passed over, after
seeing the salvation of the Lord, after being fed by the manna,
after going through the Red Sea, after being fed by the manna,
God provides a rest for the people of God. The Sabbath is only for those
here in this type, in this picture, for those who gather manna every
day. That's who the Sabbath is for. That's who it is given to. Again, very particular. And he
provided that there would be no lack on the Sabbath. No lack while you rest. There's never any lack if you're
resting in Christ. You'll be provided for. You'll
be provided for. You are provided for. And guess
what? Christ is your provision. He
who is Lord of the Sabbath is also the provision for the Sabbath.
Hebrew states it plainly, there remaineth a rest for the people
of God. We rest in Him just as we feed
in Him. We rest in Him and His work that
He has provided for His people. And we feed on Him while we rest. Cease from your labor. He's performed the work that
the Father told him to do. He performed the work necessary
for salvation, for justification, for redemption, sanctification. Now they did lay this up and
there was no stink, neither was there any worm therein. It worked exactly the way Moses
said. The Sabbath is holy and it's
made for men. There's no corruption allowed
in the rest of God. It is part of the design for
the children to feed on the Sabbath, to feed while they rest. Just for Well, you got it we
got a look at just for seconds verse 27 After he told him not to go out
and try and gather on Saturday on the Sabbath And it came to
pass that there went out some of the people on the seventh
day to gather and they found none You can tell some people to rest
and they can't do it Well, they won't do it. They won't do it.
Why? I'll tell you exactly why. They
hearken not to the words of Moses. They can't stand it. I've had
people tell me, I've got to do something. Well, here's something to do.
Rest. Rest. Rest. Cease from your labors. We are such rebellious creatures
that we want to rest when we're supposed to work and we want
to work when we're supposed to rest. That's depravity. We get it exactly
backwards. We want to sit down when we're
supposed to walk. We want to lay down when we're
supposed to run. They hearken not unto the voice
of Moses. What's our problem? We hearken
not to the voice of Christ. Oh, you hear it, and it goes
in one ear and out the other sometimes. And I'm guilty of
that as everybody else. Maybe more. That's why Earl used
to talk about, I hope this doesn't become repetitious. That's what
Earl used to tell. He used to say, from right here.
And I never said, oh God, it was getting repetitive. No, because
I need it. And I need it all the time. Because it will go
in one ear and out the other. I can forget something from walking
from one room to another right now. I never used to do that. But I can forget sometimes on
my way home what I preached this morning. Y'all might find that
hard to believe, but it ain't. It's not. It's not. Things push
out what should stay in. And they wonder why we'll make
the statement saying, I was depraved, I am depraved, and I'll be depraved
until I awaken his likeness. Well the reason we make that
statement is because we are. The reason we preach it from
this pulpit is we know we are. Rest God has given us a rest
in Christ Cease from your labors God has
provided in any way your labors are no good All our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags in God's sight I Wrote down here stop you fidgeting
That was something I used to get accused of by my parents.
Can't sit still. Twitching. Moving. You're bored. You start pulling your pen out
and you start tapping it on things. Rest means rest. It's either his work or it's
nothing. It's either his work that you're
resting in complete total perfect Salvation of the Lord see the
salvation of the Lord If you're not resting in that you're not
resting If you're not resting in him who is our salvation You're
working if you're not resting It don't matter what you call
it. It don't matter how anybody describes it to you. If you're
not fully trusting in Him and trusting just a little in you,
or in something you do, you're not rested. You're not rested. And we are
commanded to rest. There remaineth a rest for the
people of God. Now the last thing. is in Numbers
21. And I can't, I can't leave the
manna without doing this. There's no way. Numbers 21 in verse five says
this. And the people spake against
Moses. No, it doesn't say that. It says
the people spoke against God. and against Moses. Wherefore have ye brought us
up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread,
neither is there any water, and our soul loatheth this light
bread. That is one of the most chilling
statements in scripture as far as I'm concerned. When you understand,
realize the bread of God came down from heaven and giveth light
to the world. Our soul loatheth this light.
They're talking about the manna. That's what they're talking about
here. The chapter starts off when they're dreaming of leeks
and onions and all that stuff. I'm sorry, that's back in 11,
I think. Now here they are saying, our
soul loatheth this light bread. These are the words of the people.
Not all the people, but this is not the word of strangers.
These are members of the congregation. Because you see within this congregation,
excuse me, you see this within the congregation. They are in
the congregation, but I'm gonna tell you something. In this picture,
in this type of Israel, here in the Old Testament, there are
those that are not all of Israel. They're in the congregation,
but they're not of the congregation. Because I've said it continually
throughout this message, repeating his words, Jesus Christ is the
manna. Now does this mean that some
loathe Christ? Yes. That's what it means. And what does that teach us? Well, I got another exercise
in biblical logic. Man's nature has never changed.
Man's nature, naturally, the natural man is just as fallen
now as he ever was. It has never changed. Therefore,
if some have loathed Christ in the past, there are some that
loathe Christ now. As a matter of fact, he told
us himself, there were some that loathed him while he walked on
this planet. The God of glory, the Son of
God, They hated him, and they hated
his father. And who were they? They of his
own country. They received him not. The carnal mind is enmity toward
God, hates Christ, and despises his spirit. And man has not changed
one lick since the days of Exodus. It's not the most pleasant subject
in the world. But there are those, and we've
seen it here, who have joined themselves to this congregation,
to this assembly, and have left. And not only left, they left
mad. And not only left mad, they're talking trash. And not only talking
trash about us, They're talking trash about him. You understand? Leaving the congregation
is leaving Christ. If the congregation is the congregation
of God. Loathing the manna is loathing
Christ because he's the one that fed him. And leaving the congregation,
leaving the assembly of the saints, the saints of God is a They went out from us. Why? Because they were not of us.
They never were of us. Now they might come back. They
might be of us, but as of right now, it was made manifest. It was made known. We didn't
make them not of us. We didn't, you know, Moses didn't
make these people loathe the manna. That was in them, and
it came out. We didn't make people loathe
Christ, but we preach Christ and they loathe him. And they
left. Turn your back on God, go right
ahead. So I said, well, I'm thinking when I'm reading this, our soul
loatheth this white bread. Thank you for testifying, brother.
But that ain't the testimony you want to give. They leave. They want something
more. They want maybe something less.
Or maybe they just want something else. But they don't want the
manna. They don't want sheep food. They
don't want the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. And He's our Lord
first before He's ever your Savior. He's the Lord first. He's always
the Lord. He is the Savior, but He's not
the Savior of all. But He is Lord of all. Because there's something lacking in them. The bread of God is not fulfilling
to them. It doesn't sate them. He doesn't
Satisfy their soul The problem is not with man the
problems with the people And the problem has always been with
the people They want something more They'll long for the flesh
pots of Egypt I read it to Debbie this morning.
Remember when we used to get fish, and garlics, and leeks,
and onions? And I remember Earl Quote that
all the time. Leeks, onions, and I remember the garlic. And
I like garlic. I do. They'll sometimes return to the
flesh pots. Or sometimes they'll just find new ones. Because what a significant term
that is. The distinction here in the Old Testament is between
the flesh pots of Egypt and the bread from God. And if you can't see the difference
there, you don't know what I'm talking about. They look back to longing, with
longing, to when they sat there. by the flesh pots of Egypt. They
lived there and they longed for that contentment in being there
again and they feel no shame in this. Our soul loatheth this
light bread. They don't have no shame. Why? It's not only because of
their desire for the flesh, it's because they do loathe the light
bread. It's not fulfilling to them.
It's not satisfying. It's not a good meal for them,
Mason. It's not what they want, Mac. It's not what they want. And that's the question. What
do you want? Down deep in their being, they
do despite to the Lord of glory. Their very souls not only draw
back from, they actually recoil from the Son of God, from the
truth as it is in Christ. And they may walk for a while
with us, and then they're gone. Some go away more quietly than
others, but they go. Now, no type is perfect. We can never build a doctrine
on a type, but when a doctrine is revealed, a type thereof may
be discerned with accuracy and studied with profit. I didn't
say that. Somebody else did, but I like
it. Israel in the Old Testament is
to be seen in two ways. That's all I'm going to talk
about, just mention. First, they are seen as the elect
separated from the world by the shed blood of the Passover lamb,
standing still, seeing the salvation of the Lord, which he showed
them, then going through forward into the sea and being fed in
the wilderness. Israel as a whole is seen as an election as compared
to the world, as compared to Egypt. But secondly, we also
have to see the congregation of Israel as a whole, and by
itself, It actually is a microcosm of the world within itself. I mean that not everyone of the
congregation of Israel in the wilderness are the Israel of
God. Earl used to call it an election
within an election. The overall election of all of
the congregation of Israel got out of Egypt. But then you have
that election within the congregation of Israel, those that know God
and those that don't. And it shows Cora's rebellion. You know what they said? We don't
have to do things God's way. I can offer sacrifice. We don't
need priesthood. Everybody's holy. No, you do
it the way God said. There's an express purpose. And
besides that, God said it. obey But no, we're stupid we're rebellious
and we are to pray but there are those that were within the
congregation, you know, and There were those within the
congregation like Caleb and Joshua Who trusted the Lord They said this is a wonderful
land God gave to us when they got there Everybody else said,
oh my gosh, there's giants. I don't think that Caleb and
Joshua didn't see the giants. It's just that they understood
in God, nothing else matters except what he has given you. There's no perfection outside
of Christ and none at all in and of ourselves. But in him,
We have been given all spiritual blessings. The children of God, the children
of Israel do come into and possess the promised land just as the
Lord promised and commanded. But all of them that came out
of the wilderness didn't get into the promised land. We are shown here Now I'm not saying that the church is Israel by any stretch
of the imagination. But we can see ourselves and
the people we have known in this experience in the wilderness
of these people. We are fed by Christ every day. And we are to feed on Christ
every day. He provides sustenance for all
of His children and we rest in Him. It's His gift. It's a gift of
God to be able to rest in Jesus Christ. It's an amazing gift. I get to
cease from my labors. He says, if you hunger and you
thirst, come. If you labor and you're heavy laden, come. I'll
give you rest. And there remaineth a rest for
the people of God. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
again for this time and this place. Thank you, Lord, for your rest. We know there is no rest in the
world. We've been there. and we see
it now, they are going about to establish their own righteousness
and ignore the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Help
us not to do that. Give us strength to rest and
feed us with your word. In Christ's name we pray, amen.